That'll Do Pig

Seeger's piggy bank didn't make it past the move. Poor piggy.

Seeger's devastated. I see a trip to Michael's in our future.

Three Days

I have three days to complete list before going in vacation. Yikes.

Best & Worst

Seeger's worst - having to eat all his pasta before getting a brownie
Jake's worst - when the wine spilled because he was worried about his
sister's carpet
Kathryn's worst -not seeing Jake all day
Cherry's worst - her legs and feet hurting
Mike's worst - making an extra trip to town because he didn't have a
key but e drove all the way to the storage unit before finding it
Natalie's worst - was super tired this morning
Nick's worst - the thing that happened at basketball camp
Seeger's best - brownie!!
Jake's best - moving everything wasn't as hard as he thought it would be
Kathryn's best - brownies
Cherry's best - sleeping in
Mike's best - finally having a dryer and winning Matt Kearney tickets
Natalie's best - Friday and yummy dinner with the family
Nick's best - getting two tootsie rolls

Best and Worst

Nick's worst - tomorrow is the last day of basketball camp
Seeger's worst - Folds was trying to get him so he pushed him off and
then Folds tried to get him again
Jake's worst - the heat
Kathryn's worst - eating a Burger King Whopper
Cherry's worst - had to drive all the way to Bloomington
Mike's worst - the dryer isn't working and it's going to cost to
switch to LP
Natalie's worst - stupid people at work
Nick's best - making it to the quarterfinals in Hot Shot
Seeger's best - found his Bakugan
Jake's best - seeing the new house
Kathryn's best - drinking an iced coffee that was home made
Cherry's best - spending the morning with her sisters at Lake Hamilton
and then coming to spend time with her family in Bloomington
Mike's best - breaking in the new dining room
Natalie's best - family dinner with lots of family

Random Thoughts

Yay - after three weeks, I'm back for RTT. Woo hoo!

1. Nicklas spent a few hours with me at work this afternoon. His basketball camp ended at noon and he had tae kwon do at 3:30 so rather than have the Polack come in to town to pick him him at noon and bring him back in to town three hours later, I thought it would be easier to keep him with me.

2. That's right, we have to think about trips "in to town" from now on. It's about a 20 minute drive from our house to anywhere in Bloomington and with construction on nearly every major thoroughfare, we have to add another 10-15 minutes. I will miss the convenience of making a three minute drive to the grocery store but I definitely love the beautiful three acres of land that we have so it's all alright, already.

3. Anyway.... when Nicklas was with me this afternoon, he started a blog. It's something he'd been thinking about for a few weeks so he took the plunge. He says it will be about sports (no surprise) with a little of his life mixed in. I cautioned him about the importance of keeping it updated. He promises he will.

The address is http://nicklask.blogspot.com/. I really enjoyed reading his first post (except for those grammatical errors! I can't stand those!) and I never really knew "the moment" he fell in love with sports. Go Nicklas, go!

4. It's been a rough week at work. I really want to be caught up on everything by the time we leave for vacation on the 29th but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

What, you say? We just came back from vacation?

I hear ya but my last week off of work didn't feel fun and vacationy. This next one involves a trip to Florida and a Caribbean cruise. That should do the trick.

5. If you're not my facebook friend then you probably don't know that the crazy cardinal that keeps banging his head on our windows is DRIVING ME CRAZY. People have offered several suggestions for handling him but I'm not shooting a BB gun at him. Come one, I can't risk hurting my precious windows (windows are expensive!) plus I'd probably miss anyway.

Not that I would try. Probably not anyway.

6. My older brother got a BB gun one year for Christmas and I was looking at it the day after present opening (when it was inside and still under the tree). I accidentally shot it and a BB hit our brick fireplace and ricocheted off and ended up somewhere I never found. Luckily no one was around to witness (or get hurt) but it sure scared the bejeezus out of me.

Also, one time my brother was shot in the arm by gun. Accidentally of course. GUNS = BAD.

7. I had this feeling that I already blogged about ricocheting BB once but I just checked and I guess not. My mom is probably shaking her head at me right now because I don't think she's ever heard that story.

8. I think when you've been blogging as long as I have - I'm coming up on three years - then you forget what stories you've shared and not shared. Good thing there is the search option for my blog. I find myself using it more and more.

9. Tonight I'm preparing Chinese for dinner and tomorrow is Italian. Jake, Kathryn, and my mom are visiting so I'm excited to cook in my own kitchen.

10. Things about the house that I'm not excited about... the ice machine on the refridgerator works WAAA-AAY too well. The ice comes pouring out and before you have a chance to stop it, it's all over the beautiful wood floor. Also, the standing shower door is on backwards. When you're showing, everyone on the outside is fuzzy but when you're on the outside looking in, the showeree is pretty visible, naked and all. Good thing it's just the Polack and I using that shower.

10.5 Don't think I'm complaining about those two things. They aren't complaints - I promise! I LOVE my new house. Let's call them observations, shall we?

Roger that.

Best & Worst

Seeger's worst - having to move all the boxes in the basement because
his feet were cold
Mike's worst - not getting as much done today as he hoped
Natalie's worst - having a big work project that she doesn't want to
start
Nick's worst - Noah's 3-on-3 team beat his at basketball camp
Seeger's best - butt kicking
Mike's best - family lunch AND dinner
Nick's best - scoring three out of four of the points for his
basketball team
Natalie's best - only two more days of work before the weekend plus
family lunch date at the library

Best & Worst from yesterday...
Natalie's worst - dealing with stupid stuff at work
Mike's worst - all the snags that happened when hooking up the range
and microwave
Seeger's worst - got bored riding the scooter
Nick's worst - waiting until 9:00 for dinner
Uncle Bill's worst - having to drill that second set of holes for the
microwave
Natalie's best - finally having a range and microwave
Mike's best - having Bill help with installation and having family
dinner
Nick's best - having Uncle Bill over for dinner AND basketball camp
Seeger's best - having Squerkle's in DK Jungle
Uncle Bill's best - coming over to have dinner with his favorite
family member's

I ran the mini marathon once

I'm Back!

