Merrimans Lifesong

Harlem Globetrotters

2012-02-09T00:39:00.001-06:00

We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters last week. It was the first time for all of us. One of the best games of basketball I have ever seen, and oh, oh, oh so funny!!! We laughed out loud all night! We had great seats--6th row up from the floor.

Globie (spelling?) the mascot. There was also Mini Globie his little brother (which I didn't get a pic of) and then his big brother Big G.

Stretch is sooooo tall! I don't know his exact height, but I'm sure you could find that on the internet if you really wanted to. Here are a few pics of him...

He was holding the ball up way in the air trying to get the little girl to jump up for it!


He just towers over everybody during autograph signing.

Here are some random pics:

The MC--I forgot his name

The opposing team was really good

The refs were awesome and added to the fun

Big Easy--he wore a microphone all night and was the leader of the team and the fun

Each half of the court had two of these 4 point circles. Scooter made 3 of these shots in a row!

This was one of Wichita's news anchors acting as a special ref

Well, did you have any doubt that the Globetrotters would win?

Autograph signing was CRAZY! Roger and Evan got Bingo's and Bull's signatures. Then we got in line to get Big Easy's signature and a pic taken with him, and we were so close to it being our turn, but time elapsed. I took the first pic with Big Easy in the background--it doesn't look like we were all that close to him, but the camera fools you in this pic because we really were. In the next pic, as Big Easy was walking away, people crowded close to him to get one last autograph for him, and you can see Evan in the white hat and black hoodie trying to squeeze close holding up the basketball--he made it and got the autograph!

We had so much fun. If you are a Wichita friend reading this, they usually come to town each February. If there is any way you can save up the money to go see them, I really recommend it. It was one of the funnest nights I have ever had with my family. I would love to go see them again!

School

2012-02-02T19:53:00.000-06:00

School has been going well since the beginning of 2012.

We just finished our 3rd week of co-op. Evan's classes are General Science, P.E., Physics, Knights and Vikings, and Discovering Great Artists. Lauren's classes are Art, Handbells, Physics, Native Americans, and Discovering Great Artists. Yep, E and L are in two classes together. That's usually quite an age range to have a 2nd grader in the same class as a 5th grader, but it's been working out well. I am enjoying being a helper in the classes instead of teaching this semester. I have the 9:00 hour free, but then I help in two hours of Handbells, Knights and Vikings, and then Discovering Great Artists. I think I will be ready to teach next fall, though; I think I'm kind of missing that. Still considering what to teach, though.

At home, we started 5th and 2nd grade at the beginning of January. Evan is studying Rome right now and the human body. Lauren is studying the USA and general science. They are working through their MathUSee curriculum. We are in a really good routine and keeping up with the curriculums. If we work through the summer then come next fall we will be on a "regular" school schedule--meaning Evan will be starting 6th grade and Lauren 3rd grade at the same time public schools start. OH MY GOODNESS!! I will have a middle schooler! And my little girl will be a 3rd grader! Time really does move fast.

We will be attending some great field trips this spring. This month we will be going to the Cosmosphere and to see a play based on one of my favorite kids books, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The kids are doing the YMCA Homeschool P.E. class on Wednesdays and Fridays this month. On Wednesdays they swim, and then Fridays are different fitness activities.

Today I took them to Exploration Place and we saw the cyber dome/planetarium movie about Egypt. Evan studied that in his 4th grade curriculum, so it was neat to see the pyramids, hyroglyphics, etc. in the movie. However, those cyber domes/planetariums are a little bit freaky. The rows of seats are so steep, and you feel like your seats are sometimes moving. Then, we went through the GPS/geocaching exhibit they had and that was fun. That was their schooling today--no book work at home. I love homeschooling!

What Happened to Winter?

2012-02-01T00:12:00.000-06:00

Hhhmmmm.....the kids are playing outside in shorts and no jackets. Can this really be January 31st?!

Lauren and the Combine

2011-12-19T18:30:00.000-06:00

Lauren got to go with dad a couple of weeks ago to his work and climbed up into and got to ride in a combine!

Busy Holiday Weekend

2011-12-19T11:40:00.002-06:00

Thursday night I went to one of Roger's work parties. I usually dread these because I don't know anybody, and they usually talk about nothing but work. However, this party was really fun. It was held at the Hilton by the airport. They started off the party by doing a wife swap. They would call a man's name, and then a woman's name and they had to pair up and be a team to play the games that were there. There was billiards, basketball hoops, darts, ping pong, video games, and a laser shooting game. My name was the first woman's name called, and I was paired up with someone that was sitting at our table that I was already getting to know as he and his wife chatted with Roger and I. He was very competitive, but so am I, so it was fun. We didn't get to play all the games. I stunk at the shooting game. Did not bad at darts. And the only other game we got to was billiards and I am happy to say that I shot in 4 of our striped balls, and sunk the 8 ball to win the game for us! The food was delicious--I had mahi mahi. At the end of the night everyone got to choose gift cards starting with the team that won the most games. My team only won 2 games. The most someone won was 9, so they got to choose a gift card first. Roger chose a Lowe's card and I chose an Olive Garden card. Both of these will definitely be used by our family.

Friday night was another work party. This time we met at a country club close to Roger's work, or about 45 minutes away from our house. Again, the food was delicious--I had a pork chop. I got to meet more people Roger worked with, and this party was only talking with people at our table. At both of these parties I saw a real difference between the people Roger used to work with and the people he works with now. The people he works with now are a lot friendlier, and like to talk about other things than just work. They seem to be more down to earth. I really had a couple of nice evenings.

Saturday we took the kids to see the lights at Botanica. I've heard really good things about this event. It started at 5:30 and we decided to be there around 5:00 so we could get there early and get it over with quickly before the temperatures got too chilly after the sun went down. Although the lights were pretty, we weren't that impressed. First of all, even though we have a membership to Botanica, we only saved $1 per adult for the admission price. One garden only had lights shaped in poinsettia flowers. One garden only had lights shaped like butterflies flapping their wings. One garden only had tree trunks wrapped in white lights with a couple of lighted deer within the trees. There were two displays where the lights moved in time to music, but to be honest, we have seen better displays like this in neighborhood homes. We did take a few pics of things, and even though it all looks pretty, overall, we felt it was something we can say we have done, but really don't have the desire to do again--at least not for several years or until they create more variety of lights in the gardens.

Santa was in the cottage that you can enter after going through the butterfly house. Lauren absolutely did not want to see him and kept hiding behind me and Roger. We told her she didn't have to see him, but once we got up to him, Santa talked her into getting a pic taken with him.

There were several chimineas along the paths we could stop at and get warmed up.

In the barn in the children's garden we bought some hot chocolate. It really does keep you warm as you walk around the outside chilly air drinking it.

They had the little house in the children's garden decorated really cute.

There is just something about a train that attract kids. This display was by the greenhouse.

This was the garden with the poinsettia light displays. The fountain was really pretty. You can see the luminaries dotting the path.

A huge wreath in the butterfly house.

These lighted trees were really tall, even though it looks like from this pic that it is just a small display we are standing in front of. This area was roped off, so we couldn't get closer to it.

Then, last night we took a free 1 hour bus tour to see some neighborhood lights. We saw some pretty impressive house displays. But, really didn't get any good opportunities to take pics. It was a busy weekend, but a fun one.

That Holiday In October

2011-12-17T22:16:00.000-06:00

Yeah, okay, we are approaching Christmas and I am blogging about that holiday that occurs in October! But, I'm just trying to catch up on my blog posts. I am not a big fan of Halloween--I never have been, even not so much as a kid. We dressed up for school, and went trick-or-treating, but I ~~hated~~ HATED all of the glorified scary stuff that came along with all of that. I really did like the dressing up part, though. Ever since our kids have been little, I've been torn about whether or not they should participate in this holiday. Well, we have let them.

Our church does a great Harvest Party for the public every year and we have participated in that in a few different ways like helping to direct parking, bagging up cotton candy, etc. This year was the best one yet I feel. Yes, you do get the public kids, and sometimes even the parents, who dress up in gross or scary costumes. You would think they would think differently when attending something at a church, but that is "the world" for you. Evan is kind of getting to the point where he is growing out of little kids costumes, so this year he decided just to wear his soccer team uniform. Woohoo! Saved some money that way since we didn't have to buy him a costume.

Lauren wanted to be Raggedy Ann. She already had a cute homemade rag doll looking dress that she wears to church that I had found at a garage sale, and she had some black dress shoes. All she needed was a wig and tights. I had some swagbucks sitting in my amazon.com account and was able to use them to buy an adorable wig hair/hat combo and some red/white striped tights. (If you would like to earn free bucks just by searching the web, then click on this link and sign up for your swagbucks account: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/risencakes)

The actual night of Halloween, Lauren went to a birthday party and Roger and Evan met up with some friends to go trick or treating around the neighborhood. Roger got to sit in the driveway and pass out the candy while the other moms took the kids door to door.

We also carved pumpkins this year using stencils we downloaded from the internet. They actually came out really well and were a lot of fun. Roger decided he want to free hand his carving and make a face. He wasn't thrilled with how it came out, and it was a little creepy. We talked him into making a smile so it at least looked a little better like a happy smiling pumpkin. They looked really neat on the porch at night with those fake flame candle lights put inside them.

Scouts Christmas Party

2011-12-16T10:51:00.000-06:00

In order for Evan to receive his free pinewood derby car for that upcoming event, he had to sit on Santa's lap. He was not thrilled about that, nor was he thrilled about the Christmas carol rotation station. He just stood there--I laughed every time I looked over at him and saw the "this is boring and when will it be over" look on his face. He did enjoy the Minute to Win It game and won a couple of those. I just had to take this picture of him with Santa, though. It will be his last time at this kind of party since next year he will be a Boy Scout and not a Cub Scout any more. He's growing up so fast, and this is just one of those memories that when I look at this picture, I will remember him as my little boy.

Soccer 2011-2012

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000-06:00

This is Evan's soccer team this year--the Black Hawks (Evan is the blond second from the left). Again, he has another nice coach, and enthusiastic assistant coach. One of the other players on his team is the son of a couple that used to work with Roger at Cessna, so it's been fun seeing them and chatting with them every week. Of course, soccer is done for the winter season, but come spring the team starts back up again--same team, which is one thing I like about AYSO. Evan went to a birthday party this weekend for someone from church and he was telling me he may not know any other kids that, but it will be okay because he makes friends pretty easily. Guess what? When we arrived at the party the couple from Cessna's son was there and so was the assistant soccer coach's son! They both are in the same class at school as the birthday boy. I knew Evan would have a great time at the party for sure!

Look What I Made: Yoyo Christmas Trees

2011-12-08T20:12:00.001-06:00

We decided to make some homemade Christmas presents for some people this year and one idea was yo-yo trees. I had seen a tutorial on line for this over a year ago and wanted to attempt this last year, but didn't get around to it. I started before Thanksgiving and had so much fun. I made a total of 20.

A yo-yo is a term used in quilting. It is a piece of fabric cut into a circle and then the edge is tucked under a little and stitched all around. When you have finished stitching, you take the thread string from the beginning of your stitching and the thread string from the end of your stitching and pull them so that the fabric begins to close up into a circle; this is the yo-yo. A yo-yo tree is different sized yoyos stacked on top of each other. The pictures will make much more sense than me trying to explain it to you.

The first step was using my Cricket machine and cutting circles 3", 4", 5", 6", 7", 8", 9", and 10" in diameter. The card stock I had wasn't big enough for the larger size circles, so I made those sized circles with cereal boxes. Yep, the Cricket cuts cereal boxes=awesome!

Next, layer your fabrics on top of each other until it is eye pleasing to you. I chose to use a different patterned fabric for each yo-yo, but you could easily use as little as 2 different patterned fabrics and just keep alternating them--your the artist so the choice is yours! Beginning with the top layer, trace the 3" card stock circle onto your fabric, then the second layer fabric trace the 4" card stock circle onto that, the third layer fabric trace the 5" card stock circle, etc. Then, cut out all of the circles.

