Season starts today....Twins have their home opener today.  Nathan and I have a special date planned (planned since January!) and we will be at the game!!! Yippee! 

 

Here some of what spring training looked like around here:

Check out this link:

 

A college friend of mine found it and it reminds us all of the fun times we had at the "West Ave Wonderland"....where we got busted one time too (a lively Octoberfest alternative that night  with rootbeer kegs and "whop" that was only mixed juices and punch....our little house packed to the gills and when people "jumped around, jumped around" the floor majorly sagged!!!....and there were people playing frisbee/football in the alley) and we ended up with a noise violation because they didn't find any booze. 

 

(Now that I think about it...I got the noise violation because I opened the door...and for the record I was cool, calm and collected in front of the cops, but a total basket case after they left becuause I thought it would somehow affect the internship I was trying for....and I have lots of other lingering thoughts about that night too, but either you would be bored to death or I would end up on a soap box about spriritual warfare and we just don't need to go there right now.)

 

So, "high-five" to those highschoolers attempting to have good, clean, fun!  I guess it is good to know that the police are doing there job thoroughly too, it is just too bad that money and man power got used "that way"...I don't know if I can say "wasted" or not....I am at a loss for words/vocabulary to describe what is really on my mind.

 

Here are some random pics from various parties....the first one I know is from our "Fiesta" where all the ladies of the house were holding up the DJ for the night.   I just couldn't pass up the chance to scan in a few "oldies" just to show all of you.  

or

Hoops Hysteria

 

It has hit our house with power and fury....Nathan is cheering loudly for the Cinderella team - Davidson.

The rest of us just like hoops...or "BaBaw" as Beth calls it.

 (Pregame festivities last night...and if you look closely at the pic, it needs to be stated that we are fully and painfully aware that IU and Purdue are out of the running. )

"What's the plan Stan?" is one of many silly mini yet long standing jokes/conversations that we have running at our house....then the usual response to the question is "Hey are you Stan?" or "Who's Stan?"    Just given that, I bet you are all just rolling off your chair laughing...Yeah, well you may have to be 3 yr. old to get it. 

 

So during a conversation today, Stan is mentioned again. After going through all the usuall processes, I added a wrinkle. "How are we going to find out who Stan is?"  Tyler's response (after a long pause to eat a grape), "Maybe we could go to a Stan Store."  Ahh, always thinkin'

More and more and more snow...the forcast is for more snow all weekend.

 

First day of Spring was yesterday....YIPEEEEEE!

 

We have been having some great sunny days.  And even thawing. 

"Decorating puddles" and blowing bubbles and Beth trying to figure out how to put her shoes on (last week):

I am itching for lots/more outside time.  Nathan and the kids are too, but we have been attempting to make the most of our "last" winter fun.....really, in MN, you never know when the actual last snow fall will be...March and April are always up for debate.

 

So on Mon., it snowed a lot....well mostly in the evening and at night so we woke up to a glorious white blanket Tues. morning:

 

Which left us with a lot of:

 and a ton of fun on Tues. afternoon:   In case it isn't obvious...Nathan is the one doing all the work and Tyler eats snow....a lot of snow!!!!

 

We had more nice weather on Wed. and Thurs. this week.  Tyler and I kept a close eye on the melting status of the fort and the snowmen.  Now we are getting dumped on again this morning so I expect there will be more shoveling and more things to build/eat outside later today or tomorrow.

 

Ahhhh.

Viva la Minnesota Winter/Spring.

It is kind of like Pavlov's dog:

I open the laundry room door and Beth comes running. 

Also, I open the laundry room door and Beth is strapped into her high chair or something and she is quite frustrated that she can't "help" me.

 

How is this comfortable!?!?!?

Yeah, sounds boring...practical....but oh, do I have some words for you!!!    (I have been tossing this story around and around in my head because I didn't know if it was "fitting" for the web.    But since I have managed to tell enough people face to face and this is a "funky journey" I figured it was time to get this story out there for ALL!) 

