WICKED...

was phenomonal, absolutely amazing, and I had the BEST time ever with my two favorite peeps (fickel and mindy). We ate dinner at Old Chicago and then walked up the street to the Orpheum to get pics outside the theater. Words cannot describe how amazing this musical was. We couldn't take pics inside the theater of course, but here are some I found on google images. The other pics are ones we took. Mindy and I by the big O! downtown...we had to have a pic of Mindy actually carrying a PURSE!

whimp

River Fun 2009

We went to the river yesterday for the first time in 2009. We had such a good time! I can't wait for the next time now. Here are some pics of the fun.
whimp

(kynnedi had to potty)

Poppies..
I bought poppies everyday this week whenever I saw them. I remember Dad would buy them and tuck them into his shirt pocket, around the button on the top of his hat, or sit them on the seat in his truck. I remember the woman who used to sell them here in M. Her name was Sylvia and she was old when I was very young. I don't remember how old she was when she passed, but I remember the saddness I felt the next Memorial Day when she wasn't selling poppies by Mulhollands or Caseys. I have tried to explain the importance to my children of buying poppies, the significance to support those who died to keep us free because they gave the ultimate price for their beliefs. I want to teach them to honor people, remember their sacrifices, and isn't it awesome to have HEROS? My children have been so lucky to have many heros amongst them in our family. Grandpas, Dads, Uncles,and Friends (Zach) who have served for their country. Grandmas, Moms, and Aunts (and sometimes themselves) who waited at home for them to return. How very lucky are we to have real life heros to look up to?
On this holiday weekend, please take the time to remember those who have fallen to help us maintain the freedom we live in.

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Remembering, thanking, honoring,
wendy

Going to the river and we're gonna get diiirrrtyyy.

Wahoo! The first river trip of the summer. I can't wait. It is so much fun to go and hang out with my family peeps. Riles is up already and asking when we get to go. She needs a bath, but I think she can go dirty, just this ONE time. :) I have my camera ready to go (if i don't forget it), bought insect repellant yesterday, AND bought Danno a container of worms so he can go fishing. *sigh* Where has the time gone with him? He is such a wonderful soul. He loves to laugh and beat on his sister. He has such a caring heart (he buys her stuff all the time, he makes sure she is included), and he loves to fish. We (danno, riles, and I) have made such wonderful plans for this summer. We are going to try to go to living history farms, the lincoln children's museum, the elephant museum, Cocoa Keys (thanks for the great deal on tickets mindy), and they both want to go to Worlds of Fun (I don't know how much that will cost..we have a budget).
Wish us luck as summer starts!
Hugs,
whimp

South Dakota...

Here are some pictures from south dakota. (I lifted these from Karen).

It was such an amazing crop (I know it was because we sat RIGHT next to Stacy Julian and Wendy Smedley, but I still had fun.)

Enjoy

wendy

Here we are:

(wendys cubed..we all share the same name! Believe it or not, Wendy is not a common name, but here we are THREE of us at one crop).

(Costco moment..you just had to be there to understand)

Here I am with Wendy and Stacy

Proud moment...

Both of my kiddos had field trips today. Danny went to CB to railroad museums and such and Riles went to the L children's museum. Danny took extra cash with him(provided by me of course :) ) and brought home not one, but TWO sound maker thingies..one for riles and one for him. How sweet is he to think of his sister too?

I am so very proud of him for his thoughtfulness...(cause we all know she is a stinker!)

whimp

Fun times..
i had a fun time this weekend. It was a lot of fun with old friends. I am home, tired, and want to read my book. I got the kids a set of balloons from Target (karen's good idea) and they are having a ball. On another note a I have some things on my mind and am trying to sort them all out.

Fickel, I have your cartridge. I will bring it to you on Saturday.

have a good week
whimp

Hi
Just thought I would pop in and say hi. I am still here, just busy with end of year stuff at school. Things are gonna get crazy.
whimp

Got my donation packet..
for Haddie's heart walk. Her team name is "Team Hadleigh, We love a broken heart". For those of you who don't know Haddie's story...
Hadleigh is my great-niece who was born in October 2007 with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome..which means she has half a heart. She has had the first of three surgeries and is being screened next month to see if she is ready for her second stage surgery. We are walking next month to help raise money (similar to walk for a cure) for congenital heart defects. Please consider donating to a wonderful cause.
If you would like to donate, please don't hesitate to call me or email me!
thanks for being generous
wendy and haddie

Hi...
wow..what a busy crazy couple weeks. Last week my brother had his back surgery (wednesday) and came home yesterday. We had planned a dinner at mom's prior to his homecoming, so his first day at home was crazy and busy. We didn't know he would be released so soon! Anyway, on my many blog visits today, I saw a quote by matt at dear spike love dad.

