Jamison's Travels

Emeric is off the Sassa!

2012-02-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

Emeric has been off of his sassa (pacifier) for about a week and a half. This past Monday, February 6th, he had taken one out of his room to play with. This was a big "No No" as he was only to be using them while he was in his bed. But alas what two year old listens completely to his mother? Before I chose to get it from him and put it away he had lost or misplaced it. That was okay because we had one more, no worries. Then the very next day, Tuesday February 7th, he did the exact same thing with his other sassa. You would think he and I would have learned the first time. That night the five of us were frantically searching every spot in the house we could think of to find the two lost sassas. NO LUCK! Brian and I decided it must be time to wean Emeric. We knew we had wanted to do it sometime this spring but we were no really committed to doing it now....but we knew we were not driving to the Wal-Mart to buy more. We were quite nervous about this and had even joked in the past that when we weaned Emeric Brian would have to sleep in the camper so that he would actually be rested for work. That first night was absolutely amazing. Emeric must have been exhausted because he went straight to sleep with no fussing. He did get up a little earlier than normal the next morning but truly 6:00 AM is not that bad. The next night was not quite as good, he cried for about ten minutes. Again that is not that bad. He has been good ever since. His nap times have been a little hit or miss, some days he sleeps, some days he plays. He has more play days than sleep days, but he was already starting onto that before he lost his sassas.

Then this past Tuesday night, as I was putting Connor to bed, I found one of them! It was hidden between Connor's mattress and his bed frame. Oh how badly I wanted to keep it. I thought just to give it to him when he is fussing and things would be all better. Or to give to him at nap time so maybe he would sleep. But no, I had to remain strong, so into the bottom of the trash it went. I only hope that I find the last one too or else Emeric would keep it. He had been asking for his and I would tell him it is gone. Then he would ask if Daddy could find it. That has stopped now. He will comment on other kids who have theirs and we will tell him they are babies and he is a big boys so he doesn't need one. He hasn't attacked anyone and stole theirs so I think maybe we are all okay.

Super Bowl

2012-02-16T12:45:00.000-08:00

So the Super Bowl was a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea it was upon us until the Wednesday before. I don't think I even knew who was playing until the day before and you know, I still have no idea who won. Aren't we just the epitome of "All American"? We didn't even turn the TV on once. This is what we spent all afternoon doing:

The weather was wonderful (sunny and not too chilly) that we spent it outside. Brian had a little work to do that Connor helped him with when he wasn't riding his bike around the block. Angela was practicing her jump roping skills as well as trying to improve her speed races on her bike. Emeric played for a little bit but then just sat back and watched everything that was happening. It was a great afternoon.

That evening, very last minute, we invited some friends over for dinner. We ate; then the kids played while we enjoyed some adult conversation in the hot tub. All in all, much better than vegging out in front of the boob tube.

January - Photos of Kids

2012-02-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Enjoy these photos!

Angela:

Enjoyed her holiday vacation and visiting all of the family. It was much fun to see Uncle Tim & Aunt Readah's new house.

Enjoying a little bit of ipad time with her brothers.

Just after our first substantial snow, Dad took her and Connor to one of the local sledding hills.

Connor:

He really loves to help shovel the sidewalks! I hope that it will last for a few more years.

Having fun sledding.

Helping Dad work on the hot tub.

Emeric:

(On the right) Practicing some dance/silly moves with Connor.

Hamming it up for the camera. "CHEEESSSSEEE!"

Nothing like a little boy in a dish towel dress.

Art

2012-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

(Okay, I can't help myself as I titled this "Art")

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs hanging on a wall?

---Art---

Alright now that that awfulness is done...let's move on! My mother has this amazingly wonderful friend who also happens to be an amazingly wonderful artist. Peggy Wilson! At this point in time I am not quite able to own an original Peggy Wilson but I did get a couple of her cards that I just got framed.

I love snowmen! When the holidays come around I not only decorate my house in Nativity scenes but I also fill it to the brim with snowmen. This one will probably never go into the Christmas box because it is a Peggy Wilson so it just needs to be on display always!

Peggy used to have a series of prints called "Mole-ympia". Why moles? I have no idea. But she lives near Olympia, WA so I think that is why the "ympia" part. Maybe it was just a fun play on words. This picture came from that series but looking at her website today I don't see that series. The fun part of this one is that when I lived in WA I lived near a convent. I was the absolute highlight of my day when I would be in the store and see a nun. It was wonderful to get this Mole-Nun picture. It makes me smile each day to look at it.

I really do hope that someday I can own a real Peggy Wilson. Isn't it funny that I call the prints by her full name. They are never the "such and such" picture by Peggy Wilson they are always just "THE" Peggy Wilson. Or it would also be wonderful to own something from a local artist such as Lorraine Ortner-Blake. Until then, I will just be contented to look at my pictures!

Eating In

2012-01-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

January's date night comes at a rather awkward time of year. We just finished Christmas with presents for everyone. Then we had our WA vacation and a Canada and Vegas vacations tucked inside. We were not really in a place for a "big" date. We decided to keep it really small and we were going to Eat In. We have been exchanging babysitting with three other families, which means, in four months you get three dates with free childcare and then you have one time where all of the kids are at your house. Fortunately on Friday the 20th, we got to go and drop our kids off. Then we came home and cooked up one of the easiest dinners. It was a P.F. Chang's frozen dinner (we had a coupon a few months ago and decided to give it a try). We cooked up a little jasmine rice to go with. It was really quite yummy. We also watched a movie (rented from the library) called The Lincoln Lawyer. Now before you ask how it was, I don't know we never finished it. First we got a phone call to meet some friends for drinks at the Corner Pocket. It was great to be spontaneous and just jump up and go. We tried to finish the movie after picking up the kids, but well...we're old, and we both fell asleep. We are going to try and finish it up tonight.

On a side note, our kids bring such humor to our lives and Brian asked me to share this with everyone. Actually when I told him, he laughed and laughed and then said, "You have got to blog about that!" Angela and Connor were unloading the dishwasher yesterday. We have really been working hard with them to put things away where they go. When I came to see how Angela was doing there was a pot with a fork and a cooking spoon in it just sitting on the counter. Before I could ask her why they were there and not put away she says, "I can't put these away, Connor ruined them." Then pointing to the pot she says, "He spit in this", pointing to the fork, "he used this to eat some pears" and pointing at the spoon, "and he put this down his pants!" Aren't they something?

Brian and I

2012-01-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

I went out for a run the other day. It was super nice since our college babysitter was still home on Christmas break so I got to do it in the middle of the day. I thought with the sun out it would be warm but it was pretty chilly. Once home the thermometer read 20 degrees but with the wind chill I think it was closer to 4 degrees. Fortunately I had some good layers and I felt just fine.

Brian took the big kids out sledding yesterday. When he came home he had icicles in his beard. I think this is a pretty common thing for him while he is working.

Destination Vacation

2012-01-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

Our 'D' date fell in December and we made it our destination vacation. Brian and I spent three days and two nights in Las Vegas. We had such a fun time! To read more about it go to our 2011 Christmas Vacation (part 2) post.

November/December Sewing

2012-01-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

Shortly before our trip I decided to get serious and tackle my sewing "to do" list. I had a few things to finish up and a lot to make. Here is a brief look at what I got done.

I made this hostess apron for a give-a-way for my MOPS group.

Also for my MOPS group I made these little diaper keepers and the burp rags that follow. The diaper keepers will hold 3-4 diapers and a small package of wipes. These gifts are for the moms who have new babies during the year.

I made a ball for my niece, Kendall. This is the before picture of all the parts of the ball. I then hand stitch them together. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it once it was finished.

This is a small zippered pouch that I gave to my brother. It was to hold his ear buds so that they would not get a tangled up and ruined in his bag.

These are art packets that I made for the kids for traveling. Angela's is the watermelon one, Emeric's is the cow print and Connor's is the one with all the action phrases.

Each packet has a vinyl sheet (which is in the center) and some activity sheets that slide in behind it. They are then able to draw on the vinyl with some dry erase crayons and then they don't mark up the activity sheets. They also had a pad of paper and colored pencils for any other art/writing needs. Lastly there are a couple of small pockets for special little treasures.

The two date purses were made for my mother and I to use on our girls trips. She picked the cream with green print bag and I got the gray bag. While on vacation, Emeric loved to run around with my purse full of his toys.

A sippy cup leash to hopefully keep the cup within reach (and not lost) during all of our traveling.

A dog bone shaped neck pillow for flying and anything else. The kids really enjoyed it on the flights.

Christmas pajamas for Angela.

Lastly, a trash bag for our car.

Funny thing is, after all of this sewing, you would think my "to do" list is much smaller. But darn it all it is about the same size. After I would cross one thing off I ended up adding something else in its place.

December - Photos of Kids

2012-01-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more photos of the kids from December (and our vacation).

Angela

I don't know if she is a lion or a confused ballerina.

I love to see my daughter helping with the dishes. This is probably the only time she has smiled while doing it.

She enjoyed trying out the marionette at Great-Grandpa Chipps' house.

Pure joy on her face after opening her ipod shuffle.

Enjoying looking through her stocking of goodies.

Connor

Getting creative with his snacks on the airplane. He made the 'C' and found the 'O's' and one 'N', I helped him with the rest.

After playing around at Grandpa and Grandma's he found some of my old costumes to dress up in.

Enjoying the Sunday comics.

Taking a rest with DC.

Having fun finding 'Bee' socks in his stocking.

Emeric

Playing dress up. What a pretty little princess.

I think we have an addict on our hands! It will be rough when we take him completely off of it.

"Yes! Oranges are so yummy!"

Smiling for the camera as he is sitting on the counter and enjoying a snack.

It is either box head Emeric or maybe astronaut Emeric. Connor just looked at the picture and said "Look at Emeric, he is hilarious!"

Slightly overwhelmed on Christmas and he has just barely started opening his stocking.

2012-01-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

Should I have forgotten any person or story or any part of our vacation, please forgive me. It is not that I purposefully left things out. Sometimes my brain just goes faster than my fingers and things get thought about but not typed out. I loved every bit of the vacation and everyone we saw. Brian, the kids and I really miss it and can't wait to see everyone next time.

2011 Christmas Vacation (part 2)

2012-01-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

The day before Christmas Eve we all woke up with a buzz of excitement. That was the day we got to go and get Daddy from the airport!!! Truly it was the ultimate highlight of our day! We had dinner with Scott and Chris and then I had to go finish my Christmas shopping. I used to talk about how silly last minute shoppers were. I always wondered why they were still out shopping on the 23rd and 24th and said I would never do that. But there I was doing my Christmas shopping on the 23rd. I didn't want to fill the suitcases with presents to take out there so I had wait to shop until we were on vacation. But then we just were doing everything but shopping and I couldn't shop for me kids when they were with me. So I ended up waiting until Brian was there so he could have the kids and I could shop. It was super fun though because Chris came with me. Bless her, she drove so I could just plan out where we were going next and what we were getting. It was probably the fastest I have ever gotten my shopping done. We then rewarded ourselves with a martini and a chocolate mouse dessert. I had so much fun going out and chatting with her. (Don't tell but when they come for vacation, I think we will have to do it again!)

From here on out the vacation literally did not stop once for Brian and I! It was a crazy go - go - go for an entire week, but it was so much fun. Hold onto your seats because here we go!

Christmas Eve morning was spent at Jon and Hilary's house visiting with them, their most beautiful daughter Kendall and Lindsey and Rob. I picked up Kendall just after getting through the door and besides when she was eating her breakfast, I don't think I put her down once. She is just too precious!

(Emeric-2, Kendall-9mo., Angela-10 and Connor-5)

(Emeric wasn't too sure about all the attention I was giving to Kendall)

(She had fun playing with Uncle Brian)

It was so nice to get to see both of my cousins and catch up with each other's lives. We are all three married and two of us have kids. Such change since the last time we had all seen each other.

The rest of Christmas Eve was spent with the Jamison's! We got to have Scott and Chris and every one of their Sons, daughter-in-laws and grand kids all under one roof for Christmas. It was probably the nicest part of Christmas for me. We had a wild time with 17 people opening presents. Then we had to find room for all of those bottoms to sit and eat dinner. Of course it was big but it worked out so nice. I can't wait until we can do something with the 17 of us again!

Christmas Day was spent at my parents house. I love the look of the stockings sitting out and ready for the kids to wake up.

We had fun seeing what they held as well as what Santa brought for the kids:

a scooter for Angela

a sled for Connor

and a bike for Emeric.

I can see your brains spinning....Yes, we did find room for those and all of our other presents in the luggage but that will come later in the story. We spent time enjoying breakfast and getting dressed but mostly holding the kids off from the other presents until Dad got home from town. He had to do sound at church and the rest of us slackers said it would have been too much of a rush to get up and get us all ready and do Santa and the stockings and get to church on time. The rest of the afternoon was spent opening our presents and ohhing and ahhing over everything. Dinner filled our bellies so full that I took a nap during the after dinner Christmas movie. We helped to put the kids to bed and then Brian and I left for Spokane.

The morning after Christmas Brian and I got up quite early and headed for the airport. Las Vegas here we come! As soon as we got to our hotel we dropped our bags off in our room and then headed for the strip. We logged more miles walking than I think I have ran in the past year (slight exaggeration, but close). We headed for the Luxor, which is a big pyramid,

and got ourselves some snacks and drinks! Once we finished our snack we were anxious to keep going and see as much as we could see. The only thing holding us back was the fact that we had just ordered a new drink. Thanks to our smart bartender, she noticed we wanted to get going and she gave us our drinks to go!

