Easter 2021

 It's been about a month since I last blogged. Apparently, it's impossible for me to keep up on blogging right now. Honestly, I feel like there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. A lot of mornings I get up at 4:00 am, and pretty much go steady until 10:00pm, and still don't get everything done. But, we are getting into my favorite time of the year, and I plan to just keep chugging along until that dang CNOR test is over, only about 4 more weeks. Yikes!

In other news, the weather has been beautiful lately, and we are taking full advantage of that. John and I have been taking nightly walks while the kids stay at home and watch a movie. We are really enjoying our peaceful walks which give us a little exercise and some quiet time away from the kids. The kids have started running around the neighborhood playing with other kids, which is great for everybody. We are really excited for summer, and can't wait for summer evenings and bonfires. 

We spent the past few weekends helping in the greenhouse. John and I worked, while the kids played in the mud and explored the farm. We really enjoyed our time in the greenhouses, and can't wait to get our garden going in a few weeks. My parents came to visit a couple weekends ago. We had a pretty quiet weekend, cooked some Indian good, played some card games, and just enjoyed a nice visit. 

This past Friday was Good Friday. The kids didn't have school, so they stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the night. John and I took advantage of the situation, and had a date night. We decided to check out the Seafood Buffet at Grand Falls Casino. It was really good and we both ate too much. Then we walked around the casino and listened to some live country music. We didn't really feel like gambling, so we had a couple drinks and then headed home. It was a nice evening, but I can't say I really have missed the casino scene. 

Yesterday was a gorgeous day that we spent most of the day outside. John fixed one of our fence posts, I raked 5 bags of leaves, and the kids got really dirty playing outside all day. We also played catch and ate supper outside, which the kids loved. It was a great day to spend outside. 

Today was Easter. We started with a 6:30 sunrise church service at church. That was an early morning for the kids. John and I sang in the adult choir, and then enjoyed a nice Easter service. After church, we headed home for naps and getting ready for celebrating Easter. We headed to Jim and Barb's for the day. It was a gorgeous 81 degree day, and we spent the entire day outside. We had an Easter egg hunt, flew some kites, played some games, and just enjoyed being outside. 

Jim and Barb bought the kids some bunnies to show for 4-H, so we had to play with the bunnies quite a bit during the day as well. Emma's bunny is black and named Bungie, and Elliott's bunny is gray/blue and is names Peek-a-blue. They are in love with their bunnies, and hopefully will be able to spend enough time with the bunnies to have some luck with them at the fair. I am just happy that they live out at the farm, I didn't really want to have bunnies to take care of. 

It was a great Easter, but we are all pretty tuckered out. It has been a long day. The kids are finally in bed, I am blogging and watching Chicago Fire, and ready for bed in a little while. The kids have this next week off of school, and I actually took the week off as well, so I am looking forward to a nice week with the kids. Tomorrow is supposed to be another 80 degree day, so I am hoping we will get on the bike trail and spend some time in the park and enjoy another great day. 

Happy Easter!!

Parent/player basketball game 

Movie night 

Easter cake 

Farkle 

March tease.

 This past week has been absolutely beautiful. It was sunny, in the 60s, and just great. Unfortunately, it was just a teaser, and today was rainy, cloudy, and back in the 30s. So, spring is definitely not here. But this weekend is daylight savings time, so the days are getting longer, so spring is coming!

These past two weeks have been pretty normal. Busy, but manageable. I have started exercising before work, which means getting up at 4:00 am to get a workout in. I might be crazy, but I really enjoy starting my day with a good sweat, and then not having to worry about finding time for the gym after work. It's really not that bad, but I am pretty tired by 9:00pm. I am also back to studying for the CNOR exam. It sucks and I can't wait until the test is over (and hopefully passed), but I try to fit in at least one hour of studying every day of the week. So, between the workouts, and studying, and work, and family, I am staying really busy right now. 

