I'm Back!!!!

After a 5 week break, I'm back! I've uploaded several posts and pictures of our lives over the last 5 weeks. Take a peak - they go all the way back to Halloween! :o)

The definition of "hot"!

On the way to school today this was the conversation between Jacob, Allison and my neighbor Autumn. Our ride is only about 5 minutes so this pretty much took us from door to door. To give a little preface, before we got in the car, I heard Jacob and Autumn talking about a song that someone sings so I inquired. They told me they were talking about this kid on the bus that sings "Don't you wish you were hot like me?!". This spurred the following dialogue between the 3 of them of which I had a hard time keeping a straight face....

Autumn: Jacob, do you know what "hot" means?

Jacob: Yeah, do you?

Autumn: Yeah, it means when the sun beats down on you and you get hot!

Allison: No it doesn't! It means that you are awesome!

Jacob: Well, Stephen told me that it means that you are pretty.

Allison: Thank you guys for telling me what hot means. Now I can tell my Grandpop he is hot!

Autumn: Jacob, do you think Allison is hot?

Jacob: I don't know.

Allison: I think Autumn is hot, Jacob is hot, and I am hot!

Autumn: Jacob, do you think I'm hot?

Jacob: I don't know

Allison: I do, I think we are all hot, because hot means pretty!

No telling how long this conversation continued in school!

Home Sweet Home

The day has finally arrived! The house is done and we are moving in! The move went much more smooth than I had imagined! The movers were a great group of guys and they did unpack me! We will sleep one more night at my parents and sleep here tomorrow! Although the time went fast, it seems like a really long time since we have been here! When we moved out 5 weeks ago, it was in the 80s, today it's cold and rainy! There are a few things that still need addressing but things are complete and good for the most part. We had our 2 upstairs bathrooms completely redone and updated through this experience. We also got a new sliding glass door and had our carpets cleaned. There were many other structural issues addressed but those were the visible things.

It's good to be getting back to "normal" - whatever that is!

It's Over - for now

Today was the completion of fall soccer! It's a bit bitter sweet. Although we have had a lot of fun this season, I think we could all use a break - it's getting really cold! :o) Today was a special one as Jacob was able to be one of the captains. He was so proud! Since this was a tournament, the team received trophies - one more to add to the collection! See you all in the spring!

All Before 9:15 am!

As usual on "Black Friday", I headed out well before dawn to wage the store wars! I must say that I was a bit disappointed in the sales this year. I usually have at least 3 or 4 stores to hit with a long list at each one. This year the only place I found things was at Target! I did proceed to Old Navy in hopes of some sort of deal but left empty handed.

My shopping expedition this year was a little shorter as Jacob had a soccer tournament. Eric was working so I was solo for soccer. Allison choose to stay in the warm house and hang out with Grandmom and Abby. So off Jacob and I went. We arrived at the field around 9 am and quickly found the other team members who were warming up. As I was standing talking with another mom, she noticed Jacob took a ball to his stomach and was coming for me. At that moment I must say that I'm probably not going to win the "calm mother of the year award"! As he approached me he was totally blue! Within an instant his eyes rolled back into his head, he went all stiff and went unconscience! Although those moments weren't more than a few seconds, it seemed like an enternity! As I was screaming for help, people started to arrive. Everyone determined it would be best for the EMTs to take a look at him. What I didn't realize until they arrived, was that there was a whole lot of others that come with the EMTs. Within a few minutes there were sirens, a large fire truck, police cars and an ambulance. By that time he was coming around but still a little scared. Once it was determined his stats were normal and o.k., I decided that it wasn't necessary for him to go to the hospital. In fact, Jacob said that he wanted to play in the upcoming games. So as the trucks were rolling away, Eric had just arrived (after being called and told about the situation) - he missed it all! When I looked at my watch - it was 9:20 am - the day had just begun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since we are still not living in our house, Thanksgiving was a bit different this year! Instead of waking up and having to get ready to go over to my mom's - we were already there! My sister and Abby arrived on Wednesday so we had a full house! The Davis' joined us for an early dinner and then some football on TV. The kids all had fun playing, eating, playing and eating some more!

