tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53910885521842619302024-03-05T01:05:25.647-08:00Alevin and CompanyAlevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-44755288081150381672012-10-30T12:25:00.003-07:002012-10-30T12:25:40.642-07:00Wich do you think is gowing to be the new baby?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Nora and Dana are (kind of) patiently awaiting the arrival of their newest cousin! New Bean won't make an appearance until late January, and we have spent countless conversations debating whether Elsa will have a baby sister or baby brother. It was hard to keep track of who thought what, so Dana decided to make a survey. </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Wich do you think is gowing to be the new baby?</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Lizzie found the survey to be delightful. </b></td></tr>
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<b>As you can see, I am betting on another girl. I have a couple of theories, but mainly my reasoning is that I have two daughters, my sister has two sons, my cousin has two daughters, and all but one of my closest friends have either two daughters or two sons. Kevin thinks that it's time for another boy, since the last boy in our family arrived 11 years ago, and it's been a steady stream of girls ever since. </b></div>
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<b>Many votes have been added since this photo was taken. At the first ultrasound, New Bean was uncooperative, refusing to reveal anything, including a spine. Haha! At the second ultrasound, the spine was visible and...it's a girl! I think Dana should make another survey about whether she will have a head full of black hair like Elsa did at birth, or if she'll be blond like Nora, or bald! Dana loves when I tell her about how it never occurred to me that my second baby would have anything BUT a head full of white-blond hair, and when Dana emerged with tons and tons of dark hair, I was really confused and absolutely smitten. </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>In Minnesota in October, the only way to enjoy a book outside is in snow pants. </b></td></tr>
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<b>Did I mention that our major summer project was to build a deck? It is absolutely lovely, and wraps around 2 sides of our house. I have to stain it in the spring yet, and we need to buy patio furniture, but you can see from the photo above that we are already enjoying it immensely. </b></div>
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<b>...And it's back to studying for me. I'm a senior this year and am busy getting my grad school application in order. Wish me luck!</b></div>
Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-92106340954453389072012-03-05T14:00:00.003-08:002012-03-05T14:00:40.560-08:00In Like a Lion...<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>After a long winter with nearly no snow, this is what has happened in the last week:</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Anyone up for a nice barbecue?</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Can you tell how they feel about all of the snow?</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>This was around noon on Saturday. The plow didn't go by for a few more hours.</b> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>My angel making a snow angel in the road. </b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>My other angel coming in for dry clothes and hot cocoa. </b></td></tr>
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<b>This was the craziest week! The snow started in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, and we all got a snow day due to the blizzard conditions. Yay! It snowed and snowed all day long, and the girls got another snow day on Thursday, though I still had class. We got around a foot of heavy, wet snow, which took Kevin about 3 hours to blow out of the driveway. </b></div>
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<b>We woke up Saturday morning to find fresh snow on the ground, with more coming down. Over the course of the weekend, we got another 16 or so inches at our house! At least it was light and fluffy this time. Oddly enough, it is supposed to be 40 degrees tomorrow. Funny how the weather is this time of year.</b></div>
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<b>We took advantage of being snowed in by watching the first two Harry Potter movies together, which was pretty awesome. We're hoping to watch part 3 this weekend, but we could do without another storm, thank you. </b></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-32019620920372402622012-03-01T19:30:00.001-08:002012-03-01T19:30:13.641-08:00Meow<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Meet Mathilda...our kitten!</b></div>
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<b>She is five months old, and we adopted her from the local animal shelter about a month ago. Kevin and I had been talking about getting a kitty for a while, and as soon as we met this little girl we knew she was the one. </b></div>
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<b>The girls had no idea we were even considering a cat, and the day we picked her up, we pulled in the driveway less than five minutes ahead of the school bus. We didn't say anything when the girls walked in-we just played it cool. Tillie was sitting on a chair pushed up to the table, and it took Dana about 5 minutes to spot her. It was kind of like watching a sitcom: she was chatting away, filling us in on her day, and she froze mid-sentence, then tilted her head and asked, "Why is there a cat here?" It was pretty fun to tell her, "Because she lives here." Why, oh why do we not have video of that moment? </b></div>
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<b>Anyhow, now that she has recovered from a kennel cold and has gotten used to us, she is feisty and fun. She likes to play soccer with an American Girl Doll soccer ball, usually in the middle of the night, and she likes to carry stuff around in her mouth. Last night she brought Nora's gloves upstairs, one at a time. Saturday night I confiscated a Barbie doll from her. We had a blizzard on Wednesday and two snow days, and while the girls were out playing in the snow, she was watching them through the patio door and howling for them. She definitely loves her girls! And she definitely livens up our little house. </b></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-68997633277309943192012-02-27T12:26:00.003-08:002012-02-27T12:26:56.826-08:00Ice Fishing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ice houses on Grand Lake.</b></td></tr>
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<b>When you live in Northern Minnesota, you have to find ways to entertain yourself during the long, desolate, torturous winter months. Most of my ways of entertaining myself involve indoor activities: baking, sewing, knitting, playing board games, reading fiction... </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dana pulling a fish up hand over hand. </b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dana caught this guy, but we threw him back. </b></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">My children, on the other hand, enjoy many outdoor activities, including ice fishing! And, at 34 1/2 years old, having lived in Northern Minnesota for my entire life, I had never once been ice fishing. So a couple weeks ago, my wonderful father in law invited the 4 of us fishing with him in his new cozy, clean ice house. </span></b> </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nora got the only "keeper". </b></td></tr>
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<b> The girls did most of the actual fishing while us grown ups kept them company. Dana was up to her elbows in the minnow bucket at least half the time we were out on the lake. She just pushed the sleeves of her pink floral dress up as far as she could first so they wouldn't get too wet. </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kevin spent a lot of time in the ice house as a kid. </b></td></tr>
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<b>I didn't really know what to expect out of this experience. I was way overdressed. Bev tried to tell me that the ice house is about 65 degrees but I couldn't wrap my head around that. So I had polar fleece leggings on under my jeans and 3 long sleeved shirts under my parka, and I could hardly bend my arms and legs. </b> </div>
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<b>This was obviously not Dana's first time. She was a lot more practical with her wardrobe choices, which is funny since she was wearing a dress under her snow pants. </b></div>
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<b>Now that I know what I was missing, I am pretty excited to go back. I plan to bring my knitting and some treats next time, and I will be smarter about what I wear. I could get used to roughing it in this ice house! </b></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-10482868935206952172011-12-26T09:04:00.000-08:002011-12-26T09:04:48.268-08:00Merry Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Merry Christmas!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><b>After a long, intense semester, I am absolutely thrilled to have almost a month off to recover and enjoy my lovely little family. Hanging in my pajamas and slippers with these two creatures is going to be awesome! </b></div>
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<b>I have three comments to make about this photo:</b></div>
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<b>1. I am completely amused that the girls still love having matching pajamas. </b></div>
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<b>2. They opened their slippers on December 24, put them on, and have not taken them off since, except to go outside. I think I need to get myself some cozy Acorn slippers, too!</b></div>
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<b>3. Nora's pajamas are size 10!!! Double digits! I knew size 8 would be too small, and 10 was the next size up. I thought they would be huge but they are a perfect fit. That kind of freaks me out. </b></div>
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<b>In fourth grade, the students at our elementary school learn to knit. Nora is halfway done with a hat that will be felted by her teacher when she is finished. I taught Dana to knit, and she is working on a scarf. Over Thanksgiving break, we spent a couple of evenings in our pajamas knitting and it was incredible. I am looking forward to more of that, and also to a much calmer spring semester, with only 10 credits and my hardest classes behind me. </b></div>
