The World of Jerod & Elise (and their parents)

Woe is Me

2011-12-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

**This post is completely whiny. If you don't want to hear it, don't read it. And, I realize everything I'm whining about is self-inflicted, so please do not feel the need to point that out. That being said, when it comes to planning family activities, I am but 1/4 of the vote.**

We are busy. I know I've said that in previous posts, but I was just being a big ol' whiner then. I know someday I'll look back at this post and think the same thing. But, let me list our winter activities for you, by kid.
Elise: ski racing team, piano, Girl Scouts, gymnastics
Jerod: basketball, piano

I realize that may seem a little underwhelming at first glance, but this is what our weekly schedule looks like:

Monday: Ski practice from 6-8p, Basketball practice for an hour, starting at either 6,7, or 8p depending on the week.
Tuesday: Elise's piano lesson 5:15-6:15p, and, if it's the 2nd Tuesday of the month, Girl Scouts from 4:00-5:15p
Wednesday: Ski practice form 6-8p
Thursday: Jerod's piano lesson, scheduled for 4:15 (but with weekly texts from his teacher asking to change it... to 5, or 6, or 6:15, or 6:30, depending on the week), Basketball game at 6,7, or 8p... ya know, depending on the week, and gymnastics from 6-7p.

Other interesting facts about our lives/schedules include the following:

Both kids also go to school. Including bus time, this spans from 9:00a-4:15p, M-F
If the above mentioned piano lessons are going to be worth even a small part of the cha-ching cha-ching ching we're dropping on them, both kids really need to be practicing on a daily basis.
Chris has already started training for next summer's marathons, and he's doing it in true Chris fashion: full-throttle. He has an online coach who prescribes each week's mileage for him. By this time on Sunday, he will have run 50 miles this week. Next week's schedule calls for 54.
Not long after we moved into this house (7+ years ago), Chris decided he was done driving to work. Coinciding with that decision was the thought process that he no longer had need for his own set of wheels, so we are a one car family.
Chris has started a side business (patentcore.com) which, not surprisingly, takes a lot of time. In addition to that, he is busier in his day job than he's been in the 11+ years of his career. Back in the day he was typically home by 5:00. Reality has slapped us in the face. He's now typically out of the home life equation until 6, unless I hound/guilt him into catching the early bus home.
This past fall I decided that I wanted to become a mentor with Bolder Options, thus committing myself to spending a couple of hours a week with a 13 year old girl who is 'at-risk.' This part of my crazy schedule I really enjoy, minus the transportation challenges created by only having one car.

As is the case with pretty much any topic, I have lots of opinions on all this. Since I've been more than a little trigger happy with the bullets lately, and since I can barely string together a coherent thought, I'll use them again here.

We have become the hyper-scheduled, over-extended family that I really never wanted to be.
My kids are being exposed to a wide array of experiences, hopefully developing a life-long appreciation for arts, sport, and an active lifestyle.
Something's got to go. If not, this family needs a second car.
As the stay-at-home mom in this convoluted equation, I'm wearing quite a few hats (lunch assembler, launderer, bookkeeper, piano practice facilitator, homework assistant, and shuttle service provider, occasional classroom volunteer, to name a few). Trouble is, you see, I'm not doing any of them particularly well.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, and frequently Thursdays, kids are waking up anywhere between 7 and 8:30am, hitting the bus at 9am, coming home at 4:15p; and frequently needing to be out the door for the evening activity (which, let's face it, should usually be plural: activities) by 5:30. On ski nights and 8p basketball nights, nobody's realistically getting to bed before 9:30. Heck, last night was a 7p basketball night and the kids were still up well past that 9:30 mark.
I guess it's just due to the fact that I've always had piss-poor time management skills, but we are typically not getting to piano practice.
On Tuesdays, where all we typically have is a 5:15-6:15 piano lesson, I feel like we're on vacation.

The good news, at least for the next few weeks, is that despite this weekday craziness, our weekends are pretty much free. The bad news is that my attitude is in the toilet. I'm tired of having to figure out transportation when our one car can't get us to two places at once (despite the fact that we have awesome friends and family who frequently help-- shout out to the Klukow family and Donna). I'm tired of feeling like I dropped the ball when we don't get to piano practice in a day. I'm tired of taking 10 minutes out of the already harried morning schedule to rush Chris (who is frequently running late due to the enormous amount of miles he's logging on most mornings) to the bus stop. I'm tired of having to pack lunches because the school lunches are complete crap. I'm tired of putting meals on the table that my kids won't eat. I'm tired of requests to change J's piano lesson. I'm tired of being the person that's never supposed to be tired because she doesn't have a wage earning job.

In short, I guess I'm just tired. Winter break is upon us, and we'll have a nice little break from many of these activities. Hopefully the new year will recharge me. Let's hope.

My Week

2011-11-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Highlights of my last week include, but are not limited to:

A really, really awesome Halloween
Assisting my kids' school nurse with vision screening of about a bazillion first and second graders
Multiple incidents of my nine year old son sharting in his pants while trying to get to the bathroom (not exactly a new issue, but one we haven't had to visit for a long time, though in my not-so-humble opinion not long enough)
A revelation from the nine year old that he doesn't want to poo at school for fear of the toilet overflowing, so he's simply been pinching his penny and holding it in
Asking previously mentioned nine year old if he needed an enema (I dare say, if you haven't had the experience of having such a conversation with your child, your parenting journey is not complete... and I wish you an incomplete journey)
A call from the school nurse (after school was out, but before the kids had arrived home on the bus) telling me, that, despite the fact that she'd received a call from Jerod's teacher saying he was headed to health office and looked sick and pale, she'd never seen him (Don't worry if you're confused. This one still confuses me.)
A call less than a minute later from the bus barn saying that Jerod was feeling very, very bad on the bus, so the driver was re-routing the whole load of kiddos so that Jerod could be dropped off next
The sinking feeling of putting 2+2 together and realizing that my kid DID indeed need the enema, but I had been too spineless to push the issue because, let's face it, who REALLY wants to administer such a procedure on her own offspring
The even more sinking feeling of realizing that my spinelessness resulted in my kid becoming so backed up with poo in his rectum and intestine that he was having severe cramping and pain so intense that he could barely walk off the bus and needed to be carried into the house by his mom and would, eventually, vomit due to the extent of discomfort
A trip to the ER
Jerod barfing all over the scale at he ER (then looking up at the nurse with his sweet, pale, sick face with tears welling up in his eyes and saying "I'm so sorry.")
A different nurse, who, bless his heart, had a horribly over-simplified view of this issue and repeatedly insinuated that the reason we were facing this issue is that Jerod is a couch potato and plays too many video games.
An absolutely incredible P.A. who more than made up for the shortcomings of the stupid nurse. Needless to say, this situation sucked on about a bazillion different levels. However, it did lead me to that rare experience of seeing someone doing what she was no doubt born to do. Her bedside manner was unparalleled to any I've ever seen... simply amazing.
An enema administered by the stupid nurse, and the subsequent elimination of what seemed to be two metric tons of poo; immediately after which, Jerod said, "I can walk, I can jump, I'm HUNGRY!"
The pleasure of getting to call my kid's teacher for the 'I don't know what your policy is, but if J needs to go to the bathroom, then, for the love of all that's good and holy, let him go to the bathroom' conversation
A reminder of how much it sucks to be in a hospital with a sick kid, how incredibly exhausting it is even when the issue is minor, and how unbelievably blessed I am to have kids who are generally healthy and happy
A reminder of how fortunate my family is to have insurance and access to quality healthcare... ya know, for when I completely drop the ball as a mom and my kid needs to go to the ER for an enema

Since I'm blogging for the first time in ages, I'm going to go ahead and throw in some Halloween pics.

Camp and Parenthood and Fun and Fears and All that Good Stuff

2011-08-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

This lovely six year old girl is at camp this week.

I think I could likely write on this fact for hours. I will try to restrain myself. But not completely. And before reading this post, you might want to read this post.

As a family, this is our fourth year at the fabulous Camp Tanadoona. It's an awesome place, and our kids have loved the time they've spent at day camp there. However, this year when the catalog came in the mail, way back in the dead of winter when the ground had umpteen inches of snow on it and we were making the most of all nine of our degrees, Chris pointed out to all of us that there was a mini-resident camp for kids ages 6-10. Upon being asked, Elise responded without hesitation: I WANT TO GO. Not terribly surprising coming from her, especially when I think back to the fits she threw the year I was taking Jerod and she wasn't yet old enough to go (see the linked post above). Jerod's take on the situation was that he needed to see whether or not his buddies could go. He ultimately stayed home.

My response? Well, let's just say I was a little more on the fence. Six seems pretty young for this sort of thing; and when I was leaving her on Sunday, I was thinking six seemed REALLY young for this sort of thing. However, she was ready! She begrudgingly let us take the picture you see above, but all in all, she could not ditch us quickly enough.

I have talked before about the weirdness involved with leaving your kids at camp (again, see the linked post above). As a parent with kids at the ages and stages of mine, it is just beyond strange to have ZERO contact with them. My experience as a camp counselor does reassure me. I know kids love camp (what's not to love really), and I know the staff is well trained to deal with it if they don't. If there were a problem, I would be contacted. This is what I have to keep telling myself. No news is not only good news, it also likely means she's having the time of her life.

I know that opinions on whether a six year old should spend three nights at camp are likely all over the board. Ultimately I needed to be talked into it. I have a few thoughts for those of you who think I'm completely nuts.

1. You're right. I am 100% nuts. This is not up for discussion

2. No two kids are alike, and to make a blanket statement that no six year old should go to a camp like this would just be silly.

3. Parental fear is not a good reason to NOT let a kid do something.

(It's probably important that I mention here that I'm not writing this as a rant in response to someone who has judged me on this issue. I'm simply working through the oddness that is having only one child at home this week.)

I'm going to elaborate on number three a bit. I'm at a stage in life where I'm coming to the realization that I've probably let fear have just a little too much control over my life. Not that I'd change anything, and not that I'd really say that fear has ever debilitated me; but, in my life, I have trended toward doing what is safe and easy. I could go on and on, but that is a post for another day.

Thankfully, I have a fun loving adventurous husband who provides balance for my kiddos. I am thankful he brought up mini-resident camp and talked me into it, and here's why: I believe that there is some value in letting a kid take the plunge. Truth be told, Elise is too busy being her father's daughter to know anything about fear or doubt. I think that is completely awesome. She knew she could do it, and if I'd told her no, I'd have sent a message to her saying I didn't think she was capable. There's a big, bad world out there waiting to teach her all about fear and doubt; so I don't need to take on that task. My job is to say, "Yes you can!".

So, there you go. This is slightly deeper than my 'gee it's hot out there post.' My 2.2 readers must be completely dazed and confused right now.

Anyhoo... Elise is at camp. I hope she's having a heckuva time, but I can't wait to see her tomorrow!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

2011-07-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

Oh my word... I am in the midst of my 11th summer in this great state. For 11 years, I've stated that Minnesotans don't know what heat is. I hereby retract that statement. Depending on your source, it's somewhere between 95 and 98 degrees right now, and the heat index is somewhere between 111 and 120 degrees.

It is simply criminal that a place that endured the winter we just went through should have to deal with this. Ugh.

Yeah Right...

2011-07-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

A blog post every day... who am I kidding?

It's been a busy few days. Previously mentioned camping trip was canceled, initially due to chance of rain. I think the rain may have stayed away from our intended destination (Lake Lillian, MN), but heat indexes were over 100 degrees. Ish.

