Hey, I Didn't Kill Them!

Ok, when your thumb is as black as mine is, you revel in any botanical accomplishments you can get! These lovely irises were overflow bulbs that my mother-in-law gave me. She basically gave them to me instead of throwing them away. Yeah, there you go, your getting the idea.... I usually kill everything I try to grow, so I laughed when she gave them to me. She gave me pretty simple instructions on how to plant and take care of these guys and Kaleigh (who does have a green thumb) helped me plant them. That may be why they are living. It took a good 6-8 months before we got any irises which I imagine is a little longer than normal, but hey they are coming out in force now! I have one planter that runs along the fence in the backyard and that is my so called "garden". I have planted all sorts of flowers and things and usually they don't last very long. I have discovered that I do ok with small roses and petunias and some allysum. So that is what is in my planter. There is also TONS of crabgrass that we can't get rid of! It grows all in between and throughout the rest of the plants and flowers and every once in a while we go out there and try to pull some of it out. It looks nice for about a month and then it all comes back. One day we will clear all of it out and then spray the entire planter with Round Up or something and then start fresh with new soil etc... But for now the pretty flowers and the ugly grass stays.

Good Old Playing in the Dirt!

Well, after the rain, and yes it has rained quite a bit down here, the kids were a little stir crazy and decided to play outside for a bit. Yay! They decided to play on the dirt hill in the backyard. We don't have the money yet to landscape so it remains our "dirt hill". They do have an awful lot of fun out there, and because it was still damp, there were no bugs to speak of under rocks and concrete and such. So you see Kaleigh balancing on a piece of pipe they unearthed. The area was full of orchards at one time and we have discovered that our backyard had large concrete watering pipes underground. It was rather interesting to see them when they tore up the backyard for the patio area. The next photo is Kaleigh and Cole striking a pose (gee are these MY kids?) and the last is Cole doing his Spiderman impression. Not really though, Cole is definitely NOT a superhero fan. In any case I took these because I was actually taking photos of my lovely Irises...next post!

Per Request
Ok so you can't see me. I really was tied up with rope just outside of the photo. Hehe, not.

Tummy sicky icky
Ok, here is another update on our wellness in this family. Ok, late January Cole had the sniffle, then around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Kaleigh came down with it and she had a fever for a couple of days, then I got it once she headed back to school, by Valentine's Day I was dragging and my head was so full and stuffy, I was blowing my nose every 3 minutes! Then I kind of thought we were done, but then Cole started coughing and that sometimes leads to his recurring bronchyalitis. Not good. Then on Thursday, my stomache started feeling yucky and hasn't been right since. It is Saturday and I am doing ok, but not really hungry. Everytime I eat something it wants out...quickly, but thankfully no throwing up has occurred...yet. I know, TMI but I stopped short of the worst so.... So for those of you who pray...please pray that my family will get back to where they need to be. Carl worked the last two weekends and hopefully bypassed any sicky germs that were floating around. I am hoping that it is just me with the weird icky tummy bug. Sigh....this has not been a good health year!

My Class this year....
So this is my class this year. They are all good kids, some are better than others but all around they are a good class. This day everyone was there and we don't always have that so I decided we needed a group photo. This month was really short on photos so we needed at least on good one. Most of the kids are middle 4's some are 5 and still others just turned 4 at the beginning of the school year. So they are very diverse in ages. Some will not return next year and some may end up going to Pre-K which is a bonus year to help prepare them for Kindergarten. I would say out of those that are returning to our school 4 will probably go to Pre-K and 4 will go on to Kindergarten. The twin boys that only come once a week will be going to a different school next year so there you go. See if you can find the twins and then see if you can tell which ones are the youngest. So that is it for now.

