Overeducated and Underpaid --- My Life as a Mom

If You Give a Mom a Tuesday

2010-02-16T10:38:00.003-06:00

If you give a Mom a Tuesday, she will think it is a good day to clean
So she will start in her room, where there is a pile of kids' schoolwork
This will remind her that she bought a tote to put kids' schoolwork in,
So she sorts through 3 years of kids schoolwork.

Picking up the schoolwork from the dresser will reveal a big pile of dust,
So she will really dust this time.
Dusting reminds her that she should also mop the floors, because it has been about as long since she mopped, too.

Before she can mop in the bathroom, she will clean out the bathtub
And while in the bathtub cleaning out dust and hair, she will randomly think about a stock they own
She remembers her Dad has the same stock, so she will call him to see if he knew about the stock split.
Good thing she can multitask and still clean toilets while talking on the phone.

After she is off the phone and finally mops in the bathroom, she decides she should mop the entryway, too
Before mopping the entryway, she will vacuum the rugs.
While vacuuming, she will notice a musty smell coming from the vacuum that she last used to vacuum wet pull-up insides from the washing machine
She will take the vacuum apart and try to clean the moldy pull-up insides from the hose with a screwdriver, a paper towel, a Clorox wipe and a kabob stick

Thinking about the vacuum reminds her that she got the vacuum for Mother's Day one year
She starts to think about Mother's Day and how lame it would be to ask for a steam mop
But she really wants one so she won't have to mop with a bucket of water anymore.

Thinking of mopping will remind her that she needs to clean the toilets because she put cleaner in there then mopped in the bathrooms so the floors were too wet
While working through housework ADHD she will think that this may make a funny blog post

And not wanting to forget a blog post idea, she will go downstairs to the computer
While typing out her blog post she will remember that she really wanted to get the house cleaned on Tuesday because the rest of the week is busy

And if you give a Mom a Tuesday she will think it is a great day to clean . . .

Happy Heart Day

2010-02-15T14:03:00.003-06:00

Even though hubby isn't too keen on yesterday's "holiday", I tried to make it special for everyone. The girls gave hubby a heart-shaped box full of locally made chocolate truffles. We gave the girls each a new Lil' Kinz and some clothes for their Webkinz. The girls wrote me beautiful sentiments on paper, which is all I need. ;) I make heart-shaped French toast and served pink milk for brunch. I even tried to shape pieces of bacon into hearts . . . well, at least it still tastes the same. The girls got to go see "The Princess and the Frog" and we topped the evening off with one of these, only heart-shaped--a Valentine's Day tradition that dates back at least 15 years. There isn't pizza like this around for miles and I'm so glad we live close again!

For those poor souls who haven't ever been able to enjoy a hot piece of Great Plains Pizza (with enough cheese to cause a coronary), you are missing out. The little honey bear is a tradition--once you get down to the thick crust at the edge, you drown it in honey. Voila, dessert!

Hope you got to spend the day with someone you love. And remember, you can say "I love you" 356 days a year.

4 1/2

2010-02-11T08:07:00.002-06:00

See that? That is the face of a girl who is four and a HALF today. We don't tend to make a big deal out of half-birthdays, but when you have a summer birthday the one way to get a celebration in school is to do it on your half birthday. Yesterday I brought in treats for her class, she got a birthday hat and they sang to her, and she got a little goodie bag from the teachers. Even Emma made her a construction paper cake at school and a friend of Emma's (named Emma, imagine that) made Leah a picture with four and a half hearts on it. They wrapped them up so Leah would have a present to open.

This morning she comes into my room and declares proudly, "I'm taller now!" (Looking at herself in the mirror) "See?! I'm taller now! And I'm never going to cry ever again! I'm a big girl!" We'll see how long that lasts. I give it to 4 1/2 and a few days. ;) On the agenda for her half-birthday: Watch "Horton Hears a Who" and about 3 other movies she wants to watch, play with the play dough she got in her goodie bag, and play Webkinz because one of her pets is Pet of the Month.

Today is a crazy baking day for me. After doing mini cupcakes for Leah's half-birthday treats earlier this week, today I get to make 2 dozen cupcakes (an order from a friend), 3 dozen rice crispy treat hearts on a stick, and a dozen or so ginger heart-shaped cookies for teacher gifts. What the heck am I doing on the computer?!

Oh, and happy 34 11/12th + one week birthday to me. ;)

Groundhog Day

2010-02-10T07:55:00.002-06:00

This winter seriously feels like a bad Bill Murray movie on repeat. We have now had 7 snow days (I think, I seriously don't keep track) and multiple early release/late starts. Just this week it was Monday--dismiss at 11am (apparently the back end of Emma's bus slid into a "ditch" somewhere in town and they had to move everyone to the back of the bus to put weight back there), Tuesday--no school, although it never did get as bad as predicted and they probably could've gone for at least a few hours, Wednesday--2 hr late start. And it is just Wednesday.

It is a problem with all the local schools, and they are trying to decide how to make-up those days. We will now be going until Tuesday, June 8th. We were sent a survey to see if parents would want to do a few weeks of an extra 30 min or 1 hr tacked onto the school day. It takes about 5.5 student hours to make one day, so we could maybe make up one or two days that way. I'm not really all for the extra hour because as it is Emma gets on the bus at 7:20am and gets home at 3:50pm. An extra hour would put her home at 5pm--that is a long day for a 6 year old. They've already said they won't take Spring Break days (we get the whole week off) since families and teachers have already made plans.

The kicker is we potentially have the snowiest month ahead of us--we've gotten 26 inches of snow in late Feb to March before so who says there aren't more snow days to come. In a typical winter we have about 20 inches of snow to this point. Right now were over 50 inches. Guess what is predicted for Saturday? Yup, another 4-6" of snow. Repeat ad nauseum.

What's in a name

2010-02-06T09:30:00.003-06:00

So after hearing multiple times, "You should go into business!" and having a nice FB chat with a friend last night, I'm trying to come up with potential business names should I get serious about selling baked goods. How the heck do I come up with a name that isn't taken/used/copyrighted/etc.

Recently someone in my town started a similar business (cupcakes made from organic ingredients, cookies, sweet breads) and the business is called "Sweetness", so I wouldn't really want anything with sweet in the name.

Yes, my name starts with a "K" and would lend itself to all sorts of alliteration and miss-spellings of words like kake, kookie, kupcake, konfection, but I'm not too keen on that idea. I don't want it to have cake, cookie, or cupcake alone in the name since I do all three plus more. Some of my ideas have bakery in the name, but I'm not really a bakery--just a woman with an oven.

Here are a few things that were floating around my head. I need more input, people! That means I need some actual comments!! ;)

Sugar Rush (although when I said that to hubby, he was like "What is that supposed to mean?"
Polka Dot Bakery (just because I like polka dots)
KM Bakery (I see a logo for this like a monogram--my initials used to be KMB. Both my middle and last names start with M)
C3 (like C "cubed" for cookies, cakes, cupcakes)
For the Love of Sweets (like "For the love of Pete!")

Of course hubby's helpful input was "Overpriced Baked Goods" to which I modified to "Rolling in the Dough". Get it? Ha ha. I don't think I'd get much business that way. Right now it is all still a pipe dream, but if you can dream it you can believe it, right?

Quiet House

2010-02-02T07:42:00.002-06:00

We had to make the hard decision yesterday to put the cat to sleep. After he was diagnosed with renal failure, he seemed to improve a little with extra fluids everyday but he still didn't eat. We tried everything we could to try and get him to eat, but he just had no interest. By the last day or so he was moving very slowly and also was having labored breathing. It was the best thing we could do for him, although it wasn't easy. Of course I was the one who got to take him in the last time.

The girls have done very well with all of it. Once we knew he was sick and that he may not get better, I had checked some books out at the library about having a pet die. Emma knew when she went to school yesterday that we would be taking him in to be put to sleep. Leah was with me (she stayed in the van) but I'm not sure how much she really understood about what was going on. One of the things the vet offers is to have a clay pot with his paw print in it, so I did have them do that so the girls had something to remember him by. Although I'm sure we will remember him everytime we find cat hair (which would probably be everywhere), find a lost whisker, or see the lovely spot on the steps where he thought it was his personal scratching post.

Now the house is very quiet. Rest in peace, Elway, you are missed.

El Sickerino

2010-01-28T08:42:00.003-06:00

Remember this furry friend that I usually speak so lovingly about?

Damn Cat (aka Elway)

He hadn't been acting himself last week so we finally took him into the vet to find out he is Sick with a capital S. Poor thing is in renal failure and I now get to add kitty dialysis to my "list of things I never knew I could do but have to do". His condition is chronic so I will get to do it for the rest of his live, however long that may be.

Elway is about 9.5 years old. We got him when we lived in Minnesota and had moved into a house. We had wanted a bengal cat (which are in no way related to wild bengal tigers), but purebreds can be very spendy. We found a gal who was selling "mixed" bengals, meaning the female she wanted to breed got some outside lovin' from a stray cat. For $50 Elway was ours.

Yes, he can be a pain in the ass especially when he "sprays" all over 1/2 our belongings in storage, making them stink to high-heaven and rendering them useless. The puking thing is also very annoying. He is loud and doesn't like company to invade his space (just ask guests who try to use the downstairs bathroom when he is visiting--he will give you an earfull). The last time we had someone take care of him while we were gone, she had to send her husband over because he wouldn't let her in the door. He has broken a few things which include but are not limited to: a lamp, a toilet tank cover, a large shelf, and has ruined parts of the carpet with his scratching. He takes up more than than his share of the bed at night and insists on drinking out of the faucet.

But he is a member of the family and everyone (mostly) loves him. The girls adore him and hubby would be lost without him. He comes from a family of cat lovers. If I had a scanner, I could share one of hubby's senior pictures with the cat. I only know of one other person who is married to a cat-holding senior. Even my sister-in-law who has known hubby for a good 20 years didn't know that about him.

It is hard to see him sick, but hubby doesn't think he is in pain. The poor thing hasn't eaten much of anything in over a week. He is making it down to his litter box, but isn't quite making it in these days. He has perked up some from when we brought him in, but he has definitely slowed down and lost some of his personality. The girls know he is sick and that he may not live much longer.

I don't know what we'll do when he's gone. The house was eerily quiet the day he was gone to the vet. The girls see this as an opportunity for a potential new pet. I'm not so sure about that. ;)

Ideas, ideas

2010-01-24T10:13:00.002-06:00

I always seem to have ideas, sometimes it is the follow-through that lacks. ;) I recently checked out the book Hello, Cupcake again from the library because I wanted the "doctored up" cupcake recipe they use. I need to just buy my own copy of the book. Anyway, when the girls got an invitation to a movie night at a friend's house, I offered to make these:

They are just mini cupcakes with marshmallows on top that look like popcorn pieces. I can even make them so Leah can have them (she can't have milk/eggs)--we are all excited for the party next weekend.

This is another project I would love to do sometime, as seen on Bakerella's site. The candy box is actually a red velvet heart-shaped cake covered in red fondant, then the chocolate candies are red velvet cakeballs all decorated. Doesn't it look amazing? Although here in my house we would rather have the chocolates themselves than cake posing as chocolate. ;)

I have also been asked to donate a cake to as part of a birthday party package that will be auctioned off at our local education foundation's annual fundraiser. The package includes a "cheer" themed birthday party you can buy that will be held in the elementary school gym with a few of our high school cheerleaders. Our school colors are red and black, so I'm thinking of doing a 2-layer round cake covered in white fondant with red/white polka dots or paw prints since the mascot is a tiger. I have to make a cake in a few weeks to take a picture so people will know what they are bidding on.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the book and movie called "Julie and Julia". The basic premise is this gal, Julie, set a goal to make every item in Julia Child's cookbook "The Art of French Cooking" (or something like that, it has been awhile since I read the book). Well after receiving Martha Stewart's "Cookies" cookbook and making a couple recipes, maybe I should do the same thing--like "Kristyn and Cookies and Cupcakes, ala Martha" and blog about it. My sister even offered to help. Good thing her name starts with a K, too--it would flow with the title. ;) Just another one of those ideas that will probably never happen . . . .

No shit, Sherlock

2010-01-22T14:27:00.002-06:00

This favorite saying came to mind when I saw this on the weather page for our town:

Golf
Tomorrow's Golf Index
Conditions:Very Poor (0)
Golf Conditions Scale
The Golf index is based on a scale of 0 - 10 with 10 being an excellent golfing day

Really? That is so surprising for the middle of Iowa on Jan 22nd. Ha!

Ice, ice baby

2010-01-21T10:21:00.002-06:00

Because the winter hasn't been bad enough, Mother Nature thought we needed a good ice storm. Yesterday there was no school (yet AGAIN) and hubby stayed home and worked from here. Thankfully we never lost power like a lot of people in other towns did.

The one good thing about living in a new development with small trees is there is little/no trees falling onto houses. ;) Big, old trees are nice--the shade, the look, but in the fall with all the leaves and then in the winter when 1/2 inch of ice covers and topples them over they are not so nice.

The town where we used to live was the "bullseye" of this storm--up to 1 inch of ice coating everything over there. Yuck.

School was 2 hrs late today. I had to take the cat into the vet this am (whole other post, but he is sick) and the girls had to come with me. I drove fairly cautiously there and back and turning into our development the turn lane was still ice and I did a lovely 180. Thankfully there weren't any cars close and we were going slow to begin with.

The driveway that is the bus stop was all ice. Yes, the kids think it is great fun to slide on the driveway but we warn Emma every time not to play around. For one, she has already broken her collarbone (in an unrelated, non-ice accident a few years ago) and don't want any more broken bones. And secondly, when we lived in Minnesota a neighbor girl was killed in a bus accident. She thought she had missed her bus leaving school (she hadn't) and ran after the bus. She slipped on snow/ice and fell under a moving bus. :( I may have looked like an over cautious mother standing outside for 10 min this morning waiting with the kids for the bus and telling them "don't slide down the driveway" or "don't hang onto each other--if one falls, all of you will fall" but accidents do happen. I'd rather be the mean, no-fun mom telling the kids to stop playing around than be a witness to someone falling and getting hurt.

Take Three

2010-01-17T20:29:00.002-06:00

For my niece's 1st birthday party in October, I made this smash cake and cupcakes:

A friend saw them on facebook and asked if I would make the same thing for her daughter's birthday party. Sure! It was something I had already done, so I knew how it would turn out. And I got paid to make cakes for the first time. Earlier this month a friend of hers asked if I would make the cake/cupcakes again for a baby shower she was hosting for her sister. Again, I said sure. The small cake was bigger each of the last two times--I didn't take pictures this last time since it was bascically the same thing.

I do like making cakes, cupcakes and cookies for others, but I am my own worst critic. I don't like to ask people to pay for something if I don't think it looks "perfect". They probably don't see the small cracks and bubbles that I see. I also don't know what to charge--I've never bought cakes from a bakery so I don't know what to compare it to. The supplies themselves aren't too expensive, but it is time consuming.

Once I start googling cake images, I start to feel very inadequate. I know it is good enough for my kids and my neices/nephews, but when I see some of the things other amatuer cake makers can do--wow. Right now I just want to do it once in awhile so it remains fun. I have so many ideas I'd like to try, but not enough occasions!

Christmas Hit

2010-01-14T08:49:00.004-06:00

Sometimes Christmas gifts I think are going to be big hits end up being the duds. This year I Santa got one right:

Barbie and all her camping glory with the Barbie Glamour Camper. Yes, it is pink. Yes, it has GPS, a large screen tv, back of the seat DVD player, ipod, and chandelier. What camper doesn't come equipped with those basic necessities?

Santa brought the camper and the Kelly and Stacie dolls. I had looked for the "Camping Barbie" and almost bought her, but I knew Leah was getting a different Barbie for Christmas. The Barbie she has now has three outfit options for camping--a denim mini-skirt, a short, pink one shoulder dress, and a purple, form-fitting dress. Because there might be a formal event in the forest.

The camper also comes with its own shower and toilet that flushes. We also have a Ken doll who gets to go camping (you need someone to start the camp fire) and it is funny to watch them with Ken. The other day I caught Ken going to the bathroom just like a guy should standing up. At least he flushed and put the lid down. Ken, however, doesn't drive the camper--darn legs that don't bend.

I can see that we will be adding to Barbie's extreme lifestyle throughout the year. Right now it is the toy of choice and keeps both the girls entertained for long periods of time. Maybe she needs a small home to live in when she isn't out camping:

Word of the Day

2010-01-08T08:43:00.002-06:00

Today's word is:

agnoying -- a combination of annoying and ignoring.

Leah sitting next to hubby at the table to eat her snack. Hubby is sort of trying to work from home while sitting at the table. Leah wanted him to pay attention to something she was saying/doing. Hubby was obviously annoying and ignoring her (maybe not so much the latter, he likes to tease her)

"Daddy, quit agnoying me!"

About right!

2010-01-05T10:25:00.005-06:00

It is beyond cold, and it is just going to get colder. Seriously? A HIGH temperature of -2 on Friday? And we're sending our kids out in this. Builds character, right?

Yay, Vacation is Over!!

2010-01-03T20:33:00.001-06:00

The girls are going to school tomorrow--happy dance! :)

It has been a pretty good vacation and they have done very well playing together, but this Mom needs everyone out of the house again!

From the funny farm

2010-01-02T12:07:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I was in our master bathroom to dry my hair. Leah comes running in and asks if I can help her go to the bathroom downstairs. Umm, yeah no. Why? Because she had to run upstairs into a bathroom to ask me. You are here, why not take advantage. She did.

She then proceeded to tell me she was having a bad hair day. A headband fixed her right up.

........................................................................................................

Emma made her own "low-tech" Fasebook (her spelling). She drew a profile picture in a box on the chalkboard. Her status was "I wishe it whas sumre bcose I like popsiks very much. :)" She then drew a box/profile pic of her good friend and his reply to her status was "Me too!" Considering it was -18 degrees this morning, I would have to agree.

.......................................................................................................

