BehindTheTimes

Baked Cherry Almond Oatmeal

2012-01-16T08:46:00.003-06:00

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups Quaker oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups 2% milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 T melted butter (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 t0 1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
Vanilla lowfat yogurt

Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 (6-ounce) custard cups or ramekins with nonstick cooking spray; arranged on rimmed baking sheet. (I used an 8x8 baking dish because I don't have the ramekins and this worked just fine.)

In large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar and salt; mix well. In medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and almond extract. Add to dry ingredients; mix until well blended. Spoon into prepared cups. Stir cherries into each cup, dividing evenly; sprinkle evenly with almonds.

Bake until knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 23-26 min. for quick oats, 25-30 min. for old-fashioned. (Centers will not be completely set.) Cool 10 minutes.

Top with yogurt.

Beef Taco Rice Skillet

2012-01-11T18:53:00.003-06:00

Beef Taco Rice Skillet

1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 pouch Old El Paso Smart Fiesta Reduced Sodium Taco Seasoning Mix

1-1/2 cup water

1 cup thick and chunky salsa

1 cup frozen whole kernal peaches and cream corn

1-1/2 cup uncooked instant rice

3/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese

1 cup shredded lettuce

3/4 cup chopped tomato

serve with sour cream

*In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown, drain.

*Stir in taco seasoning mix, water, salsa and corn. Heat to boiling; stir in rice. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat.

*Cover, let stand 8 min.

*Fluff rice mixture with fork; sprinkle with cheese.

*Cover, let stand 1-2 min or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle lettuce around edge of skillet, sprinkle tomatoes in circle next to lettuce.

*Serve with sour cream

*Enjoy!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Post 2

2011-05-31T09:57:00.007-05:00

I'm so pathetic at blogging. I guess this is one way to savor the experience we had with our first family vacation!

These pictures are all of WW of Harry Potter, but in no rhyme or reason order. It's the way they appeared when I uploaded them and because it takes so much effort to rearrange them, I'm just going to leave it as is.

Gage and Emma at the entrance of The Forbidden Journey. This was our first of three times to ride, so we were very excited with anticipation!

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: The Forbidden Journey

As you wait in line to ride The Forbidden Journey, part of your time is spent weaving through the greenhouse. Thankfully we were there first thing in the morning, so it wasn't too miserably hot.

Scott, Gage and Emma entering the castle.

The hall of portraits was pretty amazing. The portraits that were interactive didn't show up on my camera, unfortunately. It is better when there is a longer line for this ride, so you have time to take in the sights. If there is no line, you are kind of rushed through and end up missing alot of the conversation between the portraits.

It started snowing while we were in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry, Ron and Hermoine were in the balcony talking, but because it was a holographic image, my camera wouldn't photograph them. It was very life-like. Unfortunately, the Forbidden Journey is the only place you see Harry, Ron and Hermoine in the park. This ride is what makes it a true Harry Potter experience.

Just before exiting the line and getting on the ride, you will find the Sorting Hat, which actually talks.

Once you leave the line, you get onto the ride in the Great Hall, where you find floating candles.

We rode The Forbidden Journey three separate times, so I was snapping pictures each time, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Here are Gage and Emma back in line, in the greenhouse. There are mandrakes in the fenced area.

This is where they keep track of house points. Gryffindor is in the lead!!!!

A statue of Goddrick Gryffindor.

Time to stop and take a picture with the Hippogriff!

The wall of portraits once again.

Dumbledore's Office.

Dumbledore's desk.

Gage and Emma with the Sorting Hat. I wonder which houses they would be sorted in to?

Hagrid's Hut which you can see when getting onto the Flight of the Hippogriff ride. It's a tame rollercoaster, and also the first one we rode.

Hagrid's Hut.

Buckbeak on his nest. This was taken from the actual roller coaster and is about the only place you can see this.

Dogweed and Deathcap shop window. Screaming mandrakes were heard. Thankfully we lived to tell about it!

Ollivander's Wand Shop is another big attraction at WWHP. This was high on our "to see" list, and was the first place we went on our first day at WWHP. They allow about 25 people into the wand shop at a time. The shopkeeper will choose one lucky soul and go through a production of the wand picking the wizard. We went to Ollivander's twice, because Gage really wanted a wand to pick him. Unfortunately neither Gage, nor Emma, were chosen. However, Gage's wand really did choose him. After the show is over, everyone is exited into a gift shop where you can pick out a wand to purchase. Because Gage was so bummed about not being chosen by the shopkeeper, he had a hard time trying to decide which wand to get. He opened several boxes and was just bummed. Finally, he opened up a wand box which had a core of Hawthorne, and a huge smile came over his face. I believed that this was a sign, and he was thrilled with his new wand.

A view of all the wand boxes in the shop.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

Hogsmeade

That is all for this post. I think I am also going to upload all of the pictures to FB. Much faster and easier to do.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Post 1

2011-04-28T12:34:00.010-05:00

Apparently there is a limit to the number of pictures you can add to a single post, and I have reached it. I have tons more pics, but will have to do multiple posts about Harry Potter.

As I mentioned before, we had a special Harry Potter package. One of the benefits to having this package deal is that you get to enter the park an hour earlier than the general public. This is HUGE!!! This, in my opinion, is worth paying extra to stay on site, versus other accommodations. However, that is just my opinion. But I think Scott would also agree.

Since the park opened at 9am, we were allowed to enter at 8am, which meant we were up by 6:30am and out the door by 7a so we could be first in line. We were among the first people in line both mornings we went. A small sacrifice to pay to get to do the things we wanted.

One thing I didn't understand, the first morning we went, is that they opened the gates about 15 minutes before the park opened, only to hold everyone up not too far inside the park, behind another barrier. I'm not sure why they do that? In my opinion, it just creates a bigger mass of people and more opportunity for people to get hurt. It kind of reminded me of Black Friday shopping, except that people were a little less crazy and I didn't see anyone get knocked over or trampled.

Once we got through the 2nd barrier, we walked VERY FAST, to the Harry Potter theme park. It was so thrilling to me when we got to the entrance. I was actually overcome with emotion. We waited so long and worked so hard to save the money to do this and WE WERE ACTUALLY THERE! I had tears welling up in my eyes and I had to take lots of deep breaths so no one would think I was hurt, or worse yet, crazy! I was thankful that I was about 10 strides behind Scott and the kids so I could regain composure! ;-)

The Hogwarts Castle! This is where you get your true "Harry Potter experience". We didn't actually get into the castle on day 1. We had read in our book "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids", that there were 3 attractions that were a MUST DO first thing in the morning, otherwise the lines were so long that you wasted alot of time just waiting. Our plan of action was to go to Ollivander's Wand Shop the first morning and Hogwarts the 2nd morning. Hind sight is always 20/20, but we actually could have managed both attractions both days. Part of our problem was that we weren't oriented to the park and didn't realize where everything was at first.

Because I have so much trouble getting the pictures on here, then getting them in chronological order, I'm just leaving them where they fell at random.

We loved "Hogsmeade" which is where all of the shops and stores are located. They had everything designed with such great detail, it was amazing! Here at "Scrivenshafts" they had Quills writing on parchment paper in the windows. You couldn't actually enter this shop, it was just window displays.

Scrivenshafts - Finest Parchments, Inks and Quills.

GladRags Wizardwear contained the dress that Hermione wore in one of the movies. Or at least that is what I am told by Gage and Emma. ;-)

This Dogweed Deathcap shop had screaming Mandrakes in their window display! They were terrible on the ears! In the movies their shrieks bring death to anyone who hears them.

This is the entrance to The Three Broomsticks, which is an English Tavern. We had reservations to eat breakfast here on our first morning!

Even the public restrooms were designed in great detail! You could even hear Moaning Myrtle inside. She is only in the Girls restroom in the books and movies, but the Men were not left out here.

I think Honeydukes was one of our favorite shops. It was very vibrant with color inside, which was one reason I fancied this store.

Not to mention that they had many DELICIOUS looking desserts like these Caudron Cakes. Unfortunately everything was quite spendy, so we didn't sample much. We did leave with a couple of Chocolate Frogs, some Bertie Botts Ever Flavour Beans and Pepper Imps. ;-)

Right next door is Zonkos Joke Shop. Emma liked all the Pygmy Puffs on display.

Wizard Chess, anyone?????

Our first morning, after visiting Ollivander's Wand Shop, and riding Flight of the Hippogriff, which is a fairly tame roller coaster, we decided to try Dragon Challenge. You can't really see much of this roller coaster from the outside, except for right here in this spot. We didn't actually see this until AFTER we rode the ride. We had read in our book that the best spot to ride is in the front row, so you can actually see what is going on. Because we didn't know what we were getting in to, we got in line for the first seat. The red coaster is the Chinese Fireball and the blue one is the Hungarian Horntail. Gage wanted to ride the Hungarian Horntail, so that is what we did. Although now I look back in our book and it says "coaster loonies hype the front row of the Chinese Fireball and last row of Hungarian Horntail, the Unofficial crew unanimously prefers the Hungarian Horntail. We were in the front row of the Hungarian Horntail, so maybe that's why Gage was screaming, "GET ME OFF OF HERE! GET ME OFF OF HERE!" and Scott was thinking, "I AM GOING TO DIE! I AM GOING TO DIE!" LOL! I could hear Emma screaming at the top of her lungs and I just kept praying that I wouldn't get sick. I have always LOVED the big thrill rides. Now, not so much. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the "thrill" of the ride, but my body doesn't agree with my brain much of the time. I did actually make it through this ride without much trouble, other than I was shocked at how stupid I was that I didn't realize what a "thrill" this ride was! Needless to say, when I asked Gage if he would like to try the Chinese Fireball side, he replied with a quick "NO!" This ride has actually been at Universal for a long time, it was just rethemed as Harry Potter. How convenient that was for the park designing engineers!!

There were a couple Butterbeer stands within the park. You could choose regular or frozen. Frozen wins best drink, hands down, by the Stephens family! However, at about $21.00 for 2 frozen drinks in souvenir mugs, we didn't sample too many of them!

Hog's Head

This picture is pretty self explanatory! ;-)

The Hogwarts Express!

The Hogwarts Express Conductor. I loved all of the uniforms the staff wore throughout the park. You definitely felt like you were in the movie!

We waited in this area for 2 different shows that were scheduled. All 4 houses were represented. Griffyndor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

We watched the Triwizard Spirit Rally which was a show of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students as they lead the excitement for the Triward Tournament.

A Durmstrang student up close and personal!

The show was quite enjoyable to watch.

The Beauxbatons put on a ribbon twirling show which was also fun to watch.

Who knew that being a ribbon twirler could lead to a job at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!

This show certainly would have gotten us excited to watch the Triwizard Tournament!

After the Triwizard Spirit Rally, we stayed to watch the Hogwarts Frog Choir. This was a great presentation of songs by a small choir of Hogwarts students, accompanied by their large croaking frogs. It was quite warm out on this day, and those costumes looked HOT! I felt sorry for the Ravenclaw student (in the blue robe) as he was very hot and his face was dripping with sweat!

It was fun to listen to the choir. And now, when we watch the Harry Potter movies, we recognize the songs and remember seeing the choir singing it. ;-)

The choir director was very excited about their performance. Is this a future job for Emma???

The Hogwarts Choir.

After the performance, the kids got to pose with them for pictures!

Stay tuned for more pictures from our adventures at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!

Hard Rock Hotel - Universal Orlando Resort - Florida - March 25-26, 2011

2011-04-27T10:26:00.014-05:00

My most sincere apologies for taking so long to get this post finished. I have been having all sorts of troubles with blogger. I am wondering if this is a thing that has been happening, as some of the blogs I follow are changing sites. Maybe they are getting tired of the problems? Hopefully I will not have so many troubles in the future.

I decided that before I could post Harry Potter pictures, I needed to do Hard Rock Hotel pictures first. We stayed on Universal property for 3 nights and went to Islands of Adventure 2 days in order to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We had a special Harry Potter package, which is why we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.

The hotel was very nice, but I don't think the kids could really appreciate how nice it really was, since we haven't stayed in many hotels. They didn't have much to compare it too.

We were so very excited to see this sign. Before we exited off the toll road, I had entered Hard Rock Hotel into Scott's iPhone navigation system. It took us on a wild goose chase which ended up in a residential area. It works much better when you insert an actual address!!!

After we arrived, the service was first rate. I'm not really good at being "pampered" and felt weird about the hotel staff carrying out luggage to our rooms. It makes me feel like I must think I am better than them, to make them carry my bags. However, that is how they operate, so I did the best I could. After they took our bags, Scott took the rental car to the parking lot. The kids and I were going to go find our room. We knew the room number, and thought we knew the floor as well. We were lost and going up and down the elevator trying to find the correct floor. Finally, as we made it back to the ground floor, we saw our bags being taken to our room, so we followed the bags. Whew! I felt like a country bumpkin at that point. Our concierge, Eggy, arrived at our hotel room and we weren't far behind. He was very nice and gave us all kinds of information. It took Scott awhile to join us, and after Eggy left, I asked him if he had troubles finding our room. I felt much better when he said that he had been all over the place trying to find it. I didn't feel quite as stupid at that point. Scott does alot of traveling, and is good at that sort of thing, so I know I wasn't just me. He just didn't have the luxury of finding our bags enroute to our room!

This picture is the backside of Hard Rock Hotel. The path leads you to the water taxi which takes you back and forth from the different hotels on site to the parks. We were thankful for this service at the end of the day!

I had to take a picture of this pillow. I didn't notice it at first. Not until I saw Emma tracing the words onto a sheet of paper in her travel journal. I definitely agree that, "Sweet dreams are made of this!"

The Hard Rock Cafe was located between the Hard Rock Hotel and Universal Studios. We ate here one of the evenings and enjoyed it. You can't stay at the Hard Rock Hotel and not eat at least one meal at the Cafe!

Soon after we arrived at the hotel and got all of our things organized in our room and figured out where everything was, we went down to The Kitchen to eat supper. Calamari was on the appetizer menu so we had to order some. I had never had calamari until I went to New Orleans on the Mission Trip with our church last Oct. I actually liked it, so wanted the kids to try it. They loved it! I never would have even thought of eating squid, as a kid, so I was excited that Gage and Emma would try it! They are much more adventurous than I was!

Gage ordered steak from the menu. He ate it all too!

You see in the bottom left corner what Emma ordered. She is the mac and cheese queen. It doesn't matter where we go, macaroni and cheese is always her top choice.

We had a magician come to our table to do a few card tricks. I think he was unimpressed with us as one of his magic tricks didn't work. Not because he performed it wrong, but because we didn't remember the cards that we were supposed to remember. I guess that's what happens when you are up late, up early and kayaking for miles in the Everglades! LOL!

The waiter brought us the dessert display to see what we wanted. It was hard to resist when you can see them all in person!!

I can't remember the name of Emma's dessert, but it was a raspberry chocolate cake. It was very RICH, but that didn't stop her from nearly devouring the entire dessert! Scott and I did get a bite, but one bite is all I could take as it was too rich for me.

Gage picked this S'more Cheesecake.

How cute is that, with the roasted marshmallow on top. It had a graham cracker crust and it really tasted like a fancy s'more!

It tasted as good as it looked!!! After supper we headed to our hotel room to get rested up for our big morning at Harry Potter world!

We ate lunch the following day at the outdoor cafe which is right next to the swimming pool. It was a beautiful day and we couldn't resist.

Emma casts a spell with her Ginny Weasley wand as we wait for our lunch to arrive.

I couldn't resist the frozen strawberry daquiri. It looked better than it tasted though. It was a little too strong and a little too sweet for my liking. However, that didn't stop me from drinking it! ;-)

While we were waiting for our lunch to arrive, this juvenile great blue heron decided to visit.

He didn't stay long as he discovered we didn't have any food to share with him. This was up close and personal!

The kids had fun playing in the hotel pool when we took an afternoon break.

Emma does some poolside hula hooping.

They had an air guitar contest that Gage participated in. It was a girls against boys competition and Emma didn't want to join in the fun so she watched from the pool. The DJ had them doing all sorts of crazy moves and here is Gage, strumming behind his head. LOL!

After the boys were finished, the audience in and out of the pool voted for who they thought did the best. The DJ declared a tie. In order to break the tie, he asked for Mom and Dad volunteers.

Don't bother looking for me in the line-up of Moms. If Emma didn't have to play, then neither did I! ;-) Whew! I was glad I didn't make her after I saw this!

Scott gets the "Dad of the Year" Award! Yes, that is my hunk-o-burnin'-flesh out there in the camo shorts and long blonde wig. I only got one photo because I spent the rest of the time taking video! ;-) I will be posting that at a later date. ;-)

Here is another picture of the Hard Rock Cafe lit up in the night as we ride the water taxi back to the hotel.

We most definitely enjoyed our time at Universal Studios and it would be close to the top, if not #1 on our list of what was the best part of our trip!

Kayaking through the Mangrove Tunnels - Mar. 24, 2011

2011-04-13T09:01:00.007-05:00

I must admit that I was a little nervous about going on our guided kayak tour. It's been awhile since I kayaked (last summer) and I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up. I was also nervous about irritating my shoulder to start our vacation. However, it was a very slow-paced guided tour and I had no problems keeping up. There were 3 other people on this particular tour, an older couple from New York and a younger gal from Michigan. There was another tour in progress as you can see a kayak off in the distance. There was another guide with clients that arrived after us. This is a popular thing to do in the Everglades, it seems.

Our family had 2 tandem kayaks. Gage and Scott went out in one kayak and Emma and I went out in the other. I'm thinking we did our kayak purchases wrong. This was so much fun to go out in the tandem kayaks, versus our 2 single kayaks which cause alot of fighting about who gets to go out.

Emma and I were second in line, just behind the guide. It was a slow pace and it was easy to keep up. I didn't have alot of help from my fellow kayaker, so I was happy about the snail pace.

Emma was also a bit out of sorts. She was tired and cranky from waking up the previous morning at 3:20am for our early flight. She was complaining alot about my ability to guide our kayak through the mangrove tunnels.

We stopped every now and again to learn about the area and to see different things. There were alot of fish jumping out in the water and it was fun to watch.

Ooops! I was having troubles seeing the front of my kayak with Emma in front! After entering out first mangrove tunnel, I was having troubles steering the kayak. Many of the tunnels were narrow enough that we had to take our kayak paddles apart and just use the end like an oar. That paired with not being able to see the front of my kayak, due to Emma sitting in front, I backed out of my 2nd position in line and let the other people go ahead of me. Every time we would run into a tree, Emma would make a disgusted noise, only making this a little more frustrating and nerve-wracking for me.

The white splash you see up ahead was the splash from an osprey diving into the water to catch a fish. This was the 2nd dive as I missed the first one, which was much closer to our kayaks. What a site that was. The osprey missed the fish on his first dive, but caught one on the 2nd attempt. Even our guide was excited to see this site as it's not every day that you get to see something like that!

Headed towards the mangrove tunnels.

We start into the tunnels. This one was wide enough that we could keep our paddles in one piece.

Scott and Gage bringing up the rear.

Mangrove tree roots.

More mangrove tree roots.

The tunnels are getting more and more narrow. I have backed off my 2nd place spot and am now just in front of Scott and Gage. We didn't see any alligators in the tunnels, thank goodness!

Scott doing all the work while Gage sits back and enjoys the ride.

This was one of the more narrow tunnels as you see Gage with his paddle taken apart.

Headed out of the tunnel into an open area.

We saw our first alligator (of the tour..........we saw several on the trip down along the "Alligator Alley" toll road) after we were almost done with our tour. You can see the three bumps in the water in the middle of the picture, back towards the trees. He is headed towards the trees.

Scott and Gage went over in the direction of the alligator to get a closer look. Gage wasn't so sure about that!

The guide saw a second alligator but I wasn't able to get pictures of that one.

As we were headed back to shore, the ibis birds were coming back to roost in the trees. They were quite noisy as they settled in for the night.

Nearing the end of our sunset kayak tour.

Here is another shot of the first alligator we saw while out in the kayaks. Kind of freaky being almost at eye to eye level!

More ibis coming in to roost for the night.

After we finished our sunset kayak tour we headed back into Everglade City to get our cabin situation straightened out and we ate supper at Camellia Street Grill and had a wonderful meal out on the patio with live music to boot! We had a great time.

Next stop.................Islands of Adventure and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! YEAH!!!!

Kayaking in the Everglades - Mar 24 and 25, 2011

2011-04-07T09:39:00.011-05:00

I apologize for the delay in getting this posted. I have been having (and continue to have) issues with getting my pictures uploaded to this post for some reason. I have had these pictures on here for about a week, but haven't posted it yet because I still had some pictures to add. I will just post what I have and try to get the other kayaking pictures into another post. We arrived in Everglade City, Florida in the late afternoon on Mar. 24 to find that our cabin had been rented to another person. Apparently there was some sort of glitch in the computer system that booked our cabin rental for January 24, 2011 instead of March 24, 2011. We didn't have time to stay and sort out the details before it was time to head out on our evening kayak tour through the mangrove tunnels, so we headed over to our meeting place for our evening kayak tour. (Those are the pictures I am having troubles getting uploaded.) After our evening kayak tour, we went back to get the details of our cabin straightened out, and luckily there was another guy who had an open cabin that we were able to stay in that night. Gage checking out the back bedroom of the cabin we stayed in. It was a nice little place. This room contained 2 twin beds which Scott and I slept on and the kids stayed in the front of the cabin on a futon and bench that was just the size to fit the futon mattresses on to make into a bed.

This is a shot of the 2nd twin bed in the back room.

Scott and Emma check out some of the pictures and decorating details on the walls.

This is an outside shot of what our cabin looked like.

We stopped at this little store to find some breakfast before heading out onto our early morning kayak tour the following day.

As we were waiting for our guide to arrive, we had some time to drive around the little town and check some things out.

This building is the Smallwood Store that is described in the plaque above. (I am also unable to reorganize pictures for some reason! UGH!) The store, as well as many of the houses in this area, are built on stilts to prevent them from flooding during hurricanes.

This dugout canoe was located underneath the store. I'm not sure if it is just displayed for looking at, or if they still use it today.

Scott at JT's Island Grill and Gallery as we wait for our kayak guide to arrive for our morning tour.

Taking a break in the hammock swing on the porch.

Emma found a new friend during our wait! There were 3-4 different cats running around but this one was the friendliest. Inside the store they had little quarter machines that you would normally get gumballs or candy out of. Here, you get cat food. The quarters are used to help with the ferral cat population by finding them veterinary care and homes to be placed in. What a good idea!

Our guide has arrived! Before we left for our morning tour, he and Emma went around and fed all of the cats. That was right up her alley.

Not sure what kind of flowers these are, but just thought they were pretty and would make a nice picture.

This picture is the decal on our guide's truck. It speaks for itself.

We saw lots of different palm trees and were excited to find a coconut tree. We aren't sure of the difference between the coconut tree and the other palm trees we saw. I guess I should look that up!

We started our morning kayak tour in the Everglades National Park.

Our guide pulled up one of the crab traps to show us the blue crab that it contained.

This is an island made up of all different kinds of shells. We were able to get out of our kayaks and explore and search for some unique shells.

We get a little history about the island and information about some of the different shells we might find.

We are on the hunt to see who can find the best shells.

These are mangrove tree roots.

Emma found a huge cluster of oysters! She had to be very careful because they are sharp and she could have gotten cut.

This is an oyster bed under the water. Many of the shells are empty in this picture, but there were several huge clusters that looked like the one Emma was holding in the previous picture.

Emma and our guide (I can't remember if his name is Ron, or what?) looking for some good shells.

In our hunt, Gage found this little mangrove crab in the trees. He's a weird looking creature!

At first Gage was afraid to hold him, but after Mom let him crawl around on her hand and arm, he decided it must be okay. It felt weird when he walked on your skin, but he was a pretty cool little crab.

Between the two sets of trees, you can see an oyster bed in the water. It is low tide right now so they aren't completely submerged at this time.

We kayaked several miles out in the bay around the Ten Thousand Islands area. We were near Chokoloskee Island. The area is a mix of fresh water and salt water and we were on the lookout for Manatees. It was a great place to be to find them, but they were all hiding somewhere else on this particular day, which totally bummed Gage out.

After our kayak tour ended around lunch time, we headed to Big Cypress National Preserve where the kids became Junior Rangers by taking an oath and doing several different activities.

"I, Gage Stephens.........." and "I, Emma Stephens, do swear..................."

They earned their Big Cypress Junior Park Ranger badges!!

This is the smallest post office I have ever seen!

We were the only people being guided on this early morning kayak tour so we were able to do just about anything we wanted to do. We were on a quest to find manatees, but unfortunately the weather was warm enough that particular morning that we weren't able to find any in the wild.

Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean - March 24, 2011

2011-04-06T11:45:00.010-05:00

After we arrived in Cocoa Beach, we needed to find a place to eat. We decided that we couldn't be in Florida and not take advantage of the seafood, so went to Florida Seafood to eat supper. It was such a beautiful evening out that we went outside to check out the area while we waited for our table. There were some docks along the Banana River which we were able to check out with the beautiful sunset. Of course, when a restaurant is picked, not everyone is happy. Emma preferred to eat at McDonald's and was upset after we decided upon Florida Seafood. She decided to sit along the dock and pout. :( They had Gator Tail on the appetizer menu and we just had to try some. It turned out to be good and we were all so hungry the gator tail was devoured in minutes. Gage ordered Snow Crab from the menu! The unfortunate part about the fact that Gage loves crab legs, is that someone ends up getting to eat a cold meal because he needs lots of help cracking the shells. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, a man (clown??) was making his way around the tables telling dry jokes and making balloon animals for the kids. Gage decided a parrot would be a good choice. I think Emma chose a monkey, but she didn't want any pictures since she was in a sour mood. This was my supper. I can't remember what the dish was called, but it was shrimp something or other. It was okay. Not what I was hoping for, but it was tastey, even cold. ;-) We spent the night at Quality Suites after checking out a few of the beach shops. The next morning was dedicated to the beach!! The kids were so excited to get to see and swim in the ocean. The ocean was a bit chilly for my liking, but the kids had a blast! They loved jumping in the waves. The sun wasn't in the best location for pictures, but we made do with what we had. Gage decided that salt water wasn't very tastey! Emma was a little too brave for my liking. She kept wandering farther and farther out. Unfortunately for her she had 2 parents and 2 grandmas that had their eyes on her and kept calling her back. She didn't always listen, but she had 8 hawk eyes on her at all times! Since Dad wore his swim trunks, he went into the ocean with the kids after he took a run along the beach, barefoot...........just like he likes. ;) All 4 of us in the Atlantic Ocean! I decided I didn't really want to take a swim. Wading was plenty for me. Wading in the ocean. I went a little too far out and ended up getting my shorts wet with a big wave that came crashing in. Oh well! I was excited about meeting up with a friend of mine while we were at Cocoa Beach. Last fall, after my first Mission Trip to New Orleans, LA, I became good friends with several church members that also went on the trip. One of those friends had been spending time in Vero Beach, FL, visiting her daughter and family that lives there. She left Bismarck in Dec, before we moved, and planned to stay through Apr. 1. Great timing for us!! After exchanging a few letters we decided to meet in Cocoa Beach. Me and my good buddy Barb (a.k.a. BS, Spongebarb, peanutbutter stuck to the roof of my mouth!). Barb even brought me a jar of Jif Peanut Butter! What a friend!!!! Barb and her sister, (I feel terrible that I can't remember her name for sure, but I think it was Marilyn) was in Vero Beach visiting at the same time, so I was lucky enough to get to meet her as well. She lives in Minnesota, so she was glad to leave the snow as well! Scott visiting with Barb and her sister. (These are the grandmas that I mentioned had their eyes on Emma while venturing out into the ocean too far!) It was nice to have them helping us out! Gage decided to write some words in the sand, but wasn't very happy when the first wave came in and wiped out his message.

Ah, Emma writing sweet-nothings to me in the sand. ;-) She must have gotten some good rest in the night!

