Monday, June 30, 2008

Hello from the NORTH country.

We drove (meaning I drove) through the night to arrive at my brother-in-law and sis-in-law's home early this afternoon. I'd have to say the most interesting part of the drive involved a very steep gravel road, a bull, and a me driving...yes, we got a bit lost. We were heading up our normal route, when we saw signs that told us that a bridge was closed and we should take an alternate route. Ok, no problem...go east for a bit, and then head back north. Except that the road we had to take east didn't go east, it went SOUTHeast and we started loosing miles. We decided to take a not so major road north figuring it would intersect with a more major road quickly....wrong. It went from a not so major road to a gravel road, to a field road very quickly. We knew we were in for it when we crossed a cattle guard, but the road was too narrow to turn around, too steep and curvy to back down (not to mention the steep drop off on one side, yes, I was driving and I was getting very worried). When I came around a curve and saw a bull standing in the middle of our "PATH" I just stopped and looked at hubby...."Now what?" I was DONE driving! Hubby refused to get out and trade me places with a bull standing about 20 feet away staring us down. So, I put the van in reverse and backed up a ways so that we were on the other side of the curve and the bull could no longer see us. We quickly did a driver swap and Hubby backed to where there was a "Y" in the road and he could turn around. We ended up loosing probably close to an hour from the time of the detour until we were back to where we were supposed to be, but it was beautiful country...as long as I was not driving! :o) I drove from about 10:45 last night until the bull incident at around 6:00 this morning. About 5 minutes after Hubby started driving and was back on a major road, I was ASLEEP not to waken for nearly 2 hours. We stopped for breakfast and then got back in the car for the last leg of the trip and I again fell asleep quickly.

We are here. We are safe, and no bull horns impaled the van! The kids had a fabulous time playing with their cousins all afternoon/evening. Plans are being made for some fun times this week. I am about ready to fall over here while I'm trying to type, so good night all from the North Country!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Something that makes me giggle like a little girl!

Ok, I'm weird. I know this fact, and I fully admit it! As all of my faithful blog readers know (yes, Mom & Dad, I mean you! :o)) we are planning a trip to Florida. We purchased our airline tickets a month ago. Since purchasing them, the price has gone from $97 to $160 (each way!)!! By planning ahead, we have already saved $630! YEA! This makes me giggle! I'm so excited!


It has been a BUSY week this week trying to get VBS plans finalized. Our VBS doesn't begin until July 13, but we are leaving to visit family on Sunday and won't be home until just before VBS starts...so I need to get it all put together before we go. Besides VBS planning, we've had 6 ballgames, 3 story-times, 2 haircuts, and one doctor's appointment, and one 4-H photography class. I'm EXHAUSTED! I instituted MANDI TORY nap time today. Abbigail's softball game last night lasted until 10:30, by the time we got home, settled, and to bed it was almost 11:30, and she had to be at her photography class at 7:30! We were tired, so I MADE everyone lay down for a nap...including me! I should have been cleaning, but I just couldn't function, I slept for nearly 2 hours off and on...and the kids slept longer than me. This is a good thing since Abbigail has her last softball game tonight, the late one again!
This morning Andrew had his last t-ball game. That little boy amazes me! He hit a HOME RUN! The ball sailed over all the children's heads and landed out in the grass...the outfield! He was all the way around the bases before the ball was even back into the infield. WOW! But of course the camera was safe inside my backpack...ARGH!

If I'm absent for the next few days, please excuse me...I'll be back when I can! :o)

Until then...keep truckin along, and remember:
God made you special and He loves you VERY much! By By!

Monday, June 23, 2008

GUESS WHAT???

23 POUNDS!!
Oh yea, BABY...I've lost 23 pounds!!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Guess what we did tonight???

You'll never guess! Here's a hint:
Still don't know? How about this...does this help?
If you look REALLY close, you'll see my dearest hubby in this picture...he's GOLFING! He came home this afternoon and asked if we wanted to go golfing. NOT PUT PUT, real golfing! He was a very dear hubby and tried to get me interested in golfing (one of his loves) about 8 years ago, he even got me my own clubs! Unfortunately, I'm not so good. We practiced at home with practice balls, and he took me to the golf course once...ONCE! I was so embarrassed that I refused to go back. The only time the clubs have been used since then is last summer when there were a lot of break-ins in our town, I slept with TWO of them when hubby was out of town.
Anyway, we went. The kids had FUN cleaning the balls at the little stations. We did rent a golf cart to make it a little easier. That was also fun. We also sent the kiddos out in search of all the stray balls. We went late enough that most people were already done for then night, only one party played through (we were SLOW, ok, it was me). Here the kids and Hubby are looking for HIS ball that went into this little bush! :o)We got to watch the sun go down and enjoy the cool evening weather.The bugs didn't come out until we were almost done. All in all, it was a FUN night! The kids didn't fight, they weren't overly noisy. And, the only time one of them had to use the restroom just happened to be when we were RIGHT next to the porta potty (STINKY!)

