Welcome to tingting land

2011-03-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so its obviously been a LONG time since I've posted to my blog. But I have some new motivation to start again!

We are officially starting on the Feingold Diet!!

What is this crazy thing, you say? No, its not related to WI past senator, Russ.

It's a diet where we try to remove all artificial colors and flavorings from our food.

We've noticed the kids are acting very hyper lately. Ray's been getting bad reports home from school :( He's too fidgety, chewing on pencils, not listening, and doing other 'non-typical' things (that was said by his teacher as his last conference).

So we ordered online materials to help us understand what foods are good and what are bad. The first phase also eliminates natural salicylates (go look it up as I still don't know what it means!).

Anyway, we did a meal plan starting on Sunday. Are packing the kids lunches daily and are sticking to the 'allowed' foods list.

Today (Thursday), I get an email from Ray's teacher that she could see a big difference in his behavior today. He listened and sat nicely all day! What!?! Really?!? Already!?!

Could it be working.. or am I too hopeful too early.

We'll keep you posted..

2009-04-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

We had a busy Easter this year. Maria had full days of school both Friday and Monday, so we were unable to stay longer than a normal weekend, which is nice to do over Easter so we don't have to leave early from the festivities, but oh well..
We made it home Friday and went out to Fish Fry with Mom. Then down to Dave's folks for a short visit (since they left the next day for a trip).
Saturday was beautiful weather! We were outside almost all day. We played in the backyard, helped with yardwork and went for a walk.
On Sunday, the Easter Bunny found us at Grandma's and the kids found their baskets and presents. Maria was up early and had looked thru the house twice without finding either of her things.. but with the help of Ray later, they were successfully found :) Greta found her basket right away as it was under the phone table. She saw it and started laughing.
Next was church.
Then off to Mary's for lunch. It was great to see everyone again. Missed Molly, but will have to catch up with her some other time :(
Then back to Mom's to pack and visit with her side of the family. Great to see the babies.. they grow so much in just a few weeks. How I remember when mine would just lay on their blankets and weren't mobile yet.. but it comes quickly.
Then back home.. long day, but fun!

Busy week

2009-02-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

We have a really busy week this week... There is something going on every night. Most nights we have multiple things and are trying to juggle.. still not sure how we are getting Ray to his pictures and Dave to his meeting while still fitting in dinner tonight.

Thankful nothing is planned for Saturday and we can hopefully veg out!

Raymond is 5

2009-02-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

I can't believe he's already 5!!

I remember my surprise to learn I'd had a boy. I said "I can't believe it. I have a son!".

We love you so much Ray!!!
Happy Birthday!

Fun Weekend

2009-02-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun family-oriented weekend!
On Saturday we went to the YMCA and went swimming. We were there for a while and then the Hull's joined us. The kids had fun. Greta loves the water. There is a little duck slide for the toddlers and she kept going on it, again and again. She even puts her face in the water in an attempt to blow bubbles.
On Sunday, we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul. It was a free Target Sponsered Day. Greta could actually get down and walk around and explore this time. She was so cute. Maria and Ray loved the part with water tubes and pretending to be ants in the ant maze.

It was a great weekend with my family!!

Jury Duty

2009-02-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

I was summoned for Jury Duty.

I'm on the list for this week and next week. I have to call each night to see if I need to report the next morning. On Tuesday, they said I need to report on Wednesday in the afternoon. So I completely rearranged my Wednesday work schedule to be able to get some work done in the morning before going in (which meant that I had to cancel helping at Maria's school - my normal Wed. morning thing).
I called the number again around 11:30 to confirm before driving downtown and found out that it was canceled for the day. So all that rearranging for nothing.
Now I'm back in the waiting game to see if I need to report another day.. please no.. especially please not Friday because I'm planning on helping with Maria's Valentine party (to make up for Wed).

Virtual Friday

2009-02-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad to not be working on Friday's. I was so burned out by the end of the day today. Probably didn't help that I had 2 presentations that I was up until midnight preparing for last night.

Midweek

2009-01-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, oh Wednesday..

