holy crap, I'm 30!

Yes, it's true--I am finally 30. Ugghh! So far 30 feels like crap since I've had a cold since last Monday and it just won't go away.

My actual birthday was uneventful. Chad had to work that night and Jack had off school so I spent the day trying to keep the kids quiet so Chad could sleep, dishes, laundry. The norm. My dad took the older two boys to look for shed antlers for a few hours so that was a nice break. I had a lot of Happy Birthday phone calls and of course the customary Happy Birthday song from Gram and Gramp. Loved it! Gram asked if I had a cake. Nope. She asked if someone was cooking me a nice dinner. Nope. Chad suggested pizza so after we signed our tax return we stopped and picked up our over baked cheese pizza. Yum!

Saturday Chad and I got to spend the day shopping like I wanted. My mom and Dave came over to watch the kiddos for us. We picked up some stuff and had a good day. One of our neighbors and friends is in the hospital with a pretty serious disease so we visited him for a while.

We were still full from lunch so we scrapped the nice sit-down dinner (it really would have been a waste--we weren't hungry at all) and stopped at Taco Bell on our way out of town. Nothing but the best for us!! We were supposed to be meeting a couple of friends of ours for drinks so I knew I needed to eat something.

We stopped to get gas once we got back into town and Chad called Chris (one of the friends we were meeting) and told him we were at the gas station and would be there soon. Thought that was a little strange since that was some super short notice to meet us. We parked next to our old neighbors car (another hint) and Chad wouldn't let me pee before walking into the bar. SURPRISE!!! Bar full of people I know!! That was very sweet of him for planning that! He's lucky I was actually feeling better that day because the day before I wouldn't have gone I felt so bad.

I ended up having a great time. I got to see a few of my good friends from high school that I was hoping would be there. My parents were there, step parents were there, my kids were there, Chad's aunt and uncle were there, his sister and cousins were there and more friends that we both have were there. It turned out to be a super fun night and I still have no voice left!!

Here's to being 30, flirty, and fabulous!!! (Gold star for anyone who knows where that is from)

6

Six years ago today at 6:51pm Jackson David was born. I can not believe it has been six whole years already. He had an awesome day today. Woke up great, had his customary waffle for breakfast, and was super excited to get off to school.

Grampa Ole brought Dilly Bars for Jack to take for snack time and he got a birthday crown to wear all day. They sung to him and he got a neat birthday bag from his teacher.

When he got home he spent a lot of time outside, which he loves to do even when it's colder than a witches boob out there! He and his brother did chores (play in the snow) with their dad and got out of my hair for a bit :)

Jack got to pick his birthday dinner so we had cheese ravioli and a dum dum sucker for dessert. We packed his treat bags for his birthday party this weekend and did a little "kitchen dancing".

All in all a really good day. Happy birthday big man. Love you!

10 pounds!

I've finally did it! Officially 10 pounds lighter! I'm so pumped and so didn't want to work out this morning. I've been slacking for the past few days so I knew it was time but running on the treadmill at 7:30AM really isn't what I wanted to do. But I did it and weighed in at, well, I'm not telling but it is 10 pounds less than where I started. Woot!

I'm going to visit my Grandma here in a little bit but her progress has been good. The partial hip replacement she had on Saturday went well and she looks good. She should be going to the nursing home for rehab in the next few days.

I forgot to post pictures of Alex at his birthday party in November, so enjoy these...

this and that

Jack has lost his front bottom two teeth. I can't believe he is so big already!



Ben wasn't feeling so well a few weeks ago so we took him in to the doctor and it turns out he had RSV. Not so good. They hooked us up with a nebulizer and we did treatments several times a day. Some days he sat still and did great--others he screamed the whole time. I do not envy the people that have to give their kids treatments all the time. That was no fun. He is much better now so at least it worked.

 

 

The power went out for several hours one cold December night so we made the best of it and lit some candles and Chad and Ben read a lovely tractor publication by headlamp.

 

The best picture I got of all three boys in their holiday jammies.

 

The older two boys and my dad went ice fishing a few weeks ago and Jack caught the biggest fish. They weren't gone very long and I wondered why they were back so early. Turns out Alex fell or stepped into the hole up to his knee so they had to come home. They both did have a good time and can't wait to go again.

