Our Last Full Day in FL

We leave FL tomorrow already! Time goes by so quickly!

Connor was asking one day if we could move to Florida. Jon replied by saying he needs to come visit in July sometime when it is super hot. When we were driving back to the condo today from my parents’ house, I said I think I need to visit in July too, because right now it is very appealing to move here!

We have spent several days at the beach and at the pool. I think the kids would be okay staying at the pool all the time, while Jon and I enjoy listening to the water on the beach! The water has been much warmer this year and the kids have spent quite a bit of time swimming in the Gulf. In past years if one spent too much time in the water then your legs turned red from the cold water!

On Friday we went to Myakka State Park. We had been there 4 years ago, but decided the kids were a little older now and may enjoy a return trip. There is an airboat tour you can take and see alligators. Four years ago we saw a ton of alligators! But this year with the warmer weather that they’ve had here in FL the water is warmer too, so the alligators don’t need to sun themselves as much. We still saw a few and the kids enjoyed it. The last time we went Elianna was only 21 months old, so she stayed back with Grandpa and Grandma House.

We also visited DeSoto National Monument where the kids could add a stamp to their National Parks Passport. Jon remembered going there when he was younger with his family. The kids enjoyed the storytelling that the ranger did as dressed as a Spanish explorer. They really enjoyed the musket being shot!

We had some time before we were going to visit with Uncle Gus, Aunt Adri and Aunt Lori, so the kids wanted to go hang out at the beach. This beach had much nicer sand than the one we usually go to in Venice! They are both little fish in the water and LOVE playing in the sand!

We had an enjoyable evening with Jon’s aunts and uncle. Aunt Adri made a yummy potato cheese soup! Elianna, our good eater, even had seconds! Connor tried it, which for him is very good! He also ate some bread and loved the apple cinnamon muffins! Aunt Adri always has good project making supplies and the kids were quite entertained by those!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in FL once again. The kids are starting to ask about their friends and unfortunately we have to go back to work too. We are hosting Jon's work party at our house on Saturday night. The one positive is that the kids go back to school on Thursday and Friday and my school doesn't start until next week. So I have 2 whole days to clean!

I will try and post some pics after we get home. I wasn't quite as picture crazy as I may have been in past years. I have gotten sick of scrapping so many beach pictures every year :-) (And you didn't know that was possible, did you!?!)

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year's celebration!

Merry Christmas!

Okay, I'm a day late! We made it to Florida, although delayed by about 3 hours. What a difference in weather! It was snowing and blowing when we were at the airport in Minneapolis and beautiful when we stepped off in Florida. It was muggy and about 75 degrees. (Those that know me well know that I don't think muggy is that beautiful...but it was compared to seeing our breath on the jet way just 3 hours earlier!)

I was going to post a couple of pictures, but I forgot my flash drive at home. I have my laptop from school, but have to go somewhere with free Wi-Fi to use it (at Panera right now) and it does not have a ton of memory, so I know I can't download pics unless I save them somewhere else. Maybe I'll buy another one tomorrow.

We spent Christmas Day at the beach! We had dinner at Mom and Dad's around noon and then headed for the beach. Connor is such a little fish...he was swimming in the cold water! Elianna got in a little ways, but she was more interested in building sand castles and digging holes.

Christmas Eve we went to church at a Presbyterian church on "the island". That is where downtown Venice is located. I think we've gone there the past 2 years, either for the candlelight service or for a Sunday service. This year we had no incidents. Last year, a grumpy lady in front of us moved even before the service started because Elianna coughed a couple of times. Elianna had a pretty bad cough, but I don't think it deserved the menacing glare we received! The year before Connor fell asleep on the bench and he had candle wax dripped on his head! The service we went to this year was a family friendly Christmas Eve service where they had a couple of puppets that helped go through the Christmas story along with an older gentleman who was Grandpa and explained it to the kids. There were adults and kids that portrayed Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds and wise men. They even had a real baby as Jesus! There was no sermon, but it was after all a family friendly service!

I called Aunt Lori last night and Uncle Gus and Aunt Adri were there too. We'll call them later in the week to figure out what night works best to meet for supper. We're heading to Busch Gardens today...so I better get home so I can help wake the kids up and get them moving! (So, it might only be Connor that we have to wake up...Elianna usually gets up on her own!)

