tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64009415970644570442024-02-18T23:31:24.350-06:00Chronicles of G ManLife and Times of our famJillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-80460999103444575342009-08-26T10:25:00.005-05:002009-08-26T13:30:30.940-05:00it's been awhilei haven't written for a really long time! i keep meaning to update but then i hadn't downloaded the photos and kept waiting until i got them downloaded. then- we download them to our new desktop computer and now i've been too lazy to actually sit up at night and post/upload. doing it from my couch or bed on the laptop just seemed to be sooo much easier.<br /><br />anyway - we have had a great summer. we had our big trip out west which was fantastic. of course i'm not on the computer now that has those photos, so i'll post photo updates later this week. for reals.<br /><br />we spent 5 days in san fran with my cousin, her husband james and baby jaden. awesome time. we did quite a bit. fireworks on the 4th from the boat, camping, golden gate park, muir woods, sonoma wine tasting, trolley and cable cars, fisherman's wharf area, berkeley, haight-ashbury area and lots of good wine, food and company. <br /><br />from sf, we went to boise to visit my grandma. she's in a nursing home and hasn't been feeling good...but she had a pretty good few days when we were out there and we managed to go out to dinner with my grandma, my aunt, uncle and cousins. great to see the family and catch up with everyone. we pretty much spent all of our time in boise seeing family and having griffin catch up on all of his sleep he missed while partying it up in sf.<br /><br />from boise we flew to spokane and hooked up with friends guy and dawn. we stayed with them and had a great time. saw the sights of spokane (isn't a whole lot to see), and caught up.<br />under normal circumstances i'm sure g would have been at the end of his rope by the time we got to spokane...but the bonus is that guy/dawn live on the top of a canyon that overlooks...TRAIN TRACKS. trains went by about every 20 minutes and he nearly exploded from excitement each and every time one went by.<br /><br />we managed to do lots of fun stuff and griffin got to do something train related every single day of our 10 day adventure. he still talks about all of the trains from our trip and it feels good to know we are creating such fun memories for him.<br /><br />coming back we were all pretty crabby for about 2 weeks. it was SUPER hard to adjust back to reality and the time zone. and griffin was used to eating whatever he wanted, staying up really late and basically being the center of everything. so - getting back to reality was tough!<br /><br />in other news....we have a new niece! Aliyah Grace Lawrence. Matt, Wendy, Alex, Andrew and Addi have welcomed their baby girl. and we are excited to meet her too!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgahraoan_M2qTED-fPxpI9AcU8EYX-bL_1OtZQfgqYzdeJ295r9NGz9pkH5AN6LZKUZsuLapS6tMnnsKC36LwWaGr6_5Suyx9fBV1hE1tiMjvZm_MUf0lqEV2ytaqD6RiaNlRZM5SqVuU/s1600-h/Aliyah+3.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgahraoan_M2qTED-fPxpI9AcU8EYX-bL_1OtZQfgqYzdeJ295r9NGz9pkH5AN6LZKUZsuLapS6tMnnsKC36LwWaGr6_5Suyx9fBV1hE1tiMjvZm_MUf0lqEV2ytaqD6RiaNlRZM5SqVuU/s400/Aliyah+3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374340893428752402" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQW_mvanpwpcs69oeygSIPwq1YsVnBMYwgM-AlAxPlHgcLTUtjABIQnIypg92OpWNmCznUSEbvv1v7nE24ana5_ryWDY4VMK4PMzQ43jmd8UuziZyirw0FJZFALu-4IUj3PEPbYHNPsU/s1600-h/Aliyah+1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQW_mvanpwpcs69oeygSIPwq1YsVnBMYwgM-AlAxPlHgcLTUtjABIQnIypg92OpWNmCznUSEbvv1v7nE24ana5_ryWDY4VMK4PMzQ43jmd8UuziZyirw0FJZFALu-4IUj3PEPbYHNPsU/s400/Aliyah+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374340882347466194" /></a><br /><br /><br />other things we've been up to: had a visit with my parents, my dad had back surgery, went to WI for grandpa bruce's b-day celebration and hung out with dave, cindy, aidan and reese, had some fun wedding-related activities for dyle, taken long bike rides, spending time with the krugers now that they are back in minne, dan had a guys cabin trip, g and i had a girls cabin night, g and i went back to WI for my hometown festival and i caught up with some great hs friends, hanging with jes before she leaves to australia for a 5-month adventure, gone to the beach, have done a lot of babysitting for friends, and dan ran another half marathon. i DO actually have pictures of that...<br />he did great once again. he had some knee/leg injury...so his training for this event was a little slower than the previous one...but he still was fabulous.<br /><br />here is griffin trying to give daddy a high five. it took about 5 attempts to actually do it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwF_LcIazdl5waQPDx7D1jVXNeW8kDYJ3HeYq5juBmOropNcM3bEuT4WJQJXuZoJfqxlfnq-6S3NLF7aRNUpdLMLpFYdQuGMSswjdAkwwRvvY5qPKT-RGEDSdM_X_tGblvgHVNBPtrguM/s1600-h/highfive1.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwF_LcIazdl5waQPDx7D1jVXNeW8kDYJ3HeYq5juBmOropNcM3bEuT4WJQJXuZoJfqxlfnq-6S3NLF7aRNUpdLMLpFYdQuGMSswjdAkwwRvvY5qPKT-RGEDSdM_X_tGblvgHVNBPtrguM/s400/highfive1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299035669670866" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6sTwHbfYK65kb_fVP5XAWvhchVmBDC5WZvgTxhr8cAXgS_bjlDKcVmteXkFWmp-5wDyciDEyPFj1Dhh0FhL81DyNicWGmChJdBCInrLKkOH2qdgVZpt4o0qWbRxi4IyS1_n4droR1Ug/s1600-h/highfive2.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 368px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6sTwHbfYK65kb_fVP5XAWvhchVmBDC5WZvgTxhr8cAXgS_bjlDKcVmteXkFWmp-5wDyciDEyPFj1Dhh0FhL81DyNicWGmChJdBCInrLKkOH2qdgVZpt4o0qWbRxi4IyS1_n4droR1Ug/s400/highfive2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299025372875634" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSUx5fzkZ8rrUbB7P8JqojfOhZEfMpQLodT35RKxQv-Pau75vjnAPt04-AxHfvzY2sUNDpoiIfRmAsEvVZvr2VVBbGcGkHiLS9Udib5q_GAa4VgI9_bLwp8LtGu5X6t8V-o0L1j21HOw/s1600-h/highfive3.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSUx5fzkZ8rrUbB7P8JqojfOhZEfMpQLodT35RKxQv-Pau75vjnAPt04-AxHfvzY2sUNDpoiIfRmAsEvVZvr2VVBbGcGkHiLS9Udib5q_GAa4VgI9_bLwp8LtGu5X6t8V-o0L1j21HOw/s400/highfive3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299016269876194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzD4OqkNDebzlKXNNv4AJ-w_htkZTZe7fqZ2emuEA3hcKpHoyrmTZW6TUvoS2GE6RZPPX3PGbHhD0RkTTm7tnp2MuGeNO7t4_AX2vtSMUG0fkd4EQgjcABhqL7wMzUNzYT5w2PKIL8dWM/s1600-h/highfive4.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzD4OqkNDebzlKXNNv4AJ-w_htkZTZe7fqZ2emuEA3hcKpHoyrmTZW6TUvoS2GE6RZPPX3PGbHhD0RkTTm7tnp2MuGeNO7t4_AX2vtSMUG0fkd4EQgjcABhqL7wMzUNzYT5w2PKIL8dWM/s400/highfive4.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299011035930706" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfzoQMVATQUKu2tIiOnvsFmNEAvYtvwjkwlQJPcXqXflbdDZ7zM5fnqpT_mIH_g2AsYleltxZLUg79dk2_HHbiWesrMFF0Qk7xqc6lQUZbC3DLAOrU0Wmrxglzau8RwwnC8GcR8FvZeo/s1600-h/highfive5.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 369px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfzoQMVATQUKu2tIiOnvsFmNEAvYtvwjkwlQJPcXqXflbdDZ7zM5fnqpT_mIH_g2AsYleltxZLUg79dk2_HHbiWesrMFF0Qk7xqc6lQUZbC3DLAOrU0Wmrxglzau8RwwnC8GcR8FvZeo/s400/highfive5.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299001882540514" /></a><br /><br />and finally - a family photo.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI_u1Gv4kJziYAU6AkKB9ZRfCAfFiYDENDijA_E9UpiTFR7qOvEBIX0DO3GuCaECkF2DKSru-N1QKmplrBNbJctY9OPrC4dZBOFIStpbNfTg9jHP_XgNNxl98klcd7zhvtwhJgNFZuSc/s1600-h/family.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI_u1Gv4kJziYAU6AkKB9ZRfCAfFiYDENDijA_E9UpiTFR7qOvEBIX0DO3GuCaECkF2DKSru-N1QKmplrBNbJctY9OPrC4dZBOFIStpbNfTg9jHP_XgNNxl98klcd7zhvtwhJgNFZuSc/s400/family.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374299383422707138" /></a><br /><br />it's been a good summer. it's gone by waaaay too fast, of course. but we have been enjoying every minute of it.<br /><br />this weekend brings grandma lynne (he calls her grandma precious) to town. we are also going to celebrate dyles wedding on saturday and then sunday dan does the minneapolis duathalon!!<br /><br />pictures of our trip to come.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-44006427224679743592009-06-16T15:35:00.005-05:002009-06-16T15:43:16.550-05:00dan's run!!i forgot one of the most important updates! i thought i had already written about this...it already seems so long ago.<br /><br />anyway, dan completed his half marathon (13.1 miles) in awesome time. he was shooting for an 8 minute mile and he ran it in 7:44 per mile.<br />his overall time was 1 hour and 41 minutes.<br />AND the most impressive thing...he was 158th place out of 2271 runners.<br /><br /><br />have a looksie.<br />he wouldn't let me post the photos of him in all of his shirtless glory...so this will have to do.<br /><br />also - our friends dina and jessica ran this too and did amazing. they both finished in amazing times and looked hot. (and not in just a sweaty kind of way)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrO-Gvk95h9vnFjhVPqR28dvy1D2p2zulq-7zpZGwCIwLKe6JOeIyDm2W9scNUCk-zN4Jcp79x2YT63cyzIiu9IYYx6KeBjMoOL4PchJGmXbK4Q0IsN7L1XO4kPWpUTTIbPZFvXPQxik/s1600-h/dan.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrO-Gvk95h9vnFjhVPqR28dvy1D2p2zulq-7zpZGwCIwLKe6JOeIyDm2W9scNUCk-zN4Jcp79x2YT63cyzIiu9IYYx6KeBjMoOL4PchJGmXbK4Q0IsN7L1XO4kPWpUTTIbPZFvXPQxik/s400/dan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348028260574667874" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-85864240494479732162009-06-16T14:26:00.002-05:002009-06-16T14:44:26.936-05:00where does time go?i was so set on keeping this up more regularly when i first started and now it's already mid-june and i haven't updated since the end of may.<br /><br />we've been busy and having fun.<br /><br />early june brought the krugers back into town. it's been awesome having them here. <br /><br />this past weekend:<br />friday night was spent celebrating melissa's birthday. a great time had...as well as way too many drinks.<br />saturday, once i finally felt semi-human - we found a cool new park in bloomington that g loved. it's called "chutes and ladders". it was totally like that board game. windy slides, lots of climbing and he really was being adventurous, so that was good to see.<br />we followed that up with dinner at a place on the light rail line...and of course g sat there in amazement the whole time watching the trains.<br /><br />sunday dan and i celebrated our 6 year anniversary. laura, lee and mallory were kind enough to take griffin with them to the zoo and keep him for the afternoon, so dan and i spent the day canoeing, hiking, picnicking and even hit the local swimming pool. a really great day to just enjoy each others company and remember what life what like before having a child (i think we spent time talking about him, of course...but nice to have times like that)<br /><br /><br />of course the train obsession continues. we got griffin's room all together and he's loving it. we have pictures on his walls of train things that we've taken through the last year or two. we also got one of those big yellow RR signs as well as the white crossbucks that say railroad crossing.<br />the first night he slept in there with the photos on the wall he said goodnight to each and every train photo.<br />"good night trolley"<br />"good night osceola train"<br />"good night jackson street round house"<br /><br />pretty cute.<br /><br />so a couple of break-throughs this week:<br />miss yvonne has been reporting that griffin has been trying fruits lately. i half didn't believe her because we try ALL.THE.TIME. to get him to eat fruits and veggies.<br />so, last night we gave him watermelon and he exclaimed that it tasted just like candy! and he proceeded to eat the whole dish.<br />and apparently he had the same sentiment about kiwi too.<br /><br />the other thing is he spent all evening playing with the neighbor kid last night. this is a big deal because typically he doesn't want to play with many other kids...he just wants to hang out with mom and dad (which of course we love...but we try to encourage playing with other kids too). now granted - they had an electric train setup in the basement and apparently he spent the whole time laying on the floor watching it go around and around...but griffin asked if he could go over there and play and he was there about an hour and a half!<br /><br />dan and i didn't know what to do with ourselves...we sat outside for awhile waiting for him to come out at any moment...but after awhile, we decided to go do our own thing and managed to get our exercise and dishes done. this socializing thing could be a whole new world for us!<br /><br />the neighbor reported that griffin sang them the entire song of "folsom prison" by johnny cash. even the "i shot a man in reno, just to watch him die" part. ooops.<br />i think the train at the beginning of the song is what turned him onto it.<br /><br />so, that pretty much sums it up.<br /><br />dan's good - taking a bit of a running break until he gets his knee looked at. still signed up for some half marathons though. work is still at 80% for him - but they are hopeful it'll come around after summer (fridays off aren't too bad...it's just getting used to the reduced pay that still needs to be worked out)<br /><br />my job is busy and stable and i continue to love it. and i still don't love running.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-50699482566820686482009-05-27T21:51:00.008-05:002009-05-27T22:14:12.173-05:00may updates in photosit's been awhile. we've been keeping busy. as the following picts will show...we've done a LOT of train things. this boy is really into it..so it's fun.<br />in all of the pictures, he's pretty much hanging out the window!<br /><br />anyway, a good few weeks. <br /><br />we took a trip to chicago to see our nieces dance recital. aidan and reese were super cute and it was so awesome to see g interacting with his cousins.