I give you...the return of the Sarah Palins. Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

an update (someday I'll be creative again)

I am a horrible blogger who doesn't even deserve the few readers I have who may be still checking in here from time to time. I just haven't been particularly inspired lately I guess. I've also been preoccupied with paint colors, paint decisions, and far too much painting. It's exciting that we're at the point of painting in the basement and I kind of enjoy the actual work, it's the color selection that drives me insane! Why, oh why can't the color look the same on the walls as it does on the little card thingie? I've learned that being brave enough to deviate from shades of tan is not always a good thing. The "toasted sunflower seed" selection I chose for the spare bedroom somehow became more of a "mustardy orange at dawn" after it dried. I keep trying to convince myself (and Jer) that we like it, but I'm sure some repainting is in my near future. Tan is good.

In other news, after a failed eye screening and a letter from the school nurse, Jenna is following in her sister's footsteps and is now sporting a new pair of glasses! Well, she assures me she's wearing them at school anyway. This is her the day she got them. She's also modeling a prototype of the pie she made for the annual 5th grade pie contest at school. She made another one that turned out better for school and we ate the first attempt. :)
Kendall's enjoying having some actual free time now that the play's over. She's been sucked into the Twilight craze and is currently on the third one. I'm also reading Twilight now and something is obviously very wrong with me because I'm finding it rather....boring (GASP!) I realize I'm the only person of the female persuasion who feels this way, so it's obviously a flaw in my brain chemistry or something. Kendall assures me that the books get more exciting and I'm currently at the point where James the bad vampire is after Bella, so things are looking up. Anyway, Kendall is also trudging her way through "Oliver Twist" for her advanced english class & not liking it so much. It seems to be more bearable with a furry friend on her lap.

Thanksgiving was great and it's full speed ahead to Christmas! That reminds me, The Grinch (Jim Carey) is on tonight! When you don't have cable, this is exciting stuff. :)

and 11 year old and a Cratchit

Happy Birthday Jenna!!! Jenna turned 11 yesterday, and since she had an early birthday party with her friends at the cabin last summer, we got to have a family party last night! She had a pretty great day at school - they got to go roller skating for half the day to celebrate the end of the quarter. Grandma & Papa P. came to visit and we all went to Famous Daves for supper (Jenna's choice). Later, Grandma & Papa S. came over and joined us for birthday cake. By the way, the candles revealed 3 boyfriends. :)

Among the gifts was a much longed for Nintendo DS. Yipee!

Today was the opening performance of Kendall's school play "A Christmas Carol". It was AMAZING! Kendall plays Belinda Cratchit and also has a little part as a "creepy ghost child". I have to somehow get a picture of her in the ghost makeup because it's very, very creepy.

Above is Kendall with the other Cratchits and Ebeneezer Scrooge (in black). It takes about 45 minutes to curl her hair like that. I did it yesterday for dress rehearsal and was grateful to hand her over to the capable hair/makeup crew today.

What a lucky girl to be in the company of two such handsome lads. Although something about the middle one makes me a bit uneasy...can't quite put my finger on it.

Kendall should be finishing up the evening performance right now and then the cast is heading to Applebees. FUN!!!

musings of a hunter's wife

Ah yes, deer hunting season is upon us. As I type, there is a poor, probably frozen deer laying in the back of Jer's truck. It's been there since Saturday and to be honest this concerns me a little. How long can it be like that before it spoils or something? But anyway, Since I did not grow up in a hunting family, the whole hunting culture was a bit new to me. My true indoctrination happened one year when Jer took the girls to the farm for a hunting weekend without me. They were maybe 5 and 2 or so. They had a fun weekend with their grandparents and it sounded like everything went just great. Then, I got the photo. Someone had taken a picture of my sweet little babies posing with a dead, gutted deer hanging up to drain or whatever. There was that mangled deer with a little blondie smiling on each side. I was horrified. I just knew my babies had been traumatized and would certainly have permanent emotional damage. I carefully questioned them to gauge the extent of the damage, and was quite surprised that they seemed to have thought the whole thing was pretty cool. Apparently it's not unusual for hunters to pose their children with dead animals.

