I know, I know…

I apologize, as it has been over a month since I last blogged!  Let me give you a brief rundown of life in the Land of Moco and Bubba this past month:

• Moco is playing in the 10 & under in-town softball league.  Her team is the Orange Strikers, and they play 2-3 evening games per week.  She also participated in ISU’s all day softball clinic and had a great time!
• Bubba is playing t-ball through the local parks & recreation program.  His team is the Blue Tigers, and he has practice MW mornings with games on Friday morning.  I’m really glad I changed from the evening to the morning times, although that I also means I miss out on much of this experience.
• Moco made the travel soccer team.  It’s going to be a busy year for us because her league participates in several out-of-town and even out-of-state tournaments!  She is relieved to have made the team… tryouts were agonizing for her!
• Moco chopped 9 inches of hair for donation to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths program.
• Moco, Bubba, and I drove to Avon, North Carolina, to spend a week with my cousins and their families in the Outer Banks.  It was one of the best and most relaxing vacations I have ever taken!  Pictures to come, including one really cute video of Moco with her cousin Alexis.
• Daddy was home for the long 4th of July weekend, and we took a quick trip up to Iowa to visit friends and family.  It was a nice, fun visit during a beautiful weekend.  We have a few pictures from that trip, plus a video of Bubba riding a big tractor with Uncle Al!
• Bubba has two wiggly teeth, and it still blows my mind that he’ll be in kindergarten.  I remember when those little teeth were popping through his gums!  Where does the time go?

Other than that, we are battling things falling apart and breaking in our house, including my computer (the #1 excuse for not writing!) and the dryer (seriously, what is with me and dryers?!?!).  Needless to say, I have been preoccupied with everything else and haven’t had much creative juice in me to write.  I have several posts in my head and on paper, but it ain’t gonna happen until I get that computer fixed!!!

Bring It, Summer!

Another school year is coming to a close… seriously, where does the time go?!?!

Bubba’s last day of school is this coming Thursday, and Moco’s last day will be the Friday after Memorial Day.

Looking ahead to our summer, we’re going to be very, very busy!  Moco has already started softball practices, and her first game is June 1.  Bubba starts t-ball the first full week of June.  So far we have one softball clinic (maybe two, if we decide to try a hitting clinic at a facility here in town), one session of swimming lessons (maybe two, as we’re on a waiting list), and a soccer camp (maybe two, if we sign them up for one in NM) lined up for the summer.  We bought pool passes for the family and Jenny — who also has volleyball open gym several afternoons a week, so the kids get to tag along with her while she’s practicing.  Hopefully they’re not disruptive… I’ve already given them permission to take their Nintendo DSes with them on those days — it will be their “down time”. Honestly, there are days when Bubba has t-ball at 9am and Moco has softball at 8pm.  I have a feeling these kids will be tan, tired, and totally fit by the time school starts!

In addition to the activities, we have trips to Iowa, North Carolina, and New Mexico planned.  If we can squeeze in a trip to Tulsa, that will make for quite a bit of traveling.  We honestly have very few free Saturdays (um, like, none?), but our Sundays will be wonderful days of rest and relaxation!  (Ha!)

The kids will be in NM for about a month and later than the past few years.  My parents are very accommodating given our funky family situation right now.  Papa has a business trip in St. Louis in late July and will be able to take the kids to NM for me since he’ll be in the area.  If I can convince Gamma to bring them back and stay with us the week that school starts, we have our entire  childcare situation squared away!  I have to admit, I’m a little emotional about the kids going to NM this year.  It’ll be a lot more lonely this time around!!!

I have already heard that basically I’m nuts for the type of schedule that we have this summer… but the kids want to do the team sports and camps.  They love being active and outdoors, and I would rather them be doing these things than hanging out in the house bored and driving Jenny up the wall.  Both kids had input in their  activities, but R had to reign me in a little with a few of the camps.  And we’re looking forward to seeing family… to see the cousins and the cousins’ kids twice in three months is awesome — and on the beach, no less!!!

