Kerry's Kronicles

New Battle

2012-02-10T14:23:00.000-06:00

You know that saying, "Pick your battles"? I've found my most recent one.

This is a typical afternoon after snack time at our house...

It is irritating enough that our children find it difficult to throw wrappers away.

What is incomprehensible to me is this...

Other than leaving the garbage can ON the counter, I don't think they could ask for it to be much closer.

Fitness - Check!

2012-02-04T12:37:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of January I came up with a plan for working out that I thought might work for me. I know I'm a list maker, but what I love about making lists is checking things off. I also know that when I make general "accomplish-this" kind of plans, I can't just leave it open ended or my enthusiasm just fades away. I also like rewards and presents - I'm just never good on following through on that.

To that end...let me introduce my newest fitness regimen:

This bad boy has hung on the refrigerator for the past five weeks.

*I can check off each day I exercised (and yes...there is a HUGE thrill in that for me).

*My overall goal was only to get through working out at least four times per week for only five weeks.

*My rewards: I get a week off and a small gift that I get to choose.

This past Thursday I accomplished my goal and I just won two bids on eBay for knitting needles. If you are like my sister, you are rolling your eyes at the excitement of my reward. But, I've wanted these needles for at least two or three years. I actually won two bids so I got the other sets of needles I'd been eyeing also - all for under $20!

I think I found my system! I'll be making up a new calendar and taking on another five weeks shortly...better start thinking of my next reward!

Little Chef

2012-02-02T11:27:00.000-06:00

This week we had a late dinner one night and needed something fast. We had decided on grilled cheese. Jake decided he was going to be the main chef.

First there was the layering of butter. Every slice got a little thicker with that ingredient until I had to pull in the reins and inform him I didn't want a heart attack that night from clogged arteries.

I think he was a little nervous at first to attempt the sandwich flips. His last encounter during lefse making resulted in a pretty nasty burn. After showing him how though, he was again holding court.

Now, please notice the picture above and inspect the pictures below taken when Jake was four years old. Notice any similarities?

Apparently mouth-wide-open is his way of concentrating. Some things just don't change much over time!

Sadie has a spot in the kitchen. Whenever someone is making something this how she sits. It's a good thing she isn't a bigger dog because this little kitchen couldn't hold us all if she was!

And no, Jake wasn't about to stab the sandwiches - he was just playing around for the camera.

Not that Jake would ever ham it up for a photo...

Maddie did take charge of the soup and it was tasty. She was in her p.j's though and declined pictures.

15 minutes later, dinner was served!

According to Maddie, Jake makes a delicious Mac & Cheese. He has Chicken Salad down too. One more culinary delight has been added to his repertoire. Four more recipes to learn and Mike and I will never have to cook again!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

2012-01-26T22:07:00.000-06:00

Jake's science class has been studying inventions. The goal for the end of the unit was to walk around your house and come up with some new inventions that would solve a problem. Jake realized he needed something to remind him to feed the dog her water. He thought he could invent a machine that just had water in it.

I told him it already existed.

I suggested a problem area in my studio: something my students can rest their heel on if they are too short to play the piano pedal.

He wrote it down, but only to appease me and my 15th request.

Ha! Persistence pays off!! I think he had about three other invention ideas down, but after consistent and probably irritating hints, he started to realize my problem actually was solvable.

He and Mike got to work on Wednesday night and tomorrow he will be turning in this:

I had explained to Jake what I needed: something big enough for heels to sit on, but high enough that students could be a little shorter and still play the pedal. I also wanted it to be adjustable for different sized students and I absolutely didn't want it to move once it was on the floor, but I didn't want it to scratch our floor either. I also wanted it to look professional.

After all - my students had been used to only the best in materials from me:

Yes, that old musical dictionary was my heel raiser for years and years. It has probably lost a 1/4 inch in height with pages ripping off each month. It slid around after every lesson and was especially gratifying to pull out from under the piano with four-foot dust bunnies attached to it.

Jake drew up a plan (per class requirement). He and Mike visited Lowe's for the supplies. Jake was excited because he got to use the saw. HE got to use the saw - not just watch Mike (As he explained: not the flat one with the wheel coming through it, but the one that you pull down...").

It is completely adjustable from about 1/2 inch to 3 inches thanks to industrial Velcro between each layer. And let me just say - these layers are not sliding around; I could barely pull them apart!

It also isn't moving anywhere on the floor...they made sure of that!

And...it works!

Honestly, I'll probably be removing at least one or two layers for most of my students. But I can! And no more dust bunnies trailing out from under the piano!

I gave Jake a big hug when he showed it to me tonight. I'm so excited about this! I wonder what else I can get him to fix around here!

It's ALIVE!!!

2012-01-23T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well...we finally got some snow accumulation. You can only guess what that means!!!

We had a chance to rev up the engine and make sure everything worked!

(No....I did not practically lay on the garage floor to get this shot. Never.)

I think we might have had...2 inches? Sure...we could have shoveled. However, regardless if there is a half-inch or 15 inches of new snow, you can rest assured that the snowplows will be coming down our street at 5:50am. Then return at least three more times throughout the day.