It's also greenhouse season. This past weekend, we were out at the farm working in the greenhouse. I did a lot of planting, and the kids helped here and there, and John mostly filled flats with dirt. It was a great afternoon. Also, the weather was beautiful. After all the work, we stayed for supper, and had a really nice day. 

On Sunday, we caught up at home, went to church, and then went bowling with our 4-H club. It was nice to hang out with other people, and the kids had a really good time bowling and getting to know those kids again. We hit up Pizza Ranch afterwards (that did not work well for my weight loss journey). 

Since I joined Noom on January 1st, I have lost 11 pounds. It doesn't sound like much, but I've worked really hard to lose that weight, and I fully intend on losing at least 13 more pounds. I've learned a lot, spent a lot of time in the gym, and have been tracking all of my food every day. Here's to 13 more pounds!!

Emma is still doing archery, so we had archery practice this past Tuesday. She is sort of losing interest in it, but we are going to at least finish out the season and then we will see what she wants to do next year. She actually wants to play softball this spring if possible, so tomorrow I am going to a registration class at Kuehn Community Center to see when games would be and what we need to do to sign her up. I'm excited to watch her play softball if it works out, it just needs to not be on Monday nights when we play. 

Elliott isn't very interested in playing on any sports teams this spring. He is more interested in Pokemon and playing around in the neighborhood with the other kids. So, I'm going to have him play some sort of organized sport in the near future, but I'm not going to push anything this spring. That little boy can stay a little boy just a little bit longer. 

Needless to say, we are staying pretty busy and time just keeps flying by. I can't believe we are almost to the middle of March already.

 I hoping for sunny, warm days and more vaccinations to help bring us closer to normal. Also, Twins baseball is only a month away!! 

Flat Stanley project at the greenhouse 

Greenhouse "work"

February Cold

 I have not been great at staying up-to-date on my blogging. But, in my defense, I have been really busy. Emma has been keeping us busy with homework, basketball practice, piano lessons, archery practice, reading, and baking experiments. Elliott keeps us busy with nightly reading, and of course some Pokemon playing. 

I have stayed busy with my food tracking and trips to the gym, Sunday school teaching and prep, certification exam studying, work, Health coach visits, suppers, and now starting to work in the greenhouse. Like I said, I've been busy. But it's a good busy, and it keeps me out of trouble. 

We just got through a really cold stretch. Like for two weeks it was highs of negative 3, and lows of negative twenty. It was cold and miserable and dark, and I'm really happy we have warmed up to around 30 degrees now. It feels great. Texas actually got some really cold weather too, and had pipes burst, lost power, and had some really big weather issues. Luckily they are warmer now too, but it wasn't good for a while. 

Covid-19 is still a thing, but it's hopefully getting better. The numbers are pretty good around here right now, and we currently have 3 approved vaccines to help fight against the virus. There are some variants of the virus that the CDC is watching, but hopefully as we get more people vaccinated, we can get closer to normal. Luckily, the kids have still had school and there have been no problems there, and the ASC continues to be open and functioning, so those are two "normal" things that I am loving. 

The kids did not have school this past Thursday and Friday, so I took those days off work and the kids and I had a mom and kids day. It was really fun. I woke up early and went to the gym, then had a call with a Fidelity advisor and then got the kids packed up and ready to go. We went to Tires, Tires, Tires to get my oil changed, and the kids thought it was great since there were cookies and pop in the waiting room. I also brought their Ipads along, and they were very content to sit and play on their Ipads while consuming sugar, Next, we went to Hy-Vee for some lunch and then we went to Midco for some swimming. The kids loved the swimming. They swam for a solid 2 hours and burned off some energy. This was the first time I had brought the kids to the Midco, and I didn't swim with them. It was really nice for me, and the kids didn't seem to mind. I studied for my CNOR exam while they swam and played. Elliott is now tall enough for the slide, so he went down that about 25 times. 

