So the kids went back to school with their semester final exams pushed back til Friday 23rd, Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th. I was glad to hear that they'd have those important review days beforehand that could have been just skipped over.

I donated blood Monday 19th and had my first bad experience with a needle! They couldn't get my left arm to cooperate and it got messy! After a couple "that hurts!" from me, we switched to my right arm and all was good. I skipped my regular BodyFlo class that night as I thought the veins in my arms may burst from the pressure of too many Down Dogs. (Don't worry, I made it up on Friday.)

Abby was able to observe (teaching) an English-as-a-Second-Language teacher at the elementary and middle school level on Wednesday 21st. She really enjoyed and her experience confirmed her decisions to add English-as-a-Second-Language as a minor.

Thursday night I got a special invitation to attend the Art Guild Exec Board meeting - mainly to gather info to update the website, but also to rope me in to more volunteer opportunities. Our big event coming up is ChillyFest, which is an outdoor winter festival that we combine with art gallery openings which offer a break for people to come inside and warm up.

Abby had the week to concentrate on getting everything together to go back for 2nd semester. In typical Abby fashion, she began doing her laundry Friday at noon. We left the house about 3:30pm and coasted into LaCrosse at 6:30. Jeff dropped me at the Olive Garden so I could put our name in - there's always a wait! Then he and the girls checked into our usual hotel, Stoney Creek Inn.

The dorms opened up at 10am Saturday morning for students to move back in and we were there by 11. Was really happy we did that because it seemed no one else showed up til about 12:30. So we were able to easily secure the vacuum cleaner and keep a lot of Abby's stuff in the hallway while we sucked up dust bunnies, candy wrappers and bobby pins. Wow! That once-a-semester vacuuming really made a difference! The first basket I picked up in Abby's room contained the "I already lost my I.D." from the 3rd week of school that I had just paid for. Abby was amazed. No wonder all kids ask their moms where everything is! Abby had Paige and Bryn re-organize her dresser drawers and even had a certain folding policy! One of her floormates made a comment about how organized Abby was and we all dropped our jaws!!!! Because none of the campus eateries were open, we went to Subway for lunch. Then we gave Abby our goodbyes hugs and kisses and left her to college life once again.

Kristin and Carlo invited us to dinner Saturday night which was nice coming back from La Crosse right around dinner time. Bryn and Paige got Lucy and Bella all riled up! My mom and dad were there again for another basement-fixer-upper session.

Sunday has become my meeting day. I tagged along with Bryn to her Mission Trip meeting in the morning where we presented t-shirt designs, then to Student Council in the evening where we make weekly progress on planning the Winter Carnival.

Abby's doctor requested some further bloodwork to be done which required her to report to a separate lab. She put this off as long as she could and finally recruited Kendal to come along for moral support on Friday. Abby was so nervous that she was going to faint!

Even though school was cancelled again Friday, the school play went on! Paige went to see it with a few friends. I'm really encouraging her to get involved with the next play. All 3 of our girls had social plans that evening, so Jeff and I decided to get a movie in. The girls had recommended "7 Pounds", but when we finally got up to purchase tickets we discovered that that theatre had projector problems. We were offered a discount on any other movie, and Jeff thought quickly to see Gran Torino. I was a little upset because now we wouldn't be able to pick up Paige from the play because this movie started later, but it turns out she got a ride from another parent. The movie was great and I'd recommend it to anyone!


Friday night we lost Domino. I think I mentioned that she had not been eating. Bryn was encouraged by getting Domino to eat some pineapple, but you could see her having a hard time breathing. We'll give Domino a proper burial (near Chamois) in the springtime. Bryn's very sad.

We finally followed up on Theo's Christmas present and ordered him an indoor dog bed so he can keep on eye on us while he's in the house.

Signed Paige up for another season of Little League! Love watching those games!

Saturday night we were invited to my boss's home for my company's Holiday Party. His girlfriend is a very good cook so the food was wonderful. We were even treated to chocolate fondue for dessert! I'm still SO full yet today!

Most of Abby's friends go back to college today so she's doing a lot of good-byeing. We'll have her all to ourselves next week.

I realize I'm behind. With the world coming back to life after the holidays, I just got busy.

