Dental Day

With the nice weather on Monday I managed to get distracted and forgot about a dentist appt for the boys. I had to reschdule and so the boys were happy to find out they got out of school early for the dental appt today.
Brock had to leave somewhat quickly so he could make it to Hunter's Safety with his dad. It was an internet program that he had to finish in 2 sessions. It was a lot more work online than Duner had thought. The program consisted of 14 quiz's. Randomly placed pop quiz's and MANY more pages of information to learn. It took about 4 hours on Sunday and 3 hours on Tuesday. (Nothing like waiting till the last minute.) I had to help him go thru it on Tuesday since Duner had to work at his part-time job. I didn't want to learn about hunting but I had to suddenly read the directions to cut open a deer. I don't think Brock got anything out of it. It is just not the same reading about it. He enjoyed the laughing at the pictures.
All the boys recieved a sparkling report from the dentist. No cavities. Brock may not need braces after all. It sounds like his teeth are making their way on their own. Yeah!
I am sure we impressed the Dental Hygenist by having the boys show up with gum in their mouths. Brock's theory was it would make his teeth more clean by chewing the gum.
Suuuurrrre Brock! I don't know how well that theory would fly with the Dentist.

Let the sunshine in!

Some days it is so hard to stay indoors.
Today was one of those days.
I am lucky enough as it is to work part-time. But with weather in the 70's, and sunny like it was today, I can't but to take it all in. I had all the windows open in the house from 7am this morning. I cleaned up the house while I waited for the floor guy to come and fix some warrenty work we had done. I was just loving the sunshine. I couldn't sit down. Zeb was torn. He wanted to play on the PS2, but he wanted to be outside. He told me about 6 times that he was going to run around the house. He just threw on his winter boots and ran out the back door.
He let us go to Lowes to pick up some stones and seeds, for various outdoor projects. We came home and I was able to hose out the garage. The frost had come out of the garage this weekend and it made out floor very slippery. Zeb was in and out of the house the entire time. I had promised him that we could go for a walk. When it was time for the walk he opted for the scooters. So both of us jumped on a scooter and walked thru the neighborhood. I found myself in a hurry, but Zebbie was a speed demon. I tried to slow down, it was so nice there was no reason to rush. I did want to make cookies or bars when we got home and we talked about what to make on our walk.
When we got home he placed his arm on the wall above his head and said "Mom, you can't go to the store, you have no money. You didn't go to the bank. (sigh) I'm tired! I don't want to go."
Not even treats could get him to go to the store!

Friday Brock had a Birthday 'Play'. He was invited to a party which each person was a 'part' in a story. Brock was set to be King Howard. He was to be the King of Salusia. He was about to be overthrown and things were not going well.
He spent much time on Thursday night trying to figure out what he was going wear. They asked that each person dressed the part. I told him he should wear camoflauge since his character was almost in hiding. He laughed but declined. I told him to dig out the Halloween costume bin and see what we could find. My mom had made a biblical costume for a Halloween party at church party, I tried to tell him that would work fine. He didn't want to until we went online and looked up Midevil Kings clothing. It said "Short dresslike tops with tights".
"No Way am I wearing tights!" He quickly says.
He decided the costume I suggested wasn't so bad. We also thought of trying to get a Burger king crown for the costume too.

Friday was the party. It started at 5 pm, I thought it was 6:30pm. Duner called me at 4pm and told me that it was actually at 5pm. We didn't have a gift yet either. So Duner had to get him ready and to the party in 45 min.
He brought his costume in a bag, just incase other didn't show up with theirs on. They quickly ran to Walmart and bought a card and gift card. After asking me at work to look online and find the location of the house, they set off to find it. They managed to find it, but Brocks stomach was acting up. They drove past a few times to make sure that they had the right house. Duner said they saw some girls going in all decked out and then they knew they were at the right house. After that Brock started getting a bad case of the nerves and decided to go back home.
So he came home and watched movies with us.

Today Brock Invited a friend from school over. His name is Jacob. He reminds me of what my Dad probably looked like at 12. He is really in to racing and has a Brother in law that works for a Nascar driver, making engines. He was a very nice kid. I am glad that Brock is getting more friends. Earlier this week I pushed him to go play with the neighbor kids in the backyard. Believe it or not I had to have him stop his homework so he could play. I don't know many parents that have that problem.

In Recovery

I am currently sitting at the O'hare International airport waiting for our plane. It is suppose to take off in one hour. We got on our flight last night at 1am cst. I couldn't sleep right away. I think I fell asleep about 2am and slept until 4:45am, when they made the announcement about the flight preparing to land. It was nice since it went so quickly. We watched the episode of Grey's Anatomy on our laptop while we waited for the play but now it is quiet and we are getting very sleepy. I am looking forward to taking a nap today at home.

Last night we had to do some reconfiguring of our bags, since you can only take 50lbs per bag. We ended up transferring 4.5 lbs from one bag to the other. They both just BARLEY made the 50 lbs and under mark. One was right on and the other was .5 under.

It was funny 'cause a couple next to us was trying to figure out how to lighten her bag from 16 lbs over. She asked her companion what should she remove, but he said that there was no way she was going to transfer 16 lbs to her carry on. They had to pay 50 bucks to leave it in.

Well we just found out our gate changed so we had to move to a new location.
Travel is always changing.

San Fran Pictures.

The clouds made our trip to the ocean overcast but in the city it was Beautiful. Quiet a few surfers out today.

This is how far the stairs is from the water, but check this out.
The ocean claimed the sand from the steps...
Really Fresh sea food for sale. They are still alive, just upside down.
You can see Golden Gate in the distance, but you can not see the top it due to the clouds.
Yummmy! Free Chocolate samples in every chocolate shop. We made it in two of them!

Pictures from Lake Tahoe

The bright blue water of the pure lake.

(You can see the shadow of the boat)

Beautiful Lake Tahoe from the M.S. Dixie...

Emerald Bay (the green water, Not from weeds!!)

Duner and the Mountains around Lake Tahoe

More on Lake Tahoe

While Shopping at Lake Tahoe we got sucked in to a Time share talk in order to get a free trip on the M.S. Dixie. It was your typical 'good guy, bad guy' sales pitch. You too for only $15,000.00 plus 600 dollars anually can vacation freely every year til you die with Trendwest Vacations!

Great, Let me just check my bank account. Hmmm. Nope not an extra 15,000 sitting around.
Oh Well.
Don't get me wrong, the place was nice. But I just paid off a vehicle, I don't need another bill right now.
" All you need is 10% down and you can do 90 days same as cash!"
No Thanks.
After many NO's and creative ways to get out of it, we got 40 bucks of 'Crusin' Cash and hopped on the MS Dixie. It was nice and interesting but I am glad I didn't pay for it. I didn't know lake Tahoe was over 1500 ft deep. Also it is 99% pure, rain/snow runoff water. It was beautiful blue, except when you enter Emerald Bay where it turns a bright Green color. (Hence the name.) There was also an island that has a Tea House (or the ruins of them) on the top. Some rich lady had it built to entertain her guests. Over a hundred years ago she paid 250,000 for the island and some land on shore to built her castle called Vikingsholm Castle.
We used the 40 dollars worth of crusin' cash to buy lunch and some souvenir mugs. The tour took about 3 hrs and we apparently sat next to someone famous, because a women came up to the lady and said 'Hi I am leslie, I saw your picture ....(I couldn't hear where without being obvious?) I wanted to introduce myself.' Then another lady came and took her picture. They left our area shortly after that. I didn't know her so it didn't matter to me.
We wanted to ride a gondola up a mountain, but by the time we got there they were closing. That will have to wait til next time, with the kids.
There were all kinds of people in ski boots, carrying snowboards or ski's everywhere.
They also have a skate rink that they open up and light at night, very postcard like. I didn't have my camera when we saw it the first time but I did get a shot during the day, but it lose's it's charm when it is covered with tarps.
We were able to take lots of pictures but I will have to load them later. We have to check out of our hotel in 2 hrs, then we will be homeless till we get home, tomorrow at 9am. We have an overnight flight from San Fran to Chicago.
Duner wants to watch the Badger basketball game somewhere, I would like to go down to fishermans wharf and Ghiradelli Square. There is a fifty's style diner there.
I am really looking forward to going home. The weather has been nice but it is always nice to return.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

I got back to the room by 8:30am to find out that Duner was awake since 6:30am, and he couldn’t do anything. I had the car and my cell phone will not charge for some reason. Grrr. I don’t know why. It just keeps flashing at us when it is on the charger. Grrr.