We both thought that was great (can you tell we are from a small town either that or someplace pretty conservative?). We are pretty certain that every town needs to have this policy that you can carry your drinks while you are walking down the street. All that first day we walked and stopped for a drink and walked and stopped for a snack and drink and then we repeated that for about eight hours. One of our stops was the Minus 5 Ice Bar at the Monte' Carlo. The entire room: walls, tables, seats, decorations and bar were made out of ice. The cups were even made out of ice, which made for a chilly drink! After we got home I posted a picture of us inside on my FB page and a WI friend commented: "Looks like fun, although you don't need to fly all the way to Vegas for a drink in the cold :). Just come to my garage ;)" I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and taking her up on that offer!

Now back to the vacation...The temperature down in Vegas was in the mid 50's which was nice considering a couple of mornings before we left the thermometer read 2. It did cool off a little bit once the sun went down but not too bad. We returned to the hotel and I got to enjoy the hot tub, Brian forgot his suit.

The whole reason we went to Vegas was because we got it discounted through a timeshare offer. We slept in and relaxed for our next morning and then we did our little timeshare thing. It wasn't really that bad. We were really looking forward to that evening when we got to take a helicopter ride over the strip.

It was Brian's first helicopter flight. We both had a really good time. None of the pictures turned out but that is okay. After our flight we got passes to go to an exclusive bar/restaurant called the Foundation room which was on the top floor of the Mandalay Bay. It was great fun to go up and relax for a few minutes with a drink.

We took the bus to a northern part of the strip and again spent a night walking and seeing and eating and drinking. Vacations are so much fun!

The next day we got up early, pack up our bags and then headed to breakfast. After breakfast (9:30 AM) we were set to go and see more of the sights. Little did we know that nothing in Vegas opens until well into the day. Silly town only seems to burn the candle on one end. So we leisurely walked around until 10:00 when we started visiting things.

We went to the New York New York hotel and saw this Statue of Liberty statue which was quite fun. It was at a candy store and it was made from jelly beans.

Then Brian wanted me to ride the roller coaster there but I wasn't too sure that I wanted too. Ten years ago when I went to Vegas I wanted to ride it and I really enjoyed it. I guess I am getting weak in my old age because it didn't sound like fun at all. Can you see that wide eyed, deer in the headlights look I have?

I will admit, a few tears leaked out on the first two big drops but after that it wasn't too bad. I did not jump right up and ask to go again but I wasn't mad at Brian for having me do it. As we were doing some souvenir shopping I saw this advertisement for one of the shops.

It made me laugh as I though, "This must be like the Vegas Dollar Store". It was a lot of hats, scarves, purses and costume jewelry. Not really things we were looking for for the kids so we moved on. In the Belagio we went and walked through the conservatory. It was still done up in all of its Christmas finery. This "postcard" was made from flowers and tree branches and other flora. It was much taller than Brian, I am guessing about ten feet tall. Regardless, I thought it was very impressively made, like much of Vegas.

We did end the trip with a bit of stress though. We were on our was back to our hotel and we had a little less than 30 minutes before the shuttle would pick us up and take us to the airport which means our plane would take off in a little over an hour. That is when Brian realized that his phone was missing. He sent me on to the hotel to get our bags with the directions to go to the airport without him if he did not get back before the shuttle left. Then he ran back towards the strip and all the places we had visited that morning. It is a really weird feeling taking all the bags on the shuttle to the airport without your husband. Fortunately, he was able to get a cab and he met me at the airport about 15 minutes after I got there. Unfortunately, he was unable to find his phone but we were able to get things taken care once we were home.

The next couple days were again spent doing laundry and packing all of our things. We came with one bag stuffed inside another and one full of Girl Scout cookies that we delivered so I thought we would have enough room for everything. We barely made it. We checked eight pieces of luggage, shipped one box home and had three carry on items - yikes.

New Year's Eve was spent quietly with the five of us watching a movie, enjoying a dinner and playing some games. We put the kids to bed and then Brian went to his aunt and uncle's house to see some of his family. The next day we visited with some friends and saw some more family. At one point in the day Connor was having some trouble listening and he got sent to the corner. Emeric felt bad for his brother and went to be with him.

Our last day in WA was again spent seeing family and friends. We had intended to make it an early night because we had an early morning to catch our flight, but I don't think Brian and I went to bed until 11:30 PM. Fortunately for us I woke up with the alarm, Brian slept right through it, and we made it to the airport with no hitch. It was another long day of travel (from Spokane to Denver and then to Milwaukee and home) but it was quite uneventful which was nice. We miss our family and friends a lot but we are so very happy to be home and able to see our friends here.

New Year Thought

2012-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

I got a new workout video for Christmas. It is a Jillian Michaels video and I am really enjoying it, but this post is not about that exactly. My first day using the video I was quite distracted trying to pay attention to the new exercises and trying not to step on Emeric, that I did not hear a lot of her idle commentary. Then yesterday I heard something she said and I really liked it, except once I was done with the video and an hour later into my day I had forgotten it. So today when I heard it I thought hard about it and then wrote it down. She said:

"Transformation is not a future event, it is a present activity!"

I don't know if this is an original quote from her or if she picked it up from someone else. Truly it doesn't matter to me where it came from I just liked hearing it. I immediately thought of it in regards to my exercising, remember that is what I was doing when I heard it. But quickly after that I started thinking of it in regards to other areas of my life. I have an entire unwritten list of things I would like to do and to learn and to see, etc. If I keep thinking that some day (future) I will get to it I more than likely never will. Thus staying stagnant and the same. I need to work to get my transforming to happen now (present) that way I will get to learning new things and growing in positive ways. The only problem...deciding what thing to work on first?

2011 Christmas Vacation (part 1)

2012-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

We left for vacation on December 12th at 4:00 AM. It was a two hour drive to Milwaukee . We got there a little earlier than necessary so that Brian could still get to work on time. We flew Southwest (which was wonderful) to Vegas. It was an almost four hour flight. We then had a couple hour layover in Vegas. My first priority was to find our next departing gate, then to get lunch and lastly to see if I could find a spot for the kids to play. As we were searching for our gate, Angela was really getting snappy. It wasn't until after lunch when she said she felt so much better and happier that we realized her snapping was because she was hungry. After much running we then had a two and a half hour flight to Spokane. The kids were so excited to see Grandpa and Grandma that I couldn't keep them from running. We went to Costco to pick up a few things and to stretch our legs. Then it was off to dinner and the two hour drive to Mom and Dad's house. One the way Angela complained about her head hurting shortly after that she threw up twice. I don't know if she learned anything that day, but I learned that she needs more substantial food and more water on travel days (I thought I was doing okay but obviously not).

The next couple of days were about the only down time I feel like I had that whole trip. I didn't get up until 9:00 AM the first day. Come to find out, the kids were up at 5:30 AM. Thankfully my parents handled everything and I didn't have to worry.

We took the two hour drive to Davenport to have dinner with Grandpa Harold and Grandma Phyllis. It was a lot of fun for the kids because they got to play outside in the snow and then take a ride in Grandpa Harold's buggy (a two seater four-wheeler). After dinner they had a lot of fun playing with the Grandparents and their toys.

The next morning they took the kids and I to a neighbor's house to see their five-week old piglets. For piglets I was hoping for something cute and about the size of the palm of your hand (or at least the size of your forearm). That was silly thinking! There were very cute but not that small. They really liked to root around your shoes and they were even able to untie mine.

We also got to see a four and five year old boar and sow. They were some of the largest pigs I had ever seen. Angela really like to see and pet the horses. She spent much of her time there. Connor got to help haul food for some of the animals including the cows.

Sassy cow and some of her friends really liked to eat bread. We stood at the edge of the gate and threw it into their corral and came running. they would ever eat it our of your hand. Here is Emeric feeding Homer the bull.

Emeric really likes cows so I was happy to show them to him. I have no idea if he thought it was fun or not but he did talk about it for awhile after that.

That day we spent lunch with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Chipps. The boys had fun playing in the house while Angela helped Grandpa cook up the burgers and hot dogs.

Friday night and Saturday we spent time with Scott and Chris. It was so wonderful for all of us to see each other again. It had been about a year and a half since we had last seen them. I kept them up way past bedtime catching up on all of the family. We also got to see Great-Grandma Faulkner and enjoy a little Christmas party where she lives. Sunday I got to go to the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein. I had never watched the movie but had heard much about it from my Mother and brother. It was quite humorous! That evening after I had picked up the kids and was heading to pick up Uncle Tyler for dinner we had quite the laugh. Emeric had gotten his pants wet earlier in the day so he was in his car seat in just his shirt, diaper and shoes. As I was driving I hear this rrrrriiiiiiiiippppppppp sound. I was pretty sure it was the Velcro on his shoes. Then Angela yells, "MOM! He took his diaper off!" I still am not sure how he unhooked it and got it off while he was sitting on it? We joked that it would be horrible if he peed in the car, but fortunately that didn't happen.

We got the next day to do laundry and to decorate the Christmas tree! The kids had a wonderful time looking at all of the old ornaments and deciding where they should go. And of course, this picture shows hardly any of the tree.

The following day Mom and I took our girls trip to Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Thank you so very much to Dad and Tyler for keeping the kids for me. We had such a great time eating, drinking, talking, walking, sight seeing, shopping, relaxing, staying up late, sleeping in, rubbing elbows with the locals and doing things that girls do when there are no husbands and kids around! It is most definitely time to plan our next trip.

Blogging Hiatus

2011-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

I will have a short blogging hiatus. This is due to the fact that I won't have my computer with me on our upcoming vacation and it will be difficult to download photos and get some good postings on here. I will be back in January to give you all an update on our wild crazy Christmas vacation.

See you then!

Santa

2011-12-11T04:03:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful breakfast with Santa and the kids had this picture done in two seconds flat!

Oscar Mayer

2011-12-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

OHHHHH....

♫♪ I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner ♪ That is what I truly wish to be ♪ Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner ♪ Everyone would be in love with me ♪♫

(You know you were singing right along - and now that is going to be stuck in your head)

November - Photos of Kids

2011-12-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until you get to hold these little bundles tight in your arms.

Angela:

Far right side, white shirt, singing in a recent school program.

Connor:

It is so much fun when it is your birthday and you get to lick the serving utensils.

Emeric:

Thinks he can get away with anything including climbing up on the table - Turkey!

Mom

2011-12-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

The thoughts and opinions presented in this posting are the sole result of the author. Should you not agree with them cease reading this posting and come back another time.

When I had one child I felt that I was a really good mom. I was able to focus so much of my time and energy on her. Even though I worked it seemed like we were always together, always doing something, always learning. It was easy and fun.

Then I had two children and I felt that I was a good mom. I had the school hours to focus on the younger of the two. Then I had the after school and weekends to split between the older and the younger. It was a bit of learning but it still seemed to go okay.

Now there are three children and I am struggling to even be an okay mom. I have half days alone with the younger and I am trying to figure out how do I be a mom to him but get some things marked off of my to do list? Then I have half days where the youngest is napping and the middle is home. Again, there are things to get done yet kids that are pulling, pushing, touching and tugging at you in multiple ways. With three, one always seems to be on "my list" by time school starts and some days it is all three of them. The older is gone 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours each day and then has 1/2 hour to 3 hours of homework each night. That leaves very little one on one time with her. The middle and the younger get a high amount of my time due to their ages. I am like a satellite orbiting around them. Constantly stuck in their gravitational fields. I get up between 5-6 most days just to have a moment that I don't feel their pull. Because even in the nights they are calling to me for many reason and most nights one is in bed with us.

The first word that came to my mind as I was thinking all of this is PRESSURE. Lovely enough the next thought was coal turns into diamonds with enough heat and pressure. I wonder...with all the heat and pressure of motherhood, what will I turn into? I know when things are all said and done I will come out on the other side as a sparkly, beautiful, semi-precious jewel.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

This years Thanksgiving was pretty low key. It was the five of us at home. We slept in and then lazed around most of the morning. I did make a pumpkin pie, completely from scratch. This was my first time using an actual "pie" pumpkin to get the puree and to make the pie. We were left with so much puree (it is in the freezer) that I believe we will be having a lot of pumpkin foods soon. Around lunch time we got the turkey cooking. Brian got a 15 1/2 lb. turkey which is a lot of meat. The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing the other foods: cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, stuffing and broccoli casserole. We ate dinner around 5 and most of us were asleep about 7-8. Brian and I ended up falling asleep with the kids and then waking up again around 10. It felt like we had a second wind at that point. It is no wonder Thanksgiving is usually around 1-2 so that once your nap is done and you've hit your second wind it is still only 5-6 at night. We had so much food, that Friday we had Thanksgiving dinner "take 2". The only difference was that we had green bean casserole in place of the broccoli casserole. Now tonight we are having turkey pot pie. We have enough turkey for about two more meals this week. The day was nice for Brian as he was used to small family affairs from his younger days. It was a little lonesome to me as I really felt like I needed more people to make it a real holiday. That is okay though ~ we did have a relaxing day.

Curling

2011-11-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

It is November which means it is time for Brian and I to have a 'C' date. This past weekend he and I went and tried curling. Brian took to it like it was in his blood. Towards the end we asked where it originated from and the instructor said it came from Scotland. We then did tease that maybe it really was in his blood. We learned how to walk on the ice, throw the rock, sweep, aim for offensive and defensive reasons and to read the ice. If I would have remembered to wear thicker socks and bring a pair of gloves I think I would have had a really good time. As it was, I was pretty cold and ended up just watching Brian for about a half an hour. He seemed to really have a great time. He even mentioned that if work would be a little more predictable he would think about joining a league team. Alas, that might not be for awhile.

