Well, the past week or so has flown by, and we've been like a thousand different places. Last weekend we had Robert cat-sit for us and we drove down to Springfield and spent sometime with Dad and Chris. Our first night there we spent several hours at Incredible Pizza and we accumulated enough tickets for Ell and I to get our own sweatshirt and get a few toys to take back for Robert. Elliott ate at Lambert's Cafe (The home of the throwed rolls) for the first time and he loved every minute. We also checked out the local Toys R Us/Babies R Us while we were down there and we were surprised by all of the the cute little outfits and things for a baby girl that weren't pink (hallelujah!). We also set up and played Dad and Chris' new Wii and helped them get familiarized with it. We came back on Monday after a trip to Bass Pro Shop and recieving our Christmas gifts.
Tuesday I did some laundry, but we had another Doctor appointment that afternoon. We keep being told that everything is great and that the kid's heartbeat is around 150 bpm which is perfect. After making a trip to Wal-Mat we gave Tiger his Christmas Gifts, 12 neon colored mice and a ball with a motorizedfeatherthingy on it.
Wednesday I finished up our laundry and did some house work before we headed to Sterling to stay at Mom and Frank's so we'd be closer to all of the get together's that would take place over the next few days, and we were also expecting a horrible winter storm.
Thursday (Christmas Eve) there was no horrible storm in our area or around Hutch where we went that evening to do Christmas with the Swain's. Dinner was at 5pm at the Airport Steakhouse and then we atttened Ell's Grandparent's church before heading back to open gifts and chit-chat.
Friday (Christmas Day) we slept in till around 10am before going down stairs and opening gifts with Mom, Frank, Robert and all 3 cats and the 2 dogs. Elliott had fun programing his new LED name tag. After getting around we headed over to Grandma and Papa Klein's and had lunch and opened gifts with a few of my cousins and aunts. Grandma was being a pain in the butt and had a major problem of kissing up to Elliott. We tried to get out of there as soon as we could just so we could put all of the dysfunction behind us. We went back to mom's and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and packed up and loaded up the car. Then we headed over to Nanny and Papa Ricker's house. I helped mom and Aunt Charlotte cook and Elliott and I set the table and poured the water glasses. After dinner and dessert we sat around in the siting room and exchanged gifts (this year we all drew names). Elliott got the hilarious, but informational, Baby Instruction Manual. We then came home and relaxed with Tiger before heading to bed.
Saturday we slept in and lounged around and watched the NFC Championship game from 1982 on the NFL Network before heading over to Tom and Nancy's for dinner. After dinner and dessert we opened gifts and played Taboo and Trivial pursuit.
Sunday (Yesterday) we woke up around 10 am to several text messages on my phone from dad asking if we'd meet him with Robert. I alerted Bob to get ready and after picking up some snacks at the grocery store in town we drove down and picked Rob-Bob up and headed to Parsons to meet dad. We meet at Sirloin Stockade and dad treated us to an early supper around 4:30pm. After making the switch and getting gas at the north edge of town we headed back home. We arrived home around 10pm and after lounging in front of the TV for a few we went to bed.
There isn't much on our agenda today except Laundry today and tonight we're going on a dinner and movie "Date night," which will probably be the last one we'll get in a long time (props to mom for thinking of the gift cards for this).
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Time flew by
I know it's been a few days since I've written in here and if you're a dedicated follower I apologize, we're not dead I've just been a little lazy or preoccupied. In the past few days we've had snow, a Dr appointment, the first of several Christmas get togethers, and a wedding.
Last Wednesday we drove down to Hutch for a Dr apt and after more lab junk, we got a thumbs up. I'm still healthy and the kiddo still has a strong normal heartbeat. After the appointment we stopped by Ell's grandparents' house and with the help of his grandfather Ell put a new battery in his car so we wouldn't have a repeat of Wednesday morning (see previous post). After leaving we headed home. Keeping an ear to Ell's scanner we heard of a horrible accident on K-96 just outside of Nickerson. When we got towards it, we discovered that the highway was closed and that there were 3 people trapped inside the vehicles and that they needed more manpower and that 2 helicopters were on the way. We decided to stick around and watch Lifeteam land, pick-up and take off. Little did we know, but Elliott knew the girl in the car and I knew the older couple in the truck (the woman in the truck passed away later that evening at the Hospital). We drove back to Hutch and ate dinner and did a little bit of shopping at Wal-Mart, before finally heading home.
