Snowing and Blowing

We have quite the winter wonderland here again today. Just got another 2-4 inches of snow earlier today. The trees are beautiful, covered with snow!
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas time to us. We are usually scrambling to stuff everything and everyone in the car to drive somewhere for Christmas. This year we are treated to Bill and Marilee at our house for Christmas eve and Day. Kay and Mike came to visit and celebrate last weekend and then we enjoyed the Bystry Christmas on Sunday in Monroe. Friday we will be loading up the car to head up to my parents.
This afternoon has been spent cleaning up the house and baking some cheesecakes. I bundled Grace and Owen up and sent them outside for a little while with Dad to play in the snow. I tried to go out for a little while but I am battling another cold and it was making me feel worse being out in the cold. Kids didn't stay out for very long, its a little blustery with the wind. Dad brought Owen in kicking and screaming. He loves it out there it seems no matter how cold! Thats kids for ya!
Well, I am looking forward to a wonderful holiday!! And of course for Santa's visit!!

Snow Day

I just have to say how much I love our neighborhood. I am sitting here right now watching Grace play in the snow with some of the neighbor girls down the street and it makes me smile. I think of what it might be like if we were still in Milwaukee and how much she would miss out on. It brings me back to my childhood, growing up in a small town and being able to go down the road to play with my friends or even ride my bike a few miles to see Teresa. That freedom and responsibility to have as a kid is priceless. I am taking this peaceful moment and thinking about how we are so blessed to have such a wonderful home when many people now days may be losing theirs. I think about my family and thank god for my healthy wonderful children, husband and close family members. What a wonderful time of the year to reflect on how lucky we are! Love to everyone who reads this and may this find you at a happy time of reflection also!

Bitter Sweet

This weekend turned out to be a bitter sweet one. We had plans for my Dad and Holly to come down for an overnight visit from Sat. till Sun. We had big plans to bake Christmas cookies, attend Grace's dance program and just spend some quality time together. Plans changed when Holly came down with a double ear infection AND sinus infection. What a bummer for both her and us. I know how she is feeling since we are still all on the mend from our bout over Thanksgiving. So, needless to say Holly was not up for any traveling and don't blame her. We were a little bummed because we were looking forward to the time spent with them. However, we did end up having a nice relaxing weekend at home and even got to lounge around a little which is something we don't get a lot of these days. Sat. was spent baking cookies, truffles and mint thins by Mom and Grace. That evening we enjoyed the roast we had planned to make for the weekend and sat down as a family for a nice relaxing dinner. Aaron was falling asleep during our movie we sat down to watch at 9:30 followed by myself drifting off close to the end. We decided to call it a wrap and head to bed without seeing the ending.
The next day Grace had her dance program. It was a really nice time. There were a lot of our friends and neighbors children in the program so it was neat to be able to share the time with our friends. Grace was pretty disappointed in the performance of her group. She danced great but they were all thrown off because they were put on stage in the wrong order which caused them to crash when they turned the wrong directions when forming their circle. I felt so bad for her because she looks so forward to these performances and when something goes awry it really brings down her confidence. She is also starting to get to the age where she is catching the nervous anxiety bug so this all does not help. I plan on talking with her dance teacher tonight about the performance so that hopefully this can be avoided next time. I really hope she sticks it out and doesn't let this bring her down, she is a good dancer and a great performer. It was a really enjoyable day, we treated Grace to lunch out with friends and ice cream at Culver's. So all in all it was a great family weekend!

