A Big, Super Cool Announcement!!

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!

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!

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

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....

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.....

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

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