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<b>I hope your holidays are cozy and relaxing! </b></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-17131871627867237772011-07-28T20:58:00.000-07:002011-07-28T21:29:01.931-07:00Redecorating<div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">This is probably the longest-lasting redecorating project in the entire history of redecorating, but it's FINALLY done! Well, an inch from done.<br /><br />See, Kevin painted the girls' bedroom back in 2003, when Nora was one. The walls were periwinkle and the ceiling was a pale, buttery yellow. It was perfect. Keyword "was". After eight years of abuse from two lovely but energetic little girls and their friends, the walls were in desperate need of some TLC. And I made the fatal mistake of asking Nora and Dana what color they would like their room painted.<br /><br />Nora could only live with a turquoise bedroom.<br /><br />Dana couldn't bear the thought of anything other than purple.<br /><br />After much negotiation, I finally got them to agree to two purple walls and two turquoise walls. Which was AWESOME, until I realized that this meant their bedroom would be turquoise and purple. Turquoise AND purple.<br /><br />So I went and picked up a bunch of paint chips, and after deliberating for a while, I picked up a couple of sample-sized jars of the top contenders. You know what would have been helpful here? Some "before" photos. The samples were horrid. In fact, when Dana saw the squares painted on the walls, she actually got really upset and asked again and again why I didn't ask her before painting those colors on the walls.<br /><br />So then a family friend suggested that I find fabric with both purple and turquoise in it and match the paint to it, since the colors would obviously go together already. So I went to the fabric store and got fabric to sew curtains, which I did immediately. And everyone was happy with them. Except I never really got a chance to paint.<br /><br />This week, the girls have been at day camp, and I decided to just go for it. And the thing is, when I asked if they still wanted purple and turquoise, Nora said she wanted green and Dana agreed. And since green is my favorite color, I wasn't about to argue.<br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVdp0rn2CosLgO1eZLs3pA-mQuXFvYe8TGtGr3lulr5nuiSvsXR6VwFTBXFpy2-3DtYkjlF7qrVtuMjC4PhR4ibXupptaPpoYXbV-_KlOjdMGG_RQg5mmH8oDbINsOJ3a-_fGt4EfyTA/s1600/July+2011+030.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVdp0rn2CosLgO1eZLs3pA-mQuXFvYe8TGtGr3lulr5nuiSvsXR6VwFTBXFpy2-3DtYkjlF7qrVtuMjC4PhR4ibXupptaPpoYXbV-_KlOjdMGG_RQg5mmH8oDbINsOJ3a-_fGt4EfyTA/s320/July+2011+030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634621367093641762" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AgW9l1JDivlDcyGcNnMfxPppvbJeqxyEAEY5fRhpvPu8TZX_CN7ngn-HrgyQl3jkomKtV79EQNR5_RumAXfSCIdWXDfg5xsaA5d3Jh9jkjLDLcbOk4QXVtpW4oWx2cxKLpZKSkUhv2s/s1600/July+2011+031.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AgW9l1JDivlDcyGcNnMfxPppvbJeqxyEAEY5fRhpvPu8TZX_CN7ngn-HrgyQl3jkomKtV79EQNR5_RumAXfSCIdWXDfg5xsaA5d3Jh9jkjLDLcbOk4QXVtpW4oWx2cxKLpZKSkUhv2s/s320/July+2011+031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634620925116742802" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqylWq-6mvAzDJWb78-vZdK4fo5qFqRrz5OCUAl09RYMVjNT3lTiZfN7MuBDL6SnjIhgYpwPAvNPKpf7cQVyKApHf5yt77LKXdYR7jTMmGn8dyq48DbyFScR0o4f-yqase_J_vseNi9c/s1600/July+2011+038.JPG"><br /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqylWq-6mvAzDJWb78-vZdK4fo5qFqRrz5OCUAl09RYMVjNT3lTiZfN7MuBDL6SnjIhgYpwPAvNPKpf7cQVyKApHf5yt77LKXdYR7jTMmGn8dyq48DbyFScR0o4f-yqase_J_vseNi9c/s1600/July+2011+038.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqylWq-6mvAzDJWb78-vZdK4fo5qFqRrz5OCUAl09RYMVjNT3lTiZfN7MuBDL6SnjIhgYpwPAvNPKpf7cQVyKApHf5yt77LKXdYR7jTMmGn8dyq48DbyFScR0o4f-yqase_J_vseNi9c/s320/July+2011+038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634620156456873170" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">In the end, I took some of the fabric to the paint store and found a hue that was an exact match. It was a bit bright, so the paint store man lightened it half a shade and it was perfect. Still bright, but pretty. This would all be more impressive if I would have taken photos of the walls after Kevin patched all the boo boos but before I actually painted-it looked like a war zone.<br /><br />I plan to sew a little throw pillow cover for each girl using leftover curtain fabrics. My mom bought them turquoise down comforters last summer, but it's oddly too warm for them in the summer, even this far north. At any rate, while the pillows will look weird with the ballerina quilts, they will be perfect with the turquoise down. Now I just have to pick a color for our bedroom...<br /></span><br /></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-47015844188148695282011-06-25T21:29:00.000-07:002011-06-25T21:54:21.684-07:00Finally Healthy?<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, this has been a looooooong month.<br /><br />Nora has been sick since the first day of summer vacation, which was 15 days ago.<br /><br />Within a few days of her starting Amoxicillin, the strep and sinus infection were improving and she was starting to feel a little bit better. By day 8, however, she was getting worse. She would start the day feeling sort of OK, but by afternoon she would start spiraling downward again. All of her original symptoms came back, and the sinus pain was so bad she just laid on the couch and cried. I called the doctor on call at 9:00 one night because she had a temp of 102 and was inconsolable. She called in a prescription for Azythromycin and said that if she wasn't dramatically better in 48 hours, she had to come back in.<br /><br />At 48 hours, she was laying on the couch crying, and she could feel her head throb with each heartbeat. Children's Advil and a hot pack eased her pain, and I intended to call the clinic in the morning.<br /><br />And then we all woke up, and I looked at my watch and it was 10am. And Nora was all smiles, with her dimples popping out to say good morning. I don't know what happened overnight, but her fever finally broke and she started to actually get better.<br /><br />And so we baked a cake! Because feeling better after being sick for 15 days is worth celebrating. <br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmE0jKG4A0Ht0smOW50wFBxeyPU_-WiblRLo7cHEZ4kq1kzBDdU-p54YwadwtZkvogYlB-a1bc6aEmatfLs8Qqvts9QwcVUW_pAdCtVu9WmfBXb7vvXXI3EUcIQxDdIjt0NzHTON11_Gk/s1600/June+2011+029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmE0jKG4A0Ht0smOW50wFBxeyPU_-WiblRLo7cHEZ4kq1kzBDdU-p54YwadwtZkvogYlB-a1bc6aEmatfLs8Qqvts9QwcVUW_pAdCtVu9WmfBXb7vvXXI3EUcIQxDdIjt0NzHTON11_Gk/s320/June+2011+029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622381997880977922" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chocolate on chocolate-that'll make anyone feel better!<br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBGoMTk8xKhZ6E7e9DYGahctISoJIVhmffV0NC6bJh2BiKTp8MAkFt0e8jjlhL4DTT6HcV5lUbzcBx293NVYkZv8NcWufHOnQoJ9oQYUB3tcFhSXjEgEoUBIQDWZLohEHscw2ZB-jvmU/s1600/June+2011+001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBGoMTk8xKhZ6E7e9DYGahctISoJIVhmffV0NC6bJh2BiKTp8MAkFt0e8jjlhL4DTT6HcV5lUbzcBx293NVYkZv8NcWufHOnQoJ9oQYUB3tcFhSXjEgEoUBIQDWZLohEHscw2ZB-jvmU/s320/June+2011+001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622381964673527154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And since she was feeling so good, she thought it was a good opportunity to spray all of her hair cobalt blue. I guess that's another way to celebrate.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLHD5OD87XJBrF7VkIpOTxcmDgS4DQ8puvlXSUmXP0CK8lgaxd469baoXiPOu_JfD5A4TRVKkovohdgGrnC8050WIiXvzdNMq3ZxLOAzNK2_gJe1Te4Q7v050fyPHmXL2835S5ToelM8/s1600/June+2011+004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLHD5OD87XJBrF7VkIpOTxcmDgS4DQ8puvlXSUmXP0CK8lgaxd469baoXiPOu_JfD5A4TRVKkovohdgGrnC8050WIiXvzdNMq3ZxLOAzNK2_gJe1Te4Q7v050fyPHmXL2835S5ToelM8/s320/June+2011+004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622381971333761506" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora almost busted a gut laughing at the deep blue color of the bath water after she washed her hair twice.<br /><br />I myself laughed until it all drained out and I had to get out the Soft Scrub. Then it wasn't quite as funny.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI8266OFjcpqvIm40zf1ygK7wAXA46_zCVmsBD4QIwLJbDtUFm7xPj2zvHxvPN_YJQfLec9lzpn0uACRPEhEne-OOMjgPLqYSM8bHnlNzKoMQNgrxvbyTCp0W4ksY8qCvIyHvYdxkDaoE/s1600/June+2011+007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI8266OFjcpqvIm40zf1ygK7wAXA46_zCVmsBD4QIwLJbDtUFm7xPj2zvHxvPN_YJQfLec9lzpn0uACRPEhEne-OOMjgPLqYSM8bHnlNzKoMQNgrxvbyTCp0W4ksY8qCvIyHvYdxkDaoE/s320/June+2011+007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622381979656852562" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And we completed the celebration by putting on our Halloween pajamas and climbing into bed to snuggle.<br /><br />Today is the first day in 2 weeks that Nora has felt good, hasn't asked for Advil, and hasn't had a fever. It was pretty phenomenal.<br /><br />See ya, resistant strep! We won't miss you!<br /></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI8266OFjcpqvIm40zf1ygK7wAXA46_zCVmsBD4QIwLJbDtUFm7xPj2zvHxvPN_YJQfLec9lzpn0uACRPEhEne-OOMjgPLqYSM8bHnlNzKoMQNgrxvbyTCp0W4ksY8qCvIyHvYdxkDaoE/s1600/June+2011+007.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBGoMTk8xKhZ6E7e9DYGahctISoJIVhmffV0NC6bJh2BiKTp8MAkFt0e8jjlhL4DTT6HcV5lUbzcBx293NVYkZv8NcWufHOnQoJ9oQYUB3tcFhSXjEgEoUBIQDWZLohEHscw2ZB-jvmU/s1600/June+2011+001.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmE0jKG4A0Ht0smOW50wFBxeyPU_-WiblRLo7cHEZ4kq1kzBDdU-p54YwadwtZkvogYlB-a1bc6aEmatfLs8Qqvts9QwcVUW_pAdCtVu9WmfBXb7vvXXI3EUcIQxDdIjt0NzHTON11_Gk/s1600/June+2011+029.JPG"><br /></a>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-49616288474550969662011-06-14T13:15:00.000-07:002011-06-14T13:48:08.850-07:00Hola<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hello! I am still trying to recover from my first semester back at school. School ended almost a month ago for me, and I have spent that month playing catch-up at home. You know-cleaning things that had been neglected, doing boatloads of laundry, etc. Nothing that interesting. Finals week was exhausting! I can't handle going on 5 hours of sleep anymore. Ugh! However, I got 100% on my bio final, I got 82 out of 80 on my physics final (2 extra credit points), and I set the curve with the highest grade in my communication disorders class, so I can't complain. First semester back and I got a 4.0! I guess this ol</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">d lady's still got it. At least, I got it when it comes to freshman-level classes. Ha!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Then I chaperoned a handful of field trips the girls took for school:</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXxkTdE08lCWfoPNAfRhG6QpT55Qp_LN22eNy9JkMOpqUW0ycquyV_hDXj6J1PzvQPxLnmYFQsSzuIu1MxpRmfH-3TpslfezqGlvA8kvglqG0tY3LUsIDoQPUvzS5cvP-0mOLqBHsY6g/s1600/June+2011+006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXxkTdE08lCWfoPNAfRhG6QpT55Qp_LN22eNy9JkMOpqUW0ycquyV_hDXj6J1PzvQPxLnmYFQsSzuIu1MxpRmfH-3TpslfezqGlvA8kvglqG0tY3LUsIDoQPUvzS5cvP-0mOLqBHsY6g/s320/June+2011+006.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618175856094535250" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kindergarten tug-o'-war at the all-day picnic. Dana's class won! Woot!<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGfm0vZyzLj6_lfC0gT7asfwdtkkx0-nxOaRsZMmXhP6VL1wLeXy9xvbjVLyiVnialXJE7oHcgJjNorhvFTkVhcO8LWQyPFPWG6oK30MJ3J3e1EMDU8cdWP6ov70z3F5WWo8k2HooRPM/s1600/June+2011+003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGfm0vZyzLj6_lfC0gT7asfwdtkkx0-nxOaRsZMmXhP6VL1wLeXy9xvbjVLyiVnialXJE7oHcgJjNorhvFTkVhcO8LWQyPFPWG6oK30MJ3J3e1EMDU8cdWP6ov70z3F5WWo8k2HooRPM/s320/June+2011+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618175846231601298" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kindergarten trip to the zoo-another all-day event.<br /><br />Nora brought her own camera to the nature center, so I have no photos of that trip. Oops.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Zak graduated on Wednesday (HOW did that teeny-tiny, under 4-pound preemie grow into a 19 year-old man?!) and I made his cake:<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosE_RaUdLF-0I1m31KJ_J-06pXqCdZMnpL7a_fxdtRO4eAf2ccIs76w58j7uTKvfwYphNIOc8xLSpQRgUonNJkXc2o4g-bd7QKXQ_hgejaa91lkxm2VmNPkwszxCmT62jCTz8Qb4Dh7I/s1600/June+2011+016.