Good Times with the Other Grandparents

A fun part of this past weekend was spending time with Pott and Mike again. It had been a long time since we had been together. So long, in fact that we couldn't remember the last time we had been together. I got the idea to invite them here so they could hear Tizita sing in church. They came a long way to hear Tiz sing, but I figured it was well worth it and I know they did, too. Pott and I with our little lady at Rock River Pizza where we enjoyed some yummy pizzas and a few good beers, too.

And here we all are waiting to dive into those pizzas.

The next day after church and the chili luncheon, they came over to our house for coffee, birthday cake, and conversation. Even though these two grandpas are on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, they still seemed to get along famously.

I hope much less time will pass by until our next visit this time.

Happy Birthday to me, 58 years

My birthday this year has already lasted four days with more fun to come next weekend in Oshkosh. It all started with birthday parties in both my classes on Thursday. There were cupcakes, ice cream, flowers, balloons, and gifts. I enjoy the special feeling that only a preschooler can give you on your birthday! My classes gave me sweet treats and two necklaces and earrings from Solpada. A great start to a birthday which just got better from there on.

John and I went out on Friday night. We went to Spinnaker's and started our night with martinis, had dinner, and ended with some beers. John and I had some great conversation to go along with the drinks. A great night!

On Saturday we went to John's mom's to divy up her Christmas ornaments. Alissa and Nathan as well as Courtney, Paul, and Tiz were all there, too. We celebrated all the January and February birthdays there, too and had a yummy lunch. That night we met up with Paul's folks who had traveled from Iowa to see Tizita sing in church with my class. We had pizza and beer at Rock River Pizza and again shared lots of good conversation. We hadn't see Pott and Mike for a long time so it was great to catch up on things.

On Sunday, Pott and Mike joined us in church to see the Preschoolers sing. They did such an awesome job, I was so proud of them! I had to host an open house in my classroom while the others ate lunch at the chili lunch. Afterwards Tiz enjoyed showing her other grandparents the classroom. We all enjoyed my birthday cake and gift opening before Pott and Mike left again for Iowa. It was the best birthday weekend ever!

Go Pack Go! We are on the way to the Super Bowl

We had a really great long weekend with Tizita. My last post told you all about our trip to the museum and our time with the dinosaurs and butterflies, but there was so much more to document from this weekend so here goes. The Van Auken Family dancers and singers put on a show for us. Tizita had packed many of her dress up clothes including this pretty tutu which she wore for her dance portion of the show. Gigi, Grandpa, and I thoroughly enjoyed the production.

Since Tizita loves to bake, we whipped up a chocolate fudge cake much of which is on her hands here. She also wanted to mix up some ingredients of her own and create her own cake. She loves to throw things together. This time I had her start with a yellow cake mix and add things that would all be edible so we could actually eat the cake. It turned out great and we all enjoyed it almost as much as the chocolate one.

And she has learned from me that licking the beaters is the best part of baking.

And there was still more hands-on fun which involved shaving cream this time.

Here Tizita is making herself some shaving cream gloves.

There was also a little more dress up. Tizita wanted me to dress up so badly, so I dug out an old dress of my mom's that she had worn to my brother's wedding many years ago. Tiz took a few photos, but I refused to post any. All John said was, "Don't ever wear that out." Okay, I won't!

And the very best part of the weekend was the Packer victory over the Bears on Sunday. As you can see Gigi was wearing the cheesehead hat that Tiz had made in Preschool and Tiz is dancing with her poster that she made. We like to say that she helped clinch the victory for the Packers with her dance. We have to laugh because it looks like my mom is praying which at some points of the game, she probably was doing just that.

Anyway, we are going to the super bowl. Well, not "we" as in John and I, but "we" as in The Packers! Yep, it was a great weekend all around.

Dinosaurs and Butterflies

We had another fantastic weekend with our little lady. I was debating between a place called Bounce Realm with lots of inflatable things to climb on and the museum. Well, Thursday at school sealed the deal with the museum winning out. We are talking about dinosaurs in preschool and Tizita was so interested in them, that I wanted to share the museum dinosaurs with her. We were not disappointed in her enthusiasm and excitement at not only the dinosaurs but everything that we saw there. We started in the butterfly area. It is so quiet and peaceful in there with all the beautiful butterflies just hanging around. Sometimes you are lucky enough to have one land on you. Here John is showing Tizita the butterfly that he was able to get on his finger.

Then if was my turn to "catch" one and share it with Tiz.

We had fun in the insect/butterfly area after leaving the butterfly house. Here you see Tizita sitting in the chrystalis.

After the butterflies we headed to the dinosaur area. Tizita could not get enough of those dinosaurs. So different than her Aunt Alissa who was always so scared of the dinosaurs. She would not even go near the whole area.

Here is the famous T-rex biting the Triceratops. Tiz liked seeing all the guts.

