Brett talks funny

Or at least what he says is often funny! Words he's used lately: splendid -a description used in Thomas stories about engines. It cracks me up when he uses unusual words like this in general conversation! information- "we should find feathers & use them as clues or information to see what kind of birds they are" "sarth" - Slang Damon & Wayne used to use (I think it was "their" word). He said it while he was playing & talking to himself. prey - "the shark is catching it's prey" cross - "Dad's going to be cross!" (Another one from Thomas. Damon's rarely mad!) & of course the "Cretaceous period" I wrote about earlier. One day I was making a salad. He said, "I know Mom, you should make a grape salad. You just put grapes in the bowl & then you're done." I think it was the same day I was putting feta cheese on my salad as all the kids watched. They wanted to try it so I said "sure but it's kind of strong so I don't know if you'll like it." Later that afternoon when another mom was here, Brett said "I'm so strong now that I ate that strong cheese." She asked him "like Popeye?" She was amused when I realized & then told her he thought he was strong from the "strong" tasting cheese! These things were funny or surprising to me. I'm sure G & G's can appreciate. : )

Breakfast for Mom

This morning Brett made me breakfast! Dad was sleeping in & Brett and I wanted french toast (our favorite breakfast) so Brett made some for us both. I made french toast (with the homemade bread) and put it in the freezer so all he had to do is put it in the toaster. He got out a Thomas the Train plate (of course) and put on the butter & syrup. I had to send it back to the kitchen for a warm up but by then Dad was up and helped him with the microwave. Then he brought me the biggest glass of orange juice with a coaster to go under it. What a kid! Here he is in his WI Badger jammies too.

Saturday Morning

School open house

Tonight was open house at Brett's school. It's an opportunity to see the school, classroom, meet the teachers and take in school supplies. He has such a neat school! The music, art rooms and library are quite impressive. His classroom is very nice too. I thought I didn't have much room.....20 kids in there will take some organization! I can tell Brett is happy with his teacher. She's quite animated and high energy. Now he's very excited for school! Check out the pictures I took on Flickr. There's a couple of videos too. We've heard such great things about this school and I believe it already. I think we're all ready now! He has art twice/wk for 40 mins. and gym on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. We're signed up for P/T conferences in October already!

From the garden this week

Time to make pickles again! The others are nearly gone since I gave a lot away. I'm going to make Bread & Butter pickles next. Damon thought he'd look up a spicy pickle recipe & try making them himself. That should be interesting! The little cherry tomatoes are sooo yummy. I sure wish we had more tomatoes to put in the freezer but it doesn't look like we'll have so many this year. At least the ones we have are really nice. Our watermelons don't look like they will amount to much. They're probably done growing actually.

Meeting Drawing

Brett worked on this during several meetings. I thought it was so neat. I haven't seen him do anything like this before.

New things

we've tried recently-

SCHWAN'S Angus Mini Cheeseburgers

and

Cascade Complete dishwasher Action Pacs

I know the burgers seem kinda icky because they're packaged, frozen & microwaveable, but they tasted pretty good. The best part is 8 come in a box & they are perfect sized for my day care kids. I think it's a bit expensive at $1.31 a burger but it's OK occasionally. Sometimes I need something really quick to serve. The kids ate them right up. The food program reimburses me exactly that, $1.31 per lunch. I guess that's not too bad-the food program isn't for making money (although some people try to). Damon thought they looked good too, but he would have to eat more than one. I've made burgers for the kids once in a while, but this was way easier/quicker and serving size just right. In the mail yesterday I got a $1.50 coupon for Cascade Complete ActionPacs. I needed dishwasher soap anyway so I picked some up at Walmart. I really like these! First of all, they're neat looking. Not that it matters but they are. The first load of dishes looked great. The last few times I've ran the dishwasher, things haven't looked so good & I'm not sure why. The softener is working, etc. Anyway, 16 pacs are $3.88 with tax normally. More than I usually spend on the liquid but I'll probably buy them again. I'm not too loyal to certain brands & I don't know my prices all that well. I tend to buy what I think looks good, what price seems good & depends on if there's a sale or not. Just thought these were cool & they did a good job.

