Grantsburg, hunting, Mall of America

Friday morning we wake up bright and early and head out to Grantsburg to visit with Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim. Michael was planning on going hunting with them over the weekend and the rest of us were off to the Mall of America. Since the trip was about a 4 hour drive we knew we would have to stop often. First stop was the gas station for fuel. Second stop was Walmart in Baraboo to get Michael some gloves. It turned out not to be very busy at 8am so I picked up a few xmas gifts too. Third stop was the Kwik trip cause Alex needed to go to the bathroom. Fourth stop was at a Walmart somewhere to get Alex some stomach ache medicine, oh and I picked up some more xmas stuff cause it was still on sale at 10am. Fifth stop was lunch in Rice Lake at Taco Johns, we thought about stopping at the Walmart there too but decided to skip it. Final stop was at Barb and Jims. We pulled up to the house and right away we saw a deer hide on the wood pile, I guess it was there to keep the wood warm. Jim came out to meet us and as we were on our way in through their garage we noticed the deer hanging without the skin and guts. Alex took one look and said "Yep, that deer is really dead!" I don't know what gave him that impression. Anyway once inside we said hello and unloaded the van. Michael got a quick tour and then they were off in the woods for hunting. Kato, Alex, Jade and I went for a ride through town and stopped at a few stores. Once we got back Katos cousin Matt and his girlfriend Erin were there. They said they just heard a few shots fired so we were anxious to hear if the mighty hunters got something. It turned out Michael took a shot and missed so he took another one he thought he got it but they ended up not being able to track it. We all ate dinner together and then Jade and I turned in early. The rest stayed up and played poker. Jade and the hunters were up early the next day and we were going to Mall of America. It was about 1 1/2 hours away but it went fast. The mall is huge and it wasn't too busy when we first got there. We went to the aquarium first. Alex couldn't wait to see the sharks. Walking through the glass tunnel and watching all the fish and turtles was so amazing. Underwater is really beautiful. Jade seemed to like it too. We saw sharks and all kinds of fish, seahorses, turtles, starfish, sting rays, jelly fish, crabs, and eels. After the aquarium we got some lunch and then walked the mall. It was 5 hours total. We didn't buy that much stuff but it was a good time. We all slept on our way back except Matt and Kato who talked about spiders at the cottage. We heard the sad news that the hunters didn't get anything but would try again in the morning. We ordered pizza and played poker. Everyone slept well that night. The hunters were up early again but so was Jade. They went out until 9 and did not have any luck. It had snowed the night before so all the trees and bushes and ground was covered with a coat of snow. It was very pretty. We packed up everything and headed out. It was a great weekend and we plan on going again next year. Thank you Barb and Jim for having us and taking Michael out hunting. thanks for reading xoxo

Jade and the L-tryptophan

Here is Jade on Thanksgiving day about 4 minutes into the meal. She was shoveling it in as fast as she could before passing out. She is just one of the many things to be thankful for.

Wednesday to Turkey Day

Wednesday night we went to Jayne and Keith's for dinner with some cousins and Grandma Lamb. Jayne made two kinds of chili, a red and a white. The white was super good and the red was ok but once we put some hot sauce in it it was better. Katos cousins came over to our house to stay the night as they were also going to eat with us on Thanksgiving. So we get back to the house and they decide to watch a movie as Jade and I went to bed. I was tired and so was Jade. The movie was a bit loud but once I finally got their attention they turned it down. I made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we were off to the in laws. Jayne made everything herself. I offered to help but she was happy cooking it all with her mom. She made turkey, ham, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, homemade cranberry sauce, jello, salad, rolls, and pies. It was really good. She makes the best stuffing ever!!! We watched the Packers win and got so full. It was really great being with family. I called my parents house and said hello to everyone. Thursday night we came home and had to get ready to leave for Grantsburg. It was a Happy Thanksgiving! thanks for reading xoxo

IM HUNGRY

Well after 5 straight weeks of bad fantasy football I finally got a win, maybe it was only 4 weeks but it felt like forever. I was pretty happy since for the first time I got over 102 points. I am sure the thrill will soon be over and I will be right back on the losing streak.

