New Year's Eve

Finds us all at home doing nothing tonight.

Zach is passed out cold in bed.
Christian is playing WOW (Worlds of Warcraft).
Nick is playing PS2.
Bella is pleading with Nick to change his game choice to Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses.
I have been working on Bella's Webkinz character (ie- playing with a 5 year old's website and finding it a challenge...)
Abby is snoring.
Eustace is a perch atop of our clean laundry basket.
Muffy Ann is MIA. Most likely curled up somewhere that no one can bother her.
Turtles are hibernating.

Party animals, eh?

Happy 2009! Hope your 2008 went out as uneventfully as ours!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a visit from Santa last night. Yay!!!

And the Christmas madness begins!

We celebrated our first Christmas of the year (3 still to go) on Saturday with my side of the family. Now the kids are more anxious than ever for Santa to come.

It is bitterly nasty cold out, so we are hiding out inside until we are forced to leave the house for work tomorrow morning.

Just around the corner

Is Christmas Day. While I got a great start at shopping this year- I still have a couple of things I need to get. I hope to wrap that up today and start literally wrapping tonight. I ordered several things online this year,which is great. WalMart.com has 97 cent (can you make a cent sign on your computer? I've always been sure you can, but I don't know how! In fact, I think they should replace the "^" key with a "cent" key. I mean people need the cent sign, I don't even know what ^ is for? But I digress...) As I was saying, WalMart had $0.97 shipping on items which I would argue you cannot drive to the store and deal with the lines for that price. And then other websites I was able to google coupon codes for to get free shipping or a discount on the item which makes the shipping no more than the price of the item originally.

Nick, Christian, and Bella took in an ISU v Iowa hockey game last night. I forgot to send the camera with them, but they reported having a lot of fun. And Iowa State won the game- go State!!! I surfed on the net and watched Dan in Real Life (for the 3rd time) after Zach went to bed.

OK, I need to go work with Bella on a number chart now before I head to work. She is beside me chatting (mostly amongst herself) and just asked herself if her mom is 78. I'm not happy about my proximity to 30, but am terrified that I must appear to be nearly 80. Oh, kids.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Professor Doorknob

Ever since Zach has learned to open doors, he seems a lot smarter. Now he's even dressing the part.

No photos needed again...

Poor Zach. He has been hit with a nasty tummy bug- leaving him a very angry diaper area. He's as sweet as can be, trying really hard to be a good boy, but there is some intense screaming at diaper changing time. It's been 2 days now, so I am hopeful tomorrow will be a new day and he'll be on the mend.

As for the rest of us, it's just a quiet weekend. Nick is scheduled to have his wisdom teeth out on Monday. Christian has a wrestling meet next week and Bella has a Christmas concert. There is never a dull moment. Hopefully there will be some Kodak moments to spice up our recently quite drab blog. :o)

Stay warm!

Happy Birthday to Nick and me!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a wonderful weekend.

Wednesday was Nick's birthday. We celebrated with taco pizza and pumpkin bars. Nick's birthday commences the 4 days a year that he and I are the same age. We have a running joke about our ages. We constantly talk about whether people are "his age" or "my age" even though we are only 361 days apart.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday- it was great! Everyone brought dishes that were delicious and aside from my kitchen being a little small- it was no stress. Our families are great- no political debates, no family arguments, none of the nightmares you hear about with other families. We are very blessed.

Friday I had to work, so Nick and the kids tackled the Christmas tree project. It looks very nice- for now. We however have one stupid cat that climbs the tree and messes it all up. So it's a long process of repairing the tree all month. Before work, my sister and I did the early morning crazy shopping. I like to do it and have fun, although the deals were less than stellar this year.

Saturday was a nice relaxing day. Christian headed to Boone to see his aunt who was visiting from Kansas. Bella and Nick went to the store, while Zach and I stayed home. Last night Belinda watched the kids while Nick and I went out to eat. Then we hit a few stores and got a bunch of people off our shopping list. Only a few more to go!

Today is my birthday and we have my favorite thing planned- NOTHING! Nick is headed to get our kids now, so I'm going to read the paper and enjoy my last minutes of a quiet house. Happy Holidays.

Petting Zoo

Tonight we opened our own petting zoo. I've never had all 5 pets in the same room before. It was time for a turtle hut cleaning, so tonight they met.