On the car

I finally got this done. It's easy & inexpensive but just kept forgetting to get it ordered. Yesterday she came by & applied the decal. I decided to go a smaller this time although this is smaller than I was thinking, but it's OK. It's about the size of two bumper stickers. If it was taller, it would also have to be wider which doesn't work next to the wiper. I probably should have put the cow & moon higher with the contact info below it all on the left. This will work. I don't need to do a lot of advertising at this point & sometimes having it less conspicuous is just fine. I admit when I'm out I don't always want to stop & talk to people (strangers) and I see enough people around town that I know now as it is. Usually I'm tired & ready to get my errands done & get home! It's kind of interesting that we've had many people stop & ask us how we like our Outlook. We're always glad to tell them we like it so much.

Our Cheesehead

Tuesday night Brett & I were in Walmart & he found this cheesehead hat. It was the first time he had seen one and thought it was pretty silly so we had to take a picture. In the same area we found some cute WI Badger jammies. I'll have to share a picture once I get one-he looks so big in them! He's quite the little sports fan already!

One of the benefits

of being at home is making a yummy lunch! I grilled chicken breast & made Creamy Chicken Lipton rice for the kids so I decided to have some & add salad. Actually, I'm not very good about eating a good lunch most days. It's still hard to make time for something decent but in the summer, it's easier with all the great fruit & fresh vegetables from the garden.

Trofast for Brett's Trains

Engines on the left & top center, blue track in the bottom center, road/brown track in the top right & misc parts & pieces middle & bottom right bins

I think this is going to work out very well! I like it all sorted & organized. I was afraid it wouldn't all fit, but it just does so that means NO MORE new trains right?? It's a little crammed in his room but the "turtle table" is going to be changed. I think we'll get another 3 bin organizer and put the tank on top. I'm thinking a picture or art collage on the wall above the train bins. These organizers would be so handy for day care too!

Dinosaur Painting

Brett painted this & said "this is a dinosaur in the "cretaceous period". Do you think he's ready for kindergarten?? He learned that from a dinosaur Leap Pad book.

**The painting is actually three dinosaurs - one flying, one large one & another small dino. Dust on the ground, fish in the water, sun in the sky. Can you see it? : )

At the MOA

We were just talking about this- On November 20, 2003, we were at the MOA with Damon's Mom & Dad and Jon & Shanda and saw this.....We didn't get the camera going earlier (good thing probably!) so this is all we got: see the short video

Sidewalk Chalk

I worked on this layout in the car on the way home last night. It took longer than I wanted & I'm not sure if it's what I had in mind, but it's not bad either. I wasn't inspired to do anything else after this but it helped pass the time.

Brett's "Pretend" Birthday

We celebrated Brett's 6th birthday early with Grandpa & Grandma Ransom and Jon & Shanda. He called it his "pretend birthday". His birthday is on Sept. 14th but we won't see everyone before then with conventions starting. Grandma made a dinosaur cake, gave him balloons and made a really nice dinner that Brett likes- ham, potatoes, squash and fruit salad. Jon & Shanda came for dinner after mtg. He was loaded with gifts that he really enjoyed opening! All the way home (except for the few minutes he dozed) he played with the Bygga block set we got him at IKEA. It's challenging for him & he's so interested in making something! Already this morning he's playing with his Diego Lego set. It's fun to see him really into something and playing hard. It will be great to dress him in those cute fall clothes but we'll wait a few weeks till convention/school starts. Our pictures from the weekend are on Flickr.

Saturday in MN

We haven't visited Damon's parents since March- too long! We're enjoying their newly remodeled home & company. Today we helped with burning brush from an old tree they cut down. Brett enjoyed it very much! He climbed around on the pile & moved part of it making "a wall" for 4 hours. He played around in the yard & rode his scooter before coming in for a bath. He hasn't been that grubby in a long time! This afternoon Damon & I took a break and went to IKEA. I wanted to get one of these organizers for Brett's trains. I'm excited to get it put together & in his room! I'm not sure it's going to hold them all... We found some other useful things while we were there as well. This evening we had a nice summer supper out on the deck. Damon went for a massage from 7-8 pm. (Mom has a membership discount.) Tomorrow after mtg. we're going to celebrate Brett's birthday early with G & G and Jon & Shanda. He's so happy to be at G & G's!