So sorry to be MIA for so long. I know you expected it, right? But you probably really, really missed me. I'm sure that's the case.

Anyway, it's been a crazy, fun filled, patriotic, emotional, awesome, frustrating, exciting, sweaty few weeks. Let's recap, shall we?

CRAZY....
So we all knew the craziness was going to happen. The Polack and I had to move all of our stuff out of our apartment by June 30. We ended up renting a second storage unit because our first one was too full. The second one was the next county over because it saved me $100. I'm a girl who likes a deal, yo. Luckily, a few friends came to help. One helper was Chad, a friend who grew up with the Polack. He brought two of his four kids. Seeger and Joy loved walking Freddy.


I think Freddy liked the walking but I'm not so sure he enjoyed getting picked up so much.


Alex and Nicklas played some ball and wrestled in the house. Nicklas is awesome with little kids!



FUN-FILLED and PATRIOTIC...
After we had everything packed up and moved out, we headed to the Lake for the Fourth of July weekend. Our plan was to stay there until we received word that the house was ready. More on that later. We arrived at the Lake on Thursday evening, about the same time as my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John. They grabbed some wings on the way to their cottage and shared some with us. They're the best! I had some mixed emotions about the weekend. Of course, I was excited to see so many family members, my brothers, my dad and Laurie, Kathy, John, their daughter Emily, my Uncle Jim and Aunt Lorna, my cousins Ryan, Bri, Aaron, and his fiance, my cousin Andy. I knew it was going to be a nice weekend but it's weird being at the house without my grandma or most those family members who stay in other places on the Lake. I don't really like not seeing everyone all the time. That's my issue though and I know things change so I guess a better learn to deal with it better. Despite my downer feelings, I really did enjoy seeing everyone. Doesn't this pontoon just look like it needs to be uncovered?


We took it to the Retreat Friday night for dinner.


I also did some sailing. The Polack and I went out on it and I took both the boys. I'm slowly gaining confidence in sailing it though the light winds made it pretty easy. One time, we even got stuck just as we were coming to shore. There was NO WIND and I couldn't get the boat to shore. We were pretty close so we had to have Nicklas swim out to get us. (No judging! He was already in the water.)



On Saturday, we went to my Uncle Jim's house. This is a different Uncle Jim, one from the North side, not the Gallogly side of the family. He lives about 45 minutes away from the Lake and he was having family over for a pool party. It's always nice going there because there because the pool is awesome and there's always lots of yummy food. It was great seeing my other cousins. The bonus of the North family is that my cousins have kids so Nicklas and Seeger have other kids to play with. (I have a really big family!)


We headed back to the Lake in time for the Lake George boat parade. Remember that from last year? Anyway, we got there in time but the weather didn't cooperate so it never happened. A storm just missed us though so the fireworks still happened. Jake and Kathryn came for the weekend and my dad and Laurie and their granddaughter and her boyfriend came too. After the fireworks, we used the fire pit and made Smores. Yummo.


It was a pretty hot weekend, especially Sunday. We spent a lot of time in the water. Here are the boys with Bri who is expecting. YAY! Baby RyBri will be arriving in December.


Here are Kathryn, Jake, and Daddy-Ryan.


After dinner on Sunday, we took a ride on the pontoon. Evening pontoon rides are usually called booze cruises. My brother Michael was able to join us. We had lots of wine which is much nicer than the rides where everyone except me drinks Scotch. Here is Seeger driving the boat with Uncle John.


Here are pretty ladies Kathy and Emily.


After the booze cruise, we parked but stayed on the boat and hung out. My cousin Andy brought us chocolate and peanut butter ice cream and we all talked for a few hours. (If you have a Meijer, you have to get some of their chocolate peanut butter ice cream. It's AWESOME and the go-to treat at the Lake. Oh, except I was talking to Uncle Bill last week and he told me that sometimes he gets TOO MUCH peanut butter in his chocolate ice cream spoonfuls and I was like, due, there's no such thing as TOO MUCH peanut butter in my chocolate ice cream.) Anywho, it was a great evening.



Isn't Lake George beautiful in the evening?


On Monday, we hung out and felt the dread of the end to the holiday weekend. People were preparing to pack up and leave. My family was planning to stay another night but once everyone left, it felt a bit depressing. Is this what my grandma felt after everyone left her to go back to their regular lives?

We decided to leave for the evening and go see a movie. The Polack had promised me that if I read Water for Elephants, he would take me to see the movie. Luckily it was playing at the second run theater in Fort Wayne so we planned to go. We let the boys see Diary of Wimpy Kid. It was the first time we watched one movie and had them watch another at the same time. I was a little nervous but they did well. Except when the movie was over, Nicklas came out of the theater and complained that his ear was hurting. Because he had awoken a few nights prior with the same complaint, I thought it was best to go to Urgent Care to check it out. Urgent Care at 9:30 at night on the Fourth of July. Woo hoo was that fun. We hung out waiting. And waiting. And waiting. We watched part of the Fort Wayne fireworks from the window. And we waited and waited. Finally at midnight, with Seeger asleep on a bench, a doctor looked in both of Nick's ears and declared that he had a double ear infection. Three presciptions, a trip to the all night Walgreen's, and the drive back to the Lake and we finally made it to bed around 1:45.

