Zach turned two

Time flew again. Our youngest monkey is officially not a baby. 'Course, being the youngest, I can call him that forever if I wish. He didn't wait for the happy birthday song before blowing out his candles, and then wouldn't take an interest in opening his presents. Leave it to a two year old not to follow the script. He was more intent on torturing Bruiser until he realized there was some good stuff hiding inside all that wrapping paper.

God Bless Baby Sam

...in his new home in heaven. And bless and comfort his parents, Tricia & Nathan, and his 1 month old twin brother Will.

Amen.

Jimmy Carter hoopla

Jimmy Carter is in the news again. Near as I can tell, it seems he was attacked by a ferocious killer rabbit. Some people have all the luck. What a gripping tale for the grandkids.

Er, wait. I guess this story is a few years old. According to the link I just posted, a book was even written about this incident. Having been in diapers at the time and not having investigated this further since, I can't tell if the author intended his book to be a work of serious journalism or a fantastic parody.“The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.” - Press Secretary Powell

The Germans Invaded

Pass the sauerkraut, Leif. Minnesota is known to be dripping with Scandinavians. However, though we have more Norksies and Swedes around here than in other areas of the country, that doesn't mean the majority of us identify as such.

Minnesota 2000 population of Minnesota: 4,919,479 (2000 census)

Rank	Ancestry	% of Population
1.	German	36.7
2.	Norwegian	17.3
3.	Irish	11.2
4.	Swedish	9.9
5.	English	6.3

This data found here

Be Prepared

Nicky's not in boy scouts, but he adheres to their motto.

First Day Drama

This crew had their first day of school yesterday. Michael is starting 5th grade; his last year at elementary school. Adrienne is in 3rd, and Nicky started kindergarten.

Nicky got a little bored waiting all morning to go to afternoon kindergarten.

Showtime!

Nicky got on the bus willingly, and then Zach and I returned to a deliciously quiet house. When school was over, Adrienne got on the wrong bus. She and another wayward neighborhood kid were dropped off about 20 mins. after Michael & Nicky got off the right bus. She was inconsolable for several minutes. I'd have been freaked, too. Our bus line has bad communication between teachers & parents, weird route #'s, and new routes this year due to the opening of the 5th elementary school in town. Other than that, the kids all seemed to have a decent first day.

This little karate kid and I have the early afternoons to ourselves now, and he still usually takes an afternoon nap, so...hallelujah! I get a brief window of time to eat chocolate out of my candy cupboard out in the open, instead of sneakily grabbing it and smuggling it away for private consumption.

happy blog birthday to me

It's my one year anniversary today. It's been fun and sometimes cathartic to catalog my thoughts here. Here's to several more years of virtual scrapbooking.

little vacation on the prairie

Last week we spent a couple days in De Smet, South Dakota, the setting of several of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. We visited the Ingalls Homestead 1 mile southeast of town. The Ingalls family moved to De Smet in 1879, and it was the final home of Ma and Pa, and where Laura met & married Almanzo. The homestead had a replica of the original shanty house, barn and some other junk.This semi-authentically dressed young woman in flip-flops took the kids for pony rides. Each kid ('cept Zachary) got a turn on the horse.We enjoyed a sorta covered wagon ride, courtesy of these morose-looking draft horses.

We stayed in a covered wagon on the homestead the first night, supping on the Ingalls' favorite food - hot dogs, BBQ chips and s'mores. With 'orange drink.' Purchased from the Ingalls' favorite gas station, Shell.Little sunset on the prairie.

Little foggy sunrise on the prairie.

The next day we took a tour in town, run by the LIW Memorial Society. This is the surveyor's house, where the Ingalls spent their first winter in De Smet. I have about 2.5 seconds of video footage inside, cut short because the 95 year old tour guide barked at me not to take pictures. Mean old lady. She had painted-on eyebrows and too much rouge.

Also part of the tour was this home that Pa built in town. They sold the homestead in 1892 and I believe both Pa and Ma died here. The stairs and some floorboards were Pa's craftsmanship, but most of these "original" buildings are restored.










We stopped at the cemetery to see the graves of Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, and the infant son of Laura & Almanzo. Pa's (the tall one) is the only original marker.

Now, how to end this post on a non-creepy note...hmm. There's not much else to say about De Smet. We had a good time on our mini-vacation, and as usual the kids' favorite part was swimming in the hotel pool the 2nd night.

Birthday madness on Aug. 25th

Happy 8th birthday to Adrienne! Where do you suppose she wanted to spend her special day? In that most unholy place of parental torment, Chuck E. Cheese, of course. It had been several years since we braved an outing there, and I hope not to darken their doorway in several more. Now, I suppose some adults thrive in a crazed atmosphere where children run wild like ruthless barbarians, and more power to 'em, but...egads. Laughing, screaming, and crying rugrats everywhere. Hopelessly trying to maneuver my way between kids who darted every which way while blinded by the blinking lights and deafened by the blaring arcade games...it's not for me. But, Adrienne kept saying it was her best birthday ever, so it was worth a few hours of insanity.

Orange belts!

Nate and the kids (minus Zach) are in the middle of a 6 month family membership at a local martial arts training facility, ATA Karate. The membership was one of the silent auction prizes we won at our church gala last April for a pretty ridiculously low price. The 4 of them recently tested for their orange belts, which comes after the initial white belt. After 15 more classes they can test for yellow belts.