the meghan and libby show

3:1 "29 Great Things about Libby"

2010-11-17T16:06:00.007-06:00

We've had a long hiatus. It was a super busy summer, and has been a very busy fall so far. We'll recap on those months soon, but I thought today would be a good day to kick off Season 3 with a post dedicated to Libby, who is celebrating her 29th Birthday today. So here are 29 Great Things about Libby:
(feel free to add some more in the comments section)

1) She is the most wonderful baby sister a big sister could ask for.

From July2010

2) She doesn't hold a grudge, I truly envy her capacity for forgiveness.
3) When we lived together in college, she always did the dishes. And sometimes when she comes to visit, she does my dishes.
4) She's recently found her crafty side, doing things like making cherry pit heating pads for the family and re-upholstering Maddi's Dresser.

From dresser + others

5) She is dedicated: to her family, her church, her friends, and of course, General Hospital.
6) Speaking of GH, Libby was born on Luke and Laura's wedding day.
7) She makes great coffee (just don't ask her to make Mocha Bread Pudding in the Crock pot)
8) She went through several movie obsessions, resulting in the whole family knowing them all by heart: Wizard of Oz, Speed, Ransom and Face-Off come to mind, but I know there were many others.
9) She's a good at games, she usually beats me at Catan and she got me to say "leechasaurus" in a rousing game of Catch Phrase
10) She is a great caregiver to sick family and friends.
11) She has good fashion sense, but gives me minimal grief for my lacking any.
12) Maddi
13) Logan

From 80 Degrees in October

14) Ryan
15) She can walk in high heels.
16) She's easily cheered up by Oreos.
17) She loves a good deal, and she's good at finding them.
18) She's great with technology - if you want your DVD player or new phone hooked up, ask Libby.
19) She's great at staying on task, and keeping others going as well.
20) She makes math jokes, like once I said that a dish might yummy with mushrooms in it, she grimaced, but then said, "Okay, next time I'll make it with 10% more mushrooms" hahaha
21) When it really counts, she's an excellent secret keeper.
22) She has never run over a mailbox or driven into Mom's garage door.
23) She got me hooked on Buffy.
24) From Xander: She has a cool thing to build a car with at her house.
25) From Noah: Logan wears a black shirt with a car on it that was mine when I was 2, and pwobably Auntie Libby has a cool black shirt, too.
26) She makes hot cocoa mix from scratch, and it is DELICIOUS.
27) When we were young, she always let me be the teacher when we played school, as long as she could be a baby unicorn.
28) She got confirmed last year and she really inspires me and many others with her faith.
29) When Libby came home from the hospital, my mom gave her to me to hold, and I said "Thank you". 29 years later I am still so thankful to my mom and to God for giving me my Libby. I love you!

From Meghan and Fair

2:24

2010-06-01T13:11:00.006-05:00

This is the Season Finale! We're gonna re-vamp a little, get a new look, and hopefully get on a more consistent schedule for season 3. But for now, we'll wind up with a little picture story of Sera's baptism party; titled, "5 Outfits in One Day"

From May2010

A pre-party ice cream cake celebration for Nana's birthday. Sera loves this shirt, it's an Old Navy vintage-inspired Peanuts shirt. Sera calls it "bawoons shirt". We all enjoyed the cake, and then Sera needed an outfit change.

From May2010

This outfit lasted most of the party. I really don't like plaid very much, but this is a bigger print, and it has a matching hat - so sweet. We played outside...

From May2010

and opened presents

From May2010

then we headed off to church

From May2010

I don't have any pictures of the actual baptism, I forgot to hand my camera off, but I know everyone else was snapping away! Sera was a little worn out from the long day, but she was pretty good. And she looked so beautiful in the dress Grandma made! After the Mass, we headed back to our house for more fun!

From May2010

and of course another outfit change

From May2010

Then we had round 2 of desserts, which included these lovely cheesecakes made by Aunt Margaret

From May2010

and then yet another outfit change, followed by one last round of photos

From May2010

It was a great family celebration day! Check back soon for the Season 3 premiere!

2:23

2010-05-17T17:54:00.006-05:00

Ok so things have been crazy – Logan is FULL on 2 getting into everything – last week we left him alone for 2 minutes in which time he got a hold of a knife and cut his finger, lucky for us God was watching and it seems to be healing just fine – thank goodness since Ryan and I were both too embarrassed to take him to the doctor. This was only hours after he had gotten into the fridge and cracked an entire dozen eggs on to my kitchen floor – again it could have been worse but it wasn’t – I think that God is trying to tell me something – BUY DUCT TAPE !!
This morning Maddi woke up not feeling 100% and since we had a long weekend with dad out of town and “too much to do” I let her stay home. We had a pretty laid back day – which can be not good considering I now have two kids totally full on energy and its 3 o’clock in the afternoon. So in an effort to get them out of the house I decided to take a bike ride to the Best Buy to get a new charger for my phone which had died about an hour before. So I loaded the kids into the Burley, since Maddilyn informed me that since she was too sick to go to school she was for sure too sick to ride her own bike. However being too sick did not stop her from having FruitLoops for breakfast, and watching Winx Club instead of taking a nap. I got about half way there when I realized that my front tire must have a leak, since I had just filled up and it was again low. I stopped at the gas station to fill it up, and I push the little thing down on the little thing on my wheel when I realized that the station was out of air and now so was my tire. CRAP! So while channeling my inner “hot babe” I strolled into the station batted my eyes and asked for help, thank goodness I had changed out of my baggy t-shirt and into a tank top before leaving the house. Two guys came out to help “helpless me” when one of them said “this is an OLD huffy, I used to steal these was I was a teenager!” Thanks dude since I wasn’t already feeling old! He worked some magic and filled my tire and I was on my way. I made it to Best Buy got my charger and a few snacks for the kids and headed back to the house. Feeling like crap, trying my hardest not to flag down a cab, I pushed on, I was about half way back when a man in a red Jeep honked and shouted “you’re hot” out his window, now since my husband is 500 miles away in Chicago I knew it wasn’t him, I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or disgusted. I guess a little part of me – who am I kidding a huge part of me, was flattered, after all I was drenched in my own sweat pulling 70 lbs of my own flesh and blood behind me (no not my butt- my kids) and he still thought I was hot!!
I guess the moral of the story is even though it’s old, and has a little flat tire, doesn’t mean it’s not HOT!

2:22

2010-04-22T12:03:00.008-05:00

Just got off the phone with Libby. We haven't really talked since A WEEK AGO! The Kaspers left last Friday for a big trip to Disney World, and got back yesterday afternoon. She did call me twice while she was away - both times when she had gone back to the hotel room to let Logan nap, but those were quick calls.

M: Is it totally awesome?
L: It's totally awesome!
M: Remember to put sunscreen on you and the kids!
L: Okay, love you bye!

I could hear her rolling her eyes - that usually doesn't make any noise, but big sisters have special hearing. It allows us to hear the true story, under the exciting embellishments. And we can hear a silent plea to not scold our baby sister for playing volleyball less than a month after getting a nose job. Not that I'd have any experience with those things...

So the very first thing I said to Libby, after not talking for a week was very important.

M: Oh my gosh! I have to tell you about my battery searching adventures!
and with genuine enthusiasm, Libby asked me to tell my stories.

So the boys got remote control cars for Christmas from Nana. I'm really pleased with the ones we picked out, they're VERY durable - perfect for our rough and tumble boys.

We took them outside the other day, but we hadn't put rechargeable batteries in them at Christmas, and 4 months later, the alkalines were pretty kaput. I went inside to rummage for some batteries. We've been trying to make the switch to only rechargeables, but as soon as we buy more, they're in something - I need a better system. But at this moment I was simply searching for any AA I could scrounge up.

I looked by my charging station, and found 2, but I needed 12. I looked in all 3 junk drawers. I looked in the toy boxes. In desperation, I looked in my nightstand drawer. I pulled it all the way out, just to be sure and VOILA!

From Apr2010

Nope, not batteries, but pretty exciting, because this is pricey stuff, and I knew my mom had bought us a fresh container at Christmas time, but when we unpacked in January, it was nowhere to be found. Woohoo!

Eventually, I found enough batteries to re-power one car, and the boys were content to share - one driving and the other building ramps and other obstacles.

From Apr2010

Alas, this might have been the end of the Battery Adventures, but behold, nye! That very eve whilst my betroved and I prepared our marriage bed for slumber...

We could not find one of the batteries to the DVD player remote. None of our remotes have backs on them. It's the gnomes, the ones who hid the salve, the 'other' sock and everything else that disappears. So I got down on my side of the bed to see if it fell under there... and VOILA!

From Apr2010

Nope, again, not the battery. But another long lost object. When Logan and Maddi stayed with us 2 months ago, this sippy cup disappeared within hours of their arrival. We searched high and low. We cleaned like crazy, because we had the boys' birthday party that weekend. And just last week Libby and I decided that it must have made it's way into the diaper champ and been thrown out - because we just couldn't stand the thought of thinking about it being in one of our homes, curing the funkiest cheese ever.

From Apr2010

Who knows if this is the end of the Battery Adventures? Somehow, I feel the saga will continue...