Connor Turns 5

2011-11-14T05:05:00.001-08:00

When your child reaches another birthday I believe most parents (grandparents & relatives) think "Wow, how can he/she be this old?" I know that I have been having those thoughts about Connor turning 5. But the biggest wow that I have been thinking is the fact that Connor turned 2 in Wisconsin. We have been here long enough for him to be celebrating his fourth birthday in the state. That makes me go WOW!

He is working on learning about calendars in school including the days of the week and of the month. Therefore, on November 1st, we made a big red square around his birthday and started crossing each day off of the calendar as his birthday got closer. That helped him to not ask as much when his birthday was, but it was also helping to increase his excitement. The morning off he woke up ready to start opening all of his presents. I talked him into waiting and enjoying breakfast first. Then he had to get ready for school. I did let him open up one present at breakfast and two at lunch. Then I made him wait to do the rest of them after dinner once dad was home.

We knew that we would not have a lot of time on his actual birthday for fun celebrations since Brian doesn't get home until a little after six and Connor's bedtime is a little after seven. We decided to take the kids out to dinner and dessert the night before. We went to eat at Buffalo Phil's a restaurant in the Dells. The fun thing about Buffalo Phil's is that your food and drink gets delivered to your table by train. The kids all thought that was pretty fun! Afterwards we went to Cold Stone to get birthday desserts. Most of the time around someones birthday we go to Cold Stone. Then the birthday person gets their own special dish of ice cream while the rest of the family gets to share one. It really makes you enjoy the fact that it is your day!

For dinner the day of, we made homemade pizza. The big kids got to shape their dough and decorate with their toppings. It is always a meal full of creativity and fun.

(He had to eat with all his presents around him)

Connor wanted a cake in the shape of the Transformer Bumblebee while he is in car form. I think this was probably one of the worst cakes I made but at least it tasted okay. Normally I use a white cake but this time he wanted a chocolate one. Therefore, I completely understand the reasoning for putting a first frosting (crumb) layer on. Then the frosting I did use was a little too thin. I really was not patient the day I was making it and I should have paid better attention to the consistency of the frosting. But regardless of my criticism of myself, Connor loved the cake. He thought it looked like Bumblebee and he really liked cutting into it to eat it.

He got so many gifts that he was super excited for. Some Transformers, hot wheel cars, gloves, shirts, Lego's, pillow pet, Spiderman, train table, coloring supplies and I am sure a few I missed. We ended up letting him stay up a good 30 minutes past bedtime to continue playing with his toys. He had a wonderful birthday (and better yet, for me, the toys have still not lost their newness and he just plays all day with them)!

Emeric's First Haircut

2011-11-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

So this is funny, maybe you wouldn't think so but I am laughing as I type this. I was going to title this post "It's a Boy!" but I was pretty sure most of you would think that meant I was pregnant again and I didn't want to scare anyone. I thought it was fitting though because Emeric has been called such a pretty little girl a few times but they won't say that any more. Wednesday he got the big SNIP SNIP. For Connor I had to take it in baby steps and he got a hair cut then a few months later he got a boy cut. Not for Emeric, we just took it all off in one fell swoop. I had been thinking about it for a couple of days so Tuesday night I asked Brian what he would think if I got it cut. He was okay with it so Wednesday morning I told Emeric we were going to go get his hair cut. His response, "No, ou(ch) ou(ch)". I really had to reassure him that it wouldn't hurt at all. He did such a great job sitting for the lady and letting her use the clippers on him. Now maybe I will be able to use the clippers for his next hair cut? That may be pushing it just a little bit. He really liked the sucker at the end - a little bribery helps.

Here is our "pretty little girl..."

Now he is "all boy"!

October - Photos of Kids

2011-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

These photos make me laugh....! This month was filled with great warm weather that we are at the beach to cooler weather that we have got coats and gloves on. Enjoy!

Angela:

Can you have too much fun at the beach?

It is only fun to have your brother spank you when you are posing for a picture, otherwise it means war.

I love the close ups, especially when my kids are ready with a smile.

QUICK! DUCK! You are about to get blown out of your computer chair - "Expecto Patronum"

Connor:

Showing off his faux hawk.

Loving his new swim top. Hopefully it helped to keep him warm.

Someday his legs will be long enough to reach the peddles and then he will have to decide if he is going to be a lineman, a fireman or Spiderman.

Wearing their "FR" head covers like daddy does at work and like the fireman do.

Emeric:

Really, what is better than being on the beach with a bucket on your head?

Sleeping (or pretending to) on the beach.

Sitting in the bucket of dog food. I am sure he was eating some too.

With that sort of smile, I keep looking to see where his horns are.

Have a wonderful November!

We can't wait to see some of you really soon!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

This year we had a lot of fun with Halloween.

Angela was a Hogwarts, Griffindor student. She had the robe, scarf and wand. All of which we made. We are also in the process of making everyone else wands as we were pretty sure if she was shooting spells at us, we would need to be able to defend ourselves.

Connor was Spiderman. We bought his costume a week before and we should have promptly put it up on a shelf. He played with it so much that is had some rips and tears in it, but he still had a good time. (I will have to do some repair work now)

Emeric was an Elephant. We called him a lazy elephant the entire time. He rode in his stroller and would hop out to trick or treat. Then he would quickly jump back in even if we were only going to the very next house.

Aren't these three just cute as can be?

Madison's Dirtiest Race

2011-11-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Madison Mud Run was held this past Saturday in Verona. It is five miles of running with about 15 or so obstacles spread out in between. Brian and I headed down bright and early to be part of this fun/dirty race. What a good date right. Nothing like mud instead of candles. Our first obstacle was to jump into a creek that was slightly deeper than waist level and quite cold. After traversing the four or five feet of water and crawling out the other side we got to run wet though the rest of the race. Of course the last obstacle was the mud pit that we had to crawl through. We forgot to bring the camera and get some pictures but I was able to get onto the sponsor's page and after looking through a little over 2,000 pictures, I found these two, Laci finishing the balance beams, Brian and Laci at the finish. It was a lot of fun and I think we both would be willing to do it again.

Batting Cage

2011-10-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

October's ABC Date happened this past Saturday. We enjoyed a little bit of batting practice at the High School's batting cages. It is really funny what you will find when you start to ask around. I was at church during Logos (or Wednesday night youth program) a couple of weeks ago. I asked one boy, who I know plays baseball, if he had or knew where to get a pitching machine. You see Brian and I were trying to step out of the norm for the ABC dates. We knew we could have done a bar or bowling, but we wanted to do something different. That is when we thought of batting practice. So this boy I am talking to maybe thought he could get us access to one across town, but he did not think we could take it to the batting cages. That is when another boy who had overheard my question said that his family owned a non-electric pitching machine that we could borrow whenever we wanted. YES! We had struck gold. We had the babysitter for a two hour time frame. We did not spend the entire time batting but what we did bat was a lot of fun. At first I couldn't hit the ball. I am sure it was because the machine was not dialed in properly and not at all because of me... then again? After a while I got back into the hang of hitting a ball that is pitched to you and not just lobbed in the backyard. Brian was right on from the beginning. You could see he was having to hold back with his swings because he was afraid of hitting them too hard and possibly getting me. I am really glad that we stepped out and did something neither of us has done in a really long time. Our "B" date ended up with a lot more B's than just batting cage. We had burritos for lunch. That night during dinner we enjoyed some beergaritas. It was not a recipe that sounded very good, but once we tried it it wasn't too bad. The next day, which was our anniversary, we spent the entire day at the beach. It was just our typical Lake Michigan trip and it was wonderful, like always.

The biggest "B" of all might have been Saturday night after the kids had gone to bed. Brian became bald. Sure you are thinking, he was already going that direction. Well we helped it out a bit and 'bic'ed his head clean. It was really a shock to the kids when they got up. Connor told him to grow it back and shave his goatee off. Angela just kept saying, "NO! NO! That is not right." Emeric just wasn't sure. I tell you it does look a bit different, especially since his face and neck are so tan and now his head is not.

Regardless, he is very handsome (with or without hair)!

September - Photos of Kids

2011-10-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

Happy October 5th to everyone! These have been such wonderful days we are having hear. Cool (chilly) crisp mornings and warm comfortable afternoons. I've got to get this post done quick so that Emeric and I can get a run in before we head to the library for story time. I haven't seen any comments lately so I hope that people are still looking at the blog?

Enjoy!

Angela

"Help! Help! I have fallen in the well. Where is Lassie when I need him? Probably off saving little Timmy...!"

Even with her knees bent she can not fit under the new cupboards. She is getting so very tall. It won't be but another few months and she will be as tall as I am.

Connor

Helping Mom bake cookies.

Proudly wearing his medal after finishing the Madison Zoo "Roo Run Run".

Emeric

Helping Mom with the vacuuming.

I believe this is what you would call, getting into reading!

Connor's First Fieldtrip

2011-09-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Connor's pre-school class took a fieldtrip to Lapacek's Orchard this morning. It was his first time on a school bus and he was quite intrigued. He wanted to know where the airbags were and why there were no seatbelts. I think it must have been sort of fun that I sat right beside him and not up in the front seat.

He really enjoyed looking out the windows and laying his head against the window and feel the shake of the bus. At the orchard we got to pet some kittens. We walked through a blueberry "bramble" which was rather nicely pruned and empty of any fruit. Then we spent some time in the rows of raspberries. The kids got to pick and eat the raspberries as a yummy appetizer.

We were shown a peach tree and saw a bunch of chickens pecking around the apple trees. We got to explore in a sun flower forrest and then play with some sunflower heads. Each kid got to pick off a few seeds to take home and plant.

Next we took a walk through part of the apple orchard. They have over 2000 trees in 50 varieties of apple. We then learned how to pick an apple and we got to have one for a snack. Next was a walk to the pumpkin patch where the kids could feel and pick up some pumpkins. Lapacek's has two emus and a bunch of goats. We were warned to stay clear of the emus as they can get a little agressive and try to steel apples from people. But we were encouraged to go up near the goats. The kids even got to feed their apple cores to the goats.

Lastly was a bit of playtime at the playground and snacks before heading back to school. It was so much fun to be a part of this with him.

Amazing Race

2011-09-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen the TV show The Amazing Race? Neither Brian or I have seen it. We have heard about it and seen little commercial segments but we have never watched an episode. We heard about a month ago that a group here in Portage was going to sponsor an Amazing Race event. It seemed like it could be something fun for Brian and I to do as a date and since we were just starting our ABC dating an Amazing Race was a perfect 'A' date.

We started out our day this past Saturday with it being very cold, cloudy and grey. We had on blue jeans, t-shirts, jackets and hats. While standing around waiting for things to begin we wondered if we should have had gloves and more layers. There were three waves that would take place and we were starting in the first wave that began at 9:00 AM. There were ten teams in our wave, ten in the second wave at 9:45 and eight in the third wave at 10:30. They let the teams go in minute intervals so at 9:06 AM Brian and I were the seventh team to run from the starting line - I grabbed our first clue while he grabbed a shopping cart and we started running the two blocks to where the first of ten challenges awaited us. Poor Brian ended up running the shopping cart into a pot hole as we were trying to cross the street and ended up slamming his knee into it while trying to keep it from flipping over. Fortunately he was not hurt too bad and that was our only mishap for the morning. Once we got to the start of the first challenge I had to put on a bike helmet and get into the shopping cart. Brian got to push me through a course set with stacks of tires. You were not allowed to knock any of the tires down or you would have to restack them and start again. We made it through that fine and then ran to the chamber of commerce office. There we had to put together a puzzle of the main sponsor's logo and then had to fill out a little quiz based upon facts of the main sponsor's business. Then we ran to a local karate school where we learned some karate moves (kicks, punches & blocks) then we had to perform them correctly for the instructors. Later in the day, once the race was over, we saw the karate instructor and he said we were the only ones who actually paid attention while others were doing the challenge and therefore we didn't need extra help and we flew threw the challenge faster than anyone. From there we ran to a park near Angela and Connor's school. Brian had to carry me, piggy back style, through an obstacle course. Neither of us were allowed to touch any piece of the course and I had to carry an egg on a spoon, fortunately we did not drop it and we moved on from there. Next was a run to Collip Worden Park which is a little ways away. The clouds had finally left and due to being in blue jeans, running and adrenaline we were really starting to get hot. I was able to tuck my coat into the little backpack they provided us, but Brian's coat was too big. Fortunately the run to the next park took us right by church and Brian left his jacket there. The first of the two challenges at the park was to make three goals, from three different lines, in Frisbee golf. Brian was super good at that one and I think we past two or three teams there. Next, I got to wear a sun hat with a large upturned brim and Brian got to bounce ping pong balls towards me and we had to catch three of them in the hat. That was another quick one as it took us four bounces to get the three balls into the hat. From there we ran up the hill to a local chiropractor's office and we were given two skewers that had five hex nuts on each skewer. Alternately we had to work together to stack those ten nuts end on end without using our hands only the skewers. We got to about six or seven the first time and then we made it all the way to ten on the second try. Next we headed off to the parks and rec office where we were given a hammer, some nails and a stack of wood. Without any help from the challenge supervisors we were to build a bat house. It is very fortunate that Brian and I work really well together with things like this. He did the hammering and I did the directions and measuring. We were able to overtake another team there because they ended up having to make a second bat house. The fun thing about this challenge is that all the houses build will be donated to the City of Portage. I keep telling Brian that we need to build one for our house so that we can have bats living here. I understand that a bat will eat its weight in mosquitoes every day and since I think the mosquito is the state bird of Wisconsin.....well a resident bat or two might be nice. We then took a small bus across town to a park shelter where we got to put together a large sudoku puzzle. It was with pictures of many of the sponsor's logos instead of numbers. Brian said this is where I got to shine as I did most of the puzzle. Then we ran to a park a couple blocks away where we got to bowl/throw four balls down a hill. At the bottom of the hill were different sized soccer type goals. Each goal was a different point value and we had to get a certain number of points to move on. Then it was an all or nothing run to the finish line. We jogged until we were a block and a half away and then we sprinted hand in hand to the end. We figured that we ran about four miles total to get from each challenge. We came in first from our group of ten teams. Finishing everything in one hour fifty-nine minutes and thirty-nine seconds. We were third overall from the total of twenty-eight teams. We were ten minutes behind the first place team, five minutes behind the second place team and only six seconds ahead of the fourth place team. It was a really really good time and we would most definitely do it again. We had so much fun participating ~ Our Amazing Race was (pardon the pun) - AMAZING!

