I thought we made it...

... but Brody woke up this morning (at 3am, mind you) with a fever. I knew it was coming when he slept - slept on a SATURDAY during harvest time - from noon until 4:30 pm. Went upstairs by his own choice and slept through the rest of our normal Saturday noise... Today he slept through me dismantling his TV stand - dropping a couple things even though I was trying soooo hard to be quiet - about 5 feet from his head. He is so very upset to be missing Lego League and school tomorrow. I'm mostly praying it doesn't go through the whole household. I went through with anti-bacterial wipes and did all the door knobs, cabinet pulls, remotes... anything I could think of!

We missed my 25th class reunion last night. From the looks of the facebook posts and photos, it was a great evening! But, the dude was sick and wanted him Mommy. Who can argue with that?!

Halfway between one good weekend and expecting another....

Last weekend was just one of those enjoyable, relaxed, laughter-filled moments in time. I so treasure those!

Friday night was M'Lynn's last "Parent's Night" for XC. So hard to believe. She was very happy to be receiving her rose. Thanks to my friend, Erik, for the photos! It was COLD at the game, and the second half was very disappointing and W-SR lost but the half time show was, as usual, awesome!

Alecia and I had 3 hours of alone time on Saturday which we used to sort out my closet and clothes we are sorting in the basement. Time to change the seasons in the closets! I have been working on loosing weight for almost a year and am happy to report that I am two number sizes smaller in regulars than the size I bought a year ago in plus sizes. Trying on clothes was FUN! :-) Not that I'm done working on loosing weight, mind you... but this day boosted my determination and Alecia and I had a blast. Huge pile of clothes that she took a lot of joy in saying, "Mom, that's too big for you." They are gone - out of the house! =)

Next Friday is band SENIOR Night, so we'll again be walking across the track with a daughter. This time it's Erica's turn. She loves marching band, so this one could have a little more sadness in the excited emotion mix.

Saturday night is my 25th class reunion! Time does fly! It has been really fun to reconnect with so many on facebook; I think it will really help everyone relax and have fun earlier in the evening!

Hope your week is finding you flu free. Hard to come by state of being these days. We have been - so far - very lucky.

Fall Nesting

Fall seems to find me feeling slightly more domestic than normal. I'm cooking more (and better) meals, getting the laundry folded and ready for kids to take in a more timely manner (I'm never bad about washing and drying, it's the folding that can get me). Have more energy for picking up and "taking care" of my family in a more traditional manner than I do at other times of the year. I really enjoy it. Reminds me that although I have felt good about being a productive workforce participant these last 10 years, I would have likely been as happy to continue to stay home even after kids were in school... or maybe to have lived a couple generations ago when that was possible. Now, however, Chris is home and I'm at work.

Crops are coming out of the field ever so slowly and I'm hoping for a nice long Indian Summer. With some heat, please.

Reading Brenda's post this morning http://bkirkeby.blogspot.com/ I found a note of harmony in her feelings on facebook. I find myself checking in a couple times a day and yet staying more in the wings. Unsure of commenting - never wanting to come of sounding too weird or in anyway judgmental or whatever - and also caught wishing some would post more while others much less. And I wonder how other's feel about the frequency or lack thereof in my posting. But I do enjoy looking at everyone's pictures; starting to feel like I have an idea what is going on in my classmates lives. I have been really pleased to have found classmates from all three High Schools I attended - Wausau West HS, Sheridan HS and Decorah HS - as well as both colleges - Cottey and UNI. Many of the people I remember best are on Facebook and that has been fun. I am however, ready to give up the daily addiction of my games! The kids will be surprised to hear that.....

Unexpectedly Lazy Weekend!

The calendar looked full, so I was anticipating busy. Silly Mom!! Kids had quite a bit going on, but the only event that involved parental attendance was Friday night's homecoming football game! I didn't prepare for an open weekend! It was still full of lots of interesting events. W-SR football team won! First win of the season and it was fun for all - players and fans! The halftime show was awesome - not that I'm a biased band member parent or anything... Our youngest daughter has entered the world of boyfriends. We've been very fortunate thus far in this department. I think this will be OK, too. Nice kid.

