Journey Home & Beyond

Quiet house for a bit

2012-02-05T13:35:00.002-06:00

Michael went fishing with Grandpa, so the house is quiet for a bit. I may go take a nap- that sounds appealing.

Yesterday, we cleaned for awhile and then watched Oceans. Films by Disney Nature are a hit with my nonfiction kid. He chose to watch that over Cars 2. The fictional films spook him easily for some reason. We also broke out the dominoes and played 1 round of Mexican Train, sort of. We modified the rules since it was his first time playing.

To get out and get some exercise we went to Como Zoo. It's close and cheap. We then went back and visited with my folks. He really likes seeing his grandparents. Luckily they like seeing us.

Today we had church, groceries & lunch. Michael was all excited about fishing with Grandpa. So he's hopefully having lots of fun. Maybe this time they might even get a fish.

Goodbye long 1040s + hello to Kindergarten homework

2012-02-03T21:15:00.004-06:00

My tax preparer retired. I did not care for his partner/replacement due to some things that went on in the office. Luckily with the changes in tax laws last year I finished off my Adoption Credit. Before Michael I did my own taxes by hand. This year I bought Turbo Tax. I spent a bit of time this morning with it -primarily because I was missing some Tax id number stuff and had to wait for a call-back and for me to figure out how to edit something. By 1pm my taxes were filed. Yahoo. My deductions have gotten below itemization, so I'm back to using simpler forms and way less of them. No more 1040, hello 1040A.

I had Michael's conference last night. He showed me around his room and various things they do for the first 15 minutes. We spoke with his teacher for the last 15 minutes. Kids have to know way more in Kindergarten than I did. We have "homework" or areas to work on.

Ok, Moms with young kids - do your kids always read number left to right - is 17 always 17 or is it sometimes 71? I'm curious is this is normal or if I should be wondering about dyslexia or anything like that. Personally, I transpose numbers when writing or adding sometimes. Thank you Dawn At TE for showing me the trick to double-check it fast on additions. He does it once in awhile with letters but way more often with numbers.

We are playing lots of 5ive Straight these days (our version is slightly different than the original). Any other number games out there good for numbers up to 100? Chutes & Ladders covers up the numbers too much to be of use.

We also started experimenting with a new program on books. Michael tries reading one (with help) and then I read 3 of his choice. He reads from the Bob collection he got at Christmas. We are also working with flash cards on sight words.

I need to hunt down my dominoes also for numbers work. He gets some of the adding and subtracting when using fingers and numbers under 10. He's still working on money. He can actually identify the coins now but still doesn't quiet get that a dime is worth 2 nickels or 10 pennies...

He is actually willing to write and color this year, so I know he's come a long way since last year. He still has some problems with writing letters but has improved greatly. He recognizes the letters without problems but not so much the numbers. He really likes art. He drew all happy faces on how he feels about school subjects, so luckily he still likes everything.

Good Weekend

2012-01-29T19:58:00.002-06:00

We slept in today - almost made 7:30. Today's agenda wasn't very full for a change. Church was having a big meeting and Michael wasn't in the mood for church so we skipped it and got an early jump on the grocery shopping. Usually I use Target for lighter quick trips. I ended up spending more than planned of course.

Michael enjoyed his pirogies for lunch. We hadn't had them in awhile. We headed over to my parent's and then onto Hansen Park for some ice skating. This time I brought a chair to help him balance but he didn't seem to need it much. The chair did make it easier for him to get up. I think he was on his feet slightly more than off them this time. He skated and fell for about 30 minutes and then played on the playground equipment. I called quits since I was getting cold.

We spent a couple hours at my parents. Michael got to talk/play with my folks and I took a snooze. I was really tired for some reason. Michael enjoyed watching Bull riding and wanted more - he caught the tail end of some show. What a way to make a living. He also watched a bit of the figure skating competition. We agreed that it would be neat to be able to skate like that.

We finished the day with soup, hot baths and reading some good books. I was also slicing and dicing stuff for my lunch tomorrow. Hopefully, it will work. Back to school and work tomorrow.

Happy New Year

2012-01-28T19:30:00.004-06:00

Getting ready for Tet

2012-01-27T21:53:00.002-06:00

Michael helped me make Carmel Brownies for our ancestor dish for the Tet party tomorrow. He's pretty excited about it. I really should have checked his Ao Dai before tonight. The pants are going to be high waters, unless I can swap pants (which he doesn't want) or try and re-hem them. Yikes, I better find the sewing kit.

Ice Skating and celebrating Granpma's birthday

2012-01-22T20:18:00.003-06:00

Michael helping Grandma open her birthday gift.

Look, I'm skating!

Skating is fun, especially when Grandpa helps me up.

After putting on the ice skates and attempting to get to the ice, it all came back to me - why I stopped skating - ice skates are instruments of torture to people with feet like mine. I had the skates on for less than 20 minutes and I have a blister and weird shaped bruises. I'll admit I have large feet - 10+ in women's depending on the shoe. The back of foot can comfortably go to a quad A for narrowness and the front is normal. I tried putting on 2 pairs of socks and couldn't get on the skates so I went with one. I attempted to get to the ice and then gave up and put back on my boots.

Michael's skates fit him much better. He was comfortable in them. YAHOO! He skated/walked in skates generally from my Dad to me or to my Mom. He fell down a lot giggling (he was well padded). He was not able to get up by himself, so generally Dad or I got him up. He wants to go again. I'll take him, but I'll be the one in boots. Ice skates, size 10ish, anyone?

We went back to my parents after our ice skating adventures and playing in the park. We had pizza and pie to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Her actual birthday is Tuesday, but Sunday was easier to celebrate on.

Day flew by

2012-01-21T20:08:00.003-06:00

We went to the Library Card Party for Kindergartners at Roseville today. It was very busy. Michael was disappointed he didn't see his "friends" there. We did run into a little girl from his pre-school and a kid who transferred out of his class in the fall.

We went out for a quick bite before heading home. We watched Rio. I liked it better than Michael. He did like the music where the birds danced and sang. We tried making a new dish using wonton skins to make ravioli. It was messy and didn't turn out that well for looks - it tasted ok. Michael enjoyed sealing the skins by "painting" them.

Tomorrow, we are celebrating Mom's Birthday early since it is on Tuesday. We'll pick her up for church, their car is acting up and then have supper. It's our usual pizza. She decided she wanted to use one of the pies from her freezer rather than ice cream pie.

The weather is supposed to be warmer, so Michael & I are going to try the skates we bought at the hardware store. They sell used skates. Heaven help me, I don't remember skating - I know I did it a million years ago, since I grew up in MN I had to have done it a couple times. I don't think I liked it. I found pairs of skates for both of us, so I'll try it again. So if I break my neck and don't get to work on Monday, you'll know why.

Yesterday after spending way too much time surfing/googling, reading reviews and checking out electronic scrapbooking sites, I returned to Mixbooks. The finished product looked good, and while they are lacking in some things, they definately have the most versatility for a control freak like me. Shutterfly and the competition make it too hard to break out of their pre-programmed formats and have way more limited backgrounds, and embellisments.

Electronic Scrapbooking

2012-01-19T21:33:00.002-06:00

I received my 2011 book from Mixbooks. It turned out pretty well. I'm still waiting for the smaller books. I just spent a couple hours attempting to set up my 2012 book. Argh. I found out that Shutterfly has some really boring backgrounds. I finally found some stronger colored and textured backgrounds and went to look at stickers/embellishments. ARGH! I like to set a bunch of ones I might use into my tray/folder whatever so I don't have to hunt for them. They limit you to 100. Not nice. I haven't even gotten to the point where I add photos and it's driving me nuts.

I thought Mixbooks was limited until I really got into Shutterfly. I think I need to go surf the net and see if I can a different website. If anybody has worked with one they like - please drop me a line. I like to decide what I put in it (in short I'm a total control freak on this) not have pre-packaged everything. I also would prefer a website that is a bit more multi-cultural if possible.

Michael is excited about the party he's going to on Saturday. The library is having a kindergarten library card party.

Ice Fishing & leaking bathtubs

2012-01-16T20:13:00.002-06:00

Michael got to go ice-fishing with his Grandpa today. No fish were caught, but it sounds like he had fun playing and fishing. He was bundled up so much he got hot and took off his scarf. Dad found an area out of the wind and with the sun it felt pretty nice I hear. His boots were soaked. I love boot dryers/warmers - they are a great invention.

My parent's neighbor came over to help with my leaking bathtub faucet. The pictures in my fix-it-yourself books and on the Internet did not match my faucet handles when we got them off. S has more more experience in the plumbing world then me or my Dad. The only reason it took them longer than 15 minutes is due to having to run to the hardware store to get parts. So hopefully no more leaking.

It's a short work week for me due to the holiday and going into my 3 day off weekend. We are also heading into the party time of the month. Michael has a party at the library to attend on Saturday. He also is excited about his Grandma's birthday and then Tet. I have t-shirts for the year of the dragon on order. He loves it when we match. I figure enjoy it while it lasts.

End of long work week

2012-01-14T19:49:00.003-06:00

The snow was pretty and light. It took a very short time to shovel- the kind of snow fall I like.

I'm so glad the week is done. It was a busy day at work. The full moon is waning but some days I swear the libraries have a full moon every day/night.

I splurged and bought a Minnesota Historical Society Family Membership for a year on Groupon tonight. Michael is getting to the age that I think he might enjoy some of the places. I tried Mill City within a year of their opening and remember that they have some kid friendly stuff. I still remember going to Fort Snelling as a kid and seeing it on the July4th. Michael has talked about going to see the St Paul Capitol - he's seen it from the outside when we go to St Paul. Personally, the first time I actually got there was when I was 18 (however, I'd seen nation's capitol in DC and Wyoming's capitol well before then.) Our summer should be very educational taking advantage of free entries...

Yearbook ordered

2012-01-11T10:02:00.002-06:00

I just ordered my 2011 yearbook from Mixbooks. They had bought out Scrapblog the previous website I had used to make my yearbooks. I'm ok with the product but a little disappointed also.

I kept on waiting for them to incorporate the great features that Scrapblog had. It's a year after the migration and it still hasn't happened. It had good points - all it's stickers and embellishments were free, although they were somewhat limited for me. I had to find my own stickers for Tet, I had to find my own tea kettle, and they weren't very great on anything that wasn't mainstream Caucasian. Scrapblog wasn't fantastic on it, but it has some non-white stickers.

I'm going to try a different website for 2012. If I don't start it in January and work on it all year it tends to be a rush job in Dec when I really don't have time for it. I heard Shutterfly now let's you have more control of your pages now so I may try them. Michael's school is also using Shutterfly.

I prefer doing it myself rather than having a layout picked out for me. They are too artsy generally for my taste. I tend to like more pictures than they tend to put on a page. I generally get 3 books, 1 for us, 1 for my mom and 1 for Ngoc - Michael's nanny in Viet Nam.

Anybody else electronically scrapbook? If yes, which website do you use and why? I need to make my choice soon for 2012.

Quiet Day

2012-01-08T19:34:00.003-06:00

It was a quiet and pretty uneventful day. We went to church, did the grocery shopping, watched some DVDs, read the paper and washed some clothes. Our excitement included walking over to the folks and going down to the park, My dad came with and chased Michael around a bit.

We stayed for supper and Michael tried tacos. My mom had made "Frank's Tacos". These are about the only tacos I've ever had, that I'll eat again voluntarily. It's sort of Tex-Mex made with leftover roast (you can add hamburger if you choose), some beans, a not too tomatoey sauce and spices. We eat them with soft tacos shells.

Next week is our long week.

Steady temperatures

2012-01-07T19:52:00.002-06:00

It was a nice day. Michael and I cleaned to begin with. My boy loves Endust. He reacts to a can of Endust the way most kids do to a toy. We walked over to a local park/playground and played for a bit. He wanted to try out his new coat.

Yesterday, I went shopping with my mom and found him another winter coat. I try and have 2 on hand since he tends to soak through one. The one coat has been well worn. His heavy duty coat had been in for repairs - the zipper broke. I'm one of those people who buy the coat on the large size so we might get 2 winters out of it.

After our park adventure we picked up my folks and trekked over to Menards. I was returning the humidifier that gushed water. It was poorly designed and after getting flooded twice I'd had enough. I found a smaller more expensive one but it doesn't appear to be leaking. It does have an annoying blue light - I'll have to see how annoying. I also broke down and bought a new thermostat.

I'm assuming the old thermostat was dying. Every time the outside warmed up the programmable part did not do it's job, unless I overrode it and forced it to a bearable temp. I do not do below 60 with a kid who has a cold when we are home. Dad did more of the replacing then I did. I went for a middle of the road programmable one. Let's just say 71 with the new thermostat is sure a lot warmer than 74 was with the old one was.

Michael was excited when he got his invite to the Library for the Library Card Party. I have the day off so we can go. Luckily it did not correspond with Catalyst's Tet Party which is on the 28th. It does correspond with the Vietnamese Community Tet Party that is in Bloomington. We may try that again another year. We went when he was 2, but fared better at the Catalyst one since he was so young. He did not care for the speeches...

Happy 2012

2012-01-02T19:55:00.002-06:00

My sister was in town with her son for the last week. I was able to get 4 days off to play with the kids. With the snow we even got to go sledding. The boys had a blast. They get along pretty well and enjoy playing together.

Tomorrow we go back to normal - school, work, etc. I'm kind of looking forward to it. It was fun to see everyone and the holidays were lovely.

It's Sunday night and I'm ready for a 24 hour nap

2011-12-25T20:31:00.003-06:00

I stayed up too late last night building with Legos. Michael did have fun playing with the car and trailer. he was busy taking the bike off and on, putting the people in and out of the car/trailer and using the campfire this morning before church.

Church was lovely. It was mostly music. The minister is an accomplished musician. We had the organist playing with his partner who is also an accomplished musician. Our minister today was playing some sort of large string - a cello or something like it. We also had someone playing an accordion on some of the songs. It was lovely.

With the wacky winter weather we walked (Michael biked) to the park. I like the weather, it's just hard to believe it's December. Last year I was worrying about the ice dam I had due to large amounts of snow.