Ramblings

2011-09-23T04:55:00.000-07:00

Brian has been working 40s lately. It is so funny to think that I am happy about him working 40 hour weeks, but it is wonderful! There has been talk to changing to 50s, but for now I am basking in the extra time we have together. Most people wouldn't see it as extra time, you see he leaves the house at 4:00 AM and does not return to the house until 6:30 PM. But at least with 40s he is doing 4 - 10s so we get to have Friday together plus the weekend. It seems like each Friday we end up with some sort of task/chore that we try to take cake of. Today we are having a mini yard sale, then whatever doesn't sell by dinner time will be going down to the Goodwill.

Another thing that makes having Brian home is that I get to sometime run without the kids. Now sometimes we will go out as a family with me running and everyone else on bikes. But today I get to just run. I am hoping to get in about five miles. I was sick earlier this week and am not feeling like I am back to a full 100% which means this may be a little tougher. Therefore I will just have to push myself through it. I will have a friend join me for the middle three miles of it which should help. Starting in October Brian and I are pretty stoked to start a new date night. We joined together with four other couple to have a rotating childcare/date night one Friday per month. One family will host all of the kids at their house for four hours while the other families go out on a date. We will do this for five months and if it goes well hopefully we will do it for another five after that. Now we just need to figure out what we will do for four hours in October. Maybe we can figure out how to tie it into our ABC dating?

Angela just started Girl Scouts. Last night was her first meeting and she said it was fun but they didn't do too much. Probably because they were getting to know each other and learning the rules. Not to mention.....they were learning all about cookie sales! I find myself wanting to relive my youth with this. When I was roughly here age and in Girl Scouts I was the top cookie seller of my troop. I find myself strategizing and planning how to ~~help her~~ (wait who am I fooling) ~~help us~~ (truly...) help me, to be the top seller. I am having to talk myself down and verbally, that means out loud, tell myself that this is her thing to sell a lot or not is up to Angela. She is not allowed to start sales until September 30th and it runs through October 16th. This will be interesting to see how she does and to see if I can hold myself back. We'll let you know what comes of it. I am hoping that once cookie sales are done and the troop gets into a normal routine that Angela really enjoys it.

Last night as I was leaving to pick her up from the meeting I was trying to find the boys to say goodbye. They were in the backyard playing so as I walked out the back door I called their names. This is one of those times you wish you had the camera in your hands! They were both hidden under the back deck, which is not a huge bit of space in itself. I was laughing because of that when I asked them for kisses goodbye. Instead of crawling out to give me a kiss they both just stretched their necks until their lips were out from under the deck and kissed me. Again more laughs for this. The topper is Brian telling the boys to get out from under there because it is dirty. This time belly laughs! I said to him, "Brian you are a boy, I am sure you did things like that. And I am a girl and I know I did things like that." They were having so much fun. I love to see them play together like that.

2 Years Old

2011-09-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

There you go! Two years old!

Emeric, the baby of my three kids, is not so much of a baby anymore. It was a bit of an up and down day for his birthday. It is a good thing he is still young and won't remember this day. When I went to get him out of bed I found that he had thrown up sometime during the night. I got him cleaned up and the big kids dropped of to school. Emeric and I were just getting ready to have some playtime when the school called. Connor had thrown up at school (not even 20 minutes after dropping him off) and we need to pick him up and bring him home. What a way to start the day! Brian ended up getting the day off from work due to the fact that it was raining. That was wonderful in a way since he got to spend the day with us. I am glad when rain days happen but also glad that they don't happen all of the time. We let him open a present at lunch, then two at snack time and the rest at dinner time.

At first he didn't want to rip into the paper. Maybe it is because he gets into trouble if he rips books? I made him a balloon cake. It was super simple. Partly because I had been sick on Sunday and was trying to recoup yesterday. I wasn't going to even make him a cake, but I figured for principles sack I needed to. So I opted on a simple cake. Plus, lately, Emeric has really been into balloons.

When we showed it to him he instantly knew what it was. He didn't want to blow out the candles. Brian had to help him. Then he wanted to spend more time chewing on the plastic balloons than eating his cake. Just before bedtime we got to Skype with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Tyler. That was a lot of fun for the kids although they did not have the patience to sit and talk for very long. It ended up being a very quiet, but nice day to celebrate our little boy turning "Two"!

ABC Dating

2011-09-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine told me about this concept of dating called ABC Dating. The idea is that each date much start with each letter of the alphabet. Brian and I frequently have little dates (two hours and under), but we don't often have bigger dates. We decided that we are going to try and ABC date our big dates each month. September will be A! Watch for updates as they come. I will also try to link to them in the sidebar.

Kitchen Remodel Part 3

2011-09-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

We moved into our house in March or April of 2009. The kitchen was really sad! There was a sink, a fridge and a stove then six cabinets, three on the top and three on the bottom. There was also a lot of empty space. Hand washing dishes was no fun and we decided we needed a dishwasher. Brian hated the idea of having no microwave, it made for a hard time reheating leftovers. In our effort to prioritize the need for a dishwasher won out. In September 2009, shortly before Emeric was born, Brian built a wonderful kitchen island with a breakfast bar and a dishwasher. Then in May 2010, Brian installed a microwave plus the cabinet that sits just above it. There we sat with a pretty new island and the new cabinet above the microwave and our six old cabinets. It looked kind of goofy, but I was okay with it. We have been working super hard to pay down debt and build up our savings. Therefore we decided we would not move on with the kitchen unless we had the money. For the past eight months I had been saving money from my babysitting and in the middle of August we ordered seven new cabinets to 99% of the way complete the upper cabinets. They came in when Brian was in New York, so it was nice that he got a few days off after the storm. He worked like crazy and he got the old ones down and he (with a tiny bit of my help) got the new ones up in just two days. I am really liking the look of them and I can't wait to save up the money to get the lower cabinets and counter top in. Until then, here are some photos.

Can you imagine how little space there was with just the three cabinets up and three down?

With nothing over the fridge it seemed like a lot of wasted space.

Old cabinets are down and it is time to get working on putting the new ones up. I should have taken a picture of what the dining room looked like. It was a horribly mess with everything from the kitchen moved into there.

Here is the end of day one. Unfortunately where we had the microwave did not match up with the new cabinets. He had to take it down and scoot the cabinet over and rehang the microwave.

All finished!

"The Farm"

2011-09-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Brian has been working like crazy it seems. If he is not working a few hours away from home and driving back and forth, then he is working to far to drive and staying all week. To top that off he seems to be heading off on storm work all of the time. Most recently he was in New York state (first Albany and then Long Island) for about a week and a half. He ended up leaving just before Angela's birthday (thankfully we celebrated earlier so he was here for all of that) and getting home just after Labor Day weekend. We had made plans to go camping over Labor Day weekend. After hearing he had to leave I was back and forth on should I camp or not? I finally decided that it couldn't be that hard so we went. It was the three kids, Harley and myself for the weekend in the camper. It wasn't nearly so bad except that when I plugged the camper in, before leaving, to get the fridge cold, I didn't push the AC/DC button. Therefore when it was time to leave the fridge was still warm and the truck battery was dead. I jumped the battery and everything was fine after that. We met two friends and three of their five kids at the campground so we were not totally alone up there. One day while we were there we went to visit a place called The Farm. It is a huge petting zoo of sorts where animals are in fences and running loose. There are all sorts of barn displays teaching history and then all the animals. We only saw about half of it since it started to rain, but it was still a lot of fun for the kids! Upon entering you could buy each child a bottle of milk and a bag of corn. As soon as you stepped into the barn yard the goats and pigs came running at you and before you knew what was happening they were drinking out of the bottles.

Angela and Connor thought that was great, but Emeric was not too sure about it. Then you could walk around feeding all the animals the corn. There were goats, pigs, cats, chickens, dogs, cows, sheep and horses. There may have been more animals, but that is what we saw and feed and held.

This cow was way too funny. I would feed him buy letting him eat out of my hand, but other people were too afraid to do that. He would open his mouth, stick out his huge tounge and people would throw the corn into his mouth. It was a sight for sure.

Connor had a heck of a time chasing this goat around to try and catch him. All he wanted to do was hold him and I think it probably took him a good five minutes to catch it.

This baby goat kept chasing Emeric trying to get at his corn. Emeric kept scooting away and looking at me for help.

There was an incubator with about a dozen eggs/chicks in it. When we first started to look this egg had one tiny crack in the side of it. Since it was raining really hard and the incubator was inside, we had nothing but time to watch this little chick. We watched the egg rock and move, we watched the chick peck and crack the shell. We stayed until the little chick was completely out of the shell. It was a really neat thing for me to watch and the big kids liked it too.

First Day of School

2011-09-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

School is defined as an institute for teaching or learning. But I think if you were to ask both students and parents it would get a much different definition. Students may say a place that is: great to see friends, super boring, no fun, awesome, some place they want to be or don't want to be. Parents may say it is something that: makes them cry to see their babies go, makes them feel old to have a kid in "X" grade and a nice break in the day.

I know I and my kids have been thinking all of those things and we have on had one week (plus a little) of school.

Angela started 5th grade on September 1st. At Rusch they co-teach their grades. She has one teacher who teaches Science and English and another teacher who teaches Math and Social Studies. She was not really looking forward to starting school, but she is really liking it now. She is hoping to join choir and be a part of the student council. It is so much fun to see her excited about school.

Connor started preschool on September 6th. He only attends school Monday through Thursday from 8:00 to 11:10 AM, so last week was a short week for him. On his first day he was up and ready and really excited to be there. The parents have a drop off spot for the class but then the kids are to walk to their room with the teacher and the parents go home. That first day I waited until his class left, but that was only for me, he didn't need it at all. On day two, he was still doing well, but Dad was there so he took Brian to see his classroom. On day three, well that was another story. Each of the first two days he came home super tired and by dinner he was whining and crying over things that normally wouldn't bother him. So when he woke up on day three he didn't want to go to school. He was crying all morning and on the walk to school. Fortunately, when we got to the school I reminded him he had a choice, to have a bad day or a good day. He choose to have a good day and he wiped all his tears away and went into meet his class just fine. Here is to his first full week.....I hope that all will be just fine.

Canning Crazy

2011-09-12T04:10:00.000-07:00

This past spring, a woman from church was talking about how she buys blueberries in bulk. She then freezes them and eats them on her cereal all winter long. I really liked the idea of getting fruit in bulk. In 2008 I had learned how to can peaches and pears, but I had not done it since then. Thus, this past May, I went out to Mishnler's General Store ("the Amish" on Barry Rd) and ordered myself some fruit. I am not sure what I was thinking in May because two weeks ago when I went to pick it up I about had my eyes fall out of my head. I had ordered three boxes of peaches, two boxes of pears and one box of blueberries. I was canning and freezing non-stop for four days in a row. My feet hurt, my back hurt and I never wanted to see another piece of fruit or a glass jar again. I have two gallons of frozen blueberries, six 8 oz jars of peach freezer jam, 30 quarts of canned peaches, a quart and a half of peach ice cream or pancake topping, a gallon and a half of frozen sliced peaches, three 8 oz jelly jars of pear butter and 38 quarts of canned pears. I should have had two more quarts of both the peaches and pears but darn it all they died in the canning pot. When the final jar broke I was so exhausted from doing this that I stood crying in the kitchen. I might have been a slight mess, and I swear next year I will not do this unless I have someone to help me, but at least I can say it is done.

August - Photos of Kids

2011-09-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

August - the final month of summer.

Angela

Teaching her brother some silly trampoline moves.

This is what a mini golf hole in one looks like!

Our beach beauty.

Super pleased to have this yummy treat all to herself.

Connor
Squirt guns + a nice day at the beach = a super huge day of fun!

Trampoline fun.

"Yes....?"

"Like how I licked all the frosting off?"

Emeric
Happy to see Grandma!

A little beach and squirt gun fun.

"Do I float in the boat or eat the boat?"

"Ummmmm! Frosting is so yummy!"

After an afternoon of golf, my three wonderful amazing kids, pose for a picture.

Getting ready to spend the morning at the zoo.

Angela's 10th Birthday

2011-09-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

WOW oh WOW! Angela is ten years old! She has been walking around telling people she is a decade old. I can not believe that she is this old and she is almost as tall as I am .

We celebrated her birthday twice this year. Once while my parents were here and then again on her actual birthday. Brian had to be out of town, working, on her birthday so I vowed to make it fun and special. After breakfast and some presents, we went to the store and picked up a birthday present from Brian and I, I new bike. Her old one was quite worn and it was well in time she got a new one. It is a light green 18 speed which is something fun and new for her. After that we went and played at a friends house and shared lunch with them. My friend made Angela a three layer birthday cake out of cupcakes and all the kids sang her a special happy birthday. After lunch she got to bring a friend over to the house to play for a while. With both of the boys occupied she got to have lots of time playing with her friend and her new presents. After the friend went home we went and got her ears pierced. It is a pretty light blue/blue green stone that she picked out. She was really nervous about it hurting but she did a really good job. They were not able to do two people at the same time so it took a little longer, but she was wonderful! After a nice quiet dinner we called it a night. Over all I think turning ten was really good for her.

