Screwed up!

This morning after church, some friends of ours invited us out to eat brunch. We had a nice time at Cracker Barrel, even though it took forever! It was so busy it wasn't even funny. After we ate, Gage and Emma were invited to go over to Ellie and Alan's to play. They were elated. They love Ellie and Alan to death, and in their eyes, it couldn't have been a better day. While they were gone, I picked up a little and sat down with a pen and paper trying to figure out what I have bought and what I have yet to buy for Christmas. On my list, I had written out all of the things I have bought for Gage and Emma, and what I've bought for them to get together, and what I have for their stocking stuffers, which quite honestly, wasn't very much. When Laura brought the kids home, she stayed for just a few minutes and we showed her the Wii, Emma's bedroom and Gage's bedroom, as she hadn't seen their rooms since we redid them. After they left, Scott ran to the grocery store to get a few items and when he was gone, I realized my paper that I had been writing on was gone. I had left it on the couch and I started to panic. I thought maybe Scott picked it up and put it up since it wasn't for Gage and Emma to see, so I called his cell phone, only to hear it ringing in the next room. I was completely in panic mode trying to find this sheet of paper. I didn't want to ask the kids to help me, because I didn't want them to see it, if they hadn't already. I was pretty much tearing the house apart and then Scott came home. He said he didn't do anything with it. Now I'm getting irritable, as well as panicked, trying to find this sheet of paper. The kids kept asking me what it looked like and I finally just blurted out, "It's a piece of paper that has all of the Christmas presents I have bought for you on it!" Then Emma says, "Oh, I know where that is!" She promptly ran down to her room and brought me back my list. I asked her how it got in her room and she said she took it down there. I asked her why she took it down there and she shrugged her shoulders and had a smirk on her face. I'm thinking, "Okay, Emma doesn't know how to read, so I'm okay." Then Gage fessed up and said he found the sheet of paper on the couch but he didn't read it! WHATEVER! When I'm questioning him about it, I reminded him that Santa was watching, and then he admits, "Okay, I read it but I don't remember anything that was on it!" WHATEVER! Then he says, "Okay, I can only remember 1 of the things on it!" WHATEVER! I then tried to back track a little and told them the list was ideas of things I was thinking about getting them and Gage says, "You mean you're only getting me 2 things?" Then when I was asking how it got into Emma's room, she said she took it down there and she had been saying something about a Bake over. I had Easy Bake Oven written on the list. I played stupid and pretended I had no idea what she was talking about, "What's a bake over?" Come to find out, she had Ellie read to her what the list said. UGH! I don't know why Ellie would do that, because it was obviously a list of gifts. I don't know if she read the whole list to Emma or not but I totally screwed up and am so upset that I made such a stupid mistake. I have thought in the past years how lucky I was that they couldn't read the lists that I have always carelessly left lying around. Not anymore! Later I heard Gage talking to Scott in the kitchen and he said that he was wanting a Mars Mission Lego set and a different Star Wars Lego that I had written on the list. UGH! I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should take those things back and start over, or just forget about it and hope they don't figure out that I am Santa? How could I be so careless? UGH! Does anyone have any suggestions and/or bright ideas on what I should do?

A Day Late and A Dollar Short

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY KARA!!!

As always, I am a day late and a dollar short! Yesterday was my friend Kara's 40th birthday. Okay, I actually don't know her exact age, but I know she's getting old, just like me. Aren't I a great friend? First of all I forget to tell you happy birthday (thanks for the reminder in the comment section!), and I announce right here, on national computerision, that you're getting old! Kara, and her entire family, is celebrating her birthday (and her parents' anniversary) in Mexico. I can't think of a warmer place to be!!

Even though I forgot to mention your birthday in my blog post yesterday, I was thinking about you! Really, I was! I received your birthday present (which I would have given to you before you left if it had arrived in time) in the mail and wrapped it so it's all ready when you get back to sunny, oops, I mean snowy, North Dakota. Just to make you drool a little, here is a little glimpse. Can you guess what it is?
Look, it's even wrapped in special Creative Memories wrapping paper!! Now, if I can just keep Grus from eating the curling ribbon, I'll be in good shape.




I hope you had a wonderful birthday, soaking up the sun and showing off your beautifully painted troll toes in sunny Mexico! Feliz Cumpleanos Amiga! (There's another saying for your growing Spanish vocabulary Kysa!)

Black Friday Box

Scott had the alarm set to get up this morning at 4:25, and as far as I know, he got up and got out of bed. I don't think I even heard the alarm go off.

I woke up at 7:45a and realized Scott was still gone. He arrived home just a few minutes after I woke up with a BIG SMILE on his face. He got what he was after. He said that he first went to Best Buy and he said the line was so long to get in, that he figured he would just go back later and went on to Target. Target didn't open until 6am, so he was there plenty early. He said he was the 20th person in line. He wasn't as smart as Emily and I were last year, because we went inside the mall, where it was warm, and waited at those doors to open. He said that would have been a good tip to give him!

After Target, he went back to Best Buy and got the television he was after. My blood money is gone, but we will be watching all 5 of our local television channels in STYLE, let me tell you! As always, the kids were more entertained by the box.


It wasn't long after we emptied the box that the kids had it filled up with their stuff. They have played in this box ALL DAY, and I'm not even kidding! As you can see, Emma was getting right to work decorating her end of the box!

The television is a 42 inch, 720p Samsung. It really is a nice television and we had a great time watching The Polar Express tonight, which was on ABC. The channels come in SO CLEAR with the HDTV and our rabbit ears. It is certainly better than before when we had to adjust the ears with each channel we were watching.

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

The box also became their "canvas" and they were busy coloring away. Emma also colored the styrofoam piece that held the television firmly in the box. I finally had had enough with all of the styrofoam pieces that were all over the floor and got rid of that dumb thing!

It came equipped with it's very own crayon holders! :-)

After Scott set up the television he went to Walmart to see if he could find any of the video games they had advertised but they were all gone. He did get me a memory stick for a great price so now I can back up all of the pictures that are on my computer.

