What a handsome boy-even with the bed head!

This was taken on our way to our Circuit Assembly last November. I know it's old, but I really haven't taken too many pictures lately. In fact, yesterday was the first time I even bought film in 2 months. So a little story about this picture. By noon that same day, Kieran had puked all over himself and Daddy, so the white shirt you see here in the picture wasn't so white after that. (didn't smell too great, either) Thank goodness he didn't get any on his precious blankie-it would've been meltdown time after that!
We are going sledding this weekend at Palacios', so hopefully I'll get some good action shots of that, now that I finally have film. The boys are stoked and I got them new, waterproof Lands End boots so we are equipped to enjoy a day in the snow.

More pictures from our Goodbye party for Genschaws!

Hey Aunt Cindy...This one is for you! We miss you!

Ahhh, young love!

Here are the young, madly in love couple. T minus 1 month and counting!

Congrats to Melyssa and Eric, we look forward to your wedding celebration...

Yeah, I know it's been a while...

Well winter is here in southwest Wisconsin. Our yard has about 7 inches of snow from 2 storms and the boys are in heaven! I don't think there is a square foot of untrampled snow in our yard-LOL!

We've been healthy for about 2 weeks now. A small victory since the flu is running rampant here. The boys are back into the routine of school/daycare every day with no whining about staying home. Thank goodness; it's next to impossible to get ready for work all the while having 2 whiny butt-boys crying about not wanting to go. And I'm not a morning person at all. I have been hitting my snooze button at least twice each morning just to eek out a few more minutes of peace and warmth in my bed. Sunday the meeting was cancelled due to the snow and Jerod took care of the boys so I could sleep. I didn't get out of bed until 9! Can't remember when I did that last.....It was great!

I've been tanning at Courtney Chitwood's tanning salon-Endless Sun. They opened up Jan 2. I haven't been this tan in years. It's like therapy for me. Somehow, tan fat doesn't look as bad as pasty white fat, ya know?

Kieran has started drawing still life objects-in a very surreal aspect, of course. But last Friday he sat at the dining room table and drew one of the stools at our kitchen counter. After he started describing what the drawing was of, I could make it out. Funny kid! He really is into writing words and then asking me what they say. Last Sunday he copied the years' text on the wall in the Kingdom Hall during the meeting. I was very impressed. Is it normal for an almost 4 year old to be writing this much? I can't remember Cayden being into letters this early.

Cayden's love right now is Monster Trucks. Monster Mutt, GraveDigger, Maximum Destruction are among his favorites. I've had to educate myself in this completely different genre. Not an easy task. He also likes to watch racing and car shows on TV. That's my boy-all boy!

Jerod is starting a new treatment on Monday. He is going forward with the Spinal Decompression procedure. The first 3 weeks he will go 4 times, then 3 times for 2 weeks and then 2 times the last week. We just decided to bite the bullet and pay for it however we can. I need to have my hubby back. He's to the point where he needs help getting his socks on and off, shoes, too. He can't pick things off the floor unless he drops to his knees to get it. And I know he is in alot more pain than he lets on. So something needs to be done. I pray that he will get relief with this treatment.

My mom, Jessica and Carrie and I got together last Friday and had a day of stamping and scrapping. I made several cards, and the other girls worked on their scrapbooks. Meanwhile the kids all played well together. I really like stamping, and can see myself doing lots of cards if I have time.

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I wish I had a digital camera, I know that I'd post more if I had pictures to include. Someday...someday...

Tonight it's back to work at Arthurs for lobster night. Hope to make some decent $$. Boy I know I'll be dragging tomorrow a.m. Ugh...
Everybody out there, take care! - Shannon

Welcome to the work week!

Good Monday to you all! We had a great Saturday. Jerod and I got to go to Madison with Eric and Melyssa to "oversee" them while they registered for their wedding at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. We had a fun time with them. It was great to get to spend time with Eric and get to know him better. He's going to be a good addition to the crazy Silvers' clan.

Sunday wasn't so great. From the get-go we were all on each other's nerves, the boys whining about everything and Jerod and I taking our frustrations out on each other. Ugh! I hate days like that. So I am glad to be at work today.

One purchase I made on Sat. was a Calvin & Hobbes book. All of the collections were on sale for $10!!! I should've bought another one, but I got 1. I was reading it before bed, enjoying the step back in time and laughing. I have a whole new perspective when I read it now that I am the mom to two "calvin-like" boys. Wow, so far, my boys haven't done anything even close to the crazy things Calvin does, but I can see that it will definitely be a possibility in the next 2 years. Hopefully I can just smile and shake my head when I have to deal with it.

Cayden has become a fan of Star Wars and wants to be Darth Vader all the time. A little disturbing, but I'm hopeful once he watches the older Star Wars movies, he'll turn to liking Luke and Han Solo better. Kieran has mastered (i mean this in the most lenient form) writing his name. I will take a picture of him doing it and post it here for you to see. I'm very proud of him, writing his name before he turns 4 I think is pretty amazing. He's pretty hooked on trying to write all sorts of words and letters. In fact last week he was writing stuff like B=N; X=P, N=O. Not sure where he learned these algebraic-like phrases, but he even knew that "=" means equals. Must've picked it up from daycare. Maybe I am getting my money's worth there after all.

