Science Fair

Last night was the annual Science Fair at the school.  Rayna and Alyssa entered a project.  They colored carnations with food coloring in the water.  Showing how water travels through a flower.  They did a great job!  Originally, they wanted to do colored celery.  However, the "run through" attempt didn't work out. They had to "defend" their project to the judge.  They were asked questions to see if they understood the process and what they actually did.  I think the girls actually did understand!  They tried different levels of water in the cup to see if it made a difference with more of the stem being covered in water... that sort of thing.  It was a very "age appropriate" experiment.

She also has ANOTHER loose tooth!

The fair had about 100 exhibits done by 120 students.  The school was packed!  Jace decided the day before, that he wanted to enter.  He had been yes/no all month and couldn't commit.  Next year!  The exhibit that had the biggest draw belonged to a 5th grade boy who had a microscope set up to look at boogers, toe nails, and ear wax!  Yep, that's a 5th grade boy alright :)
Turns out that boy has a sister in kindergarten.  Maya... yes Maya :D  Jace's only girl friend.  That's girl space friend, not a girlfriend hehe.  They were so cute together!  He followed her all over the cafeteria looking at projects together.  Grandpa pointed out that she dressed "just like Jace's girlfriend would dress"  I have to agree!  She's the one who was sad she didn't get invited to his birthday party.  I feel sooooo baddddd!  I didn't know any girls would want to come!  I told Jace to ask her if she wants to have a play date sometime :)
Speaking of play dates, Jace has been quite popular recently!  First, we had his buddy Mason over here at Casa C&C.  The boys were NUTS together!  Luckily it was a 50 degree day so I walked them down to the park with the Nerf gun for an hour.  They wanted to shoot something, I suggested they look in the field for some wild turkeys to shoot.  Since they didn't find any turkeys, Jace started walking around with chicken wings and Mason was shooting at him.  It cracked me up! I tried so hard to get it on my phone but they were too far away and it was too windy for video.  I can't even describe how goofy they were!
The next weekend, Jace was invited to his friend Landon's house.  Landon couldn't make it to his birthday party so he wanted a play date with him to make up for it.  Sounds like they had a blast too.  They played baseball outside (thank god for this nice weather!) and "just hung out"  Landon calls Jace his best friend... ah :)  They both go to skate night for school, though, Landon is a much better skater.  Jace is trying hard!
This weekend Jace has a playdate Friday night with his twin friends Kade and Krew.  They went to Pre-K with Jace and miss him a lot.  They went to a different school for kindergarten, but think they want to transfer to Fredstrom for 1st grade to be with Jace :)  Mr Popular!  It's so good to see him have good friends like this.  He's always been the loner in the neighborhood compared to Rayna.  It melts my heart to see him with buddies :D
This weekend I have the St Mark's craft show.  I'm getting nervous about getting everything done!  I had a big sale on Etsy last week.  One lady bought 8 of my Ink Blot Art pieces!  Yes EIGHT!  Biggest sale I've had, and I really needed the encouragement! I only had 7 listed and she requested an 8th piece for her collection.  I made a bunch more and have been listing them on Etsy.  I'm trying to decide if they should go to the market with me?  I'd have to figure out how to frame and display them...
Next week is Spring Break, woot woot!  They will be spending most of it with Grandma Ann.  The 3 of us will also be going to the eye doctor that week, oh yeah! Exciting times :)
I think that catches us up for now!

Read A Thon

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post... The kids are having their annual Read A Thon fundraiser for the school. 100% of the money raised goes to the school PTA!  And no worthless crap to purchase!  Just reading :)
 They are asking the students to secure one time flat fee pledges for their efforts.  The amount you pledge is tax deductible too!  Let me know if you'd like to pledge and how much, the money isn't due until 3/23.

Big Six Birthday!

