The top 11 events of 2008!

And what a year it was! This will be long. Feel free to skim!

11. Washington DC with my students
Another great trip probably highlighted by being thrown in the pool with my clothes on. Everyone should have this done once to them in their lifetime. It’s like right out of the movies. Speaking of movies I can’t forget to mention that we saw Ben Stiller filming Night at the Museum II. That was exciting. All the other typical DC stuff was great too like the Capitol, all the monuments, the Smithsonians, the Basilica visit, etc. I guess I should mention all that too.

10. 5 weddings!
*April – Chris & Jen
*August – Angie & Tim
*August – Jacob & Meagan
*September – Josh & Kristen
*October – Kristine & Scott

It was a record year for us as far as weddings go and how much fun did we have? Oh lots.

9. Austin's hospitalization in May.
Not a positive experience but definitely one worth mentioning. It was his only seizure so far and it sent us on a flurry of U of M trips for EEG's, MRI's and other testing. As it looks now it was just a fluke probably brought on by a fever. Let's hope that it's the only one he ever has. Thanks again to Julie and my Mom for being so helpful during that very stressful night and also my neighbors for boarding Tommy until my IL’s picked him up. The whole thing was made 100x worse as the paramedics put the IV and the immobility board thingy on his good arm making him super miserable.

8. Austin's preschool graduation.
He looked so darn cute up there singing his Mr. Golden Sun song in his royal blue cap and gown. He also got the nod to head to Kindergarten where he is doing well. He’s such a popular little stinker. We are still not sure on 1st grade, but there is a lot of year left. He is the shortest kid in his class and I'm sure he gets away with murder because he's so cute. I don't even want to go see him at lunch anymore because he always has to be silly for his friends and calls me Mommy Barbie or Mommy Toilet Paper to thunderous laughter. His humor kills me.

7. Rambler Gatherings
*January – A wild gathering in Indiana at Angie’s place with Deb along too was especially unforgettable.
*July – A tamer gathering with a doubtful but newly pregnant me in Illinois at Deb’s place. Deb bought me three Dollar Tree pregnancy tests and they all showed up positive. A baby is on the way for sure. Angie was there, and Heather made it from Pennsylvania. A bonus with this trip was that I got to meet fellow Turner’s Mom Kelly & her daughter Kenzee.
*August – Everyone gathered here without the kids in MI for Angie and Tim’s wedding. Jess & Heather came from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Deb from Illinois, and Michele from California. I witnessed my first 2 tattoos during this weekend gathering. There was a wild bachelorette party.

6. Disney Trip
Disney is always a great time with the family. This was our first trip without an extended member of our family since before Austin was born so Joe and I were a little worried we couldn’t handle it all on our own. It was actually one of the best; I was prego so I did lots of relaxing whilst the guys went on all the exciting rides. The boys were super well behaved and of course had the best time. I think the new Toy Story Mania was the biggest hit of the trip.

5. NYC
A very exciting and memorable trip. Unforgettable actually! Traveling with Lupe, Jill, & Amy was great and I would gladly go anywhere with them. They are the best. It was cool to see Amanda, Lauren, & Toni there too though we didn’t travel together.

*The cab accident
*Times Square
*The Plataforma Restaurant
*The Today Show ~ Al, Meredith, Anne, & Matt were great! Piers Morgan and Billy Ray Cyrus as guests were the icing on the cake. And for the record I still stand by the fact that I said HI JOE!!!
*The storm on the tour bus
*The Ferry
*The Rats & Puke
*Hairspray ~ Norm from Cheers was amazing as the mother.
*The Statue of Liberty including the ferry ride.
*Ground Zero
*Central Park
*Chinatown – Eeks

I’m sure there are many more events that I’m forgetting. It was a jam-packed couple days but full of great memories.

4. Chicks with Sticks ~ Shoot down down.

*I’ll always be grateful to Sheri V. for talking me into doing this. What a great time I had, I can’t wait to start up again hopefully in the late spring.

* The Hat Chicks defeat Ms. Conduct in our charity game that started the whole hockey snowball rolling.

*Goalie Jill – Her screaming when you are skating at her on a breakaway is not something that ever leaves your mind. We played together on the Hat Chicks but in the Bay County League we were prime rivals. She won the battle as I never was able to score on her. ;)

*Stats – 1 goal, 2 assists – Not bad. The goal was sweet! Now how many chances did I have??? A gabillion, I just need to learn to shoot.

