Christmas Gift

This is what my husband gave me for Christmas. If you are really nice I will share it with you.

Do you feel the love?

He couldn't wait for me to open it.

Mikkena's to do list

Mikkena woke up this morning with a long list of what she wanted to do today. I am not sure why, but folding laundry and cleaning out the pencil/pen drawer were top on the list.

I am having a hard time getting my to do lists started. I guess she is just trying to get me motivated. Maybe I should send her to the store to get our Christmas shopping done.

Art

I love this picture that Mikkena made for me.

There is something about child artwork that makes me smile.

My favorite Anniversary card

I found this card for Tim a few years ago. I just love it.

When I found it our anniversary was 11 months away, but I just had to buy it.

I have it posted by my desk.

Still funny after all those years.

Eatting while Hungry

Its 10:45pm and we just just got home from Cub. Its been a long day and I guess I didn't feed myself very well. You know what they say about shopping while your hungry. Well, I really didn't buy too much junk food. My problem...... I lost my self control once I got home.
I ate 8 pieces of honey ham, 1/4 jar of Zinger sweet & hot pickles and part of a M&M cookie. Can you say stomach ache!!

I put away everything that needs to be in the fridge or freezer; the rest can wait until the morning. I am going to bed. What kinda of dreams to you get from ham, pickles and m&m cookies. Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Winter

I am not a huge fan of Winter, but these are my favorite kind of mornings.

Years ago one of the children wondered how glitter got sprinkled over everything. (Kelli was right- you need to right these things down. You think you will remember who said it and how, but that's not how it works.).

Christmas hair

Here is the Christmas hair-do.

The green looks better in real life.

The colors aren't as bright as usual because we didn't re-bleach it.

bears, beets....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wNEr92GJug

My husband

Tim wanted me to blog tonight. This is what he wanted me to say:



Bears

Beets

Battlestar Galactica

Looking to borrow a book.

If you give your teenager too much space your ignoring her.
If you try to interact with her she says your bugging her and tells you to go away.

Does anyone have an extra Teenage How To Manual ? I seem to have misplaced mine.

A Few Thoughts

1. Most of my Christmas decorations have glue holding them together. I can't tell you how many heads I have glued back on just this last week. Those poor wise men just don't have strong necks.

2. If you want to know when we are getting a lot of snow (You know- enough to have to plow the driveway) just call and ask if my husband is out of town. If he is gone, then Yes we are getting lots.

3. When I plow the driveway it doesn't look anything like it does when Tim does it. I am sure he will laugh when he sees it. It's way harder to plow than I thought it would be. (It was kind of fun though- but I was a little nervous that I would break his 4-wheeler )

4. I can think of lots of things to blog about, until my fingers are touching the keyboard.

Bad day

Having a bad day today.

The kind of day that you question if your capable of raising children.

Seriously, I am not sure I can do this.

Ps: Mom: I am so sorry for all the things I said and did as a teenager. To think I could have ever made you feel as bad as I do right now makes me feel terrible.

The Kid's rooms III

This is Mikale's room. 5 1/2 years ago when we moved he wanted a "Jungle Room". The top part is blue (Sky), the bottom part is green bush like. You can't really see it, but in between is a jungle border that is very cute. Mikale has wanted to re-paint is room for the last year or so. He wants to paint it Camouflage. We will probably try to re-paint it. Mikale does a pretty good job at keeping his room clean, so it wasn't too hard to get ready. Mikale is NOT a collector, sometimes I have to encourage him to keep things.

The Kid's rooms II

Here is Megan's Room. This was the easiest room. Megan does a great job keeping her room clean and organized. A few years ago she took all her toys out of her room and gave them to Mikkena (toy horses, barn, stuffed animals.. etc.)

The Kid's rooms

Here are 2 different views of Mikkena's Room. This was the most difficult room to get ready.

Can we say :Too many little toys?

Polly Pockets, Little Pet Shop Animals........and so on. Mikkena is a collector and doesn't like to throw anything away. I just packed tons of stuff into boxes, and put them in the closet.

House Cleaner

I have been cleaning, organizing and so on for the last 2 weeks. Getting the house picture perfect. The idea of someone coming to take pictures to post on the Internet just freaks me out! Just what every women wants- photos of their homemaking skills posted for the world to see. Well I am done- the Realtor came- photos were taken. Thank Goodness!! I think my children were about to have me committed. So how tacky would it be to post photos of my EXTREMLY clean house on my blog? I am not sure I can ever get it this clean ever again!! Someone come buy my house!

To do list

Mowing the grass one last time was on Tim's to do list today. Here he is! The kids were mad because he is recking the snow.

funny card

Here is a link to a funny card. Once it gets you to the cartoon office then click on play. I hope this works!

http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=3703072594482M219398916Y&product_id=

I would be fired!!

If blogging were my job I would be fired!!!! As soon as life throws me a twist my blog writing shuts down. I want to blog, but my words just don't come out right and I am afraid I will say something stupid.