I haven't forgotten to blog about the big 6th birthday party! It was so traumatic for me, I haven't been able to talk about it until now ;) Don't ever go to Chuck E Cheese on a Sunday afternoon!!!!!! EVER! I was told "we really aren't that busy on Sundays"  WTF? If that wasn't busy, what is? INSANITY! They had 8 birthday parties plus our "unofficial, too cheap to pay for a party package" party.  Oh well, we survived.  The only thing that matters it that Jace got the party he wanted :)  We had about 9 boys and the cousins help us celebrate and I do believe everyone had fun!  We'll call it a success :)  Here are the only pictures I got from the day, it was too darn crowded to get far enough away from the boys to get any pictures...

In other news...Everything changes and everything stays the same.  I still need a FT job, I now have child care lined up, but no job to pay for it or need for it.  I can't get a break to save my life.  I can't even complain about it all anymore, it's too depressing. I just cling to One Day at a Time.  It will all work out in the end...

Source: erubeng.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: lamaisondannag.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

Sick Day #2

We seem to have caught the plague of Valentine's Day 2012 here.  It started with Jace having a cold for a week or so, then papa Chuck got stuffed up.  Tuesday, Jace woke up just feeling crappy and grumpy.  He cried that he didn't get to sleep all night.  Fussed around all morning and finally I caved and called into work and stayed home with him.  We dropped Rayna off at school, ran to the bank and came back to Casa C&C.  Shortly later he complained of an ear ache.  Half an hour later he was crying hysterically because his ear hurt.  I called the doc and they couldn't get him in until 2.  That didn't work with picking Rayna up from school, nor could he cry all day until then.  So I took him to Lincare. Yes, he had a double ear infection.  Luckily, the good Doc gave him a topical pain reliever drops for his bad ear. After an hour at Lincare and an hour at Walgreens we stopped for McDonalds and came home.  It took about another hour for the drops to kill the pain and I noticed he had stopped crying YAY!
Last night at bed time, both kids had fevers. They were shivering under their electric blankets.  I went to bed and assumed we'd have another sick day today.  It sucks! I don't want to call in sick after I just started a "new" job and I don't get paid for the days off, but what are ya gonna do? I turned off the alarm clocks and let everyone sleep in, made a bunch of phone calls this morning to get everyone notified.  We've had a day of Netflix :)
Both of them seem to be feeling better, they've picked on each other a bit.  I've had a sore throat today and hope it stays at that!  Rayna spent the day texting her dad and Jace is now gaming it up on the DS.
Despite the illness, we did have a small Valentine's celebration with grandma and grandpa.  We had heart shaped Valentino's pizza and Rice Krispie treats.  We exchanged some gifts of love too :)  Hopefully, we haven't completely contaminated to grands!
In my exhaustion the other night, I completely forgot to mention the big news!  The church had it's 2nd annual Chili Cookoff.  Rayna and Grandma Cheri decided to enter and compete against Keith this year.  There were 10 chili's up for judging and guess who's won???  Rayna and Cheri's!

Rayna was awarded the Golden Ladel, she holds the title for a year!  Thanks to grandma Cheri's recipe and supervision (cutting onions) Rayna is now a celebrity :)  The best part about this is that she beat Ketih :D  He was pretty sore about not winning last year, he appears to be taking this better.  At least he can be proud that it was his little girl who beat him out!
Ok, back to nurse duty... time for another round of Tylenol for everyone

