blogger elbow?!? OUCH

For the past couple of days my left elbow has been sore. It feels like a bruise, yet there is hardly any evidence of one. I even asked my hubby to take a look at it last night, it was so sore.

Then this morning, as I sat down to the computer with my hot coffee and opened the 35 blogs I try to read daily into tabs, I leaned forward to start reading and realized that I have been setting my left arm on the edge of the computer desk. The sore part matches perfectly with the spot I was leaning on.

Hmmm, how ridiculous would I look wearing elbow pads while reading blogs at the computer?


****This blog will be temporarily interrupted by a quick weekend trip to Texas with my mother and sister. Have a super weekend everyone. I will blog back next week.

Butterfly Release

This was really beautiful.
Love you Grandpa T., Grandma E. and Daddy!
I can track our butterflies at Monarchmarch.org.

I am only two more kids away from this....

***update, she has 6 children, not five, I am barely half-way there...thank goodness.

A witty eBay listing attracts worldwide attention.

here is her blog link ... Because I said so

Warning! Do not read if your bladder is full. Unfortunately, I know this from experience.

This is what we are doing tomorrow...

August 28, 2007 -- ( 5:30 - 6:30 PM )
Flight of Hope: A Butterfly Release

LOCATION:
Sertoma Park

DESCRIPTION:

AseraCare Hospice invites you to honor loved ones that have been lost or are currently battling illness in this years "Flight of Hope: A Butterfly Release". The event will begin at 5:30 pm with inspirational readings, music and fellowship followed by a collective release of butterflies.

First annual Irish Spud Days a success...

The first annual Irish Spud Days have come and gone in this tiny village we call home. It was a community wide effort and I think we all wore ourselves out. My kids will have some amazing memories of the parade, the inflatables, the food and the dance.



It was an awesome example of what living in the village is really like.The sun came out and cooked a few of us who weren't expecting it. It was a gorgeous day.



Next year will be even better, because now we have experience to learn from.

Me too, mommy!

Thursday, my ds started preschool. He turns four in October. He is growing up way too fast.

I have been living in a crazy tornado world this week. I didn't even tell him it was his first day until he woke up and then I forgot the camera until pickup time. He survived, when I arrived to pick up he was helping clean up the cars.

There are gonna be some lonely days in my household until this baby comes.

No wonder I broke down last night. The tears were a'flowing. With all this rain and my soggy head, I might just grow some webbed feet.

I love my life, I love my life, I love my life. Lord, give me the strength to live it.

"I'm ready"

Today was dd's first day of kindergarten. I think it went pretty well.

The morning started out with a phone call from grandma. When dd got off the phone, I asked her what grandma said. "She told me that the angels will watch over me at school and take care of me and my new friends and my teacher." I love grandma.

She has had her bag packed for about a week now. Full with all her items from the list, it was almost bigger than she is. She got herself ready this morning, brushed her hair and her teeth, and put her own barrettes in. Which was a blessing, because I was busy 'dealing' with her little brother who is demanding my attention more and more these days. After about 20 minutes or so of meddling, she came out of her room and said, "I'm ready." That was that.

We walked the three blocks to the elementary building and she put her book bag in the classroom and took a seat. I was shaking so terribly by this point, my photos were all blurry. I kissed her forehead goodbye and she never even looked at me. I guess she was ready. I don't think I can say the same for myself.

to those who drove by last evening...

For the past two or three nights I have been hearing things. Little bumps in the night have been freaking me out. DH has been on nights and I think I kind of psych myself out when he works all night long.

Anyway, last night he got off early and I told him about the noises. He rummaged around for a flashlight and couldn't find one. Finally he used one of those flicker things I use to light my candles to look into the window wells. Sure enough there was a frog in each window well. It had been trying to jump out for days and each time it hit the window, it thumped.

I need to apologize to anyone who may have been driving by shortly after midnight. (What are you doing up that late on a Sunday night in the first place?) The scene was probably quite entertaining. Me in my jammies with all the lights on in the basement holding up the blinds while my husband is out side holding a lighter trying to catch frogs in the window wells.

But I finally got me some sleep.

end of the season...