This left us with at least 4 inches of snow at the base of our driveway. We figured SURELY this called for motorized snow throwing.

Mike gave me a complete lesson in how all the levers work and how to turn this contraption on. I was leery of the electric start, but it required far less steps than I imagined and I will be a happy girl on those especially cold days when I don't have to pull-start it.

I was only slightly disappointed when it didn't clear away all the snow. I like a clean driveway when I'm through. I guess it's something I'll have to get used to. It worked out for the best today at least. Under this snow there is a sheet of ice and the snow-padding provided a little traction for everyone walking into our house today.

Mike was slightly disappointed too, but for a different reason. When he finished he looked at me and shrugged, "This would have been way more fun if we'd had two feet of snow."

Better luck next time.

He's a Talker

2012-01-16T21:24:00.002-06:00

I've read a few parenting articles in the past that suggest the best time to talk with your kids is while you are in the car driving them places. It's quiet, there's hardly any interruptions and basically, they are trapped. Each time I've read this, I've thought it doesn't seem very personal. I can't even look at them while talking to them. It's a moot point anyway...when it's just me and Jake I can't get a word in edge-wise.

That boy can talk.

Take tonight. We drove to the high school to pick up Maddie from volleyball at 8:50pm. Right out of the gate he's expounding upon the benefits of the current pajama pants he's wearing followed by his three favorite pajama pants and why. And I don't mean he lightly touches on the subject. Full out detail. The kind of detail his teacher begs for in writing, but apparently he can only go into verbally.

Pajamas segued into math.
Long division arrived at hockey.
Hockey was followed by basketball and kickball.
Kickball (and it's complete 12- month Phy Ed history) transitioned to running.
His passion of running brought us to the "rowboat" machine at the Y and his current regimen of elliptical/rowboat workouts.
The rowboat will allow him to work up his push-ups to 10...then 15...then 20 even!

I heard about his magnificent shoes and how they dig into the ground to run faster, then how they attach to the rowboat to help build his leg muscles. This involved him swinging his leg up on the middle console in the car to show me what he was referring to.

Silence.
Me: "Wow."

Silence was over and he went on again. Then Maddie arrived and he took a breath.

And then he started in again all the way home. A block from home he said, "I am just NOT tired. This is bad. But I'm seriously not tired."

It's almost hard to believe. Between the energy expelled to keep up that one-sided banter and the amount of oxygen he was deprived from never inhaling, I'm surprised he hasn't passed out.

Picture of the Day - A Recap

2012-01-10T23:08:00.000-06:00

Last year I took on the challenge of the 365-Day-Project as it is known around many parts. Some call it Picture-of-the-Day or POTD. I'm not gonna lie...I occasionally thought of it as PITA. (That's as much as I'll explain on this family blog.)

Basically I was supposed to take one picture per day. I think I got to day #10 before I had to find a filler. I had no idea that taking one picture per day could be so difficult. Rephrase: I had no idea I could make taking one picture a day so difficult. My general goal for the year was to learn to use my new camera better. Check. I think I did that. I believe the problem was I also used the term "general goal". I had a few of them and I think it would have been easier with one clear-cut purpose: pictures of daily life or "arty" pictures. I ran the gamut on what I took with a few "Crap! It's 11:48pm and I have no picture!" moments.

I started by posting them to the 365project.org website. People can "follow" you and leave comments. This was very helpful when I was looking for criticism and I followed some great photographers who gave lots of inspiration. But I really started trying to make every shot something special when I just wasn't taking the time to pull that off. And it was the uploading every. single. day. and trying to comment to these nice people who were finding time in their day to comment on my pics. Ugh. Too much stress so I deleted that part. By mid-summer I was just taking the pictures and filing them in my computer.

Here's a favorite from each month:

January: Really not my "favorite" for the month, but it's what kicked off the year...

(That New Year's Resolution lasted about as long as my original picture-every-day-intention.)

February: This is one of the shots I was happiest with up to that point. It was an "Intentional" shot. I really did want this outcome and I was so proud of myself that I got it.

March: I don't know why, but this picture was one of the most viewed in my collection on 365project.org

April: I rarely like the use of selective coloring, but I wanted to try my hand at it. I was really happy with this one and Maddie liked it too. Bonus!

May: This was a crazy shot. I read on my friend, Sheri's, picture posts about trying to "make" a macro lens from what you have. You simply remove the lens and hold it against your camera backward. Other than the fact that I shake way too much doing that, it was kind of cool - but blurry. So, then I played with a lot of textures and ended up with something way out of my "box" but one I still really liked for some reason.

June: There was really no special story behind it. We were visiting Kay and I was walking around her house taking pictures. Jake had set up every single army man she had on one little tray table and I was practicing a blurry background. I love that you can just barely make her out sitting in "her spot".

July: Out on my parent's pontoon for July 4th I was able to capture this sunset. This is only slightly (and I mean slightly enhanced). All while on a boat even!

August: I think this was taken at the Arboretum on a bit of an afternoon walk-about. Flowers were one of my favorite things to shoot: they stand still.

