10.30.12 Lost Tooth

Joey has been working several days on one of his bottom teeth that was wiggly.  Last night he said "Mrs. Cahoy says to twist it!"  He wiggled it the whole time I was reading to him before bed.  Finally, I pulled it with dental floss.  The permanent tooth is coming up behind, so the spot will be filled soon! Joe could not find his little wooden tooth fairy box, shaped like a tooth.  He decided to put the tooth in his harmonica box. Edie would be pleased!  The tooth fairy left a Sacajawea dollar, and paper dollars as well.  Joe is disappointed that the tooth fairy didn't take the tooth.  I told him to leave it out tonight again with a note, telling her it's ok to take it.  We are going to look at the library for a book titled Throw Your Tooth Up On the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World.  I used to read it to students, but don't know if it's in stock anymore on the library shelves.

10.31.12 happy halloween

Greetings!  The last day of October is here.  Many schools and churches had halloween activities last weekend already.  You never know what the weather will be like here...some years beautiful, others cold and windy.  Sometimes kids have to wear their costumes over a snow suit! Some signs of the season here....

Joe and I found these candy corn slippers for Emily at Target, and mailed her a surprise at the dorm.

I went a different route for treats this year.  For older kids, I'm going with mini bags of microwave popcorn, and for toddlers/babies, mini Halloween oreo cookies.  Less sugar this year perhaps.  At least from our house.  After Joey's multiple dental visits, I'm begin extra vigilant about sugar!
And of course, the costumes.  Joey really wanted to be an angry bird this year.  The costume was full price, $70.  I knew they would reduce in price, but even when they got down to $70, all the angry birds were gone.  We'll see what tonight brings.  He has a $1 felt frankenstein mask from Target!  Or he may wear his knight outfit again.  I believe this is the last year it will fit him.

Update...tonight's costume is...Halloween Hunter! The pheasant is a nice touch.

10.29.12 Uncle Mike shares his birthday

Mike's birthday is the same as someone famous....Bob Ross. Today would have been his 70th birthday.  (Bob's, not Mike's) Wikipedia says...
"Robert Norman "Bob" Ross was an American painter, art instructor, and television host. He is best known as the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a television program that ran for more than a decade on PBS in the United States and Canada"

How many of us listened to "The Joy of Painting" just to hear Bob's soothing voice, even though we never lifted a brush.  He painted scenes with "happy little trees."  It makes me smile to think of that show.  So Happy Birthday Mike...and Bob. 

10.27.12 The big move

It's a week later, so I'm rested enough to talk about it! Here's the 24 foot Budget moving truck, just arriving at Mom's.  Dad went with her to get the truck, and to return it.  

Empty, the truck looked HUGE...

Kyle, Dan, and Ryan started loading furniture first...

Cheryl and I each packed our Chrysler vans with mom's kitchen boxes, and grandpa's blue pickup had the lawn mower, rakes, shovels, tools, plant pots, etc.  Sadly, I missed photos of those!

Zach and Renia arrived, and the truck continued to fill. Here is is, with Zach loading in some items toward the end.

Joey said, "Moving is FUN!" He enjoyed it very much, and was a good sport throughout the day.  At the end, he was sunning himself!

Joey rode in the truck with Dan to Mitchell. Joe commented on how "bright the stars are!"  We realized he was sitting in the front of the truck, whereas the van has dark, tinted windows where he normally sits in the middle.
Sunday we unloaded.  On this end we had Dan, Stacie, Joe, Katie, Cheryl, Kyle, Jerad, Ryan, Zach, and Renia. That helped a lot!
New home...1306 W Ash Ave....

The original moving estimate was $3700.  Thanks to all the helping hands, even with paying $4.30 a gallon for diesel fuel, we made it for around $800.  All's well that ends well!

10.26.12 Speed Stacks and Halloween Dance

Thursday night 5 boys from our scout den participated in the annual Scouting for Food Drive. It was cold and windy, but we persevered!  This morning Joey and Connor participated with the pack.  We worked for about 90 minutes collecting for this food drive. A good time was had by all!

This afternoon, I looked in Joey's back and there was a handout for a fundraiser/PE activity his school is doing.  Have you ever heard of Speed Stacks? Well, here is some information.  The videos are fun...

http://www.speedstacks.com/

Ordering a set for Joey today!  We are ordering through the school group, so we get 10% off! 