Anyway here is the update for the last 2 1/2 weeks (stupid or not):

*we have been looking at houses-kinda fun but this takes a long time

*we have been trying to clean and organize the house-Not fun! and this takes a long time.

*Tim was out of town the week that we had Realtors come out- A little weird to have strangers coming through the house without him here.

* My little 3 pound Yorkie died. - she was only a year and a half years old- Tim was out of town.- We all took it very hard.

*My brother ,Scott, and his wife ,Jen, came from Alaska for a visit.- Was nice, but I was very sick the day they came.

* I have been to the Dr. 3 times to figure out my stomach pain. So far nothing is wrong. Which is good, but it doesn't stop the pain. Doctor now wants to shove a camera down my throat. I think I will try something else first!!!! Yikes!!!

* Mikkena had her 6th Birthday! She is bugging me to plan a "friend" party and I can't seem to pull that together.

*A teenage cousin on my Dad's side of the family committed suicide. The funeral was very sad.

*One of Megan's dogs had a litter of puppies.

*Megan and I spent last week-end at a Dog show in Bloomington.

*The house is now listed and the sign should go up in the yard any day now. The idea of getting it "show" ready freaks me out. We have a long list of projects that should get done. Normally a list of projects gets me going. However, right now it seems to be making me want to crawl into bed. (I use sleep as an escape, Hey at least its legal!!).

Well, I guess that's about it. Please don't fire me. I will (with God's grace) pull it together and be a better blog friend!

The Big News

Well, we have finally made a decision. After many months of kicking around the idea of moving back to town we have decided to do it. I have been totally preoccupied with that thought for a long time. It feels good to have finally come up with an answer. There are so many factors involved in the decision. We really like our house, we really like all the space and beauty of the country. However; the driving is killing me. I figure if we lived in Hudson I will save minimally 7 hours a week. That is a lot of time!! There are just a few items to figure out. Megan probably has to sell some of her dogs and horses. We will hopefully be able to board one horse close to where we will live. (Where?... who knows!). I am a little stressed at the whole thought of it all, but for the most part I am relieved that we have made a decision. Does anyone know of a good Realtor?

Will we ever see the sun again?

Everybody Sing:

Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...
These little children Are asking you
To please come out So we can play with you
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me!
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...
These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on me!

My "Mc" Children part 2

After I posted that last photo I thought it would be fun to put a "now" photo next to the "Then".

My "Mc" Children

This is one of my favorite photos. Not that it is such a great photo of Mikkena, but I love Mikale peeking over the top. Since Mikkena will be turning 6 in 11 short days this was taken some time ago.

It's a GoComics postcard!

It's a GoComics postcard!

Here, this should be the one I was talking about.

This could be my kids!

http://www.gocomics.com/adamathome/

What on earth were you thinking?

There are many titles you could come up with for this video.

Here are just a few:

1. That's what you get.

2. Won't your family be proud.

3. Thats gotta hurt.

4. Now you'll be the butt of the jokes at the office.

Please feel free to add your own.

Rabies Awarness Day

Here are some more photos of our summer vacation. The kids made friends with a little chipmunk. At one point Mikale was laying on his back and the little chipmunk would climb on his chest and eat peanuts.

After watching last weeks episode of "The Office" I realize now what a terrible mother I am. I endangered my children's lives by allowing them to play with the wildlife.

Sidenote: You can burn 767 calories by watching 3 old episodes of the office while exercising on your cross trainer. One episode without commercials is 23 minutes long. 3 episodes 69 minutes. As soon as I receive season 2 I will see how many calories I can burn while still enjoying the show. (new goal!)

Summer vacation Part2

Bayfield/Apostle Islands:

Here we are on a tour of a light house. We rode in a boat over to Raspberry Island. On the island was a house that the light keeper lived in. The Park service has just finish renovating the house and it looked beautiful!! The house was renovated to perfectly represent the year 1924. It was fun to think that my grandpa was 20 years old during that time and my grandma was 11.

While we were there took a 2 mile hike to a beach on the other side of the island. The water was very clear but a little chilly! Over all a great day!

Friendly Campground

We went on a family vacation this summer. The first part of our trip was at a campground in Bayfield, WI. The owner of the campground wasn't a real friendly guy. He handed Tim a long list of rules then proceeded to circle and underline some of the most important ones. I wish I would have saved the list! It was so unfriendly that I had to laugh. We were a little scared that we might break a rule and get kicked out!! We just had to take a few photos of some of the signs posted around the campground. To be honest, we made sure the owner didn't notice us taking the photos.

A few other important points of interest at this campground:

1. It cost $1.00 to take a 5 minute shower. (the first day I spent 3 dollars for me and Mikkena to get done with our shower).

2. We saw no wild life at all living in this campground. (not even a squirrel)

3. The playground was 2 swings and some funky slide that didn't work.

Thankful Thursday

Here are a few items that I am thankful for:

1. Kleenex with lotion in them (so soft on the nose)!

2. Tylenol Sinus medication.

3. Friends that take care of me when I don't feel well.

4.Children that can be nice to me when they really have to.