"It's nice to do well in school. But it's better to do well in life."
This quote says a lot to me. I have been reflecting on the guilt I feel when dad was in the hospital before he passed away. My father was in the hospital more than he was home the last year of his life. I remember after I had Riles he was home for about 3 weeks and I would take her up to see him while I was on maternity leave. He didn't feel strong enough to hold her because the medicine he took made him shake. This was very hard for my dad because the first thing he wanted when he had a new grandbaby was to hold them. I would set her carseat by the couch and he would talk to her and when she would start to cry tell me "She's startin' to squeak in here." I am glad he got to meet her. When he went back into the hospital before he had his surgery, we "smuggled" her in to see him. I didn't get to spend a lot of time when my dad was in the hospital. I worked through the day and 2 nights a week (5:30pm-11:00) and on saturdays (8:30-3) I had classes to finish my teaching degree. My dad also had some type of infection for a while that prevented me from being there since I was pregnant. We (sisters) tried to remember what it was, but we couldn't.
Anyway, after his surgery he contacted a staph infection which ultimately led to his death. This is what started to cause his body to shut down. It was summer, I still had classes on Tues/Thurs nights and Saturdays, and mom and I went to the hospital through the week. I still have felt I didn't spend enough time with him. The university I attended docked me attendance points when I gave birth to Riley (I had her on a Thursday, so I missed my Thursday night class, Saturday class (two separate classes), but attended the Tuesday night class). One of the instructors I had at the time dad was dying refused to let me email her my papers as I got them finished. They weren't late, but I had borrowed a laptop from work and typed while mom and I were visiting. Her response was "It would be an extra cost to print them for the university." I volunteered to buy ink, paper, etc. I finally had to go to the dean to get permission to do this. The night my father passed away was before one of my last nights of classes. I was docked attendance points again for missing part of class because we were finalizing the details of the funeral.
I guess what i am saying in this post is, I wish i would have had enough backbone to do well in life, instead of school during this time.
wendy

bah..
just in a funk. got my mother's day cards finished..but can't post them. that's ok tho, cause they were a total scraplift of one i saw last week. i just used a different stamp. they are sooooo cute tho.
i hope my mood doesn't last long.. lots of things to think about this week
whimp

And now..

I can share the word album I made for a friend to give her cousin as a baby gift.. It is being delivered to bonnie today, so here it is. It spells KAYDIN. I cut the name out with SCAL using my cricut, the paper is Animal Crackers by DCWV and all animals were cut out from the Animal Kingdom cricut cart. I don't remember the font i used for the name sorry! I also used the distressed stickles to give the frog and alligator some texture. Thanks to mindy for introducing me to the distressed ones! lol

enjoy

whimp

How FREAKING cool is this?

Cindy and Karen always send me the cutest recipes for kids. I enjoy making fun recipes with my kiddos, both like to cook very much. I believe Riles knows the chocolate chip cookie recipe by memory. Anyway, yesterday I started my spring break, and today riles is home with me..with a 100.3 fever keeping us company. Aunt Cindy sent us an email with a recipe for rainbow cupcakes and rainbow cakes! How cool is this? We are going to try to make it for Easter dinner I think. Here is what it looks like.. (riles wants me to say love her, daddy, danny, mom, bubba, justin, uncle brandy, aunt mike, (HAHA), celeste, and katelyn.) (photo from Omnomicon blog)

Thank you...
isn't enough. Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, donated, or stopped to ask us how Ron is doing. He is doing well. They removed the ventilator yesterday, and had him sitting in a chair this afternoon. We truly appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers.
whimp

Please pray for us...
My older brother was in a seriously bad car accident today. We (sisters and bob) just got home from the hospital. He was life flighted to Creighton where he is in critical (we assume) but stable condition. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Please keep us in your prayers. We love him so very much.
with thanks
wendy and family

Spin-Tacular Event

We went to school last night for a free program to help raise money to build a new outdoor sports complex for the school. The complex will include a second gymnasium for the elementary. It included redoing the football field and track. There are other things involved including a fitness room, etc.
The spintacular event was a program called Champions Forever. Champions forever is a man, his wife, and their 12 children. Bruce Crevier and his family travel the world, spreading the word, and putting on a fantastic show. He is a 4x Guiness World Record Holder for spinning the most basketballs at once. I believe the highest number he has done is 21.

