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.)

The hair cut

Freddie got a hair cut. Not surprisingly, I hate it. Not as much as the haircutting fiasco of 2009, but pretty darn close. At least HIS hair will grow back pretty fast.

Freddie's treats

Freddie received a bag of treats from his pal Mulligan the other day. It was his first birthday treat gift bag and he thoroughly enjoyed the homemade snacks made by Mulligan's mom, Beth.

The chores weren't meant to be

As a parent, I try my best to always plan and prepare to stay on top of the household activities. This is especially important in the spring when the Polack is immersed in the baseball season and the boys are in the middle of tennis/swimming/soccer/baseball. I'm constantly checking my calendar to planning who has to be where at what time while trying to fit in things like homework and dinner and chores.

So imagine my surprise when Nicklas's soccer practice was cancelled yesterday and the Polack arrived home earlier than usual from baseball practice. By 6pm, we were all at home with no plans. No plans? Free time? I literally didn't know what to do with myself. The boys had no problem though. It was a beautiful evening and they spent every minute outside. I thought about having them help me with some housework but then I decided I didn't want to waste a gorgeous evening. So while they played with some neighborhood kids, the Polack and I took a walk around the neighborhood.

There is a bush right next the walk to our front door. It's pretty and I love the red but I hate the thorns because the boys always seem to touch the branches and get hurt. (Plus it's a pain to prune!) Anyway, I have seen a bird flying in and out and wondered if there was a nest. When we were outside, I decided to check it out. It's pretty thick so I kept leaning in closer and closer to take a look. Everyone was watching me, including the neighborhood kids and I hadn't even seen the nest when all of a sudden, the momma bird flew out. It scared the be-jesus out of me and of course I screamed. Everyone got a kick out of that. I did take a picture and if you look closely, you can see two eggs.

Speaking of family activities (was that the point of this post?) we were finally allowed to make contact with our exchange student. She and I have friended each other on facebook so it's been great to see photo's of her. (Although it stinks that everything is in Norwegian so I can't actually read the captions or comments!) She told me that when she was given our names, she immediately googled us and found this blog. So she's been showing our pictures to her family and friends in Norway. We're very excited to meet her and I'm anxious to get her room set up and ready. After tennis/swimming/soccer/baseball ends, of course!

Freddie update

We're still adjusting to life with the new puppy. We're making progress on the housetraining although "accidents" still happen quite frequently. Good thing he's so darn cute...

Freddie's first vet appt

Freddie made it through his first appointment with the vet. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 8 oz. Nicklas came with me to help comfort him and Freddie did well despite minor bleeding from his shots. (I can't say the same for Nicklas who had to cover his eyes during the shots. Nor can I say the same about me when I saw the $250 bill.)

Weekend recap

It was a pretty normal weekend for the Kubatski's. We had hoped to make a trip to Michigan to help celebrate Uncle Tom and Aunt Judy's 50th wedding anniversary. But with Freddie still in the house training stage and activities we already had planned, we weren't able to swing it.

Nicklas had his Blue and Gold banquet for Boy Scouts where he received his Wolf and Bobcat badges...

My brother came to visit (under the guise of his birthday but really, I think he just wanted me to do his taxes.) I asked if he wanted me to cook him dinner or go out and decided he wanted to go with Chuck E' Cheese and then to a movie. Afterward, we had cake at home...

Saturday was spent with friends who came over to watch basketball, have dinner, and play some games. Oh and the husbands arranged a play date for the dogs. So cute! It was Freddie's first time meeting Oliver. They had great fun...

Love letters to my family

Dear Seeger - While I was away on business, I called you, your dad, and your brother to check in and see how things were going. (And obviously find out how much you all missed me.) It's not cool that after talking to me for two minutes, you interrupted me by saying, "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Goodbye." It's even less cool that after handing the phone back to dad, you proceeded to walk around in circles. That's what you gave up talking to me for? I thought maybe you suddenly remembered you wanted to play with your trains or perhaps Spongebob was on tv or something. But nope, you just didn't want to talk to me.

I'm sure this was just a one time incident. Right? RIGHT?? You'll always make time to talk to your mom. Right?

(At least humor me every once in awhile, okay?)

Love,
Mom



Dear Nicklas - I love that you enjoy playing your Guitar Hero World Tour game. It's great fun and I understand this. I play too so you know I can appreciate your love of the game. But here's the thing. It's not okay to practice the vocals at 7am in the morning. Today, I was awoken to you belting out Beat It by Michael Jackson. Seven hours later and I still have the lyrics in my head.

You're an early riser. I get that. And you enjoy that time in the morning when everyone else is asleep and you have the house to yourself. I get this, too. But in the future, stick to the guitar if you're going to play World Tour before everyone else is awake.

