Monday, March 30, 2009

I'm So Excited!!!!

Okay, so I come home from work (not as late as I have been) and I go check the mail...Wow! Tons of it there! As I sift through it pulling it out of the mailbox one at a time, I see a letter from West Virginia University. I applied to their Master's program in OT this year....it's been a doozey of an application process! Let me tell ya!

So of course this is like the third of seven pieces of mail that I pull out of the mail box and I'm anxious and scared at the same time to finish getting the rest of the mail before opening the letter. I fumble through to find it and begin worrying that they are just thanking me for applying. I turn it over, open the envelope and then pull out the letter (two pages). If I had a thought bubble, you would see.....Gee, how bad is it when they need two pages to tell you you are lame and are being royally rejected? LOL!

I open the pages to see CONGRATULATIONS! You have......and that's all I needed. I didn't bother reading anything else. I just did a little dance in my driveway and ran around in circles and contemplated running next door to tell my neighbor's Dad the good news since he witnessed me acting like a complete moron in the driveway.

I immediately called my hero because I just couldn't wait until he was finished watching his movie that had just started. Too bad! He was just going to have to be one of those people who talked on the phone during the movie! It was such good news! I proceeded to call my boss who had written a letter of recommendation for me and thanked him so much for all of his support.

I of course then called my sister Amber. Cuz afterall, it's her house I'll be crashing each weekend I'm up there! By the time she answered the phone I had made my way into the house. I had just hung up with her not 15 minutes prior, so she had to be wondering what the deal was. I started tell her just as Destry greeted me with a hug and a smile.

I said to Amber, "Hey, I got accepted to WVU! I'm so excited!" Destry is right in front of me just about to hug me when he says, "Mom. you're spitting in my face!" Of course Amber could hear and she started cracking up and so did I. I really lost it....too funny! If you could imagine what someone looks like when someone else might be getting ready to shoot them with a small water gun and fires off one or two sprays. That's what Destry looked like! I laughed so hard! I apologized and told him that that's what happens when you're tall enough headbutt someone in the mouth!

My lil' Sis was excited for me and I could even hear Dave in the background sounding happy for me. What a great day with a touch of comedy! I wish I had a few pics to share or even a video of it, you would've died laughing too!

In honor of what will soon be my alma mater....I will put up a couple of logos and pics. I hope you don't mind me sharing a pic Amber. If so, I'll take it down...but it's just so cute!

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Go Big East!!
(sorry Honey, I really mean to say go big ten)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

How We REALLY Celebrated Destry's Birthday!

Okay, anyone who knows us, knows that we are HUGE Minnesota Vikings fans. What better way to celebrate Thing 1's birthday than to share it with thousands of other people rooting for our favorite team?

It all started when my bff Chris sent me a text message asking if we would be interested in buying tickets to the Vikings / Jaguars game in Jax Florida. Michael and I were like, YEAH! What kind of question is THAT??!!

So, we discovered that game day was Destry's birthday and of course we cleared it with him to make sure he didn't have any qualms with celebrating it at the game. Okay, not that any of that truly mattered......we were gonna go anyway....But Destry knew the correct answer and had the best outlook for his birthday. He was excited to go to his first NFL game!

We took the trip down to Florida and had a blast at the game. The Jaguars were not having a good day at all, and we were most excited about it. Sorry losers!

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So, it was my bff Chris her husband and 4 boys. Yes! I said FOUR boys and our fam including Patrick, the au pair. It started out to be a cool kind of day, but by the end of the 1st qtr, it got pretty warm! The players were taking a much needed breather and having fun doing it. Minnesota hadn't been doing exceptionally well on the road, but this one proved to be a good outcome. Final score 30-12.


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The game actually started off mega crazy with turnovers and scores...it was so much fun and guys on the sideline were pretty cool with it.

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I cropped the pic so you can tell who's who....not that any of you non-Vikings fans care...

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In no particular order (but I'll put my favorite up there first!) #28 Adrian Peterson (aka All Day) #40 Jim kleinsasser, #90 Fred Evans (DT), #69 Jared Allen (another one of my faves), #96 Brian Robison (DE), Mr. Coolness himself, Sidney Rice (he reminds me of a young Randy Moss but not quite as fast.
#5 Chris Kluwe the punter, and last but not least #12 Good Ol' "I give myself concussions" Gus
Frerotte.

By the end of the game, many Jaguar fans were gone. But it just didn't start off well for them. We were living it up over this stuff! If you miss football, cuz it's basketball season, you might enjoy these highlights!
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80cbde20

As you can see by the last highlight with 6:55 left in the game, many fans decided to leave. They didn't see him coming! Good ol' #28 just did it in for them!

