Happy Freakin' Birthday!

Yep. Today I turned 41. I was SOOOOO looking forward to having a nice day with my daughter. It started out nice, kinda. She did wish me a happy birthday, but then she started crying because she wanted it to be HER birthday. Quick thinking Mommy said, "But Hopie, it IS your birthday today. It's your Baptismal Birthday!" So we got her baptismal candle out and put it in a pretty candle holder and set it on the dining room table. We also set pitures of her baptism on the table. We told her that we'd have a special celebration at supper time tonight and she seemed perfectly fine with that. (By the way, today really IS her baptismal birthday, so I wasn't just telling a little white lie to her.)

So we had a nice day planned. We first had to go to the DMV in Hudson (I know...not real exciting--but they renewed my license in like 10 minutes from start to finish so I was happy about that), then we went to the pet store in Hudson to look at the animals. My big hearted girl was pretty good through that. Then we went to Caribou for breakfast and the demon started coming out a little. Then it was to Target where I could see yet a little more of the demon. Then lunch at Mariachi Loco where the demon REALLY came out. Holy Hannah! The rest of the day was downhill from there. I don't know who took my sweet little girl or what they did with her, but the replaced her with someone who LOOKS just like her but acts the complete opposite. Long story short: I'm hoping whoever took my little Hopie brings her back tonight and takes the subsitute we had today away forever. This was by far the hardest day in Hope's 3+ years of life for me. And of course it had to fall on my birthday. I shed some tears today. I said that I wasn't coming home when I go to Texas next. I told her that she and Daddy can be crabby pants by themselves. And of course I feel an immense amount of guilt for not being a little more patient with her today. Tomorrow is a new day and I think I have every right to get a birthday "re-do."

On a good note: Hope made me a birthday card and gave it to me this morning. She is SO good at writing her name. Inside the card was a GREAT picture of Aaron Rodgers that Mark had cut out of a magazine. I love that boy (Aaron, that is...lol). Looks like I'll be getting my Aaron Rodgers jersey after all. Hopefully I can have it before the Packers beat the Cowboys (I say nervously) on Sunday.

OK...time to finish my wine cooler (maybe another one is in order for today?? lol), play some Scrabble and go to bed.

Sorry for being a total downer.

2nd Day of Pre-school

I had to get this written down before I forgot about it. Friday was Hope's 2nd day of pre-school (her first full 2 hour, 15 minute day). While we ate breakfast on Friday morning she asked me if I was going to be in the same parent's classroom that I was in on Wednesday while she was in class. I thought for a second, "Should I lie and tell her yes or should I opt for the truth even though it will probably mean tears??" I opted for the truth. I told her that I was going to drop her off in her classroom, make sure she was set and then I was going to Light House (one of the coffee shops in town) and then I had to go see Dr. Melissa (my chiropractor) so she could make my back better. Then I told her I'd be there to pick her up when class was over. I thought to myself, "Oh no. Here come the tears and the pleas to not have to go to pre-school today." Well, I thought too highly of myself apparently because she looked at me and said, "OK" and then went on with eating breakfast without missing a beat. So I dropped her off and she was just fine. I told Mrs. Wunrow that Hope could be a little bossy. She said, "Melody, she's great. She's very helpful. She also has a very big heart." My heart swelled with pride. She's already seen Hope's loving heart in such a short time. I also thought it was very nice of her to translate my "she can be bossy" into "she's very helpful." Maybe Mrs. Wunrow should think about being in politics. lol

So...no tears when I dropped her off. I went to get coffee, went to the chiropractor and did a few other errands. Then Mark and I went to pick Hope up. As soon as she saw us and Mrs. Wunrow dismissed her, Hope slid under the table because she didn't want to go home!!!! Sheesh!! We're not THAT bad of parents, are we??? No other kid hid under the table when they got picked up. I'd rather have it that way then have her kicking and screaming when I leave. So pre-school is a big hit. Hope is already bringing home things she's learning at school. They must have talked about going potty on the potty chair, too, because Hope said something about Mrs. Wunrow saying they should use the bathroom if they have to go potty. Mrs. Wunrow also taught the kids to say "Yes, please" when they get their milk at snack time.

