Where were you 32 years ago?

Thirty two years ago today, I was having my first child. Courtney Lynn entered the world at 12:15 A.M. weighing 6 lb. 14 oz. and measuring 19 inches long. She was born at Lakeland Hospital in Elkhorn, WI. I think our story would have been a very interesting one on A Baby Story. I think I said the same thing about my birth experience with Alissa which, too, was a story in itself. Maybe all moms feel like their stories are good enough for TV but I know, for a fact, after watching hundreds of episodes that my birth stories would be of interest to viewers.

We went to the hospital in the morning on Monday, Feb. 27. By that evening I was bored with the whole ordeal but after seeing Ma Ingalls give birth to Grace on national TV, I was anxious to get on with the process. I am proud to say that I didn't have one drug during the whole labor and delivery. I remember begging for something during the transition time, but it was too late for any drugs so I just pressed on. It wasn't all that bad and the final product was well worth the few pains there were. They don't call it Labor for nothing. I feel sorry for women now a days who get induced and have to have all those aritificial means to just get labor started and then the epidurals which make it impossible to even feel the pushing process! Anyway, I had both my babies, naturally!

We brought our little Courtney home two days later and just starred at her, not knowing what to do next. Two college grads and we didn't have a clue. Luckily, Courtney was a good baby and was very patient with us as we learned and muddled along.
Courtney has always been patient with us as we ventured into all the different stages of parenthood. She tried all the activities that we wanted her to particitpate in even if she wasn't really all that interested in them. She smiled her way through T-ball, soccer, ballet, summer school, play groups, until we finally found swimming. Courtney dove into that full force and we enjoyed over ten years of competive swimming with her.
She gave us many happy, proud moments in High School as she cheered, swam, soccered, forensiced, and studied her way through. She went to all the dances and I enjoyed living my High School all over again through her experiences.
We were never prouder than when we sent her off to college, it was also scary and sad for us as parents, but in true Courtney fashion she made us proud with all her achievments on that level, too.
Now at age 32, she is a stay at home mom to sweet little Tizita sharing her life with our wonderful son in law, Paul who is a professor at Oshkosh. They love their big old house, love gardening, and spending time as a family. I could not have imagined a more perfect life as I looked at her on her birthday 32 years ago!

This weekend we celebrated Courtney and Paul's birthdays. On Friday night, the two of them headed over to Velvet Lips for a nice dinner and drinks, they stayed at the Super 8 and we got to watch Tizita for them. It was a perfect weekend.

Here they are before they left for their night out.
John and I took Tizita out on her skis. She is amazing on them. Here she is explaining to Grandpa how she wants to go down the little hill again. There was not much snow on our little hill, but she was stil able to ski down.

After skiing we came in and mixed up some more concoctions at the counter. Here she is mixing up soap and water.

Alissa and Nathan arrived on Saturday and Tiz and Alissa rocked out to some Bon Jovi. Tiz is already a big fan.

Papa got some pickles in his goody box. Here Tiz is enjoying one of the pickles while Paul drinks some of the pickle juice. Don't they just make quite the pair?

We played Pin the nose on the snowman because our parties are never complete without a "pin the something on something" game.

And the best part of the weekend for Tizita was getting this green wig from Gigi. Tiz loves pretending she has long, flowing hair often by wearing a towel on her head, so this wig was perfect for her. Just look at that smile!

We ended our day with a game of Candy Land! The lady in the green wig was the winner.

We will keep Tizita until Monday and then drive her home to Oshkosh. It has been a great way to celebrate the perfect birth of our awesome first born!

Sorry Courtney, this is all I had for you today!

Skis or is it skies for our little Oscar the Grouch

Yesterday John and I were "shopping" at St. Vinney's. You know when your major bread winner is laid off you have to start shopping at a few new places. Anyway I have always liked the great things I find at St. Vinney's and we did not take the free bread, yet! But, I digress, we found the cutest skis or skies, not sure how to spell that word. I think skies might actually be skys though as in the blue sky plural, right? Well, you know what I mean, boards that you wear on your feet in the snow. Tizita has always gone "skiing" with her papa. He takes her along in the back pack, so John and I figured that for $2.00 we could afford or actually not afford to buy these cute little skis. (Yep, I think it is skis with no "e") Tizita was so happy when we gave them to her and she wore them all around the house. She seems to be a natural on them. Winter olympics 2024 or so, here she comes!

Now let's take a look at these feet. It was costume day at school today and I thought that my old saddle shoes from college days would go well with my costume. I still remember the day I got these shoes. They were to die for! I still like a saddle shoe. Now I only wear them if we have to dress up in the fifties look for some reason or with a costume like today.