How I know I am feeling better:
1. I don't tell my children every 3 minutes that they are talking too loud.
2. I have a huge cold sore on my lip (I get these at the end of every cold I get).
3. For the first time in 10 plus days I can smell and taste. (this is a mixed blessing because I can now taste the florescent green snot that is draining from my sinuses-- Yuck!!!)

Photo Day

Back by popular request:

Here are the latest hair creations.

The checker-board one may be my favorite.

So much for Multi-Tasking

So here I sit at gymnastics and I thought to my self. “Good time to blog”. I enjoy reading everyone’s blogs. In fact, on a bad day I will stop what I am doing so I can check on my blog friends. You guys are very funny and bring a smile to my face. Even the serious blog days are good for my sagging mood. I have not been able to make time in my day to write on my own blog and have felt guilty about it. So I have made a plan to write while I sit at gymnastics. I don’t normally bring my computer with me. Well, for some reason I can read everyone blogs, but I can’t make comments or make a post in my own blog. Why would that be? My connection is low could it be that?

So I guess I will write out my entry and post it later.

Today is day 9 of my cold. I finally surrendered - I went to the Doctor! Have I mentioned that I hate going to the Doctor? Well, I Hate going to the Doctor!!! I will only go if I am near death. So my head was going to explode and florescent green snot was coming out of my nose. I have a sinus infection and an ear infection. So antibiotics for me!! The exciting thing about the whole thing is what happened at the Pharmacy. My insurance company would only pay for 3 days of antibiotics and the Dr. wanted me to take 5 days. (Some day I will blog on the love I have for Insurance companies). Well, the super nice pharmacist said “Sometimes in life things happen that you shouldn’t ask questions about…How hot dogs are made, where babies come from, and how 5 days worth of pills got into your pill container”. Wasn’t that wonderful? I swear I would have burst into tears if I would have gotten a hassle. I thanked him numerous times, but I am not sure he understood how wonderful his actions were. (Maybe I looked sooooo bad that he was afraid of me?) I will always go to that Pharmacy!!!

Homeschool Week 2 Day 3

Study topic for today: "Survival Tactics on an Island or The Wisdom of Gilligan".

I am sure there might be some report they could come up with after watching countless hours of Gilligan's Island. Mikkena and I have been fighting colds (I don't think we are winning!!). On Monday we layed around all afternoon and evening watching TV (mostly Gulligan's Island). Since then she calls everyone "little buddy" and talks of being rescued. As I tried to catch up on my blog reading today the older kids joined Mikkena in her quest for survival skills. I am sure I could get a great report on.....

6 people who I would like to be on an island with.
10 things I would like to have if I were stuck on an island.
10 reasons why Gilligan would have been kicked off the island.
Why my Mom sucks at Homeschooling?

What do you think? That's educational right?

fireworks

Pretty Cookies for sale

It's Wednesday night and I am up late baking chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Our extended family is having a garage sale (not at my house) and it starts tomorrow. Mikkena really wanted to set up her own little table and sell something. So here I am baking at midnight.

It's been interesting - very quiet- no one fighting over who gets to lick the spoon or the bowl. Yes, I do have a tummy ache. I not only got to eat lots of dough, (no one to share with) I got to lick the bowl and spoons all by my self. (twice)

I made 2 different recipes. One off the oatmeal box and one off the chocolate chip bag. I was very surprised at how very different the recipes were. The main ingredient from the oatmeal box was oatmeal. The main ingredient from the Choc. chip bag was chocolate chips-----Surprise!!!

I had a little problem with the second batch. I didn't have enough brown sugar, so I put in a little extra regular sugar. My eggs were kinda small so I put in 3 rather than 2. Oh, its late so I am not sure if I measured correctly. Welllllll.. when it was time to put the dough into little balls my mixture looked like half cooked oatmeal...very runny! I added a little of this and a little of that and it started to look better. I tasted it.. it tasted fine. So off to the oven with the little runny balls.

They turned out fine. The first batch/recipe looks very pretty. The second batch are not pretty , but they have twice the amount of chocolate chips in them.

Now this "Pretty cookies" idea is something I didn't understand when I was little. My Grandma and I would bake cookies all the time. She would comment on if they were pretty or not. If we shared cookies with neighbors or friends they would get the pretty ones and we would keep the others. When you are little, cookies are just cookies and they are yummy to eat. But now as an adult I understand my Grandma's idea of "pretty cookies". When I do a cookie exchange at Christmas time I only use the pretty ones for the exchange.

So Mikkena will sell the "pretty" ones and my family will eat the others!

Now you are in trouble!!

Mikkena was really worried this morning.

She finally asked me if she would get into trouble and have to say she was sorry for something that happened in her dream.

With out laughing (this was so hard) I asked her what she had done in her dream.

She said she had a dream about playing with a friend. In the dream she hit her friend.

She seemed relieved to know that she wasn't going to get into trouble.

She must dream like I do. When I dream it seems so very real. My Grandpa was like that too. I don't need to go to the movies I just need to go to sleep and I am entertained.

Photo Day

I am trying to get back into the swing of things. So here are some fun photos.

