Celebrating Alissa's birthday and other tidbits from the weekend

It has been one fun and full weekend. It all started on Friday when Courtney and Tizita arrived bright and early, despite some pretty snowy roads for Preschool. If you saw my previous blog, you noticed that Tizita started the trend of the Mr. Potato Head glasses in my classroom. Such a leader we have. After Preschool, Tiz and I had some serious food prep getting the spaghetti pies ready for Alissa's birthday dinner. I had never made spaghetti pie before and Alissa had never had it, but Nathan mentioned that he had been missing spaghetti pie so I took his mom's recipe and Tiz and I went to work. Alissa decided it would be an all right meal as long as her pie was meatless.
Here is Tiz preparing the ricotta cheese, egg, and parsley mixture. The original recipe actually called for cottage cheese, but I switched it to ricotta for personal taste reasons.

Here are the two pies without the mozorella cheese on top. This is before we put them into the oven for the first step in the baking process. I didn't get a picture of the finished products but they looked great and they tasted very, very good. Even Nathan told me that they tasted very much like the way his mom made the spaghetti pie. A successful endeavor indeed.

Here is our Happy Birthday girl with Tizita. I made her the crown so everyone would know she was thirty!

It was a Bon Jovi Birthday for Alissa. John and I gave her a coffe table book and their newest CD. I think we found the perfect gifts for her.

Five lovely ladies celebrating the big day.

And of course, there was a goody box which involved lots of guessing. Here Tiz is trying to help Alissa decide what might be in this package.

While playing "Pin the olive in the Martini," Nathan ended up putting his olive right here on Alissa head.

Here are the results of the Martini game. We always try and do some "pin the something on the something" at our parties. It is a game we never outgrow.

On Saturday, Alissa, Nathan, and Courtney left for Oshkosh where Paul's band was playing in honor of Alissa's birthday and Tizita stayed with us. We took her to the Olympia Ski Hill where Alex and Hannah Thompson and Nic Hieden were snowboarding. Here she is drinking her first ever root beer. Sorry, Courtney, there were no other options except water and after consulting Vikki and Deb we came up with root beer being the lesser of all evils!

Tiz enjoyed playing pool on the table with Mallory.

We spent some time out watching the hill up close and personal. Hannah and Alex would wave to us each time they rode up the chair lift. Tiz loved watching them zoom down the hill.

It was a very fun weekend and I think Alissa had a good birthday. I also think Tiz had a very fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. We took her home today. We are tired but happy!

A classroom full of Potato Heads

My class turned into a classroom full of Potato Heads today. The whole crazy thing started when this little lady put on a pair of Mr. Potato Head's glasses. The other children quickly followed suit. I hope Tiz's leadership skills stick with her!

Is it any wonder that I love my job? There's is always something to laugh about.

Happy 30th Birthday Alissa!

Yep, you read that right! Thirty years ago I was just in the process of having my second baby, another little girl who we named Alissa Marie. She was born at 6:50 AM at Lakeland Hospital in Elkhorn weighing in at 8 lb. 1/2 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She had a headful of reddish hair like the hospital staff had never seen before. Her hair continues to be her crowning glory.

I watch a lot of Baby Story and I think, Wow, I would have had a great story to tell on that show. First of all, Alissa was due on Christmas and we were all set to name her Noelle, but when Christmas came and went and when New Year's Day came and went, we hit the name book yet again. Remember in those days you didn't have ultra sounds and you didn't know the sex of your baby until he/she came out. We both found the name Alissa, thought it was a lovely name and there you have it! Jacob Kenneth was our boy's choice for the length of the pregnancy.

On Monday, January 7 we were in the midst of a huge snowstorm. John had parked our car across the Highway in a business lot. We realized there was no way he could get to that car in time, so we headed off in the old Pinto. We dropped Courtney off at a neighbor's and I just hoped we would get to the hospital in time. It was a long ride even though the hospital was only a mile away.

Well, we just made it, the Doctor did not however. Alissa was delivered by a nurse about ten minutes after arriving. No drugs, no epidural (had never even heard of that), nothing! It would have made a captivating Baby Story episode! To this day, I just cannot believe there was no doctor in that hospital at that time of the day. What kind of hospital has no Doctor?

Anyway, it is time for me to go to work, so I will be closing this little saga.

Before I sign off I just want to wish Alissa a very Happy Birthday. I hope she has a terrific day because she deserves it!

Thanks, Alissa, for thirty years of happy memories with many more to come.

I love you!

A Successful Birthday Celebration

As you know from my previous post, John turned 55 yesterday. I always try to make a birthday a special day of the ones I care about so John's birthday was no exception. I began by finding a lasagna recipe online that proclaimed itself as the "world's best lasagna". The perfect birthday meal for John.