I love you so much Angela Renea Jamison!

I think she really would have ate this as it was, if we would have let her.

Modeling some of her new clothes! Isn't the detail on the pockets like super cute.

Cupcake birthday cake at our friend's house.

She said she was ready for the earrings and she was not going to have any tears.

Ear one.

Ear two.

A Week With Grandpa and Grandma

2011-09-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

It seems like we hardly did anything while my parents were here, but it also feels like we were running just about non stop. I guess either way you look at it could be right.

They arrived a few hours late (it seems the train is always doing that) on Monday August 15th. I had been talking to them on the phone and knew how things were progressing, the kids did not. Emeric was still napping when they arrived so they decided to walk to our house from the train station. Good thing it is not that far away. I took the kids outside to play and they were completely blown away when they saw Grandpa and Grandma walking up to our house. We spent that day resting and relaxing and enjoying each others company.

I still had daycare kids and water aerobics to do while they were here and Brian still had to go to work. So it felt like most any other day while they were here. Tuesday we took a walk down to the levee next to the Wisconsin River and enjoyed some ice cream from the Popcorn stand. Wednesday, after a really crazy day of kids, we took a couple of hours for ourselves and got a sitter for the kids. Thursday was pretty low key, just hanging out around the house.

Friday we celebrated Angela's birthday. We started off with waffles with peach syrup and other toppings. That afternoon we went and played some miniature golf. We enjoyed an after gold appetizer and drinks. The kids had Shirley Temple's, which crazy enough, was their first time drinking those. Dinner was ravioli with alfredo sauce and snickers salad. She had a two layer, round carrot cake for her birthday. She enjoyed opening a lot of presents that day (we saved some for her actual birthday).

Saturday morning I competed in the Silver Lake Triathlon. It was my first event of this sort and I am feeling rather proud of myself for doing it. I was brought almost to tears at one point when I saw Brian, the kids and my parents all holding signs and cheering for me. That afternoon we took another bit of needed adult time and toured/tasted at a local winery. Then we shared some drinks and appetizers before heading home.

Just finishing up the swim.

Starting out on the bike.

Finishing the run.

All done at 1 hour 41 minutes and 21 seconds. Already to do it again next year.

Sunday we spent the entire day at Lake Michigan. I know I have blogged about it before, but we love it so much. It is just like being on the ocean. The day was wonderfully sunny! Not too hot nor too cold. It was a perfect day for enjoying ourselves and that is absolutely what we did!

Sure enough Monday came too soon. It was the day Mom and Dad had to leave. The kids, Connor especially, wanted to go to McDonald's while the Grandparents were here. So lunch on Monday was a Micky D's treat. I was trying to tell Mom a story about the last time we were there and she had to stop me to say that that was the last time she was in Wisconsin. I guess I don't get my kids out to the play land quite as often as some parents do. Things are getting better with sending them home. I had a meeting that night so the kids had a sitter. It made it a little easier to say goodbye when we all had something else to do.

It was a great week and I am very much looking forward to our Washington trip coming up in December!

July - Photos of Kids

2011-08-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Angela:

Enjoying a backyard sleep out with some friends. They started in the tent, but non of them lasted.

In the blue shirt and pink helmet up to bat. At this point, she hit the ball but got thrown out at first base.

A beautiful butterfly face!

Connor:

Having fun playing at the beach!

"Flying" on one of the rides at the fair. He had a gun that he kept "shooting" Angela and I with.

He is not sure whether or not he will be a fire fighter or a navy seal, but for the sake of the fair rides...he was a good fire engine driver.

Emeric:

Playing with the dead fish at the beach. (I know, I know - we are fabulous parents!)

When you let your son feed himself pudding, it ends up in more that just his mouth.

Then you need to wash said pudding boy and it is easier to do when he is naked. Fortunately for me he is being quite modest in this photo. Normally he is running around the house naked, playing with himself and laughing (that did not come from my side).

We had to make treats for Angela's last softball game. So we made a couple dozen softballs. While we were at it we made dinosaurs for snack for Connor's summer school class. After the softballs and a few dozen dinosaurs I was ready to be done with cookies until Halloween or Christmas.

July Update

2011-08-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

It never feels like we are very busy at our house. We are home a lot and out and about but it never seems that busy. A little over a month ago we had some friends over for dinner and when the husband looked at our calendar his jaw dropped. It was a classic cartoon jar drop where I thought I would have to snap it back up like a window shade. In a state of shock maybe, he talked about how busy we are. The funny thing is, the calendar only holds the scheduled stuff I need to remember. Things like school, church, grocery shopping and other natural, normal things are not written on the calendar. So with that, I either end up forgetting the camera or forgetting to post. So I will try to make this post make up for things.

4th of July we spent at Lake Michigan, but that was the posting before this one. Brian got laid off the Wednesday after the 4th. Fortunately it was only for a week and a half. The kids had another two weeks of summer school. This time they did not have as many projects or activities to report on. They both enjoyed the classes so much. I think it is helping Connor be excited for pre-school this fall. Brian and I saw Harry Potter part 7 which was a great date for us! Brian's job took him out of town for the entire week since it was a little over three hours from home, East of Green Bay. Thankfully we have a nice camper for him to live in. The county fair came while Brian was gone. The kids and I went down for a church sponsored dinner one night and then returned on another night for the animals and rides. Angela finished up her softball season. I think overall she had fun, but she doesn't seem to have any interest in playing next year. Although I am sure things can change, they always do. The big kids had a week of VBS (vacation Bible school) at the start of August. Brian got laid off for about a half a week. He is now working just south of Milwaukee which is about two hours from home. He is driving this everyday so that he can kiss the kids goodnight and spend a little time with me. Lastly, I spent a week in Nashville for a vacation and conference. I know I missed the family greatly, but it was hard to get back into the swing of mothering and caring for the house. I am sure Brian was ready to get back to work after having the kids for the week. My brother flew out here to visit us for the week that I was in Nashville. We originally thought Brian would be working so Tyler was going to have the kids. Instead both Brian and Tyler were daddies for the week. My parents will be arriving on the train this coming Monday and they will be staying for a week. While they are here we will be running just about non-stop, even worse than we normally do. Then it won't be but shortly after that that school is starting and WOW that will be a change with Angela in 5th grade, Connor in pre-school and Emeric still home with me. Lots of fun for the Jamison family!

4th of July

2011-07-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

4th of July weekend was four long days of fun. Brian had that Friday off from work which was nice. I was able to get up and go for a run and bike that morning. The he got to come with me to pick up the big kids from summer school. Angela had spent the past two weeks with art as one of her three classes. She therefore was part of an art fair showcaseing all of her wonderful projects.

Connor's class had spent some time learning about the U.S.A. and the reason we celebrate the 4th of July. They all wore red, white and blue clothing and made necklaces or bracelets and firecracker hats. They then got to go on a parade around the school which finished by the flag pole. There we all said the Pledge of Allegance and the kids sang a few songs including Happy Birthday to the U.S.A.

Saturday we spent the day at Kohler-Andrea State Park near Sheboygan. We love the beach there and have been yearly since we moved here. It reminds us of being on the ocean. There is a lot of sand to share with all the other beach goers and water as far as the eye can see. Last year we remembered lots of sea gulls flying all around. The kids really enjoyed chasing them. This year was weird, all we had was a lot of dead smelt like fish. There was a line along the top of the beach that spaned either side of us, I imagine, for the length of the beach. It was rather gross and mildly smelly. Brian drew a big square with his foot and the kids all got shovels and had to start scooping fish out of our spot.

We would often find Emeric picking them up and we'd have to tell him to put them down. Connor would fill his dump truck with water and put the fish in there. We wondered if he was trying to rehydrate them?

(I am so lucky to have such a handsome husband!)

(Posing during lunch)

(His goofy new pose for most of his photos.)

(The "bulk" always seems to be eating.)

Sunday was a fairly relaxing day with church and hanging out at home. Monday morning I got up and went for a swim and then a run. Once the rest of the family woke up, we relaxed during the morning and then had some friends over for a little BBQing that afternoon/evening. We ended it all up with some at home fireworks but on by Brian and the neighbor. The kids really enjoyed them!

Some other little fun things from the weekend was a different breakfast each morning. Eggs benedict on Friday, banana pancakes on Saturday, biscuits and gravy with fried eggs on Sunday and red (strawberries), white (whipped cream) and blue (blueberries) waffles on Monday. The topper for Brian and I was out drink a day menu! We planned out a different alcoholic drink for us to enjoy each day of the weekend (no wonder our liquor store bill was more than our grocery store bill this week). Friday we enjoyed mai tais. Saturday we had sangria on the beach ~ YUMMY! Sunday was champagne day with champagne with breakfast, a margarita/champagne punch that afternoon and then we changed it up and had mudslides for dessert. Monday we introduced the neighbors to flat on your beaks and old drink from Red Robins. Such a great way to spend a weekend. Hope yours was as great of a weekend as ours.

Apron Swap

2011-07-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new swap from Hot Mama's Apron Swap that should be a lot of fun. My partner and I will exchange an apron plus three fun drink related items. All things will be shipped by August 6th so I've got just a little over a month to get my special package in the mail. I'll need to get started quickly figuring out what I will send to my partner. Like I said, it should be fun!

June - Photos of Kids

2011-07-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We sure did.

Angela:

She is growing up so beautiful.

Getting an award for Outstanding Attendance (first row, left side, orange shirt and blue skirt)

Connor:

Swimming from the shallow end to the deep in of the pool.

Getting ready to jump off the diving board by himself (mom had to throw him off the first time.)

Emeric:

This is what we found at the end of our family bike ride.

Swimming lessons with Mommy. He was a wild child, always jumping in and sometimes going under.

Softball

2011-07-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Angela has been playing fast pitch softball this summer. She liked the novelty of signing up. She sort of liked practices. She liked buying the gear. But she does not like the games. "They are no fun! All you do it bat and run and catch the ball." Oh well, she'll finish out the season and we will see what happens next year.

Here are some photos of her in her first game. She struck out, hit with the coach but got out at first and didn't get any out field action but it is the only time we remembered to use the camera.

In other games she has gotten a few hits and has even made it home once. She really liked that. Their team has won three or four games and has lost once. Tonight we will be at the ball field again. Only about three more weeks left.

Connor's Do

2011-07-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

I guess we can tell it is really summer time around here. We chopped all of Connor's hair off and gave him a boy cut.

Maybe Emeric will be due for his first hair cut soon?

Sewing in May

2011-06-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

I did a lot more sewing than normal in the month of May. Maybe it was because Brian was gone and I seemed to have a bit more free time. Here are a few of the projects that I worked on in no particular order.

~ A pair of jammies for me that included a spaghetti strap tank top and mini bloomer shorts.

~ A nightie/sleeper for my niece. It was made out of an old t-shirt. The shirt says 90210 on the front and I picked that because my cousin used to watch it all the time growing up. The funny part is, when I talked to her about it, she said that she had been watching that show on her maternity leave.

~ A Frock by Friday dress from Grosgrain. I made the Shirtwaist dress. It was a fairly easy pattern to make. Funny thing is I started it when I came back to WA last summer and I finished it nearly a year later. That is quite the lengthy project, don'tcha think? I had a lady from church help me learn to make button holes that look presentable. I had tried them before and they were always pretty shoddy looking. These turned out really nice. I was one step away from finishing the dress, all I had to do was hem it, when I decided to open up my button holes and put my buttons through. To my horror I must not have learned how to properly measure the buttons to make the holes large enough. Not a single one of my six buttons would fit through their holes. I was about ready to through the entire dress away when the light bulb when off. I cut my bottom four buttons off and then sewed them on through the button hole. Now the dress looks like they work, but alas it is our little secret. I think the next frock by Friday that I will try and do is the Tara dress. I have this pretty pink fabric all ready to use. Hopefully I can work on that this month.

~ A sparkly pink skirt to wear when I run races and especially to wear for my triathlon. It makes me feel good which I rationalize makes me faster. I usually wear it with a pair of black running shorts under it and either a grey or pink tank top. I also wear a fun pair of argyle knee high socks.

~ Bookmarks for Angela and Connor's teachers and various members of our family. I tried to machine embroider initials on each of the bookmarks. That was something I have never done so I was a little nervous. It was not as bad as I thought. I don't think I would do full words or sentences but the initials were just fine.

~ A draw string bag for my nephew who turned two. Every little boys should have something to tote around their treasures in. I forgot to take a picture of this but it was a very fun dinosaur print.

~ A bowl cover for this dish I usually take to potlucks. It is just a piece of fabric to keep things from spilling out. Next time I might try to use a piece of PUL fabric which is laminate so that I could use it while storing things in the fridge. It was just something fun to make and share with the ladies at the potluck.

There you go, all of my projects for May. I have a few on my list for June but we'll see where life takes me.

Unofficial Blog Survey

2011-06-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

After my posting May Thoughts I got thinking. When we first moved out here I seemed to blog a lot. Lately it has been less and less frequent. So onto my unofficial blog survey.

Is it better to:

1. Have many small postings

2. Have less postings that are larger

So let me know what you think by commenting on this post and I will see what I can do to accommodate.