Michael was eager to get his "piano" home. Right now it's set up on the floor in the living room since there is an outlet close by. We'll have to figure out where to put it soon. He loves the demo feature which has it playing music all by itself.

Happy Holidays to all.

Nice weekend

2011-12-24T22:10:00.003-06:00

On Friday, we ran some overdue errands - like getting the oil changed in the car, getting groceries for the holidays, etc. I also used some Xmas $ to buy myself a toy - an MP3 player. I was a little worried since this computer has never had working sound on it. After playing that night I managed to get about 20 cds worth of songs on it. Michael enjoyed a romp at Eagle's Nest- they had up the bouncy house and some extras. He had a ball and stayed for over 2 hours there and visited the New Brighton Library also.

Saturday morning was more cleaning and chores. We took a walk over to City Hall to pay the water bill. We open presents on Xmas Eve. It's a holdover from my childhood when we celebrated Xmas at home and with both sets of grandparents so our family one was early. Santa ate his carrots and left a Thank You note for Michael. he liked his stocking presents. After lunch we went over to my folks. We relaxed in the afternoon. Michael & Grandpa played while I took a walk in the park with my mom. We had our usual pizza and ice cream pie. Then came the presents.

Michael really liked the keyboard. He was jumping/dancing and trying to play the keys at the same time. It was one time I kind wished I had a video camera. He also liked the remote controlled car once it had batteries. He was impressed that Santa got him the titles he asked for. He was confused why he got the Lego camping stuff when he figured he should get the fire-station & engine (which is way to old and expensive for him.) You would have thought he'd been mainlining sugar all day from his excitement.

Grandpa took him downstairs to watch This Old House and calm down since Grandma wanted to watch the Gaithers. I got a chance to wish my sister a Merry Christmas. She called. She'll be coming to the Cities on Monday night so we'll do more catching up.

Sunday will bring church and more visiting with the folks. I'm doing a stir-fry.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-19T08:19:00.000-06:00

Sunday was playday

2011-12-18T19:37:00.004-06:00

This was the end of the long week. I was able to weed a bit at work, but fell behind at home on some stuff. However given the choice today of catching up on chores or playing - we played.

Today was the children's program at church. Michael was not in it so we skipped church today. All the practices were on Wednesday evenings and the Saturday I worked. Since I was working then it really didn't work for us. Instead we went to the Children's Museum in St Paul.

It was free Sunday. Parking on meters on Sundays are also free. The miser in me likes both features. We wandered around and played with stuff for 2 hours. By then it was getting crowded and Michael was getting hungry. The picture is from the children's museum - I think it was a green rabbit, it must be interpretive art.

We had a quick bite to eat and went grocery shopping for salty popcorn and milk. A bunch of fruit and some crackers also jumped into the basket. Michael decided to part with some of his allowance and buy himself a little mail truck.

We watched "Earth" nibbling on popcorn and drinking homemade fruit smoothies. Michael's was unique - he choose grapefruit, blueberries, bananas, and key lime yogurt. He seemed to like it. I finally figured out the key to watching Disney movies with Michael is nonfiction. Forget your fairy tales, go for the facts. We watched Knut a week or so ago. They don't scare him as much (even when the lions are attacking the elephant or the ilk) as the cartoon ones do.

Michael helped me make some dumplings for supper. Once we had the basics of supper done, we went out and played. We had fun running around playing tag, hide and go seek and checking out if our backyard varmit had been active.

We are coming into Winter Break this week. Michael only has school for 3 days. There is a sing-along on Wednesday I hope to attend. It's my morning off so I should be able to make it.

So while the house could use a good cleaning still, the presents are wrapped, the cards sent long ago and the baking is done. I may need to do some grocery shopping for the holidays later this week. All in all we had a pretty fun day.

Productive Friday

2011-12-09T15:07:00.004-06:00

Santa came early and installed my new kitchen faucet. It was fun trying to clean the junk off around where the old one had been. Between water buildup, old putty and dirt - it took 3 different cleaners, steel wool, and a screwdriver to get rid of it. It looks nice and shiny now.

The great bake out started last night. Michael helped me stir up a holiday snack mix, then we made mint bark (ended up a interesting pink shade) with almonds. And after Michael went to bed I worked on the sugar & spice nuts. After breakfast I made the fudge. After the sink installation was done, I made toffee bars and almond bars. I plan on having Michael help me make the sugar/spice dough since it needs to go in the frig overnight. We'll finish those tomorrow and make the white mice/Russia teacakes (or whatever you like calling them) then.

Tonight we are planning on attending a party hosted by a co-worker. She is an incredible cook and puts on a lovely party. Families are welcome and Michael loves going. It should be a fun evening.

Tomorrow morning we have an appointment for donuts and juice with Santa. After which I hope we will finish the holiday baking. We can then make up our neighbors' tins of sweets for gifts. I hope they like nuts. Every recipe I picked out this year had nuts.

It has been a very productive day....

Beginning of a new week

2011-12-04T20:48:00.004-06:00

Last week was long. It was the first 6 day week I had worked since Oct. November had lots of holidays and a family emergency. The week sort of dragged, but was productive at work. I was able to do quiet a bit of weeding. I try and do a use weed at least once a year and this time of year is a slower time so more stuff is on the shelves. The Westerns & Romances are pretty much done. I still have SF, Mysteries & Spanish to get to.

We spent an hour or so out this morning cleaning up the white stuff. It must have been windy since there wasn't much to rook rake (thank goodness.) Michael shovelled, and went sliding - he decided the old purple sled was going better than his new tube sled. Instead of going to church when it was done, we went back in and read the paper.

The grocery store wasn't as crowded as usual on Sunday morning. The only trouble was they were stocking and it was hard to get down aisles or actually find the sale items. I picked up tow of the wrong things, so I said no I didn't want them then.

We took it easy in the afternoon. I was tired from the shovelling so we watched kiddie dvds, read easy books and did a bit of organizing of the toy area. We also played some 5ive Straight. I borrowed the game from my folks. We play a variation of the original. We generally play the peg in the numbered hole unless we are blocking someone from getting 5 in a row. It's great for number recognition, since it actually goes up to 99.

Another busy week is coming. I'm hoping to get some baking done this next weekend since I'll have it off.

Lovely Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T08:21:00.004-06:00

Michael had fun at his grandparents last week. His school district was off for the whole week.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving with my parents. None of us are big into turkey so we had egg rolls, shrimp stir fry with noodles and blueberry pie. Mom's nod at tradition was rolls and mine was black olives.

Michael saw his first movie - The Muppets. I think he liked it. He loved the popcorn. He asked when he could go to another movie. At least this one did not scare him. We ended up checking out a book with Kermit in it also, so the movie was a plus.

Michael has fallen in love with "Five Straight". His teacher said he needed more work with his numbers. We are playing a slightly different version than the original rules. He loves it. The board has numbers up to 99 so we are practicing numbers in a "fun" way so he wants to do it.

My exciting shopping on the holiday weekend included a new faucet for the kitchen and lots of nuts for holiday baking. I found it interesting that every recipe I decided to make for holiday cooking had nuts in it. Fleet Farm had some good prices on nuts.

We decorated Christmas trees. The one in the living room I did. It's tall and narrow. Michael got my little 3 footer to put in his room. He got to decorate with unbreakable ornaments. The tree kept tipping over so I finally stabilized it with towels around the base in a box.

I worked on my Christmas cards and helped my mom finish hers.

Who needs a gym?

2011-11-20T19:44:00.005-06:00

We were up way to early for a Sunday morning and on the road by 7:30 am. Our 5K started at 8am. We were bundled up in snow pants, boots and I even wore a hat. The first part was a bit icy. Michael got in his grove about half way through and wanted his cheese stick. Cheese sticks are a must on 5K's with Michael. He chomps down 1 or 2 when he's at the halfway mark. I was surprised our time was about what it's been in the previous 5K. I figured we were going to be a lot slower due to snow and ice.

We went out to brunch at Perkins and did our grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. I'm making a shrimp stir-fry at my folks. Turkey is not really my thing. Michael adores shrimp so he'll be happy. My folks generally will take shrimp over turkey also. I did pick up our favorite traditional foods - black olives for me and canned cranberry for Michael.

Michael got to try out the lighter shovels I have. He broke the kids one at our house and my parents last year. There was way too much snow last year for those poor shovels. He can use the 2 shovels that came with the house. Both are lighter weight ones and he had fun pushing them around. He also got to try out his snow tube. I got to put away my groceries, shovel and roof rake a bit without interruption. The roof raking is because I'm paranoid after an ice dam last year.

We had a quiet afternoon. I finished the paper, did a few chores and relaxed on the couch. Michael watched a dvd and then finished off 2 maze books and decided to play teacher. He sure had a lot of quiet times for his stuffed animals.

He went to bed a little early since he nearly fell asleep on me, I wonder why? ;-)

His school is off all week, so he gets to spend lots of time with his grandparents this week. Oh and Mom finally got her new cast last Wednesday. It's bright orange. I forgot to ask if glows in the dark.

Never enough time for everything

2011-11-13T22:02:00.003-06:00

I survived volunteering at my first book fair on Wednesday. It reminded me of holiday season at the mall. Only the children at the book fair were better behaved. That was not the case, on Friday morning when I was waiting for the bell to ring with Michael. Kids are way bolder. I can not imagine kicking and hitting out at another student when there are adults within 10 feet when I was a kid. There were 3 girls doing it, less than 10 feet from the office. Me, being the mean old lady suggested they stop unless they'd like me to report it to the office. Afterwards I thought I should have asked them when VES started accepting badly behaved pre-schoolers....

The leaves didn't get raked this weekend. I had 4 days off and did not get around to them. You'd think with 4 days I'd get it accomplished.

On Thursday, I ran around a bit doing some out and about errands without a shadow. It really felt weird. I also was able to get the fundraiser items from school and to work to distribute before Michael was ready to be picked up. We did stop at the book fair so he could pick out a book to give his cousin for Xmas.

On Friday, Mom did not her cast so we did a little holiday shopping. I updated Mom's address labels and printed them for her. I also managed to complete the calendar I was working on and get it ordered. Michael sometimes likes walking home from school. I remembered and left in time to walk to school. We tried the path from the school that puts us on quieter neighborhood streets over E2. It's slightly longer, but the traffic isn't quite as crazy. I hate crossing the bridge on E2 over 35W, the traffic is crazy there.

I reorganized some of the stuff in my office so I actually could figure out what I had for Xmas presents and what needed to be tweaked. I also finally got new matting down under the sink. The older stuff was dirty and very piece-meal.

I was excited to see the last of the ornaments I ordered from National Camera come in. I'm very happy with the results. They put photos on one side of a china style ornament and you can have stuff printed on the other side. I liked them so well, I ordered 5 of Michael from age 8 months to age 5. Hopefully they will continue to make them so I can get one a year for years to come.

Michael got to play in Hansen Park and saw a lot of my folks this weekend. He played with Grandpa outside today. I had no real desire to go out today. I was being lazy. We did have some popcorn and watch a dvd also after reading a pile of books.

Crazy week

2011-11-05T13:37:00.003-05:00

My mom ended up having surgery on her wrist. She had a pin put in to hold the bones correctly. In 6 to 8 weeks she should get the new cast off. A co-worker who had a similar injury said she healed fine without any problems and she has full use of her hand/wrist.

I ended up taking Friday off to watch Michael since Mom was a little busy. We went and tried the swimming pool in Shoreview. We had never been over there. It was pricey but nice. It was way more affordable than the Water Park Michael has a free pass to from the summer reading program. I looked into that as an option and it would be over $50 for me to get a pass, have something to eat (they do not allow outside food) and to get a locker. Michael also tried the indoor playgound there.

We did do some exciting chores like cleaning and a bit of raking, so Michael was very happy with his day off school.

Next week I get to experience volunteering at a Book Fair.

Busy weekend

2011-10-29T21:15:00.002-05:00

On Friday, I got 22 manacotti made and froze. I hadn't made manacotti in over 3 years. I like but I make the noodles from scratch so it's a bit time intensive. I also helped Mom with a couple things and had lunch with her. For some reason the doctor has her taking tylenol rather than advil for her broken wrist. It's not doing anything for her. Personally I find tylenol ok for fevers but not very effective with pain.

Michael enjoyed the 2 parties we had on Thursday & Friday. Thursday night was the Y-Care potluck. My salad was a hit. Michael "won" 3 games so he got to pick out 3 prizes. Whistling yellow lips are not high on my appreciation chart. On Friday he got to go tailgate trick or treating, see Bruce the Bug Guy, go through a Haunted House (or room), and jump around in a bouncy house. He had a blast. One of his classmates, M was at both events. They had fun playing together. I talked to M's mom. I really wish I was better with names.

Today we walked over to the grand opening of a local library. It was fun to see all the people. I scored "Winnie the Pooh" for Michael. We watched it tonight. It was a hit. After hitting a moving sale ont he way home, we went out to McDonalds for lunch. Michael was very happy with his happy meal. We also went shopping briefly at JC Penneys. We went over to my parents after. Mom had come with us on our adventures. We all went to the park to play for abit. We had supper - I had used the leftover manacotti ingrediants to make a hotdish we had for supper.

Michael wants church tomorrow. Personally I want some downtime. We have groceries to get, laundry that needs doing and lets not forget carving pumpkins. Monday will be busy with Halloween and all. There are never enough hours in the day.

Field Trip & party week

2011-10-25T16:08:00.006-05:00

Sunday was ok at our house, catching up and stuff, but my mom didn't have such a great day. She ended up in Andover at the Urgent Care getting xrays. She broke her wrist when she was picking up trash in the local park and tripped on a vine/root. She is hoping to get a cast on Wednesday.

Michael took his first field trip to a local apple orchard. I volunteered to help after getting it off work. I had not been to this orchard before. There were 70-80 kids. We had 3 teachers, 4 paraprofessionals I think, and about 6-8 parents. Others at work, said I'd probably be matched up with 5 kids or so to watch. Or not. There did not seem to be any organization like that. The adults sort of kept the kids together in a herd and rounded up strays. I felt a bit like a sheep/cow dog. They had a quick tour, the teachers were given a bag of apples and brochures for the kids and we were done. Someone had mentioned their school got donuts and cider for the kids.