I made the lasagna on Sunday. It involved simmering my own red sauce complete with hamburger and Italian sausage. If you know me, especially in recent years, you know that my cooking consists of opening cans, Hamburger helper, and slow cooker meals, so making this homemade sauce was quite an accomplishment for me and boy, did it ever smell yummy!

Here is the finished product just before we enjoyed it. And, let me tell you, it was the best lasagna that John and I had ever tasted! Success on the meal. I added crescent rolls and our favorite Italian salad, perfect way to celebrate a birthday.

John's gift from me. Sarah Palin's book which I know he will enjoy!

A long standing tradtion in our family is my mom's goody box which is filled with 20 wrapped items. The Birthday person has to guess what is in each present and we keep a running total for the year. John did not fare so well on this box. He guessed 11 of the 20 correctly. Here are just a few of the items.

Took this self portrait with my new camera. Looking good for 55!

And finally, the collage I made for John filled with memorabilia from our fun Mardi Gras night. We will hang it somewhere so that we can always remember that great party!

So. there you have it, John's 55 Birthday!

Happy Birthday John! 55 years!

I revisited my birthday post to John of last year. (If you want to read it, just go to Jan. 2009 on the sidebar, I would have brought it back here, but don't know how and don't have time to learn)

Anyway I must have had much more time on my hands last year to be able to write such a nice tribute to John. I still mean every word of it, just too much farming and cafe world to take time to write such nice things this year.

On that note, Happy Birthday to my husband and best friend. I hope this year feels like Mardi Gras every day!

I love you!

Looking back at 2009

January brought our annual birthday celebrations in Milwaukee. This year Tizita joined us and added to the fun time! There was Build a bear, martini drinking, and Mexican food. All in all, a great time!

Our sweet little Valentine in February. No need to say anything more!

In March, we spent a weekend up in Door County with Courtney, Paul and Tizita. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for hiking and exploring the beautiful parks. We always enjoy our time spent in Door County, no matter what season.

April brought Easter. We celebrated with our precious little Tizita and the rest of the family. There was a new twist on the Easter hunt, not sure everyone enjoyed it though, back to the drawing board for next year, I guess.

May, Memorial Day, brought the beginning of our biking season with an overnight in Two Rivers. We biked our favorite two trails. The weather was rainy and cool, but we had a great time.

June found us in our favorite spot on earth-St. George Island, Florida. Here we are on our front porch ready to enjoy another day in paradise. On this sub zero day, I sure do miss, you, St. George!

And of course, the 4th of July! My dad's favorite holiday and we like to remember him as we celebrate each year. Here we are waiting for the infamous parade to begin. The parade is always followed by brats, some swimming, a musical production with me as the star, and the fireworks! Perfect way to say, "Happy Birthday, America!"

In August, John and I chose an unseasonably cool (actually cold) weekend to visit Mackinac Island. It had been years since we had been there and it was fun to bike around the Island and see all the familiar haunts which seem to have been frozen in time. After time on the Island we met up with The Van Aukens and rode the S. S. Badger across Lake Michigan. A fun way to end the summer.

The highlight of September was having Tizita start Preschool in my classroom. What a thrill to be her first teacher and watch her learn, grow, and have fun with little friends! As I recall, she was a bit of a spitfire this first day, but she has really settled in and is doing great.

October, Halloween fun in Oshkosh dressed as the Elmo family! I don't like Halloween in general, but I did enjoy spending it with Tizita dressed as Elmo. Oshkosh did a great job of putting on a Trick or Treating event with downtown merchants participating. I wonder what kind of a family we can be next year!

In November, we took Tizita to downtown Watertown to partake in their pre Christmas activities. We made an ornament and a snowman plus too a ride on this carriage pulled by horses. We watched the Christmas parade that evening. Alissa really enjoyed that parade! This is an annual event and I hope we can enjoy it again in years to come.

And rounding out the year in December, John's Mardi Gras Christmas party. What a highlight that event was! Gotta love Realtime Electric!

So, all in all, a very good year with lots of highlights and great memories. Still I was not sad to see it go because I know 2010 will have many surprises for us, too.

Happy Twenty Ten

As you might remember from last year's post (or not) I am not fond of making a big deal out of one year ending and a new one beginning. I just like to ease into the new year as if it is just another day. That being said, look at how I ushered it in last night with my good friend and college roommate Joan! Looks like I threw caution to the wind! We really did have a fun night. We started with appetizers at Joan's while we watched her dvd of her photos from a trip to Egypt. I think they were beautiful although she had them set up to show for only one second each so I am not too sure. It was funny. I think she will have to perfect her travel log before she takes it on the road! After that we went to Champs for a yummy dinner and headed over to Fat Boy's Roadhouse where our college friend John Giliberti was playing in his band. It was such a fun time. It felt right to toast the New Year with good friends! So, at least for this year, it was a big deal.

There was dancing, too.

And lovely ladies to toast in the New Year! Happy New year everyone. Let's hope it is a good one filled with God's richest blessings for all of us.