A New Day

Good Morning Baby Girls!

It seems like just yesterday that Sam was the size of Addy.

Where has the time gone?

I'm not ready for my babies to grow up.

One day I won't be able to sneak into their room to watch them sleep,

or be the one to wake them up in the morning with kisses and hugs.

Sam is almost seven now. With how fast the first seven went, the next seven years will probably go by just as fast as the first.

I can't remember everything that happened, at least I'll have these blogs to sit down on the couch and embrace, when my children won't be home anymore to embrace.

Summer Adventures

Summer is approaching faster than ever. While picking the kids up from RCC I saw their new billboard showing all of the fun the kids who attend Summer RCC have.

If it wasn't for these pictures I wouldn't have a clue as to what my children do in a given day.

I ask them everyday how their day was and what they did.

The typical response is "played". I ask for more details and I get "ya know... outside"

The Secret Life of Seth and Samantha

Reversi

Reversi is not an easy game. Nick tried to teach me how to play it but I hvaen't been too successful at winning. I don't have the problem solving skills that Nick does because when he is done with the game he either has control of every circle or he has blocked the computer from having any possible moves.

This is the best I've been able to do.

and yes, I named the computer 'Cheater'.

Student of the Month

The month of April is almost over. I was picking up papers off the office floor when I noticed a bunch of stars peeking out from under some other papers, inches from being thrown into the burning bag. I pulled it out from the stack to find this...

You would think it would have been exciting news. When I asked her why she didn't tell us she said

"I forgot"

"You forgot!? They take your picture with all of the other students across the grades. They make a big deal of it - You forgot?" How are we supposed to celebrate if we don't know.

Maybe it was just modesty.

Whether it was or wasn't a big deal to Sam - I am very proud of her for how smart she is.

Now... if I could only get her to clean her room.



Picture found in the school bulletin.



Car Crash in Randolph

Nick took the day off work to participate in the school's car crash. I decided to work from home so I could walk over to the school to watch my husband in action. It will probably be the only time I can watch him deal with an accident. The 7th through 12th graders gathered in the North Lot to watch what all goes on when kids drink and drive. I remember watching a similar scenario when I was a student at Burnsville High School. I got there just in time for the buses to reveal the hidden accident and the call from Empire Dispatch to all medics, troopers, sherrifs and the Randolph/Hampton Fire Department. Even though you know it is not a real accident, it was very hard listening to dispatch and all of the voices on the radio; the screams from the car. It didn't help that I was standing close to one of the speakers.

One victim was laying across the hood - pronounced dead at the scene.

A hearse was called to the scene.

 The roof of the car needed to be cut off to get the driver out and onto a backboard.

The Rochester Mayo One helicopter was called to the scene.

The body of the deceased teenager was covered in a white sheet.

The driver, best friend of the deceased teenager, was given a field sobriety test next to the hearse.

She failed the test and was placed under arrest for vehicular homocide.

Afterwards parents of a teenager who died due to a friend drinking and driving April 2010 spoke to the school. They were informed by a sheriff that their daughter was in an accident and is missing. Missing because the car went into the Cannon River and their daughter couldn't be found. They search for their daughter's body for 87 days. Eighty-Seven day! My heart sank listening to them recount those events; listening as they did their best to hold themselves together. She read a letter that their daughter's best friend wrote a year after the accident. That was pretty powerful.

10 hours later - it still gives me the shivers. I can only pray that my children will know right from wrong when it comes to drinking and driving, texting and driving, or being inattentive while driving.

In Memory of Grace

On November 18, 2003 Grace Burlage was born.

Grace is a wonderful little girl who has a Meningioma brain tumor. She had her first brain surgery when she was 2. Then radiation for 7 weeks when she was three. At five, she had two different forms of Chemo, and two more brain surgeries. At six Grace had Proton Therapy Radiation in Indiana. On Dec. 30th we found out that her tumor is growing again, and the doctor's cannot do anything else.
(Taken from CaringBridge.com)



On November 12, 2011 Grace lost her battle and became an angel.

Today is the last day of Church School and as a way to remember Grace the children helped plant a tree for her. I'm pretty sure it's a crabapple tree - the same one we have in our front yard. It will be beautiful!

