Step One of this Year's Project

For those of you who know us, since we bought our house 5 years ago, we have done several remodeling projects. Well, this is the year for another project:) Step one today was to take down the HUGE tree in our backyard. The kids loved to watch them up high cutting down the branches; great entertainment for young kids.... and a chance for them to ask all sorts of questions!

On a sidenote Happy Bday to my little sis Cindy, who is all of 26 today! Hope you enjoy your day!!! I made a "crazy cake" (chocolate cake) to help her celebrate tomorrow at mom and dad's. YUM:)

Well, its off to church and then back to make a delish supper of steak, baked potatoes and green beans!

Eryn is still complaining of ear pain from time to time... I only hope it gets better in the next few days!

This is the last week of Term 4 for school. I am really looking forward to spring break= a week off from school = spring house cleaning!!

Eryn's Ear-ache

As you probably have read, Eryn has been sick since last Thursday. I thought she was on the mend.... and it took a lot of persuasion to get her to go to school yesterday, but when she got home last night she said her ear hurt. So, I thought, here we go, ear infection. I have a CRAZY schedule at work this week, so I figured the sooner the better to get her in to the MD. So this afternoon I picked her up from school and away we went to the Dr. office. Well, the good news is that she does NOT have ear infection! (I cringed at having to wait for the meds at Walmart!). The bad news is that she has fluid in her ear, which could very well be from the cold/virus that she has. Hopefully it will go away in a few days. But the dr. said it may not go away and if that is the case we may need to look at tubes in the ear. GRRRRRR, really don't want to put her through that! So my fingers are crossed that it will go away in a few days. At the moment, she seems to be doing fine and has her brother talked into playing "cheerleader" with her:)

Not much else is going on today. Caught up on homework and housework for the time being, so I can enjoy more of the Olympics on television tonight! It's leftovers for supper, so even easier!

Home Sweet Home

We arrived back in Spillville on Tuesday evening; tired but glad to be home and to see the kids!! They were glad to see us too, and really happy to see what we had brought them! I spent yesterday running errands and trying to get caught up on everything. Eryn was not feeling well this morning and stayed home from school, so the kids and I had additional bonding time!

I said I would post some of the pics from our last day in Florida so here you go: We took an airboat tour of Lake Toho, with an awesome Captain (Mike). Ok, so I see I also uploaded a funny pic from Wednesday when we were crusing down the street in Orlando. Ha Ha....

Our Last Day in Florida

Today was our last vaca day. The weather was great... 71 degrees!!! I wore capris and flip flops!!! We went to some flea markets this morning, and back to Old Town before lunch. The guys had fun on the go karts, while the girls soaked up the sun. This afternoon we went on an Airboat tour of Lake Toho. It was so fun! We got to see Gators! We actually held a couple of baby ones too! I will post the pics when we get back tomorrow. Anxious to see the kiddos!!!!

The Daytona 500

Yesterday was the great American Race, and we were there!! It was a great time! After a 2 hour drive and horrid traffic to get there, we got into the Fan Zone at 10 am. We were able to see driver garages as well as some famous faces! We stayed in the infield for the Pre Race show with Tim McGraw and driver introductions. The biggest suprise was that when we got some food before heading to our seats, we saw Jonathan from Discovery's Deadliest Catch. We both got our picture taken with him!

The race lasted FOREVER with two delays for track repairs. By the time the sun went down, it was chilly! Nevertheless, it was a great day!!!!!!!!!

On a sidenote, I am so excited for it to actually be 70 degrees today!!!!! I can actually break out the capris! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day to Tampa/Clearwater

Today we ventured to Clearwater Florida and Tampa. The guys had a blast with the indoor go kart track. Then we went to Clearwater beach. The sand is so white and pretty, I wanted to bring it back for the kids' sandbox!! Glad to hear that the kids had a good time sledding at the Langreck farm today with their cousins Keegan and Lexie!

Hopefully we get to bed at a decent time, tomorrow will be a long and fun day at the race track. Go #19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, and #18 for Randy:) Watch for us on tv!!

