Same Day Baby!

Keira had her 4th set of tubes put in Thursday morning at St. Mary's in Rochester. Overall, it went pretty well, so I'm hoping this will lead to even more hearing improvement!  We will find out on Valentine's Day, Feb 14th, when we go for a re-check on hearing and to see her ENT.

We decided to drive up Wednesday afternoon in the rain instead of chancing an icy drive on Thursday morning. We stayed at Aunt Jeans where Keira made herself at home right away, checking out what was in the fridge! Our report time wasn't until 8:30, so our morning was pretty much on our regular time schedule.  We did have to wait a bit when we got there, and it became increasingly harder to divert Keira away from wanting anything to eat or drink.  So, we finally got in, got everything ready to go, Mom put on the clown suit and took her to OR, just a few deep crying breaths and she was limp!

I went for coffee, and a short wait later she was out... she cried for about an hour then finally calmed down, watched Tangled and we got to go! YAY!  It was fun walking around St. Mary's WITH Keira, looking at the beautiful pointsettia trees with the baby Jesus underneath.. checked out the gift shop and stopped at the cafeteria for cottage cheese and chocolate milk!

And of course, she slept most of the way home!  Overall, a success... but we stillhaven't been to the dentist... UGG!

My Favorite Things

Oprah move over... I have a lot of Favorite things as well that have topped my gift list year.. even though I may have stolen some of her ideas.. hee hee .. but I'd first like to say I am loving my Christmas List APP this year!  I do feel a bit more organized and don't chance the risk of Nick running across a handwritten list!  AND it keeps me very conscious of the amount of money we've spent!

These are a few of my favorite things:
 Slatkin & Co. 3-Wick candles from Bath n Body Works... Balsam is a Fabulous scent, the freshest, cleanest cut Christmas Tree!  and the silver candles sleeves are Gorgeous!

Philosophy... We are trying "Partridge in a Pear Tree" and "Peace On Earth" this year.

Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles and toys.. found this new "Snap" in toy, thought it would be good for Keira's fine motor skills!

Gymboree... I Love, Love, Love their skirt and tights combos and the holiday lines Snow Cute and Cheery All the Way were my favs!  They just released their first spring line today!! CRAZEE

Silpada... a little Bling never hurt anyone!

Freezer Mugs... icy cold... Yum!

Movies, video games, and technology gifts all top the list as well!!
Most of these are repeat gifts but that is why they are my Favorites!!

Hope you all get what's on your wish list this Christmas!

WTF?

It seemed like such a good idea this morning when I put Keira on the bus.. I really need a job, I should apply for that Bookstore Assistant position at college.  It's part-time, and Keira has attended the daycare there before if I ever needed it.. and its SO close! 

So I get on my computer, look up the job online.. they are reviewing apps today, and today is the deadline! So I request an app via email, receive the email with the app attached, proceed to take 2 hours of time to fill it out, saving frequently.  I texted friends, emailed old colleagues requesting them to be my references. I pulled up my old resume, filled in my past work experience, education and answered 3 questions. My answers were good, not great, but everything looked good to me.

Okay, let's email it in like the lady said to do.  Oh shoot, I should have printed a copy off, but I didn't.
Closed the file, clicked on Forward so as to email the document back to her, open the file to double check how it looks, and NOTHING, everything was gone!  Its gotta be here SOMEwhere... I clicked save a hundered times.. still nothing.

Really? WTF?  Tears, then whatever,  I am not filling it back out. Oh well, I'm gonna go paint.

Christmas in July!

So far we've had a summer full of weddings, ball games, and pool time and now in July we've been camping at Skipaway campground in Clermont! Looking forward to being lazy by lake during these upcoming hot days!!
Today we stopped by the house to pick up some things for the camper: -some cables, we are still trying to get one TV to work... yes they have cable there!  -ant killer, somehow our camper became infested with ants!  -Christmas decorations- for the Christmas in July celebration next weekend! -groceries, towels, and an air pumps for our floaties.
We like having company- someone to play with, drink with and talk to... So come over when you get a chance!

Holy Moly Guacamole!