Thread a needle and begin sewing each circle, or yo-yo. Make sure to leave a tail at the beginning. The instructions I saw showed the yo-yo being stitched all the way around flat and then the tails pulled tight to enclose the yo-yo:

After doing a few yoyos like this, I realized I was wasting a lot of thread this way. So, I began pulling the yo-yo tight as I sewed and didn't waste as much thread:

How much thread do you need per yo-yo? I took my spool of thread and measured out enough thread for twice the diameter of each circle. For the larger yoyos, you will find that after pulling the tails and enclosing the yoyos and then cutting off your excess, that excess is long enough to use for some of your smaller yoyos on another tree:

Okay, so now you have all of your yoyos sewn. The next step is to slide them onto a dowel. You will have to cut a little snip in your yo-yo to make it slide onto the dowel. The thickness of the size dowel you want is totally up to you. I went to Michaels Arts and Crafts store and found a package of 20 dowels, I think 3/4" thick. You'll have to figure out the height to cut your dowels to based on the height of your trees--you may be making trees that are smaller (less yoyos), or taller (more yoyos). Hubby cut a dowel to the size we needed and used that as a template to cut all of the dowels the same size using his electric saw. I think with one dowel from the package, we were able to cut it into 2 or 3 pieces for the size we needed. Considering the package didn't cost very much, to be able to get 2 or 3 tree dowels from one dowel stick is very economical. You can see the dowel before it was cut in the following pics:

The next step I did was the tree topper. At Hobby Lobby I found a package of 24 different colored tiny ornament balls for 99 cents! I have seen other trees topped with buttons, or tiny wooden stars, so shop around for what you would prefer to top your tree with. Hubby worked his magic with one of his fancy tools in the garage and drilled holes into the balls so that they would sit on top of the tree. We then hot glued the balls onto the dowels.

Once the tree topper is glued on, slide your yo-yos back onto the dowel (you would have had to remove them to cut your dowel to size). Then, hot glue the dowel into whatever base you want to use. I found a package of spools at Michaels that fit my dowels perfectly. I'm sure there are all kinds of other things you can find that would make great bases. I will say that the spool may not be wide enough to fully support the tree, but if you maneuver your bottom yo-yo in a way that touches the table, or shelf, or whatever your tree is standing on, it will help your tree from tipping, which with the spools it can easily do if bumped.

I LOVE my trees!!! My church had a ladies gala last week and I decided to set up a table and try to sell some trees. I hadn't planned on doing this at all, but almost at the last minute I had so much fabric, and a lot of time to make trees, that I decided to give it a try. Out of 20 trees, I sold 9 and gave away one as a door prize. I think I want to make many more throughout the coming year and try selling them at a crafts fair or farmers market closer to next Christmas!

This tree has the traditional red, green, and white colors associated with Christmas.

This tree has some blue added into it.

This tree has some darker colors mixed together.

Our Dried Up Lake

2011-12-07T16:54:00.000-06:00

The summer of 2011 proved to be a record breaker with over 50 days of triple digit heat! It was horrible! We have lived in our lake community for 6 years now and have never seen the lake dry up like it did. In fact, we've had our lake flood one year and if Hubby hadn't come home early that day, he would have never made it home because the roads to our home were totally covered and there would have been no way for him to drive through the water. Our lake is deep enough that every summer people are boating and jet skiing on it, as well as fishing. Last month the kids and I walked out on the lake because we never might get that opportunity to do something like that again...

All of this green should be covered with water. The plants started growing so tall that once in a while people were out mowing it. Do you see how far away the water is?

Do you see the cement in the lower left hand corner of the picture? That is one of the large tunnels that run from this side of the lake under the road to an area known as the swamp. Yes, the lake should be up to this tunnel and flowing into it.

Walking out onto the dry lake bed.

In this pic you can see the green grass has died and been mowed.

That black hole in the background is the tunnel that runs under the road.

We found lots of shells.

The lake should go back towards those slightly sloping beaches of the houses.


Look how dry the lake bed is.

This pic is the other side of the road known as the swamp. Usually all of the ground covering is submerged in water and yucky smelling algae is growing.

Learning How to Use the Grill

2011-12-06T19:36:00.000-06:00

Teaching Evan how to grill hot dogs a couple of months back. He was a little tentative about the heat, but did well.

Placing the hot dogs on the grill.

Using the tongs.

Colonial Birthday Tea Party

2011-12-05T22:41:00.000-06:00

Doesn't she look cute? On October 31st Lauren had a tough decision to make as to whether to go to a friend's birthday party, or go trick or treating. (I know, I know....Halloween stemmed from evil things and there are still evil things associated with it to this day, and I still have mixed feelings about whether or not we should partake in trick or treating, but let's not focus on that for this post). Anyways, she chose the friend's party. The theme was colonial. Fortunately, a few years ago I had bought this dress at a garage sale for Lauren for her dress up clothes, so it fit in really well for this theme. I should have taken a better picture of the hat. It is an actual replica of a colonial hat that was made in her colonial times class at our homeschool co-op. Her friend having the party was in that class also, so that may be why she chose this theme for the party. Besides this dress theme, it was also a tea party and the mom went all out making so many yummy dishes and teas. Some outside games were played as well. It was a really fun evening!

Botanica

2011-11-22T16:00:00.000-06:00

We love our Botanical Gardens! Their new children's garden they built this year is awesome. We have a membership through a groupon we bought and the kids and I have visited botanica a couple of times withing the past 2 months. They also offer homeschool classes once a month which I think I need to start taking my kids too. The pics below are from our past two visits to botanica. The first time we went it started lightening so we had to leave. Our second time back I took pics of the kids and took one of each of them that I liked and we turned them into the kids' school pictures for this year. Starting the day after Thanksgiving they have the gardens all lit up with lights at night and I think I'd like to go this year. I've heard they do a really nice job.

Dishwasher Saga

2011-11-17T22:30:00.000-06:00

Almost 7 weeks ago our dishwasher gave out on us. After doing some research Roger found what kind of machine he wanted and ordered it. By the time it arrived and got installed 2 or 3 weeks had passed. As soon as we tried to run a load, 3 times we got an error code. Called the repairman and he came out to look at it and figured out what needed to be replaced. Three weeks go by and finally the part has arrived and he came out this morning to install it. As soon as he left I started to run a load of dishes only to have the same error happen. Well, the manufacturer had told the repair place that this code meant a specific part needed replaced and that is what the repair place did. So, the company was wrong, or the new part is defective, or I think the machine is just totally messed up. We can't return the machine, so we have got to get this figured out. It's not that I am reliant on the modern convenience that cleans our dishes. I grew up washing dishes by hand, and my kids haven't actually minded helping me with that chore right now, so we are not stressed out at all. It's just that these machines are not cheap, so it kind of feels like time is money. We spent a lot of money and now everyone is trying to figure out what the problem is. I have a feeling it's going to take another few weeks until the company either gives us a new machine or some more parts have to be ordered and installed and hope that it finally works. Oh well. Looking on the bright side, my kids get to learn how to do dishes the old fashioned way and we save some money on our electricity since we are not running a machine.

Paris

2011-11-08T12:54:00.001-06:00

After lunch on Thursday, we left for Paris. I think it was maybe a 3 hour drive? I don't exactly remember. We drove through the Champagne region of France and stopped at a convenience store for snacks and fuel. I found a great kids sticker French language book for the kids there I picked up as a souvenir for them. Also, there was a section of the store that sold Champagne.

I know we checked into our hotel rooms, and then headed to downtown Paris. Traffic was horrendous and it took us a while to get there. By the time we drove past the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower it was dark, but that was okay. It was so cool to see those monuments lit up!

Blurry because I was trying to take the pic while we were driving in the round about.

The next day we set out to do some sightseeing. We drove past a huge stadium devoted to football--or as Americans would call it, soccer. Just as popular as these stadiums are in America for baseball and football, soccer is that popular in Europe.

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower. I had told myself from the very beginning of this trip that if we didn't make it to Paris, that would be okay. But, if we did make it and all I got to see was the Eiffel Tower, I would be thrilled. We found an awesome parking spot and didn't have to walk far to the Tower. There are two levels of the tower guests can go to and you can get there through each Tower pillar/leg by elevators. Or, you can walk up and down stairs to get to the first level. We chose the elevators. There was a very long line (think Disney World lines) because there was only one pillar open. I think we were in line for about 20 minutes, and as we were nearing the East Pillar, it opened up! We were some of the first people to get our tickets from that pillar!

Taken looking down the pillar from the elevator.

People walking the stairs down from the first level.

The architecture really is quite amazing.

The next pics are just some of the views taken from both levels of the Tower.

I was pretty impressed that my camera could zoom in so nicely for this pic of the Arc de Triomphe.

The Seine River

The second level was caged in.


We were constantly reminded all over Europe to beware of pickpockets.

The building across the street from the Tower was a military academy that Napoleon attended.

As we walked back to the vans, there was a very unfortunate thing waiting for us. One of the back windows of one of the vans had been smashed and some very valuable things belonging to some of our team members were stolen. After finding a police officer, we were told to go to the police station which ended up being difficult to find. It took a couple of hours to get everything squared away with the robbery. But, even after all of that, our hosts were gracious enough to still want to take us to see Notre Dame. So, that's where we headed. This church was incredible. I can just picture Quasi Moto living there. Signs were all around saying no picture taking, but it seemed like nobody was paying attention and there were flashes going off everywhere, so I took some myself. We did not take the tour that would have taken us to the top of the church. So, Roger and I quickly toured the church and then went down the street shopping for some souvenirs.

Joan of Arc

After this, we headed to the Champs Elysees for dinner. Some of the group wanted to hoof it down to the Arc de Triomphe and go inside it and climb to the top. I think they were given 30 minutes to accomplish this feat, and let me tell you they had to rush and it showed when they returned--out of breath and sweaty. Roger and I had opted out of that and instead got some ice cream with some other team members. The next series of pics show the Arc as we drove towards it.

Our day in Paris ended in a perfect way--dinner outside. I shared in my last post that I had been wanting this to happen our entire trip. I even posted the pics from that dinner in my last post but I'll go ahead and post them again in case you didn't see them. Do you ever find that after you have been on a special trip or to a special event, there are just certain pics that you keep looking back at because when you do a flood of memories and smiles come pouring into your heart? Well, these next pics do that for me. They just remind me of special people, the rewarding work we did on this trip, the sights we got to see, and they make me still feel how gorgeous and perfect the weather was, and how amazing it was to be in Paris!

The experienced missions trip team members told me I will never forget my first missions trip--it will always have a special place in my heart, and I bet they are correct because this is how it was when I was a public school teacher. My first class I had which was my student teaching class still holds very fond memories for me--even more so than my first class in which I was the teacher, not a student teacher. This trip was amazing and I feel so blessed that I could go. I would like to go on other missions trips in the future and I hope I can. I also hope that someday when my kids are teenagers that
Roger and I will be able to bring them on trips like this with us. It was amazing!

Food Food Food

2011-11-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

Not only did we work hard on this trip, we certainly did eat well on our missions trip. I already typed about our gyros and Belgium waffles we had. Plus, the McDonalds we ate in. On work days, there was a group of ladies who came every morning and cooked upstairs and served us lunch. Every day the tables were decorated beautifully, and the meals were 4 courses. It usually started with the main course, then salad and/or vegetables, then bread and cheese, and last dessert. I remember the first lunch was lasagna and they brought out a completely covered dinner plate sized portion. I thought we were all to take a part of that and pass it on, but nope, that was all for one person. The food was just too much, and most of us requested smaller portions and I think we might have upset the ladies, but good grief, there was no way I could eat a whole plate of lasagna. Plus, considering this was day one, I didn't realize we had 3 courses coming after the lasagna. The food was delicious though and I don't know what the guys thought, but as a lady it was so nice to walk into the lunch room and see the pretty decorated tables. I didn't take pics of everything, but here are the ones I did take.

See the tall lady in back? She did all the decorating--doesn't she look artsy? The lady in the glasses and hairnet and I communicated in French a couple of times. She heard people calling my name and told me she had a granddaughter named Rebecca. She always had a smile on her face. She even waved goodbye to us and blew us kisses as we drove off on our last work day. I liked her--so sweet!