Too tired to blog

We are settling in nicely at Casa C&C.  Made our first week here and working on week 2.  We are all getting adjusted to the new routine nicely.  Jace has decided to come down with a cold and was nice enough to share it with Papa Chuck.  I have a scratchy throat today and hope I'm not getting it too!  I am accustomed to staying up to 12 or 1am and working on my creative stuff, but for some reason I am too tired to do that!  I've been going to bed about 11 or earlier lately.
I adjusted my hours at HD to 8:30-2:30 so the kids don't need to go to breakfast at school and I still get off in time to pick them up after school.  The job is going ok.  I am tired of training, I've "got it" and I want to be on my own.  It's 3 weeks of training but since I worked there for 4 years, I am now bored! My first week "on my own" we start our big spring reset.  Putting out all the spring/summer garden stuff.  That should be pretty fun and a lot of hard work.  It will give me spring fever I'm sure.
I found another house I want, but I'm not jinxing it by getting my heart set on it.  Not even showing the kids until I'm ready to make an offer.  It's truly move in ready, with the exception of some gaudy paint colors. Luckily they are accent walls and I could fix it by painting just 1 wall in each room.  The only concern I have is that they have 3 cats!  I hope the dogs don't smell them and think they need to make their territory or something. They just got new carpet installed and I plan on taking in a black light before making an offer.  However, neither the Realtor or myself could smell cat or a litter box and I have a sensitive nose for that :)
This weekend Keith and I went to Verizon to separate the wireless bill and I finally got my xmas present.  I've been waiting for 6 months for the Droid 4 to come out and it's finally here!  I got my new phone and I love it to pieces.  It's so super fast and amazing!  While we were there, Keith found a phone for Rayna.  Yes, I know! She's only 7!  But we have a problem when she goes to her friend's houses to play. Most of them have  gotten rid of their landline phones.  So we have to call the parent's cell phones to have them send her home.  Then it's the other parent who is home with them, or they've moved on to some other friend's house and we have to start calling those parents cell phones.  Four or 5 calls later, we finally get the message to her.  This should help keep track of her.  Plus it has a clock and alarm we can set so she knows when it's time to come home.  And... she just likes to text mom and dad :)  She has rules, it can't go to school with her, it's not a toy, she has to share with Jace (LOL).  She spent the evening texting and calling all her grandmas :)  We will make sure you get her number, I don't want to post it on here.
Jace wasn't left out, he got a new wii for dad's house.  Now his life is complete :)
Mom's Valentines Day gifts are really gonna suck :(
Jace is counting down the days to his birthday, he can't wait!
That's all I can think of to write about now.  It's getting late I guess ;)

Things change hourly

It's so hard to keep everyone updated, things change often and very fast!  So now that we have things signed and in writing, I feel I can post it here LOL.  We have officially filed for divorce as of today.  That means we start our 60 day waiting period before we get a court date.  After the court date, it's official, but has another 30 day waiting period for appeals.  So that sums up the time line.
This weekend, I am starting to seriously pack for the move into Casa Chuck.  I will be moving in Friday and Saturday 3rd and 4th.  The kids will spend that weekend with Keith so I can focus.  They will spend Sunday night at Casa Chuck as their first night.
We had some drama with the original financial plan, thinking it was not going to work out.  However, the lawyer magically found some creative wording to do as we wished and got it into the PSA, it's signed and sealed!  Keith will be staying in the house, budget permitting and I will have a down payment for a new (to me) house.
I was really lucky to have a friend move this past weekend and gave me all her boxes!  How nice is that!  I don't have to buy or round any up! I'm so thankful.
On the employment front... Changes there too.  I had planned on working for the temp agency full time.  However, I can't get the kids into the after school program.  They are full with a long waiting list.  Then after I did the math, I realized I am going to make more money working at Home Depot for 30 hours a week, than I would make temping for 40 and paying $280/mo for the available daycare.  So that's the plan I'm going with now, unless I can secure a job with at least a $12/hr salary.  Then I can at least break even for working full time.  I am only going to be working at the north Home Depot, not the south one.  I will work 8-2 M-F.  The kids will have to start going to the breakfast program at school.  I drop them off at 7:45 and they get breakfast before school starts at 8:10.  The cost for that is only $1.20/ea/day.  YAY.  Rayna is a little nervous, luckily Morgan (the girl I babysit) goes to breakfast and they can sit together.  Jace, again, is indifferent.  He's just bummed they don't serve cocoa pops.
I'm starting to work on Jace's birthday party.  He has decided it should be at Chuck E Cheese.  I know you are all very excited about that!  Looking at Feb 19th from 1:30-4.  I'm thinking friends first and then when they leave at 3:30 then the grands can show up for presents and cake.  That way you don't have to sit there for 2 hours :)  I hope to have invites out soon.
Jace has another play date with his buddy Mason tomorrow, he's so excited.
That about catches us up for now, things are subject to change any minute ;)

