I Neglected to Mention

A few weeks ago Erik and Ry took a trip to the Oregon/ Washington area. They went to check on Grandma Glenda and visit the crew out there. I did not get to go...someone had to stay home, lose Alice and find her again. I do not know all the details from the trip. Here's what I know: Grandma is doing good now and the Erik/Ry combo had a great time playing games and visiting. While I was looking at the pictures taken I decided to reintroduce or introduce the gang.

Here is Joe, Grandma Glenda and Ry
This is Erik's dad Dan
Here is Grandma Joanne
Here is Erik's sister Lauri. She looks like she is about to take Erik down!
This is fun Aunt Mary..she's Dan's sister. FYI she sometimes still calls Erik "Ear Wig"
Looks like I missed one of Kent's BBQs. Booo! (That is Kent by the way)
I don't know who this is..she looks fun though.
Starting from the left corner: Cousin Sam with a nice big smile, Vaughn (Lauren's special friend), Ry, Cousin Lauren, Erik and our mystery friend
Not to be overlooked Gizmo Grandma Glenda's dog.
Now to the rest of the crew..yes you Grandpa Lee and you Larry...I congratulate your efforts of avoiding the camera. Enjoy it now. When I get out there you will not be so lucky.

It's not the Rockies..but it is still fun

Yes, our state is the home of the show Little House on the Prairie. One would not think of the Prairie as a good place to ski. But I would beg to differ. We have some fun spots to get some experience on the slopes. At our elementary school the fourth graders all get to go skiing. Many of them had never skied before. So they were hooked up with ski lessons and then lift tickets. All the instructors were super patient and encouraging.

Ryan is in fourth grade....and today was his first time skiing. Ry is in the blue coat riding up the magic carpet...I was laughing because one of Ryan's troubles was keeping in control and his speeds down. At least he didn't take anyone out along the way...unlike his mother (different time, different story)Here they are figuring out how to put the skis on and walk with them.

This was Ry's first time going up the ski lift. After an afternoon of skiing, he was hooked. This is now his favorite winter sport. I cannot wait to take him again really soon.

Greatest Loser

I love the show The Biggest Loser. I am drawn in by the participants and their struggles to get in shape. I am inspired by their progress and often think that if they can do it then so can I. I think it would be great to work with the trainers and get pushed into fitness.
So when the Y started their own "Greatest Loser" program for the staff I jumped on board.
I get a fun t-shirt, a personal trainer for two hours a week, a team to work out with and I hear there are prizes along the way. So for the next six weeks you will find me every Tuesday and Thursday 6am at the Y. Lucky for you the Y does not allow cameras...today was not pretty.
I got to meet my fun trainer Stephanie and my team. We are team yellow. Before we start working out one of my team members tells a story of throwing up after her session with Stephanie. I am thinking..what did I get myself into? It is now official: I have really no upper body strength at all. Hooray for room for improvement! I am still standing and actually looking forward to Thursday. I want to win this thing : )

#1 Household rule is broken!!

I'm not sure where to start the story. Do I start with the birth of my extremely social daughter or further back into my childhood when I developed an extremely irrational fear of things freely and secretly crawling around in my house? (and apparently hair brushes)
I think it might be best to start last year when my dear husband brought Alice into our home. That is the day I set the #1 Rule in our home: IF YOU MUST HAVE ALICE OUT YOU MUST NOT PUT HER DOWN. WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH HER PUT HER IN HER CAGE WITH THE LID SAFELY CLIPPED ON TIGHT.
The rule was broken tonight. Of course it had to happen when Erik was out of town. Em had her new friend over. They were playing with Alice in the crawl space. Yes-the dark attic-like room with boxes everywhere. Basically a snake's amusement park. They put her in a shallow tub and put a towel over the top and quickly forgot about her.
I was happily up stairs talking to Cynth on the phone. I hear screams from downstairs. I hang up and run to see what was wrong. With tears streaming down her face Em says, "Mommy I am so sorry. Please don't move out! We lost Alice in the crawl space." (yes I had established that if Alice was loose..I was moving out until she was found). My heart skips a beat. My hands start sweating. I cannot breathe. Panic doesn't not even begin to describe how I was feeling. First I assure Em that I am not moving out. Then I call my mom. She agrees that there is no way to find the snake but tells me she will come help me.
After talking to Erik...no there was no way for him to come home and find the snake...I timidly begin to take boxes out of the front of the crawl space. I knew she was in the way back, but I am a big CHICKEN. Andrew is just watching telling me that Indiana Jones would find the snake. I assure him that Indiana Jones would be as scared as me in this situation.
I say a quick prayer..Please help me find this snake! Shortly afterward, the back light of the crawl space goes off. I call for the girls to come down and turn the light back on for me. (better them to go in instead of me) They do..and decide to get all their toys out. As they were turning around to crawl out, they notice Alice's tail. She was slithering (cringe) under some old construction boards and junk. I rush in and grab the end of her tail before she disappears. The girls quickly unburry her because I could not pull her out. (she is a strong snake). There is NO WAY I would have found her. It was a miracle.
I got a hold of Mom. She got to turn around and go home. I get to sleep tonight and my daughter gets to live another day. We all win.

