Sleepover Fun

We have Olivia for the weekend. We love having her over. We had lots of fun today. We went to my parents' farm so she could collect eggs and play with my mom. That was lots of fun as it always is.

Tonight she wanted nachos for dinner. Here she is being a goof ball eating her rice...

And, can I just tell you that this kid LOVES black olives?!!! Here she is reaching in for a handful...

She loves eating them off her fingers. I swear she probably ate a couple of dozen olives herself. She has always loved them.

After dinner, we went to the basement while MJ finished a special project for Olivia, and she decided she wanted to make a special treat for Mom and Mama. Here she is helping me sew little cushions for them.

And, here's the final product!

Here is the special surprise from MJ. Homemade princess pajamas! There is also a matching pillow.

We are having lots of fun and can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Cards

One of the crafty things we like to do is make cards. We love to do it with my mom too. When we make cards, we crank out 100 or so at a time. It is so fun to be able to give a hand made card to someone. It makes it so much more personal. I thought I would show off a few of the different cards we have made.

Enjoy...

Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands...

We haven't updated on out TTC plans lately, so here is the long awaited information. February marks three years since we started this heart breaking TTC journey. Three years is a long time. A lot of months of heart break, many months of waiting. Different meds, different protocols, etc. It is a time of extreme highs and lows, and it really takes its toll on you.

In a few weeks we will try again - mid February ish. I am about halfway through my current cycle. So, when af comes to visit again, I will go for cycle day 2 blood work and ultrasound. Then comes the daily shot of Follistim and blood work and ultrasound appointments. My guess is that we will inseminate the beginning of March. We have decided that we will try three more times and that will probably be it.

So, last night we were talking about what our ultimate goal was. As much as we want a baby, really our ultimate goal is to have a family. There is only so much we can control in the TTC process. We can take the meds, monitor my ovaries, etc, but when it comes down to it, we can't MAKE the sperm and egg meet and implant. So, last night we sent for information about becoming Foster Parents. There are so many kids out there who need a loving and stable home and we can provide that for them.

I have a renewed excitement at this new way that we may begin our family. We'll keep you posted.

SNOW DAY!

Well, today is snow day number four. I am like a kid at Christmas when it comes to snow days. I get so excited!!! I woke up on and off from 4:30 - 5:45 this morning waiting for the Instant Alert system to call and tell me that there was no school. The phone never rang - until 6:20, 6:40, and 7:00. Can we say a glitch in the system? When a snow day comes, we have to make the day up in June, but really, I don't care - it is so worth having a "surprise" day off today.

We are slated to get a foot or more of snow today with a nice crusty layer of sleet on top. So, we'll be out to snowblow again this afternoon maybe twice. So, we're catching up to DVR'd TV, we'll probably play some Wii, and whatever else comes along for the day.

A friend from college said it best: "Snow Days are like adding extra days to your life." You get a bonus day to do all the things you want to instead of what you have to!

HAPPY SNOW DAY!

Proud to be an American

I haven't had a chance to say this on the blog yet, but WELCOME PRESIDENT OBAMA! I am so excited for the new administration and am so proud to be an American! I am excited to be a part of the change that is sweeping the nation. I was proud to be a part of watching the inauguration live with the third graders at school on Tuesday. It was wonderful to watch history unfold in front of our eyes.

Enjoy this video of the new song "America" recorded by a variety of artists. It poignantly shows the events of the past week. Enjoy!!

Zeus...1999 - 2009

Furry friends are just the best. They are such a part of our family. The picture above is of Zeus. He was an amazing dog. He was such a protector, a constant companion. Zeus did no wrong - honestly - he was the perfect dog. I just found out from my dad that my mom and brother are on their way home from the vet and they just had him put down. That just sucks - no 2 ways about it.

We weep for our furry friends as we would for our own children. I wish mom, dad, and Alan peace and comfort in knowing that Zeus isn't suffering anymore. He will be dearly missed, but we will all meet him and his brother Zeke in heaven one day for sure!

Quilt Block of the Month

For 2009 we have joined two clubs. One is a scrapbooking club and the other is a quilting club.

For the Quilt Block Club, you are given the materials and directions to make one 12 inch quilt block per month. At the end of the year you can put all the blocks together to make a quilt. You can also use them to make tab curtains, table runners, or anything else. You pay five bucks to join and as long as you bring your completed quilt square back each month, you get the next kit free. If you don't make it, you just pay the $5 to rejoin.

There are two different patterns that you can choose from. I am doing both and MJ is doing just one of them. Here are the two fabric patterns for January.