Lately Alex has been a little off with his eating habits. When we are eating he isn't hungry and when we are not eating he is starving! So last night he has a little bit of what we have and then says he is full. I was somewhat ok with that cause I knew he ate some. So later on we are watching Monday night football and chatting when Alex said he is hungry. We ask him what do you want and he usually replies with I dont know. So we say think about it and let us know. After a few minutes Michael comes in and we are talking with him and watching football when all of a sudden Alex comes around the corner and yells out "UM HELLLLLLOOOOO GUYS....IM HUNNNNGGGGRRRRYYYYY!" It was super funny cause he said it like we purposely starve him and never offer any food to him. So after a few giggles Kato gets up and gets him a snack. Things would be much smoother around here if he would just eat on a regular schedule. The good thing is he got on the scale last night and weighed one pound more then the night before. Let's hope some turkey will do the trick! thanks for reading xoxo

Weekend Activities

It was a good weekend! Saturday I woke up without having anyone wake me up which is always nice the only bad part was that I didn't really sleep in. We had some chores to do around the house which Kato did most of them since I had other errands to run around town. We headed up to Baraboo to get some stuff and then when we got back home I decided to hang some Xmas lights. I felt like we were missing something so when I had to go get some extension cords I stopped to look at more Xmas decorations and got some cute little snowflakes with lights that twinkle. We hung them up right away and it was a nice finishing touch to the outside of the house. Kato and Alex love watching scary movies so they did just that and I watched a chick flick upstairs. I went to bed early cause I was tired and on Sunday I woke up and still felt tired. I was tired all day. Katos grandma Lamb, who is visiting from Florida, came over and we watched the Packers game. She is getting older now like everyone is but her short term memory is slipping and she asked Alex about 50 times how old he was and he kept saying I already told you Im 4 years old. It was cute and we told him to be nice about it cause sometimes grandma forgets. He did pretty good for a 4 year old. Kato took her back to his parents house and we had dinner. Afterwards I got to watch another chick flick while Kato and Alex watched a scary one, Alex said it wasn't scary and was upset about that. I had to get up earlier today but it was alright but now I could use a nap cause I am tired again. thanks for reading xoxo

Thats Crazy Talk

So we are sitting around the table eating dinner, the TV is on behind Alex and the news is giving updates. A story about a guy who enters a place with a gun and a bag and fires a shot and robs the place just finishes up. Alex asks about it and we begin to explain to him that a bad guy is in trouble because of what he did. Alex says "so a guy has a gun?" We say yes. He says "and a BAG!" we say yes. He repeats the story in a way only a four year old can...so a guy with a bag goes into a store and robs it with a bag? We say yes isn't that sad? He exclaims "THATS CRAZY TALK!!" Oh the mouths of babes. thanks for reading xoxo

Crazy Morning

So at 8:10 this morning one of my moms starts the day by saying her kids H1N1 shot is at 12:30 and I freaked out because we were supposed to take Jade and Alex for theirs at 7:00am but we forgot!! So I quick called Kato and reminded him that we forgot and to see if he could come and take them if I rescheduled. Well he himhawed about it and I was upset so I just said forget it I will figure it out. So I called the clinic and it was ok and I could bring the kids in anytime today. Well with daycare kids its not always easy except it was Thursday and that means two of them are gone at school for 2 hours in the morning and I would only have to bring my kids plus one extra. I could do it I just needed an extra car seat. While two parents are here watching me freak out I am running all over trying to find the car seat. With no luck I called my helpful husband back and once again he came through with NOTHING! He couldn't tell me where the car seat was except it was probably in the garage. I looked twice and only found one part of it. Anyway, back inside a mom said I will leave mine here I was relieved. So now it was time for breakfast, wake up Alex, feed 5 kids, clean em up, off to school, change diapers, put car seat in car, get kids in coats, get kids in van, drive to clinic get shots! Its easier to type it out then it actually was to get it done. Once at the clinic I asked Alex who should go first him or Jade. He quickly says Jade. She gets her shot and doesn't even cry or make a peep. Alex is up next and it was world war III!!! He instantly starts crying saying no no no. Once up on the table he is now screaming bloody murder. I have to hold him down and pin him to the table. I am singing and saying its almost over but if felt like it was taking 12 hours! He cried so loud I thought he would pass out. He got a sucker and we left. The entire rest of the day was him reminding me that he was never ever never never ever getting another shot for the rest of his life. I didn't have the heart to tell him he has to go back in 4 weeks for a booster. thanks for reading xoxo