Jace's new bff and some updates

Jace has been head over heels about his new friend Mason.  They hit it off right away at the start of school.  We've been meaning to get a playdate together for him, but wasn't sure what his last name was.  Neither of the boys know their phone numbers well enough to exchange numbers.  Finally last week, his mom asked the teacher how to get in touch with me.  Luckily, since we know each other well, she felt comfortable giving my email address out.  Jace was invited to Mason's birthday party.  This was a huge deal! The boys were so excited and they hugged as soon as Jace got there, awww.  Mason has 15 month old triplet siblings!  For his birthday he wanted some friends over with the babies gone!  So that's just what they did :)  Jace can't tell us what the spent 4 hours doing, but he had a great time!  Now we have exchanged numbers and are ready for some play dates. Jace wanted him to spend the night tonight :)

As far as future plans go, I have some minor updates.  I had an interview with Celebrity Staffing on Friday.  They said I'd be a good fit with their company!  YAY. I can start doing temp work for them (employed by them, farmed out to companies) as soon as I want.  They will start looking for temp to hire jobs and direct hire interviews for me too.  In addition, I have an interview at Home Depot on Wednesday.  Not for the job I left.  This is a district job as a Merchandising Execution Associate.  I travel to the stores in my area (2) and build displays and reset aisles and stuff.  I don' t know if it will work out, it's part time.  However, that would be nice to have a bigger income and still be home for the kids after school.  So I am weighing my options here.  Do I temp for full time, put the kids in afterschool care while waiting for a full time job.  Or work at HD part time, have the kids home in the afternoon while waiting for a FT job?   I just don't know!
In the mean time, we've decided to move onto part two of the separation. The kids and I will be moving into dad's basement on the first weekend in Feb.  This will allow us to start getting the kids into their new routine with custody and such.  As of now, Keith doesn't have anywhere to go to be with the kids.  With this change, he will have his place and I will have my place (hopefully very temporary place).
I'm still looking for houses, 2 have now sold, leaving only 2 in the school district.  They are both in crappy shape and need way more repairs than I can afford to do.  I did find a new one on the radar.  It is $20k out of my price range. However, it is severely overpriced.  As I look at it compared to the others, it has the same sq ft, same age and lesser interior beauty.  It is dated and needs redecorated.  The woodwork and cabinets are all old dark stain, bad wallpaper choices from the 80's, etc.  That combined with the fact that it has been for sale since April, makes me think they might be interested in dropping that price!  Good points are, it's close to the school (2 blks), has fresh exterior paint, roof looks good, bigger basement, nice lot. It also needs 2 sides to be a fenced yard.  It happens to be open tomorrow, I'm gonna take a look and keep my eye on it.
That's about it for this week, the kids spend the night with Grandma Ann tomorrow night and no school on Monday, yay!

2011-Rayna

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2011-Jace

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Much catching up and big changes

Let's just start with the "bad news" first and get that out of the way. It is after-all, the reason I have been missing from the blog.  I'm sure you have all heard that Keith and I are divorcing.  I'm not going to go into specifics but trust us that this is not an easy decision and has been carefully thought out.  We don't have many answers yet, hoped to have more plans in place by now, but such is life.  I am searching for a full time job, and will be looking for a new home.   Keith is going to try to keep this house on his own, but isn't sure he can.  The kids will definitely stay in the same school, no matter what we have to do!  The kids and I may potentially be moving in with Chuck and Cheri in the interim but still don't have any carved in stone plans for that either.  The dogs will be coming with me, to my new home, for protection services :)  We have yet to actually file, therefore the timeline is still about 3-4 months out before everything is said and done.  The kids seem to be responding well. Rayna had a lot of questions and worries and in her usual manner, made lots of lists.  Jace, well, he seemed quite ok with it.  Not really worried at all.  Just hoping mom's new house has a wii.  Rayna has come around well, doesn't talk about it daily anymore, and has told her friends and teacher.
Now on with the happier updates!