On Friday Elise and her pal Emma were scheduled for soccer camp. Emma's brother was going to hang with Jerod and me. Long story short (rain!), we ended up at The Works. Love, love, love the fact that this place is a five minute drive from my house. Elise and Emma got a kick out of the mirror. After Emma and Porter went on their merry way, the rain continued. It rained, and rained, and rained, and rained. We made the perfect lazy day of it. We went out to lunch, then headed to the $2 movie to see 'Rio.' Since it was STILL raining in the evening, we had some family Wii time. Jerod put on a little costume (see below). Makes a momma proud.

An Attempt

2011-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to commit to a nearly daily blogpost for one month. This should be good, hee hee! I can tell you the fam's going camping this weekend. So I will drop the ball on Saturday and Sunday, if not before.

Anyhoo...

This week has been all about soccer for Miss Elise. Soccer camp is taking place each morning, and she played her last game of the summer house league season last night. I wish I were more of a fan, because this girl LOVES her soccer. Depending on who you ask, she scored somewhere betweet four and seven goals last night. She's like buttah... she'll be in a cluster of girls trying to get to the ball, and all of a sudden she'll squeeze out, dribbling the ball like a pro, and frequently put it in the goal. Yeah... I'm bragging. It's damn impressive if you ask me. And, I also think she's pretty cute.

Watermelon Salad on the Food Network

2011-06-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Watermelon Salad on the Food Network

Whipped this up yesterday. I have a new favorite summer food. Uh-maze-ing.

Summer 2011, Day 1

2011-06-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

There seems to be some debate about what constitutes the first day of summer. We bumped into one of Jerod and Elise's buddies from church while at the grocery store today. When I asked him how his first day of summer was going, he informed me that his first day of summer had been on Saturday. I suppose he's correct, but for me, this is the first week day where I haven't had to pack a backpack or get anyone to the bus. Thus, today is the first day of summer.

We have been busy little bees lately. Soccer started before school ended. Throw that in with all the end of the year stuff for school and you get a pretty busy few weeks from mid-May until June 10th.

Here is a random selection of photos from our oh, so thrilling lives lately.

Jerod on his 9th birthday. He had a great school year, and is looking forward to starting baseball tomorrow.

This is what you will frequently find Elise doing these days. Thank God I don't care about clean walls and door jambs.

This lovely young lady is my niece. She graduated from Larned High School in May. Circumstances were such that I was the only Holt of Bernard Place that was able to make it. It was a nice get-away. Chris got a good taste of my daily life while I was gone :)

My Name is Anne and I am....

2011-05-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

suffering from PMS and a small amount of anxiety this week. My husband would likely use more colorful language if you asked him. I won't type all the things I think and feel on that topic, though.

We're co-hosting a little benefit for our local YMCA here on Saturday evening. Nothing fancy, just a little gathering of 30-ish folks who have been invited to our house to pay $15 for a fajita dinner. It's fair to say that I don't know a good number of these folks very well. As a result, I'm feeling a little edgy about getting the house and food ready. Above mentioned PMS is not helping matters any. Above mentioned husband isn't really helping matters either.

Husband is frequently telling me (and everyone else) I'm going overboard. Apparently, when you invite a group of people over (have I mentioned that a lot of them I don't know too well) to your house to pay for a meal, cleaning the house and the yard and making sure you put forth a decent meal are optional. I wish I'd known this earlier... I wouldn't have waited so long to host such an event. Hell, maybe I should open a restaurant. Silly, silly, stupid, dumb me. On the bright side, I guess there's no need to tackle this:

(yes, my son's room is a danger zone, once again)

Maybe husband is right on some level, but his delivery of news could be a little more, umm, shall we say, diplomatic. Perhaps he could find a way of saying as much so that I don't have a compelling urge to choke him with my bare hands??

In addition to this little fundraiser, we're celebrating Jerod's 9th birthday party (by playing a game of baseball with his buds) on Sunday afternoon, and running 18 miles on Saturday morning. I think I'll do a happy dance on Monday morning when all this is done.

Oh, and how's this for fun?? Check out the weekend forecast. Out-friggin-standing.

Minneapolis, MN 55436

Friday

5/13/2011

Hi: 60°

Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs around 60. North winds 10 to 15 mph.

Lo: 47°

Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers. Lows around 45.

Saturday

5/14/2011

Hi: 58°

Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs 55 to 60.

Lo: 46°

Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers. Lows around 45.

Sunday

5/15/2011

Hi: 62°

Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs around 60.

Lo: 44°

Partly cloudy. Lows 40 to 45.

A Little Story about my Kitchen

2011-05-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday afternoon, before the kids got off the bus and before Chris got home from work, I really cleaned my kitchen. The half million pieces of paper that had come home from school during the week had been sorted and filed, as had the quarter million pieces of mail. The counters and table had been thoroughly wiped down, and the floor was swept.

It is perhaps important to note that I don't do this thorough of a 'cleaning' all that often, mainly because our next meal (a.k.a. mess maker) is usually just a few short hours away. Generally speaking, the wipe down mentioned above happens once a day at most. Please don't call child protective services. I'm building immunity in my kids. It will serve them well, we live in a dirty world.

But, the weekend was on its way, and I knew I'd feel good if I got it done. And I did. Fast forward to Sunday. The kitchen was a complete wreck. Normally this wouldn't phase me. It is messy more often than it is clean. However, the Sunday mess got to me, and I'll tell you why. WE HADN'T HAD A SINGLE MEAL IN THE KITCHEN. Friday night was the school carnival, so we ate there. After said carnival, Jerod and Elise went to spend the night with my parents so Chris and I could go for a long training run early Saturday morning. Saturday we had lunch with my folks when we picked up the kids, and dinner at the house of some of our friends. And, on Sunday we had breakfast at church, as it was the annual youth fundraising breakfast. Said breakfast was HUGE, so we skipped lunch. Yet, the kitchen was filled with backpacks, drinking glasses, and more paper (Anyone who thinks we're moving to a paperless society should visit my kitchen).

Happy Easter... a day late

2011-04-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

The Tourney

2011-04-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

After KU's untimely exit from the tourney, I had trouble looking at the family brackets anymore. However, I'm hosting book club on Friday night and trying to tidy a bit. Thus, I needed to tally everything up so I could send those babies to the recycling bin. And the winner is....

Anne!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Next time we go out to dinner, I get to pick. I will most certainly be drunk with such power!

Final results:

Anne: 40-27

Elise: 39-28

Chris: 38-29

Jerod: 36-31

Ladies rule, boys drool.

Arizona Spring Break

2011-04-04T06:17:00.001-07:00

We are home now. They dragged me kicking and screaming to the airport. It was a fabulous trip!

Climbers

2011-03-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

I've got mixed feelings about technology, smart phones, social networking via the web, and all the other good stuff that falls under the same umbrella. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan, but I do see how a person (yours truly) can be too connected, especially with so much available ALL THE TIME, via the phone. However, I would like to kiss whoever's responsible for putting decent cameras on phones. Without them, we wouldn't have these gems. We had no idea the kiddos would end up climbing the rock wall while making our routine Wednesday evening trip to the YMCA.

They were awesome. Jerod made it all the way to the top. He was within about 2 feet of the top and said he was done. I couldn't blame him. The person belaying, though, gave him a little advice and encouragement, and up he went. You could pretty much see Jerod's mind switch from 'I'm done' to 'I'm going to finish this.' As a parent, it was pretty cool to see him conquer.

Elise didn't get quite as far, but she did awesome as well. At one point when she was pretty high up and she looked back at us with actual trepidation in her eyes. It's highly unusual to see any uncertainty in our typically fearless go-getter. The minute she got down and out of the harness, though, she was ready to get back up there. As Chris said, it's nice to know that the girl can reach a point where she experiences a little fear.

After Two Rounds

2011-03-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

Official Standings:

Anne 35-17

Jerod 35-17

Elise 35-17

Chris 32-20

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Sweet Sixteen!

photo from kusports.com

It's March...

2011-03-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

And thus, we are enjoying March Madness. Holt family bracket standings, after 1.5 rounds of action (and yes, I mean 1.5... four measly 'play-in' games does NOT constitute a round, no matter how many times CBS tries to make it so) are as follows:

Jerod 33-13

Elise 30-16

Chris 31-15

Anne 34-12 (Boom-sha-ka-la-ka!)

Of course, all we really want out of these stinking brackets is a few more KU wins. Jerod and I are trying to patiently wait for tonight's 7:40 KU v Ill tip off (Elise doesn't care quite as much, and Chris just hopped a plane to Seattle for that job thing he has to do). And yes, I'm letting Jerod stay up to watch tonight. I never claimed to be a good parent.

Sickos

2011-02-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Second sick day this week. I shouldn't complain, because this virus is all in all an easy one. It's just fever, some cough, and congestion. But, it's icky and gray out, I'm missing church, and I want spring. I got the Sunday blahs.

Lutsen 2011

2011-02-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

We are just back from a lovely trip to Lutsen with two other families. Two of the three days of skiing were great (day one was excessively windy), and the company was fabulous. As always, I should have taken more pictures. Here are the few I did take.

This Girl...

2011-02-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

is really making life interesting lately. An inappropriate valentine, an incident on the bus (a story that's entirely too long to even post), her new habit of starting every sentence with "DUDE," and her ever-sassy demeanor have me at my wit's end. I love her zest for life, but she's totally wearing me out. DUDE, she's totally wearing me out.

The 'After' Picture

2011-02-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

From Phone pics

Whaddya know? There really IS a floor in there.

The Dreaded Call

2011-02-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

I hate it when this shows up on the caller ID. There's really no chance of a good outcome. Either someone's puking, the school's been set on fire, or someone's in trouble. Today was the latter. Elise talked another student into putting something grossly inappropriate (involving male genitalia) on a valentine. I'm beyond mortified. It's not going to be a fun night at my house.

In all Fairness

2011-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

When my better half saw the post about Jerod's room, he thought I was unfairly singling Jerod out. He's right. We're having a little gathering of some folks from our church on Sunday evening, and I'm going in. If you don't hear from me by the weekend, please send in a search party.

Now, before you go getting all judgey, judgey on me, know this: Both these pictures represent particularly bad cases of room cleaning neglect. It's not usually quite this bad (though I shamefully admit that their rooms could rarely, if ever, be called clean).

At any rate, ARC's got a big donation coming their way.

Genes can be Cruel

2011-02-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

As I age, the list of things I'm certain of is ever-shrinking. One thing, however, that I am certain of is this: The characteristics of my children that make me the absolutely craziest are those that come directly from their dear ol' mom. Like this:

I am not, have never been, and never will be a neat and organized person. Having children has only exaggerated this fact of my life. This bedroom, though, seriously?!? His sister's is all this and more.

And the Winner is...

2011-02-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't even read the other sample, because this one instantly drew me in. I think maybe because it appeals simultaneously to both my bleeding heart liberal and my science nerd sensitivities.

Living the Dream

2011-02-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

The holiday season was very good to me, on many levels. I could elaborate on that, but for now, I'll just say that I got a Kindle. I had wanted one for some time, but couldn't really find a reason to spend the money. Hooray for my groovy husband! Like everyone I know that has one, I love, love, love this thing. Ample reading material that fits perfectly in my purse and is always at the ready... what's not to love?!

I stole the title of this post from my friend Danielle, who once wrote a post about hers. She told about how you could get a free sample of a book before committing to purchasing it; thus having a pretty darn good idea if you really wanted to read the whole thing before shelling out the bucks. She finished the post with something like, "I'm living the dream, folks." I should link to the post, but I'm too lazy. You get the idea.

