9 Years!

Last Sunday we were at Melissa’s parent’s house on the farm while some of her extended family was in town for a visit and her parents were having a BBQ.  While the kids were all playing outside Melissa’s dad pointed out a piece of equipment sitting out that I wanted to show Steven.  It is a 3-wheeled floater sprayer and from a distance isn’t all that impressive, yet I knew up close Steven would be amazed especially when he saw the tires.  While we were walking across the farm yard we went past their barn and it reminded me of when I was in grade school and we were out for a birthday party.  We walked past a small fenced coral where I remember bringing my nephew Jack out once when he was very little to ride.  We walked by a spot where in college I helped her dad dig up a broken water line.  Steven was asking questions about the buildings, the farm ground, animals (especially the smell of the hogs) all the while I kept thinking about how many memories I have of Melissa and her family growing up and while I was telling Steven the stories, I can’t wait to tell my kids when they are old enough to remember.  Nine years ago today Melissa and I were married.  We had been dating since our second year of college yet had actually grown up together as friends.

I never thought nine years ago we would have a 7 year old in 2^nd grade, a son in Preschool, and another son learning to talk along with an exchange student in high school.  It goes to show that we make a great team and how lucky I am.  Happy Anniversary honey, I love you!

HOMECOMING WEEK!

You already know from Justin's post yesterday that this last weekend was another busy one.  We went to the air show on Saturday, which was really pretty neat.  It took about an hour of waiting in the car, slowly making our way to the air field, but it was worth it.  We ate overpriced hot dogs and nachos and watched the jets and planes dip, duck, dive, duck and dodge.  I could imagine being up there with the pilots, getting sick all over the instrument panel.  I don't handle heights or things that spin very well.  We left before the Blue Angels came out, which was a little disappointing, but we could still see them from the tailgate spot, and they did perform a fly over the stadium.  After tailgating, we went home to listen to the game.  I'm pretty sure everyone in the house was asleep by 10:15 p.m. (unheard of!); we were all just exhausted.

Sunday I took some pictures for a friend and met up with Justin and the kids to pick out a ceiling fan to replace the one that quit working.  Once back at home, Steven helped Justin with some projects (putting the fan up, messing around with the fire truck), while I made a pasta salad for a cookout my parents were having.  My Aunts and cousin were in town from California and everyone gathered to see them.  I was a little worried about Steven.  That's a lot of family to process at once!  My 3 sisters, my grandma, parents, an aunt, a great aunt, and a cousin.  He did very well though.  It was fun to show him the farm I grew up on.  I told him how, when I was little, I HATED being on the farm because all of my friends lived in town, and I never got to play with any of them.  Now, though, I'd give anything to be back on the farm.  He told me that in Berlin, you live in town, have friends in town, but you still don't see them.  I guess that could be true, but that's the difference between a city of 4 million + and a town of 1,600.

That brings me to my main point of this post...it's Homecoming week at Palmyra High School!  I'm glad to have something else to focus on Thursday, after our friend's daughter's funeral, and that would be...homecoming shopping.  Our Steven has a date!  Incidentally, her name happens to be Emma.  I've seen her picture and she looks like a nice, cute girl.  I really didn't think at this age, I'd be worrying about homecoming clothes or anything, but this is fun.  I'm taking Steven and Lucas in on Thursday after school to buy an outfit which he can wear Saturday to the dance and a few more times for other events like church on Christmas and Easter.  My plan is to take them to my very favorite store, Kohls, where I also happen to have a 30% off coupon.  Yay for Kohls!  We're also going to need to order a corsage to have picked up for Saturday.  Lucky for us, I work right near a flower shop, so that shouldn't be a problem.

He's also got another cross country meet this week.  He came home from the first one last night, and he told me he ran his 5k in about 30 minutes.  Not bad, but he didn't place well.  I reminded him that he pretty much JUST started running last week and the only place he can go now is UP.  I'm sure he'll do better next time.

Now...off to plan some homecoming outfits!

2 week summary

Some of my info might not match Melissa's prior posts but just remember, just like at home, I am always right..

