Don't Hibernate, Celebrate!!

It is winter time still. The snow has been falling pretty consistently throughout the month. Except for the occasional tubing outing, my impulse is to stay indoors by the fire, drink hot chocolate and hide myself in layers. BUT other people I hang around with have other ideas, so..our neighbors alerted us to the fact that it was time for the Apple Valley Mid-winter fest. I am so glad they did.

It was a two day celebration of winter. Its purpose is to To make citizens aware of the winter recreational activities available in Apple Valley and give them a mid-winter boost via participation in a special winter oriented program. Personally, I think they succeeded.

Day 1: consisted of magic shows, bingo (I LOVE BINGO!!), jumpers, face painting, coloring contests, wii bowling tournament and other fun things at the community center. Andrew and Erik each won bingo rounds and Emily won a puzzle contest. Andrew did really well in the wii bowling tournament (he got one less than the high score). Andrew also put in about 1000 bounces in the jumpers.

Day 2: there was cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, tubing, fire pit with s'mores/hot dogs, and horse drawn trailer rides. We participated in the s'mores and hot chocolate part

Emily tried some snow shoeing

But, I think she enjoyed the s'more part more.
We all took a fun ride on the horse wagon ride through the golf course.

We decided we had our "mid-winter boost" and didn't last as long on the second day...it was COLD and the wind picked up and we are not insane...

Cute half time show dancers!

We went to the Timberwolves' basketball tonight. Yes, it was fun to see the game. Actually, it was amazing because the Timberwolves were behind throughout the entire game, but ended up catching up and winning in the last minutes. Very cool. Very unlike Minnesota sports it seems.

The reason we went to the game on this particular evening was for the half-time show. We heard the dancers were cute tonight and we thought we might recognize one or two of them.So, we got some nose-bleed seats (which I have to say I love). They are cheap, uncrowded and we had almost an entire section to ourselves. We grabbed some family. This year my cousin Beqi and her daughter Scotlyn came for the show too. Scotlyn loved the music and the lights. It was great to see her enjoy the crowds.

This is Grandma Ginger's first time watching Em's half time performance too. It is so cool to have such a big cheering section. Hooray for living close to family! Andrew loved the top row rafter seats. He LOVED the view. The dance company that Emily participates in put on a great half-time show. They danced to a Mamma Mia mix. It is so much fun to watch Emily participate at these shows. It is a huge experience for her to be on the basketball court in front of thousands of people.

Look at how much fun she is having!I love Emily's green costume this year. It looks great on her. Actually, this year I think all the classes' costumes looked great together. Good job Em! Another great year.

Fads...and this time I love it.

I am from the Cabbage Patch Kid generation. I had to have a CPK. I got a Cabbage Patch Kid.Parents were lining up to get their kid a CPK. I think I heard that someone died getting their child a Cabbage Patch kid. The commercials were fun with a cute catchy jingle (I can still sing it for you upon request). The was a demand because stores would run out..making people that much more desperate to get their hands on the beloved Cabbage Patch Kid.

Remember the Tickle Me Elmo craze?Again with the cute commercials and the shortages in the stores. Wii is another one that lasted through at least 2 Christmases. Stores could not keep them on the shelves. That was amazing to me.

This year it is the Zhu Zhu Pet.
Briliantly marketed pretty dumb toy. Emily and Andrew got a few of these things when they first came out. They were done with them before we made it home from the store. I think I have already explained to some of you that my cat had a "zhu zhu" pet mouse for years before they started marketing these babies to kids. I will admit the commercials make this thing look fun and it helps that they are hard to find.

But the latest craze around here truly stumps me. It's SQUISHIES. Yes, the rubber pencil toppers. The ones from the gumball machines.

I know it is not just my kids too. I have talked to kids from other schools and from other school districts. I have seen kids run up to the quarter machines at malls, grocery stores and movie theaters.
Kids at school collect and trade these guys. They know which ones are "rare" and what qualities make them rare (but every machine has some rare ones so they are not impossible to get). They know exactly what restaurants and stores have the machines.

It is amazing to me. How did this happen? There is no commercial, there is no shortage, there is no web-based games to play with them (like Webkins) and they are super cheap. When we go places my kids are begging for quarters. I love it! I love that they will do anything for a SQUISHY! Hooray for cheap findable fads!