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs5CvvjCzULxOBVy_u_FvddYggGed8NdcMy3NL_kJz9TM32WUy0IdN2NadVegAiHf-9FuXmEI3302zkOZQ4uDcxo1i0-DTShYpeTGWpoBbxIe01qem-8m3jDv-CRL8P-RwZFbErb10Kw/s1600-h/cousins.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs5CvvjCzULxOBVy_u_FvddYggGed8NdcMy3NL_kJz9TM32WUy0IdN2NadVegAiHf-9FuXmEI3302zkOZQ4uDcxo1i0-DTShYpeTGWpoBbxIe01qem-8m3jDv-CRL8P-RwZFbErb10Kw/s400/cousins.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340703656646162066" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxoYT05pWssj2ETOfMsrEZP13Jixant7YvXadXL2_oYECKJHTIZIOHBys179936j07DlKK8EK2o9qel0Sk8DzxPkxDmCm2SiokwFCVPUtydDJCYDriX5ukGi1Nw1pA4TP1KPEmBkty9A/s1600-h/gdancerecital.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxoYT05pWssj2ETOfMsrEZP13Jixant7YvXadXL2_oYECKJHTIZIOHBys179936j07DlKK8EK2o9qel0Sk8DzxPkxDmCm2SiokwFCVPUtydDJCYDriX5ukGi1Nw1pA4TP1KPEmBkty9A/s400/gdancerecital.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340703668795250898" /></a><br /><br />we hit his favorite chicago restaurant...the choo choo restaurant.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpmp9YDVaLEP1RNEGw-PmnFFU7cj1NDzNsbcxpNL6GzSw55fgamiP3KxEkx4iUvbcN-y1aLL5HWFP8srQXvo-ZhFomkb5aOcPRtqRkxZKLeiYsgQ6ADU8BUuzB_H0TD6pVYzUIb3ZQpM/s1600-h/gtrainsign.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpmp9YDVaLEP1RNEGw-PmnFFU7cj1NDzNsbcxpNL6GzSw55fgamiP3KxEkx4iUvbcN-y1aLL5HWFP8srQXvo-ZhFomkb5aOcPRtqRkxZKLeiYsgQ6ADU8BUuzB_H0TD6pVYzUIb3ZQpM/s400/gtrainsign.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704128193467186" /></a><br />a train pulls the food out to the customers. i don't think g could get any closer:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsHPulPLbSHID9qm7n24jVGHA0igPLQrTPa7D8JBsywFW_bCqEHCi8sXQzbrcpmcoUzDhhWXV0LGyNplm9ukcswbgvMK7YrAVUboWNzBlDs0fjvbqePwhWBEVOlLgOmOCTgSHo2Zg7WQ/s1600-h/grestauranttrain.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsHPulPLbSHID9qm7n24jVGHA0igPLQrTPa7D8JBsywFW_bCqEHCi8sXQzbrcpmcoUzDhhWXV0LGyNplm9ukcswbgvMK7YrAVUboWNzBlDs0fjvbqePwhWBEVOlLgOmOCTgSHo2Zg7WQ/s400/grestauranttrain.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704118386153922" /></a><br /><br />but the highlight of the trip was taking the el train around town. he is still talking about it...and how you have to "stay behind the blue line".<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstmt32aTACBTzsmtTBsQ5iLeyRvRDZBx-JpxCxIqnJIjXaGSTSu2F9qWj33lXPuh9HxBEpbgzwlE9HkTSiZ2t5_h1NmS_QAm0FkLIhcPcEuWfnuOGJwBm2ZfPjrf8MdhIQX66Y73dUh8/s1600-h/aidangriffel.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstmt32aTACBTzsmtTBsQ5iLeyRvRDZBx-JpxCxIqnJIjXaGSTSu2F9qWj33lXPuh9HxBEpbgzwlE9HkTSiZ2t5_h1NmS_QAm0FkLIhcPcEuWfnuOGJwBm2ZfPjrf8MdhIQX66Y73dUh8/s400/aidangriffel.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340703649819347666" /></a><br /><br />he and aidan waved goodbye to the el:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-6vbttWLlonL5hy2N_4qz0GdoiEiWO0XAPWMW070FdH0ZulzjM65KWBhKfChIrPGsU90JmqxaIWP_s5ULIkhZfGicu8W3inzHLCRSYA0nhmxlHITKFpN5lYN2yfV6__7SH7-9U99Xoo/s1600-h/wavingtoel.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-6vbttWLlonL5hy2N_4qz0GdoiEiWO0XAPWMW070FdH0ZulzjM65KWBhKfChIrPGsU90JmqxaIWP_s5ULIkhZfGicu8W3inzHLCRSYA0nhmxlHITKFpN5lYN2yfV6__7SH7-9U99Xoo/s400/wavingtoel.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704324278431058" /></a><br /><br />we've been working on griffin's new room. dan's been busy sanding, scraping, painting and getting everything put together. it shouldn't be too much longer. g even picked the accent wall color. (he says blue is his favorite color).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkohRIcIuTImLDMDjQWkc8L3jYCV3ZAuGgZrU_31I2CPMHBKkZyWeW_d6vR9RsoJ3rfLW-AMBGwytBVkR0EW7Ocn8436Qzkb9jChpCCbz1Khqgj_f6Bhtd8i6nrOXjTRqlmqGunyi2rGQ/s1600-h/dan&gpaint.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkohRIcIuTImLDMDjQWkc8L3jYCV3ZAuGgZrU_31I2CPMHBKkZyWeW_d6vR9RsoJ3rfLW-AMBGwytBVkR0EW7Ocn8436Qzkb9jChpCCbz1Khqgj_f6Bhtd8i6nrOXjTRqlmqGunyi2rGQ/s400/dan&gpaint.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340703657133968578" /></a><br /><br />griffin and i went to cheer our friend dina on at her duathalon. she rocked.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNp2xlhuzUYDHzS4hbgqjY8RlxfCojkQ86ocULxy-9-RJTROV_jM7TwNN8KGvhL_Wr2ZCOGheUXyd9D4klqLk-IA3LSYcLHkKYBbztEfDd-tnQuKQ_nsdBYKnEP2TuM2gsIqyewb1JXls/s1600-h/dina.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNp2xlhuzUYDHzS4hbgqjY8RlxfCojkQ86ocULxy-9-RJTROV_jM7TwNN8KGvhL_Wr2ZCOGheUXyd9D4klqLk-IA3LSYcLHkKYBbztEfDd-tnQuKQ_nsdBYKnEP2TuM2gsIqyewb1JXls/s400/dina.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340705212806932354" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp-PvS4gVr0oy1dX1yDiz7rhy9PPqqYIKgmUWET4KZa2gcN4izHl7OypuTX-E7if5E_0zGEwQe_wDJH4Kd7T6eymCUiUJ6t47yGstLJ0nrR39ZqyqhK_1g0WrMrxzyGRYjkH5a4TtAbQ/s1600-h/mom&g.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp-PvS4gVr0oy1dX1yDiz7rhy9PPqqYIKgmUWET4KZa2gcN4izHl7OypuTX-E7if5E_0zGEwQe_wDJH4Kd7T6eymCUiUJ6t47yGstLJ0nrR39ZqyqhK_1g0WrMrxzyGRYjkH5a4TtAbQ/s400/mom&g.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704319141203890" /></a><br /><br />this past weekend was a great long holiday weekend. dan and i went to a twins/brewers baseball game which was a lot of fun. then went to pie's surprise 40th.<br /><br />on sunday we met the friedrichs in taylors falls and did a boat ride. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69xz7ct1vZaMGmtosc_kax96TlWBhVYauc_C7OgbOkgGqJoDdtdjiVIPWzrYIeVEQMO2IHY3gNXYlJVX4ECvdd7m9h__ntZDxDdMzcxK_aJyjnRqxwOQmif5ezTXD5hBGwwnkEI26-D4/s1600-h/griffinboat.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69xz7ct1vZaMGmtosc_kax96TlWBhVYauc_C7OgbOkgGqJoDdtdjiVIPWzrYIeVEQMO2IHY3gNXYlJVX4ECvdd7m9h__ntZDxDdMzcxK_aJyjnRqxwOQmif5ezTXD5hBGwwnkEI26-D4/s400/griffinboat.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704122586964418" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3bdHO5OnQiZfWJGOadzMxzKLwmn6wX8d59kUK4a9D0B19MAvqOWJOJIr_ewJglxNQnOxtNdKebM9rvtNZ1gDMaOs8bdZgYJegqCF_DQEf4KgnaSeHjHkLI1lkjCo84EPskMj9hsR4KA/s1600-h/gglasses.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3bdHO5OnQiZfWJGOadzMxzKLwmn6wX8d59kUK4a9D0B19MAvqOWJOJIr_ewJglxNQnOxtNdKebM9rvtNZ1gDMaOs8bdZgYJegqCF_DQEf4KgnaSeHjHkLI1lkjCo84EPskMj9hsR4KA/s400/gglasses.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340703671258864098" /></a><br /><br />the weather couldn't have been better. the kids were great and we decided to go 10 miles to osceola, wi and go on a train ride. g loved it.<br />he and jimmy are super buds:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Jwu8hsmc3SJhyWZ4sS6Ju1YuDS9VyvCvTS1IOz0WfYpA9kSnXsfgSQvyzsTbBGyBij7Q_c7bO9SSEHVo06Ea0nip0arJOC9dYukVzvVXkoDlIimMLPluG53VhyphenhyphenhHLg1P_bIEV8qJ6EY/s1600-h/jimmygriffintrain.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Jwu8hsmc3SJhyWZ4sS6Ju1YuDS9VyvCvTS1IOz0WfYpA9kSnXsfgSQvyzsTbBGyBij7Q_c7bO9SSEHVo06Ea0nip0arJOC9dYukVzvVXkoDlIimMLPluG53VhyphenhyphenhHLg1P_bIEV8qJ6EY/s400/jimmygriffintrain.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704134875383618" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUI8PwH8xkOVNXHsIKA1V8TVM6st3e0MWsFhBZeHljwuWGYqQcTvxbMHgv14GDbOYz6vpnhyAg8bCw3Bkg_1nO-QqvqtHQIO4pgSaJbTPdiq_ayMjBJ0EqM3Nv8NDVWAdqA38dr-twbs/s1600-h/j>rainwindow.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUI8PwH8xkOVNXHsIKA1V8TVM6st3e0MWsFhBZeHljwuWGYqQcTvxbMHgv14GDbOYz6vpnhyAg8bCw3Bkg_1nO-QqvqtHQIO4pgSaJbTPdiq_ayMjBJ0EqM3Nv8NDVWAdqA38dr-twbs/s400/j>rainwindow.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340704130362408914" /></a><br />we followed up the day going to their house for an impromptu bbq and enjoying the weather.<br /><br />a great couple of weeks - it's crazy how time flys and we are already starting the summer!!<br /><br />dan runs his 1/2 marathon on sunday. he's going to be awesome. looking forward to cheering him on!!Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-53773076485209283292009-05-08T13:57:00.003-05:002009-05-08T14:22:26.068-05:00yay for mayi'm thrilled the weather is nicer. but it sux because with the changes of weather has come another COLD! i feel that i've pretty much had a cold for the last 6-8 months. sure, i have a week or two of feeling fine...but then it comes back. <br />this time around i feel ok...just a sinus headache and a persistent cough that annoys the household in the middle of the night. i think i'm banished to the basement this weekend.<br /><br />anyway - despite that - we are doing well.<br /><br />last weekend..what did we do...oh, we took the light rail downtown to see a "thomas the train" performance at the target center. the light rail ride was the best part.<br />of course griffin liked it...but OH MY...was this cheeeeze e. grown adults romping around on stage. i told dan we should have played a drinking game on how many times sir topham hatt said "your a really "useful" engine". (or mostly he told them they were NOT useful engines. what a dick.)<br />anyway - our sweet boy liked it well enough, so of course it was worth enduring the pain. a $5 soft pretzel with $1 cheese sauce didn't hurt either.<br />i do have to say though---griffin lit up the most on the light rail.<br /><br />sunday brought great weather and g and i went to the powderhorn park mayday festival/parade. it was nice to just walk around the park. the parade was a bit of a bust for us...we were at the very end of the route and the parade-participants kinda gave up by that point and half of them just veered off the course before passing us. griffin liked running up and down a hill over and over though. wore me out, but it was good fun.<br /><br />dan's been busy painting and doing house projects. we are switching griffin to a new room (train themed room, of course). dan's been sanding, priming and painting a lot and it's looking great. our goal is to have the man sleeping in there by memorial day. we still have a lot to do, but it's coming together.<br /><br />this week has been fairly uneventful. of course my excuse for my lack of exercise is this cold...but that can only last so long..since i apparently have a chronic cold. (and a side note: i have made a dr. appointment. big step..since i do a lot of complaining but never actually GO to the doctor)<br /><br />we had a small incident at daycare this week that we are feeling a bit sad about (a couple kids ganging up on the sweet little bird). he is such a sweet, sensitive kid that wants to please people and of course as a parent i worry that people will take advantage of that down the road. i'm looking forward to the krugers moving here...maybe chloe can show griffin how to be a bit more sassy and assertive!!<br /><br />anyway, we are helping him through and he is thriving in so many ways. i feel so lucky to have such a sweet, caring and thoughtful child. he will definitely do good things and i can only hope he touches others the way he has us and makes his sweet little mark on this world.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-78225563264359852222009-04-30T21:49:00.003-05:002009-04-30T22:02:58.232-05:00photo updatesfinally uploading some photos:<br />easter morning...on the egg hunt<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kXJbuESGwjci6wJoIu9T7-lX5hm6DxZWPhKZkeBNaCXRUyhyphenhyphenBu8dCLbPoo5ek_PKf7GwYryd4hWZfW2yOx6fKGdL43nHphBq_Y442M3aheYtv2at9wfYmtWkwdtD9fQqr-teapSQkMA/s1600-h/egghunt.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kXJbuESGwjci6wJoIu9T7-lX5hm6DxZWPhKZkeBNaCXRUyhyphenhyphenBu8dCLbPoo5ek_PKf7GwYryd4hWZfW2yOx6fKGdL43nHphBq_Y442M3aheYtv2at9wfYmtWkwdtD9fQqr-teapSQkMA/s400/egghunt.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330683308469065730" /></a><br /><br />some of the kids he hunted eggs with<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GpmibnEXngM9faHxkHrGpKD4g5OvUmWPqhqWAZFZehpeZvV-N1DjpNY37Z6wHC3TXdD5ri67BKWBVjOiAKf9y7cId8opWsDKJFfM8Ot4mMmLY6ybKVbcEQHitTd8sIEYtuwJVXzfX0k/s1600-h/egghuntkids.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GpmibnEXngM9faHxkHrGpKD4g5OvUmWPqhqWAZFZehpeZvV-N1DjpNY37Z6wHC3TXdD5ri67BKWBVjOiAKf9y7cId8opWsDKJFfM8Ot4mMmLY6ybKVbcEQHitTd8sIEYtuwJVXzfX0k/s400/egghuntkids.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330683312098879442" /></a><br /><br />sweater vest for easter (not sure how long i'll get away with dressing him in sv's)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DHGWRh_StGUzMldVJPGpvMdaE4g_Mf6O2noRnEpocjBvDthOJ_53wBIgkvBa7TbrG9N3gqPSvbsJJQ10hMZJCjaU_9Nz8urFHRXc2v8uP8oy4MN4NloZaeZufkDlgCXuK0x2ALjqxAY/s1600-h/easteroutfit.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DHGWRh_StGUzMldVJPGpvMdaE4g_Mf6O2noRnEpocjBvDthOJ_53wBIgkvBa7TbrG9N3gqPSvbsJJQ10hMZJCjaU_9Nz8urFHRXc2v8uP8oy4MN4NloZaeZufkDlgCXuK0x2ALjqxAY/s400/easteroutfit.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330683315202824322" /></a><br /><br />chillin' at the breakfast table<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieP8aaj8rp0DFPm9lCWTqNn3YIsTKRPuwey_KHXPDj-VLwPpYwBms_vCwvMXKPYSoDpohI6t1uTweWVyxNaNxj0WrfPRDlWkRX1bOQGi2UT1cNhuu6biJYsUEkPTAbG6Qpd2xzIoQnAEo/s1600-h/breakfastglasses.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieP8aaj8rp0DFPm9lCWTqNn3YIsTKRPuwey_KHXPDj-VLwPpYwBms_vCwvMXKPYSoDpohI6t1uTweWVyxNaNxj0WrfPRDlWkRX1bOQGi2UT1cNhuu6biJYsUEkPTAbG6Qpd2xzIoQnAEo/s400/breakfastglasses.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330683318070478066" /></a><br /><br />at the zoo with cousins. (uncle matt, auntie wendy, alex, andrew and addi came to visit for a couple of days. we had a great time with them and griffin loved being with his cousins). they are expecting a baby girl this fall!)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLQXstYhXnyCrdqP0L4tA49OwW7UqyswOR5nc_Ycr0k6jPC1gWh4VcfKtekVP1jE1PeDr1EJYuTaBTjs4f0NrOoXl3hN0f5becNmSBkAcsVsmUrHGvv-r9enpafke0j7_v8aSiHOB6k0/s1600-h/cousinszoo.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLQXstYhXnyCrdqP0L4tA49OwW7UqyswOR5nc_Ycr0k6jPC1gWh4VcfKtekVP1jE1PeDr1EJYuTaBTjs4f0NrOoXl3hN0f5becNmSBkAcsVsmUrHGvv-r9enpafke0j7_v8aSiHOB6k0/s400/cousinszoo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330683318432127250" /></a><br /><br />g and dan in front of the monorail at the zoo<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGotQiMSVANL-I9wjXdQWcmR7Tl-G_grwnwbLknutaAGrdoWRQ_MOdN3CXLhMMnL1H5788IDLkmDUv6MQGNeT2GjvpUFGtRKwIaWDokYLCyxxssVVQ4aAAbntFgqIuXwKWfgNalSzyyPU/s1600-h/monorailzoo.