I’m finally finding a few minutes to get caught up on this blog.  We have had an exciting two weeks, staying very busy with EVERYTHING.  The kids are off and running in the school routine and we have been able to show Steven a bit of Nebraska.  Labor Day weekend began with tailgating with my younger brother at his annual tailgate location across from the stadium.  Steven got to witness firsthand what downtown Lincoln looks like on a home Husker gameday in the fall, how the stadium becomes the 3^rd largest city in our state, and the “sea of red”.  Friends of ours from Bennet have tickets and Chad invited Steven to attend the game with him.  It was perfect weather and a perfect afternoon for a game.  The team played well and Chad was able to secure access to the field after the game for a few pictures.  Very few people ever get that opportunity.  After the game Steven and Chad met us at our friend’s house in Lincoln where we were watching other college games and having an extended tailgate party.  It was a late night. 

 Chad & Steven

 Melissa, Steven, X, Emma, and Miko

 Tailgate Spot

Justin and Beezer

Beezer & Miko

Waste of Money Band

Sea of Red

Emma ended up spending the night at their home and Sunday morning Melissa, Steven, Xavier, and Michael along with our neighbors Sarah and son Hunter loaded up for a 2.5 hour drive towards the center of the state Grand Island now home of the Nebraska State Fair.  Sarah’s husband Joe and I stayed behind.  I needed to work and Emma was boating with our neighbor.  While at the fair Steven jumped on the big rides, almost flipping his own pizza on the ride that spins around while completely inverted…  Melissa has video proof on her Facebook.  He also took Xavier on some of the smaller rides.  Sunday night we had company over but the kids including Steven went to bed early. 

Monday we all went shopping and hung around home most all of the day.  Steven had his first Cross Country practice Monday afternoon in Bennet.  Their coach had them run 4 miles and he was in enough shape to keep up.

Tuesday was back-to-school routine.  Steven needed a Doctor checkup to allow him to participate in sports so Melissa took him that afternoon.  That evening Steven was fighting the start of a stomach bug and stayed home to recover on Wednesday.  He told us in Germany you go to school unless you are near death.  We told him we’d rather he recover at home quicker before it gets worse and more important to avoid contaminating other students.  A day’s rest must have helped because he was ready to go back on Thursday.  This was his first Cross Country meet however the coach had him just attend as a spectator. 

Saturday was very busy.  All were up early to head into Lincoln for the Lincoln Airshow at the airport.  Later that afternoon we once again went to my brother’s tailgate.  This was an evening game so we left just before kickoff and drove back to Bennet.  Saturday morning we had some very sad news that a friend of ours daughter attending college had been killed in a motorcycle accident Friday night.  Her and her boyfriend were away at college and an oncoming car swerved into their lane killing them both.  Alexis (Lexi) was an amazing girl.  Homecoming queen, amazing athlete, and comes from a very neat family that are very active in our community.  It is one of those horrific stories you hear about happening in a small town where it affects everyone because everyone knows them..  Melissa and I can’t even imagine what that would be like.  I think for both of us we wanted to keep into our plans for the day but it really made us both want to be home that night.  We weren’t able to watch the game at home because of our cable so while listening to the team play poorly, I honestly didn’t care.  Even with 9/11 the next day, nothing, football nor dedication ceremonies seemed nearly as important as what we knew our friends were dealing with.  Emma is at an age where she understands and although she is sad for Lexi, it is heartbreaking when she mentions how sad she is for Mariah (Mo), Lexi’s younger sister that Emma knows from babysitting and from our neighbor’s daughter and Mo playing with Emma and her friend Tara.

Sunday morning was perfect weather.  Melissa was in Lincoln doing family pictures for some friends so Steven and I had Emma, X, and Miko outside enjoying the day.  We left to meet Melissa around lunch to do some quick shopping.  The early afternoon Steven helped me with a project outside.  I brought home a pickup truck we had bought a few months ago for our fire department.  I’ll keep it in our garage while I fit it with lights, sirens, radios, and run plumbing for hoses.  I use to do these projects at the fire station but it is so hard to get away for that much time I have found it much easier to have it home where I have all my tools and where I can work on it for a few minutes here and there.  I think Steven was surprised when I took down the headliner in the cab, lined up brackets to start drilling holes in the center of the roof of what he thought of as a new pickup…  I showed him pictures of the wreaked truck we were replacing to give him an idea what it would look like (hopefully) when we are all done. 

