A Pile of Walleye

How are these for some nice eyes, those of you who appreciate walleye fishing and eating? These were from gill nets set in a nearby lake. We have to sacrifice the fish in order to extract the otolith (inner ear bone), which tells us the age of the fish. And no, we don't get to keep and eat the fillets!

Potty Training?!?!?!

I started yesterday morning after breakfast potty training Ali. I woke up and got to the polls at 6:30am so that I would not have to leave the house with her. It is not going how I pictured. All moms think their kid is smart and wonderful. I think Ali is smart for her age, very verbal, aims to please for the most part and knows that she has peed or pooped by telling me and requesting a diaper change. The phrase usually is, "Mommy, pooped. Diaper Change!" So she is showing signs of readiness. I got a book, geared myself up and cleaned up a whole lotta pee yesterday. Same goes for today only I get to add poop to the list of cleaned up stuff. I had to phone a friend for moral support and pointers and ask if spanking during the process really isn't allowed. She is interested in the potty mostly cause she is "reading" books and coloring while she is on there. She will sit there for 10-15 min, not do anything then pee her pants, floor and anything else in range (me) 2 mins after she gets off the potty. I know it will happen, but come on! I was nuts when I believed the book about the possiblity of her getting it in a day! Any words of encouragement? I will take them.

A Weekend with the Felix Five

We had a great time with our hometown buds the Felix five. The weather was great and we could play outside and picnic at the park. Curt took all the kids to his office to see what Jacob kept calling "all the dead animals". We laughed hard the whole weekend and had a great time. Thanks for the visit guys!

Penn State Cutie

You Might Be a Redneck If...

Your Dad gives you a bait bucket to trick or treat with! Checking out the loot!

All girls love chocolate!

Boo at the Zoo

This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa (Bianca & Bianca) came to visit. We went to Boo at the Zoo! It was awesome. This is my cool costume. I love it. It would look cuter with black tights and a black shirt, but it was cold and I needed to wear my warm stuff underneath.
Ali had a blast looking at the animals and especially loved the lion. She just kept saying, "Wow, big lion!".

Grandma took me on a railroad ride and even got on with me...Thanks Bianca!

Harnish / Wagner Weekend

We had a great weekend with Steve and Becky Harnish and kids. We were lazy and didn't take many pictures ourselves, but the Harnish family took tons. See the following link for pictures from this past weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbharnish/OhioVacation#

The Sequel...It's a...

Surprise due on January 29th! We had a sonogram last week on Monday. The baby is doing perfectly and growing right on track. I can feel it doing flips in there and it especially likes to be active when I lay down to sleep at night. The sonogramer (?) said she could tell what it was through out the ultrasound and shut off the parent viewing screen when she documented it. I think that Curt really wanted to peak. I would post the pics, but our scanner isn't working. I am excited to be surprised! The best part of the whole thing was watching Ali pull her shirt up like mine was and rub her belly and say, "Baby, Belly, Baby, Belly". I think we have a boy name picked out but not a girl name yet. We scored a double stroller at a twins sale this past weekend and my parent-in-laws bought a converter crib so Ali can have a toddler bed. We are getting ready! Yipee!

Oh Mommy!

After Ali finished a grilled cheese and grapes for lunch I decided to give her a treat. I hardly ever give her something this exciting. I asked her if she would like a fruit snack. She said, "Oh Mommy, YES!". This is a picture of pure fruit snack joy!

Goldilocks

Nope, I am not talking about my sweet blond kid, I am talking about me. The time has finally come to bust out the maternity clothes. My regular stuff is too tight. Good for health, bad for the wallet...my maternity clothes from the first pregnancy are too big. So I went to JCPenny catalog outlet today. This place was awesome. I found a pair of maternity jeans, in short no less for $6.99!!! Just right! I also got 12 toothbrushes for $3.98. 7 adult and 5 kid. What a steal. I love bargins.