Teenagers

Well, it has happened! We are now living with 2 hormonal teenagers. They are wanting to be kids, but feeling the pressures of growing up with dating, friendships/relationships, wanting independence, protective parents(haha), peer pressure, along with the typical pressures of school with homework, lessons, classes, etc........ We are trying our best to help them along the way, but it is hard to see them going through the emotions and struggles of these years. Gary has had many sleepless nights and it is just starting!!! One of the girls has had to deal with verbal harassment at school and we are trying to teach her the steps to go through and not just come home and complain about it. We(I) feel she should take responsibility in talking with school staff, teachers, counselors, and principal before we step in. My husband is more like wanting to call up the boys' parents and let them have it! Such a caring, protective farther!!!

Anyway, school has started and we are off and running. I love the Early Childhood group I have. They are a quiet group of 6, but am thinking that will change as soon as they get to know the others. Our school is trying to start doing RTI (Response to Intervention). Some of the teachers are frustrated with the grouping of students this early in the year. So they are tweaking the system to make it work for them. I just take the EC kids out of Kindergarten and do extra practice with them during that time. So far, it has been great. We hope time will help the kids and teachers adjust to this new system.

summer

Well, the summer is about over for us, but we had to do a few last things with the girls. Last week was Mary's birthday and we celebrated by having her favorite meal ( beef and cheese nachos) , cake and ice cream. I had a workshop that day, so we had her special dinner that night.
We also made it to the big county fair that weekend and Gary enjoyed his special buritos and got the girls hooked on them too!
This last weekend the girls enjoyed going to the track, but ended the season with things breaking and now they have to sit and wait to get fixed. Sunday we decided to head to Mystery Cave for the day. We took a picnic lunch along and really enjoyed the cool weather. Mary had never been to a cave before so it was her first experience. Both girls liked the tour and would do it again!
Tomorrow starts the school workshops and routines of school are not far behind that. I spent a few days last week working on my room, but still have some to go. It seems like I am never quite ready and could find many more things to do each day, but have to learn to just do what needs to get done and let the rest go...... It is hard though.....

valleyfair

We got up to valleyfair about 11:00. It was a beautiful day! The girls had brought a friend along to go on the rides with them. This worked great until about mid afternoon when 2 of the girls tired out, so Mary went on a couple rides by herself. Mary would have gone again and again and continued through the night, but everyone else was getting tired, so we headed out about 6:00. We did have a shower about 1:00, but it was so light it did not bother too much. The girls tried many of the rides, but there were lines and this made them even more tired. The favorite was the WAVE! It was the first ride they went on 2 times and got totally soaked, but the sun and warm temp got them dry quickly. We ended the day grabbing a bite on the way home and getting the girls to bed. Now I have to call and find out how my sister-in-laws garage/estate sale is going. We are trying to get rid of some of my mom and dad's things. Next week a couple workshops and the week after, SCHOOL WORKSHOPS!!! Wow! Where did the summer go?

week in review.....

Just heard about a high school friend's father that passed away last Thursday. It reminds me of about a year ago when my mom passed away. At least they were able to spend some time the last few months with him.
Sammy got new bands on her braces and on Sept. 22 will get her bottom braces put on. She is excited!!! Not sure why.....
The girls have been to the track down the road to ride their wheeler and bike several times this week. Today we ventured up to the Como Zoo and Conservatory. It is WAY different than we remember it and more crowded. The girls kind of enjoyed it, but are getting too old for that kind of stuff. They would rather sit at home and read, listen to music and paint their nails. Teenagers!!!!! I guess we should enjoy the time at home with them, because I know soon they may not want to be at home with us at all!
Valleyfair this week -(we hope they enjoy that!) and the big Steele County fair. Maybe a trip to Alexandria to visit foster family?...

where have I been???

Wow! Where has the summer gone? Last post was about our vacation about a month ago! What have we been doing, you ask? Well, after taking a weekend trip to visit Mary's brother up in Henning and some friend's of ours there also, we have kept busy with the garden, mowing, carwashes, organizing buildings and rooms in the house, and painting, along with appointments here and there for the girls and myself. Weekends Gary likes to do as much as possible with the girls, so we have gone to the track where the girls can ride their bike and 4 wheeler, gone swimming, car shows, fairs, visited with family, and this last weekend we attended the community celebration in our home town where we watched a tractor pull, atv mud bogs, rummaged, and went to a street dance where the girls danced almost every song for 2 hours. I also got together with my brothers and family to go through things at my dad's place. I think we made great progress, although Dad my not think so..... right now anyway until the garage sale stuff is removed. At least it has been gone through and divided. (Thanks everyone for getting together and getting this done!) The next big accomplishment will be the actual garage sale! check out the pics of recent activities.

vacation

Well, we are back from our vacation. It was a wonderful trip and the weather was great, but as always, nice to be home. We started out last Sunday to the Dells. It only took 2.5 hours to get there, so we had the afternoon to tour the resort. It was very spread out, so it took awhile to get our bearings. The resort consisted of 3 outdoor parks and 4 indoor parks. Each day we ventured to a new park so the girls were expected to stay in the one area each day. (easier to monitor them) While there, we toured Lake Delton that had emptied into the Wisconsin River. It is hard to believe that there was a lake there just a few weeks ago. Also, we got a picture of a house that collapsed into the empty lake, along with boats and docks just sitting in the dirt. Because we had seen some of the other attractions on a previous trip, we decided to make this just a waterpark trip.

After returning and spending a quiet 4th, we took a day trip to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha to learn about the Eagle. It was so cool to see the Eagles close up. Mary was born in Wabasha, so it was fun for her to see her home town. After that we travelled up the road to Kellogg and visited the Lark Toy Company. It is the Largest Independent Specialty Toy Store in North America. They have antique toys along with very unique new toys and specialty toys that you would not find at Target. While there we sampled fudge, taffy, the girls rode the carousel and we played miniture golf. It was a beautiful day and we had fun. From there we took the girls to Zumbrota swimming for a couple hours. That was our vacation. Please take time to view the pics.

The beach

We have had a good time at the beach. The girls are acting like typical teenagers and using the beach to further their social skills! See pics of the beach. Today the weather has been very unstable, but we really need the rain. We are preparing to go to the Wisconsin Dells tomorrow. We were unsure of vacation plans this year because of the gas prices and other misfortunes we have had to pay for. But we decided to head over to the Dells for a few days. We will be staying at the Wilderness resort. They have a waterpark indoor and outdoor both right at the hotel. We are hoping it is a good time. We couldn't pass up the deal they gave us on a room. So we will have some pics to share when we return.