Take care all of you! - Shan

When is it too old to roller skate?

Last Monday, Wes fell and broke his lower leg in two places at a congregation roller skating party. We had just been at their house that day for an awesome fried turkey dinner with the friends we went camping with. We had been joking that day about not breaking a leg. Well, guess nobody's laughing now, huh? Poor guy will be laid up for 8-12 weeks. Hope he (and his wife) survives that. He had to have surgery to insert a rod in his leg to help it set. Yuckky!

So if you can, drop him a line or an email. Address is deliverancer@charter.net

Welcome to 2007!

It is true that every year you grow older, the faster time goes. It was just yesterday (or so it seems) that we moved to Dodgeville. In reality it has been 1 year and 2 months. Crazy....

We had a great winter break. The boys spent 2 days at Nana's house. They were thrilled to be able to go to the new playland at the McD's in Richland Center. Then, Wed night their friend David came over for a couple hours to play. I was called in to work at Arthurs that night, so I missed out on that. By that time I hadn't seen the boys for a couple of days and boy did I miss them! Thursday we didn't do much except hang out at home. Friday we had an awesome day.

After Dad finished working at Misty & Todd's house we headed into Madison to see "Night at the Museum" at the IMAX. Valerie and Brittney went with us too. The boys loved the movie, actually, all of us did. Very entertaining! After the movie, we treated the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. We had never been there before and decided it was time. Got to be honest, it wasn't exactly what I imagined. It is definitely geared for the 8 and under crowd. So the boys were in HEAVEN! They even got to hug Chuck E. Cheese himself! Cayden took to Skee-ball very well and Kieran got hooked on Whack a Mole. By the end, we had over 300 tickets which got us, 2 rubber spiders, one spider ring, two tiny toy airplanes, two plastic "bling-bling" rings for mommy, and two tiny hand clappers. The boys were thrilled and now that is all we hear.."Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese, PLEEEEEEEASE?" Wow-I think we created two monsters..

The next morning we all had tummy issues and I think we ate something questionable the night before. But it was only a little bug, so by the afternoon we were fine. I had Stampin Up party and made a couple neat cards and ordered some stamping supplies in order to do more projects. I'm excited to get my stuff and get to work.

Yesterday we were at Shane and Jess's for a football party. Jess's sister, Sara, was there with her family. Keegan is only a couple days older than Cayden, so you can well imagine how much fun the boys had. We brought Legos and Hot Wheel cars and they were loving life to say the least. I got to rock Sara's little boy, Quinn, to sleep. He's 9 months and just a cutie. I haven't held a baby in forever, so I cherished it. Then I got to hold Micah and Kasey's little girl. she's only 9 weeks and did she ever smell lovely. I'm not sure what Kasey uses in her wash, but whatever it is smells heavenly!

Sorry I don't have pictures, I have been slacking off lately. Bad Mommy!

Well, there is our update. I'll post again if I missed any important details!

My digital camera is my phone, so the quality of the picture isn't so hot, but Cayden had a cute look on his face. School was delayed a couple hours this morning due to fog, so we had some extra time to enjoy each other's company.

We are heading to Janesville tomorrow to the Circuit Assembly that we missed a month ago due to being sick. We almost would've missed this one since Cayden is just getting over a combo of bronchitis (again) and strep throat. But he's doing better, so off we go tomorrow. Hopefully we don't get any frozen precipitation tonight to hinder our travels tomorrow.

Tis the season...

TO BE SICK!

Ugh, this week has been especially trying with the boys not feeling well. Starting out with a possible case of pink-eye with Cayden, we've moved to a chest/barking cough thing combined with runny noses. Then, last night Cayden started puking. Poor guy! He's such a trooper. Apparently he coughed so hard that he ended up puking all over his bed. I can't believe that I didn't wake up with all of that. He actually came into my room to wake me and inform me that he threw up in his bed. (Sorry, Star for all of this talk of vomit and such. You can stop reading if you need too.) After cleaning up his bed, he fell back to sleep, but was up 25 mins later running to the bathroom. Poor little guy had nothing left in his stomach and we all know how pleasant that feels. He never cried or complained. He just got through each episode and went back to sleep. So he is home today. Kieran is too, since he woke up hacking last night with a fever. My night was spent being nurse back and forth between bedrooms. At least it wasn't tag-team puking, we've been through that before and if I never have to deal with that again, it will be too soon.
Ok, so now everyone is up to date on the health of my family. Lovely story, isn't it? Hope that Daddy doesn't get waylaid with this stomach thing. I need him to get me through this week.
Hope that my next post finds us all feeling much better.....

Not too much going on here...

I figured that I better post a new blog since it had been a while since my last one. Trouble is, I don't have any earth shattering news to share with the world. HMMM....Weather is mild, 40* and very foggy today. Damp and chilly but much better than the -20* windchills of late last week. That was a shot of winter if ever there was one.