I delved a little deeper into the hunting culture when we moved from the suburbs to the "rural suburbs". I remember the first fall we lived here, I was laying in bed very early one morning and heard what I thought was a gunshot. My immediate response was a freaked out "Jer! I think I just heard a gunshot!!". He sort of woke up, listened a minute & said "yep, duck hunting starts this weekend". WHAT?? I can hear hunters from my bedroom?! Guess what? Now, four years later, the gunshots don't even phase me. I'm a true country girl.

My next-door-neighbor has this fake deer that looks very real. Every fall he puts the deer in his backyard and shoots arrows at it. Sometimes I'll look outside and see the poor thing standing there with 6 arrows in it's chest. It's a practice deer. Amazing.

Huh, I thought this was going to be a little filler post until I thought of something interesting to say, but I guess it's possible to ramble on about almost anything. :)

election night

As night is falling, the polls are closing and a knot is beginning to form in my stomach, here are a few things that made me happy today:

• It was 70 degrees & sunny. Even now it feels like a balmy spring night outside.
• I filled my tank for $1.94 per gallon.
• I got to vote and wear my "I Voted" sticker all day.
• I got a free coffee at Starbucks because I voted (it was gross & I threw it away..but still fun to get a freebie).
• I had the chance to spend an hour chatting with a gal I don't know very well yet, and learned that she's really nice & fun.

Have fun watching the election unfold everyone! It may be a loooooong night!

Halloween!

This Halloween Jenna chose to dress up as a "Spa Girl"! From a mom's perspective, this is the perfect costume. Easy and free!! I highly recommend it. She and three of her friends planned this together and they all dressed alike. The little gang of spa girls looked SO cute!!

The spa girls made a brief stop at the church party (where I was volunteering) and then headed out for trick-or-treating followed by a sleepover at one of their homes. I was again reminded that I am now the mommy of big kids. Both girls had plans with friends, and since I had no one to take trick-or-treating, I spent the night helping give other kids a fun time at the church event. It was weird. Now, I was happy that Kendall & Jenna had fun things to do, but I did have a small pity party for myself and decided that if Jenna wants to hang out with friends again next year, it's gonna be at our house. :)

pumpkin bumpkins

With Halloween almost upon us, we decided tonight would be a great night for pumpkin carving fun!

Jenna thought it would also be fun to make toasted pumpkin seeds & I agreed, but this meant we had to let the seeds dry overnight and bake them tomorrow. Jer had a hard time waiting....


As is tradition in our family, Jenna created a large, menacing fellow and Kendall made a happy, sweet one. I completed our pumpkin family with a grinning little baby. We showered our new creations with love.....

And turned off the lights for the grand finale!

Muahahahahahaha! Scary huh?

welcome to the neighborhood?

The other day I happened to look out my window when this huge fox came trotting out of the brush by our pond. By the time I ran to get my camera, he was sauntering through my next-door-neighbor's yard and started climbing around on their retaining wall! The pictures are pretty bad because they were taken through a window, I zoomed up really close, and the fox kept moving. I wish they showed how really amazing he was!

While I was really excited to be able to see this guy up close, it was also kinda weird that he was right up by the house like that. I started to wonder if he would eat my dog given the chance. Poor Casey lives under the constant threat of hawks, the mean puggle down the street, and now a giant fox.

But I digress. The fox was awesome and I hope he visits again one day.

this & that

Jeremy went off on his first hunting trip of the season last weekend, so it was just me & the girlies for a couple of days. I decided to seize this opportunity to introduce them to yet another fabulous TV show from their mommy's childhood, Happy Days! The girls (and me of course) LOVED it! Ahh, the memories. I was thinking that I'm so happy my kids like my old favorites & don't think they're old fashioned & lame, but I guess I used to watch "The Dick VanDyke Show", "I Love Lucy", and even the Beav and thought they were pretty cool too. Even though they were in "gasp" black & white. Needless to say, we're pretty excited for our next Netflix delivery of Richie & the gang. Yesterday Kendall told me that she wished she could have lived in the 80's when there were so many great shows to watch, but was quick to point out that 80's hair was not ok.

Thanks to Jenna, our house is fully decorated now with many ghosts, autumn leaves, and even a spider web housing a littlest petshop spider on the mantle. In other Jenna news, she just got her soccer tryout results & she earned a spot on a traveling team for next summer! (I am working on cloning myself so two traveling teams will be manageable). She's also starting basketball next month & has been practicing hard on the driveway. After being solely a soccer family for so long, it'll be fun to have a new sport to watch. Especially one that doesn't require umbrellas & blankets!