September: I tried a couple different "self-portrait" shots throughout the year. This was one of those "I need a picture!" days and was taken with the "Instagram" app on my iPod Touch. Thank goodness I got the newer model because that little camera saved my patootie on many days!

October: This is about the month where I thought this project was never going to end and my picture collection through December shows it. I believe I was laying on the ground at a park to get this shot while a girl and her boyfriend wondered what the heck I was doing.

November: This shot was actually intentional and as I was dashing out the door. Jake's science class was asked to bring in items that helped show the change in our seasons. We had parked our car outdoors the previous night and when I went to leave I noticed this and realized it showed the changing season. Since I couldn't save the actual frost for him, I ran back in for my camera. This only took about 10 shots to get what I wanted and my fingers weren't too frozen in the end.

December: This was the month I was going to DO IT...get through the month with a picture EVERY DAY. Or not. On December 31st I looked through my files and realized I was missing seven days worth of pictures. One of my better months, actually. However, I wanted my last picture to represent the project so I enlisted my family's help.

Would I do this challenge again? Probably not. I'll enjoy the pictures I have from "that one year" but that's it.

However, I am going to try for a 52 week project. This is only one picture per week. I have a clear-cut goal in mind: to take "intentional pictures". I don't want to run around in the last 10 minutes and grab whatever photo I can. I plan to think about what I want to take a picture of and try to execute that idea. I'm not above copying someone else's overall picture idea if it helps me learn how to take better pictures. I'm not out to sell anything, just learn and enjoy.

I have my first picture done for 2012. Only 51 more to go.

A Special Gift

2012-01-02T14:59:00.002-06:00

Earlier this fall my mom enlisted my help to get a book that she had written printed. She has been working on it for awhile and wanted to give it to Maddie for Christmas since Maddie likes to read so much. My mom's book centered around her playhouse when she was growing up and included tons of stories from her younger years with her brothers.

I loved reading about so many fun stories from when she grew up. These types of stories were what I looked most forward to when we got together with my grandparents, uncles and their families. My mom and her brothers did some crazy things that my parents would NEVER have let us get away with.

Anyway - I told my mom that I really wanted a copy. I really tried to drive the point home that I was one of her children - I feel I'm constantly having to remind my parents of our place in the hierarchy since grandchildren came on the scene - and that I would like to have something that represented that history. Mom was pretty certain my siblings wouldn't be interested.

Tracy happened to be at my mom's on the same day I was there to help her find a website she could go through to print this book. When asked if Tracy would like a book, she said she would. (I, consequently, was absolutely no help at all in finding a website or helping my mom get it sent in.)

Christmas morning there was a box for each family and we were given this:

Pretty cool to see everything in print!

What a fun book to have in our collection! I've already put in a request that we get a new volume each year! Maybe dad could start writing too (hint, hint!)

Thanks, mom!

Christmas Recap

2011-12-31T17:21:00.000-06:00

The Holidays are officially winding down. So sad. To relive that biggest of happy days I'm including LOTS of pictures. I could do slides - but I plan to print this someday and slides don't print so well in a book.

We woke the kids up with Maddie's new "tradition" request...we blare the Christmas music in the house and wait for everyone to get out of bed. After one second of music playing Maddie jumped out of her room...she'd already been up, gotten dressed for church and tried to cover it up with her robe. So much for traditions...

We headed downstairs where we opened stockings. The dog was not to be left out!

We got back from church and took some quick pictures. I really need a self-timer so we can take a family shot!

Good looking kids!

Mike and Jake had special ties for Christmas.

And of course...us girls couldn't be left out!

We flew upstairs to change into clothes (though Jake tried to convince us to skip that and just open gifts all dolled up...). We flew back downstairs to rip into the goodies!

I absolutely love all the expressions that come with Christmas gift opening...

There's the frustrated...this was great because we refused to help her and she was kept occupied for quite awhile!

The surprised...

The relieved...

And we have our traditions of reusing bows...we're so green!

We all have to save our "big" gifts for last to open. This year Mike got me a Nook Reader!

I gave Mike a Roku this year. It streams something for the t.v. Of course, the day after I bought this for him he told me, "Should anyone be buying me a Roku, they might also consider looking at the Blu-Ray from Sam's Club. I can't decide which I like better." I decided for him and kept the Roku I'd already gotten on sale.

I was very excited for each of the kids' gifts this year.

First up was Jake. We generally use some pretty weird boxes to wrap gifts. Most are leftover from other packages and a lot are leftover from electronic stuff Mike has delivered here. Hence, we never can trust what is actually on the outside of the box.

Jake proceeded to start opening his gift and said, "Oh look - I got a camera just like Maddie got."

Then he opened the box..."Wait a minute..."

It was all charged up and ready to go!

Here's another face I love at Christmas...anticipation!

I think she was pretty shocked at what she found...

This year she got a phone for Christmas. I believe her exact words were, "This is SO. DANG. COOL!"

After our house we headed to my parents' to celebrate the day with my family. We started with our traditional family picture.

