Everybody has a story to tell

Saturday we took the kids to Duluth overnight to visit Bentleyville tour of lights!  To be honest, I didn't even know what this was until last year... never heard of it before.  But good ol' facebook had some pics and it looked like something the kids would enjoy. We didn't tell them where we were going, so it was a fun surprise for them.  We checked in to the hotel, did some swimming (we played tag in the pool and had a blast!), had some dinner, and took the shuttle bus from the hotel to Canal Park where the lights are. 

 

We missed the 7pm shuttle by a couple mins, so we had to wait for the 7:30 bus so we stood outside for the half hour waiting and met an interesting lady at the bus stop.  Shane asked her if we were in the right location for the shuttle pick-up, and she covered her face and said "I don't have any money" in some foreign accent. After an awkward pause, she began laughing, and said "just kidding, I don't know where shuttle pick up is".  After chatting a while (sometimes with an accent), she revealed that her accent is fake and she uses it to break the ice when meeting people.  Interesting.  She had recently moved to Duluth because the Lord had told her to, but she hasn't figured out why yet.  She came from Grand Forks, but resided most of her life in California.  I told her we were from St. Cloud, and she said "I've lived there too! Well... it was only for 2 weeks but I lived there".  I consider that a vacation, but I guess she lives wherever the good Lord takes her! She had never married or had children, and her parents are gone.  She has a brother that lives in Wisconsin but when she contacted him after moving to Duluth he didn't have any interest in meeting her, after not being in contact for 40 years.  She joked that she must of done something to piss him off 40 years ago.  She reminded me of Jack Dawson from Titanic... just a free spirit set out to make the best of the cards she's been dealt.  I pray her brother finds some compassion, and maybe forgiveness, and reunites someday with her.  She may have been a little coo-coo, but we all enjoyed her company & it really is interesting when you just sit back and listen to people tell their story.  I wish I would've got her name or took a pic with her, cause she really was fascinating to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labors of Love

My parents have a few traditions with just the grandkids; like a yearly summer trip to the cabin, a day at the county fair, and making blankets at Christmastime to brighten someone's day.  Last year they brought them to the children at Shriner's Hospital in the cities and this year they are delivering them to the residence of a few group homes in the St. Cloud area.  So last night, we had to cut and tie all the fleece blankets, which wasn't exactly any of the kids' idea of fun, but none of them complained too much! (Owen's not complaining in the pic, he's just on break!)  I think it's a valuable lesson to them, that not everyone gets a bazillion toys/gifts for Christmas, and to make them aware of the beauty of giving!

 

 Left to Right: Ava, Madi, Owen, Sophia, Mason

 

Mason and Cassie

 

Cassie and Franklin (the oldest and the youngest of my nieces/nephews)

Finished product

 

A couple weeks ago, my mom and sisters and I did a freezer meal making day and whipped out 78 family-sized meals in about 3 hours. We each took 12 meals home, so it's been easy for me at dinner time since I'm not that much of a cook.  I mean, I CAN cook, but I just hate the clean-up, and the prep, and the mess, and the grocery shopping.  So yeah, pretty much nothing about cooking a meal is fun to me, unless eating it counts!

 

My nieces and sister made the aprons (which are hard to read here) and they were so fitting to each of us.

From left to right: "I didn't wash my hand" -because she only has one arm.

"I'm doo trunk to cook" -umm, you get it, right?!

"Bun in the oven" -she's pregnant

"Cake Boss" -she's a master cake decorator

"Fast Food" -goes with the racing gig

"Head Chef" -because she's mom!

I'M BACK!!

So the other day I was browsing the internet during naptime and thought I'd visit this ole' blog and take a stroll through various posts.  I read, and read, and couldn't stop.  Stuff I had written, so obviously it wasn't new news to me.  But it was like a good book that I just couldn't put down. (Let's be honest though, I'm not really a book reader).  So why did I keep reading, when after the first sentence I already knew what the post was going to be about?  Because it brought back memories.  Memories of Braelyn beginning to walk and crawl brought back a feeling of pride and joy, and even the times I posted about what a little trouble maker she was is brought a smile to my face. And how Mason apparently went to bed one night as a 2 year old and woke up at age 7.  Because looking back at how sweet and little he was and how grown up he is now, brings tears to my eyes that time surely does pass, and seemingly faster when watching children grow.  So why am I back?  For that.  For us to look back on and realize that even though the days come and go, life was lived.  And sometimes big events happen in life (a new house, a new job, a newborn baby, etc.), but most of the time, life is made of a million small moments and very few big ones.  I don't want to forget them.  Feel free to follow along (or don't...doesn't really matter to me! haha!)

