Brooklynn's First Birthday

Our granddaughter, Brooklynn is one year old! What a little sweet heart! I had read on Pinterest about "Smash Cakes." They are cute little cakes, often shaped like 3D animals, given to a baby on their 1st birthday... to do what babies do...smash them. I remembered seeing them at the new Walmart, not knowing their actual purpose, buying one for a friend a couple years ago. I texted Jamie and asked if I could stop over with a "Smash Cake." It was Brooklynn's birthday but Jamie was planning on celebrating both Brooklynn and Sierra's birthdays on Sunday the 29th, but Jamie said yes and then also invited me to have dinner with them.

I hadn't seen Brooklynn in weeks so I realllllly was anxious to see her. She is taking steps now.... something that she couldn't do the last time that I saw her. She's so precious! When ever she sees me she stretches her arms out to me. I was afraid that she wouldn't do that anymore, being that it's been a while since we've seen her. I was tickled when she did it again. I love that little tyke!

Well.... of course the new Walmart didn't have any Smash Cakes except one 3D little snowman that wasn't for sale... orders only. :( I went to another Walmart and they didn't have any. They told me that they make Smash Cakes but their version is just a miniature of the big birthday cake. Jamie called me and said that she was running late and asked if I'd pick up the girls from Mom's house. (Mom babysits them) So not having enough time to check other bakeries, I just picked up some miniature festive cupcakes. Ryan picked up dinner (Chinese), I picked up the girls and we all met up at their house at about 7:30.

I had purchased a musical candle which was a hit with Sierra. When lit, Brooklynn didn't know what to do with it. She tried a couple times to touch it. This brought back memories of our first born, Jason. As an "at-home" mom, we practiced blowing out a candle so that Jason would know what to do on his birthday. We also practiced putting up one finger so that on the day that he turned one, when someone asked him how old he was, he'd put up his finger.

I love how warm and fuzzy old memories are triggered with grandchildren.  Also now when I watch the videos that I took of Brooklynn that evening, I can't help but thinking how much she looks like her mom at the same age. I feel like digging up old pictures to compare the two.

After singing and eating, Jamie had Brooklynn open a couple presents. Jamie had said that Brooklynn likes music. She wasn't kidding. Brooklynn opened up one toy that in the demo-mode played music while it was still in the box. Brooklynn put her hands on the top of the box and wiggled her butt to the beat of the tune. How cute was that!

I can't wait to see the girls again on Sunday to continue the celebration!

Record Temps

During the first ten days of 2012 we broke 5 record high temps. 

The weatherman says that we broke 7 last month (or was it all last year.... I didn't catch it.)

I love the weather that we've had the past nine months!

Record Shattering Temps

The previous record temperature for Fargo ND was 40 degrees on January 5th. Well today we shattered that record with 55 degrees!! Infact we broke the ALL TIME record making today the warmest January day in recorded history! Gorgeous day!

This winter has been awesome, weather-wise! We were still experiencing 80 degree temps all through October. We have only gotten snow once and that wasn't until the end of December. We still have not experienced subzero temps this winter! All of this is very unusual for our area!!  I'm loving it!

I drive a school bus.... and these dry, visible roads are awesome! We just finished 3 years of record snows and floods.  This is a nice change! (Sorry ice skaters and snow mobilers)

Jodi's Birthday

At work, we celebrated Jodi's 59th birthday. Oops.... I meant 48th birthday. (Inside joke, in case Jodi is reading this post, ha ha) We gave her card and an ice cream cake with a candle that sang Happy Birthday.

I love to tease Jodi. I know that she hates getting her picture taken. I prearranged it so that all the gals had a camera hidden in their pockets. When I brought out the birthday cake, Jodi looked at the cake and then at the table full of co-workers and instead of me with a camera...  (ha ha) EVERYONE had a camera taking pictures.
It was all in fun... and we got a lot of pictures of Jodi hiding her face. (chuckle)

New Year's Resolution

I did it! I did it! I did it! I kept my 2011 New Year's Resolution! I gave up sugar for a whole year! (I am such a sugar-aholic) Guess what I'm having for breakfast..... left over caramel corn that has been taunting me since Christmas.