I haven't watched much tv in recent weeks.  I had 5 episodes of "The Pioneer Woman" dvr recorded.  I watched a couple of episodes, and Joey and I were inspired.  So we made 2 boxes of brownie mix!  One for the school Halloween dance, one for our family.  On the them of "use what we have", Joey is wearing a knight costume that we bought at Lego Land in Mall of America 4 years ago!

On the order of prize winning, it's not, but again, we will participate.  We tried to get him to wear a hockey referee shirt with black sweatpants, and even Emily's old Mustard Halloween costume from when Emily and Angela were ketchup and mustard for halloween.  Joe said, "I don't want anyone to squeeze me."  So, the knight costume it is.  In 20 minutes we are off with our brownies!

PS....later in the evening, Father Larry came to the halloween dance dressed as a referee.  I guess he would already have the black pants! Father Mike dressed as a scarecrow.  

10.26.12 School Pumpkin Contest entries

I know what you're thinking....first the quilt show, now the school pumpkin contest.  Must Stacie take us everywhere she goes?  Yes, I can't resist!  Over my lunch hour yesterday I zipped over to school, so I could see the entries kids had brought.  Here are some highlights...
Sports category:  "Wrestler" and Marlins

Next, the animal category...

This was the winning angry bird.  Joe was a bit discouraged, as this angry bird had a heavy "parent" hand!  Emily, send this "hello kitty" to Kali!

Family of Angry Birds, shiny, and nicely done. 

Kadence's cat and Joe's angry bird.

From siblings...an owl and a cat!
Kobi's spider!

Another amazing owl.

These are from Joey's friends.  I like the pig. 

This was a top prize winner...a puffer fish! The family glued candy corn on for the pokey spikes! 

Here's where we enter the fairy tale category. Isn't this crack paint amazing?  This was painted by a 6th grader.

Cinderella's coach...with the My Little Pony touch!

Shrek...

Pumpkin princesses!

And finally, the "faith" category...Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales and an angel.

It was simply a fun way to spend about 10 minutes, appreciating everyone's hard work. 

This weekend I will try to post about moving mom.  It has been an adventure.  Just a busy week, with the move, basketball, scouts, s

Scouting for Food, and tomorrow picking up the food for Scouting for Food. Not to mention 3 dental appointments~!

10-23-12 The Importance of Read Alouds

One of my fondest childhood memories is mom reading to us.  We did not have a lot of toys by today's standards, but we had a book case in our bedroom.  My mom enrolled in the parent's magazine book club.  Some of my absolute favorite books that I remember...Miss Suzy, Gus was a Friendly Ghost, Little Black Witch, and The Sheep of LalBah.  I also remember mom reading aloud every Little House book by Laura Ingalls Wilder to us, as well as some Nancy Drew books.  This love of reading turned us into library users very early on.  I recall the old public library, on the 4th floor in the city hall building...hard wood floors, ceiling fans, and Miss Catherine Arp, who was lovely to everyone.  Who doesn't love the memory of librarian's actually stamping the due date on the book slip!  (When Emily was little, she used a kitchen tool and pretended it was a scanner, and pretended she was scanning the books..."beep, beep, beep."  Too funny.)
Joe and I have reading most nights before bed.  As he gets older, i try to have him read to me as well.

Right now Joe is really into the Geronimo Stilton series, and keeps checking those out at the library. it also pleases me that Matthew Thomas will sit and listen to books until I stop reading....

I have now put all the cardboard page books in a plastic bin, to take out when Matthew (and future grandchildren) visit.  In this photo we are reading Dinosaurs, by Byron Barton.  You all loved this book, as well as Trucks,  Boats,  and Trains.
Reading is Fundamental!  Visit a library today.  

10-22-12 Pumpkin painting

Joe's school has a pumpkin decorating contest every year.  There are prizes awarded for the funniest, the scariest, best family, and overall.  It really isn't the competition, it's the participation!  this year Joe's first idea was to decorate like George Washington, by gluing cotton balls on for the white wig.  Given that it's a presidential election year, not a bad idea! However, we settled on the red Angry Bird.

We started with a big, orange pumpkin and some inexpensive craft paint.

At the school book fair, Joey had purchased an Angry Birds poster, which is in the background.  We used that to look at and draw.  Angry Birds are actually pretty easy to create. Here's the finished product....

Magnificent!  In retrospect, I wish we had bought another large pumpkin for the big green pig, and three smaller pumpkins for the yellow, blue, and black birds.  That would have been even cooler!  Just didn't have time with being out of town last weekend. Wish him luck!

