We had a fun day today, Dad & Marie came over from Mitchell for the day. We had church this morning, which they came in time for, then went to Falls Park with a picnic and had fried chicken, potato salad, Asian summer salad, fresh fruit and veggies and dip. It was all really good, and worth the hours of effort I put into it yesterday.
It was really hot - around 90 degrees, so once we were done eating, we sat in the shade and talked for a while, while Xander climbed on rocks and threw a frisbee at his sister. We had some ice cream before we left.
Maia was kind of funny with the ice cream. She wanted "the pink kind," so she got strawberry ice cream. She liked the ice cream part, but was less enthused about the actual strawberries in the ice cream. She solved this dilemma by licking around the big chunk of strawberry on the top of her cone. After she had been at it a while, she was left with a pillar in the center of her cone with a strawberry balancing precariously on top. We tried to convince her to eat the berry, but the answer was a resounding "NO." I rescued her by eating the offensive fruit, and she proceeded to finish her cone with no more issues- except a lot of pink all over her face.
After the park, we drove over to look at the fortress, and show Dad & Marie where we will be living starting in July. Then we went back to the house- had to turn on the A/C! and had some lemonade and Dad set me up with my "new every two" phone. I now have the same kind of phone as Matt. He downloaded a cool ring tone (Queen singing "I Want To Ride My Bicycle")- perfect for him. Maybe I'll do the same... if I can figure out how. I did figure out how to take pictures, and use the voice dial command. Kind of cool.
Called Mom, and we did our usual weekend chat. It looks like we're going to get a couple of weeks of leeway between the current renters having to move out and us moving in. For cleaning and painting. (Painting! Her words, not mine! Yey! No more white walls!)
We're just hanging out at the house and vegging for the night. Nice to have Matt home for the weekend!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Clothes and More Clothes!
This weekend is garage sale weekend in Sioux Falls. There is a huge area on the West side of town, which is apparently known as "Kingswood" and every year, tons of people put out their cast-offs in a "one man's trash is another man's treasure" kind of way.
Last year, I went with Matt's sister Rena, without really even knowing what an event I was attending. This year, Aunt Heidi took a day off from school on Thursday and came over
from Mitchell with one of her friends.
I did not actually do any garage sale-ing myself, but here's the benefits of it for our house:
Heidi brought a huge garbage bag full of Rylie's cast-off clothes - with more clothes than we could wear if she changed clothes twice a day all summer long! Awesome! Then, I got Xander & Maia's cast-offs all together, and will send them home with my friend, Amy Lu from Sheldon. This is so much easier and cheaper than trying to find all these things individually. I like the trickle-down system.
I've even been able to send some of my clothes that I've aged out of over to niece, Cassie, who is now tall enough to wear some of my clothes- and young enough for them to look appropriate on her!
Now all I need is for some trendy, thin person to start giving me their old clothes... Maybe I will have to hit a few garage sales after all...
Last year, I went with Matt's sister Rena, without really even knowing what an event I was attending. This year, Aunt Heidi took a day off from school on Thursday and came over
from Mitchell with one of her friends.
I did not actually do any garage sale-ing myself, but here's the benefits of it for our house:
Heidi brought a huge garbage bag full of Rylie's cast-off clothes - with more clothes than we could wear if she changed clothes twice a day all summer long! Awesome! Then, I got Xander & Maia's cast-offs all together, and will send them home with my friend, Amy Lu from Sheldon. This is so much easier and cheaper than trying to find all these things individually. I like the trickle-down system.
I've even been able to send some of my clothes that I've aged out of over to niece, Cassie, who is now tall enough to wear some of my clothes- and young enough for them to look appropriate on her!
Now all I need is for some trendy, thin person to start giving me their old clothes... Maybe I will have to hit a few garage sales after all...
School Musical and Other News
Thursday evening was Xander's All City Elementary School Musical: "Little Red Riding Hood."