You better write fast before a wave comes Emma!!!

Playing in the sand. Sand is one of my least favorite things. What a mess it makes!!

Making sand pies. YUCK!

Emma decided to attempt a sand sculpture before we headed south to the Everglades. She had sand everywhere. We ended up having to go back to the hotel room and have the kids take a shower to get all of the sand off. What a mess they left in the tub!

We made Emma happy by getting a quick lunch to go at the McDonald's drive through so we could get started on our trek south to the Everglades for an evening kayak tour. We were looking at a 5-6 hour drive, so we were hoping the kids would take a big nap on the way. Yeah, right!!!! The Ford Fusion we rented was so uncomfortable for me that I had to take the head rest off because it was making me have a headache and neck and lower back pains. Removing the head rest helped some. At least I know I don't want a Ford Fusion one day!

Going on Holiday to Florida - March 23, 2011

2011-04-05T10:38:00.006-05:00

The big day that we have been saving for, for over a year, is FINALLY here! YEAH!!! We are headed to Florida for our first ever, family vacation! The alarm clock was set for 3:15am. YIKES! Short night for all, but amazingly enough I was ready and awake by 3:30! The kids were easy to wake and were bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for our big adventure! Emma is all smiles and ready to go! We had called a cab to come from Winnipeg to pick us up at 4am so we could be at the airport on time. Because it's an international flight, we were supposed to be there early.

Two excited kiddos who are ready for some warmer weather! I didn't want to pack too much stuff that we wouldn't need, so lighter jackets with their down vests were perfect. Keens were the shoes of choice.

The excitement is a little less at this point. The cab is late, Scott is pacing and the kids have lost their zeal.

Waiting for our flight at the airport in Winnipeg. Hurry up and wait was the theme for the day!

Time to board!! The kids were so excited. This is Gage's 2nd time to fly, but the first for him to remember. This is Emma's first time ever to board a big plane.

All smiles as we wait for the plane to fill up with passengers. Emma already has her travel journal out and is writing down each thought in her mind.

Gage is all smiles as we wait for more passengers to board. He can hardly contain all of his excitement!

She had such a cute journal entry that I wanted to share it. "We are at the airport I got a fruitcup at the deli! No body smiles just lik the border. Now we are in the plain. I am so EXITED!! We have not taken off yet but do you now how exiting this is! I think we are going to take of any second now!!! Its going to be so exiteding!!!!! I got the window seat! the captan was just talking to us he said no elektronecs! We are going to take off in like 1 min. I'm panicing its so cool!! We are so high in the sky cars look like not evan a ant smaller I though it would be scary but its not my ears are poping like crasy! and peices of land look like a picher make of squares It is so cool we are so high up in the air. I can't evan see the cars they are so tiny the drink cart is coming please stand by..............We are landing in 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 and 0 this is fast!! The captan is going to chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat chat We are heading to Disney And its a little past lunch time so we might get to go to look for seashells! I just notest that there is a T.V. in the plane Amasing!!!!!"

We luckily were able to get 4 seats together in the plane and didn't have to ask people to switch with us.

We've arrived at Minneapolis/St. Paul airport! YEAH! One leg of the trip behind us!

The kids were excited to get to ride in the tram to get to the other gate.

It's snowing pretty good in Minnesota! Hopefully we won't have any delays!

Minnesota black bear is great for hugging! ;-)

We had some arguing going on over seating assignments this leg. We were all four in aisle seats right together. After doing some trading around, Emma, Gage and Scott ended up in a row of seats together and I was the lucky one to get a nice, quiet and peaceful leg into Memphis! I bought a book called "Heaven is for Real" so I was excited to get some uninterrupted time to read!

We arrived in Orlando around supper time. We got a rental car and were able to choose the one we wanted. Scott picked out a Ford Fusion. Emma was excited that she had a window that actually rolls down!

It's sunny here in Florida! YEAH!! We are headed for Cocoa Beach for our first night in Florida. We are staying at Quality Suites, a block from the beach!

Our First Family Vacation

2011-04-02T18:05:00.002-05:00

We just got back from our trip to Florida. What a great time we had! I will be blogging about our trip over the next several days and posting pictures with it. Once I get all of my pictures uploaded, I will get started.

Cooking

2011-03-10T13:34:00.002-06:00

I have never LOVED to cook. I wish I did. I love to eat, so why not love to cook too? I suppose if I love both, I would weigh much, much more than I do!
Since our move, I have been cooking. I kind of have to. There isn't much choice for eating out in Stonewall. Not a bad thing though. It definitely saves on eating out!
Before our move, I had unintentionally lost weight. I believe alot of that had to do with stress. It also had to do with our living room being located in the basement with new carpet. I didn't want food in the new living area. Not to mention, I was too lazy to go upstairs to get those late night snacks when watching television. Who ever said you can't lose weight by being being lazy??? ;-) I'm pretty sure I've gained back what I lost. And probably more. That's the way it usually goes. Hmpfh.
I have been going through my recipe book looking for different things to make. I am a boring, habitual cooker, and I seem to always make the same things. Over and over. I'm trying to broaden my horizons. It's a little difficult to do that here, as I don't have access to alot of the things that I did in Bismarck. I decided the other day, when I found a recipe in the newspaper, that maybe that was a good idea, to find local recipes. After all, why would they print a recipe in a local paper if they didn't have the ingredients here to prepare it? I found a recipe for Chili Con Carne that I want to try out. Preferably before it gets warmer outside. I figure I still have a couple of months to get to it.
The other night I was using up our over-ripe bananas and made some banana muffins. Emma wanted to help. Emma always wants to help cook, and I haven't always let her in the past. First of all, I didn't have alot of kitchen space to work in, or counter space to work on. I have no excuse here. She did help add the ingredients as I ran the hand mixer. I didn't alter the baking time enough to fit muffins versus loaf of banana bread. They were a little hard. Tastey, but hard. Butter was definitely needed on these muffins to help them slide down the pipe.
While we were preparing the muffins, Emma commented on my recipe book. I think I bought this recipe book when we lived in Mississippi? Maybe Tennessee? Anyway, I've had it for about 14-15 years and I use it all of the time. I am always adding new, favorite recipes to it. It's about as full (or overfull) as it can be. Emma was looking through the recipe book and made the comment, "Mom, when I get older, can we copy these recipes down so I can have them?" *smile* I told Emma that I most certainly would do that, and told her that when I die, she can have it. She said she didn't want that to happen for a very long time. I don't either!
I have seen different scrapbooking ideas on making Family Recipe Scrapbooks. I think I might try and do this. For Emma. As a secret. (I just thought about this, actually!) What a good idea. I am more likely to try a new recipe when I see a picture of it. What a neat gift for Emma to receive one day, A recipe book of her cooking with her Mom in her handwriting, and pictures to boot! I will start off with some of Emma's favorite foods. I should probably do this in double, as I'm sure Gage would like one too. We are having our favorite Garden Ranch Pizza for supper tonight. I think today would be a good day to get started on this project. ;-)
Just what I need.................another scrapbooking project to get started, then get behind on. Well, if it ever gets finished, it could end up being one of the kids' favorite gifts.

Pain in the Neck

2011-03-09T12:06:00.003-06:00

No, no, I am not talking about Scott. ;-) I am talking about a pain in the neck, literally. I've had some neck problems for quite some time now. I have decreased neck mobility, which I learned a few years ago when I went to my first chiropractor visit. I'm not a big believer in chiropractics, but I do believe it worked, when I was going. I went for a few weeks when I started, and that's also when it ended. Not because it wasn't working, but because it just gets expensive and my pain had subsided. I don't know that it increased my neck mobility, but it did help with the headaches and stress/tension in my neck. If I were still in Bismarck, I would probably be making appointments for the neck pain I have going on right now. I trusted my chiropractor. First she was a friend, and then she became my chiropractor. She knew how I felt about chiropractors in general, so I trusted that she wouldn't take advantage of me, and she didn't.

I'm not exactly sure why I am having all of this neck pain. I'm using the same bed and same pillow as I always have. I don't know if I slept wrong, causing a cramp/kink in my neck and now I just can't get rid of it or what? I cried out on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and had some responses from friends who have had similar problems and have gained much relief by the pillow they changed to. Some suggested memory foam and another suggested a D-Core pillow. She said it changed her life. How could I ignore that? I decided I needed to give it a try because all of the anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers I was taking wasn't really doing it for me. I found the D-Core pillow online and decided to order it. It arrived yesterday.

Last night, I was actually excited to go to bed, so I could use my new pillow. It wasn't the most comfortable pillow and I wondered if I might have troubles going to sleep. It didn't take me too long, as it sometimes does, but I was quite tired. The pillow is designed for back and side sleepers. I am both a back and side sleeper. The wait it works is that it has a D-shape sewn into the pillow and your head is cradled in the indention and then your neck is kept in alignment by the cushion that is made at the base of the pillow. As you turn onto your side and your head rolls to the side, the cushioned area increases, accommodating your shoulder height, allowing your spine to stay aligned.

This morning I woke up with a headache. :( It could have happened regardless of which pillow I used. It happens frequently. I understand that it can take a few weeks for a person to see results. My lower back was bothering me a little too. Again, this could have happened without regards to which pillow I was using. I took some Excedrin Migraine and went about my morning. As I was backing out of the driveway to take the kids to school, I noticed it wasn't as painful as I was looking back to see if any traffic was coming. I don't know if that is a result of the pillow, or the Excedrin Migraine. As I sit here at the computer typing, I don't necessarily have as much discomfort in my neck. Again, not sure if that is because of the pillow or the Excedrin Migraine. I will continue to use the pillow and see how things go. I pray it works. It wasn't TERRIBLY expensive. I think it was about $40. I bought a couple of normal pillows at a home outfitters store for about $20, so I guess this was double the price, so maybe it was spendy. However, I don't care about the price if it works. What I didn't like about ordering the pillow was that I was charged $11.95 shipping charges on the initial order. Then, when it arrived yesterday, I had to pay $15.13 more for PST, GST and Brokerage fees (whatever that is!). So, I pretty much paid for another pillow just to get the dumb thing shipped to me, making the pillow total around $65. OUCH! I hope it works, because I can't afford to test out the different types available on the market.

French Cultural Week

2011-03-08T09:14:00.003-06:00

We did finally close on our house last Friday, March 4. What a relief! It was kind of bittersweet, however. I keep thinking about the new owners, and wondering what changes they might be making to the house. I hope they like the neighborhood as much as we did!!

This week is French Cultural week at R.W. Bobby Bend School. The kids were supposed to wear tuques (red if possible) yesterday. Of course Emma was all over that one! She wears her tuque 24/7. Although they won't let her wear it at school like she wears it at home. Today is outdoor races and wear a beard (face paint can do the trick!). Yesterday both Gage and Emma said they didn't really want to do it. So, I didn't bother tracking down face paint. This morning Emma pulled her hair into a ponytail under her chin and said she could wear a beard that way. WHAT A GREAT IDEA! One of Gage's friends from Bismarck had done this as a joke one day and took a picture, so that's where Emma got the idea. I had totally forgotten about it though, and was so excited when Emma thought of it. Of course she wouldn't do it. I kept telling her everyone would think she's a genius, hoping that would make her do it. Finally, on our way to school, she said that if other girls had beards, then she would do it. I highly doubt she will. She doesn't like to make a spectacle of herself, like her mother does. ;-) Tomorrow is crepe making and wear a plaid/flannel shirt. Thursday they are to wear a "ceinture flechee" (colourful sash or scarf around the waist will do). Then Friday they have French performers in the afternoon and they are to wear everything: tuque, beard, plaid/flannel shirt and ceinture flechee. They have all kinds of fun things like this going on at school. The winters are long here, so they have to do something to keep the kids excited!

We are at 15 days until our Disney vacation! Emma is getting SO EXCITED. This morning she was full of questions about riding an airplane. I just can't wait to see the smiles on their faces as we board the plane. I don't think we all have seats together though, so I'm hoping it works out that people will trade seats with us to allow us all to sit together. I definitely will have my camera in hand taking pictures of them and the smiles on their faces!

It's a cold one out there this morning! I'm ready for some warmer weather!

Closing Date set!

2011-03-03T09:39:00.002-06:00

FINALLY! We are scheduled to close on our house in Bismarck TOMORROW! Whew! It is definitely easier (and more fun) to buy a house than it is to sell a house. This process wasn't fun, and when you add on top of that not being there to make sure things are going okay, it adds stress to the equation. Thank you, thank you, thank you goes out to my old neighbors, Dave and Maggie Anderson. Dave has done an AWESOME job at being my eyes and hands. It is definitely true that the process was made easier with his help and I can't thank him enough for helping us out in this way. I'll have to send him a pair of Canada mits (mittens) as a souvenir to remember me by. ;-)
I am also anxious to see where we will sit, financially. We likely won't really know the answer to this until the end of March or most likely the start of April. Especially since we have our big vacation planned near the end of March. Twenty days from now, to be exact!!! We are so excited and it will be a MUCH NEEDED break from all the stress from moving, selling our house, settling into our new house and figuring out our day to day routine.
It snowed here last night! Woo Hoo! Boy am I tired of the cold and snow. I have always liked winter but I am ready for it to be gone. I am anxious to see what our yard really looks like. I did, of course, see it when we bought it, but it has been covered with a thick blanket (mountain) of snow since we've been here, so it will be nice to see that green grass! Speaking of the snow melting, it sure does bother me to know that the new owners of our old house will likely have a mess in their new backyard. Melting dog poop is not a pleasant thing, especially when you aren't prepared for it. Hopefully it isn't too bad. I don't know how well Scott picked it up before it snowed. I can make a guess though! :(
This weekend the kids and I will be enjoying the Winter Carnival at Stonewall Quarry Park. Scott will be out of town all weekend for work, so it will be nice to have an activity to keep us busy on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Canada Basketball STARS

2011-02-28T14:11:00.003-06:00

I see that I am slowing down in the blogging department again. I suppose because I don't have much to report. Same old, same old. I am getting very tired of the cold weather. I am usually not one to complain too much about the long winter, but I think this one is going to get to me! They are talking COLD temps again. Not that it ever warmed up here. There is also some snow in the forecast. Great!

The kids started basketball last night. It's mostly a skills camp that goes for 9 Sunday evenings. They brought home the registration sheets last week and when I asked them if they wanted to do it they both said no. Then when I questioned that, Gage said, "Well, it doesn't happen at the same time as football does it?" I assured him it would not interfere with his plans to sign up for football next fall. (We'll see about that!) So, he decided he would like to do that. Emma continued to say no, but I signed her up anyway. They enjoyed it. It was very basic stuff, which is what they need. This program focuses mostly on the fundamentals of basketball, instead of playing games. At this stage, I think that is what they need anyway. The coach did say they might divide up into teams and play a little, but mostly it is about the fundamentals. Emma had 2 classmates in the group, so I think she liked it more than she wanted to admit. Gage is the tallest in the group. Since there were so many kids, he asked all of the taller kids if they would like to go up into the next group. Gage said he would, but I really don't want to. If he does, that means we'll have to be there for 2 hours instead of 1. I think being one of the bigger kids, it might help him to stay interested. He likes being bigger and faster. They will meet Sunday evenings from 6-7p at Stonewall Centennial, which is the middle school here. They need activities to keep them busy, otherwise all they want to do is watch television or play on the computer. Oh, and FIGHT!
The coach had asked the kids to show him the BEEF. I must admit that is an acronym I have never heard of in basketball. It stands for Balance, Elbow (under the ball when shooting), Eyes (on the back of the rim) and Follow through. I will do my best to not laugh when he yells out for the kids to "Show me the BEEF!" LOL!

Family Vacations

2011-02-23T13:19:00.003-06:00

I am wondering how so many people can go on so many family vacations...........and big ones!?! We have never been on a "real" family vacation. Unless, of course, you count Southwest Iowa a vacation destination. I don't. We did go to Colorado a couple of years ago as a "mini-vacation", but since that was really a work trip of Scott's that we tagged along on, I don't really count that either. Especially since Scott was in meetings the entire time. It doesn't count as a "family" vacation when Dad isn't present!
As many of you know, we started saving to go to Disney World over a year ago. (I'm wondering if I have posted about this already as I am having a bit of deja vu? If I have, just nevermind. I'm getting old and forgetful!) Every time I heard of someone going to, or had been to Disney World, I would ask them how much money we needed to save. Not to be nosey, though. I just needed an amount to set as my goal to save for. And since we have never really been on a vacation before, I really had no idea how much we should be trying to save. We were told about $5,000 each time I asked. So, $5,000 it was! We reached our goal in December and we are planning to go to Disney World over spring break, in March. We are SO EXCITED! However, there is bad news. We have already spent our $5,000 (+) on reservations, etc. WE HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN THERE YET! OMG! So, as we continue to stick as much money as we can away before our trip of a lifetime in 27 days 9 hours and 28 minutes, I wonder how do people do it? Do they actually save money over an extended amount of time, then go (like we have)? Do they just have that amount of extra money to spend? Or, do they put it on a credit card and never pay it off? Because we are still paying (hopefully for only 6 more days as we are supposed to close on our house in Bismarck on Feb. 28) 2 mortgages, 2 electric/heating bills etc, it's not easy to stick much money away right now. But we're trying!
We have great plans for our vacation, and we'll most likely need a vacation when we get home! Once we land in Orlando, we will pick up our rental car and head east. We will be staying in Cocoa Beach our first night so we can spend the next morning playing in the ocean. (We will also be meeting up with a good friend of mine who is in Florida spending time with her family while we are there!) Around noon that next day (surely 4-5 hours will be enough for frolicking in the Atlantic Ocean!?) we will head south. Our destination is Chokoloskee Island for our Everglade Area Tour in KAYAKS!! We will be doing a sunset kayak tour that evening, and then doing a boat-assisted kayak tour the following morning. Later that day, we will head back north to Orlando. We will be staying at Universal Studios' Hard Rock Hotel for the next 3 nights as we take 2 days to spend at Universal Studios' Island of Adventures Park, where we will go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!! I don't know if we will spend our 2 days at just Harry Potter World, or if we'll spend some of that time doing other things in the park. With our special package, we will be allowed to enter the park 1 hour earlier than the general public, so we're hoping to get some of the things done that require alot of wait time during that hour, before the park fills up. We also have reservations for breakfast at The Three Broomsticks, which is inside Harry Potter World. We are going to try out some Butter Beer. ;-) After these 2 tiring days, we will then move to The All-Stars Movie Resort located within Disney World!!! We will spend the remainder of our trip here and have 4 days to spend at Disney. We plan to attend 1 of each of the 4 parks each day. I didn't realize there were 4 parks (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios) within Disney World. Thankfully, an old friend from high school saw my cry for help on Facebook and has helped us make reservations, etc for this trip.
I'm not sure when or where our next vacation will take us, but you can believe that the Disney Fund jug will turn into savings for our next big family vacation destination. Now that we have an idea how much these kind of vacations cost, we'll try to save more money next time! OUCH!

Laser Jungle

2011-02-16T09:33:00.002-06:00

What an AWESOME place! Gage had his first experience with Laser Jungle a few weeks ago when he attended a friend's birthday party. He came home all excited and wanted to go back. We tried to go one night a couple of weekends ago, but it was booked solid! They said that unless you call ahead it will almost always be full.........especially on the weekends. Now we know why! OMG! That is THE most fun I've had at a kid's birthday party. EVER! I'm so glad I played. I wasn't going to, but Scott said he was playing, so I figured I might as well play too. It's not necessarily cheap, but it wasn't too much more than I've spent on birthday parties in other places. They have different party prices, depending on what all you want. The Parrot Party is $9.99/person which includes 2 games of Laser Tag, one drink, one 2 for 1 coupon and party room. The Panther Party is $11.99/person and you get 2 games of Laser Tag, one drink, one hotdog, one treat, one 2 for 1 coupon and party room. The Python Party is $15.99/person and you get 3 games of Laser Tag, one drink, one hotdog, one treat, one 2 for 1 coupon and the party room. If you have 12 or more people, you can make it a private party in which no outsiders can join in the game. I think we were the only people there for the first game anyway and I believe that there were 2 people that joined in our 2nd game.

So the way this game works, is that everyone is outfitted with a vest that has special sensors on each shoulder, chest, back and then the guns have a sensor on each side. The guns are designed so that you have to have both hands on the gun to operate it. You have to squeeze two buttons on the end of the barrel as you pull the trigger to shoot. If you get shot, you are out of the game for 5 seconds. You know when you've been shot because the vest will tell you you were shot and start your 5 second countdown, and you will also stop blinking. The building is set up with all kinds of mazes and you can go up ramps, hide behind walls. It's quite a challenge to sometimes find people, and you can never really hide completely. One time I thought I was hidden really well and then someone shot me. It's dark in the room and all of the painting on the walls is in a glow in the dark paint, which glows really well in the black light they have. If you wear light-colored clothing, you will also glow! It's funny when you find people because everyone always has a huge smile on their faces and their teeth will also be glowing! ;-)

The first game is everyone for themselves. You shoot anyone and everyone. The games last approximately 15 minutes. After the game, they send you back to the vesting room to remove your vest and then you go into the pre-game room to learn your score. This is all computer operated and each participant gets a print out of the game. Everyone has to choose a Code Name to go by. I was "Supermom". ;-) Scott's Code Name was Big Red, Gage was Lank and Emma was Ally. On your printout, it gives you your score and rank and then has a grid showing you who you shot, and how many times you shot them. It also tells you how many times you were shot and by whom. In our first game, my score was 890 and I ranked 4th. Scott was 3rd, Gage was 5th and Emma was 10th (there were 11 of us playing). I shot Gage 2 times, Scott 9 times and Emma 8 times. I was shot by Scott 5 times, Gage 8 times and Emma 4 times. Scott shot me 5 times, Gage 1 time and Emma 5 times. The 2nd game is divided into two teams. The teams are computer generated and it will even out the teams by the information it compiled from the first game. Each team will have either red or green flashing lights on their vests. If you shoot your own teammate, it won't register. The guns even have a place on the back that will tell you which one of your sensors got shot and who shot you or who you shot. Very high-tech! During our 2nd game I shot Scott 9 times, Gage 8 times and Emma was on my team, so I didn't shoot her. Scott shot me 5 times and Emma 5 times. Scott and Gage were on the same team. Emma shot Gage 2 times and Scott 1 time. Gage shot me 15 times (he was stalking me!) and Emma 7 times. Scott won the 2nd game and I came in 2nd. Gage ranked 4th and Emma ranked 10th (She is consistent!) This was by far the most fun I've ever had at a birthday party!
Before the 2nd game, all of the kids line up and get their hair spayed with a glow in the dark spray. They get to choose what their design is. It then glows in the game area. Neat idea.

After the 2 games of Laser Tag, then we went to the party room where they had hotdogs and treats. The only outside food allowed is cake.

If you come to visit, you can be sure you will get a chance to play in the Laser Jungle!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T12:55:00.002-06:00

I can't believe my little girl is 8 years old! She's 8, going on 18! Her birthday list did not have a single toy on it. :( Emma doesn't really play with toys. She does play with her stuffed animals, though. She loves stuffed animals. I remember liking them too, but I don't remember having alot of them. Certainly not the number that Emma has! Emma's big ticket item on her birthday list was luggage! What 8 year old do you know wants luggage??? Maybe she wants to run away, and do it in style? She found a pink/purple plaid rolling suitcase at Walmart and that is what she wanted. It was a set of three, and I planned on buying them for her. Scott didn't want to, however. He thought they were probably cheap and would fall apart. What isn't cheap at Walmart, and doesn't fall apart?? I decided that I would check out the luggage at LLBean.com. I found a rolling duffle bag that was blue, green and black plaid that Emma liked, so I ordered it for her. Of course it will be late, since I just did that yesterday. Hopefully it will make it before our trip to Disney World. As slow as things are coming and going from Canada, it could be close!

Emma's birthday party will be tomorrow (Tuesday) at Laser Jungle. She invited 8 friends from school, so we're hoping they can all come. I believe 4-5 have RSVP'd, and one of them will be coming home from school with us since she wouldn't be able to come otherwise, as she rides the bus home. I've never met or seen her parents (or them me) so I was surprised they decided to do that. Emma wanted a Peace Sign on her birthday cake. She drew out a whole design on paper and wanted the whipped topping in a can to put little stars around the cake and put a cherry between each star! Quite a vision she had! I talked her into a White cake with strawberry Jell-O poured over it. We will frost it with Cool whip, and I am going to attempt making the Cool Whip tie-dyed. Not sure if I can pull that off, but I won't know until I try! If I can do that, then we will just do the Peace sign with white cool whip stars. If Emma is happy, then I will be happy.

We will be going to Winnipeg this evening to go out for supper in celebration of Emma's birthday and Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day for the rest of us (well, all but Gage) kind of gets forgotten about. Lucky for Scott! We aren't sure where we are going to eat in Winnipeg yet, as we don't know what all restaurants they have there. Booster Juice is one place both the kids want to try. I think it's just a smoothie bar, but not totally sure. It has a bright and colorful Booster Juice sign, which is the only reason the kids even noticed it, let alone want to go to it! You gotta love marketing schemes!

I sent a lunch for both Gage and Emma that was almost completely red. Of course their sandwich isn't red. If I could have figured out how to make a red sandwich I would have. I could have put red food coloring in their egg salad, but that seemed kind of gross and over the top to me. They had red raspberries, strawberries, red bell pepper and Babybel cheese in red packaging, along with a strawberry/watermelon fruit strip. I also sent a little note, in case they didn't happen to notice that everything was red, symbolizing Valentine's Day.

The best gift of all, happens to be Emma's gift to us. When she was 5, she wrote out a contract and signed it. The contract stated, "When I am 8, I will travel better!" The actual note is quite a bit harder to read, as she wasn't the best speller at 5 years old. However, we all know what it says and I can't wait for our next road trip to test her out! ;-)

What you don't know......

