Uncle Willard's 70th birthday party

Ok, so I'm probably going overboard on the photos here, but I couldn't resist posting them all! I had a fabulous time with all my relatives!! It has been so long since I've seen them, that I didn't realize how much I missed all of them until I saw them! My only regret is that I wish I would've known about the finger smear on the lens of my camera!!!!! (argh!) If I would've checked it before taking all the pictures, I wouldn't have gotten that crazy "cloudy" look in the middle of my pictures! So, if any of you have a better family picture (and preferable one with Uncle John in it), could you please email it to me? I would really appreciate it! I have that picture as my wallpaper on my computer at work, but of course mine has the "cloudy" look to it, so I would appreciate a clearer one and yes, Uncle John, you are part of the family, and I would like you in my picture too! :)

We had a really good time with everyone. Uncle Willard had around 60 or so people visit him during his open house at the Eventide, and I thought that was really nice. Of course the ultimate was finding out that Isaac told my Dad yesterday (after picking him up from school) that he had a great time playing with all his cousins. Dad said they weren't talking about it at all, Isaac just brought it up on his own. And Isaac was also in bed by 7:30 that night!! He was just a little worn out playing so much! It makes me realize how we really have to make the time for the next family reunion we have. Hopefully next it will work out for us to be able to go.

Until next time, enjoy the family photos. Some aren't the greatest, Josiah and Isaac had the camera at the Parkside Depot where we went to dinner, but they meant well!

Have a great day and I hope all of you are doing well! I love you all and had a fabulous time with all of you! - HONEST!!! Like Cheri told me, I am VERY proud of my Christian heritage and love my family so very much!

Hugs to you all! ~

Michelle Denise

Our very own Tony Hawk!!!!

For those of you who don't know who Tony Hawk is, he's a famous skateboarder. Our boys know him well. They like his clothes and are anxiuosly awaiting his line of tennis shoes (which Mom and Dad haven't gotten them yet!)

Well, for Josiah's birthday, Martin got him his very own skateboard, so needless to say, he has been wanting to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house a lot lately so he can ride it. (we don't have any concrete at our house for him to ride on). Thankfully my boss's wife, Sherri had just given us some elbow and knee pads from their son who never wore them so Josiah is fully decked out now to skateboard.

One day this week Josiah was adament that I take pictures of him on his skateboard, so here they are! Enjoy!

Scout-O-Rama

Ok, so it was a very busy week - after Josiah's birthday, then birthday party, on Saturday, the 12th, we had Scout-O-Rama in St. James. This is where the District pinewood derby races were held this year. We had a blast on this day. Our friends from Church, Gary Wyatt and his wife Donna were there. Gary leads the Boy Scout troop in St. James and Donna happened to be there as well. So basically her and I hung out all morning long and into the afternoon. In order for your boys to race at the District level, each pack had to have a table set up of an activity to do. So our leaders chose knot tying and other packs had various activities. One pack had the activity that you see above where you sit on a big round tube of sorts and you try to knock the other person off with a pillow. Well, Isaac being the shy boy that he is didn't want to do it until Donna said that she would go with him. Donna is a riot and they had a blast being up there. Needless to say, Donna's feet could touch the ground so she ended up with an upper hand on Isaac, but it didn't matter. He got knocked off twice, and as you can see by the picture, he was laughing cuz he had such a great time! :) Josiah on the other hand, didn't have anyone to go with, so he went with another boy that was there. He knocked the other guy off and I think J got knocked off once too. Then it was time for the races.

The pictures didn't turn out too well. But Isaac and Daniel Coleman actually ended up racing against each other. For those of you who aren't sure who Daniel is - he's my cousin Shirley's son. Daniel and Isaac are both in 3rd grade and are Bears this year. Next year they will become Webelos and on goes the transition to Boys Scouts. Sorry to say that neither Daniel or Isaac's cars placed in the derby, but I think they both had fun just being there! We don't see Daniel too often, so it was nice to get to see him and have the boys play together!

