Matt's "To Do" List

This morning Matt confiscated my "to do" list in the kitchen to post his own "to do" items for the day.

Here is his list:

1. Driving lessons - Today Grandpa Wessel is coming to town and while we were at his house this summer he let Matt drive his golf cart......I think Matt thought Grandpa would be driving it to NJ. I had to explain to him there would be no driving lessons this visit.

2. Hair cut - took place after school.

3. Home work - Matt insisted on waiting to do it with Grandpa and they got it done.

4. Go to school - check!

5. Put fires out - people this is Matt! His day isn't complete without some mention of fire fighting. :)

6. See Santa - not going to happen, although Matt has told me that he will be staying up on Christmas Eve to get a glimpse of Santa and Rudolph.... hmmmm!!

All in all Matt accomplished most of his list. He did better getting his "to do" list completed than me with mine. Tomorrow is another day. We will have to see who gets to use the "to do" board - Matt or me!!

We love Tebow!!

Dave has been a Tim Tebow fan since he played for the Florida Gators so it is no surprise that the kids are becoming fans too. So, in homage to a man who is living out his faith on the football field, we salute him by "Tebowing".

The "Worries" are Over

Yesterday we got an early Christmas present! Our neighbor's gigantic oak tree that dwarfed our house was cut down.

Now don't get me wrong I love nature and trees but this tree if it fell in our direction would have taken out half of our house - the half where the kids rooms are.

This past year's snow storms, rain storms and lovely Irene had me in constant prayer mode for that tree to stay firmly rooted in the ground and its limbs glued to its trunk.

We knew our neighbor was planning on having it taken down some time in the future as it has causes some issues with their home. They waited until 95% of the leaves were off and then "laid it to rest".

With this tree removed and our Japanese Maple being a causality of our oil tank removal, we are now without any tree "cover". Emily has been clamoring to replace the tree in our yard. All I say is "maybe someday". For now, we are happy that our "worries" are over.

Dodge Ball Lives!!

So Friday afternoon on our mini getaway, Dave calls me from the rec center and says he is picking me up in 5 minutes because there is an organized dodge ball game in the gym.

Reliving in my mind my dodge ball days, my first response was "I am not playing dodge ball". To my relief, Dave told me I only needed to come and watch.....we were headed to dinner after the game so being in one location helped.

For the game, they used these nice small foam style balls that you really had to throw with a curve in order to get them to go anywhere. Emily was thrilled to be on the team with her new friend Hannah. Matt was with Dave. Although the kids had fun it was Dave who was having a little too much fun. He was very thrilled when he would get someone out and felt free to tell them they were out. Ahhh....he was in competitive mode. :) Emily's technique included waiting in the background...there were a few times she was in the final two......have to remember that for next time. Matt, he was the dive king. Every time a ball came his way he would dive to avoid being hit. He spent more time on the floor than standing up.....so funny!!

They were having a great time until the last game. It was the recreation center staff against the guests and well the first ball thrown which was meant for an older boy beaned Matt right in the back of the head. All was well until he realized everyone was looking at him and then the water works came. Of course, the poor guy that hit him came out at the end of the game and was so apologetic. I asked Matt later if he would play dodge ball again and he said a firm "no".

"Aww......their so cute"

One of the best things we did on our trip to the Poconos was go to this little snake and animal farm. The brochure stated that you can feed and pet the animals.......which included lemurs, monkeys, pigs, goats and a black bear. Well that sounded interesting....and it was.

The monkeys and the bear have these tubes where you drop the food into and it goes to them in their cage and let me tell you they know where that food is going to fall. The monkeys were hilarious...the one "Fred" would bang the glass to get you to feed him. The lemurs are in large cages where you can throw the food into them from a catwalk by the cages. Matt kept calling the one lemur "King Julian". The poor black bear.....we didn't plan on feeding him but when we saw him sitting by his food tube and giving us that sad "please feed me" look we headed back into the store to buy him his treats.

The best part of the feeding experience was feeding bottles of milk to the pigs and goats. Emily made sure that all of them got a little bit of milk. Matt fed one or two but spent most of his time talking to the animals.

This was so much better than a zoo.....you got to be so close to the animals (which included a bobcat and puma), see a ton of snakes, alligators and they had a bunny and guinea pigs that you could pet.

Emily and Matt would have stayed there all day if they could have.....so great!!!