State Fair 2009

This picture was supposed to be at the end, but I accidentally deleted it. Julia was asleep before the car left the parking lot. Nice work, mom and dad!

Last Thursday was our annual trip to the Great Minnesota Get-Together, aka the State Fair. Mike's family is nutso about the fair, so we always "get-together" with them and make a go at it. This year, we went on opening day. What fun we had!

We have also sort of made it a tradition to stay in a fancy hotel for as cheaply as possible (thanks priceline.com...) the night before so we can get the most of the day with the kiddos. They expire in the early afternoon, so walking onto the grounds by nine gets us through a few extra exhibits.

Julia partakes in the raspberries that grandma brought. She is eating them on a featherbed...

Mary explores the new turf

The first food of the fair: foot-long CORN dog. Julia had the first bite. It was a delicious breakfast.

mmmmmm...

The next series of photos are quite amusing. After eating Kettle Corn, the Corn Dog, a Deep Fried CAndy Bar (Jenny ate that herself..), we mosied on over to the Horticulture building because Julia wanted to see the honeybees. In the Horticulture building, you can buy a frozen apple cider for 75 cents...probably the best buy at the fair. It's like an apple juice freezie.

Well, I bought one of them for each of the girls. Julia liked hers for a few minutes, then left it in the stroller. Mary, on the other hand, was in seventh heaven. She wrapped both hands around the frosty thing and started digging in with her incisors. Of course, after a minute or so, she had eaten all of the freezie she could reach...the plastic sleeve got in the way. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the Horticulture Building. Mary was in tears. John had a fingernail clipper in his pocket, so I tried to take it away from her so I could cut some of the plastic away.

The second I took it away, my second child went completely postal.

She stopped shrieking and mounted a loud, deep HOLLER. Tears of anger flew slid down her frozen cheeks as she walloped her daddy with the back of her noggin. She was VERY UNHAPPY. She wanted that freezie back NOW.

I tried to cut it as quickly as I could...I managed to bathe my entire face and chest in the sticky apple juice that poured out of the holes she had gnawed in the bottom. I finally was able to cut an inch or so off the top and I gave it back to her.

Silence. No more tears. Smile!

Whoa.

Because I like science, I decided to try this little experiment again just to see if Mary would predictably behave in the same way. See the pictures below for your amusement.

Before. Happy. Life is excellent and everything is in its place...

Papa's hand reaches in and moves the freezie away from the Baby. Fear and anguish...

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

GIVE ME THAT BACK, YOU #(&!$& (!$)%$#!!!!!!!

oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh

Damn you, papa.

Ahh...I love my children!

Next, we took a ride on Ye Old Mill. Julia loved it. Mary's freezie ended somewhere inside, so she had another nuclear meltdown in the dark, wet tunnel. Our boat rocked something crazy...Grandma's sweater took home a sampling of the unnatural blue-hued water.

Mary, recovered, plays with giant legos at the Thrivent booth

They had this cute little farm exhibit for kids. We took the girls through it. They picked corn, fed fake animals, drove fake tractors, and even had the opportunity to plant plastic veggies in real dirt!

Mary takes a ride on her big green tractor

Julia's favorite moment of her life: she got to sit in the cab of an EXCAVATOR. She adores construction equipment. The excavator is her favorite, and she will drive one for her job someday. Then, she informed me, she will "also tell the other men how they should be driving their excavators."

Look out, world.

Auntie Jenny took Julia down the big slide. Julia had a great time.

This was a very odd scene. While we were waiting for J and J to get down from the slide, I noticed a 50-something woman taking a nap on the very busy boulevard. She didn't have anyone with her, and she was wearing ALL WHITE. I checked to see if she was still breathing, just in case. She was. And now, she has her picture on the internet. Ha!

Julia was getting very very tired toward the end of the day. She did get the chance to see a huge pig give birth to piglets. She was fascinated with the placenta. I didn't want to start explaining that one...

Mary took a nap in the stroller and awoke with vigor. She is saying, "Ohhh..."

Julia and uncle John

Julia had the chance to meet a real live princess! This one was about to have her head carved in butter. Julia was green with envy.

By 4:00, we were in the car. Mary does not sleep in the car. She would rather shriek and demand things that are out of her reach.

