Days 271-275

Friday, September 25th - Grant enjoying the outdoors with buddy Ranger on his old fashioned trike that he got as a hand me down from cousin Dylan. Grant has put lots of miles on that tricycle!
Saturday, September 26th - Andy and Tyler were able to snag some tickets to the 300th consecutive Husker home game sellout against the Louisiana Cajun. I can't believe it's been longer than I've been alive (1962) that Husker football has been a sellout. The loyalty of Husker fans is incredible....I guess there really is "No place like Nebraska!"
Sunday, September 27th - Madison received her 3rd grade bible at church today. This is a big deal in the Methodist Church. It wasn't something we practiced in the Episcopal Church. We did First Communions instead.
Monday, September 27th - I worked a half day and visited this doctor....enough said, huh?! The nurse really did think I was nuts taking a picture of that! :)
Monday, September 28th - I spent over three hours hauling kids all over town...soccer practice, football practice, trip to the grocery store, etc. Did I mention Andy is out of town for work AGAIN? Anyway, Grant told me he was "hungy", so I allowed him to eat a very messy dilly bar in the van on the way to get Madison at 6:30pm from soccer. It was one of those "keep mom's sanity in place of some good parenting practices" moments. This is something I would not of allowed with my first child, but with #3, mom is tired, getting old and willing to do anything for some peace and quiet!

Days 266-270

Ugh! I am getting behind in posting them and they are now getting out of order. Oh, well! You wouldn't even know if I didn't tell you! :)

Sunday, September 20th - Sue and Tracy came to town to visit Sue's brother, Ted, who is learning a new life as a paraplegic at Madonna Rehab. due to an accident at work the month prior. Anyway, Sue and Tracy found a great garage sale in Kearney and bought Grant an early birthday present...a Thomas the Train set and table. Grant is on Cloud 9!
Monday, September 21st - Our neighbors to the west of our house (4 houses down) were victims of an overnight fire early Sunday morning. Luckily, the college students next door alerted them and the fire was sustained only to the garage. The news reported about $20,000 in damages. Sad news, but a great outcome since everyone was okay.
Tuesday, September 22nd - This is one of those pictures that is out of order, however Tyler's team did win against the Firefighters. He is playing wingback in a spread position in this photo. That was Tyler's input...what do I know?!
Wednesday, September 23rd - Madison and her friend Aleni are washing potatoes for Cooking Club. This is a fantastic, six week class that meets on Wednesday mornings to learn healthy cooking habits. Madison loves it, especially since you get to eat your work. Hopefully Madison can become a terrific cook since I am not! :)
Thursday, September 24th - Madison loves technology! She's listening to her iPod Shuffle while getting out her Nintendo gaming system to play.

Days 261-265

Tuesday, September 15th - Madison's 9th Birthday - Madison is opening her new American Girl trading cards that she got for her birthday from her Aunt Jill.
Wednesday, September 16th - Here are my kids this year sitting on our rug. They are just as cute as last year's group, even without faces. LOL
Thursday, September 17th - Grant found Dad's missing work cell phone (story in post-blog). Oh, the joys of having Grant!

Friday, September 18th - I attended a Scrapbooking Crop as Kandy. I was unable to get into the crop due to late registration, but went in Kandy's place for the evening. Thanks Kandy! It was a lot of fun!
Saturday, September 19th - The neighbor boys made a sign for Husker fans. They looked so cute! Unfortunately, the Huskers lost by one point to Virginia Tech. Bummer!

Thirty More Days!

Oh, I can hardly contain myself. Yes, it's true. I went to work with a spring in my step today because it's exactly the one month mark for our long awaited trip to Disney (WDW). I've been wanting, wishing and waiting for this trip ever since we planned our wedding. My hope was to be surprised (by Andy) that we were going on a Disney trip instead of Vegas for our honeymoon. Really...what was I thinking? Andy isn't the surprise kind of guy. He's never buys a gift without asking if that's what I wanted. So anyway, this has been one long awaited vacation and finally, finally, it is just about here! Yay!

Now that I've been planning this trip for all eternity, I have read several books on the topic (thanks to Tracey and Jesy). I have now made a list of things I plan on doing or eating while at Disney. Since I love lists...here's one more...

These wishes are not in any specific order, but will be written down prior to arrival to be sure that I can fulfill them in the week we are visiting.

1. Eat pastries at Epcot's Boulangerie. I've seen photos and heard great things about this place. I can't wait to try several kinds of those fatty foods!

2. Ride Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror with Madison. She's my go-to child for any wild rides. I believe Andy and Tyler will be watching from below on this one. Did I mention Grant isn't going? He's staying with his grandparents. I figured he's a little too young yet.

3. A visit to Pooh's Corner. I want my picture taken by Pooh's house. I've grown a fondness of Pooh over the years and thought it's due time for a visit to his home.

