Monday, September 28, 2009

I love being home, etc. etc.

(I have been inspired to blog, once again, by Coralie...)

Last Thursday and Friday I was in Green Lake Wisconsin for a teaching workshop. Green Lake is only 30 minutes from Fond du Lac (where mom and dad and my sister Jodi are) so the girls and I travelled up on Wednesday night and stayed until Friday late afternoon.

My sister Jodi watched the girls so she had four children under the age of 3 1/2 in the house (Ankica - 3, Sam - 2, Lillian - 2, Emma - 1) :-) Bless you Jo! Jodi has a new camera that I hopes she learns to use as well as Melissa does...oooh I love her pictures!

The girls loved playing at Grandma and Papa's house. Lots of "new" toys inside and outside and they love their cousins. It was an amazing thing to come home from work on Wednesday at 5pm with McDonald's to keep the girls occupied while I quickly packed a few things and drove to mom and dad's for a relatively short two hours in time for the girls to have some cuddles and head to bed.

I have spent more time with my family in the past four months than I have in the past four years. It is AWESOME!

I am preparing to give two exams this week and I have journal presentations to grade. I am in a constant state of preparing for the next class 10 minutes before it starts but I am still trying to keep the house and play with the girls like I did before. I am still writing for Associated Content (I am getting offers for up to $25 an article these days) and I have ideas constantly floating around in my head for grants to write and crafts to do.

I love fall and it has hit full force today. Lots of blustery wind and chilly temps. I even have a sniffle :-) Once we recover from the move and not having income for WAY too long, we want to put in a fireplace. Can you say "Happy Birthday to Loran"? (I hope!)

When I calm down from all the craziness (is that ever going to happen?) I want to post some pictures to the blog. I wish I didn't need so much sleep :-) Ah, to be Jawan :-)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The dark scary bathroom

Hi,

I am taking over my mommy's blog today to tell you about a terrible thing that happened to me today.

I was at mommy's work playing with Ankica. Mommy has lots of work to do and forgot some there so we had to go and get it and I got to push some of the elevator buttons and Ankica got to help with the buttons too and we fought about it alot.

Ankica and I were running up and down the hall and I knew where the bathroom was because mommy had just been in there. I thought it would be fun to hide on Ankica in the bathroom so I closed the door. It was dark but I wasn't scared at first.

Then I heard daddy say that the door wouldn't open and I started to get a little worried but Ankica was next to the door telling me it would be okay. But then nobody opened the door and it was HOURS before daddy got mommy to call the police and I was really scared to be in the dark and I was crying and crying for mommy and Ankica was telling mommy and daddy her idea to cut the door down and I was scared that I couldn't see them and they wouldn't open the door and I cried alot. And I didn't have my bop with me. It was awful.

But then a nice policeman came and unlocked the door and I clung tight to mommy who had my bop and I sniffled alot. Then I had some of the candy corns from the bowl on her desk and I played with Ankica some more. Daddy made sure the door to the bathroom was unlocked this time.

I love my family, but it was a scary day.

Thank you for reading my story.

Lillian

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

"Would you do it?" Wednesday

Would you look up someone from high school you were mean to and apologize for your transgressions?

Monday, September 21, 2009

The weekend was good

We finally were successful in getting Julia for a visit! She arrived on Friday afternoon and we took her back Sunday afternoon. It is a two and a half hour drive to the airport in Milwaukee but I am very proud of Ankica and Lillian for making that drive FOUR times in the course of the weekend.

We had fun, especially because Belmont had its fair this last weekend. The fair is the oldest in the state at 95 years old! There was a parade and games and rides and animals being judged. It made for a long day on Saturday, especially when we drove to Dubuque hoping to find a Cici's pizza only to find that it had closed. Julia loves Cici's but isn't allowed to go while she is in Georgia. Ah well.

Pray for Julia, and for us, as we start to move forward with things. We were given some insight into her life right now and while some things are just fine, others are more disturbing than ever.

