Sunday, October 31, 2010

A Long Halloween weekend in Oshkosh

We just returned from a wonderful long weekend in Oshkosh. Since I loaded these photos backwards and I am too lazy to change them, I will be recounting our weekend in reverse order starting with today. So here goes... This is a bit of snuggle time right before we left today. We had such a fun long weekend that it was hard to see it end and say our good byes.
All ready for church.
Here is our cute little purple hippo ready to trick or treat at the downtown businesses on Saturday afternoon. There is a corn maze and many fun games set up on the square for all the little ones to enjoy and after that many businesses hand out candy. It was a fun way for all of us to get into the Halloween spirit. Courtney was planning on making pizzas for supper that night, but after our fun afternoon, we all decided that going out for pizza and beer was the right thing to do. After our pizza, John and I babysat for Tiz so Courtney and Paul could enjoy a night out. By the way, Courtney made this hippo hat for Tiz in four hours on Saturday morning. Her crocheted hat business has really taken off this year and she spends all her spare time crocheting.
On Saturday morning Tiz dressed up like Nathan complete with a polo, pants that hang down, street socks, and a gas bubble. We hope the pictures we sent Nathan made him smile. I also rigged myself up in this costume, not sure what it is exactly, but we sure had a lot of laughs together. If I could have walked in it without fear of falling with no arms to break my fall, I could have worn it out to the square.
On Saturday morning we also had a huge picnic with all of these stuffed friends.

Each morning when Papa and Tiz get up, they pretend to open their cafe and serve breakfast, so when we were there, Tiz opened the cafe each morning and served us breakfast. It is really quite the business and she is quite the waitress and cafe owner. We sure had lots of laughs with this one, too.

On Friday Tiz and I baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and banana bread, both of which were so yummy. Tiz is really so good at mixing things up and helping in the kitchen. The cookies and bread must have been really good because the five of us ate everything up in just two days! On Friday we also went shopping and bought some ornaments which we painted together. We did lots of craft projects and homschooling on Friday, too and had a delicious lunch at Caramel Crisp.

On Thursday evening we met my friend Connie, her daughter Sarah, husband Chad, and two grandkids, Ava and Aidan at Good Company in Appleton for dinner. A very nice time was had by all!
I looked forward to my nice long weekend for so long and then in a flash it is over. Just for my own record, Courtney and Tiz came and picked me up on Thursday. We had a nice lunch with Mallory and Gigi before we headed to Oshkosh. John drove over after work on Friday and joined us in the fun. It was prime grandparent time!








Saturday, October 23, 2010

A Guest Reader and A Saturday of baking and cooking

Today, my good friend, Lynne came in and read to my class. Lynne is the Children's Librarian at the Watertown Library. As I have posted before, she and I worked together for many, many years at Mary Linsmeier School. I look back on those years with such fondness, Lynne and I shared many a happy time teaching together and whenever she comes to my classroom to read, I just love to sit back and enjoy. My morning class this year is young and listening is not one of their stronger points, but they did okay today. I only had to wrestle with a few of them. So, thanks to Lynne for coming in and sharing you love of reading with us! Saturday was a rainy day and I was so glad. It gave me a chance to do some baking and cooking. I started with tator tot hot dish which we will have on Monday. Actually, truth be told, I cannot take credit for this dish since John threw it together for me. It is one of his favorites and I figured if I die first he should at least know how to make something for himself.

These are the brats which we will be enjoying for supper tonight. I precook them, John grills them, and then I simmer them in beer and onions all afternoon. Plus, look at all the leftovers we will have for the week. There is nothing like brats in the summertime and we need to get our fill before the winter sets in .


Then it was on to pumpkin bars. I got this recipe from one of my parents years ago when she brought it in for her daughter's snack. Thanks Sarah Jameson for these yummy bars. They are so easy to make and they are so delicious. Even if you are not fond of pumpkin, you will love these bars. If anyone wants the recipe, I will be happy to share it with you.


