Happy Birthday Grandma!

The "prince" is teaching a lesson in his geometry class tomorrow. The teacher has been having each of them take what they have learned and use it in a career-related form, so he is using engineering feats & defeats related to bridges. Has been working diligently on it, has a short movie, a "lecture", a group activity and candy! His teacher is wonderful, I told him how lucky he is to have had her for 3 years - algebra and geometry, she is amazing. She comes in early/stays late and they know her door is open whenever they have questions.

His class has some amazing athletes too. They won their conference track meet 2 weeks ago and B has really enjoyed it this year. Basketball is still his favorite, but he had a good time running with his friends, esp as they won all but 1 meet this season!

Punky Sue/Princess has started tee ball. She loves it. Wants to play sports all of the time! She wants to take gymnastics, so I am going to look into it, to see class times & costs. Might as well learn how to do the flips and things the proper way! She was doing cartwheels in the outfield the other night, causing lots of grins on parents...

My grandma celebrated her 89th birthday last week. Impressive, she is in great health, still drives, cleans & cooks/bakes like a dream! I hope I take after her - health-wise at the least!
She can sew & is amazing in the kitchen, some of the granddaughters luckily have inherited parts of this! It was so much fun going to their (our grandparents) house as a child each summer and spending several days - a week there. We got to help in the huge garden, visit family and at night she & Grandpa would watch Johnny Carson (unless it was the night where there was all-star wrestling on tv!) and we would all get to eat popcorn and us kids got to stay up a little later than our usual bedtime. We looked forward to it so much. Then we would take turns staying at different aunts houses for a day or two. It was so great, since we grew up a couple of hours away, we didn't get to spend a lot of time otherwise together. I try to do the same thing with our nieces and nephews, to give them these same fun memories.

Jenni had a great graduation party and loved her scrapbook, it turned out so neat. She had taken dance classes for many years, so they decorated the walls with her costumes, was cute to see them!

Our road has been even more busy than usual, with large trucks and semis on it. Last week a semi came flying very fast around the curve just before our house - the gravel dust flying. I thought he was going to lose it as he seemed to be sliding (we have new, loose gravel now) so we stopped and pulled off to the very edge of the road when we saw him and just hoped he stayed over...we were a pretty nervous family for a couple of moments! This road used to be blacktopped when my husband was small & growing up out here, then the county went to chip-coat and then to gravel about 15 years ago. I wish they would go back to chip-coat at least on it.
They have been doing a traffic count off and on, I hope they are noting how many are big vehicles especially.

Oh joys of motherhood...

The princess just threw up...in bed. Changed sheets, cleaned her up...I feel so bad for her, it is no fun to feel icky, but I really hate cleaning up things like this!
No fever.

A fun night ahead of us.

They are done!

I finished my scrapbook pages tonight!! YIPPEE! Graduation isn't even until Sunday! (haha)
What a relief to have them done.

The "prince" went on a field trip today for school, career related. He was mad because he got put in a group to go to a large grocery chain, when some of his friends got to go to other corporate locations that sounded more interesting. However after they all arrived back at school and compared notes, he enjoyed his day more, esp when you think of what a teenage boy holds dear (food!)! They got to eat during their day and sampled cheese, sampled bakery and ate at the deli, after learning about them all!

My dad and uncle came and loaded the sheep and took them back to my aunt & uncle's place this evening. We had 17 ewes and 25 lambs, they ate everything down very nicely!

The princess is playing softball and loves it. They are so funy at this age.
Jill - I will remind my brother about the statue! They will get a laugh out of it.

Good night.

Oh Baby!

My family took me out for brunch, along with my parents. It was nice to get together and the food was good. Not long after arriving home I received a phone call from my youngest brother. He called with the news that he & his wife are having a baby, due on or about Dec 22. YIPPEE!! My sister and I are so excited. Another baby to cuddle and love! The due date is my twin nephews birthday, so that is kind of neat too. So, my sister and I have shopping to do...to be good aunties! So any prayers for them and the safe arrival of their baby are welcome!
The princess is excited also.

I worked hard and got 3 pages of my "assigned" scrapbook pages done. Travel/vacation one ("Head Out on the Highway"), Zzzzz (sleeping girl pics) & the Giggly Girls. I have the Traditions, Friends and Birthdays left to do. Katrina - I used your suggestions, some for the Friend page and a couple for the Giggly Girls one, THANKS! If you have any more for the Traditions one - send them on! There are some 4th of July pics (family picnics), some Grandpa/Grandma pics. Just can't quite pull that one together. Need a title and some quotes/poems to get it together. It has to be a "T" (we do the alphabet, so I can change the word from Traditions, if there is a better one, just needs to be a "T" word). I feel the Friends one is good, have the quotes & idea of layout. Birthday - still a little squishy too! Not in stone yet! So... Any more advice?

