Just small updates

Today is the last day of Bridge to School for Connell so he is sad about that. He loved it as they did so many frilly projects that it was right up his alley!

We all 4 are sniffly and have sore throats and so we all have colds and/or allergies or BOTH! Bummer.

Tomorrow (Fri.) the boys and I are going down to Owatonna to my folks' house. My dad has been doing better so we are all anxious to see him. With the congestive heart failure and consequential fluid retention, he was up to 185 lbs when they admitted him to the hospital last Friday. Today he weighed 160 (after lots of diuretics, etc.) He has an appetite again and so that is a good sign. This week was full of appointments and now he doesn't have a scheduled one until Aug 11th, so we'll see how the next weeks go...

Dad is back home...

My dad was discharged from the hospital on Sunday. I was gone when he called and so Ray simply reported that he sounded a little tired/winded as he spoke and yet he still managed to give insight on the various baseball teams and their progress. We have plans to go to Owatonna on Friday to visit so we are hoping that everyone feels better as neither my mom nor my sister have been feeling well lately either.

Camping, Fishing and Downpours - oh, my!

Saturday we were invited by our friends (they asked to remain quite anonymous so we will just call them "Jennifer" and "Richard") to join them at a campground near Cannon Falls (there is a regional park there). Although we were initially invited to camp overnight with them, we declined as the last thing on my list of things to do is to sleep outside in a tent. So they continued with their family's plans to spend the entire weekend -- with the Hagens simply joining in on Saturday's festivities.

Well, Friday evening they called our house to inform us that upon arrival at the campground that their reservation was no where to be found! So they had to pack back up and head back to the Cities with their daughter feeling more than a little disappointed (we will call her "Amy"). Despite the obvious setback, both families mutually decided to continue with the Saturday plans.

So Saturday morning we drove down to Cannon Falls and drove into the parking lot only to get out and feel it was quite chilly and windy. The temperature was in the 60s and quite windy and none of us were really dressed for it. The kids ran around for a while near the picnic bench and I wrapped myself in a blanket to keep warm! There were plans to go fishing and canoeing and enjoy the day nonetheless.

Periodically the sun would peek out and it felt a little warmer and so finally we all ventured out to go fishing. Oops -- no worms (Ray had forgotten to pick some up before we left the Cities) and so Richard and Ray took a ride to town to Al's Bait Shop which was simply inside a local guy's garage. The fishing went ok although the kids were all pretty restless and impatient. Amy actually caught a fish (a sucker as Ray identified it) and it was her first fishing experience ever! Did I mention that Amy was scared to death of the fish as it flopped around as you might be able to sense from the photo?

Next we took turns going out in Richard's beautifully handcrafted canoe. Jennifer and Richard were kind enough to take our boys out and they came back describing the boys as being a little "wiggly". I even had a turn. Unfortunately Ray and Richard were over the weight limit so that combo didn't work out. The kids wanted to keep going out.

Then it happened. There were some darker clouds to the north. We figured that we probably had to start heading back before the rain -- but it was too late! The winds picked up and it started to downpour as Richard went out with Liam and Amy in the canoe. Ray, Connell, Jennifer and I took off running in the pouring rain to head for cover. We could see the canoe being blown across the water in the high winds! As the 4 of us got to the car and threw our belongings in, Amy's beach ball took off in the wind and both Jennifer and Ray took off running after it. Ray caught it after running about a quarter of the length of a football field!

We drove up to shore to see that the canoe had gone ashore at the opposite side of the lake. So the 4 of us split between two cars to drive the many miles around the lake to rescue the others. By this point the rain had stopped and the sun started to peek out again. As we arrived on the other side --- we saw no sign of the canoe nor its three passengers. In a panic, Jennifer and I started to ask some of the people if they had seen the canoe and they had stated that it went back as soon as the rain stopped. So we got back into the cars, and around to the other side to find everyone safe and sound. Whew!

So then we continued by having a grilled supper and talking about the adventure on the high seas. Liam had a blast pretending he was a pirate and wasn't even scared given the high winds, pouring rain and quick change in course. Thankfully...

All in all it was a wonderful first camping experience for us. I guess maybe you can't call it camping because we didn't stay overnight, but we sure roughed it (used a portable potty), did some canoeing and fishing and battled the harsh weather conditions. So there you have it.

Thanks to "Jennifer", "Richard" and "Amy" for the good company and meal.