Honestly, the time will fly by… plus there will be plenty to write about weekly, if not daily!!!  I say, “Bring it, Summer!” because we’re ready for some fun!  :)

Pix of The Bubs

Uploaded from my cellphone…

The Bubs and The Dog

Sticker Book Entertainment

In the Driver’s Seat

(Is it just me, or does it look like he’s projectile vomiting?)

Asleep Standing Up with Boo and Hanny

Grinning with an Underbite

Walking in Elkader with Daddy

(Yes, those are Vibram 5-Fingers on his feet!)

Asleep in the Truck with Boo

11/27: Today I Am Thankful For…

…for only spending $14 today.  Take that, Black Friday!

I have been a little bummed all week because we were in Prairie du Chien for the morning of Black Friday shopping.  The two major stores here are Cabela’s and WalMart.  I wasn’t really interested in hitting up either, honestly.

Instead, we woke up in the hotel which has a continental breakfast, so we all enjoyed the make-your-own Belgian waffles.  Daddy stopped at Cabela’s, which is a “must” for him when we’re in that area — especially because our hotel is right next to the store and warehouse!  Then we packed up our stuff and headed out, but not before making our reservations at the same hotel for Christmas.  We found out that the water park at the hotel will be open for Christmas (it wasn’t last year).  It’s rare that one can say “don’t forget the swimsuits for Christmas in Iowa/Wisconsin!”, so we’re looking forward to enjoying that part of our Christmas break!

After we checked out, we stopped to visit with Daddy’s high school friend Carissa, her husband, and their two young daughters who were spending the holiday weekend with Carissa’s parents.  It was a fun visit, though the start of Bubba’s full-day of naughtiness (ugh!).  It was nice to see Carissa, as we haven’t seen her in years, and her beautiful daughters Kalini and Malia.  Then we headed into Elkader and walked around downtown for a few minutes, then walked to Great Grandma’s house and visited with Grandma Lavera and Great Grandma for a short while before grabbing sandwiches at Subway and stopping to say “hello” to Mr. Carnes (Daddy’s best friend’s dad) in his music shop.

We drove pretty much straight home except for a short stop in Morton for gas.  Daddy had to get ready for tonight’s men’s basketball game (we are hosting a tournament), so the kids and I unpacked and putted around the house.  We headed over to the Dollar Tree to pick up some craft supplies to make our own ornament wreathes, then to the grocery store for a frozen pizza and ice cream but ended up coming back with a 20 pound fresh turkey (for $20), a couple bags of frozen fruit (for smoothies), three pints of Ben & Jerry’s, a gallon of milk and a half-gallon of orange pineapple juice.  So much for spending just $14 on Black Friday…

The craft that we did was well worth it.  I got the idea from a post on Crap I’ve Made about Eddie Ross wreaths.  We picked up 9 tubes of red, green, and gold ornaments in three different sizes and a 12-pack of white wire hangers.  I had hot glue gun and glue sticks at home… the only thing I need is some thick ribbon, which we’ll pick up tomorrow morning.

It’s an easy craft to do, but I highly recommend gluing the tops to all the ornaments before you get started.  That part takes up the most time, but it’s worth it.

Basically, with the top hook still twisted, stretch out the wire hanger into a circle.

Then untwist the top of the hanger to slide the ornaments onto the wire.  Move the ornaments around so they get the “layered” effect and so as many ornaments can fit on the wreath as possible.  Then re-twist the hanger to close, and add the ribbon and bow for the final touch.

It took about 6 tubes (12-15 smaller ornaments in each tube) to fill one wreath.  I was quite pleased with how the wreath turned out, although it took forever to glue the top onto each ornament.  Moco is totally excited to do her own tomorrow.  Since I depleted the stock (had no idea how many ornaments it would take!), we have to pick up more ornaments tomorrow.

