WHY oh WHY do we live in Minnesota??

We are getting MORE snow today...they say 8-10 inches. WTH? I am sick to death of it...the kids are sick to death of it. Why do we live here?

Luke still had school today but they say that 115 schools in the area were closed or were closing early.

I think the only reason we live here is because both of our families live here...if they didn't I'd be in Maui for sure!!! :)

Mommy's Weekend Away...

It seems like forever since I've blogged. Oops! I'm trying!
This past weekend I went away on a Scrapbooking retreat. Ohhhh was it wonderful to get away. Don't get me wrong I LOVE being with my boys....but every now & then it is fun to have some "me" time. I have been scrapbooking for about 2 years now. I've done a scrapbook on kurt's birth - 1 year, a book for Luke (the ABC's), & the one I worked on this weekend was a family one. Now scrapping isn't the only fun thing about the weekend. There are about 23 women that come along & spend 2 nights in a hotel. I was excited about this one because it was only 15 minutes from my house...just right. :) My sister was along for the ride & finished her very first book. My sister also had some of her work buddies along, what fun they are! If we didn't want to scrap we would do a little shopping, or eating, talking, or drinking. I think my sister & I did more shopping & eating then scrapping. Sorry honey!

Ben & I are pretty good about letting each other get away for weekends once in awhile. Ben goes away for fishing & duck hunting openers. I get scrapbooking weekends. We both think that it is good for us to get away from the kids & each other every now & then...it makes us appreciate what we have & know how happy we are. After hearing about other peoples lives, we are pretty tame.
So, next is a Daddy's weekend in May.... Hope you have as much fun as I did Benny!!!!!

Kindergarten

Last night Luke had Kindergarten Round-up. I can't even tell you how sad I am to even think about him going off to school! I know I shouldn't be because he has been in Pre-School for 2 years now & even rides the school bus. But I am so sad. My "baby" is going off into the BIG BAD WORLD. I mean the past 5 years have gone so fast, how quick are another 5 years going to go? Woosh...just like that he will be 10! He'll start liking girls!! NOOO!!! Okay, so I am making it sound horrible. It isn't. He is going to start learning...not that he hasn't been learning for 5 years but he is going to start learning to write & read. then he's going to start learning math! He is already so darn smart, I really hope that he has it easy in school. Ben & I are so proud of him...he has been such a good kid. I just hope that going to Kindergarten doesn't change him...or I hope that it changes him for the better.

I have 5 more months to think about this. that first day of school is going to be a big ol cry fest.

Don't even get me started on Kurt....3 more years....

Coolie

This weekend we went car shopping! WOOT! I needed to get rid of the van SO badly. The gas prices are going through the roof & with the 40 mile drive to work each day, it is KILLING me! We needed a car that would get 30-35 mpg. After much discussion & a lot of searching we finally found the car we wanted. It isn't new but it is new to us.... 2005 Ford Focus. It is supposed to get 35 mpg & only cost me $30 to fill it up! YAY! My van was $70 a pop!

I love it! Luke is loving having the car also. We were cleaning it out on Saturday night & he was saying how cool it was. I asked him if we should name her (yes, my boys are rednecks...they name their cars)? Luke thought "Coolie" was a great name. So, now I have a car named Coolie.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow night??!?!?

Happy Anniversary Ben!!

Hey hunny! I just wanted to write about how much I love you & how thankful I have you in my life. I can't imagine have a more thoughtful, perfect guy. You have brought such joy & happiness to me, I hope I give you at least half of it. Thank you for being such a wonderful father to our 2 boys. I knew you would be a good Dad, but I didn't know you would be as good as you are. I couldn't ask for more. I know I've told you this over & over again but it doesn't hurt to do it again. :)

As you said in your card to me, only 50+ more to go. I love you!!

P.S. thanks for the car!!! hehe

Here are the pictures from last week that wouldn't post....

Hopefully this will be the last of the snow!?!? PLEASE?!