After all the swimming, we headed out to Jim and Barb's. We all worked in the greenhouse for a couple hours, and then I left the kids there for the night and headed home for supper. The kids wanted 2 sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's house. So, they have been there all day today. John and I have plans for a date night supper tonight, followed by some mindless TV watching. 

Tomorrow, we will go back to reality and go to the farm to work in the greenhouse and then bring the kids back home for the rest of the weekend. I have some baking plans with Emma, and otherwise plan to just have a nice, relaxing weekend with some studying and exercising thrown in. Oh, and shrimp bowls. I have big plans for Shrimp bowls this weekend. 

I'm looking forward to March, and nicer weather, longer days, manual labor, and hopefully inching our way toward normal. 

February Crafts and Outings

 Things feel like they are slowly getting back to normal around here. Thankfully, our numbers in South Dakota have really decreased and we are back to around 150 new cases a day. We did open the ASC on Monday, and it felt so good to be back. Of course some of the newness has worn off, and some of the irritating things have popped up again, but overall, it's amazing to be back. 

I have also been taking a few more trips with the kids lately. Last weekend I brought them both to the Washington Pavillion for a free carnival, and last night we went to the first Friday event and went to the Kirby Science Center for free. The kids had a really fun time, but there were so many people there it got pretty loud and crowded pretty quickly. 

Today, Emma and I ran a couple errands. We went to the library to swap out some books, and the we went to Hobby Lobby. We bought some Valentine's Crafts and also a Valentine gift to mail to Elena. It was pretty fun. In the afternoon, the kids and I worked on Valentine crafts. We had a great day.  It was freezing cold out today. I think the high was 4 degrees, and it was really windy, so it was a great day to be inside. 

Right now, everyone is showered, in their jammies, eating popcorn, and we are watching Abominable. It's a pretty special evening,  Family bonding time!

Tomorrow is super bowl Sunday. After church, we have some food to make, and then we are heading over to Hinners to watch the game. The kids are really excited to go there to watch the game, it should be really fun!

Not too much else has been happening around here. We seem to stay busy with all the school work, basketball practice, trips to the gym, and just general busyness. This week we are gearing up for the school Valentine's Party on Friday. The kids have already bought their Valentines and treats, and they can't wait to exchange them at school. I love holidays with kids. 

Well, tomorrow I am cheering for the Chiefs to win their second consecutive Super Bowl against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But really, I am planning on watching some great commercials and eating some good food. I love Super Bowl Sunday!

Emma and I baked a fondant heart cake 

Brownie waffles 

January 2021

 January is about over, and I have already failed in one of my New Year's Resolutions. I have not been blogging every week. It's crazy how quickly the weeks fly by, and I just can't keep up on my blogging. 

This month has flown by, but we really haven't done anything super exciting. We just stay busy with work, church meetings, and right now Emma has basketball practice two days a week and she joined a 4-H archery club, and they meet a couple times a month. Emma is really enjoying both activities, and they are keeping her busy. Along with homework and Piano lessons (and multiplication factors), our evenings are very busy. Emma continues to do pretty well in school, but we do have to get on her to complete her work neatly and to slow down and do her best. 

Elliott's weekday evenings are a little less hectic. We do read every evening and work on memory work, but then he has the rest of the evening to play and do whatever he wants, and I think that makes Emma a little jealous. Elliott is doing great in school, and really doesn't seem to have trouble with much of anything in Kindergarten. He is getting better and better at reading some words, and he is so close to being able to read books by himself. 

A couple weekends ago, we went bowling at Sport Bowl. The kids really enjoyed it, and it was nice and quiet in the bowling alley, so had a really fun time. 

Last weekend, my parents came to visit. We spent most of our time at home, but we had fun. We made a couple delicious meals (Shrimp fried rice, turkey) and enjoyed games and hanging out. We also drove through Falls Park because the lights were still on, and enjoyed a beer run for some beverages. It was a really fun, quick weekend. 

