Snow Day Two!

Oh my here we still are stuck at home. Last night I tried to not let the kids know they were out of school today so I could send them to bed at 9. Well that didn't work. Jake has figured out how to watch the TV for closings and Jessi checked on the internet. I thought I'd get away with it because they had been playing the WII all evening and hadn't seen the TV. When I told them it was bed time they all chorused "we don't have school" then Jake and Jessi started their searches and both realized at the same time they were out. Your probably heard the collective shriek of joy as they turned the WII back on.

Well one good thing is we have had electricity and I am caught up on laundry! Yes can you believe it! Even all the sheets and blankets!!!!

I have vowed to keep a photo album up to date this year. I take all these wonderful pictures and never do anything with them. So far I am caught up with January. This is no small feat when you consider all the birthdays, new years, and I did two basketball pages. I thought I would work on the 2006 album I started next and then maybe get to 2007 in between. OK so I am really ambitious!

Well kids are starting to wake and I'll have to fix breakfast. OH how I love the school cooks!

January Catch Up

Ok wow January has flown by! Last week we had both Jenni's family birthday party, the boys friend party, and Jenni's friend sleepover. It was crazy. Why do I do this to myself.

Tim helped alot on Jenni's family party. He smoked ribs, pork loin, and chicken legs. I made potatoes and beans. We had a delicious lunch. Then the kids played outside. They played football and rode bikes. It was a pretty nice day.

Wednesday was a beautiful day so we planned the boys friend party. Not sure how many total was here but I bet there were at least 15 kids. We had hot dogs, pizza rolls, and cupcakes. They played and played outside. Sometimes I think we overthing birthdays because I had nothing planned and everyone had a ball!

Friday night was Jenni's night. She had 6 girls over and 4 spent the night. After school I took them all to the movie to see Motel for Dogs. It was really cute and the kids had a ball. There were very well behaved. Next we came home for pizza and cupcakes. They spent most of the rest of the evening upstairs playing. They must have fell asleep pretty early because they were all up before 8. Jessi was a great sport too. They decided they would steel one of her bras and get it wet and put it in the freezer. I warned Jessi but she let them think they pulled one over on her. When she came down after they ate breakfast one of the girls started giggling and teased her. She said and I quote "I'd have been alot more upset if I hadn't spit in the pancake mix." They all got white as a sheet. I was about to die laughing.

Saturday night was the Skeltur Tournament finals. Both Garber teams were in the finals but the girls couldn't pull it out. The boys however won another nail biter against Pioneer. It was really neat because Jessi and the other girl managers all got a medal. I told her I'd get my two out and we could put them in a shadow box. She just rolled her eyes.

Sunday we drove over to Fairfax to look at puppies. We had seen a bulldog pup and Tim said he'd always wanted one. I said if I'm training one puppy I might as well do two. This lady was so nice. She had two beautiful girls that were 4 months old. She wanted to keep them for herself but needed to pay a vet bill. Of course there was a liter of 6 week old pups. One of the older ones went right to Tim and layed with her head in his lap. Josh and I liked the little ones better. So we ended up with Roxie, one of the 6 week old ones. She is so sweet and playful. Of course Buddy didn't quite know what to do. They are getting along better today.

I almost forgot a couple of weekends ago at the boys basketball game I ran into Tony Chesnut and his kids. They were here for the weekend. They were watching Torrie's son Briley play ball.

Crappy Weather!

Well I just got back from getting the kids. They called school off early today due to ice. It is slick out. It is the kind of slick that is just on the pavement and you can't really tell it is slick until you are on your bottom!

So now Jake is playing the WII and Josh is playing his DS Jenni and Jessi are playing with the puppy.

These are the days I really wish we had a fireplace. I miss that most of all from our other homes.

I'm guessing they won't have school tomorrow. So I'll have to come up with some entertainment. I am hoping God will bless us with electricity. I don't know what we will do if it goes off.

Traditions

Today Josh asked me what traditions we do as a family. I couldn't think of anything. I told him what a tradition was and he came up with out yearly trip to Sea World for spring break. I hate to break the news to him but we aren't going there this year. So much for that tradition....

Jessi got to play tonight. She did really good!

This is homecoming week and tomorrow is stripes and polka dot day. Jenni is using fabric markers to put stripes and polka dots on her grey sweats. She just told Jake to write GARBER across her butt!

I decided this week I was going to cook everyday. I am so bad at preparing meals for my family. Anyway I spent Saturday morning working up a menu for the week. I made out a grocery list and then marked off items I already had. I spent $100 at the grocery store but I have seven meals planned.