We went to ,what I like to call, the boardwalk. It is a cluster of 4 or 5 hotels combined by a series of walkways over city streets. You don’t even know you are over the streets because there is no windows. Shops, Resturants, Buffets, Cafes all over the place. As if the Casinos weren’t enough for you to spend money they add all of that to it. Let me say they spared little when it come to lavishness. The European feel extends throughout. Unless you are in Circus Circus. Then it is like a giant tent, complete with game show vendors and a net for acrobats. That part is really geared toward kids. We could tell when we were getting close to them because we began to see more kids.

We ate breakfast at a hotel on the boardwalk called Eldorados. It was much better than last nights buffet at our hotel. It had Fruit, fruit salad, veggie salads, ham, sausages (3 kinds), bacon, pancakes, waffles, muffins, baked egg dishes, rolls, omelets, fried potatoes, oatmeal, cereals and even desserts!

I wanted to take a picture but I had left my camera in my room. It went on forever!

We had to hurry back, shower and ck out of our room. Duner had to bowl at 11:30am. 6 games. He didn't do to well. He struggled, but he isn't on a league this year, so he hasn't had the practice.

We left there about 2 pm just intime to go to a casino and catch the end of the Badger win. They had a sports bar theme set up for the NCAA tournaments. Hot and Chili dogs, Nachos and various other fare. Beverages were free since we were in a Casino. Our server had about 15 beverages on a tray and someone hit her and they went all over her and the floor. She was soaked.
We stayed there a few more minutes talking with some of the guys, signing up for New Mexico for next year, then we had to go on to our next Location. South Lake Tahoe, CA.

BEAUTIFUL! We saw about 4 bear crossing signs! I wanted to get a picture of one but we were always going up hill or down zipping past them. At one point on a downhill slide we drove past a bicycle. A pedal biker... YIKES! He was just flying and he was still pedaling! I could only hope he was training for the Tour de France.
This is just like Door County or Minocqua but with more large pine trees. We are going to go on a gondola ride today. It is supposed to be 65 degrees here. 79 in Reno. We saw alot of people that looked like they were skiiing today. Bright red faces and arms except where their goggles were.
Our room had a whirlpool tub in it last night, it was a neat hotel. Not as nice as our first one but that did set the bar pretty high. They have a Holiday Inn Express here that we thought of staying here an additional night and cancelling our room in San Fran, but they are double the price that we paid.
We would love to come here again. The one down part is there is lots of rich people here. You can tell this is a playground for the rich. We saw someone from a french speaking place and either Japanese or Chinese speaking place.
I can see why they come from so far to stay here. It still has snow on the mountains. just outside the back from our hotel there is a snow covered mountain. This morning we had frost on our car and I left my coat in Wisconsin! Brrr. At least there low is probably 30 degrees today. Not 10, like Wisconsin.
Well, I better go, I don't have much internet time left till we get to our next Hotel.
More Later...

Reno to Lake Tahoe.

Today I woke up and drove to find cheap beverages (Pepsi and Water) and internet. Our hotel didn't have internet. They were in the process of getting it.
Duner did ok on bowling yesterday. I don't think any of the current leaders have anything to worry about at all. The 3rd place current winner is from Madison, WI. This tournament goes on thru May so plenty of time for things to change for them. Pollen is very high here and my sinuses were telling me weather channel.com was right. I got an allergy med from a wife of another bowler and it made me tired so I laid down in the hotel for an hour or so. Duner came and we headed to the Buffet at the hotel.
It is amazing the amount of food they waste in display. I had watermelon, pineapple, a oil salad with mushrooms, green and red pepers, and onions. Crab legs, shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, Potatoe and Leek soup, cabbage, BBQ ribs and cheese cake. I put more of the fruits and veggies than the other stuff on my plate. I didn't want to eat too much of the high calorie things. I have limited internet time so I can do my calorie counting website much in this town. I am at a local Starbucks using the internet right now.
Well I have to go my battery is getting low. More later..

Day to San Fran to Reno

Our Hotel was a Holiday Inn Express. It was right off Hwy 1 in California. We were 4 blocks from the Pacific Ocean and a State Beach. As we checked in to the hotel a guest was asking if people around here always drive so slow for no reason and then speed back up. We had to agree. No stop signs, no cars pulling over, no school buses stopping.

Our room had two double beds. WONDERFUL BEDS! They were just like sleeping on clouds. The pillows were Excellent! I slept great. We joked about how we can now do anything since we stayed at a “Holiday Inn Express”.
The toilet was great for a 4 year old, but when you would flush it the noise was heart stopping! It sounded like jet airplane suction power. It scared us to each the first time we used it. Zeb would have been terrified.

We decide to beat the early am traffic and left at 6:15 or so on Thursday to head for Reno.
It was dark. We had googled for directions before with left. I had the print out and we were set. I also had a bunch of maps from the airport. We were doing Great Hwy 1 to 280. 280 to 101. 101 to Interstate 80 didn’t go so well. Our google directions said “Slight right onto Bay Bridge/Oakland/7th Street.” We exited. We were NOT supposed to. SAN FRANCISCO IS NOT A CITY YOU WANT TO MAKE A WRONG TURN IN!! It is one way EVERYthing!!! We got stuck on a road that we couldn’t turn left or right on. It was a mess. Then we finally get on to I-80. It took us 45 minutes to get 2 miles on to the interstate. It was 7:45am. Not when you want to be driving around in the city.
We just passed IKEA By Sacramento! Mental Note, we must stop on our way back!

The rest of the ride was greatfully uneventful. Best scenery around as always. I am glad I didn’t have to drive I would have not had much of a chance to watch all the colorful mountains change with every curve of the road. This drive seems to go so fast because it is very scenic.
Around Donner Pass there was still snow on the mountains. At one point the snow at the edge of the road was 5 FT HIGH. That is not because it is piled up from the road. It looks like they have a GIANT snowblower that comes in and cuts it and throws it some where. You can actually see the different layers of snow, newest ones were cleaner than the older ones. At one exit a sedan took it and it wasn’t long before the car was not seen due to the amount on either side of the road.

We got to Reno and learned there in No Doubles partner for Duner to bowl with tomorrow. His partner, I will call him S., cancelled but didn’t tell Duner. Great Guy!
Luckily they happened to have an extra player for the team version today. In 15 minutes Duner will be starting his bowling. I am just hanging out in our hotel room relaxing. I would like to get a beverage but water was 2 bucks for 16 oz bottle. Duner doesn’t like coke but he has had to suffer with it for the last two days.Our Hotel for Day two is 2 blocks from the Bowling Center. This is Duner standing in our hotel room (#1313- Lucky?). Hmmmm... You can see the Bowling Center in the background with th giant globe on top. Our hotel is Vinatge 1960. It looks like they upgraded the rooms in 1981, but I can't complain. It was a cheap one. The first 2 floors are casino and the 3rd is resturant and buffet. We only eat 2 times a day while we are here since there is so much food and not much exercise. I am going to go to a grocery store and buy some bottled water and pepsi.

Boring Flight= LONG post...