4. Ride Dumbo. I have a picture of me as a 4 yr. old on Dumbo at Disneyland and want to recreate that same look thirty-five years later. Unfortunately, I don't look as cute!

5. Go on It's a Small World. I have a slight memory of this as a child and I want to see if I remember it to be as big and wonderful as the first time.

6. Eat at a character meal. I booked it late and was only able to get into the 1900 Park Fare on my 39th birthday. It is a very pretty place. I just hope the food is just as good!

7. Watch a parade. I know that they go on often at WDW and I want to see at least one. I'll see how it compares to the Schuyler Labor Day parade in my hometown of 5,000.

8. I going to take hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures. My whole trip is planned around the scrapbooking of the event. Andy thinks this is really the reason why I want to go. He might be somewhat right!

9. To eat foods that I've never tried. I am hoping to find some exotic places to eat in Epcot. I have read that that's the place for foods of all types of international foods.

10. Most of all....I want to just enjoy my children enjoying their trip to Disney. We've talked about it for a long time and now it's finally coming true thanks to Madison's contribution! :)

Please leave me any "must see" places under the comments section. I'd love to hear your feedback on your trip to WDW.

Days 256-260

Thursday, September 10th - The Wildcats are getting a pep talk at half time. They weren't playing at their usual potential. They did beat the Skittles (5-2)....love that name!

Friday, September 11th - The nine wild turkeys are still in the neighborhood. They were in our yard again this Thursday night. Grant said they were "his turkeys" and chose to chase after them. I made sure I had my camera on hand in case they decided to charge him. I wanted to be sure to capture that on film....of course, they didn't.
Saturday, September 12th - Happy New Year at Betty and Tsegaye's house. Sorry this is a repeat picture, but I didn't take many. I was too fascinated by the food and festivities. Sunday, September 13th - I purchased these three beautiful mums at Sam's Club today. Andy kindly planted them for me in my front yard. Unfortunately, I wasn't specific enough to tell him to space them evenly apart. He said I didn't tell him that, just to plant them. I thought that wasn't something I needed to explain to a surveyor where exact measurement is everything! Well, silly me!
Monday, September 14th - Today our daycare provider was ill, so this left me hanging at home with Grant. I enjoyed spending time with my kiddo alone without anyone else around. Grant and I watched Sesame Street. It's so nice to see that Big Bird is timeless. It brings back great memories of my childhood!

Child #3

Can you guess what my youngest has done THIS time? If you are guessing.....

No, he didn't make a long distance phone call to an irate, crazy woman in Wisconsin who sought revenge by calling us back and harassing us for three weeks.

No, he didn't have a massive diarrhea explosion on the way home in the van from a soccer game, which got all over his hands and his solution for cleaning it up was licking his fingers.

And

No, he didn't consume a week's worth (or more) of gummy vitamins and cause me to call Poison Control to see if he needed his stomach pumped.

Instead, this little stinker took his father's work cell phone and hid it in his toy box. Andy spent much of Labor Day looking for the phone, which he remembered having the Friday before. With the extended holiday weekend, we found it impossible to locate the phone which, of course, had a dead battery by this time. He tried calling it and that was not an option. Andy hunted everywhere for his phone... in his work truck, all over the house, around the job sites and questioned everyone about it's possible whereabouts...maybe with the exception of Grant.

Well, last night after I put the rascal to bed, he ran downstairs to me and said, "Mom, look my phone." I didn't notice it (I was annoyed he was still up) until Tyler yelled, "Oh, you are dead meat! That is Dad's missing work phone."

We then decided that Grant needed to call Dad in Kansas to tell him the good news (I think). When Dad asked Grant how the phone got in his "truck box".....Grant replied, "Madison did it."

The unfortunate news is Andy now has a new work cell phone. The great news...he has a backup phone in case he breaks it, loses it or Grant decides to hide it again.

I guess you could say, it's never a dull day with child #3.

Madison turns 9!

Happy Birthday to you, my darling daughter! I hope you had a fantastic day in 3rd grade taking your frosted sugar cookies to school, which I am sure everyone enjoyed! Sorry it seemed like such a hectic day to celebrate it with your soccer practice, Tyler's football practice and Dad out of town for work, but that's just how it goes. I am enjoying watching you grow up and become the spunky soccer player that you are! Thanks for making me proud! I love you, sweetheart!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Did you know that it's the New Year?

Well, I definitely did not.

On September 11th, the Ethiopian New Year known as Enkutatash is celebrated. I understand that the Ethiopian calendar known as the Julian runs seven years and eight months behind our calendar which is called the Gregorian. So, right now in Ethiopia it's 2002. I am considering a visit soon since I looked a lot better in 2002...less gray hair, twenty pounds lighter, fewer wrinkles.

Anyway, back to my original story....