EMOTIONAL...
We got up early on Tuesday to pack up all our belongings that weren't in storage. We met my dad and Laurie for breakfast and then headed to Bloomington. We were scheduled to do our final walk through on the house. We though this meant that we could move in once we went through everything. Sure, there were a few things they needed to fix but others had told us they would come back and do them once we were moved in. Silly us for thinking that way. One the way back to Bloomington, I got a text that there was a fire at work. The HPER building had flames shooting up from the fieldhouse. The Polack and I had a moment of panic. We had stored some recently purchased art work in my office because we didn't want it to go in our storage unit. Luckily, my half of the building was okay. Here's a picture that a friend sent me.



We arrive in Bloomington and do a walk through. It went pretty well - just a few things here and there that we asked them to take care of. Apparently though, we still needed the county to do their walk through. That was scheduled for Thursday. Gee great. Then the builder would ask for the final draw of payment. We couldn't move in until the payment was received. Gee, that's wonderful. So we're in Bloomington, it's Tuesday, and I have the rest of the week off. We weren't sure what to do, where to go. We had planned on moving in the house but we realized that wasn't going to happen this week. We decided to head to Lafayette and after a quick call to the Polack's parents, we had a place to stay for the rest of the week. We tried to make things fun for the kids though the stress of being homeless and dependant on family for places to live was a little bit of bummer. I thought about a hotel but we really didn't want to spend the money. (I like a good deal can also mean that I'm cheap.)

Wednesday evening, we went to dinner with our friends Marty and Lindsey. We enjoyed playing games with them. On Thursday, we took Nicklas and Seeger to Tropicanoe Cove. Nicklas also invited his friend, Jack. Those two had a lot of fun catching up. Nicklas hasn't found someone equal to Jack in Bloomington yet so I'm glad they got to spend the day together. Here's Seeger at the Cove. He's tall enough to do the adult rides. Too bad he's too scared for them.



AWESOME...
That evening, I went to see my friend Christy. She actually beat me in Quirkle and Blokus. I'm not sure what's up with that. On Friday, we packed everything up and headed to the Polack's brothers house. Matt and his wife, Melissa, were having a cousin's get together which included family from Michigan. We always have fun when the cousins get together. Here's a photo of Nicklas from that day. He is wearing his new IU shirt from Aunt Kathy and Uncle John. It's an awesome shirt, I wish it fit me!



The cousin's get together was fun. We did a lot of catching up, a lot of eating, some drinking, some flippy cup (not to be confused with tippy cup), we hung out by the river, the kids got to swim, there were rides in the Ranger and somehow we ended up doing some food challenges Saturday evening. It started with Emily doing the cinnamon dragon and digressed from there - six saltines in sixty second (Sarah won), a piece of bread in 45 seconds (Sarah again!), more cinnamon (Tony was the closest), and chubby bunny (Matt made it to 11!). On Sunday, we packed up and everyone headed in to Lafayette to check out Jethro's BBQ. (It wasn't as good as South Street.) We visited with the aunts and uncles from the Turner side who were staying at the in-laws for their own family weekend get together.

Here are the little cousins, toward the end of the weekend. They all look exhausted to me.



FRUSTRATING...
So it's Sunday night and we know that the county inspection has happened. Two things needed to be fixed, plus the things that we found in our final walk through. It's all supposed to happen on Tuesday. Once it does, our builder says they will request the final draw. I have to go back to work on Monday so we head to Spencer, to stay with my Uncle Bill, while leaving Seeger with his cousins. He is going to spend the week with them, going to Day Camp at camp Tecumseh, while the rest of us hope that we can move in to the new house SOON, ALREADY!

We stay at Uncle Bill's Sunday night, Monday night, and on Tuesday at noon, we're told the house has the final approval. Yay! The builder contacts the the bank. They banks says they need a certificate of occupancy. Boo! The builder works to contact the County to get the correct paperwork. On Wednesday, we still haven't heard anything. I contact the bank. I call the builder. Get your act together, people! I find out that the bank is waiting on proof that we paid property taxes in May. Of course I don't find this out until after 4pm which means I have to wait until the next day to go to the Courthouse to get proof of payment. On Thursday morning, exactly two weeks of being homeless, I get up early and head to the Courthouse. I knew they opened at 7:30, except the doors are locked. I wait and wait for them to open the doors and finally at 8:00 they do and they tell me that all the county offices have moved. Spectacular. I head over to the the Showers building and ask someone at an information desk where I go to get proof I've paid my property taxes. He directs me to the Auditor's Office, who directs me to the Recorder's Office, who directs me to the Treasurer's Office. Finally with proof that I need, I head to work to email everything to the bank. I wait for two hours and no word. I call the builder and have them get on the bank. Turns out they're waiting for something from the title company. If they don't get by noon, they'll call. I offer to call them myself. Hell, I'll drive whatever it is from the title company to Warren, Ohio where the bank headquarters are. No, no, it will come by email, that's not necessary, they say. (I think they begin to fear that a crazy lady is going to come knocking on their door.) We go to lunch with Marty and Lindsey who are passing through Lafayette on their way from playing games down South. It was a nice distraction from watching the clock. Finally at 2:28pm we get the word. The house is ready! We can move in! We now own 100% of the mortgage!