We had a great Christmas and I'm sure the kids agree.  They were spoiled rotten as in usual style :)  Besides the fact that Jace failed to receive his 3DS :(  Better luck next year buddy.
They enjoyed spending time with Jeff and Lauren over the holiday.  Getting to meet Sofie was fun.  Jace invited them to go play Laser Tag with us.  That was a lot of fun!  I think we should make it a tradition.  Rayna was a nervous wreck about playing... scared she'll get lost inside the maze, what if she shoots someone she doesn't know, will it hurt to get shot, what if she can't see in the dark...on and on and on.  Stop worrying and just play girl!  Jace was having fun until he figured out the numbers on his chest were his score. When he got a nugget (negative) that clearly meant he was losing.  HE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!  If he can't succeed, he won't play.  Hmmmm, who does that sound like...uncle Jeff?  Luckily, Jeff's vest was not working and his numbers said 8888888 the entire time, clearly he was winning and enjoying it :)  So it was just Jace dragging his gun behind him pouting and wanting to quit.  We rallied around him and got him back in the game, let him shoot us a few hundred times to get rid of the negative number and he was good to go.  Before and after the quest, we played video games in their arcade. Jace won a ton of tickets and got  a few crappy toys at the end.  Making for a good night.

That same day we also went to Lost in Fun.  Man that place has gotten ridiculously expensive!  It was a good time but $25 for an hour of fun seems like a rip off.
On New Years eve, Keith spent time with his friends.  The kids and I stayed home. Rayna had Alyssa spend the night.  We made Shrinky Dinks, had cupcakes and stayed up as long as we could!  Jace made it to midnight.  The girls crashed just before, so close...  They were watching Aquamarine, Rayna's new favorite movie and just fell asleep :)

After the new year, we told the kids of our changes.  We have looked at a few potential houses together.  They had a blast with that process and can't wait to see more. Unfortunately, there are only 4 listings in our school district and in my price range.  We all fell in love with this one.  It is only 6 houses away from the school!  Needed only minor repairs/changes and was the perfect price.  Unfortunately, just moments from when I got my pre-approval for a loan.  I received notice that they had another offer.  It was accepted.  :(  So the search continues, as apparently, it wasn't meant to be.  Seems so unreal that the house can be on the market for 300 days and 2 people decided to make an offer on the same day.  Such is life...
So that brings us up to date.  Last night was the Skate Night for the PTA at school.  I had committed to teaching a Yoga class to girl scouts to earn a badge.  Keith had a committee meeting at church.  Therefore we had to turn to the grands to take the kids skating.  They weren't going to miss the first opportunity to use the new skates they got for Christmas!  Grandma Cheri was kind enough to take them! She also went above and beyond and took Rayna's friend Morgan (the girl I babysit).  They had Raising Canes for dinner (also a PTA fundraiser) and then 2 hours of skating.  And YES, even Cheri put on some skates.  I bet she's feeling it today, not just because of how long it's been since she skated, but because she had to hold Jace up all night ;)  I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids, or grandma!  Thanks Cheri for helping out!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at our Christmas cards.  I'm still trying to get our Christmas Program video uploaded...technical difficulties.  You might have to settle for just the pictures :)

I'm blogging!