Josiah's birthday

Ok, so I have been really lax on getting these photos up and going, but here they finally are. Josiah had invited 3 friends to come over for his birthday party - Paton, Brett and Spencer. We took all 4 of those boys (including Josiah, of course) and Isaac, Sam and Tommy to Springfield to go bowling just like we did for Isaac's birthday. All the boys had a blast, and the day ended up being a good day. Cold and windy, but nice none the less. Basically no more snow!!!!

My baby's birthday!

Today is April 10, 2008 and my beautiful baby boy, Josiah Wes, is turning 7 today. Its so hard to believe that 7 years ago, he was born. We had no idea if we were having a boy or girl (not that it mattered anyway), until Dr. Taber did an ultrasound on me 7 years ago last night and oops! it slips - "there's a testicle". When Martin arrived at the hospital that night, I told him what I had heard only to ask Dr. Taber this morning, 7 years ago, if what he said was true. Much to his horror, he said yes and apogolized profusely for letting the cat out of the bag. I didn't care what we were going to have, as long as the baby was healthy. But I was excited to be able to say "these are my boys". I remember that phrase very well, as it was a very good feeling knowing we had 2 beautiful little boys in our family! So today, at precisely 9:01pm, Josiah Wes Quintero was born. I remember his birth so vividly. Too bad back then we didn't have a digital camera so I could download his first pictures. He was hooked up to all sorts of wires - he was one day early, but his lungs weren't filled out like normal babies. Meaning, his lungs were like unblown up balloons - all crumpled together and his lungs needed to expand. So they called Sioux Falls hospital and because of bad weather, they had to drive to Mt. Lake (2 hours) instead of take the helicopter to pick him up. So by the time they got to Windom where we were at, Josiah was eating well and keeping his oxygen level up which was a good sign. I remember Dr. Taber telling us that if babies are gonna get worse, it would've been in that first few hours, but Josiah held his own (and still does to this day!). So the team went back to Sioux Falls and we stayed at the hospital for almost a week. He was born on a Tuesday night and we got released that Saturday, the day before Easter. It was a remarkable week. Since Josiah was c-section, I had to stay too, and Josiah was on the line of being jaundice as well, but got sent home with nothing extra for that.

To this day, Josiah is a remarkable little boy. He's been a very strong headed young man, very stubborn, yet very lovey and wanting attention. He loves our family, our dog and cat, and he is a VERY outdoors-y type of person. Anything he can do outside, or with his Dad, he is in heaven. He loves to help around the house when he's in the mood. He loves to wash the floors and sometimes, will even clean the toilets! (not that I push him to do that one). We have thoroughly enjoyed his first 7 years, and are excited to look at the next 7+ years and see what kind of young man he will turn into.

In this picture, he's wearing his "100 day of school" glasses and hat from yesterday at school. Every year the Kindergarteners celebrate 100 days of school, and this was no exception. So, goofy as he looks, this is now our 7 year old! Brown hair, brown eyes, crazy smile with only one front tooth (with the other permanent front tooth finally making its way in that beautiful smile of his), obnoxious and loveable child of ours!

And of course, what do you think the forecast is for this beautiful day?! 100% chance of precipitation!!!!! Actually the forecast has changed to mostly rain, but still a chance of up to 3" of snow (and still depending on when the rain turns to snow, for the official amount). As of yesterday they were forecasting up to 10 - 12" for our area. Bleck!

Hope you all have a great day today! We will - we'll be celebrating the birth of our youngest son, Josiah Wes Quintero. Born at 9:01pm weighing 8lbs. 8oz. and 21" long. (funny how you remember the details). Today he wears size 8 jeans, size 6 or 8 shirts, and weighs around 55#'s, and wears a size 13 in shoes. I'm not sure how tall he is, but he's tall and skinny. Tomorrow we have a bowling party for Josiah and 3 of his friends - Spencer, Peyton and Brett. So, weather permitting, we will be going back to Springfield for another super birthday party! :)

Have a great day! - I know we will!!! ;-)

Our very own Rascal Flatts!!!