On Thursday, the Y-Care Michael attends is hosting a potluck party. We'll be bringing a chicken salad. Parents are encourages to dress up also. I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I used to go to parties back in the 80's (Yes, the 1980's). I'm thinking about it. Michael is going to be Winnie the Pooh this year. The Y also hosts a tailgating trick or treat party on Friday.

We have our pumpkin. We have the choice of carving at church on Saturday or at home on Sunday. It's a bit strange to be home and not have Michael, I need to go pick him up soon.

Whirlwind Weekend

2011-10-18T20:10:00.005-05:00

We had a very busy weekend. I went to school lunch last Friday. It was the first time eating lunch during school since 1980 something as the song goes. They had Dominos pizza. I seem to recall we had Totinos back in the day. I really liked the fruit and veggie bar where you can take as much of these as you would like.

On Saturday we had party day. We met a couple other families at Aamodt's. Only 3 families could make it. So Michael had two little girls to play with. He had a blast. He loved the kettle corn and was climbing all over the hay maze. We had a bonfire party at 5pm a couple miles away so we went to some playground/parks to kill a couple hours. We also picked out pumpkins at a nearby pumpkin patch. He had a lot of fun at the bonfire party also.

On Sunday we went tennis shoe shopping. We got a new pair for Michael. His toe is at the edge and I really did not want to go shoe shopping again the day after Thanksgiving. I thought we had bought size 12, that's what the box said, turns out we bought 11.5. Oh well that's a bigger size so it should work.

Our very nice neighbor had struck again on Saturday. He used his riding mower and took away our leaves. So on Sunday Michael helped me bake goodies as thank yous. We made Banana Bread and Raspberry Brownies.

Tomorrow starts MEA for us. We get to start it with a dentist appointment. My parents volunteered to take Michael on no school days during the school year. So he'll be hanging out at with his grandparents for the next four days.

I put down our fees for Vietnamese Culture Camp tonight. Michael loves it so much and this way I'm entered in the drawing. I doubt we'll win, but I can dream.

Great start to the weekend.

2011-10-08T20:01:00.006-05:00

I was able to get some ordering done today at work. I usually don't try much on Saturday due to the pace of the day. It was nice to get a bit done since our computers are going to be down for an upgrade part of next week.

Michael went with his grandparents to a springer field trial. For those who have never been to one. The dog stands at point, the gunner shoots the pheasant, the dog then is supposed to retrieve it. If all goes well they get judged on how well they did. Dad used to run our springers in trials when we were growing up. They were more family dogs and sometimes hunters than field trial champs. I think one of our dogs pups did go onto to Nationals though.

We tried a new restaurant that just opened in New Brighton. It's called Mirage : Bar & Grill. It claims to be Vietnamese. It was a soft opening and they only had part of the menu. It was also 50% tonight. The food was excellent. It's not the cheapest place and the Vietnamese part of the menu appears to be appetizer like egg rolls, spring rolls and some pho. The kids menu appeared on the breakfast menu but not the dinner menu. Since they had no pho yet, Michael had egg rolls which were served on lettuce with cilantro and tomatoes- very pretty and tasty. He also had a side of french fries. My mom & I had scallops which had a sauce on it with noodles on the side and veggies mix. It was excellent. Dad tried the beef tips served on noodles. If their pho is decent I would go there once in awhile, when I felt like splurging. The best part is that it is in walking distance. I'm curious to see their lunch menu.

Michael told me last night that "m" "o" "m" spells mom. He's growing up so fast. He really seems to be liking school and learning so much this year.He made me a necklace in Y-Care. It glows in the dark.

We got home tonight to a nice surprise, no leaves. Our super nice neighbor struck again. He has a riding lawn mower and I'm assuming he came around since I wasn't wading in leaves when I went to get the mail.

Tomorrow is catch up day after my 6 day work week. Michael misses going grocery shopping. He wants to go to cub and church tomorrow. We'll see. There are so many things to do and only so many hours in the day.

Blogger & IExplorer finally got friendly again. Yay! I spoke too soon it worked last week.

Fantastic Day

2011-10-01T20:42:00.002-05:00

The last few days have been the type of weather I love - sunny and in the 60's. Michael has been wanting to walk to school or home so on Friday I left the house about 3:30 and walked over to VES. Why do they have the sidewalk over 35W on one side of a very busy street and the walking path where it finally starts on the opposite side? Arden Hills does not believe in sidewalks. I want to know if the one path makes it way over to 10th/Valentine Whatever Road. If it does, I think the traffic there would be much lighter for a second try someday.

It was such a beautiful day. We started the day with a trip to Fleet Farm. I needed cement caulk, staples for heavy duty stapling and wanted some anise squares. I also ended up getting some mittens for Michael.

Michael was doing artwork while I used the old fashioned kind of pop to opener on my chairs - I was removing staples. I got 4 chairs back in the 80's at a garage sale for $2 a piece. They had broken caning and leather patches. I stripped them, redid them and then had someone build me insets that I could cover and remove so that when the fabric wore out I would be able to replace it. Two of the chairs badly needed new fabric. I borrowed my dad's stapler and attempted to finish up the chairs. The staples were not the best match. Dad came over and got the stapler working sort of. It took awhile but the chairs now have new fabric on them.

After lunch Michael & I took are round about way to the park. He got to play for about an hour. We went home and I got out the cement caulk. The cracks and holes in the porch and by the garage door now are filled. I have a chipmunks and mice around eating my cement. Then we pulled weeds for awhile. I got 3 barrels pulled. Our very nice neighbor cut the bottom part of them lawn. He blew all the leaves down there into the raspberry bushes so it looks much nicer down there.

We went up and had something to drink and played board games. It will be nice when he can play something more challenging than High Ho Cherio, Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land. Still the sun was shining and Michael was having fun. We read a pile of books, the library books, ours and just kind of relaxed.

We did watch some Max & Ruby while our pizza baked. Later we went out for a small bonfire. After some more Max & Ruby with popcorn and then a nice bath for Michael. I hear tomorrow is supposed to be nice also.

Life gets so busy

2011-09-25T20:48:00.003-05:00

I survived my first Kindergarten conference. I was told my kid is curious and lively. He likes to take apart things and check them over. He also looks over his glasses up close at things. Yes, I have mentioned it to his pediatric othamologist who told me it was very normal and common thing for kids who have trouble seeing things far away to do. So no big suprises. She likes Michael and is impressed he puts away things.

We also started our first fundraiser for Elelmentary School. So if you are looking for a place to buy expensive cookie dough, wrapping paper, magazines, kitchen stuff, other foods and jewelry - I have an order form waiting for you. The money raised helps the schools' pta fund extras like field trips, extra books and tech in the classroom etc. Only 12 more years to go....

I got a notice from the NB Community Center that Michael's membership ends Oct 15th. Since he has less free-time, I'm going to pick up a punch card for my folks to use when they want to take him over to run off steam when the weather turns bad. It doesn't make as much sense to buy the annual membership when he'll be in school so much of the time. I can always reconsider later if we miss it.

Michael is very excited about being VIP on Thursday. The kids in the class all get to be VIP for a day. They put pictures on paper - I printed out a bunch, cut them down and taped them to the paper provided. Michael colored in his booklet. He drew a picture of himself. He drew in his family (not sure who all is represented in the windows). He was supposed to draw a picture of his favorite toys, favorite food, and a couple other favorites. We wrote in what a few items were, I'll let Michael intrepret for the teacher the others. He also picked out 3 things to bring to show the class. He finally settled on Dino ( a green stegosaurus), a bus from WDW, and a book on police cars. They needed to be small enough to fit into a small bag.

He also is attending the Kindergarten Social onThursday. It should be an interesting week.

Today we sort of relaxed. Michael missed grocery shopping so we went for a quick run today. After we snacked, we went over to Long Lake Park. He played for about an hour or so, snacking as he played. he came home and watched some Dinosaur Train. After he went to see if L was around to play with. They were "helping" my neighbor. Luckily she likes kids. Her grandkids live in CA so she doesn't see them as much as she'd like.

We played "tennis" for a bit. I throw a tennis ball at the kids and they try and hit it with a racket. L could actually hit them about 50% of the time. Michael was getting frustrated, he tends to spend alot of time running after the ball when we do this. I was on the end of the driveway by the street. I had to go get the balls a couple times in the street. The kids are not allowed to leave the sidewalk.

The night ended with baths and books. No, the books were not being read anywhere near the bathroom.

Busy weekend

2011-09-17T21:31:00.003-05:00

Friday was new. I dropped Michael off at school in the morning, then I had almost 7 hours to myself. I ran errands. I washed windows and curtains. I ate lunch when I wanted and didn't worry if was balanced nutritionally. I re-arranged clothes in Michael's rooms. I tried peeling potatoes for supper with a new device that makes them very thin, but it also took out a chunk of my finger. I didn't quiet as much accomplished as I would have liked, but I did get some things long overdue taken care of.

Saturday started out with trying to keep Michael from going over to the neighbor's before 10am. He doesn't understand that some people sleep in on Saturday morning. Even at 9:45 they were asleep or not ready for company. We ran over to some dollar stores to try and find a tablecloth for our kitchen table. We stopped at garage sales on the way. I finally found a tablecloth at Kmart. I just wanted something in plastic. My old one was in shreds. I ended up buying a clear plastic one like I had before. It shows off the wood, but makes easy to wipe up spills.

We came home for lunch and to change our clothes. We went to Michael's first play. The Children's Theatre in Mpls is playing Mercy Watson to the Rescue. I hadn't been to a play since 2004 or so and even longer since I've been to this theatre. Michael did really well for a first play. He really does not like animal control officers. They scare him. We had to stop reading the Mercy Watson books due to this fact. Maybe we can try again, now that he's seen they aren't total boogey-men/women.

He did finally get to play with L when we got home. Their playing is interesting. They interact sometimes and parallel play alot. Michael loves going to her place and she loves coming here. Both kids try bossying the other one around abit. It can be very entertaining to listen to their conversations.

Tomorrow is church and a Mid Autum or Moon Festival to keep us on the go. The second week of school was as popular as the first with Michael. He was a bit exasperated with the teacher that takes them to the door or Ycare. He knew I was picking him up, but she thought he was going to Ycare. I explained to her that he does Ycare every other Friday, so hopefully next time they'll believe him when he says I'm picking him up. I did write it on his name card, but I guess they don't read it...

First week of school

2011-09-11T20:29:00.003-05:00

Michael enjoyed his first week of school. After the first day he told me he wanted to go every day. I said he could go Monday thru Friday most weeks. On Wednesday he wondered why he wasn't going to Y-Care. It seems to be a big hit also.

We celebrated Michael's first week at Green Mill after getting his glasses adjusted. Some girl grabbed them off his face. Weird. It's not the first time it's happened either. Some kids who don't have glasses seem to be fascinated with them. The trouble is that they have a habit of messing them up so we have to get them adjusted.

Michael did ask if J was still open. J ran his old daycare. I said yes, she was open but that now he was going to Y-Care. He thought about it and seemed ok with thte idea.

We had a productive morning. I finished (with help) removing the irises from the western southern side of the house. I still have some by the porch (that really need thinning) and some behind the garage. I'm tired of all the trees and grass that are impossible to weed in an iris bed. I put sea of gold something or other in earlier and they survived. The hydrangea on the other hand looks very sick. I'll probably add some hostas in front and back of the other plants when my dad divides some. I think about dividing mine and that's about as far as I get since I tend to use the for erosion behind my garage.

We had a short visit with my parents this afternoon. After Michael played in the pool. We had an early supper and relaxed. L showed up at the door around 6:30 pm wanting Michael to come over and play. He had already bathed and was in pjs, so I told her another night.

On to week 2 of Kindergarten. Hopefully it will be as fun as the last week.

Wow, the first day of school is tomorrow.

2011-09-05T21:23:00.002-05:00

This was from Michael's second day at the fair and my third day - Friday. Michael went on rides and ate his cheese-curds so he was happy. He was ready to go after 5 hours of fun. It was getting crowded also. Michael spent around 11 hours at the fair and I spent around 17 hours.

The rest of the weekend was low-key. We walked over to my folks on Saturday and went to the park. Sunday was busy with church & grocery shopping. In the afternoon, L showed up. For the rest of the afternoon/evening, Michael & L were running back and forth between our house and her's. L can be sweet, but she can get on my nerves also. I can not imagine at 5, when visiting a friend puilling open the refrigerator at my friend's house.... Is this the new normal for 5 year olds? Heck I don't do that now, unless someone tells me to get something for them.

While Michael was at L's, I got out the shovel and started in on digging up irises. The bed in the frontof the house, I put in back in 2002. There had been irises in the back yard. I moved them to the front. They could take getting cooked there, but I hate weeding, so the bed has little trees, weeds and irises galore. Between yesterday and today I spent 1.5 hours on diggin them up. I don't think I've gotten to even a 1/3 of them. I also have to be slightly careful since I put in three plants this spring. Two survived but are in the middle of the irises.

Michael helped pick out his snacks for tomorrow. I can't believe he's really starting Kindergarten. He is excited and curious about the Y care. He also wanted to know who would be at J's tomorrow (his old daycare). I hope all goes well for him. I still haven't figured out if he has memorized his lunch code yet. It's a 5 digit number that was assigned to him, that he keeps until he graduates. His backpack is filled with school supplies, his clothes are waiting for him, and his snack is packed and ready to be put in the backpack. The camera is out by our stuff so I can get the first day of school photo. I don't know if I'm ready for this, but here we go....

What a day

2011-08-29T20:25:00.003-05:00

It started out with Michael actually sleeping in and not wanting to get up. Something happened in bathroom. I'm not sure what went on, but I have a toilet overflowing. Luckily the water was clean. Michael offered to clean it up with paper towels. It went through the floor into the basement. Oh joy. I put wet towels up all over the basement and took off for J's to drop off Michael.

At work it turned out we were short-staffed due to vacation and illness. They managed to dig up a couple more bodies. Computer class sign-ups started that morning. They thought they had a temporary fix for one of our databases a newer one that hasn't really worked well, however the fix wasn't working either. One of my least favorite people showed up to harass me in the afternoon.

