Flood pictures

Just wanted to show you a difference in water levels here.


In this picture the you can see Hanna pointing to the water and it hadn't quite made it over the bike path.



And now you can see in this picture, that the whole area is underwater.



In this picture you can see the little golf course bridge


Now it's almost completely underwater, you can barely see the very top of it


This is over a span of 3 days. Not sure how much higher they are expecting it to get.

Visit from Gregg & Rana

This weekend we were visited by family. My nephew, Gregg, his wife, Rana, and their two little boys, Isaac and Ethan, were in town visiting my sister, Sue. They live in Rapid City, South Dakota, so it is a bit of a trek for them and two small kiddos. Needless to say, we don't see them much.

In fact, I think it may have been at least 3 years since I've seen Gregg last! He was my buddy growing up. I so loved it when my sister came home and I got to play with Gregg and Amanda. Especially Gregg, since he is only 5 years younger than me. And play we did! We would disappear all weekend long, only to show our faces at meal time (and to do up all the dishes of course). But we didn't mind, as long as we were together. We were inseparable!

We played "peoples", restaurant, barbies, house, spy, swimming, you name it! We weren't like some kids, that need to be glued to their parents all the time. We didn't WANT to be with the adults. It was good times back then.

Boy, what happened? We are grown ups now, with families of our own. Gregg went to college, got married, moved away....I hardly ever see him. My bestest childhood buddy. He made everything 500 times more fun. And laugh, my GOD did we laugh. And he is a giggly person to begin with. I could make him shake with hysteric laughter with just a look. I would use that to my advantage. We'd be sitting at the table eating, and I'd wait until he took a big gulp of milk, then I'd do something to make him laugh until 2 white streams came shooting out of his nose. It was so easy!

Sigh...

Anyway, he has an awesome wife, she is so sweet and beautiful and creative. And those boys....aw, don't get me started! I hardly know them (we don't get together often), but they are the sweetest little things. All of my previous stereotypes of the typical little boy, all wild and crazy and messy and rude are gone. A total misconception. These two are total angels. Well behaved, so polite and cuuuuuuuute! Isaac is the oldest (4), he reminds me so much of Gregg. Looks just like he did when he was that age. And Ethan, is a precious little blond. They are both so light too, like picking up air! Not that they are overly skinny or anything, just like....they have wings that help you out when they are in your arms.

I could go on and on....

And of course my girls had a blast with them. Eden said it was the best day of her life, LOL! And watching Hanna giving Isaac a ride on her back, was just like looking back in time, at Gregg and I. How I long to be a child again some days. To play carefree and imagine the possibilities of a lifetime to come. Now, another generation has their chance.

Hope you had a safe trip back home, Gregg and Rana! I love and miss you guys!


Click HERE to see more pictures from last weekend!

Here come the sandbags

This is the second round of sandbags brought to our neighborhood of Rose Creek, by police escort, today.

Sandbag schedule: I guess they are taking 51,300 bags to our neighborhood on day 1 (today) and another 51,300 bags on day 3. That's 19 loads each day.

We are expecting a crest at 38 feet this Saturday, two weeks earlier than originally predicted.

Scuttling to School

Scuttling probably means next to nothing to the average family. But here, we are big fans of Futurama (as you may already know). And there is a character on the show called Dr. Zoidberg who is a lobster. And he scuttles. Therefore, we scuttle from time to time.

The girls did the scuttle on the way to school one morning a couple weeks back and it has become a "thing" every morning since. Emma and I stand at the window, shaking with laughter as we watch Hanna & Eden scuttle off to school. Lord only knows what our neighbors are thinking. What sort of crazy family has entered our neighborhood?

But this morning Hanna said she was sort of getting tired of scuttling every day. So I said I would record them this one last time so she wouldn't have to do it again. Although she probably will. Without further ado (or is it adieu? Well I had to look it up and here it is: adieu is goodbye in French, an ado is a fuss. And so, it is ado. So there).

And so, without further ADO, here are Hanna and Eden doing the Zoidberg scuttle.

vanity plate

Hanna (my 12 year old) has an assignment due on Thursday, where she is to come up with a personalized license plate suited for a career of her choosing. The group she chose was what she referred to as "caring", nurse, doctor, etc.. They need to be 8 characters or less and be original.

So while Mom, Andreas and I were playing a very looooong game of Skip-Bo, we were playing around with a few ideas (most of which are NOT suited for the 12 year old crowd) and here are the losers:

(be warned, we used no tact whatsoever - so if you lack a sense of humor or do not wish to tarnish your idea that we are mature, angelic adults, please stop reading NOW)

Plastic Surgeon
LUV LIPO
TIT DR
BOOBSRUS
ISLICEIT
BARBIEDR
RUFUGLY


Pathologist/Coroner
TOE TAG
CUT U UP
DRAIN U

ENT
IDOEARS

CNA
DIGUOUT

Obstetrician
BABYSRUS

Proctologist
ASS MAN (Seinfeld)
PROBE U
BENDOVER


And one totally unrelated to the health field:

Programmer
10110100


And, an actual plate I've seen:
I SPIT....I bet her dad is proud.

In the end, I think the best choice for Hanna was:

Nurse
ICARE4U

...and she thought so too.

Andreas turns 39

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband, Andreas! Click to see some photos from today. VIEW PICTURES

Saturday, cheese, and other stuff

We had a lovely wine & cheese with the kids on Saturday. Of course, the kids just had lovely cheese. Anyway, it was a nice relaxing night with the kids, in front of the screen watching one of our old favorites, "CHEF!".

It's a British comedy that used to be on PBS a few years ago. We always liked watching it, so we bought a set of DVDs. It's hilarious. And we love shows about cooking. Hilarious + Cooking = BIG hit at our house.






I love moldy stinky cheese. The bad thing is Andreas doesn't. So I had all this Brie and Blue and Gorgonzola that I was going to have to eat by myself or it would go to waste. And I hate wasting food, especially cheese. Because I love cheese. How do you tell when moldy cheese goes bad anyway?

But back to my love of cheese. I think I've eaten more cheese in the last three days than most normal people probably eat in half a year. Seriously. I expect to see a 5 pound weight gain the next time I step on the scale. Blech!

Now, this is TO DIE FOR cheese. A Gorgonzola cheese torte with walnuts and cranberries. A beautiful whipped wonder, so creamy and delicious!



Emma is just so darn cute sometimes.


I dislike those ugly cords dangling from our TV. Andreas said pulling them behind the wall (which we did at our last house) is a fire hazard. Maybe we need to have an outlet installed behind the TV.


I got new plants last weekend. I love how they bring a little tropical ambiance to the room. I always wanted to live in the jungle. I love plants.



And I love this rose.



The end.