Whew!

Well folks, I am sure you probably know why I haven't posted in a while . . . you guessed it. We are busy. Big shocker, I know.

I know every family goes through "this stage" of running-around-with-your-head-cut-off type of life. Jocie has Volleyball, Ella has soccer and I have to drag Claire to all of these practices and games, even though she just wants to be at home playing. Carl's coaching high school football this year, so needless to say, we don't get to see him until 7:00 (on practice days....WAY later on game night...which are 2-3 times per week). Ella seems to have WAY too much homework for a 1st grader (we are talking every night for at least 20-30 mins), and Jocie is always working on a project, speech, or studying for a test. Yuck.

But enough complaining and on with a few photos. :)

There is a big pumpkin patch near our home that we visited last weekend (...we may have been trespassing, but I wasn't certain...so I figured since I didn't know, that I was okay...) The girls had fun trying to find really big pumpkins and then trying to find "baby" pumpkins. The part I liked about it is that it was simple, the girls had a lot of fun, and it got them excited for fall stuff.
























To close this post out with a "little funny" I would like to share a conversation from a 1st grade class today...

Me: "Boys and Girls. Please don't touch the equipment set up in the gym. Just go to you spots and sit down"

we all walk in...

Girl: "Where is it?"

Me: "Where's what"

Girl: "The poop we aren't supposed to touch"

...I wonder what was on her mind??

out of the woods...kinda

I am happy to report that after two nights in the hospital, Ella is home and seems to be doing better every day. She is still on a lot of medication to keep her breathing under control, but at least she isn't struggling any more :) We will be going to a follow-up appointment on Friday to talk further about her treatment so we can keep it under control.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

oh my...

Ella's asthma has flared up and she has landed herself in the hospital.

We noticed last night that she was struggling, and her nebulizer treatments didn't seem to be helping, so I brought her into Urgent Care. Once they saw that her oxygen saturation was low (88%) and her heart rate was high (145bpm), they sent us over to the ER. She was given multiple nebulizer treatments, an oral steroid and oxygen in her nose. They weren't seeing much of an improvement (if any) so they decided to keep us overnight.

They were expecting her oxygen levels to raise throughout the night, but unfortunately, they haven't seen any improvements (her O2 sats still seem to hover around the high 80's and low 90's). It looks as though we will be here most of the day and possibly another night.

On a positive note, Ella continues to amaze the staff with how well she seems :)

Please keep her in your prayers so she can get the oxygen flowing and can go home!

kid quotes

One of the best parts of my job is working with hilarious kids! They may not be trying to be funny, but I adore their quirky comedic phrases!

In just 4 days, I have four lines (and in one case, an action) to share with you.

1. When lining up after 50 minutes of my Physical Education class, a third grade boy yells out (to no one in particular), "God I'm sweaty! . . . sorry Jesus . . . Gosh, I'm sweaty!" :)

2. A 1st grade boy was crying (for the third time in 25 minutes) because he was not chosen to be a "tagger" in the game. I took him aside and gave him the "good sportsmanship" speech. After my heart felt pep-talk he says, "Mrs. A?" as he sniffles, "I have to tell you something". "I really like the color blue". Then he walked away . . . ?

3. As a second grade class pours into my gym, a student notices that I have 3 pool noodles and 3 foam balls out to use in an activity. He then shouts out, "I love playing with noodles and balls!!"

4. As I am lining up a 1st grade class, the first boy in line raises his hand. I say, "Yes, 'Billy'" and he simply takes his hand and says, "boop, boop, boop", and with those words he pats my boob, boob, boob. We had to have ourselves a little chat about keeping one's hands to themselves.

Here's to a great second week with my little lovelies!

first few steps into first grade

The school year has started out with a bang! Both girls are loving their teachers and classes. However, we have run into our first illness (shocker)....Jocie already had to stay home today....and she is usually my rock who never gets sick!

Here are just a few quick snaps of Ella coming into Pinewood on her first day.






Happy weekend, everyone!

and . . . we're back.

It's here! The day that sends huge amounts of anxiety (both good and bad) through the minds of millions of students and teachers alike. We get up a little earlier, we make extra sure we are prepared, we strut out the door in our favorite new school outfit as we approach a new school year with our best "game face" on.

Both my school girls were up at a good time this morning and eager to start school. As many of you know, Jocie is starting 7th grade and Ella is starting 1st grade. They are both at the "second levels" of their respected buildings, and excited to not be the "babies" of their schools anymore.

Enough with the blabber and onto the photos!

I figured out how to get Claire look at the camera . . . take pictures of her sisters and not ask her to be in them . . .

They may share the fact that they are both at the "2nd level" of their buildings, however, their school suplies are somewhat different from eachother . . . and Jocie is really excited about it.







It's gonna be a great year!

Kate Middleton, Who?

So, I am really far behind in "our current events", so please forgive the lateness of this post. Even though it's been awhile, it's still worth sharing :)

A few weeks ago, we headed up north (what a shocker!) to enjoy a weekend dedicated to my wonderful sister-in-law Dana. We had one bang-up Saturday where we threw (along with her aunts) both her bridal shower and her bachelorette party.


(Dana with just a few of her Aunts)

When we starting planning for the bachelorette party, we were trying to think of a theme that hasn't been over-done. After chewing over many different ideas, Dana decided she liked the idea of a Royal Theme the best (thought up by the mother of the bride herself--thanks Judy!) The best part of the whole theme was that we were asking all of the party attendees to wear a hat that you would wear to a Royal Wedding :)

I can't tell you how much fun The Katie's (my other sister-in-laws) and I had getting ready for the big night. We all met over at Katie's house and tried on all the hats she could round up. Katie's mom luckily had some connections with the Stephen, MN Theater Department (yeah, it exists) and scored Katie some fine hats. Our final selections are as follows...along with our call names for the evening.



We started the festivities at Joe Black's and then did a downtown pub-crawl the rest of the night. We must have made quite an impact, because every bar we went to, someone would say, "hey! are you the girls from the Kate Middleton Party?". What? Hell No. We are the girls from the Dana Adolphson, HRH party!




Dana with her mom (right) and mother-in-law-to-be





We even had a specialty drink for the evening -- it was called "The Duchess of Warren"


We needed to keep our bride hydrated.


Do you think someone was trying to give Dana a tip??



Thanks Ladies for such a fabulous night. Although I may have felt a tad old at times (it just happened to be the "welcome back UND students weekend" . . . we will have stories and inside jokes to tell for many years to come! :)