And like dominoes they fell . . .

As of last Monday, you may recall Ian's tale of woe with the "ick". Now, I will admit since he was already five days into his illness, I was prayerful that rest of us had some sort of super immunity. Unfortunately. . .

. . .my hopes were dashed when Rich returned from a business trip on Wednesday complaining of similar symptomatology. Of course, adults with the "ick" are a little less needy than young ones and, since Ian was on the mend and Kyra was as chipper as ever, I figured 50% of the household wasn't bad. Until . . .

. . .the cry in the dark somewhere between Wednesday and Thursday morning. Yes, the princess was confirmed sick with the ick. Alright, well it could be worse: one on the mend and going back to school, a responsible adult though ailing but capable of caring for a pathetic princess and a germ-free office for me to escape to. Surely I could outrun the bug. But . . .

. . .there was no escape to be had. By Thursday evening, I knew what fate had in store for me. Yes, by Friday morning, Kyra and I cuddled up on the couch watching endless princess movies. By Saturday, Rich and Ian were doing well enough to escape the sick girls. I took the opportunity to nap when Kyra napped. Now . . .

. . .one may think that this tale of woe is over. But sadly, no, we shall not forget our beloved four-legged friend, Mel. You see, while I napped on Saturday, Ms. Mel climbed up one of the dining room chairs and helped herself to an entire tray of Hartman's cookies (and for those of you who KNOW about said cookies, I heard that gasp!) I'd like to think that it was only because they were cat-shaped and purchased to support a local cat rescue that she ate them out of spite, but it just goes to prove that no one can resist their powers! Now, having consumed enough cookies to equal at least the volume of two-days worth of her chow, you would think the "darling" would have stopped there. Oh no! Not my little slink! She also helped herself to an entire box of graham cracker bugs! Needless to say, I was none too pleased when I woke up from my nap and discovered the "evidence" (or, shall we say, lack thereof) of Mel's handywork. So, that night as we were getting to bed, Mel assumed her usual spot between us. All of a sudden we started hearing very strange sounds coming from our precocious pooch . . .

. . . and, yes, by Sunday morning, even the dog was sick!

Of course, now we are all on the mend and slowly but surely on the path back to "normal." At least we can one day look back at this and laugh.

Stay healthy, my friends! (and keep those cookies high!)

Post-Vacation Overload - Day 2; Part 2

Oh dear. Life seems to have gotten away from me and I desperately need to get some of these vacation photos on here so I don't forget anything. So, I will try to be better in the next few days.

After spending a good part of our first full day at Hollywood Studios, we caught the bus to Epcot as we had dinner reservations at The Coral Reef. I wish I had some video of the kids' excitement over this restaurant. Our reservations were early enough that I we were able to request and receive a table smack dab in front of the giant aquarium.

These pictures certainly do not do it justice and if you notice, both Ian and Kyra were practically climbing on the table to get a closer look. Honestly, I don't think they would have cared if they had anything to eat because all they did was watch the the tank. Their favorites were the rays, the sharks and the sea turtles.


After dinner, we stayed in the Coral Reef area. The Disney people have really done a great job revamping the old "The Seas" exhibit. They turned it into a Nemo themed exhibit complete with a ride in a clam shell.


During Turtle Talk with Crush, Ian got to ask Crush what turtles eat. Crush then asked Ian what his favorite food was (answer: mac 'n' cheese) and then asked if it caused him to "get the bubbles"; yeah, that got him laughing. Nothing like a little potty humor from an animated turtle! They also played in this shark area except Kyra was a little frightened of the oversized sharks. She always had to be with someone for a picture.


Now, you would think that would be enough for our first day, but as you'll see in the next segment, there's always more . . .

Belated Happy Fathers Day

Wow! It's been a while since I've put anything on this blog. Needless to say, since school let out, we have been quite busy. Last weekend, we couldn't properly celebrate Fathers Day with the surprise I wanted because Rich and Ian spent the night camping with the Cub Scouts. So, we just made plans to celebrate it the following Sunday.

When I asked Ian what he wanted to do for Fathers Day, he told me he wanted to go geocaching. He came up with spots around the yard to hide clues as to where we were headed on Sunday. Of course, my dear, sweet husband didn't make this an easy task as he took the afternoon off on Friday (so we couldn't hide anything that day) and then on Saturday, he took the GPS when we were going to use it to do the hiding. It turned out ok because the kids and I had fun doinga "mission impossible" getting the GPS from Rich's car, hiding the clues and then getting the GPS back before he realized it was missing. In the end, it was funny watching Rich try to find the clues in the backyard!