There is supposed to be a picture of Julia here, who fell asleep before our van left the parking lot. It's at the top of the page.

Farewell, state fair! FArewell, calories!

Farewell H1N1! I'm glad we didn't spend too much time in the 4H building.... eek!

bars

A little story to jump-start your Monday:

So I signed up (again) to sponsor the after-church goodie and coffee time. Instead of being stressed because I had forgotten about this until the last minute........I had everything planned out ahead of time, right down to the sweetened condensed milk. I was going to make some homemade bread, a big salad with fresh veggies, and two pans of the bars I have been craving for a LONG time....Payday bars. They taste just like the candy bar. Peanuts, marshmallows, kind of like a salted nut roll. mmmmm...

I looked up a recipe on Thursday, and on SAturday it was off to Cub to pick up the remaining ingredients. I very rarely go to the grocery store with a list or recipe in hand...I usually buy the cheapest food I can find at the best deals and then make something up when I get home. But this time, I was completely out-of-character. I had a list, I clipped coupons, and I made Julia ride in the cart. We were out of Cub in record time. This is another odd happening....those of you who know me at all are aware of my ability to be early. It is not one of my strong points, to say the least.

At any rate, I spent an hour last night making the bars. I helped Julia lick out the pan. They smelled heavenly and it took everything in me to not dive into a pan of them. (Who would know if I ate a few and then cut up the rest and put em' on a display plate?) But again, the odd thing happened. I somehow found the willpower to leave both pans of bars alone. Another totally out-of-character move.

I was supposed to refrigerate the bars overnight, but our fridge was too full. I put them on the back steps instead, with the covers tightly fastened.

....

The next morning (this morning) I was enjoying a morning shower when Husband rudely stuck his head in and shouted, "You'd better hurry up, woman. Your bars are GONE. I think something ate them."

WHAT?!?!

I went through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief very quickly. The first one, denial, hit me. The bars weren't really gone. Mike was just being silly. And mean. Very mean. That Jerk. I"ll get him back during the sermon today....

I arrived downstaris in a bathrobe and went out to check out the scene of the crime for myself. Sure enough, both of my pans were open, and only a few wet slippery peanuts remained. I then experienced the next stage: Anger. THAT RAT/RACCOON/BEAVER/DOG/CAT/ELEPHANT/JULIA (every mom who finds something terrible has happend always thinks of blaming the three-year-old) who ate my bars will PAY for their crime!

The bargaining phase set in: maybe I can just bring the drooly peanuts to church and we can eat that. wait. Scratch that. Speaking of scratch that, read on.....

I investigated the scene some more. There was drool in my cake pan. One of them was full of little brown fur. Squirrels aren't brown. Whoever it was sure likes peanuts. Elephants like peanuts, but they are not in Duluth, as far as I know. Do beavers like peanuts? There were TWO POUNDS Of peanuts in those bars. Raccoons? Skunks? I smelled a skunk last night. Just then, I saw the covers. My precious rubbermaid cake pan covers were strewn across the back patio like garbage. When I picked one up and examined it, I gasped.

There was an enormous paw print on one of my cake pan covers, complete with giant claw marks, as big as my hand. This was definitely no squirrel.

I talked to my neighbor, who is a major plant/animal fiend, and a Duluth native. After she laughed until she cried, she told me, "honey, that wasn't a raccoon or a skunk in your bars...it was definitely the work of a BEAR."

A BEAR?

In my backyard?

In TOWN?

Eating MY BARS?!?!?

This information quickly pushed me into the acceptance stage. A giant bear ate my Payday bars. Both pans. And I am not about to try and get them back.

Good thing I keep the house stocked with rice krispies and marshmallows for emergencies like this...

Papa's project

A little while ago (OK...maybe longer than that....it was April), we stumbled upon this little number at a garage sale. Mike and I had been looking for a cabinet thing with glass doors (he says it's a "Buffet and hutch) for a long time to match our blue and white dining room. Finally, we gave up finding the perfect piece of furniture and bought this.

Mike said, "Give me a weekend and I'll have it done."

I said, "I better take the kids away."

So, I took the kids away somewhere for a weekend in April, and Mike worked on the thing. After three trips to Menards, he had the cabinet taken apart and was scraping the finish off.