Yesterday the girls were playing in Leah's room. One time I went to tell them to be quiet, they had their shirts off. The next time I came in to tell them to quiet down, they were down to their underwear, rolling around on the floor. I didn't ask. Then before bed last night Emma showed me a sign on the door that I apparently missed:

Emma v.s Leah

Wresling mach

today starting

now

I think being cooped up in the snow and cold is taking its toll on us. ;)

Farewell, 2009

2009-12-31T20:58:00.002-06:00

We are in the last three hours of 2009. Another year, come and gone and what to show for it? The same 5-10 lbs lost and gained again. The girls another year older. Days filled with the same chores of laundry, cooking, cleaning. Days filled with time on the computer (Facebook, anyone?).

Time spent with family was definitely the highlight of the year. From basketball games with my parents to family birthday celebrations to our traditional 4th of July trip, we saw lots of family. Even a funeral brought the family together. A week-long trip to the in-laws capped off the year. We saw hubby's side of the family more this year than we have in a long time since we are spread from Iowa to South Dakota to Colorado to California.

Hubby's highlights include sporting events. He went on a much-talked about, finally-taken "guys" golfing trip to Nevada. They four guys even got to re-live one of the golf courses on a Wii game over Christmas. It was fun for them, but I guess you had to be there for the "Remember on this hole the wind was from the northwest" type of stories they told. Hubby was also able to go to a Cardinals baseball game in St. Louis which he has been wanting to do for a long time. Now I just have to get him to Denver to watch the Broncos play. He also went to most of the Cyclone football games this year--wish we could've been there tonight in Arizona to watch them win the Insight Bowl. Hubby got to play softball this summer which he loves to do and hasn't done for many years.

For me, I did a few new things. I trained for a 5K and beat my previous time by a good 10-13 minutes. I expanded my cookie and cake repertoire and even made (very) little money. Maybe that will be something to continue in 2010. Like I said, I lost and gained the same 10 lbs which is frustrating. Must be something about being 30 and having had 2 kids--I try every year with the same result. I just read a Facebook update of a guy who set and reached his goal of losing 50 lbs this year. Wow.

Emma also had a very "sporty" year. She did soccer in both the spring and fall, softball in the spring, and swimming in the summer. I think she is great at all of them, but she thinks she needs a break from soccer. We'll see about that. ;) I can no longer spell out words in front of her because she is too smart for her own good. She is growing her hair out and becoming more mature.

Leah was my greatest cause of stress and also one of my greatest sources of joy. Sometimes it is hard to know what are "typical" health issues and what should we be concerned about with her. Thanks to 3 CT scans this year, multiple x-rays and other Dr visits we met our deductible once again. ;) She has the cutest voice and a smile that will make you light up. She continues to go down the path of princesses, Barbie, ballet, and all things girly. New territory in our house.

What will 2010 bring? I hope more family time, continuing to find new adventures, and another year of watching the girls grow and learn. Maybe lots of new blog followers and posters (although I'm not sure why!) A few less pounds would be good, too. ;)

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2010 be a great year full of promise and good things!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T15:46:00.002-06:00

We have been up at the in-law's since last Sunday and the week can be described by one word: LOTS. Lots of:

noise--10 adults, 4 kids, multiple TV's, pianos, Wii games, and other things all going on at once
food--too. much. food Snacks and treats and goodies galore
drink--we've polished off a few bottles of wine, more beer, and even some Vodka
presents--no one is leaving empty handed. Presents from Grandma/Grandpa, aunts/uncles, cousins and of course Santa. Only a few have to be returned/exchanged. Good thing Best Buy and Target carry the same things Santa brings.
snow--all the Christmas songs have come true: "Let it Snow" and "White Christmas" could definitely be used to describe the weather outside. We've gotten at least 12" of snow and it is still snowing. The two main interstates that run through the state are both closed. The airport was closed all day today and was supposed to open at 10am tomorrow (Sat) but that may not happen either. Not good news for the Californians here in the house whose flight was at 6am tomorrow. The earliest they could fit them on a flight was Tuesday. The brother/sister-in-law from Colorado will also have a hard time getting out West. Even we will have to wait and see when we may be able to leave.
fun--there has been golfing and bowling and poker and light sabre fights and progressive rummy and trivial pursuit. And the little kids played games, too. ;) Hubby, Grandpa and Uncle took the girls sledding (before most of the snow!). We decorated sugar cookies.
family--it has been great having everyone home from this side of the family. It is a rare occasion and now with the snow our time together may get extended even more.

I hope your Christmas has been just as memorable. I know in the Midwest the weather has definitely changed some plans and even made Christmas different in some houses (no electricity, no church services). Merry Christmas--enjoy!

And a partridge in a pear tree

2009-12-19T09:12:00.003-06:00

Today is packing day and I think it may involve everything--better make sure I have that partridge and a pear tree just in case. The thing is we will be 5 minutes from civilization (aka Super Target and Super WalMart) but have to make sure we have all gifts, goodies, and other things that can't necessarily be bought once we get there. As long as the bag with the wine gets packed, I'm good.

When we travel, our mantra is "If there is room for it, pack it". Which means we will each have multiple pairs of shoes, coats, and clothes that will never get unpacked and worn, but by golly we have the option if we need it. It also means a full day of packing before leaving and at least half a day to round everything back up at the end of the trip.

It looks like the weather for the trip tomorrow will cooperate. We'll have to wait and see where this next storm dumps during the middle of the week.

What am I forgetting?

2009-12-15T08:47:00.003-06:00

We leave for the in-laws in five days to spend Christmas week at their house. I can't think of much more I have to do to get ready, so what am I forgetting?

Presents for my side of the family--check. We celebrated Christmas on Sunday with our traditional dinner of soup and rice pudding for dessert. New toys were received and envied by siblings. Kids puked (not mine, thankfully and not at my house, bless the lord).
Goodies made--check. Poppy seed bread for the teachers, Buckeyes for the family and for cookie exchange, rolo pretzel treats, sugar cookies, and 5 dozen ginger cookies. We'll make more cookies at Grandma's house to leave for Santa. ~~She~~ He has a preference for sugar cookies and chocolate milk.
Presents for hubby--check. He bought ~~himself~~ us a PlayStation 3 on Black Friday. Because of the Blu Ray, you know. So we can watch family movies like Batman and Transformers and the girls can watch him play educational games like Grand Theft Auto. I did buy him a few clothes for Christmas as well, since that is about the only time he gets new clothes. I have requested that he not buy me anything, and if he does it had better be a moderately large piece of furniture for my living room. ;)
Helping Santa with his presents--check.
Christmas cards--I'll give myself a 3/4 check on that. The picture cards are stuffed into addressed envelopes and the letter is ready to be printed off. I need to get paper and hope the printer lasts for the number of copies I need.

Anything else I need to do? My week is also full of things like class Christmas parties, oil changes, returns, and cleaning/packing. Merry Christmas!

Snow Days

2009-12-11T07:50:00.002-06:00

I haven't left the house since Monday night, and it is now Friday morning. A little thing called "winter weather" has prevented me from venturing out, and it is still technically fall. It all started when Emma had an early release on Tuesday because bad weather was coming. By that night I was worried hubby may not be able to make it home from work safely. Wednesday was a full-out blizzard and the central part of the state was pretty much shut down. Everyone was home--fun times. Thursday there was still no school, the temps were below zero. But there was mounds of fresh snow on the ground which the girls could not resist. I bundled them up so they looked like extras in "The Christmas Story". Leah had fun, but she knows when she is ready to come inside and take advantage of hot chocolate and heat. Emma could've stayed out all day, but I think letting your child play outside so long they develop frostbite could be considered child endangerment. Finally today the girls are back at school and I have exactly 1.25 hours to run a million errands. There are gifts to be bought (to be exchanged on Sunday), treats to be made, wine to be purchased, house to be cleaned, etc etc. Emma has been the Star Student this week (poor girl was jipped out of 2 days) so today I'm going in to read to her class. And then I have to hustle out to pick up Leah and continue errands. All in the bitter cold. At least it is a change in scenery from being in the house!

Heart Warming

2009-12-08T09:22:00.002-06:00

We got our first measurable snow Sunday night and the girls were so excited. After Emma got home from school yesterday, they wanted to play outside. I bundled everyone up and they were happy to play outside for over an hour. Too cold for me!

Once they came back in, they wanted to turn the fireplace on and have hot chocolate. The living room was lit by the Christmas tree, and there they sat in front of the fireplace. Emma had gone and got a Christmas song book she has and read "The Night Before Christmas" to Leah and then they sang Christmas songs. It was truly a heart warming sight! Ah, to be a child again and find the wonder of the season in the little things.

Miss Indecisive

2009-12-04T19:49:00.003-06:00

Subtitle: Would you wear this?

So I've been shopping for myself this past week. We have one Christmas "party" to go to, a cookie exchange, and then Christmas itself. Since I stay at home I tend to wear things like jeans and thermal shirts or even fleece pants and slippers. I don't think I can show up to hubby's supervisor's house wearing slippers.

The search for decent clothes began, and I quickly became discouraged. After trying on 6,492 pair of black/dark grey pants at Kohls I was ready to throw in the towel. I managed to find a pair that were okay at Old Navy, just to have a pair.

Then I went shopping at Younkers. I'm not sure how far-reaching the Bon Ton department stores are, but here where I am we have Younkers. They usually have decent sales and then coupons on top of sales. When I went to try on a skirt and one more pair of black pants, the person in the dressing room before me just happened to leave a few behind in my size. I tried one on and . . . . they fit! Of course since I am short, I will have to hem them. Comes with the territory.

As I was checking the price on the pants, I spotted a cute sweater on the clearance rack. This picture doesn't do it justice, it is cuter in person and falls open more. It is actually a cardigan and snaps together up at the top.

I thought about wearing it with either a white or red fitted long sleeved t-shirt underneath. I got a couple of chunky, longer necklaces with red/black/grey in them to wear with it.

So then it comes to the shoes. I had bought a pair of zebra flats from Target, but they aren't doing it for me right now. I saw these on the clearance rack and thought they would work with the sweater. Can you wear sling backs in the winter?

I also have this shirt that gives me another option. I had it on with a pair of dark wash jeans and the shoes and thought it looked dressy enough to wear to the Christmas party. What do you think?

While I was going a little crazy at Younkers, they had these EMU boots on sale. They are Ugg-like, but a step down from the real Ugg. Instead of being sheepskin on the inside, they are wool and the outside is suede. I wore them around the house a little bit and they just aren't doing it for me. I think they are going back.

So there you go. I'm second guessing the grey shoes right now, mainly because I don't own any dressy shoes and don't know how to wear dressy shoes to look right with an outfit. I thought they looked okay with both jeans and dress pants, but I could be totally way off base. I never said I was a fashion guru. The only person I had available for opinions while shopping was three-foot-two and had cookie crumbs on her face. How come it is so easy to dress her (you should have seen her today, a-dor-a-ble) but me not so much?

ETA: After playing dress-up tonight, the black pants will probably be going back, too. Yes, I tortured myself by trying on bazillions of pants only to buy a pair and bring them home and see they are very similar to the other one pair of black pants I own. They vary at the style of the hem/leg opening just slightly, but not enough for me to buy them to wear once a year. And yes, that is how many times I wore the pants last year. And the year before.

The Grinch has left . . . for now

2009-12-02T21:06:00.002-06:00

Okay, I think I got all the Grinch-i-ness out for now. The upstairs got (mostly) clean, clothes are (mostly) put away, the dishes are (mostly) done, and the decorations are done. While cleaning I put another wall quote up--one I had bought a few months ago and couldn't decide where to put it. I decided, and I like it. I also changed a few other things around and added a few more decorations. I'm happy with how things look and can hopefully keep the house clean through the weekend.

Now I just need to move some presents around and should actually start wrapping them. There are some things in the way back of the van that I need to get out. Tonight I noticed Emma was looking back there (hopefully she couldn't see anything) and then she started talking about Santa. Hmmm. She is a believer, although there are a few kids in class who may not have the same thoughts. Tonight she told me, "That's okay, some people just have other traditions". I think she was thinking more along the lines of the Jewish holiday rather than the belief that Santa doesn't exist.

Next up this week is baking. I have a friend who wants me to make her some cookies that look like the Nutcracker since she and her daughter are dancing in a local production and wanted to give some out as gifts to the cast. That is my weekend project. My sister has completed our photo card for this year (Thank You!) and I have an idea rattling around my head for a fun Christmas letter, so that is well underway.

Meanwhile, Leah is reminding us all that Jesus' birthday is Christmas--something we need to step back and remember when all the craziness is getting to us. It isn't about the lights, the garland, or lame decorations. It doesn't matter if your kids are getting battery powered rodents or the latest, greatest video games. We can learn a lot from the four year old.

Bah Humbug

2009-11-30T20:56:00.002-06:00

I am feeling very Scrooge-y today. The tree is up (thanks mostly to hubby and the girls!), the outside lights are on (thanks again to hubby) and all that is left is inside. That is where the problem lies--I have little-to-no Christmas decorations. Ones that I like, anyway. I've "outgrown" some of the things I have like Boyd's Bears and I have no money to buy anything new. I have ideas, but I can't seem to even find something in store like I want.

I fought for over an hour with stupid lights and garland. I have a small tree that is very pathetic that I should put up downstairs, but I have no desire. I have a beautiful nativity set and no where to put it--we have no mantle or any where else I can display it.

There are too many other "wants" on the list to even worry about putting money into decorations. I would love to get at least one of the girls' rooms decorated. But that means first painting (which I don't do) and then putting up the bunk beds. In order to put up the bunk beds, we need a new bed so our bed can go to the guest room and the guest bed can be the bottom bunk. I want the bunk beds up because I have wall decals to go up (have had them for 6+ months now) and want to know where the bed will be. And when I say we need a new bed, I want all new bedroom furniture. Buying cheap 12.5 years ago was fine, but I'm over it. And then of course there is always new living room furniture. And oh, how about a media console for the living room so we don't have our nice tv sitting on the coffee table that is also 12.5 years old. I did ask for that for Christmas, so we'll see. Everything can't happen at once so I'm stuck with what I've got.

The rest of Christmas is fine. I'm almost done buying gifts, I just need to get to wrapping them. I'll bake a few things and we're looking forward to our trip over Christmas to see hubby's family. The girls are excited and we'll go see Santa in the mall soon. Give me some good Christmas songs and I'll sing along.

Hopefully some of my Scroogeness will pass by morning. It doesn't help that I'm coming down with whatever germs are floating around the house these days. And if I wish hard enough, maybe the elves will come over night and decorate my house. Just maybe.

Shop 'til you drop

2009-11-27T15:34:00.003-06:00

Yes, folks, hubby and I are two of those crazy shoppers you will see out before sunrise on Black Friday. We have been doing BF shopping for over 5 years now, so we are no rookies. This year there weren't too many "have to have" items, but we are suckers for bargains so out we went. Hubby actually stayed up most of the night, checking WalMart online to get one of the items on his list. Silly boy, what he ordered online and had to pay shipping for at 2:30am was right in front of me at 11am. Or should I say dozens of them, there for the taking. Oh well, those are the chances you take and if you want the item bad enough you will pay the extra $9 in shipping and lose a little sleep.

Usually my first stop is Kohls. They have the best deals on toys and a few other random items. I did not get there bright and early at 4am when the doors opened; 5:45am was early enough to get what I wanted. Now I do know that Kohls inflates their regular prices just a tad to make you feel like you are getting great bargains. "Look, this bath wrap was supposed to be $29.99 but you got it for $6.80! What a steal!" I will say that I had a coupon for 15% off your entire purchase, plus the Kohls cash you get when you spend $50 or more so it was worth the trip for me. Now I have to go back sometime next week to spend that $20 of "free money" and so they can say "Ha, ha, gotcha to come back!" By the time I found what I wanted, the lines were short and the trip was painless.

My longest wait was at Old Navy. Now I really didn't even need anything at ON, but again--the power of a bargain. While I at the mall I hit Target, Justice, Younkers and (another) Kohls all in one shot.

I got quite a few things knocked off the list. I struck out on a couple things, but nothing earth shattering. I am thanking my kids today that they haven't asked for Zhu Zhu pets or for wanting anything from that insane asylum they call Toys R Us. While I was buying a few things at Target, the cashier mentioned someone came through his line and bought 9 GPS systems. Either he gets lost very easily or he is going to try and re-sell them on e-bay. Your guess. Hubby was also behind someone who bought 3 itouch for just under $300 a pop. You got a $30 gift card with purchase, then $10 for every $100 you spent so that guy came away with around $150 in gift cards.

Before he went out shopping, hubby asked me if I even had a list. I said, "Didn't you read my blog?" Obviously not. ;)

My grown up Christmas list

2009-11-22T09:06:00.004-06:00

Even though Christmas isn't about the getting, I still have some things on my own wish list. Right after the things I won't get (such as peace on earth, a gym membership and a maid) there are a few things that I'm wishing for:

Maybe a cute scarf like this
or this
An itunes gift card. We need some new tunes on the ipod, preferably before our 4 hr car ride to South Dakota for Christmas. ;)
I checked this book out from the library and I think it is a keeper. I already have some recipes bookmared with sticky notes, but don't think I'll get to try them before the holidays.

Another cookbook I have my eye on is the one from The Pioneer Woman. She is a "famous" blogger who has wonderful recipes. Yes, I could look them up online but I am a visual learner and prefer to have a copy in front of me.

This has been on my wishlist since this summer, and of course everyone is going to have one now because The Pioneer Woman (mentioned above) recently posted a site called The Vintage Pearl
which has hand stamped jewelry. It may have to be moved to my birthday list. Of course I would order one with my own children's names on it. ;)

Yes, I almost hate to admit that I have Ugg boots on my wishlist.

Again, I've been contemplating them for over a year but just can't seem to part with that much money in one shot for a pair of boots. Yet everyone I've talked to just loves them. I know there are cheaper knock offs, but I haven't found a pair of those I liked. They may just be a "wish" for a long time, until I decide to finally get some and then they will be long out of style.

I also may have gotten a few things last week that can be considered early Christmas gifts. I've been looking for a new purse forever and haven't found one I loved. Although I wouldn't say I'm absolutely in love with this one, it seemed to be close enough and I was ready for a change. Hubby should be glad I can retire my corduroy "hobo" bag. Not hobo as in hobo style, hobo as in it looks like a vagrant should be carrying it from train to train. Isn't he nice.

