Past couple of days

Elena is pregnant. More later.

Last weekend

Had a really good weekend down in Decorah. Started off with leaving Roch and getting there around 4:30. Ben, Paul, AJ and I had plans for a guys night out. Dropped the kids off with Grandparents and we hit the road. We went to Gunder for the famous Gunderburger. One pound of hamburger with onions and cheese. They are awesome. Loaded with seasonings and yumminess. I finished mine second which is quite a feat considering my weight is about 5/8ths, 1/2 and 3/8ths of my fellow diners. We had a great time playing cards there and making jokes on each other. It was a really fun meal. Then we were off to the boat. Riverboat casino. I didn't bring much cash so I lost the $14 dollars and watched quite a bit after that. Slots are not the way to go to win money. Unless you're AJ and make out with $120 after 5 pulls. Anyway they played roulette a lot and both Ben and Paul were down a lot from when they started. Fortunately, Paul on his last $4 hit it big and came out plus $40 for the night. Ben put in about $160 and was down to about $40 when he hit big and left with around $200. Then off to a bar. AJ assures us that he knows where to go. Famous last words. We head off in random directions, hit curbs, stop in the middle of the road with traffic behind us and I think we ran a stop sign. We eventually found a nice spot and ordered some drinks and played some cards. We threw jacks and AJ and I partnered up. I was thinking that we'd be in for a hurting. Ben and Paul are very intelligent and good card players. Not that it mattered. AJ and I smacked them silly. It was just brutal. The worst beating in all our years of playing has there never been such a utter thrashing. We won 6 times and they one once on a fluke double nello call; the only call of that game. There was a karaoke machine and some hired singers for some live entertainment. It was OK. They let anybody cut in to sing and some people just shouldn't have. We closed up the bar and headed home. We got into Decorah around 3 to call it a night.

Elena and I went to Cho-Sun for lunch on Saturday and then we met up with everybody and ate supper at the Americana Grill in the old Jack and Jill store. We went to AJ's after that and played a little cards and had some ice cream.

We drove home Sunday afternoon and puttered around the house. We took the kids on a nice walk on the trail and in general had a good day.

Travis, Michelle, Forrest and Amara came over for supper on Wednesday. That was a good time. We had this taco casserole that was a huge hit. Amara especially liked it. She downed about 5 big squares of the stuff and asked for more every time. I think she at about 20 pounds ate as much as I did. We played Cranium and Travis and I beat the living snot out of the ladies.

Olivia the Climber is getting a bad habit of getting out of her room whenever she desires by going over the child safety gate we have in her doorway. She treats it as a minor obstacle on the way in and out. I think she enjoys the diversion to normal walking through a door to having to boost over it. The first time I knew she could do this was around midnight I was sleeping in bed and I felt a hard tug on my blankets. I knew that Elena was at work so it wasn't her. This was very discerning to me that my covers were being pulled at by a stranger. I sat up and saw that it was the little girl climbing up to join me. After a few moments, I picked her up and got her back downstairs where we discussed staying in her room for the rest of the night. Anyway, we need to figure out a way to keep her in her room with out tying her down.

Poker

Been playing a lot of cards with friends recently. And by a lot I mean about once a month. Lots of fun. Played at a co-workers house a couple of times and came home with more than I arrived with. Went to a free tournament at a sports bar and I think I played OK just didn't work out. About 80 or so players so it brings a good amount of people. Some guys from work play there too. They go about every Monday night and come in Tuesday with all their stories. I played tonight at Steve's with 7 other guys and came out on top so that was good. I made a four of a kind for my best hand ever. We had a meeting at work so I had to leave that game early and luckily the first round ended when I had to leave.

Zach the little goofball

Zach has been such a good kid. He is always in a good mood unless he's really tired or hungry. He'll laugh with Olivia and just loves to follow her around. We play "Zachypower" by picking him up and flying him around chasing Olivia. Elena likes to torment the little guy by setting him down after supper and making him make a bee-line crawl to take a bath. His little legs move like chubby pistons and his fat arms can barely keep up. He really likes to go outside to swing or be carried on the trail. The other day we came inside and I set him down and by the time I turned around he had spun about and was crawling back out.