Red and white decorations

Look at the tall bottle of Coke

Cheese tray

Dessert with a sparkler

Green and brown decorations

Purple decorations

Olive bread--there were other breads offered at the same time

Tiramisu

Since our hotel was in Germany, some of the team wanted to eat real brats and sauerkraut (Not me, I don't care for either of those). One night we stopped at a little roadside eatery and we all got brats. You'll see in the pics below that they were very long and served in a burger shaped bun, not a hot dog bun. I ate most of mine, and I don't think it was any different than a Johnsonville brat. But, I think a lot of people enjoyed theirs. Perhaps it's just something about eating food in it's home country that makes food taste better and more authentic? Anyways, I also tried a Coke with orange flavoring in it. At least I liked that!

Every night after work we headed to a downtown shopping area in Saar Brucken. Sometimes we went there for dinner, but every night we went there for dessert--gelato. Every night! I guess this getting ice cream every night is turning into a tradition on these MAPS trips. They started it in El Salvador last year, and the guys from last year wanted to see if it would happen again this year. They succeeded. Somebody new every night (those of the crew who could afford to buy everybody dessert) would pay for everyone's dessert. The first night was one scoop. Then when night two came, someone asked if we could all get two scoops and we did. Well, you guessed it, the third night was three, and the fourth night was four scoops. Someone in our group actually got five scoops on the last night--the most scoops the store did. We went to the same place and since we were such a large group the guy instantly recognized us on the second night. By the third and fourth night, the same guy just laughed and smiled whenever we showed up. He was so nice. I kept always saying "Merci" (thank you) when I would receive my dessert, and he would politely say "Donke". I just kept forgetting that we were in Germany. Yes, even though we were right on the border of France and Germany, believe me when I say that the German and French languages were not intermixed. If you were on the Germany side, you were expected to speak German, and speak French on the France side.

I was very excited to see that my favorite ethnic food was served everywhere we went in Europe--Italian. I think we ate a total of five Italian meals in our travels. Even our last meal in Paris was at an Italian restaurant. And, the best part...we ate outside. I had been waiting for this the whole entire trip--to eat outside. The weather was gorgeous, it was on the famous street Champs Elysees down the street from the Arc de Triomphe, and to me it seemed magical. It was a perfect way to end our trip to Europe!

Work Work Work

2011-11-01T22:42:00.000-05:00

After spending a day traveling to the towns where our work site and hotel site were, the next few days were hard work. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning we would arrive at the job site at 8 am and leave at 5 pm, except leaving after lunch for Paris on Thursday. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about what the pictures are showing, but our team worked on tearing down wallpaper, tearing down walls, painting, putting up textured wallpaper, electrical wiring, mudding and patching, and building a stage.

I was on the team that worked in the hall and stairwell taking down wallpaper.

The walls up the stairs to the second floor were quite high. In order to reach the wallpaper, the guys had to make a homemade scaffold. At the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor landing was put a step stool. Then a very high ladder was put on about the fourth step from the bottom. Across these two ladders were put some boards so the men could stand on them in order to be able to spray the wallpaper with water and scrape it off. The following pics do a better job of showing you what I am trying to explain. I stood by the bottom of the tall ladder and kept an eye on those boards to make sure they didn't start to shift and slip through the rungs.

On another day, some of the guys put up a textured wallpaper onto these same walls. Once this paper was put up, it would be painted. I guess this is pretty common in Europe.

Two and a half of my days were nothing but painting the basement. There were 4 large rooms that had to be primed on the walls and ceilings and then painted. These walls were all holey, porous cement--not smooth drywall. But, before painting could begin, some electrical wiring and mudding and patching had to be done.

A few walls upstairs were torn down and some new ones built to expand the sanctuary on the main floor. This is where Roger spent most of his time. There are no wooden stud frames built for walls. They glue large, heavy gypsum blocks onto each other just like you would bricks.

You can see in this pic where a wall was knocked down and all of the space behind it was a separate room. That space would be turned into a stage which you will see in upcoming pics. This lengthened the sanctuary.

Hauling out all of the rubble.


Another wall knocked down. A new one was built a few feet back adding width to the sanctuary.

Another wall knocked down that would be rebuilt a few feet back to widen the sanctuary. You can see how it came up to this pillar and in the next pic, it has been knocked down showing the space between the pillar and a bathroom wall.

Any rubble/trash we had would be piled up in this area on the sidewalk in front of the church. I wish I'd gotten a pic of the mountain of rubble that grew here.

New walls.

Building and wiring the stage.

A before, middle, and after shot of the sanctuary.

On our half day of Thursday, since the dungeon painting was done, we Cinderellas set about cleaning up wherever we could.

Here is our awesome team.

On the Way to France

2011-10-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

The third day of our trip to Europe was driving to check out the work site in Stiring-Wendel France, and check into our hotel in Saar Brucken Germany. We had to stop in Luxembourg for gas for the vans. This was quite interesting. I guess this tiny country has the cheapest gas, so many people like to refuel here. It was only about $6 a gallon. What happens is there are several pumps lined up next to each other that the cars pull up to going only in one direction. When you are done pumping, then you merge into a line and everyone pays at a separate toll booth type kiosk. The pic you see is of the cars merging to pay.

Stiring-Wendel was about a 4 hour drive from Brussels. Before we got there, we stopped at an American Military cemetary in Lorraine France. This place was sooooo cool! I had no idea it was here. It was dedicated to those Americans who served in WWI, but mostly WWII. As we pulled in we were met by a man who lives on this property and he and the caretaker are the only ones who work at the cemetary. I wish I could remember his name. Anyways, he is an American who was in the military for 24 years, and I can't quite remember how long he has been working at the cemetary. (I tell ya, I need to write this stuff down so when I finally get around to blogging about it, I have the info). I also remember that that he said something like he doesn't work for the American Embassy, but does work under it--and don't ask me to explain that because I don't remember that info either.

Do you see the number on the sign below? There are over 10,000 Americans buried here! Some of them, but a small number, are woman who were either nurses or with the Red Cross.

The grounds and buildings were absolutely beautiful and extremely well taken care of. We were allowed to walk anywhere and check out the headstones. If a soldier was known to be a Christian, their headstone was a cross. If they were known to be Jewish, their headstone was a Star of David. If their religion was unknown or that of any other religion, their headstone was a Latin Cross. I thought for sure I had taken a pic of each type of headstone, but apparently I did not of the Latin Cross. The following pics show the other types of headstones, and just to be respectful to the person buried of whose headstone I took a pic, I have included close up pics with that tombstones info.

This was only part of the cemetary!

Somebody had been her recently to pay tribute.

Tombstones with a gold star represented Medal of Honor recipients.

There were two very long walls of names of soldiers Missing In Action. However, the remains of these soldiers are still being found. If a name on these walls has a bronze flower beside it, that means the remains were found. In the past 14 months, 3 soldiers remains have been found!

Here is another view of the cemetery from the MIA walls. We walked all the way over to the white wall across the field. It is an overlook with an eagle on the front.


This is taken from the eagle outlook looking back over the cemetary and that is the chapel building in the background.

The chapel is a very tall building--a craning your neck to look at everything on the walls kind of building. I am not sure what all of the flags represent. There was a large war map, inscriptions, and then figures of war heros.

Look how huge the figures on the wall are compared to some of our team members. I am not sure who the figure in the middle is supposed to represent. I am not confident in saying he is supposed to be Jesus, but maybe he is?

King David and Emperor Constantine

King Arthur and George Washington

We continued on to Saar Brucken, Germany to check into our hotel. Within a couple minutes walking distance was a McDonalds where we grabbed some lunch. The employees only spoke German, but one spoke enough English to help us all get our orders placed. They also had a very nice pastry counter. I didn't buy anything from it, but loved taking some pics of items, and got a kick out of some of the names. There was also a very nice view of the hill behind the McDonalds. The trees were just barely starting to change color. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be when they are fully changing colors.

After lunch, we drove across the border to Stiring-Wendel. Literally, the work site in France and our hotel in Germany are right near the border of the two countries. One of our team members is a runner and we joked about how he would jog from our hotel in Germany all the way to France. We got to meet the pastor Michel and his wife Leoni (I'm not sure if I'm spelling their names right) of the church we would be helping to renovate. They are the most awesome people. They have two young daughters, and Leoni's parents from Holland were there to take care of the girls. Also, extremely nice people. Leoni and her parents speak fluent English, and Michel spoke some. I must say it was fun to talk with him because I could practice understanding and speaking French when he talked. While all of the guys checked out the work to be done on the church, I got to play with the girls a little bit and visit with Leoni and her parents. Right next door connected to the church is a beautiful thrift store they operate to help those in the community with discounted clothing.

Belgium Part 2

2011-10-21T14:07:00.001-05:00

After touring Waterloo, we headed to the Grand Place in Belgium. This is like a town square surrounded with very architecturally, ornate, European looking buildings. It was beautiful. Between those buildings are narrow streets and then there are alleyways off of those streets. I would have loved to have spent more time here exploring all the shops. In one of the buildings Karl Marx stayed and wrote part of The Communist Papers.

I just loved the looks of these buildings.

The Grand Place was extremely busy this Saturday. There was a huge stage and tent and speakers and jumbo tv screen set up in one area with bands and a speakers and a little parade, but I don't remember what they were celebrating.

In the next pics I just loved the ornate statues and gold and especially the window flower boxes. You saw window flower boxes everywhere in Europe!

These gold lions were high up on a building--I just love how my camera can zoom up close to things so far away!

In history, whenever you saw a white swan on a building, it meant that building was a brothel.


I believe this statue was St Michael (in white) stomping on the devil (in the black)--do you see it? I was looking into the sun, so I guess I didn't get the entire part of St Michael.

I believe these were all apartments above the shops. Not sure I'd want to live here though--I can imagine the noise.

The next pics are of one of the most famous statues in Brussels, although I had never heard of it before. It is a little boy peeing. He is dressed in a soldier outfit, but I actually saw a few postcards showing him dressed in other outfits such as Santa Clause. There are a few stories behind this statue. One is that a Belgian Prince went missing one day. The King told his soldiers to go looking for him and then to report back to him exactly how they found him so he could make a statue to celebrate the finding of the prince. The soldiers found the boy peeing, so that is how they made the statue. Another story is that there was a fire somewhere and a prince peed on it and put out the fire so they made this statue to honor the prince. The REAL story behind this statue is that it represents the poor boys of Belgium who used to pee and turn that into the leather tannery in order to make money. The pee was used to soften the leather. The statue is peeing into a little pool of water and it is blocked off with a fence. You should have seen all of the people trying to get in front of the statue to have their picture taken with it. CRAZY!

Now, not to be left out, Shawn told us there was a less famous statue of a girl squatting to pee. We had to walk down a couple of alleys until we found it. It was in the back of the alley. It may be kind of hard to see looking through the bars.

There is also another statue of a lady that legend says if you rub it you will someday return to Brussels. Roger and I both rubbed it, so I guess it remains to be seen if we ever return again or not.

On several street corners in the Grand Place there are waffle shops. You just walk up to the window and order your waffle and there are a variety of toppings you can get on it. Then they gave you those little french fry forks to try to eat it with. Those forks didn't help hardly at all, so we ended up trying to eat our waffle covered in strawberries and chocolate, with out hands trying not to get too messy.

I loved walking the brick (and maybe cobble-stoned [I can't remember for sure]) streets and alleys. However, there were times you really had to watch your step because some bricks would be missing and you could twist up your ankle. One of the streets was covered somewhat and I learned that this street contained the high end shops. One of the shops displayed a picture of the King and Queen of Belgium.

If we could not find a place to park the vans along the streets, there were underground parking garages. We parked on the 6th floor of the garage--UNDERGROUND!

Our hotel was very nice. It was on a busy street where a cable car ran up and down (look at the 3rd pic). Our room was on the backside of the hotel and I guess some of our team whose rooms were on the front side of the hotel were bothered by a nightclub across the street until the wee hours of the night. Roger and I heard nothing thankfully. After being up for soooo many hours now (remember there is a 7 hour time difference, we barely slept on the plane, and we spent an entire day touring Brussels) you'd think we'd get a great night's sleep. Roger was about one of the only people on the team who did. I slept for 4 hours, was up for 3 and then was only asleep for maybe another 1 1/2 hours. Man, I wish I could sleep like he does.