Happy Birthday Aaron

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Husband! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life and to share my life with. I love you dearly!
Aaron has a wonderful surprise in store for his Birthday tonight! I have been cooking up a little surprise for him this evening. I reserved the private gaming room at the Velvet Lips Lounge and restaurant in Ft. Attkinson and invited a bunch of our guy neighbor friends for a guys night of poker and pool. Right now Aaron thinks he is just going out for the night with our neighbors Kenny and Rich and has no idea what I've been cooking up. Looks like it should be a good turnout with about 10+ guys. Its sure to be a good time for all!
God knows he deserves a fun night out. He has been working so hard fixing our cars, and everything else that has gone to s*** here lately. Plus I know work has been getting crazy again for him then throw in the holiday madness and needless to say it gets stressful. So, great husband of mine, go out and have a great time, on me!!! XOXO

Well, it sure seems like Thanksgiving was a long time passed. Now it seems like we are diving right into Christmas. Anyway, our Thanksgiving trip was a good one. Our trip out was a breeze. We arrived about 3pm on Wed. afternoon and checked into the hotel to freshen up and then headed to Adam and Ami's. It was so good to see Adam, Amy and all the kids which had all gotten SO big, the kids that is, not Adam and Amy, ha! We visited that evening, had a chilly dinner then went over for church service at Adam and Amy's church. I got the pleasure of taking the kids to the nursery to entertain which I really enjoyed since I got to have some one on one time with Miss Taryn. She is such a little sweetheart and such the cuddle bug all weekend. We had a good time in the nursery playing our own version of the My Little Pony Memory Game. She knows the name of every Pony and I love it when she says "Pinkie Pie" in her sweet little voice. It so makes me miss Grace at the age. The next day Adam brought the kids to the hotel to swim then we headed back to hang out, watch some football and cook up the feast. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon. Just what I needed since I had been suffering from a cold that I came down with just before we left. Aaron and both Owen and Grace ended up coming down with the same thing while we were visiting to so needless to say none of us got the greatest of sleep while we were there. So, we had a wonderful feast of turkey, of course, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberries, corn casserole and chocolate and pumpkin pie for desert. We had a fun evening of playing games and just catching up with one another. I can't remember what night it was that we were playing catch phrase and one of the words was conductor, Adam was trying to guess and Aaron was giving clues. Adam kept coming up with all sorts of guesses but just couldn't pull it out. We were all laughing SO hard, I can't remember when I had laughed so hard, guess you had to be there. It was a good time and will be a unforgettable memory!

Friday the girls gathered all the bravery they could to tackle the stores after Thanksgiving. It really wasn't so bad other than the 15-20min. line to check out in Kohls. It was a huge success for me I ended up getting a lot of my shopping done. Thanks Kay for lugging it all back to the Midwest for me! That afternoon we all headed downtown State College to make a visit to the library, take a look around and hit the souvenir store for Penn State shirts Afterwards we made our way to the university creamery for ice cream. The kids really enjoyed their ice cream as they always do and it was a nice treat for all of us to get out. What a beautiful town State College is. I would love to return and be able to see a little more when its not so dang cold! That evening we enjoyed the hotel swimming pool and local pizza before an early bedtime for family pictures in the morning!
The next day we headed over to the mall to try and get some family pictures taken. It turned out better than we had thought. The kids did real well despite my little man on the move that won't sit still for a split second. That evening Grandpa Mike treated us to his famous Choc. malts, what a great way to wrap up our visit!
Well, Sunday morning came and we headed out by 7am that morning. That morning some snowy, wet weather came our way but nothing unmanageable. We got on the road only to find the traffic coming to a stand still 40 min. outside of State College for a 5 car accident. So, there we sit parked on the freeway for 2 hours while they clean up and get things moving again. However, I do have to say that despite our very long day, arriving home at 10pm the kids were both angels. Owen and Grace both watched movies and slept the whole way. Grace is a wonderful traveler and doesn't make a peep. Owen can get a little restless but he was very manageable, thank goodness. It really was a wonderful trip and time very well spent with our family. Sure do miss having that family close to us! We love and miss you all!