Get Maria up in time to eat breakfast and to catch her bus (which has been a challenge this week - breakfast has been eaten on the bus because we are running late).. Get Ray ready and fed breakfast.. Take Ray to preschool.. volunteer at Maria's school.. pick Ray up from preschool and take to Amy's (sneak in without Greta seeing me so she doesn't have a fit - which is hard on me to not be able to kiss and hug her quick).. Grab lunch and get into work

After work.. pick Maria up from Y-space after school program.. grab dinner.. get to religion class by 6:00.. work in the nursery during religion so other moms can teach.. go home.

Wait.. what about Maria's homework?? ugg

Back at IBM

2009-01-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well, last week was my first week back.. not very eventful. I was completely unproductive as I didn't have my id's until today. Now I can at least start looking into what I'm supposed to be doing. It's great though to see my friends again and take water breaks with them. The kids were all troopers and got into the new routine without any major glitches.

Happy to be using my mind again.. it missed me!

Yeah for Katie!

2009-01-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Katie (my sister), her boyfriend, Mom and Dad are visiting for a few days. I'm so glad they are here and I get to see Katie while she's back in the midwest.

But, I'm feeling yucky (sore throat).. this is how my flu started last year.. hope its not that again.. especially since I start work on Monday.. not good to call in sick on your first day :(

Greta at school

2009-01-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Greta and I have been volunteering at Maria's school this year on Wednesday mornings while Ray's been in preschool. Today was Greta's last day and I'm glad. She usually sleeps for some of the time, but then she has to sit on my lap while I help students with various tasks and testing. She is becoming a squirmy girl and no longer likes to sit :)

I'm still hoping to help out on Wednesday's but starting next week Greta will be at daycare and I can go by myself, so there will be much less distraction for the students.

Nice Weekend

2009-01-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

We came back to town on Friday. And are so glad we did! It's been nice to have a regular weekend at home before getting back into our routine on Monday. It's so hard when we get home on a Sunday night. We are feeling good since we are getting a chance to unpack, get through our mail, and do a few other errands first.
And since we had almost 2 weeks at our parents, we aren't feeling any guilt about not having enough time with everyone.

Happy 1st Birthday Greta!

2009-01-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a year already. She is getting so big and independent! Here are a few pictures of her 1st birthday party :)

Facebook

2008-12-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

I joined Facebook!

Here is my profile. Add me to your friends list if you are on.

Maria's Friends Birthday Party

2008-12-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Maria had her birthday party with her friends today. We invited 6 friends (classmates and neighbors) to her birth'tea' party. We did crafts (made bookmarks, lace fans, tea party favor bags, name bracelets and sachets), had tea (only Maria liked it, all the others said 'yuck') with cookies and sandwiches, ate cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday and opened presents. The girls each got to take home their crafts, a handkerchief, and pencils and lollipops that were made into flower centerpieces. Needless to say, the 2 hours flew by!
We are now (finally) finished celebrating her 7th birthday. My aunts were right, it really is a 'birthday month' not just one day :)

Thanksgiving and Tea Party

2008-11-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

We went back 'home' for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see everyone. We rented a school gym and cafeteria this year which worked out good as the adults played some volleyball and the kids had lots of room to run around and play.
On Friday, we had a tea party to celebrate Maria's birthday. Fun was had by all. Now Logan wants one for his birthday too :) Thanks again Oma for all your effort and great tea supplies.

Maria's birthday

2008-11-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

Maria turned 7 on Monday (I can't believe she's 7 already - where did all that time go?).
She had a wonderful birthday. In school, instead of journaling, all her classmates made her birthday cards. She even got a new book and pencil from her teacher (they are so nice!) She brought cookies for snack time and was able to pass them out to all her friends. Since there were extra's so got to pass them out to other teachers around the school. During lunchtime, everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to her (and 3 other birthday celebrators).
That evening, we had the Hull's over for pizza, cake and ice cream.
We got her tickets to the Nutcracker ballet that is performing in a few weeks along with tickets to the Land of Sweets Tea Party with the characters. She loved it and is really excited to get dressed up and go!!
Happy Birthday sweetheart. We love you more than we can ever express! (Afterall, you are the reason Mom and Dad are a mom and dad.)

P.S. Happy 7th anniversary of parenting Dave. You are an awesome dad. There's no one else I'd rather share this experience with!

