sticky buns!

I made sticky buns yesterday. I woke up in the morning thinking it would be a good thing to try. I'd never made them before, but love my moms. It was a thing I had to do when the kids were in bed. So.... I stayed up til one a.m. yesterday making sticky buns. But it was well worth it because they turned out great! It wasn't as hard as I thought, just time consuming. :) So... I thought since I can't physically share them with everyone, I'd just post a pic so we can enjoy them that way. :)

sticky buns!

A hike up hogsback

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go for a hike after church with Pete and Janet. It was a cooler day, only in the 50's. It had been overcast all day, until we decided to hike up Hogsback Mt. When we arrived at the start of the trail, the sun decided to shine. So it was really perfect weather.
We all took turns carrying the kids, as we don't have a backpack for Travis, and in some parts it was a little bit steep and rough going for Jenna. But for the most part she wanted to "do it myself". Which is the case for pretty much everything these days. But anyways, as we were hiking, all of a sudden the trail just kind of stopped. So we foraged our way up rocks and through tress to the best of our ability. Every so often, Papa would have to find a "park bench" and take a breather. :) It was a good excuse to take either a break myself or grab a few more picture shots. You know me, never without my camera. :) At least I try not to be. You never know when a gooo picture opportunity might arise. I'm getting sidetracked. Back to the hike.
It was a bit challenging in some spots, but it was really enjoyable to just be outside in the beautiful fall weather that afternoon. I've been in the mood to do something like that for a while now. We were almost at the top when the mt turned to rock and was pretty steep. Aaron with Travis and Janet foraged ahead to see if this last rock hill was the top. Pete, and Jenna and I waited to see if it was the top, and enjoyed the little view we had from our standpoint. We did end up following Aars and Janet because it was to top. All that climbing was worth it. The view at the top was spectacualr. It will probably be better in a week or so, as all the trees weren't colored yet. But there were still quite a few reds, yellows and oranges scattered among all the green. We were able to see Hallow lake and Lake Superior from the top as well. It was awesome. When it came time to go back down, we saw a something that looked like it might be a trail. We decided to try to follow that, as it was a steep hike back down the way we came. What do you know, but it was the original trail that lead us back down to the trail we'd started on! We must've taken the Advanced hike up! We all got a chuckle out of that one. :) The trail we should've taken would have been ALOT easier. :) Oh well, we still made it to our destination, and lived through it. It was a lot of fun, and I got lots of fun pics.

Bonanza.........mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

It was a pretty good day today! I did go out for breakfast with the ladies, and did have a belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, and some fried ham. I was stuffed to the limit. :) Also, Pete and Janet were down today, and we went out for supper at BONANZA. Oh.... heavenly days it was wonderful. I'm still stuffed two hours later! :) I got their all you can eat salad bar. Oh...... haha I'm still oohing over it! Sorry bout the food obession..... I'll stop now.
I found the camera cable so now I can add pictures. I'll put some up from Trav's birthday, and just some random park pics. There may be lots, so just bear with me. I've got catching up to do. Enjoy!

dreaming of breakfast

I don't know what I am going to do..... well I do know actually..... I guess I should kind of explain what my dilema is.
I got a job at Target. :) I'm excited and can't wait to start. But that's not what I am in a dilema about. My Travis has become a shy baby! I dropped him off at a friends the other day while I had a job interview for Target. When I left he was busy playing with a toy with his back turned to me. Well when I got back, that was NOT the case. He was sitting in front of the door bawling his little head off. And boy was he mad. I gues he cried for a good half hour when he noticed I was gone. He did the same thing when I went for a drug test. I was only gone for twenty minutes, and he was still pretty mad. So...... I guess It's going to be fun for whoever watches him during the layover when Aars has class and I have work. I love being a stay at home mom with my kids, it's great to be able to watch them grow up on a day to day basis, but it will be nice to get a little break. To actually interact with different people! :)
On a more cheerful note, I have been working with Jenna to say her prayers every night before she goes to sleep. She's getting the hang of it. She actually knows half of the words to "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep". I tell her one word, and the last couple of nights she's said the next two words after that. It just toally melts my heart to listen to her little heart say her prayers. She's so darn cute. Even when she's sassy. Lately though she has been pretty good. Even saying please and thank you without being prompted. It's hard to tell her no when she says please. :)
We have Fall Services down here this weekend. I'm hoping some people from the north travel south for services. It would be fun to see some familiar faces. The ladies from church are going out for breakfast for eight thirty in the morning tomorrow, and then going to go and peel many pounds of potatoes for sunday dinner after. I'm going to go..... I never go for breakfast and Aaron always does! I'm dreaming of a belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. And maybe a big glass of OJ. mmmmmm..... I'm making myself hungry....
My inlaws are headed to town tomorrow for some shopping and a visit to their grandkids. Should be fun to see them. We are always fired up to have company. Especially company that is family. :) The best kind. :) I am going to go and pick up..... we babysat for Dan and Heidi's girls while they went on a date tonight. Well.... two two year olds plus two crawling babies equals a messy house! So with that..... I bid you a goodnight!

