Weekend recap

Fun weekend for the Polacks. Nicklas spent a day at Purdue to participate in Fall Space Day. He participated in several engineering related activities and got to meet astronaut, Mike McCulley.

The inlaws double dated with us for the IU/Wisconsin game. It was the first time we didn't tailgate for a game. Instead we visited our favorite dining establishments.

Saturday night was Mia's first American dance.

She went with a group of girls....

And a boy...

Sunday was a gorgeous day. The kids spent the day outside and the Polack and I took advantage of the nice weather to do some staining of the cabinets we purchased for the basement refinish.

I'm guessing it was our last 75 degree day for awhile!!

Random Thought Thursday - the one with all the links

I'm late in getting this post out tonight but hey, at least it's still Thursday. I'm only pointing this out because if I'm late in posting, generally I get inquiries from people throughout the day, asking when/if I'm going to post RTT. What can I say? I have to keep the fans satisfied. (And when I say fans, I mean my one or two faithful readers. You know who you are...)

1. Have you heard of Humans v. Zombies? There is a large game of this going on around campus and they're in the fourth or fifth day (out of seven). I saw tons of zombies and only one human today. It's been quite entertaining to watch. The humans were trapped inside my building yesterday because the zombies were patrolling all the exits. I did see one human escape a zombie today though. I was cheering him on.

2. I had McDonald's for dinner tonight and now I feel so gross. Yuck.

3. You know those plastic containers that hold the toy in the quarter machines? Well Seeger has turned one of those into his ladybug keeper. We now have a new pet. Because a dog, a frog, and a fish aren't enough.

4. The Polack and I are spending a kid free day together in Bloomington on Saturday. Yay! I'd love to spend the whole day going to all the restaurants I miss. It will be tough to narrow down our options.

5. The one bummer about being in Bloomington all day is that I'll miss helping Mia get ready for her first school dance in America. There is a semi formal this weekend. She's getting her hair done, going out to eat with friends and then everyone is coming to our house to get ready. And I won't be there. (Although another parent will be. I think it's sorta strange that she volunteered to come over to "help zip dresses" when she knows the Polack and I won't be there.)

6. The Polack is participating in Movember this year. He's started growing his mo. I'm definitely not looking forward to kissing a scratchy face all month.

7. I miss Glee. It's been on hiatus due to the World Series. I hope it returns next week.

8. Christmas is only 8 weeks away. EIGHT WEEKS! I feel so unprepared.

9. Nicklas is participating in Fall Space Day. Although he's bummed about missing an IU football game, he's really looking forward to the day and all it's activities. His future aspirations are to be an astronaut and an author.

10. Tomorrow is family dinner. Yes, it's true.... we actually have to plan when we have our family dinners. Mia requested tacos and Nicklas enthusiastically seconded her motion. And Seeger? He's bummed that we're not going to Taco Bell.

Well that's ten random thoughts for you. I don't think I was as entertaining this week. You win some, you lose some.

Soccer Banquet

Mia's soccer season is officially over and last night was the teams awards banquet. It was fun to see all the girls together one last time. Although I don't know most of the players, I was still teary eyed knowing that for many, this was their last year of high school soccer. It was definitely a reminder that to me that Mia's time here is limited and all too soon, she'll be returning to Norway.

The first order of business was dinner. It was a pitch-in. This is picture of Mia with her good friend, Melanie who is a German exchange student. Look at all the desserts on their plates!

After dinner, they played a video of still shots from the season and passed out individual and team awards. And look! Mia received Best Defensive Player for the JV team. This award was extra special because it was voted on by her teammates.
Here are some pictures of Mia with her some of her teammates, plus their coach. (Who is in gray, in case you can't tell!)

What is your favorite thing to do in the fall?

Nicklas made the local paper a few weeks ago. When asked "What is your favorite thing to do in the fall," he replied, "Go to football games. I like tailgating and playing cornhole."

Pumpkin Pies

I forgot to mention that when we were carving pumpkins the other night, Mia asked if we ever used the pumpkin to make something. As in something edible. I told that I've cooked the pumpkin seeds but never the actual pumpkin. The Polack and I aren't big fans of pumpkin flavored food. Plus why go to the trouble when you can get pumpkin already prepared in handy dandy cans?

Of course her sense of adventure is much grander than ours. She found a recipe for pumpkin pie and decided then and there that she was going to make some. Did you know that you're supposed to boil the pumpkin - like potatoes - as you prepare it? I didn't so I learned something new!
Her pies turned out really well. I was very impressed with her baking skills. Of course this is coming from someone who doesn't even own a rolling pin so it doesn't take much to impress me!