Traffic was fun due to the Fair I assume. I picked up Michael. He had fun playing at the library and picking out some books and movies. We had a nice supper. Michael is talking to himself in bed and the towels are in the dryer, so at least the day ended better than it started. No lights in the windows tonight, with my luck it would be a truck, train or the ilk, coming through a wall.

Dropping food pays off

2011-08-26T21:04:00.003-05:00

Tonight, either Michael or I dropped something on the ground before we sat at our table in the back. This table is in the shade by evening. Michael loves to eat outdoors. I had just pulled the umbrella part off and was planning on sitting down when I bent down to pick up the scraps off the ground and saw the beginning of a hornet's nest. I had been worried about them going up the umbrella- they did that last year. We switched our dinner to the side porch only to have some kind of bee come flying around. We gave up and went inside.

My dad came over this evening and sprayed my table. The nest I saw, was tiny and old. It turns out there was a newer bigger one that you could not see until you turned the table over. We were sitting by the table when Michael got stung. The blasted things love my yard, house, garage, etc. It seems like I'm spraying constantly.

This week we visited a doctor for a follow-up and got all of the paperwork the school sent me for allergies filled in with the help of a doctor. Michael also now has epi-pens for school, daycare, the grandparents and one for me to carry around until the blasted things freeze. I can hardly wait for the freeze!

Next week Michael gets to see his kindergarten room and meet his teacher again. I'm trying to figure out how to help him memorize his pin for lunch. We were assigned a 5 digit number code that stays with him throughout school. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking about getting a medical alert bracelet at the state fair and putting the pin number on the opposite side of the bracelet. Do they do that I wonder?

We plan on going to the fair next week. Michael is looking forward to it. He just wants to know why he only gets to go twice, while I'm planning on 3 trips. One day with the whole family, one day with my mom and one day with Michael. I figure that should cover it. He already wants to know what bus we are taking. The shuttle buses are one of his favorite things about the fair. When I asked him if there was anything he would really like at the fair it was the bus ride, the sky ride and a request for cheese curds.

Scare

2011-08-21T19:52:00.002-05:00

It turns out Michael & I have something in common - a need for Epi-pens due to bees. He got stung for the first time today. At first he seemed fine. Then I noticed the swelling, by the time we hit the doors of Urgent Care he had hives. He didn't like the shot, but with it and ice the swelling started coming down. His one eye is still pretty swollen, but it has gone down some.

We got the prescriptions filled at Target pretty quickly. He also has trouble taking tablets I found out. He's never had to take any before- it was always great tasting liquid medication before. He started itching like crazy. The doctor had mentioned picking up kids' benadryl for that. He also had a bath with baking soda. Hopefully, things will look brighter tomorrow.

I want a nice uneventful and downright boring week. Enough with the excitement.

Blogger & Explorer driving me nuts

2011-08-20T21:20:00.003-05:00

I hate it when new software doesn't work with old. I can compose with explorer and use spell check but am unable to publish. With AOL I can compose and publish but spell check doesn't appear to work. Grr.

I worked 2 days this week at work. Trying to catch up after almost 2 weeks vacation is always fun. Since I was on the reference desk most of both days, I got slightly lucky - it wasn't as busy as usual, so I actually got some ordering done. I generally don't order on the desk since patrons asking questions interupts my flow and we end up with 11 copies of a gay mystery romance when I wanted to order 1 copy.... Or I get the title on the catalog and don't get it actually ordered from the vendor, etc.

My 3 day weekend has been playing catch up at home. Michael has been in 7th heaven. He got to dust mop and dust the upstairs rooms, not to mention wet mopping the bathroom, and cleaning the toilets. My kid loves to dust and dust mop slightly more than cleaning toilets, but it's close.

We also have taken some lovely walks to a local park and played. We spent over 2 hours at Eagle's Nest one day. Today I got a little shopping in with my mom while he played with Grandpa. JCPennys sales on pants meant Michael ended up getting 4 new pairs of the next size. I found it facinating that there is over an inch difference in heights between 2 brands.

I've also been trying to figure out the school's websites for paying for lunch. It appears there are 2 different ones. One works with bank accounts and visa/mastercard and the other workd with visa/mastercard/discover. The first ones upposedly works for the monthly fee for K+, but I couldn't figure out how. I only saw stuff on meals.

I checked out the menus for Sept. Lunch looks good. Only one lunch would not work well with Michael. They say you can always substitute a cheese sandwich. Breakfast looks like a no go. They serve pancakes, omlettes, french toast sticks or cereal, etc. My kid unless most of the world doesn't care for pancakes/waffles/french toast etc. He likes cereal - more to play with than to eat. He has informed me he doesn't eat eggs except hard cooked ones - that I take the blame for. I've developed an egg intolerance for fried/baked eggs and generally can eat them only hard boiled. He decided if I wasn't eating them neither was he. I'm planning on asking about packing snacks on meet the teacher/Y care meeting we have scheduled.

I hoped the Y-care would send out some info, but nothing yet.

I love the cooler weather. I actually cut some brush this morning and mowed this afternoon without totally overheating. If the dewpoint/humidity stay down I can live with 80's, but so prefer the 70's or even 60's.

Vacation

2011-08-16T20:34:00.004-05:00

Michael & I rode with my parents to Colorado. We drove there in under 2 days. We hung out in Denver for a couple days and then went to the YMCA of the Rockies were we shared a cabin with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew for 5 more days. We stopped at my sister's in-laws before heading back on another drive home.

We stayed at a hotel within walking distance to my sister's. She has a 1+ bedroom condo in Denver's Uptown. We tried going to Water World. It was expensive but fun. We got to go to my favorite restaurant in Denver ~ Saigon Bowl. We were able to visit the Aquarium and a splash pad in a park.

The YMCA of the Rockies was fun. Our cabin was for 7 people. The view was fantastic. We had a kitchen so we were able to cook. Grocery Shopping in Estes Park is an adventure. The Safeway parking lot reminds me of State Fair parking- crazy! Our cabin was next to some boulders the boys adored climbing on. We tried the miniature golf, pony rides, fishing and swimming at the camp. We also went on some short easy hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

According to Michael Water World and the bus shuttles were the best part of the trip.

What happened back here? More monsoons? I thought I was going to have to get a baler for my grass...

Change is in the air - that and alot of rain

2011-08-01T20:15:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, Michael was very happy he got to go to Eagle's Nest for a bit where there was hardly anybody to Long Lake Park where we found oodles of people playing in the lake. We got there early enough that we got parking close. It can get very crowded,

The water felt good. Michael started getting cold so we went in and he played on the beach. It was a bit tiresome to help Michael get back his pail and shovel. Some kids are just pushy and grabby. I mean they took it right out of his hands. Excuse me, what's up with that? After the third rescue I'd had enough. We left. Since it was still hot and muggy we spent some time watching a few dvds. We had already done our shopping chores in the morning.

We went to story-time tonight. Michael had fun. He loves seeing Natalie & Brodie as much the stories. He got to run around abit after in the garden. He suprised me tonight. He asked if he was going to J's tomorrow and when I said yes, he said he didn't want to go. He wanted to go to his Grandparents. I asked him what was up and he said he didn't want to go to J's anymore. I was a little worried about this fall changing to the Y-care, but it may not be as tramatic as I thought. We looked on the calendar, he actually only has 10 more times at J's due to our vacation.

We fixed up most of our night out salad. I just have to throw on a dressing and stir and it will be ready to go.

Last night of T-ball

2011-07-28T20:32:00.003-05:00

Wow, does bribery work. Michael hit the ball twice. After the first hit and running the bases he came over and asked it he got to go to the Dairy Queen after t-ball. I kept my promise, we went. There were no tears, or pouting. He may never be crazy about t-ball, but he tried and finsihed what he started.

He got a new t-shirt for playing also. Tonight the kids played a mock game. Everybody got to hit twice and got to play int he outfield twice. Michael played 2nd base and pitcher. (Not sure if they call it pitcher in t-ball since you don't really pitch much. I forgot my camera so these shots are off the phone. The coaches were great!

Warning labels should be attached

2011-07-24T19:52:00.002-05:00

DO NOT WAKE BEFORE 2 HOURS of nap are completed. I had one very crabby and upset kid on my hands this afternoon. Michael has been running a fever, with a very nasty head cold and possible flu - his stomach has been acting up also for the last 4 days.

Michael was still under the weather. He decided to stay with Grandpa while I grocery shopped. He always wants to go grocery shopping. He was running hot again so he had another dose of tylenol to bring down his fever. I figure once a day is not going to kill him. If it doesn't vanish soon we are heading for the doctor. He was only around 100 today.

Neither he nor Linnea were happy with me when I said it was not a good idea for Linnea to play with Michael today. Linnea's grandmother agreed when I explained Michael's symptoms. Michael played quietly drawing mazes and dot to dots while I mowed again. I hate rain and grass.

When we went in later to watch a movie Michael fell asleep. I figured the rest would do him good. He woke up mad and in quiet the temper. He finally calmed down while I was making supper. He ate before going to bed since he wasn't hungry at supper time. His appetite has been up and down, but he has been drinking lots of fluids. We did have a nice time reading for about an hour.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be fever free. I'm also hoping I do not get whatever he has. We are supposed to be visiting Lisa & family soon in Colorado.

Best laid plans

2011-07-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

I had made plans to hopefully try a waterpark tomorrow. Those plans are off the slate. Michael woke up with a fever of 102 this morning. My folks mentioned he had been drousey and was hot last night. This morning his stomach hurt, he was stuffy as all get out, and running a fever. So I called daycare and work and explained we'd be no-shows today.

He did nap some in the morning. He perked up abit around lunch, so he was up for an hour or so playing and I quickly cut the grass. He barely touched his lunch. I laid down with him for another hour or two after lunch. He wasn't tired, just sort of lethargic. We played a few board games while he laid down with his blanket. We watched a dvd. He complained about being hot. His temp was up again, this time to 103. More tylenol. I made rice for supper. I figured plain rice would be ok with his stomach - it's comfort food for him. I also gave him a bit of chicken. He ate both and drank quiet abit. A cooling shower also helped.

He asked to watch Wheel of Fortune. We skipped t-ball. He was still not up to par and I didn't want to pass it along to all the other kids. We did watch WOF. He was disgusted with the political ads, claiming we'd seen them a million times. He is having an early night.

My highlight today was re-arranging his bed for better ventilation and mowing the grass. Oh well, the waterpark can wait. I just hope he feels better tomorrow.

One fogged up photo

2011-07-17T22:08:00.001-05:00

Michael with scooter at VCC. Due to extreme heat and condensation, my camera created a very foggy picture.

VCC, Family Day & what's with the Sauna?

2011-07-17T20:11:00.006-05:00

We got back today after our second Vietnamese Culture Camp. Michael loved it. He ran around, played, scooted, swam and had a ball. He liked "school". Each morning the kids have 3 hours of arts, crafts, culture classes, or playtime depending on the age. The parents have sessions to choose from during that time. After lunch there is a fun activity and then family sessions. In the evenings are more fun after supper.

The time in the pool was fantastic. Michael wore his life jacket. He started by cautiously jumping into my arms. By the end of the time in the pool, he was trying dog paddling without holding onto me or the sides. He was also jumping in without me catching him. Swimming lessons will be coming next summer. He even tried jumping in one time without his life jacket ~ he decided the life jacket was a good idea for now.

Michael made new friends at camp and another mom told me the gist of a conversation Michael had with her son. Since their toys were packed up and they were getting ready to leave, they could play again next year at VCC.

Michael and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary of becoming a family today. The heat reminded me of Viet Nam. Michael loved the DVD of Families of Viet Nam I got him. We had checked it out at the library previously. I watched more time than I care to count while we had it out from the library. He already watched it through this afternoon/evening. He got 3 books also.

It seems at times he's been here forever and at others that he just got here. We've had 3 years of tears and laughter. Each year seems to be better than the last.

The weather forecast is really looking steamy this week. I really didn't need the flashback. I didn't get much rain in my basement after the storms that I can see. A few spots are still wet so I got some. The rain gauge had over 5 inches in it. I didn't realize MN was becoming part of the tropics. It's too hot and muggy to pick berries or mow the lawn, so they can wait. However, the laundry waits for on-one so I better go put another load in.

Enough with the heat & humidity

2011-07-10T20:08:00.003-05:00

We had fun at the Dragon Festival yesterday. Michael enjoys getting all the freebies. He got way too much sugar. He also liked playing on the playground equipment at the park.

Today, we had a long car ride. My friend's teenage daughter had her graduation party today. While there was some breeze, it was still on the hot and humid side for me. We were there around a n hour or so. We stopped at Sun Foods in one of the Brooklyns on the way home. Next time I know to check the farmer's market first if they are there. We got fresh lychee, Rambhutan and Dragon Fruit. Michael was ready to gobble them all down at supper. I made him save some for tomorrow. It was nice to get the fresh fruit rather than canned.

When we got home, we ran raspberries over to our neighbor who has been cutting the bottomo half of our lawn most of this summer. I then mowed the rest, while Michael played. I put icy cold water in the pool, boy did that feel great. We had lots of fruit at supper tonight. Michael was excited to get another tomato from his plant. I picked another 1/2 of ice cream bucket full of berries after spraying myself well with Jungle Juice bug spray. It really works. I just worry about leaving it on the skin too long.

Vietnamese Culture Camp is coming soon. So is our Family Day.

Warm but lovely day

2011-07-08T21:55:00.002-05:00

My new refrigerator now resides in out kitchen. I was a bit worried about if it was actually going to come and if it would fit through the doorway. Lots of doors were removed, but it all fit in. I nearly jumped up on a counter when they moved the old frig out. I am not the world's best housekeeper. I pulled the frig out enough to clean the coils periodically. There was a lump of something that I thought was a dead rodent at first. I realized it was a dog toy from the previous owners. It's now in the trash.

We were not going to far from home today with our delivery. We made it to the bank and Cub. I wanted to pick up my fair tickets. We also got gas for the car and stopped at 3 garage sales. Michael tried his sprinkler beach ball. I think you need another kid to make it more fun. I wasn't in the mood to run through the sprinkler. He did get to play in his pool. The berries have also arrived. We picked around half of a 5 gallon ice cream bucket of raspberries this afternoon. Supper was late due to our fridge delivery window from 4:30-6:30. They arrived a little after 5 and it was all set up by six.