Brody spent 8 hours of his precious weekend at hunter safety and he and his best buddy Jared are now certified to be out in the woods. Wow.....

Chris & I had a little ER fun this weekend. Nothing major. He had a lymph node in his neck go from zero to 120 in a couple hours and so we decided to have it checked out... of course it happened after 8 pm on a Saturday. Who wouldn't want to spend Saturday night in the ER?! Was as we figured - an infection of some unknown origin. Like I said, not major, but very odd. Dr. called it a rogue lymph node - only one on his body and it was about the size of a golf ball and hard. We get all the fun stuff at our house!

One of the little projects I finished today was cutting Alecia's Junior pictures and Brody's 6th Grade pictures and Alecia got the 8x10s in the frames on the wall. Now it's weird not to have updated pictures up of M'Lynn & Erica. My wall sports 3 junior photos... But, I'm not yet ready to tackle the gargantuan task of sorting through the 200 photos of M&E's senior photo sessions. The girls had two very talented photographers and 4 different sessions... Beth (http://playinwiththepaulsens.blogspot.com/) took some amazing shots outside and also did family pictures for us. She is "uber talented" as the kids would say. My good friend, Donna (http://www.donnabuschphotography.com/ ) has been taking their photos since they were 3 months old and they had a very good time together.... now the tough job of choosing is left.

Alecia - 16 years old, 11th Grade

Brody - almost 12 - 6th Grade

Otherwise, I spent my time this weekend doing some laundry, some dishes and some reading. Kids have tomorrow off school, so they think tonight is pizza and movies. Sounds like a plan to me!!

The best laid plans....

Our family has been looking forward to a weekend at my Parent's - up North, on the lake - for a really long time. Haven't been able to get up there all summer and that bums us all out. Last weekend was to be the time... and, you guessed it, we couldn't go. M'Lynn was sick all week and was still running a temp Friday morning. I was feeling like I was headed that way myself. So, she & I spent Saturday curled up on our respective couches reading and drinking LOTS of water. Chris, Erica, Alecia & Brody put the time to good use out in the pastures and with the cows, etc. It wasn't a bad weekend, per se, just not what we were hoping for. So, I dug out this photo from last summer to make me feel better. :-)

Today, my "baby" turns 12. Happy Birthday, bud!

Here goes...

I've had this profile for quite a while now... have even had blog type posts in my head off and on and never made the time to actually write them. I'm not sure what is motivating me at this moment to ignore the things on my to-do list to start typing, but here I am. :-)

Lots of things going on in our corner of the world right now. Praying constantly for my sister and brother-in-law and my dear friend Cathy and her hubby Jim (http://cancerstatus4jim.blogspot.com/)

M'Lynn & Erica have just turned 18 and started their final year of High School. The reality of them leaving home a year from now is sinking in, and I'm very happy & proud to say I will miss them - they are fun to hang around with.

Alecia is enjoying her Junior year and is job hunting... wanting to earn the money to go to New York with the Orchestra over Spring Break. I'm pleased that she asked me to put my name in as a chaperon and excited about the possibility of going along.

Brody is days away from turning 12, and quickly turning himself into Dad's right hand man with the farming. Watching him operate machinery and do things on his own makes me feel like he's growing more quickly than even I was ready for...

Fall is quickly approaching, and we have some challenges ahead on the farm... a broken underground water line that is not quite all the way fixed as of yet, half of the roof to re-shingle and Chris on the DL with some bad tendinitis in his right arm, and a whole host of projects that need paint and/or repair. Prioritize. That's just what we'll have to do. I've volunteered, rather timidly, to help on the roof. It is, by the way, approximately 30 feet in the air and I'm not great on a ladder. Chris thinks I'd be more of a hindrance than a helper. I have to admit he's probably right.

After going to see Julie & Julia last night, I was tempted to challenge myself into making this a record of something - maybe a place to keep me motivated in loosing weight. I've since decided that life is challenge enough and I'll simply post when the mood strikes and see what kind of habit it becomes.