Penn State here we come!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, Happy Turkey Day! I know its a couple of days away but thought I would get a jump on things for once! We will be traveling to State College Pennsylvania to visit Aaron's Brother Adam, sister in law Amy and Lucas, Taryn and Lance. It has been a long time since we have seen them and are so excited to just get there! It will be a long 12 hours, but worth it!
The last month has been a busy one once again. Aaron took Grace and Owen a couple of weeks ago to the Freeman Farm (home of Aaron's Grandma and Great Aunt). That left me with a weekend to myself, ahhh. I had a great time as did Aaron and the kids. Aaron helped do fall clean up and visited with some family members that came from far away. Grace climbed a tree and Owen gave Aunt Fran a headache by disorganizing the dinner plates that had been put out on the dinner table! As you can see from the photos below they also went and visited Grandma and Grandpa King's grave stones too to say "hi".
This weekend Aaron had just a few projects going at once as always. Both cars are in need of some major brake and shock work that he has been tackling with not so much luck. We are also expecting 3/4 of a cow delivered (beef) while we are gone to Penn. So, Aaron has been trying to run an electrical panel out to the garage which itself has caused some headaches along the way. Then just last week we came across Grace's Christmas present on Craigs list in Madison. A new bed!! We have been thinking of getting her a loft bed to free up space in her room and came across a used one and had to snatch it up. So, we needed to get that in the house this weekend before we took off for the holiday. Below are also pics of it all put together. Grace has been hiding in her room all weekend she is so excited to have it!!!
Well, here I go getting long winded again. I hope everyone has a great holiday and I will be back after Turkey day to post pics of our trip!

That time of year....

Well, its that time of year again. It feels like Halloween is long gone and everyone is already thinking about Christmas when it isn't even Thanksgiving yet! I love Halloween, its my favorite holiday. This year was the greatest yet! The temp was 62 degrees and gorgeous and it was a Friday night, just like it should be every year!
We headed over to the our friends/neighbors Rich and Kim's to scarf down some pizza before heading out at 5:30 sharp for trick or treating. Grace decided to be a scary witch this year and Owen had a hand me down spider costume that was too cute. Our friends have 4 kids, Ella which is a month almost to the day younger than Owen, Addie 4, Kristi 5 and Becca who is 8.
We all joined up with our other neighbor friends Tami, Kenny and Sam and hit the streets running, literally! Those kids were on the run from one house to the next all night till 7pm!! We hit every house in the neighborhood including the new phase! The kids had a great time collecting their candy while the adults trick or treated for beer and traveling jello shots provided by our fellow neighbors! We headed back that evening to Rich and Kim's, with the kids all playing together in the basement the adults enjoyed a night full of a million laughs! It was a great evening for both kids and adults! We are truly lucky to have such great friends and neighbors! I thank my lucky stars that our kids are in such a great neighborhood environment with such a fun place to live and little worries! We are truly lucky and blessed, I live for these days!

Halloween

Nick and Angies Wedding

FOOTBALL!!

Fall Fun!!

Well, now that we are settled in with school and activities we have another busy month ahead of us! This last weekend the kids and I went to my Step Brother Nicks wedding in Mineral Point. It was a really nice casual wedding and a gorgeous day! Angie, Nicks wife is SO wonderful and they are such a great pair together. I am so glad to see him so happy. Grace has also gained another cousin. Angie has a daughter, Cameron, that is the same age as Grace. The two of them get along like the best of friends, it really is something to see. They are both glued together each time they are together!

Sunday Nick and Angie were having a brunch at their house so Aaron joined us at the hotel in Mineral Point late Sat. night after the Badger game so we could all go for brunch. We arrived in Dodgeville at Nick and Angies a half hour early so decided to check out the near by park. It was so beautiful with the leaves changing color and falling. We had a really nice time enjoying the wonderful playground, complete with a merry-go-round, teter totter and long metal slide. FUN TIMES!!

This next weekend we are traveling down to Chicago for me to attend the Style Max show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago with Marilee and her sister Patti. I am SO excited! Aaron and the kids are going to hang out with Grandpa on Saturday and may hit some of the museums. Aaron and I have plans to have a nice dinner after my long day of "work" then meet up with his friend Rich and girlfriend for drinks. Bill and Marilee were nice enough to get us set up with their friends Tom and Cathy's downtown condo for the night! I am so looking forward to a date night with my husband, we are due!

