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2011-12-06T22:21:00.001-06:00

Candycane Frames Holiday

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2009-09-24T11:10:00.001-05:00

heading out to membership luncheon and then taking my parents to the airport for their 3 week trip to Germany.

2009-09-23T21:23:00.001-05:00

just figured out how to use ping.fm. It's an amazing little gadget. I am also learning how to personalize my iGoogle page. Fun!!

Uncle Bear and the Big Blue House

2009-07-23T13:44:00.001-05:00

My brother, Aaron (we call him Bear), is coming “home” to visit for the weekend. He lives in Denver and has for quite a few years. He doesn’t come back to ND very often, so when he does, we all are excited to see him. He missed the family Christmas this past year, so it’s been about a year and a half since we’ve seen him. My parents have been down there to see him, but Jon, our kids and I haven’t.

Last week Karli asked whose birthday was next in our family. Megan said Nate (August 30) and I reminded them that Uncle Bear’s comes first (August 21). We decided that since we never get to celebrate his birthday with him, we should have a birthday party this weekend. The girls texted him from my phone:

Girls: We want to have a birthday party when you’re here. Do you want cake?
Bear: Whose b-day?
Girls: YOURS. Do you want cake?
Bear: Sure.
Girls: Chocolate, vanilla, marble, Dora, Barbie, Barney?
Bear: Surprise me.

So, we thought about a theme and since he is “Uncle Bear” we went with Bear in the Big Blue House (even though his house is actually beige). The graphic I found had six other characters sitting with Bear so it’s perfect. Then each of the six kids can be a character on the cake as well.

I had a little trouble with the heat and humidity in my house so the frosting wasn’t setting up as nice as it should and I was getting impatient so my template didn’t work. I think it turned out pretty cool, though, anyway.

Proud Mom

2009-04-24T07:35:00.002-05:00

Wow - 3 1/2 months since a post. Oops. Since joining Facebook I've neglected my blog...

Anyway, here is my new post:

I have many reasons in my life to be proud of my children. Here are just a few:

Karli was chosen from her choir of about 60 kids to be a model for the Singing in Style style show last weekend. She wore a beautiful (but itchy) honeydew melon colored dress. She did a fabulous job struttin' her stuff on stage in front of about 300 people. Awesome!!

Megan's jazz dance team placed third in a competition in Moorhead last weekend. The other teams were very good so it was a tough category. Way to go, Just for Kix!!

Nate was in freestyle wrestling for March and April. On his first day of practice with this team, he was awarded a Hardest Worker medal. They aren't given out very often so it was quite an honor. At tournaments he placed fifth (usually out of five kids), but still had fun and worked hard. Then a couple weeks ago he earned another Hardest Worker medal at practice. That means more to me than winning first place in every tournament. Excellent!!

Karli and Nate are auditioning for Shade Tree Players this Saturday. Nate's a little nervous, but will do fine. Karli is excited to be the big sister at play practice this summer. I'll let you know which show they are cast in when we find out.

Megan auditioned and got a callback for Sleepy Hollow Summer Theater. We found out yesterday that she was cast as Nikko for Wizard of Oz. From what I can find, Nikko is the head of the Flying Monkeys. This is the 20th season of Sleepy Hollow. It is an outdoor theater. I was in the first season and a lot has changed in 19 years. But it's very cool to have her in the show and I'll be there to watch her shine. Woooooo Hoooooo!!

From the mouth of a child

2009-01-09T22:24:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we went for brunch after church with my parents. We were at Minerva's (Kelly Inn). They have an awesome Sunday buffet, by the way. We were talking about my dad taking some Realtor classes at that hotel when we still lived in Fargo and how he sat poolside for part of it.

Nate looked very puzzled and said, "This is a HOTEL????" We all giggled and said of course, they just have a restaurant that we can come to and they have a pool, meeting rooms and sleeping rooms. He was just amazed. He said, "I didn't know there were hotels in Bismarck!"

Makes sense, I guess. We never stay in a hotel in Bismarck and we haven't had company except to stay at our house for a long time.

Too funny!

The Party's Over

2009-01-01T17:43:00.003-06:00

Wow! What a busy time we have had around here!

Before Christmas, it seemed we had something going every day - soccer, dance, choir concert, Lorie Line concert, last minute Blenders concert, staff party, potluck lunch, church play practices, baking a birthday cake for Jesus, making yummy foods to share, picking up Grandma in Garrison, buying and wrapping gifts. What a whirlwind!

For Christmas Eve, all three kids were in the church play. Megan was a narrator, Karli the Gentle Donkey, and Nate was a shepherd. I will share photos when we get our computer fixed (more on that in a minute). Then I played piano for the children's choir to sing during Mass. The kids did a great job and it went quite smoothly.

After church, we went to my brother Karl's house to have dinner and open gifts with them. Karl grilled filet mignon, Michelle made lobster tails and jumbo shrimp, garlic mashed potatoes, veggies, noodles, chicken nuggets (for the kids), and we had tons of goodies for dessert, of course.

We had a fun evening of opening gifts, laughing and sharing stories of Christmases past. Jon got RockBand for the Wii so we had to all try it out right away. We left their house about 10:30pm or so. Jon and I finished cleaning up the house and decided to take the tutorials on the RockBand. I made it until about midnight, but Jon stayed up until 2:00 am!

Santa made it to our house and we all opened our goodies Christmas morning. We had a great "jamma" (pajama) day. Naps were taken, sled rides given behind the four-wheeler, and plenty of RockBand played. Karl & Michelle and kids came out for the afternoon, too. Oma made soup and we had an easy supper.

We gave Megan an MP3/camera/video camera for Christmas and Jon was going to load the software on the computer. The laptop was locked up, so he ended up doing a hard shut-down and it never came back. The screen just was black and lifeless. We took it in to the shop and they reported that there was some sort os short on the motherboard. It could be repairable, but didn't seem to make sense with the cost of a new computer. I sure felt naked without a computer at home for a week!! Thank goodness I have a smartphone and can still receive email that way. :)

Thursday night we heard reports of another big snow storm, so Jon and Grandma decided to hit the road back to Garrison at about 10:30 pm. Jon returned just before 1:00am.

Friday we did a little shopping - Grandma had given the kids each some money so they wanted to finish their Christmas shopping.

The rest of the weekend was nice and low-key. We just kind of hung out. It was a very nice change from all the hustle.

For New Year's Eve, we decided not to risk the roads and travel to Minot to party with Mel & Jay, so we had a couple families out for a party. My parents and their good friends also joined us. We all officially toasted the new year on Eastern time instead of Central. Our guests headed home shortly after that. We finished straightening up and went to bed about 12:15. I'm so impressed we made it that far.

Today, Jon and I decided to go shopping for a new computer. We found this beauty at Best Buy. It's amazing how reliant I have become on the computer! Jon also had a Kirkwood Mall gift card so he got a new digital camera. Maybe he'll let me use some of his pictures on the blog soon.

We are taking the new computer in to the shop tomorrow so they can transfer all the old info to it. Then we should be back up and running at full speed.

So, if you've made it this far in my rambling, we did have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year so far. Hopefully yours was just as great!

Rollin' on the River

2008-12-15T07:07:00.003-06:00

Ta Da! There it is... Can you feel your cholesterol rise just by looking at it? Jon and I have been popping rolaids like candy. That's the only drawback, but it is soooo worth all of it.

Happy Birthday, Opa! Thanks for a great meal and day!