EXCITING...
It was quite a relief for us. The Polack and my brother Jon spend the next three days moving. I help when I'm not working. My mom came and brought food and organized things a bit. We spent all weekend working with a quick break for a friend's wedding. Our garage is full of all our belongings and we're slowly making progress. On Sunday, I got the kitchen orgainzed and everything put away. Nicklas and I worked on his room. Last night, Seeger and I worked on his room. Both boys have lots of books and toys that they no longer want so it took a while to go through everything. Correction. Seeger didn't really want to give up any of his toys. We went through boxes and boxes of toys. Of those 9 or 10 boxes, he got rid of one box full of things. It's okay though because he's been without most for over a year so I'll let him keep everything. He deserves it. Both boys' rooms look really good right now but I still have some more of their stuff to go through. My plan is to do that tonight. Hopefully most will be put in the charity pile (which is getting pretty big). I also want to get the dining room and family room in order. The Polack is working hard to get the garage cleared out of the bigger items and putting the boxes in the correct rooms. He's been taking pictures of the garage each day and posting them on facebook so that everyone can see the slow progression of emptying the garage. We are thrilled with the house and getting more and more anxious to get settled in. Jake and Kathryn and probably my mom are coming on Thursday and I want to get most rooms in order so we can relax a little.

SWEATY...
Would we do it again? Absolutely! I will post pictures when things are in better order than now. Until then, here are photos of the boys from the wedding on Saturday. It was outdoors so we were sweaty and hot but so was everyone else so it was okay. The wedding was very kid friendly. There was playground equipment and a hide out with a fireman's pole. They had a sno cone machine and cotten candy, plus a chocolate fountain. Both my boys danced the night away, especially Nicklas. We got to hang out with our Lafayette Jeff friends, always a good time.





Life is good!

Feels Like 102

Yowzaa it's hot outside. We're in Fort Wayne for a pool party with the
North family and we're getting ready to head back to the Lake for the
annual boat parade and fireworks. Rumor has it that we're doing a
final walk-thru on the house Tuesday. It's not scheduled yet though so
I'm not holding my breath.

Moving Day

A shout out to Ralphie's dad... "It must be Italian!"

Random Thought Thursday

1. So the good news... we have carpet!! At lunch time, the family took a field trip to the house and the carpet that was being installed yesterday was complete today. All flooring in the house is finished. The trim guy was there cutting and installing the quarter-round. He also put some door knobs and door stops on about half the doors.

You guys, I have door knobs!

2. The not so good news... We don't have a driveway. Or gutters. Or the rest of our lights. Or mirrors. Or a second coat of paint in the toilet room. (They must have missed that room because the rest of the house has a second coat. Oh, and I really hate the phrase toilet room. I must come up with something else to call it.) Or a kitchen sink. (We need all that and the kitchen sink. Ha, I couldn't resist!) OR WATER! Water is very important and apparently the usual "water guy" isn't returning phone calls so now our builder as to find a new "water guy". Oh and our propane tank still hasn't arrived. Nor been buried. So that gas fireplace is just a decoration at this point.

3. The really, bad news... We won't be in the house by June 30. Our builder hasn't confirmed this but it's a pretty strong hunch on our part. I'm not a contractor but I really don't see how all that can happen plus get the house cleaned and appliances delivered and inspected by the county - all in a week. So yeah, just a hunch there.

4. So our lease is up June 30 and we have no place to go. Actually we have lots of places to ho (Tahiti, Vegas, Ireland, anyone?) but we have to figure out what to do with all the stuff in our apartment. I've looked into renting a truck for a week. Or one of those portable storage pods. Because really, who wants to move all their stuff and turn around a week later and move it all again? But it's inevitable so I called around a scored a sweet deal on a second storage unit. (Our first one is packed to the gills, so no, we can't store our stuff there.) It only cost me $46 (note to self, never rent in the college town you live in, instead rent the next county over) so I had to take advantage.

5. I think one small teeny, tiny part of me hopes that being proactive and renting something means the house will miraculously be finished before actually needing the rental. You know, like carrying an umbrella when it doesn't end up raining. Or NOT carrying an umbrella and getting caught in a downpour.

A girl can hope.

6. I'm a bit sad that my house building has taken up five, oh wait, make that six RTT's. It is such a reflection of my life right now.

7. On a happy note, I finally read The Hunger Games. Sure, I had to pry it out of Nick's hands and sit on him so he wouldn't steal it back, but darn it, it's my book! I'm kidding, he was finished with the first one. He moved on to Catching Fire and of course, I finished The Hunger Games before he was finished with Catching Fire. Luckily, he has to sleep sometime so I snuck it away from him and finished that pretty quickly too, just a day or two after him. He's still early in Mockingjay - and I'm really, really trying to hold off from stealing that one too - but then I went home for lunch and he was on the computer INSTEAD OF READING THAT DARN BOOK so all bets are off now.

8. Speaking of birds,(Mockingjay's are birds in case you didn't know) have I mentioned the crazy cardinal that lives out at the house? Every time we're there (okay, not EVERY time, but often), we see this cardinal who starts banging his head on our windows. Not just the same window every time but different windows throughout the house. It always freaks me out; I feel pretty bad for the poor fellow. Our electrician asked about it too so it happens when we're not there too. I think we must of built our house on top of his nest. Or maybe we're on some sort of spooky bird graveyard or something.