I just ate a small container of the Coop guacomole for breakfast/brunch!  It is so good, I could eat it with a spoon, but I did have a few blue chips to go along with it!  So as you might have guessed I just did a little trip to the Oneota Food Coop. Everytime I go in there, there is something new that I HAVE to have. Today, I purchased some "Goodbelly" juice for kids for Keira, it has probiotics and vitamins in it!  Perfect for her! -And you gotta love the bulk section!  Today I rounded up some mini choc chips, dried cranberries, quinoa, and some Oregon Trail Mix for the kiddies! And to round out the healthiness of the trip I picked up a bag of Blue Chips and some baked Wisconsin Cheese Puffs!

We are excited to be camping at "Lake Harvey" for the beginning of our summer-- I am somewhat in a bit of SHOCK that the kids are getting out of school next week!!-- Anyway, I'd like to call it summer, but I won't be convinced until the weather decides to warm up a bit! It will be fun hanging out by the pond and relaxing! So my brilliant -hee hee- plan for the day is to get my house clean before the kids overtake it next week!

I don't think I have any new pictures! The kids did have their Spring Concerts.. Nick's was great with all Disney themed songs- he had to dress up as a pirate- and Keira's was short and sweet-Although she decided she wasn't going to partake, so she sat on the floor and pouted the whole time.. I was kinda sad.. but I got that on video too if you want to see it!  Happy end of school year!

When is Spring Gonna Sprung?

Keira had a Fantastic 4th Birthday Party!! She received a lot of "girly" gifts like makeup, a Tangled Princess Dress, a Tutu with matching headband,  2 princess crowns (one for Mom :), princess music makers, princess books... you get the idea!! She also received some nice puzzles, stamps, books, and clothes!! 

Mom and Dad re-did her bedroom since Nick has taken over the basement bedroom, we were able to add a fresh coat of paint, hung some new pink curtains, and got new Pottery Barn bedding or her "big-girl" bed!  Its really cute!

Nick didn't get too jipped though- we moved his curtains to the basement, added a blue/white striped quilt and a pottery barn sham and he is good to go!  Now I'm thinking I could use a new quilt or bedspread!

We had a fun time Friday night before Easter with the Reiningas! Can't beat Mabes Pizza and a few brewskies!  The kids pulled out the Foot Spa, which actually entertained them for a while, and they all had nice smelling feet- Ha!  See pics

The kids were actually very good at Easter Sunday Mass- I think it helps to sit up front :) Then we had a very nice and relaxing afternoon at Rhonda & Curley's! It was not raining so they kids (young and old) could play outside. Happy Belated Easter to Everyone!

Sugar, Sugar.

I guess it doesn't matter if you say it aloud or write it out loud, and the knocking on wood thing didn't work either! Keira came down with a cold the first weekend in March, missed a whole week of school, plus yesterday, and now is back in school today!  She was so excited she hugged/held her pink giraffe print backpack all the way to Decorah! Ha!

So last week was pretty much a bust!  Daren and I also got bad colds... I'm not sure how Nick managed his way out of it, but I'm glad he did! He hates missing school!  In fact, he was bummed school was canceled last Wednesday(snow), Ash Wednesday, because he was excited to get ashes on his head! Well, he didn't miss out since he made it to church Wed night with Rhonda and kids, and they also distributed ashes at school on Thursday!

They said on the radio today, the #1 thing people "give up" for Lent is their "egos"...I'm calling BS- I think thats just a cheap way of having to really give something up! People should always try to be nice to others- as for me, I'm giving up Sugar (exepet for the little bit that is in my coffee creamer!) Take Care!

Oh Puck!

Since I'm not really saying this outloud, I won't jinx this... but Keira has not missed a day of school since they started back in January- for being sick!  Not that she hasn't had or has a cold, but nothing major! Woo Hoo!

She has also been spitting out a LOT more sounds, which is really exciting, its usually the end sound of the word, especially two syllable words, but MUCH better.  She is also doing well with counting, signing her abc's, matching, colors, and recognizing some whole words!! I was worried she wasn't going to make any progress this year, but she has come a long way!!