Pineapple Beets

Ok, for those of you who like pineapple and or beets, here is a yummy recipe.
Needed for said recipe:

1 16oz can regular beets (I used sliced) , drained
1 8oz can pineapple tidbits or chunks , not drained
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp corn starch (use more if needed to thicken)
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Ok, mix brown sugar, corn starch, and salt, pour into saucepan. Add 8 0z can pineapple with juice and bring to a boil. Then add drained beets, butter and lemon juice. Stir and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. The beets and pineapple should now be in a nice thick glaze, if it hasn't thickened add another 1/2 tbsp cornstarch. The original recipe called for 1 Tbsp of cornstarch but I knocked that down a bit because I felt it made the glaze a little starchy. But then what do I know. Anyway, there you have it! Enjoy!
Sorry, I don't have a photo, next time I will take one. : )

Sick...cont.
Ok, so now it is my turn. I made it through Valentine's Day, but I wasn't 100% that is for sure! I went to work, went to the kids Valentine's Parties, and then I brought the kids home and I tried to crash, but Cole had a project that needed doing and Kaleigh needed help with her homework so resting would have to wait. Then I made the kids their dinner (something simple, thank goodness), and then started Carl and my Valentine's dinner. Every year we go out on our anniversary and every Valentine's Day I make our usual. Salmon patties, pineapple beets and some sort of starch. Noodles, rice and last night was a baked potato. Nothing really fancy. I am surprised I made it through making dinner at all! But I did, so even though there was no fancy dessert(I wasn't going to attempt that) I did get some nice chocolates from the kids in my class, so Carl got to share those with me. All in all, not the most romantic Valentine' s Day, but I made it through and that is all I can ask. Today, it would not have been possible for me to work, I truly feel miserable. Head feels like it is ready to explode, tired (even though after the kids took off in the carpool I slept till 10:30), and somewhat achey too. At least so far it is still in my head and there is a bit of a cough too.
Ah....the joys of February!

Sick!
Well, we made it through the holidays and even the new year (barely) without any sickies in our house. Well, that has all changed. Kaleigh was the first, she came down with a slight cold on Martin Luther King Day, no big deal, it was the weekend and it was relatively short lived. Then Cole got sick at the beginning of February, also a sniffle with a bit of a cough, missed one day of school. Did ok. Then Kaleigh again, last Wednesday, came down with another case of the sniffles. No fever, but she looked a little tired. So we made it through the end of the week, figuring she would most likely get over it by the end of the weekend especially since Monday was a holiday. Well, Sunday she came down with a fever and was quiet all day, then Monday she was better until about 5pm when the fever came back. She felt ok though. Even so, we stayed home yesterday and she had no fever at all the entire day so this morning she went back to school. So this morning, I was feeling a bit yucky, so once I took the kids to school and watched Cole in chapel do his Valentine poem, I came home took some airborne and went back to bed. I also took Tylenol, thinking I might have a fever. Now your probably asking, "why not take your temp to know for sure?" Well, that is easier said than done in our house. Yesterday Kaleigh broke our old thermometer (the one that works the best) and we now have a new mercury free one, and ear one and a digital one. When I took my temp this morning, one said 97.1, one said 99.7 and the last one said 100. So who knows what my temp was! So I ordered from ebay another of the old fashioned thermometers. I seriously doubt that it will break so I am not too worried about the mercury and stuff. Kaleigh broke our old one but not while it was in her mouth, it just slipped out of her mouth onto the floor, no mercury got on her and she didn't cut her feet on the glass, so all is fine. I am hoping that I am not going to be sick for Valentine's Day, but if I am I will do my best to medicine up and make it through the day! Pray that if I get sick that it waits till Friday!!

Wow, has it been 15 years already?
Well, Carl and I celebrated 15 years of marraige yesterday. It was a work day for both of us and we decided to have the kids go to Grandma and Grandpa's and go and have a really nice dinner. For the last couple of years we have been going to Ruth's Chris for our anniversary and we decided to do the same this year. The food is phenomenal and even though it is pretty expensive (about $150.00) with salad, meat, 3 sides and dessert and drinks, it is soooo worth it! The steak (filet) melts in your mouth with a buttery garlic seasoning, and the sides are great too! We chose the Sweet potato casserole, asparagus with hollandaise, and shoestring fries. Caeser salad came first and after the main course I had creme brulee and Carl has berries with cream. They also make a mean white peach bellini and Carl enjoyed some Guiness. We always try to get there early, about 5:30 and that way we are home as the kids are going to bed.
We only do this type of dinner once a year and it is so worth the time and money!
For those who only eat vegetarian they do have a roasted Portabello mushroom and of course the sides have a lot of choices too! Yuuuuuummmmmmmyyyyy!