Yesterday was chicken and noodles. Wow! I should have made those a long time ago. The kids ate like crazy. Jake and Josh had 4 helpings. I only had enough left over for me one meal at lunch. Tonight was a crock pot recipe for tator tot casserole. The kids eat this at school and were anxious for it. My recipe called for green beans. The one at school doesn't have green beans. They were a little hesitant but once they tasted it they liked it so two for two!

Homecoming Week

Wow just got done updating my calendar for this upcoming week. I'm not saying I'm busier than you all just letting you know what we are doing this week.

Monday Jessi has a ball game at Garber. Now this is special because we beat them really bad last week and the 7th graders got to play! So Jessi will probably get to play tomorrow! YEAH!!!

Then Homecoming is Friday so there will be various activities all week. Jake has tutoring on Tuesday and Wednesday evening this week. Then we have another home game on Saturday at Garber.

Our girls placed third and the boys won the Morrison Tournament yesterday. Friday, Jessi was the manager and had to go to the games. Tim was still at work so the little ones and I drove over and after the game we went into Stillwater for some Hideaway Pizza! The kids loved it! I can't believe I had never taken them there. We always go to Mexico Joes or Joseppi's.

Tim went with us last night and between the girls and boys games we went to Joseppi's. The girls game was good but the boys blew out Frontier. They are really really good this year and they are all juniors but one!

Puppy is doing great! It is so wonderful to have a pup that runs around and plays instead of always laying around asleep! Josh even like this puppy. I came in this morning and he had him laying beside him on the couch. This was amazing because he is usually spastic when the kids are around and trying to play ball or tug of war. They were so cute!

Ball Games!

This week has been full of basketball games. Jessi was in a tournament which they won in Covington Douglas. Thank goodness it was close. The high school team (where Jessi is a manager) is in a tournament in Morrison. We go this afternoon at 3:00. Then they will have another game tomorrow sometime.

I think next week slows down. It is homecoming though so we will be busy with that.

The new puppy Buddy is doing great. He eats like a champ and plays like you would not believe. The kids all play with him. He chases a ball and pulls on the rope deal. This is what a puppy should be like.

I haven't heard from Angie the lady who has Bella since Wednesday. I'm sure she is fine. She really seemed to know what she was doing.

Well I have a luncheon and have the ballgame this afternoon so I better get ready.

New New Puppy

Well Bella just wasn't coming around. She got to where she wouldn't eat or drink unless she was fed with a syringe. I called the lady where I get her and she was more that helpful. I took her back this morning through many tears.

The lady insisted that I take one of her other puppies so I decided on a male Pomeranian. He is blogging now too.

www.seebuddyblog.blogspot.com

I feel really guilty but I just wasn't getting Bella to thrive and this lady said she could be with her day and night which I can't. I really think this was best for all of us. The kids love buddy (new puppy) and he is really playful. There are pictures on his blog.

Back to the Routine!

Yea the kids are back to school!

It was a wonderful break but I was ready for a normal routine. The kids have been staying up till after 2 in the morning and sleeping till after noon. They all got up pretty well this morning. I think they were ready to go back and see their friends.

Ball games start tonight too. Jessi has a tournament this week in Covington Douglas which isn't to far of a drive thank goodness.

I spent the day cleaning my office/shop. Things had really gotten messy through the month of December but I am now back to a clean shop and ready for tax season.

So back to the normal routine of life with kids!

Beautiful Day in January

Wow! Can it really be January? It was so beautiful we went over to "lil colorado". This is my name for the pond that is behind Amy's house. It is so beautiful it reminds me of being in Colorado. Anyway we took the fire pit, hot dogs, and fishing pole and headed over for the afternoon.

It was so warm the kids wore t-shirts and Jessi had on shorts. We got over there and good thing the house is only a mile away because Tim forgot the matches to light the fire. He let Jessi drive back to the house (with him in the truck). The kids and I explored around the pond. They got back and Tim took out his camping tub and NO MATCHES! He had to go back to the house again. I laughed so hard!

When he got back we started the fire. It was so nice. When it finally got warm enough we cooked hot dogs and bratworst over the fire. Hot dogs have never tasted better!

Jake fished his little heart out. Of course I'm sure the water is too cold for anything to bite but he kept right at it.

About 4:20 you could here a low hum to the north. I asked Jessi if she heard it and she thought it was a car up on the highway. About two minutes the wind started changing and the temperature started plummeting. I mean plummeting! Within 5 minutes I bet the temp dropped 20 degrees. It was a really neat sensation to hear and feel that front come through. Almost eerie.

So we packed up and headed back to the warm house. Can't wait for the spring and the fish to start biting. We had a marvelous time together as a family.

Happy New Year!

Well I am starting a new blog. I will not be posting to Small Town Life with Kids anymore. For some reason I just couldn't get into it.

This blog will include kids activities as well as my own. I'll include travels and much much more.