Worst Prank EVAH!

I spent the better part of my college days working for the HO (housing office).  By better I meant length-wise, but I DID enjoy most parts of my job.  The TAF, JP, NW, and SV part that is!  : )  My Noren staffs were awesome as well.  Anyways, working on campus meant that I had to find coverage for holidays like Thanksgiving.  One year in particular, my RA AH said she was sticking around anyways, so she covered the hall and in turn I told her she could hang out in my apartment, use the kitchen to actually cook stuff (a novelty living in res. halls), etc.  She and "friend" : ) TA decided to prank our apartment (I was already married at that point).  One thing you may or may not know about me is that I have a relatively small bladder.  It is a little known fact that when I drink a bottle of water, I have to almost immediately pee three times.  Car trips are sometimes terrible - but I have learned to not drink liquids about 48 hours prior.  : )  Anywho, when we arrived home, I immediately headed to the bathroom to relieve myself.  Right away I realized that SOMEONE had taped down siran wrap onto the toilet so the pee was just sitting there pooling.  If I was a normal person, I would've stopped immediately and cleaned up, but I am no normal person and I have a small bladder!  So I had to just keep on going and clean up afterwards!  : )  hehehe  JJ also got pranked when he turned on the kitchen faucet and had the sprayer thing (that was taped together to work right away) attack him.

Anyways, a few nights, or rather mornings ago when I was lying awake waiting for my sweet little wake-up call from next door, I had this weird sleep-wake experience when I started imagining the worst prank JJ could ever pull on me.  This is another little known fact -- you are learning so much about me here -- let me just lay back and go Freud-style on you! -- one of my biggest fears is there being a snake in my toilet.  I heard a story about this happening one time in Florida or something and ever since then I've been worried about it.  Back to that morning a few mornings ago -- I decided that if JJ taped a rubber snake to the lid of the toilet so that when I lifted it, the snake kind of sprang up - yup, that would be the worst one.  I decided to tell him and get it off my chest so that he could NEVER do it.  If I came up with the idea and told him, he couldn't do it, right?!  That's my plan anyways.  He told me that he would just go get a water snake anyways, not some dumb fake one.  EEEEEKKKKKKKS.   

OH, and I also forgot to link this SUPERCUTE craft idea when I posted those a few posts back.  You have to check this out.  If you have as much paper stored up as I do, you would appreciate this project as much as I do!  : )

My Blog List: A Case Study, part III - food and pics!

What about food?  Everyone loves food, right?  I certainly do, but don't always love to MAKE said food.  Here are some people with some excellent ideas.  Pancakes ARE my favorite food, in case you didn't know, so I'm pretty sure these from LJ would give me lots to love!  Don't these yums from LB look good?  R always has fancy, fance stuff like this - I love R's recap of how her hubby "helped" in the kitchen!  And of course R+V has like the most amazing recipes ever.  Here are just a few of my favs: mmmm applesauce bars, haystacks are ALWAYS good!, oh, ok and some cranberry-orange bread for a little nondesert selection!  I have to admit, I'm definitely not as adventurous as B - but then again, I also don't have a hubby who hunts!

And who doesn't like a good picture now and then?  Check out the C's babies.  Could they BE any cuter?  What about this sweet one of PC?  How about this series from LJ?  oh, and these too - (I chided her for being a bit mean to poor AJ until I saw him recently after this.  The kid has a big head.  End of story!)  Here's one from LB (awww, look how little MB is!)  These are absolutely adorable too!  Here's B's sweet little guy, B!  And I don't just enjoy my friends' babes.  While they are the best, these from R of her cat cracked me up!        

Sooo techy!

I am not the techiest perSON - BUT I AM SUPER PROUD OF MYSELF BECAUSE I AM POSTING THIS ON THE IPOD TOUCH I'm BORROWING FROM MY SCHOOL TO DO SOME LESSON PLANNING THIS WEEKEND.  OF COURSE I CAN'T BE TOO PROUD BECAuse I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET Caps lock off!!  BUT THIS THING IS SO STINKIN COOL!   JJ AGrees -SO MUCH THAT HE JUST Bought one FOR OUR VERY OWN.  NO I'M NOT KIDDING. BUT he REASONED IT BECAUSE NOW HE DOESN'T HAVE TO BUY A NEW COMPUTEr  GOOD THInking ALTHOUGH I WASn't AWARE WE NEEDED ONE OF tHOSE EITHER!  ANYWAYS - WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE APPS??  WE LOVE THIS WORD ONE WHERE YOU HAVE TO MAKE AS MANY WORDS AS YOU CAN WITH THE LETTERS GIVEN.  OH AND THIS GEOGRAPHY ONE.  AND THIS CRAM ONE WHERE IT QUIZzes YOU ON TONS OF DIFFERENT TOPICS.