This took three takes and each one had some flaws, but that's how we are right now. Lots of little kids means you just never know what you are going to get!

As bribery Tracy had told everyone that when the good picture was taken we could take a silly picture with stuffed animals...

That could be my new favorite picture!

Then it was all hands on deck as stockings and presents were passed out. Some of us were more excited than others...

Gifts were opened one at a time so we could actually see what everyone got which is always nice!

I'll speak for myself, but I'm always wondering if my mom is really going to like her gift. But every year she's as excited to get an iron (from my brother this year) as she is to get the massage pillow (my sister). Seriously - equally ecstatic over each (they both had three stars on her Christmas list!). And whoever got her the coffee...well, we know my parents are addicted to coffee...

We had general onlookers amidst the paper tossing...

Tracy and Rob got a special gift this year...the tree skirt they have been waiting multiple years for.

Even with our fairly organized way of gift opening...it's a mess afterward!

After gift opening came to a close we hung out and played...

We drank...

(That's not a thermos. It's an actual cocktail mixer. It holds about a gallon of booze. We managed to not waste any.)

My nieces had gotten "Just Dance 3" for Christmas and there were several dance-offs!

Then the adults actually let the kids play...

And that took up the majority of our day. We played games, we ate a lot of food, we visited and we laughed a lot. A really great day spent with some of my favorite people!

Two Hands!

2011-12-28T18:48:00.001-06:00

Today is Jake's birthday! Happy 10th! Two hands - and, as he informed us - we are all now "two digits".

Last night when prompted what he wanted for breakfast he told us that if we wanted we could get him donuts. And then bring them up to his room. But not before 8am. DO NOT wake him up before 8am.

This morning Mike headed to the donut shop. We brought a tray up to Jake and sang happy birthday to him. He said, "What time is it??" Mike said, "Per your instructions it is after 8am...8:50."

Jake enjoyed his donut and orange juice...

(no he isn't old enough to drink coffee...)

And then he got to open his gifts. I can't imagine that his Nerf Gun collection isn't completed yet...

He spent most of the day in his pajamas. We finally got him dressed when we told him he could go spend his gift cards, and he and Mike have been watching their new favorite show, "Top Shot".

We are off to dinner...at Chipotle, per his request...hopefully it's been a special day because he's a special kid!

We're Ready!

2011-12-24T15:07:00.000-06:00

We are FINALLY ready for Christmas! The last few presents (actually...all of them) were wrapped about 30 minutes ago! Whew! Can we meet a deadline or what?

See that GIANT present (big wall of blue on the left?) Both kids were anxious to find out who it was for. Jake won...we tried to tell them that size isn't always the greatest indicator!

Proud Mom Moment: As I was driving the kids around the other day Maddie said, "I'm SO excited to give my gifts this year! I mean...I'm excited to get them, but I'm SOOO excited to give them!" Jake chimed in that he could hardly wait for everyone to see his gifts too. Just maybe we are doing something right...

Anyway - the tree looks lovely...if you are a foot tall. If you are taller than that it's a little more sad...

The strings started going out approximately one week after we put the tree up. This is no end of frustration for Mike who sits in his office all day looking at it.

Every year Mike buys an ornament for our tree representing something from the previous year. I asked him if maybe this year instead of him picking it out, if we all should go along. So, on Thursday we braved The Mall of America (Mike's only destination for ornaments each year). We each found a few we liked, but nothing we all loved. There was a Willow 2011 ornament we liked, but the store had sold out of them. Guess who did have one? Shakopee's Halllmark store.

Yesterday Mike and I headed to the Shakopee Hallmark to buy it. Then we saw it and it just didn't feel like the right ornament, but one of the other figures was perfect. We decided we would purchase that instead, and Mike would turn it into an ornament...

As you have probably guessed this represents Mike's parents reuniting after 18 years. It's absolutely perfect. We intended for everyone to take part in picking it out so I was a little nervous showing the kids. But, when Mike pulled it out everyone was quiet and Maddie said, "I love it."

With that, we are officially ready for Christmas. And to be honest, while we are all excited to give our gifts - we are DEFINITELY excited to get our gifts from each other too. Present opening can't come soon enough!

Bring It!

2011-12-21T19:02:00.001-06:00

This fall has been incredible in terms of snowfall - or rather the lack thereof. Mike began researching snow blowers in the fall because we were determined that THIS was the year we were going to get one of these bad boys. Last winter did us in and the only saving grace was our neighbors' generosity in letting us borrow their's.

With every week that has passed with little to no snow, Mike has been thinking we've been sitting on a time bomb and he's just waiting for the sky to dump feet of the white stuff on us. Research became more intense, especially when he finally decided on the model he wanted only to find out it was sent to the east coast when they got all the snow. More research ensued and I was learning far more about snow blowers than I needed or wanted.

Enter tonight: Mike had made his decision and Home Depot had it in stock. The heavens opened up and we heard angels sing.

Mike went to pick it up this evening and this 28", turn-on-a-dime machine is now happily residing in our garage in the spare spot he'd made room for weeks ago...

