Me and My Boys

Over a Year?

2011-04-21T12:36:00.002-05:00

I can't believe its been over a year since my last post. I've been slacking. And busy. But mostly just slacking. Lets see....

David is now in 2nd grade. We pulled him out of public school and put him in a private school in Sparta. He loves it, and is doing very well. He's learning to write in cursive and has words on his spelling lists that I can't believe are on a 2nd grader's spelling list. He consistently brings home spelling tests with A+s on them. David is also taking piano lessons, and is doing fairly well. He just needs to learn to count a steady beat while he plays. He'll be going to church camp this summer for the first time with his cousin, Owen, in Minnesota. He's very excited about it, and a little nervous, too.

Nathaniel is in his 2nd year of pre-kindergarten. Because he has an August birthday, he turned 5 about 3 weeks before he would have started kindergarten. At the end of last year, his pre-k teachers, Richard & I made the decision to have him repeat pre-k - he just wasn't ready for kindergarten; he would have ended up repeating kindergarten. His teachers now assure me that he's ready for Kindergarten. He'll have David's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Fawcett, who is awesome! :) Nathaniel is our stubborn one, the one most like Richard. He wants to do things his way, or no way, and isn't afraid to butt heads with anyone, anyone except Daddy, that is. He loves to play outside, and keeps asking if its spring, even though just a couple of days ago we got 6 inches of snow.

I started working out in late December with a gal from church, and we've been pretty regular about it. We've been going to Snap Fitness, and I've really enjoyed it, although when I'm there I usually don't want to be there. I've also been playing piano and singing on the church worship team, which I really enjoy doing.

Richard has been keeping busy at Ft. McCoy, instructing for Blue Force Tracker. He's getting ready to head down to San Antonio for an Army rifle competition; he's very excited (although you'd never know it), this could open a lot of doors for him.

Well. A brief synopsis of the past year. I'll try to be a bit more regular from now on. Ta-ta for now!

Yes, Yes I'm Here!

2010-03-07T15:02:00.003-06:00

I know, I know, its been a while. Ok. A long while since my last post. I've been trying not to spend so much time on the internet, so I haven't even been reading the blogs that I did before. Call it a New Year's Resolution.

So what's been happening here? Lets see......

We had a really nice Christmas holiday. We went down to my parents' house and didn't get to go to Christmas Eve service because it was canceled due to bad weather. Dad and I almost didn't go last minute shopping for Mom due to the yucky weather. But we managed to make it into town. A couple days after Christmas, we went up to Richard's sister's place in the Twin Cities, and spent several days there. A nice suprise for the boys was Richard's aunt Cherie was visiting from Boise, and we didn't tell the boys, so they were excited! They had another suprise when we finally got home. "Santa" left a Wii and a bunch of games. The kids could hardly contain themselves, they were so excited. The most popular game by far has been the Lego Star Wars: The Collection. It has all 6 episodes on it. I have to admit that it is rather fun.

The boys are still enjoying school. We haven't had any more snow days since the last post, which is good, because then the kids will actually get a 4 day Easter Weekend, which also doubles as their Spring Break.

My bread machine finally died, so now I'm using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to make bread. As long as I preheat my stoneware loaf pan (pampered chef!!) in the oven before I put the bread dough in it, it rises pretty well.

Richard is keeping busy with work, although during the winter his hours are a little more normal. He's been getting home between 4:30 and 5:30 pm, which is a lot better than, "I don't know when I'll be home". We actually get to eat dinner as a family most nights.

Richard now has orders that will take him through April, 2011, so we're here till then. Yippee! We asked for our landlord's permission to paint our front room, and they said yes, so I'm hoping to get that done in the next few weeks. I had to promise that we wouldn't use pink, purple or black though. :)

Midnight is doing pretty well. She still doesn't have a lot of feeling in her back feet, she can't "tell where her feet are". That's what the vet says, anyway. But the vet was also surprised that she's still up and going. The vet didn't think she'd last this long.

Richard and I had a nice Valentine's Day. We went to a couples banquet at church. It was a lot of fun, and the food was excellent! A couple who is working on opening a real French restaurant (she's French, he's a chef) in La Crosse did the cooking, so everything was great.

Can you believe that in just over 2 weeks, Richard & I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary?

I think that's it in a nutshell. I'm going to try to post at least once a week from now on.

Snow Day!!

2009-12-09T09:27:00.004-06:00

Today is the first snow day of the school year. David & Nathaniel slept in till about 7:45 am, much to my delight. They wanted to go outside right away, but I've been making them wait a little while. They do need to eat breakfast, and they have a few chores to do before heading outside to play.

In the meantime, here are some pictures just to show how much snow we've gotten since yesterday afternoon.

This is Stormy, up to her chest in snow, but she loves it.

Our poor grill is covered.

Stormy again.

And somewhere, under all that snow is our red car. Oh, right. There it is.

We've gotten over a foot of snow so far, and it just keeps coming. The wind is starting to pick up too. I'm guessing when the kids finally go outside, it won't be for very long.

In other, non-snowy news, Richard has bronchitis. He went and saw a Dr on post yesterday. So he's on drugs for the next 10 days. Poor guy. I'm still not feeling great, but I am feeling much better compared to a week ago. I still don't have my appetite back, which is good for the waistline.

Monday evening was our last FPU lesson for this class session. I'm going to take a break until the end of February, and then start another one.

Have a great Snow Day!

I Have a VERY Good Reason....

2009-11-29T14:19:00.003-06:00

for not posting anything for an entire week. In my previous post, I mentioned that David was sick. Well, he was running a fever all last weekend, and then Monday afternoon, while Nathaniel was out with Richard, he got sick as well. But not just throwing up sick. Out the other end as well. So I made a Drs' appt for David on Tuesday, and of course had to bring Nathaniel along. Turns out it was H1N1. Yep. Both at the same time, just a couple days apart symptom-wise. So we didn't go to Iowa for Thanksgiving. So up until yesterday (Saturday) we were all doing fairly well. Until about 2:30 am, when it was my turn. So I spent all day yesterday in bed, while Richard held down the fort. He called the Dr for me and a Rx for Tamiflu was called in for me, so he and the boys went and picked that up. The highest my fever was all day was 101.9, and its down around 99 now. I'm feeling much better now that I'm not throwing up every 30 minutes or so like I was early yesterday morning. Richard is such a good hubby, he even ran a bath for me yesterday since my back was hurting from laying in bed all day.

I did get some Christmas shopping done on Friday, the craziest store I went to was Old Navy. There was a line to check out almost all the way back to the back of the store. I was out of there quick. Not wanting to fight crowds.

See? I did have a good excuse for going so long without a post.

Only 25 shopping days left til Christmas! :)

This and That

2009-11-22T20:21:00.003-06:00

Let's see... what has been happening around here?

Oh yes, Richard finally got a buck a couple of weeks ago. It was the 8th of November, to be exact. A little rack, but he doesn't usually go for trophy bucks, just something to put meat on the table (or freezer). That one he shot with his bow. He just shot one yesterday, another buck, with his rifle. Actually, with my rifle. His buddy talked him into doing a European mount of the head/antlers, which translates to a bare skull & antlers. Much, much cheaper than a full mount. By about $400-450 dollars.

Richard took the boys with him yesterday up to his buddy's house to cut up the deer. He called me about a hour after they left to tell me to come get David. He threw up in the parking lot of a gas station. I talked him in to letting him rest and see if it was just motion sickness, but he kept throwing up. So I had to drive an hour and 15 minutes to get them (all 3 came home with me). I left at 7:45 pm, and we all got home about 11 pm. We, of course, had to stay and visit for a little while, which is why we got home so late.

Oh, and I celebrated my 30-something birthday this past Thursday. Richard and the boys took me out to eat at Famous Dave's in La Crosse. It was a lot of fun. That day I also went to help out in David's class, and I brought in birthday treats for the kids. There was a substitute teacher, and she was helping the kids make a giant birthday card for me when I arrived. It was really sweet. And they sang Happy Birthday to me and I got hugs from several of the kids. They kept asking how old I was and I told them I was older than 30 & younger than 40. They were a little disappointed with that answer.

Can You Believe It!?!

2009-11-18T10:08:00.003-06:00

Yep, its another post from yours truly. Finally. We haven't had much going on since David's exciting coloring contest win, so no posts. Still don't have much going on, so this is likely to be short.

Have you ever seen something that just breaks your heart? Of course you have. And I have too, but what I saw on Monday ripped my heart out and stomped on it.

I go in 2 times a week to help in David's class. Monday I went in, and went to PE with the class. I noticed a little boy who was wearing jeans that were so short on him that they could've been capris. And his long sleeved shirt was more the 3/4 length. I didn't see any kids teasing him about it, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen. And this isn't the first time I've seen this boy wear clothes that were obviously too small for him. Obviously, his parents either can't afford to buy him clothes that fit, or, well, I guess that would be the only logical explanation. So after thinking about it & praying about it, I asked Richard if we could buy the boy some new clothes. Anonymously. And he agreed. I was almost in tears talking to Richard about it, it had me so upset. So I'm watching sales, and hope to go shopping for him this weekend. We're going to make sure to take all the tags off everything so that nothing can be returned for cash that the parents will spend on themselves.

In other news, David gets out of school early today & will be home around 2pm. He's excited about that. Except that I told him he might have to take a nap. :) Maybe. We'll see.

Oh, and Richard & I went on Sunday afternoon to see the high school production of "The Sound of Music", one of my very favorite musicals. The cast did a fantastic job! It was actually made up of elementary school age up to high school. The girl who played Maria did an awesome job! And the boy who played Captian von Trapp was very, very good as well. Richard basically went because I really, really wanted to go, but he ended up being very impressed as well. Two of the von Trapp children were played by two girls from church. They did a great job as well. The entire cast was great. I do have to say that the boy who was cast to play Rolfe did a good job, but his makeup made him look like a girl. It didn't help that he had long hair that was in a pony tail that was tucked into his collar. But other than that, I'd go see it again. But it only ran over the weekend.

David's Picture

2009-11-07T10:11:00.004-06:00

For those of you who asked, here is a picture of the picture David drew for the Hometown Heroes Coloring Contest that he won (see November 6th's post). I jokingly asked him last night if I could throw the picture away. With a look of panic on his face he said, "NO!" To which I answered, "I'm just kidding!" What a look of relief!

Among other news, Richard is out hunting this morning. He left the house around 5:30 am. I still haven't heard anything from him, and I'm not going to call him either. Hopefully he'll get something today.

I'm also taking David to the eye doctor this afternoon. He started complaining on Thursday that the words in a book we were reading were fuzzy, and when I mentioned it to his teacher, she said that he said he couldn't read the words on the board at school. So we'll see what the Dr. says.

A Big, Super Cool Announcement!!

2009-11-06T15:21:00.005-06:00

Ok, some of you are probably wondering what my Big, Super Cool Announcement is. So let me tell you now......

No, I am not pregnant. :)

Here's the announcement part.....

David, was one of 2 1st graders (they picked 1 boy & 1 girl) that won the Hometown Heroes 2009 Coloring Contest, sponsored by the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in Wisconsin. From what I understand, all the 1st graders in town entered in the contest. They had to draw a picture of a hero(es), on the back of a Piggly Wiggly brown paper grocery bag. David drew a picture of an army tank and a helicopter. He got a huge trophy, a $50 savings bond & a reuseable grocery bag full of junk food from Piggly Wiggly. We went to the dinner/ceremony last night, where David was given his award. His teacher, Mrs. Vian, was there with her husband. We sat with them & chatted & ate dinner together. It was a nice time. Below are some pictures of last night.

Nathaniel gives me a big kiss. Do you see that mischevious look in his eye?

David & his teacher, Mrs. Vian, and her husband. David is showing them how to play Big Game Hunter on Richard's phone.

A self-portriat of Nathaniel. He loves taking pictures.

A picture of Richard taken by Nathaniel.

A picture of David & I taken by Nathaniel.

David explaining his picture to everyone. He then walked around and showed people his picture. He is such a ham!

Here he is getting his $50 savings bond, which was promptly handed over to me.

David and the big, big trophy. Its at least 2 feet tall!

David and all his goodies. Sorry the picture is sideways. He got lots of not-good-for-you treats in that bag!

