Hamburger Night

Thursday nights is Hamburger Night at the Eagles Club here in town so we went down there for supper. We got off to a later start than normal. When Josh, his dad Nick, his Grandma Susie, the three kids and I walked in, the place was packed full of people. We had to add another table and chairs for us to have a spot to eat. When we usually go down, it isn't packed but has a steady group of people enjoying their evening out. Well, all of us must have showed up at once. The cook was frantically tearing around the kitchen to get all the orders done and out to us. We waited an hour and a half before we got our food. One of the waitresses asked in a joking manner if we were disgusted yet. I replied with a smile and said, "not yet." It was a nice evening of us talking upon one another and the kids sat quietly for the most part drinking their Shirley Temples and playing with the mini swords that came in their drinks.

Carter decided tonight that he wanted to "UP" his ketchup sandwich to a hamburger bun with not only ketchup, but a bunch of mustard as well. He loved it and was excited that his sandwich was no longer only red, but red and yellow. I guess small things please kids. Overall, we had a great time and we came home with full bellies in time to get ready for bed.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am excited for the weekend! The kids have been so busy and wild ever since this snow dumped on us a week ago. I am ready for a calm day to hopefully relax for awhile.

Too Funny!

I had to post this picture of Carter. He put on this Cat in the Hat costume tonight and was running around the house having fun. I had noticed the noise volume in the house had dropped but didn't realize why. Then Josh came into the living room and found Carter crashed on the floor still wearing this costume. Too cute! I had to share it with you all!

Still Snowing

It has been snowing here for a couple days now. We have close to a foot of snow on the ground and the kids are loving it! Today we had a scheduled power outage in town so we headed out to Gramps and Grandma Mary's house. The kids and Josh went sledding and tubing. I stayed inside and watched through the windows. Josh pulled them all on the four wheeler. Kylah went first and had the luck of fresh snow in the field so she was showered from head to toe in seconds on her first trip around. Then it was Carter's turn and Josh had to go slower since he doesn't weigh much and the tube slid too easily. Then Kaitlin had her turn and had a ton of fun. Afterwards, all three kids came inside to warm up a bit and then they had warm baths. The plan after they warmed up was to have hot chocolate. Instead, they thought root beer floats sounded better...(Not sure why as they were all FREEZING for awhile.)

We had a great day of relaxing. Gramps and Josh took Carter out to feed cows later in the day before we came home. It was a great time for all of us.

Friday Night Fun

Last night Phae held a candle party at her house. A bunch of us ladies got together and had a great time. Phae made the best Mexican Soup I have ever tasted and an awesome home-made chocolate cake with wonderful frosting for dessert. Thanks Phae! I am sure you will be getting a lot of phone calls for that recipe, with me being one of them....;) It was nice to get out with the ladies and enjoy ourselves. Thanks for the fun and great laughs everyone!

Josh worked today, Kaitlin went to a birthday party until tomorrow, and my other two kids are at Gramps and Grandma's for the night. I didn't know what to do with myself being home all alone. I did the dishes, washed a ton of blankets and then thought to myself...DO SOMETHING YOU ENJOY INSTEAD OF HOUSEWORK! So I read my book, took a nap, went and got a soda to drink, and watche t.v. without any interruptions. It was so nice and relaxing.

I was hoping to go to Chadron to the movies tonight but the snow is falling steadily so I think we will stay home and watch our Netflix movie...Hmmm...maybe Josh will take me out for supper. Now that sounds like a good idea! He just walked in the door so I am going to see what he wants to do.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and stay warm!

My Thankful Thursday List of Five

♥ Deb's surgery going well for her.

♥ The beautiful weather we have had this week.

♥ Josh not being laid off from his job yet.

♥ Great talks with our kids during meal times.

♥ Having our bathroom finally painted and finished.

Today has been quite a day of playing outside for the kids. Since the weather has been so nice, we have been taking advantage of being outside as much as possible. It seems so strange that the past three days we have been outside with light jackets or without coats and tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 25 degrees! How fair or should I say, unfair IS THAT!?!