Jerod is still laid-off. I told him that if this goes on any longer, he'll be eating bon-bons and sitting on the couch all day. He joked back that by then, we wouldn't be able to afford bon-bons. HA! What a sense of humor! Glad he still has one. Seriously, he did call one of his co-workers and found out that his situation is company-wide. All of the trimmers are out framing and have been for the last 6 weeks or so. Shaw knows that to have Jerod frame is just asking for another worker's comp claim, so I'm sure that is why they haven't called him. There are 2-3 houses on the horizon that should be up and ready in a couple weeks. We'll see. I am thankful for the side work he has picked up. That is getting us through. Plus, my first life insurance commission helped out greatly.

So glad that there is only 13 days til Xmas. Don't you get sick of not being able to watch TV or listen to the radio w/o being overwhelmed with Xmas commercials/songs? UGH!

The end of this month I am hostessing a Stampin Up party. I'm looking forward to that. It is fun to get together, visit, eat, and create. Although, I ran out of invites, so I'm going to have to do some manual phone calls to get to every one on my list.

Congrats to Amanda and Luke Wolf! They got married last Monday in a very small ceremony. Amanda is Jessica's younger sister. I understand that they will be living in Dubuque. I got to wait on them Saturday nite at Arthur's. They came in with Ben and Monica. What a treat that was! Amanda was glowing, apparently married life is going well....

Speaking of weddings, Melyssa and Eric have decided to go with a larger reception than originally planned. I guess it is going to be in Boscobel in the banquet room of the Super 8, or some motel there. I hope the plans keep going smoothly. Clint and Joyce are going to have a big empty house sooner than later. What a strange feeling that is going to be for them.

Wow, I'm racking my brain and really can't find anything else to write about. How boring is my life? Although I could wax poetically on about the huge bag of Tootsie Rolls in my desk drawer that is calling out to me, but I won't.

A painting we will go!

The boys get so excited when Jerod and I talk of painting the walls in the house, so this last time Jerod was able to have them "help". So I had 2 snowmen on my wall inside the side entry door for a while. The boys had a blast! Thanks Dad!

We have lost a tooth!

Nov 29 was the big day! Cayden was at school and wiggled it out during circle time. He was so proud of himself, especially since it didn't hurt like he thought it would.

Funny thing-he insisted on putting the bag with the tooth under his pillow to check to see if there would be a tooth fairy to come and take it. Of course I had had the conversation with him to explain the whole "fairy" thing, but he needed to do an experiment to prove it to himself. Sure enuf, the next morning the tooth was still there and he seemed content with the result of his "test".

Like father, like son...

My Little Hunter Dude!

Kieran went out with Daddy Sunday afternoon for his first deer hunting experience. Mostly it was about Kieran rattling antlers and working the doe bleat and learning to sit quietly, but Dad said he did awesome. He is so cute in his get-up, isnt' he? It'll be several years before he can carry a gun, thank goodness. I'm sure that day will come way too soon....

A BOO!

Peek!

My fearless indian brave - Little Moon!

Kieran made his whole indian get-up at daycare. Isn't it cool? His indian name at school is Little Moon and his vest has a moon drawn on it. They do such neat projects there. I'm going to miss his teacher when she has her baby in January. Yep, Kieran's teacher is PG, too, just like Cayden's teacher. But, I don't think Kieran's teacher will be back. Bummer.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little indians...

Another great group shot of the kids! Ava looks so small next to the boys, but that never stops her! The boys were climbing up a step-stool with 2 steps and jumping down onto a single step stool and then leaping to the floor, and Ava was doing the same exact thing. It was very nerve-wracking, believe me, but no one got hurt.

Isn't she a CUTIE?

I was at Jess and Shane's yesterday and got a couple cute shots of little Ava eating a chocolate chip muffin. This picture doesn't do justice to the chocolate all over her face and smeared on her jammies. What a crack-up!

Won't the sun EVER shine?

I think I can count on one hand the number of sunny days we've had in the last month. Yuck. Today Jerod left for Oconomowoc to work the rest of the week. Won't be back til Friday aft. I'm already missing him something awful. I'm such a wuss. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, GIRL!
Kieran got to spend the day with Nana since he woke up through the night howling, crying and complaining that his ear hurt. It was so heartbreaking! As a parent you feel so helpless, trying to rack your brain for something you can do to just take away the pain. I gave him kid's ibuprofen, some garlic drops in his ear, and a lukewarm washcloth to press against his ear. I held him and rocked him until he calmed down. After he calmed down, it was probably only 3-4 minutes b/4 he fell back to sleep. Poor baby! He slept fine the rest of the night and was still sleeping when I left for work. He's been great for Nana all day, which I knew he would.
I'm listening to "High School Never Ends" by Bowling for Soup. The lyrics are funny and so true. Interesting take on today's obsession with Hollywood and the stars found there. It's one of those songs that make you smile and nod your head, like "that is so true". Like that "Sunscreen Song" from the late 90's by Baz Luhrmann. You got to hear it, so here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZgUTApyGU4 Enjoy! Thanks to the friend who send this song to me! It was an awesome blast from the past!