May Thoughts

2011-06-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

With a lack of individual photos of the kids you would think that we didn't do anything during May. To the contrary, we were pretty busy. Brian left home on Saturday April 23rd to go on storm work in St. Louis Missouri (see posting here). He came home late on Tuesday April 26th. He then left early on the morning of Thursday April 28th to go near Jasper Alabama for more storm work. Thus started off our month of May. I am not very good at surviving within my four walls alone with the kids without going crazy. Therefore, I set up different times for friends to come over and visit, for the four of us to be out of the home or for me to be out by myself.

Mother's Day was a pretty enjoyable day. It was also Brian's birthday this year. I was able to work it out with Brian's boss and we surprised him with a web camera video chat. It was nice for all the kids to see and talk to Dad and for him to see all of us. Technology is wonderful that it can help people connect over long distances.

As I mentioned earlier Angela got glasses. She seems to be torn on whether or not she likes them. Some days she wants to wear them non stop, other days she grumbles about wearing them. I think it is just a habit she will have to get herself into.

Angela's school started a new fundraiser last year, the Run for Rusch. Instead of selling wrapping paper and things of that sort, they have a 1 mile walk or a 5K run/walk. Last year the family walked/jogged the 5K. This year, since I am working on learning to run and learning to like it, I ran with the boys and Angela walked with a friend. I came in 3rd in my age group with a time of 35:27. I was really pleased because I was thinking I could do a 12 minute mile and I beat that. Angela came in over an hour and was a little disappointed with herself because she was almost one of the last people to finish.

Brian got home from his storm work about bedtime on Sunday May 15th. He was able to have the next four days off from work. It was sort of a bummer for him to have a one day work week, but it was wonderful for us to have all of that time with him.

Back in November I went on a girl's trip to Chicago with some friends from here. One of the ladies and I got talking about exercising. I had been doing some serious exercising since May of last year and told her that I would not make an exercise New Year's resolution. So she and I decided to commit to some races this summer. We agreed to both participate in the Best Fest 5K in May (she also did a 5 mile run in April and I will do my triathlon in August). I got lucky at the Best Fest run since Brian was home. He told me he would push the boys so that I could just run. This time I came in 1st in my age with a time of 30:47. Brian came in 3rd for his age around 45 minutes. Angela came in 2nd for her age also about 45 minutes. She shaved a little over 15 minutes off of her time from the week before. She was super excited that she was able to push herself and improve. Connor and Emeric each got ribbons too. It was a joyful day for the Jamison's!

Brian had a short storm about and hour and a half from the house. It lasted only about 30 hours from May 23rd to the 24th.

Emeric is just growing literally right before our eyes. It seems like everyday he is getting bigger or learning something new. And as much of a joy as he is to our family he is also a frustration. If anything is left out, he thinks it is fair game. He really loves Angela's DS, you can only imagine the trouble that causes.

Angela started softball practice. She has practices two days per week and soon will start having one to two games per week. She is improving with huge leaps and bounds. She enjoys throwing the ball around in the backyard. If her arm gets any better we will have to move just to get a bigger backyard. As it is, we may have to start heading to the park so that she can have a little more room. She is also getting better at her batting. It is a lot of fun to watch her participate in something that interests her. She has also started a little Girl Scout introductory class. It is a five day group (spread out over ten weeks) to introduce girls to Girl Scouts. There might be a huge possibility that she will sign up to be a Girl Scout next year so be prepared to purchase your cookies. I was the top seller in my troop when I was Angela's age and I DO expect everyone I and she knows to help her be the top seller too! (You do know that I am just giving you a little gruff, right?)

Connor finished up his speech class. He was a little sad that he was done seeing Ms. Mendy, but was excited to hear that he will see he again next year when he starts pre-school. His clarity of speech has greatly improved over this school year. If you would like to hear, give him a call. He has a very limited attention span for the phone so you may only get a sentence or two out of him, but he would enjoy it very much.

My MOPS group had a party where we all dressed up in formal wear. Then a big group of us, husbands included, went out to the bar for drinks. It was a blast walking in there and seeing all the looks we got. People kept wanting to know if it was a wedding or something. They couldn't believe that it was just "Girl's Night Out!"

(don't we all look beautiful)

(I am sure my husband is the best looking one)

To start Memorial Day weekend, I did another 5K, but this one was a fun run so there was no time kept. I think I was around the 30-31 minute time frame. The best thing about this run was that I got a free beer glass and beer to go in it. Of course I let Brian drink my beer and he bought me a drink but it was totally worth it!

We enjoyed a funny dinner called Frogmore Stew. It had chicken, shrimp and sausage in it as well as broccoli, carrots, potatoes and mushrooms. The funny part of this dinner was that it is severed with no dishes period. The food and dip gets plopped right on the table. The look on the kid's faces when I just spooned it from the pot to the table was wonderful. It was a great way to make a family memory.

It didn't quite feel like the holiday weekend because we were not camping with family. But it was a good one none the less. We finished off the weekend with a whorl wind Monday. Angela and I went for a three and a half mile run (I ran and she rode her bike) that morning. Brian and I went on a motorcycle ride/date that mid-day. I headed down to the lake to swim in my new wetsuit. I swam across and back which was about two-thirds of a mile.

(might as well get both views - just don't mention anything about my backside)

We then had some friends over for a BBQ. It was a really nice way to end out the day and the weekend.

So now you see, May was not slow at all, but quite jam packed. I will work to pull the camera out some more in June.

May - Photos of Kids

2011-06-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting worse and worse with using the camera. Except for photos I have already shown you, I don't seem to have enough other individual photos of the kids for this posting. It's okay, send me hate mail, I can handle it. I will try to make up for it in June and the rest of the summer, but I can't promise anything otherwise I may be setting myself up for failure. Sorry about dropping the ball in May.

The Bunny!

2011-05-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last year I found a baby bunny under Brian's truck. I thought it would be so fun to catch. Why, I don't know. I have no idea what I would have done with it had I caught it. But I guess I didn't need to worry about it because just as I was about to get it, Angela tried to help and it darted off. That turned into one of those "You know when..." stories that the kids and I would tell Brian.

This past Sunday Brian and I were planting some flowers when we must have scared up another bunny. I don't think it was a newborn but it definitely was not full grown. We launched ourselves into a ten to fifteen minute bunny hunt. We recruited the kids to help get a box and guard areas of the fence/yard. At one point we thought it was gone but then we found it again. There were so many laughs and squeals of joy as we were trying to catch it. Finally we caught it.

Again, I don't know why? We had no intention of heading down to the TSC (Tractor Supply Co.) to buy a hutch and other rabbit equipment. I really didn't want another animal to haul to the vet and take care of. But it was really cute. We let the kids watch over it while we finished our planting. Then we let it go. Angela was a little sad but seemed to understand. Connor was devastated and cried for nearly a half an hour. Today he put carrot pieces onto the sidewalk trying to lure it back to us. Emeric just liked looking at it and laughing but since it is gone he is okay. I guess until next time it will be a memory for the big kids.

Easter 2011

2011-05-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

My oh my, Easter 2011. The afternoon before Easter a friend and I had gone out for a little bit of shopping. Brian ended up having to call me home because he had gotten called to go to St. Louis, Missouri to help restore power. We had a babysitter all lined up for that evening so we could go on a date. When he called he said that he had canceled her. I had to have him call he back and confirm since I still had to do most of my Easter basket shopping and all of my grocery shopping for that week. I had not prepared anything for Easter day because I just assumed that I would have Brian there to help me. To say the least, it was a long crazy night. I got the kids in bed and the sitter came. I did all of my shopping. I had some pies to make for a lady a church, my breakfast for at home and the casserole for brunch at church to get done that night. I got the baskets all set up and the eggs all stuffed. I was outside with my flashlight at 12:30 AM hiding eggs. After a few short hours of sleep, it was time to get up with the kids.

I headed downstairs to find our monkey bread had exploded out of the pan.

I had to stuff the pieces back into the pan and it seemed to turn out okay. Emeric seemed to think it was very neat to find a pile of goodies just for him.

All three kids really seemed excited to see that they had new toys and treats waiting for them. Connor loved opening the curtains to see eggs hidden (or not hidden) outside. I think he most liked the fact that there were three eggs on the trampoline. They all three got flavored squeeze applesauces. This was somethings they had never had before and the novelty of it seemed good. We might have to try these as special treats when we travel.

Connor got some new books for his tag reader that he was pretty excited about.

Angela seemed to really enjoy her new sun hat. She wore it all day, although I have not seen her wear it since.

After breakfast it was time to head outside to get the Easter eggs. I made the kids all stop to show off there Easter clothes and smiles. Connor in all of his Easter finery always loves to pose for pictures.

Angela with her new glasses and looking just as beautiful as always. She is another one that loves the pictures.

Emeric usually loves getting his picture taken too. But he was caught up in all of the excitement and didn't want to stop for pictures this morning.

They are just antsy to go. So I'll snap this picture quickly and let the get outside to hunt for eggs.

Emeric loved finding the eggs, but he didn't get the idea of searching for them. We had to point them all out to him.

Angela got to find all of the high eggs. There were quite a few that were put into some high and awkward places just to see how she could do. She thought it was a blast having to find them.

Connor was running so quickly to try and find all the partially hidden eggs. He was told he had to leave all the easy ones, such as the one on the deck behind him, for Emeric. Even though they were each supposed to get a dozen eggs I believe he came in with a full bucket. We had to separate them once he came into the house.

After going through the eggs we headed off to church. We had brunch there and another egg hunt. That afternoon we just relaxed around the house. I took the kids to the park to play after Emeric's nap. It was a beautiful day for playing on the toys. That night dinner was very light. I did not cook a big, full Easter dinner since Brian was gone. Even thought he was gone and we missed him so much, I think it was a good day for the kids.

April - Photos of Kids

2011-05-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well here it is, almost the end of May, and I realized that I did not post any photos of the kids from April. Sorry about not having these up a few months ago.

Angela

Look for her in the dead center near the front. Singing during her school's Spring Fling.

Connor

Enjoying a drink (chocolate milk, I think).

Emeric

Seems to think it is a lot of fun to place his dishes on his head.

Since Easter was in April, I will make that another posting with plenty more pictures.

Friday the 13th

2011-05-16T18:01:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, I heard many people complaining of Friday the 13th bad luck. I sure didn't think it was a day full of bad luck. Maybe that is because it was my birthday and it was fabulous.

Some women turn 29 every year because they don't want to admit to being in their 30s. I want to turn 29 every year because I got completely spoiled.

I have some of the most amazing friends ever!

I woke up that morning thinking that it was going to be a day like any other. Since Brian was out of town and the kids are a little too young, I didn't expect much. I had just barely gotten out of bed and I was taking Emeric downstairs for breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Mind you I am in just my bathroom (my summer one - so its a bit short) and before I could tell Angela and Connor not to open the door, they did. Fortunately it was a friend of mine bringing me a little birthday treat. It was a yummy brownie with nuts and frosting on top. Did I mention it was really yummy. I made it last three days and I even shared with the kids. Before school Angela gave me a little note with a poem that said, "You're 29, so I've been told. Did you know that you're really old!" She also gave me some coupons that I can exchange for jobs around the house. I can't wait to use them. That morning, I did my weekly grocery shopping and then took Connor to speech. When I got home a friend called asking if I would be home for her to bring me lunch. Another yummy treat - Chinese food. She got me a card and a beautiful necklace that I think I want to wear every day! That afternoon, while scrubbing tubs and toilets, a friend left me a message saying she didn't think I should cook on my birthday and invited us all over for dinner. That was something very exciting to look forward to. After my cleaning there was a knock on the door. Another friend had sent me a beautiful vase of flowers. It is sitting on my kitchen counter where I can look at it many times throughout the day. After school Angela had a program at the library. While she was there I went shopping and got myself some new clothes. It feels really good to get something nice to wear. Dinner was wonderful (I was right to look forward to it). While we were just getting ready to sit down I got a phone call inviting me to go out for drinks that evening. I quickly found a babysitter and was able to enjoy a few drinks and some karaoke. Whew, Friday is done, but my birthday was not. I had a friend who was out of town Friday so she planned a girl's night/birthday party for Saturday evening. We had some drinks, soaked our feet, painted our nails, ate snacks, laughed, played Cranium and had an all around good time. I got the book One Yard Wonders which has been on my wish list for some time. I have a few projects in mind that I can't wait to make. I also got a bottle of wine that I am really looking forward to drinking.

As you can see, 29 is Amazing! I hope that next year I can turn 29 again. Although 30 might just be better.

Angela's Glasses

2011-05-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

For a few months now, Angela has been doing some weird squinting-blinking thing with her eyes. She kept talking about them feeling dry and/or goopy yet visine didn't help and there was never any goop. We decided to make her an eye doctor appointment. After a few test he said that her eyes are starting to cross a little bit so she is having to work extra hard to sort out her words. That was why all the blinking, she was trying to get her eyes into focus. She got herself a super cute pair of glasses that she will wear for reading, playing video games and the computer. Angela said that nobody is teasing her and she is really glad about that. It makes her want to wear them more often which makes me happy.

Isn't she just beautiful!

April Thoughts

2011-04-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

April - the fourth month of the year. That means we are one-third of the way through 2011. I don't think I have anything to show for myself thus far this year. I guess the WI Jamison's will need to get doing something so that on December 31st we can look back and say, "Look at what we did! Wasn't this a good year."

We started the month with April Fool's Day. Angela was told that she could not do any fooling that morning before school because she needed to get ready and so did the boys and I. You see most mornings it is just her going somewhere, but that day was a little hectic since we all were. That night she decided to tape the sprayer on the kitchen sink so it would get Dad when he got home. Do you think it ever got Brian? NO! It only got me and twice for that matter. The first time I left it there so it would get him and the second time he sat laughing at my as I was jumping up and down yelling that it got me again. I didn't think it was too funny then, but I am smiling now.