Snow Day

2008-12-14T10:45:00.002-06:00

We are in the middle of a blizzard today. The whole state has no travel advised. Since we are having my dad's birthday celebration today, the driveway needed to be cleared. Here is how Jon and my dad looked out in the snow. If I didn't know better, I'd say they enjoyed their time out there. (Except for the -40 degree windchill)

Another yummy recipe from today

2008-12-13T16:04:00.003-06:00

This morning I made my first batch of creamy caramels. I had never made them before. My thermometer freaked out on me halfway through, but I was able to finish the project and they turned out great. Stop by and try one.

Hurry before they're all gone!

Mmm Mmm Good!

2008-12-13T11:31:00.014-06:00

It's that time of year again. We're making our traditional Christmas dinner - Rolladin.
Last year I said I would post pictures but I forgot so this year I'm ready to post.
Start with a clean kitchen
Holiday music in the cd playerMake a drink.
It's the middle of the day - what did you expect??????
Chop onions
Cut bacon
Open second package and realize it's maple flavored and can't be used for this. Scramble around until another pack is found in the freezer to save the day!
Lay out thinly sliced beef on counter
Salt and pepperAdd onions and a strip of baconRoll (tight)Brown in frying pan Make gravy Today we'll put it in the garage to stay cool, but it could go right into the oven. Quite a few years ago my mom figured out that doing the rolling and preparation part ahead of time is much easier. Then on the day we just have to put the roaster in the oven and sit back until it's time to peel potatoes.

This year we are having Rolladin for my dad's birthday instead of Christmas. Doesn't matter to me when we have it, just that we get to have it. It's not a meal we fix very often.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of the finished dish when we eat it tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned...PS - I wish you could smell this through the computer. It's one of those nostalgic smells and we're all looking forward to the big family dinner tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T20:49:00.003-06:00

Here is the table we (Megan and I) set on Wednesday evening. We had 15 people for the Thanksgiving feast. My nieces and nephew stayed overnight with my parents Wednesday night. Just one last trip to the grocery store and we were set. Thursday morning I got up about 6:30 and made some muffins for breakfast (don't think that's too big a deal, because it's a package that you just add milk and bake them - easy but yummy!). Then I stuffed and seasoned the turkey and put it in the oven.

Oma, Opa, six kids, Jon and I went to church at 9:30. It's always a nice Mass. I think it's better than normal because it's not a holy day of obligation. People go just because they want to be there.

My aunt and uncle arrived about 11:00. They come out almost every year for Thanksgiving and stay for the whole weekend. They are a lot of fun. Karli helped me peel potatoes and Nate peeled the cucumbers. My brother and sister-in-law arrived after running in the Turkey Trot. Jon's cousin, Frankie, joined us, too.

Everything for the meal came together beautifully and we all ate WAY too much (as usual).

My cousin Selvan and his wife Sue joined us Friday for the weekend also. Friday and Saturday the guys took part in the annual St. Sausage Day weekend. They started preparing the venison, pork and seasonings about 10:00 Friday morning. By 7:30 all five of them were in the bag and most were already out for the count. Saturday they finished packaging the sausage.

Sunday morning we finished up the visiting with a breakfast of sausage (obviously) and eggs before the guests hit the road. It is always fun to have visitors.

After breakfast we all headed up to the barn to get the Christmas decorations out. Jon and I weren't really looking forward to the task, but decided we'd better get it started. It went very smoothly. It's great that the kids are getting big enough to help a lot. Jon took tree decorations out of the box, I untangled the little ornament hangers, and the kids hung up all of the ornaments. The tree turned out really nice.
(I took two pictures because I wasn't sure you could see both the lights and the ornaments.)

Having the kids do the tree made it easier for Jon and me to set out all of the little knick-knacks around the house. The kids each have a little tree in their rooms and a tiny nativity set. We have my mom's handpainted nativity set in the living room and another set that was given to me as a gift on display on the piano.

So many trinkets in our decorations box have memories and meanings. It really reminds me how thankful I am for good friends, great family and wonderful health in my life.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend as much as I did.

Another two months in the life of us...

2008-11-12T21:23:00.005-06:00

In September we all started Sunday School.This year Jon and I decided to teach 3^rd grade (Karli’s class).We have about 15 kids in the class and usually 10 show up. So far it has been good for us and the kids seem to be enjoying it.

Our monster concert went very well. It went very quickly through all of the songs. There didn’t seem to be any mix ups or major problems. They had a good turn out and we knew several other musicians who played. I will definitely take part again next year. I’ll think about who I’m going to recruit for a partner…

One afternoon in October we headed out for our annual trip to Papa’s Pumpkin Patch. Dave and Colleen and their family do such an awesome job out there. It keeps getting bigger each year.

October 20, Jon and I were both instructed to call in for jury duty. What are the odds of us both getting called in the same pool? (Jon bought a lottery ticket, just in case) Anyway, he didn’t have to report at all – he just called in twice. I was selected to show up in the courtroom on Tuesday. I have made it that far two or three other times in my life, but have always been excused from the jury. Guess what? This WAS my lucky turn! I was chosen as Juror #5 in a case. We got through the judge’s questions and the lawyers’ questions, then took a break. After the break, they told us who was staying to serve on the jury and who could leave. The trial ended up going through Wednesday afternoon. Then the jury had to come up with our decision. It was already after 5:00 on Weds so we decided to go home and finish on Thursday morning. When we were all refreshed, we came to a fairly quick conclusion and were done by 10:00 am.

The case involved a crash between a pickup and a semi truck with a hay trailer. The pickup driver (we’ll call him Jim) claimed the semi driver (we’ll call him Bob) was totally at fault and that the crash resulted in bag injuries for Jim. The jury decided that we didn’t have enough evidence to prove that Jim’s injuries were directly from the crash so the case was completely thrown out. It was a very interesting process. I am glad it wasn’t a criminal case where we had to decide someone’s fate.

Then that Thursday my mom, the girls and I drove to St. Cloud, MN, to see my sister and her family. My niece, Sarah, is getting married next summer so we got to help do some wedding planning. We picked out centerpieces for the reception. We also got to see Sarah’s dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, and the bouquets. It was a fun trip!

Halloween was a fun night for us. Megan was a devil, Karli was Dorothy, Nate was a ninja, Jon was Fred Flintsone and I wore a shirt that said, “Go Ceiling!” and “#1 Fan.” Get it? I was a ceiling fan! Awwwwww, groan. I know. I love it! We walked around our old neighborhood in town since our current neighborhood is not so fun. We the kids made a haul with lots of good candy. We stopped by Governor Hoeven’s house again this year. I think it is so cool that he and his wife hand out candy themselves each year. What other state is safe enough for that to happen?

Saturday, November 1, we attended our school’s Spooghetti Supper. They serve spaghetti, salad, breadsticks, and ice cream. It gives the kids a chance to wear their costumes so their friends can see since they can’t wear them to school. We also worked a shift and helped serve the food. We all had a great time.

Last week we all survived the blizzard here. We closed our office early on Thursday and opened late on Friday. They closed the public schools for the first time in at least 10 years!

My cousin Scott, his son Hayden, and Scott’s friend were stranded in Bismarck on their way to Medora for hunting. They were watching the road report constantly waiting for the interstate to open up. When it did at about 9:30 am, they were packed and leaving within about five minutes. I haven’t heard how their hunt turned out. Hopefully they all could fill their tags.