My Blog List: A Case Study, part II (kiddos and crafts!)

There are definitely some common themes from my bloggy friends, so here are a few of my favorite things:

I LOVE, love, LOVE reading about what kiddos are saying.  B-isms and more!, L-isms oh and this one too!, R-isms and this one !!- I could've picked a bunch more from him too!!, K-isms - well - they just make my day!

Another very common theme is CRAFTS!  My friends, family, and well, some companies are SO DARN crafty.  I am jealous.  I do love me some craft time, but I am not a very good sewer at all, despite all of my Mom's countless lessons and help in that area.  Check out these examples, from LB and LB again! (scroll down a little on that one for the crafty part, but don't miss the cute pics on the way!), JG and JG --JG, I was looking for your fabric cube and couldn't find it!, DV , and of course LJ  in all her craftiness! - this post is of LJ's bedroom, but she has done lots of crafty things with it - LOVE the colors! and I would be remiss if I didn't add LJ's mom CM in on this one.  MVJ has her own version of this adorable coat.  We get comments daily.  It is so stinkin' cute!

Lyric Mayhem...

I often have problems with lyrics - not so much that we don't get along - more so that I can never figure them out!!  A long time ago on a car trip with my family a song came on and I was singing at the top of my lungs, "Dance to the little z's!"  Not exactly sure where that would ever come from, but then my Mom said from the back, "Dance to the music!"  I figured she must've thought I was getting into the song so I should dance too.  Turns out, she was just trying to help me out, because the lyrics were actually, "Dance to the music."  : )

So what made me think of that little story?  I have had the Canadian national anthem in my head since the Olympics began.  Closing ceremonies didn't help.  But, for some reason I keep singing (to myself): "Oh Canada we stand on God for thee."  Yikes!  Those crazy Canadians standing on God.  Not good.  Not good at all!  : )

My Blog List: A Case Study

I was reading through my friends' and families' blogs lately and thought about how some are so similar, some so different, what I take from each one, etc. and thought I would share some thoughts.

First of all - who ARE these people and why do I read their blogs?

In order from how they appear right at this VERY second (2/29 7:40 pm):

Brown Family - LB teaches 8th grade science at the same school as me. Though I rarely run into her at school, when I do she is so kind, friendly and sweet. I think if we worked closer we would be good work friends!

Rhubarb & Venison - Oddly enough this is probably the person I've known the longest from this list. Our dads (her step-dad) were good buddies and we often went camping in the summers. Then we didn't see each other for quite some time and then she caught a ride home with me from college once or twice and we reconnected a bit. It's been so fun to read her updates and see her beautiful baby boy!

Cake Wrecks - my SIL LJ got me hooked on this one. HIlarious. If you haven't checked it out, do.

Truth of Ruth - my SIL LJ's sister. She is my age and strangely enough, both our moms AND dads worked together.

Hochhalter Happenings - Mr. RH and I went to school together (4th grade on) - we even went to prom together! (as friends!) I met Mrs. TH's Mom randomly at a friend's wedding (JJ and I didn't know pretty much anyone else at the reception and ended up sitting next to TH's mom. I met up with TH's mom later at a teaching convention. So random! TH and I have never met each other, but I have connected so easily with her through her blog. RH and TH's daughter KH is just a little bit older than MVJ so I LOVE finding out ahead of time what I need to be watching out for! We seem to be similar and I think for some reason that if we met we would hit it off!

Modern-Day Jan e - the blog that started it all for me! This is my dear SIL, LJ (our hubbies are brothers). She is awesome. I talk about her family a lot on here; it is SO awesome to live about an hour apart. We love AJ, LJ, LJ2 (not same first name!), BJ and little (big) AJ!

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages  - I used to read this one all the time, but to be honest, I don't read it very often any more. I found the blog in an Instructor magazine . The gal used to be a teacher, but now has taken a leave, basically to write a book about her teaching experiences. She's a funny lady!

A Scrappy Good Time - I LOVE crafty blogs. I'm a big scrapbooker/stamper, so I enjoy this one. Want a random fact? The author's husband and I were in classes together - I believe TEAM for our elementary education degrees.

Bluebird's Classroom - another one I used to read all the time, but have slowed down. This is a middle school teacher teaching in the south somewhere (Kentucky? That's where I picture her.)  Another one I found in the Instructor Magazine.