Early in the month the kids and I went to the Maple Syrup Festival in Poynette which is about 10 miles southeast of us. We have been every spring since we moved here. It has been fun to enjoy a pancake breakfast (or lunch) and to learn all about making maple syrup. This year we even bought a pint of the syrup. This is the first time we have had our very own, WI made, maple syrup. We have purchased it for gifts to family at home but never for ourselves. The kids have really been enjoying it on our french toast, pancakes and waffles.

I got a call from my father in very late March telling me that he was going to send mom out for a visit on her Spring break. We gladly said okay and enjoyed a week with Grandma. She got to participate in Connor's speech classes, story time at the library, walks to pick up Angela from school and other normal things we do. She and I also participated in a Ladies Night Out that the Chamber of Commerce sponsored. We got to have lots of free snacks and drinks not to mention free door prizes. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours and well worth the babysitter. It was super sad to drop her off at the airport, but hopefully it won't be too long until we are back in WA to visit with all of our family.

Brian had two days of training in IA. He went down to learn how to rubber glove. For those that don't know, that is how to work on an energized power line with your hands. In WA they do not rubber glove, but back here they do. He has been doing this work for about six months or so and he is just now getting his formal schooling. Silly if you ask me.

Brian and I got very lucky while my mom was here. She willingly kept the kids overnight for us so that we could go away. We haven't gotten to do that since before I got pregnant with Emeric. We found a little Bed and Breakfast about an hour from the house. The weather was not the best when we got there, but we did some driving around and sight seeing. At dinner we decided to be a little wild and crazy and we ordered up a plate of steak tartar. Both of us were a little iffy and had to talk ourselves into taking the first bite. After the first bite we realized that it wasn't too bad and just about licked the plate clean. I'm not too sure if we would ever order it again, because what if it is worse next time. You never know though, it could be a lot better. At least it is one thing to mark of the "I've done that" list. The next day we slept in (with no little kids crying for us to get them out of the crib, or climbing all over us) and then we browsed some antique shops. It was just wonderful to have a full night for ourselves.

Emeric has been sick this past week with a combination of throwing up and diarrhea. It has been no fun. Especially having to clean the throw up that happened in the middle of Wal-Mart. Lets just say, I have been doing a lot of laundry and the doctor said it is not going to be over just quite yet. At least his spirits are still up and he is still my happy go lucky little boy.

On Tuesday of this week I work up to green grass and a few snowflakes flying in the sky. I didn't think anything would come of it. But by bedtime that night we had three to four inches on the ground. That day was pretty weird. We had snow on the ground and thunder and lightening in the sky. Not a combination I can remember. It didn't all go away until dinnertime today. I hope that we are done for the season. I am wondering, if April showers are to bring May flowers, what are April snow storms to bring? I am going to pray for lots of sunshine and heat!

Angela participated in her Spring Fling yesterday. She sang, danced, helped with some props and rollerbladded across the stage. This was the most she has participated in any on stage activity. It was wonderful to watch her up there smiling and having fun.

Tonight we just signed her up to play in the summer softball league. She seems really excited - I hope she enjoys it. I will try and remember to put some updates of that on here.

Easter, celebrating our Lord's resurrection, what a wonderful day! Our first Easter here we invited some friends over to do dinner with us. Last year we were invited to do dinner at a different families house. This year will be just the five of us. It should be relaxing, but until then I will be a little busy getting last minute shopping done and all of my baking done. I have nine pies to make by Easter, one for us and the others to sell. I know we will miss our families, but we wish that everyone has the most wonderful, happy day!

March - Photos of Kids

2011-04-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Angela

Enjoying a little dip in the hot tub.

Getting ready to swim to the bottom of the pool.

Connor

Learning swimming safety.

Getting ready to jump off of the diving board.

Emeric

Enjoying a cookie for breakfast courtesy of Daddy.

"Look at me, I am in the toy box."

Enjoying an early Spring walk down to the river to see the work on the bridge.

Dinner Experiment

2011-04-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I am going to try a little dinner experiment. What for? Just because I am a little bored and it's Spring and why not! I am going to post on Facebook what I am making for dinner and what time dinner will be and then I am going to extend an open invitation to anyone who wants to come. It could be absolutely crazy with a house full or it could just be the five of us. Either way it should be a good dinner. I'll let you know what happens!

~ Update ~

So I posted the information on Facebook and we had zero people show up. A few people from far away commented that they would like to come. After the fact a few people from here said they would have come had they seen it sooner. So it was just the five of us. Disappointed, no way. It was just fun to think of what might happen. maybe I will try it again another time!

Happy Birthday Brian

2011-03-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Are you looking at this thinking, "Did I read that right? Happy Birthday Brian?" I know, his birthday isn't until May, but we went shopping a little bit early. This year for his birthday (maybe Father's Day too) he got a semi-automatic shotgun. I do know that it is a Saiga, but I don't know anything else. I guess you will have to call and talk to him about it. I am sure he would love to hear from him. I know that he is really happy about it. But really, what man wouldn't be happy about getting a "toy" for his birthday!

Emeric at 18 Months

2011-03-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

September 19, 2009. That sounds like such a long time ago, but in the life of Emeric, it feels like a blink of an eye. He is now 18 months old! He walks, he talks, he runs and causes trouble. He is no longer my little baby, but he is now turning into my little boy. He weights in at 23.2 pounds and 31.5 inches long. He is still taking two naps per day although the morning nap is happening less often. Even though we are loosing one nap the afternoon one does not seem to be getting any longer. That means he is often Mr. Grumpy later into the evening. We have been pushing his bedtime up to 6:30/6:40 PM to help compensate and it seems to be working. He will sleep from then until 7:00/7:30 AM. Not too bad considering I have a friend with a daughter his age who is still getting up two to four times per night. He loves the library story time. He really enjoys doing the songs with actions and participating in the magic wall. He likes to sit and read books and help DJ with the radio. When the stereo comes on he will run for me saying up and then hold his hand out for mine so that we can dance. He is a hearty eater although his weight does show him on the lighter side of norm. He has a lot of fun following Angela and Connor. He likes to play with Angela's DS which causes all sorts of trouble. He will chase after Connor and his friends which makes them lock him out of the areas they are playing in. All in all it is a good sibling vibe. All winter he has pretty well be cooped up inside due to the cold. This past week has been nicer and he has gotten to walk around the yard which has been great fun for him. I think he will be much like Connor and really enjoy the outdoors. He is now constantly bringing us his shoes so that we can put them on him and he can go outside. He is not too happy when we don't let him out to play. He is wearing Connor's Batman and Superman capes up above. He is into mimicking all of us (working with tools like dad, cooking like mom, playing like Angela and Connor). He has been as much as a frustration as a blessing as he has grown. Yesterday he stood on his ride-on truck. I took him down and said no. He did it again. I was not quite fast enough and it slipped out from under him and he fell. If the dining room chairs are left out, he will climb up and play on the table. If any cupboard is left open or unlocked he is into it faster than you can imaging. I guess he is the adventurous inquisitive type. That is Emeric for you. Regardless of what he is doing, he is always ready with a smile and a hug and kiss. We love him so much!

Sunday March 20th

2011-03-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

Sundays tend to be pretty lazy at our houses. We go to church, but other than that we usually try not to make plans. We try to keep it as a family day.

Sunday March 20th started like just about any other Sunday. We slept in a little then slowly got the kids up and started to figure out breakfast. I was making corned beef and cabbage for dinner so I got the meat cooking in the crock pot. I did not want to make a big breakfast that day so it was cereal for the kids. Emeric had been a little sick lately and so Brian stayed home from Church with him. Angela and Connor went to Sunday School and then they and I went to church. Connor's class sang that morning and he did a very good job (too bad I forgot the camera). We came home and had left over lunch. It is something we do every Sunday because it is quick and easy after church. I like it because it cleans out the fridge. Angela doesn't really like it because she doesn't want left overs. Oh well, you can't please them all. We put Emeric to bed and had a quiet afternoon (Angela and Connor playing - Brian and Emeric napping - Laci baking).

Here comes the slight difference from a normal Sunday. After nap time, all three kids were upstairs. Connor yells down, "Dad, my lip is bleeding!" Connor is still taking his speech classes and he is getting better, but Brian couldn't understand him. After I translated he goes walking upstairs to find out what is going on. It seems that Emeric got into the bathroom cupboard and he and Connor each had a disposable razor. Fortunately, Emeric was fine, but not Connor. He decided to shave his mustache, and cut his upper lip. Well of course Brian cleaned him up and we secured the razors - disaster avoided, right? Wrong! About 30 minutes later Brian has pulled the corned beef out of the pot and cut it up for dinner. I was quickly looking up something on the computer and Brian was calling Angela and Connor to come down for dinner. That is when simultaneously we heard a really weird sound and Connor making a weird screaming/yelling sound. Brian looks at Connor on the stairs. Connor is sitting on the stairs with his legs spread wide and he is quickly trying to back up the stairs and away from Emeric. Emeric is holding an 8" slicing knife (like the photo)

psycho style and he is heading up the stairs with it. At each step he is swinging it down and poking it into the stairs almost as if he were using it to steady himself as he is climbing up. Connor is trying to save his feet from getting stabbed by the knife. With a half a second of panic (from me) Brian takes the knife from him and puts it away. Thankfully no one was hurt. Now we know that Emeric can reach the counters and things will need to be kept towards the back of the counters so we all stay safe.

I hope we don't have another Sunday like that!

2011-03-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

For the past three to four years I have wanted to get some chickens. I don’t know that I particularly like them. I might actually be a little bit afraid of them. The chicks are cute, but when they are grown, I don’t know, what if they peck me. I really want them for the eggs. I think it would be so fun to gather your own eggs. Maybe this is a silly “city girl” fantasy, but I have it just the same. I bake a lot, especially pies; I can just imagine my business card saying pies made from scratch with fresh eggs. Well this swap just sounded like fun – Chicken Lovin’ Hot Mama’s. Of course I would want to join it.

I have been watching Val’s swaps for a while now just waiting to be brave enough to make an apron to give away. I don’t know that I was quite brave enough this time, but I sure had fun. Before I talk about all the fun I had with my end of things lets just skip to the best part - Opening my package.

I love getting mail! I just about have the mailman timed to the minute of when he will be at my house. I don’t know why, usually it is just bills, but I am like Steve and Blue from Blue’s Clues. ♪♫“Here’s the mail, it never fails, it makes me want to wag my talk, when it comes I want to wail –MAIL!”♫♪ Recently my mailman has thrown me all out of sorts. He is now delivering my mail about 4 ½ hours earlier. Yesterday, my son had an appointment and then we were going to be heading to the big city to do some shopping at the fabric store (of course). But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go from the appointment straight out of town. I had to swing by the house first just in case my package was they. Now you guessed it – it was there! I was super excited. I don’t know how some people can have the control to take a picture of the box, then a picture of it first opened, then a picture of the first layer, then a picture of…, then a picture of …, etc. I just ripped into it and started touch and feeling and ohhing and ahhing. (It wasn’t until today that I took my pictures).

Thank you Amy!

She sent me a stack of recipes, it might take me weeks to try them all; a neat wooden pen and key chain; some cute spring band aids, which will come in handy with my two sons and my daughter who plays like a boy; a fun bundle of fabric, which I can not wait to use; some fun hand made cards with little chicks on the border; two pot holders, that beautifully match my apron; and my apron ...

It is a purple base with tags all over it that have the names of spices on them (thyme, lavender, caraway, chives and sage). It has yellow gingham pockets and neck straps. Amy said she was having a hard time finding chicken fabric that she liked so she embroidered some chickens in a nest with eggs and the words “farm fresh” on both of the pockets. Purple happens to be my favorite color and my kitchen is all pale yellow. The apron couldn’t have fit me better. Did I mention I am super jealous of her embroidery machine? That is on my wish list for the future.

The apron flares out on the bottom which may be perfect for collecting eggs in someday? (Now I hope you are not looking too closely – yes, that is me in my jammies this morning) What a fun package to open.

I really enjoyed getting her package together too. She posted about it here, but I wanted to add a few other photos.

Since it was a "Chicken Lovin'"Swap there needed to be chickens on her apron. I decided to make her a half apron with lots of fun colors plus the chickens. I made it frilly because sometimes as moms we don't feel as pretty or girly and I hoped this would help her out.

This was my fist time making bias tape and it made a lot more than I expected. The first time took me almost an hour and a half with a ½ yard of fabric. The second time may have been just as long, but I broke it up into two different times.

I put in some quilted pot holders. I have never quilted before and when the directions said to quilt it about an inch or so bigger than the final size I thought, that is a waste of extra fabric. Well now I understand why, it shifts, shrinks and moves while quilting. (I hope that Amy didn’t notice that they were a little bit off)

Then I added in some snack sacks, some where for her three kids and the other were for another present. My kids love them and Emeric was really upset that they were empty. I hope that she loved getting it as much as I loved putting it together.

Until next time!

February - Photos of Kids

2011-03-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

Another edition of Jamison children photos:

Angela:

Connor was trying out his photography skills. Doesn't Angela make a good model?

Playing in the snow with her brother(s).

Connor:

Just finished helping to shovel off the deck and the back walkway.

He must not have been feeling too well since he fell asleep during the middle of the day.

Emeric:

Princess Emeric.

The first time I just let him out to play in the snow.

Wearing Brian's FR gator.