After a walk through the Rain Forest, we had a pricey, but yummy lunch in the cafeteria. Note to self, "next time pack you own lunch." Tiz enjoyed a huge hot dog, a fruit cup, chocolate milk, root beer, pretzels, and a big brownie.

We visited the streets of Old Milwaukee and the European villages. The streets of O. M. were always my favorite part as a little girl, but I think that may be because that was the only part of the museum that wasn't old artifacts in glass cases. My, how things have changed. We have countless pictures taken right here next to this storyteller with our girls.

And, we had a picture of Courtney taken right here in this spot when she was three and on her first visit to the museum. She was wearing a cute pastel sundress. For some reason, I always dressed my girls up for our trips to the museum, not sure why.

And no trip to the museum is complete without a stop in the igloo.

Tizita wanted our pictures taken by this statue. She set up shots with me and grandpa.

We took her new zhu zhu pet along, but he stayed safely in the backpack until we found a nice bench where the zhu zhu could run around.

Tizita wanted to go back to the butterfly house and the dinosaurs before we left. A butterfly ended up right on grandpa's head, we figure he liked the gray hair.

And finally, after much patience and sitting still like a rock, a butterfly landed on Tiz's pretty shirt.

And here is our little lady on the way home. All three of us were so tired out after our big day at the museum. Chalk it up as another wonderful memory.

A Huge Packer Win and a new Miss America

Yesterday we went into Milwaukee to celebrate Alissa's 31st birthday with her. We began the celebration with a few pitchers and yummy sandwiches at McGinn's. The beer went down quickly and the conversation flowed freely with laughter all around. Here are two of the many Packer fans that showed up at the bar that day. In addition to it being Alissa's birthday it was also a big playoff game for the Packers as they would be playing the Falcons at 7:00 to move one step closer to the Super Bowl. In true Wisconsin fashion, the Green and Gold was being proudly worn throughout the state and all over Atlanta as well.

My mom also joined us for the big party and game. She still at age 82 enjoys a few good beers and adds so much to the conversation.

We headed back to the Hunter Pub in time to catch the start of the game, open presents, and then enjoy some cake.

Something did go terribly wrong with the cake. Tasted great, but was so crumbly, not sure what caused this, but it was a small thing in comparison to all the fun and victories of the night.

Yep, the Packers won BIG and what made the night even better (as if it could get any better) was that we were able to watch the Packers and Miss America on split screen. Oh, to have the modern conveniences of the Hunter Pub.

As some of you faithful readers may know, Alissa, my mom, and I have had a long standing tradition of watching Miss America pageants. We always have to choose our projected winner at the annoucement of the top 15. We were able to do that all together last night, John and Nathan joined in, too. Usually we have to do it over the phone. It was nice to all be together viewing it on the same TV. Nathan's choice, Miss Nebraska won, but there is controversy surrounding his choice. (Long story and it does not have to do with her, but rather how he chose her)

My choice had a fighting chance with her hair loss and all until she started dancing. That sealed her fate!

The big news by far though is that the PACKERS are just one game away from the Super bowl and that makes all of us here in Wisconsin very happy indeed!

A new necklace from John

Now I would assume that most wives would expect diamonds or some other such precious gems from their husbands for Christmas. That is if the husband buys jewelry for the wife. Well, John bought me jewelry this Christmas and while it is not a precious diamond or other gem, it is a treasure to me. Just take a look at my new necklace.

Can you tell? It is a Lego door made into a necklace! John chose it because he thought my Preschoolers would enjoy it and let me tell you, today when I wore it for the first time, they sure did enjoy it. They thought it was so funny to open the door.

I have never been the kind of wife that has "needed" expensive jewelry, so this is right up my alley! Thanks, John.

Our First Annual Christmas Exchange

I will admit, it was my idea. With John in the midst of umemployment, I asked the girls if the six of us should exchange names for Christmas gifts and they wholeheartedly (wow, that is a big word, maybe it is supposed to be two words) agreed. Courtney because they are all about downsizing Christmas and Alissa because she also had an unemployed husband.

Well, John thankfully landed a job and things were looking up in the financial area in our home, so I started to regret my hasty decision, but my girls stood firm and wanted to give a try. We could always reevaluate after the trial run. I guess I was feeling badly about not being able to buy my own daughters a Christmas gift especially if I didn't get one of their names. But to be honest, I had purchased many silly gifts over the years just to have something to give them and that is a waste of money. Case in point, the year I gave them the Boyfriends in a box! Note to self: Make some of those up and try and sell on Etsy!

Anyway, back to the gift exchange. It was a huge success. I, personally, had a great time searching for that perfect gift for Nathan. He wanted square bar glasses as opposed to eyeglasses and I looked long and hard for the perfect ones. It was fun and I felt like I put much effort into it. I know John had fun selecting books for our bookworm daughter Alissa, too.
I am going out on a limb here, but I think when we only had to concentrate on one gift, we all really put some thought and work into getting that perfect item. It was fun and it felt good to have downsized a bit.
I just wanted to document the gifts and the gift givers here:
As I said, John got Alissa an assortment of books by two of her favorite authors.