We will again be participating in this years March For Babies walk in Decorah!  It will be held on Sat. May 7 at 9am at the Decorah High School. This year's Ambassador Family is Team Mann, Carly Mann is one of Keira's classmates!!  I hope if you read this you will consider donating or walking with Team Keira!!

This weekend we are heading to Cedar Rapids to go to a Hockey Game, can't wait to get out of the house!!- I hope the weather cooperates!  Take Care All!

2 Trophys-Same Day!

The boys in the house were more than excited Sunday with the big Packer Super Bowl win!
My family came over to watch it with us- it was a good game- and super FUN to be on the winning end and see the Lombardi Trophy make its way home!

In preparation for the game, we thought it was only appropriate travel to Wisconsin to pick up some party supplies, so Saturday we went to LaCrosse, hit the mall, made a stop at Woodman's then went to Olive Garden for a late lunch-YUM! Then our last stop was Wal-Mart where we picked up some football shaped Packer Balloons!  It was a fun day, and fun to get out since we were cooped up most of last week due to snow days!!

Now, we are getting ready for Valentine's Day and  I'm also trying to get my tax things together!
Nick has also been wrestling - we went to our first tournament this year on Sunday, and he came home with a trophy!  3rd place out of 3! Ha! Hey, he was stoked!

"Here's Your Christmas Card"

Wow, its about time I update my little journal! Christmas will be here soon and we are thankful for MANY things! 

Keira had her tonsils out and new eartubes put in last Wednesday, the 8th in Rochester. St. Mary's is so pretty at Christmastime I couldn't resist taking a few pics!  Daren and I had commented on all the time we've spent there in the last 3+ years we have never been there around Christmas!  Anyway, she did pretty well with it all and we spent one night.. which was Plenty.. ha.. and got to go home the next morning!

Nick had his Christmas concert last Friday.. it was Great!  There was a nice variety of songs, great vocals, some action, it was very cute!  Keira enjoyed it as well, and I think Nick enjoyed singing in it!

Daren will be working in Des Moines this winter, and will actually be working up until Christmas.. a first in a long time, he will have off the week after Christmas!  We are happy that he is able to work so that I can take care of the kids!

Last but not least, the (dreaded) Christmas card... This is the first year since Nick was born that I didn't have a professional picture taken! So, I decided I would take my own pictures and design my own Christmas card using my "Memory Mixer" scrapbooking software.  I spent at least an hour designing one, had a copy made at Wal-Mart and still had that "ick" feeling.. So I went back to the drawing board.. whipped another one up in 5 minutes flat, and decided to get half of each!  I ordered them online.. they might be here by Christmas!

I hope everyone has a Peaceful and Joyful holiday season! Love, the holiens

Hope

Halloween was okay, I pulled Keira around the neighborhood in a wagon, in high heels and froze my %@* off. Nick, at the LAST second, decided he didn't want to wear the costume from last year, so he would go as a football player.. wearing football pants size 2yr and his Packers jersey and red cleets.  He was too stubborn to wear his helmet.  Basically, he wears that outfit EVERY Sat/ Sun during football season, so I can't say you can call that "dressing up'!  Keira and I dressed in coordinating 50's costumes, she was a doll!

I'm supposed to be cleaning my house for company over Thanksgiving which is now a short 16 days away!  There is no way I'm going to get it all done, and decorate my house and do the Christmas shopping, but I have hope-- and Tony Robbins said on the Today Show this morning that you need Hope to be happy!  At this point a clean house and hope would make me happy!
Take care!

Nesting

Today Keira will be riding the bus home from school- for the first time! Everytime she sees a bus, she gets extremely excited and does the sign for bus over and over!!-So I'm hoping she doesn't get scared after she gets all buckled in.  I then found out this morning that her school is the first of 3 stops in Decorah that is made before they head back to Calmar.. that means almost a 30 minute bus ride! I'm not too happy about that, but since she's not potty trained yet, we won't have to worry about any accidents.