I now know exactly how she feels. I finished a book today and was really torn about what to read next. I have a long 'want to read' list, but narrowed it down to two. No problemo, because I just ordered the two free samples. Can't wait to read them and make my final decision. I'm living the dream folks.

Pioneer what??

2011-01-30T15:19:00.001-08:00

This post is another first for my blog. I don't think I've ever done a post about something I made for dinner, but I made this soup (picture is copied from her blog) last night and it was so dang good that it deserves a post. Perhaps it was just the fact that I sort of skipped lunch and was really, really hungry; but man, this stuff was good. I've tried quite a few recipes for the same basic kind of soup, and they've all been good; but this one put them all to shame.

I'm not sure what the pioneer woman refers to because I haven't read much of her blog, other than browsing her recipes. Lots of tasty sounding vittles though... I look forward to trying more.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-soup/

Avert Your Eyes

2011-01-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

Today is a dark, dark day in the life of this blog. Today it's going somewhere I never, ever, in a bazillion years thought it would go. It's going political.

On Facebook, I follow, or like, or am a fan of, or somehow get occasional updates from a group called The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, or IATP. Last week, they posted a link to a website called Chipocracy. They also posted a link to this story, which I'm cutting and pasting in its entirety, because it's quite pertinent to my ranting.

January 20, 2011

Chipotle's "integrity" challenged over treatment of workers

Ten blocks north of IATP's office in Minneapolis, a boisterous crowd braved 5-degree temperatures to march in front of Chipotle. The restaurant chain, who touts "food with integrity," was under fire over its mistreatment of workers. A few weeks before Christmas, Chipotle fired—without notice—nearly 700 immigrant workers in Minnesota, and at least some were fired without paying back wages.

"We’re seeking the truth and to get the company to sit down and engage in dialogue with us because they have refused to do so," said Maria Cortes, a former Chipotle employee who had been fired along with 13 co-workers at the restaurant where she worked. "We’re here because we are seeking that our rights be respected."

Chipotle has been national leader in sourcing environmentally friendly food from family farms, often within regional food networks. The company has told the media that it is simply following the law after it was subjected to a 1-9 audit by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). But it is standard practice for employers to give employees 90 days to clear up any problems with their immigration documents, according to the Service Employees Interational Union (SEIU). Instead, Chipotle fired employees in question immediately. SEIU also believes Chipotle has potentially violated a number of Minnesota state employment laws.

Minnesota's local food leaders, including IATP, have sent a letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, calling for the company to pay back wages to workers, and to stand up for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Signs at today's protest stated, "Chipotle Treats their Chickens and Produce Better than they Treat their Employees" and "Chipocrisy: Selling Mexican Culture and then Selling Out Mexican Workers." A website, Chipocrisy, has more details.

"I worked at Chipotle for over nine years and always treated my job as if I owned the restaurant, wanting to do my best for my managers and for my customers," explained Jaunita Cruz, a Chipotle employee fired in December. "But getting fired so abruptly was a disrespect to my nine years of service."

While the rapidly growing local and healthy foods movement has made many gains over the last several years, food and farm workers are often left out of the equation. But there can be no "food with integrity" without fair treatment of workers.

—Ben Lilliston

All I can say is, "CRAP." Those who know me well know that I have a thing for Chipotle that quite possibly borders on addiction. I generally eat there at least once a week, frequently taking my daughter out to lunch on grocery shopping day. We kind of view it as our reward for enduring the rigors of the grocery store, which be both LOATHE. Additionally, it is my pre-race meal of choice on evenings before running events.

My first response to this was that I needed to do some research and figure out what the hell was going on. Well, days went by, and said research never happened. I'll spare you my lame excuses. But, last Friday evening, my daughter and I decided it was a good night for a burrito. The boys of the house were in Kansas visiting family, we'd both had a long day, and some beans and rice seemed like the perfect way to end the day. The store we went to has one of those dispenser things (technical term) where you can buy a paper. The headline on the paper caused me a major DOH! moment, reminding me that I needed to do a little research. It went like this:

Chipotle fires hundreds, draws protest

Chain dismissed workers at its 50 Minnesota restaurants after an immigration audit.

Since I eat like a pig, and my daughter does not, I finished eating before her (yes, we went ahead and ate there, feel free to judge me, I certainly deserve it). I pulled up the article on my phone and read as she finished eating. No new information, really, but here's the full story, should you care.

I then sent the story to my husband. He does not salivate over the food with quite as much fervor as I do, but he is a fan. He basically replied with, "I'm going to need more information."

Well, now it's Monday. Monday's suck, but today's a good one, because I'm getting a long overdue new oven. The project required a whole new cabinet, and my kitchen's currently in a bit of upheaval. So, Elise and I headed to the gym in an effort to get out of their way. I knew that the current state of the kitchen was going to make lunch prep a little difficult, so I decided we'd grab lunch. Guess what dining establishment is right on the way home??!! I know, I know. I SUCK as a person.

Now I'm going to rewind to about four weeks ago. Obviously the girl and I know a thing or two about dining at Chipotle. All of a sudden, the line was not moving like the well-oiled machine it had once been. Back in the day, when the line went out the door, you didn't sweat it, because you knew they were going to get you through that line in a jiffy. No mas. That is not the case now. I mentioned this to my husband, thinking maybe I was just being impatient and crabby, but he concurred. Something was definitely different, and it wasn't hard to see that the workforce had changed quite a bit. Obviously, now we know why that was.

Coming back to today. When I ordered Elise's quesadilla, the gal working put the thing directly on the tortilla heater upper, presser thing (another technical term). As in, no foil. I stood there wondering if I should open my mouth and tell the employee how to do her job. I ultimately couldn't do it. I have big time issues with asserting myself. That's another post. The result of the absent foil was a big mess. The cleaned it up quickly and got the gal on the right track, but COME ON. Chipotle should know how to make a quesadilla.

This whole situation just makes me sad and mad. I'm sad that eating at what's basically my favorite restaurant now leaves me feeling guilty. I'm also mad. Mad about the completely screwed up state of immigration in this country. I do have some sympathy for the company. My take on it is that they were between a rock and a hard spot. I do wonder, though, about how the hiring process for these folks went. It is a little hard for me to believe that the Chipotle powers that be really thought all the Hispanics they were hiring were legal.

MOST OF ALL, though, I'm mad that the employees are in this position. Don't give me any noise about them taking jobs from Americans, because you and I both know Americans are not chomping at the bit to work on the burrito making line. If anyone was being hurt by the way things were, it was the employees. I don't know what they're compensation package looked like, but I'm guessing they were working for less that they would've been if they had white skin. Feel free to provide me with some documentation saying I'm wrong.

In all honesty, though, my real thoughts on this are pretty selfish and superficial. Why the hell did immigration officials feel the need to put Chipotle under fire? What harm was being done to society by these folks working for a living and supporting their families? Why could we not just leave well enough alone? Right wing rhetoric claims that government needs keep their hands off of people's lives. I guess that doesn't apply to this situation, because Hispanics aren't people. Or maybe government officials just don't like burritos. I don't know.

This whole Chipotle debacle is just a microcosm of the completely eff'd up state of immigration in this country. I love this country, I really do. But we've got some serious issues, and this is certainly one of them.

Just Dance 2

2011-01-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

We have a new Wii game. Is it wrong to laugh at your kids?

Snow Ice Cream

2011-01-15T08:34:00.001-08:00

Jerod did an internet search for "fun things to do during the winter inside." And the winner is.... snow ice cream.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

December 8, 2010

Season’s greetings from Minnesota! It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Christmas letter. Here’s a blow by blow of our 2010, in tacky bulleted format.

January was cold. That’s all I can say about that.
February was cold. In an effort to embrace the climate of this place we call home, we took a trip to Lutsen, MN over President’s Day. Activities included skiing, swimming, eating, and enjoying the company of good friends. February was also a month with some sadness, as we lost my Grandma Maurine. I think she was quite ready to move on from this earth and join my grandpa at the great luau in the sky, but we miss her dearly. For more on that topic, you can click here.
March was cold. In an effort to escape the cold for a bit, we took a trip to Kansas over Jerod’s spring break.
April was cold. But… in April my parents moved to Lakeville, MN, just about a half hour south of where we live. It’s been nice to have a set of grandparents nearby, something we hadn’t experienced in our years of parenthood. Another April highlight was our first trip to Target Field, the new home of the Twins. We are a family of baseball junkies, and the new stadium is AWESOME. Click here for more on that.
In May we enjoyed a lovely Mother’s Day trip to Ruttger’s Resort near Brainerd, MN. While there we enjoyed the company of my folks, as well as the Family Schilling. It was lovely and relaxing, even though it SNOWED the first day we were there. May also marked the start of Elise’s soccer career. The girl was really in her element out there on the field, frequently scoring two to three goals per game.
June was the start of a fantastic summer. Jerod’s activities included soccer and baseball, his true love. Chris and I started the process of training for Twin Cities Marathon. In addition to soccer, Elise participated in many camps, including sailing camp.
In July we enjoyed the annual Fourth of July excursion (a Holt family tradition), this time heading to Kansas. We also enjoyed a family reunion in Nebraska, where we caught up with my mom's side of the family.
The August highlight for Chris and I was participating in the Ragnar Relay. 200 some odd miles, 2 vans, 12 runners. It was awesome. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. If you'd care to know more, click here.
September came with a bit of transition, as we decided to make the switch from the International School of Minnesota to our neighborhood elementary school. Despite my unhealthy attitudes toward change, this one went really well. Jerod has transitioned beautifully, and Elise is taking the kindergarten world by storm. She attends afternoon kindergarten, and the only downside as far as she’s concerned is that she doesn’t get to go all day. Back to school pictures can be seen here.
In October, Chris and I completed Twins Cities Marathon. It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, and things fell in place for me to do it this year. It was an incredible experience. If you want to know more, you can click here. We also enjoyed our second annual trip to Arizona over the kids’ fall break. It’s one of my favorite places on earth, and we had a great time. For photos of that journey, click here.
In November, we loaded the whole stinkin’ family up in my parents’ mini-van and trekked to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving at my Grandma and Grandpa Winter’s farm. It was great to see lots of cousins, as well as the aunts and uncles.
And… now we’re waiting for Christmas. We had some high highs in 2010, as well as some pretty low lows, but we feel blessed to know we have friends and family that can help us weather the storms of life. We sincerely hope you and yours have a truly blessed holiday season and wish you all the best for 2011!

A Letter

2010-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

November 2, 2010

Hello!

It’s November. Wowzie. Fall has been completely crazy around here. I thought things were going to slow down significantly once we had the marathon behind us, but that was not the case. Chris has traveled a lot lately, we all managed to come down with stomach flu, we went to Arizona for fall break, etc., etc., etc…

The marathon was definitely an incredible experience. I still can’t quite believe I did it! That being said, I’m glad it’s behind us. With my *slight* tendency to over-analyze and worry too much, it consumed a lot of mental time and energy. We did a half marathon this past weekend. It went pretty well, but I’ve dealt with a minor knee issue since the marathon, and it hindered me a bit. I plan to keep running, but long runs will not be happening for awhile. Just as well, I suppose… the weather is definitely starting to turn around here!

