Pictures for you that I've been promising...

On the Roller Coaster at Elitch's



Would you call this art? This is something I see everyday on the way to school... Who leaves a ladder out long enough for it to be covered in ivy???



My Before/After shot of the fence


One of Ken's favorite areas on the way to/from school. It was supposed to have bushes to use the maze... LOL

Now it's Ken's turn at a fundraiser!

Except this time we can sell online!!! Yea...

www.abcfundraisinginc.com/store/brochures.php?sID=bro8124

Go here and start shopping!!! Please?

Schedules are getting full around here

I just got off the phone with Ken's soccer coach. Practices are Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 to 7. Games are Saturdays starting on the first Saturday of September.

So... let's see... where does that put us now...

Mondays - I have ballet at 7:15
Tuesdays - Pack meetings once a month (3rd Tuesday) don't have a clue on the den meetings yet.
Wednesday - Ken soccer practice 6pm
Thursday - Arcadia ballet 5:15pm
Friday - Ken soccer practice 6pm
Saturday - ballet for me at 9:00am and soccer game for Ken anywhere between 8 and 12noon (we get the schedule on Wednesday)

oh... and Ken is signing up for the Science club again this year (last year they did bottle rockets). This year there are four different ones throughout the year, Ken's only interested in two of the four, so that's good. First one is "Totally Toyriffic" and it starts mid September on Thursdays from 3:35 to 4:35 after school. The next one he is interested in is "Kitchen Chemistry" in February. I just have to turn in the paperwork.

Big Boy

My little guy can ride a two wheeled bike now... okay... so not that well, but a LOT better than I did at his age (seeing how I still had training wheels until I was um... in 4th grade, but I digress and shhh... I hear you laughing!).

Now that I have talked to the Weight Management group...

They gave me lots of options...

1) they have an online program (which I just finished signing up with and printed out my Daily Food and Beverage Diary. Exciting, I know.

2) They have discounts with Weight Watchers... so I can try that out if I want

3) I can pay $75 for a consultation with a dietician. Hmm... not sure about that one

4) I could get a prescription for Optifast... I'm not even sure what that is... hmm... I should look that up, huh? ~~~~~ okay... I looked it up... it's basically shakes, etc.

or 5) surgery... I'm not quite sure about that one, think I'll leave that as an absolutely last resort!

Well... tomorrow will be day one! Wish me luck! I have to work out a minimum of 30 minutes a day... no more than 2000 calories and no more than 67 grams of fat per day. I have to keep a Daily food and beverage diary that lists the calories and fat that I've had during the day and report that every day on my doctor's website.

Here goes nothing!

Diets and whatnot

If you truly know me, you know that I have fought with my weight for a long time. Different diets, different exercise routines, etc... Well, I had my annual physical yesterday and I took the first step in talking to my doctor about Weight Management. My insurance company has a Weight Management program with counselors, doctors, dieticians, etc. I've already contacted them and am waiting for them to call me back. This is the first step for me and it's a biggie, but I can do it! :)

The Article

Guy was quoted by our local paper (I know, I know... no big feat seeing that he 1. used to write stories for it and 2. our town is a mite small, but still...)

I was looking for a copy of it on line to show y'all, but nothing no where... So... I may have to scan it... hmm... or type it up... hmmm..... We'll see which one I'm actually up to later on today.

The fence

Well, I did all the staining I could do today. Who knew it would take an entire gallon to just cover one side of one part of the fence. I'm going to go buy more tomorrow. Yuck. I am now cover in speckles of red oak stain. How nice huh? A friend of mine said it looked like blood. Lovely... I am definately showering before bed...

I took pictures also... kind of before and after... but not really... LOL I'll post them once I find my lovely little adapter.

Off to make dinner now.

What I did today...

Well, today started out, um... well, early. We received a phone call from a client at 6:10 am. Man, what a brusk way to start the day, but at least it was early enough that the problem was easily solved with minimum downtown to the store. And yes, it was a call that required someone to go Onsite, so off went Guy with his workout clothes on and a baseball cap and he ran out the door.

Things calmed down so I walked the kids to school and walked back. Made a phone call to our phone vendor to get them to help me with setting up our voicemail system (not an easy task, I'll tell ya)... That took an hour in itself.

Did some troubleshooting calls, did some laundry, etc... oh, the joys of working from home...