Our latest family outing led us to Ames for an Iowa State football game!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had such a fun time tailgating with some long lost friends and just hanging out!  The outcome of the game was not good at all for ISU, but the kids still had a blast watching... and eating popcorn, pizza and pop!! Ha



For all you mother's out there-- did you ever go through the nesting period before you had the baby?  I did, and thank God I did, but both my babies came early, obviously Keira way early.. but it made me prepared!!  Well, this week I've been cleaning out cupboards, drawers, etc., cleaning things that have never been cleaned in the 9 years we've lived here, etc... and I thought to myself,.. It feels like I'm nesting! (Minus the pregnancy of course.. don't want to start any rumors!)

Whatever the reason behind it, I'm glad to be getting some things cleaned up and organized.. hopefully this nesting period lasts a LONG time!!

Honey Crisp

Why is it that the older you get the faster time flys?  and why is it that everyone else feels that way too!!

I am a true summer lover, but I have to admit I love fall too!  It is so much fun to get out the fall decorations, put out the pumpkins, put some lights in the front window, it's a good thing as Martha would say!

The feeling of the impending holidays always gets me a litttle excited inside.. then I think about how frickin cold it gets and the 10 ft of snow to shovel off the sidewalks and then I get a bit grumpy!  Again, I'm sure many of you agree!

I'm hoping to take a short trip this afernoon and visit the little pumpkin patch by Lawler. Its an interesting little place, with "stuff" piled about, but the kids have fun exploring and I LOVE the honeycrisp apples from their orchard! I took a bunch of pictures last fall there.. I will post one!

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Crazy Glue!

Another year older and I feel 10 years older!!  I'm still not feeling well, and so I'm finally going to the Dr on Thursday, which I'm sure will be a huge waste of time and the beginning of a huge run-around like it was 5 years ago! Obviously this is also affecting my attittude! Ha!

Keira did her sleep study last week, it was a long drawn out process of a consult Tues morning at 10:30, then report back for sleep study at 7:00 pm. and then go over results the next morning at 10:30... if they hadn't woke her up at 6:00 a.m. that 10:30 am appt would have come a bit sooner!  As expected, she was not happy with them glueing stuff to her head, and so she pretty much cried the entire time they prepped her.
Apparently I was not happy with the glue they used as I almost immediately broke out in hives and spent most of the night itching... I was glad that camera wasn't on me!

The results indicated she would benefit from having her tonsils removed, which we had expected anyway, but at least they did not reccommend a C-pap!!

We did manage to get some shopping done for Keira on Tuesday, a couple more outfits for school and the colder weather! Not a bad day, but we were exhausted on Wednesday!!

Happy New Year!

I've ventured into selling a few more of Keira's Gymboree clothes on ebay and I'm liking it!
It took me quite a bit of time listing my first items because I didn't want to forget anything important!
I listed twelve items/outfits and have sold 3 things so far!  The auctions aren't finished until Sunday, so that is when I will find out if I made any real cash or not!  Ebay is amazing!

Tomorrow Keira and I head up to Rochester for an overnighter- sleep study!  It is a lot of dinking around with an appointment in the morning, then report at 7 for sleep study, then a morning appointment after that as well!  I'm just praying she does not need a c-pap machine.. the hearing aides are enough equipment for us!!

Almost halfway through September and I'm thinking of Christmas shopping, taxes, and another new year!  I just want to get ahead on things so they don't become the stressor they could become!  Time to pull out the fall decorations.. next week!

Breezy is an Understatement!

Happy Labor Day!
I ran my first official 5K on Saturday morning as part of Spillville's 150 year celebration! Overall, it was actually very fun, it was a nice morning- somewhat chilly, but sunny so that helped! I think my time was just over 36 minutes which is nothing to brag about, but hey, that leaves lots of room for improvement!
My foot was fine, I didn't feel too tired, it was a nice jog, but a little different trying to get our footing on gravel roads!

Spillville's Celebration was a good time, the kids got about 5 lbs of candy at the parade and the bloody marys and pivo were a treat for the adults! On Sunday, we ventured out to a new Corn "Maize" nearby, Nick thought it was supercool, in fact we might head back on Saturday, they are hosting a Barbeque and Fireworks!

Adios on this WINDY Day!

Who Defines Success?

