Ten for Tuesday

Happy Holidays Everyone!

1. Frank and I took the kids to Arkansas with us last week for Christmas with the Scheele's. We had a smooth trip down there and left in the middle of the night after Frank's work Christmas party.

2. We went Christmas shopping on Monday and stopped off for lunch at Sonic's. It was fun just spending time together as a family. Frank and Gary went their seperate ways to shop for us girls.

3. We decorated gingerbread houses and made Christmas cookies. We made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate, sour cream twists, and chocolate covered pretzels.

4. We went swimming and I watched from the sidelines because I forgot to bring a swimsuit along. The kids had a wonderful time swimming. We took along some of Leroy's cousins who had driven down from Missouri.

5. We went Christmas caroling around Lara's neighbohood. We did a great job and enjoyed spreading the Christmas cheer. Many people were pleasantly surprised and one house even offered us money which we refused, of course we ended up denonating it to the Ronald McDonald's charity house foundation afterwards. We read the Christmas story and than headed to bed.

6. This year we had a ton of gifts since there were so many of us together. My dad made a bunch of wonderful gifts out of wood. The kids were all excited and really enjoyed their gifts this year.

7. On Christmas day we headed over to the Scheele's home for some gumbo and open up more gifts. Afterwards we headed down to Gentry to visit the animal safari.

8. We took the kids ice skating on Friday and I had to sit this one out because of my pregnancy. I had a great time video taping everyone skating with each other.

9. We made some Christmas blocks and mom and dad showed us how to do food storage. Lara is not forunate enough to live close to the bishops store house. We stopped off at Sam's club and purchased some food for her and than helped her bag it all up.

10. This year a bunch of us came down ill. I came down ill with an upper respitory infection and had to be seen by the doctor yesterday and luckily he gave me some antibiotics. I will try to go back to work tomorrow.

Christmas Pictures

Ice Skating

We took the kids to go ice skating. I had to sit this one out because I'm too far along in my pregnancy. The big kids had a great time helping the little kids learn how to skate. Landon has improved since the last time I took him ice skating when he was just 4 years old. Logan forgot to wear socks so he had to go without. He seemed to be fine in his skates.

Craft Night

Mom and Dad had this great idea to make these Christmas blocks. They are glass blocks and you put in Christmas lights inside the box and than you put on a window decal on the front of the box and than wrap it in ribbon. We all enjoyed this our evening together.

Swimming Fun

We all went down for a day of swimming at the family rec center in Springdale. The kids had fun going down the waterslide and swimming around with everyone.

Gingerbread House Making

For one of our activity nights we made gingerbread houses. Lara preglued the houses together and than we frosted them and put on lots of candy. Leah really had fun participating in this activity.

Shiloh Museum

We took the kids to see the Shiloh museum. We saw many arrowheads and other artifacts from the Indians. Afterwards we went and looked for arrowheads outside and visited the teepee. Afterwards as I was walking out of the museum I didn't realize there was a slight decline out of the museum and I must have been right on the edge because the next thing I knew my ankle gave out and I was on the floor in pain. I landed directly on my right hip and now have a nasty bruise to show for it.

Don't worry the baby is fine!

Merry Christmas

For Christmas this year the family gathered together at Lara's house for the holidays. We had a great time visiting with relatives, baking cookies, ice skating and going to museums, Tanyards creek, swimming, and much much more. Christmas morning we woke up around 7am and headed over to the Scheele's house and opened up gifts. There were a ton a gifts this year and everyone loved their presents!

News

Just wanted to announce that we are having a baby girl in April 2009. My husband was running 45 minutes late to my doctor's appointment. He missed the appointment all together however I did manage to run into him outside. I brought him back inside the building and showed him the pictures of the baby. He could just tell by the pictures that he was having a girl. We are both really excited for our new arrival and Sarah is looking forward to having a baby sister FINALLY!

Ten for Tuesday

1. Frank was planning on taking a trip down to Florida and at the last minute he found a great deal with Spirit Airlines. He was able to purchase 3 tickets for $117 round trip. It was an awesome deal. He brought two of his teamates along with him. The month before I had purchased a single ticket for my husband which he ended up not using, so perhaps we will use the ticket on a later date. He is planning on going to California in March. He wanted me to go along but I will be 8 months pregnant and will probably stay behind.