Mike said when he went to load it in the truck "Santa" was there to help. He said the man was a dead ringer for Santa Claus and Mike had all he could do not to hug him and say, "Thank you! Merry Christmas!" but he didn't think it would be appreciated.

Tonight at dinner Mike said - and I quote: "I actually hope we get two feet of snow."

Mark this day - Mike has NEVER wished for snow. It's usually accompanied by cold and he's not a fan of either. But, we are ready!

We also realize that because of this purchase we have virtually guaranteed no snow for the rest of winter.

Share and Share Alike

2011-12-20T22:12:00.001-06:00

Tonight Mike and I got home from a work party for him and Mike mentioned how hungry he was. Maddie said she was hungry too and this was their conversation:

Mike: Mom's going to regret having introduced me to the lefse. It's good stuff!
Maddie: I know! It's not fair you get some...you didn't even make any of it.
Mike: How much of this house have you paid for?

Lefse 2011

2011-12-19T22:01:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday was lefse making day at my mom's house. Yum. For those that are not of Norwegian descent, it's pronounced "Lef-sa". It's spelled D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

We've been making these batches for a few years now and we've slowly gotten better. A couple years ago Maddie joined in and this year Jake was added to the group.

It's a messy business, let me tell you. Tracy and I both realized NOT to wear black this year (as opposed to previous years).

So we all had our jobs. Mom kneads and cuts the dough she prepared the night before. Tracy and I roll it out (Which we rocked on this year! Whoo-hoo for progress!) Jake and Maddie were in charge of the griddles. These cookers are hot! I know we had them turned on to 500 degrees when we started - I'm not sure what they ended up at, but I would guess around 400.

At one point Jake said, "Yikes! I just burned my arm!" That was it though. No tears, no screams, no wails. So, I thought it was small and no one said anything. A little while later he mentioned how his arm still really hurt. Tracy looked at it and told him to go put it under water...

We told him it was initiation into Lefse making. We've all got our lefse scars.

Well, water wasn't good enough and we thought Jake should get it covered up to no flour or miscellaneous junk got in it. Grandma covered it with some gauze and tried to get everything to stay in place with band-aids. Then she got a phone call. Jake bent his arm and his "bandage" fell off. Tracy and I were covered in flour so I told him to find grandpa and have him help Jake.

Grandpa's emergency kit includes electrical tape:

Pretty soon Jake was rolling the dough, then getting it on the lefse stick, then transferring it to the griddle where Maddie took over. Read: Kerry's out of a job. Boredom. A bit later Tracy left her "station" to do something and I stepped in and didn't give her job back. Eventually Jake got bored and we were all back at our original jobs and we one mean assembly machine!

This year's accomplishments: most pieces were a consistent size. AND...most pieces were actually round!! I think we ended up with about 150 full sized pieces which we split up.

When I got home I broke into a bag - or two. Smaker godt! ("Tastes good!" Yes...I had to look that up, but I can sing the first line of "I am so Glad on Christmas Eve" in Norwegian).

Anyway - I think it was our best batch yet and Tracy has suggested we start making it quarterly because these bags aren't going to last very long!

December Recap Thus Far

2011-12-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

I went to pull out pictures for what we've accomplished in December. There's a whopping three pictures - and two of those aren't even things we so much accomplished, as just plain old pictures.

We did see Santa. We went to an open house a neighbor was having through his office and we got in the kids' yearly photo. It is probably the worst photo I've taken Santa-wise (totally my fault) but I'm pretty sure the kids would mutiny if I suggested another visit to a local mall. So, this is it...

Then there is the "Picture of the Day" project. I'm DETERMINED that December will be the month that I actually take a picture every day. I've had a lot of fillers every month. December would be the only month I've taken an actual picture every. single. day. I'll post more about this project after I check it off my list, but it's much harder than I originally anticipated.

Now, I actually did accomplish one thing I've been dreaming of. I saw this scarf on the 'net and posted it to Pinterest. (Can I just say - I love Pinterest! Whereas I used to copy/paste ideas in a word document, this actually lets me "pin" a picture, then has a direct link back to it saving a lot of hassle on my part when I want to accomplish a project!)

I digress...this is the scarf:

via www.brittanymakes.com

She actually made her scarf (one of those big loop things) from her friend's old flannel pants! Gah! After rummaged through our pile of flannel pants and finding nothing I liked, I went to Joann's and bought a yard of flannel I did like. $4.56

Then I headed to my mom's to help her with a project. Then I interrupted her project to insert my own because while there was a tutorial regarding this scarf, I wasn't sure I understood it. My mom can sew anything and read/interpret and often times rewrite a pattern better so the Average Josephine can actually follow along.

Then she just sewed it for me while I watched. (Which I informed my dad was my secret plan all along...love you, mom!)

It resulted in this:

I love it and it dressed up this super cheap, plain t-shirt just enough. Next time I think I'd make it a little wider and shorter. I also wouldn't iron the seams because it removed some fluff. But, for a first effort I love it and plan to make a few more.

