I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.

Friday, July 31, 2009

When I die....

This might be a bit on the morbid side for some of you .....

So I was reading the obituaries this morning and didn't see my name in there, whew. I'm telling you, if I ever do find it then I'm cutting it out and posting it on the fridge for all to see. Call me weird, but I like to read obituaries. Most of the time I have no idea who the person was. When I was younger, I used to read the names in my hometown paper and look for the most unusual one. Sometimes Dad and I would try and see who could find the longest, strangest, most difficult to pronounce..you get the picture. I still do that to a certain extent. Sometimes the first name is a clue as to how old the person was, other times someone has a really unusual name that catches my attention. Now I'm sure there are those individuals who might think this is tacky or disrespectful but I assure you I'm not meaning any disrespect or disgrace to anyone. I like to read about the people and their lives. Some have really long touching obits and others are more factual. There are people who are survived by dozens of descendants and others who have very few people mentioned. As I read through the account I usually think to myself that this is someone I would have liked to have met. These are ordinary people who led for the most part ordinary lives. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I have shed a few tears now and then after reading a particular obit. Sometimes it's the fact that they lived a full life and were survived by many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and other times I look at the age of the person and can't help but feel sadness that they never got the chance to live very long. Just as sad as the little ones are those who were in the prime of their life and had families who depended on them.

As I read the obituaries, I am reminded of the story in the Bible about the rich man who spent his time and energy accumulating wealth so he could live his life out in comfort. As he was bragging about it the LORD called him a fool and informed him that later that night his life would be demanded of him. It is a reminder that our lives are a gift given to us and can be taken away at any time. I'd like to hope that someday when I'm really old and my kids have given me grandchildren and great grandchildren my photo will appear in the local paper and nice words will be written about me. The reality is that decision is not mine to make and never will be. The blessing in that fact is I have the power to use each day given to me to the best of my abilities. Every morning I wake up is one more morning to be grateful for. Every evening before going to bed I thank GOD for the day He has given me whether is was a bad day or good day. I tell my children and husband I love them on a regular basis and the hubby and I give kisses and hugs to each other every morning and evening. On those occasions when one of us is unable to due to distance then we communicate via phone. I'm not perfect by any means but I do try to treat people fairly and without malice. I try and show by my actions what I say with my words. I will never waste my time wondering "why me" and wishing I had what others have such as wealth or power or celebrity status. I will still get angry with others and have my feelings hurt but I make it a priority not to dwell on it and let the negative feelings destroy me. My only hope is that when I do die I will be remembered by my friends and family as a kind caring individual who loved her children and husband. And when I stand in judgement I will be able to hold my head high and be proud of the person I was.

So the question I have for you dear readers is this....if you had the power to read your own obituary and attend your own funeral, would you be proud of the person eulogized?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Air show part 2

I've finally gotten around to actually writing about the air show. We went as a family on Saturday and on Sunday Jim took Matthew back and I watched the Blue Angles at a different location with the other two kids. I'm not very good with the technical stuff so posting photos on the blog and on Facebook took a lot longer yesterday then I wanted to. I actually finished the FB stuff after the kids went to bed.

Anyway, the air show was AMAZING. We went three years ago and had fun so I was really looking forward to this show. Of course it was a lot hotter the last time (think upper 90's) and I was 5 months pregnant with Andrew so this time around with temps forecast to be in the low 80's and me not pregnant made for lots more fun. I will admit that the fact the loving husband's place of employment was a major sponsor of this event colors my opinions of the show a bit. Company employees got a few VIP perks that the rest of the general public didn't get. The perks were pretty simple...a fenced off area just off the runway complete with private port a pottys, tent area with seating, and catered lunch. Three years ago when it was beastly hot and I had two little ones running around one of which was potty training the VIP area was a godsend and the only reason I even wanted to attend the event. We still had to park out in BFE walk a long ways in and out of the event which was not very fun. This year the company provided special shuttle buses to and from the event from the company parking lot. No traffic hassles..YEAH!!!!