Last Saturday night I got to go to my first Gopher football game. I hadn’t been to a football game in ages. The Gophers completely suck this year, but they were playing Ohio State (currently #11 in BCS standings). So… even though the home team lost, it was pretty cool to watch a really good team. The stadium’s pretty cool. The girls I went with are big time Gopher fans. I mentioned to them that Jerod had gone to baseball camp there last summer and that the baseball facility was a complete crap hole. Low and behold, at half time Paul Mollitor and some of the Pohlad (I’m likely butchering the spelling on both those names) family came out to announce a big renovation project. They actually won the Big 10 last year, so maybe there’s some Gopher baseball steam building…

Chris and the kids all dressed up as vendors (as in people at the Twins game that come to your seat and sell you stuff) for Halloween. Elise was hilarious yelling, “KETTLE CORN, LICORICE!!” She may have a future! Chris sold beer and Jerod sold hot dogs. I just ordered some prints, so I will send them when they get here.

The kids are both really enjoying school. I think Jerod is struggling a little bit with boredom; and as a result he occasionally gets in a wee bit of trouble. I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to challenge him a bit more in the second half of the school year. We shall see.

I think that’s all I have that’s newsworthy! We are gearing up for winter… since it’s going to come whether we want it to or not. I keep hearing drab scenarios for weather severity this year… apparently it’s an El Nino year. Blech!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Morning Time Update

2010-09-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our mornings went far better this week. We solved the problem the way this family always seems to solve problems: we threw some money on it and hoped it would go away.

Seriously, we established a routine. Within that routine, each of the kids gained a little incentive to keep them away from one another.

Our morning now goes like this:

Eat breakfast

Get dressed/Brush teeth

Jerod- practice piano/Elise- play with brand spanking new Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shop toy (this is where the 'throw some money on it' came into play

Once Jerod's done practicing, he gets to watch 'Quick Pitch' (show for baseball geeks) until the bus comes.

So far, this has worked pretty well. The only problem is that Jerod, my eight year old, baseball-obsessed boy, is inexplicably taken with the Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shop. Are ya kiddin' me? They did play nicely together with it on Wednesday morning, but anyone who knows my kids at all knows that this 'cooperative playtime' is not a consistently workable model. By the way, I know that this is because we're bad parents, so please don't feel the need to explain that to me.

Anyhoo... it was a much better week. Here are a few pictures. Jerod had a run in with a cleat...

So... How Are You Spending All Your Free Time?

2010-09-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Now that I am the parent of two school age kids and Elise is an old kindergarten pro (it's been 12 days!), this is the question everyone seems to be asking. Why anyone needs to ask, I'm not sure, because the answer is obvious: I am sitting around eating bon bons, of course.

I hate that question. Despite my newfound absence of preschoolers in the house, my window of kid-free time is three hours a day. Not that I don't appreciate it, because believe you me, I do. But, I will admit that I have, in a sense, used the cumulative 36 hours of solitude to catch my breath after five plus years of stay-at-home mommy-hood.

I'm scheduled to run my first marathon in nine days. On four of these 12 days, I have gone out for training runs. You read that right. I went out, just me, on four beautiful days, and did something that benefited no one but me. I wish I could tell you that I had every last dish done and every piece of laundry neatly folded and put away before indulging myself in the pure, unadulterated selfishness, but that would be a lie.

And, my selfishness doesn't stop at running. Yesterday after sending my happy kindergarten kid on her merry way, I went to lunch with some friends. At the ripe old age of 34, I was the youngest person at the table. We talked like grown-ups. It was new and different and exciting. At this particular moment, I'm blogging. And, as if all that weren't enough, on Monday, October 4, the day after the marathon, I'm going to get REALLY crazy. I'm going to get my hair cut.

I wish I could tell you that I have put away all the summer clothes, cleaned out each and every one of our disastrously disorganized closets, rearranged my spice cabinet, removed all the clothes the kids have outgrown from their drawers, tried seven new, nutritious and fabulous recipes that even the kids loved, aerated the lawn, started a new and fabulous skin care regime that has me looking like I'm 24, and sent out 62 resumes/filled out applications so that I can spend my whopping 15 hours a week making something of myself and bringing home a paycheck. But despite the recent changes in the life of this family, I still am what I am. I am disorganized, I am somewhat lazy, I am selfish, and I am not one of those moms who takes care of everyone else and leaves nothing for herself. On some level, I have been a bit lazy, I will not deny it. I do have a to-do list as long as my legs (which really aren't long, as legs go, but still... it's a long list), and I am going to get to it. But, I am, for the moment catching my breath. I will apologize if you want me to, but don't ask me to make it a sincere apology.

Late Start = Parental Punishment

2010-09-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Jerod, our beloved first born, went to private school for kindergarten and first grade. The back story there could be a post in and of itself, so I'm not going there today. After a lot of thoughtful discussion, we made the decision that we needed to switch to our (free) neighborhood school this year. One student's worth of tuition was manageable for us, two students' worth was not. Yes, I could have gone back to work. But, again, that could be another post in and of itself. We decided that was not the route for us at this time.

So, we are filled to the brim with Countryside pride. If you know me at all, you know I hate change. Overall, however, this has been a very good one. Other than taking a few days for Jerod to earn a spot in the recess football game (oh, playground politics, how I hate you!!), he has transitioned smoothly. I keep asking him how he's feeling about the change. I think it's safe to say he misses ISM and some of his pals there, but he consistently tells me he's glad to be going to C-side because he gets to "sleep in." The necessary background information is that he had to get on the bust at 7:15am last year and did not get home until after 5 (which only helped with our decision to switch schools, but I digress...).

He now gets on the bus at 9:08. We all know I'm no math wizard, but that's dang near two extra hours at home in the morning for the boy. For better or for worse, Jerod's version of 'sleeping in' consists of him sleeping until maybe 7:15. There are some advantages to all this extra time in the morning. He's able to practice piano, which means we no longer have to practice with end of the day tired and grumpy Jerod. As a general rule, he's fresh and rested and the a.m. practice routine goes really well. Additionally, since we've got such a chunk of time in the morning, I usually don't even open his backpack until morning (this will change when we start having homework, but we're not there yet). I have plenty of time to take care of any of the take-home folder parental busy work before the bus comes.

The downside is that this gives my kids ample opportunity to drive each other, and me, and sometimes Chris, completely and totally nuts. I sometimes feel as though I'm going to need to separate them for the next 10 years if they're going to keep from killing one another. The bickering is epic. Yelling, biting, hitting, kicking... it's mayhem I tell you.

I cannot tell a lie. I know who's behavior they're modeling when they yell. I've never made any claims to being mother of the year, and yes, I occasionally yell. But... the biting, hitting and kicking?? I'm immature, but I'm not that immature. At times they just completely and totally lose control of themselves, and it freaks me out.

So... we are currently working to find our morning routine, working to find appropriate consequences for unacceptable physical behavior, and trying desperately not to lose our minds. This house is currently a battle ground from 8am-9am. I am weary of it, and it's only the second week of school. As the locals say... UFF DAH!

Back to School

2010-09-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write more about this when I get a chance, but for now, here are a few pictures.

Jerod's 8th Birthday Party

2010-08-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

Summer Fun 2010

2010-08-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Click the pic to see more :)

Some more letters

2010-06-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

June 5, 2010

Hello!

We are winding down a fun Saturday. Today’s events included a piano recital, a trip downtown to pick up race packets for tomorrow’s half marathon, a stop at home depot for the last component of the garden, lunch with neighbors, a trip to Target, and a Chipotle dinner. It was rainy most of the day, but the sun has now made an appearance and it’s a beautiful evening.

I’m currently a little antsy about tomorrow’s run. We’ve ‘tapered’ this week in order to be rested, and that process always make me a li’l edgy (some of my adoring fans might use the term bitchy). I’m anxious to be done!

The week here has been pretty mellow. I went yesterday to the end of the year first grade party, which consisted of roller skating in the school gym. For me, the highlight of the event was that the music was all performed by The Chipmunks. You really haven’t lived until you watch a group of first grade girls on skates circling up to shake their booties to ‘If ya like it then ya shoulda put a ring on it.’ Painful, I tell you, just painful.

June 12, 2010

Hello-

Big news on Bernard Place is that school’s out for summer J. We are all quite excited. Elise had preschool graduation last Wednesday. They announced all their names when they came to receive their ‘diplomas.’ Elise’s went like this: Our next graduate is Elise Holt. Elise would like to be a superhero when she grows up.” She continues to provide non-stop entertainment.

I was hanging in there pretty well with all of the end of the year hullabaloo and ending of chapters (ISM, preschool, etc.) until yesterday (last day of school for both kids) when I picked up Elise at carpool. E was brought to the car by teacher Beth, who was sobbing… totally tore me up! We were so blessed with the teachers our kids had this year. It was nice to have teachers that really ‘got’ our kids and brought out their best.

Chris and I officially began marathon training this morning, completing our first YMCA group run. It was pretty fun. Of course you never know what you’re going to get when you sign up to do something with a group. We still don’t know, but so far so good. It seems like a decent group.

We were supposed to be camping at Rice Lake this weekend, but called off the trip due to massive amounts of rain. It’s kind of a bummer, but it’s been nice to be home today. Other than the morning’s run, I’ve been a total slug all day.

Elise is quite the rock star soccer player. This is quite the ambivalent topic for me. She’s scored three goals in each of her last two games. While I’m stoked that she’s thriving, I am just not finding any love for soccer. I guess I’d better look a little harder and find some, because there really aren’t any other good girl sport options… and Lord knows she needs to have whatever physical outlets she can find!

Jerod is enduring soccer. As he put it, his team gets “crushed” every week. He did score a goal last week and enjoyed it for at least a moment. Baseball starts next week… hopefully he’ll enjoy that a little more :)

That’s pretty much the news. I’m hopeful that the sun will make an appearance SOON. I need a little summer RIGHT NOW. Hopefully soon…

June 20, 2010

Hello-

Ahhh… while it certainly hasn’t been quite as warm as I would like, summer is here. I think it’s safe to say week one was a success. The kids generally did a pretty good job of getting along and managed to keep themselves out of trouble. The kids and I made our first trek to the pool last Tuesday; and the whole blam damn family went yesterday (which was a little chilly) as well as today (which was awesome… nice and warm).

On Friday we finally had a little birthday party for Jerod. Chris and I took five boys to Target Field for a tour. We got to see nifty things like the press box, the visiting team’s dugout and locker room, and the ‘champions club,’ which is where the people who sit in the $275 cushy seats behind home plate get to hand out and look at the World Series trophies. It was a pretty fun time.

On Tuesday evening we went to watch the Twins play the Rockies. Monday night I told Chris to put the tickets in his backpack so I wouldn’t have to remember them (we met him downtown after work). He went to get them and they were straight up GONE. As in four tickets to seven more games… totally gone. I was sick to my stomach, and I still get a little queasy thinking about it. They are still gone (one of us apparently put them in a very safe place), but thankfully there is a reissue process. I felt like a putz, because we had to go through the actual season ticket account holder (a friend of a friend who we’re not all that familiar with). In the end, it all worked out; and the Twins put on quite a hit fest for us.

The kids are going to vacation Bible school this week with some friends at a different church. They are looking forward to it, and I’m looking forward to them having some structured activity. I’m trying to live in the moment and enjoy summer, but I already feel like it’s flying by. But… it’s all good.

Delinquent, Yet Again

2010-06-05T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still writing letters. I just haven't gotten around to posting them. Here's a catch-up post:

May 15, 2010

Hello J

The mailroom is not entirely to blame for slow mail. I always start these on Saturday morning with the intent of getting them in the day’s mail. Unfortunately the family schedule sometimes prevents me from getting it finished before the mail comes. Then because of that whole Sabbath thing, your letter doesn’t hit the mail until Monday.

