Matt did the Polar Plunge for State Collections to fund raise for the Special Olympics.

 

We are so proud of him!  He said it was quit a rush and plans to do it again.

Sam's 11th Birthday

Sam turned 11 today.  When we took her measurements today we were surprised to see that she is the same height Zach was at 11.  That is the first time that has happened. Usually she is about and inch shorter.

Look at them at 10 compared to them at 11.

Aunt Kiki was the first one to give Sam a present...A new awesome out-fit!

Zach got Sam a bucket of perler beads.  She love crafting with them.

 Matt and I got Sam an MP3 player since her old one died and an other out-fit since she out grew most of her clothes.

Instead of cake Sam requested apple crisp.  YUM!

(sorry for the bad singing)

Yes, the tall middle candle relight just before Zach stopped recording, but have no fear she blew it out.

Side note, I can't believe how warm it has been.  By the end of the day, most of the snow has melted.

New years 2013

Matt had to work New Years Eve day so I decided to take the kids to Wausau to see my new niece Charlotte (Charlie).  We left Sunday, Dec. 30th after church.  We decided to stop at Mom Baierl's new house.  Mabe was there visiting.  Had a short visit before continuing to my parents house.  New Years Eve day we spend most of the day snowmobiling.  What a blast.  We stopped at Jamars to eat lunch.  I haven't driven a snowmobile since my kids were born!  That's more than 13 years ago!

Then we went to Jer and Laura's house to ring in the New Year.  Got pizzas and Jer deep fried boneless chicken wings.  Yummy!  We played cards while Charlotte slept and Sydney and Sam played.  Sydney had Sam just a hoppin'! 

We Skyped with Matt too.  He was "with" us while we counted down!  We even gave each other a "cyber-kiss."
New Years day was laid back.  My dad pulled Sam and Zach in a sled behind the ATV and then the snowmobile.

Zach got to drive the ATV by himself just around the farm.

Jer, Laura and the girls arrived late afternoon.  Sydney played vigorously with Sam again and then zonked out.

I even took a nap with Charlotte in my parent's room.  Guys watched the Rose Bowl.  Wisconsin lost against Stanford.

It was such a lovely time with my family.  And it went by too fast.  After leaving my parents house we went to visit Rose aka MomB at her new house.  Mabe was there visiting too so we got lunch and then went to Lori's

Visiting with cousins is always a blast!

Bat in the attic

Went into the attic today and found we had a squatter...A brown bat.  

I screamed like a little girl.  It didn't move.  When I realized it was hibernating and probably not going to fly away, I grabbed the container it was in and ran down stairs.

Matt called a conservator to schedule a drop off, but he (or she) freaked out as Matt tryed to transfer him to a more secure container and flew away.  Matt lost track of him fast. He's probably back in our attic and I'm not willing to go in there and search for him.

Christmas 2012

I'm sitting in my living room after a nice relaxing Christmas day thinking about what a great day we had.  Well, first I should cover Christmas Eve which was kind of stressful for me.  But, the church was kind enough to give me 2 gift certificates!  I hope to use them to buy a Kindle Fire.  Anyway, even though all of our Deaf church members were out of town, I still interpreted so it could be broadcasted on TV.  I may not get paid for that job, but I take it seriously.
Those old Christmas songs are hard to interpret.  Even harder if I can't prepare ahead of time.  This year there was only one song I was not able to prepare for, "The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came."  I really struggled with that one.  The rest of the songs I was able to work out my interpretations and write them down.  Took me about six hours of studying and preparing but, I think I signed them quit smoothly.  I did enjoy interpreting the song, "Joseph's Lullaby."  Beautiful, touching song.  Wish I had a video of it.
Per our tradition, the kids opened one gift before church services on Christmas Eve.  Zach opened his Lego mini figures he got from Sam.  Sam opened the one from her dad, which was season 2 of, "Full House."  That's right, my kids like that cheesy sitcom from my childhood!  .

