50 Random Things

I have been tagged....well kind of.....but thought this would be fun so play along....

50 random things about you! If you opened this, FILL IT OUT! Learn 50 things about your friends and let them learn 50 things about you!

1.Do you like cheese? yup....all kinds

2.Have you ever smoked? yes, but hated it

3. Do you own a gun? My husband does.

4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Depends on my mood.....

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Nope

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I just can't think about what they really are........

7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? No certain favorite

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I big glass of water and then a cup of coffee

9. Can you do push ups? like 2 maybe

10. Who is your favorite Grey's Anatomy Character? Definately McSteamy and Issie

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring

12. Favorite hobby? Reading....just wish I could get through a paragraph or two without interruption

14. Do you have A.D.D.? No

15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? My O.C.D.

16. Middle Name? Marie

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? Is it lunch yet, is is snowing and gosh, I am bored

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? soup at Country Kitchen......hmmmm that was it! I am doing pretty good.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, coffee and iced tea

20. Current worry right now? driving home in this crappy weather

21. Current hate? cold weather

22. Favorite place to be? in my house, relaxing

23. How will you bring in the New Year? Not sure yet. Think we are having people over.

24. Where would you like to go? Jamaica......or someplace warm

25. Name three people who will complete this? ?????

26. Do you own flip flops? Yup, a few pair

27. What shirt are you wearing? thermal henley

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? nope....my calloused heals get caught!! LOL

29. Can you whistle? Yep

30. Favorite color? depends on my mood

31. Would you be a pirate? Nope

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Normally what ever cartoon Seneca was just watching

33. Favorite girl's name? Can't tell because someone might steal it and I like "unusual" names that no one else has.

34. Favorite boy's name? Diddo from above....what if we have another child......? I will need these names.

35. What's in your pocket right now? Not a thing

36. Last thing that made you laugh? Senecas christmas program at school

37. Bed sheets as a child? twin

38. Worst injury you've ever had? probably......hmmmm.....don't know

39. Do you love where you live? I like my house, dislike Pierre

40. How many TV's do you have in your house? 2

41. Who is your loudest friend? ????

42. How many dogs do you have? none and it will remain that way

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Hopefully my husband

44. Do you get embarrassed easily? I do but I cover it well

45. What is your favorite book? Anything I can actually sit down and read

46. What is your favorite candy? Oh, anything with white chocolate....white chocolate kit cats

47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? probably

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? I haven't thought that far and hopefully won't have to for awhile

49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night? in dream land

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Why do I always have to pee when I am sleeping so well?

Long time since my last post.....

It seems to be with the hustle and bustle of the Holidays, I have neglected our blog!! I never think about posting or even have a clear head until my head is ready to hit the pillow lately.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time with some great friends. This year, we decided to stay in Pierre and spend the Holiday with some dear friends of ours, the Reisigs. Dan and Heather and their children, Madi and Ethan came over to help us stuff our faces and play some cards. Paul and I figured since Dan and Heather were moving at the end of January to Washington D.C. we were going to try to spend some quality time with them. There was lot of food for everyone and the kids enjoyed a day and evening playing together as us adults visited and played cards.

Seneca has been busy with school and Awanas (Church). She had a Thanksgiving play that her Kindergarden class did for the parents. It was so nice to watch. She was so excited about her play that she knew everyones lines. When it came time to perform, you could tell she was nervous since her voice was quite shaky.

I have been busy with work. We got our last tournament (State Oral Interp) out the door this week before the Christmas Holiday. I of course, ended up sick and home for a few days. Sinus cold and just plain not feeling well. It seems to be that I always get sick around the Holidays.

Paul has finished up the construction season (FINALLY). He is very glad to be done with this season as am I. It is great to have him be able to pick Seneca up from school and start dinner at night. It really gives me a break and helps to relieve alot of the stress.

Now, we are preparing for Christmas. Still need to do our Christmas photo card and normally, my shopping is done by the end of October. I am quite behind this year since I have alot of shopping to do yet. Senecas birthday party is planned so that is one less thing on my list.

Today, Seneca and I baked cookies and will probably do some more next weekend. This was my first year of truly baking for the holidays.

In a nutshell, that is what we have been up to. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a great time preparing for the Christmas holiday.

Miss America 2009

The time is slowly arriving for my cousin Hollys daughter, Alexandra (Alex) to compete in the 2009 Miss America Pagent in Las Vegas on January 24, 2009.

Just got the word about the reality TV show "Count Down To the Crown" which airs January 2nd on TLC. Involved in this reality TV show is the opportunity for America to judge and place four girls into the Pageant finals!!! PLEASE, all of my blog followers, get on board, watch this reality show and VOTE FOR ALEX; Miss South Dakota!!! Spread the word to all of your friends also....lets get them on board to VOTE FOR ALEX!!!

You can find more information at these two links:
http://misssd2008.blogspot.com/ (Alexandras Blog Spot)
http://www.missamerica.org/ (Miss America Web Site)

Tune in on January 24th, to watch Alex compete in the 2009 Miss America Pageant!!

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

Last Wednesday, we had to visit the dentist. Seneca was growing "shark teeth". These are a second row of teeth. Since her permanent teeth were growing in but not pushing her baby teeth out, it resulted in a second row of teeth (I tried to get a photo of this but the flash didn't want to cooperate in her dark, little mouth).

So we scheduled a dentist appointment. I thought they would only pull one tooth since we could only see one permanent tooth coming up but he said that the other one was starting to come up so he pulled both her front bottom teeth.

I didn't go back with her while they pulled them. I literally sat in the waiting room and was sick to my stomach. I felt so bad that I had to do this to her. I thought at one time I was going to need to find the rest room, that is how ill I was feeling. When she came out with her mouth full of gauze, the front desk lady said she did wonderful. Didn't even flinch when they gave her the shot.

Paul MADE me put a coin of some kind by the teeth to show how big the root was on the one tooth.

She did tell us later that night that the dentist just "pinched" her and then pulled her tooth. So in reality she DID feel the shot.

She was quite excited to wake up to two shiny Susan B. Anthonys the next morning. I asked her how that Tooth Fairy came without me hearing (I hear every little noise ALL the time) and she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders and off she went to deposit the coins in her piggy bank.

Halloween

Last weekend, Paul and Lonny (Pauls brother) and Tammy (Lonnys wife) headed to Lemmon to pheasant hunt at Pauls Uncles place. Seneca and I decided to stay home and spend some time together. During our weekend, we carved a pumpkin and painted two little ones. I am not creative so we just did a normal jack'o'lantern. I think it turned out just perfect.