My first week accomplishments

My first week back I was:
1. able to find all my classes
2. able to show up on time
3. set up campus parking at the Institute building
4. find the bookstore
5. finish buying my books
6. set off the bookstore alarm while trying to leave the bookstore. Was searched to no avail by fellow student. Left the bookstore.
7. able to get my student ID made (I still have not looked at the picture though)
8. able to open an unnecessary student bank account. Not sure why.
9. able to figure out web-vista and other class websites.
10. able to show up to my Cognitive Psych. class early on Thursday. Picked out a good seat. Waited about 5 minutes. Noticed that there were to many boys in my class. Realized I was in the wrong classroom. I then discreetly walked across the hall to the right classroom.
11. able to read my textbooks more this week than my entire Sophomore year at the Y.

12. I was able to email one of my professors while watching the Vikings game last night. I don't want to talk about the Vikings game!! I really don't want to talk about the Vikings game.

Craziest way down the hill

There's no school today. The weather was Minnesota warm, so we went tubing again.We picked up Lauren and Trenton (our neighbors) and hit our favorite tubing hill (again).I like this hill because there is so much freedom. The kids can link tubes, ride together, ride solo, ride on tummies, ride on knees etc. Really no regulations (unlike a certain other more expensive tubing hill).

They found some really creative ways to get down the hill. The hill was nice and icy so we got going pretty fast.I think the "Craziest way down the Hill" prize goes to Andrew Andrew was laughing and yelling,"Man overboard" the whole way down. At the bottom, he jumped up and wanted to do it again. Seriously, who wouldn't want to get dragged down the tubing hill on their bum? This kid has no bum padding either. It makes my rear ache just looking at it.

What am I going to write about?

Tons of things have happened here at the Apple Valley Household.

*I could write about how much I love switching to 9am church. Seriously. This is the first time ever in my life I love 9 am church. It works for us. But, I am not going to write about that.
*I could also write about taking my PPST test this past Friday. I could write about failing EVERY practice test. I could write about resolving myself to the fact that I would FAIL miserably and yet I passed. Evidence of miracles in my life...
*I could write about Emily racing through the house excitedly because it had warmed up to zero degrees and now it was "warm" enough to go ice-skating with Erik.
*I could write about the fact that today is Erik's first day at a new job...so happy he is employed :)
*I could write about having my cousin Beqi move 10 minutes away from my house and how excited I am to live near more family.
*I could write about hanging out with friends and family..playing games. I could even mention Robert's amazing Hearts playing ability (he "shot the moon" two times in a row) or Erik and my lack of Newlywed game playing ability. We lost for the millionth time in a row..

But, today I am going to write about this:The cubbies are up and functional! These bins and hooks are bringing some organization of a completely unorganized season. I love them.

Wonders of Craigslist

We love Craigslist. It is amazing. If you have an old broken, smelly dishwasher...someone on Craigslist wants it. They will even come to your front porch and take it. Actually there were many people willing to do that. Strange. If you need a huge area rug to cover your stained living room carpet..

you can find one on Craigslist.
Need a fireplace enclosure?

You guessed it! Craigslist is the place.

We have bought: Andrew's motorcycle, crazy amounts of firewood, furniture, pets, Erik's motorcycle, cars, bikes, computer parts, guitar lessons, winter tires, hard top for the miata (twice), insulation for the garage, car parts, video games. The list actually goes on and on. We have sold a ton too.

I want to draw attention to one of our last exchanges on Craigslist.

Here's the background:

We, I mean Erik, bought our snake Alice on Craigslist two years ago. She was a surprise to the family. She actually became a lovable pet. Very popular in the neighborhood. But, Alice was spending more and more time in her cage unnoticed and alone. We realized it was time to pass Alice on to the next family that would love her. Add in the fact that Emily has been asking (by that I mean begging) for a guinea pig.

Ryan wrote this about Emily:
The most important thing about my sister is that she worships guinea pigs. She loves them so much they're her favorite thing in the world. She should buy one with her $180 but she doesn't...

So we decided that if we can sell Alice, then the kids (they all want one..Em just worships them) could have a guinea pig. Erik posted Alice on Craigslist. He added that we are willing to trade Alice for a guinea pig.

Erik was contacted by a family within 2 hours. They had a guinea pig, but their mom was allergic. They were looking for a corn snake. It was the perfect trade.

That just blows my mind that Craigslist could find us a family with a guinea pig that wanted a corn snake...

That is how we now have our Nutmeg. She is a 5 month old calm and gentle guinea pig with a killer case of bed head.

She fits in perfectly around here.

One question though...is it bad that my dog starts licking her lips everytime she sees Nutmeg and whenever given the chance said dog tries to lick the guinea pig like crazy?