KIDDO UPDATE:

The munchkin and munchkinette are doing well!! Grace finished up with soccer on Sat. and is looking forward to it starting again in the spring. She came home from dance last night and she was excited to show me her new dance to Hannah Montana that they are learning. After a little thought she was able to remember the first couple of steps they learned thus far!!

Owen has been a little cutie pie lately and his language skills have been soaring. He just started saying "football" two weeks ago and that is all we hear whenever we turn on the TV. He has also added cup, car, keys and is trying to say puppy that comes out "pup". He has started to run now and sure does get those little legs going. His new found love is reading books and giggles when Mom and dad put him on our laps to read. His favorite book is Pat the Bunny and also likes, Touch and Feel Puppy and Five Little Monkeys. The last couple days he will sit down on the floor paging through books all day long. This is sure a fun time!

Start of fall!

We ended the summer with a trip to the Walworth Co. fair on Labor Day and had a blast for all of about 3 hrs. We decided last minute to take a jaunt over. Grace enjoyed the rides except the upside down one, Owen enjoyed the animals and Mom and Dad enjoyed watching the kids have fun and of course the food!
Grace was up at 6:30 the next morning so excited to get the school year started! She enjoyed getting to ride her bike to school now that we have sidewalks on the busy street and will be riding or walking now that we no longer have bus service. Its kind of fun and gives her a little bit more responsibility. She will be walking with the neighbor across the street and his son that is in Kindergarten in the morning and then I will meet them in the afternoon. She is loving her teacher and being back in the swing of things again!
Grace has also started soccer for the fall and had her first game this Saturday. Man, can that girl run. She really enjoyed it and got right in there attacking the ball like a pro! There is a short video clip I downloaded and she is the the red with the new short hair cut!!
Owen and Mom have enjoyed their first week by themselves and trying to establish a routine. He is becoming such a fun little guy and picking up on so many new things everyday. Him and Grace have really enjoyed some play time together lately despite the age gap. They are so cute together. We have started some sibling rivalry already with Owen clobbering Grace with him baseball bat, he thinks its SO funny, Grace, not so much! He really enjoyed Grace's soccer game but couldn't understand why he couldn't play with the soccer ball. He ended up taking in the game from Mom's chair with a package of fruit snacks and finding another seat just his size on the bleachers.
Well, I am looking forward to the winding down of summer with chilling morning soccer games and the start of a new routine!

Grace in Action!

Photos of our U.P. trip

Ohh, how they grow!

Wow, I can't believe the growth that Owen has gone through in just the last couple months since his birthday! I don't mean size wise either, he is still such a peanut! What I mean is developmentally. In just the last couple months he has began to say words such as ball, which when he sees one he goes crazy over them. He is also saying shoe now and of course Mom and DaDa. It is also amazing how much he has figured out. He will go to the fridge when he wants his milk and bang on the fridge door. He also likes to try and wear all of our shoes including my flip flops! I have also started to teach him where his nose, eyes and ears are. He has caught onto the nose but we are still working on the others. Just a few days ago while I was changing his stinky pants I started saying "Pee whew" and plugging my nose and Owen started to copy me. I noticed the next day he walked up to me plugging his nose, I didn't think anything of it until later when I realized he needed his diaper changed, well, I think he was trying to tell me that earlier by plugging his nose! Now today when I knew he had a stinky diaper I said "Owen, do you have pee whew's?", and he walked into his room to the changing table plugging his nose! Who knows maybe he will be an earlier potty trainer! It is just so incredible what little sponges they are at this age! They pick up on everything SO quickly. He now knows how to give high 5's and of course wave bye and hi. He loves to wave at everyone he sees, especially if someone comes to the door. Owen also loves to be outside. He has even became our little escape artist sometimes getting the patio screen open and going on the deck. Luckily we now have a gate on the deck! When I ask if he wants to go play outside he goes crazy and starts screeching like an owl and bangs on the patio door. By the way isn't the screeching supposed to be a girl thing, well, we have a boy screecher. Anyway, he loves to play in the sandbox and now goes down this little plastic slide all by himself. He has also found out how to get up on the big play set steps and go down the big slide with a little guidance! So, I have to say we are having so much fun this summer with seeing him grow and learn! What a wonderful age this is and many more to come!