Melissa had some extended family visiting in Syracuse so we headed to her parents house on the farm Sunday afternoon.  Steven was able to meet the rest of Melissa’s family including her older sisters and parents.  He got to see a little life on the farm seeing where Melissa grew up.  We walked around, he was impressed by some of the equipment.  I’m excited for him to go down at harvest time and ride with Melissa’s dad in the combine and trucks.

We headed home early since it was a school night, the kids would need a bath from petting horses and having played outside, and Steven needed rest since today is his first CC meet.  It is almost an hour north of Lincoln so Melissa and I aren’t able to go watch. 

After the kids were bathed and Miko was in bed Steven wanted to head back out to work on the truck.  We worked another 45 minutes, Emma and X watched until bed-time.  He asked this morning if we were going to work on it tonight and was disappointed when I told him I was gone to meetings.

We broke him.

Sadly, Steven was feeling ill towards yesterday afternoon.  He looked a little bit like he did after riding the Windsurfer ride at the fair on Sunday (perhaps a delayed reaction?), so he stayed home today.  He told me last week, that in Germany that unless you're dying, they expect you at school.  I told him, "Here in America, if you're sick, you stay home.  We don't want your germs." 

So it took a week before we broke him.  I haven't talked to him since this morning, so I hope he's feeling better!

Autumn Begins!

Wow, what a fun weekend!  Friday night, we kicked it off by having supper with the neighbors.  Nothing beats grilled burgers and brats with good friends.  Steven told us how in Germany, you might know of your neighbors, but not like this, and certainly not several houses away.  We do live in a pretty great community; it’s not always like this in other communities—even in Nebraska.

Saturday was a big day for all.  Once everyone got ready, we all piled in the car to go to the first home Husker tailgate.  We armed Steven with a camera and the knowledge that he was actually going to go to the game!  Our friend, Chad, had a couple of tickets that he was going to give us, since his dad couldn’t go.  However, being the smart husband that he was, Justin didn’t want to leave me at the tailgate with all 3 kids, so Steven went to the game with Chad.  We were really excited to hear what he thought of the whole thing, from the fanfare of the pre-game show, the tunnel walk, and the game itself.  Truly, there is nothing like the feeling of being downtown or the stadium on game day.  The excitement is palpable and I was thrilled Steven was going to experience it firsthand. 

The game was a big win over Tennessee at Chattanooga, 40-7.  Justin, me and the kids ended up at another friend’s house in Lincoln to watch the game and Chad and Steven met us there afterwards.  It took them quite a while to get there because Chad took Steven down onto the field to get some pictures.  I wish I had those pictures with me, because I’d post a few.  Pretty neat…they even got close to Coach Pelini and the players.  Steven seemed to have enjoyed himself.  It’s a good thing, too.  Husker football is a way of life around here, and a pretty good inauguration to life in Nebraska.

Sunday, a neighbor and I decided to take the kids out to the state fair in Grand Island, Nebraska.  Neither of us had been since it moved away from Lincoln a few years ago, and I really hadn’t been even when it was in Lincoln in probably 10 years.  It was a good way to let our husbands get some things done around home while we got the kids out and entertained them for a day.  Sarah, her son Hunter, me and my kids—Steven, Xavier and Michael arrived in Grand Island around noon.  Little did we know, on the main road trying to get to the fair park, there was an accident which kept traffic at a standstill.  Of course that’s when Xavier had to go to the bathroom.  So while Sarah and everyone else was still on the street, Xavier and I ran to the nearest motel to find a bathroom.  When he was done, we exited out the side, which led right back to the street.  I figured Sarah & company couldn’t have made it too far up, so we walked a couple of blocks before I decided to call.  Turns out, they pulled into the motel after us and were waiting in the parking lot for us to come out.  Too funny!  They pulled back into the street and while they stopped, we hopped in and continued on to the fair.

Once inside the fair gates, we attempted to navigate the exhibition hall.  Let me tell you, it’s not easy with strollers.  There were way too many people in what I thought was too small of a space.  We did manage to find a John Deere booth, where Xavier got a new tractor and book.  After that, we’d all had enough and shoved our way back out into the light to look for some lunch.