This is quite an undertaking, the entire elementary school is in a musical every year. The Kindergarten through 3rd grade act as a "chorus" and each class dresses as one of the characters in the play and helps them sing their songs, so the Kindergarteners were all dressed as either Little Red or the Huntsman, the first grade (Xander's class) was the "life of the forest"- so they were trees and flowers, the second grade were grannies and grampas- they all wore grey t-shirts, had "age lines" painted on their faces, and the girls had shawls and shower caps on, while the boys had grey in their hair and wore little half-glasses. The 3rd grade was dressed in wolf costumes.
My camera didn't take very good pictures in the dark auditorium, and I didn't actually bother getting any pictures of the actors up on the stage (4th and 5th graders), but here's some of the forest. I did the intricate artwork on the cheeks of the girls! (It's great, I know. I'm up for an Oscar)
Megan & Molly
Julia
The 3rd grade wolves -complete with glowing eyes!
In Marion house news, we now have renters with their stuff in the house, I have received the paperwork and the first rent check, and the place is ALMOST livable. The back window was fixed, the plumbing replaced, the water heater installed, but now we have to update a little bit of electrical so that the water heater can be used. A pretty easy fix, I'd do it myself if I was there, but will once again have to call on the kindness of friends to finish the work.
In Sioux Falls house news, after offering and counter-offering all week, Mom & Jim finally settled on a price for the "fortress" as we affectionately call it. We are looking at a move-in date of July 1. Should be a busy weekend. We get to do a church service at Falls Park that morning during an event called Artfalls. We will accept help with moving! :)
We're pretty excited to get into the bigger place, though the idea of a larger rent payment, coupled with significantly lower lesson income for me, as well as starting Maia in preschool in the fall and picking our student loan payments back up has me a little nervous- but God has proven himself faithful time and time again, so I should stop worrying.
Yesterday, Mom was in town for an awards ceremony, and she came by afterward and we picked up Xander after school then went over to Falls Park for a couple of hours. Xander wasn't sure how much he would like Falls Park because there's no playground equipment there, but he entertained himself playing on the rocks quite sufficiently. Grandma treated us to ice cream for supper at the Overlook Cafe. We had a good time and were bone tired when we got home. At least I was, Maia was wound up tight. She took a nice long bath, splashed water all over the bathroom, and then went to bed without too much fuss when we got home.
We're thinking we might go back to Falls Park tomorrow afternoon and have a picnic when Grandpa & Grandma Eitemiller come over for the day.
Dad & Marie are coming for church tomorrow morning, so that will be fun. Of course, tomorrow is one of those days when we will go without a practice because we couldn't find a time to do one this week. Hope we don't suck.
Today is supposed to be "sleepin' in day" at our house. I woke up at 5:30. What's that about? The kids are making noise in their room- started about 7:40, and Matt's still zonked out. He has the whole day off (well, almost) and we might try to go for a family bike ride this afternoon. I have not actually ridden a bike since before I got pregnant with Maia. We'll see how long I last. At least Xander will be riding too, so I'll see if I can last longer than him. Doubt it. Maia gets to ride in the trailer. Lucky.
Guess it's time to round up the troops for breakfast.
This is quite an undertaking, the entire elementary school is in a musical every year. The Kindergarten through 3rd grade act as a "chorus" and each class dresses as one of the characters in the play and helps them sing their songs, so the Kindergarteners were all dressed as either Little Red or the Huntsman, the first grade (Xander's class) was the "life of the forest"- so they were trees and flowers, the second grade were grannies and grampas- they all wore grey t-shirts, had "age lines" painted on their faces, and the girls had shawls and shower caps on, while the boys had grey in their hair and wore little half-glasses. The 3rd grade was dressed in wolf costumes.
My camera didn't take very good pictures in the dark auditorium, and I didn't actually bother getting any pictures of the actors up on the stage (4th and 5th graders), but here's some of the forest. I did the intricate artwork on the cheeks of the girls! (It's great, I know. I'm up for an Oscar)
Xander and buddy, Isaac
Megan & Molly
Julia
The 3rd grade wolves -complete with glowing eyes!
In Marion house news, we now have renters with their stuff in the house, I have received the paperwork and the first rent check, and the place is ALMOST livable. The back window was fixed, the plumbing replaced, the water heater installed, but now we have to update a little bit of electrical so that the water heater can be used. A pretty easy fix, I'd do it myself if I was there, but will once again have to call on the kindness of friends to finish the work.