I'm being harassed about not blogging, so I guess I'll think of something to say ;)
I guess it's been a non eventful month. Jennifer Hellwege and I did something fun at the beginning of November.  We went to a fused glass art class.  We made about 9 fused glass pendants, I can't show them because they may end up belonging to a few of you :)
The school had a walk a thon as some of you know and contributed to.  I can't remember if I wrote about it already or not?  So long story short, the kids walked a mile one day for a fundraiser.  Local businesses provided "prizes". Walgreens generously donated 600 pedometers to the kids.  Guess who really liked his new gadget?  Jace became very into his pedometer, even if it took him a week to be able to say it correctly :)  He counted all his steps and liked that he could shake it and get more steps in for the day!  I guess the good part is that he figured out how the thing worked, right?  Then they had drawings for the "grand prizes"  Rayna happened to win 2nd prize for 2nd grade.  She won a "trial" membership to Tiger Rock martial arts Academy.  (1st place was an iPod so she was bummed).  Of course she wasn't going to do karate, that's boy stuff.  I actually wish she would give it a try! So Jace got to do the trial. He LOVED it!  We haven't seen him this excited for an activity ever!  He took it very seriously.  At this age they really work with the discipline aspect of the art.  As the owner explained to me, you can't just have a group of 20 5 year olds in a room kicking and punching without knowing the rules.  They learned things like "When mom/dad tells you to do something, when do you do it" Response is, "Right away Sir!"  I liked this place!  Unfortunately we had to stop after the trial, the school is really serious and hard core and therefore not in our budget.  When he turns 6 he can take class at the Y and that will have to do for now. If he gets serious and decides to be a UFC fighter, we'll take out loans for the goods school :)
We had a nice Thanksgiving celebration at our house, of course most of you were there... Good food as usual, Keith doesn't disappoint.
I had my one and only craft show of the year.  It was at the Cooper Y and was a fund raiser for the Strong Kids campaign.  Of course it was on the day of the first real snow of the year and the streets were terrible.  Luckily, that didn't stop people from coming out!  The traffic was steady all day long and it was a successful show.  Rayna got her first shot as a vendor too.  She hand painted Christmas cards and sold them for $3/each.  She actually did sell a few to people besides grandmas!  She thought it was a pretty boring way to spend a day, but enjoyed getting paid at the end of the day!
I've been picking up some hours at Child Watch at the Y.  I hate it!  It's so boring, time just drags on.  Absolutely hate it, not sure if I can continue it next month.  It's apparent I am NOT going to be hired back to HD, so I am searching for employment now.  Keeping my options open and have even applied for several full time jobs.  So far, nothing.  Life is just up in the air right now, not much I can do about it. It's hard for people like me who like a plan.  I'm wishing I had taken out a loan or something and taken the yoga teacher training in Sept.  I met a lady at the craft show who was also a yoga teacher at the Lincoln Yoga Center.  They are looking to grow and need subs but I'd have to be certified.  She also teaches at the Y's so she did take my card to use me for a sub there, and I took hers.  I'm plugging away at my Etsy shop in the mean time, hoping it will take off and I won't need another job! I'm trying to "put myself out there" more and get my actual "art" pieces in the eye of the public, not just my "crafts".  I'm sure it wall all work out at some point, it's just hard letting it happen as it will.
Christmas shopping has begun and the kids have decided they are getting Grandma Cheri a dog.  I don't know how this got in their heads, but they are serious!  I've had the discussion with them that getting a pet is a very personal decision and they don't make good gifts.  But Rayna insists.  She was going to get one of Alyssa's kitties for grandma, but they all found other homes.  So now she's getting her a puppy.  Dad told me the story that Cheri was laying down with them before bed and this conversation took place...
Rayna- Grandma Cheri, what are you going to name the dog you get for Christmas?
Grandma- ummmm.....????
Jace- RAYNA! Don't ruin it! Shhhhh!
Grandma- ....ummmm????? Are you really getting me a dog?
Rayna- yes, for Christmas
Jace- Shhhhhh!
Grandma- .... oh no..... ?????

hehe, they had her convinced that she's getting a dog too!  So dad called me Monday and asked what it's all about and I assured him that YES, Rayna is getting her a dog.  She is hell bent on getting a dog for grandma.  And she's getting her a Great Dane like Marmaduke.  Dad's response was oh geez, that makes your dogs look like purse dogs!  Please no dogs....

So I'm not sure if we are going to convince Rayna to find a different gift or not...

Halloween fun

We had a lot of Halloween festivities that I need to blog about!  To start off the season, we went to Boo at the Zoo again. We went on Thursday, the second night, and I was so impressed at how fast they got us through there!  It was an hour and 10 minutes from parking lot, thru the zoo and back to the parking lot!  Impressive!  They also had signs guarantying our kids at least 50 pieces of candy.  Nice!  I know in previous years many businesses gave out coupons instead of candy, which may be a better deal financially, but not what the kids are after :)  This year, we got tons of candy AND coupons! I didn't bother taking my camera, I'm aware of what a mad house it is, you can't even get far enough away from the kids to get a picture.  I managed this one on my phone

Which shows that YES, I got Rapunzel's hair figured out!  Keith thought it looked like a Nun's habit, but I didn't let Rayna know.  She was fine with it :)  She opted not to wear the over skirt to the zoo and as you can tell, it was chilly, but could've been a lot worse!
On Sunday the 30th we had a gathering for church at a farm.  It was hosted by the Hackbarths, fellow church members.  They had games, hayrack rides, bible stories, face painting, treats and pinatas.  It was a pretty good time except for the darn weather!  It was a beautifully clear day, but the wind was a nightmare!  It was so dang windy and it was a COLD wind.  Here are some pictures from that afternoon.