The Incredibles

Yesterday, Elena, Olivia and I went to see the Disney Incredibles on Ice show at the Target Center. Grandma watched Zach and we were off. We got there in good time and found our seats. The stuff there was very expensive and we didn't get anything except the free Incredibles wrist band they gave away at the entrance. The story was that the Parr family went to Disneyland and Mickey and Minnie were kidnapped by a robot of Syndrome and the Incredibles had to save them. Olivia did fairly well the first half of the show but it was getting long. We stood on some stairs for a lot of the second half and counted things.

On our way home we got a call from Ben that he and his family were coming up to buy some stuff and if we could get together. We ate at the Olive Garden. It was really good. Olivia had spaghetti and so did her hair. Zach had some spaghetti and breadsticks that he enjoyed thoroughly.

Kyle and Becky called too and we met up for church. We were late but they had space next to them. Olivia was in one of her moods where she just can't settle down but is very happy. She was eating her crackers, drawing and playing with toys. Zach was a little charmer with the ladies too. He enjoyed being passed around. We brought our big beanie-baby style red lobster to play with. Olivia decided that it was hungry and noisily decided to feed it "O"s. "He's hungry." She would loudly repeat and stuff one in his mouth. He wasn't getting fed fast enough so she stuffed it with a whole handful. The kids went to the nursery after this. They had a lot of fun playing with all the kids and toys there.

After church we went to Applebee's. Olivia decided that she would have some chicken strips with her ketchup. That she scooped up with her hands. And then twisted her hair. Zach was a bit of a pain in that he would constantly snitch french fries off of my plate. He'd double fist some fries and alternate hands stuffing his face. Olivia saw this and decided that she wanted some of my fries too. The pile she had in her basket just wasn't the same.

Quiet Snowy Sunday

posted by Elena

Hi all! I'm finally getting around to putting these cute little kids' pictures up so you all can see some of the latest! Not much happening today. I was supposed to work today, but there was an extra vacation day available and I was up to take it, so why not? So, Livi, Zach and I are spending a quiet day together. Too bad that Scott has to work, though. Well, my big plan for today was to go grocery shopping, but that just hasn't worked out yet. First we got sleet that froze before it snowed 3 inches. It finally stopped around 3:00pm. And now the children are taking really good naps, so maybe later after Scott gets home...

Olivia is busy as always, helping out when she can - it's really cute and the enthusiasm to do chores is really about too much. She still likes to read all her books every night before bedtime (I think there must be around 50 of them).

Zachary is so close to taking that first big step successfully. He stands all by himself, and one day last week got brave and took a step. It didn't work out as he had hoped, and he made sure I was within arm's reach so that he did not hit the floor.

It is so cute to see the kids playing together. Olivia really loves having a little brother who is so easily entertained by her. And she is watchful and somewhat protective of him, too. Of course, we have noticed that her protectiveness does have at least one limit, and that limit is toys. He gets a good smack if he dares mess with her toys (and she thinks that they're all hers). Ah, sibling rivalry. Other than that, Zachary absolutely adores her, and gets a big kick out of her. It's so hilarious to see the two of them talking to each other in their own language and giggling together over whatever - who knows? The best thing is that they're happy.






Anybody seen my fruit puff?



Playing with the balloons



Balloon-filled castle - a hit for the young'uns



Zach gets to play in the castle, too!



Livi and Kassidy eating lunch



Happy Birthday to Me



Ooh, a Dora book! Ok, party's over, everybody can leave now...



Zach and Daddy



Watching The Incredibles



Still hasn't moved after 5 minutes - good movie!



I can reach the piano keys and play pretty music!

Beautiful Days

We've had a lot of really nice days the past week. Around 65 degrees and sunny. We've been going outside for lots of swinging and walking on the trail. Olivia gets so excited and doesn't watch her steps and has fallen in puddles the last two times we went out. The first time we had to come right back in but the next time I was smarter and put jeans over her jammies so when she fell her outer jeans got wet but not her jammies. She stayed out a lot longer and we threw the boomerang around. Zach is a little trooper out there. He gets his full body coat and swings almost as high as Olivia. He just giggles and smiles. He likes to be carried around the trail and look at all the trees and snow.

There is a flock of crows that live on the back trees between Dave and our properties. Olivia and I were walking back home and we saw them fly from the east in wave after wave of loud black ones. Olivia was just fascinated by the hundreds of caws echoing around us. The flew over our heads and circled above their trees. It was really neat to watch.

I watched Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy today. It was a bizarre movie. Lots of strange goings on. I haven't read the book but it will go on my should read list. All about an average guy brought up to space and all his adventures with different races.