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosE_RaUdLF-0I1m31KJ_J-06pXqCdZMnpL7a_fxdtRO4eAf2ccIs76w58j7uTKvfwYphNIOc8xLSpQRgUonNJkXc2o4g-bd7QKXQ_hgejaa91lkxm2VmNPkwszxCmT62jCTz8Qb4Dh7I/s320/June+2011+016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618176926173297714" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I was a little disappointed with my very rusty cake-decorating skills, particularly with royal icing, but I am my own worst critic-nobody else seemed to notice the flaws. For example, nobody but me could see that I accidentally broke off the Greyhound's tail and reattached it. Also-because I am rusty, it took twice as long to make the East logo as it would have 10 years ago. I also decorated about 65 cupcakes for the party. I used 2 pounds of butter and 6 pounds of powdered sugar to make all of the buttercream and royal icing. Yikes!<br /><br />Now that all of that is over and the girls are also on summer vacation, Nora is sick.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrPDaHe2JCn4exyMdKAQGVQ3d5JpPiz9qmMrky1iGJg4cEjfh-6lcPnWDPVWUEiJzi5iOSz5GYQuvcH_zkZc2dASwWq6mpNgohcA4j4hgU-apSttCcHkdNw_vTCHXRXt8XsgJ78Yx0O4/s1600/sick+baby.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrPDaHe2JCn4exyMdKAQGVQ3d5JpPiz9qmMrky1iGJg4cEjfh-6lcPnWDPVWUEiJzi5iOSz5GYQuvcH_zkZc2dASwWq6mpNgohcA4j4hgU-apSttCcHkdNw_vTCHXRXt8XsgJ78Yx0O4/s320/sick+baby.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618172617892101570" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This morning, after 3 days of strange symptoms and a temp of 101, we took her in and she tested positive for strep. Sore throat was nowhere in her assortment of symptoms. Leave it to Nora to get sick in her own way.<br /><br />We are hoping that she feels better soon so we can enjoy the gorgeous sunshine and the joys of being on summer break!<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-20241411247812807602011-03-14T13:31:00.000-07:002011-03-14T14:01:34.726-07:00Checking In<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Well hello! </span><br /><br />I<span style="font-weight: bold;"> have managed to survive the first eight weeks of school and am FINALLY on spring break! WOOHOO!<br /><br />I am not going to lie-school is a lot. Kevin has been taking the girls out on the town every Saturday so I can have a quiet house to do homework in. And I still don't usually finish everything for the week, even if I work for 12 hours on Saturdays. It is maddening!<br /></span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRP2YKOmdB4uMweTw8DGgzAPZzxZTUVoGfjxHojDsJtnn-4jSTV2YTq5HLnYQrjQI3aPJipsOQ5zFkGuTLjP4K75_h01ncejfuQq5WhPbECtZ74UNXadOcCngQmeVe3L4_cWOPqpo6AQI/s1600/February+2011+057.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRP2YKOmdB4uMweTw8DGgzAPZzxZTUVoGfjxHojDsJtnn-4jSTV2YTq5HLnYQrjQI3aPJipsOQ5zFkGuTLjP4K75_h01ncejfuQq5WhPbECtZ74UNXadOcCngQmeVe3L4_cWOPqpo6AQI/s320/February+2011+057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584036810655360770" border="0" /></a>The girls fight over who gets to hold Elsa first every. single. morning.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Last week was extra fun, as I had 3 tests, 2 papers, and a project due. The project was a naked egg drop. As frightening as that sounds, it just means that we had to drop a naked egg from the roof of the planetarium onto a catching device that we created. The catching device could not be more than 5cm tall (which is about 2 inches), and the total drop distance was 7 meters.<br /><br />I was in a group with Chelsea and Kelsy. I just like to tell people that because it really exemplifies what it's like to be 33 and in freshman level classes. Chelsea and Kelsy are both sweet girls, and oddly enough, they are both studying to be speech therapists and will be in my fall sequences. I am not sure how that happened in a physics class with 100 people in it. Anyhow, Chelsea and Kelsy and I decided to use a heavily-frosted cake as a landing pad.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknmlghfRKPD1pGuvRkeDQM2lI3bGgmLCJzyU3D4TTm20KOC92F6wl8CPyyEOOu2Ttcd75Uc8o0nHRJf1j24NPotvI_9Ux4itZ1OeCjH4B8SEq43HwirFBiTFho63cqSKfWQR7K2nPyY0/s1600/February+2011+069.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknmlghfRKPD1pGuvRkeDQM2lI3bGgmLCJzyU3D4TTm20KOC92F6wl8CPyyEOOu2Ttcd75Uc8o0nHRJf1j24NPotvI_9Ux4itZ1OeCjH4B8SEq43HwirFBiTFho63cqSKfWQR7K2nPyY0/s320/February+2011+069.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584036586238643378" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here's Chelsea holding the cake. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just kidding. That's Dana. But Chelsea is 18 and I feel like 18 and 5 are a heck of a lot closer together than 18 and 33. Seriously-Chelsea has a sibling the same age as my baby. Meaning me and her mom are close in age. </span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Z0jYXCd7TkWcgmuTz1BQNYfhX7dnaO0M7X-XVK-_em0HAbo52jownT_edU55ONGZlfgJAfCd01xt_e3Q0bLtnWcuJxwyaPP4Ppn-pGgy0ag-GliKf6K4hVHYigHJTkWbVa22FEUrQZs/s1600/February+2011+071.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Z0jYXCd7TkWcgmuTz1BQNYfhX7dnaO0M7X-XVK-_em0HAbo52jownT_edU55ONGZlfgJAfCd01xt_e3Q0bLtnWcuJxwyaPP4Ppn-pGgy0ag-GliKf6K4hVHYigHJTkWbVa22FEUrQZs/s320/February+2011+071.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584036575824383538" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bet you can see where our egg hit!<br /><br />It totally worked and our egg survived the fall without breaking. Which was a relief, considering the group before us used Jell-o as a landing device and their egg bounced off and split into two symmetrical egg pieces. They did not get their points.<br /><br />We also got to write a paper about all of the physics at work during the egg drop project, things like acceleration and kinetic energy and momentum.<br /><br />I have exciting plans to do our taxes over spring break. Also-studying for two tests I have to take the day I get back from break. You know what they say-girls just wanna have fun.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-64387322891028589132011-01-18T16:56:00.000-08:002011-01-18T17:25:12.038-08:00School Girl<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dear Friends,<br /><br />Today was my first day of school, and I want to tell you all about it.<br /><br />Well, maybe not ALL about it, but a little about it.<br /><br />First, you should be made aware of the intense stress I have been feeling about my return to College (yes, I am going to capitalize "College" because that is how it feels to me). I've had insomnia, I've had completely unrelated but still disturbing nightmares, I've had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I have tormented myself worrying about everything from parking (it's a nightmare there) to having to write papers to not having time to hang with my family or enjoy one of my numerous nerd hobbies.<br /><br />I had been slowly gearing up for The Big Day. Kevin took me to campus, helped me buy my books, then walked me to all of my classes so I would know how to find them. He even carried my books, which reminded me of the first time I went to college (yes, "college"-it wasn't as scary back then as it is now). He sneaked up to Best Buy with my amazing in-laws and they bought me a brand new laptop. And get this-it has every single one of its keys, there is no peanut butter anywhere on it, and when I put in my password it just fires right up with no 5-minute lag. I totally played it cool when they came over to surprise me with this gift, but later on, I went upstairs and cried because it was so incredible. They are just so good to me, those 3. Kevin talked me into getting myself a new backpack with a laptop compartment, which I did. But still I was fretting. A lot.<br /><br />I mean, I had a decent handle on it until last weekend, when I logged into my university email and found messages from all four of my instructors, directing me to their Moodle sites where I was able to look at each syllabus and class schedule, and where I learned that I had to read four chapters and complete two assignments for my first day of class. For my FIRST DAY OF CLASS! Oh, has the internet ever changed things.<br /><br />Anyhow, I somehow managed to fall asleep around 10:00 last night. I woke up when it was still pitch black outside and was at school by 7:20 for my 8am class. I know-but my friend teaches at UMD and told me some really terrifying stories about parking, and I wasn't about to be late to my first class. And you probably already figured out that I found a parking spot immediately and had about 10 hours to wander around before my class started. Actually, I read my biology book, but still.<br /><br />So by 7:55, nobody had arrived for my 8am class and the lecture hall was dark. And so I called Kevin, and even though he was trying to get Nora and Dana ready for school while taking care of Elsa, he called the CSD department and found out that the class had been moved. He totally saved me. I had no idea what to do. He suggested I walk to the help desk but I had no idea where it was and I was pretty sure I was about to throw up. I am such a dork. Anyhoo, I got to my class 10 minutes late and within 5 minutes it totally clicked with me that this is not College, but <span style="font-size:78%;">college</span>. Because you know what? I am 33 years old, I have a (superhero) husband, two gorgeous daughters, a mortgage, a past career, and LIFE EXPERIENCE. I am not 19 years old. I am here for different reasons than these kids. I have so much more at stake than they do. And so the rest of my day was fantastic. For real. I somehow lucked into being able to buy a parking permit, despite it being second semester and there only being a few available. I went to my biology class in the afternoon and I thought it was really interesting, and that my professor would be fun to hang out with (she's really funny). I came home and took the statistics quiz that I had been dreading (yes, a quiz on day 1), only to log in and find that it was a quiz about the syllabus, and I got 100%. Maybe the quiz I take tonight will be harder, but I am no longer living in a dark, scary place. I feel like I can do this. I just need to keep on top of my reading.<br /><br />And on that note, I am going to go play Sorry and eat some ice cream before I get the girls to bed and log back in to watch a statistics lecture online.<br /><br />Sorry if that was super boring. I am just so thrilled that today went so well. Tomorrow I have physics-cross your fingers that it goes well, too.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-32984207529534384012010-12-27T21:19:00.000-08:002010-12-27T22:16:39.251-08:00Christmas and Stuff<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >I have been really bad about posting, and I'm afraid it's going to get even worse.<br /><br />After being home with my girls for five years, I temporarily rejoined the workforce. I initially planned to work one or two days a week as a substitute teacher. While things started out according to plan, it wasn't long before I was working every day. I used to do all of my grocery shopping, cleaning, errand running and laundry during the day, and suddenly that is not possible. Plus I am really tired, which doesn't help things.<br /><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoiUAtNk9eNxRV2eMbAI-h8IXAR7TjTDhLhHGjfUilbqiKRLrO8S0OXD01mkq_PPJFWn7gnt_QjaJEkvLs-XvZWcon0sRPjkbFE-i2YL3mFsBZZ3-6aw3SxkvWyUPOia6vinVzZBrp0E/s1600/Nora+elsa.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoiUAtNk9eNxRV2eMbAI-h8IXAR7TjTDhLhHGjfUilbqiKRLrO8S0OXD01mkq_PPJFWn7gnt_QjaJEkvLs-XvZWcon0sRPjkbFE-i2YL3mFsBZZ3-6aw3SxkvWyUPOia6vinVzZBrp0E/s320/Nora+elsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555602019598165810" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Nora is completely smitten with Elsa. Seriously-who can blame her?<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">After Christmas vacation, things are going to get even crazier. While I will no longer be subbing, I will have my hands full with other things. I will spend my mornings with Elsa and my afternoons at school. That's right-I am going back to school.</span><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmYP9d3i44Pvdmtd1ugD_5rIW81aMoXzFQ_SfTnz5fBvYlApz-M9Cg3gdzTMSRbH3nHWCgxfJIZorO2gvwsJ0OuRBHiWfPO2pmtHS8ee5MJUYoasYkvznpwDji1X-GcMDcW58EopBmRw/s1600/stuffies.