Dad is in the hospital

My dad had a bad week feeling awful and with a cough that my mom described as the worst he has ever had in the 40 years she has been with him. Last Sunday she took him to urgent care, but they only came home with some prescription pills to help the cough. Apparently they thought he had a virus and so they couldn't give him anything more for it. Well, Tuesday came and not only did the pills not work, but the side effects were unbearable and he was feeling worse. So mom took him to the ER that day and he was prescribed an antibiotic and some cough medicine with Codeine. He gave that a few days to work, but was still feeling awful and so Friday mom took him back to the emergency room. They admitted him to the hospital. Since my mom has laryngitis and can't talk, I had to get some of this information through my sister who was trying to take mom's whispers and translate through the phone. That's pretty much all I know for the moment.

New Low in Parenting...

Ok, so I think that I have hit a new low in parenting. After counting the days until preschool starts (only 50 left) and realizing that Liam is SO sporadic in his potty training, I decided that I have $190. at stake here and need to do something (the $70. deposit and $120. first month's tuition - neither of which is refundable if I drop Liam).

So I took Liam out to Toys R Us this morning (something I vowed I would never do with either boy) and let him fall in love with some toys. I bought them and now they adorn the top of the entertainment center waiting for some strides in potty training. I think tonight we will all need to sit down and figure out how many dry days it will take to earn each toy (there are some matchbox cars and some individual Thomas the Train cars that run $5.99/ea and then the grand daddy of them all -- some humongous ramp thing for the Thomas set that was $40.!!!!!) I figured that although I am usually not a gambling woman that in this case, I was willing to spend the $70. or whatever in order not to lose my $190. in the end! I have kept the receipt (it's taped to the ramp thing) and they will take returns for 90 days. If I lose my $190., then the Thomas stuff is going back and at least I won't lose all $70. of that!

There -- I said it. Now Liam just needs to get his act together. There's something wrong with a boy who is just on the cusp of riding a big two-wheeled bike with no training wheels and yet so inconsistent in his potty training!

Singing in the Rain (with Sponge Bob)

It absolutely poured this morning as we took Connell to Bridge to School. So we came home and Liam and I took a walk in the rain. He had a blast. He's still trying to figure out how to hold the umbrella though as to not get wet!

Our New Car

We purchased a brand new silver '09 Ford Focus this weekend. It will pretty much be Ray's vehicle in commuting to work and also our weekend errand vehicle. We're all pretty excited about the new car especially since our last new vehicle was the Highlander purchased in May of '06 and Connell has no memory of the switch (and Liam was still in the womb for a few more weeks yet!)

For those of you keeping track, we ended up trading in our maroon '99 Chevy Prizm for the Focus. It just turned 10 years old this past week, recently needed new tires and rims and now needed a new battery and alternator. We were not ready to put any more money into it and so basically decided in the last few days that we needed a new car!

Scrapping Away

Well, as of this morning I counted 49 pages that I have "scrapped" this past week. I am caught up with all the photos that I have gotten prints of, so I have to take a break. So far I have 189 pages since I was pregnant in spring of '04. I am going to put a few of the recent ones I put together to show you (since many of you will never see my scrapbooks in person). And yes, I was over a year and a half behind -- these boys take too much of my time!

Keep in mind that I am a very simple scrapbooker -- with few embellishments and very simple pages with items purchased at the Dollar Tree/Walmart since I just can't drop tons of time or money into it. I had to take the pictures off-center in order to avoid the flash appearing on the pages -- these are all 12 X 12 pages in actuality.

Our Family --

Christmas of '07 --

Professional Photos from Summer of '08 --

Scooters and Bikes from '08 --

Liam's 3rd Birthday ---

Connell's 4th Birthday ---

Mega Messes --

Fire Engine Park --

Splashing at the Kelley Park --

Liam moves to a "Big Kid Bed" --

Bagging Leaves with the Neighbors --

Captain Hook and Peter Pan for Halloween --

Smile! --

Loving Brothers --

Fishing at Cobblestone Lake --

Sledding in Winter of '07-'08

Our Week

Well, Connell started attending Bridge to School this week M-Th from 8-12 at our neighborhood elementary school. It will last for 3 weeks. It is a program designed for kids who need a transition before starting kindergarten. Due to Connell's late summer birthday (and the fact that he will be one of the youngest in his class), we thought that it would help with any immaturity he has in sitting still and following directions, etc. He seems to enjoy it. It's exciting for him because I get to drive up and drop him off at the sidewalk and he gets to walk in and down to his room like a big boy! He's wearing size 12 tennis shoes and they measured him at 45 inches (although it sounds like he was wearing shoes at the time because the doctor had him barefooted just under 44 inches in June). Connell told me that his friend August is the tallest at Bridge to School at 46 inches and so it sounds like Connell fits right in with his height/build. Within the first 3 days they were already doing graphing of information and writing letters and singing about the months of the year and so it is a nice mix of activities for him. Academics are right up Connell's alley and so there is nothing more that he would prefer doing during his summer!

