A Winning Poster...

It's red ribbon week at our local school (drug awareness) and Ben made a poster that won for his grade level. I thought it was very COOL! Here it is... Way to go, Ben!
Have a GREAT weekend~ Jill

Miss Naughty Dog

Our new dog, Bella has been going through a "naughty" phase. From deciding to run away at the park, to eating everything outside that's edible, to not listening--she's had a rough week or so.

We've only had her for a month and a half, but we made sure to sign her up for obedience classes, which we've been attending for the last 6 weeks. She's done OK in the classes, but this week, being her "naughty week", I took Bella to class and told the instructor, jokingly, that our dog was for sale....no, that I would give her away.

The instructor answered many of my questions and gave me some good advice on how to deal with Miss Naughty Dog. She asked me if I wanted to try the "gentle leader" collar which I know had changed the attitude of several dogs in the class. I agreed, and after several (about 10) minutes of bucking like a bronco, she settled down and became a dog that I had never seen before....a calm, attentive, little sweetheart.
It was an amazing transformation!!!

At the end of each obedience class, there is a contest. It may be to see whose dog can sit the fastest or whose dog can stay in a "sit, stay" the longest. Well, Miss Naughty dog has never won any of these contests, but guess what????

Miss Naughty dog was the champion this week!!!! Defeating another dog (a neighbor's dog with the "gentle leader" collar) that has won two weeks in a row!!!!! Yea!! Check out the "trophy" we get to keep for the week!!!



This whole training thing makes me tired....and could somebody throw away that new dog collar???

Works for me!!!

I haven't done a works for me Wednesday for awhile, so I thought I'd share one today. With 6 people in our family, we have a lot of laundry to do. I've figured out a laundry system that really works for our family. Here it is....and of course, as you know.... nothing is "set in stone" at our house.

Monday- Mom and Dad's laundry
Tuesday- Ben and Luke do their incredible pile of laundry
Wednesday- Anna's laundry
Thursday- Andrew does his laundry
Friday- Mom and Dad's laundry
Saturday- Towels/sheets
Sunday-off!!!

Enjoy your day! Jill

It's snow fun...

I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday when this happened at our house ....

One of our local radio stations is playing Christmas music already...it's just wrong. I'm not ready for that yet....but I am over half way done with my Christmas shopping :)

Remember this guy that was sick??


It turns out that the poor guy has MONONUCLEOSIS! EEEW!! The doctor said he will be home from school all of this week and may only go half day next week to start back. He's such a sweetie, he's so worried about missing school and most of all he's concerned about his G.P.A. because he has a "good thing going." Gotta love a kid like that, hey??? Ben thinks he's "lucky" that he gets to stay home.... that's Ben for ya!!! Have a good day!! Jill

Football game

From swimming lessons to various birthday parties to high school football games- our Saturday was full. I guess I was looking forward to going to our local high school's playoff football game on Saturday considering I haven't been to a high school game since 1986. The beauty of it all was that John and I would be taking Andrew and one of his friends to the game so I was anticipating getting to sit with my hubby and "chat" on our "date". First of all, we got there too late to get a seat on the bleachers so we ended up standing away from the crowd, in the end zone, by the band, where the cold winds were howling nearly 20 miles an hour...OK I exaggerated a little. But it was cold. Nose dripping on a date is NOT attractive!!



As I'm standing there, waiting for my beloved to stand and chat with me, I noticed that not a word he was saying was actually to ME...it said to the football, as in "get down, get down!" or to the players...."Hey, that was a facemask!" or just a general sound that sounded like he was slurping up soup through a straw.
I was trying to be grown up about the fact that he was ignoring me and actually watching the game, but I just couldn't. I immediately flipped back into "high school mode" and started looking for friends to chat with, which is really hard to do when you're surrounded by lots of men, in the end zone, and they're spewing words to the football players too. Who really cared about the game, anyway. It was the enemy...taking my man from me.

We eventually moved over closer to the bleachers to get out of the arctic breeze and a funny thing started to happen. We couldn't see the game as well from the side, so he started talking...Hmmmmm. He would ask me, "What do YOU see as the turning point in the game? Oh boy, I had to act as though I was as interested in the game as he was. "Um....the turning point for me was when we moved OUT of the arctic breeze." or "maybe it was when I saw this".....



Anyway, we had to leave the game a little early to pick up a child from a b-day party but we had a great conversation about how men really LOVE sports and women are social creatures and things like that. It was all good! Once we realized that we were both "wired" differently, we could move on.

Enough about the game...we went out for dinner that night at Cracker Barrel. The fireplace felt SO good as my toes were still ice cubes from the afternoon football game!!



But mayday, mayday... we have a problem.... someone has a fever and a sore throat.


and someone is experimenting with ice cream and chocolate milk again....


and someone brought their instrument home for the first time this year....



Never a dull moment here!! Over and out... Jill

Pumpkin Carving

It turned into a really late night for the kids because we decided to carve pumpkins at 7:30 on a school night. I think it was worth the lost sleep, so much laughter and fun!! Luke was so impressed that he could carve his own pumpkin this year...he's 9 years old now!! The older boys cannot just carve 2 round eyes and a big smile, they have to "research" on the internet. Funny, I don't remember doing that when I was little. Well, here they go....

First you have to dig out the slime...




Next, we had to do a little carving....





Don't forget to roast the seeds...


The result.... (Luke's, Andrew's ninja, Ben's ninja and Anna's creation)


and Dad, the funny guy that he is, had to make use of one of the pumpkins that had a "rotting problem." Very Interesting, John.....

The Birthday Celebration...

Luke's celebration started by having Mom deliver lunch from Dairy Queen. How special did he feel eating a "chicken strip basket" while the others were eating a "monkey meat" sandwich (only kidding) and vegetables!!! Even the aroma, as I traveled down the hall with the bag, could attract a crowd.


He was having a great lunch until the whole cafeteria started singing happy birthday to him...

I think he wanted to crawl into the box with the chicken strips!!!


As usual, birthday boys/girls get to pick what we have for dinner--his choice...
Taco casserole with mandarin orange jello!!


Did I mention that Luke wore his costume to school today....he was #80 for the Green Bay Packers....Donald Driver. "Hmmmm," I told Luke. "but Donald Driver isn't (ahem) a caucasian." He paused a moment and said... "Oh, I'm Donald Driver with make up on." He cracks me up!!

Anyway, back to the story. Last night we ate dinner opened presents and then at 7:30 we decided to carve our pumpkins... a decision that was a little late considering Anna had to be in bed in an hour. Well, we laughed and giggled our way through carving and finally got to lighting the candle on Luke's birthday cake at around 9:00. I knew it was going to be a late night... Here's Luke with his special cake--he specifically asked for "angel cake." (angel food cake) As you can see, I'm not a professional cake decorator...quit laughing, I know it's lame!!! But he liked it!!


Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of the pumpkin carving.....a sight to be seen! Jill