trying to move on after papa's gone...

i know i haven't posted a lot since gramps's accident. i am sure whoever is reading this will understand. i just didn't have the heart for it. i think that i can pick up the pieces now and move along, thanks in large part to the support of allllllll my family. it was just wonderful that all the family could make it to the memorial. gram, all three of the daughters, all 9 of the grandchildren, all 21 of the great/step-great grandchildren. and, of course, tons of the extended family. we all loved grandpa so much. my sister and her family were here a lot. here is a photo of my sis, angie, and i at rafferty's pizza the day after the memorial. mom just did not feel like eating the ham she made for lunch! and i don't blame her! this was a much better idea.:)

valentine banquet '10

dan and i went to the loveliest valentine banquet at Deerwood Baptist Church again this year. romantic ambiance, delicious food, precious friends, beautiful music, and hilarious entertainment. i look forward to it for weeks before! sigh, and now it's over.:) but, spring will be here soon. the meal was catered by Maucieri's. there were appetizers and desserts, too, made by jen and served by young tweens and teens from the church. arnie played the harp and sarah b. played her cello. devon did a hilarious "ole and lena go to the opera show" poem he composed for the occasion, with arnie on harp accompaniment. then jen sang a beautiful song. then arnie and devon played a "classical piano" number.:) arnie was dressed as his character "julio", a mexican who likes soup -- specifically lizard soup his mama makes for him. crazy! anyway, it was absolutely wonderful and i can't wait to see what jen will do next year!!!

Christmas '09 at angie's, or...i can't fit in my pants anymore

dad, mom, jack and i took a little roadtrip to be with angie and family for their first Christmas in Minot, North Dakota. it was such a blessing to be able to have the time available to do it! 5 days of fun fun fun!:)

the road trip could have been more fun. did not see a single culver's, starbucks, or caribou coffee from baxter to minot (we didn't go through bemidji, mn. there may have been signs of civilization there!). i was dying for a coffee on the way out and did find a very nice mom-n-pop joint in devils lake, no dak. on the way back it was sunday and it was closed. well, Praise the Lord and boo hoo!:) oh, and did i mention jack's blow out diaper? and the burger king that didn't have a changing table? not fun.

Christmas at angie's was fun. we had to open gifts the first night because the kids were wound up out of their minds and we were going out of ours.:) jack was as excited as predicted about his "d-tar" from auntie angie and uncle matt. jack loves to play his guitar and make up songs. the girls seemed very pleased with the headbands, and doll hats and scarves i knit them.

the Christmas food was our usual feast of naughtiness: swedish tea rings galore, huge taco dip, egg bake, homemade pancakes, french dip sandwiches...where's the veggies?! who cares?!:) ha ha! i think there were a few eaten in the five days. and some fruit. oh, and i am sure there were some diced veggies in the food the night we went out for chinese. i am sure that counted. anyway... Merry Christmas it was!

another church photo

i love taking photos of jack with my parents in church. it's very nice. this day they all color coordinated so lovely that i couldn't resist! jack prefers sitting with them anyway. mostly because papa has a tootsie roll (or five) in his pocket for him.:)

thanksgiving '09

what a great day! dinner for 12! centerpieces! 6 pies! this was the best photo of the day -- my mom pretending to beat auntie nancy over the head with a turkey leg.:) silly girl.

IKEA

went on a road trip with my mom and auntie lana last saturday. we went to trader joe's, a fabric warehouse, IKEA, and the albertville outlet malls. that's a lot of shopping! it was fun and exhausting. we arrived at IKEA just in time for lunch at the cafeteria. i had the stuffed salmon with sides, and a princess cake! if you know me at all...you will know that this was very very exciting for me.:) the sunny cafeteria had a view you don't get every day -- the mall of america! which we didn't even consider as a shopping destination for the day.