This am Auntie Sara took Zebbie and one of the Dogs for a walk while we left. I think I gave her all the info that I possibly could. There are so many things that you don’t think of normally because they are so routine.
We are currently flying from Chicago to San Fran. It has been about an hour now.
The boys would be happy on this flight. They played Happy Feet. They have already seen the movie but they liked it.
We got to the Appleton Airport and checked in. We had to remove one of Duners 3 bowling balls. Apparently that has been the rule for a long time but they haven’t enforced it. Our check in clerk told us after she left, “Anyone else but her, would have let it go.”
We ran into our my cousin’s husband who was dropping off his brother at the airport. I stood up with his brother in my cousin’s wedding. His brother is a left handed pitcher in a farm league for baseball. Basically he is good enough for a career, but not good enough for the major leagues. He is on contract with the Minnesota Twins, but on a farm team from Rodchester. He is a free agent next year. He just had a baby girl. He said he won’t be home till September. He is going to spring training in Florida. His wife is a school teacher in Greenville.
I had to surrender my carmex, lip gloss, and hand sanitizer in Appleton. I think the rules that they have are lame. I was able to keep it if I went to the gift shop to buy a a quart size Ziploc baggie to put them in.
I knew there was supposed to be no liquids but I didn’t realize carmex qualified as ‘liquied’.
We were able to pick our seats on the first flight but not on this one. We both are in the same row, but we didn’t get seats right next to each other. Both middle seats.
We had 10 minutes to wait before we boarded our flight from Appleton, so I was able to try out a laptop that I am using from my sister. She should me how to get online. It WORKED! I just was able to log on, but then we had to board the plane.
We sat in front of a old lady that kept complaining about things. People not saying Thank you or wishing them a good trip. One person didn’t even stop to say goodbye. It was funny to hear her say ‘Screw him”.
When we landed we were told our next gate wasn’t far. I would say she was wrong. We landed at about 10 after noon in Chicago, and it took us 20 minutes to get there from where we landed. We didn’t have the time to grab some decent food. We had to settle for sandwhiches (one each) and one drink that cost 21 bucks! I hate cold sandwhiches, but by the time we land it will be almost supper and I didn’t want to pig out just because I hadn’t eaten all day. I only had coffee for breakfast.
Update: After 4 hrs Not talking to either girl next to me on the flight we finally landed. At hour 4 the girl on the end got up to use the bathroom and I quickly took the opportunity to get off my BUTT! We got a rental car and headed to Half Moon Bay. It was a really nice drive in spots, large trees and beautiful Ocean! I miss Mexico! We ate at Round table pizza for supper at 8pm Wisconsin time, 6 pm CA time. It was pretty good. My sister used to work at one when she lived in California but I don't know if it is this one, but it was some good pizza.
Tomorrow we get up bright and early to drive 4 hrs to Reno Neveda. Yeah!

Birthday Boy!

Today is Brock's 12th Birthday!~
Yippeee!
(cue the confetti and balloons)

I already bought him a gift last week and he went shopping with Grandpa yesterday (along with Reece, calling himself 'The Recommendor') They picked out a game called Strong hold. He really likes it but Reece got to play on it more than Brock. Go figure. I am making German Chocolate Cake per request and we got candles and letters to place on the cake later.

Normally I let them pick where we eat but he got that early too! We ate at Old Country Buffet on Thursday. We were going up to the cabin today so we decided to do it early. I don't know if we really are going up to the cabin today (Dad was the only one that wanted to go today), since we have yet to finish our drywall project in the garage.

Well, I have to go make the frosting for the cake!

Get 'er done!

Yet again it is one of those weeks where every second I have I cannot blog, since either my kids are on the computer or my husband is sleeping and can't stand the sound of typing.
*sigh*
I only have a minute, so this will be short.
We are in the process of getting ready for a trip to California. We leave next week Wednesday and will be gone until Monday at 9am. We have an overnight flight on Sunday, which will be strange. I haven't had that since I went to England. But that flight was due to the fact that they are 6 hrs a head of us. I left Chicago at 8pm, which was 2am for them. I couldn't sleep really well, since I was so excited.

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so we are going to finish a project of drywalling the garage. Saturday is Brock's 12th Birthday, so I will be having to make a German Chocolate cake tonight. He already had a Birthday treat meal, and a present, the safari hunting game. I am fairly certain the cake will only last till maybe Saturday night...

Well, Times up!

Jump!!

We went up to the cabin to clear about 2 ft of snow from the driveway on Sunday.
We brought the kids for the extra man power. Luckily I had the foresight to say "Let's bring the snowblower up with us." If I hadn't we would have been there till monday morning shoveling.

After the driveway we tackled the roof. That took almost an hour. The kids couldn't wait till we finished so they could jump off into a HUGE snowbank that we had made.

After they did it about 3 times the begged us to jump. I wasn't ready to break any bones but after getting coerced from Duner and the boys, I managed to jump.
Right up to my thighs in snow.

I just have to say, how much FUN that was!!

I am so glad I did, I highly recommend it!

Yesterday, Last night and Today

Yesterday morning I was trying to get Zeb out of the door for school, he was busy trying to quickly put together a lego 'creation' as he said, but we were low on time so I started to count.
Ooooone.
He quickly says "Mom, Don't say that! Say A,B,C,D,E,F,G..!"
I managed not to laugh but I thought that was so cute.

Last night He was not getting off the computer after I warned him it was time to get off. So I began to count again.
Ooooone.
"Mom, 1,2,3 your outta here!" he scoffed at me.
I really, really tried hard not to laugh but that was so funny. It is in my room. It was almost bedtime. I won't be leaving my own room because he said so.

How can you not laugh at that!

Today while Dad tries to sleep Zeb was on the computer telling me all about it. I asked him to quiet down so Daddy can sleep and he said "It's already down" (meaning the volume on the computer)
I told him that wasn't what I meant.

"Oh, You mean my mouth?" he replied.
Yep. That would be the one.

Lets do something...

So I said "How about going to Cabela's?"
Cabelas is a store that is a hunter's paradise. It opened about 1 hour and a half south of here and Duner has wanted to go since September when it opened. So Saturday we loaded up the kids and took off to Richfield WI.

Duner was hoping to play in a cribbage tournament but his partner couldn't make it. He was bummed out and didn't want to stay home all day and think about how he was missing the tournament.

We left around lunch time so we stopped at a KFC on the way, loaded up on snackers and potatoe wedges. We got to Cabela's around 2:30 and had to park way out in the back 40 of the parking lot! Just about by the horse corral and dog kennels. (Yes they actually have a place for you to put your horses and dogs while you shop!)

We headed in and first checked out the HUGE real lake fish aquarium. The boys got to see perch, sturgeon, large mouth, musky, northern and huge rock bass. The musky kept watching us like he was mad. You could see a large white patch on his mouth possibly from ramming it against the glass over and over again.

Then we headed past the clothing and fishing areas to the stuffed animals (real ones). The boys got to see beavers, elk, cougars, mountain lions, foxes, mule and regular dear, and bears. in the water at the bottom they had trout (real ones) swimming in the water.

We walked up the stairs to a shooting gallery. All the boys got a chance to electronically hit all kinds of targets like tin cans, deer, snakes, shunks, windows, pans and buckets. Zeb of course was always the first to run out of ammo. Reece was the last. He took his time trying to hit his targets. While Brock was waiting we found a birthday present for him. It was a safari hunting game.

We checked out the home store (my favorite part), bargin cave, shoes, camping, and archery. The had a neat exhibit of different mule deer and whitetail deer. All different types of throphy deer and some elk too. Duner is going to Colorado to do some Elk hunting in October, so he kept saying 'That's what Dad's going to get!" or 'That's what I am going hunting for soon!'.

Duner just found out that before he can purchase the tag he needs to have completed hunter's safety. He is registered to do that with Brock at the end of March, and he better pass because he has to get signed up by April 3rd for his tag!

We stopped by another shotting area, that was more like a really large Playstation with guns. That got jammed just before we were going to have the boys play. We used our car keys and got out 2 tokens from each of the two slots. Then we didn't have to use them because we were given free credits for waiting.

Finally we checked out the Safari Animals exhibit and headed for home with some very happy boys...

Weekend Plans take 2

Since our plans tanked for the weekend, we decided to play a game of Whitetailopoly, Brocks favorite game. He got this game for Christmas from Uncle Cory and it has been well loved. He always is dragging it out when he gets board. Duner didn't have good luck on the game. I was kick'n butt!

Then we headed to a local bowling alley to try our luck. It was actually busier than I thought! I tried to get more pictures by my camera didn't let me. I am not sure if it is the cheap batteries or the old digital camera, but I tried.

Zebbie was happy with his score, he was ahead of Reece for the majority of the game, guess who didn't like that... hmmmm.
Not Dad! He was excited that he finally pass me to win! (It was bumper bowling, otherwise he would have been ahead of me!)

We went to a movie after that. It was called Wild Hogs. Cute movie. I laughed a LOT. Some of the humor went over the kids heads, but Duner and I both liked the movie.