After a few glitches on our (mostly my) part we made it safely to the VIP area. The kids each had earmuffs to help with the noise but Andrew refused to wear them. There were so many things to see and do. Jim had taken the kids to look at some of the planes when he first got there and I took Matthew and Carolyn later in the day for more exploring. The Army had some cool interactive area that people 13 and older could do and the Air Force had a truck set up with a movie to watch. There were three planes that the public could go into and look around. The kids and I went in the refuel tanker plane. There were places where you could get autographs from the different pilots and of course buy Blue Angels souvenirs. For the hungry there were vendors of all things deep fried and delicious. Thankfully we had lunch provided to us so there was 20 bucks saved. Because we were right up front, the noise from the runway made it difficult at times to hear the announcer when different acts were performing. The airshow is free to attend so periodically a commercial flight had to land or take off which made things that much more interesting. Several of the performers were stunt pilots doing tricks that seemed both impossible and very dangerous but one of the cooler acts was a glider doing skywriting. There was also a group of stunt planes that used ethanol. They had a very enjoyable act and sorry to say I did not get a picture of the heart they drew in the sky (sorry Matthew and Carolyn)

One of the highlights of the show was the F-22 Raptor. It is the newest most advanced plane in the military and the Sioux Falls airshow was only one of three this year to get a performance. The only thing I can say (Warning:PG-13 comment) is that thing was effin cool...and really really loud. It did stuff no plane is supposed to do. When it flew over it was so close I could see the red fire coming out of the tail engines. I think it was something like a 200 million dollar plane so it was pretty tricked out. At one point the pilot flew at a very slow speed and got the plane standing almost straight up and down. To illustrate the loudness...Sunday afternoon I was several miles away at Burger King during the performance and I could still hear the engine. The kids were not quite as impressed with the plane as hubby and I were and Matthew wanted to go to the bouncy houses so I told him we would go when the plane landed. Head shaker of the day... we go to an event that is full of exciting areal stunts and really neat planes to look at that only comes once every three years and all the kids want to do is go play in the bouncy houses that are at basically every public event held during the summer months. Go figure.

The final act of the day was of course the Blue Angels. Words can not describe how cool it is to be so up front an close to the planes and the crew. When you are only a few hundred feet from the action and the only things in your way are a couple of fences and the occasional patrol of sailors (the Blue Angels are Navy Fighters) telling you not to hang on the fence it's hard not to get excited. By this time Andrew was pretty tired so hubby took him to the shaded area and I kept the other two with me. They seemed more interested in the grass and fence than what was going on around them but they still did pretty well. Once the jets fired up their engines it was very hard to hear the announcer. Before the jets took off the support plane did a few flybys and landed. There is a series of steps that the Blue Angels crew goes through before the planes actually take off. Because we were so close I got to see all of the saluting and hand gestures that happen. Once the jets took off then the fun began. I had the camera and tried my best to get the neat shots. Sometimes I got lucky and other times ..well lets just say I have several photos of either blue sky or jet trails. A lot of the stunts involve the planes passing by each other at a center point and we were not that far from that spot so when they passed each other I got a great view. Of course when trying to photograph objects moving at several hundred miles per hour one needs a super fast camera and sadly mine is not. Having seen the show 3 years prior I knew there was a spot where one of the pilots flies very low over the crowd scaring the living daylights out of everybody. This time I was ready and did not jump 3 feet in the air when it happened.

Now on Saturday I was up close and personal to the action but on Sunday I was a few miles away watching the Blue Angles show. It is a totally different experience. The positives included not being amongst 50,000 other folks trying to see the show and not worrying about all the traffic when the show ended. To watch the show away from the crowds and and the area of performance is to watch a totally different event. Because of the type of stunts and maneuvers the planes do, they have to fly out several miles to regroup and reform. I didn't get to see the pre-flight stuff or hear the announcer or the music but I did get to see the planes form some of the patterns as they were getting ready to pass over the crowd. I could look behind me and watch the planes regroup or I could follow one of the solo pilots as he turned around and got into position to do the next thing. For some of the formations that required two planes to fly upside down I was able to see the pilots do this maneuver where as the day before I was only able to see the formation as it flew over or by me. I still got to see all of the passes and stunts I saw the day before but at a different angle and in a different way. One advantage of being several miles away is that when the planes do some of the figures with smoke, it is easier to see all 4 or 6 planes at the same time and actually see the whole smoke figure. The only bad thing about Sunday was Andrew was tired and I had to hold him the whole time and he actually fell asleep. Ouch, sore arms.

All I have to say about this weekend was wow what fun. Oh... and ow, mama needs to take sunscreen application 101. The parts of me that got the sunscreen are fine but the back of my knees and back of my neck are another story. As for the kids...no red at all.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Air Show 2009 Photos


Three very tired kids in front of the Minnesota State Mankato airplane.




One of the many difficult combination formation passes they did during the show





The planes do a formation fly by.




Getting ready for takeoff. The planes are powering up and the pilots are awaiting further instructions.