I would love to accomplish another project - Christmas related - before Christmas actually arrives. Next week begins my vacation and I plan to get it done!

The Rest of November

2011-12-10T15:29:00.001-06:00

It's killing me not to be caught up with November and December. So, this post will serve as what happened the rest of November. The next post will be so far in December and wa-la! We are to current time and I will have nothing to post about.

We had our first snowfall. It was very late compared to last year, but the kids couldn't wait to get outside and start shoveling.

Doesn't this next picture look like a definite "brother" picture? Don't worry - the sister half was equally prepared to fling a shovel-ful of snow his way!

Frankly, only a minor amount of shoveling actually happened. The poor dog barely had a path to crawl through to do her ~~doody~~ duty.

In a related story: Mike has narrowed down the snow-blower model he would like to purchase - twice. He's moved the bikes to hang from the ceiling and we are all ready for it's delivery - right after "we" figure out which one model wins out (all depending on when they arrive in stock).

Jake started basketball. He's lucky #13 this year. He has basketball once per week and most Saturday mornings.

He's enjoying himself and the games are fun to watch, but I think those gyms are colder than if they were playing outside!

We were serenaded one night with an impromptu duet. There was no blood shed over this.

They both love to play my keyboard and fiddle with the sounds. The down-side? The other day I went to do some legitimate work on it and I couldn't figure out how the heck to get the normal sound back. What makes matters worse is this is a very simple keyboard. Read: minimal buttons. I ended up turning the whole thing off and back on. This took five minutes to find the power button.

And that is the rest of November. We are only on Day 10 of December, but I'll be thrilled to be "caught-up" so I won't feel so bad when I get behind again.

Concert Night

2011-12-05T07:50:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned previously, I was hired to accompany the Middle School choirs. This is very enjoyable for me because I love to accompany. The not-so-enjoyable side? I wanted to send some of those 7th graders to detention every day. I don't know how middle school teachers do it on a daily basis!

I spent almost every day in November at school. Every other day I was involved in Maddie's class. Before accepting the job I did talk with Maddie to make sure she wasn't going to be "so embarrassed" that her mom was in class. She was okay with it, which was good because I really wanted the job. I think she did enjoy that every other day she also got to skip the bus and ride home with me.

The end of November was her concert. On the days the kids were working together, there were some great sounds. Her choir teacher and I were sure they could make a great sound at the concert, we just weren't sure they would.

Turns out they did. They were incredibly talkative between songs, which I think they'll be working on for the next concert, but the music was great!

This year Maddie got to be a part of the Select Choir which, I think, she's really enjoyed. The director pushes them to sing harder pieces than the other choirs. One piece during this section was my absolute favorite; hard to imagine these were 6th & 7th graders!

At the end all the 7th graders came on-stage (about 250!) to sing a combined song. The kids really liked this piece and they did a good job. It's a huge choir and quite an undertaking to get them all together!

It was a great concert and I can't wait to hear their songs in February!

Hello, Again!

2011-12-03T20:08:00.001-06:00

Hi - maybe you remember me: I post here once in awhile. Turns out to be more like once in a GREAT while lately. I was hired by the middle school to be the accompanist for their choirs. I spent almost all of November at school during the days. It's a fun job for me, I love to accompany, but I got pretty behind on a few things, so now that the concert is over, I'm hopefully going to catch up on some things.

First, would be to update our lives on here. I'm not even going to try and go in order. Expect November's doings to be scattered all over the place over the next few days.

We'll kick things off with Thanksgiving since it was the easiest to pull up pictures from.

Mike's brother's family came up to Minnesota late Wednesday night. We were up fairly late as well once they arrived but while we were waiting for them to drive up, we used our time to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner.

Maddie and I were in charge of desserts and any general baking. This included rolls, two pies and a cheesecake. Since our hands were pretty much full of flour or baking stuff, there's no pictures.

Jake's hands were full too: he and Mike were working on the Turkey. Mike was fascinated with Jake's fascination.

Mike was planning on grilling the turkey again this year. If you asked Jake however, it came out as, "I'm going to grill the turkey with dad." It involved a great deal of prep:

Jake just studied everything and asked tons of questions. Maddie worked in the corner and tried to ignore the raw bird they were digging through. She was not intrigued at all.

Mike trussed up the turkey and they got everything in the fridge.

The boys grilled the turkey and it was so tasty! This year Mike set the drip pans up differently and was able to catch the drippings so we could make a tasty gravy too - happiness all around!

I have no pictures of the meal. It was a free-for-all at eating time. I was too busy getting stuffed full of potatoes and all things Thanksgiving.

Friday night we headed to the Holidazzle parade....along with all of Minnesota. It was 60 degrees and everyone was taking advantage of it! It was a perfect night to be out and we were lucky enough to find a spot 45 minutes before the parade that we could squeeze most of the kids into...

Our guests left on Saturday afternoon. The rest of the time we pretty much never saw the kids - some played, some talked, some watched football; all relaxed. It was great to have them up here to celebrate all the things we have to be thankful for!