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmYP9d3i44Pvdmtd1ugD_5rIW81aMoXzFQ_SfTnz5fBvYlApz-M9Cg3gdzTMSRbH3nHWCgxfJIZorO2gvwsJ0OuRBHiWfPO2pmtHS8ee5MJUYoasYkvznpwDji1X-GcMDcW58EopBmRw/s320/stuffies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555602028957422338" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >My parents got the girls digital cameras for Christmas, so now we have 2 gigs of photos like this.<br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILWHlRMbrMQs4XNItzD4Bdvr50jtffSIT3Ocgc4O0d97WwSHuz_zNaenQIHlvPtRK0R7pVhFJGWRa4n9zqvtLih2LrOHS5GzGcz4UQcYrIklz7RONCApauNfUCRfTbXbEheFaMR4PDKE/s1600/kevin+gloria.jpg"><br /></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I am working on a degree in communication science and disorders so that I can become a speech therapist. My first two semesters will be full time, and the remaining 3 semesters will be part time. And then I have a 2-year master's program to complete.</span><br /><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixLNB0pZU-Y5k9EtdjFZ46HP2RxwCWYhes_Oz2jynYvW_gTsU3SIDva8j-8hH3sNMH7dherc189arywow8vpSGq6SpoohxxM0tPVKobDSPUrLiK6PBUCDX9qiRwBjZYZp2tLdR9bBjz1E/s1600/Nora+bed.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixLNB0pZU-Y5k9EtdjFZ46HP2RxwCWYhes_Oz2jynYvW_gTsU3SIDva8j-8hH3sNMH7dherc189arywow8vpSGq6SpoohxxM0tPVKobDSPUrLiK6PBUCDX9qiRwBjZYZp2tLdR9bBjz1E/s320/Nora+bed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555601822900804546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Kevin's parents got the girls beds for their American Girl dolls. These dolls have nicer furniture than we do. For real.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Starting in mid-January, I will be taking human communication disorders, physics, biology (plus a bio lab), and statistics. It's going to get hairy, but they are prerequisites for my fall sequences, so I have to just motor through. I hope I remember how to write a paper.<br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhahe_vTlCDoQyhSafnObEKsuQsmEctczLI-Rc3S0K1SIhRLbXV5krLVE3F4p7Og28A8zta2Qtbc3gVeQyDuD99eXT_19Mo7lIoiotduKVAXte9zkppNNjoLgnqPz31PrpGgZ-z007J1Qg/s1600/Dana+bed.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 278px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhahe_vTlCDoQyhSafnObEKsuQsmEctczLI-Rc3S0K1SIhRLbXV5krLVE3F4p7Og28A8zta2Qtbc3gVeQyDuD99eXT_19Mo7lIoiotduKVAXte9zkppNNjoLgnqPz31PrpGgZ-z007J1Qg/s320/Dana+bed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555601491866943298" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Dana practically fits into Felicity's bed. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I have been trying to spend as much time as possible relaxing because I know my time is going to become a premium very shortly. We've been playing lots of board games, lolling around in our pajamas, hanging out. I have been baking, knitting and sewing, trying to get it out of my system for a while.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXX8B6MTjA1CGmet2iCyLOd4G88CD6_0AQvNGAatd2byiNO9dg6OFkI9Rb_LFt4e8fryyiEMxmDGbOg-bfcqSXQQr_b5Go5My_Wf88HVVaB3TRQo82PadiMgnug7jHXeGFLEEcZEzYSnE/s1600/kevin+gloria.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXX8B6MTjA1CGmet2iCyLOd4G88CD6_0AQvNGAatd2byiNO9dg6OFkI9Rb_LFt4e8fryyiEMxmDGbOg-bfcqSXQQr_b5Go5My_Wf88HVVaB3TRQo82PadiMgnug7jHXeGFLEEcZEzYSnE/s320/kevin+gloria.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555601830807283794" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin and his grandma looked through the American Girl catalog on Christmas. They were amused by the selection and the prices. For example, camping chairs for dolls are more expensive than camping chairs for humans.<br /><br /><br />Anyhow, I probably won't be on here much until mid-May.<br /></span></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHOC1bc3QlPfVf2R4ouwoTa_1CbeBQaMwCxKro6wEfNilMc6cXMpTW_Q_NsBfIdwSfD6GLaGbJ3WIcEqBaEwJvIiRBPF2XWzTIpjvWtzbRqkUnTkdojWcjheRjrFxA_Sk8JhK-BzKJnc/s1600/girls+in+snow.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHOC1bc3QlPfVf2R4ouwoTa_1CbeBQaMwCxKro6wEfNilMc6cXMpTW_Q_NsBfIdwSfD6GLaGbJ3WIcEqBaEwJvIiRBPF2XWzTIpjvWtzbRqkUnTkdojWcjheRjrFxA_Sk8JhK-BzKJnc/s320/girls+in+snow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555601850247922178" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And then I might sleep until June.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-33634997754952113842010-11-27T12:10:00.000-08:002010-11-27T12:19:54.958-08:00Health Night at School<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">PTA organized a family health night at school in early October. It was a great event, with lots of fun activities and a spaghetti dinner.<br /><br />Dana was one of the first kids to attempt the climbing wall, despite the cold drizzly weather. She climbed all the way to the top, then stopped to look down at everyone with a great big grin. And then she climbed back down, while the climbing guy said to the crowd, "Everyone watch Dana. She's climbing down exactly right." When she got to the bottom, he gave us a brochure for climbing camp and told us that Dana's a natural. Oh, good. That's what every mother wants to hear about her kindergartener.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUaMOUDvo6nrUBU5WbPodXNeiezi1eb4EIAyuJd5UR6-6I_wM8DCNehItKSkBe_cW6lNafI0fIQJ5d0agQkIKlvq1z-qWARNtGNrSfzoo9DksNzXaZTmRZFMbR9bSh0CIncFeelg3Cr0/s1600/climb.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUaMOUDvo6nrUBU5WbPodXNeiezi1eb4EIAyuJd5UR6-6I_wM8DCNehItKSkBe_cW6lNafI0fIQJ5d0agQkIKlvq1z-qWARNtGNrSfzoo9DksNzXaZTmRZFMbR9bSh0CIncFeelg3Cr0/s320/climb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544324887099915346" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dana thought the yoga station was pretty cool, too. </span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBtWqG1AcC6bKO-XdsOg66qdQsC1Jyz7-MDp7l9O9x1hK62yVp-keBYa502ToXdtMudN0pasvKW2X_FEF2JD2jjGJHocRLmD1qxXndJhwVHHSprqyRJEu6eEt7kTEs2-tsLtDXdaj_t0/s1600/yoga.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBtWqG1AcC6bKO-XdsOg66qdQsC1Jyz7-MDp7l9O9x1hK62yVp-keBYa502ToXdtMudN0pasvKW2X_FEF2JD2jjGJHocRLmD1qxXndJhwVHHSprqyRJEu6eEt7kTEs2-tsLtDXdaj_t0/s320/yoga.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544324844393875634" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPHQk3OE-9IEY3dECv1axvTfCkNSEV8KAkPAXHt3_xJg6oxecBFLVZypPig_7MOJSUc0MMkZuzzhRj1ZzwaXHry-ouuSNbAkJsrid_f7m7Ht_agij7owzlfL14oP2buVTyMT0XCeMBjQ/s1600/yoga+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPHQk3OE-9IEY3dECv1axvTfCkNSEV8KAkPAXHt3_xJg6oxecBFLVZypPig_7MOJSUc0MMkZuzzhRj1ZzwaXHry-ouuSNbAkJsrid_f7m7Ht_agij7owzlfL14oP2buVTyMT0XCeMBjQ/s320/yoga+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544324841531116754" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">It was a really fun night, and Dana still brags about her climbing skills.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-14687894375654993672010-11-26T20:30:00.000-08:002010-11-26T20:56:10.187-08:00Bayfield Apples<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">About 100 years ago, back in September, we hopped in the car for an impromptu trip to Bayfield, Wisconsin to pick apples.<br /><br />It was unseasonably warm, so we stopped at a lakeside playground for a while before heading to the apple orchard. It is the most awesomest playground ever, according to the girls.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsMbkgMeTeXAG2R0OOfwf9INsDpKENpShLIrfndT3EbSRcgMueQaUOeTx7UV1DmuHvUZuWXmV-2QAh9X5KuEAlDek_mO8CvCR2aBnbpSYvJWQCwvuny3U9Et6K0mjCWrizyq1Njxbtn4/s1600/bayfield+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsMbkgMeTeXAG2R0OOfwf9INsDpKENpShLIrfndT3EbSRcgMueQaUOeTx7UV1DmuHvUZuWXmV-2QAh9X5KuEAlDek_mO8CvCR2aBnbpSYvJWQCwvuny3U9Et6K0mjCWrizyq1Njxbtn4/s320/bayfield+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086386583665666" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora liked the climbing wall a lot. They both loved the tire swing and made us push them until we all got dizzy.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzckrPwGX1WNTRT0_YOAP3Zy9N2jYMy-RlHwEerXIXiTZCsP11GodT6mflrMfMpEZqHcDZwvvuMLQyYQuf5mxauvaN9Ky98uxyoJcanzFRWc0RDrzRWmYmOLAVp2sI7IZJCHhVj4lMXY/s1600/bayfield+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzckrPwGX1WNTRT0_YOAP3Zy9N2jYMy-RlHwEerXIXiTZCsP11GodT6mflrMfMpEZqHcDZwvvuMLQyYQuf5mxauvaN9Ky98uxyoJcanzFRWc0RDrzRWmYmOLAVp2sI7IZJCHhVj4lMXY/s320/bayfield+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086283268150274" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I don't know what this crazy contraption was supposed to be, but it was pretty fun, until Dana knocked her noggin.<br /><br />After the girls ran off some energy, we climbed back in the car for the 5 minute drive to the orchard.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99xNEd_-sWIy9uPBwGKTuKCAeClvb1r3GhwQkyNh8AvizSismedd9Ofdpw2oYnr8TVQ-ZK1tZfHWEphq05Dl64EDD5nnPDhjCpLy8cKm6_adhmHshv07Dn_QniBW6B5lA8q6Yltn0R_w/s1600/bayfield+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99xNEd_-sWIy9uPBwGKTuKCAeClvb1r3GhwQkyNh8AvizSismedd9Ofdpw2oYnr8TVQ-ZK1tZfHWEphq05Dl64EDD5nnPDhjCpLy8cKm6_adhmHshv07Dn_QniBW6B5lA8q6Yltn0R_w/s320/bayfield+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086274058700562" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The dwarf apple trees were a huge hit with the kids. Dana was thrilled that she could reach fruit without help.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1YkNgALI0jP4J2BHkLACWpfXPGmQeKXIFxV4kFczpc4oFBBWTxQnXSEbpsX_rM7qzR7cCBZmtlDJQkDM0KRTbQoyqByKQoyAfjIbLzbWkkihEyDQW9glDV19AOWqIQL7OX5UqmhJjIvs/s1600/bayfield+4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1YkNgALI0jP4J2BHkLACWpfXPGmQeKXIFxV4kFczpc4oFBBWTxQnXSEbpsX_rM7qzR7cCBZmtlDJQkDM0KRTbQoyqByKQoyAfjIbLzbWkkihEyDQW9glDV19AOWqIQL7OX5UqmhJjIvs/s320/bayfield+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086261144393538" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora was pretty psyched, too.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjgp4D_GPbabyDL-rh07s2kfFbc6M6QJ5_aXMfA5hSjLTbYSZbuXGgz-GveAEEApLlh3gVyIGXV7caeb5DofZBZAD7BjeWAlU_tArf0Cf36ZJqFSAeQpx4TptHraDUvF1JJ_GVzcAuzU/s1600/bayfield+5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjgp4D_GPbabyDL-rh07s2kfFbc6M6QJ5_aXMfA5hSjLTbYSZbuXGgz-GveAEEApLlh3gVyIGXV7caeb5DofZBZAD7BjeWAlU_tArf0Cf36ZJqFSAeQpx4TptHraDUvF1JJ_GVzcAuzU/s320/bayfield+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086252937510354" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjxhqDwaURet-AacI6dIHpuqSK-5llIV9Lbb1V_osMeJhCZoGDCXW0ThJnxpdz5nCSy1-VBmnJYvU5YZmatmSBOSPLmsACv4qz5BtUXM6PtsUnGulP70LQmO0rFh5o1tPB-Jcx9mBY3I/s1600/bayfield+6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjxhqDwaURet-AacI6dIHpuqSK-5llIV9Lbb1V_osMeJhCZoGDCXW0ThJnxpdz5nCSy1-VBmnJYvU5YZmatmSBOSPLmsACv4qz5BtUXM6PtsUnGulP70LQmO0rFh5o1tPB-Jcx9mBY3I/s320/bayfield+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544086244171992706" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">It took us about 15 minutes to pick an entire bushel.<br /><br />I baked 2 apple pies, but we ate the majority of these straight up. I used the last of them the day before Thanksgiving to make 2 quarts of applesauce.<br /><br />We are looking forward to making this an annual tradition. It was good family fun.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-36539525847419754172010-10-04T19:41:00.000-07:002010-10-04T19:57:46.955-07:00Elsa<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">She's eight days late, but she is finally here!<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSdS4Us4QFh-3sdVuel0scyF0_ggzTPmLmzljjAUCShMnTHjJEf_r8MZ5G-FoLaa70wp-Fcmtnm65mxD1oBgq573Jr1fejdytd7NkDz-dnXkDE4myLF0OSFRZhB2spFZHO7XhOrtcfC8/s1600/Elsa.