It's over. Finished. Complete.

Partly because I washed the hat. Partly because of poor umping and a super competitive opposing team with a couple of A+ hitters.

straight from the website....

Muckdogsfinished the 2007 season with an overall record of 27 and 8.

Congratulations to Dell Rapids on another State B Championship!!Cornbeltleague had another great showing at State, Congrats to all the other Cornbelt teams too! I believe the Cornbelt teams had a combined record of 14 wins and 6 losses at the tourney, 2 of those losses came from a vs. Cornbelt match up.

Another big congratulations to Matt Mathiesen for winning the batting title! He tied with Derek West from Chamberlain, both batted .667!!

The Muckdogs won their first, second & third round games of the State Tournament. They beat Britton 15-5 in 7 innings, Vermillion 4-2 & Redfield 12-4. This is the 5th straight season of a Quarterfinals showing or better for the Muckdogs!

If you want to see the Muckdogs in person and maybe even get an autograph or two, they will be throwing candy at the Parade on Saturday August 25th at 10:00 am in Montrose. They hope to see you all there.

Thanks to the many fans who showed up to cheer on the home team during this exciting and pretty darn successful 2007 season. GO MUCKDOGS!

Superstitions and baseball...

It was probably about 10 years ago when I first heard him say..."Where are my lucky underwear?". Had I known then what I know now about the great American tradition of baseball and all that it comes with, I might not have exchanged those rings...

Over the last 10 years or so of our marriage I have been able to learn, firsthand, the way that these little superstitions work. Usually after I break one or ruin the luck or jinx the team or whatever the catch phrase is.

One year it was the Hershey t-shirt. He wore that shirt under his uniform every game. I washed it the same way each time, until one night when it wasn't in the pile with his uniform. I put a different white t-shirt in the pile of clean clothes and when he found it...well I was not so politely informed that he ALWAYS wears the Hershey shirt and nothing else will do.

It may be a pair of undershorts or even a before the game ritual, or the cheek I kiss him goodbye on. But usually it is something that is completely beyond my female comprehension. So today, when I saw his filthy, dirty hat lying on the floor I popped it into the washer with the rest of the blues... I didn't dry it, left it nice and shaped to be air dried by the lucky baseballs trolls and their tiny, invisible hairdryers. When my husband woke up I tentatively asked him, "So, would you, had you a choice, choose to wash your hat or leave it dirty?" The look that came from his eyes could have bore a hole in my head. "I take that as a 'leave it'?" I nervously giggled. Just an FYI to anyone out there. Never and I mean NEVER wash a hat during a winning streak.

I politely reminded him that there was something else that he hasn't done the entire winning streak and if he pushed it, I could go a year or better without it. End of conversation.

Play Ball!

DISCLAIMER*** I will take complete responsibility for any loss to the team because I a: washed the dirty hat and b:told the world about it.

Muckdogs advance to semifinals

Montrose routs Redfield en route to semifinals
Matt Bunke
The Daily Republic - 08/18/2007

SIOUX FALLS — After struggling a bit offensively in Tuesday night’s win over Vermillion, the Montrose Muckdogs made sure to score plenty of runs in Friday’s 12-4 victory over Redfield Dairy Queen in a quarterfinal game at the Class B state tournament.

But as it turned out, they didn’t really need many of them with (DH) on the mound.

(DH) gave up a run in the top of the first inning and ran out of gas in the eighth, surrendering three more runs, but for most of the night, Redfield struggled against the Muckdogs’ starter.

(DH's) final line showed three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings pitched, but the numbers weren’t indicative of his true performance.

After allowing a first-inning run on a Keith Gall RBI single, (DH) cruised all the way through the seventh inning. After stranding a Redfield runner at third base in the second inning, he didn’t allow another runner past second until the eighth inning.

“He was very impressive,” Montrose manager Jeff DeBates said. “He kept the ball down. He changed speeds and nothing was ever the same (arm) angle with him. He played a heck of a game.”

But after cruising through the seventh inning with barely a threat, (DH) began to tire in the eighth inning.

He allowed a walk and a single to open the inning, and after surrendering a two-run triple to John Tadlock, his night was over.

