Fall Catch-Up post #3 - So Thankful

We had a pretty laid-back Thanksgiving this year. It was just Mr S, the girls, and my sister this year. In the morning, the girls helped me do some cooking and baking.

They had fun making Oreo Peppermint cookies (super simple recipe too)

Fall Cath-Up #2 - Halloween

As a child, I never really got the whole "Halloween" experience so for my children, I make sure they get it :)

First, the kids carved their pumpkins...

The cat had to come and check out why the kids were outside and not giving HER attention.

Fall Catch-Up Post #1 - Fall Sports

I truly do have good intentions with this blog...my schedule and energy just don't always match my intentions :)

So here's what the Snowflake have been up to this fall...

After school begins, all of the kids get heavily involved in sports.

JrMrS played football...He's #20 this year...

Year 2

Mr S and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary last week by going to dinner at Bonefish Grill again - we LOVE that place. It was a pretty toned down event, mostly because we're just SO busy, maybe next year we'll be able to invest some time to take a trip or something.
We've had our ups and downs, but it's been a good year and I can't wait to see what Year 3 has in store....

Update #6 - Summer from Hell

Like I said before, this summer has been NUTS. A few of the good, the bad and the ugly updates:

Day-to Day: Work has been NUTS. Mr S and I are so busy - it's a good thing, but it's exhausting too. The other bad thing about being so busy, is not being able to take a little time off and actually take a real vacation. Oh, well...always next year, right?

Flood Fighting: This has got to be the most covered up National Disaster ever. Since the end of May, the whole Missouri River area has been in a flood fight. And why is it covered up? BILLIONS of dollars in lost crops/income, damaged homes/farms, destroyed infrastructure and where places weren't damaged - MILLIONS were spent fighting the flood with new berms/levees, sand bags, pumps, assessment teams and so many other things. Our family was directly affected in many ways including: longer commutes to work since I-29 and I-680 were inundated (and subsequently obliterated) - now instead of getting to work in 40-45 mins - it takes Mr S and I at least an hour to get to Omaha (if we're lucky - it's more like 1.25 hrs or more); I was put on flood watch at work and was required to go to Council Bluffs DAILY at 5:15 AM to track levee assessments/incidents - it was really tough, but as of last Friday, I'm done - I'm SO NOT seeing 4:30 am again for a VERY LONG time. I'm also working on another flood fighting project at our nuclear station - it's really interesting, but I hope not ever have to do this in our area ever again (if I have to travel somewhere else because I now have that experience, fine, but I'll be part of the mob that goes after the COE if they ever flood us again; we were also told that Mr. S's house in the Valley "might" flood, in fact the stupid Army Corps of Engineer's predicted that we would have 4-8 ft of water there! So our stupid renter moved out and left us a HUGE mess and we couldn't get another in with that kind of forecast. What a mess...Probably the only good thing that came out of it was seeing how resilient and how self-sacrificing so many people were. As sucky as it was to work so early in the morning, I was blown away daily by the employees with the City of Council Bluffs at their dedication to their citizens and humbleness to help out how ever they all could.

So sad - so environmentalists, should the stupid birds have their nests (because it's not like they can't adapt or anything) or people lose more homes?

Update #5 - Happy B-day Mr S and Twin Snowflakes!

This year we FINALLY made it to a pro football game with the kids. For Mr S's and the twin's B-day, we went on a road trip down to KC. Mr S and the boys have been life-long Chief's fans, so this was extra special - especially for the twins since they had never been before.

We packed up Friday morning and headed down for the first pre-season game against the Tampa Bay Buccaners. When we got down (after our LONG detour around the flood), we headed straight to the stadium to start tailgating.

Update #4 - Great Grandma

The low point of the summer I guess is my great grandmother passing away. She was almost 89 years old!

Such a cute lady!

She was a really special lady and had so many great stories. She was a fabulous organ and accordian player - I know, sounds dorky, but she was great.

 

Sadly, this is our last 5 generations picture. I'm so, SO glad I went out in July so we could see her one last time. She even kept saying she was going to go strong until the Lord took her, I guess He finally felt she had fought the good fight and brought her home to Him.

(Song I suggested and was played at the funeral)

She will be missed, but we all know she is home.

Update #3 - Back to school

I just really can't believe this is the LAST year of elementary school for the Jr's. :( In addition to that LMS and the Twins are in third and second grade. Where does time go? I don't have any babies anymore :( I guess that's a good thing and a sad thing...

Update #2 - Kids activities this summer

Besides Vacation Bible School and some other small things, the kids were very active in sports this summer. Mr. S and I strongly believe that the kids need to stay active in some way - even if they don't love the sport they're doing, they should do something to keep things limber for a sport they do love.

