Pumpkins and Peeps

We had a fun week planned -- MOMS group on Wednesday, playing with friends on Thursday, and meeting another friend at an indoor playground today. Too bad none of those things happened since I came down with the plague Wednesday morning. Who knows if it was H1N1 or some other virus, but I was not well. I feel much better now but still not great. But luckily we got our "fall fix" before the sickness came to town. Last Saturday the girls, grandma Susanne, and I went to the Eveland Family Farm down the road from us. The girls loved petting the animals, doing the hayride for the first time, and picking out a pumpkin.

On Monday night we carved pumkins and the girls colored/wiped/put stickers on their little pumpkins.

And now, here are the girls in this year's costumes -- Peeps.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more Halloween pictures!

Our week

Not much news to post, but thought I'd put some tidbits from our week. On Monday Jeremy's mom got into town -- she drove from Las Vegas with her 3 Shih Tzu's. Can you say crazy woman? Just kidding, Susanne! On Tuesday we went to Tot Time at the YMCA in the morning, then that afternoon it was Emily's time with grandma. That night was pajama night at AWANA, and Emily also had the treat bucket, which means she gets to bring treats and also a show-and-tell item. She took grandma and her giant stuffed penguin, and grandma played "Personal Penguin" for the class on her I-Pod. Grandma said that Emily was a little shy standing in front of the class, but did enjoy passing out the treats. :)

On Wednesday it was Bri's day with grandma, so Emily and I did some errands together. So much nicer with 1 child than 2! It's amazing that it's so nice to go from 2 kids to 1, you wonder why you were so insane when you only had 1 child! That night I got to go to a giant consignment sale with a friend called "Just Between Friends." Basically people bring stuff to sell (kids clothes and toys), and I got some great deals. I am hoping to go back tonight when everything is half-price.

On Thursday we met up with our friends the Wohlhuters from Iowa at the Eagle's Nest, an indoor playground. It was great to see them and the kids had fun, too. Last night was dinner at a friend's house. Heidi made her delicious pizza hotdish and I made Annie's apple crisp for dessert. Yum!

So here we are. Nothing major to report, just thought I'd share a little of our week with you. Emily has been saying some hilarious things lately, I'll have to share some of them sometime. This morning while we were talking about flying to grandma's house for Christmas, she asked, "Now, will we see Jesus in the clouds?" It took me a minute to realize what she meant, about seeing Jesus while we were flying on the airplane in the clouds. The girls are getting so big and it's so fun to listen to them have little conversations with each other.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

South Dakota

This past weekend we experienced the wonderful state of South Dakota. We went with a college friend to his parents' house near Huron so the guys could do some pheasant hunting. Darin was Darryl's college roommate, and Jeremy also went on this hunt last year. This year us girls decided to come along and hang out with his family, and we had a wonderful time.

Here are the guys after their first hunt. They had a blast and got their limit in just a few hours.

When Jer asked Bri if she wanted to hold a pheasant, she didn't even hesitate. Emily wasn't so sure.

The girls had fun climbing in their tractor, combine, and airplane.

About a year ago Darin's parents Vic and Peggy went on an African Safari hunt. He had just gotten the animals the day we got there from the taxidermist in Omaha. Here are some of them!

The Kleinsassers were wonderful hosts. Thanks to Vic and Peggy for a great weekend, great hunting for the guys, all the great food, and great company!

Fall, where are you?

Although I love summer, I love fall, too. I love watching the leaves change and going to the pumpkin patch. But I think we skipped fall this year. Not even three weeks ago we were doing this:

and now we're doing this:

It was a relaxing time around home this weekend. We did get out on Saturday for a bit and stopped by the Andover Fire Dept Open House. The girls had fun climbing into the fire engines and Jer enjoyed the free hot dogs.

It was also a weekend filled with much golf watching (The President's Cup was on, which is basically the US vs. Europe). It's a lot of fun to watch. Apparently Emily even got into it, because yesterday when Jeremy turned the channel to football, Emily (who we thought was half asleep), says, "Daddy, change the channel back to golf. I want to watch Phil Mickelson." Except she says his name more like "Mickinen." Hmm, is this Jeremy's daughter or what?

Birthday Fun

It's been awhile! First of all, thanks to Jeremy for the all too nice post on my birthday. I love you honey. He took me shopping at my favorite place last Saturday -- the outlet malls in Albertville. Then it was "lettuce wraps" for lunch at PF Changs and even a movie -- something we hadn't done in three years. Sad! Movies just aren't our first choice of something to do when we have babysitting -- we'd usually rather golf (when it's warm) or go out to eat. Also, that night Jeremy watched the girls while my sister Jessie and I went to the Matthew West and Michael W. Smith concert. One of my friend's husband is the program director at KTIS, our Christian radio station, and offered me a couple free tickets. It was a great concert and we had perfect seats. Here are a couple video clips from the concert. The first one is Matthew West singing "Going through the motions" and the second is Michael W. Smith singing "Mighty to Save" with the 1000-voice choir.






On my actual birthday we went to IHOP for breakfast, then he let me have a relaxing day around the house. Plus he got me a half-dozen red roses (sneaky thing said he had to run to work for awhile and I actually believed him) and a Dairy Queen cake.
That night we went to Broadway Pizza and had a great time hanging out in a booth (sitting on the same side which was really cheesy), eating pizza and watching the Twins tie-breaker game (which was great.) It was a great day, thanks honey!


Ok, now that you all think my life is perfect (it's so not), here's the less glamorous parts of my life:

1) I just got off the phone with Qwest for an hour trying to figure out why they charged me an extra $15 this month. The lady was so dumb she didn't help one bit. I finally got fed up and gave up. (We had already decided to switch to Comcast anyway, at this point what's another $15.)

2) Yesterday I spent an hour picking cockleburrs out of a blanket. Fun stuff. I bought the blanket for $3 in Mexico 15 years ago, why I didn't just throw it away I have no idea.

3) Yesterday a half hour after Emily pooped in the toilet, she pooped in her underwear. Once again, rather than throw the $1 pair of underwear away I washed all the poop off into the toilet.

4) The girls and I have been sick all week. Not horribly, just annoying colds and not much energy.

But those things don't get me down, I have two wonderful girls who I love more than anything and an amazing husband. I have a God who not only loves me but really likes me. What more can you ask for?

Happy Birthday Stephie

I have taken over the blog for one day to wish my best friend and love of my life a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!





Looks as beautiful now as the first year we were dating.





God is an amazing match maker. A Vegas kid and a Husker girl...True Love.

Steph has been the best wife a husband can ask for so understanding and always supportive.

Happy Birthday Steph you are more than I deserve. The girls are so lucky to have the best mom ever.

P.S I made one mistake you are more beautiful now than when we first started dating. I LOVE YOU!!!! JER