my brother's shirt

jack beeeeeged me to help him put andy's shirt on. i told him i didn't think it would fit. when it was on, and just barely brushing his ankles, he triumphantly declared that it DID FIT!:)

Christmas Eve at Milkovich's '09

Christmas Eve we finally got some family photos taken. it was a great night full of family, food, chocolate (jack and i should probably join a 12 step program after the holidays...) and presents.:) we are blessed with so much loving family. Merry Christmas to all!

happy 15th bday, andy

andy turned 15 dec. 5th. we had a "little" family party for him. he got a snowmobile windshield. that's different.:) i "baked" him a doughnut "cake". the doughnuts at the super one bakery in baxter, mn are very very nice. andy was very very happy.:) happy bday, andy!

"the stout scout"

that's what dan named it.:) isn't that cute? dan's uncle jim gave him this old International Scout. dan has had it about a year. just recently he ripped the body off it, added huge tires, chopped up the body, added brakes, and a roll bar. hopefully seatbelts will be next, if they aren't already added. andy has been helping him with the modifications. it is really fun to use. dan took jack and i for a ride. we had a great time! and i'm really glad that my shoe didn't melt all the way through... i was stepping on the exhaust pipe, apparently!

raspberry blueberry lemon buttermilk scones

yum. yum. yum. the really special ingredients in these scones are the lemon zest in them, and the "sugar in the raw" on top of them. jack and i adore them and are really glad that andy and dan won't have anything to do with them!:) crazy guys! more for us! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! oh, and more for sharing.

loving his brother in his sleep

yesterday jack and i were down in the basement. i was on the internet and jack was playing in andy's room. i looked in on him at one point and he had given up trying to play andy's video games. he was snuggled under andy's covers. when i looked again he was asleep. at 11 in the morn. :) he slept his whole 2 hour nap there. content. loving his brother. probably wishing he was home. so sweet.

bbq @ horn's (w/bonfire)

my sis-in-law's place is fab. situated high on a hill overlooking a very pristine lake. very retro cabin. my niece invited us to a bbq and bonfire one weekend. good food, good fire, good family.

what a ninth grader actually looks like...

ta da. when andy came home from his first day i heard the door slam and i shouted, "stay right there!". when i came around the corner... there he was in all his wife-beatered glory.:) well, that's what he was wearing. cool fox tee thrown casually 'round his neck. for posterity, this is andy.

andy starts 9th grade

andy started 9th grade today. he set his alarm for 6:30. when i rang his bell (yes, dan has installed a doorbell down in andy's room! much better than stomping on the floor to get his attention.) he came up the stairs already showered and dressed. he ate 2 two huge pancakes and packed up his backpack and apparently made it to the bus stop on time. thank goodness! it is a little too early in the year for him to be missing his bus. that will come, i am sure.:)

these photos are from the sears portraits that were "lost" over at mom's house. andy was in 7th grade in these! time flies.

valleyfair

went to valleyfair with my family, dan's mom and stepdad, and dan's sis, bro-in-law and niece. had a lovely time. jack was very brave about the rides. he went on the mini carousel all by himself! he also went on the regular carousel and ferris wheel w/me, the antique cars with daddy and i, and he went alone on the kid's train and semi-trucks.

i rode on the ferris wheel, carousel, antique cars, excaliber, renegade, and thunder canyon. we spent a lot of time at the water park. a lot.:) jack took almost a 2 hour nap laying on me. i was pleasantly surprised that he got such a large and painless nap. i am sure the day would have been a disaster without it.

andy, jack and claire had their photo taken at an old timey photo place. i will have to scan the photo and post. it is pretty fun. speaking of fun... valleyfair still had the ben & jerry's shop and they still had "coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz". yum! but i almost got "chocolate therapy". :) glad we don't live anywhere near a b&j's. too much temptation. and who needs that?