So that was my announcement. Sorry to disappoint some of you. :) I'm so proud of this boy, I'm about ready to burst. He was great!

Oh My Goodness!

2009-11-03T10:32:00.003-06:00

Has it really been over a week since I last posted anything? I am slacking. In defense of my lack of posts, I, well, I don't really have any. Wait, wait, yes I do! We were gone from Oct 28th to Nov 1st visiting my parents in Iowa. Ok, that does nothing for anything prior to the 28th or after the 1st, but still!

We did have a good, long weekend visiting Grandma and Grandpa. The boys love seeing them, and I know the feeling is mutual. We got to take the boys trick or treating on Friday (in the rain) and although there was only 1 in 3 or 4 houses giving out candy, they still ended up with lots of treats.

One of the highlights for Nathaniel when we visit Grandma & Grandpa are Grandpa's trains. Dad has been working on a setup for a while, and although not yet finished, it thrills Nathaniel to no end. He would spend hours watching the trains go round and round if we let him. I think when he gets to be a little older, he'd help Grandpa with the construction of the train display.

David & Nathaniel also got to go outside with Dad and Grandpa and shoot the little .22 rifle we bought David a while back. David is getting pretty good at hitting the spinner target without the use of a scope. Nathaniel just had fun pulling the trigger.

And what was I doing during all this? Playing Scrabble with Mom, of course.

Soccer Pictures!

2009-10-25T17:28:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning (Satruday) was David's last soccer game. They lost 2-0, but they played well and had fun. There were 7 kids on the team, but only 5 showed up yesterday, and one was late enough that he missed the first quarter. And since there are only 4 on the field per team at a time, all the kids played the entire first quarter. David was the defender (of the goal). He really enjoys playing defender. Here are a few pictures of the final game.

David is the one with the ball.

David kicking the ball after the other team scored.

Here's the team after the game.

The team & their coaches.

And David.

After we got home yesterday afternoon, David asked what he could sign up for next. He said he wanted to play badmitton, although I'm not sure where that came from. I think there is a spring soccer league, so we'll probably sign him up for that. And maybe ragball in the summer. We'll let him choose. We're not going to let him do so many things at once that we're never home.

A Midnight Update

2009-10-22T07:06:00.002-05:00

No, not an update at midnight. An update about Richard's dog, Midnight. Cousin Nancy was the one burning the midnight oil. I hope she's sleeping now.

Anyway, Midnight seems to be doing fairly well. We've got her on painkillers and anti-inflamatory drugs, and she seems to be responding well to them, aside from the fact that she sleeps a lot. More than normal, but that's the painkillers. It was really evident yesterday morning when we accidentally gave her a double dose of the painkillers. Richard gave it to her before he left for work, and I gave it to her after I got the boys on the bus. She slept very soundly for a good 6 hours. But she's none the worse for wear. Richard did comment the other day as to how much longer we want to keep drugging her. Eventually we'll have to up her dosage again. And then again. How long is too long to wait? That is the unspoken questions floating around our house right now.

Onto other things...

David has his last soccer practice tonight. If its not raining, that is. His last game is Saturday morning. Pictures. I must take pictures. One thing I thought was odd was that the kids didn't get any type of uniform. I remember having a uniform, at least a shirt of some sort. The kids here wear their own clothes and a pull over jersey that they give back after every game. For the $21 registration fee you think that they could give them at least a t-shirt that has "Sparta Youth Soccer" on it so something. Oh well.

We've Been Saved....

2009-10-20T16:48:00.002-05:00

by the pest contol guy, Randy. He came this afternoon and sprayed the outside of the house. And bugs were dropping off the side of the house, like, well, flies. Ok, that was bad. Sorry. But seriously, they were, and its great. Well worth the $90.

David and I were talking about what he did in school today, and he mentioned a fight he had with a boy named Daden. I'm not sure what it entailed, exactly, but the school never called me, so I'm assuming no blood was drawn on either side. He then mentioned that sometimes he has doodles with his friends, Dylan & Tristan. I knew exactly what he meant, but it was too cute to correct him. He said that they don't doodle with guns, but they just hit each other. Yep, duels is what he meant to say. And again, I've never been called about these duels, so I'm guessing that its just playground games. But doodles was too cute!

We're Being Invaded.....

2009-10-19T15:54:00.002-05:00

Seriously. By Japanese beetles. They look like ladybugs, but they aren't. They live in the soybean fields, and once harvest starts, they are all over the place. And guess what happened today. Yep, everyone and their brother are out harvesting. You can literally see them flying around outside, there are that many of them. I don't envy David having to walk down the driveway when the bus drops him off. Wherever there is a little hole, in they come. In through the air vents, through the window air conditioners, through the door when you open it. I feel like I have an inkling of what the Egyptians went through during the plague of locusts. But I'm sure that it was much, much worse that what we're dealing with right now. I just called our landlord to find out when the pest control guy was coming. No one answered. Someone, save us!!!

A Difficult Few Days

2009-10-17T19:15:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted anything for a few days. Wednesday I had no excuse, but Thursday & Friday, I had other things on my mind. Richard's dog, Midnight, who is 12 1/2 years old, began having trouble walking Thursday afternoon. I took her to the vet on Friday, and after X-Rays, the vet had some bad news. Midnight has a degenerative spinal disorder. She's lost some control over her back legs, and can't feel much in her feet. Its not going to get better, it can only be controled with pain meds. She's on the doggy equivalent of Tylenol and Codine, so she's spent a lot of time the last day sleeping. She is walking a little better, but we can tell she's still hurting.

Richard & I slept on our hide-a-bed last night, since she's not supposed to go up/down stairs anymore. Neither of us slept well, and I woke up with a migraine.

The boys know that she's not feeling well, and tonight, as gently as we could, we explained to David that Midnight isn't going to get better, and eventually we'll have to have her put to sleep. The poor boy. It breaks my heart that we had to tell him, but we felt we needed to prepare him. Please keep us in your prayers, as the next few days will be very difficult as Richard makes the decision whether to put her to sleep or keep her around for a while longer.

David asked me if we had pictures of Midnight. I looked through a bunch of pictures, and found the ones below. Most of these were pre-Nathaniel.

David & Midnight, February, 2005

Midnight (laying down) & Stormy, June, 2006

David & Midnight, December, 2003

David & Midnight, July, 2003

What Is That Stuff?

2009-10-13T19:11:00.003-05:00

This was yesterday. Yep, that white stuff is snow. It never did stick and it turned to rain in the afternoon, but the kids loved it while it was falling.

We had FPU last night. It was on credit bureaus and how creditors can use underhand tactics to collect debts, and what you can do to protect yourself. Dave Ramsey never teaches to try to dodge a debt, but this teaches you how to deal with creditors. We also had 4 people cut up a total of 5 credit cards to the tune of about $6000.00. It was great.

I just started a book today, and am about 2/3rd of the way through it. Its by Jerry Jenkins, co-author of the Left Behind series. The book is called "Soon" It was published in 2003. Here is what amazon.com says about the book.

"Paul Stepola, an agent working for the National Peacekeeping Organization (NPO), has been assigned to enforce compliance with the world government's prohibition on religion. Paul relishes his job and is good at it. He is determined to expose underground religion--flush it out, expose it, and kill it--until his life is turned upside down and he is forced to look at life in a different way.
As Paul begins to unravel the truth about what he has found, events taking place around the world start to make sense. Something big is coming--something that can't be stopped. And it is coming soon. "

Its very intriguing, and I just realized that its the first in a series, and from what I can tell, our church library doesn't have the rest of the books. Well, I guess I have something to ask for my Birthday & Christmas.

Let it Snow....

2009-10-12T11:39:00.002-05:00

It is snowing. Yep. I said snowing. Its not sticking yet, but it is snowing. Has been for a couple of hours now. I love how pretty falling snow is. So silent and peaceful.

Snow?!?!

2009-10-11T18:46:00.002-05:00

They are predicting a snow-rain mix tomorrow, around an inch. We'll see what comes of it, but it would please Nathaniel to no end. He's been asking when its going to snow for at least 3 weeks now. He desperately wants to build a snowman and play in the snow. It was so difficult to get him inside last winter that I'm not really looking forward to this winter in regards to that. I do love the snow, though.

Well, our team did it again. The Broncos beat the Patriots in OT 20-17. It was a good game. Did you know their new coach is only 33 years old?

David had a soccer game yesterday morning. Boy, was it cold! The team played hard, but the other team won, 3-2. No one from our team was very pleased with the other coach though. He was constantly trying to influence the ref's calls (She was an 8th grader & not much taller than the tallest kid playing), and his team was constantly pushing, shoving, grabbing, etc. And the ref wasn't calling any of it. Our coaches were going to have a talk with the guy in charge of the league about the coach and the ref, since she wasn't calling anything unless the ball went out of bounds.

David finally goes back to school tomorrow! He had a lot of school work to do after missing a week of school, and he got it all done today. Spelling & Math, mostly. He's pretty good at math, he just doesn't want to sit and do the work.

Finally!

2009-10-09T18:01:00.004-05:00

David is fever-free! His temp was normal when I took it yesterday morning! Yippee! He would have gone to school today except that there wasn't school due to parent/teacher conferences. So he and Nathaniel got to go play at a friend's house while I got my hair cut & colored. I had the appt originally for last Friday, but had to change it since David was sick, and when I rescheduled it, I'd forgotten that the kids didn't have school. My friend Lisa, who has 4 kids, a boy who is David's age & her youngest daughter is Nathaniel's age, agreed to watch them for me. The boys had a great time with Daniel and Isabella.

We had our FPU class last night instead of Monday night because of the Monday night football game, Packers vs. Vikings. Its a big game since the teams are huge rivals & it was made even bigger this year since Brett Farve is playing for the Vikings. We usually root for the Packers, but wanted to see Brett Farve beat his old team. And beat them he did! Anyway, class was good. We watched the "Dumping Debt" DVD, which is my favorite out of all 13 of the lessons.

Tonight is the 2nd episode of Stargate: Universe. Well, technically, its the 3rd episode, since the premiere last week was 2 hours. But the 2nd week. I'm looking forward to it. Its also the season premiere of season 2 for Sanctuary. Both are on SyFy, back to back, starting at 8pm CST.

Really, Truly Almost Not Sick

2009-10-07T19:29:00.002-05:00

David's fever has been down under 100 degrees all day! He won't go to school again tomorrow, and there isn't school on Friday due to parent/teacher conferences, so he has another 4 days to recuperate before school next week. I received an email from his teacher this morning, and 1/2 of his class was out sick Monday & Tuesday with the same symptoms as David. Apparently 2 students were back today, but probably shouldn't have been. At least he won't be the only one who is behind on his schoolwork.

Still Sickly....

2009-10-06T19:25:00.002-05:00

David still isn't feeling well. His fever has been around 101 all day, just slightly less than that with Ibuprofen. While we were at the Dr's office for my appt, he re-checked David voluntarily (he offered, I didn't ask). He again said that if he's still running a fever over 100 tomorrow to bring him back and they'd run some tests. What I thought was neat was that he said even if he was booked full for appts, that he'd squeeze David in in between his scheduled appts. I really like this Dr! He's very thorough.

Fevers and Coughs and Sniffles....

2009-10-05T16:40:00.004-05:00

Oh my! I took David to the Dr today, along with Nathaniel. Without making Nathaniel sleepy, there isn't a lot we can do for his motion sickness, except try things like crackers, or peppermint candy. Oh well, it was worth a shot. The Dr can't do anything for David, either. Although he did say that if David is still running a fever on Wednesday that I should bring him in for some tests. Tests, I'm guessing, that include checking for the H1N1 virus. We'll just wait and see, I guess.

Richard is going bow hunting after work tonight. Again trying for a deer. Every time he's gone, his buddy has either seen one or more deer, or has shot one, and Richard has seen none. Hopefully tonight will be the night.

Almost Not Sickly

2009-10-04T19:48:00.002-05:00

David's fever broke last night, and he was normal this morning. But this evening his temperature is back up to 99.2. Which isn't high, but isn't normal, so he's spending one more day home from school. And since I have to take Nathaniel to the Dr to see about his motion sickness, I'm going to see if I can get David in at the same time to have him checked out & get both of them flu shots if possible.

