Merry Christmas!

So this little family blog has over 4000 views! Should I be nervous that we have stalkers or flattered that we have so many friends?

Abby and Bryn both come home for winter break today. Glad it's today as snow is predicted tomorrow and Thursday and I surely wouldn't want Abby to have to drive 3 hours in that. Their rooms are all ready for them: unopened mail and clean sheets on their beds. Paige is really looking forward to not being an only child.

My regular freelance client base has all but fizzled out the last two weeks, so I signed back up with my staffing resource and was able to help fix some timely website issues at Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha for a half day last week. And this week I'll be going in to Rockwell for a half day on Friday. I've alerted the staffing agency of my more-than-available status after the holidays so I can get busy again.

It's an awesome time of the year to have the extra time on my hands. The tree is up and decorated, Christmas shopping done, presents wrapped, house clean.

Paige has been very busy at Hallmark. When she works, she typically works til close. Closing up shop is taking way longer than usual — almost an hour after they lock the doors! So some of the employees are volunteering to come in each night an hour before close in order to get everyone out of there quicker.

Paige came home from her Hallmark Christmas Party with the announcement that she'll be attending UW-Whitewater next fall. She's been talking to a lot of people (kids and adults) and concluded that Whitewater is the choice for her. She's excited and now we have to look to see what forms and payments we need to send in.

Last weekend, we got see Bella sing and dance with her Crescendo group, the youngest group in Accompany of Kids. We had to have Bella there early, so of course, I came prepared with crayons and paper and we made cards. It kept Lucy entertained! The show was really impressive! Amazing that 1st graders can remember all those words and dance steps! And the skills were elevated with each age group! Kristin and Carlo had a work party to attend that night, so we kept Bella and Lucy overnight. We watched Elf, ate ice cream, and colored.

And the weekend before Jeff, Paige, AJ and I drove down to Miller Valley and got to see the Miller Holiday Lites display that's set to music. Didn't realize how popular it was—had to wait about 45 minutes til the next show. But it was pretty cool to see—and it was free.

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some outdoor Christmas decorating in with the warm weather we had this first weekend of December. Paige had to work all weekend, so Jeff and I had to get the tree without her. (We ended up getting the one on the left.) Paige requested to have colored lights around our windows this year and Jeff obliged. Now all we need is snow to make the decorations look picture perfect!

I turned another year older Nov. 19th and was treated to Cold Stone Creamery for my birthday treat. Super yummy!

For Thanksgiving this year, we opted to trek down to Indy since no one had to work over the weekend. We arrived very late Wednesday night, and had to be up bright and early the next day. Bryn came up with the idea to enter a Thanksgiving run/walk, so I worked with Meg to find a run nearby and sign up those who wanted to. Bryn hurt her hip flexor in October and was just cleared to run by the trainer, so she was really happy to have everyone join her. Jeff had some turkey prepping to do before he could leave. Glad he did, because the turkey was delicious!

We sure had fun staying at Meg's and playing with their puppy, Diesel, picking out new Scentsy scents, listening to how much Lucy loves us (not!), playing BlackOps on that ginormous screen, playing "hide Lucy's blankie", and eating leftovers.

Black Friday sales beginning Thanksgiving night kind of threw our annual shopping trip off. Paige got word (via text) that Hollister and other mall shops were opening at 12midnight and offering 40 – 60% off. Jeff volunteered to take the older kids out for that sale. Me, Mom, Meg, Kristin and Abby opted to stick with our usual plan and head out early in the a.m. We left Meg's house at 5:30am. It was really weird not fighting crowds, searching for a parking space, or waiting in long checkout lines at the big box stores. None of us complained though. We recharged with breakfast at Panera and capped off the trip with margaritas for lunch at Abuelos.

We left Indy Saturday night, called Craig on our way through Chicago and were able to meet him and Clark at Culver's for dinner.

Jeff's work website finally launched after my 3 years of redesigning it, submitting estimates to meet their budget, and aligning it to their requirements. I visited Ring & DuChateau to pick up my check and was able to visit with a few of Jeff's colleagues. Sad there aren't Christmas parties anymore.

Holidays are coming and plans are being made. Lots of pulling schedules together trying to see lots of family.

