Gator goter done

Awesome season so far for Michael. He went undefeated during ALL his dual meets. A dual meet is where two schools go up against each other, its not like a tournament where multiple schools are involved. They do have dual meets where 6 schools will compete but its still different from a tournament. Anyway, I am looking forward to conference, regionals, and sectionals. I am hoping for State for him again this year. Each time he gets out on the mat, my stomach turns, my heart races, and my muscles tense up. I feel the adrenaline rush and it doesn't end until the match is over. I prefer it when he ends it quickly but understand why it doesn't always happen like that. I never thought in all his life that wrestling would be his preferred sport. He doesn't have that build like a wrestler does, he is tall and lean but yet I have seen him take out guys who weigh 70 pounds more then him. His skills are impressive and his determination to be the best he can be at wrestling is very inspirational. To say that I am proud is not enough as there are no words to describe this overwhelming feeling I have when he takes it to the mat. I love it and I will miss it. thanks for reading xoxo

Lambs down...

Just wondering when things are going to get a little less crazy? We had a Lamb Family get together up in the Dells last weekend. I was looking forward to going because with Michaels wrestling schedule these past couple of years I have not been able to go. Some of the family I haven't seen since Jade was born. Sad yes. The hotel had a fun pool with a water slide and because we were a guest we could get a day pass to the Kalahari to play games and go carts. We always get a large group room for the family to use to play cards, eat together, and open gifts. Its a great weekend but with so many people something is always bound to happen. This year was no exception. One family member was sick with a stomach flu, who gave it to Alex, who gave it to Kato, who gave it to Ella, who gave it to Jade and as with all highly contagious illnesses the total count of Lambs down came to about 20! So what was going to be a fun weekend turned into puke fest 2012! If you weren't puking it was coming out the other end at rapid uncontrollable speed. Gross yes, TMI maybe but the story needed to be told. Needless to say we left early, Alex missed school and Kato missed work. Jade and Ella are still experiencing the what is now being called the "Judy Flu" because it could have all been avoided had she just turned around the vehicle when the family member who was sick, puked. I am thinking she will not make the Favorite Aunt list this year. It was all in hindsight or so they say. It seems our family has not been 100% well since two weeks before Christmas last year. Although I did not get the Judy Flu, I still ended up with a stuffy nose and sore throat. Maybe we need more vitamin D but with the cold temperatures this week, we are not going outside. Therefore off to the market I go for more disinfecting wipes, Lysol spray, chicken noodle soup, 7up, and cold and flu medicine. Happy times, I think not. thanks for reading xoxo

A Birthday A Tooth A Gold Medal

It was an amazing weekend here. Michael had a wrestling tournament on Saturday. Lucky for us it was here in town at the high school. Michael was seeded 1st so I was excited to see how the day would turn out. He ended up victorious and got the gold! Meanwhile Alex had been hard at work loosening up a bottom tooth. He wiggled and wiggled that thing until finally just before Michaels final match, up in the bleachers at Sauk Prairie High, Alex lost his 6th tooth. He was there to watch his big brother take 1st place. Then to top off the day it was also Katos birthday. He had gotten a cake at work the day before which was a total surprise. The kids had worked hard on coloring a big happy birthday poster and we had a few gifts for him too. By Sunday Ella and I went shopping where she lost her green monkey blanky and was devastated! We searched for an hour trying to retrace our steps stopping at the stores to ask if someone had turned it in but we were not able to find it. We ended up getting her a new pink one, but its not working to replace monkey or as she calls it Meme. We ended the weekend with a movie and an early bedtime. It was perfect. thanks for reading xoxo

