Alarm Clock

We've had an issue all year with Madison not wanting to get up in the morning and get dressed for school. I take most of the blame for allowing it to go on too long. But I couldn't just send her to school in her pjs now could I? Last week at parent teacher conference I asked the teacher that very question. I explained the difficulty we were having and asked what she would do if I sent Madison to school in her pjs. She told me she would completely understand. Whew that was a relief!! So we put our new plan into action. We set up a sticker chart for Madison to get a sticker for every morning she gets up and gets herself dressed. She will get a small reward at the end of each chart and a trip to the Dells at the end of the school year when she completes 4 charts. We also bought her an alarm clock. I don't know why didn't I think of this earlier. Since we started last week she has gotten herself up every day and I have not had to send her to school in her pjs. Well its a small victory, but a victory none the less!!!

Another Snowy Weekend

We have been under a blizzard warning since yesterday. We have had a lot of snow but the blizzard (thankfully) has so far not emerged. We did purchase a snow blower yesterday. It will make things a lot easier!! I don't know if my back could handle too much more shoveling this year. During the break in the snow today I hit the clearance sale at Sears and got some great deals. I replaced Madison's winter coats too for less than $10.00 each. She has broken the zipper out of every jacket this year. Its so funny to see all the winter things on clearance for the end of the season when it is still snowing so hard.

I'm counting down the days too... it is less than a month until Desiree arrives!!!

Weekend Report

Well we survived our long weekend. We had Dan's niece and nephew from Thurs-Sun. I took them to Dino Days/Paleo Fest at the Burpee Natural History Museum and Discovery Center on Sat. They had a blast. The Burpee has a juvenille T-Rex on display, named Jane. She is amazing and almost complete. The kids were fascinated by her. The museum is working on a new set of dino bones: a Triceratops named Homer. We can't wait for the unveiling. There were dinosaur crafts at both museums. It was our first time at the Discovery Center and the kids fell in love with it. Our nephew said that he didn't know you were supposed to get so much exercise at a museum. They were all sweating and exhausted. It was pure heaven for Danny. On the first floor he found a construction site, complete with a crane, dump truck, building blocks, hard hats, etc. He spent about 45 minutes loading and unloading (this was Danny size). When we went upstairs he found a giant Thomas table and a huge water table. Madison was fascinated by the pretend bank that had the tube system that they use at drive throughs. Cheyenne was fascinated by the pretend grocery store. Adam loved the virtual sport games. They all were fascinated by the tornado simulator and shadow room. There was a lot of fun stuff to do. We are going to buy a year pass to the museum. I think we will get our moneys worth.
On another note we are having a heat wave-we hit 44 yesterday. It was the first time in over a month that the temp was above 40. Wooohooo!!

George Strait

Last night I got to see George Strait in concert! It was awesome. He is such a good looking man and an incredible singer!! Ronnie Milsap opened for him and I could not get over how great he still sounds.

Valentines Day

Well it was definetly a different kind of Valentines Day at our house this year. I started my day by shoveling 6 inches of frozen snow off the driveway and walkway. I was definetly "Bringing Sexy Back" in Dan's blue work coveralls (they are ugly but warm). Next I was off to the Girl Scout cookie warehouse to pick up 95 cases of cookies. The truck was late getting there and we (me and our troop leader) to pull our own cases, put them on a pallet, have it moved to a loading dock and then load it into a mini van and my jeep. Did I mention there was about a foot of snow that you had to stand in on the lower part of the loading dock. We brought the cookies all back to my house and lugged the 95 cases into my house. Spent the afternoon sorting them and then had all the parents come and pick them. So I helped them carry cases to their cars and carried cases for the 3rd time that day. By the way Thin Mints are the heaviest case of cookie! I definetly have never done that on Valentines Day before.

We did have a nice dinner at the house and tonight I am going to see George Strait (yes Heidi thats for you since I know your reading) and Ronnie Milsap is opening for him, thanks to my very generous husband!!

Madison enjoyed Valentines day at school. Her dad told her they had to throw away all the Valentines from boys though. She just laughed. She got quite a candy hall from her classmates.

Danny received a heart shaped box of chocolates with a train on the front and he was in 7th Heaven over his Valentine. He ate all 4 pieces in one sitting and walked around all day saying Happy Valentines Day. It was sooo cute.

I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life

It is -13 degrees right now outside with the windchill making it -25. it is supposed to get down to -33 by the morning, with a high for the day of -1. The schools are cancelling classes because of the cold! I have never seen seen cold like this before and it is quite a shock to my system. I had to go grocery shopping yesterday and it was -2 degrees and I thought I was going to freeze, but I stocked up so we don't have to leave the house (i'm learning).