2011-02-11T10:13:00.003-06:00

I've always liked the saying, "What you don't know, won't hurt you." I wish I would have went with that as my theme this morning.
I was out of bread this morning. Nothing I wasn't aware of last night, however. In my mind, yesterday, I was trying to decide if I needed to go get bread for the kids' lunches today or not. We had some bagels that we had gotten at Costco, so thought I would just use those to make the kids' sandwiches. I actually had one for my lunch yesterday and it was delicious! I put cream cheese on it and then also put some shaved turkey on it. It's a different kind of bagel than I've ever had before. It has sesame seeds and poppy seeds on it. I think maybe it has some onion flavor in the bread too? It's actually called, "Everything Bagel". This morning, when I got up, I was actually a little "excited" to make the kids' lunches. I guess because I had something "different" for them today. I informed them of what I was going to do, and they were both okay with it. As I was standing there making the bagel sandwiches, I thought, "Surely these don't have nuts in them?" Then I decided I should probably look at the ingredients, just to be sure. The ingredients started out: wheat flour, water, salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, garlic, malted barley flour, yeast, wheat gluten............then all the things you can't pronounce or spell, which actually weren't very many. Then the next highlighted information says, "Contains: wheat, sesame seeds." So far, so good! Well, unless I haven't been informed that there is also a wheat allergy at school and we actually aren't supposed to be sending any sort of sandwiches. Then the label says, "May contain: milk, eggs, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, soya, sulphites." GOOD GOD! What other kinds of nuts even exist..........besides peanuts??? UGH! So, I have all of these thoughts going through my head: "Maybe the allergy aware program at school really means just peanuts? Surely these other nuts are okay? Maybe I can just not tell the kids and then no one will know? But what if the lunch monitors already have banned these bagels and they take them away from the kids? I don't want them to go hungry! Maybe I should just tell the kids and then tell them to be sure and wash their hands when they are done eating (which they should be doing anyway!). I could just go get the kids and bring them home for lunch. Damn, why did I even look?" I know...............I'm mental. As I am getting the other items ready for their lunch boxes, I decide I should tell the kids about it. I read them the ingredient list and Gage said the allergy aware program means all nuts. UGH! So now I'm trying to decide what I should do. I don't have any bread. The grocery stores don't open until 8:30, after I have taken the kids to school. Well, I guess we have cinnamon and raisin bread, but that didn't sound too good to have with ham or turkey. Emma had already mentioned to me this morning that she wished she could use the thermos I bought for hot foods and wanted to take "Kraft Dinner". I hadn't done that yet, and thought I could do that, but it's not the most nutritious meal. Then I thought I could heat up the chili that I made for supper last night and send that with them in their thermoses. Although, I really didn't want to do that because I wanted the chili for myself for lunch. HOW SELFISH! I love reheated chili! I usually make enough to last all week; however, not this time. :( So, I decided to just give one of the bagel sandwiches to Scott to have for his lunch and I kept the other one and sent the chili with the kids. Why do I have to have such a guilty conscience? Why did I look at the dumb label? Well, I know why...............because I am a rule follower. The school has sent home notes about reading labels, and re-reading labels because sometimes ingredients change. Just because it didn't have nuts one time, doesn't mean it won't the next time. PLUS........there was a recall on granola bars because the outside box label said it didn't contain nuts, but then on the inside, it contained an assortment of different granola bars and some of them, did indeed, contain nuts. That is always why I have liked the saying, "What you don't know won't hurt you!" However, I guess in this case, "What I chose not to know might have hurt someone else." :(

Recorder Karate

2011-02-09T09:35:00.002-06:00

Whoever thought up Recorder Karate was a genius! What a way to get a child interested in PRACTICING their recorder! When we moved here, Gage's class had already started playing the recorder. Gage's teacher had sent home a note asking that if Gage has a recorder, please send it to school. We happen to have a few of them, thanks to a friend and "hand-me-downs." His class in Bismarck had started learning the recorder a couple months ago, I think. Since moving here, I remember Gage telling me on the way home from school, "Mom, these kids are really advanced at playing the recorder! They sound like professionals!" He was concerned. Apparently he hadn't gotten to this recorder playing level in Bismarck. I'm thinking that's maybe because they don't have Recorder Karate as part of their Recorder Curriculum. I had no idea what Gage was talking about when he mentioned Recorder Karate. Finally, he pulled up a website for me to look at. Basically, the kids learn to play different levels of songs for different colored "belts". For each belt achieved, the instructor ties a colored piece of ribbon onto the end of their recorder. White Belt = Hot Cross Buns. Yellow Belt = Gently Sleeping. Orange Belt = Merrily We Roll Along. Green Belt = It's Raining. Purple Belt = Old MacDonald. Blue Belt = When the Saints Go Marching In. Red Belt = Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Brown Belt = Amazing Grace. Black Belt = Ode To Joy. Gage said that many of the kids here had advanced through many of the belts already. He brought his recorder home and started PRACTICING! Without me even mentioning it!!! He's been practicing EVERY DAY. Without me even telling him to! In fact, this past weekend, we were busy with activities and the Superbowl, so we hadn't thought about the recorder. Monday morning he started playing his recorder in panic practice mode, and was worried that he wouldn't pass. Thankfully he didn't have music on Monday. He came home Monday and Tuesday and was practicing like crazy. Each day they have music, they have the option to "test" for the next leveled "belt". In the few short weeks we have been here, Gage has already advanced through many of the belts and is now practicing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for his red belt! When they test, they can only make 2 mistakes. If they make more than 2 mistakes, they do not earn the belt. Apparently Tuesday he tested for his Blue Belt and didn't get it. He asked the music teacher if he could come back during recess and retest. She told him he could. He tested and passed! I'm just amazed at how this little twist on the recorder has inspired Gage to want to practice and pass through the belts. I don't know if this is because he was in Taekwondo in Bismarck, and he had been passing through those belts (at a MUCH slower pace!), or what? There are only a couple other kids who are a belt ahead of him now. Even one of his classmates commented on how quickly he was passing through each level. I love this "competition" Gage has going with himself! At the beginning of 4th grade, Gage joined orchestra in Bismarck. He chose to play the cello. He was doing well and learned how to play a few different songs for their Christmas program. I know the teacher had tied some curling ribbon onto their instruments, and maybe this was the same concept? I recall Gage telling me each time they played a song in front of the group, they would get a new ribbon. It obviously didn't mean the same thing to Gage as this Recorder Karate does here, because I don't think he practiced his cello at home more than 2 times. I don't know if the orchestra teacher was implementing the same concept, but not making it a competition, or what? I can tell you that making it a competition has made it much more exciting for Gage!
I'm not sure if this is good or not, but Gage is not really learning the notes. He's learning to play by ear. The sheets he brings home from school just have the notes and Gage has found that the Recorder Karate website has the notes and the letters, telling what the note is. That is how I have to play too. I never learned to play the notes, despite taking piano lessons for a very short time. As he has advanced to the higher belts, the website has also stopped listing the letter for the notes. Gage asked me if I could go through it and write the letters down so he could learn them. I did it, but mostly because I also wanted to learn how to play them, and I need the letters. So, as Gage is practicing, he isn't even looking at the sheet music. He's just playing by ear. I know there are many musicians who do this as well. I'm not sure if I should be allowing him to continue doing this or not? What are your thoughts?
I really do just love how this Recorder Karate has encouraged Gage to practice. I'm not necessarily thrilled that I have the tune to Old MacDonald and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star stuck in my head for most of the day, however. I'm wondering if I can devise a Chore Karate list? For each chore he masters, he gets a belt. The harder the chore, the higher level of belt. Brown Belt = Cleaning toilets and Black Belt would mean that Gage is now making supper! Woo Hoo!! Do you think it would work?

Snowshoeing

2011-02-05T23:33:00.001-06:00

Saturday the kids wanted to go to the Interpretive Center at Oak Hammock Marsh. This also happens to be where the Ducks Unlimited office is. Neat place. We went snowshoeing while we were there. I had never been on snowshoes before, so it was a new experience. The kids have tested them out before at a Cub Scout Winter Fun Day, so they had at least tried them before. Scott actually owns a pair of snowshoes, as he needed them when he was hunting deer a time or two. Guess who was the first person to fall over. HA! Not me! We had a nice time. There are all sorts of different activities that go on there. The kids played a game of Shuffle Duck, which is like shuffle board, only it's played on ice with rubber ducks that are glued to hockey pucks. You use a walking stick (cane) to push the hockey puck and duck to the Momma duck decoy. Whoever's duck is closest, wins. The kids enjoyed that. We also went to a 25 minute movie about tracks in the snow, and checked out the different displays in the interpretive center. Around 3:30, we decided to call it a day. Unfortunately the day wasn't quite over, as we discovered that the keys were locked in the van when we tried getting in. UGH! Scott never locks vehicles. I don't know why. It irritates me. One time he had over $500 in cash hidden in his truck and he never locks it. Another thing that bothers me about that is that the garage door opener is in his truck and it would be awfully easy for someone to steal the garage door opener from the truck and use it to gain access to the house. He doesn't seem to care about that. Anyway, when we are together, as a family, Scott typically drives. He always gets out of the car and never locks it, so I have taken on that responsibility. Unfortunately this time, he also decided that leaving the keys in the car would be appropriate. Since I didn't realize that, I locked the doors, as I typically do. Poor Brie was locked in the car. Our neighbors, who also happen to be about the only people we know, were out of town for the weekend, so we couldn't call on them to rescue us. Thankfully there were some decoy carvers that were at the interpretive center who were just getting out of a decoy carving seminar and Scott was able to get a ride to our house in Stonewall. Thankfully the garage door wasn't locked, otherwise we would have been in a mess. Regardless of the unfortunate events, we had a good time.

Happy 49th Anniversary!

2011-02-04T11:25:00.002-06:00

Happy 49th Anniversary to my Mom and Dad! You have given us everything we've ever needed and wanted. You are the best parents I could ever ask for, and I want you to know that we love you with all of our hearts and souls, forever and ever! Only one more year to hit the big Golden Anniversary! Just keep doing what you're doing! You're the best!

Love,
Stacy

Check marks

2011-02-02T13:03:00.002-06:00

I learned a very important thing Monday. Check marks do not mean the same thing here as what I am used to everywhere else I've lived!

Each day the kids bring home planners. Basically it's a spiral bound calendar that is a communication tool for the parents, teachers and students. The kids write down assignments or important things that are happening at school. It's a neat thing. We used them in Bismarck too, but not until they enter 3rd grade. So I like that Emma now has a planner as well. Each day they are supposed to bring them home from school and the parents are to sign it and send it back. Showing that you have read the information and know what's going on. There's no excuse (if it's written in the planner) for not knowing about assignments or what's going on at school.

Monday when Gage gave me his planner, I saw a note written by Gage in the planner for that day to have math paper signed, then return to school. So, I found some papers in Gage's planner and nearly had a heart attack when I saw Gage's math paper! EVERY PROBLEM was marked wrong! Then, at the top of the paper, it said, "Way to go!" I thought, what kind of smartass writes "Way to go!" on the top of a paper that has everything checked wrong!? Upon further inspection, I realized that checkmarks actually mean the problem is correct. WHEW! An "X" means it's wrong. That doesn't seem right? Maybe they just like to waste red ink? I don't know, but that is just plain weird. I have seen teachers use a "C" before, just to signify that they looked at the work and it was correct. However, they just put one big "C" at the top of the paper typically, not a "C" on every problem! It really only makes it more difficult to find the problems that are wrong. You have to look through every problem to find either the check or the x. Just a waste of red ink in my opinion. BUT......they didn't ask me, did they?

Another thing I am seeing is that the kids do not bring papers home. I have yet to see a paper of Emma's. I guess I do see little 1/3 sheets of paper with math problems on it from Emma, but that has been it. I also saw Gage's one math paper, which about gave me a coronary. They have spelling tests every week and I haven't seen any of Emma's, and I've only seen one of Gage's, and that's only because I threw a little fit about not seeing these papers. Gage brought one home and said he had to take it back. I wasn't very happy when I saw it either. Gage is an awesome speller. (Takes after his mother! ;-)) He rarely misses a word. We typically only go over the words once, and he knows them, so I don't really worry about quizzing him on spelling words each week. PLUS, when we got his first list of spelling words, we discovered that they are words he's already had before, so are very easy for him. When he did finally bring home that first graded spelling test, he missed 4 words. HUH?!?!? Well, he didn't actually miss the words, he just writes his cursive o's without the little loop at the top. They counted his wrong because he is supposed to have that loop at the top. Gage says that's how they learned to write it in cursive in Bismarck. He could have missed ALL of the words if they wanted to be difficult, since the spelling list was a list of long o words, but thankfully they didn't. The teacher just told Gage to be sure to put the loop on the o's. I haven't seen another spelling test come home, so I have no idea how he's doing. I'm not sure how they do things here, so I'm going to have to ask. I'm not sure why you would wait until Parent/Teacher conferences to show any of the school work. I mean, if there's a problem, isn't it a little late to be telling the parents?

I guess I'm going to have to do a little investigation work!

Floors

2011-02-01T11:24:00.003-06:00

I have never had laminate flooring before. The only place we have it in this house is the front entryway, hallway to the kitchen, and in the office. This is not good flooring for dogs. It is slick and there is no texture for them to get traction. Brie has been having troubles on this floor. It wasn't a problem until a couple of weeks ago. The guy who came to install our blinds arrived at our house just before Scott got home from getting his driver's license. (I was still at at the place getting my driver's license.) He rang the doorbell as Scott was driving into the driveway, so there was no one inside to holler at Brie for barking and tearing through the house to the front door. When Scott got to the house, he unlocked the door and came in with the blind installer (I had been calling him the "blind guy" but decided that might not be the best use of terms.) Anyway, when they came inside, Brie was in the doorway where the hall meets the kitchen. Scott tried to get her to come with him upstairs, but she wouldn't cross the doorway. At the time, he didn't know what had happened and was getting frustrated with her that she wouldn't come so he could put her in the bedroom upstairs so she wouldn't bother the man who was here to install our blinds. Scott ended up dragging her up the stairs. I didn't know any of this until much later in the day. The guy finished his job just before lunch time and I then went upstairs to let Brie out of the bedroom. I wasn't paying much attention at the time, but she went down the stairs and sat on the third step from the bottom for a little while, then went back upstairs. This isn't unusual for her as the steps were her favorite place when she was a puppy, and it didn't matter to her that she had outgrown the step and hangs over the edge when she lays on it. Anyway, she was pretty quiet all day and I was enjoying it. She wasn't bothering me to let her outside every 10 minutes and she wasn't following me all around the house like she sometimes does. I left to pick the kids up from school and she continued to sleep upstairs beside our bed. I was LOVING THIS! It wasn't until awhile after I picked up the kids from school that I realized there was a problem. Brie is ALWAYS underfoot when I'm cooking supper. But still, I continued on with what I was doing. Scott was late coming home from work, so I put supper on the table and the kids sat down to eat. I heard Brie bark upstairs. Weird!? Then the lightbulb turned on in my head and it finally really registered to me that something really was wrong, because she is ALWAYS pestering Emma at the supper table (that's what happens when you sneak and give the dog scraps under the table!) Anyway, I got up from the table and filled her food dish as I knew this would get her to come. Brie is what you call a CHOWHOUND! She will NOT let you miss feeding time. She still didn't come! As we were going to get her, Scott came home. I told him something was wrong with Brie and she won't come into the kitchen. He then filled me in on what had happened earlier that morning, or at least what he thinks happened, as no one was in the house at the time. He thinks she bolted to the door when the doorbell rang and wiped out on the slick, laminate floor. She will not walk on it now. I feel bad for her, as she stands in the doorway to the kitchen watching what might be happening in the hallway or the front door. The other day when my office furniture was being delivered, she REALLY wanted to get some attention from the guys, but she would not walk to the front door. Poor Brie. However, I am LOVING this! She can't pester people when they come to the door. She can still be obnoxious with her barking, which seems to have increased. I suppose she is making up for the fact that she can't jump all over whoever has come to the door. Because she won't walk on the floor, it means she can't get upstairs. Hmmm......I can handle not having dog hair all over the upstairs. I do feel bad that she can't lay on the steps, which is one of her favorite spots to lay. I suppose I'll get over that too. I've thought about getting a long runner rug for the hallway, but I think we'll just stay like this for now. It's kind of nice. Alot of people don't necessarily appreciate a big dog, who is more excited to see them than they are to see the dog, wallering all over them as they walk in the door. Now I just need to find people who want to come visit! ;-)

Chores

2011-01-29T17:11:00.012-06:00

I have never been good at enforcing chores. Often times, when the kids are wanting something at the store, I'll tell them that if they want to do some chores, they could get whatever it is they are wanting with the money they earn. The chore duty lasts maybe a day, if that. The kids occasionally will tell me they want an allowance. I tell them that they can earn an allowance if they do chores. Well, as stated before, that doesn't seem to last long. I am never good at following through. It also doesn't help that I never have cash on me, in this debit card world. Well, that is going to change with the banking we have here. We have to pay for a certain number of transactions per month, and if you go over, which we have, you get charged $0.55 per transaction, and apparently $0.75 for checks that clear when you have gone over your allotted number of transactions in a month! Because of that, we are going to switch over to cash. We can't switch over to credit cards at this point, because if we use our American credit cards here, we get charged a foreign transaction fee. We also have had troubles trying to get a Canadian credit card. I know Scott has spent several minutes on the phone a few different times trying to get one. So, until that happens, we will be using cash. Good news in the allowance department!!

In our new house, we have alot of carpet. Well, okay, it's not alot, but it's light colored. Pets, kids and carpet don't go together. I also am not a big vacuumer. I want to be, but again, another chore that gets put off and eventually neglected. I don't want that to happen here. And so far, it hasn't. Mostly because with this carpet we have, you can tell that it needs to be vacuumed, and then once it has been, it looks so much better. The carpet we had in Bismarck looked the same, whether it was vacuumed or not, which also added to the problem of neglect.

After moving here, I think I tried making sure the kids were happy by buying them a toy here and there. When we would make a trip to Winnipeg, all I would hear is "Mom, I want this....." "Mom, can I have that?" It was wearing me out. So, I was trying to think of a way that I could implement a chore chart that would last, and what chores would I put on it. Another issue was where to put it. Our stainless steel refrigerator is not magnetic, so I can't hang it on the fridge (a blessing in disguise!). I had an idea. I have a large bare wall in the laundry room, and I might as well put it to use.

Here is what I came up with.

Gage's chores are listed in green (G-green) and Emma's are in red.........no explanation needed. This calendar is also used to help me remember when certain activities are, eliminating the need to have a regular calendar hanging on the wall somewhere. I have ordered a "Chore Chart" from my sister's Uppercase Living Party, so when I get that, this calendar will be for school and activities and the chore chart will be for chores. I will also have a space for SCOTT! :-)

Since moving here, Brie has become a little more "high maintenance." Only because I want to save our backyard. We have a dog run that we are making her use for elimination. She doesn't really like this. She can't find "just the right spot" to go, making it a nuisance. She constantly needs to go out because she might not have found "the spot" to go, and just decided not to. Really, she needs to be walked, which isn't happening. Scott is not good at that. Neither am I, but she's not "my dog." Maybe I will add that to Scott's chore list? Anyway, it became a fight, as to who had to let Brie out the next time, and the next time. I told the kids that if they would help me with the task of letting her out every 10 minutes (yes, I am exaggerating just a little), they could get a tally mark. Tally marks mean "extra" chores were done. You can see those in blue at the bottom of the calendar. (Now you understand why I have recruited help with this job! UGH!)

Anyway, the chore chart is WORKING! Of course we haven't had a payday yet. The kids want paid per chore, right after they finish doing it. I told them that's not how it works. We decided that PAY DAY would fall on Scott's pay day. That should work. We should have some money to pay them, right!? ;-) For some reason, they didn't get paid on the 15th, like they should have. I guess they didn't ask, and I didn't think about it. Their first pay day is coming up tomorrow. I haven't decided yet how much they should get paid. Today I told them that tomorrow is pay day, and they should do their best to do as many extra things they can. This is what I got out of Emma!

I swear I didn't suggest this to her. As a matter of fact, I was looking for her in the house, and after hollering a few times and she didn't answer, I had a surge of panic run through me. Then I noticed her coat and snowpants were missing, so I looked outside and found her hard at work! When she came in she said, "How much is that worth Mom!?" Hmmm.............good question Emma! Aren't those rosey cheeks adorable?

Maybe you could give me some allowance tips? Here are their chores for the week:

Sunday: Take clothes to the laundry chute.

Monday: Put clothes away

Tuesday: Empty all garbage cans except the big one in the kitchen

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday: Vacuum bedroom

Saturday: Gage vacuum upstairs stairs; Emma vacuum stairs to basement (they switch each week because no one likes to vacuum the stairs to the basement. "It's freaky down there Mom!"); Clean bathroom sinks.

For the month Emma has approximately 35 tallies, plus shoveling snow. Gage has approximately 30 tally marks.

What do you think all of this is worth?

And, all of the chores were done. Nothing was skipped. Now, it's my chore to keep this whole operation working!

I want a new car!

2011-01-28T18:33:00.003-06:00

Well, it doesn't have to be NEW, but I want a DIFFERENT car. I hate my van. I didn't hate it until the start of the winter season. I think I can still count on one hand (just barely) the number of times I have been stuck this year, which has never happened to me before. What a helpless feeling! It's an even more helpless feeling when you are in a different country, your husband is traveling out of town and you practically know no one. (Okay, so I do have a set of wonderful neighbors who are totally awesome and would come to my rescue if I were to call them, but that would make the story less powerful!)
So today we wake up to more snow! SURPRISE! NOT! It was such a pretty snow too, until later in the afternoon, when it was time to go pick up the kids.
Scott came home for lunch because he was getting ready to leave town for the weekend. Thankfully he was kind enough to break out the snowblower before he left. I don't know how to run the stupid thing, and if I did end up getting it started, I'm sure I'd have the snow blowing right in my face. He also cleared out Brie's dog run of snow. Hey, that snow blower doubles as a shit blower! Who knew!?!
When he came back inside, he tells me that I should probably walk to school to get the kids. WHAT?!?! Are you SERIOUS?!?!? The snow is knee-deep and it's a little over a mile (I know because I clocked it). I'm not stupid. I know that if I walk a mile there, I will also have to walk a mile back IN KNEE DEEP SNOW! NO THANK YOU! Plus, I'm sure I would end up carrying the kids' backpacks and whatever else crap they hauled to school today for beach day. Great day for beach day, by the way!
Just before 3p, I decided I best get the car backed out of the garage and warmed up a bit. Oh, guess what!??! SURPRISE! The snow plow had been up our street. Guess what that means? It means there is a 3 ft (I don't know how many stupid centimeters that is, but I do know it's ALOT!) tall drift that is about 3 feet wide! WTH!?!? I got the snow shovel out and started to whittle away at the snow in a desperate panic, thinking "I am never going to make it to school on time to get the kids." Thankfully, the "clean up crew" wasn't too far behind and must have saw the pitiful, panic-stricken look on my face as he came into the drive to clear it out for me. I mouthed him a big, heart-felt "THANK YOU!" So, at least I was able to make it out of the driveway!
Because I am new here, I don't really know which streets are the arterial streets, so I am a little nervous on my drive to school, because I don't know which roads are clear and which aren't. I got lucky and took the correct route. I did run into one unplowed street, headed towards Main Street, but thankfully I was able to make it through without much trouble.
As I am driving down Main Street, which hasn't been plowed..........go figure.............and looking for a parking space, I was lucky and found a spot I could drive right in to. Hmmm.......I drove right into it and SUNK! UGH! I knew at that point, I was in trouble. As I sit in the car and wait, I watch the heavy traffic plowing through the snow. Across the street, I see a nearly 100-year-old (okay, so she wasn't that old, but it makes the story much more interesting!) lady get into her small, compact car that was parked along the curb and start driving. Well, then she stopped driving. And she started driving again. I could tell she was getting stuck. I wasn't sure yet if I should get out and help, but I unbuckled my seat belt in preparation. I'm thinking, "There's no way she's going to get out of that." I was also thinking, "Maybe I won't make such a scene when I get stuck too!?" After just a little bit of backing up, then going forward again, she started plowing right through the snow! She made it out! NO WAY! You've got to be kidding me?! I see this happen to several more cars. Then I start to think, "Well, maybe I will be okay?" Finally, the kids get let out of school and trudge their way to the car. As they get in, I tell them not to get too comfortable, because I figured we would be walking. Guess what? I was stuck! I tried and tried, and couldn't get out. The kids know not to say anything to me, because this has happened 3 other times this winter season. Gage offered to get out and push (I think he really wants to do it, because he thinks it will be fun!) and after I snapped at him that he isn't big enough to do that, he sat quietly and listened as I repeat how much "I HATE THIS CAR! I HATE THIS CAR! AAARGH! I HATE THIS CAR!" I have finally inched my way towards the driving lane and have to stop for traffic backed up behind me. One man, in his big 4x4 truck, drives by. At this point I'm about to cry. I did have the smarts to write down all of my neighbors' phone numbers, but what good is that when I don't have a phone to call them!? Finally, a lady is stopped behind me as I spin and spin, burning the rubber off my tires. She was kind enough to get out of her car and walk up to my window. I roll it down and she reaches in, grabs my steering wheel and tells me, very kindly I might add, that I need to straighten out the wheel while she pushes. She and her teenage son get behind me and push as I step on the gas. They then proceed to the front of the car as I put it in reverse. They start walking to the back as I put it in drive and was finally on my way. As I drive by, giving her my most heart-felt "THANKS", she tells me just to drive straight and I will be fine. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I'm sure all of the other people that drove by me were thinking, "Dumb American.....can't even drive in the snow!" I can't wait to get my Manitoba plates. At least no one will know that I'm a dumb American by looking at my car!
We were able to make it the rest of the way home without incident. Whew!
I firmly believe, despite what Scott says, that I need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get around in this part of the world. I will have a 4-wheel drive vehicle before the next winter season..........even if that means I am driving Scott's truck, and he is driving the van!

Hot Lunch Day

2011-01-27T10:40:00.003-06:00

I was so excited a couple of weeks ago when the kids brought home a sign-up sheet for Hot Lunch Day, which actually took place yesterday! YEAH! I didn't know they had such a thing, but I knew I was totally going to sign the kids up for it! They brought home order sheets that had to be returned to the school with money. They were getting soup and a biscuit. It had a place to mark down what you wanted and then you totaled it up at the end. I didn't realize you could order more than just one of each item. I had ordered the kids each 1 cup of soup and 1 biscuit, which was $1.50 for each of them. That's what the hot lunches in Bismarck cost, so I was thrilled. I had it written down in big letters on our calendar so I wouldn't forget. I didn't want to accidentally send a lunch when I didn't have to! I did have to send a few other things for their snack and something else to eat with their lunch.
Yesterday when I picked the kids up from school I asked them how hot lunch day went. They told me they had it during their first nutrition break, which is their snack time, which is around 10:30am. WHAT? So, the kids ended up having their snack for lunch, which didn't consist of much more than a piece of Baby Bel cheese and pomagranate arils. I think I also sent a fruit strip, which is a healthier version of the fruit roll-up. Needless to say, they were hungry when they got home and ate a bigger after-school snack than usual. They were told that it didn't matter if they ate the hot lunch for snack or lunch, they wouldn't be any hungrier. I'm not sure that's true, but it wasn't a big deal.
As for sending cold lunches every day, I really thought I was going to hate it. It's actually not too bad. We get up between 7-7:20 each morning and my job is to get the lunches made. I started out just making the kids' lunches, then Scott would make his own. He asked me if I could make his lunches too, so I have been making his as well. Although Scott occasionally gets in trouble and has to make his own lunch. I'm so mean! I wouldn't do that to the kids though.
I was worried initally about making their lunches because I didn't know if I could figure out stuff to send that they wouldn't get tired of having every day. I was also worried because I can't send peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because of the school's "allergy aware" program. We have been experimenting with some other things, like sun butter. It's supposed to be like peanut butter, but made out of sunflower seeds instead of peanuts, making it an "okay" thing for peanut allergies (of which we don't have!). Emma doesn't care for it, but Gage likes it. I don't care much for it either, but maybe that's because it looks like, and has the consistency of dog diarrhea. Some that I've unfortunately have had the pleasure of cleaning up. GAG! Anyway, Gage doesn't mind it, so I will occasionally send it with him for lunch. The first 2-3 weeks of school the kids were hooked on egg salad sandwiches. I then made some tuna salad sandwiches, with a to-die for recipe from my Carbohydrate Addict's recipe book. The kids really like that, but Gage was scared to have tuna at school, because there is a kid in the school with fish allergies, so he was afraid they would take his sandwich away from him. I assured him it would be okay, although I don't really know if it is. I will still make them on occasion and send them with the kids. If they get in trouble and get it taken away, I will have then learned my lesson. I don't think fish allergies are a contact allergy like peanuts can be? But, I guess I don't really know that for sure. I have also sent some turkey sandwiches. The kids seem to be eating all of their lunches. Either that or they are smart and just throw away what they don't eat at school so I don't know about it. But, I do think they are eating them and not throwing them away. Some of the other things I have been sending with the kids range from cucumber slices, carrots, broccoli. Apples, pomagrante arils, mandarin oranges, banana and pineapple are some of the fruits I have sent. Emma says that one of the lunch monitors has commented several times about her lunches being healthy and apparently she LOVES cucumbers and can smell them when Emma opens up her container of them. I always send a piece of cheese, yogurt and a fruit strip or fruit snacks. I have found some healthier versions of the fruit roll-up and gummy snacks at Costco, so I will send one of those with the kids each day as something "fun" for them. There are alot of kids that bring the fruit roll-ups, pop tarts, etc, which I refuse to buy. So, I will get these things for the kids so they don't feel so slighted.
At least I know they are eating healthier than they did with their hot lunches in Bismarck. This may not be as convenient, but at least I have an excuse for buying different lunch boxes, snack containers, etc.! I have a weakness for those things for some reason! I found a couple of little thermoses that are made for hot things like soup. Tomorrow I think I will try those out and they'll have a surprise of Kraft Dinner (a.k.a. macaroni and cheese in the US!) in their lunch boxes!