The Polar Express

2008-11-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

We went to the Children's Dance Theatre's production of The Polar Express tonight. The kids loved it! Maria really wants to be a dancer now. She loved the ballet parts when the dancers were up on their toes. Raymond stood the entire show and watched it quietly. His favorite part was the hot chocolate song. And we didn't hear a peep out of Greta :)

I'm really glad we went (thanks Amy for suggesting it and organizing tickets). It was nice to get everyone dressed up for a show.

Houseguests

2008-11-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

Two of my aunts and their families are visiting for the evening. We had a great night of chatting and playing cards (the women won!). We love having you visit. Already looking forward to the game in two years. Love you!

Pipsqueaks

2008-11-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

We went to Pipsqueaks (an indoor play gym) for the first time today. It's been open ever since Maria was a baby, but for some reason we've never made it over. Today's playdate with Ed and Riley was here. I'm glad we finally got to check it out. It's a gymnasium that has a bunch of kid toys (riding cars, jungle gym, train table, etc..) and some tables for eating lunch. We had a picnic lunch and played for several hours. We realized that it is better to go over and after lunch as the place really cleared out. I had forgotten that some people have to go home for naptime :)

Children's Museum

2008-11-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

We went to the Minnesota Children's Museum today up in St. Paul. The kids have been asking to go for months. Today ended up being Target Free Sunday, and we didn't have anything going on after church, so it worked great!
We were nervous that it would be packed (being free and all). There were signs posted in the parking garage asking you to leave your stroller in the car because of the number of people on the free days. We were pleasantly surprised to find that although it was busy, it wasn't much worse than when we've been there on a normal day. We haven't been to it in a while, so there were several new exhibits for us to check out.

Fun day Sunday!

Easy Breezy Voting

2008-11-04T10:33:00.001-08:00

I took Ray to speech class today and had a hard time finding a parking spot as I hadn't realized that the school where he has speech was a voting place for people in that neighborhood.

On our way home, we stopped at our voting place. It was really easy and fast! We got in line behind about 5 others (would have been none in line if our last name started with M-Z). Took a few minutes and then got our ballot. In all, it only took us about 15 minutes total.
Way better than I was expecting :)

I've had this Obama song in my head all day

Election Eve

2008-11-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

Why am I so nervous about the elections this year?

Sure, I really want Obama to win and don't want to go through the weeks of depression that seemed to occur in '04 when the country voted to keep Bush. But its not like I'm out there campaigning or volunteering, so I don't have much personally invested.

Or is it the anxiety of not being sure just how much time I need to plan to vote tomorrow. I will have Ray and Greta both with me when I go to vote, so I'm really hoping the lines aren't going to be as bad as they've been showing for the early voting in other states. I don't want to stand in line for an hour or more with such little ones. Maybe I'll bring a bag of books and snacks just in case.

Or maybe its knowing that I'll be glued to the computer and TV tomorrow waiting for any sign of Obama pulling ahead. It's going to be a late night!

P.S. Ray's preschool voted today. Their results had Obama winning. The teacher said that the class results have been pretty accurate over the last few elections. (I was surprised when we asked Ray about it that he was able to name both presidential candidates. Amazing how much they pick up).
Maria's school also voted last week and had Obama. But Lincoln appears to be a very liberal school. Hopefully the little ones are reflecting the opinions of their parents and we'll see the trend continue tomorrow.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Halloween was so much fun this year! I think it was that the weather was so mild so we didn't need to rush back home to get warm like most years. We were able to take our time and Greta was able to stay out too.
We did notice that we bought way too much candy to give away as there weren't as many tricker-or-treaters as in past years. I wonder if that was because it was a Friday, so people had bigger parties to go to?? I was expecting the opposite because the weather was so great.

By the way, I made the Dorothy costume :)

Singing Songs

2008-10-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Raymond has been learning some Halloween songs at preschool and has been singing them to me today :) It's so nice to have him sing as he's usually not a singer.

MOM

2008-10-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

My mom stayed with us for the last week and a half. It was so wonderful to have some extra help, and it allowed me to have some time away from Greta which was good for her to get over some of her stranger anxiety. I was able to volunteer at both Maria and Raymond's schools without Greta along which was way more productive :)

Thanks so much Mom for all your help this past week. We love you!

