Summer's here...at least for today

What a glorious day. The temp was just right for tanks, shorts and flip-flops. Pretty white clouds brushed the sky. It was gorgeous.

Noah and I did more yard work. We got ready to get our supplies, but had to stop for our weekly breakfast (with) at Harry's. Today I decided to try something different. I had a cherry and walnut filled crepe with whipped cream on top. I know all of you are drooling and lusting over it. It was WONDERFUL! I'll definitely get it again. Anyway...back to my story. Manny noticed a walnut sitting on my plate, and pointed it out to me. "What's that?" I told him it was a walnut. He looked at me with a goofy grin and said, "You eat Walmarts." Even our waitress laughed. Very funny.

After breakfast we headed out to Menards for our supplies. We looked at stone borders for this project. We were in luck. On sale for $.89 each. All we needed was 21 or 23 (I can't remember). This was Gabe's and Noah's job. Manny and I picked out more flowers, and a birdbath. I fell in love with one! Loved it! And it was in our price range! It was wrought iron looking with a pixie on it. Gotta love the pixie. Manny said, "There's one for you." and he was so right. Into the cart it went.

It didn't take us too long to finish. It looks amazing. The picture doesn't do it justice. I can't wait to see it at night. I bought solar-powered garden lights. By the time the sun goes down, our house will be lit up like Chevy Chase's house in Christmas Vacation! Every one of our flower beds have lights in them. Looks pretty cool though.

After we finished the project, I went to the pizza store (Papa Murphy's) and got us a Taco pizza and a sweet pizza (cinnamon wheel). We ate outside and had a nicnic (aka picnic). Lots of fun.

We just finished up with our baths. We all needed them. We were barefoot and kept stepping on those sticky things from our chestnut tree...man, I hate those things. We had to scrub and scrub and scrub. The boys discovered if you rub your feet on the bath mat, it cleans them right up for you. I tried it, and it really works!

I suppose, I better go and get the boys settled down for bed time. We are going to go to Manitowoc to First German's church picnic. Another nicnic. Things couldn't get any better for Gabriel!

Enjoy some more pictures of what we did last week and today!

Oh the pain...

So Wednesday morning I woke up with this awful pain in my right arm. What on earth was that about. I couldn't even move it without having this tingly pain shoot down to my fingers. Driving to work was a challenge. I didn't even bother backing into my spot. I pulled straight in. I had to use my left hand to put the van into park, and to turn off the van! What is going on?

I got situated at my desk, but couldn't even get comfortable. I could hardly move my mouse. I could type just fine because my arm was right next to my body. As soon as I lifted or moved it the pain was unbearable. I went to the front and grabbed Dr. Renee Ascher's pen with her phone number on it. I couldn't work like this. Not much would be getting done without the use of my right arm.

After I called Renee for an appointment, my ring finger started the throb. What? I looked down at my hand and my figures were swelling. I couldn't get my ring off. What is going on, I kept thinking. I ran to the bathroom and ran cold water over my hand to try and get my ring off. Ah relief. It was a wonderful feeling to get the piece of metal off my finger. I got really scared. I could hardly hold a pen in my sausage like fingers.

At 2 p.m. I ran over to see Renee. She did a spinal scan to see were the pain was coming from. Ah-ha! Just as she suspected. My neck. My muscles weren't very relaxed either. She asked me if I had pain anywhere else. Um, no, not right now. She did adjust my whole entire body. At one point I said to her, "Right now I have a love/hate relationship with my chiropractor." She was killin' me.

She moved me from the fall-out table into the procedure room, where I was hoping she would hook me up the the stim machine. It's a machine that shoots pulses of electricity thru your body to help relax the muscle that is causing the pain. Nope, instead I had to lay on my belly on this long table with a hole for my face to fit it. I laid there for 20 minutes with a very large ice pack on my upper right side of my back. She diagnosed me with a pinched nerve. After the icing was done, and I collected myself up off the table. She helped me get my belongings together and told me just relax. I looked at her and said, "Yeah right. I have to go back to work." We both laughed at that. "Oh yeah that's right."

I got back to the office and showed the guys my scan. Tim said that it looked like a rainbow. Lots of red on it. Not good. Red is bad. White is good. Not much in white on that there scan! Gene said, "Why do you think there is so many red spots on your scan?" I cleared my throat and said sarcastically, "It's from stress and tension." He looked at me with a devilish grin and asked, "Is that coming from home." I looked at him and just pointed in his direction. Everyone laughed.