Tomorrow, we collect the refrig stuff my folks are storing. We also plan on going to Lake Phalen for the Dragonboat Races & Festival. Sunday is a graduation. At some point I suppose the lawn needs cutting again.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-03T20:34:00.003-05:00

I just finished writing the check for the credit card bill from bad spending month. I got to pay for 3 pairs of new glasses and a refrigerator. Here's hoping that July will be a less expensive month.

I managed to get the lawn cut last night when it was less humid. So we had more time this morning for chores. Michael was all ready to clean the minute he got out of bed. He did not want to sleep in, despite he was up last night beyond his normal bedtime. He never wants to sleep in on mornings we can, only on ones when we can't. He had fun dust-mopping, dusting and cleaning the toilets. I never met a kid who likes Endust as much as mine.

We did a grocery run. I'm trying not to fill our old fridge to full. The new fridge that was supposed to arrive last Friday is now supposedly coming this Friday. I just want it here soon. I'm afraid the old one will die before the new one arrives. I'm tired of wiping the ceiling of the fridge to collect the water and chipping off the ice from the freezer.

The house smells nice from Endust and homemade chicken soup. Michael was in a soup mood. It's easy enough to make in a crockpot and makes him happy.

Mom had finished everything on Michael's new Ao Dai except the frogs. We went with frogs instead of the traditional loops - it's called way easier. I hand sewed them on. His new Ao Dai also doesn't have the Mandarin collar. I told my mom to skip it since he's wearing it in July/January. We can always put a turtleneck under in January. It's modified but recogizable. His looks more like an Ao Dai than mine does. They are made out of Chinese Silk purchased in 1991 in Hangzhou, China. I never could make up my mind on what I wanted made with the silk, so I had packed it away. This seemed like the perfect thing to use it for. We'll wear them for the first time at Vietnamese Culture Camp later in July. Oh and Michael's pants are so not the traditional while silk. Blue linen seemed much more sensible. The original pants had the hem torn out them and split in the behind. They basically fell apart.

Michael had fun playing with the neighbor kids of my parents. We went to the park and then they played in the pool. The pool is one of those plastic 4 inch deep round ones. They had a blast. Michael got in lots of bike riding. I walked while he rode back and forth to my folks.

Tomorrow is likely the beach after lunch. Happy Fourth of July!

Where was the sun and 80?

2011-06-25T19:54:00.002-05:00

We dressed asfter listening to a forecast for sunny and 80. We walked over to my folks. It was humid and cool. Michael, the kids next door to my folks, etc went on down to the park for the kids to play. We were down there at least an hour or two. Another friendly lady my mom knows who has kids was down there also. So the kids had a blast.

After we came back we snacked on a scone before heading over to Sam's Club. I wanted to pick up kiddie snacks for VCC. I was looking for individual packs of dried fruit. I ended up with breakfast bars and pudding. We are assigned to a "healthy" snack for kids that don't include any form of nut and do not need refrigeration. We had lunch at my folks. Michael was helping Grandpa with his rocks inbetweeen playing next door. We got a ride home around 4 since it looked like rain.

After supper, Michael wanted to walk to the park. He had fun. The bells were playing quiet a bit at 6pm besides the usual siren. We came back and read a bunch more. He nearly fell asleep while listening to me read.

Busy Day

2011-06-24T19:25:00.004-05:00

Both my parents came along this morning when I went shopping to get a refrigerator. My dad can keep Michael occupied and my mom has more experience at appliance shopping than I do. To be honest, this is the first non-recreational appliance I've purchased, outside of a furnace that had to be bought and installed in January when the old one was red tagged.

I had looked online the previous night at Home Depot, since my mom had mentioned their sale. I'm not a big fan fan of GE. When I did a search for style and features I wanted, it kept showing GE. We started at Menards. They had 2 possibilities, tht I took notes on. We were going to look at Best Buy but were too early, so we headed to Sears -who was also having a big sale. The salesman was very helpful and I was able to narrow my search to 3 models right away. The only real restrictions I have are my door widths for getting it in. I ended up buying a 21cf Whirlpool. With the sale it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It will be delivered next week. Now I just need my old one to hang on until then. I also need to take down all the magnets on it and get it eaten down to fit into coolers...

After lunch I decided to get the lawn done for the weekend on the coolest day. After Michael was talking the beach, I wasn't in the mood to get into a swimsuit so I convinced him to play in his pool. The water felt good on my feet.

We came in for books and a bit of dvd action before supper. We had a great walk to the playground and back later. We read more books and colored some before Michael was ready for bed. He's been asking for more reading than normal due to the Summer Reading Program. Usually we average 30-45 minutes per day. Lately it's been more than 1 hour a day. He was a little tired, although I have no idead why. ;-)

Expensive Summer

2011-06-17T21:29:00.003-05:00

This going to be an expensive summer. This morning my ear hurt from my glasses. I also noticed that I was getting dizzy and was sort of quesey from my glasses. I ran over to to the glasses store I got them from. I told the tech that I was having problems with the glasses. She picked them up and they literally fell apart. The metal bridge between the two lenses just cam loose. ARGH! They tried to find another frame to put them into. It's been discontinued. They could cut my glasses down to fit another frame, but I like large lenses so i can't see over the top easily. They gave me a deal on new glasses. They also got my contact prescription from my eye doctor and gave me a sample pair of contacts to wear until the glasses were ready.

My refrigerator of unknown age has problems. The freezer tries to freeze shut, the suction on the door is not holding tight anymore and it's raining inside my frig. I might be able to have it fixed, but at what price? From the little information I have on it, it may be around 30 years old. I'm really thinging I need to replace it. July's Consumer Reports did frigs. I guess I better read up. I'll have to decide on freezer up or down and all that good stuff. I also need to measure the thing.

At least the evening ended with hugs and kisses from Michael.

T-Ball

2011-06-16T20:32:00.004-05:00

Michael was very excited about the idea of T-Ball. I don't reality lived up to his excitement. It turns out one of his pre-school buddies is in the class also. Michael borrowed a glove. He seemed to like the glove. Michael's throwing tends to be nowhere near the target. Catching is not exactly an art he has accomplished either, except by accident. I've played catch or tried to with him - it's more like fetch. I'm not that great either so we tend to be quite hilarious to watch.

When it was time to run, I hoped he'd get into it. He came over to sit with me in the bleachers. Grandpa took him back. It was an interesting hour. It's the first time he's tried anything like this, I hope the next time goes a little smoother. I may try and get him a glove that fits. Most of the park & rec gloves were for bigger hands and alot of right gloves. Hopefully next week he'll stay on the field more and less in the bleachers.

I got excited, we got the first email about Culture Camp. It looks like there will be around 10 other Kindergartners like Michael this year. I also recognized alot of the counselors returning to camp.

Full Moon

2011-06-15T21:08:00.002-05:00

Today at work was a zoo. St Paul Public was closed for In-Service Day. It rained and it's a full moon tonight. So craziness ensued. I had swapped the night for a day with a co-worker, so my day was totally topsy-turvey.

Michael enjoyed his night out. We took my folks to a local Chinese Buffet they like for a combination Father's Day/Birthday celebration. Tomorrow is Dad's birthday. We are planning on ice cream cake after Michael's T-Ball, I think. I can hardly wait to watch up to 32 5 year olds run around tomorrow night. It will be his first night.

Another Graduation

2011-06-12T20:05:00.004-05:00

Today we went to WI. One of my younger cousins graduated. Michael met her and her family for the first time. He enjoyed playing with another cousin who is slightly older. I got to visit a little with family, some who I guess I haven't seen in over 2 years. Time does fly sometimes. The park was lovely where it was held. We used to go there when I was a kid and my grandpa's family had some family parties there.

My neighbor had done the lower part of my yard again so I quickly finished mowing when we got home.

Michael wanted to read some more tonight. He generally loves being read to and he wants to keep coloring in his reading record. I explained we had to only color in the slots as read. He figures I should just keep on reading. We had over an hour of reading today. My voices starts to feel stressed after 45 minutes these days. We keep on going longer as time goes on - I used to stop at 15 minutes.

Lovely Day

2011-06-11T20:17:00.005-05:00

We went to a garage sale or two on our way back from Moundsview. We went to the library to get Michael a reading record. He also got the coloring sheet. I think I'll have enough fun trying to convince him to color the reading sheet. We read, it's the coloring that he's not crazy about.

After lunch we burned twigs and put the sprinkler out on the new plants and the berries. Michael ran back and forth between our yard and the neighbors. L was out, so they played together. L is the granddaughter of a neighbor. She either visits a lot or lives with her grandmother some of the time. She's bright, friendly and very pushy at times. I don't want the kids in the house when I'm not in the house especially L, I wouldn't be surprised to find her rummaging through the frig or the closets. She kept on going in, until finally I locked the house up. It's nice that Michael has someone to play with, but she can drive me crazy.

We came in and cleaned up for a grad party. It was very nice. The food was great. Michael got to blow bubbles and run up and down steps. He also got cake, what could be better?

We have another grad party tomorrow. I hope the nice weather holds.

Garage Sales & Graduations

2011-06-10T19:44:00.003-05:00

Michael, Mom & I went to garage sales this morning. Valentine Hills was having their annual neighborhood sales. It looked iffy but turned out fine. I was able to find 2 pairs of jeans, 3 sweatshirts, and 4 or 5 shirts for Michael in size 5. He can wear the tops now however we'll see if he's in the jeans this fall or not. He can't wear 4/5 shorts without them being around his ankles. We have to buy everything in skinny/slim with elastic waist buttons in about 5 notches on both sides.

We also went to Rosedale. Michael wanted to donate his oldest pair of glasses to the Lions. He was 2 when he got them. We are now on pair number 4. We picked them up last night. They are square instead of round and have transition lenses. he kept on asking on why they turned dark when the sun wasn't out today. He does seem to like them. We also picked out my dad's birthday/father's day gift. We had found a couple of jigsaw puzzles also for him. I'm still looking for the jigsaw puzzle only in one color - it might challenge him.

After lunch we walked over to Eagles' Nest to find out they were closing early due to an all-night party for a local high school. We came back and played outside since it wasn't raining.

Heat Wave

2011-06-05T19:44:00.004-05:00

I see that 90+ is coming over the next day or so. I only turned off the heat in late May. I was hoping for a bit longer before turning on the AC. Oh well, that's MN for you. At least it was nice enough to dry laundry outside today.

Michael was very happy he got to go to the Rhubarb Festival. He had popcorn. I had some rhubarb. He also got to the beach. It was the first time in water since Dec when we braved the pools in Florida and Michael discovered hot tubs. The water in the lake was a lot cooler than the hot tub was.

He actually played in the water and was willing to go in up to his neck while holding onto my hands. It's the deepest he's gone in without clinging to me. I even got him to try laying on his back in the water. I remembered the sun screen so I'm not to red/pink for a change. He liked the sun screen. I predict more depands for beach time this summer.

My dad had been a sweetheart and mowed the lawn for me on Wednesday. Whatever fertilizer he used really works very well. My really nice neighbor mowed the back part on Saturday. So I felt fuilty enough to mow the fertilized part today so it wouldn't look to uneven. The front tends to grow faster anyway. I even turned on the sprinkler - it kept Michael busy while I was mowing and gave our new plants some water.

Trying to figure out what to ger my father for his birthday & Father's Day. This year they are 3 days apart. We did pick up one item that should take him longer than 15 minutes to solve/play with. Maybe a gift certificate to one of his toy stores...

Wacky world

2011-06-02T20:05:00.002-05:00

It's very weird when picky AOL works better with Blogger than the standard Internet Explorer. However ever since I uploaded the new version of Internet Explorer, I am unable to publish my posts. Grr.

Michael had his eye dr appointment. We got his new prescription ordered. He wanted lenses like mine- transitions. I asked the eye doctor about kids and transitions. He thought it was a great idea. So we payed more and got them. I know I would never go back to non-transitions myself, so I figure Michael deserves them also. When you are as blind as us, glasses are a necessity and the more comfortable the better.

I also found out that it is normal for him to look over his lenses at close up work at times. His Brown's was more evident again, but they say it's nothing to worry about. He may or may not outgrow it, but since he has glasses the lack of up eye movement isn't a big issue. Browns is a condition where your eye can not move totally around. Michael's left eye doesn't have full movement upward. He doesn't avoid looking up, but he doesn't have full movement up.

It's my weekend to work so we don't have any big plans.

Hot & Muggy

2011-05-30T19:56:00.003-05:00

The weather certainly warmed up today. Michael loved it. I was worried the rain was going to keep up for awhile, so I let him play at the play area at the shopping mall. Carters was having a fantastic sale. Mom watched him, while I ran over and picked up a few things for Michael.

He played with my mom's neighbor kids int he afternoon for a good 2 hours. I wished I had my camera. My folks, and the kids were kicking around balls. Dad kept on kicking them over the fence.

When we got home the grandaughter of a neighbor was over so Michael got to play with her for another hour or two. Needless to say he's down and out for the count.

We found some plants to try on our western exposure. An Invincibile Spirit Smooth Hydrangea and two Sea of Gold Junipers. Hopefully they are as hardy as they sounded. They'll need to be in my yard. I grow fantastic creepy charlie, dandelions, and other weeds galore, but tend to kill things that are not hardy.

Blogger is acting up

2011-05-27T21:09:00.003-05:00

Weird, since I uploaded the new explorer version I can write my posts on my computer, but I have to actually publish them elsewhere so far. This is post # 3 if it repeats the same problem.

Michael was out of sorts this morning. He didn't want to go to school, then he did. No today wasn't the last day. I dropped him off and came home to cut up bars and go back for the party with my mom. When Michael came into the room for the performance he was tearing up and upset. I ended up sitting next to him. He calmed down then. He enjoyed the lunch and playing before leaving. He got hugs from the teachers and even got one from Ava.

