103 posts tagged “shopping”

We had such a wonderful weekend.  We spent Saturday morning shopping for house stuff while my brother took the kids out to breakfast, swimming, and to the Farmer's Market.  The tile for the main and master bathrooms is now purchased!  We're getting close to the end of picking stuff out for the new house, thank goodness!

Next, we headed to the Indoor Football Championship with the Billings Outlaws vs. River City Rage (think they're from Missouri).  We had awesome seats about 10 rows up.

Jace got a tshirt, Cody a hat, and Lily a megaphone.  The mascot is a horse named Gunsmoke.  Instead of cheerleaders, they have a dance team who entered on the back of Harley motorcycles.  They also have 3 "outlaws" that fire their guns whenever there's a score.  This is the quarterback making his entrance.  It was super neat that several of the players came out with their children. 

The game got off to an amazing start.  The Outlaws were kicking off and did an onside kick right off the bat and got it!  The next play was a flea flicker for a TD!!  The crowd went wild.  Arena football is done on a smaller field and there are no sidelines.  The coach actually stands out on the field and fans could reach over the barrier and break up plays which happened once.  Another time, a catch was made but the player ended up going head first over the barrier into someone's seat!  I was blown away by the fantastic catches that were made.  There's very little running game.  Because of the smaller field, there's a lot more scoring which makes it very exciting.  The Outlaws led the entire game but the Rage came within one TD a few times during the 2nd half which made it scary.  The mascot, Gunsmoke, came around and Cody got his autograph and Lily gave him a hug.

The final score was Outlaws 71 and Rage 62!  The Outlaws quarterback was awarded the Best Offensive Player and MVP for the Indoor Football League. 

We topped it off with a superb supper at the Samurai where they cook the food in front of you.  My very favorite!

Not only are the kids now clothed for school but I just might be, too!  My mom totally spoiled me with a great sale at Dillard's.  I got 2 new dresses, 5 shirts, 2 jackets, and a pair of jeans!  Nothing like some new clothes to make you feel like a million bucks. 

 

 

Friday night we went to the opening ceremony.  There were activity and food booths.  The kids all got autographs from the Billings Outlaw arena football players.  They also had fun with the dunking booth.  There was continuous entertainment and the the kids got to walk the track.  They are in the maroon shirts and you can see Jace.

The most exciting part was when 5 skydivers jumped out of a plane over the field and then all landed right in the center.  I was amazed by the accuracy of their landings!  The USA women's fencer who won the gold lit the torch at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The first game was early on Saturday.  The team was really tough and we lost 0-10.

The next game was against another Billings team.  We were the only out of town team so knew it was going to be tough.  Ray's dad and family arrived in time for the 2nd game.  They picked a good game to watch because we won 10-0 and Cody scored 4 goals. 

After watching a 15 yr old team last spring, Cody's been practicing a flip throw-in.  I didn't think he was confident enough yet to try it in a game but he did it in the first two games really well.  Unfortunately, the 3rd game is the one I tried to get on camera and it didn't go as well.

The 3rd game was against an all girl team.  They were big, rough, and tough!  It was also about 95 degrees and miserable.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie even though they outplayed us a lot.  I think we were saved by our goalie and a penalty kick that scored a goal for us.  Because both teams had won and lost 1 game each, it came down to total goals to see who would play in the championship game.  We beat them by 1 point!!

After the game, the kids spent time at the pool while we played pinochle with Ray's dad and Amy.

I was a little shocked that we were the only adults present at the pool and most of Cody's team was there.  We were extra glad with our decision when the fire alarm went off.  We hearded the 20+ kids out onto the patio.  Apparently, some teens pulled all the fire alarms so it went off 5 different times.  The kids swam some more Sunday morning before we went to the championship game.  Unfortunately, we were playing the same team that we'd lost to Saturday morning.  I thought Jace did a great job keeping up with all those older boys since most of them were 11 and 12.

We lost 0-12 but still won the silver medal.

 

 

 

Thumbs Down:

1. Facebook not letting me post status updates.  It's obviously not doing it to everyone.  Are my updates just too boring or what?
2. Having to wait a week for my MT drivers license.  There's no sales tax in MT and ND doesn't charge MT residents sales tax on purchases over $50 if you have a MT drivers license.  Ray and I need to run to Menards this weekend and get a bunch of stuff for the new house.  Guess we'll have to make mom come with so we can use hers.

