45 posts tagged “presents”

Yesterday was my mom's birthday.  The whole crew got together for supper down at the 40.  This is my brother and his new girlfriend.

Today at work, we did her birthday lunch with the office crew.  We go to the Cattle-Ac and have lunch, champagne, and cake!  My mom was wearing the new coat from my dad and necklace from Ray & Amy.  We got her a scarf but it didn't go with that particular ensemble.

I sure hope I look that beautiful at 65!

 

My hubby's birthday is today and my brother's birthday is Thursday so they opened some of their presents yesterday.

My parents got Ray coordinating exterior lights for our house!

My brother and I made use of his new present and headed to the golf course.  He hadn't golfed since middle school so wanted to do 18 holes. 

I've only once ever golfed 18 holes and it was only my 2nd time golfing this summer so my arms weren't quite in shape.  By hole 10, I could hardly hit the ball.  A couple behind us gave me a great pointer that I'd never heard before and it helped so much! 

 

My mom made an angel food cake for dessert.  My arms are still killing me today.

 

The kids got done with school at noon on Friday.  It was a hard day.  We left right away for the lake.  You may remember that the lake had gotten very low the past several years but was starting to come up.  Well, it was up 25 ft. from this time last year and is supposed to come up another 8 ft!  I think that will make it higher than when we first started going there.  It's awesome!

For a Memorial weekend, we were treated to fairly nice weather Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was Cody's 12th birthday.

 

 

In addition to the rollerblades, Cody got some money from his siblings and uncle and a rebound soccer net from my parents.  After opening gifts, Ray, my dad, my brother, and the boys went out fishing.  The girls stayed back and played squeak and went shopping in town.

The guys had some good fishing success and brought in 9 walleye and saugers so we had enough for supper. 

 

 

Sunday, the guys went out fishing again.  Not long after they'd left, we got a call that my dad's truck had broken down.  I went and picked them up and we hauled the truck to town and then the boat back to the cabin.  Then, the guys used my Yukon to go fishing and they came back with 19 walleyes!! 

Lily helped grandma cook and they even made a german chocolate cake to celebrate our anniversary which is today - 14 years!

We have some new neighbors from Sidney at the lake.  It happens to be one of my old babysitters and her family.  She has 2 teenagers and a son who's Jace's age!!  I am totally psyched that we haven't even moved and he's already got a friend there.  They really hit it off.

 

My BFF from h.s. was also there with her boyfriend.  He's got a 4 yr old daughter so Lily and her played a lot and then Cody played with her son whose a year behind him in school.  Uncle Ray played his first game of Blongo Ball.

And we saw our very first fox den with at least 4 little foxes!

Sunday was the last time both my kids' choirs performed in church under my direction.  Between services, there was a teacher recognition breakfast and I was practicing with my AWE group.  A friend came and told me I was needed at the breakfast so I knew something was up.  In front of everyone, she presented me with this beautiful book from the kids.  Each kid made me a page.  Then, our Children's Education Director said some nice words and started choking up.  I probably should've spoken but I was already tearing up and knew I wouldn't be able to get through saying anything.

Out in the hall, I started going through the book which was making me cry more.  Then, the mother of a boy whose in my choir came and told me that she admires me, is inspired by me, and wants to be more like me.  I could hardly speak.  I don't believe anyone has ever told me that I inspired them.  Finally, I just had to go in the bathroom because I couldn't hold the tears back. 

Once I composed myself, I went back into church to prepare for the service.  My accompanist gave me a silver, musical note necklace that says "Praise" and two of my other choir kids gave me a bouquet of flowers.  It was very overwhelming.  I told the kids since it was my last time to direct them, they needed to make it super good.  They delivered.  Luther Choir sang "Abundawunderful Life" and Chorister Choir sang "I Wonder How It Felt".  I had Ray use the real video camera so we'd have it in good quality.  Unfortunately, that means I can't share the videos on here.

I had several other lovely comments after the service.  I will sing with the AWE group one last time on May 31.  That is if I can sing without crying!

What a wonderful day I had yesterday!  I was the first one awake because I had to be at church early.  Cody was disappointed that I was already up when he woke up because he planned on bringing me breakfast in bed.  However, he did still make me pancakes!

After church, we had to rush for dinner at the Buffalo City Grille because we had less than an hour before soccer games started.  Luckily, it was a buffet so we were able to eat quickly.

Jace and Lily each had soccer games at 1.  Ray & I took turns watching 1/2 of their games.  Jace's team won 10-5 and he scored at least twice.  Lily's team lost pretty badly.  At 2:15, Cody's team played.  Either the goal net was backwards or it had a force field around it because Cody had about 20 shots and not one made it in the net!!  They lost 0-2.  While we were finishing Cody's game, Lily went with the neighbor to watch her game.  Guess that was good because her team was shorthanded so Lily filled in.  I actually got a little pink after 3 hours in the sun.

We came home for a few hours and Ray and the kids cleaned out my car.  I still have a gift certificate from Christmas to have it detailed but first the junk had to get cleared out!

At 6:00, we went to the 2nd annual Mother's Day Dance at our church.

 

 

Cody's still got some awesome moves!

 

This is Jace's favorite song.

 

 

 

Ray & I got one polka in.  Man, is that a lot of work!  I thought my lungs were going to explode afterward.

There was also a silent auction and Cody was determined to buy me some things.  He got all this for $8.25.

Lily also won me a cake in the cake walk.

I got lovely cards from Ray & the kids.  Included was a gift certificate for a massage which I'm desperately in need of!