This time of year always brings out the generous bone Scott has in his body (note I said bone, not bones!) :-) Last year we bought a bicycle that was on sale on Black Friday and we asked the school if they could find someone who needed it, which they did. This year Scott bought another bicycle, and this one will be for a girl. I wish I could see the smile on that little girl's face on Christmas morning!

Finally, on his way home, he stopped through Starbucks and bought me a coffee, and he "paid it forward" and bought the people's coffee that was in line behind him. Apparently they were thirsty AND hungry, which made for a hefty bill of $17 at the Starbucks drive-thru. The gal at the window told Scott he probably will have made their day. I'm sure he did, as they were probably out trying to snatch up all of the bargains and then received a free treat at Starbucks on top of it! I know that would make my day! ;-)

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for, I can't even list them all.

We started working on our meal preparation this morning after we scoured through the Black Friday ads. We had our Thanksgiving meal around 4:30p. Everything was so delicious! Even my gravy was good! Thanks to my Mom for that because she is the best gravy maker around and I learned everything I know from her! If only she could teach me how to make her homemade noodles! Mmmm......Mmmmmm!

I was completely miserable after we ate supper, as was Scott. He beached out on the couch and took a short nap. The kids played outside for awhile while I continued to search through the ads for the best deals!

Last year we had Thanksgiving dinner with our good friends, Emily and Jody, et all, and then Emily and I braved the crowds and had a great time shopping together, getting the big bargains! I wish you were here to go again this year Emily! I am sending Scott out this year. He is after a big television, which I have been saving my Biolife money for. There's no way I could get in there and get one of those big things and carry it out to the car. He's headed to Best Buy for that, but they also have the same thing at Walmart, so he can go there if he doesn't get the deal at Best Buy. He's also headed to Target for a few items. I can't wait to hear his story when he gets home tomorrow morning! He's never done this before, so it will be quite an experience. Hopefully he won't be the one who gets knocked over at Target this year! I also hope he's not the one knocking other people over! I may have to let him tell his story on my blog tomorrow.

We sure missed spending this holiday with our family in Iowa. The kids are so excited about going back for Christmas they are counting down the days. (So am I!) We love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Troll toes

Over a month ago, my friend Kara called me on the telephone and asked me, "What do you have going on November 26th at 9am?" As I looked on my calendar and found nothing scheduled, she said, "Good, I just made appointments for us to get pedicures!" What a surprise! It wasn't that long ago that we had talked about me having a gift certificate for Spa-D'Athena that I had never used. I received the $50 gift certificate for my birthday, from my friend Jodie, when I was babysitting her kids, Ben and Emily. This was over 3 years ago! Thankfully the gift certificate didn't expire until 2011. However, at the rate I was going, it would have expired before I took the opportunity to use it. Coincidentally, Kara also had a gift certificate with an unused balance.

I have never had a pedicure before. I have never had a manicure either. I did have a gift certificate to this place from another friend (apparently my friends thought I was due for some pampering!) around the same time, which I had already used. I used it to surprise Scott and scheduled a couples massage. I really didn't like it that much. I guess I'm not much into romance? Anyway, I thought the massage was a bit painful and I didn't really like the fact that a stranger was touching me!

Kara picked me up this morning and we went to the spa for pedicures. It's a pretty fancy place and has actually been expanded onto since I was there last and is a very nice place. They offered us drinks, which I politely refused, when we arrived. Kara's glass of water contained a frozen strawberry! Fancy shmancy! I guess I should have taken advantage of such fancy water! :-)

We had to wait several minutes before they were ready for us, and when we got back to the room they told us to roll up our pants. I had a sudden feeling of panic. As you all know, I'm a very "low maintenance" kind of person, and during the cold weather, when I'm always wearing long pants, I tend to not shave my legs very often. Sometimes a stretch of a few months might fall between shavings. I couldn't remember if I had shaven my legs or not. When I was pulling my pants up to just above my ankles, the lady told me I needed to roll them up above my knees, or they would get wet. As I sat in the chair and slowly pulled my pant legs up to my knees, I stole a quick glance at my legs and was relieved to see that I had actually shaved them in the past couple of days. Whew! I think I would have completely bailed on the whole operation if I had not shaven my legs, as the hairs were probably at a length that they could have been braided. I could definitely be mistaken for a "granola girl", or a lady from France, by looking at my legs during the colder winter months.

Of course I brought my camera along just in case I needed it. You can definitely tell we are both scrapbookers, because Kara had her camera as well. As Kara sat in her spa/pedicure chair, her gal got straight to work. Kara must have made a comment about her toes and being embarrassed or something because the next thing I know I hear them talking about troll toes. I think this gal is definitely a "true blonde" as she was very ditzy. She asked Kara what a troll was. Hmmm...............her parents apparently didn't read the classic children's story "The Three Billy-Goats Gruff", which could also explain why she was "such a blonde"!

Kara's comment about her toes struck up interesting conversation. The ladies were talking about peoples' toes and actually told Kara that her "toenail tag" was very common and most people have it. They guessed this to be true for about 4 out of 10 people. I didn't see what exactly it was Kara was talking about with her baby toe, but I asked her if it was something like a dew claw? LOL!

Then, as my lady was working on my feet, she was commenting on MY toes! Apparently my toes are even more rare! She said that my baby toenail was very much "normal" and was the same size as my other toenails and this happens in about 2 out of 10 people. Apparently it is rare enough that the lady working on Kara's feet had to steal a glance! Thanks for documenting this for me on film Kara!!! :-)

Kara sits back and relaxes while enjoying her pedicure.

Once I had discovered that I had actually shaved my legs, I was able to relax a little and enjoy my spa treatment. As I said before, I have never had a pedicure before. There was quite a bit of dry skin around my heel and on the balls of my feet that she filed right off. I think I may have to find one of those files to use on myself in the future! I certainly won't be snagging my feet on the sheets now!

I didn't realize a pedicure also involved a little massage of the calf muscles as well, and you can't believe how relieved I was that I didn't have a forest growing on my legs for someone to actually see AND touch! I am a big believer in things happening for a reason, and apparently this was why I felt compelled to actually take the time to shave them the other day.

I picked a bright sparkly red color for my nails.

