Happy Birthday!

Happy 10th Birthday Scott! It is a bit early, but hey it's a party none the less. Friday afternoon the 10th of June Scott had a couple of friends over and we went to the Mineshaft in Hartford for pizza and game room time. It was lodes of fun for everyone. We have traditionally taken the kids to a Wisconsin Dells water park resort for their birthdays, but for the big 10 Scott wanted a birthday party. It was a tame one, but special for him to celebrate with his best friends from school.






He got lots of nice gifts. Thank you to all!

Mom and Dad got him a basketball hoop which turned out to be more intensive than we thought. We were up until 12:30am the morning of his party putting it together. It tried our patients, but when it was all done we were pleased with our efforts. Hiding it from him was a challenge also. We put it on the side of the house and then distracted him with Foosball when we moved it to the front before we gave it to him. He loved it and the kids played a pretty intense game, I had no idea they could play so well!

Scotts real Birthday is the 29th of June. We will have a small family celebration for him then. Today was a good day for him. The real funny thing is that the day of his party was his friend Adam's real Birthday. When we sang to Scott we added Adam to the song so he did not feel left out. All in all it was fun and a great way to user in the double digits for our Bubbs!

Tonight I had a heart attack

Tonight when leaving for Church activities and a going away party
for a friend of mine (we will miss you Natasha) this is what we found on our door. It is a heart attack! I do not know who took the time to put this together, but thank you! It is so nice to know someone is thinking of you. With all the family medical problems we are dealing with, this makes me smile. I loved reading each Scripture quote, seeing the picture of Jesus and trying to figure out who's handwriting it is and when they could have possibly put it all up undetected. We will have to pass on the sentiment during a family home evening, so watch out out there, you too may get your own heart attack.

Braces!

What a day today has been for Kaitlyn, a rite of passage I guess you could call it. She got braces! Carl has them now and I had them when I was her age, so I believe we prepared her well. I gave her Tylenol before we went which seemed to help. Afterwords she wanted to go to Noodles and Company for lunch. She likes their mac n cheese.

I figured before the real pain kicks in she should eat,and she enjoyed it. It will be fun to watch her the next few weeks when everyone begins to see them. She looks so cute with them and I love the blue rubber bands she picked. My little girl is growing up! She should have them on for 2 years. Smile beautiful!!

Happy Father's Day!

Dad, Happy Father's Day! We wanted to thank you for all you do for us. We are grateful for all your hard work, for our perfect teeth, and for all the fun we have. You take us on trips and swim with us at water parks. We get to go to sports games with you and cannot wait until we get to go again. You take us to movies you probably do not want to see yourself, and do not complain. You play video games with us sometimes all day, and then come back for more! We always love it when you kick the ball around with us in the court, or throw a football in the backyard. You are enthusiastic about Cub Scouts like you were a young boy yourself, it makes earning badges fun. You are a great example. We love you! Kaitlyn and Scott

Take me out to the ball game...

Friday night Kaitlyn and Carl went to Miller Park in Milwaukee to watch the Brewers take on the Minnesota Twins. This is usually an outing reserved for Carl and Scott, but Kaitlyn wanted a turn at going. They tailgated, but it was more mellow than when with Scott. Some snacks from the store and a game of Cribbage was all Kaitlyn needed before the big game. Carl got some fantastic seats in the front row down the 3rd base side. They had a great time even though the Brewers lost 10-4.

Always a great time at the Brewer game is the running of the sausages. There is a hot dog, a brat, a Polish sausage and an Italian sausage. The crowd gets into it so much by the finish line everyone is on their feet cheering for their favorite sausage. As an added side note, the sausages make quite a stir when they make public appearances at different events. Let me tell you between the sausages at baseball games and the cheese heads at the Packer games, it is no wonder Wisconsin is looked at as being a little bit slow on the uptake. We do love our food and drink, and I would not want to live anywhere else!

I've been tagged!

5 things on my to do list:
1. Organize and store my old original family photographs
2. Exercise
3. Learn to cook
4. Clean our master bathroom
5. Did I say the E word?


5 snacks I love:
1. Anything sweet at 3pm
2. Leann's famous peanut butter crispy squares (did I say squares, I meant pan!)
3. Cookie dough
4. Ice cream form St George Street in St. Augustine, FL
5. Strawberry shom torte

5 things I will never wear again:
1. Shorts
2. A swimsuit without a cover on
3. Stirrup pants
4. Tank tops
5. High heel shoes

5 things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
1. Not let the Schaefers move to TX or Meggan to NC
2. Buy the Barbacon in Sturgeon Bay
3. Pay off Student Loans
4. Buy a cabin in the woods and on a lake
5. Travel to Europe

5 bad habits:
1. Eating at 3pm
2. Being lazy
3. Having a short fuse
4. Criticizing others
5. Sleeping in (Carl's choice:))

5 favorite toys...nostalgic:
1. Lemon twist
2. Slinky
3. Atari
4. Pachinko game
5. The Barbi head

Alright, I tag Sean and Ardice Lorscheider and Carl! (we need to get Sean and Ardice to read this first!!!)

Last Day of School!

Today is the last day of school for the kids. They are very excited for Summer break and the opportunity to sleep in. This will be Kaitlyn's last day in Jackson Elementary School, how fast she has grown! Next year she will be in 6th grade and attending Badger Middle School in West Bend. Scott will be in 5th grade and staying in Jackson. I know it is cliche, but it just seems like yesterday that they were toddlers and I was doing a preschool group with friends in Louisville. In the blink of an eye they will be in High School.