Last night, we just went to a few houses for Trick or Treating. We had signed Seneca up for "Dining with Daniel" at church. We were instructed that only costumes of animals or people from the Bible were acceptable to wear. It just so happen that the last time we were at Pauls parents house, they gave Seneca an Angel costume......so it was perfect. It was really a neat and fun evening. They had dinner set up and the kids and the parents had dinner with King Nebekaniezer and Daniel. They went through the story of Daniel and the Lion Den. They did a craft, did pinates, played games and just had a wonderful evening. Seneca during dinner asked, "How many nights are we going to do this?" I replied, "Just tonight". "Awww, I wish we could do this every night", she says. She really had just a great night and she got some Awesome treats!! I personally think it was MUCH better than Trick or Treating!!

Fireproof

Our church that we have been attending for several months now got Pierre to bring the movie "Fireproof" to town. In order to get the movie to town, they had to guarantee 1000 tickets, so Pastor Harvey bought 1,000 tickets (put them on his credit card) and then prayed that we could distribute/sell 1,000 tickets. There were several churches and business in town that promoted and sold the tickets and much to everyones delight, it has been a hit!! They even held the movie over for a week. Remember, we live in a small town that shows 3 movies and most of them are only here for a week unless they are a hit!! So what a blessing to have this movie here for two weeks!! Pastor Harvey is just a wonderful man! Thanks so much for bringing this movie to Pierre.

Paul and I went to the movie on Tuesday night. Heather and Dan watched Seneca for us (we are watching their kids for them tonight) and we had two hours of peace to watch a very wonderful movie with a wonderful message. Granted, it is lower budget, all of the actors except Kirk Cameron are volunteer and Kirk gave his portion back but the message it promotes and gives is worth so much more!!

Fireproof is the story of a firefighter, Captain Caleb Holt, who lives by the old firefighter's adage: Never leave your partner behind. But, after seven years of marriage to his wife Catherine, their own relationship is failing. Neither one understands the pressures the other faces. Caleb claims that Catherine is too sensitive and "doesn't show me respect." Whereas she tells her hospital co-workers that he is "so insensitive" and that "he doesn't listen to me" and "doesn't understand my needs." Caleb's addiction to Internet pornography is what sets the marriage over the edge, however. As they prepare to file for divorce, Caleb's father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day test called "The Love Dare." Caleb starts it, but more for his father's sake than for his marriage.
When Caleb discovers the book’s daily challenges are tied into his parents' newfound faith, his already limited interest is further dampened.
Even though he wants to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and time again. He finally asks his father, "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?" When his father tells him that this is the love God shows to people, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And, with God's help, he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. But, he is unsure if it's too late to "fireproof" his marriage.

What truly spoke to me was when Caleb says "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?" His father then tells him that this is the love God shows to people......and then Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God.

Wow!! Some of us may not go through this "rejection" in our marriage but in our everyday lives whether at work, home, with friends, activities we are involved in, etc. And what a thing to remember......we so many times reject God over and over but he is constantly there with open arms, forgiving us over and over. We need to ourselves remember to live as God lived and open our hearts over and over again.

I recommend this movie to anyone, single, married, whether you have problems in your marriage or are happily married. Each one of us WILL encounter the troubles at some point in our lives. Marriage is a hard thing, one of the hardest things I have done but it IS all worth while!! We just have to believe in Him, he will bring you through each hard moment and there will always be a reason and a lesson in every hard time.

Most Important Part of Convention

In our registration bags, we were given a while button with the following black letters:

SDWSC

Through out the few days, we were to see if we could come up with what these letters stood for.

During the last General Session, Elisa Morgan filled us in on what the letters stood for and gave an amazing talk on each word.

It stood for "She did what she could" based on Mark 14: 1-9. It was so amazing how the story in Mark is just what each of us as mothers go through each and every day. "She did what she could"......as mothers, wives, friends, leaders, we do just that each and every day.

MOPS International Convention 2008

Wow, what else can I say!! What a truely blessed event that 11 of us from Pierre and 5000 from across the US were able to attend. It truely helps to show you what MOPS really does for a woman as a mom, wife and individual.

11 women left Pierre, Wednesday, Oct. 1st at 7 am. Some where novice travelers and others were just going to be happy when the plane arrived at our designated location. I was one of them who was just happy to be back on the ground safely.

Michelle, Sara, Beth, Tia, Val, Deb, Kris, Verda, Heather, Leigh and Cindy

Our plane arrived in Dallas around 2 pm on Wednesday and the MOPS International Convention didn't start until Thursday at 1 pm so we had plenty of time to check in to the hotel and then head to the Grapevine Mills Outlet Mall for some heavy shopping. Most of us accomplished the task of "heavy shopping" and felt the need to go back again on Thursday morning since we didn't get through the entire mall on Wednesday. Me being on of them.

The convention consisted of 4 General Sessions, 4 breakout workshops (13-15 to choose from each workshop hour), a resource fair and MOPS Shop.

The 1st General Session was Thursday evening at 7 pm. Elisa Morgan (CEO of MOPS), Naomi Cramer Overton (President of MOPS International), Julie Barnhill (Author of One Tough Mother and many more), Kim Hill (recording artist and worship leader) and none other than Go Fish (kids music that won't drive parents bonkers) were speakers and entertainers during this session. It was wonderful!! Go Fish got us off our feet and got us moving and Julie Barnhill of course is crazy and got us laughing with her crazy sense of humor. Elisa and Naomi were just plain wonderful! They are both wonderful speakers and do a wonderful job as leaders, mothers and the most important, their values to serve God! It was a late night but an absolutely fun night!!

Leigh and Sara with Go Fish

Sara, Leigh, Heather and I with Julie Barnhill

General Session II started at 9 am on Friday morning. The General Sessions were nuts. To get great seats up front, you had to wait at the doors at least 1 hour prior to the doors opening and then it was a mad dash as 5,000 women ran to get the best seats. Our group did pretty good for all the sessions but the last session. We had the same seats each time and they were wonderful seats. Due to a unfortunate event, we did not have our same seats during the last session, but that is OK. It was all good.

Our Group with Kim Hill

During General Session II, Patrick Lencioni (President of The Table Group and author of books such as The 3 Big Questions for a Grantic Family), Naomi Cramer Overton, Nic Gonzales and Jaci Velasquez (Nic is lead singer and co-founder of Christiain musics Salvedor and Jaci, Nics wife is a Christian/Latin/pop singer), and Kim Hill were the speakers and entertainers for General Session II.

After the Friday morning General Session we did three breakout sessions. I had signed up for "Speaking Your Mans Language" with Rick Johnson (founder of Better Dads) and "As You Go, Go Deep With Jesus" with Dr. Sue Edwards (professor at Dallas Theological Seminary) and Grace Based Parenting with Dr. Tim Kimmel (Author of Grace-Based Parenting; Raising Kids for True Greatnesss and Raising Kids Who Turn Our Right).