Liam is home with me for those 4 hours that Connell is gone. We have our Playgroup in the Park two days a week and Bible Study one morning so it is still pretty busy. His potty training took an unfortunate turn for the worse this week and since he was doing excellent for several weeks, we attribute some of the problem to the big change in our schedule and Connell being absent. Hopefully it is only temporary and he gets his act together because his attendance at preschool starting the second week of September is depending on it!

We plan to buy a new car this Saturday to replace the Prizm which just turned 10 years old last week and is almost to 100,000 miles. We have recently put new tires and rims on it and it needs a new battery and we simply don't want to be concerned with all the maintenance (and money) that it will require from this point on. Ray has been investigating the Pontiac Vibe and the Ford Focus and since he will be driving the new car to work every day, I trust that he will pick something that will be perfect for that task.

I have been a scrapbooking fool lately. When I discovered that I was years behind in my books, I started organizing my photos and decided that I had to get back with it. I set up a card table in the living room and have pretty much trained the boys to leave it alone and I try to do a few pages during the day and evening. I suspect that within a week I will be all caught up. But don't forget that I am not your typical scrapbooker --- I do not put tons of money into embellishments and stickers and scrapbook supplies. I get a lot of my scrapbooking purchases at the Dollar Tree, Walmart and also at Joann's when things are on sale. My pages are very simple, but that is how I am so they fit my personality perfectly and I am usually happy with what I come up with. The boys have enjoyed looking back at all the pages I made from their births and on. I have about 160 pages that I have done since I was pregnant with Connell and I know many ladies that literally have thousands and so I "pick and choose" the events and moments that I scrapbook related to the boys.

Sorry for the graphic photo

Since many of you have commented about how I often put my boys' injuries on the blog, I figured that I deserved equal time.

This photo is from my roller skating accident from late last week. You can see that the bruise spans the entire width of my thigh. Unfortunately I didn't realize as I was sailing down the hill that the speed bump ran from nearly curb to curb and so I didn't have room to skate in between. By the time I realized this and was going too fast, I wiped out! I was back on my skates the next day so it hasn't soured my skating experience. Luckily I didn't break anything.

Fortunately my boys haven't had injuries that have been worthy of posting lately!

Puppet Theater

I managed to do a little organizing this week --- minimal, yet necessary. I found lots of craft supplies that I hadn't seen in years and so we brought them out and made some spoon puppets with pipe cleaners, fabric remnants, googly eyes, yarn, etc. We used shoe boxes for the theater part. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine (the spoon puppet thing) as I am not THAT creative!

Sorry about Connell's wild hair -- he had just taken off his bike helmet before the picture was snapped!

The Weekend Recap

For the 4th of July, we watched the Apple Valley parade with Rich/Jennifer and Amy. We were quite annoyed with the rude children around us who were only interested in the candy and blocked our view for most of the 90 minute parade. This resulted in a letter to the editor of our local weekly circular paper (the letter was penned by me of course!)

The weather was a bit rainy on Saturday which actually made for comfortable temps and low humidity levels although there were more than a few sprinkles during the course of the day. Liam went to bed about 6 pm and Connell shortly after 7 pm and neither claimed to have heard the fireworks around 10 pm. One of these years Connell might feel like staying up for the fireworks but this year he stated that maybe 3 years from now would be the right time.

Late on Saturday I started to get some terrible lower back pain. Of course I know that it is a result of all of my rollerskating late last week. It's starting to feel better although Sunday was a rough day.

Sunday after Mass, we had a group of 16 people over for our annual 4th of July BBQ. This year we opted to do it on the 5th which was more convenient for most. The 5 cousins (the girls are second-cousins to my boys) had a fun time with the Slip and Slide and just running around together.

Roller Skating

I finally found the perfect pair of roller skates on craigslist -- size 8 1/2 Riedell ones. They were a little scuffed, but that's ok. And you're not seeing things -- they are pink! I think that they are adorable! The boys and I drove down to Mpls to get them the other day and since then I have worn them a few times. Today I roller skated about an hour up and down the block while the boys played outside as well. What a workout! I have come to realize that you never forget how to skate.

Sorry about the helmet. When Connell took this photo, I hadn't yet realized that I had it on backwards! Oops.