6 in the Sticks

Well, here we are...apart of the real cyberspace world! Our very first entry. What can we say..not much because everyone is sleeping but myself and I am fading fast. I've managed to stay up this late a few times since the holiday season but feel it in the following afternoons. My age creeping softly maybe?

So, not much happening on the home front. No snow since the last time we sent our shutterfly pictures out to some of you that may be reading this. So hopefully I will have more juicy details, or quotes from the kids in days to come so that this, "6 in the sticks" becomes something that is on your mind every day that you just can't get enough. Kind of like enquiring minds needing to know. Or not. But hopefully some of you will check us out and get a kick out of this.

So now that I am halfway dreaming I better say goodnight, sleep tight, and all of that good stuff!

This was kind of funny.
My mom has made a chocolate dipped strawberry tree around the holidays,So this year I thought I'd make one. I got all of the supplies except for the strawberries. So come to Xmas time, we couldn't find fresh strawberries at any of the local grocery stores. My mom had brought some shrimp and was going to make some dip and decided to improvise. And wahlua! A Christmas shrimp tree! Mom set it on the table and I think my brother and Jeromy piped up laughing immediately. My brother said while he chuckled,"What the heck is that?!"
It sure was good though!

Jackson continues to constantly amaze us. He is so smart for a 4yr old boy, at least we think so!

Some of you know that Jackson, Charly, and I visit the library at least once a week. And it amazes me how much they get excited that we get new library books! Jackson loves animals of course. It's pretty neat to see how much he is interested in ocean life and dinosaurs. It is also amazing how well he knows the correct names of diffirent animals and dinosaurs and how well he pronounces them.

About a month ago, Jessica was teasing him and he replied, "Well you're a Velociraptor!" Jessica was recordly speechless.

Last night Jackson, Charly, and I were in their room getting ready for bed which can take quite a while since Charly is a mommy to 7 babies now. And she needs to make sure they are all tucked in so they don't get cold. I don't remember now what Charly was trying to tell me because I am still in shock at what Jackson said to me. Anyway, Charly was telling me something and Jackson was fidgeting with one of his toy dinosaurs as he's listening to Charly tell me something about her babies and he pipes up, "Yeah, literally mom." I looked at him and said "What?" then he slowly announciates and pronounces it for me, "li ter il ly. Literally." I said, "Good job Jackson, you spoke very well. That is such a large word for a 4yr boy." He's shaking his head yes in a matter of fact kind of way. I said, "Where did you hear that word?" He said, "The Incredibles!" Oh, I should have figured. Here I thought it was from all of the trips to the library. but kudos to Walt Disney...I guess?!

I know, the pictures. I'll get better so you can view them. I am a slow learner. Wish there was spell check and grammer check on this thing too!