This is going to be a great growing year for Hope...and for her parents. We have much to learn, for sure, and I can't think of anyone better to learn these lessons from than Hope.

With that I'm off to sleep...hoping the Badgers don't blow it in the 4th quarter. C'mon Badgers!!!! Let's go! PRAISE GOD!!!! Fresno State just missed a field goal that would have tied the game. And don't get me started on that AWFUL call the refs made in the 3rd quarter. The call SHOULD have been reversed because it WAS a fumble and WAS recovered by the Badgers.

A new career begins...

For Hope, that is. Today, September 10th, 2008, Hope began her school career as she walked into her first pre-school class. I know what some of you are thinking: oh man! I bet Melody was a WRECK!!! No, actually. I shed no tears at all. Now when she goes to Kindergarten that will be an entirely different story. Pre-school was only an hour today, so while Hope was in class, Mark and I were in orientation with other parents. I know what else you're thinking: certainly Mark and Melody have to be the oldest parents in the pre-school. Yep. We are. lol And guess what??? I don't mind at all. I don't think anyone can tell that I'll be 21 a week from tomorrow, can they?? Or maybe they think I'll be 81. I'm not sure. At any rate, the other parents of Hope's classmates are great. Get this...there are 9 kids in the class: 8 girls and 1 boy!!! That poor boy. If I were a bettin' woman I'd bet that Gavin doesn't get a word in edge wise all year long. lol We looked in the classroom at the end of class and there was Gavin, sitting right in the middle of all those girls. hehehe SOOOOOO cute!!

Anyway....I wasn't sure how Hope would be today. She still hates it when I leave her to go to work. Monday was REALLY bad. She cried almost all the way to Baldwin saying, "I don't want you to leave me. You'll be too far away." The good news is that the only tears she shed today was in the car on the way home from preschool as she told us she didn't want her friends to go. YEAH!!! A success. Oh...four of the 8 girls have birthdays within a month of each other. One little girl was born at the end of June, Hope's b-day is July 19, and two other little girls' birthdays are at the end of July. One of them was born exactly one week after Hope was born and her parents were in the same birthing class as Mark and me. It was nice to re-connect with them again, too. We have our first fundraiser coming up on October 19th. It's a pancake breakfast, so if you live in the River Falls area and would like to eat some really great pancakes and support Hope's preschool (money raised will help with scholarships for families who can't afford the whole tuition), let me know and I'll get you some info. The pancakes are being made by one of the guys who cooks at Perkins, so they're going to be YUMMY!!! I'm excited to chaperone field trips, substitute teach when I can and maybe even do some music from time to time with Hope's class. I can't believe my little girl is old enough to start preschool. Where have these three years gone?? OK...so I didn't cry when she walked into her classroom this morning, but a few tears are coming now. Maybe I'm a little more sentimental about this milestone than I originally thought. Hope is growing up WAY too quickly.

One more memory from Hope's first day at school. After class her teacher (Cathy...a friend of mine) told me that Hope told the class all about our trip to St. Croix Falls this summer. I just laughed, imagining Hope giving all the details about Fawn Doe Rosa. Then I asked Cathy if Hope told them that she fell asleep in Sommerset and slept until we got to St. Croix Falls. Yes. She had. Cathy laughed. That's when she told me that Hope is just great. Of course I was beaming with pride. Then Lori, who was Cathy's helper for today, told me a couple of times how great Hope was. I think they probably got a big chuckle out of her vocabulary. I have to say that she has an incredible vocabulary and speaks very articulately. She says a lot of things that don't usually come from the mouth of a 3 year old. I'm sure Cathy will get a lot of chuckles out of Hope this year.