Photoless Posting

We do not need pictures for everyone to imagine our house this weekend. Zach most likely has an ear infection, in conjunction with cutting 2 new teeth. Bella has the stomach flu. My mom and Nick were both complaining of dizziness at one point. Christian and I (knock on wood) have been feeling ok.

I am glad to get illnesses out of the way this weekend before we host Thanksgiving, but now I feel like I need to spray the house down with bleach after I complete the 90 item to do list I already had planned.

All right, the sun is peeking out, so the day is upon us. Time to work.

Birthday- Part 2

Today was the party. Zach and his cousin Ethan had a combined party because Ethan's birthday is the 13th and Zach's the 14th. We had it at a pizza place. It was the usual chaos of gathering our kids (my 3 kids, my 2 nieces, my 1 nephew, and Nick's sister's 3 kids- that's 9 right off the bat...) but I think they kids had fun. Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate. Zach is actually napping now, but Bella is unpackaging and making sure all the toys work for him. What a nice sister...

Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

Today marks the 2nd year of Zach's life. He had a rough afternoon- after nap he threw up. Luckily his party is not until Sunday, so he has time to recover. However, not even a little bug could keep him down when he got his present from Grandpa and Grandma. He's wearing his Batman pajamas, maybe we need to trade them in for leather chaps? He LOVES his bike!

And yes, we need to thin down that toy pile behind him before his party!!!

Mathematics

41 patients in 7 hours + 4:30pm walk in with chest pain = 1 tired mom

Uggghhhh, Monday.

*YAWN*

Goodnight.

Dan in Real Life

Rent it, TiVo it, buy it. You will not be disappointed. The first 15 minutes are a little slow, but stick with it, you'll be glad you did. If you click on "Dan in Real Life" up above it will link you to a website. The website only gives it 7 stars. My personal opinion is anyone that has ever felt like "the odd one out", will give it 10!

Long, cold week

What happened to our beautiful weather??? It's November, that's what! An update on our family for this week.

Nick was glad to wrap up working on a job that was 90 minutes from home. Next week is his week of school, so he can be inside away from the cold weather for a week before reality strikes. A harsh reality. We always hope he can get a job closer to home and he has. This one is only 25 minutes away... but is it worth it? He'll be working at a sewer and sanitation plant- GROSS! Even grosser- they have 45 days to complete the project before the s$!% hits the fan. Apparently the backup tank can only hold 45 days worth of material before the one they are working on will start to fill up. Talk about some incentive to get the job done on time! Of course my medical brain thought of- what if there is a Hepatitis A outbreak and facilities get used more than usual? Uhhh, honey, you better work fast!!!

Zach had a good week. My worst fears that he would never speak are being alleviated everyday. He is successfully putting together two words to indicate a need ("me juice"), a disappointment ("no bike?"), an announcement ("I naughty"), or a denial ("no poop"). Of note, the denial is always false. He also had his two year pictures taken this week. They should be put online soon, so I will publish a link. He did better than I expected (I thought he'd cry and he didn't) but they aren't his best set of pictures ever. Still- it's him, he's cute and that's the whole point.

Bella had a cold and cough this week that rendered her waking up a lot at night and sleeping on mom and dad's floor every night. Her week ended with a little trauma that caused a lot of commotion. Bella fell on the bus after school and got a small cut on her head. Well, heads are very well supplied with blood, so it did create a nasty looking scene. But the commotion comes into play when the bus driver apparently thought she was someone else. The driver radioed to the school to notify another child's mother to meet them in Huxley because of this. Well, this mom goes there and sees her child who is fine. Luckily, we know this mom so she when she realized who was hurt, she brought her to me at work. If this had happened to you or I, we would have left the clinic with a staple in our scalp, but this is Bella. She has a high pitched squeal of fear that shatters people's ear drums and then may ascend into a decibel only heard by dogs. So, it might not heal quite as nicely, but it's under a lot of hair and no one will be the wiser.

Christian is a busy kid this time of year. He has started wrestling practice that goes from after school until 5pm and then 3 nights a week there is an optional practice 630-830pm. On Wednesday nights he has Confirmation class. And we cannot forget his important TV schedule that includes 2 hour wrestling shows on Mondays and Fridays. Conferences are next week so he is pumped for two early dismissals and a day off.

