I AM THE GAME CHAMPION

I am in second. Just had to prove I was ahead of Michael

Winner!

Losers!

On Sunday's we always go to my parents house after church for dinner. Afterwards we lounge around downstairs and watch a movie or play games, even though I am not a big game person. Last week we played Harry Potter II Scene It and I won. It took us a while as we couldn't remember any of the names or characters. Plus some of the questions were about their personal lives and we had no idea. Yesterday we played Disney Scene It II. I reminded everyone that I always win and so they all tried to make sure I wouldn't win but I prevailed. It was close at the end as Tyler and I were tied. Michael actually knew the most and surprising he didn't win. We had a lot of fun teasing each other. The one we kept getting stumped on was Treasure Planet, which none of us have seen. So any time we didn't know the answer we just said "Treasure Planet."

Family Breakfast

Samantha, Tyler ready for seconds, Amy

Candy for Breakfast?

Smile - The Breakfast of Champions

Scott creating food art

My mom took everyone out for breakfast on Saturday. Kirsten and her family were down with the kids. After eating a waffle Scott loaded up a plate of candy corn and a brownie. He made a smilie face out of it. Amy also got a plate of gummi bears. They were gross and I told her we would just get some real ones at Target. The only kind to eat are the Goldbaeren by Haribo. I even remember the commercial slogan. "Haribo macht Kinder froh, und ihr Eltern ebenso." Although they never taste as good as they did in Oma's packages they are still the best! I made a perfect ice-cream cone and of course got teased again about by McDonald's skills. What a talent! Anyway, thank you mutti for breakfast.

Ballroom

David & Grandpa Came to Watch

Tyler had is ballroom concert on Friday. He did really well and is a lot of fun to watch. I recorded it and will try to upload the video when it has been finalized. I guess his partner slipped during one point causing Tyler to slip into a split. Ouch! At least he didn't drop her, although it was a close call.

Habitat Volunteer

Yesterday I went and did service with Habitat for Humanity. I try to work with them at least once per year. I don't know why but we always pick the coldest days to volunteer. Yesterday a few of us volunteered from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. I about died of shock when I realized it had snowed outside. Not only that but there was a strong freezing wind. Within five minutes of being outside by hands were starting to hurt despite wearing gloves. It was so miserable. I couldn't have been a pioneer. I don't think I would have made it in the cold. Around 11 I did a hot chocolate run and took the time to go home and put on some wool socks and warm up for a second. I had to go to three places for the hot chocolate. There really isn't much that I can do. I don't like using power tools. The nail gun is my least favorite. I just know I am going to shoot myself and I don't even want to think of the pain. Plus I'm not very good at shooting it on an angle. So I help lift things and hand people things. As we were leaving Channel 4 showed up and asked if they could interview me. So humiliating. I agreed to do it thinking if they didn't get anything good they just wouldn't show me and show someone else. Plus I was in old yucky clothes and had been standing out in the wind for four hours. Who knows what I looked like. Anyway, I guess I was on the Channel 4 news last night. I was too embarrassed to watch it but did get a call from a friend and David told me he had seen it. I asked David if it was embarrassing and he seemed to think it was. I figure what I don't know doesn't hurt me. It is always good to volunteer though.
Today I am suffering. The work or the cold gave me a massive headache and I am still suffering from it today. I'm glad it is the weekend.

Sweethearts

Here are the pictures from Sweethearts. Doesn't Tyler look handsome? Of course not everyone can be as good looking as "my sweet boy." Check out the heels on his date. She was really short. She couldn't dance in the shoes so it was quite challenging. I really like the first picture but hate the background. It is too busy.

Trying to Gain Weight

No - not me! I'm always trying to lose and am very unsuccessful at it. One of Ty's classes had the students stand on the scale to measure body fat. Tyler is at two point something. Normal is @ 17. He has been trying to gain weight for a while but he is as successful at gaining as I am at losing. He is drinking a protein shake each morning. It also showed he weighs 119 instead of 126, which is what the doctor office shows. I have learned that the doctor's office is always high. No wonder people get depressed after going to the doctor. I think he has grown a little. He showed me the other day where is is going to start needing a 34 length instead of a 32. Still no change in the waist size.
He had his ESOP at school today and we put together his senior schedule. It helps he is doing math online because it gives him an extra class to take at school. He signed up for football and we were just going to see if he could do sports by fall. As we were leaving I had the thought about doing an internship with the hospital. He has always been interested in medicine. I guess subliminal messages do work. When he was a baby we used to always tell him that he would be a doctor and support us. Anyway, he thought it was a good idea so we went back in and talked to the counselor and the school offers an intern program, so we dropped football and added the internship. He is going to try and do Medical Explorers again next year and do a service trip to Mexico again before his mission.

