Relay for Life 2008 - The End

Mom, Kathy and I went to the final get-together for the Relay last night. I was watching Emma so we took her with. She was really good but she's at that stage where she wants to get down and run (crawl).

I like going. We do several fun things and it puts a final touch on the event.

We do things like:

• Find out the total amount collected.

• Eat Pizza.

• Draw for Prizes.

• Eat goodies.

• Bring food for the food shelf.

Did I mention the pizza? Yumm.

I won a prize again this year. If you remember the previous post I wrote about the Relay, I won a chance to pick any spot our team wanted. It was a great prize. This year it went to the woman who Kathy and I gave a hard time to. Humm.

Anyway, I won a Caribou Coffee coupon. I get a free coffee every month for a year.

I know there is a least four of you that are thinking - Yeah! Coffee!

Ya, I don't drink coffee.

Never have - Never will.

At least it was better than Kathy's prize - a coffee cup and a stick of some sort. And mom didn't win anything. Well, there was the eating of the pizza. Emma loved it almost as much as I did. And her mom showed up so I got out of feeding her messy pizza. But I helped - I made sure she had some goodies. Sugar is great for an 11 month old baby.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this wonderful prize that I can't/won't use.

Humm, I wonder if I know of anyone that likes Caribou Coffee?

a visit from "little man"

Guess who came to visit?


My little man Timothy.

When I saw Tony and Timothy for that 45 seconds yesterday I pretty much begged Tony to bring the baby by so that we could have some time with him. I may have said something to the effect of "I'll do anything.....".

That one might come back to bite me in the butt.

Luckily for us, Tony had tonight off and he was able to bring Timothy over for a couple hours. I understand that it is hard for Tony to bring him over - he works nights, we work days. We go to the lake every weekend, he works six days a week.

Anyway, it was a wonderful visit. I called Great Grandma and she came over right away to see him. He has grown a lot in the last month. He just turned 5 months on the 13th of August and he is just a little over 15 pounds. And is he long!! He has long legs, toes, fingers, arms and huge feet. GGma couldn't get over how long his legs are.

He's moving a lot more now and he is trying to crawl and he rolls over with expert efficiency. He's also found his voice. I think he's teething because he drooled more in two hours than I do in an entire night of sleeping! With the drooling and then the spitting up we went through two towels and a t-shirt in two hours. (see photo above).

Ah, the joys of a 5 month old.

a visit from miss emma

I picked up Emma from my mom's so that we could spend a hour with her. On the way into the house, Tony was just leaving with Timothy. I was able to get Timothy to smile just before Tony pulled away.

I cherish any time - even if its just a few minutes - with the grandbabies.

Emma kept us entertained the whole hour we had her. Basically, the hubby and I did a tag team sort of thing. I started supper while he watched Emma. I watched Emma while he changed his clothes and started the dishes. When I had to check on supper he would take over for me. We worked very well together and she only fell down a couple of times.

She entertained herself at one point by climbing into Kobi's kennel. (No, I did not prompt her - she did this all on her own). She had a lot of fun playing in it and Kobi didn't seem to mind. The two are really getting used to each other.

when the rain stops

I think the best part of a rain shower is after its done raining.

The rainbows.

The pretty clouds.

On Saturday we had a late afternoon rain shower and this is what we saw when it stopped raining.

The. Best. Birthday. Present. EVER!!

When the hubby and I got up to the lake on Friday and started bringing things into the camper I found this

on the kitchen table.

I've been wanting one of these since last February. It was just a matter of time before I purchased one - I was waiting for them to go on clearance at Wal-Mart.

But my mom and dad purchased it for me before I had a chance to get it for myself.

When I saw it sitting on the table I squealed - yes, I actually squealed - with delight. Of course, I had brought up some scrapbooking to do and Saturday I worked on getting some pages done so that I could play with my new toy.

It's perfect. Thanks mom and dad. You're the best!!!!

they say it's your birthday!!

Today is our baby girl's birthday! Following a tradition that my mom and dad started with my brothers and I, the birthday girl got to choose where we went to eat.

Perkins it was.

We were joined by my brother and his family and my mom and nephews. Amanda LOVES her birthday. Several years ago I gave her a birthday ribbon pin and she faithfully wears it every year. I wonder if she'll still love her birthday when she gets older?

Emma had a blast with grandpa - that girl has no idea the power she has over him. He's Mr. Tough Guy until he sees her and then "poof" - he melts instantly. He spent the whole time playing with her and getting into trouble. He fed her salad and a huge onion ring. Ok, she didn't eat the onion ring but she took a couple of nibbles. I can't tell you how many times he was yelled at by Amanda, my mom and I. He loves to try and get the kids into trouble. He reminds me a lot of my grandpa. My gramps loved to get his daughters all riled up by getting us kids to do things we weren't supposed to do. Emma is going to adore her grandpa just like I adored mine.

The kids were great, the food was yummy and we all had a wonderful time.

Happy Birthday Mana!!

Relay/Birthday Weekend (8/8-8/9-8/10)

I started out my birthday weekend by attending the Relay for Life event. For those that aren't familiar with the Relay it's an all night event at a track field. The object is to collect money for the Cancer Society and spend time reflecting on loved ones that have battled cancer. We spend the night walking the track, selling beads (that were collected at Marti Gras) and having a special night with family and friends. My nephew Andy came with us and he was our bead seller - he sold over $50 worth of beads!! I thinks he may be coming with us next year!