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSdS4Us4QFh-3sdVuel0scyF0_ggzTPmLmzljjAUCShMnTHjJEf_r8MZ5G-FoLaa70wp-Fcmtnm65mxD1oBgq573Jr1fejdytd7NkDz-dnXkDE4myLF0OSFRZhB2spFZHO7XhOrtcfC8/s320/Elsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524386848756551458" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Her name is Elsa Rayanne and she was 8 pounds and 22 inches long. Rayanne is a combination of my dad's middle name and Liz's mom's middle name. She has a ton of black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. </span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLiQeIO4iU1dZb6lj7UTIHW6zNxu5mwIB_2MKGpJ7vSJtYSHxDFb7njBWlbVGf_fyVBLRfam39IiwxqZ7JIMF-ZAkSgUD9GohgIdbis-9f7Lx4JaNksrOHxscMuiBrsXCxikwSZr4obAw/s1600/Dana+Elsa.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLiQeIO4iU1dZb6lj7UTIHW6zNxu5mwIB_2MKGpJ7vSJtYSHxDFb7njBWlbVGf_fyVBLRfam39IiwxqZ7JIMF-ZAkSgUD9GohgIdbis-9f7Lx4JaNksrOHxscMuiBrsXCxikwSZr4obAw/s320/Dana+Elsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524386856399547538" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dana thought it was adorable when Elsa couldn't stop licking her blanket. She also thinks her cry is really cute, and she knows just how to sway to soothe her new cousin.<br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIm0JLzoxKsBITkZQQJP2C-4UyyW4MsGnKtQaF_VrufcwbN0Q1jtASTkPyQv5D2zHTm9l7L-YGV_2uouBpj1bJJ2jqO0VqeKoFXQyw9HjZW0wzJ29NJMI5XRGS90d3XKfpAGCYr9lW4pI/s1600/Nora+Elsa.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIm0JLzoxKsBITkZQQJP2C-4UyyW4MsGnKtQaF_VrufcwbN0Q1jtASTkPyQv5D2zHTm9l7L-YGV_2uouBpj1bJJ2jqO0VqeKoFXQyw9HjZW0wzJ29NJMI5XRGS90d3XKfpAGCYr9lW4pI/s320/Nora+Elsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524386852319219730" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora is a natural. She knows exactly how to hold her arm to support Elsa's head. She couldn't resist smooching that beautiful face.<br /><br />Mama, Daddy and Elsa are all doing great.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-58241625059799323452010-10-01T07:32:00.000-07:002010-10-01T07:45:18.172-07:00Dana's Got Skills<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora, Dana and I were sitting on the couch one evening this week when Dana started giggling. We looked over at her and saw this:</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhpvRhPfKgwmgvb8ooPzlaM8VyQNbDZLhgEHnc8mYhhBQsHvFn76T_DyruiHfnE9nZ5KyoE2cWkJoC3i2wvmIYMXJlQ_B0FC3bs6utlRqhyphenhyphenSUUM91pxOUn_HNGStusHzNG7JUO6jRvco/s1600/September+2010+089.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhpvRhPfKgwmgvb8ooPzlaM8VyQNbDZLhgEHnc8mYhhBQsHvFn76T_DyruiHfnE9nZ5KyoE2cWkJoC3i2wvmIYMXJlQ_B0FC3bs6utlRqhyphenhyphenSUUM91pxOUn_HNGStusHzNG7JUO6jRvco/s320/September+2010+089.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523086669971501490" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And then we made a big fuss over her spoon hanging on nose trick, and we both tried it and failed. And that encouraged her and then she started to get sassy about her new skill.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BnCmevpVdrae1mooQTK4G7GdsXm0wf660W_MBWiKrF8pXuQK_UCbWb2S9HLUPPzFLlJkwdSUQ_pSBh6iE1C4pL1PcSI_m8YSCUZRuQzEx6VUKUbB6H3vqZfKN6ik6aeu678PGwYqAOI/s1600/September+2010+091.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BnCmevpVdrae1mooQTK4G7GdsXm0wf660W_MBWiKrF8pXuQK_UCbWb2S9HLUPPzFLlJkwdSUQ_pSBh6iE1C4pL1PcSI_m8YSCUZRuQzEx6VUKUbB6H3vqZfKN6ik6aeu678PGwYqAOI/s320/September+2010+091.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523086665738690130" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Watch me! I can <span style="font-style: italic;">walk</span> with the spoon on my nose!"<br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03xz-D_s9ZTqpIhfY4pwsJssJjs2OpxhmCbsuJL2nMcTIs3a84W9l67huhylAVrU5wP4iTWPSSZpmVru7uUy8lKgB5Mp-cCsC3SEDbM1i4A8z0CAOCfg1LXQ9xATdpUXZuWlY0w6kplI/s1600/September+2010+094.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03xz-D_s9ZTqpIhfY4pwsJssJjs2OpxhmCbsuJL2nMcTIs3a84W9l67huhylAVrU5wP4iTWPSSZpmVru7uUy8lKgB5Mp-cCsC3SEDbM1i4A8z0CAOCfg1LXQ9xATdpUXZuWlY0w6kplI/s320/September+2010+094.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523086655782188210" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Look! I can do the <span style="font-style: italic;">splits </span>with the spoon on my nose!"<br />Honey, the fact that you can do the splits at all is impressive.<br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqzilEaTp_x4yv0GsUJbO5pmrOOasH5ZNG_4Z5Zv8PSJmbOhIlAkfuuHQV7kGX2mYGJZsaQ-u7kNfzxajSOkNrd7Ntubdded5cLIuTe7ZlTRpEMyxxocztXLDL0a8_QvC8wDV1-84ZqF4/s1600/September+2010+097.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqzilEaTp_x4yv0GsUJbO5pmrOOasH5ZNG_4Z5Zv8PSJmbOhIlAkfuuHQV7kGX2mYGJZsaQ-u7kNfzxajSOkNrd7Ntubdded5cLIuTe7ZlTRpEMyxxocztXLDL0a8_QvC8wDV1-84ZqF4/s320/September+2010+097.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523086652607409842" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"I can <span style="font-style: italic;">dance</span> with the spoon on my nose!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Showoff.<br /><br />Our bellies ached from all of the laughing. Dana put on a great show.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-84560771189305720072010-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:002010-09-29T19:55:59.259-07:00Working on a Window<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora's top two front teeth have been wiggly for months. Seriously. The kids had their teeth cleaned in June and the dentist commented on her wiggly teeth at that appointment.<br /><br />Tonight, at long last, she pulled one of them out.<br /><br />I was in my bedroom putting laundry away and she was in the bathroom, and she came careening into my room, laughing maniacally, with blood all over her face. She thrust out her hand with that wee tooth pinched between two fingers and just laughed and laughed.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxp62d-bpuP2DzNeXNBH5ru-BXkWixkl-tKE3iERVMTM09hrTTT0msEoFGOVeOkVUbcryiQWHavULBH7j6ufMyv0XDzxRh4p6rqVQXR09Zyq8_3piqzSqtRgcks0ZXpt4sicRKC_yUK8/s1600/bloody+tooth.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxp62d-bpuP2DzNeXNBH5ru-BXkWixkl-tKE3iERVMTM09hrTTT0msEoFGOVeOkVUbcryiQWHavULBH7j6ufMyv0XDzxRh4p6rqVQXR09Zyq8_3piqzSqtRgcks0ZXpt4sicRKC_yUK8/s320/bloody+tooth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522531782559211426" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I can hardly stand to look at her, she is so adorable.<br /><br />I am encouraging her to pull the other one out so she can have a nice window in her mouth before her permanent teeth come in and make her look all grown up. I'm kinda hoping both top front teeth will be gone for Christmas photos. By next year, she won't even believe in the Tooth Fairy anymore.<br /><br /><br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-85165537491926763702010-09-28T08:22:00.000-07:002010-09-28T08:32:55.497-07:00First Day<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">School started the Thursday after Labor Day, with Dana entering kindergarten and Nora starting third grade. </span><br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnEWs6254D6lNNj56nsGzEcXB9CVX8DhiOuoZsQU5S5o6qRk72OUTZd06E67-XVH4gYEH7dZic_yLiBZtKg1d5rwhFMeAObqXucU1yFXjjFxCcoI1rm2tQfjJpAmbeznPIicjRu8A5BE/s1600/first+day+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnEWs6254D6lNNj56nsGzEcXB9CVX8DhiOuoZsQU5S5o6qRk72OUTZd06E67-XVH4gYEH7dZic_yLiBZtKg1d5rwhFMeAObqXucU1yFXjjFxCcoI1rm2tQfjJpAmbeznPIicjRu8A5BE/s320/first+day+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521985348704317554" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitO_3Iljk28Enon7nTn8v8EiDFB4Ddg5llNs9oDPHvuHB_riuzJJAtiacftmUaL42mjd-COQGAfbxAVFVYj3PnMaCmnMolUup4vjYfTYy6v5gS3xErhnPaZcpuu9FSTzKaF6zugfvLnsk/s1600/first+day+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitO_3Iljk28Enon7nTn8v8EiDFB4Ddg5llNs9oDPHvuHB_riuzJJAtiacftmUaL42mjd-COQGAfbxAVFVYj3PnMaCmnMolUup4vjYfTYy6v5gS3xErhnPaZcpuu9FSTzKaF6zugfvLnsk/s320/first+day+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521985336682725026" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dana's a pretty independent kind of kid, so we weren't really surprised that she was 100% excited to climb on the bus and head off to school. No tears, not even from Mama. We lucked out in that kindergarteners and third graders have lunch and recess together. So Dana and Nora sat together on the first day and Nora showed Dana the ropes.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kUVW_-b4R30KlGZN_-f3L9AbtYUyZnGh03eDj1CLzKMwm-4cKXAFBLKlC2jKIis85txXEjzHtBJbZqa83g_BYO5_ThoQXDyFcT7FbBNxhRYE6rmkvWGicvDRRkqfPieYlqx9Rwd1Pv4/s1600/first+day+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kUVW_-b4R30KlGZN_-f3L9AbtYUyZnGh03eDj1CLzKMwm-4cKXAFBLKlC2jKIis85txXEjzHtBJbZqa83g_BYO5_ThoQXDyFcT7FbBNxhRYE6rmkvWGicvDRRkqfPieYlqx9Rwd1Pv4/s320/first+day+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521985329599766578" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">PTA has a Tears and Cheers event on the first day of school, just after the school day begins, so after we got the girls on the bus, I drove to school to help set up. And I snapped a few photos of the girls getting off of the bus (I was not the only one) and then I got this one of Dana waiting to go into her classroom. I don't know when my baby got big enough to zip her own coat, put on her own shoes and head out the door.<br /><br />We're a few weeks in now, and they are both doing great. They both adore their teachers, and they are both happy to go to school in the morning. And I have been spending my days racing around tackling the world's most ridiculous to-do list. But it feels pretty great to be getting projects done.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-2840065690697010052010-09-28T07:50:00.000-07:002010-09-28T08:20:00.547-07:00The Great Minnesota Get Together<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">August is a big month around here. In our house alone, we have two birthdays and our wedding anniversary in the very same week. There are three more birthdays in the extended family in a ten day stretch, so things get a little nuts.<br /><br />This year, to celebrate Nora turning 8, me turning 33 and Kevin and I being married 13 years, we hopped in the car and headed to the Minnesota State Fair.<br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPblD5HfGotXrIimfZ1_vK2dWG-h3ElSbpio3xY8MlTbvWRsj7v2iXUeRoig-GiCx20zW4EYLlKxpobqaJ0EhKKFTr6OCdUU8cyb0nJQ9nFJ-PcRgg5Qj6WO4nkVDDAJem7Iprmw5QnM/s1600/state+fair+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPblD5HfGotXrIimfZ1_vK2dWG-h3ElSbpio3xY8MlTbvWRsj7v2iXUeRoig-GiCx20zW4EYLlKxpobqaJ0EhKKFTr6OCdUU8cyb0nJQ9nFJ-PcRgg5Qj6WO4nkVDDAJem7Iprmw5QnM/s320/state+fair+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521977194320828002" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I must be getting old because this sky ride freaked me out. It's just a chair lift, really, that takes you from one end of the fair to the other. But Dana is so small and the bar over our laps had a gigantic gap, and I was sure she was going to slip under it and land on the roof of a barn or in the box of a shiny new pickup truck. I kept my arm tightly around her for the whole ride. The photo above (see Nora and Kevin in the yellow seat?) was taken with one hand when the ride stopped for 5 minutes or so, with us hanging out in the blazing sun 200 feet above the fair.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLGep3MI4aPk3F0jfuYVA9CjlEbEgGrl1mJq6APbv7fZD6YLHpKqdpfxhkq017stJLTjjwngWK65qbnv7qgng3rWIvD6lCGEaky9s3uBRsXefcLDI1baUHBiLCdydMfahXVTKWgTVLs8/s1600/state+fair+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLGep3MI4aPk3F0jfuYVA9CjlEbEgGrl1mJq6APbv7fZD6YLHpKqdpfxhkq017stJLTjjwngWK65qbnv7qgng3rWIvD6lCGEaky9s3uBRsXefcLDI1baUHBiLCdydMfahXVTKWgTVLs8/s320/state+fair+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521977187773694290" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dana has a thing for butterflies, so when she saw the butterfly house, she HAD to go inside. It was pretty wild-butterflies were just flitting around landing on people. Dana was a little freaked out at first, but also intrigued. She was very interested in getting them to climb onto her fingers, but she was worried about them landing on her face or hair. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hFyIc4MGYn0wDJkW0rBgQTuoC5av7oLR7pwuv5U2z8GsYcrB63q70vau6FdUzwiPTfktjQT9Knc96V1tNkEZKmXjex0AfsLE1T5IR_PehaMrUcZmG0LfrvsPungHBdBQ-dVfyfzfSS0/s1600/state+fair+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hFyIc4MGYn0wDJkW0rBgQTuoC5av7oLR7pwuv5U2z8GsYcrB63q70vau6FdUzwiPTfktjQT9Knc96V1tNkEZKmXjex0AfsLE1T5IR_PehaMrUcZmG0LfrvsPungHBdBQ-dVfyfzfSS0/s320/state+fair+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521977181532181506" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We got to the fair before 10am and by 4am we were ready to go. Except it took us another 2 1/2 hours to actually exit because we kept seeing more and more interesting exhibits. The sheep barn was particularly interesting. I wish I would have taken a photo, as the sheep had all been shorn and were wearing these robes over their entire bodies, including their heads, to keep them clean. They had little eye holes to see out of, and they looked like they were getting ready to go trick or treating. And then there was a really sweet little guy for kids to pet. The girls thought he was adorable and soft and they wanted to take him home.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizaI79VA-QF6buivwEVOEg33soKkxQpBUizO67EXquC2XYQuyk2IxFCGoz2V5ZReYDm2gCurOyMPvvFiyQ9-de59D2q1EslTyUziY_JjzWGhfK5YB-HNcUiqLWjaHrlfoJOmr8UVzGE1Y/s1600/state+fair+4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizaI79VA-QF6buivwEVOEg33soKkxQpBUizO67EXquC2XYQuyk2IxFCGoz2V5ZReYDm2gCurOyMPvvFiyQ9-de59D2q1EslTyUziY_JjzWGhfK5YB-HNcUiqLWjaHrlfoJOmr8UVzGE1Y/s320/state+fair+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521977174380056802" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, you noticed Nora's green hair in the sheep photo? She was really excited to get a <a href="http://www.statefairdos.com/">Fair Do</a>. We waited in line for 15 minutes to pay and get an appointment. The appointment wasn't for 45 minutes, and so we waited. And waited. And waited some more, until it was finally her turn. And then she went into the salon and within 10 minutes she came out with two green and blue pompoms covered in glitter. Totally worth the wait.<br /><br />Neither Kevin nor I had been to the State Fair since we were kids, and the girls had never been. We all loved it, and we can't wait for next year! We ate snow cones, caramel apples and cheese curds, but next year we need to try roasted corn and some deep fried craziness. It's shocking that we were there for almost 9 hours and we didn't see everything we wanted to. But we DID see the American Red Cross building after Dana skinned her knee pretty badly. They had air conditioning and plenty of ice cold water, plus they cleaned as much grit as they could out of Little D's knee before coating her in Neosporin, bandaging her up and sending us on our way. </span><br /></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-68217857405669407362010-08-11T09:16:00.000-07:002010-08-11T09:35:59.664-07:005K<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I have no photo, but I wanted to tell you about the 5K I ran on July 31, the day my brother and his wife moved out of their house.<br /><br />It did not go very well.<br /><br />I am not a fast runner by any means, but I had been averaging just under 10-minute miles on my 3 mile runs. But on Wednesday, just a few days before my first race ever, I tweaked an old injury. I limped around for the next few days, skipping any running in an attempt to heal. On Friday night I did an hour of yoga and then soaked in a hot bath.<br /><br />On Saturday morning, I picked my sister up and drove to the racecourse. My injury was tight, but it didn't actually hurt, so I was cautiously optimistic. The first mile went just fine, and I ran at my normal pace. But then my energy just dissipated and my injury started to hurt. Alyx, my sister, was so encouraging, and she kept giving me little pep talks. We walked a lot, at least 1/3 of the race, and my finish time was 43:19. My average pace was 13:59. Yikes!<br /><br />I was really disappointed that a 5K kicked me that badly. I had been running 3 miles for weeks at that point, after all.<br /><br />And then it became clear that I had a stomach bug.<br /><br />I laid in bed all of Saturday and most of Sunday (the girls were with Grandma and Grandpa and Kevin was in Minneapolis with his buddies), clutching my stomach and trying to sleep. By the time my family returned on Sunday night, I was up and about again and had eaten a bowl of soup without suffering stabbing pains for hours afterward.<br /><br />The lame thing is that, despite the fact that I had an injury and was coming down with the plague, I am still disappointed that I ran that badly.<br /><br />Anyhow, the half marathon is screaming up on me and I am a little scared about what I've gotten myself into. On the one hand, I am glad that they allow 6 hours for the race, but on the other hand, if I am still out there at hour 6, someone please shoot me.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-16279449792820041672010-08-05T17:35:00.000-07:002010-08-05T18:48:43.747-07:00American Family Insurance: What a Scam!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am up on a soapbox right now, and I will warn you that I am furious. I am also on a mission to tell the world that American Family Insurance is a complete scam. They are thrilled to take your premiums and even more thrilled to reject your claims, with 42 pages of exclusions and loopholes. Their website states this:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"With American Family Insurance, we make your insurance experience easy and convenient and ensure there are no unwelcome surprises -- especially in your time of need."<br /><br /><br /></span>Unfortunately, the entire sentence is a lie. Allow me to share a story with you.<br /><br />Once upon a time, a young man and a young woman fell in love. They married young, while they were both still in college, and began to build a life together. The young man worked as a mechanic while studying to be a mechanical engineer; the young woman worked as a waitress as she earned her teaching degree. Eventually, they both graduated and found jobs in their fields. After working for a few years, in September 2009 they were finally able to buy their first home, a small two-bedroom they had been renting. The first thing they did to their new home was to completely re-do their bathroom. They installed ceramic flooring and put tongue and groove pine on the walls. They put in a new shower, toilet, sink and vanity.<br /><br />In January, they found out they were expecting their first child, and that their baby was due almost exactly one year after they closed on their house. Things were going well, and they were very happy.<br /><br />Then one day in late July, the young woman was doing laundry and noticed some water on the floor. She didn't think much of it, assuming it had to do with the laundry, but she mentioned it to her husband anyway. He did a bit of investigating and found that the water was actually coming from the bathroom, which shared a wall with the laundry room. And, upon additional investigating, he found that the shower was somehow leaking. Now, you will remember that the bathroom was new. But, things had changed. With a baby on the way, they decided that they would pull the shower out and install a tub/shower combo. The leak would be fixed and the baby-washing problem would be solved.<br /><br />On Saturday, the young man got out his tools and set to work removing the shower. And this is what he found:<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxibJfV8Y5g1le9y4BG6bCvGV6hKn742VNEzmW4OApm7zIPwwURfk_ia3pwXSkIqHKEeI_HUDd6M7nylrMG7QAvkgIUB92Ljc26NFjG01KDx7E3xwoImtR34pb6yU3vMJIAgk4GTX8t9Q/s1600/mold+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxibJfV8Y5g1le9y4BG6bCvGV6hKn742VNEzmW4OApm7zIPwwURfk_ia3pwXSkIqHKEeI_HUDd6M7nylrMG7QAvkgIUB92Ljc26NFjG01KDx7E3xwoImtR34pb6yU3vMJIAgk4GTX8t9Q/s320/mold+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502089193108665122" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">If you look at the upper left-hand corner, you will see the wall the shower was on. You will notice it is completely covered in mold and rot. In fact, you can see mold and rot pretty much everywhere in the photo. The subflooring is quite horrific.<br /><br />With his engineering background, he knew that where there is mold, there is more mold. And so he continued to remove wood, tile, flooring, walls, until he realized that the mold and rot extended for over one half </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">of the house. Let me repeat: over half of the house was completely covered in mold and rot. And his baby was due in 7 weeks.</span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxYUYtna0zSYccRyYXnCZiVikEn9LHgvC5YOTs5URapk9Wsj4jbdP-u9MBZ8TC9cWL6jzysaEubfoZ8izchwuTKd7xuvtSujr4gv3GjDlyJe36wc2wmgs6BhQKQ5Uzu_hf9YdM9ZcVNE/s1600/mold+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxYUYtna0zSYccRyYXnCZiVikEn9LHgvC5YOTs5URapk9Wsj4jbdP-u9MBZ8TC9cWL6jzysaEubfoZ8izchwuTKd7xuvtSujr4gv3GjDlyJe36wc2wmgs6BhQKQ5Uzu_hf9YdM9ZcVNE/s320/mold+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502089189827305794" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf1MkyjYeNLUzGY-p7waOopCBsFMy4pUtic1WeodMo1X9vPzsioMkEmJHI_5YklBCYpNqmphpfcBKTdhMETU33Uc-hMe5IaGJ2_B5Aaj0wvoganERTsVMTycBEXx1nmJZ2v7zZISyRIwg/s1600/mold+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf1MkyjYeNLUzGY-p7waOopCBsFMy4pUtic1WeodMo1X9vPzsioMkEmJHI_5YklBCYpNqmphpfcBKTdhMETU33Uc-hMe5IaGJ2_B5Aaj0wvoganERTsVMTycBEXx1nmJZ2v7zZISyRIwg/s320/mold+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502089202530035922" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />And so he had his wife start packing. They packed up everything they owned and moved into his parents' house. With a baby due in 7 weeks.<br /><br />Remember, the young man is an engineer with a background in mechanics. And so, he immediately found the cause of the leaking: a broken part in the shower head. He saved this part and took countless photographs. He was sickened that a defective part had destroyed his home. He called his American Family Insurance agent and was told that they do not cover mold. He knew this, as homeowners' policies stopped covering mold years ago, when claims started pouring in. He knew, however, that his policy DID cover damage caused by mechanical failure. And clearly this was caused by mechanical failure.<br /><br />On Wednesday, yesterday, an insurance adjuster arrived to survey the situation. She told the young couple that they do not cover long-term seepage. They reminded the woman that the very first sign of trouble was a bit of water in the laundry room just over one week ago. She reiterated that they do not cover long-term seepage. The young man pointed out that most houses have linoleum flooring and sheet rock walls, both of which would have shown evidence of moisture much sooner than his ceramic and pine. She told him that his house was full of long-term seepage and they would not cover the damage.<br /><br />The young man returned to his parents' house and called his agent. His agent said his hands were tied, as it was not his decision, but he gave the phone number for the adjuster's supervisor. The young man left a message with the supervisor, who called back a few hours later, listened to the story, including the part about the defective shower head, and told the young man his claim was denied because they do not cover long-term seepage. The young man, exasperated, asked, "Am I supposed to just tear down my walls every few weeks to make sure nothing's going on inside of them?" He reminded the supervisor that the very first sign of a problem was the water in the laundry room one week ago, and that they had no way of knowing that, for the past year, the defective shower head had been spewing water into his walls. He was again told that the claim was denied.