Instead of going through a long drawn out story about the four months that ensued, I'll just share a few of the things he/we learned about restoring furniture:

1. Varnish doesn't scrape off of particle board.
2. Wood glue is water soluble.
3. Glass pieces slice fingers easily.
4. Cheap hardware made in China can make even the calmest, mild-mannered man go completely postal.
5. Black and Decker cordless screwdrivers are rather wussy.
6. Milwaukee cordless screwdrivers are awesome and expensive but the lady said it was worth it.
7. Spray painting looks like it's easier than regular painting...but don't be fooled...it is actually THE DEVIL.
8. The smell of Turpentine makes Sarah spontaneously vomit.
9. Hornets like the smell of vomit.
10. Having toddlers around cuts your productivity down by at least 1000%. Especially when they try to "help."


The old cabinet is above, the new, revamped cabinet below. I think Mike did a nice job, don't you? I hope it was worth it.

We are still here!

Psymuhn...pre haircut

Post haircut

Hi Friends!

My apologies. Our blog has been sorely neglected for the past month. I promise you two things:

1. We have a bunch of good reasons for that.

2. The neglect ends today.

As far as the reasons go, I will elaborate on that as soon as I know what's going on around here. We are in for some big changes. We appreciate your prayers. Just ask God to tell us what we should do next. We are game for whatever He has up His sleeve! (does God even have sleeves? Hmmm... I'm sure he would if he lived in Duluth.)

To begin our update, in the last month:

Mike has been working more hours at St. Luke's in the pharmacy. He adores his job. I think he likes being the OR pharmacist best, except on days where Drs. Boylan and Hampton add big heart surgeries on late in the day. (That means he has to make up all these crazy specialized IV drug combos.) His job in the OR pharmacy is kind of like being a solo guy in a take-out restaurant for narcotics and antibiotics. You name it, he'll make it for you. And always with a smile. And no fries with that.

Julia has been very busy lately. We just spend a weekend at Lutheran Island Camp together, her first Camp experience. She adored the sheep song. She also spent a week with her grandparents while mommy and papa flew to another state for a few days. (more details to come) At home, she has been napping less (ugh) and getting very very cunning. Her latest love is playing with her dad's Iphone. One day, he downloaded some games on it to keep her busy. Now every time he is home, she begs him for his phone and then hides behind the couch and plays with it. I am so glad I don't have games on my phone. She is also learning how to use our computer. Neither Mike nor I taught her how to do this, but she can turn it on and open many, many, MANY applications and *USE* them! She likes "microsoft paint" the best. She also gets on the internet and has searched for things on Yahoo. The best part? She loves the "control panel" icon and has changed the settings on our computer. I had to disable the "tty" setting on the computer's phone today. I didn't even know our computer had a phone in it, much less equipped for the deaf....

Mary is growing and changing every day. She can walk, but only proceeds to do so when she HAS to. She much prefers toddling while holding onto the walls. She can say mama, papa, puppy, more, kiss, Dan, woof, no, and Ja (aka 'julia'). Her favorite activities are eating fruit (and filling her diaper with it), playing with Julia, and stealing her mom's purse so she can empty EVERYTHING out onto the living room floor. Excellent.

Psymuhn has undergone some major changes. He is now eating Pro Plan dog food (it was on sale at Petco). He is also sporting a new look! A few weeks ago, Mike took the girls to the lake to see Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dave. I stayed home to clean up some loose ends, and I attempted to brush the dog. His long, thick fur was matted down and he was shedding clumps of hair the size of our neighbor's maltese. So, I took him to Petco to get him shaved. The grooming lady who was working that day informed me that his breed is not meant to be shaved. She directed me to the brush aisle and handed me some $35 "undercoat blade" thing that looked like a medieval torture device. I laughed, and the Psymuhn and I went next door to shopKo. For less than the price of the Blade of Torture, we bought a nice shaver with twelve attachments. I got home, put Psymuhn in the kiddie pool, and proceeded to spend two hours shaving him down to 1/2" of fur. He didn't even object to the shaving, except for his head. I was unable to shave his head at all because the shaver vibrated on his skull and scared the crap out of him. Annie called me when we were shaving, and so I wasn't paying attention to what he looked like. It was just talk, shave, talk, shave, shave, talk.....When we were done, I looked up and began to cry with laughter at the creature I had just created. That just didn't matter, though. From the look on his face, Psymuhn was full of delight. He was transformed into a puppy again. He ran all around the yard, bounding with glee at his new found freedom from Hair Everywhere. I hosed him down and he dried off in five minutes! He looks like a scrawny lab/dalmatian thing with a big hairy head. And boy does he feel good. (see pics above)

As for me, I will give you a thorough update soon. I look forward to taking advantage of my first amendment rights with this blog... ;) So stay tuned. And as soon as I find the camera, I'll post some pictures for you so you remember what we look like. Ha!