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Veldman Christmas

The 3 Veldman grandchildren enjoying their Christmas gifts! (Henry is watching a Bob the Builder DVD :-))

We celebrated Christmas a little early with Heidi's family on Monday night. Mark, Sara and Henry left for Stephen, MN on Thursday and we are heading for FL on Sunday (in case I haven't mentioned that enough for you yet :-))

Merry Christmas, Henry!

Mark was helping Henry open the gifts..when Connor and Elianna weren't ripping them open for him!

Another Webkinz for each :-) They LOVE taking care of their "pets" online! So far this has kept them happy and they haven't asked too much for a real one! Thank you Uncle Mark and Aunt Sara!

Connor had asked for a Bible, and loved to get his very own! Elianna got one too :-)

The kids each received from us a school sweatshirt. Embroidered under the TLO it says Lutheran School and on the hoods their 1st name is embroidered. They were very excited! Elianna wore hers to school the next 2 days!

Connor was very excited to receive a Nintendo DS! He had opened a game for it first, and didn't really like that until he opened this present! He had forgotten his Leapster outside during the rain this summer, so now he'll have something new to keep him occupied on the plane!

Elianna received her 1st American Girl doll from Grandpa and Grandma House! I was thinking we'd wait a little longer before buying her one, but my co-workers talked Mom into it one day when she was subbing for me!

Don't Drink and Drive, Mom!

I'll explain the title of this post a little later...

I stayed home with Connor yesterday. When I woke him up at 7:00, he started crying and holding his ear saying it hurt. I tried calling our neighbors, the dad is principal at the kids' school, to see if he had already left for school or if Elianna could catch a ride. As I thought, he had already left. So I told Connor he'd have to come with in the van to bring Elianna to school...he wasn't very happy!

I called school, told them I wouldn't be there, requested my sub online and off to school we brought Elianna.

Connor felt nauseous in the car too (Mom tip...always keep a bucket in the van! We keep little toys/pens/paper in a bucket, which then helps if/when a kid gets sick!). He stayed in the car while I brought Elianna in to school and told Connor's teacher and the secretary that he was home ill.

I called the dr. as I was leaving school, because they open at 8. By the time I got through, there were already 13 calls ahead of me!! I did get an appt. for Connor at 10:15. We went home, Connor laid down on the couch and then left a little while later for the dr. Yep, it was an ear infection. By the dr.'s reaction, I think it was a pretty bad one too. As soon as she looked, she said with her eyebrows raised, "Yep, I bet that one hurts!" Off to Target to get the prescription filled!

While there, we also had to buy pop to bring to church that night for the Christmas party for the Cadets. We bought some chicken nuggets for Connor and cheese sticks to bring to my school for our department Christmas party. I wasn't going to miss out on the Olive Garden we had ordered and I had contributed towards! Connor was very good and ended up falling asleep on the floor as I socialized with teachers.

From there, we went back to Target to pick up his prescription. Then home!

Josh and Alecia called a little while later. They were on their way home from Hawaii, celebrating their 10th anniversary!, and missed their connecting flight from Mpls to Sioux Falls. They thought about renting a car and driving home, but there were no one-way cars available. I told them they should call Kirsten and go to her place to meet Jonathan ;-) They could get on a flight at 9:30 and were going to fly stand-by on the 4:30 one. If they missed that one, they were going to hang out with us for a while. They were able to get on that one!! Alecia sounded tired and ready to get home to see her boys :-)

We had Pioneer Club and Cadet Christmas parties at church last night...all went well and I even remembered the presents for the teachers!! Connor ended up staying with my parents. He still felt dizzy and didn't want to go.

Last night he cried a little bit around 10:30 and could not fall back asleep. After reading to him little bit and singing to him, he feel asleep. He had been crying and I felt so bad for him!

This morning he had a lot of goop in his ear. When I mentioned that to a co-worker, she said it had probably burst. I'm wondering if that was what was happening when he couldn't sleep last night. I cleaned it out for him and he said it felt a lot better. So, off to school he went too!

We left the house at 7:28 (!!!) this morning. I wanted to stop at Caribou to get a couple of gift cards for the art and music teachers. As I came back to the car, coffee in hand, the kids said, "I thought you were just getting gift cards!" I said that I did that too :-)

Elianna then chirps up, "Mom, you can't drink and drive! That's what that red sign says (there is a tobacco shop right next to Caribou that we parked by)!"