Bryn suggested the family do a Thanksgiving/Turkey Trot run. Bryn just got cleared to run again by her trainer and is itching to get out there. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in Indy, so with Meg's help we found the FitLivin' Thanksgiving Run in Noblesville nearby. Jeff decided he is going to go with the older kids and has been training. It was so nice today that Paige, Jeff and I went out the Bugline Trail: Jeff and Paige to get a run in and I decided to walk Theo, 11 years old today. Theo started out strong, but puked 7 times during our 3-mile walk making the last mile pretty slow for the old guy. I though I was treating him to a day outdoors with lots of new smells to enjoy, but instead I feel like I tortured him. He's resting comfortably in his dogloo now with plenty of water.

My freelance and contract work got super slow the past two weeks. Luckily a new freelance project came in to fill some of my time, but my steady freelance client just lost 2 key personnel who push work my way. I spoke to that client and they asked what my comfort level was with taking over some of the organizational/communication tasks required to pull the project details together (typically done by someone else before forwarding the job my way), and I welcomed the opportunity. It'll get me working again and help them out until they have their new hirees in place. I'll start those new tasks on Monday.

In the meantime, my parents came to stay with us — twice— in those past two weeks. The first time was for a few days on their way back from Florida and the second was just for a night before a company retiree luncheon for my Dad. The timing couldn't have been better as I could spare the extra time to visit with them.

I'm also proud to say that I'm also done clearing everything off my old iMac so that it may be recycled. I've archived to disk all my freelance files and am still working to burn all my iPhoto libraries to disk. If any of you know me well, this burning photos to disks is a task of epic proportions. I average about 1200 pictures/year and like to organize them into yearly albums per kid (Abby_UWL Senior, Bryn_CarrollFreshman, Paige_11thGrade, etc.) My little old iMac has been working diligently for just over a week on this.

Jeff's annual hunting weekend with his college buddies in Waubeno was the first weekend in November. It wasn't as well attended as other years, just 7 guys, 2 of their sons and 3 dogs. Jeff was able to go up early on Friday to get an extra day of hunting in and had a great time. He always comments on how he can hear the mice running around in the cabin when they go to bed. Only one guy shot a bird, and as directed, ate it up at the cabin.

Jeff and I attended our high school's Scholarship Auction a couple Fridays ago. Always a good time. The buffet dinner that the Hilton Garden put out was stupendous and the company at our table was so fun. During the evening, there are several auctions to partake of: a Silent Auction around the entire room, 50/50 raffles that are action participatory, several large ticket item (iPad, sports event tickets, big screen TV, etc.) raffles, and a live auction for really large ticket items (Bucks game booth, resort weekends, sailing excursions, etc.) Jeff and I came home with a MSOE sweatshirt and a round of golf for 4 at Ironwood.

I'm archiving projects back to the company server and blogging in between.

Work has been busy for me juggling working from home and going in to Rockwell with less than 24 hours' notice. But the money is nice and I like the work so enough of that.

October 6th we took our seats in the stands at Titan Stadium and cheered on our nephew Mitch at the UW-Oshkosh football game. Mitchell has quite a fan base and we were happy to join in. We did not enjoy the unexpected cold snap that weekend, so we made a couple visits to the concession stand for hot chocolate. Mitchell even scored a touchdown for us. Paige received her first college acceptance letter, to UW-O, soon afterward so it was cool she got to see a little of the campus social life.

Jeff and I were able to take a weekend away in October and headed out to Spring Green for their Fall Art Tour. The weather was great and we had beautiful drives between artist studios where we could chat with the artists and watch them work. It's really a cool event. And we were amazed at the talent! Next time we go, we're hoping we can make an investment in one of the artists' works! We stayed at a bed and breakfast which was super quiet and in the middle of nowhere. But then again, everything was in the middle of nowhere! The room was nice and we were treated to the most spectacular breakfasts!

And of course, the weekend we go away, Abby comes home for the weekend. She didn't realize she got a 4-day weekend. So she chilled with Theo and Paige, visited Bryn and Kristin, and we got to see her Sunday night/Monday morning. I hope many of you have been able to watch Abby's Story. Isn't she a great speaker and writer? Poor Abby just returned from her 3rd funeral in 3 months. Her best friend, Amy's, grandpa just died. Before that it was a friend/student from UW-L and another friend's dad. Luckily she has many weddings to look forward to.