Ok, so yesterday was a day of hair cuts for our Rascal Flatts!!! Martin has been wanting to give him a hair cut like a lion for a while now - he saw another pomeranian looking like that and thought it was really cute. It does for Rascal too - make him really cute, just hard to get used too. He is not longer our dust mop or fuzz ball!!! Now the only thing we have to do is shave him for the summer and he will really look like a lion. They gave our old cat, Stanley that same hair cut at the vet clinic before he died and he looked so cute! Rascal did very well for me yesterday trimming his hair - he normally does. Except we usually do it outside so all the excess hair can fly away as needed instead of collecting on the floor in the house. Oh well. Isn't he cute?!

Snow

Ok so I have been really lax on getting this photo in here. Last week Monday, we had around 6" of this icky white stuff. So much so that they had school, but only until 9am and then it was called off for the day. It was just enough time for the School to take attendance and count it as a full day of school for the kids so they don't have to make it up. By now that snow is gone, but now this morning there is another really thin layer of snow again. ARGH!!!!! Can we ever get rid of this stuff?! This past Saturday it was suppose to get up to 64 degrees, and I know it got to be atleast that, cuz the boys were loving the fact of playing outside without any jackets on, but now this weeks' forecast is for more snow/rain stuff. How awful. Although I do remember last year on Josiah's birthday having snow on the ground. See the first photo! (ok, so I couldn't get it pasted right after this paragraph - I need to figure out how to do that?!)

Anyways - you guys get the picture. ARGH for sure!!!

Recap of my birthday

Ok, so I just wanted to tell you how the rest of my birthday went - it was probably the best birthday I've ever had. Once Martin and I got to the office, he proceeded to tell everyone that it was my birthday that day. I just kept shaking my head at him - he's never done that before. Then he got rolls and invited the carpenters from their office and the guys from the shop over too, to help celebrate! By the time the day was over, everyone at Bargen Inc. knew it was my birthday. Some even got my age out of it. Some of the guys (bless their hearts) truly thought I was still in my 20's. Now, to be honest, I don't know if I really look like I'm still in my 20's, or if they were simply being nice. Not that I look old, cuz I really dont' think I do, but you know how guys are - especially ones you work with - if they can suck up somehow, they'll do it. Martin asked Brad if we could get off work at 3 so we could head to Mankato for supper and Brad said "sure". So we were off at 3 to go out for supper. And yes, I still wanted to head to Jackpot, but with going to Mankato, we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get groceries while we're there too - thus saving us a trip there this weekend. Martin said it was my choice for supper and that was hard - it was between Timberlodge and Chinese. We had about $35 to save at Timberlodge because of a gift card we had and a $10 coupon I had for my birthday, so only because of that, I chose Timberlodge. I love Timberlodge, don't get me wrong, but Chinese is wonderful too, and we all enjoy both places. Josiah was disappointed I didn't choose Chinese, but he immediately asked if we could eat there for his birthday and we agreed that we would.

Ok, so on to Timberlodge. Our waitress, Kirstin came and Josiah blurted out that it was my birthday and that I was 38 today. She smiled, laughed and said happy birthday. We ordered our food and later on, Martin asked her if they sing for birthdays. She said no, but she could probably find someone. I told her no, that's ok. Then Josiah came back from the bathroom, and Martin asked him if he would start singing Happy birthday to me. His response? "sure!". So off they went, singing to me at Timberlodge. I was embarrassed, and apparently they had a crowd watching them, cuz the couple waited to leave until the guys were done singing to me. Others were staring too. So I got a free cheesecake out of the deal, and Martin told Kirstin that Isaac had a birthday 2 weeks ago, and Josiah will have a birthday in 2 weeks, so she got them both 1/2 slice of cheesecake for their birthdays as well. That was very nice of her!