2:21

2010-04-14T13:18:00.007-05:00

Wow the last few weeks have been awesome, the Twin Cities weather has been amazing, we had the first March in history with NO snow! Bring it on global warming. In the last weeks, Logan turned 2, we have gone to the zoo twice, we have rediscovered all the local parks, and are leaving for Disney World in about 40 hours. So I have been focused on preparing my house for vacation, because you see, I can't go on vacation without making sure my house is clean first. Making sure all the laundry is done- and for some reason put away, does it really make sence that I spend an hour a day putting clothes in drawers and in the closets, only to take them out tomorrow when I am packing?

Today Maddi got a few suprises, she got a package in the mail from Grandma Penny, with excatly what she requested less then a week ago. Barbie's potty training puppies, that's right, puppies that pee after you fill them with water. Maddi also told grandma that she wanted a "purple dress with flowers" and of course grandma delivered, you see one of the things Maddi got from me was the abillity to dream up something in her head and then it appears as if God put it there.

Maddi's other surprize was 2 disney princess dresses, sent directly from the princesses themselves. Each with an attached note that she is to wear them when she comes to visit them. I have been dreaming of taking Maddi to Disney World since she was born (maybe even before) and now it's happening, everything I ever wanted in this vacation is coming true, it is truly going to be magical. (Thanks Ryan you're the best).

Well I must get back to the vacation prep! I will blog with TONS of pics when I get back!

2:20

2010-04-09T13:11:00.008-05:00

Friday! Finally! This week has been tough on both of us. For me, we just had a rough time getting back into a routine after being gone the whole week before Easter. We had a blast while we were gone; a family wedding, visiting with old friends, spending time at Grandma and Nana's, celebrating my brother-in-law's, Greg, confirmation and wrapping it all up with a great Easter party at my mom's.

From Apr2010

We got home late Sunday night and we've all been a bit out of sorts ever since. Dan's had to work late several nights this week and when I parent solo, my patience gets used up quickly. Add in the Easter candy consumption and mostly cold, rainy weather and you've got a house full of basket-cases. And baskets, because I still haven't put the Easter paraphernalia away. Even though I keep tripping over all of it.

From Apr2010

Libby's week was rough because it was spring break and Maddi was home from school. Not that she doesn't enjoy extra time with her daughter, but when the routine is disturbed, it just makes things harder.

But now it is Friday!! And it is sunny and warmer. We played outside. We talked about Libby's Disney trip being only 1 week away! We looked at pictures from last weekend and smiled. (New albums on the left for both of us). And I won a book giveaway from becomingsarah - a great blog I read. I don't know Sarah in real life, but I share parenting ideals with her and she promotes childhood literacy and she posts amazing pictures of her ADORABLE baby girl, Charlotte. Oh, adorable, reminds me, the Easter bunny brought Sera a TUTU!

From Apr2010

Speaking of adorable babies... another blog friend, Lori, who I do know in real life, is walking for a fundraiser for the March of Dimes this weekend. Lori is married to Aaron, who was a classmate of Dan's at Yale. Almost one year ago, Lori went into labor with their first son at only 35 weeks. Thankfully, Porter was born healthy and didn't need to spend time in the NICU, but not all babies born too soon are so lucky. They've met and raised their goal several times and would love to reach their new goal of $2000. Every little bit helps, so please, donate if you can.

We're all in this boat together!

From Apr2010

2:19

2010-03-24T13:31:00.006-05:00

I'm overdue for a post, I know. I've just been struggling for a topic, but then a few days ago I realized I had a bunch of pictures from when Maddi and Logan stayed with us, and a few other fun random photos, so I thought to myself, "Hey, I could do a Picture Post" and then immediately I got the "Picture Page" theme song in my head, and it has been stuck there ever since.

Do you remember that segment on Nickelodeon? with Dr. Huxtable? I mean, Bill Cosby.

There, now you have it stuck in your head too, now I'm not alone. But to compensate, here is the Picture Post!

From Mar2010

Time to grab your crayons and your pencils:
(or scissors, glue and magnadoodles)

From Mar2010

Birthday Day at the Nitty Gritty Birthday Bar in Madison

From Mar2010

Sera in a poncho that was Maddi's. A mini-poncho - how adorable is that!? And pants knitted by Auntie Steph? too too cute!

From Mar2010

We've been making cookies every other week. In unrelated news, I gave up candy for Lent.

From Mar2010

St. Patrick's Day.

From Mar2010

So now I've done a picture post with you!

2:18

2010-03-16T15:32:00.006-05:00

I have been wishing for winter to be over since it started almost 6 months ago, and now it is mostly over and I wish it was back! You see spring may bring pretty flowers and rainbows but it also bring MUD AND POOP. I HATE snow, more, I hate going out in it, so I have not been out in 6 months to clean up after our 70lbs black lab- HOLY CRAP - there is a lot of crap out there. I have been out there twice litterly shoveling the poop, then yesterday my very good friend Lauren gave me the number for Scoopy Poo - yep that's here in good old Eden Prairie you can pay someone to scoop your poop. Unfortunatly I had gotten this information a little late!

Otherwise we have very much enjoyed going to the park OUTSIDE, and having the windows open long enough to get the winter stink out. The other day, Ryan and I decided to take the kids to the park. I suggested that we put Logan's snow pants on, as his walking skills are still not 100% and he sometime trips over his own feet, I didn't want to get wet if he fell. Good thing mommy knows best, we were at the park about 5 minutes when Logan decided to explore the soccer field. When I went to get him out of the swamp land, he started to run from me, he of course took a face dive into the mud. I guess he should have worn a water proof shirt and face mask as well.

We are going to continue to enjoy the warm weather for 31 more sleeps until we leave for sunny HOT Orlando Florida!

2:17

2010-03-08T14:31:00.004-06:00

Today is Xander and Noah's 4th birthday. As with most milestones of parenthood, the same paradox exists: it seems like only yesterday they were babies, yet it also seems as though they have always been around.

They are truly amazing boys. They play SO well together, they have a wonderful friendship. They create new stories and scenarios for pretend play every day. They share so well with each other. The twin relationship is wonderful beyond description. But, they certainly have their own personalities.

Xander is a ham, I love his sense of humor. He's interested in letters and numbers and has been writing his name for some time. He's passionate and wears his heart on his sleeve like I do. He often beats Dan at Wii bowling. He loves the color green, the Packers, the Badgers and saying "to Infinity and Beyond" when you lift him up.

From Mar2010

Noah is silly and sweet. He's very good at puzzles and can draw really well. He likes to tell stories about his drawings, too. He's loving and easy-going, like Dan. He has an eye for patterns and structure, and builds amazing things out of all kinds of blocks. He loves the color orange, is a great shopping partner and uses the word "actually" to tell you how it *really* is.

From Mar2010

We had a big Mario Kart Wii themed birthday party yesterday. It was a really fun time. The only thing missing was Libby and Ryan. They are in Jamaica! Libby will surely be blogging about that when she gets back later this week. But we did have Maddi and Logan here, and of course all the other cousins, aunts, uncles, 2nd cousins, plus Nana and Grandma. Here's a few pictures from the festivities:

From Mar2010

Happy Birthday to my darling boys - may all your wishes come true!

2:16

2010-02-25T13:03:00.006-06:00

I love Craigslist. I love finding good deals. I love getting a little pocket money while simultaneously finding a good home for something we don't need anymore. I love what it does for community. I love how I've stayed in touch with some people who I met by buying or selling on Craigslist. (like Laura) I love how easy it makes being green in the sense of reusing.

But, alas - relationships do not consist of love alone - they have their faults. There are the scammers - the ship it to me and I'll pay ya later, the pyramid schemes, the send me a money order and I'll ship it to you... etc. Most of these are pretty see-through, but they're still disappointing and irritating.

From Feb2010

But this week, my Craigslist misfire was laughable... I've been looking for a bookshelf for the boys' room. Nothing fancy, just an actual wooden shelf to hold books and some toys. They currently have a plastic shelving thing, so it's not a necessity, but I'd like something a little cuter and more functional - but also pretty cheap.

So I saw a posting this week, vague and no picture, but interesting to me:
Book cases (west side madison)

1) 3 shelf book case older heavy wooden Very sturdy. 10.00

2) Light wood aprox 6ft tall 5 shelves Sauder mabe 4 foot wide takes up little space and holds a lot of books or knic knacks . 20.00

So I emailed:
Hi -

I was wondering if you could give me dimensions for the smaller bookcase, and possibly a picture, or at least a bit more description?

Thanks!
Meghan

And she (the email came from a "Linda") writes back:
it is a standard bookcase

That is the whole message! I nearly fell out of my chair. Libby happen to be online so I forwarded the email and immediately called her and we laughed and speculated... I mean really, if someone told you they had a "standard bookcase" would that call to mind a specific size, shape and color? Her original post said wooden, but we all know some people don't distinguish between 'wood' and pressboard with veneer. And even if her 'wood' meant regular 'cut from tree' wood - there are TONS of different types and stain variations... Grrr.

So I mulled it over a day or so and I decided to write back. Giving the benefit of the doubt - maybe she only had a minute to write, and didn't think through her response, or something?! So over g-chat, Libby helped me with the draft - I didn't want to come off frustrated or mean, just curious and genuine. So I sent back:
Hi Again -

I guess I'm not quite sure what you mean by "standard"? If you were able to measure it, I'd really appreciate it - I'd like to make sure it will work for the space I have. Height, width and depth would really help me out.

Is it painted or stained?

