Play Group Halloween Party

For the past few years I have been part of a play group of teachers. Every summer we get together once a week with the kids at one of the parks in town. We take turns providing a picnic lunch (yes, it's really sucky when it's your turn and you have to bring lunch for over 20 people but it's just once the whole summer) and the kids play while the moms chat!

This past Monday I hosted the annual Halloween party at my house. We missed Nichole and her two boys (fever kept them home) but the rest sure had a great time.

The Kids! Don't miss Michael Jackson on the right!

Time to eat!

Pinata action! Go Margo!

Usually we bob for apples, but we figured H1N1 would knock on every one of our doors if we continued with that tradition. This year...pinata.

The Foreplay mom's.

Jill, Nancy, Me, Jen, and Jodie

Yes, I said it, Foreplay is the name of our playgroup...according to the adults in the group anyway! Ha!

They are a great group of women. We have had many laughs and I am sure there are many more to come.

It was nice to see everyone and catch up a little. Our next meeting will just be the mom's. We have earned it. After all, we have worked for two whole months.

Christmas Party

Christmas party? In October? What?

Mike's bank decided to plan the yearly Christmas party a little early this year. Apparently they were sick of people not being to attend due to conflicts! December tends to be a busy month, January too for that matter. So, it was Christmas in October for the United Prairie bank

clan and company.

The plan was a two hour wagon ride through the country. Sounds lovely, except it' s been unusually cold weather here in MN. The temperature was around 45 degrees with a breeze and no sun. To be honest, I was kind-of dreading it.

I did take the opportunity to buy both of us new down vests for the occasion though!

In the end, it turned out to be a great time! A little chilly, but not miserable. Many laughs were had on the trip. It was close quarters, which was fine with the chilly weather, and we traveled around the countryside.

A few cocktails were consumed by the brave ones not afraid to relieve themselves in corn fields. If you know anything about me and my toilet issues, you know I would never use a

cornfield as a bathroom. But I will take pictures of people doing so.....

Here is Rachel. The BRAVE woman in the group. She was not scared to journey in a few rows in the vegetation to feel more comfortable. She scoped out the most friendly appearing spot and took care of business. She was a good sport with the jeers and comments coming from the trailer. And I did ask permission to post this picture! Notice it's not an action shot.

After a great buffet of sinful grub and a few MORE cocktails, there were many stories told. Rachel really should write a book, or start a blog, or do stand-up. The girl is hilarious and can captivate a room. Do you know people like that? She was definitely the entertainment and held everyone's attention for many an hour with her comical play-by-plays of dealing with the public and working with the same small group of people day after day. I am sure this small bank will talk about this party for years to come....

A big thank-you to Beth as well, for hosting the event at her home....never an easy feat.

Thanks for a great night UP....

Wild Day

We went and saw Where the Wild Things Are today with my parents. We love going to the Cinemagic theatre in Burnsville. If you have never been, you should try it. It's new and BIG and the seats rock.....literally. SOOooooo nice.

The first time I went there over a year ago with Mike, I walked out into the lobby to use the bathroom and they were playing a song from Wicked, my favorite play of all time. I fell in love. Instantly. I could have hung out in that stall all day.

The kids gave the movie a 10 out of 10. They liked how there was tons of action. There weren't any scary scenes and it followed the book pretty closely.

I gave it about a 7 out of 10. It was good, but not awesome. I liked it and LOVED the message about family and loving each other, even when it's hard. There was a theme of togetherness and accepting everyone with the main "wild thing" character basically having a strong parallel to the boy, Max. The music was fun (it's playing right now) and it added a lot to the movie.

We saw it on the BIG Megascreen and next time we will sit in the back row when we are in that one. There was plenty of action in this movie and even though we sat in the middle of the theatre, it was a little mind-numbing at times, hard to see, and hard to follow when it got too fast. We needed to be back away from the screen further.

My mom and I are going to go and see Whip It tomorrow while Mike takes the boys and meets our brother-in-law and cousins at the bowling alley. It's her birthday tomorrow so I am making my friend Pam's famous lasagna for supper and having my parents over to celebrate. I would link to the recipe, but it's on my computer in Rochester. Hoping to get that back this weekend and order that screen.

Have a great weekend!

Pumpkins and Pale Face

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch in Faribault. We like it because it's an easy place to go to quickly. When the weather is nasty, which it was that day, they have an inside area to chose your pumpkin in. Plus, they make a Vikings painted pumpkin that we like to

pick up each year.

As you can see from the above picture, we haven't come close to reaching our "peak" of fall colors yet. Many trees have not even started to change yet. We had snow 5 days after the above picture (very unusual for this time of year) and I am so sad! I haven't been able to take any fun fall pictures yet and I worry that the cold temps and snow (which is now gone) will make the leaves just shrivel up and fall off the tree without changing at all. We will see.

Unfortunately Connor wasn't feeling 100% that day. I think he was tired, but he did have a little fever....I never took it, but I could feel it through his clothes. He came around later in the day, even told Mike he was "charged-up" the next day, but the trip to the patch wasn't his favorite event of the weekend.

This guy, on the other hand, had a great time picking out his pumpkin!

This is mostly the look we got while there...

This was as good of a smile as I could get that day.

We still need to make a trip to the apple orchard and are waiting for a decent day to do that. Fingers are crossed that Mother Nature will start being more kind to us and we can get out and pick some honey crisp apples!