My sisters-in-law took the weekend off to do a cancer walk in Chicago this weekend. The weather was no where near as bad as we had it this wknd. Cool, but no downpours, which today happened again here. It could stop for a little while, maybe a week or so! The rivers are getting pretty full and the lakes too.

Friends are a Joy

This afternoon the princess and I helped my aunts host a baby shower for my cousin. It was a fun afternoon, spent with my family. The princess was on her best behavior and looked adorable, even more so when she smiled that toothless grin! It was fun listening to her pronounce a few things, a baby thermometer sounded like "Fur-mom-et-or". She got asked to say that one again!

This evening we went out for dinner with my husband's dad, was a nice time. After dinner we stopped over at our good friends, Brad & Regina's. It was so nice to see them and spend time talking together. We need to find more time to get together. I had it on my list for New Years Resolutions, but got sidetracked by life. We have to make a point to do this. Time goes by way too quickly.

I haven't planned anything yet for my mom for Mother's Day yet. I better talk to my siblings and see when we are getting together and if anyone has an idea for a gift!

I have a couple of good ideas for my scrapbook pages for Jenni's album, but need some tweaking. For Giggling Girls - I am stuck , For Friends Page (has boy & girl friends on it) I thought about "Friends are the Flowers in the Garden of Life",
For traditions - I am stuck .
Traditions has some grandparents pics with traditions in each family, all I can think about is the Fiddler on the Roof song- Traditions, but not sure if it would come across to people if they did not see that musical... The Giggling Girls page is photos of Jen with friends doing zany things and laughing. Any advice?? I figured out which photos and placement, just need the titles!

Happy Mother's Day.

Cold Track Meet and Congratulations Erin!

Well, we spent from 5pm tonight through 9pm at a track meet, cheering on our son and teamates in the cold and rain. It was miserable. 40 degrees, rain, windy, absolutely ugly weather. They won the meet, so the kids were happy, but pretty wet! I just hope they don't get sick from being cold, wet and then getting warm while running, to have chills start when they stopped running. My back, legs and shoulders ached from shivering, just standing there watching them. It felt so good to get in our vehicle and turn on the heater! This is such odd weather for May. It is usually in the 60-70s this time of year.

Grammy & Grampy(my parents) picked up the princess after school and took her home with them, which was a huge help. She gets bored at the meets, plus we didn't want her to have to sit through this bad weather. Actually Grampy came to watch the meet, so the princess got Grammy to herself. She had big plans, read a couple of books to Grammy, play with Grammy's hair and work on the computer programs Grammy bought her.

It is graduation time. We have 6 high school graduations in our family and friends, plus my good friend Erin graduates from college tomorrow. I am so very happy for her. Things are so good in her world, she has a job she is great at, a new house and graduating. 2006 has been good for her. She is the type of friend that is more family than "just friend".

I better get moving. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Mothers Job

I got to thinking tonight about how many occupations I could list on a resume, if you include everything a mother does (outside of my "M-F/8-5 job"). I can consider myself a taxi driver, housekeeper, chef, zoo keeper, librarian/media specialist, toy store proprietor (purchasing dept & reshelver), nurse, receptionist ("No, the prince is no longer taking calls this evening" or "let me check her schedule"), travel agent, diplomat, judge & sheriff, banker, teacher, and the list could go on and on! Was fun to think about though.

I hear thunder again...last night during the night, we lost power for approximately 2 hours. Luckily my husband noticed when it came back on and was able to reset his alarm so we were up on time. One of the frustrations about living in a rural area, it seems like at a minimum of once per week we lose power, sometimes for just a moment (long enough to cause everything to flash and need to have the clocks reset), somtimes about 10 minutes. I am not sure if it is the wind with the power lines, or if they are switching the power from one source location to another and it happens then. It just makes me so frustrated sometimes.

School is almost out for the year, the kids have the days counted, probably the teachers do too! My sister teaches 1st grade, she has the patience of a saint. Truly. Although part of the kids have crushes on her and the other part thinks she is a princess or some royalty!! This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. We are doing a breakfast tomorrow for the elementary teachers. I am taking a fruit tray to the school, on my way to work.

Thinking about royalty reminded me of the kids (prince & princess). Our son's teacher told them the first day of her class, this classroom is not a democracy and I am the Queen in here. I liked her philosphy! Actually, our son lists her as one of his top 2 teachers (tied!). She is good with the kids, teaching them responsibility and yet leading them up the right path to find the answers and learn how to figure problems out.