Beef Stew

I know I promised I'd post pics, but i can't find the cable today. I'm going to have to clean my room really good tomorrow, and hopefully find it. If it's not there, than that means I HAVE to clean out the van......
I made an AWESOME supper tonight if I do say so myself. It was a yummy beef stew. One of my favorites. I love to dip like four pieces of bread to go with my heaping bowl of stew. I also pour ketchup over my stew. There probably is a recepie out there, but I just chop up my potatoes, carrots and celery and rutabega till it looks good,and throw in the stew meat ( I actually bought a chunk of beef the first time I made it and had to cut it up myself. My sister Alanna laughed at me when I told her that. She then informed me that they do sell stew meat cut up in the store..... ).
I then look in the cupboard and dig around for whatever seasonings look good. Cajun seasoning, lauwrys seasoning salt, lemon pepper, salt, pepper, garlic, and can't forget the boullion cubes. mmmmm...... it was so good. I can't wait to eat it for lunch again tomorrow.
Tomorrow.... yeah!!!! tomorrow is Friday. That means Aaron is done with school early and doesn't have to get up at 4:20 a.m. because he has class at seven. And he's done at noon. Then it's the weekend! woo hoo!

What a weekend!

We had a busy weekend up north! As always it went by way too fast!
The wedding was pretty, it was FREEZING cold on Sat. Go figure. It was eighty the day before and seventy the day after. But Sat. evening it was probably in the fifties with a stiff cold wind coming off of the lake. I served cheesecake at the wedding and was SO cold by the time we left.
We were able to see both families and some friends over the three day weekend. Friday night we went to my in laws and celebrated Janet's birthday. Sat, Aars worked on the garage and I slept in til ten and took a nap later in the afternoon! What a treat! :) We had the wedding at six thirty in the evening out at McLain's. We were able to squeeze in a late visit with Ryan and Sarah after. Sunday I went to church with the kids so Aaron could do his homework that was due Monday. We stayed at my parent's all weekend. Sunday afternoon we had a birthday party for Travis. His dad told everyone he needed boy toys. Well.... boy toys he got! Trucks, and balls galore! It was cute. He's so pumped to just push his trucks around. I just wish we had more room for him to push them. Our living room is kind of small.
We let him dig into his cake that Alanna made for him. It was a cute car :)
It was late by the time we hit the road to head home. We gave Loretta and Brad a tour of our house for sale. They are actually going to rent it for the winter! I'm pumped. It's a win-win situation for all of us.:)
So all in all, it was a good weekend home. I'll post pics tomorrow. I grabbed the camera/computer cable thingy to get pics onto the computer from our camera.

A little help please!

how can I get a picture in my post or on top or bottom? I figured out how to get one on the sides, but am still struggling with the middle. We're headed to my mom's this weekend and am getting the part for my camera to load pics onto the computer without having to go to Walmart and put them on CD's. Anybody have any advice? I need help! :)

Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Dear Travis, happy birthday too you!
I made cupcakes today, and decorated them with mike and ike's. They were good. I had three!
We had a little family birthday party (if you could call it a party) with the kids this afternoon. Put a candle in a cupcake for Travis and sang happy birthday. Then we let him have his own cupcake and eat it however he wanted. It was alot of fun. It is always cute that first time they can dig in a cake.
It's late though, and I need to go to bed. We are headed up North tomorrow for the weekend. Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Happy Birthday my little man!

