Me and Al

15 years ago on the Saturday before Easter, Al and I went on our first date. I paid because I wanted to feel in control. At the end, I walked him to his truck to borrow his Tim McGraw CD; I was nervous he was going to kiss me and I was playing with his windows and door locks. He did kiss me and then the door to the truck shut and his keys were locked inside with the truck running at 1 a.m.!! We had to find a hanger to get him in his truck, thankfully it worked as I lived 30 minutes from his home and spare keys. I never did give the cd back.

These pictures are so totally me and Al - circa 1995...

5th & 6th Drill Team

Emily was in the second row 1st on the left. A performance for spirit night for our school. She loved it and wants to be on drill team when she gets older!! Such a little dancer!

I am trying to run

What?? You say...running??? You??? Are you crazy???!!! Yes!! I am! But you already knew that.

A friend of mine was talking about doing this couch to 5k program she found online, and I thought I should do something like that. You must know that the thought only crossed my mind because I do feel like I need to be more heart healthy not because I wanted to actually run. Everyone always says, oh you don't need to exercise, you have 3 kids. Well, 3 kids don't really ever get my heart rate up. I couldn't race from a building to our parking spot, that's how out of shape I am/was. So I thought, Hey, wait a minute. If I do it with her, then I have a buddy to help keep me going! So I said let's do it ! And here we are at the end of week 5 of 9 weeks!


I want to call what we are doing running, but I feel so funny using those big words: you know, run and training. I don't feel like some athlete now or anything. We meet and "run" together 1/2 hour 3 times a week. We listen to a podcast that tells us when to walk and when to run. The real test will be if I can continue after we actually try a 5k and the program is over. I am trying.

I did talk to an actual runner last night; she runs 2-3 miles 3-4 times a week and mentioned what I was doing and she said, "Good for you! It's hard!" Wow, what a nice thing to hear. Even a runner thinks its hard. I don't feel so bad, now.
We're on our "weekend two day break" right now. We'll be back to running 10 minutes at a time on Friday!! Oh boy!! Wish us luck!

Another Birthday!

I can't imagine, but my big boy is 8 years old!! Wow!
As soon as we all woke up in the morning Carter wanted to open presents. I even let him open one the night before. No patience! *smile* He was good about letting Casey be there and helping...
Then Carter had 3 friends come over to play wii and eat supper and cake and then we headed to a Waterloo BlackHawks hockey game.
Everybody gathered around the Yoshi cake! Thank goodness my mother in law is so artistic and good with cakes!! Yoshi was awesome! Thanks Lucille.
The best part of the the whole party was when Carter realized that the candles were still lit even though he'd blown them out at least twice!! Hilarious! Belly laughing the whole time!! I'm lovin it!! Everyone pitched in to help Carter blow out his candles, but we eventually had to wet them to get them to go out.

Al's parents came to the hockey game with us along with Carter's friends. The BlackHawks didn't play very well, losing 3 to 1, but a fun time was had by all!!

Happy birthday big buddy! I love ya to pieces!

A Getaway

This winter has been long!!! I do believe just about everybody is tired of snow.

Anyway, Al and the kids and I decided we needed a break. A couple of weekends ago, on a whim, we got out of town. A little Getaway so to speak.

We didn't really go anywhere warmer, in fact we went north! Go figure! But it was different scenery and a hotel room with a pool!! So we pretended it was warm. Sunday a.m. we were waiting for a shoe store to open so I could get the right size of running shoes, I tried them on with the wrong socks....don't ask....

There was a park in town and some open water. I was amazed at all of the ducks!! Al and the kids stayed in the van while I snapped some shots.
We went to Cabellas and the kids thought this ice sculpture was cool.
And we got these huge beef sticks...


I didn't take any pics in the pool cuz I was swimming too!! I can't wait to play in an outdoor pool!!!

By now the snow is starting to melt!! Yea! Come on Spring! Mud and all!!!

My Family melts my heart

I work until 8 on Wednesday nights and when Al is not in the field, he and the kids spend time together.

A week ago, I came home to these sweet faces....



I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. My family melts my heart.

Don't Laugh

So my morning is always a whirlwind and yesterday was no different. I quickly threw on some clothes and headed out the door to take the kids to school. Luckily, I went back home to take care of our rabbits...(I never get up early enough to do this before school!!) Anyway, as I am filling their water I looked down and noticed my new brown boots were scuffed.Bummer!! No wait! That's not my new brown boot, that's my black boot! But I was sure I put on my brown boots today!! Wait!! I did! On my other foot!!!

Not only did I wear two different shoes, when I went inside to change them I noticed a hole in my pants!! Then when I changed to a different pair, that one had a bleach stain I didn't know was there! So I changed again and no matter how far I wriggled those down on my hips they were still an inch too highwatery for my tastes!! So I changed again and threw the other three out!!!! Not a good clothing day for me! So, I finally put on the pair of pants I wore the day before and just got out the door to work!!

But, hey, I get to go and buy a new pair of pants now....That's me seeing the glass as half full.

Happy Weekend!!!

Funny Things Kids Say

Here's just a quick note to remember one of the funny things Casey said recently.

Last Sunday in Church as Father Brunkan and the servers were processing in, Casey turns to me and says,

"Mom! Mommy! Look! God is wearing purple today!!!"

Happy Birthday Littlest One!!

Amazing to me that my littlest one is already 4!! He was just being born and then again it seems he's always been apart of us!! We opened some presents early because we weren't taking our presents to Chuck E. Cheese. Al and I picked out a bike for him but obviously he is bigger in person than I imagine him to be (go figure) and we got one too small. The size he needs we already have a nice bike of so we exchanged and he got more Geo trax which seem to be a hit for the whole family!!! He and Emily helped me decorate the cake and Carter helped Al put the bike together. Oh well. The thought was definitely there.


Here we are munching tickets at Chuck E. Cheese. I soon realized that with 4 little friends along, I could not take pictures. So thanks to Lucille and Al for grabbing my camera and snapping some shots.





Casey actually was afraid of Chuck E. but the rest of the pary was a big hit and he now tells me he wants every party at Chuck E. Cheese! Wow! I'm not so sure about that....

Emily worked really hard at making signs and name tags for his party and Carter picked out a cool nerf rocket thing that he takes everywhere!

He's pretty excited about being four and now I'm sure life is about to change.....

Hold on!!!