How's Your Fox?

Halloween

2011-11-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

FIrst Day 4 Year Old Preschool

2011-09-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

2011-08-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

1st Day 3rd Grade

2011-08-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

mother's day

2011-05-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

updates

2011-05-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

well,well. i haven't posted anything in awhile; been kinda busy. big news; seth is done today with finals! that means no more studying or book work or classes ever again! he starts clinicals monday in the vet hospital and he'll do that until he graduates may 11 a year from now.
he turns 31 tomorrow, so it will be a double celebration of birthday fun and the end of school!
rigby gets done with preschool next thursday; she has a class picnic and a little mini graduation at the park. rig is going to do a mini dance camp at the beginning of june. she has been asking everyday when she gets to take dance class, so we thought we'd try out a 4 day mini camp that last for about 2 hrs. each day to see what she thinks of it. penner is done with school may 26. she just finished spring soccer season and she will continue with piano and take golf lessons & swimming lessons over the summer. those are the updates from manhattan!

Some of My Favorite Websites

2011-03-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

For Swimwear: http://limericki.com/

For deals on namebrand outdoor clothes & shoes: http://beta.sierratradingpost.com/

For reasonably priced & fashionable eyewear: http://www.warbyparker.com/

The Sun

2011-03-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

In honor of my dermatology appointment I had today, where I got a skin cancer screening and 2 biopsies done of some suspicious moles, I thought I'd post a link from the American Academy of Dermatology all about the importance of Sunscreen.
I am only 31, and the dermatologist seemed slightly horrified by my sun damaged skin. It's hard to convince yourself when you are under 25 how important it is to limit sun exposure, wear protective gear such as sunglasses, hats, rashgurads, etc., but when you see how quickly the sun damages your skin, it is motivating. I have not been a sun tanner for almost 10 years, and I wear sunscreen but once the damage is done, there is no going back.

http://www.aad.org/public/exams/screenings/documents/AAD_Facts_About_Sunscreen.pdf

Friday and Monday

2011-03-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

An amusing and insightful blog

2011-03-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

I've found a kindred spirit in one of Seth's professors. He writes a blog called Barf Blog all about germs and bacteria. Finally someone understands what I mentally go through on a daily basis; thinking about the general filth of just about every public place. Interesting how when his professor talks about this stuff Seth is intrigued and thinks it is cool. But, when I freak out over the lemon slices on the side of my drink at a restaurant, or the nastiness of public toilets, Seth just calls me crazy!

click the link to visit the barf blog:
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/barfblog

Laundry Daydreams

2011-03-04T17:12:00.001-08:00

I'll be the first to admit that I have too many clothes; I was inspired to write this while putting away my laundry tonight. But how many clothes is it appropriate to have in my closet? I'm curious about how many clothes my friends and family members have because our idea of too many might be vastly different. I have fantasies of getting rid of all but just a few simple pieces of clothing. This would greatly eliminate my laundry load, and it would simplify life drastically. Not only would I have less clothes to think about and launder, but I wouldn't think about buying them either. My sister-in-law Erin recently decided to enact the add one, take one away policy for her closet. This is an admirable idea, but one that I'm not willing to adopt just yet. I dream of being that disciplined at some point; I just have to set the date.

I recently saw this other fascinating idea somewhere, (I apologize for not giving credit to the owner of this idea) perhaps it was on Erin's blog, or on a blog she had a link to, or maybe it was on T.V. or in a magazine. But, every 6 months, this lady would make as many outfits as she could out of all the clothes in her closet and take pictures of them all, then put them in a 3 ring binder. Then, every morning she would pull out the three ring binder that she kept next to her bed, and flip through the pages to choose her outfit for the day. I found this idea to be be quite creative, impressively organized, and a little bit crazy. I'm most likely never going to spend that much time creating outfits and photographing them, but I'd sure like someone to do it for me. So girls, are we ready to admit how many clothes hang in our closets? How many pair of dress pants, casual pants? How many t-shirts? How many skirts, dresses, shorts? Add 'em up!

After a recent Bible study reading on idolatry, I began to reflect on what my idols are. And, I wonder to myself if clothes are my idol. I certainly don't dress well enough to look like I think about clothes a lot, but maybe clothes take up too much of my life. Clothes can be a lot of fun, but when does that fun cross the line and turn into something unhealthy, even sinful? Perhaps it is sinful the amount of clothes I have. Or, does it only become sinful when we spend too much time thinking about shopping, browsing at clothes on the internet, thinking about that cute denim dress I saw at Target but didn't get. How much is too much?

Sealant Research

2011-03-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Penner's dentist recommended that she have sealants put on her teeth to prevent cavities. I know that some of my childhood friends (Jen is the only one I can actually think of) had this done when we were kids, but I never did. Does anyone else's kids have sealants or have an opinion about them?

Lack of Confidence: The Sweeper Story

2011-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Our vacuum broke because of my hair. It's pretty disgusting, I know. My hair kept getting wound around the roller brush and the whole house would smell like burnt rubber from the belt trying to work to turn the roller brush that was resisting because of the massive amounts of extremely long, thick hair wrapped around it. I did replace the roller brush and belt once, but it was just about cheaper to buy a whole new vacuum after it burnt up again 3 weeks later. So, about 30 minutes ago, I vacuumed with my new vacuum; it was lovely. I don't want to get overly confident though because I don't have a lot of faith in vacuums after the last one only had a lifespan of 3 years.