Look how narrow the streets are. You can see one cable car, there is a track right beside it for another cable car, and look how the van is over that white parking line even though it is right up against the sidewalk. Now I know why all of the cars in Europe are so small. Vans, and even pickup trucks are kind of unusual in the cities.

Overall, the Brussels area was a great place to visit, full of history and lovely architecture. You definitely do not have to worry about speaking the language--English is know all around Brussels. In fact, our pastor on the flight over sat by someone who works for the American Embassy I think, and she commented to him that Brussels is one of her least favorite places in Europe because it is so Americanized. Still, I enjoyed it.

Belgium Part 1

2011-10-15T16:21:00.001-05:00

As soon as we got out of the airport we headed to our hotel and freshened up real quick and started our sightseeing in Brussels. We exchanged our American money for Euro. I think the exchange rate was $1.36 US for 1 Euro.

John and Shawn drove us around Brussels and we got to see a beautiful park, streets and shops, and the Royal Palace. We then had lunch in Waterloo at a yummy Gyro place and the sandwiches were delicious! They came with french fries served with little forks to eat them with. Most everyone ate the fries with their fingers, but I figured since we were in Brussels, I would eat them with the fork (the when in Rome [or Brussels in this case] mentality, right)? You can see Jimmy using the fork in the picture. They came with ketchup that was sweeter than what we are used to. I found out their ketchup is made with beet sugar. I prefer the states ketchup.

Right beside the eatery was the church where General Wellington went into to pray right before he fought and defeated Napoleon.

After lunch we went to a monument/museum that honored those who fought the Battle of Waterloo. Hopefully you can read the sign in the picture below. If you click on it it should enlarge so you can read all of the info.

It is a very impressive monument. We climbed the 200 some steps to the top of the lion and let me tell you they were S-T-E-E-P!!! We had to stop a few times on the way up and literally catch our breath. Once up to the top, you could walk 360 degrees around the statue and look over the beautiful countryside and just imagine the battles taking place. John and Shawn used to live in Waterloo near the monument and used to watch hot air balloons taking off from the grounds. I wish I had taken a picture of the fields so you could see just how gorgeous it was.

After climbing back down the steps we went into a domed building that exhibited a 360 degree panorama of the Waterloo battle. There would be little signs telling you to look for specific things in the art. There was also a small room showing weapons and a uniform from that time. The short video clip below shows some of the panorama to give you an idea of the art work.

Stay tuned for my next post which will be about the rest of our tour in Brussels....

Heading to Europe

2011-10-14T20:03:00.002-05:00

The day we left for Europe started out great, sort of. My mom picked us up and we left the house about 7:30 am. She drove us to Walmart so we could get an adapter for some of our electrical appliances we would be bringing. I thought Roger had already bought one, but it turns out it was just a special one for the computers. The sad thing is, Roger had gone out that morning about 6:00 to find one, and thought they would be in the section of the store that sold outlets, etc. He didn't see any, so he asked an employee who worked there and that person didn't know where they were. He'd been gone about an hour and when he got home, I told them they were in the section where luggage was sold. So, that is why my mom drove us back to Walmart before the airport; yes, the adapter was in the luggage section. Then, after my mom had dropped us off and we had checked in our luggage, I started panicking that I had not packed my curling iron. I had tried to check quickly in my check in bag, but only had time to unzip it a little bit, and didn't see it. After checking in the luggage, I hopefully checked my carry-on for it--nope, not in there. I called my mom and asked her if she wouldn't mind driving back to Walmart and buying me a new one to bring to me and I would put it into my carry-on. She said she would go back to our house and look for it. She looked in all of the rooms and didn't see anything, so I thanked her for trying and told her not to worry about it. (Thank goodness we had a couple of hours to do all of this before our flight left because all of this took about another hour). So, I was so hoping that I had actually packed it in my checked luggage and that I had buried it amongst the clothes, and that is why I didn't see it when I tried to quickly look in my suitcase before it was checked. Well, good news...once we got to our hotel in Brussels, there was my curling iron! Okay, okay, some of you may be rolling your eyes wondering why I'm writing about this. You may be thinking that this is all silly and unimportant, or you may be laughing. I'm doing it because I know some of you have been waiting to hear all about our trip and love little quirky details like this--so that's why. LOL

Anyways.....11 of us boarded a plane and had about a 2 hour flight to Chicago, then a 5 hour layover. Me, Roger, Pastor, Marc, Dennis, Randy, Nick, Jason, Steve, Jimmy, and Rick. Another team member from Missouri, Duane, met up with us in Chicago. Six of us ate at Macaroni Grill in the airport for lunch, so that took a little bit of time. This was nice because I got to know some of the team members a little bit more as we talked about our lives and travel experiences. Then Roger and I walked the terminals and took our turn watching everybody's carry-ons while they went walking. Then we boarded the plane for an 8 hour trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Brussels Belgium.

The airplane sides had rows of 2 seats and then rows of 3 seats in the middle. According to my ticket, I was supposed to sit where Roger is and he was supposed to be across the aisle diagonally behind me where you see Steve in the white shirt sitting. Thankfully, Steve was nice and switched places with us so we could sit together. No big deal because he ended up sitting next to Marc. The guys in front of them in the red shirt was Jason and next to him was Rick. If you count two seats back from Steve and Marc, that is our Pastor Vance. The man next to me is Dennis. All of the other guys were spread around the plane.

The 8 hour flight really didn't seem too bad. We tried to doze off and on as much as possible anticipating the 7 hour time difference ahead of us. We would be landing at 8:30 am Belgium time which our bodies would be used to 1:30 am central time. We were served some snacks and dinner and breakfast. The movies were awful. One was Arthur and I don't remember what the other one was right now. I watched a small part of Arthur and then got bored. They also showed some NBC television shows. It was neat watching the monitors when they showed maps and the location of the plane throughout the flights. They would also show the altitude, outside temperature, local Brussels time, speed, and other info written in French, and another language which might have been Flemish or Dutch?

Once we got to Brussels, we were met by John and Shawn, a married couple who would be driving us around and working with us, plus another person Johnny who was the person who helped coordinate this trip--he came from Atlanta, I think. We got our luggage and took it all to the vans and came back into the airport to wait for Duane. He was actually flying in on another airline because as soon as our trip was done, he had to continue doing some business in another part of Europe, and his employer was using a different airline. He arrived almost immediately after we walked back into the airport.

Stay tuned for the next post which will talk about our tour of Brussels.....

Some Clarification

2011-09-20T09:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted about riding a motorbike. Let me do some clarification to put some of your minds at ease. First, look at the size of the bike--it is very small. My feet could drag on the ground to slow the thing down if I loosened up my grip on the handles. Second, I should have said people were jokingly telling me they thought I was a goner as I headed towards the tree. Yes, I would have crashed, but I was not going at an extremely fast speed. Would I have gotten injured? Possibly, but I guess it's relative to us individuals as to the degree of my injury. I don't think it would have been that bad, but some of you might think that some bumps and bruises are bad enough. Yes, it was kind of scary looking up and seeing that tree coming on fast, but my quick responses took me just to the right of it and I drove between it and the trampoline. At the worst, I could have jumped off of the bike if I needed to. As far as a helmet, none that were my size. The helmet you see Evan wearing was a child's size, not an adult. Even my soccer playing son could get a head injury during a game by falling to the ground, getting kicked in the head, or running into the net posts as he's diving or jumping for a ball when he plays his favorite position of goalkeeper, but kids don't wear helmets playing soccer. Lastly, remember that once I figured out the speed, I was going slow enough that Evan was able to keep up with me running around the house as I drove the bike. Overall, it was fun and if I ever do it again, I'll be able to do a better job of controlling the bike. And yes, if there is one available, I'll wear a helmet. Hope I could put some of your minds at ease.

Yikes!

2011-09-19T22:39:00.002-05:00

Evan went to a sleepover a few weeks ago and there was a little motorbike he got to try out. I even tried it out. As I was twisting the handle to make the bike go, I figured out I was twisting it the wrong way. So, the second I twisted it the right way it sped off and jerked me backwards. To try to slow it down I was trying to twist the handle the other way and then remembered that the dad told me the other handle was the brake. I looked up to see just in time I was zooming towards a tree, but between the tree and the trampoline there was an opening that I made it through. Phew! I drove around the house with Evan jogging along side me trying to encourage me and giving me driving tips. As I came back around to the starting point a couple of people were telling me they thought I was a goner the way I was heading towards that tree. It was fun, but I don't think I'm cut out to operate any kind of motorcycle. But Evan did a great job and loved it!

Look What I Made: French Braid

2011-09-07T10:05:00.000-05:00

Lauren really wanted me to put her hair up in a French braid one day. I have never done this before so I looked up how to do it on Youtube. I didn't think it was too difficult at all. However, because of all of her layers, hair began to slip out here and there. Maybe this style is better for those who have one length hair? Maybe I need to learn to do the braiding tighter? Haha, it's not the prettiest or straightest French braid, but not bad for a first try.

Soccer Camp

2011-09-05T21:57:00.001-05:00

Another season of soccer starts this Saturday. We met the coach last week and Roger thinks he will be nice. It looks like practices will be twice a week, maybe for the entire season, maybe just for a few weeks. On July 8th Evan attended a soccer camp with the Wichita Wings, our new indoor soccer team, head coach. The coach was so good with the kids. We were hoping to get season tickets for our family this year, but don't think that's going to work out. But, Evan did get a voucher to use for a free ticket to any game this year. I think the camp was quite an eye opener for him. He had to go through some drills he'd never done before and it wasn't always easy. The arena was terribly hot and he was soaking in sweat. Overall, I think it was worth it because he learned some things from a very experienced coach. Go Evan!!!

A Record Breaking Summer

2011-09-02T22:53:00.001-05:00

Yep, Wichita did it! We officially have the hottest recorded summer. We broke the record from 1936.

Oh my goodness our lake is so low--I've never seen it like this before. The water usually reaches to the road, but now you can walk on it towards the middle. NONE of that greenery or brown dirt you see should be there--it should all be covered by water.

In the next picture, do you see the concrete in the foreground in the lower left corner? That is part of a huge pipe that runs under the road. The kids like to stand on it. The lake should reach that pipe and there should be fish jumping out of the water and the kids should be able to lay on their tummies on the pipe and touch the water. I just can't get over how low the water is.

Plants have died; or maybe I let them die because I gave up watering them, always hoping it would rain more. I'm not sure if some of them will come back, especially the little evergreen trees. I've heard they won't. One is completely brown, the other still has some green on it. They stay green even through the winter, so I guess we'll know our answer come next spring.

Some flowers I thought were dead have actually come back. It's helped me learn what are hardy and can take the heat. I took these pics around 4:00 so they are wilting under the sun, but they are not dead and I am so excited!

In the next pic, you can see the brown stalks from the previous flowers that bloomed, and then you can see the pretty yellow flowers that are blooming--all from the same plant. I had not seen yellow flowers for a long time, so I thought this plant was dead. Glad I didn't pull it out.

A pretty pop of pink telling us she's still surviving.

Our grass has had its ups and down with going from a green color to brown. It's currently brown, but I'm positive that when we get rain it will green back up because that's been the pattern all summer. An unbelievably hot, hot summer.

First Day of Co-op

2011-08-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

Evan is a 5th grader and Lauren a 2nd grader this year. They had fun in their classes today and seeing friends they haven't seen in about 4 months. Evan's schedule is Multiplication Mastery, Tall Tales, Rainforests, Pilgrims, and Spy Science. Lauren's classes are Art I, Scientific Foundations, Rainforests, Colonial Times, and Storytime Cafe. I am teaching Evan's Tall Tales and Pilgrims classes. Next semester I hope to teach a class for Lauren's grade level. Please lift up a prayer for us all to have a great year of school. Thank you!

2011 Awesome Adventures

2011-08-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

Another great summer of Pastor Pam's Awesome Adventures included the Derby waterpark, Tanganyika Wildlife Park, the Ugly Duckling play and Valley Center water playground, Salt Museum in Hutchinson, pizza and movie at church, and then a free admittance to the Broadway Disney musical the Little Mermaid! We missed Cowtown and the zoo.