The Secret Toy Garden

We have a couch with a console that holds things like beverages, remotes and small toys (as in our case) and it has a lid that slides from the front of the couch to the back of the couch. Its supposed to not slide all the way back but ours does for some reason. The kids slide it so far back that it slips out of its notches and falls in behind our couch. They also put toys up inside so that they too fall behind our couch. I call this area "The Secret Toy Garden." When we can't find a toy, its usually there. The other night Ella had an apple. She decided to put her apple in "The Secret Toy Garden" and it just so happened that I was there to see it. If I hadn't I would have thought she ate it all and put the rest in the garbage or sink. Anyway, I knew we had to get it or, well, that would get really gross. So I moved the couch away from the wall, separated the pieces (its a sectional), and got out the flashlight. Much to my surprise...NOT...there were about 100 toys, pieces of popcorn, cereal, cookies, coins, and various other items as well as Ellas apple. So I busted out the vacuum and cleaned it all up. I can say its now the cleanest part of my house, at this time. Anyway, once all the stuff was clean, I figured out how to keep the drawer from sliding all the way back to avoid having "The Secret Toy Garden" return. I was most happy. We got the couch put all back together and since we found the tents hidden in the garden we decided to put them up. So for the past week and a half the children have enjoyed their new found toys inside their new found tents. Its been fun to slumber party in them or have some new hiding spots. And now that I think about it, we may have to recreate a "Secret Toy Garden" just so the kids feel like they have new toys all over again as they did with the tents. thanks for reading xoxo

ps. a couple of the photos were taken with an Ipad2 and I don't think I have the camera all figured out since they turned out blurry, sorry.

Shoe Shopping with Jade

Happy New Year to you!! I hope 2012 brings you much joy and happiness as well as good health and peace of mind.
So Jade and I went shoe shopping last Saturday. I was so excited to take my best shoe shopper with me. She really was excited too. We went to the biggest shoe store I know and she found the perfect pair for her. I tried to convince her to get the light up sparkly ones but she opted for the pink and purple glitz. She loves them so much she slept in them. I ended up shopping all over to find some new kicks for kickboxing. I guess I was just a little too picky but orange with turquoise or bright yellow with neon green isn't my idea of cute. It seems shoe colors are a changing. After a long day of shopping we went home to make tacos. Kato was going with his dad to a hockey game. The kids and I had a slumber party out in the living room but as soon as Kato got home I went up to my bed cause this old lady don't like the couch or the floor. It was new years eve and I couldn't even hang until midnight so at 11:58pm I was in bed and asleep. Happy New Year! thanks for reading xoxo