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGotQiMSVANL-I9wjXdQWcmR7Tl-G_grwnwbLknutaAGrdoWRQ_MOdN3CXLhMMnL1H5788IDLkmDUv6MQGNeT2GjvpUFGtRKwIaWDokYLCyxxssVVQ4aAAbntFgqIuXwKWfgNalSzyyPU/s400/monorailzoo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330684694703051202" /></a><br /><br />griff holding his ticket for the jackson street roundhouse (train museum) - he didn't want to let go of it...he was super excited!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3HBUvUqlH_xA5-b5ebRerjDTwpYgzVjNw19XXXyNNEbBUQHVIWzzNMfXBAaukM6c10NnftDgx_Yu81bQHueQiJB42ieX-kXEARnWDsaKGLNz61_SKN5pxSc86p5PTpGLIz9Wh-52zg8/s1600-h/trainticket.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3HBUvUqlH_xA5-b5ebRerjDTwpYgzVjNw19XXXyNNEbBUQHVIWzzNMfXBAaukM6c10NnftDgx_Yu81bQHueQiJB42ieX-kXEARnWDsaKGLNz61_SKN5pxSc86p5PTpGLIz9Wh-52zg8/s400/trainticket.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330684689583006946" /></a><br /><br />at the helm<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZEXl0QmzdYYlZ277_OPcyR7dkFxFut83mhJMPvuYBnflLR1SnocZQMfvWdDP9nhPOJsTY7moaRASEbMFKlj25jm7HPS-DraTninvVqGp-kBM2yaJ7Gr-51As-6uA3OEz7KrhDGyv8Gco/s1600-h/trainmuseum.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZEXl0QmzdYYlZ277_OPcyR7dkFxFut83mhJMPvuYBnflLR1SnocZQMfvWdDP9nhPOJsTY7moaRASEbMFKlj25jm7HPS-DraTninvVqGp-kBM2yaJ7Gr-51As-6uA3OEz7KrhDGyv8Gco/s400/trainmuseum.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330684686718361106" /></a><br /><br />the boy loves his trains<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj98rMt3NVI6OTPBQY8eTfcmdW-WrTgO6sEiJqATs8yRJioU5uyXJe96CrurDGXv2d3Z2tAoSGzHmczRJLTydjcY3fnSmvWy-C4sbSVvH9FvP6QFa07RhgLmcLM7Oj6Jcpks-mnaZD_Pv8/s1600-h/train.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj98rMt3NVI6OTPBQY8eTfcmdW-WrTgO6sEiJqATs8yRJioU5uyXJe96CrurDGXv2d3Z2tAoSGzHmczRJLTydjcY3fnSmvWy-C4sbSVvH9FvP6QFa07RhgLmcLM7Oj6Jcpks-mnaZD_Pv8/s400/train.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330684683249575074" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-2677500481815485582009-04-23T15:44:00.004-05:002009-04-23T16:11:06.592-05:00updatei realized it's been quite awhile since i've updated. i hate letting too much time pass, since i use this to reference what we've been up to, and like to keep a journal of what is new.<br /><br />dan and i had a date night a couple weeks ago. it was good...except we were home and in bed by 8:30 or so! we had an OVERNIGHT babysitter lined up (thanks to a sweet babysitting exchange we do with our friends beth and jason). <br />anyway, we drop g off and head to dinner. we decide to go to this burger and fries joint that people have been raving about. except dan and i really haven't eaten fried stuff for so long. so, we start the meal out with cheese curds (which were horrible) and then proceeded to get our burger and fries (and dan got tots). <br />neither of us finished our meal because we were basically doubled over in pain from eating so much grease. the cheese curds totally ruined it. the burgers were good. of course that didn't stop us from going and getting ice cream cones from DQ. of course not. if you already feel like shit, you may as well stick a bit more fat in your body. <br />so, our wild night sans child turned into us in bed at 8:30...both complaining about how bad our stomaches hurt. we did manage to watch slumdog millionaire, so at least we achieved something good.<br />i will say though...the morning was fantastic! rather than wake up and watch cartoons, we both got up and ran (dan 12 miles...me a measly 2), then i still managed to go to target and grocery shop...all before picking the man up at 10 a.m.<br />he had a great time with his friends, but of course it was awesome to see him.<br /><br />that night we babysat for jake and sam over at their house. griffin liked playing with his cousins, and i love spending time with them, and teaching them funny dances and words to say to their parents..<br /><br />then easter was on that sunday. griffin was doing a bit of a croup cough for some reason that a.m., so he got up super early and we had to do the steam and go outside trick. bleh. after a few hours he seemed to be doing fine and we had a little easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. he loved it. it was cute to see the little kiddos hunting for their eggs.<br />we had a nice breakfast and then went to church, where griffin exclaimed loudly during service that his "peeny was a little warm". i think he also asked if he could touch my boobs too somewhere in there. ooops.<br />it was a great lazy day though just hanging with the fam.<br />griffin continued this horribly early wake-up on monday and we had to repeat the routine. but again after a few hours he was doing fine and able to go to daycare.<br /><br />this past weekend griffin and i traveled to wisconsin. dan stayed home and was able to make some headway on griffins room (we are redoing it). he also had a couple concerts to attend. sounds like 1 of them stunk and the other one was awesome. dan also managed to surprise me and had purchased a new piece of furniture for our living room...its a stereo cabinet and it is awesome!!! it was great coming home to a sweet looking living room.<br />griffin and i had a great time. friday we just hung with my parents. saturday g, grandpa and i went to breakfast then the boys got haircuts. my mom and i hung out while griffin napped and then that night i spent the evening with some good friends. we had a little get-together in honor of my friend julie. it was awesome to see some old friends i haven't seen since high school, and of course catching up with other friends. a good time was had by all and it was lovely to be able to be there. <br /><br />this week has been busy - i've had training for work a few days and trying to catch up from being gone.<br /><br />dan has been continuing to do awesome with his running. he's been doing 1 long run per week (about 12 miles) and 4 of the other days he's doing between 3-6 miles. he's amazing and has totally gotten fit.<br />i'm working at it still...i'm in week 6 of my training program and still hate running...but it is getting a bit easier i guess. i know it's all mental.<br /><br />griffin continues to amaze us. he knows all of his upper and lower case letters. and when we are driving he'll read the letters on the sign (he doesn't know how to spell it out to see what they say, but still...he knows them! <br />he still isn't interested in writing or coloring...but mizz yvonne says that is next on her agenda...so that's good. we try and encourage it, but of course since we don't see him that much in a day...we just want to play and love on the boy at night.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-68603854912787771062009-04-06T15:53:00.003-05:002009-04-06T16:00:58.689-05:00grandma's visitwe had a great weekend. dan's mom came to town and spent the weekend with us. dan and i both had to work friday, so she spent the day with griffin. they went to the park, played around and had a great time.<br />over the weekend we managed to color easter eggs, go to the library, get our new bed delivered (yes!), go out to dinner, buy some frames for all the artwork we have for our living room, dan ran a 10-miler, and just generally have a nice, relaxed weekend.<br /><br />griffin learned a new trick...hanging a spoon from his nose.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsSmn_sfWGZDp6o24s5ivVgz6NjUP6z_834s5wJnMI7VcHK5tyBJAhduKXjB4rqujMTYxsjaA2nuVh8CCX5rELpe-5g4upSLh0SeEo3ZBXoEPq1d5tWAvYPifsVU5zwjFqKC4OSANO6U/s1600-h/IMG_6863.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsSmn_sfWGZDp6o24s5ivVgz6NjUP6z_834s5wJnMI7VcHK5tyBJAhduKXjB4rqujMTYxsjaA2nuVh8CCX5rELpe-5g4upSLh0SeEo3ZBXoEPq1d5tWAvYPifsVU5zwjFqKC4OSANO6U/s400/IMG_6863.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321685097865525442" /></a><br />i'm so proud. that trick will come in handy, i'm sure, down the road.<br /><br />in other GREAT news...our friend lee is cancer-free! we are so relieved. he had a scan a couple of months ago that showed enlarged lymphnodes, so he had to do some further tests to make sure his cancer he had 2 years ago hasn't come back. there was a stressful waiting period for them...but in the end...he's free and clear! excellent.<br /><br />here is a collage of g photos grandma lawrence put together..<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipTeG67bkQrJpaVeOgdB6IDMJeaB6G-AJthJ0u9gZvcw2WiWuBBBves8r79MrVWtAKEfNTjh7w6As6sPZ7-EjXfSxmspepqYawJFhhH4lE8-7qtwqba2rSRCOH_ceNvn7yP-sUsTl3h4/s1600-h/Griffin+1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipTeG67bkQrJpaVeOgdB6IDMJeaB6G-AJthJ0u9gZvcw2WiWuBBBves8r79MrVWtAKEfNTjh7w6As6sPZ7-EjXfSxmspepqYawJFhhH4lE8-7qtwqba2rSRCOH_ceNvn7yP-sUsTl3h4/s400/Griffin+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321686142394819986" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-46393601112361450332009-03-30T13:51:00.003-05:002009-03-30T14:58:31.729-05:00updateswe have had a great few weeks here.<br />griffin and i have managed to pass the same cold back to one another though. he still has a bit of it and i do as well. i'm sure the changing of the weather isn't helping at all.<br /><br />this past weekend i met up with some high school friends for dinner on friday. great catching up with them and fun to hear what they are up to. hopefully we'll keep in touch now!<br />although when i got out to my car after dinner (it was kinda late) someone had sprayed shaving cream all over my drivers side door. LAME. <br /><br />saturday dan did his long run and g and i spent the morning outside playing. he's getting really good at riding his trike...he loves it. although when i pulled out his little bike to try riding that, he didn't like that so much. he got really mad and kicked it and said, "i can't do it!" awww -learning new things is never easy.<br />we spent the rest of the day just hanging out, playing, napping and then went to the park and rented movies. we were supposed to go out with some neighbors but it was cancelled, so we cancelled our babysitter. i felt crappy anyway, so it worked out fine.<br /><br />yesterday we bought a new mattress. i can't WAIT until we get it. it's like sleeping on clouds. it better be for how expensive it was. then ran some errands and i did a workout over griffin's nap.<br /><br />last monday i went to get my foot looked at. after rollerblading i had horrible pain shooting up my foot/leg. last winter a doctor told me i had a bunion which required surgery (god, i'm like 90 years old). i decided to go into another doctor after i was in such bad pain (all stemmed from wearing tall boots.) anyway - he tells me it's hallux limitus (which is basically arthritis in my toe) - so, i guess i really am 90! i don't know what is worse - a bunion or arthritis! this procedure also requires surgery and he says it won't get better and will only get worse.<br />i'm just having a really hard time bending my big toe, which leads me to walk on the side of my foot to compensate. It's making exercise a pain.<br />i know i should get it fixed, but it's starting to feel better this week, so in typical fashion, i will probably avoid for awhile.<br />basically - i have to accept that i can't wear shoes that are cute. <br />my extra wide hoof can't hack the trendy boots and heels anymore.<br />i'm going to have to start buying these:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVySlEglb2Gvd4MMaq05uhI_S_MRErf9CFiH1mcSj5JyB6hOlS_wZlgoR8Jut7fqVWpVQWSK8bHECc8CNZviJpxDdyL6AMMOjRVHVtwZeReRVaakrbTxIOXHO-7qn16Znmo6Q_KuvN5I/s1600-h/yhst-11400100427085_2047_42700403.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVySlEglb2Gvd4MMaq05uhI_S_MRErf9CFiH1mcSj5JyB6hOlS_wZlgoR8Jut7fqVWpVQWSK8bHECc8CNZviJpxDdyL6AMMOjRVHVtwZeReRVaakrbTxIOXHO-7qn16Znmo6Q_KuvN5I/s320/yhst-11400100427085_2047_42700403.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319070266630724210" /></a><br />or these:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3dsTDxggamto2mMVlZ2m5IqesEviSMpsOzSv0aZPRdQe7ujXrdMUnvjiZZgbjxBKIuz_uA-uA2Dht9sFPzQ-DyMEfyswYOWFuCctseFk5hPyiLp0pL7oJDrwLVsQAy89xn5tStieO44/s1600-h/yhst-11400100427085_2043_21383921.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3dsTDxggamto2mMVlZ2m5IqesEviSMpsOzSv0aZPRdQe7ujXrdMUnvjiZZgbjxBKIuz_uA-uA2Dht9sFPzQ-DyMEfyswYOWFuCctseFk5hPyiLp0pL7oJDrwLVsQAy89xn5tStieO44/s320/yhst-11400100427085_2043_21383921.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319070255903523490" /></a><br />or these:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhEDLxt9nZeUMr6m3I_bGq5HFquwJx827z4ktWRaSUi778Rw4CgrZKwVirQYk8ptAndrT4DJ54IRWBjs-kxAkVk_502qeAYhBgSZQbcyh9th9QVB5OfCiJmUHeo9O80hB2-Ge8RcDocc/s1600-h/10600_largest.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhEDLxt9nZeUMr6m3I_bGq5HFquwJx827z4ktWRaSUi778Rw4CgrZKwVirQYk8ptAndrT4DJ54IRWBjs-kxAkVk_502qeAYhBgSZQbcyh9th9QVB5OfCiJmUHeo9O80hB2-Ge8RcDocc/s320/10600_largest.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319070250260511794" /></a><br /><br />my friend commented last week when we were walking that i sounded like her grandma...because i was telling her about a great deal i got on a whole bunch of clothes and i told her that this pair of pants was only $4! i told her that i didn't know if they fit me, but for $4, they'll fit someone i know. she's like..."ummm...you are totally like a grandma...buying random clothes for people, because it was such a good bargain."<br /><br />pretty soon i'm going to start wearing sweatshirts with puppies on it, and polyester pants. at least that will look nice with my new shoes i just ordered above....Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-75655403060222211042009-03-22T21:02:00.006-05:002009-03-22T21:22:49.134-05:00february and march in pictures..finally updating with photos! here is what we've been up to in february and march...