9. A few days ago, we did a family photo shoot on campus. Seeger's teacher happens to be budding photographer and she offered her services as something people could bid on at the school's silent auction fundraiser. I bid $25 early on and didn't think much about it. Apparently no one else bid on it so we scored the photography package. She's posted some of the pictures and they're fabulous! I LOVE them so much and I'm super impressed with her talent. The pictures are great, stupendous, awesome, wonderful, impressive, and all that. I'll post some once we have the disc she is preparing for us.

10. The same night of the photo shoot happened to be the final dress rehearsal for the Madison Scouts. They had a competition they were leaving for the next day. After the photo shoot, I raced the family over the Memorial Stadium and everyone was just leaving. We missed it. Boo. BUT it looks like they're having another dress rehearsal tonight so I'm super pumped. (They're in between competitions.) Nicklas has a baseball game but hopefully I can do both.

Of course as I type this, I can see a big black cloud rolling through. IF outdoor things are cancelled tonight, I have one saving grace and that's a Mockingjay book that's calling my name.

That's the end of this week's RTT everyone. I'm not sure how much I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. I have one post almost ready but other than that, it will be sparse around here with all the moving and what not. Wish us luck.

Camp Tecumseh

We picked up Nicklas from Camp Tecumseh on Saturday. I was so anxious to hear about his week. The photos posted by Camp that featured Nick were sparse and didn't give a hint as to what clinics he chose. I tried to get some clinic choices commited by him before we dropped him off but he was tight lipped. He told me he would sign up for the two he didn't get to do last year - archery and drama. But he wouldn't decide on the other three he would list when asked by his counselors. He ended up picking basketball, water polo, and swimming. In the end, his clinics were basketball, archery, and water polo. No drama again, even when he put it as his number one choice. Water polo ended up being his favorite, especially because several cabin mates chose it too so they got to hang out together. (I think archery was his least favorite. He only hit the target once the entire week.)

We dropped him off at camp as soon as allowed because he wanted to be one of the first in the cabin. Last year, he was one of the last and was stuck with a bed right next to the bathroom. He said it smelled disgusting! Parents aren't supposed to drop off the campers until 2pm on Sunday, but when we got there right at 2, there were already a few dozen cars parked. Oh well! We went through the check-in process and 45 minutes later, we were at his cabin. Four other boys were already there and Nicklas found a top bunk - away from the bathroom. Here he is on his bed. The bottom bunk was never used so I guess he ended up moving his stuff down.



Seeger wanted to check out the top bunk too...


Seeger is also going to Camp Tecumseh this year. He's not old enough for resident camp so he's going to spend the week with Uncle Matt, Aunt Melissa, and go to day camp each day with cousins Ben and Anna. When we were dropping off Nicklas, Seeger asked when he would be allowed to do sleep away camp. I told him that campers have to be 8 so he will be old enough next year. He's excited about this idea and really wants to do it. But he also really wants to spend a week with his cousins at day camp. Decisions, decision! Luckily he doesn't have to decide which option to do until next year.

Saying goodbye...


Here is Nick's cabin. Ten boys and two counselors - it's so small! It was pretty chaotic when we left. The boys were very excited to be at camp. As I walked out of the cabin, one of the counselors was telling two boys that they couldn't lock themselves in the bathroom and that they better come out.


The next several photos were posted on the Camp's website. I love that they post pictures throughout the week! Here is the Ottawa Week 1 cabin picture. Nicklas is standing, in the center of the group. He's got some crazy hair!


Here he is with a group of campers, in the Ga-Ga pit. He loves to play Ga-Ga!


Nicklas is in the background of this photo.


Another Ga-Ga shot, this one with his cabin mates.


Here he is at Morning Flagpole. You can see Nick's back, as he's facing the flag. He still has crazy hair.


Okay, now we're back to my pictures. This was taken on the day we went to pick him up. We arrived at the cabin just before campers returned from chapel. He was in Ottawa R-14. The R stands for River Village. It's the area for the younger campers. The older campers stay up the hill at Lake Village.


Here is Nick's "after" picture, taken as we're packing him up.


I love this next picture! Nicklas isn't the most outgoing kid. He can be a bit closed sometimes - even when other kids (and adults) say hi to him, he often doesn't look them in eye or talk loud enough for them to hear. It takes a few back and forth interactions to really engage him. (Then he doesn't STOP talking!) As we were leaving, I made him take a picture with his counselors and I asked if he wanted to say goodbye to his cabin friends. He shook his head no, which didn't surprise me. But as we headed to the car, one of the boys came up and said, "Nicklas! Goodbye! Give him a hug." Some other boys gathered around for hugs too and then I asked if I could take their picture. I'm sad that I won't get to know these boys.


And here we are, just after check out from camp. We bought Nicklas the DVD of the week and he watched it on our way home. I loved hearing him sing the camp songs that played in the background music and hearing him laugh at some of the skits that made it on to the video.


Camp is such a wonderful and very special experience for Nicklas. It's an opportunity for him to socialize with other kids, while showing some independance. A week of Camp is very expensive - more than what the Polack and I can pay. Fortunately, my mom provides this experience for Nicklas. She loves Camp Tecumseh as much as I do and she wants Nicklas to have these incredible experiences and wonderful memories. I'd like to give a big, special thank you to her for making this opportunity a reality for Nicklas.

Thanks, Mom. We love you!

Best and Worst

Nick's worst - driving so much today
Seeger's worst - driving away from Mimi's
Mike's worst - running out the door and finding out the game was
cancelled
Natalie's worst - too quick of a morning
Nick's best - first full day from camp
Seeger's best - dinner
Mike's best - spending Father's Day with family and seeing friends he
hasn't seen in awhile
Natalie's best - finally getting to read The Hunger Games

The Polack's birthday at Zydeco's

We celebrated the Polack's birthday a few weeks ago. We always let the birthday person pick a place to eat out for dinner. I never know what to pick but usually Polack has his decision made a few weeks before his birthday. This year, he wanted to try a cajun restaraunt called Zydeco's that's in Mooresville, just a southwest of Indainapolis. It was a 45 minute drive from Bloomington but well worth it. The food was delicious!