Yeah! High Speed Internet

FINALLY..... my parents have high speed internet! Ordinarily I wouldn't care so much, but since we are still living with them (I'll post about that later), I care alot!!!!

Keep your eyes posted! I'll be back to posting - I've already got some ready to go - just have to add the photos!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Today was Abby's 1st Birthday! We went up to my sister's to celebrate the big day! Abby loved being the center of attention! She quickly learned the art of opening presents and had no reservations about eating her cupcake!

Singing Their Hearts Out!

The kids are both singing in the kids choir at church. They sang at all 4 services this weekend and did a great job! They didn't seem to mind being up on stage in front of everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Today was filled with many festivities! First Allison had her school parade and party in the morning. Both kindergarten classes as well as the preschool classes paraded around the cafeteria. They all loved waving to the spectators! Since I'm not a room mom for Allison's class, I wasn't able to attend the party.

In the afternoon, Jacob had his school parade and class party. First the parade - we had such a beautiful day!

Then the class party - lots of food and games!

The trick or treating in the evening kicked off with a neighborhood parade! One of the town's fire trucks lead the parade down to the lake and lots of snacks! We trick or treated our way back to our street gathering an obscene amount of candy!

One Busy Sunday!

Somewhere I remember that Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest. That was not the case in the Fueger household today! The day started by attending church, followed by the kids choir practice for the kids choir. We hurried home to get Allison ready for swimming lessons. While Allison and I were at swimming, Eric and Jacob ate lunch and prepared for Jacob's soccer game. As Allison and I returned home, Eric and Jacob were just leaving for soccer. The girls ate lunch and got ready to go watch the game. After a very COLD game, we all came home briefly to get ready for the evening's activities.


For the first time, we participated in our church's Trunked Treats. All the mini-churches (aka small groups) got together for an evening of tailgating. After eating some dinner - in our case pizza and chips - the kids all went around the parking lot trick or treating to all the parked cars! They had a blast hanging out with all their friends and trick or treating. They got enough candy to actually forget about the real Halloween trick or treating - think we can pull that one off - I think not! It was a really cold night but a beautifully clear one! We are really glad that we gave the event a try and will try to make it a yearly tradition!

Cards for Soldiers

The kids are participating in our children's choir at church. They had the opportunity this week to do a service project and we jumped on board. They were asked to make cards for soldiers that are serving overseas. The cards will be paired with a care package and sent to them in time for Christmas! The kids had a great time serving and putting their creativity to work. They did a great job and were very proud of their efforts. Eric and I were very proud of their efforts too!

Pumpkin Painting & Poker!

Today my cousin's baby celebrated her first birthday! Happy Birthday Madelyn! Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and all the festivities that were supposed to be outside were moved inside. The pumpkin painting and face painting took place in the garage. The kids had a great time painting pumpkins and helped to pass the time while the grown ups socialized.

After a while of no interruptions in the adult conversation, I wondered where my kids were and more importantly, what they were doing! I found them with my cousin Tim learning Poker! Thanks Tim!

Halloween Kickoff

Tonight was the kickoff for our families Halloween festivities. There seem to be a great deal more costume related activities this year than I remember from previous years. We will definately get our use out of our costumes this year!


The kids had their annual Halloween Dance/Party at the school tonight. Abby was here to see them off! Allison choose to be a pink unicorn - possibly the easiest costume we've had yet - and Jacob is Anakin Skywalker (for those of you not quite up to speed on Star Wars - that is one of the characters in the newer movies).


The party was a bit crazy filled with pre-schoolers through 5th graders. It was in the cafeteria complete with a DJ and lots of snacks. We were no sooner in the cafeteria when Eric won a door prize - a school t-shirt. I wouldn't characterize us as being a family who wins lots of things, except when it comes to school. There doesn't seem to be a function that goes by that we don't win something! They had a "craft" table set up which consisted of rice krispie treats on a stick that you decorate w/ icing and all sorts of goodies - skittles, m&m's, marshmallows, etc.


