Weekend Anticipated

We had a nice week- very fast, but fun. School continues to be really great for A. B has been a bit of a bugger because he's got a load of teeth coming in at once. He is really starting to blossom though, in terms of his interests, sense of humor, and increasing walking proficiency. We had a great date night last night, when our friend Kim came over to sit on the couch (babysitting our kids is easy!). I'll go to her place in 2 weeks to watch her 10 week old daughter, so she and her husband can have their turn for a date. There weren't any movies we wanted to see last night, so we just went out to dinner. It was fun watching Mike enjoy his sashimi platter (I do not share his sushi love, and had Thai noodles).

Mike has been hard at work framing the basement. His electrician cousins are coming tomorrow, then we'll be ready to sheetrock. I think we're close to a decision regarding lighting fixtures, floor tile, and carpet. I have to take another look at paint, and make sure we've found THE couch. The window measurement specialist (Jed) will be calling in a few days, and we'll order two new windows for the basement.

Other than the basement project, I don't think we have any plans for the weekend. Mike is taking his cousins to the Gophers' game Saturday night with our season tickets, so I rented a movie I don't think Mike would care if he missed (The Painted Vail). I'll let you know what I thought of it.

Oh, by the way...

I suppose you might be wondering, you know- no news is good news.... but it's not that bad- I just forgot to post- I passed my board exam!!!!! I got an email on Monday (the 17th), and my scores were available online. What a relief- I'm going to enjoy the next 5.5 years! Thanks to everyone who offered such great encouragement, and afterwards such nice congratulations.



Now for some pictures:

The Gang plays golf

At the State Fair

A's latest gymnastics award ceremony

Better than Climbing Everest

For those of you who know our dirty little secret about how many er's we had on the tivo (the whole last season +), and who wonder why we even still watch it- WE ARE DONE!!! Mike and I accepted the challenge, and slowly but surely, and with a large surge at the end, finished every last episode of ER, and LOVED IT! So there!

Stuff

Sorry it's been awhile- I'm writing from the house of sick. We're all almost recovered now, but it wasn't fun wondering who would be the next to fall, and when. Friday night, A woke up in the middle of the night and had her 1x vomit- in the toilet no less, yay Daddy! Thanks for your wonderful aim and timing. Saturday we bought a pop up trailer! Woah, that is weird to even say, I don't feel like we're old enough to do something like that, but I guess we are. You may recall from an earlier post that we tested one out for one of Mike's tournaments, and it went really well. That's the one we ended up buying. Saturday night the kids slept over at G and G's, and Mike and I went to the Gophers game with Eric and Katie.

Thanks for all of your comments about little B- he is doing much better, although I don't think his appetite is back on track just yet. Tomorrow A has her kindergarten screening through the city. I'm kind of excited to see how that goes. I'll let you know!

I too love how this blogging thing has turned out (I don't know if Mike would agree, but oh, well). Jeny wrote in a recent post how much she loves it, and I have to agree. It's really nice to look back and see some cute/sweet things the kids did on days when they are driving me crazy! I've been working on publishing the posts from 2006 in a book...more on that later.

Sick B

Poor little babe- B threw up last night (x2) for the first time. He didn't sleep well last night, and isn't eating today. The worst part is that Grandpa and Grandma J were babysitting last night! Thanks for all of your help G&G; we really appreciate it!

Bridget, Steve, and Maren are in town for yet another post-doc visit of Bridget's. I had hoped to let Bennett and Maren have a little cousins' playdate while A was in school, but we'll see if B is up to it or not.

Mike and I planned out our cabinetry design last night. I'm really excited about them now- it turns out we are going to order cherry cabinetry for the whole basement, I think it'll look great.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happiness is...

getting a sweet, gentle hug from my daughter, and having her say, "you make me so happy, Mom." How blessed am I?