We had a very interesting evening last night. Things were a little off kilter.
Jeromy is staying in Grand Marais this week. So I was plugging along with the kid's schedule in hopes to get to bed a little early and enjoy the bed to myself..hehe. Anyway, Jess was out with her boyfriend. Jackson, Charly , and I managed to make it to the last 10 min of Ashley's basketball game against Chisholm. Ely lost.
So after we got home, got the kids their dinner, Ash headed to her room and I think went to bed since she was bushed from a long day. Jackson and Charly wanted to play in the family room for a little bit, so I said fine while I changed into my jammies and all of that good stuff, I went into the family room and put some more wood in the wood burning stove, stuffed it actually so I wouldn't have to return to it for a while, and then I heard Moose upstairs whimpering by the back door.
I called to him and asked him, "What's wrong Moosey? Do you want to go outside?", as he paced back and forth in front of the door. I was standing just to the right of the bottom of the steps, Moose turned to me and put his head down like he was a scared little puppy and started slowly down the stairs towards me, when he got about 4-5 steps above the ground, projectile vomit came pouring everywhere! And then the poor guy slipped on it and fell down the last two stairs. OH MY GOSH! Who'd a thought our 130lb dog could puke what looked like about 2 gallons worth! So the kids call out to me because they heard me yell out "EOUUU!". "What happened mom?!" I told them that Moose was sick and then I hear jackie say, "Okay. Com'on Charly, let's go see!" So the two of them came over and they grab their noses and said how gross and nasty it was. Meanwhile I called out to Ashley to help me by throwing down some paper towels since the bottom steps were covered in slimy guck. But Ashley never heard me because she was already sleeping. Total gag factor. I was having flash backs to a Xmas not long ago when Jakson and Charly were throwing up about every 30 min between the two of them. But got it all cleaned up, changed my clothes for the second time and settled the little ones in their beds with a good book.
So about 11pm I thought it was my tv but it turned out to be a fire truck zooming by our house with the lights and sirens going. I ran to the window thinking to myself, what's going on? The little kids came out and watched three more trucks go by and a few cars of other neighbors who probably hopped in their cars to find out what was going on. I was temtped too. If jeromy was home, I probably would have. I never did see where they ended up going or what happened but I'm sure I'll catch the buzz today. One truck left at about 11:30 but not sure when the others left. Hope everyone is okay whatever did happen.
So, got the kids settled back into their beds and climbed into my bed. Ahh.. finally. Then I hear some kind of crack noise from the family room, I'm thinking I better go check this out as the thought of the neighbor's house burning down to the ground from a wood burning stove in my head.
Our wood burning stove has had a crack in for about a year since, sorry honey, Jeromy overstuffed wood in there and tried to cram the door shut. Which would have worked if it weren't for the fact our stove is more of a decorative piece with a glass door rather than a main source of heat, but what can you do. Well, it's made it's day now. There was two shards sticking out and I couldn't manage to fit them back in properly without the whole thing falling out. So I sat by the fire for a while and pushed the logs towards the back fo the stove as it burned down to save a little time before I turned the thermostat up to start the propane heat.
I turned the thermostat up and thought I heard it rush through the base boards so I went to bed.
Woke up this morning and the house was very cold and a zero degree temp outside. I checked in on Jackson & Charly and they were both curled up in a fetal position and looked so cold!
When I managed to reach Jeromy he told me that he had the heat boiler off to save energy since we heat our house by the wood burning stove all of the time. I felt kind of like a bad mom that the kids were cold and it didn't even cross my mind to check that knowing that we have it off sometimes. But they are now thawed out and everything is fine.
Looking forward to a more peaceful evening tonight.

Well, nothing major really happened yesterday, the calm after the storm. The little ones had difficulty settling down for the night, but the dog seemed to be getting better.
Picked Ashley up from a Youth Board meeting. Youth Board is a committee of students from 7th to 12th grade that plan activities for students that are drug and alcohol free. Some of the things they have done this year is glow in the dark kickball, mascarade dance, a bonfire. She has a binder full of regulations and rules of the Youth Board. It is something very simular to what you might have working for a corporation. The kids are responsible for managing the funds for the functions, buying supplies, advertising, booking a DJ, finding and scheduling champerones when needed.
We are so proud of her, she has managed to keep a good head on her shoulders and a sense of humor regardless of the silliness in Junior High. Ashley has always been a shy and quiet kid and I would sometimes worry that she wouldn't stick up for herself enough but the past couple years we have been pleasantly surprised. I can't help and laugh out loud when she tells us about all of the he said, she said business at school and some of the come backs she gives the kids.
A few times a month, I'll pick Ash up from a dance, game, or what have you and we'll give a few other kids a ride home, which ususally ends up being girls. Gitty, gitty girls. I'll sit there and pretend I'm in my own little world just perfectly content driving my outdated minivan around town while they talk and giggle so much that I think there may be three diffirent conversations going on at the same time! They are so funny. And I am so glad we only live the teenage years once in our lifetime!

Jackson took one of his typical 30 min to a hour bath (he loves the bath!) and as I dried him off he was telling me that he needed a sloth. I'm thinking an animal toy because they have managed to accumulate quite a bit now. I told him, " Buddy, I don't think you have a sloth, you have other animals. Do you want to play with one of them?" He got frustrated and said, " No. I want the the sloth by Jessica and Ashley's!" as he points to the bathroom drawer where the kids have their toothbrushes and pastes. Then the light bulb came on. "Oh, you want some floss." Then he giggled and said "Oh yeah, haha, I said sloth, I wanted to say floss."