Kieler Parade

2008-10-06T13:45:00.001-07:00

We went home to Kieler this weekend for the annual Fire Prevention Parade. It is always so much fun at the small town parades. Since it was raining, Greta went to Oma and Opa's house. Maria rode on Grandpa's float with Grandma and Madeline. Ray got to sit with Mom and Dad and collect the candy (way too much candy!!!)
It was fun to see lots of relatives and friends this year.

Soccer and Dance

2008-09-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ray had his first day of soccer/gymnastics. It was really fun! The class is at Soccer World, which is just down the road from our house (so really convenient for me). The owner is his teacher/coach and really did a great job with the kids as far as speaking at their level and doing all the activities with them. Ray did a great job and participated in all the events!!

Maria has dance class on Tuesday's at Dahl Dance Center. This will be her second week. The class is an Intro to Dance, so they are doing some ballet, lyrical and ballroom. Last week she was so excited to show us her moves :)

Swimming and Spelling

2008-09-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

Ray had his first swim day at preschool today. He loved it! I'm so glad that I have him doing preschool now that I'm home with him. It gives us both a break and he's doing such fun stuff.

Maria had her second spelling test today. She was practicing this week and it payed off as she got a perfect score! Way to go, sweetie!!

Still kicking

2008-09-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still here, just haven't made blogging a priority :)

Quick recap...
- My sister, Carrie, got married in CO on August 23rd, so we had a family vacation to CO. Beautiful wedding, beautiful bride and groom. (are really adorable flower girls!)
- Got home from the wedding and our computer died. We had to order a new hard drive. So I was offline for several weeks.
- Maria's first day of 1st grade. We love our school and her teacher seems great. The only bad thing is her long bus ride to and from school. She doesn't seem to mind it yet as she's making new friends.
- Raymond started preschool at the YMCA. He goes to 'school' 3 days a week. He really likes it (a total 180 from his preschool classes last year at comm ed). He is also excited because once a month, they get to go swimming (their first swim day is tomorrow). He was the VIP last week and got to bring snacks and a toy to share
- Greta is crawling, crawling, crawling. She pulls herself up along all the furniture. I think she'll be our earliest walker (good or bad). We had to babyproof once we got home from CO because she became so mobile so fast.
- Dave was in the boundary waters last week. They had great weather and a good time, but we are glad to have him home!
Those are the highlights our of past month and I'll try to be a more constant blogger :)

Walking to the movies

2008-08-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to walk to the movie theater close to our house for their free noon movie. We got there a little late because I didn't judge how long it would take us. Maria rode her bike and I pulled Greta and Ray in the wagon.
When we arrived, the movie (Horton Hears a Who) was sold out. They only open 2 theaters for the showing. Since I had called earlier to confirm the movie and the lady told me they wouldn't sell out because the 10:00 showing didn't and that one is always busier, they offered to let us watch another movie.
So we got to see Kung Fu Panda instead. Which was great since we hadn't seen that one yet, but had seen Horton. And the theater we were in was not very busy, so plenty of room.

Pool

2008-07-28T06:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday), we decided to try one of the public pools in town. They have reduced admission on Sundays ($1 instead of $4), so thought it was a good time to give it a try. Dave and Greta went shopping and I took Maria and Raymond. We got changed and went to go to the kiddie pool. The kiddie pool went up to 2 1/2 feet deep while the big pool started at 3 feet. So we wanted the kiddie pool since Ray wouldn't be able to touch in the other and no flotation devices are allowed. Well, turns out the kiddie pool is free all the time! The lifeguards refunded our money and we were able to go to the kiddie pool..

.. for about 10 minutes, then it started sprinkling and Maria got cold :) But, it was worth trying it out and now we know that one is free and we can go again on a hotter day.

