I'm just a nurse raising a husband, three teenagers, a cat, and two mini schnauzers in Tornado Alley. There are many shenanigans.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Getting Back in the Groove
I finished my Jiu Jitsu testing last night. A four minute "simulated fight" using as many techniques and submissions as possible. I thought that I would be the only one testing but there were two others, Ron and Mark, testing as well. Ron also had his simulated fight and Mark had to re-do his standing techniques since whoever called out the moves forgot about 4 of them.
As we were getting ready, they were telling me stories about how last week, they really did a poor job of timing during the simulated fight. That's why Ron had to re-test. His was only 3 minutes. They did the same thing to Val but they caught it right away. She then redid it and after a while, Karl (who was the testing instructor) began to think that the extra minute was a killer. Apparently, Val began saying that she was running out of moves and whoever was timing finally called time. Her roll was seven minutes. LOL! Needless to say, I was nervous about the timing.
I think I did okay. Stephen and Dave said it looked good so I'll take their word for it. I hope I get this freaking belt.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Illinois Trip Photo Post
All of the cousins
I love this picture. I can't wait until I can really embarrass Sarah with this one. LOL!!!
Daniel had a thing for Sarah, even though he would never admit it.
Glenn playing a game with Daniel
Mary Rose, Aidan and Hannah all look like they could be sisters!!
After Peoria, we headed up to Chicago. Hannah had her manicure and we also went up to the Botanic Garden. We also went around and took pictures of our old houses. It was a little sad but kind of cool, too.
We visited with Dave, Patty, Ken and Donna too. I can't believe how big the kids are getting. In age order from right to left...Eric, Jacob, Catherine, Daniel, Adam, David and Hannah. BTW, Eric is now taller than Mike.
Our house on Brandywyn. It was blue when we lived there.
The old apartment in Palatine.
The townhouse in Palatine. I loved this house.
The kids made crafts at the Botanic Garden
The boys loved the big lighted ornaments
It was a good trip but we are happy to be home.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Another Snowy Tuesday
I was really surprised when Mike called around 2:30 to tell me that he'd gotten an e-mail saying all evening activities through our school district were cancelled. It had stopped snowing and the plows were active. WTF? It normally isn't an issue but the boys had a Pack meeting tonight. Mike decided to call our Packmaster to see if there'd be a meeting tonight. Turns out there was but it had to be moved since the school would be officially closed. How annoying.
When I picked the kids up from school, everyone was buzzing about how there wouldn't be school on Thursday. What? Why? Well, I guess there's going to be this big ice storm Thursday that will cancel school. The teachers were all talking about it. Ugh. I really hope there's no ice storm on Thursday because we'd like to leave for Illinois on Friday and Hannah has her holiday party Thursday afternoon. I guess Jacob has a class pizza party that afternoon as well. In any case, if it's going to do something, I'd rather it just snow. Ice sucks.
I'm so tired of winter already.
Monday, December 15, 2008
What to Say...
We got the basement done. Well, there's still a little cutting in that I need to do but we are 99% done. We got these foam rubber blocks to put on the floor in the playroom (since the painting didn't turn out so well there) and it looks super cute. Since it's the same type of floor that our TKD school has, we've been referring to it as our dojo. LOL! I think it turned out nice, and the kids love it! And, yes, I do know that the pattern is off. So frustrating for me.
In the process of putting the basement back together, we decided it was time for a TV upgrade. Now, if I could just get the thing to work right.
Mike picked out that rug all by himself. He's been really impressing me with his decorating skills.
Hannah had her consecration on Sunday. It's a ceremony, at the synagogue, welcoming children into the world of learning. It was really sweet. They gave the kids robes and wrapped them up in the Torah. I didn't get photos of the ceremony because it wasn't appropriate but here are some of Hannah before and after the ceremony.
Hannah and her Torah.
I've also been trying to wrap up my jiu jitsu testing before we leave for Illinois. I was doing well until tonight. We did Guard techniques and I was all over the place. I had to restart once and will probably have to re-do that section again on Wednesday. Ugh. Oh well. I'll be really happy to have that behind me.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Snowy Tuesday
Oh, sweet! A salt truck just went down the street. That'll help.