The session with Rick Johnson was very much like the Bible Study "Love and Respect" that Paul and I are doing through our church. It was quite informative and really makes you think about your marriage and your actions and reactions.

The session with Dr. Sue Edwards was very intersting. If you have ever wished you could "find your quiet time" with the Lord and wondered how your friend Sally does it and gets it. This was the session for you. It explained that there are 9 different spiritual temperments (sacred pathways) to the Lord and you need to find yours to know what works for you. I did find that I am a combination of two; The Sensate (learn through my senses) and The traditionlist (learn through ritual, structure and consistency). You don't need to focus on the rules but focus on your relationship with the Lord.

Grace-Based Parenting with Dr. Tim Kimmel was probably my favorite. What a dynamic and energetic speaker with wonderful, informative information. He could have spoke for hours and kept my attention. He had 4 points to raising children:
1) Create and maintain a daily atmosphere of Grace

2) Focus on meeting their inner needs

3) Build character into their hearts

4) Aim them at true greatness (rather than success)
I could go on and on about his message. This is a MUST read book that I will be reading soon!! I encourage you to read it if you have not already!!

Friday night, our group headed downtown to take in some authentic Texas mexican food. We ate at a restaurant called Esparzas. It was absolutely AWESOME!! That is one thing I miss about the south is the mexican food!! You just don't get that in the mid-west. Three of us shared a pitcher of Swirl Margaritas (margaritas swirled with Sangria). That was great too. The menu says on the margarita section that after 3 margaritas you MUST order food. There is a reason that they state that!! Trust me.......

General Session II started Saturday at 9 am. Plumb (Mother and recording artist); Erwin Raphael McManus (Lead Pastor and Cultural Architech of Mosaic in Los Angeles) and Kim Hill were speakers and performing artists during this session. I, of course, was on an emotional high forever with Plumbs music. I left the session early to grab my lunch and stand in line to purchase her CD, get an autograph and a photo with her. She is just an amazing artist and so inspiring!! You can just feel the love that she has for both the Lord and her children.

Me with Plumb

We had our last workshop session Saturday afternoon. I had signed up for the Finanace positional since I am the Finance Leader for our MOPS group in Pierre but instead took another gals ticket to take in the "June Cleaver Meets Desperate Housewives" with Karen Marchant. It was an OK workshop. It was about the influence of television on moms over the last 50 years and discussion on how motherhood has envolved. I think in the end, I should have stuck with my Finance Positional.

We ended the convention with General Session IV on Saturday afternoon. Elisa Morgan, Naomi Cramer Overton, Kim Hill and Avalon (Christian Music Group), closed out the convention. There is so much more to each of these sessions than those that I have hi-lighted. During each session, they had several "everyday women" who gave their testamonies about MOPS and shared what MOPS has done in their lives. These are women just like you and I. Women who found Christ through MOPS and how MOPS has changed their lives and their families lives. It was amazing to hear from these women and very emotional as well. Women who have lived with husbands with alcohol problems, a teen mom who was in prison for drug use and has found Christ, a MOPS leader whos MOPS member and her family was lost to a horrible accident, a wife who lost her husband in a church shooting, a MOPS leader who ministers to moms in prison. The list could go on and on of the inspirational stories and real stories of women just like you and I who have found the Lord through MOPS.

All in all, this was an amazing trip that I was truely blessed in taking. It was great to strengthen the friendships with the ladies from Pierre and to learn more about MOPS and the opportunities that MOPS has for mothers.

I am in the process of putting together a DVD for our group. When I get it finished I will post it....it could be awhile.

Here is a link of another "Blog Spot" on the MOPS Convention. Gives a little different perspective of the Convention.

http://mopsconvention.blogspot.com/

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You......

The details, the photos, the fun of the MOPS International Convention in Dallas, TX.

I know some of you are waiting at the edge of your seats for all the great, inspirational, fun details of my trip to Texas but I have lots of thoughts to gather and lots of photos to sort through. It will come, I promise.

Next week, I work out of town for 4 days so I am hoping I will either have them up before Tuesday (when I leave) or after Saturday (when I get back). I need uninterrupted time to get everything together. Unfortunately Seneca doesn't take naps anymore. Oh, those where the days.......

Senecas First School Conferences

Yesterday, Paul and I had Senecas first Parent/Teacher Conference. The original scheduled time was last week Thurs. and Fri. but I was in Texas and didn't want to miss them so Mrs. Shaw was so kind to reschedule with us.

The conferences went absolutely wonderful!! Mrs. Shaw said she is doing great. Very advanced for her age. Mrs. Shaw is going to find some work to help cure "the boredom syndrome" that Seneca is experiencing. Something to keep her engaged and learning. The stuff they are working on now is the alphabet and counting to 25 and Seneca is well over both of those things. She is also going to work with Seneca at being "like a teacher" and helping the other kids who aren't as advanced as her. Due to this "advancement", we did inquire as to whether they let kids move up a grade due to their learning abilities and she said it was very rare. She said we will see how things are going once she works with her more with different work. She wants to get some stuff from the 1st grade teacher to help her out. In my mind, move her up to 1st grade if that is the case, but we have to trust that the teachers know what they are doing and just stay in communication with them.

Socially, Mrs. Shaw said that she doesn't have a "certain group" of friends. She plays with everyone. She distances herself from the "bad situations" (which is great; lets hope that follows into the teenage years) and the only "negative" (which she said really isn't negative due to her advancement) is that she needs to work on patience with those who aren't as advanced as she is.

After Paul and I talking last night, we sure wish Pierre had some sort of advanced courses. They go through "Kindergarden Screening" and are expected to know all these things (the alphabet, counting to 50, shapes, etc.) but then they allow those who don't know these things into Kindergarden and then those that are well over that, have to sit back and let the others play catch up. Sure wish there was something they could do for those who are advanced. Sometimes I think that their age limit of 5 before Sept. 1st is a crock. If they are socially and academically ready, let them go before age 5. Especially in the case of a later Sept., Nov. December birthday.

OK, I have vented and we know it won't change but we will be in close contact with her teacher and hope that we can come to a good solution for Seneca. For now, she loves going to school and doesn't complain too much about being bored so we will just keep an eye on her.

MOPS Convention Countdown

On October 1st, myself and 10 other women from Pierre will be flying to Dallas, TX to attend the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Convention. We will be staying at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Spa (see photo above) along with many (5000+) other women from all over the United States. The Convention activities, workshops and General Sessions are all held at the Gaylord. So technically, we never have to leave. Oh, but we will......