Jon, my dad, my brother, and my nephew went hunting last weekend, too. They got a buck on Friday afternoon, a doe Saturday morning, and the last doe Saturday afternoon. Nate was able to go along Saturday afternoon so he got to see how that whole process works. He was pretty impressed with it and had a lot of fun. Only six more years until he can take hunter safety and then another two years and he can get his own license.

Yesterday the girls and I had been shopping and stopped at McDonald’s for lunch. While eating my burger and fries, I realized my tooth broke. It was a crown that has caused me problems for about three years. The nerves were exposed, but the dentist was able to seal it up temporarily. I scheduled the crown replacement for November 25 since I am out of town next week. I called in this morning to ask if they could call if a cancellation occurs. They were able to fit me in tomorrow afternoon at 2:00. I’m sure glad I called! I’ll keep you posted.

Next week I am heading to Dallas for a training. This is for a program we use at work to contact our members and ask them to send emails to their legislators. We can use it for the federal or state levels. I will leave on Wednesday and return Friday afternoon. I’ve never been to Texas, so I’m looking forward to it.

That brings you up to date. Thanks for sticking with me.

Quick Note

2008-09-23T07:03:00.004-05:00

Good morning all! After a week of being out of town, I'm enjoying being back in my own bed. We had some company this weekend. My brother, sister-in-law, and cousins ran the half marathon here in Bismarck. They all did very well and seemed to enjoy it.
(Michelle, Karl, Gwen and Robyn)
Gwen's brother, Scott (also Robyn's husband) ran the 5K, but he is the one who took the picture so I don't have one of him.

Karli went with some of the cousins' kids and Oma to watch the race, Jon and Nate walked in the parade for Governor Hoeven with Opa, Megan and I stayed home to make birthday cake for Jon. Oh, did I mention Saturday was his birthday? He turned the big 3-9. I've been telling him for years that he is pushing 40. It keeps getting closer...

Happy Birthday, Honey!

School Daze

2008-08-27T22:29:00.002-05:00

School has officially begun. In fact, they have already finished five days of class. These pictures are from my phone so I apologize for the low quality. Can you tell how excited they all were for that first day? Meg is in 5th grade, Karli in 3rd and Nate in Kindergarten.
Northridge is sooooo overcrowded that one of the five sections of third grade (Karli's class) is in a portable and all five kindergarten classrooms are being held in rented space at Corpus Christi. It works out ok for us so far. We drop the girls off at the main school first and then I take Nate down to the "north branch" for his school. They added playground equipment (fenced in of course) and created a mini office for a secretary. They use the gym space for Phy Ed, lunch and breakfast. It is going quite well.

He was just a little nervous that first morning. He chose not to color a picture or look at books but just sit in his chair and wait. Evidently that worked out for him...
After school they all ride the bus home. I met them at our front door that first day. Nate was a little upset because I didn't tell him how fun the bus would be. I'm so glad he's enjoying his new adventure.

Stay-cation

2008-08-19T22:13:00.002-05:00

Jon started back to work this week so I took three days off. Jon watched my brother's kids for the past two weeks since their summer program ended August 1. I have them for this week before school starts on Thursday. They are really pretty easy for the most part. People tell me how crazy I am to take six kids around town or go on outings and that kind of thing. I don't think it's any big deal. Last night Karli had a friend sleepover so this morning I had seven kids here. As long as I don't have any diapers or butts to wipe (except my own, of course - butt, that is, not diaper) it's nothing extra but to referee a couple little "she won't let me play with that Polly Pocket" issues and making a little bigger lunch.

Today Michelle (their mom) picked them up at noon and everyone got to go meet their teachers. Our kids were very excited and everyone did well. Only two more sleeps! Hard to believe our youngest is going to kindergarten for all day everyday school. How can it be more than two weeks ago that Megan was born???? C.r.a.z.y!!!

OK - so I was checking out blogs tonight and came across this fun little idea.
Just a little exercise to include one word answers. Only. Just try it. It is harder than I thought it would be, thinking of one word for a few things... You can copy my list and add your own in the comments section, or do it on your own blog....

You're Feeling: relaxed
To Your Left: darkness
On Your Mind: blogging
Last Meal Included: pork
You Sometimes Find it Hard To: Motivate
The Weather: perfect
Something You Have a Collection of: figurines
A Smell that Cheers You Up: bread
A Smell that Can Ruin Your Mood: puke
How Long Since You Last Shaved: days
The Current State of Your Hair: greasy
The Largest Item On Your Desk/Workspace Right Now (besides computer): speaker
Your Skill with Chopsticks: hilarious
Which Section You Head to First In the Bookstore: fiction
...and After That?: kids
Something You're Craving: Milky-Way
Your General Thoughts On the Presidential Race: whatever
How Many Times You've Been Hospitalized this Year: none
A Favorite Place to Go for Quiet Time: bedroom
You've Always Secretly Thought You'd Be a Good: psychic
Something that Freaks You Out a Little: illness
Something You've Eaten Too Much of Lately: junk
You Have Never: bungee-jumped
You Never Want To: abandon

Your turn....

Updates...

2008-08-05T22:07:00.002-05:00

I got a check in the mail today from the wedding couple. They apologized for having missed me after the wedding and said the music was beautiful. Awesome!

The girls are still enjoying their play practices (taking after their mother without the Perkins part, yet). Their performances are next week already. The show is really taking shape nicely. I tie-dyed their shirts tonight with some other parents and cast members. It was fun and I hope they turn out really cool. I'm a believer in don't try too hard to create a pattern - just slop it on and hope for the best. We'll see in about a week how they turned out.

Today Megan started Band Camp -- no not THAT band camp and she doesn't even play flute!! She is taking up percussion. She loved the first day and is excited to go back tomorrow.

I heard about a cool Monster Concert that I decided to take part in. It is a piano recital kind of event except instead of each person playing a solo, there will be five pianos on stage at the Belle. Five pairs of players will play the same song at the same time. It is going to be so neat. I am playing Chopsticks Here and There. I have the lower part with kind of oompa-pas for most of my part. Karli will be playing a song called Ladybug, Ladybug and Megan is playing My Dog Has Flea. I will play the duet part with them both also. I had my first rehearsal tonight and it sounded great to have both parts together. The performance will be October 19th. I'm sure I'll have more posts about it as we get closer. Maybe I'll be able to post a little video of the performance (if I can figure out how to do that).

I need to get to bed. Hope you're having a great day!

Where Have I Been?

2008-07-29T07:50:00.001-05:00

Man, life seems to run away with me sometimes. Here is what's been going on:

4th of July - Cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, kids, parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws, out-laws. You name it, we were together. The lake was perfect, good food, lots of lazy hours spent watching kids on the beach or skiing or tubing, reading books in the sun. Overall, a great vacation!

Megan's birthday, July 9th - "the bestest birthday EVER!" according to the newest 10 year old in the house. Why, you ask? (quoting Megan directly) "First of all, I got a Nintendo DS. Second of all, we got to go to the Medora Musical. Third of all, I got to bring a friend. Fourth of all, we got to go swimming." We headed to Dickinson and went swimming at the West River Community Center. They have a great lazy river, two big water slides, and a water shooting play area. A great place for every age. Went out for supper and then headed to Medora for the musical. One of the best shows I've seen (and I think this was the 30th time I've been to the show!!!! Not bad for being only 36) We drove home after the show and arrived in Bismarck about 2:00 am.

I took two vacation days then and we just hung out at home, went bowling one afternoon, took the girls to birthday parties, went swimming at the Wave pool, read a book. Another nice vacation!

