No where to look but up.

I don't even know where to begin on the kind of week we've had here. Last week was a blur and I was just thankful for it to end. That is, until I realized what this week would bring.

Last week Josh was at the doctor's twice; Lauren once. Both kids were sick and cranky which means no one is/was really sleeping at night. I had class in Des Moines for a day (which always seems to throw a wrench in things). Then on Wednesday I ran errands over my lunch and the wind took my van door and slammed it into my fender. So on top of everything else we had to fit in estimates and the looming payment for future services rendered. Merry Christmas to us!!

Friday was the kids' Christmas pictures. One word...disaster. No, I take that back, two words; monumental disaster. Like this one should have showed up on the Ricter scale somewhere. By the time we left the kids were kicking and screaming...and so was I. On top of it their server was down so I have to drive back down to Iowa City tomorrow night to see if we even got a good shot. My saving grace is the fact that I just went ahead and rescheduled for another time. With as much money as I spent on their outfits...I AM GOING TO GET THAT PERFECT SHOT!!!

Then our poor Uncle Joel. Friday night he called because he was in severe pain and throwing up. After, what I can only imagine felt like forever, he got some serious drugs and a diagnosis. Kidney stone. A big one.

Saturday, after Josh and I made him a card, I went to visit him in the hospital and he was doing much better. He had surgery again today and I took the afternoon off to be with him. My payback...a ticket from the Hiawatha Police Department. I'm due. With the way I drive I should have gotten one a long time ago. But, it still stinks.

The surgery was semi-successful and we're hoping that things will be back to normal for him very soon. As always, prayers are welcome.

On a happier note, we decorated the house for Christmas this weekend! I take that back. Dustin carried boxes and watched the Iowa game. Josh and I decorated. I decided to only put up one tree this year. Well, I take that back, too. I asked Dustin to bring up the other tree and he just ignored me. I didn't push it.





While Easter is my favorite Christian holiday...Christmas is a very close second. The smell of Cranberry candles, the sound of Mannheim Steamroller, the sight of freshly fallen snow and the story of Christmas are simply magical to me. As a child, my father created the most amazing Christmas experience. Our house always looked like it was right out of a magazine. Evergreen and lights outside and inside every room was trimmed in evergreen, candles, velvet and ribbon. It was always amazing and I hope and pray that I am creating the same type of memories for my children.

On Friday night around 11:00, Lauren's first tooth broke through. After all the pain and tears she officially has her first chomper. This is the best shot I could get and please ignore the oatmeal all over her face.

Just imagine...in a few months her toothless smile will be a thing of the past!!


We want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!! We have so many things to be thankful for and are immensely grateful for all of our blessings.

Now go eat some turkey and enjoy that pumpkin pie!

My little Vincent van Gogh.

Six years ago tonight Dustin and I were sitting in a hotel room in Florida ready to kick off our honeymoon. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago until I think about the fact that we've lived in two houses, had two children, several job changes (that's mostly Dustin), weight changes (that's mostly me) and so many other amazing experiences together.

I look at couples like my Grandpa and Grandma Krueger and I see Dustin and I in 50 years. While some may laugh at the comparison (only because the resemblence is uncanny), any relationship that can last as long as theirs must be admired. And even though their bodies have aged over the years...their friendship and affection for each other has not. I am beginning to understand how couples look at one another one day and all of a sudden they each realize ten, fifteen or twenty years have passed. While I certainly wouldn't say we have it perfect...I must admit I can't imagine my life without him. Our secret...laughter.

I pray that God will continue to watch over us and keep us as in love with each other as we are today...and for many years to come.

As much as I'd like to follow that with something romantic we did in celebration of our anniversary, I cannot. Instead of a night out or a candlelit dinner, we took the family bowling. You can tell it's our sixth anniversary and not our first, can't you?





Lauren was obviously more interested in her bottle than anything else but the rest of us had fun. I beat Dustin both games and even took photographs of the scoreboard for documentation. However, Dustin thought it would be funny to hit me on the butt while I was taking the photo. So this is all that I have for proof because immediately following the shutter closing the camera's battery died.



Don't worry...I paid him back later at dinner. It was his turn to change Lauren's dirty diaper because of course Lauren only waits to fill her pants while we are out in public. He takes her to the bathroom and we can all hear her screaming. Laughing, I can't imagine what her problem is until Dustin comes back to the table and reminds me that I left the wipes in the van. Oops. Honest mistake.

