Snow much fun!

Emma woke up feeling better than I thought she would today. I heard her cough a few times during the night, but she woke up feeling fairly good.

This morning Gage attended a free Cross-training basketball camp at the YMCA. There were a couple hundred kids there, but despite the high numbers, it was actually pretty well organized. Gage seemed to enjoy it. He has alot of practicing he needs to do though! He seems to be a bit uncoordinated when it comes to dribbling the basketball. I'll try to post those pictures tomorrow, along with a little video I took.

This afternoon Gage and Emma decided it was a good day for sledding so we went to the sledding hill and had some fun. It actually wasn't too great for sledding, because the fresh snow we got the other day wasn't packed down enough to go very fast. I guess that's probably a good thing when learning to snowboard. Last year Gage would step on his board and immediately jump off after it started to move. Look at him now!


I was surprised at how well Gage did on his snowboard today! He could ride it all the way down the hill.

Little Emma was doing a pretty good job on it as well. (Yes, I know her snow pants are too short! I'm in the process of finding some new snowpants that match her new coat and mittens.)

It's a race to see who can make it to the bottom first without falling down!

Believe it or not, I'm getting an "I Love You" note instead of an "I hate you Mom!" :-) I had to get a picture of that!

Time for a snack break! Alexandra, Gage and Emma enjoying a little bit of snow. They were ticked off when I told them we wouldn't need to go to Dairy Queen now!

Go Emma, Go!

Look at Gage go!

The kids had a good time. Even Mom attempted to go down the hill standing up in a sled. I did wipe out and took a nice tumble, but I got back on the horse to show it who was boss. I made it down the hill, but only because I was going at snail speed! :-) I didn't break anything, so that is good!

Coughing

I have no idea what to blog about tonight. I've started a couple of different subjects, but have deleted them both. I can't think of anything witty or worthwhile. I guess I'll just blog a little about my day, as usual.

I usually do not take cold medicines when I'm sick. I do use NyQuil at night; however, when I get to coughing. I refused to take any last night though, because I didn't want to feel like a drugged zombie again today. I was surprised that I didn't really do too much coughing through the night. I felt much less zombie-like today.

I worked in the library this afternoon from 12:30 to 3p. It was very quiet as they had a guest speaker at school wrapping up our month long Safa-Read. This lady has taken several trips to Africa and told about her adventures and showed many pictures. I wanted to listen to her, but I wasn't sure if I should since I was supposed to be working, but then a few minutes later, Juanita came down to tell me I should come up to the gym and listen. I went with her and I hadn't been in the gym 5 minutes when I started coughing. There were LOTS of kids in the gym, all 5 Kindergarten classes, all 5 1st grade classes, all 5 2nd grade classes and 2 3rd grade classes. Needless to say, it was HOT in the gym. When I get hot, my cough gets worse. It started to get out of control, I was starting to sweat and I was very worried that I was distracting everyone. Out of all of those kids in the gym, I was the only one coughing!!! They gave it to me for crying out loud! Anyway, I got up to go out into the hall to get a drink to see if that would help. As soon as I walked out of the gym I was coughing like crazy, got my drink from the water fountain and then went into the bathroom for a paper towel. When I came back out of the bathroom, I noticed that the television reporters were interviewing the principal, who was dressed in a lion costume, for the news. UGH! I can't believe I didn't see them before! I was embarrassed that I had spent some time in the lobby coughing while they were doing an interview! I quickly went back into the gym and as soon as I sat down I started coughing again. I whispered to Juanita that I was going to have to go back to the library because I was too hot and couldn't stop coughing. So much for hearing the guest speaker! Gage and Emma enjoyed listening to her and they told me they didn't even hear me coughing. I'm sure I was more worried about it than anyone else was, but I know how annoying it can be when you're trying to concentrate and listen to someone when there's someone else coughing their brains out. I watched the 6 o'clock news to see if Northridge was on, and they did show the interview and I did hear myself cough in the background. However, they must have done quite a bit of editing, because I didn't hear too much of it. I tried finding the video clip on the KFYR site, but only found a little write up. I'll see if I can find it later.

This evening we watched the Veggie-Tale movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". Sounds good, huh? The kids liked it. They have seen it before so I threatened them that if anyone started telling me about what was going to happen before it did, then I was shutting it off. Gage caught himself once. It didn't really matter much, because I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Speaking of eyes, it was certainly evident by looking at poor little Emma's eyes, that she is now coming down with my cold. I knew it was going to happen because on Monday when we were at Gage's basketball practice I caught Emma just AFTER she took a drink out of my Gatorade bottle. I told her she was going to get sick and now it seems as though she is. I wish we could all just get sick at once and be done with it, instead of dragging it out over several weeks!

I'm sorry if I put you to sleep with my boring day.

Cough Suppressant

*Note to self: Do not take cough medicine, EVEN if it says "Non-Drowsy Formula" before going to work.

I have been walking around like a zombie since about 30 minutes after lunch today. I now have a terrible cough that woke me up around 5am that didn't want to stop. I got up and took some DayQuil that was in the cupboard and expired back in 2003. I knew it was old because it was Albertson's brand and we haven't been to an Albertson's since we lived in Montana, which is over 6 years now! It actually seemed to work as my cough subsided and I was able to doze a bit before my alarm went off at 7am. My cough started back up just before lunchtime and I decided to take some of the cough medicine Scott bought at the store this morning to replace our expired DayQuil. I think it was just Robitussin, nothing major. But boy let me tell you, I have seriously been messed up since that started to kick in! I don't know how drug addicts can like this feeling. However, it was probably a good thing I was in a daze because library with the Kindergarteners today was a nightmare. "Thank the Lord Mrs. Schmidt was there with me!" There was some pushing and shoving going on which led to more pushing and shoving in the line to leave the library and one kid shoved the other so hard that he lost his balance and flew into the metal desk and conked his head pretty hard. I'm not quite sure I would have known what to do in that situation, but there was screaming and crying from both kids and it was an awful feeling. If I hadn't been in a daze, I might have kicked some a**!

We've had 5-6 more inches of snow to add to our record snowfall for the season. There is more to come. The kids griped the whole way to school this morning. They should have had to walk back home in it like I did, if they wanted something to really complain about! I had to take my glasses off because I couldn't see through them. I needed windshield wipers to clear the BS (blowing snow..................our local meteorologist seems to love that term) from my glasses. It was also pretty cold. It was a cold walk home as well, but thankfully it wasn't snowing (or blizzarding) at that time.

I suppose I should get this foggy head of mine to bed and see if I can't sleep this feeling off for a better day tomorrow!?

Ash Wednesday Acolyte

This evening Gage had his debut as an Acolyte during the Ash Wednesday church service. He was quite excited about it all evening and I didn't have to ask him twice to get his clothes on to get ready to go to church!


I can't believe how grown up this little guy is! We are so proud of him!

Pastor Jake and Gage prior to the church service. (Darn it! I didn't realize I had caught Pastor Jake with his eyes closed.)

Before the service started, we did a practice run with Gwen, Pastor Jake's wife, just to be sure Gage remembered what he was supposed to do.

He remembered exactly what he was to do. He told me, "Mom, I've been watching the Acolyte for a long time, so I know what they do!"