2. On Wednesday Frank left for Florida for a few days to attend a WFG convention. I left Frank with a list of things to do before he left that evening. Frank needed to have his car fixed. He shopped around for the best prices in town. He managed to find a shop who was going to fix all the problems with his car for half the cost. The power steering went out on the Pontiac Grand Prix.

3. I attended Sarah's bank concert on Thursday evening right after work. She did a great job!
This is her 3rd year playing the flute and really enjoys playing music.

4. On Friday night I went to the temple to pick up some new maternity garments. I was pretty much to big to fit into my old ones. I feel much more comfortable. I have surpassed the half way point. I have a doctor's appointment to see whether we willl be having a boy or a girl. I'm very excited! The pregnancy is going well and only 19 more weeks to go.

5. The next morning I went into work for a few hours of overtime. Afterwards I had a ton of errands to run. I accomplished most of them and than came home and did some light house cleaning. This was my last weekend to getting most of my errands completed.

6. I still haven't started doing any Christmas shopping. I will probably have to do it last minute when I'm down in Arkansas visiting with my family.

7. On Saturday night I went to a Ward Christmas Party with my friend Wendy. She is the activities chairman for their ward. I helped her clean up the kitchen and did most of the dishes. The dinner was very good and they had several youth in the ward perform Christmas songs on both band and orchestra instruments. Afterwards they had a ward slideshow and Santa Claus visited the kids. The kids made holiday crafts and decorated cookies.

8. On Sunday I went to church and taught my final Sunday School lesson to my class. It was bitter sweet because I love my class so much! I will be going out of town soon and by the time that I come back it will be after the New Year. I have a feeling that we will be getting released soon from our calling. I have been in Primary for the past 2 1/2 years or more.

9. I had a very busy week and it was nice to be alone for a few days although I did miss my husband at times. I managed to get my Christmas cards written and just have to finish writing our Christmas letter to enclose inside.

10. I went to pick up Frank from the airport around 11pm and than came home and spent some time with my husband. He had a good time at the convention and even took a trip to the beach.

Ice Skating

Frank and I took the kids ice skating at the Elgin Rec Center. We took along a couple of friends from the young single adult branch. Our good friend Mike was turning 31 years old. Afterwards we went over to Heather's house for some cake and ice cream and played a few games. We had a great time!

Ten for Tuesday

1. We had the kids over to the house for the Thanksgiving weekend. The kids only had a half day of school on Wednesday. I went to pick up the kids after work. The kids went with their mother to get Christmas pictures taken. I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes for them to return back home.

2. On Thanksgiving morning Frank and I woke up and I cleaned the house and also helped cooked dinner. I wanted to learn so I can hopefully cook Thanksgiving dinner in the future. I think I may have been in Frank's way but he seemed to cope with me looking over his shoulder. This year we cooked a turkey and a duck.

3. I ran to the store for some last minute items. Frank's guest started to arrive around 2pm and we ate dinner around 4pm. We had a good turn out and the dinner was delicious. I really enjoyed getting to visit with his family.

4. During dinner the flute on our fireplace accidently closed and all the smoke backed up into our condo. The smell from the smoke was terrible. We had to air out the place while we had our guest over. I hope it wasn't too cold to have the windows open. How embarrasing!

5. I decided this year to avoid the stores for Black Friday. I wanted to take it easy being pregnant and all.

6. On Friday I went over to a friend's house for a post Thanksgiving dinner. I took Sarah with me and left Frankie at home. Apparently he wasn't feeling too good. We watched Kung Fu Panda and played Skipbo.

7. On Saturday our friend Mike turned 31 years old and we went ice skating and went over to his girlfriend's house for cake and ice cream. We had a good turn out. I was definately more cautious while ice skating and didn't fall at all. We ended up playing Catch Phrase and Mad Gab.

8. I thought I had lost my new digital camera at the ice rink. We eventually found the camera in Frank's car on Monday. I was worried that I would need to replace the camera.

9. On Sunday we were invited over to dinner at the Roy's house. We had our 1st snowfall of the year. We still managed to travel out to their place. Afterwards we drove the kids home and than returned home safely. We only had about a 2-3 inch snowfall. Not too bad however I had to get used to cleaning my car off and trucking through the snowy roads. I was almost late to work on Monday. I'm going to have to leave earlier.

