Always something going on!

Aaron's newly shaped head.



Hey Mom! whatcha doing up there?



Katie showing her moves.



Falling asleep waiting for dad to come upstairs.



Ryan's new summer do!



Look Ryan does have eyes on the back of his head.

Meghan's First Communion and Confirmation

Meghan made her first communion and confirmation on Friday night. I was really nervous for her because I was afraid she didn't know what was going on and what the sacraments were that she was receiving. But as usual she surprised me as did all the kids. When the bishop was asking them questions all of them had their hands up in the air and shouting out answers. Kids will amaze you time and time again.

The ceremony was really beautiful and I even teared up as she received the annointing oil as she was confirmed. How small they are but how grown up. *sigh*

The only downfall of the whole day was that 9 1/2 inches of snow we got dumped on us while we were in church. That kind of shot taking pictures outside. I was lucky I got pictures of Meghan and her sponsor. Oh well. Maybe we'll do better with Katie's next year.

Here are a couple of pictures from her big day.

Graduation Day!!!!!

Yesterday was graduation day at our house! Aaron finally after 6 months and three weeks graduated from his helmet. We are so proud of him and his head looks tons better. We are so happy we were about to have him in helmet therapy!

This was Aaron's head when we began the helmet therapy.

This was yesterday with his mold.

and without the mold.

Looks great doesn't it?

Yum cupcakes!

Dad taking his helmet off for the last time!

Getting a rub down.

Aaron's first baseball hat!

Hip hop Aaron

Sitting alone on the dining room table.

Going Green!

We have always recycled our newspapers and have done our pop cans too, but other than that I can't say we are big energy conservationists. Well time to turn over a new leaf. I have started bringing my own cloth bags when I go grocery shopping or to the mall and I actually get upset when I forget to grab them. We unfortunately still use those plastic bags for dirty diapers so they are nice to have but I have been trying to not use them all the time.

So in our effort to "go green" and celebrate Earth Week I signed us up for a 5K walk through Aveda Salons. My hairstylist Stacy got us signed up. The walk was yesterday and we were going to do it as a family. Since Chris was sick, the girls and I went. It ended up being 3 loops of 1.3 miles each and we finished in about 40 minutes. Not bad. The girls walked laps 1 and 3 with me and played on the playground for lap 2. We then had fruit and hotdogs with the group and it was really fun. I even ran into a guy I used to work with at Pannekoeken. Now that was back in the early 90's. Funny too since we both recognized each other and it turns out Stacy has been doing both of our haircuts for years now. Small world.

Anyway here are the girls at the walk. It was really windy yesterday. Katie was able to keep pace with her fast walking mom. Meghan dragged, but she just isn't a fast walker and that's OK. It sure was fun though.

Birthday cake for breakfast!

Since my actual birthday was so jam-packed with fun we didn't get a chance to have my birthday cake. So we had it for breakfast on Sunday morning. The kids were all for that of course and since I normally have something sweet for breakfast, it was OK with me too. Remember, I was tired from the concert the night before.

What a weekend!

Bon Jovi rocked! The concert was so awesome on Saturday. Daughtry was amazing and of course Bon Jovi, well what can you say. He rocked my world. I don't think I've ever seen a better concert, but then again I don't go to a lot of concerts either. It was great though. I ended up going with my friend Tanie instead of Chris since we decided he would probably wear out fast and be miserable there. I know he would have sucked it up to have fun, but then I know he would have been miserable and that wouldn't have been any fun. SO instead of Tanie watching the kids, I took her with me and Chris stayed home. Good thing too since he petered out at 8 o'clock and that was when Bon Jovi took the stage. I was going to put a little video on here but for some reason couldn't get it up loaded. Oh well, guess you'll have to sing "Bad Medicine" to yourself.

Tanie and I at the concert. Blurry I know but we're at Bon Jovi!!!!