After supper I was ready for a nice nap, but we had groceries to get, and off we went to Sam's club and Walmart. We had a nice time in Mankato getting home around 10:15. It was a good thing the boys didn't have school the next day or we probably wouldn't have been apt to go to Mankato during the week. Anyways - it was a great day, and I just wanted to share that with you guys. Oh yes, and one more topper for the day was knowing Kevin, Michelle and Travis made it to Houston to see Krystie and Mike ok. They left early to miss the snow we were suppose to get. I knew they were there ok when he posted a comment on Krysties' facebook page teasing me about my age. Only a brother would do that! And reading that comment totally made my day. Kevin has always been one to call and wish me a happy birthday.

So to all of you that wished me a Happy Birthday - thank you! It was a great day and all of you made it even more special by being in my life!!! :) :)

Love to you all! ~
Michelle

It's my birthday! :) :) :) :)

Hello! Well, today is a day that I love to have. Not that I like the fact that I'm getting closer to 40 every year (I'm 38 today), but its a great day! :)

Isaac and Josiah got me a beautiful plant - not sure what the name of it is (I'll probably have to google it or something), but its an orangey-peach color and really pretty. And they got me a card too. (both were with help from Grandma and Grandpa who had them yesterday after school for me). They sure do love their Grandparents, and I wish we were closer to Lubbock for the boys to enjoy Grandma Josie and Bubba the same way they enjoy my parents. Don't get me wrong - the first time we visited them in Lubbock, Josiah was crying on the way home because he wanted to stay with Grandma Josie. We had to call her and tell her that because we thought that was really sweet. Family is very important to me - always has been and always will be, and that's the biggest beef I have is that Martin's family is so far away from us. I love them all and wish we could be more part of their lives and them with us. They are a great family! :)

but anyways - then Martin felt guilty when he got home last night and he hadn't got me anything so he quickly ran to Pamida in Windom to find something. I told him not too, but secretly I was happy he was doing something. So many times the day goes by without anything from him, so I welcome his thoughtfulness! He ended up getting me one of those long body sponges to use in the tub (the kind where it has the long handle and you can actually wash your entire back with it!), and a hair brush. We had planned to go to Jackpot Junction tonight for their seafood buffet (my favorite), but with the weather we got, we'll probably just opt to go to Mankato this weekend with the boys and go out for supper. That will be fine too, but that seafood buffet is something else! :)

oh yes, and we can't forget Mom and Dad either - they always get me something. Mom ordered me a skinny scarf through Avon - its teal and gold - really pretty. I wanted to wear it today, but I need something to go with it, so that will be my next project! (wink wink) Mom and Dad are the greatest parents around too - they are so willing to help with the boys afterschool, and the boys love playing games with them (Isaac and Grandpa play battleship and Grandma and Josiah play connect four). Its so cute watching them interact - I love it! :) They are the best!

Its true what you hear - that over time you appreciate your parents more. I see my Mom every day. I don't see Dad as often, cuz I usually stop at Cenex to see Mom during my lunch hour and sometimes Dad is there - just depending on what he's doing that day. But Mom and I are really close and I love it. I have counted myself very lucky to have Dad around since his heart attack. That he was able to walk me down the aisle at my wedding and now to see our boys grow up and have the chance to get to know them better. After Dad having his heart attack, and me having 2 miscarriages (1999 and 2004), I certainly have come to appreciate the little things in life like LIFE itself. After having the miscarriages, I came to appreciate the "normal" pregnancies of having a healthy baby at the end of those wonderful 9 months. And with Dad - I have learned not to take his life for granted either. And I think that was Gods' way of telling him that he needed to slow down too - time to stay home and be closer to the family. Those are just my thoughts though.

Must get going. I have work to do, and a day to celebrate LIFE!!!!!!!!!

Love to you all - may your lives be richly blessed today and everyday!

Michelle Denise

an Easter picture

I'm sure many of you can say too that when you were little, your parents got your Easter outfits to wear to Church. Well, I was the same way. I remember getting dresses, hats, etc. especially for Easter. That tradition is no exception in our house for the boys. They each got to pick their own shirt to wear, and got flip flops to go with the outfits, but of course living in MN, it was too cold to wear them yesterday. But they sure looked handsome in their new outfits going to Church!