The ornaments we used are plastic (shatterproof) ornaments, some were matte, others shiny, and some glittery.  There weren’t many color options at the dollar store, so if you want to spend more money and have more options, you can certainly “upgrade” your ornament choices.  Glass ornaments are probably the most beautiful to use, but if you’re doing this craft with kids, shatterproof are the way to go!  Plus, you can’t beat the price — this craft was well under $10 for 6 tubes of ornaments, a wire hanger (12 for $1), plus glue, if you don’t have any.  We still have to buy the ribbon, but it will still be under $10 with some nice (sale-priced) holiday ribbon!

11/26: Today I Am Thankful For…

…Uncle John & Laine’s cooking.

Daddy, Moco, Bubba, Deacon and I drove up to Cedar Rapids after I got off work on Wednesday.  We stayed with Auntie Therie for the night before heading out for Elkader the next morning — but not before we had a hearty Thanksgiving breakfast cooked by Auntie Therie.  We feasted on scrambled eggs, sauteed onions, bacon, toast, cranberry bread, juice and coffee.  Bubba exclaimed, “Auntie Therie is the BEST cook!”  He was in heaven with that breakfast!

We stopped in Elkader to meet up with Grandma Lavera and Great Grandma, then we headed over to Uncle John’s house.  We were not expecting to eat Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle John’s; in fact, we had planned on going out to eat!  Uncle John invited us all over to eat when he heard we were in town — they had cooked three turkeys on the grill!  We ate well there, too!  It was nice to see Uncle John and his wife Kim and three of their five kids — Nikole, Kaycee, and Laine.  It has been a few years since we have seen them, so it was nice to catch up with everyone.  Uncle John took the kids out to see the horses and all the ‘coon dogs (at least a dozen); Bubba fired away a thousand and three questions and was stuck to Uncle John for a good part of the afternoon.  We watched most of How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  (I can’t believe we don’t have that book and/or the original movie!  That might have to be a Christmas Eve gift for the kids — new pajamas, a book and a movie to enjoy in the hotel after Chinese food?  Sounds like a fun night to me!)

In the late afternoon after the Thanksgiving meal, Daddy, Moco, Bubba, and I headed back to the hotel after helping Grandma and Great Grandma get settled at Great Grandma’s house.  We just hung out, relaxed in the hotel, drank lots of water, and watched Horton Hears a Who before going to bed.  That was our Thanksgiving — the driving was the hard part!  It seemed to go by very quickly, but it was relaxing not to have to do much work and just enjoy good company!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!!!

11/23: Today I Am Thankful For…

…a Monday evening at home watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with my kids — their laughter is contagious!!!

Moco and Bubba are limited to watching TV on weekend mornings, so this was a rare treat for them.  It is so nice to unwind with my family, cook a good meal, bake some cookies, and snuggle with my babes before they fall asleep.

Tonight we had salmon, using my homemade habanero jelly in a variation of the peach jalapeño salmon, and potatoes au gratin.  I have never actually made potatoes au gratin before, and I was quite pleased.  I didn’t have all the ingredients for any recipe that I found, so I made up my own version with what we had on hand: Yukon gold potatoes, shredded sharp cheddar, shredded Mexican blend cheese, heavy cream, 2% milk, nutmeg, paprika, salt and pepper.  I was very pleased with the outcome, and the flavors blended really well with the salmon!  I also baked a double batch of the big, soft ginger cookies.  I made modifications to this recipe, and while they are still tasty, they aren’t as good as last time.  I used half brown sugar and half white sugar and I didn’t use orange juice like I did the last time.  I’m pretty sure that the white sugar and lack of orange juice are the culprits.  Still soft and tasty but not quite as flavorful as the last time.