Bryn was home the weekend before for Carroll's Fall Break. A disappointed athlete, she hasn't been able to participate in Cross Country since the beginning of Oct due to her hip injury. She still goes with the team to all the meets to help out with timing and cheer on her teammates. Bryn declared a 2nd major along with Chemistry: Politics-Philosophy-Economics. She's investigating what it means to work in Ethics, so I hooked her up with the Hospital Ethicist at Columbia St. Mary's and she's set up to meet with him over her winter break.

Homecoming was the same weekend Bryn was home. Bryn and her friend Ashley even made the trip in on Wednesday night to watch Paige play in the Powderpuff game. Ashley, Bryn and AJ all made custom signs to hold up in the stands for Paige. Paige did score a touchdown, but it was called back by a penalty. Saturday night was the dance and here's your chance to see Paige's entire ensemble from the La Crosse runway. Dinner beforehand was pizza at a neighbor's home—refreshing to see them all so relaxed and not spending all that cash.

We celebrated Jeff's 50th birthday by going to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and boy, that is definitely going to be a repeat event. Yummy! We couldn't make it happen on his actual birthday because Paige worked, so we went the following Sunday.

I went in to the doctor late September complaining of back pain, although the x-rays said my back was in alignment. So the doctor sent me off for 4 weeks of physical therapy, which was much-needed. My therapist agreed that the main reason for my pain is my poor posture and at-home office conditions. Once we evaluate what my business owes in taxes for 2012, I'll be investing in a good office chair and desk. Here I think I'm so good doing my yoga and going to the Y, yet couldn't bend over to tie my shoe for weeks! All the daily exercises prescribed by the therapist, sleeping position recommendations and constant posture checks have helped immensely.

Helping Paige fill out her college applications this week, we found ourselves looking back to this blog to find major milestones in Paige's school career. Made me realize what an incredible keepsake this blog really is and how precious it is to have it to reflect on. So I've recommitted myself to blogging again, though I haven't defined how often. And I'm excited.

There's no way I can possibly fill in all the blanks from my last post in April, but I'll try to paraphrase.

Abby graduated from UW-La Crosse last May with a degree in Communications. She was home over the summer working part-time at Hallmark and raising support for job in campus ministry with CRU that she started August 1st. Abby moved into a swanky furnished loft above a storefront in downtown La Crosse with 3 other roommates. Bryn and I took a roadtrip to visit in August and Jeff and Paige just went last weekend.

Bryn is in her 3rd year (of 5) at Carroll as a Chemistry major. Over the summer, Bryn returned to her full-time playground leader job with the Park & Rec Dept. The kids love her and she really gets into doing special things for the kids. Bryn is also back on Carroll's Cross Country team and just recorded her career PR (personal record) at her last meet. Our family just hosted a taco dinner for the team after their Sept. 15th meet at Concordia University. We moved Bryn into Frontier Hall this year, a dorm with apartment-style living where she has her own bedroom.

Paige had a softball-filled summer and we had a lot of fun watching her from the bleachers. She traveled all over southeast Wisconsin with the Sussex SunDevils, mainly playing left field, but was asked to fill in as pitcher a couple times and did fantastic! Paige had her wisdom teeth out, senior portraits taken, ...yes, Paige is now a senior in high school! She's interested in studying business at UW-Oshkosh, Whitewater or Milwaukee.

Jeff has been up in our attic to install a ceiling fan in our bedroom. He's got the wiring and switch in so far. We have paint chips taped to our bedroom wall as we hope to paint it soon. Jeff still travels about once a month for business, usually Virginia. Jeff was able to see the Packers win over the Saints last Sunday invited by a vendor who also had sideline passes!

I've been working from home since February and luckily have been kept pretty busy. With school starting and more time open, I was able to sign on for some additional part-time contract work onsite at Rockwell. Hoping to upgrade my working conditions at home as my back is not happy with my current not-so-ergomically-friendly desk and chair. As a matter of fact, I'm currently in physical therapy because of this very situation. I was invited to join a group of positive ladies for Sunday Night Spa nights where we do a little yoga then discuss an area of our lives we're looking to improve based on the book, "The Happiness Project." My problem is I'm finding too many areas that need improvement!