At this moment, we’re waiting for Elise to wake up. We’re then going to breakfast, then to Menards. We’re ‘building’ a garden today. Someone recently turned me on to Square Foot Gardening (a book that’s all about growing lots in a little space) and we’re going to try it. Hmmm… what to plant? We’re starting small, we’ll see what happens.

Elise’s first soccer game is Monday evening. That could be interesting. At the very least she’ll have the legs for it. The girl can run like crazy. We’ll see how she does with some guidance from the coaching staff, however. I s’pose she’ll be fine. As long as it’s not me telling her what to do, she tends to be somewhat compliant!

Chris and I are ‘running for the ribbon’ (Minnesota AIDS project) tomorrow. I am just now starting to feel like my pre-stress fracture self. Chris and I did a nine mile training run yesterday, and it was the first time in a LONG time that I enjoyed my weekly long run. We left from Chris’ office and ran along the river to Minnehaha falls, and caught a ride from the light rail back downtown.

May 17, 2010 (Happy 8^th to Jerod!)

See… it’s Monday evening now, and this thing’s still not in the mail! We got the raised bed constructed for the garden. Due to ignorance, it took the better part of Saturday to get it done. Now we just need to fill it with soil and get to planting.

Chris completed the four mile run in 33 minutes. Holy cow! I didn’t wear a watch and they haven’t posted official times yet, but I was around the 35 minute mark. We were both quite pleased with ourselves! We also got together with our Ragnar team for the first time yesterday. It’s always kind of funny to watch a group of unfamiliar Minnesotans come together… think the NPR ladies skit on SNL.

We just got back from the above mentioned soccer game. The Camels (I kid you not, her team’s assigned name is the camels) pretty much got their camel booties handed to them. But, Elise the Beast scored a goal!! I wish I could have captured the look on her face. Truly priceless… she was STOKED!

Today was the closest thing that ISM has to field day. All the first graders ran a half mile. A cool thing about going to a school where everyone’s super nerdy is that the J-man can pretty much dominate anything that’s anywhere near being athletically inclined. He smoked the competition… completing a half mile in three minutes and 48 seconds.

I’m going to end this with talk of our new family pets. Have we mentioned this? I can’t remember. But, thanks to first grade science, we now have five guppies (which I have taken to referring to as the Jackson 5) and two snails. We were utterly unprepared when they arrived and they lived in a huge beer mug for a week. Today we moved them into their new aquarium (which will hopefully filter out the fish poo).

May 22, 2010

Hello-

We’ve started the day with bagels. Now the craziness begins. Chris is currently with Jerod at soccer pictures. Once they return Chris and I are going to take off on a nine miler. Following that will be haircuts for the boys, piano for Jerod, soccer pictures for Elise, and then dinner with some neighbors. I am not complaining, simply stating a fact when I say that weekends are nutty these days.

Chris and I saw Colin Hay (formerly of Men at Work) at the Cedar last night. I had no idea what to expect. I’m pretty much completely unfamiliar with his work and only bought tickets because ‘Beautiful World’ is one of my all-time favorite songs. He was so fricken funny. Turns out he’s hilarious… pretty much did two to three minutes of stand-up comedy between songs. We laughed and laughed and laughed J

We also took in Talking Volumes (NPR/Star Trib) book club at the Fitzgerald last Wednesday. It’s something we’d wanted to do for a long time, and Chris bought the tickets a while back. Unfortunately I was not crazy about the book (In the Kitchen by Monica Ali) at all. But, it was still fascinating to hear an author and see what Keri Miller looks like.

May is the month of events for us this year. Next week we’re going to see James Taylor on Tuesday and then we’re catching a show at the Guthrie on Thursday. Our entertainment budget will be shot for awhile!

I really have no other news!

May 29, 2010

Hey there!

My content’s admittedly been a bit lacking lately, so I thought I’d cut and paste the latest entry from my running blog. It’s been a somewhat tough week on the running front. I’m having to get used to the ‘heat’ (or what Minnesotans call heat, anyway!) and we had some late nights. My body has been rebelling!

Elise has found her soccer groove. She scored three goals in last Monday’s game. I think she’s uber happy to have found such a physical outlet. She’s a bit of a ball hog, but no one seems to mind as long as she’s scoring goals J

I haven’t yet caught one of Jerod’s games, but he seems to be having an ok time. Not great, but ok. They misspelled his name on his jersey (Jarod) and I put in a request for a corrected one. I got an email this week saying that Jerold Holt’s jersey is ready for pick up. I haven’t gotten it yet, so I don’t know if it’s an email typo or if they actually screwed it up yet again. Groan.

We got to go to the Twins game last night. They beat the Rangers 2-1 (which means I got to talk a little smack to my Texas relatives..woohoo!). It was a beautiful night… outdoor baseball at its best.

We are seven days away from our half marathon. After the rough training week, I’m a little nervous, but pretty excited.

It’s weird pet people week for me. In addition to the dog story that you’ll read from the blog, this random lady walked up to me on Tuesday night when we were leaving the James Taylor concert at Xcel. She proceeds to go on and on about the number of people there and then tells me that there are far fewer people when she comes for the cat show that takes place during the winter carnival. Ya think?? I wonder why that may be… hmmmm. She went on and on and on, telling me about the difficulties of carrying cats and all their cat booty for such a long walk. She then proceeded to tell me I should really check it out. Imagine, 300 some odd cats in one room. I refrained from telling her that it sounded like my worst friggin’ nightmare! Your brother, my husband, as most would predict, pretty much left me in the lurch and sped up. Jerk!

Anyhoo… here’s some bloggish fun for you:.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Seven Sans Coffee/Keep Your Effing Dog Away From the Water Fountain

I ran a seven miler this morning and the only good thing I can say about it is that I survived. It was supposed to be a tempo run with five miles at 8:54 pace, with one mile of warm up and cool down on each end. I anticipated this would be a tough workout, but I did not anticipate not being able to complete the miles at the prescribed pace. I had kind of been looking forward to it. I like a challenge, we've been having super running weather, and Thursdays are preschool days (so I get some me time). I thought all of that would combine for a splendid running experience. Being that I have delusions of returning to my previous sub-two hour half marathon form (and I thought I was on track), I really thought this was manageable.

WRONG-O!

SPLITS- THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (I'll let you figure out which is which)

Mile 1 9:59--A great start... perfect pace for a warm up mile

Mile 2 8:56--Certainly close enough

Mile 3 8:59-- Again, close enough

Mile 4 9:38-- WHAT THE FUDGE??? (see WATER STOPS below)

Mile 5 9:28--I dunno. There was no water stop involved, so I have no excuse

Mile 6 10:58--Utter despair and complete defeat (again, see WATER STOPS below)

Mile 7 12:35-- Yes, it was a cool down, but COME. ON.

SOME NOTES ON THE ROUTE

We've got a great little trail about a mile from our house that's a two mile loop. It's paved, shaded, and has just enough pedestrian traffic to make one feel plenty safe to run alone in the woods. And, there's a water fountain (big time bonus in my book). The only problem with this little slice o' running heaven is that it's in a bit of a valley (i.e. pretty much a downhill trek to get there *yea* and pretty much a straight uphill trek to get home *BOO*). My plan was to run the mile there as a warm up, run twice around for four of my five tempo miles, head towards home for the final mile of the tempo portion; then putz around for a cool-down mile near the house. Pair these notes with the splits, and it's fairly easy to see where the wheels came off on this particular run. The last tempo mile was straight uphill. Flippin' genius, Anne. Seeeeeeeriously. How do you spell idiot?? That would be A-N-N-E.

WATER STOPS

I don't speak for all runners, but my 'runner's best friend' is hands down a water fountain. It's just a fact that this game dehydrates a person. If you're fortunate enough to run where there's a fountain, you don't have to break out the camel back (which is super handy, but a complete pain in the keester to clean) or a bottle of water. YEA for water fountains! Today, however, the water fountain caused me two problems. Number one was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Number two... judge for yourself.

1. My garmin watch has this handy dandy auto stop feature that stops timing when you stop moving. For some reason, when I made my first water stop during mile four, the clock rolled on. It's annoying, but ultimately provides me with a pretty stinkin' good excuse for failing to run mile four in the goal time of 8:54.

2. Somewhere either in the late part of mile five or the early part of mile six, the despair and defeat of this run were firmly entrenched in my psyche. I was tired, I wasn't meeting my goal times, and I was oh so thirsty. Alas, my beloved water fountain was near. Despite the negative energy now surrounding the run, I was confident that I would take a good, healthy water break and finish strong. Not at goal pace, but strong.

I come around the corner and there's a woman with two dogs. She's taking a drink. No problemo. I can wait my turn, and the extra rest while waiting seems like a gift from above. Then, after she refreshes herself, she picks up the little pooch and proceeds to let him/her take a drink from the water fountain. When I told my husband this story, he responded with "Are you serious?". I responded with, "How could I make that up?".

Being the facebook junkie that I am, I immediately came changed my status to: OK... I know you dog people are goofy about your dogs, and that's cool. I don't get it, but it's cool. Still, I must cry foul if you lift your pooch to the water fountain for a drink while my stinky, sweaty, thirsty self is standing right behind you waiting for a drink.

Honestly, in the immediate moments following, I thought, maybe I'm being too hard on the dog people of the world. Maybe I'm freaking out over nothing. However, the responses have indicated that's not the case.

I wish I could tell you that I just skipped the water and came home for my liquid refreshment. But folks, I was in a bad way, and, have I mentioned, I was thirsty?? Really, really thiiiiiiirrrrrsty! I let the water run for a good 15 seconds and took a hit. Gross gross gross gross gross GROSS!

After this, I gave up. Just completely and totally gave up. In my running life, it rarely happens, but it sure as heck did today. "Don't give up" is something we preach pretty consistently to our kids; and ultimately I'm just glad they weren't around to see me doing just that.

DEBRIEFING

Now that I'm a few hours out from this epic fail experience, I am gaining some perspective. I'm definitely thankful for my dailymile support community on such days. How did I ever live without them??!! I'm also choosing to focus on miles two, three, and four as victories... they were a little off, but once water time is subtracted and you factor in some hills, they were ultimately quality miles.

I'm also giving myself a little wiggle room because this week is just crazy busy. All good things, but I didn't get home until after midnight on Tuesday, and was up past 11 yesterday night. By my standards, that's two pretty short nights. And, the two beers I enjoyed while sitting on the porch last night were likely (definitely) ill-advised. Lesson learned.

And lastly, I'm experimenting with drinking less coffee. I already drink half-caff, but drinking it at all just holds less appeal for me now that the weather has warmed. I skipped it this morning thinking that it would pay a dividend of me not feeling the need to pee the entire time I was out running. In reality, I probably needed the fuel. I am going to continue experimenting with this, so look for more coffee related posts in the future.

I'm spending the rest of today/this evening re-hydrating, re-fueling, and getting ready for tomorrow's 10 miler. It's the last long training run before the Minneapolis half. Woohoo!! Just for the record, I'm not giving up on running it in under two hours. We shall see...

Mother's Day at Ruttger's

2010-05-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

May 8, 2010

Hey there-

How goes it? We “enjoyed” some May snow yesterday. We’re spending Mother’s Day weekend in the Brainerd area, and I think there was something like three inches. Craziness! I’m happy to report that as of about 10 a.m., it was completely gone and we’ve enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.