When we arrive in Dallas at 2 pm on Wednesday, we plan on going to the Grapevine Mills Mall (over 1.6 million square feet; over 180 stores) to shop since the convention doesn't start until Thursday at 1 pm. To some of you that live in the "big city" that doesn't sound to appealing. To those of us that live in Pierre, that is like going to Disney World!!!

All our hard work at fundraising this last summer paid off. We did lots of fundraisers to pay for this trip to Dallas and am truely blessed at the outcome of those fundraisers. I am so excited to attend this convention and have been so blessed to be a part of the LMC MOPS group this past year.

See you after Dallas!!!

Oh The Love Of A DVR

Have I ever mentioned my love of our DVR? I am a tv watcher. I actually probably watch TOO much TV. I was raised in a city with cable, movie channels, Atari and anything else related to TV. I wasn't raised on a farm with just an antenae on the roof where you only got the PBS channel (such as my husband), so TV has always just been a part of my life.

I have lot of shows that I DVR and wonder what I ever did without it. It keeps me sane, especially with a 5 year old that doesn't want to miss "Sid the Science Kid" or "Curious George". My famous response when I say it is time to to is "just record and and you can watch it later". I can now get things done around the house and watch my shows at my leisure, without commercials. Do you know how much time you save by skipping through commercials? Some hour long shows now only last 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes of commercials!! It is just amazing. We don't watch ANYTHING anymore that isn't recorded. Whoever invented the DVR, I just want you to know, you are wonderful!! I now have a life, I can go places and do things and not miss my shows!! Once again, I thank you!!

Weekend update......typical Monday night

I am sitting here hoping to get a quick post in before the storm comes. It is lightning and thundering out and the radar shows a pretty good storm headed our way. Hopefully this will be the last storm before winter. Not too fond of these thunderstorms we have in this area. You never know what they will do.

This past weekend we headed to McLaughlin for Pauls Grandmas 80th birthday. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. It was nice to meet some of Pauls cousins and Aunts and Uncles that I had never met. We had received Christmas Cards and yearly updates but I had never met some of them. It was nice to meet the people behind the stories!! Seneca loved being around all the kids, her of course being the youngest, but she loved playing with all of them. Of course, you can never argue being around Grandma and Grandpa Hertel and of course, she absolutely loves her Uncle Lonny!! So she had a wonderful time. I am sad to say, we got all the way to McLaughlin and I realized that I forgot my camera. I used to "never leave home without it" but lately, it is amazing how I forget that camera all the time. Hopefully, when George and Betty come up next week, they will have some photos for me to post since they took lots of photos.

I am doing the count down for my trip to Texas. We leave in 9 days. I am excited but at the same time, extremely nervous. It has been at least 10+ years since I have flown. I have never been that far away from both Paul and Seneca. Of course my biggest worry is that I may miss something here at home. I don't like missing out on things. I want to be able to be a part of it all!! I am looking forward to deepening my friendships with my MOPS friends that I have become so fond of over the last year. There is 11 of us going from Pierre and it will be so much fun and I know we will have a wonderful time and we will be able to support each other during this trip. I will try to post again before my trip but I'm not promising anything. I am playing catch up and get ahead at work to go on this trip so things may get a little crazy the closer it gets to Oct. 1st. Lets just pray that no major "upsets" happen at the office between now and then so that I will feel "OK" leaving and not feel guilty and of couse not feel "rushed". Of course I will feel guilty leaving both Paul and Seneca but I do know that I need this trip.

Nearing the End of a Relaxing Weekend

We are nearing the end of this wonderful Labor Day weekend. Labor Day weekend is always a little sad because we in the mid-west know that winter is just around the corner. We dig out our winter clothes, make sure the winter coats fit along with all the other clothes that keep us warm.

With the temps the way they were this past weekend (97+) you would never guess that winter was creeping up on us slowly. Today, we are suppose to reach the mid to upper 80's and then starting tomorrow, low 70's......can you believe that? I always find it just crazy how the temps in South Dakota fluctuate so much in a short period of time. I am hoping that the 70's are not a sign of what to expect this winter. When it cools off this early in the season, it makes me a little nervous as to how long and cold the winter months will be!! Lets just hope that winter comes later than sooner.

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Friday, Seneca started swimming lessons again at the "Y". You could tell she took an entire summer off of swimming but she will get back into the swing of things again shortly.

Saturday, we really didn't do a whole lot. We did go pick up our insurance check from the storm damage that we had back in July and then ran around paying all the bills. What a relief to have that all taken care of!! A weight has been lifted from our shoulders. The contractors insurance paid us in full and no money out of our pockets which we are very thankful for. The weather was quite hot and windy so we stayed in doors for most of the day.

Sunday, after church, we headed to the Pierre Mall to see if I could find some jeans for my trip to Dallas, TX in October. We have decided that our mall is just not the place to find things in Pierre. There are about 17 stores in our mall and not much for men OR women. So I decided to wait and go shopping in Dallas at the outlet malls. October 1st can't come soon enough!!!

Sunday night, our wonderful friends, Kerri and Travis came over for steaks on the grill, crock pot potatoes and a few cold beers!!! Kerri and Travis always help us out with Seneca when we need them. They have been just wonderful. We invited them over for dinner as a "Thank you" for taking Seneca at the spur of the moment when I had to take Paul to the ER a few weeks ago for a kidney stone. It hasn't quite been 2 years since his last one and I was praying that we weren't going through what we went through last time when the hospitalizations started!!

Today, we are going to finish up on household chores and get ourselves ready for the work and school week. I just finished looking at the calendar and realized there aren't any holidays until mid-October!! I look so forward to holidays after working long hours day after day but I do have my trip to Dallas, TX October 1-5th to look forward to!! I'm afraid that won't be rest and relaxation though.....

We will just use the little time we have on the weekends to sneak in some r&r!!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school in Pierre which was Senecas first day of Kindergarden.

We did some photos at home before we left and then we headed to the school. We were directed where to go and told that there would be some chances for photos once there. So I said to Seneca that I better go get my camera out of the car. I was very quickly told "No, I don't want you to get your camera". The entire time I kept trying to reason "why" I needed my camera and was told over and over again, "No". So I respected her wishes. We waited for the bell to ring. Some parents just dropped their kids off and others stayed with their kids either at the kids demand or mom and dad needing to stay. I was one of the moms that needed to stay, until the bell rang. I couldn't get out of there fast enough before the tears started coming, not from Seneca but from myself. I just knelt down, gave her a hug and said I will see you later and have a great day. She was very quick to say, "Bye mom". Off I went with kleenex in hand hoping no one would pass me on my way to the car because I was a mess.