In Sioux Falls house news, after offering and counter-offering all week, Mom & Jim finally settled on a price for the "fortress" as we affectionately call it. We are looking at a move-in date of July 1. Should be a busy weekend. We get to do a church service at Falls Park that morning during an event called Artfalls. We will accept help with moving! :)
We're pretty excited to get into the bigger place, though the idea of a larger rent payment, coupled with significantly lower lesson income for me, as well as starting Maia in preschool in the fall and picking our student loan payments back up has me a little nervous- but God has proven himself faithful time and time again, so I should stop worrying.
Yesterday, Mom was in town for an awards ceremony, and she came by afterward and we picked up Xander after school then went over to Falls Park for a couple of hours. Xander wasn't sure how much he would like Falls Park because there's no playground equipment there, but he entertained himself playing on the rocks quite sufficiently. Grandma treated us to ice cream for supper at the Overlook Cafe. We had a good time and were bone tired when we got home. At least I was, Maia was wound up tight. She took a nice long bath, splashed water all over the bathroom, and then went to bed without too much fuss when we got home.
We're thinking we might go back to Falls Park tomorrow afternoon and have a picnic when Grandpa & Grandma Eitemiller come over for the day.
Dad & Marie are coming for church tomorrow morning, so that will be fun. Of course, tomorrow is one of those days when we will go without a practice because we couldn't find a time to do one this week. Hope we don't suck.
Today is supposed to be "sleepin' in day" at our house. I woke up at 5:30. What's that about? The kids are making noise in their room- started about 7:40, and Matt's still zonked out. He has the whole day off (well, almost) and we might try to go for a family bike ride this afternoon. I have not actually ridden a bike since before I got pregnant with Maia. We'll see how long I last. At least Xander will be riding too, so I'll see if I can last longer than him. Doubt it. Maia gets to ride in the trailer. Lucky.
Guess it's time to round up the troops for breakfast.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Dainty Daughter
Today, Maia is having a tea party with her Disney Princess tea set. She's so dainty. She plays with this tea set all the time, but I noticed that she had real milk in her cup this afternoon. I asked her how she got milk in her cup, since she's still using a sippy cup. I wondered if maybe she was shaking the milk in one drop at a time?
No.
She went over to the table, got her sippy cup, sucked on it and got a big mouthful, then spit it into her tea pot, then poured the milk into the cup and drank it. Then she gave a nice big fake burp.
Isn't she sweet?
Monday, April 16, 2007
Fun Easter Weekend
Spring is back! Here's the view out our front window today:
Much better!
It's a week after Easter, but my family got together to celebrate last weekend at Mom & Jim's. Casey, Heidi, Rylie & Chase came down from Mitchell, and we had a fun time. Grandma loaded up some easter eggs, and we had two hunts, one for Chase & Maia upstairs, where the eggs were pretty easy to find, and one for Xander & Rylie downstairs where the hunt was a little more challenging.
Saturday afternoon, I went swimming with Grandma, Heidi, and the kids at Yankton's Summit Center, which is a really cool rec center with a nice, kid-friendly pool. Chase showed his true colors, he's going to be a little fish just like his dad. While Maia was still standing about 4 feet away from the pool, edging her way closer a half-inch at a time, her younger cousin (by about 3 months) barreled into the pool and plunged his head in almost immediately! He sure keeps his mom on her toes!
I came to the realization that my swimming suit is older than Xander, and maybe it's time for an update. Even though I can get one from Matt at Scheels for employee discount, I may still find a better deal at Wal Mart. We'll see.
Latest on the house news. We are hoping to get renters in the first of May. That's coming up fast! I don't have the lease papers or the first check from them yet, so it all kind of hinges on that. A couple of wonderful friends in Marion are fixing up the pipes and the broken window from the break-in, and only charging us the cost of supplies. What great guys!