Fireflies

2011-08-19T22:52:00.000-05:00

Such a simple summer joy for children!

Rain and Chores

2011-07-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

It's been very rare this spring and summer to get any rain, but even when it does rain, chores must continue. I think Lauren had fun running out into the pouring rain to get the newspaper.

KS Aviation Museum

2011-07-07T16:12:00.001-05:00

The kids and I got to go to one of Lauren's friends' from co-op birthday party at the museum in April I think. We've been before, but this friend's dad volunteers there, so we got to see some different rooms where they are working on restoring some airplanes this time. Plus, we also went inside a different airplane we had not been in before. It was really neat--I couldn't tell you what it was, but some of the seats faced each other. Kind of an interesting idea, but what if you didn't know the other passengers you were facing? That would be kind of awkward. Also, those seats couldn't recline. They have many different planes sitting on the lot from commercial to freight to military. It is really neat to go see.

Look What We Made: Patriotic Strawberries

2011-07-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

Lauren helped me make some red, white, and blue strawberries to take to our 4th of July party. Very cute, and very yummy!

4th of July

2011-07-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

We went to some friends' house for the 4th of July. The food was great and the fireworks were fun. One of my favorite pics below is the one showing some of the kids plugging their ears. The very last pic is Lauren wearing a glow-in-the-dark necklace.

New Pool

2011-07-06T16:31:00.000-05:00

Last year we had bought a huge above ground pool for our backyard--something like 20 ft by 5 ft or something like that. We tried 3 times to set it up, but our ground is just too unlevel. I thought I had written a post about this that I could link you to to see the pics, but I couldn't find one in my archives, so I guess I never wrote it. Anyways, this summer came around and it hit us hard with hot, hot temps. We've mostly been in the 90s and many days of triple digits so far. We knew we would not be able to get the ground leveled to put the pool up this summer, and considering we are now in July already, we decided to get an easy set pool for the kids. They have enjoyed it for 3 days now. I am waiting for the solar cover Roger ordered to put on the pool so the water will be bath temperature before I get in and enjoy it. This pool is 16 ft by 42 inches, so it's a pretty nice size--especially for the kiddos. It is a tiny bit lopsided due to the unleveled ground, and it is a little oblong shaped instead of the round it should be (I think because our first pool is oval, so we were trying to set it on the oval-shaped sandy ground area for the first pool). We are hoping it will last us the entire summer without any problems and if we find we are still in this house come next summer, than we will have the ground leveled and should be able to put up our larger pool which is currently being stored in our sun room.

Sandwich Saturday

2011-06-22T18:03:00.000-05:00

Every third Sunday of the month, our church participates in Sandwich Saturday. We meet at the church at 9:30 am, pack brown lunch bags with sandwiches, bananas, cookies, and chips then we all drive downtown to a church where homeless/people in need know to come and we pass the lunches out along with bottled water. Our family has participated in 3 of these times. Last month it was the children's ministry as the group to participate. Roger was not able to go, but the kids and I did. It is really heartbreaking to see so many people lined up. There have been times when the turnout was larger than other times and we haven't had enough food and water. Then there have been times when the turnout was smaller and we were able to give people seconds on the food and water. Most of the people are friendly. Last time, the kids had traveled downtown in a friend's van, and we had to cross the street to retrieve Lauren's car seat and then walk back to our van. We were the last family to leave. I knew I should have asked my friend to drive over to our van so we could get the car seat, just to be safer, but I didn't ask. As the kids and I were walking back to our van, there were some men who were loudly making fun of Lauren sitting in a baby seat. Since then, I have asked the church to make sure that any single ladies have left before any men leave the premises, just for security reasons.

Workin' On the House

2011-06-21T16:53:00.000-05:00

At the end of May Roger's parents came out to celebrate Evan's birthday, but to also help us put up new siding on the house. Things took a lot longer than expected, but the two tallest sides got done, and now Roger and I are trying to finish the shorter sides of the house. But, with Roger being tired after work, our weekends being incredibly busy, and the weather being in the high 90-100 degree temps, things are going slow. If all of the cards would just fall into place, we'd have it all done in one weekend, maybe one day. Hopefully our neighbors will have some patience with us and not start getting upset knocking on our door wondering when we'll be done. Keeping that in mind, we're trying to finish all of the parts of the house that are more easily seen by people who would drive by our house and will finish the back parts that are more hidden from the neighbors by our fence until the end.

Pulling off the old wooden vertical/horizontal siding:

Putting up the blue insulation and sheeting. We even finished one night using the headlights of the truck:

Putting up the siding. For the south side of the house, Roger had to back up the truck and put the ladder on the bumper to reach the very top of the house:

Birthdays

2011-06-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

My kids are growing up way too fast. Evan turned 10 in May and Lauren turned 7 in April!

Homeschool Field Day

2011-06-04T17:15:00.000-05:00

We have so enjoyed the YMCA's homeschool fitness class this school year. To end the year, they had a field day followed by a wonderful potluck lunch. Games included 3 legged races, egg/spoon race, wheelbarrow walk, tug of war, bubble gum blowing contest (finding the gum with your mouth in some whipped cream), and the fire department came out and squirted the kids with the truck. Evan and Lauren had a blast!

The Earring Ordeal

2011-05-21T00:10:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Lauren and I went to put earrings in her ears after not having them in for 2 days. We would start to slide them in through the front, but they wouldn't come out through the back holes. What?? Are you seriously telling me that after 2 days of no earrings her holes closed up?

We worked and worked on trying to get those earrings through a few times during the day. Finally after hearing her scream that it was hurting we stopped. Okay, now maybe it was a little pokey, but I'm not so sure it was really hurting her that bad. My daughter is the kind of person who will be screaming her earrings are hurting as you put them in, and you haven't even started trying yet; you haven't even touched her! It's the thought of it hurting is what sets her off.

When Dad got home we told him what was happening and he said he wanted to try to get the earrings in. We really did not want to have to pay more money for her to get her ears repierced. I went to take a shower and when I was done while still in the bathroom I hear screaming at the top of her lungs like I have NEVER heard my daughter do before. As I came out to see how things were going, she was covering her ears and screaming, and Dad was really frustrated. After talking to her and finally calming her down, we got her to put her head on Dad's lap and face the TV and I grabbed her hands so she couldn't try to cover her ears up. Well, as Dad starts trying, she starts screaming, "Help me mom, help me mom!" Sorry to say this, but it was one of those times when you want to cry, yet laugh. How can you make her understand she is okay and Daddy will not hurt her. We told her that if she could be calm I would let go of her hands, and once the earrings were in we were going to leave them in for several days before changing them to ensure the holes stayed open. She was good with that idea, and even blurted out right after that if when we were done if she could have a snack. Well, heck yes, if the promise that she could have a snack even though it was almost bedtime was what it was going to take to get through this, than she could most definitely have a snack.

Dad gently got the earring through. Then he moved to the other side of the couch so Lauren could lay down on his lap still facing the TV to try to take her mind off what was going on while he tried to get the other earring through. I held her hands and we talked about the show on the TV, and other subjects while Dad gently started twisting the earring in. Well, as gets to the back of the hole, this one is more closed. He quietly tells me he's going to have to break through the thin layer of skin. We tell her that Dad is almost done and to remember that once it's done, we're going to leave them in for several days. She is very quick to remind us that she also gets a snack LOL. There were times when she wanted to scream, but she didn't. Instead she just kept saying, "Ow," with the widest eyes I have ever seen, and there were a couple of times she started breathing like a woman in labor experiencing a contraction to calm herself down. Again, I'm trying not to laugh at her as I watch her breathing technique, but if that's what it's going to take to help her stay calm then Go Lauren. Dad gets the earring through. Finally, after an entire day of many tries, and about 30 minutes of the most intense drama I've ever gone through, we all succeeded!

I have to give a shout out to Evan. He is such a good big brother at times like these. There were some times when he had to hold a flashlight to the ears so Dad could make sure he was seeing the holes correctly--this was another time I wanted to chuckle because it was like watching a doctor perform some kind of surgery procedure. But, the times Evan didn't have to hold the flashlight, he would stand in front of Lauren and try to make her laugh to help calm her down. Lauren loves it when her big brother does this.

Oh, I almost forgot. At one point earlier in this day Lauren was standing in front of the bathroom mirror trying to put in her earring herself. I told her to stand to the side in case she dropped it so it wouldn't go down the drain. Later that day she was trying again, forgot what I said and you guessed it, she dropped it and it went down the drain. Poor Lauren! I was not mad, and told her that maybe we'd be able to find it. As Lauren was going to bed, Roger opened up the pipes and found the earring. Lauren was so happy because the earring that dropped was one of the pretty blue flowers they pierced her ears with. Hip, Hip Hooray for Daddy!!!

Movie Weekend

2011-05-15T23:27:00.002-05:00

Friday night we went to the drive in and saw Rio. The second movie was Thor but it's rated PG-13 so we didn't stay because the kids are too young for it.

Saturday, Grandma watched the kids and Hubby and I went to the IMAX and saw Thor in 3D. We had to go this weekend because it was the last weekend for Thor at the IMAX. It was my first time in the IMAX and it is awesome! We were astonished at how many young kids were at Thor and couldn't believe parents were allowing the under aged kids to see this movie. Well, once the movie was over, we couldn't believe how good it was and decide that our almost 10 year old would be just fine watching this movie.

Today Roger took Evan to see it, and I took Lauren to see African Cats. We didn't tell Evan what he was going to get to see. He has been wanting to go to the IMAX so bad, but all of the movies there so far aren't exactly kid friendly. As soon as they got there Roger texted me and said Evan was afraid he was going to get in trouble by me because Dad was taking him to a PG-13 movie that he wasn't allowed to see. It didn't even occur to him that I knew where he was going! So funny. He had a terrific time and enjoyed the theater and movie.

Lauren enjoyed the African Cats movie. It is really well done and is kind of documentary-like to the point where you want to sleep, but as tired as I was today, I managed to stay awake for the movie LOL! No, really, it was good.

No more going out this week for entertainment--we spent enough money this weekend!

Dance Clinic

2011-05-03T16:55:00.002-05:00

Saturday April 16th Lauren and I spent from 9 am to 5 pm at the Jazz for Jesus dance clinic. We had a lot of fun. There were small group devotions and crafts, the girls learned two songs, lip synced, did hair and nails, and received a t-shirt. There were also snacks and pizza for lunch. There were 37 girls there! It was so much fun.

Can you spot Lauren below? She's in the front row 2nd from the right.

Lined up for one of the dances. I love seeing how many girls there are, and all of the colorful shirts.

Lip syncing. The girls were not required to do this. Ms. Kim told everyone if they chose to do this, they needed to play up the part. Lauren refused to pretend to hold a microphone even though Roger and I were in the stands trying to coax her into doing it.

Dancing...

Here's us "old folks." Heehee!

Co-op Closing Program

2011-04-26T10:56:00.002-05:00

Tonight was our homeschool co-op's closing program. Lauren's hand bells class played two songs--Toe, Leg, Knee, and Jesus Loves Me. I think they did a good job for the young ages they are, and the fact that they only met for one hour every Monday for 12 weeks! For the Jesus Loves Me song, I think they were reading a paper that was numbered so they knew when to ring their bells, and I think some of them kind of lost track--but, that's a cute kids program for you. (Turn off my playlist above so you can hear the performances).

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T21:41:00.002-05:00

We had a nice Easter. Yesterday we colored eggs. We tried a marbled effect where you die the eggs in one color mixed with water and oil, wipe off the egg off and then dip into another color. It was pretty cool. We only did that with two of the eight eggs I boiled, then the kids wanted to do different things. We tried wrapping rubber bands on some and then dipping them and then when you take the bands off you have stripes. Roger wrote Jesus Loves You on one with a wax crayon.

This morning the kids woke up earlier than usual excited to see their Easter baskets. I think the Easter bunny went a little overboard on the gifts--I'm pretty sure it must have been a misunderstanding between Mr. and Mrs. bunny. You will see the kids holding up their favorite gifts from the bunny. Evan really liked the little Lego sets, and Lauren really liked her lip gloss and eggs you can paint.

