Ride for Diabetes

I just figured I'd take a page out of Kristins last blog and put a plug in to our little family fund raising summer bike escapade. Click on this link www.tour.diabetes.org to be taken to the main page. From there you can click on 'Donate' and select the rider you want to sponsor. Both Jeffrey and I are riding (but Jeffrey still needs more donations in order to qualify for the ride). Any amount you donate is appreciated and tax deductable. The event we are participating in is on June 13th in Brigham City.
I know we've already sent emails to most of you that read our blog (unless there are more blog-stalkers I'm not aware of).
As I'm sure you all know, Jeffrey has had Type 1 diabetes for 6 1/2 years now. As you can all understand, its a very time-consuming and emotionally draining disease to live with. But, what can one do, but to suck it up and move forward with faith. We have been fortunate to have the support system that we have to help Jeffrey. We couldn't ask for better family, friends and doctors than we have been blessed with. Unfortunately, many others don't have the same support.
The American Diabetes Association is a great organization that has come through for us to get us the support we needed in the time of our greatest need. With the many advances in diabetes care over the last few decades, living with diabetes is certainly much more manageable than it has been in the past. Yet there are more and more people being diagnosed with the disease everyday. We appreciate the work they do and feel a certain responsibility to advocate and give back within our sphere.

Hailey's Preschool Graduation

Hailey recently had her graduation from preschool. She is so sad to be no longer going to Ms. Kari's school any more. The ceremony was really cute and a lot of fun. You could certainly tell that they put a lot of effort into their school. All the kids had to perform a poem that they memorized during the year. They also sang several songs, including a very touching rendition of God Bless the USA. The gowns were fabulous (garbage bags). Hailey wore a spring dress, but I felt bad that I didn't realize that they were showing off their tumbling, (so we got to see her panties). Any guesses on how long it will be that Ms. Kari, Grandma, and Norman (the dog), are tops in Hailey's prayers? Scott and I want to get back into her prayers some day.

Tasty Leaves?

Is that the secret? Really?
You all know the drill; try to get the kids to eat their veggies (or anything healthy for that matter). I just never thought all it would take was to change what to call it, but it worked. For the grown-ups, its affectionately referred to as spinach. When we were kids, it was the idea that you could be strong like Popeye if you ate your spinach. That was a little bit of an exaggeration (for most people, not me - I'm built just like Popeye).
Its a pretty simple food, spinach. Some like it raw, like Tammy; some will endure it cooked, like Jeffrey. I'll have it either way. Hailey, well if its not chips and chocolate milk, its painful. So tonight we tried a little reverse psychology.
So this is how it went: "No, these tasty leaves are only for big people, not little girls." After a few minutes, Hailey says "I want some tasty leaves like Jeffrey!"
The FDA recommends 5 servings of veggies a month, right? Thought so.
At least apples aren't that tricky, after you figure out what everyone likes. For my kids its red apples, who cares what variety. For Tammy, its Granny Smith. For me, its Golden Delicious.
Sometimes, you can combine the greens with the apples and come up with something good. Like spinach salad with diced apples, craisins and candied almonds, yummy! (especially if there are leftover candied almonds to snack on later)

Cell phones and dating ideas

So anybody got any better ideas for a date? It started out just great. We had dinner at Ruby River (their steaks are probably the best you can do if there is no Longhorn Steakhouses within a couple hundred miles). Then seeing as we didn't have enough time to catch a movie -- and frankly there wasn't really a movie we cared to see -- and it was too cold by that time to do anything outside, minigolf, walking off the dinner, etc. We decided to walk around the mall. Talk about feeling old! Since I wanted to find out what kind of new cell phone I could get (in June, when our contract would be up), I suggested stopping at the Verizon counter to look for a couple minutes. So Tammy went off to the little girls room, and somehow those couple of minutes looking at phones turned into 10 minutes, then 20, then half of an hour. He talked me into a Blackberry phone instead of the more basic phone I was originally interested in. I guess you don't have to wait the 2 years to get your 'free' phone with Verizon. Only 1 year and sign a new 2-year contract. So after Tammy came back with some clothes for the kiddos, we spent another half of an hour and he threw in a free phone for Jeffrey to boot! Nothing fancy, no camera. Just a little more piece of mind for us when he's off on his own.
So anyways, a whole hour at the Verizon kiosk at the mall was not exactly Tammy's idea of a good date. To be fair, it wasn't mine either.
And now I've got my blackberry that I now don't think I'm even keeping seeing as how I can't sync up my work email and calendar to it like I was told I could, no problem. Maybe ... if I had the $45 monthly plan (on top of the normal $69/month plus $20 for the 2 other lines), maybe I could. But its looking like now my days amongst the blackberry carrying brigade are numbered, barring any yet unforseen events.
So anyone got any better ideas for a good date? At least for that hour or so after dinner before picking up the kids?