Last of all, I made chocolate chip cookies and they are just the way that my family enjoys them-just slightly baked. We like everything undercooked! I will be bringing them along with me when I go visit the Van Aukens later this week.
So, all in all, it has been a very productive, rainy Saturday. Never mind that I have gained many pounds and am on sugar overload right now.





Thursday, October 21, 2010

Stream of Conscious (Hope that is spelled correctly)

I am sitting here at Domani Spa and Salon with the color on my hair waiting for it to color all the gray so I thought that I would write a new post. I remember when I used to be happy reading magazines while I waited here at the salon, but now that they have wireless, I just figure I might as well work on a post here.

When I was in High School we had to write a journal for Sophomore English class and I absolutely ate it up. In fact I would write in several boys' journals because they didn't enjoy doing it, so I actually authored quite a few entries in those journals. I still have my journal, it is in a green composition book stored safely away in a box in the basement. I wish I had chosen a fancier notebook, but who knew I was going to save that thing for years and years. I remember there were five sections that you were supposed to write in:


  • Poetry - One of my favorites, to this day I love writing poems. Most of them rhyme and are generally pretty lame, but I have made up many, many songs for my Preschool classes over the years and I think my background in journal poetry was helpful.

  • Observation - I remember this section had to include lots of adjectives. I remember describing winter walks, chemistry class, and High School hallways. I still consider myself pretty observant although my crazy eyesight prevents me from catching it all.

  • Diary type writing - This is the place where you wrote down the happenings in your daily life and oh, how I love rereading those. I had a boyfriend who just happened to be the most handsome boy in school and I kept track of lots of our dates and activities during that sophomore year. I also documented birthday parties, long walks with best friends, and roller skating adventures among many other things.

  • Opinions - Probably my most difficult area since I never really formulated my own opinions in High School on big issues. I just went with the flow. If my friends were demonstrating the Vietman War, I demonstrated, too, although I hardly knew we were in a war. I got most of my ideas about opinions from Seventeen magazine. I am still wishy washy and will go with the popular flow. Less controversy that way, right?

  • Stream of Conscious - Now I am finally getting to the reason for this post title. There was a reason for all of this, HA! This was the section where you could just write down anything and everything. Thus the post for today, not sure where it is going, but we shall see.

First of all, I am thinking about my next grandchild who may or may not already be born and living in Ethiopia. I have no idea where Courtney and Paul are on the waiting list, I don't even think they know or if they do, they are not sharing at this point. Note to self, be sure and ask Courtney when I see her next. I am really hoping it will be less than nine months, you know, the time most people wait for a baby. I am so anxious to see if this child will be a boy or girl and how the child will fit into the dynamic of the Van Auken family. I am also hoping I can be a good grandma to a second child. I am a fantastic grandma to Tizita, if I do say so myself and I do, but how can I ever give the next one everything I have given Tizita?


I just read a blog on breastfeeding and the woman was all for breastfeeding until the kid weans himself. Ugh! The boy was four and still sucking milk from his mom. This grosses me out so much. I can't even imagine if my Preschoolers were still nursing. If a kid can ask for it, he is too old! Just my two cents worth on that subject.

I had J0hn cover our tomatoes tonight since a big frost is predicted. We still have so many tomatoes on the vines ripening that I am not ready to let them all freeze away yet. We have certainly had a bumper crop and have enjoyed them so much. Next year, less carrots, lettuce planted at various times so it comes in gradually and not all at once, lots of tomatoes and cukes again and of course the peas. For our first year, it was a great success.

Full moon tonight and it is showing itself in my classroom. You can say what you want, but I know that the moon affects how we act.

Alissa and Nathan enjoy going to Leff's Lucky Town in Wauwatosa. It is like their corner bar where everyone knows your name, but now someone is throwing eggs at customers who are sitting outside in the beer garden. One woman suffered a serious eye injury from an egg. Alissa says now she will have to wear a helmet when she goes there!

John got selected for jury duty which really stinks because of his new job. Why couldn't they have sent him a summons when he was unemployed, then he would have been happy to do his civic duty. We are trying to formulate a story so he can get out of it which I guess is not easy to do. I remember when I got a summons shortly after Courtney was born. I made John call and say I was breastfeeding and couldn't serve. They accepted that, I think I may have in fact been breastfeeding, but I know I quit BF before Courtney turned four.

