Trick Or Treat 2009

Just a few pics from this year's festivities.
The Blue Man
The Butterfly
"50 Cent"
The Hot Dog
Gasp! Everyone looking at the camera!

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!)

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!

A Night Out (well, sort of . . . )

Rich had to travel for a production run yesterday leaving me here with the kiddos on a Friday evening. I will say in his defense that it is not often that he has to travel on the weekend and at least I don't have to worry about getting Ian up and off to school in time the next day.

One of the nice things that we have here in town is a second-run movie theater. Since I am generally not very good at getting to the movies in general when they first come out, it suits me just fine to watch them after they are not quite a "hot ticket" and for substantially less than it costs at the regular theater (especially now that the curly one is now of the age where we need a ticket for her too). The other nice benefit is that it is such a family friendly theater and so even though Ian and Kyra are reasonably well behaved when it comes to going to the movies, it's definitely a more "causal" atmosphere in which to watch a movie.

So, I took the kids for subs at Jimmy John's and then we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I hadn't really paid attention to the reviews when it first came out, but I will say that it was highly entertaining and provided quite a few laughs for everyone. It was definitely a treat for all even though we wish Daddy could have been watching it with us!

Warming Up

This weekend, we decided to head to Madison for the Madison Quarter Marathon. The whole story about why we decided to go was quite humorous. Our friends have run in the race the past few years and afterwards always have a great post-race BBQ. After talking it through, we decided to sign up and head to Mad Town. When I ended up talking to Ms. B to cordinate her watching Ian and Kyra, I found out that Mr. S & Co. didn't sign up BUT that was no reason not to have the post-race party.

So, I got to run the race "with" Rich. As you notice, I put that in quotes as he took off like a jackrabbit on steroids at the opening bullhorn. I didn't see him until the finish line. We both finished with good times. I ran in 58:51 which put me 12th out of 87 in my division and 106th amongst 624 females.

All in all, it was a nice warm up for the Bellin in three weeks and a nice half trial run!

Photo of the Week - February 8, 2009

After many threats, my darling husband finally did what he has always said he is going to do. He SHAVED his head! Kyra thought it was kind of funny that Daddy really now doesn't have any hair. Of course, now the silly man keeps complaining about how cold he is! You would think he would thing of this BEFORE he went through with it.

Technical Delay

This week Rich is in Chicago. I personally think he should have packed his cold weather gear and gotten a ticket for tonight's game but he's way more practical than I am! So, I was left to watch 'da Bears by my lonesome. He called as Danielle Manning ran back the opening kickoff to celebrate and then I didn't hear from him until just before Robbie Gould went to kick the game-winning fieldgoal - or so I thought! No, he was calling to celebrate the win because he was watching the game on the live Chicago feed as opposed to the tape-dealyed NFL Network feed. Very anti-climactic!

He's a reject!

Rich attempted to give blood this afternoon but since we were in Mexico in September, he's been deferred for a year as a malaria risk. Oh well, at least he got lunch and a free pint of ice cream for trying!

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."

Where does she come up with this stuff?

Now mind you I had a gap in between my kids so I am "lacking" when it comes to memories as to when Ian did stuff versus when Kyra did stuff. BUT - this girl CAN talk and some of the stuff she comes up with just cracks me up. None of it is necessarily bad, but someone has to be saying stuff a lot that she repeats it (and sometimes even in the proper context).

So, back to my story. I cam home yesterday from the gym and the house was just beginning to wake up. I heard Rich upstairs with Kyra and it sounded like the two weren't exactly getting along (my little girl is SO not the morning person). Usually, I just let them settle it amongst themselves because Kyra will jump at the first sight of Mommy coming to the rescue. Finally, they started down the stairs, Rich looking particularly exasperated and Kyra stating, "Mommy! Daddy's not cooperating!"

Aaah, only three years old and already she's realizing that the men in our lives are never going to see things our way! My dearest Kyra, you are wise beyond your years!

A New Toy (but for who?)

Ian has always loved maps, so it really didn't surprise me when he would stop in front of the GPS display at Radio Schack and check out all of the models. He's had a gift card for Target for quite some time. Rich introduced him to the geocaching website and the idea of going on "treasure hunts" intrigued him. So, my boys made a stop at Target on their way home on Saturday and picked up a GPS.