Wow! $60.00 on Ebay!

Sorry for the tiny photo but it was all I could do to get a photo at all!

So, my sister might be the only one who recognizes this book, but it was one of my favorites as a kid and I just rediscovered it during my monthly review of the teacher's scholastic book orders!

Old book, new illustrations. Not as good as the original and apparently ebayers think the same way! I went online just out of curiosity to see if there were any other die hard Squeegiers! And low and behold there it is! Listed at $50. to $60.00 a pop! Wow! So guess what Carl says? "You still have it?" Hehe. I said, "Of course, but again, it was my favorite book, I will not sell it on ebay!" In any case it is a cute book and I have never gotten rid of mine and I don't intend to!

Don't know if I can read it to my class because in one part the Squeegy bug meets a Bee with a "gun" in his tail! We aren't really supposed to talk about guns at school, but I might be able to get away with saying "bang" instead. So the Squeegy Bug wants a Bang in his tail....hmmmm maybe not. Hehe. Oh well, I may have to come up with something else if I read it to my class! Its main lesson though is to be yourself and be helpful not harmful! I loved it then and I love it still!!

Careers on Parade!

Cole's teacher enjoys performing and she exposes her students to the art of acting and reciting poetry as much as possible. That is one reason I have loved her as Kaleigh and Cole's teacher! When Kaleigh was in first grade her part in this performance was the Librarian. She dressed the part (a bit of stereotyping but whatever), and said her little poem.

This year it was Cole's turn. He actually chose this profession over Lumberjack, Motorcross rider, scientist and banker. If you haven't guessed by now, he is dressed up as a mechanic. He is perfectly happy to get up on stage and perform. I had a lot of fun today watching the performance and Cole did great! His friends (as seen is the group shot,)were as follows: Peyton-baseball player, Nathan-police officer, Cole, Matthew-inventor, Reese-actor, Justin-construction worker, and Cameron-banker. They all had fun and they did a Bible verse and a song as well.

Cole received a lot of compliments from the parents on his outfit! He thought he looked pretty good too, especially when I made his name patch and smudged his face with black paint (car grease). We had a nice rest of the day since the school was out early today, and we had lunch at MceeDee's too! Kaleigh had gone to a friends house and is still not back! Whew! She loves to hang out at Gracie's house! So if you think Cole looked as adorable as I do, let him know, I will let him read the comments on this post!

Cole and the Bee!

So today was Cole's spelling bee! We arrived at the place (another school around the corner) met up with grandma, and waited. We went into an assembly where they gave us the location of each grade's spelling bee and then a few other things, like rules and such, and we headed into the first grade spelling bee room. My stomach was in knots let me tell you! I was more nervous than Cole was! They did a practice round (which by the way, they can spell the word they get wrong and they get to stay in), then came the real deal.

Cole got the word "back", then "five", then "torch", then "motel", all of which he got right. In the fifth round, however, he got the word, "rude". That one was not one we really practiced, so he spelled it "r-o-u-d". Don't ask me why, but whatever, he did great!!! We are very proud of him for even making it to the bee! I mean he got through his class spelling bee (only 4 went through to the grade level bee) AND the grade level spelling bee (4 kids out of the entire 1st grade class -that is about 118 kids!) And during this spelling bee he stayed in through about 10 kids (there were about 20 in all) and then he got out. So he was pretty much in the middle of the group. During the last round he was in, a whole bunch of kids got out. But he stayed in until the next round. He was a really good sport too! No complaints at all. One of the kids from his school that really practiced like crazy, I mean this kid practiced through the Christmas break and started going into the dictionary once he knew all the 500 words on the given list! Of course with all that pressure, he got so nervous, he misspelled "jumped" He was devastated, crying and hugging his mom. He actually got out before Cole! I was pretty surprised, because I know the mom said how much they worked on stuff. I didn't say much because we only practiced every once in a while and not at all during the Christmas holidays! So, way to go Cole!!! Good Job!! Can you tell I am super proud of my boy?