Today we stayed inside and played another game of Whitetailopoly, Duner still sucks. He just doesn't have luck at that game. Reece joined us today and he was the butt kicker, even though I had the Park Place and the other one (they are called something else on this game).

The boys were just outside helping Dad run the snow blower. We wanted to get it before the next 2-4 inches we are getting later today.

Cancelled!!!

After much thought we decided the 4 hr drive to return home wouldn't be worth going to Madison.
We are very sad. Reece had all his stuff ready for tomorrow before I got home from work!
Both Brock and Reece started to cry as soon as they found out. They were bummed out for about 20 minutes then Reece said 'You owe me 10 dollars for not taking me skiing!'
????
What page in the handbook of parenting 101 does it say that?
No. I said.
How about Burger King?
Ok. He said.
That went well.

Brock said 'Now I wish I would have gone skiing today!' (at the school field trip)
How about Burger King?
Uh.... Ok.


We are probably going to take them to a movie and then sledding this weekend instead. They really want to see Wild Hogs, and there is a sneak preview this weekend.
We are all stocked up with food so the troops will be not starving. It was pretty picked over at the store, apparently a lot of other people heard about the storm.

Gearing up for a Great Weekend

Today Brock is super excited about a bowling trip his class is doing today in school. He even gets to bring in a board game to play since half the kids got to go skiiing today and will not be in school longer than the kids that wanted to go bowling. Basically it is a play day for 6th graders.

THEN... We get up Saturday AM bright and early to go Verona and Auntie Sara!!! It is supposed to snow, LOTS. That's ok, we will just take our time and we will be fine. I just heard that it may not snow til later Saturday. YIPPEE!

We are going to a geology Museum and then Tyrol Basin to go skiing. Auntie Sara has never been skiing before and Brock, Reece and Zeb went for the first time last year. We have never been to Tyrol basin before but Duner and I have gone skiing about 5 times. We used to do it quite a bit when we were dating, but then it we had the kids and hadn't done it for 10 years. It is a fun to out as a family. It's nice to get out and do physical fun, and create some fun Memories.

I didn't even take a bite mom!
That is what Zeb said to me as he gave me this lovely chocolate cup. AWWWW...
This weekend I tried to no avail to get Zeb to try to remember the color YELLOW. He now knows Red, blue, green, orange, purple, brown and of course pink (he LOVES pink milk, strawberry) but yellow just escapes him. If I give him a choice of orange or yellow, he knows the difference. He likes to say "What's the name of that one again mom?"
Tonight I was asking him what was the color of.... corn, bananas, my shirt, Reece's shirt, Luigi (from the movie CARS)... do you see the theme? Then I asked the color of grass. He said green.

He was right. But I had to continue with the theme.

I said if you don't water it, it turns YELLOW!

Rummy Fun

This weekend was a big Rummy fest at our house. Here they couldn't even stop for lunch. They had a Rummy Lunch. Reece discovered the joys of playing cards (other than building things with them). He was all excited to play Rummy. We printed out the rules off the internet so we make sure we get the total points right. Brock is good at that game. He likes to look at his score a little backward. He had 335. He got all excited and yelled ' I have over 500?". No. He read it as 533. He likes to do lots of things backward in the game too. He likes to discard first. He likes to write his numbers backwards, like writing a one from bottom to top. He just isn't quite normal. But what can I say he takes after his dad...
: }

One sick kid.

Zebbie is sick. Cough, sneeze, drip. Yep. That is what he has. Reece had something earlier in the week (Sorry, Jen, if Jake got sick!) just after a friend spent the night last weekend. He had a on and off fever for Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday he was fine. Zeb started on Thursday with this stuff. I haven't taken his temp yet so I don't know how his fever was but he is still up and around at our house. His little eyes are dripping and puffy. He talks like he has a clothes pin on his nose. It's cute when he says 'My nose is dripping' meaning he needs a tissue.

On Thursday my Mom was going to take him for the day, but left him with Duner. I had gotten out some medicine for him to take at grandmas, to help with this problem. She gave it back to Duner and I hadn't seen it since.

Today I found it. In our freezer in the kitchen. I know it was cough and 'COLD' medicine but I don't think that is what they meant.

Mom, Can I start dating?

That is how Brock greeted me on Wednesday after work. He was sitting at the table doing his homework.
'Why?' I asked.
"Because it will open a lot of doors for me." He said. (??)
'Ah, sure. Dating like 'going steady' or like going out to the movies?' I replied.
"Both" he says.

Somehow we got on the subject of his ears. He has some ears that don't like his head. They stick out quite a bit. I don't tell him that but he knows. I was asked by the Dr. at his last check up if they cause him any problems with kids at school. At that time he was still in his old school in Appleton and they didn't seem to be a problem. But I think kids are starting to notice.
Reece likes to joke around with Brock about his ears, and so does Duner. But Brock knows it is just in the spirit of fun, nothing bad.
Dr Schimke mentioned something about getting that taken care of and I mentioned that to Brock. He was excited and nervous at the same time. He had a hard time focusing after that.


UPDATE: He paid a friend to ask if a girl wanted to date Brock. She said no. 'I planned it that way' he said.

Brock was out five cents.

Cheap friend, Brock said 'He will do anything for money'.

Apparently.

12 years ago.

Twelve years ago today my husband and I were officially married. It was a Tuesday, we went down to the courthouse and got hitched. We had our first date almost one year earlier.
He met me through my high school sweetheart. His name was Paul. He worked with Duner. We went to a local casino a few months earlier. I had forgotten my drivers license and wasn't let in, since I had just turned 18. I told Paul and Duner I would wait in the car. ???? I was a nut.

Anyway, Duner drove us there and while I was waiting in his 1989 Chevy Beretta, I couldn't just sit there. So I had to take it for a spin. It was a Red GT. It was a 5 speed transmission. I had tried to drive Paul's 4 speed Ford Pinto MANY TIMES with minimal luck. I hated that car. I was a frequent passenger in it but I couldn't drive it for some reason.

All I did was move it from one parking space to another, but I thought it was really cool. Especially considering my car was a 1985 Plymouth Horizon, Mellow yellow. I don't remember if Duner said much about me moving the car but I remember him being surprised that I did.

By Winter 13 years ago, Paul and I were over. Within a month, I had a letter from Duner on my bed at my parents house. He wrote me almost a full page note asking if I wanted to go out. I thought Holy cow, I must have made some kind of impression on him for him to remember me from that one night. There may have been a company Christmas party as well, all I remember is Duner's sister buying me drinks and having me try different ones.
I called Duner and agreed to a first date. A lunch date, Early February 1994. I remembered Duner having a HUGE gap in his front teeth but for the first few months I tried to look past it. But is was hard.
When he mentions it now, Duner likes to tell me how beautiful I looked on our first date. It was a good hair day. I had just guilt ed my old boyfriend into paying for a perm. I had shoulder length hair and I was about 30 lbs lighter. I wore some jeans and a comfortable bulky sweater.

Being MR ROMANCE he took me to the car wash to have them clean and wash his car. I thought wow, how nice, he actually takes care of his stuff.

Then we went shopping and to Mc Donald's for lunch.

He offered to buy me brand new jeans. I thought, yeah, likes to spend money. I think we went to the casino too.

It's amazing how things change...

Now, he complains when I pay to wash the cars, buy new clothes or go to fast food.
I don't even notice the gap in his teeth.

No More Cryin' in the bath tub!!! Yeah!

I recently saw this idea from Nanny 911, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.
It's GREAT! I used my goggles for swimming for Zeb in the Tub to wash his hair. He just HATED to do it because soap would get in his eyes. Now he thinks he looks like 'darf vader' . How Cute!Before and ....

AFTER! How Cool is this lil' dude?

He NEVER would have let me do that before!

Now, I just hope they don't get lost. He wants to wear them even out of the tub! Yikes!

Silly Zeb!

Today we are showcasing Zeb.

Silly things he says...
Square-tangle - Refers to both square and triangular objects.
Brock-Reece : Referring to both of his brothers.

Apparently his head was more cold,

than his Feet! (notice the Cars t-shirt and Race car sleeping bag)

He felt he wanted to share his little buddy Sponge Bob with us. Awwww.

Last Night we went out to eat and when we got home this is how Reece and Zeb were sleeping.
What nice Big brothers Zeb has.

