HOMECOMING DAY!!

picture this....
emily's open house was last night.
4th grade....FOURTH GRADE!!!!
here are some highlights...

she has her same teacher from last year!
her good friend brianna is in her class!
(they selected desks across from one another)



another friend is in her class!
(from the slumber party the other night.
she's the one who stayed up all night
with emily!)



checking the list of things to do
before she leaves...





this is the day the girls have been talking
about since before anne & pete even
pulled out of the driveway!
and this is the day that i secretly knew
i would be regretting...
i have truly had the best time here
with these girls.
parenting is tough, but i stuck to my guns!
it's going to be tough to go home tonight.
(sorry gary, you know i love you it's just that
i love them so and we really connected the
past 11 days....i look forward to MY
homecoming with you! that puts a smile
on my face!)

i look at my life before the 20th of august
and think, wow, my life is dull. what did
i do with all that spare time?
(okay, that's enough gary!)
so i've decided.....gary?...my mom is going
to come home to live with us and do laundry
and dishes! (tee hee) ;0

today will be a day of preparation for the
big moment (late tonight).
i do have to pop home for a couple of hours
to do some hair tonight, but i will return.
i wouldn't miss it for anything!
amanda wants to "get all pretty" for tonight
and emily...well, she just wants her mom
& dad home!
rest assured, i'll have them all spit-shined
for tonight!

i didn't get many photos yesterday due to the
fact that i worked from 9 to 5 at home.
i met nicki for lunch at the dunn bros' on 4...
she and i love that one! it's great in the fall!
it was nice to get out, thanks for the call nicki!
skipped my network meeting again to deal with
pictage, AGAIN!!!! i'm going to get out of that
whole mess the middle of September when my
trial period is up. I'm going to research
"event picks" next..
raced back here to take emily to her open house.

oh, and this little tidbit......
on my way to my house yesterday morning
i bumped the car in front of me at the light
on galpin & 5....the car in front of me was turning
right but waiting for an opening (not an easy task).
i saw the opportunity for her to go, i watched her
go and then i looked over my left shoulder to be
certain that there would be enough room for
me to go too...there was so i went.
she, unfortunately did not. MAN!!!
she was late, i was late, i explained that i was
staying at anne's....that i lived in eden prairie
and i gave here a business card and we both took
off. the bolts on my license plate left a couple
of scratches in her bumper...i felt just awful!!!!!
if the woman that i rear ended looks at my card,
goes to my website, and checks out this blog...
I AM SOOOO SORRY FOR DISRUPTING YOUR
MORNING...I'M SO VERY SORRY~
i live a sheltered life working out of my home and
not having to deal with the morning & evening
rush hours...YUCK!!
oh, and why is it that the next light turns red
and i'm right behind her again so she has to worry
if i'm going to do it again!?

anne & pete arrive in LA around 3pm, our time.
then land here ar 9:30.

(oh, they called last night and said that they
are going to travel to fiji again someday soon
and bring a couple of "fijians" home to the states.
it's such a poor island...but gorgeous!...we think
they are kidding!?)

enjoy your thursday.
and have a safe holiday weekend!
blessings.

working parents?

isn't that redundant????




picture this....
2 girls with clean teeth, new cute hair
(that is no longer green), fresh mani/pedi
AND their mom & dad tomorrow night.
they are just a little excited!
(emily's manicurist had a shirt on that
read "australia"!! ) :)








a total girl day yesterday...
hair and nails! i rather like that "turbo nails"
in chan, they were very kind and gentle with
the girls as they had never had manicures
or pedicures before.
i had explained to them before we got there
that these ladies speak another language and
that they would not be able to understand
them, emily didn't seem to care much while
we were there but amanda just looked concerned
and was listening to every word. a little
culture lesson for them both!
and great fingers and toes to boot!!







oh, very important news for the day...
emily's 4th grade open house is tonight..
i'm going to race home and take her ( i hope!)