Gage takes this job very seriously!

He nearly knocked this candle over when he was done putting it out, so needless to say, I was quite nervous that he might set the church on fire! I asked Gwen if she had the firetruck on standby just in case.

Gage with Pastor Jake and Rev. Vicki at the beginning of the service.

Gage did a wonderful job. He wasn't nervous at all. Several people came up to him after the service asking him if this was the first time he has been an Acolyte and told him that he did a great job. I think he really liked that people noticed.

After the service Gage reminded me that he had a job to do. He was supposed to get the bible markers and Pastor Jake's binder and return them to his office, as one of his jobs for earning his Wolf badge in Cub Scouts. When he went back into the sanctuary to get Pastor Jake's things, he heard Jake talking to the members as they came up to him after the service. He went to tell Jake that his mircophone was still on and Gage said that Pastor Jake told him those were the kinds of things he needed to watch out for. LOL!

Bedtime was a little late tonight, but it was for a good cause. When Gage got home and got his p.j.'s on he said, "I love being an Acolyte!" There are several Acolytes, so I'm not sure when Gage will get his turn again, but I can assure you he will be ready.

Today I had an appointment with Dr. Warford. He said things were looking good and they said I could decrease my retainer wear to 18 hours/day. I had them out from noon until 8pm (a little too long) and I could sure tell it when I put them back in! It's amazing how quickly your teeth can shift! It was a nice break I must admit.

Underwear

If you think, by reading the title, that this could be a "too much information" post, then you should probably just stop reading here, because you are probably right. :-)

Yesterday morning when I was getting dressed, Scott walked by the bedroom to go into the bathroom. Apparently he caught a glimpse of my underwear. He remarks, "Good Grief Stacy! I think you might need some new underwear!" He was right, I do. I can't even remember the last time I bought underwear. As you all know, I am pretty "low maintenance" and splurging on underwear is something I just don't do. I'm in the same boat in the bra and sock department. I just hate going into those aisles at the stores because I never know what size or style to get. Anyway, my underwear happened to have a big hole along the side and the only thing holding them together was the elastic waist band and the elastic around the leg. Nice. I told Scott that those were definitely the underwear every mother would be mortified by if her daughter were wearing if she were in an accident. They were clean, just falling apart. I told Scott that I would have to be unconscious before I would even think about letting any medical personnel cut my pants off if I were in an accident requiring my clothes to be removed in order to save my life.

Last night after we had the kids put to bed, Scott ran to PetSmart to get cat food, dog food and crickets. When he came home, he handed me a Caramel Frappucino and a pile of new underwear. Apparently Scott also would have been mortified if I happened to get into an accident requiring the removal of my clothes. After he left PetSmart, he went to Kohl's and bought me some new underwear. So just remember, the next time you are in a department store and you see some man, who you think is a pervert, browsing through the women's underwear section, it could be some innocent guy just trying to make sure his wife has some decent underwear to wear.

igPa atinLa

So, how many of you can speak igPa atinLa? Today when Gage and I were on our walk home from school (Scott took Emma to her dentist's appointment at 3p) he asked me, "Do you know igPa atinLa?" I replied, "esYa ageGa Ia anca alkta igPa atinLa!" He about fell over. He looked up at me in awe and asked how I knew that. Isn't it funny how stupid kids think their parents are? I told him I had older sisters who were fluent in igPa atinLa. LOL! I guess there's no more talking to Scott in Pig Latin so the kids don't know what I'm saying! Gage said he wondered what "Pig French" sounded like. LOL!

We had a jam-packed busy day. As I mentioned earlier, Emma had a dentist appointment at 3pm that Scott took care of, then Gage had his first-ever basketball practice from 4-5p and then Gage and Emma both had gymnastics from 5-6p and I then had volleyball at 6:30. I was going to skip volleyball, but we actually made it home early enough that I didn't have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ready to go. I hate tooting my own horn, but I rocked tonight at volleyball. I think it has something to do with that scientific law, something that is in motion tends to stay in motion? I hadn't sat down at all since school let out and I was on a roll. I served 15 points of our 2nd game! One of the girls said, "Wow Stacy, you are on fire!" I replied, "I don't know about that, but my chest certainly is!" My scratchy throat has moved down into my chest and I think I'm quite thankful I didn't go cycling with Kara this morning at the YMCA, because I think it might have killed me? If volleyball had my chest on fire, I'm quite sure I would have died in a cycling class!

Juanita came back to work today and everyone was glad to see her. She is starting back slow, so I will be working in the afternoons until she is ready to start back to full days. I was able to get quite a bit done this morning, but I think it was because I knew our time after school was going to be spent on the go, so I knew I had to get organized so that could run smoothly.

We are DONE selling Girl Scout cookies! WOO HOO! We turned the orders in to Kara (my co-leader/cookie Mom) today so I was glad to get that out of my hair! However, we have 2 cases of Hershey bars with almonds to sell now for Cub Scouts. Like I said, our neighbors are going to run and hide when they see us walking down the sidewalks. I think after this fundraiser, we will be done selling things until September rolls around and the new school year starts up! I can't wait! NOT!

Pinewood Derby 2009

Today was the big day for Gage's Pinewood Derby car! He's been so excited about racing his car. It did very well and placed 2nd in all 6 races it ran! It came down the hill in the lead, but was always overtaken by one car in the last 4 feet or so.

Here you can see Gage's car as it is barely in the lead (the blue car closest to us).

This year everyone won a trophy which was a big hit with the boys. Out of the 5 boys in our den 4 of them won first place trophies! We definitely had some fast cars in our group!

Gage proudly displays his trophy and car with our new Cubmaster.

T.J., Gage, Tyson, Brycen and Cameron (in front).

Gage designed his car himself and drew the pattern he wanted Scott to cut out of the block of wood and he also drew the stripes he wanted on the car, and then he and Scott taped and painted it.

It will be interesting to see how his car will do at the Spring Scout Show in April when the competition is a little stiffer.

Gage was excited to add his Pinewood Derby trophy to the shelf in his room which houses his hockey trophies!

At the end, siblings and Dads were allowed to race their cars. Scott didn't build a car this year and Emma used her car from last year. Once again, Emma's car didn't lose a single race!

The Love Bug is way out in the lead and you can see Gage's car neck and neck for second and third place.

I'm pretty sure Emma won't be giving up her Love Bug any time in the near future!

Tonight we attended our annual dinner at church put on by the Friendship Committee. It was delicious food and they had Karaoke for the entertainment. It was actually a lot of fun. Our table went up to sing Sweet Caroline, which was the ONLY way I would go up front to sing, with a group and standing behind Scott! :-) Gage and Emma were the only kids present for the free child care, so they were definitely outnumbered at 15 Presbyteens to the 2 of them! They were definitely up too late and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

Scratchy

I have been expecting this. Today my throat has started feeling a little scratcy and I have drainage running down the back of my throat. The last 3 days I was at work at the school, nearly everyone was hacking up lungs. When I was at Corpus Christi, with the Kindergarteners on Thursday, I knew I would end up coming down with something. The kids there were having a coughing contest, I swear. No one wanted to be out-coughed by the other. I started taking some Vitamin C today to do my best at preventing myself from getting sick. I pray it works! I am feeling quite tired again tonight, so I am going to cut this short in hopes that getting more sleep will also help me stay healthy.