Oh My Crafts! - this is where I got my beloved cricut . They have good deals. They also have some very good craft ideas!

The life of a new mama. - JG is my friend CJ's sister. We met mostly when we were in CJ's wedding together. She is such a sweet lady - so outgoing and friendly. She always made me feel very welcome in the A family! Her daughter is just a few months younger than MVJ and her hubby and my hubby have lots in common, including painting, oh yeah, and their first name!

The Life of LC and NC - I have to give my BIL CPJ credit for this one. We met the C's through him and have just had so much fun whenever we've gotten the chance to hang out with them. IC is such a beautiful, full of life little girl. We can't wait to meet little sister PC! Fun fact: LC lent me ALL of her maternity clothes and I can NEVER thank her enough!

Think Christian - *sigh* another one that I haven't read in awhile. I found this one on my own searching around. MOST of the things I agree with spot on. It's a good one - and I like taking the poll (oh, and changing the color of the background - fun!)

The Family VerDouw - BV and I went to school together, like RH, from 4th grade on. His wife, DV, and I were at UND at the same time - and she lived in the residence hall I was an RA in. I enjoy hearing about BV's sleep walking escapades. Seriously, I laughed until I cried at the last one. Their daughter is a year and a few months older than MVJ, so I definitely find out what I'm possibly in for reading their blog!

David Jeffrey Meberg - Another SIL LJ connection! This is LJ's SIL JM. LJ, JM and I were all pregnant at the same time (over Thanksgiving we took a belly pic)! Beautiful, kind woman with a supercute kid (I wonder if you can guess his name!) and another on the way!

an advice blog -- Ask my mom - this is a joint venture between my SIL LC and her daughter (my niece!) MH. The last post, entitled How to prepare for a new baby?! came just before her daughter (my great niece!) LKH was born. We just visited and found how SIMILAR MVJ and LKH are. So sweet! I hope they get to know each other well as they grow.

SPOT LIGHTS: brief messages of Light - this is a blog put out by our Pastor, PK. He's a great guy and we learn so much from him. He's also the Pastor who married us!

E! Online - The Soup - I love The Soup on TV. JM CRACKS me up!! But, for some reason, even though their blog is updated, it doesn't show updates on my blog roll, so I forget about it way down at the bottom of the list.

The Nichols Family Blog - You can see that this is on TN's top list of things to do!  : )  Well, as the wife and mother of four kiddos, you can cut her some slack.  Oh yeah, and she's a successful photographer as well.  She took MVJ's brand new baby pictures and they are simply precious.  I can never thank her enough for that.  She's also become a good friend through SIL LJ.  I love it when LJ has a party and invites us both!!

Jake PC Panama - this is my cousin JW and about his stint with Peace Corps - in Panama. Very interesting!

Friend's-isms

I need to tread carefully here. I do NOT want to be making fun of this particular friend, but some of the things she says cracks me up! She is a supernice person, who is always up for a game, so in my book she's great! A while ago we had the chance to hang out with her and her hubby. I really have no right to poke fun at her either, because in the last week I have been reaching for little sayings, too. For example, when we were pulling into Target the other day, I turned to JJ and said something like, "Let's kick this can!" (as in "Let's go!"). He was like... "Uhhh... let's blow this popsicle stand? Let's kick this pig?? Not quite sure what you were going for there..." : )

So without further ado, here are three examples of my friend's-isms:

1) "Correct me if I'm right." Well, I'm feeling pretty snarky, so I could possibly pull that one off...

2) She kept going on and on about her liable car. I just wasn't figuring it out until all of a sudden I got it! REliable car... yeah... there we go!

3) I was feeding MVJ some bananas and berries baby food. She doesn't eat it very much anymore, and I have to give my friend some credit. If you're not around babies very much, maybe you wouldn't recognize a baby food container or even the different flavors. But, she was all, "Ooh! Did you just make chocolate pudding? I love chocolate pudding! Look at her eating that chocolate pudding!" Yup. . .

Rawr!

MVJ loves to be scared. We're not sure where it came from, but she giggles with delight if we jump out of nowhere and roar at her. She prefers a more vicious game of peek-a-boo! JJ and she have a little ritual, where he will pretend to "stalk his prey" complete with baby lion-like roars. She just peels over with delight. I have to watch out, however, because if I'm holding her, or anywhere near her basically, she like gets crazy! She will bonk her head on my head in a fit, and most notably, she bites! She has bitten me on the shoulder more than once in this crazy baby state. The other day, though, she stepped it up a notch and bit me right on the boob! OW! I still have the marks, but I'll spare you the image. : )

JJ has told me that I have trouble wrapping up my stories, so I'll just leave you with this conclusion.

