A New Year

2009 was not the year for blogging for me. I lost the heart for it when I blogged about how I was feeling when a friend was mistreating me (I did not use her name in my post). She attacked me for it and couldn't believe that that I would blog about these things because people from church read my blog. Well, it really hurt me and really turned me off to my blog.

But, I have decided that I don't care. This is my blog. If I want to blog about how silly people look in skinny jeans or how depressed I am feeling about the weather; I will.

So, as I look forward to the year 2010, I wanted to document some of my goals and resolutions.

1. Finish reading The Bible. I started late last January with the goal to finish it in a year. I am about 75% finished.
2. Run my first half marathon in April, continue running 1/2 marathons for the rest of the year. (I'd love to run a marathon in 2011).
3. Get back to healthy eating habits. I did a 10 week Farrells Extreme Bodyshaping and it totally killed my healthy eating and running. Need to get it back!
4. Finish my schooling by spring! This might be a stretch, but I REALLY need to get it done and get working!
5. Focus on family fun nights more.
6. Blog more often. As I was writing my Christmas letter, I realized how important my blog is in documenting our memories and the few posts I had this past year really helped me remember the fun things that we did as a family.

I am looking forward to our vacation this summer and all of the other great things that we have planned. I am also looking forward to getting a job in a new career and bringing in some additional income for our family!

I pray all of you have a wonderful and safe start to the new year!

Halloween 2

Here are the Jedi's battling it out, trick or treating and enjoying a treat!

Halloween

Here are a few of the things that we did on Saturday to get ready for Halloween. We carved pumpkins. We made a haunted house out of kleenex boxes and we had a jack o latern cheeseball and pumpkin pie.

Our first family camping outing

We went to Two Rivers to camp on Friday last week and had a great time. We cooked our dinner, smores, and breakfast over an open fire, played, ran around like crazies and slept in a tent. The kids had a blast and so did we. We hope to get a few more trips in this fall as we prefer camping in the chillier weather. We took our monarch tagging supplies and even tagged a female monarch there, so hopefully we will get a certificate from Mexico once she makes her way down there. We had to get the fire going in the morning and the kids were hungry. I had meant to buy doughnuts for such an occassion as this, but forgot. So, since they waited so patiently to eat, we all got to have smores after our breakfast. One of my best ideas yet!

Two Wheeling It

It was only a few months ago that I was blogging about how Skyler learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Well, here I am letting you know about Lily's triumph over the training wheels. Hers came three years earlier than her brother's, but there are a few reasons for that. Lily is quite a daredevil and not so scared to try new things. She doesn't stop with failure, she keeps at it until she has it, she will not give up. And, she had no choice if she wanted to ride her bike because her training wheel broke and we refused to replace it. So, there you have it in a nutshell. She loves to ride her bike. She wants to do it all day long, everyday!

Monarch Tagging

We had quite an exciting experience this weekend. We went to Hitchcock Nature Center in Iowa to participate in their annual Monarch Tagging event. They have a nice little presentation about monarchs and their migration patterns and then they let you loose in the forest with butterfly nets to try to catch some monarchs to help them tag them so that their migration patterns can be studied. This is all part of Monarch Watch a program run by the University of Kansas. We were fortunate enough to help both Skyler and Lily catch monarchs. We took them in and they each got to put the tag on them and then we let them loose. If they are found in Mexico by a tagger, they will receive a certificate of appreciation for helping the Monarch Watch program. We were also given more tags so that we could tag some at home. We were able to tag one, as we found a nice place along the creek where about a
hundred monarchs live. We still have four more tags to place, but we are waiting on our butterfly net, because it is almost impossible without one! We had a blast and the kids learned a lot about monarchs!

The Airshow

Ever since I was a little girl, one of the things I looked forward to every year was the Offutt Air Show. It was always so thrilling to see all of the different planes flying above the house. We would just watch them all weekend long. A few times we went to the base to watch it, but most of the time when I was young we would watch it from the back yard. Back then, there were no houses or trees blocking the view of the base. Now, I actually live in the neighborhood that blocks the view of the base from my parents' house. Sad, I know. But, we get to go to the base and sit on the flightline and enjoy the show. Everyone had a blast and we were lucky enough to be able to watch the show four times, since they started on Thursday!