As a family, we were able to get in a lot of events during our summer together: family reunion at the cabin, State Fair, the Zoo, Lake Geneva Mailboat Tour, Sprecher Brewery Tour, Bastille Days, shopping with Aunt Terry, extreme mini golf... All went too fast. Looking forward to all the upcoming events that fall brings!

On the way back from their month in Florida, my parents spent another weekend with us. The real draw was the St. Anthony's Fish Fry. Coincidence? I think not. Kristin, Carlo and the girls were able to come with this time, but Carlo had to report back to work afterward. The next day, Mom and I convinced Carlo to drop the girls at my house so we could take them to Hallmark for Kids Day. Kristin was going to IKEA with the neighborhood moms. Only Kristin was too sick to go! Bella and Lucy loved seeing Paige at work, getting their faces painted, making the Easter basket craft, seeing Paige, picking out stickers, seeing Paige, eating Jelly Belly treats, seeing Paige, and getting their picture with the Easter Bunny. We called Kristin afterward and she was up for coming dress shopping (for Abby's graduation and Paige's confirmation) at the mall with me and Mom for a few hours. Dad and Jeff worked to restore the birdhouse. Their reward was Final Four basketball games that night.

Relief is on its way: my last week at Readers Digest. Though I enjoy the work and walks to be had in Greendale, my freelance work is too consuming right now for me to be working another gig for 25 hours/week. I'm glad I had Readers Digest when I did because I'm still waiting for freelance payments to come in from work I've done sinze January 31st! So it all works out.

Outdoor track season began the end of March with Carroll hosting its first meet at home on March 31st. Bryn didn't compete due to a pulled large muscle in her thigh. Luckily the team had a weekend off from competition because of the Easter holiday so Bryn's looking to see where she'll be placed for this weekend vs. Wisconsin Lutheran.

Paige was more than willing to pick up Bryn from Carroll last Thursday evening as the Saunders girls came home for the Easter weekend. Abby left La Crosse after classes on Friday. Abby was able to get in some hours at Hallmark, working with Paige Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Just before Abby left for work on Saturday, the Easter Bunny (AJ) left a basket for Paige on our garage door stoop!

Abby called last week looking for help with transcribing interviews for her senior communications project. Her teachers are warning her that she's behind in this process. Abby thought maybe we (me, Jeff, Bryn, Paige) could take turns listening to the interviews and typing them in as Abby had been doing. Knowing this process wasn't working, I had to Google what's out there. I found transcription software and forwarded links to Abby to confirm that it would do what she need it to do. Ordered it in time to arrive with Abby at our home on Friday. So Friday Abby loads the disc to install, and her computer isn't running the required operating system. Poop! On top of that, there's no way to download it or run to a store and purchase it. Online we go again, but she'd have to wait til Monday to get it. We ordered it and to get something done over the weekend, we installed her dictation software on my new computer so she could try it out. She got it working, so hopefully the transition goes smoothly for her Monday back at La Crosse!

Saturday night when we were all finally together we watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Pretty good. And we finally got to meet Bryn's boyfriend, Tony. He came over for dinner and the movie. He's a Chemistry major, like Bryn, at Carroll.

Easter Sunday we trekked up to Appleton to Maggie's for dinner. Always too much good food! Always great to see everybody. Abby coordinated a couple of riders from the Valley to accompany her back to La Crosse. And Paige, finally on her spring break, is taking Bryn back to Carroll today.

My posts are a bit more spaced out, but I'm still writing on a fairly regular basis. I left off around Bryn's birthday, March 9. 

The day before that, Paige had a day off school and she and Bryn spent it shopping together. Bryn added to her shoe collection and Paige found her prom dress. While I was disappointed not to have that mother/daughter "say yes to the dress" shopping moment, I'm glad she got it and had the approval of someone her age. I still get to go and accessorize (shoes/jewelry) with her.

