A couple of momentous events have taken place in our lives, well at least momentous for us, so I wanted to make sure they made it into the family record. The first is that Katie finally ran in her second 5K race (Shamrock Shuffle) and despite the more hilly than expected nature of the route finished with a satisfactory time of 35:06. She's now looking forward to participating in annual Madison Crazylegs Classic, an 8K race that ends at the 50 yard line of Camp Randall, the UW football stadium.
Also for the first time ever, Robert and Katie completed without error or cheating the Sunday (3/16/08) New York Times crossword puzzle. A last minute memory from Robert that the French word for water is eau saved the day! There was much rejoicing.
We also just had a couple of great visits from Liesel and Dominic (despite the fact that illness took over our house for a few days and their return to Ohio was challenged by a blizzard) and Stacy, Amanda, Ashley, and Meghan who made the trip up from Salina. We had a great time with all of you! While they were here we went to the KidsExpo where Mary Ann got to ride a miniature circus train and a pony and Rose became infatuated with the Oscar Meyer WienerMobile and we all got Wiener Whistles! Hurray!
Also, while I'm on a roll blogging here, I'll let you know that we also just got our carpet installed today in the new room, so now we (i.e. Robert) just need to put in the baseboards and it will be all ready for Mitzi!!
We wish you all a Blessed Holy Week!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Basement
Well, the basement is changing. My dad and uncle came up from KC and Salina to help work on our basement renovation. I had the studs and wiring done (and almost all the insulation) by the time they got up here last Sunday. The 3 of us were able to hang the drywall, mud and get primer and paint on. Today I (with Mary Ann's help) was able to get a coat of our "accent" paint on 1 wall. We have light blue/off white on the ceiling and 3 walls and a darker blue on one wall. It's finally looking like a room. But, it sure is long and thin. We still have to put up some caulk around the window, get carpet, put up baseboard and crown molding (or maybe just quarter round...). And get doors for the closets. It's a pretty nice room.
Vacation is over for Robert. 2 weeks off from work now gone. Who knows when the next vacation will be--the next school year's schedule isn't out yet. Any requests anyone?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Birthday extravaganzas!
Well, as briefly touched on in the last post, Mary Ann is now 3. 3! Wow. We've had 2 birthday parties. The first was just the 4 of us on her actual b-day. We had cake before dinner, spaghetti for dinner, and presents too! She really loved all of her presents. Then, on Sat Feb 16th, we had some of her friends over. 7 kids, other than our 2. Yikes! But, Mary Ann had fun. First the kids played upstairs, then downstairs. They danced, they rocked on the rocking horse (turning it into a see-saw) and then had cupcakes. It's still Lent, so no chocolate for us.
This past Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the Kalahari resort. It's one of the biggest indoor water parks in America. We had gone there last December for the Wisconsin Neurological Society's meeting. Mary Ann's been talking about it ever since, calling it the "elephant place" since that is the theme for Kalahari. Anyway, we got a special deal and went there for 1 night and 2 days. 2 very long days. We reserved a queen suite which was very nice. 2 queen beds in one room for the kids. Another room for us. There were 2 bathrooms, 3 TVs, and a real-sized coffee pot. It was pretty nice. The kids stayed up until 9:30, giggling, turning the lights on, turning the TV on, and Mary Ann getting into Rose's pack-and-play. We all had a great time in the water park. We also went to the outlet mall. Those idiots decided to make an outdoor mall, which obviously isn't very smart in the winter weather of Wisconsin. But, we got some good deals. We left the Dells at about 6:30pm and made it back for a good nights rest.
And, Obama and McCain won the primaries in Wisconsin. We'll see if they both win the nomination. We DID vote on the way out of town on Tuesday, even if we did vote for different people.
This past Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the Kalahari resort. It's one of the biggest indoor water parks in America. We had gone there last December for the Wisconsin Neurological Society's meeting. Mary Ann's been talking about it ever since, calling it the "elephant place" since that is the theme for Kalahari. Anyway, we got a special deal and went there for 1 night and 2 days. 2 very long days. We reserved a queen suite which was very nice. 2 queen beds in one room for the kids. Another room for us. There were 2 bathrooms, 3 TVs, and a real-sized coffee pot. It was pretty nice. The kids stayed up until 9:30, giggling, turning the lights on, turning the TV on, and Mary Ann getting into Rose's pack-and-play. We all had a great time in the water park. We also went to the outlet mall. Those idiots decided to make an outdoor mall, which obviously isn't very smart in the winter weather of Wisconsin. But, we got some good deals. We left the Dells at about 6:30pm and made it back for a good nights rest.