As for me November is going to be a busy month. We are throwing a birthday party for Zach, a birthday party for Nick's mom, and then we are hosting Thanksgiving. I like to organize things, so it doesn't translate into a lot of "work" for me. Both birthday parties are being held at restaurants, so I don't even have to go crazy cleaning until Thanksgiving gets closer. Although, since we are trapped inside this weekend it has occurred to me I could get a head start.

Here's wishing everyone a nice, quiet, warm weekend!

Snack bucket

It is the most coveted item in the kindergarten class. And this weekend it is ours to fill! Bella is so excited it's finally her day to bring treats for her class' afternoon snack. I wonder if they would be surprised if we sent it to school with what it's got inside of it today?

Definitely going to have to wash it out before we put food inside!

Welcome November

November is rolling in with some gorgeous weather! Nick took this opportunity to go hunting with some buddies, Christian and Bella are off with friends. That leaves Zach and I to entertain ourselves. I decided that while he is 13 days short of being 2, I'm going to risk going against Play-Doh's suggestion of only 2+ years and let him try it out. We got a little tiny can of it trick or treating. I was really worried he'd think it was food because it came out of the candy bag and all, but he did a good job. It kept him busy for nearly half an hour! At 23 months, that is impressive!

Then we enjoyed a nice walk with Abby. It's 1pm- Zach is laying in bed talking to Curious George (his new bedtime buddy), Abby is passed out on the floor, the cats are curled up in the sunshine and now, it's my turn. I LOVE naptime!

Happy Halloween!

We learned today that when your child is 5 you should always practice a "trick" or joke before going out trick or treating. Otherwise you are likely to end up with... "Why did the pig cross the road?" "I don't know, why?" "Because he was sick." It got a fair amount of laughs, but certainly not for the funniness factor. We have enough candy to last for months, but with Nick around, it won't last that long! He's the biggest candy eater in the house. Left to right: Lauren's friend, Tori, Bella, Zach, niece Elizabeth, and niece Lauren.

Spooktacular...

We went to a family night celebrating Halloween tonight. It was a little young for Christian, but he was happy to do the cake walk for a cupcake. Which, as it turns out, took lik 20 minutes for him to ever win one. Bella hopped in and won on her first walk. She also got mummified. Happy Halloween!

Hang onto your hat!

And your slide. Whew, the wind was awful today!!!

I think I can, I think I can...

After another discouraging day of dieting (other people were eating all sorts of candy and treats at work all day) I may have found a little piece of Atkin's heaven...

1/2 C. vanilla Carb Smart ice cream
1 TBS peanut butter

Tastes like a Culver's Peanut Butter Malt only 6 carbs!!!

Yeeeeee Haw!

Perchance I should change careers...

As some of you may know, I am planning to head back to school. My thought is to complete pre-med classes at ISU and then apply for medical school. At any rate, the animals in our house must be telling me to change my mind, because we definitely need a vet in the family more than a doctor.

Last night Nick and I had all three of our children spoken for- overnights away from home. ALL THREE OF THEM, SAME NIGHT!!! This is a very rare occurrence, so we went out for dinner at a fabulous Mexican place with delicious daiquiris and then wandered a few stores until our movie started. After the movie, we headed home. On the way home, my phone rings.

It's my mom telling me that on our way home we should be thinking of creative ways to get a bone off Abby's bottom jaw. Now, with all the delicious daiquiris having been previously consumed, I thought she said get a "phone" off her bottom jaw. Now, for those of you who have not read the previous posts about Abby, the thought of her eating a phone isn't that unrealistic. But, after we got that cleared up, I realized that it was a marrow bone. It's shaped like a circle and the dog eats the middle part, then they are left with a super hard circle shaped bone that they can chew on for a loooooong time. Somehow Abby had gotten that ring around her bottom jaw, past her tall canine teeth and it was stuck. Really stuck.

So I get home and call my vet -at home- which, this is now the second time I've called him 10pm-ish in the past 2 months. OK, I have a 12 year old, a 5 year old, and a 2 year old and between the three of them I've paged a doctor ONE time ever! Now I've paged my vet twice about Abby in the past few months, plus seen him three times in the past few weeks with Muffy's illness. Rest assured, I'm making his house payment next month!