And the very next day, she was asked to Prom! AJ drew the letters P-R-O-M and had them on her desk with a flower 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th hours. 8th hour, AJ and Paige have study hall together, so he met her with the final drawing, a question mark, —and more flowers— and asked her to go with him to Prom. How lucky she is!

As Bryn's spring break ended, she asked to spend her birthday weekend in the Dells with a few other college friends. They had great weather and were able to go cart outside as well as enjoy the waterpark inside.

Abby was home for break the following week after taking the first weekend to jaunt in Minneapolis to visit a roommate who's doing an internship there. Abby spent much of her break working on her senior communications project, which involves interviewing foster families and transcribing their words. I'm interested to read it when she finishes. Abby made sure she got some Bella and Lucy time in while she was in town.

I ordered my new computer since my freelance business has taken off. It's a 27" and boy is it nice! Jeff helped me rearrange the furniture in the dining room, now my office, last weekend. I have 3 more weeks at Readers Digest working 25 hrs/week, then I plan to just freelance for a while and see how that goes.

Paige had 3 pieces of her artwork chosen to be on display at the Library during Youth art month: a sculpture from her 1st semester Ceramics class and 2 pieces from her Drawing class. Not sure why, but she wouldn't pose with her art for me.

Jeff went to Virginia again last week for work and is teaching a few more hours at MSOE now that it's the spring (final) trimester and the students' projects require more of his time. While Abby was home over break, Jeff remarked that his firm was hiring and why didn't a friend of hers apply? He did, and just accepted Ring & DuChateau's offer! So Mark (Abby's old boyfriend) will be working with Jeff! Weird.

Since I started at Readers Digest, my freelance work has decided to explode! I think I underestimated my standing client's workload and new jobs have all of a sudden popped up too! Good, I guess, but I'm a little frenzied. With all the work, I finally felt justified to order my new computer that should arrive this week. Excited to get a new toy!

Bryn is home on her spring break this week. I couldn't believe I found her doing homework last night! Proof that she has a tough class schedule this semester. Bryn qualified to participate in the Indoor Conference Meet on Feb 24-25 down at Illinois College. Her Distance Medley team won a gold medal for placing first! Bryn ran the 800 leg. (There's a video on her Facebook page if you want to see it.)

My college roommate, Polly, and I partook in Carroll's Wine & Beer Tasting. It was a nice event and always good to chat with Polly. But we decided that if we go again next year, we're bringing a party! We didn't know—or recognize—other alumni, which was disappointing.

Paige completed all her service hours for confirmation with an overnight at St. Ben's in downtown Milwaukee. St. Ben's offers meals to those who can't afford one. About 30 kids from her confirmation class went. The kids ate with those who came in for a meal. The next day they visited other organizations that help those less fortunate in other ways: job hunting, shelters, etc.

Between business trips, Jeff and Paige looked hard and fast to replace the Prizm we decided to have towed away. Paige was without a car for a week and half—you'd thought it was 3 months! They settled on a 2002 Ford Explorer SportTrac they found in Sussex. It's in very good shape, but has a lot of miles. Paige loves it.

Jeff's had to go out to Colorado and Iowa in the last couple weeks. Makes it difficult to get other work done when you're gone like that. Plus his teaching at MSOE will require more hours/week now that his project course is in full gear because now it's spring trimester!

We've been a popular place to visit the last couple weekends with Maggie coming for lunch one weekend and my parents visiting the next. Maggie treated us to a great lunch at Brisco County. And while my parents were here, Clark helped Jeff install lighting in the work room and laundry room in the basement, Mom and I went to see The Artist, had Kristin & family over for pizza, and of course (the reason they really came), we weathered the blizzard to attend the monthly fish fry at St. Anthony's.

As I try to place pictures in my blog, I realize that I never replaced my broken camera and therefore have no pictures. Need to work on that.

I've been reassigned to temp with Readers Digest starting today where I'll be working part-time, about 25 hours/week. I let my temp agency know that I recently secured a steady freelance client and don't want to let that opportunity go, so I can only temp part-time for now. So I reported to Readers Digest today for my first day back, but somebody forgot to tell me that they close for President's Day! Oh well. I get paid for an hour of travel time. 