Riles came home very excited about the program they had at school. She kept telling me "He rides a giraffe unicyle that is 10 feet tall!" "Please take your camera so you can get a picture of it for me?" She asked so politely. So, of course we had to go see. It was a great show and we got to visit with aunt shell.

Here are some pics of the event.

whimp

Happy Birfday Danny!

You are a perfectly amazing young man. I have enjoyed every minute of being your momma (ok..we could have lived without the stopped breathing at 2 months, the seizures, and screaming at your sister). You have made my life richer simply by being in it. I hope your birthday was everything you wanted..with chinese food thrown in for good measure.
Love,
mom

Best part of the party..

COUSINS!

The party was fun, lots of cake was eaten, and three boys played wii into the night...

Danny and riles love their birthday presents. Dude came over and got to play all day with the riles. Logan and Brandon spent the night..even J.J. came to visit! I think everyone had a good time. Here are some pics to share with everyone. Thanks for coming and making the party great!

danny, riles, whimp, and chris

Happy Birfday Riles!
I love you lots and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots. I am so glad you picked me to be your momma. (most days) I hope we have fun tomorrow on your birthday. I hope I remember to take prozac before we go. (chuck E. cheese's)
love,
momma

Her gap tooth grin...

Riles lost her very first tooth yesterday. sigh.. guess I better go get some tooth fairy paper huh? lol... She got $4.00 from the tooth fairy! WOW.. i guess the toothfairy is the ONLY one not affected by the economy. We have an exciting week this week. I have conferences at school for my classroom on wednesday and thursday, the kids' conferences is tomorrow night.. and on Friday it is RILES 6th BIRTHDAY! YAY! We are having their party together on Saturday because DANNY'S 12th BIRTHDAY is on MONDAY. Wahoo.. almost a teenager..yikes. crazy. I can't wait for them to open their birthday present. I think i am more excited then they are.

lol.. Here are pics of gappy.

whimp

Goodness...

Cindy and I went shopping on Saturday. We stopped at Fareway and discovered fresh strawberries were on sale. Strawberries just happen to be Riles very favorite thing. So I picked some up for her, and radishes for danny..sigh.. he is an odd little duck ya know.
Here are some pics of Riles eating her strawberry goodness. I am broke, so no pics of danno. He has a "publishing" fee. lol

whimp

Wanting to get these for my kiddos.
http://lovelife.typepad.com/buy_lovelife/buy-custom-youareawesome-posters-here.html

Danny wants the cat or monkey, and riles wants the elephant.

Now, what should their words be? i thought spirited for riles and amazing for danny. What do you think. Positive words please.

thanks

wendy

Gearing up for another *girls* weekend..

Fickel, Mindy, and I are going to be heading to the middle of cornhusker land next weekend. We are attending a weekend long crop, and possibly state basketball tournaments, good luck Justin! I can't wait. I enjoy my time with these two immensely.

I have taken a personal day next Friday, as we head down on Thursday night. Thanks to momma pat and papa for helping get the kiddos to school on Friday. I love you both very much!

We (ok, I) spent the weekend cleaning out my house. Ugh. This job SUCKED. (Don't you just love my advanced vocabulary? lol) I cleaned out the kids rooms, the two hall closets, most of the toys in the front room(1 tub is left, mostly stuff Riles' plays with everyday), and the entry way. My big ole body hurt in places I didn't know I had! It feels so good to be decluttered. The next item on the agenda is cleaning out cupboards and scrapping stuff. I am going to wait to do this during our week long spring break. My kids will be in school, chris will be working, and I will be home cleaning and scrapping! Wahoo. This summer chris will tackle the outside.

I am in the beginning stages of weeding out 3000 children's books. Yes 3000! I have made a dent, but not a big one. (I will donate these items to a homeless shelter for their family area.) I am addicted to ordering books from Scholastic! lol.. I loved book orders as a child as well. Reading was and is one of my favorite hobbies. Both of my children love to read as well and I am so happy this is one of the things i can enjoy with them.(just never, ever take us all to a bookstore together!) It never mattered how low I was, as long as I had a book to read, the world was a better place. In fact, if I haven't read a "good" book in a while, I actually start feeling aggitated.

I wanted to post some pics of the last girls weekend with my sisters. We had a blast, and can't wait for our next adventure!

peace, love, and happiness (hey, isn't that a song?)

whimp