*Lisa C. in her Vancouver “Halloween” jersey! The rink manager was so giddy when she stepped on that ice in her vintage 80’s garb. She looked great and I feel bad that I had to bail on her and Michelle A. thanks to my baby. I don’t feel too badly though and I don’t think they hold it against me.

*Coach Bill – What can I say the man rocks. Thankfully I still see him as he coaches Tommy. He swears more at the kids than he did with us.

3. Tommy's Sports – hockey in particular.
*Bamberger Insurance - January started off with a bang as his team won the Friendship tournament, the championship game we were down 5-1 in the 3rd came back to tie it and won in sudden death overtime. His team got 2nd place in a Traverse City tournament, Tommy was named MVP for one game. His team then won the League tournament in a double overtime sudden death win. We had some great times with this "family." They only lost 2 games all year. Tommy secured his place in hockey on defense. His coach was named Saginaw Coach of the Year.

*He won the fastest skater competition in the Saginaw Spirit Shoot Skate Score competition.

*Mid-Michigan Stars - His team won the Last Dance Tournament in May. We got to travel to Toronto for a tournament where his team was crushed but it was awesome to see Toronto and also the stop in Niagara Falls with the Andriot's was memorable.

*Bay County Blizzard - He kicked butt in tryouts and is now playing solid defense for the Big Blue! The team is doing well and continues to improve. We also love the families and the coaches.

*Baseball - We moved him up to Minor's and he did well. He loves catching. He also was asked to play on the Reese 8 & under tournament team. The team didn't fare too well but it made for some fun weekends and broke up the hockey train for a few.

2. My 30th birthday party!

What an awesome awesome awesome surprise!! I was so snowed. Having it in a Tiger suite with my best friends and family was an event that probably hits in the top 10 events lifetime for me. The Tiger’s also won that game, which was great since they lost more than they won last year. To Joe & my friends, you pulled off the most spectacular surprise in Dawn history. It’s so funny to look back in hindsight at how weird you were all acting the days leading up to it. I still can’t believe it didn’t get spoiled and that I had absolutely no clue. Am I really that gullible? Thanks everyone for making it happen!


*1*Drum Roll Please*1*

And the #1 event of 2008 I’m sure you’ve guessed it already is the conception of our March baby! Joe and I, as well as boys and rest of family are absolutely thrilled to add on to our family. And I should probably mention a bit frightened by the fact that it was so long ago when Austin was a baby and we are afraid we’ve forgotten just how tough it is to raise a child. A year ago, Joe and I both thought maybe our baby days were over. We didn’t think we could handle the pain of another loss and didn’t know if the risk was worth it. Thankfully, as with most things, time is a great healer and we took the plunge in May and were rewarded with a BFP already in July! Our fastest conception yet, we are getting good at this. So far so good with this pregnancy and we can’t wait to meet our little Lucky Charm in about 11 weeks. Won’t be long now!

Honorable Mention
*The dress from White House/Black Market
*K of C Bingo
*Kristine’s bachelorette party
*JoDa’s 11th anniversary
*Tommy’s boo boo
*8th grade graduation
*Austin’s silver tooth
*Sod Farm & Everett Construction Coed Softball
*The SE golf outing – last place Woot!
*Hockey Parties
*Austin started learn to skate
*Tommy as Angel Gabriel in the Christmas play, Austin sang well.
*Tommy’s 1st Reconciliation
*Thomas the Train Live with Austin
*Getting Autumn Rose’s stone
*Awesome holidays.

There you go the top 11 events in 2008 I wonder what 2009 has in store for us? 11, are you kidding? That was like 111.

2008 Jib-Jab Review

I seriously have been waiting all month for this. I guess I can say I was a little disappointed though. It's okay but definitely not the hilarious hits of 2006 & 2007. Maybe it'll grow on me.



So do you Jib it? or Jab it?

My Date with Austin

Austin is fascinated with all trains but Thomas the Train in particular of course. So when I got an email from SVSU saying they were having a "premiere performance" of Thomas & Friends Live today I snatched up the best tickets I could. The show was great and Austin loved it. We were in the 5th row of the tiny 500 seat theater.

