A Play, Monkey Joe's, and a Bike Ride

It's a Sunday night again and here is a recap of our weekend.

On Friday, Courtney dropped the girls off on her way to Bloomington to have a sister weekend with Alissa.

We took the girls and my mom to the play at St. John's, The Emperor's New Clothes."  It was very well done as all St. John's plays are and the girls especially enjoyed seeing the king in his underwear.

After some cookies and lemonade, we came home and watched Ramona and Beezus together.  It was a fun night.

On Saturday we took the girls to Monkey Joe's in Appleton.

The first hour was good, the girls were able to enjoy all the inflatables, but after lunch the crowds increased and it was almost impossible for Soli to enjoy any of the things. Even the three year old and under area had big kids in it.

Tiz had made a new friend and she was having fun.

As we were preparing to leave, both girls wanted a slushie.

Soli wanted a red one (cherry) and Tiz ordered a blue one.  Well, how were we to know that the cherry was white cherry, no red dye and therefore, no red color.  Soli was not happy with a white slushie especially when her sister had a bright blue one.

Without going into too many details here, this white slushie situation led to a major meltdown.  We realized that Soli had hit the end of her rope, not only could she not get into the inflatables without a fight, but now her slushie was white.

We let her have her meltdown.  I had no one to impress and then she settled down and proceeded to drink her whole slushie.

Other than that meltdown, we did have a good time.

On the way back to take the girls home to Paul in Oshkosh, we stopped at a park and even though it was cold and windy, we all enjoyed some time in the park. Soli enjoyed some swinging which always makes things better for her.

After dropping them off, John and I headed back to Watertown and decided to stop at On the Rock for a few beers and pizza.

It was a much  needed end to our day.

The Bucks were playing in a play off game and we were able to watch them win that game while enjoying our dinner.  It was a good  night.

After church on Sunday, we decided to take a bike ride around Lac La Belle.  Best made plans have a way of unraveling though.  John noticed that his back tire was flat.  Our new plan was to take the tire to Wheels and Sprocket in Delafield and then ride from there.

The Lake Country trail was closed in a few areas so we found some alternative routes between Delafield and Oconomowoc.

We rode 16.5 miles and it felt good.

Now it is time to relax and get ready for the week.

John continues to look for work, but we are still staying pretty positive through it all.

And Another weekend enters the Record Books

It's Sunday night and you know what that means, another weekend is in the record books.

The weekends go fast and the time in between goes almost just as fast.

The older I get, the faster time goes.

On Friday we left right after my morning session for Oshkosh.

We took a walk around Oshkosh looking for photos for my new adventure of making alphabet photo collages.

I had made some a few Christmases ago for family and then I promptly forgot about it until Alissa friend Kim saw the one I made for Alissa and asked me if I would make one for her.

My excitement peaked again and I am now figuring that if Kim was willing to pay for one, maybe other people would be willing to pay, too.  So, with John's help, we are looking for alphabet letters in everything and snapping photos like crazy.

After the photo shoot in Oshkosh, we picked Tizita up from school, rounded up Soliana and headed over to Imagination Station in Oconomowoc for the first picnic of the season.

The girls loved playing at this great park.

Soli climbed way up to the top of this awesome climbing structure, not to be outdone by her sister.

After our picnic and play at the park, we stopped at the video store to find some movies for the night.

After movies of their choice, we hit the hay.

On Saturday, we went over to the Early Childhood Fair where I had to man the St. John's booth while John took the girls around to enjoy all the fun activities.

 Soli could not get enough of the big slide and jumping area.

 Tiz enjoyed planting.

Both girls liked the petting zoo.

It was a great, fun morning.

After some lunch, we stopped at the cemetery to put some flowers on Granny's grave and then went to meet Courtney and Paul at the Mineshaft in Hartford.

The girls had lots of fun in the game room as usual, but neither of them were huge winners this time.

They did each get some nice little prizes though.

Soli loved the two rides.

We all enjoyed an early dinner and then we sent the girls home with their parents.

Today after church, John and I took a nice walk with camera in had and found more photos for my ABC project.

Courtney and Paul are celebrating Soli's anniversary of them meeting her.  It was three years ago that they met her for the first time in the Care Center in Ethiopia.

I know it was a great celebration for them.

Here are some photos from that first meeting.

Soliana is definitely our little Sunshine!

Just some of this and some of that

Spring has finally sprung.

My Preschoolers are back outside and that makes life so much better for all of us.

John and I took our first bike ride around town last weekend.