What I liked most about the bag was the cute lining inside:I found a red wallet to go with and now I'm set for a few months.

My other early Christmas gift was this:

I had heard a lot of good things about these coffee makers, and I think it lives up to the hype. I just got the simplest model which I think fits my needs just fine. I can't even count the number of cups of coffee I've already made, and that doesn't include other hot drinks like apple cider and hot chocolate. So now I can add to my Christmas list a sample pack of coffees/chai tea/hot chocolate from a site like Big Cat Coffees.

What are you hoping Santa brings you?

Family Fun Night

2009-11-21T08:58:00.003-06:00

We often do things as a family like going to the zoo once a year or going to ISU sporting events. The girls are at a fun age where they can enjoy activities and are easy to take out and about. We recently got a new bowling alley/arcade/pizza place in town which the girls and I had been to a couple times, but hubby hadn't had a chance to get there. A week or so ago we decided we would take the girls there Friday night for some bowling, pizza, and fun.

The girls had been bowling before a few months ago, but I couldn't tell you the last time I went bowling. Somewhere between my last year in high school (we would do bowling for gym class) and last night--probably closer to 1993. The alley we went to you can set up to have "bumpers" come up for individual bowlers, so of course Emma and Leah got bumpers. They also have a metal ramp to push the ball down, so Leah used that. Emma used it for a frame or two, otherwise she just used the "chuck the 6 lb bowling ball instead of rolling it" method. Any guesses on the family winner? If you said hubby, you would be right. He scored an amazing 106. Emma was next with 78, then Leah with 75, and me rounding out the pack with 74. I couldn't even break 100 or beat my 4 year old. And the bumpers may have malfunctioned and that included the advantage of one spare by bouncing the ball off the bumper. Wow, I suck.

Being the ~~cheapskates~~ fiscally responsible parents we are, we had a coupon for $12 of arcade games if we ordered pizza from the menu. This was all we put on the arcade card, but the girls still got to play plenty of games. The little kids games were only 19 cents, and the most expensive game Emma played was $1. Leah hit the jackpot on the 19 cent game, winning 50 tickets in one shot. Other times we came away with one or three tickets for our extreme efforts (by extreme, I mean swiping the card and pushing a button). With our 180 tickets we won combined with a few extra tickets left on the card from the last trip, Leah walked away happy with a new slap bracelet and a 8 pack of Tinkerbell crayons. Emma was thrilled with a small blue lizard and a whoopie cushion. The latter has provided them with as much entertainment as a rubber balloon can.

I told hubby I never got to do anything like that when I was a kid. The closest thing we had in town was Stanley's Pizza with a lone Pac Man game. There were kids running around last night with tons of tickets trailing behind them. Someone had left a receipt in the game card machine for the $50 they put on the card. Seriously? $50 worth of arcade games? I wonder how many parents drop their pre-teens off at the door and say "See you in a few hours!" Luckily my girls can be pleased with small plastic trinkets that are way over "priced" in ticket terms. I saw kids running around with Nintendo DS games that they had won. How much did that cost you? I can get the same thing at Target for $20 or so.

It was definitely a fun night. Now I just hope the girls don't expect to go there more than once a year. ;)

Getting a start on Christmas

2009-11-15T08:28:00.002-06:00

Considering Target has had Christmas decorations out for a month now, and Hobby Lobby started around July, I already feel a bit behind the game. Emma has her list started, and Leah has dictated her list to me (I haven't written it down yet, I'm relying on my wonderful memory skills at this point). I have a mental list as well of gift ideas for me which will probably be bought for me by me. ;)

The thing is I'm a bit of a bargain shopper, as is hubby. I have been known to return/re-buy things to save a few bucks. I've seen some things on the shelf that I was tempted to buy already, but am waiting for a lower price. Will it be lower in the next few weeks? Who knows, but I'm hoping it will.

The only thing wrong with this strategy is that I've also learned if you see it, buy it then because it may not be there when you come back. This method is not conducive to bargain hunting, but saves on the sanity. I picked up shoes for the girls to wear at Christmas because I found what I wanted in their size at Target. Lord knows if I waited until a few weeks before, inevitably the size I need will be gone from the shelves and then I will be calling all my relatives to hit up their Targets looking for a size 9 red glitter shoes.

Being the bargain shoppers that we are, hubby and I are traditional Black Friday shoppers. Yes, we are insane but usually we have pretty good luck. He has been stalking the BF ads (that would be short for Black Friday) for about a month now and I have my eye on a few things as well. Our problem this year is we don't know where we will be for Thanksgiving. The past 4 years we have gone to his parents near Sioux Falls, so we head out at an ungodly hour to shop while everyone else is still sleeping. Grandma watches the girls and we shop until we can shop no more (until the next day, when we usually go in and do some returns/exchanges). This year we aren't going to their house until Christmas. We will decide if we want to do our BF shopping in Mason City or Des Moines and play Thanksgiving accordingly. Crazy, I know.

I may have already done some shopping for myself. I'll post about that later when I give my Christmas wish list. I've also figured out that I think I've past the point where I can shop with the youngest kid in tow and quickly try and hide gifts in the cart while she isn't looking. I'll have to do all my shopping as a solo operation I'm afraid.

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-12T08:06:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know it is a bit cliche since it is November with Thanksgiving coming up, but I thought I would write down a few things I am thankful for. Sometimes when life is getting you down, you have to think about what you have and realize that not having coffee creamer in the fridge or feeling a little bit "fluffy" around the middle are not the end of the world.

In no particular order, I am thankful for:

My husband, who gets up and drives 45+ min each way every day doing something outside of his area of interest/expertise to provide for our family. Love ya!
My two girls who are bright and funny and fun and make me laugh everyday, which helps to cancel out the times they make me want to cry in frustration.
My family, both the family I came from and the family I gained when I married hubby. They are always there for us whether we need a babysitter, free beef, cooking advice, or more. I just can't comprehend those with in law issues because I really lucked out in that area.
A nice house that has heat, electricity, running water and all other modern conveniences. After losing electricity for an hour last week (gasp!) I realize I would not be cut out to be an Ingalls. I like to dry my hair and have clean clothes and make supper in a crock pot.
For friends near and far, those who I know and those who I pretend to know.
For the ability to run to the grocery store when I need odd things like a head of lettuce and a container of cool whip. I assure you, they weren't served together. Today's trip is saltines and kool aid.
For our freedoms we have as Americans.
For medical care.

I could go on--I have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes you just have to stop and take a minute to realize just how blessed you are.

Another trip down memory lane

2009-11-07T19:24:00.002-06:00

The girls and I came up to my parents for the weekend for a visit. I don't think we've been here since July and the girls didn't have school on Friday, so we took the opportunity to go "home". It is only an hour trip, so easy to do in a weekend.

One of Leah's latest obsessions is Barbie (so help me God--I was hoping to avoid it for a few more years). I knew my mom probably had some of our old Barbie things, so I dug out a tote that had a couple Barbies, Barbie's horse, Barbie's canopy bed, and other assorted Barbie necessities like a pool table, pinball machine, and popcorn machine. Apparently Barbie had a pretty cool pad in her day, and although her house has been foreclosed and demolished, she was able to hang onto a few prize possessions.

Today we unearthed what was left of Barbie's closet. Most of our Barbies were from the mid-80's and boy do her clothes show it. She has quite a few gold lame outfits, a Coca Cola sweatshirt, and even a one armed sweatshirt ala "Flashdance". Emma found that quite disturbing--"Why does it have only one arm?" And speaking of arms, we sent a few Barbies to a permanent vacation who were missing more than one limb. RIP. And don't even ask about Ken who was simply a head and a limbless/headless body. That poor man was much abused by his harem of eight or so women.

Anyway, Barbie had many homemade clothes made by my mom or Grandma. Then she had a bunch of gems that we think my younger sister designed by going through my mom's fabric scraps and making clothes herself. There were dresses made from left over material from various prom and formal dresses I had. I sorted through all her clothes and only kept those that would maybe pass for fashion if Project Runway was doing a "rejected 80's hand-me-downs and slutty Barbie clothes" show.

Many of the Barbies are also sporting hideous haircuts thanks to the budding hair stylist that was my younger sister. One of my Barbies used to wink (how coy!) but somehow her eyelids have been ripped off. Even the poor horse was missing a hoof--an accident I seem to remember happening many years ago.

The girls have kept themselves entertained with all the Barbies, clothes, and accessories that are all new to them but have me remembering all the times I played Barbies. I have a feeling that Barbie will be making an appearance on Leah's Christmas list and I'll be seeing much more of them.

While we were home I was also able to meet up with a childhood friend for coffee. She was my "bff" in high school (after we got over fighting because of boy issues) but once we went to separate colleges we didn't stay as close as we were. But it seems like anytime we are able to get together, we can pick up like we left off. It was good to see her today and talk about the good old days and also have similar views about life in our 30's.

Since it was beyond beautiful out, the girls were able to go play at the elementary school playgrounds. The equipment has changed, but I told Emma that where they were playing was where I went to school K-4th grade. I even showed her our "warming" corner where we huddled when it was cold out. She has mentioned a few times that at recess they have their own warming corner they go to. Funny how some things never change.

Sugar high

2009-11-04T08:10:00.002-06:00

I definitely need to step away from the candy. The girls each hauled in a pumpkin full (of mostly chocolate) and I may or may not have bought 4 or so bags of chocolate just for hubby and I. Between that and the leftover frosting from the two cakes I made this past week, I think I put on about five lbs. Ouch. Time to get re-acquainted with Jillian and the treadmill.

Not much going on around here after the big sugar fest. Neither one of the girls have school on Friday due to parent/teacher conferences so I'm trying to decide what to do. We may either go visit my parents or maybe go to the science center. We'll see.

Leah wins the "most improved" trick-or-treater award. Last year she went to about four houses and was done. This years she was out for 2 hours straight and didn't want to go home. She was so cute--she would report what she got as soon as she turned away from the door. She even had a running tally of how many of each type of candy. This was the first time I went out with the girls; usually hubby takes them out. I did the leave the bowl full of goodies on the front step thing and ran back home to re-fill it one time. I should've thrown everything we had in there because it was empty when we came back home.

Emma also survived her first sleepover party. There were reports that some of the girls started falling asleep after 10pm, and the last ones nodded off somewhere after midnight. I'm sure Emma was closer to the latter. I told hubby that these sleepovers when they are young are probably better than the ones when girls get a bit older--you remember what we used to do. Talk about those who fell asleep first, try to freeze (training) bras, put sleeping people's hands in water to try and make made them pee, fart on people's pillows. The seven year old crowd is pretty innocent still. Emma did come home having learned how to do the "Sprinkler" dance move and had some rhyme about "Kirby Puckett stepped in a bucket, what color was his poop". Huh?

Off to parent teacher conferences. Leah's is today and Emma's is tomorrow night. Hoping for good reports! :)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-29T07:30:00.005-05:00

I took the girls to an event last Sunday called "Spirits in the Garden". There is a local garden affiliated with the university that we love to visit, and for the event they had games, crafts, snacks, and trick-or-treating with various mascots. Here are the girls after navigating the hay maze.
Our local Harley Davidson shop has a mascot named Chopper. Emma just liked him because he was a dog. ;)

This woodland fairy was Leah's favorite. Emma didn't like her because she had a tail. She actually creeped me out a bit, too.

Last year when it came time to carve pumkins I pulled out a kit I had bought years ago at 50% after Halloween. It had a book full of patterns and last year we did a spider and a cute jack-o-lantern winking. Don't ask me why, but I decided to do the fancy pumpkins again this year. It was in no way a child participation activity. Emma had already said she didn't want to take out the guts, so I started while she was at school and Leah was napping. Halfway through I was calling myself all kinds of crazy for doing these. Although I will admit they turned out pretty cute. I mean spooky and scary.

Emma hasn't really had a costume with full make up, unless you count the year I tried to paint her face green to be Yoda. I pulled her hair back and spray painted it black, then did her face white and added the widow's peak and eyebrows in black. The finishing touch was blood dripping from her mouth. She loved the final look and couldn't pass a shiny surface in the house without looking at herself. There was much posing:

When I was in a seasonal costume shop at the mall, I was asking if they had fangs that would fit a child. I bought some fangs for Emma that are too big and was hoping to find something smaller. I tell the high-school aged girl that my daughter is going to be a vampire and she says, "Oh, that's cool. So does she like Twilight and stuff?" Um, no. She is six and a half and has no clue who Edward and Bella are. Besides, she looks nothing like Edward, does she?
(I still haven't seen the movie--the DVD has been sitting in a drawer for the past six or seven months)

The pumpkins have fallen

2009-10-27T08:22:00.003-05:00

Back in September I saw a cute fall decorating idea and decided it was totally within my realm of ability, since I do not have much decorating flair. I went in search of the perfect six pumpkins to precariously stack on top of each other (well, 2 stacks of three really) which is not easy to do in the imperfect world of pumpkins. Next was a quick stop at JoAnn's where I bought some fall foliage and some Spanish moss because nothing says "Martha" like some Spanish moss.

After an hour of construction, I came up with this

I was very impressed with myself and thought they turned out very nice looking. Only after I had them up and was patting myself on the back did I re-read the site I got the idea from that said "This will last approximately 5 days". Of course, why didn't I think of that? You are poking holes in pumpkins and eventually they are going to rot. Five days? Seriously? It was only about the third week of September.

Well my pumpkins hung on. I had to shimmy the one on the right a few times with well placed rocks, but they held. That was until this morning when I went out and found the great wall of pumpkins had finally fallen.

It was nice while it lasted. Yes, I could've used fake pumpkins but that just wouldn't have had the same feel. And at the time, real pumpkins were cheaper than fake. Those hallow plastic pieces of orange styrofoam go for $20-$40 a piece! Crazy! Even getting them 50% off they would've cost a lot.

This week I will go in search of the great pumpkin(s) again. I promised the girls we would carve some for Halloween and my time is running out.

Not a Winner, Once Again

2009-10-25T09:02:00.002-05:00

So thinking it was maybe karma when I posted about my losing streak and then one of the blogs I follow had a give away, I was sure I would win (ha!). No such luck.

And last night when we went to the ISU volleyball game, they were giving out raffle tickets if you wore pink since it was their "Dig Pink" match for breast cancer awareness. The girls and I wore our pink and got three raffle tickets. The person right after me was one of the winners. :(

I guess I'll keep at it, the odds have to go in my favor one day, right? That type of perseverance was rewarded this week when the ISU volleyball team won for the first time ever in Lincoln, NE beating the #4 Huskers. And then the Cyclone football team beat Nebraska at Memorial Stadium for the first time since 1977. Sweet victory. Go Cyclones!

Unplugged

2009-10-23T07:59:00.003-05:00

Last night we were watching a show about the evolution of electronics such as the cell phone, VCR, Walkman, and video games. As Emma watched about Atari (I always wanted one, never had one) we said that is what Mom and Dad had to play with when they were little. Disbelief.

After awhile she says, "Mom, I didn't play anything electronic today!" Gasp! Let's see, what did you do? Worked on a story, traced and colored a picture, did some homework, took a bath---and you survived.

Sorry, you are not a winner

2009-10-22T08:48:00.003-05:00

Emma has such youthful optimism when she sees a contest on a food item, only to be greeted with "Sorry, not a winner." Don't you remember doing that as a kid, just sure that you had won that trip to Disneyland? I never knew how it would work because prizes were always for families of four, and we were five. I guess we would've just left the youngest at home, right Kari? ;)

Now with the age of blogs and internet giveaways, I still feel a bit of optimism when I leave a comment. I just know that random generator is going to pick my number. Um, yeah . . . not so much. Most are just small blog giveaways--$50 Target gift card, a free Martha Stewart book, credit at online stores. I persevere, but no winner yet. It doesn't seem to matter if I am one of 3,278 comments (no lie) or one of 12 comments, I still can't win.

I've tried to think of my own blog giveaway to try and entice more readers to come and visit, but I can't come up with much. I don't think anyone would like to win a $5 expired K-Mart give card or some used tissue possibly laced with H1N1. Other than that, I don't have much to giveaway that isn't random crap I have laying around.

I will say I did win something this year--a free pair of shoes. I didn't even know I was "entered" into that drawing, but it was from the 5K race my sister and I ran this summer. They chose 17 entrants at random, and I was one of them. Maybe I will keep these forever as a reminder of my one lucky day:

I recently read this book

This woman supported her family of 10 on her prize winnings from contests in the 1950's and 60's. Just when they would find a great need, she would win a prize to help keep them going. One of her last big prizes was being the 1st place winner of a Dr. Pepper contest to be able to pay off the bank for their 2nd mortgage (the alcoholic husband took it out without her knowledge). This was all back in the day when contests were looking for new slogans or testimonials, not just random comments on the internet. There were books and social groups dedicated to "contesting". If they knew who the judges were for the contest, they knew how to write to please those particular judges. She would send in multiple entries for contests under all variations of her name--she could come up with at least 50--and also entered under her husband and kids' names. She would often win small prizes, all which were used by the family in some way or another. One year she stashed all her prizes in a closet that was off-limits to the kids and was able to provide a wonderful Christmas for 8 kids on winnings alone.

I don't necessarily want to win enough to support my family, all I'm asking for is a win more than once every ten years. Wish me luck!

ETA: So after I wrote this, I did my normal blog ~~stalk~~ walk through my daily sites and came across a giveaway from Clemson Girl and the Coach. She is so much fun to read and along with some of her favorite bloggers have me intrigued by the Southern lifestyle. Which is way different than things are up here in the North, I tell you. Anyway, go check out Clemson Girl (but don't necessarily comment for the give away, that would only lower my chances of winning) ;) Off to see what I can find on Little Birds Boutique.

I "Heart" Mom

2009-10-18T10:25:00.008-05:00

Today is my Mom's birthday and all I can say is my Mom rocks. I know not everyone has a good relationship with their mom, and I'll admit during my teenage years she probably wasn't my favorite person. But now as an adult I appreciate her and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't talk to her at least three or four times.