10. I'm starting my 19th week of pregnancy and starting to feel more aches and pains. I'm not sure if these are just growing pains or if I'm starting to feel the baby kick. I'll keep you posted.

This year for Thanksgiving we cooked dinner at our new place. Frank invited his family and a couple of friends to come over to eat dinner with us. Frank cooked the dinner and he taught me how to cook all his favorite dishes. This is my husband's favorite holiday. We had a great time and visit with everyone. Right after dinner the flute on the fireplace closed accidently and all the smoke started backing up inside the house. We had to open all the windows to air out the place.

Ten for Tuesday

1. Frank is feeling better after having his wisdom teeth pulled. He is now suffering from a sore throat. My Poor Baby!

2. Last Friday was our night to serve in the temple. I had my 1st attempt at doing the new name ceremony. I messed up a few times but hopefully will get better the more I do it. Frank and I have been learning a lot and enjoying our time serving the Lord.

3. I worked a few hours of overtime and than I went to get my brakes inspected. The back brakes were making noise so I wanted to have them checked out. Luckily for me that told me they were fine and sent me on my way. I'm trying to get ready for the cold winter months.

4. I stopped by Frank's office to pick up my security deposit check. I ended up running some errands with him. We stopped at Office Max and Circuit City which was going out of business. They had a 30 % off sale. Frank and I picked up a new laptop computer. We got some good ideas for Christmas.

5. I took my best friend Wendy to dinner to say thank you for helping me move back in Sept. She offered a big helping hand and she was very appreciative. We went to La Magdalena's for some excellent Mexican food.

6. We came back and watched the movie Matilda. I hadn't seen the movie and was talked into watching the movie. It was a cute movie! Frank surprised with a dozen red roses and he bought ingredients to make dinner for me on Sunday.

7. Last week I failed to mention that I hit my head on the bathroom cabinet that holds all of our towels. Frank apparently had the cabinent fall on him while taking care of business. He had to hold it up with one hand to keep it from completely falling on top of him. I think I probably caused it to fall when I hit my head. Frank had to temporarily prop it up with our food storage canisters. He still is working to put the cabinent back on the wall. Apparently we didn't have the right screws and anchors for the wall.

8. Frank woke up with a sore throat and decided not to go to church. I had to last minute plan a lesson and ended up being late to church. I wasn't too happy but the lesson went alright after all. The kids never seem to behave for me as much as they do for Frank. I must be a softy when it comes to discipline.

9. Frank cooked dinner and we invited Mike and Heather over for dinner. Frank cooked a roast and than we played Skipbo. I cooked homemade brownies.

10. My belly is starting to grow and the pregnancy is coming along nicely.

9. We invited

Cody

This is our new addition to our family. We rescued Cody from the Anderson Animal Shelter. He was just three weeks old when we brought him home. He is full of life and brings much excitement to our family. We love our new kitty!

Ten for Tuesday

1. Frank had his wisdom teeth pulled on Friday. One of them was impacted and he has been suffering all week in horrible pain. The pain was so bad that he has a doctor's appointment tomorrow with the oral surgeon . I'm wondering if he has dry socket. The doctor gave him more Vicatin and he is getting plenty of rest. I hope he feels better soon!

2. I picked up the kids from their grandmother's house and had to wait for Frankie. Apparently he went down to McDonald's on his bike with a friend. I caught Frankie lighting off some fireworks in his grandmother's backyard and had to take it away from him. Just little baby fireworks. Boys will be boys I guess :)

3. I rushed home to take care of Frank. The kids and I stopped off at Meijer's to get some requested items for Frank.

4. On Saturday we all slept in which was nice and Frank took time off from work to recover.

5. I drove the kids over to the stake center for a service project for the Primary. They were having this kids carnival and the youth were helping out with the games. Frankie didn't want to get out of the car when we arrived. Apparently he didn't think he would have any fun. I kicked him out of the car. He managed to hook up with some of his friends when he got inside. The kids had a great time. The deacons were in charge of the bean bag game and mostly played the game themselves. The Beehives did face painting. Everyone thought she did a great good painting. A couple of her friends decided to put a strand of paint in her hair as a joke. I'm glad it came out easily.