Anyway, after cutting 13 inches off of my hair 2 weeks ago, I decided I could justify getting a new vacuum. Hopefully we won't have the same sort of issues with this one since we aren't dealing with as much hair.

The Vacuum talk has brought a funny story to mind from my childhood. My dad's sister had bought a "Kirby" vacuum, which I guess are pretty expensive. She was wanting to, or needing to sell it to make some money, so my mom bought it from her. I'm still not sure if she bought it to be nice, basically as a charity to help out my aunt, or if my mom was actually convinced that a Kirby vacuum was the creme de la creme of vacuums. So, apparently she paid my aunt $800 for a USED VACUUM! Well, the vacuum never worked very well; it was a bust. It was heavy and didn't pick up anything off the floor. So, I don't spend a lot on vacuums. Today's purchase was around $60. Perhaps there are some vacuums out there that are worth the money; maybe if I spent more the roller would not be defeated by hair. But, if an $800 Kirby vacuum couldn't do the trick in the Hauser household, I won't be investing in a fancy vacuum anytime soon.

Attack of the Toys

2011-02-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

I'm fed up with toys. I pick up, put away and organize toys more than any sane person should have to; and it's going to send me to the looney bin before long. Both of my kids' toys live in their rooms. We don't have a toy room or any other areas in the house designated for toys. I intentionally did this because I thought if my kids had more toys than would fit in their rooms; they had too many. However, it still seems as though toys have attacked the house.

I've been puzzled by this, though I know It's not rocket science. I wonder if other moms are annoyed by the toy takeover as well, or am I just grouchy. Maybe other moms delight in picking up toys. Maybe other moms enjoy having toys strewn about their homes. I don't remember having toys all over our house when I was a kid. Was my mom just super mom, frantically running about and picking up toys constantly? As I've brainstormed this thought, I realize that we did have a basement when I was a kid, and my mom could just shut the door and not see the mess if she didn't feel like it. My kids bring their toys out of their rooms, and then they get left in all sorts of places around the house. But, I don't think having a basement or a toy room with a door that I could close would fix the problem for me (it might ease the pain a bit). For me, it is the gross amount of toys that we own. I am rather repulsed by it, actually.

So, to take action I sifted through the toys yesterday and bagged up some that I thought the kids could live without. It's not like I haven't done this before; we've sold a lot of toys in garage sales and donated lots. A few have also ended up at grandmas' houses. I still haven't seemed to put a dent in the toy collection, though. I want to thin them out, But I'm still having a hard time deciding if they need 2 or 5 dolls. Will they ever play with the Thomas the Train stuff again? Do we really need practically every Little People toy made or just 1 or 2?

It often seems that the more toys they have, the fewer they play with. They don't seem to notice any of the toys when they have so many to choose from. So, they are heading for the attic, and will hopefully end up in some other nice family's home when they get sold in our moving garage sale we'll have next spring. Then, some other nice mom can pick them up off of her living room floor and I will keep my sanity.

My Cousin's Wedding Weekend

2011-02-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

Mozart

2011-02-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

Rigby by day...Harry Potter by night

2011-02-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

2nd Grade Kansas Program

2011-02-02T16:27:00.001-08:00

It's hard to see Penner in the picture, but if you look closely you can see her (in the bonnet)dressed in her "Prarie Kansas Clothing." She was very excited about the costume that we put together for her 2nd grade concert, and even more excited about the program itself. It was a very big deal to her and along with the singing numbers she and a few other kids also got to do a drum line number in the show. They sang several Kansas themed songs and Wizard of Oz songs too. I think "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was her favorite because she's still been singing it around the house the last few days.

Happy 150th Kansas!

2011-02-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Mini Van Envy

2011-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

I never thought it would happen; I had mini van envy. I was on 435 in Kansas City Saturday, and a mini van zoomed past me. It was lovely. Its sleek design, its new paint job. It was the all new 2011 Honda Odyssey; the Mercedes of mini vans. It's hard for me to admit that I thought it was cool because I spent so many years thinking how nerdy mini vans are. I don't know if it's my age, or an increasing trend toward practicality, but I will admit a mini van would be nice and convenient. Seth will never give in (he would think I'd gone crazy) but I'm not in the market for a new car for another several years, so we'll see if he comes around by then. Or, maybe I will have regained my sensibilities by then.

Funny Story

2011-01-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

So, this probably isn't quite as funny unless you actually experienced it, but if you can just picture me running around the house trying to hide from a 3 year old, it is quite amusing. Seth and I have been watching the Fredonia real estate websites quite carefully, hoping something wonderful will come up for sale. Anyway, we are open to a lot of different options, including land with no house. So, today on a website I noticed a 4 acre building site outside of Fredonia. Before calling to ask about it, I told Rigby that I needed to make a call and I needed her to be quiet while I was on the phone. This was going to be a short call, just to ask for directions and get an idea of the properties' location. Anyway, I dialed the number, a receptionist answered and I explained what I needed. She said she would have to connect me to Larry so he could give me the directions. As soon as Larry picked up I said,

" Hi Larry, this is Angela Fox..."
before I could get another word out, Rigby starts yelling in her loudest voice, "Larry! I want to talk to Larry! Can I talk to Larry Mommy."