Our Little Darlings

Thursday after school we went to get haircuts for both kids. Its amazing how much older a haircut makes Annalise look. She had individual school pictures on Friday. School has been really great so far; we are so glad to have chosen Little Flowers for Annalise. Bennett is having lots of fun in his first ECFE class too. He completed his first artwork yesterday- a squirrel holding an acorn, with plenty of marker and roller paint adornment. Here's a pic right after we got home from haircuts on Thursday.

We finally caught him!

Although B has been walking for a few weeks now, we have yet to capture the moment on film, because when I set him down and move a distance away to start filming, he starts crying.

Yummy Salad

While I'm not thrilled with the name of the recipe (it actually says Yummy Salad), it is a great salad- the salad which brought me back to salads after an almost 4 year hiatus. I experienced my first bout of morning sickness while eating a salad, hence no more salad. I am also told that picky eater extraordinaire Chad Hudrlik enjoyed this salad, which I brought to share at the last meeting of the Ya-Ya's (and husbands).

Yummy Salad Serves 6-8

1 bag romaine lettuce
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup Craisins (or more, can't go wrong with Craisins)
1 cup unsalted cashew pieces (or salted, can't go wrong with salt)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 apple, cubed
1 pear, cubed (I used a red pear for color)

Dressing:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup oil (I think I used olive oil)

Combine dressing in a blender. Dress salad (duh).

I'm Back in Business

Hey all, thanks for all of your comments on the blog, good study vibes sent my way, and patience as I slowly make my way back to normalcy. Studying for the board exam was one of the hardest things I've done since PA school. I don't have any idea how people with children make it through graduate programs and the like. I missed my family so much while I was holed up in the library studying. What a Labor Day weekend. My most efficient day of studying was actually on Labor Day. After trying out Border's (because the library was closed) and finding it was way too noisy, I headed to my parents' house, because they were away for the weekend. It was just like high school, although I never studied like that in high school. The PANRE was arduous, but six hours later, I was headed home with an okay feeling in my gut. There were plenty of questions where I had to guess (I'm a pretty good guesser), and so many things I could have told "them" all about if only they had asked, but all in all I'm feeling pretty good about the exam. And also very glad I don't have to think about it again for the next six years.




Now I am once again the most qualified armchair commentator on our favorite medical (?/!)shows, like Grey's Anatomy, House, and ER (yes, we still have 16 episodes left to enjoy).

We received some sad news early Wednesday morning that Mike's Grandpa had died. We headed down to the Okabena/Lakefield area on Friday after school for the wake. The funeral was on Saturday. Annalise was complaining about her ear hurting while we were having lunch in the church basement. We thought maybe that was her way of complaining about how loud it was (there were 350 people at Grandpa's funeral), and headed home to change clothes and nap. She was becoming more and more upset about her ears, and a dose of Motrin and a call to Blue Cross about an out of town visit later, we found ourselves at the urgent care in Worthington. Sure enough, A's first ear infection turned out to be a double ear infection! We got her amoxicillin prescription filled at the Walgreen's in town, and headed out to Uncle Dave's to visit more with family. She really was fine after that first dose of Motrin, and we were quite lucky to have made the decision to head to urgent care, for it closed an hour after our visit.

I told you I was going to fill you in on Bennett's 18 month well child visit. He weighed in at only the 15th percentile for weight. The NP sent him for a hip xray, (even though he had been walking for a whole day before the appointment!), just as a precaution, and it was negative for hip dysplasia. He is also going to see a pediatric urologist because his left testis is not descended as much as she'd like. B's been walking more and more, but still looks like a little Parkinson's patient.

Bennett and I had our first ECFE class together on Friday. It was really nice to finally have some time to play just with B. He had a great time discovering playdoh, and my guilt waxes and wanes throughout the interaction period, as I realize I never exposed him to various things (like playdoh-which A had been playing with for months by his age). Oh well, it's good that we have our time together now.

I'm working on shooting some video of the little walker, and I'll post the salad recipe I mentioned later today.
P.S. to my amazing husband of eight years, Happy Anniversary Sweetheart.