Mom is always there to help with the new babies. She came to our house to babysit Emma when she was just a few weeks old so hubby and I could go to the Dixie Chicks concert. Here she is snuggling with Emma.

And when Leah was born, Mom was the first person to be there. She had come down to watch Emma for what we thought would be a night or two in the hospital. Little did we know she would stay the next two weeks with Emma while Leah was in the NICU. She did get to come and visit Leah as well.

These are my Mom's 5 younger grandchildren, whom she will babysit whenever we ask. Just last night she had four of the five. Our girls have barely had a babysitter who wasn't a grandparent.

Have I mentioned that my mom sews? She has been sewing for many, many years and is always there to help make whatever we come up with. She helped make the curtains for Emma's nursery and also some wicker baset liners.

She has also helped make various parts of many Halloween costumes including a black kitty, a vet, and a dog. When she was here this past weekend, she whipped up a vampire vest for Emma--she just makes it look too easy.

She also makes things like bridesmaid dresses. These were for my younger sister's wedding (all the other dresses she made were pre-digital camera and I don't have a scanner). Let's just say that among three girls she has sewn dresses for 4 weddings.

My mom also made at least one of my prom dresses and other formal dresses when I was in high school. Because of her I can sew, although I don't like to do it without her there to guide me.

I can also trace my cake madness back to her. When I was getting ready to make Emma's 1st birthday cake, she loaned me her frosting decorator and tips. Needless to say, she hasn't gotten them back from 6 years ago.

She was a Home Ec teacher and I am always calling her with questions like "How long should I microwave a squash?" or "If I forgot to put my eggs away six hours ago, are they still good?" She always seems to know the answer.

I could go on and on about my Mom. I only hope my girls think of me the same way when they are moms themselves.

And I can't forget to say Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law as well. I lucked out in that department as well. Happy Birthday, Betty!

Randomness

2009-10-13T08:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was out shopping at Target (imagine that!) while the girls were in school and I got a phone call. "Hi, this is Kris from the office and we were just calling to see how Emma was feeling today." Ummm, isn't she there? You tell me?! It turns out that with three Emma's in the class, the wrong Emma (mine) had been marked absent. Since Emma was out sick a few weeks ago, they thought maybe she wasn't feeling good again. I thought maybe they were calling to check up on sick kids to see what their symptoms were since there is H1N1 in the school, but they probably called since I hadn't called/e-mailed. Usually they know ahead of time if Emma would be gone. She did call down to Emma's classroom to make sure she was indeed in class. Right where I thought she was.
Speaking of H1N1, this article has me just a tad bit on edge. It seems that H1N1 itself is bad, but the secondary infections people get with it are what knock them down. Even before this fact came to light, Leah's pediatrician said his only concern for her this winter would be if she would get pneumonia. Great.
You know how in 2012 the world is going to end? (According to the movies and the Mayans anyway) Well, it seems that it is starting early. I mean look at all these natural disasters happening all over the world, now H1N1 and other deadly diseases. And snow on October 10th? Craziness! Our high temps right now aren't even getting out of the normal range for average LOWS. Last year on Halloween it was about 80 degrees. I'm a little scared to think about this year.
As for Halloween, I think we have the costumes figured out. They are semi-homemade this year. Leah is going as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. I bought a headband that has her "hair" and her wand off e-bay, she'll wear her tutu from her birthday (I'm adding in some blue) and then a blue tank top over a pink turtleneck and leggings and she's good to go.
Emma is going to be a vampire. I got a cape from JoAnn's along with fake teeth and some make-up. I told her she could wear that with black pants and a white shirt, and she said she wanted a black and white striped vest (I think she had seen that on other vampire costumes we were looking at online). My mom is coming this weekend so we'll whip up a vest. I didn't tell Emma I bought her some fake blood and black hair paint yesterday.
After finding some mouse poop in the storeroom, we set up a bunch of traps inside and outside. We haven't caught or seen any more evidence from our furry friend inside, so I imagine he is dead and rotting somewhere among the boxes in there (gross, I know--I'm not looking forward to finding him someday). We have caught a few outside. What do you expect, we live yards away from a bean field.

Stuff

2009-10-08T08:35:00.002-05:00

You would think that with 2 moves in 5 years, we wouldn't have much clutter. Ha. You would be very wrong. Hubby and I are both "keepers" and have a hard time throwing things away. Need the original box to the Tickle Me Elmo hubby gave me at our rehearsal dinner 12 years ago? Got it. How about hubby's baseball trophies from when he was in jr. high. Got those too, thanks to the in-laws. Also have professional journals from 10 years ago (maybe looked at them once, haven't opened them again), every Christmas card we've received in the past 10 years, college and grad school papers and notes, a t-shirt collection that sits in a box, many unfinished (or even unstarted) projects . . . the list goes on and on and on. We can perpetuate this because we have a storeroom, a large garage, and many closets.

Along with all the "stuff" we don't really need, we have all the kids' stuff. Each girl has a closet full of clothes and toys. Then there is the hall closet that has three shelves of toys/games/art supplies. And the whole toy room filled with toys. And the downstairs closet that has toys. And the three large tubs in the storeroom that have baby/toddler toys. Need toys, anyone? Don't get me started on the kids' books, either.

I have to partly blame my mother for that. You see, when my kids go to Grandma's house they get to play with toys that we had when we were kids. Cabbage Patch dolls, Sesame Street Little People (it is my goal one day to have one of these myself) and the schoolhouse, the books we read. So when I look at my girls' toys, I think of my future grandkids and how much I would love to have them play with the same thing. Hubby's mom is the same way. She has all of his sister's toys like the play oven, ironing board, and picnic table that my girls and the other grandkids use at her house. She also has hubby's original Millennium Falcon and various Transformers that were his. If I have grandkids one day, I'm sure they would love playing with the Little People barn, and zoo, and airport, and house, and school, and ark, right? So I can't get rid of them.

My goal for today is to get some of the toys/books under control. Or at least move them from three or four small boxes to one big tote I can put out in the garage. The storeroom is another project. Somewhere in the maze of boxes I am confident there is a dead mouse hiding out. I know I need to clean/organize and find the thing, but that is about last on a long "to-do someday" list. Maybe by next spring I can get on that and get stuff together for a garage sale. Maybe.

Here are a few toys that my girls love at Grandma's. The pictures are from e-bay. I guess if my mom ever gets desperate, she can put hers up for auction, although the potential money made will never replace the joy these toys have brought over the past 30 years.

This seller is savvy--love the "Buy Me Please" written with the magnetic letters. Yours for the low, low price of $199.99

This is the Sesame Street Little People set. Again, you can buy your own for $165 (plus shipping) on e-bay.

Maybe next time

2009-10-05T15:10:00.005-05:00

Dear Victoria's Secret,
I was flattered to receive the e-mail about your model search. Unfortunately I do not fit any of your criteria. Please keep me in mind if you are looking for models who are almost 35 (with a couple of kids), are 5'4" on a tall day, and are doing a photo shoot in Iowa. Thanks!

iPod Profiling

2009-10-04T09:34:00.003-05:00

On Thursday I was driving during one of the local morning radio shows and heard them do their "ipod profiling". Basically you send in your personal information (name, occupation, age, hobbies) and the titles of 5 songs off your ipod. Then the morning personalities will guess your information (they don't get to see that part) based on the songs you provided. The morning I heard it they guessed the person was a female, around 29, single, a teacher, and her hobbies were Ferrell's/kickboxing. It turns out she was female, 26, engaged, a school counselor and went to Ferrell's (local exercise place). Huh? They got all that from 5 songs? I was pretty impressed.

I was trying to think about what 5 songs I would pick to really throw them off. What songs would say female, 30's, married, and stays and home and reads facebook/bakes cakes? What songs would totally throw them off? And what songs are on your ipod?

Song titles to follow . . .

Okay, so here are my five. My ipod is mainly for exercise and entertainment on long car rides, so most songs are up beat and Top 40 songs.

1. London Bridge--Fergie
2. Smooth Criminal--Alien Ant Farm
3. Wanted--Jessie James
4. Silent House--Dixie Chicks
5. 7 Things--Miley Cyrus

I also have quite a bit of Britney, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, and Gwen Stefani.

I should also send in some for hubby. We share the ipod so he has picked some songs to download as well. Do these shout male, 36, chemical engineer or what. ;) Probably not.

1. Unwritten--Natasha Bedingfield
2. Bring Me to Life--Evanescense
3. Paradise City--Guns-N-Roses
4. Viva La Vida--Coldplay
5. 7 Things--Miley Cyrus

My routine

2009-09-30T07:57:00.002-05:00

My routine is there is no routine. I had grand visions of getting so much done with one in school full time and one in school three mornings a week. Like coming home after preschool drop-off and exercising, then showering, then running errands, then picking up. Yeah, that hasn't happened yet. And when do I get all the other stuff done like cleaning or cooking or folding laundry? I'm not the type to have Monday be laundry day and Tuesday be cleaning and Wednesday by grocery shopping and . . . you get the idea. Somewhere between my grand ideas and the follow-through, life happens.

Like Monday when I had a killer migraine and could barely make it through supper and bedtime. The twenty pots and pans used for making lasagna didn't get washed. And now it is Wednesday and they are still on the counter, dirty. I was going to wash them yesterday after I got home from running to Des Moines, but then a friend needed help watching her son for a little while after school and it was too nice out to be inside doing dishes. And I thought I had supper all figured out last night (grilling hamburgers) until I realized the grill ran out of propane on Sunday. I almost just had Quiznos deliver a couple sandwiches, but decided to make mini-meatloaves. We aren't big meatloaf fans (or at least hubby isn't) but this recipe got rave reviews on allrecipes. So that was all fine and dandy until Emma decided we should practice spelling words while supper was cooking. The timer went off and we were still spelling, so the mini meatloaf got a little done. Hubby was so kind to call them meteorites. It didn't help that he called at 6pm to say he was running late and hoped to be home by 7:30 but it was 8pm by the time he made it home. So where is the routine in all of that?!

Then I woke up around 4am with the beginning of a sore throat, headache, and body chills. Hmm, wonder what that could be?! Great, just great. Some Advil and sleep helped some, but I think after preschool drop-off I'm coming home and going back to bed. And yes, that is me in my pj's in the drop-off line. So all my plans of washing dishes and putting laundry away and picking up the house a bit today are out the window again. To add to my already not routine day, Emma has an early dismissal so she will be home around 1pm.

See, a chaotic life is routine around here.

Homecoming

2009-09-21T08:12:00.002-05:00

Four years ago today we were bringing home our baby who had lived the previous six weeks in the NICU. It is funny how that homecoming day becomes just as important as the birthday; I always stop to think about this day.

See how happy she is to bust out of that place?!

Outside in the "real" world for the first time. We had a two hour car ride home.

Elway says, "You brought another one of these things home? Isn't one enough?"

Emma is singing one of her songs to Leah (probably taught to her by Aunt Glenda). This is the first time Emma saw her in person.

Holding her for the first time. Emma still picks Leah up and tries to carry her around.

I'm not as eloquent as Cristin in describing homecoming. When we brought Leah home we had little to no knowledge of CDH and how long stays in the NICU could be. Six weeks seemed plenty long for us. We were running out of free childcare (thanks to Grandmas and Aunts!) and we were ready to have Leah home. Since we didn't know of her condition before birth, to prep Emma for a new sister we kept telling her "Mom and Dad will go to the hospital and come home with a baby". We never imagined that we would go to the hospital and come home with a baby six weeks later. C'mon, no 2.5 year old is patient enough to understand how that works.

It is funny how things work out. Since Leah was due in mid August, I had bought a summer outfit for her to come home in. I didn't think she would ever wear it considering she was coming home in late September. On the day she came home it was unseasonably warm--about 90 degrees. She did get to wear her outfit after all.

We no longer live in the houses that either one of the girls were brought home to as babies. It just goes to show that home is not the house, but the place where your family is together.

Finally Friday

2009-09-18T07:45:00.002-05:00

It has been a long with with hacked e-mails and puking kids. I think we have everything sorted out now, the kid is back at school, and I even have a 1/2 way clean house. The other kid goes to preschool this morning which means 2.5 hours of time to myself!! Which also means I had better get my grocery list ready because I have 2.5 hour window to go to the store so I had better prepare and use my time wisely.

Not too much going on this weekend. We have the usual ~~early morning torture~~ soccer game on Saturday morning, which is about 8 sets of parents sitting along the sidelines of the soccer field yelling "Get the BALL!!" to children who don't belong to them. Seriously, it is painful and compounded by the fact that only about 1/4 of the girls sort of know what is going on. The other 3/4 are totally clueless. Once again, Emma shows more athletic ability and promise at six than I ever did, so I'll keep signing her up.

Off to ~~read Facebook~~ make my weekly menu and grocery list, shower, and take Leah to preschool!

First time--iheartfaces entry

2009-09-15T08:27:00.008-05:00

My sister has posted her entries to ihearfaces before, but I never felt I had anything that was too good. She is the better photographer in the family--I just point, shoot and pray. This week's competition is "Contemplative" As soon as I saw that, this photo came to mind:

We were on a preschool field trip to a pumpkin patch/farm, and I caught her from across the way. I love the texture of the fence combined with the colors and the look on her face. This was one of my first attempts at any type of photoshop editing: I think it helps draw attention to her expresion and takes emphasis away from the other child in the photo. I also have it as just a simple black and white on my photo collage wall. She must have been thinking about something else because here they were learning about sheep, and I don't think there is too much to contemplate about sheep. ;)

A bad case of the Mondays

2009-09-14T16:54:00.002-05:00

Nothing ruins your day like finding out your e-mail has been hacked. It started this morning when hubby was frustrated that he couldn't log onto any accounts. Here I thought we would be without internet (gasp!) but when I checked it out, it was fine. Meaning I could log into Facebook--whew! But then came the phone call from my college friend/maid-of-honor asking me if John was in London and needed her to send money. I knew right there we had been hacked.

There is a hoax on Facebook where a chat box will come up (one of your friends, so someone you know) and they will tell you how they were robbed at gunpoint in London and need money ASAP. Well this time instead of my FB account being hacked, it was our e-mail. And hubby's hotmail account. And our e-bay account. And who knows what else. Thankfully my hotmail account has been okay so far, so I've been able to e-mail MSN about the problem. Thanks for the super-speedy response and wonderful help. . . NOT.

It is possible that all this can be traced back to the evil FB. I may have to re-evaluate my obsession and think about spending my time on there.

I just hope that no one the message went out to was gullible enough to fall for the hoax. I did get a couple phone calls to confirm it really wasn't us. But that e-mail account is about 10 years old and has many, many contacts including school, friends, and relatives. I guess it is time for a new e-mail.

So instead of enjoying my first day with 2.5 hrs of free time (ha--I sat in a Dr's office for almost that entire time as well as fielding phone calls) I've been dealing with this. Fun times.

Cyclone Born, Cyclone Bred

2009-09-11T07:54:00.004-05:00

I think you all know where our loyalties lie. Go Cyclones!

Beat Cancer

2009-09-10T08:06:00.003-05:00

This weekend is the big Iowa State vs. Iowa rivarly football game. Iowa has no professional sports teams, so this is "THE" football game of the year. Although there are many people in the state who cheer for other state schools, the majority cheer for either Iowa State or Iowa. Period. If you know me, you know which one we cheer for. ;)

For many years now the mantra for this weekend (and anytime the two schools meet together in sporting activities) is:

The students on campus get on board and even do things like this in the dorms:

But there is another reason why this weekend is significant. Saturday is National Childhood Cancer Awareness day. Families in Iowa have teamed together to do some fundraising at the game this weekend. You could get a shirt that looks like this:

(They do come in that "other" school's colors, but my blog and I won't post those colors here) ;) The whole month of September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. You can see some of the families in Iowa who are battling cancer here. The athletic director at our university also has a son going through cancer treatments right now; the boy is in the same grade as Emma at school and she will often say hi and talk to him at sporting events.

Even on the vast world wide web, I'm finding more and more connections that bring people far away closer. After Emma was born I used to frequent a bulletin board site on Baby Center (and still do, I will admit). About 5 years ago there was a story that was "famous" on the bulletin boards about a family dealing with their infant daughter, Allie, who had leukemia. It seemed that everyone followed her story and every mother on there was heartbroken when Allie lost her fight to cancer. Since then, her mom has founded a non-profit in Texas to help families going through childhood cancer. I still follow her personal blog and come to find out one of my favorite CDH families know the family in real life.

On Saturday while you cheer on the Cyclones, take a minute to learn more about childhood cancer and maybe do something to support awareness and fundraising.

Opposites

2009-09-09T14:41:00.004-05:00

I love having two girls and I'm finding out more and more just how opposite two sisters can be. Of course they have a lot of things in common, but I like to see the areas where they differ and have their own opinions.

First off, everyone always tells me they look so much alike. They do resemble each other in certain ways, but their eye color is definitely different. Emma's can vary from blue to green (if you ask her, they are green) and Leah's are nothing but brown 100%. Hubby has the blue eyes and I have brown.

When we had our pictures done this summer by Amy Price, she really was able to show the difference between their eyes.

Emma is our tomboy, through and through. She has no desire to do dance (although she may find an interest in gymnastics, I think) and only wanted to do sports--softball, basketball, soccer. Leah is our ballerina and loves to pretend to dance. I hope we can get her into some dance classes in the next year or so. She likes her sports, too, but gravitates more towards dance.

The Tomboy

The Ballerina

When it comes to getting dressed, Emma's closet is full of t-shirts and knit shorts/yoga pants. She wears her tennis shoes 99% of the time, even with the one time I got her into a dress for school this fall. Leah loves dresses and will ask to wear a dress or a skirt most days. She loves her flip flops and cute shoes to match her outfits. Here is Emma on her first day of preschool (she was not quite 3.5 years old)

Here is Leah's 1st day of preschool (4 years old)

She wanted to wear a dress on the first day and will probably ask to wear a skirt or a dress every other day of preschool, too.

When Emma was five, she got to go to Build-a-Bear and make a friend. She chose a dog, whom she named Blizzard. Blizzard is a boy and has pirate pj's.