Checkbook

2011-01-25T11:46:00.002-06:00

I am anal about my checkbook. Only one other time in my life was I not able to get it to balance to the penny. Last month, was the second time I couldn't get it to balance to the penny. I didn't give up trying to get it to balance, I just stopped trying. I thought I had figured it out, in my head, so I really didn't think I wanted to waste my time in attempting to balance it again. I figured I would just wait until next month, when we have alot less transactions taking place, which would make it easier. Well, that time is NOW and I still can't get the stupid thing to balance and it is DRIVING ME INSANE! I just can't figure it out. It's off by $43.13. Many people would just forget about it and write in whatever amount the bank says they have. NOT ME! Why can't I just be like normal people sometimes? I'm sure it is something stupid, but I will continue to work on this and figure it out..........eventually. Part of the problem is that the checkbook is shared with my beloved husband, who really doesn't know how to do it. Before we started sharing a checking account, he would balance his account by going through the ATM and printing out a balance slip, never taking into account what might be outstanding. He had alot of overdrafts during that time period and I told him I would not share an account with him until he learned how to take care of a checking account properly. Well, I don't really think he ever did learn, I just took it over. Every once in awhile he'll add his two cents worth, then I threaten to quit managing our money and hand it over to him. I'm not sure I could ever really do that. It would absolutely drive me nuts to not know what we really have in our accounts. And I know that if I turned it over, it would get to that point. Scott knows it too, which is why he never volunteers to do it. My Dad is the one who taught me about money management. I remember him always telling me to never get a credit card, because they are bad news. He always said to never join those book clubs or CD clubs, because they will just send things to you even if you don't want them, and then you have to pay for them. Well, I learned that that isn't entirely true. Credit cards are actually GOOD things to have, because you need them in order to establish credit. They become bad when you use them irresponsibly. I have always been a responsible credit card holder. Only one time in my life did I carry a balance on a credit card, and that is because I was in transition between jobs when we moved to Memphis and it took a little while to get back on my feet. And, when I got back on my feet, I paid each card off as I could manage. I also learned that those book clubs and CD clubs don't actually send you stuff without you knowing. I just learned that you need to watch your mail closely and be sure to check in the proper places in order to prevent an item being sent. I did learn, that you don't want to be in them because eventually you are spending money that you wouldn't normally spend on things you wouldn't normally buy. So, I stopped doing those. I also learned, from my Dad, to balance your checkbook every month, and by following example, I will work and work on it until I find my mistake. Thanks Dad!!!! ;-)
I always thought that maybe I should have become an accountant, because I like managing money. I know now, that I probably wouldn't make a good accountant, because if I get stuck on something. like trying to make my checkbook balance to the penny, I will get nothing done until I get it figured out. A good accountant would just figure out how to make it right and then go on to the next project. Not me.

Costco

2011-01-23T08:44:00.002-06:00

Yesterday my neighbor invited me to go with her to Winnipeg to Costco. I jumped at the opportunity. It was a fun outing. I think I like Costco better than Sam's Club? I don't know if it was because they had a better selection, or if it was because, with having to make the kids' lunches for school everyday, there were more bulk items that I needed? A membership is required at Costco, which we don't have yet. Liz said we could put it on her card if necessary and then I could pay her back. As we were headed to the checkout, I asked her if she was sure she could do that, as both of our carts were nearly overflowing. When she got to the checkout, she asked the lady if we could scan separately and she let us! Even though they aren't supposed to do that. I was glad about that.......and I'm sure Liz was too! My best find there was in the produce section. They had a package of pomegranate arils! WHAT?!?!?!?! You mean I can enjoy a pomegranate and not have to spend an hour digging it all apart? SCORE! AND, it was only $6.99! There were at least 2 pomegranates in the package and sometimes they can cost up to $2-3 each. Having them already removed from the rhine and membrane is totally worth the extra couple dollars. TOTALLY!
Liz was born and raised in Winnipeg, so she was great to go with. She was telling me all she could. Unfortunately I know I didn't absorb it all, but I did learn that we haven't been shopping in the best area of Winnipeg. We will be learning the new area the next time we go. In fact the different stores in this area of Winnipeg have me very excited about my next visit. ;-) I think I also found myself a softball team to play on this spring! Liz coordinates the Friday softball league! SCORE! Now if I can just get volleyball on the agenda!
Gage and Emma were dying to go to Laser Jungle last night to play some laser tag. We finally were able to go after supper, but found out that you have to call ahead. We tried calling ahead, but each time Gage called, the line was busy. We just assumed it was because it was off the hook or something like that. No, it was always busy because other people were calling in to book a time slot. Apparently the weekends are always full, so you must call ahead of time. We'll be doing that the next time. There are people who drive here from Winnipeg to play! (It's not that far from Winnipeg, but because of all the activities that Winnipeg has to offer, that must mean Laser Jungle "kicks ass". Or at least that's what neighbor Liz says. ;-) Since we weren't able to stay and play, we rented some movies from there instead. We got Ramona & Beezus, Cats and Dogs and The Book of Eli. Ramona and Beezus was so cute. We all enjoyed it. However, I wasn't expecting that I would cry TWICE during the movie.
The Book of Eli was very thought provoking. I feel like I need to watch it again to see what I missed.
Cats and Dogs is the movie for Sunday morning. The kids are already down there watching it, so I need to go make them start it over.
As for Sunday, we haven't found a church yet. We went to the Knox Presbyterian church 2 Sundays ago. It was very small. Like 12 people or so there. There were only 2 kids, who were the Pastor's sons. They are a little older than Gage, but I figure if the kids don't both have other kids there that they can get to know, it will be a fight every Sunday morning. We will be checking out some more churches. We aren't able to today though, because Scott has some gathering that he has to give a talk at this morning in Winnipeg. Next Sunday he will be in South Dakota. Hopefully the following Sunday we'll be able to check out another church.

Unattended Children

2011-01-21T21:45:00.002-06:00

I went to get my hair cut today. It was long overdue!!! I hate making appointments to get my hair cut. Usually, when I finally do it, I want it done NOW!!!! There is a hair place on the corner near the school that I drive by every day. I have memorized the phone number because I kept wanting to call and make an appointment, but then would forget the number by the time I got home. I have done that so many times that I now know the number by heart. It's taken me about 2 weeks to actually call the place to get an appointment, and when I called, she said she schedules appointments at least a month in advance and I couldn't get in until mid February. WHAT?!?!?!? I need my hair cut NOW! I told her I would see if I could find someone else. I sent a message to my neighbor asking her of places that do hair in town. I don't want to have to drive to Winnipeg for a haircut. She gave me the name and number of another place right on Main Street. I hadn't noticed it before. I called for an appointment and she scheduled me for the next day (today). One thing I hate about getting my hair cut is that I always want to try something new. I can never describe what I want and somehow I always come home with the same thing. When I went in to the salon, I had a few moments to sit down and look through some magazines. They had all kinds of hair magazines and I was flipping through as fast as I could to try and find something I liked before my name was called. I did find something I liked, but then thought to myself, "I've done this before, and it never fails, I get the same thing I had previously", so I didn't bother taking it with me to the chair when my name was called. Then comes the question, "What can I do for you?" UGH! I hate that! I told the lady that I always want something different and always end up with the same thing, and I don't ever know how to say what I want. She said, "Well, then, what DON'T you want?" I told her my Dad says that the only difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is about two days. She laughed. Then I told her, "You can't get it too short!" And away she went!!!!!!!!!! I've never had anyone brave enough to do that............and I LOVED it! She's never seen me before, so she had no idea what kind of hairstyle I usually have. She just started cutting away. She also used the razor alot, which not many people do. I grew up with razor cuts. My Mom was a beautician and she always used the razor. She loves razor cuts too, but not many people do it anymore. Anyway, the gal cut my hair. There was ALOT of hair on my cape, so I knew she was doing well. When she finally finished, she turned me towards the mirror. I LOVED IT! She did a great job. Mostly, I loved that she just did it without me having to tell her what to do. When I was putting on my coat to leave, I noticed a sign hanging on the wall that read, "Unattended Children will be given an espresso and a puppy!" I loved it! I will be going back there. Thanks to my neighbor, Liz, for the recommendation!

Obsessed with Haricots

2011-01-20T09:44:00.003-06:00

Are you wondering what haricots are?? That is the French term for beans. I have never been obsessed over something like beans before, but it is driving me nuts that I can't find the ones I am wanting. Great Northern Beans. How hard can that be? We can't get much farther north without leaving civilization!

I think Scott is lucky that I have had a very open mind about being here, because if I didn't, his life would be very miserable right now. The grocery store would be enough to just put me into a big depression. As I said before, I am not into cooking. When I have a recipe, I follow it to the T. Very rarely do I substitute things, because I don't know if it will ruin it or not. I'm just not adventurous in the kitchen. (Nor anywhere else, for that matter!)

A stop at the grocery store takes me at least twice as long as it would normally. Alot of that is because I just don't know where everything is yet. However, another chunk of that time is spent wondering what I can use instead for the item that I can't find. This morning my list contained 3 items, and I was in there for at least 20 minutes. Of course I can never get out of the store with just the items on my list. However, the 3 items on my list were things I needed to add to the stuff I had at home to make homemade pizza (kind of.........if you call have the refrigerator pizza dough homemade (like I do!)) Do you think I can find pepperoni? Of course not! Or, at least not the way I would buy it at home. At home, you can buy it already sliced. I didn't even know you could buy pepperoni in the big tube-summer-sausage-like-casing. Good Lord! Does that mean I have to cut that entire thing into thin little slices? Apparently so! What the heck does a person use a thing of pepperoni like that for? I should probably get started on that now, as it might take me all day to do! Maybe I will need to invest in a food processor? AND, I had to buy raw white beans to substitute for my Northern Beans. I don't know if that is the right substitute or not, but I'm going to give it a whirl. I've never cooked beans from their raw state before. We could be in trouble. Maybe I should go buy some nose plugs? They probably don't have those here either.

Another obsession I have now is following the exchange rate. It is VERY disturbing to me that I am losing money by exchanging it over to Canadian. The lady at the bank says it's usually the other way around. Well, wouldn't you know it! I move to Canada and now the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar. UGH! We have probably already just thrown at least $100 out the window in this exchanging (or selling) thing. That was another thing that I wasn't sure about when I went to the bank this morning. I wrote a check from our Bismarck account to our American fund account here and then asked her what the exchange rate was. She asked if I was buying or selling. What?? I'm just exchanging it lady. LOL! Okay, that is pretty dumb on my part, but I have just never been the one to deal with stocks/bonds or buying/selling. That is Scott's job. I know now, that I would be selling my American dollar...........at a loss! I am going to wait to do it, because I will lose about $30 on the $1000, or $3 on the $100. Even losing $3 disturbs me. I'm probably stupid not to do it though, because it could be worse tomorrow, or whenever it will be that I just HAVE to do it, in order to pay the mortgage. I am going to turn into a money hoarder. That's probably not a bad thing though.

Graceful

2011-01-20T00:03:00.003-06:00

The weather warmed up enough for school to be back in session today! YEAH! Although, I must admit that I'm starting to go a little stir crazy not having anything to do. Once I can get started on the office and organizing my scrapbook stuff, I will be good to go. Until then, I will just be bored. There's lots of things I can do. Just none of them are things I want to do.

I was thankful that my car started this morning. Or, more like I'm glad Scott's truck started thsi morning, so I had my car. When I was getting out, after backing it out of the garage, somehow I slammed my forehead into the edge of the door. MAN DID THAT HURT! I thought for sure I was going to end up with a black eye. I decided if it did, I would just tell anyone that asked that Scott did it, because the other story would be too hard to explain. Who believes the old story of "I walked into a door?" LOL! I've had a headache most of the day because of it. Not sure if I gave myself a concussion or not. I know I hit hard enough it's possible. I also bend the nose piece on my glasses, but thankfully I was able to bend them back in shape. I'm so graceful!

The kids had a good day at school. I'm always so excited when I pick them up to hear how their day went. There is almost always something interesting. Monday, Emma quizzed me all the way home on new French words she learned. Their brains are like little sponges. It amazes me. I keep waiting for papers to come home so I can see how they are doing, or WHAT they are even doing. They had spelling tests last Friday and I still haven't seen them. Gage said they keep them in their "duo-tangs" (plastic 2-pocket folder for you Americans!). Their spelling lists have been very easy so far, but Gage told me he missed a couple because he does his cursive O's different than they do them here. I told him to be sure and ask the teacher if any of these things are supposed to come home so I can see what's going on. Geez, I'd hate to get nothing and then go to parent-teacher conferences to find out they aren't doing so well! Especially when it seems that he's ahead of the 4th graders here. They start school here as soon as they turn 5. No waiting a year if you miss the deadline, like Gage did with his October birthday. Gage turned 10 in October and he was invited to another 4th grader's birthday party tomorrow, who is turning 9!! According to Canadian School systems, Gage should be in 5th grade. I'm sure he's smart enough to be, but I'm not sure I would want to skip him a grade. I think that would almost be like missing out on a whole year of his life. Plus, I'm not sure what would happen when we go back to the states, like if he would have to go back a grade?

Our furnace guy came today to replace the motor in our furnace. It's only 5 years old, so that is upsetting. I'm afraid to see what the bill will be for that part. However, I'm glad to know it's working correctly again, as it is supposed to be VERY cold again tomorrow. Like -33C, which equals about -27F, and that's not including the windchill! WOWZA! And I thought Bismarck was COLD! I'm anxious to see just how cold it's possible to get. Bring it!!!!

The Great North is COLD!

2011-01-18T15:45:00.004-06:00

Wow! It's cold! -27F with -50F windchills is a little much I think! Apparently it's a little much for everyone, as school was cancelled today, because of the windchill. We only had 1 or 2 snow days in Bismarck in our time there, which were last year. When I was a kid, I LOVED snow days. Now, not so much. ;-)

The kids have enjoyed their "snow day." We have a fort behind the chair in the living room, equipped with a security camera. I told Gage he should probably turn the video off on his camera, or he would most certainly drain them. I really don't think a security camera was necessary, unless that was there to deter Brie from entering. Apparently she's "gassy" today. Or at least that is what I've been told about 3 times. However, I do know that to be true, as I went downstairs and got a whiff of the wonderful aroma. UGH! We have had problems keeping her out of the basement and out of the cat food and more importantly the cat BOX! YUCKO!

In Bismarck, we kept that cat food on top of the refrigerator so Brie couldn't get into it. We didn't want to really encourage Grus to be on the countertops here, so figured we would try it in the basement. It isn't easy trying to keep it open for the cat, but closed off to the dog. I didn't really want to cut a cat door into the door at the top of the basement stairs because they are nice, solid doors. We decided to just take the door off the hinges so Grus wouldn't accidentally get shut in or out of the basement. Well, Brie has been finding her way to the basement, and today, we are suffering because of it. Enough about dog farts! Who wants to read about farting, cat-poop-eating dogs??

Let me get started on a different subject.

A year and a half ago, we started saving money for a trip to Disney World. You may remember this, as I blogged about it http://behindthetimes-stacy.blogspot.com/2009/08/up.html. We finally made our savings goal and Scott has booked plane tickets for us to go in MARCH 2011! How exciting!! (and stressful!) After booking the tickets, we have been looking at many different options for activities. This is going to be our "trip of a lifetime", and because I know I will probably never get to go again, I want to do it all! HA! To do it all is going to cost WAY MORE than we saved! :( One of the top things on our list is to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is at Universal Studios' Island of Adventures. I know this is pathetic, but I really didn't know all of these different attractions weren't actually "Disney World"! I thought it was all together. I'm learning, in a hurry, that this isn't the case. Disney World contains 4 theme parks, Epcot Center, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Universal Studios is a whole different thing, which means a whole new set of tickets, which means we need a whole lot more moolah! If I had looked at this stuff BEFORE we booked the tickets, I think I would have put it off for awhile so we could save more money. However, I think it could be true that a person never actually has enough. You can find more and more things to do to spend more and more money. It's probably good that we know what our limit is. The bad thing is that it will more than likely be spent BEFORE we even get there, on plane tickets, hotel reservations, etc, etc. However, we are all very excited. We've never taken a real family vacation before. Gage and Emma think Clearfield, Iowa is a vacation destination. We did go to Colorado a couple of years ago, but that didn't really count because it was a business trip of Scott's, that we just tagged along on. That is the closest thing we've had to a real vacation, so we are quite excited about this. Planning a vacation of this magnitude is also very stressful! Thankfully, an old high school friend of mine read my plea for help on FB, and has offered her assistance! I had no idea she was a travel agent! She will most certainly be a lifesaver in this endeavor!

Oh, Canada!

2011-01-17T12:17:00.003-06:00

Well, it's about time, right? I can't keep putting this off. I need to get into the habit of blogging again. Today is the day to start the habit.

As most of you know, the Stephens' family has moved to Canada! What an adventure this is! I am learning all kinds of new things. I'm learning how to get out of supporting the Canada Post system by figuring out how to pay some bills electronically. I have many bills that I pay online, and have for several years. However, there are some that I have still written checks for and mailed them through the USPS. I was informed at the Canada Post that it is $1 to mail things to the US. WHAT!?!?! You've got to be kidding me! And, it's $0.57 per stamp to mail within Canada. So no more complaining amongst you Americans about the postage going up! Here in Canada we don't even get door-to-door mail delivery service! Because Scott's paycheck is in American dollars, we had to keep our American Bank Center chequing (learning a new way to spell too!) account open as DU is unable to direct deposit his "cheques" into a Canadian account. With our chequing account, we have a free service and can write electronic checks (I'm not going to get used to spelling words the Canada way!) and the bank will mail them to the address that I enter. So far, that is working swell. So, I will contiue to boycott the Canada Post for as long as possible! (Well, at least for mailing bills to the US) I can't completely boycott them, as I do enjoy getting mail. Even though it's much more sparse than usual at this point.

Another thing I am learning, is that they just don't have all of the choices in the grocery stores here, as we had in the states. I am not much of an adventurer, when it comes to the kitchen, so this is going to be hard to get used to. One thing that I cannot seem to find here, so far, are Great Northern Beans. At least not in the can. I've never used raw beans before, but I suppose it's time I figured out how to do that. If we want to continue having white chili, the way we are used to it. They don't have all the bean choices I want for regular chili either. :(

I figured Gage and Emma would be the only ones learning French. Well, I am also learning some french, by default. Everything in the grocery store, with labels, has English and French writing. We'll see how much French I can pick up in this manner.

The weather here isn't much different than what we're used to in North Dakota. We are still seeing lots of snow and bitter cold temps. Although, I can't really tell you what the exact temperature is, because it's recorded in Celsius here. I have finally figured out how to convert Celsius to Farenheit, and discovered how important that is to know when you need to read your thermostat and decide if your furnace has quit working or not! The math to do that; however, is about too much for my little brain. Maybe I'll figure it out. Maybe I won't? Time will tell.

Skype has become my communication of choice. It's free! However, I am going to have to get my hair cut soon, as it's looking pretty awful. Who'd ever think you would have to fix your hair in order to have a conversation with someone long distance!?

Vent

2010-10-02T12:30:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted on here in quite awhile. I'm wanting to use this posting as a venting session, but it probably isn't appropriate. Instead, maybe I'll just type and see where it leads.

There has been alot of worry going on in my life these days. Scott has asked me not to post it on facebook, so I haven't. I haven't decided if I should post it on here or not. We'll see where it leads.

Scott and Gage are camping this weekend at Eagles Park, north of Bismarck. It is called Webelos Woods and it is basically a fun thing to get the Cub Scouts at the Webelos level to start thinking about wanting to join Boy Scouts. Of course, I don't know if Gage will be able to continue on into Boy Scouts or not. Hmmm.........it seems that just about every topic I have come up with so far is leading me to where it probably shouldn't! It will be a chilly night in the tent, so I hope Gage will stay warm in Scott's super warm sleeping bag!

This is Emma's and my 2nd Girl's Weekend in a row. We attended a Girl Scout event last Saturday called "Girls Rock the Park". This was our third year of attending. It is the same every year and I would say it's a bit boring after 3 years. They need to change it up a bit and get new girls interested in joining Girl Scouts.

We have been working on our basement, trying to get it finished up. We started finishing it off in August. We are getting close to the end. We ordered carpet to be installed this next week. I've been staining woodwork getting ready for the finishing details. This morning I discovered a bit of a problem in one of the new doors we bought. The cat door was cut into the wrong end. I don't think Grus can jump high enough to use it? Frustrating stuff! I should probably get back to some of that work!

Rained out

2010-06-18T10:36:00.002-05:00

The kids' baseball games were rained out yesterday, so that made a much easier and less hectic evening for Scott.

I attended the Camp Ocankusa Leader Training Meeting last night. What a great camp that is! They are very organized and have a bunch of fun things planned for the girls. I'm praying for nice weather. Last year, the day I volunteered to help, was the hottest day of the entire summer. It made for a very tiring day! I could handle 70-80 degree weather next Tuesday, just fine!

I didn't realize, until last night, that the high winds the previous night knocked a fairly decent sized branch out of our tree! Thank goodness it didn't land on the neighbors' roof.......or ours for that matter. It might not have been big enough to do any damage, but I'm sure it would have been big enough to scare the heck out of them since the tree is right over their bedroom window! I also noticed that there was another branch hanging in the tree, and I don't know if we can get it out, or if we'll need to find another person to do it?

Last weekend I had the urge to tear off more wallpaper in the house. I'm glad the mood struck, because I was able to get all of the wallpaper from the upstairs and downstairs hallways and stairways. I've been looking at paint colors and I am thinking about going with a burnt orange color. I may head to Lowe's today to pick up the paint and attempt to put some on the wall this weekend. I may test the color out in the lower bathroom to make sure I like it first? We'll see. Scott has to work again this Saturday, so I need to find something to keep myself occupied.....not that Gage and Emma won't do that for me!!

Fireproof

2010-06-17T13:27:00.002-05:00

It was a rainy/dreary morning this morning. My favorite kind. I don't know why I like those kind of days, but I do. After the kids headed off for Camp Ed, I decided to watch one of the Netflix movies I have (not that I don't have anything productive to do)! Fireproof is the name of the movie. It was a very good show. I made a trip to Barnes & Noble to get The Love Dare book that is highlighted in the movie. I'm excited about it.

Tonight is a busy night for the Stephens' family. Emma has baseball at 5:45, Gage has Taekwondo at 7 and baseball at 7:30. The unfortunate thing, for Scott, that is, is that I have to attend a Girl Scout Camp Leader Training Meeting in Mandan tonight at 7, so he will be pretty much on his own in getting the kids to and from their activities. Both of the kids have Scout Day Camps next week, so it will be a busy week as well.

We're having a quiet afternoon. Yesterday the kids had a couple of friends over to play and I'm thankful for the quiet time today. Gage is reading (surprise, surprise) and Emma is glued to the television (surprise, surprise!). I am going to finish this post up and go read myself. I have been reading alot, when I get the chance, and have had some really good books. "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks is calling my name right now!

Have a good day!

My little singer

2010-06-16T08:47:00.002-05:00

I just do not know how Emma has the courage to stand up in front of the congregation at church and sing!! This is her third time, but her first time to do it alone. She did such a great job and I couldn't be more proud.

I like that our good friend, Juanita Hocking, is also in the video accompanying Emma on the piano. That just makes it all that more special to me.

Activities

2010-06-10T12:51:00.002-05:00

Our summer is well underway!! We have many activities in the planner to keep us busy. This summer Gage is involved in Camp Edventure, Taekwondo and baseball, as well as several Cub Scout Day Camp and camp-outs. Emma is involved in Camp Edventure, T-ball and many Girl Scout Day Camps.

Camp Edventure started this week and the kids sure are enjoying it. In fact, Emma was upset to miss the 2nd day because of a Girl Scout Day Camp. I had to take her out for about an hour this morning for an appointment at the orthodontist. When I got to the school to pick her up when camp was over she started chewing me out because in the hour she was gone "they got to use shaving cream in their art project MOM!" SORRY EMMA! I also get to be the Camp Edventure Librarian, so that is exciting for me. I will get to work 11 hours in June and 9 hours in July, so it only amounts to about 1 day a week. That's enough though, with all of the other things we have going on.

Emma's first trip to the orthodontist was today. They took pictures and x-rays and the plan is to hold off another 6 months. He said she is in the "moderate to severe" category. She has very little room with alot of crowding going on and several of her teeth will be coming in crooked, according to the x-ray. He said early detection and treatment is the key and this will be a several step process, going on into her teen years. They should give a discount for the 3rd family member, I think!

Emma will also be singing her first "real solo" at church on Sunday. Her name is listed in the bulletin now, so there's no backing out for her! She's been wanting to sing by herself since her first couple of times singing with 2 other older girls at church. She will get her chance this Sunday and I'm anxious to see how it goes. She will be singing "All Night, All Day" or a.k.a. "Angels Watching Over Me".

It's looking like we could get some rain today. Both Gage and Emma have baseball games tonight along with Taekwondo practice for Gage. I'm never upset about rainouts. ;-)

This is hopefully the first of many "regular" postings for me. I'm trying my hardest to get back into the swing of blogging.

Until next time...............

Last Week of School

2010-05-24T11:18:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe how FAST this school year has flown by! This last week is bittersweet. The kids are very excited for all of the activities going on at school, but we sure are going to miss our favorite teacher, Mrs. Fleming. Emma has had a wonderful school year, and I owe it to her teacher, Mrs. Fleming. This is going to be her last year too, as she is retiring. I have never had a teacher quite like her. She really is unbelievable. She has called our home at least a dozen times just wanting to "check in" and see how things are going. She will be dearly missed!

Last week I subbed in the library all week as 2 of the library staff were gone.........one to Hawaii and one to Ireland! Maybe if I keep helping out like this, I will get to go on an amazing vacation like that! It certainly helps add to the stash we have been saving to go to Disneyworld! We've almost saved up half of our total goal!

Our summer days are looking busy already. The kids (and maybe even me) will be attending Camp Edventure from 8a-12n. I will possibly be working in the library for Camp Ed. Not sure of all the details on that yet. Gage has baseball and taekwondo and Emma will be busy with t-ball. They both are signed up for Girl Scout and Cub Scout camps as well. We will be traveling to Iowa over the 4th and then my sister, Kim, and her husband, J.L., will be coming to visit us here in North Dakota the week of July 12! I am very excited about that! This will be their first trip to North Dakota. We plan to take them to Medora where they will golf Bully Pulpit and then we will attend the Pitchfork Fondue and Medora Musical. We are VERY excited!

My goal is to get better at blogging. I want to set aside time each day to get back in the habit.

Hi Dave!! :-)

2010-03-31T21:49:00.002-05:00

SPRING IS HERE!! Or at least for the past couple of days anyway. There's a possibility of snow tomorrow. Maybe Too Tall Tom is blowing cold air? There's always hope!

I have been VERY NEGLIGENT in the blogging department and I'm going to do better, I promise........starting tomorrow! :-)

Bad

2010-01-26T13:06:00.003-06:00

I am just getting REALLY BAD in the blogging department. I wish I could get myself back into posting routinely, but it just isn't working for some reason?

We've been pretty busy lately, which is no big surprise. We have activities every night of the school week, except for Fridays. That wasn't really planned. Gage's Taekwondo class added a 3rd night and after he becomes a Camo Belt (tonight) we have the option of going 4 nights a week! Mon, Tues, Thurs and Sat. I hate to commit to that, since it isn't required, but I would like to make sure we are getting our money's worth ($89/month, + testing fees every 8 weeks, + equipment fees)!!! Gage is enjoying it and until he starts complaining, we'll continue with the schedule.