The boys wanted him to open his presents right away. Seeger made him this awesome picture. (I love that the picture matches the guys shirt at the table behind ours!)


Nicklas wanted to give him an episode of ESPN's 30 for 30. He couldn't decided which one the Polack would like the most, so he have him a coupon for his choice.


Seeger loved the gumbo. I had a Poboy and it was awesome! I love chrinkle cut fries - my favorite! Nicklas had fried shrimp. I forget what the Polack had, something with crawfish I think. Maybe \etoufee? I don't really know because he ate it all before I had a chance to ask for bite. I'm glad he liked it!


My happy boys! The owner of the place came over several times to check on us and our service was outstanding. The atmosphere is great. When they heard we had a birthday, they made sure to bring us dessert.


Here's their spice garden, right outside the front door. What a nice treat to give out spices to passerby's. Or is it passersby? Either way, be sure to grab some spices when we walk by.


If you're in Indianapolis, you must make a stop at Zydeco's. It's great!

Random Thought Thursday

1. Nicklas is at Camp Tecumseh so I've been checking their website every few hours for a glimpse of him in the photos they post. The first day I saw half of his face behind someone else. I could only see his ear and his face but I recognized the hat he was wearing. I've since seen some better shots, including one of him in the gaga pit. He loves playing gaga so I'm sure he was excited. I've been saving the photos so I'll post them all once the week is over.

2. The Polack and I and Seeger went to the house yesterday. They were finally installing the cabinets and sinks. We walked in and took one look at what was hung and we said, "Uh, those aren't our cabinets - they're too light!" We had purposely chosen the darkest shade available. So the guy calls someone and tells us that those ARE the darkest ones they have. Boy they sure do look different than the 4X5 inch sample we saw. We still love the wood flooring though!

3. Our electrician informed us that the foyer and dining room fixtures that he's putting up will take much longer to install than the half hour he's usually allotted. So he's going to have to charge us $75/hour to get them up. Joy.

4. I feel like we're going to be broke before we even get in the house and have to buy all the stuff we need to make it home. I think those peanut butter and jelly sandwich dinners will be continuing for a few more weeks.

5. Last weekend, we dropped Nicklas off to camp and spent the weekend painting a room in Polack's parents house. The painting wasn't that fun but his mom made several home cooked meals which were super yummy. It's nice to be fed every once in awhile.

6. So Seeger is 7 and you may or may not know that he still has to wear pull-ups at night. They are rarely dry when he wakes up in the morning so they're definitely needed. He's such a sound sleeper so we just let him have the pull up and we haven't really worried about it. His pediatrician in Lafayette told us it isn't a big deal and each year, we would ask if we need to do anything and she would always so, don't worry, let's talk about it next year. Well here it is, seven years later, and we're thinking it's time to do something about it. So this week, we've started waking him up every night at midnight and 3 am and taking him to the bathroom. It's going well, he'll get up and do his business, and go back to bed. And each time, the next morning, he's been dry. Hopefully this will help him and he'll get the hang of things because it's not fun having to wake up in the middle of the night to wake HIM up in the middle of the night.

7. They are doing construction right outside my window at work so each afternoon I get to hear the beep, beep, beep of the machines backing up.

8. Our apartment lease is up in two weeks and I really don't think we're going to be able to move in to the house. I told the Polack that we need to decide what to do with all our stuff for the one or two weeks between residences. I am so ready to start packing things.

9. The Polack, Nicklas, and I went to see the Black Keys in concert last week. We met up with a high school friend and her husband. Amy mentioned that she reads my blog. I didn't realize this but now that I know, I have to give a shout out to her. Hi Amy!

10. Memories of my friend Amy..... hanging out in the rv that her parents bought. We were in elementary school and I think we watched some movies, one being a John Cusack flick. In fifth grade, Amy, me, and our friend Heather, did a lip syncing routine to the Pointer Sisters for our music class. Amy was in color guard one year and I remember during a competition, her flags were laid wrong so she went to get one for a song and it was the wrong one. Instead of using it, she dropped it and didn't use any flag at all. I remember thinking that was smart of her because a wrong colored flag would be way more noticeable than no flag at all. I also remember going to on the French club trip to France with Amy. She was so in love. This was just before senior year in high school and Amy had started dating a guy she'd had a crush on for a long time. The guy was Nick and they've been married now for 15 years. Congrats to them both! They have three boys, one was born just before my wedding, the other two are the same ages as Nicklas and Seeger. It's too bad their three hours away from me and we hardly get to see each other. We definitely need to plan a visit soon.

P.S. After seeing the house last night, we stopped by to watch the Madison Scouts practice. Isn't it so cool of the Polack to hang out with me while I watched their color guard do the same 20 counts of music, over and over?

Random Thought Thursday

1. Thanks for all the comments about my update post last week. I'm glad to know people actually read this blog. Not that readership is that important to me... I mostly want to document things that happen so when the boys are older, they have a glimpse into their childhood.

2. The blog is especially important because the tech people at work DELETED ALL MY PHOTOS FROM THE PAST YEAR! This was a mistake, one that they've apologize profusely for but it doesn't change the fact that I'm out several hundred pictures. There is a long explanation about what happened and why they weren't backed up but I'll save you the boring details. The incident has made me appreciate my somewhat regular blogging.