Love/Hate

Last night I was just too tired and lazy to come downstairs to post on my blog, so I asked Scott if he wanted to. His eyes lit up and after learning my password, he came right downstairs.

He was down here a long time so it must not have been as easy as he thought, to write down the 10 things he loves about me! :-) I'm sure he could have had 10 things he hates about me done pretty quick. LOL! Just kidding Scott! Actually, come to think of it, I'm quite sure Emma could have had 10 things she hates about me filled out in a matter of seconds, as I'm sitting here looking at a note she wrote to me the other night that says, "I hate you. I will brak the pishs (dishes) Love Up stars (upstairs) Emma. Bad Mom BAD BAD!" I can't wait to show her all of these notes one day, when she's calling me asking what she should do about her child who hates her!

I thought it was pretty funny, when I'm reading Scott's post, that one of the things he loves about me happens to be one of the things I hate about myself. The one about how "self-less" I am. I get myself into so many different things and often wonder why the heck I said yes.

We had a pretty good week. Not much going on tomorrow, but we have a ton of things on the schedule for Sunday. Scott is out of town until Sunday morning, so hopefully I can keep the kids from killing each other before he gets home. I seem to be pretty tired this evening, so maybe if I get to bed at a decent time, I'll have more patience to deal with them tomorrow!

Warning: Guest Blogger at the Keyboard

OK, so this is Scott at the keyboard tonight. I think Stacy must have had a weak moment and asked me if I wanted to be a guest blogger tonight so I jumped at the chance. Wow, so much power and so many options......now, what to write about??

Well, I'll admit that I really like Stacy's "10 Random Things" posts so I'll have to take advantage and do my version for her. I could have done the dishwasher fairy because I really dig it when that chick shows up but I better do Stacy instead or I'll be buying Frappucinos;)

10 Random Things I love about Stacy

1. I love how dedicated she is to being engaged in the kids' lives. She always ensures they have opportunities to explore any activity that they might enjoy. I hope the kids recognize how luck they are some day. She makes it so easy for me by always having things under control.

2. I love how self-less Stacy is in helping other people. She is always volunteering for something like meals on wheels, taking pictures of new members at church or something to help someone else.

3. I love the way Stacy is willing to let me bribe my way out of trouble with a Frappucino from Starbucks.

4. I love that Stacy is willing to let me spend time doing things that I care deeply about.

5. I love that Stacy is willing to cut me slack for all the times that I mess up, forget things, or do something stupid.

6. I love that Stacy makes sure that for every birthday she bakes a special cake for Gage and Emma. I know they'll look back fondly on those cakes as proof of how much their mother loves them and how special they are to her.

7. I love that Stacy invests the time and energy to document the special times in our lives with her scrapbooking. Her work is truly invaluable already and helps me to remember very special times that I would have completely forgotten about without her efforts.

8. I love that Stacy allowed me to buy a whole house to have for duck hunting and that she is willing to spend time there and mow the whole big yard even when it's 90 degrees out.

9. I love when Stacy just takes time to just sit by me or lay with me (especially in the hammock).

10. I love that Stacy causes me to strive to be a better husband and dad by the example that she sets.

I love you so much Stacy!

Now, you'll have to give me another guest blogger chance to really go wild!

Scott

Hump Day

The kids and I each had a good day at school today. I worked in the library from 9:30-3, which I will be doing the rest of the week as well.

We had nothing going on this afternoon, so it was just a lazy evening. I tried to get Emma to work on her thank-you notes but didn't get very far after we started arguing about the way she holds her pencil. I don't know how she picked up this bad habit, but she holds the pencil with all of her fingers and we've been trying to correct it for quite awhile. Since Preschool actually. Her teacher has been trying to get her to hold it right as well by giving her some pencil grips that make you hold the pencil correctly. Apparently Emma has decided to start taking it off after her teacher walks away. I don't know how to get her to change. Eventually, when she starts doing a lot of writing, her hand is going to get tired very quickly with this grip. She is convinced that she CAN'T change and that she can't write very well that way. I have tried explaining to her that it will take practice, but you know Emma! She just wants to keep me on my toes.

Gage and Scott worked a little bit on Gage's Pinewood Derby car this evening as the race is this Sunday. His car looks really good and it was completely his own design. He drew the profile of the car on the block of wood for Scott to cut out and then decided how he wanted to paint it. I'll be sure to get some pictures when it is finished.

I can't even think of anything else to write. Oh, except that I enjoyed my sister Kysa's last comment on my blog "10 things I Love about Stacy:1.Always willing to be my therapist! 2.Makes the beautifullest cakes ever! 3. Great scrapbooker! 4. Solution maker! 5. Always willing to take in visitors and so inviting for us to come her way!!! 6. Getting very chatty when having a drink on 4th of July! (gets that from her Mother)... 7. Always acts like you didn't wake her up in the AM when you know you did...haha!! 8. Excellent Keriokee singer..haha 9. Awesome sister/aunt.... 10. Webkinz Queen of all Webkinz!!!"

Hotel for Dogs

Emma received 2 $10 gift certificates to the Grand Theater for her birthday on Saturday and the certificates have been burning a hole in her pocket ever since. This morning Gage caught me while I was on the computer and asked if I could look online to see what movies were showing at the Grand Theater. Hotel for Dogs was one of the movies showing, which is also suitable for kids. I promised the kids we could go to the movie if there was good behavior today while we were meeting with Pastor Jake about different things Gage can do for the church, for one of his Wolf badge requirements. They both did very well, so we went to the movie afterwards. We had to go to the 4:40 show because we were still at the church when the 2:25 show started. I wasn't thrilled about going at that time, as I knew it would interfere with supper, but I did make a promise, and a promise is a promise. The movie was really good and we all three enjoyed it. You should definitely consider taking your kids to the movie. I don't know how they got that many dogs to cooperate at one time; it was quite impressive! I'm guessing there had to be some trick videography going on. The kids already knew the names of the main characters (dogs) in the movie because they have seen them at McDonald's in the Happy Meals. Mom and Dad, I really think you would enjoy the movie as well. You should consider making a date out of your next cigarette run to Maryville and go to the Hangar and watch it! :-)

Today when we were meeting with Pastor Jake, Gage found out there are several things he can do to help out at the church. He asked about being an Acolyte and Pastor Jake took some time to train him to do that job while we were there. Emma is very jealous about Gage being able to walk down the aisle at church carrying a flame. I think the church will be much safer if Emma has to wait until she is 7 to be an Acolyte, like the rules state. Some of the other jobs Gage has at church now is to make sure all of the little pencils in the pews are in good working condition and to replace the ones that aren't. He will also be returning Pastor Jake's binder and bible markers to Jake's office from the pulpit after the service. Even Emma has been assigned a job, which is to make sure that the prayer cards that are in the pews where we sit in the balcony have not been drawn or written on. :-) Gage also suggested that maybe the purple activity bags available for the kids to use during the church service be stocked with blank paper so that the prayer cards where we sit in church may remain free of pencil sketches of Star Wars characters dueling with light sabres. Another job for Gage is to interview new church members' kids (if they have any) when I call new members to set up a time for pictures and a little interview for the new television located in the Narthex. Looks like I earned several jobs myself..................to make sure Gage and Emma do their jobs.