Chris and I indulged ourselves with some Ficus enterprises (Chris’ vending machine empire, in case you don’t know) profits and bought a Garmin for running this week. It’s pretty much the coolest dang thing ever for a couple of running nerds such as ourselves. We had eight miles scheduled for this morning, and it was awesome to just take off and go and have your time and distance measured, requiring no thought or advanced planning whatsoever. We got to run along lovely Bay Lake, and despite yesterday’s snow (BOO!), it turned out to be a splendido day for a run.

Jerod had his first soccer practice of the season this week. He is a member of the mighty Pelicans. At this point in time, I am receiving a failing grade as a soccer mom. The coach sent an email a couple of weeks ago. Being that it’s “summer soccer,” I quickly skimmed it with the intent of reading more carefully and digesting the info later. On May 3 I got around to reading more closely and read “first practice will be Apri 28.” DOH. I then saw that the next practice would be May 5. Cool, I think, I can get us on the ball now. It also mentioned that the first game would be coming up at Pamela Park. So, on Wednesday we got J all suited up and headed to Pamela Park. There was no sign of Pelicans anywhere. The email was older, so neither Chris nor I could pull it up on our phone, so we had to go all the way back home to pull it up. Turns out practice was at Normandale Park. Double DOH! We did make it to the last 15 minutes of practice. Ugh.

Chris and I got to trek back to Target field last Thursday. Sadly the weather was not as nice as it had been on our first visit. It was yucky rainy. We watched a few innings, then decided to head to Kieran’s to watch the end. The Twins stunk it up against the Orioles and lost 2-0, so I’m glad we didn’t stick around. Yesterday’s (Friday) game was cancelled due to crappy weather. First weather related baseball cancellation in 30 years for the Twins. I personally think it’s a good problem… well worth it to have outdoor baseball (though perhaps we should have given that retractable roof a little more consideration!). They dropped another one to the Orioles today… hopefully they’ll get back on track soon.

We found out this week that Elise had been assigned to a.m. kindergarten for the fall. I had really hoped for p.m., because she gets so stinking bored in the afternoons. One of my well connected Countryside neighbors this week managed to get her daughter and Elise switched to p.m. Yahoo!! She’s counting the days and ready to go J

That is pretty much all the news that Bernard Place has to offer this week.

This is not all that interesting

2010-05-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2010

Wowza—it’s May!

We are chugging along, still generally enjoying this early spring. Big news of the week for Chris and me is that we are now on a Ragnar team… a.k.a 12 people crazy enough to sign on for a 198 mile relay running race from Winona to Mpls. We’ve talked about doing it for years, and this week it finally came together. Four of the people we know, the other eight are total and complete strangers found via a ‘find a team’ function on the ragnar website. We’ll each run three legs—that can vary in distance from three to eight miles. And, here’s the kicker, the race goes through the night. Hmmm…

My parents arrived on Wednesday as planned. We went out yesterday evening and had dinner with them. Their place is really nice. I wish it were just a wee bit closer, but overall it’s great. I think they’re going to come tomorrow evening (Sunday) and we’re going to eat with Donna.

Today and this evening will be a first for this Kansas rooted family. We’re going to a neighbor’s Bar Mitzvah. I’m pretty excited to experience something different. The ceremony is this morning, then tonight’s the par-tay. I can already tell you that I would compare the amount of planning work that Valette (the mom) has put in is on par with that of a wedding. It’s pretty insane… I cannot even begin to imagine what the final price tag will be. All for a 13 year old boy!

Chris and I are looking forward to our next Twins game on Thursday. Those damn Tigers won the series last week. Can’t win them all I guess J Seemed like last night they were back on track against Cleveland.

The kids are good. Hard to believe we’re just 16 days away from having an eight year old. J’s decided that he wants to take two kids to a Twins game and then have a sleep over. While I’m not thrilled about the sleep over part, I’m totally stoked that we’re not looking at a party with throngs of seven and eight year olds!

Elise is… umm… just Elise. She’s spent pretty much the whole week in a foul mood. Not exactly sure what her deal is, but I think she’s officially sick of me and ready to go to school.

That is kinda sorta all I know.

Prom boots and a weekly letter

2010-04-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Editorial Note: This letter contains language that any respectable adult would have edited before posting on a blog, but I don't feel like it. It does contain some adult language. You've been warned.

4/24/10

Hola!

No beautiful Saturday today. It is nasty and rainy. Chris and I are grateful to not be running today. We ran eight miles yesterday in the Bush Lake/Hyland area. Things spotted on the run included, but were not limited to: a flock of wild turkeys (one right in our path… I now know what it feels like to be scared of a turkey), a condom on the road, and a baby turtle (that I’m fairly certain was dead). Such is running in the Twin Cities, I guess!

The Twins have continued to steam roll everyone in their path… beat the Royals something like 8-3 last night. Pretty crazy stuff. We are counting the days until we can get to another game. The seats were great… closer than I’ve ever been to any sporting event. The line to the women’s restroom was, sadly, still excessively long! Chris was stoked because you can get a kids meal with a hot dog, chips, and a drink for $5. Always the bargain shopper, he is. I have to say, however, the hot dog was pretty much a ‘you get what you pay for’ experience. Jerod was not really a fan. I couldn’t help but think of the Dan Aykroyd description in ‘The Great Outdoors’ … lips and assholes! I’ve been posting these letters to the blog since they tend to tell everything that we’ve had going on. I think this one may require some heavy editing. Somehow lips and assholes and condom on the road don’t seem real appropriate.

The kids had a very ordinary week. We’re all ready for summer and soccer and baseball. Right now, however, activities are pretty much at a standstill.

A few weeks ago, Chris had a scheduling snafu and ended up with a couple extra hours to kill in uptown. So, off to the Walker he went. We ended up with a membership, and the guy is now smitten with modern art. It kind of cracks me up, because in my mind, he’s always been pretty skeptical about such art! At any rate, the kids really enjoyed the sculpture garden.

Tomorrow’s my dad’s last Sunday at his two little churches, and I believe the movers come on Wednesday. I see some heavy lifting in our near future!

Oh… I was just sitting here trying to think what excitement the past week held, and I nearly forgot the “best” part! On Thursday (while Chris was whooping it up at Happy Hour), Jerod was tossing a ball around on the patio, and the inevitable finally happened. He left a baseball sized hole in the glass on our storm door. I happened to be sitting at the dining room table and was able to see his reaction. Pretty priceless, really. I don’t know how much a kid’s expression can really say, but to me, his clearly said, “Holy Hannah, they were right when they told me not to hit the glass, and I just did it, and my mom’s gonna go postal.” Needless to say, he was pretty remorseful. He and Chris took it to Jerry’s last night, so the repair is in process.

Here’s some more useless info. for ya: my neice Joelle (who went to New England with us), went to prom last weekend. Just straight up craziness, if you ask me, that she can be old enough for such nonsense. In typical Jo fashion, she wore boots with her prom dress (I just inserted a picture up top). If my baby niece really must be a teenager, I’m grateful she’s one that’s true to her own self and a truly unique individual!

Sculpture Garden Pics

2010-04-22T14:29:00.001-07:00

After nearly 10 years, we finally made it to the sculpture garden.

Outdoor Baseball!

2010-04-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Thome on the jumbotron

Mauer on the jumbotron

My new best buddy, Scott Podsednik

The view from our seats

Where the heck are our seats??!!

Elise's fashion creation

Here's the letter for the week. It was a good one (the week, I mean... not the letter)!

April 17, 2010

Hello-

It’s another beautiful Saturday here in Pleasantville. Chris and I are getting ready to head out for a seven mile run. We’ll then be coming home to shower and get ready for our first trek to Target field. We’re looking forward to a game that will require sunscreen as opposed to a vitamin D supplement! They’re playing the Royals, who they beat something like 10-0 last night. Hopefully they’ve got a few hits left in them for today.

This week brought a first in parenting for me, as Elise had to get a filling. It sucked! She did fine, but I was a wreck. After her run-in with Swine ’09 last fall, I HATE the Elise/anesthesia combination. Her quintessential Elise moment of the week was on Wednesday, when she came out of her room dressed in a shirt and pants that could never dream of looking ok together. When I told her they didn’t match, she replied with, “Mom… THIS (pointing at her shirt) is my favorite shirt. THIS (pointing at her pants), is my favorite pair of pants. They match.” I’d imagine you can just hear her snotty little ‘my mom’s an idiot’ voice. FYI… two favorites, apparently, comprise a match (despite color).

Jerod is on page 396 of 749 (he just gave me the exact numbers) of the final Harry Potter. I went to his parent teacher conference on Thursday. He’s doing well,(tearing up reading, science and math; doing less than stellar in handwriting) other than some squirrely behavior lately. I think he’s definitely ready for summer.

April 18, 2010

OK… so we left for that run at 8, and I didn’t get finished before we left. After that, the day was a complete whirlwind. Everyone is raving about the new Target field. I’m sure it’s lovely, but all I really know was that I got to spend 2+ hours in the sun watching America’s favorite pastime, and it was awesome. The good guys won 6-5… it was pretty unbelievable. After the game you could watch post-game interviews on the jumbotron (no idea how to spell that). It was really cool to see Coomer up there interviewing Mauer and then Thome (our new DH). We did learn a lot about outdoor baseball. Things like, we really need four hats (instead of one) when we walk out the door, and a hat won’t protect a seven-year old’s neckline from sunburn. We’ll do better next time!

That is all I know for now. I see on the Twins schedule that they play the Tigers on the 27^th, 28^th, and 29^th; so you can look forward to that on your radio :-) I’m going to wind this up so we can get ready for church. Jerod will be serving as a greeter today. Should be interesting!

Letters

2010-04-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

picture from last Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Circumstances of life are such right now that I'm in a place that requires letter writing. It's a lost art, but one that I'm trying to find. My skills are beyond rusty. But, I'm writing a weekly letter to a relative who doesn't have access to the 'world wide interweb' and they contain pretty much all the minutiae of our lives. Since I'm doing the writing anyway, I've decided I may as well post the text (or most of it anyway) on here. Since you care. :) Here's this week's report on the Holts of Bernard Place:

Hope this finds you doing well. We’ve had a busy but good week with more beautiful spring weather. I feel an awful lot like my grandma when I write these letters… all about the weather and the minutiae of daily life!

In our house, the best news of the week is that the Twins are off to a blazing start. They dropped their first game to the Angels, but have since won four straight. We haven’t seen much of the action, as that west coast game play is too damn late for our old souls. We did stay up last night to watch them beat the White Sox in overtime, though. J.J. Hardy got the winning RBI. He’s definitely in the running for the title of “Anne’s favorite Twin.” I’m sure he’ll be flattered… ha!

Jerod got a very obnoxious, very Edina hoody yesterday with a big ol’ hornet on the front and his name on the back. We have come completely to the dark side of WASP-y suburbia!! He finished the sixth Harry Potter yesterday and was disappointed because he only got 18 out of 20 on the comprehension test. He’s such a little nerd!

Elise is still nuts. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already or not, but she learned to ride her bike without training wheels last week. It was a very Elise moment. On a random Tuesday she says to me, “I’m going to learn to ride my bike without training wheels today.” I’m like, yeah… whatever. She proceeded to hound me until I took her outside, removed the training wheels and took her to the street. Within five minutes she was totally cruising. She still has trouble getting started on her own. Once she’s going, though, there’s no stopping her.