First Snow of the Season!

Can you believe it? We didn't get our first snow until December 30th!

Christmas 2011

What a wonderful Christmas!

Jenny & Matt, and Jamie, Ryan, Sierra & Brooklynn and Dave & I went to church together. I think that it is so important to celebrate Jesus' birthday before we celebrate the other Christmas stuff. (Priorities) It just warms my heart to be in church with my kids. I feel like a unified force telling Jesus that we ALL love him and that we acknowledge that He also is a member of the family.

After church we all came out to our house. Everyone brought snacky food and everyone ate and ate and ate. Chips, dip, veggies, more dip, cheese sticks, more dip, meatballs, little weinners, cookies, candy, and more.

We did something different this year. Jason, Bekki & Farrah are in Colorado so they joined us while we opened presents via Skype. I set up my newest webcam on top of our large TV. It felt as though they were in the same room as we were. Cool! (gotta love technology)

Everyone slept over. I just thought of some thing funny. This was the first time that Matt has slept in our house. He and Jenny are married this year.....

We all slept in until 7:30/8:00 and then checked out all the Christmas stockings. I had previously said that I wasn't stuffing stockings anymore... (no one spent the night last yr so all the stocking stuffings were sent home as a gift.... which kind of defeated the purpose) But! When I heard that everyone was staying over night this year I bought stuffers. I sooo enjoyed it. It FELT normal.... like Christmas.

We also did something else different this year. We drew names instead of buying for everyone. That was different! I didn't think that I would like it. It felt strange not buying all our kids Christmas presents.... but it turned out okay. (My bank account likes this idea) Filling the Christmas stockings helped make Christmas feel more normal. (BTW, the little ones got gifts from everyone)

Another thing that made Christmas seem abnormal was that we didn't have any snow this year, a brown Christmas.  Now that's something that doesn't happen very often in Kindred, North Dakota. I'm not complaining! I love it. It's warm outside and the dry roads make driving my school bus really easy!

Dave made eggs benedit (sp?) for everyone Christmas morning. That's always a hit.

Everyone gathered their things together and went home about 11:00 AM. We got the house back to normal and Dave put a prime rib in the oven. Mom came out for a quiet dinner. We also had some of the lefse that I made the other day. We read the Sunday paper, ate dinner, and Skyped with Jason & Bekki so that Mom could see Farrah. (First time for her to see this great grandchild)

It was a wonderful Christmas.... family, good weather, good food and a Savior. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

2011 Black Friday

This year the stores opened early. So did the online sales. I started watching the sites at 12:01 Thanksgiving morning. I got the door buster Canon camera that I wanted at 6AM. (Sale $89.99 Saved $70)

My nephew, Shaun Grover, shopped with me this year. We had fun. My mom wanted a TV this year so we were on a mission to find a bargain priced HDTV for her. Walmart had a 42" for $248, a $250 savings. Walmart started their sales at 10PM Thanksgiving Day.

I put on my "Black Friday" tee shirt and passed on the long underwear. This year it wasn't needed. The daytime highs are around 60 degrees and the night was above freezing. (much warmer than other Black Fridays that I remember.)  

I met Shaun at the store at 9:30. The parking lot was chuck full so we were concerned that we might not get what we wanted with all those people there. The store had balloons marking the waiting lines for each Early Bird Special. Once we were in line, Walmart gave us a ticket guaranteeing that we would get the TV that we wanted! Score! The sales were staggered and the TV that we wanted went on sale at midnight. A Walmart employee passed out high energy drinks around 11:00.

1:00 AM Walmart

While going through the long winding checkout line, I spotted the toy dog, Cookie, that Sierra wants for Christmas. It was $7.00 off on sale. I picked it up. The dog has a motion sensor which makes it whine and bark. After storing it in the trunk of my car, we had to listen to it whine while we were driving.