Thursday and Friday were both very uneventful, Ell went to work and I stayed at home with the cat. He came home around 5, we ate supper, watched TV, we went to bed, yadda, yadda, yadda, married life is really boring.
Saturday we slept in before getting up and getting ready to head out for a busy evening. We drove down to Hutch for a Christmas get together with Nancy's side of the family (Ell's mom). We were only able to hang around for about and hour. Long enough to say "hellos," eat and say goodbye. Then we rushed to Sterling for one of my good friend's wedding (she was one of my bridesmaids at our wedding). We saw Ashy get married off, and enjoyed and caught up with friends at the reception before trekking home. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Elliott bought and put new headlights on his car.
Sunday was pretty boring we watched football all day and went to bed watching White Christmas on AMC. Today was just like every other day. Except this evening while watching football Elliot worked on dusting off and cleaning up some of his Lego collection that he picked up after work. now it's getting late and I'm actually typing this in bed on the laptop and I think it's safe to say Ell and I will be going to bed very soon.
Last Wednesday we drove down to Hutch for a Dr apt and after more lab junk, we got a thumbs up. I'm still healthy and the kiddo still has a strong normal heartbeat. After the appointment we stopped by Ell's grandparents' house and with the help of his grandfather Ell put a new battery in his car so we wouldn't have a repeat of Wednesday morning (see previous post). After leaving we headed home. Keeping an ear to Ell's scanner we heard of a horrible accident on K-96 just outside of Nickerson. When we got towards it, we discovered that the highway was closed and that there were 3 people trapped inside the vehicles and that they needed more manpower and that 2 helicopters were on the way. We decided to stick around and watch Lifeteam land, pick-up and take off. Little did we know, but Elliott knew the girl in the car and I knew the older couple in the truck (the woman in the truck passed away later that evening at the Hospital). We drove back to Hutch and ate dinner and did a little bit of shopping at Wal-Mart, before finally heading home.
Thursday and Friday were both very uneventful, Ell went to work and I stayed at home with the cat. He came home around 5, we ate supper, watched TV, we went to bed, yadda, yadda, yadda, married life is really boring.
Saturday we slept in before getting up and getting ready to head out for a busy evening. We drove down to Hutch for a Christmas get together with Nancy's side of the family (Ell's mom). We were only able to hang around for about and hour. Long enough to say "hellos," eat and say goodbye. Then we rushed to Sterling for one of my good friend's wedding (she was one of my bridesmaids at our wedding). We saw Ashy get married off, and enjoyed and caught up with friends at the reception before trekking home. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Elliott bought and put new headlights on his car.
Sunday was pretty boring we watched football all day and went to bed watching White Christmas on AMC. Today was just like every other day. Except this evening while watching football Elliot worked on dusting off and cleaning up some of his Lego collection that he picked up after work. now it's getting late and I'm actually typing this in bed on the laptop and I think it's safe to say Ell and I will be going to bed very soon.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Snow is pretty, but a pain in the butt
Where should I begin, yesterday we received the first real snow of the season. Well it actually started Monday night, but whatever. Ell and I got up and around at 6-ish thanks to the kitty alarm (Tiger was whining). Elliott checked his messages and discovered that Barton Community College, the Great Bend campus, was closed for the day. We spent sometime giving tiger some attention and Ell kept a close eye on school closings on ksn.com. A high majority of the schools in the area were closing, however I noticed 2 were missing, Sterling and Ellinwood. My mom is a teacher at Ellinwood Grade School, and lives in Sterling. There's a running joke that it takes a biblical type flood or hell to freeze over for Ellinwood to close school and Sterling isn't far from that. I gave mom a call about the time Elliott informed me Ellinwood was closing for the day and she gave me the 411 (information) on the weather in Sterling. At this point we had about 4 inches outside the 4 front door and Sterling had maybe 2 inches like Hutch.
Elliott and I then took to napping, we were still a little tired and since Ell had a off day he settled into "His" recliner and I got back in bed for a few hours. The snow continued to fall outside all day. Around noon we lazily got up and made Tacos for lunch, YUM! the rest of the day was spent between periodically checking the snow outside, relaxing, and surfing the Internet (Elliott kept a sharp eye on weather stuff and road situations). I got bored around 3 and took a hot shower.