I'm sure he could hear her, and I could barely hear him or myself trying to explain what I needed. At first I was confused by why Rig was so excited about the prospect of her getting to talk to Larry, but I quickly realized she thought I was talking to Larry from the Veggie Tales.
Now, of course I thought this was really cute and funny, but the fact that I was calling a complete stranger and could barely hear him over her yelling, took the cuteness down a few notches. I couldn't get her to be quiet, so I started running from her, and she chased me yelling, "I want to talk to Larry!" Then I ran into my room and shut the door before she could reach me, and then into the bathroom in case she got the bedroom door open; all while trying to listen to Larry give me directions to this property. It all seems rather silly; running and trying ot hide from a 3 year old. It was cute, and does make for a good story, but I still wish I had been able to hear.

2011-01-24T09:25:00.001-08:00

While doing my Bible study homework this weekend, I read a Bible Verse that I don't remember ever reading before:

"If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea." -Isaiah 48:18

Beth Moore really got under my skin this week. Her lesson was on Experiencing God's peace. This really struck me and made me think of my youth. It's the same story for a lot of young people; trying to figure life out, think they know best and make their own rules instead of living according to God's rules. This is applicable to our adults lives as well; since adults mess up too. We may not have to answer to our earthly fathers anymore, but we have to answer to our heavenly father. God gives us rules and commands to make our lives easier, not to make life less fun and boring, according to Moore. If we would trust in Him and live for Him each day He will bring Peace to our lives; the peace of tranquility, contentment and joy, which are ultimately greater pleasures than rebellion.

January Update

2011-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

The snow from last week hasn't melted off completely, and this morning it started to snow again. It gradually picked up speed and has been snowing pretty hard all afternoon. Penner's school had an early release due to the snow this afternoon, and I have a feeling tomorrow school will be out as well. They are having hot chocolate and girl scout cookies for an afternoon snack(nice and healthy). Fortunately Seth got new tires on his truck over the weekend, and sandbags, so hopefully his truck will make it home. Last week I had to take him to school one day, and he took the car another day; the Freestyle does quite well in the snow. His truck is not a 4X4 and his tires were as bald as they could possibly be. They were rather dangerous.

He is castrating a horse this afternoon in his large animal surgery class; the first test hasn't rolled around yet, so things have been relatively low key so far.

Penner has a 2nd grade program coming up at the end of the month; she is very excited about this. She and just a few other students get to play the drums in a special segment of the show. She is currently on book 26 of the Nancy Drew series. We had to put a bigger book shelf in her room so she could organize her book collection more effectively. She starts piano lessons the first week of February and continues to do Awana once a week as well. Soccer starts in the spring.

Rigby is in preschool 2 days a week; I think she would like to go more days. She is busy tormenting the cat (Roscoe B. Gentleman), and plays with her Barbies and her favorite Veggie Tales castle.

I'm doing my Bible Study on Thursday mornings again this semester. This session we are doing Beth Moore's, Breaking Free. I'm really liking it so far. I'm also going to the K-State Rec in the mornings before the kids are up to meet my running crew. It's been so cold I haven't been outside to run since the 1st week of January. Off to get a girl scout cookie...

2011-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

So, my lovely spouse is outside shoveling the sidewalk right now because we are getting our very first babysitter tonight and he wants to make sure the sidewalk is safe for her. Just a little background info; it snowed this past Monday and I waited all week for my lovely husband to shovel the driveway: Never happened So, yesterday afternoon I shoveled it myself. Suddenly today he shovels the sidewalk and cleaned the house like a madman last night. What is up with that? Guess you have to be a babysitter to get royal treament around here.

Snow

2011-01-10T07:33:00.001-08:00

The girls were already outside at 9:30 this morning. School is cancelled and at 8:00 this morning we already had 4 inches and it is supposed to continue to snow all day. The girls are beside themselves with excitement. I haven't heard from Seth, so hopefully he made it to school this morning. Our street hasn't been cleared at all.

Seth and Penner went back to school last Wednesday, January 5, and Rigby went back to preschool the following day. Not a lot else going on here, but I always enjoy a good snow because it demands everyone slow down a little and enjoy life's simplicities.

snow bunnies

2011-01-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

Eureka Springs Christmas

2010-12-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

More Fredonia Christmas

2010-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

Fredonia Christmas

2010-12-29T12:51:00.000-08:00

2010-11-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

Don't feel sorry for us. We are very proud of our tree. It may not be perfect, but it's quirky like us. In the pics you will see Penner and Rigby with their newest cousin, John David. We stopped by Fredonia on our way to Arkansas. We spent Thanksgiving with Bill & Cindy, Aaron, Grandpa Foster & Aunt Jo Ann, and Grandpa & Grandma Hauser. The girls helped Papa Bill hang the lights outside, we spent a day in Branson visiting Aunt Dee & Uncle Bill and power shopping in Branson, and we ate and ate and ate...We drank a lot of coffee and played lots of games.

Thanksgiving Break

2010-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

rigby,roscoe,and the tree

2010-11-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

birthdays and travels

2010-11-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Grandma Cindy and Papa Bill came to town to stay with the girls while Seth and I headed to Chapel Hill,NC for a wedding. I made mom her favorite german chocolate cake and we had a short 54th birthday celebration Thursday evening. Friday morning Seth and I flew out of Manhattan, and spent the weekend celebrating my childhood friend's marriage to her longtime love, Travis. We got back late Sunday evening.