All the pieces cut and laid out to be pieced together.

Here is MJ working hard putting hers together.

And.....here are our finished blocks - mine are the top two and the bottom one is MJ's.

We are really happy with how they turned out. We are looking forward to going back on the first Saturday in February to get our new kits.

I'll save the scrapbook kits for another post when we get something done with them.

Our New Toy

We went out and bought ourselves a new toy this weekend. What started out as a trip to see Marley and Me in the theater ended in a trip to Best Buy. You see, in our neck of the woods - it has been FREEZING COLD!!!! I guess everyone had the fabulous idea to go to the movies on the freezing cold day. So, when MJ tried to buy tickets as I searched for a parking place, we were sadly disappointed to find out that the tickets were sold out.



We needed something else to do, so why not keep warm inside of Best Buy. We ended up coming home with a 47 inch flat screen TV. WE LOVE IT!!! We immediately came home and played Mario Kart on it which was awesome.

All day Sunday we rewatched Season Five of The L Word in anticipation of the Season Premiere of Season Six on Sunday night. We watched a little football too. It is amazing how life-like everything is on a screen that big!

Here is Gus admiring our new toy...

Ode to the Furry Kids

So, we love our furry kids just as much as we would love our own kids. Over the last few days we have managed to get a few cute pics of them, so I thought we would share them. The first is a video of the one and only Sadie Jane Pea Brain.... She absolutely loves the snow as you can see here!

Here are a couple more pics of the kids in the snow yesterday. We got 13 inches!!!! You can see Willy and Gus were trying to get out off of the deck and it was quite deep.

And here is another one of cute Sadie Jane in the snow...

Yesterday, Sadie and Gus were being too cute snuggling together. Who says dogs and cats can't get along? This picture is proof that they can...

And, finally, here is a cute one of Max sleeping the other night...

100th POST!

We have made it to our 100th Post!!!! In honor of the 100th blog post, here is a look back at 2008 in pictures. Enjoy!

New Wii Games

So, we moved the living room around on Friday night so that we would have more room to play Wii! We got two new games last week. Mario Kart and Jillian Michaels 2009 Fitness Ultimatum. We LOVE both of them. The Jillian Michaels really kicks your butt! You string together five different activities like cannon loading, rowing, monkey bars, and boxing. It is fun and great exercise all at the same time.

On Friday, Laura, Sue, and Olivia are coming over so that we can finally do Christmas. Then Olivia will stay with us until Sunday. Her moms have to work, so she'll hang with us and have fun. Sunday night is the much awaited premeire of The L Word - one of our favorite show. We have a three day weekend to boot!!

Other than that, nothing exciting going on around here!

Snowblower Etiquette

So, as I look out at the beautiful winter wonderland we woke up to again this morning, I have a couple of thoughts. There should be rules regarding snow blowers and how you use them. The GOLDEN RULE of snowblowing should be: "Thou shalt not blow the snow from your driveway into my driveway." Furthermore, "Thou shalt not blow the snow from your driveway into the road in front of my driveway." And finally, "Driving your truck up and down the driveway repeatedly does not constitute snow blowing."

Now these seem to be easy rules, but my neighbor must know nothing about them. You would think that a lot of this is just common sense, but I often forget that there are a lot of people in this world who have very little common sense.

And in other news - What was up with Carolina last night???? Did they even show up for the game??? In an earlier blog post I talked about our football pool at work. I am currently tied for FIRST PLACE and MJ is in third, just 2 measely points out of first. The playoff games this week are worth 4 points apiece. So, there are 16 points at stake with only 4 chances to get those points. We were so excited because we both went out on a limb and went with Baltimore yesterday instead of Tennessee. Well, we scored in that game - and EVERYONE figured that Carolina would spank Arizona. That would mean 2 for 2 going into today. But NO, Carolina got blown away. We'll see what happens today - we both picked NY and Pittsburgh to win the two games this afternoon. I would really like to get 12 points this week.

I'm an Outlaw!

So, I had the pleasure of making friends with the men in blue today as we were headed off on a day of shopping. I got stopped "not because of speed, but the amount of snow on your roof ma'am." Yup, had too much snow on my roof, and it is a safetyway issue. The guy was great though and just said that there have been a lot of calls, accidents, etc relating to huge chunks of ice and snow flying off of vehicles.

The best part of the whole thing though was that there was a large amount of confusion regarding my plates. I have vanity plates and apparently my car registration has the letter "O" and the plates are printed with the number 0 (zero). So there was all this hulabaloo and they had to check to see if it was a stolen vehicle, etc. When he came back to the car, he apologized that it took so long and explained the whole story. Then he says, "I told them you didn't look like a criminal or anything." Thanks, buddy! Glad I don't have the criminal look! Anyways, he was super nice and we cleaned off the top of the car - the problem is that it is really tall. After our little "layover" we were off to do some shopping.