Look at those beautiful NORMAL toes! They even put a pair of disposable flip flops on your feet so you don't mess the nail polish up with your shoes when you leave. Thankfully Kara has done this before, so she told me to bring flip flops with me, so I didn't have to actually wear these foam flip flops outside.

I think I like Kara's color of polish a little more than my own, but since I'm not the one going to Mexico, to spend Thanksgiving on the beach, no one is going to be seeing my beautiful toes anyway.

After having our pedicures, we went to this room to put our toes under a dryer to speed up the process a little bit before heading out into the frigid North Dakota morning!

I enjoyed my "spa day" with you Kara! Thanks for taking the initiative and making the appointments, as I'm sure my gift certificate would have expired before I took the time to do actually do it!

It was back to reality after Kara dropped me off at home. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

DU let out of work early today for the Thanksgiving holiday. I decided to wait until after I picked the kids up and Scott got home so we could all go to the grocery store together to get the thing we need for our Thanksgiving dinner. Let me tell you, going to the grocery store at 4:45 Thanksgiving eve is a BAD IDEA! OMG! I have NEVER seen that many cars in the parking lot at Dan's at one time, and there were so many more coming into the parking lot that it was a ZOO! Thankfully we didn't have to get TONS of stuff, so we weren't in there that long, but I was getting cart rage in the short amount of time we were in there. It didn't help that I had kids hanging off the cart causing me to be unable to push it, let alone steer it. I saw one of the school secretaries there and she and I both said at the same time, "This was a really bad idea!"

The kids and I watched The Journey to the Center of the Earth tonight. I got the movie from Netflix. Gage has several pairs of 3-D glasses, but I don't think the DVD version is 3-D? Either that, or Gage's glasses weren't very good?

Grus was totally unimpressed with the quality of these 3-D glasses. None of us kept them on during the movie since they didn't seem to enhance the quality of the movie.

Problems communicating

Yesterday my favorite ladies in the library called me to see if I could fill in today. I said yes, of course. I am really enjoying my "job" in the library. I know if I were working at a job somewhere other than the school, I wouldn't want to be there, because I would constantly be worried as to whether or not the kids might need me. When I am at the school, I am more comfortable knowing that I am already there if they need me! I worked from 9:30a-3p. It was a busy day with all of the 2nd grade classes and 2 first grade classes each having 30 minutes of library time. Gage seems to like having me there, but I'm sure that will eventually change. It will be sooner than I like, that he'll be embarrassed to be seen with me. I had to ask Mrs. Hocking today how often they get paid, and when the date is, as I haven't gotten a paycheck yet. I know it's going to be piddly, but I am excited to get it. I don't even know how much they are paying me! You would think I would be smart enough to ask, but honestly, I don't even care. I was enjoying the volunteering and they probably could have gotten away with me doing what I'm doing for free! They told me the first check would not be direct deposited and that I would need to come and get it, and if I didn't, they would just mail it to me. I have been planning on them just mailing it to me, as I'm sure it won't be worth the drive to go get it. However, that may not be the case now that gas is a little cheaper! It's going to be a fun surprise when (and if) it finally shows up!

I was scared to mention in my post last night about a funny thing that happened, because I know this friend reads my blog, and I didn't want to make her feel bad or mad, or anything else that she could feel. However, since she posted a comment on my post from yesterday, I think it's safe to tell about it.

I am apparently having difficulties communicating with my friends lately. I have friends that I have either offended, or said the wrong things to lately and once again, I was involved in a "communication gap" causing quite a mix-up. Here's the story. On Nov. 1, when we were at the Spooghetti Supper at the school, we met up with my friend Sherry and her family. During our visit, she asked if we had any plans for Thanksgiving, and I told her we didn't. They usually spend Thanksgiving with some family/friends that have moved away, and since they weren't around this year, Sherry asked if we would like to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but I recall saying yes. However, I apparently said a questionable "yes". Anyway, yesterday when Sherry was here to pick up Garret, I had asked her if anyone else was coming to her Thanksgiving dinner and she looked at me funny and said, "No, are you?" I then was confused and Sherry said that I hadn't said that we were coming, and had made plans with her sister. I was feeling really bad because I didn't want to make her feel bad. I thought I had said yes, and she didn't understand my yes, as I thought I had stated it. It was quite a funny mixup, and I wasn't upset in the least. In fact, I was mostly relieved because I was worried about what we should bring and that it wasn't really fair if she had to make the turkey, etc, etc. Sherry, I am totally "GOOD" and so thankful that you are too! It's a funny story and I am so thankful that it came up in conversation yesterday because I'm sure you would have been in complete surprise when we showed up on your doorstep for Thanksgiving dinner! LOL!

Scott went out last night and bought a turkey, as I am sure the kids (mostly Gage) would be sad if I didn't fix a turkey for Thanksgiving. He started learning all about Thanksgiving when he started Preschool and has realized that's the only time of the year that we have it, unless of course it's shaved turkey from the deli department at the grocery store. He also insists that we use the china in our china closet because he says he doesn't know why we even have it if we're never going to use it. So, for the past couple years, we have had turkey and have eaten on our china that was handed down to us from Scott's Dad, from his Mom. Since I wasn't able to get to the store today, I plan to get everything we need tomorrow and get organized!

Sherry, you wanna come over for Thanksgiving dinner? :-)

Kids

Once or twice a week, we have extra kids in the morning and after school. I always try having Gage and Emma ready for school before the others arrive, so that I don't have to fight them too much and they can play the rest of the time before we head to school. I don't know why, but Gage almost ALWAYS has a bad attitude on our walk to school on the mornings we have their friends here. Well, actually, I guess I do know why. It's because Gage acts like a different kid when he is around this friend. They get LOUD and tear things apart in the house and he usually gets in some sort of trouble, causing a bad attitude on our walk to school. Both he and Emma were stomping their feet on our walk to school this morning. It's a great way to start the day, don't you think? We had them after school as well, until after 5pm. I think that was too long and I believe both parties (the kids and me) believed that to be true. When Scott got home the little girl went up to him and said, "I don't know where my Mom is!" I assured her that she would be here any minute. Emma and her friend were having problems getting along this afternoon. At one point her friend came to tell on Emma and I had no idea what she was trying to tattle about. I think she said Emma wouldn't play with her and then she said Emma kept trying to "smell her shirt". I'm repeating, "What?" over and over because I couldn't figure out why Emma would want to smell her shirt? She finally said it a little more clear and said she wanted to "spell her shirt". She had a shirt on that had snowman parts and had something written on it and Emma was "spelling" it. Emma has been on a spelling kick lately. She spells every word she sees, whether she knows what it is or not. She has been trying to read and is doing such a good job at sounding words out. The ones that can't be sounded out are more difficult, but she'll get it.