Lynne, if you are reading this post, you will remember the costumes that Shevawn and I chose for today. Can you guess what we were without scrolling down?
All my girls, 10 of them, came as princesses today. We had Snow White, two Cinderellas, Tinkerbell (not technically a princess, but Disney), Thumbelina (same as Tink) a generic Princess, and a ballerina. Then there was Tizita who insisted on being Oscar the Grouch! Courtney certainly does not take after her mother because I was so lame at coming up with costumes, but just check out this garbage can that Courtney put together for Tiz. She loved her costume! Good job, Mamasita!

Okay, drum roll, please here comes the costume...

We were crayons, a red one and a blue one. I had been a red crayon many years ago at Mary Linsmeier and it seemed like a good idea for this costume day, too. Here is my cute bunch of Preschoolers. It was a fun day!

Pajama Day at Preschool

Today was Pajama day at Preschool. These are the faces that looked up at me all day today. I inherited these Sponge Bob slippers from Mallory a few years ago and they come in so handy for these special days at school.
This is my class all dressed in their pretty pajamas. We had Little Mermaid, Incredible Hulk, penguins, Hannah Montana, snowmen, G.I. Joe, Green Bay Packers, Buzz Lightyear, and everything in between. Plus we had an assortment of slippers, blankies, and stuffed friends.

We read the book, "There were ten in the bed." After reading the story, the kids put on the play and rolled around when we said, "Roll over, roll over..." Such a simple activity, but the kids love it. Here are some of them waiting for their turn to roll.

Then we dance to the CD, "Late Last Night while you were Asleep." It is such a fun song for the kids to act out.

After the CD, it was time to put our stuffed animals in the parachute and give them a ride.

Our last activity was Sleeping Puppies which is a record game where the kids pretend to be sleeping puppies. One puppy walks around and puts a bone by one of sleeping puppies who is laying very quietly. Not only is it fun for the kids it also calms everyone down.

After today, I have decided that it would be a fine thing to wear pajamas to school everyday. It is so comfy and I could just roll right out of bed and head to school! Yep, Pajama day everyday gets my vote!

One day you got it, one day you don't...

I am, of course, speaking of a job here!
John was laid off yet again on Thursday. It is becoming pretty much a way of life here for us so we just take it in our stride and move on.
It again blind sided John and he was among at least seven that got laid off. They were all in a meeting with the boss (yes, the one we partied with at Mardi Gras) and after getting the news, the boss was offering some info on cobra insurance, John got up and announced, "I know all about this, I have to call the unemployment office before it closes." We have learned with experience how important that call is!
We have also changed our philosophy on a few key items. Mind you, we are still conservative, we still don't agree with our president but we are seeing the value in socialism as we sit on this end of the straw.
Here are some of our new beliefs:
1. Free government health care, bring it on, folks. We want our government to take care of us now that we have no health insurance!
2. High unemployment pay. The last time, the checks were equal to making $8.00 an hour, so why would John look for any job that pays less than $10.00 or so when he can rake in the dough just by sitting here unemployed. We are hoping that our government has increased that amount even more like maybe to the equivalent of $12.00 an hour. We will keep you posted on that front!
3. Let the government take care of us for now! Socialism is glorious when you are unemployed.

Alissa suggested that John cut off his hand because then he would be able to protest any job he didn't get hired for because of discrimination against the handicapped. We are not desperate enough for that step yet, but again we will keep you posted.
As John says he is the wrong color, gender, and age and has the wrong sexual preference for most jobs. Reverse discrimination, I would say.
I think I will push him around in a wheelchair as he goes to apply for jobs. He can claim to be a gay, black woman and that might help him. If that doesn't help, good bye hand!

In all honesty, we know there is a divine plan in action here and we wait patiently to see what God has in store for us this time around!

Wonderful Wednesday

Today was another wonderful Wednesday. Wednesdays have easily become my favorite day of the week and the reason for that is because that is the day that Tizita comes all the way from Oshkosh to attend my Preschool class. I have enjoyed watching her grow and mature in so many ways. She came in as a two and a half year old who spent most of her time by my side, didn't really care to do paper work with me, and pretty much did her own thing and now she is a three year old who enjoys doing her work with me, no longer uses half a bottle of glue on one project, plays and interacts with all kinds of classmates, and can sit and listen with the best of them! I am one proud grandma!

After preschool we always have lunch together and today was not different. After lunch we baked some cinnamon rolls with chocolate frosting and they were yummy as you can see.

We also made a tent in my bedroom. Actually it started out as her covering me with towels, not sure why, but with encouragement from her mama she proceeded to bring out every towel including beach towels from my bathroom closet. Instead of laying under layers of towels, I suggested we make a tent. It was fun until I had to put all the towels away again after Tiz went home.

Courtney had to run to the post office, so she left Tiz and I snuggled in the chair. Tiz was telling me all about "Opia" (Ethiopia). Courtney told us to get her dressed and ready to go, but when Courtney got home we were still sitting snuggled in the chair. I could not give up that special time with Tiz to get her dressed. She very seldom just snuggles, so I was taking full advantage of it!