Our eternal early bird, Kyra, woke us up before 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning as she was so excited to get going. We went up to Peninsula State Park in Door County and spent the morning and afternoon hiking, looking for caches and having a picnic. Here are some of the pictures from the day:


Ian and Rich planning the next cache to find.


We climbed up Sentinel Tower and got a great view of the bay and surrounding scenery. We had a gentleman take our pictures and of the four he took, this is the only one where my hair was not blowing straight up in the air! It was really windy once you got that high up!


Ian and Kyra made short work of climbing up the many steps to the tower! Kyra was really brave - I thought for sure she would freak out at the "see through" steps (at least, I was!).


I had to take this picture because it was so funny! Kyra is figuring out how to annoy Ian. I know I should really not be encouraging this type of behavior, but I just found it cute that she put together that she could block his view by sticking her hand up in front of him as he peered through!


What would an outdoor day be without a picnic? The funny thing is that by the time you purchase what you need to prepare said picnic, you could probably just eat out for less! Of course, it's all about the "experience" and let me tell you - Kyra was all about the picnic basket and red-checkered table cloth!




And just for the record, the kids are drinking Baumeister Rootbeer!


In all, we found 4 of the 5 caches we seareched for and everyone had a great time!

Meet Mel

Further proof that I am once step closer to insanity, please meet the newest member of our family . . . Mel. We adopted Mel today from Heavenly Hearts Rescue. She is a dauchsund mix (they told us she's possibly mixed with lab, but she's only 25 pounds). She is just the sweetest thing! She has quite a personality and all four of us were immediately smitten with her. She loves giving kisses and snuggling up. Her name is short for Caramel. We look forward to many wonderful memories with her!

Recipe Reviews

I really love to find and try new recipes. Sometimes they aren't all that and a bag of chips, but occasionally, I hit a winner. In the past week, I have found two recipes that are going to become staples at our family dinner table!

Lasagna Soup
Recipe source: Family Fun magazine

I really love Family Fun for their craft ideas, but they always have some interesting kid-friendly recipes as well. This one sold me just on the picture alone. Now, I don't exactly consider this to be a soup but rathermore like a "stoup" (in hommage to Rachel Ray). Nonetheless, it was a HUGE hit around our dinner table. Now, if you leave the recipe "as is", it makes 13 cups. I don't know about you, but that's a heck of a lot of soup for a family of four (considering the petite one doesn't eat that much). I chose to cut the recipe in half. I used a mild italian sausage made by our local grocery store which was a little spicy (I know you are laughing at me, Ms. M!); next time I might try their sweet italian sausage blend. I also did blend the full amount of the ricotta & parmasan cheese because this is Wisconsin after all and everything is better with more cheese! The next time, I would probably add a little more pasta as well (and would proably have even more leftovers). This fed our family well plus we had a full serving of leftover. Be sure to serve with either garlic bread or breadsticks
to make it even yummier!


Ranch Style Chicken
Source: The Pioneer Woman

If I were stuck on a ranch, I think I would cook just as much as The Pioneer Woman. This woman just has a knack for coming up with some of the best recipes though I must admit, she really loves her butter and bacon. Not the greatest when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but you can always modify! I have to say, hands down, this is probably one of the best chicken dishes EVER! I think it has to do with the honey mustard combo. Ian suggested that the only way it could possibly be better would be if I could get the bacon, cheese and chicken to all stay together when he cut it. Not sure how to do that, but I kow I'll be making this agin so I sure will try! I did use my Pampered Chef stoneware to bake the bacon rather than fry it in the pan as she suggests. I just spooned a little bit of the bacon grease into my skillet when I went to sear the chicken. I'm thinking the next time I will use turkey bacon to bring down the fat content. I don't think the lack of grease will affect the searing since I use non-stick cookware anyhow. I would say though, if you have these ingredients on hand, this is what should be for dinner tonight. Seriously, I could probably eat this every week!

Ok, that's it for now. If I come across any other winners, I'll be sure to let you know.

Slip-Sliding Good Time!