<br /><br />getting his valentines for his friends ready<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUraEDbvCw5oEJ55tdi2TWTmme7_ek3f_bE-pV_er4E7Xk5biVFsnSqNrxfNrx1AhBS4E7AmvzRDzMZVyYTKZuHXWaNiKDFIP5gud78ULC6_cIS7YdsRECAvFcB-JfMD_DHJnlLvQ9kA/s1600-h/1valentinesday.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUraEDbvCw5oEJ55tdi2TWTmme7_ek3f_bE-pV_er4E7Xk5biVFsnSqNrxfNrx1AhBS4E7AmvzRDzMZVyYTKZuHXWaNiKDFIP5gud78ULC6_cIS7YdsRECAvFcB-JfMD_DHJnlLvQ9kA/s400/1valentinesday.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199037599749762" /></a><br /><br />bowling in the dells<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW853tVEikZ5Z27g-PIiHCQb-rORYjBIdO2XuMHurLOf8WaL3JpdoH57Yi06E-VdNd6OmIrBaadz02rFNLOelge4plYBY91c04W5iGZqPoiMu56d89HPDAcLRIwTqTcFFgxOo6Nzjzhng/s1600-h/2bowling.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW853tVEikZ5Z27g-PIiHCQb-rORYjBIdO2XuMHurLOf8WaL3JpdoH57Yi06E-VdNd6OmIrBaadz02rFNLOelge4plYBY91c04W5iGZqPoiMu56d89HPDAcLRIwTqTcFFgxOo6Nzjzhng/s400/2bowling.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199043781110722" /></a><br /><br />waterpark<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjrrI2Hl3LAcl3CLYw_QugSrMvg2k_GIz77MwKfkkz6MOoiNyjkf-AS4_qL98UE-W186nGEVpBrW-VNTUBtQJO2x-UOhHVAmEdJWnxSGFFnRR6nT2dArCtt7cQfobJV_HddIvFDPlMhY/s1600-h/3dells.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjrrI2Hl3LAcl3CLYw_QugSrMvg2k_GIz77MwKfkkz6MOoiNyjkf-AS4_qL98UE-W186nGEVpBrW-VNTUBtQJO2x-UOhHVAmEdJWnxSGFFnRR6nT2dArCtt7cQfobJV_HddIvFDPlMhY/s400/3dells.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199051408621794" /></a><br /><br />MOA aquarium (waste o' money)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRU52R5bpNytV5z7NMqxMZxcT77tNM4wFtJdV6AU5YJT44EZCdo_kEdzpQKn1zHNnASCDeRwqsfLaym_kEz1naX9hMPSMRS_n2g0EFXOgofC6OAf1m0Yc9CtT50HxQ9uw1r6XD45Ym4UQ/s1600-h/4aquarium.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRU52R5bpNytV5z7NMqxMZxcT77tNM4wFtJdV6AU5YJT44EZCdo_kEdzpQKn1zHNnASCDeRwqsfLaym_kEz1naX9hMPSMRS_n2g0EFXOgofC6OAf1m0Yc9CtT50HxQ9uw1r6XD45Ym4UQ/s400/4aquarium.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199057651359138" /></a><br /><br />birthday train cake.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYSmvwmRJz69LKFdP8n8tRVuEOG06KJ6TZ6EO6E197xtQYgtDHv_jSZOLVbro-XaIiai6mEhiuzKWRuiNLbTDL1qXXpzd6Yy2_yzAJznZ4Ow8pIi8Of_WDf3xwo1AKMEJ45vYJp9oLc8/s1600-h/5traincake.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYSmvwmRJz69LKFdP8n8tRVuEOG06KJ6TZ6EO6E197xtQYgtDHv_jSZOLVbro-XaIiai6mEhiuzKWRuiNLbTDL1qXXpzd6Yy2_yzAJznZ4Ow8pIi8Of_WDf3xwo1AKMEJ45vYJp9oLc8/s400/5traincake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199063592686338" /></a><br /><br />steam engine on the train cake<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgb2STKzWkr5rZF0HeqyICLo8HTwpui_-jiIeTQLSNaJtLp8_R1THtA2vMZTp5d5ZnL48-BtZtUpNMhqganQ0-LR4Xu9gJCeTTwoK-d5V0PFd1kyw1xOUa5Q9SdskWaAxLNDFKXTRgoL8/s1600-h/6steamengine.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgb2STKzWkr5rZF0HeqyICLo8HTwpui_-jiIeTQLSNaJtLp8_R1THtA2vMZTp5d5ZnL48-BtZtUpNMhqganQ0-LR4Xu9gJCeTTwoK-d5V0PFd1kyw1xOUa5Q9SdskWaAxLNDFKXTRgoL8/s400/6steamengine.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199875345813938" /></a><br /><br />cousin sammy and griffin posing by the cake!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypWXqRul2aeDVOhhDTd9TQwgE4hPMywRcCqFa8CDTrOlhMeEUINUgg9TZjZ6vpOCyXgZibyIQRrzsmpTck_PkhbAjjR0F9_AP2BV67bNz7FAtBrDM-bqI3yTQcYqO0fPAAd24BhuEWK0/s1600-h/7bdaycake.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypWXqRul2aeDVOhhDTd9TQwgE4hPMywRcCqFa8CDTrOlhMeEUINUgg9TZjZ6vpOCyXgZibyIQRrzsmpTck_PkhbAjjR0F9_AP2BV67bNz7FAtBrDM-bqI3yTQcYqO0fPAAd24BhuEWK0/s400/7bdaycake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199883185980226" /></a><br /><br />still staring at the cake...he loved it.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFaquE_vR_EtiGIyrhMeKj90PwBmU681sKu7OtNxiompZvm9X2_HMYYeZt6j_zS6rQlEIStZub_eP3C0cxrLUMcfu1VeYMj-iAb56sSQHVi96GxTuqUWU_LRqnpgeIZ9a6SCZCYvDBBY/s1600-h/8bdaycake.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFaquE_vR_EtiGIyrhMeKj90PwBmU681sKu7OtNxiompZvm9X2_HMYYeZt6j_zS6rQlEIStZub_eP3C0cxrLUMcfu1VeYMj-iAb56sSQHVi96GxTuqUWU_LRqnpgeIZ9a6SCZCYvDBBY/s400/8bdaycake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199886302480354" /></a><br /><br />different day...still staring at it.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8fLF7L32ubmnaJ8VFhVItBOs95T6nDKti14IXplXvevyuvf-YSewG-r7q81pjTVRhzeYj14odESIbJ4sobT42yw5D9R9sP2fKMLErR3olRK-X0hv15J-99DeiI_XiJJgElYDex0ApFM/s1600-h/9bdaycake.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8fLF7L32ubmnaJ8VFhVItBOs95T6nDKti14IXplXvevyuvf-YSewG-r7q81pjTVRhzeYj14odESIbJ4sobT42yw5D9R9sP2fKMLErR3olRK-X0hv15J-99DeiI_XiJJgElYDex0ApFM/s400/9bdaycake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199895406724066" /></a><br /><br />finally eating it!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrdOsG65rmSNtLYAb2Ne90AnTKHjwo2fooLm6PThY6Ts8q6-BOWsMnmeUuc2OOqJ18oIX08PUYV214Oo-4knBZKcMHQIW50XivWUrVdZf9ofd9WtNbQBz_zxqTXOIsoDepCxKRewnmaw/s1600-h/10eatingcake.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrdOsG65rmSNtLYAb2Ne90AnTKHjwo2fooLm6PThY6Ts8q6-BOWsMnmeUuc2OOqJ18oIX08PUYV214Oo-4knBZKcMHQIW50XivWUrVdZf9ofd9WtNbQBz_zxqTXOIsoDepCxKRewnmaw/s400/10eatingcake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316199900869172290" /></a><br /><br />fun birthday weekend visit with grandma and grandpa teeter<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2Lr2W2QC1I9sHFzc03BuTNoXWQwITDqkWADD_qefCZrmQwmpWQiSy_V_nF1uptvceHrgx_kL3Qe34Dh3y9T0sSWJqT_5s5XBeI7NzSbtt6zH_n6yzFiIYz9_1-LtUkTiJmPbBKXXTjg/s1600-h/11grandparents.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2Lr2W2QC1I9sHFzc03BuTNoXWQwITDqkWADD_qefCZrmQwmpWQiSy_V_nF1uptvceHrgx_kL3Qe34Dh3y9T0sSWJqT_5s5XBeI7NzSbtt6zH_n6yzFiIYz9_1-LtUkTiJmPbBKXXTjg/s400/11grandparents.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316200675255850130" /></a><br /><br />the 3 year old!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2_AeAt-9Nqdurcfb8_p9tyQT8DtzVdVtGUGPSLuqalQcBVoVGH6cSRmWjGrEiTvnmEAe6AdiVj9okC2Tkfv-992GdxV27IAuYdFbMDhGOqDgnctVX1bVlrmMcjktflQrOXJOFvqvpEo/s1600-h/12bdayboy.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2_AeAt-9Nqdurcfb8_p9tyQT8DtzVdVtGUGPSLuqalQcBVoVGH6cSRmWjGrEiTvnmEAe6AdiVj9okC2Tkfv-992GdxV27IAuYdFbMDhGOqDgnctVX1bVlrmMcjktflQrOXJOFvqvpEo/s400/12bdayboy.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316200669618151282" /></a><br /><br />showing off his hat (wishing it would warm up!)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiSu9dOSSnZZ4QiN1565_nX2U8pbPSfS1bkNqARe9X95PMLy9AAtHla9D0CvQFF0YnOl4pCsIjRAA4fW5G1Y9kayFssDymJ0qvM6M8yy19VKGM4uhPCiYQ9Bik_MK02khQGIQUF9sOdY/s1600-h/13hat.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiSu9dOSSnZZ4QiN1565_nX2U8pbPSfS1bkNqARe9X95PMLy9AAtHla9D0CvQFF0YnOl4pCsIjRAA4fW5G1Y9kayFssDymJ0qvM6M8yy19VKGM4uhPCiYQ9Bik_MK02khQGIQUF9sOdY/s400/13hat.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316200669607411858" /></a><br /><br />present from grandma lawrence! of course he loves it...it's trains!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTfWgUnuSOi1YnsX9fGpay1LysCel5vKbPFKSnc0lt5-G-P0_0Znd6Sw-HFUKtQQxP-NrI38lZ1UOqmjs-XywTjkigRFxuZNkNkwnxMlDOl3B3YVtgZ6U4MUMz4XCJcac7ijpMdd-ooo/s1600-h/14gift.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTfWgUnuSOi1YnsX9fGpay1LysCel5vKbPFKSnc0lt5-G-P0_0Znd6Sw-HFUKtQQxP-NrI38lZ1UOqmjs-XywTjkigRFxuZNkNkwnxMlDOl3B3YVtgZ6U4MUMz4XCJcac7ijpMdd-ooo/s400/14gift.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316200660113369810" /></a><br /><br />finally warm enough to get outside and ride his trike!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH4aO3oB_D38Efbp1rdeb2c5ZWel6VK3_udjbwGqRAZZG9-8vsZ5hPZKnAVsXGs7AsDz2Xbqblr5IrDxo6fzxtYaKIOInrvLudzE8mT6RL70HGPgo9RaJygvUanu8Q2Grja3JqXrhTcE/s1600-h/15trike.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH4aO3oB_D38Efbp1rdeb2c5ZWel6VK3_udjbwGqRAZZG9-8vsZ5hPZKnAVsXGs7AsDz2Xbqblr5IrDxo6fzxtYaKIOInrvLudzE8mT6RL70HGPgo9RaJygvUanu8Q2Grja3JqXrhTcE/s400/15trike.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316200658830921938" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-66333428076663553742009-03-16T09:35:00.003-05:002009-03-16T10:18:52.963-05:00to griffin...today our little boy is 3.<br />3 years ago today, we were at the hospital, about ready to be wheeled in for our c-section surgery. you were breech, so we had a planned c-section, as we didn't want to go through the process of having you turned. sounded too painful and the outcome didn't have great odds.<br /><br />It was a thursday. we sort of got to choose the day. it was dan's spring break from grad school, so we wanted to have it earlier in the week so he could spend more time at home, but that is the earliest they would do it.<br /><br />around 10:25 a.m. you were born. you were the sweetest little thing. you had this really dark hair and a LOT of it. we were both in such awe that we had a little baby!<br /><br />the funny thing from the delivery room...our doctor is irish and he plays in a band. the next day was st. paddy's day and he was chatting up the nurses telling them he played out the next day at keirans. they were asking what time they should get there so they could have good seats and he was just flirting away telling them the best food on the menu, etc. i'm thinking to myself...."ummmm...you have a sharp tool that your cutting me open with...and there is a human in there. pay f__king attenion!!!" for him...this was just another day at the office. but he did great, and he would later comment how awesome the scar was. he kept saying..."this is the smallest scar...it's just beautiful!" (even at my 6-week post pardum appt. he brought someone in there to show them what a great job he did..)<br /><br />anyway, back to my baby.<br /><br />i can't believe that 3 years has gone by. to think of all of the things you have learned, how much you've grown and how much happiness you have brought us. we are in constant amazement over things you do and say. you are the happiest little boy, you listen, you are sensitive and sweet and you make us smile and laugh all the time.<br /><br />the first few months seems like a blur. dan was finishing grad school, we were trying to figure out life with a little baby, and we had to start jobs or go back to jobs that we didn't like...and leave you with miss yvonne. that was so hard.<br /><br />but, we got the hang of being parents, you started growing more, smiling, laughing and becoming more mobile. we loved you so much that very first moment we laid eyes on you, but as the months passed and things became more of a routine, we realized how much we had fallen in love with you and how you seemed like you were a perfect fit to create our family of 3. we can't remember what it was like before you were here. nor do we want to. <br /><br />it's an amazing feeling to be your parents. we learn so much from you. we have learned patience, understanding, sadness, happiness and how to enjoy the small things. the best times we have is when your telling us a story, or pretending to be a lion, or telling daddy to drive fast because the polar bear is chasing us!<br />the funny things you say makes us happy each and every day.<br /><br />you are really into pretending right now. it is so awesome to listen to you craft your story and use your imagination. you have great manors (probably a lot of that is thanks to miss yvonne), you are always considerate, you love to snuggle, and you are a very sweet and sensitive little boy.<br />the other day you told me that you just wanted to be sad for a little bit because mommy had taken away a piece of paper you were playing with and you needed to feel sad. then when i felt sad about it, you hugged me and said, "it's ok mommy, i'm happy now!"<br /><br />you love reading books, you love trains, you love giving hugs and kisses, you love music, dancing (or shaking your booty as you like to say), you love pretending, you love helping us cook, snuggling and being outside.<br /><br />we are so proud of the little boy you have become and all of the amazing things that make you happy. you make us so happy to be your parents and we wish you a very happy 3rd birthday. we love you.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-18729132761567919112009-03-12T21:58:00.003-05:002009-03-12T22:14:32.524-05:00cake overloadso yeah...i have to obsess about something. <br />first it was taking a trip. every night i scoured every travel website looking for the ultimate deal. i would spend hours researching and comparing prices from site to site. then i would cross reference with trip advisor where there are unbiased reviews of the hotels. it got to the point that taking a trip wasn't even exciting anymore. i felt like i had already been to ixtapa, or puerto vallarta or riviera maya...just because i had researched the hell out of it. anyway - my trip dream was put to rest when dan's work has taken on reduced hours (and pay) in hopes of pulling through the economy.<br /><br />so...what the hell do i do with my time after griffin goes to bed now???? clean? no. exercise? pfft. write letters, read books, start doing some of the hobbies i enjoy that i don't make time for anymore? or update this blog? no. i decide that i have to put all my efforts into making the perfect birthday cake for griffin.<br /><br />what is our sweet boy into these days? trains - of course. so, i will build a train engine cake for him. but - it doesn't stop there. i have morphed my train engine idea into the full island of sodor. i think i'm biting off more than i can chew. but - my baby NEEDS a tunnel, a circus train car, an oil tanker and a mountain (all made of cake and candy). i have a vision. and tomorrow night - dan and i will be turning it into reality. unless we drink too much wine while decorating and wind up f'ing it all up. then we will go get a dq cake.<br />so, yeah. that's what i've been researching, thinking about and sketching each night. i hope i don't let myself down..i have such big ideas in my head!