Hi there! No pics today but lots to say!! SOOOO much has been going on with us that I have so many things to tell. I will start in the past and work my way forward.

Going back about a month ago which seems like forever ago I was off to Chicago to meet up with Marilee to start my venture towards my new business. Marilee and I took the train into Chicago on a Saturday to attend the Gift and Giving show at the Merchandise Mart downtown. WOW. Is all I will say. It was quite the experience. There were vendors set up between three huge floors with everything from stuffed animals to stuffed purses! It was SO crazy we decided we needed another day to get through it all. We had a really good time. Saturday evening we enjoyed free Como's and sandwich wraps at one of the interior design stores while we took in all the amazing home decor that was SO reasonably priced we couldn't believe our eyes. It was a very successful weekend. We ended up putting in a couple of different orders with some of the vendors there for jewelry, purses, wallets, diaper bags, etc.... It really got me excited about starting this new venture. Monday after I got back I hit the computer and managed to go online and file for my tax id number. Since, I have gotten my trade mark through the state and filled my business license with the county. I decided on The Simple Diva for my business name and have had a lot of positive comments on it. I am hoping to have all my merchandise and ready to do a open house in the fall. I have contacted my neighbor who is a graphic designer and she is working on a logo and some print for me. Things are really moving in my favor so I have to believe that is a good sign!!

Next up in our crazy world was a battle that came about with the school board on busing and transportation issues for this school year. With the construction on Rotamer Rd. behind our house, the same road the school is on they have decided to cut out our busing starting Oct. 3rd. I do understand the cut because the kids will now have sidewalks to walk to school. We are so close I always thought busing was so silly but it sure was a treat! So, with them eliminating some buses and knowing the car traffic will increase they had decided the best plan for school drop off would be to have parents drop off on the two subdivision streets about a block on either side of the school. Not a good plan for us with one of those streets being in our subdivision. All the added traffic coming and going in different directions, people parking their cars on our streets to walk mixed with walking children in the neighborhood just wouldn't be safe. So, my friend Kim and I led the crusade to approach the school board about changing the drop off back to school grounds. After a couple of different meetings, we met yesterday with the Principal, Superintendent and some reps from the Janesville Police department and transportation division. When we arrived they presented us with a whole new plan for school grounds drop off. It was SO cool like victory had dropped down from the sky! They had heard our outcry, and what a cry it had been with petitions and letters, emails and speaches to the board!! It was a really great plan that should be SO much safer for our kids!! I was so proud to be able to be able to lead the fight and let my voice be heard with a great victory!
In the midst of all of this for the last month I have been the main planner for our annual neighborhood block party. We decided this year to do a Luau theme and with a growing neighborhood we decided it was necessary to rent a Port a John and a Bounce House for this years party. This is quite the project with getting flayer's printed and hitting the pavement to stuff mailboxes. We ended up handing out over 200 flyer's this year. Then afterwards we wait, and wait to get responses, which for anyone who has planned a party with an RSVP date knows how difficult it is to get responses. Aug. 1st. was our date and at that time I wasn't even close to coming up with good numbers to pay for the party which became very frustrating. So then we email and post signs and what do ya know people start to call, slowly. As of today with the party this Saturday I have finally met my quota for guests to be able to cover the expenses, whew!!! Now comes the grunt work of setting everything up and running the show! It is all worth it in the end, I love party planning and love to see everyone having a good time!
Just this last weekend we took a trip up the U.P. to stay at my Dad and Holly's cottage on Little Lake. I will be sure to post photos of this weekend, soon! This is our second year going up thier with our friends Nate and Nicole for the annual Ore to Shore Mountain Bike race. Ore to Shore is a mass start 28 mile mountain bike race held in Marquette MI. Nate talked Aaron into doing it for the first time last year. Also joining us for the race in Marquette is Nicole's two sisters, brother in laws and kids, Jalen 7, Grace 9 and Abby 6. The race went really well this year with perfect 70 degree weather. Aaron rode a really good race improving his time by 25 minutes. This year Grace joined the ranks and rode in the Junior Rock 4 mile kids race along with Grace and Jalen. She blew us all away averaging 8 miles an hour, 10th out of 20 in her age group and beating both Grace and Jalen!! Aaron rode along with her and said it was a little difficult keeping up with her after just doing 28 miles himself!! She was SO proud of herself! It was all SO exciting. We had a really good weekend at my Dad's cottage too. Friday we took the boat out to do a little swimming in the lake, Saturday was spent in Marquette and Sunday we hung out and picked blueberries, which is a job that I will leave to my Dad, Holly and Grace. We also tried to go into Marquette to the Childrens Museum but it ended up being closing time when we arrived, so instead we went up to Marquette Mountain to take a peak from above which was pretty cool! Monday we headed home to continue our busy schedule at home, yikes!