Can’t wait for this short work week to be done so we can enjoy our long weekend.  Daddy is technically off this week (university is closed), but he is still working with men’s and women’s basketball.  Moco has school tomorrow but will go to Sherry’s on Wednesday.  I get off Wednesday at 5pm, then we will drive to Iowa for Thanksgiving Day with Grandma Lavera.  We’ll visit with Great Grandma as well.  Daddy has to work Friday afternoon or evening, so we’ll be on the road back to Iowa that morning instead of hitting the Black Friday sales (not like we ever do anyway)!

I’m going to pour myself another glass of milk and a couple warm cookies before bed… hasta mañana!

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

On Sunday morning we headed up to Northeast Iowa to visit family and friends and take the kids to a few places that we have been wanting to go to now that they’re old enough to enjoy them.

Our first stop was to Great Grandma’s house.  We had 2Mit burgers for lunch – can’t beat the onions and honey mustard – before heading out to Big Springs Trout Hatchery.  The kids loved feeding the trout (who loved being fed – jumping out of the water to get the pellets!), and they are looking forward to coming back to try their hand in the kid’s fishing pond.  Great Grandma has requested that we take her with us; she wants to go fishing too!

From the hatchery we went to Cabela’s in Prairie du Chien, WI, because Daddy needed to pick up a replacement shotgun barrel he ordered.  (I’m sure my mom is rolling her eyes right now.)  Daddy said he was going to “be really quick”, but that is never the case when we go there (which is every time we’re in the area), so the kids and I went in to use the restroom and find Cabela’s S’mores bars, which I saw on an episode of Food Network’s Unwrapped last week.  These were a handy bribe for the rest of the trip — if they were good, then maybe, just maybe, the kids could have their S’mores for snacks.

After Cabela’s, we made a stop for a quick visit with one of Daddy’s high school coaches and his family.  We also got to meet Samson the English mastiff.  Daddy wanted to see how the kids would react to such a large dog because he swears he’s going to buy one for Moco.  We’ll see about that.

Next, we met up with Grandma, Auntie Mariah, and Auntie Therie at Effigy Mounds for a quick late afternoon hike on the Fire Point Trail.  Moco loved seeing the Indian burial mounds and learning a little about the local history as well as the local fauna.  Grandma Lavera is an awesome resource when it comes to identifying plants, animals, and bird calls, so she showed us different plants and trees along the way.  We also found a nest that had fallen out of a tree!

The overlook view is gorgeous – that’s the Mississippi River between Wisconsin (on the left) and Iowa (right) in the picture of all of us with Auntie Mariah, who took a break from studying for finals to hike with us.  The picture of Daddy and the kids is from the trout hatchery; that’s the Turkey River in the background.

We hiked back to the cars and headed to supper at Old Man River in McGregor.  It’s a new brewery in the area.  They have a delicious home-brewed root beer and a nice beer sampler.  For dessert Daddy had the root beer cheesecake, and I had the root beer creme brulee – delightful!  And instead of after-dinner mints, you get A&W root beer candy barrels!

Sunday night we stayed up in Decorah, which is one of our favorite places to visit.  The kids were asleep by the time we got to the hotel, and in the morning they tried to get Daddy to try on Auntie Therie’s wig (he refused).  Moco put it on instead, and now we know what Bubba will look like at age seven:

On Monday, we attended the Memorial Day ceremony and parade.  Bubba loved seeing the military vehicles and fire and rescue trucks.  We also got to visit with our friends Fish and Kristin, Lorraine, and John.  Fish has been a great friend to Daddy over the years.  He has a great house and is always such a great host when we’re in the area.  Kristin is the co-director of the Art Haus in Decorah, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of her productions and maybe even sending the kids to some of the arts camps/classes that are offered through their Little Masters program.  John is Daddy’s hunting buddy when he’s up there.  His daughter Sonja and Memphis can spend hours together and not get sick of each other – they are so similar in personality and temperment.  The people we know in that area are a major reason why we love visiting!