And now, The REST of the story...

OK, so last time you knew we were patiently waiting for a new hard drive to appear for out 30 day old Gateway computer from Circuit City.
Duner calls me a work on Wednesday to tell me it came in. WAAAHHHOO! I go home and check it out. It was NOT a hard drive. It was a cable that may connect a hard drive but NO HARD DRIVE.

I call Gateway customer useless department, which is NOT a free call (why use a toll free number for people that shell out hundreds of dollars on their computer). I wait on hold for over 8 minutes, while the recording tells me the estimated wait time is only 2 minutes. It must be in dog year time or something.
I get Mr. Badge number 75021 on the phone who tells me after five more minutes that he can't help me do to his computer down for some maintnance. WONDERFUL. He tells me to call back in 2-3 hours to see if they can order me another new part.
I don't think so.

I immediately call Circuit City. This was the last straw. I think I have been more than patient, it was time for some action. I have the number memorized by now. I asked for the manager. It's pretty said when you know Ashley and Ashley (manager), Chad, Mike and now Brad (manager) all work at Circuit City. I got Brad on the phone. I am sure he is used to hearing people complaining and venting to him, so at first he did the 'that is not Circuit City's fault' routine, then I reminded him of the problem I had when I went to get it and it wasn't ready, the rebate problems I had with the staff and the fact that the computer was less than two weeks old when all this started. He then said "How about a brand new computer with Vista already on it?"
'That would be great!" I replied sarcastically. In my mind I was thinking so I can go through this all over again?
I had to bring in the junk computer and the old computer I had with the good hard drive so they could transfer files on to the new computer. I met Chad at the counter. He is the one that figured out the hard drive was bad this last time. I told him not to lose the old computer with the good hard drive. I told him I was going to hold him responsible. I noticed a Best Buy sticker on the side of the old computer and said "What's this?" I said that is from when they told me the motherboard had fried out. He repeated "What's this? " again, so I said "I never had any problems with them!"
He then made a noise like I had just punched him in the stomach.
Next time, Back to Best Buy.

Well, I Never!

Last week Brock heard just how cold it was supposed to be getting and immediately exclaimed 'Maybe school will be canceled due to the cold weather!'.
I said 'I doubt it, they have NEVER closed the schools around here due to the temperature.'....
Well, I guess today I eat my words.
Schools canceled all over the place.
Yippee.

New Computer Take Two!

I had the joy of the computer singing really strangely to me last night. It locked up and then had a high pitched sound like 'the computer got put on a cat' as the techinican called it. I called Circuit City, they said oh yeah I can hear it bring it in.
That was 6:30pm last night.

I left there at 8:30pm last night after finding out the hard drive was bad on my computer. Since it is over 14 days old I can not return it. Since they are in 'transition' to the new Windows Vista I can not exchange it since they no longer carry my computer in stock! OF COURSE. It is 5 yrs old in computer. (even though it is only 20-something days old). It is still under the manufacturers warrenty since it is kind of new so I (NOT THEM) had to call the manufacturer and get an new hard drive ordered. Lovely. I called right from there and I am glad I did since the guy I had working on my computer ended up having to talk to gateway anyway (???) to verify that I indeed did have a bad hard drive. Then they wanted to get a credit card number to hold payment until the hard drive that was bad was sent back. GRRRRR! Keep in mind that I have a 'protection plan' that we bought when we got the computer just incase anything would happen. Then the manager who luckily hid in another room having a 'meeting' told my helper guy, Chad, that I would have to PAY TO HAVE THE NEW HARD DRIVE INSTALLED!!!
See anything wrong there?
I bought the computer the last thursday in December. We had it installed by them in our house 4 days later. 10 days later I brought it in because it was locking up while online. They couldn't find anything wrong so they gave it back (of course) and NOW the hard drive is bad so I HAVE TO PAY TO HAVE IT INSTALLED????
I THINK NOT!
Chad said I am going to override my manager in this case and NOT charge you for this since you obvisously have had this going on for some time. (Thanks Chad) I could just feel the red appearring in my face due to anger.
I am NEVER EVER GOING TO BUY FROM THEM AGAIN!!! They have great people that work there, at least some of them but for the most part forget it!!!
It was still useable so I was able to bring it home. I plug it back in and *poof* it won't even turn on. I am at a local library working with there computer.
I am expecting a new hard drive from Gateway in 3-5 business days.Brock says I don't know what I am going to do without an computer for a whole week!!

Lovely.

Auntie Sara would be proud.

Bonjour is Hello.
Salut is good bye.
And this is how you say My name is.... He just can't spell it yet.
That is what I heard Brock say to Reece.
He really likes his 'World language' class.

He went on to say 'I already know droit and gauche (right and left) in French!'

He only had 1 class so far. He has it every other day, since the new semester started this week.

67 hours, Mr. Drama....

The kids were home by noon on Friday due to a half day. Brock had his friend over, Reece had his. Sunday was just a stay at home day.

Somehow Reece managed to NOT do his homework. Surprise, Surprise. Even after I asked if he had homework on Sunday, he still managed to wake up crying saying that he wasn't able to do his homework ALL WEEKEND. He even said he WORRIED about that ALL WEEKEND.
Hmmm.

I can see Friday.
I can see Saturday.
But I can not see SUNDAY. I didn't even take him to his Basketball due to the weather. I snowed a good 4 inches by us. I asked him Sunday night if he had any homework done. He spent 20 minutes looking for a folder he didn't have. Then Monday am he wants me to sign his assignment notebook saying he DID READ, DO MATH AND DO SCIENCE.
I NEVER SAW HIM READ THIS WEEKEND.
I saw a completed math worksheet.
BUT I ALSO SAW AN INCOMPLETE SCIENCE WORKSHEET.
67 HOURS. No time to play AND DO HOMEWORK????

I THINK NOT.
Too bad. I didn't sign the notebook, I just wrote 'Didn't Do'. He will have to deal with the consquences.

Just before he left he was crying about needing various colors of crayons.
??? I thought we bought those already???
Mr. Drama.

Mr. Manners

So Brock had a friend sleep over on Friday. VERY NICE kid. His name is Alix. His step mom and dad I used to work with at Anchor Foods. His Dad also used to go to school with Duner. I also happened to meet his mom at a parenting class I had with Brock. Alix was 9 months, Brock about 3 months. Alix's mom eventually married someone that I used to work with in high school at Target.
Small world...
Anyway... That kid is the model child. WOW! Can I have please? May I please? Do you need any help with...? He sat at the table and waited to get up until everyone was done. He didn't eat anything until everyone was ready to eat. If someone wanted something he had, no arguments just ok, its yours. He had such a deep voice too. Very different from my kids. Many times I had to point out to Brock you don't do that or you DO do this. Brock doesn't usually have friends over. He is very awkward and you could say not very thoughtful. Alix wasn't done eating an Brock left him at the table, I had to ask him to return to the table.

I was so mad, I had Brock read an entire book of manners when Alix left.

That afternoon, Reece had some friends over. When one of the friends left Reece stayed down stairs with another friend. I couldn't really chew him out, but Brock was quick to get the book and point out that it says this in this chapter.... Mr. Manners.

Finally!

Thursday was the Pine Wood Derby Races for Reece and the boy scouts.
This year Reece made his car with grandpa Z. He was pretty excited about it this year. I am surprised the car survived from December until now without missing some pieces somehow!

Normally, Reece cries and makes it perfectly clear he doesn't take losing well.

We prepped Reece by telling him, crying won't be happening this year. He really needs to suck anything unexpected and deal with it. He responded by rolling his eyes at us. We are so uncool.

We get to the races and Reece has to use the bathroom. He must get that nervous bowel thing like his dad. We get it weighed in and it seems we need to add weight. Luckily they have a station set up where we can add weight to it. COOL! They really had it laid out well this year. We immediately walked in to the weigh station, then over to the weight add on station. His good friend made a Semi Truck for the races. The back end of course didn't race. It was very original. There was some indy looking cars and lots of extra lego pieces added to some cars. I think, by looking at the other cars, he already knew it wasn't going to go well. He was mellow, but glad to be with his friend Jacob.
Finally it was his turn to race. They have them go down multiple times, usually using different lanes each time. They lined the cars up and let them go.
First run, he placed 4th. Out of 4 cars.
Second run, 4th.
Third run, 4 th.
He got real quite, but NO DRAMA! I must say he reacted so well. He may have had tears well up but NO displays of agony that we had seen in the past. I was quite happy with him! I didn't want to help him too much with his car. I wanted him to be responsible for his actions and emotions.
He showed us he has become MUCH better.
He said I owed him Mc Donalds and Family Video for that.???
I didn't say that!