Anyways, our vet is great- he met us up at the clinic in town and sedated Abby so we could cut the bone off with bolt cutters. He said we never would have gotten it off because her lips were so swollen. Because Abby hadn't eaten he was also able to give her some medicine to reverse the sedative and wake her back up. We were home within about 20 minutes with one very confused, but happy dog.

And our best news out of this whole fiasco is Abby is down to 86 pounds from 105. Six more to go and she'll be at her goal weight. Wish I could say the same for those of us in the house on Atkins!

Anyways, I am considering changing that med school application to a vet school application, because even with the huge pay difference I think I'll still come out ahead being able to fix my own animal family.

Whoa...

A self portrait of Bella.

HELLOOOOO!!!!

From Zachary!

Gone Fishing

Nick and Christian spent a few hours this afternoon at Big Creek fishing. They caught quite a few. Most of them were pretty small. I'm not sure of the final count as Nick is still in the garage filleting away. At least I know if our economy tanks and we can't buy food, they can catch it. The only issue there is- only Christian will actually eat the fish...

Here are some pictures from Thursday night's football game. Two of the football player (#73), one of Michael's reaction to eating all the sour sprinkles from the bottom of a bag of Sour Skittles (as dared by his sister for $1), and then what the little kids do to entertain themselves at the end of the game- slide like snakes across the bleachers.

Bad blogger

OK, I am a complete slacker on here lately. Let's see if I can sum things up. A sentence about each person, er, family member...

I forgot to post a huge CONGRATS!!! to Nick- he got an AWESOME raise at work while I was on vacation!

Christian has a home football game tomorrow night- will post pictures for sure, I promise!

Bella got tap shoes tonight and learned that perchance you should not try them on the laminate floor as you will tap your toes really quickly before the back of your head taps the floor.

Zach is the cutest darn thing that you ever did see.

Muffy is alive and kicking- even back to boxing at the dog, so her spunk is back!

Eustace is still plotting the demise of all humans in the house by weaving between your feet particularly on the steps.

Abby enjoyed a Kong full of dog food today and even though it's empty now she's carrying it everywhere with her- just in case it magically regenerates the goodies she found inside.

Myrtle and Squirtle are hibernating.

And as for me, I am experiencing starvation similar to Muffy's- I started Atkins this week.

That's it for us!

Still kicking...

The ill cat is almost off the endangered list... she's doing quite well. Getting stronger each day. I think we are out of the danger zone- as long as she doesn't go anorexic on us again.

This is a busy weekend. Tonight was the homecoming game at the school. Tomorrow I have to work, Christian is in a punt and passing contest in the morning, he's going fishing in the afternoon, and then we are going to dinner at a friend's house. Sunday luckily has nothing on the agenda. I think I'll schedule a nap.

I'll try to post some pics from the contest.

Have a great weekend.

Muffy Ann

The lab results show that Muffy is extremely ill. She is bordering on liver failure and her hemoglobin is very low. The vet was actually surprised she is still alive. He was even more shocked that I have been getting her to eat and that she is using the litter box. We are going back to see him tomorrow morning so he can see her strange walk. He feels very confident that it is not a stroke though, so that was a relief. I think with the lab numbers she has the fact that she is breathing is a positive so he's not going to pick on her walking quite yet.

She is just the sweetest cat anyone could ask for. A blood draw, IV fluids, being syringe fed Cat Ensure against her will, and through it all she just purrs. She hasn't snarled, hissed, or nipped at anyone. I hope she can pull through.

Home again, home again

It's good to be home! I arrived shortly after midnight on Saturday night. I, of course, could not resist waking up the kids. While Zach snuggled for quite a while, Bella had a cheery "Hi Mommy!" and Christian mumbled a "hi" before going back to sawing logs- the member of our family most excited about my return was... Abby! She was jumping and wagging her tail and going completely crazy in the middle of the night. I was hoping for that reaction from my kids or husband, but at any rate, it was nice to be missed.

When I got home I found that my favorite kitty, Muffy Ann, has gotten really sick. This morning she was so weak she wasn't able to lift her head. I took her to the vet this morning, he drew blood work and gave her some fluids. She has lost a ton of weight- from 11 pounds to 7 pounds in the past few weeks. The labs will be back tomorrow, so I hope to know more then. He gave me some high calorie food to feed her and I picked up some CatSure (Ensure for cats). She has been eating the food and tolerating me squirting the vitamin drink down her mouth. I hope for good news tomorrow. But she is walking very strangely and I'm a little worried she may have had a stroke. It's so hard to be "medical" and come up with all these horrible thoughts but be rational enough to know I can't afford a CT for my cat. I hope with a little food and fluids we can get her perked up again. Only time will tell...