My Latest Thing...

Ok, so I am extremely boring. Just for background, around Christmas our family used to mix dried fruit and nuts and have a bowl to snack on during the holidays. Well, I decided to have this same thing on Christmas Eve this year and it was actually a pretty big hit! I had made baked brie with almonds and cranberries for something else and threw the cranberries in with the dried fruit and nuts. Well, I finished off the mixture after Christmas and enjoyed it so much (especially the almonds, hazelnuts and cranberries) that I decided that would be my snack at work and home and wherever else I happen to go where I might need one! I even brought some to the movies! It is one of the healthier things that I eat. Otherwise my snacks range from cookies, chocolate, fishy crackers (what? I like them!) and other packaged treats. Oh and mint milano cookies too! So I figure if I am going to read a book and want something to snack on while reading (bad habit, don't get started!) I will eat nuts and berries. Wow, I sound like a bear, I think I will go hibernate now. I mean I am way behind! ZZzzzzzzz.

Mammograms should be called "Smashograms"

All you guys out there should count yourselves extremely lucky. At least they don't test for prostate cancer by squishing your...um... well, you know! We women have it tough. Not only do we have to have to birth children, but then from 40 on up, every year we are supposed to go and have two things squished flat as a pancake to test for cancer! Yeesh! I am guessing that a man created the mammogram, because I highly doubt that a woman would think to do such a thing! In any case I now have a full year before I have to be tortured again! Whew, what a relief! I never look forward to it, but at least there is no poking like the dentist!
Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for early detection of breast cancer but with all the technology out there, can no one find a better way to find it? I mean really! They can make computers do almost anything these days and they can see a full 3-d view of a baby in the womb. You would think that someone would figure out a less barbaric way to test for cancer in the breast! Ok, now that I have vented, I hope all women who read this will have their mammograms and if there are any doctors reading this, try something new, create a better way to test! Then maybe women will be more likely to come in and GET tested! Wouldn't that be great? Then we would have less breast cancer that kills! There would be more that would catch it early on and more that would be treated! Wow, that sounds good, doesn't it? So all you research techno-scientists, get on the ball! Please?

Happy New Year!!!

Well, we weren't planning any-thing special for New Year's Day, but we ended up having a nice morning of Christmas clean up and we then got a call from Carl's Uncle Kenton to see if we wanted to go to his house for some Ham and yams and veggies. Sounded good so we grabbed some chips and dip and headed over after lunch. Kenton is the one facing the little one, Taryn, (Carl's cousin's little girl).

Kenton is Carl's mother's brother. Carl's cousin and his wife were there as was Kenton's Aunt Esther (Carl's great Aunt). We watched the Rosebowl football game, SC vs. Illinois. USC won of course! It was fun, we took a nice family photo and Kaleigh wanted her photo taken with some of Kenton's pretty flowers. Then Cole acted silly so he got a photo in too! It was really nice, the food was yummy and we were able to just relax and still go somewhere. Tomorrow is another day and we will be going back to school next week, so for now we are still kickin' back and enjoying vacation! So again I say, "Happy New Year" to all friends, family and all you other people too!

Christmas Day at Scott and Michele's!

Wow, what a day! Or rather morning! We arrived at Carl's sis and bro-in-law's at 9:30am for a wonderful breakfast feast! Egg Puff, sausage, bacon, cinnamon rolls, scones, eggnog, etc etc! Delicious! We also take the opportunity to get family photos done because Carl's parents are all together with all of their kids and spouses and with all of their grandkids! So you can see all the families. See if you can see which are George and Annettes children! The one of them on the couch is of all of the grandkids with the grandparents! You'll spot us, but see if you can figure out Carl's brother and sister! We had a really fun time, but by 1pm Kaleigh was ready to leave so she could build her Lego house at home. So all in all, everything was nice, and I am still full at 5pm! But then I have been snacking off my Weihnachts Teller! Yummy! Candy canes, Contessas, and chocolate, Oh my!