I do need to remember it is January and this sort of thing happens quite frequently. Afterall, we did have a blizzard last May and school was cancelled and by the next evening the snow had melted.

The boys drove their trucks in every possible place that dirt appeared in the backyard today and the girls played on the swingset, sang songs at the top of their lungs, played hide and go seek, and managed to get in a couple games of tag before lunch. We had to smack boots and shoes together off the deck afterwards because there is still some mud in various places. I think they all had a lot of fun though!

Happy Birthday Chaney!

Happy Birthday Chaney! Today is one of my daycare girl's birthday. Since school is getting out at 1pm today, I wanted to make some birthday treats for snacktime for Chaney to enjoy with the kids here. Carter and I made them this morning and then he helped me decorate them. We decided to bake Icecream Cone Cupcakes. They are one of the kids' favorite snacks and we only have them for a birthday or holiday. It has been awhile since we've had them so Chaney was excited to find out this morning what her treats would be later on today.

What a Beautiful Day!

It is so nice out today-FINALLY! I took the kids out this morning to let them burn up some energy and I went to work getting the yard cleaned up. The kids played for nearly two hours before they were ready to come inside. I have all my windows open and am enjoying the fresh air.

I was looking through some pictures I had on my computer and wanted to add these two of my kids with their cousin Brooklynn. This was about a month ago. They are settling in to enjoy the Oreo Shakes that Josh had made for them. Oreo Shakes are a big hit in our house. We probably have them way too often, but everyone loves them so much.

Have a great day! Get out and enjoy the weather if you can. It gave me more momentum to finish painting my bathroom. I have all the green painted, now just the white left and a little bit of the trim.

Windy Days

Dang that wind is horrible today! I drove over to Chadron to get some paint supplies we need to get our bathroom painted. On the way over it was so windy. On my drive back home it was really bad! I have not seen that many tumble weeds flying so high in the air, the fields full of dirt whirling around, and the semi-trucks driving with the front ends near the yellow line and the trailers almost in the ditch in a long time. I even saw two motorcylers riding their bikes with the bikes tipped halfway on their sides from the strong winds.

I wanted to get some stuff done outside today but when I woke up and heard that darn wind howling again, I knew I had to change my plans. I decided we needed to get the bathroom painted. We primed the walls and the trim on the windows and then I lost all ambition to continue. I guess I will finish it during the evenings this week or next Saturday. For some reason, when the wind blows, I feel tired and want to be lazy. SOOOO....that is just what I am going to be this afternoon...lazy.

Have a great afternoon, and Deb, we will be thinking of you during your surgery and sending prayers your way. Good luck!

Our Saturday Night

This afternoon I drove myself and the three kids to Hemingford to visit our friends. We stayed for about 45 minutes and then I went to leave to head to Alliance to meet Josh for our supper at the Legion Club. I was shocked when Carter told me he wanted to come along and not stay with his sisters. Carter and I went to Alliance and met Josh to eat supper. We sat with a friend of his thru work along with his family and had a great meal. They served steak, baked potatoes, salad, green beans, and corn. It was a very tasty meal! Carter had a hamburger and salad. We put our names into a few drawings being held over the evening. Josh won a Varsity Jacket and I won $20 in chamber bucks. We left before my name was drawn so we could get back to Hemingford to visit with our friends some more. We don't see them nearly as often as we would like to.

When it was time to leave, Kylah gave us her "puppy" eyes and asked if she could spend the night since Kaitlin was going to. We ended up leaving with only Carter. Grandma Dana will bring the girls home tomorrow when she heads through Hemingford on her way home from being out of town. We had a great time and now I am ready to go to bed. I don't think Carter is quite ready yet... I can hear him asking Josh to make Oreo Shakes and Josh telling him it's too late and way past our bedtimes. LOL! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Bride Wars

Tonight I got to have some fun "girl time" for a few hours. Shay and I went to Chadron to get in a good meal and to watch the movie Bride Wars, which we both wanted to see. (Josh decided from the first time he saw the previews that he would pass on seeing it...tee-hee! He claims it is a total chick-flick, which it is.) So, Shay and I planned a girls' night out and went over to the China House and ate a delicious meal and then headed to watch our movie. It was so nice to get out for a meal and to have lots of laughs. I had a great time and hope Shay did too. Thanks for the date Shay! Oh, and BTW- it is a very funny show and I really liked it.