At 3:30 we lost our Internet connection and Elliott called Embarq and they let him know there were outages all over the state and that at the very latest they'd have our connection up by 11pm. We moved the little TV that was in the corner on the Kitchen counter around and out so Elliott could see it perfectly from his chair in the living room. We then watched Up and Alvin & the Chipmunks before dinner. I'd put stuff for chicken & dumplings in the crock pot at is was finally ready around 7-ish. I put in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to watch while we ate and called mom to see how things were in Sterling and what they'd done during the day. she let me know that Sterling had right around 4 inches and that they'd gone to Chase and cleaned off the side walks and driveway for my grandparents. After eating I ventured outside and checked our snow level at is was around 7 inches. At this point the snow had stopped falling, but we had a nasty North, Northwest wind that was blowing the snow and making some deep drifts.
I came inside and Elliott let me know that the Internet was back up and after checking e-mail and Facebook we watched a few of the Rankin & Bass Christmas shows. I fell asleep for part of Rudolph's Shiny New Year and after it was over I made the call to go to bed, but not long after taking the DVD out and putting it away, the power went out.
I then went around the house lighting a few candles and Elliott turned his ear to his radio to see if the city guys were solving the problem. Luckily after about 20 minutes the power was back on and Ell was hearing reports of troopers stuck in snowdrifts on K-4. At this point both of us were awake and alert and getting to sleep was still a few hours away. After watching the weather channel and Family Guy I went to bed and talked Elliott out of his recliner and to come to bed with me. We both fell asleep not long after laying down and woke up around 6:30. I went back to sleep while Ell got around for work. At around 8 I got up and found Elliott to still be home. His car wouldn't start and there was a ton of snow in the driveway to boot. I got around and bundled up and helped Ell get his car out into the street so we could dig Rhonda (my car) out of a few feet of snow and get her turned in way to jump start Ell's car. After about 30 minutes of shoveling and pushing we were able to get Ell's car down the driveway and sort of in the street. then we dug Rhonda out and she started right up and I backed her up into the yard near Ell's car and we got Ell's car jump started. I put Rhonda back in the driveway and came inside. Ell put his car back in the driveway and let it warm up/run to charge the battery for few before finally heading of to work a little bit ago.
Ell's getting off at 11:30 and going to go to Wal-Mart and get a new battery and then coming home, eat lunch with me and then we've got to be in Hutch for a Dr's apt at 3. Fingers crossed that his car will start again and that I won't have to come bail him out and that we get to Hutch and back okay this afternoon.
Elliott and I then took to napping, we were still a little tired and since Ell had a off day he settled into "His" recliner and I got back in bed for a few hours. The snow continued to fall outside all day. Around noon we lazily got up and made Tacos for lunch, YUM! the rest of the day was spent between periodically checking the snow outside, relaxing, and surfing the Internet (Elliott kept a sharp eye on weather stuff and road situations). I got bored around 3 and took a hot shower.
At 3:30 we lost our Internet connection and Elliott called Embarq and they let him know there were outages all over the state and that at the very latest they'd have our connection up by 11pm. We moved the little TV that was in the corner on the Kitchen counter around and out so Elliott could see it perfectly from his chair in the living room. We then watched Up and Alvin & the Chipmunks before dinner. I'd put stuff for chicken & dumplings in the crock pot at is was finally ready around 7-ish. I put in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to watch while we ate and called mom to see how things were in Sterling and what they'd done during the day. she let me know that Sterling had right around 4 inches and that they'd gone to Chase and cleaned off the side walks and driveway for my grandparents. After eating I ventured outside and checked our snow level at is was around 7 inches. At this point the snow had stopped falling, but we had a nasty North, Northwest wind that was blowing the snow and making some deep drifts.
I came inside and Elliott let me know that the Internet was back up and after checking e-mail and Facebook we watched a few of the Rankin & Bass Christmas shows. I fell asleep for part of Rudolph's Shiny New Year and after it was over I made the call to go to bed, but not long after taking the DVD out and putting it away, the power went out.
I then went around the house lighting a few candles and Elliott turned his ear to his radio to see if the city guys were solving the problem. Luckily after about 20 minutes the power was back on and Ell was hearing reports of troopers stuck in snowdrifts on K-4. At this point both of us were awake and alert and getting to sleep was still a few hours away. After watching the weather channel and Family Guy I went to bed and talked Elliott out of his recliner and to come to bed with me. We both fell asleep not long after laying down and woke up around 6:30. I went back to sleep while Ell got around for work. At around 8 I got up and found Elliott to still be home. His car wouldn't start and there was a ton of snow in the driveway to boot. I got around and bundled up and helped Ell get his car out into the street so we could dig Rhonda (my car) out of a few feet of snow and get her turned in way to jump start Ell's car. After about 30 minutes of shoveling and pushing we were able to get Ell's car down the driveway and sort of in the street. then we dug Rhonda out and she started right up and I backed her up into the yard near Ell's car and we got Ell's car jump started. I put Rhonda back in the driveway and came inside. Ell put his car back in the driveway and let it warm up/run to charge the battery for few before finally heading of to work a little bit ago.