I picked her up from school at 2:55 and she was more than happy to come back to the office with me. I had a surprise of colored pencils and coloring/activity books for her as a little "gift" for making it through the first day of school (wonder if I get something for making it through the first day...LOL). She said her favorite part of the day was recess (typical kid) and she said she didn't learn anything (typical first day of school). She has been talking alot about P.E. though. She must have enjoyed that (isn't that pretty much like recess?). Our main question to her was "How was lunch?". She said she ate half her burger, fries, popsicle and chocolate milk. That was wonderful in our book since eating is a big issue for her....the pickiest child I have ever known!!

Summer Time Fun

A week ago, Seneca did her normal cooling off routine in the summer of running through the sprinklers. If we turned on our sprinkler system over and over again, she would be content. She loves running through the sprinklers!!

Yesterday, we were invited to the campground with a few friends of mine. Heather and Kris' families do a lot of camping. They do it the right way of course, in a camper. Since Paul worked, Seneca and I decided we would join them for the day. We headed out about lunch time and had lunch with them and then headed to the river for fun on the boat. We are blessed with the beautiful Missouri River within minutes of Pierre. Since yesterday was the most beautiful day of the year in my opinion (low 80's and just a light breeze and sun) what a better thing to do than enjoy that beautiful body of water.

As soon as Seneca saw the boat and heard the "buzz" from the kids on who was going tubing first, she of course wanted to join them. It started with a "no" of course from me. I thought, there was no way with her swimming skills or lack of, that she was going to go in the big Missouri River on a tube being pulled by a boat. Of course after about 15 minutes of her sitting and watching all the other kids, the "big puppy dog eyes" and the reassurace from Heather that Dan will go on with her, I gave in. On to the tube she went with Dan and Ethan (aka Bubba). My heart was in my stomach and I just wanted to pull her in from the river the entire time. I was scared to death. Her face slowly went from an "unsure of what she got herself into" look to a smile from ear to ear. When her turn was over and she was back in the boat for a millasecond, I hear, "Mom, when is it my turn again?" The dreaded words I was afraid of. So after a few other kids going, I allowed her to go on with Kris' daughter Karrisa. That turn didn't last as long when I saw Senecas brave side coming forth with going from one end of the tube to the other, to going with no hands after repeadidly haveing a finger pointed at her to "hold on". I couldn't do it anymore, I had them pull her in. I was ready to have a heart attack!!

We slowly headed the boat to a beach area to let the kids out and enjoy the beach for awhile. Isaac gave the girls mud baths but Seneca said they were "mud massages". It was just so cute!! This is probably the dirtiest I have seen my child. That is what happens when you are OCD......it was quite the experience. Thankfully, the water washed it all away!!It was great to see her having such a wonderful time!! It was also nice for me to get out and "get a little sun". This past "Arizona Girl" hadn't seen sun for awhile. Not like I used to in Arizona so I needed a little color but of course, white skin will turn.......red......at least mine did! I did a great job with sunscreen except for my thighs so I am a little sore today! I am hoping that the sunburn turns to a nice golden tan.......yah right....who am I kidding? I haven't had a nice tan since high school!!

What a wonderful end to summer. Tomorrow, school starts......I can feel the tears starting.....not by Seneca, but by mom.

Kindergarden Orientation

Last night, Senecas school had "Orientation" where you found out who your teacher (hers is Mrs. Shaw) is and got to tour the school and your classroom. It started out as much excitement for Seneca, until we pulled up to the school and she realized that she wasn't going to be meeting her teacher by herself. She was going to be meeting her teacher along with possible 18 other kids as well as the rest of the grades meeting their teachers!! I bought her lunch ticket and her milk ticket and we then headed to her classroom. She was very hesitant at the whole idea of "other" kids, none of who she knows from pre-school, Wednesday School, swim lessons, etc. She doesn't know ANY of them. She stuck real close to me and even clug on to my leg a few times. As I tried to fight back tears and be brave, she just clung on to me harder. Monday should be a VERY interesting day. I don't know who is going to cry more, me or Seneca.....

I did have some tears last night and told Seneca I was sad that she was growing up and she comforted me with a big hug and the kind word of, "I'm sorry mom, but that is just how God made the world". She is such a sweet heart.

I will give updates on the first day of school next week and WILL have photos. I didn't think to bring my camera. I need to get in the swing of things and get that camera attached to my body!!

Starts, Finishes and The Weekend

Wednesday, Seneca and I left for Eureka. I really don't like traveling without Paul. I don't know where that anxiety ever came from. Considering I lived in the Phoenix area for years and did all kinds of crazy things in my lifetime, I don't know where my small town fears came from. Anyways, we made it to Eureka without any problems and it was actually a nice drive. Compared to past years, the fields are green, the wheat was being harvested and it was the perfect scenery!! I love the openness of the prairie, the combines in the fields harvesting......it was just very calming!! It was a very nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kusler (Great-Grandparents) and Aunt Crystal. Wednesday after dinner, we walked to the school playground to let Seneca play. Oh, does that place bring back memories, and yes, I forgot my camera. I wasn't aware we were headed there, so no photos.....sorry!! Which the playground leads me to my "start".......

My work has started a "Biggest Loser" challenge. I am always up to winning money so I thought, "What the heck, I could afford to lose a few pounds and get in shape". After trying, and failing, to go on the monkey bars at the Eureka school playground, I realized just how out of shape I am!! It was just plain embarrasing........probably only to myself, but I just couldn't believe that I couldn't go across the monkey bars. Could it be when I was like 7, I weighed UNDER 100 pounds? I guess you add some weight and the monkey bars are kind of hard. I hope you are all agreeing and aren't just saying that I am out of shape.......please agree......

So this morning, summer hours at work are over (7-4:30) and we start work at 8 am again. Instead of using my extra hour to sleep (as I have done in the past), I decided that the alarm WILL stay set at 5:30 AM and I WILL get up and get on the treadmill. So far, I did it (yes, it is only one day but a person has to start somewhere). I woke up at 5:15, went to the basement and got on the treadmill. My goal was 30 minutes and I actually did 45 minutes. I even ran some of the time!! 2 miles later, I am feeling good........so far. I want you readers to HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE!! Check in with me periodically and give me words of encouragement. I want to be in shape again!! I think the last time I ran, really ran, was in cross country in Jr. High.....that is scary.........I think I have alot of work to do!!

This leads to my "finish".......the carpet is in the basement since our mishap a month ago. The sheetrock is finished. Wednesday the carpet cleaners will come in to do our steps and upstairs entry way and then we can move things back to their rightful places. And then we just need to wait for a check from the insurance company. I am sure that will be the hardest part. Hopefully the check comes sooner than later.