And, Obama and McCain won the primaries in Wisconsin. We'll see if they both win the nomination. We DID vote on the way out of town on Tuesday, even if we did vote for different people.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
What to do in the Winter
Well, in honor of the 13 plus inches of snow that fell last week and the arctic blast we are supposed to have this weekend (wind chills of 35 below zero are possible) I thought I'd brainstorm some ideas of what we can do here in the winter. For those of you who read this to keep up on the family, I'll let you know that we are all doing well, Rose is jabbering more, Mary Ann had a marvelous birthday on the 5th, and while we are all experiencing symptoms of cabin fever, I don't think it will reach "The Shining" level of insanity.
Winter Activities:
1. Painting finger and toenails
2. Playing with Play-doh
3. Watching a lot of movies
4. Emptying all toys from bins onto the floor
5. Spreading toys from one end of the house to the other, on both floors
6. Staring out the window in disbelief that snow can come down that hard and that fast
7. Staring at the window in disbelief that ice can actually form inside the window
8. Taking naps
9. Reading silly novels
10. Play Ring-around-the-Rosie
11. Play London Bridges falling down
12. Build a bear cave
13. Turn the bear cave into London Bridge
14. Go to bed at 6:30
15. Mentally thank the inventor of the snow blower multiple times
16. Call your sisters many times
17. Google anything and everything
18. Watch "Happy, Hairy Monsters" on YouTube
19. Teach a 3 year old how to start videos herself on YouTube
20. Have a family jam session
21. Have a family dance session
22. Smear toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror
23. Unroll the roll of toilet paper, it's totally worth doing a timeout
24. Play with your mom's fingernail polish by yourself
25. Learn how to make yourself dizzy (Rose is really good at this)
Winter Activities:
1. Painting finger and toenails
2. Playing with Play-doh
3. Watching a lot of movies
4. Emptying all toys from bins onto the floor
5. Spreading toys from one end of the house to the other, on both floors
6. Staring out the window in disbelief that snow can come down that hard and that fast
7. Staring at the window in disbelief that ice can actually form inside the window
8. Taking naps
9. Reading silly novels
10. Play Ring-around-the-Rosie
11. Play London Bridges falling down
12. Build a bear cave
13. Turn the bear cave into London Bridge
14. Go to bed at 6:30
15. Mentally thank the inventor of the snow blower multiple times
16. Call your sisters many times
17. Google anything and everything
18. Watch "Happy, Hairy Monsters" on YouTube
19. Teach a 3 year old how to start videos herself on YouTube
20. Have a family jam session
21. Have a family dance session
22. Smear toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror
23. Unroll the roll of toilet paper, it's totally worth doing a timeout
24. Play with your mom's fingernail polish by yourself
25. Learn how to make yourself dizzy (Rose is really good at this)
Friday, January 4, 2008
Politics
Now that the first state has spoken, I wanted to ask all of our readers:
If you consider yourself a Republican, are there any Democrats you would vote for over a Republican? And, vice versa if you are a Democrat. So, after the people are nominated by their parties, are there any match ups that you could see yourself voting for the other side?
If you consider yourself a Republican, are there any Democrats you would vote for over a Republican? And, vice versa if you are a Democrat. So, after the people are nominated by their parties, are there any match ups that you could see yourself voting for the other side?
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Back in Madison
Well, we're back! Did you miss us? Well, most likely if you're reading this you actually saw us in Missouri or Kansas...but, we can act like the postings on here are their own person, so you have missed us in that case...
Anyway, we took a trip out southwest to Missouri and Kansas. We started out after I got off work on the Friday before Christmas. First stop: KC MO. We went to Crown Center on Saturday and stood in line for 2 hours to see Santa. Luckily we were able to trade off who was in line so everyone could go around Crown Center for a list. Then, we went to Mission KS for Faith's baptism--Katie and I were the Godparents! Whoo-hoo!
On Sunday we went to see Katie's grandpa Mac and aunts Vicki (aka Mickey Mouse) and Mary Lou. Then off to Go-Jo's for dinner. Mary Ann says it's "a little scary" when the big flame comes up.
On Monday we drove to Salina KS to spend the night and Christmas morning with my family. We got lots of great presents. Mary Ann did all the right things in acting totally pumped by her presents.
On Tuesday we drove to Lawrence where we pretended to be a day behind, so we celebrated Christmas Eve on Christmas night and then opened presents the next morning. Again, Mary Ann was totally pumped, especially by the big kitchen that Santa gave her!
