Cyclone Born, Cyclone Bred

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

Beat Cancer

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

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

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

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!"

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

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.