Connor and I then explained to her that it meant drinking alcohol and driving, not coffee! She has never said anything to me before about that...and I've had pop and coffee with me many times! I thought it was so cute :-)

We opened presents with my parents and brother and his family on Monday night. I'll try to post pictures later tonight or tomorrow!

3 more days until FL!

Shhhh!!!! We got one!!!

We found a Wii!!!! Jon went out to Best Buy/Target yesterday morning and stood in line for about an hour. What a guy!! We'll probably have the kids open it after we get back from FL. That way they won't be begging for it the week we're down there.

I'm looking forward to playing it!

AND...we bought Newsboys tickets for the family for Jan. 26th!! The kids don't know that yet either! We saw them at Lifelight 2 years ago and the kids just LOVED them, so I think they'll be excited!

Christmas Program weekend

Here are a couple of pictures of Connor playing basketball!







The kids singing at school!










Elianna and her friend, Grace

Connor with a few of his friends,
Luke, Sam and Eli







We made it! The school concert went great and the church program today went very well too!

These pictures are from the school concert. Can you believe that I FORGOT my camera for the church program tonight?!?! When we were trying to get out of the house I had to kick Jon and Elianna out so that I could get my shoes on and get my coat out of the closet. The camera was hanging on the door, but in the course of everything, I forgot it. I did remember not even a mile down the road, but were running late, so just left it!


Jon's parents were up this weekend with Josh and Alecia's boys. They stayed at Kirsten's place because they had Molly, the black lab along too. They all know that I'm not a huge fan of dogs--and Elianna gets a little nervous too. They were able to come to the school concert on Friday and then went to the church rehearsal on Sat. and went to Connor's basketball game on Saturday too.

I didn't even make rehearsal and basketball because I was working a gymnastics meet at school. Connor wasn't feeling real well and took it easy the rest of the day. The single adults were offering FREE babysitting at church as a service project. It was great!! Connor stayed with Gpa and Gma House and Elianna, Jake, Andrew and Eli all went to church. Then Jon, his parents, Kirsten and I all went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. Jon and I did a little Christmas shopping after that.

Kirsten had to go figure out what arugula was at the grocery store. Her friend, Jonathan, (which gets REALLY confusing) is coming to visit this week and gave her a grocery list. We were all taking bets on what it was...color--red, lettuce like, green, white...and Mom through in bitter. Dictionary.com defines it like this: A Mediterranean plant (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa) having flowers with purple-veined, yellowish-white petals and pungent, edible leaves.

It was great to have a Christmas program for the kids again this year at church! We've had a couple of years hiatus, but it was very nicely done...good work Pam and Kari! Hopefully I'll get a couple of pictures from someone to post.

7 more days until FL!! 4 more days of school!!

Oh What a Day!

Zero more days until the kids' school Christmas Concert!
2 more days until the church Christmas program!
9 more days until we leave for FL!! (Connor was so excited this morning that it is in the single digits!)
6 months from today (183 days) our cruise ship leaves from Seattle for Alaska!!

This morning was a great morning! In my head, I plan to leave the house at 7:30 if I am driving the kids to school. That would make sure that I can get to school by 8:15 with time to spare. Most mornings the clock in the van says it is 7:36 or 37. Sometimes it is even 7:39. Then I know I have to hustle a little more. (And I won't be able to stop for a coffee at Caribou!)

Today Elianna woke up early, Connor got up 5 minutes after I left his room, they both got dressed when asked, their backpacks were already packed and we were in the van at 7:31!!! Drove them to school with great traffic, hitting the stop lights just right, dropped them off, drove to Caribou and pulled into the school parking lot at 8:15!!! YEA!!!

Disclaimer: their pjs are still on the floor where they took them off, Elianna brushed her teeth in the main floor bathroom, not upstairs and I wore jeans and an AV jacket because it is Friday.

But it was a great morning!!
Have a great weekend!

Recipes

Here are the recipes I've been asked to provide :-) I cannot take credit for either of these...they are from Alecia!