I have a re-check on Tuesday at the Drs for my migraines. The anti-depressant seems to be working better than the beta-blocker, but I'm still getting migraines, although much less, probably by about half. That's still 1-2 migraines a week though, instead of 3-4. I haven't been doing as good a job of keeping track of them like I was before, so that number isn't quite as accurate, but its pretty close. So we'll see what he decides.

I do have to say this though, before I close.....

GO BRONCOS!

Those of you who are Cowboys fans will understand.....

Stargate: Universe & A Still SIckly Boy

2009-10-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

Richard and I watched the premier of Stargate: Universe last night. I have been looking forward to this for, well, since the series finale of Stargate: Atlantis. I'm going to keep this spoiler free for those who haven't seen it yet. (Its on Hulu.com if you want to watch it and you don't have cable/Dish/DirecTV with SyFy) I really enjoyed it. My favorite character so far is Eli Wallace (David Blue). Lou Diamond Phillips is in as well, but his part is smaller, you could almost call his Col. Telford a secondary character. The biggest disappointment to me was the sex scene towards the beginning of the show. Totally unnecessary. But other than that, I really liked it. It was a 2 hour premiere ("Air parts I & II") with a cliff-hanger ending that will be resolved in next week's episode "Air III". That's all I'll say about it for now.

David is still not feeling great, although he's better today than he was yesterday. His fever is still high, 101.1 as of 7:00 pm, so not as bad as yesterday. I'm hoping his fever will break tonight so he can be fever free tomorrow and go back to school on Monday.

A Sickly One

2009-10-01T18:44:00.002-05:00

David came home today not feeling well. He said he didn't feel that bad, but was cold and couldn't get warm. After I finally got him talked into putting on a long sleeve shirt & he still couldn't get warm, I took his temperature. It was 102.5 degrees. He's not going to school tomorrow. School policy is that the ill student has to been symptom free for 24 hrs before going back to school. And if he's still running a fever tomorrow, he won't be going to his soccer game on Saturday.

Nathaniel threw up on the bus again today. But it wasn't as bad as it sounds, since he threw up in the garbage can & didn't get any on himself. Since he hadn't had anything to eat, it was just stomach fluids, but still. Sometimes that's worse. I'm taking him to the Dr on Monday to see if we can get him something for motion sickness.

What to do?

2009-09-30T09:52:00.003-05:00

I blogged a few weeks ago about needing a new bread machine. http://richterihart-meandmyboys.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-labored-on-labor-day.html My good friend Lynna suggested using a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Richard got me one for my birthday last year, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the bread dough isn't rising as much as it did when I used my bread machine. I dissolve the yeast in warm water (about 115 degrees) and then add the rest of the wet ingredients & then the dry. I even mixed the dough longer that I did the last time, but it still isn't rising like it should. Any suggestions?

I'm just warming up the oven to put my latest loaf in the oven, and it is so much smaller than the loafs that I get when I use the bread machine. Help!

Its Definetly Fall.....

2009-09-29T19:30:00.003-05:00

I had to get up at 3:00 am this morning to turn on the heat! I kept waking up freezing, and finally got up and turned on the heat. That, and I had to put the cat outside. It was 61 degrees in the house at 3:00 am. It was 66 when I got up at 6:00 to get the boys up for school. I turned off the heat & its only cooled down to 64 over the course of the day. I did put fleece sheets & our blanket on the bed today. At Richard's request. :)

Tomorrow we get to sleep in! School is starting 2 hours late, so the bus won't come until about 8:30 am. And since school isn't starting until 10:00, Nathaniel doesn't have school at all, since he is only in school for 2 hr & 45 minutes.

Nathaniel's First Field Trip

2009-09-28T21:50:00.003-05:00

Nathaniel had his first school field trip today. They went to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins. He was so excited to come home and show me his pumpkin! Its not very big, about 5 lbs or so, but its an almost perfect pumpkin. He is so proud of that pumpkin! But he was playing with it this afternoon. Rolling it around on the floor. I kept telling him that if it broke open we would have to throw it away. So he'd leave it alone for a little while, then I'd hear more thump-thump-thumps as it rolled across the hardwood floor. If it makes it till the end of October, we're going to make it into a jack-o-lantern.

I Got The Best Hug....

2009-09-27T20:11:00.004-05:00

today from David. Just a little while ago. He crawled up in my lap, wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped my arms around him, and we just sat like that for a good 5 minutes. Not saying a lot, just sitting there. He told me I was his "best mom ever", and that he could never have a better mom. (sniff, sniff) I hope he never gets too old to say stuff like that.

He Shoots! He Scores!

2009-09-26T19:03:00.002-05:00

Twice! David made 2 goals today during his first ever soccer game. His team won, 6-2. They dominated (can 1st, 2nd & 3rd graders dominate?) the first 2 quarters, then the other team scored 2 goals in the 3rd quarter and both teams didn't score at all during the 4th quarter. Both teams played really well for only having 3 practices.

Other than that, it was a pretty leisurely Saturday. I baked chocolate chip cookies while Nathaniel napped & David & Richard did their own things. Which included looking at 1980's Transformer toys on the internet. David's idea, of course. He is obsessed with Transformers. That's almost all he can talk about. Its almost annoying.

The boys (all 3 of them) just came in from shooting their bows. Time for snacks and then bedtime.

Soccer Practice!

2009-09-24T21:26:00.002-05:00

David had soccer practice tonight. He was really excited to go, and Nathaniel was too, but mainly because he got to play on the playground equipment. I spent the hour chatting with a mom whose daughter is in Nathaniel's pre-k class. She is a 4-5th grade teacher. She gets the kids in 4th grade and has them through the end of 5th grade. Anyway, before we started chatting, I was watching Nathaniel play, and all of a sudden he says, "I pee, Mom!" and heads away from the play equipment and starts to drop his pants. I was like, "No, not there!" so he moves. "I pee on grass, Mom!" and drops his pants. So I kinda blocked him so he wasn't totally exposed, but there wasn't anywhere for him to pee, and not any trees close enough for him to hide behind. Oh well. He's 4.

Nathaniel threw up on the bus again today. He's not sick. Just motion sickness. They got him cleaned up at school, and I picked him up when class was over so he wouldn't have to carry the dirty clothes & backpack home. I was able to wash everything, including his backpack, so that's good. No more milk before school!

More Fresh Salsa!

2009-09-23T21:25:00.002-05:00

Ok, so my friend Lynna posted a comment that I should roast the peppers before I add them to any fresh salsa that I make. So I searched the internet & found directions, and gave it a try this morning. I did it on our gas grill, as I didn't want to turn our oven on, since it was pretty warm today. Anyway, the peppers roasted fine, but even after leaving them in a plastic bag to sweat, rinsing them in cold water & cutting off the stems, I still had trouble peeling them. I ended up leaving a good portion of the skins on, since they wouldn't come off anyway, and chopped them up and added them to the tomatoes, cilantro & red onion. In total, it was 6 roasted garden salsa peppers. I did not sample it, as I wanted Richard to taste it first & see how hot it was. So he tried it when he got home, and said that it had a kick, but not too bad. So I tried it. Too much of a kick for me, but I don't like hot stuff.

Richard & the boys spent a little while outside this afternoon shooting their bows. David and Nathaniel are doing pretty well. Not very accurate, but they're having fun. Richard shot an arrow. With another arrow. Seriously. It doesn't happen often, but when it does..... he split the shaft of the arrow about half way down, and was not happy. Arrows aren't cheap.

Today was a dreary day....

2009-09-22T21:18:00.003-05:00

it was cloudy and cool, but not cold, and very humid. Everything feels damp. I hate that. I had to dry my bed linens in the dryer because they never would have dried out on the clothes line. It did rain a little, but not too much, but we're looking at rain for the next few days. Hopefully it won't rain during David's soccer practice on Thursday, or during his game on Saturday.

Richard spent most of the day deer hunting since a class he was supposed to teach was canceled. He didn't even see a deer the entire time he was in the tree stand. He might go tomorrow. It depends on when he gets done with work.

FPU Week 2

2009-09-21T21:42:00.003-05:00

We had a good class tonight. Dave Ramsey is a very smart, funny man, and he's right on the money. (excuse the pun, please) We had a good group discussion; usually we split into 2 small groups, but we were missing 4 couples tonight, so we all met in the same group. It was good.

Richard went hunting for the first time tonight. Didn't get anything, but is going to try again tomorrow after work.

I'm tired.....

2009-09-20T21:45:00.001-05:00

and I'm heading for bed. Not much happened today that's blog-worthy. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Fresh Salsa!

2009-09-19T20:08:00.003-05:00

I made my first attempt at fresh salsa today. I searched around the internet looking for an easy recipe and found one. Of course, every recipe calls for jalapeno peppers, of which we have none. Didn't plant any this year. So I substituted garden salsa peppers, which are milder. Instead of 2 jalapeno peppers with no seeds, I used 3 garden salsa peppers with seeds from 2 of them. The result was an awesome flavored, very mild salsa. But since I was really making this for Richard, at his request, I added 3 more garden salsa peppers, with all the seeds. I'll have to get his opinion a little later on the revised version.

David had another soccer practice this morning. He had a lot of fun. They had a practice game at the end of practice, and he really enjoyed it. They don't play with goalies, and only 4 from each team on the field at one time. They have a half circle close to the goal that they can't go in unless the ball strays accidentally. It'll be fun to watch a game next week.

Toy Story in 3-D!

2009-09-18T20:48:00.002-05:00

We just saw a trailer for Toy Story & Toy Story 2 as a double feature in 3-D! Starting Oct 2nd, and only for 2 weeks. We're going to take the boys if it comes somewhere near us. Nathaniel especially loves Woody & Buzz. He sleeps with them every night.

Oh, sleep. That sounds like a good idea. Night-night!

A Big Day!

2009-09-17T19:36:00.003-05:00

Today was a big day for David for a couple of reasons. One, Daddy is home! Yeah! And two, it was his first day of soccer practice! He was so excited he could hardly eat dinner! I took the camera, but then realized that the battery was dead, so no pictures tonight. They have a practice on Saturday morning, then for the next 5 weeks its just practices on Thursdays and games on Saturdays. He's so proud of his new soccer cleats and socks & shin guards.

I got a call this morning......

2009-09-16T18:22:00.003-05:00

from the bus barn. Nathaniel threw up on the bus, somewhere between David's school & Nathaniel's school. Its only about a 5 minute drive, even in a school bus. I think he just got motion sick because he's not running a fever, he hasn't gotten sick again and he's acting totally normal. But because some other kids in his class have been sick, I took him home just to be on the safe side. He took a bubble bath (cause he really smelled) and then laid down on the couch to watch Tom & Jerry. He fell asleep around 10:00 & slept till about noon.

While he slept, I took the opportunity to continue cleaning up my computer/scrapbooking room. As I type this, I'm sitting at a totally clean computer desk. Yippee! I filed papers that needed filing & sorted through a bunch of papers & threw a bunch away. I had a bunch of stuff to burn, and Nathaniel helped with that after his nap.

Richard is in Chicago right now, awaiting his 8:00 pm flight to La Crosse. He's thinking he'll be home about 11:00 pm. I'll be out cold. The nice part is he has Thursday & Friday off.

David starts soccer tomorrow. He's really excited.

Its Only Tuesday??

2009-09-15T19:28:00.003-05:00

It feels like it should be Friday! Today was pretty uneventful. Our lp tank (liquid propane) was filled in preparation for cooler weather & turning the heat on. It was a pleasant suprise when the bill came to only $365.40. It was $1.40 a gallon. This time last year it was around $2.00 a gallon, in the winter of '08 we paid as much as @2.30 a gallon. Hopefully the price per gallon will stay low.

One thing I forgot to mention that I did yesterday was that I went and helped in David's class in the morning. It was fun, and I started learning everyones names and started getting a hint of the different personalities in the class. David was so excited he could hardly stand it! I'm going to be helping on Mondays & Thursdays, so I'll be going back in a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to it.

Only 1 more day till Richard gets home! He's been down in Mississippi since Labor Day for training. Tomorrow is his travel day home. Unfortunately he won't get home until around 11:00 pm. His flight gets in about 9:00 pm, but he has to drive from La Crosse to Ft. McCoy to take a buddy home, the come back to the house. He does have Thursday & Friday off, however.