Best Buy 2:00 AM

After our success at Walmart, Shaun and I decided to stop by Best Buy to say  hi to my daughter, Jamie, who  is one of the managers there. Oh my gosh! We thought that Walmart had a lot of people. You couldn't even move at Best Buy. Needless to say, we couldn't find Jamie. (I was glad that I had made my Best Buy purchase online hours before.

Shaun and I drove around to see which unopened stores had lines.We also checked out Target. The check out line wrapped all the way around the store, so we made sure not to purchase anything while we were there.

We took the TV to Mom's house. She was still up...anxiously waiting for her new toy. So at 3:00 in the morning, Shaun assembled the TV for her. (I think Shaun was as excited about the TV as Mom was.) Later Mom told me that she stayed up until 4:40 AM watching her new TV. ha ha

3:00 AM Assembling Mom's New TV

Shaun and I made another trip to Target at about 4:00 AM.  This time the checkout lines were reasonable so we purchased the $50 sewing machine that I wanted. Shaun bought coffee to stay awake.

Office Max 5:00 AM

We waited in line at Office Max for a little over an hour.  A radio station served us coffee while we were. I needed to buy my Norton 360 that I get there every year. It was $60 off . I also picked up a couple other things including HP 4x6 photo paper, 100 sheets for $1. Scored again!

We finished our  Black Friday Experience with breakfast at iHop at 7AM while the sun was coming up. It was a successful night! I enjoyed Shaun's company. As I dropped him off at his house, I told him that I might be asking him next year to join me again when I do my Black Friday Shopping. At the time, I didn't realize that I wasn't done yet.

On the way out of town, I decided to stop at Gordman's to pick up some of their 75% off Christmas decorations. Little did I know that I'd be in the checkout line for an hour.

Jodi Nesemeier contacted me and I met her and Savanna at Dunn Bros Coffee Shop at about 9:30 AM. I had to check out Savanna's new laptop that she had just snagged. 

Finally after another stop, this time at the grocery store, I headed home. Instead of jumping in the shower and then bed, I got side tracked. (imagine me getting side-tracked, ha ha) I hung up my new outside Christmas decorations. THEN... the shower and bed at 2PM..... 

It was a good Black Friday!

A Picture from a Friend

Callie, a young friend of mine, drew a picture for me.

Now, check out how she wrote my name.

You've gotta love it!

Josef's Annual Hair Style Show

Jamie, Me and Jenny

Jamie, Jenny and I went to Josef's Hair Style Show at the Hub. Denise Heglie had introduced me to the event a couple years ago. We happened to run into her this year. Denise was with her mom, Shirley, and daughter, Olivia. We all watched the show together.

Shirley & Denise

The hairstyles were purposely outrageous.....fun to see. Here is gal with lights in her do. (chuckle)

We'll be back next year.

My 59th Birthday (Pictures to come)

My birthday started early. Pam, a friend of mine, quilted me a beautiful Halloween table runner. What a surprise!

With my birthday landing on Halloween, there are a lot of people that remember it. One of the kids on my regular bus route had remembered and he announced it to the bus so everyone wished me Happy Birthday. When I was driving the shuttle bus, my bus aide - Michelle - surprised me by having the whole bus sing Happy Birthday. Then during lunch, I was summoned out front and the 2nd and 3rd graders sung Happy Birthday. Thanks to my co-worker, Jodi, they do this yearly but this year was different. Unprompted they all got up and gave me a huge group hug.  Wow! It brought tears to my eyes.

Halloween evening, the trick-r-treaters met me at the door with "Trick or Treat and Happy Birthday!" They made me feel so good!

Other warm fuzzys included a Birthday card from Dula, my dad's cousin and a box of goodies from Linda!  Linda sent me a hand made top that is really unique. I really like the design sewed into it. She also included a pr of sox and a pad for my coffee cup. Linda also makes the neatest hand made cards. You can tell that a lot of thought and time went into her gift.

