Them Bones, Them Bones

So we had an awesome Thanksgiving.  We got to spend Thursday with Brian's side of the family and then headed up to my parents' on Friday night.  We got to spend a lot of time with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, which was really great.  The kids enjoyed hanging out with all of their family and they even got some bonus time on Sunday. 

Sunday morning I officially became an old lady when I fell on the stairs to my parents' basement.  Me falling isn't totally unusual, I have been a klutz for a long time, but my ankle and foot really hurt at the bottom where I laid on the basement floor and called for help (which no one heard) and then limped upstairs.  I iced my foot down, but figured it was just sprained and bruised.  When we got back to Perrysburg that afternoon and my foot still really hurt I decided I should go see a doctor.  Brian took me to an urgent care facility where they confirmed that "Yes, Denise, you are an old lady".  I had broken a bone falling on the stairs.  If only I had had a Medical Alert to truly solidify it.

Anyway, here is a picture of the x-ray confirming my fifth metatarsal is broken in my left foot.

The Lessons of Fairy Tales

So I read the kids a lot of the old-fashioned fairy tales.  All in all I figure many generations have been told these stories and most of us ended up alright.  However, as I have been reading many of them I think they are quite violent and scary a lot of the time and I often worry about them causing nightmares.  So as we were driving to Ohio Northern University to go to the Holiday Spectacular I was talking to the kids about godparents.  I was explaining to Mackenzie that my Aunt Bonnie is my godmother like Aunt Shannon is her godmother and Aunt Tina is Isaac's godmother.  Mackenzie then asked me, "So who is my stepmother?"  I then explained to her what a stepmother is and under what circumstances she may have a stepmother.  To which she replied, "And then I would get chores?"  I paused as I thought about that comment for a second so, to clarify, she added: "like Cinderella?"  Then I had to explain that not all stepmothers are mean like Cinderella's and Hansel and Gretel's.

The kids enjoyed the Holiday Spectacular very much.  Isaac sat incredibly well through the show despite having to crane his neck quite a bit to be able to see, even when he was on my lap.  Throughout the show Mackenzie asked me if many of the characters were real, such as the cow, the polar bear and the Frosty the Snowman.  I answered her honestly that they were costumes, dreading when Santa came out and wondering what I would tell her.  Luckily she didn't ask about Santa at all.

Okay Then

So I decided to start working out again this week.  We have a very nice gym at work with approximately 9 treadmills, 8 elliptical machines and numerous other pieces of equipment that are not important to this story.  I got to the gym at lunch time today and was the first person there.  There are 3 TVs in the gym.  One TV had a Housewives show on it, the middle TV had CNN on it, and the last TV had ESPN on it.  So I got on the treadmill that was in front of the TV with CNN on.  After being on the treadmill for about 6 minutes a man came into the gym and of all of the equipment in the gym decided to get on the elliptical machine directly in front of me so that I could no longer see the TV with CNN on it.  So rather than watching the Penn State pedophile station I started watching the Housewives show.  I watched that for about 3 minutes when another man came into the gym, turned the Housewives TV to ESPN and got on the treadmill directly between me and the TV, and THEN started listening to music on his iPhone.  I didn't really want to watch ESPN or the Housewives show, but I couldn't help but think, seriously of all of the dozens of machines in the room these two men chose the two machines directly in front of me and between me and the TVs.  The only three machines in the entire gym in use were within a few feet of each other.  I spent the rest of my workout watching the time on my treadmill which I think makes a workout seem at least 3 times as long as it really is.  But I made it through, so yay.

On a lighter note, Brian attempted to remove the leaves from our yard last weekend.  He got through maybe a quarter of the yard.  The kids had a ball playing in the leaves, so I thought I would post a picture or two:

Oh, and the reason for the title.  As I was attempting to have a conversation about why Mackenzie should spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's so that Brian and I could go out to a game watch last Saturday night she asked me whether I was going to sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's after we went out.  I started my answer with "No, but . . ." to which Mackenzie responded, "Okay then, I am not going."  It doesn't seem nearly as hilarious when I am typing it, but she seriously sounded so serious and adult that Brian and I both couldn't help but crack up. 

Tonight when I picked up the kids at daycare Isaac was upset and didn't want to go home.  So on the way to McDonald's he decided to tell me that he wanted Santa to pick him up at daycare and bring him presents.  That was funny enough and then Mackenzie chimes in with "Santa can't pick us up at daycare, you aren't allowed to see him."  I added that she was right and Santa could only come and bring their presents if they are sleeping in their beds at their house.  To which Mackenzie added, "Yeah, and he can only bring you ONE present."  Isaac got very quiet to think that one through.  Okay then.

Happy Halloween!

I am too exhausted to type (as I eat the full size Baby Ruth that I stole out of Isaac's candy bag).  Mackenzie and Isaac had a fabulous Halloween!  Isaac was a pirate all day and had a fabulous time saying "Arrrr".  Mackenzie went to school as a fairy and changed into her mermaid costume from last year as soon as we got home.  After dinner, she asked Manu if she wanted to wear the fairy costume trick or treating.  Manu's dad, Sunil, works with me and it was their first Halloween.  Manu caught onto trick or treating pretty fast, as I assume any 5 year old would, and they all finished off the night with a lot of candy.