Monday night Football? Nah!

2009-09-14T21:19:00.003-05:00

How about Financial Peace University? That's where I was tonight. It was great fun. Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time & everything went smoothly (except a minor technical issue with the DVD player). We've got a good group.

I do believe that's all I have to say this evening. Except I'm tired & I have a headache. Time for bed.

It Was A Good Day....

2009-09-13T19:38:00.003-05:00

Church service was good. I played piano for the worship team, which went well. We had a guest speaker today because our senior pastor is out with his family since their 8 year old son, Benjamin, had open heart surgery on Tuesday. I believe he had a hole in his heart, but the surgery was successful. Praise God! Benjamin is a great kid. After service we had the annual Hot Roast potluck, which was yummy. Always lots of good food, most of which my kids won't eat, of course. After the potluck, we had what was dubbed the Psalm 150 service. (you should read it) We had some people sing, play piano & the worship team did a couple of songs. It was fun. Nathaniel fell asleep during it, which was suprising since the music was pretty loud.

The boys were in bed about 7:20, but I had to go up about 8:00 to take Nathaniel to the bathroom. Twice in about 5 minutes. David was out cold. I wish I could sleep like that.

Tomorrow night is our first FPU class of our 2nd session. We had a last minute sign-up this morning at church, which brings out count to 19 people. I'm excited!

Tomorrow morning is my first morning to help with David's class. Its only for an hour, but I had a lot of fun last year, and thought I'd continue to help until he thinks its uncool for his mom to help in his class. :)

It was a lazy day....

2009-09-12T20:53:00.003-05:00

and a no nap day for everyone. I was conducting a test of sorts, to see how Nathaniel would do on an ordinary day without a nap. About the only time he doesn't take naps is if we're out and about. He did ok. The boys didn't have any more tiffs than usual. We played outside, blew bubbles, kicked the soccer ball around (David wanted to practice before his first soccer practice on Thursday) and played hide and seek. Although Nathaniel's version of hide and seek is "Here I am!" after you count to 10.

The kids went to bed at 7:30 this evening. And I haven't heard anything from either of them since. Ah, silence. Blessed silence.

Oh, and you'll never believe what time David got up this morning. 6:30!!! He gets more sleep during the week! I told him he could never complain about having to get up early for school since he only slept a half hour past when I wake him up for school.

Its Finally Friday!

2009-09-11T21:05:00.002-05:00

And I get to sleep in tomorrow! At least until the boys get up. 6:00 am is early to get up to get ready for school, but I bet that they're up by 7:00 am. 7:30 at the latest for Nathaniel. David has been known to sleep to 8:30-9:00 am, so we'll see.

I did a little more cleaning today, besides my daily chores. I took on the daunting task of cleaning off the top of the entertainment center, as well as sorting DVDs & putting DVDs in their respective cases. We're really bad about putting the discs back in the cases, especially the kids' DVDs. But now the top of the entertainment center is clean as well as the top of the TV. My next task is my computer/scrapbooking room.

As Promised........

2009-09-10T19:48:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures of our living room. These are all taken (with a couple exceptions) from the north doorway into our dining room. So the big window faces south.

Here is the west side of the room. All the kids' toys, and directly to the right of where I'm standing is the front door. And that is Stormy in the picture.
Here's the middle of the room. I love all the light that huge window lets in. We put our Christmas tree right in the middle of the window. And Midnight (on the left) and Stormy.

And here's the east side of the room. Entertainment center, kids' table & our free hide-a-bed couch. The piano is behind the couch. You'll see it better....
....here, in this picture. The piano, with the non-matching bench. Ask me about what happend to the original piano bench sometime. Its a long & interesting story. Oh, and that big greenish thing? That's "the rock". A big memory foam bean bag type thing. Very comfy.

And last, but certainly not least, the kids' toy corner. Its not usually this neat, but my new goal is for the boys to put ALL of their toys away EVERY night. The cool Star Wars tent was a Christmas gift from my parents to both boys. They love it.

Counter troubles

2009-09-09T20:36:00.001-05:00

Out of curiousity, I looked at my cousin, Nancy's blog, and her counter is above 11,000 too! It was around 7000 the last time I looked. Hmmmm.......

What the heck?

2009-09-09T20:32:00.002-05:00

I just looked at my blog to see how many visitors I've had, and its over 11,000! Last night it was 730 or something like that. I either got really popular all of a sudden, or the counter is messed up. So we'll see if it gets un-messed up.

So tomorrow (or whenever) when you read this, post a comment as to what the counter says when you're visiting. Just out of curiousity.

Why Is It....

2009-09-09T20:19:00.003-05:00

...so dang hard to get the kids up at 6:00 am to get ready for school, but they're up and out of bed at 6:00 am on Saturday & Sunday???? Both David & Nathaniel are just like their dad. Hard to wake up & it takes forever to get them going in the morning.

Nathaniel didn't want to go to school this morning. I put his jacket on him & he took it off. Its wasn't until I had picked him up and was walking out the door that he wanted his jacket back on. Then he didn't want to get on the bus. Until it stopped in front of our driveway. But he won't give me a hug and kiss until he's on the bus. Its a good thing we're the first stop.

I put the kids to bed at 7:00 tonight. Well, it was actually 7:15 when I finally closed the door. But I had to go back up twice because Nathaniel was calling for me. He had to go potty. You can't argue with that. I think he's finally asleep now. It took David all of 5 minutes to go to sleep. Must be nice.

I think I'll take some pictures of my nice, clean (for now) living room tomorrow and give you all a look-see at our main living area.

If Its Not One Thing....

2009-09-08T20:14:00.002-05:00

Its another. This morning, immediately after I put the kids on the bus, I got out my Rainbow vacuum. Now I've been having problems with the switch on the vacuum, not the canister, but the switch you have to squeeze to send power to the vacuum for it to actually work. Its been sticking for a while, and it was stuck this morning as well. But when I turned on the canister, the dang thing wouldn't work. I fiddled with it. And fiddled with it some more. After about 10 minutes, I determined that there wasn't anything I could do and that I'd have to buy a new vacuum if I ever wanted to vacuum the living room.

So I started researching the best place to buy a vacuum. But not just any vacuum. This vacuum: http://www.dyson.com/store/product.asp?product=DC25-ALLFLOORS. I've been wanting a Dyson for a while, and I just said on Saturday while I was talking to my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, that when my Rainbow died that I wanted to get a Dyson. I found this vacuum at bestbuy.com, and it was on sale for about $425. With tax, it was $450. I was able to do the in-store pick-up, but the store didn't open until 10 am. Here's where it got tricky....

Nathaniel gets out of school at 10:30, and it usually home (last week, anyway) around 11:15 am. I had to wait to get an email from the store that the vacuum was in stock, and I was out the door and on my way at 10:10 am. Its about a 25 minute drive to Onalaska, and I spent about 5 minutes in the store, and another 25 minute drive home. I got home about 11:10, and had time to go in, use the bathroom and go back outside before the bus pulled in the driveway. Never again will I cut it that close. If I hadn't been home, they would have taken Nathaniel back to the school and I would have had to go pick him up there.

Nathaniel helped me put the Dyson together, and then I set to work. Now its been a couple of weeks since the living room was vacuumed, and with 2 dogs that shed, plus 2 kids, it was in dire need of it. I had to dump the canister 4 times while I vacuumed the living room. Now before you are completely disgusted, let me say that the room is about 24' x 24'. So its not a small room. And it'll be way better after this. Now that the kids are in school, I have a schedule of chores to do for each weekday, and the living room will get vacuumed 3 times a week, not including the weekend. Yes, I am a nerd. :)

I Labored on Labor Day

2009-09-07T21:21:00.003-05:00

I did changed the linens on the boys' beds, did 3 loads of laundry & made bread. Twice. I had a little guy helping me the first time & we forgot to put yeast in the bread, so I had to make it again. In a bread machine that is starting to die. I have to stay and watch it for the first couple of minutes to make sure it doesn't start overheating. If it does, I have to unplug it, wait a few minutes & then try again. So I've been researching bread machines on the internet. The only thing I use mine for is to mix dough, so it doesn't have to be fancy, but it does need to work well, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Since today was a holiday, the boys didn't have school today. Nevertheless, Nathaniel was up about 6:30 am & David was up shortly after. We had about 20 minutes of cuddle time in my bed & then we headed downstairs. You know, I just realized the boys never ate breakfast. David was busy playing with his Transformers (he got some new ones on Saturday) and Nathaniel was playing with his Thomas trains while they sort of watched a Ben 10: Alien Force marathon on Cartoon Network. The day was pleasantly without much conflict even though Nathaniel only napped on the couch about an hour.

The worst thing that happened today was Nathaniel's total meltdown. We found a new show on PBS Kids this morning (before Ben 10) called Dinosaur Train. It looks cute and Nathaniel LOVED it. So this afternoon after his power nap, he starts asking to watch Dinosaur Train again. Of course its not on until tomorrow morning after they leave for school. That's all he wanted to do was watch Dinosaur Train. He threw himself down on the floor, kicking & wailing like it was the end of the world. I finally thought to look at the pbskids.org website to see if they had anything on it. Sure enough they had 2 little shows that make up an episode, so he watched those and was a happy boy after that. I didn't hear another word about Dinosaur Train the rest of the night.

Oh, did I mention that the boys went to bed at 7:30 pm? Yep. 7:30! I only had to yell at Nathaniel 1 time to go to sleep. Yippee for me! So I've spent the last hour picking up the remnants of the toys in the living room in preparation to vacuum tomorrow morning while the boys are both at school. Now its my turn to go to bed.

Home Again & Bows & Arrows & Soccer

2009-09-06T21:25:00.004-05:00

We home again. Finally. Well, I really shouldn't say finally, as we've been home since about 12:30 this afternoon. However, I feel like I've done nothing but be gone for the weekend for 3 out of the last 4 weeks. Oh, wait. I have. :)

Within 20 minutes of us getting home, Richard & David left to go to a bow shop in a little town about 30 miles away so Richard could pick up the new bow he bought on Friday. And to let David shoot a youth bow to see how he liked it. David liked it so much that Richard bought it for him. Its a left-handed bow, since David is a lefty, and David is very, very proud of it.

Richard & David spent a good part of the afternoon shooting their respective bows, while I went and picked the dogs up from the kennel, fixed dinner & cleaned the kitchen up after dinner. We just got the kids into bed about 15 minutes ago (Nathaniel took a long nap so I wasn't in a hurry to put him in bed), and now Richard is packing to leave on a trip for work. David is devastated that Richard is leaving although it'll only be for a few days. The one bright spot is that we're signing up David to play soccer this fall. Practices start next Thursday, and games will be on Saturday mornings. I'll have to get some pictures of the practices & games. He's really excited.

Busy Day

2009-09-05T22:15:00.003-05:00

We had a busy day today. We went to the park, went to an ice cream shop, Target and went swimming for a while in the afternoon. Richard and I went to see G.I. Joe. It was pretty good for a movie based on action figures & a cartoon. Left it wide open for a sequel, of course.

Its late and I'm tired. Have a great Sunday!

Not again!

2009-09-05T08:23:00.002-05:00

I did it again. I forgot to post last night. We drove up to Richard's sister's place in the Twin Cities, and we didn't get there until after 8:00 pm, then we had a late dinner and a really late (9:00 pm) swim in the chilly indoor pool before sending the kids to bed about 10:00. They slept until about 7:00 this morning, and have been playing with cousin Conner's Transformers ever since.

Richard's sister is taking their dad to the airport to fly back to Idaho today. After that we're going to go do some stuff around town. Richard and I have a date night planned tonight, I think we're going to go to a movie and dinner.

A Funny Thing Happened.....

2009-09-03T19:40:00.003-05:00

while I was mowing the yard this evening. I looked over to the house and watched Nathaniel walk outside and start down the steps of the deck. I glanced away and when I looked back I see him standing on the bottom step, peeing into the yard. There was a nice arc to the stream and at that moment I wished I had my camera. It was so funny! And cute!

Stormy has been stealing ripe tomatoes off the plants. I caught her eating one this afternoon. Goofy dog! Now I know where the one almost ripe tomato went that was on one of our hanging plants. And I was going to pick it today! It was gone this morning when I went outside to get it.