Thumbs Up:

1. Being at the lake!
2. The guys bringing in 16 walleye today.  There's nothing like fresh walleye and rhubarb crunch for supper!
3. Only having to drive 2 hrs to get to the lake.  It sure beats 3 1/2 hrs.
4. Jace & Lily's Vacation Bible Camp finale.  Lily did the opening prayer all by herself.  I'll have to share that video later.
5. Cody taking 3rd at the wrestling camp takedown tournament.

What is it too soon for?
Submitted by Design Shark.

Snow and Christmas shopping.

 

 

Friday, we went to the first branding of the year.  Though I am basically a city girl, I've always loved branding time.  Not the actual act of the branding itself, but the gathering of people, the cowboys, and most of all, the food!  My dad doesn't actually brand cattle anymore but we still call it branding.  Instead, he just does ear tags.  At the same time, they vaccinate the calves.  That also means a lot less cowboys and no big meal :(

Cody was missing from the pictures because he had a migraine so was sleeping in the car.

The next day, grandpa took us shopping.  Lily got a pink cowgirl hat, boots, and shirt.  The boys each got cowboy hats, boots, and Wranglers.  I even got a little something.

They don't come off at bedtime either.

Thumbs Down:

1. You know that cold I was complaining about 10 days ago?  Still here.  It's really weird because I have this loose cough but feel alright most of the time.  Then every few days, I start getting short of breath and need to have a breathing treatment.  Enough already!
2. Still no movement on our house.  I'm trying to decide what the next step should be.  We leave June 1 and will leave all the furniture since our new house won't be ready yet.  Our contract with the current realtor is up at the end of May so we're trying to decide if we should switch.  Aside from the 2 open houses, she has not shown the house once herself.  I'm wondering if we should paint over some of the purple, change the kitchen/dining flooring, get a new front door, lower the price, etc?
3. This afternoon is my last practice with the kids' choirs at church.  I wrote each of the kids a personal note and included some "I'm on God's team" tattoos.  We always conclude the year with a root beer float party.
4. I haven't updated on the flood lately mainly because nothing's changed.  The releases from the reservoirs are still at record levels and probably will be another 3 weeks.  The dikes and levees are holding.  Most of them are only made for 3 weeks and it'll be at least 2 months so I hope they can maintain.  The reservoir levels are finally dropping.  The biggest concern is the sewer system.  On an average day, 1.5 million gallons goes through it.  Since the flood started, the average is 6-7 million gallons per day.  For at least a week, 4 lift stations have been emptied into the river.  Yes, it is legal.  Apparently, with the amount of water in the river, the sewage is very diluted.  Regardless, I won't be going for a swim anytime soon.  Residents are being asked to conserve water.  (I've spent years trying to get the kids to always flush the toilet and now I'm telling them not to)!  I just hope the system doesn't fail before we're out of here! 

Thumbs Sideways:

1. 19 days until we leave.  We're at the point of lots of "lasts":  last choir practice, last day of confirmation, last hair appts, last massage, etc.  I've sent out most of our "change of address" updates.  Sad as all of these things are, I'm still excited about starting our new life back in MT.

Thumbs Up:

1. Progress on the new house is continuing.  The basement forms have taken a little longer than expected because of all the "jogs" the house has.  They hope to start pouring the walls today.
2. Ray mowed the lawn for the first time last night!
3. Friday, I'm making a quick trip to Fargo while the kids are at school.  I simply must have one more trip to The Children's Place before I'm forced to do all my shopping there online.
4. My aunt just sent these pictures from my grandpa's funeral reception. 
   

   Kids & Great Grandma

We had our best weekend of wrestling yet!  Jace had 2 easy matches and pinned both opponents.  We hope he gets a little more challenge next week or I'm afraid he'll be overconfident going into state in 2 weeks. 

Cody's 1st match looked really tough.  The kid had very defined muscles which you don't see much of at this age and he came out strong.  I had written Cody off 1/2 through the 1st period but I was mistaken!  Cody came on strong in the last 2 periods and won 6-5.  His 2nd match was easier and he pinned his opponent.  The 3rd match was super easy and he also pinned him to take 1st place. After the tournament, we went to the Home & Garden Show.  We got lots of great ideas for the new house and look who was there signing autographs! After a quick stop at the mall, we met Cody's godparents at Famous Dave's for supper.

