162 posts tagged “jace”

Chorister Choir performing in church this last Sunday.  Lily is the last solo.  I couldn't figure out why she was being so fidgetey but I guess her nose wouldn't quit running.

After a full day at the wrestling tournament, we returned just in time for Lily's birthday party.  My mom was a real sweetie and had everything set up and my brother's girlfriend made a yummy baked macaroni and cheese. 

 There were 11 little girls that came to her kittie themed party.

She wanted the cake to look like Butterscotch and I think it turned out great!  (I did not make it).

After supper, it was time to go swimming.  I had 2 parents tell me their daughters didn't swim well and needed to stay in the shallow end, one of the girls tell me themselves, and one parent stay (I would be one of those at a swim party).  As soon as we opened the door to the pool room, they all ran and jumped in.  Right away one of the girls was paddling frantically and not getting her head above the water (nobody mentioned her not being able to swim).  This is when it occured to me that it probably would've been smart to at least have my swimsuit on in case of emergency.  She was too far from the edge to reach or throw anything to so I was left with no choice but to jump in wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt, jeans, and socks.  It's a good thing the deep end is only 5 ft. so I can hop with my tippy toes and keep my own head above water or it would've been very difficult with my clothes weighing me down.  I was able to hand the girl off (who wasn't phased by the whole incident) to the other mom who had stayed while I quickly went to change.  I got smart and put my swimsuit on just in case I needed to make another rescue.  Ray found the whole thing quite entertaining.

The girls had a blast in the pool.  It seemed weird having a pool party when it was -10 outside.

This girl is in my choir and her family just bought a house by our new one.  I think they'll be the best of friends!  (We like the parents, too).  They also have a daughter in Jace's class and a baby due this spring.

  They swam for around 45 minutes and then got out for cake and presents.

After 2 hours, I was very happy to have it over!

Cody had a wrestling tournament yesterday so we took the whole family along.  Cody had his best meet of the season winning all 4 of his matches to earn 1st place. 

Lily brought along her new Nintendo DS and 2 games for it that she got for her birthday.  First, she dropped one of the stylus pens beside the bleachers and it rolled underneath.  There was just enough room to get an arm through and see where the stylus was located but it had rolled out of reach.  Ray made several attempts to retrieve it without any success.  He consulted with another dad and they decided to borrow one of the wrestler's crutches.  Then, they wrapped tape around the end of the crutch so the stylus would stick to it so they could pull it out.  This is Jace, Lily, and the other dad making the last attempt to get the stylus.

It worked!

Lily met some other sisters at the meet who also had DS's and they were playing with them together.  When Ray and I went to the concessions, she decided to run and join us while leaving her DS with her 2 new friends.  When we returned, the girls were gone and the game was missing from Lily's DS.  Lily asked the girls who claimed to know nothing about it and then Ray talked to one of the parents who checked their daughter's things but didn't find it.  Personally, I think they should've checked the girl's pockets!  I guess Lily learned a valuable lesson.  I hope she takes better care of her DS in the future.

 

My baby girl turns 7 today and for her birthday she got strep throat!  Poor thing.  She was complaining of a bad sore throat when I picked her up from school yesterday.  Tylenol has helped with the pain and now we've got some antibiotics so she should be better soon.  Thankfully, her big party isn't until Saturday.

We had a family dinner tonight with a special Banana Coconut Cake that was a recipe of my Little Grandma's.  We'd never tried it before but it was quite good! 

Jace wanted to use some of his own money to get her a present so bought her this cute, stuffed dog.

 

 

Below 0 windchill:

1. Last week the temperatures was in the 50's.  Today, it's -5.  Along with the cold came Jace's croup which he thought he was getting over.  It's his first episode since April so it's definitely getting further between attacks.
2. Ray spent all of Sunday spraying the trim so carpet could be installed.  I went yesterday to help remove all the masking and paper.  The residual from the paint sprayer goes a long ways and ended up on a lot of the walls.  The more paper I removed, the more I started crying.  I spent so much time painting that house and there were entire walls and closets that needed redone.  I finally just had to leave!  Turned out that it didn't take as long as I thought it would to fix so it did get done yesterday.
3. To add to my Monday, we got a call from the utility company that since our geothermal heat pump meter wasn't connected last month, our bill was $490!!!!!!!!  They called back 10 minutes later to give us a $150 credit.  That didn't make me feel too much better.

Tropical heatwave:

1. Lily's room is carpeted!  Aside from hanging the light and door, her room is basically finished.  Today, they'll install the carpet in the guest bedroom and master bedroom.
2. My computer has been fixed!  We upgraded to Office 2007 so now I have Outlook back.  I have sure been missing my email addys and calendar!  Thank goodness all the information was still there.
3. My baby is turning 7 this week!  I'm not sure if that's good or bad but we'll have a good time.
4. I just love our church here.  The people are ridiculously kind and I like it!!

WARNING:  Graphic hunting story

Over the weekend, Jace's godfather, his son, and another friend came to visit us and go hunting.  Henry shot a really nice 6x7 buck on Saturday. 

They went back out on Sunday because John still needed to get his deer.  After shooting one, John went down to but his deer while everyone else was driving around to the other side of the creek bed.  When they were almost there, they heard another shot.  John had went down to his deer and set his gun down while he was going to drag the deer to a better spot.  When he turned around, the deer had stood up and was charging him!  He managed to grab hold of one set of antlers, getting gored in the hand during the altercation.  While holding one set of antlers and stepping on the other, he grabbed his knife from his belt and stabbed the deer in the neck.  That startled the deer just long enough for John to pick up his gun and make the kill shot.  He sure has an exciting hunting story to tell now.  He's not a small man either.  I'm guessing he's around 6'4" and at least 250 lbs.  We're glad he wasn't hurt more seriously and that it was a successful hunting trip for them.  Here they are with their two deer and Cody's deer head.

