Please Pray for Haiti

The adoption agency that we are working with also works in Haiti. As you may already know Haiti was hit by a horrible earthquake early this year, but what was not so well publicized is that earlier this month, Haiti was hit by a hurricane. So many, many Haitians that are already living in earthquake refugee camps were flooded out by the hurricane and rains. Please, please say a prayer for them.

Here is the blog for God's children in Haiti.... http://www.godschildreninhaiti.com/

What the Friday??

My What the friday is about a girl in Kansas this week who was taking a class about livestock and poultry prodution. The class project was to raise chickens and then slaughter, dress and package them...well this girl got attached to her chicken and refused to slaughter it, instead she smuggles the dumb thing out of school in her purse.

ok Really?? what did she think they were going to do with a chicken in a class about poultry production??? and why on earth would anyone put a chicken in a purse??? that would make a huge mess. And lastly the article ends with the chicken now lives on a relatives farm...really?? And what happens to chickens on farms??? They live happily ever after right??

Here is the link if you want to read more...
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/hs-student-smuggles-chicken-out-of-school-project

Isaac funny

The other night we were playing a game as a family. We had recently bought an add-on to the game and were figuring out the new cards. Todd was confused about one of the new cards and kept questioning me about it. I had played the card at a friend's house and knew how it worked but Todd kept arguing about it. After I explained it for the third time, I asked, "do you get it now, oppositional-boy?"


Isaac pipes up with "yeah Dad, you are reminding me of me!"



Also Isaac just loves Grover doing the Old Spice commercial....


http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/94062?fp=1

Our adoption journey (so far)

We started our adoption journey in January 2008 when we started working with a local agency. Our homestudy and training took about six months so in June 2008 we were put in "their book". We sat there for two years waiting for an adoption in the state of ND.



Finally in 2010 we decided that we needed to go out of state. We started working with a new agency that does homestudies in ND and MN. We spent the summer doing paper work and redoing our homestudy. Our fingerprints came back in September so now we are in the "waiting" stage again.



I feel a lot more hopeful with this agency though, they have been able to show us more "situations" in the last month than the local one did in 2 years. So hopefully soon one of these situations will work out to our baby.

Stacy

Stacy had surgery two weeks ago. The girl had been growing lumps, some of them getting pretty big so the vet decided that they should come out. Thankfully they were just fatty tissue. She has had to wear a cone for the last two weeks too, she is using it as an excuse to run into things and especially me!

Today she got her stitches taken out and it must have hurt because she is pouting. She has to wear the cone for a couple more days and cant have a bath until next week. Poor girl really needs one, too.

First day of School

Isaac started Kindergarten this year at a public school. He is doing pretty good so far. We still have some sensory kinks to work out. I think that he has a really understanding teacher so hopefully we can get him adjusted soon.

I am back to subbing, and actually started on the first day of school too. I have been keeping pretty busy, so I have not had much time to get things done around the house. But that is ok, I like to be in the classrooms.

Summer Wrap Up

Here is Isaac's "jet ski" hair! He loved going to the cabin and riding the jet ski for hours at a time!

You know it is hot out when the dog lays on the air conditioning!!

Isaac funny

A conversation from this morning...

Isaac: how long until we get to go and pick up my friend?

Me: a few hours

Isaac:how many minutes are in an hour, and how many seconds?

Me: 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute. so what's 60 times 60?

Isaac: An hour.

What the Friday!!

Why do some people insist on riding their bike ON the highway when there is a perfectly good bike trail right BESIDE the before-mentioned highway??

Ketchup??

Wow, summer is speeding by already...We went camping in Medora for Memorial day Weekend. It was fun, kind of cold, but I prefer that it not be really hot when we camp in a non electrical campground. There were some wild horses in our campsite twice, so that was exciting. The bison weren't too active. Isaac was able to complete the booklet to become a junior park ranger. He recieved two badges for his efforts and had to wear both of them all weekend. He also wanted to go to the Cowboy Museum so we did since it was a little rainy. I didnt find it that interesting but Isaac enjoyed it.

In June, we planned and then canceled a couple of camping trips. the weather has just been too stormy.

We stayed home for the 4th of July. Our neighborhood had a great time lighting off fireworks, we were all out on the street until after midnight. It is so awesome to have such fun, friendly neighbors.

Last week, we spent a few days with Todd's family on their farm. Both of his brothers were able to come this year so we had a good visit. We also had some canoe rides on the dam, a couple of campfires, and roasted marshmallows.

Happy Father's day

Happy Father's day first of all to my Dad!

And next to Todd!

Love you guys!!

SUMMER!!

I am done with my long term subbing position! Yeah!!!