As I sit here and read up on everyone else's lives going on around me, I am listening to Travis cry. He's been at it for half an hour. And as he cries, I am reminded that he will be one tomorrow. One. A whole year. Uno. Twelve months. The start of a new year. So much happens in the first year, and no matter how hard to try to remember all of it, you can't. Time doesn't slow down for you to enjoy your baby when they are still little. I can remember holding him for the first time. He was so tiny. 7 pounds 1 ounce. A bundle of joy that we knew was going to be a boy. The little miracle that we'd waited nine months for. And in that first moment that you look into that babies face, the labor pains, sciatic nerve problems, the basic being uncomfortable during the last month or two of your pregnancy are all gone. Forgotten in that moment of time.
the first time he rolled over we were so proud, sure all babies do it, but it's just so much greater when your baby does it. I often found myself saying that I can't wait til he sits up, or til he can hold his own bottle, or til he can crawl. But then I look back and think where did that year go? My baby is now pulling himself up on all the furniture, turning the radio on and off, climbing stairs and is a maniac crawler. I am constantly having to chase after him, and am worn out by the end of the day.
He popped another bottom molar today. It could explain the crabbiness and sleeplessness at night. Even though he's up all night, and up early in the morning when I really just want to crawl under my covers, I still love him with all my heart. All it takes is for him to jibber baby nonsense at me and smile and my heart melts all over again.
Jenna and I have been practicing the happy birthday song to sing to Travis when his birthday finally came. So every day she sings "Happy to you Travy man, happy to you and me!"
I still can't believe he'll be one. Where does the time go? I don't know, but I hope his next year brings him more things to explore and to learn and that he stays healthy like he is now. So, with that being said, happy birthday little man! I love you!

Sorry.... wrong number!

We just got an intersting phone call.... I got a chuckle out of it. I answered the phone and a man in a singsong voice says helllooooo....... what's happening? (me): "Not a whole lot...." ( I was really confused as to who this fruity guy is. I thought it was someone playing a joke.)
(phone guy): "Somebody called?"
(me): "Today?" ( our phone hasn't rang all day and we didn't call anyone)
(p.guy): "Just a little while ago...." ( he was still using the sing song voice)
(me): Who is this?
(p.g.): "Who is me? Who is you? Who is this?"
(me): this is Megan
(p.g.): Isn't this ***-4950?
(me):no..... 4650
(p.g.) laughs and says " Hello Megan, this is Ken. I'll talk to you later. Sorry to bother you, bye." ( he dropped the singsong voice when he realized that he'd realized he had the wrong number)
Funny it took him so long to realize he'd gotten the wrong number! :) haha. Whoever you are Ken, thanks for the laugh!

Bedtime Battles

Bedtime.... I like to tell myself that for my kids it's at eight o'clock, but it's always closer to nine or nine thirty by the time they're in bed and both sleeping. It's bee such a battle of the wills. Especially for Travis. I either have to rock him to sleep, or sing him a song, or give him a bottle and hold him, or all of the above, and sometimes that still doesn't work!
We've tried to let him cry himself to sleep, but that didn't work. He cried for an hour straight with no signs of stopping. We've tried cozying him on the couch til he falls asleep, but he wakes up almost as soon as he is laid down in his crib. I just don't know....... if he goes to sleep in my bed, he's great. But, I don't want him in my bed anymore.... I like my space and he's getting to big.
Jenna on the other hand, usually goes to bed pretty good. I can usually bribe her to go to sleep by telling her we'll either go and see someone the next day or go to the park in the morning. That usually works. Tonight I told her we'd call Tessa tomorrow and see if she wants to play. She takes everything but the kitchen sink to bed with her. This is what she takes to bed with her every night:
her blanket
sippy cup
a baby
a pluggy
another baby
her Dora pillow

If she has all of that, then I can usually get her to bed. Tonight was good. But as for Travis.... I am ready to throw in the towel. Anyone have any advice? I'll gladly take it. :)