Dorito Hotdish

Ingredients

1 7 oz bag of dorito chips (I just use a big bag and take some out)

4 cups cut-up turkey or chicken (I use canned chicken most of the time)

Onions

2 cans cream of chicken or cream of celery soup (or one of each)

1 cup sour cream

1 can green chilis

1 can ripe olives (eliminated when I make it..as are the chilis...)

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

3/4 lb (12 oz) Monterey Jack cheese

1/4 cup melted butter

Method

Mix butter and half of the doritos and save for the top of the hotdish. Put the other half of the doritos on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Mix the remaining ingredients and spread over the doritos. Put the remaining dorito/butter mixture on top and bake at 350 or 35-45 minutes.

Easy Pork Chops and Rice

Ingredients

2 cups rice (I usually use minute brown rice)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can of milk

1 package onion soup mix

4 pork chops

Method

Pour rice in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Put pork chops over the rice and sprinkle the onion soup mix over the rice and pork chops. Pour the milk and soup mixture over rest. Bake at 350 for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes. Cover the pan with tin foil to keep moist. [Alecia and I both often cook it for around 2 hours...then the rice is a little fluffier]

Have fun cooking!

Busy weekend!

Our weekends (and weeks for that matter) always seem so busy! Jon and I sat down last night to talk about this week and how we will we get the kids where they need to be.

Friday night Jon had "the guys" (Steve, Scott and Jack) over for cards. The kids and I went to the old neighborhood where they hung out with the Majeskis while I did some stamping :-) The kids were going to go sledding in the backyard, but we had stopped at Culver's for supper on the way and it was COLD!! So, instead they hung out inside, a much smarter choice, I thought!

Connor had a basketball game on Saturday morning. In the chaos of trying to get out the door (answering the phone, making sure coats and shoes were all on, remembering some honey teryaki to deliver to a friend at the game...)we forgot Connor's basketball shoes. As we were on Cedar just about to 35E I asked Connor, would you rather play in the shoes you have on or be late? He chose being late! So, around we turned, picked up the shoes and arrived at the gym and the game had started. But, Connor did get to play the next time they subbed in players. Their team is pretty good! They do have a ball hog, but most teams have at least one!

The kids and I put the Christmas tree up in the afternoon. I still haven't bought their ornaments for this year because the company I normally buy them from wasn't at the Canterbury craft fair this year!! I did get some lights on the bushes and some garland up the stairs too.

Saturday night Tante Kirsten came to babysit the kids while we went to the Brills' house. Kirsten had a little bit of fun (and frustration) when trying to put the kids to bed. She figured out a parent's and babysitters best friend....bribery! Both kids wanted to be read to first...but after a $1 bribe and then some more tears and another $1 later, they figured out an agreement :-) So, not only is she a free babysitter, she ends up leaving with less money than when she arrived :-)

The Brills have a beautiful home and they are fabulous hosts. Thank you Scott and Cheryl for your generous hospitality! I tried "Rock Band" the video game at their house--I am not a very good drummer! And after embarrassing myself on drums, I wasn't about to try the guitar or vocals. Besides, they need to get some better options for songs :-)

Sunday night we had our small group. We have been enjoying our new study. It is a Homebuilders study...Communication in Marriage. Jon and I both know we have room for improvement in that area! And we will make sure we do our homework this month!

2 more weeks and we leave for FL!!!! YEA!!!

Happy Monday!! (I will be posting a couple of recipes I promised some friends later today!)

Prayer Requests

We have some friends that need prayers right now.

Jeremy and Darci Risner became friends of ours through daycare. Darci was the director of the daycare and their daughter Maddie was one of Elianna's best friends. They have another daughter, Katelyn, who is 2 years old. Darci was pregnant with a boy and due about 6 weeks ago. At 39 weeks she thought she hadn't felt him move for a little while and so they went to the doctor. Franklin James Risner died at 39 weeks. His cord was wrapped into a knot. He was born by C-section on Oct. 19th and weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz.

Our prayers are with you as you mourn the loss of your son and brother.

A dear friend of ours is struggling. Her father is an alcoholic. He has entered rehab for the 2nd time. They had hoped that he could go to Hazelden and get the best available treatment, but his insurance will not cover it. At Hazelden he would be there long term, the current treatment only lasts 30 days. He does not admit that he has a problem. As you can imagine, this has been very difficult on our friend. She has not had much contact with him and does not want him around her children. Her Mom has moved out and that too is a struggle.