(amanda got her own mail yesterday!
i hollered to her next door and she came
running, soooo excited. she's been
wanting to get her own mail "her whole life!"
"everyone gets mail except me!" she keeps
saying everyday with a pouty lower lip
and a stop of the foot (anyone can picture that!)
it was her bus schedule (kindergarden), YAY!
she wanted to show it to christopher and nicole
next door! so cute!...her own mail!)

i am off to go to work today while my
sister's friend jenny watches the girls
for the day.
i can't even imagine working and having
a house to run with 3 kids. i'm only
in charge of 2 and my MOTHER is doing
the laundry and dishes!! wow!
anne, i applaud you and all the moms
around the world that are afforded the
opportunity to be at home with their
children! i love to watch them everyday.
from the-crawl up and cuddle in my lap-
every morning to the prayers they say
each night, to the songs that amanda
sings at night in the foyer around the
carpet to music, to trying to decide
between cheese tortillas for lunch,
pancakes for dinner, graham cracker cereal
on the weekends and popcorn lunches.
i've really enjoyed myself here with
these girls of yours. :) i love them.

(seriously, i can't wait to get back to
the gym!!!)


we'll i'd better get on the road, gotta head
east with the rest of the penguins! :)
enjoy your last day in fiji anne & pete.
see you tomorrow night!
we love you and miss you and can't wait
to see you! have an uneventful fligh! :)
call us when you get into LA.

tuesday supplement

hey anne....can you get your neighbor, nicole,
one of those $1100 cross pendants too?
she made it possible for me to shower this
afternoon and it would be worth every penny!
thanks!
love ya.

gettin' 'o the green out!

picture this....
a 9 year old that got a few highlights for her birthday
in may and throw in a new pool that opened in july...
pretty much a recipe for disastrously green hair!
today we go to my house where my salon is and
do the 'ol "back to school" haircuts and i'll attempt
some color magic to remove the green.
you don't notice it as much when it's clean and dry
as when she's in the pool and it's wet....it's nasty!




where's benji when ya need him!!! :(
can't seem to get all the kids together
at the same time in the same place!
gosh, sometimes we can't even get them
in the same COUNTY!!





amanda found the water color pencils....meow!





despite the weather yesterday, we still managed to
head on out to the Zoo. did a lot of indoor things first




then when the rain stopped we all walked out to
the safari exhibit and fed the giraffe! pretty cool to
be that close. Owen just adored the giraffes!






here' josh...my friend's son. he's graduating this year
from chaska..handsome devil!! we hooked up
on sunday (when the e-craigs were over)
and shot his senior portraits.




busy schedule the next few days....
today, hair (and i work tonight so jess is
coming over to help 9 with the girls.
then tomorrow, jenny & olivia are going to
be here most of the day while i work...
thursday is the day we clean and pretend
nothing fishy was going on here while
mom & dad were away.

oh, we went to outback last night and
while we were there, anne & pete called us
from fiji.
so there we were, having dinner "down under"
and they call from fiji! now they are
17 hours ahead...don't ask, we are sick
of the time math around here, so is anne! :)
oh, and one last thing....of COURSE it's
going to be gorgeous the next three days...
i'll be inside!
fortunately, i still have some hair left...
i haven't torn it all out yet! :)
more later.

4 more days...

picture this.....
my laptop is being looked at.
gary picked it up on his way to the
golf tournament yesterday and is
having his brother fix it for me!
so, no photos again today!
this is killing me!


emily slept til nearly noon today.
needless to say...no church. :(

scott, nicki & the girls came by
later in the afternoon.
it was really nice to have someone
else look after the girls for a couple
of hours. i actually got away around
4 on sunday to go shoot some senior
portraits (near by) and when i got
back, scott, nicki and the girls were
still here. they had all ordered a
pizza so that worked out well. they
were watching "RV"...pretty funny, even
the second time around!

today we are all getting up super early
so that we can meet kindra and owen
(my sister in law and her 17 month old son)
at the zoo. jessie is coming along too.
should get some pretty great shots there!

i must say, the time i'm spending here is
going by so quickly. hard to believe!

anne and pete leave australia today and
begin there journey back home.
they will be stopping in fiji for a few
days and then back here on thursday.
the girls are getting very excited for
their return. this leg of the trip is
purely relaxing...no work.
we all miss them very much!
hope you have a terrific flight you two!
let me know what the time difference is
there...how much closer are you??
oh, and anne, i keep forgetting to
tell you this....
at night when the girls go to bed,
we read the little heart note and
kiss them! amanda love it!
i read them, she sticks them on her
jammies, then she kisses them and stacks
them back on the nightstand...too cute!
(zitzawitz's came home last night!)