We ran over to Schuler's, since they were having a sandal sale. I have large weird feet. The one area of my wardrobe I splurge on is shoes. Last year, I tragically lost not one, but two pairs of sandals to age/wear. I think they were about 20 years old and fell apart. So today I spent a fortune and bought 2 new pair. The state tax refund I think covered the cost of these sandals. One pair are black comfy SAS to replace the old brown SAS, I used for everyday summer wear. The second pair are actually a more unusual aqua blue color and Dansko clog/sandal - they were in the backroom. I tried on about 6-8 different pairs in the backroom (the sale ones that they have one of these or that left over and marked down more generally).

Michael played outside with Grandpa for awhile and I visited with my mom. The kids next door came home, so Michael got to play with them for about an hour before the rain started. We came home to start supper. We had a quiet night. We tried starting a Magic Tree House book. Michael seems to be more into Captain Underpants so far than this series.

Next week Michael gets to meet his kindergarten teacher. We also have another eye appointment. He still puts things really close when drawing/writing or looks over his glasses alot. I want to make sure he can actually see accurately before starting kindergarten.

Let the long weekend begin

2011-05-26T21:07:00.004-05:00

We got the lawn mowed tonight with the help of a neighbor. He had done the bottom part so I only had to do from the hill up to the front. Yahoo! Michael helped make brownies for his Pre-School Graduation Party tomorrow at school. I also tried a new recipe for berry cobbler bar. It's baking in the over as I write.

Michael heard one of the parents talking about t-ball somewhere and asked if he could play. Hansen Park is having 2 sessions of t-ball for kids going into Kindergarten this summer. I should check and see if they are filled. If he goes on Wednesdays I never get to see him. If he goes on Thursdays, he'll miss one session due to Culture Camp. I'm inclined to the Thursday session. Anybody done t-ball? I think I played it once in grade school. I threw the bat farther than I hit the ball. Yes I know you are not supposed to throw bats...

I'm wondering how much rain is coming this weekend?

Wet fun, I think

2011-05-21T19:30:00.005-05:00

We did our 5K this morning. We wore rain ponchos and carried umbrellas. I lost a tennis shoe briefly in the mud (totally soaked still). We improved our time from last year despite the weather. The official time and what I saw on the clock as we walked by do not match.

We went grocery shopping in our wet clothes. We finally made it home and got into dry clothes. We tried a new recipe. If I make it again, I would change several things, but it was OK. The recipe is for banana pecan won tons. Michael wanted to play outside after lunch. It wasn't raining much - more misting than anything. He played, I read. The sun finally came out. When I went down to check on the lilacs, I noticed the neighbor had taken pity on me and mowed the backyard to the hill. I felt guilty then to be sitting around and went and mowed the rest.

I was fine after the 5k except for some shoulder twinges from carrying my camera. Right now though, I ache -I think the lawn mowing was a bit much to add on. The energizer bunny is asleep. He was running around, biking and triking all afternoon.

Tomorrow is a party at Como. I hope the weather is nice.

Cancel the baler

2011-05-13T19:59:00.003-05:00

I was beginning to thin I was going to need to hire a baler to do my lawn. It's been wet or I haven't been home. Wet grass and my lawn mower = a plugged up mower and blood donations from me to unplug it. It was dry enough that I could the grass and push down the creeping charlie. The things I grow really well are creeping charlie, weeds, quack grass etc. My dandelions are most likely the horror of my neighbors.

Garage sale season has arrived. Yahoo. We got some things today for Michael- 4 tops. The trouble is, I've gotten spoiled by JC Pennys sales. I paid $10 for the 4 tops, At Pennys on one of their sales with coupons I might have gotten a similar buy. I admit it, I'm a cheapskate and like bargains. Michael was happy with his new tops, especially the orange fleece sweatshirt.

We had our last appointment at the University of MN on the attachment study. I think they do 1 school followup but we are done traipsing down there for the moment. Good thing too, they are closing Washington Ave in the next couple days. Traffic already is bad in that area. Good luck to anybody who has to go down there anytime soon. We got done early so came back and ate out in our neighborhood.

Michael helped for a bit with the lawn and got bored finally. He loves to "help" but it tends to take longer with "help". He played with his modes of transportation while I finished mowing.

I saw a couple plants today at Linders. I'm trying to decide on an evergreen of some type to go where an old oak came down a couple years back in a wind storm. The stump is finally burned down enough that I can think of planting something. I hate raking so I'm thinking evergreen. I'd seen a Black Hills Spruce at Malborgs that wasn't bad. About a foot high and under $15. Linders had similar and also a Colorado Spruce. We had a Colorado Blue Spruce in Robbinsdale - I loved that tree. It was so pretty - my dad was good at pruning so it was shaped just so.

I"m also thinking about replacing an iris bed which I hate weeding with hydrangeas. So far I haven't had much weeding with my other hydrangeas and they seem fairly hardy. My plants get water when they go in and some later if I remember, so they need to be hardy things to survive. That's why I love hostas. I did pick up a hosta this morning at a garage sale. It was only $2 for this huge plant so I split it. We saw others at a plant sale that were a fraction of the size for Gardening place prices. Michael got a violet pepper plant. Has anyone ever eaten a Violet Pepper?

Size 2, that finally fit

2011-05-10T20:25:00.002-05:00

While waiting to go get Michael I bought clothes - in about 3 sizes, 18 months, 24 months and size 2 or 3. He can finally wear one pair of shorts that claim to be a size 2. It only took 3 years. Most of the things I got then are long gone, since he generally wears a size 4 on the bottoms and a size 2 on the top. I had to laugh though he'll finally be able to wear those shorts.

He has his 5 year old physical on Thursday. We need to get his immunizations updated. I also need to get them to fill out a sample sheet since his catch-up shots do not match a standard Immunization chart. I need to keep a copy so I don't have to google or bing the shot name to figure out it is a 3 shot combination....

Giggles and thoughts

2011-05-08T19:46:00.003-05:00

I overheard Michael saying as he hit his stick against the bars "Somebody has been messing with my chords" and couldn't help but laugh. He heard that phrase last week in pre-school, when his teacher tried to play her guitar. I guess it was out of tune.

It's my second Mother's Day. Today, with it being a double whammy of Michael's birthday and Mother's Day, I wondered about another woman on the other side of the world. Is she thinking about him also? I wish her well, she made a very difficult decision that I can not begin to fathom. Her decision has brought so much joy and laughter into my life. Enough deep thoughts for today.

We did have fun even with the rain. We got a couple flowers at Beissweingers. I checked out a Black Hills Spruce at Malmborgs on the way to lunch. I want to get some sort of none leaf tree to replace an oak. I hate raking hence non-leafy trees. I love the look of Colorado Blue Spruces but have read they can have some problems here after about 20 years or so. We had them in Robbinsdale and they seemed to do fine. I haven't looked much yet so will continue to do so.

Michael had fun playing with new toys. We went for a walk after supper and played outside. I even had time to shift some shorts and sweatshirts around. Hopefully we'll need the shorts soon.

Mother's Day

2011-05-07T20:35:00.003-05:00

Michael had his big party last Saturday. See above photo. Tomorrow is his actual birthday. It's hard to believe he's going to be 5.

We will be going out with my folks to celebrate both Mother's Day & Michael's birthday. I hope he likes his scooter.

Pizza Birthday a Success

2011-04-30T20:10:00.003-05:00

The rain this morning was a bit much and long. I only needed it to rain long enough to make and bake cupcakes. We ended up with 44 little cupcakes and 3 normal size ones. This year Michael picked white Funfetti and white frosting. He got to help make them also. We read books. We played and every 5 to 10 minutes is it time to go to the party?

After lunch we ran over and got our glasses straightened, and few other chores. The U of MN had sent us a copy of his free play on dvd from 3 sessions. We watched it. We also watched a Winnie the Poah movie. We got on our party clothes and read a couple more books before leaving.

We got to Broadway a little bit early. I wasn't sure if I needed to do anything ahead of time or not. My parents arrived to help just before 4. The kids started arriving. Michael had 3 kids from daycare and 2 of my parents' neighbors as his guests. They seemed to have a good time. They got to put sauce and some ingredients on their own pizzas. The cook then put on the cheese and did the actual cooking. The kids all went for pepperoni. Michael also had mushrooms and black olives on his. After the pizza I broke out the cupcakes before the sundaes. Then they got a choice of 3 sundaes. Michael opened presents and by then the party broke up. It lasted about 1hour and 40 minutes. They all seemed to have a good time.

I got to put a play mobile and 1 Lego toy together tonight. There are 4 more Lego toys to be assembled tomorrow. Onto the thank yous. I'm just glad all the excitement is over tonight. We'll have a smaller family thing on his actual birthday (Mother's Day).

Success

2011-04-28T20:55:00.004-05:00

Michael has been working at his bike riding skills. On the grandparent's nice flat driveway he figured out pedalling. The braking needed work.

Today at home on our slight hill, he could not only peddle but seemed to be catching onto braking. I guess that means I'm going to have to practice more myself. I bought a new bike 3 years ago or so and have issues with it. The handlebars are too wide. It has 7 speeds. I really don't need that many. My ankle kept on getting scrapped up in the chain. The handlebars keep sinking because I am unable to tighten it enough. I think I just need to get used to it (and have my dad tighten the handlebars.) I also need to get used to the idea of wearing a helmet.

Maybe someday blogger will let me load a picture but not tonight.

Busy time of the year

2011-04-25T20:13:00.004-05:00

Life last week was one long blur. Work has been a little crazy, most of the time on the desk with little time to do my other work. Michael is ready to get up too early again. He wanted to get up before 6:30 am to dye Easter Eggs last week. He informed me that he was going to wait up all night to see the Easter Bunny also. I vetoed both ideas.

Easter was such a nice day. I did a stir fry at my folks. After Michael played around on the bike there. When we went down to the park, he biked and we walked. He is using training wheels. He still has difficulty with the whole stopping process, but he is improving on forward pedalling. He tried on his padding for his scooter - it looked pretty funny. See above photo.

I have a few days to prepare for Saturday. Michael is having 5 munchkins from 4 to 7 years old coming to his birthday party at Broadway Pizza. It is early. His birthday is on Mother's Day this year. My parents are coming to help. Most of the parents said they'd be willing to help if need be. I think it should be ok. There will be 3 girls and 3 boys. They will be "making" pizzas.

Sunnier but still cool

2011-04-17T21:43:00.002-05:00

We were outside again this morning. A bit of raking got done. At this rate I might be done by July. We tried going to the Munchkin Sale. It turned out it was over. We did pick up a spare sweatshirt at Once Upon a Child for Grandma's extras. We also looked at couple other stores. I then took Dad to a Minute Clinic. He has pink eye. My eyes water just thinking about it. I had it in late July of 2008 - coming home from Viet Nam. I really don't want it again. We had a nice dinner with my folks and then came home. It was a fairly quiet day.

Kids have interesting ideas

2011-04-16T20:04:00.003-05:00

Michael & I were playing outside after supper. We were kicking the soccer ball around at first. I'm no Pele but I usually can manage to give the ball a kick in the right direction. It was the only sport that was ever explained at my school. They figured you knew the rules to all the rest. Michael decides he's had enough soccer and pulls out the football. I warn him, I have no idea how to play football - he tells not to worry he knows. I'm supposed to chase him and get the ball from him. He promptly takes the ball and crawls under the picnic table. Ok, I'm not expert but I'm pretty sure hiding under picnic tables is not in the rules.

Quiet Blustery Day

2011-04-15T19:56:00.004-05:00

I had good intentions when I dropped Michael off a pre-school this morning. I figured a quick trip to Target and go home and catch a short nap. The trip to Target went longer and ended up at Bob's and by the time I got home and put away the stuff, there was no time for a nap. I did get the bacon baked- it just became extra crispy. The eggs got boiled. We did lunch out at a local Vietnamese restaurant. Their pho is much better than their lo mein. We did walk over to the park to play for a bit, but it was a bit too cool for my taste with the wind. I think I'll try and go to bed early. I'm trying to get rid of another cold/sinus thing.

Snow better be done

2011-04-12T20:43:00.002-05:00

Ok, it was so nice this evening I hauled the backyard furnture out of the shed. I moved out the lawnmower and my bike also so that meant the snowblower had to go into the storage shed. So no more snow. The dentist appointment went well. Michael had no cavities and enjoyed talking with the hygenist and the dentist. He was very good while I was getting my teeth checked also.

Another lovely day

2011-04-11T20:37:00.003-05:00

Michael was all smiles coming from school today. He had fun at J's and then again at story-time. He also ate his supper with "porkchops" (chop sticks) and asked for milk tonight. I was very happy to hear back from the local pizza place. Yahoo, Michael will be having a creat your pizza birthday. The party will be early. His birthday this year is on Mother's Day. I work the day before. My folks will be out of town the weekend after, so we are going for the weekend before. I found some cute party invites on the net. I've printed out maps for the place. We have his 5 potential guests - 3 from daycare and 2 neighborhood kids. I just need to get addresses or a way to get the invite to the kid without making the other kids feeling left out. I figure 6 kids hyped up on pizza, sundaes and fun is all I can handle. My parents will be helping also so it averages out to 2 kids per adult. Tomorrow is the dentist. Michael is excited to be going. He likes bringing home new toothbrushes. On Wednesday I have his pre-school conference before his class. I think I may go crash early, I'm sort of catching something I fear - hopefully it will go away.

Busy but nice day

2011-04-10T20:15:00.002-05:00

It was kind of a weird weather day. Since it wasn't storming this morning I went out to do some more raking. The humidity was too high to keep it up for long. Michael wanted to play with my neighbor's grandkids. We went across the street, he got to play and I talked to my neighbor. I'm so bad with names at times I can't remember hers- she is very nice. My posts are losing paragraphs again. grr. After lunch we ran errands. After errands we stopped over at the folks to drop off stuff. Michael got to play with the neighbor kids for a bit. I got to call a pizza joint to check on the possibility of a pizza party for Michael's birthday. The guy I spoke to will have someone get back to me. They haven't done one in quite awhile it seems. The website seemed to indicate that all the ones in the chain that had sit-down areas did them. We are inbetween 2 sites so I can try the other site. It sounded kind of fun- the kids get to add pizza topping onto their own pizza. Hopefully we can do it. Tonight I nearly fell asleep while Michael was watching the Cat in the Hat. He was asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow. He had lots of outdoor time today so he was happy.