Nature Camp

2008-07-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

The kids just finished a week at Quarry Hill Nature Camp. They went each day from 12:30 to 3:00. It was a nice for them to have some structured learning. And a nice break for me to run errands with Greta. I thought I'd get more done, but ended up hanging out each day instead of coming home since I didn't know if it was worth driving across town to come home and then leaving again to go get them when I had to get groceries and stuff anyway. It gave me an opportunity to spend several hours in Lowe's checking out window coverings (blinds, verticals and curtains - as I'm trying to update some in the house since all the windows have white mini blinds - boring), paint swatches (for a few rooms we want to get painted since they are still white, which doesn't look good with the white woodwork), lights (to replace the fixtures that are in the bathrooms), and ladders (since we need a bigger one). Spent a lot of time just browsing and looking at my options, but didn't buy anything. I feel that I need to make an informed decision and know all my options before getting some of these types of things.

The Fourth

2008-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Went home for the fourth of July. Went out on the in-laws boat to view the air show and fireworks over the Mississippi. Unfortunately, I was seasick and missed most of it :(
Raymond fell asleep right as the fireworks were starting. Maria fell asleep before the finale. Greta slept through them, and I was feeling ill and laying down in the cabin of the boat. Well, at least Dave enjoyed them..
Spent the 4th at the annual church picnic with chicken dinner for lunch. We ran into a lot of family (cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins) and old school friends. Nice to catch up with everyone.

Water Park

2008-07-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

We spent Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday at a hotel with a water park. Maria went down the slides, but they were a little too big for Ray. There was a zero-depth entry pool that was perfect for Raymond to play around and run in. There was also a circular pool that had 3 basketball hoops. I even dunked it (once).
We spent 2 days in Madison. Checked out Henry Vilas Zoo , Madison Children's Museum and Wisconsin capitol.
It was a fun side trip on our way to the folks' for the 4th.

Wet breakfast

2008-06-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the Country Breakfast on the Farm this morning (part of the Rochesterfest events happening this week). It rained the whole way there and then continued to rain while we had breakfast. But, we were prepared! We wore tennis shoes and rain jackets, brought our umbrellas, and brought the rain cover for the stroller. We ended up having a fun time as the kids got to walk through the puddles and get muddy.
Felt good to be out in the rain.

Family Fun Night

2008-06-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

We headed on down to Rochesterfest (which is going on all week long) for Family Fun Night. They had a bunch of things for the kids to do (face painting, train ride, sack races, spraying fire hoses at targets, etc..). Unfortunately, the lines were really long for the train and fire hoses, so we opted out of those. But we were able to some unhealthy fair food and do a few things.
Maria rocked at the sack races. And Ray almost made a basket in the bean bag toss :)
We were surprised by how many people we ran into that we know or at least recognized. But, I guess living in the same city for 10 years, you're bound to get to know people. (yes, we've already been here for 10 years!)

Smoking VB

2008-06-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

I subbed last night for a coed volleyball team. It was fun to get some exercise outside. We played the first place team and didn't win, but it was still fun.
There was a person sitting at the picnic table next to our court smoking. Even though we were outside, the smoke was really bothering me. Nothing like getting some second-hand along with your exercise! I guess I'm becoming hyper-sensitive to smoke now that Rochester is smoke-free (no smoking in restaurants, parks, etc.).

VBS

2008-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The kids are in Vacation Bible School this week each morning. I'm helping by leading in the Nursery. Figured that since I'm still nursing Greta that would be the best way for me to volunteer (otherwise I'd have to take a break to come feed her each day anyway). It's going good. The kids are all really well behaved. I'm just exhausted to be taking care of extra kids and getting my crew up and out of the house by 8:30 each morning (with breakfast).

Here are some pictures from our adventures last week (Maria's Kindergarten Graduation, camping and horseback riding)

Out of town

2008-06-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted here in a week because I was out of town. We went camping last weekend (Saturday night) at Sibley State Park. The weather had been calling for thunderstorms, but the weather was perfect. Not a drop of rain!
We then went up to Albany for a graduation. Dave came back to town Sunday night, and I stayed with the kids until Thursday. We had a fun time. The kids got to go horseback riding, sleepover with cousins, check out the local library, feed a baby lamb, and go fishing (Ray's first time - and he caught one!).
Now we're home for one night and then the girls and I are off the other direction for my sister's bridal shower.
Busy mid-June.