Keep your eyes peeled!

I don't remember why we ever got rid of that old basketball hoop we got for Jeffrey several years ago. Oh yeah, probably because it was taking up too much space, and wasn't exactly in the best condition anymore. But now we are wishing we had it back. Caleb now is the basketball junkie of the house and we don't have a hoop anymore for him to shoot on. So he has found a way to improvise. And trust me when I say it involves a lot of time, strength, and patience. He found a butterfly net and a regular size basketball as a substitute. The ball, as you can see, doesn't exactly fit in the net -- so the net gets kind of heavy when the ball lands on top. And you have to hold the net at just the right angle and height or there will be complaints.
So we've been looking around for a used (or otherwise inexpensive) little tykes basketball hoop for our little tyke. ..... so if you see one around (or have one you don't want anymore). Let us know. We just don't want to pay $45-50 for a new one. We'd gladly pay $20 though for a decent used one.
Its a good thing we are getting a 2-for-1 deal on Tae kwon do classes. Caleb is getting pretty good at all the kicks and moves and stuff, even though we only enrolled Jeffrey is in the classes. Caleb is pretty good at catch imitating others. So we really have to watch ourselves!

Valentine's Dinner for the Kids

So I saw a spot on Studio 5, I know, its not as good as Good things Utah, and some of you out there think that Darrin looks like Scott, but occasionally I do watch 5 minutes here or there. They showed this lady who would do a special meal for her children for valentine's day. Special dishes and everything. So I set the table with cloth napkins, nice plates, and our wine goblets, (notice that I only have 4 glasses that are 2 different types). Scott made pork tenderloin, carrots, broccoli, and rice. For dessert, we had chocolate dipped strawberries. The kids were very suprised and loved every minute of it! I definately think that we will be doing this again next year.

Free lunches and dinosaurs

I know, I know. This is Scott, and its been way too long since I've blogged last. Blame it on Facebook. We are all sure glad that the sickie season appears to be over. Lets see, now that football season is over, and all the football blogs that went with it, time to get back to whats been going on around here.

Hailey has been having a blast in preschool. She goes on fieldtrips every month. This month, its the post office. Last month, it was the dinosaur museum. That was quite the experience. If you've ever been there (especially with small children) you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the 'biggest dinosaur museum in the state? country? world?' Who knows, but its the one down there at Thanksgiving point. From what I've heard, it wasn't really that crowded when we went compared to normal, but I don't know. We weren't the only group adults herding around a seemingly endless supply of small children. Not sure if we were at a dinosaur museum or a wild children zoo. You know, the kind where the adults go and watch the children play (and fight). They've got places the children can play in the sand, and pretend they are digging up fossils. They've got a whole setup where you can pretend live dinosaurs are getting buried in the sand (and water). And if it sounds kind of messy, it was. They had aprons they could wear to limit the damage, and a washbasin, but of course never enough to go around.

The fossils were all pretty cool if you had a chance to look at them. Big full dinosaur skeletons, small little microorganisms trapped in amber. But being as kids are, they wanted to play. There were a few computer games around some of the exibits. Games that all the kids wanted to play. But if you want to actually see the exhibits, I suggest ditching the kids at home and go by yourself. Fun huh. Good thing we got to go for a discount since we were on fieldtrip, because the regular price is a little steep.

Now about the free lunches -- I had to go and see if I could score me a free lunch the other day at Denny's. The one that everyone else was apparently trying to get on Tuesday. Well, I drove by, and kept on driving. The line was out the door and around the corner. At least 200 people in line. Don't have that kind of time. So I went to my next option --- use one of my free combo meal coupons from Chik-Fil-A. Only I must have used up the last one I had in my wallet. Dangit, I'll have to raid my drawer at work for the few I have left. So option #3, actually pay for lunch . Had to try out that so called 'Angry whopper' at Burger King. Well, for one - it wasn't very angry, and two - since when does a combo meal cost over $8 at a fast food joint? More if you don't want the small drink and small fry!

Do I sound bitter?