We're in the process of refinancing the house to try to lower the monthly payments, but when Matt talked to Dave (who fixed the window) last night, he said that another Marion friend, Jonathon, might be interested in buying the property from us to use as a rental... so we'll give him a call tonight.
As long as everything's coming up roses, here's the rest of what's going on. My mom thinks maybe buying an investment property in Sioux Falls- a duplex with one unit as a 3-bedroom, might not be a bad idea, so she and Jim are coming up to take a second look at a place over near the intersection of 26th street and Southeastern, which our family looked at with Mom last week. Jim will do the fine-toothed comb inspection, then we'll see where they stand.
The house is kind of utilitarian from the outside, but it's really nice inside. The link above shows pictures of the inside of the 2-bedroom unit only, which is really nice. But the 3-bedroom unit is laid out pretty nicely for our family's needs. (Room for a family of 4 plus a grand piano). It would actually have a little more space than our house in Marion had, and it's a lot newer. Never been painted- except boring old white. I asked a few times about painting the apartment, and I think Mom thinks I want to paint the whole thing day-glo green or something. Jim says the walls can be taupe and the ceiling stays white. That's it. Lucky for me, Heidi did such a nice job with paint color in her house that I might be able to influence my landlord to let her come and help me pick out paint colors!
A move would mean a higher rent payment, even with a break for managing the property, and we have to consider that our student loans will come off deferment (again) in the Fall, plus Maia enters preschool in the fall... so we're back to tight budgeting again, but the allure of more space is probably worth it.
So that's the latest. I never have short blog entries like other folks, huh? That's probably why I'm so infrequent in my posts!
Here's some cute Maia pictures. Enjoy!
Much better!It's a week after Easter, but my family got together to celebrate last weekend at Mom & Jim's. Casey, Heidi, Rylie & Chase came down from Mitchell, and we had a fun time. Grandma loaded up some easter eggs, and we had two hunts, one for Chase & Maia upstairs, where the eggs were pretty easy to find, and one for Xander & Rylie downstairs where the hunt was a little more challenging.
Saturday afternoon, I went swimming with Grandma, Heidi, and the kids at Yankton's Summit Center, which is a really cool rec center with a nice, kid-friendly pool. Chase showed his true colors, he's going to be a little fish just like his dad. While Maia was still standing about 4 feet away from the pool, edging her way closer a half-inch at a time, her younger cousin (by about 3 months) barreled into the pool and plunged his head in almost immediately! He sure keeps his mom on her toes!
I came to the realization that my swimming suit is older than Xander, and maybe it's time for an update. Even though I can get one from Matt at Scheels for employee discount, I may still find a better deal at Wal Mart. We'll see.
Latest on the house news. We are hoping to get renters in the first of May. That's coming up fast! I don't have the lease papers or the first check from them yet, so it all kind of hinges on that. A couple of wonderful friends in Marion are fixing up the pipes and the broken window from the break-in, and only charging us the cost of supplies. What great guys!
We're in the process of refinancing the house to try to lower the monthly payments, but when Matt talked to Dave (who fixed the window) last night, he said that another Marion friend, Jonathon, might be interested in buying the property from us to use as a rental... so we'll give him a call tonight.
As long as everything's coming up roses, here's the rest of what's going on. My mom thinks maybe buying an investment property in Sioux Falls- a duplex with one unit as a 3-bedroom, might not be a bad idea, so she and Jim are coming up to take a second look at a place over near the intersection of 26th street and Southeastern, which our family looked at with Mom last week. Jim will do the fine-toothed comb inspection, then we'll see where they stand.
The house is kind of utilitarian from the outside, but it's really nice inside. The link above shows pictures of the inside of the 2-bedroom unit only, which is really nice. But the 3-bedroom unit is laid out pretty nicely for our family's needs. (Room for a family of 4 plus a grand piano). It would actually have a little more space than our house in Marion had, and it's a lot newer. Never been painted- except boring old white. I asked a few times about painting the apartment, and I think Mom thinks I want to paint the whole thing day-glo green or something. Jim says the walls can be taupe and the ceiling stays white. That's it. Lucky for me, Heidi did such a nice job with paint color in her house that I might be able to influence my landlord to let her come and help me pick out paint colors!