And then I found $5. The end.

M-M- Leroy Brown

This is MVJ's new nickname from Uncle AJ! I forgot to repost her quiz with the results!

So... How well did YOU know the birthday girl?

1. What was MVJ’s due date? b) March 7
2. What was M’s first reaction to food? a) Finally! The good stuff! Bring me more!
3. How old was M when she had her first (of many!) photoshoot? b) 2 wks.
4. What did M wear home from the hospital? c) a green newborn outfit bought by Grandma and Grandpa K while they visited
5. What unique thing occurred during M’s birth? a) her scalp was scraped when the doctor broke Mommy’s water
6. What was M’s favorite Christmas song? c) Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry
7. What special first did M have over Christmas? b) first plane (and train!) ride
8. Who gave M her first M&M? a) her hairstylist, MO
9. What does M like to do when she wakes up? c) eat
10. How does M feel about her sippy cup? b) she prefers nursing, but will take it – especially if someone else holds it for her

11. How many teeth does M currently have? 8
12. What item does M need in order to fall asleep? her pink "blank-blank" blankie
13. M was born with TONS of hair. Did this cause Mommy tons of heartburn? NO!
14. What is M’s bedtime (that she set for herself)? accept anything between 7:00 and 7:30 though it's usually on the 7:00 side
15. Name one thing M does NOT enjoy eating. This has changed quite a bit, but at the time it was definitely peaches, baby food peas and baby food green beans.
16. Who is M named after (middle name)? My grandma W.
17. How do we know M is a true Norwegian? She LOVES lefse!
18. What is M’s favorite toy? This was a trick question --- anything that is NOT a toy!
19 and 20. Name two of M’s nicknames. She has about a million and a half! : )

Uh... well...

I have a badatude - watch out. My current gripe or source of bitterness? People who have it ALLLL figured out - where they'll be the next eight years, all the GREAT things they'll be doing, how EASY their lives will be. Yeah, because we have no clue. We don't know where we'll be or what we'll be doing. We had "the plan", but it doesn't seem to be happening. I'm not looking for sympathy or, "Don't worry, it'll happen." or even, "God's got it under control. Wait for His plan. It'll be better." OF COURSE IT WILL. I know that. But that doesn't make it any easier.

So, it's in your best interest to NOT ask me how things are going right now. : )

And, done. Back to your regularly scheduled happy Saturday. : )

Movie Night. . . : S

JJ and I have a netflix account and while I don't think anyone's ever accused JJ of being frugal, he definitely wants to get his money out of this endeavor. As soon as he gets a new movie, TV show, documentary, or whathaveyou, JJ wants to watch it. Now. He doesn't really appreciate when I add my own personal selections to the queue and then don't have time to watch it THIS SECOND buster.

The other night he had a movie picked out and decided we should have a movie night. In the evenings we usually do our own things - sort of reminiscent of young children's parallel play. Anywho, I thought it was pretty thoughtful of him to want to spend time with me so I plopped down next to him on the couch, expecting one of my selections to be on the docket since that's usually when he wants a quick movie night. He revealed the movie for the night - "Law Abiding Citizen" - with that guy from 300 and Jamie Foxx.

Ok. If you want a nice peaceful movie, this is NOT it. There were SEVERAL points in the movie when JJ covered my eyes and said, "DON'T look!" He knows how much of a chicken I am -- and the kind of weird nightmares that will follow. I mean, this one time a week or so ago I answered the phone and this groggly, raspy voice said, "Wrong number." I woke up in a sweat thinking about it at 4 am that very night.

MVJ: TWELVE MONTHS!

We officially have a toddler. She toddles around - not TOO many steps on her own, but she zips around taking a hand from Mommy here, the coffee table there, a toy here, Daddy's hand there - you get the point!

She has also become a picky eater. She will LOVE something one day and turn her nose up at it the next. We thought pasta pickups were the bomb a little while ago- now she picks them apart and plays with them, never putting them in her mouth. We *think* she loves oatmeal, grapefruit, toast with a little raspberry jelly, water (she now knows what it is -- ask "Where's your water?" and she'll get her sippy cup.), and sweet potatoes (especially when dipped in ketchup!). What a goofball!

She had her 12-month shots last week and I think the effects have officially worn off. Today she was a Cheeseball with a capital C!