Kendall's busy with play practices almost every night, but is having a great time of course. The show is less than a month away now & sounds like it's going to be really good! Dates & times will be forthcoming to all interested parties. :)

This post is a little disjointed, as my brain doesn't seem to be working smoothly this Monday morning, but I wanted to get something out to you my faithful readers. I think I'll get me some more coffee. Have a great day all!

autumn splendor

It was a perfect day on Saturday & we decided to head to Taylors Falls for some hiking, climbing & beautiful fall colors. We thought lunch out sounded fun, but we quickly learned that while we love Taylors Falls, it is sorely lacking in decent restaurants. Our choices were a musty smelling cafe, or this little outdoor burger joint. After waiting an HOUR for our burgers, they tasted eerily similiar to school cafeteria mystery meat on a bun. Actually, Kendall assured us that her school's burgers were much better than these. We choked down what we needed for survival & went on to have a great day in the bluffs. Here are a few pictures. The sky was clear & blue, so I'm not sure why it looks so white? Any photographers out there?

We had to stop at the ice cream shop of course! Kendall had a chocolate/peanut butter concoction & Jenna went for the coconut/chocolate almond something-or-other. YUMMY!

Being a Good Sport

My cousin-in-law "tagged" me so to speak & while I'm usually a scrooge & delete these types of things, this one is kinda fun. Rather than answer the same old quiz questions, you just type 6 random things about yourself. So, here we go.

Here are the ever-so-simple rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he/she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six rules. Six things about myself.

1. I am addicted to talk radio. It started when I was a full-time stay-at-home-mom and I think just needed to hear adult voices around me. The stations have changed over the years as I become bored with one & move on to another, but it's still a geeky addiction that I love.

2. I was an L.A. Gear shoe model for one whole weekend. Of course this was when I was a freshman in college, 103 pounds and had size 5 1/2 feet (before pregnancies grew them to size 7). My friend & I wore little black leotards, cut off t-shirts, huge hair & had to perform an aerobic dance type thing every hour at a shoe convention. It's ok to laugh. I thought I was oh so cool at the time & earned $200 and 5 free pairs of shoes! Of course only 3 of the pairs were ever delivered & I'm still a bit bitter about that.

3. I like the smell of "distant skunk" as I call it. Not fresh road-kill skunk or skunk spray in your back yard, but the hint of skunk in the air as you drive down the road is enjoyable to me. My family is totally baffled by this oddity & enjoy making fun of me whenever "distant skunk" lingers in the air. I can hardly believe I just admitted to it actually.

4. I love High School Musical movies & can't wait for the new one. I know mom's are supposed to hate them, but I love them. The sad part is, Kendall & Jenna have both made plans to see it with friends so I may be going alone. What a pitiful sight that will be.

5. I tear up at some point during almost every movie. I hate it. It's embarrassing. It's not normal to cry during cartoons. Although there are times that I think something's wrong with my kids when they don't cry, like during "Eight Below". You can't be human & not practically sob during that one.

6. The smell of wool clothing makes me nauseous. I can often be seen smelling sweaters at the mall to see if they contain wool because I absolutely cannot wear them if I can detect it. Ick. My stomach churns just thinking about it.

Now I'm supposed to "tag" 6 people, but I don't know that many bloggers so I'm tagging just a few. I spent a ton of time doing this, so you guys better do it too. :)

• Kerri at http://www.kerriandkids.blogspot.com/
• Jessica at http://www.jessicarosescott.blogspot.com/
• Kendall at http://www.soccerbaby94.blogspot.com/
• Chloe at http://www.cutaloo.blogspot.com/

like eating cardboard...literally

This morning Jenna & I stayed home from church because she has an icky cough, so I've been enjoying a lazy Sunday morning & even put a pan of brownies in the oven for after lunch. After patting myself on the back for making brownies, I grabbed a bowl of Special K Chocolatey Delight and settled in to see what's new in blogland. As I was munching along enjoying the bits of chocolate that occasionally appear on my spoon, I suddenly encountered a foreign object the bobbed it's way to the top of the bowl. It appeared to be a mushy piece of CARDBOARD! Yep, as I look at it now fully dried on my desk...cardboard.