 

I don't know about you, but I go through a lot of socks.  It seems it is always on the shopping list for one reason or another.  Back in January, I need more athletic socks (white, ankle high) but I couldn't remember where I bought the last GOOD ones so I had picked up some here and there testing them out so to speak, and when I found some good ones I would go back to the store and sort of stock up....that was the plan anyway. 

 

Well, in January, while we were out and about for a showing at our house, I (We) "escaped" to WalMart to do most of my shopping list and then find a place for dinner.....yada, yada....I was walking slowly though the store discussing things with the kids, checking things off the list, "window shopping" sort of, and just enjoying the fact that we weren't in a rush.    As we passed the women's section, there they were, a whole display of women's athletic socks that fit my criteria and very good prices (of course, it's WalMart). 

 

A particular pair caught my attention...$3.50 for a two pair pack...seems very reasonable/cheap...let's just see what these are like....HHhhmmm, pretty thick, a brand that has been around for awhile (I remember the name from my childhood dancing days) so maybe this brand will be around for when I need socks again.  And then I see some of the "features" listed on the package: ARCH SUPPORT.  HA!!! Socks with arch support, what an advertising gimmick.   Do they think people won't see right through that...Duh, arch supports are only in shoes....the hard, archy, supporty, thingy...what a ploy, but for $3.50, I need socks bad enough to suck it up and try them. 

 

THEY ARE THE BEST SOCKS EVER!!!!!  THEY REALLY DO HAVE ARCH SUPPORT.  THE DESIGNER OF THESE SOCKS IS A GENIOUS.  EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRY THESE SOCKS OUT!!!  In the mid part of the sock, all the way around the sock, the weave is a little tighter (extra elastic or something) and no matter if I am in shoes or going in stocking feet, I feel a major snuggly support.  I am addicted to these socks...I had no idea socks could be this GREAT!!! 

 

PS- If you would like more info on these socks, I would be happy to exchange information with you over email as to avoid too much UNPAID  advertising.

Settling in to this new home means getting used to some things....for example, trash day is now Thursday and not Wednesday and ironically this has been a hard concept for me to grasp and I missed trash day last week when Nathan was at a conference because of it.    Weird stuff. 

 

Then there are the views out the window (which, in the rare quiet times, I find myself staring out of just to get some sort of perspective on the day, week, spiritual things, and it happens any where, other peoples houses, car windows, whenever, whereever....the old house had its own views of parts of town because we were on a hill)  Here is the view out the front of the new house....a typical subdivision. (Note: that is the "thinking" face...it was not obvious to me right away).

 

 Two things that you see here are the reflection of my camera in the window because I didn't get the angle quite right and then it is our yard as it backs up to a research forest that is associated with the local high school. 

 

We have seen a variety of wild life already: 3 pheasants (3 days so it could be the same one 3 times), holes in trees and sounds of woodpeckers, a bald eagle way up in the sky and so it could have been a hawk, the neighbors have a racoon story from years back, a gi-normous rabbit that may or may not be a rabbit...the jury is still out on that and so we have our own "Lochness Monster" going with the rabbit, and a deer...which I actually got a pic of.

 So, I am still contemplating the views....not too many conculsions yet, but a huge list of thanksgivings! The wildlife being one thing I am thankful for and the other to mention now is Nathan, because this deer picture was taken on his birthday. 

Nathan got a 100ft. tapemeasure for a birthday gift + Tyler loves to go fishing = this pic (this is all 100ft. pulled out)

 

Beth has finally decided that it is time to let go and walk on her own....and she is totally addicted!!

 

 

I think the second picture looks like she is running (which she does attempt from time to time) but this pic is actually before she fell down...which she loves a ton too.

I can still picture the dark SUV with the spare tire attatched to the back door/window from about 2 weeks ago.  Nathan was driving.  The kids were in the back...and we pulled up behind it at a light near home here.  And then we saw "the sticker".  A single bumper sticker that read: I'm only speeding because I have to poop.    I think that I havn't stopped laughing and pondering the reality of it since then.