“I got a little tired, and the legs got a little loose,” (DH) said. “I just ran out of gas I think.”

For Redfield, however, it was far too late.

While (DH) was shutting Redfield down for six consecutive innings, the Muckdogs’ were busy building a 10-1 lead, making (DH's) eighth-inning hiccup virtually meaningless.

Montrose did much of the offensive damage in a six-run fourth inning. After Jeff Schultz and Jake Kloos opened the inning with consecutive singles, Matt Mathiesen’s sacrifice bunt set the stage for Eric Graves’ two-run single. An infield single by Jamie Grosdidier followed by an error on Redfield third baseman Mark Gulseth loaded the bases.

Chris Conrad drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, and with two outs, Chad DeBates followed with an RBI single. Jason Brown’s two-run double capped the inning.

“I guess they just came ready to play tonight,” Jeff DeBates said of his team’s offense explosion. “We had a lot of two out hits. Those were big.”

Montrose managed just one hit in the first three innings against Redfield starter Lonni Stover, who entered the tournament with a 7-0 record. But in the fourth through ninth innings, the Muckdogs banged out 18 hits.

After going scoreless in the first three innings, Montrose also scored in every remaining inning except the seventh, when singles by Graves and (DH) were wasted. The Muckdogs scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and they plated a pair in both the eighth and ninth.

“We didn’t really hit ball early on,” said Brown, who finished with three doubles. “We just kind of hung with it and made some adjustments, and then we started hitting the ball a little bit.”

Schultz finished the game 4-for-6 with two RBI at the plate. (DH) complimented his nice pitching performance with four hits of his own, and Mathiesen, Graves and Grosdidier all had two hits for Montrose.

The Muckdogs advance to play in one of tonight’s semifinal games at 7:30 p.m. against either Irene or the Parkston Mudcats, who were scheduled to start at 8:55 p.m. Friday night. Results were not available at press time. Dell Rapids PBR and Larchwood will meet in the other semifinal at 1 p.m.

The two winners will advance to Sunday’s championship game in Sioux Falls. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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lunch today

Alfredo (without the fuss)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour and heat until bubbly. Slowly stir in cream, Parmesan, and seasoning. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly for 5-7 minutes or until thick. Serve over pasta. (It was very thick and I used half and half, I think next time I will just try milk, for an even lighter version)

We had this with green beans and fruit and homemade Italian bread sticks. A good "game day" lunch full of carbs...

Soft Italian BreadsticksI use the dough only cycle on my bread maker to prepare these bread sticks.

1 cup water (70-80 degrees)

3 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 ½ tsp. salt

3 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

2/14 tsp. active dry yeast

Topping:

1 Tbsp butter melted

1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1) In bread machine pan, place the first eight ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 -2 tbsp. of water or flour if needed). This step takes about 1.5 hours.

2) When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cut each portion into 12 pieces; roll each into a 4 in. to 6 in. rope. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 20 minutes. (mine always takes longer J )

3) Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately brush with butter; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve warm. Yield: 2 dozen. (These freeze really well!)

missing...one tooth

and she did it all by herself,

and school starts next week,

I might as well be planning her wedding....sniff, sniff

you know those Mac vs. PC commercials?

a modern day Job...

yeah, what she said...

I read a lot of blogs. I started doing this over a year ago and now I am hooked. Morning coffee, thirty some odd blogs to read and I get on with my day. One of the newest blogs I have gotten hooked on has an amazing author who is undergoing chemo for IBC and she describes how what I call my blog 'therapy' is like in better words than I ever could, here is a snippet.

I’ve found a community.

I’m amazed and overwhelmed at the depth of this community, as I find new blogs every day (or you find me) that blow me away with their wisdom, their humor, their insights into the minutae of daily life that reveal our innermost selves. I feel as if I’ve stepped through the looking glass and found a treasure trove (to mix my metaphors) of womenfolk waiting, blogging, each of us at our own computers and during our own children’s naptime, or respite from housework, or spare moment at the office, to discuss, to banter, to reminisce, and to offer a hug when it is needed most.

It’s hard to explain my affection for blogging and blogfriends to those not intimately familiar with it, but I think it goes something like this.