(This picture was taken sometime last year and may document the last time I got Emma to wear denim--she will not wear jeans and I stopped buying them for her)

Leah got to go to Build-a-Bear for her fourth birthday and came home with a kitty named Isabelle. Isabelle is a girl and has a pretty, pink Sleeping Beauty dress and glittery shoes.

Ask Emma what her favorite color is and she will tell you "Any boy color", which usually translates into blue or green. When school supply shopping for her we picked out a blue pencil case and a blue notebook. She will also pick red sometimes.

Ask Leah what her favorite color is and she will tell you "Dark pink, but I also like light pink". Walk into her room and you will be blinded from all the pink in there.

Even with all their differences, they still love each other and are each other's best friends. Maybe their differences will keep them from arguing over clothes and things once they are older . . . yeah, probably not.

How Original

2009-09-08T12:29:00.003-05:00

When asked what she wanted to be for Halloween, Emma said: "Maybe a different breed of dog?" (She was a Dalmatian last year)

Leah aspires to be a princess and wants to wear her princess hat she got for her birthday, which is pink. (She was a pink princess last year)

I knew if I suggested Emma go as a Ghostbuster, she may change her mind. She has watched the movie a few times this summer, and I think it would be appropriate because her dad went as a Ghostbuster when he was younger. When I brought it up, she was all for it--except she wants to go as Slimer. "And then Dad could be a big Ghostbuster and he could suck me up!" I will admit, that is a great duo costume idea.

So now I am on the lookout for kids size medium tan coveralls. I usually make (or actually my mom or my SIL make, I'm just the creative director) the girls' Halloween costumes. I'm not ready yet to pay $35 plus shipping for a cheapy Ghostbusters mass produced costume. I have almost 2 months, right?!

Pictures

2009-09-07T07:46:00.006-05:00

So blogger and I still aren't seeing eye-to-eye on posting pictures. I don't know what the (my) problem is, so I decided to put pictures in a different way. Ha! So the 15+ pictures I carefully selected and put in chronological order are now in--backwards. Grrr. So let's take a trip back in time and see what we've been up to the past month . . . .

Mostek family gathered in Omaha for Grandma Mostek's funeral. We are missing a couple of kids, but you will see them later. John's 2 brothers are on the left of his parents and his sister is to his right. The rest of us just married in.

Random picture of cupcakes I made. I had seen them on Bakerella's site and wanted to make them all summer. I ended up taking them to a picnic with our neighborhood moms.

The cutest Cyclone this side of Ames!

Emma throwing a softball 19mph. Watch out!

Leah shooting hoops with the Cyclone women's b-ball team

First day of school 2009, Leah wanting to get in on the action

Emma all ready for 1st grade

The girls checking out all the big John Deere equipment at the State Fair

Leah and cousin Camden with Clifford

The 4 Mostek side cousins (the two that were missing from the family photo above)

Leah trying clothes on her new kitty at Build-a-Bear

Leah stuffing her kitty

Leah's b-day cupcakes

Glass slipper and crown cookies on cupcakes

Leah and Daddy at her b-day dinner out to Hickory Park

Leah on her b-day "Look Mom, no hospital trips!"

And that concludes our trip down memory lane. I think this method will work okay when I'm not trying to post 15+ pictures. I still can't cut and paste web addresses like I used to. I'm sure it is all the computer, and not the operator. And I apologize because the majority of you who read this blog have already seen these pictures on Facebook at one time or another. You may have even commented on them there, but don't let that stop you from commenting again. Multiple times.

Say "Cheese!"

2009-09-04T07:50:00.003-05:00

Today is school picture day. Ever since Emma's first school picture last year, we have been giving her a bad time about smiling for this year's picture. Last year's picture was okay--but she has a forced half-smile that looks nothing like her. It's gotta be better this year, right?

The past two weeks the first graders have worn a certain color every day. They then could wear their favorite color today, coincidentally on school picture day. Emma is still going through her "I'm picky about clothes" phase, so I asked her what her favorite color was. She said any boy color (thanks for the direction). She really didn't have anything in her closet, so I went and bought three shirts for her to choose from for picture day. And she vetoed every one. I guess all it took to please her was a $3 red short-sleeved shirt from Wal-Mart. Can't wait to see how the picture turns out.

I would venture to guess that in my 12 or so school pictures, there are maybe 2-3 that I would think look good now. What can I say, it was the 80's--we didn't know much about fashion. When I was in kindergarten I had short hair to begin with, then I decided to cut my bangs up to my hairline. I'm sure that was a great shot. I think it is either my 1st or 2nd grade photo I like the best. My hair actually looks blond, my mom had french braided it, and I had on a cute pink plaid shirt (that my mom made). Then I remember a string of really bad photos. 4th grade--the lovely "permullet" where the top is short and permed and the back is long and straight. 5th grade--hair cut short like a boy. 6th grade--bad perm, first year with braces, long plastic black beads. Good thing I don't have a scanner.

Since I am worthless and don't have any pictures to back up my claims of ugliness and awkwardness, head over to www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com and delight in other people's bad pictures. I had seen the site before about 6 months or so ago, but spent most of the day yesterday browsing through and getting a good laugh. I think Glenda should send in her photo she has of her holding a birthday cake and some sort of animal antlers coming out of her head thanks to her mother's posing skills. We also have a few that I can think of that might be awkward enough.

Family Legacy

2009-09-01T08:07:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we were in Omaha for a funeral. John's paternal grandma, Adell Mostek, passed away after a long life of 92 years. We are very close to the extended family on his Dad's side, but usually only get to see them once a year or so around the 4th of July. All of John's brothers and sister gathered in Omaha for the funeral and to remember Grandma Mostek.

I first met Grandma Mostek in the spring of 1994 when I went to Omaha with John over Easter break. His grandparents happened to be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, so here I am as a family newcomer in all the pictures. His cousin Dave also announced his engagement to his girlfriend, so it was quite a big weekend. Who would've known that 15 years later we'd be looking at those photos with a family that has grown by 5 spouses and 11 grand kids.

John's grandpa passed away soon after we were married, so Grandma Mostek has been on her own for quite a few years. Once she was in an assisted living facility, her daughter Dot started Grandma making fleece tie blankets as something to pass the time and keep her hands busy and agile. I would have to ask Dot how many blankets Grandma Mostek made over the course of the years, but this weekend there were 8 full tubs/boxes of blankets she had made. We already had quite a few at home that she had made for us, but we left with about 5 more. Part of her legacy will be those blankets that are being used by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She has also sold some at craft fairs, made some on request for people, and donated many to Project Linus.

Another thing Grandma Mostek would do to pass the time is play lottery Bingo. Again, Dot would bring her scratch-off Bingo cards and Grandma would enjoy playing. In honor of her on Sunday night, Dot bought 15 lottery Bingo cards for everyone to play together. We were hoping Grandma would be looking down on us and someone would win the big $35,000 prize, but the biggest winners were a few $5 cards. It was fun and I'm surprised we made it out of Nebraska without buying more cards. Now every time we see something posted about a Bingo night or there is talk of Bingo, we think of Grandma Mostek.

Another part of growing up as a Mostek is remembering your polish heritage. Grandma Mostek loved her polka music (and passed that love onto her son, John's dad) and they also loved their Polish food. Our meal after the funeral was a delicious Polish spread provided by Eddy's Catering in Omaha. Even our girls love kielbasa and I was introduced to kolaches. Yum! Grandma and Grandpa Mostek grew up in a very Polish neighborhood in South Omaha. Walking through the cemetery at the graveside service you couldn't pass a headstone that didn't have some sort of Polish name--the longer the last name, the fewer vowels it had.

Even though our girls only met Grandma Mostek a few times, I hope that they remember her through the stories we tell. They love their blankets that she made and now they want to play Bingo all the time. She will be missed by her loving family who knows they are all here in part because of her. I'm sure there was a spot saved for her at the Bingo table in Heaven.

What a liar

2009-08-26T08:07:00.002-05:00

"Lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days!"
"Eliminate Love Handles, Muffin Tops, and Wobbly Arms for Good!"
"In no time you'll achieve a lean, shredded body."
"Transform your body from flab to firm in no time!"

How could I fall for these lies? I mean c'mon, I've been doing the 30 Day Shred for 5 months now and don't have that lean, shredded body yet. Well, I've sort of been doing it. Okay, I've shredded once in the past two months, but before that I was a little more faithful. And no more trouble zones? I've tried to get through the 40-minute circuit workout quite a few times. I think I've succeeded once. But I keep at it. Why? Because body parts shouldn't jiggle when you walk.

And maybe part of it is that I don't follow Jillian's meal plan--that is why I'm not seeing the results she's promised. I didn't feel like paying money to see what she was going to tell me to eat. But something also tells me that almond Snickers bars and a grande iced white mocha are probably not acceptable lunch options.

At the beginning of the year I got back into SparkPeople and lost about 10lbs. I like the site, mainly because it is free, but it is a pain for me to try and log onto the computer everything I eat. If it isn't in their database I have to enter it. And most suppers are meals I cook myself, so I have to enter whole recipes. Too time consuming for the results that I see. But again, something needs to change. I found 10 of those pounds right back where they started.

I realize I am like the majority of the population when it comes to diet and exercise. I come and go in bursts of motivation, but then there are things that easily sidetrack me and it is hard to get back again. One day I feel like everything is just going to "click" into place--the calorie counting, the exercise, drinking water, making healthy choices. I've waited 8+ years and it hasn't happened yet.

Until it does finally all click into place, I'll keep plugging away, piece at a time.

1st Day of School

2009-08-20T09:02:00.002-05:00

It was finally here, that day that parents love the most and most teachers dread--the First Day of School. I know I have been looking forward to it, but with only one of them gone, I get to turn into Leah's playmate. Emma did a great job of that all summer. Leah already requested to play her Fancy Nancy game at 8am this morning.

Emma is not nervous about the first day of school. Now that she has a year under her belt, it isn't a big deal. Even deciding what to wear was not a momentous occasion in her book. Many times while we were shopping this summer I would hold up things and ask, "Would you like this for the first day of school?" to which she would answer, "Why do I have to wear something different? Can't I just wear regular clothes?" So while picking out just the right outfit for school may obsess some children, Emma could care less. She is going to be the one wearing yoga pants to school everyday because they are the only pants she will put on and not immediately have tears well up because they are "too tight" in the crotch. I've tried to tell myself this isn't a battle worth fighting and just buy her what she is comfortable in. Even though the brown twill roll-up pants from Old Navy look adorable on her, I know she will never wear them without the threat of death upon her.

And this would be the point where I would insert the picture of her from this morning, but for some reason my copy and paste doesn't work anymore. Anyone know what is up with that? Whenever I right click after copying something, it doesn't allow me to paste. Annoying as hell. Anyway, pictures are on facebook and I'll put them up here if I can figure out how to run this stupid mouse.

Let me just say that a thunderstorm in the middle of the night does not make for ideal sleeping conditions the night before the first day of school. And it was 60 degrees out this morning--nothing says the end of August like cold, wet weather. Ha.

I'm sure once Emma gets home and I ask her about her day, all she will remember is what she ate for lunch and maybe that recess was her favorite time of the day.

Recovery Mode

2009-08-18T07:50:00.003-05:00

We had weekend full of guests, food, presents, and good times. Friday I learned that we can sleep at least 8 adults and 5 kids in the house at one time. Heck, we still had floor space, we could've easily doubled that. I thought about charging everyone $50 a night to make some extra money, but I don't think my family would've appreciated that. We spent all day Saturday at the State Fair. I managed not to eat my weight in fried food this year, but we did get rained on which makes the experience just that much more fun. Sunday was Leah's party, complete with her "Four Year Old Dance" which looked like free form interpretive dance by a 4 year old. Impressive stuff.

Now I have the party hangover and about a million pounds of sheets and towels to wash, fold, and put away. That many people makes for a lot of laundry.

And you know, guess what?* School starts on Thursday. Yipee!!

*This is Leah's one and only conversation starter. And believe me, you don't want to start a conversation with her because you will hear "You know, guess what" about a thousand times. And by the time she has said her lead-in phrase, she usually forgets what you were supposed to know, so you get to hear it three or four more times in succession.

It was a dark and stormy night

2009-08-10T20:48:00.002-05:00

That is one thing I will never forget about the night/early morning Leah was born. They always say that storms bring in all the pregnant ladies, and the birth center at our local hospital was full that night. We went in about 10pm and after I was up in the room, John went down to get the bag and he was wet with big, fat raindrops. Even the Dr. commented about the weather once he was called in. I guess that should've been some foreshadowing as to what was about to come.

There were no indications during my pregnancy that anything was "wrong" with the baby. It was very similar to my pregnancy with Emma; so much so that I knew it was another girl. Even in the middle of a hot, humid Iowa summer I had little to no swelling, always measured on track, and went right up and over 40 weeks. I had seen my Dr. on Monday, he called to check on me on Tuesday (because that was his day off--he was taking his boys swimming), and set up an appointment for Thursday morning to do a non-stress test and see if we needed to get things moving. Well just like with Emma, I went into labor on Wednesday afternoon and was off to the hospital later that evening.

Being a smaller local hospital, there is no anesthesiologist on staff at all times so epidurals are rarely done for deliveries. I was no too happy about my options for pain management, because I do not like pain. And pain does not like me. So this second labor and delivery may have been shorter, but I felt a whole lot more. My water didn't break until the Dr. broke it while I was pushing, and once it broke I went down a few centimeters and had to wait to get back to 10 to push again. Not fun. I remember delivering her shoulders and then hearing them say "It's a girl" (no duh, I knew that). I was too exhausted to even register that she wasn't crying. I remember the Dr. trying to stimulate her and saying things like "C'mon, Sweetheart". The nurse had asked if I wanted her on my chest, but before I could even answer they had to take her to the incubator to start bagging her. She didn't stay in too long in the room; soon she was out in the nursery area to be intubated and put on the ventilator.

At that point all I could think was "I don't want to do that again." What else can you think? You aren't prepared for things to go differently when the first time had been so by-the-book. The Dr. came back in and you could tell it was difficult for him to deliver the news--"Her lungs are underdeveloped, but we don't know why." After a few x-rays he came back and told us it was Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation (CCAM). Okay, get us all the information you know on that. We made the first few phone calls, telling our parents what little information we knew. After giving us some information on CCAM, he came back and said what we were really dealing with was Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). Never heard of that before. More phone calls. Where you do want to send her? Our choices were Des Moines and Omaha--both about the same distance from where we lived, but we had family in Omaha. Send her to Omaha. God was guiding our decision; we knew nothing about CDH and importance of having ECMO available. Children's in Omaha had recently gotten an ECMO machine. Des Moines had none. What is her name? I didn't want her sent away known only as Baby M. Leah Claire.

By this early hour in the morning, it was still dark and stormy out. The LifeFlight pilot couldn't fly in the bad weather, so they had to send a ground ambulance. We didn't know that some of these children are so fragile and critical that they can barely be transported across a hall, let alone sent 2 hours away by ground ambulance. Ignorance is bliss and we never thought anything of it. Later when we talked to the neonatologist who took the initial call, he had wanted her there as quickly as possible; he wasn't too comfortable with the idea of the ambulance but there wasn't anything we could do about it. The helicopter was still on standby even once the ambulance got there, but it still couldn't fly. We sent her off around 9am. I wouldn't see her again until 7 or 8pm the next night.

When you are in a full birthing center with no baby, the nurses don't pay too much attention to you. Thankfully my sister-in-law who is a nurse and had just gone through having a baby in the NICU spent the first night with me. We watched movies, she got me hot packs and helped get me set up for pumping. John and his Dad headed for Omaha to be with Leah that first night.

Our Dr. who delivered Leah was a family practice doctor. When families who know about their child's CDH before delivery go to give birth, they are in a hospital with a Level 3 NICU. They deliver in a room filled with medical personnel--high risk OB's, multiple neonatologists, respiratory therapists, NICU nurses, and a variety of other support staff who are needed to stabilize these critical patients. All we had was a Dr. and a nurse. Again, God's hands were there to guide the way as the doctor recognized her needs and quickly got oxygen to her. He later told us he had just lobbied the hospital to get an infant ventilator--Miss Leah was one of the first to take advantage of that. The Dr. also said Leah made his top 10 list of most memorable births. I would think so.

Even though I can remember so vividly all those details of August 11, 2005, it seems so long ago. Now we have a 4 year old on our hands. She is potty trained and ready to go off to preschool this fall. She rides a bike and likes to play soccer with her big sister in the front yard. She is starting to read and has the memory of an elephant. Her smile will melt your heart and I can't help but call her Cutie Pie a dozen times a day. The Dr. who delivered her said she is here for a very special reason. We have been reminded of that everyday the past 4 years when we think of how she came into the world. We love you, Leah Claire.

Laughs by Leah

2009-08-10T07:56:00.002-05:00

Leah has always been the comedian of the family. Yesterday we spent a long day inside together as it rained most of the day. There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning--we've told the girls that it is just God bowling that makes all that noise. So they had to come up with an explanation of the rain (must be God sweating) and wondered who was winning, God or Jesus. And of course Leah asked the all important question of, "Does God have bowling shoes?"

Later Emma was in her room and saw a large flash of lightning. She came out with a look of wonder on her face and was like, "That was the biggest lightning I EVER SAW!" Leah was quick to correct her grammar--"No, SEEN!" Nothing like learning incorrect grammar from your younger sister. ;)

At supper we were watching Shrek the Third and one of the characters called himself a loser. Leah sort of gasped and said, "You should never say loser, that's not good."

More on Leah tomorrow as I reminisce about her birthday. We're hoping to avoid all Dr.'s offices, ambulances, and hospitals tomorrow. Been there, done that . . . twice.

The end is in sight

2009-08-07T09:08:00.002-05:00

In just 13 days that big, old yellow bus will be rolling down the street at 7:31am. Summer has gone by quickly, but some days the start of school won't come soon enough. Of course there are things I had wanted to get done over the summer that I didn't even attempt, and other things we should've done but didn't do. Like my closet cleaning/organizing project? Yeah, that never got off the ground.