My folks closed on their townhouse last Tuesday. We went out to see it. They’re moving on the 28th. Once the moving ball got rolling, it went quickly! Tuesday was also my dad’s b-day. He chose Friday’s, of all places, because they have some foo foo cocktail he wanted to order. Seeeeriously!

Chris and I are currently training for the Minneapolis half marathon on June 6, and then will begin full marathon training after that. It’s definitely a daunting challenge, but I’m looking forward to lots of time on the trails. It’s not always fun, but it’s always quiet… which is a treat for me. Tonight we’re heading to Nye’s to watch our normally vegetarian neighbors eat some polska kielbasa (sp??) in honor of her birthday (she’s of Polish descent). Should be interesting!

So... there ya go. I don't promise it will always be interesting. Most weeks it won't!

Goodbye Training Wheels at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-03-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

In typical Elise fashion, she decided she wanted to ride without training wheels today, so she just did it.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Can Someone Please Tell Me What the H*** Happened to March?

2010-03-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Holy Hannah... time flies when you're old. So, March... Jerod had spring break. We flew to Kansas to spend some long overdue time with Grandma Bernie and also got to spend an afternoon with my brother and his fam. Other than that, life's been pretty gloriously boring. The kids and I went to the dentist today. Let's just say I opted to drown my sorrow over Elise's first cavity with a burger and shake from Snuffy's :-(

Febrero: Remembering 'Ell (and PaPaPa)

2010-02-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

Lots of people think they have the greatest grandparents in the world, but in my case, it's actually true!! My Grandma Maurine left this world last week, at nearly 97 years of age, joining Grandpa at the big luau in the sky. She and my Grandpa Howard provided us with countless blessings. They were true examples of unconditional love. Unconditional love for each other, and for all of us who were lucky enough to be their descendants.

Having them both gone leaves a gaping void, but we are thankful to have so so many fond memories. Just a few of mine include: trips to Silver Dollar City, seeing Ray Stevens and Showji Tabooshi (I have no idea how to spell that), little Old English cheese sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, driving the old Dodge with Grandpa (long before I was licenced), hours of recording ourselves using their little tape recorder with the microphone (I distinctly remember Joel's Howard Cosell impression), 'The Young and the Restless,' and Grandpa's storytelling (for those of you familiar with him, think 'broken speedometer' and 'we're farting with a traveling dog').

However, the thing I treasure most about having had them in my life was being able to witness a married couple that took such good care of each other and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. I am so grateful to have had them in my life!

Enero

2010-01-22T10:37:00.001-08:00

Christmas presents!

wii bowling

hot chocolate in the ski chalet

E on the slopes

Happy New Year!

Here's a disorganized list of things that have been going on around here:

lots of paperwork for Elise's kindergarten registration
some skiing
lots of wii playing, thanks to Santa Clause
lots of reading by Jerod- recent selections include: Harry Potter, Dr. Doolittle, and The Secrets of Droon (or something weird like that)
YMCA basketball for Jerod
Jerod has been practicing lines, as he will soon be playing the part of Melton in 'Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman'
lots of watching KU hoops

lots of looking forward to our President's Day ski trip to Lutsen

swim lessons and gymnastics for Elise

I'm sure there's more, but that's all that comes to mind right now.

Christmas at our church

2009-12-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

I am extremely biased, but our church put on a Christmas program last Sunday which was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Jerod was a singing shepherd, and Elise an angel. It was a great morning, then we went out for lunch and took the kids to see 'The Nutcracker.' It was awesome to watch them watch... they were completely enthralled.

Videos from a technology-challenged mom

2009-12-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

October

2009-11-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am a crappy blogger. Still. I don't know why... I just don't have much drive to sit down and do this. But, my November resolution is to sit my big butt down once a month and relflect on the going-ons of Anne, Chris, Jerod, & Elise.
So... October in a nutshell: MEA trip to Arizona, Swine '09 hits 5624 Bernard Place, Elise gets to visit the ER for chest x-ray, lumbar puncture, ambulance ride, and overnight stay at the U of M children's hospital; Halloween, Twin Cities 10 Mile, Team Ortho Monster Dash, hmm... I'm sure there's more, but those were the highlights.

Elise with her Marvelous Me Poster (the last one I ever have to make!!)

A beautiful November sunrise outside our front door

The Birthday Bash (finally-- had to be postponed due to the hospital stay)

I did mini cupcakes because this was two days after Halloween and everyone was sugared up. This will NOT gain my kids any popularity points.

Jerod the Bandit

Finding the geocache

I'm pretty sure this is where I was meant to live.

Elise love to have her picture taken in a tree.

The Holt family at the Grand Canyon.

Getting dunked at Montezuma's well

Big boy, bigger canyon

Jerod's self portrait

Pic by Jerod

First night in Phoenix after a long day

Elise ready for... something

First snow of the year= a good time to leave for AZ

After the twins last game in the 'dome. Happy boys!

Completion of the 10 mile. Me and my two biggest fans.

The kids each ran a half mile. Chris did a 5k.

It was cold!

At Minnetonka Orchards

This picture isn't added because I love it, because I really don't, but there's very few pictures of the two of us.

Some pics from Itasca State Park/Mississippi Headwaters

2009-07-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors, Margaret & Helen

Getting quite close to nature

The Headwaters

We are back from a great trip. We certainly live in a beautiful state!

The Birthday Slideshow

2009-06-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Blogging Hall of Shame

2009-06-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

We can all hope for better in our next lives. My kids will have a better mother, my parents will have a better daughter, the people around me will have a better friend, my loving husband will have a better wife, and I will be a better blogger. One who posts pictures periodically instead of all at once. One who posts them in chronological order instead of as one huge hodge podge. One who can write daily about how glorious it is to be a mother of young children. Unfortunately, in this life, we're all stuck with me.

Since there's so dang many, I posted these as small pictures. They will enlarge if you click on them...

Birthday party pics:

cake made by my fabulous neighbor and friend Annie

It tasted as good as it looked :)

Pics from the Twins game with J's school:

Pics from J's actual birthday:

A ridiculously huge portion of ice cream at Famous Dave's

Slightly more pale than Tiger

The sassiest golfer on the course

My mother's day treat:

I have MANY pictures where Elise is looking up at her brother like this. I don't post them all because I'm lame.

Jerod found this recipe in a cook book and was determined to make them for Mother's Day. I was banned from the kitchen. It was awesome.

A dad and Elise date to see Thomas the Tank:

Just a random one:

Easter Egg Hunt. Chris took the kids and left me home alone... he scored some major points for that one.

A whole lotta eggs

The Jayhawks come to Minne!

My two favorite Jayhawk dudes

Spring break trip to Mall of America:

Goofy faces from a Quizno's kids meal:

Just a cool picture:

Elise and her 'buddies'

A Backyardigan's character (Tyrone, if anyone should care) who showed himself in Elise's sweet and sour sauce

Elise playing floor hockey:

Winter fun, pics taken by Jerod:

E hangin' out:

A sleep over with friends:

A trip to the children's museum:

My kids snuggling up to Satan, uh, I mean Ronald McDonald

J man rockin' out

fun with face paint

They could've played in the turtle shell for hours. I'm a mean mom, so I wouldn't let them.

The end. I shall try to do better and post more often.

Thank God for Health Insurance

2009-02-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Two posts in three days... unheard of, but I'm feeling the need to vent, or journal, or something...

This past Sunday after church we decided to make like civilized folks and go sit down at a restaurant and have brunch. Thanks to our 'blue sky' coupon book, we stumbled in the The Blackbird Cafe. Chris and I split a lovely breakfast burrito, and the kids split an order of French toast. When our food came out I noticed that there were nuts sprinkled on top of the French toast. Elise historically does NOT like nuts AT ALL. I mean, you could set a piece of chocolate the size of her head (she does, by the way, love chocolate) and if it had so much as a half a pecan on it, she'll walk away saying, "I don't like nuts." I've always attributed this to good 'ol child pickiness. When the French toast came out I thought, "This is not going to be a go, but we'll give it a shot." Well, she ate it. All was well. Until about four hours later (which is quite unusual... apparently these things tend to be more immediate). She became immensely congested and started coughing, as well as heaving like she was going to throw up. Then came the hives... she was itching like crazy. She fell asleep pretty quickly, but every time I'd go check on her, she was itching in her sleep.

So, I call the doctor on Monday morning. Oh, and how could I forget, I have to backtrack... on Friday night we were at a new family dinner for Jerod's school. To make a long and miserable story slightly less long and miserable, he pooped his pants. He was soooooo sad and distraught. It's happened a few times before, so we decided it was time for a visit to the doctor. So, now, back to Monday morning. I call the nurse advisor at our clinic to chat. I tell her about Elise, she basically says, "Get her in TODAY." Then I explain Jerod's situation, and she says, "Yes, we should probably see him too." He was already at school, so I made an appointment for today (Friday).

Elise and I head to the doctor. The one pleasant surprise of this whole story is that the clinic's food allergy guru that we were seeing walked in, and, it turns out, we go to church with her. So, I tell her the whole story. She says, "most definitely sounds like food allergy, let's draw blood, and let's get you a couple of epi pens." Epi pens???????!!!!!!! NO NO NO NO!!! I do NOT want this to be that big of a deal. But, bad things have happened, so we have one now, as well as one to keep at preschool. She called this morning and left a message with the results: cashew allergy, potential peanut, and questionable walnut and hazelnut allergies. I'm not sure what the difference is between potential and questionable in these circumstances. On the message she said, "Catch up with me at church and we can talk more." So, more to come on that later, I guess.

Which brings us to this afternoon. Jerod's appointment was at 2:45, so I grabbed him from school and we went. We saw our regular pediatrician this time, the beloved Dr. Carlson. After lots of chatting back and forth, it seems there's a lot of things going on: awareness of body, trouble going at school, just plain 'ol being too busy to poo. "But," she says, "let's just do an Xray to make sure he's not full of poop and constipated." Well, the kid is full of poop. She came in and told me he's got a big mass of poo at the bottom of his intestine. She didn't show me the Xray, but it happened to still be hanging up when we left, and HOLY COW... definitely full of poop. So, our fun Friday night is going to consist of a glycerin suppository, and beginning daily administration of miralax.

Both of these things are giving me a slight dose of mommy guilt. Elise had shown some of these signs earlier, and I think I had ignored them out of fear or just denial. Thankfully it didn't turn out any worse than it did. When I was telling the nurse about the coughing during her episode she basically told me that's really bad, because that means there's airway issues. So so scary to me. Needless to say, I will take these things more seriously in the future. And Jerod. Well, he was late to potty train, has had sporadic problems with the issue, and I just thought it was an awareness issue. I've probably given him WAY too hard of a time along the way.

So... here we are. Tomorrow is a new day. We are all older and wiser. I must say, ignorance was bliss.

Blog, what blog??

2009-02-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Good grief. I really cannot believe I haven't written on here since Christmas. 2009 has come in much as 2008 went out... busy.
We had a great Christmas. We went to church on Christmas eve, then enjoyed some Chinese food with some of our great neighbors. Christmas morning was opening presents and gingerbread waffles. Mom and Dad came later in the day, and we feasted on the traditional (or not) Christmas fajitas.
We left on New Year's Day for Lutsen, MN and went skiing with three other families. We had a great time, then came home to get back to reality (less of a great time!).

I'm curious as to what happened to January. I blinked and it was gone. We made the annual pilgrimage to Ames to watch KU battle ISU. I'm happy to report that we still haven't seen the Jayhawks lose there! Oh yeah, and I just had a birthday... thus the Benihana picture. The photographer apparently though Donna's head was extraneous.