We normally have a family meal at a restaurant for my birthday and Dave picks up the tab. (That's my present from him) This year I requested that - that money be put towards new flooring for the computer room. That request will be granted (after hunting season).  But we still got together at Jamie's house for a meal for my birthday.  It was was a few days late, cuz Jamie & family were in Kansas City on my birthday. Jamie fixed one of my favorite meals, fajitas, and Jenny baked me a cake.

I made a haul! (I love presents) Jamie & Ryan gave me a couple accessories for my ipad, Jason & Bekki gave me a cover/case for my ipad and Jenny & Matt gave me some boots.

 I enjoyed my birthday so much, that I've requested a yearly repeat.

Road Trip to Bismarck

My co-worker Curt, and I were just pulling into Bismarck....when I discovered 2 different dates on the emails. The ESP advisory committee agenda that I had printed out said October 20th. The first email from Carla said "See you Friday". I called Leanne. She said that the meeting was Friday. Help! We were in Bismarck on the wrong day!

Instead of going to the Radisson where the meeting was to take place (the next day) we went to the high school where all the sessions were to take place. There were a lot of vendor booths where we picked up a few freebies. The sessions didn't start for another FOUR hours!

We went to the mall.... which really excited Curt. lol.

We took a leisurely lunch and went back to the school. We ran into a bunch of ESPs. They were hanging out at the NDEA booth. They kept apologizing for the date mix up. They offered to let me stay in their hotel rooms but.... they didn't offer the same thing to Curt. lol

Curt and I went to the only session that Curt found interesting... and would you believe that that session was cancelled?! So we slipped into a boring PBS session. Then Curt went out the car to take a nap. I went to a Member's Benefits session. There was one more session that I would have liked to see on technology but I didn't dare ask Curt to stay another hour.lol We left for home about 3:00.

Surprisingly Curt stopped at the Buffalo Mall in Jamestown. I couldn't help but think that if it was me and my girlfriends in the car we would have done the same thing.... but I don't think he wanted to shop... just an excuse to stretch his legs. He was really being a good sport about the whole thing.

One plus for the day was that Curt drove us to Bismarck in his little Bimmer. (that's how Curt says that it's spelled.... I'd spell it like Beemer) and it was a beautiful day for a (long) ride. 

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

My Co-Workers in the School Kitchen

(We all got our school pictures taken)

Mary

Altea

Debbie

Jodi

Kimberly

  

and Me

Jenny & Matt's Wedding

All I can say is that the wedding was wonderful!

Check out the pictures 

WEDDING PICTURES CLICK HERE

Jason & Bekki's Phone Call

We got a call from Jason and Bekki this morning.  Jason asked if Dave was around. He requested that I put him on the speaker phone... which I did. I could tell that Bekki was on with jason on his speaker phone. Jason sounded so serious, I was concerned about the purpose of the phone call.

Jason asked the usual questions: What's new with you? What are you doing? etc.. Then he said to Dave: "You know that rifle that was Grandpa's? I want to donate it."  Dave looked concerned. Disapprovingly he asked Jason who he was going to give the gun to.  Jason answered "Our child."

Bekki is pregnant!!! Wow! What a way to tell us, ha ha.  (Very clever!) How awesome is that?!  They are going to have a baby!  They've been trying for over a year and it finally has happened! Wow!

We chatted for a few more min.  I had the urge to go buy baby presents. I'm excited!

The catch is that they don't plan on telling the world just yet.... only imediate family members. My mom and I went shopping today.  We happened upon a eco-friendly boutique.... that just happens to specialize in BABY stuff.  Oh how I wanted to buy something...but what reason would I give? I know that I should allow Jason & Bekki the pleasure of telling my mom... but it was SO hard not to say anything. (which I didn't) Especially when Mom exsplisticly asked "Is there anything new with Jason and Bekki?" I bit my toungue: "No," I said.

So now, I will also refrain from publishing this post until I have permission. It's so hard..Cuz I'm sooo excited.... BEKKI AND JASON ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!  :D                 3/26/11

Jamie & Ryan have been married 5 years!

