We finally hit 70!!

Spring has been long awaited around here. It's been a bitter winter and today was a banner day! Nothing but sunshine and about 73 degrees. The day was busy with Bible study, running errands preparing for Easter Sunday in our children's ministry, tutoring 3 students, and the minute I was done, Brennan was begging to ride bikes to the playground. I love that at almost 10, he still loves to spend time swinging, sliding, and hanging on the monkey bars. After a LLLOOONNNNNGGGG winter of endless hours of video games, I am grateful to get him out on his bike getting some exercise. I love our times at the playground. It seems we have some of our greatest conversations there.
Tonight I learned the following from our evening together...

*he feels that girls in his class always want their own way. He preceded to offer several examples of when playing math games, they will say, "We're doing subtraction or nothing..." "We're doing addition or nothing..." He was disgusted at the fact that they act like they're giving you a choice when they're really not. He asked me if all girls want their own way. What am I to say to that? I told him I like to get my own way. And he told me, "Yes, but you're not a girl, you're a woman."

*he loved Nana's garlic bread. "She was a smart woman," he told me. However I'm still unsure of how her brains and garlic bread talents go together...

*it is very unfair that, at recess, you only get one push on the tire swing, but the pusher has to push 3 times before being done. Who makes up these dumb rules?

*I now know how to "rocket" on the tire swing.

*I cannot "rocket" for long on the tire swing as I am too old for that and the nausea set in. I used to be able to spin, ride any ride in any amusement park, and merry go round on a full stomach and not be phased. Now I can't even last 5 minutes on a tire swing on an empty stomach.

*God has given me a very special little boy... but I think I already knew that.

Spring break-oh how I love thee...

I am so enjoying my spring break. And of course, it is going too fast.
Saturday I scrapped for 11 hours. It was lovely. Some wonder how anyone could do that for 11 hours straight, but I could go much longer if I could...It was lovely.

Sunday we went to church, out to lunch at McDonalds, and then I got a glorious nap in. It was lovely. I made an egg bake for supper, which I've been hungry for. It was so nice to sit down together at our table as a family and eat together. We don't get to do that much during the weeks because I am usually tutoring during the dinner hour. Brennan and I rented the movie G-Force and watched that before bed--definitely not as good of a movie as I had hoped. Thankfully we waited for the $1 Redbox instead of paying movie theater prices!

Monday I slept in til 9. It was lovely. Then I took the boys out shopping to try to get everything bought for baseball season, and I think we got it accomplished. Then we picked up Gary at work and went to Boston's for lunch. We'd never been there before, and loved the chicken parmesan pizza we ordered. Brennan raved that his spaghetti and meatballs was the best thing he'd ever tasted!

Tuesday Bradley went to Token's with some friends and I had another nap. It was lovely. Then Bren and I played a couple of board games (he beat me in Goolf and I beat him in Yahtzee), I cleaned the house a little, and made chicken wraps, corn casserole, and a cherry trifle for supper. Bradley ended up spending the night at a friend's house.

Today (Wednesday) I scrapbooked all day at Memory Bound. It was lovely!! I had a mango smoothie for supper and got beat by Brennan in Battleship. Now I am enjoying the peace and quiet of the house at 12:20 AM knowing that I should be going to bed, but relishing staying up late.

The rest of the week is going to be busy. Tomorrow Bradley has an ortho appointment and he is ready to take his driver's permit test. AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Notice I said HE is ready to take it because I'm certainly not ready for him to take it. This is when I think how nice it would be to have him back in diapers again! Then we're going somewhere to golf. It's supposed to be 63 degrees tomorrow! It will be lovely!! And after the winter we've had, we are going to enjoy every minute of our day tomorrow. Friday we are going to a retirement party for Gary's mom. She only has 7 more days of work left, and we are rejoicing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Straight from the party we get to drive 4 hours to Sioux City, Iowa so Brennan can compete in the State spelling bee on Saturday!
Spring break...oh how I love thee...

January monthly calendar

I showed you the monthy calendar I started here http://katehydorn.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html (can't remember how to rename the link offhand). Well January is completed and in the album. I'm hoping to finish up February while I'm on spring break this week. I put together the collage of pics from the month in Picassa and wrote captions right on them. On the other side the envelope contains papers, clippings, etc. from the month. I included a grocery list I had made and Brennan added his wants to it. I got a chuckle at some of the things he added and how he spelled them. I'm hoping to add things like this in the coming months.

