Short and Sweeet

It was a good weekend.

Just John and I doing fun things and enjoying each other after the busyness of the last weekend.

On Friday, we did our shopping and had Arby's for dinner.

On Saturday we left for some shopping in Milwauikee.

We found some great things at St. Vinney's and then hit the Dollar Store, Menard's, Target, another Dollar Store, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and the teacher store.

It was great fun checking things off my list.

We went to a 4:3o movie,  Murder on the Orient Express which was an all right movie.

After the movie, we went to Midpoint Sports Bar to watch the Badgers lose to the Buckeyes.

We did have some great food and beers.

We had a friendly wager going with the Kovach's so that was fun to text back and forth.  Not so much fun when we lost though.

On Sunday, the Packers won their game finally and I baked no names, 7 layer bars, and cut outs.

Ate way too many mistakes.

John and I went to check out the Christmas train which was going through Watertown.

We watched it on Concord Ave. It zoomed by and if we had blinked we would have missed it for sure.  You would think it could have slowed down a bit!

At any rate, a very good weekend.

Here are a few other things I want to remember:

• Our Pastor Carter has resigned because his wife cheated on him and left him.  It's sad for St. John's because he has done so much for us.
• Dick Berner was killed when a tree fell on  him.  Mom went to the funeral and said he didn't look good.  Well, duh, a tree fell on his head!
• Tiz was in her second big cheer competition in Minneapolis this wknd.  Her team not only took first place but also won the best stunt award.  I wish I could have been there, but instead Paul's family was there.  Didn't care much for the fact that they got to share in the excitement.  I am much happier when they stay in Mn and Iowa and don't bother us.

Well that is all for now.

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So Much to be Thankful for - Thanksgiving 2017

It's another Sunday night here and I am in the midst of decorating the Christmas trees.

It's been fantastic Thanksgiving.  We celebrated for four days!

This was the year that Courtney, Paul, and the girls spend it with us, so that makes it very nice.

We have gone to Alissa and Nathan's the last few years, but this year, Alissa and Courtney decided we should have it up here.

Alissa joined us while Nathan stayed down in Bloomington to spend it with his dad.

Everyone arrived on Wednesday evening.

We all went out to Sprecher's for the first time, it has just opened here in Watertown.

What a fun place.

The food was great, the beer was great and our service was great, too.

A perfect trifecta.

On Thursday we made our turkey and the other good stuff.

We watched Troop Beverly Hills and made some slime.

It was a great, fun day.

Mallory stopped by after dinner and we all hung around in the basement.

On Friday, we went to the cemetery to put Christmas stuff on the graves and say hello to all the loved ones there, who actually aren't really there, but you know what I mean.

It was a beautiful 62.

Alissa left on Friday after lunch.

The rest of us, including mom, went to see the movie Wonder.

Such a fantastic movie.

We all loved it.

Came home and watch School of Rock to prepare us to the play we will be seeing tomorrow with the girls.

We loved the movie.

On Saturday we left around noon for the play which was at the marcus center in Milwaukee.

It was a broadway musical and so cool!

We ate at Fuddruckers and then surprised the girls with our annual trip through the lights.

It was a bit earlier than we usually go, but this weekend just worked out best for us.

The girls were so excited.

Tiz did live videos out the sunroof and Soli drove on John's lap.

We enjoyed the trains, streets of Bethlehem, and hot chocolate as we always do!

It was a perfectly wonderful day.

Today we went to church and Courtney and Paul came from their night out to pick up the girls and take them home.

I am so thankful for all that I have!

Now back to tree decorating!

Homemade for the Holidays

This Saturday we went to Oshkosh, enjoyed lunch at Becket's and then shopped at Homemade for the Holidays, which is Courtney's craft show.

We took mom along.

It was a great, fun day.

We ordered Rocky's for dinner while Courtney and Paul went out after the show.

My kids sang in church today for the first time this year.

There were some tears but all in all it went very well.

John cleaned gutters, the packers lost badly, and I put up the bubble lights.

That was about it for this wknd.

First Place!

Today was a very exciting day for Tizita and her cheer team.