This past week, we got some really good news at work. The ASC gets to open on February 1st. Yay!! We are only going to be able to run 5 surgical rooms, which isn't great, but we are so happy to be back to our home. We only have 5 days left in the Main OR, hooray!!

Covid-19 is getting better in South Dakota. Our number of new infections and hospitalizations has been trending down nicely (hence the ASC opening). However, some other states are having terrible outbreaks right now, so it is still definitely a threat. I have received both of my Covid-19 vaccines, and that all went well for me. It's a great feeling to have it, and I'm really hoping that by this summer the world is looking more normal. We are at the year mark for this virus, and it's been quite a trip. 

This weekend has been pretty quiet. Today was a snowing, winter weather advisory day, so we spent most of the day at home. I did take the kids to the Washington Pavillion for a free carnival in the lobby, and they seemed to really enjoy that. I also hit up the gym (I've lost 9 pounds since Jan 1st!!) and now we are watching Star Wars with the kids before heading to bed shortly. 

Tomorrow is a marathon church day. The kids sing in both services, I teach Sunday School, and then there is a Voter's meeting with installation of officers. Whew, it's going to be a day. And then we have the NFC Championship football game and the AFC Championship Football game. And then it will be Monday. Oof-da. The weekends sure fly by!

2021. New Year, Fresh Start.

 Just like that, the craziness that was 2020 is over, and we have turned the calendar over to a new year. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see 2021. Really, 2020 wasn't that bat for us. We had a great trip to the cities to visit Wolf Lodge with the kids, we had a wonderful summer filled with camping and bonfires with the neighbors, we bought me a new car-which we love, we had some wonderful holidays and family times, and just overall had a pretty good year. Aside from all the pandemic craziness of course. 

The kids finally came home yesterday afternoon from Jim and Barb's house. They were pretty excited to be home. We unpacked their 8 bags of stuff they had, and then they had a great time playing with all their Christmas gifts they hadn't got to tear into yet. 

In the evening, we headed to the Stampede Game for New Year's Eve. We headed in early for free Stampede stocking caps, and free player cards for the kids. We had $5 tickets, so we sat pretty high up, but the kids did really well with the game and actually paid attention to what was going on most of the time. The Stampede did not do well, they lost 2-5, but it was a fun evening. We hadn't been to a hockey game since last winter, so it was really fun to go. We just kept our distance and wore our masks when we were in the concourse area. 

We were home at around 9pm, and popped in a movie. The kids thought they were going to last until midnight. Emma and I made it until about 10:30pm and then we called it a night (I had to work Thursday morning until noon, I was tired!). John and Elliott made it until midnight. They watched some Star Wars and then played Legos, before finally calling it a night. 

Today was a great start to the new year. John and I did some organizing while the kids continued to play with new toys. We worked on the kitchen and the garage. We made great progress and had like 4 bags full of garbage at the end of the day. The kids were invited to Polzins' house for a sleepover. At around 3pm, we dropped them off, and then John and I headed to the gym and then the grocery store. The kids were barely home for 24 hours and then they were already having a sleepover at someone else's house. I am almost offended by that. But, I'm sure they are having a great time with their friends. 

Tonight is just a relaxing evening. The house is cleaned up, and I'm watching a Netflix movie while blogging. What a nice, quiet, evening. 

My goals for the new year:

1. Blog more. Hopefully at least once a week.

2. Lose weight. I have pretty much been at the same weight for the last couple of years, and I would really like to be about 25 pounds lighter. So, I joined Noom, and will continue to go to the gym, and hopefully this will be the year. 

3. More time in God's Word. I really want to spend at least 15 minutes in a daily devotion reading and studying God's Word. 

4. A Family Activity every week. Like bowling, swimming, games, legos, sledding, exercising, baking, etc)

5. Less social media. I have already taken steps to decrease the amount of time I aimlessly stare at Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat. Here's to another year of cutting back on time wasters. 

Cheers to 2021 and everything that it will bring!!