The Kids First Trip to ONU

The Freed Center, the performing arts center at Ohio Northern University, where Brian is now the Technical Director, hosted ImaginOcean today.  It is essentially a play whose characters are fish puppets that tells the story of 3 fish friends going on an adventure together to find treasure.  The fish are neon and the whole show is performed under black lights.  Well at least that is the best description this non-theatre person can come up with for the show.  This was the first show that we have gone to as a family and we had a lot of fun.  The show was well timed for the short attention spans of our 2 and 5 year-old kids and, since we know an in-sider, we got to see the fish after the show and get our picture taken with them.  Well, Brian and Isaac and I did, Mackenzie wasn't too keen on actually getting close to the fish and their pupeteers.  So she watched from a distance.

You may have noticed that Isaac has a cool hockey shirt on.  I got it for him because I thinkit looks a lot like the Chicago Wolves (only a little less scary), and Isaac is quite fond of it.  Brian and I went out with another couple last night to go watch the Notre Dame hockey team beat the Bowling Green hockey team at BGSU and we had a lot of fun.  I haven't been to a hockey game in a long time, but I am thinking I may have to pick up that habit again.  I think we may even have to get the kids some skating lessons.  Mackenzie has already asked Grandpa Mike if she can go ice skating at his lake house.

All is Good

I have spent the last two weeks of work in Requirements Gathering and Fit/Gap Analysis meetings for my next project, an implementation of PeopleSoft's Enterprise Learning Management module.  I am really excited about this project as I think we have a great team, but two weeks of meetings is really difficult for this intravert.  I am thinking about booking conference rooms next week so I can hide out and relax, just me and my computer.  I know, super sad.

We are heading to Michigan for a quick trip this weekend.  I just found out that my Aunt and Uncle are in Michigan from Texas, so I am excited for them to possibly get to see the kids.  I don't think that Isaac has gotten to meet my Aunt Candi.  Isaac and Mackenzie have been telling me how much they miss their Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Mike and for some reason Mackenzie really wants to see Grandma Kathy's Halloween decorations.  Perhaps it is because our house has been decorated for Christmas for over  month and Halloween isn't even here yet.

The kids and I went and got new fish today.  Yes, I am a fish killer.  Evidently even thought I bought a fish tank kit, I needed to buy a heater and thermometer as well, or at least a heater.  I bought both though and the fish tank has stayed at 77 degrees for a few days, so we went and got new fish tonight.  We also looked at cats at PetSmart.  I think my mommy instinct is kicking in again, and since we have decided we aren't going to have any more kids, I actually thought about getting a pet (other than fish).  It only lasted a very brief second though and then I came back to reality and we paid for the fish and left.

Oh, the car.  They are fixing our Torrent and we are supposed to get it back next week.  So, luckily for us we didn't have to shop for a new car during the last couple busy weeks.  I haven't, however, had a chance to deal with my camera, so no new pictures.  Thanks to Shannon, I am going to post a couple of pictures of the kids with their pumpkins.

What a Weekend!

So we started out this weekend on a great note.  My parents came down to visit Friday night and stayed the weekend.  They watched Mackenzie and Isaac for us on Saturday while we took our nephews, Gavin and Nathan, to the Notre Dame game against Air Force.  We got some tailgating time in (which consisted of Root Beer, Capri Suns, Diet Coke, summer sausage, cheese and crackers, Funyuns and a couple of Kit Kats) and got to throw a football around and play the bean bag toss game.  We then headed towards campus.  We timed our shuttle drop-off perfectly so that we got to see Coach Kelly and the team walking towards the stadium.  Nathan got quite a few hand slaps from the players!  We then headed to Bond Hall and watched the band play before hiking to the stadium.  We had pretty good seats for the game, in Section 15, above the Air Force band.  Unfortunately my camera decided to stop working in the first quarter, so I can't download any pictures right now, I have to find my memory card reader first.

The weather was fantastic, the B2 Bomber fly by was excellent, and the game was pretty great too.  By half-time Nathan was losing steam, so we made it through the third quarter, at which time the score was 46 - 16 ND, I believe and headed out to get an Elephant Ear and hike back to the car.  Here is what happened somewhere between Howe and Angola:



This picture is from after the car was towed to the shop.  I didn't actually get to see the car until we got there.  As we were driving on the toll road, passing a semi truck, a deer jumped in front of the car out of the median.  The road was really dark and I never saw the deer at all (until it landed on the other side of the road, luckily clear of traffic in the right lane), Brian saw it, and slammed on the brakes, but at 70 MPH there was no way he was going to stop in time.  We were extremely lucky that other drivers were paying attention and no other cars hit us or were involved in the accident at all.  Brian was able to get the car into the median and we waited for the police and the tow truck.  The air bags deployed and everyone's seatbelt worked properly and we are also very fortunate that no one was hurt, although everyone was pretty shaken.

So now we are waiting for the insurance company to take over.  Brian, the guys at the shop and I are pretty confident that the car will be considered totalled, so we are probably going to have to look for a car here soon, but other than that, all is good.

Today we went to the apple orchard and pumpkin farm for some pickin' and some cider and donuts (rice krispy treats for Brian and Isaac, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa).  Everyone had a great time and after quiet time Shannon brought "the cousins" over and we made what appears to be a delicious apple pie while at Grandma and Grandpa's Carson helped them make applesauce.

So life is good and I am especially grateful for that today.