To answer your question, Kysa, there hasn't been a whole lot of improvement in Emma's sleeping habits. She apparently has ink pens stashed in various locations about her bedroom, so that she has a spare when I take the one that is out in plain view when I'm reading bedtime stories, so that she can write us notes to bring us while she's supposed to be trying to go to sleep. Tonight she brought Scott a note that read, "Keep Aoot Dad onleen Mom & Gage can come in. Love, Emma PS fin Dad can come in. Love, Emma" (In case you need a little help translating she wrote "Keep Out Dad. Only Mom & Gage can come in. Love, Emma PS Fine, Dad can come in. Love, Emma" LOL! Her next note she brought up to Scott said, "Kan you lae with me Love Emma" (she also drew a little heart behind her name). Last night's note said, "I het you viree much" I doubt I need to translate that one. Emma's teacher commented at her conferences about Emma being VERY GOOD at inventive spelling. I suppose it's because of all the notes she brings us while she's supposed to be sleeping!

2 days off of school

We had today and will have tomorrow off of school. I don't even know what holiday it is? Is is President's Day? I know there is no school tomorrow for a staff development day. It was kind of nice just spending the day at home today. Gage spent the entire day building Lego sets. I heard him start into his first project at 6am! He completed his first set around 10 and then worked on his next set until around 4:30. We had to leave for gymnastics shortly after that.

Tonight was our Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts. It started at 6:30, just after we got home from gymnastics. We ate supper at the banquet and they served a baked potato bar. It was pretty good. I was surprised at how well the kids ate it. I thought it might not be too kid friendly, but my kids liked them.

We don't have too much going on tomorrow. Gage has an appointment tomorrow after lunch to meet with Pastor Jake. One of the requirements to earn his Wolf badge in Cub Scouts is to talk to the leader of our church and find out what he can do to help. I'm guessing he will be able to do train to be an acolyte, and I'm not sure what else will be in store for him. Gage only has 3 more things to do (one of them is the meeting with our pastor) to earn his wolf badge. We will be getting our candy bars this weekend for our spring fundraiser. OH JOY! This is our last week of selling Girl Scout Cookies, so it works out just swell to end one fundraiser and start another. I'm sure our neighbors are going to start hiding when they see us walking down the sidewalk, like they do when the Schwan's man drives down the street! :-)

I forgot to mention that we had the kids' parent-teacher conferences last week. They are both doing very well. Gage's conference was the last one his teacher had to do, and it appeared to us that she was ready to be done. She gave us a good report, but didn't really have too much to say. We also met with his Reading Enhancement Group teacher. She is very nice and it seems that she is trying to figure out how to challenge Gage in reading.

Emma is also doing very well in school. She is in the top reading group along with 4 other kids in her class. She has been having some issues at school with listening, which we already knew. Her teacher said that she was going to use this long weekend to change the seating arrangements in the room, as she thought that might help some. There are a couple of boys at Emma's table that don't behave the best, which might be why Emma has been acting up a bit as well. I'm praying that is the answer. If it isn't, I'm not quite sure I know what to do about it? She's not causing major problems, but she is being distracted and causing distractions which is unacceptable in our book. We're just hoping the new seating chart takes care of the problem.

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

10 Random Things I Love about Scott

1. I love that Scott is confident enough about himself that he's comfortable wearing around the poncho that my Mom crocheted for me around the house for the past 3 days. :-)

2. I love how Scott can be so thoughtful and will often times bring home a Starbucks coffee for me when he's been out running errands and how he likes to occasionally "pay it forward" when he's in the drive-thru line and pay for the people behind him.

3. I love how Scott is an active member of our busy lives and how he takes off work when he can to help me run the kids here or there when I am unable to.

4. I love how when I wake up in the middle of the night, or during the wee hours of the morning and have a terrible migraine coming on, Scott will get up out of bed to go downstairs to get me the medication I need to keep it from getting worse and how if it happened to be early enough and it's time I can have another dose when he gets up in the morning, he will bring it to me as well.

5. I love that Scott loves what he does and has figured out how to make his passion his job and get paid for it.

6. I love how it seems that Scott loves me more today than the day we were married, despite my shortcomings.

7. I love how Scott and I have the same ideas and fears about raising our kids, and that he loves all of us unconditionally.

8. I love how much time Scott will spend in Hallmark looking for "just the right card" for me, or for whoever I've asked him to get a card for and that it's never generic and is always the perfect card.

9. I love that Scott takes the time to leave little notes for me around the house and how excited he gets when the "dishwashing Fairy" shows up at our house.

10. I love that Scott will take the time to read books about relationships and parenting and that if he learns something new, he is open-minded enough try it out to see if it works.

Those are just a few of the things that I love about you Scott!

Happy 6th Valenbirthday Emma!

Today was almost as bad as Christmas...............in terms of getting up too early, that is. Gage and Emma were awake before 7am, ready to open gifts. Of course I didn't get my butt out of bed until a little later. I did have to get up earlier than I wanted to because I still had a cake to decorate! Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Emma was kind enough to let Gage help her open her presents. I think she remembered that Gage let her help him when it was his birthday, so she wanted to return the favor. I like it when they do nice things for each other!

Emma was totally excited to open up a new Webkinz! Aunt Kysa sent this cute little love monkey in the mail a few days ago and Emma has been hounding me every day to open it. Finally I let her!

Because it is also Valentine's Day, Gage also got a gift. A bag full of books! I heard him talking to Dustin on the phone this morning and Dustin must have asked Gage what he got for Valentine's Day and I heard Gage say, "I just got books. I didn't get a Webkinz." :-( Poor thing! I know he's happy about the books though.

Grizzy loves Emma's new overnight bag that she received from a friend who was unable to attend the party today.

Emma getting long distance birthday wishes in her new birthday outfit. Daisy Scout clothes! :-)

So here is Emma's birthday cake this year! What do you think? I thought it turned out pretty cute, and I didn't even have to make a second one due to hungry dogs!

My favorite part of this cake is the snowman's nose. I was so simple to do. It is just an ice cream cone, frosted with orange tinted frosting, then rolled in orange colored sugar. The rosy cheeks are flattened strawberry starbursts that I shaped into a circle. The pink on the hat was an edible spraypaint. It was pretty easy to use!

Mom and Emma with her snowman birthday cake!

We headed out to Papa's Polar Patch for Emma's birthday party. It was somewhere around 5-15 degrees I think? It was kind of chilly, but in my opinion it was beautiful out! There was practically no wind, and that is unusual for North Dakota, especially if you have an outdoor event planned!

Emma and her friends Kiana and Maddie sitting on a bale of hay with the kitty who lives at the Polar Patch. Emma said she wanted to trade Grizzy for this cat. Poor Grizzy! I think even though he has mental problems, he looks better than this one!

Kara, Jadyn and Kya take a ride on the old-fashioned sleigh ride. A.K.A. sledding on a car hood! :-) Hold on tight girls!