Another Project down...

I spent about 3 hrs this am insulating the garage. I probably spent 1 hr moving objects. 30 min measuring, and 1 hr cutting the insulation. Yeaaaahhhh!!!
The Best part of the whole project is the fact that exact measurements are not required. I really like that. If it is to big, just jam it in. If it is to small, well then you do have to redo it. But usually I over estimated so that wasn't an issue.
They are now building two more homes near us, so the kids like to go and check that out, But I don't like them to go around there. Yesterday I hunted Reece down and found him playing on one of the mounds of dirt from the newly dug out basement. I guess it is better than him walking on the new basement walls. We also have a digger sitting right next to our house and is very tempting to the kids to check out.
Last night we took the kids to see Open Season. It is about a bear named Boog, who gets lead down a road of bad choices by Elliott the one antler deer. While a over angry hunter, named Shaw tries to evoke revenge on them. It was a very cute movie. We went to the late movie, Zeb fell asleep on the way there and I figured he would stay asleep the entire time but he was awake the whole movie. We had brought in a blanket so he could sleep if we needed it but he seemed to really like this movie.
When we left the theater we got stopped by a large black man and a plump white lady who were begging for money to catch a bus to La Crosse. Duner said we don't have any, since we just use our debt card for everything, so we could not help them even if we wanted to. They talked to Duner a little while longer but I went to buckle Zeb in the car. It was late and I was cold. I felt sorry for them, but how did they get here with out money? Why would you travel if you couldn't afford it? It just seemed fishy.
I am glad I wasn't alone. It is too scary out there.

Newbie Wisdom

Since my youngest felt the need to watch TV at 4am this morning, I had some extra time to browse on my computer... I found these cute "Common Mistakes made by Newbie Triathletes"

2. Big girls on mountain bikes. Big girls on mountain bikes are surpassingly fast. Do not take it for granted that just because you are on a big ring, carbon fiber, aero bar out-fitted, race-tuned tri-bike that you'll easily pass that big girl up ahead. Make this mistake at your own peril and your self-esteem will suffer.*** I will agree to this one! I had a big girl on a mountain bike FLY past me! Twice! She took a wrong turn and still whizzed by!****

1. Beer. Avoid all triathlons that are not sponsored by a brewery. Not only does a post race beer greatly help in the recovery process, but it also helps one forget all the mistakes. Plus as an added benefit after enough beers, that big girl on the mountain bike don't seem so big anymore.

I just thought the last one was cute.

Full Moon = No Good.

Everywhere you turn these days people are hacking and just generally sick. Since, I work at a Doctor's office so I see it even more than most people and Christmas was a BAD time for everyone to get together.
It is one of the few times I see one of my sister's. This year she looked awful. She had a chest cold and looked like she struggled to breathe. My other sister had just recovered from that but lives almost 200 miles away, so I am pretty sure she had NOTHING to do with her getting sick.
After I asked my coworker how her Holiday went she said " You mean the vomiting and Diarreha?" Not so good. Another has a 'Sexy Voice' due to her cold and one of the Md's that I work with had been fighting to keep her voice this week. It is not helping that we had to over book her severely! We only have 2 Md's. Between them on Wednesday they saw 64 patients on Wednesday. She was unable to dictate or talk to her family at night in an effort to save her voice. Thursday morning she whispered to me, 'Absolutely no more patients today'. Just as we filled her schedule. That meant No double booking, and since our other Md's schedule was filled the day before we had to start turning people away. Which went unbelievably well.
It was a full moon on Wednesday and usually that means trouble. Just before 9am we had a fire alarm go off. Not a test. Apparently the coffee guy, cleaned our coffee maker and the chemicals he uses sometimes make the alarms go off, because they are so strong. Which is what happened. So we left the building, or at least stood in the exits and waited for the fire dept to shut off the alarm.
Thankfully they came within 10 minutes or so and we quickly tried to finish anything that we were doing when it went off. We had forwarded the phones during that time and so we had some people just come down since they could not talk to anyone. Apparently the fire trucks in front didn't disturb them at all. People very much amaze me sometimes.

And of course, each and every January we have to start copying all the ins cards all over again and changes to governmental insurance and you have the craziest Wednesday I have worked in a long time.

Internet pediment

It feels like forever since I have been able to blog.
Our computer died last week. We had a power supply go bad and it wrecked our motherboard.
Sadly we put it out of commission. Even more depressing was the price we had to pay to get another one. I really had advertisers. They show a GREAT price for a computer but then to get it to work you have to pay to have programs like Microsoft works added in. I thought Bill gates was a Billionaire. Doesn't he have enough money already?
I don't get our new computer til tomorrow. We are having somebody come over and try to salvage the hard drive and make sure our Road Runner works ok. I really like to look up so much online it has been a eye opening experience to have life without a computer. Even Brock called me at work the other day, he was home with Duner sleeping and he doesn't like to wake him up, and he asked 'Mom, can I play on the internet?'. That was an easy answer. I said "We don't have a computer with internet access".
'Oh Yeah' he said.

All about Brock

Tuesday night was Brock's Holiday Concert. How Fun!
I loved my concerts that we did in High School, so I was really hoping this would be similar.
I had Reece do the camera 'thing' with out video camera. He couldn't wait for it to start.
We had to drop Brock off 30 minutes early and boy am I glad we did. It was a PACKED HOUSE! People were standing up and filled the balcony.
The teacher had asked that all boys wear a nice shirt and tie, dress pants and quiet shoes. Brock is about a 9 (almost) so I figured that Duners size 10.5 would be ok. They looked a little big but they matched his never ending legs. Black pants really add to the length of his legs.
Anyway, The 6th grade class sang 3 songs. The first was a cute song about having a snow day from school. The second song was a bunch of NOELS, I can't really remember it, but the third song was the best. It was The 12 days of Christmas. VERY FUNNY! They had 12 kids act out each 'gift' and my personal favorites was the Partridge in a pear tree and the 6 geese a laying. I wish I could post the video online, but I don't have that much talent. The boys they chose to do that were perfect.
That was Tuesday.
Today he broke down under the stress of a bunch of homework. He is strugling to keep his head above water. (With Grades) He is falling behind in computers and Science. He loved science. I am baffled. I asked him what he thinks his punishment should be but he didn't know. I told him he has til tomorrow.
We will see.

Busy Weekend.

Reece had a Basketball camp today. It was at the local High School. I was worried I was going to have a flashback of the last time he did a indoor sporting activity.

It was almost 2 years ago, when Reece tried indoor soccer. I don't know if tried is the right word.
He really like soccer but never did any part of the soccer, indoors. He went to the first day and panicked. He felt like he had a spotlight on him. (when there was ALOT of other kids there) I paid a lot of money for him to do this. I made him show up 3 or 4 times but I got sick of the tears and begging not to go, so I stopped. I did ground him til it was done, just to show him you finish what you start.

But Saturday was different. He panicked on the ride there, but did fine when we got there. He kept saying if I see.... or .... I am not going to do it. Why I don't know, but we got there early and he saw what the other kids (the 1st and 2nd graders) were doing and felt a little better.

I tried to hide so he wouldn't have me to look for in desparation. I hid behind other parents and he hardly noticed me.
He actually did pretty well.

Over heard...

Zeb (age 4) says to Brock(age 11) ....
" Brock! Dont take that. It's Mine. Its Dangerous!"

he he he...

Sooo SICK!