The wedding singer - I ended up meeting three times between the bride and groom and the piano player. I bit much in my opinion, but the ceremony went fine. Except they didn't pay me. Not that I only sing for pay. Just that we agreed on the price up front and then I ended up with all the extra meetings so I feel I deserve the check we discussed in our first contact. Just too bad that it has to become a business exchange. I'll get over it. Someday.

The girls have started rehearsals for their play, "School House Rock Live Jr." It is through Shade Tree Players. The music is all so familiar to us who watched them on tv way back when. They are doing fun choreography and singing all the favorites - Conjunction Junction, Only a Bill, etc. They are off book for the first half already tomorrow. The performances are the 14th through 17th if anyone is interested.

Nate is in his second week of Safety Village. They learn all kinds of safety issues. Policemen visit, Trauma Roo the safety kangaroo, bike safety, crossing streets, what to do if lost in a store, testing the smoke house with the firemen. All good stuff every kid should know when they are going into kindergarten. Graduation is Friday. They sing songs and have little poems they've worked on the whole time.

Last evening the whole family worked on building the set for the School House Rocks show.

Thursday evening Jon and I are going to a picnic for MSU alums. Should be fun!

In a couple weeks, we get to go to a Seahawks game in Minneapolis. Jon found cheap tickets at a rummage sale so we're taking Nate and my dad to the game and then on Saturday morning I guess we're going to tour the Leinenkugel's brewery.

OK - I better get to work so I'm not late. Hope your summer isn't going as fast as ours!

Hair Today...

2008-06-29T21:34:00.006-05:00

If you know our Megan at all, you know she has fought with her curly hair since she was at least about 5. It is soooo curly it is hard to run your fingers through it. In third grade she made it a point to shower every single day just to wash and condition her hair so it could be manageable.

She has always had some curl, but it seems to be getting tighter all the time. Here is a picture from Fall of 2006:

Last night, I combed through her hair (dry) and cut off about 2 inches or so. The curl really shrinks up her hair. It was easily at the middle of her back and if she put her chin up, her hair could touch her waist if it was wet. Here's how she looked after the comb out:
My friend Traci led us to a wonderful product that chemically straightens the hair. It's like an anti-perm. Megan laid on the kitchen counter on her stomach with her head hanging over the sink. I put the goop on her hair and combed it as straight as possible for almost 20 minutes. It smelled exactly like a perm. She was not enjoying the process, but I reminded her that this is the price we pay for beauty. (I found it hysterical when my mom said the EXACT same thing today without knowing that's what I said.)

Here is how her hair looked when it was wet after the whole process:
It was so smooth and soft. The relaxer really helped with a lot of the frizzy-ness, too. She couldn't keep her hands out of her hair. We just let it air dry and this morning she woke up with this:

It's still a little curly but not nearly as bad as before. She can't wash it or swim in the pool until tomorrow night. Another price to pay. When I was combing through the straight hair, I was reminding her that she couldn't wash it or get it wet in the pool. She asked if the lake water would be ok. I said she shouldn't do that either. She said then let's not do this again for the lake next weekend. It was then that I fully explained that this will last hopefully until Christmas time. Here she thought this process would need to be repeated after it got wet again. Oops, I guess I didn't explain it very clearly the first time. She was relieved to hear that.

So, thanks Traci, for finding this gem for us. We hope it will last that 4-5 months and then we'll lather, rinse and repeat.

hApPy BiRtHdAy tO mE!

2008-06-25T09:07:00.003-05:00

Yay! My birthday has finally arrived. 36 years ago today, my mom had to cut her camping trip short to head back to town. She was more than 2 weeks late with me. Evidently I was a little shy back then. I guess I've more than made up for it with the rest of my life. :)

I'm back. Did you miss me?

2008-06-12T07:46:00.005-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. Sorry about that...

So, what has been keeping me busy this past month?

I made a very quick trip to St. Paul for a one-day conference. I arrived in my hotel room about 6pm, my conference was the next day 8 - 3pm and then I left for home. Sorry I missed you, Shari!

The next day was the last day of school for our girls, and the last day of day care for our son. We just got a parenting raise!

We went to the lake for Memorial day weekend. My brother and my parents jointly own a place on Blue Lake about an hour north of us. It was too cold to be in the water, so we came home early on Sunday.

Monday was spent getting ready for a HUGE rummage sale at our house. We hosted it as a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team.

The sale went great. We raised over $600 for the American Cancer Society and the Tracy Voegele Medical Relief Fund.

Then I took a motorcycle safety class for 4 evenings. I had to be there each day by 5:30 and was home by about 8:30.

Friday, June 6, I got my motorcycle license. Now I have the itch to buy a bike of my own. I was planning to ride my dad's Honda scooter for most of the summer to save on gas mileage. That was why I was getting my license. I had so much fun at the class cruising around, that now I want one of my own. We'll see. I will definitely post about that if it happens.

Saturday, June 7 we set up camp at the CHS track for the annual Relay for Life event. It was an amazing night. Check out pictures and more info at http://www.relayblog.com/.

Sunday we got home (kids and all) about 6:30 am. We unloaded all of the Relay stuff and repacked the van to head to Wahpeton. My grandmother passed away and the wake was starting at 3:00pm for the family. My brother, Bear, arrived from Denver to go with us so he drove the first leg of the trip (I think - I was sleeping in the back).

Monday was the funeral and it went very well. Grandmom was 85 and had been having a hard time breathing lately. She told my parents a couple weeks ago that it was just getting hard to live. She looked so peaceful. It was a reminder that God knows what He's doing.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights were spent going to bed early to try and catch up on that missed night of sleep. I think I'm back on track now.

Tomorrow Jon and I are heading to Chicago. I have a meeting on Monday so we decided to go early and spend a couple days with our college friend, Bob. I should have more to post when we get back next week.

Thanks for returning to check on me. I'll work hard to not let so much time go between posts. :)

Have a great Father's Day weekend!

Chicago

2008-05-14T20:45:00.002-05:00

I have the opportunity to go to Chicago in June. How cool! My boss and I were invited to attend a training and the company offering is paying airfare and hotel. Even better! We originally scheduled our flights to leave on Father's Day, June 15 and return on Tuesday, June 17. Jon heard of the trip and thought it would be fun to go along. One of his/our college friends lives near Chicago, so Jon called and asked if we could stay with him and his family for a couple days. My wonderful parents gave Jon a frequent flyer ticket for Father's Day/Birthday/Christmas/Halloween/Thanksgiving/etc. Soooooo, we are leaving on Friday, June 13 (we're not suprsticious) and still coming home on Tuesday.

Here's the best part of it all - the training is only Monday noon to 5:00pm. Any great ideas for stuff to do and see in or around Chicago? Neither of us have been there as tourists (I've been through the airport and the train station once each).

I can have my cake and eat it, too

2008-05-13T20:52:00.002-05:00

I have earned a Certificate of Merit for completing the first of three cake decorating classes offered by MagiCandle Cakery.

Here is my first official cake. (It is technically the second one I made for the class, but the first with writing on it) I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I had a lot of fun in the class and learned a bunch of cool tricks and tips. Thanks to my mom for paying for the class for my early birthday present. Decorate a cake for a woman and she'll eat it. Teach her to decorate cakes and she'll make them for every occasion you can imagine.

S & B: The teacher was Stella Baetsch. She used to be the secretary at Northridge when we went there. She's too funny!

