More Pets!!

Well we have added two new pets to our household this in the last couple of days. Actually, Emily got a new hamster (her other one died recently) so technically it just replaced an animal that was already here. She picked out a long-hair syrian hamster that is charcoal grey with silver highlights...Emily named the hamster Bella. She is a pretty cool hamster...very active and likes to climb the sides of her cage and run on her wheel. Bella is also getting use to being handled...once we pick her up she calms down (hasn't bitten us either:). Emily was a little reluctant on getting another hamster but now that she has Bella everything seems fine and Emily really likes her.

The second new pet is a corn snake. Nick has been wanting one for quite some time now and we finally found a nice, docile snake. He named it Ziggy. I said that it is part of his birthday present but his birthday isn't until mid-March so we'll see how that goes. Ziggy is a very nice snake...we have been holding him a lot and he is fun to interact with and watch him slither around. We are excited on having these two new pets in our family...the zoo keeps going!

New Year's Eve Party

We went to a family fun New Year's Eve party in Maple Grove held at their community center. We went with my sister-in-law, Melissa and her kids Gabi and Gage--they live in Maple Grove and received information about this fun party.

Each ticket cost $10 and we got dinner...pizza, chips, cookie, yogurt and drink as well as carnival type games with prizes, inflatable jumpy things, ice skating, swimming, dancing, crafts, free popcorn (Tim ate at least 5 bags!) and the huge play structure called the Maple Grove Maze. We had a super fun time...the kids had plenty of stuff to do. At the end there was a balloon drop in the gym then everyone stomped on the balloons to break them. Nick and I watched from some big windows above and outside the gym since he doesn't like loud noises.

We had a great New Year's Eve. We had a low key New Year's day...had a pajama day:)

We wish everyone a wonderful 2009!

Oreo the hamster died

Emily's pet hamster, Oreo, died. Tonight when I was tucking Emily into her bed I mentioned that I hadn't seen Oreo lately. Emily said that we had better check on her in her cage. Oreo had a full bowl of food and a full water bottle--neither of which looked as if they had been touched. So I took the top part of the cage off and lifted up Oreo's little wood house on the bottom of the cage and I immediately knew she was dead (the smell!). I told Emily that she was gone--I put her in a disposable storage container and Emily petted her a little--then I put her outside for now (along with the cage).

Emily is sad about Oreo dying but she knows that she had a good hamster life. Actually, Matthew was really sad about Oreo too (he is very sensitive about death ever since Tim's grandpa died in October). I told the kids that we will remember the happy times with Oreo--she was a sweet and gentle little pet.

Crazy Busy!!

Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile...things have been crazy busy around here. I have been shopping for Christmas here and there this past month...when time would allow along with keeping things hidden from the kids. We decorated the house a little...I didn't get everything out this year as I planned to because things got way too busy. I am still going to put some more stuff out though at this late date. The kids and I are going to make our annual cookies...peanut butter kiss, family recipe sugar cookies and butterscotch haystacks!

A couple of weeks ago Nick and Matthew started taking karate lessons...they love it! We attend class about 2-3 times a week and they can't wait to go (they would like to go to class every night but that's a little too much for our normally busy schedule). They are still white belts and they are working hard to get to the next belt...Gold Belt:)

I finished my school yesterday...I had two finals which went well. I got A's in both of my classes and am happy to be on break until January 5th. Next quarter I have Intro to Patient Care and Clinical Specialties. I have to wear scrubs for these lab classes...I purchased white work crocs to wear--they rock!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Wicked!!

On Saturday, Nov. 15th Emily, my mom and I went to see the Broadway musical "Wicked" at the Orpheum in downtown Minneapolis. We had purchased tickets a long time ago and can't believe that it has come and gone already. We were soooo excited to see it! Emily really loves stage musicals--we go to see the musicals and plays at Burnsville High School every time they have one showing (they have wonderful performances!!)

I had read the book (twice) but the stage production is very different from the book. But I still loved it immensely!! The music was mind-blowing (I have the CD also) and the songs are very catchy--we find ourselves humming them all day long:) All in all the whole musical was great--poor Elphaba is so misunderstood, she just wanted to make good!

I am glad that Emily has a passion for the performing arts. I cherish the times that we go to see the musicals and plays together--it's time spent together sharing something that we both enjoy. Maybe some day I will be watching her up there on the stage singing her heart out:)

Wishes for Great-Grandpa

At the end of October, Tim's grandpa (Bob) died--he had ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). We traveled to Hastings, Nebraska for the funeral and to be with family at this difficult time. While we were there, the kids (Bob's great-grandchildren) wrote messages to Great-Grandpa and attached them to balloons--Nick drew a sweet picture of himself and Great-Grandpa with hearts all around. Then they released them while we were visiting a WWII memorial that has Bob's name on it recording his time in the war. The kids also did a rubbing of his name on the stone memorial. They turned out really neat and the kids have a part of history.

We had a nice time in Nebraska even though we were all greiving the loss of Grandpa (Great-Grandpa to the kids). We know that Bob got their messages in heaven and cherishes each one.

Halloween Party

My sister, Terri, hosted her annual Halloween Party on Oct. 26th. We all really look forward to this super fun party. Emily was dressed as a Corpse Rock Star, Nick was a Phantom Alien Warrior and Matthew was a Clone Trooper. We had a yummy lunch, played games and enjoyed some spooky fun.

There was a costume contest (Emily won), a Ladder Ball tournament (Tim and Matthew's team won), pumpkin face painting (Matthew won) and a pumpkin ball toss (Nick won)--interesting how each kid won something:) Their Aunt Terri made them a Ghost in a Bottle to watch over them and protect them--they are really cool!!

Everyone had a great time!!! Our dog, Sammy, was there and he was dressed up as a bumblebee--he was so cute that he got a lot of scraps of food from Great-Grandma. We can't wait until next year.