old news

Here are the postings that I did on the other site, minus the photos.

Thursday, August 28, 2008
And we're off!
So, yesterday I started school. It was nice to be gone and by myself for awhile. Reas watched the kids for me, since they haven't started school yet I needed a sitter for all of them. Next week and for the rest of the semester I have a neighbor watching Nessa for me. It was harder than I thought to find a sitter that wanted a part time kid.
This semester should go well. I have the same instructor for both of my Wednesday classes. He is a really cool guy, I had him for intro last year. I have to leave home at 7:30 and will get back around 3:30, so it is a full day, but it helps that there is a 3 hour break in between my classes! I made a trip into Apple Valley and went shopping. I was able to make a relaxing loop around all the stores that I went to. I really didn't buy anything, but it was nice just to be able to browse around the store at a leisurly pace.
Then, last night the kids had open house at school. They got to meet their teachers, see their classrooms, find their desks, and try out the "smartboards". They are all super excited to start school and I can't wait for them to go either! It is going to cost me a butt load just for the kids to start school...$75 for field trips for the year...$4 for an agenda...$6 for flash cards...$2.00 per day per kid for lunch...$50 per kid for milk for the year...the list goes on and on! I will need to take out a freakin loan to pay for all of that! Good thing that this month Phil will get 3 checks!
I also signed Belle up for Girl Scouts last night. She is so excited about joining. You all can expect her to hound you to buy cookies in the spring! She is looking forward to selling the cookies the most!
I have class again tonight. This is a workshop class, we will make up my goals tonight. There is no set curriculum for the course. It can be something I want to work on, or to make up a class that I cannot get into. We will see. I talked to my instructor in the fall before I signed up to see how often I needed to show up for the class...Thursday is a ball game night. He said only 4 times, hopefully there will be 4 Thurdays without ball games!
Well, I better get something done. It is rainy and crappy out; perfect day to clean the house!

Monday, August 25, 2008
It's been a while...

It always seems like I do so well with my postings for awhile, then it slowly slips away and before I know it I am way behind. We are either so busy doing stuff that there is no time to update, or nothing exciting is going on, so I just don't update!
So, here is an update (from what I can remember) of what has happend recently.
A couple of weeks ago Austin and Belle went to this really cool Bible school at a church in town. It was based on "The Chronicals of Narnia". Each morning from 9-12 they would do the Bible themes, they had study time, obstacle courses, snacks and so much more. They had a blast. Then in the afternoon they would set off on an adventure. (Belle was too young to go, they had to be through first grade to go) So, one day they went to the Mall of America to the theme park, they also went to the Chutes and Ladders park, Como Zoo, and Cascade Bay water park. Austin loved it. They left the church around 12:30 then returned around 4:30. It was all at a very low price, and things that we normally wouldn't do. They wrapped up the week with a family night. They had a jumping castle, tacos in a bag, snow cones, and a few songs they learned throughout the week. It was a really fun night. Both he and Belle are looking forward to going again next year! That church is also starting a AWANA Program this fall that Austin and Belle want to go to.
Last week the kids had Bible school at our church. That was in the evenings for a couple of hours. They had a county fair theme. Each night they had demonstrations that were suppose to teach them about the different fruits of the spirit. The favorite night was when they got to see a sheep getting sheerd. Belle even brought home some wool. They also wrapped it up with a pretty entertaining program.
This past Friday Belle and Carson spent the night at my cousins house. They had a great time. They went to Burger King, the Chutes and Ladders Park, and I am sure they totally trashed the house. I guess they were up until midnight having just a grand old time!
On Saturday I finally had my garage sale. I had wanted to be one of the first sales in the spring...Well you can see how well that worked out! Anyway we were able to make some decent money and get rid of a ton of stuff, granted there was still a ton left. I ended up donating several boxes of leftovers to the clothes and shoes boxes around town. We had so many clothes it was rediculous. Each of the kids had at least one table each of clothes that was plumb full! I even had to wait to put some stuff out until other stuff was gone. I marked everything incredibly cheap just so I was sure to get rid of it. There were people walking out of here with GIANT bags from like Kohls and Penny's and only spent $20.00! I wish I could find a garage sale like that! We were able to sell our dog kennel and patio table and our old grill, so even our BIG stuff sold. We set our old counter top, shower doors, a bedroom door, and other stuff in a free pile and it went! What someone would want with a yellow counter top is beyond me, but at least I don't have to pay to get rid of it!
Yesterday, we took the kids out to the nature preserve and hiked around for a couple of hours. It was fun, we got to see the "wetlands"and"prairies", there were also frogs, beaver dams, and a ton of grasshoppers!
I start shooting sports this week already. I was shooting team pictures last week, but the game begin tomorrow night! I will be busy most Thursday and Friday nights with either tennis, volleyball, or football. I am double booked most Thursday nights with a game and school, so I will need to juggle somehow!
I start school on Wednesday, I am kind of looking forward to it. I will be gone from 7:30-3:30, Nessa is going to go and play at the neighbors house. She is looking forward to it with just a little bit of apprehension!T
he kids have an open house on Wednesday night. They get to go and find out who their teachers are and visit their classrooms. There are only 8 days left until they go! I don't know who is more excited; me or them.I should probably get moving and try to accomplish something. I will post again soon!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Birthday/Anniversary
This past Saturday was my birthday. We just hung out at home most of the day then went out to dinner and to the mall. Just a simple quiet day as a family. When we were shopping we ended up finding a good deal on a patio set. You know us we had to jump on it! So, we got a new patio set. We didn't have room in the van to haul it so since we were in Burnsville we called Jael and she came to pick it up for us and she stored it in her garage over night...Thanks Jael!Well, after our good finds at the mall we took off and headed into Apple Valley. We had some rebate checks for Menards so we stopped to see if there was any good deals there. Really we were looking for a nice fire pit for in the yard; both at the Mall and Menards, but were unable to find one that we liked. While we were there we found a fantastic deal on a dryer! My dryer needs to be run 2 times to totally dry the clothes. So, we got that too! Kind of nice to finally be able to buy stuff without having to save for it!
Today is our anniversary. 8 years already. What are we doing to celebrate??? Well, Phil is working in Sleepy Eye and won't be home until after 6. I had to work this morning and we (me and the kids) are just going to hang out and enjoy the heat!!!YUK! It's not like I had the wedding I wanted or dreamed of. It's good to know that we have been able to stick together and grow closer through the good as well as the bad/tough times.
We were able to spend last weekend together alone at the North Shore and that was so nice! It was the first time since our honeymoon that we were gone for more than one night! Well, thats all for now!

Friday, August 15, 2008
Big Girl!!!
This morning when we got back from our walk I "made" the kids play outside. You would think that is the worst thing ever. It's not like there is nothing to do in our yard. We have the swingset, the pool, the tramp, they all have bikes. But they all whine and say it is boring! They are odd.Well, I pulled out our little bike for Nessa. We tried it a couple of months ago but she couldn't get the pedals to work. They would always get stuck in the up and down position. So today started out like that, but after only 2 times up and down our sidewalk she figured it out, she's brilliant I tell ya! She spent the last 1 1/2 riding her bike up and down the sidewalk. At one point she said, "Go away Mom, Go away". She then told me, "Stay there I do it myself" and she did! She has been getting so independant lately!