Halloween costumes

My Halloween posts wouldn't be complete with a run down of the awesome costumes our family wore. Remember the Patrick costume I decided to make? It actually turned out pretty well. Of course Seeger had to add to it. He "loves sparkly things" so he decided to add some bling.

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And the finished product. Not bad, if I do say so myself!
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Nicklas was a hockey goalie.
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Mia waited until the last minute to decide if she was going to dress up. She and some friends were going to go roller skating after she went trick or treating with the family. So at 3pm, we were scouring the house for a costume for her. Her options included a magician, a Boy Scout, a pumpkin, a clown, and a baseball player. She decided on the baseball player.

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Every year, the boys go trick or treating with their cousins.

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We made Mia trick or treat at the neighbors house so she could experience it. She had intended to go to several houses with the boys but after the first house, she declared she was too old and instead she walked with the adults and let the kids collect the loot.

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The Polack and I had two parties to attend over the weekend. We went as Suzanne Sommers and Richard Simmons. Now y'all know why I needed that thighmaster and bedazzler....

The Pumpkins

Nick's - the robot...~
Seeger's - two face, half happy and half mean...

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The Polack's - an alien...

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Mine - happy go lucky...

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And.... Mia's super awesome pumpkin. Excellent execution for her first time!

Pumpkin Carving

I'm finally getting around to posting about our evening of pumpkin carving fun. It was fun and I think Mia really enjoyed the experience. I have lots of photos so I'm breaking this up into a few posts for your reading enjoyment.
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Here are the kids, getting everything ready.
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After emphasizing the messiness of pumpkin carving, we made the boys take off their shirts. Mia also changed!
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Mia won't be happy I posted this picture. The Polack is explaining the carving process to her and as I took the picture, she commented that it would be a bad picture because she's concentrating and she always looks mean when she's concentrating.
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We gave her a book of carving templates in case she didn't want to create her own face for the pumpkin. And because she's a rock star, she chose one of the more difficult ones.

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The Polack and I chose to make up our own faces.

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And here are the finished pumpkins. From left to right, they belong to the Polack, Nicklas, Me, Seeger, and Mia.

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Close up shots, coming soon!

Random Thought Thursday

1. It's that time of the year... as in time to fill out benefits information at work. I dread this activity. I should be thankful - working for a large university provides excellent benefits. And I'm so fortunate to have many options for life insurance/health insurance/retirement/etc. BUT it's so overwhelming. And the turnaround time they give you is minimal. But I AM lucky. And fortunate. And blessed to have options. And a job in this economy thankyouverymuch.

2. I visited the salon yesterday so I'm feeling particularly pretty today with my new highlights and the cute dress that I can only wear until November 1. Because then I'll only wear wintery clothes. Which makes total sense, right?

3. A quick look a facebook and I'm stunned by all the snow that Colorado has gotten since yesterday afternoon. (Yes, I know it's sad that I use facebook as a vehicle to receive news. It's how I heard about the balloon boy afterall. And Michael Jackson. And Billy Mays.) I'm also surprised at how many facebook friends I know that live in Colorado. Hmmmm... something to ponder.

4. I'm torn between wishing Indiana had received 25 inches of snow to not wanting to get the winter clothes out yet. Good thing I don't have the power to choose the weather. What a stressful job that would be.

5. If it did snow, that might bring some relief to the guilt I'm having about not yet raking all the leaves in the yard. Because come on, if it snowed there'd be no point in worrying about it anymore.

6. McDonald's Monopoly is evil. I actually bought a hashbrown with my Diet Coke this morning just so I could get two Monopoly pieces. Damn you, McDonald's!

7. But oh, how I love $1 diet coke's from McDonald's. I went out to eat at pretty nice restaurant the other day and I was charged $3.85 for a coke. $3.85!?!! I wasn't at the movie theater, I don't live in a big city, and the restaurant wasn't THAT fancy. How was I to know?? It's not like they print the drink prices on the menu. From now on, do you think I can ask ahead of time how much they charge for soda? Or should I just suck it up and pay the outrageous price? OR... horrible thought.... maybe I should just drink water?? That's crazy talk.