Sometimes I wish I had taken more pictures of when I was pregnant so I would have had some documentation of that time, but that just wasn't something you did in those days. I also would have enjoyed wearing those tight shirts that just show your baby bump instead of those big maternity shirts, oh well, that is not going to happen in this lifetime.

Okay, time to get my shampoo so I will wrap this up. Just let me tell you that I have the best styylist here at Domani. Thanks Rachel!

I am going to go dig up that green composition book when I get home and take a walk down memory lane.


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Treasures from the Alpha Pregnancy Silent Auction

Last night John and I attended the Alpha Pregnancy Center's Silent Auction and dinner. This is our second time attending and I hope to make it an annual event for us. We, mostly me, bid on many items and actually won a good number of them to the tune of $351.00 and we came home with many, many goodies. If John was still unemployed we would not have been able to give so generously, but with John working and with my full day schedule this year, we are blessed indeed and are more than happy to pay some of it forward to a good cause. Here are some of the things that we, okay, mostly me, bid on and won. There is lots of coffee, marguarita mix, wine, micro brews,(notice a drink theme going on here) Christmas cards, a beach towel, candles, and
Lots of hair products (valued at $180.00 and I got it for $21.00), a set of golf items with the pink breast cancer theme, a grandma book, a movie package, and that is not all,

A wine basket with wine glasses, candy, pretzels, and a towel and yes, there is still more.

It is almost unending, isn't it? Here is a package of wrapping paper, cards, bows, and bags (valued at $80.00, I got it all for &13.00) a teddy bear, some kids' books, and kids' socks from the Gap. We also got a gift card for a live Christmas tree. This year I decided we would go with a live tree, so that was perfect.
Wow, until we actually went around and collected our goodies, I had no idea just how much we had purchased. It was a very fun, productive evening! We are looking forward to doing it all again next year.



Thursday, October 14, 2010

Innocent friendships of Preschoolers

I just get such a warm, fuzzy feeling when I look at this picture of two very sweet Preschool friends. The look of perfect contentment on Tizita's face as she rests her head on her friend, Carlee's shoulder is priceless to me. Is there anything so comforting as the shoulder of a friend? Preschool friendships are like this innocent, unassuming, blind, and very. very simple.

I also feel a bit sad when I look at this photo because I know what lays ahead for these two beauties as they grow older. (Well, I am not a fortune teller who can foresee the future, but I have raised two daughters, was a girl myself, and have been witness to many adolescent friendships) I know what happens to innocent friendships as the drama sets in and it is not pretty. How will Tizita's friends treat her as she gets older and they discover some very basic differences? I can bet they will not all offer her a reassuring shoulder to lean on when times get tough. Same thing will happen to Carlee as she grows up, although her challenges may be a bit less complicated than Tizita's or not.

I wish I could freeze this feeling and this point in time so that these two Preschool friends would never feel the pain of friendships gone wrong, but we all go through it and we all survive it and when we get through all that drama of middle and high school, we will find friends again on the other side who will give us that sweet shoulder to lean on. I hope these two somehow could continue this friendship, but time and distance will prevent that from happening, but nothing will take away these memories of that first best friend who touched us in such a special way.



Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Near Perfect Fall Weekend

My personal weatherman, Charlie Shortino predicted a near perfect weather weekend and his prediction did not disappoint. The fall colors are just beautiful against the clear blue sky and the temps were in the high 70's. We had to bring the shorts back out. I guess this is what we call Indian summer even though I don't suppose that is PC.






On Friday I took my Preschoolers to Ebert's on what had to be the best pumpkin patch weather in my 28 years of field trips. Follow that up with a lunch with Tiz, Courtney, and mom at The Rose Garden and a walk in the leaves and it was a perfect start to the weekend.
Last night John and I went out with Vikki, Kev, and my mom. Went to Rock River Pizza and had a great time. Lots of laughs over old memories, lots of beer, and an invite to Thanksgiving dinner at Vikki's! Yes, now I don't have to do the cooking! All in all a near perfect fall weekend.