Hope you all had a great Easter!

It was a perfect rainbow

It was a perfect rainbow. I had just dropped the boys off at AWANA and it was drizzling. Enough to keep your wipers on. I happened to look on the East side of town and saw the perfect rainbow - the entire rainbow! So I drove over to that end of town (not that it took that long to get there, but still), and I could see the entire thing. It looked like it was ending in a nearby field, so I quickly went home to get my camera. In a matter of those few minutes, the arch of the rainbow had disappeared and all I could get were the ends, which is so typical of seeing rainbows. I was so disappointed. I was so anxious to show it to Martin and the boys when I got home, but all I could show and tell of it were the ends. Maybe next time?!. . . . . .

What an amazing day!

Ok, so I meant to update this on Sat., but I just forgot. Julie and I had a wonderful time shopping! We found some great sales at Maurices and Kohl's and of course had to make the usual stop at Walmart for the basic stuff. We wanted to see a movie, but there were no chic flicks playing, so we opted to do that another day. We ate at TGIFriday's, which I haven't eaten there since I lived in New Jersey! That was so good! I have not found the recipes for their amazing fried green beans as appetizers and wasabi dip and the zen chicken pot stickers I had for lunch. I know, they sound like something that would definitely stick to your ribs, but they were SOOOOO good! There were only 5 of them and they were served with soy sauce and they are really like wontons. They were so good, not filling, but just right. They were actually listed in the appetizer section, but they sounded so good, that I had to have them. Julie had a strawberry lemondate slush and I had the wild berry lemonade slush. YUM YUM

Last night we had our Cub Scout pinewood derby races, and I'll have to get a picture and try to post it on here. Of course I didn't bring my camera along, and I should have. Isaac got 1st place for the Bears, so he now goes on to Districts on April 12th in St. James. He was so excited! I have to be there too because that day we are having training for leaders and the kids have an action packed day of events - rock climbing, tomahawk contest, swimming, etc. All for the cost of only $3 per child. Not bad. The key is to get the boys involved in scouts.

Anyways - had to tell you about my shopping day and of Isaac's grand night last night at the Derby races!! Hats off to Isaac!!

Have a great day! We're having some real slushy snow here and the ground was just getting nice and hard and ready for spring. Hopefully this stuff won't last long - the boys are SO ready for spring its crazy! (but then so am I! - I actuall got my capris out one day last week!)

Love,
Michelle

A shopping day!

This is a day that I have looked forward to for a while now. My friend Julie and I are going to Mankato today to have some fun! We're gonna go out to eat (don't know where) and do some shopping. We tried to do this a few weeks ago, and things didnt' work out, so now we're finally making it happen today! I'm excited about it. Julie and I used to work together, but now the past 3 years or so she's been at a different place of employment and we don't see each other too often. She was my maid of honor at our wedding, and we were very close at work. I've known her for the past 13 years. Her youngest daughter is in Isaac's class.

Its funny how time flies - when I first started work at Bargen, she had just had their first child. And now Janessa will be 13 years old next month. Then I had Isaac a few years later, she had Lexia the next year and then we had Josiah. We're both in different stages of child rearing, but that's ok. They are almost in the teenage years and we've only begun the double digits in our house. Her girls can stay home by themselves good, our boys can't yet. Although Isaac is mature enough to handle things, Josiah is too wild to want to listen to his brother! (imagine that?!)

Martin talked about taking the boys to Mankato too. We need groceries bad. Martin has finally returned to work so he can now get a good check instead of drawing unemployment. That got to be a real drag having him all the time. With me working, seemed like all he had was time on his hands to think about the things he could be doing if he were working. ARGH. And now we don't have to worry about that anymore - thank goodness!