Evan's basket goodies:

Lauren's basket goodies:

The goodies they get to share:

Then the kids hunted for their eggs in the TV room. We went to church and then tonight my parents came over and we had ham, potatoes, beans, rolls, and a lemon cake to celebrate my sister's birthday which was this past Thursday. We played a couple games of Uno Attack, too. It was a great, relaxing day. But, it was also fun--why not? After all, Jesus conquered the grave, so why not celebrate! Below are a couple of pics of us. Lauren chose to wear this particular dress because the polka dots reminded her of Easter eggs or jelly beans in my opinion.

Look What I Made: Cricut Machine

2011-04-21T22:16:00.001-05:00

Roger bought me a Cricut Machine for Christmas and I finally learned how to use it last week. The kids and I made some flowers with it. I don't go into detail in this video clip of how we had to program it to cut our pattern, but it's a really neat machine. I read all of the instructions, and watched the dvd that came with the machine, and once we started playing around with it, everything was so easy. If I can cheaply find more cartridges, we will enjoy using it for birthday invitations, cards, crafts, and scrapbooking.

Last Day of Co-op

2011-04-19T09:39:00.000-05:00

Here is my class that I had this semester at our homeschool co-op. Aren't they adorable? I taught poetry to these younguns and it is so much fun when you get to see their reading abilities improve over 12 weeks because they are learning word families. Yesterday was our last day, and this semester just flew by, but it was a lot of fun. I'm ready to enjoy my summer, but will be happy to see all of our friends again come fall.

Goodbye Snowflake

2011-04-06T21:19:00.002-05:00

Today as we were about to leave the house, Evan went to check on our pet hamster Snowflake and discovered she was dead. We knew this time was coming soon because for the past 3 weeks, Snowflake has looked awful. Hamsters live to 18 months to 2 years. We got her in July of 2009, so she made it to about 21 months. She was getting skinnier, sleeping a lot more, not having the energy and balance to climb around her cage as much, and was getting sticky eye. One day last week we went to take her out of her cage and her right eye was closed and looked kind of swollen. I looked up some info about this and found out that sticky eye is caused when hamsters get old. Since they sleep so much at this age, the fluid in their eye can act like a glue and stick the eye shut. We took a warm watered cottonball and cleaned her eye and she was able to open it, but then we had to keep cleaning her eye because it kept getting stuck shut.

When Evan called for me because he thought she was dead, I came and took the lid off the cage and felt her to see if she would move or if I could feel her body moving like she was breathing. No, nothing. Evan had knocked on her cage to make noise and see if she would move. When she didn't, he felt her body, then he called for me. We had held her and cleaned her eye yesterday, so she passed sometime within 24 hours of when Evan discovered her. She must have died in her sleep because she was curled up in her usual ball position in her nested bedding, but she was laying on her side with her eyes open. I'm sure she passed peacefully and in no pain.

Yes, Snowflake was just a little tiny hamster, but she was our family's first pet. Evan and I are allergic to cats and dogs, so a hamster turned out to be a good pet for us. She brought us much joy. She was fun to hold and watch run around in her cages and ball. Her favorite food was sunflower seeds--didn't matter what else we gave her to eat, she wanted the sunflower seeds. It was fun to put the seeds in a line and watch her like a vacuum cleaner suck them up in her mouth and you could see her cheeks get really fat. Then she wanted to take them to her cage and it was like you were listening to a machine gun as she spit the seeds out. She would stand on her hind legs almost like she was begging at times. It was so cute to watch her clean herself with her little paws. The kids named her Snowflake because she was a Winter White hamster who in the wild supposedly turned white--she never turned white for us. She was a nice brown-gray color. We got to take her to Colorado on some visits and she was a great traveler, and we had a couple of families who nicely watched her for us during other travels. One family even had a grease fire at the time, but they made sure they got Snowflake out of their home so nothing would happen to her. (The family was fine, but they did have to do a little cleaning and I think repairing of their kitchen).

There were a few times Snowflake escaped her cage. One time I think we didn't find her for one or two days. Three of the times she escaped we found her because she got into the bottom stove drawer where the pots and pans lids are kept. There must be a hole in that drawer that she got into from crawling under the stove. We would hear the lids rattling around and know it was Snowflake. The other time she escaped, I was working in the kitchen and felt something run across my foot. I looked down and there was Snowflake standing on her hind legs looking at me like she was waiting for me to pick her up. Another time she escaped she got trapped in a sticky spider trap in our room. I woke up hearing this scratching sound thinking we had caught a mouse in the trap. I sat up in bed and I could see a tiny white cotton ball tail sticking out of the trap and I knew it was Snowflake. I had to open up the trap and cut her fur to get her unstuck.

The kids and I had church activities tonight, but when we got home, Roger had nicely put Snowflake in a match box with some bedding to make her comfortable. He had already dug a hole in the backyard. It was dark, so I decided not to take any pictures of the ceremony. Evan placed the box in the hole, and we all took turns saying how we would miss her and then scooping a shovel full of dirt on top of her. She was a wonderful little pet who we will all miss and remember. If you would like to see some pics of Snowflake when we first got her, click here.

Evan the Goalie

2011-04-02T19:02:00.001-05:00

My family loves sports (well, Lauren is trying to), and we have enjoyed Evan playing soccer for 6 years now. He loves playing it. He started out at the YMCA, went to Upward, and this year has been with AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization--I think?).

The Y was a good start and he had a great coach that he was with for 3 seasons--very encouraging. Upward was good and he was blessed with two good coaches there (one of them was Roger). They really focused on sportsmanship and passed out awards and even did devotionals. Finally, we decided Evan was ready for something more competitive. That's where AYSO comes in. I have witnessed two coaches arguing, refs and coaches getting into it, players and refs getting into it, and kids on other teams playing rough--almost like bullies, seeming not to care about the game, just trying to hurt other kids. However, in the midst of all this, Evan once again ended up with a great coach.

Evan has always enjoyed the position of goal keeper. His coach has discovered this, and puts Evan in this position every game. There are 4 quarters and a player can only be goalie for 2. Coach even talked to Roger last week to make sure that it was okay that Evan was being goalie so much for each game. Roger told him yes, because it was what Evan wanted. Roger is also happy about this because depending on how far Evan wants to go in soccer, he says there are not a lot of people who want to be goalie, so he could maybe even get a scholarship for school for something like this. Only time will tell.

I love to watch Evan play. He really has good sportsmanship always cheering on his team and high fiving everyone. Yes, he has had his share of frustrating tears like if another team has gotten a few goals past him, but we just keep reminding him that everyone has bad days, and that there will always be some goals that a goalie just can't dive for and reach in time. Roger stands on the sideline near Evan when he is playing goalie and coaches him. Evan told me today that he thinks he did well today because he was listening to what dad was telling him. I also know that on Thursday night practices, Coach is really cracking down on the boys and they are starting to play better because he makes them listen to him and practice what he's preaching to them. He wants them to be a team, even though there are a couple of hot shots, but he's working to change that.

Today we had an exciting moment with Evan as goalie that we've never experienced before. The other team got to kick a penalty kick. What this means is one of the players on the other team got to line up on one of the lines in front of the goalie box and try to make a goal against Evan. I'm not sure that any of these kids had experienced a penalty kick before because the ref was having to direct everyone on what to do. He went to the goalie box for a couple of minutes explaining to Evan what he had to do. Basically, all Evan could do was stand in one spot anywhere on his line until the opposing player's foot touched the ball for the kick and then Evan could move to get the ball. Everyone was quiet, all eyes were on him, and all pressure was on him, but he was up for the challenge. Evan took a little crouching stance ready to dive in whichever way the ball was kicked. The opposing player kicked the ball, and fortunately he kicked it straight at Evan who caught it! Our team and parents clapped and cheered. It was exciting! He had a good day! Oh, I wish I'd had my camera!

Ear Piercing

2011-03-31T21:23:00.000-05:00

Sunday after church Little Miss Lauren got her ears pierced. It had been decided last year that she needed to wait until she turned 8 years old (which is still a year away). For about a month, she had really been talking a lot about it and really wanted to do it. I told her to talk to dad. He finally gave in and of course she wanted to do it the very next day. We walked into Claire's soon after they opened, filled out the paperwork, and picked out the earrings. She was so excited and smiling. She had brought one of her favorite stuffed animals (Dumbo) to hold onto, and wanted to hold my hand.

They put her hair back in clips and then the lady marked her ears with a pen where the holes were to go. I was asked to look them over and make sure I thought the pen marks were even.

Lauren started getting nervous and wanted to sit on my lap. She was ready until she saw the lady pull out the ear piercing gun and then she immediately went from smiling and excited, to "I don't want to do this." Well, being the nice mom that I am, I told her she begged to do this and dad agreed, so she was going to have to do this. At this time, two twin girls walked in wanting to get their ears pierced. They were probably about 11 or 12 years old. We decided that Lauren should watch those girls go first, and then go after them. As the twins were preparing for their turns, a 9 year old girl walked in to get her ears pierced. Busy day for ear piercing, huh? The twins sat really still, didn't cry, or act like the piercings were painful, so Lauren was ready. She was still nervous, but I told her she had to do it now because there was another girl in line after her waiting her turn. I ended up having to hold her chin to keep her looking straight because she kept wanting to look at that gun. Good big brother Evan stood straight in front of her and started making her laugh a little to help her through the piercing. We did one ear and she said, "Ow!" For the second ear, she was squirming a little more, but I held her still, and again, she said, "Ow!" but there were no tears! She was brave. She said it did hurt a little, but once she saw those pretty blue flower earrings in her ears, the smiles and excitement were back. The 9 year old who was waiting her turn, her mom had cheered for Lauren and made her daughter watch Lauren, so we decided to stick around and cheer her on. I am so glad Lauren went before this little girl. A soon as the 9 year old sat down, tears started streaming down her cheeks, and she started crying so hard I had to dig out some tissues to give to her mom so she could wipe her nose. She was a nicer mom than me and told her daughter she didn't have to go through with it, but the girl wanted to. She did it and we cheered for her. If Lauren had waited to go after this little girl, I really don't think I could have made Lauren go through with it--she would have been totally freaked out because of the other girl's behavior. But, it's done, and she is so loving her earrings, and can't wait until her 6 weeks are over of wearing these so she can get new earrings.

Look What I Made: Fleece Blanket

2011-03-29T11:15:00.002-05:00

Aren't those fleece blankets that are simply tying together strips of the fleece fabrics together so cute? The best part--NO sewing! I've always heard they are easy to make, and they really truly are--I made one a couple of months ago to put in the play pen we leave in the TV room for my nephew to lay on. My first one and it was very, very easy. Just a little time consuming--maybe took a total of 2 hours? I split the work up into 2 days. Here is what I did...

Lauren and I went to the fabric store and found this cute dinosaur patterned fleece, and thought the plain red fleece went nicely with it. Lauren is very proud of this part because she is the one who spotted the dino print that we both fell in love with. I'm pretty sure I bought a yard of each.

The next step is to make sure each fleece fabric is the same rectangular length. They weren't quite even, so I attempted to free hand cut the fabrics into a nice rectangle. Mistake. I finally had to get out a tape measure to help me keep a straight line and I marked the lines off with a marker so I knew exactly where to cut.

There--a perfect rectangle!

The sides of my rectangle were divisible by 7, so in each corner I cut out a 7 x 7 inch square. This step makes it easier for when I go to tie my knots.

Next, I used the tape measure to mark out one inch increments along all sides for knot tying.

After the fringe pieces are cut, tie them into knots. A lot of people when they make these blankets simply take the two pieces of fabrics and tie them together like you are about to tie a shoe before the bow part. I saw a website which showed how to make these pretty knots I ended up making. You bring up the bottom end of the fringe and cross it in front of the upper part of the fringe making a hole, then bring the bottom end up from underneath the hole and pull the knot up to the top of the blanket line--like you are tying a necktie. I realize what I just said is probably clear as mud, but it makes sense in my head. Maybe the pics will help you understand better...