Kindergarten Graduation

2008-06-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

Maria graduated today. I'm surprised at how fast her first year of school went.
She was crying yesterday and asked me what to do if you don't think you're ready for first grade. She's such a sensitive and sentimental soul. Hopefully she won't cry every year at the start of summer vacation :)
She is concerned about not seeing her friends and wants to keep doing 'fun stuff'. It's true, the past two weeks have been all parties and field trips. How am I supposed to compete with that this summer with all three kids at home with me?
Guess I better start planning some craft projects.

The Greta tree

2008-06-02T08:34:00.001-07:00

We bought and planted a new tree yesterday. It is a tri-birch, so has three trunks (since we now have 3 kids). We thought it will be nice to watch the tree grow and know that it was planted the year Greta was born.

Pedicure

2008-05-31T19:07:00.001-07:00

Today I got a pedicure and had lunch with vbblockhead. Thanks, it was a lot of fun to catch up with you and visit without the kids this time :)
We then went over to vbblockhead's for a suprise birthday party for MDM. It was great to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a while now that book club is dissolved.

Running around

2008-05-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted in awhile. The routine is such that we get the kids ready and into bed and then we tidy up the house, do dishes, etc. Then I always seem so tired that I end up just reading or going to bed instead of signing on and blogging.
We had a busy day today. I dropped Maria off at school (she had a planetarium field trip today) and Ray off at a community education preschool class he is in (today was the last day). I then ran to Sears to check out some shoes they had on sale. Ended up getting some new bath things as they were having a huge clearance (like washrags, bath rug, candles).
I picked up Ray and we had our oil changed in the van. They had free bottled water, juice, popcorn, fruit snacks and granola bars. So it ended up being a perfect break and snack time while we waited.
On the way home, we stopped by the neighborhood up the street from ours as there were having neighborhood garage sales. Ray got a big truck for the sandbox (he already had one just like it which he's named '3000', but its his favorite so he got another). He also got a motorcycle racing toy. He loves 'racers'. He's a really good garage saler and follows closely behind me. Greta slept in her car seat the entire time and was easy to carry around. She's such a good shopper :)

Picture class

2008-05-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Our pictures from our camera have not been coming out very good lately. They seem to be too blurry if we don't use the flash and too washed out when we do. Community Education offered a picture taking know-how class to go over all the features of your camera. Seemed an ideal time to take it since we've been getting frustrated with our pictures. I learned quite a bit of new info that should help.. now to just practice playing around with the settings.

Also, if anyone as pictures of Greta's baptism, I'd appreciate copies as we didn't have many of the actual ceremony that turned out.

Weekend

2008-05-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, just realizing that I haven't posted in awhile.
Here is a recap of our weekend...

Friday - Went to the school carnival at Rebekah's school. Maria's school is going to try a carnival next year as part of the annual auction. So, it was nice to check out this one to get an idea of what that may be like.
Saturday - Maria had a birthday party for a classmate. Greta and I dropped her off and went to some garage sales until it was time to pick her back up. Dave and Ray cut the grass and then did a few geocaches. We went geocaching in the evening as it was beautiful outside and stopped for an ice cream treat.
Sunday - We went to Essex Park for a picnic lunch and did more geocaching. Another beautiful day out!

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

Dave and the kids surprised me this morning with hot cocoa, fruit and flowers in bed. Maria then took my breakfast order and they made me breakfast. They gave me a new book about Jane Austin and some chocolates (yummy).
We decided to head over to Owatonna to check out the outlet mall and Cabela's because I was looking for a new waterproof spring jacket. Found one!
It was a fun day for all as I got to do some shopping and the kids got to check out the animals at Cabela's.

Was there a full moon last night?

2008-05-06T10:07:00.001-07:00

The kids were all up during the night.
Greta has been sleeping through the night for about a month and she was up to nurse at 3:00 am. Maria woke up and came into our room because of a bad dream. Raymond was crying in the night because he had a runny nose. I can't remember the last night that all 3 of them were up. They are usually so good and sleep right through the night.
Needless to say, I will be going to bed early tonight :)
So wondering if there was a full moon or some obscure astronomical alignment going on???