I’ve always been sure to have a metaphorical and physical space for my own work. A place where I felt comfortable spreading out, reading, writing, and leaving things on the table when I’m done. The Room of One’s Own that Virginia Woolf described has been critical to my thinking and writing throughout the years.

But blogging. Blogging is even better. Blogging is the window in the room.

It’s as if one day last August I walked into my room, turned on the lamp, and suddenly noticed the window on the far wall, where none had been before. When I opened the curtains, the room was flooded with light and warmth, and I could hear a chorus of voices spilling through. I looked out, and discovered an amazing view — not the restful mountains or the popular beach — but a courtyard, filled with children of all ages, laughing, playing, crying, inventing, growing up together, and a sea of other windows — moms — each in a room of their own, writing their own lives, but pausing intermittently to check on the children and to be inspired by them and the women who love them. The windows are close enough that we can call to each other on the spring breezes when we are stuck, when we have something to celebrate, when we have something to mourn.

And it’s a beautiful way to live.

go see her full post, titled "Internet Vacation" at Toddler Planet

when it rains it...

pours, right?

I think HE figured I had spent enough time sweating the small stuff, because my ds came down with the pukes last night a couple of hours after I left him with a brand new babysitter. I was at my dh's ballgame when I got the phone call, "um, he just threw up in his room. He went back to sleep now." My head couldn't even focus on the rest of the game. Although I did make the controversial choice to stay for the last couple of innings. I couldn't help but be reminded of HIS Plan when I remembered how I struggled to find a way to get to the game without driving two cars. After much deliberation, we decided my husband would drive himself and I would follow later in our second vehicle, what a blessing to be able to walk out of the stadium after that last pitch and drive the 25 minutes home to be with my son who was just waking up to get sick again. We were up into the wee hours of the morning holding the bucket. I hope I can get some fluids down him today.

Any way the Muckdogs won again. Next game= Muckdogs vs. Redfield - AUG 17, FRI @ 6pm.

today's lunch menu...

Baked chicken with teriyaki sauce
Stir fry vegetables with oriental sauce
Rice
Oranges

Teriyaki Sauce (makes 6 servings)

1/2 C soy sauce 3 T. dry mustard

1/4 C veg. oil 3 T. honey

1 c. sugar (white) 6 cloves of garlic (3 tsp. minced)

Whip together to marinate or cook up a batch and save to use later...

Oriental Sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce 1 garlic clove (I tsp.minced)

2 T. brown sugar 2 T. water

1 t. ground ginger slivered almonds (optional)

This is yummy for stir fry veggies...

And just because we are going Asian...

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup white vinegar

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tsp. corn starch

1/4 tsp SRIRACHA hot chili sauce (Asian hot sauce) I use my own hot sauce

Mix ingredients in a saucepan and stir - cook to a boil - cool - serve.

Crab Rangoon 1 - 6 oz pkg. of imitation crab meat 1 - 16 oz pkg. of cream cheese 1/4 C. minced or chopped onion 1/4 C. minced or chopped green onions 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. black pepper To prepare let cream cheese set at room temp. to soften Mix and stir all the ingredients together in one bowl, try to break up the crab well. Spoon a tablespoon of the cream mixture on the the center of a won ton. You will have to adjust the amount you use depending on the size of the won ton. Fold and shape your crab Rangoon and as soon as you are finished you should place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Preheat a deep fat fryer to 350 degrees. Take crab Rangoon from freezer and fry until they are golden brown remove and place on a paper towel. We made these last Christmas and they were delicious!

ever wish your brain had a REFRESH button?

I do.

It is 4:25 am and I can't sleep, again. My brain won't shut off and there is a monkey in my belly.

In the past two days I have gone off of tangents about the silliest, stupidest stuff and had to apologize to no less than five people for my immature behavior. I am officially a wreck.

So, I have been lying in bed for the last who knows how many hours wallowing in my misery about my crabbiness, next to my 'sicker than a dog' hubby who is breathing his nasty illness on me. There I go again. I can't even make it through three paragraphs without a nasty.

