Great Wolf Lodge

Well, we were very excited to have a little getaway to our favorite fun place. I think we were all a bit nervous about the actual travel there though lol! After the near death experience we had with our rollover in Pauls truck last time....almost three years ago I think! we decided instead of the truck to take the Pacifica and we tried palnning it early enough to not have to worry about snow but that didnt work out so well!! We pulled the kids out of school Friday and took a nice relaxing drive up. Thankfully our room was ready at 2 when we got there! They say usually it is at 4. So we got our stuff up to our room and settled in. They have a MagiQuest game the kids like playing Molly already had a wand but Paul treated the boys to their own(one to share) so they took right off and Paul and Molly worked on her game. Paul took the kids down swimming Friday I stayed in the room and read lol!! Molly had a really rough time sleeping both nights. She tried being brave and going down for story time but the darn mascots were there and she freaked out a bit...she did see it snow inside though before we went back to the room!we also did not realize that Santa was arriving that weekend which would be another situation that may not thrill Molly! She was very anxious because we did go down for his arrival party, I assured her daddy would hold her and he did...but when he walked through the doors(we were right in front) she told Paul to put her down and she was just in awe of him!!! we did not wait in line for a visit though!!! We actually ran into some friends from church that day as well they were staying an extra day after we left. So Nick hung out with them awhile and played with the boys(Mollys age) we ordered pizza that night and apparently ordered to much(we should not have listened to the restaraunt lol) so we called up the friends and told them to stick it in the fridge for the next day! They seemed appreciative!!!! All in all it was fun we arrived back home safe and sound!! YAY

Movie "extra" fun!!

well! December started interesting...well technically since it was on Tuesday i guess that was the 30th... Anyways, Paul got a call from one of the agencies he works with and they wondered if Paul, I,Molly and Joe(sorry...no Nick..I think since he is over 16 they would have had to pay him) would like to be background extras at the local zoo for a movie. Sure! why not! We had to get there super early and there were only 4 other people there. Literally amongst wardrobe goings over and "makeup" we literally sat and did nothing but wait for 5 hours lol!! In the early morning when makeup was looking us over i asked Molly if she wanted lipgloss...she said yes! So I said should I out it on...she kinda shook her head and looked at the makeup girl it was cute. So we walked over and she humored us! Finally.....lunch...yay! We get to move! So we go down to the penguin house to eat lunch..the guy pulls Paul over and says...you 4 stay here I am taking the others back and releasing them. They only want you 4. OK..but wait...they wanted Molly in her winter coat and I didnt bring it so they had to go grab thatfor us. Let me say...Molly and Joe were AWESOME waiting...it was extremly boring for them and totally their first time for a movie(Joe did a few commercials...completly different!) So they shot some footage while we had to wait again this time adding making no noise lol!!! Finally they call us over and tell us we will just be walking back and forth from opposite sides. Jenna Fischer(plays Pam on the office) came over to Molly and shook her hand and introduced herself and asked a few questions. It was super cute and so nice of her to do that!! Of course we couldnt take photos or I would have!! Everyone was so nice and it was a really fun experience! Molly told everyone at school that "she is in a penguin movie" lol!!!! Of course we have no idea if it will make it to the big screen or if it does if you would be able to see us but we have the memories!!!

Wow!! November is almost done!

My blog has been sadly neglected I think! No excuse really other then not much to say. I have started helping out for one hour a week in Mollys class.I have a group of 5 kids that I read with, also we go over blending sounds as well as word wall words. It is fun. Molly's best friend is in my group so it's fun talking to her!
Mom and dad picked up both boys the day before Thanksgiving and they helped make the pies as well as get everything ready for the stuffing. Nick woke up early with them and helped them get the turkey ready for the oven! Everything turned out super yummy! I made a pumpkin cake but i was not able to get the apple cider to make the sauce. I also made a pineapple souffle that everyone likes! Then mom and dad were nice enough to watch Molly overnight so paul and I could go early bird Black Friday shopping! We got everything we wanted so that was good! We do still have some more odds and ends to get but nothing big!

Halloween ends...thankfulness comes!

Halloween was fun. Everyone really enjoyed the meal Paul and Molly requested. The kids loved the punch lol Joe said I should make it for every special occasion lol!! We realized that we have very little Halloween decorations so we picked up 3 items at Meijers, maybe after dinner Molly and I will go see if Joannes has any stuff still out. We are looking for things for Thanksgiving too we do have a few things for that. I am happy now that it is November this month is great for realizing all that we have to be thankful for!

Halloween

Molly and Paul planned our meal for tomorrow night. They looked through all my fun little halloween/fall recipe booklets I have.

They decided on Mummy hotdogs, Sloppy Joe pizzas, Mashed potatoe monsters,Witches Brew punch, and Pumpkin cake balls for dessert! Molly has a countdown going on and according to her she is going trick or treating tonight lol!! I like that she is looking forward to it though!!

This week

Well this has been an interesting week. Nick stayed home from school on Monday. He was very tired said he had a headache and stomach ache along with a stuffy nose and a slight cough. So I pretty much gave him Dayquil and Nyquil. Tuesday he said he felt better but his stomache hurt and head hurt still. I told him he could stay home again and I would make a doctors appointment for him. he chose to go to school. I still made the doctor appointment. So, i really expected a call to pick him up but he made it through the day. He is ALWAYS home from school before I leave to get Molly and wouldnt you know he wasnt home when i left? So of course my mom instincts kick in and i was convinced he was dead in the school. I called Paul to let him know Nick was missing. lol I then went to get Molly from school(narrowly missing being killed by a drunk driver on the way) and then drove to the high school I prayed the whole way that he would be outside the school not that I have to go in and do a complete search for him. he was there!!! Turns out he had to take a test and he called the house after I had already left. He did not remember my cell phone number to call that! So we get him home and got him to the doctors. Long story short he had a very high fever along with pneaumonia and tonsilitis. poor kid!!! But he now has a inhaler and antibiotics so he is perking up a bit! We will be laying low for the next few days though! He is home from school today and tomorrow and returns to the doctor on Friday.

a few fun days!