Never Argue with a Woman

Too FUNNY not to share -

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and
decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife
decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance,
anchors, and reads her book.
Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman
and says, 'Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?'
'Reading a book,' she replies, (thinking, 'Isn't that obvious?')
'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her
'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading'
'Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start
at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.'
'For reading a book,' she replies,
'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her again,
'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading'
'Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start
at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.'
'If you do that, I'll have to charge you with Sexual assault,' says the
woman.
'But I haven't even touched you,' says the game warden.
'That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could
start at any moment.'
'Have a nice day ma'am,' and he left.
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also
think. Send this to four women who are thinkers. If you receive this,
you know you're intelligent.

Amy Had a Little Lamb

Michael has kept some stuffed animals which Oma had made when we were children. He also had a dog that she had given him when he was young. Amy, since she was little, always had to sleep witht he do when she came down. Michael finaly gave it to her. Now she always grabs the lamb out of his room and sleeps with it. It is so cute. She never goes to sleep without it. She has always been obsessed with having something at night. I remember once babysitting her when she was @ two and Kirsten and Marshall were on a cruise. She had to have her sippy cup, which she called her "ba,ba." I couldn't find it one night and she could not go to sleep. All night long she kept asking for it. Scott of course can't be out done so he has to go and grab an animal as well. He always grabs the bear.

Twilight

We went to the movies Friday night. Michael, Samantha, Tyler, David and I went and saw Twilight. Kirsten, Mutti, Scott and Amy saw Bolt. Tyler has the Twilight books but I have never read them. I thought it was teenage stuff but after seeing the movie I decided to start reading them. Kristina has Ty's copy of Twilight so I read New Moon Saturday night. I only stayed up until 1:00 a.m. Kirsten. Luckily they don't take too long to read. I started Eclipse Sunday night but couldn't stay up to finish it because of work. I will be done with it today. I keep telling myself I have to finish my paper for school (due tomorrow) before I can start reading. Oh the temptation. Who wants to write a boring paper on working capital? Yep, even more boring I'm sure to read it. I am enjoying the series. Kind of like the Harry Potter books. I never read those either because I thought it was a children's book but I read them and enjoyed them too. They are kind of addicting. At least all the books are out in this series and I don't have to wait for the next book. I of course have read the end of all the books. It was a little disconcerting watching the movie and not knowing the story. I hate it when something jumps out. It freaks me out every time. Anyway, thanks Samantha for letting me go see Twilight with you.

JC Penney

Samantha wanted to come with us to work on Saturday. We had to get up at 5:00 a.m. She is such a good helper and has a great attitude. She's a hard worker. Michael went shopping with her and got her the cutest clothes. She was her new khaki's and a shirt to work. He got her a really cute skirt and top, and the shoes - I want it. I can wear the shoes just not the clothes. I wish I were that skinny. I told her next time they were down she could wear that outfit to the bank and go to work with me. She wants to work at the bank when she gets older. While we were working we took at look at rings because they were 50% off. We both got a matching ring. I will have to take a picture of it and post it. We all went to breakfast together at Village Inn of course and had Strawberry & Banana French Toast. It is no longer on the menu but Michael has been ordering it forever and they know him there so of course they made it for us.

Happy Birthday Scott

We celebrated Scott's 6th birthday Friday night since the Bukers were leaving Saturday. I didn't have time to get Scott a present so made a Star Wars card on the computer and gave him some cash. He got cash from my mom too. Michael of course went shopping and purchased him two Star Wars lego sets. Scott was estatic and told Michael he had done good. I guess that makes up for any clothes Michael has given him in the past. He was pointing at one of the pictures and I told him I had just seen that one at Target. He looked at me and asked why I didn't get it for him since he really wanted it. I know, bad Tante Heidi. I told him he could purchase it with his money. It only cost $10. He's all, that is two fives. What a smart kid. We had ice cream cake which everyone loved. I think even Scott ate it.

I had brought home some pizza from Pier 49 a couple of nights prior, Hawaiian, chicken and BBQ. Scott took one look at it and said, "I wanted cheese pizza." I tried to trick him and took off the toppings and added cheese and microwaved it but it didn't work. Had too much cheese on it so he at peanut butter and jelly. I cut the crust off because I knew Kirsten always cut the crust off the bread. He asked me what was wrong with his sandwich. Samantha explained to me that he now eats the crust. Ugh! Even I was never that picky and I didn't like pizza as a child. I guess I just didn't eat it. Nobody tried to make things the way I wanted. I think they call that - spoiled.

Park

I took the kids to the park while Kirsten and Marshall were out looking at homes. They had a great time playing together, even Tyler. Towards the end they began to play chase. Scott of course kept changing the rules during the game. What a little tyrant!

Curtains

Here is a photo of my new curtains. Michael did a great job hanging them. Thank goodness for brothers. Thanks Michael! Don't they look fabulous?