Today I feel 99% better. My mobility of my arm is pretty much back. I do have problems washing my hair yet, but I'm at least able to use the mouse with out pain. The day after seeing Renee, I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose, so now I'm dealing with that. If it's not one thing, it's another.

This weekend sounds like it's going to be pretty nice, so Noah and I are looking at getting more wood chips to put under the trees where we can't seem to get any sort of grass to grow. Yay! More decorating with pretty stuff.

Well, gotta get back to the job of mine. Thank God It's Friday! Look out weekend here I come!

What is a TOPPING?

Hello to all of you. It was a regular Monday at work even though it was a Tuesday. Lots of calls and questions. The guys even had scheduled appointments today. Doesn't happen too often outside of tax season. We all caught up on our weekend adventures and told all of our "funny" stories.

Towards the end of the day, I walked into Gene's office, and tugged on his shirt sleeve and said, "This is a topping." He looked at me like I was a freak...I am at times, but this time I was being serious. He said, "A what?" I said, "A topping." Again, a little more confused he said, "What is a topping?" So I told him this story...

Last night I gave the boys a bath. They played outside barefoot, and smelled really bad of "boy sweat", so they both agreed to a nice, relaxing bubble bath. Before we got them into the tub, I gave Gabriel his jammies to put on my bed so they were ready to put on when he got out of the bathtub. He got undressed and went potties...must always make water before getting into the tub, or "Mama will be disappointed in me if I made water in the water." Before he got in, I asked him where his jammies were. He didn't know. He retraced his steps, and couldn't find them. I told him to get into the tub, and I would look for them. I looked all over and couldn't find them. Then decided to ripped the blankets down off his bed...there they were! Why he put them there I will never understand. I put them on the bed and went into the bathroom to scrub the boys. As I was getting Gabriel out, he asked me, "Mom, did you find my topping?" Not understanding him I asked him to repeat himself. Again he asked, "Did you find my topping?" I picked up his jammies off my bed to get them ready for him to put on while I got Manny out of the bathtub, and he said with great joy, "You found it!" So now I know what a topping is...it's a shirt! Dah!

Gene found this to be quite a comical story. So now he's calling his shirt a topping too.

When I picked the boys up tonight at Paula's house, she wasn't feeling very well, and she said that Manny arrived feeling a little under the weather, too. I decided to make some Cars Chicken Noodle Soup. Manny ate really well. Ate all his soup, a piece of garlic bread and all his jello. He asked for more milk, and then went into the living room, grabbed a blanket, and fell asleep on the couch.

Poor little fella. I felt so bad for him. I picked him up and took him up to bed. Changed his diaper and put nice warm footed pjs on him and he fell right back to sleep. I hope he feels better in the morning. Gabe wasn't feeling too well this morning either. I think it has to do with the weather. It was in the lower 80s yesterday, and today we reached 50! As Gabe would say...WHAT THE?

Before I left work Tim said we were under a frost advisory. Mom is under a freeze warning. I had to bring all my beautiful flowers inside, so they wouldn't die on me. WHERE OH WHERE IS SPRING?

One more story before I go. On Sunday morning I was getting Gabriel ready for church, when I looked at his door and saw this little thing he made at school. I asked him if Mrs. Porter let him pick out the stickers to put on it or if she just gave him the stickers to put on the paper. "Oh no. Mrs. Porter let us pick out the stickers we liked." I asked him if he knew which one was my favorite. He didn't know. I said, "My favorite is the Jesus sticker." He looked at me with this big brown eyes and replied, "Mine too. He lives in my heart." Oh how very true! Then this morning when I got to work, I received this e-mail from both Kim and Mama. How perfect. Enjoy!**********************************************************************************
A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response equal to four-year old David's comment. Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart. "Listen", she said......."What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap - tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin and he asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?" **********************************************************************************
Time for bed. Good night, I love you, sweet dreams, and a BIG squeeze. (We say this every night before we go to sleep.)

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to all of you. This is a picture of my front stairs. We had fun decorating today. The marigold pots are the boys. We had gone to Hartman's in Manitowoc, and when I checked out the lady behind the counter handed each boy one marigold. But one just wouldn't do. We went to Walmart and bought the pots and one 6-pack for each of them. They're both really excited now about the watering part. That's good, because I hate it!