Here the kids are washing the balls at the last hole. Oh the joy! :o)

We didn't get home until 10:00, the kids were hungry and needed a snack. After snack, they got to bed around 10:30...Thank You, God for a wonderful evening with my family.

3 about ME!

How fun is this? My DAD tagged me...ok, it was in an email, but I'm going to do it here! So...here goes!


3's About Me!

Three jobs I have had in my life:

1) Taught Junior high (NOT where my gifts lie!)

2) Child care provider

3) Preschool teacher!


Three places I have lived:

1) Wichita, KS

2) St. Louis, MO

3) Seward, NE


Three shows that I watch:

1) Survivor

2) CSI (Anywhere!)

3) ER

Three places I have been:

1) Minneapolis, MN

2) Branson, Missouri

3) Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Three people who e-mail me regularly:

1) My Dad

2) My Aunt Marilyn

3) My friend Jacque


Three of my favorite foods:

1) Mexican food (chimichanga's and nachos!)

2) Sea food (Crab legs)

3) Italian (just about ANYTHING!)

OK, now I'm HUNGRY!


Three places I'd rather be right now:

1) Disney World!

2) Anywhere with my husband

3) in Heaven, praising God at His feet

Three friends I think will respond:

1) Elizabeth (might be a little busy having a baby, so maybe not!)

2) Rebecca (Might be a little busy moving, so maybe not!)

3) Loni (might be a little busy with her little girls, so maybe not!)

Three things I am looking forward to this year:

1) TEACHING again!

2) Loosing more weight and being HEALTHY!

3) Trip to Disney with my husband and kids!


Tag, anyone who wants to!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Menu Plan Monday


Gonna try this again...haven't been doing this lately, end up eating too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!


Breakfast (this is what I will fix for the kiddos, I am drinking a slim-fast for breakfast, Hubby has his own breakfast supplies)
Tues: Chocolate chip muffins from freezer (made a double batch two weeks ago...YUMMY)
Wed: Pancakes (make a triple batch, freeze most for later)
Thurs: Bagels
Fri: Cereal
Sat: Cheesy eggs/omletts (each chooses)
Sun: pancakes (from freezer)


Lunch...everyone chooses their own (sandwiches, corn dogs, mac-n-cheese, etc)


Dinner
Mon: up for grabs (everyone chose whatever they wanted)
Tues: eating out (van being worked on in the 'city' so Hubby gets to choose where we eat to celebrate Father's day)
Wed: spaghetti squash with alfredo sauce, ooey goey cheesy bread and a salad.
Thurs: Tacos (with a salad for some...taco salads for others!)
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Grill out hamburgers, brats, etc...maybe at the lake, maybe not (I DON'T want poison ivy again!)

a little update on me...

Have you ever heard of soaking a poison ivy infection in Epsom salt water? It works! Dries the heck out of your skin, but it also helps to dry out the infection. I have soaked my arms in it for a while the past few days and I can really tell the difference. The welts are starting to go down and they no longer look so terribly red and angry...not gone by any means, but I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

On the weight loss front...I am so excited to report that I have lost 20 pounds! Yes, this has been since January, but it's coming off. My darling husband, however, has gone back on his Atkins diet and lost 20 pounds in the past 3 weeks! (I love him, but I HATE him, too! ;o)) We are going to be one HOT couple in a few months! We both want to be healthier for our lives, to be better examples for our kids. We want to be able to have a good time in Florida without being too tired. He's doing TaeBo nearly every day and I really am trying to get back on my treadmill more often, even if I only have time for one mile...at least it's SOMETHING!

Abbigail's Birthday party

We FINALLY had Abbigail's birthday party this Saturday. I don't know how the rest of the families out there do it, but we don't have 'friend' parties each year for each child...I just can't do that! My kids get to start having parties when they turn 6, and then every OTHER year.
Anyway...we went to the city swimming pool on Saturday and invited a few of her friend's to join us. We got there just as they were opening so we could claim a table in the shade. We put a plastic tablecloth down with flowers as a centerpiece (the wind kept blowing them down, so they didn't stay! Oh well, we live in Kansas, what do you expect?!!)