10.12.12 Favorite sibling

Well, Em is in the lead for the "favorite sibling" today.  She came home for fall break, and surprised Joe by picking him up early from daycare.  Then she took him to Taco John's for supper.  By the time I got home from work they were dancing to "Just Dance 4"  with the wii.

I know what you're hoping for...action photos of Joe and Emily dancing...

It is altogether fun to watch people dancing to "Call Me Maybe", "Moves Like Jagger", and the Blue's Brothers' "Everybody, Needs Somebody."
Anyway, the rest of you have a ways to go to catch up with Emily today in the favorite sibling category.
We also enjoyed a visit with Mauri, also here for fall break.  She surprised us with pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies.  They are divine, and so is she!  We love our daughter in law.

10.7.12 Sunday Night Supper & Slippers

This recipe from the Mitchell Foundation for Catholic Education cookbook was our Sunday night supper:

Quick Shrimp Chowder  (submitted by Dennis Padrnos...yes, Mrs. Padrnos' husband!)

2 Tbsp Butter
1 Med onion, chopped
(I added a cup of diced celery here, just because I love it so.)
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Potato Soup
3 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (we didn't have any)
1 pound med sized shrimp, peeled (fresh or thawed....Menards had one pound bags on sale for $2.99!)
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese ( I added 2 cups, the entire package, of cheddar jack)
fresh parsley, chopped

I had to run to the store for the cr of potato soup, so I did buy the fresh parsley, which made a difference, and I liked it.

Melt butter in dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion (and celery) and saute, about 8 minutes, or until tender.  Stir in cream of potato soup, milk, and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Add shrimp and reduce heat.  Simmer and stir often for 5 minutes, or until shrimp turns pink.  Do not over cook.  Stir in cheese until melted.  Garnish with parsley. Serve with crackers.

My shrimp were still frozen, and tail on. Buying shrimp without the tails will help! Frozen didn't make that much of a difference in the cooking time.  When the soup was steaming, I removed it from heat, and added the entire bag of cheese and 2 tbsp fresh parsley.  I stirred, and then put the lid on and let it sit for 5 minutes. It was delicious.

Other Sunday evening activites...Dan finished Joey's Cutty Sark ship model.  It's time for a bath and reading before bed.  Joey is asking to play Angry Birds uno, so we may do that too.

Emily sent this photo of her walmart find.  Those impulse purchases just cannot be denied sometimes.

Have a good week everyone!

10.7.12 Boy Scout Popcorn & Cuts for Cancer

This morning we went to 11:30 mass.  Father Larry had a really good homily about marriage/divorce.  He was talking about the translation differences in language, and how the hebrew word used in the biblical passage for marriage has a definition meaning something similar to "being in the trenches" with someone.  I feel that way about Dan, that we have enjoyed the happy times, and supported each other in difficult times.  After mass, we decided to use the Culvers gift cards we have left over from the school's fundraiser night.  Recently I learned that our Culvers is the single busiest location of any Culvers location in the entire franchise.  I believe it. When staying there, I have never had a shorter wait than 20 minutes for my food, and their drive through experience is a good 15 minutes. From Culvers, I went directly to Hollywood Style.  They were doing a "Cuts for Cancer fundraiser today. My stylist got out the razor, and literally took about 4 inches off the sides in the front.  I LOVE it.  It will be easy to take care of.

Later this afternoon, Joe and I went door to door selling Boy Scout popcorn. If a Boy Scout comes to your door, keep in mind that 70% of the price goes directly to the scouting programs.
It's hard to believe the day has gotten away from us.  I have to start thinking about fixing supper.

9-28-12 Mt. Rushmore

Joey does not remember when he last visited Mt. Rushmore.  Judging from photos, he must have been 2 1/2.  Grandpa Bill and Grandma Estell were with us.  Because I spent time with mom and dad, I didn't do the fun things in the hills we normally do in a summer.  Dan and Joe would go out adventuring together, while I spent time at the nursing home & hospital with dad. They had not visited Mt. Rushmore, so we decided to do that together.  One of the benefits of Joe growing, is that he can start taking pictures of us!