The kids had a great time while the parents were quite too excited to be coming home! :o)

A Little Perspective!

Well, the day has finally arrived - moving out
day :o( It's been a rather frustrating and emotional week and it's only Wednesday! Anyway... although I'm really not happy with the circumstances of life right now and what is happening with our house and the huge inconvenience this is I've gained a little perspective this morning. As I sat in the corner of my kitchen in a lawn chair I watched the Today show as it covered the stories of the California wild fires. Nothing I am going through right now can even come close to compare with the devastation and despair that the thousands upon thousands of people in California are experiencing. In a few short weeks we will be back in our house living life just as we did just as we did before this saga began. Many in California have narrowly escaped these fires with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

Thank you Lord for a little perspective!

Apple & Pumpkin Picking

This post is long overdue, but with the the craziness of life the last 2 weeks, it never got posted! So better late than never!

It's become a yearly tradition to go apple and pumpkin picking each fall. Eric's family is usually here when we do this and this year is no exception. Eric's family arrived on October 4th and we wasted no time in getting to the pumpkin patch! The kids were off school the next day so we all piled into the van and off we went! It was a really warm day for October but a pretty day. Abby was also visiting with us so we had quite the crew!

We rode out to the fields in a covered wagon.

Our first stop was the apple orchard to pick our apples - which were absolutely the biggest apples I have ever seen! They will not even come close to fitting in my apple slicer so we will have to cut them the old fashioned way! I'm seeing a few apple themed desserts in the future! :o)
The next stop was the pumpkin patch! The kids were allowed to pick a pumpkin only as big as they could carry!

After our return trip in the wagon, Aunt Laura bought the kids some soft serve icecream - perfect ending for a very warm fall day!

An October Swim!

Yesterday our good friends, The Davis', invited us over for a quick swim in their brand new pool. This was the inaugural dip even for them. So under normal circumstances, the middle of October would be crazy for a swim but we've been having unusually warm weather and it was about 80 degrees yesterday. The kids were completely excited about the prospect of going swimming and the date on the calendar meant very little to them!

Even by kid standards, the pool was freezing! Although the water temp read 70 degrees, they all had very blue lips and lots of goose bumps! The inaugural dip was only a short one. We all voted we will come back when they are able to run the heater in a couple of weeks!

Packing

So the day has arrived for all of our earthly possessions to be packed. In just a couple of days all those boxes will then be hauled off to who knows where for about 1 month while repairs are made to our house.

So, here I sit watching complete strangers pack everything! This is so against my character to just sit here like a sack of potatoes but there is nothing really for me to do. We moved all of our things out yesterday so what is left is left for them to pack up. Besides, I'm so tired that I don't think I could pack anything w/o an emotional breakdown.

As I sit and type this I'm just reminded how completely absurd this whole situation is. Really, who does this? I just keep thinking - this is nuts - really nuts!

So, we will keep you all updated on this process. I'll be at the house all day today and tomorrow and then on Wednesday as they move things out. We are hoping and praying that we will be back regular life in a month!

A Giraffe!?

As I was putting some things away in Allison's room today, I thought that I noticed a cold draft. I called to Eric to come see if he thought there was a draft in her room. Not knowing that Allison was around, she came running toward her room, exclaiming...."What!? There is a giraffe in my room?!" No matter how clearly I kept trying to say "d-r-a-f-t", she kept interpreting "g-i-r-a-f-f-e" - just typing this makes me laugh!

The 1980's

This morning was the first really chilly morning for this fall. We didn't have anywhere to go so the kids stayed in their pj's a little later than normal. Both wanted to put their slippers on since it was cool enough! Jacob came down the stairs with his suggestion as to how people in the 1980's could have made slippers! He said "You know the people in the 1980's could have put pillows on either side of their foot and tied them with a rubber band to keep them on!". He was so proud of his invention for those who lived way back in the 1980's!