Lots has happened recently and there's much to tell, but I'm exhausted tonight. I'm also dealing with a back that is incredibley painful right now. It's been hurting all week, but last night it got REALLY bad. It was so bad that as soon as Hope and I got home from Baldwin I crawled into bed. Mark went to the store to get something for supper and Hope stayed home to take care of me. She was in bed snuggled up next to me and suddenly started getting out of bed. I asked her where she was going and she said, "I can't tell you. It's a surprise." Pretty soon she came back with one of her quilts from her bedroom. She gave it to me and told me I could use it so I would get better. I just melted!

A couple of things real quickly so I remember to post about them sometime soon: Hope and I got to see a calf be born at the farm on Sunday. My friend Cassie had a baby boy over the weekend. Aaron Rodgers rocks (I think I might be his biggest fan). Confirmation and Sunday school are off to a great start. I think I'm going to Dallas again soon. And did I mention that Aaron Rodgers rocks?? hehehe I'll post more about these things, but for now here are pictures from Hope's first day at preschool. I'm going to take a pictures on the first and last day of school...both by herself and with her teacher. It'll be great to see how much she grows each year. I'll do this every year...at least as long as she'll let me. I'm guessing that the pictures with her teachers might stop right around middle school, but who knows???

On our front porch

Hope's new friends

Hope and Mrs. Wunrow

That's my boy!!

Take THAT you Aaron Rodgers haters!!!! WooHoo Packers!

Happy Birthday, Happy BIRTHday and Happy Coming Home Day.

First of all, I'd like to wish my husband Mark a very happy birthday today. OK. So I know there's only 1 1/2 hours left of his birthday and he's already asleep, but it's the first time I've had to post all day. We had a great birthday time today. We both took today off work and had a nice family time. Last night I was trying to think about some things we could do today and a plan came together. I love it when that happens! We headed north to St. Croix Falls and took Hope to Fawn-Doe-Rosa. REALLY cheesy name, but a fun place. There are deer, goats, geese and other kinds of animals just roaming around, waiting (and sometimes begging) for you to feed them. There are also lots of cool animals in pens. Thank God for the pens because I'm talking about animals like Grizzly Bears, Badgers, Bobcats, a Lynx, etc, etc, etc. It was a beautiful day and Hope finally got used to feeding the animals. I have lots of pictures, but I'm way too tired to get them on the computer tonight. That'll just be something for you to look forward to. LOL

After our time at Fawn-Doe-Rosa, we headed just north of St. Croix Falls to a winery called Chateau St. Croix. Very nice!!! Mark and I tasted a few wines, Hope had "kiddie wine" as she called it (it was a non-alcoholic sangria), and we had some cheese and crackers. We also ended up with a case of wine in the back of the HHR. YES-- we paid for it. And guess what??? That box of wine (12 bottles, in case you were wondering) will last us for a VERY long time.

Then it was home for supper, a bath for Hope (man was she DIRTY tonight), and bedtime for everyone...except for me....but I'm very close.

I'd also like to say happy BIRTHday to Matthew Seguin Jr. He's the brand-spanking new son of my friends Amy and Matt. He was born today (on Mark's birthday) at 4:20pm. He weighed just over 7 lbs and was 20" (or so...I didn't write down the details) long. I'm so glad that Amy and Matt got their little boy. Matt has a sister, Heidi, who will be 3 in January. Amy told me that Matt said to her not long ago that if they had another girl they might have to try one more time for a boy. I don't think Amy was too excited about that. LOL Hopefully in the next couple of weeks Hope and I will make a trip to Dodgeville, WI, to see the new baby. The really exciting thing about this is that I had a feeling they were going to have a boy and I'm ALWAYS wrong!!! I was finally right. WooHoo!!!