We just did Mikale's hair. This is what we call the "Lava" look. We did it just in time for Sonshine. You can't tell from the back but there is red on the top of his head.

Mikkena had to have this new shirt. Here she is posing with her Dad.

Made New

My Grandma Grace is now in Heaven. It has been a challenging few weeks. She actually passed on June 14. We spent the last 5 days & nights at her bed side.

There are tons of wonderful things I can share with you but I will start with this:

Mikkena knows that grandma knew Jesus and that she would go to heaven when she died. I was worried that she would get confused at the funeral visitation that Grandma was still here. So, I made sure we talked about leaving the "old" body here and getting a new one in heaven.
At the visitation Mikkena and I walked up to the coffin and she said, "Yep, that kinda looks like Grandma" then she paused a minute. Then she said " Do we get to see her new body?" I told her that we would have to wait until it was our turn to go to heaven. She was a little disappointed that she had to wait. She is so very excited that Grandma got to go to heaven. It seems a little strange to have her so happy about something that makes most people cry.

Puzzle

Sometimes talking with Mikkena is like putting a puzzle together.

We were in the van yesterday, she was telling me a story about one of her friends....

"Mom, one of my friends has a brother that is mean"

"Oh really, what does he do?"

"He tells her he has something for her, then he scares her"

"Oh, that's not very nice. What friend is that?"

"I don't remember her name. She came to our house once for a party."

So now I go through my brain thinking who it could be.

Then she adds, "Her name is not Sari and her name is not Hannah".

This is a weird clue because Sari is not her friend she is Megan's friend and Hannah is not a friend she is a cousin. So tick tick tick goes my brain to figure this one out.

Megan finally says "Mom I think she means Sarah. The first part of Sari and the last part of Hannah."

Mikkena agrees "Yep it's Sarah".

Mystery solved!

How old are you?

Do you ever look at your kids and wonder how they could possibly have gotten that old. Now I realize 5 1/2 isn't old, but I swear it feels like Mikkena should still be a baby or toddler. Today Mikkena used the term 24/7. She was again commenting on the rain. She said "it's been raining 24/7". I just thought it seemed like a funny thing for her to say.

We are not even going to try to figure where the years went with Megan. How she could be turning 14 in just a few weeks is a mystery to me. Thank God..."Thank you God" that she isn't into the same interests I was at that same age.

Now the lady in the mirror...who is she? I hear her 20 year High school reunion is also in a few weeks. Weird!!!!

Is it Summer yet?

Yesterday Mikkena asked me "what if it never stops raining". I told her it would stop. But today I am wondering..... It feels like we haven't seen the sun for weeks!! Even Megan and Mikale are feeling the blues. They rap up in their fuzzy blankets and just stare out the window.

My Grandma is now on oxygen and will be moving to a nursing home on Friday.

I finally figured out the Summer extra curricular schedule for the kids. I was struggling to get 3 children to their different activities. I think I got it all worked out. Yay !!!!

Where have you been?

Well, I guess I have waited long enough for a comment from Jon Bon Jovi. I guess he doesn't read my blog.

I have been busy with end of the school year stuff and my Grandma. So out goes the blogging.

My grandma has taken ill. (heart, lungs and water retention problems). She is 94 years old and up until now has been in really good health. She has been living in an apartment and now she needs to go to a nursing home. She seems okay with that. She knows she can't take care of herself anymore. I thought about having her come live with us, but I am not sure that would be any help. We are on the run for hours at a time. Plus. we might be a little difficult to live with (its not very quiet around here).

I have been thinking about my Grandma a lot lately and will post soon about some of my favorite things/memories about her. She is a wonderful Grandma and Great Grandma. I love her very much. Of her 4 Grandchildren only 2 of us have children. However, both of us have named children after her. (Mikkena Grace and Emma Grace).

Hopefully I'll Be back soon.

Dear Mr. Bon Jovi

I should have written to Jon years ago to thank him for helping me meet my husband, but I guess now is as good of time as any.

This photo is from 1987. I looked for a current photo of him but didn't have much luck. I did find video though. I personally think he is even better looking now. Did you see him on American Idol a few weeks ago. Wow!!!

I saw him in concert 20 years ago. Yep 20 years. How it could feel like just yesterday and feel like a different life all at the same time. I don't remember any details of the Bon Jovi the concert, but then again I know I saw lots of concerts that I don't remember. (Ronny James Dio, Twisted Sister, Poison just to name a few). Anyway I am getting side tracked.

I didn't actually meet Jon, nor did he actually introduce Tim and I. Like I said I went to a Bon Jovi concert, I guess I bought a T-shirt. One day during my 2nd year at college I was wearing my t-shirt. I was sitting in my RA's room. (her name is Holly). Holly's boyfriend (Todd) came in and saw my shirt. Todd knew I was single and preceded to tell me I should meet his friend Tim. I told him "No Thanks". (I did not want a boy friend I was happy being single). Well, Holly and Todd didn't take no for an answer. They sneakily set up a blind date. They invited my over to have dinner one night. After they knew I was coming then they told me Tim would be there. I almost didn't go just because they were being so sneaky. We ate Spaghetti and went bowling. Tim and I hit it off right away and the rest is History.