I got the room all packed up tonight and turned in my keys! What a relief to be done! I am so jazzed about going back to being "just" a mom again!!!

I Miss.....

Since I have been working so much I have begun to realize all that I miss around the house...

I miss my voice, with the allergies, and a kindergarten class, I seem to have lost mine.

I miss cooking. I mean I actually miss being able to have time to plan a decent meal and enjoy cooking it for my family. and those of you who know me, know I have never been a fan of cooking.

I miss having time to clean my house, I dont like having to squeeze in a quick scrubbing of the tub and calling it "good enough". Honestly, I have been sticking to my kitchen floor for almost a week now.

I miss my friends, I dont have time to even talk to my husband, let alone chat with my girlfriends.

And most of all, I miss my son's attitude. With my working a lot, he is so tired that I don't even get the "tude" anymore, and honestly I really miss being able to spend so much time with him that he is "sick" of me.

Sorry...

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog...

We are all healthy again...I had to go back in for my ear infection and get more antibiotics. Isaac had a cold that went into his eye, so he went in for drops. And Todd just coughed a lot.

I have been soooo busy with the subbing. The lesson plans involve a lot of work at home since I don't have much if any prep time during my days at school. The students have been a lot of fun, most are little darlings.

Only 2 1/2 weeks left but A LOT to get done in that time...assessments, report cards, field trips to prepare for, kindergarten graduation program to learn songs and poems for, etc.

I would just like to note that while I am very busy with all of this, that I could easily have been busier, but several staff members have been helping out to ease the work load! I can't say enough about the staff at this school. They have been so incredibly helpful and supportive. They are such an awesome group of people!

What the friday??

It must be nice to have so much money that you have no idea what to do with it....geez....I don't just mean the ring, which is stupid enough, but to pay for an entire wedding every year? give me a break!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/180703/mariah-carey-renews-vows-with-strange-ring-pop-ring/

Another one bites the dust...

I had a very bad cold before Easter, woke up with an ear infection on Easter morning, I still have not regained full hearing in my left ear.

This weekend, Todd started coughing and complaining of cold symptoms. Today he went to the doctor but, luckily, he doesnt have any infection...

And it begins....

Today, I started a long term sub postion. I will be educating a wonderful group of kindergarteners for 6 1/2 weeks. So far, I have put in a lot more work outside of the classroom than in it. Alas, I am not paid for any of those hours. And the little angels are testing the limits like you would not beleive. But on the upside, I have NOT run out of the room, screaming, yet....

Also on the upside, the school is just FULL of supportive staff members. I don't know how many people welcomed me today and offered to help if I needed anything.

What the Friday!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_russia_adopted_boy

This story just makes me sooo angry! I can't even put any words to it....

What the Friday??

My husband just checked the mail. I had ordered some pictures from Kodak, since they were larger sizes I had them mailed instead of printed locally. The envelope clearly states KODAK PHOTOS, and PHOTOS DO NOT BEND. So what does my mail carrier do? She bends them and shoves them in the mail box!!! I am just livid! I mean she ruined 4 8x10's at $4 each and the shipping is a minimum of $8 to reorder them....so she can just bend them again?? Really, is my driveway that long that she couldnt get out and walk them to the door???

What a day!

Thursday night, we went to bed to pouring rain outside. We woke up to massive snow. The north side of our house had so much snow stuck to the windows that it was impossible to see out. Out the front of the house it was snowing so hard that I couldnt see across the street. Isaac's playdate/egg dying date was canceled due to road conditions.

Shortly after 830, the electricity started flashing on and off. About 900 am it went off for good. So then Isaac was mad that we couldn't color eggs at all, we couldnt boil eggs without power. Also, in our co-op no electricity means very little water pressure and/or water since the water pump is electrical too.

About 100, we were starting to get cold, so I called Todd at work who talked me through how to take the fireplace off of electricity and put it on batteries. So then we could hang out down there and at least be warm even though it was a lot darker than in the living room.

Todd got home from work about 220 since his place of employment did not have snow removal lined up and they didn't want any one to be stuck there for the weekend. He had also talked to the power company about the outage, I guess they had a lot of lines down so they told him to expect 2-3 days. So we had a plan all in place. Isaac could sleep in the family room and try out our new hide a bed couch, we could use the guest bed. The fireplace would be able to keep both those rooms warm. We filled up some water jugs for when the water tank was empty, and we could cook in the camper which uses gas, or on the grill in necessary.

But luckily, the power came back on around 330, it was flashy at first, but then stayed on. Wow we were so fortunate. I just pray that the rest of the outage was fixed just as quickly.

Spring?