Jr. Mr. S: Instead of baseball this year, JrMrS joined swim team with JrMsS. For not being a great swimmer at the beginning of summer and for it being his first year - he did really well. I think he really enjoyed doing it too. Now, he's moved onto football/ We've been somewhat disappointed in the club this year (mostly the coaching), but at least he loves doing it and that's all that matters.

Update #1 - Cali Vacation

The last time I was in California, LMS was 2 1/2 months old! Crazy that we went back almost exactly 8 years later. I can't believe it's been 8 years since I've seen my extended family and it was the first time I meet my aunt and cousin. It's been 4 years since I've seen my grandma, and that was the occasion we went out for this time - her 80th b-day! Longevity must run on my moms side, because another major highlight of our trip was going to see my great grandma. Unfourtunately because the boys mom "just couldn't go so long with out them", Mr S and the boys stayed in IA. He was also annoyed that we took such a long trip, but since this was my first trip since our honeymoon and the fact that I probably wouldn't be out to CA for another 8 years (I hope not), I decided to make the most of it. The girls and I had a great trip and it was good to have the mommy/daughter time.

Day 1: Travel - Traveling so far always sucks just because it seems like 1 whole day of your trip is traveling. It wasn't too bad though and we made it to San Francisco about lunch time (for us - it was still breakfast out there). Once we found my sister and got the rental car, we headed to Woodland where my grandmother lives. For the most part, we just hung out and visited, took the girls to the pool, took a walk, etc.

Day 2: Great Grandma and the Mountains - In the morning we went to visit my great grandma. She is (was) such an interesting lady. She played the organ and the accordian for the girls, we looked at pictures and chatted. We were suppossed to go to lunch, but my grandma said she must have forgotten because she fed us ice cream and cookies at about 10:30 in the morning. :)

There are SO many pictures of me and my sister in the exact same spot.

5 generations of beautiful women

The hat LMS "aquired" at my great grandma's house

Seriously! Where does time go?!

Once again, I have to admit to being a SUPER BAD blogger. I apologize. I have PLENTY of good excuses and LOTS of material for blogging. So please bear with me while I sort it all out. (when issue it would be an interesting three months +, I was not intending ton not blog for three months)

Some highlights:
1) the girls and I went on a REALLY fun trip to California
2) the kids have been SUPER busy with sports (softball, baseball, swimming, football, volleyball)
3) school started again - I can't believe I have 6th graders! (and 3rd and 2nd graders)
4) my great-grandmother passed away :(
5) we went on a super-fun birthday trip for mr s and the twins
6)The summer from hell:not only has work been NUTS (cant even figure out how we had time for so much fun), but we've also been flood watching/"fighting", had to clean up after the GROSSEST tenant ever, dealt with bad work commutes, and on top of flooding have had some very serious storms/rain to deal with. Well, all those things and dealing with mr s's CRAPPY, CRAZY ex (a whole bullet on it's own).

What have you been up to this summer?

All of the reasons why not having a seond job is good

We've been living our flurried life the last few weeks. It's been really tough to take the time and relax (well at least relax and blog or do "my relaxing stuff").

So what have we been up to?

The older kids came to Take Your Child To Work Day again with me. I actually got to go on the field trip this year - we took a tour of all "Large Engineering Company's" projects around Omaha and then had a really neat tour of the Holland Perrforming Arts building.

Building a bridge out of gumdrops and toothpicks and then testing the load with pennies - they got over $1.00 into the container!

We celebrated Easter with Mr. S's family. The kids had fun, although I think JrMrS was upset that they were hard on him when they hid his eggs. It got to be late and it wasn't the kids that I had a hard time getting out of there - it was Mr S because he was too busy watching all the ins and outs of the Royal Wedding. Seriously? He doesn't even remember what our vows are or what my dress looked like, but wants to know ALL about that? Grr...

God, she's so pretty

Looking EVERYWHERE for his eggs.....

Easter Fun

We had a pretty tame Easter this year. Friday will be the family celebration, but we had fun on our own too.

The two older kids had church duties, but of course they had to be at the two separate services. :P

I know I'm biased, but isn't she the CUTEST little woman?

Well, she'd be her sister's only competition

Handsome boys

Can you believe it took me like 2 hours to get these two ready? Talk about high-maintainance

TS1 just HAD to have "silly face" pics - he's so silly :)

Basket Time!!

The girls helped with Easter dinner.

What a week...

Well, last weekend didn't start off as nice as the one before. I thought it was going to be a good Friday night; Mr S had chili already going for dinner - so yummy on a cold raining day and HP7-P1 (Harry Potter 7 - Part 1 for you non-Pott-heads) was on sale at the store - so we were going to have movie night.