Girl Scout Cookie sales start on Friday! Emma has set big goals this year. She wants to sell 500 boxes! YIKES! I told her she is going to have to work extra hard to meet that goal. We sold 221 last year, and didn't work too terribly hard at it, so I suppose it is possible to reach that goal. If only I liked selling things. If you want any cookies, be sure to let us know! :-)

Emma will be singing at church again this Sunday. I'm pretty darned nervous about it since she hasn't practiced yet. She did go through the song once a week ago with our babysitter, Erin, who plays the piano, but that is it. I haven't even heard how it goes yet, so I can't even really help her. She will practice on Wednesday evening with the other 2 girls. Thank goodness I have friends who can plan the piano and get her a couple of extra practice sessions in before the weekend! I'll be sure to get it on video and post it on YouTube for those of you who won't be able to see it.

I'm hoping you all have a great week!

Out with the old and in with the new!

2010-01-05T09:38:00.002-06:00

I just can't believe how quickly the year 2009 flew by! I'm hoping to slow the progression of 2010, the best that I can!

We had a great Christmas in Iowa with family. The kids just LOVE being there and playing non-stop with their cousins. It's unfortunate for Emma that she doesn't have any female cousins her age, but she makes do.

It wasn't until just yesterday, that I noticed how "calm" I was feeling. I was thinking about why I had that feeling, and decided that I must have had quite a bit of anxiety leading up to the holidays. I'm not quite sure why I get myself so anxious, but I'm going to try and put an end to most of that craziness, if I can. I cause alot of the stress myself, by taking on too many things. I think I would be less busy if I had a full-time job, if that makes any sense.

The kids' activities are picking back up now that the holidays are over. I don't think that all of those things going on are what cause alot of my anxiety though. However, we have, or are in the process of, having a few more things added to our list. Gage will have an extra night of Taekwondo starting next week for 3 evenings/week. The kids decided they really enjoyed going to LOGOS, the church's youth group, which is on Wednesday evenings, and Emma is going to play basketball with a team of girls from her class at the YMCA starting next week.

I think most of my anxiety is brought on by the need that I feel to do things for others. I enjoy doing those things, but when you are a person that can't say "no", it gets a little overwhelming at times. I'm not sure how I can stop doing all of those things, because I haven't suddenly gotten good at saying "no" overnight. It's going to take some time, I'm sure. I just want to be able to stop and recognize when the anxiety level starts to rise and then figure out how to slow things down a little so I'm not stressing out. (Good luck with that Stacy!)

I'm not one that is big into making New Year's Resolutions. I figured out several years ago that I typically fail at carrying out the resolution for more than a couple of weeks, to a month. Last year I decided to make the resolution to be more organized. I worked hard at it initially, but then slacked off and got overwhelmed. I wanted to make the same resolution this year, to get organized. I think I am just going to try and get organized without making it a resolution. I think if I can log onto A&E.com to watch past episodes of Hoarders on a regular basis, that will be enough to keep me going right there. I love that show! Instead, my resolution for 2010 is to take more time for myself to do one of the things I enjoy most........................scrapbook. I have been getting together with a friend, on the Fridays that I don't work in the lunchroom, and scrapbooked a few hours in the morning. Although I don't always get as much done as I would like, I am making some progress. Every page counts.

Just around the corner!

2009-12-14T14:20:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner! This year just whizzed right by! I'm not done with my Christmas shopping yet and I think this has got to be a record year, as I have NEVER been this late at getting all of my shopping done. I also wish there were a couple more paychecks between now and Christmas! It was pretty poor timing on my part (not that it could be controlled) with all the medical tests and procedures I was having just a little over a month ago. Those bills all add up and it has delayed my holiday shopping a bit.

This past weekend we enjoyed watching Emma sing her first solo in our Church's Christmas Musical. She did such a wonderful job and I am so proud of her. I just can't imagine getting up in front of the congregation to talk, let alone sing!! I think she enjoyed it, despite being a little "shakey" and nervous for her first time. We are so lucky that she has such wonderful role models to look up to at church. You can check out her video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o6KPnfQTms#watch-main-area or click on the video below.

I am trying to get it arranged to get the kids' flu shots up to date. Gage had both of his seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccinations, but is due for the H1N1 booster. I have been getting alot of phone calls that appear to be telemarketers and was hesitant to answer the phone, but I was glad I did when it was a voice recording telling me it was time to get Gage's H1N1 booster! Emma hasn't had either the seasonal flu shot or the H1N1. I am going to try and get those done before the holiday break from school and before we head to Iowa for Christmas.

The kids are very excited about our Christmas travel plans. They just can't wait to see their cousins and grandparents. I'm hoping we have good weather for travel!

The month of November whizzed right by!

2009-11-29T12:20:00.005-06:00

I can't even believe it's been almost 1 month since my last blog post! I am not doing so well lately. Maybe I need to make blogging one of my New Year's resolutions?

I've seen other friends on Facebook, who also have blogs, copy and paste them into their FB notes, so I decided maybe I should try that and see if that works any better for holding me accountable?

November has pretty much flown by. We have been quite busy with all sorts of activities. Emma had her first dance performance last weekend. It was so cute. I need to get my pictures and video posted. The kids will be participating in our Church's Christmas Musical again this year. They started practice a week or so ago. After the first meeting, Emma told me they asked for any volunteers to sing a solo. She said that she and one other girl raised their hand. YIKES!! I asked Emma if she realized what that meant. She said she did and when I told her there would be no acting shy, not wanting to get up on the stage if she decided to do this. She told me she would get up there and sing! Today at church I was told that she will have a small solo along with a few other girls in the opening song. My stomach is already hurting. I am certainly NOT one to get up in front of a crowd to speak, let alone sing. And since I can't sing, I'm sure everyone else is grateful for my fear! However, I must say that I am quite proud that she is brave enough to give it a try. I can't imagine how terrible my stomach is going to be the day of the performance. However, I will do my best not to let Emma see the butterflies.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving that we spent with our friends, Laura and Gary Walters. Two of their 3 children are the same age as Gage and Emma. Gage said he thought that perhaps this was his best Thanksgiving EVER! :-)

We have been on the stick this weekend and have gotten all of our Christmas decorations out and up! Emma has been begging me for a week to get them out. I told her when she and Gage had all of their things picked up and the house was cleaned, then we could get them out. She did a pretty good job and was getting frustrated that her brother wasn't helping her out too much. Since we didn't have anything planned for the weekend, we had the time to get the cleaning done and the decorations up. Pictures to follow.

November

2009-11-02T10:29:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's already November! This year is whizzing right by! Christmas is going to be here before we know it!

As most all of you probably already know, my biopsy results came back GREAT! It was a cyst and I was never so relieved to hear that news in all my life! That was one of the worst things I think I have gone through and I pray I never have to do that again!!!

We continue to be busy here. We had a wonderful Halloween with beautiful weather. We couldn't have asked for much better. The kids had a good time. Many of our friends that we drive to their house to trick or treat had called or emailed to tell us they wouldn't be home on Halloween. There was a big event at the Civic Center with the Prairie Home Companion radio show. So, we didn't have as many houses to drive to this year, so the kids enjoyed walking around the neighborhood with their good friends/neighbors, Hallie and Erik. We did drive to a couple houses as Emma wanted to trick or treat at her teacher's house. While we were out and about Gage suggested we go trick or treat at the Governor's residence. He said, "I heard they give out whole candy bars!" It wasn't too late, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Gage was disappointed that the Governor didn't actually answer the door, it was his wife Mikey. He was also disappointed that he just got a single Reeses peanut butter cup. LOL! I don't know for sure what he was expecting overall, but I think it was a bit of a letdown. At least we went so he could see that for himself.

We went to Tuttle yesterday afternoon to wash sheets, make beds and clean out the refrigerator of any expired items. There are some people coming to North Dakota to film the DU Television Show. Scott will be guiding them on the hunt. I wasn't sure why he was doing all the cleaning that he was doing yesterday until he mentioned that the donor that they are taking out to hunt for the television show was a $20,000,000 donor. He is the CEO of a big company that you may know as Bayer. (As in the Bayer aspirin)!!! I told Scott I didn't want to burst his bubble, but that no amount of cleaning he could do would make his Hotel de Tuttle Duck Shack look good to someone who can just give DU $20,000,000!!!!! He did his best to get it cleaned up; however. Needless to say, this will take Scott away from home for most of the week. I will be SO GLAD when WINTER gets here and freezes everything up! Bring it on Mother Nature!!! :-)

I learned at school last week that Gage missed his LoS (Levels of Service) reading class. After asking him why, I learned that I must be enabling Gage a bit too much. He admitted that he had no idea what day or time he even had this special class, that he relies on a fellow classmate to tell him when to go. He said that his classmate was mad at him on this particular day and decided not to tell Gage that they had reading class. After talking to Gage's teacher and LoS teacher, they said they would put a reminder note on Gage's desk. I hope this works! I also decided to get him a watch with an alarm that will hopefully help as well! He wore the watch to school on Friday and when I asked him where it was, when I noticed it wasn't on his wrist, he said he left it at school because it wasn't set right so he just took it off. UGH! He can't seem to remember any of these little details and it is driving me NUTS! We went in early this morning so I could get the watch and get it set to the correct time, date and alarm time, so we'll see how this reminder works. I sure didn't know that he was missing class, but am thankful that I just happened to be in the hallway when another friend of Gage's said, "Hey Gage! You missed reading class!" Oh, what you can learn about your children just by walking in the halls of the school! I guess I am going to have to make the kids a little more responsible about the date and activities they have going on, so they will not just take for granted that someone else is just going to take care of it for them!!

Overdue for an update

2009-10-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been negligent in the blog-updating department. Not only have I had alot to worry about, I've just had alot going on! It's been crazy here! Where do I start?

One week ago today, poor little Emma woke up with a temperature of 103. I kept her home from school that day and thought little of it. We just kind of hung around on Saturday and then on Sunday she was fine. We went to church and also had a fun afternoon at Papa's Pumpkin Patch in 80 degree weather!! Monday morning after waking the kids up, Gage comes upstairs crying and telling me his eyes hurt. I thought that was a little weird, and when I leaned my head against the side of his, I noticed he felt warm. Not good! He was scheduled to get his tonsils out the next day and I knew that if he had a temperature, they would not do it. I had all kinds of crazy thoughts floating around in my head, like not telling anyone, etc. etc. However, my gut instinct was telling me I better do the right thing. I called up the Surgicenter to notify them of the low-grade temp, as it said to do in my instruction booklet. Of course they said I would have to have him cleared by our family doctor in order for him to continue with the surgery. I kept him home from school and spent the morning on the phone trying to get an appointment with our pediatrician. I finally got in touch with someone and got an appointment for 10:40. After sitting in the waiting room for literally an hour, we finally made it in to see the doctor. Because there were tons of kids sick with the H1N1 (swine) flu, they sent Gage to the lab to be tested for it. There had been 118 kids sick from Northridge school the past couple of days, and there were 3 other families we knew from Northridge that came into the doctor's office while we were waiting. Later that afternoon, they called us to tell us that he tested positive for influenza A, which they said most likely is the H1N1 (swine) flu. UGH! Needless to say, his tonsillectomy was cancelled. I was sad about that because he would have missed less school if we could have done it this week since we have a 4-day weekend because of Teacher Convention. Oh well. Everything happens for a reason, right? I think I was actually a little bit relieved, because I was scheduled for an outpatient procedure just 2 days later.

When I went in to consult with the surgeon a week and a half ago, he gave me a couple of options on what we could do. The first option was to do a core needle biopsy. The second was a wire-guided excisional biopsy. Even though the latter is a bit more invasive, we chose that direction because it gives more definitive results. I had the procedure done yesterday and will have to wait until Tuesday for any results. The first part of this excisional biopsy was performed in the radiology department where they used mammography to locate the site of the nodule so they could insert a wire through a needle into the area so the doctor could open up the breast and excise the tissue around the end of the wire. As gruesome as it all sounds, it wasn't all that bad. I have very little, to almost no, post-op incisional pain. It was a very weird feeling as I was lying on the operating table looking around at all of the lights and equipment and the next thing I know, I hear the doctor talking as he is finishing up the procedure. I immediately started asking questions, like "What did you find?" etc, etc. Even though I can't really remember what he said, I do remember them showing me the tissue they excised that was in a little ziploc bag. Apparently he told Scott that he didn't think it looked bad, but that we would have to wait until Tuesday for the results. We've been waiting for 3 1/2 weeks, so what's another 5 days?

Scott has been VERY busy lately with work and guiding DU donors on hunts. It has been very difficult for me not having him here. He later claimed that his way of dealing with all of this was by staying busy to keep his mind off things. Unfortunately that wasn't what I was needing, but hopefully all of this will be in the past come Tuesday when we get final results. I have quite a few doctor's appointments coming up this next week. I am to see the Bone and Joint doctor for my shoulder, I am to see my doctor to talk about the Holter monitor study and then return for a follow-up with the surgeon on Friday to make sure the incision is looking okay. I am sure going to hate it when all of these medical bills start making their way to our mailbox! I'm hoping to get all of this overwith and get on with life. It's been a little hard to focus lately, as you can imagine!

Waiting

2009-10-12T08:59:00.002-05:00

I think waiting is about one of the worst things in the world. I can't stand waiting. I've never been known for my "patience". Sometimes I can hide it better than others; however.

In my last post I mentioned all of the tests I have had to undergo recently. I have finally gotten some results back from a few of them. The MRI of my left shoulder showed I have a torn labrum and 2 labral cysts (that's not to be confused with labia or labial) which is part of the rotator cuff. I have no idea when I injured it and I have to go in to see the Bone and Joint doctor on Thursday to see what to do about it.

I was told when I turned in my Holter monitor that it could be 10 days before I get those results.

I also had the special view mammogram and ultrasound last Thursday. When I was in with the mammogram tech I asked her when I would get the results and she told me the office would probably call me the next day with them. When I told her they didn't call me with the first set of results, she suggested that I call them the next day. The ultrasound tech gave me absolutely no information at all. I know they can't, but she could at least TALK to ease the nerves a little! Maybe ask me how my day was or SOMETHING? At this point I am a little frustrated and thought I would attempt to get any information she would give me (which was nothing). I asked her a few questions like, "Have you found it yet?" "How will the doctor know by looking at that black area what this is?" "What do you think it is?" "If this turns out to be something, what will be the next step?" And of course, as I said, I got no answers. Well, I did get one answer and what was, "I can't tell you that, you'll have to get that information from your doctor." BLAH BLAH BLAH! When I got home and after talking to a friend, she suggested I call the office and demand results. Well, you know me. That isn't something I would normally do. However, the waiting is driving me absolutely crazy! I called the office and ended up getting the answering machine for the nurse. I was really upset when I learned by listening to the message that they would not be in the office on Friday, which meant if I didn't get answers then, I would have to wait the entire weekend. I left a message and I'm sure when they listened to it they probably were afraid to call me. It was a combination of mad and sad that I'm sure wasn't making them want to call me back anytime soon! After awhile, I decided to call back to see if there was even anyone in the office. When the nurse answered, and when I said, "This is Stacy Stephens" she says, "OH! Stacy! I have all of your results on Dawn's desk and she will be calling you shortly." THANK GOODNESS! It was probably within 10 minutes or so when the doctor (nurse practitioner) called me back. It wasn't the news I wanted to hear. The results of the mammogram and ultrasound suggested further evaluation yet. She said I would need to come in for an ultrasound guided aspiration (I think). It really is true, what you see in the movies, when someone gets that awful diagnosis, you truly don't hear much of what is said after that. She told me not to "freak out", that's easy for her to say, and she thought they were just being cautious since I have a family history of breast cancer with my sister. She told me she would talk to the surgeon and call me back Friday to let me know if they would be doing it in the office or in the OR. More waiting! She did get me called back on Friday and I had to be connected with the surgeon's office to schedule a consultation. More waiting! I talked to them and have my appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:45. Yet more waiting! UGH! I'm not sure if I can take much more waiting. I just want to know, one way or the other, what this is! Needless to say, I have been quite full of emotions. The worst part is, I know that when I see them tomorrow, I am then going to have to do MORE WAITING for the appointment when they do the procedure. Then, more waiting, to get those results. Please pray with me that I get the results at that point, and don't have to wait for yet another test to determine what this is! Did I mention that I can't stand waiting?

Falling apart

2009-10-06T10:06:00.002-05:00

I'm wondering if the body starts falling apart at 40? If so, I'm a few years ahead of schedule. UGH! I have been having a few "aches and pains" that I decided to let the nurse practitioner know about when I went for my annual exam. Now I am wishing I hadn't done that. I felt a bit like a hypochondriac as I wrote down a list of the things I wanted to mention at my appointment. Some of those things I "complained" about are my left shoulder that has been hurting for quite some time and has progressively gotten worse. I've thought that maybe it is a rotator cuff injury and thought maybe I shouldn't let it go any longer, in case it could get fixed before it gets worse. The other complaint I had was heart palpitations. I have had them in the past and it was assumed that they were due to caffeine intake or anxiety/stress, as it was back when I was working. I've had them off and on an infrequent basis, but it seems that lately they have increased to where I was starting to worry about why I was having so many. My nurse practitioner sent me to another doctor, in family medicine, since OB/Gyn is her specialty. I've never even really been to a general practitioner since we've been here because I haven't really had a need. I also had requested to have my cholesterol checked and a mammogram, since my last one was a couple of years ago.

Well, a week ago yesterday I went to an internal medicine doctor for the shoulder pain and heart palpitations. She ordered an MRI of my shoulder and a 48 hour Holter Monitor study for my palpitations. I did the MRI last week and haven't heard anything yet. I went in this morning to have the Holter monitor put on and am feeling pretty stupid having it attached since I haven't had any noticeable palpitations since Friday, and on that day, had about 5 or so. I'm also not thrilled that one of the leads is almost right in the middle of my neck, at the collarbone level and will be hard to hide. I'm sure I will have lots of people asking what it is and I'd prefer not to have to tell everyone about it. A turtleneck would cover it, but I don't care much for them.

I had my cholesterol checked at my original appointment and it came back perfect, so I was happy about that. I had my mammogram a few days after that appointment and was just notified, by letter, by the radiologist, that there were some findings that suggested further evaluation and they wanted me to call to schedule a special view mammogram and ultrasound of the area. I still have not had a call from the nurse practitioner regarding such, and am wondering if she is just being negligent in contacting me, or if it is really nothing to worry about? Well, needless to say, I am worrying about it. My appointment for those 2 tests is on Thursday afternoon and I guess I will have to suffer with worry for a couple of more days.

I think I am just starting to fall apart and I just don't like it, not one single bit! I'm praying all of this turns out to be nothing! I am hoping that you will pray for the same.

Stephens' Happenings

2009-09-30T09:18:00.003-05:00

The thing I like least about this time of year is all of the fundraisers that are going on! We just finished a school PTO fundraiser and tomorrow starts the Cub Scout popcorn fundraiser then the Girl Scouts start their magazines/nuts and chocolate sales on Friday. UGH! And, not to mention Emma's gymnastics does a fundraiser too! I usually don't participate in that one though. When, and if, Emma decides gymnastics is her thing, then we'll take part in their fundraisers. We just have too many of them going on and, have I ever mentioned, I HATE selling things. We do give the Cub Scout and Girl Scout fundraisers our full attention; however.

I seem to have caught a cold. Gage and Emma have been having a stuffed up nose and some sniffles and now I seem to have caught it. I'm hoping it is short-lived. My nose looks like rudolph's right now with all the blowing I've been doing.

We have a birthday coming up pretty soon! I am so excited with Gage's choice about birthday activities. The past 2 years we've have about 10-14 boys come home from school with us to celebrate his big day, but this year he decided that he wanted to go to Legoland in Minneapolis! I'm sure it will end up being more expensive, alot more expensive, but definitely MORE fun and memorable. I will admit that I'm feeling a little guilty about not making a cake. I guess I will end up doing that at a later date. We can't have a birthday without cake! And, I figure if I make a Lego block for a cake, that can't be too awfully difficult, can it? I've been trying to search the web for information about The Mall of America. We've never been, and I must admit that I'm just about as excited as Gage and Emma are! They will be getting to miss an afternoon of school, so I know they are excited about that. We did tell Gage that he could invite a friend to go with us, to help him celebrate his special day, so he chose to take his buddy TJ. I'm sure they'll be wondering what's going on when I sign 3 of them out of school for an afternoon! LOL!

We are finally having some nice and cool fall weather! Our summer temperatures came late this year. If we could only be spared the wind, it would be perfect, in my opinion!

Last night we attended Gage's Taekwondo testing. He is now an orange belt and very proud of it! We were very proud of him and the smile/smirk he had on his face when he was returning to his spot after receiving his orange belt was priceless. I took several pictures that I plan to get posted on Facebook sometime. I'm so excited that he has found something that he really enjoys. Or at least for the time being, anyway. In a year or so I will probably be hearing it from Emma, that she wants to join too. And how will I be able to argue her learning self-defense? Unfortunately they don't provide a second child discount. However, they will provide a discount to the third family member enrolled. But at $89/month/kid, who could even afford the discount on the 3rd?

That's all I have for now! Be sure to let me know if any of you would like to buy some popcorn or nuts or renew any magazines! :-)

Today is the season opener for hunting widows.

2009-09-20T12:14:00.004-05:00

As you can see, I have not yet established a blogging routine. Sorry!! I'll surely figure it out sometime soon?

Today is the season opener for hunting widows. Not too excited about that, but what can I do? Scott left last night for a week long hunting trip to Canada. I really don't think I would be quite as resentful about it, as I am, if I had been consulted about it before the trip was set in stone. I seem to be the last one to know about anything that is going on in Scott's life these days. So, if any of you have any insight, feel free to share! I suppose I can stay up-to-date as well as any of you by following him on Facebook.

Today was the first morning of the new Sunday School year. The kids were excited about starting back up. Emma was especially excited to start the rotation in the kitchen. They made chocolate chip pancakes and brought home a big ziploc full of the mix to make at home. She has been interested in making breakfast the past few mornings. This morning she made breakfast for all 3 of us and decided that was ALOT of work! :-)

As we were sitting in church I happened to notice both Gage and Emma had dirty fingernails. YUCK! For some reason, dirty fingernails have become something I despise. I suppose because I feel it is a reflection on me. I will admit that neither one of them had a bath last night, only because it was late when we got home and Scott was in a big hurry to get left for his big week of hunting FUN. When Emma asked me if she could go to the bathroom during church, I told her to be sure and wash her hands well AND her fingernails. I wonder how many people actually notice kids with dirty fingernails? I don't know that I've really ever noticed other kids' fingernails, but that might be because they aren't dirty? It just makes me cringe thinking of them. I'm sure the kids are hoping this isn't my new obsession.

We had a busy week and have another busy week coming up. Mondays are very hectic for us, which is all my fault. I thought I would rather have 1 or 2 busier days than having something going on every night of the week. And, I think I would rather have it that way, at least until Monday rolls around again. :-) It's not quite as bad as a co-parent, but I'm sure tomorrow as a single parent, it won't be as easy to manage. Sometimes though, things go smoother as a single parent, because I just know I have to do it myself and I am on a mission to get it done, rather than assuming I might have help, then not receive as much as I had anticipated.

I have been working at the school quite a bit these past few weeks. I have enjoyed it up until a couple of days ago when I was given the task of finding my own sub when I told them I wouldn't be able to sub (there's the keyword in this story) on Monday because I am going on Emma's class field trip to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. I wasn't aware, that as a sub, it was my job to find a sub. After stewing about it all day on Friday, I decided to send an email to the PIC (person in charge) and let her know how I felt about the situation. Apparently I did a fairly good job at getting my words out, as I received a voice mail within 10 minutes of hitting send, with an apology for being so "presumptuous". I am still going to try and find my own sub for tomorrow, since I said I would. However, I am not liking it. That was one of the reasons I didn't take the job when it was offered to me before school started, because I didn't want to have to worry about that stuff when the kids have activities going on at school that I want to be a part of. I am not very good at asking other people to do things for me. While I'm thinking about that, I should probably get to work on it!! However, I only have names and numbers for 2 different people, so if I strike out, I guess I will turn the job back over to the PIC, who should be the one doing it in the first place.

I am being summoned upstairs for a big game of Star Wars Monopoly. I should be going for now and may the force be with you! :-)

September is here!

2009-09-09T13:12:00.003-05:00

I knew it had been awhile since my last post, but I didn't realize that it was way back in August! I just need to get into a routine and then STICK TO IT!

We have been quite busy here with all of our fall activities starting up. Gage is in Tae Kwon Do on Mon and Thurs evenings and is also in Cub Scouts again this year. Emma is in gymnastics on Mondays and dance on Wednesdays and also in Girl Scouts. I am playing volleyball on Monday nights in an adult women's park and rec team that starts up next Monday. Let me just say that we are going to be BUSY on Mondays! I guess I'd rather have it that way than have something going on every night of the week.

We had a good Labor Day weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday night in Tuttle and came back on Sunday so the kids could do a double sleepover at some friends' house. It was very strange not having either one of them around Sunday evening. We decided to go to the movie and saw The Time Traveler's Wife. It was a good movie and it is SO MUCH CHEAPER going with just 2 of us, versus all 4 of us! We came home and then watched another movie I had from Netflix.

Monday was spent trying to get things organized in the basement and garage. I have everything moved up to the garage and we are going to try and have a garage sale sometime soon. We decided that we would put all of the money we make in our Disney World savings jar. It has been a lot of fun having the jar, knowing what the money that goes into it is going to be used for. The kids have been willingly putting money into the jar and shockingly, so has Scott! I hardly ever have cash on me, and now I never will because I will just stick it into the jug. I have no idea how much we have stuck in it already, but I know it has to be nearing $300!! We're on our way. The kids are totally excited about it and I think this is what we are going to do for any big thing we decide we want to do. It will give all of us a sense of pride knowing that each one of us contributed to this to make it happen. Now, whether it will take one or two years to get the money saved, I don't know. At the rate we're going right now, I'd guess 1, but we'll see it the excitement fizzles out.

Gage woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat. He didn't have any other symptoms and his tonsils weren't really very red, so I thought maybe he just slept with his mouth open and dried his tonsils out and made them sore. He wanted to go to school so he could see the President give his address to the kids, but come 10a, I had a call from his teacher telling me he wasn't feeling well and that his stomach was bothering him. I went to pick him up at the school and I could tell he wasn't feeling well. He came home and put on his pj's and laid down on the couch all afternoon. He threw up several times, so I know his stomach was really bothering him. He seemed to feel better around supper time and this morning said he was feeling great, so I sent him to school. I haven't had any calls yet, so I'm assuming he's doing fine. Must have been a 24 hour bug or something? I'm praying that none of us contract the swine flu that is going around. Gage is scheduled to see the ENT doctor next week to schedule a time to get his tonsils out. I'm hoping we can do that the 22nd or so of October during the 4 day weekend of Teacher's Conventions here in ND. That way he won't miss as much school. We'll have to wait until after his birthday for sure, which is sneaking right up on us! This year Gage has opted out of having a birthday party and instead wants to go to Minneapolis to the Mall of America and go to Lego Land. I have no idea what that will be like as I have never been there before. I'm sure it will be hard to do that over just the weekend, but we'll give it a try. He gets to invite one friend to go along with us. I guess I'll have to make his birthday cake before we go. Maybe he'll just want a big lego block cake this year? That shouldn't be too hard to make!? Or should it?

This past weekend we banded ducks near Tuttle and had a fun time. I posted tons of pictures on Facebook as you have probably already seen. We had some really good ones turn out. If you haven't checked them out yet, you'll have to do that.

We have our first Daisy Scout meeting scheduled for tomorrow after school. I'm hoping for a great Scouting year with both the Cub Scouts and Daisies. It's going to be a busy one, I do know that!

Up!

2009-08-31T13:06:00.002-05:00

We had a good, productive weekend! We got the living room straightened up and the fireplace insert removed from the house. I've been wanting that done for a few years because we don't use it and it just becomes a flat surface that collects junk! It was quite HEAVY, but after Scott got a dolly from work, it made the job much easier! That was our Saturday project, then Sunday we worked on the kitchen. It is always so easy to pile papers and junk on the end of the counter, but not quite as easy to get them all cleaned off when I decide it's driving me nuts!