<br /><br />Folks, the young man is my little brother. Kevin has been at his house helping to completely gut it since early this morning. They filled one entire 20-yard dumpster and are working on filling a 30-yard dumpster now. They sawed a hole in the house big enough for a backhoe to fit in. A backhoe, people, has to go <span style="font-style: italic;">into the house</span>. And my poor 33-weeks pregnant sister in law is a wreck. While she feels very lucky that they had somewhere to go, she is also heartbroken that she will be bringing her newborn to her in-laws' home rather than her own home. With less than one year of mortgage payments, they have virtually no equity in the house. They are scrambling to come up with money and are hoping that, with friends and family as their primary labor, they will be able to rebuild the entire house with only $30,000.<br /><br />I may have mentioned something about this on Facebook. Kevin's cousin, in turn, commented that a close friend had just lost her home to a fire, and that America Family Insurance denied her claim, too, because the fire was caused by faulty wiring. She also commented that she would be canceling her own AmFam policy and would be very clear what her reasons were. And then my cousin said that her policy renewal had arrived in the mail that very day, and that she, too, would be switching insurers. And here is where my soapbox comes in: If you have American Family Insurance, please consider dropping them. They don't seem to cover anything anyway. I can't figure out why one would bother having homeowner's insurance if it doesn't even cover anything. If you do cancel with American Family, please consider telling them about my brother and my sister in law. And maybe about Kevin's cousin's friend.<br /><br />This entire experience has been one unwelcome surprise after another. NOTHING about it has been easy. And I am making a huge effort to tell the world this story. Because not only do I want American Family Insurance to lose business over it, I also want all of you to look closely at your own homeowner's policy and your insurer's track record of payment to make sure that, should you lose your home to something like this, you will actually be covered. Nobody should have to go through this. Sam and Liz thought they were covered, but American Family Insurance had other plans.<br /><br /><br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-56067608441804965262010-07-27T14:26:00.001-07:002010-07-27T14:42:58.555-07:00Water<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This may well be the most boring post I will ever write, but I am writing it anyway.<br /><br />When we returned from New Hampshire, our water stopped working. We have had trouble with our well, on and off, since we went to London in January 2002. I could tell you a long, involved, boring story about my theory on what happened, but I will abstain. Anyhow, Kevin replaced a switch on our well troll and all was good. For a month.<br /><br />One night in early July (maybe the 5th?), Nora went to brush her teeth. She turned the bathroom faucet on and nothing happened. And so Kevin replaced the pressure switch again, but there was still no water. And so he replaced another part, but there was still no water. And so he replaced the breaker switch, as a last resort, but there was still no water. Which only left one thing: the pump.<br /><br />I called the well pump guy, who answered his phone at 7:30pm (I intended to leave a message), and said he would come over in the morning. Which he did. I have never been happier for immediate service in my life. Remember, we had already been without water for a couple of days in early June. I was not interested in more water-free time.<br /><br />So Jim came over, along with his dog Inga. He drove his boom truck through our yard to get to the well, and then he pulled up all 180 feet of well pipe and, finally, the pump. Turns out our galvanized piping had corroded, and the resulting leak burned out the pump. He replaced the piping with some type of plastic piping and replaced the pump. He also adjusted the flow to slow it down. And you know what? THERE IS NO MORE SEDIMENT IN OUR WATER! After more than 8 years, our water is just regular old water. Apparently the flow was set too high and the well couldn't replenish fast enough.<br /><br />The one and only problem (other than the $1,300 bill):<br /></span></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA6k-ISP0CpWw5iuWMeBJ_UZP_aWOEXT5k7F0oKrqzX512mvK3WDSGuBNgz2O-YSISGu5NEdJThrdQEPoxCft_FRuYwV1OGWjWAZIoZFxevUnORAMI4xYfob36DrlCatSuTY6C0tM0Js/s1600/rut.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA6k-ISP0CpWw5iuWMeBJ_UZP_aWOEXT5k7F0oKrqzX512mvK3WDSGuBNgz2O-YSISGu5NEdJThrdQEPoxCft_FRuYwV1OGWjWAZIoZFxevUnORAMI4xYfob36DrlCatSuTY6C0tM0Js/s320/rut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498700624398298082" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The boom truck is really heavy. We have maybe 4 of these awesome ruts in the yard.<br /><br />If you live in Northern MN and need a well guy, email me. Jim is fantastic! He was nice to my kids, he called the next day and again a week later to make sure things were working smoothly, and he took the time to explain everything to me and Kevin so we understood what he was doing and why. We had 5 days of unusable water while we purged the well of any bacteria that may have entered with the new piping or pump, but now we have clear, clean water that doesn't make me look like the world's worst housekeeper. And we should be good for the next decade or two.<br /><br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-1707517749900595482010-07-27T13:58:00.000-07:002010-07-27T14:18:39.948-07:00Camping<div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">In June, right after school let out for the summer, we went camping. We rented a camper cabin at <a href="http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/wild_river/index.html">Wild River State Park </a>and it was fantastic!<br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL_jcaZQyPraXsiK3FmNT7aD3fCcXSkgiYhsK7Vtl_KLMSykoC3xN9tQuDXe2t8NZ4YKiJI-GwtUwpeoalsuy_8cuin00hkMaZBjgJbo5dv6UqAuC7eIxyj9tZQeIxGj82cr-1Ykwm0g/s1600/camping+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL_jcaZQyPraXsiK3FmNT7aD3fCcXSkgiYhsK7Vtl_KLMSykoC3xN9tQuDXe2t8NZ4YKiJI-GwtUwpeoalsuy_8cuin00hkMaZBjgJbo5dv6UqAuC7eIxyj9tZQeIxGj82cr-1Ykwm0g/s320/camping+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498694122870216098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUNP5nDExi9WjShSqtu7xer6edeARwpN6n6MNlmVhCcj5RIOIpQuM3Yangm47vB_HRc4BOeDuA7NMavUz4xB1LRTaGZlMAfI7N6h0GT8BTrwFUcakqBrH4O65dS-0aEbjRc2AnbexApQ/s1600/camping+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUNP5nDExi9WjShSqtu7xer6edeARwpN6n6MNlmVhCcj5RIOIpQuM3Yangm47vB_HRc4BOeDuA7NMavUz4xB1LRTaGZlMAfI7N6h0GT8BTrwFUcakqBrH4O65dS-0aEbjRc2AnbexApQ/s320/camping+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498693968431674450" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The girls were absolutely thrilled to sleep in bunk beds, and even more thrilled that there were TWO top bunks!<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBvmXwXvoy_t-JytrqL6g5Ixzp1YqTfMyOpnhcSLrJVUPLv4bg2MLCxCK0s6IdHLcAM7MsB_uJuQyJOFQYyw416JoLvWuPzMxZhiul0fltuoJ15qEvcFm5mpjle1SZXG9Hr8y1JpXYlA/s1600/camping+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBvmXwXvoy_t-JytrqL6g5Ixzp1YqTfMyOpnhcSLrJVUPLv4bg2MLCxCK0s6IdHLcAM7MsB_uJuQyJOFQYyw416JoLvWuPzMxZhiul0fltuoJ15qEvcFm5mpjle1SZXG9Hr8y1JpXYlA/s320/camping+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498693957129264882" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">There was a beautiful trail leading down a very long stairway to the river. It was infested with more mosquitoes than we had ever seen in one place, but the view was worth it.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5slEnDcD0eQwuMGi1MD05b7Wfb0wg8VWHKAPeHShOaud_2SzFjMNMNovMI7HzRBACRFtJwZji8i-N8vKk1RNzF8mYA-5kBma4sx9Lo9SdTVX51idZtPRoo6nJxAzP9GZMOSSA6fqgkrg/s1600/camping+4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5slEnDcD0eQwuMGi1MD05b7Wfb0wg8VWHKAPeHShOaud_2SzFjMNMNovMI7HzRBACRFtJwZji8i-N8vKk1RNzF8mYA-5kBma4sx9Lo9SdTVX51idZtPRoo6nJxAzP9GZMOSSA6fqgkrg/s320/camping+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498693950192162594" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Some of us were disappointed that there was nowhere to swim. The current was pretty strong, but there were people boating and fishing.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGR6FZHnpNr8uguEjYXNjZBToTETKfk-Fu9lZ_AmlpoPxeEA4f8GXlfQmXmJl71c6-XN7NYQ-5Nnup2rJTnDZRHgnzCJE7VmJzJHzUSNlLGdzch4cUcSeFacO2C2yGHd6kSmNw0Gg_iO4/s1600/camping+5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGR6FZHnpNr8uguEjYXNjZBToTETKfk-Fu9lZ_AmlpoPxeEA4f8GXlfQmXmJl71c6-XN7NYQ-5Nnup2rJTnDZRHgnzCJE7VmJzJHzUSNlLGdzch4cUcSeFacO2C2yGHd6kSmNw0Gg_iO4/s320/camping+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498693931138428866" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dana honed her marshmallow-roasting skills. She still likes to light them on fire and then blow them out rather than gently browning them. Something about being 5 and impatient I guess.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuKMKkVr_fNtvU7Zqca1TPF6THw3eJeQ8RSDlZ6xrhKWXil9D77AsWfCPQV3-TgioUXRabT-eW-Gs0NTQQ-UffLbmCSbHchfn6jEXvkZTIsHbFIQPTmlgzLaexFsViysnsRmoHa9rw6w/s1600/camping+6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuKMKkVr_fNtvU7Zqca1TPF6THw3eJeQ8RSDlZ6xrhKWXil9D77AsWfCPQV3-TgioUXRabT-eW-Gs0NTQQ-UffLbmCSbHchfn6jEXvkZTIsHbFIQPTmlgzLaexFsViysnsRmoHa9rw6w/s320/camping+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498693925713795970" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Campfire coffee is pretty awesome, too.<br /><br />We're hoping to get out again before summer ends. We'll see. As you can probably guess from my lack of posting, we've been really busy.<br /><br />I also have some really sad news. After ten days with our puppy, we could no longer ignore the fact that Kevin is allergic to dogs. He had never lived with one before, so he had no idea. His eyes were fire-engine red and swollen nearly shut by day 9. We had a very sad family meeting and, on day 10, my lovely sister agreed to take her. They had been looking for a small dog for Keenan, my nephew, for about 18 months, but never had any luck at the local shelter. She is doing great, is still the cutest little monster ever, and is now named Charlotte. And we still see her often.<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-5316031860505407672010-06-11T16:25:00.001-07:002010-06-11T16:50:05.380-07:00Family Vacation<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Our family flew out east over Memorial Day to spend a week with my good friend Jessica and her family. Jessy lives in New Hampshire, about an hour out of Boston.<br /><br />While Nora had flown before, she was so young that she couldn't remember it. It was Dana's first flight. We were thrilled to learn that both girls are awesome travelers!<br /><br />We arrived at Jessica's house on Wednesday evening. It was about 94 degrees, and the four kids started an impromptu water fight with Justin, Jessica's husband. It was probably Nora's favorite memory of our trip.