Monopolizing the Game

2011-11-13T22:56:00.001-06:00

This past Friday night we had game night in our pajamas. The kids decided that we would be playing Monopoly despite my lack of enthusiasm for this choice.

I'm not a huge Monopoly fan; I can play the game about once every six months and be absolutely fine with that amount. I don't mind the first part - buying the properties. It's when you have to trade and wheel and deal that I think it gets so stressful. I am not a real estate mogul; I have zero idea of what a "good deal" is.

This was Mike during much of the game. He was going through the ads making a Christmas list for himself. I kept telling him he was going to lose if he didn't pay attention.

We had to explain the idea of purchasing property and what the overall goal of the game was to the kids. Jake thought he should save him money and didn't understand the concept of buying all the property you could at first.

This is where it started to get interesting. Maddie landed on a railroad and bought it. Then she landed on another and bought that. Within two times around the board she had landed on all four railroads. I knew things weren't looking pretty at that point.

After she landed on those four properties, we all started landing on them.

"You owe me $200!!"

"$200, please"

"You have to pay me $200!!"

Then she just stayed with "$200, please!". By the third or fourth time of this statement, always said in the exact same tone and manner, Jake mimicked her as he handed over his cash. He gave a dead-on impersonation, let me tell you.

There came a point where we were pulling all our cash reserves just to pay her. Then she obtained all the light blue colors and was able to put up a motel on everything. When she got her first "rent" payment...she was delirious.

Then there was Mike. In the beginning he rounded the board and landed on Chance, Community Chest or the squares where he owed taxes. By the time we all had 5-6 properties he had one. It wasn't looking pretty for him.

The kids started offering to give him money to get through. Jake especially started feeling really bad and was tossing money in Mike's piles. Mike had mortgaged his properties to pay off Maddie and then he made her some offer that was in exchange for her railroads with what he had left.

Suddenly this game got serious. Maddie was having a hard time agreeing to the trade; she loved her railroads. However, her dad was in serious jeopardy of getting kicked out of the game.

We told her it was a game; she didn't have to agree to the trade. Jake started announcing that he got dibs on dad's properties. Mike yelled, "I'm not dead yet!"

Maddie was still struggling...

In the end she said, "I can't do it. I just love my railroads." So she kept them and proceeded to kick our patooties with those $200 debts every time we rounded a corner.

Maddie and Jake are itching to play the game again. Tonight we learned a new dominoes game from my parents' friends. Hopefully I can steer them towards that come Friday game night!

Family Photo Shoot(s)

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we finally got our family pictures done! This has been a month+ long project and I'm glad to put it behind us for another year! I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the rest of the family is as well.

At the end of September I mentioned to Mike that I really wanted family pictures taken this fall. I was going to be taking pictures of a few other families at the beginning of October and knew the fall colors would be great. Well, life got in the way and Mike ended up heading to Iowa a week earlier than we planned - hence, no family pictures then.

However, I managed to drag the kids along figuring I would at least get pictures of them done and we'd wait another year for full family photos.

Isn't that orange purty? Ahhh...loved it. This was really just a practice shot before my neighbors arrived to have their picture taken, so it isn't glowing with sibling fondness, but I still like it.

But, then they were goofing around and I caught this....

This is very "them" right now. This will be in a frame near our basement mantle...and probably in my piano studio...and possibly in Mike's office. It may be attached to Christmas cards...the possibilities are endless!

I also took some shots of the kids separately. Maddie's were okay but I've had better photo shoots with her. Jake wasn't feelin' the modeling thing and I think I got three shots of him. Here's the winner:

We tried posing together to kill some time. That's always an exercise in humility as I run back and forth to get composed in 20 seconds. This was our best shot, and I don't think any of us are in focus. However, it's been forever since I've had a decent picture with just me and the kids so this will probably also be in my piano studio...

And that was our day in October. I thought it was good and I got the "kid" shots that I wanted. However, each week that passed by, I was more sad that we hadn't gotten a family picture taken together. So, I made the executive decision towards the end of October that despite the lack of color, we would just suck it up and get our pictures taken.

Everyone was thrilled. Not.

This took three reschedules as well. Finally this past Saturday Tracy graciously came over to help me figure out what the heck our family was wearing (thanks, Tracy!!!). I had already been shopping at her house in the morning and what she borrowed out to us didn't work. Then I had been shopping with a "no-holds-barred" attitude for three hours. I purchased four shirts, six scarves, four necklaces and one pair of earrings. I will be returning four shirts, five scarves, and three necklaces. We ended up borrowing a scarf from Tracy's neighbor and the extra jewelry not being returned is my family's way of thanking me for saving them from a shopping horror expedition.

We headed out to Hyland Park because I knew there would be shade, a lake and lots of fallen leaves. I wasn't expecting to find any color left whatsoever. However, when we arrived there was one beautiful tree. All the leaves were still on it - it was a pretty gold that was going to look perfect with our outfits. I was a happy girl. Jake was wrapped in the blanket we had brought with to sit on. Maddie was ready to put on her coat; it was windy. Ridiculously windy. So windy that we couldn't take our picture by the perfect tree that had been waiting for us because our hair would have looked like we were sitting through a tornado.