I also added a map of sorts on the right side of this site. I got it from my cousins' wifes website. Mitch and Kelleigh live in Oregon and Kelleigh is an awesome scrapbooker! She displays awesome layouts on her website - I'm afraid to say that my pages are very simple compared to hers. Not that hers are full of stuff on them, I would say they are elegant and easy. I just don't know how to do the "elegant" part of scrapbooking. Anyways, I'll put their site on here again - I took it off cuz I didn't have it typed in there right and I could never access if anyways. But she put that map on her site to see where all her readers are coming from and I thought it was cool too, so I copied it (hope that's ok Kelleigh!)

Must get going. J asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so I better get that for him.

The weather here has been wonderful, although snow/rain is suppose to come here on Sun - Tues, but then warm the rest of the week next week.

Talk later!
M

another day

Ok, I am over my harping and won't do that any time soon!! thank you for listening to my grumblings! The days here have been so nice. Today it was in the 40's again, yesterday too and tomorrow will be as well. Then we're off to some snow/rain for the weekend and down to the 30's, but hey, who's complaining about the 30's?!

As for me now, I am fighting a cold. It started yesterday as an irritating runny nose and this morning I woke up to a full blown cold, but only in my nose. Now tonight as my day quil wears off, I feel the pressure in my sinuses. That is where it always ends up going. Why, I have no idea. So tonight will be vicks and nyquil and hopefully a good nights rest. Am staying away from the boys - no hugs or smoochies at bed time. Martin, well, he's another story. He's got his own cold, and not from me. He's been outside roofing in this lovely weather and Im positive that's where he got his from. These days are so nice that you forget that you should still dress warm for them. He's doing ok, but guys need so much more attention when they are sick then when we do. I don't know why, but all my friends say the same thing on that one. The world practically stops when they are sick but when we're sick, we're still expected to do all the things we normally would and then they wonder why we are crabby? Why don't they figure that out?

Oh well. Such is life. I won't go on rambling about that one either. Will go for now. I was going to download a beautiful rainbow that was outside tonight in the nice rain, but by the time I got my camera out, the full rainbow wasn't there. All you could see were the ends of it, where when I saw it the first time, it was a complete rainbow. The boys would love to have seen that one, but they are at AWANA. I got the ends of it so I'll show them those pictures, but it just isn't the same!

Have a great night! hope everyone in your home is well and enjoying this beautiful weather we are having!

Love~
Michelle

Hospital bill from Josiah's ear surgery

Ok, so at this point I am absolutely infuriated!! I just went online to BCBS to see if they had processed the bill from the Hospital from Josiah's ear surgery. Well they have and you better be sitting down when you see this! Oh my word, I can't believe that 1) the hospital has the audacity (spell?) to actually charge that much for us being there for only 3 1/2 hours!!! and 2) we were there for only 3 1/2 hours!!!! I would hate to see how much they charge you for an entire day. My friend figured it out to be $765.00 per hour that we were there!!! That's like 8 times the amount that Dr. Janning's charged us for the actual procedure!!!!

The bill they were trying to charge us for was $2,801.25 and thank goodness we have insurance, because they picked up a measily $124.86 so we have to pay the rest!!! - $2,676.39!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention that we were only there for 3 1/2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am just livid about this whole thing. I can't believe this! And then people wonder why we can't afford health care! Start telling those Doctors and Hospitals to charge reasonable costs for their services! They are needed - yes, but not to the point where they have to charge outlandish prices for their facilities or services!!!!! Up until now we were only left with paying around $600 for all the Clinic visits we had (3 to be exact) and the 2 appts. we had with Dr. Janning's. And here I was afraid of the cost of Dr. Janning's procedures!!! Those were nothing compared to this bill!!!!!!

Boy, if I had 1/2 a notion I'd call the hospital up and complain about this, but I know it wouldn't do me any good. But man would I love too!!!!!!

Need to run - this is way too negative to keep writing about!

Love to you all! ~

M

Happy 10th Birthday Isaac!!!!!