Gage's friend, Garret, also came home with us this afternoon. His mom, my friend Sherry, was panicked at the doctor's office because their appointment with Garret's brother was lasting much longer then they had anticipated. I was happy to be able to help out.

Only 2 more days of school this week. The kids are looking forward to Thanksgiving and I sent Scott out to buy a turkey tonight. What are your holiday plans?

Short week ahead

This morning the kids and I got up and got ready for church and actually made it there on time! Last week we were late and I HATE being late! I was anxious to see if anyone would notice my new smile. Of course Gwen, the Pastor's wife, was so happy to see the braces off. She is always so nice and has been genuinely excited for me, that I've been on this adventure to "fix my mouth". Now, if I could fix what comes out of my mouth..............! :-) Other than Laura and Steve saying something (they knew I was getting them off this past week) no one noticed. That really is a good thing! It means that my smile looks very natural, like it has been like this my whole life. I feel like I talk a little funny because of the retainers, but it doesn't seem to be too noticeable, or it would cause people to then notice that my braces are missing!

Scott left early this morning to go hunting pheasants and got back about 4:10pm, just in time for me to attend a Girl Scout Service Unit Meeting at 4:30. I don't know why I keep going to them, as they aren't always that informative, but I keep hoping!

We have a short school week ahead of us due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The kids have school Monday through Wednesday and then they are off until the following Monday. I wish there had been an extra day or two thrown in there so we would have enough time to travel to Iowa to be with our family. I love you all and will be thinking of you! We'll be seeing you at Christmas and we can't wait!

I can't think of a good title

I don't have much to post today because not too much happened today.

Scott had the wonderful idea to go to the mall and look around and make out lists of things that you would like to buy for OTHER people (mainly just the 4 of us). Emma really did a good job of doing that, she had her pen and her paper and she wrote down what she saw Gage looking at, and she wrote down something for me. She was concerned when we left because she hadn't written anything down for Scott. That is because the kids were quickly tiring out on this and were ready to go home, and Scott's list would need to be made from Scheels. When he asked them if they would rather go home, or go to Scheels, they said home. We were in meltdown mode and I was ready to go home myself. They were tired because we were up a little later than typical last night watching Casper. I sure wish it wasn't like that. Us allowing them a "Family Fun Night", only to be followed by "Family Disaster Day".

I finished up a scrapbook page that I had started the other day, but it isn't one of my favorites. It's done though, and that's the important thing!

Scott is planning to hunt tomorrow so I'll be at home, trying to find things to do to keep the kids busy.

Kicked in the butt

Man, I feel like I've been kicked in the butt today, literally!!! My friend Wendy asked me to go with her this morning to a cycling class at the YMCA. The name of this class was Silver Riders, a beginners class. Uh, yeah, "Silver" stands for old people! There were some men and women in this class that I would bet were in their 70's, or maybe even 80's!! They totally kicked my butt! I was dying and looking at the clock in the first 15 minutes wondering when it would be over. I turned to Wendy and asked, "How long is this class?" as I huffed and puffed. She laughed and said, "50 minutes!" OMG! I thought I was going to DIE! My friend, Kara, goes to alot of classes at the Y and had invited me to go to a cycling class with her last year (one that wasn't for beginners) and I think it was a good idea that I backed out of that one. They would have had to use the AED (automatic external defibrillator) on me!

Wendy and I have been trying to devise some sort of exercise plan together and we haven't worked anything out that works very well yet. This class started at 7:45 this morning and I can't typically go at that time because I don't drop the kids off at school until 8:20. Scott took them to school for me this morning so I could meet Wendy at the cycling class. This particular class is only on Friday mornings I think? Thank GOD next Friday is a holiday and there will be no classes! Wendy works at Warford's and has different schedules a lot. You would think, that since I'm not really working, that I could work around that, but it hasn't worked out too well yet. In the past couple months we have walked around the Tom O'Leery loop twice and have now done this cycling class together. Maybe something will work out. My bottom hurts so bad from that stupid bike seat that I'm not looking forward to going back to that class! The instructor said that will eventually go away. I think I may need a cushioned tractor seat!

I barely made it out of the YMCA since my legs felt like Jell-O! Wendy went down to the Life Center to lift a few weights after the class, I told her to "Have fun! because "I am going home!" I had been worrying a little bit about us getting kicked out of classes, because I could just see us joking and laughing too hard and being asked to leave. I even envisioned us getting banned from the YMCA. Well, let me tell you, I have no fear of that now. I was so dead that there was no energy to even think about joking and laughing!

Needless to say, I've pretty much been dead most of the day. I was so tired later this afternoon when I took the kids to swimming lessons that I nearly fell asleep in the chair while I was supposed to be watching them! I don't think my being this tired was caused by the cycling class (not alone anyway), as I have been quite tired for the past few days, and have not felt rested in the mornings. Maybe I'll sleep better tonight?

It was very cold out today and was snowing this afternoon on our walk home from school. I had to laugh when Scott told me about how getting the kids off to school went. He had Gage loaded into the car and told Emma to hurry up so they could leave for school and she replied (in an I can't even believe this tone) "We walk to school, we don't drive Dad!" He said, "Well, we're driving today!" When I left the house to get the kids at school this afternoon, I always pick Gage up first because Emma comes out a little later, and that way she doesn't have to walk up the hill to Northridge. When I was walking by, I saw her sitting out on the playground along the shed, using it for a windbreak, so I went over there to see what she was doing. She had a substitute teacher today, so they got out a little early. I had her walk with me to get Gage and she asks me, "Where's the car Mom?" When I told her I didn't drive, she got a major attitude and said, "Well, Dad drove me!" LOL! Poor little Emma. She had to walk home from school in the freezing cold weather with the snow falling sideways! It wasn't nearly as bad as our walk home in the blizzard a couple of weeks ago, so I don't know what she was complaining about!?