Tomorrow is our dinner in Alliance and the way the kids are talking, Josh and I may get a night of dinner without them. All they can talk about is seeing their friends and staying at their house while we go eat. Josh and I very rarely go to dinner without them so it may be a nice evening of an actual half-quiet meal. Can't wait!

TGIF-The Weekend is Almost Here!

My week has flown by once again. It seems like yesterday was Tuesday. I cannot believe it has been nearly two weeks since I took vacation and school was starting again.

Tonight I am going to dinner and a movie with a good friend of mine. Josh didn't want to go see Bride Wars so he was more than happy to send me out the door with someone besides himself. LOL! I am anxious to get out of the house and into a restaurant and movie theatre.

Tomorrow night is the dinner and dance in Alliance for Josh's job on the railroad. He works tomorrow so I will be meeting him with the kids for supper at 5pm. Should be fun! I am not quite sure which kids will be going with us. We have friends in Hemingford where Kaitlin is going to stay and spend the night, but Carter absolutely loves our friend Mandy, so he may stay with them. I know if he does, then Kylah will probably want to stay too...Who knows, maybe Josh and I will get to go to dinner kidless. That would be nice too. :) I guess I will wait and see what tomorrow evening brings.

I hope you enjoy the weather if you live here. It is supposed to be in the 45-55 degree range through Monday so maybe some of this snow will melt and soak into the ground like we need it to. Hope you have a great weekend!

Lost Tooth Club

Kylah was very excited last night. Kaitlin pulled her first tooth out for her. She had one growing in behind it so I told Kylah she had until Friday to get it out. After the girls worked on getting it more lose for an hour last night, the time came and Kaitlin pulled it out. Kylah was ecstatic! She went running downstairs to Josh and Carter and screamed, "I am now a member of the Lost Tooth Club at school!" Then we had to do the usual routine and place that tiny tooth in a cup in the kitchen for the Tooth Fairy to find. At 6:50a.m. today, Kylah came running upstairs to see if the Tooth Fairy remembered her. She did. She found a dollar bill in her cup. She yelled, "Sweet!" and couldn't wait to get dressed to go to school to tell her teachers.

I tried to take a picture with my digital camera but something is wrong with it. I put brand new batteries in it but once I turn it on, the camera shows low battery and shuts off. How frustrating! That is also why we have no Christmas pictures for me to post. Bummer...I need to get it fixed or buy a new one.

Hope you enjoy your day! It is snowing big, white flakes right now. It is so beautiful but we all know that it makes traveling difficult. I better go get that toothless Kylah ready for school. :)

Book

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

Many of you have commented or asked if this book is at the library. I borrowed it from my mother-in-law to read so I don't know if our local library has it or not. For some reason, I cannot comment on most of your blogs. It asks for a choice of links to use and it won't let me comment under any of them. SO...I still read them, just can't comment to you. I don't know how to change it either to make it so I can add comments. Have a great day!

I Highly Recommend This To You Book Lovers

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright I just finished reading this book and highly recommend it. It is a very fast-paced story. I started it last night and had it finished by early this afternoon. It has some inspiration in it as well. I know a few of you who love to read so I thought I would share this book as an idea for you.

Weekend Over

My weekend flew by too fast...probably because I went to Rapid yesterday, went downtown last night, got groceries in Chadron today, then picked up the kids at Grandma Dana's. We actully ate roast and potatoes at Dana's before we brought the kids home and it was delicious! We came home and unloaded groceries then watched some t.v. and took a two hour nap. It was a nice and relaxing day for us. The kids played with the toys they received at Christmas and we had a day without any fighting between them for a change. It was nice! I am off to start a book that was recommended to me. I will read it and let you know what I think. Have a great Monday!