So this is for you Jon. In the form of a Haiku

Dear Mr. Jon Bon Jovi
Thanks for helping me find Tim
Rock on Dude, Rock on.

I sure wish I would have kept that t-shirt. Wouldn't that have been fun.

The New Do

So here is the new hair do. It only took us 4 days to get done. Things are so crazy around here we had to do it in stages.
Day one : hair cut
Day two: bleached it blond
Day three: too busy we'll get to it tomorrow
Day four: put in the color

Note: We stained the shower extremely bad when washing hair for the first time. Thankfully some Clorox bleach got it clean. I wish I would have taken a photo of the shower, but I was so freaked out that I hurried to clean it before Tim saw it.

Oh my, what did you do?

This photos are from when Mikkena was 3 years old. As you can see she thought it would be fun to paint herself. I could not include all of the photos I took. She removed all of her clothes and painted some interesting body parts. There are still little paint foot prints on the floor in the basement and going up the wooden steps. Mikkena was on of those toddlers that you couldn't leave alone for any length of time. If you didn't see her and you couldn't hear her-- you were in for some serious cleaning.

My first 2 children did not prepare me at all for the antics of number 3.

Honey don't go!!!

Tim is out of town again. He left Sunday morning. He travels a lot so I am getting used to it. My problem is that I am starting to see a pattern of big events happen when he is gone.
2 weeks ago it was my van breaking down. Last night it was a visit to the emergency room.

Mikale has not been feeling well for the last 4 or 5 days. So last night (this morning) at 1am he woke up in extreme pain. He can put up with a lot of pain, so I got worried when he was so overwhelmed with pain. So off to the ER. Mikkena woke up during the commotion and didn't want to stay home with Megan so she came with too.

They gave him an IV and ran some blood tests. They figured it was gastroenteritis (an irritation of the stomach/intestines. After filling him with fluids and seeing that he could hold down a Popsicle they sent us home. The 3 of us were climbing back into our own bed at 5:30am.

Mikkena talked on and on during the whole visit. I am not a very patient Mom during the hours I am suppose to be sleeping. I am also not very quick with brain function. The hospital staff as a million questions and sometimes I had to think about the answer a little harder then I would have during daylight hours. I wonder what they think. Sometimes I feel like I am being evaluated when I go to the doctor or hospital.

Mikale seems better. I worry about him when he gets so sick. He is so skinny. He doesn't have any fat reserves to depend on when he can't/won't eat. Too bad I can't donate some of my fat reserves (you know like donating blood).

Megadoodle

Here is a photo of Megan, Samson (dog) and the judge of the trial. She competed in another AKC obedience trial. She came in 2nd place with a score of 195 (out of 200). This was their 3rd qualifying score so Samson has his CD title (companion dog). It is fun for me to see Megan do well in something she loves to do. I am very proud of her and all the hard work she does to train her dogs. Its also fun to see her compete against adults and hold her own. Its kinda funny the other adults don't seem to talk to her at all until they see her in the ring. Then they see that she knows what she is doing and are interested in talking with her. She doesn't seem to get nervous and really has a great time.

Megan's Nickname: Megadoodle came from when she was about 2 years old. For what ever reason her Grandma Florence thought her name was Mega. We thought it was kinda funny that she called her Mega. Then one day when Megan was playing with a Magna-doodle toy I just though of Mega-doodle.

On Fire

This was Mikale's last hair dye job. I have wanted to post this for weeks, but I didn't know how. I should go back and do a "year in review" of his hair. We are stuck on what to do next. Feel free to give us any ideas you may have. We have 7 or 8 different colors to work with.

Balding for apples

Here are some great photos of Mikkena. She was balding for apples. I have no idea why she thought it was "balding" rather than "bobbing". She spent about 3o minutes practicing. I guess she wants to be up on her skills just in case there is a "bobbing" contest sometime soon.
She didn't think of the goggles until she was almost done.

Thanks to Tim for helping me figure out how to post a photo. Now the trick will be if I can remember how to do it my self.

Needing some zzzzzzs

I am not getting enough sleep. For the last week or so I have been sleeping very badly. When I am stressed my brain will not turn off at night, then I just can't sleep. Then my bed is being weird. My sleep number is 85 and after being in bed a few hours it is down to 20. I think I have to look at the cords.

Then, the last 2 nights I have been up with a litter of puppies. (they are not doing well at all, there are only 3 left). Life without sleep is not good. Every little thing is irritating. I can see that lack of sleep would lead to craziness, hearing voices and seeing things! The 2 big kids are understanding and helpful, but Mikkena is just trying to push me over the edge.

Do you hear that sound?....... Its my pillow calling my name.
I can't wait until its bed time!

Visa

Tow truck 86 dollars

Rental car 94 dollars

Fixing Van 530 dollars

Total cost of a really bad day....Priceless


Thank you Visa card for taking care of me while my husband was out of town.