Thanks for all of you that are joyful with us when Julia can spend time with us, especially with her sisters. They had a very good time :-) Pictures will follow soon.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

"Would you do it?" Wednesday

Would you surf the internet and generally play around on your computer for 24 hours if you had no other responsibilities?

Monday, September 14, 2009

It bothers me...

when people say they aren't going to eat meat, and then they have a tuna salad sandwich. Be specific and say you won't eat meat from farm animals or something. Fish is meat, dimwit. I don't care what Jewish law says or what Catholic people claim.

It bothers me when stores advertise hormone-free milk. Because it isn't. Even if that farmer is telling you he didn't use bST/bGH in his cows, there are still hormones in milk.

It bothers me when my students sit complacently through a lecture and then ask a question the next day that I just answered in class.

It bothers me that I can't call the school about Julia's school pictures without them requiring that I put Loran on the phone.

It bothers me that he has to PROVE that he has the right to inquire about her. Or pick her up from school for that matter.

It bothers me that my wireless mouse eats up batteries like they grew on trees. And they don't. I checked with my office neighbor who is a horticulturist. And a Texan. She is cool.

It bothers me when I want to make copies of a quiz for class and there is someone else already at the copy machine.

Oh I could go on...and maybe tomorrow I will...because it bothers me that I have so many peeves! :-)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Would I do it?

I have done it...especially here in the cul-de-sac. Let me tell you...these kids are not Christian-raised and that makes a difference!

The other kids have no sense of responsibility and are older than my girls. And their parents like to talk and not really "see" what is going on.

I wouldn't do it out and about with kids I didn't know or with parents I respected. I would talk to the parent first. Tried that here...didn't work...just need to protect my little ones :-)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

"Would you do it?" Wednesday

Is it really Wednesday? Where did the week go?!?!

Anyway...

Would you discipline someone else's child if the parent was standing right there?

(Maybe this should be...have you done it? :-) )

Monday, September 7, 2009

Blogging inspiration has struck

Coralie's blog hit me with inspiration.

My girls are sponges. They learn so quickly. And nowadays some of the things they say and do come from someone other than me and that is quite strange but good for the most part (for now).

Ankica now knows what baling hay looks like and knows the three main species that eat it: cows, horsies, and sheeps. (I taught her that. ya think?)

Lillian is very capable of saying Ankica but still prefers to call her sissy. She calms down during the day if she is upset when she can see Ankica. Too sweet! (God gave her that.)

They sing and dance on a very regular basis and they are getting good at it too. (Loran teaches them that.)

They were helping each other bring Lillian's new bike into the garage singing "What's gonna work? Teamwork!" (Wonder Pets taught them that :-) )

Both girls are learning the importance of patience (some days not well, but learning) and disappointment. We were supposed to get Julia on Saturday but when we were 30 minutes into the drive we got a call from her mother saying that she didn't get Julia on the plane.

I won't tell Ankica again that we are picking Julia up. I'll let it be a surprise. I can't keep all of the disappointments in the world away from my babies but I will stop the ones that I know will come. They just keep coming.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Life is good...too good?

Do you ever wonder if maybe you are being too blessed? That maybe something is going to happen to remind us that we are supposed to suffer for our faith? Okay, well maybe that might not be the right way to say it, but do you know what I mean?

We are blessed. I love my job. I get paid well. My girls love the Children's Center and I am grateful for the people there caring for my precious babies. The girls and I have a great routine for getting our stuff together and heading home every night. We have a nice house on a lovely cul-de-sac where all three other houses have children under 6 in a nice little town only two hours from my parents and most of my family. I have two great dogs and a great cat.

And now? Loran got a job! He was offered (and accepted) the SSA job. And they will be paying him quite well to start with. And even better over the next three years. He will have to spend 13 weeks in training and that time might be spent away from home. I am not looking forward to that prospect. I hope it will be worth it.

Loran just came home from jamming with the church worship band and is totally excited about it. We like the people at the new church. It won't be as nice as having people in our town from church that we can get together with on a regular basis but we will get involved nonetheless.