Thumbs Down:

1. The cost of building this house is getting a little crazy aka scary.
2. Lily's attitude has been atrocious lately.  I dread every morning because of the fights.  I guess we'll see if being grounded every night helps improve things.
3. I found a summer picture of the front of our house (which is much more inviting that it currently looks) and had the realtor use it on their website.  I know I have a summer picture of my backyard somewhere but can't find it so just took one.  Doesn't it just make you want to move here?

And if that's not enticing enough I also took a shot looking down the street.  The snowbanks are almost as tall as me (and I've grown 1/4 inch).

Thumbs Up:

1. My house has never looked so perrrrty.
2. All the realtors in town toured the house this morning.  I guess there was good feedback.  Now, they need to bring in the buyers!
3. My roots are blonde again.
4. The temperature is above 31 and snow is melting.  PTL!
5. I bought a new sweater at the mall today.  Haven't tried it on yet.

We definitely timed this trip right.  Within a few hours of our departure, another 5 inches or so of snow dumped in town.  This winter is just CRAZY!  When we arrived, we had an office visit with the pediatric ENT.  Right away, he did a flexible scope which means he put a spaghetti size tube through Jace's nose and into his throat.  He didn't like it but managed pretty well.  We were able to watch on the computer screen which was really cool!  Right away, the Dr. spotted some lumps on his vocal cords which were either vocal nodes or cysts.  Strangely, we were hoping for cysts because they could be the cause of his coughing spells and would be removed.  Nodes would more likely be a result of all his coughing.  Either way, they probably caused his hoarse voice. 

After the Dr. visit, we checked in at the hotel and then went to the MOA.  A cold Tuesday night in January is definitely the time to go there!  I have never seen so few people at the MOA.  Ray & Jace each got wristbands for Nickelodeon Universe and didn't have to wait in one line.  The 1st ride Jace wanted to go on was the SpongeBob rollercoaster.  He was too scared to go on it when we were there in August but that was pre-Disney World!  This video gives you an idea of what it's like.  Jace didn't like the big vertical climb and drop right at the beginning but loved the rest.  While the boys went on rides, I hiked through most of the mall in search of the perfect boot.  Of all places, you'd think I'd be able to find them there but no such luck.  I did browse through the new American Girl store.  Honestly, it wasn't as impressive as I expected.  I was also sad to see that Club Libby Lu is closing.  Thank goodness Lily got her makeover when she did!  After supper at the Rainforest Cafe, we went back to the hotel to chill and watch the season premiere of AI.

Jace wasn't allowed to eat Wednesday morning.  We arrived at the Children's Hospital for his pre-op and he got to play PS2 while we waited.  He was having a Bronchoscopy and Laryngoscopy.  Ray got to go back into surgery with him until he fell asleep from the laughing gas.  I think it took about 2 minutes!  They gave Jace a nebulizer treatment first.

They have this awesome tracking board in the family waiting room where you can watch your child's number to see what part of surgery they're in.  The Dr. said he'd come and talk to us after the scopes before removing anything.  I think it was under 10 minutes.  The bumps on the vocal cords were just nodes and everything else looked good.  Here's a picture.  Three are of the vocal cords.  The areas on each side where they protrude are the nodes.  The bottom left picture is looking down his windpipe.  Cool, eh?

The Dr. still thought there was a problem if Jace needed to take oral steroids almost once a month for croup attacks so he set us up an appt. with a pulmonologist.  We went straight there after Jace was discharged from recovery.  It was 2 pm and the poor kid was starving!  He got a small juice box and popsicle in recovery.  The pulmonologist administered a breathing test which Jace did perfect on.  However, they still couldn't completely rule out asthma without a more advanced test which would've required us spending an extra day.  The pulmonologist did rule out Vocal Cord Dysfunction as it's more of a daytime problem and Jace's croup is definitely a nighttime thing.  We were given a Croup Management Plan and some more high power medications for when he has flare ups.  We're also going to have allergy testing done here in town to try and determine what triggers his attacks.  Our theory now is that it might be post nasal drip.  So, we still have no definitive answers but at least ruled a few things out.  The nodes should go away once the cough is under control and that should improve the hoarseness in his voice.

When we finished there, it was 4 pm and Jace was really hungry and wanted Perkins so we stopped at one to eat.  We had good roads coming home and I had to drive some because Ray was getting migraine symptoms.  I hate driving at night!  Jace went to school with much complaining this morning but only made it 1/2 hour.  He has some bloating from the surgery and I think is emotionally drained.