Gifts are not always wrapped

Have you ever been given a gift but you didn't really know it was a gift until you were older. For example when I was younger my grandparents spent alot of time with me. I was always over at their house, spending the night, cooking and eating yummy stuff with my grandma. I would get into her best shoes and clothes and play dress up. My grandpa would spend hours teaching me about wood stuff or farm stuff or just stuff. We would go on road trips to places all over Washington state and sometimes to places out of state. My grandparents were the best thing in my life for almost my entire life. I miss my grandparents so much and sometimes wish I could go back and do more for them. All the time with them was a gift. I got the best parts of my grandpa, the gentle, loving, fun, inspirational, sensitive, and forgiving sides that maybe he didn't get to share with his kids cause he had to raise them. Its different being a grandparent then being a parent. Kids mind better for grandparents but grandparents let them have a little more freedom. Freedom to make mistakes or messes. My time with them was the best gift and I hope that my parents and Katos parents will give my kids that same gift. Its really not the wrapped presents or the stuff in hard to open packages that make kids most happy it really is the time you have to give them. Its the unconditional time love and understanding. I hope to be able to give my grandkids this same gift and that one day they will be saying the same things about me. I am writing all this stuff because we just got another gift. I won't say what it is until I am certain it won't be taken away from my kids and from my nieces. All I can say is I am very proud and if I could give all my strength to my parents I would in a heartbeat!! thanks for reading xoxo

Spiderman pays us a visit

As I mentioned in a previous post Alex got a spiderman silly string shooter. We decided to let him play with it in the bath tub cause we thought it would be easy to clean up. Well it turns out silly string is not that easy to clean up but it was so worth the hour of fun for Alex. Thanks for visiting our bath tub Spiderman! thanks for reading xoxo

Oh baby Jade what are you thinking?

Sometimes I wonder what is really going through the minds of children. Sometimes they can be so excited about something and 2 seconds later they are in tears or frustrated about something else. I guess that is supposed to be one of the joys of parenting. I don't know what got into Jade one night but she decided to be goofy which in my mind is better then pissy. She didn't want to be dressed and was really into a book. She must have read something funny to her cause her face was too silly. Then she noticed I was taking pictures and she really hammed it up!! Thanks for reading xoxo

Badgers Blinkers and Silly String

So today Kato, Alex, Jade and I all went to a Badger volleyball game. We met up with some friends although we were so busy watching the kids and eating that we didn't talk much with the friends and watched very little of the game. It was still fun to go and support the UW and do something new. We were also on a mission. Alex has been wanting a Batman utility belt so bad that he doesn't stop talking about it. We went to Ace, Toys R Us, Target, Walmart and Farm & Fleet and didn't find one. They used to have it at Walmart. Anyway, so with no luck finding the belt we were on our way home after the Badger loss. Some guy in a truck who was merging onto the beltline left his blinker on. Kato was not happy and decided to show him that the blinker is still on. So he passes the driver and merges in front of him. He then turns on the blinker to signal the other driver, after a few seconds he then switches the blinker from the right to the left. After a minute of this game the driver behind us in the truck figures out his blinker is on and turns it off. Kato who was sooo into trying to get this guys attention then proceeds to tell me that he then likes to flash his emergency lights to signal to the other driver ha ha yes your blinker was on and its ok. As if it is some kind of universal car speak or short hand like LOL or LMAO is when texting. I laugh almost to the point I could pee cause its only in his mind that flashing your emergency lights twice means ha ha its ok!! I can only imagine what the other guy must be thinking when he sees something like this. So if you ever leave your blinker on and you see someone flash their emergency lights twice that is my husband in his own little world saying haha its ok!

Oh and since Alex wasn't able to find his belt he got a spiderman web thrower that sprays silly string. He has been having fun in the bathtub with it. thanks for reading xoxo

Jade is a walker for real now.

Since Jade has finally decided to walk more then crawl its been so much fun watching her. She is so cute when she waddles and when she falls down she doesn't seem to get mad or upset she just gets back up and keeps on going. The down side to her walking is the hard wood floors and making sure she has grip on her feet so she doesn't fall weird and get hurt. She also has been enjoying getting into the cereal cupboard and pulling out everything in it. It crushes all the cereal boxes but we have not yet had to clean up scattered cereal, notice I did say yet! She really likes having the freedom to roam around where she wants. She has also been biting a little more lately. She doesn't do it as revenge or to get back at someone for taking a toy but she does it to the point that you can feel it. I don't want her to be a biter cause its so bad and because I see the wounds other kids have left behind because of biting. Its no fun telling parents that their kid was bit by another kid under my watch especially if that kid is mine. Anyway I am working on getting that stopped! Keith came over and did some video taping of her and sent it to my mom and auntie. I hope they share it with my Grandma. well thanks for reading xoxo

Leaves leave!!!!!!