Not to leave Courtney out of the mix, I also enjoy my time with her on these Wednesdays, too. We always have lots to catch up on and are able to do that while Tiz spends time with Gigi.

Wednesdays, not only hump day, but so much more!

Valentine's Day, Olympics, and other meanderings

We celebrated Valentine's Day in my classroom on Thursday and Friday. Here are my little Valentines from those two days. I enjoy the way that Preschoolers celebrate this holiday. I love seeing all the excitement as they mail their valentines to their little friends and the anticipation as they eye up all the cards and treats filling up their boxes. No pressure to get that gift from your certain someone because at this age everyone is included and everyone is special. Personally I don't care for Valentine's Day, never have, but if I look at it from the perspective of my kids it is much more enjoyable.
John and I were going to go out to celebrate, but decided on a Papa Murphy pizza and some serious Olympic watching. The perfect way to spend the night before Valentine's Day!

This afternoon John and I delivered Mary Linsmeier flyers to a subdivision in Ixonia. It was a beautiful day for a walk. I was only brave enough to hang the flyers on doors of houses where it looked like no one was home. I did not want to encounter any people while I was soliciting. Because it was so nice we headed into Oconomowoc to do some more walking. We got ourselves into any area we had not seen before in Oconomowoc, so our walk turned out to be just shy of 4 miles. I did find one other subdivision where I could deliver some more flyers at the end of the walk. I am hoping at least a few of the 60+ of the people we delivered to will actually look at the flyer and even show up at the open house. That is out of my control.

Tonight we are watching the Olympics. All the events in the winter olympics seem so dangerous to me. I am so thankful that my girls never cared for any winter outdoor activities! You know, sharp skate blades, skinny skis, crazy snow boards, luges, bobsleds, etc. Give me the pool anyday!

We are Tizless this weekend so it seems rather quiet around here, but sometimes a quiet stay at home weekend is good for the soul. I had almost no voice on Thursday and Friday so this is a good time to get back into tip top shape. My voice is almost back now, so that is a good thing. Man, I would miss that if it were gone! A voice is very important to a preschool teacher.

Tomorrow we go to our Financial Peace University class again. We have started to implement a few of the concepts and we are doing pretty good with our envelope system. And, finally the Amazing Race begins tomorrow night which gives me three reality shows to watch, The Bachelor, Survivor, and Amazing Race. Now that is good TV.

Back to the women's moguls, crazy, risk takers!

Remembering my Dad - 20 years ago!

20 years ago on February 11, 1990, my dad left this earth to go to his home in heaven. It was unexpected, it was quick, and it was a shock. Today I just want him to know that we think about him all the time, we laugh about all the silly things he did with us and for us, and I make sure that the girls, their husbands, Mallory, and Tizita all know what a special man he was!
Do I wish he could have been here to see Courtney and Alissa grow up, go to college, marry? YES! Do I wish him back even for a second? Absolutely not! I know he is in a much happier place and I wait for the day when I go and meet him there!

So, today we will laugh about vinyl shoes, broken fingernails, Geezikees (sp), green towels hanging out of pants, cigarettes, tape recorders, The Ink Spots, belt playing, beer drinking, and a hundred other things. Today we will remember him behind his bar in the basement among his collections of beer cans and mugs, the place he loved to spend time and maybe we will even raise a glass to his memory!

We will see you soon, Dad!

Another fun filled Tiz weekend!

We just finished up another very Tiz filled fun weekend. Now we will have two weekends which will be Tiz free until we can weekend with her again. I am the lucky one since I get to see her on Wednesdays when she comes for school though!
We began by all of us meeting at John's folks in New Berlin to celebrate all the January and February birthdays. John's mom put on a great feast as usual and we found out his dad will be home from the nursing home (asylum as Jack calls it) for good on Monday! Alissa and Nathan joined us there, too, so that was a fun celebration.
After our lunch there Courtney, Paul, and Tiz headed to Watertown for the night. We just sat around and let ourselves be entertained by Tiz who just happens to be a one woman show.
Here she is modeling her new swim goggles. I think she is headed down the same swimming road as her mama and her Aunt Alissa. She wears them well, don't you think?

We gave her a few early Valentine's Day presents including this cute pink Teddy Bear and a pez machine. Here she is showing off both her gifts.

On Sunday, my Preschool class sang in church and here are my sweet kids all ready to sing. Aren't they just a beautiful group of children? You can see Tiz in the front row. Most of the little ones don't actually sing, but they sure stand up there nicely. The older threes, fours, and fives carry us! They did a very nice job, too.

I let Tiz have my camera to take a few shots. I found this rather disturbing shot of her doll, Mimi when I downloaded the photos. While it is quite artsy, it reminds me of those movies where the dolls come to life and do evil things! I think I will put Mimi in the closet tonight! (Just kidding, Tiz)