Our gracious neighbors, Tsegaye, Betty, King and Kate, invited us over for a traditional Ethiopian dinner on Saturday. That's all I knew about the lovely invite. I figured we'd be eating in their backyard, so I dressed very much for a BBQ (t-shirt and shorts). It wasn't until well into the dinner that I realized that it was a celebration...a New Year celebration. Silly me! You'd think I would have caught on when Missy's husband Bill said the prayer and mentioned the New Year. I thought he was either being optimistic about the rest of '09 or a good planner for the upcoming year. Really...who knew?!

Betty and her friend Sophia made an elaborate dinner that took days to prepare. Not only was I impressed but a little intimidated to eat it since I didn't know what I was doing.

The bread to the far right of the picture is called Injera. Injera is not only a gluten-free bread, but also works as an eating utensil. I recall Madison telling me once that Kate brings pancakes to school everyday for lunch, which at the time, I found hard to believe. Now, I know what she meant since Injera does look like a pancake, but thinner and has more of a sour dough taste. Injera bread is a main staple for traditional Ethiopian meals.

Here's Missy's family (and Kate) that I mentioned in an earlier blog who recently adopted a darling little girl from Ethiopia six weeks ago. Missy and Bill also brought back these beautiful traditional outfits for their children while in Ethiopia. Obviously, they looked like they were celebrating a New Year compared to me in my jean shorts! Oh, well! They were darn cute!
I was delighted that my children were so willing to partake in eating traditional Ethiopian food. Tyler did look like a deer in the headlights when he sat down with no silverware. However, Betty was so sweet to offer some anyway. The food can have some "kick" to it since they use a lot of spices and curry flavoring. I must admit...it was very, very good!
The end of the meal was followed with having coffee, which is much like the coffee here, but stronger in taste. They begin by heating the beans on the stove top which makes for a very rich and warm smell throughout the home. The coffee ceremony tradition includes inviting friends and family over and having coffee to show hospitality and friendship. I found this experience to be priceless! How very fortunate I am to have such nice neighbors like Betty and Tsegaye!

Thank you and Melkam Adis Amet!

Days 251-255

Saturday, September 5th - Schuyler Central High School's Class of 1989

How can it be possible? Twenty years?!
Sunday, September 6th - The opening of our new sanctuary at St. Mark's Church at 84th and Pioneers. A three year project in the making that is finally finished. Andy helped a little this past week with the underground sprinkler system.
Monday, September 7th - Labor Day - We celebrated by having a great time at Ritch and Raette's lake house. I just love this picture of the brothers together on the Big Mable tube.
Tuesday, September 8th - I found these cute M & M ice cream bars at our local grocery store. I think many of my 365 pics are focused around ice cream. Yum!
Wednesday, September 9th - 9/09/09 - Nothing eventful happened today! Tyler is still trying to figure out how to ride his unicycle. No such luck, but I did take this picture that looks like he knows what he's doing.

Our Neighbors are Turkeys

Yes, literally.

A rafter of wild turkeys invaded our next door neighbor's backyard this evening. We've never quite experienced backyard neighbors like this...until now. Andy was able to capture some great pictures, which will be wonderful for my 365 project (POTD). I wasn't home from work yet when Andy took the pictures, but I heard that our neighbor Mark was using a turkey call to get their attention. I think Andy should have gotten a picture of that!

I witnessed this same gang a few days earlier on the northside of Fletcher Road (about a half mile from our house) while taking Tyler and neighbor girl Hannah to middle school. This is really quite the sight to see since it's such a rarity, especially within the city limits.

(GOBBLE)

(GOBBLE, GOBBLE)

(GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE)

(Okay....enough GOBBLES, huh?)

I didn't know a group of wild turkeys is called a rafter or a gang until I googled it tonight. See, I learned something new. But if they do decide to stay, I'll have to be sure to invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner. Hee, hee!

Days 246-250

These five days have a lot to do with sleeping. Do you suppose it's because I am always thinking about sleep?

Monday, August 31st - Our neighbor's house is currently vacant, so the kids have been using the driveway for four square. I don't know if you can tell it, but Tyler and King are having a disagreement over who is right. Grant is carefully watching too. Oh, kids!
Tuesday, September 1st - Tyler went to bed with Grant at 8:00ish and he's still wearing the day before's clothing. I tried waking him several times to move to his own room, but he was so tired he didn't budge. I took this picture right at 6:45 am before waking him for school.
Wednesday, September 2nd - Here's Tyler eating Fried Oreos after the Newsboys concert at the State Fair. I thought they were okay to eat, but just think of the fat and calories! They even had chocolate syrup drizzled over the top. Wow!
Thursday, September 3rd - I caught Grant watching Andy (Dad) get his work truck loaded for another day. Grant is such a Daddy's boy and usually an early riser.
Friday, September 4th - Madison's sleeping picture turn. I woke up Friday morning to find her at the foot of our bed. I buy each of them a lovely bed and then they sleep on my floor! Go figure!