The kids actually enjoyed helping me tie the knots!

Here is the finished product, and here is what I think is a neat part of the experience...Before I even began this project, I knew I wanted to use it in the play pen. But, I never even thought to measure the dimensions of the play pen. Unbelievably, the blanket turned out to be the exact fit for the play pen (with maybe just a little fabric scrunching to make an exact fit). I was amazed!

Las Vegas Part 3: Caesar's Palace

2011-03-28T20:15:00.002-05:00

Celine Dion is playing at Caesar's Palace, so Roger found the cheapest airline/Caesar's resort package for our trip. I felt it would be good to stay at the same place she was performing so if the weather was bad, we wouldn't have to walk there worrying about getting wet if it was raining, or ending up with a bad hairdo if it was really windy. Plus, if the concert was long and we were tired, we would be able to go right to our room when it was done, and not worry about walking back to a different resort.

The room was very nice. It was a little larger than most regular hotel rooms. The furniture and bed were very comfortable. The bathroom was lovely. There were many high tech gadgets we've never used before. One example is we couldn't find a "Do not disturb" sign, and then Roger discovered there was a button you pushed that showed "do not disturb" on a little sign outside the door. There was a button you could push to mechanically open and close the curtains that Roger enjoyed. There was even a TV in the bathroom mirror. The shower was huge and had two shower heads and a bench to sit on. The toilet could be closed off by a door. There was a nice sized closet with a safe that we would put the laptop and other valuables in when we left the room. We couldn't believe they did not offer free wi-fi--just another example of how expensive Vegas can be.

The Caesar's Palace resort is huge. Just from looking at the other resorts, I would say it was the biggest in Vegas, but I'm not exactly sure about that. There are many towers of rooms, plus the Forum shops which is like an indoor mall. Not to mention the casinos and restaurants.

The indoor mall was humongous! Very clean and beautiful with many upscale name shops, restaurants, and pretty architecture. There was an Apple computer store and Monday morning we went to stand in line in front of it to try to get Roger an IPad. There were already many people in front of us, and we were only there for about 5 minutes when an employee came to tell us all that they did not receive a new shipment that day. Too bad for Roger, but he ordered one once we got home. Notice the sky ceiling in one of the pics that gave you the feeling you were outdoors--beautiful. There was an aquarium with different fish and rays, and we were able to take a pic of a diver cleaning the glass. Lots of statues resembling Roman gods. There is a pic of a huge coin pool (not sure if it was a fountain show type pool or not), and you will see what looks like a spiral staircase, but it was actually a spiral escalator that you could get off and on for 3 floors. In the pic of me in the halter dress, this was from a shop that wasn't in the mall, but in a little shop near our hotel room tower that we kept passing all the time. I kept commenting on it every time we passed it by about how much I loved the look of it. I finally decided I just needed to try it on. Roger and I took a breath before we looked at the price, and then were presently surprised that it was $68--that's what you would pay at JCPenny for a dress like that. After trying it on (ignore the tennis shoes, and I had my jeans on also) and loving it even more, I decided I needed to think about it for a while. I finally decided I didn't need the dress because where would I wear it and how often? I was sad that I had to say good-bye to this dress--did I mention yet how much I loved it?!?!

The whole reason we went to Las Vegas in the first place was to conclude celebrating my 40th birthday by seeing Celine Dion in concert. The concert was great. She is still an excellent singer, and just beautiful. I think she changed outfits like 6 times--gorgeous gowns! She had a band and orchestra playing for her with great back up singers. She did some special affect type tricks like singing with herself. Have you ever seen shows on TV where they do some kind of affect that looks like the person is on stage, but it's just some computer generated person that looks almost real? That's how she did the singing with herself part. She is funny. She showed videos of her family in which she wasn't always wearing nice clothes or had make-up on. She is like a real person--not an over the top, untouchable super star. She got comfy and sat on the steps of the stage close to the audience, and she even walked down one of the aisles shaking peoples' hands. Her concert hall was beautiful and the chairs were very comfortable. You didn't feel crowded, and there was not a bad seat in the house. The concert had more of a sophisticated feel to it and it was shorter than we expected--a little over 90 minutes. There were many couples there, but it is probably true that there were more women than men. It wasn't necessarily what Roger wanted to be doing, but he was a good Hubby and came for my sake. I even let him go casual--we both wore nice jeans with nice shirts and shoes--nicer than what you see in the pic of me standing by her poster. One of the guys sitting in the row in front of had brought a book to read before the concert began which we thought was hilarious, so Roger took his picture. It was almost like he was making a statement to everyone, including his wife, that he didn't want to be there. There were 4 ladies sitting in from of us who weren't obnoxious in any way, but they would dance in their seats and wave their hands in the air and the usher would come up and tell them they had to settle down. You could see ushers doing this all over the concert hall. You almost felt like you had to do nothing but sit still and just mouth the words to the songs. She sang all of the songs I wanted to hear from her except one. She sang tribute songs to different singers like Billy Joel and Michael Jackson. She also sang a couple of depressing, sad songs--one even made her start crying. Have to say that was kind of a downer. I was just so happy we were able to do this. This is something that I have wanted to do for many, many years. I had to have a tissue in my hand at all times to unashamedly dab away happy tears when she began to sing a favorite song of mine. I'm glad a dream of mine got to come true and I can cross it off of my life-goals list!

Las Vegas Part 2: Sunday

2011-03-23T21:04:00.002-05:00

Well, we only had all day Sunday to go see whatever we could fit into the day. I knew there was an M&Ms World, so we headed there. It is 4 stories tall and has so many M&M candy items for sale. We bought a really cute candy dispenser. It is the boy red candy and the girl green candy sitting in a car. You put candy into the back of the car, pull down Red's arm, and it opens up a door in the back to dispense the candy. They had a squished penny machine, so we got one of those for Evan since he collects them. We also saw a 3-D movie which was about 15 minutes starring Red and Yellow. Right next door was a Coca-Cola store. We ended up buying a 3 pack of Barq's Root Beer, Coke, and Cherry Coke flavored lip gloss for the kids to split. These were the only souvenirs we brought home for them. They were a tiny bit disappointed, but we explained to them that this was about the only shopping we had time to do, so they were than thankful for their gifts. They really liked the candy dispenser.

We walked down most of the Vegas strip. All of the high rise resorts/casinos are amazing. They all have different looks and themes. There was a Paris theme, New York, MGM Grand, Caesar's Palace where we stayed, and so many more. Several resorts have thrill rides--inside and outside. There are peddlers on every corner trying to shove fliers at you, or trying to stop you and sell you things. There were many people walking around or sitting on the streets with signs saying they were homeless. There were walkways above the streets so you could cross the street that way instead of on the road. There were even outdoor escalators to take you down or up to/from the walkway to the sidewalk. There was a bus system that you could buy an all day bus pass for $7 that stopped in front of every resort if you didn't want to walk the entire strip.

New York resort (taken from a window at the m&m store). We couldn't get the pic of the Statue of Liberty. Notice the outdoor roller coaster:

Paris resort. Barry Manilow was their headliner. The inside of this resort was beautiful:

The next 6 pics are trying to take a 360 degree panoramic view of the strip. Not too interesting:

But the lights are interesting:

One of the outdoor escalators:

After the concert on Sunday night, we went next door to the Bellagio and watched their outdoor fountain show. I video taped it with my camera and was so hoping to play it here, and Roger tried really hard to get the video to a size that would load to my blog, but he just couldn't. It was really neat, though. You might be able to find it on youtube?

You definitely see a different set of people at night than you do during the day. There are more women in short skirts, 5 inch heels, and really low-cut blouses. Men are walking around carrying drinks in their hands. So many drunk people. This is all happening outside and inside the resorts. The casinos are empty during the day, but so, so crowded during the night. The waitresses are wearing seductive looking clothes, some women dealers are in corsets, fishnet stockings, and when we walked back into the resort on Sunday night, right there in the middle of some of the gaming tables were some women pole dancing.

What you may not realize is the casinos are not excluded from the rest of the resort. When you check in, you have to walk to different parts of the resort to your room through the casinos. So, whether you want to or not, you have to walk by all of those half dressed, pole dancing women, gaming tables, slot machines--you don't have a choice. I did not know this. I thought the casinos were in separate areas of the resorts from the rooms. Well, isn't that what I expected? Yes, I wasn't shocked in any way, it's just all so ungodly. I finally learned first hand why Vegas is called Sin City. There were some families there, so their children had to witness this, also. A lot of people and families were were from different countries, so maybe they didn't realize this is what Vegas is about? Oh, there's also slot machines all over the airport.

Vegas is also one of the most expensive places I have ever been to. Here's an example--eating. We discovered that the most economical way for us to eat was to join a program called Total Rewards. It didn't cost us anything to join, and we only did it because of the buffet program they offered. There are 7 participating resorts that are in this program (including Caesars where we stayed). By joining, we paid about $48 each for a 24 hour period of buffet eating. We joined at 9:33 Sunday morning, had breakfast, lunch, dinner and then breakfast Monday morning. If we were staying more days, we would have had to pay another $96 for the two of us to have another 24 hours of eating, and we would have had to continue this every 24 hour period. They give you cards and a receipt with the time on it for you to keep with you to show every buffet that participates. We tried to eat one meal at the Paris resort, but the line was way too long, so we ended up eating all of our meals at the Caesars buffet. The food was very good, though, and many dishes to choose from. There are many restaurants at the resorts and on the strip to choose from also.

The buffet dining room was very comfy and clean. See that dessert I'm holding? Chocolate mousse. Let's just say I probably ate more of those than I should have. Soooo yummy!!

When joining the rewards program, they gave us each $5 on our cards to play the slot machines. Well, it wasn't our money, so why not. Roger sat down at a machine and played both cards and won a whopping 24 cents. No, we didn't bother to cash in on our winnings.

Las Vegas Part 1: Getting There

2011-03-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

The last part of finishing my 40th birthday celebration was going to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion in concert. She is one of my all-time favorite singers and I thought I would never get to see her. She played in Las Vegas for 5 years, took some time off, but is back now. When the idea came to me, I knew the only time we could go would be during Spring Break. I looked up her dates and discovered that she was playing the weekend before Spring Break. All of her concerts were sold out except for the Sunday night one. (It eventually sold out, but at the time we purchased the ticks, it was not). My mom and sister could watch the kids for us, so Roger purchased the tickets and we started planning our trip.

Roger found a trip package that included a nonstop flight to Vegas, and allowed us to stay at Caesar's Palace which is where the concert was going to be. Allegiant is the airline that flies nonstop from Wichita to Vegas. The flight time was a little over 2 hours, but on the way home it was less than 2 hours--it all depends on the winds.

Neither of us had flown Allegiant before and there were a few unexpected things about the airline we learned in the process. When we got to the airport, Roger told me he had paid for priority seating, but he wasn't sure exactly what that meant. We soon discovered that priority seating is a good thing to pay for when flying with this airline. When it was time to board the plane, people with priority seating get to board first. What that means is we have assigned seating, and are able to place our carry-on luggage in bins above our seats. Yes, believe it or not, I was able to pack all of my stuff in a carry-on. Hey, we were only going to be gone for 2 nights, so it really shouldn't be too much of a shock to all of you. My husband couldn't believe it, so he decided to take a picture for proof...

Continuing on...for those passengers without priority seating, when it is their turn to board, they do not have assigned seating, and can sit wherever there is an empty seat. The plane is divided with rows of 2 seats on one side, and rows of 3 seats on the other side. It was nice to know we had assigned seats and would actually be able to sit together in a row of 2 seats.

Another learning opportunity came when they brought the drink cart by and asked us if we would like something to drink. I asked for water and Roger asked for a soda. She said, "That'll be $4." We must have looked shocked to her. We had no idea we had to pay for drinks on the flight--$2 each. We paid it.

Before we left for Vegas, I had called Caesar's to ask if they had a complimentary shuttle which picked up their guests from the airport. They did not, but said to use a shuttle service called Bell Transportation. Their kiosk was outside by the luggage claim area and we bought a round trip ticket from them that cost $12 each. On the way to Caesar's, the shuttle had to drop other passengers off at their resorts, so we were the last ones and it took about 45 minutes until we arrived. Returning to the airport on the day we came home, we were the last passengers picked up and it only took 15 minutes to get to the airport. It was all very convenient and it meant we didn't have to rent a car which would've been crazy trying to drive on the Vegas Strip, and hopefully we saved money than what it would have cost to use a cab--I didn't look into that cost.