The princess snuck Rascal, her cat, in today, she claimed the wind blew him in, but...the 2 of them are pretty good at sneaking in. He is pretty sweet though and well mannered. He hid by me, after the princess must have bothered him enough, then when she took a nap he snuck in tight against her side - cuddling! Made us laugh.

It's gotten very windy, right now, time to log off and check the weather reports.

Princess and her "night/knight"

Tonight we watched my son's concert. They did a nice job and had fun. Jill - they did an African song, thought of you during the concert! The last song was "I'm a Believer", they had one of his classmates playing bass guitar, one playing the piano and another doing a vocal solo part, I was impressed - it sounded great. My daughter directed them from our seats in the audience...luckily her brother never noticed due to the darkness in the crowd! (He would have been furious & embarrassed) She thought she did a wonderful job though and it did keep her out of trouble! She told her brother how handsome he looked as we left the house, which set his smile wide.

I hope this Thursday and Friday are more sedate than last week! Last Thursday evening the princess climbed into the haymow to play with her cats...(not allowed to do this, but snuck up there!). Our son was shooting hoops and I was giving the dogs some attention, when I called for her to go inside, no answer. My son thought she was in the bunny barn, so when I went to check there, she comes limping out. I asked what happened to her leg and she said "I don't know, I bent over to pick up Rascal and it just started hurting for no reason". I, of course, believed that so much and said try again! She finally fessed up that she had been up in the haymow and fell coming down the ladder steps. I was so mad thinking that she might have hurt herself terribly, yet was so happy that she was OK! She spent some time in a time out mode for that adventure.
(FYI-her leg is OK)

Friday night we went to our niece Sarah's (30th) birthday party. It was a fun evening. The princess danced with a little neighbor boy, they twirled around all evening! When we went to leave, he pulled the princess into a corner to "talk" and hugged & kissed her...I pulled her out of that corner in a hurry! My sisters-in-law all laughed and said - "Oh it's another generation of girls in our family chasing the Z. boys!" Of course they can all laugh, as their kids are all grown. I think I will be bald by the time the princess is 16!

Nephew Luke (& Michelle & Theresa) bought the princess a shirt last week, says "Kiss my Tiara". Somehow slightly fitting...she is a good girl, just full of life ( & a little mischief)! Even though she is younger by quite a bit, she tries to tell her brother what to do, how to do it & even what to wear. Of course this causes a fight usually, however he does admit that she does have a good eye for outfits already!

The princess starts tee ball in a week approx. She is so excited. We've been playing catch, getting ready for it. Our son has a couple of track meets left, most parents seem to hate the meets, but for the most part, I don't really mind them. It is nice to get outside and not feel guilty for not doing housework or yardwork! Plus it's a social time, plenty of time to chat with other parents between events.

I better get some clothes folded and off to bed. Morning comes early!

Hello World!

Well, I finally did it and decided to blog. I may yet regret it, or yet find I don't have the time to keep it up, but at least I finally decided to give it a try.

We had some very heavy rain today. We (well mostly my husband, our son & my dad) have been in the process of remodeling the farm house and found a new place that needs work, as we had 2 areas dripping slightly this morning. What a pain. It's always something. On another note, our daughter who has just lost both of her top front teeth, it was so cute to see her toothless grin as she came to tell me about the leak, giggling. Even though I was not happy to hear the message! Seeing her smile made me grin.

We have 17 ewes and 25 lambs here, my uncle ran out of pasture and we had some empty, so we loaned him the space for the sheep. They are so cute and do a wonderful job of eating the weeds with the grass. We also have 3 dogs, many cats (mainly in the barn, although Rascal has made his way into the house) and my son has rabbits for 4H. He has raised 2 bottle calves, which was a fun experience. I hope our daughter wants to do them too! I am hoping to find a gentle well-broke pony for her and a smaller 14.5-15 hand horse well broke for myself. I grew up with ponies and horses and miss it. My parents still have them, plus they have mules and donkeys. So at least we can go there to enjoy time with the horses (besides spending time with Grammy & Grampy!).

Our son is in 4H and is trying to decide on his woodworking project. Last year he made his little sister a dollhouse bookcase, which turned out so cute. She uses it for her Barbie dolls now. He is thinking about a bookcase or shelving system for his bedroom.

Graduation is approaching. My sisters-in-law and I always make a scrapbook for the nieces and nephews as they graduate, lately we have been using the alphabet and finding words that describe or relate to each particular senior's activities. This year for Jen, I have Birthdays, Friends, Giggling Girls, Traditions, Zzzz (sleeping photos over the years!). I have to get working on it, if I am going to make the deadline!

Well, time to quit for now.