You will never be forgotten Little Gracie Burlage.

Triple Trouble

Sam: "Here Momma - let's do something."
Me: "What's that?"
Sam: "Mackenzie's Mom did this - see watch."
Me: "Oh - neat..." confused as to what was so special.
Sam: "Take our picture now."

Yup - My three cuties - Triple Trouble!

Tuckered Out

It was getting late and Addy still needed a bath. I quickly gave her one in the motorhome sink, which she wasn't very happy about. I wrapped her up in the towel and Grandma Loken stole her from me. She took her from me a lot when Addy would start crying. Grandma figured she had the touch to stop her from crying. Maybe she did... Addy wasn't ready to give up one of the wet wipes Grandma used on her neck. Grandma set her up against the corner of the couch and before we knew it she looked like this...

Darn Nuk!

Cleansed from Sin

Adelynn June Schiller

Baptised in the Holy Spirit

St. Mark's Church

Randolph, Minnesota

April 22, 2012

Godparents: Sommer Stafford and James Schiller

~ Those who celebrated this day with us ~

Sommer, Ethan and Jacob Stafford ~ Tom & Terri Loken ~Cale Loken ~ Russ Williams ~ Jim and Linda Schiller ~ James (Junior) Schiller ~ Becky Schiller ~ Julie Misencik and John Phiefer ~ Joe and Del Schiller ~ Lorraine Adelmann

Math-phobia

The kids weren't the only ones who had school work to focus on in the motorhome. I did as well and ICK - ICK - ICK!!

I kept overthinking things so I would either as Grandpa Loken to explain it to me, or, I'd take a picture (like the one below) and text it to Nick to have him explain it to me.

It doesn't take long for one to forget how to work math problems. I'm not a fan of exponents, roots, cartesian coordinates, expressions, multiplying expressions and probably most of what I will find in the college math packet with polynomials, binomials, quadratic equations and logarithmic equations. Maybe I don't need to go back to college...

Want Sand

I love Florida sand. I wish Minnesota sand could be as wonderful feeling as Florida sand. Seth and Sam wanted to bring back presents to a few of their friends. I picked up a few travel cases from the store for them to fill up with sand. Now the issue is - who to give them to. They each have three to do as they would like with. Seth started rambling off names I've never heard him say before. With how often they were playing in the sand, I'm sure we were still brushing the sand off their belongings all the way to Missouri.

Gotcha

My Mom has always hated getting her picture taken. She passed that along to me for a while when I was in high school. I've gotten over my phobia and since her grandkids were born, I do what I can to help her get over her phobia. Which usually involves me snapping a picture when she isn't looking. This time, she looked up and busted me. In the end it worked out perfect! Love the picture of her.

The Way Addy Rolls

Now that we're back home from our vacation, it's time to get back into the swing of things. I brought Addy to see her Pediatrician, Michele Peterson.

Weight: 13 lbs, 14 oz
Lenght: 25 1/2 inches
Head: 16 3/4 inches

She is at the 50th percentile for her weight and the 90th percentile for her length. We're not tall people - she must have gotten it from Nicks' Grandpa Adelmann and Grandpa Schiller.

It seems like just last month that Adelynn was born - it seems like just last week that I went back to work. It most definatley doesn't feel like she should is 17 weeks and four days old today.

While we were waiting in the exam room, Addy was laying on the exam table. She started flinging her leg and arm over her body and with ease, she rolled over to her tummy. WHAT?! No - that didn't just happen - so I put her on her back again and within a minute or two she was back on her tummy. I was sad that Nick couldn't be there to see her roll too. The next best thing was to send him a video.

Passing Time

There isn't a whole lot of things one can do while riding in a motorhome for four full days. Seth and Sam spent quite a bit of time sitting in the passanger seat. Seth was snapping pictures with their Samsung Galaxy tablet (which I later noticed were all of vehicles that were passing us, or their own faces.) I soon realized that if I didn't set a limit, they would be on their tablets or my iPad the entire day. NEW RULE!! For every hour of homework you work on, you will be able to play with your electronics for one hour.