Jen & Travis Wedding Weekend

2010-11-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T08:35:00.000-07:00

Trick-or-Treat: Aggieville Style

2010-10-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

10 Cousins

2010-10-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Race Photos

2010-10-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Photos are in from the half marathon. if anyone is interested in viewing them just click on the link and type in bib # 6944. There are some funny ones; not so funny during the race, but funny now.
http://www.waddellandreedkansascitymarathon.org/results.php

As Sweet as Candy

2010-10-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Kansas City 1/2 Marathon

2010-10-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

Friday afternoon my running crew and I headed to Kansas City for our half marathon. We stayed downtown at the Hotel Phillips and ate dinner on the plaza at Houstons. The race started at 7:30 Saturday morning, so we walked the mile from our hotel (our warmup) to the starting line at Crown Center and met up with the 11,000 total participants across the 3 different races being run. This was the annual Wadell and Reed Kansas City Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It was a challenging & scenic course, and I finished the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes and 50 seconds. This was a personal best for me! I finished 113th out of 3129 female half marathoners and 494th out of 5209 total male and female 1/2 marathoners. It was fun and painful at the same time. The course took us all through downtown Kansas City. We went by the Sprint Center & The power and Light district, Liberty Memorial, through Westport, The plaza, the jazz district, and back to crown center. After the race we headed to the Legends for Lunch and shopping. It was a lovely finale to our day!

Kansas City 1/2 Marathon Race Day!

2010-10-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Chicken Run & Mint Chocolate Chip Shakes

2010-10-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

We had an eventful weekend. Grandma Cindy & Papa Bill came to town on Thursday evening. They had lunch with Penner at school on Friday and Saturday we went to our favorite Pumpkin Patch. They had to go back home Saturday evening. Today we decided to visit the Rolling Hills Zoo in Salina. We had been once about a year ago, and thought we needed to go back. It was perfect zoo weather today. The girls had a lot of fun and they teamed up in the petting zoo, cornered a chicken and Rigby grabbed it. I didn't think they would actually be able to catch the thing, but Rigby gets determined when it comes to animals, and she swiped it right up. When she got ahold of it, the chicken just sat there and let her hold it. Penner grew quite concerend about when we would be getting Braum's shakes, so we head there after the zoo. After a quick stop at Sam's Club, we came home.

Salina Zoo

2010-10-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Uncle Andrew!

2010-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

2010-10-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

Over the last month I have been taking the Wilton Cake Decorating class at Hobby Lobby. This was my "Final Cake" (my very elementary final cake) where we were to use the techniques we have been learning over the last few weeks. I have also been getting ready for my next half marathon which is quickly approaching on Oct. 16.

Seth is always studying; if you need to find seth in Manhattan, your best guess is the library. He has had 6 tests in 2 weeks and we are both about to go crazy!

Penner has been sick all week with a fever and sore throat. She's tired of not feeling good. She missed Tennis and Awana this week; which she was unhappy about.

Rigby has been making mischief and she's been busy at preschool this week learning about apples and the color red.

Today Uncle Andrew comes to town for a visit and to go to some continuing education course he found in Manhattan. I'm going to drag him to the annual fall craft show across the street at the park. I'm sure he'll be super excited about that. Maybe they'll have some good food and hot cider so he'll feel like he's at Silver Dollar City.

Final Cake

2010-10-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

2010-09-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Rig loves critters. this was her first introduction to snakes. i don't know how she can be related to me; as penner and i hovered in the corner a good distance from the snake, rigby held the snake and said she loved it. this was at the konza prarie visitors day on saturday.

Snakes

2010-09-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

2010-09-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

My baby started preschool this morning. She was so excited. She was concerned about not having anything in her backpack to take to school, but I told her that maybe she would get some papers at school today. What do ya know, she didn''t cry at all. She was making friends on the way into the building and giving kids hugs already. She went in and sat at her table, hugged me and that was it! Penner cried every day for a week at preschool drop off, so I wasn't sure what to expect rom Rig. They had a coffee and meet and greet time for the parents during class this morning, then I went to get Rig. She did so great. She told me they got to play with Play Dough and then she told me she didn't get any papers! Hopefully they'll give Rig some paers on Thursday.

Over the weekend Rig informed us that the kittys miss Grandma Judy and they need to go back to her house. She also said that she wanted to go to Grandma Judy's house and that it was her "dream come true."

Penner told my mom on the phone yesterday that she doesn't want a 4 year degree to be a doctor but she'd rather have a 2 year degree in running like me. She wants to be a mom and give her Barbies to her daughters. I thought this was quite adorable.

1st Day of Preschool

2010-09-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

2nd Grade

2010-08-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Birthdays & Kittens

2010-08-23T17:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I know it has been quite some time since I last blogged, but we have been having some computer issues over the summer and just got them ironed out. Anyway, if I have any loyal readers left, this is for you.

Some updates; Penner turned 7 on Saturday. She was totally pumped and had a friend party for the first time. She and 4 of her friends went bowling at the K-State Union. They had lots of fun! The girls also brought home 2 new kittens from Fredonia. They adore Kitty Dill and Kitty Pickles. Rigby can hardly leave them alone.

Penner starts the 2nd grade tomorrow. We went to Back to School Night this evening and met her teacher. I think Penner is delighted with her. When we got home she asked me how many hours were left until 8:00 in the morning; I think she is eager. Rigby starts preschool Sept. 7. She got a new Dora backpack and she is pumped about that.

Seth started school today. He is ready to finish up his last 2 years. He doesn't got a lot of breaks from here on out.

Grandma Cindy and Papa Bill spent the weekend with us, and Grandma Judy and Papa Charles stopped by Sunday afternoon for lunch. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone.