This one is Alyssa

Halloween Monday, we went trick or treating with the Hegwellies has usual. This year we also added some neighborhood girl friends of Rayna's, Morgan her mom and little brother and also Kalen and her sister Jenna.  Those in addition to the Helwege  family and clan turned out to be quite a large crowd.  Our neighborhood was PACKED, the streets were lined with cars that drove in and dumped off their kids. I don't understand why OUR hood is so popular? Oh, wait! I do!  Here is what some houses were handing out... dollar bills, gold dollar coins, full sized candy bars, 2ft long pixie stix...  What?  That's crazy generous! We go thru a 300 count bag of candy pretty dang fast, I don't know how they did money?  But hey, I'm not complaining!  

This was the first year that Jace REALLY got into it.  He was so excited!  He started off running from house to house.  He was leading the pack of kids and was about 2 houses ahead of us most the time.  We got about 3/4 the way around our "loop" and he started slowing down, and by the time we made it back home he opted to go home with Jennifer and help set up our dinner.  The girls on the other hand decided to hit the other side of the street and made another lap around the loop.  They got so much candy! I bet it filled a 5 gallon bucket.

We finished the night with yummy dinner and baked goods courtesy of Jennifer.  We had a great time.  Unfortunately, Keith missed the festivities by one stinking day.  If he didn't have those 2 snow days, he would've made it

.  In other news...

• Rayna got 2 new pairs of glasses, her prescription changed already :(
• Dad and Cheri took the kids to see Puss in Boots in 3D.  Dad's first 3D movie!  Good reviews from all :)
• Our roof is still leaking, even after the replacement :(
• Just got new tires on Keith's truck and some other work done, now it's my van's turn for major repairs :(
• Dallas had some skin cancer removed, confident they got it all :/
• Got my outdoor Halloween decor down right before the nasty weather blew through town Wed :)
• Keith is having lunch with the kids tomorrow :)

And I think that's about it!

Trip to Iowa

Over "fall break" (which has dwindled down to 1 day off), mom and I took the kids to go visit Aunt Mary and Ruth.  To make it more interesting than sitting in an old folks home, we spent a day at the Amana Colonies and the Williamsburg Outlets.  Then one day with the girls. Cedar Rapids was as close to the Colonies as we could stay, but it was less than 30 minutes away.

Windmill at Amana

Accompanied sign

A shot down the main street
I wasn't really sure what Amana Colonies "was". The website was pretty vague and didn't have pictures.  Basically, it is a series of villages (neighborhoods) with really old houses/buildings.  Some of those buildings have been converted to stores, restaurants and museums, while others are still private homes.  You just kind of wander door to door and if there is a sign, you can go in :)  The kids weren't too impressed with the Colonies.  Too many "don't touch" stores.  Even the lady who ran the toy store was crabby and told them not to touch!  We did manage to find our fair share of treasures here.  I found some small items from a couple antique stores, fudge, and an artsy jacket.  The kids found some things too, Jace got a set of marbles and Rayna bought polished rocks and some quartz crystals, and candy too.
In the afternoon we headed to the outlet mall.  The kids were very antsy now and DONE shopping!  I had to bribe them with toys to keep them behaved.  We went to Toys R Us and they picked out a "thank you for behaving" gift.  Jace found a DS game he'd been wanting and Rayna found a Barbie kitchen set.  They barely earned them, but by the time we made the way around the mall, I could relate.  We ate dinner at a truck stop type diner and went back to Cedar Rapids to swim at the hotel.
Sunday we packed up and headed to Burlington to see the gals. We got there about noon, so we stopped for Chinese food.  Then we headed to the "home" and said our hello's.  Mary had her usual "treasures" for the kids and even some for the rest of us.  She gave us our Christmas gifts. Ruth had embroidered pillow cases this year.  Rayna got a kitty, Jace got sports, and I picked a pretty blue floral pattern.  Then it was nap time for the girls and we headed out to sight see.  We drove by their old house, which is nearly on the Mississippi River, and then to the nearby park overlooking the river.