So, I walked out of the store and one of my tires was COMPLETELY flat. Like - don't drive on it unless you want to wreck your car dummy. I swear it wasn't like that when I left work (grrr..). So I had grocceries piled in on top of my spare, as well as all the other crap in my trunk (seriously - how much gas mileage do you think I lose carrying around a huge box of City of Omaha Planning Dept envelopes?). Plus it was pouring rain and stupid me had forgotten a jacket in the morning. Mr S was sweet though, he offered to come down and rescue me, or find me a place that was still open to get it fixed (since it was after 5). We found a Sears close to where I was and I slowly drove there. When I got there, the techs of course say ALL of my tires need replacing. Ugh - there goes $500 I didn't plan on spending this weekend. Anyway, they were very quick and by 6:30 I was on the road home. sadly I could tell a HUGE difference in the way my car reacted to the wet road from before. At least I got it fixed.

I finally made it home and Mr S was sweet and unpacked grocceries for me so I could change and eat. We started HP7-P1, but we were all too tired to stay up and finish it :(

Reason #1 for why not having two jobs is a good thing

Yes, I'm still working like crazy,but this weekend I actually sat back and realized how nice it is to only have to work one job. Friday I didn't have to race out because I had to get to my crappy second job - yes I got stuck at work until 5, but at least I got to come home after that and relax.
Saturday was when I really got to realize it. In the morning we had JrMrS's soccer game. The weather was so beautiful (and I got my first sunburn of the year-I spend all of the summer with one from all of the kids activities).

(I love the new soccer uniforms)

In the evening Mr s and I decided to implement "family night". LMS had a really cool overnight birthday party to go to, but the rest of us participated in our first official "family night". We took the kids golfing at the country club and had a lot of fun just hitting balls. And yes we were the nuts golfing in thue middle of the tornado watch (Middleton is only about 30 minutes from us). Thank God for the weather channel app.

Yep - that's MY daughter - She's so beautiful

After finishing golfing we had dinner at the club house and then came home to relax. The kids and I had fun "playing" with my new work iPad and trying to get through additional levels of angry birds. Ugh stupid angry birds....
Sunday I worked most of the day, but looking back I still felt like I got a decent amount of relaxing time. Totally looking forward to more weekends like this, well maybe with a little MORE relaxation time.

No April Fools Joke ....10 updates for 7 weeks

Where has time gone? We’ve been so busy and moving at the speed of light most of the time around here. I’ve also had a hard time deciding to write because after mine and Mr. S’s fight before Valentines Day – I was supposed to make a promise to no longer put “everything” out there, I’m not allowed to write posts that will make me or anyone else depressed. It really upset me because I feel like this is MY sounding board and his family should stay out of it. Anyway, I’ve cooled off now so I’ll catch everyone up on the last MONTH. Bare with me on this….

1) Jr Ms S’s LEGO League participated in the Nebraska State competition. They were one of only 5 teams that were invited from Iowa. (If you remember, Jr Mr S’s team went to state in Iowa and got 2nd place) It was a very, very cool thing for the kids. It was held at the Air and Space Museum and both hangers were PACKED with kids and their robots. The atmosphere was almost like being at a Monster Truck Rally (not that I’ve ever been to one – but it’s what I would imagine it to be like). They had a DJ going and Time Warner Cable used the big screens so that they could see themselves competing. The announcers and almost all of the volunteers for the RoboExpo made it a really special event for the kids. And it was LOUD…oh my gosh it was LOUD, but in a good way – lots of cheering and screaming for the kids. Her team didn’t end up getting a trophy, but they ranked at 16th out of 60 teams which their coach said was very good for a first year team with 4th-7th graders against mostly Jr High teams that have done this before. It was a great day for them. We’re always so wrapped up in sports that it was great to see an intellectual thing get the same recognition and excitement as a sporting event. They did a wonderful job and I’d love to go back again if we can.

2) Mr S and I were able to make up our Valentines date after the RoboExpo. We dropped the girls off at my sister’s and went to dinner. It was a quick dinner, but it was nice to spend some time together. And I think our marriage is hopefully improving – I think with wrestling over, my quitting the second job (YAY – I QUIT!!), making compromises on my main job and trying to invest more time in the kids and Mr S has helped. I hope so…

3) Jr Ms S’s team got first place in their last basketball tournament - so that was bitter-sweet for them. In addition to that she had her BEST game ever – I don’t know what got into her, but she was HOT that day. And I’m the biggest retard mom and didn’t pull out my camera until the very last game. She had already played quite a bit of the first three so she only played a few minutes of the last one. The other team REALLY wanted to beat us and the fans were SO loud. But we beat them and this is what it sounded like…

(Geez – my ears hurt SO BAD after the last two days)

Awesome, huh?

