Memorial Weekend

As of Friday before Memorial Day we didn't have anything planned for the weekend, which isn't like us. We decided what Priceline.com could get us for a hotel room in the cities. We got a great deal at LeBourget Aero Suites in Bloomington. After we booked the room Brady started to get a fever Friday night. Since we are a family who believes in drugs we decided to drug Brady to get his fever down and go to the cities for some fun.
On Saturday after we had some lunch we headed to the hotel. We immediately headed for the swimming pool. It was small, and hotter than hell in the pool area but the water was good and the kids enjoyed it. After the pool we headed out to supper. We had a coupon for Wolley's steakhouse at the Embassy Suites hotel. Very ritzy place but we decided since it was in a hotel the kids could go to this resturant. Jean had pasta, I had stuffed pork chops, Madie had pizza and Brady enjoyed chicken fingers. Even thou Brady was feverish he still ate a lot of food. At the end of the meal the waiter brought out a bowl full of lemon flavored cotton candy. Kids loved it. After supper we headed back to the hotel where Madie swam some more and Brady rested while watching Wow Wow Wubbze. Jean had a craving for Perkins pie so we all had pie for a bedtime snack.
On Sunday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. The hotel was nice to give us breakfast for $5.00. We all got a drink and a menu item for $5 total. Nice deal i think. After, we headed out to the Como Zoo which turned out to be a zoo. After driving around for 20 minutes we finally found a spot about 3 blocks away. The kids couldn't wait to hit the rides so we started out with that. We had lunch while waiting for Sparky the Sea Lion to perform. Kids loved it. I thought it was kinda a short performance but it was nice. We then walked around looking at the animals and ended the visit with a few more rides and the kids getting their face painted. We headed home about 4:30 and got home just in time for supper.
On Monday Jean decided to take Brady to the Clinic in the mall. He battled his fever all weekend and it got as high as 103. Turns out he had strep throat and he got on antibiotics. We just stayed home on Monday and enjoyed the day. We had Jen and Ross over for some steaks for supper then we called it a night. Turns out it was going to be a long night.
Monday night, Tuesday morning was a long night because Brady's fever reached it's highest, it even got me a little scared. At 1am his fever was 104.8. I drugged him some more and cooled him with the ice pack. Jean and I took turns laying with him. Tuesday after his second dose of antibiotics he got better and now he is himself thank God!
It wasn't the best Memorial Day weekend we ever had but the kids had fun and the weather was great.

Kevin

Mother's Day 2009

Well Mother's Day weekend started with Madie going to her first sleepover in which it wasn't a neighbor or family member. She went to a birthday party sleepover for her friend from school. Jean thought we would be getting a call in the middle of the night but I knew she would make it all night.
Saturday started with a trip to the farmer's market. I thought they wouldn't have anything but turns out they had asparagus and RHUBARB! Then we picked up Madie and all went to the library. The kids picked out some books and even Jean is getting hooked on Nora Roberts books. After a quick lunch at home we went off to find flowers for Mom. We went to Drummers got some Viola's, vegetables and other flowers for Mom. We came home and quickly got to work. I mowed the grass while Mom and Madie started on the flower bed. We got the flower bed done and moved on moving rock away from the side of the house to plant our first ever vegetable garden. We hopefully will be enjoying cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and rhubarb. Then we planted the flowers in the pots for the front. All in all the outside looks great, inside is next. We topped of the day watching Tom start an adventure of his own in landscaping their new tree with landscape brick and then played a little beer pong before calling it a night.
Sunday we all went to church for the first time in a long time. After, we finally got to look at the love seat Jean found on craigslist. The high school senior who was selling it took $25 less than the asking price and we found ourselves with a pretty new love seat for our sun room. We came home and Jean opened her presents from us. She liked them but some didn't work out or were the wrong color so we exchanged them on Monday. For lunch we decided at last minute to eat at 101 Main for their lunch buffet. Sadly it sucked. They ran out of their famous popovers and other food. Thank God the kids were only $2.99 a piece. After we ate, we or should I say my wife decided to she wanted to paint the sun room since we got the new love seat. So off to Sherwin Williams! We stopped there and Menards for some other garden supplies. We started painting about 3:30 and with help from Madie and Brady busy playing Wii it only took us 2 hours. It looks great! The color is Brandywine and matches the room and makes it look very comfy. Jean says she will drink the wine and I'll drink the brandy. We are now on a look out for an end table and ottoman.
It was a busy, hard working Mother's Day but Jean was happy and everything looks great and that's all that matters.

Kevin

Is it really May already???

Not sure where the time has gone...although I think a lot of time has been spent at the YMCA pool watching the kids at swimming lessons. Tonight was the last night of the session and both kids passed!! Yeah for them. Brady will now be in Eel and Madie will be in Guppy2. Madie jumped in the deep pool without a life jacket---What a big day! Both kids went down the slide and Brady LOVED it.

Madie is going to a little friends (Adrianna's) birthday party tomorrow night. It is a sleep over, so we will see if she makes it or if we have to go and get her in the middle of the night (or Kevin needs to go and get her I should clarify).