A move would mean a higher rent payment, even with a break for managing the property, and we have to consider that our student loans will come off deferment (again) in the Fall, plus Maia enters preschool in the fall... so we're back to tight budgeting again, but the allure of more space is probably worth it.
So that's the latest. I never have short blog entries like other folks, huh? That's probably why I'm so infrequent in my posts!
Here's some cute Maia pictures. Enjoy!
Baroque hairstyle:
Dinosaur in a dress...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Hey! What Happened?!
This is the view out our front window today.
Hard to believe that just 24 hours ago, Xander spent 2 hours on his bike tirelessly going up and down our short driveway.
Sigh...
It's not too cold, and I'm sure the snow won't last long. I'm glad I didn't plant any flowers or anything.
Stupid weather.
Hard to believe that just 24 hours ago, Xander spent 2 hours on his bike tirelessly going up and down our short driveway.
Sigh...
It's not too cold, and I'm sure the snow won't last long. I'm glad I didn't plant any flowers or anything.
Stupid weather.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Easter Pictures
Here's some pictures of our Easter festivities.
Turns out, Maia doesn't like jelly beans, only chocolate. This morning, I found a nice half-chewed jelly bean lodged firmly in the carpet not far from where this picture was taken.
We had church early, only one service at 9:30 instead of our usual Good Shepherd at 9:00 and Mercy service at 10:45. We came home and the kids got to have an easter egg hunt with Dad doing the hiding while Mom cooked dinner. It wasn't a very long hunt, considering Matt hid all the eggs in the living room... granted, there's not a whole lot of other options if you want to find the eggs - the kids' room is too messy, our room and the bathroom would have been acceptable, but the basement was definitely off limits! We were interested in finding the eggs sooner rather than later! Xander found many more eggs than Maia, not a big surprise there!
The kids had a babysitter Saturday night, because Matt & I went out on a date! They dyed Easter eggs together, but the eggs never got put back in the refrigerator, so they went bad overnight, and didn't really appeal to us as deviled eggs, even though I went through all the trouble of making them. Yum. Rotten deviled eggs. But they were pretty!
Our date was fun, as a Christmas/Valentine's gift to each other, we went to see Blue Man Group, How to Be a Megastar 2.0. It was really fun. That's some wacky performance art!
The kids got bikes for Easter. Matt was itching for them both to have nice bikes. Never mind that neither one of them can ride a bike yet... Xander got a cool BMX bike,
...but he's not ready to go without training wheels yet. Hopefully by the end of the summer. He spent a lot of time out on his old bike yesterday and today practicing up and down the driveway.
Maia got a precious little 12" Trek in metallic pink with streamers on the handlebars and a basket on the front. She knows how to sit on it and looks like she'll just take off, but she can't figure out how to make her legs do the right thing. I'm sure it's really amusing to watch either me or Matt hold onto her feet and try to show her how to pedal while following along. Rather an awkward posture. The weather certainly wasn't very warm, so we bundled everyone up and rode bikes in our coats!
Turns out, Maia doesn't like jelly beans, only chocolate. This morning, I found a nice half-chewed jelly bean lodged firmly in the carpet not far from where this picture was taken.We had church early, only one service at 9:30 instead of our usual Good Shepherd at 9:00 and Mercy service at 10:45. We came home and the kids got to have an easter egg hunt with Dad doing the hiding while Mom cooked dinner. It wasn't a very long hunt, considering Matt hid all the eggs in the living room... granted, there's not a whole lot of other options if you want to find the eggs - the kids' room is too messy, our room and the bathroom would have been acceptable, but the basement was definitely off limits! We were interested in finding the eggs sooner rather than later! Xander found many more eggs than Maia, not a big surprise there!
The kids had a babysitter Saturday night, because Matt & I went out on a date! They dyed Easter eggs together, but the eggs never got put back in the refrigerator, so they went bad overnight, and didn't really appeal to us as deviled eggs, even though I went through all the trouble of making them. Yum. Rotten deviled eggs. But they were pretty!