Then I took the hose and started "power washing" to the best of my ability with a hose and spray nosel the fence. It really, really needed it... and tomorrow... I get to stain the portion of the fence that I got washed. Oh boy... I know you really want to join me, right? ah come on... you do!!! I can tell!!!

Well... off to tuck the little ones in for the night and get ready for another day.

Soccermom

I am officially a "Soccermom". We signed Ken up for soccer... sure it's only through the rec center and sure they have cheesy t-shirts for their uniform, but hey... he's now in soccer! He starts on September 6th and has games every Saturday until October 10th. I don't know what times or when and where the practices are... the coaches have yet to meet to decide... but I am assured his spot in Soccer... I have the receipt and everything... now I just have to go buy shinguards... do they even make them that small?

This past weekend

Well... let's see... what did we do this weekend you ask... well...

Saturday I had my ballet class and then I came home and rushed to get ready to go to lunch with Guy's Uncle Walt and Aunt Jean and our cousins Kevin and Marybeth at CB&Potts over by Flatiron Mall. Truthfully... the salad was good, the company was good, but the service stank. Poor Arcadia... she only order Mac and Cheese and hers was the last to show up at the table at least a good 10 minutes wait after we were all served. Ken's hotdog was a little burned. Ugh... we only made him eat half of it.



We then came back home and I did some cleaning and some other stuff and then my friend showed up and we went to Bunco at another friend's house. Lots of fun!!!! I even won "Most Losses". Got my $5 and another $5! Woot... First time I've won in over a year! :) I told Guy that and he said... Only in a Woman's game do you get rewarded for being last... I said... "Yep, and I won". LOL



Sunday we had to go to one of our client sites. Thing about IT... you are always working (especially a self employed person). So... went there and the kids had a blast running back and forth with Daddy and then they ended up in the car with me and watched SpongeBob on my phone (Thank goodness for Sprint TV).



Then we went over to Elitch's (I have pictures, but I can't find the right cable to get them off my camera). First we hit the Merry Go Round, then we went to the kiddie roller coaster. Arcadia actually went around ALL THREE TIMES!!! Yeah! (they stop after each circuit to let off any kid that might be too scared). Then we caught the Dog Show. Arcadia liked watching all the doggie's do tricks with frisbees and the weave polls. Then we hit the Tilt-a-Whirl (Arcadia's absolute favorite ride) and then Guy took Ken on the Eric the Red boat (I know it has another name, but I don't remember it right now). Then Ken and I went on the Troica and then went home. Whoo... it turned out to be a very long day.

Oh and that morning I met with the other Andrea and her kids - Jack and Delaney - and we made the final arrangements for car pooling! That started this morning!!!! She dropped off Delaney, picked up Arcadia and headed on over to the school. She didn't believe me when I told her that Arcadia was a social butterfly until Arcadia started telling her Knock Knock jokes and talking to Jack and all. Delaney had a little more issues, but her tears stopped about half way down the block when we were laughing at Ken's antics on the way to school. I pick them both up in about 3 hours and then we have snacks and homework (if any) or play (if no homework) until the next switch. I think this just might work!!! :)

That just wasn't enough photos...

So here are more...

Phabulous Photo Phriday

Oh... I do have to show this picture now though...

This is my Father-In-Law and his prize catch. That's a Walleye (I do believe) and it's the biggest fish that he's ever caught. I personally don't know what's bigger, the fish or his smile.

Picture Time and catch up time

Okay, so I haven't updated like I said I would... Well, let's see, Arcadia has been loving her time in her school. I'm sure we'll have NO issues with her going 8:15 to 4:15 next week. Ahh... the sweet sounds of silence, though she is pretty good when she's home anyways. And Ken is LOVING and I mean LOVING school! He loves having his own desk and his own cubby, etc. It's so cute. Tomorrow his class is having a "Teddy Bear Picnic" so he's taking in his little spotted dalmation puppy he won at Elitches (I can't get him to let go of it at all... LOL)

Now for pictures! (okay.. it's only one picture, I'm too tired to post anymore right now... I'll save that for Photo Phriday)

First Day of School...

It's nice and quiet here... Both kids have started school today. Sigh... It's so nice to hear NOTHING... but it's only going to last until 11:15 when I have to pick up Arcadia. She's in their "Phase In" days so the new kids learn the routines of going to a new school. I'll post pictures later on today, but in the mean while... enjoy the silence of no siblings fighting... no yelling at the XBox, no yelling "Mom, I'm hungry" "Mom, I'm bored". Etc.