Jessica spent the evening home last night, which usually doesn't happen now that she is that much closer to being 18 yr. Don't get me wrong, she's not sleeping overnight away from home, she's always home by curfew! whew.
Anyway, we had a nice time together and she played with the kids, and did some vacuuming, and washed all of her clothes. But she did manage to sqeeze in a little talk with me on what her plans are when she turns 18. She plans to move out, and move into an apartment with her boyfriend and finish her last year of high school going PSEO at the college. I knew I would burn myself being the bummer of reality with her again so I held my tongue. Which most of you know can be very hard when I get worked up. I delicately gave the speech on fulfilling all of her dreams, and asperations first before she ties herself down. And added the "He's not going to buy the cow if you give him the milk for free" speech. but bottom line is she is going to have to figure all of these things out for herself no matter how I try to keep her from getting hurt and so forth. And the more I try to help, the more I become the enemy so I'm trying to let go, not take things so personally, and always be supportive even if I think she's making mistakes.
It's so funny, because I think back to when I was that age and the whole "Oh, my mom is being such a b----" and how I thought my parents thought I was so stupid and everything they would do or say, I would want and do the opposit just to prove a point, or so I thought. God help the parents of teenagers and especially those of teenage girls! I think I've apologized to my parents a dozen times this past year for being such a pain in the ass and to let them know I get it now and why you said such and such and so forth. Oh my goodness. This too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass....but please put it in full gear!!

Charly is doing a good job at potty training. She enjoys sitting on her potty chair so much that on this day she felt it important to bring a bowl of popcorn with her. I guess she felt it was going to be awhile and she should enjoy a snack at the same time?! That is Jackson's head. They are kind of a team when it comes to going to the bathroom. Some days I'll hear Jackson bellar out, "Charly, I'm going to the bathroom. Do you want to flush the toilet?!" And she'll come running out of whatever room she was in screaming yes! And when Charly goes, Jackson likes to come and see. Moral support?

Charly is growing up so fast. She knows what she wants and when she wants it and everybody is going to know. And if by chance you are not paying attention when she feels you should be, she will whistle at you. She can't really whistle but her whistle is just as loud. A few occasions I have been down stairs and she will be at the top of the stairs and I'll hear some thing like " EouuuuweeeEEEET!" And it kind of reminds me of in the old days when a farmer would call out to their pigs "SUEY!" The funny thing is that if you look at her she has her fingers up to her mouth like some people whistle. And she'll get louder and louder and her pitch can get higher and higher until you respond.

She has managed to get her daddy wrapped around her fingers too. In some cases that would qualify as another puke story for you, but you get the picture.
Sometimes she will walk into the room when she's looking for Jeromy and say to me, "Where's my dad?" And some mornings she will wake up after he has headed out the door to work and she'll say, " I need to give my daddy a big hug and a kiss." And she gets disappointed if he has left already. This week has been hard for her already since it is not clear when he's coming back. Jackson will gently put his hands on her cheeks as she stands there with her bottom lip coming out and say, "It's okay Charly, Daddy will be home tomorrow." And she'll start to smile. They are so sweet sometimes how they support eachother, play together, but they can fight too! But it's funny to see Charly bypass me to ask Jeromy for something sometimes. She's more clever than he thinks and it's so funny to see that she knows I will say no and she won't get very far with something with me but with daddy, she might be able to bat her eyes and get him to cave. Remind me of this so I can plan a four year vacation in her teenage years and he can deal with it! hahaha!

Have a great day!!

Jeromy came home Wednesday night and decided to join Jackson, Charly, & myself on a trip to Hibbing. I had planned on stopping by Emily's and leaving a child or two and shop at Walmart. We ended up visiting for a couple of minutes with Em and Harrison and then ended up leaving Jackson & Charly with them to play.

I debated telling this story because I'd hate to keep talking about gross stuff. But then I thought..Ahh, what the heck. We are all friends and family, right? And everybody does it, probably not as bad as Jeromy, but it happens. So if Jeromy suddenly shocks us all and starts typing these entries, you'll know why.