Sunday I worked on convincing Josh that he needed a haircut. The kids have pictures on Friday and I needed to have a few extra days of growth if I screwed things up. Well, I finally suckered him into it and his hair looks fine. The gashes on his ears and the one on the back of his neck don't look so hot. I clipped him THREE times! Of course his ears had to bleed like a stuck hog and Dustin came in just to say..."Oh my God. Mom cut off your ear!!!" I guess paybacks are hell.

Once I got him calmed down and showed him that his ears were in tact I assured him that mommy would not use the big razor around his ears anymore. And tonight again he reminded me that I use the big razor on the big hairs and around the ears I use the small one. Nothing like a little traumatizing experience to make you feel like a bad parent.

Mother "No"s Best

In the land of "downers" I am queen.

I have been the queen for about a year now. That's about how long it's been since Dustin got really big into wanting a camper. And now with Christmas approaching Josh is just finally noticing my tiara and scepter.

I remember as a child when the JCPenney catalog would arrive and I would spend days going through each page and ogling over all the toys. I would fold down the little corner of just about every page and dream of coming home on Christmas Eve to find all my gifts overflowing from under the tree.

I look at this time of year much differently now that I am a parent. Josh has literally run his marker dry from circling all of the toys on his wish list. I have about 200+ toys on his list and five magazines circled from front to back. Every commercial that comes on I hear, "I want that, Mom. Circle that for me, okay, Mom?" Of course every commercial and ad print shows the toy in all its glory. Through experience and age I am now able to see past all the glitter and smiles and see that 99% of this stuff is junk. So without dashing all that is good about Christmas gifts I have begun to say "No" to certain toys in the hopes that by the time we actually open gifts Josh will not be disappointed to see his select few toys.

Even so, he always has his magazine and marker in hand. Every morning he gets out of bed and gives me a hug as I pick out his day's attire. He usually says, "I love you, Mom", but this morning it was "Mom!!! I was just dreaming of all the things I circled!" Then, when I was getting the kids loaded up in the van we couldn't leave the garage until he was properly set up.



And tonight after I put Lauren to bed, Josh and I layed on his bedroom floor and went through all the magazines again, as if he hadn't already done it a hundred times before. I just love to see him get so excited and if I could afford it I'd get him everything he wanted just to see him smile.

In the end, though, I would need to get a bigger house and most of the items would be recalled in a few weeks anyway. Sad, but true.

IHOP

Dustin took the kids to Josh's Halloween parade last Tuesday. If you remember last year's fiasco at all you can understand why I let him go ahead and take him alone. Now, even though this year didn't entail tears and even though only 5 of the 33 photos Dustin took were actually in focus, you can clearly see that Josh wasn't far from a breakdown.





It's so funny how ten minutes before an event Josh will be laughing and singing and jumping with joy.

And as soon as you tell him to "perform" he clams up and acts like he's mute.

I'd show you pictures of the kids on the actual Halloween night but Lauren was in no mood and was screaming the whole way home from Larry and Toni's. The only reason I even got a photo of Josh was because I bribed him with two pieces of candy. He was already irritated with me that I wouldn't go out and buy him a new costume because he wanted to be Scooby Doo...not a doctor. This he tells me right before the last house. Do mother's ever win??


So, Sunday morning it was Dustin's turn to get up with Lauren and make breakfast. I heard Lauren start to cry and gently tapped his shoulder to wake him up just enough to realize she was crying. Usually the gentle tap turns into a kick in the butt, but for some reason it did not come to that this Sunday. I fell back asleep only to be rudely awoken about 15 minutes later. I honestly thought the house was on fire and Dustin was screaming for me to get to safety.

I came running downstairs to find him making pancakes and sausage. It is important to understand that Dustin got his cooking abilities from his mother (sorry Toni) and I've never expected him to try anything more than cereal or cinnamon rolls from a can for breakfast.

Now realize my eyes were still half shut and my mind was still in sleeping mode. He prefaced our conversation with, "Don't put this on the blog." But, he is not here tonight; therefore, it is free reign. Then he moved aside to show me his pancakes.

Oh..my..God. The batter was like play dough. It was disgusting and the only photo I have for proof is this:

There was a small struggle in order for me to get this photo; hence, the pinky finger in the shot.

Hysterical.

In other exciting news, the coupon monster has struck again. I got an AMAZING deal on diapers last weekend and completely forgot to show all my loot! I basically got the diapers for half price and saved a total of $39.75!!!!

I know you look at all those diapers and think that they should last me until Lauren's potty trained. Yeah, right!! This is probably only two and a half months worth! Sick, huh?

With all the money I've been saving, Dustin should be able to afford a very nice anniversary gift for me!!

Pushing Buttons

So I think the wear and tear of Dustin working two jobs, neither of us getting much sleep and me trying to run a household by myself and hold down a job finally caught up to us. Saying that we were "touchy" would be putting it lightly.