I have this insane necessity of holding on to everything for way to long. It is disgusting. It would be very convenient to just hit the @#$% refresh button, instead of keeping me up at night. I am all about convenience nowadays.

Lord knows I have nothing to be thankful for. (sarcastic sigh)
I have a miracle growing inside my less than 8 month old, chemotherapy cleaned, body. I have a husband who loves me (for reasons beyond my comprehension) even when I am crabby for days, weeks, and months at a time. I have two beautiful children. I have a family and friends who care about me, I know this for a fact, they have proved it to me in too many ways to count.

So why can't I just be normal?

My brain is clouded with junk. I can't be calm when I have all these negative thoughts flying around. How can I possibly be focused on the right things when all this yucky stuff gets in the way? I am miserable. In fact, I get this way quite often, too often.

More often, since I have been sick, I have decided to pray when I get this way. I can't remember what I did before, but I know I didn't pray much. I pray that I can let go of these thoughts that are weighing me down. I pray for peace and for comfort. It is a lot harder than it sounds.

According to Joyce Meyer in The Battlefield of the Mind, "The mind is normal when it is at rest - not blank, but at rest." Here is a quote from Chapter 8.

"As believers, we are spiritual, and we are also natural. The natural does not always understand the spiritual; therefore, it is vitally necessary for out minds to be enlightened concerning what is going on in our spirits. The Holy Spirit desires to bring us this enlightenment, but the mind often misses what the spirit is attempting to reveal because it is too busy. A mind that is too busy is abnormal."

I have the busiest mind I know, therefore I am the most abnormal person I can think of. Refreshing.
AND, I am missing what the Lord is attempting to reveal to me through His Spirit. Wonderful.

so much for this Bible study being elementary...

I am shocked and completely flabbergasted at how much wrong thinking I am doing. I am again amazed at the power that Satan has over my thoughts. He aggressively fights against the renewal of my mind. I am trying to let these thoughts go and get rid of them and they keep coming right back. I desperately need freedom. I am addicted to thinking this way.

I can relate to Paul's Prayer as he wrote in his letter to the Ephesians 1:15-19

"I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of your Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power."

I know that right thinking has NOTHING to do with salvation. Salvation is based on Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection, and my believe in that. I believe that I will be in heaven. But I am a struggling believer, because I am not walking in victory or enjoying the good plan God has for me. I want to enjoy being a Christian. I want it to be in every part of my life, not just my every other Wednesday night Bible study, my weekend worship and a devotion every now and again. I want it to be in every thought, word, and action that I possess. I want to breathe it.

I want to put it in practice like the apostle Paul tells me in his letter to the Philippians 4:8-9

"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ABOUT THOSE THINGS. Keep on doing the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you."

and he gives me the encouragement I so desperately need in verse 13

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." AMEN.

I have been a Christian for a long time now, many years, and am just now beginning to learn how to live my life. I wish I would have been born knowing these things, but I know that this struggle is the part of the battle that He wants us to win. It makes me stronger, right?

And so I pray this prayer that I keep in my Bible on a tattered piece of paper, someone gave it to me years ago and I keep coming back to it...

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But, I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me. And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

You Can’t Put A Name On This Much Fun.

Or Can You?

Celebrate With Montrose During Our
First Annual Montrose Event on August 25th!

Event to be held at the Terry Donelan Softball Complex.

Proceeds from the event go toward helping those in need in the Montrose community. Bring the family and invite your friends! Bring a lawnchair! All registration is on Main Street.

(Oh, and suggest a name for the event and WIN).

5K Run 8:30 am
(Registration begins at 8 am)
1 Mile Walk 9:30 am
(Registration begins at 8 am)
Potato Digging Contest 8 am
Lawn Mower Poker Run 9 am
Parade 10 am (line up near the school at 930 am)
Motorcycle Poker Run Register 8-10 am
(Run starts after Parade)
Potato Salad Contest 11 am
Potluck Lunch 11:30 am
Bean Bag Tournament 12 pm
(Registration at 11:00 am)
Tator Tot Kids Games 1–4 pm
PLUS Inflatables, Bingo, Dunk Tank,
Greased Watermelon Races
Cow Pie Bingo 3–6 pm
Kickball Tournament 4 pm
Potato Bar Supper 6 pm
Music by Dakota Gaels
Music by Neo Johnsons 8 pm-Midnight

state update...