I'm going to hobble my sore butt up the stairs and go to bed. Good night!

A new arrival!

My first full day without braces was great! Well, except for when I have to take the retainers out and them put them back in. Every time I go to put them back in, I ask myself, "That (whatever the food was I happened to eat) was totally NOT worth the pain!" Maybe I'll lose a few pounds in the next 6 months? They weren't quite as painful today as they were yesterday, however.

I worked at Corpus Christi in the library today from noon to 3p. I had someone nearly break out in tears because she couldn't check any books out, so I called Mrs. Hocking to the rescue. I'm not quite sure yet how to deal with these things at school. I don't know what's allowable, as far as discipline is concerned, and what's not. There was one little boy in Emma's class today that was totally being a s$%$! Thankfully Mrs. Hocking deals with that, but I feel as if I should be doing more to help out in that respect. At home, I would grab his little arm and squeeze it until I got his attention and then read him the riot act! I'm quite sure that would be unacceptable at school. It does; however, make me very proud of my own kids' good behavior (at school that is!). Emma was ignoring the bad behavior and sitting quietly, listening to the story. After school I asked her if this little kid acts up in class and she said he does and he doesn't listen to the teacher either.

When we arrived home from school, I got the mail from the mailbox and noticed we had received a small package from www.ribbitsgalore.com. The free tadpoles (that cost me $11.99) that I ordered way back on the 8th of September, arrived today. I brought the package inside and as I was opening it, I told the kids they got a package in the mail. Inside was a test tube with 2 dead tadpoles! NICE! I'm sure with the temperatures being in the single digits, for the low, it wasn't really good for them. I read the instructions and it said to take care of the tadpoles immediately upon receiving them. Well, since I wasn't at home, that was kind of hard to do! The note said that they guarantee live arrival! The kids took the test tube and were checking out the motionless tadpoles and then hollered, "Mom, they're moving!" I couldn't believe it, but they were right, the tadpoles were, in fact, moving! Wonderful, 2 more amphibians in the house for me to care for and worry about! Apparently they were nearly frozen, and warming them up in the house, revived them. I got Emma's habitat filled with water and turned them loose. They are as active as any tadpole I have ever seen. I sent Scott to PetSmart to get some food for them and some crickets for Sid, as we were out of those too. Maybe if I get desperate, I can feed the tadpoles to Sid?

The final results

I have felt like a kid waiting for Christmas the past couple of days! I was so excited for today to get here I could hardly stand it. This morning after I dropped the kids off at school I had to sit around for about 2 hours before my appointment to get my braces off. I don't know if I've ever been this excited about anything? I suppose I was when I had Gage and Emma, but I was also scared, so it was a different type of feeling.

I won't lie, it hurt like crazy getting these stupid things off. He took the easier ones off first, keeping my top 4 front teeth for last. I was prepared to squeeze the handles of the chair right off. My 2 front teeth are so loose, that it is pretty uncomfortable when I bite into something and I was so scared he would pull them right out when he popped the brackets off. Thankfully he had me bite into some wax-like stuff to stabilize them before he took them off and that helped ALOT! I wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Right after he was done removing the brackets and glue from my teeth, Wendy took impressions of my bottom teeth, then I had to go from there to the dentist, to have her complete the bonding before they could take impressions of my top teeth. It took my dentist quite awhile to get my teeth looking the way she wanted, and I kept trying to sneak peeks in the reflection of her glasses. I was so excited, yet a little scared to see the final results. I didn't want to have gone through all of this to be disappointed! My hygienist came in when I was done and she was surprised to see me. She has been on maternity leave the last few times I've been in, so I haven't seen her in quite awhile. When the dentist handed me the mirror, I couldn't wait to look!

Let me just say this, "WOW!" Everyone was smiling, including me! I told them on my way out that I was going to have to learn how to smile now! To really smile, that is. I was overcome with emotion as I was walking to my car and couldn't help crying. They were certainly tears of joy!

From there I had to go home to take a potty break, then head back to Warfords to get the impressions of my top teeth taken so they could make my retainers.

The day went by pretty quickly, despite all the time it took going back and forth to get everything done.

Okay, okay, I'm sure you are wanting to see photos! I asked Wendy if they could email me the photos and she said they would, but I didn't get them today. When I left the office, I was the last patient before they shut down for the evening. She did, however, give me the pictures they took for my records and I have scanned them in and will try to post them and show you the amazing transformation! I will repost pictures if I do, in fact, get them emailed to me. I'm sure the resolution will be much better.

These are my initial records. The pictures were taken almost exactly 2 years ago, on November 16, 2006.

These are pre-surgical records that were taken on June 14, 2007.

Post surgical records taken July 10, 2007. What a mess!!!!

The final results! November 19, 2008.

So what do you think?

I am so thankful. I never thought I would have this beautiful of a smile. Honestly, I didn't. I always dreamed of it and would say, "Some day, when I get my mouth fixed............", all the time knowing in the back of my mind that it would never happen. It just makes me cry. I have so many people to thank!

First of all, I thank my Mom and Dad! Unknowingly, it was a good thing that you were never able to afford to "get my mouth fixed." I believe that if it had been done back then, I would probably have major problems today. Everything happens for a reason, and it's obvious that God had better plans for me. I'm confident that if I had had this procedure done 20 years ago, I would not have the results that I have gotten today. I would have had surgery and I would have metal plates and screws holding my face together. I'm sure I wouldn't have been as appreciative then as I am now.

Second of all, I have to thank Scott, for believing that this was a good idea and supporting my decision to go ahead with the treatment. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to do this.

Lastly, but definitely not least, I have to thank the doctors who made this dream come true. If it weren't for Dr. Heidi, I would have never taken the first steps necessary to achieve these final results. I am so fortunate that I had a top notch surgeon and orthodontist, right here, in Bismarck, North Dakota. Who ever would have thought that this could happen in this part of the world?