 

One of those Days

Hello everyone...today there will not be any pictures-sorry. I just felt like doing some typing as a form of stress relief, and figured, I could kill 2 birds with one stone by updating this.  Today I was planning my evening trip to town to run errands (making lists & figuring where I all needed to go) & on my list was: make prints of family photos.  We haven't had any professional family pics taken since Brae's been born, and finally decided to do it a few weeks ago.  In an effort to save money (which still seemed to have costed more than I anticipated), I opted for the CD package & thought I'd print some myself.  Well, of course I had the disk in my purse, and now I can't find it.  Now, I'm not blaming Brae yet, but if I set my purse anywhere she can reach it, it's always dumped out & when I pick it all up I just make sure I still have my liscense and check card.  Of course, I should know by now to keep it out of reach, but it's just habit to set it in the entryway & start my car to warm up while we put shoes on & stuff.  Well, to make a long story short, I spent half the morning looking for it & ended up with freezing hands from standing outside digging through bags of trash, toys spilled out everywhere, cause the kids dumped out the toyboxes to help me look for it, and still haven't found it.  I guess it's not that big of a deal, but just big enough to irritate me until I find it!

While digging through the trash, I found a toy & a pajama shirt, and wondered what else goes missing that I don't even notice.  A few weeks ago, we tore the house apart looking for the tv remote, and finally found it in the dumpster.  And I'd say at least she isn't putting toys in the toilet, but she does that too! I can say "at least she doesn't flush toys down the toilet"! Or at least that I know of... but I've found the wii remote among other things floating in the bowl before. I suppose it's only a stage and hopefully a short one, but some days are just more trying than others!

On a cuter note, Braelyn has been copying so many words lately.  She knows: ball, baby, cheese please (cheese peas), nummy, hello (hewwo), poppa, bu-bye, Toga (Goga), puppy, ducky, doggy, uh-oh, owie, mommy :) ,  and all her old ones: hot, daddy, Heidi & uckies.  The cutest one is "thank you", I'm not even sure how she says it, but whenever she repeats me, it's sounds so funny. And her other favorite is "HI", like to everyone we meet while in the stores, and she waves her hand and yells "Hi, Hi, Hi", and I'm not sure if she freaks people out with her persistance, but only about 1 of every 8 adults will reply back with a Hi or Hello! Kids on the other hand, get a kick out of it, and almost always reply!   And whenever she hugs me she makes this noise like "ohhh" and squeezes my neck & lays her head on my shoulder.  Of course every mom has the cutest and smartest kid, but gosh, it's just so fascinating when kids learn new things. :)  And of course if you spend any time with her, you'll think I'm lying because she hardly ever does any of this last paragraph around others! (minus the Hi) :)

Mason is still loving school & yesterday his class got to go to the gym with the older grades and watch what he called a "basketball magic show", as he described it as kids doing tricks with basketballs & bouncing 2 balls at a time & under their legs and stuff.  He thought that was pretty cool.  The teacher sent home a note one day, stating how she just loves being his teacher and he is such a wonderful boy & a good leader!  I thought she maybe handed it to the wrong kid by mistake, but the top read: To Mason & family, so there is proof that kids do act totally different when parents aren't around.  But honestly, I think for the most part, he is a great kid, I just like giving him heck about why he's such a good listener at school and not at home! 

See now that I ended on a positive note, I'm not near as bothered as I was before! :) I suppose I'll have Shane dig through the trash one more time, just in case I missed it, and from there, I'm sure it's bound to show up somewhere!

Another month gone by...

Wow...It's been over a month.  I think about updating quite often, but it requires me to get the camera & cord out of the closet and actually upload pics to the computer, so I kinda put it off.  I usually putz on the computer at naptime, and once I sit down for that peace and quiet time, I really don't feel like getting up! :) Today I must have a little extra ambition!