Thanks.
Meghan

From Feb2010

And about a day later I get this message back:
3ft tall 3ft wide 1ft deep painted

No "hi", no "sorry", definitely still no picture... Sheesh! I don't get it! I mean I give her credit for giving the measurements, though I'm skeptical about those being accurate - in all my images of 'standard' I had imagined something a little taller than it was wide. But to say "painted"?!?! Again, I would have assumed 'standard' meant wood or wood-like - but painted isn't out of the question - but there a million colors in the rainbow!

I've dealt with strange/crabby/crazy/shady types from time to time on Craigslist. I just cannot understand why someone who you are offering to give money to, and probably drive to his/her house to do so, would treat people this way. When I sell stuff, I really try to make it a good experience. If someone asks me a question, I always give the answer and then some. I always have a picture. And most of the time my efforts are appreciated. And also most of the time, people I buy from are as helpful. But these crazy few - oh it just puts a damper on the whole thing.

From Feb2010

I guess it just comes back to work ethic and customer service. This is a constant conversation topic between Libby and me. We have worked in offices, retail stores and restaurants. We've been responsible for helping in person, over the phone and by email. And we really and truly always tried our best to help. You know? I think this really could be a post in itself, so I'll digress.

From Feb2010

So for now, I'm just gonna keep my eye out some more for that perfect deal on a good bookcase. I'm sure there is someone out there selling one who had a Mom to teach them to always do their best.

2:15

2010-02-19T10:34:00.007-06:00

Ok so life is not all sit-coms and pretty dresses - I am going to tell you a story about how life is not fair.

Maddi has been complaining about her tummy hurting for a few days now. It seemed to only be when I asked her to pick up her room or do her homework. So being the rock star mom I am I ignored her complaints.

Only for her to come home from school yesterday in tears because her tummy hurt so bad she couldn't stand it. So I called the doctor and they suggested I bring her in. So I did - and the doctor thought that an x-ray would be a good idea to rule out any obstructions other then the "regular" obstructions that should be there.

So the x-ray came back with only ok obstructions and that we should start her on miralax (a move it along kind of medicine). Also to avoid things like bananas and bran type foods. So we got her home and put the heating pad on, and gave her the medicine. She seemed to be ok with that, and since I no longer had any mom guilt about her having some kind of more serious condition other than whiny princess, I was ok too.

So the evening went on, we had all kinds of "move it along" snacks and dinner, which worked a little but not as much as expected. So in anticipation of a mid-night accident I asked Maddi to wear a pull-up which she oked using a line from a pull-up commercial saying "it's ok mom good nites equal good mornings" so back to the mom guilt of too much TV.

So all seemed to be going well both kids went to bed pretty good, Ryan and I watched some good Thursday night TV, then went to bed. So around 2am I heard some whining, figuring it was Maddi's tummy I went to check on her, she was out cold. So I went back to bed, a few seconds later more whining, I opened Logan's door a crack to see if he was ok and was overwhelmed by the SMELL. Apparently Maddi's medicine had somehow worked for Logan.

After some breath-holding clean-up I threw him in bed with Ryan and went to start the laundry because even Huggies couldn't handle what Logan was dishing out. I got down stairs half asleep, both arms full of some potent sheets and blankets, only to remember about the load I had started earlier in the day, good thing I noticed before I put the not so fresh pile on top of the clean stuff.

Ok so back to bed I went, and to avoid lots of typing lets just say at 4am I had to repeat the last few steps. And so here it is 11am and I have lathered, rinsed and repeated - 3 more times. Poor Maddi wanted to go to school this morning - hopefully the medicine will start to work for her soon!

Here is a very cute picture of Maddi and Sera! I had bought these shirts last year after Valentines Day one for Maddi and one for Logan - however Logan is A LOT bigger then I expected he would be this year.

2:14

2010-02-15T13:07:00.010-06:00

While I was visiting Libby, she introduced me to the show Modern Family. I'm hooked: totally my sense of humor and completely hilarious. But the funniest moment of the show was not intended to be funny at all, just a crazy moment of wacky sisterness... but to understand I need to back track a little...

We belong to that crazy pack of people who participate in the Black Friday mania. After the pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream are gone on Thanksgiving, we spread out the ads and make lists and strategies for the wee hours of the following morning.

From November/December 2009

This past year we had all four sisters plus Mom, which hadn't happened in awhile, so there was quite a bit of coordination and we totally rocked the shopping. After we had hit some major doorbusters we went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and then decided to check out the deals at Old Navy.

The crowds had thinned a little at the late hour of 9am and we got to take our time and look around, try things on and pick things out for ourselves which Mom bought and then wrapped up for Christmas. That is FUN shopping!

We also wandered through the children's section, where I saw one of the cutest little dresses I'd ever seen. A brown and pink sweater dress... perfect for hoidays, but would still be super cute in January and February. EXCEPT I didn't see Sera's size! I pulled Libby over, and as she helped me comb the racks, she pulled out the dress in Maddi's size. GASP! How cute would it be if our daughters had matching dresses this Christmas! The answer is REALLY REALLY CUTE!

After determining that Sera's size was not there - we looked at some other choices, to see if there was another option with both sizes in stock. But there was not, the brown and pink one was just too perfect. So we bought the dress in Maddi's size, sure that we would be able to track down Sera's in one of our hometowns or at the very least online.

Ah, certainty! How "certain" it seems in the thrill of the moment! Libby returned to the Twin Cities and I to Madison. Over the next few weeks we each checked our closest store. Then we checked the stores on the other sides of town. Then we checked online - the dress was NOWHERE!

Well, December is a crazy time and while we were disappointed, we resigned to have separate dresses for the girls. So I began to keep my eye out for a different dress for Sera. Three days before we were to leave for Superior (where we spent our family Christmas this year, as our oldest sister was graduating from UW-Superior) I was frantic - no dress I saw was right!

So I called Libby IN TEARS! And being the best sister there ever was, she consoled me for a bit and then an hour later she chatted me on gmail... She had called around until finally someone told her they might have one at the Old Navy in Eau Claire, which would be en route for me to Superior. But after 30 minutes on hold with the Eau Claire store, they told her it might be in a shipment they had received that day, but she would have to call back tomorrow.

AHA! A shipment - that meant other stores we had tried weeks ago might have been restocked. So we both went into calling mode - and every store we called answered the phone with "Thank you for calling Old Navy during our Jingle Jammies event" which made me really wish my jammies were jingly... We called pretty much every store between Chicago and Minneapolis. After dinner and bedtime I made a call at 9:02, only to be reminded of the Jingle Jammies event, but then informed me she couldn't check because the store was already closed. Um, then why did you answer the phone?! Don't you know how frantic I am?! The fate of my world is resting on finding this dress! I'll jingle your jammies!!

After a fitful sleep in jammies that were not the least bit jingly, I called Libby and we went through our morning routines on the phone together. Not always talking; just listening to each other make breakfast, get Maddi out the door for school, change diapers, start laundry, change loads, just keeping each other company until finally it was 9 o'clock and the Eau Claire Old Navy was open.

We hung up and 15 minutes later Libby called me back. They had the dress in the right size! WOOHOO! They put it on hold for me and I could pick it up the next day on our way up to Superior. I found the address online and google mapped and was ready to go. We made good time to Eau Claire the next morning. I dropped Dan and the kids off at a McDonald's with a play place and then proceeded to follow my written directions.

I circled around a bit, but didn't see the Old Navy. I called Libby, told her I saw a mall, and asked her to try and determine if the Old Navy was in the mall... it was and she directed me to the nearest entrance. I walked in through Macy's and thanks to Libby's excellent mapping skills, I saw Old Navy as soon as I entered the mall. I went to the customer service desk and told them I had a dress on hold. She found it quickly and it was even on sale! I paid right away, since I needed to get back to Dan and the kids, I had lost time in my circling. I didn't even get a chance to check out the Jingle Jammies I'd heard so much about! But I really didn't process that until later. As I maneuvered my way back through Macy's to the parking lot, I called Libby and I was absolutely shaking with joy as I told her I had gotten the dress! She was equally excited and it was a very gratifying end to a month long saga.

Well, almost an end, the real culmination was when we actually got to dress the girls: totally worth all the trouble, don't you think?

Now if you've stuck with this story all the way to the end, perhaps you are wondering what on earth this crazy drama has to do with Modern Family...

When it came to this point in the show we both gasped, Libby paused the show (btw, so jealous of DVR) and we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. The dress Lily is wearing is the pink version of the one we had spent so much effort into getting for our girls. I know it doesn't look terribly similar, but having visited as many Old Navys as we had and scouring the internet, searching "Old Navy sweater dress" - it was instantly recognizable to us both.

It was such a simple moment - but remembering it has made me giggle out loud several times since it happened. And that's the idea behind both our 'shows' celebrating and laughing at the wacky moments of the family experience - it just makes the harder times so much easier to push through :)

2:13

2010-02-11T10:36:00.007-06:00

So the last few days have been awesome!!! Ryan had to go out of town so Meghan and her 3 kids came for a visit. I think the best thing about your sister being your best friend is that you can do and say anything and she won't be mad. You see Meghan and I have very different parenting styles, and sometimes when our children are butting heads then Meghan and I butt heads, but at the end of the day we are playing games and drinking hot chocolate.

From meghan at libbys

Ok enough about that, we have had a blast! They got here Tuesday evening so we just chilled and played, then Wednesday we took 4 kids to playgroup and had a so much fun at a local Rec Center.

From meghan at libbys

Then we came home and since Meghan and I have started knitting latley Lauren came over to help us learn to purl (which is a differnt kind of stich in knitting). Then I called my awesome waxing lady to see if she could fix Meghan's scary eyebrows, and of course she could so Meghan ran to get that done. In the mean time I made lunch for 6 kids!