Sam is sitting in the passanger seat playing with my iPad while listening to Taylor Swift on my iPod.
Who needs to wear headphones when you can just crank the music?



On our way through Iowa, we stopped to have some maintenance work done on the motorhome.
Seth found an Etch-A-Sketch and drew a motorhome. Pretty impressive Buddy!!
I think he'd make a great engineer!!

We made it home tonight at 9pm. Sam tried her hardest to say awake until we got home but she passed out cold just south of Cannon Falls. Seth on the other hand was up and ready to go! Even after we got home he was running around like he just woke from a full nights sleep. Me... I was just happy to be home with my husband again.

Start Your Engines!!

Or, at least that is what will be heard here in two and a half weeks when Nascar comes to the Talladega Super Speedway. We stopped here to eat lunch on our way to Elkmont, Alabama. Seth thought it was pretty cool. We sent their Dad the picture right below and his response was "You lucky little turkeys". I suppose it isn't quite fair if your kids make it to someplace you yourself have never been.

"Can we come back in May?"

"Sure... Just not this May."

We made it to Bowling Green, Missouri for the night. You could tell we were getting closer to Minnesota. It was the first night the kids and I woke in the middle of the night cold.

The Way We Roll

7am - Wake up and pack up
8am - Hit the road - next stop Elkmont, Alabama

11am - Stop for lunch at Talladega Speedway
12pm - Panic as the front right tire blew and Grandpa faught with the motorhome to make it safely to the side of the road without tumbling into the ditch.



















4pm - Service truck finally arrives from Tuscaloosa.
5pm - Back on the road
8pm - Arrive at Mill Creek Park

This is the front porch of the office at Mill Creek Park. Nobody was sitting on the porch when we were there but this is exactly what I would picture to be happening on the porch. It was very welcoming ~ cozy ~ and very much southern.

Par what?

Night Four - We spent at Southern Trails Resort in Unadilla, Georgia.

There were horses to watch, pools to swim in, and mini golf to play.

We played at least four rounds of this 9 hole course.

Seth and Sam would check each hole to see what the Par was. It wasn't often where one of us would hit par or less. I wasn't very fond of the bridge above. No matter how I hit the ball it would always bounce off of one the the anchored balls. If anything, we laughed a lot.

Seth found a little green frog who was a stowaway in the water compartment. We hope (s)he found a nice new home 360 miles from home.

Beach Day

Friday morning we were at the beach from 10am to 1pm, ate lunch, and headed back from 2pm to 4:30pm. We went back to the motorhome for dinner and back to the beach we went again. I did good keeping the kids from getting burnt - me on the other hand... Ouch! We caught low tide last night and high tide today. The kids thought it was pretty cool how the water moved higher onto the beach.

Tanning on the beach watching a cruise ship leave port. We also saw a submarine leaving port earlier in the day.

Seth waving goodbye

Silly Faces - if we only knew we were starting to burn

This is the closest Addy got to going in the ocean.
Grandma brought her down without her swimsuit on so we improvised.

Last run down to the ocean. Sam's boogie board was catchin' some air.

It was a little after 7pm and the clouds were rolling in. Luckily the rain held off for another day.

TGO & The Cape

We only spent a few hours at The Great Outdoors before heading to Jetty Park where we would spend the next two nights.
















Before we left we had to help Grandma and Grandpa pack everything up. Addy and I contributed by driving the golf cart up to their enclosed trailer. She did a great job steering.

Seth and Sam were not very happy to hear we were leaving TGO and Florida without even going to the ocean for a swim. Grandma had them convinced we were heading for Minnesota.

I don't know who was more excited to be spending two days at the beach - the kids, or me.

It didn't take long for the kids to hit the beach.

Airport

Today is the day! Seth, Sam, Addy and I are heading to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa Loken, then ride back to Randolph in the motorhome.

Dave was nice enough to pick us up and bring us to the airport. I was a little nervous with trying to make it through security with three kids, six bags and an umbrella stroller. I thought I was prepared with a little list of what to pull out of each bag, but apparently forgot to pull out the ziplock bag of liquids from Sam's bag. The kids thought it was neat - they were able to watch the security lady examine the bag and wipe it down to see if there were any explosives hidden within.