Thursday was fun because I had one of those "very rare for me" nights out! My friend jen and i went out for a nice dinner(except for a darn fly that would NOT leave us) and then we headed over to the Taste of Home cooking show. I guess it was the very first one they had in Michigan!! I would definitly go again! They picked 10 recipes to cook for us and out of those ten only 2 were ones that I wouldnt consider for my family! So that was pretty good!! They also had goodie bags for us that included two of the magazines, and since we ordered VIP tickets we got a Breakfast cookbook also we got to order a free subscription to either the monthly magazine or the Holiday editions! I chose the Holiday ones because I dont currently get them! I was really happy to have such a fun night out with a good friend!
Saturday Nick participated in his first Bible quiz meet. I think he had a lot of fun! It sure was a long day and it required lots of thinking and memorizing and recalling information! His Novice team took second place out of 6 teams!! Good for them!!

Real Housewives.....and funny stuff Molly says

Okay, so one of the joys I have discovered about daytime TV is the show Real Housewives of Orange County! Yes I realize this series has been out forever but we dn't have cable so i am just catching up! Wow!!! How unrealistic is this show??? BUT I want there lives!!!! Kinda! What I wanted to comment on was the one lady Jo...shes a spoiled little, tries to be cute by pouting. So she decided to make cookies for her boyfriend/fiance whatever he is. So what does she bring home??? One of those prepackaged cookie mixes in a bag. Thats it! So her boyfriend says did you think to check if we had eggs or butter before you did that??? She starts crying and says oh he thinks I'm stupid....dude!!! You ARe!!!! You drop thousands of dollars on clothes and whatnot and you cant buy a few eggs and a thing of butter to make the cookies??? Anyways I got a good laugh over that yesterday!
On to funny from Molly. For some reason she has decided that if a police man pulls you over you are to give him money. I told her no...he will probably write a ticket but you dont pay him you pay the court....hello.....we dont want bribery charges as well!! So today she sees an accident...it is raining...she sees the people standing outside by the cars. She told me "mom...if a policeman pulls me over and it's raining I'm just gonna run" WHAT???????????too funny!!! No honey...you need to just sit quietly in your car. So lets all keep Molly in our prayers when she is of driving age that she never gets pulled over!!!!!

I love fall!!

I especially love fall baking. I have a yummy smelling carrot cake in the oven right now. I made up some pumpkin spice pudding for the kids yesterday and I am looking forward to lots more baking in the months to come!! Fall baking will lead right into Christmas goodie making!!!

A little update

So, the kids have settled into school nicely. Molly brought home her Friday Folder which contains all sorts of good things. Classwork,newsletters,fliers and calendars. It also contained A "Wow Gram" from her teacher. Molly was recognized for being a friend to anyone who needed a friend the first two weeks of class. I was so proud of what a good girl she is. It was so nice that the teacher recognized it as well! Homecoming was this past weekend. Nick did not have any interest in going to the game or the dance nor did Joe. Joe is at an Academy but his "Home school" is the same high school that Nick attends.
Saturday Paul was supposed to help with parking at the Renassaince Festival for scouts but did not want to be there all day. I had planned by myself(did not mention to Paul my idea) to take the kids on a little field trip. i was going to take them to Somerset Mall for the Lego Store Grand Opening, then for lunch and then to the Apple Store so Joe could buy his Ipod Touch he saved his money for. Well, we were just getting to set to go when Paul called to say he was coming home, long story short he wound up meeting us there. The kids were able to build a block that was going to be part of a Buzz Lightyear lifesize thing for the Lego store and they were given a voucher to turn in for a certificate. We headed upstairs and the line was REDICULOUS!!!!!!! Fortunatly for us...the boys are old enough to fully understand"no, i am sorry we are not waiting 4+ hours to get into the store! Also fortunatly they had a shorter line for those that just wanted to get the certificates!!So thats what we did. We also treated Molly to her first Build A Bear experience!! Wow that was kind of overwhelming in of itself too!! Who knew there was such a process!!! Picking the just right animal,picking out a heart...free or not free....then stuffing it...putting love into it, then you got to take it to a "fluffing" station, dressing it!!My goodness!!!I think every other parent who did not want to wait in line for the Lego store was going into Build a Bear lol!!! So after that we headed downstairs to the Apple Store....um wow they were packed int here, I pulled Joe aside, said Dude, I brought your money so you could buy your Ipod but they are the same price at Best Buy we are going there!!!! So we left the mall headed to Best buy and he got his IPod and the case and first Itunes gift card. He was a happy boy! Then home to get that all set up and ready for a sleepover at a friends house. When Paul was taking him I told Nick and Molly we would head to Meijer and low and behold my darn car wouldnt work!! So that is now being looked at! Always something I suppose!!!

One week of school=done

Well the first week of school is now done. The boys are all adjusting fine. This is spirit week at Nicks school so he is having fun. Joe is trying to get used to the block schedule at his school. Molly is just trying to get used to going to school full day! That is proving a little more difficult but she will get there I am confidant!!

