K.C. Nissley's

In March we had the K.C. Nissley's stay with us. So that made 11 of us all together. We always love when we can spend time with them.The week went by way to fast. So we had 7 guys and 4 ladies in the house. Unfortunately Sonja was not able to come because of work, but Allison brought a friend named Tori along. So the girls were way out numbered. But even though there were more boys then girls and the K.C. Nissley kids are all older then our kids, they all get along and we all had fun. We are planning to go out and visit them this summer.
Zane got to spend the most time with them since he was home, while the other 2 were in school.
But we did let them stay home from school on Wednesday so that they could spend the last full day with them before they had to take off for there next destination. We went to the Rec. Center and went swimming and had fun there, then came home and the kids played outside.
It was sad to see them go, but we look forward to seeing them this summer:)

Life is full of surprises especially when you turn 40!

James turned 40 yesterday. A big milestone in his life. We celebrated it with a surprise party on Saturday for him. He was completely surprised. We had lots of fun with about 50-56 of our family and friends here at the house. It was packed, but tons of fun. He got some funny cards and gifts too.Some people gave him gifts that related to him getting hurt so much the week before his party.
The week before the big day,he ended up getting a black eye from a stuck skid, then a couple days later it was a cut on the bridge of his nose from a slip of a tool,then a few days after that he ended up at workman's comp. Dr.'s office when a tub fell off a stack and hit him in the face causing him to have 3 cuts to his lip. One on the outside and 2 on the inside which then made him have a a swollen lip. He also had 2 cuts under his chin which required 4 stitches. I asked him if he was not handling turning 40 very well. I just got a fake laugh and eye rolling from him.lol
But so far he has taken turning 40 well and has not had any more accidents. I hope that i take turning 40 as well as he did. Well that is minus all the accidents. But i do have a few years before i get to the big 40, as i keep reminding him:)

Chicago Day 3:

Our last day in Chicago, we decided that we wanted to take the kids up in the Willis(Sears)Tower. So we went and got our ticket for the" L" and rode that over to the Tower. The kids had a lot of fun riding on different modes of transportation that weekend.
Once we got there it took us riding in 4 elevators till we finally reached the 103rd floor. The kids loved being up so high and looking at all the Sky Scrappers and trying to find different things out each of the windows. Besides the name changing at the Tower. Other things have changed too,since me and James had been there 12 years ago. You now go up 4 floors higher and they have the glass ledge's where you can walk out and look down and all around you. I thought i wouldn't have problem with it, but i soon found out i was wrong. Once i looked down and tried to take that first step, it was not happening. Zane on the other hand had no problem, just like his easy, happy go lucky, self he walked right out there and was walking and looking around on it. James was the next one out there and he was having a little difficulty to with that first step.But nothing like me,Landon and Ariel. I did how ever decided that i needed to buck up and go out there. So i turned around and backed out onto it. I did not look down or around or anything. I just looked straight at the camera and nothing else. I did manage to get Landon out there and he did the same thing as me. However Ariel was different she just sat there playing with Tori her American girl doll and was not having anything to do with it. It was fun and excitingly scary all at one time.
But as we were getting ready to end our time there, i first had to make a quick restroom run before we left. When i got back I saw the boys,but no James or Ariel. So i was just getting ready to ask the boys where they were. when i noticed James with the camera over by one of the ledges. Wouldn't you know it. There Ariel was with Tori sitting down on the Ledge. So even though in all the excitement we did not get a family picture out on one of the Ledges, we did manage all to over come our fear and go out onto them. We did get some pictures just not the family one. Who knows maybe next time i might even look down.
So after our exhilarating ride to the top of the Tower we decided to catch a Tac-ski as Zane calls it and go down to our final stop before home The Museum of Science and Industry. We had a great time there brief but great we are thinking that we may go back up for the day just to go to the Museum and then come back home.Because of not spending a lot of time there. But the kids did like what they saw and were able to do.
After the fun there we went down and grabbed some subs from subway and went and waited at the train station for our ride back to the airport. When the train finally came we ended up standing for most of the trip home, the kids were troopers though and Zane ended up sitting and falling asleep on the floor. He was just plum tuckered out:) But we finally made it back to the airport and to our car and we then made our way back home. The kids are already asking when we can go back. It was a great time spent as a family and it was just nice to get away.