By the time we left, we thought we were in Minnesota! So many fans were there in Florida! How 'bout them taters! I love the good ol' days!
Our Fam with bff Chris and her Fam after the game.

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My Hero (wearing Greenway's jersey) meets up with fans for a pic!

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All six of them, all rambunctious....but only two are mine tho!
Aren't they all adorable?? They will all have the girls following them around soon enough!

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Destry sits down after the game and devours a birthday treat!

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A bear is about to get attacked! Too many Vikings fans around here! Watch your back! Your friend is trying to save you....let him!

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Whoops...too late. We've got you surrounded!
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Oh no! The bear fights back with a bear hug! LOL... The little guy was so brave!

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There were lots of Jaguar fans in this happy-time sports hang-out, so we got a couple of odd looks when we showed up in our purple gear. It was a nice end to a great day! I asked Destry about his special birthday, and he said, "It was awesome!" I think he'll want to do this again next year...

SWEET!!

G'bye

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

He Got Third Place!!

I'm am....(or should I say we?) are extremely proud of Destry today. I was so excited to be invited to the Civic Oration they were having at his elementary school today. It was the Modern Woodmen of America School Speech Contest and it was fantastic! Well, at least it was for Destry!

Very plain and simple....
The theme this year was "A Person Who Has Touched Many Lives" and Destry chose JFK. Now, I'll admit, I was a little baffled why he chose someone he hardly knew or heard of since so many of his classmates were picking family and non political figures. But the idea was to get them to do research on someone they may find interesting and go through the process of filtering out information and organizing it for a speech.

I'm not going to tell you how bad of a procrastinator he is and how this speech almost got an "F" but that just makes for unnecessary drama.

Destry was really intrigued by his famous quote of "Ask not what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country." So it began there.

He got an "A" on his speech and then was asked to be one of the four from his class to represent it in the school contest. He was chosen out of 123 students overall who had to do speeches. Only 17 made it to the school competition and that is where he placed third. YIPPEEEE!! The first and second place winners get to compete at the county level. I do believe Destry would do well there. A couple of girls beat him out and maybe their speeches were a little more compelling.

First place spoke of how Jesus touched many lives and the second place winner spoke on how her grandpa touched her life and how that influences her. Hmmmm JFK competing with Jesus??? Uh, I don't think so! LOL!!


We couldn't photgraph or videotape during the oration so I don't have any video. I do have some pics of the event before and after. I will let Destry read it if you guys comment and congratulate him.

His teacher called him "a natural" and that made me smile. He's a ham alright!


Here they are waiting for the judges to arrive. I was getting nervous and he's just too calm.
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The awards table. There were First, Second and Third Place, 12 Honorable Mentions and everyone got a certificate for participating.
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They went from the lowest to the highest. I don't remember which kid was called first, I guess that's not important. But they asked for the top three to stand up. They didn't realize that they were in the top three until the presenter said, "If you don't have a certificate, stand up." I chuckled because when they began calling out the names, I kept saying to myself "Don't call his name. Don't call his name." And when they got to the point for the top three....I didn't care where he placed, just that he placed. Woo Hoo!

All the students did very well, the judges deliberated for over 30 minutes! I certainly didn't want to be in their shoes!

Destry gets his certificate and plaque.
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Showing off his pin!
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Showing of his plaque! He said he had no idea he would place at all! (awww so modest)
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His classmates and his teacher. They all did an awesome job at this contest. Kudos to everyone!
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We all celebrated with Destry's favorite sweetspot......Cold Stone Creamery! YUM!
He had his first Cookie Minster and it was tr`e-fab! Of course he didn't say that, but it's late and I'm tired and recovering from a horrible stomach virus that disintigrated my insides....yuck!!

But it was such a good day!
Congratulations Destry! Your Dad and I are super proud of you and love you very much!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It was a dramatic pause..........a very long one indeed

I do apologize to the readers, especially Mom, Dad and lil Sis Amber, for taking such a long pause. Things got kind of crazy which made me lazy and it's nothing you haven't heard before. Don't know if I should pick up where I left off, but for sure there's much updating to be done. Let's start small.....
Thing 1 had a birthday last November. He wanted to have it at Recreation Station, a much lamer version of Dave & Busters, but better than Chuck E Cheese. He was all about the laser tag, roller skating and video games. It was a small party.....(an expensive small party), but he still had a blast. The photos aren't great, but at least they are decent.

Destry cuts his cake!

Destry cuts the cake!

Declan, Dylan, Destry and Tyler take a break from skating and falling down!
Declan, Dylan, Destry, Tyler

Hmmmm......cake!
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What? It's time to open presents?
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