Last night, we had round two of Jiu Jitsu testing. We did all of the stand-up techniques. That would be where someone is coming after you and you take them to the ground. Not my favorite thing in the world. Mostly because I'm afraid of hurting my partner. There are also three moves where you head to the ground while either you (or your partner) is in a headlock. Those really crank on your neck. This week, we'll be working on Side-Mount techniques and then move on to the Guard stuff. We have to move quickly since most of us will be out of town for Christmas and the tapes have to be in by December 31st.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Monday...Phoootooos
Daniel's form (he's in the middle)
Daniel breaking boards
Hannah's form
Hannah sparring
Saturday was also our TKD school's Christmas party. We had a good time up until Jacob had a meltdown and we had to go. While we were there, we had a great time. I got tired of never being in pictures so I did a lot of self portraits with our friends. So, in this post you'll also get to meet some of our friends.
Val (my usual partner for Jiu Jitsu and very good friend...you may remember her dog from a few posts back) me and Roxanne
Me and Karl (Val's husband and one of the Jiu Jitsu instructors)
Me and Stephen (from story above...Roxanne's husband, second degree black belt in TKD and Jiu Jitsu instructor
The kids eat dinner
Stephen, Mike and Ron
The kids learn how to play Othello
Dave, Beth, Dave (aka Master Johnson and head instructor of our school), Karl, Andry and Val
Hannah had a lot of dancing partners...Stephen and Hannah
Grandmaster Lee and Hannah
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Testing
There are about 6 of us testing. We did the first part tonight: all of the escapes, control strategies and submissions from the Mount. In all, that's 9 techniques and 23 variations, in order and in 5 minutes.
Next, we'll do all of the Guard techniques, then Side-Mount and then Standing techniques. To end it, we have to freestyle fight for at least four minutes using as many of the different techniques as possible. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
And my back is killing me. Wish me luck!!!
Monday, December 01, 2008
Update...and Some Photos
When I saw all of the snow yesterday, I was happy that we weren't on the road for it. We didn't get much here...about an inch or so, but it was enough for the kids to have fun playing in all day long.
Some other stuff has gone on since my last post, too. Daniel had his second grade program. It was super cute. They even learned the School House Rock Preamble song. Daniel has taught it to Jacob and Hannah as well. At any given point in time, you can hear someone singing, "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..." LOL!!!
I finally got around to taking some pictures of Hannah at gymnastics. She's getting a lot better and she really likes it. (She's the one in the bright blue leo)
I've also spent the past week being sucked into the vampire world that is Twilight. I was bound and determined to not like it, but I wound up enjoying it immensely. I read all four books in less than seven days. How crazy is that?!?
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I promise to post more soon.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Jacob's First Concert
Anyway, here's some video and pictures from the concert. Unfortunately, my batteries decided to die with one song left to go, but it was more of the same.
<
Friday, November 07, 2008
Happy Birthday To Me...Yadda, Yadda, Yadda...
Some of you may remember my friend, Kirsten (from Columbia and PHS). We've reconnected recently on Facebook (have I mentioned how much I love Facebook lately?)She just had triplets on Saturday. There's a picture of them on her blog. She actually made it to 34 weeks and wasn't even in the hospital for that long. Pretty awesome.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Election Day...and Some Other Stuff
It's Election Day! I love Election Day. I may be a nerd, but I still get little butterflies when I hit that "cast ballot" button on the voting machine. I was expecting to wait for a while in line but the whole thing took me only 15 minutes. I guess Mike had to wait for about 45 minutes when he went at 6am. I can't help but think that the early voting helped with the lines.
I was watching the news yesterday and, for the first time ever, I wished I was in Dubuque. Sarah Palin was speaking there at a rally yesterday. Figures. Oh well. I don't really think that seeing Sarah Palin speak for an hour would make up for living in the armpit of Iowa. Ugh...I hated Dubuque. But you all know that.
Anyway, I hope you all get out and vote today...and that you don't have to wait in long lines!
Monday, November 03, 2008
Wild and Crazy Week
I had some karma bite me in the butt yesterday. At about 5pm last night, Jacob tells me that he needs to work on his book project that's due today. Okay, so what do you have to do? First, he needs to read the book (The Summer of the Swans...he hadn't even started!) and then he needs to do a book report and make a project for it as well. Ugh. Well, we got through it with time to spare and his diorama looked really good. It certainly brought back memories of Mom typing my term paper at 11pm the night before it was due. It does seem that the kids have picked up my procrastination gene. Poor things.