Paperwork and more paperwork

2011-04-09T21:18:00.004-05:00

grr I have to paper-file this year for the federal IRS. Due to the changes on the adoption credit, I have to send in copies of the adoption decree along with my 1040. I wonder how their Vietnamese is? I included the MN paperwork which is in English also to be safe. I decided to get the MPR out of the way last night. I did my parents tonight. I also did the paperwork for the 529 match. Since I was on a financial roll I wrote checks and filed away paperwork. My desk looks less cluttered. Michael had fun today. He got to go to Menards and the compost site with Grandpa. How can life get any better than that? He also played with neighborhood kids. He was asleep in minutes of his head hitting the pillow. He said he wanted to rake when we got home. I raked and he played. It was a very productive but tiring day.

Toy Rotation

2011-04-07T21:50:00.002-05:00

Michael was asking for a toy rotation. We only have so much room in his play area and way too many toys. So I pack away a bunch of toys and rotate them. He was asking about his dump truck and garbage truck. They came out of storage tonight. I also pulled out and cleaned up some of my ancient toys. He no longer puts them in the mouth so they should be safe. I pulled out the Tonka toys - the old heavy metal ones made in the USA from my childhood. I tended to play with Barbies more - though they got to ride around on top of the jeep. I also pulled out the pickup truck, the horse trailer and the tractor. The boat, trailer, the second jeep and the bulldozer can come out on another rotation. It should be interesting to see how long it takes him to spot the changes. The weather was so nice they went and played outside for a little bit. Michael informed me that when we went in he needed a nice warm bath and a snack... He did get both.

Sticks, Rakes & the History Center

2011-04-03T19:33:00.002-05:00

We were going to rake. Or rather I was going to rake and Michael was going to play at raking. The trouble was the sticks. I must have spent 45 minutes picking up sticks. They kept on catching in the rake. So I picked up about 3 buckets of sticks and hauled them down to our official fire pit. After that I only managed 2 buckets of leaves. We had an early lunch before picking up my mom. We went to the Minnesota History Center. They had a special program "A Thousand Journeys, One Home : Asian Pacific Heritage Day". We saw some Japanese and Cambodian Dances. Michael got his name written in Chinese. He made a fancy square at the Hmong booth. He made a Samurai Hat in the paper craft area. We also saw the Chinese cooking display. He liked the samples of that better than East Indian Food. His favorite part was in the MN 150 gallery ~ the old bus. He loved pretending to drive it. We took a walk in Hansen Park only to find the playground in water. We played some more when we got home. My dad had managed to fix the tricycle so Michael was tearing around on it. He had his bicycle out for a minute or two. He likes the idea better than the reality at this point. After all the activities with my sister, I think I'm ready to go back to work.

Lovely weather

2011-04-02T20:18:00.002-05:00

We went to the Springbrook Nature Preserve today. I had never been there, but BK had recommended it ages ago. When I searched for kid's activities happening while we had company feeding time at Springbrook came up. Michael & Myles were very interested in watching the snakes eat. We tried walking on a bit of the paths but they still had a lot of snow and ice on them. We did get to see around 6 deer and a hawk besides the animals in the Interpretive Center. Lunch was at Moon's. While Myles took his nap, Michael played with kid's next door to my folks. Michael loves playing with them. When Myles got up, he joined in the fun. The kids had a snack before heading to the airport. I was still stuffed from lunch. Michael & I came home. I know it's early and there still is snow on the ground but the amount of leaves in my yard started calling my name. We raked for an hour. I also pulled Michael's bike out of the shed and blew up the tires. He tried biking a bit. He's still working on the forward pedalling thing. Braking he doesn't get at all. He ran into the garage at a low speed. No big bruises, unlike poor mom who is sporting a black eye from her encounter with her steps.

Como in the morning & Eagle's Nest in the afternoon

2011-04-01T21:38:00.002-05:00

Michael played hooky today from pre-school. We went over to Como. I not only saw the wolves but heard them in concert. Actually I had never seen the wolves there except for a rare glimpse. Today they were howling and out in the yard. One even came quiet close to the gate. After Myle's nap we went over to Eagle's Nest. Poor mom fell on the front steps after getting the mail this afternoon. She had a very bloody nose out of it but seems ok otherwise. The boys were running around like crazy again after supper. I got a nice walk in with Lisa & her dog while the boys played. We are talking about checking out a Nature Center near here tomorrow. I've heard of it but never made it over. It has trails to walk on and an animal feeding on Saturday mornings. Best of all it's free according to the website listing.

Sidewalk chalk & the joys of puddles

2011-03-31T21:46:00.003-05:00

Today

Yesterday

Michael totally soaked his boots. He learned the price~ no playing in the snow, puddles etc today since his boots still have not dried out.

The kids tried some sidewalk chalk this afternoon. The morning was spent at the Children's Museum. Tomorrow depending on weather, will be Eagle's Nest or Como most likely. I'm hoping for nice weather- Como is much quieter than Eagle's Nest and it would be nice not to have my ears ringing for a day.

Picture Day

2011-03-30T11:11:00.002-05:00

Today, Michael is getting his picture taken with his class at pre-school. Lisa, Myles & mom are at Como Zoo this morning. Michael was disappointed that he didn't get to go. I really wanted him in his class picture. Yesterday, Michael tore around my folks house with his cousin and the dog. M&M tired out the dog. Michael slept very well last night. Lisa wants to go to the Children's Muesum tomorrow. I guess the weather forecast is not good. Scheduling is creative due to Michael's pre-school and Myles' nap. Not sure on the rest of the week, we'll see.

Busy day

2011-03-27T21:17:00.002-05:00

My sister, nephew & dog are coming to visit from CO. They arrive tomorrow night and will stay with my folks. The visit brought on a spate of spring cleaning. Michael was thrilled to be able to mop the floors and try out his new can of pledge. I had fun trying to explain if you're rag is soaking you really don't need more spray. He also loves running from the vacuum cleaner. We went and played for awhile after cleaning. After an early lunch we headed over to the grocery store for s few items. Michael was happy he got one of the little carts to use. Between that and a basket we were set. He wanted to go out again when we got stuff put away. We walked over to my folks and on to the park. He got to swing and go on the dry slides. We played outside at the folks for a bit before heading back. We then had popcorn and a movie. We tried Lady and the Tramp. Not a total success, but not to frightening. Three Caballeros was a bigger hit earlier this week. The Aristocats is still the winner though. He actually laughed during that one. I got lots of questions during Lady & the Tramp- most of which I have no idea on. I was tired by the time Michael went to bed. According to pedometer and the step calculator there is a reason - over 20,000 steps today. I have a very short work week Monday & Tuesday. Tomorrow is pre-school shuffle day and then story-time so it will be a long day. On Tuesday I work and Michael goes to play with his cousin. I finally get to play on Wednesday. School pictures are Wednesday also.

Great mail

2011-03-26T21:26:00.003-05:00

Michael got into the K+ program at the local school. Yippee! We just got the letter today.

Now I just need to make up my mind 100% on his daycare. He has been going to a home-daycare since Oct of 2008. The provider is a very nice lady. She's great about a lot of things. A few things aren't fantastic, but Michael has really liked it there. Most of the problems are logistics- everybody should be be able to take vacation, but often I'd prefer more notice than she gives. I also hate paying twice for daycare- again it's more my problem.

One of the bigger problems is quiet/nap time. If you put Michael down, he'll nap, but he doesn't want to go to sleep at night and is a bear to get up the next morning. If he's kept up, he goes to bed with little argument and is up with the roosters - actually before I want to get up at times. The kids' nap time is her downtime. The other big problem is the television. It is on in a room most of the time. I don't mind Michael watching some TV, but I'd prefer not to have a TV on all day.

The school offers a before & after program offered by a local Y. It sounds interesting. They have learning opportunities (and no TV). The price would be $40 higher over a two week period that his current provider would charge me for before and after school care. I'm assuming some of his classmates might be there. I know that J from his daycare will not be there next year since he'll be attending private school. There is a good chance that N will be having to switch daycare due to school acceptance. She is on a waiting list but VES has a full roster. So some of his "best" pals may no longer be there anyway. I figure this might be a good time to switch. I am supposed to get more info on the Y program, but it may not be ready until May.

I want to give his current daycare provider plenty of notice but am wondering how soon I should let her know. I really like her and know she cares about Michael but feel that this fall is the time to change.

Oh well tomorrow is another day. We sure had fun dancing in kitchen after reading the acceptance letter.

What a wonderful day

2011-03-24T21:11:00.003-05:00

It started out with Michael saying it was too cold. Turns out he was right, the temp was around 62. I'm frugal but not that frugal when we are in the house and not sleeping. The furnace wasn't working properly. When I got to work I called in for service. I'm on the fix plan or whatever. I also spoke with my folks who luckily for me could come over and open up for the repair guy.

At work, there are more kids this week due to Spring Break at some of the local schools. I got yelled at by a patron who was mad because the noise from downstairs can be heard upstairs. The upstairs is not cut off and noise will come up especially when a kid is screaming/crying. I don't think anything but total silence would have made her happy.

I did see a really great webinar on Floating Collections that LJ did. It was one of the highlights of the day.

Michael was cheerful tonight and happy to be in a warmer house. According to this repair guy the fans were installed screwy, and all of my ancient vents were closed. I'm not too sure how that happened, since they were open when I went to bed on Wednesday night (of I thought they were).

I also have too expensive of a filter on my furnace. HUH? I was supposed to put "baseboard heat registers" into google and magically ones that would fit my old not standard size vents would appear. The repair guy has way more faith in the net than I do. I did find the name of a company in Atlanta, GA that does custom work. I sent them an email. I wonder if I'll hear back. It would be nice to have grilles that fit. The one in the kitchen has bricks in front of it to hold it up.

Michael gets school pictures taken next Wednesday. How time does fly. He was having fun on the way home rhyming words - he loves that tickle and pickle rhyme.

Smoke does not always equal fire

2011-03-20T21:12:00.003-05:00

Michael got quiet excited today when the smoke detector went off. One of our detectors is not even 2 feet away from the stove. I was experimenting with deep frying. I hadn't done it in years and remember why I don't plan on doing it again. I decided to try to fried spring rolls. I should have known better. I love them. However, I put too much filling in always and have trouble getting them shut without something tearing. They did taste good, but I'll go back to buying them or making the summer version without the oil.

The Children's Museum was fun but total chaos. We got a great parking space on the street a block away. We were there for a little over 2 hours. Michael started getting hungry so we left. My ears were thankful for the escape.

The mist/rain kept us indoors. Michael watched his Peanuts (aka Snoopy / Charlie Brown) holiday collection. I've seen the Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas shows more in the last 6 months than I had in the previous 40 some years....

Shrinking snow cover

2011-03-19T21:08:00.002-05:00

We played out side this afternoon again. In the morning, we went to Har Mar so Mom could spend her gift certificate she won. We also checked at a shop about a imprint on fabric that didn't work there. They mentioned another a store or over by Keyes. It turned out our to be closed- the parking lot was insane. They still had huge snowbanks covering a large amount of the parking spaces.

We looked at Joann Fabrics for fabric. Michael shredded his pants of his Ao Dai. White may be traditional but on a 4 to 5 year old child it's impractical. After looking at what they had, we went totally nontraditional but practical - a navy blue cotton/linen. We went looking at JC Pennys with our coupons in hand. Michael will be getting new summer pjs from Grandma. They had a double set of Scooby Doo pjs on sale. We also found a bright orange shirt that was cute on sale. I found him another pair of shorts. I love those elastic band waists with the buttons. It's the only way I can keep the pants/shorts up rather than around his ankles.

After the shopping Michael was thrilled to get his promised train ride. I admit it, I offered a bribe. If he could stay dry for 7 nights in a row he could ride the train. He was dry 13 nights in a row. We are in the home stretch of night time dryness but not quiet there 100%. I'm looking forward to being a diaper free household.

Michael is in heavy eating phase again. He ate 2 hot dogs at lunch along with cheese and a juice. We did our grocery shopping in the afternoon. The stores are a lot busier on Saturday afternoons than Sunday mornings, which is a common time for us. We picked up cleaning supplies along with groceries. I have a kid who is more excited over a can of Pledge, than a bag of M&Ms. He wanted his own can to dust with. We picked up some more spices to try a new recipe from the Vietnamese cookbook I have.

I'm still trying to figure out if Michael is not crazy about milk or if he might have a slight allergy. We bought some strawberry milk today (yuck). He wanted some as soon as he got home from the grocery store. He drank 6 to 8 oz and was saying his stomach hurt after. A week or so ago he went on a milk binge and had diarrhea. He was on antibiotics then also and the side-effects included diarrhea. His stomach must not have hurt too much - he polished off a baked potato, 3 pea pods, and a good sized portion of pork roast. He topped it off with a couple strawberries and a piece of chocolate.

Tomorrow is the third Sunday of the month, so I'm thinking about going to the madhouse- Target free Sunday at the Children's Museum. There is free street parking also on Sundays. So the only real expense is gas and a locker for our coats. The lego exhibit will be leaving soon so I figure if we're going to see it, we better go tomorrow.

Taxes & Waiting

2011-03-18T21:33:00.002-05:00

I had my taxes done today. It seems the laws on the adoption credit have changed for 2010 & 2011. I have been slowly using up the credit for adoption, due to the tax changes, rather than carving off some more this year - all of the remaining credit is coming back this year. So I'll be ending up with a bigger refund than I expected.

I'm still waiting to hear about the full-day kindergarten. The good news on the refund means that if Michael doesn't get into local public program I can sort of think about a private program for kindergarten. The public one would be around $3000, while the private ones range between $5000 to $9500 or 2 that I've looked at online. I'd really rather go public but at least the private is a more feasible option that I had thought previously.