anyone interested....google this...

sheraton denarau villas
denarau island west, nadi fiji

it's pretty cool! yea, i think i could
relax there!
have a great monday!

owatonna survived..barely

picture this....
no iphoto to load images into.
just when i thought things couldn't
get any worse!!!!!!

anne and pete called saturday morning...
about 1:30 am their time. out partying!
i said... "drinking and dialing, anne?"
she laughed.
they had just come home from a magnificent
party and everyone else was off to a nearby
town to keep partying...anne & pete declined
and stayed back at the hotel...good call.

i went to pick emily up at 11 and they were
watching harry potter 4 and it was almost
over so i packed up her stuff and threw it
in the car and we said our "thank you"s and
"good bye"s and headed home.

emily stayed in her pj's all day and slept
on tht couch most of the afternoon.
apparently, she was one of the 5 girls that
stayed up all night!
i took a couple of photos of her sleeping
sitting up...it's pretty funny, i'll try to get some
photos up soon.

don and cindy came up on yesterday for a
few hours. i haven't seen either of them
in a while. that's my mom's sister and her
husband. we had a great visit! so good to see
them both. we just sat at the pool and had some
wine & snacks.
they finally got the power back...24 hours later and
many of the blocks near them had a tremendous
amount of trees down. don said all you could hear
from morning til night was chainsaws!! ugh.
they escaped with little damage.

oh, everyone....kimmy is 2 months pregnant!!!!!
that's right kiki! they have been trying for over
a year and are reallllllllly excited!
i wish i could get a hold of them!

more harry potter before bed and then anne & pete
called again. this time later than usual due
to the big party the night before.
so two calls from them yesterday.

yesterday they fed a kangaroo....held an aligator
and pet a tasmanian devil....clearly they
were at a zoo. :) is sure hope they got photos!
speaking of zoos, kindra, we are still planning on
the zoo for monday. hope you still want to go.

gotta love saturdays!

picture this.....
(check back later for images...i'm having
more technical difficulites!) :(

a night out with my husband!


emily at a slumber party!


kept amanda up so late she'll sleep 'til noon


a drizzly start to friday but it stopped before noon.
the US Amatuer golf tournament is going on this week
at hazeltine, right near the house
and the "met life" blimp just circles and circles -
it comes right over the house sometimes!
we all (not just the girls) think it's kinda cool.
i remember it from the PGA when it was here at
hazeltine a few summers ago. it parks up the hill
from our house at flying cloud airport.

gary got some really great passes for thursday
and of course it was rained out so he and my brother
went yesterday and they didn't tear their tickets
so he's going to go back on sunday....
my little scammer!!

amanda came along to drop emily off yesterday
and of course that just meant yet another mini
melt down...she didn't want to leave. i said
we could go back and have a waffle bowl of
ice cream back at the house and that pretty
much did the trick.
she ate really well yesterday, no whining or
complaining...i must be doing something right! :)
she did, however, have a melt down regarding the mail.
the fact that she doesn't get anything...so,
we filled out one of those request for a cataloge of
learning-coloring books in her name so now she'll
start getting all sorts of crap! ~sorry anne & pete~

9, amanda and i went to von maur yesterday.
oh, man! are there some cute things for little
girls! i sprung for a pair of embroidered jeans..
way too cute and a pair of wedgy sandals (end of
the season.........$7!! mom got some tops and
another pair of jeans. that was fun.

we go to pick emilly up at 11 today from
her slumber party. don't really have plans for today.
still haven't heard anything from my aunt about
their power or phones in owatonna?????

it was so nice to see gary last night. good reason
to shower! :) all you moms out there.....i understand
now about the shower thing! :)
it's been almost a week. i'm officially a parent...
i talked about the kids all the way to axel's in chan.
had a nice glass of cabernet and a big 'ol filet!
w/ mo-taters and a "cut-up" wedge salad....
sorry anne, i know you are struggling with menus
over there...i mean..under there! :)

could possibly be a pool day-not sure.
we've only had 1 day that we spent in the pool and
that was the first day. so, so much for the pool
being my babysitter! :)
don't get me wrong, i sit there too!

gotta get goin'...more later.

freaky friday...

picture this....
the good news is......pool heater is still working!