April 19, 2008 at 11:40PM EDT
Fargo, ND - Fargodome - 4/19/08
LOST HIGHWAY

BORN TO BE MY BABY

BAD NAME

RAISE YOUR HANDS

RUNAWAY

OLDER

SLEEP w/ Gimme Some Lovin' & Start Me Up

BLOOD MONEY

BLAZE OF GLORY w/ Daughtry

WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'

TILL WE AIN'T STRANGERS

SATURDAY NIGHT

WE GOT IT GOIN' ON

IT'S MY LIFE

BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout

I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - RICHIE VOX

(YOU WANT TO) MAKE A MEMORY

BED OF ROSES

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME

HAVE A NICE DAY

FAITH

PRAYER

ENCORE:

I LOVE THIS TOWN

WANTED

36!

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right. It's my birthday. 36 years old. Wahoo! The kids all made me cards, Chris got me a mousepad for my computer with the kids' pictures on it and the kids got me a puzzle with their pictures on it. Tonight Chris and I are going to see Bon Jovi. Our seats aren't stellar but I think it will be a fun show regardless. My friend Tanie is watching the kids for us as my birthday present. Yesterday I got surprised with flowers from our neighbors and I am hoping I can keep the plant alive for at least a week or so. :)

Katie has her dance recital today for Just For Kix and the girls both sing at the 5PM mass at church so it will be a busy day for sure. Tomorrow we are doing a 5K walk for Earth Week with the money being donated to keeping the water clean in our area. And before we know it, it will be Monday morning again. *Sigh*

So anyway, Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!

Daddy's Home

Ryan is thinking he has hit the mother load! Chris has been home sick yesterday and today and they have been busy doing puzzles and watching cartoons. Ryan thinks it's grand! Of course the fact that I do those things with him doesn't seem to matter, but dad is way cooler than mom. I've known that for years.

Chris has some type of bronchitis and we are hoping he can get better without antibiotics so he doesn't get kicked out of his PRACS study. Cause that blows the summer money for the kids and we have to find another study for him to do. UGH!

5 days left for Aaron. Yeah!

OOOPPS! Six days left!

Aaron was turning the light off downstairs and slipped and fell down the last 2 steps. Can you say rug burn? The forhead one isn't as bad as his nose, but I didn't want it irritated by his helmet, thus the band aid. He's ready for a nap now.

TV Watchers!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I got a postcard saying that our family has been chosen to be a Nielson Family! You know like Nielson TV Ratings, keep track of what you watch etc, etc etc? Well I LOVE TV and I am pumped to be named as a Nielson Family! So anyway, the postcard said someone would be calling in a few days to get us surveyed. Well a couple of days later I get home and there is the Nielson Tv Rating number on my caller ID. I was so bummed I missed the call. I called it back and the lady assured me they would try again. I hoped so.

So today I get the call and took their survey and they are sending me out our notebooks to keep by our two TV's so we can record what we watch the week of May 15-22nd! I am so pumped! Wahoo! A Nielson TV Family!

And just for the record I know I am a freak and I know I watch too much TV, but hey I am going to be a Nielson TV Family, so Blah!

Lots of cookies and more!

Well the snow is gone and the temperature is rising. Chris made it home safe and sound on Friday night after a long day of testing. He sure was tired and I was glad he was home.

Saturday provided more fun. I got the kids signed up for swim lessons for the summer to the tune of $120 for the 3 of them, picked up some fabric to make a blanket for Project Linus, went to the library for books for the kids and got home by 10:30. Our neighbors were generous enough to take Katie to her dance recital along with their kids, so we could go get the Girl Scout cookies at 2:30. Well they called us at 12:50 and asked if we could come then. Sure. Chris left and we had everything sorted in our garage by 3PM.

1008 boxes = 84 cases of cookies!



We then spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through Meghan's boxes. WE made one delivery that night to a very pregnant momma who was going in for her induction on Tues.

After our usual pizza night we all sat down to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. I had forgotten how annoying those chipmunks could be. HA!

Sunday was spent going to church and delivering cookies. There are still a lot out there. We did grill some brats for dinner and that was good too. The kids got their bikes out and we got to see what a mess the garage had become over the winter. UGH!!!!