Mom and kids with the mighty Miss

Can't believe I got a shot this nice of the two of them!  It took about 8 tries!

Jace being himself

From here we journeyed to down town right on the banks of the river.  They have a visitor center at "Port Burlington" and you can walk right up to the river bank.  

 Looking North.  The bridge to Illinois, of course we were this close, we had to go :)

 Looking South, I didn't realize how dreary a day it was until I saw these pictures.

An imitation Lady Liberty and my kids acting like her.

Next we headed to Snake Alley "the crookedest street in the world". How can you not go there? It is open and we did drive down it.  It was so very pretty and super neat old houses lined the road.  

From here we went back and ordered pizza to take to Mary and Ruth.  They got a break from their less than yummy dinner at the "home".  Afterwards, we played some games with them.  We started with Domino's (the real way, not the kids way of knocking them down).  Then we were introduced to Rumikub.  I'm pretty sure the girls were making up rules as we went along, but Jace managed to win one game anyway.

That sums up most of the fun, Monday we did the long drive back home... 

Rayna Art

Some of you know how I do a lot of art swaps with some fellow bloggers.  Rayna is always interested in the process and who my stuff is going to and what not.  She did a couple child to child swaps with me over the last year or so.  A couple weeks ago a lady found me through a mutual friend and said her 10 year old daughter has been very interested in "swapping like mom" she wondered if Rayna would like to swap with Lindsay. Of course she would!  So I had Rayna make some ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and some decorated tags.  Then she had a sleep over with Alyssa and Morgan and they wanted to do crafts.  So we ALL made some!  Here is what she made...

Jace made these, can't be left out!

I made these while supervising :)

And in return Lindsay and friend sent these!

  Now they are just like mom :D

In the News...

So it's time for an update, I suppose.  I feel pretty boring around here, I feel like I'm on house arrest, I don't go anywhere.  That's going to change this weekend!  Mom and I are taking the kids to Burlington, IA to see Aunt Mary and Ruth.  The kids claim the don't remember them and as their health is failing, I thought we needed to refresh their memory.  We will leave on Friday night when mom gets home from work and drive to Cedar Rapids! Ugh, I know!  I just could not find a hotel room under $170/night East of Des Moines.  We are driving 20 miles out of our way, but saving about $90/night!  I mean, what the heck is going on in east central Iowa anyway!  I've googled calendar of events for Iowa and can't find anything, crazy!  The plan is to drive 20 miles back to Amana Colonies on Saturday morning and spend some time there.  Maybe hit Williamsburg outlets that evening.  Spend another night in Cedar Rapids and then drive to Burlington in the morning.  We will spend Sunday with the girls, and bring in dinner for them Sunday night.  Monday is a school holiday so we will drive home Sunday.  Yay, road trip and I get to leave the house! Even if it is for crappy, boring Iowa...
Next up, today was Jace's conference.  I was kind of dreading this one... he has admitted to sitting in the safe seat a couple time (none of which were his fault of course).  He told us a tall tale about how his arm was taken over by a ghost or something and accidentally hit another kids without his knowing.  LOL, this is why I was nervous.  Keith had to leave the room to regain composure before disciplining him for that tale :)  Mrs Heiser agreed.  She said that Jace is a joy to have in class, he makes her laugh everyday. She said he is a smarty pants, very sharp.  Very eager to learn and tries very hard.  She is having him tested to move up a level in math.  He knows all his letters and the sounds they make, still needs practice writing them.  It's the fine motor skills he's lacking. They are working on strengthening his pincer grip. So he's a A student, who knew? :D
Thinking back... I'm not sure if I blogged about Rayna's conference.  Really no news there, she's perfect.  Short and sweet conference, teacher's delight.  As if there was any question :)