here's the lights that are on.
what do they mean? :)
(peterson pools is coming today)




we've had so much rain that you now have
a produce department in your yard!
good for all the new sod...not so good
for cub & byerly's! :)




anne, here's your new grass coming in!




don't worry we didn't forget that it was
trash day and recycling day...



yea, i think we got everything.....



dinner at nana's thursday night....





nine is going to work. owatonna got so
hammered, don called and said that there
was no power or phones there and many of
the trees around a 4-5 block area are down.
he had to go to work to call us this morning.
so, tim.....mom's coming in after all! :)

more later.....

a very busy thursday...

picture this....
last night the satilite went out.
just the satilite, not the power.
9's in a panic...no fox news....
emily said she's lost her mojo.
9 handed me a flashlight "just in case",
my teeth throw more light than that
thing!! :)

me & the girls



gonna have to see if i can get gary
to come over here an straighten out
the dish...oh, helpless one.

today, emily goes to an overnight
slumber party around 2 at hanna's.
she wanted to practice last night
by borrowing her sister's sleeping bag
and sleeping on the floor of her room!!! :)

it poured yesterday morning. i mean
poured! we could hardly see on the
way to the dentist. girl's teeth were perfect.
i forgot to put a card back in my camera
so no photos at the dentist.
bad aunt, BAD aunt!!!

we went to take nana to lunch.
while we were at ridgedale we got her
some new make-up at "daytons" and
the girls wanted to go to "build a bear"
so carole and i sprung for new bears.
that place is a total kid magnet. you
could seriously go broke in there!
it's pretty cool though.
oh, and cuz i didn't know we were going
to do that, i left my camera in the van.
loser! perfect opportunity for photos.
here's nana & the girls with their new
bear and sassy kitten.....




took nana home and popped by the
farmer's market in excelsior. pretty quiet
there, rain must have kept most folks away.
it had stopped raining while we were at
lunch (finally!) but it looked like it could
pour at any minute pretty much all day.

home for a quick game of "i spy" and
back to nana's for spaghetti. we brought
the ice cream. it was fun..it poured again
while we were there.

my sister saw my last entry when they got
up (9am friday in australia- 6 pm thurs. here)
and decided to try calling nana's house,
and there we were! it was kind of cool that
she had just woken up, read my blog and
knew right away where we were at that moment!
ahh, technology!

well, girls went down at 9:30! wow!
i'm getting better everyday. but, man,
now, i'm broke and a shower would be great!

i think my aunt cindy and her daughter kelly are
coming up today for a visit. amanda is excited
to see kelly's daughter (baby tana!)
also, going to try to have a date with gary
tonight!

oh, tim, i think mom's not coming in today!
(tee hee)
kindra, did our stuff come in?

overview....

picture this....
i just thought i'd post some photos that
i've taken while i've been here and my mom
is playing "I spy" with the girls so i've got
some time....

day one at the pool. super nice day!


tuesday night at the medal ceremony @ t-ball!


goofiest hairstyle on tuesday night!


can you spot the cat?


school supply shopping at target...


farmer's market thursday in excelsior


mr. bubble in the jacuzzi....oops!


reeses puffs for breakfast.


aunt josie for lunch on wednesday.


more tomorrow..off to nana's for dinner..spaghetti!

day four-dentist!

picture this...
these two are going to the dentist today!
their dentist's office called about a cancellation
yesterday and i said "sure! i'll bring 'em in thursday!"
one less thing for anne to do when she get's home
and one more memory for the girls to remember
me by! HA!!! :p~~~~



yesterday i got to go out on an adult outting. yay me!
i had another aunt (josie) come over for a couple of
hours so that i could attend my network meeting at
the all new "eden prairie lifetime fitness athletic club"
(formerly "flagship"). good to get out. had to leave it
early so that i would have time to stop by my house
and pick up my laptop. gary was there and i got to say,
"hi! bye!" and a quick kiss-i was out the door. needed to
get back so josette could get to work. wwwhhhheeeew!

they swam for a bit and then sat in and watched.......
drum roll please...........MORE "FULL HOUSE"!! shocker!