Ell's getting off at 11:30 and going to go to Wal-Mart and get a new battery and then coming home, eat lunch with me and then we've got to be in Hutch for a Dr's apt at 3. Fingers crossed that his car will start again and that I won't have to come bail him out and that we get to Hutch and back okay this afternoon.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Living room has a new look
Well, things are finally changing in our house to welcome our little dude. We've got a crib now thanks to the use of "Uncle Bobby's" truck. Ell and I've been scoping them out and we found one of those really cool convertible ones (that you can turn into a toddler bed) for a very reasonable price and I checked and double checked the customer reviews and manufacturer whatnot to make sure we were getting something safe and worth keeping. We already have one of those portable playpens/bassinets thanks to Pastor Tom and Nancy and a crib bedding set thanks to Dad and Chris; so logically next thing to get was a crib.
Robert came up today and we went to Taco Ball, Walmart and the Walnut bowl. Just so you know Wii bowling is way easier than actual bowling. Normally Ell, Bob and I can get around 200, like we did playing after we got back to the house. However at the bowling alley Elliott was the only one to break 100, and it wasn't by much. After coming home we began the total redoing of the living room. Thanks to bob being here the boys moved the love seat in the living room and the 2 bookshelves to the garage and moved the blue Lazy-boy into the living room. After the big change-up the 3 of us put together the crib in around 20 minutes. The "Destructions" (directions) were a little vague, but we figured it out.
After putting the mattress and crib bedding in it, we took Robert down to The Rack on the south end of Great Bend. Afterwards we drove through the Zoo and saw all of the really cool Christmas lights they have up. They added dinosaurs and volcano this year! Then we came back to the house and played on the Wii. And a little while ago Robert decided it was getting late and he's going to spend the night and head home in the morning, if the roads aren't bad (there's a good chance for freezing drizzle and ice in the morning). We hope that anyone who drives around tomorrow is careful.
*Note: In the picture you can see the top of Elliott's head as he was lounging on the floor when I took it.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The 3 "S's" Springfield, Shopping and Shatterproof Ornaments
This past weekend Elliott and I took a road trip to Springfield, MO to visit my Dad and Step-mom. We got a late start headed down and we dropped Ell's car off at Tom and Nancy's because Pastor Tom was nice enough to put new brake pads on Ell's car, because the ones he had on were worn down to the rotors. We gased up Rhonda and grabbed a quick lunch in South Hutch before heading down. We drove down to Wichita and took Highway 400 all the way down to I-44 that lead us straight to Springfield, it's really the quickest way there.
We got to dad's a little after 6pm and we went to Incredible Pizza, which is like Dave and Busters, only with a pizza buffet. After eating we played around in the game room and won several prizes, I think we end up with around 900 tickets. Then Ell and dad raced around in the go carts. I won't say who won, but Elliot got a ribbon, he he he (Ell almost lapped dad after only 10 laps). We went back to dad's and stayed up for a few before heading to bed.
In the morning we got around slowly before going to a store called Baby News. It's a baby specialty store and some of the stuff they had in there was just awesome. After looking around and falling in love with a recliner/rocker. I literally found the perfect nursery set, and Dad and Chris were nice enough to get it for us. Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and after checking out all of the new scenery we had lunch at Hemingways (awesome lunch buffet). After lunch we headed back towards Dad's and stopped at Petland, this pet store puts the Petco in Hutch to shame. It was huge and we saw lots of toys that Tiger would probably enjoy tearing to shreds. Next we stopped by a store called Basket Case and then headed back to the house (which was only 4 blocks away).
After relaxing for a while we met Chris' daughter Diana and her boyfriend TJ at the Battlefield Mall. We walked all around the mall and Elliott was pleased to find a candy store and bought around $20 worth of candy. Then we went to the Great Wall Buffet for dinner and they had the best Teriyaki Chicken I've ever had. After watching The Incredibles and chatting for a while we all headed to bed.