August

2010-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Fox Family Reunion

2010-07-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Abilene: Been There, Done That

2010-07-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

I was very excited for our Saturday Adventure this morning! You see, we have never taken an official family vacation; mostly because of cost, but also because I think Seth and I are scared that we won't enjoy it. We were trying to figure out why that is exactly, but we think maybe we need to wait until the kids are old enough to enjoy vacation activities, (i.e. museums, site seeing...). Otherwise, you spend lots of money and arrange all sorts of things to do, and you just end up needing a vacation form your vacation that was totally exhausting! We thought today would be a good way to ease into vacation-like activities and slowly introduce these types of things to the kids so if things went completely crazy, we could just head home and call the day quits. I'm not sure what exactly we are frightened of; maybe bathroom accidents, boredom, or total uninterest by the kids in the planned event. Nevertheless, we headed to Abilene today to do one of the day trips that we feel we need to do while we live in Manhattan. We have a list of day trips that are close in distance and that seem somewhat enjoyable for kids (and educational). As we conquer one of our trips, Penner checks it off of the list that is posted in the kitchen.

So, we visited the Eisenhower museum/Library/boyhood home and this was interesting. The girls did get a bit bored, but it was overall good. Then we thought we would ride the Smoky Valley Train because it seemed like a very Kid-Like activity and we thought sure that the girls would think this was fun. Seth and I were proud of ourselves for being self-sacrificing considering that neither him nor I really wanted to go on the train ride, but it's one of those "vacation" things that you do to keep the kids happy. Well, we were all pretty much miserable the entire time and wasted $42.00 in the process. We were all dreadfully hot, the "scenery " was the same thing I see driving through Manhattan everyday (corn, soybean and alfalfa fields, some barns and trees), and the pathetic excuse for a train went about a pace that Seth and I could have speed walked alongside it. We debated on where to eat lunch; stick with something cheap and reliable like Pizza Hut or Sonic, or try a local flavor to really enhance the vacaation like nature of our trip. So, against better judgment we went to Mr. K's Farmhouse. It was gross and they tricked us and charged us for a dinner shrimp meal as opposed to a kids shrimp meal for Penner, which made the gross lunch way more expensive.

So, we are glad we are home. If you are ever in Abilene, I would stick to the Eisenhower museum and avoid most of the other tourist traps. Maybe someday we'll take a "real" family vacation, for an entire week and do something super adventurous. But, for now, we'll be sticking with the kansas day trip destinations. Everyone around here seems pretty exhausted from our short little excursion.

Eisenhower Library

2010-07-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Rigby!

2010-07-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

June has been super busy!

2010-06-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally home. We spent most of June traveling around to various places. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but got a few. I'll mention a few key details of the month. First we went to Woolaroc(not sure if i'm spelling that correctly), in Bartlesville, OK for a family reunion with Seth's grandma's side of the family. Then we spent a week in Fredonia while Seth logged some internship hrs. with his dad. The girls and I spent last week in Arkansas with grandma cindy & papa bill while seth continued his internship in fredonia. he ended up alreay accumulating 112 hrs., so, he'll finish up the remaining hrs. in August. he has to have 160 for the summer. we shopped, the girls both got sick, we saw lots of family and came home exhausted. july we'll be in manhattan; seth is working part time for a nursing home doing Physical Therapy stuff for the next few weeks and penner has swim lessons for the month of july. in other exciting news, the girls have a new cousin in the family; Daphne Ann Fox was born to Shannon & Erin Fox about a week ago. that makes 9 grandkids for seth's mom and dad and #10 will be here in september when Shane and Abigail have their 3rd. that's my news for now!

June Travels

2010-06-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-01T19:56:00.001-07:00

We had a busy weekend. Penner finished 1st grade on Thursday, so we had to do end of the year celebratory activities that afternoon. We played some mini golf,ate lunch at her favorite place, got chocolate shakes and visited the KState art gallery. Saturday we loaded up the car and went to Gardner to see Mom and Dad, Aaron, Uncle Andrew and his girlfriend, Valerie. They were in town for a wedding and we were excited to get to see Drew for a few hours and also to meet Valerie for the first time. She is super nice and we had lots of fun with them both. Grandma Cindy made us French Toast for breakfast and we spent the day around K.C. getting BBQ at Gates and doing a bit of shopping at Crate & Barrel and at Town Center Plaza. Grandma Cindy also brought a huge pan of Apple Dumplings and we all indulged on those later in the day. We headed to Fredonia Saturday night, but Penner stayed with Grandma Cindy & Papa Bill. She went home with them and is spending the week in Eureka Springs getting spoiled.

Sunday and Monday we spent in Fredonia visiting with Grandma Judy & Papa Charles. Grandma cooked for us a lot, which I love, and Rig was fascinated by "Mama" the pregnant cat who actually had her kittens while we were there Monday. She also got to ride the Mule around, playing with her cousins and generally just get into all the fun things that can be got into at Grandma's house. Monday we went to the farm in Severy and met up with more cousins and got to watch Seth castrate and band bulls, Preg check cows and other various vet related activities with his dad and 2 of his brothers. The kids got to ride around on the 4 wheeler and the big tractor while the guys tended to the cattle; worming, vaccinating & tagging them. We had a lovely cookout for Memorial day back at Grandma & Papa's house and then we loaded back up and headed back to Manhattan.

The Farm

2010-06-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

Andrew & Sweet Val Visit Kansas

2010-06-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Magic Jack?