Of course he wasn't happy that it was just he and I going and even when we were leaving for the show today he was crying that he didn't want to go. I just don't get him sometimes. So I told him we'd try it and if he didn't like it we'd leave. Well not even half way into the first song he turns and says "I like this show" and I asked if he still wanted to leave and he say "no, we'll leave when it's done." I have to say too it was an excellent show, it was a musical. If any of you have Thomas fans in your home, I'd look and see if it's coming your way on it's 50 city tour in the next 6 months. I thought it was better than The Wiggles Live & Sesame Street Live, of course being in such a small venue probably helped.

You can read about it here if you are interested in the how's and why's of my tiny university getting the premiere of this big show.

Needless to say we've had our share of Thomas movies run through the DVD player since we've been home. I'm glad we did something special just for Austin even if he didn't want to do it at first. That's my contrary Mary!

Tommy's 1st Reconciliation

Fr. Bill, Mrs. Bremer, & Tommy

Last Wednesday Tommy made his 1st Reconciliation. He was nervous but of course did fine. He said he told Fr. Bill he wanted to work on his temper and consider other people's ideas and not be so demanding that his way is the only way. I know in his class his teacher does a good job of combing him down a bit when he gets too bossy or worked up over something not going his way, I'm glad he's working on it.

It was his first Sacrament since his scary Baptism. Joe and I chuckled before the service because Fr. Bill asked Tommy to go first and so we were sitting in the same front pew that we haven't sat in as a family since that Baptism. It was more like an exorcism the way he screamed through the entire thing. It felt like it lasted forever, the choir's trying to sing, Fr. Bill is trying to talk over the screaming, I'm trying not to cry. I can laugh now but at the time it was horrible. I remember turning around and looking at my Dad and he had this absolute look of terror in his eyes like a "what is wrong with that baby!!" It was pitiful, Tommy was 3 months old and inconsolable. I had lots of ladies come by after that mass though to console me thankfully. I don't know what it was with Tommy but we would go to church and he would just freak. And ask him these days and he'll tell you he wants to become a priest someday. Go figure.

Winter Wonderland

This little icon is on today's weather page of the weather underground. It surprised me as I've never seen it before. Our beautiful snow is turning to ice. Right now I look out my window and it's a beautiful snowfall, keep the ice & rain crap away! Give me a foot of snow!

We had another snow day today. I can't remember another year having more than one December snow day. Keep this up and we will be in school until July! Not too good either with the Christmas program next Thursday and we've barely begun! Somehow though it'll all come together. The kids always come through.

In other news, I've just finished catching up on blogs. My was I behind. So many friends in need of prayers right now. I love December but sometimes I just think with it's major darkness that something is amiss. Strange to say I know. Anyways, Jessica and her little Logen are trekking through some very dark times right now and if you could please pray for them, she is practically begging people to pray for her and Logen. I met Jess years ago on the BBC CP board and they've recently taken away Logen's CP label and think he has some kind of very bad genetic disease. They are still in the diagnosing stage but it doesn't sound good at all. I know she needs all the support she can get.

Thanks everyone.

Zoinks! Help!

We have a critter in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahh!!!!!!

We can hear it in our bedroom in the ceiling. It's probably just a mouse but freaks me out just the same. And Joe did all this proactive work catching mice outside because we had corn in the field behind us again.

Ugh, reminds me of living at home. I'd hear them in the walls all the time and there was one time I woke up, exited my bedroom and had a dead one in a trap right in front of me. It must have not quite died and traveled about 6-8 feet from where the trap was before succumbing. I've lived here almost 8 years and we've only had one live mouse in the house and thankfully Joe & Tommy got it within an hour. I can still see/hear Tommy who was probably almost 4 at the time with a hockey stick going after him saying "we're berry hunters!"

Well Joe thinks he's gone now. I don't believe it! EEK! EEK! EEK!

Happy December!

My favorite time of the year! And this my friends is the best JibJab Christmas funny ever. Sorry to all of you that I've tortured with this before. Had to be done.

BTW, last year a few of my students made a Top 10 Reasons Why it's great to be in Mrs. P's class and #10 was "She shows us educational sites on the computer like the 12 farts of Christmas." Gotta love them!



Tommy is all sputtering over here, "do you think people are actually going to watch that with a big butt sticking out at them." ;) Austin loves it though. That's my boy.