i, on the other hand was on the phone for over an hour
talking to pictage...or should i say yelling at pictage.
i got the worst e-mail from a client that was fed up
with them and wanted to know what to do...i was
sick to my stomach! i have had similar experiences
with them these past 6 weeks. pretty disappointed, really.
i thought that Pictage was going to be the end all to end all.
not so. nothing is as it was promised. it's just sucking!
i was actually in tears with this gal that i was talking
to...yelling and crying.... my poor nieces just sat and
wondered what was wrong..it was just aweful!

we had pancakes for dinner in honor of anne and pete.
they are having breakfast when we are having dinner!

then a little popcorn, "RV" with robin williams and
an early bedtime. i actually got amanda to sleep
in her own bed!
again, yay me! :)

day three-storms

picture this...
a sump-pump that works. and works well.

i have no idea how much rain we got last
night and to be honest, i really havent'
watched much television since i've been
here so i didn't know it was supposed to
storm.
mom, (9 as she's called) mentioned it
so i went out and prepared the pool for
rain (covered, and put the water sucker
on top and plugged it in. anne will be
so proud of me!). oh, shocking it too, anne.
pete & anne, you now have 3 water hazards.
the pool and the two sandtraps (full of water!)

one of emily's friends came over to play
yesterday so the three girls spent the
afternoon in the house...a nice break
for me. so i went and watered all the plants
outside and the sod that's not getting hit
by the system...that must have sinched the
rain storm for sure,
oh, and sidebar...my sister's phone
rings off the hook! now i understand
why she doesn't always call me right back!
i'm beginning to understand a LOT of things!

anne & pete called at 6pm (9am there)on the
voice over internet thing..so cool.
which of course made for a perfect distraction
for the girls to not finish their dinner!
kids are tough to feed...duh, right?!~

bath night. FINALLY! i seriously think that
because they are wet all day from the pool,
these girls think they are clean. :)
sorry about the mr. bubble in the jacuzzi :(
NOT my idea.

by popular demand, we invited emily's friend
back over around 8:30 to do some giant
sparklers...that was fun.

their aunt "josie" is coming for a visit today
which will allow me to get to a meeting in
eden prairie. gary said he picked up my
laptop, so i'll stop by and get that this
afternoon. yay!!

well, did i forget anything? oh, yes...
i got a call from a friend yesterday whose
friend has a son that is graduating (just
moved into the area), and needs his sr.
portraits done, so i'll do that next week.
thanks steve!

have a great day...photos to follow.
so many to choose from now! :)
Hi Dean & Lois! hope all is well.
anne & pete~we are all having a good time.
emily got down all the photos of you two
from the landing and put them on the
livingroom table for amanda yesterday
when she was missing you. it was really
sweet! :) kisses&hugs!

day 2...

picture this...
i figured out how to get into anne's
photo files...i know...HACKER! :)
here's one of her and owen-my youngest
brother's son, last fall (i think).
and here's one from clearly a great seat
at an eric clapton concert...






g'day mates....
amanda had a small melt down last night
over missing her mom. expected. so i
had her sleep with me. she fell right to
sleep.
i forgot to mention the 3rd girl that i
am watching...no, not my mom (altho' she
does live here too), it's "sugar", their
bihrman (sp?) cat. she is such a sweetie.
she gets me up in the morning. so funny.

big day yesterday. a cereal breakfast,
a target run for some of amanda's
school supplies. that was interesting.
never did find the large,10 pack
of basic color-crayola-WASHABLE-markers.
pizza hut pizza for lunch @ target.
then we had a pool day. 80-sunny, nice.
emily's hair has finally turned a fine shade
of lima bean green. yuck. nothing that a
little "logics 10RO" (hair color) can't handle.
just something i learned at rocco altobelli
years ago.

God forgive me, i actually ate a mcdonald's
last night. we took the girls there before
amanda's final t-ball game at 6.
now THAT was funny! i can't wait to have my
laptop and get some photos up here!

then, we thought we'd go for the trifecta
and stop at maggie moo's (a local "cold
stone creamery" type of ice cream shop).
the only other place in the world that beats
a scoop of vanilla ice cream for 5 bucks
is the haagan daz in playa del carmen mexico
where they get a cool $6.50! can you stand it?!

had to stop at a store and get some real food!
fruit, chicken, yogurt, soy creamer-love that.
when the girls and i came out mom was talking to
anne & pete on my phone.
they were calling from his computer...
don't ask, all i know is that it's 2 cents a minute!