Bellies full, we approached the midway to purchase some tickets for a few rides.  Xavier was excited!  We got enough tickets for Xavier, Steven and me to go on a few rides (I knew either Steven or I would have to ride with Xavier for a few of them).  First up—the kiddie swings.  I  really thought I would be ok on this one.  As a person who regularly gets carsick and fears heights, I don’t do many rides because I just don’t handle them well, but this one didn’t go too high and I’ve always liked the swings.  Xavier had a lot of fun on it, but I started to get dizzy and have a vaguely unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Still, I thought I’d be ok to ride on the Typhoon, which I had pointed out to Steven earlier.  Steven and I climbed on, and after being secured in, the ride began to swing us up to the left….and back down to the right….and back to the left….until it built up enough momentum to swing all the way around.  Then it stopped and went the other direction.  After my stomach tried to make an exit through my mouth, the ride was over, and we debarked.  Weak-kneed and feeling a bit queasy, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going on the next ride with Xavier, so I made Steven take him.  It was the kiddie version of what we just rode.  As the ride was in progress, I saw a little girl start to cry and Steven leaned over to comfort her, which I thought was pretty sweet.  We walked around the rest of the rides, taking the kids on a couple of others and saving 5 tickets for this monster of a ride Steven wanted to go on.  I had pointed it out to him while we were at the top of the Typhoon and he was just crazy enough to try it.  I don’t remember what it was called, but this thing was insane.  They strap in a row of people into the seats so that the legs dangle.  The bar lifts everyone up to the top and flips the seats upside down and lets them dangle.  Then it drops everyone, upside down, back to starting position and flips them upright.  Again and again and again.  The look on Steven’s face as he endured this torture was priceless.  I really thought he was going to lose his lunch and I wasn’t going to be able to watch that happen.  Finally, after what seemed like forever, the ride was over and Sarah and I laughed as Steven hobbled off, drank the rest of my iced tea and tried to recuperate. 

It just so happened that behind us stood a woman who also had a foreign exchange student from Germany living with her and going to Milligan-Exeter high school.  Funny, how I’ve never known anyone to host an exchange student before and now, not only are some friends telling me their parents had done so in the past, I run into people on the street now.  We could start our own club; I think we should.

It was 4:00 and the tickets were gone and it was time to head home, thankfully.  I can skip the state fair for another 10 years again.  Except for the hot beef sundae, which I will definitely have to recreate at home (mashed potatoes covered in shredded beef and brown gravy, sprinkled with cheese and a tomato on top for your health).

After such a busy weekend, I think we all looked forward to a nice relaxing day at home on Monday.  I had some pictures to take for friends, so I did that while Justin and the kids went to Menards to get a new ceiling fan and some blinds for Steven’s room in the basement (the paper ones we put in place when we moved in 4 years ago are rather brittle and you can’t open them).  That afternoon was his first cross country practice, where he ran 3.5 miles right off the bat.  Good thing we went in last week and purchased him some running shoes!  That crazy kid even came back after his 3.5 mile run and asked if I wanted to run again, but I denied.  Two miles was good enough for me that day.  The rest of the evening consisted of supper (I tried yet another new recipe on my unsuspecting family—Steven appreciates me!), baths and bed.  I was amazed to look at the clock at 9 p.m. and realized everyone but Justin and me had gone to bed.  Shortly after folding the clothes and reading a few chapters in my book, I went to bed too.

What a fantastic, fun weekend!  I may need the rest of the week to recover.

An Exciting Wednesday All Around...

After what was kind of a panicky start to my workday yesterday, I got 2 calls that turned it all around.  The first was that one of our agents found a pair of football tickets that I had mailed him the day before (I just KNEW I hadn’t lost them!) and the second was from a coach at Palmyra high school to talk to me about Steven.  Turns out, Steven is quite speedy.  From what I understood, he out-hustled (insert the name of the kid I don’t know), who is apparently difficult to out-hustle, during some sprints in physical education class.  The coach had even walked into English class where Steven was, to talk to him about it.  As you can imagine, whenever class is interrupted by a teacher and someone is called to attention, the kids in class had comments.  Steven took the jibes well, and had a funny comment of his own in return.  If only I could remember what it was, exactly.  Turns out, a group of cheerleaders took notice and told the coach, “You have to see this!”  Of course, I had to rub that into Steven a little bit…cheerleaders?  On your 3^rd day?!  Coach asked me how I felt about Steven joining the cross country team.  He really wants him on the track team, but that doesn’t start until spring semester, so cross country is a good option.  If he’s interested it will let him get involved in a team sport and actually participate right away, as opposed to football, where he might get to practice, but sidelined for games.  I’m such a proud “mom!”  I couldn’t hold back the excitement when I called Justin to tell him that bit of news.  This weekend we will be shopping for a good pair of running shoes and some extra p.e. and workout clothes—fun!  J