Dear Mr. Construction Guy

Dear Mr. Construction Guy,

First, I want to thank you for all of your hard work down at the creek. I am not sure what you are doing, but it looks like you know what you are doing, so we'll just go with that. We are hoping that your work is for the benefit of our trail and park, but so far we are not seeing that. What we are seeing is the paths blocked with no warning, our beloved frogs and other wildlife missing, and lots of dirt, mud and noise. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure what you are doing is a good thing (right?)

What I don't appreciate though, is you deciding you must urinate on a tree in our park in front of us. I mean really. You couldn't wait until we weren't there? You've been working at our creek everyday for the last month. Who do you work for? They couldn't spring for a portable toilet for you guys? Unbelievable! Do they just figure that since you are out in nature you could take care of the call of nature in nature? I don't know, but I am hoping you will be done soon; that our frogs will still have a home when you are done; and that we don't have to witness you peeing on a tree again.

Thank you kindly,
A Mom

Ahhhh, School is back in session!

Well, it's official; summer is over. Yesterday Lily started preschool. She loved it! Skyler asked me all morning if it was time to pick Lily up yet. I guess he really needed someone to torment! To celebrate this momentous day, we went out to lunch with Grandma for a real burger at Stella's. If you haven't been to Stella's in Bellevue, I highly recommend it! Great, real handmade burgers for not much more than you would pay at a fast food joint, and wayyyyy tastier.
Anyway, I remember like yesterday dropping Skyler off at his first day of preschool. I was a nervous wreck and he didn't handle it very well either. But Lily was ready! I cried when I dropped Skyler off, I did not when I dropped Lily off. She's just ready for new adventures that she can only get at preschool, not with mom!

Today, Skyler started school. I am very glad, as I have been losing my patience with him more often these days. He needed something to do that he can only get at school. Mom was just too boring for him, I guess! He got on the bus and I followed him to school in the car. I met him and was going to walk him to his classroom and was surprised that at the nice ripe grade of first, he didn't want me to. Are you kidding me dude, I am your mother and will walk you to your room if I want to!!! So I did and helped him get to his desk (he didn't need my help, he knew exactly where it was) and then took a picture and told him goodbye. And as crazy as he has been driving me and as glad I am he started school today, there I was with frickin' tears in my eyes! What a wimp! I don't cry when I drop my baby off at preschool for the first time, but my big first grader I cry about. I'm hopeless!

Well, what am I going to do with all of this free time? I am going back to school. I start this week, online and hopefully will be done in about 6 months. I will also be substitute teaching when I can. So, even though I am down to being a part time stay at home mom, I am still keeping busy!!!

Mahoney Water Park

We went to the water park Friday night and the kids LOVED it. It was the perfect thing to do on the last Friday before school starts. Chuck thinks we need a pass for next summer, I'm not so convinced, since I'm not a water lover and it would be me who was taking them all of the time.

Our new bathroom

Well, it was some time in January when I blogged about how this happen to the mirror in our bathroom.

Well, now that it has been 6 months, we have finally rectified the situation. I painted the ceiling and the walls. Chuck replaced the brass light bar with a silver one, and we changed the mirror from the standard wall mount piece of glass to two framed ones over each sink! I really like it. I was a little disappointed in the color, it wasn't exactly as I had imaged it would be, but I do like it. So, all that is left is to change out the door knob and if I ever get some money, add a window!

Family Night Beach Day

Saturday we had ourselves Beach Day. Of course the weather wasn't all that perfect for total beachiness, but we did our best. We started at the sprayground, came home and played on the skim boarder and in the pool. We had a shrimp boil on a sandy blanket (Chuck was disgusted at the sandy blanket part and ate in a chair) had a seashell scavenger hunt, built sandcastles and sand paper sandcastles, light tiki torches, had a bon fire and finished it all off with SMORES!!!!!

We all had a great time. Skyler's favorite part was eating on the sandy blanket!

Zoo Thursday

We went to the and I did something I rarely ever do, I paid for a ride on the Skyfari. I never pay for a ride at the zoo, but had a little money and the kids really wanted to do it. It also takes us over the part of the zoo that we were planning on visiting, so it made for less walking for the kids. They were a bit disappointed that I didn't spring for the round trip ride, but they got over it once they were up in the air. We then fed the fish on the bridge, went to the garden of the senses, the aquarium, and the rain forest. We had soo much fun and it was one of the nicest days of the year!