<br /><br />other than my cake obsession - we have been keeping busy. we had our last night of music class this past week. it's been fun, and we will miss it...but i'm good and tired of all the songs. i hope we still get together with the group now and then for fun nights on tuesdays.<br /><br />this past weekend dan and i celebrated his birthday with a great dinner out on friday night. it was fantastic. saturday dan went to see the watchmen at the imax with his friends. i had wine club (i mean - book club), and did a workout with my friends.<br /><br />sunday we had a family day and went to the midtown market for lunch and to walk around. there was a woman playing her guitar and singing and g was dancing up a storm. she had a tip jar out so i gave grif a buck to put in her jar. he walked up there so cutely and kept turning around looking at me to direct him where to put the dollar. i was pointing and he walked right past the tip jar and dropped the dollar in the large garbage can. it was pretty humorous. <br /><br />dan continues to train for his 1/2 marathon and i continue to barely make it off the couch for my training. but - it's going. i have had a bit of a cold off and on for the past couple of weeks, so that tends to be my excuse for my lack of energy. (couple that with the fact that i'm up till 2 in the a.m. thinking about my cake and i'm tired!)<br /><br />this weekend my parents are coming to visit for griffin's birthday. he turns 3 on monday! my brother and family will come over for dinner and the train cake (or DQ cake...i guess we'll wait and see).<br /><br />i swear we are going to finally take some photos and post them. we would be the worst parents ever if we didn't take picts for his birthday - so for sure we'll have some picts next week.<br /><br />ok - gotta go get the mountain cake out of the oven...Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-55225308253709070432009-03-02T13:42:00.003-06:002009-03-02T13:49:14.637-06:00fun weekendwe had a great weekend. friends bridget and shane came to visit with their kids (kallie & wyatt)<br />we had a great time catching up and we managed to do quite a bit.<br />we went to a timberwolves bb game on friday night. the kids enjoyed it. griffin liked watching the mascots and all the lights. the game itself was pretty unmemorable and boring.<br />saturday we went to the moa. it was SOOO busy. i have not seen it that busy before, even at christmas. but, it was still a good time and the kids liked going on rides.<br />that night we just hung out at our house, had some drinks and food and enjoyed the company.<br /><br />griffin loved hanging out with their kids. they were so good with him too. dan and i barely had to lift a finger all weekend...they kept him pretty entertained!<br /><br />yesterday what i thought were allergies has now turned into a full-blown cold and i feel like shit. hopefully i can shake it soon!<br /><br />this week is dan's birthday. wednesday night. he's looking forward to a night watching Lost. (not much different than any other Wednesday night). his request is to have one of his comfort foods from his childhood....$5000 casserole. Not sure of the exact ingredients, other than it has cream of mushroom. of course. all caseroles have that.<br /><br />nothing much to report. griffin continues to be funny and sweet.<br /><br />dan and i have started our running training. he's got a 14 week program for his half-marathon he's running in may. I've just got my "couch-to-5k" program. the couch is way better, in my opinion.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-79032951894808919732009-02-23T12:00:00.003-06:002009-02-23T13:37:30.259-06:00finally updating!wow, it's been awhile since i've posted.<br />i'm super busy at work, and then after g goes to bed, when i typically would update this blog...i've been obsessing about taking a trip, so pretty much spent every night looking for deals.<br /><br />so, what's been up with us...we've been really busy and having lots of fun.<br /><br />a couple weeks ago dan had his work party at the office. g and i came and ate our way around the party. the fish head with the eyeballs didn't appetize us, but plenty of other junk to eat! his parties are always great. we spent another weekend evening at pete/kims house having s'mores and watching the kids play. g, haugen and burke are becoming quite chummy.<br />i was able to go out one night to my friend myra's party. she had just gotten back from a 2-week trip to africa and she had her photos. it looked to have been an amazing experience...helping be part of an orphanage clinic being built and also climbing mt. kili.<br />last weekend we got out of town. we went to THE DELLS! it was a nice little valentines day get-away. and it was just what we needed to feel a bit more rejuvinated! we spent a lot of time in the waterpark. griffin is pretty timid of the water still..but he loved watching others splash around. there were a few things he was comfortable doing and he had a great time with that.<br />we had a new experience for him as well - we went bowling! he liked that, and it was nice to be able to do something fun, and he kept himself entertained.<br />in addition to that - we saw family, spent time with our super friend, and just had a great long weekend.<br /><br />oh, a couple of concerts have also highlighted our past few weeks. we saw michael franti and spearhead...which has to be one of my top 5 concerts of all times. it was amazing...a totally positive vibe and lots of energy. dan saw some metal show, which i can't really report on...but he's been talking about it alot since then, so it must have been good. i have no idea how to spell the name...but it sounds like more sugar. i think it's meshuggah. on a positive note - he was worried he'd get forearm acne from all the mosh-pitting and that didn't happen - so score one for dan!<br /><br />the past weekend we took g to the aquarium at the moa. he liked it...i thought it was a rip-off. luckily we had discount tickets! <br />saturday night dan and i had a babysitter and had a date! we went to a great restaurant in sw mpls - la chaya. it was GREAT. after dinner we were able to see our friend steve from london who was in town visiting.<br /><br />yesterday griffin got a cute new haircut and then we went to choo choo bobs. he loves that place, and always has so much fun watching the electric trains going around and around. he could sit there for hours.<br />last night i rounded out the weekend by going to a concert at the varsity with some work friends. we saw gary louris and mark olson (of the jayhawks). it was a fantastic show and i love that venue. luckily it was an early show, so i was able to get home and get some sleep!<br /><br />griffin has been a lot of fun lately and he's really articulating what he wants to say and saying the most adorable things.<br />he did say "poopyhead" yesterday - so dan and i had to let him know that wasn't funny to say. ooops. all of our "poop talk" from his younger days must have caught up.<br /><br />he's been so much better in the eating department. he's trying at least a bite of everything so we are thrilled about that.<br /><br />music class has been fun...he seems to enjoy having all his little friends over. i'm getting sick of the songs, but i'm trying to come up with new stuff to do each week (the kids don't always like doing new ones, but i can only stand to hear some of these songs so much)<br />last tuesday at class he and haugen were jumping on his bed after class and it was funny to hear them talking to one another. it's so crazy how quickly time has flown by. they are carrying on conversations! i called griffin out to the living room to tell him something and i heard him tell haugen: "haugen, i'll be right back, my mom needs me. ok, haugen? stay here, i'll be right back".<br />he comes running out and is like "yes, mama?" <br />i doubt he'll be obeying like that in a few years from now! but at least for this moment dan and i the most important thing and he will come a-runnin when we call him. he's a sweetie for sure.<br /><br />i got some new running shoes and am going to really try sticking to a training program. this is my last ditch effort at running. i think i hate it...but i want to be sure. i know it's mostly mental - so if i can get over that hump, i really WANT to like running - it's easy, convenient and a good workout when your crunched for time. but, if i REALLY try for the next couple of months to stick to a program and still hate it at the end - i think i'm going to just accept it and do other things that i do enjoy.<br />dan has been AWESOME at running. he was a runner in high school, so i think it comes naturally. he's been going regularly and saturday he ran for an hour straight. wowza. his goal is to do a couple of half marathons this year, as well as a duathalon. i'm amazed at how motivated he is. now if some of that would rub off on me...<br /><br />i will post some photos one of these days. i don't think we took any photos since christmas - so we really need to get the camera out.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-70679272105334119442009-02-06T13:54:00.003-06:002009-02-06T14:17:47.630-06:00wheel of sicknesswe have been trading off who has been sick in our house. i was feeling a bit crappy a few weeks ago. then griffin, then dan...and now me again! i think i'm on the upward swing, but this week has been a long one.<br /><br />we had music class tuesday night and though it was a smaller class, everyone had fun. i tried to incorporate a couple of new songs in our repertoire, but g didn't want to have anything to do with them. he voiced his opinion loudly telling me, "i don't like this song, shut it off!" who doesn't like james taylor??? apparently griffin. i guess he doesn't have a friend in grif.<br /><br />this yo, gabba gabba show that i mentioned in my last post...damn. seriously. THIS is the kind of show i need to create. just complete trippy nonsense that has catchy tunes and you are wondering how on earth people are dancing around in these costumes and singing about snacky snack snacks, but yet your kicking yourself that it wasn't your genius idea. i make up at least a few songs each week that has as good of lyrics as dj lance and his gabba land characters. <br />anyway, this has been the show of choice for the past week. we let griffin watch 30 minutes of tv each night before bed...and this has been his pick. i will just have to be jealous that i didn't come up with this idea before nick jr. picked it up.<br /><br />the weekend should be swell - tonight dan has his company anniversary party. g and i will head over there for a bit to eat some snacky snack snacks. <br /><br />tomorrow we are going to get our taxes done. our tax dude is awesome...he makes all kinds of fantastic noises while doing our taxes. he takes his spit and swishes it around in his mouth in many different ways. and he does all of this clicking and clucking with his mouth. it's really fascinating to listen to. i have to make sure not to laugh out loud.<br /><br />tomorrow night i will go out to celebrate myra's belated birthday and hear all about her trip to africa and climbing mt. kili! looking forward to catching up with some friends.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-12734825529934038962009-01-30T21:39:00.003-06:002009-01-30T21:53:24.896-06:00january - be gonetomorrow is the last day of january - thank goodness. we are tired of the cold and this month has been a long, cold one.<br /><br />the boys wound up sick last weekend. griffin wasn't himself last thursday and by friday night he had a fever and was just really tired. dan and i had a feeling...and we were right. he woke up around 11:30 with the croup cough. ugh. so, we spent the rest of the night/early morning outside in the cold, or in the steam shower. that seems to help him. he finally fell asleep for an hour or two around 6 a.m., so dan and i were able to get a bit of sleep.<br /><br />saturday morning dan babysat for burke while i tried to get g feeling better. we did a lot of watching tv and laying around. that afternoon i managed to get out to have a bit of fun. dina, nena and i met for pedicures and an early dinner. we decided that since jes and julie were soaking up the sun in mexico and we were stuck in the crap -20 weather that we should treat ourselves. it was great hanging out and getting pampered.<br />by the time i got home saturday evening, griffin was starting to feel better, but dan started feeling sick. griffin managed to sleep most of the night on saturday night, only waking up once, but with not too bad of croup symptoms.<br /><br />sunday brought griffin feeling better and dan feeling worse. i took g to choo choo bobs to get out of the house for a bit...we all needed a break from the tv watching.<br /><br />monday griffin was pretty much back to normal, so we decided that i should go ahead with my work trip as planned. dan stayed home from work that day to fully recover.<br /><br />my work trip was good. i went on a couple of press checks and managed to have fun with my co-workers. i got home wednesday night and it was great to see my boys.<br />dan was feeling better and g was good. <br /><br />this weekend is pretty low-key. tomorrow night we are babysitting george and jimmy overnight. i'm sure it will be fun...especially for griffin and jimmy to play together.<br /><br />apparently it's supposed to warm up to 30 tomorrow. woo. a heat wave.<br /><br />not much else to report...except that whoever created the tv show "yo, gabba gabba" had to be tripping on acid.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-81307105239148852592009-01-21T10:31:00.002-06:002009-01-21T10:52:13.474-06:00updatesit's been awhile. i have actually been busy at work and then don't have a ton of time at night to update. i could say because it's all of the freelance work i've been doing (which is true), or the exercise i have been doing (umm, yeah), but in reality...i've been spending my nights searching caribbean destinations. not to say those dreams will become reality...but it gives me something to think about, other than this crap weather.