After supper, Steven took Emma and went to kick the soccer ball around with Lou up the street.  It was so good of him to take her along, but before he left, he asked me one more time if I need anything.  I wanted to tell him, “YES!  I need you to go enjoy yourself for a while!”  Instead I just said, “Thank you, but I’m fine.  Just taking Emma with you helps me out enormously.”  He smiled and they were off, but not before asking what time Emma needed to be back.  I told him by 9 p.m. would be great, but he could just send her home and he could stay out a bit later if he wanted.  “No,” he said, “I will come home when she needs to come home.”  It was 8:30 p.m. when they both walked through the door.

He had a couple of tests today at school and I hope that my grammar skills have served him well.  I’m realizing that I’m very rusty in the grammar department--no longer the Viking I imagined.  Hopefully this means he won’t have much homework to deal with for the weekend and we can possibly go into town to look for shoes.  Tomorrow marks the end of his first full week at an American high school and Saturday is his first season as a Nebraska Cornhusker fan!

Wheels

I forgot to mention yesterday that Steven once again had a reading lesson from Mrs. Emma.  He needs to learn my trick and pick easy books to read to her.  It is a lot of fun to watch the two of them interact especially when it comes to reading and talking about Germany.  Emma has a plan this weekend to get to learn everything about Germany and in return, the following weekend she plans to teach Steven all about the US…  Stay tuned.

Melissa will have a good post, she can explain this better than I will… Mid-afternoon she called me yesterday excited about a call she had just received from the Palmyra High School.  She wasn’t sure if it was the coach or principal that had called her, but the reason for the call was to ask us as host parents if Steven could participate in running with the Cross-Country Team.  Apparently during Steven’s Physical Education class his running speed was noticed by a few of the other students.  He can keep up with some of the schools best runners and news of this quickly spread through to the coaches.  Steven said during his next class the coach interrupted his English class and asked “Which one is Steven?”  The other students asked if he was in trouble and Steven said, “Yes, I’m a bad when I travel” that got a laugh out of the class.  The coach asked if it would be alright if he contacted us to see about participating in sports.  Steven eagerly agreed.

Last night Emma and I were home a little early and Steven was beginning his homework.  He immediately asked if we had a phone call from school for him.  I explained that they had called Melissa and asked if he was interested..  You will be seeing posts soon about Steven participating in Palmyra sports.  Looks like German’s have some wheels!

Last night I had a meeting and two local Palmyra residents were also at the meeting.  When they discovered Steven was living with us, they said they had heard he is a fast runner!!!  News travels fast…

Xavier has never been very good about naming his colors.  He can easily spot a John Deere tractor so we knew we were good with green, but other colors seemed to be a problem.  It was enough that Melissa and I were thinking he may be color blind and we passed along the concern to his Preschool teacher to help watch for further signs or development.  Below is a note from the teacher.  It seems that X is just messing with us…

“I will keep you posted on the color concern.  I can tell you this however, yesterday when we were outside he wanted to get out the set of primary colored bean bags from ball cart in the garage so I gave them to him.  He used the red cart to load them all up...sorting them by matching color pairs very carefully and stacking them according to the pairs then wheeled them away to a picnic table.  Once there he unloaded them and proceeded to arrange them in a pattern of alternating colors 2 by 2 by 2 very carefully, when another child wanted a bean bag I asked Xavier to share and he looked them all over, then very carefully sorted out the two red ones to give to that child.

Now I can't tell you he knows the names of those colors but he could clearly see a difference in red, yellow, blue and green because he kept the matching bags paired up all the time and arranged them as pairs. 

We will keep an eye on things!  Kids always keep us on our toes don't they!”