Weekend Storms and Projects

What a weekend we just had! The storm junkie I am I LOVE severe weather. I have been getting pretty angry with the weather forecasters because they were predicting severe weather for weeks now and nothing ever came. Well, I have been sufficiently satisfied with what rolled through this weekend. Saturday and Sunday we got storm after storm dumping an obscene amount of rain! Saturday afternoon things actually got quite scary and we all ended up in the basement. That one was a bit too much for me, I even rescued some valued original family photo's and took them down with us. All is well and there was no damage around us. I am grateful for that and pray those in Eastern Wisconsin recover soon, they are experiencing a lot of flooding.

This is a photo from off our front porch of an upcoming storm on Sunday evening. It was the one opportunity this weekend where I was able to sit on the porch and watch it up to the point where the rain came poring down.

Saturday we also got to a home improvement project we have been putting off since we moved in. Our Foyer, Kitchen and Dining Room all are covered with an early 90's floral wallpaper that is nauseating to look at. With the fear of getting in over our heads we have just tried to ignore it. Many friends have even offered to help us with the undertaking, but we have always declined.

Well Carl took the bull by the horns and took off the wallpaper in the Foyer about 3 weeks ago while I was out of town. Yea! On the left is what we took off (this is the kitchen). On Saturday we finally painted it and now it is done, or at least one third of it. Baby steps!!!

Overall it was a good weekend, very productive.

Update on Scott

Our life the next few weeks are going to be pretty slow, so I thought I would take the time to showcase each of the kids. We saw Kaitlyn after her dance recital, here is what Scott has been up to.

Scott is in the 4th grade and doing very well this year. School ends in 6 days and he is very excited for Summer break. He and Kaitlyn will be taking Tennis lessons at Jackson Park this summer. We are hoping Tennis can become a fun family activity. He has enjoyed going to sporting events with Carl. They have been to a Bucks game and a Brewers game this spring. I am glad Carl has found something they can do together. I am not sure which one has more fun!

This is a picture of Scott when he and Carl were at a Brewer game at Miller Park in September of 2007.

Honestly I wonder if Scott likes the games, or if it is the tailgating he prefers.

They grill out, play catch and even get in a game of Yahtzee or two.

Here are a few family pictures from the past year:

This is the kids and I in Savannah Georgia last Spring Break

Carl and the kids in Plymouth Massachusetts last October.

Here we were on our way to go Whale watching while in Boston. This was taken just before the weather got bad and everyone began to get sick. So sick that they had to cancel the trip. No whales for us! We get seasick just talking about this trip!

Well, I could go on and on entering what we have done the past few years, but that would frustrate the organization of the Blog and would make me feel uneasy. So I will begin from here and go forward. We have a few fun trips scheduled for the summer, so I will be sure to share them. Until then...

Kaitlyn's Recital

On Saturday 31 May 2008 Kaitlyn performed in her 4th Dance Recital with ZOJA Dance Studio. She has been taking Tap and Jazz lessons for four years now and really likes it. For the first time her class participated in both productions, which made for a long day. Everyone did a great job and had a lot of fun. We went as a family with Nana to the first show. Then came back to pick her up.

After the second show we took some pictures and then went out to dinner. Kaitlyn picked Ono's again, we went there last year after her recital. Nana got her a beautiful necklace with the saying "dance...like no one is watching". She loves it!

We missed Aunt Nancy and Kelly this year, but for a good reason. Ricky has graduated from High School and had his open house that day, Congratulations! Kaitlyn is deciding if she will dance next year, she always thinks about it and ultimately decides to. I hope she does, it is a great sport for her to be in.

Great job honey! We love you!

This is a test...

I have spent the majority of the last day reading the Blogs of friends and their friends' friends. I began with our good friends Todd and Lisa Mortenson and Jordan and Leann Schaefer, and ended with a family I have never met nor ever will. I will admit my reservations about creating a Blog, because Carl and I live pretty uneventful lives. We do not travel much and honestly prefer to be homebodies. I kept asking myself what I could possibly write about the Meyers' that anyone besides ourselves would find the least bit interesting. Then I read an entry by a women who was also just beginning her Blog and seemed to hold the same concerns I do. She then mentioned that writing her families' Blog would result in family history that could be viewed by anyone interested and that it also kept a record for her kids which they can soon enjoy. That thought is why I have decided to keep this Blog. In the years to come I hope more will share our families joys and sorrows. I hope my kids will find it interesting to be able to look back on their lives and have good memories.

I am a huge proponent for writing in journals. I have faithfully done so for 24 years and have 36 volumes chronicling my life. I find it therapeutic and a wonderful gift for ancestors. I encourage my two kids to write. I buy journals for my Niece to write and I provide journals for the Young Women in our Ward. I want everyone to write by hand and encourage it whenever the opportunity presents itself. I have often times frowned on writing on the computer or online. I find it impersonal. I will admit this weekend of catching up on the Mortenson's travels to adopt their daughter in Kazakhstan has opened my mind to this medium of journaling. I felt the Spirit when I read Lisa's entries and am sure that this Blog along with my continued journal writing will leave my posterity with as complete a history as possible.

Well, I hope you enjoy. I will do my best to keep up with entries, and please consider a way to keep your family history. Your ancestors will thank you for it.