This afternoon, our church held a family afternoon at the ice skating center. Kyra had never been ice skating before, so she was really looking forward to it. In fact, before she left the house, she informed me that she would be skatinga ll by herself and she was going to do a figure eight! That child just bursts with confidence! Of course, once she strapped on the skates, it was a little different story, but once she got her "ice legs", she did ok (as long as one of us was there to push the "ice walker"). Ian really didn't have much of a problem because he's been skating a number of times with school and is much more coordinated than his Mom or Dad! However, I must "brag" that neither Rich nor myself landed on our respective keisters the whole time. In the end, Kyra outlasted all of us (I think she could have gone the whole two-hour timeframe). Anyhow, here's some pictures from the event!

Kyra got the hang of skating once she secured a walker
Clearly skating was not as easy as Kyra thought it would be!
Ian took to the ice without any problem.
Another shot of Ian in action!

We Are Thankful

Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - Thess 5:16-18

This morning over our Thanks giving breakfast of pumpkin pancakes (a shout out to Ms. M for the recipe!), Rich, Ian, Kyra and I went around the table and listed 51 (we had a sheet with 50 lines but everyone needed equal turns) things we can be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Some were serious, some were silly - see if you can identify who said what!

1. Bear
2. Food
3. Wonderful family
4. My Children
5. Windown
6. Shelter
7. Community
8. Carrot cake
9. Bacon
10. Apple juice
11. Good job
12. God's abundant love
13. Butter
14. Insects (except for mosquitos)
15. Geocaching
16. Shirts
17. Exercise
18. Napkins keep us clean
19. Good books
20. Family time
21. Noses
22. Family games
23. Football
24. Cars
25. Ground
26. Light
27. Grandmas and Grandpas
28. My husband
29. Beanbag
30. Thanksgiving
31. Cub Scouts
32. Good friends
33. Pens and pencils
34. Easter
35. Schools
36. Scrapbooking
37. Curly hair
38. Animals
39. Fishing
40. Running
41. Paper
42. Cooking supplies
43. Disney movies
44. Coffee & Diet Coke
45. Hands
46. Rootbeer
47. Nappy time and sleeping
48. Music
49. Bread
50. Four seasons
51. Fruit

From our family to yours, may you have a blessed Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and faith!

So thankful

I was able to get away the last five days to the Lifetime Moments annual Crop of a Lifetime. I've developed so many friendships with these wonderful ladies and it's just a fun weekend of laughter and creativity.

I am also very thankful to Rich who is the world's best husband and daddy. Not only does he take vacation to allow me to go to this event on a yearly basis, but he relishes every moment of being a temporary "stay-at-home dad". Kyra and Ian packed so much in over the weekend, I am surprised they were even awake when I got home last night. Oh, and did I mention he did the dishes, mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the bathrooms? WHAT A MAN!

I am also thankful to have been able to visit Nordstroms during their semi-annual sale. I am SO thankful that I don't have one of these near me as I would be in some serious trouble. I had the most wonderful time shopping for new bras and other items that you really don't want to do or have time to do when you have kids in tow. (and a big "HA!" to Stephanie - I did manage to use the "bra" label again.)

So I am back, refreshed and ready to function better as a mom. As much as I love my kids, I need these short breaks from "reality."

Fun With Vegetables

Since Rich was originally scheduled to be out of town at the end of this week, I had gotten tickets to take the kids to go see Acts 1:8 Ministry's presentation of Veggie Tales Live in Green Bay. Ironically, I kept putting off buying tickets because it was never at the forefront of my mind. When I did get around to booking them, some tickets had been "released" and we wound up in the fifth row just left of center stage. I honestly think Kyra's eyes were going to pop out of her head when she saw Larry up on stage larger than life. Seriously, if I didn't have children, I would probably still have gone to the show. I just love the Veggies and their message. Now of course, I'll be singing Veggie Tales songs well into next week, but 'tis a small price to be paid!

He Just Knew I Had Too Much on My Plate

It's going to be fairly busy here in the next 10 days with preparations for the LM crop in Detroit. Ian is off of school on Thursday and Friday not to mention finding time to carve the pumpkins and trick-or-treating on Friday evening. In addition, I've known for about three weeks that Rich would be traveling the latter part of this week. So, I've been praying for calmness in the midst of chaos. Well, today Rich called me to tell me there was a scheduling "snafu" and his trip this week has been cancelled! Of course, this now means that I have to prepare something for his office's annual Halloween potluck, but I'll trade a batch of cake balls for having him home any day! Thank you, God!