My dad called me bright and early this morning after my alarm had gone off but before I'd crawled out of bed.  He serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" and informed me I was now halfway to 70.  Umm, ok.  That doesn't make me feel old at all!  Here I'd just been thinking I was on the downslope of my 30's. 

We went to church and Luther Choir sang which the boys are both in.  After they'd finished their songs, I was motioning for them to go back to their seats and they just kept standing up front.  Then, they led the congregation in singing "Happy Birthday" to me.  That was quite a treat and brought a tear to my eye.

For lunch, we got Subway and then I was treated with a yummy Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  I had 8 candles:  3 and 5 LOL.  I already got most of my birthday presents that were related to my laptop but the kids got me

which I've been wanting for awhile.  I really needed to work more on the house but think I'm still fighting off this cold and couldn't bring myself to do anything but take a nap.  Now, we're getting ready to go out for supper with Bluebird and husband to one of my favorite restaurants, City Lights.

Thumbs Down:

1. Football withdrawals.
2. The most insane February weather ever.  It rained all day yesterday.  We're supposed to get a lot of snow today but it hasn't arrived.........yet.
3. School started 2 hours late this morning but I didn't find out until I'd already gotten up and showered.
4. My sore throat.
5. The cost of building is ridiculously high in MT due to the oil boom so Ray's going to end up doing a lot of the work himself.
6. My parents got Jace Madden '09 for his new DS but he couldn't open it since we hadn't given him the DS yet.  Unfortunately, I forgot the sack with the game in my mom's car so he has nothing to play on it until it arrives in the mail.  Bad mom!

Thumbs Up:

1. We found a lot we like and have decided to try to buy that instead of building next to my parents'.  It's a new subdivision on the outskirts of town on the hill with an amazing view of town.  It's 1/2 acre.  Here are some pics.
   

   W. end of lot

This lot is really low so we don't expect anyone to build on it and there's none behind us so we shouldn't lose our view.  Also, lots of places for the boys to ride their dirt bikes.

2.  Because of the view, we had to change our house plan completely.  We finally found a good one.  This is the outside (it won't have clay tiles for a roof).

And this is the layout.  The laundry area will become a 1/2 bath for guests and the sunroom will be a laundry/mud room.  It's 2397 sq feet and will have a full basement underneath.  Cody's room will be downstairs.  We'll angle the house on the lot so everything in the back will face the view.

3.  The look on Jace's face when he opened his Nintendo DS Lite last night.  We had supper at Paradiso.

4.  Word Twist on Facebook.  It's my new addiction.  Way too fun.

5.  Meetings & activities being cancelled last night due to weather so we had time to go out for a birthday supper.

6.  My brother going to church with us in MT.

Jace got to start out his birthday by having school start an hour late.  We're under an ice storm warning until tonight when it turns into a winter storm warning through Wed. am.  Nice, eh?!  We got home last night 5 minutes before the rain started.  Whew!  I really think school should've been cancelled.  The kids could barely get into school because the sidewalk was so slippery.  I even saw one fall.  When I returned home, I decided to get the mail from over the weekend.  I quickly became stuck because of no traction so decided to bag it only I couldn't back up.  This was in my Yukon with 4-wheel drive!  I finally had to call Ray because I was halfway out in the street.  He told me how to put the vehicle in 4-low and then I was able to back up and get a run up the driveway.  I've never considered my driveway steep before but it's pure ice.

We celebrated Jace's birthday with my parents & brother yesterday before we left.

 

 

 

We also went to my hometown church yesterday.  I don't think I've been there since Ray & I were married!  We wanted to show the kids around.  It was sure like going back in time seeing my very first singing teacher and several other people that we haven't seen in forever.  I was already told I have to join the choir.  There are no kids' choirs so I might just have to get that going myself.  They have a "blended" service but it needs some serious spicing up.  It's going to be an adjustment from our church here but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about everything.  We also met Cody's future principal who attends our church.  She seems very nice.

Because we're going out of town this weekend, we had Jace's party early.  Would you believe we actually had it on Super Bowl Sunday?  It was our only option since he wanted a sledding party so we just did it early in the afternoon.  The snow was perfect.

Lily watches the boys sled.

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was good luck for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

Jace's godparents gave him water polo which he'll get great use out of at grandpa & grandma's pool when we move.

After cake, cocoa, & presents, the kids headed back outside for some more sledding.  The sledding hill is on the golf course and there was a wind funnel at the bottom of 2 hills.  We saw 3 kids in different groups lose sleds to the wind.  The sleds would blow over the top of a hill and just keep going.  Each kid returned from their chase without a sled.  So, I kept reminding our kids to hang on tight to their sleds.  Ray & I were watching from inside the warming house when Jace lost the grip on a sled and it started blowing.  He lucked out and it stopped long enough for him to jump on it.  Then, he had to carry it up the opposite hill which had a stronger wind.  If only we'd have remembered the video camera we could've won "Funniest Home Videos".  Instead of carrying the sled to the side so it would slice the wind, he had the sled facing into the wind.  He was leaning way over trying to get up the hill and then the wind would blow him back down over and over.  We were laughing so hard!!  After about 5 minutes, he made it to the top.  Later, he came inside and we saw Lily trying to do the same thing.  I told Jace to go and help her because there was no way she'd get up the hill with the sled after the trouble he had.  Turns out girls are smarter and she carried the sled so it sliced the wind and had no trouble at all ;)

Of course, the finale of the day was watching the Steelers win a very exciting Super Bowl.

Show us the best thing about your Saturday.

I got my first laptop today which was an early birthday present from my mom.  It's a neat chrome/bronze color.