Seriously, I think Rich wanted one all along but wanted to have a "partner in crime." To say they have been obsessed is an uncderstatement. The funny thing is that it took them two days to actually find their first cache. Apparently, it is a little more difficult than they wuold have thought. Anyhow, here is a picture of Ian with his first "cache". I apologize for the grainy picture; it's from Rich's phone since venturing into the woods with Kyra isn't exactly a viable option at this time.

Still Crazy After All These Years!

Ahhh! The things I wouldn't do for my dear hubby! Today, we are celebrating 12 years of wedded bliss and, to mark the occasion, we did what any fun-loving, head-over-heels couples would think of off the top of their head - we went to play paintball!

Admittedly, I went into it with some hesitation, but we really did have a good time. I will say getting hit with a paintball was a bit of a shock at first though! I can't say that I got used to it either - I spent a lot of time either running away or standing behind a barrier! I did get a few good hits on Rich though (and he has the welts to prove it!)

Toddler logic

Yesterday, Ian and Rich left for cub scout camp leaving Kyra and I to have some "girl time." Though Rich has been gone traveling an awful lot in the last few months, Kyra is definitely not used to having both of her "boys" gone. She repeatedly will ask me where Daddy and Ian are and I tell her they are at camp and won't be home for a few days. So today we are eating lunch and she agin asks where are Daddy and Ian. I told her she has two more night times to get through and they will be home. She thought about this for a bit and then looked at me and said, "But I miss them!" If only that were reason enough to bring them home! (and just for the record, I miss them too - it's awfully quiet around here!)

That's some mighty expensive playdough!

As you may recall, Rich broke his finger back in April. After being in a splint for about four weeks, he began occupational therapy. I mean, seriously, he goes to his therapy sessions three times a week for 45 minutes each visit for ONE finger!!! The good news is that it's working and the swelling in the joint has greatly reduced. Of course, yesterday he came home with three baggies full of yellow playdough for his "exercises". And to think, I could have bought him a pack at Wal-Mart for a couple of dollars. I wonder how much the clinic charges for playdough these days!

Mission Accomplished!

Today is Valentine's Day and it's always difficult to find something for Rich given that he is not an easy person to shop for by any means. So, about a month ago, I saw a blurb in the local paper about a local a cappella group doing a fundraiser for Valentine's Day. For what was, in my opinion a very reasonable price, a barbershop quartet would show up at the appointed place and timeframe to sing a love song and give the recipient a card and a rose. For a jokester such as Rich, it could not have been a more perfect plan! Even better - I didn't even give a hint as to what was in store for him today. Luckily, one of his co-workers had her camera and snapped a few pictures. He called me at 9:20 to let me know I had officially embarrassed him (but we all know he LOVED every minute of it!).

Happy Birthday, Dr. Bunson Honeydew!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICH! I LOVE YOU!

Beaker

Sure is quiet around here!

Wow! Has it really been over two weeks since I last posted on my blog? I guess that's just the way summer goes. Actually, I have been keeping pretty busy running Ian around and I've been spending more time in my scrapbooking room than on the computer. Throw in a trip back to visit family at the beginning of the month and, well, July pretty much flew by without me really knowing it.

Anyhow, it hasn't just been quiet on this blog, it is quiet in my house right now. Rich left this morning for his annual trip to the IFT conference. This year it is in Chicago so at least he didn't have to travel very far to get there. He left this morning with a couple of co-workers.

Even stranger though is that Ian is away at Cub Scout camp. This is the first time he has ever gone away somewhere longer than one evening without a family member being present. Though he is only 40 minutes away, I am a very nervous Mom and tons of things are rushing through my head. I know he is in very capable hands though and right about now, they are probably gathered around the campfire roasting marshmellows and having a blast. One of the chaperones has a camera with him and has been insructed to take as many pictures as he humanly can.

So, it is just Kyra and I for the next couple of days. Am I that boring that she was already looking for her Daddy tonight? Probably not, but routine is routine. As for me, now that she is in bed, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the relative peace and quiet.

It's Date Night!!!!

Ok, I am so excited! It's time for Rich and I to finally have another date night!!! Our last date night was in February, so needless to say, it's been a while. We have the babysitter lined up and then we are off to our favorite steakhouse, Prime Quarter. We like going there because we get to grill our own steaks and have conversations without being interupted every 20 seconds with a fascinating fact about a specific Pokemon or cutting up food into small pieces (though for fun I may try cutting Rich's steak for him and making choo-choo train noises).

We are also going shopping for our new TV and a camera for me. I just can't wait until he gets home from work! Hopefully today will fly by!