What a man, what a man, what a mighty Good Man!

2008-04-30T19:43:00.005-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've last posted. Sorry about that.

Here are a couple things that have been going on while I've been away from the blog:

Karli and I went to a girl scout event and when I came home, this is what I found
Jon had built a table for my sewing machine and installed a shelf with buckets for my sewing supplies. All his own idea!! Well, I knew he was putting a shelf up so we can hang the clean laundry. He made the table from scraps of wood hanging around. What a guy!!

Then, he worked two days about 8 to 10 hours each to do this:
The tiles are gorgeous. I helped paint the walls, but he did everything else and put all the wall decorations back up. What a guy!

How did I get so lucky??????? Love you!

Holy Communion Batman!

2008-04-11T07:20:00.007-05:00

Karli completed her first communion last weekend. I worked for a couple months on making her dress. It turned out very cute. She loved it!
There were about 15 other kids at the same Mass. They processed into church.

They got to carry up the gifts (bread & wine & offering basket).

Fr. Paul usually kneels down after the offertory basket has been passed so the kids can come up to him and put their envelope in the basket in a fun way. He recently had knee surgery so it's hard for him to kneel. This was the second time he had called Megan over to him in the middle of Mass. She gets to sit in the huge chair next to Father while the other stuff is going on and then she gets to kneel down with the basket for all of the little kids to come forward. It was so cute! She enjoyed it.

My cousin's daughter was with us in church - also a cutie and so well behaved. Our three and my brother's three just love Veronica to pieces and keep her very entertained.

After communion, the whole group of first-timers stood on the steps of the altar and sang a song with hand actions - You prepare a table before us. How good of you, Lord. The kids did a nice job but it was hard to hear them singing.

After church we took some family pictures and of course Opa had to be silly.

We ate spaghetti for supper and had cheesecake from Mr. Delicious - ooh it WAS delicious!

All Grown Up

2008-04-01T21:28:00.005-05:00

Our furniture has finally arrived! Jon, Karli & Nate picked it up Friday afternoon. All we had to do was unwrap the plastic and twist in the legs. It looks so grown up and pretty. I've added some pictures, but I'm not sure it does it justice.

We also added a cornice board that Jon made. I only had to sew one seam at each end and he did the rest. The lamp came with the couch and chair deal. I wanted to skip the lamps (2) and get another hundred dollars off the price, but Brandi said it just couldn't happen. The original lamps with the deal were ugly, so we searched the store and found this cute little number. It has the wrought iron look that matches our entertainment center and a simple white shade (which is actually pale green - not white - who knew?). We already had two lamps with built in magazine racks/end tables, so we didn't really need new lamps. Long story longer, Brandi calls me on Easter Monday, and our conversation went something like this:

Brandi: Remember how when you asked about these lamps, there was only one in our store but one in Minot?

Me: Um, yeah?

B: Well, it is on their inventory list but it's just not anywhere in their store, I guess.

Me: Oh, so now what do we do? (thinking: cool, now can I get my $100 off since I didn't want the things in the first place?)

B: Well, if you want to come down to the store, you could pick out a different set of lamps...

Me: ummmm

B: ... or we DO have a floor lamp that is the same style as the one we have that you chose. It is actually more expensive, but I could give it to you at the same price since it ...

Me: (cutting her off) great! That would be fine.

So when Jon went in to settle up with the gal (not Brandi - this time it was Heather), they tried to charge him an extra $52!! Thankfully I had our original receipt and the check already written out that he took along with him. Heather heard the whole story of what Brandi told me and assured Jon that she would fix it and just took the check with the first amount.

Oh, so now I have a floor lamp and an extra table lamp that I'm not sure what to do with them. Jon came up with this plan:

And we think it looks pretty cool. The floor lamp is setting by the piano for now. We'll see if it stays there or finds a home at Oma's cottage.

And this is the look with the roller blind closed. What a great interior decorator I have. Heesss name eesss Juan. Heee eees a cussin to Raul, dee pool boy, and Fifi zee Frrrrrench maid. :)

We've been in this house for almost three years and we finally have a gorgeous, grown up living room! Ooooh, and the couch is so soft - it's like buttah! Stop by and check us out!

Happy Birthday, Bug!

2008-03-27T07:22:00.003-05:00

Our little Karli Bug is turning 8 today! It's amazing how quickly time has flown.

The story of her birth:

We went into the hospital early evening on the 26th to be induced. Oma and Opa were out of town. Grandma (Jon's mom) came down from Garrison to be with Megan. They started the medicines to tell my body it was time to get the show on the road. The nurse asked if I had eaten supper or anything before coming in. I had not so Jon ran to Subway for me. She said I'd need the food for energy to get through this process. Overnight the medicine did it's thing and in the morning I was moved to the birthing room. The doctor broke my water but wasn't sure if it actually worked or just created a trickle - no big gush. That was about 7:00 in the morning or so. I was toughing it out through the pain and waiting for the "right time" to have an epidural.

Oma had flowers and a big basket of goodies delivered to the hospital since she couldn't be there. It arrived just as the blood pressure cuff was going off on my arm. The nurse got pretty scared by the numbers that showed up. I guess it was the tears and sobbing I was doing missing my mom.

Anyway, the morning went by pretty quickly. I don't remember much else other than slapping Jon's hand when he was trying to be nice and helpful. He got me into this mess and all that. :) I decided it was time for the good drugs to relieve some of the pain that was focusing on my lower back. The nurse checked and oops - the window of opportunity was already closed - too late.

When it was time to push, I got down to business. With Megan I had pushed for about 2 hours so I expected it to take a while. Since the lovely lady decided to try the voyage nose up instead of down, she was fighting against me. The doctor used a suction device and pulled her out of there rather quickly. That is when it was discovered that she had meconium (poo in the amniotic fluid) so they had to get her suctioned extra clean.

We had many visitors at the hospital that evening and the next day. I was sick and tired of everyone poking me and checking things out so I asked if we could go home on the 28th instead of staying one more night. Fine with them. We got all the paperwork done and we had a nice dinner in the hospital room and headed home.

Since we left the hospital early, they made an appointment for Karli with the pediatrician in just one week instead of the normal two. When we went in for that check up, the doctor said something like, "Oh, that's right, we had a broken collar bone." I was confused as no one had told me about that minor detail. It explained why she wouldn't sleep on her right side. She was awesome on her left and when I would switch it up for her, she'd throw a fit. I just thought it was weird. Now I find out my perfect little darling had a broken bone. It evidently was from the quick trip down the birth canal. There is nothing they could do anyway for the healing process, so it was no big deal, I guess.

So that is the story of the first week. There are so many more stories over the past 8 years that I wouldn't have time to share them all in one post. I'll have to gather up some photos and share one story at a time.

Enjoy your birthday Bug!

Champion Team

2008-03-08T18:58:00.004-06:00

We made our first journey to a dance competition today. Megan is finally old enough to compete in the United We Dance competition for Just for Kix. She was excited and so was our whole family. The first dancers started in Jamestown about 10:00. They sorted the teams by age level and number of dancers on the team. Megan's team was in the third group. Out of five teams in their division, they placed 1st! A well deserved win. They looked awesome.

We stayed for all of the Mini Kix (4th and 5th grade) teams. The other Bismarck North Mini Kix also took 1st in their division. That says a lot for the awesome coach (Michele) who is always concerned with precise movements and details like hair and socks that other teams evidently don't stress to their dancers. It makes a difference when watching something like 90 teams perform one after the other. We are very glad to have our girls involved in this program! I can't wait to hear how Michele's other teams placed - I'm sure they did well also.