A Fruitful Day

It was a busy day today! I was reminded by Ian this week that we had not yet been apple picking this year. Kyra picked up on it too so we took a road trip to Hillside Orchard in Casco today. It was the perfect day today too! Here are the kids in the tractor-pulled wagon ready to set out for the orchard.


Even though Ian loves apples, I think he secretly loves apple picking because he has free reign to climb the trees. Of course, these trees were a little smaller than the orchard we visited last year so a few apples were knocked down in the process!


Kyra also got in on the picking! In fact, she had to have her own personal bag. I had a hard time getting a picture of her looking at the camera today though!



We also were able to do double-duty as the orchard also featured a pumpkin patch. Ian found a perfect pumpkin right away; however, Kyra was a little more picky! This one was too big, that one was still green, that one had a bug . . . and on and on. Finally, she settled on this one.


So, here we are with our harvest. It was a great day and I'm sure those kiddos will sleep well tonight!

It will drive you MAD!

Last night, Ian wanted to play Mad Math. He got this game as a gift either for Christmas or his birthday but only played it a couple of times. Now, I guess it is a favorite in his new classroom at school, thus, the inspiration to play it at home.

It's a very simple game really but I can see how it's a great game for elementary math because there's LOTS of repetition. Anyhow, in a game that lasted a little longer than we had anticipated, there was a lot of laughter and quite a bit of silliness.

If you're looking for a fun, educational game, our family recommends this one!

A Morning on the Lakeshore

Today was the Trail-A-Thon Run/Walk right here in town. It certainly wasn't the biggest run, but it was still nice. It was the same route as my typical Monday morning run just in reverse. I finished in 42:58 and 13th overall.

In the opposite direction, Rich, Ian and Kyra did the walk portion. I am so proud that they did all five miles (Kyra spent quite a bit of it in the wagon). Kyra also won a door prize from a local mini mart. She's just thrilled because it's a "purse."

Hope everyone had a great Saturday!

A Big League Weekend

Wow! That was a busy weekend! It began with Relay for Life on Friday night. It was very tiring, but I am so glad to have been able to participate. Of course, I spent most of Saturday recovering from the lack of sleep. Then, on Saturday evening, Ian played in his baseball league's championship game. They were playing the one team that they have not beaten all season (and said team was also undefeated). Unfortunately, they couldn't get their bats going and lost but they came in second place during the regular season and second place in the tournament and therefore got two trophies for their efforts! Rich says Ian now has more trophies than he ever received in his lifetime.

Sunday, however, was the BIG day. Ian's coach entered the team in a lottery to be able to play a game at Helfaer Field. They were selected and it was such a neat experience for everyone involved. We started at 10:00 a.m. with a caravan to Miller Park and a pre-gam tailgate party. Kyra was mesmerized by the stadium but it wasn't until we entered the gates that we realized she was looking for the "park" (i.e., slides, swings, etc.). Oh well! We had great seats overlooking left field with a great view of Bernie the Brewer who was of great assistance keeping Kyra occupied throughout the game. Rich "almost" caught a ball thrown by the Brewers left fielder but it got knocked out of his glove and into the lap of one of Ian's teammate's grandmas. The Brewers did end up losing, but we still had fun.

After the post-game/pre-game tailgate party (can you see a theme here?), we headed over to the field for warm-ups and the game. The boys were so excited and they played a great game! Ian ended up getting hit twice while at bat, grounded out (but drove in a run) and played one inning at second base where he made the final out to end the inning. They ended up winning 8-0.

So, now that I have bored you with the details, here are some pictures of the festivities:



For those of you non-Wisconsinites, this is the "world famous" Sausage Race.
(by the way, Chorizo won)

Sunday at the zoo

We decided to take a drive to the Milwaukee Zoo this afternoon. Surely the blue sky indicated that the forecasters were clearly wrong about the scattered thunderstorms! We packed a picnic lunch and set off after church. We had just started out and entered the reptile house when the first "cloud burst" came. Luckily, we were inside for most of it. It did clear up but we were caught in a massive downpour on the way back to the parking lot. Here's a few pictures from today:

The Princess & Her Daddy

One of the highlights of Ian's day was riding a camel named "Omar".