I have been on a mission, looking for a big, clear, glass jug to use as a piggy bank. If you remember, while Seth was here, we went to the movie Up! It's the newest Disney Pixar movie and I LOVED it. I really like it when I watch a movie and I can see a message. I don't always know what the point of a movie was, but I got the message in Up! loud and clear! Basically it was about these young kids who had big dreams. They grew up, got married and had more dreams. They wanted to go to a big waterfall, I'm not sure of the name of it now, in some other country and they started saving their money in a clear, glass jar. They would get a good amount saved, then something would happen, like a flat tire on the car, and then they would have to break the jar open and use their savings to fix it. They had to break the jug open about 3 different times. Then, later in the movie, the woman dies before they ever get a chance to go on that big trip. The man ended up going later, so there was a happy ending, but it just struck me for some reason. I have wanted to go to Disney World for a very long time and now the kids talk about going there too. I seem to hear, "Mom, when are we going to have enough money that we can take a vacation to Disney World?" I tell them that when they decided to stop eating and wanting things, I might be able to save enough money. :-) Anyway, I decided that if we don't start saving now, we will never get to go. I want to make sure I go before I die. So now, I am on the hunt for a big, clear, glass jug. I have looked at several different stores and found 2 I like, but if I were to buy either of them, I wouldn't have any money to put in the jug afterwards. I also thought this might be a good way for the kids to help out by putting money in the jug as well. I think that would give them a sense of ownership and knowing that they contributed to help us go on this trip. I told Scott I was going to put all of my money I make at the school and the money I make by picking a friend's son up from school and watching him until she gets off work, into this jug. It may take me a couple of years to get enough saved, but I am DETERMINED to do it! When I get my mind set on something, I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen. Now if I can just find the darn jug! :-)

The kids are loving school! I have been working in the cafeteria at Corpus Christi until they find someone permanently. They asked me to do it, but I was scared to commit to it. I could end up subbing every day, but just knowing I don't HAVE to, makes a world of difference in my eyes. I worked both days last week and will work all this week as well. It's only for 1 1/2 hours, so it's not a lot of money, but it adds up over time (if you don't spend it!).

ATA Martial Arts

2009-08-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

Gage has mentioned to me a few times lately that he would like to do karate. I know nothing about karate, unless you're talking about "wax on", "wax off", like in the movie, The Karate Kid. :-) Today we were out running a few errands and I was going to be driving by the ATA Martial Arts place, so I pulled in. There is another business in this little strip mall called "Dead Rockstar" and I think the kids thought I was pulling in the parking lot to go there and get a tattoo. LOL! I parked in front of the ATA Martial Arts place and Gage got all excited. There was a closed sign in the window though, so I figured we were S.O.L. Well, the guy who owns and runs the place was in there, in the dark, working on paperwork. The doors were unlocked, so we walked in. I told him I was just wanting to get some information about the classes, etc. He was so nice and gave us a tour and explained some of the things to me that we would need to know. He also said that Gage was welcome to join in on a class to see if it would be something he would want to do. Gage was SO EXCITED because tonight just happened to be the night of the class he could attend. He talked about it all afternoon and could not wait until time to go. The class ran from 7:15p-8:15p. We went. Gage LOVED it! He was SO SERIOUS about it and he was trying so hard. I've never seen him like this about anything. He did pretty good too, for not knowing anything about it. One of his buddies from school happens to be in the same class, which I didn't know, so that's a bonus for him. After the class he was so excited and asking (begging) us to sign him up. I really like what they stand for. Discipline, self-respect, confidence, etc etc. The part I don't like about it is that it is $89/month! OUCH! However, I want Gage to be involved in some sort of activity and he didn't want to do soccer this fall. SO, we bit the bullet and signed him up. He was SO EXCITED! He got his uniform and his white belt. They also have a "V-patch" that they wear on their uniform and they can earn stars to put on it. The way they earn stars is by doing things at home like chores, homework, hygiene, etc. Once they earn 25 stars, they can earn the next V-patch. You can bet your sweet bottom that I will be using this to MY advantage! :-) I've already told Gage that the first time he fights me to go, he's done. If he doesn't do his homework without complaining, he's done! (That right there is worth the $89/mo in my opinion!) After we got home he was very excited and practicing some of the things he learned tonight. He was even doing pushups. LOL! The crazy part, is that every time I ask him something, he replies, "Yes, Ma'am!" I love this sport! They have to say "Yes, Sir!" or "Yes, Ma'am!" when they are there, so I told him he should get in the practice by doing it at home. I really am so excited that he's so excited about this! Not to mention that it's great exercise and will increase his balance, coordination, strength, etc. etc. If this level of excitement lasts, I believe he will be benefitting from this in no time. I'll keep you posted! :-)

7 years of bad luck!

2009-08-20T23:33:00.002-05:00

We only have one more full day with Seth at our house. The kids are going to miss him terribly when he is gone! We have had a good time with him here. Seth and I did have one little spat, but it didn't last long. We let him know that we loved him for who he was and that it wasn't necessary to tell something that wasn't true to make himself look cool, because we thought he was pretty cool just being Seth. Gage said, "Yeah, Seth, we think you're pretty cool just like you are!" :-) They have been playing so nicely together and have spent quite a bit of time playing outside on the skateboards or in the playhouse, or on the bicycles. I hope that he feels like he's had a good time as well.

Today we spent quite a bit of time at the zoo and then a little bit at the superslide. We did have some rain while we were at the zoo, but it didn't last too long. I posted tons of pictures on Facebook for you all to check out.

Tonight while I was getting all the kids to take showers, it seemed to be taking Emma a LONG time in the shower. Finally, I knocked on the door and asked her if she was done. She said, "Mom, I need some help" and then opened the door, a little reluctantly. She said, "I'm sorry, but I accidentally broke the hand mirror while I was in the shower." The broken mirror was sitting on the toilet with shards of glass all over it and the shower floor. After making sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere, I asked her why she had the mirror in there anyway? It was already cracked before she took it in the shower with her. She said she was using it to see if she got all of the soap out of her hair. Well, I guess that was a legitimate reason for having the mirror in the shower, in a 6-year-old brain, so I couldn't really get mad at her. While I was trying to get the glass picked up out of the shower, I told her, "You know what they say, don't you Emma?" She replies, "No?" So I told her that it's often said that if you break a mirror, you will have 7 years of back luck. She looked at me and said, "Well, I guess that's better than going to jail for 7 years!" Yes, Emma, I think you are right about that! Her glass is obviously half full. :-)

Ducks Unlimited's 2nd Annual Youth Waterfowl Hunting Clinic

2009-08-15T16:58:00.002-05:00

Today was a big day for Scott. He has been working hard at getting this Youth Waterfowl Hunting Clinic organized and I'm pretty sure he's glad it's over! Well, I guess day 2 is tomorrow, but that is at the shooting range, so hopefully it won't be quite as crazy.

The kids had a good time at the event. Everyone wins a prize of some sort on top of getting a free t-shirt, baseball cap and skull cap. Then the prizes ranged from DU hand muffs, DU camo shoulder bags to decoys to the grand prize, a youth finisher hunting blind. Gage and Emma both won a bag of decoys. WOO HOO! Just what we needed! NOT! There were a couple of big decoy prizes that all the names got put back into the hat for those 2 prizes and the Finisher Blind. The first name Scott pulls out for the HUGE bag of decoys was Emma. He talked Emma into not taking the prize and letting someone else win. Thankfully Emma was okay with that. So, the next name he pulls out is Gage's! Seriously! What are the chances of that happening? So Scott did the same thing, asking Gage if he could give the prize up to someone else. Well, Gage wasn't as thrilled with that idea as Emma was. I didn't get a picture of him with his prize of decoys because he was pouting underneath the table. I did post tons of pictures on Facebook, so check them out there if you wish.

Seth's 1st week of being in North Dakota is officially over. One more to go. I think he is enjoying his time. Today we went to Barry's Bike Shop to see if we could get the brakes fixed on his bike. He has been saying they haven't been working and wanted to get them fixed. Unfortunately it can't be fixed cheaply, so we're going to have to send that one back home to Iowa. :-) They tried roughing the rims up with sand paper to allow the brakes something to grab onto, but it didn't work too much. They said he was either going to have to change the brake pads to softer ones, which will wear out much faster than the regular ones, or another fix is to get new rims. So, there you go Jari Jo, you are equipped with the information you need when Seth gets home and starts asking you if he can get the brakes fixed on his bike. :-)

Scott leaves town on Monday and will be gone for the week. I intentionally left some of the "things to do" for us to do next week, to hopefully break up the long week with Scott gone. However, he was quite busy all this week trying to get everything ready and organized for the Youth Waterfowl Hunting Clinic this weekend, so it probably won't be too different. Except that I'm quite sure I won't be as lucky next week in the supper department. It just worked out all week that I haven't had to fix supper! Sunday we ate on the run because of Church League Volleyball, Monday-Wednesday we ate at Family Bible School, Thursday we ate at the Flicek's since they had invited us over a few weeks ago for a BBQ. Then last night we went to an open house for a friend who's son is leaving on Tuesday for Taiwan to be a foreign exchange student. Oh, and tonight Scott wants to eat at Texas Roadhouse for his birthday supper! I hate cooking, so this week was a treat for me! Next week will not be so much of a treat, I'm quite sure! Oh well, all good things must come to an end, right?

Oh my!

2009-08-11T22:21:00.002-05:00

Oh my! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last blogged! Sorry!

Let's see..........where do I begin?

I suppose I'll start at this past Saturday. We got up bright and early to travel to Brookings, SD to meet my sister, Jari, and her family so that we could bring my nephew, Seth, back to North Dakota with us to spend a couple of weeks. He has never been here before, so he was pretty excited about it, and so were we! We've had my niece Katie, when Emma was just a baby, and then last year my nephews, Dustin and Colton, spent 2 weeks with us. We sure do (and have) enjoy(ed) our time with them.

After we picked Seth up, we headed back north. We stopped in Tuttle to spend the night there and then headed home on Sunday afternoon. I posted some pictures of Seth's adventures on Facebook, so you can check them out there if you wish. He went out for a short spin in my kayak. It took a little coaxing, as he said he is afraid of the water and can't swim. We assured him he would be fine with the life vest on and he was careful not to get too far from shore. After he was back on land, he said it wasn't too bad. :-) When we got back here Sunday afternoon, it wasn't long before we headed to the park to end our season of church volleyball with a tournament. I think we got home around 9:00p, so it was a long day.

We haven't done too much else as of yet. The boys have been outside playing on their skateboards. Seth is teaching Gage how to do a few tricks on the old skateboard that he brought for Gage to keep. (Gage was pretty excited about that!) They've also been out riding bikes and trying to figure out how to do bunny hops. I will be surprised if we don't have to make our first trip to the emergency room in the next couple of weeks!

Our church's Family VBS started this week. We went last night, tonight and tomorrow is the last night. I was thrilled to death when I realized that I wouldn't have to make supper but a couple of times for the entire week! WOO HOO! It's like a vacation for me! Monday night we made clay bowls that are going to turn out so nice once they have spent some time in the kiln. Tonight we beaded some jewelry and tomorrow night we will go out to some church members' house and have a hot dog roast with s'mores. It should be a great time. I like that it was for families this year. Seth has enjoyed his time. He doesn't seem to be shy at all and just talks to anyone who will listen. :-) He kind of just fits right in. He did mention tonight that he misses his Mom, so give us a call tomorrow Jari Jo! :-)

We have had some warmer temperatures this week. I could reach 100 degrees tomorrow, which I am NOT looking forward to. I have been loving these mild temps we've been having. It might be a great day for Raging Rivers, although Seth has mentioned he's not fond of swimming. (I guess that makes sense since he said he can't swim!) However, there isn't a whole lot of swimming that goes on at Raging Rivers. It's pretty much riding an inner tube around the "lazy river" and then there are some water slides that you ride down in tubes and a couple of bigger water slides that you go down without tubes..............you might find yourself without your bathing suit when you reach the bottom if you aren't careful! That reminds me of Restibutia, who is an Eddie Murphy character in a movie that I can't remember the name of. If you've seen it, you know exactly what I'm talking about!!!!!!!

I'll try to be better on the blog updates. :-)

S.W.A.P.S.

2009-08-05T21:24:00.002-05:00

S.W.A.P.S. stands for "Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere". The Girl Scouts promote the girls to make little craft things with a pin on it to trade with other girls, to promote friendship. It's a neat idea and it's fun to see the other S.W.A.P.S. that Emma brings home. On Monday morning we made a quick run to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few items to make our S.W.A.P.S. and got right on it after we ate lunch. I even came up with an idea of my own to use instead of stealing someone else's off the internet! Emma really liked them and it was easy enough for her to help by sorting and bending pipe cleaners. These required the use of the hot glue gun, so I certainly had to help with that. After making just a few, Emma was losing interest. I figured that would happen, but the problem was we needed 60 of them! (At the time I thought we only needed 48, but after I read the paperwork that was emailed to me, I saw that there were 12 more, PA's and Camp Directors, that needed to be made.) UGH! Thank goodness for us, our dear friend, Elise, stopped by to drop off a DVD we had loaned them. After showing her my battle wound with the hot glue gun, she volunteered to stay and help us because she didn't really have anything else to do. Needless to say, I was THRILLED to death! I didn't realize how long this project was going to take! Elise stayed and helped for 2-3 hours (I lost track of time) and we still weren't done! I finally finished them up just before supper and that is when I discovered we needed 12 more to total 60 S.W.A.P.S. I thought to myself, "That's tough shit! I had no desire to make even one more!" Well, my other side won the internal argument and I ended up making 12 more. Yesterday after camp I was excited to see Emma's S.W.A.P.S., only to find out they didn't do it that day. I had a whole extra day to work on them! UGH! Oh well, I was glad to have them done. Anyway, today was the big S.W.A.P. day. When we looked in Emma's bag, I found the ziploc with LOTS of the ones we made still in it! I asked her if they didn't do it and she said they had. When we got home I counted out 41 of those stupid things in her bag that she didn't trade with anyone. AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! What a waste of time! I asked her why she didn't give them all out and she said she didn't have time. WHAT?!?! Don't ask everyone to make SIXTY of these things and then not give them time to trade them! I told Emma it looked like we wouldn't have to make anymore for quite some time. She didn't really like that idea. What the heck else do we do with them? Elise, would you like to have some to trade with your friends? :-) I told Emma she better take that bag of them back with her tomorrow and hand them out to the girls who didn't get one. I might have something to say about this in the Girl Scout office the next time I visit. (I sound so mean, don't I?)

Prancing Ponies Day Camp

2009-08-04T22:39:00.003-05:00

Emma had Day 1 of her Girl Scouts Prancing Ponies Day Camp. It was a LONG day for her. She got on the bus shortly after 8 this morning and she got back around 6:15 this evening! I could tell she was tired as soon as she got off the bus. However, she wasn't quite as tired as one of her friends who could hardly keep her eyes open! LOL! It was pretty cute. Another one of the little girls who is in our Troop came off the bus crying. I felt really bad for her. I asked Emma why she was crying and she said that she just wanted her Mom. :-( I hope it goes better for her tomorrow and Thursday, if she decides to go. Emma was pretty tired, but I still had troubles getting her to fall asleep. She just gets overly tired and has a hard time winding down I think? I believe 7am is going to come pretty quick for her tomorrow! She was excited that they got to ride some horses today, and got to go out in a canoe! The weather wasn't too terribly bad, even though it started out kind of chilly. We'll see how she does with Day 2 and 3!

We're excited that my nephew, Seth, is coming to stay with us for a couple of weeks before school starts! He has never been here before, so Gage and Emma are very excited that they will get to show him around the big city of Bismarck. :-)

I spent most of my day doing laundry and getting pictures ordered. I had an email from snapfish for free shipping. That's about the only time I order pictures because shipping is so darned expensive. I know this is almost embarrassing, but I ordered pictures from Feb-Jun and there were 787 pictures in my shopping cart. YIKES! I wonder how many years that will take me to get put into scrapbooks? Better yet, I wonder how many years it will be before I get to the dumb things? I need to stop taking THAT many pictures! I was so tired of how slow my computer was going and sorting through pictures that I didn't even bother with ordering July, since I knew there were probably 1,000 or more from the 4th of July alone! I need to get my crap together and get my scrapping table organized and get to work. I'm not even sure when was the last time I scrapped? That's just terrible!

Another year older

2009-08-02T23:09:00.003-05:00

Today I turned another year older. But, I feel a whole year younger! :-)

It was a great birthday! I have never had so many birthday wishes before in my life, thanks to Facebook! :-)

The day started out with breakfast in bed, served by Gage and Emma (All by themselves!). They made me toast with peanut butter and butter and a glass of iced tea (without the ice). I needed it too, to wash down the dry toast. How sweet of them to do that without any prompting from Scott, since he wasn't here.

We stopped by the Capital A'Fair again today. I am the proud owner of a new hammock swing! :-) I tried it out in the tree in the backyard and it was awesome! It's going to be a great spot for reading and it's compact enough that it can go back and forth with us to Tuttle.

We had volleyball tonight for church league. Unfortunately I didn't know we played a 5:30 game and a 7:30 game so we had to forfeit the 5:30 one. Next week is the end of the season tournament. I really enjoy playing and hate for it to end. However, it won't be long and the fall season will start up indoors.

We ended the evening with some Stamart ice cream! :-) I am excited about that place. They have CHEAP ice cream! :-)

The Bad News Bears on Bikes

2009-07-29T15:25:00.005-05:00

Yesterday after supper Scott suggested to the kids that we all go for a little bike ride. Gage had gone with a friend and his Dad about a week ago and they rode their bikes to Stamart on the corner of State St. and Divide and got ice cream, so he said that's where he wanted to go. He insisted that the way to get there was first going to his friend's house. :-) I told him that probably there were a few more routes that might be more direct, but if he wanted to, we could ride by T.J.'s house and see if he wanted to go with us to get ice cream. YEAH, he replies! We rode our bikes to T.J.'s house and then took the back way to Stamart. That's a pretty busy gas station, so I was a little concerned about that. We went in and got some soft serve ice cream, which was delicious, and MUCH cheaper than Dairy Queen. I'm sure we'll be going again sometime.

After we ate our ice cream we hopped back on our bikes to head to the Capitol to ride along their paths. Emma wasn't listening to me and nearly got ran over in the Stamart parking lot and then as we were headed down Divide Ave. to get to a place where we could get up onto the sidewalk, Emma decides to veer out close to the center of the right lane of traffic. As I'm yelling at her to "GET OVER", Scott finds a place for us to get up onto the sidewalk and we continue on our merry way. Those are some very hilly paths and are alot of fun to bike down on the Capitol grounds. You can get to going VERY fast down the big long sidewalks headed south towards Boulevard. We stopped at the end of the "mall" so the kids could check out the monument that is there and after they were climbing on it for a minute or so, Emma hopped off and started sprinting towards us with a look of horrror. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and after I asked her, she yelled, "There's a bee and it hurts!" She was crying like crazy saying her nose hurt. A wasp stung her right on the end of her poor little nose. A few seconds later, we could see the little welt and the red dot right in the center. I told Scott that we should probably go home because I didn't want to be far from there if she was to react to the sting. I am not sure if someone is allergic to bees, does that mean they are allergic to wasps as well? If anyone knows the answer, I'd like to know. She has been stung by a bee once before that I'm aware of, and I know that if she were going to react, this would be the time. So, we hopped back on our bikes to head for home. We followed a few of the trails through the trees and it just happened to be the same time that the sprinkler system starts up. Nice! I got soaked and so did Emma. Then Scott discovers that his tire is flat, despite the fact that he filled it up just before we left. As we're headed through the trees, and I'm following Gage, there was a branch that was sticking out over the path and Gage grabbed ahold of the branch while he rode through and then let go just as I was headed through. Thankfully I saw it coming before it had the chance to knock me right off my bike! When we made it to the corner to turn to our house, Scott headed home with his flat and the kids and I went the other way to take T.J. home. As we're headed up the sidewalk I hear this big crash and look back and Gage had wrecked his bike and was hopping up saying, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay!" Thankfully he landed in the grass and didn't get hurt. I decided it was a good time to get T.J. home before he got hurt because he was next on the list for something bad to happen! I felt like we were the Bad News Bears on Bikes! Despite all of that, it WAS a nice little ride. The weather was perfect. I am enjoying this cool summer we are having!

Speaking of biking incidents, just as we were pulling into the YMCA parking lot this afternoon to pick Emma up from Day Camp, this guy comes barreling down the parking lot on his bicycle. I don't know if he started braking because he saw me drive into the parking lot, or if he just hit a slick patch of sand (it had just stopped raining) but he had a terrible crash. His bike went flying and he rolled 2 or 3 times before he came to a stop. He got up and I rolled my window down to see if he was okay. He looked stunned, like he had no idea what had just happened. He said he was okay and thanked me for asking him. OUCH! I know if that had been me, I would have been mortified just to know that someone saw me crash and would have cared less about any of my injuries at that moment. I think that it might have been a good thing he wiped out on the patch of sand because he was going fast enough that I think he might have crossed right in front of me or crashed into my car. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

Emma sure is enjoying her Day Camp. I was very worried it was going to be too much for her after just finishing up with Camp Edventure and with this being an all day camp. I was worried for nothing. She is LOVING it! When we went in to get her she was all wound up and excited and messing around with one of the Camp Directors. I told him, "Geez, I can sure tell that she's not having any fun at all!" He replied with another sarcastic comment and said, "Yeah, Emma cries when you leave her here and begs us all day to call her mommy because she wants to go home!" When we got in the car Emma says, "Mom, was he just kidding and using sarcastic?" :-) Yes Emma, we were using a little sarcasm there. I suppose I should stop worrying about next week's 3-Day Day Camp, Prancing Ponies, in Pick City. She'll be gone from 8a-6:30p, which includes the hour long bus ride to and from camp. I'm pretty sure she has the energy she needs to survive it!

If I can't say anything nice, I won't say anything at all.

2009-07-28T13:14:00.003-05:00

Telemarketer in the flesh

2009-07-27T14:54:00.002-05:00

We had a good weekend in Tuttle. The kayak is awesome. The only way it could be better is if we had one for each of us, or at least 1 2-man and another single kayak. There was ALOT of fighting going on as to who got to use it first, who used it the longest and who had more turns. Gage was pretty good at it and Emma was too. However, Emma was obviously tired and had a few fits in it while we were trying to get a picture of her stuck in the weeds.

Oh, and unless I can find waterproof books, you can't kayak and read at the same time. :-) Thankfully I didn't test it out the first time out and ruin a book. There is alot of splashing going on and drips of water off the paddles.

Emma started her week at YMCA Day Camp. Nature in Pictures was the title of this camp. Of course there was no literature sent out about the camp and what they needed to bring. I packed the basics, like sunscreen, rain jacket and bug spray. When I got there to sign her up, I asked them if they would be providing lunch and he said that they needed to have their own lunch. CRAP! They also needed to have swimming suits. I told Emma to sit there in the lobby on the sofa with all the other kids so I could run home and get her a lunch and her swimsuit. Thankfully we only live a few blocks away from the YMCA and it didn't take me too long. They were going to be sharing cameras unless they had their own. I just didn't feel right leaving my digital camera with Emma, so I told her I would buy her a disposable one today that she could use the rest of the week. She seemed fine with that plan. I'll be more prepared tomorrow.

Gage and I had a guy show up at the door selling cleaning solutions. We had this happen last year or the year before when Scott was home and he bought the stuff. We still have some left, which is why I was hesitating to buy more. It's not always a good thing to have your kids standing around when you have a high-pressure salesman giving you their spiel. Gage mentioned cat pee and the guy jumped right on that. I told him that if he could get cat pee out, I would buy a bottle. We went to Gage's room first, which really, I have that spot fixed. You can't smell the cat pee at all and you really couldn't see a stained area. We went to Emma's room next and there was a spot in the middle of the floor from the other night. Emma had her blankets laid out on the floor and was going to campout on the floor and stupid Griz peed on her blankets. Of course it soaked through into the carpet and I was out of our miracle "STINK-FREE" solution that you put on it. I used the other powder stuff we have and let it sit overnight and then vacummed it up. I hadn't checked to see if it worked since then. I wasn't convinced that the orange based stuff he used was going to work. He sprayed it on and tried doing his magic. I don't think he got the entire spot. I got a number that I can call and told him I would have to talk to my husband. :-) He didn't really want to do that because he wouldn't get credit for the sale. I told him to tell me his name and I would ask for him and I finally got him to leave and believe it or not, I did not buy his stuff. After he left Gage says, "Mom, is that what you call a telemarketer in the flesh?" YES GAGE! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THAT WAS!!! UGH! No more answering the door for the next week or two!

Haven't forgotten

2009-07-24T14:49:00.002-05:00

No, I haven't forgotten. However, I must apologize for the hiatus. I have been addicted to these Jodi Picoult novels and can't seem to keep my nose out of them. I have read 4 of them in the past few weeks and had to get another one today for our weekend in Tuttle. I wonder if I can read while kayaking?

Happy "Early" Birthday to me!

2009-07-19T13:51:00.005-05:00

This is one way for Scott to assure that I will go back on the words, "I swear I am NOT EVER coming back here", that I uttered the last time we were in Tuttle. I hear Lake Josephine calling my name. :-)

I had this on my birthday wish list last year, and because of the screaming deal Scheels had on this kayak, it finally came true!

I wonder if this will help tone up my flabby arms? :-) I'll probably get stranded in the middle of the lake because of cramping arms. No pain, no gain.............right?

Happy 13th Birthday Dustin!!

2009-07-18T16:29:00.002-05:00

Last year at this time, we were doing this and this to celebrate his 12th birthday. We sure wish he was here again with us this year!! Happy 13th Birthday Dustin!! (Kysa - Good luck in the land of the teenage hormones!................YIKES!)

Yesterday we went straight to the movie theater after getting home from Camp Edventure to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. IT WAS SO GOOD! I think it might be one of my favorite Harry Potter movies yet? I read the book to Gage about 2 years ago now, so I figured I wouldn't remember anything about it and be lost, because I didn't take the time we needed to rewatch all of the previous movies to catch myself up. I actually did remember alot of the stuff, believe it or not! There was one scary part that made Gage, Emma and me jump out of our seats, but other than that, it wasn't that bad. I heard that the final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows, will be made into 2 movies so they can do it justice, and they will be released in 2010 and 2011, or 2011 and 2012. I can't remember which. We'll be ready, whichever it turns out to be!

Scott was waiting for us in the lobby of the movie theater to take Gage with him to the shooting range. He bought Gage some private lessons so he can learn how to properly shoot his gun. It was a pretty good deal that the guy gave to Scott. Usually he charges $60/hour, but he charged Scott $40 for the 2 hours that they were there. That was really nice of Mark to do that! I think it was actually a good idea too, because Gage is just not very receptive to learning things when it is Scott and I teaching them. He's been holding his gun really weird when he shoots it and I think Mark may have straightened him out. Or at least showed him the proper way to do it.

After they got home, we ate supper and then Gage went to his friend's (T.J.) house to spend the night in his attic fort. Since Gage went to do that, we took Emma to the Sleepy Hollow Summer Theater to see The Wizard of Oz. It was SO GOOD! It was LONG too! It started at 8:30 and I think we got home around 10:30. The weather was beautiful. After the sun went down behind the trees (right before the play started) it cooled off a bit, but we had taken jackets and blankets, so we were well prepared. During intermission Scott and Emma went to get a snack and Emma told Scott that she really wished Gage was there with us because she knew he would like it too. I was so glad to hear that. They fight so much all the time that you wouldn't know they even like each other, so it's nice to hear stuff like that every once in awhile. I wished that Gage was there too, because I also knew he would have liked it. The gal playing Dorothy did an AWESOME job! She actually sounded JUST like her and looked alot like her too. If they did Annie, I wouldn't even have to learn the lines, I already know them all. :-) Emma could get a perm and play the part, while I said her lines. LOL!