2010-05-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Has anyone heard of this thing called Magic Jack? I saw a commercial tonight about it and it sounds too good to be true. In case you don't know, Magic Jack is a little device you can buy at Radio Shack that you plug your phone into and then plug the device into a USB port on your computer. Apparently that's it. You can make unlimited calls anywhere in the U.S. and to some international locations as well. Went online to investigate and it sounds pretty great. We are thinking about trying it out; it's only $19.99 per year plus the $40 for the actual device. But, considering we pay $50 per month for unlimited local and long distance through Cox Communications, the savings would add up fast: $60 per year for magic jack or $600 per year for Cox. Sure would save us a lot of money if it really works. Didn't know if anyone out there has had any experience with it or heard anything about it.

The Real Capri Sun

2010-05-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

I feel I need to blog about this because I was alarmed and very confused when this happened. A few weeks ago, I took snacks to Penner's 1st grade class to celebrate her being the star student of the week. I bought Kroger brand capri suns and some bags of popcorn and also baked snickerdoodles. She brought home the leftovers that afternoon. When Seth got home that evening (thinking to myself he would be very excited about this because I don't usually buy juice boxes just to have at the house) I told him that there were Capri Suns in the fridge. As he closed the fridge he drew to my attention that the juice boxes were not the "name brand."

With a confused look on my face, he informed me that maybe not now, but eventually, Penner will care about having the name brand Capri Suns and that we don't want her to be the kid who brings the "store brand" to school. This caught me off guard because I thought Seth would always be the guy that tried to teach his kids how silly it is to fall for such social nonsense and that they need to rise above the system. Normally I would never peg him for someone that cares about what brand something is. I also figured he would feel the same way I feel about the fact that brands don't matter; quality does. To me, if the Kroger brand is as tasty as the Capri Sun, then who really cares since it's half the price.

This led to the discussion of expensive jeans when the girls get to high school, and shockingly, he said he wouldn't draw the line at Capri Suns. He would actually buy them really expensive jeans if it made them feel accepted. He said if that is what makes them feel like they fit in, then he would buy them the $100 jeans. I came away from this conversation confused and feeling like I need a manual about when it is and isn't apprporiate to make your kids settle for an off brand.

So, last week when I offered to take drinks for the kids after Penner's soccer game, I took the name brand Capri Suns; I hope this solidifies Penner's Coolness in her circle of 6 & 7 year olds!

This is in response to my sister in law Erin's article about her husband thinking it okay for their daughter to have expensive Sketcher tennis shoes at the age of 4. I know how you are feeling.

Seth Reading for fun!

2010-05-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

It's Official: 2nd Year Complete!

2010-05-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Finals are over and Seth survived; and so did I! He had 6 finals that began last Thursday and ended yesterday morning. Now he's in rest & recovery mode. I am so glad he's done for the summer. This is actually the last summer he'll have free of school because at the end of 3rd year the students get about 2 days off and then 4th the year begins immediately. So, no summer next year. Seth did really well in all of his classes this semester; we are very proud of him!

Penner has 2 more weeks of school and then the last weekend of May we get to go to Kansas City to meet up with Andrew and his girlfriend, "Sweet Val." This will be the first time everyone has met her (other than my dad). We are looking forward to this!

Cinco De Mayo

2010-05-05T11:37:00.001-07:00

Happy 30th Birthday Seth! Today is Seth's birthday; Hooray! He arrived at school this morning, after donuts and coffee, to Balloons tied to his desk chair and a big birthday sign and a huge sack of candy to share with his classmates. He doesn't like to make a big deal of his birthday and since I have been teased for 5 months about being "30" I thought it only appropriate to make everyone in his class aware of his 30th birthday!

We also went to our favorite mexican restaurant for lunch and Rigby and I are taking dinner to him at school tonight since he has a final tomorrow morning and has to study. Penner will be at her last night of Awanas.

Saturday evening, Grandma Judy & Papa Charles came to town to take Seth to dinner for his bday. They brought these hilarious little toy hamsters that the girls are obsessed with. It was nice to see them and everytime Rigby sees a car that looks lilke theirs she shouts, "There's Grandma!"

Grandma & Papa Visit Manhattan

2010-05-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

2010-04-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, Grandma Cindy came to town to celebrate various events. First off, we celebrated Seth's impending 30th Birthday! He still has a few days to rub in the fact that he is 29 and 5 months younger than me, but May 5th will be here soon, and I'm going to be gleaming when he finally turns 30! So, we went to Famous Dave's for BBQ and then got a Dairy Queen ice cream cake; something Penner & Rigby were delighted about.

Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 2:30, Grandma & I went to a Beth Moore Simulcast at a church in Manhattan. I had very much been looking forward to this event. My mom has seen her in person a few times and done many of her Bible studies, but I have not. Before the event, I read her book that coincided with the talk; "So Long Insecurity." This is the name of her latest book and the simulcast as well. It was really awesome. Beth spoke from a huge church in Atlanta, GA and the event was broadcast live to 869 churches across the United States, Canada and the Bahamas. They estimated around 300,000 women were watching.
While we were busy at that, Seth took Penner & Rigby to the annual Vet School Open House. They got to look at various booths and see different animals. Seth was sure to make them wear their boots to this event.

Sunday we went to church, breakfast, did some shopping at the mall and then Penner, Grandma and myself got to attend the Moscow Ballet at McCain Auditorium at K-State Sunday evening. The ballet was Cinderella! It was really neat. I hadn't been to a ballet since 4th grade when our class went to the Nutcracker in Kansas City for a field trip. Penner was so excited about this and she was literally on the edge of her seat most of the time. We also had front row seats, which made it even more impressive. It made me feel like a kid again; while I was watching it I was thinking that I would like to be a ballerina when I grow up. Reality set back in I remembered I am grown up; but when no one is watching I've been doing ballet dance moves around the house between loading the dish washer, putting laundry away and changing poopie diapers; every girl can dream!