It's Birthday time!

Well, time for another birthday! This time its Grace. Yes, we are a little early but we decided to celebrate this weekend with Hannah Montana 3D concert on the Disney Channel!! Grace had 5 friends over to watch the concert and 3 stayed for a sleep over. We started the night out with pizza and gifts then it was time for the show. We had gotten our 3D glasses from Walmart weeks before and were ready to rock!! It didn't take long for the girls to get up and dance! So funny seeing them rock out to her music, which I happen to enjoy too. Owen seemed to enjoy himself with the girls too, as you can see from the pics below he had a lot of fun with the bead necklaces!
Grace got some nice gifts from her friends including a Hannah folder and pencil set for school, Hannah PJ's, a new webkinz animal and another Hannah shirt and headband. After the concert a couple of the girls headed home. The rest of us girls enjoyed a game of Junior scrabble that I thought would wind things down for bedtime. Boy was I wrong. The girls finally fell asleep around 1am!! It was perfect timing for the concert to be part of her birthday, it was a blast!!
Included in the photos below are ones of Owen with his sister's sunglasses that he really enjoyed wearing around the house one afternoon. He is walking now and really into EVERYTHING!! He is such a little peanut waddling around!!

Hannah Montana in Concert

Number 1

Well, its been a busy couple of weekends!! Owens was a lucky boy and got to celebrate his Birthday two weekends in a row!! The weekend of his birthday we spent up with Joe, Heather and Family. We were invited to come and attend Kendall's recital and have a belated birthday celebration for her with all the Grandparents and rest of the Hurley/Delaney Family! We cruised up on Friday evening and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Hurley's. Saturday morning we headed to the hotel pool before we attended Kendal's recital. I was a little hesitant having to bring Owen but he did incredibly well. He was so excited by all the lights, sounds and tiny dancers!! That evening we enjoyed another great dinner and a small birthday celebration for Kendall. Grace and Kendall played together like two peas in a pod. I think they were both enjoying the sisterly relationship! It was SO cute to see them interact! The next day after all the Grandparents had gone we got to have some one on one time with Joe and Heather which was WAY overdue! It is so hard to have such good friends so far away! We enjoyed some lunch and then brought on the birthday cake for Owen!! As you can see from the slide show below he really got into it even though he was a little hesitant at first! It was a really special celebration and a wonderful weekend had by the whole King Family!!!
June 29th
Today we had Owen's official birthday party/open house with family and friends. We were expecting quite a big turnout and I was so worried about the weather all week long. Forecast called for a nice 70+ degree day with some occasional showers more toward the evening. Well, awakening to a beautiful morning I was psyched, however, not for long. We ended up with big gray clouds looming and off and on showers all day! With 20+ adults and 15+ kids I was a little worried if our house could handle it! Turns out there was nothing to worry about. All the kids were so well behaved and even though it made for limited space it all worked out just fine!! It was a great party and good to have everyone here to celebrate such a wonderful occasion! Owen had a blast with Grandparents, family and friends, I don't think he was set down all day long! When it came to cake time he was a pro and dug right in!
Later on that afternoon was the neighborhood 4th of July Doll and Buggy parade set up by a neighborhood Grandma!! Ended up that only a handful of us participated at the last minute but turned out to be a fun time anyhow! Better luck next year I guess! Grace got a first place ribbon for being the most patriotic with her decorated stroller and Nicki doll!
It turned out to be a wonderful day despite the weather!!