Christmas Eve! 2007!
Well, after all the waiting, Christmas Eve arrived! We had 13 people at our house and it was a little crowded, but it was nice too! Carl's uncle, whose brother died this past October joined us as well as Carl's great Aunt who lives behind the family home in an apartment cottage. They usually spend Christmas Eve together (the 3 of them) but since the one uncle passed away, they weren't quite sure what they wanted to do. So they came to our house. I think they had a nice time celebrating Christmas Eve with us! Below (I never know where these photos end up!), I think, are some photos of the highlights. Cole getting his latest Webkinz, a black lab, Kaleigh getting her Lego house (started right in building on Christmas morning, Kaleigh and Cole with their Spongebob Lego's from Omi and Opa (lots of squealing on opening), Carl and his new office chair from his family (thank goodness his knees fit under the desk!) Then at he end, Cole and I with him in his new soft robe! It was a wonderful evening. Our traditions we began since the kids were born was to have dinner (Abelskeevers and sausage and applesauce), then the dad's take the kids in the car to go see the neat Christmas lights in one of the super crazy lighted neighborhoods, then while they are gone, the Kristkind comes and does His thing, and then the cars come home and we have our "Bescherung" or Sharing time. The kids each have a gift to give to the Kristkind, Kaleigh's gift was getting her room clean so the ladies could put their purses and coats in her room, and Cole read the Christmas Story. The candles were all lit and it was very cozy. Everyone enjoyed watching Cole and Kaleigh opening their gifts and we all got to watch each other open. Carl's parents were given the same thing from each couple (of which one of their children belonged). We decided to give them a nice restaurant gift card, so we each wrapped a box with a small gift and then put a $25.00 gift card in the box. So first they were all like, "oh, wow, thank you we will have to try this restaurant". Then the next one, "Oh, ok, now we can both go!" Then with the third, "oh well, now we can have dessert", and the last, "Oh and an appetizer too! " It was cute. I did keep one present for Kaleigh and Cole for Christmas Day, because I knew they would be looking at others opening and feel left out. They had a lot to open this year, so I may set aside more than one next year!

Preparing for Christmas!

Ok, so there's our tree, the stockings are hung, we even have a train running around the foot of the tree! The kids helped decorate the tree that Carl and I picked out at Home Depot (unlike SOME people who get them for $5.00 at a cut it yourself place!). We had to pay, but not too bad. So with all the preparation and the cleaning and the baking and so on.... Heeeeeeeere's Christmas!

Cole's Christmas Party

Cole's party at school was also on Friday(my blog got a little mixed up) same day as Kaleigh's but his started a half hour after Kaleigh's started so I spent time at each of their parties. Cole's had less food but more games and silliness. Some of the kids in Cole's class still feel bad if they don't have a parent there and so I was glad to be there for Cole. Kaleigh is older and I was able to see her little play and stuff before I left to go to Cole's party. I stayed until the end of his and then took him home. We stopped at a Flame Broiler (his favorite) and had lunch and then went home where he got to play Playstation 2 for a couple of hours! Vacation has begun! Since Kaleigh was with a friend, I got a lot of cleaning and sorting done! Cole had fun and enjoyed the food and his friends at his party. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Hunt and he won at Bingo and received a little Tigger! He wanted a little doggie but the other kid got there first. I expected a pout but he was a good sport!

He's Gonna be a STAR!

Well, this last Wednesday, Cole had the opportunity to be in a school play with his reading group. He is in the green group which (just like his sis) is the best readers in the class. Each reading group will perform a play sometime in the year. The Christmas story is first and the green group does that one, because it has the most lines and is earlier in the year. All these kids already know pretty well how to read so learning the lines is just memorizing. They did a great job and I video taped all of Cole's parts (he was Joseph's neighbor and one of the shepherds.) His teacher said, "Cole is a natural, he has great movement and expression!" So we are proud of our little actor! He said (about his shepherd costume), "I look pretty good in it Mom." He did too!