The Muckdogs win their first round game vs. Britton, winning 15-5 in 7 innings.

Next game: Vermillion (Grey Socks) vs. Montrose Muckdogs - 8/14 Tues - 8pm

updates

not a day of rest...

needless to say, I used a few dozen clothespins today...sigh.

For those of you who can't make the game in person...

Click link below for live web cast. It's the ftp link. The 30 Second refresh is not working correct, you may have to use the refresh button to update current game on the webcast.

I found this at the South Dakota Amateur Baseball webpage .

ftp://dakfiles.daktronics.com/DakStats/Webcast/SDAM/2007%2520State%2520Amateur%2520Tourney%2520From%2520Sioux%2520Falls.htm

...maybe not the whole wide WORLD...

I have been watching my husband play baseball for about 18 years now(I should know a lot more about the game than I do:)). For the last 6 years or so I have been pregnant or bringing a baby along with me to the games, which makes for an entirely different experience altogether. The wonderful thing is I am not the only girlfriend/wife who attends games anymore AND I am not the only mommy who brings rug rats. I really do enjoy watching the games (when I am not running after the munchkins). These past few years have been particularly exciting since we have been winning in districts and playing in the state games. In 2005 we even took the State Championship! This past Sunday, my handsome hubby pitched an awesome game and took home the MVP plaque for the District Tourney Championship, as well as earning his team the Championship Title, with a little help from the other Muckdogs, of course:) When my 3 year old saw the plaque on the shelf with the shiny, gold, plastic, half baseball stuck to it he said, "mommy, is daddy the best baseball player in the whole wide world?" A little three year old...well almost four now, wisdom for ya. So, hopefully for the next whole week and a few days more I will be cheering on the Muckdogs at the Sioux Falls Stadium as they try for their second state title. They play on Saturday at 1pm. See the website for more details.MUCKDOGS WEBSITE

*photo "borrowed" from the local paper

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my children.

For Carey...and me

Home Economics


as defined by INDEXED who is celebrating her first year of blogging.

Dear Lord...

where have I gone wrong when my children use the precious peanut m&m's for diving beads?

give me enough rest so that I have energy to raise this monkey in my belly!

grant me strength to make it through two more weeks of South Dakota Amateur baseball, please.

keep the rain showers coming to cool me off and green the grass so the world is pretty to look at, it distracts me from my life...

the next top models for Burpee seeds...

Man, I love Sunflowers! This one was a surprise. We didn't plant any this year, but we had several little leftovers from last years crop. Only two survived, this one and one in my veggie garden. The veggie one was felled by the recent rain (I read you had this problem, too, B).

I wanted to take pictures of them with the kids, but they grew much too tall. If I only remembered the variety, I would send a photo into a seed company for next spring's catalog...