Tomorrow ends the first week of school. Its been a busy week but fun for the most part.

Volunteers? Anyone?

2009-09-02T20:57:00.005-05:00

The other day I took some pictures of the volunteer pumpkins that we have growing in our yard. Richard threw an old pumpkin we had from last fall over into the cow pasture sometime during the winter, and just a couple of weeks ago we noticed this huge mass of leaves and vines. Upon closer inspection we found a mini pumpkin patch. It started on the pasture side of the fence & ventured into our yard.....
We have 5 pumpkins in varying stages of growth. Well, 5 that we can see. There might be more on the other side of the fence. There's another one that is smaller than this one.

This one and the one in the picture below are the largest of the pumpkins we've seen. To me it seem pretty late in the season for them to just be developing, but its been a weird summer for gardens, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Obviously I don't have a lot to talk about since I'm showing you pictures of pumpkins. :)

We have 7 couples registered for Financial Peace University. I'm ordering the kits on Friday so we'll have them in time for a Sept 14th start date.

We're going up to the Twin Cities for the weekend, not including Monday. The boys are excited since we're staying with Richard's sister & her apt complex has an indoor pool.

The First Day

2009-09-01T18:02:00.010-05:00

Did not start out well for me. I woke up about 3 am with a horrible migraine. It felt like someone was pounding spikes through my forehead & I was naueous as well. I took an Imatrex and after an hour took another one, which Richard went and got for me. I was finally able to fall asleep, and then Richard's alarm went off. Mine went off shortly after Richard's, but I stayed in bed until almost 6:00; my alarm was set for 5:30. I still had a migraine, but it was almost gone, so it wasn't horrible to get the kids up and ready for school. The nice thing is that I don't need to worry about breakfast, since Nathaniel eats breakfast at school instead of lunch, and new this year at David's school is a free lunch program, so the kids eat breakfast in their classroom. So with that, I think we can safely get them up at 6:00 instead of 5:30. Here are some shots of the big day.

This first one is my favorite. David sometimes says he doesn't like his brother, but this just proves how much he loves him!
I was hoping that they'd hold hands on the walk to the end of the driveway, but they didn't. But its still a cute picture.

Nathaniel insisted on putting David's hood up on his jacket before we walked out the door. It was cold this morning. Not more than 50 degrees. David wanted to wear shorts this morning, but I talked him out of it.

Here's another cute pose. The white square on Nathaniel's jacket is a name tag with his name & what school he goes to. The pre-k school sent it in the mail. Apparently they want them to get to the right place. :)

Here comes the short bus. The driver, Barb, seems really nice. She brings Nathaniel home as well. The red barn behind the bus is our landlord's barn. So we're really close to them. Shoot! Just remembered I need to take rent over!

Nathaniel had no qualms (great Scrabble word) about getting on the bus. In fact, he was so excited I didn't even get to hug & kiss him goodbye! I didn't realize it until after the bus was gone. (sniff, sniff) But I didn't cry like I thought I might.

And here's the 1st grader! Didn't get a hug or kiss from him, either.

I went back to bed after the kids got on the bus. I slept until about 9:45 am, and after cleaning up I went out to wait for Nathaniel to get home. He was done with school at 10:30, but didn't get home until 11:45! Its a first day of school thing. Making sure everyone is on the right bus & then getting everyone home. Barb the bus driver said that it'll most likely be closer to 11:00 to 11:15 when he's dropped off once she gets the route down.

When David got home from school he said that the day was too short! But he couldn't really remember what he did at school.

9 1/2 hrs and counting.....

2009-08-31T20:09:00.003-05:00

till I have to get the boys up to get ready for school. Because their bus will come about 6:30 am, I'm getting them out of bed about 5:30ish. Itsn't that horrid? Last year David was the first one on the bus in the morning. This year I'm not sure if the boys will be first on or not, but we'll find out soon enough.

It was difficult getting Nathaniel to settle down tonight for bed. He's so excited to go to school tomorrow and see his teacher. Since he's in AM pre-k, he'll eat breakfast at school instead of lunch. He's not one to eat really early in the morning, so I doubt I'll be able to get him to eat something before he gets on the bus.

I plan on taking pictures tomorrow morning, so watch for them tomorrow.

An Outdoor Service

2009-08-30T20:24:00.003-05:00

We had our last outdoor worship service at church this morning. It was beautiful out. Sunny, a light breeze and COLD! I'm not sure what the temp actually was, but it wasn't any higher than 60 degrees, probably closer to 55 degrees. The worship team was set up in the shade of the church building, but by the time church started, we (us singers, anyway) were in the sun. The congregation was in the sun from the beginning, so they were relatively warm the entire time. We had a potluck afterwards, and had lots of yummy food to eat. It was a lovely close to the summer.

Two days till school starts! Yippee! I mean, oh, I'm so sad that my kids will be going off to school and leaving me at the house by myself. (sniff, sniff) :)

Is It Really Saturday?

2009-08-29T20:34:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning thinking that today was any other day than Saturday. I'm not sure why. I had stuff to do today, so I don't know what I was thinking. We went to La Crosse for a Sam's Club & Woodmans' run, then after coming home & unloading the car and getting Nathaniel down for a nap, Richard & David went to Black River Falls to go to a bow shop. Richard needed a couple of things to get his bow ready for hunting season, which starts up pretty quick.

There is a BMW for sale right off the hwy on our way into town. Its been there for almost a month, and on the way to La Crosse this morning, Richard & I talked about the possibility of buying it. I know, a BMW would typically be out of our price range, but this one was $2400. Its a '92, with a whopping 282,000 miles on it. We talked about what we'd be willing to pay & we stopped on the way home to take a closer look at it, talked about it some more, called the guy who is selling it & since its basically sold (the buyer is bringing the $ on Monday) and we wouldn't want to pay more than $1800 for it & he's getting $2000 for it we let it go. We'd been talking about getting a beater car to drive so that we're not using so much gas in the Bronco, but we'll keep a look out for something else.

And So It Begins...

2009-08-28T20:18:00.003-05:00

the last weekend before school starts. I have all the new school clothes washed & hung up, school supplies in backpacks & ideas for lunches for David since he won't eat hot lunch. Both boys are excited about school starting, Nathaniel more about riding the bus than anything, I think.

Today was pretty uneventful. Ran a couple of errands, took a nap, made salads for dinner & now here we are. The kids are having their snack before bed & I just finished a huge grocery list for Sam's Club.

My allergies are killing me. We mowed for the last 2 days, and the cut grass is making me all stuffy. I walked out to the mailbox and back and within a half an hour I was sneezing up a storm. After sneezing for about the 6th time in as many minutes Richard asked if I was ok. No, I'm not ok! I can't stop sneezing!

We Just Keep Mowing and Mowing.....

2009-08-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

and mowing some more. It seems like we no more than get done with mowing the lawn and we have to start over again. We did get the whole yard, about 1/2 an acre, mowed in 2 days. I think that's a record for us. Richard mowed the west side of the yard last night & together he and I got the east side and the back done & used the weed-eater around the entire yard as well. The boys entertained themselves by raking up the cut grass. That, and Nathaniel picked the occassional grape tomato to munch on. That kid loves tomatoes!

I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open so I'm going to head for bed. I've been making myself get up about 6:30, to try and start getting used to getting up early again for school. Its not working. The good thing is that I'll be able to take a nap in the afternoon when Nathaniel takes one. Thank goodness for kids that still nap!

Pre-K Open House & Doctor Appts and the Short Bus?

2009-08-26T20:55:00.004-05:00

This afternoon was Nathaniel's Pre-Kindergarten Open House. He was so excited to go and meet his teacher that he didn't mind sitting in the car while I went in with David to leave him with friends. Upon arriving in his classroom, he did briefly say hi to his teacher, then immediately went and found the play workbench and proceeded to pound play nails into holes with a toy hammer. Very cute. He also filled up a shopping cart with lots of stuff, and wasn't willing to share with the other kids. Not so cute. We ended up having to go into the hall for a chat until he calmed down. After that he was better. We found other things to do, so that helped. We were one of the first ones there & the last to leave. Nathaniel didn't want to go, but when I asked him if he wanted to come back, he said yes, and put his toys down and started to walk out the door. He then had to go back and show his teacher (who was David's pre-k teacher) his Transformer tattoos.

The boys' dr appts went well. Neither had to have shots, much to David's relief. When the Dr asked if I had any concerns about David, I jokingly mentioned that there was a problem with his mouth - he can't stop talking. So he jokingly replied that they fix that by stapling it closed, much to David's horror. We quickly reassured him that we were just teasing & then he got a laugh from it as well.

I called the bus barn this morning since I hadn't received any letters about the kids riding the bus, and since school starts on Tuesday, I was getting a little concerned. The lady on the phone was very helpful, and informed me that they would be riding bus 14, not bus 6 that David rode last year, and that it was a short bus. Apparently there are a couple of kids out this way that have special needs, and so the kids on this part of the original route will be getting picked up by that bus this year. Immediately jokes about riding the short bus filled my head, but neither of my kids will care, so I'm not too worried about it. David was excited to learn he was riding a different bus than last year. Anyway, the lady said that she just finished stuffing the letters into envelopes so we should be getting them on Thursday or Friday. Talk about down to the wire!

I Have a Better Perspective...

2009-08-25T20:26:00.005-05:00

on last night's FPU preview. Yes, very few people came. However, that doesn't mean that people won't sign up for the class. I know of several people, now that I've thought about it, who are going to take the class. There's the church secretary, the newly married couple, a couple from the first class who had to drop out after a few classes, and a couple who registered online. That's seven people. PLUS the couple who signed up last night, and will be bringing their 2 teenaged kids. Even if that's all we had, thats a good group. And when I talked to my church advisor at Dave Ramey's office about it, he said that a small group is almost better than a large group because we'll all bond. We won't have our small groups that we bond with. We'll bond with the whole class. Very good point.

On to other topics. Nathaniel's potty training has been going very well. He hasn't had an accident (other than #2) since this past Thursday. So it'll be a week in a couple of days that he's been dry. Yippee! I think we're going to switch him from his training underwear to regular underwear another week or so, just to be on the safe side. But I've very pleased with how he's doing. I hardly have to ask him anymore if he needs to go potty. He just goes on his own. I do still ask in the mornings right after he gets up, but he doesn't usually want to go right away, so I wait till he decides to go on his own, and he runs right to the potty. I just keep reminding him to stay dry.

The boys are in bed now. And so far all is quiet. David, I'm sure is asleep. Nathaniel is probably playing a little with all the toys in his bed that he sleeps with. He better get a good night's sleep tonight since he's not getting a nap tomorrow. We have his Pre-K open house from 1-2 pm & Dr appts for both boys at 2:45 pm. But that's the last things that we have to do for the week.

FPU Preview & An Open House

2009-08-24T21:15:00.004-05:00

I was so excited about this evening's FPU preview. I baked for about 3 hours this morning so we'd have snacks. The boys and I went into town about 2:15 so I could spend a hour or so setting up tables & chairs before going to David's school's open house. Then it was time to grab some dinner & finish up at the church before the preview started at 6:30.

David had a blast at the open house. We were the first ones in his class, so we got about 10 minutes of chatting with his teacher without interruption, which was nice. I found out her 4 year old twins will be in Nathaniel's pre-k class, so that'll be fun. David was excited to see some classmates from his Kindergarten class last year, a friend from pre-k that wasn't in his class last year & we also went and said hi to his kindergarten teacher. Nathaniel was at a friend from church's house during this, so I could concentrate on David.

The FPU preview. Where do I start? Well, first, it was definetly a Monday. We had problems with the sound system, couldn't find the needed cables, and only 6 people (not including me and my other small group leader) showed up. I had set up 6 tables that would seat 8 each, so needless to say I was a bit disappointed. I forgot, however, that we have at least 2 more couples coming for sure. One didn't plan on coming to the preview, and I really didn't expect them, the other couple was going to come, but circumstances changed & they weren't able to make it. One of the ladies that came tonight was in my first class, but she came to sign her daughter & son-in-law up. (yep, they know, they were just out of town) When I commented afterwards that I was expecting more people, she told me of something that happened to her. She started a Bible study, and the first day, only 1 person came. And the next time, and the next time. Always the same person. She said she asked God why there weren't more people. He said not to count the people, but to feed His sheep. It doesn't matter how many there are, but that they are hungry. Thank you, Karen, for your words of wisdom!