3. When I was in kindergarten - waaa-aaaay back in 1980 - my mom and I drove to Florida with my aunt, her boyfriend, and my cousins. The kids all sat in the back of a red kidnapper van where we played cards and colored and had a really good time. This was before the day of cassette tape decks in cars so we listened to the radio. It seemed like the same 5 or so songs played during the trip and anytime I hear those songs in present times, I'm reminded of that trip. The songs you ask? Celebration by Kool and the Gang, Kiss on Your List by Daryl Hall and John Oats, and Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield are the ones I remember.

4. The #1 song of 1981 was Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes who my dad always called the original Blondie. We went to local IGA once and they were giving out Kim Carnes posters for some reason so I had that hanging in my bedroom until it was replaced by Michael Jackson's Thriller.

5. One last thing about 1981.... remember the glass Coca Cola and Pepsi bottles that people used to recycle? We'd take them to the grocery store and get credit for bringing them in that we would have deducted from our grocery bill. My mom used to stick those glass Diet Pepsi bottles in the freezer. Drinking out of an almost frozen pop bottle (that's right, I sad POP BOTTLE) was the best thing ever.

I miss glass bottles.

6. Today the Polack and I bought all the light fixtures we need for the house. Our checking account is down to $304. Ouch.

7. We stopped by the house yesterday and we have wood flooring. Yay! It looks great but now we're regretting now putting wood down in the dining room. The entry way and kitchen have it so the dining room will look a little strange, being carpeted and surrounded by wood floor.

8. There is a missing 20-year-old student in Bloomington right now and the community has been so awesome at rallying around to look for her. The story has made national news so I'm guessing most of you have heard about it. Anyway, there is a scary/gross apartment complex that our apartment backs up against. Yeah, it's even way worse than where we live. Anyway, one building is on a hill so there is this small storage room under the bottom floor apartment. We can see it from our bedroom and last night, I noticed light glowing from the inside of that room. I've never seen the room open and I've never seen a light shining out from it it so I told the Polack that I'm convinced that's where the missing girl is. It's freaking me out.

I've posted a tip so we'll see if the light is still on tonight.

9. Did I mentioned that Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps are doing their spring training right down the road from my house? Oh, I did... Well anyway, yesterday when we drove by the house to see the flooring (yay!) the flag corps was practicing right by the road. I tried to get the Polack to slow down so I could watch him but he wouldn't. How rude! After we left the house (with the wood flooring - yay!) I asked if I could drive because I wanted to see the practice. The Polack said yes, but only if I didn't slow down a stare like a creepy, old lady. What?! I'm not creepy or old.

I decided to let him drive.

10. I wish we were already living in my house. And I wish my mom or Christy was with me. Both would be my partner in crime for stalking the Madison Scouts.

Zydeco's

We're at a Cajun restaurant in Mooresville for the Polack's birthday.
This place is pretty cool. Hopefully the food will be awesome too.

Last Assignment

Nicklas completed his last assignment of fourth grade. I can't believe I have a fifth grader now! Luckily, in Bloomington the elementary schools go up to sixth grade.

Anyway.

His assignment was to write a letter to his teacher with a reading recommendation:


Dear Mrs. Darby,

It was a privilege to be your student this year. You were a very nice teacher. I enjoyed you very much.

One of my favorite subjects was social studies. Also, because I am interested in geography, when we did each region I also knew a lot about each location. The third thing I liked is the government unit because listening to what other people had to say and voting on the bills was fun (and my bill passed).

Summer books to read
Last Shot: by John Feinstein
Steve Thomas has won a writing contest and gets to go to New Orleans and write about the Final Four for The Washington Post along with his co-winner Susan Carol Anderson. However, when watching the Minnesota State team get off the bus they see star player, Chip Gabber get pulled over. After overhearing the conversation, they hear he is being blackmailed, and the young teens have 48 hours to find out if its true. Uncover the truth in this book mixed with sports and mystery.

Sincerely,
Nicklas

Random Updates & Thoughts

1. A lot has happened. Remember that thunderstorm I posted about last week? Two days later, we had seven, yes SEVEN, tornado warnings. It was much worse than the previous storm - three times as many trees were down around my building and several fell on cars and homes throughout the city. Two tornadoes were confirmed and there were several injuries. The family and I spent most of the evening at a friends house, doing laundry while she was on vacation.



It text message and email warnings got to be comical, especially since the weather outside her house was still very nice. It was pretty late so we decided to go home to the apartment. I was driving and everything was fine until we were about a half mile away. As I was driving past the mall, all the lights flickered everywhere and then went off. The wind picked up and we could feel the car start shaking in the wind. The rain was pounding side ways and I couldn't see where I was driving. We crept slowly along with other cars, my hands gripped tightly to the steering wheel. Nicklas was freaking out in the back seat and I was calmly telling him that everything was just fine. Ha! Good thing he believed me. We finally made it home, falling into the apartment with our soaked clothes. I was still shaking. We had no electricity so we decided to have a sleepover downstairs in the living room. I figured if a tornado came, I could quickly get the boys into the bathroom. I HATE NOT HAVING A BASEMENT! We ended up being about a mile away from where one of the tornados hit. Storms don't usually make me nervous, bring it on, I say, but I FREAKED out with this one. It was too close to home. Here are some photos of the damage at the building I work in on campus.