Zeb had been coughing all week. It started wish a random cough here or there.
St Nick came early, while the kids were in school, since he had a lot of other places to be. Brock got the new Pirates of the Carribean, PJ's and magnetix, Reece got Jurrasic Park Operation Genesis, pj's and magnetix, and Zebbie got Cars for PS2, pj's, Cars slipper socks, and magnetix. He LOVED his game. He was so excited he played on it for 2 hrs straight. He wanted to get his time in before Reece would want to play his game. He was so happy when Reece had to go to school, so he would get his time in on the PS2 with his game. Normally he is happy to be with Brock and Reece but this week he was happy to be alone.
Then Thursday, he started to cuddle and want to lay down. I was trying to get Christmas Cards out and he kept climbing on my lap and laying down. I took his temp but it didn't show anything. I gave him some cough med and he went to sleep. I let him fall asleep with Brock.
Friday morning I had Grandma bring him to the doctor. I didn't want him to go all weekend with it. Not to mention the pneumonia that he had in October/November... so I had him checked out.
Turned out to be a double ear infection with chest congestion.
The doctor said she was surprised he wasn't complaining about his ears, since they looked pretty bad. She didn't feel doing an xry would be worth while at this time since he was going to be on an antibiatic for the ear infection anyway.
So 10 days, 3 times a day we will be giving him the good tasting medicine. He likes it, and that makes it easy to take. The last time he was on that med, he was reminding me when he needs to take his med.
I was glad we brought him in cause after the appt he rested ALOT, and his eyes were so puffy even if he smiled at you it looked like he was still sleeping.
Such a trooper...
I wish the kids in school, wouldn't share so much. He has never been so sick!

Birthday Boy!!

Yesterday was Reece's 9th Birthday.
He was so excited he had been jumping around all week anouncing it to anyone that would listen. He was so happy on Friday he got up with NO PROBLEM! If fact he was up before me! I waited til Duner got home from work and we opened the presents from Aunt Sara and us.
The first one he opened was Auntie Sara Guitar. As soon as he pulled it from the bag I had them in Duner says "Hey Reece, You got a guitar!' (Reece hadn't even opened it yet!) Yes it was a guitar. I had to hit Duner.

Next he open the Robosepian that we got him. It was pretty neat. I thought about not getting it. I was a little worried about it after I bought it I saw these Roboraptors flying off the shelves at Linens-n-Things. But they were half off so I can see why.

The final present of the morning was a Pokeman video for Gameboy. He liked that too. He wasn't able to play with the Robot since I had no batteries for it in advance. I will have to stock up prior to christmas to make sure I am ready that day.

After School, The boys called Grandma to bring batteries over so they could play with the toy. I told the boys to pick up the house a little since Reece was having a friend sleep over. His best bud, Jacob came over with a great gift card for Game Stop. I have seen the store but I think I have only been in there once or twice. Reece will love it! I have to wait til after St Nick comes, since they are getting some more PS2 games from him.
Grandma and Grandpa brought over Zebbie and the batteries, along with his Mega Blocks Jeff Gordon Nascar. He tried to put it together last night while Jacob and Brock played some games downstairs, but got frustrated when some pieces weren't working together. He gets so worked up when something doesn't go right. He sometimes needs to take 5 and come back later.

We had spaghetti for Supper and German chocolate cake for Dessert.
The desert didn't make it though the night. I knew it wouldn't. I saw the empty plate in the sink this am.

I think he had a Happy Birthday....

Doctor Time

So We start off the week by going to the doctor for Dad. He had some dizzy spells that we wanted to make sure were nothing since his mom had a HUGE brain tumor and didn't know it for a long time. Dr Elmer, I just love, was very common person speaking. It is nice to understand some doctors. I work with a Dr that is very similar.

He came in apologizing for being late. (At that time he was 15 minutes late only) Apparently he had 2 people run in with Chest pain. They must have been on special that day.
The doctor asked him about his diet and Duner told him about how much soda he drinks. The Dr. tried to tell Duner that 1) the Caffiene is bad for you, he can drink 4 cans of pepsi in a day easy. 2) If he continues drinking that much soda he should switch to the diet kind before his pancrease goes bad from too much sugar input. I didn't realize the second one that is a good point. I had been randomly buying caffeine free pepsi for a while now. When I was in WW they drilled us about how for every 1 can of caffeine you need double the amount of water to replace the fluid lost from dehydration from caffeine. I don't know if it is really that bad, but I do know the more water you drink (and the less caffeine) the easier it is to drop weight.
I had to chuckle when they weighed Duner he was 10 lbs heavier then last time he was on the scale. (with steel toed shoes) But I am sure he will lose that weight again. He has done it before.

Well, He did a CT scan, just to be safe, it was scheduled for the very next day. We spent more time waiting in line to check in then we did getting the actual test done! After we get to the counter she said "ok have a seat". We waited 10 minutes, another lady calls us up to verify everything, address, phone, insurance... and gives us a buzzer thing that we are to put in a basket when it goes off and take an elevator to the 'radiology dept' on the second floor. We go to the elevator, follow the yellow arrows on the ground and are met by a woman that says "Randy?" and takes Duner away. Zebbie and I sit waiting again in the waiting room. Luckily an episode of Little house on the Prarie was on. Zeb was tired and laid down with his head on my lap.
I waited for another 10 minutes and he was done that quick.

We found out what we didn't know already... He is normal. Who would have thought that? : }
But that is a good thing.

O Christmas Tree...

We picked up our Christmas Tree on Saturday last week at one of those cut your own places. We had always talked about doing that but never did. It was fun. I think next year we will go to one that has the sleigh/horse ride and hot cocoa, to really make it something special. The boys liked picking out their tree.
The boys begged me to let the put some lights on the tree Sunday. We were not sure since our Xmas tree stand is on it last leg. We will be grabbing on off clearence this year or early next year. I let them get out the decorations and start loading the tree. Reece was doing a pretty good job. Then it was Brocks turn. He had a hard time doing it. I think he just wanted it to be done. Reece ended up taking over and got a bit lazy and we had what looked like it as a tree made from lights. All of the lights were resting on top of the branch and they were sagging down. Patches of the tree were neon and some pitch black. I ended up trying to fix the tree but just had to start all over. I was not wanting to do that since I had lifted weights that am and my arms were tired.
After I had the lights on I let the kids place all the ornaments. The loved it. I dug out the video camera and dusted it off (it hadn't been used in about 2 years.) I put it on the charger and recorded the kids a bit but they were more interested in being silly on camera, so I taught them how to use it and they went nuts. They had fun wrestling with Zeb and recording each other.

Since we had such an unfamiliar Christmas I think they were very happy to get things started so soon. Even if our tree dies before we open our presents.

Friends and Family

The best week of the year came so slow and went so fast!

I had to send along deli turkey and buns for the Thanksgiving feast at Zeb's School. I had also volunteered to host thanksgiving this year at my house. I bought the unlucky bird Monday and began to thaw out per directions in the fridge. We decided to add some ham to the menu as well. Which was a hit so I am glad we did. Tuesday was filled with appt after appt for some reason, so I was glad when Reece's Boy Scouts ended up getting cancelled.

I had to work only one day this week. Wednesday was it. Yippppeee! That day couldn't go by fast enough. The last 5 minutes my co-workers and I sat and literally counted the minutes. After work I came home and made sure the turkey was defrosting. I ended up throwing it in water just to on the safe side.

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning to Zeb at my bedside, quiet except for the swallowing noise he was making. I quickly hopped up and than the heaves started. I grabbed my garbage can, the closest thing to me and held it up the his throat. After some spitting he said he was ok.

Ok Great, I am supposed to have 5 other people here, make dinner and help a sick child? Yikes!

I quickly when in to rush mode. I made sure Zeb was comfy and thought immediately of my sister, who commonly would fall ill on a hoilday. I then figured I better call my mom and give her an update if to let her know the new saga. I was perfectly fine with throwing it in high gear and having it, but I didn't know how others would feel. She said they didn't mind and he actually seemed to perk up. I found myself having to almost disipline Dad and Zeb for running around chasing each other before the people got there.

After the meal it was on the the planning for our trip. See sisters great blog for that story here...

When she headed off for home, I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. I lost Reece to a friends house, Brock too. Zeb went hunting with Duner and I was by myself. I quickly ran downstairs, found the toys that I had hid and wrapped them. Yipppeee! Done with that! I then changed the 'theme' of the front of the house to Christmas, and put away some of the thanksgiving/fall decor.