Last Sunday we went to the Wamego Tulip Festival. It inspired me to plant my summer flowers; so we did some planting last week. Seth only has 3 weeks of school left: HOORAY! Penner is done May 27th. She's finishing up her soccer season and ready for swimming lessons and maybe some softball or a soccer camp. We are working on getting our summer organized.

Spring Update

2010-04-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Sisters

2010-04-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Cheerleaders & Pirates

2010-04-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we went to a k-state baseball game. since baseball by nature is a slow sport, we only made it to the top of the 4th inning before Rigby was having a meltdown. snacks are the only thing that will keep her still, and we had exceeded the snack budget and limit. however, it was fun to see the cats play and baseball stadiums are fun to visit!

a week ago, seth went to penner's classroom to give a presentation on a hobby. he chose guitar, and he did a 30 min. singing and playing gig for her 1st grade classroom. of course i probed him for info after it was over, and i got a pretty funny story out of him. apparently there was a question & answer session where a little girl asked if he knew any Hannah Montana songs. Seth replied "no" and all the girls laughed in mockery as if he was ridiculous and old. It was his first experience with being totally uncool to kids.

yesterday penner had a birthday party at bramlage colliseum. it was a cheerleading party and the k-state cheerleaders came to the party and taught the girls cheers and a dance. they got to bring home real pom poms for their party favor. penner has been prancing around the yard and the house doing her "GO STATE GO!" cheer that she learned.

Rigby has been visiting the park and story time at the library. she has a hard time holding still at storytime, but really likes to sing the songs and use the instruments. she also thinks everyone in the world is her friend, and she will talk to anyone. last week at target she growled at a lady and grabbed her leg (because she is a monster of course). it is all in good nature, but she doesn't realize that sometimes she offends people. I especially enjoy when she stands up in the back of the shopping cart and points at a woman that doesn't look old enough to be a grandma and yells, "grandma!" I'm always hoping that the lady either has grandkids or looks really good for her age. Sometime in the last month at walmart, Rigby yelled "PIRATE!" loudly and pointed at man with a bandana on his head.

So, those are our latest stories. Hope everyone is having a lovely spring!

April This & That

2010-04-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Easter

2010-04-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Easter Bunny Spotted in Manhattan

2010-04-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Super Soccer Player

2010-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Park Fun

2010-03-31T11:24:00.000-07:00

Weather Has Turned Amazing!

2010-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday

2010-03-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

More Capitol Pictures

2010-03-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

Kansas Capitol

2010-03-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

The First Week of March

2010-03-06T17:31:00.001-08:00

The first week of March has brought many things. To begin, Rig's preschool open house was Wednesday. I can tell she needs the next 5 1/2 months to mature a bit as she refused to wear her name tag and when asked her name she crossed her arms, stuck out her bottom lip, scrunched her nose and retorted, "No." Seth got 2 very difficult tests out of the way, and we finally got some beautiful weather. Rig and I spent a lot of days at the park this week! Penner has been busy at school and she is anxiously waiting to find out her coach and meet her new team for spring soccer. My fantastic store bargains as of late: $1 soccer shorts at Walmart; pretty proud of that find. This afternoon we all went to the latest SOKS activity. SOKS stands for "Significant Others of K-State Vet Students." It is a group that meets throughout the year to do various activities such as the Deans's Fall BBQ, a buffalo farm tour, and the most recent: today's Newlywed Game get together. This group is fun because it gives us an opportunity to meet other vet students with kids (because their are very few vet students with kids.) I've made some good friends from this group. The kids got to play with the other kids and the adults played a version of the newlywed game. 11 couples played,(seth and i being married the longest other than the dean and his wife of 42 years) and WE CAME IN LAST PLACE!! But, we did get a prize for being the losers, so the girls were pretty happy about that. we only got 2 answers right out of 12. we couldn't remember simple things like (1.) the last tv show we watched together, or (2.) who the last person was that seth had lunch with other than me. Anyway, uncle drew stayed with us for a couple of days last weekend before heading to Florida for spring training, and we went to K.C. last Saturday evening to welcome bill & cindy back from Israel. Tomorrow we are planning on going to Topeka where Seth has a vet conference he has to go to. So, the girls and I are going to have lunch together and hang out until he is done and then we are all going to tour the Capitol building together.

Rigby Precious

2010-02-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

This & That in Manhattan

2010-02-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

Not much going on in Manhattan. It is still terribly cold and snowed again. Penner's half birthday was Sunday. She ws very concerned about celebrating it. So, we had some ice cream and put a candle in it. Seth is extremely busy with school right now. He has test after test. Doesn't seem like he gets a break between them. Bill & Cindy are in Israel until Friday. Dad is keeping in touch via email, and it is unbelievable all of the things they have gotten to see already in the short time they have been there. Here are a few: The Wailing Wall, Floated in the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Jesus' Birthplace in Bethleham, Garden of Gethsemene, Mount of Olives, Sea of Galilee,King David's Tomb, the upper room, Via de la Rosa (the walk that Jesus took on his way to be crucified), and Masada. What an amazing experience. Hope everyone has a lovely day.

snowed again

2010-02-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

PTS has joined the 21st Century

2010-02-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone is interested, Preferred Traffic Service is now online.
You can check it out at:

http://www.preferredtrafficservice.com/

If you have any freight bills that need audited, you know who to contact!