August 1st, 2007

As we woke up my son whispered to me, "Mom can we stay here forever?" He was referring to his favorite spot in the world; an aunt and uncle's place in Prior Lake, MN. They have every thing a little boy has ever wanted...a four wheeler and a trail to ride it on.
He rode that thing every moment he could, he begged whoever was around to drive him. AND, when he wasn't riding it, he was wearing that blasted helmet. I think he would have slept in it if we didn't make him take it off.
His uncle just bought a new toy, too. Dh tried that out too, jk RK!?!?
The rest of us, in between giving ds four-wheeler rides, rested the day away. Except dh, I guess, he found an axe and starting cutting up some fire wood from the shelter belt around the house for his sister's new fire pit. Dh's sister and I made a quick visit to an awesome thrifty spot called Unique, I have no idea where it is, but it is worth the drive from where ever you are. I got the kids some VHS tapes for 80 cents and enough baskets organize my entire home and drive my hubby insane. In the late afternoon, dh and his sister were still deciding whether or not to attend the Twins game, about 25 miles away. I was putting the pressure on, dh hardly ever gets to see his favorite team play in person and I knew my son would love it,too. Finally, he put his foot down and said he didn't want to go, can't help but think it was the scrambled tummy from the fair still playing a major role. So we sent him to Super Target to get some necessities for supper. A few hours later while dh was grilling, his brother-in-law came home and told us to come and watch the t.v. We stood there in that cozy family room off the kitchen watching in horror as we learned that the 35W bridge crumbled in rush hour traffic not 20 minutes ago. We watched as the cameras zoomed in on a cloud of dust and fire. The chaos of people running from cars and cement still crumbling. We watched late into the evening hearing about kids on school buses and brave rescue efforts. It was a freak accident that my own family so narrowly avoided because of the decision not to attend the game. I prayed for the families who were affected, for the rescue workers, for the first responders, for the kids in the bus. We stayed the night and left early the next morning, because I had a doctor's appointment in Sioux Falls. Things were eerily calm and quiet when we left the cities the next morning. We stopped for a paper, but the news was contradictory, 9 dead, 7 dead, 60 injured, 20-30 missing. It was still too early, we listened to NPR all the way home. They interviewed engineers, politicians, people from FEMA. Everyone was hypothesizing what may have happened. Then they lowered the death toll to 4. I was a bit shocked, "how can 3-5 people come back to life?". They continued to say that preliminary reports were only estimates and that the numbers would take days to confirm.

I walked into my ultrasound with a renewed sense of how fragile life truly is.

Suddenly finding out whether or not my unborn child has a cleft lip wasn't all that important anymore.

the best way to end July...

It took us all day Monday to decide what to do on my dh's vacation from work. The Black Hills, Valley fair, Okaboji, and camping at a local campground were choices that we tossed around in our heads for hours. Finally with a little coaxing from Sanford's employee discount we decided to travel to the cities for a few days.
After looking online for a hotel room and trying to decide which one was closest to Shakopee, we finally gave up and just decided to get one when we arrived. We had to stop at the hospital in Sioux Falls and get the tickets before we left and it was nearly 5 pm before we were on the road.
We stopped for a bite at a McDonald's and my dh grabbed a free magazine with coupons for hotels in it as we left. There was a coupon for a weeknight stay at a hotel with a pool and sauna for only $45.00! What luck?!?! We hoped it was a nice place.
We arrived in Burnsville at about 9 pm and hit the pool first. It was small but nice and the hotel was clean and cozy. The next morning we had a free newspaper and hot coffee and donuts, too! Ryan called his sister and asked if her youngest would like to come along with us to Valley fair. We stopped at their place and picked up S and still made it to the fair before 10:30. I had researched the rides for the kids and was surprised to find that there was almost 20 rides they could get on by themselves and even more that they could ride with daddy.
Right before we paid a full ticket price for S, my three year old tugged on my shorts and said, "Mommy, I found this garbage on the ground" I looked at what he was holding and it was a $6 off coupon for admission to http://www.valleyfair.com/. It didn't exactly pay for parking ($9!!!), but we used it and felt like we got a great deal.
The kids really enjoyed the rides, my ds especially like the Mild Thing. He was all smiles.
DD enjoyed the water park.

S said she really liked the Corkscrew. I paid an insane amount of money to ride a tiny Ferris wheel, the carousel and put my feel in some cool water. But I had the most fun watching my husband and kids ride all my favorite rides.





My dd usually disappeared into the armpit of my dh and my ds put his hands in the air and held his head up high. Dh says his stomach will never be the same after the Monster and the Twirl.
We watched a couple of really talented bands and acts while we were there, too. It was a very satisfying day. But by 6pm my feet hurt and dh's tummy was in trouble so we packed up and headed to his sister's house in Prior Lake.
Thus ends our July.

Singing in the Rain, and playing, too...

It rained while we were in the Twin Cities and we missed it. Dh mowed for the first time in a month and the garden started to perk up. Then it rained again. Sweet tears from heaven to quench the thirst of the plants and the ground and cool the temperature for a few precious days. It was a blessing. My kids ran outside with raincoats, umbrellas and mud shoes...and they came in like this :)

Thank you Jesus for making it green again!

for Karen, currently residing in 'Bama

I could pass for a 53 pound watermelon if you painted my belly green, huh?