I've been tagged....

I've been tagged by Jessica to post 8 random facts about myself.

I have to post these rules before I give you the facts:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

So, here's my 8 random factoids:

1. My husband and I both grew up in the same town but never knew each other. I was 5 grades ahead of Dan but only 3 years older. We met through our sisters who had been friends for years. The funny thing is that I was friends with Dan's middle sister for a couple years in late elementary school so I am sure I met Dan but never really "met" him. Funny. Anyway, his oldest sister and my sister set us up even though we were complete opposites. Look where that landed us.

2. I spent 5 years in college for Music Education but after 4 years of teaching, I left the profession for something with less pressure. I play a mean saxophone although I haven't picked it up for a few years.

3. I would love to build and live in a log home some day. All I need is a little land, complete privacy, and no sounds of traffic.

4. I love Taekwondo and consider it my favorite hobby - I just got my purple belt. If I had more time, I would pick up wood carving and quilting as hobbies as well.

5. I am about to launch my own web design business as I keep running across web page jobs. I have come up with a name but I need to sit on it for a while before I go for it. With grad school starting in a little over a week, I don't know how I plan to have time.

6. I enjoy watching TV evenings and some of my regular shows are American Idol, Hell's Kitchen, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Intervention. I cannot sit and focus on just TV so I usually sit with my laptop, too.

7. I love my job because it feels like I get to put together puzzles all day long. It's challenging and rewarding. Speaking of puzzles, I am the queen of Sudoku. I picked it up while on bedrest and I am proud to say I have completed about 2000 puzzles, the latest of which are very complex (they have no numbers in any spaces and instead list sums of 2 or more squares - hard to explain).

8. I have an interview up in Virginia for the position of Director of Technology for the Mesabi Range Community and Technical College in a couple days. We would like to get back up north someday. We'll have to see how it goes.

Unfortunately, I do not know ANYONE who has a blog except the person who tagged me. Boy, I really do come from a small town.

Lots to say

Boy. A lot has happened since I last posted anything of length. We just got Ava home from the vet yesterday after nearly a week long stay for Parvo. We are sooooo thankful she made it through OK. She's really skinny but pretty darn happy.

Logan went to the UofM for an eye appointment last week and it was decided he was ready for another surgery. So we are scheduled for September 19th. Poor kid has no idea what he's going to be going through. The first surgery, he was just a bit over a year, they loosened the muscles of each inner eye. This time, they will tighten the muscles of both outer eyes. I have to assume this won't be the last one.

Gage is growing up really fast. He feeds himself and can express exactly what he wants with grunts and screams and a strong pointing gesture. His new thing is throwing anything and everything, which is usually a matchbox car that pegs Logan in the head (which just happened as I typed this). Gage is also into puting things into containers - or just containers in general. This he learned from Logan. Gage can now climb on the couch but refuses to be patient enough to master going down stairs. He would really prefer to walk down them, and of course when he tries to do this, he'd take a nice tumble down if I weren't there to catch him.

Logan still exhibits frustration over everything and now that Gage is taking things away from him, there's a lot more frustration to go around. Between the two boys, there is always some dilemma. They are starting to learn to play together but it is evident it will take time.

I bought Logan a skateboard from Target yesterday. It's just a little thing but Dan and I caught Logan using one of his toys like skateboard so we thought we'd give it a try. Since I brought it home, I've seen Logan on it a handful of times. He uses his foot to push just like you would expect. I guess it's just natural to him. In my eyes, it's good therapy.

A few weeks ago, I found out about a job up north and decided to apply for it. I have an interview next week. If by chance I get offered it, there would be some biiiiiiiiig decisions to make. I don't want to think about it yet.

I got a much needed haircut yesterday. I chopped it all off and boy, does it look better. I look at my old pictures and wonder what I was thinking. Hopefully, I can take care of it. My cut can be described as a Meg Ryan look.

Pictures at last!

I've finally gotten around to posting some pictures. The boys are napping but will be waking up soon. Forgive me but some are old.

We'll start with the 4th of July. Below is myself and the boys. We went to Brainerd for the fireworks. Very impressive. Logan thought they were too loud and said, "Turn them off." We found that to be pretty funny but then again, maybe they were seriously too loud for him. Maybe we'll bring ear plugs with next time. Gage on the other hand truly enjoyed them. Last year, he slept through them.


This past weekend was the Little Falls Dam Festival. The Clydesdales were AMAZING.

Above is Logan watching the parade.

We were up north a few weeks ago for grad parties. Our niece Jessi played with the boys and Ava in the picture below.

Gage and I posing for the camera.

We ventured to the Zoo here in town last month. They've done a lot of recent improvements which have really made a difference. It's a pretty nice zoo. The pic below was taken there while visiting.

Of course, Logan's favorite thing is the "4-wee-wee" as seen below.

Below, Gage is playing in our new fenced in yard. I suppose this was taken over a month ago.

For Mother's Day, we went to a water park in Brainerd. It was fun. Sarah, Emma, and Jace joined us in the fun.