4) The boys had a few wrestling tournaments to finish of the season (no surprise huh?). In fact, one weekend they had TWO tournaments because Mr S is so obsessed. They’ve done pretty well at them – mostly getting first places. JrMrS only got 5th place at districts though – so we didn’t make it to state. I feel bad for him but I am SO HAPPY for me. Now we’re done until next fall - - THANK GOD!!! (see, I can be positive about wrestling) Now if only he doesn’t OBSESS over baseball (it’s already starting – I can see it – but this sport is a little better because it doesn’t smell like armpits – or worse, I get a tan, and at least you know after about 1.5 hours or 5 innings, you’re going home).

5) We had fun at the school carnival - well, maybe I didn't - I had to work with the balloon clown (I HATE clowns!!!)

6) In addition to participating in Lego League this year, the kids also did chess club again. This was the first time we tried out a tournament though - it was really tough! The girls tried their best though and ended up about in the middle of their brackets.

7) I’ve decided that life ends after 30. This year has been SO rough and going into 31 doesn’t look to hot either. I have never had such bad health and been SO overweight. It’s sickening. To fix the odd “lady” problems I was having, we ended up having to change my birth control pill and it’s some crappy pill that makes my hormones think I’m pregnant (whoo-hoo – cause I loved the emotional roller coasters of that…grrr). On top of that its been one continuous cold after another – yuck!

8) So I turned 31 and Jr Mr and Ms S turned 11. Yay another year and another year closer to them being teenagers (I’m totally being sarcastic – really)

Whoops - forgot to buy candles, but the two candles I did have worked :)

So in total - all the March birthdays added up to 222 years!

yes - she's fake blowing out the candles since I wasn't fast enough with the trigger

9) The girls performed in the Drill Team show at their school. It was such a great program for them and so sweet of the high school girls to take the time and foster this in them – especially since we’re so far away from club cheerleading (I SO wish there was a place close – LMS would LOVE it). I was SO surprised when my tom-boy girl JrMsS decided to do it. She was so cute.

10) We had some weather excitement (and unfortunately some damage) a couple weeks ago. I was racing home from work to get home to leave for parent teacher conferences when a thunderstorm warning hit our area. I could see the clouds getting dark and moving fast in front of me (I’m such a dork I had the whole Twister soundtrack playing in my head – you know the really ominous one right before the tornado hits) Right as I was coming around a curve on the interstate the front hit and I was pushed by the wind! Scary! When I got to town it was only sprinkling so I thought I’d be able to out run the storm – um – no. I got stopped at the third light in town (how crazy does that sound?) and it started sounding like someone was CHUCKING rocks at my car. Then all the clouds opened up and it hailed HARD. I pulled over under a gas station canopy to try to prevent damage to my car and called Mr S. I was listening to the news on the radio but was worried about a tornado as bad as it was. He wasn’t even watching the tv for me – I was freaking out – I didn’t know if I should make a run for a safe place or what when…the tornado sirens went off..here I am under a gas station canopy – probably the worst place I could be other than on the road itself. So Mr S calls me back and says “Well it’s a tornado, but it’s right on top of you, so if you’re fine, just come home”. Um, SERIOUSLY!!! Eh, it’s a tornado, but just drive home – I can’t even see the freaking road in front of me it’s pouring so hard! Grr… So once it did stop I came home. Right before I got off the highway to go down our road Mr S calls and asks if I’d left yet because now it’s getting bad at the house (oh – now you’re worried?). I got home fine and pulled into the garage. By the time I’d changed clothes it was sunny out and the girls were playing in the hail trying to find the biggest ones. We had some vehicle damage, a hole in our siding and some damage to our gutters, but nothing claim-wise at least. Mr S’s stupid ex wasn’t so lucky, her house looks like someone shot it up with a machine gun – sad, but SUPER funny. Too bad she’s such a b!tch and got on the news talking about how the boys “thought they were going to DIE!” Really? If they thought they were going to die, how come they didn’t say anything about it the next day? Stupid…The worst of the damage happened at LMS’s teacher’s farm (they had cows out, damage to their old farm house, and worst of all the grain bin FULL of corn was picked up and thrown 1/2 mile down the road!)

I felt so bad, she pulled us aside and asked if she could do our conference ASAP so she could get home – no way was I making her stick around – I told her to give me the papers and go – if there was a problem I should have heard WAY SOONER than this (we see each other almost every weekend at kid stuff since she has kids the same ages as ours)

So there are 10 updates for the last 7 weeks. I promise not to go so long anymore… I love blogging and I’ve hated being gone.