We are still trying to get our morning routine down now that school has started!  Keira has always been the early bird and we've often relied on her to wake us up in the morning! However, yesterday she decided to sleep in, and since I was up for about 3 hours in the middle of the night, I was sleeping as well!

So Nick missed the bus! I had to drive him to Spillville and then Keira was also late for school.
So last night we tried to get to bed early and made sure to set the alarm!  Keira was up first, but Nick still needed the alarm to help him out of bed..

We were almost on time today, Nick didn't miss the bus, but Keira and I had to come back home to finish breakfast before I brought her to Decorah.. so I guess we will call that a success! Ha!

Bloody Marys!

I think I started this blog off with a goal of running more.. and I did pretty well in May and June, then 4th of July hit and all my good eating and drinking habits flew out the window! I ran a few times here and there at the end of July and beginning of August because I knew I was planning to run in Spillville's 5K on Sept 4th.

I picked up a registration form at the bank early in August and filled it out right away, then emailed my friends the link so they could register too!  I finally mailed in my registration on a Monday, then the next day, Tuesday night is when I broke my foot!! WTH?  more specifically, my middle toe, I found out 2 days later, had a spiral fracture. The Dr. said not to run on it for at least 4 weeks!

It is still swollen, but finally feeling A LOT better!   On Sunday we went for a nice family walk and bike ride,so I tried a little jog and it was tolerable! So last night I went for a jog/walk, and again, it wasnt' too bad on my foot!, It felt great to run and get and get my "sweat on"- So I decided to go ahead and run/walk on Saturday even though I did not get much of a chance to "train".

Just in case my foot does hurt a bit, I decided to whip up a batch of bloody mary mix for after the run! Yum!

Itchy, Itchy, Scratchy, Scratchy.

Well, I've pretty much been a mess for about the last month.. healthwise that is.
I'm not really sure when it started, I think it was sometime in mid-July my "hives" started to return.
Some of you may remember a while back, actually a long while back, I think about 5 years ago, I had a huge battle with hives and allergies, and of course after going to the Dr, Mayo Clinc for allergy tests I "got nothing".... the only thing I learned is I do not have any airbornne allergies.

I know I am highly sensitive to beauty products, and have allergies to metals, and have been know to break out in hives from eating a can of black olives, but that is pretty much it.  It has been really hard for me to pinpoint what is causing my hives, itchy palms, itchy scalp and itchy soles of my feet.

So besides that, I have been also questioning whether I have some food allergies due to my awful complexion, I have chronic millia, and have been lactose intolerant for years.

Then, I broke my toe a couple weeks ago, the night before we went to Adventureland.. that was a joy.. and I think I've had well over 100 mosquito bites in the last month at the lake.  In fact, I scratched mosquito bites so bad, I have scabs all over the top of my feet and ankles.

Due to all of the above, I have't been sleeping well, waking up every hour or two to scratch my palms to death, walk around the house in hope of relief from something and try to get back to sleep.

So, with all that going on, we did a mini vacation in Des Moines, the kids are back in school and I get an opportunity to blog on this beautiful rainy day!

WOW

I sound like a broken record- but really summer is going way too fast!  and the kids start school on August 18th!! which is WAY too soon in my crazi opinion.. but don't get me started on that topic, I could ramble on forever!

We spent 4th of July weekend in Clear Lake, boating, swimming and eating of course!  then we came back home to view Spillville's annual Fireworks.. the rain stopped just long enough.. and the kids enjoyed the rainbow too!

Nick finished up his Little League season on July 1st already, and he Really misses that!  He also misses "his neighbor kids" who moved out to Denver Colorado indefinitely... it sure has been different not having them around!

We made it to the Winneshiek County Fair a couple days, the kids had a blast, Keira threw a fit everytime I took her off a ride! (I didn't have so much of a blast, but they did serve beer, that helped!)

Keira got fitted for hearing aids yesterday and will get those before school starts, that will be an interesting adventure..  I will have to post some more pics!  Speaking of kids.. I better go pick them up!  Don't get much time on the computer, which is totally okay with me.. until next time.. craziiowamom