Isaac, our baby, turned 10 years old yesterday on March. 7th. 10 years ago he was born at Windom hospital. I can remember the day like it was yesterday. Martin and I were at Mom's house washing clothes. I was already past my due date of Feb. 28, and was set to be induced that coming Monday. March 7, 1998 was a Saturday. Until that day, it was a perfect pregnancy - no contractions prior, no problems, everything had been going great. That afternoon Martin and I were sitting on the couch watching tv waiting for the clothes to get done. I started getting contractions about 4 - 6 min. apart for an hour. I quietly asked Mom for the phone number to the hospital and they both looked at me strange. I called in and told the nurse was had been going on and she said to come on in. That was around 4:30pm. So Martin and I headed to the hospital. Mom was set to go out for supper with her friend, Laurie and my Dad if I remember right was in Texas still driving truck for Marten Transport.

We went to the hospital and they immediately hooked me up to the monitor to check my contractions. Yep, I was in labor. But being this was our first child, they weren't expecting to see any miracles in having the baby come soon. So Dr. Taber took his time coming in. Finally about 7:30 they broke my water and it went fast after that. By the time I hollered for some pain medication they said I was dilated to an 8 and it was too late for that. So Isaac was born all "natural". Isaac was born at 8:38pm that evening. He came out reaching for Dr. Taber's shirt and the rest was history. Mary Minor was our nurse that evening and she said Isaac was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen! We named him Isaac Nathaniel Quintero. He weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

From then on, we've thought that 7 was our lucky number (not that we believe in luck), but every now and then it pops up for us. Like last night for instance, Isaac's score on his first game of bowling at his party was 77. Isn't that a little ironic?!

I'm posting a picture of Isaac's birthday cake, a picture of his friends that he had over (Tommy Kraemer, Jacob Suess and Sam Hirsch) and Josiah invited his friend Bileigh Anacker over too. And the picture of the monitor showing the bowling scores isn't very good, but Isaac's name is first with the score of 77. As you can see, Jacob Suess was the best bowler - for both games. He did some major kicking butt on the rest of the boys, and it was fun. We went to Springfield Lanes in Springfield, MN for the night out. They have such a nice bowling alley there and then we had pizza too after we bowled. We were all tuckered out after the event, except for the boys who talked the entire way home?! Man were they noisey. They were so excited to be here for Isaac and that was really cool to see. When I picked them up from school, they were singing Happy Birthday to him in the hallway. It was really cute. Isaac had a big smile on his face and was just laughing like crazy. It was a good time!

Someone asked me yesterday if I felt old becuase Isaac is 10 now. I told them no, cuz I don't. But what I can't believe is that 10 years have gone by already for Isaac. People always tell you how time flies after you leave High School, but you just don't have a clue until it starts happening! Which reminds me - I'll be celebrating my 20 year class reunion this summer! Now with telling you that, I do feel old! (but who's counting those years anyhow?!)

Love to you all! ~

My new haircut

Ok. so on Saturday I called Jennifer, my hairstylist and told her I was ready for a change, and I wanted to go short. She was excited! :) So last night I brought a picture in of the kind of cut I wanted. It was short and straight. I liked the cut, but wasn't sure about going straight. My hair has so much body and is so thick, that going straight isn't an easy thing for me to do. I almost always end up tossling my hair after its dried and spray it. Thats it. I've gotten more wave since I've had the boys, and its definitely gotten darker too over the years. No more blonde for me. A dirty brown is now my natural color. But Jennifer is such a great stylist that I know she can do wonders with my hair. And she's so great - she's the kind of stylist that you want - she loves doing new "dos" and doesn't tell me what I want to hear, but what she thinks. I totally trust her when it comes to my hair. And besides all that, she's also a great friend!

So I went short. Martin told me last night that this was one of the best cuts I've had, and of course he likes it straight. He just doesn't understand how that works. If I blow dry it straight using a brush, it'll be completely limp by noon. My hair is so thick and heavy, that it won't do anything else then. I have to blow dry it from underneath to give it the volume it needs. So right away this morning he says "oh, its bushy". I knew what that meant - it was ok, but he kept emphasizing how he liked it last night. Jennifer and I have laughed at the thought of having her be at my house every morning so I could get my hair "just so", but that will never happen. The way she styles my hair always looks so easy, and she'll even explain it to me, and I think I can do it, but by the time I do it the next morning - all those thoughts of how she did it have completly escaped my mind.