Our get together on Sunday afternoon was wonderful. We have so much leftover meat, we'll be eating brats and hamburgers for the rest of the week I think. The weather could have been a little warmer in the beginning, but by the end of the day, it was beautiful. We were outside for a while after everyone left just putsin' around. We had gone out later when the storm was passing over us. The boys thought that was fun.

Today when I woke up it was already 64 degrees. When I came down to get my clothes, the window were still open, and you could just feel the humidity in the air. I had to get the boys up early because we were going to the Manitowoc Memorial Day Parade. It was so nice this year for the parade. I can feel a little bit of a bite on my face. I think a got a little sun. Yay!

Anyway, we got to Manitowoc, parked and unpacked everything to take to the "sight". Grandma Lynn and Grandma K saved us a spot front and center. As the boys and I reach the corner, I realize I parked on a block without stop lights. Shucks. So here I am with three chairs, a backpack, a box of donuts, and the two boys. I managed to put everything in one hand, and take Gabe's hand and made Manny grab Gabe's other hand. Away we were across the street where Grandma Lynn was standing waiting for us! Everything was A-OK!

The parade started when I looked behind me and there was Vickie and the girlies and Ryan with Baby Mason. Yay...she made it. She has been sick the last few days with some sort of virus that made her lose her voice, and gave her a stinging sore throat. I'm so glad she could make it. A little while later, along comes her psycho ex-mother-in-law, Granny (a.k.a Brandi). OMG! Vickie's girls act more mature than Brandi.

Brandi reminds me a lot of a Barbie doll on crack. That is no exaggeration. She's very overwhelming. Picture Barbie at the age of 50. Very high maintenance. Give Barbie a few high energy pills and you've got Brandi...loud, obnoxious, and always having to have all the attention on her. It's really quite embarrassing.

Anyway, the parade was wonderful, even with Brandi there. It was fun to see Vickie again. I can't remember the last time I saw her. I know it was before Mason was born. And Ryan. Oh, it's been about a year! It's always nice to see old friends back at our old stompin' grounds.

After the parade, Mom and I went to the Penguin for lunch, and then went flower shopping. Oh the fun in that. The boys helped me pick out stuff to put in the flower beds. The both found this sand castle. Well, that wasn't in my theme, but they both wanted it so bad, I put the turtles back and picked up the sand castle along with a sand crab. Very cute.

Well, it's getting to be that time. The boys really need a bath. It was very warm and muggy today, and the smell like boys! Eeewww! Need to make them smell sweet again.

Oh yeah, one more thing before I go. We were outside after supper and the wind switched. Wow! What a change. I bet it dropped fifteen degrees while we stood there. It got cold!

Good night y'all.

Tootles.

Projectile Pepsi

It's been a very bizzarre month here at work. We first of all have days/weeks were one of us, I won't say who is in a really really bad crabby mood, to complete change of being giddy and just down right obnoxious. He tells me he even annoys himself sometimes. What on earth does that mean? How do you think the rest of us feel then?

Anyway yesterday the phone rang, and the man on the other end asked to speak with Dr. Renee Ascher's husband. Oh, ok, so it's a referal. (Dr. Renee Ascher is my chiropractor, and Tim's wife.) So I put the gentleman on hold, and turned towards Tim's office where Gene is standing talking to him. Gene stepped out of the way and I said, "Tim, it's so-and-so wanting to talk to Dr. Renee Ascher's husband." After the announcement, I picked up my can of Pepsi, and took a big swallow. Before it was down, Gene said, "Oh, I can take that call. I was the Best Man!" His comment made me laugh so hard, the Pepsi came flying out of my nose! Somehow all of it landed on both of my shoulders and in my eyes. Don't ask me how, it just did. I was wearing a spring green smock top with white embroidery on it and a pair of white pants. Yes, white pants. Not a drop of the booger infested soda landed on my nice white pants. Thank the Lord! That would not have been fun getting brown soda out of bright white pants. That was my laugh of the day. Gene laughed at me because of my predicament. So he had a good laugh too.

Last night I spent a majority of the night doing laundry. I had 5 baskets full, and I figured if we were doing the gardens tomorrow, I wouldn't be doing the laundry at all. So at 10 p.m. I was standing by our bed folding the 3 large baskets of wash, mostly towels, sheets and kid's clothes. I finished about 10:30 and was dead tired. I tried staying up to talk with Noah awhile, but everytime I blinked my eyes stayed closed longer and longer until finally when I opened them it was sunny out!

