New Phones

Today was the day that we had decided to buy our new phones! We were finally stepping into the 2010's and updating our phone. The last time we had updated our phone was the same night we had purchased our washing machine. We had ridden our bikes out to Sears and ordered the washer and then rode on to the US cellular store and purchased the new phone and plan. The person helping us said our plan wasn't even available anymore, it was that old. We hang on to our phones for a long time. Our old phone did not take pictures, it did not connect to the internet, and we never played a game on it. It was strictly a phone.
This AM when I was going to turn on the TV, I actually was pressing buttons on the old phone. I had a senior moment and must have thought it was the remote! I started to seriously doubt if I could handle a newfangled phone.

But we did go ahead and purchase two new phones. We went into the store expecting to buy a smartphone for me and a simple "phone" for John, but we walked out with two smartphones for the same price.

We are excited to get to know our new phones. My fingers seem a bit too fat to actually type on the tiny keyboard, but I am sure with practice we can do it.

Mary and Martha-photo 4

Day four of the photo project and I am still keeping up!
Funny things happen in my Preschool room all the time. It is the nature of the age. I wish I could document all of them, but I just never take the time. Today's funny story was too good to pass up though.
I used Barbie dolls to tell the story of Mary and Martha. I used Barbie dolls last year, too.
In the above photo you can see the blonde Barbie Mary sitting at Jesus feet listening to Him while the redheaded Barbie Martha is cooking.
After I finished telling the story, one of my little girls said, "Those are the wrong Barbies." At first I did not know what she meant but then she brought me the two brunette Barbies (from our Barbies in the play area) that I had used last year.

Here are the ones I used last year and the funny thing is that they are still dressed in the outfits I chose for them at that time.

So here you can see Mary and Martha 2011 on the left and Mary and Martha 2012 on the right. It all came back to me eventually.

Lesson learned: I must document these things so I don't make this mistake again in the future.

At least Jesus Ken stayed the same since we only have one Ken!

I was impressed that the kids could remember such a detail. They may not have remembered the story of Mary and Martha, but they sure remembered the actresses!

Salad, it what's for dinner. Photo number 3

I made this salad for dinner last night. Above you can see it with the strawberries, blueberries, oranges, and italian salad mix.

Add some grilled chicken and poppyseed dressing and you have a very tasty, nutritious meal.

It also makes me think of the warm, summer days to come.

Words, words, words

I have recently been introduced to Words with Friends and admittedly, I have become somewhat of an addict. At any given time, I have ten to fifteen games going with various friends.
Currently, I am actively playing with Alissa (new to the game and still playing at my level), Diane (knows all the tricks to win), Terri (also a scrabble queen, so knows all the tricks), Mark Scherer (my first opponent, fun to play against since we are pretty much equals), Lynn Nichter (also close to my speed), Hannah and Noelle (fourth graders at St. John's, so far easy to beat), Angie (plays a word once every few days), Carol (also plays a word every few days), Shevawn (hasn't sent back a word yet), Vanessa (Terri's daughter who has learned well from her mom), John (husband, who wants to quit whenever I get a big lead), Dyllan (college student who also knows much more than I do), my niece Mallory (a infrequent worder) and a few others.
I like Words because it is a game that requires no time limit. Some games stretch to weeks while others can be completed in a night.
I do need to figure out some strategies so winning becomes more of a norm for me.
For right now, It is fun, but so was Riddler years ago!
So there is my second photo.

365 day photo challenge

So, I read about this 365 photo challenge on Kim's blog. It sounded intriguing to me. The idea is to post a photo each day on your blog so at the end of the 365 days you would have a record of many things that happened on a daily basis. I think it sounds fun, but I don't like to take something on unless I can be successful at it, so I am hoping that I can actually take and post at least one photo a day. I think it is worth a try for me and if Kim can do it with two small children and a full time job, I think I should be able to do it, too.

The first picture I posted is the last one taken on my old camera just before it hit the floor at Anne's Uptown Tap last Saturday night. My camera had hit the deck many times in its short but full life, but this one was the straw that broke the camera's back. From the looks of the above photo and of some of my latest photos, I feel the camera was on its last leg anyway.
On Sunday I purchased a new camera with a $7.00 one year warranty against accidental breakage. I figured that was a good investment for me since I have a tendency to drop and break cameras. My only requirement was that the new camera be as similiar as possible to the old one. I did not want to have to learn any new things. And it is very similiar minus the touch screen which was not my friend anyway.
So, in getting back to this photo, besides being my last photo, it is also a photo that reminds me of a fun night out with my girls.
Day 1 - photo 1 complete!

Disney on Ice and other weekend tidbits

The weekend started with the first winter weather warning of the winter. (Lots of alliteration there) Not good news since I had Alissa traveling up from Bloomington right into the storm, Courtney, Paul and Tiz traveling southwest from Oshkosh right into the storm, and John heading home from Sauk City also in the midst of the storm. After all of them arrived safely I took a sigh of relief and actually enjoyed the beautiful snowfall.
We ate in on Friday night and celebrated Courtney and Paul's birthdays.

The Birthday boy and girl after goody box opening.

Here is the sweet sight that greeted me on Saturday morning. She had slept in Gigi's warm snugly bathrobe all night. We left on Saturday morning for the Disney on Ice show at the US Cellular arena in Milwaukee. Alissa, Courtney, Tiz, and I were the lucky ones who attended the show.

We purchased the $7.00 popcorn and the big pretzel as well as the obligatory light up toy. Tiz chose a tinkerbell want that spun around as it lit up.

The show did not disappoint. I loved watching Tiz with her eyes fixated on the skating characters. At the end all the princessess came out and skated. It was a little girl's dream.

We stopped at Brookfield Square on the way home. Ended our day with a yummy birthday dinner at El Mariachi, choice of the birthday people and a few beers at Ann's.

It was a snowy, fun weekend. Today I hope to get out and play in the fresh snow with Tizita before they leave.

A Walk together

One of my favorite moments on our Door County trip. Spending quiet time with sweet Tizita on our walk.

Today Tiz, Lis, Courtney, and I head to Disney on Ice. Looking forward to a girls day out and a great ice show.