I used butter this time

It was a good day today! And yesterday too actually now that I think of it..... maybe it's because the weather is finally clearing up and we can actually go outside. :)
I decided to start going for a walk every day. I failed today, but the walk yesterday should totally make up for it. I pushed the kids to a park about a mile and a half away from our townhouse. If you know my street you'll know it's a HUGE hill. We went to Harlow park on Washington st. On the way there I almost chickened out a quarter of the way there, but talked myself out of quitting by telling myself that the walk would be really good for me and that the kids really wanted to go to the park. Never mind that there is one a hundred feet away from my house. The way there wasn't too bad, I actually worked up a small sweat. But the way back.... HOLY COW... I just about died. The hill was kinda like going up a mini mountain. At least thats what it felt like. I doubt it was cause I'm out of shape either...... ;) Ok... so I am out of shape, but it really was a big hill. I'm a little sore today, but proud I did it.
Today..... today was a good day just because things just went smoothly and the kids were great. I even got a nap in! We played at the park for an hour this morning, then came in and had lunch, and took a little nap. Then Aaron was home and took the kids to the park again while I ran to Walmart to buy some butter. (I learned my lesson with the runny cookies) Then I made a delicous supper out of the old Heinonen cookbook. I made Italian Vegetable Soup, which by the way was GREAT! And then made peanut butter finger bars which turned out the best I'd ever made them. I'd have to say they were finally as good as my mother in laws and hers are really good!
I was even a good girl and went to bible class tonight. Aars had homework so he stayed home so he could be done before midnight. he's been working before classes in the morning, which translates to five a.m. :)
So thats why it was a good day.... It's nice to have those once in a while. :)

runny cookies

On sunday I decided to try out my aunt anne's peanut butter cookie recepie from an old cookbook i swiped from my mom. The recepie called for a cup of butter. Well I didn't have any butter, or margarine, but what I did have was the "I can't believe it's not butter". And I had a big tub of it. So after consulting with my sister Alanna, we concluded that maybe it would maybe work. So I tried it. The recepie said it would make lots of cookies. It probably would've except that the butter substitute didn't work. The first batch took about a half hour to cook as it was too runny, then it got crispy by the time it turned brown. I decided to "tweak" the recepie and add an unmeasurable amount of flour. Well I decided that since I added flour to firm it up a bit, I should probably add some sugar so it still tastes good. So.... twelve minutes later, a halfway decent cookie came out of the oven. Aaron test tasted them and said they didn't really taste very peanutbuttery anymore.
Finally I decided to do a third batch. This time the dough looked REALLY iffy. Actually, the oil from my butter substitute started pooling in the middle of the dough. I still tried to cook them..... but unbeknownst to me Jenna turned off the oven, so they sat in there for ten minutes before I noticed. By then they looked like foreign little globs sitting on my cooking stone. After that I threw in the towel and quit. I dumped the rest of the dough.
I decided that all that effort I put into making those darn cookies ( I had to stop halfway through because I was short a half a cup of flour and had to run to the grocery store to get some more) was so not worth it. Maybe I just shouldn't try to bake on a Sunday anymore.

twins?... nope!

If you know my kids you know that they are not twins. They are 22 months apart, and Jenna is much taller than Travis. Well, we were at the grocery store last night when some lady stopped to coo at the kids and then asked if they were twins. Same thing with someone else at Walmart this afternoon. Both were surprised when we said no that they are actually almost two years apart. :)

Decorations got hung up this afternoon. We were going to go for a hike, but it started raining. Go figure. :) But I am glad that we got things on the walls. Crazy how a few pictures will make a place look like home. Now I don't feel like I'm living in an empty shell, and more like a home. I love decorating a room. Aaron probably gets sick of it cause I am so indecisive about where things should go. I just have to pick a spot and stick with it or I change my mind ten times.

It's been a quiet day, I talked to my sisters this morning, and my mom. Everyone is doing good. Alanna was garage saleing...... I was jealous. I love garage sales. I did alot of it at the beginning of summer. So much in fact, if you ask Jenna where any of her clothes are, she'll reply "garage sale" whether they really were or not. :) Thats ok. I found her a nice columbia winter jacket and boots for five dollars at a garage sale this spring. I was pumped. Still looking for snowpants or a snowsuit, but I've got a bit of time before we have to worry about that "s" word.

I figured out how to put pictures on my blog..... more to come once I get more on the computer. Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