We drove back on Thursday so I could go to work on Friday. It snowed a bunch on Friday, so we missed the big storm. And, it had snowed a lot on the Saturday we were in KC, so we missed that storm. All in all not bad driving, thank the Lord!
Here's a fun article from a priest in KC talking about how much fun a Wii is!
Lots of new pics in many albums--take a look!
Anyway, we took a trip out southwest to Missouri and Kansas. We started out after I got off work on the Friday before Christmas. First stop: KC MO. We went to Crown Center on Saturday and stood in line for 2 hours to see Santa. Luckily we were able to trade off who was in line so everyone could go around Crown Center for a list. Then, we went to Mission KS for Faith's baptism--Katie and I were the Godparents! Whoo-hoo!
On Sunday we went to see Katie's grandpa Mac and aunts Vicki (aka Mickey Mouse) and Mary Lou. Then off to Go-Jo's for dinner. Mary Ann says it's "a little scary" when the big flame comes up.
On Monday we drove to Salina KS to spend the night and Christmas morning with my family. We got lots of great presents. Mary Ann did all the right things in acting totally pumped by her presents.
On Tuesday we drove to Lawrence where we pretended to be a day behind, so we celebrated Christmas Eve on Christmas night and then opened presents the next morning. Again, Mary Ann was totally pumped, especially by the big kitchen that Santa gave her!
We drove back on Thursday so I could go to work on Friday. It snowed a bunch on Friday, so we missed the big storm. And, it had snowed a lot on the Saturday we were in KC, so we missed that storm. All in all not bad driving, thank the Lord!
Here's a fun article from a priest in KC talking about how much fun a Wii is!
Lots of new pics in many albums--take a look!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Coming home to snow again
We went to Chicago this past weekend. We went to the Christkindlmarket to see the German stuff. It wasn't that exciting--it was just one small square jam packed with shops and LOTS of people. And food tents that were overpriced. We got a couple of pretzels and 1 glass of glühwein--hot spiced wine. It came in its own porcelin blue boot (small) that we brought home. It was good on a VERY chilly day! Then, we walked down to see the bean, a big shiny reflective thing just south of the main strip on Michigan Ave. Then, we went to lunch and went to Crate and Barrel. Finally went back to Mitzi's and warmed up.
Came back late Sunday. We went to church at the cathedral; the Bishop presided. Then we went to Ikea with Mitzi. It takes forever to drive past O'Hare. We bought some stuff at Ikea. We got home about 9pm. Our house was snowed in. And, snow plowed in. When we went to get out, we found that we weren't just snowed in, we were iced in. The snowfall had been covered by freezing rain, so we could walk on top of the snowfall without falling in. So, we got the girls in and then started working on shoveling out my car so I could get to work. We gave up soon and just decided I would take the van, so we parked that on the street. On Monday we worked on clearing out the car--it took both a real shovel to break up the ice and a snow shovel to haul off the chunks. Our neighbor came over to help clear the driveway off so we could park in the driveway. The ice on the sidewalks/driveway "can" come off in nice discrete chunks if you are lucky. Then, yesterday Katie cleared off most of the sidewalks, with me coming home to finish the job last night. We finally were able to use the snowblower last night to clear off the snow that had fallen on the cleared off parts.
Today I am sick; called in sick. So, Katie snow blowed this morning. She also went to help the neighbor that helped us. I have called work to tell them I'm not coming.
Check out the new pics on the photo page!
Came back late Sunday. We went to church at the cathedral; the Bishop presided. Then we went to Ikea with Mitzi. It takes forever to drive past O'Hare. We bought some stuff at Ikea. We got home about 9pm. Our house was snowed in. And, snow plowed in. When we went to get out, we found that we weren't just snowed in, we were iced in. The snowfall had been covered by freezing rain, so we could walk on top of the snowfall without falling in. So, we got the girls in and then started working on shoveling out my car so I could get to work. We gave up soon and just decided I would take the van, so we parked that on the street. On Monday we worked on clearing out the car--it took both a real shovel to break up the ice and a snow shovel to haul off the chunks. Our neighbor came over to help clear the driveway off so we could park in the driveway. The ice on the sidewalks/driveway "can" come off in nice discrete chunks if you are lucky. Then, yesterday Katie cleared off most of the sidewalks, with me coming home to finish the job last night. We finally were able to use the snowblower last night to clear off the snow that had fallen on the cleared off parts.
Today I am sick; called in sick. So, Katie snow blowed this morning. She also went to help the neighbor that helped us. I have called work to tell them I'm not coming.
Check out the new pics on the photo page!
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