It was their first big competition of the season and it was a big one with lots of talented teams.

In her division there were eight other teams.

They performed so well, but so did many of the other teams.

We were hopeful for a fifth place, maybe

But, they finished first!!

What excitement for all of them

They work so hard and now they got to reap the benefits of that hard work.

They were so happy with their medals and trophy.

We celebrated at the Colliseum Bar where we watched the Badgers win, too.

It was a fun day.

I was so happy to be able to share it with Tizita.

I had friday off so I went up to Oshkosh and Organized the girls' rooms for them.

On friday night, we went out to Midpoint sports bar with Louisa and Tim, it was a great night.

Tomorrow we will lay low and relax.

It may be time to move all the stuff in for the winter, too.

Celebrating Mom's 89th Brithday

We spent this last weekend celebrating my mom's 89th birthday.

It was a wonderful weekend.

I took off Friday afternoon, something that I was never able to do until I have two other capable people in my classroom with me.

Alissa and Nathan arrived here and drove me and mom up to Oshkosh to watch Tizita in a cheer competition showcase.

Mallory joined us, too and John drove up there after work so we were all there to watch Tizita perform.

Here are a few photos from the event:

After the event, we all went over to West End Pizza and enjoyed pizza and beer.

It was a great way to start mom's birthday.

The girls came home with John, mom, and me while Mal, Lis, Nathan, Paul, and Courtney stayed in Oshkosh to go out together.

On Saturday the girls made slime and played on our phones and watched TV until everyone arrived.

We picked Kev up and went over to Sweet Mullets followed by mom's choice of Schwefel's Supper Club.

We all loved the food and had a wonderful time there.

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After that we went over to Kev's to open gifts and have cake.

That was so much fun, too.

Mom loved all her gifts, she usually does, she is very easy to please.

Today we all went to church and were able to have Harmony sit with us.  She came home to play with the girls for a bit before everyone had to leave.

It was a great, fun weekend!

Oh, and I even go to see Aaron Rodgers!

Being Stand in Grandparents

Thiis Friday I went up to Oshkosh to spend my day off with Courtney.

We had a really fun time shopping at some of her favorite local stores.

I spent quite a bit but I did get a lot of Christmas shopping done which was nice.

We picked the girls up at school, I was a surprise and they were both in great moods.

We had a snack at DQ and John and I headed home after a pizza and beer stop at Cranky Pat's.

On Saturday we played the part of Treyton, Kaliyah, and Harmony's grandparents so Louisa and Tim could go to a Foster Parenting class.

We took them to a fall festival at the high school which was rather lame, but they had fun.

We had a treat at the gas station yogurt place and then played with them at their house.

John and Treyton were outside for at least an hour tossing the football around.

I think they both had a great time.

Kaliyah and I played school.

Both of those kids are just so nice and well behaved.

It was fun to be their stand in grandparents for a day.

Today we celebrated 500 years of the Lutheran Reformation with a great church service.

Now I am handing ouot candy to the trick or treaters!

Nice, relaxing weekend before another busy week sets in!

Volleyball!, Volleyball, and more Volleyball

This was a great weekend of volleyball.

Courtney and Paul had a very busy Saturday with Soli playing soccer in De Pere, Paul playing in his band at the Farmer's Market, and Tiz playing Volleyball at a tournament at Trinity.  They could not be two places at once, so Courtney asked if John and  I would cheer on Tiz.  

We watched her play six games, three for the A team and three for the B team.

The girls played for third place in the A division and for the championship in the B division.

They played so well.

My girls never played volleyball so it was fun to watch it.

It's really an exciting sport to watch.

In between games we kept an eye on Soli who had been dropped off after her soccer game.

She enjoyed playing with a group of older kids, like 7th and 8th graders, they were hitting the volleyball around.

They seem to really like Soli a lot!

After all the games, we went out for some Mexican food and drinks.

Then we watched :The Great Outdoors.

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday.

John and I stayed overnight, went to church this AM and watched the Packers lose.

Now we are home and getting ready for another Monday.

It's a nice short week for me though with Thursday and Friday off, so bring it on.