After two hours in the car with the taxes this morning we did some running around in the afternoon. Michael played on his car and ran circles around me. We also went through his clothes to check what he has that fits for spring/summer. It turns out a bunch of the shorts were too tight. The trouble is a bunch of the stuff I had picked up previously at a sale are 4/5. He is not close to being a 5 on the bottom. The 4's tend to need to be slims or they fall off (oh, to have such a problem). My mom wants to go shopping tomorrow so I needed to figure out what he might need this spring to summer. Since he didn't grow as much as I thought he would last fall he already has a brand new winter coat for next year. Hopefully it will fit by then.

Reflections on a phone call

2011-03-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

Three years ago today my life changed. Brandi asked if I would like to hear about my son. I was really going to be mother. After I got off the phone I ran to turn on my computer. They were sending me a email with photos and information. I had to let my parents know I would be late coming over since I wanted to print out the information before going out to lunch. My sister was in town and we were meeting with other family for lunch.

Fast forward 3 years. It seems like forever and just yesterday at the same time. I can't imagine Michael not in my life. He brings me so much laughter and a few more gray hairs, but considering the amount of gray I had to begin with, who's going to notice?

Another week starting soon

2011-03-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

Could we just leave day lights saving time on, all year round? I'm tired to spring forward and fall back. Pick a time and stick with - heck split the difference and change the clocks 30 minutes once and forget about it.

We had a birthday today at Eagle's Nest. One of the sets of twins in Michael's pre-school turned 5. It turns out their older sister turned 7 this month. They had the party for all 3 kids. They are very brave... There were at least 30 kids there. Michael had a blast. The twins got in full-day K at Sunnside. I'm still waiting to hear Michael's status.

I had heard that March was a good month to buy a room humidifier. Menards appears to be sold out. All I found were filters. Mine fell apart in late Feb. I guess it can wait until the fall.

We went out after supper to enjoy the sun. We ran around the yard for 50 minutes or so. I hadn't been feeling that great this afternoon so had been resting on the couch while Michael watched some Mickey Mouse. We needed some fresh air.

No pre-school this week, due to spring break. I wonder if Michael's teacher made it to Hawaii. She was flying out Friday.

Name

2011-03-09T21:54:00.003-06:00

This morning while I was reading the newspaper at breakfast, Michael grabbed a pen and strted writing his name on a entry blank to something. I was startled at first. Generally all suggestions for writing/coloring/drawing etc come from other people. It is not the first choice. I quick went and grabbed 2 birthday cards - one for a party he was going to on Sunday and one for his cousin. I had him try and write his name on them. It's on more than 1 line, but all the letters are readable...

And the snow appears to have gone elsewhere. So this week is looking up!

Hoping the week will get better

2011-03-07T19:19:00.002-06:00

I woke up to snow. Blech. Then my teary eyed son informed me his ear hurt. Next call - doctor's office. The bad news no pediatrition today, the good news another doctor can see you and the next bad news 1:40. Call daycare - probably no Michael today. Talk teary-eyed son into nap. Notice time and call work not in today. Go join Michael for the nap.

We did make home-made chicken soup for supper. We also managed to shovel the snow on the driveway. The doctor confirmed the ear infection. We got the medication and came home. He perked up some especially after finding out that there were no shots involved - just nummy amoxicillion.

Now if the upcoming storm can go south and skip us - we really don't need to go higher than the 8th snowiest winter on record. Also if this head cold of mine would vanish....

Mixed weekend

2011-03-06T20:00:00.002-06:00

Michael has discovered the gym at Eagle's Nest. They have some balls and the kids can play with them sometimes in there. They only have a couple balls, so my parents gave me one for Michael to bring with when we go.

Michael is getting over his cold. The cough hasn't quite gone away and his nose is still leaking. I'm afraid I may be catching it. I've been stuffed up all weekend long. I've been trying to get some extra sleep but that plan doesn't work real with since Michael is in a crow mood again - in other words up way before I want to be up.

We did some birthday shopping this weekend for a party next weekend. I'm going into my 6 day work week and prefer to have minor to no chores. The weather was nice enough (until tonight) to get some playing outside done. We also got in a couple walks.

I also have one of the few kids on the planet who thinks cleaning the toilet is a treat. He got to clean 2 toilets this weekend so he was happy. We managed to watch Aristocats all the way through. It's the first Disney movie Michael hasn't got scared of and asked to have it turned off partway through. He really got a kick out the dogs. He was a bit worried about the "bad guy" coming back from Timbucktoo, but other than that he liked it.

We also tried Star Wars. I was told by a co-worker who has a 4-year old that Phantom Menace was the movie for them. It seems Jar-Jar Binks fans are toddlers/pre-schoolers. It took me awhile to find the flick. Yes I own them all, however this one was a VHS copy still wrapped in celophane. The coupons inside date it back to 2000 or so. He sort of watched it. The guy with the bloody face caught his attention (the Sith Lord, Darth Something). I explained to him that his face was painted to look like that. Michael did not and does not want a red face...

Mongeese, Pelicans & Shipping

2011-03-03T22:04:00.003-06:00

The world is crazy. I asked my sister what my nephew wanted for his birthday. He was interested in stuffed animals- namely a mongoose or a pelican. Ok, I started with gift shops at the 2 zoos - no luck. I tried Toys - R -Us, Target, Wal*Mart, Fao Schwartz, the Science Museum, etc. - nothing. So I started googling stuffed animals. Word of advice - go for the pelican when faced with the choice of a mongoose or pelican. I found 2 types of cuddly mongeese. One is a dog's toy and not stuffed - not to bad though for price and one is a very expensive stuffed toy. By expensive the average price of it was $50.

I found web site with 4 different pelicans. I sent the website to my sister to make sure I was looking for the right color of pelican. She told me which one had the correct coloring. I ordered it tonight online. Crazy is because the shipping cost more than the toy????

Michael's preshool teacher mentioned earlier this week Michael still can't write his name. Big suprise - not. I really wonder some days. I've been working with him at home to get him more comfortable with pens, crayons, pencils and the like. He gets very frustrated trying to write letters.

He loves mazes. We've been doing mazes or dot to dots each day for a bit. If he wants to write his name or a couple letters after a maze or dot-to-dot he does. After doing something he likes or feels he can do, he usually will try a letter or two. It saves on both of our frustration levels. I'm pretty sure he will not be the only kindergartner this fall who may not be able to write his name. At age 4 or 5, I sure didn't write my name.

I'm hoping the weather is somewhat nice tomorrow. I'd like to do something outside with Michael. I was thinking about Como Zoo as a possibility after school if the weather is nice. Michael talked about cleaning on Friday after school with a trip to Eagle's Nest. My kid loves to clean. I hope he still likes it in a couple years...

Low Key Sunday

2011-02-27T21:23:00.002-06:00

After church we did the shopping bit for the week. Target had some of the funky rubber bands that kids wear as bracelets that look like various shapes on sale . Michael got one from a visiting dentist and accidently broke it. He was pretty upset.

We had a late lunch and snacked on popcorn. Michael watched some Sid while I read for a bit. After we dressed warmly and decided to walk to a local park. The park is 2 blocks or so from our house, however our path to the park is generally a 1+ mile trip. I figure if I'm going to the park, I get a walk out of it. The sidewalks and roads weren't too bad. In the winter our walking goes down drastically. I needed the steps for 10,000 steps since there wasn't much shovelling to do today. We also played outside and I did a bit of shovelling when we got back. I had forgotten to clean up the front and back steps since we seldom use them in the winter.

After supper Michael tried out his new bath gel. He liked it. We read a bit before bed. He is coughing and sneezing up a storm. I predict a cold. My mom is just recovering from a bout of flu and his daycare has a bunch of kids with colds at the moment. I'm hoping it will skip me this time.

Another week flew by

2011-02-26T19:56:00.002-06:00

Tonight Michael helped shovel snow. He actually pushed some of it to where I asked him to put it. We had supper at my folks and then cleaned snow. After we watched an exciting episode of Sid the Science Kid on a dvd from the library. Michael decided he was ready for another course after Sid and ate some leftover Mac & Cheese. I swear the kid must have a hollow leg.

Work was busy today. We had 2 subs. I spent alot of time in phones. My ear hurts. We really need headphones for the volume of calls that are coming through now. The hot shower helped with the stiffness in my shoulders from crooking the phone, but did nothing for my ears.

I can't believe March is almost here. My sister and nephew are coming to visit in later March. It will be fun to see them. The kids have a blast. Lisa is bringing her "other" kid also - Quincy the puppy.

President's Day

2011-02-21T19:36:00.003-06:00

We started the morning slowly, no work today. I called Janet to let her know that Michael & I would be late. I then spent 1.5 hours shovelling, blowing and raking that white stuff. I wore my contacts since I tend to be covered in snow if there is any wind at all.

We changed our winter things afterwards and took off for Janet's. It turns out Michael was the only there today. He generally loves going to Janet's and getting to play with his friends. I felt a little guilty, but really wanted my day to do some adult things.

I came home and took a lovely shower with no interuptions. I spoke to my mom on the phone with no Mom this or that for 10 minutes. I had lunch with a friend without having to worry about entertaining a restless and bored child. We saw a movie that would be to violent for a 4 year old, not to mention trying to get him to sit still for that long in a theatre. It was good though- Unknown, the new Liam Nielsen flick.

When I got home I looked at the driveway and thought about cleaning up some snow, or I thought about reading for a bit in quiet, or I could go pick up Michael early. I found my keys and was off to pick up Michael. We went through a drive-through so he could have his Monday night out and I could get home before rush-hour got bad. We watched the news and read some books this evening. We even burned popcorn. We talked about going out and cleaning more snow, but it kept on coming down until dark.

The house is quiet now again. Michael is asleep. I enjoyed my hours of adult time but was glad to have him back with me before too long had passed. It will be quiet awhile before I have another "me" day but it was enjoyable overall, although a little less snow would have been nice.

Blizzards and Birthdays

2011-02-20T19:44:00.003-06:00

We walked over to my folks with Dad before the snow started falling. It was just starting to flake when we arrived. My dad had just finished burning up more of our stump. Mom is starting to feel better from her flu/cold.

We relaxed had lunch and ended up watching Nascar. My little red-neck asked to watch it when Dad turned on the tv. I thought it was supposed to be more racing and less crashes. ABout every 10 minutes he asked if it was time to go to the birthday party yet? Dad drove us home around 3:30. We watched the end of the race at home. Don't ask me who won, I have no idea.

I got Michael into clean clothes and after looking outside, brought along his snow pants. I grabbed the directions and we took off. The party was held in one of parks in New Brighton. You can rent out these little buildings. They had a very elaborate sound system going when we arrived. The party was for a little boy in Michael's pre-school and his mom's god-daughter wheo was turning 2. I figured Michael would be one of a couple pre-schoolers there. It turns out when his Mom had asked him if he wanted any of his school friends to come he just asked for Michael.

Michael had a blast. He was a bit shy but soon warmed up and was running all around with the other kids there. He ate more chips than anything else but had lots of fun. My ears are ringing abit from the noise. The food was good, spicey but good. We stayed until about 7. With the snow coming down, I didn't want to stay way late. It took us awhile to clean off the car and drive home .

Something tells me it may take awhile to dig out tomorrow.

Humidifiers & Blisters

2011-02-18T21:03:00.003-06:00

After dropping Michael off at pre-school, I decided to walk a couple laps around Rosedale. I figured not much snow, so I wore my tennis shoes. I hadn't worn them since Dec for much walking. I ended up with a blister on the back of my ankle.

We tried a local Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch. It was ok, but not what I had hoped for. I was hoping to find something I really liked. In Crystal, there is a hole in the wall Chinese place, I adore and Maplewood has a decent Vietnamese restaurant also. I was hoping to find something local that wasn't too expensive that I really like. Anybody who knows of a great Asian restaurant within 5 miles of my house, let me know.

After lunch, we went shopping for a birthday present. Michael has been invited to a birthday party on Sunday for a fellow pre-schooler. He helped pick out the present. He picked out a lego set. He thought he should be able to get one too.

I found a pet mat to put under my humidifier. It kept dripping on my dresser when I would put the water part back onto the unit. Turns out that wasn't the only part dripping. It was leaking all over. I don't have have very good luck with humidifiers. I have one on the furnace that has really expensive filters and jams up periodically. This is my second room one. The first dies after 8 months. This one lasted 18 months or so, I think.

Michael may have bent up his glasses again at Eagle's Nest, so I have a feeling tomorrow will include a visit to Pearle.

Up with the chickens again

2011-02-16T22:03:00.002-06:00

Michael wants to get up again before the alarm goes off. I can't wait for the time change, at least then it will be later, right? It would be fine if he wanted to play in his room or his play area, but he wants me up also. I really don't think laying in bed until around 7am on mornings when I do not have to be to work until later, or a day off is that late.

I'm back on the pedometer again to save money on the pedometer. Argh the website doesn't like last year's login id or password or my health account stuff either. At least this year the new pedometer matched the directions included with it. I'm not sure it's any more accurate, but I just figure get it over and out of the way.

I love the way the snow is melting and the warmer weather we've been having. I can see over some of my snowbanks.

End of a busy week

2011-02-13T19:29:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year. We celebrated the year of the Cat at Catalyst's Foundations' Tet celebration.

Michael liked playing with the balls and flirting with the counselors (the girls he met at camp). His favorite was Tien.

Posing with Grandma in his Cat mask that he decorated.

After Tet, we came came home and changed before heading over to the folks. Michael still had energy to spare and he went sliding and played outside for a good hour or so. We had a great fish dinner. Dad had been over at our house burning on my never ending tree stump.

On Sunday, my mom wasn't feeling the greatest so she skipped church. We decided to wash clothes and grocery shop some instead. Dad was back burning. Michael was in and out. He went through 3 pairs of mittens, two hats and two pairs of pants. He did have fun. After lunch and more snow play we went over to Eagle's Nest. He played for a bit but got bored, so we came home and played in the kitchen. We made banana bread. He likes to make it, but not eat it. Fruit Smoothies were a hit - I found out that the garage sale blender I bought prior to 2001 does really work.

Michael won a game of Candyland. We sewed some cardboard. Michael did some alphabet exercises. He likes the upper part of the workbook, but is not so crazy about the lettering part. The upper part has mazes, circling letters, matching things, etc.

I also wrote out Valentines. He has 18, I think in his pre-school and another 8 or so in daycare. I'm hoping this week is less crazy.