She loves to be scared it seems. Goofball - she loves it when we jump out of nowhere with a "Boo!" or "Rawr" at her. When Daddy turns towards her quickly and "scares" her, she practically dives from where ever she is with fits of giggles.

She is still a good sleeper (usually about 7:!5pm-7:00am), but lately she's wanted to take a milk break at about 5:30. Then she zonks back out.

I'm trying to start weening her. It's tough for both of us. Maybe me more than her. I have trouble saying no!

She's a smiley, happy girl who loves her Mommy and Daddy very much. We love her even more!!

I can't make this stuff up...

I have been dealing with a lot of odd things at work lately. Without giving away any identifying information and being too specific, let me share what my week has been like.

1. First of all, I have had no voice. Having a voice is really an important thing. Especially as a teacher. (and a mother- MVJ has been giving me quite the looks lately! and worshiper- it is odd to be at Church and not sing. It bugged me! I found myself having trouble getting into a worshipful mood.)

2. One of my students told another student to tell this other girl (that he's had bullying issues with this whole year) a very, very nasty (sexual) statement. Yuck-o. Can you say social skills unit for tutorial??

3. We've been dealing with a student... uhhhh... I can't even believe students would do this IN class, but masturbating. He has been seen doing it in several classes, been talked to (by the school counselor -- none of us female teachers really want to broach THAT subject with him), and continues to do it. Gross! It's so weird - if we teachers are noticing, it won't be long until students notice too and he gets a bad, bad reputation.

4. Today we had a different schedule to watch the movie Radio. We figured kiddos could use a little break before our long break (students have two days off because of State Hockey - yeah, we have school on both Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and President's Day, but get State Hockey off! I bet you can tell where we live!), but also we hoped kids would take to heart the message of the movie. After starting the movie, kids headed to lunch and then allied classes (gym, art, world languages, etc.). While in another class, a student decided to beat up another student. It became this big gossip deal and people began thinking the bully was this great guy. UGH. These kids don't get it. It's so frustrating.

Yeah, so I'm probably even MORE looking forward to a break than my students! We have training tomorrow, but Friday? Friday's going to be all about playing with Miss MVJ and her Daddy!!

SURPRISE!

I LOVE surprising JJ. I don't think I did too much before we were married, but after that the flood gates were opened! The only slight problem is that now I have to find bigger and better ways to get him.

The first big surprise occurred for JJ's 23rd birthday. We were living on campus - I was a hall director. I invited a bunch of people and had projectors set up for video game-playing and pizza ordered for the gamers! With a little help from our friends, we pulled it off beautifully!

The next surprise came when it was JJ's 25th birthday (I think... maybe 26... I'm losing track!). JJ's niece and nephew lived in St. Cloud and Minneapolis, respectively. It may sound weird - but with JJ's family his niece is older than me so these are not like 5 and 6 year-old nieces and nephews! : ) Anyways, his nephew was an assistant manager at a hotel and I contacted him to help me out with a little surprise. I worked it out so that I came home for lunch to surprise him with that. But at the end of my lunch, I got up and said, "You're coming with me! The bags are packed, let's go!" He looked at me strangely until I let him guess when we stopped in Fargo. He figured it out by the thirdish guess and we enjoyed a fabulous weekend with SC, MH and PH. Yay for family and surprises!

Now, for JJ's 28th birthday, I was very shifty. I told him he better not make any plans basically all week because something might happen... or it might not. As the days went by following his birthday, I think he gave up thinking something was going to happen. Then on Friday, we were hanging out at home when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door. I answered it and said, "Our babysitter is here! Let's go!" As JJ adds here when telling the story, "Good thing I had pants on!" JJ also says that at this point I said that I wanted a date night one too many times so he knew something was up. We arrived at Applebees on time for our reservation - but had to wait at least another 45 minutes. Boo! But so many of JJ's friends and family came out! It was so great! He was happy and felt well-loved.

MVJ IS ONE

Oh my word.  This is the first one.  The big one.  My baby girl is ONE years old!  I just have to return to that day.  Want to come with me?  That's right!  It's a 3-parter!  Part 1: Leading Up; Part 2: Labor and Delivery; and Part 3: Post Delivery.  WHAT a day.  It was so exhausting and exhilarating.  So nerve-wracking and fabulous.  So scary and joyous.  It was quite a day.  I'm so focused on the day, but now thinking back over the whole YEAR.  Wow.  It's overwhelming.  MVJ has learned so much.  JJ and I have learned SO MUCH.