Ian & Daddy on the train right before the storm.

Amazingly, I actually got a shot of Kyra both smiling and looking somewhat at the camera. I'll have to practice with photoshop to get rid of the choclate cookie crumbs on her face!

Never smile at a crocodile! (actually, it's a Chinese alligator)

Yes, it's just an elephant, but I really like the detail that I got with the camera. I also took some close up pictures of his trunk, tusks and toes that came out great!

Thanks for looking!

Looking ahead

So, here I am one day post-10K and it dawns on me that I really have nothing to "train" for. I don't think I particularly need to have a specific goal in mind when it comes to exercising, but it does motivate me a little more to get up at 5:00 a.m. and get that workout in. After a little poking around, I believe I am going to participate in the Sheboygan Brat Trot.

Admittedly, it is a little strange to be running at an event structured around fattening, beer-soaked sausages, but it does benefit a good cause - diabetes research. As a bonus, there is a 2-mile family walk so Rich will be able to participate with the kids.

It's too bad the race starts at 8:00 a.m. though as the "headliner" the night before is none other than Slaughter (which brings back way too many big-hair, concert-t-shirt wearing memories than I care to remember). Somebody hold me back!

It's a baby boom!

Yesterday, my friend T welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Gabriel Hunter, into their family. I got to go to the hospital to visit them for a bit and he is just the cutest little peanut! You really do forget how small they are!

On my way to the elevator, I got a call from mom to let me know that my brother was on his way to the hospital because Sandy's water had broken at work. I was a little nervous because she was about 3 weeks early for her due date but at 8:40 this morning, they welcomed a beautiful baby girl (yet to be named) who was 7 pounds, 4 ounces. I talked to Greg this morning and he thought she was "pretty amazing". Ok, that's an understatement, but he's a first-time dad. We'll give him a little time for it all to sink in!

I called Miss M last night to let her know that these things come in threes but she doesn't think her baby girl is going anywhere anytime soon. Until then, baby watch #3 continues!

On The Run Again

Today I participated in the Crazy Legs Classic in Madison. Wow! The weather was quite brisk! I'd never run an 8K before, so I was having a little anxiety not to mention the fact that there were over 10,000 runners. Rich, Ian and Kyra also participated in the "walkers with accessories" category.

The results are in (thanks to the nifty little shoe timer thing-a-ma-bob). I finished with a time of 44:24 leaving me in 4598th place. In my age class, I was 183rd out of 673.

After the race, we walked back to the square and spent the rest of the afternoon with our good friends S, B & M. Now, however, my legs feel a little like warm Jello. I don't think I'll be working out tomorrow!

Take THAT bad weather!

We woke up today to cold temperatures and blowing snow. What do you do when the calendar clearly says spring and the weather isn't following suit? Well, we headed to Blue Harbor Resort. Actually, Ian's scout pack had a family outing there planned for today but it was a great way to escape the nasty weather outside. I actually took quite a few pictures today - here are a few:



Ian spent most of the day in the pool with the floating and lily pads. It was fun to watch him "battle for position" to stay up on them.



Kyra's favorite by far was the small kiddie pool and slides. She got really good at going up and down all by herself.



And this fun picture - well, shortly after I took it, Kyra decided she had enough of the lazy river. In getting off the tube, Rich turned in a weird way and banged his finger on the bottom of the lazy river. Well, he ended up breaking his right middle finger. Once again, it has not been a good year for fingers in our house!

Now that was a throwback!

Today we had Ian's birthday party at the local roller rink. YES! They still do exist in some parts of the country complete with those gaudy tan rental skates with orange wheels! Of course, there's a lot of in-line skaters too, but for the most part, everyone was wearing traditional roller skates. The music has changed a bit too. I mean, there's something missing when they play Crazy Frog's version of "We Are the Champions" rather than Queen's. I should have requested "Another One Bites the Dust" for old time's sake.

Everyone in our family donned a pair of skates - including Kyra! I was amazed at how well she took to the skates. Her favorite part was actually "falling" while one of us held her hand. By the end of the session though, she was able to move around the rink without hanging on to either of us (though we did follow closely behind her to make sure no one ran her over).

Ian loved the party even though he had a couple of hard crashes. He thought it was his best birthday party EVER!