I think most of our family members know this but I will recap. Numerous times while we (as a family) shop at Target or wherever it is busy and there are many isles to duck in and out of, Jeromy will release a monsterous foul..VERY FOUL silent fart while standing next to me, Jessica, or Ashley and walk away immediately in hopes for a poor helpless shopper to enter the isle and think that it was us. It has happened quite a few times and we have gotten nasty looks from people wondering how unlady like we are as we hear giggles from an isle or two away.

Well, yesterday, I think he met his match. We were at Walmart and I entered an isle where Jeromy was looking at fishing stuff and there was a guy pushing a cart with a small child in it and he turned the corner as I entered the isle. A few seconds later Jeromy says to me," Whew...oh..did you fart?" I look at him and say no. He started shaking his head like he was about to be sick from the stench and said, "Oh.....eeou...ehh...that's rotten...oh." I pipe up, "It was that guy that just went around the corner!" Not knowing that he had turned the corner and hung around at the end of the isle and heard every word we were saying! So, knowing Jeromy was going to be a while I told him I was heading towards the kids boots and as I turned the corner the guy was smiling at me! And he had a very shitty grin on his face letting me know he was chuckling to himself over hearing us and how funny it was that he had just sufficated Jeromy! I should have walked up to him and shook his hand for giving Jeromy a dose of his own medicine.

I figured I'd better start documenting Ashley's bedroom door because it changes, sometimes very often. I wish I had start taking pictures of it from the time we moved here. You never know what you are going to see next. At one point in time, within the last year, Ashley had a sign in sheet on her door and was trying to get us to pay her to enter. It didn't take her long to discover that just wasn't going over well.

This is a sketch that Ashley did a while ago, It is titled Had A Bad Day

Charly has her cozy fleece pink cammo jammies on with her new Dora slippers and managed to let me take a couple of shots tonight.

Jessica has been a little camera shy these past few months and on this day this is all she would do for me. So, I guess I'll take what I can get.

Here is a shot of Jackson and his new dump truck he got for xmas sitting next to my bear rug.

January 15th.
Did you know that today is Martin Luther King's actual birthday? I probably only remember that because today is also my brother's birthday. Martin Luther King, what remarkable man, an intelligent man.I have a dream....

I too, have a dream. A dream that more people will reach outside of the bubble they live in and realize people are just people with diffirent pigmentation. They realize that things are not as they seem and try not to judge even though it seems like human nature. We live in the great land of freedom, since when did we close the doors and decline others of that right? I have a dream that the people that anger themselves with worrying about people from another countries coming and living the same dream maybe educate themselves and find that in their research, their great grandparents could not speak proper english, and fought with their lives to live the american dream, so that we may be born in a free country. Where we are not to be killed for our religion, or ethnic background. I have a dream that people stop using god as an excuse to judge people and even accuse them of being a sinner and find in their hearts that god is a loving god and does not judge or single out anyone, what right do some people think they have? I have a dream that their will be no more senseless wars, and that if it is in fact used as a last resort, it could be run by people that actually fought in one. God bless the troops though, and their families.
I have a dream that people in glass houses will stop throwing stones.

Happy birthday to my baby brother.
Well, 34yrs old already! You're not a baby anymore. You are such a great brother to have. And I have so many fun memories of you, except those few years of rough patches that I thought we would kill eachother! A fun loving uncle to my kids and they love you so much. And I never thought my husband would get so excited whenever you come around, which I feel so blessed about but sometimes a little disturbed.haha.
Anyway, have a great day bro! Love you, kim & jeromy

Well, nothing much going on but regular scheduled things with the kids today. Trying to stay warm because it is 22 below zero outside right now.

Jessica is home sick, her tummy is upset. This year we have been passing around bugs every couple weeks. I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and Jeromy wasn't feeling the best either. Hopefully it will pass very fast.

Jeromy came home yesterday afternoon and fixed the wood burning stove before he headed back to Grand Marais last night. When I had talked to him last night he said the motel room was very cold, he had the heater cranked up to 98 degrees and he said he couldn't get the room temp higher than 62 because of all of the cold wind coming through. Burr. He's hoping to have a good morning this morning so he may be able to make a party that Jackson and Charly have tonight with ECFE. Ashley's hoping to join us after basketball class.