Our prayers are with you as struggle to live with this disease. We pray that this time in rehab will help your dad.

When I hear from friends some of their daily struggles and sorrows it really makes what we are going through seem trivial.

We love you guys!

Run Down

I (Heidi) stayed home from school today. Thankfully I know a reliable sub (my Mother). I have been fighting a cold for a few weeks and feel like we have been going non-stop lately! I had been fighting a headache for the last 2 days too, which didn't help matters. Especially when trying to lead 3 yr olds- 1st graders in singing at Pioneer Club last night!

So, both kids woke up early on their own...great! Then they can get on the bus around 7:15 rather than me drive them to school around 7:30. And I'm home in 10 minutes rather than 30 - 40! I came home, went upstairs to bed, read a book for about 20 minutes and slept until noon! (My mom did call and wake me up once around 9:00, and I woke up a few other times too, but went right back to sleep.)

Talk about being a lazy bum! I guess I was more run down than I thought. I did wake up with a sore throat too, but I'm hoping it is just drainage from having a cold. I went in for a strep test last week or the week before and it was negative.

Elianna has gymnastics tonight at TAGS. She loves it!! And Connor wants to try it next session too. They don't offer as many boys' classes, so we may have to change the day/time in order for him to get into a class. Elianna started at Beginner 1 and will be in Beginner 4 next session! I think she has to work on her cartwheels before she moves up to Adv. Beginner. I guess I better start helping her with those! Demonstration of that task may not be doable anymore, but I can help spot!

I'll try and post some pics later of the projects the kids came home with last night from church!

Jokes

Here are a couple of jokes from co-workers.

Geske's favorite: What are the 3 rings of marriage?
1. Engagement ring
2. Wedding ring
3. SUFFERing

Side note: Jim Geske is another special ed math teacher. He is in his late 50s and has not married. He has been dating the same woman for 15+ years!! He says he'll get married when he retires. He can't handle work and marriage at the same time :-) I'm sure I'll have more stories about him later!

Another joke:
The 4 stages of life
1. You believe in Santa Claus
2. You don't believe in Santa Claus
3. You ARE Santa Claus
4. You LOOK like Santa Claus :-)

Happy Wednesday!
Heidi

Thought for the day!

A friendly co-worker came across this little ditty at the beginning of the school year. It just reappeared on my not very clean desk. It really is a sad commentary on things. Some days I feel it is so true!

A disgruntled schoolteacher handed in her
resignation with the following comment:
"In our public schools today, the teachers are
afraid of the principals, the principals are afraid
of the superintendents, the superintendents are afraid
of the board, the board members are afraid of the parents,
the parents are afraid of the children,
and the children are afraid of nobody!"

We seem to see this quite often. I've discussed this with several people. When I was little, and even in high school, if an adult told you to do something, you did it! I would be a nervous nelly if I didn't do what was asked. Kids today don't seem to have the same fear. Jon and I saw this when we managed apartments and 3rd graders didn't care when we told them to quick slamming doors or running through the building.

It gets even worse as they get older. Granted, my perception may be a little skewed since I teach in the special ed world, but kids do not show much respect for their elders. I am glad to state, however, that our own children do listen to other adults and in fact they both often tear up when reprimanded by others. (They learn that from their mother!)

This one is kind of a downer, but thought I would put it out there.

Snow!!

Well, most of the Christmas letters are addressed and stuffed! I now need to go out and get stamps! So, hopefully the letters will be arriving in your mailbox by the end of the week. The first line of the letter quotes the song: "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful....Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" That described the weather on Saturday to a T! Jon's favorite things in this house are the 2 wood burning fireplaces. So, of course, a fire was burning brightly! The kids had a great time "helping" Jon shovel the driveway. They also got to go sledding for the 1st time this season down the hill in our backyard. They would've loved for me to make some funnel cakes, but they know that is our snow day tradition now, not just a sledding day tradition!

Thankfully it is the 1st Monday of the month which means Jon does not have a meeting at church. Now he's home, so time to have supper!

My First Post!

I've had this address for a while, but have not taken the time to actually start my own blog. Hopefully I will update this often enough that you can have a little peek into our world here in MN. I'll probably let others in the family update it too :-) Now, however, it is time to go relax before getting some zzzz's!