We had gift certificates from Christmas so we went to spend them! I ordered a new pair of shoes (my feet are big and they never have my size), we bought a new rug for the living room, and lots more. It was a great day, and the dogs spent the day at my parents so they could run and play. Now, we are expecting another 6 inches of snow tonight - yipee!!!

2008 In Review

OK, so this is floating around on some of my Internet friends' blogs, so I had to jump on the band wagon. Here are a few of our thoughts regarding 2008. We both answered to make it a bit more interesting!


1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Carrie: Went parasailing and swam with dolphins.
MJ: Went on a cruise and swam with dolphins.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Carrie: No, I didn’t keep 2008 resolutions, and I will definitely try to be better about it this year.
MJ: I don’t remember even making any and yes, I hope to make some for 2009.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Both: No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Both: Thankfully, NO!

5. What places did you visit?
Both: Key West, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; Cape Cod, MA; Waterville, MN; Canon City, CO; Walt Disney World

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Both: A healthier life and a baby

7. What day from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Both: Election Day – all of the hullabaloo was finally over!

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?

Both: good question!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Both: We don’t like to look at anything as a failure, but as an experience to learn and grow from

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Carrie: None
MJ: had surgery in May to remove ovary

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Carrie: Tickets for a cruise
MJ: iPod touch

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Both: Monique for putting the past behind and enjoying our motel trip at Christmas

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Both: no one

14. Where did most of your money go?

Carrie: up the whoo haa
MJ: up Carrie’s whoo haa

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Carrie: Our cruise and getting a Wii for my birthday
MJ: Our cruise and Disney

16. What songs will always remind you of 2008?
Carrie: Can't think of any
MJ: Julie, Julie, Julie do you love me?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?
Carrie: Happier, fatter, poorer
MJ: Happier, Fatter, poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Carrie: exercise
MJ: save money

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2008?

Both: We spent time the Sunday before with Carrie’s family and then we flew to MN to spend the holiday with MJ’s family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Both: over and over again!

22. What are your three favorite photos of 2008?

Both: too many to list

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Carrie: Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Survivor, Amazing Race
MJ: Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, ER

24. What did you do for your birthday in 2008?
Carrie: I had a birthday weekend that included dinner out, a seafood boil with my parents, and I got a Wii!!!
MJ: Opened presents at home – I even had to make my own dinner and cake!

25. What was the best book you read?

Both: Too many to list

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Both: We’re kind of boring in that department!

27. What did you want and get?

Carrie: a Wii
MJ: I don’t know

28. What did you want and not get?

Both: a positive pregnancy test

29. What was your favorite film this year?

Carrie: Bucket List
MJ: Nights in Rodanthe

30. Did you make some new friends this year?

Carrie: Yes
MJ: Yes

31.What is one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Carrie: Getting pregnant and saving more money
MJ: To have all the money thrown up Carrie’s whoo haa pay off.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Carrie: Anything that fit and was comfortable
MJ: Khakis and a sweater

33. What kept you sane?

Carrie: MJ and support of family and friends
MJ: my honey

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Both: Prop 8, The election

35. Who did you miss?

Carrie: no one
MJ: My Dad.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Carrie: Can't think
MJ: Who Knows???

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Carrie: Move on from disappointments – they are merely a bump in the road of life.
MJ: Be thankful for what you have

Hair Coloring Adventures

Annette - our sister - in - law is a hair dresser. She owns her own salon in Colorado. So, when she comes home, she is often hit up for new hair do's. She cut Ben and Alex's hair on Christmas Day, and was going to Highlight her sister's hair a few days later. We so nicely asked if she would highlight our hair as well. Of course, she said yes and we finally got to doing it on New Year's Day.

Now, there is always comedy involved as we have to do the hair coloring in the kitchen of MJ's mom's house. Hair dos always involve drinking wine too! Here we are with our hair all pulled through the cap and ready to be colored!

There is no heat dryer in the kitchen like there is in a salon, so we had to improvise with a hair dryer and grocery bags. Boy, did we laugh a lot while doing this!

Here is MJ having here glass of wine while Annette works away!

We loved the way our hair came out, and the price was definitely right!

We headed home on Friday, with no drama to speak of. Our flights were both early, luggage all arrived safely, and we made it home by midnight. We had a great Christmas break and it is always nice to spend time with family!