Thank you and I love you.
Mom


Dear Freddie the Puppy - Unfortunately, you live in Indiana. This is where your parents have always lived. It's where you were born and it's where you'll be raised. Indiana often experiences dramatic climate shifts. We have definitive seasons which include days of rain, snow, sun, wind, ice, and heat. Get used to it. You WILL be expected to do your duty outside EVEN when the weather isn't to your liking. Don't worry, you won't be alone. One of us will help you through it. We love you.

(And no, we won't shovel the snowy grass for you.)

Love,
the woman who feeds you and plays with you and will always give you a treat when you potty outside



To my loving husband - Thank you for humoring me and learning to play Canasta. Thanks for the great time in Florida. Thanks for letting me choose the restaurant on Valentine's Day. Thanks for playing Boggle when it really isn't fun for you. Thanks for encouraging the Get Fit Challenge. (We both weigh the lowest we've been in ten years - yay us!) And I especially want to thank you for agreeing to install the garage door opener all by yourself instead of making me shell out $100 for installation. I'm sure you're cursing me right now (since as I write this, you've started this little home improvement project) but please know that I really, really appreciate it. (It will be nice to actually be able to use the remote openers instead of just the wall unit, right?) You rock!

Love,
Your very appreciative wife

Vlogs, vomit, and a very cute puppy

My previous two posts were recaps and photo's of the family's visit to Disney World. Of course, I had to capture some memories on video. I've decided to include a few in this post. The first two are of Nicklas and Seeger talking about their favorite rides at Hollywood Studio's.

(Note to those reading this via Facebook. You can access the videos by visiting http://kubatski.blogspot.com/.)






As much as the family didn't relish the thought of leaving Orlando and making our way back to Indiana, knowing our return home meant reuniting with our puppy made everything a bit more bearable.

After bidding goodbye to the Turners and setting off for the car rental return/airport, we hit the toll road with Nicklas complaining about feeling sick. Yeah, we should have taken him a little more seriously. Just was I was pulling up to the toll booth, I asked him if he felt like he was going to throw up. He barely said yes before the chunks started spewing. Armed with nothing but a list of spelling words and suitcases full of dirty clothes, I did the best I could to clean up him and the rental car. (I'd like to apologize to the state of Florida for leaving a barely worn vomit covered youth Lions shirt and pair of men's boxer briefs on the side of the 417 toll road. And yes Nicklas, I'll buy you a new shirt. I just didn't want to endure vomiting smelling clothing the entire trip back to Indiana.)

After the excitement, we were anxious to get to the airport and get settled. The rest of our trip home was less eventful. After landing in Indianapolis, we made our way to our breeder's house to pick up Frederico Arthur (aka Freddie) the Maltipoo. Can I just tell you how much we are in love with him? And to make up for the vomit story, here is a photo of the newest family member.

Mmmmm.... donuts....

So the other day, Mike, the boys, and I went to visit our new puppy. We are eagerly anticipating February 10 - the day we bring home Freddie. (Like the name? I picked it out. It was between that and Artie and although we decided to go with Artie, for some reason, I would say Freddie every time I talked about him. Thus, Artie wasn't meant to be.) The boys loved playing with him and it was nice to meet the breeder face-to-face before actually shelling out the dough. You can tell she really loves her dogs and cares where they end up.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. (I know, I know - how is that possible? I ALWAYS take photo's and I even had my camera with me. But for some reason, it never occurred to me.)

It was a two hour drive there and another two hour drive back, mostly on back roads and through small towns. On the way home, we stopped at a Subway/Dairy Queen/gas station for lunch. I HATE eating fast food from gas stations. In fact, I rarely do it. But with the Get Fit Challenge and lack of choices, Mike and I felt Subway was the best option.

After finishing his food, Nicklas asked if he could go to the bathroom. Of course, the only restroom is the gas station one - super gross, I'm sure. After a few minutes, he hadn't returned so I went to check on him. This is what I saw....

He'd gotten side-tracked by the donut display on his way to pee. He was just staring at those silly donuts, oblivious to everything else.

A maltipoo for you...

I finally decided on the breed of our next dog. Drumroll please....

It's a maltipoo!!!

I wanted a dog that was smaller and one that doesn't shed much. I've done tons of research and made a pro/con list on several breeds that I was considering. And the maltipoo won, hands down.

That was the easy party. After deciding on the breed, I spent hours looking for a breeder to buy from. It was tough. I wanted a good breeder but someone who wasn't charging $2,000. I wanted someone I could visit prior because I wouldn't trust having a dog shipped to me. I finally found someone who I feel really good about. She's two hours away. She only breeds maltipoos and malteses. She is the owner of both parents, neither have medical concerns. She really cares about her dogs. We emailed back and forth several times and she was so patient in answering all my questions. And her vet raved about her.

So the family and I are going to visit her puppies on Monday. If all goes well we'll put a deposit down and once we return from vacation in three weeks, we'll go pick up our puppy. I'm super excited!

Here is a picture of one the puppies from the recent litter. She has four boys and one girl available. KEY-UTE!