Wigs For Kids donation

Molly really wanted a haircut before school. She wanted it to be shoulder length. We knew it would be long enough to donate and her hair was in really good condition. Unfortunatly due to how it was ponytailed it still came out a little shorter then we were expecting...and with how it then needed to be cut to be in a nice style. BUT, Molly was htrilled with the cut, though dont get me wrong....she really misses her long hair lol!!

Missed updating tons!

So, since I posted last we had a tornado! Literally!! Thankfully at our home we "only" lost two large trees and the top of another tree. Even though there doesnt appear to be much damage to the house the insurance person came out and looked our home over and pointed out many numerous other things. If you travel down the main road that leads to our sub, it looked like a war zone! still does actually, fences blown down,many homes with tarps over them. The 2 days after the tornado were very odd. All you heard was the sound of chainsaws and other tools to take down trees and chop them up.
I also had a birthday, Facebook is great connecting so many "friends" I was greeted with many happy birthdays. I got lovely cards in the mail and also my family took me out for lunch.
Last week was Vacation Bible school at church. We all had a role! Molly was a student,Nick helped in the Bible Stories area,Paul lead the outdoor games time and Joe was his assistant. I took photos. it was fun! Paul even took a cake the last day because that was my birthday!
Now we are just getting ready to gear up for school!!

menu plans and other things to schedule

I have been slacking a bit in making menu plans for the house and I find they really help me add variety to the meals I serve, now that the boys are older they really like helping choose what meals we will have, and sometimes even help cook! I figure since now my youngest will be in school for a full day it is a great year for me to get everything organized. I figured that after everyone is dropped at school I will walk for an hour first...then get myself on more of a cleaning routine...maybe i'll even start that Flylady plan again! I think it's going to be a good year!!!

Summer can now continue!

All righty! Our family is now ready to enjoy the rest of summer! The boys are back from Jambo and we are all back from our canoeing weekend. You know how it is when you are getting ready for a big trip...well it's hard whne those that are getting are teenagers!! Of course they are capable of packing for themselves..but then we have to double check and make sure they got it all!! We did not do much while they were away and we knew as soon as they got back we had the Family and Friends canoe weekend for their scout troop.
So that's all done and we can relax around the house, do some swimming, and see what other trouble we can get into!

exciting stuff

Lots of exciting stuff around here!! Tomorrow night Nick and Joe, and lots of other scouts from Michigan are heading to Washington D.C and Virginia for National Jamboree. They are excited but kind of nervous as well. They will be gone a long time!! Whenever they have been gone long we have been together as a family or they were with my parents. So it will be different for all of us!
Also, my mom and dad are retuning from Alaska!! We missed them like crazy and will be happy to know they are home!

Molly's birthday came and went

Well, I think Molly was a bit disappointed about not really having a celebration. We chose not to have a "friends" birthday party, I am sorry but i was not up to spending an arm and a leg to invite her whole kindergarten class to a bounce house for pizza cake and other stuff like others from her class. I was going to invite 2 of her closer friends but her one friend wasnt going to be available and I thought the other might feel a little funny, so we will just arrange a play date sometime. Also, my mom and dad are still traveling, So we decided we would start the day with a movie, but she chose not to lol, we took her to Steak and Shake for lunch, one game of Putt Putt and then dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We did decide to go see Despicable Me as a family Saturday night.....Adorable movie..i LOVED it actually....but NEVER again will we do a saturday night movie out...it cost us almost 50 dollars and no I am not joking even Nick was quite shocked at the total! It was like 46 or 48 dollars.
Oh other news is we got the one side of our house all nicely landscaped it looks wonderful, we hired guys to tear out weeds, one dying tree/shrub, then they put in like 5 more arborvities trees and put in a nice stone walkway,fresh mulch over weed barrier....now the neighbors should be as happy as we are lol!! Just need to get a few other areas cleaned up and under control.

Busy first few days of July!

Where to start! Well, lets start with Saturday evening...we had a movie night and since it is summer I am a little more lieniant on bedtimes. Molly did not wind up getting to bed until 10:45...then she wanted to sleep with me because of the fireworks. So that was fine...except for the fact that even though it is a queen mattress she sleeps right.next.to.me.....or even climbing me is better she seems to think....that would be the reason that she is not often found in my bed!! So, even with the super late night Molly woke up at 6:15 in the morning....wayyyyyyyyyyyy to early!! I could not get her to go back to sleep for the life of me. I was praying I could get her to take a nap because for the 4th we were heading to Selfridge for a picnic and fireworks with friends of the family. Yeah....um no such luck there either!!! So she was up until 11 sunday night. Monday I was busy trying to get som updated photos for a headshot for Molly...i of course need to share my favorite so bare with me!
I am sure you can see why that's my favorite! So after many attempts to get one printed I did have luck eventually.Tuesday was the audition. I had really wanted Paul to drive us there because he had been there and this is kinda his thing...but no go. So I printed off straight from the link they sent directions. Bear in mind that this week has been bright sunny 90 degree by noon days. I get to where we are supposed...in a nice downtown area that I am not at all familiar with. I CAN NOT FIND THE DAMN BUILDING....EVEN AFTER WALKING A FULL BLOCK with an adorable 5 year old girl dressed up all pretty with slighty small ill fitting shoes on lol!!! She was a super trooper though I have to say!! We finally found a guy and I stopped to ask him if he could help...he said "oh..yes, i know exactly where you need to be it is South Washington not North washington...............we were 1 mile away.....would be nice if people sending directions would make sure that one little direction point is CORRECT! So we got there. finally after a little refreshing drink of water I had in the car and a short drive down. She did great I was not allowed in and now its just a wait to see if we hear anything.
Molly had also made another huge growth in that she now swims under water!!!!!!!!! Huge step for the girl who would not put any of her face underwater!!! Yay!!!!!

