Haircuts

Here's my "after"... you can see my "before" in my previous post.

Here is Amelia "after". We cut about 3 inches, just even-ing it up. That 3 inches makes a huge difference in keeping it neat!

And the always shaggy Margaret?

Of course she wanted it short!
Here's the end result!

I voted!

Wow. I need a haircut. It's a fuzzy mess...

If you give a kid a paintbrush....

In a follow-on to my popular "If you give a kid a trophy...". They helped us put the sealant on the deck this past weekend.

Also occuring.. "If you give a kid a screwdriver". We got help putting together an 8 drawer IKEA dresser. I think the younger kid actually figured out how to put one all together by the time we got to #8. No pictures on that one, but I can tell you... after IKEA and deck staining, my arm and shoulder are sore, sore, sore...

Tally Scrapper!!!

Some of you may have noticed the button on my sidebar to a site called "TallyScrapper". It is a great on-line community where I have shared so many of my layouts, as well as made many cyber friends.

Well.... I made the design team for October - December!!! I am so excited, but a bit overwhelmed! The DT at Tally does more than layouts...we are "cheerleaders" for the site and are asked to get involved in all aspects of the site...not just posting layouts. I was already involved quite a bit at the site, so I didn't think it would be tough, but it still has been a bit overwhelming to me. And fun!!!




On October 15, the new monthly kit goes on sale. It is designed by a favorite at Tally (and at many other sites, I'm sure) named Staci Compher. You should check it out if you are a scrapper. They often sell out within hours...so don't delay! Start checking at about 1pm central time..




This was the kit that I received for Design Team. The layouts/projects in this post were done wtih product from the kit. It really is a great kit and I love how the Tally kits always mix new products with some older stuff in a great way!!

If you give a kid a trophy...

Could her smile be any bigger?

This is her coach giving her some personal praise as he was handing out the trophy. He did it for each kid and each one just beamed with pride!

My little girls didn't think this was funny...

but I did.

I was getting kind of tired of finding my tape and scissors and stapler all over the house. It seems to be working...

Risk!

Look what my 7 year old (almost 8 years) did to me.

Yep. She's red. I'll admit to being a bit distracted, but she basically kicked my butt with very little coaching from me. I think I'd rather play Sorry!. Or Scrabble. I think I can still beat her at Scrabble...

First Day of School

Here is Amelia. She is starting 5th grade!! Wow. She is excited to have sponge curler curls in her hair. She is wearing a skirt we made together. She is not looking forward to math homework or doing response journals for reading.


Here is Margaret. She is starting 2nd grade. She is excited to be wearing her "Hannah Montana" outfit. She is also excited to have a calculator, highligher, and red pen in her supplies.



Here they are together.

Emergency Room Visit... all is well...

About 4 am Margaret climbed in bed and was laboring in her breathing. I asked her what was up and she said "it hurts". After a bit of waking up and deciding that she really was in pain (the pain was in her lower chest, right side, when she inhaled)... I took temperature (102) and decided it was probably pneumonia (maybe an asthma attack...but I have no experience with that so I was just being worried). And headed off to the Emergency Room at our Children's Hospital.

This was Margaret's 3rd trip to Children's ER. She had RSV at 7 weeks and was hospitalized for a week. She had pneumonia from Influenza type A when she was one, and was hospitalized for 4 days. Other than that she has been TOTALLY healthy. Praise God for that. (And praise God that I didn't know how serious RSV could be when she had that...)

I LOVE having a children's hospital. Having nurses that deal with kids all the time (and having the environment set up for kids) makes it so much easier.

As I suspected, they quickly checked her Oxygen Sat levels, listened to her chest, and decided we could just chill and wait for the doctor. The Triage nurse was guessing pneumonia. After the doc and X-ray images confirmed pneumonia in the right lung, we decided on a good dose of IV antibiotics right then and there... followed by more antibiotics, of course. Stupid mom was not totally awake and did not question the possibility of a viral pneumonia...but they didn't test for either. So I guess the antibiotics could be in vain.

Still...the nurses were angels (we were there over shift change) and all-in-all it was not a bad experience.

My baby is sleeping on the couch. It will be a day of TV and fudgecicles. If the antibiotics do the trick, she will be able to go to the first day of school tomorrow. I don't want to be the one to tell her she has to stay home. The doctor realized that it was first day of school and said to use our judgment on how she was feeling...since she will have been on drugs for 24 hours she is no risk to other kids.

Wow. Kind of started the day out a bit weird. But I'm very thankful that the experience turned out ok in the end. Margaret was a real trooper with the IV. She was a bit nervous when we told her what was going to happen. Almost tears, but she fought them back. She had to watch the nurse put it in. Wanted to keep the little sample they gave her. And just said "Ouch Ouch Ouch" as it went in. I'm so used to Amelia's drama whenever we have a procedure it was nice to have a child react a bit more calmly.

State Fair Animals!!

I didn't take many animal pictures this year...here are most of them.