Rules of the road

Yesterday on the way to Shoreview the van broke down. The van waited until we were in a construction zone (the unweave the weave project) , in rush hour, and bumper to bumper traffic. Of course Tim is out of town (the van seems to know when he is gone). I sat on the phone with AAA for 45 minutes trying to explain where I was. It must have been her first day working for AAA and she must have failed "maps" in high school. She kept telling me I was in Osseo. Hello, I was not in Osseo! I finally agreed so that I could just get off the phone so I could call my own tow truck. Oh, Yeah she also wanted me to call someone to pick up my 3 children because there wouldn't be room for them in the tow truck. Hello! If I could have found someone to pick us up we wouldn't have been on the side of the road!

I called my sister (she lives about an hour from where I was). She was going to help me find my own tow truck. But then the tow truck company called me. I told him where I was and he said Oh, that's not Osseo (oh, really!). He said he would contact a towing company closer to where I was. People I was just past Hwy 61. You know there are about a 100 car dealerships and service places right on 61.

Then the Hwy help dude came. His knowledge of cars included a possible hot wheels collection.
I got back on the phone with AAA. This new gal seemed to be better with maps. I talked with her for a while. They seem to need lots of info before sending out a truck. Why don't they just contact the truck first and then ask me my eye color and shoe size while he is on his way.

Well, a tow truck finally came. We had been on the side of the road for an hour and a half. People could see Hwy 61 from my van and see a few car dealerships. I could have walked and purchased a new van in this time.

Well the tow truck that came the AAA lady did not send. The lady on the phone said she wouldn't pay him because he was not AAA approved! I told her I wanted to get off the road and off the road now. I was more than a little mad. He got on my cell phone and talked to the lady, they finally agreed that I could pay him directly and send the bill to AAA and they would pay me back.

So, the kids and I are in the tow truck and driving to a repair place. No we didn't just loop back and go to a big service station on HWY 61, we drove to Shoreview (6miles). The dude thought that made sense since that's where I was going anyway. At this point I just wanted someone to "save" me.
The repair place didn't know if they could get it fixed before they closed. They were open until 11pm if I wanted to just wait and see. OH, OK the kids and I will sit here and hope that it will be done. (NOT) We walked to gymnastics (just a block away). Mikale joined his class and Mikkena jumped into a different class. I called my sister back and she gave me some numbers for rental car companies. It was 6:45 by now and all car rental places close at 6pm. The only rental place open was the airport. One of the gymnastics Moms that I know lives 5 minutes from the airport. Once her son was done (8pm) she drove us to the airport to pick up a rental.
The guy at the rental desk asked me if I was in town for business or pleasure. I didn't even know what to say to him.
As we were driving home I finally talked with Tim on the phone. We fought. I hung up on him.
I hope today is better. I feel like just going to bed and pulling the covers over my head. I am going to label this post "vacation" . I was just at the airport, I must be on vacation.

What a Day

Rejoice -- What a great day.

Worked outside for most of the day.

I wore a tank top and was still warm.

I have dirt under my nails.

My muscles are sore.

I am pink from the sunshine.

Some of my favorite things

My favorite morning things:

1. Sunshine and birds singing.

2. coffee

3. having quiet time before the kids get up

4. My husband kissing my cheek as he leaves for the day.

Today I am 3 out of 4. Mikkena climbed into bed with me this morning. She had a little purple quacking duck with her. There is a difference between being woken up by singing birds and a little purple quacking duck!!! Since then she has been whapping me over the head with the sword balloon from Awana carnival.

some thing to be glad about

Ok, so I haven't posted anything lately. My trouble is/was that I have not felt like I had anything positive to blog about. I have been struggling with my attitude.

Well, today will be different!!!

First of all the sun is shining brightly! Yahhooo! This better be it, no more snow, no more cold! It's Spring, I better see flowers soon or I am going to go crazy! I love planning my garden and planting new flowers. I even like weeding (for a few weeks anyway). I am also determined to turn this 11 acres of old corn fields into a wooded lot!

Second, I lost one pound. I have been working my butt off (so go already) at the gym. It just doesn't make sense that gaining weight is sooooo easy, but loosing it is so hard.

Third, Tim comes home tomorrow.

So that's it. Positive attitude here I come.

Sacred Marriage

Our couples cell group is reading/studying a book by Gary Thomas called Sacred Marriage. This book is really great. I thought I would do a little blog series on it.

The first Chapter is titled "The Greatest Challenge in the World - A Call to Holiness more than Happiness". Thomas says "what if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy". At first I couldn't wrap my brain around this, but after a while it started to make sense. If God uses our experiences to shape us into the person he wants us to become, then marriage is a perfect tool.

A few quotes from the Thomas' book:

"Any situation that calls me to confront my selfishness has enormous spiritual value".

"Being married forces you to face some character issues you'd never have to face otherwise".

"If I really wanted to see God transform me from the inside out, I'd need to concentrate on changing MYSELF rather than on changing my Spouse".

"We need to remind ourselves of the ridiculousness of looking for something from other humans that only God can provide".