We made it though security and to the gate with enough time to have a seat, mix up a bottle, collapse the stroller and stand right back up to get in line for early boarding. We found our seats, buckled in, fed Addy and waited patiently for the plane to leave the gate.

The flight went great! Seth and Sam played with their Samsung Galaxy tablet and my iPad. I held Addy while she slept all but the last 15 minutes of the flight and read My Sister's Keeper on my Nook.

Seth said the best part of the flight was when he could look out at night and see all the lights.

Sam's favorite part was being at the airport. "It was nice there".

Our route home:
A: Jetty Park, Cape Canaveral, Florida
B: Southern Trails RV Resort, Unadilla, Georgia
C: Mill Creek Park, Elkmont, Alabama
D: Cozy C Campgrounds, Bowling Green, Missouri
E: Our house

Tractor Parade

Every year Randolph's FFA Chapter puts on a Tractor Parade during the school day. The first year we lived here I ran into some "traffic" while trying to leave our street. I couldn't turn because there was a line of tractors heading towards school. I figured it was just a "drive your tractor to school day". It wasn't unheard of with other schools.

I took pictures of the schools north lot which was packed with tractors and had to show my co-workers who I knew would just love to pick on me for living in a town that has a "drive your tractor to school day". When I picked up the kids from school I was told that the tractors at school for the FFA parade. Well, "drive your tractor to school day" sounds so much better than just a tractor parade.

Each year Seth asks if we can buy a tractor so he can ride in it. Kinda spendy buddy - so no. But... we do have a friend who has some tractors and maybe, just maybe, you can ride with them.

The lot had around 50 more tractors by the time everyone arrived. With a total of 109 included in the parade.

Red Dress

My parents bought this dress for Sam when she was a baby. She wore it once before she quickly outgrew it. We were in search of one of Sam's old baby dresses for Addy to wear for Easter and decided to have her try on this dress. We probably would have had her wear it for an Easter dress if it was a softer color. It would also be really cute if this dress was a bit bigger and Addy was just learning to walk by herself. Maybe we'll have to pick up a bigger size...

She fell in love with the dress right away. We had a lot of laughs with trying to get a picture of her without having her dress pulled up over her head in an effort to eat the lace.

"Happy" Easter

Seth and Sam spent their Spring Break and Easter with their Dad this year. Nick, Addy and I visited with the Adelmann's and then headed over to Dort's for Easter with the Schiller Family.

It is never easy spending holidays away from my children. I watch all of the other little kids run around playing and answer the same question of "Where are the kids?" multiple times. It is nice to hear people ask where they are rather than being forgotten. Even when Seth and Sam are with their Dad, there is always a fair share of Easter treats and eggs put aside for them when they return home. I wonder throughout the day what they are doing. Are they hunting eggs right now? Are they dying eggs? Are they running around outside, laughing and making memories? Are they thinking about me? Do they miss me as much as I miss them?

I know that Dave must feel the same way when Seth and Sam are with me. They have a large family on the Brunner side that love and adore them as well. There is a plus side and a negative side to every situation. Negative being they have to split their time between parents and family. The plus side is they get an even larger family than most kids - The Brunner's, Loken's and Schiller's.

Picture taken at Aunt Jeanie's Cabin in Garrison
Summer 2006 - Sam 1yr, Seth 2 1/2 yrs

Boonie's

We were looking to go out to dinner someplace but hadn't decided where. We loaded up the kids and took off with no clear direction in mind. We started heading West and about a half hour later we decided to turn South to see if we could find our way back to Boonie's Bar and Grill in Millersburg. Last year we went for a motorcycle ride that the fire department was helping fundraise with and stopped there to collect a stamp.

This little bar and grill sits right off the road on the edge of a farm. It is almost like the farmer opened up a little store/restaurant on their farm and the public flocked at their new establishment.

If you continue to the back of Boonie's you'll walk out to their recreational area. It's pretty neat out there. They have pool tables, horseshoe pits, a waterfall/fountain. It seems like a fun place to go.

What is nice, is that this is only about 25 minutes from our house if we go directly there - unlike today where we detoured and took a hour to get there. We had the kids fooled when they realized we were just outside of Northfield.