Me? Really?

Right before winter break Emily brought home a permission slip. It was for a field trip to the zoo. There was a line that you could check if you were able to go as a chaperon. I will admit that I accidentally checked it. Don't ask me how, just know it happened. I then hoped that I would not be selected. Guess who was selected to go to the zoo? Here is my group...yep 8 third graders. I think by the time I took this picture I had already lost one. I kid. No one got lost.
The field trip was supposed to include a trip on the monorail. But in case you haven't heard my whining it has been cold. Too cold to have the outside animals out..so no monorail. It was also to cold for the scheduled bird show. (Not sure why because that show is indoors in the winter)...so no bird show. It was fun to go to the zoo with new friends. They noticed things that I had not taken time to notice before.
You know what? It turned out to be a fun day anyway. We stuck to the indoors. Saw some fun animals. Burned lots of energy and learned something new. The best part was spending time with Emily and her friends. The more I can get to know them now, I hope, the easier teen years will be...right?

Summer

I am enjoying the idea of summer right now since we are in the thick of a bitter cold winter. (This is probably in answer to Cynth's post today) I have been going through old pictures and found this one. It is from this past summer when we were lucky enough to go spend time with our Oregon/Washington family. . I love the kiss of sun on their faces and the blonde in their hair. Ah summer : )

Hamsters Everywhere!

As some of you may know I work at the Y. Every weekend, I am the one that checks people in, gives tours and signs people up for memberships. It is a fun job. I really enjoy being around all the people. This is New Year Resolution time. That means that I get to take a lot of people on a lot of tours. They always start out fine. But, when we get to the fitness center there are always a bunch of people doing this:But what I see are hamsters everywhere!

It is starting to haunt me.

Not feelin the homework

Often times blogs are filled with their kids great achievements, huge spelling lists and impressive projects. But what about those days that the kid doesn't want to do anything. Ryan came home with the assignment to write a sentence for each spelling word. Once he finally sat down it took him at least an hour to come up with these sentences. Don't tell Ry but I think they are pretty funny. Yes, he has picked all easy words. That is a different issue though. I tried to slide through 4th too..in fact I was still trying this stuff my Sophomore year at the Y.
1. A writer writes.
2. An inventor invents.
3. A treasurer treasures.
4. A pitcher pitches.
5. An editor edits.
6. A listener listens.
7. An actor acts.
8. An auditor audits.
9. A senator senits.
Yes, we made him write better ones. Don't you wish you were Ry's teacher. He can be such an easy kid sometimes.

Cousin visit

Hi everyone. This is Fiona. I was invited to spend some time at my cousins' house last night so that my parents could go see the movie Marley and Me.
I had a great time. I got to drive this cool steering wheel. I especially like the nice dog button feature. It made me happy. Dad's FIVE doesn't have that one. Of course his car does have doors and wheels.

Uncle Erik let me play his guitar.

Emily was a great help to me. She made sure I was happy and didn't fall backwards the entire evening.

I think this snow man followed me here. When I did get a little upset, Ry was able to hug me and help me feel better. I had a great time at my cousins' house. They had fun with me too. I cannot wait for my next visit.