Friday, October 8, 2010

Post 500 - A Tribute to Fall and a teacher in the making

Post number 500, wow, that is a lot of blogging. I really do enjoy this way of keeping track of my personal memories and I hope someday, my children or grandchildren will appreciate this record I have kept for them and if no one ever reads it, I won't know the difference anyway, so I will just keep a-bloggin' I am starting out today with this picture of Tizita pretending to be the teacher in preschool today. If imitating someone is the height of flattery, then I am very, very flattered because Tiz is totally mimicing me when she pretends to teach. I just love to hear the way she has my stern voice down to a T as she "scolds" her imaginary students. I know there is a quote that describes this flattery thing, but I can't remember what it is, if any of my half dozen readers knows it, let me know via comment.
Now on to the beautiful fall weather we have been blessed with this past week. It has been absolutely gorgeous outside. The temps have hit the high seventies with not a bit of humidity, the leaves are beautiful right now and the skies are the bluest blue you've ever seen this side of Seattle. (Now that song I remember) And I always heard it rained a lot in Seattle, but I digress. Anyway, everyday this week I have taken my Preschoolers outside to enjoy the fall. We have collected leaves, made leaf men, thrown leaves at one another, crunched leaves under our feet, painted with leaves, played with leaves in the sensory table, and made leaf crowns. In other words, we have been up to our ears in Fall leaves and it has been so much fun to experience Fall first hand.
This tree is right in front of our school and we have been doing most of our activities right under this tree. What a beautiful sign of fall right at our fingertips.

Here is a picture of our parachute full of leaves just before we tossed them into the air. The laughter coming from the kids as the leaves fell on them was just as refreshing as the crisp air.
My favorite weatherman, Charlie Shortino says this is going to be the best weather weekend ever so I am looking forward to some more fun times experiencing fall over the next two days. Today we go to the pumpkin patch with the Preschoolers. This is roughly my28th year of visiting pumpkin patches with students and I think this is going to be the best weather day yet. Couple that with the fact that Tiz will be with me and we have a lunch date afterward and it cannot get much better than that, right?
So, Happy Fall everyone! Now if we could just skip what we know comes next...


Sunday, October 3, 2010

Memory Walk 2010-Remembering Leona and Harold

Two years ago John and I walked in the Memory Walk with our friend Joan and her family in memory of her dad, Harold who died of Alzheimer's. Last year, we walked again in memory of Harold as well as my grandma, Leona. This year Joan and her family were unable to walk so John and I decided to walk in memory of both Harold and Leona. I set up a website through the Memory walk site and with that and the help of Facebook, I was able to raise a nice amount of donations to help with Alzheimer's research. We were very lucky to have a special little lady walk with us this year. Tizita joined our team and so did Alissa and Nathan. It felt good to spend an hour or so on a brisk walk remembering Granny and Harold and hoping no one else we know will have to suffer from this awful disease. Here is our little walker with her bear. She is holding the sign we had in memory of Leona. Tiz's bear is wearing the free T-shirt we got for walking.
We took the stroller along for Tiz, but the bear spent his time in the stroller while Tiz did her walking from Cheddah's shoulders.
It was a cool, windy day, but we were able to lose the gloves by the end of the walk when the sun came out for a bit.
Here are Lis, Nathan, and Tiz taking part in the walk. Nathan got a great workout especially when he would skip along with Tiz.
Just another shot along the way.
Isn't she just the bee's knees sitting a top her personal "horsie." I believe Nathan was skipping along at this point.
After walking, all participants were rewarded with a yummy free lunch. Tiz enjoyed grape soda for the first time.
We went over to Lis and Nathan's to hang out after the walk. Tiz had a great time. We took her home to Oshkosh after our afternoon with the Hunters. We took her out for pizza and then enjoyed the Gallery walk in downtown Oshkosh with Courtney as a featured artist!
It was a very nice weekend indeed.






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