Emma was very excited to open up all of her gifts. Kara was taking pictures for me and she did a great job! Thanks Kara! There were so many good photos to choose from, I had a hard time selecting only one!

They were even giving Horse-drawn sleigh rides! (not free of charge of course!)

After the group took off in the horse-drawn sleigh, I asked Scott if he wanted to ride with me on the car hood! The driver asked, "Mild or wild?" We chose wild and boy was it fun! I don't think I could have wiped that smile off of my face, even if I tried!

The kids LOVED this sleigh ride! However, at a dollar per kid per ride, we had to shut it down after awhile! I felt bad telling everyone we had to find something else to do for awhile that was free of charge!

Everyone was definitely tuckered out after this birthday party. Emma ended up getting so cold that she couldn't take it anymore. The party was nearly over anyway, and we were just waiting for people to come get their children when she melted down. Scott took her to the car to get her warmed up and she was crying hysterically, I was told. I'm glad I didn't have to sit in there and listen to her! She lost her good, warm mittens at school (surprise, surprise!), so she had to use some others that aren't too great at keeping hands warm. Her poor hands were beat red.

Exhausted Emma on our ride home!

I took a video of Emma, Jadyn and Kylie on the sled ride as I was riding the mule (I'm not sure what else you call it for those of you who don't know what a mule is.....................and no, it's not a cross between a donkey and a horse!) I nearly fell off at one point as it was quite a wild ride. I'm attempting to download it right now, but it's taking forever. It was over 3 minutes long and I don't think blogger can handle that big of a video? We attempted YouTube and was unsuccessful there too. I'll give it a little while before I give up.

I cannot believe it worked! If you tend to have motion sickness, I would probably NOT watch the video! LOL!

The birthday party was really a lot of fun. I think it was the most fun one we've had so far?! The kids were shot, and so were Scott and I for that matter!

Emma chose to have her birthday supper at Space Aliens. I forgot my camera, but seriously, I have over 100 pictures that were taken today, so I don't think anyone will notice? I am kicking myself over one photo I didn't take though. I ALWAYS take a picture of the group together and I totally spaced it this time. It would have been a cute one too, with everyone all bundled up!

I've got to go to bed. We are teaching Sunday school to the preschool class all this month and I'm glad it's half over.

I'll have to post about the 10 things I love about Scott tomorrow. He made me mad a little while ago, so tonight was probably not the best night to do that anyway!

10 Random Things I Love about Emma

1. I love the way Emma enjoys staying in her pajamas all day long, when she can.

2. I love listening to Emma sing.

3. I love the way Emma gets so excited when she knows we are going somewhere to stay and packs about 5 bags full of miscellaneous items.

4. I love the way that Emma makes forts in her room and ties jumpropes and other strings across her room that resemble a booby trap more than a frame for her fort.

5. I love the way that Emma can clean and organize her bedroom when she really wants to.

6. I love how excited Emma gets when we have movie night at home and how thrilled she is when I pop popcorn for her and Gage. I love how she eats her popcorn so slow, waiting for everyone else to finish so she can be the only one who has any popcorn left, and how she refuses to share it with anyone else.

7. I love how Emma's face lights up when she smiles.

8. I love Emma's beautiful red hair and love that she knows it makes her special and unique.

9. I love the way Emma will sit on her Grandpa's laps and on neighbor Dave's lap and seem so content.

10. I love the way that Emma can sit and color and draw for hours on end and the way she writes notes saying, "Dad, I het (hate) you! Love, Emma or "You are the menest (meanest) Mom evr!" Love, Emma, then five minutes later will come back with a new note telling us she loves us.

10 things I love about Gage

In my spare time, which isn't much lately, I enjoy reading blogs. I read Emily's sister's blog and really liked her idea about posting the things she loves about her family in tribute to the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday and I wanted to do the same. I've been putting it off for a couple of days because I wanted to think a little bit about it. I decided I would start my series of 3 blog postings about what I love about my family. I will start with Gage and they aren't in any specific order.

1. I love the way Gage thinks and how witty he can be.

2. I love the way Gage cherishes his "kie" (blankie) and that he knows what a precious treasure it is, as it was given to him by our dear friend, Julie, who died of cancer. I love the way it soothes him when he sticks his fingers (and his toes when he was a little guy) through the holes and grips it with his hands. I also love that he still carries it around with him in the mornings when he wakes up and at night before he goes to bed.

3. I love how passionate Gage is about reading books.

4. I love how thoughtful he can be towards his sister when he buys things for her in his classroom store with the pretend money he has earned by doing extra work.

5. I love how Gage makes friends so easily and how important they are to him. I also love that he tries so hard not to hurt any of their feelings when they are fighting over him to be their partner in group activities and picks a person by using "eeny meeny miney moe".

6. I love how Gage loves his family. I love hearing about how different things remind him of his cousins and grandparents, and even though he knows smoking it bad for your health, that he admits he likes the smell of cigarette smoke because it reminds him of his Grandma Pipi. :-)

7. I love how Gage plays with his action figures and his Lego guys and watching him make them battle against each other.

8. I love to watch him interact with our pets and how close they are to his heart.

9. I love the way he can make me feel so good by doing the little things.

10. I love watching Gage think and seeing how he lights up when he figures something out. I love that he is smart and that learning comes easy to him and that he enjoys it.

There are so many more things that I love about Gage, but I can't name them all. These are just 10 random things that I love about him.

Cricut 102

This morning when we were getting ready to leave for school, Grus, our gray cat slipped out the front door. On his way out, the door closed on his tail which apparently caused him to run off of the steps and into the snowbank. I heard Gage and Emma hollering for him like he took off running, so when I went to the door and opened it, he came scrambling back to the steps to get inside the house. Gage was quite concerned about him, not because he could have had his tail amputated, but because he didn't want him to get frostbite. The next thing I know I see the kids with Grus acting like he had a near-death experience.

I think Grus was eating up this attention. They covered him up with a warm blanket and snuggled him next to Emma's penguin. :-)

I had a good day at the library. Mrs. Schmidt had a meeting until noon, so she had left a "to-do" list on the desk for me and I really liked having it. There were alot of things "to-do" and I am very much a task-oriented kind of person. I tried my hardest to get it all done before she got back, but I lacked going through a few boxes of books and taking a table down and putting it into the lower gym. I was quite impressed with all of the work she did last night during teacher conferences. She had one cart that has been driving everyone nuts for quite some time, completely organized and mostly EMPTY! Juanita, you should come in and look at it before it gets piled up with books again!!! :-)

Tonight I went to Scrap Haven to attend a Cricut 102 class with my friend, Kara. We were cutting out Mickey, Pooh and Santa and layering them with 3-D dots. They turned out so cute I had to get a picture to put them on my blog. Kysa also requested I post them so she could check them out, so here you go!


Unfortunately I don't personally have any of the cartridges that were used to make these cut-outs, but I have several other ones that I could use to make different things. I have done the layering before, but never used the 3-D dots to make them "pop". I'll have to stick these guys on some blank notecards so I can mail them out to someone.