No, it's not as disgusting as a bug, mouse tail, or human finger, but I don't know where that cardboard came from or what kind of nastiness it has been associated with! It ruined my breakfast & possibly ruined my love of my favorite cereal forever. Not to mention the $3.00 I'm out since it's a brand new box!

So I ask for your advice. Should I take action on this travesty? Should I return the box to Target & demand a new one? Should I contact Kelloggs, produce the evidence & hope that they offer me a million dollar settlement? Should I just toss the brand new box of cereal & let it go? Is it possible to get over the emotional trauma & actually enjoy Special K again?

What am I supposed to eat now? :(

new buddy on my mantle

The air is cooler, the leaves are starting to change, but in our home we know fall has officially arrived when Jenna begins her decorating. Jenna had a bit of a headache when I picked her up from school today, but despite not feeling 100%, she knew this was the day she must begin her fall creations. She grabbed a box of crafty tidbits and a short time later introduced me to this wonderful scarecrow which she hung from our mantle. I especially love the crow on his arm and the cornstalks in his hay-hands!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but he's a 3-dimensional fellow with some type of cylinder beneath his fabric shirt & pants. I think he's pretty great & I can't wait to see how Jenna decks out the place for Halloween!

With that, I'm off to watch the VP debate which I've been looking forward to all day! Yep, I'm a geek. Whoo-hoo!

Yes, I know...

This blog has been neglected ~ partly because of busy, crazy days and partly because of a lack of creativity on my part. So, here's a little filler post with a promise of something more entertaining to come in the near future.

Last week I got my hair foiled. There was a pile of brochures at work for a newly opened salon, along with some coupons for 50% off any service for new clients. Since 50% off of a full foil is a big chunk of change, I decided to be fiscally responsible and try the new salon.

I usually get blonde & light brownish foils. This time my 20 year old new stylist (yikes!) and I decided to try some dark reddish ones & not as much blonde. I like the red color, it's fun for fall, but apparently 20 year olds prefer the "chunky" foil look and thus I ended up with 2 big red blobs of hair right in the front. It drove me nuts for a week before I finally went back today to get it fixed (sort of) by another 20 year old stylist with 2 piercings in her lips and platinum blonde extensions. A very nice, friendly girl, but I am old and our hairstyle ideas are not, um, compatible. She suggested I try a short choppy cut, or get extensions myself at a cost of only $400 every 3-4 months. :)

So, all's well that ends well, but I'm looking forward to my next haircut at my old place with my favorite stylist who's in her mid-to-upper twenties. Hopefully she'll forgive my disloyalty and welcome me back into the fold.

are we in the twilight zone?

Hmmm....something weird is going on. I wrote the post about Talk Like a Pirate Day today (Friday, Sept. 19) but blogger seems to think I wrote it yesterday & backdated it to Thursday.

So, please don't be confused. If you'd like to celebrate this glorious day next year, mark your calendars for September 19th. Which is today. Unless we've traveled through a time warp or something.

AAAAAARRR!

Avast! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I wish I had known this earlier so we could plan to commemorate it properly, buy maybe we can squeeze in a celebratory game of "pirates dice" sometime tonight. The girls & I will miss their aunties as we all love so much to talk like pirates 'till our throats are raw.

So, in honor of this special day, I give ye a blast from the past. The cutest little pirate I ever did see along with her buddy the lovely "gothic princess" when they were 11 and almost 8 years old.

Take time for a little swashbuckling with ye mateys and lemme here ye say AAAAARRR! (yes, my pirate speak is something to be admired).

good to see ya again

Remember these totally triumphant dudes? I was browsing Netflix this week trying to find movies that were fun & age appropriate for the whole family, when I remembered Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. I'm lucky that my kids love the Cosbys, Full House, & pretty much all things 80's, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

Tonight after Kendall's soccer team won their game (yay!) and the team went to Culvers (double yay!) we settled in for a night with Bill & Ted and a trip down memory lane for mom. I have to admit I probably laughed more than anyone else in the room (I think Jer actually dozed off toward the end-not unusual), but the girls were laughing too & fun was had by all. Hopefully this weekend we'll have a chance to watch my other Netflix pick this week, "Groundhog Day". I hope it's as clean as I think I remember it was. :)

Be excellent to each other......and PARTY ON DUDES!