from the time they left the house to the time
they got to their hotel...it had been 28 hours.
AND it was the start of tuesday...they never
had a monday, on earth. they missed it! weird.
all was well, thank you God for watching over
them, keep it up!

bed was late again..10-10:15...yikes, gonna
pay for that sooner or later.
slept better.

day one...

well, today marks the first full day with the girls.
didn't sleep too well on the sleep # bed but i
guess i'll figure that out by the 31st, right? :)

i'm not sure when i'll get my laptop over here so
there won't be any photos today.

when i pulled up yesterday pete was washing off the
garage floor (nothing else to do before a long
flight to australia????) anyway, the reason i
mention that is because not 20 minutes after
they pulled out of the driveway, amanda dumped
an entire can of orange crush all over it!
so my stay started with a bang! yay!

a walk, pool, dinner, cartwheels on the putting
green & a few episodes of "full house"
(they love that show so much that anne bought
them a few seasons to watch while they are gone).

betime was a little late but we had a fun day.

down under...

picture this....
emily. i'm so proud of her for completing
the triathlon on saturday!
here she is with her dad and in the bike
transition area getting ready to run!




and here's me and my nieces after the race
grabbing some culver's custard.
the orange hat was such a hit last year, i wore
it again....it's been a crowd favorite!
i wear it at all the mitch events.




today is the day that my sister and her husband
go to australia and i begin life as a parent for
10 days! if you prayed for the weather for the
race yesterday, thank you, now pray 10 times
as hard that i come out of this one alive!! :)
the girls and i are pretty excited!

i'm actually writing this on saturday evening
because i was just informed that i am getting
a new G5 tomorrow and gary is going to have
all the stuff on my lap top put onto
the new machine! wow! surprize! :)
apparently i have been complaining a lot that
my G4 laptop is slower that molasses in january.
i love my laptop, don't get me wrong but a
faster processor will be just the ticket! so, yay!

i didn't want to go a day without blogging so
there ya go.

race day!

picture this......
a picture perfect day for a triathlon!
there was no threat of rain and the sun
came out early...it was awsome!
thanks for all of your prayers!
please join us next year!


jordan dahlke (below) raised $9,000 this year!
he has been the top fundraiser each year!



the race starts with swimming....



then they transition to biking....



and finish up with the run......




what amazes me each year is the dedication,
determination and guts that these kids display
for this event and all for the fun of it! they all
know that they aren't there to "win"
(in the traditional sense). but they are all aware
of why they are there....to race for kids who can't.
that's the motto of this triathlon... and it
resinates throughout the park with so much
energy!

20 cancer families attended this year. past
present and future recipients of funds raised at
events put on by the foundation.
below are "mitch's VIPs" in attendance..




the next event will be the 2nd annual
"Minnesota Miracle" put on at & by the
Airport Hilton New Years Eve.
don't miss this one. go to the site for more
information.

be sure to watch for next years triathlon.
we'll see ya there!

designing an album...

picture this...
here's the two sillies i'm going to
spend 10 days laughing with (and at!)



well, i have a new vendor for albums and so i thought
i'd take 150 images from amanda & rick's wedding
and create a studio album. it's really fun.
i actually started to play around with it last night
while gary was at a men's golf league dinner @
turtle's...that's right jacquie, i said turtle's! and no,
they are not having a "hey dude"! :)

hey, i mentioned a few weeks ago that i contacted
phil young (he's running for mayor in e.p.), about
helping out with his campaign on a photographic
level, and i hadn't heard from him so i sort of
wrote him off. well, he e-mailed me today!
we're going to hook up and work on some new
print media images for him to use and perhaps cover
some events as the election draws near. kinda cool.

i'm teaching gary how to give hobie his meds for
while i'm away...he's not very good at it.
he gives in too easily and says things like.....
"he doesn't want to take it right now." i just have
to laugh at him..what are you, seven??!!! :)

still looking like rain for saturday for the kids...too bad.
i may be one of the only photographers working
this event....life touch, who was such a huge part
of it last year, never called tony back...ever. weird.
jacquie, want to come and help..it's really fun!
gary says if you can't come, he'll take your camera
and come help me out! :)
here's kyle (a cancer kid from last year's event) and
his dad...i hope they are there on saturday!



and here's kyle in my crazy orange hat that i wear.
(orange was mitch's favorite color)