At the beginning of the summer, I dubbed it "The Summer of the Sisters". The girls would play together all day long, and still want to speak to each other the next morning. And for the most part they played nicely together. I gave Emma the task of reading a book to Leah before naptime, so usually Emma would read and then tuck her in. They took turns playing on the computer, they watched movies together, Emma pulled Leah in the wagon, they played in the sprinkler, they dumped 3, 892 piece of Littlest Pet Shop accessories on the floor multiple times. For a couple weeks they even slept on Emma's floor together.

As you know, even the happiest of couples needs some "alone" time. The whine factor has increased this week (or my tolerance has gone down, one of the two) and yesterday they were quick to separate when I told them to go play by themselves. But once that bus rolls in on the 20th, Leah is going to be a little lost. Thankfully she will be going to preschool three mornings a week, but she won't start until after Labor Day.

Growing up I had two sisters and never remember playing with them like these two played together this summer. Maybe it is because I don't remember a whole lot from when I was 6, or maybe it was the fact that the age differences between us were a little more (3 years older and 4 years younger). I had to share a room (and a bed!) with my younger sister and the memories I have of that aren't all sunshine and roses. And by playing with each other you mean torturing each other and locking each other out of the house, then yes, I guess we did play together.

In these last 13 days before school start we're going to try and get a lot done: free bowling, going to the swimming pool, celebrating a birthday, going to the State Fair, having all the family over, and maybe even going to a local park or two. All that and trying to adjust our bedtime/morning routine to accommodate the 7:31 pick up time should be fun. Ha!

Insomnia

2009-08-03T08:28:00.002-05:00

If there are three things I will remember about the summer it would be 1. cooler than normal temps (love it!), 2. insomnia (hate it!) and 3. I can't come up with a third due to lack of sleep. I had my bouts of insomnia with each pregnancy, and no--I am not currently pregnant. Usually I am woken up to go to the bathroom, or hubby is snoring, or the cat sounds like he's going to hack up a furball and then I can't get back to sleep.

I will say that having insomnia in 2009 is way better than in 2003 and even 2005. You see, back when I was pregnant with Emma we only had cable and dial-up internet. My late nights/early mornings were spent channel surfing and deciding which would be better to watch--reruns of Roseanne on Nick at Night or infomercials. Now we have high speed dial-up, satellite dish service, and DVR. Usually my first stop on the insomnia bus is on the computer, and there I will sit for an hour or two. Let me tell you, not many people update their Facebook status from 2-4 am unless they are in a different country. Although one time I did have quite the IM conversation with my BIL (who keeps very odd hours) where we came up with what we thought was a lucrative business proposal.

Anyway, last night was yet another sleepless night. I got up around 1 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I only spent about 5 minutes checking Facebook and a few other usual sites and decided to read instead. You see, I have had a book on my Goodreads "to read" list for awhile now, and for some reason unknown to me our library doesn't carry this authors books. I first read the Jen Lancaster book Bitter is the New Black a few years ago and thought she was hilarious. She has another book called Bright Lights, Big Ass (A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?) that I've been waiting to read and have been too lazy to put on an inter-library loan list. I was at Borders on Saturday looking for a birthday present for Leah and there in the "Buy one, Get one free" bin was the Jen Lancaster book. I started reading it yesterday afternoon and reluctantly put it down before bed. I ended up finishing it shortly before 4 am.

I thought life was good and I would get a blissful 4 hours of sleep, but about that time the thunderstorm hit. We have had very few thunderstorms this year, and this one happened to wake up Emma who came to join me in the guest bed. So maybe I got a couple hours of sleep after 5 am. That's what coffee is for, right?

On a side note, Bright Lights, Big Ass had me laughing out loud more than once yesterday. I've never seen an author so eloquently slip the term "asshat" into literary prose. She also refers to Rachel Ray as Miss Titter McHighbeams and drops the "f-bomb" enough times to practically lunge at Emma and grab the book away from her as quickly as I could because she knows how to read, you know. And I wasn't up to the task of defining asshat and f*cktard to a six year old just yet. Foul language aside (if you don't like that kind of thing), the book is hilarious.

Anyway, for as many hours as I've spent wide awake this summer when I should've been sleeping I could've gotten a lot of productive things done like alphabetize our DVD's or dust the baseboards. But then I wouldn't have had time to hone my mad skillz at Bejeweled Blitz at 3 am and catch up with all the blogs I read and get those Facebook updates from people I know in foreign countries.

I'm working on it

2009-07-30T09:42:00.002-05:00

Yesterday as I was in my exercise clothes Emma came up behind me and "smooshed" my love handles. "This looks normal," she says as they were flattened by her smooshing. Gee, thanks. "Is that why you do all that work?" Yes, dear--I try anyway.

Good thing she is my own daughter. I'm off to the treadmill, although I don't think any amount of running will ever make those love handles "normal". Just one of the many gifts of childbirth and genetics. I can't wait to tell her that in about 30 years.

Where did this ambition come from?!

2009-07-26T09:47:00.005-05:00

I think I've mentioned before that I am very decorating challenged. I don't know what my decorating style is, or if I even have one besides "cheap, easy, and boring". My crowning achievement in decorating is the gallery wall I put up last year, but other than that we have lots of blank wall space. I mean LOTS.

It seems like everyone's house I go to is beautifully decorated. Obviously they have more talent (and money) than me. I've even put off having the neighborhood gals over because of my lack of decorating skills. Don't get me wrong, I have a beautiful house--I just want it to feel like my "home".

I have a couple friends (and friends of friends) who are either interior designers or just very good at decorating. In the past couple months they have visited and given some suggestions, and yesterday I decided to get cracking. I started with the entryway since it is the first thing everyone sees when they come. I still have a few things to finish off, so no pictures yet. (I know, this post is useless without pictures--I just wanted to document that I actually did something!)

Here are a few sneak peaks of what may be in store for when you come to visit:

The rug I got is actually bigger than this one has has more of the floral pattern to it. For all I know it may be way too big for the space but the colors were exactly what I wanted and I loved the pattern.

There is also a picture frame (awaiting a photo from our photo shoot) and my large mirror which I need to rotate after being given that suggestion by someone who knows way more about decorating than me.

Now I only have about 8 or so more rooms to go. I have a few more ideas rattling around my head and even have some of the materials to put things up, but need many more opinions from the "experts".

And what is your feeling on the vinyl wall sayings? Can you have too many? Will they be passe soon? I love the look of the one I put up in the entryway and am ready to put them up all over.

The county fair--by the numbers

2009-07-20T14:52:00.002-05:00

Number of:

Nights spent at Grandma & Grandpa's -- 4
Hot dogs/corn dogs consumed by two girls -- too ashamed to admit the actual number
Homemade ice creams devoured -- 2 (not enough, but I stayed away this year)
Times riding the small train around the fair -- 3
Hours spent riding rides -- 4
Times they asked if they could ride rides again -- 10,000
Times the girls went on the pirate ship -- at least 8
Meltdowns -- 1 (seemingly over a hamburger split into 2, I think she was over-tired)
Wheels on the stroller with cow poop currently on them -- all
Contests entered -- 1 (we didn't win)
Miles put on the van just going back and forth to the fair (6 mile round trip) -- 80
Withdrawals from the Bank of Dad -- I lost count
Potty accidents being in underwear full time -- 0
Times I did my new Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" DVD while on vacation -- 2
Miles I ran at the fitness center while on vacation -- 2.5
Calories consumed -- not enough to be burned off by 2 DVD sessions and a 2.5 mile run
Years of marriage celebrated by my parents today -- 40

I hope to get pictures up on the blog, they are on Facebook already. We had a great time!

Lazy Days of Summer

2009-07-10T10:56:00.002-05:00

As someone *cough, Glenda* pointed out on Facebook, it has been awhile since my last post. Like about two weeks. And although I wish I could say I was too busy organizing the closets that need it desperately or I was working on the girls' baby books which are fairly empty and incomplete at 6 and 4 years after their birth--that wouldn't be the truth. The truth is being lazy takes up a lot of time.

I will say in the past two weeks we have been to a minor league baseball game, picniced (is that a word?), got drenched, watched fireworks, played golf (not me, hubby), ate good food, played with cousins and second cousins, had family photos taken, visited the zoo, watched hubby play softball, visited with a college friend, and went out with adults by myself. So see, I haven't been that lazy. But since most of that happened in a three day span, we don't do too much on our "off" days.

I promise, there will be more posts coming. There are things I can talk about like how maybe we have conquered potty training. And how I am crazy and am running a 5K tomorrow. Maybe even some pictures of our fun three-day vacation to Omaha. And next week the girls and I are making our annual trek to my hometown for the county fair, so lots of blog fodder there.

Before that I'll leave you with a link to a preview from our family photos. I "met" Amy online when she and her husband were looking for information on the hospital in Omaha as they were expecting a baby with CDH and leaning toward moving there. Their CDH baby, Liviana, is now almost 18 months old and cuter than can be. Amy joins me in the ranks of overeducated and underpaid moms as she also has a master's degree and stays home. She recently discovered a love for photography and started her own business. I was so happy that she was able to meet up with us in Omaha and meet Leah and take some pictures. Check them out here. And that adorable girl in her header is Miss Liviana, their CDH miracle.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (so far)

2009-06-26T08:05:00.002-05:00

You would think that with my infrequent blogging, we are just busy, busy, busy with summer activities. Um, yeah. Not so much. Still, summer is flying by and we have to be doing something to pass the days like:

I would be the one doing this, not the kids. Usually they are my audience or play Webkinz on the computer while I sweat away. And considering I started this shortly after my birthday in March, I am doing more of a 100+ day shred.

I read more books in the summer than any other time. While the girls play outside, I sit my ass in a chair and attempt to read inbetween requests to get snacks, put on helmets, applying sunscreen and negotiating ~~world~~ sisterly peace,. So far this summer I am into books about people who find dead people. The first series I read was by Charlaine Harris (still have to read the first book in the series of three) and the one I am currently reading is the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz.

Ah yes, a majority of my time is spent making peace between the girls. They actually play together about 90% of the time--I maybe have to intervene 25% of the time.

Since I read a lot, we tend to visit the library a lot. The girls also love to read and check out DVD's. Right now we currently have 46 items checked out. The girls are both doing the summer reading program; Emma has probably read a ton more than I have given her credit for.

With the grocery store around the corner now, we seem to make it there once or twice a week. Maybe someday we'll even walk there.

Of course there are the weekly trips to Target.

And when you mix Target with 90+ degree temps and humidity that would rival the Amazon, you end up with things like this. Of course we never had one growing up, so who am I to deprive my children the opportunity to slide down a wet, slippery piece of plastic into ice cold water? Leah can't quite hurl her 30lbs down the slide, so she ends up running and then crawling to the end. Yesterday I put in in the backyard down a slight decline, so gravity and a push from big sister helped give her some momentum. I haven't tried it out yet, the warnings of death are so far deterring me. That and I don't want to look like and idiot when I get stuck halfway down the slide, too.

At the end of next week we will make our annual trek to Omaha for baseball, food, fireworks, family, the zoo, and anniversary celebrations. After that is the county fair--the girls and I will spend the better part of a week up at my parents. Then swim lessons for Emma, the State Fair, and school will be starting. Summer is almost over! :P

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

2009-06-20T04:01:00.002-05:00

Friday was hubby's birthday. Since his birthday was pretty much covered by the new golf clubs, shoes, driver, clothes, and golf trip to Nevada at the beginning of the month, we had a pretty low key birthday celebration. I had the girls color some pictures for him and we hung those up around the house with some balloons and put streamers on the door into the house from the garage. Emma drew him a picture from the cat and they helped pick out his poker-themed birthday card.

He got to pick where we ate tonight and his choice was more about the view than the food. There is a restaurant near campus that is located on the 7th floor of an apartment building. From the windows you can see campus and beyond--the girls loved the view. After supper we took a quick walk around Lake LaVerne and even saw Sir Lancelot and Elaine. The girls love going on campus and Emma told us she is going to live ON campus when she grows up. If she is anything like her dad who spent many a late night studying at the library or in one of the engineering buildings, it may feel like she literally lives on campus.

When telling the girls how old daddy was, we said he was a Leah (3) and an Emma (6). Note, it isn't addition, just putting the two numbers side-by-side. ;) Don't think that will happen again!

Here are the girls singing "Happy Birthday" to daddy

The birthday boy and his cake

Happy Birthday, honey!

Miss Independent

2009-06-17T10:04:00.002-05:00

Geesh, you give a kid a kindergarten diploma and she thinks she's ready to "set off" on her own. Seriously, those were her exact words. We were talking to the fabric cutting lady at JoAnn's and Emma told her she was going to set off on her own when she had enough money and buy a dog. Where does she come up with this stuff?

Here she is getting her diploma at the end of the school year

And with Grandma who came to watch the program

Her plan is to move into the house next door and live by herself. But she would come over to get food of course and Dad would pay the bills. Why do I foresee her living with us after college?

She is our athelete and just finished up softball. Albert Pujols, watch out!

Hubby was working on her batting out in the front yard and she was crushing that plastic Better Batter Baseball ball. The next night she had a game and told her coach "My dad gave me a few tips for batting." When her coach asked her what they were, she replied, "I don't remember."

If you remember, she used to wish she was a boy. She liked boy colors. She wanted her hair like a boy. Last night she asked if she could sleep in just pants with no shirt, just like a boy. I told her that was fine because I remember wanting to do the same thing when I was about her age.

But she surprised me yesterday when she asked to get a dress. And she wanted it to be just like Leah's so they could match. Huh? Where did this come from? The girls want to surprise Daddy on Friday for his birthday by wearing matching dresses. We'll see what he thinks since the last time I dressed them the same he thought it was silly and said, "They aren't twins, you know." That time it wasn't voluntary; this time they thought of it themselves.

I really should start writing down the funny things Emma says. Like this morning when she told me I should really clean up the cat puke because, "When I am a Mom, I would clean it up right away!" Or the other night at supper after I told her "no" to something she told me, "I would always say 'yes'!" She has many parenting tips for me, yet she claims she isn't going to have kids when she grows up.

Just stay like you are, I'm not looking forward to the angst of the pre-teen/teenage years!

The Shoe Saga part Deux

2009-06-16T07:26:00.003-05:00

After three months of buying and returning various sizes, styles, and colors of running shoes I may have found a winner!! You may be saying, "yeah right, you said that a month and a half ago" but this time I think it is for real. If you remember this post, I had my hoped pinned on a very cute pair of Sauconys. I got them, put them on, and wore them while making dinner. Just during that short period of time my shins started to hurt, so they went back in the box without even getting a trial run on the treadmill.

After some research, I came up with these

They are Saucony ProGrid Guide 2, in wide. I would've loved to get the orange and white to be funky, but they didn't come in wide. Blue happens to be one of my least favorite colors (sorry, KKG) but hey if the shoe fits. Ha ha. I have been on the treadmill about 5 times with these and no pain--not even from my bunions. I did order two different sizes and am waiting on the next size up to come to see if I'm in the right size.

All I can say is thank god for online shoe places that have free shipping/return shipping. I know I've sent back at least 6 pairs of shoes so far. The place where I ended up with these is www.runningwarehouse.com and I'll buy from them again. They have free 2nd day UPS service and great customer service. They also have the cheapest price that I found on the shoes I wanted to order. Check them out, they have a large selection.

Now that I have the shoes, I need to get back into my C to 5K training. I've made it through once, started it up once again, and am now starting on Week 5 (once again). My sister and I are hoping to sign up for a local 5K on July 11th, so I need to get moving!

Bring on Summer!

2009-06-08T12:23:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the absence last week, it was a crazy week. Visitors, finishing up school, softball, getting stuff ready for vacation bible school, hubby gone--we were busy every day. The week actually flew by which was nice since hubby was off playing in the desert, but not so nice that I had headaches/migraines at least four of the days. We made it through, school is done, and hubby is home once more. I'm sure he'd rather be golfing and losing money in Vegas than working for the money, but he has to pay off his gambling debts somehow.

So Friday was the first official day of summer vacation. How many days until school starts again?! Thankfully the girls will play together, but playing together nicely 100% of the time doesn't always happen. We have vacation bible school to keep us busy this week, but even with that I'm hearing, "Can we have a playdate?" "Can we play at the playground?" "Can we play outside?" This will happen every day for the next three months ad naseum.

It's about time to make lunch. By the end of the summer we will have consumed enough peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches to build a house. Sometimes we get crazy and do peanut butter and honey. Last week we ate them outside. Next we may try in a box or with a fox or on a boat or with a goat. We'll see, gotta keep it fresh.

Almost done!

2009-06-02T09:07:00.002-05:00

Even though there are three days left of school for Emma, I don't think much is getting done. Today was "fun in the sun" day, so they could wear their swimsuits, bring towels and beach paraphernalia and must've had some games planned. Too bad it is 60 degrees and raining. :(

Tomorrow is Emma's presentation for her Project Go reading enrichment group on the Gold Rush. She wants me to take her to school (a first all year!) and I'll help her get into "costume". We spent $1.50 on a yard of fabric so my mom could make her a long skirt and we fixed an old apron I had so she could wear that over her skirt to look like she lives in the 1840's. I'm pretty sure they had Gap glitter flip flops back then, because that is what she has for footwear at the moment. I'll stay at school and help her teacher pack up toys and things while the kids get to watch a movie and eat popcorn.

Thursday is the last day of school which includes make your own sundaes. That reminds me, I need to add Gummi Bears to my shopping list--that is our contribution to the sugar high they will send the kids home with. It is hard to think back to that first day that we put her on the bus and went in to listen to the teacher read "The Kissing Hand" to the class.

Emma also has a softball game on Thursday night. so after softball I will take the girls to Hickory Park for a celebratory dinner and ice cream. Hubby's long-awaited guy's golf trip happened to fall on this last week of school (since last week was supposed to be the last week--gotta love those snow days!) so he is missing out on all the fun.

The final countdown

2009-05-26T07:52:00.002-05:00

Eight days of school
Eight softball games (three of them this week alone)
Seven days until hubby leaves for a golf trip
One soccer practice
One final soccer game
One kindergarten program

May has just flown by. Part of it is that we have had something going on every single weekend, and with the exception of the very first weekend we have had guests of one sort or another every weekend. Usually school would be done this week, but because of snow days this winter Emma has school until June 4th. Yeah, the kids thought it was so much fun to have a week off in December because of the cold temps and bad weather, but they're not laughing now.