Quirky Customers

The job I have does not reflect the hard work I put into earning a college degree, or the student loan that took 10 years to pay off. I don't earn much money and it won't really improve my resume, but I get to work around my kids' school schedule and that's why I work there. I also get to meet some very interesting people that keep me entertained every day.

Yesterday a lady came into the shop looking for "travel salt shakers". She asked me if we had some or if we've ever seen any in the catalogs we order from. I must have looked at her kinda funny, so she began to explain the reason for her request. She likes to take her own sea salt with her to restaurants because it's "so much better for you, especially if you suffer from high blood pressure". She told me she had tried using those little mini salt shakers and putting tape over the holes, but the salt would still leak into her purse. She had been to several stores and was sure there must be SOMEWHERE she can find travel salt shakers that have a little lid to keep the salt secure. She asked me to be sure to tell the store buyer of her request and that she knows of at least 3 girlfriends that would rush in to buy them too. She then asked me to take her name & number so I could call her if we ever get them in.

I'm not a big salt user. In fact, the only food I shake it on is corn on the cob so maybe the importance of this issue escapes me. But, if you don't like regular table salt, or you have high blood pressure, couldn't you just skip the salt for that one meal in a restaurant? Or if you're really that salt obsessed, wouldn't a ziplock baggie work just fine? It just doesn't seem like something you should spend your time running all over town looking for.

I just realized that this post reminds me of Seinfeld. The show about nothing...the post about nothing. Ha! But the quirky customers make my little gift shop job entertaining, so there ya go. And if anyone's looking for that million-dollar idea.....travel salt shakers!

first day of school!

Here are my little babies on their first day of school. Aaaaaah - they look so old! I think it would be fun to find all of their first day of school pictures and put them together in one of those collage type frames. I might have to do that someday. Wish my hair would get that blonde from the sun!

Anyway, Jenna had been looking forward to this day for a long time. She even made one of her great signs counting down the days until school (with tear off sheets) and hung it in the living room. Happily, she had a great day and can't wait until tomorrow. Who can blame her? She ended up in the same class with all 4 of her best friends and a teacher who loves parties and doesn't like homework. :) Yep, gonna be a good year for Jenna. Her only disappointment today was when I picked her up & told her that her piano teacher (who is her music teacher at school) wanted to start lessons right away today. Piano lessons just aren't as fun as they used to be. A chocolate shake from McD's helped to ease the pain though.

Kendall's first day of high school went well, but she was not happy to come home with HOMEWORK on the first day. It probably only took her 45 minutes to do, but still...come on teachers! She has two honors classes this year & there is definitely a higher standard. She got to go to her first drama class & found out that she got the part of Belinda Cratchit in the fall production of A Christmas Carol! (auditions were a couple weeks ago). So next week she begins drama rehearsals after soccer practice/games. I should get to see her around 9:00 each night. Ha! She'll have a blast though! Soccer is over the end of September, so the craziness is temporary.

Kendall actually has the same English teacher that I had for high school. Now that's just weird. I thought for sure she would retire before Kendall got to high school, but...guess not. It should be interesting.

I get to enjoy one more blissful day home alone before I go back to work on Thursday. Hmmmm, what flavor bon-bons shall I enjoy tomorrow? What mindless talk show should I watch? Lucky me!

Kendall's happy day

Kendall is no longer the only 9th grader in the civilized free world who doesn't have a cell phone. After enjoying her begging & pleading for the past two years, we caved in and made the monumental trip to Costco last night to pick out a phone and add a line to our plan. Well, actually it's an "extra family phone" to be available for both girls to use as needed, but I'm pretty sure it's primary residence will be Kendall's purse or backpack.

This was a tough move for us because we have prided ourselves on not giving in to the teen cell phone craziness. When Kendall's classmates began getting phones in 6th grade, we were appalled. In 7th and 8th grade she was one of a handful of cell-less kids, and we told her she could have one when she starts driving. Just yesterday at Jenna's open house at school, a parent looked at me in open-mouthed awe when he learned that Kendall didn't yet have a cell phone. He had succumbed when his son was 12 and he told me he admired my strength...and I felt proud.