2010-02-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Rigby started coughing almost 2 weeks ago. It started at night, and was no big deal, but progressively got worse and we ended up at the doctor. Now, Penner D has the same thing, and has been home from school for the past 2 days. We are headed to the doctor again today for her. On the bright side, she lost another tooth yesterday. So, we've been stuck at home for quite sometime since we don't want to go out and infect other people with our coughs. We are all ready to get out fo the house and so we make up little reasons to drive around without actually going into public. Yesterday we went to Sonic happy hour, for example. So, hope everyone is well and cough free!

Another Lost Tooth & Coughing

2010-02-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T14:38:00.001-08:00

well, well, what has been going on in manhattan? first off, it is very cold again. low 20's today. i'm going crazy for some sunshine. called papa bill yesterday and suggested the idea of purchasing a vacation home somewhere that has 360 days of sunshine per year. they don't like florida or texas beaches, the east coast is too cold in the winter, and the west coast is too expensive. so, we've agreed upon tucson. maybe they'll find some "ocean front property in arizona!" hey, as long as there is heat and a pool; i'm good. arizona definately has the sand thing covered. so, i'm just going to lay on the pressure big time for a few weeks, and hopefully we'll have something sealed up by spring break so i can take a cheap vacation!

penner doesn't have school this friday, and seth has 2 tests this week.

i've been taking it easy going to the rec to keep up my conditioning. about 4 days after my nov. 1/2 marathon, i realized i was having some IT Band issues. It has prevented me from running for about 2 months now. So, I've been spending my mornings at the k-state rec doing eliptical, bike and other aerobic mind torchering devices. Will be very thankful when the temps start rising and i can get back outside.

been focusing on potty training a lot today. Rig is cooperating quite well as long as she is reminded to go.

Signing off for now.

Grandma & Papa Visit

2010-02-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

Recipes, Finally!

2010-02-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

Baked Potato Soup

6 potatoes peeled and boiled
6 C milk
8 oz. sour cream
shredded cheese
5 T butter
green beans
corn

melt butter in large pot, add flour to make a thickeneing. Add milk and whisk continuously. Mash the potatoes with fork or masher and add to soup. Add all other ingred.: I add about 1 C cheese and green beans and corn sometimes too. Add sour cream. I'm not really picky about my recipes. I just kind of add whatver i think sounds good. Cook all of this about 30 min. on stove while stirring and watching a lot so it doesn't burn. adjust temp as needed.

--------------

Stir Fry
Can use chicken or steak (we use 2 tbones or 2 chicken breasts
bag of frozen stirfry veggies ( i like the asparagus stirfry)
1 bottle of Kikkoman orignal terriyaki sauce
Rice

Cook meat until browned. Remove from pan. pour bag of veggies into pan and cook until tender. Return meat to pan with veggies and use 1/2 bottle of sauce. Mix together and let simmer together until it looks good. Make white rice ( i use the minute rice), usually 4-6 servings. Make a bed of rice and lay stirfry over it. Yummy. We had this last night.

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that is my recipe contribution for now. I will come up with more later, but Rigby gets very impatient with me when i sit on here for too long.

This & That

2010-01-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday evening Penner's first tooth came out; Her first legitimate tooth, I guess I should say, considering her 2 front teeth came out accidentally. Anyway, she could twist it around completely, so it didn't take Seth much to pull it out. She stood their willingly, as I had bribed her with ice cream if she let him yank it out.

Last week we went bowling at the union, and i just want everyone to know that I beat seth! I got 2 strikes! Perhaps I should join a league.

Seth is in Atlanta until tomorrow. he had to attend a seminar at the CDC (Center for Disease Control), for his scholarship requirements. He wasn't very happy about it since he despises flying.

Rigby and I have been staying busy going to storytime at the library and open gym at a gymnastics center here in town.

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

2010-01-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

Twilight

2010-01-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law, Erin, is expecting me to post some recipes. So, I just want her to know that I'm not disregarding that, but I have been completely wrapped up in the "Twilight" Series this week, and I will post recipes soon. I read all 4 books in the series this week, and Seth will tell you that I have been in another world all week. I totally became obsessed with them, and I just finished the last book about an hour ago. I could not put them down, but I was eager to get them read because they had totally consumed my life this week. I usually call my mom atleast once, if not 2 times each day, and almost 2 days had passed and she called asking what was up because she hadn't heard from me. I hadn't even realized that I hadn't called. Every free moment that I have had this week has been devoted to the Twilight books. Anyway, I'm glad to be free of them now, and I will post my recipes soon. Apologies Erin!

Sisters

2010-01-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Long Winter Days

2010-01-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

As you can see, the girls are pretty bored after being stuck in the house for 2 days in a row. Penner's school has been cancelled for the past 2 days, and the temperatures have been frigid. So, there isn't a lot to do during the day. Penner did get to play at the neighbor's house across the street today, which she really enjoyed, but when it's 5 degrees outside, it is hard to get motivated to do much.

So, they are playing a lot of games and playing with new toys and art supplies. Penner decided they needed to do a Pilates video this afternoon as well.

We are just trying to stay warm here in Manhattan. Seth has had a fire going in the fireplace for several days, and it has given us lot of time to clean up and organize in the new year.

Pilates Experts

2010-01-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hauser 2009 Christmas Adventure

2010-01-03T12:47:00.000-08:00