I'd say that with all of those activities yesterday, we're nearly broke! It costs SO MUCH money to do those things, and to do them all in one day hurts the pocketbook! I'd bet we were close to $100. Good thing we're staying home today! :-)

Happy Birthday Colton!

2009-07-17T10:57:00.002-05:00

Last year at this time, we were doing this and this to celebrate Colton's birthday. We had a great time. Gage was sad this morning, knowing it is Coly's birthday today, remembering the fun we had last year. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Today, after Camp Ed, we are headed to the Grand Theater to see the new Harry Potter movie, The Half-Blood Prince. The kids are super excited about going. I am too, actually! We are going to the 12:30 matinee, and hopefully will save a few dollars. I'm also hoping that by going during the day, that the scary parts won't be so scary after we get back outside and it's daylight. I think Gage will be fine, it's Emma I'm worried about. She'll probably be fine too. I'm trying to decide if I should feed them a PB&J on the way to the theater for lunch, or be a totally lame Mom and let them have popcorn and candy for lunch. LOL!

Yesterday, we ended up only giving away our free blizzard punch card to the fifth family at DQ. We only had 5 that we knew show up during our shift, so I didn't have to buy the blizzards for the 10th group. I was really wanting to though. I know there were some friends that went to different DQ's, to support the Girl Scouts, and I'll bet that we would have been close to 10 if they had all come to the one we were at while we were working. I posted a bunch of cute pictures on Facebook if you want to check them out.

This afternoon Scott and Gage will be going to the Shooting Range as Scott has gotten Gage a couple hour lesson there with the guy that runs the place. I don't know if he's planning to take Gage out hunting and let him shoot, or if they are just working up to that point? Then, after supper Gage is going to a sleepover at his friend's house. T.J. said Gage would be his first guest in their newly renovated "attic fort". He's pretty excited about that. Emma wasn't. However, we are going to go to the Sleepy Hollow Summer Theater tonight at 8:30 and see the production of The Wizard of Oz. It should be pretty good, so looking forward to that. I wonder how chilly it's going to be, since it's an outdoor theater? I suppose coats and blankets wouldn't be a bad idea.

Not too much going on this weekend. It's supposed to be nice, weather-wise, so I'm hoping that holds true.

Funny Story

2009-07-16T10:09:00.002-05:00

The other night at Emma's baseball game, I asked her why she wasn't running the bases as fast as she could. She said, "Well, Mom, it's because I don't have enough water!" I asked, "What does that have to do with it?" She told me that if she runs too fast, she'll get hot and she doesn't have enough water if she gets hot. Well, last night Emma had another baseball game. I told her that we were going to ensure that she would be able to run her fastest. We took 2 water bottles and 1 bottle of G2 gatorade. You wouldn't believe how fast she ran......................to the bathroom! LOL! Actually, it did make her run the bases faster because she had to prove herself right and me WRONG! Hey, whatever it takes. When she got to the spiffy bif, a man got there right in front of her and so she had to stand outside and wait. She was doing the potty dance like I have never seen her do before. I almost got up to run over there and help her because I wasn't sure if she would be able to get her pants down in time. Those dumb uniform pants are tight around the waist and even I have a hard time getting them buttoned. When she came out her shirt was untucked and I thought her pants were falling down, but it must have been a figment of my imagination, because she didn't even unbutton her pants OR unfasten her belt. There wasn't time. LOL! I did get her shirt tucked back in and then she was good to go. Hopefully I can remember to bring lots of water for her remaining baseball games. :-)

Today is Girl Scout Blizzard Day at Dairy Queen today from 3p-7p!!! Emma and I are scheduled to be at the DQ on Washington Street from 4-5:30. We will be standing along the street waving signs trying to get people to stop and buy blizzards. For every blizzard sold, the Girl Scouts get $0.50. The featured today, which is also the "Blizzard of the Month" is the Tag-a-long Blizzard. These are the yummy peanut butter pattie Girl Scout cookies mixed into DQ's famous blizzard treat. We should have fun. I made my status update on Facebook a challege to all the Bismarckians and said for the 5th family who shows up (that I know) I will give them a free blizzard punch card that I've filled up. My sister, Kysa, challenged me to "pay it forward" to see if that increases sales, so I thought that was a good idea. So, I am going to give my free blizzard punch card to the 5th family who shows up and for the 10th family, I will buy blizzards for the entire family!!! These have to be families that I know, of course. However, it doesn't have to be just my Facebook friends, it can be friends that were referred by them too. (I don't know how else I can get this advertised besides my FB page and my blog.) They will also be selling last year's featured blizzard on Girl Scout Day, which was the Thin Mint blizzard. We get $0.50 on EVERY blizzard sold though, not just ones with Girl Scout cookies, so if you aren't a fan, you can just buy your favorite blizzard treat. Also, to add to the fun, there are cookie costumes for the girls to wear. There are only 2 of them, so they will have to share. They are the Thin Mint cookie costume and the Tag-a-long (a.k.a. Peanut Butter Pattie) costumes. I'm not sure if I will be able to get Emma into one though. As tough as it was to just get her to wear Girl Scout attire this morning, I'm pretty sure I will be unsuccessful at pleading her to wear a costume if she doesn't want to. I can't wait to get pictures and I already have scrapbook ideas flowing through my head! :-) Hope to see you at DQ!!

Tournament

2009-07-15T09:04:00.002-05:00

Gage had his second Lower Minors tournament game last night. It was a COLD and WINDY one! Geez! I wouldn't have been surprised to see the rain drizzle turn to snow. We had coats and blankets and were still cold!

You could definitely tell a difference last night, that this was a tournament game and that it could be their last of the season. Everyone was very excited and you could see the stress level increase as the game went on.

We started out batting since we were the "away" team and we had 3 up and 3 down. All 3 boys hit the ball and one hit an awesome shot into right field and the right fielder had the "catch of his lifetime". This was a tough team we were playing! They scored 3 runs through a few of the innings and then into the 4th inning, they had a less experienced pitcher on the mound so we batted and walked a few runs in to tie up the game. It was 3 to 3 at the top of the 5th, and final, inning. We didn't score any runs. The boys were nerved up and also very excited going into their last chance in the field to hold off the other team on scoring any runs. A couple got on and the whole left side of the field was dancing around, almost as if we had won the game. The coach kept telling them to settle down, but it was really hard for them to do for some reason? Not sure if it was the weather or what? Anyway, AMAZINGLY we held them off and they didn't score a single run. Tied. 3-3. Game over. Well, in this instance, they flip a coin to see who the winner is instead of going into extra innings. Our coach had the coin and asked who wanted to call the flip. Our team all raised their hands and they were deciding whether to call heads or tails. I was a mess. I knew if we lost, Gage was going to be a pain in the ass, because he was already pouting when they went out to field the last inning saying, "We're going to lose!" with a big pouty face on. (Takes after his Dad there!) Anyway, one boy said, "Tails never fails". The majority called heads. The coin was flipped. Heads it was! We won the game! The boys were jumping all around the place and hollering like crazy. I felt horrible for the other team. That's just a stinky way to lose the game. However, I was glad that I didn't have to deal with a pouting, poor sport at home! Now, because we won, we play again on Sunday at 6:30p. UGH! We have church volleyball at 6:30p on Sunday too. I thought we were free and clear of any schedule conflicts as far as our Sunday evening volleyball was concerned, but I was wrong. I would be surprised if the boys win the next game, so hopefully there won't be any more problems. However, if their excitement about winning the game has anything to do with the rest of the games they play, they'll certainly finish out in 5th place. They can't finish any better than 5th.

After we got home, we had hot chocolate. I don't think I've ever drank hot chocolate during the middle part of the month of July, EVER! If this is a sign of what our upcoming winter season has in store, we are in TROUBLE! We'll think last winter was nothing!

"We have a little situation here!"

2009-07-14T10:23:00.002-05:00

Emma has been saying some funny things lately. One of them being, "We have a little situation here!" LOL! Last night after she was in bed, I was in the downstairs bathroom and she hollers out, "Uh, Dad......we have a little situation here!" I hollered back, "What's your situation Emma?" She said that she thought Dad missed a page in the book they were reading at bedtime. Dad came upstairs to confirm with Emma that they didn't miss any pages. I don't know where she came up with this? I don't know if it's a statement that Junie B. Jones makes or what? Emma LOVES Junie B. Jones. In fact, that's about all she will let us read to her. I'm almost so sick and tired of the books (I think we've read each one of them (and there's over 25 in the series) at least 3 times. Scott does most of Emma's bedtime reading..........at least when he's home anyway. Most of the reason for that is because I am totally tired of reading those books. We read all of them to Gage and at least 3 times to Emma. I think they should be retired. I try buying her other books that I think she will like, but she won't even give them a chance. I did buy one at B&N the other day that I think she is letting Scott read to her now.

As far as summer reading goes, the kids have been slacking a little this summer in comparison to the past 2 summers. Part of that is because of Camp Edventure and the other part is because we have had so many activities going on that get over too late at night and there's no time for reading before bed, unless they stay up past 10pm. Gage has a ton of books that he hasn't read yet that I was hoping he could get through this summer. I don't think it's going to happen. He has picked up in the reading department here in the past couple of weeks, so I'm glad about that. He seems to be like me, if he has a good book, he'll read it until he finishes it. If he doesn't, he tends to find other things to do with his time.

I have been reading some of the Jodi Picoult books. "My Sister's Keeper" was the first one I read, and I just finished "Perfect Match". Both were VERY good books. I headed back to B&N yesterday to get another one. This one is called, "Plain Truth". I just started it last night and I'm sure it will soon have my full and undivided attention! We've definitely had some good, rainy, reading weather.

Tonight Gage has a baseball game. If his team loses, it will be his last game of the season. His practice yesterday was rained out so the team didn't get that one last practice in. I don't really think it will matter too much. We also have the Zoo Members' Annual Picnic this evening. I love going to it every year. Mostly because I love that I don't have to cook supper. They grill hamburgers and hotdogs and then you get chips, ice cream and a drink......all for free, because we are members. It is raining and doing some thundering this a.m., so hopefully it will clear up so it won't be cancelled. We've never had rain for it, as long as we've been going, so I don't know if they will do it rain or shine, or if they will postpone it. They also hire a DJ that plays music for the kids to dance to. The kids like doing the Chicken Dance and the Bunny Hop.

I saw advertised on television the other night that the Sleepy Hollow Summer Theater will be doing The Wizard of Oz, July 12-21. I think Emma would LOVE that. I think I would LOVE that! :-) Gage is spending the night with a friend Friday night, so I am hoping it doesn't rain so we can take Emma to it so she won't be so upset that Gage is going to a friends house for a sleepover and she isn't. A friend of ours has a daughter in a play with Dakota Stage, so maybe we can fit that into our schedule too? Emma usually enjoys those sorts of things, although we haven't done anything like that in awhile. I remember when she was just little, when we went to Sesame Street Live, and how mesmerized she was. I have pictures of it in her scrapbook. The Sesame Street Live is coming to town again in August and maybe we'll have to go to that. Those darned things cost so much money though. We'll see. It might fall on the same dates as Emma's Prancing Ponies Day Camp in Pick City for Girl Scouts though, so we may not even be able to go. I'll have to check on that.

Going fast

2009-07-13T09:21:00.002-05:00

This summer sure is going fast. I'm hoping it slows down just a little before school starts. Baseball is nearing the end of the season. Gage played his first tournament game last night. They lost, but since it's a double elimination tournament, they will play again tomorrow night. They are supposed to practice tonight, but it has been raining all morning and it's supposed to continue throughout the day, so not sure if they will get that practice in or not. Emma had a T-ball game last night and she has just 3 more games left of the season. The T-ball group does not have a tournament since they don't even keep score.

We went to Tuttle Friday night to stay the night, then we came back home Saturday evening. It wasn't such a great time. Scott was not a whole lot of fun to be around. The entire weekend, actually. However, this is probably not the place to get into that, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. You know the saying, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all"? Well, I decided to not say anything at all.

The kids are at Camp Edventure this morning. They sure are enjoying it this summer. I'm hoping it helps Emma out in the fall since she will be in the big Northridge building with the rest of the kids. I think she is going to adapt quite well. We were very fortunate to get the most requested teacher at Northridge for her 1st grade year, so we are thrilled about that. I need to get started with some school shopping. Emma's closet has dwindled down quite a bit. We were lucky last year and hit a great garage sale and she had TONS of pants. All of them are almost at capri length right now. Some of the jeans are okay to wear as capris, but when they have flared legs, it doesn't look so good. These kids are growing like weeds! Even Gage has outgrown all of his pants. We are lucky enough to get some hand-me-downs from my friend Amy for him though. I LOVE HAND-ME-DOWNS! Unfortunately we don't get many of those for Emma.

I have a couple of errands to run this morning. I need to get Brie's prescription refilled and see about getting an appointment to get the oil changed in my car. I also have a pesky check engine light that's on that I am praying doesn't end up costing a whole lot. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Back at it

2009-07-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

We're already in full swing back at our usual pace of life. The kids went on an all day field trip yesterday to the ND Game & Fish Department for Camp Edventure. They went fishing and both Emma and Gage said they caught little ones. I'm sure they were fishing at the O.W.L. pond. Don't ask me what that stands for though. :-) I had a few errands to run so did a little bit of that. I spend less money when I stay home though, so that is what I will be doing today......or at least this morning anyway. We are going to the Elks pool with some friends this afternoon, so that should be fun. The kids are excited. Aside from swimming while we were in Iowa, this is the first time we've been to a pool here in Bismarck this summer. It just hasn't been that hot to want to go. In fact, it's 59 degrees right now, so unless it warms up, it's going to be a chilly one!

Yesterday evening Emma and I went to a Girl Scout event at the Superslide. For $3, they got a hot dog dinner and unlimited rides on all of the rides for 2 hours. There were so many people there though, that they didn't get to ride them as many times as usual. They had a great time though and all of the pictures I took are posted on Facebook, so go check them out. While we were standing in line for the water balloon fight at the Superslide, the ambulance, firetruck and 2 police cars pulled into the driveway by the shelter that's just outside the superslide gates. My nosey, rubber-necking self had to go see what was going. I guess a part of me still likes that high adrenaline field of emergency health care. Anyway, there was a younger gal, probably early teens, laying on the ground next to a car. I'm guessing she got hit by the car. They were putting her onto a backboard at the time I started snooping. What a scary accident! I'm sure the person who hit her was a mess, just as much as the girl was scared. It didn't look like there was any family around, so I don't know if she was part of the Girl Scout event at the Superslide, or just someone using the walking trails. I sure hope she is alright. I talked to Emma about the situation on our ride home, hoping that this might remind her to be extra careful when she's out in parking lots etc. If it can happen to a teenager, it can certainly happen to her too!

We had ballgames a few days this week. Gage starts tournament games on Sunday. Unfortunately his first game falls on the same date and time as the Scout Family Swim Night. I wish that didn't have to happen. Missing the swim night will make Gage ineligible for the Summertime Pack Award pin. He didn't get it last year for the same reason. Oh well. Can't win them all.

I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by! School will be in session before we know it. I want to try to get Gage scheduled for getting his tonsils out before the school year starts up and if I don't get on the stick, it's not going to get done. I think all I need to do is call our pediatrician and ask her to give us a referral to our ENT doctor. I would like to do it when nothing is going on, but there never seems to be a time when we have nothing going on. I don't want him to miss school. He's had 2 strep throat infections this past winter, so it's time they come out. Maybe I'll get that call in to the doctor today, since I'm thinking about it.

A week of fun

2009-07-07T08:17:00.002-05:00

We had a great week in Iowa last week. The kids LOVE it when we are there and are always so sad when we have to come back home. Gage was SO sad the night before we left. He had already started crying because he missed everyone. He was a mess Sunday morning when we said good-bye. We stopped in Brookings, SD to eat lunch and he started crying again when we sat down at our table. I asked him what was wrong and he said he missed everyone. I'm sure he was remembering last year when we had Dustin and Colton with us when we stopped at the same restaurant. Anyway, when the young lady brought our food to the table, she noticed that Gage was crying and she said, "Oh, what's wrong? Why are you so sad on such a glorious day?" He told her he missed his Grandma and Grandpa. I explained to her that we were just with our family for a week and he was sad to go home. I thought she was going to start crying and then I DID start crying too! Geez! We were a mess. He cried himself to sleep Sunday night and I think that maybe he might be doing better now. I'm so glad that they have so much fun when we are there. Gage is lucky and has 2 cousins just about the same age as him and they are constantly playing and having a great time. Emma isn't so lucky in that department. The next girl cousin in line to Emma is 13, then 16. However, Janey does a great job of keeping Emma entertained. This time while we were back, my brother-in-law's daughter and kids were there. Her oldest, EmmaRaye, is 7 and I thought that maybe she and Emma would play well together. I'm not sure what happened, but they had gotten into a little fight about floaties in the pool and my Emma just didn't want to have much to do with her the rest of the time. I felt terrible with how she was acting towards her and I tried to get her to stop, but she just wouldn't. After I had spent a little more time around them, I think that maybe a little bit of the problem was that the other Emma was telling some stories about things and my Emma does not like it when people don't tell the truth. She's been having some issues with one of her good friends here and storytelling and it really bothers her, so I'm wondering if that had something to do with it? They did start getting along and I saw them holding hands while they were walking around my sister's house one evening, so I was happy to see them doing that.

We got home about 6:30 Sunday evening.............just in time to get to Gage's ballgame. We were all beat. Poor Gage had to play catcher the last inning and he didn't catch one single ball. I think he was completely exhausted after chasing all those balls and all the squatting he had to do. A couple of times he nearly fell over when he was getting into his squatting position, so I know he was so tired.

Yesterday the kids started back at Camp Edventure. This session goes for 3 weeks, so not much longer. Gage wasn't very happy when he got home yesterday. He said that he didn't have Miss Moen anymore and he was sad about that. I am too, because I really liked her. He said they put him in with the 4th graders. I learned last night at Emma's ballgame that they have a lot less kids this session and they decreased the number of teachers, so had to rearrange some of the kids. I told Gage that maybe the reason he was put into the 4th graders room is because all of the other stuff was too easy for him. He still wasn't thrilled about it. He said he didn't have anyone to play with at recess. The one kid that he knows, he says is mean to him. Ugh! I suppose if it's going to get to where he doesn't like going, I'll just take both of them out of it. There's only a little bit left though, so we'll see what happens after today.

I got all of my pictures uploaded to Facebook yesterday. It took me all morning to do, but I got all of them labeled and tagged, so I don't plan to put them on here. It just takes too long.

Today we have a dark, dreary, rainy day. I'm kind of enjoying it. I am going to make myself a "to-do list" of things I want to get done before school starts back up. I'm sure it's going to be a big list.

My Sister's Keeper

2009-06-27T22:58:00.002-05:00

I had been seeing advertisements for the movie My Sister's Keeper on television and I thought it really looked good. The movie was based on the novel by Jodi Picoult (or something close to that). I mentioned on Facebook that I wanted to see the movie and I had several comments telling me to read the book first. So, I did. Thursday I emailed Scott to see if he would pick the book up for me at Barnes and Noble on his way home from the airport. I was happy to see him walk in the house with a B&N sack. :-) I started reading it immediately. I finished the book this morning and I was a MESS! It was a really good book and a serious tear-jerker. I decided that I wanted to see the movie and got online to see if it was playing in Bismarck. It was and I had just missed the first show by 10 minutes when I logged onto the site. I decided I was going to go to the movie by myself and I made it to the 1:45p show this afternoon. The movie was really good, but I think it would have been better if I had seen the movie prior to reading the book. There were some differences in the two and I think seeing the movie first would have made it much better. Then reading the book would also be really good because it would be a totally different ending. If you haven't seen the movie, or read the book, I recommend seeing the movie first, despite everyone telling me to read the book first. Just my opinion. If you decide to do that, I want to hear what you think so we can compare notes to see which, in fact, was the correct order to do it. My eyes are still messed up from all the crying I've done today and I think I need to go to bed. G'night!

Friday

2009-06-26T19:38:00.002-05:00

The kids did not have Camp Edventure today because of their all-day field trip last Friday, so it was nice to get the chance to sleep in this morning. However, I nearly freaked out when I woke up to Gage standing over my bed since he had spent the night with a friend last night! My plan was to be up before he and his friend came home this morning, but that didn't happen. I hopped right out of bed to discover that Emma was still sleeping too. I'm not sure if she's ever slept until 9:30am before! We were both exhausted after yesterday's adventure! (Well, I was anyway!)

I really did have a good time at Girl Scout Camp yesterday. I wasn't expecting to. It was going to be super hot and humid and I just hate being out in that kind of weather and I kept remembering how tired and spent I was after Gage's 3 afternoons of Cub Scout Day Camp. Doing one day is so much more tolerable than 3! In fact, the gal that I was unit leaders with had been there the 3 days and I could tell she was fried. She was moving in slow motion and just didn't have the energy to get the girls moving from one station to another. After supper, when it was time to clean-up, things just weren't happening. The Camp Director finally came down to our campsite to help us get things cleaned up and put away. I was doing what I could to get the girls to get their things rounded up and put into their bags and also trying to help get things put away, but it was all just happening in slow motion. The 2 PA's (program aides) that we had were quiet and timid and didn't really do much unless you told them to. They were as nice as they could be and did what they were asked without any problems, but they just didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. Seeing that, and experiencing it, makes me think that maybe it's a good thing to bring a fresh person in on the last day to help keep things moving. That is just ALOT of work to do 3 days in a row for 6 hours straight! Camping is a lot of work and cooking outdoors takes alot of planning and preparation. They had planned to have ham and cheese sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, ticks on a toilet seat and root beer floats for their supper last night. All of these things were pretty easy to do but they didn't necessarily think of how to do this the easiest way. They had the pie-irons (cast-iron sandwich makers that are used over a campfire) out to use and we only had 5 of them. When you're making 17 sandwiches, that isn't really a time-saving thing to do. After we had 5 of them on the grill, and after the other unit leader was denied her request for more pie-irons, I suggested we just wrap them in aluminum foil and put them over the campfire. It was like a light-bulb lit up in her head. LOL! That was much easier to do and MUCH easier to clean up. That scorched cheese is not the easiest thing to clean out of a pie-iron, especially when you have a limited supply of water. The ticks on a toilet seat were fun; however, not necessarily the best idea in 90+ degrees temperatures. To make ticks on a toilet seat, you must core an apple, then slice the apple into rings. You then spread peanut butter over the apple and top it with chocolate chips (ticks). They were very tasty, but quite a MESS to make. The peanut butter was melted, as were the chocolate chips. The girls had rubber spatulas that they were using to get the peanut butter out of the jar and trying to spread it onto the apple slices. They had peanut butter up to their elbows. Another thing that isn't much fun to clean up with a limited supply of water. The PA was putting the melted chocolate chips onto the apple slices with peanut butter and her hand was completely covered in chocolate after attempting to get them all out of the bag in their melted state. What a MESS! The girls ate very well; however. Thankfully the ice cream and root beer weren't brought out to the site until we were ready to make them. :-)

Emma did pretty well with me helping out yesterday. At first she was a little whiney and clingy because it was just so hot. After I showed her how to wet her bandana down and wrap it around her head, she seemed to tolerate the temperatures much better. She did try to get me to carry her bag around, which she wouldn't have done if I hadn't been there, so I did tell her that she was going to have to carry her own bag, as if I weren't there. She didn't necessarily like that, but she did do better after that. I was happy with the way the day played out. I was also ready at 8pm to go home. :-) I was quite impressed with the whole operation of the camp. Mandan Girl Scouts is ran by a different service unit, and I wonder if that's why things went so much better than the events we have attended here? It's something I will be paying more attention to in the future, for sure. I did post tons of pictures on facebook that I'm not going to take the time to do on here. It just takes so much time, and I can get them on Facebook 3 times faster.

Yesterday evening Gage had called me on the cell phone while I was at the Girl Scout Camp to tell me goodnight because he wasn't going to be home when I got there. He informed me that he was going to spend the night at his friend T.J.'s house. He was very excited about that. I think this was the first time he's spent the night away from home without having Scott, me or Emma with him. He attempted once quite awhile back with his friend Grant, but I ended up having to go get him around 11pm. He actually made it through the night without any problems. Well, as far as I know there weren't any problems. :-) He came home at 9:30 this morning and I think he was pretty proud that he had his first sleepover at a friend's house. T.J. stayed here with us this morning and then went back home after his Mom was done teaching at summer school. Last night Scott asked T.J.'s mom if he could go with them to Tuttle this evening to stay the night and he was thrilled to death to get to do that. So around 3:30 this afternoon Scott, Gage and Emma headed over to pick T.J. up and head over to Tuttle for the night. They had plans to meet a friend of Scott's and his 2 daughters for some adventures out on the prairie. Gage and T.J. have become pretty close friends this summer and we have enjoyed having him over. He's a great kid and I enjoy his family. His oldest sister will be a junior in high school in the fall and it has already been convenient to hire her as a "driving" babysitter. She took Gage to practice the other night when I went to Family Night at Girl Scout Camp and it worked out well. She is very active in hockey though, and I'm sure once hockey starts up, her babysitting time will be limited.

We went out to lunch today with our good friend, Jody Jennings, who is in town to perform a wedding for a friend of his. It was good visiting with him. Unfortunately Emily and the gang weren't able to come up with him. Maybe next time. We need to get to planning some type of vacation together in the future.

Scott and the kids left for Tuttle around 3:30 this afternoon. I decided to stay home and get some things done before we head to Iowa. I also didn't think it sounded like much fun staying somewhere where there was no air conditioner! It was a humid, hot day today. The kids and I were sweating and quite uncomfortable just walking a few blocks to China Garden for lunch. Anyway, I am home alone tonight and am anxious to get some more reading in on my new book "My Sister's Keeper" that Scott brought home for me yesterday. I've been seeing previews for this movie and want to see it, but everyone said it would be best to read the book first. Sometimes the movie sucks after reading the book and I don't want for that to happen, but I know the book is always better than the movie. I think I will end up enjoying both of them. I am enjoying the book already and will be through it in no time. Especially because I accidentally took a 2 hour nap after everyone left this afternoon......................I can't sleep at night after taking a nap, so I am quite sure I'll be awake all night reading. :-)

Girl Scout Camp

2009-06-25T22:26:00.002-05:00

Emma and I had a great day at Girl Scout Camp despite the 90+ temperatures! I posted tons of pictures on Facebook, so go check them out. I'll write more about our adventure tomorrow, after I'm rested! :-)

Soggy

2009-06-24T15:28:00.002-05:00

I'm hoping that Emma doesn't come home soggy from camp tonight. We had a little rain pass through AGAIN and I pray that no storms go through the area. Neighbor Dave told me that they had to evacuate that campsite the night before last, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen again! After that tragic event with the Boy Scouts at camp in Iowa (it was Iowa, right?) it makes a person think twice about leaving their child when there could potentially be some bad weather. They actually have an ambulance and EMT on site at the camp, so that is a little reassuring to me. I think she seemed to enjoy the camp. She wanted to go back again today anyway. Tonight is Parent Night at camp, so I will be there tonight from 6:30-8pm. Gage has baseball practice at 6:30, of course. I hired a friend's daughter, who can drive, to take Gage to practice and bring him home afterwards. It sure is nice having babysitters who can drive! Especially since Scott is out of town and I'm a single parent for the time being.

Tomorrow I will be a unit leader for Emma's group at camp. I had previously said I could help out more, but that was before I knew Scott was going to be out of town. When the gal called me to see if I could help out, the only thing I could arrange was for the last day of camp. They don't allow siblings to be at the camp (unless they are attending the camp, that is) so I had to find a babysitter for Gage from 12:30-8p. That didn't work out so thankfully Gage is going to a friend's house for the day. He's excited about that. His friend is too, and he'll actually be coming here on Friday so they'll get to spend some more time together. He's a good kid and he and Gage get along very well. Anyway, I'm praying it doesn't rain tomorrow. I think it's going to be a LONG day, and rain will only make it worse. Hopefully all goes well.