I went to Walmart this morning at 7:30. That is the best time to shop. There are no people in the store. I went for two reasons. First Manny needed some diapers. We were down to about 20 or so, and that wasn't going to last me the weekend. And I've been looking for a digital photo key ring. I found something better. It's a digital photobook. It's about the size of an mp3 player, and about as thick as 8 credit cards. It fits perfectly in my purse. I wanted to have photos of the boys when we go for GIRLS NIGHT OUT on June 7th. Everyone always asks if I have pictures of the boys, and I feel so bad when I can't show them any. What a wonderful idea. Now I don't have to worry about it falling off my key ring. I can tuck it in my purse.

Time's up. Gotta get back to work. And oh yeah, almost forgot...eat lunch. We'll see most of you on Sunday.


Tootles.

It's so cool...

I don't mean Oh that's so coool! I mean it's down right cold. When is our spring going to come? I think we're going right from winter into summer. I think that last week Saturday was our spring. One day! It was so nice outside. Noah did yard work while the boys played and helped shovel dirt. Such good little helpers they are.

So I received my "wedding" outfit in the mail yesterday. I tried it on. Oh no! I looked like a big gold disco ball. Not a keeper. I'm sending it back. I ordered the black one instead, but not for the wedding. I loved the top so much, I can wear it to the class reunion in September. I'll be the most fabulous looking one there...yeah right.

So for those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm hosting the Memorial Day Weekend cookout. So on Saturday, Noah and I are going to be doing some landscaping projects. We will weed the flower beds, and then put that anti-weed plastic over the dirt and cover it with pretty gravel. We've been wanting to do it since last year, but never got around to it. There are a total of three flower beds around our house, so I'm hoping it won't take very long. It's supposed to be in the 70s on Saturday, so I won't mind being outside...it's the dirt I don't like.

Saturday I went shopping with Manny. As we were walking through Kohls, we went in the way back section where all the clearance odds and ends are located. We found the most awesome speakers for their mp3 players. They are called IFlops! and they are stuffed animals with headphones and the headphones are the speakers. Manny picked out the bear and fell in love with it right away. I checked the price on it...$34.99. My heart sank, my jaw dropped, and I said, "Oh Manny, we can't get these. They cost too much money." Then I looked at another one...a frog. It was priced $6.99. Oh heck, we can afford that! So we took a frog and a bear. They sleep with them and listen to the music. Oh what fun. Why didn't they have that kind of stuff when I was growing up?

In twelve weeks we'll be in Florida in the hot sun. Oh the joy. I'm so looking forward to it. I'm sick of this weather here. We drove by the lake last night and Gabe said, "Look at the pretty lake." I told him we were going to see bigger and warmer water than that when we go visit Kim Kim in Florida. Shouts rang out. Manny informed me, "I like waters."

Well, gotta get back to work. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Tootles.

What a week...

Boy, it's been a really rough week at work. That's why I haven't blogged anything in the last few days. Didn't want to say anything I was going to regret in the future. Lots of drama, let's just leave it at that.

Our Vegas trip is coming together. Noah and I found a cute little chapel to renew our vows at. It's call Belleza. It's located not too far from our hotel, so maybe we can just walk there, as a limo is not included in our package. If we had gone with a bigger package, I'm thinking one would have been supplied for us.

We looked at all the different things in our hotel last night, online. Noah too was amazed at our pool area. It's gorgeous. Take a look for yourself...

I'm really looking forward to this vacation/honeymoon. Gabe told me though the other night when I was looking stuff up online..."I will miss you, mom, when you are gone." Oh the joy of that phrase. I told him I'd bring him something special when we came home. He was thrilled. I don't dare tell him were we are staying. I'd be so very jealous.

This morning I was watching the Today show for one specific reason. The New Kids on the Block were going to perform. So between fighting with Gabriel about watching cartoons and trying to get ready for work, I got to see them do their thing. How exciting. The boys and I were dancing around the living room. Gabriel kept asking, "What song is this, Mama." I would name the song, and he would respond with, "I like this song. This is fun." Maybe he'd like to go see them in concert with me. I should look up my old friend Tara Teesch and see if we should do a reunion concert. She went with me the last time.