To my cousin, Nancy - I hope you're feeling better!

The Countdown Begins

2009-08-23T19:55:00.003-05:00

We're finally home! And so begins the countdown till school starts. 10 days and counting! (including today) David's Open House for 1st grade is tomorrow. Nathaniel's for Pre-K is on Wednesday. Our Financial Peace University Free Preview is tomorrow night. Tomorrow is going to be way hectic, but I have a list! A to-do list, that is.

I have to go get the kids ready for bed, I'll post more tomorrow.

2009-08-22T22:08:00.001-05:00

It was a quiet day spent mosly at home. Mom & Dad took the boys to the playground in the sfternoon & I ran a couple errands after dinner without the kids.

2009-08-21T15:05:00.001-05:00

Its been a quiet day. My mom is working and my dad took the kids out on a short day trip. Me? I'm waiting to get my hair done.

2009-08-20T21:52:00.001-05:00

A busy day. Went to wal-mart, we all took 3 hr naps, made fresh sala, I got rained on while picking tomatoes. Boys are in bed now and that's where I'm going.

2009-08-19T14:54:00.001-05:00

We made it to mom & dad's about 12:45 pm. Nathaniel is naapping, David is coloring and I'm going to lay down for a little while since I can't keep my eyes open.

Busy, Busy Day

2009-08-18T21:09:00.002-05:00

Well, today flew by rather quickly. I had a fun medical appt that involved an x-ray machine and semi-painful squeezing, and a follow-up Drs appt regarding my migraines, which have not only not gotten better, but have gotten worse. My Dr changed my Rx from a beta blocker to an anti-depressant, not because I'm depressed, but because its been shown to help prevent migraines when taken daily. So we're going to try that and I'm supposed to go back in 6-8 weeks for another follow-up appt. Thank goodness for Tricare insurance!

Nathaniel woke up dry this morning and went potty (yippee!) with minimal objections. He's stayed dry all day! Now if only he'd quit pooping his pants.....

Richard finished his school for his Staff Sergeant promotion. Now he'll be putting his packet in for Sergeant First Class in the next few months. He's been an E6 almost a year!

The boys and I are going to my parents' house again. We're leaving tomorrow and coming home on Sunday. Richard has Wednesday & Thursday off, but has to work Friday and Saturday, so unfortunately he can't come. But he'll have some much needed time to himself.

My posts for the next few days due to no internet access again while I'm at my parents'. Have a great rest of the week!

An Obvious Monday

2009-08-17T22:23:00.003-05:00

Today did not start out well. Its been so totally a Monday that I could hardly stand it. First, I had to wake the boys up so we could go pick our dogs up at the kennel where we boarded them this weekend. Nathaniel had wet his bed, but I should really say soaked. I had to wash his sheets & his comforter. I also sprayed his mattress down with Febreeze. (wonderful stuff, Febreeze) David wasn't ready to get up, and attempted to play possum, but it didn't work too well since he'd already talked to me before his possum attempt. After taking them downstairs, I tried to get Nathaniel to use his potty, but he didn't want to.

After the kids got dressed and we headed to the kennel. Got the dogs picked up and made it back home. It was about 8:45 am when we got back home and I again took Nathaniel in use the potty. He again didn't want to, so we had a test of wills for the next 20 minutes before I finally convinced him to pee. I'm sure he'd had to go since he got out of bed, but is stubborn enough to hold it for over an hour simply because he doesn't want to go.

A short while later, Nathaniel began tormenting David by knocking down all the Transformers that he'd set up for his current battle. David can really work himself up into a tizzy when he wants to, and today was no exception. Tears, pounding fists on the floor and stomping his feet in frustration just fuels Nathaniel's fire, but David is still young enough that he can't just ignore what Nathaniel is doing. Whereas Richard can stop Nathaniel with just his voice, I have to physically intervene and pull Nathaniel away from the area, which doesn't work very well, since he just goes right back to tormenting David. Today, I got sick of both David's behavior and Nathaniel's, and told David that he was going to take a nap when Nathaniel did. That must have been the straw that broke the camel's back, cause he actually threw a temper tantrum. Not a throwing himself down on the floor, kicking and screaming, but he threw a toy on the floor and threw himself down on the rock. That really clinched it for me. Then I needed a nap. David cried off and on for an hour because he was so upset (and TIRED!)

After lunch and naps, everyone felt much better! David was acting more himself, and Nathaniel got his birthday package from Aunt Cherie & LOVES the new Transformer Optimus Prime Battle Blaster that he got. Its too difficult to explain, I'll post pictures of it tomorrow. Needless to say, Nathaniel wanted to take it to bed this evening, but we wouldn't let him. Its "parked" in the "shed", aka the box that his gifts came in.

I'm exhausted, so I'm off to bed.

Finally Home!

2009-08-16T20:51:00.004-05:00

After about 4 1/2 hours in the car, we finally made it home! It was a warm welcome - it was 81 degrees in the house! We didn't have the air conditioner on since we were gone for a couple of days, but its cooling down nicely now.

After we got the car unloaded we went out to the garden and picked a few tomatoes and some bell peppers. A salad is sounding really good right now! Unfortunately we have no lettuce. :(

The boys are excited to be home and are busying playing with their toys. Or picking them up right now, anyways. Or they are supposed to be.

I have to say that the short posts from my phone made me feel like I was on Twitter. I can only send 160 character texts, so they are only 20 characters more than a Twitter post. I do have a Twitter account, but my posts to it are almost non-existent.

Congratulations to my cousin Laura, who graduated from Baylor University on Saturday!

2009-08-16T12:58:00.001-05:00

We just finished lunch and will be heading home in the next 20 minutes or so. We should be home by 5:30 or so. Its been a fun but fast weekend.

2009-08-15T22:13:00.001-05:00

It was a long day, but a good one. Played Scrabble with mom AND Nathaniel stayed dry all day long. Yippee for Nathaniel! But it can be a pain to get him to go.

2009-08-15T12:51:00.001-05:00

Went school shopping for Nathaniel this morning. We got his supplies & a couple of shirts for him and David. Now we're all done with school shopping! Yippee!!

2009-08-14T19:56:00.001-05:00

Two huge potty traing successes today! Nathaniel caught himself before he wet his pants & he went #2 in the potty! I'm doing the potty training happy dance!

2009-08-14T17:13:00.001-05:00

Almost back to my parents' house. Both boys are sleeping. David said before he fell asleep, "I'm not tired!" Oh, you aren't? Then why are you sleeping? :)

2009-08-14T15:30:00.001-05:00

We're on the way out of the fair parking lot. Its harder to get out than in. We went on the big yellow slide and the boys had lot of fun. Nathaniel is tired!!

2009-08-14T13:39:00.001-05:00

Its been a longb day already. No potty accidents yet with Nathaniel, but the afternoon is still young.

2009-08-13T15:49:00.001-05:00

We made it to my parents house about 2:30 this afternoon. The boys are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. We're going to the IA state fair tomorrow.

Toe Paint and a Birthday

2009-08-12T22:09:00.008-05:00

This morning as I polished my toenails, Nathaniel, the birthday boy, watched intently. First it was, "I help?" Then, "paint toes" as he sat down in a chair and held his feet up for me. So I turned it into "you go potty and I'll paint your toes." Off he ran to the potty, peed and came running back to the chair. I would've put a lighter color of polish on if I had one, but I don't think he would've let me, cause it wouldn't have been what I had on. Here's the end result. And he's so proud of it. At least he doesn't wear flip flops, so no one will see unless he doesn't have shoes on. I do have to say that Daddy wasn't thrilled.

Then David had to join in. His didn't last very long, however, he wanted it taken off shortly after I put it on. "Mom, nail paint is for girls, and since I'm not a girl, please take it off." Polish, David. Its polish, not paint. Ah, but what do boys know about nail polish?

Today, of course, is Nathaniel's 4th birthday. I can't belive that 4 years has gone by since he joined our family. Its gone by so quickly! But here he is opening his presents.

This is Sideswipe. This was the gift that David bought for Nathaniel with his birthday money he got from Richard's dad. David could hardly contain himself when Nathaniel opened it.

And some twist-up Crayola crayons. He's always trying to swipe David's, so its just easier for each to have their own set.

And a big bottle of bubbles. He loves blowing bubbles, and it was only $4 for 100 ounces. We're going to use it to refill his bubble sword that he got earlier this summer, which is empty now.

Nathaniel and David love watching Tom and Jerry on Cartoon network, so I knew this would be a big hit. They haven't watched any of it yet, but will on the upcoming trip to Grandma & Grandpa's house.

To go with the twist-up crayons, Nathaniel got a big Thomas the Tank Engine coloring book and some markers (only used under supervision). What Nathaniel hasn't discovered yet is that there are over 700 stickers in the coloring book.

This is another Transformer, whose name escapes me. This is from Uncle Chris, Aunt Heather, Owen and Lily. He loves it! Thank you!!

And now, the pie. I know, we're breaking from the traditional cake. Its a chocolate chip cookie pie. Its yummy, but very, very, very rich. I had a small sliver and could barely finish it. In fact, I didn't.

Blowing out the candle......

All in all it was a good day. So-so on the potty training front, but its going to take a while with him.

Nathaniel, I love you so much! You'll always be my baby, but I promise to try to not to treat you like one as you get older. Happy Birthday, sweetheart! Love, Mom

Errands & Potty Training and an Almost BIrthday

2009-08-11T21:42:00.003-05:00

This morning I got up at 7:00 to take a shower and get dressed so that I would be up & ready before the boys, mostly cause we're still doing the potty-training thing and I didn't want to have to leave Nathaniel while I showered. I heard him in his room after I was out of the shower, so I went to get him and take him to the bathroom. What I got was a huge suprise when I opened the bedroom door. A huge puddle of pee on the floor (hardwood floors). I didn't know that the kid had that big of a bladder. Not a fun mess to clean up.

So the morning didn't start well in the potty training area, but while we were out running errands for a couple of hours, Nathaniel did stay dry the entire time, and only went potty 1 time. We gave away some cucumbers, picked up some more Tootsie Pops, dropped off some Financial Peace University posters, got David registered for school and played for a little while on the playground equipment at David's school. Oh, and we also bought some local sweet corn. Yummy!

The afternoon didn't go horribly potty-training wise, but it wasn't great, either. Trying to find rewards for staying dry is tough with Nathaniel. The suckers only worked part of the time today. Otter Pops worked so-so, and chocolate milk was so-so as well. If only he wasn't so stubborn. I did lose my patience a little when Nathaniel peed on the floor right in front of his potty. After severely scolding him & making him cry, things went much better. I know, you aren't supposed to get mad about accidents, but he was right in front of his potty! After that, things went better, with no more accidents the rest of the night! He, like all boys, likes to pee outside, so while we were outside in the afternoon he went potty on a tree a couple of different times.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a lot easier on the potty training front. Nathaniel turns 4 tomorrow, so we'll make a big deal about big 4 year old boys not going potty in their underwear and how he's a big boy now and, well, I guess we'll see. I was able to get most of his presents wrapped this afternoon, just a couple left and we're all set. I'm going to have David help me make him a birthday pie while Nathaniel is napping. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie that I mentioned last week (Thursday, I think) I'll have to post pictures tomorrow.

And I also want to give a shout-out to my cousin, Laura, who is celebrating her birthday today. I won't talk about how old she is (mainly cause I have no idea). So....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!

The First Day.....

2009-08-10T20:19:00.003-05:00

of serious potty training for Nathaniel. I took and stashed away the half a dozen pull-ups he had left and told him this morning that he didn't have anymore. He was not a happy camper. He looked in the spot we normally keep them, and sure enough they were gone. He didn't want to put on the cloth training pants that I'd borrowed from a gal at church (she has 8 boys, and 2 not yet ready to potty train). He went upstairs and was looking in his drawer for something and finally picked out a pair of shorts. He decided to go commando and went about 3 hours without an accident. After that, he was willing to put on the training pants. I woke him up from his nap after 2 hours and got him to go potty, and he did very well until after dinner, and has had several training pants changes since about 5pm, but he's gone through less than 6 pairs of training pants for the first day, so I think that's pretty good for the first day without pull ups. We have been going through a lot of Tootsie Pops though. I'm going to need to get some more tomorrow when we go into town. But hey, whatever works, right?