I was panicked before the class started; however. It was to begin at 6:00 and by 5:30 Scott still wasn't home from work. I tried calling his cell phone numerous times but kept getting his voice mail. At 6:40 Kara called to see if Scott had made it home yet because I had already called her to let her know Scott was MIA and that I might be late. I called my neighbor, Bonnie, a few minutes before 6:45 to see if the kids could come over there because I was going to be late for my Cricut class and Scott wasn't home yet. She was more than happy to have them come over. On my way to the class Scott called me to tell me he was on his way and that he didn't have service where he was and he kept getting stopped by people to chat on his way out. UGH! Why do people do that? Anyway, I made it to the class with pretty much no time to spare. Thankfully Kara saved me a spot next to her so we could chat and so I could borrow her cartridges! Thanks Kara! I learned a few things I didn't know about the machine, so that was good. I also learned that I need to put a new blade in it because it wasn't cutting the best. I guess I have used it more than I thought! It doesn't seem like I've had many chances to scrap, but I've done enough playing around with it that I've dulled a blade. I also got to use my new Cricut tote bag that I got for Christmas and I LOVE it! It's a really nice bag. If you didn't know, I'm kind of a "bag lady". I LOVE BAGS! Well, all except for the kind I've been finding underneath my eyes in the morning lately!

Tomorrow morning I have to take Gage in to the orthodontist to have his palate spreader put in place. They are going to fix his crossbite with that and hopefully things will work out well and he won't need braces later. That's probably wishful thinking. I've given them quite enough money the past couple of years! They said, and I agree, that it's much easier to fix those problems when they are young like Gage, instead of waiting until they are old like me!

We also have a Daisy meeting tomorrow after school. Then later in the evening we have Gage's Parent-teacher conferences. We had to reschedule Emma's for Friday after school because her time slot was right in the middle of our Daisy meeting, just like the last time! I don't know how that worked out like that twice! I'm hoping to get good reports!

Recipe

This past weekend Scott spent some time online looking for some different recipes to try out. He made a Goulash on Saturday that smelled really bad. Thankfully it tasted better than it smelled. On Sunday he made short ribs in the crockpot and they were very tasty. On Monday evenings the kids have gymnastics from 5-6p, so Scott usually comes home and makes supper since we aren't home until a little later. Last night he made a Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe that was REALLY good! It was so good, I want to share it with you.


Chicken Tortilla Soup I


Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (10.5 oz) can condensed chicken broth
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked
1 cup white hominy
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chile peppers
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
crushed tortilla chips
sliced avocado
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
chopped green onions


Directions:
1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
2. Stir in corn, hominy, chiles, beans, cilantro and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls and top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese and chopped green onion.


It really is very delicious. I would never have even printed this recipe off because there are too many ingredients for me to even look at it. I like quick and easy. Scott said this was quick and easy, and it must have been because he had supper waiting on the table for us when we got home just shortly after 6p. The most difficult part is actually getting all of the things at the grocery store without forgetting something!


I ran a couple of errands today and got some things I needed to get ready for Emma's Valentine's Day party at school and her birthday party this weekend. I found this CUTE idea for making candy airplanes for Valentine's, so I had to buy the items to do that. I'm a sucker for a cute idea. We have candy airplanes coming out of our ears. The kids loved seeing them all over the kitchen table when they got home from school. I guess they are just as much fun to play with as they will be to eat! They are made out of a pkg of smarties, 2 peppermint lifesavers a pack of gum and a rubberband. Very cute! I've attempted twice to put the picture on here and there seem to be some issues with loading a picture tonight, so I'll have to post the picture another time.

This evening I went to the school to help set up and clean up the meal provided to the teachers by the PTO and Northridge families since they have to stay late for parent-teacher conferences. I had the kids in bed when I left just shortly after 7p and Emma was asleep when I got home shortly after 8. Scott said she came downstairs to the basement where he was once or twice, but fell asleep fairly easily tonight. I broke out my Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book that was once used like a Bible. I had forgotten about it and was reminded of it when my sister, Jari Jo commented on yesterday's post. Thanks Jari, and I will be reading up on what I can do to help her out and we will be going to the doctor sometime this month for her 6 year old well-check, so I will be sure to raise that question with her. The funny part is that when Emma was around 6 months old, we got that book and read it and did everything it said and it worked like a miracle. When we told our pediatrician about it, she was fascinated by it and has told every parent that has come in since then about this book and what we did and how well it worked. I actually bought the book to give to our pediatrician this past year when she had her first baby! Anyway, she'll probably be surprised that we are having sleep issues. Maybe I can refresh my brain and get it squared away before we go in for the appointment I haven't yet made! :-)

Emma can't sleep and I need HELP!

It was a treacherous walk to school this morning. The temperature was mild, but we had some rain throughout the night and there were many slick spots that nearly took me out. Even Gage and Emma had a couple near falls. Our walks often make me think about the mail carriers and about how much I'm sure they appreciate people who do a good job with snow removal. We aren't amongst the best, but I try. I know without a doubt, however, that we do a better job than a couple of the houses that are near the school. As I was walking down the hill after dropping the kids off, only to have to walk back to the school in about 45 minutes, I nearly gave an oncoming car quite a laugh as I almost bit the dirt. Thankfully I caught myself.

I can't remember who it was, or what it was that they said exactly, but someone had told me of a sure way that I could get Emma to fall asleep at night. If any of my readers happen to be that person, I would appreciate you telling me again what the magic trick is. I am almost to the point where I dread bedtime with Emma. We now have her mattress on the floor, underneath her dollhouse bed. She wants her old bed set up, but that can't happen. For one, the box spring for her old bed is being stored at Tuttle, and for two, we don't have room to store the dollhouse bed. Now when I walk by her room to either go down to the basement, or to the downstairs bathroom, I'll find her standing on her head on her mattress with her legs crossed pretzel style with her bottom flat on the underside of her bed, where her mattress used to be. She tells me she doesn't know how to stop thinking and doesn't know how to fall asleep. I assured her that standing on her head, upside down with her butt on the bottom side of her bed isn't the best way to try and fall asleep. So, whoever it was that had the tip on how to get Emma to sleep, please speak up. I'm getting to the point where I might have to start spiking her drink at suppertime with a sedative!! I need HELP!

I had volleyball tonight and played against a few ladies that I have played with in the past. We won 2 out of 3 matches, so I was glad we came out on top. It was still drizzling out and I believe it's supposed to start snowing tonight through Wednesday, so the roads and sidewalks aren't going to be much fun tomorrow.