Speaking of reunions...I opened a letter from Stacey Bleick yesterday. I know a Stacey Kempfert and I know a Tim Bleick, but I don't know a Stacey Bleick. Oh wait, yes I do. Tim and Stacey got married. I went to school with them. Stacey was a year behind me and Tim a year ahead of me. Well, I opend it up and there was a letter about at joint reunion for 1992 and 1993! I'm going to a class reunion! Yippee. I even have a babysitter lined up! THANKS MOM! I'm really excited to go. Our class hasn't had one since our 5th. So this should be interesting to see just how many of our 52 graduates will show up.

I want to send our a little message to Justin. Sweetie, don't get too frazzeled about the whole contact thing. I too had troubles with them at first. When I had my first visit and had to put them in, it took me 45 minutes for one eye. Now I can do it in the dark with no mirror. You'll catch on. It's all mental. Don't think about it when you're doing it. I know the thought of sticking something in your eye terrifies some people. Just think of the outcome....I CAN SEE!

One day this week we were coming home from Paula's (the sitter) and we had to drive around a cement truck that was pouring cement. Gabriel said, "Wow that's really cool, Mom. That's Grandma Lynn's favorite kind of truck. Mine's an army truck." So I found out something new about Grandma Lynn this week.

On Wednesday night I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for the boys. When they are done eating they always say they are going to leave the rest for Papa. Well because Gabriel was done eating his supper, Manny figured he could be done too. He looked up at me with those huge brown eyes and said, "I'm going to leave the rest for Grandma K." So Grandma K, I hope you like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

I suppose. I've got to get back to this time consuming project. Work always seems to get in the way of my fun time. Oh sigh....

Tootles.

Las Vegas Here We Come!

Good Morning to all of you. I have some very exciting news. On October 12th thru October 15th Noah and I are going to Vegas. It's sort of like our honeymoon we never had. While there, we decided to renew our vows! I always thought it would be kinda cool to marry in a cheezy little wedding chapel.

While in Vegas, we'll be staying at Treasure Island. The boys would be so jealous if they knew that we were staying in a pirates castle. I was looking at some websites last night that showed different pictures of the hotel. The pool area is amazing. There are palm trees galore and crystal clear blue water. I'm really excited. I even found a wedding outfit! Very classy! Kim, you'd love it. Campaign sequined top with flowing campaign pants. I bought some dull metallic gold sandals to wear with it.

I looked at shows to see while there, and that alone would cost us well over $150. When I looked into a wedding, that too was $150. Mmmmm....show or renew our vows? Not a tough decision. This time will be a breeze seeing as there will be no one there to see this. Last time the nerves were tested a little.

I invited my high school friend, Corie, and her husband Chad to join us on our little get away. She's been through a lot in the last year, and wanted to show her a little fun. She lives in Minnesota, so I very seldom get to see her. I thought this was the perfect get-a-way for the four of us.

There will be more to come once I get the plans in order. I'll keep you all posted!

Well, I here stomping coming from upstairs, I so suppose I should go get the boys ready.

Tootles

So, how does it look?

I'm sitting here this bright sunny morning watching the 7 a.m. news, and posting this blog on my new laptop/notebook. It arrived yesterday. I couldn't wait to get home and use it. First think I looked at was what kind of games where available. Well, my all time favorite tile game, Mahjong! I spent a majority of the night TRYING to win. It's not as easy as it looks.

I was doing some monthly books for two of our clients yesterday in between the 50 or so calls about that stupid stimulus check that "everyone" is getting. I'M SO SICK OF THIS STUPID STIMULUS!!! The questions range from...How much do I get? to Why didn't I get as much as my neighbor? to When will I get that money the government is giving away? A lot of the calls are coming in from nonclients. I can't give them an answer because I don't know the taxes paid the money made, or the marital status. Do they have children? If so how many? One client said, "Why do you need to know all this?" He wanted to know how much he was getting. Helloooo? You called me. I'm just trying to help you!

I was given the wonderful job of answering all these questions. Then I get attitude from people who are not even clients of ours. My new response to these people are "If you have access to the internet, go to irs.gov and click on WHERE'S MY STIMULUS? This will give you all the answers you need."

It's going to be a gorgeous day today. The sun is shinning. Right now it's about 40 degrees, but we are to get up to 67 or so. Inland will reach 70. I wish I didn't have to go to work. I'd like to sit outside with the boyz. Shucks...should have taken vacation.