Tonights party is a western theme, they'll have dinner, a couple of projects, and some kind of music and dancing. Jackson loves the project stuff but is just too shy to get up and dance and sing with everybody. Charly loves to sing and dance but ends up spending more time walking over the cracks in the tile floor than joining everyone in a circle. She is so funny, sometimes it takes quite a bit longer to get someplace because she needs to count each line or jump over something. In our basement, she will not keep moving unless she can jump over the "water", basically from one rug to another. Jeromy gets a little panicked that she grow up and have some kind of obsessive compulsive counting behavior. I remember playing like that as a kid though. My brother and I would pretend that the livingroom carpet was hot lava and we'd jump from the couch, to chair to chair, to the radiator not to fall into the hot lava. I'm sure she'll grow up fine.The party should be fun though. The little ones go back to their positive preschooler class in February, and they are excited about it.

I don't even know where to begin with all of the happenings around here the past few days. Jeromy was gone again most of the week. Ash was busy busy with basketball games, Jessica scrambling to get all of her work in since today was the last day of the quarter, Charly has been sick with whatever bug I got last weekend, Jackson running a muck more than usual because the litlle one's routine was broken this week. But most importantly, our doggie Moose worsened over the week.

I took Moose to the vet today. He had a fever of 105 and was very weak and wouldn't even get up to go outside this morning. He hasn't eaten for a least two days and his face was swollen and he had really bad eye boogers.

He was diagnosed with Blastomycosis. I think some of you have heard us mention it as "Blasto" as we have had some friends lose their dogs to this dicease. I was very happy to hear that this is treatable because 9? years ago, there was nothing they could do for the dogs. So we are keeping an eye on Moose this week, and his treatment is going to make him worse before he is better so maybe you could send a little extra prayer out for him as he is our biggest baby of all. I think we got him in to the vet fairly soon but as the vet explained all possible happenings, Moose is not out of the woods.

Our Moose dog is hanging on. He was dehydrated and lethargic but today he just seems dehydrated. The fever medication has helped him move a little easier even though he seems to be pretty weak. He doesn't eat dog food or anything basically but I managed to get him to eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup today and Jeromy got him to chew on a bone with some meat on it for a little bit. His fever medication is given to him once every 24hrs and when it comes time for his next dose his fever starts to spark up again. His breathing seems to be hard for him at times too, and the bottom end of his body is beginning to look pretty small from all of the weight he has lost. Yesterday he got up a few times and wanted to come with me on a car ride to Ely to drop Ashley off at a movie.
I've done a little research on the internet on this disease and read some sad stories from other pet owners that have lost their dogs to it. Sure hope that Moose pulls through this, we love him so much. He is such a great dog and so hard not to love.

Well, I'm hoping next week is a little easier with Ashley's bball schedule. She was moved up to the B (JV) squad before Xmas but still plays in the C squad games. She has been doing very well. I think she had about 4 games last week and a scrimmage against the boys team. Which I like to attend every year, no offense guys but it's always nice to see the girls kick some butt! Anyway, I brought Jackson & Charly with me to that and we sat right in front on the bleachers and watched the game. The kids are always asking where Ashley is as I'm sure it's hard for them to pin point her out when the team wears the same jersey, so I pointed her out and Charly hollars out, "There she is! There's Ashley! Ashleedle..leedle..leedle..leedle..leeeeey". You could hear her echo throughout the gym. I was waiting for Ash to roll her eyes but she didn't even bat an eye. ( Charly has called Ashley that for quite some time now. They love to tease eachother) Ashley later said that she could hear her out there and that some of the guys were looking and laughing.

Jackson's word for today is Universal. Yes, another four syllable word he picked up from not a book, or from us, but the good ole tv. There was a Universal Studio commercial on a dvd movie they were watching this morning and I guess he thought that was pretty cool because for the rest of the day he used it quite a lot. He was playing with his toy animals again and having the animals talking to eachother and one animal said to the other animal," Why yes, these are universal eggs." So I praised him for speaking so well and asked him if he knew what that word meant. He said no. So I give him a grand definition of the word universe using the earth, moon, sun, stars, planets and so forth, which he thought was cool and then we went about our business again. So a little later I told Jeromy about it, and good ole Jeromy says, " So you didn't give him the definition of universal. You just gave him the definition of universe." Thank you Jeromy. Yes I did. Then he proceeded to tell me the definition of universal by using the remote for an example. Now, why didn't I think of that?!