8. So the other day at school, a boy started talking to Mia. As he began, she was thinking to herself, "Wow, this boy's English is really bad." Then she realized something... he was talking to her in Norwegian. She was shocked and could barely formulate a response. He said something along the lines of "Hello, my name is so-and-so. I've been learning Norwegian for the past two years. I was wondering if I could practice having a few conversations with you?" She managed to answer yes and suggested they talk by Facebook since she had to get to class (and she's a smart girl who doesn't give out her phone number to strangers, even if they do speak Norwegian). Isn't that crazy? I'm very curious about this boy-who-speaks-Norwegian. Why and how is he learning it??

9. Glee wasn't on last night. Boo. Although, it provided the opportunity to watch In the Middle, a show I've been wanting to see - especially because it's set in Indiana. But while watching it, I got all defensive about their portrayal of Hoosiers. Even though I thought it was funny. It's too bad it isn't set in like Iowa or Kansas. (No offense to Iowans or Kansans. And if I checked facebook, I'd probably discover that I don't know anyone from Iowa or Kansas.)

10. After some fairly humorous and not that riveting but still entertaining random thoughts, I'm not sure what to write for #10. In the words of Farmer Hoggett... "That'll do, Pig. That'll do." (Anyone know what movie that's from??)

Report Cards

It's halfway through the semester which means it's report card time. We've been very proud of Nicklas this year. He had some lower grades at the beginning of the semester but nearly all is papers recently have been A's. I hope he keeps it up! We had a conference with his teacher and learned his NWEA test scores as well as the grades on his report card. In NWEA, he improved in every subject. His report card at two A's, 3 B's, and 1 C. We're not happy with the C - it's in writing - so we've been talking to him about the importance of writing complete sentences and appropriately using capital letters and punctuation. But overall, he's doing great which is a relief from last semester.

To celebrate his excellent progress, the Polack and I took him out for a treat at Dairy Queen.

Corn, pumpkins, and straw, oh my!

We finally had a break from our busy social/work/school lives to make a trip to the pumpkin patch. We go to the pumpkin patch almost every year in lieu of picking up some at the local Kroger. This year was especially fun because of Mia. Norwegians don't carve pumpkins and she's not sure they even grow them in the country.

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There are a few local farms which offer hay rides and activities to go along with picking out your pumpkin. We decided on trying a new place, one that had a corn maze. It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad we spent it outside!

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Here is Mia on the hay ride.

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We did the corn maze first. They offer five different mazes at varying length and difficulty. Combined, the mazes total 8 miles. We had maps but in the beginning, decided to just start walking.
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That was a mistake! When we realized there were checkpoints that offered certain rewards, we changed our strategy and started following the map. I was pretty much clueless the whole time. The Polack was pretty good at following the map. Mia was the best though. She led us the entire time. She credits her corn maze skills to orienteering, an activity they do in Norwegian gym class where they have to use a compass and map to run around outside to various checkpoints. Nicklas wanted to lead the group but he didn't want to follow the map. He'd go one way and Mia would go another way and we'd follow Mia and he'd run ahead of the group and go one way while she turned another way. It was entertaining to watch the two of them.

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After the corn maze, we picked out some pumpkins.
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They really are like brothers and sisters!
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After the pumpkins, we took a hayride back to the farm house. They had several activities geared toward the kids including pedal tractor races, sandboxes, and a straw mountain. Nicklas loved the straw tunnel.

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We haven't carved our pumpkins yet. Hopefully that will happen tonight!

Random Thought - the day after - Thursday

Well, it's finally happened... I missed an RTT post. I knew this day would come eventually (I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened sooner.) In my defense, I TRIED to get RTT posted last night. The Polack and I were out with friends. When it was obvious that I wasn't going to be home in time to post, I attempted to write one via my iPhone. Well apparently Blogger and the iPhone don't like each other. So it didn't happen. My apologies.

I know you're asking yourself why I'm up so early if I was out late last night. That's a very good question, I tell you. It's a combination of a puppy who likes to get into trouble in the mornings when an 8 year old is too busy playing Wii to watch him combined with a little 5 year old who takes over my bed. Anyway, enough about me, let's get on with our randomness. As an added treat, the following random thoughts are from the folks I was hanging out with last night.

1. Teachers make the worst students. In professional development meetings, they don't pay attention, they talk amoungst themselves, and they have terrible attitudes. All things that they get most frustrated with in their students.

2. High school volleyball has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Did you know they use rally scoring now? And if a serve hits the net and goes over, it's still playble.