A Family Apart

I write this today from Telluride, Colorado. The rest of my family is at home- I am out here to celebrate my friend Megan's 40th Birthday. It is a beautiful place. Today I think I plan to hit all the shops on the Main Street in town and see what treasures I can unearth for the kids.

Yesterday we went on a hike. It is the easiest hike the town has to offer. Well, between my out of shapeness, the thin air, and my asthma I would like to say it was anything but easy. I mean, a hike in Iowa is usually relatively flat. A hike in Colorado is going up the side of the mountain. There were many times I wanted to turn around, but I had a good group that didn't mind waiting for me to catch my breath.

I miss my kids and wonder what they are doing at home... Oh, and Nick too :o)

Football- the best sport ever!!!

Christian had his first football game tonight. It's like real football- pads, helmets, the whole bit. Soooo much more fun that flag football. His team didn't do the best, but it was their first game ever. I'm sure they'll have a really hard practice tomorrow. It was a lot of fun. Of course, the field we played at today was like a million miles from the bleachers, but I hope to get some pictures next time. Go 73!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I haven't posted for a while and I don't have any earth shattering news to report, but we've been pretty busy.

Nick's crew at work is wrapping up their current job- the Ft Dodge hospital. He's been working strange hours (6am-10pm once!) but is none the less more than ready to be done with that job. His next jobsite is in Belmond, which, is just as far away, but he tends to like the beginning of a job more than the end so it will be a good change of scenery.

Christian continues to juggle school, football practice, and confirmation. I'm very proud of how he's done so far this year. Next week he has his first football game which I am very excited for as football is my favorite sport to watch. Christian believe he's going to be playing center which is very cool. I think he feels good to have a certain position assigned to him.

Bella is still very tired when she gets home from a busy day of kindergarten. As social as she is, I think it completely wears her out. I asked her if she was able to sleep a little during their "nap" time, but her response was "I can't sleep mommy, they have Reading Rainbow on." On Wednesdays she also has dance class which she loves. Followed by dinner at our church- another social event she wouldn't miss for the world. The product of her busy Wednesdays is a very tired little girl that doesn't know just how tired she is and cannot stop crying from the moment we step into the house after dinner. There's a lot of tears at bedtime, but she wakes up a happy camper ready to do it all again.

And our little man continues to grow and learn things everyday. Zach hasn't been one for talking- heck, who needs to when big sister is a motor mouth?- but just this week he's started parroting a lot. "Do you want an apple?" "App-po" with a nod yes. "Do you like the turtles?" "Turt-to" with a nod yes. Previously his response to everything was no whether he meant yes or not. He also continues to amaze me with the number of bad ideas his little head can hold, but that's a toddler boy trait. Everything needs climbed, jumped on, and touched, it's just how it is.

As for me, I keep busy coordinating all of the above. Work has slowed down a bit now that school has started and everyone in a 20 mile radius of Huxley has had their sports physicals. It's the calm before the storm... flu season. But none the less, the break is nice. I am also preparing to go on a trip to Telluride, Colorado. As of today it's 8 days away. My dear friend Megan is celebrating her 40th birthday with a trip and I was lucky enough to be invited!

The last bit of news I can think of is... Our washer broke last night. It's about the last appliance I want to break with 3 kids in the house. Anyone know a good repair man???

We need a pond- in our backyard

The kids have been dying to see Abby swim ever since Abby and I got back from Duluth, so tonight we took her to a park in Ankeny to let her take a dip. She loves the water and the kids (as well as kids walking by) really liked watching her swim for a stick and bring it back.

Appleberry Farms

My mom sent me an internet link on Sunday night for an apple orchard in Minnesota that was currently harvesting apples that she likes and my favorites. Hers- Wealthy and mine- Honeycrisp. With the gas prices though, who can drive to Minnesota for some apples? That led me to an online search of orchards closer to home that would offer both of those apples that would be open this Labor Day. My search turned up Appleberry Farms in Marshalltown, so this morning we took off. We now have more apples than anyone would know what to do with, but gosh, they are yummy!