John does taxidermy so took Cody's deer head back to do a European mount.

 

Thumbs Down:

1. Our house still hasn't sold yet.  There's a lady who loves it and wants it but her husband doesn't think they need a new house.  Feel free to pray that she changes his mind!
2. I helped Ray grout the main bathroom yesterday.  All I did was wipe off the excess and 3 of my fingers are split.  I won't be doing that again without gloves!

Thumbs Up:

1. This gorgeous weather we've had in November is totally making up for the crummy October.  I can now make it through winter.
2. I have 1 room left to paint in the house before we move in.  We hope to have carpet installed in the next 2 weeks and move in shortly after.  We might have a few things left to finish when we move in but that's ok!
3. Friends from Jamestown are coming this weekend to go hunting on our ranch.  It'll be fun to see them and Jace is totally stoked to see his godbrother that's the same age as him.
4. Chorister Choir sang for a church brunch last Sunday and it was classic (the one time Ray didn't record).  The 2 yr old twin-siblings of one of my singers decided they wanted to be with her.  So, they took turns coming up and standing by her and attempting to sing the song, that they didn't know, very loudly.  It was classic!  I guess I have some future members on my hands.
5. Friends who are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to help me paint.  Not only that, they're willing to do the cutting because I'm so bad at it!
6. My mom making us hot breakfasts every morning.  Today it was french toast and sausage.
7. My brother's new girlfriend.  I think we're going to become fast friends!

Thumbs Down:

1. A woman looked at our house last week and just loved it.  She brought her husband to see it on Monday and he was very quiet except to say one of the bathroom's needed remodeling and they'd already done a lot of that on their current house.  Our realtor is hoping the woman just needed some time to talk her husband into it.  I'm afraid it was a woman who thought she needed a new house and her husband didn't. 
2. I was a crabby patty today.  It's not very often that I'm in a cranky mood all day but this was one of them.  Several little things that put me in the mood. 
3. My great uncle passed away.  He was my step grandpa's brother.  Grandpa died when I was 12 but he lived in town and I spent tons of time with him.  Out of his 3 brothers, this was the one I was closest to.  He and his wife have lived in AZ the past 10 years and had just moved back to MT to be closer to family.  I've made at least 3 trips to Billings and wanted to stop and see them but always had other things to do.  Now, I regret waiting.  I'd also like to go to his funeral tomorrow but it's not going to work out.  He has such a twinkle in his eye.

Thumbs Up:

1. We really are making good progress on the house.  We've started painting the basement even though we don't plan to totally finish the basement right away.  The tile is done in the foyer and Lily's bathroom floor and shower.  Ray's started hanging interior doors and putting on base trim so the carpet installer can come.  2/3 of the kitchen cabinets are done.  I need to get pictures of some of the lights Ray's installed because they are gorgeous!  We're very tentatively hoping to be in around the end of the month.  (No laughing, mom).
2. There's no school tomorrow so Ray's taking the boys hunting.  This will be Cody's first time going as an official "hunter" since passing Hunter's Safety.
3. The 1st quarter is done at school.  Cody really struggled the past few years but is finally taking school more seriously.  There is still room for improvement but he made the Honor Roll so we're very proud.  All his teachers had great things to say.  This is Jace's first year to receive letter grades and he earned all A's and B's.  He's also suddenly taken a huge interest in reading.  He's always hated reading but is now reading 300 page novels!!  Lily is also doing well.  All of the kids' teachers are very impressed with their transition into new schools.  It truly has been amazing and we couldn't have asked for the move to be any smoother.
4. Cody has started Middle School wrestling and his first tournament is Saturday.  Wrestling is such a different environment here.  In Jamestown, Cody was teased a lot for being a wrestler instead of playing hockey or basketball.  Here, wrestling is huge!  Last night, they had a photo shoot for their team poster!!  He's best friend here is also a wrestler and a super, nice kid.
5. Though the weather in October was awful, November is off to a gorgeous start.  It's even supposed to hit 60 tomorrow.

 

How old do you think children should be before they join social networks like Facebook and MySpace?

I think it depends on the child and the family.  We just let Cody join FB this summer at the age of 12.  The main reason was for him to keep in contact with his friends back in ND.  I'm on his friends' list so I can monitor all of his activity.  I think that's the real key - parents' monitoring what their child is doing online.  We went to a great lecture on social networking at the beginning of school and were told that FB is much safer than MySpace so that made me feel better.  I'm guessing we won't wait quite as long to let Jace to join.

I'm not sure what exactly Cody is but he suggested going to his first dance as a ghost.  Then, when it was time to slow dance with a girl, he was going to take off his ghost sheet and be wearing a tux with a rose in his mouth.  Well, I told him that was a little expensive.  We went down to Party Central and they really didn't have any costumes but a few wigs.  However, we found a tuxedo tshirt and a black rose!

Jace is a character from G.I. Joe.

Lily is a genie.  So far, she hasn't granted me 3 wishes.

Cody's big celebration was last night at the dance.  Tonight, he's going to do a little trick or treating with some friends.  Lily's at a friend's party.  Afterwards, we'll take her and Jace over to a friend's house.  The guys are going to take the kids out (they have 4 kids) and the women will stay at the house and hand out candy.  We'll order pizza when the kids are done.