By the time we finally checked in and reached our hotel room, it was 9:00pm Vegas time; 11:00 Wichita time. No walking around taking pics of the neon lights this night. We saw them as we drove around in the shuttle, but the windows had some kind of screening on them that would not have allowed for good pics. Plus, it was pretty chilly and the winds were gusting. We were tired and found some food, took it back to our room, ate and went nighty-night.

Drive-In Movie Night

2011-03-14T18:03:00.001-05:00

We went to the drive-in movies Friday night. This is our 3rd year to do this fun family activity. This time we saw Gnomeo and Juliet, Tangled, and Tron was the third movie, but we didn't stay for it. Those third movies just run too late for us, plus we didn't think it would be appropriate for the kids, plus Roger already saw it in the IMAX theater when it first came out. The first movie was okay. If you know the story of Romeo and Juliet, then it's interesting to see how they used that story and put it into a kids' movie. Tangled was really good. Roger had taken Lauren out on a daddy/daughter date night when it first came out, so they had seen it already. Lauren actually fell asleep about half way through the movie at the drive-in. Evan and I really enjoyed the movie--it's not just a girly princess movie. Most of the other families left after Tangled just like we did. The weather was too chilly to sit outside, so we all sat in the truck and it was comfortable and worked out just fine. The kids were in their pjs, and we had brought blankets and pillows so we were comfy-cozy. We got some food from the snack bar instead of bringing any of our own, but that's a fun part of the drive-in movie experience we like to do. Right now, the cost was only $10 for a car load, but it will probably be raised when summer comes. Even with the prices of the snack bar, combined with the $10 admission, we definitely spent less money for two movies than we would have for one movie at a regular theater. So much fun!

My Birthday

2011-03-10T22:36:00.000-06:00

(This post was written 2 weeks ago [February 24th]--I just now got around to posting it.)

Today was my 40th birthday. Happy? Not necessarily. Sad? Not really. It's just when you're a kid, time goes soooooo slow. Then, when you're an adult, time goes sooooooo fast! How did 40 get here so quickly? The baby picture of me above says 9 weeks old on the back of it. Look at all of that hair and chubby face. :-) The picture below is one of my senior high school pics (so approximately 1/2 my age ago). I remember at this age so excited thinking that finally being an adult was here. Boy, little did I know that another 20 years would get here before I could blink.

I have wondered how my parents feel about me turning 40. When my oldest is 40, I will be 70. That's 30 years from now, but it doesn't seem that far away. I know it all--you're only as old as you feel, age is all about attitude, 40 is just a number, you're young at heart, etc., etc. Even with all of that said, I still can't help but think about life, and time, and growing older. Well, before I start contemplating that too much, I thought I'd throw in a pic of what I look like at 40.

Let me tell you about my day. It was pretty ordinary. We did homeschool. The kids went to their YMCA class. Oh, but then there was the right rear passenger tire blowing out on the way home from the Y.

It wasn't dangerous. The kids and I heard a loud sound and wondered what it was. Then we could feel and hear the funny sound we were making on the road, and the tilt of the van. We knew what had happened and knew what tire it was. (The same part of the van that did this to us in the spring or summer). We were close to home, probably 3 miles. I pulled over onto the nearest road off of the main road to avoid traffic. It was a sandy country road that was wet and muddy from all of the rain last night.

I called Roger and he said I could attempt to change the tire myself because he couldn't quite get off work yet. I decided to try, even though I hadn't done this before, but I've watched Roger. I read the car manual and understood it, so I thought, yeah, I can do this. I called home and asked my sister to come so that the kids could sit in her car while I worked on the van. I also asked her to bring some old towels or sheets I could put under me to avoid the mud--she found a tarp in the garage; yea sis! Oh, did I mention it was very sprinkly, gloomy, cold, and windy? Bbbrrrrr. And that's not all.....when I first got out of the van to look at the tire, I slipped in the mud and fell! My shoes got all muddy, but I had fallen towards the middle of the road on my hands and knees instead of the side where all of the mud was, so I didn't get too dirty. Yea??!!

Our spare tire is under the van. On the inside of the van up front between the seats is a hole (I'm not sure what else to call it) where you stick a metal tool bar into and twist and it lowers the spare from the van onto the ground. I did that just fine. Then, you have to use the hook and pull the tire out from under the van. In order to do this, I had to jack the car up. I tried, and tried, but just couldn't get the van raised. I called Roger and he said I needed a board to make the ground more level and create a hard surface for the jack to sit on. It was decided that my sister would take me home and when Roger got off work, he would come and change the tire. So, about 3 hours later we were all back up on that road and Roger got the tire changed successfully. The nice farmer who lived in the house that I had parked in front of even came out to see if we were okay and needed help. Very friendly of him considering the wind was really blowing and it was freezing cold by this time. I am so thankful to God though, that we did not have to deal with any snow, pouring rain, or icy drizzle. All things considered, it could have been worse.

Once we got home, Roger made french toast with my favorite homemade honey wheat bread I had made earlier in the day and some turkey bacon. That is what I chose for my birthday dinner and it was yummy. He had also brought home a cake for me.

I received a lot of well wishes, gifts and cards from family and friends that made me feel so special on this gloomy, ordinary, tire-blowing day. My kids kept giving me hugs and kisses and telling me happy birthday--I LOVED this soooo much! And, I am excited to say that my celebrating isn't over yet. We're going to go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants this weekend--Texas Roadhouse! I have fully warned Roger that he better not tell the restaurant it is my birthday because there is no way I want to sit on a saddle and wave a kerchief yelling Yee-Haw and getting my picture taken. Then, in March Roger and I get to go away for 2 nights out of town for a special celebration that involves something on my list of things I want to do in life. I'm not telling people what it is yet, but I can hardly wait!

Update: We went to Texas Roadhouse with my parents, sister, and nephew, and Roger earned some good husband points by not alerting the restaurant that it was my birthday. The next night we went to our small group where Roger sneaked in a huge birthday cake; I cannot believe I didn't see any of this happen. It was a total surprise and my friends were so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to me. I have to admit that it made me feel special, even though I told them they didn't have to do it.

Sickness Diagnosis

2011-03-03T19:25:00.000-06:00

I kept hoping nobody would get sick January or February because of Roger switching jobs and we did not have insurance until March. However, that didn't mean that I wanted sickness to come in March. Oh well, I'm very thankful we were not sick enough to have to go to the Dr in those two months. We did have to go today though.

About 4:30 I decided Evan needed to be taken in to after hours care because I was suspecting strep throat. His fever still seemed high (although we've had strep before with no fever), but he was really sounding rough and started saying his throat hurt. I called Roger and he met us at the Dr's. The doctor looked in his throat and didn't even order a throat swab (much to Evan's happiness), he knew he had strep just by looking. We asked him to look at Lauren due to her fever and throwing up yesterday, but he said, nope, she just had a virus. So, off to the pharmacy for amoxicillan and new toothbrushes.

Hopefully nobody else in the house will contract strep, but in the mean time I will be Lysoling everything!

Well, Sickness Has Struck

2011-03-02T16:14:00.000-06:00

Yep, we've been able to avoid so much of this yucky, long-lasting sickness everyone else in the world seems to have gotten until today. Both kids woke up with fevers. Evan's has been the highest around 102 and other than tired and only a tiny appetite, he seems okay. However his fever seems the hardest to bring down. Lauren's fever has been around 101 and she has thrown up 3 times today, has had virtually no appetite, but her fever seems more controllable. They both, including me, took 2 hour naps. I've been feeling low in energy the past few days, and I think I've been suffering from allergies with all of nature starting to bud and bloom, but from my dead-tired, hard hitting nap I took, I think I'll keep an eye on myself in case I'm starting to get sick vs. it being allergies.

I posted on facebook today a funny/sarcastic message to people: I would like to thank everyone who has checked up on us this week (and there were quite a few) by asking if our family has been sick yet this season and then shocked when I've answered no. I think you all had ulterior motives and jinxed us--both kids woke up with fevers today and one has already thrown up. This could be a long day....

I wasn't kidding--so many people this past week asked me if we had been sick yet, and then preceded to tell me how their family members had been sick. It does kind of feel like we were jinxed. Roger is getting off early and going grocery shopping for me (which is what I was planning on doing with the kids today), so I'm very appreciative of that. I'm praying very hard that this will be short-lived because we were supposed to have a busy weekend.

I Want Chickens

2011-02-23T15:40:00.000-06:00

Our dream (hopefully sometime in the near future) is to get a place with some acreage. Roger would like 20 acres with a little bit of woodsy area so that if a goose or deer were to walk onto our land, he could shoot it and we'd have some food. I just want enough land to have some chickens, and maybe goats some day. I love farm fresh eggs, and although I've heard chickens can make a real mess, I still want them. Here at Lake Waltanna where we live now, there are actually some goats in the stable area and I am amazed at how well they keep the grass short--nature's lawn mowers.

A few weeks ago while the kids were at their Awana program I went to hang out at the bookstore with some friends. One friend already lives on a farm (I think it's around 80 acres) and has a variety of animals to take care of. The other friend who lives in the city of Wichita discovered that she is allowed to have chickens in her back yard! What?! Really?! People are allowed to have chickens in the city of Wichita and our development of Lake Waltanna out in the country will allow horses and goats but specifically states in the by laws no chickens? NO FAIR! Anyways, while at the bookstore, the friend with the farm took us to the magazine section and showed us the following (who knew?):

Look What I Made: Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-02-21T20:07:00.002-06:00

After about a year of hearing other friends making their own laundry soap, and after doing some research on the subject, I finally decided to make my own. Most of my friends make the liquid form, but I decided to make the powdered form because most sites said to use powdered for top load washing machines, and liquid for front load washers. The recipe I used was from the Duggar family famous for the show 19 Kids and Counting, but most sites use the same recipe. It was so simple to do, and although I haven't done the math, I think we are going to be saving quite a bit of money. I have done 4 loads of laundry so far, including whites, and they all came out great. I even washed a new silk sweater with no problems. So far, I'm loving it and it was so easy to make. The kids enjoyed helping make it also. It was our home economics part of school on Friday.

The first ingredient is a bar of soap. Fels-Naptha is recommended, but sites said Ivory could be used, as well as other brands which I can't remember the names of right now.

You are instructed to either grate the soap, or cut it into pieces and put into a food processor. We decided to take the grating approach. It looks like we're grating a block of cheese, huh?

After grating for a few minutes, we decided to go ahead and try to cut the soap into pieces and put it into the food processor. I soon learned that this soap was hard to cut with a knife, but I got a few pieces cut.

We put on the food processor grating blade and added the soap.

Did not like the results. Pieces were getting stuck between the blade and lid. Maybe we need to try the regular blade, or our processor is old?

So, we went back to grating our soap. Still looks like cheese, huh?

After that, we put it in the food processor with the regular blade to grind into powder.

Now it looks like cornmeal, huh?

Once that is done, I put it into a ziploc tub and added a 1/2 cup Borax and

1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Mix it all up.

I'm keeping a tablespoon in the tub and only have to add 1 tbs for a load of laundry, or 2 tbs for more soiled laundry (like towels).

I think the recipe said this amount would do 40 loads of laundry. It would be very easy to double or triple the recipe and just keep in a bigger tub. Roger bought the ingredients, so I'm not sure the exact price of the Fels-Naptha, but I'm pretty sure the Borax was less than $3, and the Washing Soda less than $5. They are large boxes and considering I am only using 1/2 to 1 cup of these products at a time, right there is a savings in money. It'll only cost me money to buy a new soap bar each time I need to make more. I think I'm really going to like this and am wondering why I didn't do this sooner. Try it and see for yourself.

You Rock Evan!

2011-02-19T10:55:00.000-06:00

A while back I posted some pics of the kids rock climbing at the YMCA. This is a video of Evan making it to the top!