Please keep the family of Phil Kuss in your prayers. Phil and his wife Ruth are members at Ezekiel Lutheran Church in River Falls where I used to be the Children's Minister. They are WONDERFUL people and I love them dearly. Phil died on Friday at the age of 74. I am going to miss him so much. He always had a wonderful smile, kind words and engaging conversation. When I was pregnant with Hope he told me that I should have the baby on the 26th of July because that's his birthday (my due date was July 27th---my Mom's birthday---so having her on the 26th was a real possibility...but it didn't happen). He also thought that IF I had the baby on the 26th and IF the baby was a boy, Mark and I should name him Phil. That's a special memory I'll always carry in my heart. Thank you for the prayers for that incredible family.

OK...that's it for me for tonight. I've been totally getting sucked in to the Olympics and I love it. I think Nastia just got robbed of a gold medal though. Oh well, she DID win the gold in the all around, so I guess I'll be satisfied with that. How do those people make these events seem so effortless??

Night night!!

#1

So now he has 1 NFL start under his belt. Of course I'm talking about the Green Bay Packer's new starting QB, Aaron (A-Rod) Rodgers. I wasn't able to watch him play because I was teaching VBS tonight, but from what I heard, he did alright. I'll take alright. He did throw for one TD and also got us close enough for a field goal, so that's great! But he also threw for an interception. But ya know what?? If I'm remembering my stats correctly, doesn't Brett Favre have like the most interceptions in NFL history??? It's something like that anyway. Now I'm not a Brett hater by any means. I still love him and it still seems like a very bad dream that he's playing this year and not wearing a Packers uniform, but life has to go on. I'm just glad the drama is over. I'm behind Aaron 100%. Plus, he's so dang CUTE!!! lol The Packers did end up losing tonight, but it was close, so I'm happy with this first performance. I got to see the 3rd string QB (Flynn) play and he did a great job, too, so I think this year is going to be OK. I know---it's only pre-season, but---WAIT----they're interviewing Aaron on ESPN. Yep!!! He's really cute. Look at those dimples!! Could he be interested in someone old enough to be his mother??? OK...I'm just kidding (mostly). lol Anyway...here are his stats for tonight:

he went 9-15, threw for 117 pass yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, and had a 79.0 passer rating. So I think that's OK. He'll only get better. ESPN is saying that he handled himself well. Aaron has HUGE shoes to fill (understatement of the year), so he could have come out and totally let the pressure get to him tonight, but he didn't. OK....I'm done with Aaron Rodgers for tonight. I know when Mark reads this he'll totally disagree with what I've said, but I'm a Packer fan: through good times and bad times. Yes, I'll miss Brett like crazy, but I am looking forward to football season anyway. I've requested an Aaron Rodgers jersey for my birthday next month.

Speaking of seasons...as I was driving home from work tonight at 8:30 I started getting this heavy feeling in my heart. It was already getting dark. Not too long ago it would stay light until almost 10. The shortening of the days means only one thing: we're getting closer and closer to winter every day. Even the nights here have been in the 50s. UGH!!!! In all honesty, I don't know how I'm going to get through another Wisconsin winter. I'm not looking forward to the darkness, the cold, the lack of color outside, the ice and snow. There is absolutely nothing about winter here that I like. And it seems to go on and on and on and on. I'm praying that this will be our last winter in Wisconsin and that I can find a way to convince Mark that it would be a really good idea for us to go where it's sunny and warm most of the time. That, of course, would be Dallas, TX. I don't think I'm going to have much success with that though. BUT...lest I end this post on a totally depressing note, I just happened to remember that there IS one thing I like about winter: it's also football season. That brings me full circle. GO PACKERS!!! GO AARON!!

Not the best picture of him, but it's better than the old pictures of him with his long hair.

Cat bites, hair cuts and a brush with fame

Weird title, huh??? Well, the Brue family is just a little bit weird if you haven't noticed yet. Tonight we'll start with the cat bites.