6. I took my car over to Sam's Club to get new tires put on my car. To my surprised it took 3 hours to complete the task. I tried calling Frank to come pick me up but he didn't answer the phone. I drove home and than came back an hour later. I was told it would take another 1 1/2 hour before my car would be done. I wasn't happy but I already wasted my whole day and paid for the new tires. I just walked around the store and try to kill some time.

7. On Saturday night Frankie invited a friend from church to sleepover.

8. The next morning I took the kids to church and taught the Sunday School lesson. I had a pretty big class and of course the boys played all hour long. I don't think they learned much of anything. I bribed the kids with some candy after Primary if they all behaved. It seemed to help.

9. Sarah had volunteered her dad to give a talk at the next youth fireside. Frank managed to pull himself together long enough to write his talk and give a wonderful talk on being "Thankful". Sarah made some brownies to share. This batch of brownies didn't turn out so good but we took them anyways.

10. The kids mom went to Mexico on her honeymoon so we had the kids one extra night. Frank woke up early the next day and drove the kids to school.

Ten for Tuesday

1. Frank and I went to serve in the Chicago temple on Halloween night. It was a pretty slow night. I participated in a prayer circle and was asked to help out with a sealing. We had to leave early so maybe next time I'll get to do more.

2. Frank and a friend went to see a movie on Halloween night. They seem to enjoy the movie although thought the ending could have been better.

3. I worked overtime on Saturday and than came home and cleaned house. I ran a bunch of errands and than went over to a friend's house to help her unpack. I didn't get a chance to help her move so I thought I would offer a helping hand.

4. We went out to dinner with some friends. We visited a new restaurant called the Mongolian Stir Fry restaurant. They had really good food and was reasonably priced.

5. We had some church friends over for dinner on Sunday. Frank cooked a wonderful meal and we had a great visit! They have a brand new baby and it was nice to get some alone time with her.

6. Frank and I woke up early this morning and we went to cast our vote. The wait was very little and now we wait until the final results are in.

7. I just started my 15th week of my pregnancy.

8. Have a great week!

Ten for Tuesday

Hey Everyone!

1. I've been working an hour of overtime everyday last week. We are getting ready for our busy season. I'm not looking forward to this because of the economy.

2. Frank went to pick up the kids and brought them over on Friday night. We invited a few friends over for some pizza and to watch a movie "The Hulk" . I fell asleep not because of the movie because I was just tired.

3. On Saturday I woke up early and took Sarah to a volleyball tournament at the stake center. I guess she had a good time although she told me afterwards she doesn't really like sports. I gave her an option of whether or not she wanted to go and she said yes. Will see what she says next year?

4. Frank drove Frankie over to the church for his chemistry merit badge part 2. They went to the University of Chicago and he seemed to have a good time. Of course I didn't know what time to pick him up so he called me wondering where I was. Luckily a family friend from church drove Frankie and his friend over to his grandparents house until I could pick him up.

5. I officially started my 2nd trimester of my pregnancy this week. I'm starting to have trouble fitting into certain pants. I'm starting to see my belly start growing. I've been feeling great! I'm sure that will be coming to a end soon...

6. Sarah and I went to a few stores looking for some maternity clothes. I stopped by Target and I didn't really see any clothes that I really liked. It was mostly shorts and lounge wear. I did purchase a pair of black pants for work. Than we headed over to Babies R Us and I found a few more items. I was horrified with the prices. I spent too much money on clothes and still have more to buy. I don't even have a weeks worth of clothes yet. I may need to exchange a few tops that were just a little too tight.

7. Frank and I took the kids to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm and spent too much money there as well. I purchased some pumpkins which were overpriced. The cost went up from last year. We somehow ended up buying some kettle corn and spaghetti squash and acorn squash and a baby pumpkin.

8. Last year I promised the kids that I would let them go into this haunted house. This was also overpriced and I'm sure not worth the money that I spent. The kids said it wasn't all that great. I was not surprised by the looks of it.

9. Afterwards we went to a wildlife show and saw many animals and learned all about them and even got to go up to the stage and pet them. This was my 1st time seeing a live ardvark and even petted a skunk. My favorite animal was the baby lion. It was a cool show and was FREE!

10. We carved pumpkins together. Frank carved a baby pumpkin and placed it in his fishtank. Don't worry half of the tank is land and the other half is water. We bake pumpkin seeds and enjoyed some apple pie w/ice cream.

Jonamac Corn Maze

Wildlife Show

Here are the pictures from the widlife show