From meghan at libbys

Since no one took a nap we decided to get all 5 kids dressed in snow clothes and out for some sledding. Thank goodness my friend's older boys were here to help with the sledding part.

From meghan at libbys

As usual, everyone we saw commented on how much Meghan and I look alike; I don't know what they're talking about...

From meghan at libbys

2:12

2010-02-03T16:35:00.005-06:00

One of the great things about a big extended family is all the clothes that get passed around. Libby and I are the youngest of 5 children (see how I pair myself up with 28 year old Libby? even though I'll turn 30 in July, I don't think I'll be officially in my thirties until Libby turns 30 in November 2011.) My mom has 14 grandchildren - so there are plenty of hand-me-downs and keepsake clothes around. Dan's mom also saved some clothes from when Dan, his brothers and cousins were young.

There is just something so special about seeing a younger child in clothes that used to fit an older child. It's emotional, I'm not even sure why. the memories? the tactile 'proof' of how much the hander-down has grown?

Here's Logan last week:

From pattern fair and richardson nature center

Here's Xander in May of 2008:

I wanted to post a whole bunch of pictures of kids wearing the same clothes, but the last few days have been rough, Sera caught a stomach bug so I've had to pull the "nurse" hat out of the mom box. Also, this resulted in quite a bit of extra laundry. So we'll have to make this a returning segment.

2:11

2010-01-29T17:50:00.012-06:00

I am going to name today's post: "More thsn I can chew" This week I have been thinking of the many things I can do when I grow up. Some of the things I have tried in the past include, Cubical Dummy, Finishing Touches (my own house cleaning service), Part Time assistant (I am still not 100% sure what I did), home daycare and Pampered Chef. Some of the things I have thought about doing lately are, becoming a pastor (which would involve LOTS of school - so that one came and went fast), being an electrician- cause I think John is cool, starting my own company (which for now is a secret because I don't want anyone to steal my idea), Home Improvement (I am using Tim "the toolman" Taylor as my inspiration) and last but not least I am summoning my inner grandma by learning to knit. All of this is of course going on while I am doing my full time job- mothering and home making.

So this week I did a little of everything - I started my business plan for my secret business - I found online help with outlines and ideas on how to start a business but I think the best idea is to take it to the Shark Tank and get my start up costs from a self made millionaires. I recaulked my bathtub - which is A LOT harder than I thought, it took me 4 days, day one remove the moldy caulk, another day to clean the area using every smelly poison I could think of, another day to let it dry out, and day four to recaulk, this was a very messy project, when I was done my feet were covered in caulk - you can only imagine how that happened.

I made half a washcloth, after many attempts at starting -casting on it's called - I finally got about half way done!

I helped Maddi make her pattern project, she decided that she wanted to do two patterns, so we painted 2 kinds of noodles, we used three colors and ended up with a "ABC" pattern, she is SO SMART! Then on Thursday we went to her pattern fair at school, Maddi's project was by far the best one there - I hope Zack's mom doesn't read my blog!

So I guess the moral of the story is - mom was right - I CAN DO IT ALL! Who needs a label, I can wear as many hats as I want!

2:10

2010-01-27T14:48:00.005-06:00

We had a busy morning here! We got up and got ready and were out the door at 9:30; I know that's not really early or anything, but considering we don't leave the house all together on a regular basis, I was proud of us.

I got dropped off at the Capitol to attend a Committee Hearing on the Right to Breastfeed Act that should be hitting the Senate floor later this week. I wasn't planning on speaking, just showing up to support it, but when I first got there, the room wasn't very full, so when I filled out the registration card I chose "in favor (speaking)" instead of not speaking, since I was worried the turn out was going to be smaller than expected. Well, of course I forgot that my watch is set like 10 minutes fast, so at 'real' 10 o'clock their were plenty of people (and lots of cute babies) there.

This is the bill:
A mother may breast−feed her child in any public or private location where the mother and her child are otherwise authorized to be. In such a location, no person may prohibit a mother from breast−feeding her child, request or direct a mother to move to a different location to breast−feed her child, request or direct a mother to cover her child or breast while breast−feeding, or otherwise restrict a mother from breast−feeding her child as provided in this section

There were a few other agenda items before the Breastfeeding, so then I was glad that I hadn't brought Sera, because she would not have been happy about trying to sit in one place that long. Most of the babies there were probably under 8 months, you know when they're still lap-happy. Ahh, those were great days...

One of the Representatives (Pasch) who helped start the bill spoke first, she highlighted some of the big breastfeeding benefits, and gave information on how laws like the one being proposed already exist in most states, several of which have as strong a wording as this one is proposing. I knew through the grapevine that there was some concern of the wording being weakened and/or changed to include a modesty clause, and Rep. Pasch stressed the importance of leaving the wording alone.

After she spoke, they had to skip ahead to a different agenda item, which only took about 5 minutes. Then they announced that they'd call up the people who wanted to speak and lucky me, I was first! I had done a little preparing in my head, but I was still pretty nervous. I think I did okay, the point I was trying to get across was how important it was that the bill text remain as-is. That a modesty clause would be detrimental, how the more people were seen nursing in public, the more normal it would be in society, which would help raise the number of breastfeeding mothers. Somewhere in there I said how I'm sure in addition to what Rep. Pasch had already said, they had certainly heard of the many benefits of breastfeeding over bottle feeding.

I hope what I actually said had some coherency to it...

A local doula spoke after I did, and then a woman from the Wisconsin Women's Council had some organized notes... I had to leave while she was speaking, because Dan was picking me up at 11. So I'm not sure how many more people spoke or if anything happened at the end. I think the bill goes to the Senate floor tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted!

Here's some pics of the boys playing pirates in the bathroom sink - it's a favorite after-lunch/Sera's napping activity.

I love how they share the stool and watch themselves in the mirror

From January 2010

2:9

2010-01-22T12:28:00.006-06:00

First things first: A friend of mine's blog has been nominated for blog of the year! Katie's husband Chris was in the same program as Dan at the Yale School of Drama. We had group wife activities and when I was pregnant with the boys she bought me an adorable change purse made out of a baby sock.

Katie chronicles her life as a wife and new mother on her blog and she is hilarious! I always love to see her at the top of our blog roll when she writes a new post, because I know I'm in for a treat. Here's one of my favorite entries: There is No Modesty in Motherhood. Classic Katie and laugh out loud funny.

So please vote for her blog "Confessions of a Young Married Couple" in this years bloggies! It's the last category, so you have to scroll all the way to the right.

Back to me! We love to make shakes at our house. They're quick, easy, the kids like them and they suck down 2 servings of fruits and veggies happily. Libby thinks it is cruel for me to call something with vegetables in it a 'shake' and is sure I will get some adolescent rebellion down the road. Time will tell, but in the mean time, here's a peak at how it all comes together.

The boys help peel the bananas and Sera showcases the green beans that are going to go in the shake:

From January 2010

Then the boys put the bananas and some green beans in while Sera tastes and contemplates the green beans

From January 2010

This is what Sera thinks of the green beans

From January 2010

Here are the bananas and green beans, but we need some more ingredients

From January 2010

The blender is pretty loud

From January 2010

I put a little milk in the cups, before I add the shake and stir it up and then a blissful quiet calm takes over the house.

From January 2010

Then 5 minutes later we have full bellies and smiling faces!

From January 2010

2:8

2010-01-20T14:49:00.014-06:00

Today was a crazy day! I am so back in the groove and loving it! I got up this morning and Maddi told me she was just too tired to go to school. When I told her that Angela (Zack's mom) was going to pick her up and she was going to Zack's (the boy she kisses on the bus) house to play after school she suddenly was not too tired! Weird how that works!

Then I was off to Target for diapers, on my way to Target I called Meghan to check in for the day. "ring ring - HELLO WHO IS IT" "this is auntie Libby who is this" "oh hi auntie weeby this is Noah" "oh hi Noah is your mom there" "well actually she is in the basement, i heard the phone go ring ring so actually i answered it" "oh I'm so glad, I love you Noah" " I love you auntie weeeby - actually here's my mom"

Then just when I thought the day could not get better, I saw a sign on the Target doors, "please excuse our dust - while we are adding our fresh grocery and meat departments" WAAAHOOOO - what could be better then one stop TARGET shopping! Then after getting lots of good deals on $80 worth of the things I did not need, I was on my way to "Logan's playgroup".

Today we met at Rainbow Play systems, they have open play in their show rooms. When we got there the sales lady made me and all the other moms, sign a wavier, pretty standard 'if my kid breaks his leg I will not sue'. Without thinking I signed away - Logan went up the first one, came down the slide and bit his tongue - AWESOME! So with blood dripping from his mouth I went to the drinking fountain to try to stop the bleeding which of course worked just fine. Unfortunately now that Logan knows there is a water fountain he is not longer interested in the 15 HUGE play systems in the room, all he wants to do is play in the water.

When I left Rainbow play systems, I called Angela to let her know I was on my way, she told me a story. When they got in the car from school Rebecca (Zack's little sister) said "mom I want peanut butter and jelly with red jelly for lunch" Maddi responded "you have different color jellies? -cool!"

Now that my crazy day is come to an end at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, I am sitting down with a cup of coffee and my laptop, thinking oh crap I still have to figure out dinner. Til next time readers remember after Tuesday even the calendar says WTF!

