October Happenings

I'd have to say that most of you who read this blog probably also have me on Facebook, so catching up on my life is probably pretty easy. I need to remember that this blog is a creative outlet for me and my family, a way to look back on "yesterday" and relive it all over again. With that being said, I apologize for repeating things you maybe already know! Over the last 5 months (since I've written last--OOPS), things have gotten 100 times better. I went from a scooter, to a walking boot, to my very own healed ankle! Who would have thought I'd be so excited to clean again! Without my amazing physical therapy team, I would NOT be where I am today. Thanks Steve, Kristi, Kristy, Julie, and the rest of  the team! I finally graduated right before January, and I'm enjoying the extra "free" time.

One of the things I promised my kids is that when I was boot free, we would do a short family get away that would have to compensate for no summer vacation. In October, we took a very impromptu trip to Minneapolis to the Waterpark of America. (And by impromptu, I mean, Dan called me Friday at 1:00 and said, "Come straight home after school, we are headed to Minneapolis tonight.") Usually, this would have thrown me for a loop. No time to get my ducks in a row, but oh how fun it was! We didn't get to Minneapolis until 9:00, but we got to our hotel, threw on our swimming suits and headed straight for the pool. Dan can be kind of a wuss ( ;) totally kidding if you are reading this dear!!), and decided the water was FAR too cold to actually get into, and since there was no hot tub, he would cheerfully sit on the side and cheer on cannonballs and judge breath holding contests and best splashes from the sidelines. One bonus of our little hotel stay was that they screwed up our room, so we were treated to complimentary nachos and drinks while we cozied up in bed to watch some late night TV. The kids were THRILLED we let them stay up until 11:30!

The Waterpark was SO amazing. Next time, we will plan ahead and make sure to get a room at the hotel it's connected at as well. Lucky for us, we have a fearless 3 year old who loves water slides and pretty much anything the big kids do. We spent a WONDERFUL day, going up and down waterslides. Our favorite? The family tube that shot all 5 of us down an exciting, screamtastic waterslide. It was so worth the 30 minute wait! Dan and Jaedyn tried out the bodyboarding pad. It was such a hoot to watch. I apparently don't have the camera skills my husband wishes I had, however. I was scolded horribly for not putting the video in the highest resolution, so it was a dud I was told. We hot tubbed, rode the waves and the lazy river and just enjoyed, for the first time in a long time, a weekend away. Just us. The icing on the cake was a trip to The Rainforest Cafe in the Mall of America- a place Dan and I have been to numerous times, but the kids loved the atmosphere, the jungle sounds, the fake thunderstorms with lightning to boot. It was so memorable. I enjoyed every minute!! And while it was a trip lasting almost exactly 24 hours, it was exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries!

This is really the only good picture I got on this trip. The one downfall of impromptu is that you forget things. :/

A few weeks later, Dan and I headed our itty bittys to Omaha for none other than the Red Hot Chili Pepper concert. We had planned this back in May for our October date night, and it aligned very nicely with Dan's birthday so with hugs and kisses and see you soons, we headed out, ready for a weekend where we could recharge OUR batteries. It had been such a long summer and we were so bummed about missing Cancun and all the summery goodness that we missed, we were ecstatic to be spending the weekend away doing some Christmas shopping (in October!! WHAT?), an outing to the comedy club for some laughs, some chocolate and champagne, sleeping in and playing RACKO in bed with our Starbuck's White Chocolate Mochas and not having to hurry...a bit.

I'm sorry sir...This is not a parking spot. And here's your sign.

YUMMY!

Totally worth the splurge to be able to watch reruns of The Big Bang Theory in your bathtub. Yes please :)

Enjoying a night out in the Old Market

Racko and A White Chocolate Mocha....Heaven

Red Hot Chili Peppers

To top the weekend off, we screamed our lungs out with a bestie and her hubby and her friend and sang along to some of the greatest rock music ever made (in my humble opinion). And even though we didn't get home until 2 in the morning, it was so worth the half of a personal day I had to take to capture some new memories and rekindle some flames in a fire that was being smothered by broken ankles and back to school and the never ending list of to-do's that all too often never get done. And that my friends is how we do October.

Pre-voice losing

And for those of you thinking....uh Mandi...it's January 14...I know. But in good Mandi fashion, if it's not late, then it's not me. :) So with that, I will continue to catch up on November and December later, but for now...Peace out. Enjoy this cold day doing something warm and fuzzy or if nothing else wearing something warm and fuzzy!

I hate days like these...

Today has been one of those just very crappy days that you just wish would go away...fast. To start my day off, I gained a whopping three pounds. Let me give you a little insight. My very awesome friend and I weigh in every single week since last May with the obvious intention to lose weight. In the last 14 months, I have maybe lost a total of four pounds...not what I was hoping for. Within the last few months, we have decided that whoever gains weight or the most weight in a week has to wear this heinous looking bracelet to let people know we gained weight. It's a bad deal. Anywho, that is what happened....so now I'm stuck with the bracelet of shame.

Then, I get to work and no less than an hour later, I get a phone call saying my husband hasn't picked up our kids from daycare, which means my son is ten minutes late for his haircut. So I ended up having to leave to pick them up to bring him to his haircut. In the meantime, I get a phone call from my mom saying my grandpa is not doing well and if I don't go see him, I may not get the chance....

I'm tired and exhausted. I spent 3 hours at the nursing home watching my grandpa try to breathe and realize that this is it....It's a hard thing to watch, even when you've known for awhile that it was coming soon. It's never easy watching those around you hurt when you hurt so bad too.

We will have to see how the next few days go. We were supposed to leave for vacation (something I've been waiting for for such a long time) on Saturday. We will have to see if that happens. Keep us in your prayers. It's going to be a long week.

I'm going to hit the pillow now! Thanks for listening to me! Goodnight!

Never thought I would blog but....

I never ever thought that I would be the type to blog, but I see more and more of it around lately, and it just makes me want to embrace the chaos in my life and share it with the world. The way I see it, I am not the only mother/wife who deals with this chaos. Why not embrace it and see what comes of it. Maybe I'll meet some other moms and form new friendships? Who knows, I just figure that it's worth a shot! I don't know if my blog has any specific topic, but I assume that it will mostly be about my life personally and with my family. Very simple I know....

I suppose I should start with a little bit about me. I'm one month shy of being 23 years old, yet when most people meet me their jaws drop to the floor when they hear that I am so young. I suppose it is because I have been married for 3 years and have two children (adorable ones if I do say so myself) ages 5 and 2 that pretty much keep me occupied. I just graduated from Northwestern College with a degree in Elementary Education with endorsements in early childhood and reading. I had my daughter, Jaedyn when I was a senior in high school and I vowed that I would keep following my dreams of becoming a school teacher so that one day I could help her reach for hers. I just recently took a job as lead preschool teacher at a nearby preschool and on the side run my own business sharing my love for books with parents and children by being an Usborne books consultant. It is so rewarding and is my way of sharing the importance of reading with those around me!

There are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle I call my life. I hope that it is not confusing and that I am able to share those pieces as I continue to blog. I guess my purpose is not to see that others are like me, but maybe to show somebody else who has ever been at a low point in their life, as I have often been in my own, that "this too will pass" and if you just keep truckin, life eventually smooths out the rough patches on it's own. Anyways, it's already 1:15 in the morning here, and I believe that it is far past my bedtime! Lots of things to do tomorrow......

Mandi