Christmas Day:
We slept til 8 AM, but we didn't open presents right away.  No.  We played Mario Cart together!  Then, when Matt woke up, we opened presents.  Matt got me a new Foreman Grill.  my old one was kind of a pill to clean and dangerous too.  The cord would over heat.  Thought it was going to start the house on fire one of these days.  I got Matt, a new MP3 player (since his old one is on the brink of death) and the book, "Pathfinder" by Orson Scott Card, one of Matt's favorite authors.  Zach was happy with the other Lego stuff he got from Sam.  From us (Mom and Dad) he got a MP3 player, WII points and a sled.  He even got a Doctor who Lego mini figure in his stocking.  Zach got Sam a Webkinz Froo Froo Fox that he made her go on a scavenger hunt to find!  She is excited to sew her new shoulder bag and coin purse she got from her loving parents.  We also got her a new devotional just for girls.  And what a nice surprise to get a gift in the mail from Grandma Rose, the movie, "Santa & Pete."

After we ate breakfast and opened presents we went to Ice Age Trail and took a family picture.

After lunch we went to John and Jenny's in Evansville to go sledding.  Zach got to try out his new sled.

They had a great time with their cousins!  Ah, now time to sleep.  We got school in the morning!

Last day drinking TSO.

Today was my last day drinking my beloved whip worms.  I feel they gave me back my mobility, strength and clarity.  But the trial is coming to an end.  The only thing left now is a few check ups on how I'm doing without TSO.  Today's appointment was almost an all day event.  The appointment itself was about 5 hours but when you add in driving time it adds up to being a 7 hour day away from home.  The research crew were awesome as always.  Even when I got all woozy getting my blood drawn during labs.  Note to all you out there who have issues getting your blood drawn - WATER! Make sure you are hydrated.  I normally am fine but I almost passed out twice this time.  Granted they did want to take a lot of blood this time and because I was struggling not to pass out, they didn't get all the blood they needed.  I hope the next blood draw goes better.  The MRI on the other hand went great, for the most part.  Got a great nap til they woke me for the contrast.  I woke up to a cramp in my arm that had the IV.  No biggie. I was more embarrassed that they had to come in and check on me to see what was wrong.  At least this time I didn't have to pee half way through the MRI.  I hate that!

Obama Nation - My predictions

Obama was just re-elected.  Here are my predictions for the next 4 years.

• 3 more liberal judges appointed to the supreme court.
• Jobs leave or fail under the weight of taxes and regulations.  
• massive lay offs.
• Unemployment (the real unemployment) over 20%
• Inflation will make the dollar nearly worthless.
• Obamacare
• Insurance skyrockets
• System gets over burdened.
• Doctors quitting.
• People not getting adequate care.
• Abortion and birth-control being paid for by tax payers - oh wait, that's already happening.
• Medical research/advancements will slow or all out stop.
• Obama gets to keep his promise to the Russians now that he has "more flexibility."
• 2nd Amendment gets nixed or extremely restricted.
• The main stream media will still worship, adore, and cover for him.
• Freedom of speech being limited.
• More American in-prison or threatened for exercising their freedom of speech.
• Freedom of Religion restricted...only for Christians.
• Christian persecution and imprisonment.
• Lots more wasteful spending. I'd say about a trillion a year.
• Food and gas prices, "Will necessarily have to rise."
• I predict gas will at one point reach $6.
• Food cost will double possibly triple.
• Food shortage. - I suspect this will happen around the 3rd year.
• Illegal's voting - Oh wait, that's already happening too.
• Over 50% of the population on some form of government assistance. - I predict this by the end of his first year.
• Stock market crash - I think that will happen soon.  It won't happen all at once though.
• Public moral in the toilet, but if asked, most who voted for Obama will still support him.
• Class and racial divide deepens.
• Our defense budget will get slashed.
•  We get attacked again on American soil.
• Iran will war with Israel.  US will not help Israel.
• Energy shortage.
• Lots of Republicans saying "I told you so."

I'm sure I have a lot more I could add, but I'm tired.