From Pump it Up

2:7

2010-01-15T15:25:00.009-06:00

In honor of our brother Ken's 40th birthday, here are 10 things related to Ken and 40. We were going to do 40, but figured we could just multiply these 10 facts by his 4 awesome sisters and get 40.

1. Casey Kasem's Top 40 debuted in 1970. The top song that year was the Jackson 5's "I'll be there"
2. Ken was born on 1-15-1970 at 3:21 pm. 1+15+19+7+0-3+2-1=40
3. On February 24th, 1970, when Ken was 40 days old, ABC aired "Quarantined" as their movie of the week.
4. On October 25, 1970, when Ken was 40 weeks old, Quenton Terrell Lowery, an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs, was born in Oakland, California.
5. In May 1973, when Ken was 40 months old the special Senate committee began televised proceedings on the Watergate affair.
6. Ken was 16 when the price of a Hershey's bar was raised to 40 cents.
7. The only member of the 40-40 Club not linked to steroids is CUBS player, Alfonso Soriano.
8. Fellow Illinois native, Ronald Reagan was the 40th president.
9. Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit - and Ken likes it when -40 = -40.
10. The 40th state added to the union was South Dakota - and Ken has state quarters with South Dakota on them.

Happy Birthday to our big brother, who is now in his 40s, while we are still both in our 20s.

2:6

2010-01-11T14:27:00.009-06:00

Blog Resolutions
- Broadcast twice a week
- Include pictures in every episode

Life Resolutions
- Be able to jog/run to park, keeping up with kids on bikes, and not be out of breath when we get there.
- Do a Christian book study with each other. (We have 2 books picked out, Libby has her copies, and she claims she gave me mine in a bag with a pair of Dan's pants, but I think Missy might have eaten them, but I promised I would look in my basement)
- Do more family activities. Game nights, local outings, and including the kids when we do home projects and chores.

Lisowski Family Christmas Tree Acquisition and Decoration

2009-12-13T21:53:00.001-06:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2:5

2009-10-31T18:29:00.013-05:00

We are finally settling into a routine here in Oregon, Wisconsin! So far, I think small town living suits us, we'll see what the next few months bring. Obviously, there is lots I could talk about, but for now I'm just going to post about Halloween.

The kids went as Phineas, Ferb and their pet platypus. Phineas and Ferb is a cartoon show on Disney that the boys LOVE, and I actually think is pretty clever. Two brothers who invent crazy stuff, and their pet platypus who is actually a secret agent who fights evil.

On my computer, if you click on an image, it blows it up in a new screen. I'm going to post a bunch of these to a picasa album (hopefully tonight) so you should be able to view them by clicking "Meghan's Pics" on the right.

2:4

2009-10-06T23:14:00.003-05:00

Crazy times! We are actually, finally, moving into our own place tomorrow (the 7th). We are so grateful to everyone we've stayed with this summer, but we are REALLY looking forward to settling down in our own space. We'll be sending out new address info soon!

Even though us getting into our new place is pretty momentous, it is not the biggest thing happening tomorrow... Sera is turning ONE! We're going to take her to the same "birthday bar" in Madison where the boys went on their first birthday. (The Nitty Gritty, for our Badger-hip readers)

While it's hard to believe her birthday is already here, we can just not imagine our family without Sera. She has been walking since 10 months. She got her 1st two teeth at 11 months, and almost has one top tooth. She loves to dance, especially when Xander sings "Twinkle Twinkle" or one of his made up songs. She loves ice cream, and Noah loves to let her lick his cone. She tries to sing along when the boys sing ABCs.

She loves shoes and will bring them to you, and then sit down so you can put them on. She also loves to be outside, which is somewhat related to the love of shoes. She's very excited about the boys' new shoes which light up (and are skechers, with an "S" on the side, which the boys love because it's "S for my Sera"). Her new shoes are supposed to come in tomorrow's mail, I'm sure she'll love them too.

She signs and says "milk" (for nursing), "more" and "all done". She also says "dada" and she definitely is saying it to Dan. She is a climber, just like her brothers. She loves to play tackle and duck, duck goose with the big kids. She loves to play peek-a-boo and has a giggle that melts your heart.

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! We love you so much!

2:3

2009-09-24T19:57:00.003-05:00

I think one of the toughest things about this summer is how out of touch I've been. Libby and I have had less phone time in the last four months than we usually have in one week. Same with gmail chat. And ditto on lack of phone and chat time with my best friend Steph. It. is. awful. I need these two to stay sane. To vent about crabby toddlers. To share the funny kidisms that remind us that we love our job. I am so looking forward to settling back into routine. Where I get time to stay in touch with Lib and Steph.

I also am out of touch in the blogosphere. Oh how I miss keeping up with my virtual friends. I promise I will come back to you, with witty and insightful comments.

I'm looking forward to making real life connections too. I am so excited to find like-minded mamas in crunchy Madison. Hooray for LLL, BF, AP, CD, BW, and VBACs!

2:2

2009-09-23T12:15:00.006-05:00

The other day, Maddi asked me when she could get a bra.
Me: Um, probably when you're about 13.
Maddi: Well when I'm 13 I am going to get a push-up
Me: Where did you hear about push-ups?
Maddi: One time when you were going to buy a bra, the lady asked you if you wanted a push-up, and you said no, but when I get a bra, I AM going to get a push-up.

It's so funny the stuff they file away and think about and choose to care about.

In much sadder boob news, early this morning, a friend of mine lost her battle with breast cancer. She was a wonderful woman, married with 2 small children ages 5 and 3. She went in peace while in her own bed in her home. She fought long and hard with cancer, and now she is with God, may she rest in peace.

Remind your mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, cousins and friends to do regular self checks. Women over 40 should be reminded to get a mammogram at least every 2 years.

The Susan G. Komen organization is a wonderful resource and fundraiser for breast cancer. One of Meghan's friends is currently participating in a Race for the Cure event. Click to donate. Do it in memory of my friend, Sharolynne. Or in honor or memory of someone close to you who has dealt with breast cancer.

2:1

2009-09-22T19:15:00.002-05:00

So why have we started season 2 with a Billy Joel video? Is it because that Libby used to think that the words to this song were "Green beans start the fire, there's a magnet in your brain today"? Nope, but that's on the right track...

Since we were on hiatus all summer, we decided to do a lyrical montage set to the tune of "We didn't start the fire". So here's what we were up to this summer...

Back in Midwest, grandma's house, in the van, nana's house
Eagle River, Eden Prairie, Back in Beaver Dam

Milwaukee Zoo, State Fair Cream Puff, Irish Festing, Garage Sale Stuff
Walk the doggies, uncle roggie, swim at auntie Pam's

Cowboy hats, facebook, yogurt cones, captain hook
backpacks, twenty-nine, been six years with my guy

Favorite colors, orange n' green, Sera's got some ice cream
House Hunting, in Wisconsin, we'll rent instead of buy

We didn't lose our minds
We came real close
But we made the most
We didn't lose our minds
Yeah we were on the run
but we sure had fun

fireworks softball mission trip basketball
communal showers, teenagers, up at 6 o'clock

three years, melting pot, champagne in a cup
yummy yummy food taste like a million bucks

moms house, lots of stuff, we need a place to hang
boys clothes, bouncy seat, double stroller, car seat

Haley visits, fire pit, parks, beaches, shopping list
Pampered Chef, playdate, terrible twos are early!

We didn't lose our minds
We came real close
But we made the most
We didn't lose our minds
Yeah we were on the run
but we sure had fun

Baby Legs, Sonic Shoes, Birkenstock, BoyGuy Shoes
Football, Fried Cheese Curds, Phineas and Ferb

Urgent Care, New Bandaids, Cart full of lemonade
ABCs, Granite Counter, Fun at Country Thunder

Sera walking, two teeth, nothing's out of reach
Fire pit, marshmallow, Spongebob is a no go

Wagon, skipping rocks, running down the mailbox
Stories about Xandano, Sera waves hello

We didn't lose our minds
We came real close
But we made the most
We didn't lose our minds
Yeah we were on the run
but we sure had fun

Tracy's basement, lots of books
tons of stuff to orgainize
shorting throwning selling on the internet

Libby crying on the news, watching Joe come home
stop worrying happy Kim, hes home safe and sound

poke pupil lasiks, lisowski's come to visit
9 people 3 beds what else do i have to say ..

We didn't lose our minds
We came real close
But we made the most
We didn't lose our minds
Yeah we were on the run
but we sure had fun

Stay Tuned

2009-09-21T16:54:00.001-05:00

After a long summer hiatus, Season 2 will premiere on the first day of fall - tomorrow, Tuesday September 22nd!

Woohoo!

1:21

2009-06-30T23:06:00.004-05:00

I wish our show was airing on a more regular schedule, but summer is busy in general, and with my family bouncing around, it's hard to find the time to broadcast. But I hope that by having more sporatic shows, our audience is all the more excited about a new episode :)

Dan is officially back from Vegas! He has been working this week from his mom's, where we are currently staying. I'm so thankful for *technology* allowing him to work from pretty much anywhere. He's only working a half day tomorrow (Wednesday) and then we are heading to his family's cabin Eagle River for a few days.

We went shopping yesterday for life vests, so the boys can go in the boat on the lakes up North. The shopping trip included a few tantrums (a rocky night's sleep PLUS no blue or orange vests in Noah's size EQUALED more than a few tears) but in the end we came home with matching Lighting McQueen ones that the boys wore pretty much all day. They are calling them pirate vests. Noah told a long story about how he was going to wear his pirate vest in the boat with a sail and a flag and bring his sword and maybe sometimes a fishing rod and would watch out for Captain Hook. It was very cute and I know they're both going to have a blast going out on the water.