Well, now that she's off on her own more, I've been finding myself thinking how I wished she had a phone so I could check in with her, find out what time to pick her up, etc. I know there will be times when it will really come in handy. BUT, just to keep Kendall humble, she is STILL the only 9th grader in the civilized free world who doesn't have texting! We'll hold our ground as long as we can on that one too, and if you've had the opportunity to witness teen texting in action, you'll understand why.

The upside for us is that since our Verizon contract was up, we switched to T-Mobile (cheaper) and all three of us got new blackberry phones for free! Kendall has been quite busy getting them set up for us. Ha!

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

The Great Get-Together

Today we went to the state fair. I was excited to create a post about our day filled with compelling & amusing pictures, but Blogger (or my computer?) is refusing to upload them. So, free your minds and let those imaginations fill in the blanks.

The weather was perfect, clear blue skies & not too hot. We visited the "miracle of birth" barn and saw a poor sheep about to give birth surrounded by a crowd of people & a guy practically on top of her with a camera so it could be broadcast on screens all over the barn. :( I know it's educational & everything but I found it disturbing. In my mind I'm secretly plotting an escape plan for the remaining pregnant animals in that barn.

So, jumping off my soapbox, we saw a dog agility demo. (cute!), a birds of prey demo. (very cool), must-have gagets galore & our favorite talent competition. I enjoyed my once-a-year corn dog & we all engaged in our annual "weird new fair food experiment". This year it was chocolate covered bacon. Yep, what could be weirder that that? Jer & Jenna liked it. Kendall thought it was gross & didn't get past the first bite. I didn't really like it either, but managed to finish my piece just to make sure. The chocolate bacon was sold at a Famous Daves vendor that featured the loudest Elvis impersonator I've ever heard.

As usual, we marveled at the people who had most likely spent $50 in the midway attempting to win an amazing prize, that were now stuck hauling around 5-foot tall gorilla on their backs all day. We again lamented the loss of Paul Majors as we passed the KARE11 booth (ok, that was just me), and I had to settle for getting my picture taken with the Randy Shaver cutout (sorry Randy - there's no comparison).

So yeah, the fair is pretty much the same year after year, but maybe that's why we love it. Getting Sweet Martha's Cookies to eat at the talent show has become a family tradition we cherish. :) So, everyone go to the fair - and if anyone gets the hot dish on a stick, PLEASE come back here & tell me about it. I can't even imagine.....

a day on the river

Yesterday we decided to take the boat that we're "babysitting" this month for a ride down (and up) the St. Croix River. We started out with a yummy lunch on the patio of a restaurant in Stillwater, then plopped the boat in the water & off we went. The boat that we're happily babysitting is a Mastercraft water skiing boat that sits about 6 inches above the water (or so it seems anyway). Probably not an optimal vessel for river travel - especially when surrounded by yachts and miniature cruise ships. Fortunately it was a hot day, because we spent much of the ride under a steady mist of water.

But, we did find some calmer seas and pulled off to a beachy area for some swimming, and the girls found several large & small clams. Some stinky clam shells even came home with us and are now decorating bedroom dressers. It was a fun day & reminds me that I DON'T WANT SUMMER TO END! I really don't. Three months of nice weather is not enough. School starts two weeks from tomorrow. Nooooooooooooooo!

just some ramblings

Well, as much as we wanted to kidnap our auntie & cousies and keep them here forever, they had to make the long journey home. :( The start of school is looming ever closer so we're determined to enjoy every last day we have left.

Kendall returned from camp on Friday and was the most excited I've ever seen her. She told me camp stories for 3 hours straight. I'm not exaggerating...I noted the time when she stopped talking. It was great & I'm so happy she had such an amazing time! Her high school soccer (HIGH school?!?!) starts tomorrow with a 4 hour tryout/practice so the poor dear will have to get up at the crack of 7:00. Our sleeping-in days are already over.....(sigh)

Jenna is in complete heaven this week. Our neighbors are on vacation & asked us to take care of their amazing swimming pool while they're gone. In return we get to use the pool as much as we want! It has a slide & diving board & is just great! Since Jenna can do a mean "puppy dog eye", I have a feeling we'll be there every day....at least once.