Scripture challenge #2

I've had my second Scripture challenge done for awhile, but hadn't taken a picture of it. The word was temptations. I used the verse from 1 Corinthians 10:31. It was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the challenge. I took it from the New Living Translation Bible. I chose a black and white theme and tore my paper at the top symbolizing the torn feeling we have when temptations come our way.

I'm hoping to get caught up on the challenges this weekend. I am about 3 behind by now. I am going to enjoy 11 hours of uninterrupted scrapbooking bliss on Saturday- right here in town at the school! I'm so looking forward to it. I have hardly done any scrapping at all and since I am going nowhere for spring break, this will have to be my vacation!

Bradley will be having minor surgery on Friday. He had tubes put in his ears when he was 4 (and he's now 14). One of them is still in place and has to be removed. It has had scar tissue built up around it so it will have to be surgically removed. They may also have to do some reconstruction as well.

THE SNOW IS MELTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can see about 75% of my yard now! Today it got up to 50 degrees and Bradley was dressed in shorts for school. Now some of you might think that's nuts, but to us Iowans 50 felt like a heat wave!

Brennan's spelling be is a little over a week away. We'll be heading to Sioux City on the 20th for that. I am praying he'll do well and nerves won't get to him.

I'm subbing in technology tomorrow. That's a joke since I don't know squat about the computer systems at the school. I'm merely present for crowd control only.

Been busy looking through and choosing curriculums for our church's summer programs and VBS. I'm so thankful for my church job and the ability to be able to do so much of my work from the comforts of my own home and computer.

We are officially done with basketball. Bradley had his last tournament last weekend. We are now kicking off baseball. Without question it is the most expensive sport in the Hydorn household. So far I've written 2 hefty checks to Sports Authority with the shopping not completely done yet.

Gary goes to work, studies, eats, studies, sleeps, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Still waiting to get this house sold and we officially decided to build. We signed the paperwork last week and are ready to go when someone decides to make 847 Main Street their house. I know my focus has changed when instead of spending my extra 30 minutes browsing in a clothing store, I went into Lowe's instead and drooled over vessel sinks, hardwood floors, and tile. Oh my.

Spring break is two days away. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diary of a Snow Shoveler

Although this little ditty was not written by me, it does capture a bit of my own attitude and feelings about the winter we've been having.


This story is one of my all time favorites : )

December 8: 6 PM

It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses print. So romantic- we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9:

We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the whole wide world? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon after the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed the driveway, I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.

December 12:

The sun has melted all of our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry. We'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man. I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14:

Snow, lovely snow! 8 inches last night! The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back into shape this way. I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.

December 15:

20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16:

Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt SO BAD! The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17:

Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should have bought a wood stove, but I won't admit that to her. I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20:

Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white crap fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt til August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out and shovel, and then I had to pee. By the time I got undressed, peed, and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter, but he says he's too busy. I think he's lying.

December 23:

Only 2 inches of snow today. And it warmed up to 0 degrees! The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What? Is she nuts? Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did, but I think she's lying.

December 24:

6 inches. Snow packed so hard by the snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the idiot who drives that snowplow, I'll drag him through the snow. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at 100 mph and throws snow all over where I just shoveled! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the snowplow.

December 25:

Merry Christmas! 20 more inches of the !&@@#** slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. I hate snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation, and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm gonna kill her.

December 26:

Still snowed in. Why on earth did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27:

Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze.

December 28:

Warmed up to above -50. Still snowed in. SHE'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!

December 29:

10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard? How dumb does he think I am?

December 30:

Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is sueing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. 9 inches predicted.

December 31:

Set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.

January 8:

I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

kitty love

Just thought I'd share some photos of my babies tonight- and by babies, of course I mean my fur babies. My children would take offense to being called babies. Maizy "helping" Bren play X-box. If any of the rest of us tried to snuggle her like this, we would get scratched. With the rest of us, she'll snuggle only on her timetable and terms, but with Bren, it's different.

My own personal dishwasher- we're trying to be energy efficient and go green in 2010!

Gary took this one when I was tutoring. Maizy loves to come in with the tutoring students. She does NOT like to be closed out of a room. If she is, I will see her little paw come under the door. We can hear the slight scratching and the tutoring kids just automatically get up and let her in!

I may have shared this one once before- sorry if you've seen it already. I was too lazy to look back and check older posts! Oreo is less than amused at one of Brennan's many new games.

Off to bed- it's almost midnight.