Just now Xander woke up crying - he needed to go potty and also complained his leg was hurting. Daddy went to get some pink medicine (Sera's on ammoxiclin for an ear infection, so I told Dan to mix some cherry juice in with the dye free motrin). While we were waiting for the meds, Xander told me he was hungry, so I asked what kind of snack he wanted. Umm, Umm... I suggested a cracker or a cookie and then he says, "I want a carrot". So I suppressed my giggles and came down and got him some baby carrots. I sat with him while he ate them and I had one too. I said I liked carrots and he says "Yeah, I like carrots too, and so do bunnies". Fun, fun fun.

We had a fun day today - we had a playdate at the home of one of Dan's high school friends. There were a ton of kids and they all had a blast. There were 5 three year old boys, 2 one year old boys and of course, princess Sera for all the boys to fawn over. My camera is still at my sister's house, full of Europe pictures, but I'm sure with all the fun we had today, there will be more playdates with the Tettings and Kons' this summer, which will afford plenty of photo ops :)

1:20

2009-06-23T21:38:00.004-05:00

I am going to start with a disclaimer: I love my husband very much - he is an awesome husband and father!

With that out of the way - Why is it that when I give the kids a bath the bathroom ends up cleaner then when I started?? Really I dont expect it to be sparkling when he is done but does it have to be a total disaster?

I am not perfect but I try to multi-task, I will admit that sometimes I loose track of the thing I started with, but that is not for a lack of trying! When I give the kids a bath, I try to pick up a little, clear off the sink, pick up the millions of little pieces of toilet paper that somehow manage to decorate the floor, you know just the little stuff. Sometimes I get ambitious and clean the toilet or Windex the mirror. Either way the bathroom is always cleaner by the time the kids are done soaking.

Tonight I had a softball game, and even in the awesome shape I am in I was a little sore when I got home. So I asked Ryan to please give the kids a bath, which since I usually do it during the day he has not done in about 6 months, now I remember why! I went in after they were done it looked as though the linen closet, the sink, the toy basket and the medicine cabinet had been threw hurricane Katrina. I use that analogy because not only was everything spewed all over the place, but everything was wet! There were 4 towels out, not including the 2 the kids were wrapped in, there was toys all over the sink, floor and tub, AND my luffa was on the floor next to the toilet (yes i will be getting a new one)! AAAAAAAAAAA - Good grief -

So I ask, is it worth asking for help when it really just causes more work in the long run?

1:19

2009-06-19T21:42:00.009-05:00

What a crazy week!

I'm going to do a quick sum-up and then a more detailed description of the Wheel of Fortune experience. I left for Vegas Wednesday evening, I was anxious about leaving Sera, but had managed to pump a decent amount of milk for the time I would be gone. Obviously I'm grateful to Libby for taking care of my kids while I went on this trip, but I need to give her good friend Susie a shout-out and HUGE THANK-YOU for helping out so much while I was gone, I was so much less stressed, knowing that libby was less stressed because she wasn't on her own with all 5 kids. THANKS SUSIE!

Thursday morning Libby called me at 430am. Noah had been up sick for a few hours and we decided she should take him to Urgent Care. It was good she did because he did have an ear infection and he got antibiotics, he felt pretty bad all day Thursday, but by afternoon when I got home he was healthy and happy. So here's what happened at the Wheel of Fortune auditions:

My audition time was for 11am, so I got to the Venetian parking lot around 1015. I was trying to follow the signs to the Conference Center and saw another girl doing the same looking around as I was, and so we buddied up to find our way. Her name is Teryl and she's a college student at CSN. We finally got to the right place and we took a seat in a conference room with about 50 people.

They went around and took everyone's name for a seating chart. Then they put a puzzle up on a screen at the front of room and called a name at random. That person would stand up in their spot and call a letter. If the letter was there, they could spin, solve or buy a vowel. There was a staff person up front with a 3' high wheel doing the spinning for you. If you solved the puzzle, you got a WoF shirt or hat. Then they put up a new puzzle, and continued calling names.

When Teryl's name got called with half a puzzle up, she quickly whispered, "I don't know it!" So I said, "Call B or K" she called B and then it clicked and she got to solve the puzzle! very exciting :)

They continued to call names and then finally it my turn, I was the very last person in the room to have my name called. I thought I was being loud, but they asked me to repeat, ugh, my mouth was so dry from all the woohooing for all the people before me and being sick, etc. but i got to call 2 more letters, but i didn't have it and tried to buy an O but there wasn't one :( So I didn't get to solve a puzzle.

Then they handed out a written test with out 12 puzzles on it- half filled in, kinda like the bonus round had five minutes to complete, it was WAY harder than I thought it would be I think I solved 8 of them. But during the break everyone was saying it was hard, and I got the feeling i had actually done pretty well on it. After the break they called about 20 names of people to stay for the '2nd round' but not me, but Teryl did get called, so that was exciting.

Of course I was dissapointed to not make it to the next step, but it really was a lot of fun and I'll never forget the experience. I'm hoping Teryl makes it on so I can say "I know her!" We exchanged phone numbers, so hopefully she'll let me know if she makes it on.

I'll just have to keep watching and hoping for my spin ID to come up!

1:18

2009-06-16T19:17:00.002-05:00

Today was pretty crazy again! I am not sure how well I am going to do by myself with all 5 kdis!! But Mom always said "you can do anything" so i am going for it!

Today we decided that we needed groceries, that pb&j would just not do it for another day! So we thought it would be a good idea to tell the kids that we would go to the park after we went to the store if they were good.

So we went in two cars -since we all dont fit in either minivan all together- to the store. With two shopping carts one with the stupid car on the front that is impossible to maneuver and another regular one, we started our adventure through Rainbow foods, for those of you who dont live in the Twin-Cities area Rainbow foods, is the local grocery store.

We did ok - if ok means we didnt totally lose it - until the end when Maddi had just been told "no" one too many times and started screaming. We were in the check-out lane so we just decided just to get out as fast as we could. We did pretty good budget wise and made it to the van(S) loaded them up and realized we forgot to get snacks for the park, since it was almost lunch time we needed to have something for them to eat at the park, so I ran back in to grab some "hold'em overers"! I grabbed the first box of appropriate snacks I found and got back to the lanes which of course by now were long and moving slow. In true grocery store form a male cashier was on break in line behind me with his lunch. Another male cashier was walking through the line and commented to cashier 1, " did you see those women with all those kids" cashier 1 replies, "yeah and one was screaming" cashier 2 says "yeah and she was the oldest of them!"

This was a pretty innocent conversation between 2 young men who have NO clue, however being as stressed out as I was, I felt the need to not let it go. I paid for my cheez-its and went back to the "cara-van-s" and told meghan what I had heard. She implied she was also insulted-so I did what anyone would do and dialed 411 to get the number for the store. When Terri answered I told her what I had heard and mentioned to her that this was not the first time that cashier 2 had been less then helpful. She assured me that this issue would be addressed!

Here I am 7 hours later trying to decide whether to feel:

A: frustrated because there are people in this economy that dont have jobs, and it just isnt fair that these two punks have one!!

B: bad for their future wives and kids

C: ridiculous for even being frustrated at all with something so simple and innocent

I guess in the scheme of things I am glad I took my frustrations out on some pimpled face i-podder then my own precious -never going to be like them - kids.

1:17

2009-06-15T16:02:00.006-05:00

Wow, Friday was a crazy day for both of us. Libby had to take Maddi to an eye appointment, since at her kindergarten screening they said she might need glasses. She does indeed need glasses, which she got to pick out today. Stay tuned for pictures soon!

I was busy planning my trip to Minneapolis, inside of which I also planned a last minute trip to Las Vegas. Libby is going to keep all 3 of my kids while I go to a Wheel of Fortune audition in Vegas. I went to a Wheel Mobile event about a month ago - I didn't get up on stage, but I filled out a form, and I got chosen for the 'final' auditions. I don't know how many people will be there, or for how many slots, but being the huge WOF fan that I am, everyone seems to think I should not pass the opportunity up and have the 'what-ifs' hanging over my head. So I leave Wednesday evening, have the audition Thursday morning, and fly home Friday morning.

What a roller coaster - I'm anxious and excited about the game show, psyched to see Dan, and nervous about leaving my babies, especially since I've just been away from the boys and have never left Sera before. But they all love their Auntie Libby, and I'm sure the time will fly for everyone.

The kids and I made it to Libby's around 6 last night. The kids are getting along really well. The boys are getting a little mixed up about all the aunties... sometimes they call libby auntie pam or auntie tracy, so we correct them, so they just started calling her "Maddi Mae's Mom".

Last night we had a jam session with Ryan's Guitar Hero World Tour. The kids are grooving to No Doubt's "Spiderweb" - which Noah and Xander are fittingly dressed for. I shall let the video say the rest...

1:16

2009-06-11T17:17:00.004-05:00

Today we went to Miller Park, they (not sure who they is) but they have remodeled it to be one of the biggest best laid out parks I have ever been to. Except for one stupid "a man with no kids designed this" part.