Herand her friends enjoyed swimming, opening gifts, and yummy ice cream cake. They had a lot of fun, but I was very tired by the time we got to go home! Right now she's working on her 'thank-you' cards.
**Here is a hint..Moon sand STINKS! Ok, it doesn't literally stink, but it's a BIG mess, and it gets EVERYWHERE! DON'T BUY IT! And if someone gives it to your kids as a gift, try to return it before you open it up!!! IT's Horrible stuff!**

Blastball, T-Ball, and Softball

All three of my kiddos are playing ball this summer.
Bethany is in blastball (teaches basics of hitting and running to the base, and fielding). Andrew is in T-Ball (the next step up). Abbigail is in her second year of softball (hitting from a pitching machine). The fun thing about Abbie's league is that they get to try all the positions...this last game she got to play catcher. She is so tiny and the quipment was so HUGE. It was absolutly HILARIOUS! She loved it, though! She like catching the ball, and even when it hit the protective gear, it didn't hurt! (Dad, I thought you would be especially proud of her for this!!) Sorry the picture's of Abbigail are so dark. Her game didn't start until after 9:00 in the evening!

More pictures...Wichita trip

Picture post #2...

The first week of June, we went to Wichita to visit my family. We had TONS of fun with cousins, and the rest of the family. At one time, the kids were running WILD (ok, MORE than one time!) and they were told to sit down and SLOW down for a while. Abbigail read them all a story...how SWEET! Don't they look ornery!My mom put water in their hot tub (they don't use it much anymore, so it was empty) so the kids could play in the "COOL TUB!" They had so much fun! My extended family came over to celebrate Abbigail's birthday. We had yummy cake and ice cream! We went to the zoo with my parents and my nieces and my sis-in-law.
Here, the girls are trying to wake up the gorilla by tickling his toes through the glass...He actually did wake up and move his leg...it startled the girls and they jumped back screaming, they almost fell of the bench they were standing on! SO FUNNY!
Here are all our monkey's watching the gorilla's play.

Fishing at the lake

I am going to do a bunch of posts today, hopefully get caught up with the pictures I've been promising you!

First post is about the day we spent at the lake two Saturdays ago. We were there for nearly 9 hours, and these are my favorite pics.

Andrew really enjoyed fishing this day...probably had something to do with the fact that he actually caught 3 fish this day, he was VERY excited! This is the biggest fish we caught this day, the rest of them were very tiny. Small, but still made for a fun day. (we did release all the fish...none for dinner!)
Bethany and Abbigail quickly lost patience with fishing. They made their own fun. Playing in the water, going for walks, laying on a quilt in the shade (this is where I was most of the afternoon!).
Our lake is very beautiful. This is one of the "springs" across the highway from the main lake. This is where we caught our fish (and where I believe I caught the poison ivy! ICK!) Beautiful. (that is Andrew's red fishing pole sticking up in the middle of my scenic picture!)
There was painting in the morning at the kids' activities. Most of Bethany's wore off during the day, but Abbigail's stayed. This is how the girls looked about 2 minutes after we left the lake. SLEEPY gals! Andrew never gave up, though!

Attention Loni!

Loni, I miss you! I haven't read your blog in like 3 weeks...I CAN'T FIND YOU! When my computer crashed, I lost all my saved sites..I've found a lot of them, but I can't find yours. PLEASE leave me a link to your blog! I want to know how your trip went...how you are feeling...anything!

PS...Loni isn't the only one I haven't found....please leave a comment with your link so I can find everyone again!


PPSS...anyone in my family can leave me Loni's link! Thanks guys!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Poison Ivy, Ear Infections, and Migrains..OH MY!

Oh, BOY...it's been a week! We had a GREAT time in Wichita visiting my family. We went to the zoo, played, played, and played some more. The kids really LOVE seeing their cousins (and Bobbie and Papa, too!)
We came home a bit earlier on Thrusday than we had previously planned because severe storms were predicted. We wanted to get a jump on it so we would hopefully miss the bad weather. It worked. We only ran into some heavy rain, but quickly drove out of it. Shortly before we arrived home they had a torrential downpour. As we drove into town, gutters were still overflowing and the streets were very wet, but the sun was shining! Friday was a day of playing "catch-up" from being gone part of the week. Saturday was a VERY fun day. We went to the lake for "OK Kids day" which is fun. We learned a bit about bird watching, fishing, bird calling (turkey, duck, goose, etc). After the lunch, we went to another part of the state park where the water is very clear and you can see the fish. Hubby and Andrew had a LOT of fun, they each caught 3 fish, but alas, none big enough to keep. Apparently some time at the lake, I made contact with some poison ivy...though I didn't start itching until yesterday. I have nice pink spots (calamine lotion) on both arms...LOVELY!