Oh... and Ken LOVED the Cub Scout Pack meeting last night. He can't wait to go to another one (but that doesn't happen until September). No den meetings until after the September pack meeting, because right now, Ken is the only Tiger scout. But I have people that might be interested in getting their kids involved... so I'm roping them and their boys into coming to the next meeting with me... muahahaha

Meet the Teacher Day

Okay... well... we made it through todays grueling ordeal. I mean WOW! Didn't remember last year being so... well... um... hard... LOL

We arrived at the school and went to find Ken's class. Luckily he knew about where the 1st grade classrooms were because lo and behold I sure didn't know. We found his new teacher Mrs. Brackel and went on in to the room. She had it all set up nicely, now Ken's going to have to learn to sit in his seat at his own desk... wow, what a change that will be, huh?

Anyways... we went in to the classroom, looked around, waved hello to a friend we knew from last year and found our desk with our name on it. We put our stuff down and then started loading his pencil box with pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, eraser and scissors (I hope that was right, eh... we'll find out). Then I sent Ken on a mission to find his cubby, he found it instantly. The teacher then was able to come over and talk to us. She showed Ken his hook for hanging up his backpack, the star student of the week and what that entails, what to do when he arrives to let his teacher know whether he's having hot lunch or cold lunch for the day. Then we went through all the little things, like celebrations for losing a tooth, etc. Let's hope that he does so he can celebrate also. We put all our supplies away, then went out, bought him three new uniform shirts (new logo starting this year... it's really cool), got our Infinite Campus information (a way to log in and find out how he's doing directly from the teachers) and some information about Cub Scouts and PTO.

The Cub Scouts meet tonight at 6:30... so I guess I better get dinner started so that we can attend the family pack night to learn about scouting and see if Ken will enjoy it. Let's hope so!!!

Going Green and fundraising ideas

Okay... one more thing before I sign off for the night. My daughter's school is trying to come up with ways they can go green at their school. They use a lot of paper goods at this time because they have neither a dishwasher/sterilizer or a washing machine. Now the washing machine/dryer can be taken care of by a parent volunteer, but what about dishes? ughh... who knows... We'll have to come up with some ideas.



Oh... and they're looking for new fundraising ideas to try (besides the lovely plethora of things you see here).

So I'm looking for ideas, suggestions for anything and everything that may spring to mind... so if you're reading this and you have an idea... please, please comment and let me know what you come up with!

Dentist, school, and more school

Okay... this is the BIG week with school starting for both my kids. So, getting all the stuff done that needs to be done... dental appointments for the kiddos... done and done. One cavity between the both of them, not too bad if I do say so myself, and I do. I have to remember to get their new toothbrushes out of my purse before bed time. The dentist did have good news for me though. He (well, actually his assistant told me) that Ken's teeth were progressing normally and that we should start seeing loose teeth within the next 6 months. Keep your fingers crossed! We don't want him to go through what Daddy went through... (had all his baby teeth pulled, yuck). AND they were both EXCITED to go to the dentist. I don't ever remember being excited to go to the dentist... I still dread it (even though my dentist is super cute, right Mom?).

Then after the dentist (who was running 15 minutes late) we ran to Ken's school to get my Volunteer/Visitor badge picture. Now it's not required, but it is a nice thing to have as to not have to wear the stupid little visitor sticker labels all the time.

Then... tonight... we went to Arcadia's Back to School orientation. Wow... Let me say that this was an information packed orientation and that I already have my first fundraiser to do for her school... talk about starting early, huh? This fund raiser has a little bit of everything! Geez... let's see... Zap Snak Pizza, Gourmet Cheesecakes, Cinn-Fully Delicious Cinnamon Rolls, Churros, Chocolate Eclairs, Gourmet Coffee, Cocoa, Fudge, Funnel Cakes, Pumpkin Rolls, Soft Pretzels, Pretzel Dogs, Gourmet Popcorn, Cookie Dough, Braided Strudel & of course... magazines... so... if anyone is hungry... let me know... I'm taking orders and I will deliver/ship to where ever, but I only take cash, check, or paypal... ;) and I'm not kidding either. :) I want to get the $1 for each item sold to stick in my daughter's savings account! That's too cool... :)