it's only been a week

But it feels like forever since I updated the blog!! Nick seems to be enjoying reading the blog my dad is doing while they are traveling through Alaska, he asked if poppop did it when he took the boys out west a few years ago. I told him no, because blogging is a relativly new thing. But I told him maybe when they go on a trip again he will do it and Nick can help! Nick is also getting very excited for National Jamboree!!! I think he is going to exhaust himself trying to see and do everything!!! He is excited I am super nervous to tell the truth!!! I have convinced myself the boys are going to dehydrate thimselves and get super sick!! I happened once years ago and that was even under my supervision!!!!!!!!!!! Joe got quite a bit of information about being hydrated while he was away at National Youth Leadership Training though so hopefully that was lesson learned! As part of thier training they had to go on a hike and find their campsite and they were pretty much away from everyone else...the rest of the troops were scattered about. Well it turned out one of the kids that was there got himself dehydrated and he collapsed and they had to help him. 2 kids ran super fast for adult help,they then had to bring the adults back and an ambulance was called to take him away. While the 2 boys were gone Joe and another boy had to keep this boy awake, and alert and try to get him to drink water. The boy was okay other then being dehydrated but again it was a kind of scarey lesson learned. Joe said they made history because now each troop that goes on the outpost hike will be given a radio so they can call for help......uhhhhhhhhhhhh shouldnt that have already been a precident??? lol!! oh well!! it all turned out ok!
hmmmm that turned into an awful chatty post!!
Nothing much else is going on...i need to get busy sewing more patches on the boys uniforms for Jamboree. Paul is frusterated by the fact they are not done yet..but I guess I am a procrastonater and will do it when it gets closer to the time they leave!

this past week

Well this was the kids last week of school. I must say they finished up the school year with some great grades. Nick especially!! If I remember correctly he pulled a 100% on his Algebra exam! Molly did good too and Joe did ok too. Wednesday night for my womans bible group I made Paula Deens Not Yo Mamas Banana Pudding and it went over big time with the ladies that were there. It was a smaller crowd so I had some to bring home. Molly injured her left thumb when Daddies truck door tried to shut on it. The xrays did not show that anything was broken but today is the first day that it's felt ok. She did though decide to wear the thumb splint to church...of course she wanted the extra attention from everyone lol. Anyways thursday night Nick and Joe were spending the evening chatting up our newish neighbors who are doing some outdoor projects. I decided to serve up the rest of the banana pudding and they LOVED it!!! Our neighbor was thouroughly enjoying it lol!! It was cute. I think the boys have new friends from them...they want to go bike riding and fishing with the kids lol!! They also asked Molly to water their tomatoe plants while they are away.
Joe left today for National Youth Leader Training for scouts. He will be gone a week. Paul enjoyed his fathers day i think. We got him a few small gifts but all ones he wanted!! We went out to eat two days too to his favorite places so he is a happy guy!!

Kindergarten Celebration

Well, today was the day!! Molly's Kindergarten Celebration! They still have three more days of school but it worked out best for them to do the celebration today. We got there at 10 and she brought them back from Art class then she seated them for the program. They sang two songs...i got a little recording of part of one(my new camera(pocket size) works better as a mini video recorder then picture taker for some reason!) but since there are other kids I am not posting it here...I am posting the What I want to be when i grow up video! I HOPE the video shows!!

The teacher made a really cute(long)video with music in the background! I only teared up once and was proud of that fact till i got home and looked through all the memory books and poems and cried lol!!! She really has grown a lot this year!!

Celebration day

First day of school

Start of June...

I have not started any posts here in June yet so I will begin. We had a really nice Memorial day weekend. Just really relaxed, got use of our pool quite a bit. We really enjoy the outdoor speaker we purchased late year. Paul and the boys also used the volleyball net that the previous homeowners left for us. Molly is getting more confidant in the pool and will swim staying close to the sides.
We had our "barbeque" on Tuesday because that is the day that my mom and dad and aunt and uncle came over for dinner. I think everyone really enjoyed catching up and spending time together. The food was yummy...at least thats what everyone said!
Joe celebrated his 14th birthday yesterday. He requested Red Robins for dinner so we went there. It was yummy as Red Robins usually is!
School is winding down for the kids, this next week is the last full week for them they get out around the 17th. Molly has a Letter parade and picnic coming up and the kindergarten celebration is on the 14th. Gosh she has grown up so much this year! Physically,mentally and emotionally! As a matter of fact yesterday was the first birthday party that i 'left" her at and when i was leaving she didnt run back for a goodbye kiss!!

I think summer is here!

Well the warmer temps sure took awhile to get to us but ionce they did they sure didnt mess around!! The pool was opened around May 10th and for a bout a week due to cold temps and lots of rain we could not even touch it! Molly loves being in the pool! She is gett ing a lot more confident and finally realized she really can touch the bottom of the pool along the sides and at both ends. She happily floats around with her pool noodle and will swim staying close to the sides. We had a busy few days Tuesday was the kindergarten field trip to the zoo...it was super hot and very sunny but the kids did great. Wednesday was field day....um yeah...you could tell thought that they wanted nothing to do with "having fun" they were hot,sweaty and cranky....which equaled to very competitive kids and many meltdowns!!! It sure showed a different side of these kids I've come to know from helping out!! I saw pushing,whining,crying,....it was crazy!!!
Now the year is finally winding down! Tonight is the last soccer game for Nick and I am getting all kinds of notes home from the schools about different end of the year celebrations, awards ceremonies and other fun stuff! This afternoon I have a little luncheon at the school as a thank you for helping out in Molly's class. All fun stuff but hard to know that a school year is drawing to an end!