This was our 3rd year participating and I started out Friday morning helping my dad, aunt and uncle setting up our spot. We met at 9:00 and started hauling the tent, chairs and tables down to the field. After last years Relay a few of us went to a closing event and I won a prize that consisted of our team being able to pick "what ever spot we wanted" for the next years event. Lucky me!! I told my aunt, our captain and fearless leader, approximately where we wanted to be - by the bleachers so we didn't have so far to go to haul all of our stuff! When we got there that Friday to set up there was confusion with the map and we were pushed down to the back of the track - where we had been the last two years! Of course my aunt and I protested and while we were negotiating with TPTB, my dad and uncle sat quietly by just waiting for instructions. Eventually, we were given the spot that we wanted - lets just say that our family history of stubbornness was very useful.

The night was beautiful and we had a great time. Unfortunately, I had to go home early - but not until after pizza - to spend the night with Kobi and get some sleep so I could drive up to the lake the next morning. Sleep was not to be had - Kobi was a little restless after being home alone for 6 hours. I finally fell asleep around 2:00 and at 2:30 was woke up by a thunderstorm. I contact a cousin that was at the Relay and found out that they were getting a little wet. The night wasn't a total bust and I met some of my team at a local cafe for breakfast at 6:00.

After breakfast and unloading, my nephew and I headed up to the lake (he slept all the way - not sure why - after all he had been up all night and he walked 13-14 miles - what a trooper!). I had company coming, a work party to go to, not to mention that my class reunion was that night back in the Cities. What a way to spend a birthday. I never did make it to the reunion. I decided to stay at the lake - I was too tired to drive back and spend the night at a bar even though I took a 2 hour nap that morning. Andy on the other hand slept most of the day. He says he wasn't sleeping but as you can see in the picture - he obviously was.

When the hubby and I returned home on Sunday afternoon, Amanda, her Tony and little Miss Emma stopped by to spend some time with us. Em is really close to walking and I took her for a walk in the garage sale stroller I picked up a few weeks ago. She loved it and the hubby and I enjoy spending any and all time we get with them.

All in all it was a great weekend with family and friends. What else could one ask for on their birthday weekend?

Oh, by the way, the hubby got me a card and an ice cream cake for my birthday. I was going to take a picture of the cake before it was cut but no one wanted any - until about 9:00 that night and then they cut it without me! So I got a picture of a partial cake. He also got me a present. He gives me a hard time about this flower bed I have in the back yard. He calls it a "weed" bed - and he's right. I have a heck of a time with it so I decided a few months back to make it a flower/rock bed. I've been collecting rocks for awhile but I'm not making very good progress with it. Anyway, while he was out 4-wheeling on Friday with our brother-in-law, he found a great rock - and gave it to me for my birthday.

It's a beauty - isn't it?

The way I think of it is - hell, he was thinking about me. You have to take what you can get!

Weekend With Twins (July 26, 27)

The weekend of July 26-27 mom and dad brought the twins and Summer to the lake for the weekend. They truly are a joy. Both were very well behaved and they had a lot of fun (as did we!!). Summer is such a blessing to have around - she helps out so much with the twins and you never really have to ask her to do things. Of course the babies just love big sister.

They went swimming, played at the playground, sat on the swing with Grandma, went for a couple of boat rides with grandpa and tried avoiding Kobi as much as possible.

Nadia doesn't say much, but Aidan will repeat EVERYTHING you say - twice! Boy did uncle Jeff have a great time with him.

Jeff - "Aidan, did you poopie your pants?"

Aidan - "No. I not poopie my pants."

Of course, he did the same with Nadia but she would just smile and keep walking.

I think they had the most fun swimming at the beach.

Nadia would wade in the water a little bit and when she got a little braver she walked to the end of the dock. She was watching the big kids jump in and I know she was thinking about doing it. She was making me a little nervous. She is a lot like her mother in the clean department so while she was swimming she collected the weeds that were floating and put them into neat little piles on shore. She did a great job cleaning up the swimming area. Her favorite water toy was the gigantic dinosaur. Go figure!

Aidan didn't want to go into the water right away - he was content just playing with trucks and toys in the sand. Eventually, he went into the water and when he did he went full blast!! Summer and I couldn't get to him fast enough as he was going down into the water - face first! When we pulled him up we all laughed so that he wouldn't cry or be scared. He handled it well and decided that he probably shouldn't run that fast in the water.

He spent some time with me on the dock playing with a squirt gun I had found for him - and stupidly taught him how to use. He would squirt me and when I told him to stop he would say, "I sorry". After squirting me SEVERAL times and after each time saying, "I sorry", I said "no you're not!" and he said, "NO. I not sorry".

I didn't know if I should laugh or correct him.

Ya, I laughed.

(A delayed Post for sure - but I always say, "better late than never!". My internet at home is still not very cooperative. It works once in awhile but usually not for very long. We have someone coming to look at it tonight, so hopefully it will be more reliable. Without my computer at home I have to rely on my work computer and I don't have a lot of uninterrupted/down time to write up a post.)