We got up Sunday morning and got the car loaded up and then we drove over to Fuddruckers for lunch. then dad drove us around town and showed us a few things before we headed home. We got gas a Rapid Roberts and then began our journey home. We came back the same way, except for one small shortcut. We took highway 77 just west of Augusta north to El Dorado and took K-254 through El Dorado all the way to K-96 on the north end of Wichita and then we came back through Hutch and Stopped in Sterling and saw Mom and Frank. Then we drove up to Bushton and I dropped Elliott off to pick up his car and I hurried home to Tiger. We left Tiger home alone the whole weekend and when I arrived home I could hear him crying inside after I got out of the car. I unlocked the door and came in and gave him some much needed attention and he didn't leave my side for around 40 minutes. after bringing in most of the stuff from the car, the rest I left for Elliott to bring in. I got a few of the Christmas decorations and tree from the garage and waited for Elliott to come home so we could put it up.
Ell came home about an hour after I'd gotten home and he finished bringing stuff in and we put up the tree and decorated it. Tiger became increasing interested in the tree and the ornaments that we were putting on it. thankfully all of the ornaments that are on the tree are plastic shatterproof ornaments and even if he gets them down he can't break them. We went to bed and got back into our normal routine yesterday morning and everything is back to normal, except for the fact that the cat is a major attention hog and he cries if he can't find us or if I lay back down and take a nap in morning after Elliott heads to work. So if we venture down to Springfield again we'll have to find a "cat sitter" or take him with us because I'm pretty sure leaving him alone for 3 days again would seriously traumatize the little guy.
We got to dad's a little after 6pm and we went to Incredible Pizza, which is like Dave and Busters, only with a pizza buffet. After eating we played around in the game room and won several prizes, I think we end up with around 900 tickets. Then Ell and dad raced around in the go carts. I won't say who won, but Elliot got a ribbon, he he he (Ell almost lapped dad after only 10 laps). We went back to dad's and stayed up for a few before heading to bed.
In the morning we got around slowly before going to a store called Baby News. It's a baby specialty store and some of the stuff they had in there was just awesome. After looking around and falling in love with a recliner/rocker. I literally found the perfect nursery set, and Dad and Chris were nice enough to get it for us. Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and after checking out all of the new scenery we had lunch at Hemingways (awesome lunch buffet). After lunch we headed back towards Dad's and stopped at Petland, this pet store puts the Petco in Hutch to shame. It was huge and we saw lots of toys that Tiger would probably enjoy tearing to shreds. Next we stopped by a store called Basket Case and then headed back to the house (which was only 4 blocks away).
After relaxing for a while we met Chris' daughter Diana and her boyfriend TJ at the Battlefield Mall. We walked all around the mall and Elliott was pleased to find a candy store and bought around $20 worth of candy. Then we went to the Great Wall Buffet for dinner and they had the best Teriyaki Chicken I've ever had. After watching The Incredibles and chatting for a while we all headed to bed.
We got up Sunday morning and got the car loaded up and then we drove over to Fuddruckers for lunch. then dad drove us around town and showed us a few things before we headed home. We got gas a Rapid Roberts and then began our journey home. We came back the same way, except for one small shortcut. We took highway 77 just west of Augusta north to El Dorado and took K-254 through El Dorado all the way to K-96 on the north end of Wichita and then we came back through Hutch and Stopped in Sterling and saw Mom and Frank. Then we drove up to Bushton and I dropped Elliott off to pick up his car and I hurried home to Tiger. We left Tiger home alone the whole weekend and when I arrived home I could hear him crying inside after I got out of the car. I unlocked the door and came in and gave him some much needed attention and he didn't leave my side for around 40 minutes. after bringing in most of the stuff from the car, the rest I left for Elliott to bring in. I got a few of the Christmas decorations and tree from the garage and waited for Elliott to come home so we could put it up.
Ell came home about an hour after I'd gotten home and he finished bringing stuff in and we put up the tree and decorated it. Tiger became increasing interested in the tree and the ornaments that we were putting on it. thankfully all of the ornaments that are on the tree are plastic shatterproof ornaments and even if he gets them down he can't break them. We went to bed and got back into our normal routine yesterday morning and everything is back to normal, except for the fact that the cat is a major attention hog and he cries if he can't find us or if I lay back down and take a nap in morning after Elliott heads to work. So if we venture down to Springfield again we'll have to find a "cat sitter" or take him with us because I'm pretty sure leaving him alone for 3 days again would seriously traumatize the little guy.
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