Chicago Day 2:

So we are on day two of our Valentines getaway. The kids woke up early, and were ready to start the day. After a great breakfast at the hotel we were off to Navy Pier, to go to the Children's Museum. The kids had fun Building there own Skyscraper, digging for Dinosaur bones, putting out fires,putting on puppet shows and doing much, much more. After playing for awhile we were all getting hungry so we decided to try out Bubba Gumps. While we were waiting for our table to be ready we watched a magic show for a little while.
Then we finally got to eat and it was great food and a great experience. They have these License plates that say run Bubba run or stop Bubba stop and that is how you get your server's attention that you need something. It was great.
From there went down to Build a Bear where the kids used there gift certificates and had fun picking out an animal and then picking out what outfit they wanted for there new friends. Ariel picked out a dye dyed Teddy bear that she named Carly, Landon got a camouflaged Teddy bear which he named Fire, then Zane picked out an animal which i think is very fitting to his character a Monkey which he named OOH-OOH AHH-AHH. He then picked out a funky outfit that says video champ on the shirt. So fitting for him.
Then because of my keen eye for deals. I noticed some coupons where if you spent so much you can get a free drawstring back pack for you and your animal. So it happened to work out that the kids gift certificates were for that amount. So instead of getting the regular card board boxes to put there animals in they decided to just keep them in there backpacks. Which it made it easier for our travels.
After that we headed out to the park to look at some of the snow sculptures people have made with the snow. We then headed back to the hotel, we were all tired and needed to rest.
So then later that night we went to the Water Tower Place. I thought that we would make it without ever getting an American Girl Doll. But nope as soon as we walked towards the Water Tower. Ariel saw the store and she was all gung-ho about going in. So we went in for a little bit and we were not in there long when Landon asked"Mom can the boys go downstairs for a little bit."lol Ariel kept looking at the dolls and we knew what her next question would be. She wanted a doll. So we told her that she could use her Christmas money and birthday money to get one if she wanted too.But she would also need a little help from us, so she was to not ask for anything else during the rest of the weekend. So she asked to walk around for a little bit so we did. Then she came to a decision that she wanted the doll. So we went back and she got the one she wanted. So now i guess now we are into American Girl Dolls.lol
After that we walked down to Gino's Pizza, where we had to wait in line with a very impatient Landon. He was extremely tired from getting up so early. So after we got a seat and ordered our pizza and appetizer, he ended up falling asleep. So we just asked for them to put it in a box and we got a cab and went back to the hotel. Where everyone ate a little and then headed for bed. It was a long day. We needed our rest for day 3, our final day in Chicago:)

Chicago Day 1:

We surprised the kids and took the South Shore train up to Chicago over Valentines weekend. They were very surprised and excited. They loved riding the train. It was there first time riding. We had such a great time. When we finally got there and got off the train and walked out onto Michigan Ave. and they saw all the buildings and everything. There reactions and faces were priceless. I will remember that moment forever. We then took a taxi to our hotel room The Hillspring Suites by Marriott. It is a very family friendly, spacious, with great amenities hotel to stay at with our family. It is now the hotel of choice when we take future trips to Chicago. We stayed on the 16th floor and the kids had fun looking at the city from the windows. They played a game that the first one to see a Taxi would yell it out. Zane would call the Taxi's, Tac-ski's. It was so funny no matter how much you tried to correct him it was still tacski.
Our hotel was right across the street from Harry Caray's restaurant. We did not eat there,but it was still pretty cool to see and be by.
So our first evening in the windy city began with us trying to find something to eat. Because we were all really hungry. So we set out to find something to eat and we ended up at all places eating at the Rock and Roll McDonald's. Go figure we are how far from home and it is still McDonald's. The kids loved it though, eating up top, taking the escalators up, just everything. Me and Ariel had to run over to Sports Authority, because i forgot to tell her to pack her swim suit. So after getting our stomachs full and finding a suit, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way i dropped the bag with Ariel's suit in it. I was so upset with myself, but the Amazing God that we have led James to find it. I was shocked! But then i don't know why, we have an amazing God and if we were suppose to find it, then we would have just like we did. So after all that excitement and we thanked our awesome God, the kids got there suits on and we went swimming for awhile. The kids were up way late. Then finally it was time to go to sleep. So that we could continue our adventures the next day
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The start to 2011!

Well we welcomed 2011 with much fanfare and with many family member's. We were so ready for 2010 to be over with, in hopes that 2011 would be a better year. Even though we had experienced a few great moments in 2010.I was happy to wish it good bye and open my arms wide for a huge hug for the new year. So far it has been ok. We had what everyone calls a Blizzard, i call it snow.lol It brought along with it some frigid weather, that gave us 1 day off of school and a few delays for a couple mornings. I do have to say that was nice for me.
In January we had Rabbit club start back up and Upwards Basketball for Landon this year. Ariel is not playing this year. We will be finishing up with that and Quizzing next month in March. Then we will have about a month and a half where all we have is bowling on Saturdays, that i can handle.
Oh and about rabbit club, i did forget to mention that we had our first set of baby bunnies born this past October. So we gave 2 away and kept 3 plus we still have Hopscotch.So we went from 1 rabbit to 4. She will not be shown this year we are going to show the other ones. That has been January for us. In my next post i will be telling you about our trip to Chicago!!! Fun times had by all:)

It's been along time and its now 2011.