My helper from last year's tax season is coming back this summer to do some filing projects for us. I'm really looking forward to Kristen coming back. I missed her this year. My helper this year wasn't very accurate with anything she did. Filng wasn't her best or favorite job. I had to look for a MILLER folder the other day and all the MILLERS were there, just not alphabetically. Yikes. When you need the folder, you need to be able to find it.

Well, I've get to start getting ready for work. I've got to be there to answer some more of those stimulus questions. Oh, sigh...

Tootles.

Not So Romantic...

I feel as if I've been hit by a Mack truck. Happy Mother's Day to me.

Last night Noah and I had our first date since our anniversary last October. Grandma O took the boyz overnight, so Noah and I could have a quite-alone night at home. We started off by going to our favorite "date restaurant", The Highland House. We each ordered our favorite meal, and enjoyed a quite-non-sticky fingered-who-can-be-the-noisiest-most-restless-boy-at-the-table dinner. Oh how relaxing! We both commented about how nice it was to have a quite, clean dinner...ALONE.

We went to Family Video and rented what we call "adult movies", rated R. As I was picking out the movies, my tummy flipped and started to make this really loud purring sound and I had one of those, REALLY GOTTA GO moments. I ran into the area where the restroom is supposed to be. You have to turn down this little hallway where the real adult movies are located. Very embarrassing if I do say so myself. I'm turning the door knob and pulling on the door, but it's not opening. As Gabriel would say, "I was jiggling" trying hold it in and doing a dance as I'm struggling with the door. I wonder if I was on camera? Oh the sheer horror of that thought. Anyway, with my tummy churning, I notice a sign on the door about having to go to the desk to get a key. WHAT? NO!

I run...no lie...run to the desk and ask this really cute young man for the key (even more embarrassment). Turned around with the key in hand and run back to the restroom. I'm sweatin' from the need to gotta go, and from my running to and from the restroom to the desk and back again. It's not one straight shot. There are lots of obsticles in the way... Why do that have to put movie stands right there? But I (JUST) made it. Whew!

When I come out of the very cold "one-holer" there is a young boy standing there waiting to use it. My tummy sank again because it stank in there! Poor guy! Sorry, young man.

We get home, and I'm feeling a little pukey like. I tried to ignore it. As we watched a movie, I was folding the 5 loads of laundry I did during the day. When the movie was over I took my laundry upstairs to put it away, when all hell broke loose. I felt like Reagan in the movie the Exorcist. Projectile puke. It's kind of funny too, because before I started taking the laundry up I said to Noah that I had really bad heartburn from my supper. Oh, this was really a romantic evening. I had stuff shootin' out of both ends. No romance in this house. I felt so bad. This was supposed to be a quite, romantic evening. But apparently God did not see fit to have it that way. I can see him up there chuckling at us. God works in mysterous ways. This was very mysterous to me. I'd probably be laughing too if it wasn't me it was happening too.

Noah came to bed last night around midnight, and there I was in my sweats feeling as if I had been hit by a car. He too was having some tummy issues. He was up several times in the night. We had our night alone, but it wasn't very quiet or romantic.

This morning I feel really yuckie. Oh, much better than last night, but my body just aches. And my mouth feels like a slept with old dirty socks in it. Yes, I did brush my teeth this morning, but that didn't seem to really help.

In a little while I need to go get the boyz from Grandma O's house, and then we are heading up to see Grandma Lynn and Grandma K. I'm hoping that whatever we had last night is over with. I'd like to do lunch with them.

Until next time, Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's reading this.

Tottles.

Dr Jekel & Mr Hyde...

When I picked the boyz up yesterday at Paula's they were complete opposite from the day prior. As Gabe would say, "What's up with that?" There was no running down the sidewalk, no screaming. They went right to the van and crawled into their seats. I rewarded them with McDonalds. They both ate really well too.

I know each one of us has bad days, but why do kids get that nasty "bug" in them and turn into evil little beings? Noah had a talk with Gabriel about the whole incident, and Gabe started to cry all over again. He wasn't being scolded or anything, it was just a word of caution. Noah said he told him that if he were to get hurt, that would make us cry. The tears flowed even harder.