The boys luck!

About 2 weeks or so I managed to catch a little of the Hoda and Kathy Lee hour on the Today show. They showed in their "favorite things" section these cute little rubber bracelets that are "shaped" all different shapes, they have like alphabet shapes, princess shapes, dino shapes, rock star shapes and so on. I thought nothing of it other then they were cute. Then I was on Amazon.com and I had some gift codes to redeem so I looked them up and saw a little Zoo animal pack so I ordered it for Molly. They came in the mail and I showed them to her yesterday. When Nick came home Molly showed him her new bracelets. He said "where the heck did they come from?""Seriously every single person in school has them except me and now "she" has them" So Molly kindly shared one with him. Then Joe comes home, almost word for word he said what Nick said. So Molly gave him one. Today Joe came home and said "great I get the bracelet and now I cant wear them because they are banned!!! Guess his school is tired of the kids taking them off and snapping them at papers!! lol!! So Nick and Molly are gloating about the fact that they can still wear them!!! Poor Joe!! Wonder when they will be banned at Nicks school!!

Dinner made easier

The other day I ran to the store with Paul to get a few things I needed to make a dessert to take to church. We went down the one aisle and I saw a McCormick seasoning oacket. It had 6 little sections filled with different seasonings..it also included a recipe! I of course picked one up and can't wait to try it out!! Of course you really only need to buy it once to get the recipe because they are pretty much seasonings you have on hand.

So thankful for my parents!

I tell ya!! I am so greatful for my mom and dad!! They were such a huge help when we had to go through and clean and repair the rental home we have. My hubby is not to much of a handy man, he can do basic things, but laying tile,fixing faucets and other things that are more involved he would rather hire someone to do it. So i am thankful for my dad who does know how to do all that and doesnt mind helping out his loving daughter! Whats great is when Nick is able to assist my dad because I know he is taking it all in and will be a very capable young man. Mom and dad have also been a huge help this soccer season! They have had to run a child or two to a soccer game when Paul and I couldnt be there for one reason or another! I think we are all thankful that this is the last season the boys will be playing soccer!! I guess Paul jokingly told my parents that next will be Molly's turn! So far she has no interest though!!
So anyways, Thank you mom and dad for every single thing you do for us!!!! We appreciate it and love you!

Ocean Beach Blast!!

Friday is "Ocean Beach Blast" in Molly's kindergarten classroom! The blast is the day that every child in the classroom gets to celebrate their birthday! Since they do so much learning it is hard to schedule time for each kid to bring in cupcakes and what not and also since some kids birthdays are in the summer they miss out. So Friday the teacher is bringing in a helium balloon for each child, they will have pizza,juice, cake and the other good stuff. Each child gets to bring in "party favors" to pass out to friends as well!! Since I'm not a huge fan of the little trinket type things Molly will passing out one of those little bottles of bubbles,2 pieces of sidewalk chalk and a small little bubble toy/wand, I am also going to try finding some different fun games that you can play with sidewalk chalk and print it out on paper for them. Family Fun had a cute game that Molly and I played yesterday that i had never heard of and she really enjoyed it!
So after that explanation about how fun Friday will be, I have to share a funny story. Tuesday is my day to volunteer in Molly's classroom. Mollys class had left for Music and I was working at my little table, all of a sudden I heard the other kindergarten teacher start talking strenly to her students I'll paraphrase...she was not happy with how they were behaving and she said, If you dont start behaving and doing what you are supposed to I will CANCEL the party on Friday, I will call up each and every mommy and tell them to forget the party because they are not having it because they are not listening!!!! Oh my goodness!! Thats like the equivalant of telling a kid they are canceling Christmas or their birthday party!!!! So of course I had to ask Mollys teacher if she threatened the kids with that!! she said "yup, i sure have" then she also added that she didnt need to for the morning class but she did for the afternoon class!!! Too funny!!!!! Poor kids!!!

Discovery Weekend is OVER!!

Thankfully the weekend is over. I did the clean up with the help of one other person! My body is very thankful not to have to move any more couches,chairs,tables,pianos,speakers,tv's. I tell ya!! Thankfully my husband and my parents can relax a bit too from all the work they accomplished at the rental house!

What??

Wednesday evening, well I guess really early Thursday morning...around 1:30 am to be exact I heard a little chattering voice next to my ear. It took me a second to realize Molly was standing next to me....have you ever been so tired that you hear things coming out of someones mouth but you have absolutly no idea what they are saying????????? Oh my gosh!!!! I kept asking her to repeat...and she kept talking but I had no idea what she was saying...I did understand that she seemed in no distress...so i walked her back to her bed...laid her down but she refused and i said good night and shut the door!! lol i am so mean but i was soooooooooooooooooooooo tired!!! Well as I laid my head back down I heard her door open and apparently she gave up on me and went down to sleep on the couch!! I knew nothing would harm her soi went back to dreamland!
As I was retelling this story to my parents at Nicks soccer game Paul starts laughing in his chair... I looked at him and said "What??" he said first she went to him and was talking to him and he sent her over to me!! lol Gee what a guy!!!! Thanks for having my back buddy!!!! So I guess i could say Thursday very early i earned the worst parent in the world title!! Sorry MollyBird....we really do love you!!! I just really needed my sleep!!!!

restful weekend??