auntie lana hadn't even heard of trader joe's. she didn't know what the fuss was all about. but, she was a bit impressed, i think. she and mom were both very excited with the french baguettes they bought.:) i was excited about everything and i vow to bring a cooler with next time!

i am a big fan of IKEA. i started clapping with glee when we got near. which amused my auntie.:) it wasn't just IKEA that i was so excited about, or the lovely meal, it was jack's Christmas present. i had spied an easel in the catolog for only $15!!! chalkboard on one side, dry erase board on the other. it has a tray down below and i bought the roll of paper so you can use the easel to paint. i can't wait to put it all together, wrap it, and put it under the tree. there's nothing like a huge Christmas present! jack will be so excited.

birthday lunch

the day before my bday my parents took jack and i out for chinese food. jack loved it. especially the chinese doughnut. ?

while i am on the subject...

well, i usually use this blog for frivolousness. but, maybe i shouldn't? so, since i have started on the subject of surgery, maybe i should continue. i thought i should mention that my gramps had a knee replacement surgery and month or so back and my mom had a hip replacement recently. it would be great if you could pray for a speedy recovery. my gramps isn't doing too bad. he is getting around with a cane and they even let him drive now. my mom is pale and tired and weak and dad is driving her nuts.:) at least she has dad to take care of her. we have been visiting her this week, but when i have my surgery it might get very lonely for her. maybe she should take up knitting!

Pizza Hut

my mom likes to take jack and i out to lunch. or, in this case, dinner. she had been wanting a pizza hut pizza anyhow. i will be that excuse!:) this was the first time jack used a booster seat. jack is very good in restaurants. he is a hungry boy who doesn't mess around. in case you miss it -- pay especial attention to the poochy lips on my mom and jack. glad i had the camera with.

oh what fun to do a little girl bonding!

second day hanging out with my recouperating mum. how nice! today i brought over the peanut butter cookies, again, and remembered to leave them with her.:) i also made us some homemade pizza. it really is not very difficult. we watched a chick-flick and a half. i knitted. jack puttered about. i also helped mom by picking up stuff, bringing her the remotes, cleaning up spills (thanks, jack.), and bringing her lots of diet coke! tomorrow i might try the chocolate cake in the microwave recipe. what fun! usually i only have jack to enjoy chick-flicks with. poor soul.:)

please pray for my mommy

today my mom is having surgery on her hip. i am sure that all will go well... but i would appreciate your prayers. we all have a positive attitude about this surgery. hopefully when mom heals she will be the shopping-machine that she once was.:) also, we are looking forward to the crochet/knitting parties and extended visit from my sis and her 4 girlies. mom has 3 weeks off! how cozy! so glad i have my days free! so glad i enjoy my night job!

don't forget. please pray for my mom.

my mommy goes ballistic

just checking in on the internet-world. thought maybe i would add a little note about that bench i painted yesterday. apparently grandma (telephone, telegraph, tell-a-grandma-lou... the fastest forms of communication?:)) told mom about my red bench/her old green bench. mommers was a bit aghast. well, i told her i was thinking of painting it. i believed i mentioned it. i think the last consensus was that i was going to paint it black. whatever!:) it will look great in my sunflower yellow walled foyer with the black "slate" laminate floor and the my dearly departed aunt sandy's painting. the painting has a black background and has yellow, orange and red flowers. i think that color scheme sounds tied together, don't you? and anyway, mum has a red bedroom. talk about a big committment. i just painted a bench.

potter family... 80's style

i found this family photo over at my gram's house. i am taking precious family photos that i discovered were in a 4-drawer dresser next to the TOILET in my gramp's bathroom, and putting them in an album. this photo was taken in front of our tiny little first home. i am on the left. my sis and i are wearing "member's only" jackets, i think. you probably can't tell, but there are pin stripes on my jeans, and i am wearing kilty tasseled loafers!!! ha ha! but they do not have taps. (pcc inside joke)

jack's first carousel

saturday i took a road trip with jack and my mom. we went to maplewood, mn to get lovely portraits taken of jackers. he was a super star. he is very photogenic. the photos turned out gorgeous. i can't wait to get them.