It was hard especially due to a very strong wind, but we made ten miles.

We have been walking every night after I get home.

I have been consistently getting over 10000 steps on my fitbit.

John is continuing his job search with some interviews, but no real offers yet.

We remain hopeful and know that God has a great plan for us.

I am attempting to start a summer tutoring program for my preschoolers.

I am calling it Mrs. Damman's Summer Scholars.

So far I have had some interest, hopefully it will be successful.

I just want to make a little money over the summer.

  

I cannot believer that I did not blog about this yet, but I guess I didn't so here goes.

Last weekend, John and I had a great time at the Admirals game on Friday night.

We started with dinner at Fuddruckers.

Pat McCurdy was performing before, during, and after the game.

We had first heard Pat McCurdy at last year's Admiral game and we enjoyed him very much.

We even got a Pat McCurdy bobblehead!  

We had gotten our tickets at the St. John's Gala and we could not believe how great our seats were!

We were on two folding chairs in their own little area right by the tunnel where all the action happens.

The Admirals lost but that really did not matter because of Pat's performance.

We left the game with ten minutes remaining with the idea of having one beer.  Well, all the concession stands close down by that time, so we were out of luck in that department.

After the great show, we decided to stop at McGinn's, a bar in Wauwatosa that we used to frequent with Alissa and Nathan.

We had two beers each and the best chips and salsa.

Best of all, it was only  $14.00 for four beers and the chips.  That same food would have cost us $40.00 at the Admiral's game.  Lucky those concession stand were closing!

We never got home until 1:00.  It felt good to be out so late and have so much fun together.

In the midst of all of our headaches that go along with a lay off, it felt good to feel so normal and have such a great time.

The rest of the weekend was just as nice.

I am looking forward to this next weekend when we get to spend time with the girls again.

Well, that is all for now.

Our House Feels so Empty

John and I will be sleeping alone for the first time in over a week.

For the past week, we have had either Tiz or Soli or both of them between us in our king size bed.

It began last Wednesday with Soli here for her solo sleepover.

Then it was Tiz for her early sleepover on Thursday night.

Both girls joined us on Friday and Saturday night and then it was Tiz, alone from Sunday to today.

If you asked Tiz and Soli what their favorite part of our sleepovers are, they would both answer, "being able to watch TV even while eating."

Both of them love snuggling between us down in the basement and choosing favorite TV shows or movies to watch together.

We let them stay up late watching the shows and we let them sleep in, too.

I hope they have many sweet memories of our time together.

Tiz, John, and I enjoyed a game of Monopoly that spanned three days.  John was bankrupted (Tiz's words) and that ended our game.

Tiz did makeovers on me.

On Monday, we took Tiz to Discovery Zone.  She made the choice of where she wanted to go that day and we were all pleased with her decision.

There were not crowds of people there, so Tiz was able to do all the things she wanted while she was there.

She was able to fly a plane:

After a crash landing, Tiz laid on a bed of nails:

Then she and Grandpa watched a 3 D movie in a place called the HIVE.

They had to wear clogs and 3 D glasses.  They were able to choose what movie they wanted to see and Tiz chose a movie about the Solar System.

I was able to watch them watching the movie on a screen.  They both seemed to enjoy their experience.

Next, Tiz was able to use an i pad to drive a remote control car and then catch a large ball that was shot our of a robot type invention.

Tiz's hair stuck straight out from the static electicity.

Tiz ran in a large gerbil wheel with both grandpa and me.

We were supposed to generate enough energy to light up some lamps, but we both got too tired to accomplish that task.

Grandpa and her did fill a water tower with their energy.

Finally, Tiz was able to touch a sting ray and a sturgeon, drive a ship, and play with some simple machines.

We ended our fun day with pizza at Marty's.

This was by far the highlight of her stay with us, but, like I said, she enjoyed the little things just as much.

Today and yesterday she came to school to help me.

She did art projects with the kids and read them a book.  She is so much fun to have in my classroom.

Tonight I came home to a very quiet house and tonight I will be sleeping in a very empty bed.

Easter 2015 is in the record books

We had another great Easter.

It began with egg coloring on Good Friday proceeded to dinner at Lindberg's on Good Friday night and then the third annual Kohlhoff Bowling on Saturday followed by a Badger win.

There was also Easter egg hunts on Saturday and church on Sunday.

It was a great weekend filled with lots of happy times.

Here are a few photos.

Tiz is spending a few days with us on her spring break so this is a short post.