The "volcano"

You can see in the background how much wood is left. The pile is much smaller now!

We haven't done any bath pics for a while so I got a fun one.

Library Page

Little Pickle Eaters

I was putting the pickles into containers and guess who shows up? First one little guy who's always checking out what's going on in the kitchen. Soon there's 3 or 4 more kiddos. Everyone wants to try the pickles. I was surprised - usually they won't eat pickles if I put them on their plate. They love the dill pickles! Now I know what I'll do with all these jars - send them home with kids! After I cut off the little salty garlic snacks, they started playing with the small jam jars & wanted something to put in there so I gave them the counting bears. I love these little experiences!

Pickles

I decided to try making pickles since we have all these cucumbers. I did them tonight quick before meeting. I've never done it before so I wanted to give it a try -they may not be pretty & I'm not sure how they will taste, but it certainly isn't hard. I used up the cucumbers I had picked, but now we have an awful lot of pickles! I'm not sure who's going to eat them because we rarely have any! Damon likes the dill ones but thinks the others are too sweet. I'm going to have to start giving them away!

Library Pictures

We have such a great library downtown! We ran in to get a couple books I requested to be on hold - there was only one? - but Brett took some time in the children's section. We can never get there enough.

How fast the day goes

especially when you're off work! I closed day care today so I could go to Brett's school registration. Brett still needed some immunizations and I scheduled dental cleanings for us both. We had to go to the county health department for immunizations this time since we have been between Drs. and insurance companies. Of course we live near the north clinic but only the south clinic had walk ins for immunizations on Wednesdays. I was thinking the south clinic was on the south side of Janesville but it's not even in town, it's in Beloit. 2o minutes there - wait 45 mins. 20 mins. back. Brett got updated with 4 immunizations. He did great! He wasn't very happy about the 2nd one that goes more under the skin - DTAP or MMR? but hardly reacted with the other 3.

Then we stopped home to pick up more papers I forgot & went to the school. Turned them all in & signed up for everything & paid:

$22 school fee $18 milk break - 1st quarter $9 yearbook $35 Team Harmony card (field trips, school events) $31 pictures $20 for hot lunch account

!!!!

His picture turned out decent at least. He has 20 kids in his class (there's 3 kindergarten classes) - 12 are boys, including him. We don't know any of them. He starts on Sept. 2. He will be off on Sept. 3 (K classes are split up into 2 start days) and then will go back for Thurs & Fri.

Brett requested lunch at Red Robin. "Their macaroni & cheese is the cheesiest!" Ran home & brushed teeth and off to the dentist. Brett has the hygienist fooled-she says he's pretty good at brushing. Truth is, he would never brush if we didn't make him and we don't always remember. Yikes. So far he's been lucky. It's not the spa but I tried to just lay back & relax a little. I hate it when she sprays my teeth with the little sprayer and it splatters all over!

Next stop-grocery store. Then the library before coming home. I remembered I still had the camera with me so we took some pictures there. Brett napped 2 hrs before mtg. while I made bread & pickles.

That's where the day went!

The street in front of the school. Sidewalks are in.

The playground behind the school Harmony elementary At Red Robin

Fall 2004 Page

I came across these pictures and couldn't wait to scrapbook them! Look at those short little legs! Wish we could go back to this age (for a day or so!)

Brett & Mommy

Summer Treat

The ice cream truck came down our street! We heard "The Entertainer" song from a distance so we took Brett out to pick out some ice cream. He was so excited! Brett picked out a Spiderman treat. Just the last few days we've seen the truck. Too bad he hasn't come earlier this summer. Once in a while is OK though-I think Brett would catch on to this pretty quick! $2.50 for the Spiderman ice cream but it was worth it for such a fun experience!