Halloween was fun. The kids got lots of good candy during trick-or-treating and even got to go with some of their friends. Mike took them out and I stayed home to man the door...although the doorbell only rang twice. Oh well.
Mike and Jacob went on a den camping trip this weekend. Jacob finally caught his first fish. His group also won the fire starting contest, which doesn't sound good when it's written out in a blog. LOL!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to going out and voting tomorrow. I'm hoping that everyone voted early (and aren't planning to vote often!) and that the lines will be short. I love election day. Don't forget that you can get free coffee at Starbucks after you vote!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
So It Seems Like Everytime I Post...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sarah Palin...Again
And on Weekend Update...All the Mavericks in the house put your hands up! LOL!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Weekend Catch-up
Yesterday, we went to see The Lion King at the Music Hall downtown. I've had these tickets for about 4 months and I was so scared that we'd lose them, but we didn't. Jacob said that he couldn't sleep Saturday night because he was so excited.
The play was awesome. The puppetry was great and it really looked like there were giraffes walking across the stage. I will also admit that I cried three times. I cried in the same places I cried in the movie. Yes, I cry watching The Lion King. I bet you do too...you just don't want to admit it! ;) The kids really liked it and couldn't wait to get to school today to tell their friends about it. I think that even Mike was surprised at how well he enjoyed it. If you get the chance, I highly recommend seeing it.
I broke down and signed Hannah up for Daisy Girl Scouts. Their meetings are right after school so it shouldn't add too much stress. She has her first meeting tomorrow.
Jacob's teacher wants him to do after school math tutoring because his MAP scores qualified him for it. Ummm...his MAP scores were in the 97th percentile. We'll skip the math tutoring this year.
Daniel officially tested out of his math program...finally. I never thought he should be in the math program, but that's just me. He's also almost done with the reading specialist. I am a little nervous because we have parent teacher conferences next week but I'm quite sure that if there was a problem, I'd know about it by now. Mrs. G is not someone to hold back.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Picture Day
Daniel told me that he wanted to look "like a gentleman" for photos. He also wanted me to brush his hair so that he was "handsome." He cracks me up. So, he got his handsome hair and a blue button down shirt and, indeed, looked like a gentleman. Jacob told him that he "looks like Dad." LOL! I have to admit, he did!
I have been a cleaning machine this week. I even rented a Rug Doctor to steam clean all of the carpets. I am so sore and tired, but the house looks awesome. I really hope that I can keep it up so that the next time I deep clean, it doesn't take me forever.
Now, I'm going to make some of Deb's apple pie filling. I was going to do it yesterday but I walked out of the store without my apples! I did get some this morning when I dropped off the Rug Doctor. I wish I felt comfortable with my canning skills because I'd can some...I'm terrified that I'm going to kill my family with some strange bacteria because I didn't sterilize everything right, so I'm going to freeze it instead.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Dogsitting
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Look At Me!!! I'm Posting for the Third Day in a Row!!!
Poor Hannah's a walking steroid right now. Between the Orapred (for just a couple of days), Flovent (until the end of November) and Albuterol (and her nightly Singulair), it's been hard to keep track of what she's taking. I had to make a big chart and put it on the fridge.
The school nurse was thrilled when I told her the spacer and inhaler that I sent with Hannah could stay at school because I made sure to have doubles. I guess there aren't many people that do that and she said that it's hard to remember to always send the meds back home.
She's already sounding so much better. I'd just like for her to be able to get a good night's sleep! We go back for a recheck in two weeks. She'll also get her flu shot then. She's not at all happy about that.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Well, There You Go...
Friday night, I got to go to the Maroon 5 concert with my friend, Roxanne. We got all dolled up and even rented a limo so that we wouldn't worry about how much we had to drink. The concert was awesome. Counting Crows and Augustana opened the show. After, Roxanne and I headed to Steak 'n' Shake and had a lovely dinner of steakburgers and chili. I still think that's really funny.
Saturday morning, I woke up and thought my leg felt sore. I pulled back the blankets and saw this... I have no idea where they came from. And they hurt so bad!!! So strange! But I'd take them all over again if it meant that I got to go to another Maroon 5 concert!!!