(I'll get links to pictures when I get copies - I can't believe I left the camera in the car and didn't realize it until about 2 minutes before Megan performed. Oops!)

C is for Cookie

2008-02-22T20:53:00.002-06:00

Tis the season of Girl Scout cookies. Anyone interested in a box or two?

I'm a little disappointed with the new cookie company for our area this year. The previous company made Samoas instead of Caramel deLites. They were not processed on equipment that uses nuts, so Nate could eat them. The new CdLs are no longer nut free. Nate will have to be content with the thin mints I guess.

Seriously, if anyone would like to order, I'll gladly ship them to you. Just let me know. Both of our girls are selling again this year.

My New Boyfriend

2008-02-20T20:03:00.002-06:00

I found a new TV boyfriend.

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

More on Gossip Girl. Created by BuddyTV

Who's yours?

Snow Day

2008-02-14T19:57:00.005-06:00

On most Wednesdays, our kids take part in "O Day". This is an afternoon spent with Oma and Opa (my parents). It started out as Oma Day, but Opa seemed to get pressed into service most of the time picking up kids from school, driving to wherever they were going that day, etc. My brother's three kids are there most of the time also. It's a great way for the cousins to know each other more like brothers and sisters, a way for grandparents to keep that strong bond with grandkids, and a nice little "date night" for Mom and Dad.

Here is a picture of them: Kaia is 6, Nick is 9, and Riley is 4. (This was their Christmas picture)

Yesterday, we got about 3 inches of snow, so Opa took the kids sledding behind the four wheeler around our yard. They love it! Riley and Kaia were still at their dance class, so it was just four kids. They had three sleds tied behind the ATV. Karli came in with a head full of snow and I made the mistake of chuckling in her direction. It wasn't funny!! So, I missed the photo opportunity. Nate came in a bit after Karli and he thought it was hilarious that he was covered with snow. I asked if he fell off and he said no, Opa just made the snow come in his face three times. His eyebrows were even frosty. I took the first picture:

Then I told him his eyes were closed so I should take another one:

Now, you decide - isn't that funny?

Big Weekend

2008-02-11T07:56:00.000-06:00

Well, we sure had a busy weekend at our house - Saturday at least. We started off the morning by heading to the Girl Scouts Cookie Rally. Jon got to see what I've been complaining about with Girl Scout events. Thanks for the help, Honey! Karli, her friend Paige, and Jon made the news

The girls also had a dance performance for the Demonettes dance show. They did a great job and KFYR-TV was there also. (I don't know how to get a picture of the video to show up here, so here is the link instead)

I will work on my blogging skills and see if I can figure out how to capture a picture from a video one of these days. Thanks for reading anyway. :)

Here to Stay?

2008-01-29T21:01:00.000-06:00

Well, we haven't come up with much of a solution for the new found kitties. We've contacted the Humane Society. They will give out 1 voucher a month for $15 off of a spay or neuter at a participating vet clinic. We talked to our regular vet, Doc, and he will give us a discount also so we're looking at about $30 off each one. That helps in our decision to keep them or not. The kids of course want us to keep them all and it really doesn't cause too much trouble for the everyday stuff. It will basically be an extra bag of food each month and the annual vaccinations that we purchase and administer ourselves. I don't mean to be harsh, but also with the way they seem to throw themselves under tires around here, by next fall we'll be down in numbers again. I know that sounds mean, but they are farm cats here to keep down the population of rodents. Sorry if that offends anyone.

So, we're now at the point where names are coming up. I think the Mama kitty is JoJo. You know from the song I quoted last time, "Where did you come from cotton eye Joe". Our kids have named one baby Rascall and another Oreo. We've decided to let our niece name the last one since she found them first. They also can't have any indoor pets because of allergies at their house, so she has to play with the animals here when she comes to visit. I'll let you know what she comes up with when she decides. And I'll have to figure out who is who of the babies and try to post more pictures later.

Thank goodness Jon bought the thermostatic controlled bed for the cats. It is a really cool appliance and it gives me a piece of mind that the cats aren't freezing to death in this major cold weather we're having. Even the heated water dish has to be refreshed daily with this cold to be sure it isn't freezing.

Stay warm!

Where Did You Come From?

2008-01-22T21:09:00.000-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've had a post. Life has been kind of busy the past few days, but before that, I couldn't think of anything interesting to write.

So - the title of the post... On Saturday I looked out our window and saw (what I thought was) one of our kitties sitting on my parents' driveway with a tiny baby kitty. I looked closer and saw another baby kitty and a third baby kitty and realized it was not our bigger kitty but what looked like the mama cat to these babies. The babies can't be more than 6 or 8 weeks old and the mom is obviously nursing them. Jon was able to approach her and the babies and lead them to the spot where we have our current feeding and bed spot set up for the cats we already have (in what we call the Garden Shop). The babies chowed down right away.

Our three cats were in the garden shop, too and didn't seem phased at all by these new guests. As the whole story unfolds, we realize that my niece, Kaia, tried to tell Nate on Wednesday that she saw Chip in the outhouse. Well, he quickly told Kaia that she couldn't have seen Chip because Chip just got run over last week. Kaia tried to tell Karli, but Karli was still recovering from her tonsilectomy and didn't go to check it out. Sorry Kaia! Nobody listened.

On Saturday morning Jon and Nate were shoveling and noticed the outhouse door was unlatched. Jon went to close it and saw a fleece blanket that does not belong to us. He didn't think much of it being full of cat hair, just figured it was our cats hanging out in there. The outhouse is right next to the garden shop so not too much of a stretch of the imagination. After seeing this mama and her babies, we figured out that they must have been the ones in the outhouse and we are wondering how long have they been around and how did they get here? It would explain why our cats are not completely ticked off at having guests. Also, when I went to look at the blanket to see if I might recognize it, I saw a small dish. Someone must have left this little family on a blanket with a little food or water.

We are waiting on naming them in case someone comes forward to claim them, but it doesn't look promising. It's a little scary to know that someone we don't know has been in our yard. The outhouse is pretty tucked away, so either someone knew it was there or kind of searched around for a somewhat secluded spot to drop these guys. And if it was someone we know, why not just say something to us? We would help find a good home for them.

My only concern with keeping them is that we have a strict spay/neuter policy in our yard. There are way too many "extra" animals in this world that just get dropped off in someone's yard. (i.e. this family) If we are to keep them, we want them fixed. I am planning to check with the Humane Society to see if they have any grants or assistance programs for something like this. I'm not opposed to the costs of shots and feeding them, it's just the $200 per cat to have them fixed that I have a problem with. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, if you know of anyone who wants/needs a kitty, just let me know. Or if you know of a program to help with the cost of spay/neutering.

So, finally, here are a few pictures of the little cuties on the heated bed. Enjoy!

PS - Karli is recovering very well. She now has a bit of a stuffy nose, but is back to eating normally for the most part and back to dance and PE today.

Outta Here

2008-01-10T13:53:00.000-06:00

Karli's tonsils are officially gone. Her surgery was this morning. It took about 30 minutes. We had to stay at the Surgicenter for a couple hours after that so they could see that she was able to drink and go potty. All went well. We are to expect several days of feeling yucky. Here are the photos we took with my phone (I forgot the real camera, sorry.)

This was taken before the nerves set in:

She took a picture of my booties. I was able to stay with her until she fell asleep.
Twins!