There are two sections, a section for smaller kids, with littler slides, wider stairs and walk-ways, spinney "Xs and Os" etc. and a bigger kid part with tall slides and monkey bars, and a barrel roller. But right in the middle of the two sections is this water pump sand area!!! Seriously???? If I wanted my kids to be covered in wet - yucky - get everywhere sand I would take them to the beach - which since I live in Minnesota there are 10,000 of! So while the kids were mostly occupied with the wonderful new play equipment I spend most of my time trying to keep Logan out of the mud maker!

Nice try park designers but not so much!!!

1:15

2009-06-10T15:12:00.003-05:00

For as long as I can remember, Wednesday in my mom's day care home is PANCAKE DAY! Often times my mom would make mine with chocolate chips, but this morning we had left over blueberry compote from last night's crepes, and it was so yummy.

Pancake Day almost feels like a holiday - everyone gets into the spirit of pancake day. We talk about it the night before, a little Tuesday night Pancake Eve celebration. And during the feast, everyone is happy and jolly. This morning after I gave Sera half a pancake, and Grandma said, "Don't drop your pancake Sera, the doggies will eat it up." Then Noah came up to drive the point home, standing at her high chair he rattled off, "Yeah, Sera, hold on to your pancake, don't drop it, if you drop the doggies will come REALLY FAST and eat it up REALLY FAST and then your pancake will be all gone and you won't have your pancake ANYMORE." It was so cute.

Later, Xander came to help me change Sera's diaper. To entertain her, he told this joke:
X: Knock, Knock
M: Who's there?
X: Aproughs
M: Apples Who?
X: No, EYEBROWS, me saying!
M: Oh, sorry, Eyebrows who?
X: Pancakes!! (followed by lots of giggles)

I don't know what it is about my mom's pancakes that's so great. They're *just* bisquick pancakes, but when I make them, it's just not the same. Maybe it's the heavy stovetop griddle she uses. Maybe it's the half of stick of butter she uses to grease that griddle. But probably it's just the Mom factor, the love and the memories of many a Pancake Day past and the anticipation of all the Pancake Days to come that make every Wednesday morning here so special.

1:14

2009-06-09T12:44:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was watching West Wing, my new lazy pleasure, I there was an episode with some flashbacks. I realized that our show needs some flashbacks, to better explain where our show came from and to set up where its going.

Lets set the scene "saved by the bell" style, with a pink cloudy outline around the screen, and a little dooodle doooodle do,

Meghan and I were on the phone talking when I mentioned to her that Logan (who at the time was 4 months old) was in the jumpy jump, and having so much fun. Meghan asked me, isnt he too little for that? no of course not he loves it jumpy jumpy jumpy, Meghan then asked me well doesnt he roll around? Well he spins around but I wouldn't say rolls. Meghan so confused then asked me well does Maddi go in with him? No she is too BIG duh! Finally after we realized that we are BOTH confused, I further explained that he was in jumperoo that sits on the floor. Meghan then tried to explain to me what she thought I meant however couldnt because she was laughing so hard she couldnt get a word out. When she was finally got out that she thought that I was talking about the bounce house that my mom had given me. All I could think was does she really think I would put my 4 month old baby in a bounce house - well maybe - But I didnt!
Dooodle dooodle do - the pink cloud fades

I hope you enjoyed this flash back into our lives. Have a great day!

1:13

2009-06-08T15:24:00.002-05:00

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

I'm back from Europe and we had an incredible time. As soon as I recover from the jet lag, I will post more pictures and details from our trip. It was the trip of a lifetime, but I am so glad to be home, which is a funny word, since, technically we're a sorta homeless right now. But even though it's stressful not really having a permanent address, really, I'm just so grateful that I don't have to worry about a roof over my head or food on the table. We are so blessed to have family members and friends who are almost fighting over who will host us.

The boys seem so grown up - they gave us full accounts of how much fun they had with Grandma and Nana and Auntie Pam and Maddi Mae while we were gone. And while they have given us lots of hugs and I love yous since we got back yesterday, it's clear the time went by quickly for them.

I promise to be funnier tomorrow. I'm still in a bit of a time fog...

1:12

2009-06-05T09:58:00.002-05:00

I am sorry to have taken a few days off, but with out meghan its hard to get material to write about. Yesterday I took casey home and in the car we talked about all kinds of things that are "blogable".

For starters, Casey received a text message from a classmate of hers, now for a little background information, Casey and her brother Danny and sister Haley go to a christian school, which is neither here nor there, but needs to be said for this to make sense. So the text message from Tyler, who is not a boyfriend but a friend who is a boy, the message said, those public schooler will never love me, my question is what exactly is a "public schooler"? She explained to me that he plays on 2 soccer teams, one for thier school and another at the public school, he was injured and was afraid that the "public schoolers" would not understand and be mad that he wasnt playing. Now being one of these "public schoolers" myself I would understand and I dont think its very fair for Tyler (the friend who is a boy) to assume (and we all know what that does) that just because we dont pray in school that we wouldnt understand an injury!! Now for those of you out there who are mad that I am picking on a 16 year old boy for making a simple comment, I have talked to casey about it and she said it was ok and that should would takl to Tyler about his use of the phrase. I love you Tyler - however I dont speak for all the "public schoolers" just me.

The other story comes from my adorable children, on our way back home from meeting danny to drop off casey, Maddi and Logan were sharing a cookie, Logan (who sounds very much like me) says Maddi, this cookie is so yummy, how did you ever learn to make such yummy cookies. Maddi replied with, Duh Logan I didn't make the cookie the restaurant did, silly Logan! Logan then says, big sister you are so very smart how did you get to be so smart? Maddi answers, God made me smart. Logan says, oh big sister did God make me smart too? Maddi confidently says, No silly Logan I did!

That is all for today, Meghan will be back from Europe on Sunday and should be posting next week!! Have a great weekend!

1:11

2009-06-02T13:44:00.004-05:00

Today I was reading my facebook page, and I saw a post from Danny, our nephew. He got a new laptop, with itouch, now I know I am all of 27 years old but what the heck is an itouch. So I asked Danny - what is an itouch, he told me its some kind of ipod. Now I am still not on the ipod train, but I dont knock those who are, but really is it necessary to carry around 5,000 of your favorite songs in your pocket, or in your phone for goodness sakes? Anyhow, apparently Danny's itouch can "go on the Internet and get all kinds of apps and stuff." He then told me that his Internet at home wasnt working, so he was at McDonalds using his new computer. So I asked him to get me a quarter pounder with cheese (no pickles) and teleport it to me with his new itouch, since i am SURE there is an app for that! Of course he responded there is not, but I am sure apple is working on that.

This reminds me of a few other stories: this weekend when my family was in town we were outside sitting around the firepit in the evening, and Logan was sleeping in his room. My mom asked if i had a monitor on. Being the allstar mom that I am i said "nah hes fine." This is when Casey (Danny's sister) says wouldnt it be cool if there was a iphone with a baby monitor on it. I dont know if i need to say it again but I will anyway: Please tell me why it is necessary to have in your pocket a phone/boombox/baby monitor!

My last story about the "i" world is this, about a year ago I was talking to Ryan and this craze, when I said "I dont know what the big deal is with the ipod when i was a teenager I had a walkman that had am/fm radio and could play TAPES!" To me that is still better, but to todays teenagers I guess the ability to listen to songs, watch last night's episode of House, and make babysitting easier by not having to get up and check on a sleeping child is better then having the "autoflip" option!

1:10

2009-06-01T15:23:00.003-05:00

Hello,

Yet another great weekend, Meghan, Dan and Sera are still in Europe, it looks they are having a great time! Maddi is home from a great week at Grandma Penny's Logan is so happy to have his sister home. He started to yell a few noises that sound almost like "maddi-lyn".

Maddi woke up this morning singing "tommy used to work on the docks, dah-dah-dah so tough" just another thing shes learned from guitar hero world tour.

My niece Casey is staying with me this week, we are very excited to have a week together. Today after moms group Casey and I decided that we should start our week with a day outside in our bathing suits, we told Maddi to go get hers on, when she came out of her room wearing her flowery one piece suit and her brown cowboy boots. (See pictures)

Thanks for checking in!

1:9

2009-05-29T16:48:00.002-05:00

So today Logan and I did lots of errands, nothing too exciting, sorry the blog has been a little off course this week, it's hard for me to be with out Meghan, even though we have been talking online it's not the same as being able to call her whenever I want. Also with Maddi at grandma's there really isnt much to report other then Logan is so very handsome!

Have a great weekend, and I will be back on Monday with fun stories from the weekend, and Meghan's adventures from Paris (Pair-rie)!

Here is a little excerpt from Meghan's adventure

"Today we got up at 730 and were out the door by 9. We walked to Notre Dame, took us about 30 minutes to get there, but we took some pictures along the way, it wasn't far at all and we got to cross the Seine.

Notre Dame was AMAZING! We got an audio tour player that explained stuff in English, which was very helpful. During the tour, we got to go into the 'Treasury' which holds many of the Cathedral's artifacts. The highlights of which were two reliquaries that hold actual pieces of Jesus' cross and one that holds what remains of his crown of thorns. After we toured the cathedral, we went down into the crypt museum, which we thought would be 'cryptier' but was more an archaeological history of what was on the island in the early AD centuries, when the romans were there, its so cool what people built back then without cranes and backhoes."

A little side note to Ryan and Mike, see they did just fine back then without a backhoe!!!