I bought Nathan his square glasses and some small bottles of booze. His PJ's didn't close properly thus the unusual placing of the gift.

Alissa got her sister this cute apron. I think it resembles something that a mom right out of the fifties would be wearing to prepare dinner.

Nathan bought Paul a T shirt which when purchased donates a portion of the cost to some project in Africa. I can't remember the particulars, but if you know Paul and his giving spirit, this gift was perfect for him.

Courtney bought her dad a new cooler on wheels and he couldn't be happier. I think the day that put the old Packer cooler over the edge was when Nathan and Paul had to haul that thing up three flight of stairs into a hotel. It was loaded with beer and it was heavy! We are not getting rid of the old one yet, too many memories tied up in that thing.

Paul got me some awesome gifts and I was so excited with the thought he put into his choices. He got me a Herman Hermits CD, some beautiful homemade earrings, and a very pretty homemade frame. I could tell he put some thought into these perfect gifts for his MIL.

So, to summarize, it was a great idea I had way back when to exchange names. We all agreed it will become an annual event.

Thanks to all of you for making it a fun event and for putting so much thought into the gifts.

Martinis, Tulips, and Memories

Last night John and I had dinner with my college roomate, Joan. We went to a restaurant called Tulips which serves Turkish cuisine. I wasn't sure what I would be ordering as I previewed the menu online earlier in the day, but decided to be brave (I am known for a picky palate) and ordered lamb shishkabobs. This decision did come after an Evil Eye martini which probably hampered my decision making skills a bit! Joan is Armenian and she grew up eating many of the ethnic dishes that were available at Tulips. We started with two appetizers and our martinis. We had sarma which is rice wrapped in grape leaves, (highly reccommended by Joan because she remembered it from her childhood) and some meatballs in a green pepper/tomato sauce. So far, so good especially the martinis, in case I haven't mentioned them yet.

Joan had lambchops, John had talapia and I had the shishkabobs. All was very yummy indeed. Our waitress was Russian with a cute accent. She never rushed us one bit, but let us take as much time as we wanted between ordering and then just sitting at the end. Very nice relaxing night.

We ended the night with a beer at Joan's. We also got to see her DVD from her trip to Morocco. It was so well done it could have been on the travel channel.

We look forward to our next visit sometime in March.
Just one funny note. Joan said she would love to bring her mom to this restaurant to have some of the good dishes, but she is afraid her often outspoken mom just might say, "You people killed my people!" (you know, the Turks who took over the Armenians)

Happy 31st Birthday to Alissa

Today my younger daughter celebrates her 31st Birthday! I want to take this opportunity to wish a very happy day spent with her husband, Nathan. Forgive me if I told this story last year on her birthday, but I am too lazy to check it out myself right now. At any rate, it is a good story and I love to relive her birth. Alissa was three weeks late but when she made her entry into the world, it was quick and easy. We arrived at the hospital and after only ten minutes she was born, delivered by a nurse because the snow storm made for a late arrival of our doctor. It always amazes me that there were no doctors in the hospital at that time of the day, at least that is what they told me when I said I had to push.
We had chosen the name Alissa just days before when we no longer cared for the name Noelle which I thought would forever remind me of how late she actually was. We expected a Christmas baby, but Alissa had her own agenda. To this day, Alissa pretty much has her own agenda and has always followed her own drummer or however that saying goes.
Anyway, I wanted to share a few pictures of my sweet Alissa from a long time ago.

Here is the first shot of her and her daddy. This is such a precious picture since in those old days before digital cameras, we didn't take many pictures. Alissa weighed 8 lbs. and had a full head of reddish hair.

And here is her proud mommy. I wish we had taken many, many more pictures that day, but I am thankful for these two. This is actually a clear picture but in scanning it, something seems to have gone wrong, but I think you get the picture.

Here is our little Alissa at 5 months. Just look at her beautiful hair!

And another one at 5 months.

She developed her love of television very early in life. She was just a bit shy of one when this picture was taken.

And, yes, she was a dancer and that is why she still does so well in a dance off especially with her brother in law, Paul.

First day of Kindergarten

And dressed as Pippy Longstocking for Halloween. I love the way we got her braids to stick out by putting hangers in them.

Oh, how I wish I could scan all the pictures I have of her growing up, but even these few took me a long enough time so I will leave you with these.

So, Happy Birthday, Alissa! You have always made us proud by the way you do follow your own drummer and do things the way you want to do them without any pressure from the outside world. I know the next chapter of your life, the one you are entering now, will be another exciting time and by your next birthday, I hope you will be celebrating in Bloomington!