It really feels like spring around here. It was 70 degrees today, and warm yesterday too. We went for a walk yesterday around our neighborhood and visited with several neighbors that we haven't talked to since fall. Isaac and the neighbor girl have played together two days in a row now; riding bikes, playing soccer, playing baseball, and throwing snowballs. And the dog is too wet to be allowed in the house, so it must be spring!!

Isaac funnies for March

Isaac's class is making a chart about "lion" days and "lamb" days for March. As he was explaining this to me, he adds, "then at the end of the month, the winner gets to eat the loser. I hope the lion wins, then it will get to eat the lamb!"

At OT the other day, Isaac was supposed to throw beanbag fish into hoops. The therapist tells him, "here are the fish, can you get them in their tanks?" So he starts throwing the fish with out much luck. One fish hit a hoop but bounced out. The therapist encouraged him with "that was good, Isaac." So he responds with, "Yeah at least it got wet! It should be ok for a little while."

What the Friday?

I was driving home the other day after picking up my son from school, and at a stop light I saw a car coming towards us and the lady’s hair looked odd, as she got closer to the light, I realized that the woman had a CAT on her head. Yes, the pet kind. She turned at the light, and then turned into the veterinary clinic. Isaac and I both got a good laugh out of that.

And since I have skipped a couple of Fridays, here is another one...

Lindsay Lohan is suing the Etrade babies for using the name "Lindsay". Really because it is such an uncommon name that only SHE can have it. What a spoiled brat. I mean what kind of person sues babies??

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/lindsay-lohan-suing-e-trade-for-milkaholic-parody/37130

What the Friday

For the last two weeks, my shows have not been on tv thanks to the olympics which is understandable, almost. But I cannot understand why they have to put the class B basketball games on tv during my tv time! Really, anyone who cares about the games is probably in town to watch them anyway.

Career goals

It is always amusing to talk to children about what they will be when they grow up. At 3, Isaac wanted to be a road train truck driver that hauls basketballs through Austrailia. At 4, he commented that it would be safer to work at McDonalds, since you could pinch your fingers in the drive thru window at Hardees. Not that he wanted to work at a drive thru, he wanted to be a "destruction" worker.

Now the other day, he was asking all kinds of questions about compter games and programming computers, so now he has decided that making computer games would be a lot like playing all day so maybe he will do that when he grows up.

It will be interesting to see what he really ends up doing.

Chicken Nugget Sandwiches?

The other day when I picked up Isaac after work, we were visiting about his day and he told me he had macaroni and cheese and chicken nugget sandwiches for lunch. so I just had to ask, so you put your chicken nuggets on bread? (I figured he wanted to be like his father. Todd is constantly putting anything he eats on bread to make a sandwich.) He replied with, no mom, my babysitter made sandwiches out of big chicken nuggets! I had to try not to laugh at him...he is too cute...

Carpet and late What The Friday

We finally got our carpet put in the house last Thursday, here is our beautiful new family room.

And now for the What The Friday part....here are our stairs....

Yes, that's right, they didnt have enough carpet to finish them...it will take a couple of weeks for more carpet to come in.

Monopoly Mania

Todd and I were playing Monopoly Deal this weekend, and Isaac was playing with our Monopoly City board and buildings. He really likes all the little buildings. Isaac kept asking us questions about the Monopoly Deal game until he finally joined "Todd's team". Still that wasn't enough to curb his curiosity, so we finally dealt him his own cards. Well two games later, Isaac has the game almost completely mastered and has won both games. He only needs help with a little bit of the reading. I think Isaac is completely hooked on the game because he has played around 6 or more games of it since then. We even had to play it twice more this morning after breakfast. I think it is great since Todd doesn't have that much time to play games with me. The older Isaac gets the more games he can learn to play with me!

Weekend update

We started out the weekend with a datenight. Todd and I went out for dinner with some friends to an italian restaurant. It was pretty good, the dessert was awesome. Then we went to a movie, Avatar. Todd really liked it but he is into science fiction. I liked the first half when we were introduced to the planet of Pandora and the Na'vi. But the second half was too violent for my taste.

Saturday we moved furniture out of the office room to get ready for the carpet to come. Hopefully that is put in soon.

Sunday we had a more relaxed day, I think we all took naps at some point and played games, and sorted pictures for the photo albums. I am way way behind.

And of course we celebrated Valentine's day. I recieved cards and flowers from my guys. I gave them cards and Isaac got a box of "pot of gold" chocolate. He is such a chocoholic I thought he would appreciate the better chocolate and he does, he even shares some with me.

What the Friday??