Paige took her official ACT Test Saturday the 11th, but didn't feel very good about it. I think that's how everyone feels. We requested to have her scores sent to UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh, Carthage College and University of Northern Illinois, so far. Because she finally chose a few colleges, we've scheduled campus visits to Whitewater and Oshkosh in April. And we're looking into visiting Carthage in late March. I still think Stevens Point may be a consideration.

That afternoon, Paige and her SunDevils softball team went to Childrens Hospital to visit fellow teammate Jesse, a survivor of the Campbellsport crash. Jesse has 2 casted broken arms and 2 fractured vertebrae. Jesse was NOT wearing a seatbelt and was seated in the middle of the middle seat of the SUV. She was ejected out the front windshield as the SUV rolled back over front. The seatbelted girls on either side of her died from internal injuries. Just after this visit, she was fitted with a back brace which she was ecstatic to have because she was pretty much flat on her back up til then. Jesse has since been released from the hospital and is walking. 

After Paige was done with work Sunday (12th), we drove out to Waukesha to take Bryn to dinner and personally deliver her Valentine's Day card and candy. Bryn's physics class sounds crazy hard with the amount of study time she has to put into it.

Jeff had to fly out to Denver for work Monday and Tuesday (13-14th) for a Johnson Controls job. He was complaining about having a bad flight, which I took for turbulence, but it was really the man who reclined into his face on the way there and the little kids kicking his seat on the way back.

Paige came home from work Thursday (16th) night and broke into tears because she rear-ended someone at a yield sign in a right-turn lane. The driver she hit was very compassionate and didn't call the police, so Paige won't have to pay a ticket or lose points on her license. The car she hit was an SUV, suffering only a cracked rear bumper. Obviously, our little Prizm took the brunt of the accident. Today we had the claims adjuster here and he told us the Prizm is totaled.

Bryn took 2 seconds off her 800 time at her meet in Dubuque this past Saturday. Her coach is putting her in the indoor conference meet next Saturday at Illinois College. Jeff and I were thinking of going to support Bryn, but it's 5.5 hours away! Guess we'll wait for an outdoor meet. (I've posted her outdoor meet schedule at right.)

So 2nd semester has started for Paige and her teachers are calling her "Abby." Obviously, there's a family resemblance.

It finally worked out for me to take Bella and Lucy to a movie, so Sunday 29th Paige and I saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D with them. Lucy wore her 3D glasses in every position imaginable, but she was really very good during the movie. I worried about Bella ate too much popcorn, but needlessly so as she told Kristin she was actually hungry after the movie.

Paige missed school last Monday due to a rash on her face we think was caused by a new cleanser she had just bought. Urgent Care had her cooling the rash with a cool washcloth, hydrating by running a vaporizer at night and calming it with hydrocortizone. They also prescribed an antibiotic just in case. It's much better, but I've scheduled an appointment with her dermatologist for a follow up.

And Paige missed school again this Monday because we drove down to Indy to partake in the SuperBowl festivities in Indy. This is probably the closest to Milwaukee the SuperBowl will ever be, and we had the lodging already set! Abby drove in from UW-LaCrosse Friday night—she never misses an opportunity to visit the Sears. We set out for Indy Saturday at noon, after Paige took her practice ACT. (Next Saturday's the real one!) And we arrived by 5:00pm because of the easy drive. Meg had already arranged for a sitter for Mia and Cooper, so we packed everyone else up in their Honda Pilot and headed for SuperBowl Village in downtown Indy.

Now this was Bryce's first outing of the week. Bryce was diagnosed first with strep throat the previous Friday, then with mononucleosis by Wednesday. Bryce was definitely ready to get out, but it was hard to watch him—a 14-year-old sportsnut—run out of steam at the big SuperBowl party in his hometown.

We were able to park Saturday night for only $10. We walked to SuperBowl Village where the main streets were closed off for pedestrians and vendors. Meg's husband, William, scored us entry to a SuperBowl VIP party on the 3rd floor of a building right on Georgia St., the main drag, overlooking all the goings-on. We were treated to a free food and drink indoors (it was drizzling and a little chilly outside) and Bryce was able to sit down for a while. It was cool to watch the zipliners buzz by a eye-level and get to see everything from above.

