Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a great day. We headed to Blooming Prairie to meet up with friends and family for the big parade.

Then we went to my cousin Katie's house for a grill out.

We came back to Owatonna for the fireworks. We watched them with grandma, Mattey and Kristin, and Natey. All three of the boys stayed up for the start of the fireworks. Jacob wasn't too sure of them and would cover his face with his blanket every once in awhile. He fell asleep under his blanket. Nolan absolutely loved them and kept pointing to them and making sure all of us were watching. He tried so hard to stay awake but finally fell asleep on Uncle Natey's shoulder. Connor snuggled with Matt while shouting that every fire work was his favorite. We would always meet up with Grandpa Ebeling for the fireworks. We went to the same place that we always watched them with him bringing beer and popcorn. I bet he got a great view of the fireworks this year! I hope we carry on the tradition and keep going to the same place - It's a great view and we have fun lighting some of our own before hand.

Our patio is finally done. Here are some before and after pictures. The boys literally sat out on the deck watching them for hours. Now all we have to do is the steps down from the deck and wait for the grass to come back in some spots. We're excited to use and enjoy it.....

Before:

During...

After...

I forgot to put this in earlier. Mattey shared it with me. At our co ed softball game last week he took Connor to the bathroom and he asked Connor if he had to go #1, #2, or #3. Connor told him there isn't a #3. So Connor's in the stall and there is a little quiet pause and then Connor asks Mattey, "If there was a #3 what would it look like?"

Yeah, Uncle Mattey - what would it look like? ;) How did you get your way out of that one?

Connor has seen this commercial for Listerine mouthwash for kids and kept asking for it. How can I refuse that? It's good for him. I bought it the other day and he asks me, "Mommy, on the commercial for this it says that it sticks to your teeth like magnets. How does that work?"

He also lately tries to turn everything into a special day so that he can sleep with us. He kept wanting to sleep with us, so I told him that he will be able to once in awhile when it's a special night, not every night. Some of the things he's tried to tell me were special - going to a birthday party, watching a movie, playing outside, going to a friend's house...and yes those are all special things, but we have to cut it off somewhere!

We're finally working on riding bike with no training wheels! Go Connor Go!

We're working on the whole consequence thing with Jacob. He sometimes understands, like we'll say "Jacob stop or we'll take a time out in your room"...and he stops. OR, if he isn't eating, we'll say, "OK, Jacob needs to go to his room"...and sometimes it works and he'll keep eating.
Anyways, lately when we try the counting to 5 thing, we all end up laughing. It worked and still works for the most part for Connor. We only had to get to 2 or 3 and he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. However, for Jacob, we'll start counting, "1, 2,...." and he'll just chime right in counting the next numbers and thinks it's funny.

We will miss you Grandpa

There are so many forwards out there about making the most of each moment and cherishing those that you love and I always get choked up reading them. This story really hits home now more than any of them because tonight our Grandpa Ebeling (my mom's dad) passed away. We were able to see him for a little while on Monday at the Memorial Parade - we've been meeting him for the parade since Connor was born. Grandpa lived through his 80th birthday and according to this story below he had about 4172 marbles in his jar and just took out his last one. We love you grandpa and will miss you so much. Don't give Grandma too hard of a time up there ok - dance away though!





3900 Saturdays

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about 'a thousand marbles.' I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I 'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's 'dance recital; Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities - the thousand marbles theory. You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. 'I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.
There's nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight. Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band."

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." - Winnie the Pooh.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial day everyone! What a beautiful day -we started the day off with the parade. The boys are taking a nap right now (well Connor takes a "quiet rest" just to give me a few minutes to get things done) and then we plan on heading out to play at the park.

The boys' pictures are ready. Wow, was that fast - Kelly is great. She captured the boys' personalities perfectly. We're going to have a really tough time deciding because there are some fun ones. We had a fabulous time and if you're looking for someone Kelly does a terrific job. Here are a few.....

Manners

We're on our way home from daycare on Friday and a good song comes on so I turn it up. Connor yells "Mommy I like this song!" "I do too!", I said back to him as I start to sing to it. Connor says, "Mommy, I like this song, can you stop singing please?". What??? At least he remembered to say please I guess.

The boys with grandpa and grandma sporting their new t-shirts from the San Diego zoo. Grandpa and grandma just got back and are nice and tan. Very jealous.

I feel bad that the only pictures lately are of Jacob, but the pictures add so much to his stories. This one is of him eating lunch and dipping his apple in ketchup! He would dip it, look at us and show it to us, and let out this giggle. He is our dipping king -most of the time he dips whatever it is he has and just licks the sauce off without taking a bite.

Saturday night we were doing our nightly routine. Usually Nolan goes to bed first and we just put him in his crib. He's good about going to sleep. Then we go into Connor and Jacob's room and read a book or make up a story, tuck them in, and say our prayers, give kisses, etc..... Connor fell asleep almost instantly which never happens and I waved good night to Jacob like usual and he waved back and out I went. Matt was at a fantasy draft, so it was just me and a quiet house. I was excited to finish the book I was reading - I know what an eventful and exciting life I live! I snuggled up with a blanket on the couch and started to read. I got through a couple of pages and I saw Jacob standing right in front of me. I have no idea how long he was there. I tell him it's time to go night night and he shakes his head and says his infamous No! with a huge smile. I was really into my book (I don't get to read much) and it was a Saturday night so I figured I would just go with him on this one and not fight him and see what he does. I went right back to reading and watched him from the corner of my eye adding "Jacob it's time for night night" in there once in awhile. He just played with his trains, cars, sat on his chair (that you see in the picture), came and stood and stared at me....and the whole time didn't say a word to me - just talked to himself. I was trying not to laugh. He climbed on the couch and just lounged with his hands behind his head and smiled at me like he knew I thought it was cute. I just kept on reading (or at least pretended to). He got down from the couch and actually went back into his room and climbed into his bed. I went to check on him and shouldn't have because he saw me and came right back out. He followed me so I went back to my book and he went to his chair. A couple of minutes later I look down and there he is fast asleep on his chair. I couldn't resist taking the picture.

Today we went to my Grandpa Skala's 85th birthday party. How amazing to live 85 years! We cannot believe the things he is still up and doing. He has 11 children, around 33 grandchildren, and 24 great grandchildren with one on the way). Don't quote me on those exact numbers - it's late and I'm just estimating. It's still incredible!

We celebrated my Grandpa Ebeling's 80th birthday in February (he has six children, 17 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren with four on the way). The memories these two men must have.