The National Park Service really did a beautiful job of the Mt. Rushmore redesign.  While we loved the old, traditional trail of flags and viewing terrace, the new parking, avenue of flags, ampitheater, and facilities really are magnificent.  On of my favorite enhancements, however, is the Presidential Trail. It is a trex walking trail that takes visitors right up to the foot of the carvings, and is wonderful.  After walking the presidential trail, we stopped to watch the 15 minute movie about the planning and carving of Mt. Rushmore. it felt good to sit down! We also stopped at one of the giftshops.  My author friend, Jean Patrick, has written three wonderful books about Mt. Rushmore.  Joey was very excited to see them, and I told him we can have Jean autograph them.  When I was checking out, the woman told me for $30 I could purchase an annual membership that would allow me benefits, which included two free audio tours which could be used within the next year, and 15% of all gift shop purchases, not only there, but at 100 national parks all over the country.  O.k...count me in.  We walked all the way back to the audio tour booth, which was at the entrance to the park.  Oh the fun! Joey was all about the little audio machine, which allowed selection of languages, and users press numbers while walking along the presidential trail. (Yes, we walked the entire thing AGAIN.  At least it was a beautiful day!)  I highly recommend the audio tour.  It's only $5 regular price, and is very informative.  You can press the # sign for more information about just about everything along the way.

Joe also loved the viewing machines, where 50 cents buys you a magnified, close up view of the faces...

We spent over 4 hours there, and enjoyed it.  We will go back again! Joey, age 7 1/2.

George, Thomas, Theodore, and Abe. Simply magnificent.

The diversity of the guests is always wonderful.  While there, we heard people speaking Japanese, Spanish, German, and other languages we couldn't identify.  There was a group of Buddist monks there, with red robes and shaved heads. We decided that any trip we can take to places like this outside the tourist season, we should do.  There were many guests, but it was not so overly crowded, and the traffic was managable.  Not to mention the beautiful weather.  Temps in the 70's beat summer temps of over 100 degrees. A good time was had by all! 

9-29-12 Weekend in the hills

Matthew Thomas was able to stay overnight with us at the motel.  He and Joey had fun playing with Legos.  The next morning we swam in the pool.  It made me smile when Matthew said, "Daddy, I can't swim in this "deep" water!"  He had a life jacket on!  Zach was encouraging him, and Matthew said, "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!"

We also spent some time at the city park in Spearfish, which has a wonderful wooden structure.

That's Grandpa Dan (or as Matthew said once, Grandan) pushing Matthew, and Joey can pump on his own.  He's the blurr.  I think I took 10 swinging photos and Joey was a blurr in each one!  I need a stellar Nikon like Emily's.
We really enjoyed our time at the Fish Hatchery there.  They were setting up for a wedding there.  It was so beautiful, with the autumn colors.  Joey was all about feeding the fish! And the ducks.

We ate at the Pizza Lab in Center City.  When Zach worked at Terry Peak, he used to stop there for pizza.  It was wonderful place, very eclectic. Not only did they have a great pizza menu, but good beer selection ( I drank Polygemy Porter...(Why have just one?  I like porter and stout, and it was similar to Guiness.) and good ice cream.  (Almond Joy...it was delicious.)  Beer, Pizza, and icecream...yes, we spent quite a while there!  The building was old, filled with random signs, pictures, art, and arcade games and pool tables.  Fun place, and Joe is still asking when we can return.  it was even a WiFi hotspot, so Zach could assist Joey with downloading a new game on his kindle fire.  So good to have Zach home safely, and to spend time with Matthew and family friends. 

9-27-12 Homecoming signs and parades

Backing up to last week now.  Zach and the other 159 soldiers came home last Thursday.  They landed in Rapid City, and then piled onto buses for the journey home.  There were several houses along the interstate near Sturgis that decorated their backyard chainlink fences along the interstate with "WELCOME HOME 842nd!" and lots of yellow balloons.   I think what touched me the most, is the people who do not know or have a direct family member in the service, that take the time to say thank you, or attend the ceremonies or parades for our soldiers.  We waited with our signs! (Thank you Renia, for ordering for us!)
The buses were proceeded by law enforcement vehicles, but what I enjoyed were the Freedom Riders.  They are a motorcycle group that escorts every group of servicemen and women returning from deployment.  You could feel the ground shaking from their bikes!  It was a roar.  Nothing like a large group of bikers to add excitement to an event! Following the Freedom Riders, we could see the buses arriving!

 Zach texted us that he thought he was on the third bus, and it seemed like soldiers were just pouring out of the buses, one after another.  They were all in uniform, and wearing caps, so it was hard to see who was who.
Finally, we found our soldier!

Renia's sister Jen also returned home.  Here are Renia, Jen, and Addison.

A picnic ensued, followed by a ceremony, and parades.  Here's Matthew at the beginning of the ceremony.  Later, he layed down on the floor with his blanket, sucked his thumb, and fell asleep for an hour during the ceremony.

 So glad to have Zach and all the soldiers safely home. More in the days to come about other activities!