Owen's First Birthday!!

Recital Time!

The thrill and excitement of recital time! There's nothing like it! We kicked off things on the 19th with a performance at the Huntington Place Assisted Living where Grace's class performed for the residents. For her ballet number it ended up being just her and one other girl from her class and for tap just three total which was kind of neat for her. Then came this last week where we had dress rehearsal at the PAC on Wednesday night and performance on Saturday morning. Rehearsal went real well despite them missing one girl which kind of threw them off on their placement on stage. The day of the recital is always a crazy one and with it being in the morning it sure made a rush of things. Grace was up at 7:15 to eat and be to Cost Cutters for her hair at 8am. She had a little problem getting her breakfast to go down and complaining of a stomach ache, I'm betting it was a little nerves kicking in! Grace was excited to be getting her hair done and so was Mom with a little of the stress taken off my shoulders. We met Grace's friend Allie there and her sister Avery who were both in the recital. $40 later, YIKES, (I did walk into Cost Cutters right?), we were on our way home for make up and a costume change. On our way to the PAC Grace was complaining of her stomach ache, aka butterflies again! Mom was feeling them a little bit for her too, finding myself taking a few deep breathes on the way over. The performance went really well. It was SO neat to see her up there smiling and doing her very best, she truly seemed in her element. That girl sure has incredible stage presence. We made it through with minor mishaps. In ballet her friend Allie seemed to steal Grace's mark which in turn made Grace move around her to make sure she was in the right spot, gee imagine that. Then in tap poor Allie, next to Grace again, lost her tap shoe as she was doing a shuffle step. All in all it was a great day for Grace and she had SO much fun! She was really happy to have G&G Walsh, G. Tom and Aunt Linda and Cousin Kay there to watch. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice lunch, great weather and visiting with all who came!
Below is a slide show from the day of performance along with some pictures of us planting trees in the backyard on Sunday!!

Grace's Dance Recital 2008

Sick of sick....

Well, the last time I wrote was regarding Owen's ear infections. Well, after 10 days of antibiotics it hasn't let up. I took him into the doc today because of a bad cough only to find out that he still has the infections and Croup on top of it!! So, now we are on a different antibiotic and prednezone?
Tomorrow I take Grace in to find out what is going on with her green runny nose that she has had for the last month. I tell ya, we are starting to go broke on klenex!!
Anyway, we did have a really good weekend up north by my family! We spent the day with my Mom on Saturday and Aaron worked on reconfiguring her laundry room. Grace, Owen and I hung out with Grandma. We enjoyed grilling out and having dinner together and watching Owen chew on a corn cob! Sunday we woke at G&G Jack and Hollys and bummed around in the morning while Dad went and finished the Grandma project. Dad, Owen and I went for a nice walk. Later that afternoon we hung out and had roast and cheeseburgers on the grill. We had the entertainment of a spring storm with hail and tornado watches. Monday morning we awoke to a beautiful day, go figure its the day we head for home and are in the car for two hours. However we made the most of it. Aaron and Grandpa dug up a couple of trees up to plant in our yard and Holly was so nice to pot me a plant and give me a couple of tomato plants to enjoy! Then we went to lunch with my Mom and headed for home. It was a really great weekend to hang out with the Grandparents! It is so wonderful to watch them enjoy their grandchildren but so sad to head home and know that we can't have them close to us every day. Grace got a little upset and crying in this realization. I guess she is getting to that age where she knows that the Grandparent time is really special and a joyous time for her. I am just happy that she has such wonderful Grandparents to be with! We love you all..........