I have the day off of work tomorrow and I have tons of things to do to get ready for Emma's birthday party. Our plan is to have her party at Papa's Polar Patch (a.k.a. Papa's Pumpkin Patch), but it's not looking like we'll have the best weather. They are calling for 13 degrees and snow. They do have a warming house available, thankfully. I don't want to have to change the plans at the last minute and call all of the parents, so please pray with me that we have good weather on Saturday. I guess I'd rather have it colder than warmer like today, because I hate the wet, melting snow. Wet snow and kids don't mix well in my opinion. Maybe it will work out just right and we could have the perfect snow for building a snowman? Emma would LOVE that. However, I'm sure she would want to bring it home to put in our own yard! :-)

Sleepovers

I had it much easier in the sleepover department than Emma's friend's Mom. Gage and Alexandra fell asleep fairly easily between 9 and 9:30 (which is very late for us) and then woke up at 6 this morning! UGH! That's too early on a Sunday morning. Heck, that's too early on ANY morning! They played fairly quiet together until my alarm went off an hour later. We had to get up earlier than usual so we could get out to pick Emma up before church. This friend of Emma's lives WAY north of town, so we had to be there by 8:30 to get her picked up so we could get to church on time. Scott and I are teaching Sunday School to the preschoolers this month, so we had to be there by 9am. We dropped Alexandra off at home around 8:20 and her house was very dark and quiet. Unfortunately we were a little too early as they were all still in bed. I didn't want to have to drop her off after we picked Emma up though, so there was no other option. When we got out there to pick Emma up, her Mom said to me, "Guess who was awake until 1:30 this morning?" AARRGH! I knew I shouldn't have let her stay. She has a hard time falling asleep here, let alone at someone else's house. She said, "Mom, we watched 2 whole movies before bedtime!" I'm sure she could have watched 2 more while she laid awake until 1:30! She didn't think going to bed tonight at 5:30 sounded like a great idea, but she's been so doggone tired today she needed to! We ate supper around 4:30 and had Emma in bed by 5:30. Of course she wasn't asleep for about another hour, so I guess it's a good thing we started much earlier. Needless to say, Emma won't be doing any sleepovers for quite awhile! She has such problems turning off her brain at night. I typically do too, so it's hard for me to get upset with her, because I know what she's going through. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. If anyone has any tips, I'd be happy to hear them and try them out!

We've been selling Girl Scout cookies like crazy this weekend. I have forgotten to tell people that there is a new Cookie Share program this year though. If there's anyone we've already sold to, who happens to be reading this, and they wish to designate any of the cookies they bought to the Cookie Share program, or buy more, let me know. The Cookie Share program allows people to buy cookies that will be donated to the charity of our Troop's choice. We chose the Ruth Meier's Hospitality House and when the cookies come in, the girls in our Troop will actually be the ones who deliver the cookies to their Food Pantry. This is such a neat thing for the girls. I know when we Trick-or-Treated for canned goods, it sure felt good to be able to give that food to people who need it, and what a treat for them to get GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, when they normally wouldn't. So, let me know if you would like to donate some cookies!

Needless to say, I'm just as tired as the kids are today, so I'm going to cut this short and get myself ready for bed. I have quite a busy week ahead with working at the library, a Daisy Scout meeting, getting ready for Emma's birthday party on Saturday and for whatever stupid reason, I volunteered back on the first day of school to organize Emma's school Valentine Party. What was I thinking?

G'night!

Minus one, plus one!

Today Emma finally made it to the birthday party/sleepover. I guess I won't be able to use that against her anymore..............not that it worked too well anyway! It was kind of weird dropping her off knowing I wouldn't see her until tomorrow morning. It was strangely quiet in the house this afternoon. As soon as Gage got home from playing at a friend's house, he wanted to know if his other friend, Alexandra, was going to be able to come over for a sleepover at our house. I called her Mom and left a message on the answering machine and then we just waited. Gage seemed kind of bored without Emma around to pester him and he even got his winter gear on and just played in the front yard awhile. Not too long after that, Alexandra called and Gage was thrilled to learn that she was going to be able to spend the night with us.

They had a little time to play before supper and then after supper we watched The Wizard of Oz, since she had never seen that movie before.

Scott (sleeping), Gage and Alexandra watching The Wizard of Oz. They were pretty engrossed in the movie so it was a quiet night as well.

After the movie it was time for bed. After reading a couple of stories, they spent a little time giggling before they fell asleep.

Now, I wonder how long I should wait up to see if Emma decides she needs to come home from her sleepover in the middle of the night. It wasn't until I was a little older that I was able to stay overnight at a friend's house, all night. One of my friends lived right across the street from us and I would leave in the middle of the night to walk home without telling anyone. I would always get creeped out because my friend's Mom had some sort of medical issue that forced her to wear wigs. I didn't know that at the time and it was totally freaky seeing fake heads with her hair on them! Maybe that's why I think hair is overrated to this day? :-) The one time Gage spent the night with his friend, Grant (a few years ago now), I had to go get him around 11pm, so I think it runs in the family. Although Gage did spend the night with his cousin Colton while we were in Iowa over Christmas, so maybe he's outgrown that now? There's just no place like home in my opinion.

If, by chance, Emma makes it through the night, we plan to go get her around 8:30a so she can go to church with us. Tomorrow is going to be a cranky day, I can feel it.

BINGO for Books

I can't even believe that I forgot to take my camera to BINGO for Books! UGH! Mrs. Schmidt took a picture of us while we were there, so maybe I can get her to email me a copy of it? I don't do many one picture layouts, but I really like the ones I've seen done. I can never take just one picture. I guess I'm kind of like Ruffles potato chips.

We had a good time. Both Emm and Gage got a BINGO so that was good. I think this was the first year we have gotten any! Emma came back from the prize table with candy! I didn't even know there was candy on the prize table! I had Gage go exchange it for a book. We told Emma we came for books, NOT CANDY! She wasn't too happy about it, but she soon got over it.

I worked in the library today and had a good day. The library is being turned into a "Safa-READ" and there are alot of fun things they will be doing this month, including a reading contest. The class who reads the most books gets to choose what the principal will be dressing up as at school one day. I heard one class talking about dressing Mr. Olson up like Elmo. That would be pretty funny!

The weather was beautiful again today. We were hot and sweaty on our walk home from school. You know it's been too cold for too long when the 30-40 degree weather feels like summer! I hate the slushy melting mess we have going on outside though. This is my least favorite time of year because of that....................and because of shedding animals!

Emma has a birthday party and sleepover tomorrow. She made it through the rest of the week without getting in trouble at school, so we'll see how it goes. Gage is requesting to have a friend from school sleepover with him since Emma is sleeping over at a friend's house. He wants his friend, Alexandra............................yes, that is right, AlexanDRA not AlexanDER, to spend the night. Hmmm. I saw her parents this morning after dropping the kids off at school and they didn't seem to think it would be a problem. She is such a nice girl and her parents are very nice as well. He is a minister at a Methodist church in town. What is it that they say about the "preacher's kids"? I think Alexandra may stay overnight with us tomorrow night, but I will have to confirm those plans sometime tomorrow. I'm in trouble when he turns 16 and is still wanting to have girls spend the night! YIKES! That scares me to death!

February 4, 1962

That was the date that my Mom and Dad were married and yesterday was their 47th wedding anniversary! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! I tried calling, but I'm sure you were busy with better things. Maybe Dad took you to the casino Mom, to celebrate or something? I didn't forget you, but I wanted to call instead of tell you on here! We love you with all of our hearts and souls. Forever and Ever. I'll try to call you again tomorrow after school. (There's your warning in case your avoiding my calls! :-)

It was a beautiful day here. The high was around 33 degrees and it's so funny that it feels GREAT at that still-freezing temperature! I walked 2 different times at the YMCA and have some awful blisters on the bottom of my feet. I'm looking real good as I walk around as if I'm walking on hot coals (because of the blisters), still with Igor's posture. Kara and I walked on the track in the Y this morning and I tried talking Sherry into walking outside this afternoon when we walked, but she wasn't interested. It was still a good walk and it was fun catching up on things. Thanks for the exercise ladies! I needed it!