Ice Fishing Adventures

On Wednesday, the 31st, we had our Ice Fishing adventures with Jim and Keith. I have never been ice fishing, and Keith and Jim are the best two people to have take you. We were instructed to be ready to go at 5:30 AM - UUGGHH!! Jim was so proud of us when we rolled out of the driveway at 5:29! Never mind the fact that it was 8 below outside! Thankfully we were headed to a heated ice house!

We went to Keith's and then had to go to the bait shop to get bait and our fishing licenses. We were out on the lake and fishing by 6:30 in the morning! Here is Keith's house - he built it himself! It is complete with 6 holes to drop your line in, rattle reels (these are so you can drop a line in without holding it and it will "rattle" when a fish is tugging on it), and cup holders for all the beer and wine that must be consumed while fishing!

We had a lot of fun fishing and MJ's brother Scott and his family were right next door in their house, so it was like a big fishing party out on the lake. We didn't really catch a whole lot - I caught 5 little ones and MJ caught about 6 or 7 little ones, but we had lots of fun. Keith's son did pull up a 29 inch northern from one of the rattle reels. Here we are with our catches, and here is Alex holding up the northern.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Keith's house for a wonderful steak dinner. We were very tired form being up so early and being outside all day, so we were kind of lame in terms of celebrating. We were in bed and asleep by 11:00 (but it was midnight on the East Coast, so in some way, we made it to the New Year!)

Up tomorrow - hair coloring adventures

Christmas Part Two

Christmas Day was lots of fun! Scott (MJ's brother) came over with the kids - Sam, Ben, and Alex. We had a great time opening stockings and the kids had fun opening presents. MJ and I gave everyone Flarrp in their stockings. This is the best stuff because when you stick your fingers in it, it makes farting noises. I don't know who had more fun with it - the kids or the adults. We almost got it confiscated at the airport as it was over the 3 oz liquid limit, but luckily we had a great security guy who let us through. Mind you, this is not a liquid, but whatever!

Here are some pics of the kids playing with their fart putty! The second pic is of Grandma Jo (MJ's mom) looks on as the kids open presents and play. Then, Jim and Annette enjoy the festivities. Finally is a cute little video of Alex and Ben playing with the "awesome" race track that their Uncle Jim and Aunt Annette bought for them. I remember playing with one of these when I was a kid. I love the laughter you hear as they just have some good Christmas fun!

We had a wonderful breakfast of Egg bake, sausage patties, and pull apart bread - YUM! We spent a bunch of time in the afternoon playing Wii as I brought mine along. Playing Wii is always cause for a good time!

Sam and Annette playing tennis.

Scott and Jim (MJ's brothers) playing a friendly game of baseball.

On Saturday the 27th, we all went to the Best Western in Mankato for the evening. MJ's mom bought the rooms as her Christmas gift to us. We set up a couple of tables poolside and carried in the the munchies and coolers of beverages!

The kids had a great time swimming in the pool.

The adults played 6-5-4 a dice game for most of the evening and we ordered pizza to be delivered poolside. We had such a great time that we made reservations for next year already!

Coming tomorrow- Ice Fishing Adventures!

Christmas 2008 Part One

Here we go - the update that you all have been waiting for - Our Christmas adventures. I will do a series of posts over the next couple of days so as not to make this one ridiculously long!

We started Christmas 2008 with my (Carrie's) family. Alan cooked us an incredible meal as you can see from the pcitures below. We dined on an antipasto platter, bread with olive oil and balsamic vinagrette, and seafood chowder. Then we opened gifts, and after that we had the "main" meal which consisted of duck breast filled with dried cherries and goat cheese, and a scrumptious beef tenderloin.

We were supposed to fly to Minneapolis after school on Tuesday, but the weather in Chicago gave us other plans. Our flight was cancelled and we ended up flying to Dallas. Our comedy of errors only continued there when we headed to get our bags only to find out that they had been checked all the way through to Minneapolis. Any other time, this would have been just great - however, we had NOTHING with us for staying the night. Now, MJ and I are both pretty experienced travelers and we always throw an extra pair of undies, some deoderant, and a toothbrush in our carry on. In fact, we discussed doing this and both decided that since we were just going to her mom's it wasn't a big deal. If the luggage got lost, we would just run to Wal-Mart and replace the items needed. Well, we learned our lesson for sure. Luckily the hotel hooked us up with a toothbrush and some toothpaste.

We survived the ordeal and were picked up by Jim and Annete on Wednesday morning!

Tomorrow- Part 2 - Christmas Day and the trip to the hotel...