So I go back to what I know - the "fluffy" look. I told Martin to give me a few days to get used to the new cut and hopefully by then I'll have a better idea how to style it.

Expenses

Ok, so I've only gotten part of the expenses from Josiah's "ear surgery", but so far, its not too bad. However, I don't have the bill from the Hospital yet. That will be a lot I'm sure. So far total expenses are $1,011.00 and we have to pay $671.12. The clinic charged $171.00 for the pre-op physical which I think is just ridiculous. He had been in there a week or two before and that was only $113.00. And they wonder why we can't afford Health insurance?! Its because they charge an arm and a leg!! Its ridiculous!

Anyways, just had to voice my opinion there - I'm glad that so far it isn't much more, but the Hospitals charge way too much too., so I'll be anxious to see just how much that bill will end up being?!

Have a good Monday! :)
Michelle

Dad turned 72!!

WOW - Can you believe that my Dad turned 72 this past Saturday? It just doesn't seem possible that he could be that old! I see Dad as the same Dad that I had when I was a teenager - no aging, no ailments, still working, but enjoying life. To me the only changes that have taken place is that I've gotten older, gotten married and have added 2 beautiful boys to the picture. They both love my Dad and after the heart problems my Dad has experienced, the times my Dad spends with our boys mean even more to me than ever. My heart goes soft when I hear the joy in the boys' voices as they hear that they will be going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, or that Grandpa will be picking them up after school today.

We met at the Happy Chef in Mankato on Sat. for supper. That was fun. Apparently it was all my Dad's idea, so Mom says. It was fun. But the one thing I didn't do, was bring the cards we had bought for Dad. They were left on our dining room table all ready to go, but forgotten. I felt horrible, but I know Dad understood, but that wasn't the point. I felt crabby going there because we took a short nap, and that seemed to make me even more sleep deprived. Even Kevin, my brother noticed that I wasnt' up to par when we got there. Leave it to him to notice that?! He did and that was that. It was fun. I had a great time! I always enjoy our family times together. We've always made a point of getting together for the holidays, or birthdays and I will never forget those times. Hopefully the boys won't either.

I hope Dad had as good of a time as we did.

Love you Dad!~

your daughter,
Michelle Denise

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Well, we made it through Josiah's "surgery" yesterday. We were there by 6:50am and got to his room. We sat around til 8am when they finally took him to the OR to get those nasty things out of his ears. They gave him gas so when he was done with surgery, he was out and talking like crazy. It caught up to him later though. Dr. Jannings is a VERY nice Doctor and I

would recommend him to anyone (but hopefully you wouldn't need him). You can see by the picture above how tiny those crazy little things were. The yellow piece was in Josiah's right ear and the grey sequin was in his left ear. All went well, and Dr. Jannings didn't think he would've had any hearing loss becuase of those things in his ear - he said they were too small and wouldn't have done anything.

We were very relieved to have him out of surgery and doing well. The only thing is that he got an upset tummy because of the anesthesia, so he threw up a few times, but otherwise he was good. We finally went home around 10:30am and Josiah and I both took almost a 3 hour nap yesterday. We were shot.

As for me, I didn't even want to go yesterday because my throat felt so bad, but Martin said I needed to go for moral support so I went. But my throat still hurts today and I think I'll be seeing the Doctor today, hoping I don't have strept throat. Atleast Josiah made it through without getting sick.

Thank you for all your love and prayers during this time. Crazy isn't it how these little things can be a person all worked up? I wasn't nervous about things at all yesterday - Martin was. Which is a first.

Must get going though. Today is "donuts for Dads" in school so they need to be there between 7:15 - 7:45am to get the good ones, so I better wake the lazy boys up! Have a great day everyone and Happy Valentines' Day!!!

love,

Michelle