apartment life....it's wonderful

I just got off the phone with a lady who signed up to sell close to my heart! Yea!!! I officially have a downline! I also have another lady who wants to sign up under me sometime this month! I just need one more before I start making commission off of their sales.
Also, Aaron got a job today, working part time around his classes here on campus. It'll be twenty hours a week and no weekends. Perfect. I'm not sure how much we'll see each other if I get an afternoon job posting, but we'll figure something out I guess. I'm still waiting to hear if I got a job at the hospital or the nursing home. I REALLy want the hospital job, sorry if I have mentioned it a hundred times to those I talk to. But I do want it. I have this gut feeling though that I probably didn't get it, so I am trying to tell myself it's ok, that I can still work at MCMCF and perhaps within the next couple months another job opportunity will arise and I can try again. That way if I really didn't get the job, I will be prepared for the let down and not take it so hard. And if I do get it I'll be elated.
My neighbors....... yeah...... they're "great". Today they pulled out their drumset and pounded on them for at least an hour. BOOM BOOM Tang tang BOOM Whappity Boom! Thump Thump tang boom! Needless to say.... it got old, fast, and it got older even faster when it woke Travis up from his nap. So Aaron went and pounded on the wall adjacent to their apartment. We got lucky enough to have two single guys live next to us. For the most part they haven't been too bad, a little bit of muffeled base from the radio for a bit at night, but nothing like that drum set today. My kids aren't allowed to play the drums in high school. Please remind me of this when they decide they want to. And it's only the second week of school. hooray. Maybe they will graduate this year and we'll get a nice family with a few cute kids like ours next door. right...
My mom is on the line... gotta go!

If wishes were money.... I'd be rich

They're asleep! finally! Jenna and Travis both sorely tried my patience today. I felt today like the worlds worst mom. They must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. It just started off bad. Jenna was so crabby and nothing was right no matter what you did, and Travis just cried whenever I wasn't holding him. I needed a break tonight, but didn't get one til now. Aaron went to Michigamee and played a baseball game against the houghton church guys. Now he's up trying to memorize the parts of a cell for his bio quiz tomorrow. He's really wishing he had a coloring book that they can get for class.... if only money grew on trees.....
Travis has been such a bad sleeper at night lately! I think he's teething, and it is not fun. I try not to be selfish when he wakes up in the middle of the night, and I really just want to ignore him and burrow deeper under my covers, but I feel bad for him. I envy anyone who's baby sleeps through the night. I dream of that.
Aaron came home from class this afternoon all smiles. I asked him what he was so smiley about and he said "I decided that I really like college". So that was good news.... if we are going to be down here for the next few years he better like school! I toss the idea around in my head once and a while that maybe I'd go back for the rest of my nursing degree..... we'll see.
I think I'm going to go to bed..... perhaps some day I'll actually get there before midnight.

School Kids

I think today I am going to have Aaron hang up some of our decorations so it feels and looks more like our home. I was feeling a little lonely and homesick after I talked to my mom this morning. But then I decided to take advantage of my kids napping at the same time today and take a nap. They slept for two hours! It felt great.
Aars came home from class today just pumped cause he decided he really likes college. Which is good, it's just funny how he all of a sudden just realized it. He's going to school to become an x-ray technition. A needed field, but a tough program to get into down here. We are just keeping our fingers crossed.
He is going to go to Michigamee tonight with the guys from church down here to play a baseball game against the guys from church up in the copper country. I'll probably go and hang out at Jennie's house for a while tonight if she'll be home. I'm so glad to have her down here. It has definetly made things alot easier to adjust! If I need a friend I know she'll be there!
Levi started school this year. My mom's baby! I asked her how he liked at and I guess he's doing great! He had to have hot lunch today because they didn't have much for cold lunch. Levi was a little bit nervous because he didn't know what they were having, and wasn't sure if he'd like it or not. Mom is enjoying her time alone. This is the first time since I started school that she's had NOBODY at home during the day. I think today she was making a Walmart run with Joanne Tailvalkoski.
I should run to the laundromat and get a load of laundry done. I miss my brand new laundry room at our house in town, but at least our laundry here is included in our rent, and is coinless. Just kind of a pain to have to trek across the parking lot to get it done.

Marquette Mom

hi everyone! this is new to me, so just be patient! I'll have to post pictures later as most of them are on the computer at our house up in Laurium.
Our house is for sale! After all the work we put into it, we are hoping someone will love it like we did and buy it. If you know of anyone looking for a cute old house send them our way! :)
We are finally here in Marquette. It's actually Aaron's second week of school and it seems to be going well. It's definitely a big change of pace for us. Jenna thinks her dad is fishing every day when he goes in the morning and comes home for lunch.
I had two job interviews last Thursday for a nurses aide position. One here in Marquette at the hospital working four days a week on their Neuro-Ortho floor, and the other was for in Ishpeming at the Marquette county Medical Care Facility. I really want the hospital job. It would really be a neat opportunity.
I should go.... both of my kids are sleeping so I think perhaps I'll get some straightening up done. -Megan