Off to Eureka

Our daycare provider is on vacation starting today so Seneca and I decided we would head to Eureka to see my Grandparents (Senecas Great-Grandparents) and my Aunt Crystal. Seneca has been SO excited all week until, I told her we weren't staying in a hotel. She had it in her mind that we were staying in a hotel. Where she got that from, I am not sure. So I told her we were staying at Crystals and that eased her mind a bit. We aren't staying long (one night) since the carpet layers are coming on Friday.

The basement is progressing......slowly.......still no check from the insurance company (which makes me extremely nervous). The guy has been in and out fixing the sheet rock. Once that is done, he will paint, hang and replace trim, recaulk the shower. Once the carpet layers are finished the carpet cleaners will come back in to do some areas in the basement, the steps and the area from the front door to the steps which have been trampled on wayyyyy toooooo much!! Cream carpet IS NOT a good thing when you have workers going in and out. Some day, that too will get replaced!!

I better get packing since I have not done that yet and we are leaving in two hours!!

Girl Going Green

A year ago, I got on my little health crusade that I tackled. I worked on us and our health as much as I could living in a small town without alot of product selection available. With Paul having some skin condition, I decided to do my research and eliminate all parabens and Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS or NaDS) from our household products. So replacing laundry soap, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, toothpaste, dish soap, dishwasher soap.......anything that "foams" as well as makeup which has parabens was a challenge. When you start reading ingredients it is amazing what all has those ingredients in them!! This wasn't JUST for Paul but it started the research. You would be amazed if you take the time to research those ingredients and find out what they really are. It will make you think twice before putting those things into or onto your body. I won't get into detail because I am a little short on time, but just "Google" those things sometime and do your own research.....you'll be amazed!!

The next "Green" projects started when Seneca came to my office with me one day for a few minutes and saw our "blue paper recyling bin" with the recycling logo on it!! Her eyes lit up as she said, "Mom, I didn't know you recycled! That is SO COOL!! I sure wish we could recycle at home". So, I decided that would be our project. So I began to research what our town takes for recycling and where we drop them off at since they don't do curb side pick up with recylables. So this was our creation.........

I had always used the excuse "We don't have room", which really, we don't. Any of you that have seen our garage know that once the car and the truck are in there, you are lucky to have room to walk around the car. The truck, to get to the passenger side, you have to pull out to access anything on that side. When we buy new vehicles, we have to "measure" to make sure they will fit in our garage. So, after some rearranging and lots of measuring, and searching for just the right bins for recycling, we put these in the garage for Seneca to put her recyclables in! We don't go an hour without her picking things up and looking for the recyling logo and what number, etc. it is and if we can recyle it! Our next challenge will be to buy as many products as possible which the containers can be recycled. Thank goodness for "drugstore.com" in my search for products which containers can be recyled AND the products that don't contain parabens or SLS and are as natural as possible. Now if I could only find organic food in this town..........the joys of a small town.

Update to Damage

Well, it is 2:00 pm on Saturday and we STILL have not got any sleep!! We have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and then decided to give up and call "Service Master" the cleaning people who clean up after storms, etc. With Pauls back and me finally at my breaking point, we decided, enough is enough.

In the meantime, the Contractor who didn't plug the manhole, has admitted fault and said that all bills are to go to them!! YAH!! We finally got a break. We are still waiting for the insurance company to call us back.....you gotta love them. What we do know is that we need to replace the carpet in the basement hallway. Luckily, the carpet has NOT been discontinued so we can get the same carpet. It will just be from a different dye lot but should still look good. So, they are ripping out the padding and carpet and then will dry it all out. Next week, they will come back in, sanitize the walls, clean up better than I did in all the rooms and get us some where close to normal. Who knows when they will come and lay the carpet and then Service Master will come and clean our stairs and our living room upstairs from all the "traffic" due to this misfortune. We will still have some sheet rock work to do, shower to rip out and reinstall and then tape, texture and paint. All this we WILL have hired done!! We ARE NOT finishing our basement AGAIN by ourselves!!! So hopefully in the next month we will have our lovely, livable basement back. Oh, and the Contractor is over at the project putting a dirt berm in......I guess this will force the runoff water to another area and NOT our area!! Oh, also, we aren't the only ones on our street that have damage, we know of at least 4 others that we have spoke with. The Contractor told all them also that the bills are to go to them. So, in blog world, if you don't hear from us for awhile, it is because we are busy refinishing our finished basement!!

By the way.......do you know what this does to an OCD person? Nothing good, I can tell you that much!! I am now going to finally go and cry!

The Damage From The Storm

Last night, or should I say early this morning (12:30) we had over an inch of rain in a very short time. Your probably thinking...."That isn't too bad". Well, normally, it isn't bad......at the end of May, we had over 3" in a very short time. This was not "normal". The City is replacing water main and sewer pipes two blocks north of our house. I will try to explain this as best I can.....according to Paul, when they don't cap off the manhole when they aren't working and they have "a big hole" with no where for the water to go, except down the manhole instead of into the storm drains, it creates problems......and the problem happens to be ours.

(this is a photo after daylight that Paul walked up the street to take)


Let me back up......we went down to the basement to sleep when the storm hit so we didn't have to hear the hail. When the storm let up, Paul decided to go upstairs. After he was upstairs, I heard water running so got up and found this:

This is the basement bathroom; water, mud, sludge, was shooting up through the shower drain and then onto the floor. The water also went underneath the wall into the utility room where we keep our deepfreeze, canned goods, etc. That floor was just concrete so not much was damaged except the walls. We assume we will have to tear out the sheet rock and replace it because so much water came in. The water was about 3" deep in the bathroom ONCE the water stopped running into the hallway onto the carpet.

Water also came up into the Garden Tub. You can see about how deep it was.

This is the bathroom floor once the clean up began.

This is the laundry room floor. The floor in there is also concrete but we have the washer, dryer, water softner, furnace, etc. to clean up around. We don't believe there was any damage to any of that. Of course, I would have LOVED to have a new washer and dryer, but that is just my luck for that to be operable. I have already, since this happen, did 4 loads of wash and the current time is only 8 am. The water was also coming up through this drain in the laundry room floor. The sump pub helped a little in this room but the mud that has dried is really no fun to clean up.

We have been awake and cleaning since 12:30 this morning. Both Paul and I have maybe had an hour of sleep. The really bad part of this whole thing is that Paul put his back out last Friday (July 11) and has not been working or doing much of anything since then. So thank goodness for our wonderful friend Kerri who was so kind to come over AND stay until 5 this morning and help us make some sense of the mess. Our neighbor lent us his shop vac so we could at least run two shop vacs and get it all up as quickly as possible. We still have a full day or so of clean up work and need to call the insurance company and go from there.