<br /><br />just to be ready if anything ever came up...we went this past weekend to apply for a passport for the little man. (and renew mine). a total racket. they charged $17 per picture (and your required to have 2), so between mine and g's...it was $68 for the pictures alone, as well as $100 for my passport to be renewed and $85 for his! there goes our trip money. i guess we just get in our swimsuits, flash our new passports around and eat chips/salsa while wearing fanny packs, large brimmed hats and a camera around our neck. oh, maybe to be real authentic, i can go get some braids put in my hair. sweet. <br /><br />in other news...our music class has gone surprisingly well. the parents really get into it, which is awesome, and the kids all seem to enjoy it. it's cute watching them all interact with each other. i'm guessing our neighbors are wondering what kind of kinky shit we are into...as they probably see a bunch of grown adults marching around while doing hip moves and hand gestures. (the windows are just high enough they probably don't see the cute little kiddos that are also in our train line as we pass the windows).<br />anyway - it's going great and all (but 1) parent came back last night for round 2. <br />dan is going to have to lead it next week, as i have to go out of town for work. he'll be great. although - he may try to mix it up with his metal music (griffin calls it "cookie monster" music)<br /><br />last weekend i went out to dinner to celebrate emilie's life. it was on her birthday. it was great to celebrate such a wonderful person - with people that knew her in the same capacity as i did. it was fun to catch up, chat with these lovely women and of course eat loads of carbs at buca.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-51317429790643440072009-01-11T15:05:00.003-06:002009-01-11T15:23:15.406-06:00the first week of 09so far 09 is off to a fairly decent start.<br />things are picking up a lot a work, which makes the days go by quickly.<br />this weekend was a good one. we were able to see some friends, fit in some exercise, get some cleaning done and put together our plan for our music class. <br /><br />we did have to make a pit stop to walmart yesterday. that is the only place that sells the filters for our brand of humidifier. sorry in advance if this offends anyone...but that place is a shithole. dan and i were immediately put in foul moods just by stepping foot in the store (actually, for me it started in the parking lot). it is dirty, poorly laid out, completely disorganized and it just gives you a nasty feeling. after spending about 10 minutes looking for something particular, i asked an employee and they just stared at me and said, "i don't think we have that". (a shower curtain liner? really?) anyway - besides that awful 30 minutes of our day, the weekend has been great.<br /><br /><br />so, we had taken griffin to music together music classes when he was a year old. we took about 5 sessions of this and griffin seemed to enjoy it...but it's gotten super expensive and didn't seem to be worth it anymore. i had some lame-o idea that we could recreate the music class at our own house. dan went along with my idea and we promptly put off doing anything about it. well - class starts on tuesday! and we actually have a bunch of friends and their kids coming over. this will be humorous.<br /><br />we just burned our master "class" cd today. next we have to practice. we were dancing around the living room this morning (ummm..maybe it was just me), while griffin looked at me as if saying "who's mom are you? i'm not going to claim you, your embarrasing yourself".<br />usually singing to a captive audience is right up my alley, but it usually involves alcohol and the lyrics to alanis morrisette on the karoke screen. i'm not sure if my antics will hold a bunch of 2-3 year olds attention! if nothing else - it will be fun to have griffins buddies over (i imagine in 15 years the same buddies will come over and be like, "hey, remember when your mom showed all of us her awesome musical abilities? she is so cool, how do you even stand it? your so lucky g-dawg!" - or, you know...something like that)Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-44888940668919870402009-01-03T21:58:00.000-06:002009-01-03T22:03:51.168-06:00the year in review2008 was a good year. some sad moments, some scary moments and some amazing moments.<br /><br />i will try to briefly recap some of the highlights:<br /><br />january: <br />• we started the year out right...bringing in the new year with good friends. <br />• the next weekend, we got a quick overnight visit to dan's dad in wi. rapids. we followed that up with an overnight stay with friends sam, marta, bridget, shane and kids at sam/marta's near menasha, wi.<br />• i was also able to enjoy a 4-night vacation with my girlfriends. i went to isla mujeres, mexico with nena, jes and julie. we had an amazing time. it was tough being away from griffin, but he and dan enjoyed themselves.<br />• upon getting back from mexico, unfortunate circumstances brought melissa, martin and the girls to mn (for a funeral). it was great to see them though, even if it was brief.<br />• griffin wound up in the emergency room with a case of croup. we had to call an ambulance because we had no idea what was going on. we woke up to a faint wheezing sound and when we went to check on him, he was not able to take a breath and he appeared blue. we freaked. as soon as we went outside with him, he caught his breath. we were in the hospital for the night, and upon receiving treatments...he was as good as new. no further symptoms. thank goodness.<br /><br />february: <br />• i can't remember too much about february! apparently nothing too thrilling happened. lots of hanging out inside. i'm sure we also went to the mall of america alot...we were there on weekends to walk, and we would let griffin go on rides.<br /><br />march: <br />• dan's birthday was at the beginning of the month. he spent a night in chicago with his brothers, then another night in wisconsin dells.<br />• we had another major scare that led us to childrens hospital icu. griffin again had severe croup. this time we felt a bit more prepared so we rode it out a few days doing the steam shower/going outside. it became worse, so in we went to childrens. it ended up turning very severe. the doctors told us they hadn't seen a case turn so extreme so quickly. he was hooked up to heliox for a few days and was under a watchful eye until he could breathe on his own better. such an eye opening experience. as scared as we were about griffin - we knew that he'd get better...but other children that were there - weren't so lucky. it was definitely an experience that made us appreciate this precious life, and hug our baby tighter.<br />• we followed up this ordeal celebrating griffin's 2nd birthday. (got out of the hospital the day before his birthday). <br />• we rounded out the month with my parents coming to visit.<br />• i also started a new job on march 24. it was a much needed change and i love it. malt-o-meal is a great company to be a part of!<br /><br />april: <br />• we spent april trying all kinds of malt-o-meal cereals that i was able to bring home from work. i think we ate enough to last us awhile. <br />• besides that - april brought a visit from dave, cindy, aidan and reese. a great time hanging out with them! <br />• i think the rest of the month was spent resting up for the busy summer that we were about to have.....<br /><br />may: <br />• i spent a weekend in wisconsin. i went down for my friend lisa's wedding shower/bachelorette party. i spent friday with my parents, and then saturday drove to wisconsin dells to spend the night at a cabin to celebrate!<br />• we went to denver memorial day weekend to spend it with melissa, martin, chloe and nicollette. we rented a place in aspen and had a super time exploring, driving around the mountains, swimming and just enjoying the scenery.<br /><br />june: <br />• started the month out with a visit from dan's dad. he took the amtrak up. it was great to have him. we took him to a few places around town, and dan took him to a twins-yankees game. sunday i did the 8k rollerblade race for the grand old day. dan and bruce joined us for the parade.<br />• we had a cabin trip to phil's place near bemidji. a great time and nice to get away. griffin loved it!<br />• later in the month, dan and i celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary with an overnight in stillwater at a bed & breakfast. it was awesome. <br />• we spent another weekend in wisconsin for our friend lisas wedding...griffin enjoyed the waterpark with grandma lawrence! on the way home the 3 of us went to the jack johnson/mason jennings concert...g LOVED it. <br />• the month finished with us leaving on a week-long family vacation. <br /><br />july: <br />• we enjoyed our family vacation. first was waunakee where we got to see some friends, a parade, and spend time with my parents. we met up with wendy, andrew and addi at the zoo in madison. the grandmas joined us too. we headed to milwaukee for a couple days and enjoyed summerfest, waterpark and the zoo. we rounded out the trip in chicago visting dave, cindy, aidan and reese. we had a great time and were able to celebrate dave's birthday with him with a night on the town. grandma lynne was there so the kids were in good hands!<br />• later this month i took a trip out to boise, idaho to attend my cousins wedding. it was a lot of fun and good to spend a weekend with my parents and brother, as well as grandma and aunts/uncles and cousins. <br />• towards the end of the month we did another cabin trip - this time to pie's cabin. griffin had fun on the paddle boat! <br />• we had a couple of concerts - saw our wedding band play at an outdoor pavillion. g was cute dancing around.<br /><br />august:<br />• the month started out with me doing the st. paul inline marathon.<br />• dan enjoyed a long weekend with his dad....they went up to powers, michigan to visit family and go on a fishing trip. <br />• another weekend brought the krugers back into town...this time for a happier event - a wedding! it was great to spend the weekend with them. we babysat the kids while they went to the wedding.<br />• the unfortunate passing of my dear friend, nuala brought a sadness to august. she had ovarian cancer. she was an amazing person, full of life. she is sadly missed.<br /><br /><br />september:<br />• labor day weekend brought a fun visit from grandma lawrence. we went to the state fair, on a long bike ride, trolley rides and had a great time.<br />• the big news of this month: griffin is potty trained! we started in august and he was officially trained by labor day!<br />• we saw a couple of concerts this month.<br />• i did the iron girl duathalon! biking and running. it was tough, but felt great to finish.<br />• baby mal had her 1st birthday party, so we had a good time going to that, as well as a benefit for jes' dad.<br />• we said goodbye to the jeep. after 18 years of being in my family - the last 2 with us - it finally bit the dust. we are attempting to be a 1-car family.<br /><br />october:<br />• another great visit from melissa. she came alone this time, so it was fun to hang out. <br />• we were able to go to sandusky, ohio to visit dan's brother and family. dave, cindy and the girls surprised us all and joined us out there..great to see everyone. we went to the zoo, cedar point amusement park, hung out at the waterpark and had a good time seeing matt/wendy's new house and their new town!<br />• dan and i had a date night and saw mason jennings in concert. beau and amy hung with the little man while we were gone!<br />• towards the end of the month, another person i know passed away. katie was my friend julie's good friend and i'd met and hung out with her on occasion. the cause of her death is still unknown. very shocking and sad.<br />• on a happier note - it was my birthday on the 26th and we went out with friends and had a great time singing karoke!<br />• we finished the month out with my parents coming to visit for halloween weekend. griffin enjoyed trick-or-treating dressed as thomas the train, and we enjoyed some fun time in stillwater with my parents too.<br /><br />november:<br />• i hosted a soup night with my neighbors. we all made different types of soups and exchanged them. it was fun!<br />• i was able to go see wicked with some co-workers...it was amazing!<br />• dan and i, along with friends, went to see the hold steady and drive-by-truckers. it was the best show i went to this year. laura was awesome and came over to watch griffin.<br />• thanksgiving came and we had a great visit with grandma lawrence. we went on a polar express train ride, saw the holidazzle parade, got our christmas tree, and dan and i finished the weekend by going to a vikings/bears game. it was fun, even if we don't like either team!<br /><br />december:<br />• started the month off with a couple of cookie exchanges. i have had enough cookies to last all of 09 i think.<br />• dan's holiday party was in the middle of the month...we enjoyed an awesome dinner and wine and his company was very generous this year. our friends beth and jason spent the evening with g.<br />• we hosted a holiday party at our house. it was fun to have our friends over and enjoy their company before we left on our trip.<br />• we left for wisconsin and spent time with the lawrences. great to see everyone. we missed seeing bruce, dave, cindy and the girls this year. we were sad about that. we wound up at my parents house where we had a wonderful time and griffin really enjoyed christmas. <br />• car problems kept us there a bit longer than we expected, but it turned out alright in the end.<br />• a friend passed away from cancer toward the end of the month. emilie was a friend i met 6 years ago when planning our weddings. she was an amazing person with such zest for life. she was a person that truly lived her life to the fullest and she will be missed deeply. i am very sad for her husband and her 2 young children.