So, we hiked over to a little area I'd previously discovered with a perfect little wood wall to sit on. I took pictures and ran back and forth. In my uber-professionalism I realized after the first 10 shots that Jake's shirt collar was completely messed up. By then the wind had kicked up more and we needed to find a spot with some serious wind blocking.

Here's what we ended up with: the first picture is our family shot this year. The "Serious Windblocking" wasn't really happening but we did end up with some minor blocking and now it just looks like someone's blow-drying our hair:

While I got things set up, Mike and the kids were goofing off - possibly trying to wrestle to keep warm...

I did get another shot of Maddie and Jake that I liked. Can I just say: Jake's hands on his knee? Looks totally casual - except it was only placed liked that after I asked him to please unclench his white-knuckled fist and look relaxed. He agreed to try between chattering teeth.

Here's a shot of Maddie solo. Though you can't see them, her firsts are clenched too:

I can't decide which pictures of them I prefer - there's also this one:

And we managed to get an updated picture of Mike and I. Pretty sure this hasn't been done since about 2007 or thereabouts...

Sadly, neither of us are too excited about this one. It was the second picture I showed to Mike. He said, "Okay...what else?" I told him that was it. Two pictures turned out of the maybe 10 we shot. By then it was 1) getting dark and 2) getting even more windy and chilly.

We headed to Biaggi's to finish celebrating Mike's birthday week and the wrap of Family Pictures: 2011.

40 Years!

2011-11-07T09:41:00.000-06:00

At the end of October my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary! So cool! They've been a great example on how to work together, have fun and be best friends.

Tracy, Riley and I graffiti'd their driveway while they were away celebrating...

Mom and dad were surprised when they got back. She said a few neighbors commented on the stunning artwork in their driveway and one neighbor kept saying, "40 years...wow...40 years."

Here's to another 40 years, mom and dad!

Happy Day!

2011-11-02T08:58:00.002-05:00

Today is a special day around here - it's Mike's birthday!

He's not terribly happy that he has to work; he usually tries to take the day off. But hopefully we all can find a way to make the day a little more special for him. It's just the boys home tonight and Jake offered that he and dad could go out to dinner - I wonder if that meant Jake was paying too?

Either way - he's a hero to us and we hope he has a fantastic day, work or not!

You Should See the Other Guy

2011-11-01T21:50:00.002-05:00

Jake came home this afternoon and I got a look at his face and said, "Yikes!"

He said he collided with another kid's head during recess while they were playing football. This led me to suddenly realize he wasn't wearing his glasses.

He pulled those out. He thinks they are reparable - me? Not so much, but I'll try to stay optimistic. Tomorrow we will be pulling out pair #2. We constantly tell our kids that moms and dads can see into the future. We knew there would come a day when we would be needing a back-up plan.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday night we attended our neighbors' annual Halloween Party! We have such a good time catching up with neighbors and seeing the fun costume ideas. Maddie and Jake have a ball every year! This year - no home-made costumes, but we did wait until last minute. We will never learn.

Thanks for a fun evening Halloween Partiers!

Trotting Along

2011-10-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

For Maddie's birthday in July we bought a Living Social Deal for horseback riding lessons. She was really excited and couldn't wait for her lesson. It just had to be used by November 5th.

I completely forgot about it until I was cleaning out my emails the first week of October. The lady was nice enough to squeeze her in for a lesson mid October.

We arrived and got a little tour of the stables while we waited for lessons. We were intrigued by this horse:

I didn't catch him mid-slurp. He just stood there with his tongue hanging out - almost like a dog. The only time we saw him move was to lick his chops, then the tongue was back out. I almost wanted to reach over and pull it - but gross. We probably gave him a complex the way we were staring and giggling.

Anyway - Maddie's lesson got started. After a little talk they were asked to lead the horse forward and backward.

After a short explanation on how to use the reins, Maddie was walking around on Dash.

A few circles later and the instructor was showing them how to get the horses to trot.

Maddie was very excited for that part! She thought it was hard to remember to hold the reins down, but still use her legs to stand in the stirrups when needed. Being the horse expert that I am, I think her reins were a little short because even holding them all the way to the end, she had to lean forward to give slack to the reins. Still, that standing thing was hard work!

The trainer kept telling Maddie, "Stop smiling! No smiling allowed!" Maddie thought she was serious at first, but every time around the ring and especially when she got to break into a trot...big grins!

In all actuality, this 90 minute lesson was probably only about an hour long. My sister asked if I called the trainer out on that, but I hadn't. You could tell Maddie was exhausted, though she'd never admit it. Plus, the lesson description had said they would be brushing and taking care of the horse afterward which I was great with. However, that wasn't happening because the trainer said these two horses didn't like to be brushed by people they didn't know. I don't know that I believe that, but I was fine leaving early if she wasn't going to do that work.

Still, one last ride around the ring: this was one happy girl!

The next morning Maddie came down for breakfast, poured her cereal and said, "My legs are So. Sore." I guess happiness has it's price sometimes.