AND, there is major progress happening in the basement! Jer sprayed primer on the ceiling & walls this weekend, so now we have to get busy choosing paint colors. I don't know how to pick anything other than a variation of tan or green so I'm up for any creative ideas anyone may have. I guess we need to figure out what to do with the trim too...stain or paint? AAHHH!

a seaweed tale

Friday was a day of fun at the cabin with the Goodmans, Grandma & Papa. After swimming & tubing, Jenna and her cousins decided it would be fun to pull up a bunch of seaweed and pile it in a boat. They worked at it for quite a while & managed to accumulate quite a big, stinky harvest.

But then came the dilemma of what to do with the big, stinky pile (yes, it REALLY stinks). The kids had been told at the beginning of their project that they would need to put it in the wheelbarrow & haul it to the woods. They initially agreed to this condition, but as one cousin put it, they "didn't think they'd really have to do it". Heh heh. Wrong.

So they worked together to transport the seaweed and throw it into the woods by the armfuls. This part was really NOT as much fun as pulling it out of the lake...until..........

They reached the bottom of the rusty antique wheelbarrow and found a crayfish that had been pulled up with the seaweed! None of us could remember ever finding a crayfish at the lake, so this was pretty exciting!

The cousins put him in a little pool for a while and had a fun time watching him do crayfish acrobatics. He was a really great little critter!! Of course we try to teach our kids to treat the critters they catch with kindness. Sadly, their kindness brought tragic results this time. The kids decided to set "Mr. Crab" free by gently placing him in the water off the end of the dock, where he instantly became dinner for several cannibal fish.

Ugh. Another cold, cruel lesson about the "circle of life". But I think Mr. Crab would say he was happy to have fulfilled his dream of seeing the world outside of his watery home. That's what I tell myself anyway. :)

No Mommy!

Jenna has been at camp since Sunday with NO MOMMY. She and 6 of her best buddies are all together in a cabin having an amazing time I'm sure...eating piles of sugar at the canteen, not taking showers, not wearing sunscreen & possibly not brushing teeth. I'm picking her up tomorrow & I can't wait! It feels weird when one of your kids is gone for so long.

Today Kendall is at Valleyfair with a bunch of friends and NO MOMMY! She went with her church youth group & she's running around having the time of her life with a bunch of teenagers. Things are more fun without your mom when you're 14. I know it's normal and we want them to become independent so it's good. It just happens too fast. I get to pick her up in 45 minutes and hear all about it. Huh...I'm often looking forward to "picking them up and hearing all about it" these days. It's definitely a new phase of life.

Sheesh, I must be hormonal or something tonight! :)

canine pageant queen

First of all let me say that I do not put clothing on my dog on a regular basis, and I do not, and will not ever carry her around in a purse. In other words, I'm not a weird dog person. However, when a cute cafe nearby decided to hold a dog fashion show/competition, we couldn't deny Casey her chance in the spotlight. The girls and I made a trip to Wal-Mart where we picked out this lovely little summery frock. Jenna also wanted the pink doggie barrettes, but her frugal (i.e.cheap) mom decided we'd just find something in our vast collection of human hair accessories at home. The final result is this little princess in all her finery.

Here are Jenna and some of the other contestants in the "small dog" category getting ready to walk in a circle in front of the panel of judges. Notice the dogs around her standing nice and calmly. I expected it to be mostly kids showing their dogs & thought it was pretty funny that Jenna was the only one. There was even one dad that had somehow been coerced into being there with his little white schnauzer type dog. He kept saying things like "ok, what are we doing?" with a deadpan voice to make sure nobody would mistakenly think he was enjoying himself. Casey & Jenna did GREAT! Jenna even got Casey to sit on command when the judges asked her to...not an easy task!Casey was a little worried about this wiener dog with wings...trying to look all angelic & all.

This poor, humiliated soul has a bambi purse around her neck, and if you look closely you'll see that her dress is held together by paper clips. A travesty to be sure.