Messy house

2008-05-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm home with the kids, our house is so much messier. I almost tripped coming up the stairs because the top had so many books laying out. Ray is into throwing all the books off the bookshelf when he gets angry. It's happened 3 times this week. He helps clean them back up, but needs help getting them all back on. The kids' room was totally trashed. I couldn't even walk in without stepping on stuff.
Dave and I were discussing and I think we are going to take some time tomorrow to go thru and purge the junk. They have so many little trinket-ish toys that they don't really play with that we should donate or throw out. Also have a lot of books that could go as we keep getting new ones with Maria's book orders from school and some of the more lame ones don't get read anyway.
I think it was easier when they were in daycare and weren't at home all day to mess it up. I'm definitely noticing the difference.

Barbeque

2008-04-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

We went over to a coworker's of Dave's for a barbeque tonight for a farewell for another coworker. We had a fun time. There were lots of other kids for ours to play with.
Greta made strange when she was being held tonight, twice! She looked at the person holding her and her lip started trembling and she started to scream. I thought she was too young to be doing this already, as I don't remember the other two doing it until they were closer to 9 months or so.. but I guess each one is different... and Dave's coworkers are scary ;)

Haircut

2008-04-29T19:03:00.001-07:00

Not sure if it was the post-maternity hormones or the length of my hair, but I seemed to be shedding a lot lately. It was starting to drive me nuts.
So, I decided to get it chopped off!
I had about 6 inches cut off tonight. I like it so far, but we'll see what it looks like once I actually wash and style it tomorrow. (never looks the same when I do it myself). I also have a few shorter pieces in the front, so we'll see if they drive me crazy by being in my eyes too much.

4 months

2008-04-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

Greta had her 4 month baby well-check appointment today. She is a giggly, happy baby!
She weighed 12 lbs, 6 ozs.
She had to have 4 shots :(
She was happy happy until they stuck her with the first shot then she screamed and screamed until we left. Poor thing.

Insane Webkinz extravaganza

2008-04-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

The Toy Zone in town had their Webkinz extravaganza today. If you spent $10 on anything in the store, you got a free Webkinz. Maria just got invited to 2 birthday parties, so we needed to get gifts anyway, so we figured it would be a good time to do so and get the freebies. It was crazy! We got into the store and picked out gifts in about 10 minutes. The next 90 minutes were spent in the checkout line!!! I can't believe we did it, but once I was in line for 20 minutes, I felt committed and didn't realize it would be that much longer... Looking back, we would NOT do it again as it wasn't worth it.
Now that Sunday school is over, we aren't committed to attending the 8:15 Sunday morning service. So we tried the 4:30 Saturday one. We liked it! There was an ice cream social afterwards, so we felt better going to the Saturday night mass and having ice cream before dinner rather than going to Sunday morning and having ice cream before breakfast :) It's nice to now know that we can sleep in tomorrow.. looking forward to it.

Too much whining

2008-04-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired of listening to whining!
We were thinking of going out for dinner tonight, but Maria was having a whining fit because she was told to pick up her toys (that she agreed she'd put away when she was taking them out). We told them that we could go out for pizza and she started having another tantrum because she wanted to go to Gorilla's. (It's a buffet with some arcade games - used to be Golden Coral). So, because of the tantrums, we ate in. Not a big deal, but I was looking forward to getting out of the house for the evening. Thanks Maria :(

We love our park!

2008-04-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

Another day of rain. It was so nice over the weekend and we were getting spoiled with being able to go to the park. We are loving having the park so close! The kids want to go everyday, and we are meeting new friends each time we're there. We already met a new family and they invited Maria to the girl's upcoming birthday party. Such a great way to meet other families who live in the same area of town and have children that are similar ages to ours. We still don't know that many people in this part of town as it seems that most of our friends live more north. So the park is definitely helping us in that area.
We got some information today about Maria's last days of school, the upcoming class parties they have planned, and her kindergarten graduation. I can't believe she's almost done with kindergarten. It's such a special and exciting year. I'm going to be sad to see it end.