Not much else going on here. We have our annual BINGO for Books at school tomorrow night from 6-8p. The kids are very excited about it. I am too. I love this event and missed it last year. I think I was scrapbooking and Scott was out of town, So Juanita, Kim and Erin took Gage and Emma to BINGO for Books and the kids had a great time. We've been going through the books so we can take them in to trade for different ones. Emma keeps trying to sneak some in the bag that I don't want to get rid of. I have been telling her I want to keep those books to give to her babies when she has them. I'm not sure what she thought of that idea?

I'm working at school tomorrow and excited about being there. I saw Mrs. Schmidt in the hall at Corpus Christi this afternoon when I picked Emma up and she said she missed me today. That made me feel good. Sometimes I think I probably bug her too much with different questions. I am just excited about learning the entire process! I best get to bed so I'm not too tired to be excited tomorrow! :-) G'night!

Eating my words

Tonight I am eating my words! I hate when I do that! Today I worked at the school in the library and this morning a man from the district, who has something to do with ergonomics, came in to assess the library. It is not set up to be real functional AND with Juanita recently needed to have neck surgery and Mrs. Schmidt constantly needing to see a chiropractor, they brought in a specialist to see if things can be revamped. I happened to be the one in the "hot seat" when he was there, so he was watching me work and watching all of the twisting, turning etc. that is required to do this job in the set up that they currently have. I can't remember exactly what was asked of me, but it was something along the lines if I felt I was having alot of twisting and turning of my neck. I spoke right up and replied, "Oh, I wouldn't go by me, because I am MUCH YOUNGER than all of these ladies here and don't have such problems." I'm not kidding when I tell you that not too long after he left, I started having neck pain! I don't know if it was caused by me being tense while he was watching me, or if maybe just being a smart ass might have been the cause? Needless to say, it has progressed to the point where I have had to medicate myself tonight for neck pain and I feel like I'm walking around like Igor. When they were talking about the level of the computer monitor, he wanted to know if we wore bifocals and I once again said, "Oh no! I'm too young for those!" So, I'm waiting, because I'm afraid that my vision is going to be the next to go!

I'm going to go lay on the couch and read my book and see if this medication will start working to relieve my neck discomfort. I'll learn not to be such a smart ass in the future!

Early to bed

Today when I was picking Emma up from school, I had another report that she wasn't behaving appropriately (acting silly and not being quiet at rest time) at school again today. She was held back from P.E. for 5 minutes this time. Her teacher said she wanted Emma to understand that she means what she says. I told her that if she needed to do more than that, please feel free! I don't know what to do about it. She acts like it is no big deal. I think I know exactly what the problem is, so I guess I do know what to do about it, I just hate to turn into a "mean Mom". Actually, she already calls me that, so I don't know what I'm worried about. She needs to know that when we tell her that she can't do something because of bad behavior, or whatever, then she can't do it. No second chances. She has a birthday party to go to on Saturday and it includes a sleepover. I have been threatening and threatening her that she isn't going to be able to go if she doesn't straighten up. I have been planning on her attending the party, but the sleepover part is what I've been dragging my feet about and using as leverage. That apparently hasn't been working too well though. I'm tired of continuing to give 2nd chances and 3rd chances, to both Emma AND Gage, and I'm just going to have to start sticking to my guns. Starting now. :-) These two don't appreciate things like they should because they get too much. They can be very ungrateful and that needs to change. For example, lately Emma has decided she doesn't like her bedroom. WHAT?!?!?! Most little girls would DIE to have her room! She says she wants her old bed back. She said that she wanted to have a slide on it and that's why she doesn't want it anymore. A very good example of her ungratefulness. She begged and begged to have a tall bed like Gage's and when she saw a picture of that dollhouse bed, she wanted it. She's lucky in that she has a Grandpa who can make those things, which is the only reason she could have a bed like that in the first place. I have told her that if she doesn't want that bed anymore, then she is going to have to talk to her Grandpa about it and I told her that it would be sure to hurt his feelings. She replies, "Well, he made my old bed too!" Hmm...........I guess she got me there. She has too many things just handed to her and it's got to stop. Unfortunately for her, her birthday is coming up in a week and a half. I have sworn that I am not going to buy her any toys because she doesn't play with the ones she has. Yes, Dad, you read that right and this time I'm hoping I can stick to the plan!!! I may have to keep the list of girls she invites to a minimum to help my cause. I suppose I should stop griping now. I got the kids to bed EARLY tonight, so hopefully they'll have different attitudes about life tomorrow!

This week I am working on Wednesday (tomorrow) and Friday. I wish I had more days, but the days off have been nice. I'm looking forward to going in to the library tomorrow.

Superbowl/Wii Party

Yesterday afternoon our friends, Steve and Laura, and their kids, Ellie and Alan, came over for a Wii/Superbowl Party. I hate football, so I wasn't too interested in the Superbowl part of it. We had a good time playing the Wii, however. We did a little of everything, including bowling, tennis, boxing, Rockband, Handbells and Clone Wars. Rockband is always a big hit and I thought I should post this video of Scott and Steve rockin out.

I was glad to send the kids back to school today. Gage was quite a mess yesterday after getting to bed late on Saturday. We had several go-rounds with him and he was just being mouthy and defiant. Thankfully today was a better day. Gage has always been a good eater and lately he has been a real pain in the butt at supper time. He claims every night that he doesn't like what I've prepared. I'm praying this is just a phase that we are going to get through. Unfortunately for Gage, he either eats what we have on the table, or he goes hungry. Last week before we left for gymnastics, I had mentioned that Scott was going to be fixing taco salads for supper and I remember both Gage and Emma being happy about that. I thought maybe we should do the same thing today, since I know they both like taco salads. Gage claims that Emma was the only person who said that last week and was ticked about having taco salads for supper. He ate very little of his supper so I'm sure he'll be quite hungry in the morning. He now claims he doesn't like cooked vegetables. It all seems to be a texture thing in my opinion. He's been complaining about "mushy" foods. It's totally wearing me out.

As I was looking through Gage's Cub Scout Wolf handbook this evening, one of the things we need to have Gage do is plan all of the meals for one day, making sure he chooses foods from all the food groups. I've decided this is a perfect time for him to do this, since he seems to not like anything I fix. I'll let him do the planning! He will also have to help fix at least one of these meals, so this should be a good thing for him. He will also have to help plan, prepare and cook an outdoor meal eventually, but it's probably a good idea to wait for warmer weather. It was pretty unpleasant this morning walking to school in -4 degree temps so I can't imagine grilling out and having and outdoor picnic sounds like too much fun. We'll have to wait until spring for that one.

Today was the 100th day of school. The kids were excited about it. Emma took 100 goldfish crackers to add to their 100th day of school snack mix. Her class got to do several fun things. Gage complained that his class didn't get to do too much. He said they paraded through the classroom to see each kids' collection of 100 things. He wasn't happy because he said he didn't have enough time to set up all 100 of his Lego dudes. That would take quite awhile to do, so I don't think he would have had enough time to do that, regardless. I sure don't remember celebrating the 100th day of school when I was growing up!? Did any of you?