We didn't forget all about Bryn. She wasn't able to come along because she was running in an indoor track meet at UW-Parkside Saturday afternoon. We kept up with her meet via texts and found out that she ran another amazing 800. Can't wait to watch her in person.

And Paige's phone was being bombarded with news about her softball teammate that was in a car crash Friday night. You've probably all seen it in the news: the 9 teens in Campbellsport. Paige's teammate is one of the 6 survivors. Today she had surgery for her 2 broken arms. She also has 2 fractured vertebrae (one in her neck and one in her back) that doctors feel will heal by themselves over time. Paige has softball practice Tuesday night and maybe some of them will make a plan to go visit Jesse together.

Jeff and Abby got to see Meg's salon for the first time Sunday morning. Abby and Logan took measurements for all the new work I have to do: signage for the salon while Meg explained her payment plan for me: Scentsy Swap.

Sunday we were able to venture downtown again with Mia and Cooper in tow. This required 2 cars and parking had gone up considerably in one day. We found a lot (farther away than the night before) for $25. We stopped in the Westin Hotel for a rest and while Bryce was alone, he had a celebrity sighting: Betty White! She was accompanied by 2 bodyguards. No one else the entire weekend was so lucky. We all wore our Packers apparel and took some great pictures being able to see all the decorations in the daylight. We drove back to Meg & William's to relax at their home and watch the game.

Got up, packed up and left today. Really had fun.

Back to work. Yep, work. I got a freelance client that promises me work on a consistent basis. Kept me pretty busy this past week and they're great to work with. I'm meeting with them Wednesday to go over some minor details.

Abby packed up her room and moved back to La Crosse last Wednesday. I still can't believe it's her last semester! She's secured another babysitting job, this time watching 3 little girls. And Abby's applying to stay in La Crosse for another year working on the staff of CRU, the organization she's been so involved with all along.

Paige finished her first semester of her junior year with final exams last week. She's knows what she has to do to get into college and worked hard. We've scheduled her first college visit at UW-Whitewater in April.

Paige had been complaining about not being able to see the board in class and having difficulty reading road signs while driving, so she urged us to get her in for an eye exam. The doctor was confused at first. Listening to her symptoms, it seemed an flat-out near-sightedness diagnosis. But as he swapped out those many lenses, he discovered her to actually be far-sighted. Her eyes were becoming so strained working to focus on things close up, that her eye just became too tired to focus far away. She picked out the cutest pair of frames and was amazed at the difference she was able to see when she put them on. She doesn't "have to" wear them, but is encouraged to have them on when on the computer or doing schoolwork.

I've been home so long I'm wondering how I'll adjust once I have to go to work again. I'm enjoying keeping every little thing organized and being able to do some serious research graphic/web design trends. I was assigned to an ad agency downtown for some overflow help last week, but only for one day. Nice place, but I guess the one day is all they needed. I've begun scouring the internet for jobs and applied for a handful.

Wish Bryn could've been home as long as Abby over this winter break. We did meet up to have dinner with Bryn at Texas Roadhouse on Jan 8th to hear more about her trip to the Rose Bowl.

Abby's been working hard to make some much-needed funds for next semester. Hallmark has been generous with hours and Kristin had Abby help out dogsitting and watching the girls a couple times. Now, if she could just find their garage door opener...

We also found a "client" for the final graphic design class Abby has next semester. Her friend's (Kendal) mom recently went into the beading/jewelry business and Abby will work with her to create her logo and other business materials she may need. Last night we had them over for a photoshoot of her products to start Abby along.

Paige has begun indoor softball practices for her select team, the Sussex SunDevils. She's done a good job rearranging her work schedule in order to make it to 2 of the 3 weekly practices. (That means she likes it!)

Jeff accompanied me to an art show opening last Friday night for an old friend of mine. She worked as an intern at Norman Design about 10 years ago and now she's at the Milwaukee Public Museum and an artist in her own right. I was really impressed with her eclectic artwork and was glad I got to support her at the opening.

Speaking of art, this is Paige's beehive pot from her ceramics class. She's not wild about it, but I love it!

Bryn had her first indoor track meet Saturday at Carthage. (I placed a link to her schedule at the right.) I totally had the time to go, but never thought there was a meet coming up already! Bryn did exceptionally well! Coach put her in the open 800 and in a 4x400 relay. I called to congratulate her on her 800 time and she was happy with her results as well.