Soccer is winding down and we are in the midst of softball. Emma loved doing soccer--we were with a great team and an awesome coach. Sign-ups for fall soccer started last week, so I'm sure we'll sign up again. Emma also does great at softball. When they bat they get 5 pitches from the machine, then if they don't hit any of those they get to hit off the tee. Emma usually gets a decent hit by the second pitch. Most of the girls on team do very well.

There had been talks of a men-only family golf trip for many years now and the timing finally worked this year for hubby and his brothers and dad to meet up in Nevada to do a week-long trip of golfing and Vegas. I know they are all very excited and I can't wait to hear about the smack talk and excuses that go on during the week. I just have to figure out how to get hubby to the airport at an ungodly hour and have someone here to get Emma on the bus. Darn snow days.

Summer will be busy as well. I volunteered to be in charge of crafts at our vacation bible school which is in three weeks. I have not much of a clue of what I am doing! :P I need to get my act together and get some things ordered. We also have our annual trip to Omaha for the 4th of July, the 150th celebration of the Franklin County Fair, swimming lessons, summer reading program and whatever else comes up.

How come this morning I was already getting excited about buying school supplies for next year?! Sick, I tell you!

'Cause it's a good cause

2009-05-22T11:40:00.003-05:00

I just sent off my order form for this t-shirt from The Parker Reese Foundation (PRF):

Jes and Ashley lost their precious Parker to CDH and started a foundation in her honor. In three short years they have done amazing things, one of which is having a whole house/property for CDH families to live while they have a baby in the NICU at Duke or UNC Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Parker's House is free of charge for families needing to use the facility and provides families a real home to stay in during a very stressful time. For $16 these t-shirts pay for one night--what a deal. I got one for me and one for Leah; her picture hangs at Parker's House. We were grateful to have the Rainbow House to stay at during our stay at Children's in Omaha, but it was not a "real" house like Parker's House. How awesome would it be to have a facility like Parker's House near every hospital serving CDH babies. My hope is to wear it in some 5K races I want to run so the people behind me can read about CDH. (Hopefully there will be people behind me--ha! I run pretty slow) The deadline for ordering is May 31st and for more info contact Jes at info@theparkerreesefoundation.com. Now if I can get my act together, Leah will be featured at the website listed on the t-shirts. Jes asked me a long time ago--time to get crackin'!

Another great CDH cause is Connor's Books. Connor McLuckie was born 9 years ago on May 15th and lived only 14 hours. His family collects and donates books to a local hospital in his honor every year. Soon after Leah was born I sent in a small donation of books and have every year after. If you remember, Emma's birthday is also May 15th so I always think of Connor as well on that day. Connor has two living sisters (one named Emma) and now has twin baby brothers born earlier this year. We once again sent in books this year, but the real hope for Connor's Books next year is to become a non profit organization. This takes a lot of paperwork and money, so they are trying to reach that goal for Connor's 10th birthday in 2010. His sisters' Girl Scout groups also helped in collecting books this year and they got over 3000 books--WOW!

One more activity I hope to do this summer is Letters for CDH. It is a mass mail campaign to spread awareness of CDH. Maybe you will see some of these CDH kids show up on Oprah or Ellen someday! The person behind the idea is adorable Carter's mom, who happened to be one of the first families who stayed at Parker's House.

Not yet

2009-05-19T16:11:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I don't have any pictures from the party up yet, although if you are lucky enough to have me as a facebook friend, you have seen them. And even though about 99% of my readers are also my facebook friends, but I am still going to post some pictures here. Sometime. I've been too busy today getting stopped in the middle of my workout by the electricity cutting out and I've also been busy trying to figure out how to fax something and not have it cost me more than the price of admission to a movie. Copyworks wanted $2 a page for a long-distance fax--I had 7 pages. But it was 25% off! Um, no. I figured out how to get what I needed in a PDF file and just e-mailed the darn thing. Isn't technology wonderful? Okay, so it was hubby's suggestion to try and get the info as a PDF file, but he forgot to take the information to work with him today in the first place which was why I was trying to fax it with no access to a free fax machine.

Anyway I've also been busy ~~wasting my time~~ reading really important things online. I'm sure most of you already visit this site regularly but I thought I'd post it again since it had me laughing this afternoon. I just hope one of my cakes doesn't show up on there someday. Gotta love your Cake Wrecks! I see she is coming out with a book, that may be one I need to get. Got your copy pre-ordered, G?

It's Done!

2009-05-18T08:08:00.002-05:00

The weekend is over and the two parties are behind us. They both went well and pictures will be coming soon. I promise. Right after I pick up the plethora of presents from the living room floor and go buy snacks for 19 children for the next 5 days. And get back to Shredding and my C to 5K workouts. I'm not eating another dessert for three months. ;)

Party Planning--The Final Countdown

2009-05-14T07:57:00.002-05:00

Now I know why my only childhood birthday party memory is a giant strawberry made out of newspaper where we played "pin the stem on the strawberry" for my Strawberry Shortcake birthday. Parties are a lot of work. After that I remember having my birthday parties at the local community college swimming pool where the only planning is making sure everyone brought their suit and towel and knows how to swim. Good thinking, Mom.

I'm not going to shell out big bucks to have a over-the-top theme party, so my kids will get a "Mom tries really hard" theme party. As I've mentioned, Emma picked Webkinz as her theme so we're running with it. I scoured the internet for party ideas and found quite a few. For those of you who are well versed in Webkinz, you will know what I'm talking about. If you don't, just pretend like you care.

We will have a sign greeting the kids that says "Today in Webkinz World" with activities listed. I haven't figured out what order to do the activities yet, but here is what I have:

Gem Hunt--they will search for gems. I have some "rocks" made out of brown wrapping/packing paper. There are 6 with gems and the rest are slag. They can find one rock with gems in it. After everyone has found gems, we will make crowns of wonder. The crowns are glittery visors I cut to look like crowns (or fire, if you ask the birthday girl) and the gems are all sicky back gems or glittery foam stickers.
Jellybean Challenge--guess the number of jellybeans in the jar.
Quizzy's Corner--ask them some trivia questions
Zingos Pop--unload a bunch of blown up ballons onto the floor. Assign each child a color, and see who can sit on and pop all their balloons first. Will work better once I buy balloons, which I remembered I forgot on my 5th trip to WalMart yesterday.
Kinz Pinz Bowling--let them bowl with the plastic bowling set.
Webkinz Mini Golf--let them golf with the mini golf set we have.
Pizza Palace--make their own pizzas for supper.
W Shop--they can buy and decorate their own pet carrier.
Wheel of Wow--spin and win a fabulous prize. I wasn't going to have a Wheel of Wow until I felt guilty enough to make one. I mean this is one of the things you do everytime you go to Webkinz World. I have the wheel made and the prizes, just need to figure out how to rig it to spin. All my engineer of a husband could suggest was a brass fastener--duh, I thought of that but somehow I missed the brass fastener aisle at WalMart. Believe me, I looked.

Do you think that is enough to keep 6 six year olds busy for two hours? We have lucked out for Emma's last two parites and when everyone is bored and all my planned activites are done or were flops, we went outside and blew bubbles and ran around. The forecast for Friday from 5-7 is rain, so that may not be an option.

Today's activities include baking a cake, picking up the house, finishing up the games, grocery shopping, mailing packages for hubby, soccer practice, decorating a cake, making cookies, making a brownie pizza and wrapping presents. Think I can get it all done?!

My Betty mojo is MIA

2009-05-12T07:58:00.002-05:00

Emma's birthday is in 4 days and I have no idea what I'm making for her cake. I know I posted those cakepops awhile back, but I'm not feeling them. I've searched online for Webkinz themed cakes and haven't found any I'd care to make. She'd be happy with anything that is chocolate cake with frosting, that was her request. I need inspiration and I need it fast.

Maybe it's because I'm on a dessert overload. Last weekend I made a peanut butter brownie pizza and a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for guests we had over. It was my first attempt at a real, baked cheesecake in a springform pan and let me say the results were oh-so-good. I've had at least three pieces of the cheesecake, it is creamy sweet goodness on an oreo crust. Yum. And for the brownie pizza, chocolate and peanut butter are always a good combination. Emma saw me chopping up the mini peanut butter cups to put on top and she said, "I just can't look away--it looks so good!"

Since she was in love with that treat, I am making that to take to kindergarten on Friday. And I'm making soccer ball sugar cookies on a stick to take to her soccer game on Saturday. But I still need something to serve at two birthday parties. So that will be one brownie pizza, a cake or cupcake, cookies, and another dessert in three days. After that I'm swearing off sweets for a month or a week or a few days.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T07:37:00.002-05:00

Last year hubby and I each spent Mother's Day with our own mother's in separate states. I got breakfast in bed, a yummy brunch, and my curling iron broke.

This year I got

and

Both have already been used by the entire family. Isn't that so nice of me to share?

I love the ipod. We haven't downloaded any music since Napster was free, so it has been a long time. In anticipation of getting the shuffle, I started a list of music to download--most of it is upbeat Top 40's type of music. I wanted some music to get my booty up and moving while I'm ~~running~~ jogging. We got some songs on and Emma went off to school singing, "Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur . . . . she gave that big booty a slap"

Mario Kart also rocks. I'm sure its a little different playing it on a handheld rather than on the Wii with the wheel controler, but it is still fun. Let's just say I rock the 50cc circuit. I'm telling you, my hand-eye coordination may improve yet. I had such a late start in life to this whole gaming thing. Like a 33 year late start.

I love being a mom. ;)

Friday Random

2009-05-08T07:36:00.002-05:00

Hubby got back home about 1am this morning. Any bets on when he will see the light of day today? I am proud to say we made it through this trip without any major incidents. Woo hoo!
So far I have crossed off everything on my "to do" list. Today's items include a trip to Target and the grocery store, exercise, and planning a party. Tough stuff.
Not only did I cross everything off my list, I did it all while trying to potty train an almost 4 year old. Yesterday she stayed dry the whole day. These two girls have been very different in almost everything they do, surprise surprise. Emma took an interest to pooping on the potty around 18 months and she did that consistently on the potty before the peeing. Leah will probably be 25 years old before she poops in the potty. Emma is just now able to wake herself up at night to go to the bathroom and has stayed dry at night for about a month now. Leah has woken up dry the past two nights. To each her own I guess!
I think I found a winner with the last pair of shoes I got--the Sauconys I posted. I love www.shoebuy.com where I ordered all 4 pairs of shoes to try, but their shipping can be slow. I ordered two pair the same day and I got one yesterday and the other just shipped yesterday. Now I just need to try the Sauconys out on the treadmill to see if they are the real deal.
I had a friend ask me when my first race is. I guess I had better start signing up for some, since that was my ultimate goal. There is one a few friends are doing on June 13th, then one in July that my sister said she was going to do, and I'm even looking to one in October. I've only "ran" (I use that term loosely, it was more like a slow jog) a 5K once in my life and that was 7 years ago.
Tomorrow I am paying for signing up Emma for two spring sports. We have a soccer game at 9am, softball pictures at 9:05am (won't make that), softball game at 10am and softball game at 11:30am. I realize the softball association does this whole "Rally Day" event, but a double header for 6 year olds who have had 2 practices with a first-time volunteer coach is a bit over the top.
We also have two parties we've been invited to for tomorrow night and I offered to host dessert for one of the gatherings.
Sunday is Mother's Day. Have you told your Mom "I love you" lately?

The Shoe Saga

2009-05-06T08:32:00.002-05:00

Forgive me if I've talked about this here. It is hard to keep track of where I've said what since I do Facebook and also have a "blog" on SparkPeople. If you've heard this story, just nod your head and say "uh hun" while I talk.

So I started the whole Couch to 5K thing last year and quickly found out the only pair of shoes I could wear comfortably on the treadmill were a pair of used Sauconys that I bought at my friend's consignment shop fo $6. Who knows who wore them before me and for how long. I've been wearing them for a year and a half now and they are done. Beyond done.

So with my birthday riches I decided to buy a new pair of Sauconys. I thought I found a great looking pair for a great price and ordered them. Wore them a few times on the treadmill and they hurt my feet and gave me medial shin splints. Not good. Back they went.

I decided I needed to get fitted for running shoes at an actual running store. I had heard good things about a place in Des Moines, so I stopped there a few weeks ago. I was all excited because I knew I would find the perfect running shoes there.

Did I forget to mention I have a little bit of a bunion problem? Um yeah, genetics strikes again. I've had them for a long time and judging by the look of my dad's feet, they will only get much worse. I am able to get by in normal shoes wearing regular width so far--he wears a triple wide. But it turns out running shoes are a different story. Most shoes have some sort of design/stitching right over where my bunions are that constrict them.

I tried on at least 8 pair of shoes at the running store and found one pair of shoes that may work. One. I decided to go online and look for running shoes that come in wide, hoping that will help. Ordered two more pair to try out. Struck out two more times. Sent those back and ordered two more pair. I'm waiting for those to show up this week.

Who knew it would be this hard? Ugh. Not me. Yesterday I sat down with my friend google and found this:

Could it be that simple? Just skip the bottom hole when lacing? It seems to make sense, but I feel like I'm breaking some rule by not using the bottom hole. I'll have to try it when the next round of shoes comes.

These are what I have my hopes pinned on:

Aren't they pretty? Because we all know that look is more important than fit, right? Of course these were twice as much as the first pair I bought, but with my super bargain hunting skills they only cost about $35 more.

See on the bottom picture where there is mesh where my lovely bunions sit? That is the key for me. And I still love the feel of Sauconys. With the two pair of shoes I recently sent back, I had a Saucony on one foot and a New Balance on the other and the Saucony was so much more comfortable.

Hopefully I can figure out a pair of shoes and keep just one--I don't think hubby will like the fact that I have 4 pairs of shoes on the credit card right now.

To Do List

2009-05-04T07:37:00.003-05:00

The hubby is gone for almost the whole week for a work conference. Without him around to take care of, I can maybe get some things done. I wrote myself a "to do" list that was color coded and covered every day from now until Friday. I have high hopes.

At the top of the "to do" list is a big unwritten that hubby left me with:
"Do not flood the house or make a trip to the ER or for any other reason call me crying and sobbing hysterically about some unforseen accident that happened while I am away." If you've been with me a year, then you know what I am talking about.

Okay, I'm off to put away laundry, pick up the kitchen, exercise, go buy annuals/planters, make an eye appointment, and plan a birthday party. And that is just for Monday.
ETA: Monday's list now includes clean up cat puke. Hubby's instructions did not say "do not kill or lose cat" so that may happen this week as well.

Jump on the bandwagon

2009-04-29T08:16:00.002-05:00

I may not start trends, but I do follow them sometimes. Since I've been on sparkpeople for over a year now, I kept hearing about the "30 Day Shred". I've never really watched The Biggest Loser, so I had no idea who the heck Jillian Michaels was. But since so many people were talking about it, I figured it had to be good--right? ;)

I asked for the 30 day shred DVD for my b-day (I even told hubby where he could find it in Target) and did it once shortly after. Yes, the 20 minute workout kicked my ass. I couldn't finish it and skipped the cool down. BIG mistake--I couldn't walk for two day. My legs just weren't prepared for the multitude of squats Jillian put me through in less than 15 minutes. Anyway, I got over it and kept doing it, although not faithfully.

By following links on a friend's blog, I ended up here. This blogger is posting about doing the 30 day shred, so now I'm motivated to do it with them. They are doing 10 days of each level, taking a day off every week. I made it through 10 days of level one and one day of level two. Today I need to tackle level two again, and then for the next 8 days or so.

The 30 day shred workouts are perfect for me. She has them set up into 3 circuits of 3 minutes of strength training (broken down into two sets of 30 sec and 1 min), 2 minutes of cardio (30 sec each of 2 exercises repeated), and 1 minute of ab work. I can do anything for 30 seconds, even if you feel like you are going to die. I haven't seen big weight loss, but I have definitely toned up and hopefully lost a couple of inches.

C'mon everyone, you know you want to jump on the bandwagon, too! Target even has the DVD on sale this week! Happy Shredding!

Party Planning Mode

2009-04-27T08:59:00.003-05:00

Emma's birthday is in about 3 weeks and I'm gearing up to party planning mode. This weekend she informed me that she wants a Webkinz birthday party, so we'll go with that. It is so different than the Littlest Pet Shop party she had last year--ha! I think I will get smart this year and only invite 3 or 4 girls. Last year the 5 year olds were a little out of control, so smaller is better, right?

The biggest thing will be the cake. I've found a few pictures online and I'm hoping I can re-create them. You know, because I'm that good.

Before she ever decided she wanted a Webkinz party, I saw these new Webkinz items and thought she would love the Chihuahua one:

I saw them in our Hallmark store about a week ago, but they didn't have the Chihuahua. When I went in last week, they were totally gone and weren't getting anymore in until summer. Of course, I wanted one even more then. I searched online (all out of stock, going for twice the price on e-bay) and even put a call out on facebook. No dice. These are like the second coming of Cabbage Patch dolls or something. Okay, not quite, but they are hard to find. I called my super-secret source this morning and they have them, so Leah and I are headed out to go shopping. And I can use my alumni discount and get them an additional 15% off.

So for the next few weeks I will have Webkinz on the brain. At least she didn't pick a Bratz birthday party theme. ;)

Yet again

2009-04-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I tend to be a slow learner. Maybe someday I will learn that taking the kids to the doctor's office only gets us in trouble. Every time we go, whether it be for a regular check up or because someone is sick or because someone has her intestines in her chest, we come home with something we didn't have when we went. Every. single. time. Leah was just getting over her virus that lasted over a week when we had some concerns about her tummy. Took her in, spent 4 hrs doing x-rays and CT scans only to find out thankfully everything is still in the correct place. Now she has a lovely runny/stuffy nose, horrible cough and fever. Again. And how much did I pay for her to get sick? Ugh.