So far, out of our block, we are the ONLY ones who had any water in their basements. We are going to talk to a few more but Paul is figuring since our house is the newest on the block that when they tied into the sanitary connection to the main line ours happen to possibly be at lower percent of grade to our house (flatter) and this is why it possibly happen. OR the connection from our line to the main line.

We will be talking to the City AND the Contractor to see what the heck! I apologize for any typos, etc. but I am TIRED.......

Updates on our summer......so far

Well, it has been awhile since I posted. We have done alot, but then again, it seems like we have done nothing. Actually, when I plugged in the camera to download, it did look like we had done nothing but then I started to think, I just have not taken any photos. I need to get with it.......

I will start with the weekend of our camping trip. As much as I had been dreading it, it really would have turned out to be a wonderful camping trip if it hadn't been for the pesky mosquitoes. We arrived to the Oahe Downstream Campground......just outside of Pierre and below the Oahe Dam, on Friday. We sat up our camp and waited for our friends who were going to be joining us. Seneca loved playing on the playground equipment that was there. We made sure we got a spot right next to the playground so we could relax and watch her play.

After our dinner, I had to head into town for the Oahe Days Parade which our MOPS group had a float in. So I walked the parade, threw candy and headed back out to the campground. It was time to start a fire and enjoy the evening. Which for the most part we all did......until morning. When we woke in the morning we found our daughter looking not so good from all the mosquitoe bites. She must have an allergy of some sort to them. Even though we sprayed her down over and over and over again.......this was the result:

The pictures really don't do it justice at all. I was actually scared to take her to Walmart because I was scared people would think that we beat our child!! So, needless to say, we decided that we weren't staying our second night since the mosquitoes were so bad. So about 1:00 on Saturday, we headed to town and called it a weekend.

Sunday, I had to work the Oahe Days booth for our MOPS group. It was a nice day.....was able to get a little sun.

The following weekend, Paul, his brother Lonny and his cousin Mitch, headed to McLaughlin to the farm to do their annual Prairie Dog Hunting trip. It was a nice time for Seneca and I to do girl stuff while dad was gone.

The 4th of July arrived and so did Dad and LouAnn. We met up with them after the annual Ft. Pierre 4th of July Parade which both Seneca and I were in with my MOPS group. It was a fun parade. A very large parade (close to 200 entries). Luckily the weather wasn't too hot.....but warm enough when you are walking in a parade.

Saturday the 5th, we had some friends over to celebrate my birthday. Pierre hasn't reached above 95 degrees yet this summer until Saturday. So the outdoor party, was inside for the most part until later in the evening. We played some lawn games and let the kids play until the bugs came out again. The moisture is very well appreciated but along with moisture come the bugs which we would really rather do without. Since the Daytona Nascar Race was on that night, the men ventured to the basement to watch the race and us women just talked and kept an eye on the kids until the race was over. It was a nice relaxing day and was glad to celebrate my birthday with family and friends.

Dad and LouAnn are here until tomorrow. We have had a fun week of playing cards and Seneca has truly enjoyed having her Grandma and Grandpa here!!

Updates Coming Soon........I Promise!!

I need to get my "ducks in a row". It has been a crazy past month and I DO have things to update everyone with. Just give me time......hang in there.......I will do this HOPEFULLY later this week.

Summer Time Is Here

Last night, I could tell that summer had arrived in Pierre. So far this year, we haven't had to turn on our air conditioner. The weather has been quite mild considering that last year we had already had temps in the 90's and 100's at this time and the air ran non-stop. When I got home from my summer bible study that started last night, I struggled sleeping since the house was a little on the warm side. The windows were opened but no breeze to be found. By this morning though, the house was a little chilly. We got by one more day without the air conditioner. Hopefully we can make it a few more.

Seneca has been doing summer rec bowling this month. She really seems to enjoy it. We will be doing a family camping trip this weekend. Seneca can't wait!! She has been counting the days. Mom, well, I could wait forever to go camping. Especially since we are tent camping. Luckily it is only 5 miles from home so if I forget something, I can come home and get it and if I can't stand the showers.....which is probably going to be the case......I can run home to shower. I know, I am NOT the outdoorsey camping person.

Last weekend we had a rummage sale. It turned out to be a profitable sale. I got rid of alot of things but still stored alot back into my closets. I am considering doing one more before fall.......we will see what time permits.

I started a summer bible study last night. It is called "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter. Beth Moore endorses it on her LPM Blog Site. It is an 8 week study but we only meet everyother week so it doesn't take up too much time. There is about 9 of us in this study. So far, I have truly enjoyed the last two studies that I have been involved in.

Paul has been busy with the construction season. He has managed to get every other weekend off for the most part and has taken time off for both our camping trip this weekend and the following weekend to go prairie dog hunting with his brother. I have been informed though, that unlike past summers, this fall will be more busy with county projects. So we will see how we fair with Seneca starting school and my busy time being the same time as his.

Miss South Dakota

After much anticipation and me checking the internet 500 times last night AFTER 10:00 pm, and finally giving up at 11:30, Alexander Hoffman has been crowned Miss South Dakota!! Now some of you are probably like, "big deal"......It is a VERY big deal......at least to our family. Alex is the daughter of my cousin Holly. So we have a potential "Miss America" in our family!!!!

Alex was the 2006 Miss Teen USA and her sister Elizabeth is the 2008 Miss Teen USA. We are so proud of both the girls.

For more information on both girls, here are the links:

Miss South Dakota; Miss Teen South Dakota

Playhouse Finished

For the most part, the playhouse is finished......or at least ready to start selling raffle tickets. The outside is finished (besides a few touch ups) and we have to get started on the inside (flooring and paneling the walls and ceiling). Our goal was to get the outside presentable enough to take a picture so we could print our raffle tickets. So ..........here it is................

Our Gracie

Gracie (our cat) has been a part of our family since April 2002. She was our "first child". She was my buddy. Where I went, Gracie went. Paul wasn't always too fond of her. We always joke that if we ever got divorced, it would be because of the cat. She slept in bed with us, she ate when we ate, she cried when she never got enough attention from me, the list goes on.

Seneca was quite smitten with Gracie too. Even though, the two would fight, even enough to put Seneca in the hospital in October 2006 after a cat bite, they truly did love one another.

Yesterday, we had to put Gracie to sleep. She had been sick for a few weeks. We tried several different medications and nothing was helping. She started going to the bathroom everywhere but her litter box so we decided it was best to put her to sleep.