Sleepy girl...

Happy Half Birthday, Megan

2008-01-08T20:55:00.001-06:00

January 9th is Miss Megan's half-birthday. She will be 9 1/2 officially tomorrow. Yahoo!!! She's bringing treats to school and she is also the Student of the Week for her class. Here are her favorites:

Color: sky blue

Food: corn dogs

Sport: dance

Subject in school: science

Thing about herself: her drawings & her talent for dancing

I Love You!

Wii the People

2008-01-05T20:23:00.000-06:00

I think all five of us would say our best Christmas present this year was the Wii. I think someone has played every day. I have only missed a couple days at most since Christmas. It's nice that we can all five play. Nater is our best bowler with a high score of 223. I earned a 219 with a six-pack (strikes not abs, like Megs suggested).

We all created Mii's to look quite like us. Here we are:

(Megs, Karli, me, Nater & Jon)

For New Year's Eve, we went up to Minot and brought the Wii with us. We hooked it up to Mel & Jay's tv, and when Matt and Tara arrived with their kids, we set up a Mii for each of them. Matt was very creative with his Mii. He is always having fun anyway, but here is what he created for his character named "Affropuff":

Toothless

2008-01-04T22:03:00.000-06:00

Nater finally pulled out his first loose tooth. It has been hanging on for the past couple weeks. He bumped it with a book tonight right before bed time. That sent him in to a holy fit because he was so scared that it would hurt to pull the tooth out. It was bleeding a little, so he had a wet paper towel and he decided to try to pull it out. Ta-dah! "Wow, that didn't even hurt." He's going to a birthday party tomorrow at Snooper's so I'm glad it came out at home instead of trying to find it in the maze of play areas.

Now we'll have to see what the Tooth Fairy will bring for him.

My Christmas Gift

2007-12-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

This is one of the coolest gifts I got for Christmas this year. The photo is not my actual ring, but I found the website to copy the picture for my post. I have wanted a mother's ring for a long time. This one is very nice - it even has two black hills gold leaves. Jon's mom helped to order it and make it a surprise for me. (It takes a bit of work to get a surprise over on me - I usually have to know everything that's going on.) So when she was ordering, she realized there was room for seven stones. She entered the birthstones for Jon, Megs, Karli, Nate and me and then decided to add two "diamonds" for the twins I miscarried before Megs was born. That makes it even more special! Of course, I cried.

Thanks to my wonderful family for the wonderful gift of my best job ever - mother!

It Was A Good Christmas

2007-12-26T11:06:00.000-06:00

Well, we survived the big day. Unfortuately, I got so wrapped up in the making of rolladen that I forgot to grab the camera. Sorry, Shari! I'll work hard to remember it next time we make it. :(

Jon and the kids surprised me with a wonderful gift this year. He and his mom worked together to order a Mother's ring for me. It has two black hills gold leaves on it and seven stones. The birth stones are for me, Jon, Megs, Bug, & Nater, and then two more "diamonds" for the twins I miscarried 11 years ago. It is very special to have them included in my family ring.

Santa brought good stuff for the kids. Nate got his remote control jeep - which he had to drive outside while he was still in his pajamas! Karli didn't know what to ask for, so she got an MP3 player - hot pink - and loves it. Megs was only asking for a Nintendo DS, but Santa must have known that Uncle Bear was getting the kids a Wii (remember the post about the lucky find?) because he brought her the High School Musical Sing It game for the Wii.

Every year we say we're going to slow down on the gifts we buy, but it was another huge pile of presents. I sure count my blessings that we are able to do the things we want and that we are healthy.

Here's a wish that you all have continued good health and happiness for 2008!

Family for the Holidays

2007-12-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

We have a full house now for the holidays. My brother from Denver arrived yesterday afternoon. He'll fly out the afternoon of the 25th. Jon went up to Garrison to pick up his mom yesterday. We were having a mini blizzard, but he went anyway. He said the roads were dry and mostly clear so it was no problem. Grandma will stay until the 25th also. Then Megs gets to go home with her for a few days. They are both so excited!

This afternoon my mom and I will be starting the preparations for our traditional Christmas dinner - rolladen. I'll take some photos of the process for a post.

Happy Winter!

Christmases Past

2007-12-18T20:47:00.001-06:00

Here are some previous attempts to visit Santa at the Mall.

2001:

Bug was a little scared that day. Megs looked so sweet and innocent. Ah, the good old days...

Here is 2004:

Nate wasn't just a little scared, he threw a full-on fit. Again, Megs was ever the sweet little angel in the scene. Notice the serene smile on my face. It was there because I knew someday the time would come when I would show him what a pill he was that day. I don't even recognize the man's hand on the left. It doesn't look like Jon's. Must have been one of the elves.

The only reason I don't have a photo like this of Megs, is because when she was that scared, she was an only child and we didn't even take her to see him that year. Hope everyone can enjoy their trips to see Santa as much as I have.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

2007-12-17T07:37:00.001-06:00

We finally were able to go visit the big guy. The kids all made their requests, we got 3 cute pictures and we were off to Grizzly's for supper. There wasn't even a line to wait. The crew working were all about 16 except for one lady. They did a nice job. I'll scan some past photos of our visits to share next time. They haven't all been so smiley...

A Busy Week

2007-12-15T23:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. I think there are only two people out there reading my blog, but I have been swamped this past week. Life should be slowing down a little - only a little - after today. I think today was the busiest day our family has had in a long time.

Last night our good friends from Minot were down for a swim meet today. After the Christmas Contata at church, we hung out here. The other two moms and I played a game and visited while the guys watched some movie on tv. A fun evening!

So this morning started the busy day. Mel & Tara and their families needed to be up about 6:00 to get ready for the swim meet. Two of the little ones woke up about 5:00 instead of savoring that hour of glorious sleep. So anyway, they made it out of the house by about 7:30. I finally dragged my butt out of bed by about 8:30. The five of us made it through showers and all the daily get-up to be out of the house shortly after 10 for the girls' piano recital. They did a great job. We forgot the camera so I can't share any pics. Sorry. After that, we grabbed lunch and headed back home to prepare a surprise birthday party for my dad. He turned 65 today! Wow - that doesn't seem quite as old as it used to.

About 2:45 Bug and I left to sing for church. Jon took Megs to her dance performance at 4:30. Bug and I went to watch the dance, but just missed it. They close the doors while each team performs so we couldn't tell who was dancing as we arrived, but they came out just as we were about to walk in. Oh well, there will be other shows to see.

So we got back home by about 5:30. Then we headed to Johnny Carino's for supper about 6:15 or so. Bad idea with 6 kids 9 and under with a projected 45 min to an hour wait. The good news is that they under promised and over delivered. We only waited about 15-20 minutes for a table of 11! Good food, good friends, all in all a good day.

We all rolled out of the restaurant since we were so stuffed. I think we had 6 or 7 to go boxes. That must be some kind of record or something.

Tomorrow is a light day with only a Christmas carol sing-a-long at Sunday School and the lovely piles of laundry calling me. I'll be glad to sit around folding clothes all day if I don't have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Good night!

What a Lucky Duck!

2007-12-05T10:34:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law happened to be in the right place and the right time - twice! She is an expert shopper of Christmas gifts and found what we have been looking for. I can't say what it is here because my kids like to check out my blog, so if you want to know, you'll have to email me and I'll let you know.

We had given up hope of finding this special much-desired item. Then Michelle saved Christmas for us. Oh happy day!!