I am really hoping that Saturday can be a sort of day of rest...or at least just hanging out at home and being bale to catch up on some much neglected laundry,cleaning,and other assorted household projects!!
Silly me, even with all the junk we have to do at the rental house started a project of my own at our house! Well, I kind of forgot that the small step ladder is at the other house! So i cant peel the wallpaper that is much above my reach!! So that project remains half done!
The boys will be at Discovery weekend at church so no scout meeting for them friday and Joe will be missing his saturday soccer game. I will be going to the church in just a few hours to hopefully finish up the setting up for their weekend.

Crazy days once again!

We have lots going on nowadays! Soccer has started! The boys did not get much practice in, as a matter of fact Joe did not get any in! Nicks coach scheduled a few practices before the games started but Joes coach only scheduled 2 practices before games started and Joe had prior commitments so he missed both! Today is Joes second game, Nick has had two games already too. Nick scored a goal on Thursdays game and i missed it because I was out that night! BUMMER!!!!
My parents have been big time helpers in getting the other house ready to rent out again. We had the insurance guy come out and they are covering most everything I think except the carpeting. So that will be a help. We are putting the boys to work there as well! This next weekend both boys will be spending it at the Church for thier "Discovery" weekend. It is supervised by adults, put on by the senior high, for the junior highers! This will be the second year for the boys, Nick has a talk to give so he will be working on that this week i'm sure!

I'm really behind here!

Wow! I try really hard to stay motivated and keep up to date here but it never seems to work that way! Today ends Easter Break for the kids, that means back to setting our alarms and early mornings! Tomorrow there will be no rest because after I drop Molly off Paul and i need to head down to the rental house and he wants to get some outside work done there. I am sure the weather will cooperate for us. Paul and my parents have been doing a super job, Paul washed down walls, my dad ripped up the carpeting for us(GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yuck............)we need to still take up the tile work in the kitchen I believe, then we have to do painting this next week and then we can get the new carpet put in. I think we have some electrical issues to look into as well. Paul's friend thinks we'll have no problems getting it rented out soon again! I can only pray, and pray that they are good tenants who will care about the place and pay thier bills.Thats what has mainly been keeping ym mind occupied.
Soccer season has started too...for Nick at least! We have heard no communication from Joes coach yet which seems odd. So we will be busy again for sure. molly has ended her swim lessons and did not want to sign up again, I was fine with that, our own pool will be opened next month and she will get in swimming as often as we can!!!

It is official, I made the list

and trust me it is not a good list that I have made.





I have made Molly's List.

as you can also see Joe made the list(above referred to as Toe, thats how she makes a j for some reason) he did not join the list until this morning though.

We tried making a graph this week and rewarding people for using polite words. Well that ended because a little girl in the house decided it was way more fun to continuosly add stickers to her name and to remove them from others. So Iwas mena yesterday and tried adding a bit more structure to her day because she has been horrible about waking up, getting ready for the day,eating, and doing homework. needless to say it did not go well for anyone!! So we are now trying an earlier bedtime...alll that meant was this morning she woke up on her own a full hour earlier and decided to sing in her wonderfully operetic voice....sigh

Palm Sunday...weekend

Well! Let's see, yesterday Molly and Paul had a super busy day. They started out at Lowe's which held a free workshop for kids. They made a cute little kaliedascope(yes, i am sure i spelled that wrong!), then they hit up Michaels and she made a little bunny and chicky out of Crayola foam dots or something like that, then they went to Kids book club at Borders where she listened to a story and they made a little Easter basket out of a plastic cup. Then, Paul heard that Morley candy factory was doing a free self guided tour complete with face painting and ballons. Well, the ballons turned out to be balloon creations lol!! The lady made adorable little turtles,and ladybugs that could be worn on wrists,she also made fairy wings,tigers,swords,dragonflys,little adorable gumball machines! I've never seen balloon "animals" like that before they were awesome!! Molly chose a ladybug. That was enough for the day!!!

Today, Palm Sunday, they had the kids parade down the aisle waving thier palms and then sing a little song they learned. I was so proud of Molly that she stood up there and even same some of the song and did the movements!! That was a big step for her!!!

nearing the end of March!!

Let's see!! What is new?? Well, Paul and I updated our personal cell phones and service plan. We got the Samsung Reclaim, it is pretty darn cool, made of 80% recycled materials, has all the intenet,texting,video and camera good stuff, has "hot key" type things for Google, facebook, and email. The new service plan takes effect on Sunday, so we will try downloading ringers and stuff like that! Paul is even willing to try the texting thing, oh, the phone has the slide out keyboard at the bottom, he likes that.
This is MCREST week at church, we donated two cakes and I took both boys, on a different to spend an hour or so making the bag lunches for the next day. We worked along side my mom and a few of her friends. it wasn't much but everyone is thankful for the lunches.
Molly has Science day today at school, they were learning about Physical science, figuring out solids,gases,liquids, magnatism, force of motion type things. They all enjoyed that!
This week has been chilly, I am really hoping for nice, warmer temps to come and stay!!

Friday is here!

I thought it was going to be a long week when I woke up thinking "boy it's great that today is Thursday!" I have no idea why I thought that..we still had activities that need to be done Tuesday and Wednesday...oh well!! We made it through the week!! We had some gorgous weather but tomorrow and sunday do not look so promising...and that is a bummer because Spring Fever has hit and the boys are going camping this weekend. brrrrrr...at least they will be in cabins!

Happy St. patricks Day!

Molly decided to pick out her outfit today...she thought a green striped shirt and polka dot tights would be a good option...ummm you also need underwear....and a skirt my darling!!! lol

so, i was all excited!!