como zoo/como town

sunday we went to the como zoo. the butterfly exhibit was actually really really great because there were butterflies everywhere -- as it should be!:) one landed on my forehead and i took two photos of myself with a little natural bling. we saw all sorts of really cool animals in very nice habitat and the weather was great. went to the little amusement park attached to the zoo. jack drove these little corvette-like cars 3 times, and then he drove a little horsecart. andy rode on the swings with claire. it was such a nice vacation.

marshall family reunion

went to the marshall fam reunion saturday. the party was very nice: in-ground pool, yummy food, dice game, family. dan, andy, jack and i spent about 3 hours in the pool. the food was plentiful, and featured the family's required porketta. my pound cake was a hit.:) the dice game went well. i brought 3 gifts and ended up with 5. double:).

i picked a winner

when i married dan, i picked a winner.:) geez i love these guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

impending surgery for andy?

dear reader, in man vs. birtbike, dirtbike wins. andy was riding with his dad on saturday. andy went off a jump and when he landed a little sideways he stuck his leg out to steady himself. poor andy's ankle. dan took andy to the emergency room. they thought it was just a sprain. on monday i took him to the dr. and learned that he has a small fracture. there is a little bone chip floating in his ankle joint. he is wearing a very stylish boot and he's on crutches. he'll probably have surgery next week some time. he's not in very much pain anymore. that's a good thing. please pray for andy and his big gross swollen ankle.:)

our Easter '09

great Easter. terrific Easter. hope yours was blessed. Hallelujah He arose!

what we are doing lately

well, the very latest is a bout of stomache flu. i was feeling queasy, but jack was worse... yesterday as i sat here facebooking, jack threw up over my shoulder and on me four times. the joy of motherhood!;) ew! ew! unclean! unclean! so i got us both upstairs and threw our clothes in the laundry sink. then we both took a bath. since then no chuck has come up. hooray!

during the two week Christmas vacation dan and andy have been doing a lot of snowmobiling and ice fishing. andy has a friend, james, who lives down the road and they have been spending a lot of time together. these photos are from the day that james was snowmobiling over and he got stuck in a huge drift. he called andy...instead of his parents!:) silly boy. i drove andy over with a shovel to dig him out. i had jack in the back seat -- placated with chocolate chip cookies. i, naturally, knitted while i waited. and i couldn't resist a few unbelievabley funny shots.

happy 14th birthday, andy!

andy turned 14 on friday. saturday night i threw him a little family birthday party... complete with doughnut cake!:) it was my brilliant idea. andy loved it. in fact, everyone loved it. what could be wrong with a huge assortment of doughnuts and some ice cream?:)

crash bandicoot

andy gets into more scrapes... ha ha. this time he was going down a skateboard ramp and hit a rock. eek. the boy just can't seem to stay on his bike, skateboard, or dirtbike. maybe he should be more careful. right? thankfully he was only scraped. he didn't break anything, not even a tooth.:)

this totally cracks me up!

i love these kinds of dumb signs. we stopped to take this photo on the way back from aforementioned ethnic fest last weekend. i could not believe dan was such a good sport about it. sometimes he is a grumpy old man, and sometimes he gets a wee bit giddy.


funny dan story -- dan talks in his sleep. last night i was still awake with a bit of insomnia. i turned over and dan propped himself up on his elbows and said something like "What's that dome full of over there?" i said, "what?". he says a bit testy, "What's that dome full of over there?". he is looking out the bedroom window. ok, so now i know he is sleep-talking. i say, "dan you're alseep. wake up." he says, "i am awake, you FOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!", he tells me with huge amounts of scathing anger. he is now on his hands and knees looking out the window trying to see what is going on. after about a minute he really does wake up and he lies back down. "what were you doing?". "... i thought i saw a dome over there.", he mumbles sheepishly. i proceed to roar with laughter. i tell him that he called me a fool. that was the funniest part. (disclaimer: he would never call me a fool normally.) we are still laughing about it today.

chocolate and vanilla take a road trip

we went to an ethnic festival last weekend (blog post to come). the car ride was long, but it gave us time to bond with the family. forced bonding, i'll take it. andy would have much rather just stayed home, but i think it is valuable to spend time together. i think it is what keeps a family close.