1:8

2009-05-28T17:09:00.003-05:00

Hello All!! Today I went to my friend Susie's house we had a great time, apparently though Meghan had much more fun at her friend Mona's house, Mona Lisa that is, I am so very jealous, here is a bit of her update from today:

"It took us about 15 minutes to walk to the Louvre - which is HUGE. I mean, it's a castle, so I guess that's to be expected, but wow! (it was built in the 12th century, and the french royalty lived there until the 1700s when Louis XIV moved the court to the country and built Versailles). We saw alot of the Museum, including the Mona Lisa, which I had heard was small, but I was still surprised. and yes, the eyes do follow you."

Other then that, although I am not sure we can top a trip to the Louvre (which I am pretty sure is pronounced looovra) Grandma is having a great time with her grandchildren, since she has the biggest number according to "just Joey" she is in charge, Maddi clearly disagrees, she is after all the "Maddi Mae"! Enjoy Meghan's pictures from "across the pond"!

1:7

2009-05-27T12:39:00.003-05:00

Today's show is brought to you live from Paris! I can't believe we're here. I also can't believe my boys are so far away from me. I know they're having a blast with Grandma and their cousins, but I miss them. We passed a cool fountain today, which the boys would have been excited about, and it was weird that they weren't there to see it. But maybe someday we'll all come back as a family when all the kids are old enough to remember.

Of course I miss the boys terribly, but also, I really miss talking to Libby. Even though I'm thrilled to spend one on one time with Dan, it's just strange not to be up to date on Libby's day. I'm really glad we have a computer at our Paris apartment, so at least we can email.

We haven't taken any pictures, trying to get our bearings a little, so we can get the camera in and out quickly before it's too obvious we're totally clueless about our surroundings. Tomorrow we head to Versailles, which will certainly be tourist filled, and easy to take out the camera.

Hmmm, this episode is a little dry, I'm still not caught up on sleep, we're trying to stay up a few more hours before crashing, so we can be on Paris time, so hopefully the next international broadcast will be a little livelier.

In the meantime, enjoy the new 'look' of our show, Libby is experimenting with some help from Becky, while she doesn't have me in her ear all day...

1:6

2009-05-26T16:29:00.002-05:00

Well it was a great weekend, Meghan and the family made it to Grandma's house, and the whole family met at Tracy's for Danny's graduation!! Fun times!

Today Meghan and Dan did lots of running around trying to get ready for their trip to EUROPE, Meghan was deciding which toys to take with for Sera, and mom said "take whatever I'm not attached to anything" and Maddi (who is spending the week with grandma) responded "I am! I am attached to my arms, my legs and my head!!"

As of right now Meghan, Dan and Sera are waiting at the airport for their flight to Paris. So as Dan put it I guess this will just be the "libbyshow" for a while. obviously there is no objection from me! This will shouldn't be an issue since I am "T minus one" kid ( I dont really know what that means but it sounds good. )

In other news, my S-I-L becky also has a blog, when i figure out how to link them I will, but her entry today was VERY FUNNY! about her boyfriend's brother and his ex-girl friends trashy mother.

That is it for today, I am off to my softball game, I will keep you updated on the dan and meghan live from paris show!

1:5

2009-05-22T09:36:00.005-05:00

So i woke up this morning at 8:30, its days like this that i am so grateful to Ryan for working so hard so i can be home. I checked my phone to see how Meghan and the family were progressing, and i saw they stopped in Green River, Utah around 3am (my time). I decided that today i should stay home and get caught up on laundry, also in case Meghan needs my gps services. Maddi "willingly" cleaned up her playroom, and yes i did use the line, i didnt help make the mess so why should i help clean it up.

Later we took a break and went to the park, well i thought it would be a break, Maddi for her birthday got a bike, and getting her to ride it has not as easy as i thought. She screams bloody murder everytime we go outside to practice. With a little bribing we got to the park in about a half hour, (usually a 5 minute walk). never did i expect to have to convince her to have fun.

Well the week is almost over with a long weekend ahead, just FYI the meghan and libby show takes off for federal holidays so we will return Tuesday with reports from the weekend, thanks for tuning in for our first week.

1:4

2009-05-21T17:35:00.004-05:00

Phew! Today was crazy, we are hitting the road for our return to the Midwest in a few hours. Dan is on his way home from work right now, so I have to write fast! Dan and I hit felt done enough to hit the sack at 2am. Sera gave us a woke up call at about 6, which came fast, but we needed to get busy anyway. We got the last couple things into our SAM, namely, the boys' mattresses. Once Dan left for work the kids and I took the van to get an oil change.

I went to the place that is 100 ft from a McDonald's with a playplace, but when we got there, we were the first ones there, and they said only 10-15 minutes, so I decided to wait it out. Ugh, of course it took 35 minutes, which isn't terribly long, unless you're trying to keep two 3 year olds from flooding the waiting room with the bubbler, while also limiting their intake of the complementary donuts. Sera was happily playing in her carseat for awhile, but then got hungry, and of course as soon as she's happily nursing, I'm required to fill out paper work. So I stand up, with Sera in the crook of my arm, still eating, and the guy says, "Oh, she's eating?" I answered a quick, "yep" and was internally tsking at him because I thought he was hinting at inappropriateness, when he was says in a lovely Jamacain accent, "That's wonderful for the baby, so natural, the mother's milk is the best milk" That really made my day, and today was a TOUGH day. Naturally, I called Libby to share the story. We love to talk about our customer service experiences - usually they're frustrated venting sessions, but I LOVE it when we have a good one to talk about, just restores your faith in humanity.

We ran more errands and Libby came along with me on the phone, and I got to listen in on Maddi making a peanut butter sandwich and really wanting to share with Logan, who is still too little for peanut butter.

This is my last post for a few days, but of course Libby will keep writing, when she's not too busy providing me GPS services...

1:3

2009-05-20T20:57:00.004-05:00

Today I CHOPPED my hair, I will donate 10 inches to locks of love. It was hard, and i cried, but knowing that it will be going to someone who needs it makes it worth it, also giving Ryan one less thing to use against me is good, he likes my hair short! I think it looks pretty good, 20 some facebookers think "it looks great/awesome/cool/sweet/mom-like"

I guess there is not a whole lot to report today since Meghan and i didnt get a lot of time to talk, when i had time her kids were not compliant and i had several things to do and i left my phone on silent .. oops! either way she is finishing packing and heading off back toward the midwest tomorrow! waahoo

Other then that i am sitting on my couch watching my husband play guitar hero world tour, while my 5 year old daughter stands on the coffee table wearing her purple silk jasmine nitegown belting out as laud as she can into the microphone "a likely story but leave a message and ill call you back" which always reminds me a that yearbook trip to Phoenix when we managed to go to a No doubt concert!! yearbookers are not dorkie!!!

1:2

2009-05-19T12:09:00.006-05:00

When I first suggested the name of our show to Libby, it was over gmail chat. I wrote it all as one word, since I knew that's how it would look in url address. Libby called later to tell me she had created the blog, and had decided to keep the title all in lower case. We're very ee cummings, she says. and we laughed. After our premiere, we were on back gmail chat and had the following exchange:

me: remember the other day when you said we were very 'ee cummings'

Libby: yes
me: well we're kinda random with the capitalization, which is actually more Emily Dickenson...or as Buffy would say, Emily Dickens

Libby: lol how do we work that in

me: we can save it, see if anyone comments on our writing style

Well readers, we didn't have to wait long at all! Libby's dear English Teacher sister-in-law, Becky, called us on our grammar. We're not worried about grammar. Yes, I'll proofread libby's posts, but we're not going for a pulitzer, just some laughs and "yes, that's how I feel!" moments. We'll write conversationally, anecdotally and sometimes talk-show monologue-y.

I was going to wrap up there, but thought I should share what kept the boys busy while I wrote this. There was a pile of hardware from the desk (screws, shelf holder-uppers, etc). Also, there were the tubes that go to the vacuum. So they are playing cannons, "1, 2, 3 Fire!" and then the hardware comes pouring out of the tube. Guess they don't mind all their toys already being packed up!

1:1

2009-05-18T14:40:00.003-05:00

ahhh monday, a day when libby gets to go to her wonderful moms group meeting at the church, but that means that poor meghan has to wait until 9:30am (vegas time) to talk to her. Unfortunately for Meghan once she officially gets back to the midwest this will mean that it will be 11:30 before she can call. Moms group was, as usual, relaxing and wonderful, I hope that Meghan finds one similar when she gets to madison. Today I would like to address the issue of "non-believers" no not of the Lord, but of the meghan and libby show. our oldest nephew danny, has a "slightly negitive attitued " about our show. Also Ryan doesn't want to follow until we have been up and running for 2 months. Meghan reports that Dan seems perplexed as to the timing of the series premiere, but is otherwise ambivalent. i just have one thing to say to that, you boys are going to feel really bad when you see people walking around with "the meghan and libby show" tee-shirts and logo'd non-leaching stainless steel water bottles.
Just wait and see.

The Pitch

2009-05-17T10:58:00.002-05:00

So for some time, Libby and I have felt that we should have our own show. We talk on the phone quite a bit and always crack each other up - it keeps us sane in the somewhat isolated world of stay-at-home-momdom. But why should our hilarity be hidden from the rest of the world? We can't imagine most SAHMs have lucked out enough to have a best friend-sister-therapist-comedienne-gps-advice columnist-chef who they can have in their ear at any given moment during the day. So we need to broadcast. We need to share our journey, our funny kidisms, our photos, our recipes, our triumphs and our mistakes.

So here is our first season. A trial summer slot to test the waters and see how our ratings do.