Just for Janis!!

Soooo what in the world have we been up to? I can't believe it has been months, ages, since I last posted a real update. To tell the truth, blogs require a lot of hard work to keep them current and I just ran out of time & energy to keep it going every day. Add to that my love of Facebook - instant updates yay! - and my poor ol' blog just fell off the radar. BUT I sure don't mind posting an update for my dear, Facebook-challenged friend, Janis.

So, since we last chatted....

The Mr. has opened his own law firm and is doing really well. He loves working for himself and keeping his own hours, etc. Big change from Big Law Firm life, but all for the better.

We took a wonderful road trip to Kansas to see my BIL & SIL and family on their 40-acre working dairy goat farm.

Matt milking

Dags tractoring

Anders fishing

I love chickens

We had pit stops in Atlanta & St. Louis on the way out there and, on the way home, Chattanooga (planned) and Dalton, GA (unplanned, due to a slight car accident) on the way home.

Dagny at the Arch

Arch!

Rock City, Chattanooga

Ruby Falls, Chattanooga

Last November we trekked to Waynesville, NC to visit Matt's mom & dad. We loved having Thanksgiving there so much we're going back this year! The kids were hoping that there'd be enough snow to ski at the little resort there, but sadly there won't. On the upside, it also won't be freezing cold, so that's nice.

Playing in the leaves (we don't get to do that down here)

We spent Christmas with my parents in Naples, which was wonderful as always.



After a quick Christmas break, we were back at school. We celebrated Easter at our house here in St. Pete and the whole family (except for Matt's bro in Kansas) was able to come for the first time in years. It was wonderful having everyone here, esp. my Dad (cancer survivor) and Matt's dad (quad bypass survivor). Loved it.

Last spring, Anders played t-ball for the first time. So cute! It was my first time going to a sport with one of the kids, and it was so much fun to sit in the stands and cheer for the team.

Slugger

This past summer, we started off with a long weekend "camping" at Blue Springs for Father's Day. (Yes, we "camped" in a cabin. It was wonderful. It had a/c. And a private bathroom.) Then we spent a week in St. Augustine, Matt had to work but the kids and I explored the Oldest City in America and the amazing Castillo de San Marcos. Really fun vacation!

Blue Springs

Yeah, that's our cabin.

Yeah, it's fully furnished. It's still camping if there's no TV.

The rest of the summer was verrrry laid back. Except for a quick scoot to Naples we mostly hung out right here in town, played with friends and went swimming. A lot.

Fourth of July at the St. Pete pier

Fall started off with Dagny in 4th grade (yikes) and Anders in Kindergarten (wha...?!) They are both at the parochial school right here in our neighborhood, and we just love it.

First day of school

Poor Fize is definitely showing all 13-1/2 years of her age. She has developed severe joint problems and is on quite the regimen of pills just to keep going during the day. Luckily she has a very attentive nurse. We're thankful for every day she's still with us.

Good ol' dog

For Halloween Dagny was a fruit bat and Anders was Spiderman but you'll just have to imagine the pics for now because the Mr. still has them on his camera and I don't know how to download from it. (Talk about technically challenged!)

As always with the school year, most of our time is now spent doing Homework and me volunteering at school like it's my day job. BUSY. Hopefully as we get more organized in the Spring the kids will do some sports - they both want to do Karate and swim team, so that will be interesting.

So, that brings us up to date! I can't believe 2011 is almost over! Bring on the new year!

Turris Fortis Mihi Deus

Have a happy and holy Easter!

September blahs

We've had a TIME of it here.

Plumbing problems, rodent problems, a/c problems (related to the rodent & plumbing problems). Double down on the gross factor because we're Hot too, since we haven't had a/c for a few weeks.

Fun times.

I never thought we'd get rats in our a/c system!! I don't know whether to be happy or disgusted that they were pretty much there just to eat the possums that crawled in to the ducts and died. It's all so gross. And, my GOODNESS, how did they all end up getting in there, dying, eating each other, befouling our whole house to the point where we had to replace every stinking (literally) inch of the system in the TWO FREAKIN' DAYS between when the plumbers were here and the a/c guys came out to fix the ducts in the first place? ugh.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Repeat.

My kitchen - A to Z

I've been helping Anders learn to write his letters. He's doing great! He really, really, really wants to learn, probably so that he can write stories about Ben10 alien force meets Star Wars. Or write Dagny notes. Or letters to his grandparents, which is one of his favorite afternoon activities.

At the same time I noticed he was also really intent on learning the phonetic sounds to the alphabet, so hey why not kill two birds with that stone? Presenting Mommy's Kitchen A to Z! Now he can learn his letters and sounds while associating them with stuff that he is surrounded by every day - and since the kitchen is my favorite room in the house, why not?

A - Avocados
B - Bread
C - Cantaloupe
D - Dill
E - Eggs
F - Frozen french fries
G - Grapes
H - Hot sauce
I - Ice cream
J - Juice
K - Ketchup
L - Lemons and/or Limes
M - Mustard
N - Nuts
O - Oatmeal
P - Pasta
Q - Quinoa
R - Refried beans
S - Spices
T - Tuna
U - Us (the family)
V - Vinegar
W - Water
X - "X" marks the spot - I make it out of string cheese
Y - Yogurt
Z - Zucchini

Take the cake

I am baking a cake for my Mom's birthday this weekend. It is delicious, and I know that because I previewed recipes before deciding on The One. It is going to be a buttermilk layer cake (a white cake) with raspberry/blueberry filling and whipped cream cheese frosting.

The major thing will be keeping it cool til Naples. Big cooler? Check!

Happy Birthday Mom! We'll see you tomorrow!

Weak

The kids know by now that the one thing I'll always cave in on, the one thing I can't help buying for them, the one thing that all they have to do is ask semi-politely for and they'll get, that I just can't say no to is...

BOOKS!

I love books! I love to read! I love that my kids love them too! We do go to the library just about every week, but they also know that I'm a complete and utter pushover for any kind of reading material.

Right now Anders is all about action, adventure, even things that are a little spooky. Dagny is totally into Egypt & mummies.

Pretty cool.

An apple a day

Honeycrisp apples may be back in the stores as early as late September! Woohoo! I don't care that they don't grow locally, they are the BEST eating apple ever.