Oh boy, Jess just came home and I hear her telling Jeromy that she's stopped home to put some warm clothes on to watch some friends snow board on the lake. I wonder how they are going to snow board since there are no hills on the lake. I'm having flash backs to a little video I saw on lifeupnorth.com a few days ago with Grandma Flom being pulled on a sled behind a 4-wheeler. I better go check this out, hopefully the next time I journal I won't be mentioning anything about broken bones and so forth!

Well, no broken bones. Jess came and went and after talking to Jeromy found out I heard it all wrong. She wasn't getting warm clothes on to go snowboarding on the lake, but couch boarding if you want to call it that. Teenagers, invincible teenagers.
Jessica came home last night and told us all about it. One guy drove a pickup truck that pulled like Jessica said, "Just some random loveseat." around on the lake with people riding both on the bed of the truck and on the couch.
Gotta love a small town cop. Jessica said they panicked a little when the cop on duty came down to the lake (They usually do a few drives a day by the public beach as this has sometimes been a regular hang out for kids). So the cop came down and shook his head and called the kids,(I will say freak instead),"You guys are freak'n idiots." and went on his merry way. Or so Jess says.
Jessica was up until at least 1:30 am last night and wanted to head out to support her boyfriend and friends ice fishing at 5am. Jeromy said she made it out the door a little before 7. This is amazing because Jessica has NEVER been a morning person. And even though she jumps right up, you are on a death wish if you come close to her. Maybe her boyfriend will break up with her today.Haha. It will be an interesting night for her customers at the restaurant tonight. Whew. Stay clear.

Our Dearest Jessica. Never a dull moment.
Jess had a bad day yesterday. After she woke up late (I got balmed for even though I went into her room twice to tell her what time it was. Lord give me strength.) and managed to head out the door 30 minutes later, which is very good considering it takes her at least an hour and a half to get ready to go, she called me frantic about a half hour later from the road. She stopped at the gas station to put more oil in and forgot to make sure she latched her hood down all of the way. So you guessed it, she is lucky she didn't drive off the highway. Her hood flew up and hit her windshield and cracked the windshield pretty good.
So I answer the phone to her screaming at me and what a junky car she has. I couldn't even understand what she was saying. So once I got her to settle down a little and find out her situation I heard a car pull up and a guy asking her if she needs help. So I tell her that I will call her right back and that I'm going to call Jeromy because I think he is working close to where she is. She didn't hang up, and I couldn't get the call to disconnect so I had to sit there and wait and listen to her mouth. (Lord give me strength)
I wonder how many people think to themselves what kind of parents she has. I wonder how many guys look at her and say, she's cute and then go running in another direction when she starts shooting her mouth off full force. Those of you who know her well and have had her feel comfortable enough to speak her mind know exactly what I am saying. She has always been such a strong willed child. So you can imagine how "proud?" I was to hear her say to this nice man that stopped to help her, "MY F----'N LATCH HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR SOME TIME ON MY PIECE OF SHIT CAR AND I CAN'T GET MY F----'N HOOD DOWN, THE SHIT'S NOT GOING DOWN MAN!" Whew, I am surprised he didn't take off. It was killing me to hear her talk to this stranger that way, that is not at all what I've taught her, I was surprised but not surprised as I hear what she says when she thinks I'm not listening. Well the guy ended up getting some bungie cords and tied her hood down so she could drive it to her appointment where Jeromy was waiting to look at her car. After we finally got disconnected she called me back and yelled at me about how her car is such a piece ( I wanted to remind her that when SHE CHOSE that car that we were willing to match the money she had saved to purchase a car so she could get a more reliable car, she declined to that. But I didn't) Instead I said, "Nice mouth". Her reply was that I would be mad too, my reply was, I wouldn't talk that way to a stranger that stopped to help me out. Did she get it? I doubt it. Did she think any of this was her fault? I doubt it. Did she get the guys name and phone number to thank him later after I had told her to? Nope. (Lord give me strength)

Remember this? Christmas time 5 yrs ago we got our little Moose dog. The girls were at their Dad's that Christmas and Jeromy and I picked Moose out of a litter from a dogsled team the day after Christmas. He was the biggest puppy in the bunch. When we picked Ashley up in Cloquet we hopped out of the car with him and said "Look what Santa brought!" Jessica rode with her dad to drop Ash off with me so it was neat that they were both there. They went crazy.