Both kids are doing well and keeping busy. Jerod is reading, which is amazing. I didn't realize that would happen in kindergarten (being the oldest kid in his class may have something to do with it). In addition to school, he's still taking piano lessons; and is becoming quite skilled on the snowboard. Elise goes to school on Thursdays and Fridays, and takes in swimming lessons and gymnastics.

We are really really ready to be done with winter. This has been a tough one in terms of weather. Despite the doldrums, Chris and I are looking to spring and are currently signed up for two half marathons... one in April and one in May.

This sounds like a Christmas letter, but I guess I felt I had some catching up to do...

Gymnastics

2008-12-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention it was ribbon week at gymnastics... Ta Da

Getting Ready for Christmas

2008-12-21T18:59:00.000-08:00

Our favorite star

Christmas cow

School sing along

Elise all dolled up and sparkly for her program

This past week was a bit of a whirlwind. Both kids had programs at school this week, and both occasions, despite having been on the calendar for quite some time, really seemed to sneak up on us!

Elise was a bit of a deer in the headlights, but did great, and looked fabulous :) Jerod's school did a holiday sing along celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Eid. Let me tell you, it was quite educational for a family of very white folks from Kansas!

Today was church program today. Very fun and very cute. School is now out until 2009. We're looking forward to a break from the routine!

Photo Dump

2008-12-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

Jerod on the 'board

New Jammies

Ahh... peace

Goofball

working hard

Chris is looking a bit stressed

This is apparently very complex

eating the glue that holds this house together

ready to hit the slopes

On the farm at Thanksgiving

With cousin Grace

Jerod with his idol... cousin Kolby

Elise and Joelle

Kolby

Pretty girl

Our lovely niece (now 16 years old!!!!)

Churning dirt

Jerod and Great Grandpa Elzy

A new toy

2008-12-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Grandma Kathi sent us this great new toy for shooting video. Here's the inaugural effort!

A nice picture

2008-12-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

We once again had family pictures taken this year. This is scanned in, so the quality's not great, but I love this picture.

Minutia

2008-11-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

It looks like she's smoking, but she's not.

Jerod with his Joe Mauer sideburns

neighborhood halloween fun

I have no idea why blogger is rotating this picture, but here's Jerod after losing his first tooth.

Jerod's class at Halloween

Jerod and school pal Thilo

Elise's birthday party

We are feeling that life is very busy right now, but it's pretty much the same thing week after week; so there hasn't been a lot to report. The kids are both doing very well. A couple of Saturdays back, Jerod was actually disappointed that he didn't get to go to school. What a weirdo! :)

I've been sick for, oh let's see, a really stinking long time now. It started with a cough. I didn't feel bad at all, I just had a cough. Pretty much drove my entire family flippin' nuts. That was three weeks, then something settled in my head and sinuses and I hit rock bottom. I went to the doctor, who prescribed antibiotics (which I really only like to take if I'm going toward the light). Though pretty uncertain that I had anything bacterial, I was ready to try anything, so I'm on day seven of a 10 day regimen. I'm feeling much better, but frustrated to still be congested, coughing, and not breathing as well as I'd like. I've continued running off and on (with the doc's permission... a little is good for immunity he claimed). That seems to be the time I notice it most... just can't catch my breath as easily as usual.

We had a very fun Halloween with our neighbors. We gathered for chili before trick or treating, then projected 'The Great Pumpkin' onto their garage door. The weather was absolutely fantastic... probably our best Minnesota Halloween in terms of weather.

We are gearing up to go to my grandparents for Thanksgiving. I can't really believe it's that time of year.

And, if you're waiting for video of the piano recital, so am I. There's some sort of uploading issue that I can't figure out. I'll keep trying.

Time flies...

2008-10-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Wow... I'm not quite sure where the last month has gone. Since I've last written, we've been to Woodbine, Chris and I ran the Omaha half marathon, Jerod ran a half mile fun run for school, Grandma Kathi's been here, Chris and I attended our 10 year college reunion at Southwestern, and we celebrated Elise's fourth birthday. I guess that's where the last month has gone. We tend to like busy, so all is well. Additionally, Jerod's still taking piano, and Elise is doing swimming and gymnastics.

There are no bananas in the sky- some videos and pictures

2008-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to run

The kids learned this little 'song' at church last Sunday. Actual words are:
There are no bananas in the sky, in the sky
There are no bananas in the sky, in the sky

There's a sun and a moon and a coconut cream pie,

But there are no bananas in the sky, in the sky

The video is Elise's take.

I'm not sure what this one is, but it's kind of cute.

This one is Jerod running in his first ever 'race,' a 1K kids fun run at the Taste of Greece festival we attended.

Not a lot of excitement around here lately. The school routine seems to be working well for all of us. Chris and I are a little over a week out from our final half marathon this year, and we're enjoying fall. That's about all I have to report.

Summers End

2008-08-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are officially parents of a school aged child. Jerod started kindergarten last Tuesday. Not surprisingly, he did great. More surprisingly, mom and dad seem to have survived as well. We put him on the bus, came in the house, dried our tears, and went on our way. Elise has also transitioned well thus far (honestly, this was one of my biggest concerns). At about 2:00 on Tuesday she did say to me, "Let's go get Jerod and Daddy now." At that point, she had a couple more hours to go, but she has done well and seems to be enjoying her long overdue one on one time with mom. Jerod's days are long (gets on the bust about 7:45 and gets off about 4:40). He definitely comes home tired, but it's been tolerable thus far.

Before the sendoff, we got to spend the weekend in Clear Lake, Iowa with some good friends of ours. We had a great time, without our camera :( It was a well timed trip... we enjoyed getting away from it all and having some down time with the Johnsons.

Before Clear Lake, Jerod, Chris, and my dad went on a guided fishing trip on Lake Minnetonka (just west of the Cities). They had a great time. Jerod came home beaming that he had learned how to cast. He didn't actually pull any fish into the boat, but had a great time. They left the house at 5:30 a.m. Craziness!

We were very glad to be spending a weekend at home over the holiday. I think it's been a month since that had happened. While we've had lots of good times on the road, home is definitely nice! I worked Saturday morning, and Chris took the kids to the renaissance festival. They had a great time... even rode the pictured elephant.

More summer fun

2008-08-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Killing some time in the car... 20 hours for family reunion weekend!

More car time...

The annual s'more shots

Our favorite monkey up in a tree

Baptism River near the north shore

Elise getting back to nature (too much so, maybe)

Pictures from the north shore.

We're back from a weekend camping trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. We had a great time... it's always nice to get out of the cities. Now if I can just get the laundry done.

Jerod and Chris are going on a guided fishing trip tomorrow... the last hoorah of summer. Jerod starts kindergarten in a week. I think we're all a little stressed out and ready to get the first day out of the way.

We're off to Clear Lake, Iowa next weekend with some friends, then we're going to hunker down and stay home for awhile. It's been a great summer, but we're ready for things to slow down a bit!

Aquatic Center Superheroes

2008-08-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

The kids have been in swimming lessons again this week and last week, along with their pals Charlie and George. George is pictured here with Jerod and Elise. They actually had their lesson in the rain today, which was lovely... not.

We were in Kansas this past weekend for Chris' family reunion. We had a very good time, other than the 20 hours we spent in the car :) Thankfully, all travelers did pretty well on the journey.

Jerod is super excited to start school. We found out yesterday he'll be able to take the bus, which is good news for the gas budget.

Other than that, we have not had too much excitement. Jerod and Elise finished baseball and t-ball last week, so we're enjoying some more free time in the evenings. I'm always sad to see summer end, but I'm looking forward to us settling into our new schedule.

just some pictures and video

2008-07-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

A BBQ chicken loving power ranger...

2008-07-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

I guess we can't expect her to be too ladylike. She is, after all, my daughter.

We enjoyed being home this weekend. Lots of dining on the patio and catching up with the neighbors. We get one more weekend here (which will include a half marathon- we're hoping for a little less humidity), then we're out of town for the next three-- then Jerod starts kindergarten!

You know your kid's spent a fair amount of time in Iowa when...

2008-07-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Man, July is crazy around here.

For the past six years, Chris and I have spent the third week of July at the Christian Conference Center in Newton, Iowa counseling high school camp. This was quite a labor of love this year. We spent six days at home after our Fourth of July journey, then it was time to head out for camp. The problem is, I'm a home body! All the logistics of two trips so close together had me pretty beat. In the process, I repeatedly said, "This is the LAST year I'm doing this!!!!". Famous last words maybe, because we really had an unbelievable time there this year. We'll see what the future holds...

The kids have been at VBS this week with some friends. They had a great time, but are pretty wiped out. Most of our scheduled stuff for the summer is done. Now we're just going to hang out and enjoy what's left of summer. Jerod asked for snow today (he's wanting to snow board). Who's child is he????

And the title of this post...
When we got back into town last Sunday we were driving at 66th and France (a very busy area, right in the middle of town). Jerod said, "Is there a double yellow line here?".
"No," we replied.
"Good, then it's ok to pass tractors here."

You probably had to be there, but Chris and I got quite a kick out of it :)

This is what happens...

2008-07-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you don't get your kids to bed in time and they go completely off the deep end. This was the Friday after Jerod's overnight camp stay and he was exhausted. He entered the delirious phase and pulled his sister along. This is probably too much exposure, but how do I not post this?

Overnight at Camp Can of Tuna

2008-07-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

I just dropped off Jerod and his pal Porter for day four at Camp Tanadoona (also referred to as Can of Tuna). Bonus activity is that they're staying overnight. I'm a little ambivalent about this. Chris and I have been away from our kids a fair amount, but they've always been with a grandparent or at a sleep over with a friend. We won't have any contact with him until 4:00 tomorrow when we pick him up. So, this is uncharted territory for us. I guess we're all growing up :)

On Monday when I dropped them off, Elise threw a complete fit because she wanted to stay. I basically had to force her into her carseat. She eventually calmed down (a piece of chewing gum tends to make everything ok for her). We then talked about how she could go when she turns five. This morning as I was getting her out of the car I said, "Elise, remember, no fits today." She replied with, "I go when I'm five."

When we returned to the car and she realized she was nearly buckled into the seat, she started fussing. "When you're five," I said. She calmed down immediately and said, "Maybe later, I go when I'm five."

This is a big deal for my historically super volatile daughter. It was nice to see her start to lose it, then reel herself back in and cool down.

Summer photos from a bad photographer

2008-07-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hot weather is here. That's a good thing... we LOVE the five days out of the year that it actually feels like summer in Minnesota :) We are back from celebrating the 4th in northeast Kansas. We had a great trip and fabulous accommodations thanks to some friends of Grandma Kathi. Travel with our kids is getting to be much less of an ordeal than it once was.

Chris had a birthday on the 3rd. He turned 29, again.

Jerod is at a day camp every day this week. It's pretty strange to have him gone all day. I guess it's a little preview of what kindergarten will be like for us. He's also doing soccer and coach pitch baseball. I'm struggling to keep up with his schedule.

We are enjoying being home this week and getting ready to leave again on Sunday. Chris and I will be counseling at church camp next week, and the kids will be in Woodbine at my parents'. We were supposed to camp this weekend, but have decided we need to stay home and gear up for the week ahead of us.

Other than that, we just keep on keepin' on. Chris and I are signed up for two more races, so we're running our legs off. I feel summer slipping away, so we're all trying to make the most of it!