"We can use marriage to grow in our service, obedience, character, pursuit, and love of God".

I have found this first chapter to be very interesting. I had never thought of my marriage in this way at all. I learned a ton just from the 1st chapter.

Thoughts or Comments??????

April fools one day late

My scale played an April fools day joke on me this morning! So I climb on to be happily rewarded with a 3 pound loss. I say to my self "way to go". It then reads "error". Oh my, its never said that before. I get off, let it re-set and climb back on. It then reads the same dumb old number as last week!!! It should have read "April fools". I guess I better just work harder. Dumb scale!!

Mikkena spent the day "April-Fooling" us yesterday. Pretty much just lame stuff.... "Mom you forgot to get dressed..April fools. This morning she decided that she can still "fool" us until April is over. I guess that's OK because last year she May fooled us, June fooled us, and so on until Fall.

Naples, Florida

So on my vacation to Florida, I had a wonderful time. Renae is very good to vacation with. We seemed to have the perfect blend of activities. We biked, canoed, walked, shopped, and relaxed on the beach! Oh yeah, we went to 2 movies as well. Going to a movie is something I don't usually get to do. We saw Amazing Grace (wonderful!!!) and Wild Hogs (funny, but not for children).

One of the coolest things was canoeing in Everglades. We saw dolphins! It is way more exciting to find dolphins in the "wild" rather than walking up to one in a huge pool in a zoo.

The weather was beautiful! We are planning another trip for next winter!

I can't believe I have been home a week already. Feels like I've been home for weeks. Shouldn't I still feel refreshed?

BONUS: My husband surprised me with re-doing the floor in our bedroom while I was gone! He pulled out the carpet and put in a laminate that looks like a wood floor. He did an awesome job. The new floor came in handy during the March 2007 barf fest (see previous post).

Barf-o-rama

Well, I hope its safe to say that the barfing is over!! I realize it is dangerous to say that, considering neither Tim nor I have had this bug. It started with Mikale and he was sick for a three days, then Megan for 2 days, then Mikkena for only 6 hours or so. Maybe the germs just ran out of steam. I don't know, but I have cleaned up enough barf!!! If you have children or are planning on having children just rip all carpet out of your house!!! How does one get carpet clean of all barf?

I'm Back

Well, I am back from my vacation! I had a wonderful time. It only took about a half a day for me to realize why I needed the vacation in the first place. Seriously, this Mom thing is very challenging!! I have so many things to blog about, yet so little time. Did you guys bring your dirty laundry here while I was gone?? I have so much laundry to do that I may dry up our well! Hopefully I can blog tomorrow about my vacation.

Test

This is a test to see if I can put a u-tube clip on my blog!

The clip is fun, so hopefully it will work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

The lesson for today

Do you remember a few years ago when the kid's choir at Faith Community did the play of Esther? Rob Spear played the evil Haman. Each time he came on stage everyone Booed. Or if the name of Haman was said..everyone booed or hissed. Are you remembering??????

This week in our Home school lesson we learned about the Jewish Holiday "Purim". Purim is a holiday that celebrates the story of Esther. They do this by telling the story through drama & song. They also read the whole story of Esther aloud in the synagogue. Whenever they hear Haman's name they boo loudly, stamp their feet. and make lots of noise to drown his name out. I found that so interesting!!!! I thought during the kid's play that the booing was just for fun or to make it funnier. Little did I know it was a Jewish tradition to do so.

See, I learned something today.

On the side of the road.continued...

I asked Tim if we could stop and take a picture of the deer. He said "no". He doesn't like stopping on the highway, he thinks its dangerous. I will try to do it today when he isn't with.

We were driving home from Woodbury one day. I was in the van with Megan & Mikkena. Tim was behind me in his vehicle with Mikale. Megan and Mikkena were being bad..fighting, yelling you know things that drive a Mom crazy when she is driving. So I (very quickly) pulled over. Tim followed ...I got out of the van, walked back to his car. I told him I couldn't drive with the girls. ( I probably said some other stuff, but I don't recall). He was sooooooo mad at me! I couldn't really hear why ( the semi-trucks were flying by and it was kinda loud ). It was rush hour and there was lots of traffic. Tim doesn't get mad that often, so I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do. He said I should have pulled over on a exit ramp.

On the side of the road.

Have you ever seen a squirrel on the side of the road that is totally flat? You know it is the perfect silhouette of the squirrel but just flat as a pancake. Okay picture that but instead of a squirrel picture a deer. On Hwy 94 going west in between mile markers 7 & 8 is a deer stuck upright in a snowbank. It looks like it is running with traffic, but if you look really close its only a few inches thick. Somehow during the last snow storm the plow must have picked it up with the snow and it got set upright. I am not sure of the odds of it getting set up looking like it is going with the flow of traffic, but it is totally hysterical. I have a big laugh each time we drive by. Mikkena says it looks like its burned. Mikale says its gross, but for some sick reason I think its totally funny! Mikale says I should stop and take a picture of it.