Jeff and Abby drove up to Appleton for Christopher's baptism last Sunday. Jeff said Abby got in a lot of cuddling time with the babies. Then they got to come home and watch the sad, sad Packer game. I stayed home with Paige to attend Generations of Faith and then she had softball practice. From softball, Paige followed the gps directions out to Bryn's dorm and stayed overnight since Paige didn't have school Monday. They watched the game, movies and danced with video games. Another priceless activity: Bryn tutoring Paige in chemistry for Paige's upcoming 1st semester final exams.

The freelance project for Hatco through my temp agency hasn't amounted to much work, so I turned my work focus inward and worked on my own website (link at right). I had fun photographing some items that I didn't have documented before and writing descriptions to let viewers know what my involvement was. Another step toward building my business is that I finally upgraded my dying iPhone3G to an iPhone4S. Now I feel confident to receive calls on it as the reception is even clearer. And I just ordered business cards that many have been asking for at the networking events I attend.

I finished up my temp assignment at Readers Digest on December 22nd. That day was the last day the building was open before the entire company shut down over Christmas break, so I had kind of a lonely and therefore quiet last day. I'm really glad I pushed to work 3 days/week during the month of December so I could be more available to get ready for the holidays and for our college kids returning home.

Bryn was done December 8th, so she was home quite a bit before her friends were. Abby came home on the 21st. Her finals were later and she wanted to stay to help celebrate one of her roommates leaving for an internship in Minneapolis 2nd semester.

When Paige finished her final half-day on December 23rd, we headed up to Appleton to celebrate Christmas with Jeff's family. It was a picture-perfect White Christmas! Snow fell as we mingled with the Saunders, Stanleys and Hintzs that afternoon at Maggie and Tom's. We also visited Richard in Menasha and were treated to a fish fry near his home.

On Christmas Eve we gathered with my family first for an amazing service at Elmbrook, then over to Kristin's to open presents. We went to a later church service because Paige had to work, and that made for a long night. Bella and Lucy were tired, but managed to stay awake and help everybody tear open their gifts. Bella presented many gifts to Kristin, the favorite being some cardboard packing Bella decorated that Kristin was to wear like a sandwich board!

Abby left for her annual TCX conference in Minneapolis on the 28th. It's a leadership conference with the Campus Crusade for Christ she's involved with at UW-L. She was able to shadow the Events Planner which counts toward her internship credits for her Communications major. Hard to believe, but Abby will graduate in May! We've reserved our hotels rooms already!


And Bryn left for the Rose Bowl in sunny California the next day (29th). I drove her and her 3 friends down to Chicago to catch the Amtrak that would chug them (over 40 hours) all the way to Los Angeles. I picked them back up yesterday (Jan 5). Sounds like they had a terrific time and adventured to the beach and Santa Monica Pier for the Badger Pep Rally on Dec 31, to Sunset Boulevard for a fancy dinner on New Years Day and finally to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl game on the 2nd. The weather was fabulous the entire time. I'm still drooling to see pictures!

Jeff came with me to on the 29th to Chicago and after we got the kids off safely, we drove over to Craig's and wished him a Happy Birthday. He introduced us to his local hangout where we bought him dinner. Glad we got to do that especially since Craig's son, Clark, was gone to DisneyWorld that week.

Back in Wisconsin, Paige hosted a New Years Eve sleepover complete with frozen pizza and chocolate cream pie. Jeff and I headed to the theatre and wound up sitting in the front row because it was so crowded! And spent New Years Day at the Seeds watching the Packers game.

Abby's been picking up lots of hours at Hallmark over her break. Even taking some of Paige's hours so she can get to her softball practices that are now starting up. We had to deliver Bryn back to Carroll after a home-cooked dinner last night so she could get up bright and early for track practice this morning. Practice had started the beginning of the week.

I'm currently working from home for the beginning of my next temp assignment which is redesigning all the literature for Hatco, a foodservice equipment company. Next week, I'll be showing them my new designs for their 5 catalogs! Then we'll see where it goes from there. After this design stage, I'm really not equipped to do the further production work at home...