I mentioned to paul how much I liked the cute little Palm Pixie phone. I called Sprint to see what our bill would be if I got that. She basically said that the plan we currently have is no longer available and we would be paying only $10 dollars more!! Wooohooo!! We went to the Sprint store and basically found out they lied on the phone!! It would actually be closer to $60 bucks more a month...so needless to say I said forget it!!! Oh well!!

The start of March

Went wonderfully!! The boys are both going through scheduling choices for the next school year. Nick has proclaimed his career choice is Aerospace Engineer he was thinking of some class choices and teachers guided him in a slightly different direction. He wound up choosing honors Chemistry instead of Physics..they said Physics in senior year and honors chemistry over regular because he got the teacher recommendation and anyone in Honors is really interested in learning!. He is also choosing Accelerated Algebra II. He also wants to take some Mechatronics class that takes up 2 hours a day. He says he's up for it!!! I wish him well!!

As for Joe..he got some great news yesterday. He applied and tested and got teacher recommendations for our school districts Academy for Internation studies. its a 4 year program at a junior high and the classes are more college prep. Joe was so excited to get his acceptance letter!!! I was thrilled for him as well!

it's Friday!

Yay! It seems like it's been a long week! Let's see. There really is not a whole lot new around here. Molly had her 100th day at school they did lots of fun activities that day. We had a large snow storm roll in that day but they still had school. Afternoon Kindergarten got cancelled and the boys were each released one hour earlier then normal. Oh and Mollys swim class was cancelled due to the weather and we will make it up on Saturday morning. Wednesday we were at the church for dinner and Kids Club. Molly was very happy because she was able to bring home the CD for the spring musical. We will see how that goes!!! Other then that not much going on in our house! I will take the quiet!

Splash Village

We took the kids and my parents on a little overnight trip to Splash Village in Frankenmuth. We decided Frankenmuth was as far as we were willing to travel in the winter season! I think everyone enjoyed themselves and it was nice. I do prefer Great Wolf Lodge to tell you the truth. At Splash Village it was smaller...therefore we were overcome by the chlorine smells rather quickly....myself and I think my dad came down with a headache because of it and the kids were coughing. Can tell Molly has been spending a lot of time in chlorinated water with her swim lessons and Splash Village because she now has a cold. I am glad we went to check it out...I think it would be great for a day trip...but the overnight thing i would not do again...they charge to much for what you actually get! I have a great photo that i'd love to share of my mom! I put her in charge of the goodies and she broguth her favorite cheese puffs, she also brought some Goldfish crackers and some pretzels. She brought yummy Vernors and a Pepsi for her! It was fun hanging out in the hotel room. There were three TVs and yes they were all turned on! We had Cartoons on upstairs, Joe and Molly were watching that, my mom and dad and Nick were hanging out on the couch watching the Olympics and Paul and I had on the Olympics until he found out Lost was on!! Molly tuckered out first then Paul and I and then Joe I think. Nick went up with nana and poppop and he slept on the floor!

My Math Whiz!

I am so very proud of Nick. He has pulled himself together academically this year. I've been telling him all along this is what he is capable of but just this year he gets it I think. So anyways I pulled up his grades the other day and he had a 118% in Algebra II. Nope! Not a typo he got 118%!!! Who does that?? I dont even recall if Algebra II was required Math for me to take in High School but I can gaurentee you if it was I no where near had that type of grade!!! So today he told me "I had a Vitamin Water at school. Ummm ok...how? We don't really send him to school with money. He said that his math teacher was explaining some sort of formula and that something would NEVER happen. Well apparently Nick challenged him and said "yes it could" so he had to go up to the board and prove it. He did and so the teacher gave him the water as a reward! I know it drives me insane when Nick is so challenging to me...I am thankful he has teachers that work with him and embrace it! God bless those teachers!!!

It's a Snow Day!!

So the school district called around 11 last night. I was surprised because I was actually predicting a 5 am wake up call! I had told the boys not to bother setting their alarms. I would wake them if they had school. Molly and Joe turned their jammies inside out and Joe had a spoon under his pillow and a turtle(made out of construction paper) in his window. They had high hopes for a snow day! We did get quite a good dumping. Joes confirmation class was cancelled for last night even before it got bad! Good thing, because I did not want to try driving in it!
So today the boys shoveled two driveways. The one lady took advantage of them and I'm disappointed for them. There is a lady who Nick shovels for and they went to her house, because of the amount of snow they were charging 10 dollars per driveway, she said "I pay you 5 and you shovel over there too" well they didnt want to disagree with her so they did it. I told them they got taken advantage of...but what can ya do?? She even habded them a 20 dollar bill and said go home and bring me 10 dollars back....grrrrrrrrrrr good thing I did not know why they needed the change when Joe said he needed to give her 10 back...i did not know she had told them to do another driveway.
As for me, i just made some cookies, in a bit im going to make the filling for them they are a sandwich type cookie! Also I am trying to declutter my computer desk, i need to take the computer apart and we have a new smaller desk and a new wireless keyboard and mouse i'll rehook it up with. I am hoping the new keyboard will take care of an issue we are having with the one we have now!! Thats about all that we have going on here!

Super weekend

Molly is soooooooooooooo excited!! Want to know why?? We, apparently are having a Super Bowl party. Lets see, her and hubby(who NEVER watch sports) have planned a party lol!! Mainly it just involves the food that will be eaten tomorrow, which trust me...it's nothing way to special! Molly is so excited that as I was tucking her in and telling her good night...she gave a little squel of delight after saying "I am so excited tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday!
Of course another big event tomorrow is Scout Sunday. The 100th Scout Sunday! Scouts are supposed to wear their scout uniforms and somehow involve themselves in the church service. So tomorrow, Nick and I will be waking up at 5:30 am to get to the church by 6. This is to help with the assembly of the subs. The youth are supposed to go make them. Nick is excited to Joe has no interest! So i'll let Nick help for about 1 1/2 hours them I will take him home so he can clean up and get ready for Church Services he will be the liturgist at tomorrows service. he is a little freaked out because we both forgot and did not call the church to get the verses he is to read. I'm sure he'll still do fine!