Every fall when the leaves fall from the trees they always congregate in our yard or driveway. We don't even have any trees in our yard that produces leaves! Still someone is always out there raking them up and even though its cute to see the kids play in them its a pain in the butt! So we rake them up and put them on the curb and a big sucker upper truck comes by and they leave, but every once in a while the wind blows and the leaves come right back to our house either from the curb or from another tree that is down the block. I think this year was the lightest load we had. Thank you Dan (our neighbor) for helping rake up the leaves and thank you to my husband for getting it done. thanks for reading xoxo

Thursday November 5th 2009

Today Michael turned 16. We invited Jayne and Keith over for dinner to celebrate this milestone. I baked a cake to Michaels liking and came up with a menu plan. I cleaned up the main floor and decorated with balloons, a sign, some streamers, and we used a table cloth. Michael wanted hot wings, taco dip from the Pig and the rest of us had pork chops, salad, broccoli, and garlic bread, followed by cake and ice cream. We got Michael some gift certificates for local businesses and Jade and Alex gave him a ton of Sun Drop. My brother sent him the GI Joe video which I am looking forward to watching. My grandma and mom sent him some money so did Kato's grandparents. He got some cupcakes and brownies made for him from some girls at school and I am not sure what his buddies did for him. Jade and Alex really liked helping him open his gifts and cards. His birthday is the same day every year November 5th. Its been this way since he was born. Every year he has lived with me he has had a birthday party or some sort of get together with friends and we buy them food. This year he wants pizza. Its funny that even though his birthday comes on the same day every year, its been this way all his life, his dad can't even get enough of his shit together to send him a card and have it be here on time for his birthday. It doesn't have to have anything in it just a note saying happy birthday and i love you. I don't get it. Its not like the date changed or was erased from the calendar. There is always some excuse. It really sucks cause no matter how much crap his dad throws at him Michael still takes it. I hope that everything we do for Michael can help make up for some of it. thanks for reading xoxo

WI Badgers vs. Purdue

Saturday Kato and I went to the Badger vs. Purdue football game. It was my first time to a game at Camp Randall and it was a blast! We met up with one of Katos high school buddies who was also in our wedding, Rob and his wife Missy. It was so nice to see Rob again cause it had been forever since I last saw him. We went to the Stadium which is a bar just outside the actual stadium where the Badgers play. They had a beer garden set up with music and a big screen to watch the game. It was about 10:30 in the morning and tons of people were there. We had a beer, well I had a beer which was all I could handle and we headed inside for the game. We ended up trading seats with some of Robs people and so we were able to sit with Missy and Rob. They had great seats and although we were smashed in like sardines it was the best first time experience. We kept warm cause we were all so close. I don't know how it got there but a spider started crawling up my sleeve and I freaked out, cause I do NOT like spiders. It was huge and Kato, my prince and protector, saved me from the horrible attack. Its fangs were the biggest and I could tell it was out for my blood. Thank goodness for my husband otherwise I would have been a goner. After the attack we watched the best game ever, the Badgers kicked butt and sent Purdue home with a 37 to 0 loss. The experience of being at Camp Randall is truly amazing. If you value the history of places like that then you understand its meaning. Its the oldest stadium standing out of the Big Ten and just think of all the great players that have been there before and have gone on to the NFL. It is impressive. At the third they play the song jump around and the student section goes nuts! They literally JUMP AROUND and its like a red sea of waves going up and down! Afterwards we headed back to the beer garden and had another beer with Rob and Missy. It was so good to be with them and hang out. We headed back to the car and split up with them promising to get together again soon. We got back to our house as Jayne and Keith were dropping off the little kids for more trick or treating. Michael was spending the weekend with a friend helping on their farm. We took a walk around the block and Jade and I called it a night. Kato and Alex kept going for a bit with Dan and Olivia. This time Alex was Spiderman. We ordered some pizza, watched some TV and Kato got called into work. He scared the heck out of me at 1am after getting home and we slept until 7:45 which was actually 6:45 cause of the time change this weekend. So today is the big game everyone in Wisconsin has been waiting for...Green Bay vs. Minnesota. GO PACK GO!! thanks for reading xoxo

Trick or treating 2009

Friday afternoon the kids and I, along with Kato, Becky, Trent, Stacey, and eventually Stephanie and Leo went trick or treating around the local businesses. The kids liked it. It was a bit windy out but dry. We managed to get the entire Prairie side done in about 40 minutes so we hopped on a bus that took us up to the Sauk side and we got a bit more done. It was around 6pm when we finally got back to my house and split up. I think the kids were tired and all that fresh air wore them out. Alex and Jade went to Grandma Jaynes for the night. Logan was a vampire, Rylee was Cinderella, Liam was Darth Vader, Alex was Wolverine, Eli was Diego, Luci was Snow White, Kale was a dragon, Jade was an elephant, Becky was a member of Kiss, and I was a fisherman.