Winter Wonderland

2007-12-01T10:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Megs asked if I knew when we would have about 2 inches of snow because she couldn't wait to go sledding. Well, ask and ye shall receive:

O Tannenbaum

2007-11-27T21:33:00.001-06:00

It's funny, but for all the singing I do, I don't really know the english words to "Oh Christmas Tree." When I was little and learning to play piano, I would play a few simple Christmas carols on Christmas Eve while my family stood around and sang along. Since my dad grew up in Germany, he always sang his favorites - Silent Night and Christmas Tree - in German. It is a tradition that has gone by the wayside for awhile, but I think it might be coming back since our girls are now taking piano lessons. We'll just have to see...

Merry Christmas

2007-11-26T12:58:00.001-06:00

We survived the weekend with 20 some people at our house. I think everyone had a fun time. Oma, my aunt and I took seven kids (9 and under) up to Garrison for the big Dickens festival. (and we got to visit Grandma) I was kind of disappointed that they didn't have more activities going on for a Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't too bad. The kids all behaved. We had my three, my niece, nephew and our two God-daughters from Minot with us. We got to have lunch in Ye Olde Malt Shoppe, saw the Queen Elizabus, and the horse drawn trailer rides. We hit the dollar store and headed back home. Check out the Dickens Festival here.

Sunday we got our tree up and decorated and all the decorations out. I love Christmas! I'll try to get a photo added soon. In the meantime, enjoy the last few days of November.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T14:03:00.000-06:00

We all seem to be on the road to health. Bug's cough is finally almost gone and she is getting back to normal eating. Megs and Mr. Man are holding strong and not getting the cold symptoms she had so it looks like it should be a good weekend.

I'll be cooking the traditional meal tomorrow for 14 people and adding about 5 more for the weekend of "St. Sausage Day".

Travel safely if you are on the road this weekend. Here is a poem I received today. I'm passing on the wishes to you:

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump.

May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump,

May your yams be delicious, may your pies take the prize,

May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs!

On the Mend?

2007-11-16T10:19:00.000-06:00

Well, we've officially made it more than 24 hours now without puking at our house. Bug has even eaten a little bit since her shot yesterday afternoon. She doesn't even feel the injection site unless she touches it and it's not red or hot or anything like I expected it to be. Good news for her. She is, however, coughing a lot. The Robitussin works well, but we can tell exactly when it wears off. She went to school today for the first time all week. She's been good about doing her homework each day a little bit so she shouldn't be too far behind.

Wow! I've had a long month this week. Happy Friday!!!

Both Ends

2007-11-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

This story actually begins with last Saturday. Our second child (we affectionately call her "Bug" - 7 years old) was sporting a little rash just below her neck. My keen mother sense went into overdrive and I started checking throats for signs of strep. Sure enough, Bug's throat had little white spots.

Hmmm, what to do? The after hours clinic was already closed, not urgent enough for an ER visit, so we just decided to go in to the clinic Sunday morning. I had all three kids swabbed just in case they share the germs better than they share toys. My mom (Oma) had a scratchy throat also, so she tagged along. I took the kids directly to the lab while Oma went in to see the on-call doc. All three came back negative! Wow - I was surprised. In the mean time, Oma had been diagnosed with sinus infection and the start of bronchitis - and she wasn't the one we thought was sick! Anyway, I still had Bug and Mr. Man (our 5-year-old) seen by the doc working with kids and she said it's just viral. Treat it with tylenol and cough syrup and be on our way. She was really nice and good with the kids, so I trusted her. Silly me.

So, Oma is on her power antibiotics, my kids are supposedly in the clear with just a little cough, so we decide to pack up and head to visit my Grandmother in the nursing home in Wahpeton and stay in a hotel with a pool. Fun! Bug was a little laid back, not swimming as much as the other two, but not too bad.

We stopped at Olive Garden in Fargo on our way home Monday and got a message from the nurse to call back. Finally at 3:30 (after we were home again) the nurse calls back and tells me what I knew all along that Bug's gunk had grown out into strep. They called in the prescription and I asked for pills since the kids learned how to swallow them this summer.

The end of the story??? Not by a long shot!

Since the medicine hadn't had a chance to work long enough for Bug to not be contagious, she couldn't go to school on Tuesday. I stayed home in the morning and Jon (my dear hubby) was able to work his schedule to come home at lunch time. It felt like playing hooky since Bug and I baked bars, played Uno and SkipBo, and had "salon time" where I did her hair - all before noon. She was feeling fine. Daddy came home, she took her third pill, some cough syrup and took a nap. We thought she was on the mend so sent her to dance class since she has a performance this coming Saturday. Between dance and piano lessons, we grabbed her a cheeseburger and pop. She hadn't eaten lunch, and then she only ate about half of the burger, but proceeded to puke at the piano teacher's house. Ewwww!

Jon and I were out at trivia night, so Oma picked up the girls from piano and got the kids to bed. Able to arrange for a sub, Jon stayed home with Bug Wednesday and he cleaned the house all day - what a guy!! By 9:00, Bug had thrown up again so I called the doc we had seen at the after hours clinic, but she was out until Thursday. Our regular pediatrician was out until Friday. I was able to contact another doctor who called in a prescription for the liquid amoxicillin which Bug had not reacted to previously. By evening, she was tired out, but no more pukes so we're in the clear, right?

Wrong! This morning she had a nice shower, cough syrup, the liquid meds, and a little cereal. So we're off to drop off Mr. Man at day care and she complains about not feeling well. She ended up running to the bathroom and throwing up again! This time we had the added fun of diarrhea too. We dropped Megs (9 year old big sister) at school, stopped by my office, and headed home. I'm starting to think she has my stomach for drugs. The last two times I had amoxicillin (supposedly a very mild and easy to take drug) I puked like five times after taking just the first dose.

She is scheduled to see yet another different doctor today at 12:50. I'll keep you posted with what we find out.

Update 2:30pm: We went in for a shot in the leg. The nurse said Bug did the best of any kid she's EVER had to give this shot to. Then she almost fainted. I guess the worry and hype of getting a shot was too much for her.

Thanks for stopping by

2007-11-13T11:18:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking of starting a blog and finally got to it. Thanks to my friend Shari for giving me some questions to get me started:

1) what made you decide to start a blog?
I read several blogs daily and thought it would be a fun way to share what happens in my life with my friends out there in cyberspace.

2) where’s the nickname boner come from?
That is one nickname that not many people in my life today are aware of. It all started sophomore year in high school (1987). Almost everyday for lunch Dan, Shari and I would drive to McDonald's in my Renault LeCar. I don't have a vivid memory of exactly how it started, but it was something about rhyming Mone Bone and it turned into Boner. It really stuck for the rest of high school and today Shari, Brandon, Carolyn (and evidently Shari's family) are the only ones who use it. Maybe Shari can elaborate more...

3) what would you do if you won the lottery?
Pay off all of my bills and then go on a cruise or some kind of great vacation.

4) if you could have any career in the world, what would it be?
A back up singer for someone famous. I wouldn't want to be the headliner because there is so much pressure and publicity for that person. The back up singers get to be a part of the show, tours, etc but don't have to be quite so much in the lime light.

5) if you could choose any career in the world for your children, what would you like them to be? Cheesy answer - whatever they want to be. Real answer - something that makes them happy and rich at the same time. Money isn't everything, but it sure helps.

6) chocolate or vanilla?
Definitely chocolate and always has been since I was little.