Need Serger Help

2011-02-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

***UPDATE*** My husband came home early from work today. When I told him I was having trouble he immediately said, "Let's go take a look at it." After a few minutes of him touching and fiddling with things, he had me adjust a couple of spots and it was working just fine. Then to top it off he let me sew for an hour and get my project finished.

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a serger. It was not a brand new one, actually it looks pretty old, but it was said to work.

I brought it home, threaded it, and used it on a couple projects. Things seemed to be going so well and I was super excited. Then this morning I changed the thread colors and now I am having troubles with it. I spent almost an hour trying to use it, stopping to try and fix it and then repeat repeat repeat. As I go the thread that goes through the needle keeps breaking. I don't get it, it worked fine until I changed colors. If anyone owns a serger and could give me some help, I would love some suggestions. Especially since I have a couple of projects that I wanted to use it on that I wanted to get done this weekend.

My Husband is Wonderful

2011-02-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Look at these wonderful flowers that Brian brought home for me today. No, he was not in the dog house and trying to make up for something. No, he was not trying to butter me up to get something. He was just driving past the Greenhouse when he decided to stop in and get them. I feel so important and special when he walked in the door with them. After running, I came upstairs and the aroma was everywhere and it was beautiful. It absolutely made my day getting these from him.

Sewing

2011-02-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have a cousin who will be enjoying a baby shower today back in WA. I am missing her (and the rest of the family) since I will not be able to be there. I did sew her up some baby items that I will share with you - since she is sharing them with everyone at the shower.

This nursing cover is super easy to make thanks to the tutorial that I found online. I like the two different fabrics and how the contrast/compliment each other.

This fitted crib sheet would be a fun one to make over and over again that way baby can have many different sheets to go with the changing room decor. I think I might even have to make one for Emeric since he has not yet moved out of the crib/toddler size bed.

This blanket is a simple receiving blanket that one side matches the sheet and the side compliments the first. I just wish that I had a machine that could do some fun decorative stitches for the top stitching.

This is a Pod Swaddler that should be very nice to wrap the baby up all tight in. I made one for Emeric and gave some away as gifts then and they seemed to work out well for all the little ones.

While I was at the sewing machine, I decided to make a hat for myself. It is sewn out of an old t-shirt. I also made one for Angela (hers is light blue) and Connor (his is red).

** On a fun note: I saved up a bit of money and purchased myself a used serger. I was wonderful to use it to help finish up some of the above projects. I love the crisp clean look it gives to the finished item.

Thankful Thursday

2011-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Every Thursday, a friend of mine posts on her facebook page, "It is Thankful Thursday, what are you thankful for?" So my blog posting for today is a 'Thankful Thursday' posting (in no specific order).

I am thankful for Christ Jesus: and the sacrifice he gave of dying for me. Everyday I am washed clean because of this and his grace is new every morning. I need that new grace as I am no where near perfect.

I am thankful for my husband: Brian was and is a huge blessing to me. I know that he was made specifically for me because there is no one else in this world that could put up with me. I love him with my whole heart and can't imagine spending the next 80 years with anyone else.

I am thankful for my children: each and everyone of them. They all try my patience in their own special way, but they also teach me about love in their own special way. They have made my life so much richer and fuller than I ever thought it could be.

I am thankful for my parents: and all the love the show through everything. It was so amazing to see them over the holidays. I wouldn't be the woman am I today if it wasn't for the things they taught me.

I am thankful for my brother: that "butt head". Childhood would have been rather boring had it been only me. I appreciate all the time I am able to spend with him since it is so few and far between.

I am thankful for my parents in-law: what a blessing. I have been given a wonderful set of "other parents" and I hope that I will be able to learn as much from them as I have from my mom and dad.

I am thankful for my friends: both in WA and in WI. Whether friends for a season or friends for the road I have cherished all the time with each and everyone of you.

I am thankful for my health: and fitness. I decided last summer that I wanted to be healthier for my 10 year high school reunion. I started working out 3-4 times per week and trying to eat a little less and a little healthier. Since that change I have lost about 40 pounds and gone from a size 12 to a size 4. It was something that I never thought I could do and it has been so freeing for me.

If you are thankful for something and you want to share, feel free to put it in the comments section or send me an e-mail. I would love to touch basis with you. Happy Thursday.

Snow

2011-02-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

We sure got a lot of snow over the last few days. Not as much as some states south of us, but enough, especially since I had to shovel it all. I believe we had 4-6 inches yesterday morning and probably 8-12 this morning. I did not get any before photos, but her are some afters.

Looking off of our back porch towards the driveway.

Looking off of the front porch.

On a little bit of a side note, Brian left this morning to go on storm work, helping to repair downed power lines. He thought he was going to St. Louis Missouri but then later called and said they would be heading to Indianapolis Indiana. The boss told them to prepare to be gone from 4 days to 4 weeks. They wouldn't know which until the got there and started working.

January - Photos of Kids

2011-02-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2011!

We, at the Jamison house, are really excited for another year to be starting. We did not set resolutions, but we are sure and certain it will be a good year. Here are some new photos of the kids - Enjoy!

Angela:

Enjoying an afternoon of sledding.

What happens when she gets the camera. (She is working on growing her bangs out. They do not ever want to stay back in her clips.)

Connor:

He could not find the "right" pair of gloves, so he choose to stay in the car instead of going sledding.

Participating in the church talent show - making animal noises.

Emeric:

After he learned to climb he realized that he could help mom cook.

"Hey Laci, I brought up the laundry"

Kicked back while sledding.

Love is...

2011-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

...Patient, Love is Kind!

I wanted to have some sort of visual to remind me of the Love is... section of 1 Corinthinans (13:4-7). I thought about writting it onto an index card, but that would be too small. I could have put it on a poster board, but it would not have been as nice looking on the walls. Then I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar had a posting about how to make your own wall art/printables. So after playing around for a little while this morning, I came up with this:

I am super pleased with how it turned out. I will be getting it printed off, framed and hung on my dinning room wall this week. Hopefully, when I want to yell at my kids, I will see this and remember to lower my voice and "be patient and kind!"

A Longing for Family

2011-01-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those days that I was really wishing to be closer to family. I started feeling a bit worn out, achy and had an upset stomach around 10:00 AM. I managed a little nap during the afternoon. But caring for my three and two others was really wearing me out. I had a church meeting and before I went I talked to Brian about making dinner. That is when I found out that he was feeling the same as I was (YUCK). We barely made it through dinner, we got the kids fed, but neither of us ate. Then after a hasty cleaning of the table we crashed on the couch for about an hour. We had to pry ourselves up to put the boys to bed. Then Brian went of to sleep early. I stayed up a little later helping Angela with homework. Bed was such a welcome after that. We both seem to be feeling much better today, but boy was I wishing for family yesterday.

December - Photos of Kids

2011-01-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Another year done and gone. When I was a kid, I never believe people when they said that time just seems to go faster. My oh my, but I am finding that to be so true. My kids are growing too quickly.

Angela

Concentrating on decorating her Christmas cut out cookies.

"Like my new glasses?"

"Look at this face!"

Heading back up to the top of the stair at the water park.

Coming out of the McDonald's play toy.

Connor

Enjoying eating his Christmas cut out cookies.

Pretending he is on the phone (using a little ceramic box a present came in).

Hiding under the end table in the TV room.

He spent a lot of time behind the camera over the Christmas holiday.

Coming out of the McDonald's play toy.

Emeric

"I have to eat Goldfish on the floor while everyone else is having cut out cookies. What is that all about?"

Mr. Emeric Potato Head

Drinking a beer with Grandpa!

His first time playing with Play-Doh. I don't think he ever swallowed any.

Playing at the bottom of the McDonald's play toy. Not quite old enough to climb around inside.

Merry Christmas from the Jamison kids

Christmas

2011-01-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

After our day at Chula Vista I thought the kids would sleep late, but that was a no go. I think it was partly due to them being kids but mostly due to it being Christmas Eve. It was a difficult day for Angela, having to wait to open a couple of presents, but the boys seemed to do okay. We relaxed and watched a movie. For dinner we did make your own pizzas and had ice cream sundaes for dessert. The kids each got to open their Christmas jammies, and they got a new book called A Snowman Named Just Bob. It was pretty fun watching Grandpa Bob read about a snow man named Bob.

Christmas Day was a wonderful time for everyone. Santa brought the kids some fun presents. Angela got a Fur Real dog, Connor got a large Bumblebee transformer and Emeric got a roller coaster. After opening stockings we enjoyed a breakfast of breakfast casserole and orange rolls. We then spent a lot of time opening and enjoying all of our different presents. Dinner was a wonderful prime rib (thanks to Dad and Brian), cheesy potatoes and a pomegranate pecan green salad. Then we had gobs of pie for dessert (apple, berry, eggnog custard and pumpkin).

Christmas was a joyous occasion sharing all the new fun and remembering Christs birth. But we did have a bit of sadness as we missed seeing all the rest of our family.

Sunday and Monday we relaxed and played with toys and my parents. Tuesday the Grandparents took the kids and I out to McDonald's. I don't normally splurge on Happy Meals so Connor thought it was fun to get one with Grandpa. After an early dinner we dropped them off at the train station. We all seem to be getting better at good-byes because none of us had any huge tears. Now the count down is on until we get to see family again.

Chula Vista

2011-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

My parents rode the train out here to visit us for the week of Christmas. They arrived on Monday December 20th. Unfortunately their train was running a little bit late so instead of arriving at lunch time it was dinner time, but regardless we were all really happy that they were here. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent playing and having fun with Grandma and Grandpa. They kids and my parents seemed to do everything they could to soak each other up. Then on Thursday we spent the day at Chula Vista water park in Wisconsin Dells. Last year we went end Emeric did not do much of anything but sleep and play with Grandma, he was three months at the time. This year he walked/crawled around in the water and loved playing with the jets of water that would spray up out of the ground. Connor had fun on the little water slides and he had a lot of fun climbing around on the big play toy. Angela ran of for hours at a time going on slide after slide. She didn't seem to have any fear, except for the one we call the toilet bowl. Brian got to some of the bigger stuff, but ended up spending a lot of time with Connor. I did the roller coaster water slide with Angela a couple of times, but the rest of the time was spent mostly with Emeric. My Dad spent his time with all three grand kid's and he also did some time in the hot tub. Mom held down the table for us and enjoyed some time with her book and taking photos. She also did a really good job getting Emeric to nap after lunch. It was such a fun day for all of us and boys did the kids sleep good that night.

Is it a leopard or is it Emeric?

2010-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

Thursday of last week Emeric started getting a rash all over his torso (front and back), his upper arms and the back of his neck. By bedtime it had spread down his arms, around his neck and on his knees. We went to the urgent care and they said give him benadryl and watch him. The next day everything from the first day was a yucky purple bruise color and there was new red rash spots. It was all over his head and face and thicker on his torso and there was more on his legs. We saw the doctor that afternoon and she said it was a type of allergic reaction. She thought it was his bodies way of responding to a virus he must have encountered. She thinks it is viral because he was the second child she saw that day with the rash. Saturday all of the purple spots were the yellowish/brown color of an old bruise, his red spots were purple and he had new red spots. Sunday things were looking a lot better. Now today he seems to have all the bruise colorings gone and just a little bit of red, but it is still all over. Here are a few photos in chronological order.

Charlie Brown

2010-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

I have never seen A Charlie Brown Christmas, but we do have a small kids book about the movie. It seems he has a bah humbug spirit and that everything seems to be going wrong for him. That is how it was for me earlier this week.

Our Chrismas tree had been set up and decorated. We put a gate around it so that Emeric would not bother the tree or ornaments. I guess I should have gotten a bigger stronger gate that would have kept Connor out too. I guess he decided to climb back by the tree to get a toy or look at an ornament (I really am not sure). All I know is that one of the tree legs broke and the whole thing fell over. After having Angela help me retrieve all the fallen ornaments we proped it over until Brian could help fix it. That evening he tried to fix it, and it fell over again (stand it up, pick up more ornaments). He tried fixing it a second time, and it fell over (repeat - stand it up, pick up ornaments). This time he stood it up, with only three legs, and tied it to the banister.

But now due to the force of gravity, and I am sure little hands it is leaning again.

I am hoping that it will at least last us until Christmas.

Block-A-Palooza

2010-12-19T05:47:00.000-08:00

I learned this morning from Vanessa at V and Co. that John from Quilt Dad is the mastermind behind a new quilting venture that will start in January 2011. It is called the Blogger's Block-A-Palooza and it is featuring a new line of Moda fabric. You will make two quilt blocks per week and then they will tell you how to piece them all together to make a festive Spring like quilt.

I have only made one quilt and it was the t-shirt quilt I made right around my high school graduation. If these blocks are simple enough, I might just give it a try. Otherwise, I guess I am just passing along the information for this fun activity. I am sure it will help some people pass along the dull winter months.

November - Photos of Kids

2010-12-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

Wow - I didn't realize that it had been so long since I've posted anything. Here are some pictures of the kids from November.

Angela:
She was being a slide for Connor since her jammies are so slick.

Connor:

Playing on the slide at the Children's Museum.

Searching for one of his birthday presents.

Wearing his new birthday hat.

Emeric:

Playing with a toy carrot at the Children's Museum.

"Look at me, I can climb up on my brother's bike all by myself!"

Sauerkraut

2010-11-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night I opened up my crock of sauerkraut and boy did it stink (in a good sauerkraut sort of way). I got five quarts when I canned it. I wanted to do pints, but Brian said bigger was better and that way we would have them for BBQs and when we have company over. I am really please at how pretty they look, but I was a little disappointed that I never got to hear the "pop" of the lids sealing. I guess with some of the new lids that just doesn't happen much any more. At least I know that they did seal and it sure will taste good on some brats or sausages.