I (unintentionally) made David cry again tonight. I suggested that tomorrow we go through all his coloring books and tear out the uncolored pages, save them and throw the rest away. He did not like that idea one bit, so much so that he started crying. So I explained to him that it was just a suggestion and that we wouldn't do anything to his coloring books that he didn't want done. He did say we could go through them and throw away the ones he didn't like. I'm just trying to clear stuff out cause he's got about 20 coloring books, about 80% of which have all been colored in except for 2 or 3 pages.

Well, I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to get the boys into bed. David wasn't difficult, it was Nathaniel. I was trying to get him to go potty before bed and he didn't want to, then he did but couldn't, it was back and forth until I was ready to scream. Finally, now they're in bed. But I'll go up in 45 minutes or so and get Nathaniel up and take him potty. Just in case. He's usually dry in the mornings though, so I'm not too worried about it. Tomorrow morning should be interesting though.

A Broken Heart....

2009-08-09T21:59:00.002-05:00

Poor David. He made a comment tonight about how glad he was that he was going to get to take all his things to heaven. I had to explain that we didn't take our things to heaven because we won't need them. (I was on the phone with Richard's aunt during the first part of this conversation) I thought that was the end of the conversation as he didn't say anything else. Then I heard the sobs, and turned to find tears streaming down his little face. It wasn't so much the Transformers he was worried about. It was his teddy bear, Bear, that he's had since he was about 2 years old. Amid the sobs and tears he said that he would miss Bear so much, because he was his favorite bear and he was soft and fluffy and always had a smile on his face. (this is making me teary eyed as I type this) I kept trying to explain that we don't need to take things with us because we'll have so much to do in heaven, like talk to Jesus and a few other things, that we won't need our things that we have now, but he just wasn't getting it. I think part of it was he was really tired and the other part was he didn't understand. This kid asks questions I never expected a 6 year old to ask. After about 15 minutes of this, I finally got him to change the subject to his snack for the night, but I know this is going to come up again eventually. I did tell him that he doesn't need to worry about not getting to take Bear to heaven right now because he's not going to heaven for a long, long, long time.

A fun day at the park.....

2009-08-09T17:55:00.004-05:00

until it rained. After church, I took the boys over to a friend's house so I could go birthday shopping for Nathaniel. It wasn't very long, about an hour, but it was quiet. I got back to Shelley's house and ended up eating lunch there and visiting for a couple of hours. Shelley and her family live directly across the street from a park, so her daughter took the boys over to play while I was gone. It worked great until it started to rain. When I got back to their house, they were just starting to watch the live action version of 101 Dalmations. While David & Cassie(Shelley's daughter) watched the movie, Shelley and I had a nice visit & Nathaniel took about an hour nap; I woke him up just as the movie was ending. It was about 4:00 when we headed home, but made a quick stop at a local ice cream shop for $1 baby cones. For a $1, they aren't baby cones at all. They are about the size of a regular sized Dairy Queen cone. And $1 includes tax. So for $3 we all had chocolate/vanilla swirl cones. Yum!

I did get my shopping done for Nathaniel's birthday. A couple of Transformers, a Thomas the Tank Engine coloring book, some markers, twist up crayon (I love these, they are awesome!) a Tom & Jerry DVD set and a Max & Ruby DVD. I also got his school clothes shopping done as well. Except for some new shoes, he's all done. Just have to get him some school supplies now.

Chocolate Chip Cookies vs Transformers & a horrible Thunderstorm

2009-08-08T22:21:00.007-05:00

This morning I suprised David by asking him if he wanted to help me bake chocolate chip cookies while Nathaniel was down for his nap in the afternoon. "Yes!" was the enthusastic answer I received. So shortly after Nathaniel went to bed, I got out the mixer, ingredients & David got his little chair & away we went.....

David is lovingly posing with my mixer, which I love. It was a birthday present from Richard and the boys this past November. Richard always says he doesn't like getting me stuff like this, but hey, if I want it, buy it! I've wanted a Kitchen Aid stand mixer about as long as we've been married.
I have a secret ingredient in my chocolate chip cookies. Wanna know what it is? Hmmm? If you keep reading, I might just tell you....

David enjoying the batter left on the beater.....

I also have a secret techinique for baking cookies. If you keep reading, I might just tell you......

We got 4 and 2/3rds dozen out of this batch. Would've had five dozen if David & I hadn't had 2 each.

David didn't actually do much baking. He was busy laying out the current Autobots & the Army vs. the Decepticons battle. He did come in occassionally to check on the cookies in the oven. In case you didn't know, these are all Decepticons.....

And these are the army guys, their tank, and their allies, the Autobots...... (the tank used to be an RC tank. Until it sat for a year while Richard was in Iraq & the battery went bad. Haven't replaced it yet.)

And the battle begins......

Last night we had a major thunderstorm. I didn't even know it was raining or storming, for that matter, until a huge, loud, sounded like it was in our front yard, clap of thunder went off about 3:30 am. Woke me up from a sound sleep, scared the dogs & the cat and woke Nathaniel. David? He slept through that. About an hour later he woke up cause Nathaniel was crying cause of a somewhat quieter bout of thunder sounded off. The dogs, Stormy especially, had a really hard time settling back down. She was pacing up and down the hall & kept going into the boys' room, which caused Nathaniel to keep waking up. I even had the door to their room closed and she'd nose it open. Old house, doors don't latch securely. So between 3:30 am and 8:30 am when Nathaniel woke up and crawled into bed with me, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. So why am I still up at 10:50 pm? I'm not sure, but I'm heading for bed now. Hopefully it'll be an uneventful night. Its supposed to thunderstorm again though. I guess we'll find out later.

Buzz Lightyear, Rainy Day & David the Artist Pictures

2009-08-07T14:52:00.009-05:00

This evening as I was fixing dinner (tacos) Nathaniel suddenly runs into the kitchen to show me he was wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume from this past Halloween. They found it in a basket of misc stuff by our semi-neat shoe area, and David helped him put it on. I don't think it would've been a successful attempt had Nathaniel not been wearing anything but his pull-up. But all of a sudden it was Buzz Lightyear vs. Zurg. See the pictures below....

David put his Knight armour on from his Halloween costume, and was playing the part of Zurg...and was winning......

Oh, now Buzz has the upper hand....

This was just them being silly. A note about the big thing they're playing on. We call it "the Rock". One of Richard's friends, Rob, who worked with him at the base bought it while he was here in WI. When his time in WI was up, and he was packing to move back to Utah, he gave it to us since he didn't have room for it in his trailer. Its like a huge, memory foam bean bag. And its oh so comfy to nap on. Just ask Richard or the dogs.....

Buzz reaches for his gun in a desperate attempt to stop Zurg once and for all......

Buzz decides that it was a wise choice to protect Mom's clean laundry from being upset by Zurg...

Here are a couple pictures of the outdoors today. I took these while it was raining, although you can't really tell. The puddles are all ready for Nathaniel tomorrow....

After I took this one I realized that some might find it silly that we have a fan outside. It doesn't work, and we need to throw it away (it was left here by the last tennants) but we haven't gotten around to it yet. Another silly thing? See the garden hose just past the grill? We don't have an outside faucet to hook up the hose. We didn't realize it when we bought the hose. So if we want to use it we have to hook it up to the kitchen sink faucet and run it out the window. No, really.

And last, but certainly not least, David's pictures from his painting time this afternoon.....

I was instructed to take pictures of his watercolor paints.....

David in action. He takes his art very, very seriously.....

But he always has time to stop and smile for the camera.....

Oh, and at 9:00 pm, its still raining......

A Misty, Gloomy Day

2009-08-07T14:33:00.003-05:00

Ok, so it was more than misty. It is rainy. It rained for a couple of hours this morning & stopped for about an hour & started up again around 1pm. And has been raining ever since. Ok, so right at this moment, its 2:34 pm, so its only been raining about 1 1/2 hrs, but David asked this morning if it was going to rain all day. Maybe, was my answer. It makes me want to take a nap. Or eat pie. Just kidding. Although I wish I would have brought a couple of slices home from VBS last night. Oh well, I think I'll live. Its actually a good thing that we don't keep a lot of sweets in the house. It would be a perfect day to bake chocolate chip cookies, though. Its about 61 degrees outside and about 69 degrees in the house, the last time I looked at the thermostat. So not too warm to turn the oven on. Maybe tomorrow when Nathaniel is down for his nap. Its too late to start now, if I want to be done before he gets up from his nap.

David, the artist that he is, is painting at the kitchen table. I'll take some shots and post them later this evening.

Pies, VBS and Nathaniel & the Mud Puddle

2009-08-06T10:14:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned in last nights post, I had to go take rhubarb out of the freezer to make pies for our final night of VBS, which is tonight. So this morning, before it got too warm, I made a Crusty Rhubarb Pie & a Crusty Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Here's a couple of pictures of the Crusty Rhubarb Pie. Its doesn't have a lot of fruit in it, but just enough to taste the rhubarb. The Strawberry-Rhubarb pie wasn't as pretty, so I didn't take pictures of it.... it kind of overflowed the pie plate a little.

These are pictures taken about 5 minutes after I took the pie out of the oven. I wasn't able to catch any of the steam rising from the pie....

The VBS finale went very well. The kids had a blast with all the songs we sang, and the parents seemed to have a good time too. The pie and ice cream afterwards seemed to be a big hit as well. There was so much pie left the ladies in the kitchen weren't sure what they were going to do with all of it. Too much left to put in the fridge until Sunday. There was a gal who helped with the preschoolers that made an awesome chocolate chip cookie pie. Yep, a chocolate chip cookie pie. It was yummy! She's going to give me the recipe, so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll post it after I get it.

These pictures of Nathaniel were taken a few days ago, Saturday, I think, after we got a good rain overnight. There are a couple of places in the driveway that hold water after everything else is dried out. Nathaniel likes to play in the one closest to the house. I usually yell at him to get out of the mud puddle, but this time I didn't, much to his surprise.

Nathaniel likes to run around in his pull up. I think he'd actually run around naked if I'd let him. He was a filthy boy when he came in and in need of a shower. David never played in the mud like Nathaniel does. He's more like me in that David doesn't like to get really dirty.

Is tomorrow really Friday? My week's been all messed up because of VBS. Have a happy Friday!

VBS Day 4

2009-08-05T21:36:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures from VBS. This one of Nathaniel (in the middle) was taken Monday, I think. The awesome ladies that have 20 preschoolers to handle bring them up for the closing each evening. That would explain why Peter (the yawning one) is so tired. Its past their bedtimes.

These next pictures are from tonight. These were taken for a slideshow that is shown at the closing of each evening, to spotlight a particular group and summarize the lesson for the evening. David is down front in the blue shirt to the right of the kid in the green shirt who is crouched down a little. He's such a ham.

David is in the same spot, but the kids moved. Joy, the gal taking pictures said this when I commented on the fact that the kids are all off the ground, "I love taking jump shots."

Tomorrow is the last night of VBS. The directors have organized a "thank you" dinner for all the VBS volunteers, so we're going to that, and since its the last night, its "invite your parents to VBS" night. So after the program we're having pie and ice cream. Which reminds me that I have to take rhubarb out of the freezer to make pies......

VBS Day 3.....

2009-08-04T21:06:00.003-05:00

And the kids are loving it! And not just mine. It seems that all of them, with the exception, of course, of a few of the older ones, are having a blast. Tonight there was a game that involved water, and one of the older girls who is helping came in completely soaked from head to toe. Dripping wet in the sanctuary. I think she asked for it. :)

There's a gal who has been taking pictures of everything, and her hubby is in charge of games. They have a little boy, Caleb, who is adorable. The cutest part? He loves to dance. So when we get up to sing songs, he grooves right along with the rest of us. So tonight, I brought him up on stage with me. He loved it! I wish I had some video to post, but I don't think his mom got any recorded.

Any little one or two sentence posts are done from my cell phone. Its free (except for messaging charges) and a way that I can post while I'm away from the internet and not miss a day. Like when I'm at my parents' house. :)

2009-08-04T18:31:00.002-05:00

"Mom,God doesn't make junk, He makes humans!" said David on our way to VBS.