the maplewood mall where the photo studio was is nice. there was a charming little play area that jack really tore around in after being cooped up in his stroller. the best thing there was a beautiful 2-story carousel for jack to take his first ride on. poor me, i did not enjoy it much. i almost had to yell to the carnie to stop the ride. jack loved it and made lots of soft "weeee" noises. i could tell he thought it was amazing.

saturday at grandma brenda's

saturday it was just jack and i. we went with my mom to a funeral of a dear lady that was from our church. i brought my famous chicken wild rice salad. yum. afterwards, we went back to my mom's house and just hung out on the deck. it was a beautiful day with a delicious breeze. jack loves the deck because he can roam to his heart's content because of the gates. hooray!

i love this picture. jack looks like such a big boy. very "christopher robin" from the winnie-the-pooh books.

happy 4th of july! the hoochies were out!

happy america's birthday! we went to a parade in crosby, mn. woo! the hoochies were out! crosby has a high hoochie population. and they even imported some hoochies, i believe, for the occasion. oh, note of interest, i saw a group of 4 guys and 3 of them had super duper tall mohawks. the kind you have to use egg white or cement or something to get them to stand up. i have no idea what they were doing in rural mn... i really have digressed. ok, the point of this entry is that this is a photo of jackers meeting smokey the bear. kind of fun. i don't know if jack thought so.

jack did love the firetrucks. good thing because there were about 3 dozen of them blowing the heck out of their horns. sounded like this, "BMURCK BMURCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WOOOOO!!!!!!!". something like that. jack waved at all the firetrucks. adorable.

i was the hostess of the parade. it was dan, jack, me, mom, dan's sis carrie, and her little girl claire. i brought pop, doritos, ritz crackers, graham crackers for jack, swiss, cheddar, summer sausage and cheddar. and red-blue-oops purple rice crispie bars. i was disappointed when the parade ended because i wasn't finished with my picnic lunch.:)

now jack is taking a nap. i have a little bit of time before we go to my parent's house for a big bbq bash. i am bringing homemade chicken wild rice salad and a key lime pie. i have to go now and make the salad. hope everyone had a flag wavin'-hoochie watchin'-firetruck blarin' 4th of july. God bless America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

road trip to albertville mall cont.

jack's first birthday is in 2 weeks. i am throwing a large family party. there is a cowboy theme. the gymboree outlet had some cute cowboy clothes and this adorable cowboy hat, but my mom had already given him a cowboy hat... so we didn't get this one. i don't know. i kind of regret it. he was so cute in it. she did get him a cowboy shirt. it has horseshoes on it and white pealized snaps.

road trip to albertville mall

friday i went on a road trip with my mom and jack. we had a terrific time. we spent a lot of money. we had a lot of good food (panini, hostess snoballs, pastries), good drink (iced vanilla coffee, green iced tea with passion fruit, chocolate shakes), and jack and his mommy got to ride in a firetruck with ernie and bert.

jack was going nuts on this thing. he was making all these motor noises and was spinning that steering wheel as fast as he could. poor dear cried when he had to get off to let the next child play. jack has a thing for steering wheels.

mr. personality

jack is so kissable. my mother likes to go in for the neck. actually, she likes to kiss him all over. she is the one who taught him the technical "kiss". i am a bit of a prude and i would just kiss jack's cheek... mom taught him how to do a full on open mouthed smooch. it is a very wet experience. sometimes he slips you the tongue. sometimes it is very gross. but it is wonderful.

fa-la-la-la-la

this was taken the night of the Church's Christmas program. i had asked my mom to bring her digital camera to take our family Christmas card photo. she forgot. i just had my old school camera. i had her take the shot anyway. i didn't get this developed until recently. turns out, we looked nicer here than in the Christmas card photo we sent out. go figure. and Merry Christmas to you.