Paige and Bryn went back to school Monday Jan 5th. I also started going to the Y 4X/week. It really makes a difference when you go more often!


Abby and I had eye exams and both got new glasses. Abby's look so different! They're really cool. My new bifocals are adjusted to see a longer distance whereas my current ones are set for my computer work. They also have clip-on sunglasses that will be so nice to drive with!

I baked bread for church last Friday. I thought I'd get to spend the day with Abby, but she took someone's hours at work. I can't complain - she needs the money! I got a chance to finally poke around the Art Guild web site, that I am now in charge of. I was able to make a few updates, but will need to move on to redesigning it soon as I had promised the club.

I'm so loving my new TiVo!!! Of course, my children get way more use out of it than I do. But on Saturday, I cleaned my entire kitchen and floors watching while watching my soaps that I recorded!! While Bryn watched Bella and Lucy Saturday night, Jeff and I went out for Carlo's birthday dinner at Red Lobster! Yum!

Bryn is still jobless. She is required to fill out a job application daily since Jan 1st. Why is nobody calling??? Kendal is working hard on getting Bryn in to her tanning salon. Thanks Kendal!

Sunday was full of meetings. I went to fulfill our family's Greeter assignment at church, then went with Bryn to a different church for a Mission Trip meeting that apparently got rescheduled. Attended the first-ever Creativity Unleashed event at a local coffee shop on behalf of the Art Guild and then with Bryn again to her Student Council meeting to help with their upcoming Winter Carnival. The Creativity Unleashed thing was kinda cool: artists in any medium could present their work to a welcoming audience. Singers presented new songs. Poets recited works and elaborated on their inspiration. Guitar players just jammed. I mentioned it to Bryn. I could see her up there!

We "Skyped" Bryce on his birthday Monday.

We barely see Abby: she's still sleeping when we all leave for work or school, and she's out after we go to bed at night! Thank goodness for the weekends! Besides the eye doctor, she's had appointment with the dentist and family doctor - got to get them all in! She was going to visit a friend in Kaukauna tomorrow (Thursday), but we advised against it with the bitter cold weather.

On that note, our animals have all been moved to our indoor barn (the basement). We're getting a little concerned about Domino, our oldest Dutch bunny - she's kind of stopped eating. Never a good sign. Theo is quite content being an indoor dog, and would love to be a 80-lb lap dog. He barks as soon as he's done doing his business outdoors now because he hates to spend an extra minute away from everybody. The girls are excited as school has already been cancelled for tomorrow!

I'm tired.

Worked three days last week: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Didn't leave me much time to get much else accomplished. That getting sick last weekend really screwed me up. So Tuesday night I stayed up late to do laundry and cook my assigned meal for my family trip to the Dells.

Wednesday night Bryn was having friends over for a New Years Eve party but it got rerouted to another house. Paige got invited to An Amazing New Years Eve party & sleepover. So I guess we could've gone out, but just as well. We had another couple over for Chinese take-out and wine. We talked a lot and played Paige's new Wii. We tried every game on there. I really sucked at batting in baseball. The great thing was that we had absolutely no problem staying up til midnight!

Thursday morning we all got up and out of the house by 10am for the Dells! My sister Kristin actually arranged the whole thing. We just had to say yes! Meg stayed at Craig's in Chicago New Year's Eve to give them a break in their 7-hour trek north. We all met in the Dells around 2pm: Kristin's and my family from Milwaukee, Mom & Dad from Shawano, Craig from Chicago, and Meg's family from Indy. And don't forget - even Abby was dropped off on the way back from her CRU convention. Our room wasn't quite ready - as we anticipated. Bella and Lucy were ready to jump in, so Bryn and I went with Kristin, Carlo and their girls into the waterpark while everyone else waited for, then moved into our room. We were able to rent a full condo, 3 stories complete with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a complete rec room in the basement! So nice for all 19 of us! After moving in, everyone else met us in the waterpark and we ate dinner late Thursday night. Friday we shuffled off to the waterpark when it opened again at 10am, ate lunch there, came back to the room for dinner, then closed the waterpark at 10pm. We even made good use of the rec room that night! Saturday we all had to pack back up to be out of the room by 11am. I think we were all glad we still had one day left in our weekend because Saturday was meant for recovery.