Amelia with a young calf in the cattle barn.




The big pig.




Margaret and Amelia with a horse.




Amelia with the horses who led the parade.



Baby piggies. These are in a litter that was being born as we arrived in the "Miracle of Birth" barn.

The Mighty Midway

From the Minnesota State Fair. I didn't have blue sky, but still got a few cool pictures.

On getting old...

I stopped at Walgreen's in Edina on the way home from work today. I needed some Sudafed to try to clear up this crazy cold or allergy before it decides to settle in my chest.

Those of you who know Edina know that it does have an aging population. It's a little slice of Florida (in fact, many residents are likely starting to think about heading there soon). My trip to Walgreen's was a sobering look into what growing old must be like.

As I walked in, an elderly gentleman was waiting with his walker at the edge of the handicapped parking area as his wife was coming around the car to help him in.

Inside the store, the first gentleman I saw was carrying a large bag of "disposable undergarments".

When I got back to the prescription counter (you have to surrender ID and sign in for Sudafed) three ladies there were talking about diabetes supplies...which ones were the best for checking blood and which were covered by Medicare.

The gentleman next to me, when asked for his address, started with one and then stopped himself. "Ooops." he said "I had lived there since I was 6 years old. Here's my new address" It included an apartment #. I suspect he had recently moved out of his home of 70+ years.

My intent is not in any way to make fun of this situation (although a wry smile is on my face as I re-read this), but the sobering thought that I could be there some day. Unable to walk, incontinent, with diabetes, moving to a new home... away from where I raised kids. Whenever I am reminded of this I get a little "health kick urge" going. Walking and a little weight training to keep my body able to handle life after 70. Or 80. Or 90. I may have some genes on my side. One Grandma lived to 103. She lived on her own (in an apartment the last 7 or 8 years of that) until she was 98 or 99.

That's all today. Just a thought.

California...

I've been in California twice since my last blog entry. Both were business trips. Luckily, I got to see my Sister-in-law and niece on the 2nd trip

Can you believe Karin took this picture? She seems to have mastered the self-portrait pose (i.e. not looking like she is reaching out with her arm to take a shot looking back at us...).

We have wet faces!!!

My little girlies are finally comfortable enough in the water to get those faces wet. Amelia loves to snorkle and can keep her face in the water (and swim around without touching) for over a minute.

Margaret has discovered the joys of jumping in the water. She still needs a life vest for deep water, but is starting to be able to swim "above the water" (as she calls it).

Yay for my girls!!! I'm so proud of them!

Barns

I'm from Wisconsin. My mom grew up on a farm, but I did not. Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for barns. Red barns. With a silo nearby. While driving home from Michigan last week, we drove all the way across Wisconsin (northern...not southern where I am from) on Hwy 29. We passed many wonderful barns. I didn't make Charlie stop the car...I took all of these from the car traveling at 65 miles per hour down the road.
I really love barns; I really do.

Big Boy Hodag

I was reminded by a friend that the Hodag's name is Happy. Just seems wrong.

Two of my favorite pictures from our recent vacation...enjoy!

Kid update

Margaret is chattering about anything and everything. She is very observant of the world around her and is constantly sharing her thoughts and observations with us. She is counting down the days until we get to go to ValleyFair. She keeps talking about all the rides and which ones she wants to go on. I don't think she's ready for "Wild Thing" yet, but will ride most of the other rides there.

Amelia is on an astronomy kick right now. We got a small telescope that we will be taking to our trip out to the less inhabited areas of the UP. We should have some good star gazing. She is intrigued by the stories of the constellations. Most of them are greek mythology stories. I remember going through the Greek mythology stage. Very cool. When it comes to Valleyfair, Amelia..she has her thrill ride genes from me. I hope we can get her on the Mad Mouse and High Roller, but not sure she will go on much more than that, (Nor will I)


I haven't been good about sharing quotes from the kids. As they get older I guess they aren't as cute, but they say funny things nonetheless.

Last week Margaret was gone a good part of the day on a play date. Amelia's comment? "I had a great day. No little sister around to bug me."

It's Twins!!!

Some good friends had twins about 7 weeks ago. Amelia was the flower girl at their wedding, so had to get pictures of her with the kids. We finally got to visit today. The girls were excited to hold such tiny babies. They were actually both over 6 pounds at birth, and they both have been very healthy.


Presenting Anna and Benjamin...and our girls...

Soccer Pages

One thing I love about my local scrapbook store (Scrapbooks, Too!) is the great selection of theme stuff. Soccer, Disney, Music, etc... I don't always scrap with the theme (i.e. see my Disney pages), but on these Soccer pages I went by the book. Standard soccer product..paper and stickers. These all went together in under 20 minutes each...some closer to 10 minutes. They are not works of art, but they do capture the memories and pictures from the spring soccer season.
So I bring you...Fuller Park Soccer Club Rhinos, 7-8 year old league. Spring 2008!