Monday Bethany had a blastball game...she is just so adorable and has so much fun! Tuesday Andrew had a t-ball game, and then I planned to run a bunch of errands. Didn't happen. During the game, Abbie said she didn't feel well, she ended up sitting by the concession stand out of the wind and away from the crowds because she said they were too noisy. After the game we came home instead of doing our errands and the poor girl spent almost the entire day in bed. She missed her first library-story time of the summer, and yet another softball game. She felt HORRIBLE! At one point she said she just wished she could die. Broke my heart. She laid there with a blanket over her eyes and her ears. Every time Bethany or Andrew went into her room she would say "PLEASE BE QUIET!" even though they weren't being noisy. I am no expert (thank goodness) but I believe this was a migraine. The doctor's office suggested tylenol and ibuprofen together, and if that didn't help to bring her to the ER (the dr's office was closing by the time I called). Thankfully it did help, some. This morning she woke up feeling somewhat better, but she was running a fever. By the time Andrew's t-ball game was over this morning, she was feeling poorly again. I called the doc and was able to get her in...double ear infections. When is this stuff going to end???? Hopefully she'll be TONS better by Saturday, we're finally having her birthday party!

My asthma started acting up a lot like it did last summer. My doc gave me advair right away again...LOVE THE STUFF for my lungs, not so much for my mouth. It's horrible! I feel like I'm eating cotton all the time. I'm constantly sipping water, which I guess is good, but I don't like the feeling...but then again, I like to breath, so I guess something has to give! She did say she wants me to try something called "Asthmonex" but she wanted to get the asthma under control with what we know works first.

We've had a lot of fun, and have a TON of fun pictures to prove it, though they are still on the camera. Hopefully I'll get to that soon! For now you'll just have to take my word for it.

Still working hard on VBS and preschool stuff. Gotta get lots of it done before we go to visit our North Dakota family in July!
Hope everyone's summer is going well!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

My baby is alive, different, but alive

Well, Dell followed through and sent the hard drive (even sent it to my parent's home so that I could get it!...the DHL truck pulled in just after we did, perfect timing!). Hubby spent many hours working on getting things back up and running...he is the computer genious...I LOVE HIM! Thanks Honey!
The computer is different, haven't gotten it all "tweeked" back to my specks yet, but at least it is up and running and my documents are ok! YEA!
We're having a GREAT time with my parents, sister-in-law, and nieces. My brother hears that we're coming to town and quick makes plans to leave! The last time we were here he had meetings in California, now he is in Colorado! He'll be home tonight and come join us for breakfast so we can see him before we leave. Mom, Dad, Jill, Ella, Ava, Abbigail, Andrew, Bethany, and I spent the morning at the zoo. We had a great time, those animals are so fun! We stayed until about 2:00 and then headed home...EVERYONE but the drivers was asleep before we got home. After naps, the girls came over and we played in the water for a while.

Last night a couple of my cousins and an aunt and uncle came over to celebrate Abbie's birthday. It was nice to see those who were able to make it...and those that couldn't...well, just see what I have planned for you! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! :o)

Tomorrow my real baby turns 8! I CANNOT believe that she was born 8 years ago! If you want to read her birth story (or what she was up to last year!), it can be found here...I wrote about it last year on her birthday. I'll do a special post about her tomorrow (or Friday if I don't get it done tomorrow.)

One thing I haven't gotten back from my computer crashing is my links. If I read your blog (or you want me to!) please leave me a comment so that I can find you again!! Thanks! :o)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

My baby died :o(

I'm VERY sad to report that my baby died. Yes, my brand new computer is DEAD!! I have been doing a LOT of work getting things ready for preschool, VBS, and other things...
On Friday, Hubby asked if I had backed up my puter lately...um, no...haven't done it at all. He got it started backing up, I finished it off. THANK YOU, GOD (and Hubby for the suggestion!). Last evening, I was checking on some things and started hearing a clicking coming from the computer. I wondered what the CD-rom drive was doing. Nothing was in it...besides, the clicking was coming from the OTHER side, um, just where the hard drive is. THAT"S NOT GOOD! Yup, about 2 minutes later I got the blue screen of death, then NOTHING. A message popped up that said there was nothing to boot. NOTHING TO BOOT! ARRGGHH!! Hubby, the computer genius that he is, got it to run some sort of diagnostic which gave an error code. I looked it up on our home computer and it said the hard drive is shot. I was able to get a hold of someone at Dell tech support at 10:00 last night. They said that with that error code, a new hard drive would arrive this week. Thank goodness for warranties!!
So, I will probably not be around much this week, until my new hard drive arrives...I've become very spoiled with my new laptop, I HATE sitting at the desk to do computer stuff, so I probably won't be around much.

Plus, I get to go see my family this week! My parents are even throwing an impromptu birthday party for Abbigail, so hopefully I'll get to see a lot of those cousins and aunts/uncles that I have been missing for the past few YEARS!! Please, if you're my family reading this, come see me! I miss you all!!!!

Have a GREAT week!
Blessings-A