Today of All Days....

2009-08-03T21:45:00.003-05:00

I woke up with a migraine headache this morning. When I wake up with one, I know its going to be a doosey. But today? I felt like a train wreck. I took an Imatrex at 8:00 am, and another at 9:00 am, to no avail. It didn't even touch it. After another hour and a half of laying on the couch, feeling nauseous and with a pounding head, I called the pharmacy to see if I could take something OTC after taking the Imatrex. The good news? I could take Ibuprofen. During the call with the pharmacist, I was almost in tears, my head hurt so bad. And I typically don't cry when I get migraines, so I knew this one was bad. Then I called our Super Awesome Babysitter's mom, cause I knew she didn't work today. Amid tears I explained what was happening and asked if she could take the boys for a while so I could get some rest and try to get rid of my headache. I knew I couldn't go to VBS with a migraine like that. Thankfully, she took the boys from about 11 am to 3 pm when I went to pick them up. Headache? Gone! Yippee for me! I'd taken 800 mg of Ibuprofen at 11 and went to bed. I woke up about 12 and it felt like it was pretty much gone, but I stayed in bed until about 2:15 when I got up to get something to eat for the first time all day. I didn't want to eat earlier since I was so nauseous; I was afraid I was going to be sick, and no one likes to be sick to their stomach.

So with a migraine vanquished, we went to VBS tonight. David brought his friend, Isaac, who is our Super Awesome Babysitter's brother, and who David and Nathaniel played with for most of the day. It was a good evening. And good night!

A Nice, Relaxing Sunday.....

2009-08-02T21:29:00.005-05:00

It was a lovely Sunday. The weather was warm but not unbearably so, we grilled burgers & hot dogs for lunch, then lounged around until it was time to go to VBS.

This year's VBS is "Crocodile Dock", and tonight was the first night, and it went very well. The kids seemed to have a blast & I enjoyed it too. I'm helping lead the music, and its a very easy job. We play a DVD that is basically a bunch of music videos - kids singing & doing motions that go with the words to the songs. So I have to get up and sing and do the motions as well. That's my job. I was a bit hesitant at first when I learned that there were actions to the songs, but after practicing them with David earlier this week, I figured out something I should have realized sooner. The fact that you get up in front of the kids and act silly make it that much more enjoyable for the kids.

Oh my, I'm beat. I think its high time I make it to bed before 10:00 pm. For the first time in more than 2 weeks. Night-night!

The First Official School Shopping Day

2009-08-01T20:45:00.005-05:00

Today David and I spent the day together. Richard was working, so I asked our Super Awesome Babysitter, Emma, to come over and watch Nathaniel while David and I went shopping. It was originally just going to be me going grocery shopping, which we desperately needed, but it turned into a school clothes/Sam's Club/Woodman's shopping day, with, after a brief stop at home, another run into town to buy misc. items and school supplies for David.

We got an awesome deal at Kohls for David. Four pairs of jeans for $44 dollars and 4 t-shirts (two for Nathaniel & 2 for David) for $25 and 2 packages of socks for David for $11 for a grand total of $83 with tax. The jeans alone were a great deal. Regularly $24 each, after the sale price & extra 15% discount they were just under $11 each.

Then we went to Sams' for groceries & then to Woodmans for more groceries. I'm not sure what the equivalent to Woodmans would be in the South, but its comparable to Winco in Idaho. Their prices on some things are better than Wal-Mart, but on others, Wal-Mart is actually cheaper.

We headed home about 1:30, since I told Emma the Super Awesome Babysitter that we'd be home by 2:00. We stopped and got the mail on the way down the driveway, and discovered that David had a letter from his school. When we discovered that Emma was excited to find out who David's 1st grade teacher was, and so we had to look his account up on the school district website. His teacher will be Mrs. Lian. Whoever that is. Also in his letter was a school supplies list, and since Richard got home about 2:15, we decided to go back into town to go to Wal-Mart for school supplies and some other non-grocery items.

Since Nathaniel's birthday is coming up on the 12th, David wanted to buy him a birthday present. (a Transformer, of course) He bought the present for Nathaniel with his own money. Money he got from Richard's dad for his birthday. He also has been talking about getting some plastic army men (remember the movie "Toy Story"?) so he got 3 packages of those ($1 per package) and some twist up Crayola crayons that he's been wanting. I swear, that kid is going to be an artist. He'll sit and color for hours.

The list of school supplies was long and redundant. 2 pencil boxes (2? why 2?) 3 packages of Crayola 8 count markers (why 3?) I have to comment on that. The packages of 8 count markers were $2.50 each. OR you could buy a package of 10 Crayola markers for $1 each. Hmmm. Which ones to get..... yeah. You know the answer to that one. Soooo $38 for school supplies. And that was just David. Now we get to do it for Nathaniel, but I think I'm going to take him with me. That'll be interesting.

Somewhere in the midst of the day I ended up with a migraine. About 6 weeks ago I finally went to the doctor because it seemed like I was getting 2 or 3 migraines a week, and because of that I was taking ALOT of Advil. I'd have to take 1000mg just to take the edge off one. Anyway, the Dr. put me on a beta blocker to see if that would prevent them. He also gave me an Rx for Imatrex, which works great when I do get one. So I took and Imatrex when I got home and after dinner I went and laid down and got a nice 2 hour nap. Its still there, just a little, but its pretty much gone, thank goodness. Just in time to say goodnight!

I missed a day!

2009-08-01T07:58:00.006-05:00

I realized last night after I'd climbed into bed that I forgot to post last night. Many of you probably think its not a big deal, but my goal when I started this blog was to post something everyday. But I wasn't about to get out of bed at 10:30, turn on the computer and then try to figure something to type when I was half asleep. Especially since yesterday was pretty uneventful. So this is my "missing post". I'll post again this evening about the day's happenings.

Softball and that Darn Cat! and Dog!

2009-07-30T15:38:00.004-05:00

Nathaniel is also very excited to see his daddy when he finally gets home from work. So much so that he usually is the first one to him when he walks in. In the picture below, he climbed up onto the back of the couch and was hugging him and patting him on the back. Also notice the haircut. His daddy did that. At mommy's request, since Nathaniel won't sit still for me.

I took this one this morning; because the boys went to bed so late cause of the softball game, David didn't get up until 9:30 am. He came downstairs and cuddled with Nathaniel while he was waiting for me to get his breakfast.

Richard's softball game didn't go as planned. His team lost 13-6. Which was considerably better than the previous team's loss (there are back to back games) which was 26-5. They would probably play better if they did a couple of things. One is practice. Two is not start drinking until AFTER the game is over. Because it was basically dark when the game started & I was taking pictures through a chain link fence, they didn't come out all that great. We sat in front of 3rd base, which is the position Richard played, and I did get a few, but they aren't all that decent. But for your viewing pleasure....

Here's David being a ham as usual.

Richard through the chain link fence.

Right after lunch I opened the front door to let Stormy (my dog) outside and what do I see? A dead mouse. Morgan the cat brought us a present. And Stormy apparently thought the gift was for her, cause she grabbed it. Luckily I got her to drop it before she ate it (yuck!!) and I scooped it up in a dustpan and took it out to the burn barrel. We've seen her catch mice and let them go & play with them, but this is the first time she's brought one to the front door. Lets hope she doesn't make a habit of it.

I think I'm going to regret this

2009-07-29T17:59:00.003-05:00

Monday was the start of Richard's softball league tournament. His team's game was at 8:15 on Monday evening, so we didn't take the boys, but promised them that they could go to the next game, which is tonight. At 9:15. I found out earlier this afternoon. So, because we promised, we're taking them to the game. This is going to be interesting, as Nathaniel didn't have a nap this afternoon because I had a meeting for VBS that starts Sunday night. He's already had a couple of crying fits, and its only going to get worse as the evening goes on. Maybe he'll fall asleep in the car on the way to the game. I can only hope.

I'm planning on taking my camera, so maybe I'll get some decent pictures of Richard playing ball. He's very competitive when it comes to sports. Last years team was pretty good, this year's is so-so since most of them just come to drink beer and attempt to play softball drunk. Idiots. Anyhoo, if I get some decent pictures, I'll post them tomorrow.

Is it Friday yet?

2009-07-28T21:52:00.004-05:00

No? Only Tuesday? Darn. I was hoping it was Friday. David and Nathaniel seemed to be at each other's throats today. All day. Except the 2 1/2 hours that Nathaniel napped. Then there was peace. You see, David likes to play with his Transformers and have the Autobots fight the Decepticons and set up these big battle scenes. And Nathaniel? He likes to come knock them all down. Which then upsets David and he either gets mad and tries to beat Nathaniel up or he gets upset and cries and says that he doesn't like his brother. Which we all know is not true. David also likes to color, and he's very good at it and he doesn't like to share his big box of Crayola crayons or the Crayola art kit Grandma and Grandpa got him for his birthday. Which I can understand. I wouldn't want to share those things either. Especially with a little brother that tends to break crayons 2 seconds after he picks them up.

So what did I get to do all day? Try to distract Nathaniel and keep him from bothering David, which only succeeded about 50% of the time. That child is so stubborn. Anyone care to venture a guess where he gets that stubborness? Yep. His Daddy. Cause I am not even close to being that stubborn.

I'm going to bed now. I'm exhausted. I feel like I played referee all day or something, and ended up being at the bottom of a pile of kids. Well, I didn't really, but I sure feel like it.

Some FPU pictures and a Deluge

2009-07-27T20:16:00.007-05:00

I decided to post some pictures of our FPU graduation from last night, since I didn't last night. We had a lot of fun, and I cried. No idea why, I just did. Gratitude and appreciation, I think was part of it.

Here was most of our class, watching the DVD lesson. If you see the guy to the far right in the red hat, look back & a little to the left and you'll see Richard, back by the window below the clock.

A friend & co-worker of Richard's is a professional chef and made this credit card cake for us for free. It was chocolate with raspberry filling. Yummy! I had one couple who had not cut up any credit cards during class cut this one up.

In this quart sized mason jar is approximately 45 credit cards & about $100,000 worth of credit. We had 3 very sad ladies that cut up their Kohls' cards, but they did. Someone even chopped up their Victoria's Secret card! Much to her hubby's disappointment. :)

There's me, actually not waving my hands around as I talk for once.

It was a great class, I'm very proud of all of them! We're going to be starting another class in September and I'm very excited about it.

This morning was bed linen washing day. I stripped the guest beds and threw everything (not all at once) in the washer, then hung the linens up to dry outside. It was cloudy, but I didn't think it was going to rain anytime soon.

So after lunch we all head upstairs for naps. Nathaniel, David & I. I'd slept horribly last night, and could hardly keep my eyes open for most of the morning. Sometime while we slept it started raining. And all the linens were still out on the clothes line. When I woke up at 4:30 pm, I heard rain hitting our roof. I was hoping it was just sprinkling, but Noooo, it couldn't just be sprinkling. It was pouring. I went running downstairs, grabbed a laundry basket & threw a jacket on and rushed outside to bring the laundry it. Soaked was what I was when I was done. I was out maybe 5-7 minutes, but I was soaked when I was done. My hair was dripping wet, my pants were soaked and the only part of me that wasn't was my shirt cause I'd thrown a jacket on before I went outside. Note to self: check the forecast before you take a nap next time laundry is on the line. Literally.

Now I've spent the rest of the afternoon/evening getting everything dry. Serves me right, I guess.

Graduation Day!

2009-07-26T22:30:00.004-05:00

Today was Graduation Day for our first Financial Peace University class. It was a lot of fun. We had drawings for 3 of Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makerover" Books, had lots of yummy food during our potluck and had a little graduation ceremony & cake afterwards. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. We had 16 families out of an origianl 20 graduate. The main requirement to graduate was that you attend 12 out of 13 classes, and we had several couples that had perfect attendance. It was great.

The last lesson is entitled "The Great Misunderstanding". Its about giving. Not only tithing, but giving in general. I had a lady comment to me after class that her husband had been commenting that he wasn't sure that the classes were very good, since they all seemed to be centered on getting out of debt/getting more money. This one lesson changed all that. It brings everything you learned in the previous 12 classes together, and it totally makes sense. Its awesome!

Our next class starts in September. I'm hoping to get at least 15 families signed up. Anything above that will be awesome!