January 31st

Why is it that it feels like the year has just started and here it is the end of the first month! Just crazy if you ask me!!
We should be getting the boys report cards in the mail tomorrow but thanks to technology I already know how they did! They should be proud of themselves! I am.
February bring two additional days i'll be helping out in Mollys class in addition to my normal tuesdays. I'll help out for the Valentines party and also the 100th day of school celebration. It also brings winter break!! A full week off of school for all the kids. I'm going to have to come up with some good ideas to keep us all occupied!!

Another Wednesday

and I have not much to say at all!! I did not help out in Mollys class yesterday because we needed to get our taxes finalized and Paul forgot thats my day to volunteer apparently! No big deal though the teacher had help the rest of the week. Joe had confirmation yesterday and Molly and I hung out and she finished her homework. Paul went to the mens group at church but it got out a half hour later then confirmation class. Tonight we have Kids Club and I think Nick will stay for the little party they are having to watch the tape of the musical the youth put on. His foot is still hurting him a bit. I bought him a little ankle brace and he said that helps out quite a bit. His foot feels great when the brace is on and no shoes. If he puts a shoe on it hurts and he limps a bit. So I think he did do something to it but I think we are treating it the way a doctor would. If its not better by Monday I think i'll get it looked at but strains and sprain can take 7-10 days to feel better. I remember from working at the foot doctors not much can be done for foot injuries except for wrapping, and resting! Maybe he'll learn not to jump down a flight of stairs in stocking feet?

It's a birthday!! Almost

I decided to toss up this birthday background in honor of Paul! He turns the big 4-0 on saturday!! My aren't we all getting old???

whats new...

Not much!!! Boy, I sure don't have a lot to say latley!!
We were having trouble with our main desktop computer. Whenever Paul or I tried to email...whenever we tried to type in the body section of the email our keyboard locked up and the computer turned itself off and then right back on. It was the weirdest thing! Of course paul was ready to trash the whole darn thing, I just purchased the new Norton 360 ran it, it found 1 tracking cookie thing and erased like 10 thousand bad files or something like that! Well it works now!! It sure was crazy though!!
I finally changed our Christmas plates back to our normal everyday ones lol!! What a slacker I can be!!!

Wednesday again

I woke up this morning thinkging....it's wednesday.....but why can it not be saturday??? I am not even working anymore and I just wish it could be the weekend all the time!! Oh well!!! So we kicked the week off on Monday by taking the kids sledding after school. Molly was sooooooooo happy she had been waiting so long!! They had a fabulous time and I took a few pictures before my camera decided to stop working. The battery just died and it didnt even get to close up the lens or anything!! After we went sledding we went to my mom and dads to warm up and eat some pizza! Unfortunatly we do not really have any good sledding hills by us so we go to a park thats closer to my parents.
Tuesday we did not have to much going on. i made a super yummy pork loin that took to long for my kids tummies!! They complained all until it was ready. Sorry Nick but you did need me to pick you up that kinda interferes with my dinner prep!!
Today is wednesday and we will be eating at the church before Kids club/youth group activites!

well that was fun!!

This weekend was the performance at church that Nick has been practicing for. I think it went off absolutly wonderful!! Molly was asked to sit right next to the director so she felt really special. Molly also got requested to join the performance in Spring and she said yes. That will be a big step for her! It went great Saturday night, Paul got to see it then he was happy. Then during the 11:15 service at church they did the performance again. I think it was one of the best ones since the boys have been in. The director was really happy with how well Nick did. he is getting a lot more confident as well.
Joe was at a scout camp event this weekend. it was one that Nick should have been at too...but the performance had actually had to be rescheduled so since he was commited we couldnt take him out!
I am looking forward to them returning to school tomorrow though!!!

It's Wednesday

We have settled back into the school routine pretty easy here. Nick was tired when I picked him up from school. But, that I think is due in part in getting back to a sleeping schedule and getting up early again after our period of relaxation! We have had an ortho appointment for both boys and Nick has had musical practice...that will be ending soon because the musical is this weekend. Joe is getting his last baby tooth pulled today. I helped out in mollys class yesterday. it is fun...I enjoy it. She keeps me plenty busy as well! I tested a few kids on number and shape recognition,sorted lots of printouts,made copies for Science Day next week, finished up projects with two kids and a few other stuff.
Oh!! How can i forget!! I started a new project!! I picked up a really pretty country blue yarn and am starting to crochet an afghan for our one couch...I may make one for the other if I get really ambitious!! 3 squares are done so far.....many,many more to follow!! I am trying to get at least one done a day!!!

Tasty start to the new Year!!

So one of the things im trying to do is make some make ahead meals to have in the freezer. I found a great meatball recipe that works well for Spaghetti or a swedish meatball type dish. So im going to have those. I tried a Kraft Food and Family recipe for Lasagna Bundles and that was for dinner tonight! It was YUMMY!!! Definitly a keeper and a dish I won't mind making for others!! I tried a quiche....I did not thaw it long enough before i tried baking it...so thats still undecided if i like it or not!! We also have a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas fromKraft Food and Family Nick and I will be making that tomorrow I'll let ya know on that!