On a more serious note, my Grandma Myrt fell and broke her shoulder and hip today. I spent all afternoon with dad at the local hospital to see when she will go into surgery. The doctor won't end up seeing her until tomorrow so no news yet on that. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. With that, the kids and Chad working I will try to keep up with the blog like I said, but you might have to bear with me!

inspired

My cousin Lori's blog is something I visit daily and I've been pleasantly surprised she has been blogging much more frequently which is so nice. I love to read something new even though it might be about people and places I don't know, I enjoy having a tiny peek into her life being soooo far away!

That frequency has inspired me to get back to my blog, which I know I have been neglecting. The kids don't really like it when I'm on the computer and I haven't taken or uploaded many pictures lately (can't find my cord) but I will try or at least give you this post today!

Not much happens around here to be very blog-worthy, but there have been a few changes in the past weeks/months...

Alex turned 4. We had a nice family birthday party for him and he got a lot of really nice gifts. He is my snuggler, my TV watching buddy, my game lover (both board and video) and my lady loving boy. I told Jack that this fall when Alex starts Preschool he will have to help him get adjusted and sit with him on the bus. Alex said, "No, I don't need to sit with Jack. I'm going to sit with the ladies!" We are really going to have to keep an eye on that boy!

Christmas came and went. We had a lot of good food and good times visiting with family on all sides. We took a trip to Milwaukee which everyone enjoyed. We found out that I'm going to be an Auntie!!! Super exciting news!! Too bad we don't live closer :(

With the potential sale of Best (Chad's old job) in perpetual limbo, a job opportunity presented itself to Chad at his old old place of business (Cummins) and we really had no choice but for him to take it. Not the ideal situation AT ALL. But at least it pays more than unemployment and we are still crossing our fingers that Best gets sold and starts back up. At the start of his third week we find out that Cummins has been sold. All righty then. They say it will stay in production so it reall doesn't mean anything for us. At most I think the shifts might change, but as long as he has a job, that's the main thing.

I've been on a weight loss kick since before Christmas and am doing quite well. My brother in law took some really unflattering pictures of me with my camera while cleaning up at Thanksgiving time and I really didn't like the way I looked. I haven't liked the way I've looked for a while, but I just get mad and eat more. Such a brilliant idea. So, we've got a treadmill down in the basement and I got back on the thing. The only thing that isn't so great are my knees at times, but it's getting better. I also got Zumba Fitness for the Wii and that's really fun. I'm watching what I eat--not dieting but just paying attention to portion size and what's in certain foods (Mac & Cheese is the devil!). I've lost almost 10 pounds! Now I can't wait for spring and summer when we can all get back outside.

Jack has lost his two bottom front teeth! They were loose forever and he came home from school one day with his tooth missing. Then just a few days later he fell at recess (not hard at all) and the other one fell out. He is getting so big! He turns 6 next week and I cannot believe it! He loves art and creating things. We put a desk in his room for him and he loves it. His so smart and is starting to read and sound out words to write. He is not a snuggler and when I say, "Love you" he says "yep". Oh well, I know it's there somewhere.

Ben is growing too fast as well. He just starting saying 'no' this week. Super. If you ask him anything his answer is always no so he hasn't totally grasped the meaning yet. He has a few other words too but not many. I'm totally not worried--there are enough talkers in this house right now. When he gets mad he pounds his fist on the floor. He loves to dance to just about any kind of music. He has all his teeth now and loves to smile big so you can see them. We are entering him in a local photo contest for Syttende Mai (gotta be a little Norwegian to figure that one out!) We get his photos taken next Friday and I really hope they turn out.

Sorry no photos but hopefully some when I find my cord!!

dance

I think I've figured out how to use my video camera Chad got me last Christmas (2009) and figured out how to get the video to my computer. I still don't know how to edit and I'm pretty sure I'm uploading/importing the videos wrong, but I finally got one on Youtube! Check this out..

deck the halls

After Thanksgiving, we took the family out and bagged us a tree. It was the first time in a few years that we cut our own instead of going to the tree lot. It was fun and I was picky (not as picky as Jack apparently) so it took a little while but we finally found a nice, yet affordable tree. Sorry, but I'm not dropping almost $50 on a tree we're going to throw away. Not going to happen this year. We got the stockings hung...

and got out the hand-made snowflakes my grandma made years ago. These go on our tree every year. I love them!

Jack took over the decorating early and did most of the snowflakes. I of course filled in where he couldn't reach.

Alex hung about two ornaments then played Wii the rest of the time.

And when it was all done, it looked like this...

It doesn't look like that anymore...Ben likes to throw things into the tree, he's busted at least three silver ornaments, and takes off the lower snowflakes and throws them around. Our tree looks beat down by the time Christmas rolls around :)

Oh, and GO BEARS!!!!