We got more snow last night. Thankfully it was only 2 inches. Since today it was a beautiful sunny 25-30 degree day, we bundled the kiddos up & went outside to play. Let me tell you...we are ALL having cabin fever. It seems like it has been cold, snowing, etc for way to long. But now that it is March we know it won't be long & it will be warm in MN again. Here are a few pictures of our adventures today. Kurt & Luke riding on the sled. I even tried but since I had the camera we didn't get a pic of that...whew! They also played on their swingset & went down the slide...I think that was kurt's favorite part.
Here is a video of Kurt getting pushed down the hill by Daddy.

okay, for some reason I can't post video or pictures. I will finish this post tomorrow.

Kurt's 2nd Birthday Party

I know I'm almost a week late in getting this up. I swear, I don't have time to do anything somedays. We had a great party for Kurt this year. Gramps (Jim), Granny (Mary), Jim, Dawn, Erik, & Natasha, came from Ben's side & Papa (Jim), Grammy (Diane), Janelle, Shane, Kyle, Ryan, & Drew came from my side. The kids played while I got lunch ready for everyone. We had chicken nuggets, french fries, baked beans, chips, & juice boxes for this kids (the chicken nuggest didn't even have eggs in them!!) For the adults we had Brats. Yum.


After we ate we dug into the cake. I found this recipe for chocolate cake without eggs. It was a hit! I am going to start making up some cupcakes for when we have other b-day parties. Don't want Kurt to feel left out!



Next we opened gifts. Most of the pictures didn't turn out but Kurt got lots of Spongebob things...a t-ball set, movie, pj's, hat, shirts, shorts for summer. Lots & lots of fun stuff!





Kurt is one lucky kid. He has his 4 awesome grandparents , 4 wonderful aunts & uncles, 5 great cousins, 1 fabulous brother, & 2 parents that love him to the ends of the earth. Happy Birthday little bubba.

Kurt Benjamin 3/2/06

Our smiley boy
Luke being a great big brother
help, my head is too big
Natasha helping give a bath
Mommy favorite picture



I can't believe it has been 2 full years since I had Kurt. Why is time going by at a record pace these days? It feels like yesterday I was at work & my water broke! Here's the tale of Kurty McWurty...the little guy that is constantly testing us.





First off, Kurt was a HUGE surprise to us. Remember the tale of Luke? How difficult it was to get preggo with him? Yeah, that didn't happen this time around. I guess Luke shook up my insides because Kurt was a wonderful oops. I shouldn't say that it was really "easy" to get preggo with Kurt, I mean we tried & tried for quite a few months with nothing happening. Ben & I had just decided to be happy just having one amazing little guy. We also decided it was time to start building our dream house. We put our Winsted house up for sale & started digging the hole for our new basement. It was going great. We sold the Winsted house pretty quickly & ended up having to live with both sets of parents for awhile. ie...no whoopie for us. I mean it was happening very few & far between. That is why we were SO surprised when I was 3 weeks late with Aunt Flow. I just figured it was stress of building a house, I mean everyone tells you how stressful it is to build...right?? Umm yeah right! I took a test just in case. HOLY TOLEDO...it was POSITIVE! I've never been so flabbergasted in my life. I mean don't you have to "do it" for this to happen? I mean, I can tell you the exact place & time. Okay, enough about that. I don't need to go into detail. We were delighted to say the least.





Ben & I both hoped we would have another boy. I know that most would think that a boy & girl would be perfect, but not us. We wanted another one just like Luke. My whole pregnancy went pretty smoothly. We knew that I would have another C-section since I had one with Luke. It made everything so easy. What I didn't plan on was having my water break 3 weeks early while I was at work! How could that happen? I was in Eden Prairie & had to drive all the way to Buffalo...50 minutes away....by myself!!! CRAP! I called Ben right away & told him I was on my way to the hospital....then called my mom, sister, & dad. I couldn't call Jim & Mary because they were having fun in the sun in Hawaii. Oh & because they were in Hawaii, Ben had to go feed the cows before he went to the hospital!!! Can you imagine?? Knowing your wife is in labor & having to feed cows?? Ben, Luke, & my Mom all met me at the hospital (I was there first). I checked in & went to a room to get ready to have this little guy or girl. Once I was all ready they wheeled me into the OR. 5 or so minutes later, they showed me this beautiful little boy. I was SO happy to have another boy. I knew that Kurt & Luke would be the best of friends. So far I've been right.





Tomorrow we will have the families over for Kurt's birthday party. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.