After the ceremony and parade, we headed to Burr Oak to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum.  This visit was a dream come true for both me and Moco.  Auntie Therie also really enjoyed it, and Daddy was excited to see Moco totally into the guided tour, but he spent more time wrangling Bubba who was not quite as excited to see things that he couldn’t touch in an old house that he couldn’t run through.  He did ham it up for the pictures, though, so you would never know that he was repeating “I wanna go home!” and “Can we go now?” over and over again.  Moco absolutely loved the tour and was soooo excited to see what it was like to live like Laura and her family did.  It was a great history lesson for all of us!  We have decided that we are going to have a Laura Ingalls Wilder themed birthday party next year for Moco’s 8th birthday.  (Lindsay laughed when I told her this; 10 months to plan the birthday party of my dreams – yes!).  Despite my desire to buy rag and yarn doll kits and a calico dress with matching bonnet ($60 – yikes!), the only purchase we made was a Little House cookbook.  The first thing Moco looked up?  The recipe for jonnycakes.  That’s my girl!

At the end of the visit, the kids were allowed to climb up on the replica covered wagon.  Bubba was thrilled to finally get to climb on something and not be told that he couldn’t.

We stopped in to see Great Grandma one last time before we headed home.  I told the kids if they continued to behave well, they could enjoy their S’mores on the back step at Great Grandma’s house:

What a great way to start the summer!

East Coast, here we come!

The kids and I are headed out bright and early tomorrow morning for Chicago O’Hare to hitch a ride with NWA to Baltimore.  We’ll be staying with my cousin and her husband, then headed to Richmond, VA, for my mom’s cousin’s wedding (which will essentially be a Vietnamese Jamboree).  This is the first time that my mom’s side of the family will have met Bubba.  He’s two-and-a-half and the oldest great-grandson (there are two little guys that followed him), and I feel like I’m bringing him out of hiding!  Daddy will not be joining us because it’s football season and it’s Homecoming weekend.  (Fire It Up, ‘Birds!) I wish he could join us as these family gatherings are always a great time.

The kids are excited but for different reasons.  Bubba is excited to fly on an airplane; every morning this week he has asked if we’re flying on an airplane or going to Sherry’s house.  Moco likes travelling, so she’s just excited to be going somewhere that isn’t school, Sherry’s house, soccer practice, our apartment, or the grocery store.  Please be thinking good thoughts for me that we survive the two hour drive north to the airport followed by several hours in the airport and on two flights… my kids are expert travellers, but I fear they will melt down with the early start time (5am).

In preparation of our travels, Moco and I went to visit our hair stylist, Lori.  I’d like to announce that it is official: Bubba has the longest hair in our little family of four.  *sigh*  I really, really, really want to trim up the long pieces to give him an Afro-puff, but Daddy thinks he’d look cool with a long curly ponytail.  The thought of potentially long greasy ponytailed son is completely revolting to me.  I’m seriously considering asking Sherry and Susie to plant scissors in the playroom and “accidentally” have one of the daycare kids give Bubba a haircut.  (Okay, I won’t, but I really just want to give my baby a good trim.  Nothing major, just a little shape.)

While Moco was getting her hair trimmed, I fed Bubba a gyro (our appointment coincided with supper time).  He LOVES gyro meat.  Could care less about the pita or the onions (which he kept calling “noodles”) or the tomatoes, but he loves the meat and the sauce.  In fact, he devoured an entire adult-sized portion.  The best part was that he kept saying he was eating “Rescue Heroes”.  Another one to add to the Graysonese dictionary.

I will definitely post pictures of the three of us dolled up in our new wedding outfits and two of the three of us modeling our new ‘dos when we get back.  I’m sure I’ll have stories to tell… just need to remember to write them all down…

Until then, I’m leaving you with some pictures of our visit with Daddy’s side of the family a few weeks ago in Iowa.  Gotta love the diversity in our family!!!