Vacation Day Four

Yesterday (Friday) the weather was CRAPPY!! It was cold and rainy allllllll day.... so what are we to do?? Go bowling! We haven't been bowling in ages so it was a good time! Then the guys got their pawn shop fix and us girls did a little shopping. We then ended the day by going to a local bar/grill. Well, some of us ended the day there. Jeremy, Cindy and I decided to go visit Old Town again... it was freezing cold, but a good time. We listened to some karaoke and browsed the shops. After a quick MCDonald's stop at midnight for some McChicken sandwiches, we walked all the way back to the condo... brrrr!

I have to add that on Thursday night we went to Joe's Crab Shack for supper.... that is where Randy got his palm tree!

It is still cold here this am, but not as cold as at home. I have to keep reminding myself of that!! So far here are some of my likes/dilikes about the trip:

LIKE: running outside!!!!
DISLIKE: cold rainy weather
LIKE: Margaritas
DISLIKE:not finding the gym OR hot tub in our condo unit
LIKE: Our rental minivan (Toyota Sienna)
DISLIKE: missing the kids:(

It's 8:20 am here and I am still waiting for everyone to get up:) I am always the early riser of the group, but I can sure get a lot done in that time!

Day 3 Vacation

Today we went to Daytona Beach to the Duels. It was a bit cool, but by the time we got to our seats, it was warm enough to get rid of the coat:) Randy got to sit in Kyle Bush's car, and we got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales. My driver finished 5th and Randy's finished 4th. Yeah!!

Day 2 Vaca

Despite the cooler temps today, we had a GREAT time at Old Town!!!! We watched MTV shoot video for a new Finland spinoff of Jackass. It was a great time!!!

Vacation Day One

Despite the cold and snowy weather of Iowa, we made it safe and sound to the Sunshine state. We arrived last evening just after dusk to a cooler 64 degree and damp Orlando. No complaints here though:) We settled into our condo and went out in search of a nice place to grab a bite to eat. We found Smokey Bones; an awesome BBQ place:) After we were full we headed to Walmart to get our supplies for the condo. Once we were back Cindy and I took a walk around the condo area in search of the amenities: we found the pool, but are still searching for the hot tub and gym! Now that it is morning, we will be on the lookout again before we head out for the day. It is cooler and windy today with highs only going to reach the upper 50's. Watch for more posts and pics later today:)

PS: Mommy and Daddy miss you Eryn and Nolan:) Hope you are having a good morning!!!

Food and Friends Galore!!

This weekend is especially busy with two of our favorites: Racing and Football!!
Today the kids and I went to Stacy's to work on some sugar cookies. If you haven't heard, we have started our own business baking cookies! Jodi, Stacy and I are loving it! You can check us out on our blog @: www.threesistersbaking.blogspot.com

Today we made some race car cookies, and footballs and helmets for Superbowl. We also did some hearts and Valentines (since we have our first two orders:)

Then it was home for the kids to take a rest and for me and Randy to get ready for the Bud Shootout tonight. It's time to do the payouts from our pool last year, and get the pool started for this year. We made a pot of chili and are ready to go!

Tomorrow we are going to some friends for the Super Bowl party. Before that though, we need to get a lot of work done: Packing, cleaning, homework, etc. So much to do!

Sick Kids??

Our family has really dodged the bullet with sickness this winter (knock on wood). Don't want to jinx myself now that I am talking about it:) Anyway... Nolan started not feeling well in the latter part of the weekend. I thought he was coming down with a cold; he didn't really have much of an appetite. He was also running a very low grade temp. Yesterday Lana said that he vomited after lunch... GRRR.... that hasn't happened since, but the cold symptoms persist. Trying to ward off anyone else getting sick in the house, I tried to Lysol and disinfect everything I could think of. Tonight when Eryn came home from school, she complained of a stomach ache. She hasn't eaten much, but no vomiting.... I hope this is the worst of whatever they have!! We know it can get worse before it gets better!!

Eryn is excited to celebrate the 100th day of school tomorrow. It's been moved how many times with all of the snow days this winter:)

Tonight Nolan got his haircut, as did Randy. Nolan always looks like such a little man when he gets his hair cut. I love it!! When he got down from the chair tonight he said, "mom, what do you think?" How cute is that!!!!!! He's having a hard time getting to sleep... both kids like to stay up late... they certainly didn't get that from me!!