<br />• to end on a happy note - we spent new years eve with wonderful friends. we started out at pete/kims where the kids all hung out. from there we headed over to dina and lyles where griffin promply went to sleep and we were able to share a great meal, drinks and laughs with close friends.<br /><br />overall - the year was decent. griffin has been a constant joy watching him grow. we are amazed at how much he's learned this year and how his personality has developed. dan and i couldn't be luckier to have this little man in our lives.<br /><br />we are looking forward to 2009 and all the changes it will bring our country. we are hopeful we can get through the year healthy and no er trips. dan and i want to make a change to our health and increase our fitness level and make healthy eating for our family a priority. <br />i want to work on treating people with more respect, not being judgemental, be more kind and patient and try to be a better friend, wife and mom.<br />my thoughts go out to everyone that has lost loved ones this year and i hope they can find peace. <br />i am thankful for my amazing family, friends and job.<br /><br />here is to a great 2009! happy new year!Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-68193721012773299742008-12-30T15:31:00.005-06:002008-12-30T16:04:58.806-06:00home, sweet homeit's been quite awhile since i've written.<br />we had a busy couple of weeks.<br />we spent the week before our trip getting things ready, having a holiday party, finishing up with work obligations and just generally trying to prepare for christmas.<br />we left monday the 22nd for wisconsin. we spent monday evening with grandma lawrence and matt, wendy, alex, andrew and addi. it was great seeing them and griffin loved spending time with his cousins.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXP86kiDzjPsnTk3Bh7CWnhlXZO1A7Zr4fgllSesS7eldWChoZwZ7gNAw7AkpZNfHOQnyEAOhtj6XPgtJaxsoeGMp7Kma9F3wIxHnlRwtH6xK9_9vxBC67fJdBvkuJMjVEginRSyWRb0/s1600-h/lawrencecousins.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXP86kiDzjPsnTk3Bh7CWnhlXZO1A7Zr4fgllSesS7eldWChoZwZ7gNAw7AkpZNfHOQnyEAOhtj6XPgtJaxsoeGMp7Kma9F3wIxHnlRwtH6xK9_9vxBC67fJdBvkuJMjVEginRSyWRb0/s400/lawrencecousins.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704863515429666" /></a><br />tuesday was supposed to have been a trip to see dan's dad...but weather didn't agree with that plan. wisconsin has really gotten pummeled with snow. they have SO much more than we do.<br />we made our way to my parents and hunkered down for a lovely christmas. gregg, dawn, jake and sam arrived as well and we had a super time. again - griffin loved hanging with the teeter cousins.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ruEZlS4yAtDcLd2d0lljEu_ILz_1FjNbqAMz1Bn1baMNwy2r5103VaNHUb094GzwHomECy9qOOEKckRjuxRQpTu_M1oL91PfW07F8xyN_XBtQ6t8sp2ti8cHYPYXX__sN3_uHPBeZw4/s1600-h/teetercousins.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ruEZlS4yAtDcLd2d0lljEu_ILz_1FjNbqAMz1Bn1baMNwy2r5103VaNHUb094GzwHomECy9qOOEKckRjuxRQpTu_M1oL91PfW07F8xyN_XBtQ6t8sp2ti8cHYPYXX__sN3_uHPBeZw4/s400/teetercousins.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285705208322230658" /></a><br /><br />santa was way too generous with everyone...these stockings are just a taste of it.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4706ADcVHf9TrooGY-2I4A7OIOV33sA6_QtxJiigwmmKOknmrour270nMtSSoqQiPnxL_Q3NBAmy2TOzBhJm0fz7z1QErwNKJ8W7g8Gb70RrM8hxUldGRyLRlXW77eXG_tLIe9I0lk8/s1600-h/stockings.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4706ADcVHf9TrooGY-2I4A7OIOV33sA6_QtxJiigwmmKOknmrour270nMtSSoqQiPnxL_Q3NBAmy2TOzBhJm0fz7z1QErwNKJ8W7g8Gb70RrM8hxUldGRyLRlXW77eXG_tLIe9I0lk8/s400/stockings.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704874333079650" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4oc_pNRw-JVWbEwMbRVwvJy9C1s0johDy_jd9wLBPR_f6AIhyphenhyphenycHE0PZFArDL8LK_V2Wo5_F-ZILkvoNu4uwNgFfpLGZqpbfrqPq2ek92ruy_aLsJevyn1bdVUGQGNbcbgORrcfditUA/s1600-h/openinggift.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4oc_pNRw-JVWbEwMbRVwvJy9C1s0johDy_jd9wLBPR_f6AIhyphenhyphenycHE0PZFArDL8LK_V2Wo5_F-ZILkvoNu4uwNgFfpLGZqpbfrqPq2ek92ruy_aLsJevyn1bdVUGQGNbcbgORrcfditUA/s400/openinggift.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704867698000434" /></a><br />griffin really enjoyed everything about christmas. you could really feel the magic.<br /><br />we were able to celebrate my mom's birthday with her, spend time playing piano, <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fW9GbwkG-tnvguvod6Eduz-ByfORGxHELu_4WvVTbFDgCiWXmm4OlFBfBrjpkpfJLFNX0xyn807HPZ2DIeDPxt8Rs-EyxLslS0JCMG_h8wOgkh030AAnHEVxhFEhyphenhyphenDB89YNmiqjL5BY/s1600-h/pianoman.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fW9GbwkG-tnvguvod6Eduz-ByfORGxHELu_4WvVTbFDgCiWXmm4OlFBfBrjpkpfJLFNX0xyn807HPZ2DIeDPxt8Rs-EyxLslS0JCMG_h8wOgkh030AAnHEVxhFEhyphenhyphenDB89YNmiqjL5BY/s400/pianoman.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704874295964562" /></a><br />playing with all the new toys, making gingerbread houses (mostly griffin ate the candy and frosting right off the house), <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnP2zQH_9g5RLEFAS0zVM9_kVnFj6cgkDoLqY7K7jVGq33ZtsZQ5CwePDXa9OGDwcSwJyzBiABdPrNWif5cseJ4wU3bQwhk5QRhnmb0iw8sU0OEWAX_3jrsVeM6fh54ad4gnQ-uYfdVGY/s1600-h/gingerbreadmaking.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnP2zQH_9g5RLEFAS0zVM9_kVnFj6cgkDoLqY7K7jVGq33ZtsZQ5CwePDXa9OGDwcSwJyzBiABdPrNWif5cseJ4wU3bQwhk5QRhnmb0iw8sU0OEWAX_3jrsVeM6fh54ad4gnQ-uYfdVGY/s400/gingerbreadmaking.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704255530860130" /></a><br />after a bit too much frosting...he was pretty happy.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX99yFdOwJm-FEhvJYEGKSpVG2XzLTQf0TahxfcZ60z7X0uUiYfSRw4cqiMtf59fWP7al6ZvLOYxj8Jm68DhggCfKTLuE4Z4HNK6Gw77Gdf4ffSvZLFUDZ5O17kkfmS-UEnRo8iOqyiiw/s1600-h/ginerbreadeat.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX99yFdOwJm-FEhvJYEGKSpVG2XzLTQf0TahxfcZ60z7X0uUiYfSRw4cqiMtf59fWP7al6ZvLOYxj8Jm68DhggCfKTLuE4Z4HNK6Gw77Gdf4ffSvZLFUDZ5O17kkfmS-UEnRo8iOqyiiw/s400/ginerbreadeat.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704243082339538" /></a><br />playing a lot of hide-and-seek (griffins new favorite game) and just having a nice relaxing time.<br />my mom and i were able to get away and see a movie...the curious case of benjamin button. it was really good. (although it was about 3 hours long!)<br /><br />we attemped to leave saturday to go see dan's dad...but again..our plan was foiled. our car wouldn't start. we had it towed and they couldn't fix it until monday...so we ended up spending a few more days with my parents. we got to see a few friends here and there, see dan's mom a few more times and extend our vacation a bit. as much as we needed to get home (jobs/house/responsibilities) it was nice to have some extra time.<br /><br />we were bummed to have missed dan's dad, as well as dave, cindy and the girls. the holidays didn't seem complete without seeing all of the family. hopefully in the coming months we can see everyone we didn't get a chance to see.<br /><br />on a sad note, a friend of mine passed away from complications from cancer. emilie passed away tuesday night, dec. 23. please keep her family in your thoughts...her sons ben (9 months) and daniel (2.5) will surely miss their beautiful mother. she was one of those people that was just a truly good soul. upon meetiing her, you were drawn in. she was creative, smart, witty and even in the ugly face of cancer, she found good in things. definitely a person to look up to and she has affected my life in so many positive ways by having known her. i feel lucky to have had the opportunity.<br /><br />i was pretty bummed to have missed her funeral yesterday...since we were stuck in wi.<br /><br />as i have mentioned before - this whole cancer bullshit is out of control. i have known too many people that have died from this.<br />2009 has got to a better year...there were numerous people i have known that have died this year.<br /><br />On a happier positive note...it's good to be home.<br /><br />here are a few more pictures from christmas<br />griffin really liked playing with grandma lawrence's dogs!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qHhdA8IOh9VHsjzCkPxM51d3k-NOp7frZar89R01V04G_p7HytGJzMrZc-Ezm09-CSVBRCRjDJj1JfYEMrEw5ywxfXIPo9LCv8715lBciKLE_nDrOOSgBdtsoqCOcnVA_k2-GkghSjE/s1600-h/griffindogs.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qHhdA8IOh9VHsjzCkPxM51d3k-NOp7frZar89R01V04G_p7HytGJzMrZc-Ezm09-CSVBRCRjDJj1JfYEMrEw5ywxfXIPo9LCv8715lBciKLE_nDrOOSgBdtsoqCOcnVA_k2-GkghSjE/s400/griffindogs.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704857356756434" /></a><br />he LOVED his new conductor outfit from mwaaa:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxvqIcS_D3LiKM9pqBFYY0ZFZQyAqEKw3AWaTUHL4A74LmekSKZ_hZPIJaBzFugCTVPR6GZ5tbx1OW4IDhFCDoBMRjNAjGJD82GBuML8ENk8lDqrkCCNwNQhis-pgZi7-Q9XTdYJ2XAQ/s1600-h/enginneroutfit.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxvqIcS_D3LiKM9pqBFYY0ZFZQyAqEKw3AWaTUHL4A74LmekSKZ_hZPIJaBzFugCTVPR6GZ5tbx1OW4IDhFCDoBMRjNAjGJD82GBuML8ENk8lDqrkCCNwNQhis-pgZi7-Q9XTdYJ2XAQ/s400/enginneroutfit.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704240910443234" /></a><br />and, his new big wheel from grandma and grandpa - he went around and around the house on this...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqjJDgEHlU2jNGxlpjhCrmixHt1BE-fSyIDiYcPnCWvLTSc4rcJHrEsmmhVqB-wYpnWGjfYuRma2104nj-Jt7q5DLhwYuXbVeEYeHBSY5aHo4Q4YDbw4jA8HsHOoQjPcXLtIUribhupQ/s1600-h/bigwheel.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqjJDgEHlU2jNGxlpjhCrmixHt1BE-fSyIDiYcPnCWvLTSc4rcJHrEsmmhVqB-wYpnWGjfYuRma2104nj-Jt7q5DLhwYuXbVeEYeHBSY5aHo4Q4YDbw4jA8HsHOoQjPcXLtIUribhupQ/s400/bigwheel.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285704234996185506" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-10296145404018050902008-12-15T21:56:00.005-06:002008-12-15T22:30:46.334-06:00santa suckssaturday we decided to take g downtown to macy's to see the 8th floor display (a day in the life of an elf) and then meet the big man in red. he's been talking about santa quite a bit, since his 20-day marathon of the polar express.<br />so...we take the light rail. griffin was excited to get on the train. here he is posing at the station.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHINumITL8iTXOjMn6G1K2YjwzLawUJvYL7qJmbp0I0YsGwN_CptAU5BDom4xg2DzIE3KIMrihwR5mIEhmQ_aFF7UZ4Id8UxxTo_3jEwuSSihOdXng_CAjyudAQ3nC_W0XtrvOGWBbzpQ/s1600-h/IMG_3765.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHINumITL8iTXOjMn6G1K2YjwzLawUJvYL7qJmbp0I0YsGwN_CptAU5BDom4xg2DzIE3KIMrihwR5mIEhmQ_aFF7UZ4Id8UxxTo_3jEwuSSihOdXng_CAjyudAQ3nC_W0XtrvOGWBbzpQ/s400/IMG_3765.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280238893552446162" /></a><br /><br />"where is that train?", he wonders.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw8GUrzUdzW49-H5ggj0j4bT9RuB4PLNLcOVo5bWtGZ2b1wOnOTeLgtenJiMUSThaYiCBfUuXlwc_gkttv0_P2jeAvvP3NoOdh99DtbVsUNc6-Iw4aOxtIbjnigvHPULaVmoWeZgvQvQ/s1600-h/IMG_3769.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw8GUrzUdzW49-H5ggj0j4bT9RuB4PLNLcOVo5bWtGZ2b1wOnOTeLgtenJiMUSThaYiCBfUuXlwc_gkttv0_P2jeAvvP3NoOdh99DtbVsUNc6-Iw4aOxtIbjnigvHPULaVmoWeZgvQvQ/s400/IMG_3769.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280232364885671394" /></a><br /><br />things were still going great as we headed downtown.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGT17Os5BGrSRGMSBQNEGxjcwY-kmlfri33XwCe97UpivuGjWtz49hGQnrGzzDTguTc7lYJ6SOD7nnq2ejvAUhpbWaX2hbyxamufd6NJegzKK7H7EQMkriuegluf-MxVys7uX90VuoJ0/s1600-h/IMG_3775.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGT17Os5BGrSRGMSBQNEGxjcwY-kmlfri33XwCe97UpivuGjWtz49hGQnrGzzDTguTc7lYJ6SOD7nnq2ejvAUhpbWaX2hbyxamufd6NJegzKK7H7EQMkriuegluf-MxVys7uX90VuoJ0/s400/IMG_3775.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280232368657854594" /></a><br /><br />we get there and had a bit of a wait for that elf display. it was cute enough and griffin was tolerable of the wait.<br />after we made our way through that, we jump in line to see santa. i had high hopes for this...i had already seen photos from someone at work with the santa from macy's...and he was a good one. the real white hair and beard, big and fat, rosy cheeks and a jolly fella.<br />so, we proceed to wait about 40 minutes through a horrible line that doesn't really go anywhere. <br />what i didn't like was that you don't get to see what your in for. you have to wait and wait and finally after all that waiting, they let a few people behind the doors and you wait some more for your turn. the first time you get to see s-man is when you walk around the corner into this lame photo studio they have setup (clearly they want to make this all about having to purchase photos).<br /><br />anyway, g starts losing patience about 5 minutes before we are up. he's crying and wants to go home. ummm...no. we are this close. so, we round the bend and take a look at santa and griffin loses it.<br /><br />i would too. this santa SUCKED. he weighed about the same as griffin...not the fat man you would expect. he had fake hair and beard, and he didn't say one word. just sat there and stared at us. he didn't try to talk to griffin or get him to feel more comfortable. he sits there looking all meek and fake.<br /><br />so...here is our coveted santa shot we were so excited to get this year. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8sgsZ0YWTGX-ubPJFV0W4mD5kvwCNDVCtLSRm77qwQMBSGGIgdiqb4jImPzY1J_hyRhE578m4NfESN9yynqEBBKWTHWUf-wxg8oYjdFfQMoVQKfsDF2qVvsADRK9REf9biOIgwic0Fc/s1600-h/IMG_3777.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 347px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8sgsZ0YWTGX-ubPJFV0W4mD5kvwCNDVCtLSRm77qwQMBSGGIgdiqb4jImPzY1J_hyRhE578m4NfESN9yynqEBBKWTHWUf-wxg8oYjdFfQMoVQKfsDF2qVvsADRK9REf9biOIgwic0Fc/s400/IMG_3777.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280232374186336914" /></a><br /><br />not unlike last year...<br /><br />first attempt he was crying his eyes out. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3B_BH5wdvLYkho3NiEYII3leFvQuvwoXLfjiU-JAodw-VKv1vLXJG_Xb57srbm1fT5whcXuszXbpnnf8b0Bi8N21bbg-ZN68s9nGaWzq0-Sf6fdEmon480sGyiWrKT9nKo6btx6UkDVQ/s1600-h/IMG_0742.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3B_BH5wdvLYkho3NiEYII3leFvQuvwoXLfjiU-JAodw-VKv1vLXJG_Xb57srbm1fT5whcXuszXbpnnf8b0Bi8N21bbg-ZN68s9nGaWzq0-Sf6fdEmon480sGyiWrKT9nKo6btx6UkDVQ/s400/IMG_0742.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280237686260266930" /></a><br />then i had to get myself into the shot for him to even tolerate. never thought i'd have my photo with santa so many times!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOqZyylJC7HVKH7yBdrThLLVbVi0h1EifpOaWNEQNUH3z-uuG36DyDPj-dMzjdlCn1xZn6nXb0HqFReuj1OZ_nLxg9kVS-lENzXkw68IP3iZoY_Ytb29kwyyP08pJZP5NgSRn3oYsTCw/s1600-h/IMG_0743.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOqZyylJC7HVKH7yBdrThLLVbVi0h1EifpOaWNEQNUH3z-uuG36DyDPj-dMzjdlCn1xZn6nXb0HqFReuj1OZ_nLxg9kVS-lENzXkw68IP3iZoY_Ytb29kwyyP08pJZP5NgSRn3oYsTCw/s400/IMG_0743.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280237698191013282" /></a><br /><br />next year i think i'll come prepared and actually take a shower before we head out. chances are good i'll be getting my picture taken.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-80248918674263274712008-12-12T15:55:00.002-06:002008-12-12T16:16:50.888-06:00faith in humanity..i think everyone in the world reads <a href="http://www.mattlogelin.com/">this blog</a>. If you don't - you should.<br />his latest post is absolutely amazing. it renews my faith in good people. an anonymous person donated $25,000 to a wonderful charity in matt, liz and madelines name. <br />matt chose to share his horrible loss with the world through his blog and we were all riveted and brought into his world through his brutal honesty through writing and photography. instead of curling up in a ball and sinking into misery (which i imagine would be very easy to do)...he has brought good to others through getting people to open their eyes to other people in need. because of him sharing his story and publicly endorsing this charity...some good soul has donated enough money to brighten many childrens lives.<br /><br />anyway...some days you wonder if there are any decent folks left. and then you hear of stories like this. <br /><br />it's easy to be fearful that our kids will grow up in a totally f'd up world. so many bad things going on, an economy that is going down the toilet, a war that is taking so many lives, unspeakable crimes going on every day. but things like this make you stop and think that there is hope.<br /><br />anyway - i'm feeling good...went to see a holiday show last night with work friends, tomorrow night we have dan's swanky holiday party and tonight i'll spoil my baby.<br /><br />griffin apparently has impressed mizz y. with his smarts. he knew all of his letters by sight except for 3. he even helped a girl that is 6 months older than him and showed her where "n" was. show off. ha.<br /><br />he told me this morning to stop pushing him (i was trying to get him to stop jumping on his bed so that i could put his socks on..i slightly nudged him onto his pillow so he would sit for a minute). he said clear as day..."mommy, don't push me anymore, i not like it". i responded back, "ok...but then you need to listen to me then, deal?" he then says, "deal" and puts out his hand to shake on it. funny.<br />so now...whenever i want him to do something...i'll have him shake my hand to seal the deal.<br /><br />oh, and in exciting news - we have finally broke him of his 20-day stretch of watching polar express every.single.night. ahhh. i was getting mighty sick of tom hanks and that whiny fricken kid.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-53898879614056992902008-12-10T21:31:00.003-06:002008-12-10T21:51:25.165-06:00feelin goodgriffin is pretty much back to normal. the weekend was more of him waking up early and having that croup cough, but by monday things were back to normal. thank goodness.<br />the past weekend was pretty low-key...just hanging around the house getting our man back to full health. sunday i had a cookie exchange which was good fun.<br /><br />this week has been fairly uneventful. we got some snow monday, so that ended up cancelling my plans to head to wisconsin for a press check. instead we've had a nice few evenings at home.<br /><br />my friends and i started a weekly work out night at my house. we have such a big upstairs, so once a week we are getting together and doing a workout dvd together after g goes to bed. last night we did "jillians 30 day shred". it was a good one. i'm sore today.<br /><br />tonight griffin had a little outing to choo choo bobs. it was a nice change of pace for him to get out of the house and he loved it. he loves all of those electric trains going around.<br />we are realizing that we need to find different things to keep griffin occupied. when we are at home he wants to watch movies (video clips from our digital camera, which are downloaded to our computers) all. the. time. so yeah...good to get out.<br /><br />a few pictures from recently:<br /><br />griffins new haircut. he looks like such a big boy!!! where did the time go?<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qBWOCOV6K31SygZOjuCwNSQv7dGMLkRYrVoXZ0fZQG_DucdrlhfFjehoUaTwF0h3JVjyYvJz98rjZqzG-DAnuh5celox-5M4rsAusD2N61xDKij78kW3kqcq03H3sboTAf-3eF_HPWo/s1600-h/IMG_3762.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qBWOCOV6K31SygZOjuCwNSQv7dGMLkRYrVoXZ0fZQG_DucdrlhfFjehoUaTwF0h3JVjyYvJz98rjZqzG-DAnuh5celox-5M4rsAusD2N61xDKij78kW3kqcq03H3sboTAf-3eF_HPWo/s400/IMG_3762.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278373593460788498" /></a><br /><br />sledding:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6eMD578yS08uYPHvfgYfBJvpmaE4ILlKBkbwCS28BildVi9toP0vhpYV5Pm2hqUwC-m40I2x-7ZFysElr710KBYy2b7ufWJurF_ek53InYEFQmidhmNXjRsZ9ZiOpWBDsry8ryIGtww/s1600-h/IMG_3737.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6eMD578yS08uYPHvfgYfBJvpmaE4ILlKBkbwCS28BildVi9toP0vhpYV5Pm2hqUwC-m40I2x-7ZFysElr710KBYy2b7ufWJurF_ek53InYEFQmidhmNXjRsZ9ZiOpWBDsry8ryIGtww/s400/IMG_3737.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278373606776651426" /></a>Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-11775734654220970412008-12-05T21:34:00.002-06:002008-12-05T21:45:59.060-06:00croupy crapso, i stayed home from work with griffin today....he woke up with the croup cough. he was having a tough time catching an inward breath and had that barky cough.<br />we had him in the steam and also outside and it seemed to help. by the time dan left for work griffin was doing pretty well...but anytime he gets upset...the cough comes back. so....we do everything we can not to upset him (doctors orders).<br /><br />sometimes i think he takes advantage of that. he knows on days like this we'll do what he wants to not get him riled up.<br /> he demanded to watch the video clips on my computer about 10 times, and had me play exactly the way he wanted me to all day. <br /><br />when he took a nap, i attempted to make a bunch of cookies. i have a couple of cookie exchanges coming up. i decided to try some new kinds...i don't think they turned out that awesome. the first one i made...i got distracted by something and i'm fairly certain i dumped in an extra cup of flour by accident. the second one took longer than i thought and i don't think it was worth the effort. griffin helped once he woke up and dumped sprinkles all over everything...so that adds a special touch...<br />oh, and he snuck dough when i wasn't looking. at least he seems to like the cookies.<br /><br />so, tonight dan and i have the monitor cranked up to 11. i'm sure we'll be sleeping pretty light tonight. let's hope it was just a day of this and all will be better tomorrrow!! we are obviously a bit paranoid after march.Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400941597064457044.post-40067678657608474762008-12-03T21:15:00.011-06:002008-12-03T21:55:13.496-06:00photo update from thanksgiving weekend...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrW2ooxIpvvBkk7OjfxdHvt7cCYnnp2nW0mIRC7JXubHbbDETum6i4Bpu5MRGnB5up3Sia14W-oxKS-YuwCQbpHUyTQasZiKBv1vNUrQnuBm-g3FoD8YxWbpBdi2Ef_xpR2-UY5d4-m7A/s1600-h/IMG_3713.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrW2ooxIpvvBkk7OjfxdHvt7cCYnnp2nW0mIRC7JXubHbbDETum6i4Bpu5MRGnB5up3Sia14W-oxKS-YuwCQbpHUyTQasZiKBv1vNUrQnuBm-g3FoD8YxWbpBdi2Ef_xpR2-UY5d4-m7A/s400/IMG_3713.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275774505145454242" /></a><br />griffin wearing my slippers...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLBTOzIfaZFSY65Yr4vjibBBT7r-RhpWCWT9dKvGAOC6lKOWyD0PKyJsik9n2vorjVTX9_AeXk3ljcjMdiRn2Zli1fRmK1QU5uaZiTAX66gJHJujJgQSA08SSZThHTgi1INqKhiRhFoE/s1600-h/IMG_3562.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLBTOzIfaZFSY65Yr4vjibBBT7r-RhpWCWT9dKvGAOC6lKOWyD0PKyJsik9n2vorjVTX9_AeXk3ljcjMdiRn2Zli1fRmK1QU5uaZiTAX66gJHJujJgQSA08SSZThHTgi1INqKhiRhFoE/s400/IMG_3562.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275769190118891586" /></a><br />my attempt at a self portrait. (sorry about that, little man)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJ1r_ZlMhU53UmlRcHbGwURUJxqGO_Vk309PdCpxw-29mn4S5lDjv2sNYBwnF2rsx-m1wC13Cnl0p_QKuXKLASlYi4lLPxPsJ7SiscjqCyrQldE0FIbVaGN2bN6HJ_TTqMaEg5UkLJac/s1600-h/IMG_3561.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJ1r_ZlMhU53UmlRcHbGwURUJxqGO_Vk309PdCpxw-29mn4S5lDjv2sNYBwnF2rsx-m1wC13Cnl0p_QKuXKLASlYi4lLPxPsJ7SiscjqCyrQldE0FIbVaGN2bN6HJ_TTqMaEg5UkLJac/s400/IMG_3561.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275769189843218338" /></a><br />griffin and dad at the christmas tree barn<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrExYvA-WOcBaxa-pY-DumsMhl1COz_sY_QCpbohTEr6-0eidduOywaSAzWCfLjC4gXdq_3LFrV4ebo3OjfZ_aZMKIZqsKRCDtZgyUf5i9KyPW5UL608C6vILYA6frAFLD__hwr4GLGag/s1600-h/IMG_3578.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrExYvA-WOcBaxa-pY-DumsMhl1COz_sY_QCpbohTEr6-0eidduOywaSAzWCfLjC4gXdq_3LFrV4ebo3OjfZ_aZMKIZqsKRCDtZgyUf5i9KyPW5UL608C6vILYA6frAFLD__hwr4GLGag/s400/IMG_3578.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275775964597901650" /></a><br />griffin and grandma l. looking up a silo<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fcK5zsjEg04uwQSY9KorC_wJkTCSFYLesg2Tu_GUTw4iSdDf3ARMH1Zpxa51tbpcALzbsW4wyqSJg1F3A4XgpmI2KIZO188b4TpL5NEYQOzS5ERdkI0FVagnA_fwnL0C77iQoLbWLb4/s1600-h/IMG_3558.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fcK5zsjEg04uwQSY9KorC_wJkTCSFYLesg2Tu_GUTw4iSdDf3ARMH1Zpxa51tbpcALzbsW4wyqSJg1F3A4XgpmI2KIZO188b4TpL5NEYQOzS5ERdkI0FVagnA_fwnL0C77iQoLbWLb4/s400/IMG_3558.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275769184804336530" /></a><br />g in his christmas (cosby) sweater<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFaF-_3ppH7Zh_zw7K8KCnyqBlVD1nQKXu__w6tTFbks2xXeF8FIg_43EscQEak6eLI1iQhcWmTeuvOnEMqWqkB2Y76f_WnaFAippcEppLSMhsGTMsHHZQFhZi5E5MdmohwU76TMtfJo/s1600-h/IMG_3721.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFaF-_3ppH7Zh_zw7K8KCnyqBlVD1nQKXu__w6tTFbks2xXeF8FIg_43EscQEak6eLI1iQhcWmTeuvOnEMqWqkB2Y76f_WnaFAippcEppLSMhsGTMsHHZQFhZi5E5MdmohwU76TMtfJo/s400/IMG_3721.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275774508750387138" /></a><br />griffin and his matching sweater monkey<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFBkKhHCVbn_eG2Ia6tuDWPWEY_pufFA6bHvJ7EziATKDJsxlQ1P9swclaj8khLK7v2vRKYQYfPHobI4ag4RIbYv75ZgexUjaRthUgwKteS7LClyb7su66jZnDuccwIWbl-PWzrAyTc4/s1600-h/IMG_3624.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFBkKhHCVbn_eG2Ia6tuDWPWEY_pufFA6bHvJ7EziATKDJsxlQ1P9swclaj8khLK7v2vRKYQYfPHobI4ag4RIbYv75ZgexUjaRthUgwKteS7LClyb7su66jZnDuccwIWbl-PWzrAyTc4/s400/IMG_3624.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275770436943767202" /></a><br />griffin and the polar express elf (the big smile indicates that he likes her...)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj15UpPdP_87ytcaoB4O1ouusXxzs4K1VKEG9HFXtunqdOSi_x4aHOEzC3FPw535vy0N0KuBdegMvWtXDntjq23i2JlZhxGQIoXcuqBTN-NejO7NL3iKsyJqz63hqP2WiuQgEovaOgeBs/s1600-h/IMG_3627.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj15UpPdP_87ytcaoB4O1ouusXxzs4K1VKEG9HFXtunqdOSi_x4aHOEzC3FPw535vy0N0KuBdegMvWtXDntjq23i2JlZhxGQIoXcuqBTN-NejO7NL3iKsyJqz63hqP2WiuQgEovaOgeBs/s400/IMG_3627.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275771230278935394" /></a><br />griffin and santa on the polar express (doesn't have as big of a smile as above photo...)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxAA6HqoFo2JqiRwSQp3zEt9wF0joetHWEfyMxCIzmoOD9axxLOzHpp9sO08Ne5IzDQj_Y80lECoHJmuK2jGKsYDhvJ6iuq2PiPxLioVgN8X2ETgZ82d7a0EVfdWLStaPo43ceIe-E2Y/s1600-h/IMG_3650.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxAA6HqoFo2JqiRwSQp3zEt9wF0joetHWEfyMxCIzmoOD9axxLOzHpp9sO08Ne5IzDQj_Y80lECoHJmuK2jGKsYDhvJ6iuq2PiPxLioVgN8X2ETgZ82d7a0EVfdWLStaPo43ceIe-E2Y/s400/IMG_3650.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275775964946723282" /></a><br />griffin giving his full approval of tooty fruitys cereal at my work<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyKZseNAO3KutjR2XynZhRID3Wa6ZobS9uwb94KGtOq_pC7L2VGxgUv0Jn8L2NRbbOS28kvVLBJcRC2T56c8vzrfGPUhMTGZcB_ETwLoigwFsMidWo8U0mBTeAxR_r6ZO0bVx_vxg10A/s1600-h/IMG_3702.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyKZseNAO3KutjR2XynZhRID3Wa6ZobS9uwb94KGtOq_pC7L2VGxgUv0Jn8L2NRbbOS28kvVLBJcRC2T56c8vzrfGPUhMTGZcB_ETwLoigwFsMidWo8U0mBTeAxR_r6ZO0bVx_vxg10A/s400/IMG_3702.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275771230840006738" /></a><br />hollidazzle parade downtown<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrV6tMtOT66-XQu-KWA6DP14TD8Cwfzi7ExBZRFjdY7waAb1IAr09u1DiB5ruHuPlWm8AR7Q9Hfw4yRBrGcYggmcKIN6uZomoaY6PE8eixQPef6z84MNKLt9t7phrTLp8gFvGWCxsYJpo/s1600-h/IMG_3712.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrV6tMtOT66-XQu-KWA6DP14TD8Cwfzi7ExBZRFjdY7waAb1IAr09u1DiB5ruHuPlWm8AR7Q9Hfw4yRBrGcYggmcKIN6uZomoaY6PE8eixQPef6z84MNKLt9t7phrTLp8gFvGWCxsYJpo/s400/IMG_3712.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275771269348574738" /></a><br />fireplace and christmas treeJillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512344957256496946noreply@blogger.com0