So, like a month ago we had the Wissota national banquet here in St. Cloud (which is super handy for us). We had a good time, but sort-of were crunched on time because Shane had shot a deer that evening before we went and he left it lay, so we had to go it because it was rather warm out.  I never knew looking for a dead deer at 1am, after a few cocktails could be so entertaining. Thanks Scott for being our sober cab!

The Midwest Mod Group (minus the champ).

 The superstock Group (minus the champ)

 

Shane and Terri

 The Guys

The Gals

 Sidenote: I really liked my dress for the banquet, but boy was my hair awful.  I'm working on the annoying, difficult, never ending easy task of growing my hair out, but it is just taking FOREVER.  I really like pics of me with short hair, and it was so fast to dry and style, but for some reason I just want to wear a stinkin pony tail! I also darkened it more to my natural color so it makes it seem to grow even slower cause you can't see the change in color at the roots! lol :)

The kids haven't been up to a whole of new things.  Mason went on his first snowmobile ride while we had that nice snowstorm a few weeks back.  And I would sure like another one like that before Christmas! :) He's still loving school (and the fact that Grandpa takes him to get a happy meal afterwards), but doesn't like to wake up in the am.  He is into cartoons alot, which is wierd because he used to hate TV (unless it was a shooting movie), and gosh, the commercials are so annoying during Christmas time.  It doesn't matter what I'm doing, or how loud our house is, about every 8 minutes, I hear him yelling "I WANT THAT! MOM, I WANT THAT!" I told him to write down everything he wants, and Santa will pick a few.  He even wants the "Slushy Magic".  And if something comes on that he doesn't want, he blames it on me....for instance, some kind of foam that you spray on showers and it changes from blue to white?? He says "mom, don't you want that? Put it on your list!"  No, son, I don't want scrubbing bubbles for Christmas!!

Braelyn had a visit to the ER one day because she was vomiting ALOT and not eating, and I called the doctor office to see if it pays to bring her in, and they said to take her to the ER.  She had fluids via IV and perked up, so we went home that night.  It was probably some viral bug, and thankfully it only lasted a day.

She just loves to be outside! She doesn't care how cold it is, she will sneak out the back door if the kids leave it cracked open; freezing cement and no shoes (or socks) and doesn't bother her a bit.  Drives me nuts that she won't leave a hat & mittens on (or leave her ponytail in, or leave her shoes on in the carseat, and that she opens drawers and sits in them, and won't go in her carseat without a fight (like a wrestling match type fight) or that she still won't sleep through the night, and that she STILL finds entertainment in digging in toilets, and that she sat on my printer and broke it, and takes my jewelry and loses it), but otherwise she is just as sweet as can be!! :)

Shane did some rifle hunting and is now muzzle loading, and has got 2 doe so far.  Mason hasn't been interested in going with this year, but he likes to go shining if Brae & I go with. I'm hoping him or his dad get at least one more deer so that we can have some more venison for sausage and jerky!

I'd say have a good week, but I'm gonna say "Have a good MONTH, just so that way I"ll have ya covered til next time!! :)

October Recap

For some reason I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately, nor has there been a whole lot going on to write about.  The month of October was spent finishing up the 2011 race season, turning the big "30" for me, turning the big "1" for Brae, a small 4-wheeling trip, halloween, and house cleaning. 

We put our house up for sale two weeks ago (with mixed emotions on if we really want to leave this place or not).  But we found 8.5 acres not far from here and we have needed more land (room for all our crap/toys) for years. The house needs some remodeling, but we love the location/land and it's potential! If our house doesn't sell, we will look at tearing down our garage and building a decent shop (and continue to store stuff at my dads and Shane's grandpas :).  We go back and forth on what the best decision is, but truth is, we will be happy wherever we are!

 We celebrated Braelyn's birthday this past weekend.  She got lots of nice gifts, and by the looks of it, enjoyed her cake!  And oddly, the Vikings won so that made it an even better day for those who continued to watch them after all those losses! 

 We got her a little 4-wheeler for birthday and she knows how to run the throttle, but has no clue how the steering works. So when she crashes into a wall, she keeps it pinned while the tires spin.  Soon she'll be riding with the big boys!