This morning on the way to work, the radio station I listen to was doing an interview with Danny Wood. This name probably doesn't mean anything to you "older" readers, but this name makes my heart flutter. Danny Wood is a member of the 80's and 90's boy band The New Kids on the Block. Well they are getting back together for a tour this summer/fall. I sat in line at the CCC in Manitowoc in a blizzard to get tickets to see them in 1990 with my then BFF Adrianne Adams. I'm trying to get my now BFF, Vickie, to go with me to the reunion concert. They closest they will get to us (so far) is in Chicago. Oh, I so want to see my Danny again! And it would be an awesome birthday celebration. The concert is on October 4th!

It's a very chilly day today. At least the sun is out. It's also a very quiet day here at work. It's just me and my one boss, Tim...the quiet one. I nicknamed him Stealth because he gets around without anyone hearing him. Gene is just the opposite. Can't move without making noise.

Gotta get back to this horrible project I'm working on.

Tootles.

Little Devil Came Out....

So I picked up the boyz at Paula's last night. She was telling me how good they were, when all of a sudden both took off running down the block. I called to them, and neither one stopped. I took off running after them in my skirt! I was so angry with both of them. I could just see Manny running out into the road. He didn't thank God Anger and fear filled my heart.

I grabbed them both and explained my anger. Both started to cry hysterically. I was just shaking with frustration. I finally got them into the van and let it out. I had plans to take them to McDonald's for dinner. We were going to have a "nicnic" outside on our patio. Not anymore! I told them that they needed to learn to listen or the things they wanted to do would not happen.

They cried 3/4 of the way home and then it was complete silence. We got in the house and remembered my plans for dinner were canceled. Now what do I do? There was nothing defrosted. Peanut butter and jelly and chips! Yeah that will do. As I'm making the sandwiches, I could hear banging and crying coming from the bedrooms upstairs. Gabe had gone up right when we got home.

He came down for dinner, eyes red and dripping with huge tears. We said our prayers, and started to eat. Gabe looked up at me with his big brown eyes and a very sad look on his face and said to me, "Mama, when I went upstairs, I laid on my bed and cried and threw all my animals on the floor because I was so mad." I had tears in my eyes. "I got mad too, but I couldn't throw anything. Will you boys start to listen to me now?" The both looked down and wispered, "Yes."

We did what I promised. Ate supper, took a bath and went to bed. End of story. They weren't very happy with me, but I didn't care at this point. Gabe leads and Manny follows, and neither one will listen. I'm hoping this will change things.

Hope to have a better story next time.

Tootles.

First Time For Everything

So, this is the first time I'm entering a blog for the whole entire world to see. I'm very nervous...nah, just kidding. This is like keeping a diary that everyone can read. I sorta like it.

It's a gorgeous day out there today. Almost 70 and sunny. It rained this morning and Gabe asked me why the sun didn't wake up yet. Too cute.

So, Kim got me into this whole blogging thing. I love reading hers, so I thought I would start my own. Unfortunatly, I don't think I'll be posting a blog on a daily basis. My darn job gets in the way for that. I'll have more computer time now at home because the Lord has blessed me with a wonderful job. This tax season I saved up enough money to buy myself my very own laptop ...with the help of my wonderful husband, of course. He helped me out with picking the different options and components. I'm very proud of myself. I never dreamed I would be able to afford my very own. It took many years to do it, but I did it...all by myself.

So Manny had his 3-year check-up yesterday. What a good little feller. He had to wear a gown and everything. They took his blood pressure for the first time. He thought that was weird. The look on his face was like...WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO ME? He's very healthy. Average for his age in both weight and height. To us he's tiny. Doctor Trager said he was amazed at his speech. The long sentences he says and the vocabulary his astounding. Yay, Manny!

Gabriel is a little stinker. He's going through his terrible twos and he's four. Someone help me out with this please. He will not listen to me. He looks at me and shuts me out when I tell him to do something. Are all kids this way. He's a joy to be with when he's not "possessed" with that little devil.

We visited my mom at LTC on Friday afternoon, and the boyz got to meet all sorts of Police people. We got to go into a Police Science class room and the boyz each got handcuffed and got to hold the batton and the blinkin' flashlight. They were in heaven. Gabe told his papa that night that they got to touch a police man! Working at LTC when I went there, I became really good friends with one of the instructors, Dave. So whenever I visit my mom, I pop my head in to see Dave...whether he's in class or not. The first time I took Gabe out there to visit, Dave was teaching, and I peeked my head in the door of the class room, and Dave looked up and saw me with Gabe, and invited me in so he could hold Gabe...right in the middle of class.

Until next time. Tootles.