What we've been up to (in pictures)

2009-04-21T08:01:00.002-05:00

Even though it seems all I've done is take care of sick kids all month, we have been doing other things as well:

Soccer

Gotta love having to play the first game/practices in full winter gear. Brr!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Easter

So did the Easter Bunny ever hide your basket growing up? In hubby's house, the Easter Bunny always hid their baskets, so that is what we do. They find eggs around the house and the basket is hidden somewhere as well. I think hubby made it all up.

VEISHEA
Everyone loves a parade

One of the girls' favorite entries

Old people trying to act like they are in college again--Alumni Pep Band

~~Stranger~~Daddy handing the girls candy during the parade

Watching the parade with old neighbors

Trying to catch a picture of Cy as he walked by--didn't work too well

The balloon the Kappa Kappa Gamma girls carried in the parade. My freshman year we carried a giant pink elephant with a blue sailor suit on. A Care Bear is much cuter.

If you didn't go to Iowa State or live in Iowa, you are probably wondering "What the hell is VEISHEA?" It is hard to explain, but basically it is a showcase of all the different departments and colleges that make up Iowa State. The parade is a big part of it, and there are also tons of activities going on around campus during the weekend. Last year it snowed before the parade and this year we got some rain, but at least it was warmer. Most years we stick around campus and do activities after the parade, but this year Emma had a soccer game so we couldn't do much. The girls stopped by the microbiology club and made petri dish jello with candy to look like microbes, we stopped by the geology club and bought a small half of a geode, we went through the dairy science building and got homemade ice cream and saw them milking cows, and we bought plants at the horticulture club sale. That is just a few of the numerous activities they have going on. It is one of our favorite things to do each spring.

Random Cuteness

Sick

2009-04-16T08:08:00.002-05:00

One or the other child has been sick for almost two weeks now, and I'm so ready for it to be over. I can deal with sick kids, but I'm nearing the end of this round. I haven't been to the grocery store in forever and we're on the last of the milk this morning. The house is a pit and I feel like it is just crawling with germy germs. We are supposed to have company tomorrow--while Leah is still contagious. This morning she is crying in pain non-stop because her eyes hurt. Her eyes? What the hell am I supposed to do about that?! She just screamed even louder when I put some saline eye wash in them. Ugh. I need a bottle of wine, a maid, and a live-in nurse. Mom, when are you coming? ;)

An oldie but a goodie

2009-04-13T09:51:00.003-05:00

I was reading Darcy's blog and had to giggle at the pictures of the Attack Cat. Our cat Elway is usually very good with kids, although he may swipe at you if he feels like it. Even though he has his claws, he's never taken them out around the kids. I caught this picture when Emma was about a year old and showing Elway some love

As you can see in the picture immediately following that, no children or cats were harmed during the making of that picture

I don't even think tears were shed.

Bunnies, baskets and . . .

2009-04-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

(Photo of Bakerella's absolutely adorable cake pops all done up for Easter)

So when you think of Easter you think of cute little bunnies, baskets full of goodies and . . . barf, right? Because that is what I'm thinking of today. I thought we had dodged the bullet when Emma was sick last weekend, but there are a few things going around school right now. She was up at 4am and her tummy hasn't settled since.

We didn't really have big plans for Easter. Emma didn't have any time off from school, so traveling to South Dakota was out of the question. We told the grandparents they were welcome to come visit, but they had made a commitment to sing at the Easter services at church. My mom went to visit my grandparents, who are celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary. We were just going to celebrate at home, so if we can't do too much its okay.

There is a neighborhood egg hunt later this morning, so I may still take Leah out. I'm sure it will be one of those 2 minute scatter drills where all the kids run around like crazy and grab everything in sight. We are to bring 12 filled eggs for each kid, so in theory you would go home with 12 different eggs. We'll see how that works.

Happy Easter to everyone!

My vision came true

2009-04-07T14:42:00.002-05:00

Remember this post? Well the spring issue of VISIONS came out yesterday and we were one of four couples featured in the lovebirds story. Our story is just a slightly shortened version of what I sent in, and here is the picture from the photo shoot.

"It was a beautiful summer night as we walked through central campus, past the library, and around Lake LaVerne. We ended up under the Campanile, and as the bells rang out at midnight, he proposed. A year later we were taking our wedding photos under the Campanile."

Hopefully we only slightly look like dorks. ;) All the featured couples had "kitchsy" pictures like this, so overall we are happy with how it turned out.

I know a lot of people don't ever look through or even read their alumni publications--I hope people actually look at this one! :P A few people have already seen it and commented about it. It will probably be my only 15 minutes of so-called fame I will get.

Remind me again

2009-04-06T07:51:00.002-05:00

Remind me again why we live here? Because I'm not feeling the 6" of snow that came yesterday and the accompanying windchills in the 20's today. Have you seen the calendar? It's April. It's even officially spring now. The girls have closets full of capri pants and short-sleeved shirts and dresses with leggings. What are we wearing now? Fleece, and lots of it.

I know this isn't anything too far from the norm. Last year on this weekend it snowed as well. We thought it was a fluke. Ha. Last year at Easter Emma was doing an egg hunt with Grandpa M where you had to dig the eggs out of the snow.

We chose to live here. We could've flown the coop and been in sunny Colorado right now. Where they also had a blizzard last week. We just can't win.

To add insult to injury, Emma is sick. Playing soccer in the cold with a sore throat may not have been the best idea and she's been laid up with a fever ever since. Maybe by June we'll all be healthy and the sun will be out. Once can only hope.

And so it begins . . .

2009-04-02T09:25:00.002-05:00

Tonight is the first night of soccer practice for Emma. This is her first experience in any sort of "organized" sport (we'll see how organized it is after the first practice--ha!) and I'm excited. She has always shown more athletic ability at age 5 than I think I ever had.

I can't say that I didn't try. I did softball from about 1st grade through junior year of high school--except I never really got over my fear of the ball. I loved playing first base but I lost that position to left-handed girls, so then I got to play outfield. Fun. I played basketball in junior high and high school. I wasn't too bad, but back then it was still 6-on-6. That means I could play defense and never have to shoot the ball. I played volleyball and liked that a lot as well, although I wasn't ever really good at serving. Or setting. Or blocking (height challenged). But I liked it and hubby and I even took a volleyball class in college and played co-rec. Heck, I even ran track a few years. I just wasn't ever great at any of them and didn't get past the junior varsity teams. My senior year I stopped all sports and became a cheerleader instead.

Hubby's family has some athletic ability--more than mine, I dare to say. He played baseball when he was younger and still likes to play in men's softball leagues. Of course hubby golfs, which is athletic, but a Dr. he once saw said it doesn't count as physical activity. Ha! His sister was the jock of the family, playing softball, basketball and volleyball competitively through her first year of college.

So now it begins. Tonight there will be six 5 and 6-year olds running around a soccer field trying (not) to kick each other while going after one ball. In May, softball starts. I have a feeling it is just the beginning of many years to come. Let's play ball!

Now the joke's on me

2009-04-01T08:30:00.002-05:00

This is one of my notifications on Facebook today:

Kristyn, Barack Obama confirmed you as a cousin on We're Related see how you are related:

Isn't that about the funniest thing you've ever seen?

Oldest trick in the book

2009-04-01T08:15:00.003-05:00

Me: (after getting off the computer looking for the school lunch menu since I apparently threw the April newsletter away) Hey Emma, I guess you can go back to bed this morning after breakfast. I was just online and I see that school is cancelled today. They couldn't get the buses started.
Emma: Really? That means we get two days off this week! Friday and today! (Friday is one of those famous "teacher in-service" days)
Dad: (comes out to leave for work) Good morning, Emma!
Emma: Dad, guess what? We don't have school today! They couldn't get the buses started!
Dad: No school, huh? Maybe you can come to work with me.
Emma: Only if they have a play area there.

We had her going; five year olds can be so gullible. ;) We kept alluding to the fact that it was April Fool's Day but she still didn't get that it was a joke. I even told her "April Fool's Day!" and she did her little nervous laugh. When the bus was coming in 5 minutes and she was in her room playing, she still didn't believe that she really did indeed have school today.

Since we got her, she was trying to plot revenge. Except she isn't so stealthy. "Dad, what kind of cereal are you going to eat tomorrow?" Hmm, maybe dad should skip the cereal and have a muffin instead.

March Madness

2009-03-30T07:56:00.002-05:00

Unless you don't own a tv or computer, you probably know that it is basketball tournament time. Now I am an avid college sports fan, but only if my team is playing. So that means this year I could care less about the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Our basketball team was less than stellar this year. Once upon a time there were glory days when our team would make the tournament (and should've even been in the Final Four one year), but those days are memories now.

The team who is still around is on the women's side. The Iowa State Cyclones scored 8 unanswered points in the last 50 seconds in their game against Michigan State on Saturday night to advance to the Elite Eight. They play against Stanford tonight--in California. If you haven't looked at a map lately, Iowa is a long way from California and Stanford, well it is in California. We are esentially playing on their "home court" so to speak. They beat us early in the year by 39 points. Doesn't sound good, does it? But unless you have a degree from Stanford I want you cheering for the Cyclones tonight. Who doesn't love an upset?

The girls and I went to many of the women's home basketball games this year. The team only lost one game at home--a nail-biter against Texas. Emma even knows some of the players names by seeing their number. During the "Read Across America" week, a couple of the players came to their classroom and read books.

Here is Emma earlier this year shooting hoops with Allison Lacey (the MVP of Saturday's game who scored 29 points, including the 3 pointer with 21 seconds left to put them in the lead):

This is how we spent many of our Saturday/Sunday afternoons/evenings this winter:

Iowa State has been in the NCAA tournament 10 times since 1996 because of this man, Bill Fennelly:

It is absolutely amazing what he has done at Iowa State, and above all else he is truly a class act. ISU was smart enough to give him a lifetime contract here, and we hope he stays that long or even longer.

The game is on tonight at 8pm CST (which happens to be the same time as Emma's parent/teacher conference). Go Cyclones!!!

Friday Random

2009-03-27T08:04:00.002-05:00

It's about time for one of these, right?

Hubby, you have sick days for a reason--take one once in awhile. Your office mates probably don't appreciate you hacking all over the place. Yes, I realize that is how you got sick in the first place but let's not perpetuate the cycle. And taking children's cough medicine isn't going to kill you. It's the same stuff as adult cough medicine, I promise.
Remember how much I love pj's for the girls? I've actually refrained myself from buying any of the cute spring Carter's pj's because 1. I haven't found them at my favorite price (50% off plus additional 20% off) and 2. Neither girl really needs pj's at the moment. Leah has a drawer overflowing with pj's and what has she done? Worn the same pair every night since last Tuesday. I do get them off her long enough to wash them, but as long as she is happy wearing her "kitty buttons" every night it isn't a battle worth fighting.
Speaking of Leah, we've had some small progress in the pt'ing area. She stayed dry one entire day this week. Woo hoo! And she is actually (sometimes) saying she has to go potty. Of course on those instances, I have to bring the potty chair to her--I guess walking down the hall to the bathroom would add too much to the task.
I need to clean today. The fun stuff like mopping the floor, cleaning up the cat puke from two days ago in the guest room, and removing the disgusting unknown substance from the guest bathroom floor. I won't even think about what it may be.
Emma is signed up to play soccer and softball this spring. The seasons overlap by a month, so things could get interesting--I only have the soccer schedule at this time. Every other mother who has signed their dear little child up for soccer for the first time is like me--trying to find all the gear necessary to play. Obviously they got there before me, since the shelves were bare yesterday when I went shopping.
Remember my New Year's resolutions? I've kind of gotten behind in the whole "take more pictures/videos" part, but for the losing weight part as of this morning I am down 12.2 lbs. It has been slow going these past two months, but I'm trying to keep at it. I finally (after a year) finished the Couch to 5K training and have run/jogged 3.1 miles multiple times this past month.
There is snow in the forecast for this weekend. Yee haw. Welcome to late March in Iowa.

CDH

2009-03-23T13:51:00.003-05:00

With CDH being as rare as it is, most of the families I have come across have been online. I've met people in many states and even different countries (or those people who live close and then MOVE to a different country). When we were in the NICU, Leah was the only baby there at the time with CDH. We then learned of Roo and hope to meet Liviana someday. Hopefully later this summer we will get to meet Baby John who was born in Denver last October and lives in Alaska when he visits his grandparents in Iowa.

Online I also "met" another family from Iowa who live on the eastern side of the state. They made the choice before their baby was born to deliver at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) because of their expertise in CDH. They temporarily moved their family of 4 from Iowa to give unborn Ava a shot at life.

Ava is a year younger than Leah and went through re-herniation shortly after Leah did last year. I was able to meet Ava's mom last October on a day when she really wasn't sure if Ava would pull through or not. Ava's recovery was long and eventful, but she is home and doing well. The local paper where Ava lives has done articles on her before and this one was just in the paper yesterday.

It continues to amaze me that those three little letters can do so much (or so little). It seems that everyday I read a new blog or find another family going through what too many have gone through before. Some babies and kids make it through the minefield; others don't. As we found out once you make it through doesn't mean the battle is over. We will keep fighting and spreading the word to others.

Getting back on track

2009-03-22T08:39:00.002-05:00

Spring break really threw us all for a loop. We had fun doing our visiting and our shopping and our going out to eat, but our schedule was thrown all out of whack. Poor Leah hadn't had a nap all week and on Friday she slept for 4 hrs in the afternoon. Emma hasn't been up before 8am and I'm afraid 6:40am is going to come mighty early tomorrow. I haven't gotten in my exercise like I usually do. Yes--surprise, surprise, I actually like to exercise now. I haven't done anything to expend calories since Wednesday and I'm feeling a little squishy right now. It doesn't help that I ate my daily amount of calories in Oreos alone yesterday.

So tomorrow it is back to the routine. It is supposed to be rainy, rainy, rainy, so I will have plenty of time inside to get back on the treadmill and have Jillian kick my butt again with her workouts. Emma can go to school and Leah can work on her potty training which at this point involves her saying "no, not yet" everytime I ask if she needs to go potty. Welcome back to reality!

Spring Break

2009-03-16T18:58:00.002-05:00

Posts will be few and far between this week as we spend our spring break vacation in Mexico. Sun, fun and sand are on the agenda.

Ha ha ha, I wish! I never went anywhere fun or warm when I had spring break in college, and we aren't about to start now. The girls and I came up to my parents for a few days to celebrate my dad's birthday and will head back home tomorrow. At least the weather is actually acting like spring for a few days--we spent the day playing outside with some friends today.

Maybe there will be some more videos soon, we'll see. At least I got some comments!

Our funniest home videos

2009-03-11T10:04:00.002-05:00

Remember how one of my New Year's resolutions was to take more pictures and videos of the kids? I may not be quite as proficient at this as Cristin just yet, but I'm getting there. And in the meantime, the girls love watching any old video clips of them on the computer. This has been a favorite recently:

The girls love Leah's request at the end--enough of this waiting around and blowing out trick candles thing, give me my cookie!! And I love Emma's nervous laugh when the candle keeps re-lighting.

As I was looking at video clips from then the girls were babies, I came across this one of Leah:

She had just turned two weeks old, which meant she had just come off the ventilator a few days before. Seeing that fast breathing and her pectus (sunken chest) reminded me of just how far we have come. (Just ignore what I am doing--it was routine cares time.) To me that doesn't even seem like the same girl who is now doing this:

Ignore the furry creature that crosses the frame--he has to be everywhere. And sorry if you get neck strain from looking at it sideways. ;)

Scruples

2009-03-10T10:07:00.002-05:00

Growing up we had this game in our game collection: Have you got scruples? Scruples... The game that poses 252 moral dilemmas on issues of work, money, friends, family, neighbors and, of course relationships! There are no "Right" answers. When asked a question, you can tell the truth, bluff - or you can "Plead the fifth" and get out of it. The winner is the player who is most successful in guessing how other players will answer their moral dilemmas. So get ready for hours of stimulation talk and laughter. It's a conversation-starter, sentence-stopper, jaw-dropper of a game! Get Scruples!

Let's pretend we are playing this game, kindergarten style. The moral dilemma--you ask your super-nice, gullible locker mate for money. She brings you two $10, thinking she is being nice because you said you have no money. Your mom finds out, calls your locker mate's mom, and you have to bring the money back to school. What should you do with the money?

A. Give it to your locker mate, say sorry, and all is right with the world.

B. Give it to your locker mate, watch her put it in her backpack, then later take the envelope out of her backpack and take the $20 back.

C. Say you lost the envelope on the way to school and keep the money.

If you correctly guessed that Emma's locker mate would do B, then you win!!! Once we had the whole issue with the lost envelope of money, I wondered if the girl didn't just take it right back. Who would want to give up $20 without a fight? Emma came home with the envelope yesterday and said the big sister of her locker mate told her that is what happened. If we are dealing with issues like this when they are 5 and 6, what are we going to have to deal with when they are teenagers?

I remember having a few things "stolen" in my day. One happened at a jr. high dance. I was having a friend spend the night and when we went to leave the dance, her jean jacket was gone. This was the late 80's and it was probably a Guess? jean jacket--big time stuff here. Somehow we knew who took the jacket (either because they left theirs instead, I don't remember) but my mom drove us out to this girl's house in the country to get my friend's jacket back. Another time it happened in gym class that I had a favorite watch stolen. I had gotten this super-cool Fossil watch for a special occasion and I loved it. The glass face had broken at one point and when the jeweler replaced it, they scratched the stone watch face. A while after my watch had gone missing I found someone wearing my watch. How did I know? There was a scratch in the stone. Doesn't anyone have scruples these days?

Speaking of scruples, we were watching a special news segment last night called "Project Economy". A local TV station is doing all these stories to help us get through these tough times. Yeah, they've been really helpful. Anyway, last night they had on a young couple who were savers--saved up to buy their first home, ate at home instead of dining out, bought less music CD's--real earth-shattering information. John recognized the guy as someone who used to work at his old company (who let him go a year ago). After the story aired, the reporter did a follow-up to say that the day after they did the interview, the guy got let go from his job. Once again, the company has wonderful timing. Way to go! We wish he would've said the company name. I'm sure they had to keep letting go the little, unimportant people so the upper management could keep their company cars and nice benefits still.