Dustin and I have been together long enough that we know exactly how far we can push the other person before we've gone too far. That is both a good and a bad thing. It didn't help that pretty much everything we did or touched this weekend seemed to go down the crapper. It started with an irritating family grocery shopping trip on Saturday morning and ended with a disastrous bathroom remodel on Sunday afternoon.

By Sunday evening we were in a much better mood (thanks to the paint fumes) and I can laugh about it all now.

Saturday night was a function at church for all of the preschool families. There was a dinner and church service in which the children sang. I just have to say that after that experience I have come to appreciate how blessed I am to have well behaved children. In addition, I have to *toot* my own horn because Dustin and I have been able to teach our children what is appropriate behavior in a church.

Josh, of course, refused to go up and sing. So Dustin sat by the communion rail and Josh sat on his lap. Oy vey.

Sunday night, after we abandoned the bathroom project, we decided to carve pumpkins. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! It was exactly what we needed to end our weekend.

Josh did NOT want to participate whatsoever. He merely wanted to play a supervisory role. Well, Dustin was not having that...so torture ensued.




Dustin helped Josh carve his pumpkin. He wanted scary teeth and mean eyes. And I made a "baby Lauren" pumpkin complete with a bow and curl.






All that hard work deserved some halloween candy!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Pumpkin Farm Deja Vu

Thursday was Little Lambs Preschool's field trip to the pumpkin farm. It was so nice outside and the kids all had so much fun. This particular farm is amazing and has just about anything you could possibly want to do at a pumpkin farm.



However, the kids got to do everything except pick out a pumpkin. Josh and Harrison loved the corn bin (basically a huge sand box filled with corn) until Josh realized he had corn kernels in his socks, shoes and underwear. It took him once down the tube slide until he figured that one out!

But the biggest hit of the day was the pig race.



There is just something about seeing pigs run that makes me laugh. It reminded me of the time my parents let me wear my brand new sneakers out to a church choir picnic at one of the member's farm (I don't know what they were thinking). Well, all the kids thought it was funny to run and scream at the pig pen. Then all the pigs would take off squealing and kick up a bunch of flying mud (and you know what else). Well, it was my turn to run towards the fence and I slipped and couldn't stop. Yeah, my new shoes were ruined because I got them stuck in a nice huge pile of pig manure. Not only did I get to hear, "I told you so."; but I had to ride home with them hanging out the window due to the stench. How my parents didn't smack me is far beyond me.

Anyway, as you can see...it was a great day!







Since we didn't actually get a pumpkin on Thursday, we all decided to head to another farm closer to home on Saturday. It was windy and hectic but well worth it!!!



Josh's favorite part was the corn maze. We had to do it twice and run away from all the "booby traps"! Josh lead us through and Dustin kept saying, "Are you going to get us out of here, Josh?" It was cute the first 10 times, but after he asked it for the eleventh time Josh sort of snapped. "Dad, enough. I'll get us out of here. Geez." It was taking forever and I was ready to leave...but that was hysterical.



We walked over by the cows and realized that they were all eating. So Dustin reached out his hand to have one of the cows lick him. Dustin tried to convince Josh to come get his hand licked but as soon as Josh got a whiff of "cow" he started to gag and said, "Oh my Gosh. This place stinks." Then he immediately ran off. Guess he's not going to be a farmer.





We got our pumpkins and got to eat our lunch in the van on the way home. Josh said it was "the perfect day".

Sick and tired.

Lauren has her first official illness. Actually, the kids have the same thing; a stuffy nose and cough. And now, thanks to them, Dustin and I are coming down with it as well. Thankfully, though, theirs started right away on Thursday night so the worst of it was during my three days off.

The Brickers never let a little cough keep them down for long and Papa Adam was in town so it would have taken duct tape to keep Josh in bed and resting anyway. He's pretty good about going to bed when he's tired but one night he just didn't quite make it up the stairs before falling asleep.



Usually when Dad comes to town him and I end up demolishing part of my house because we got inspired (which is how the foyer ended up with ceramic tile). But this weekend was pretty laid back. Him and I went shopping for new hardware, light fixture, paint and shower curtain for the kids' bathroom. Josh was very excited with all the purchases and was convinced that we were going to finish the entire project before sundown. Any other time he probably would have been right but we just couldn't bring ourselves to even change the curtain.

We were watching a movie after the kids had gone to bed when all of a sudden I hear the toilet flush upstairs and Josh yell down, "Uh....guys. My bathroom isn't done yet." Demanding little lad, huh? I can't imagine where he gets it.