So a week ago tomorrow I got Hope in the car and we headed to her secondary day care provider's house. (NOTE: Grammy and Papa are the primary care takers of Hope while I'm at work and a friend of mine who does day care in her home watches Hope 1-2 days a week. This allows Hope to interact with other children AND it gives Grammy and Papa a break.) So we got to the house, I took Hope in and sat her at the kitchen table with L and her kids. The babies were sleeping. When it was time for me to leave I headed for the front door and I noticed that one of L's cats was sleeping between my shoes. I went to slip my shoes on so I could leave and that's when all hell broke loose. The cat apparently didn't want me to have my shoes so she hissed at me and attached herself to my left leg with her claws and her teeth. Well, the second cat of the house heard this and came to the defense of the first cat and then SHE attached herself to my left leg with HER claws and HER teeth. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. It was horrible!! Well, L heard the noise and came running and when she saw what was happening she was able to get the cats off my leg. She told me to quickly scoot out the front door before they came after me again. I was starting to head out the door when I looked down at my left leg and noticed that blood had saturated my white---YES, WHITE--capris. Blood was literally gushing down my leg. Instead of scooting out the front door I scooted into Ls bathroom where I gushed blood all over her floor. I couldn't believe the blood. I got my pants down and saw that most of the blood was coming from my vericose vein that one of the cats had punctured. YIKES!!! I got it to stop bleeding, L took my pants to put them in the wash and she gave me a pair of hers to wear. I got Hope in the car and we headed back to River Falls and to the clinic. They got me in right away. I didn't need stitches, but they cleaned my puncture wounds (8 in total) and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic so I wouldn't get an infection. Didn't work. I got an infection anyway. My leg swelled up and got red and I could barely walk on it for 2-3 days. Finally on Sunday the swelling started going down and the redness started going away. It's pretty much back to normal now, but the puncture wounds still look pretty nasty. Here are a couple shots I took on Saturday...

This is a tricky situation because L and I are good friends. That hasn't changed at all, but I don't feel that I can leave Hope there while I'm at work while she still has the cats. I'd be too concerned that something might happen to her. The cats have never attacked a child before, but I'm not the first adult they've attacked. What is preventing them from attacking a child for the first time?? I hope that never happens.

Now on to the hair cuts. Back in May my sister gave Hope her first real haircut. She took off 4-5" at that time which made Hope's hair just a little longer than shoulder length. I initially wanted to get it cut quite a bit shorter, but I got cold feet. Well, her hair has grown like crazy since that first haircut and although her hair is beautiful I made the decision to get it cut again...and this time a lot shorter. So here are some pictures of Hope's new 'do:

Lastly, I got home from work today and Mark and Hope were just getting back from one of their "adventures." Usually their adventures finds them roaming around the UW-RF campus. It ESPECIALLY finds them roaming the UW-RF campus now that the Kansas City Chiefs are in town for training camp. Well, today they headed to campus and Hope got to meet head coach Herm Edwards!!! I was SOOOOO jealous when she told me. It was either just before or just after their morning practice and Mark was letting Hope bounce on the big bouncy thing (technical term for that large thing that the pole vaulters land on once they're over the bar) and standing just a few feet from them was Herm. Mark told Hope to say hello, so she said, "Hello Herm." He came over and talked to her!! He asked her her name, how old she was, etc. Mark said he's a really nice guy. We don't have any pics of Hope's brush with fame today, but if you don't know what Herm Edwards looks like, he reminds me of Tony Dungy (head coach of the Indianapolis Colts). If you don't know what Coach Dungy looks like, you really should get out more. LOL The other day when we were on campus we met one of the Kansas City sports reporters named Erin. Really, really nice girl. It's that time of the year when the Chiefs are in town and, frankly, it's one of my favorite times of the year. It's fun having these guys in town. Plus it's summer...and it's HOT and HUMID right now. I'm in heaven! It's no Dallas (it's going to be over 100 degrees every day this week down there....lucky them!), but I'll take it.