Our sympathy for her was short-lived though, because she was crowned the "best dressed" dog at the show! I'm sorry, but somebody was paid off or something because that's just crazy. However, we are good sports in our family, so we told Casey that she was the grand prize winner and gave her a few treats. She was happy as can be and none the wiser. Look out red, we'll be back next year!

a new post....finally

Ahhhh...the lazy days of summer. When do they start?!? After returning home from a fun 4-day vacation with family, this week has been filled with the USA Cup soccer tournament ~ a giant tournament with over 900 teams from all over the world. Kendall has played 4 games over the past 3 days with one more tomorrow & MAYBE one on Saturday if they win. We've been spending most of each day there (what with weather delays), but it's been a great experience for Kendall & fun for all of us. Well, Jenna may disagree as she's pretty much soccered out & now lapses into a sort of semi-comatose state during the games, but she has scored lots of junk food out of the deal. :)

So, I guess I'm jumping around a bit, but the picture above is of ALL of us vacationers going horseback riding! I usually don't put pics on here of people other than my family for privacy reasons, but this picture is so bad that no one is identifiable anyway. :) When you hand your camera to a stranger, you never know what you'll get. Anyway, I have a slight horse phobia but tried to overcome it for my beloved daughters who were SO excited to ride and I was NOT going to miss out on experiencing it with them. We got to ride through beautiful woods & run across creeks (yikes!), and my horse, Shadow, was kind enough not to throw me off or scrape me off on a tree. Jenna hasn't quit talking about it & that's the best part!

Tonight the girls & I went and had pedicures (their first ones). I'm pretty sure there will be a picture on Kendall's blog soon. It was really fun, except when the lovely Japanese lady told Kendall that she shouldn't use the same nail color as me because "that color too old for you". Yeah, that stung a bit.

My sissy comes home in a few days! YAAAAAAAAY!!!

4th of July

Last weekend we spent a great 4th of July at the cabin! This was the first of TWO July 4th's we get to celebrate this year, as we'll be having the big annual bash & competitions in a couple of weeks with our favorite Goodmans. YIPEE!

We left the house bright & early on Friday to make it in time for the big parade with Grandma & Papa. We saw lots of marching bands & girls wearing crowns, but they must have outlawed candy throwing this year because the girls went home with empty baggies. I suppose someone lost an eye from a wayward jolly rancher or something. This years boat parade featured not only an Uncle Sam, but a Harry Potter themed boat as well! We're not sure what's patriotic about Harry Potter, but I suspect a mom spent a lot of money on some Halloween costumes & was determined to get her money's worth. Oddly, my new camera has a setting specifically for fireworks so I had to try it out. Kinda cool I guess. Here a few more highlights...

wild rides on the tube

Casey's kneeboard adventure (looks thrilled doesn't she?)

licorice on the boat & even Grandma swam in the 73 degree water!

loon mommy & baby that let us get really close

Hope everyone had lots of fun in the sun like we did! Yay for SUMMER!!!

My baby is 14?!?!?!

Usually Kendall has some kind of party on her birthday, but since she had a soccer tournament this weekend, we had the rare treat of having her all to ourselves on her big day. We took her to The Olive Garden (her fave) where you can see she enjoyed a giant plate of lasagna and of course the amazing salad & breadsticks. Ok, we all pigged out & loved it.

So, she's now 14 and I'm trying hard not to think about things like drivers permits, dating, and even graduation that's only 4 YEARS AWAY. Instead I'm trying to focus on how blessed I am to have such a sweet, kind, responsible & fun girl. The teenage years are supposed to be the tough ones, but I think they are GREAT! So far anyway. :)

A Challenge

This was me tonight..in my own mind..as I went for a run around the neighborhood. The perfect picture of health & fitness running effortlessly with a smile of joy upon my face. Ok, in reality I know I wasn't even close to graceful as I huffed, puffed & bumbled along, but with my treadmill out of commission for a while I finally swallowed my pride & took it outside (catch that rhyme?)

I managed to run for 35 minutes without stopping & felt so great afterwards that I really don't know why I don't do this every day. I've been doing an exercise video & the new Wii Fit thing, but nothing gives you the same "buzz" as a good run. So, I've given myself a new goal - to go for a run every day for a week. That's 7 days. Who wants to join me?? :D

A little quick post

If you are a reader of Kendall's blog, you may know that her soccer team has had a rough first half of the season. Most of their games have been really close, but they've ended up on the losing end more often than not. Well, last Thursday the Cyclones played awesome & were rewarded with a solid victory! I'm pretty sure it was thanks to this supreme combination of ballet, kickboxing & soccer skill by our own Kendall (who, by the way, reminds me constantly how many days she has left to be 13).