Wow, time sure has flown by, i thought that i had started off 2010 doing fairly well with my blogging. But then it went down hill from there. So let me try and catch you up on what has went on in the last year, before i get into all the things that have happened so far in 2011.
So i guess the most important thing happened to us in March after James birthday.Was that. HE GOT A JOB:) It was at first a job through a temp agency called Manpower for a factory 3rd shift press operator for Triangle Rubber Plastics division. He really struggled with 3rd shift ,but was a real trooper and kept going on. You would not think that it would be a big adjustment but it was for our family. He had never worked on third or ran a press. He had more problems with the lateness of it then working a press.But then things did improve Triangle hired him on as one of there own so no more Manpower. That happened in May and then in July he got to go on first shift still running a press. But that only lasted for a couple weeks then he was offered a job in there shipping department(1st shift). He is the Warehouse Coordinator and he really enjoys it. That is his thing, so he felt at home in that area and it is very hard for us to believe that in March it will be a year since he started at Triangle. But actual hire in and Anniversary for him is May because of the whole temp agency. But it has really flown by.
So lets see we may as well stick with James and see what else may have been going on with him this last year. He pretty much worked. But he did go and coach Landon's Little League team the Astro's. He enjoys doing that. Plus him and Landon did a lot of fishing during the summer while we were up at the lake. James actually got to play a little ball himself with another Church league, unfortunately because of his job and where they moved the league too for our church he was not able to play with them this year.
Let's see what have i been doing this past year? I have been doing the mom and wife thing and crossing the kiddo's, This is my third year crossing, I do enjoy it. I enjoy the kids i don't enjoy the mornings:) Nothing seems to really come to mind. Me and the kids did a lot of staying out at the lake with my grandparents this past year. I guess my biggest thing is my friend taught me how to knit at the end of October and i really love it. I wish i could say that is why my blogging has fallen behind, but sadly no. It was just because of my forgetful brain and laziness.
I have also made another new friend this year. She is a wonderful women, who i think is very strong and courageous. I am glad that i have gotten to know her and that we are friends:)
How could i forget that i am now helping to teach a group of 1st and 2nd graders on Wednesday nights at church. They are called the Loving Limes. Landon of course is in that group.It is different teaching the younger ones then the older, some good, some maybe not so good differences:)But other then that I really have not had a lot happen with myself.
Ariel she is in 5th grade. She is now in the Preteens at church. She had a blast had Church camp last year and is enjoying her workshops on Wednesday nights and her Sunday school classes also. She decided to quiz again this year and has been doing that which is still going on as i am typing this. But last year Ariel played Minor softball and she decided to join Orchestra this summer and played the violin. She did really well with it but then after school started she decided to give it up, But she did get picked to be in the Orff Ensemble at school. So she still does something musical. She was also in running Club and has been participating in that since they started it at Parkside when she was in 3rd grade. They have a fall and a spring one so that should be starting up pretty soon. Other then that she has just been helpful around the house and enjoys having her friends over.
Landon is now in 1st grade, and is enjoying it a lot. He finished his Kindergarten year successfully and is now in the 1st grade. During the summer he played in the Rookie League and enjoyed doing that. He also did wrestling camp for the second year and enjoyed himself. He was going for first place this year, but ended up in 3rd. But he still has never been pinned, the match that he lost was only by 1 point against his friend so it was a very stressful match. I said it will be great when they can all be on the same team and not wrestle against each other.Of course he also bowls on Saturdays and he also is playing Upwards basketball for his 2nd year. He enjoys every sport he does, we will just have to wait and see which he decides to pursue when he gets older.
Zane well he is just as goofy as ever and keeps me very entertained. He enjoys going over to Grandma W. and Grandma and Grandpa H. house's while i cross the kids in the morning. Then me and him get to hang out the rest of the day. He also enjoys going to MOPS with me and has a great time. He will actually get to play ball this year so that will be something to look forward too. He loves going to Church and has a great time in The Kids Town playing with his friends and learning about God. He would tell you that he loves 1,2,3, Kisses, Eskimo kisses and Cheeky kisses. Those are the types of kisses he gives to me and James tries to steal from him.lol He also prays and tells God every night that he loves those kinds of kisses too. Like i said he keeps us well entertained.
I believe that now you are all caught up with what has happened in 2010. Oh wait, i am wrong. Me and James got to go up to Holland Michigan for our Anniversary in Sept. for the night. It was really great to just get away for awhile and do stuff together for ourselves and not for the kids. Now i think i can move on with 2011. So heres to hoping i blog better in 2011 then in 2010:)