Millie Grace

This morning after dropping the kids off at school, I volunteered in the library for close to 2 hours. I arrived home to a wonderful message on my answering machine! Emily had her baby today! Her name is Millie Grace. If you want some more of the details, you can check out Emily's blog. I can't wait to see pictures! CONGRATULATIONS Emily and Jody!

I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW! At 10:30 sharp, I will be at Dr. Warford's office, waiting to have my braces removed. I have been thinking about it quite a bit today and I'm sure I'll have some wonderful dreams about it tonight!!

Emma's Girl Scout nuts and chocolates are here! The lady called me tonight and I told her I would come over to get them. I didn't have her address with me and I was worried as to whether or not I would remember it. (Remember the last time I visited her neighbor!) I got to the street without any difficulty and then when I was trying to decide which house it was, I got all nervous and I couldn't remember again. I pulled up in the driveway and sat there for a second trying to remember if this was the correct address or not. There weren't many lights on and she knew I was coming right over, so it made me nervous. I backed out of the driveway to go to the next house and then decided I had it right the first time, so I just backed back into the driveway, thinking it would be easier to load the stuff that way anyway. I went to the door and it was taking forever and I was scared to death it was going to be the little old man again! I rang the doorbell again and I was SO RELIEVED when her little yipster dog came to the door barking. I knew I had the right house then! :-) She came out the garage door and we loaded up the candy and I went along my merry way.

I'm hoping that tomorrow, when I'm at Warford's, I can talk them into emailing my before, during and after pictures to me so I can post them on my blog!

Raingutter Regatta

I'm officially less than 48 hours away from getting my braces off! You don't even know how excited I am about that! I've apparently been thinking about it quite a bit the past few days because last night I had a dream that one of my brackets had come loose and I didn't realize it and when I went in to get them off, the orthodontist told me I was going to have to wear them for another month! I'm praying that dream doesn't come true!!!

We had Emma's Parent/Teacher conferences after school today. She is doing very well and we are so proud of her. She was just moved into the top reading group today, so that was exciting news.

Tonight we had our monthly Pack meeting. The Raingutter Regatta races were tonight, so that was exciting for the kids. Scott had searched on the internet yesterday for some "Raingutter Regatta tips". The tips told him not to use the boat as it was in it's original form, to make it into a catamaran by cutting it in half and turning the halves up on their sides. Our group made 2 boats, one as a catamaran and the other in the original shape. It also gave a pattern to alter the sail from it's original form as well. Our boats definitely sparked some interest amongst the other dens who had boats to race as well. One of the boys was asking Scott why we did that to our boat, and Scott told him that he had searched for tips on the internet and the boy replies, "That's cheating isn't it?" LOL! Scott assured him that there was no cheating involved.


Here's a picture of Scott and a few of our Scouts working on the catamaran.

Tyson is serious about this boat building stuff!

Gage takes his turn gluing on some bumpers. These were designed to keep the boat from getting caught up in the edge of the rain gutter.

Each of the kids took a turn spray painting the boat.

Cameron takes his turn as the rest watch and take notes.

Even Emma got a chance to spray the paint. Her little fingers weren't quite strong enough to push the nozzle AND point it in the right direction at the same time.

Tonight at the Pack meeting our entire den was awarded the Citizenship belt loop and pin. Here is Gage receiving his awards.

The kids had to do several things to qualify for this award. One of the requirements was to participate in some sort of community service project. Our Trick-or-Treat for Others to Eat event worked for that, and we also discussed recycling at one of our den meetings and the boys picked up trash in the neighborhood and took the items they collected to the recycling trailer not far from the school.

These are our den's 2 boats. The catamaran definitely created a stir as I think it won (or nearly won) every race that it was in. At the end of the races, Scott told Tyson that he could have the boat and boy did that ever upset Gage! Tyson was very excited to get it, and was such a sweetheart for offering it back to Gage because he didn't want him to be sad about it. We told Tyson that the boat was his and to not worry about Gage. Scott didn't talk to Gage about it before he did that, so I'm sure it was mostly because he wasn't expecting it. We are going to give the other boat to the other boy that helped build it in our den and Gage is okay with that. We talked about it and told him we could get another kit and build another one. We seem to have meltdowns at the end of each den meeting because they last until 8pm, which is way past bedtime. The kids are almost always in bed by 7pm, so they are always overly tired at the pack meetings since they don't even start until 7pm!

Here is Gage racing the catamaran.

Blow Gage, blow!!

Cameron is racing our 2nd boat. It didn't work quite as well as the catamaran did. The catamaran sat on top of the water more than the other boats, which helped it to go a little faster. Plus, the way we altered the sail, it caught more of the wind.

The boys in our den were very excited about how well our boats raced.



Emma and Brycen are racing our 2 boats against each other. I'm not quite sure who won the race in the end as it was very close! Emma was having a hard time getting enough air behind her sail since she wasn't quite tall enough to get right behind the boat.

Tyson racing the catamaran against our other boat again. Our neighbor, Erik, didn't have a boat so he borrowed ours to race. You can definitely see a difference in this race.

(Scott obviously doesn't realize that you can't turn the camera sideways when taking video, so I hope you don't get a kink in your neck from watching them!)

Happy Birthday Emily!

Today is my friend Emily's birthday. She is due to have her baby any day now and I was thinking she might get a wonderful gift for her birthday! I'm thinking of you and anxious to hear when the little one arrives! Happy Birthday! You're getting sooooooo old at the ripe old age of 30!!

Not too much happened today. We went to church this morning. We always sit in the balcony, in the front row, and it was quite funny when Scott was turning the page in his bulletin and it flew out of his hands and over the edge of the balcony. I'm not sure who the lucky person was sitting below, but I'm sure they were surprised! They would also be surprised to know that it wasn't Emma this time!

This afternoon we had a "last minute" Cub Scout den meeting. We found out on Thursday when Gage brought home his Pack Newsletter that they are having the Raingutter Regatta races tomorrow night at this month's pack meeting. Scott picked up a couple of kits and 2 out of the other 4 Scouts (besides Gage) were able to come over this afternoon to work on them. Scott did most of the work, so I'm not sure how much anyone benefitted from this project, but I guess at least they'll have a boat to race tomorrow night.