Deep Sea Diving

Here is a picture of Mary Sarah Jayne, aka "Squishy," now shortened to just "Squish," a term of endearment given to her by her older sister about a year ago. It stuck. The following story is mostly about her. If you work for CPS (child protection services) from the state of MN, kindly please stop reading now. Thank you.



While we were up in Grand Rapids for Dan and Lindsay's wedding, we tried to spend some time as a family. My family had a cabin on Sugar Lake when I was growing up, and it's a wonderful lake to take kids in. Since it was too cold for swimming, Mike and I decided to take the girls on a canoe trip. We put lifejackets on the kids and off we went.



Julia had a great time. She had her own paddle and was very well-behaved. Squishy, on the other hand, would NOT tolerate her life jacket. It was keeping her from getting close enough to stick her arms in the water off the side of the canoe, and she screamed blood murder with the thing on. The second I took it off, she grinned at me and toddled over the the side to see the water again. She has no fears. I was glad that the screaming was over. My head was beginning to throb.



Mike and I made a point to canoe within 20 feet of shore on our way out because Squishy refused to wear her life jacket. (OK, MIke....she didn't refuse to wear her lifejacket. *I* refused to listen to the screaming...) We were in 1-2 feet of water the whole time on our way out. I only paddled about five strokes the entire way because I was so afraid that Squishy's new blue hat might get in the water and float away. I was keeping one hand on my kid at all times. She was peering into the water and sticking her arms into the frigid Northern Minnesota lake, sometimes up to her elbows.

Here is the Squish, doing what she does best: 1. fearlessly leaning over the side of a canoe, and 2. manipulating her mom into letting her go without a life jacket.

Mom, THIS IS GREAT!!!

...

Well, on the way home, Mike and I were getting hot. We made a mutual decision to avoid taking the long way along the edge of the lake and instead "booking it across the bay." This involved traversing deep water. Making light of her screaming and hollering, we put Squish in her life jacket and started paddling like mad.

About thirty seconds later, amidst my furious paddling (the screaming was making my migraine come back), we heard a "splash." Then silence. Mike and I turned around, and sure enough, about twenty feet behing the canoe, there bobbed Squish, thankfully in her properly fastened life jacket, in a state of "cold water shock" due to her polar plunge.

We looked at each other. Our canoe, which had been going at mach-3, continued to streamline away from the baby, who was now beginning to gather enough composure to shriek again, this time MUCH louder than before. The Look he gave me was classic: "Sarah, I guess you'd better jump in and swim over to her. She is alone in a frigid cold lake. Wow. That life jacket really works as well as they say it does!"

Reluctantly, I took my shoes off and removed the belongings from my pockets before I lept from the canoe into the glacial waters. Luckily, all of those canoeing trips at camp had taught me how to leap from a canoe without tipping the thing. I rescued my screaming child and swam her to shore. Since the canoe didn't tip, our digital camera survived to take a picture.

I walked an angry Squishy back to the resort. About five minutes into our walk, she began to shriek again. "What NOW?" I wondered. I had already removed her life jacket.

She pointed to the water. I lowered her down into the frigid bath and she giggled with delight. For the love of Pete and George! She wants to SWIM.

Much to her joy, I dragged her through the water all the way home. I had more goose bumps than she did. Every time I tried to swing her out of the lake and over my shoulders, she let out another ear-piercing shriek. I think we just might have a water baby on our hands. A manipulative one at that.

Here are our wet clothes. Mike likes to take pictures that remind him of neatly organized laundry. He took this one.

And here is the Naked BAby, making her rounds in the cabin after we removed her ten pound water logged diaper. Luvs are amazing.



Heh heh heh heh....