unbelievable!

Report: Favre to Have Biceps Surgery, May Sign with Vikings
By Dan O'Donnell
MINNEAPOLIS - The St. Paul Pioneer Press is reporting on its website that Brett Favre will undergo surgery on his injured right biceps tendon.
If all goes well, the report indicates that Favre will likely sign with the Minnesota Vikings.

Favre in a Jets uniform was weird, but okay, we cheered for the Jets (and the Packers, of course) all season.

But Favre in purple & gold? I don't think we can name our son, Brett, any longer (we don't know yet what we are having---finding out July 2!!!!!!---)

picking up the pieces...still!

Party #3...well, I was so irritated all week I couldn't really say much about it. But I figured I better, so here goes...so this is a quick synopsis of party #3 with Mike's immediate family.

I planned it well. I lined up the hallway upstairs with lots of toys (easy toys to clean up). The hallway is like another room extra wide and gosh, 40+ feet long? so there was plenty of space to play. I locked the playroom door (last time that room got destroyed even though I said no kids upstairs) and I also locked our bedroom door (last time kids were jumping on our bed). I closed all other bedroom doors and told the kids no going into the bedrooms upstairs. There are other rules, rules that our kids wouldn't even consider rules, just a way of life. Like no jumping on the beds. No eating anywhere but the kitchen. No throwing anything over the balcony, except maybe stuffed animals (our kids play zoo and use the balcony for their stuffed animal monkeys and koalas). Shoes off when you come in the house. Drinks don't leave the kitchen table. But low and behold when all was said and done, there were plates upstairs, candy wrappers all over, candy mashed into the carpet. I ended up caving and letting the little gals (including Maddie) play in the girls' bedroom as they are sweet and play really nice together. They were playing dollhouse when another cousin (boy) walks in and pulls stuff out of the closet. I told him he had to stay downstairs. (Okay so by the way, instead of mingling, I spend most of the time following the kids around making sure our things & the house isn't being destroyed, because no one else does it. Well Mike will take turns with me sometimes). I came back down, and suddenly toys are raining off the balcony. He pulled out Maddie's polly pockets and threw them up in the air over the balcony (after he had been yelled at for throwing other stuff over the balcony, and told to come downstairs). Oh, he's 4 1/2 & yes, the parents of all the kids are present by the way. So, I will eternally be finding little polly shoes and other stuff until 2012 probably. Or the vacuum will find them. I went upstairs to force him to come downstairs and find he also ripped the hair off of a couple of the princess polly pockets. Once back downstairs, he pulled out games and attempted to throw the pieces upstairs over the balcony. I proceeded to take all games and puzzles and put them in our locked bedroom. He ate doritos in the living room with no bowl, and mashed them into the carpet. Just a small taste of what happened that day, and I think you can see why I get so frazzled over having a birthday party.

I was so stressed out that night, I didn't clean for days. I didn't know where to start. It just figures, every time we have had a birthday party with them, the weather has been bad and no one could play outside. I swear, next birthday, which would be Cal's, I want to rent out a place so I don't have to worry about being so stressed out over it (I will also be 7 1/2 months pregnant). And so I don't have to clean it all up. It doesn't matter how many precautions I take, things are ruined and messed up beyond what I feel any kid should do (unless they are 2 or under perhaps, and there are no kids in that age bracket right now in the family).

On to the happy parts of the party--I bought an arts and craft item (I do for every party, hoping to keep some occupied!) and only Kaycey, Maddie, and a cousin Kaycey's age did it. It turned out so cute, though. I bought blank wood frames for $1 at Michaels. They painted them how they wanted and then painted wooden letters to spell out their name. After it was dry they chose from some $.99 3D embellishments I bought. They really turned out cute!!

Kaycey got more clothes for Kit, and even a gift certificate to American Girl Place (Mike's sister lives in Chicago, and happens to work on Michigan Ave. How convenient!!) She got her own CD player and a couple CDs, and an iCarly DVD.

Mike's mom has made the cakes for our kid's parties with his family for years. She does such a great & creative job! This year Kaycey wanted a soccer ball. The frosting was kind of falling by the time I took the picture, but it was so cute! Also, they brought along an ice cream cake with Kaycey's picture. And honestly I only have a few other pictures, because I was too busy with other things to take pictures!!

a new addition to the family...

Mike just couldn't live without TV. He called me Saturday (he was @Cal's soccer tournament, I was teaching a class, and the girls were with my Dad) and said, "Meet me at Best Buy after you're done." I did, and ten minutes later we walked out with a new forty-some inch plasma flat screen. I don't think we've ever bought a new TV; we always used old ones we've had for who knows how long. So a brand new TV...and it's in the dining room (a makeshift family room until we buy a dining room table years down the road). It's so nice and quiet; no echo or anything like in the living room with that balcony!!

TV-less??

So this big huge storm tonight caused our power to go out temporarily. Once the power went back on, the TV did not. Mike has been messing with it, but he thinks there was a power surge that caused both TVs in the house to blow out. Neither TV in the house will go on (even though everything else in the house is working).

I don't watch much TV anyhow. Even during the day, Maddie and I watch very little, if any, TV (once in a while a movie or two); it's still a bummer to know we might have to go buy a new one. And a bummer that our big screen won't get moved upstairs in the bonus room for the kids to watch movies on and play video games, if indeed, it is shot. I hope some how magically they will work tomorrow. But Mike thinks they are goners.

At least we're not internet-less.

living with animal lovers

I am surrounded by them! Everyone (including Mike) in my house wants a pet, particularly a dog. They would all like a big dog. They beg or ask almost daily (okay, Mike doesn't, but the kids do). Maddie even went so far as saying a couple weeks ago, "Mom, you could find a new Dad and kids and then we can get a dog!" Yikes. I am replacable, I guess, by a hairy 4-legged creature.

Okay, so in general, I am not an animal friendly person. I'd rather not have any creatures in the house. But little and even medium size dogs I can tolerate (more so in someone else's house!) I really would rather have no pets, let me tell you why.
*brand new house. I'd rather keep my cabinets and wood floors and white trim and doors in tact for a while. The kids are capable of causing enough damage, but at least they don't chew on wood. Or have claws.
*the expense. The dog, the cage, the food, the vet. Why not just have a baby? Oh wait, we are : )
*the hair. That's what Maddie and I are for. Combing our hair is enough for me.
*the smell. I don't mean stinky. I just mean the smell of "dog". Dirty diapers are stinky enough, aren't they??
*guess who will end up having to deal with the messes. and cleaning up the messes. yep, me.
*who will be stuck at home all day with it? me.
We have enough neighbors who let their dogs poop on our lawn, we don't need our own dog to help us out in that department.

Just thought I'd clarify the dog situation in our house : )