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezLEL8j-CICjdarFAUUOQMHXxzWOnE1f1_dA1CJooAqOCgAe6yh4UC09QfruePoOOnVGz3CvhpIucRvSMBfXsQLxry_IqYEwJ8u83kk65KRLqH4pBJD9fYcphQKboIEbtf4koh8py-Uo/s1600/trip+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezLEL8j-CICjdarFAUUOQMHXxzWOnE1f1_dA1CJooAqOCgAe6yh4UC09QfruePoOOnVGz3CvhpIucRvSMBfXsQLxry_IqYEwJ8u83kk65KRLqH4pBJD9fYcphQKboIEbtf4koh8py-Uo/s320/trip+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481662062106865362" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We got up early Thursday morning and took the <a href="http://www.amtrakdowneaster.com/">Downeaster</a> to Boston. A normal person would have taken plenty of photos of our day in the city, but I was too busy having fun. We visited the New England Aquarium, Feneuil Hall, Boston Common, etc. We even rode the subway, which was not as exciting as the children had envisioned. At the end of the day, we were all happy to hop back on the train for a lazy ride back to NH.<br /><br />The next day, Nora told us her stomach hurt. We figured that, between the excitement, the early hours, the late nights, and the weird food, she was just out of sorts. Travel tummy, you know? And so we headed out for the ocean.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0CqeQbGDCsgfBs44XBMEfvE5hrFsM12uFX5y838VjaKmhvaBz_5amNY41qKWvY0VmqVR-02O1PBgTJ6tbINCbXsfYt7zBXYAWug5wOb8AdWgAzMxrAxpTh9E9JPO6sAIh8d66TOY958/s1600/trip+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0CqeQbGDCsgfBs44XBMEfvE5hrFsM12uFX5y838VjaKmhvaBz_5amNY41qKWvY0VmqVR-02O1PBgTJ6tbINCbXsfYt7zBXYAWug5wOb8AdWgAzMxrAxpTh9E9JPO6sAIh8d66TOY958/s320/trip+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481662054004060498" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We went to York Beach in Maine so the girls could dip their toes in the Atlantic and play in the sand.<br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdpl7OY2b4Ox3w0yLrSx5COl208zBDcwSzX0x_xmQ-Lff7ctPpniR0-UEZThvfjRsYCLk00h01oAEQp-dUTRW9spFMZQR_i67efC44iOTClqJniP_FwJAjRTdnTp6MnRVX5hW91O3phE/s1600/trip+3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdpl7OY2b4Ox3w0yLrSx5COl208zBDcwSzX0x_xmQ-Lff7ctPpniR0-UEZThvfjRsYCLk00h01oAEQp-dUTRW9spFMZQR_i67efC44iOTClqJniP_FwJAjRTdnTp6MnRVX5hW91O3phE/s320/trip+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481662047154361938" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, man! This one brings a tear to my eye.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDtkT1UU_0_cddffKPbQVSXBNTKOpzWpXgppCgErP21c4yK4F8oAfm7YsS0A5mze0LG7IRRF5s_epWifFjUbJd2g_L35xVr3_eb8r5KqNRSYDopHWxyd58wOIHHttySkAjeS47OUOUvZM/s1600/trip+4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDtkT1UU_0_cddffKPbQVSXBNTKOpzWpXgppCgErP21c4yK4F8oAfm7YsS0A5mze0LG7IRRF5s_epWifFjUbJd2g_L35xVr3_eb8r5KqNRSYDopHWxyd58wOIHHttySkAjeS47OUOUvZM/s320/trip+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481662036203835746" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixAQBJgpdlV_YGpCk587rBCb7Zuq-_xCqtCMvrYYgDl5IIKyRP8502C31ikR7JFY2SfVZ2_c20UitboTp_bbX8_gilP2ECrLledhqeMK0jdJBCbSK55DKCSHF0VWpj42e7CejGFxz63E/s1600/trip+5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixAQBJgpdlV_YGpCk587rBCb7Zuq-_xCqtCMvrYYgDl5IIKyRP8502C31ikR7JFY2SfVZ2_c20UitboTp_bbX8_gilP2ECrLledhqeMK0jdJBCbSK55DKCSHF0VWpj42e7CejGFxz63E/s320/trip+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481662029635217026" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXQfDfKvXfJILKYM8rl73R6m_PCj1J8G8fjVKQNY8uPhfOVjVAeKplkl_jlpnxXTyxCJmkNozg2k7B1pqldqlTZXp7qAohMtWDOGkr_v8nGsMbtHAycLQIxYsqty6Q_xUT1XGCZxVycc/s1600/trip+6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXQfDfKvXfJILKYM8rl73R6m_PCj1J8G8fjVKQNY8uPhfOVjVAeKplkl_jlpnxXTyxCJmkNozg2k7B1pqldqlTZXp7qAohMtWDOGkr_v8nGsMbtHAycLQIxYsqty6Q_xUT1XGCZxVycc/s320/trip+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661634506815362" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilak6Iq-pmNnxxReglJKurX1lQJ83TumvqRpGy9Pz2DeiakIZsefxpKpmMXJ39FoDqwST5r7NquEHZJBZcUCRZZY4F8NfNPu9nQxtb3OjmCkwHrsK1mzzXxSu4gkI4wVP1dosgBoR4xcE/s1600/trip+7.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilak6Iq-pmNnxxReglJKurX1lQJ83TumvqRpGy9Pz2DeiakIZsefxpKpmMXJ39FoDqwST5r7NquEHZJBZcUCRZZY4F8NfNPu9nQxtb3OjmCkwHrsK1mzzXxSu4gkI4wVP1dosgBoR4xcE/s320/trip+7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661619332789826" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And really, would it be a trip to Maine without a photo of a lighthouse? We found a geocache here, which was pretty sweet.<br /><br />Nora was feeling pretty crummy by this point, so we went back to Jessica's house, where she promptly threw up. Then we took it really easy for a couple of days. We took a long drive along the coast, through New Hampshire and Mass. We ate a lot of noodle soup and popsicles. We wandered around Portsmouth. <br /><br />On our last full day, we took the long way to Boston, stopping in Concord and Salem.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dtjUlQxoq16pAkKJtEbfU85lJ8CJQfUQjjAARPkCYcrS65HRyEmdbriLX25PoW_Kq9rdapJ91kPXpNsasXcMKx8rUUfc92Cs8_fx9ggy9mjaHhgyhrgDOrcws8wp2WrrEOugY4b8WQc/s1600/trip+8.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dtjUlQxoq16pAkKJtEbfU85lJ8CJQfUQjjAARPkCYcrS65HRyEmdbriLX25PoW_Kq9rdapJ91kPXpNsasXcMKx8rUUfc92Cs8_fx9ggy9mjaHhgyhrgDOrcws8wp2WrrEOugY4b8WQc/s320/trip+8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661611973311026" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here are Nora and Dana at the Salem Witch Trial Memorial, very near another geocache. Which is a funny story. Kevin thought he found the cache, as he pulled a blue plastic bag with some stuff in it out of a little nook in a rock wall. I was voicing skepticism over it being the cache, despite the trinkets inside, as there was no official geocaching info, when Dana walked over with a container and said, "Daddy, is THIS a geocache?" Which, of course, it was. Leave it to the five year-old to find the real one. She was so proud!<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisdB1oRhJziybq3e1hq3boCv5rIvTyw7FCZo7ErwmEyrt51QhBLLqUyEXGzHkL4UWqGo6SD3AI_uYtgxJvppQbMMc3Ir89SrKA1lRHH1dLGO1PLQ48Mqg-eI3h1J29uTokpK8vjXtdfzw/s1600/trip+9.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisdB1oRhJziybq3e1hq3boCv5rIvTyw7FCZo7ErwmEyrt51QhBLLqUyEXGzHkL4UWqGo6SD3AI_uYtgxJvppQbMMc3Ir89SrKA1lRHH1dLGO1PLQ48Mqg-eI3h1J29uTokpK8vjXtdfzw/s320/trip+9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661605540397042" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9RLBYCt0mwosK1bFo-vDhaWgiOBECaztIlJPSPS2C26Gi1iIzgrckv28klwJT6KhxOu1md2QtYPfMagEcZMCiqXh9-sr9hxkTK8VwyfOYwnvyIyAlWWv_8gKoIBl6USyQ2i_bI0Bd9s/s1600/trip+10.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9RLBYCt0mwosK1bFo-vDhaWgiOBECaztIlJPSPS2C26Gi1iIzgrckv28klwJT6KhxOu1md2QtYPfMagEcZMCiqXh9-sr9hxkTK8VwyfOYwnvyIyAlWWv_8gKoIBl6USyQ2i_bI0Bd9s/s320/trip+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661594952413746" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And here's the requisite airplane photo.<br /><br />We ended our trip with a 4-hour visit to urgent care, where we learned that poor Nora had strep throat. According to the ER doc, vomiting is a common symptom of strep. Since nobody in our household had ever had it before, we had no idea. Luckily, after taking only two doses of the Penicillin, she was feeling significantly better.<br /><br />Despite the illness, it was a pretty great trip. Nora was such a trooper! And I learned that I need to make a bigger effort with the camera. And maybe take more than 30 photos. Jeez.<br /><br /><br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-5394474788624502642010-06-11T15:15:00.000-07:002010-06-11T15:25:52.941-07:00Poster<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nora's second grade teacher assigned several projects over the course of the year. One of them was a poster for health class. Nora was assigned "Cover Your Cough and Sneeze".<br /><br />Using glitter glue, tissue, and strategically posed photographs, this is what she came up with:<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGfvlzsLjosdl-9JSbuv06A__yHkfcK5Ekx9Whoh1AGGwxNRwHU2S0_5kSrFDFg1Tn4wmnaZ5wgtWVTUUht2u3rDDFlC54fmFin-suHPyP7lT-zBnwWNSO1HZbFnBMpfLCFSD6NvtqzQ/s1600/cough+sneeze.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGfvlzsLjosdl-9JSbuv06A__yHkfcK5Ekx9Whoh1AGGwxNRwHU2S0_5kSrFDFg1Tn4wmnaZ5wgtWVTUUht2u3rDDFlC54fmFin-suHPyP7lT-zBnwWNSO1HZbFnBMpfLCFSD6NvtqzQ/s320/cough+sneeze.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481643570506602434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Her teacher liked it so much that she saved it for six months so she could put it in the school district-wide showcase of student work at the mall.<br /><br />Nora and Dana both thought it was pretty cool to see the poster up at the mall. Particularly since their photos were on it demonstrating the right and wrong way to cough or sneeze.<br /><br />Gotta love the creative mind of a second grader!<br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391088552184261930.post-84443582381736282052010-05-20T09:01:00.000-07:002010-05-20T09:10:26.261-07:00Visiting Traveller<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin and I drove out to visit the pup on Saturday.<br /><br />And I have to say-right now, she looks exactly like a guinea pig. Same size, nice and chubby, teeny little legs. I might be in love.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyiezYS4MIZ8XpfHBFiC3ZJzulkv5cneMYhRb7-M3a7G-DgcvCYjItedkgPB92JbJgv8VC0WD6gv_rUNo753BOEfpLfZZm3LANVZ1cNEHOBB7QNsk1ePogKQ6k8-KshJozYNww_Sc7z0/s1600/kevin+baby.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyiezYS4MIZ8XpfHBFiC3ZJzulkv5cneMYhRb7-M3a7G-DgcvCYjItedkgPB92JbJgv8VC0WD6gv_rUNo753BOEfpLfZZm3LANVZ1cNEHOBB7QNsk1ePogKQ6k8-KshJozYNww_Sc7z0/s320/kevin+baby.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473383354794794530" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin might be, too. He is really looking forward to having another girl in the house. Actually, maybe he had a picture in his head of a nice, big dog who could hang out in the garage with him.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDwAzgFB928Ol5rnFQOfWJDJ7ONoxchZ7n_JS3dc0sZPSe9YST4-r1mL4K-tEX53FMuMit20rYNZFEF8MySjxFPsGRjOZkfZEsLx7xvo0aC0u_xEKXR1F1xyPGMl6T-57X63R0mjQsJo/s1600/meandt.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDwAzgFB928Ol5rnFQOfWJDJ7ONoxchZ7n_JS3dc0sZPSe9YST4-r1mL4K-tEX53FMuMit20rYNZFEF8MySjxFPsGRjOZkfZEsLx7xvo0aC0u_xEKXR1F1xyPGMl6T-57X63R0mjQsJo/s320/meandt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473383344528310418" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">She is a sweet little girl who gives lots of smoochies. I wasn't prepared for that. But I can get used to it.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQX3CL5f8IEm3op8FPxaXCt2NGR5axVVU6eVJZGPVfdCBVHLMVp6HaEsu3UoZvYG05wjmzwJCM4ILvYKVk1dIIFAOAvK4dxCKqoiu58eYBBBEUp_PD83Zof7YYaSmaL37x0tPPJC4xYdU/s1600/t+and+mama.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQX3CL5f8IEm3op8FPxaXCt2NGR5axVVU6eVJZGPVfdCBVHLMVp6HaEsu3UoZvYG05wjmzwJCM4ILvYKVk1dIIFAOAvK4dxCKqoiu58eYBBBEUp_PD83Zof7YYaSmaL37x0tPPJC4xYdU/s320/t+and+mama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473383338023829746" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mama is very gentle but also very protective. She's sending a strong message here, just with her eyes. Too bad she's so adorable-it's hard to take her message seriously. Particularly since I will be taking her baby home with me soon. Hmmm....<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy7q4W6-w9ugYjLvdBsxPYyrBwn6ttJ42rAdzATzjbxqjvCZtG7rVkru3gdhCfyYfKO-I_BMOBKrNbMdCtDhRRb63w6Uj7qDYoJih865pJ4C5IgPhRPWgSLC7jkHfC0KZ3fz_-BYpjAqQ/s1600/traveller+and+mama.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy7q4W6-w9ugYjLvdBsxPYyrBwn6ttJ42rAdzATzjbxqjvCZtG7rVkru3gdhCfyYfKO-I_BMOBKrNbMdCtDhRRb63w6Uj7qDYoJih865pJ4C5IgPhRPWgSLC7jkHfC0KZ3fz_-BYpjAqQ/s320/traveller+and+mama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473383325448503394" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, man! What can I even say?!<br /><br /><br /></span></div>Alevin and Companyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03558168956864919520noreply@blogger.com1