It has been a hard few weeks in our house, especially yesterday. Seneca handled it well, I, of course, am still not recovered nor will I for awhile. Our house has been entirely too quite since last night. Paul, believe it or not even shed a tear or two. I had asked him to make the call to the vet to give the OK to put her to sleep and he said, "Believe it or not, that was a very hard thing to do".

MOPS Playhouse Week 2

The playhouse is coming along so well. I was surprised when I got to Vals house on Monday how much had been done over the weekend. She said that she only worked on it for a few hours over the weekend but I thought it looked more like that was ALL she did over the weekend!!

Here is the progress as of Tuesday.......

When Val started showing us how to put "flashing" on (picture below), we knew that this was going to be a top notch playhouse. I couldn't believe we were getting that involved in a playhouse!!! I did ask if it was going to have rain gutters but she just laughed at me and said, "No" and continued working!!

We shingled last night but didn't quite finish and tonight we will begin painting. Stay tuned for more photos!!!

MOPS Playhouse

Last fall, I was asked to join the Steering Committee for an evening MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group that was starting at our church. Pierre already had a daytime MOPS group at another church but were finding that mothers who worked really were not able to attend the daytime MOPS group and were needing something for them in the evening time. So, a group of 10 of us women headed up the Steering Committee to form this evening MOPS group.

I wasn't sure about committing my "extra" time to something outside of my family but since I committed, I stuck with it for the first year. I found how wonderful it really was!! I now don't think I could live without it!!

Thus, the new adventure that we started.......women, building a playhouse to raffle off to make money for MOPS!!!

A week ago, we started building a playhouse in the evenings afterwork that we will raffle off in August!! Yes, we are building a playhouse.....no men involved!!! The lumber was donated by our local lumber company (Thanks Schlacter Lumber)!! So everynight, starting at 6:30, we head to Vals house and start building until we are tired and need to go home to tend to our families!!

After the playhouse is built, we will start selling raffle tickets. The house will be in two parades this summer, displayed at Oahe Days (June 20-21-22nd) along with a booth that we will sit at for the weekend selling raffle tickets, we will also display it at a few other businesses around town until it is time to raffle it off. We are also collecting Corporate donations to go towards MOPS.

So this has been an exciting year for me!! I am excited to share with you the progress of the playhouse!!! This is our work after one week......

The most exciting part of building the playhouse is in October, 10 of us (5 from the morning MOPS and 5 from the evening MOPS group) will be attending the National MOPS Convention in Dallas, TX!!!
http://www.mops.org/page.php?pageid=560
This explains a little about the convention. Some of the fundraising money will go towards our trip to Dallas!!

Singing At Church

Wednesday was the "Thank You" service at church for the Wednesday School kids. They sing in church and recognize their teachers during the church service.

Here are a few video clips of their singing........

"The Lords Army"

"Thank You" - This song will bring tears to your eyes when you see them do it in person. It is amazing and so heartwarming!!

Dance Recital

This past weekend was Senecas 2nd Annual Dance Recital. We started the weekend out Thursday night with Seneca sick (vomiting sick). I thought for sure we wouldn't be up for the recital. So Friday, her and I stayed home for her to rest since Friday night was the first night of the recitals. By Friday afternoon, she was feeling well.....or at least I couldn't get her to rest anymore.

Pauls parents arrived Friday afternoon. Paul, I and his parents took in the Friday night dance performance. They would be staying for both nights of the recital. It was also their 40th Anniversary this weekend, so we were going to celebrate that as well.

Saturday morning, Pauls brother, Lonny and sister-in-law, Tammy arrived. We took Pauls parents out to lunch for their Anniversay and spent much of the day playing cards and visiting. All of us then took in the Saturday night dance performance.

Seneca made it through both nights of the Dance Recital thankfully with no sickness. I did manage on Saturday night to get both her dances on video to share.

Is this all about "Global Warming" or whatever......?????

OK, last Thursday/Friday, it was blizzarding here in South Dakota, windy and COLD......today.......check out Pierres temperature. Are you kidding me? It is MID APRIL!!!!

We are NOT ready for 100+ degree weather this soon!!

Now check out the 7 day.......

Do we pack up the winter clothes or wait for another month before we know how to dress?

The Weekend Was Great

Well, our "wintery weather" didn't keep us from heading to Sioux Falls for our MOPS Leadership Summit. We left Friday at about 1:30 and had dinner at Minervas and then took in our scheduled concert at the Washington Pavillion. The SD Symphony did Jeans n Classics!! It was wonderful! A few of us decided that we would like to see them again when they do the "Beatles" next year! Something to look forward to for next year!!

Saturday morning we headed to the MOPS Leadership Summit and it was so much more than I was expecting!! It really got me motivated to do everything I possibly can to keep our evening MOPS group intact!! This was our first year at having an evening MOPS group for working mothers and as with anything that you do the first year, we had some bumps and some fine tuning to do!! Attending this Leadership Summit gave me the motivation to not give up and to stick to this for one more year and hopefully motivate others to take some of our Steering Committee positions after next year. I am also hoping to attend the National MOPS Convention in Dallas, TX in October. We will see what the pocket book says.

After the Summit, we of course, had to head to the Mall shopping. You can't go to Sioux Falls without shopping. We shopped for 5 hours (until 9 pm) before heading to dinner.....yes, dinner at 9 pm. Not my cup of tea and my stomach told me so about 4 am!! Sunday we finished our shopping before heading home and barely making it in time for our Bible Study that I joined. It was nice to get home and see Paul and Seneca.

It sounds like Paul and Seneca had a good weekend while I was away. The weather turned out nice on Saturday and they spent some time outdoors, riding bikes, hula hooping, etc. Seneca was happy to see her mom and told me over and over how much she missed me!!

Wonderful Weekend.....will the weather hold!??

I have a wonderful weekend planned with some of my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Moms but we are hoping that this wonderful SD weather that we have will hold up. Here are the plans.....

Friday we (5 of us MOPS Moms) are leaving at 1:00 and heading to Sioux Falls (3 hours away). We are going to do a little shopping and then take in the SD Symphony, Jeans and Classics (music of Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago)!!

Saturday, we are going to the MOPS Leadership Summit (the real reason for going to Sioux Falls). Since I have been part of the Steering Committee for our group we felt this would be very beneficial for our group.

We will stay through Saturday and head home sometime on Sunday.......BUT........

This is what the weather is looking like, and for those of you who aren't in the midwest and haven't heard about this storm, they are thinking it would be 10+ inches.......and this time of the year, we are talking rain first AND THEN snow......not a good thing for traveling. So, we will say some prayers and hope that the weather man is wrong as he has been so many times!!!