Mother's Day weekend

Well, I know I am a day late but thought I should update you all on our Mother's Day weekend and my sick little munchking!
Friday I left for my scrap booking weekend away in Lake Geneva with my friend Kris. We enjoyed a quiet dinner with some other Mom's and then headed back to the hotel conference room to get down to business! We ended up till 4:30am! I was then the first one back at it the next morning at 7am!! I returned late that evening and stayed up a short while to visit with Aaron and Kay. Kay had come down that morning and her, Aaron and Owen went to visit G&G Bystry while Grace attended a Brownie outing. Sunday morning I got the privilege of sleeping in but it was too hard hearing my little kiddos up and about. After being gone just 32 hours I sure was excited to be with them!! Aaron had cooked breakfast for us all and then Kay, Grace and I went out for a little shopping in Milton. Later on that afternoon Aaron took me to the Greenhouse in town to pick out my flowers for the front of the house!! For dinner Aaron cooked steak on the grill and treated us all to Cold Stone Creamery!! It was a really perfect day and the kids were angels as always! Grace and I seemed to share a special connection that day and it felt really nice since that tends to get away from us with the busy weeks of school and work.
As for little O, you can see by the photo that he isn't looking to well. Sunday morning he woke to gooey, red eyes. Our first thought was that we were sure it was pink eye. This morning I got him into the doc and come to find out he has a nasty double ear infection!! I guess because he has so much mucus it is coming out of his eyes. Poor little man. So, we are doing antibiotics for the next 10 days! So, that is where we are at for the start of the week. It is our last slow week before recital time kicks into high gear!!! Looking forward to seeing all of you that can make it! For those of you who can't I will be sure to post an update and pictures of the big day!

Lessons learned via email

Below is an email that I had gotten with a story about a lesson learned. I thought it was a good lesson for Grace to read so I had emailed it onto her. About a week later I had recieved an email back with her own written lesson. Below is the email I had passed onto her and Grace's lesson. Aaron and I were almost in tears after reading it!
NAIL IN THE FENCE
Make sure you read all the way down to the last sentence. (Most importantly the last sentence)
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.
His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the ! day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, 'You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put
a knife in a man and draw it out.
It won't matter how many times you say 'I'm sorry', the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.'
Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole.

There once was a little girl who got in trouble a lot.So the little girl went to the Mayor of the town.And he said to the little girl that when he was little like her he got in trouble a lot but he did not cry.He just sat there and whined.

Hope you all have learned something from the "Wisdom of Grace"!!
Love,
Sara

Gettin the hang of it!

WOW! This computer technology is incredible!! I think I am finally getting the hang of this! I was so proud of myself to be able to get this slide show put together and in the blog all by myself! I am a blogging Queen!! Anyway, there are some really great photos in the slide show that were just recently taken. The one of Owen with the Lady Bug in his mouth is just from today!!! Grace had this Lady Bug that has a suction cup on the back and Owen has decided to use it as a pacifier!! There is also a picture of him putting the blocks in his peek a blocks farm that he has been starting to do all by himself, over and over again!! As for Grace she is doing really well!! I can tell that she is ready for school to be done. It is getting harder and harder to get her out of bed in the morning! We are finished up with church class for the year and the recital at the end of the month will wrap up ballet and tap. We are waiting to hear on what she will get for summer school. She really wants to do piano and arts and crafts or gymnastics. Swimming lessons will follow summer school which she absolutely loves! It was a real bummer for her that we didn't get signed up in time for the spring lessons!
As for Aaron and I. Bill and Marilee were up last weekend. Bill and Aaron got a running start on our latest project, finishing the basement!!! They managed to get one whole wall framed!! Marilee and I did some shopping at the Croc outlet in Johnson Creek and then took Grace for pictures in her dance costume. It was really great having them here to help out! Thanks again, Bill and Marilee!!!
Well, I will end for now and come back another day with the latest!
Love to you all,
Sara

Keeping in touch....

Hello everyone! I got this wonderful idea of starting a blog from my Sister inlaw Amy!! Its a great way for me to update you daily or weekly on what is new in the life of the SAGO (SaraAaronGraceOwen) King family! I will post some photos for you as often as I can for you to see our growing kiddos!!! Hope you all enjoy this woderful way to keep in touch!!!
Sara