We planted some ruhbarb this week and this weekend we will work on planting all the flowers for the summer.

Brady is FULLY potty trained. He wears underware to bed and everything. YEAH!

Madie still does not have her 2 front teeth. She lost them in September and they are still not in. I am sure glad that I had the dentist X-Ray for them when I had the kids in a few months ago. He promised me they are there, I just need to be patient I guess.

It was a beautiful day today. I went to the Greater Mankato Growth Young Professionals network salsa party this evening and met some very nice people. I really like living in this town!

Love to all.

EVE

What a BIG day at our house today...Brady got his Eve toy from the movie Wall*E.

He has been working on pooping in the potty. And in the last week, he has really caught on. We have talked to him about pooping in the potty for MONTHS...maybe even a year:) He has been wearing underwear since Christmas because he is potty trained, but poop has been a challenge. We were tired of cleaning poop out of underwear, so we started to tell him to ask for a pull-up when he needed to poop.
In the last few weeks, Kevin has really worked with him. He would ask for a pull-up and Kevin would encourage him to sit on the potty. He would sit on the potty and sometimes poop, others not. This week he got it! He seems to be on a schedule of pooping every other day and he has pooped in the potty EVERY day this week.
The rule was 3 times in a row and he got Eve...so he pooped 3 times in the potty this week and TODAY he got his EVE toy.
We are smarter than we look...knowing that maybe he just decided he wanted to poop because then he would get Eve, we told him that if he poops in his pants, then Eve goes back into the box.
He LOVES her, so I am guessing that he will work really hard to keep her.

WAY TO GO Brady...mom and dad are VERY proud of you!

Besides that big news...
I have been going to Maverick Boot Camp at MSU and decided that during this process that I really enjoy running, so I started running. I got new shoes today and Kevin thinks they should run themselves because I paid too much for them.
Madie and Brady are in swimming lessons on Tuesday/Thursday. 2 weeks left...It is great to see them learning, but I will be happy to quit running to lessons twice a week.
Kevin starts softball again tomorrow. I am sure we will not hit the game because it is really cold.

Enjoyed spending time with friends last night at the Twilight Lounge...Jen/Ross; Tom/Rachel; Jake/Josie; and Deb/Koon. It was alot of fun!

Enjoy~~
Jean

Win Twins!

On April 19th we took the kids to their first ever Twins game and first time at the Metrodome. We thought it would be fun to ride the light rail train to the game. So we went to the Mall of America and tried to find where to park for the light rail, turns out we shouldn't park at the mall instead park at the station about a block away. After eating appetizers at TGI Fridays we bought tickets for the train. Turns out there was an accident with a train and a car nearby, so we had to get on a bus and drive about 15 mins to Fort Snelling to get on the train there. After squeezing in the train and a 20 minute ride we just got to the dome to see the first pitch. It was hard to tell if the kids enjoyed the game more or the hot dog, pop and cotton candy they had. They were amazingly good at the game. Brady played Leapster when we got bored and Madie drew pictures of the stadium. The highlight of the game was the ending. The kids after the game got to run the bases and after a long line got to take pictures with TC bear.
The ride home on the train was a lot better and a lot less crowded. We topped of the day with a visit to ToysRus. We found Brady a Wall-E Eve toy that he gets when he poops in the potty 3 times in a row. Madie got a new High School Musical alarm clock. We finally headed home but not before we went to Dairy Queen for supper. All in all, the kids and us had a great day and the Twins even won the game.

Our Fish

Madie and Brady are in swimming lessons at the YMCA right now. Madie is in Guppy 1 and Brady is in Pike. His first time at swimming lessons at the Y. They are both doing a really great job. It will be great to be done with lessons before the summer starts.

I am in "Boot Camp" right now at work. Jen is our trainer and she is working our butts off. My team is Kath Bill, Rochelle Ament and Paula Neinman. We are doing great. Today I did 10 more push-ups and 30 more sit-ups in 1 minute than I did 3 weeks ago.

Work is crazy right now. With the State of MN budget issues, they have made cuts at work. Both my bosses, Pat Lipetzky and Kathy Trauger have been cut. It is crazy....We are all just trying to figure out what our jobs are and go from there.

Happy Spring!!

Easter

On Saturday we had a busy day. Marsha decided to host Easter for the VanLoys at the Americinn up by campus. We only had about 25 family members there but we had enough food for 50. The kids went swimming while I went to Quinn's birthday party. I was the only non family member there, I guess I must be important to his family. Got Quinn a noisy toy that goes on the frig, hope he likes it. Spent about an hour at the party and went back to the hotel. The kids enjoyed swimming and Madie got used to jumping in the deep end of the pool without a life jacket.
On Sunday we went to church. Think we only made it to church 3 times during lent. After church we had Grandma and Papa over for lunch. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, bread and desert. Needless to say I ate to much. Dad took our old gas grill off our hands and it's no longer a eye sore on the side of the garage. He'll take it to the cabin, maybe we'll see it again if we ever get up that way.

Well that's all I have for now. The next blog will have our trip to the Twins game, the kids first game ever. Hope they can sit through it all. Kevin