The stitches are out

2008-04-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ray got his stitches out today. It took 4 people to hold him down. Thankfully, the doctor was pretty quick at taking them out. The scar doesn't look that bad. He still has a scab over about half of the cut, but the rest is looking good. Since it's in the crease of his eye, it hopefully won't be noticeable.
We went to the grocery store today and I picked up a few things that I said I'd donate for the kids Vacation Bible School coming up in June. I didn't realize they were asking for such large portions. Such as, they needed 500 plastic spoons. They only sold them in boxes of 48, so I had to get 10 boxes (plus a box of 24 to reach 500). I pretty much cleared Hy-Vee out of their plastic spoon supply. But all for a good cause!

Family and a Friend

2008-04-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

Our weekend consisted of family and a friend. Here's a recap...

Saturday - I decided to do a little Garage Saleing in the morning. Our church had their sale, so wanted to check that out. Got a bunch of new books for the kids - some easy readers for Maria. I then went to another church rummage sale and found a bunch of novels for myself. Rummage sales are the best places to get books!
Grandma and Grandpa O and Diane and the girls came down for the weekend, so we went to Amy's for a fish fry (yummy, yum, yum!!). They hadn't seen Greta yet, so it was good that they got to meet her finally. Sorry that we haven't made it up north yet with her.
We had a great time visiting with family and letting the kids play together.

Sunday - Maria and Raymond had their last day of Sunday school until next fall, so they put on a concert afterwards. Maria did great and was really into the songs, singing loudly. Raymond was the opposite :( He sat down on the risers and was either sitting or laying down for the entire concert. He didn't sing at all and just sat there frowning. He can be so stubborn!
After the concert, we met Amy, Morgan, kids, Grandma and Grandpa at Amy's church for a pancake breakfast. We got an unexpected bonus when we pulled up and saw a big fire truck as they were also having a health fair. So the kids got to tour the fire truck (although I think Dave and I had more questions and were more excited than the kids - its been a long time since I got to see a fire truck up close). We also got free fruit, snacks, and toothbrushes. Score!
In the early evening my good friend, Karolyn, arrived. She moved out of town about 5 months ago, and I miss her a lot. Luckily, she has to come back for work every now and then. So she gets to stay with us and we get to hang out. We went out for dinner and did some shopping (along with Greta - who is the best shopping baby ever as she just sleeps).

Cupcakes and Cordon Blue

2008-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a nice low key day. We didn't have any errands in the afternoon, so after dropping Maria off at school, we came home and Ray helped me make cupcakes. I can't remember the last time we made cupcakes.. and now am wondering why we don't make them more often since they are easy and yummy!
For dinner, I made chicken cordon blue. I had to use a rolling pin to flatten the chicken first (never did that before). The coating called for corn flakes which we didn't have, so I substituted crushed up FiberOne instead. Tasted great and the family all got some extra fiber without knowing it :)

Night of Kids

2008-04-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

We had the cousins over for the evening. So that put us at 7 kids total. We went to the park and I kept counting heads to make sure I knew where they all were. (How does Amy do this everyday? She is a super woman!)
It was a fun night. We played at the park (now that the weather is nice), watched Disney's Robin Hood (my favorite) and ate popcorn. The kids were all well behaved and we hadn't seen Ben in a while so it was good to snuggle him up.
It is so great for us to be able to visit with our cousins. The kids always have so much fun together. We are so glad to have them in town!

4 stitches

2008-04-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Raymond got 4 stitches today :( Poor guy! He was rocking on his little rocking chair and watching a movie when he tipped it over and hit his face on the TV stand. I wasn't even sure if I should go to urgent care or not as I couldn't tell how bad it was. Obviously, glad we went in! I'm so bad about knowing when to go or not. Guess I need to err on the side of caution and go when in doubt.

He cried and struggled when they did the stitches, but they had numbed the area first and then put him in a 'papoose' so his hands and feet were held down. After it was all done, the nurse brought him 4 stickers (all 'boy' stickers) and he was in a good mood from there on. He immediately offered to give the Spiderman one to his dad. Such a trooper!

First blog!

2008-04-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to start blogging (yes, I'm being pulled into the dark side). Now that I'm home with the kids, I need a better way to stay in touch with everyone and to fulfill all the requests about how the kids are doing.. so you can come here to check out what's happening in our little world (from here on known as tingting land). Enjoy!