And for Halloween Mason wanted to be a cop (in the worst way), so we forced Brae to be the little Jailbird! Halloween always seems like such a fun and festive ocassion, but this year was pure stress (for Shane and I).  Braelyn whined every time we buckled her up, my shoe broke at the 2nd stop so I went barefoot (yes I was wearing flip flops because it was warm out!), and Mason never wanted to leave the houses when it was time to get going.  We only went to 6 houses, but I was exhausted at the end of the night.  And now we have a crap ton of candy (stuff that the kids got and leftovers from what I set outside for kids who came to our house) that I don't know what to do with.  Shane says "duh, eat it!" Well, Mason's teeth don't need it, nor does it need to sit there and tempt me everytime I walk by the bowl.  And the moms of the daycare kids probably don't appreciate their kids coming home with sugar highs! So if you missed trick or treating, you can come to our house, or it's going in the garbage.

Braelyn likes to grab things out of the fridge when I have it open, and this is how she eats the oranges! If I try to peel it she screams, and she sure is proving that girls are so much more whinier than boys.  But thankfully she's too cute to even care!! :)

Time to Catch Up

Sorry It's been a few weeks since I last wrote...just busy I guess.  The weeks seem short (but the day drags on), and the weekends are even shorter.  Lately my "to-do" list has looked much the same: grocery shop for the weekend, cook & pack for the weekend, go racing, come home, clean out hauler, do laundry...repeat the same for the following weekend.  This week, I added "update blog" so it actually gets done! I am such a "lists" person.  I used to keep a notepad on the counter, and have a list of jobs for each day.  Then when I had too much crossed off it started to look messy, so I'd re-write a new (cleaner looking) one. But then I felt unproductive that day cause I couldn't see all that I had done.  I ditched the notepad and got a whiteboard for the fridge.  Daily chores on one side and extras for this week on the other. Works great!

Ok, so now I'm sure you're thinking "I don't really care about your list obsession, get on with it".... but it got me to update this, and I'm sure you care about that or you wouldn't have read this far. :) Lol!

2 weeks ago we raced at Willmar for their fall festival and final race of the year. I know he won both nights with the superstock, and won 1 of the nights with the B-mod, but the rest I can't remember (must not have been too impressive).  I do remember everyone laughing after Shane raced his A-mod, cause he got out of his car and walked around the front and saw this....

 Look closely and you will see a wrench that rode there the whole race!  DJ must have thought he didn't get enough grief for leaving the fuel cap off! LOL :) I suppose after all his endless help, he's entitled to a few mistakes every now and again! :)

This past weekend we headed up to Good Ole' Bemidji for their final race of 2011.  There's something about the track that you just have to experience for yourself.  Though I wasn't too impressed with the place, I will give props to the pay.  It was below average (compared to other tracks we race) for the first place position, but the pay from 2nd on down, I was quite surprised with.  Compared to the previous weekend, Shane took home almost double from Bemidji, with similar finishes.  

Mason started school a few weeks back, and has really adjusted well and loves it! He cried at first because he didn't want me to leave, nor does he like waking up at 8am, but now he runs right in!  They emphasize on social & life skills rather than so much academic (which will be overwhelming come kindergarten anyway...so I appreciate that they let them be kids)! He really enjoys playing with his new friends and his favorite part of the day is songs and outside!

 This was the first day as I was walking out...He was sad :(

 I walked around the corner of the hall, and peeked in through the window, and he was already fine, clapping and talking to the teacher!  I could sit and watch through that window all day if I could! It's so fun watching him answer questions, wait his turn, and play with others.  He's like a different kid when I'm not around, so it's fun to be there when he thinks I'm not there!

And on the way home!

Braelyn hasn't been doing much new... She turned 11 months last week.  We never put shoes on her before, but now that she is walking, I've been putting them on her, which she's had to adjust to walking with objects on her feet. She loves dancing and hates going on walks.  I always have good intentions of going on my 3 mile route, but she's done after a half mile, so we make the 1 mile loop and head home.  A new gym opened up in Rice, so I might have to take advantage of that! It's either that, or have another baby and breast feed til I die, because I'm really missing my breast-feeding body (ear muffs, dad...Lol!)...easy weight loss and big boobs. :)  And I've lost most motivation for at-home workouts.  I need a change of pace.

That's all for now...Get out and enjoy this beautiful weather! Hopefully it sticks around for the weekend!