Now for the part I'm truly dreading... the first day... Don't get me wrong, I want them both to go, they are driving me batty and they need to socialize OUTSIDE OF THIS HOUSE with people OTHER THAN ME! But... Ughh... I don't know how I'm going to do this, but it shall be done! It has to be Done! Both start on Wednesday at the same time on opposite sides of the city (okay... so that means 10 minutes with traffic, but still... it's a big deal) and both have drop off time at EXACTLY THE SAME TIMES!!! AAAGGGHHHHH!!! At least I ran into a friend at the school that has a son going to my son's school and another son going to my daughter's school AND she lives in my neighborhood (or at least within the area) so we can carpool!!!! Yeah!!!! Sweet!!!! at least we'll see.

Now for tomorrow... we have our first pack meeting for Ken to see if he'll like Boy Scouts. We'll shall see.

Artistic

I've been reading a bunch of different blogs and came to find that a lot of them have been doing Wordle word art.... Here's mine... :) I think it looks rather cool! :)

Our Trip (and all our excitement)

Now... I have to say that this was a very interesting trip to Minnesota this time around. First we got there on Thursday the 24th. Nothing out of the ordinary... Guy showed his folks how to use the On-Demand that came with their cable and they were excited to see that they could pull up movies at any time... We also went to a picnic that night in the main park. It was hot, sticky, humid... now I remember why I moved to Colorado... Had the same type of weather

Friday, Guy and Grandpa K took the kids fishing so Grandma J and I went walking around downtown Montevideo. Went shopping at the discount stores and had lunch at a nice place called Valentino's, very nice. :)

We were going to go to the Reunion that night, but we were all tired, we didn't really want to go to the hot spot, etc (just toooo hot and it was outdoors).

Saturday we spent in Milan. We were able to go into the school (my first time in 10 years!). Beautiful building, but what I wish that it could be used! It's sad to see only five rooms out of so many being used. Beautiful wood floors in the main building.

We played outside on the old swingset that Guy played on all his school time. We forgot to take our camera on the playground, but had fun just the same.

We all then went into town and went to "Billy's Maple Tree" - a nice shop with a bunch creations from local artists, etc. Always fun to go into. Then had lunch at the "MORE Cafe". We then went back to the school building and played in the gym for a while (We got the key from Ann Thompson at Billy's). Guy found some old books in a closet in the gym and found one of his science books (of course, we took it... ;)) Then back to the house for a nap and to get ready for Guy's reunion that night. Those pictures are still on Guy's camera... will post them when I get them off the camera. It was a lot of fun, I have met a lot of these people at prior reunions and it was nice to see them all. Being that Guy's from a class of 22 he knows all his class, unlike me... class of 998 (give or take) and there's no way of knowing if I do show up to one of mine if I'd know anyone. Doubt I'll ever go...

Sunday Guy went to Canada with his Dad, Brother, Uncle, Cousin, and three family friends (men of course) to go fishing at Lake of the Woods. They all had fun and it was a good bonding trip... I didn't go, so I won't be saying too much more...

I was sick with a stomach bug on Sunday so needless to say, I didn't do a whole lot that took me away from a bathroom. Monday, I felt a bit better and we went to the big park with great playground and then had the cousins come over to play...

Tuesday we went to the cousins house... sorry no pictures... just wasn't in the mood. Ken stayed overnight there.

Wednesday, we went to the pool with the cousins. The kids had a blast.

Then came Thursday... We were woken up to lightning and thunder... then hail... then major winds... then a loud crack (I thought it was thunder). Looked outside... saw that the winds were pretty bad... like tornado bad... so we all went down to the basement... lights went out at that same time.

Came upstairs about 30 minutes later (this was about 7:00 am) and listened to the weather radio. Lights still out, etc. We all went outside and found this:

This is where we (meaning Guy and myself) usually park our car when we're visiting. Thank goodness I had parked in the garage since the guys were gone.

There were branches everywhere all over the sidewalk and driveway so we picked up the rakes and brooms and went to work so that the guys could drive up the driveway that night when they got home.

This was Ken's favorite spot to sit... Glad he was in bed instead.

There was a pool there we had dumped it out to clear it out of branches and leaves.

The following are pictures of spots all over town. It was quite interesting to see the devistation that wind could do... no this was NOT a tornado... The weather channel calls them Gust-nados... I would have to agree with that term.

But the kids were not any worse for wear... :)