Two Weeks of Craziness then Christmas

The past two weeks have been extremely busy. It felt as if time was against me and I could hardly catch my breath. When one thing went wrong there were at least two more things going wrong to follow and yet somehow, as of today, I can finally exhale. It all began with the finale of Winning With Wellness on a Monday night. I placed 6th and lost over 9% of my starting weight. I am happy to be able to wear jeans comfortably again, my engagement ring fits again, and I am much more healthier. I would have liked to have won a prize to the dealership in town so my husband could get an oil change without having to deal with the freezing weather but those prizes were randomly drawn instead of given out to winners. Whatever. I will continue to work out when the time allows cause I really enjoy it, I feel better when I do it, and there is still weight to be lost. I met a great deal of wonderful people that I want to continue to get to know and become friends with. So the benefits of Winning with Wellness were vast. That following Tuesday Michael had wrestling in Portage. We loaded up everyone, headed up and ended up spending about $2.00 per second to watch Michael pin his opponent in 31 seconds. It was worth every penny! Wednesday was Alex's actual birthday and he wanted to go to Pizza Hut to celebrate. I was game since I hadn't eaten that type of deliciousness in 3 months. Thursday brought more wrestling and since it was at home I managed to make it to kickboxing only to have to rush to the school so I wouldn't miss the introduction of the varsity team. Michael wrestled heavy weight that night and pulled an impressive jap wizzer on his opponent before he pinned him. Proud, um heck yes! Friday night was Kato's work party up in Portage and we decided to stay the night in the hotel. They had an ugly sweater contest which I didn't know I was allowed to participate in until the day before which did not give me the time to come up with the winning look. I came to terms with that slip since he got a new I Pad 2 and has since then shared it with me. Kato didn't participate either tho, he said he didn't want to look stupid all night. Next year I will rock it! I had to get up early that Saturday to head up to Fon du Lac for more wrestling. I watched Michael take 2nd place at the Marty Loy and I was more then proud. I am dedicated to being there for every one this year, no matter how far we travel. My parents arrived that night and waited up for my arrival, it was bittersweet only because the girls got sick and had high fevers. So while they were visiting they too got sick and had to spend some of their time resting in a hotel. I wished that hadn't happened. Alex was in a school program where he was an Indian named Brave Eagle, my mom was nice enough to stay home with Ella and Jade so I didn't have to take them to his performance where they might have run a muck. Anyway, it was a good visit and I appreciated everything they had done. They worked on a beautiful doll house for the girls and since then Jade and Ella have been playing with it everyday. My mom helped me wrap some presents and cook dinner. I ended up taking Ella to the doctor where she was diagnosed with a double ear infection and pneumonia. Antibiotics for Ella and after one day she was almost back to her sweet happy self. Friday was no school and the little kids went to Grandma Jaynes so that Kato and I could watch Michael take 3rd place at Badger State. It was a tough tournament, maybe even tougher then Marty Loy! It was a long day and we didn't get home till after 9:30pm. Saturday was Christmas eve and I had to finalize the grocery shopping and prepare for Christmas at our house. Finished the wrapping, left the cupcakes for Santa (figured he would like the change from cookies), prepared the cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and snuggled in for a movie with my man! It was great! The kids were in bed and awaiting the visit from Santa as they dreamed about the morning glory of goodness that was to come. After 5 short hours of sleep that was interrupted by bouts of Jade kicking me in my back, coughing in my face, and talking in her sleep it was time to celebrate Christmas. Santa left a letter to the children thanking them for the cupcakes and reminding them its about Jesus' birthday and not to yell so much in the house. The presents were opened and they all seemed happy. We ate cinnamon rolls, bacon, sausage and orange juice which was actually mimosas for mommy and daddy. Cleaned up the messes and prepared for a wonderful Packer victory clinching home field advantage for the playoffs. Jayne and Keith came over and we opened gifts and enjoyed their company. I found four bottles of wine with each of the kids names on it because after all they do for them and us they too need a bit of relaxation. It was really nice to stay home and enjoy Christmas without having to rush somewhere and I think the kids appreciated being able to actually open and play with all their new toys. Now that the holidays are over I can get back to kickboxing and release some of the stress built up from all the little things that happened over the past two weeks. thanks for reading xoxo

2nd 3rd 7th

It was a busy weekend.

Michael had a wrestling tournament in Sun Prairie. It was the first time the Sauk Prairie wrestling team went to this event. There were 17 schools competing. Michael did fantastic and took home 2nd place. It was the first time I had seen him pin a guy using only his legs. I was very impressed. The team took home 2nd place which was only 14 points behind first. It was a great day of wrestling!

I came home to a house full of young lads anxiously awaiting cake. Alex had his birthday party to celebrate turning 7. He had about 6 boys come over for a slumber party. We got right into opening presents, cake, and ice cream. Afterwards they changed into pjs found a spot on the couch or floor and watched Cars 2 with popcorn. Most fell asleep before the movie ended. Some were still awake when I went to bed. A few claimed they stayed up all night, I know it wasn't true cause when I came down the next morning to make pancakes, bacon, and sausage they were sleeping. They got picked up by 10am and we got ready for the next round of birthday celebration.

Jade's 3rd birthday fell on that same day but because of wrestling schedules, holiday parties, and Christmas we had to give Alex his party on Jade's birthday. She insists she is only 2 1/2 and frankly I don't care how old she says she is as long as the terrible twos are over! She isn't that bad but she does have her moments. Since I had just made a cake for Alex I bought a very small already made cake for Jade and decorated it up a bit. She opened some presents and blew out her candles. She sang happy birthday to herself and even though it was technically the day after her birthday she didn't care. She was perfectly happy to celebrate the way it was.

After all the birthday stuff was over, we cleaned up a bit and settled in for Mr. Poppers Penguins and called it a night. It was a very busy weekend which will be followed by an even busier week. So AWESOME Job Michael, Happy Birthday Jade and Alex and thanks for reading xoxo