Aaron is into stirring things in bowl. My tupperware is all over the house and he walks around cooking. He also has 7 more days left in his helmet and I think we are all ready to be done. I ordered his graduation cupcakes today!

That's it for us.

Cooking for us!



Taken yesterday with his 8 day countdown on the front!

OH No More snow!

Well, guess winter isn't done with us yet. It's snowing. That wet slushy snow that is just as hazardous as the usual kind of snow and to make it worse Chris is in the cities for his PE exam. When he got there yesterday the snow was already sticking to the ground at 3 PM. It started raining here at about 7 PM and by 10 was snowing and there was a couple of inches on the ground already. *sigh* So in typical fashion of all Chris's trips I imagine he will get stuck in the cities and not be able to make it back to Fargo till Sat. Which in itself causes a whole new mess of problems. You see Sat I am supposed to sign the kids up for swimming lessons, take them to the library, take Katie to dance and Chris is supposed to pick up the 1000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that are coming that day! Can I juggle it by myself? Sure, but I'm not looking forward to it.

But anyway the kids are home today from school. It is one of their alloted snow days, how ironic and we plan on cleaning and then playing in the snow this afternoon. I am not looking forward to going outside to take out the garbage but I have till this afternoon to get that done too.

So now I am going to read my paper and hope Chris does well on his exam. I hope he comes home tonight too, but would rather have him safe than at home if that is want is to be.

Yeah snow!

Two Weeks!

And here's how Aaron really feels about it!

Why I should get a Westie Terrier.

When I was little, like 4 or so I remember have two dogs. Brandy and Sunny I think their names were. I know one was really little and would crawl through the chainlink fence. They were Westie Terriers.

Katie brought the following home today from school. Kind of made be laugh, because I know she doesn't know that I had those dogs when I was younger.

Why I should get a Westie Terrier by Katie
I would be responsible for it like feed it and give it walks. I would buy it its leash, chew toys, and collar. I would play with it and give it baths. I would buy it bones and help it dig. I would also buy it a cage. It would live in the house and I would like it because I like small and wild dogs.

Just made me chuckle.

DI Crazy!

This weekend was the State Destination Imagination Tournament for the state of ND. Both Meghan and Katie participated in it and Chris and I were team managers. I had Katie's Rising Stars Group with Chris and Chris helped another leader out with Meghan's team. It has been a long couple of months meeting once a week, sometimes twice a week. Before going all the adults swore we wouldn't do it again. UGH!

But to our amazement the kids did great. Katie's team doesn't get scored because they are only K-2 graders so they just get positive comments. The judges did say they have to speak up. Meghan's team got scored in the elementary division. Sadly they placed 5th out of 5 teams, but to their benefit, they were the youngest team in the catergory.

The Beatles, which was Katie's team, surprised me by saying all their lines, not giggling and helping each other out when they forgot a line. They never did that while practicing, so I was sure proud that it came off way better than they had rehearsed it. Of course they probably hate me for all the nagging I did but they had a good time. And they looked great!! They even did well in their instant challenge where they know nothing of the challenge till they walk into their challenge room.

The Little Myth-busting Nosy Monkeys, which was Meghan group did great as well. I was so nervous for them throughout the skit. When they were setting up their set, it fell down and one part broke. I thought for sure they would fall apart after that, but they surprised me, improvised and got the set to stand. The one piece fell right at the end but again they weren't phased. I was really proud of them for keeping their cool.

And as well sat eating ice cream, the team leaders all talked of what we will do differently next year. HA!!!! Suckers! Yes, we will probably all be there again next year.

The kids also got to do a scavenger hunt, make thank yous for their leaders, collect beads to make an atom, make things out of duct tape, dance, play paper golf and a bunch of other fun activities. It was a long day but they all had a blast.

I think we will be starting in like October next year. We want to win!!!!

Here are some pics from the day!

Rising Stars Team



The Beatles in Action!



The Little Myth-Busting Nosy Monkeys doing their thing.



Katie coloring her t-shirt.



Meghan just hanging out.



At DucTapia.



Putting that tape to good use!