Hug a Loon

I was driving Mikale to gymnastics on Monday and I saw a bumper sticker that said "Hug a Loon". What does that mean? Is there a hidden message in there somewhere? I don't know a lot about Loons, but I am pretty sure they wouldn't like to be hugged! Of all the birds it seems as though Loons stay as far away from people as possible. How am I going to hug it?

We were at my Mom's up north and she lives on a lake. We paddled out to the little island in the middle of this very small lake. (we call the boat a paddle boat???--the type you paddle by using your legs--kinda like riding a bike---anyway...) We thought we saw a loon on the island, but it didn't look right. We got closer to check it out. It popped up and flew right at us. We tried to get away, but steering and going quickly just didn't happen! The loon then jumped into the water and would attack the boat. We would think we were safe then all of a sudden it would come up from under the water. Kinda like a shark in the Jaws movies. It was scary. I think Megan was about 4 years old.

So why am I hugging a Loon? And of all the things in the world to feel strongly about and place a statement on the back of your car, this is all you can come up with? Do you really want $ to fund Loon environment or a Loon breeding program? If so then tell me that, don't tell me to hug a Loon. I might get my eye poked out or something.

Change is good

Last Thursday when everything was cancelled due to the snow all 3 of my children decided to rearrange each of their rooms. This is a good thing!
1 st. you clean up your room.
2nd you move most of the furniture to the middle of the room.
3rd you vacuum where the furniture used to be.
4th you move each piece of furniture to a new location.
Finally you vacuum again!
They each found something they didn't know was missing! They also threw away some junk and now their rooms look great.
Megan & Mikale can do this all on their own, and I helped Mikkena. The funny thing is I remember loving to rearrange my room as a kid. The other bonus for ME is that they now like to hang out in their rooms more. (this makes for a quiet house)! See change is good!

What a Beautiful Day

Yesterday was so beautiful!! The ski seemed so blue! I love the sunshine. I need sunshine! I get a little crabby without the sun. (I have a special light to sit under during these times). My kids spent the day sledding at a friends house and they had tons of fun! I had so much fun just watching them. I had spent the morning at the Y and then joined the sledding group later. When I got there it was a game to figure out who was who under all that snow clothes and ski goggles. The kids got pulled up this enormous hill by a snowmobile then got to fly down on their sled!!! No one got hurt and all had a blast!

Snow Day

I haven't left my house in the last 48 hours and I think that is a record. This snow is so awsome and I love the fact that everything has been cancelled!! Because we live out the the open (very few trees bigger than a broom) we get some serious snow drifts. The dogs look like polar bears - the snow just sticks to their fur. Snow is so fun. Trollhaugen here we come!!!

WI Dells

The kids and I just got back from WI Dells. We had a lot of fun, but it feels good to be home. I don't think I am totally wacko about germs, but I can never relax in a hotel room. I brought some germ killer stuff to spray on the counters and tv remote, but the carpet, couch and bed just wig me out. I just don't know what the family before us left behind. The kids don't seem to get it either, they wouldn't think twice about setting their sandwitch on the couch next to them. AAAAAHHHHHHH !! Don't get me started on the stuff floating in the hot tub!

That's My Girl!!!

Today Megan competed in her first AKC Obedience trial with her dog Samson. She did great!! Megan has been training her dogs for a few years now through 4-H, but this was her first “AKC” show. She received 2nd place and she was up against all adults!!! You can check out her website for a picture or two. www.megadoodledogs.com
Her website is for her dog business, but she has some dog training stuff on there. Feel free to email her (there is a link on her site).

Sunshine here I come

Its offical, I am going on a vacation!! I am excited. I am going without my husband (I will miss you!). I am going without my children (no comment). It is truely a "vacation". As my friend Renae pointed out the other day.... A vacation with your family isn't really a "vacation" for the Mom. If you are with your family its called a "trip". So this will be the 1st annual Mom vacation. Now to start all the family scheduling so that everyone gets to where they need to be without Mom home.

Pre-School Musical

I am not a huge movie buff, but I have seen a few "musicals". There are the classics and a few that are really wierd. Growing up I watched "Grease" a fair (sp?) number of times. It's not like I don't enjoy them, but something was always a little strange about a musical. I always felt like they weren't realistic ...who goes around singing and dancing like that. I know, I know most movies aren't realistic, but really breaking into song and dance? Anyway, I was in my bathroom fixing my hair and was thinking about "Muscials" and Mikkena was in the shower singing and dancing. She was making up the words about water, soap and how much she loved taking a shower. Then it hit me...Mikkena's life is a musical. She will sing about wanting another waffle, about her Dad, or just reply to a question. She will dance around just about any time she can. I started to laugh!! Through Mikkena I discovered that Musicals are "realistic" to some people. Maybe I should sing and dance more.

My 1st Blog Entry

I have been thinking about developing a Blog for some time now. Most days I've talked my self out of it. I am not a great writer, but I think my goal is worth giving it a shot.

The goal for my Blog has a few parts:
1. To share how I see God in my daily life.
2. To rejoice and be glad while sharing with others.
3. To help me find Joy in the small things.
4. To have a little fun.