New iPad2

I got it!   I got it!   I got it!

Death By Chocolate

Jamie and I went to DEATH BY CHOCOLATE at the new Hilton Garden Inn. Yum!

Jamie, Me and the Hilton Chef

There was a lot of good food and fancy Chocolate. 

It was one of the first nights out for Jamie after Brooklynn's birth. 

We had a good time!

Sierra is Seven

We had a family party on Sierra's birthday.

Check out all those missing teeth!

Can you tell that I'm holding Baby Brooklynn on my lap?

New Granddaughter!

Jamie called me at about 10:30 pm January 25th. Contractions had started about 10:00 and they were headed to the hospital! Awesome! I had gone to bed with a wet head which meant major bed head so I fixed my hair faster than ever before and Dave and I headed for the hospital. Dave drove 5 mph UNDER the speed limit on Interstate which drove me nuts, but I held my tongue. It probably was a good thing that I wasn't driving because I would been picked up for speeding.

We found Jamie, Ryan and Sierra in  a temporary room. Jamie was having heavy contractions so we took Sierra out of the room to wait in the waiting are with Dave and I.  We were on the 6th floor and the waiting room had a beautiful view of the city. Sierra played with my phone and camera and I read a story to her.

Dave trying to nap....with Sierra taking his picture.

Sierra took this video of the city from the waiting room window.

Ryan kept us updated by cell phone.

• 12:55 am. (Jan 26) Jamie was dilated to 5cm. 
• 1:14 am They moved Jamie into room 607
• 1:33 am Ryan told us that Jamie was dilated to 7cm and they were about to give her the epidural.
• 1:39 am Ryan asked me to call my mom and update her, which I did. I was supposed to tell Mom that "Jamie was going quick."
• 1:45 am Sierra finally gave in and went to sleep.

• 2:16 am Ryan said  that Jamie finally got the epidural....which we found out later that only took hold on her right side, not her left. 
• 2:58 am Jamie was dilated to 8-9 cm. I asked Ryan if I could see her briefly.  He said yes.
• 3:00 am I went in to see Jamie. The doctor was seated at her feet.  He told me that he had broken her water and that things would move fast now.  In the room were two nurses for Jamie and one for the baby.
• 4:27 am Ryan sent us this picture saying that Brooklyn had arrived!

This first picture that we saw of Brooklyn......Precious!

Finally at 5:30 AM we were able to go in and see the new baby. Here is a video of Sierra seeing her new sister for the first time: (Sierra was still a little hazy because we had just woken her up)

Here are some more pictures of Brooklyn:

The nurses are weighing Brooklyn and taking her foot prints.

Meet Brooklyn, our new Granddaughter!

Snow, snow and more snow!

In January we received shove-able snow in something like 17 days in a row.

This is Davenport School. You can't even see the windows!

A sea of Snow!

Snow!

This is a snowbank that is much higher than my school bus!

This picture kind of says it all.  (It was taken from my school bus.)  

The Shack

Mom and I had lunch at the shack on north Broadway. This is a restaurant that has been closed for a couple months and now has reopened.  We really liked the place and the price/quality of the food. and the location.We also like the location.... not far from where Mom lives.  I think that we will come here often!

Snow in our Yard

 Record snow this winter.  Check out our yard:

Front yard

Back Yard

Book Club

Our book club met in the Fargo Billiard"s coffee shop.

We discussed the book "Something Borrowed."

My friends: Polly, Gayle, Verna, Bernita, Debbie and Georgia

Birthdays

We celebrate co-worker's birthdays.

Connie's Birthday

Jodi's Birthday

 Today was Lexie's birthday.

January Snow at Mom's House

January was a snowy month. Here are some pictures that I took around my Mom's house in Fargo, ND.

Mom's House

Back Door

Looking south down the block.

Looking north down the street.

Check out the height of the snow banks.

That's a lot of snow to shovel!

Bird Feeders