3. It takes some people 30 seconds to develop a random thought.

4. Whatever happened to mock turtlenecks?

5. Argyle is in. And you should always complement - not match - your argyle socks to your argyle sweater.

6. Rock Band brings out the best and the worst in people.

7. When will skinny jeans and Uggs ever go away?

8. How many athletic directors does a high school need?

9. For every two random thoughts people give you, there is only one good one.

10. It's a good thing I had help coming up for material - however lame - for this post. 6:30 is way too freakin' early to post clever thoughts on my blog. I'm not even going to proofread. So there.

This post was brought to you by the letter F

The adoption of Yzerman has brought frog fever to the household. Seeger has been playing his toy frogs and as a result, I'm finding faux amphibians all around the house.

Unfortunately, so has Freddie. These poor guys are no longer able to hop.

Seeger is devastated. (Not devastated enough to actually pick up his toys and put them away and out of Freddie's reach, mind you.)

I'm not looking forward to the battle of Freddie vs. the Christmas tree. Stay tuned.

On a separate note, I'm finally enjoying the fall foliage. This is the view from our front door.

(I was going to name this post Freakishly Footless Faux Frogs until I added this last bit. I'm feeling particularly alliterate today.)

Mark time, mark!

When I was in high school, I participated in the color guard for the Baron Brigade of DeKalb High School. Known as the Bridgadiers, my color guard days were so much fun. I loved performing, I loved the challenge of moving from chart to chart, I loved the camaraderie of everyone in the band. We worked hard for our craft, practicing all summer, including several day long practices in August, and then two hours every evening after the school term started. Contests were held every Saturday with the goal of making it to the state finals.

During my high school tenure, our band made it to state every year. The top 10 bands in each class (there were four classes based on school size) competed. The Baron Brigade placed seventh my freshmen year, seventh my sophomore year and my junior year? Seventh. We started to think we were cursed. Then my senior year... I don't know if it's because it was my last year or if others felt the same way but my senior year show was THE BEST. We placed fifth that year. The highest my high school has ever placed.

Its marching band season right now and many Baron Brigade alumni have reconnected via facebook. Several photos and videos have been posted. I'm very thankful that someone was able to post our performance at state from my senior year, the year we did City of Angels. I'm posting it here, just because I want to have a permanent connection to that show. Feel free to to watch it if you'd like however I warn you, it's 10 minutes long. For those that could care less about marching band, you will likely be bored. But for those that know what it's about, please enjoy. Oh, and check out my three second close up around minute 6:39.



(DeKalb participated in the marching band regional contest this past weekend. It was held at our local high school, which is about three hours from my home town. I was so bummed that I couldn't make it, especially with it being so close. I tried to console myself by telling everyone that I would go to the state finals this year. Unfortunately, they're on Oct. 31. I can't give up Halloween with the kids for the event so it looks like I'll miss the Baron Brigade perform this year. Bummer.)

The newest family member

Meet Yzerman.... Nicklas's new "pet". For a school project, he had to create his own ecosystem. He chose a fire bellied toad, a cricket, dirt, grass, and leaves.



And now the project has been turned in, returned to us and suddenly, we have a new pet. Oh, joy. Mia has already stated that she better never find Yzerman in her room.

My sentiments exactly, Mia, my sentiments exactly.

No laughing, please...

Did I mention that I have to make Seeger's Halloween costume?


And I don't do sew??

I've started the project and it's going reasonably well considering my skill level. I've never made an article of clothing before. I don't know how to work a pattern. So I'm making it up as I go. I bought three yards of pink flannel, had Seeger lie on top of two layers, drew an outline of his body, added a pointy head, cut it out, and sewed it together, leaving openings for the hands and feet.

No laughing now but here's how it turned out.

(Remember, no laughing!!)

Okay, so you can laugh. How could you not laugh at this quality workmanship? I love that the pants are too short. And one sleeve is longer than the other. I had to cut a slit in the back for him to get it on. And I knew his face would be covered but I wasn't sure how to do it.

After some research, aka web surfing/image googling, I decided to cut a hole for his face and make Patrick's face on top of it. I bought some felt and went to work and I have to say, I love the results. I was very impressed with myself (except when I sewed the front of the eyelashes to the back of the head. That wasn't very impressive. It's since been fixed.) I seriously love this picture. I pull it up every once in awhile and gaze it longingly, so proud of myself. True story.

I still need to do Patrick's swimsuit - lime green with purple flowers. Then we're adding pink socks (since the pants are SO SHORT) and pink mittens. We'll stuff the head and belly and be good to go.

Not bad for a homemade costume.