We didn't do too much else today, so it's a boring post. I had mentioned a few days ago that I would post pictures of the kids' hunting trips with Scott, so I thought tonight would be a good night for that since I don't have anything exciting to say.

Here's Emma and the lone pheasant that Scott shot when he lugged her around in the backpack a few weeks ago.

Poor Emma's eyes are so sensitive to the sun! I'm sure she'll wonder one day why she looked like that in this picture.

Emma staring down the dead pheasant. I see she has her earplugs in, so that is good.

Gage with Dad's deer that they shot last week. I hadn't noticed before that the deer was laying in our sled! Scott took the sled in case he needed to pull Gage, but it looks like Gage was out of luck unless he wanted to sit on a dead, bloody deer carcass!

Scott, Gage and the dead deer. You'll be happy to know that the stupid thing isn't hanging over the patio anymore. Scott finally got it all cut up and processed yesterday. He has a friend with a meat grinder, so he made several pounds of venison burger. He mixed it with a little fattier beef so it won't be so lean and dry. He was so proud of it and wanted me to come look at it while he had it out on the counter. I told him if he wanted me to eat any of it, then to please not make me look at it! Raw meat just disgusts me. I have a hard enough time cutting up chicken breasts and mixing up hamburger to make meat loaf. YUCK!

Tomorrow starts a new week, and a full week back to school. I turned the page in my planner/calendar and it's written all over already, so I believe we have a busy week ahead. We will attend Emma's parent/teacher conferences tomorrow right after school, so I will be glad to get those out of the way. We have a girlfriend of Emma's coming home from school with us 2 days this week for a play date. Her Dad, who usually picks her up from school, is out of town for a few days so her Mom asked if she could schedule a couple of play dates. She is one of the girls in our Daisy group and she was also in Emma's Jr. K and Preschool class at the YMCA. I haven't yet gotten my schedule for the other 2 that come home with me, so I may have a full house if they fall on the same days! The more the merrier, right? NOT!

Pomegranate season

The kids are excited because pomegranates are in season. I think it was last year, they had a bunch of them in Dan's, on sale, and they had instructions there to take as well, telling you how to peel them. I didn't really like their instructions, so I started doing it my own way, but it's awful too. I bought 3 pomegranates at Walmart yesterday when I was there and Emma was begging for one this morning. I think it takes me 15-20 minutes (maybe more) to get all of the seeds out and when I am done my fingers hurt because my skin gets pulled away from my fingernails. If anyone has any tips on how to clean a pomegranate, I would love to hear it! I pretty much cut the top off, then start peeling the skin away with my fingernails and dig the little kernels out as carefully as I can because they squirt red juice all over. I always end up with red splatters on whatever I'm wearing, so I always make sure I have a junky shirt on when I'm peeling them.

I'm sure my family doesn't really know what pomegranates are, because I never even knew until last year, so I decided to take a few pictures of the grueling process of making this "super fruit" available to Gage and Emma.


I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like before I started peeling it, but this is what it looks like on the inside. It would be similar to picking off all of the kernels on an ear of sweet corn, only there's a membrane that separates the pieces fruit into sections.

This is what they look like when they are out of the peeling and membrane. These are really good and I discovered last year that every time I eat them, I end up doubled over with severe stomach cramps. It took me a few times to realize that was what was causing it, and now I'm afraid to even try one. I wanted to this morning, but I decided that even the thought of having major stomach cramps didn't sound like much fun.

This is the mess that is created with the peeling and membrane. It's a sticky mess with juice splatters all over the place.

Other than peeling that pomegranate, I pretty much did nothing else today, except scrapbook a few pages. I have been thinking a lot about starting a new Girl Scout album for Emma. I have been planning to do a Cub Scout one for Gage, and have been collecting supplies, but just haven't dove into the project yet. I found some really cute Girl Scout and Cub Scout scrapbooking kits online and ordered several pieces of paper that go with them. I am so excited about it that I've been wanting to get started, but have just been thinking about how I was going to lay it out. I am usually very pleased with the results if I spend enough time thinking/planning before I jump in. For the past week I've been thinking of my title page for Emma's Girl Scout album. I don't always do title pages, but I wanted to do one for this album and I had the greatest idea and I can't wait to show it to you.

This is Emma's Daisy Scout uniform/tunic.

And this is Emma's title page for her Daisy Scout scrapbook! How cute is that?? I still have a few things to do on it, however. I ran out of S's on my sticker letters, so I will need to add an S to the Scout(s). I still need to add the flag above her troop number and have been thinking about how to do that. If I can find a sticker that has the waves in it that would be great, but I decided to try taking pictures of the flag patch and then cut it out and place it on the page. I have been taking pictures of all of the patches she earns, so if I can get it the right size, it will work out perfectly. I then have 2 pins that belong on the yellow insignia tab that I took pictures of to do the same thing with. How cute is that???? I'm so proud of it that I wanted to share because I knew Kysa would be asking me to post a picture of it anyway. I also have the new True 12x12 blue album that is very similar in color, maybe just a tad lighter shade of blue, that I am going to use for her album. I am going to have the Daisy Persona imprinting done on it and use it just for her 2 years in Daisy Scouts. Then, when she's out of Daisies and becomes a Brownie, I am going to start a new album in the chocolate color. I'm sure I'm boring all of you "non-scrapbookers" to death, but I am just so thrilled with how my title page turned out and the ideas I've had coming to me for her Scout albums and I know Scott would start snoring if I tried telling him about it. I'm hoping they will come out with a green color that is similar to the Junior Girl Scouts' uniform color as well. (I'll never let her quit if I get all of this money and time invested in these albums!) I also had a good idea for the last page in her album. I'm going to make the back side of her tunic with all of the pictures of patches that I have been taking on it. They probably won't all fit on the scrapbook page after she finishes 2 years of Daisies, however. I guess I'll just have to pick her favorite patches to do that with.

A friend of ours, Mark Lindberg, from Alaska, has been in town for the last week or so hunting in Tuttle. He is a mutual friend of 2 other sets of friends we have in town, so we all got together this evening and went out to eat supper. We had a really nice time. We went to eat at this Italian restaurant called DiDonna's, which we have never been to before. It was really good! We will definitely be going back there in the future. The kids had a great time as their friends, Ellie and Alan Adair, were also there. We didn't get home until 9pm, so they are going to be crank boxes tomorrow. I suppose I better get to bed earlier than usual tonight so I will have the patience to deal with them tomorrow!