Reece came home about 5 and asked if he could have a friend sleep over. I said sure. He is a adorable quiet little kid. He has the cutest dimples and from what Brock tells me his sister is pretty cute too. (I think that is why he went over there)

We got 3 movies last night.
You, Me and Dupree was very cute.
Monster House, the boys loved it! Zeb got scared, it was so cute. He was hiding in various places. At one point he stood in front of the TV almost paralyzed and said "Scared!", then managed to dart off to his bedroom.
I also rented Match point, I didn't like this. I should know better. I didn't realize it but it was a woody allen film. I have not ever seen one of them I like. They are boring.

Well I had to finish You, Me and Dupree this am since I fell asleep last night, I was more tired then I realized since waking up at 3am for the shopping.

This am I woke up to Reece telling me his friend David had just vomited. Bummer. It was 7.30am. I was still tired, since the kids were still up late and I could here them playing around, once I went to bed. So I called his mom and she picked him up.

All about me and Zebbie...

I am a widow this weekend. A hunters widow.
My oldest 2 kids and husband are up at the cabin, enjoying the cold, fending for themselves, badly misbehaving... I am sure. I am glad I am not there. I dropped off Brock today, while I was there I was enjoying the mess and thinking... I am so glad I don't have to pick that up! I really had to fight off the urge to put a paper plate in the garbage. I even caught myself telling the kids to pick up a bowl, that was probably not theirs! Old habits die hard.

Brock baby sat last night for me so I could go for a night out with the girls. Julie and Ang, to be exact. I RARELY get to do this, even though if you ask my mother, I shouldn't have any fun in my life. The mention of me going out with the girls ALWAYS brings a sour look to her face and she becomes quiet and short. I really don't remember the last time I went out with my friends, it was that long ago. They are a riot. They have great comebacks for any one that might approach us. I do not do well, but Julie is always there to save me. I just am so afraid to say the wrong thing, but not Julie, she is such a good friend. Her sister too! She works at the last beverage stand we stopped at. By then it was very late and the Losers were looser than ever. One gentleman came up to me and said "I had been fantizing about you all night". Hmmmm... If I would have been thinking I would have said "Gee, since I don't know you and just walked in the door 5 minutes ago I find that hard to believe, so get lost." But all I had to do was give Julie this Yikes look and she was right there with a comment for him. Apparently it didn't phase him because he then said the exact same thing to her.... We decided to find a different place to sit and he followed us and then Julies sister said " Please leave my friends alone, Sir!' Yeahh!! It is good to know the help, not to mention some free food and beverages...

I heard all about the great deals you can get shopping so I decided to scoop it out. There was some nice clearence stuff I found. Zebbie was bribed into leaving the cabin with me so I had to buy him something. He chose another lighting Mcqueen car. Go figure. I probably spent 15 extra minutes in the store since every time he saw a 'CARS' item he absolutely wanted it. Even if it was a night light. He even said "I will get that if I lose my cars blanket, Mom' as he pointed to a sleeping bag/pillow combo they have out now. No Isle is safe from that stuff! Even clothes, food and toiletries~! I kept picking the WRONG isle. Grrr.
Zeb is watching Nascar racing on TV right now and is saying 'Go Lighting Mcqueen Go!' How cute!

And the First Quarter ends..

The Report Cards are OUT! Brock's came in the mail yesterday and Reece's came via backpack today. This is what they were...
Brocks Grade Report (GPA 3.556)
Reading 6 [Denis] Quarter Grades A-
Written Language 6 [Denis] Quarter Grades B+
Math 6b [George] Quarter Grades B
Social Studies 6 [Thiel] Quarter Grades B
Science 6 [Thiel] Quarter Grades B
Phy Ed 6 [Clark] Quarter Grades A
Choir 6th [Bauer] Quarter Grades A+
Exploring Technology 6 [Lemmers] Quarter Grades A
Computer 6 [Albers] Quarter Grades A
I would have NOT thought this was possible. The way things were going in Jefferson I would have thought them to be C's, maybe some B's. But WOW!
Reece is not doing to bad either, averaged 85 %... He is in a different school they don't do A's and B's, but check marks and scores on activites. I like his report cards this year as opposed to Appleton Schools. It is much easier to read. For the most part he is doing quite well, get a little distracted, but no suprise there. He has begun to make more friends at school. He made friends with some kids and plays football at Recess. He made 2 touch downs today and was very excited about it. Came home and told me right away.. He was hoping to play with one right after school today but we had an appt for Brock to get looked at by an Orthodontist. Brock may need braces, he has a small mouth and a lot of teeth. I am familar with that problem. He was amazed at how old he was. His mouth is quite advanced for his age.??? Maybe it goes along with the 'born before due date (by 4 wks), and taller than average. His Dr said if he continues he will be taller than Duner (he is 6 ft). Duner has a younger brother that is 6'1". I have to discuss it with Duner and see what we want to do. If we proceed we will have to get impressions made and xrays taken then sit down and discuss it with the MD. That is a lot of money and we have 2 other kids that may need them also. We shall see...

Career Abitions...

Brock spent all day Saturday at the Red Cross going thru Baby sitting training.
He was supposed to bring a lunch, so I had him pack one Friday night before bed. He didn't want to since he wouldn't know what he would be hungry for... I laughed. Brock not hungry? Is that possible. I think not! I told him just make a sandwhich because by the time lunch comes on Saturday he would gladly eat cardboard if that is what they offered him. He also grabbed a granola bar, goldfish crackers and a soda. The entire walk into the building was filled with Brock telling me how he was going to blame me if anyone asked why he had a lunch. Paranoid?
He was terrified when we got there. I was introducing him to his teacher and as I turned to look at him I couldn't find him. He was hiding behind me! I asked his teacher, who was VERY welcoming and happy, where we can put his lunch and she directed us to a table FILLED with other lunches. See lots of others!
About 3:30pm I returned to pick him up and waited in the parking lot til I saw other parents leaving with their kids. I didn't want to get out of my warm car til I had to.
When I walked in Brock was trying to call my cell. He couldn't wait to ask if I could buy him a first aid kid and bag for $15! I luckily left my purse in the car. "It can fit my new book' he said.
As we proceeded home he told me that since I was family I got a discount of .50 cents. He would normally charge 1.00 but since I was Mom he would only charge half that.
He is already asking my if I have to leave to do anything... We ran out of paper towel to today he told me and immediately followed that with I will watch Reece and Zeb!

Sometimes you have to think out of the box...

I was frustrated by the lack of inexpensive curtain valances at Target the other day while shopping.
I had a dollar amount in mind but I was definitly not going to spend 20 bucks for 'show'. I can't believe what they get these days for them! I thought 'What else can I use for a quick fix?'. I didn't have much time to throw something together so I came up with this...
SEW Simple!!
I can't say enough about how important it is to buy ANY cheap fabric that you like! Even if you don't have impending plans for it! I picked up this cafe' material for our last house, but never made anything with it. I just love how it turned out for our dining room! It even compliments nicely to the existing shades in the living room!

Only How many days til Christmas???

Today the local ads for best Buy, Target, Shopko and Circuit City were all about the pending release of the movie Cars. I have a 4 yr old that sqeals with delight everytime the commercials came on TV recently. He absolutely LOVES that movie. We go to stores and have to stop at each end cap that had Lighting McQueen (Red race car) or Tater (tow truck) or any other Cars character on it. His favorite by far is Lighting Mc Queen. He has a raceway, pillow case and blanket so far. This christmas he will be easy to buy for. He wants the movie, video game, soundtrack, and animated car. This week might be a good week to buy the movie at Best Buy it is only 14.99, and the PS2 game is onl 19.99 (normally) 39.99! The soundtrack just about everywhere was 9.99. Zeb once heard a song from the movie and I had to wait to turn off the radio until the song was done.

Reece is a Legoholic. He loves Legos and cars. He just loves to build 'space themed' vehicles. He can really be creative with his legos. They have gotten some of the Magnetix, he likes them but not as much as the Legs.
This weekend they have created a gravitational race track, similar to the one used at Boy Scouts Box Car Derby.

Brock will be getting things for hunting this year, he is very ho hum about what he wants. When Reece mentions something he says "oh yeah, I want that too!"

Of course, they will be getting smaller gifts this year due to the Pool table and air hockey tables that they are getting from us.