So when will the other shoe drop? We still have the monkey on our backs in Georgia but just decided to hire a full-time realtor to try to sell it. We have some GREAT friends trying to keep the hoodlums from trashing the place. Anyone need to buy a house?

I am going to enjoy life as it is for as long as I am able. I am going to do my best to live life one day at a time, praising my Savior for the gifts He has given me. Tonight I sat with the girls and held Lillian as we watched Blue's Clues before bed. I have a few hours before my class tomorrow to polish my lecture so I made supper and cleaned up a bit around the house while they played. Then we just spent time together. I love my life. I still have my moments when I am jealous of my friends who are stay at home moms. But I am finding happy in every day.

Ahh...time for bed. Good nights and good days to all of you!

Lillian's Second Birthday

I did my best to give Lililan a Dora cake. I will admit that it was harder than I thought it would be to use my mom's stuff and not mine. Her hair is a bit high but the cake tasted pretty good.

Saturday was rough on Lillian...she played hard with her cousins!





She is such a ham. She loved to pretend to read the cards.

Her first Potato-Head...this is the Mrs. She loves to play with them but I just never bought them one for their collection.


Ankica got to help Lillian with two of the presents because they were a bit of a joint gift for their play kitchen. I love this picture of the two of them.

Lillian does love clothes...she may be my girly girl :-)


I love having Lillian and my grandma in this picture. That is my sister Heidi next to Grandma. It was wonderful being home for the party. Three of my aunts were there and my uncles and cousins plus my sisters and their husbands and kids. We went to my "home" church on Sunday and it was just great to be there.

My office


This is my office. I took the picture on my first day there before I got my computer. A 19 inch flat screen monitor, docking station, and HP laptop now grace my desk. Along with a whole lot of books and papers :-) Didn't take long!


My cows finally have a home again! There was no good place for them at the house on Barbara Road but they have a great place to live now...I even have a perfect place to hang my big U of I basketball picture and my picture of the round barns from the U of I campus. I hope my collection expands over time :-)

Having fun with Daddy

The girls have had a lot of fun spending more time with their daddy recently. And I think their daddy is having fun too :-)



Another fun thing that daddy started with his girls was the poncho liner tents that they put up on the cribs. They lasted for about two days :-)

My little girls are growing up so fast! This is their first unofficial "first day of school" picture. I just HAD to! They look happy, don't they? They have been doing well heading off to the Children's Center every morning and now that Ankica realizes that she gets to go back almost every day, she has stopped crying when I come to pick her up. What a relief!

I am so proud of them! Ankica is getting very good at washing her hands and sneezing or coughing into her arm and not her hands. Lillian is learning to wash her hands too which is just so cute! No potty training yet but honestly, I don't have alot of time at home right now to deal with it either. I am sure we will get our routine down soon...it is just the first week of classes :-)

Would I?

Yeah, I think it would be cool to have all of my music on one device (I have tons on my phone right now) but, like most of you guys, I wouldn't want to part with the original. Expensive to replace all of that if the phone gets lost or drowns :-)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

"Would you do it?" Wednesday

Would you put all of your CDs on an MP3 player (or iPOD or smartphone or whatever) if you had one big enough?

Or do you prefer having the actual CD to put into your player?



(I will eventually upload some photos to get back to What is it? but I have lots of these questions floating around in my head...maybe I should do a Might you do it? Monday :-)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

It's over!

My first class as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville is over!

It was Introduction to Dairy Science and their were 59 students in there. I felt comfortable, mostly. The students got to leave 15 minutes early because I always underestimate their level of involvement. ALWAYS.

So now I know...make 10 more slides than I think I will have time for and they will be there the whole 52 minutes :-)

I have one more class this afternoon and the first day of classes will be over. There will be many more first day of classes in my life...for me as an instructor, for my girls as they go through school, but THIS one is different. I hope it is my only first day as a new professor. I hope that I will only grow from here, in this office, until I retire.

I am home.