Good Night!

Shopping and scrapping

This morning I decided to venture out and go to Walmart. I can't even tell you the last time I was even at Walmart! I think having Emma in Kindergarten is saving me money. Last year when I was taking her to Jr. K at the YMCA on M-W-F mornings, I would always drop her off and say to myself, "Where should I go this morning?" Now that they are both walking distance to school, I rarely get into my car it seems, therefore am not making unnecessary shopping trips. I wanted to get a start on Christmas shopping since I haven't done any of that yet and see what they even have out there this year! I found and bought a few things for Emma and then headed home. I spent most of the day trying to organize my scrapbooking stuff because it is such a mess in there! My friend, Sherry, invited me to go scrapbooking with her this evening so I needed to get some pages laid out before I went. I only got 3 pages done, but that is 3 more than I would have gotten done if I had been at home. There were a few younger girls there (4th or 5th grade maybe?) that were running around and being obnoxious, and another lady that was coughing her lungs out and it was starting to get on my nerves. Usually that stuff doesn't bother me too much, but man, after awhile it really gets to me!

The kids had their first swimming lessons of this session this afternoon. They both passed the last session and Gage's lessons are now an hour long. I think he was pretty tired when he got done! Emma sat with me for 30 minutes waiting for her lessons to start. It was a cold and windy day here today so I'm sure coming out of the YMCA after having been in the pool wasn't much fun. I made them both wear their ski mask stocking hats so their faces and wet hair wouldn't freeze. Unfortunately for Emma, they have Rays and Starfish grouped together. She just passed out of Rays into Starfish, so she really isn't in a higher level. They also have 6 or 7 kids in her class and only one teacher, so half of her time is spent on the side of the pool waiting for her turn. That's kind of frustrating. After she is 6 she can move into the higher levels, but right now she is at the highest level she can be in the 5 and under group.

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, and as far as I know, Scott doesn't have any hunting plans. Hopefully we can have a nice, quiet weekend at home.

Daisy Meeting and Gage's Parent-Teacher conference

This morning I decided I had too much to do and skipped out on my volunteering at the library. I felt better about not going this afternoon when we were in the library for our Daisy Scout meeting and all of the books I left there from yesterday had found their way onto the shelves. I would have felt really bad if they had still been there.

I had one guy come to pick up popcorn today. He had such a big load that he had to make 2 trips! One more came this evening, so I think we're down to just one den leader that needs to come pick up their popcorn, plus a few yet from our own den. I have those boxes in the house and the kids will be sad to see them go since they seem to like using them for a hideout! The cats will be sad when they are gone too, because they make a nice perch right in the middle of the floor!

We had our 2nd Daisy meeting this afternoon. It went pretty well. It was definitely better having it in the library at school versus my house! There was a lot more room for the girls to work and "play". I am fortunate to have Kara with me leading this group, especially since she remembers to break out her camera! I get so focused on what I'm doing sometimes that I don't think of those things. (You would never know it by looking at my boxes of pictures, however!)


Paige, Emma and IsaBelle working on their "Color a Smile" project. This is an online company that distributes thousands of drawings every month to people in nursing homes, Meals on Wheels programs, and people who just need a smile. You can go onto their website and print off pictures to color and then you send them to this company and they will distribute them to people in need. You can even go onto the site and register to be a recipient of these wonderful masterpieces. What a neat thing for people who might be alone and in need of something to brighten their day!

All of the girls were present at the meeting, which was a good thing because we had tons on the agenda and they would have missed out on a fun meeting. They received 2 of their daisy petals and the promise center (the center of the daisy) and a special Ms. President patch. Our meeting focused on being courageous and strong, honest and fair and we learned several different women leaders and what they are famous for.

Our craft project for the meeting was making flag pins. The girls did a great job with them. They did have to have help getting the safety pins opened and then closed once we got the beads on, but they did all of the bead work themselves and no one was injured by the sharp safety pins!

We also started working on the Girl Scouts Shape UP! patch requirements. Thankfully Kara led this activity! As you see they are doing push-ups and I don't think I could even do one! The girls definitely had a good time with this "high energy" activity!

The girls are doing some imaginary jump roping!

Overall, I was pretty pleased with how things went. However, I wasn't impressed with Emma's behavior. We always seem to have these problems with both Emma AND Gage! Our kids are the worst behaved ones when we are the ones in charge of activities outside of our home. I don't know how to deal with this effectively. If anyone has any suggestions (other than not being the leader of their activities), I would love to hear them!

Tonight after supper, our neighbor, Dave, came over to sit with the kids while we went to Gage's parent/teacher conferences. The kids had a great time. They love Dave to death, and it's even better when they have his full and undivided attention! I was very thankful that he helped us out. Since the conference was at 6:45pm, I didn't think it would work out to have a sitter, and it's too late to have them playing with their friends across the street.

Gage's conferences went very well, just as we suspected. His teacher said, "If I had a classroom full of Gage's, they would be paying me too much money!" That made me feel good. Especially when you know teachers don't make enough money in the first place! She said that Gage is very well-liked by his classmates and she feels bad for him when she has them pick a partner to work on a project together because there are several that flock to Gage. She said he deals with that very well, and many times he does a rock, paper, scissors game to decide who he will work with or an eeny-meany-miny-mo type of thing. That's his way of trying to keep from hurting anyone's feelings because he didn't choose them. She also told us a little story about Gage. Apparently one day they were discussing a story and sequencing it from beginning to end, Gage said it was one way and others in the class were saying it was another way. Gage told his teacher, "Mrs. Smith, I know I am right because I have a mind like a steel trap!" LOL! He ended up not being right, but she said that he dealt with that quite well. She said that many times when you have a kid that is as smart as Gage, they don't necessarily deal with things well, and often times they have social problems. That is not the case with Gage and I am happy about that. We are so very proud of him!

We will have Emma's conferences after school on Monday, and I am anxious to hear what her teacher has to report about her.