Our date was fun, as a Christmas/Valentine's gift to each other, we went to see Blue Man Group, How to Be a Megastar 2.0. It was really fun. That's some wacky performance art!
The kids got bikes for Easter. Matt was itching for them both to have nice bikes. Never mind that neither one of them can ride a bike yet... Xander got a cool BMX bike,
...but he's not ready to go without training wheels yet. Hopefully by the end of the summer. He spent a lot of time out on his old bike yesterday and today practicing up and down the driveway.
Maia got a precious little 12" Trek in metallic pink with streamers on the handlebars and a basket on the front. She knows how to sit on it and looks like she'll just take off, but she can't figure out how to make her legs do the right thing. I'm sure it's really amusing to watch either me or Matt hold onto her feet and try to show her how to pedal while following along. Rather an awkward posture. The weather certainly wasn't very warm, so we bundled everyone up and rode bikes in our coats!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Black-Eyed Sweet Pea
We had our Good Friday service last night, a combined Mercy/ Good Shepherd service. We did a very traditional Tenebrae Service. It was neat. New friend, Darla helped with singing, and did an excellent job. Along with the many hymns we led together, she sang Samuel Barber's The Crucifixion, and I sang Peter Willams' Agnus Dei, which is actually a choral piece, but it translated nicely into a solo. At the end of the service, I couldn't find the notes to start an unaccompanied "Were You There," and there was no nursery for the kids, so they were a bit distracting, but in general, it was a great service. Pastor Shel even got a complimentary e-mail afterward from someone who rarely has nice things to say. How 'bout that!
Afterward, we went to Scheels to visit Matt because he has worked so much this week, the kids haven't had much chance to see him. On our way out, Maia face-planted on the entryway carpet. She's got a nice shiner now. Just in time for Easter! Poor baby!
She's still got a pretty good attitude, though. A little cranky this morning, so I gave her a little Ibuprofen to take the edge off.
Afterward, we went to Scheels to visit Matt because he has worked so much this week, the kids haven't had much chance to see him. On our way out, Maia face-planted on the entryway carpet. She's got a nice shiner now. Just in time for Easter! Poor baby!
She's still got a pretty good attitude, though. A little cranky this morning, so I gave her a little Ibuprofen to take the edge off. 
Monday, April 02, 2007
Unexpected Healing Moment
OK, so today I was at the grocery store, and I ran into my first college roommate. I haven't talked to her since about halfway through our year together as roommates.
Yeah, we did not have the best freshman roommate experience with each other.
Seeing her today was so weird! We both knew the other one was in town somewhere because she overheard one of my student's parents (who later told me about the conversation) talking about their daughter's "fabulous voice teacher, Amy" at kids' swim lessons last summer. She did a little asking and sure enough, it was me! HAHAHAHA!
ANYWAY, I saw her in the grocery store today and she came up and hugged me and we caught up with each other a little bit, then she said, "I just want to apologize for being a crappy roommate!" I said, "I was a crappy roommate too!"
It was so cool! Not that we were horrible shrews to each other at age 19, but the apology and healing part. And the fact that horrible shrew-like people can grow up to become loving and forgiving and... well, just different. Walls just came down. I love how God is continuing to heal past hurts in my life and shore up things I didn't even realize were still issues. Cool.
Thanks God!
Yeah, we did not have the best freshman roommate experience with each other.
Seeing her today was so weird! We both knew the other one was in town somewhere because she overheard one of my student's parents (who later told me about the conversation) talking about their daughter's "fabulous voice teacher, Amy" at kids' swim lessons last summer. She did a little asking and sure enough, it was me! HAHAHAHA!
ANYWAY, I saw her in the grocery store today and she came up and hugged me and we caught up with each other a little bit, then she said, "I just want to apologize for being a crappy roommate!" I said, "I was a crappy roommate too!"
It was so cool! Not that we were horrible shrews to each other at age 19, but the apology and healing part. And the fact that horrible shrew-like people can grow up to become loving and forgiving and... well, just different. Walls just came down. I love how God is continuing to heal past hurts in my life and shore up things I didn't even realize were still issues. Cool.
Thanks God!
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