Moose is still hanging in there. This disease is super weird. One day he is up and walking around and then the next, he is unable to stand without whimpering. We still need to consider the worst until we get to the 2 week mark. We are now at 5 days. At least we've managed to get him to eat some soft foods like soup, leftovers on plates, meaty bones.
We have the BEST vet! I don't think we could ever find better, especially after my many vet visits in the cities. And Moose loves to go see him. I feel very fortunate for that. And the good thing is, is that he has seen many cases like this so Moose is in the best hands.

Hang in there Moosey, we love you so much!!

Well, today is my birthday. I feel like I'm 27yr old but today I turned 37. At least I'm still alive. Oh boy.

Ashley is leaving basketball practice early tonight so Jeromy and I can buzz to Virginia to go out to dinner and maybe catch a movie. That should be fun. I was really hoping to see The Queen since I've had somewhat of an obsession with the royal family since I fell in love with Princess Diana in the 80's with the rest of them. But we'll see.

Well, the snomobilers are in town. The Arctic Run is this weekend. In case some of you don't know, Ragnar, the Vikings mascot is from Babbitt and lives here in the off season. This snowmobile run used to be a thing that the Vikings did every year and now it's turned into Ragnar and maybe a few Vikings. It's funny because when I think of Ragnar I think about Bud and how he "bumped bellies with him" Too funny. Bud and Matt came up snowmobiling I think it's been 4yrs ago now. It was my brother's surprise 30th bday party. Some of the guys went snowmobiling and they ended up stopping at the Babbitt Junction for a beer. The Junction burned down a couple of years ago. Anyway, Ragnar sought out Bud across the room and walked up to him and started belly bumping him. I guess you'd have to ask Bud for better details because I don't remember exactly how it went and I wasn't there, but it cracks me up when I think about! I think Bud met Abbie like a week later too! Abbie- did Bud bump bellies with you when he met ya?! Hahaha.

Anyway, we are supposed to have snow today and tomorrow and that will be good for the trails. My Dad and Christine are coming next weekend. I think they are hoping to go snowmobiling and maybe some ice fishing, so hopefully we will.

Moose perked up last night and actually came downstairs to sleep where he usually sleeps. And we've still managed to get him to eat everyday so we're still crossing our fingers. Thanks to all that have been sending us warm wishes, it means a lot.

Okay, get your minds out of the gutters, I meant literally bumping bellies.

We got a new fish yesterday. It is called a Dragon Fish. Jackson picked it out. It is pretty icky but I'll deal with it. I don't think I'll be putting my hands in the tank anymore because this thing is too much like a snake. I hate snakes. Anyway, we are trying to agree on a name for it.

Jeromy was joking around with Jackson and told him that he might take it and put it down jackson's pants. jackson just looked at him so seriously and said, "You are so weird."

I have no idea what was in the air today but WHEW! What a day. The little ones acted as if they were rabid animals on the loose, (not pretending either) yikes, did they ever exhaust me. I must of not had enough sleep last night because my patience level was definitely on low today.
Jackson and Charly were very whiny today and they fought a lot, if they weren't playing very loud and rough. It's days like today that I miss the green grass so I can open the door and let them run what ever that is out of their system.

Yesterday we went to Leslie's 6th bday party. It was really fun. While we were gone, Jessica had car troubles. She ended up getting a ride home last night until Jeromy could get to her car and get it going for her today. Which he did. I think it was just a little cold for her car when she tried to start it and she ended up flooding it in the process. And because a guy told her that she should just let it sit a while because she flooded it, she did what some of us girls do against our better judgement when a guy gives you advice on a car. I'm saying this because she knew what to do. In any case, we reminded her today and Jeromy helped her out once again and she got home okay.