2. We had a great time at the lake last weekend although another thunderstorm hit while we were there. Nine of us had taken the pontoon across the late to visit with my aunt and uncle who made us dinner. As we were eating outside, the sky was getting darker and darker. We covered the pontoon just as the thunderstorm hit. Everyone hung out inside and it passed quickly and without any damage, or so we though. When we returned to the other side of the lake (the Indiana side, we had been visiting the Michigan side) we discovered we had no power. The power stayed out for 18 hours. Luckily we didn't see any other damage, although Battle Creek, a city about an hour away, was hit with a devastating straight line winds.

3. The lack of electricity didn't damper weekend through. The Polack and I went wine tasting one day, we had some yummy food (Uncle John's ribs were awesome!), and we had multiple rides on the sea doo (another shoutout to Uncle John who very graciously lets us use the sea doo as much as we want.) Earlier this year, I talked my dad in to letting me help him clean up his sail boat with the hope of getting it in the water. It's an Inland Cat that he bought in 1984. It's been parked on a trailer behind the back garage for about 15 years. Inland Cats aren't the best sailboats - they tip over easily - but they are popular on Lake George, home of the Inland Cat Class Sailing Association. On Saturday, my dad brought over his power washer and the Polack and I took turns over the weekend cleaning first the underside, then the inside. After it was power washed, I went in a scooped out all the excess water that was filled with broken down styrofoam (which was falling out of the top of the boat from years of chipmunks making their home in the boat) and pine needles. It was a nasty job but the result was nice clean boat. On our last day at the lake, my dad came over again and while the boat was still in the back yard, we put it together. First the mast, then the boom, then the sail. We were left trying to figure out the mainsheet/job sheet (rope and pully). We finally went to the neighbor, Stan, and asked him. He had an Inland Cat at one time so we hoped he could help us. It took several suggestions and tries and we finally figured it out. The sailboat was all put together!



While talking wtih Stan, I found out that there were only about 300 and some Inland Cats and most were made in the 1950's. Each boat is numbered in order of creation. Our boat is 208. Stan had one that was number 7. My dad bought the boat from a work colleague in 1984. The friend lived on Clear Lake which is about 10 miles award from Lake George.


Here is a picture of my dad. Look out how long his hair is!


It's still set up in the back yard and we're hoping to put it in the lake when we're there on Sunday. I feel like putting it together was the easy part. Now I actually have to learn to sail it. I've asked my dad several times about what to do if it tips over. He has experience - he's tipped it a few times!

4. After several delays in the house, I contacted our contractor to ask if he's still confident we'll be able to move in by June 30. He didn't sound as sure but went over the timeline with me:

June 1 – drywall
June 2 – prime the walls
June 3-6 – fit the trim for walls
June 7 paint
June 8-10 – do hard flooring like wood, tile, etc.
June 13 – plumbing, heating and air
June 14 – cleaning
June 14-15 drywall touch up
June 16-17 – second coat of paint
June 20-21 – carpet
June 22 – trim guy will do door knobs and other stuff
June 23 – hang mirrors and shelving
June 24 – clean windows

There are several things not in here, like finishing the deck and putting in the sinks and toilets. And this timeline works for us IF everything goes like it's supposed to. BUT everything always seems to get pushed back a day or two and that throws the whole schedule off so we are't holding our breaths about the move in date. We are SO ready to be out of that apartment. But you knew that, didn't you?

5. The boys have three days of school next week and then they're on summer vacation. They are both looking forward to it. I let the school know that we'd be submitting a transfer request since our new house will be out of their current school district. Nicklas will still go to his current school but Seeger is technically supposed to go another school within the corporation. We'd like them to both be at the same school, especially since it's such a great school. Anyway, I received a voice mail from the Principal who let me know that they will not be approving a transfer for Seeger, just because we want Seeger at the same school that Nicklas goes to. I called her back and kindly left a message that there are multiple reasons why we are requesting a transfer and I was still planning on filling out the form.

Thankyouverymuch.

I have let the PTO community know that if the transfer isn't approved, I will be taking my volunteering hours to the school Seeger will be forced to go to. I'm supposed to chair three committees next year and they'd hate to see me decline so we'll see what happens - I'm playing hardball and I don't think I'll win but I'll try everything I can think to do.

6. I really love that both boys are having a good time in Tae Kwon Do. It's great for them too. They get exercise, the class times work well for us, and they're in the same class so we don't have to do too much driving around for them. Of course, when they move to the advanced class, they'll be going from 6-6:45 every day which is the worst time ever. When are we supposed to eat dinner?

7. Baseball isn't going as well this year. Both have lost most of their games. Nicklas is having an okay time but Seeger doesn't really like playing. He's a good hitter but he has no clue what to do when he's playing defense. The other day, he told us that he doesn't like playing baseball because he doesn't like getting yelled at all the time. Awwwww....

8. My cousin is getting married tomorrow and the Polack and I are looking forward to the wedding. It will be nice to see my mom's side of the family. It's adult only so the boys are going to spend the night with my dad. They've never done that before. They're looking forward to it. My mom and I made a beautiful quilt for my cousin. She requested a lot of white with a little bit of purple. I thought it would be boring but it turned out really, really well. She LOVED it. You can see a picture of it on my quilting blog.

9. My friend Christy suggested I read the Hunger Games. I ordered the trilogy off of half.com and I'm super excited about it. Sure it's young adult but I've heard really good things about it. Plus they're making it in to a movie so I always like watching movies adapted from books.

10. Speaking of, Something Borrowed is finally out in the theaters only it's getting really bad reviews. This makes me very sad because I really liked the book.

My brother will be happy

I finally bought new tires for my car.