Shopping and Fun

I went to Rapid this morning with my friend Bergetta to do some serious clothes shopping for Josh and I. Our closets are full, but everything is either out-of-date, old, or just not fitting right...go figure!! We had a great time and got some girl chatting in on the way. Fortunately I was able to find a few things for us and I FINALLY found me some new tennis shoes that I had been needing since Carter was born...how desperate is that!? Well I found them, and they are super comfy and I love them!

Tonight I am headed downtown with some gal pals and a few others to have an "after holiday relaxing evening" and to have Josh join us after he gets done at the fire department. He put in 10 years there and is retiring since he works in Alliance and isn't home to make the calls like he needs to.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Toys Galore

This morning I decided to tackle Carter's room and get it totally cleaned out. His closet was so full of blankets, coats, jackets, and toys. As I was cleaning his room along with two of my daycare girls, one by one we noticed some of Carter's new toys he got for Christmas were broken in the living room. I ended up finding six broken Christmas toys total so I put a plan together.

One thing I have noticed lately is that the kids won't pick up toys like they used to. I use to say "time to pick up everyone" and within five minutes the place was clean. Not anymore. I started thinking about what changed and why so many toys were being broken when it came to mind that there were just way too many toys available. Everything would be dumped and on the floor by 9am and then pick up time would last 45+ minutes.

I put myself at a 3 year-old's level and thought...I wouldn't want to pick up this many toys. It looks like a never-ending job. One thing with kids is if the job looks too big, they often lose enthusiasm to finish something. Well, these kids were breaking toys from stepping on so many others that were all over the floor, and not being able to help it since the floor was completely covered.

I set to work getting Carter's room finished. Then I moved a big toy box in there and put his Christmas toys and his other toys in there for him to play with. Then I put an organizer that Grandma Mary gave us in the girls' room. I had hoped with the organizer the kids could put things away in the corrects places so they could see what they had to play with. That never happened. They just pulled the drawers out and spilled everything onto the floor and then didn't know which bins to put the toys in when it was time to pick everything back up.

The problem is now solved. Every toy of Carter's, Kylah's, and Kaitlin's are now in their rooms and every daycare toy except the ones I threw away (four full trash bags!) are now in two large laundry baskets.

Pick up time was only a five minute ordeal before lunch today, just like it used to be. I don't know how I didn't realize so many toys had been added the past few months to the toy area. I kind of felt bad to eliminate so many, but also knew there would be a lot less tripping over toys, and unnecessary picking up to do.

Back In Session

The girls woke up this morning, not too thrilled that school was back in session. I made them go to bed early last night because I just KNEW they would be tired from the past two weeks. Heck, I am tired and I didn't work, just played during my 12 days of vacation. We managed to get back on schedule right away and things were back into full swing. By 7:10 this morning, I had my three kids up and going and four daycare children here. I kind of pondered if the daycare kids would be shy or quiet after being gone for so long, but every one of them came in with big smiles and of course, lots of stories to tell about their holiday events. I cannot imagine it going any smoother than it did. The kids and I missed everyone. Even the dogs were greeting parents and kids at the door this morning. It was funny.

This is my eighth year of daycare and in a way, those kids become "yours" as well, so I was ready to see them all walk thru the door this morning. I don't know how I did it, but I kind of forgot the background noise they make of the constant chattering, singing, making car noises, etc. I am glad they are back and we are all ready to start a great new year together.

Vacation is almost over...

Reality is setting back in for me and my family. School is back in session tomorrow and I will be back to work as well. I took vacation December 24-January 4 to enjoy a break and some family time. We had many laughs, fun moments, and great talks.

It is so hard to believe that twelve days have passed since my last day of work. I swear time goes so much faster when you are on vacation. I am actually looking forward to daycare tomorrow. I miss seeing my group of kids walk in my door everyday and they always have such great stories to tell about their own holiday happenings while they were gone.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did over Christmas and New Year's and the time in-between. This year was a great blessing and it's nice to know our families have made it back to their homes safely. Have a great 2009!