Lauren got yet another pair of shoes. I swear that girl is like my little American Girl doll. I have so much fun putting her in little outfits and taking pictures. These ones have little flowers at the strap!!!



She also has ballerina socks. They are too cute!! I have to tell you, though, every time I see her in them without any pants on her thighs remind me of that scene in Disney's Fantasia where the elephants are ballerinas. It is SO funny!



Sunday was the Safe Halloween at Usher's Ferry. Josh is so shy anymore and his biggest concern about Halloween is having people laugh at him. So I started talking about dressing up in his costume at breakfast. It did not go well. He refused.

A few hours later I reminded him that if he didn't dress up he wouldn't get any candy. And I explained to him that if he DIDN'T dress up he'd be the only kid without a costume. Yeah, that didn't work either.

Finally, Dustin said that he'd dress up as a doctor as well. That worked! So we get everyone in their scrubs and headed out there. With the nice weather on Sunday, the place was packed. We sat in the car almost 30 minutes before we even got up to gate. But it was all worth it! As soon as we got out of the van Josh looked around and saw all the other kids in costumes and said, "Mom...I guess you were right." I know that I won't get to hear that phrase too many times in my life so I relished in the glory for a good 10 minutes.

Josh was happy because he got lots of candy. Dustin and I were happy to see Josh enjoy himself. And I was happy I didn't get stuck wearing a pair of scrubs like Dustin! :-)





Lauren has started to "caterpiller" across the floor. I tried to get her on video tonight but she was just too tuckered out to perform. She's still adorable, though.





Happy Monday, everyone!

Every weekend is followed by a Monday...that's the catch.

Last week was a bit crazy. Josh had school pictures on Thursday. He swears he had a nice smile but every time he shows me how he smiled I get a little nervous. No matter how he smiled in his actual school picture I know he was dressed to kill!!!


Lauren obviously didn't have school pictures...but she was sure ready to pose!!

Larry had surgery this past week. Things didn't go exactly as planned and he was hospitalized a few days longer than expected. However, we are all praying that his pain and suffering will be relieved by the medical device. The week ended up flying by due to the fact that every night was either spent over at their house or the hospital. Either way, we would all appreciate continued prayers for him.

So, I got up bright and early on Saturday and went to a 7:30 hair appointment. There are few things as sweet as leaving the house while everyone is still sleeping. No one screaming at me for a bottle, no one yelling that they can't find their shoes and no one barking that they have to go outside. I had looked forward to the appointment for weeks and it fulfilled every one of my expectations. I didn't even balk at the $100 bill because I was going to get to enjoy a salon styled hair-do for an entire day.

I'm sure some of you can see where this is going.

By the time I got home everyone was up. And hungry. We ate breakfast and finished just in time for the Hawks to take the field. So I let Dustin watch his game by himself and took Lauren and Josh upstairs. On a side note, the person who thought of solitary confinement as a punishment obviously did not have children. Lauren and I started to play "Flying Baby"--which is basically a game where I lift her over my head and say "Fly..ing...Ba...by!"

So, just about when I said "Ba" I got an eyeful of puke. It was one of those rare moments when wearing glasses pays off. However, what didn't make it to my eye shot off my glasses and into my freshly coiffed hair. Go figure.

I've always said the reason we don't have anything nice is because we have children (and a very naughty dog). Apparently this also applies to our hair.

The Hawks actually pulled off a win for us on Saturday and since our weekend seems to teeter on the success of the Hawks we were all happy to see the scoreboard in our favor for once this season.

After church on Saturday night Lauren discovered a new position with her foot. She held the position for about 20 minutes leaving Dustin and I in awe.

Ironically, the last time I could touch my foot like that was when I was her age.

Sunday I got up even earlier than the day before and got all ready for the Breast Cancer Walk. Toni, Gretchen and I trekked down in the rain only to have the walk cancelled about 5 minutes after our arrival. So we turned around and headed back home.

After the rain died down Josh and Dustin decided to "harvest" our pumpkins from the surprise pumpkin patch. You didn't believe me...but check these things out!!!


Josh was so proud of his 11 "beautiful" pumpkins and I was proud to save the whole $3.50 it would have cost to buy the things.

All in all, it was a pleasant, relaxing weekend.

Then this morning...Miss Crabby Pants woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Josh just wouldn't wake up. Mattie wouldn't come in from outside. And I couldn't find a decent outfit. These circumstances ended with us running late only to have Lauren puke on my outfit thereby requiring me to change at the last minute. It was at that point I decided that no matter how late we were, Mommy needed to stop for a coffee. Then the nice people at Starbucks finished right on cue and messed up my order. Oh....what else is new?