Poor Ashley.
She had a basketball game tonight against Silver Bay, Ely kicked their butts. After her game, she and her team had to wait for varsity to play their game as well. Varsity kicked butt too. Anyway, Ashley and some friends got some snacks from the concession stand. When everyone was getting on the bus, Ashley said her tummy was starting to turn a little. About a half hour before they got to Ely, Ash said she just lost it. She threw up on the bus. Right in the isle. The coach was sitting in front of her and passed the garbage can back to her. She felt so bad and so embarrassed. And we know how girls are, very, very mean. They all moved to the back of the bus and complained about it the whole way back. Ash said when they were screaming out who puked, she admitted to it and apologised and cracked her window. She was bummed too because she had the slowest of all the bus drivers they have so getting back home seemd like an eternity. Poor Ash.
She said she felt bad and everything but it was really getting to her that the girls just wouldn't stop talking about it. So when one of the girls yelled up to her, she yelled back to her how she was sorry, and there was nothing more she could do, and the fact that they couldn't stop talking about it was making her even more sick. Her coach told her good job for giving it right back to them.
Anyway, they put a towel over the isle. Ashley offered to stay and clean it up but the coach told her not to worry about it and go ahead and go home.
I feel so bad for her, she was so upset when she hopped in the van I didn't know what to expect as girls are so mean, and there's a couple of doozies I'd like to get my hands on once in a while. Hmmmm, if only that was legal. Naw, just kidding, but you know what I mean. Don't you just hate it when people mess with your kids though? I've come to learn it doesn't matter how old they get, it is just so hard sometimes. Hopefully she'll have a better day tomorrow and this will all pass very quick like.

And, there you go. Another puke story.

Would you like to hear another one? I remembered this tonight as I was trying to make Ashley feel better but who knows if it helped or made her crazy.
Anyway, One time when I was at band camp...naw just kidding!
On a very hot, muggy, humid day in the cities in 1989 I think. I went to the State Fair as I used to try and go every year. And those of you that know me well know that the humidity makes me very sick. So I have no idea why I went to the fair that day verses staying home in my air conditioned apartment. So I go, I see, I eat, and eat, and eat. And when I was done with my corndog, mini doughnuts, cheese curds, and orange julius. I went on a ferris wheel ride. I know, so dumb. So this is when the carnies were still aloud there with all of the freak shows. And some of you can remember how the carnies thought it sometimes hilarious to keep the rides going just a little extra longer for some.
So I'm on this double ferris wheel thing going around, and around, and around. And about three times in a row around later I'm yelling at the controller of the machine that I need to get off because I feel like I'm going to be sick. He didn't even look at me, so a couple times around more I'm sure my face must have been green and the machine stops. With me in the seat at the very top, rocking...rocking... and that was it. I leaned over the side not even thinking what was below me and let it all out. We move to the bottom and the guy FINALLY lets me out. And there is this very tall lady with an affro with pukey chunks in her hair looking at me as if she is going to kill me. I ran! I ran my ass off that day! I felt terrible but it was obvious there was NO talking things over with her. I ducked into the girls room, washed up a bit, and left the fair immediately watching over my shoulder the whole way. What else should a little ole white girl do?!
From that day forward, I have always gone on the rides before I eat.

And there you go, another puke story.

Well, another one bites the dust! Charly is sick too. Ashley and Charly were up most of the night getting sick. Sure hope the rest of us don't get it! I was thinking Ash was sick from the junk food she ate yesterday but now it looks like it could've been anything.

Jackson:
Something new he's started saying. When I left to go pick Ashley up last night he said this to me and I kind of laughed to myself. And this morning he said it to Jeromy. He says, " Ba-bye. See you in a later!"

And another one's down, and another one's down, another one bites the dust! Hey I'm gonna get you too! Another one bites the dusta!

I have no clue why I get that old song in my head when it comes to this house getting sick. Another long night though. Jackson threw up all over his bed and wall and all of that good stuff. Charly woke up to me cleaning the room. So the both of them camped out in the living room for the rest of the night with their blankets and bowls. They ended up being awake from 1am to about 4:30am this morning. Now my tummy is turning. Hope Jess and Jeromy feel good today.