Gage and Emma are SO EXCITED that we will be heading to Iowa soon for the 4th of July. I love how much they love it. I need to start my lists of things we need to take with us so I don't forget anything!

Busy day with Scouts

2009-06-23T23:17:00.002-05:00

Today was a jam-packed day with Camp Ed and Scout activities. Emma went to Camp Ocankusa in Mandan to start her 3-day Daisy/Brownie Day Camp. It goes from 2-8p T-Th. She was pretty excited about it and I think she had a pretty good time. We didn't have too much time to talk about it tonight because we all got home so late. After I dropped her and her friend, IsaBelle, off at camp Gage and I came home to rest a while before his Family Scout Oath Bike Ride. I have had a migraine headache the past 2 days and needed to lay down awhile before we went on this extended bike ride. It was a 10-mile ride around the biking paths in south Bismarck. They had 4 stations set up where people talked about the different parts of the Scout Oath and what they meant. There were 3 groups of about 50 bikers each. Gage and I were in the first group. Registration and a quick bike check/tune-up at Barry's Bikes started at 4:30 and continued until 6. Then the ride was to last from 6-8p. I was a little worried because I have never ridden 10 miles at one time before and wasn't sure if I could do it. It started out pretty darned slow and I thought if it continued at that pace, I would be okay. I did end up being okay. The pace did pick up a bit, but it wasn't too bad. I had some issues with Gage at first because he wanted to ride with another boy from our den, but this boy is always ill-behaved and I hate for Gage to spend any time with him because he starts acting that way himself. Gage finally discovered that it was probably a better idea to ride with Mom after the 2nd stop. After the 3rd stop it seemed that there was getting to be quite a bit of distance between different groups of riders within our group of 50. At one point the people ahead of us weren't sure which direction to go when the path split into 2 different directions. Then one older lady who I remember from Day Camp whizzed right by and said she knew where to go. I assumed she did and continued to follow her. Well, she apparently didn't get the memo which had the correct bike route. Or else she just followed the people in front of her who also didn't know where they were going. We ended up at a dead end and the group ahead of us was just starting out into a different direction when we reached the same point they had when they discovered they took the wrong trail. We finally made it to the last station and I was starting to panic a little since it was 7:50 and we hadn't even eaten supper yet! The bike ride was to end with the hot dog roast at 8p and Emma was also to get out of camp at 8pm. Thankfully she was riding home with IsaBelle and I had already planned for them to drop Emma off at Dave and Maggie's (our neighbors house), if we weren't home yet. After we left the last station, Gage was right with me and I thought he was behind me and when I looked back, he was WAY BACK THERE. I slowed way down trying to wait for him to catch up with me, but he wasn't gaining on me too much. There were others that he was riding with, so at least he wasn't back there alone. Finally I stopped to wait for him and when he caught up to me he said he had a flat tire. Sure enough, he blew out his back tire. GREAT! Well, everyone that was ahead of us was all out of site and I thought there should be some still coming, but there weren't. Apparently the group I was following got on the wrong trail AGAIN! UGH! We did find where they all were at the park and I was a little irritated with the whole scene. I shouldn't be too surprised that it wasn't completely organized; however. I should be used to that! I am going to make some suggestions for next year though. Like maybe there should be MORE people who know what the heck is going on and know the CORRECT route we were supposed to take. It also might be a wise idea to make t-shirts a part of the registration packet and make everyone who is participating wear it so you know who is in the group and who isn't. We obviously weren't the only people in Bismarck using the bike trails, so it was very easy to mistake people who weren't in the group with people who were and vice versa. We ended up having to walk our bikes the last little bit and discovered that Barry, the owner of Barry's Bikes, was still at the shop and he changed Gage's tire for us. He was the NICEST person! I will certainly go there for all of my future biking needs. He showed Gage and I how to change the tire and how to figure out what caused the hole in the first place. Of course I didn't have any money on me because I had nowhere to carry it and when I asked him how much he said we didn't owe him anything. I of course would not accept that and he said it was $6. I promised him I would stop by tomorrow or mail him a check but he wasn't too worried about it. I will be sending him more than $6 and telling everyone I know to patronize his business. What a nice man. I also mentioned to him that I knew in our Scout book for next year one of the requirements is to learn how to change a bike tire and change one. He said they have Scout groups come in occasionally to do those requirements and I will certainly be calling on him to set up a time for our den to do that. I just love it when I find someone who is passionate about what they are doing and are such terrific people....................................I know that's exactly how all those donors feel about Scott and his passion for waterfowl after they come to those waterfowl workshops. It's just so rare to find people that are so passionate about what they do. Barry is one of those people and you should definitely look him up for all your future biking needs. :-)

Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:55:00.003-05:00

Why is it, that on Mother's Day, the kids had me awake before 6am..............and today, on Father's Day, I had to wake the kids up? Hmmm..........makes me wonder. :-) Actually, I know the answer to that, and it's because the kids weren't awake and still needing a bath at almost 11pm on the evening before Mother's Day.

We had a nice weekend. We spend Friday night in Tuttle and had a good time. Saturday evening we headed out to Coteau Ranch with a photographer who was working pro bono for DU and wanted to take some family shots out on the prairie. Gage learned that photographers like to use the words, "gorgeous", "beautiful" and "stunning" alot. Because the most "stunning" light happened at almost 9:30 pm, we didn't get home and in bed until after 11p. The kids weren't actually that difficult today now that I'm thinking about it. We had to get up for church this morning too!

Today, for Father's Day, we went to the Superslide Amusement Park so the kids could ride the new rollercoaster that opened today. They loved it. Adults can also ride it. We bought $15 worth of tickets and had them used up within 20 minutes.................all on the rollercoaster. The first ride Gage and Emma rode together. I would say that the part I enjoyed the most was watching their smiles and look of surprise coming around the corners. It was priceless. After they rode it together, they wanted to ride it again with Mom and Dad. I tried explaining to them that if Dad and I used up 6 tickets to ride the rollercoaster, that was 1 less time for each of them to ride it. They didn't care. Emma and I rode in the front cart and Dad and Gage were behind us. The kids have to be taller than 48 inches to ride by themselves, otherwise an adult has to ride with them. There were a few more adults on the same time as Scott and I. The cars went around the track 3 times each ride and on our 3rd time around, as we were headed to the arrival/departure deck, we screamed through a little faster than we were supposed to and Emma's and my car went past the deck. As the guy running the ride came up to let everyone off the ride, he said, "Oh, I must have let too many fat people ride this time!", then explained that they were still working on the braking system. Nice. Everyone but Emma and I were able to get off the ride. He said he would have to send us around one more time. I was feeling really good about that time, let me tell you. After we got off the ride, I told Scott that
apparently the fattest person on the ride had to take an extra lap. He was happy that I was able to joke about it. Still, it wasn't very nice. Then, to top it off, Gage was ticked because Emma got an extra lap around the track.

For supper we went to The Wood House. We have never been there before and heard some people at church talking about how great it was and they had Gage and Emma so excited about the fact that instead of waiters or waitresses taking your order at the table, each table was equipped with a phone for you to call your order in. They were pretty excited about that. However, when it actually came down to it, they were both quite nervous about it so we ended up Scott placing his order via the phone so Gage could see how to do it, then Gage did it and handed the phone to me to place my order and then Emma was able to place her order over the phone with a little help from Mom. :-)

After supper we had to head to the sand volleyball lot for our church league volleyball game and then had to depart from there in a hurry in order to make it to Gage's baseball game on time. We had a jam-packed Father's Day. Although we did have time this afternoon for Dad to take a nap, which was one of the things he wanted to do most. We let him nap, uninterrupted, while we played several rounds of the board game "Guess Who".

I feel very fortunate that our kids have such a great Dad. There isn't anything he wouldn't do for either of them and I hope they grow up to be as good of a parent as he is.

I too was very fortunate in that department. I want to end this blog entry with things that I have learned from my Dad.

Perhaps my earliest memory of things my Dad taught me (or the first thing I can think of at the moment) is learning the "There was an old lady from Reeling" song. Here is how it went, "There was an old lady from Reeling. She had a very funny feeling. She laid on her back, tickled her crack, and pissed all over the ceiling." Nice, huh!? :-) I also learned another song. This one was taught by a family friend and Dad to go with the first song. "There was an old lady from Norway. She always sat in the doorway. One day the door flew shut, and now she sits in the hallway." I was probably just learning how to from sentences when I learned these songs. :-) I loved singing them too, because I could sure make Dad and Ivan laugh!

Another thing my Dad taught me, and this perhaps is one of the most important things that I learned and still live by today is that, "Credit cards are BAD!" I did actually learn that they aren't actually BAD if you learn how to use them correctly. Thanks for that Dad. Because of you, we have learned how to manage our money and have no credit card debt to this day.

Here is a list of a few more things I have learned from my Dad.

How to win AND lose graciously.
How to work hard with good work ethics.
How to drive a stick shift. (I learned how NOT to drive a stick shift from Mom. She did, however, make it look good when I was 5 or 6 years old!)
How not to be able to say no. (Yes Dad, I think this came from you. I don't ever remember you telling any farmer, before or after work hours, or on the weekends that you were closed, that you couldn't get them something for them at the Co-op, even if it was something they could have (and should have) gotten when you were open.
How to be witty, although I'm not quite as quick or witty as you are................but I do believe Gage will give you a run for your money one day. :-)
How to be a good person.

I know that there are many many more things that I have learned from my Dad, but these are the things that came to my mind.

Thanks for being such a great Dad! We love you!

Field Trip

2009-06-19T11:14:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the kids went on a field trip to the zoo for Camp Edventure. It was from 8a-4p!!! I wasn't sure what I was going to do all day and I admit, that I was a little bit bored. I didn't accomplish too much either. I think I spent the majority of my time making over Kysa's farm on Farm Town on Facebook. What a time waster that darned thing is! I made myself do a few chores before I could even get on though, because I know that's what's going to happen. I should make myself blog before I can get on too, and I wouldn't be skipping days here and there.

We had some more rain yesterday and we were still spared having water in our basement, thank goodness. This morning on our way to Camp Ed, I saw our neighbors Dr. and Mrs. Ramos out for a walk. I asked them if they got water and they said they didn't. They don't have a sump pump either. Now, if we can just hold off on getting more rain, which is a potential in the forecast, we should be good. I feel so very fortunate.

Scott has been out of town quite a bit lately. He gets home tonight from his Living Lakes trip to Minnesota. He'll be home for a few short days before he's gone again next week. I'm getting wore out on all the travel. The kids are too. They keep asking when Dad will be home and are very excited to see him when he is. I guess this just gets us prepared for the fall, when hunting season rolls around again.

I have been having a lot of neck pain the past few days. It's on the opposite side of my neck this time and it's not quite the same as the tension stuff I get on the other side. I'm not sure what I did. I suppose maybe it happened when I was playing volleyball Monday night. I know I dove for a few balls and maybe that jarred my neck? Thankfully Excedrin is helping with the pain.

Not too much longer and the 4th of July will be here. Gage is just dying to get to Iowa to see his cousins and grandparents. He sure does miss it. I do too. We're looking forward to spending some time with our family.

Water water everywhere!

2009-06-17T21:39:00.002-05:00

There's water everywhere....................except in our basement *knocking on wood*. I'm scared that if it's headed down the street, house by house, that we're next in line. The three houses directly north of us have water in their basements. I don't know about the ones south of us. The house across the street from us, and the houses on either side, also have water. We have lucked out this go-round. It's possible we may get more rain tonight and since Scott is out of town today and the next 2 days, that will be when it happens. Thankfully we don't have carpet in the basement (except for a piece a friend was replacing that we have thrown on the floor) and so if we do get water, I should be able to manage it myself. Let's just pray we don't get anymore rain! My neighbor, Dave, ran to Lowe's for me and picked up some extension tubing to hook onto the downspouts, so hopefully that will help move the rain away from the house. I was wondering if maybe one of the reasons we haven't gotten water yet is because we don't water our lawn, and it was so much drier than everyone else's that it just soaked up the water instead of it seeping up through our floor? Just a thought.

The kids are going on an all-day field trip for Camp Edventure tomorrow. They'll be gone from 8a-4p!!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do all day. That's not saying I don't have tons to do around the house though! They are headed to the Zoo and Superslide Amusement Park for miniature golf and basketball.

My neck is killing me today. I don't know if I slept on it wrong or what? Maybe it's all the terrible dreams I've been having lately? The other night I dreamed that I was trapped in a Nazi concentration camp with someone (not sure who was with me) and I was trying desperately to get out. I've had some other bad ones that I'm not going to talk about.

I had to run a few errands today to get Emma ready for her 3-day Daisy Camp next week. On Tues-Thurs Emma will be at Camp Okankusa in Mandan experiencing the great outdoors. Last night I attended Leader Training because I will be helping at camp on Thursday as a unit leader. I was a bit overwhelmed. I think this will be as close to playing Survivor as I've ever been! I'm praying that everyone will have it all figured out by Thursday, since that is the last day, and it won't be so bad. They have all kinds of fun things planned. There will be 5 groups with 11 girls in each group. They will be planning their own meal for supper and cooking it over a campfire. The camp site is really neat, but I hope they get the mosquito problem under control before Tues. They said that someone was going to come out and spray before Tuesday, so I hope that helps. They were TERRIBLE when I was there last night! Heck, they were terrible outside our house tonight!!! It should be a good camp and I know they will learn ALOT of valuable information. I'm excited for Emma. I've been talking to her about the different things I learned at Leader training and a few of the "tips" they gave out to us. I hope they help!

I believe I just heard some thunder rumbling outside. I hope that doesn't bring water with it! We don't need anymore of it right now!

Negligent

2009-06-15T13:57:00.004-05:00

Once again I have been negligent to my blog. I'm blaming Facebook. It's just more fun. However, I am going to keep trying to get better at blogging. I'm thinking that I may try to change my blogging schedule to be during the morning, when the kids are at Camp Edventure.

We went to Tuttle yesterday to mow the lawn. It was desperately needing it too. I wasn't aware of the fact that there were a houseful of people until we were half way there. Scott lets the Minnesota DU people use the house to tour donors around the prairie and when we drove up to the house, I did a gasp. I have never seen a motorhome as big and as nice as the one that was sitting in our driveway. I have no idea why they were staying at our house, because I'm quite confident the accommodations were much nicer in the motorhome, than in our Tuttle house! I have never seen a semi-truck as the cab/vehicle part of a motorhome before. While that had my jaw hanging open, Scott was drooling all over the duck boat that was hooked on behind. WOW!

We have some new neighbors in Tuttle. I haven't met them yet, but I saw them yesterday as they were driving out of the driveway and they smiled and waved like they are nice people. I would guess they are in their 60's. There's another younger couple with a little boy, about 3 or 4, that has bought the abandoned house at the end of our driveway. All I can say is that is going to be a BIG project! The Mom and little guy came over to borrow our bathroom while they were there mowing their yard. It seems that they mow about as often as we do, so they (or we) fit in nicely. :-)

The kids are on the edge of grouchiness today. They were up LATE Saturday night. I went out to dinner with a group of donors and the DU people who were touring them around the prairies. I attempted at babysitters twice, but they were both busy, so I asked my neighbor, Bonnie, if the kids could come over. I thought I would be home around 9pm, but I was panicked at 9pm because the server was just taking our orders at that time! I snuck into the bathroom with my cell phone to call her and make sure everything was going okay. She said things were fine, but I knew she had mentioned earlier that she wanted to get her kids to bed a little earlier that night, so I was feeling terrible about the whole situation. We ate supper at The Pier. They were not prepared for the group we had, regardless of the fact that we had made reservations. One of the waiters mentioned later, after supper was served and being picked up, that had they knew then what they knew now, they would have closed the entire upstairs off to anyone but the DU group. They just had more people than they could handle. I felt bad for them, but I'm guessing they made out well with the tips they received. Anyway, we didn't get home until about 10:30 and I was feeling terrible about it. I wish I had just been able to find a babysitter and I would have enjoyed myself a little more towards the end of the meal. It was an interesting group of people. I enjoyed them more than I have groups in the past. Not sure why? I would bet that almost EVERY single one of them came up to me to tell me what a treat Scott was for them on this tour. They all fell in love with him and his passion for the ducks. It made it really hard for me to continue being mad at him for being gone all week. (However, I seemed to manage....:-)) It was nice visiting with them and having them all tell me how great my husband is. No one has it quite as good as he does, I'm sure. He has his cake and he's eating it too. I'm thankful that he loves what he does, because it allows me to stay home with Gage and Emma, which in my opinion, is the most important thing for us right now.

Yesterday after we got home from Tuttle we stopped at home long enough for me to take a speed bath and for Gage to get his baseball uniform on so we could make it to him ballgame on time. Unfortunately it was the 7:30 game which put us home after 9......................another late night. That, combined with an early morning today to get ready for Camp Edventure = kids who are driving me insane. I'm hoping Scott can get them to bed early tonight, while I'm out playing volleyball in the cold, dreary..........probably raining by then.............weather.

Tired and boring

2009-06-11T16:19:00.003-05:00

Last night Emma had a baseball game. She is always excited to go, but last night was extra exciting for her since she had her new hair-do! I'm wondering how many people think I'm crazy! :-) It was also a special game because Kim and Juanita came to watch. I think Emma was surprised to see them. On our drive home, when we were talking about how nice it was for them to come, she asked, "How did they even know I had a game?" :-) It was a 7:30 game, so needless to say, the kids got to bed late. Gage is a bit grumpy today because of it. I'll try for an early bedtime tonight since we don't have any activities going on.

I've been going through the kids' rooms and the basement and packing up toys that they don't play with to either store, or sell at a garage sale. I hate doing garage sales because they are so much work, but the kids seem to be more willing to get rid of some things knowing that they could possibly sell them and make some money on them. We'll see how it goes. We've been doing a little each day and eventually, if I don't get rid of it, it will all be disorganized and back all over the basement and their rooms. I need to use that idea to keep me motivated!

Scott has been working a lot of extra time again this week. There are more people in for tours of the prairie. Inside the Duck Factory II, I think is what it's called. I'll be glad when it's over and I'm praying their isn't a part III!

I suppose I better get started on supper. We're making pizzas tonight. When we were at Cub Scout Day Camp we made pizzas out of flour tortillas by topping them with our favorite toppings and then grilling them on the grill. I'm not the griller in our house, so I am planning to just cook them in my electric skillet. I think the kids will enjoy making them. Gage enjoyed doing it at camp and anytime Emma gets to help fix anything in the kitchen, she is happy.

Sorry for the boring post. I think I'm a bit tired myself and it shows while I'm trying to come up with things to blog about. I had a comment on my previous post of pictures from Rachel, from Louisiana, who is apparently a long-time blog reader of mine. I just wanted to thank you for your kind comment. I hope you are right, and Gage and Emma will be happy, content teenagers. I appreciate you taking the time to post your comment. :-)

Pictures to prove I have gone mad.

2009-06-10T21:03:00.012-05:00

Emma was VERY EXCITED to head out to her 1pm appointment!

Here we go!

Emma, before the transformation.

Emma during the transformation. She was quite the wiggle worm and I had to beg Gage to let her play his DS while she was sitting under the hair dryer.

Can you say PURPLE?

YIKES! When she said it would be purple, she wasn't kidding around!

It's a tough job, being beautiful.

I guess we'll have to start calling Emma "Clash". Isn't that what purple and red do, clash?

It actually looks pretty good!

I liked the zig-zag part, but Emma didn't. :-( I haven't quite figured out how to make the zig-zag look as good as Amanda's.

I think I have gone off the deep end!

Scott and I are thinking, that when the kids are older and come asking us for piercings and tattoos and we say no, they will say, "But MOM and DAD, you NEVER let us do anything!" We can say, "Oh, do you remember when we let you color your hair green or purple?" Do you think it's going to work?

More time in the day

2009-06-10T11:18:00.002-05:00

It's amazing how much more I can get done in a day when I don't sleep until 9 or 9:30 in the morning! It's not even the extra 2 hours that do it, it's just that I feel better and have more energy. I wonder why I will still sleep in if given the chance?

Last night I had a surge of energy hit me at about 8-8:30p. I tore into the kitchen pantry and had everything drug out. I hadn't really emptied it out and cleaned it since we moved in almost 7 years ago, so it was about time. (I have cleaned it before, several times, in the past 7 years........but I just haven't drug everything out and reorganized!) It was certainly due and it looks SO MUCH better. The kids were surprised this morning when they opened the door. Mostly Emma. Gage couldn't care less. I think when Emma gets older, she is going to be very good at cleaning and organizing. She hates the mess and clutter too. In fact, she moved out of her bedroom about 2-3 weeks ago and into the guest room. I didn't really know why, until yesterday. I didn't fight the fact that she wanted to sleep in the guest room. I just wanted her to sleep and I didn't care where. She moved all of her prizely possessions, you would be amazed at some of the little pieces of junk in that group of things, into the guest room and claimed that it was because the covers were "comfier". Whatever! Emma has the most comfy bedding in the house (well, she did until I got my new bed linens a few months ago) so I didn't buy it, but I let her do it anyway, since school was nearly out. Yesterday, when that cleaning/organizing bug hit me in the early afternoon, Emma and I tore into her bedroom. AGAIN! Her bedroom can go from very organized to a pig sty in less than an hour. I threw all the papers and junk she has stashed all over her room away and put her mattress back up in the bed, instead of under the bed where she had wanted it not too long ago. We organized all of her toys and books and last night, at bedtime, she decided to move back into her room. :-) She even slept in her own bed, which was IN the dollhouse bed frame. I was sad this morning to see I lost one of my sleeping partners to Emma. Grus LOVES Emma's bed and I found him curled up with her this morning and he has been sleeping with me, snuggled up against my legs. Traitor! Anyway, I was happy that the clean room made Emma want to move back in, and it's apparent that I need to help her when her room becomes so cluttered she can't stand to be in it. That's typically why I don't do it, because I can't stand to be in it either when it gets like that!

Emma is very excited about today. She is getting something that she is very thrilled about. I'm not going to tell what it is quite yet, because I know she would be upset if I spoiled the surprise. She's been on the countdown for several days now and was very easy to get out of bed this morning when I reminded her about what she has going on today.

They are loving Camp Edventure. Not as much as I am though! However, yesterday Emma told me that she was being teased out on the playground. I got all concerned and started asking her what happened. Apparently her brother is the ring-leader! UGH! Gage started this little saying the other day, which Emma hates, and he said it to her at school and she wasn't very happy about it. He says, "Emma is the fartster.............she laughs when she farts and she farts when she laughs!" I have to admit it was pretty funny. She does fart when she gets to laughing pretty hard, which makes us all laugh even harder, until she gets mad. Anyway, it was inappropriate for Gage to do that to her at school and had his friends joining in. I'm hoping that they don't have any recesses together this fall when school starts back up. Gage got a talking-to though and I told him that he's supposed to be sticking up for his little sister when other people are teasing her, not to be the ring-leader himself! Hopefully he won't do that again.

Emma has a ballgame tonight..........................YIKES!....................that reminds me I need to get her uniform washed! I best get on that. I'm hoping that she has a good game again like the other night so we can see her in action. Thankfully Gage does not have a game, so it will be nice that we can all be there to cheer her on. I have Kysa's taco salad made for supper and I just can't wait to eat it. I LOVE her taco salad recipe and I only make it in the summertime, so it's a treat when we get to start eating it again after a long winter. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It would be even better with homegrown tomatoes, but there won't be any of those around here for at least another month! It's been too cold!

I best get going. It's almost time to get the kids picked up from Camp Edventure. I sure am enjoying my 4 hours of peace and quiet this week...................and for several weeks to come! :-)

Routine

2009-06-09T11:40:00.002-05:00

I am terrible at blogging if it isn't in my DAILY routine. If I don't do it one day, I'm bound to forget the next! Sorry!

Yesterday was the start of Camp Edventure. YEAH! The kids are at school from 8a-12p. They LOVED it! Gage said he couldn't wait to go back today! I couldn't either! :-) Emma was excited to see some of the kids from her Kindergarten class in her group and she also said she had a good time.

Emma had Daisy Day Camp yesterday from 12p-4p. She had a great time there. One of the girls in our Troop, IsaBelle, isn't in Camp Ed, and lives quite a ways out of town, so she came to town with her Dad and then I brought her home with me so I could take her to camp with Emma. We had a good morning. My plan was to make some Girl Scout SWAPS with her for camp. SWAPS are Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere that the Girls make and trade with each other. Emma and I made some on Sunday for Emma to trade and I didn't want IsaBelle not to have any, so we made some yesterday. They can be anything you want, but the idea is to have a safety pin or pin back on them so they can wear them on hats, or other things like that. Emma and I made little hot fudge sundaes for hers. We got some communion cups from church, then put a white cotton ball in the cup. On top of that I put some brown, yarn-like, kinky doll hair that I had in my craft bucket and then we topped it off with a little red pom pom for a cherry on top. We hot-glued a pin back to the side of the cup and they were pretty cute. For IsaBelle's we made one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eaters. LOL! They were pretty cute. I thought Emma might get upset because IsaBelle's turned out a little cuter than Emma's, AND I had to go to Hobby Lobby to get the supplies for IsaBelle's. I took a few pictures I'll have to post.

The kids both had baseball games at 5:45p last night and Scott wasn't able to help me out since he had some work things he had to do. Thankfully I know a Mom on Emma's baseball team pretty well and her son comes home with us sometimes from school, Camp Ed, etc., so she took Emma with her. They also live just a few blocks away which makes it convenient. Emma seemed excited to get to go with them and also didn't seem to care if she had Scott or me there to watch her. I was a little surprised by that. I guess because we're involved in about everything they do, they enjoy it when we aren't? I was sad that I missed her debut as a catcher and also missed her first hit off the pitcher! It was the second pitch too! Hopefully she'll do something spectacular like that the next time I'm at her game.

I will try to get back into my blogging routine! :-)

Cold

2009-06-06T22:38:00.002-05:00

Why is it, in the winter, when it's 40 degrees, it feels like a heatwave...............but when it happens in June, it's freezing cold? I don't think we made it over 40 degrees today and there was ALOT of snow in Dickinson. We saw MAYBE some rain that wanted to turn into snow, or at least Scott did. Wow! It was a cold one out there today. Of course it was the day of our church's annual Turkey Barbeque. It seems to always be nasty weather on that day. It used to be in May, and because of the nasty weather, they have moved it into June, and it didn't matter. Still cold. Maybe it just isn't to be? The turkey was very good regardless. AND, because there weren't many people there, we got to bring some of the leftover turkey home, so I'm excited that I won't have to fix at least one meal tomorrow! :-)

I've had a neckache/headache most of the day and I think I'm going to cut this short tonight. I did get the Day Camp pictures uploaded to Facebook, and I think that's probably where they will stay. It just takes too long to upload them on here........................so if you want to check them out Mom, head over to Facebook! :-) By the way, I tried calling you today and the phone was doing weird things? Don't know if it was on this end, or your end? Love love love ya!

Day Camp - Day 2

2009-06-05T00:00:00.002-05:00

I'm shot and I'm going to bed. TGIF tomorrow!

Cub Scout Day Camp - Day 1

2009-06-03T21:25:00.002-05:00

I survived Day 1 of Cub Scout Day Camp........................barely! There were a couple boys that I just wanted to knock their heads together, but other than that, it was a pretty good, but long, day. They had all sorts of activities going on and I think they all had fun. It was a beautiful day for it. Although I must admit I wasn't very smart in the sunscreen department. I lathered Gage and Emma up well, but neglected to put any on my face. I thought I had put some on my face, but apparently I didn't. My face is pretty much fried, except for where my sunglasses were. I'll be smarter tomorrow!

Emma actually didn't end up staying at Day Camp today. One of her friends from school has a brother in Cub Scouts as well, and their Mom offered to take Emma home with them. I was very thankful for that. I think Emma would have had fun; however, I sometimes feel bad for Gage that he can never do these things without his little sister tagging along.

I think I'm on the verge of a major headache......................to much sun for 1 day I think..............so I am going to cut this short.

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.