MEA this week in Minnesota. That means 2 days off for me and the kids. Woo Hoo! We are going to have lunch with Mike, go see Where the Wild Things Are on the Megascreen, shop for Halloween costumes for our Play Group Party next week, enjoy a few play dates, watch the Vikes, celebrate the end of fall soccer with a parent/child game, and have a birthday dinner for Granny on Saturday night. Should be a fabulous 4 days!

I am still without my computer. (I mentioned that I "abused" the screen and cracked it, right? Well, according to Best Buy anyway. They would like $750 to replace the computer. Told us it would not be "cost effective" for them to replace just the screen. Mike found a replacement screen for $120 online with fabulous directions on how to remove the broken screen and put in the new one. Now I see why it's not cost effective for this multi-billion dollar company to replace screens. Have I mentioned picking up my computer from Best Buy will be the LAST time this family will buy anything from that store? They will miss my money.... ) and so all pictures are without photoshop. I really miss that program when I don't have it. Makes me wonder what I ever did without it.

As as side note, are any of you bloggers having trouble with pictures on here? They download fine but they aren't as easy to move. Quite annoying and messes with the way I want to format my posts.

Hope all you MN teacher-friends enjoy the days off this week, and all you others...hang in there, the weekend is near!

Things I am Diggin'

Can you tell I don't have anything to post about? Plus my battery died on my camera, I am too lazy to recharge it, and to be honest....it's been a little freeing. As much as I love taking photos and messing with them in Photoshop, it takes A LOT of time and I just don't have it since I am back to work. Plus, it's kind of nice to go somewhere and be with my family instead of always being the one on the outside taking pictures and missing out.

So, would you like do know what I am into lately? Kind of like Lee Anne's Favorite Things.... (as Mike put it). Hey, I am no Oprah, but there are some things I like...a lot.

#1. Brothers and Sisters...this is seriously the best show on television. It's on Sunday nights and I look forward to it every single week. The actors are awesome (namely Sally Fields) and THE FRAY are doing most of the music for the show. It's like a little piece of heaven. Plus Michael and Nancy from Thirtysomething (and married in REAL life) are on this show. I loved Thirtysomething so it's fun to see them in this show.

#2. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult....this book was recommended to me by a friend. I couldn't find it anywhere in town and finally found it at our local grocery store, of all places! It sat on my table for a few weeks and I finally picked it up the other day for a few minutes, and now I can't put it down! SOOO good. It's about a child with brittle bone disease. Check it out if you want a nice read for those cool fall nights ahead. (Rachel, if you leave a comment on my blog, I will let you borrow my copy!)

#3. The Wal-mart heated fleece throw: If you do nothing else for yourself this month, treat yourself to THIS lovely thing. I bought mine (I actually have 2) at Wal-mart, I am sure you can find them other places, and it's going to make you a very happy person. Before this little number I used to take hot baths to heat up after work, or after being outside. Not anymore! We fight over this thing in my house.

#4. THIS song: I had no idea Miley Cyrus sang it. This happens to be the second song she has come out with that I really like (The Climb was the other one). I am kind of embarrassed to say I like it, but I can't help but crank it when I hear it. I really don't think it sounds like her, and the video is totally cheesy, which is annoying...so don't watch it.

5. Dunkin Doughnuts coffee: We don't have a Dunkin Doughnuts in my neck of the woods, so I trusted a co-worker that said she tried some and liked how smooth it was. Up until then, I had no idea you could buy chain store coffees at grocery stores. I have since been enlightened and now it's all I buy. It is smooth and yummy. Add some cinnamon creamer and you are golden.

#6. Arnolds Sandwich Thins: I had heard about these at Weight Watchers and had never run across them in stores. I finally did this week, and they are really good. They are the prefect size, they are only 100 calories, and they are good for you! I had three tuna fish sandwiches throughout this week with these wonderful creations. YUM!

#7. Covergirl Simply Ageless Foundation: 6 years ago I gave up all professional products. Are you up off the floor yet? I know, quite the sacrifice. We had moved to a new house, and I wanted to do a little something to save money. Every beauty product I buy is found at Wal-mart or Target, hair stuff included. And can I just say.....I have noticed ZERO difference in quality, except with the foundation (I used to buy Clinque). I had a very hard time finding a foundation I liked. However, this summer, I finally found a foundation that I love....and this is it. I use 220 in the winter and 225 in the summer. I love it, love it, love it. It covers my dark circles (no more concealer), it goes on smooth, it blends perfectly with no lines, and it's $14.

#8. The Blind Side: THIS is the trailer for a movie I can't wait to see.....I dare you to try and watch it and not tear up. Go ahead, try it. Plus Sandra Bullock stars in it, love her. Oh, and a guy named Tim McGraw, ever heard of him? I have seen the previews twice in the theatre and now they are starting to run on TV. Can't wait!!

That's about all I can think of. I know lists should end with nice numbers like 10 or 5, but not my list. Mine ends at 8. Sorry.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Ours will be filled with a trip to Lakeville to see the double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (What? Did you think a little obstacle like this kid movie not coming to Owatonna would stop us from seeing it? Oh no!), a trip to Rosemount to watch Noah play soccer, and lazy periods in-between.... reading my book, under my throw, sipping my coffee, after applying my make-up...ok, that's a stretch. Gonna end now.

Peace,

LB