Support plane flying over parked Blue Angel airplanes








F-22 Raptor in Flight





Friday, July 24, 2009

Supplies supplies and more supplies

Yesterday I decided that it was that time again. School starts in about a month so in order to avoid the dreaded drive around to half a dozen stores looking for things the night before classes start I decided that now would be the time. I had planned on picking up some cotton training pants for Andrew since he thinks that diapers and regular pull-ups are one and the same. Of course the kid also sits on the step stool in front of the bathroom sink and calls it his "potty chair" so the fact that "go pee in the potty" means "pee in the pull-up the second Mom puts them on me" just shows that as far as Potty Training 101 goes...we've got a ways. At least with the cloth ones he gets upset at being wet. He still wets himself but he will run to the bathroom and pull them down a few times first.

Well after successfully buying the training pants and a very cute swimsuit for Carolyn (hey it was 60% off) I headed over to the mecca of all that is school supply cheap---Wal-Mart. The store I usually shop at is undergoing renovations so when I got there about half of the areas were bare and stuff was relocated to different areas. The school supplies were not where they usually are but I had seen the staff setting up the aisles a few weeks ago so I knew where to go. Armed with my handy dandy list of supplies off I went. Most retail stores have lists of items that each school requires for the kids. It is very useful to have and usually saves a buttload of time, except when the store tries to make one master list of supplies and apply it to all schools in the area and items get left off the list. Happened to me last year and it was weeks before I could find a few of the items because all the stores were sold out. I was assured by the school secretary that this year the list was accurate. Having one first grader and one Jr. kindergartner meant that I was looking at two different lists of items. For some strange reason the children in kindergarten don't need as many items and the Jr. k kids do. Some things were obvious like pencils and erasers and pencil box and glue but others were total head scratchers. I'm not sure why both Matthew and Carolyn need dry erase markers and eraser (kindergartners do not) and what on earth do they need a box of Ziplock Freezer Bags for?? Different sizes for boys and girls too. Andrew was my helper and he was a real trooper. It's kinda hard to keep track of a 2 year old and read a list of items in very small print at the same time. Some of you may be asking why I just didn't put Andrew in the cart and call it good. Well the little guy has now decided that carts are EVIL and kicks up a HUGE ( I mean huge) fit if I confine him to the cart. I just let him run up and down the aisle and put items in the cart as I found them. Unfortunately, I still managed to find a couple of things I didn't need that made it into the cart courtesy of Mr. Helpful. With exceptions of the ziplock bags and boxes of kleenex, managed to get all the needed stuff and a few items extra for me to use around the house. I plan on taking Matthew out and letting him pick out his own lunch box so I'll get that later when I take the kids clothes shopping. I still have to do the "fashion show" try on of all the clothes in the drawers to see what fits and what can be worn again. I'll still have to buy a few basic items like socks, underwear and jeans but I plan on buying some of the cooler weather clothing later on. The Sioux Falls schools start in the middle of August but Brandon Valley doesn't start until the end of the month so I made the school supplies a priority over the clothing. I really don't want to be trying to find items on my list and find out that all the stores are sold out and everything is ordered but won't be in until the week after I need it. JC Penny on the other hand has sales every other week so I can afford to wait until later in the school year and buy stuff on sale. I'll be so gald when school starts and I'm all done with the supply part of the school year.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

They grow up so fast

As I write this, Andrew is sleeping soundly in his new big boy bed with the oh so soft flannel sheets. It doesn't seem that long ago I blogged about moving him out of the crib and into the toddler bed. As child number three, Andrew wants to keep up with his older siblings so I'm sure his want of the big bed is in part due to that. I originally planned to give Andrew a twin bed as a 3rd birthday gift but my sister-in-law called a few weeks back and asked if I wanted her son's twin bed since he was finally getting a bigger one. Of course I couldn't say no to a free bed so we moved our plans up a bit and last night we met up with Jackie as she was in town with my niece for a softball tournament and the loving husband brought the bed home and set it up. No worries abut Andrew falling out, he likes to take naps in his brother's twin bed during the day and frequently climbs in with us at 3 am and promptly takes up three quarters of the bed. I'm still amazed how something so small can take up so much room. I'm hoping his own larger sleeping accommodations will keep him out of our bed. I love the child dearly but I also love uninterrupted sleep more. Part of me is sad to see the toddler bed go but the other part of me is excited for him to finally have what Matthew and Carolyn have which is a twin bed. Now if I could only get him to pee in the potty chair and not in the training pants.