Most people I know try to keep rodents out of their houses, not invite them in and keep them as pets. But one person out there has a 100 pound rodent as a pet! Think about that...100 lbs! My Stacy is only 68 lbs. Gross!! Here is a picture of him lying on the couch!

here is the website for more pictures.....http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/100-pound-rodent-kept-pet-photo-released-Melanie-Typaldos-shows-Caplin-pet-capybara-and-daughters/ss/events/sc/020310capybararodent/im:/100202/480/51ef393997584ddc8217f1b866deadca/

Funny words

Isaac has decided that he likes to say funny words repetively just for the fun of it....last week was "Bazing-ga". This week's word seems to be "milk-a-whata". I can't decide if it is entertaining or annoying.

Hell Week

Last week was really awful at our house. Todd was out of town for the week for work. Isaac wasn't very happy about that and took it out on me. And just for fun, I threw in a sinus infection. Yeah! To top things off, Todd's flight home on Friday morning was canceled. Luckily, he was able to get on the next flight and get home late that night.

This week, we are settling back into our routine, and things are going a lot more smoothly!

What the Friday??

I have been coming up with this idea for a couple of weeks now, so here it goes...I would like to start a new blog carnival...What the Friday?? It basically comes from the idea that at least once a week I hear/see something that makes me think "what the frick?" so I thought I could share some of those things with you. If you want to share yours, feel free....

So onto this week's What the Frick?

I heard on the radio this week that Indianapolis is pushing back its school start time on Monday morning by one hour. Apparantly in the past when the Colts have been in the Superbowl, the bus drivers all call in sick the morning after, so to try to deter this, the schools are actually going to open later. Really?? Like the bus drivers won't still be hungover then?

In New Orleans, school has been canceled altogether for Monday.

The radio announcers then went on to say that it would work out better if President's Day was moved to coincide with The Superbowl because then the schools would already be out for the day. Really, why not move the Superbowl by one week?

Jewelry

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the newsletter for a local clay place and noticed a class they were offering to make jewelry pieces. So I signed up. It was a lot of fun, we started with wet clay and used stamps to make texture and cookie cutters to cut out our pieces. Then they had to be cooked in the kiln. Then the next week we went back to glaze our pieces. It was so much fun and I am really happy with how mine turned out. Here they are:


Now I need to finish each off with beads and cord.

Brett Favre

Football opinions aside, I really admire someone who is willing to laugh at himself. Check out the latest Sears ads at http://sears.weeklyelectronicsdeals.com/1B4b547e6634daa012.cde

Weekend Update

We had a good weekend around here. On Friday, Stacy had to go to the vet for her shots, and we found out that she has gained more weight so she has been told to lose 5 lbs. Poor girl.

On Saturday, Todd worked in the family room, he finished the ceiling and lights. So we are all ready for carpet down there. I want to clean out the computer room first and get that recarpeted at the same time since it has really yucky carpet. On Saturday night, we attended the employee appreciation for Todd's work. He received his 10 years of service award. Way to go Todd!! We had a good time visiting with his coworkers, dancing and eating. Oh yeah, and a group of us snuck off to the bar to watch the Colts game. In the meantime, Isaac got to spend some time with his favorite babysitter ever.

On Sunday, we watched the Vikings beat up on the Cowboys. Go Vikes!!

A Crazy Week

Well it has been a crazy week in my world. I have started back to work substitute teaching and have been working 2 days a week so far. I could have had more days if I could somehow be at two schools at the same time. However I haven't figured that one out yet. I am really enjoying the teaching again. Isaac has been doing just wonderful with the whole change. I think that it really helps him that he has a fantastic lady to watch him while I am at work.

On Wednesday this week, I got a flat tire in the middle of my "errands" morning. Todd came to my rescue and I still managed to get most of my errands done. The tire was so flat that we had to order a new one. Also on Wednesday, my landline phone decided to quit working, but they were able to get that fixed by Thursday evening.

So I hope that will be all for my "bad luck" for a while.

Happy New Year

Christmas is done, and we took down the trees today. Isaac is happy to be able to run in the living room again. The tree took up too much space.

School starts tomorrow and I think Isaac is happy to be going back, but he has not complained at all about being home. He wasn't "bored" once. He slept in almost every day so getting up tomorrow morning may be a challenge.

I have set up my new years goals. I am going with a monthly goal system again this year. It makes it easier to actually accomplish some things. Each month I will write out 3-4 goals to accomplish for that month. Januarys include cleaning up my computer room, cleaning out the filing cabinet, and exercising at least three times each week. I am also going back to a gratitude journal this year.

The other 'new' in this year is that I will be going back to substitute teaching a couple days a week. I put my name on the list before Christmas break and already have a few days scheduled. So that should be fun.