Final lunch at Ridge Creek

Courtney and I took the kids to Red Lodge today to have one last lunch at the wine bar. We love that place and they have great food. It is starting to get really sad that the kids only have a few weeks left to play.... the adults as well...

Emmett and I baked on my birthday and decided to wear our aprons together. He is such a little helper in the kitchen these days....

Nothing to exciting for the 33rd birthday. Luke brought home Shiki fried rice so I didn't have to cook and Emmett and I made chocolate cupcakes with an oreo frosting...from scratch. They were ok, but the fried rice was awesome.
You may notice the picture of Emmett sleeping on the couch, curled up in fetal position. He was in trouble for taking out 2 pages of the photo album that his Aunt Chrissy made for his 1st birthday. He still won't tell me where they are-little stinker! Anyway, he was told to stay on the loveseat til he told me where the pages were or he could wait til daddy came home. He stayed on that loveseat for almost two hours and fell asleep from boredom. At least it was quiet for a bit.
Last night, it was soooo foggy that we couldn't see the neighbor's lights. The frost we had because of it was really pretty this morning.

Fun weekend

This weekend was filled with event after event and now I am tired! It starts off with having to take Jolene to the doctor on Friday. She's got an ear infection! We noticed some drainage coming from her right ear and thought that it was good- the tubes are working! Then after the third day of drainage, I took her in and she's on drops to try and heal the infection. She's been a bit crabby and learning to scream/yell/banshee cry to get your attention. Ready for her to feel better....

We took Emmett to the pool on Saturday so he could show Dad the new fish slide that the rec center installed. Emmett loves it and gets to play on it during his swim classes that he is in this month. Luke loves to swim with Emmett and teach him new things and just have some play time in the pool. Jolene and I sat on the side and put our feet in the pool. She's not a fan, but it could be the crabbyness from the ear infection. We'll keep trying. After the pool, we walked over to the library where they had a Winter festival. They had kettle corn, face painting, a balloon artist, storytellers and speakers. Emmett sat down for the storyteller and after a few minutes he turned around and loudly said "Mom, she doesn't have a book." and his interest was gone. He is used to toddler time at the library where she reads from several books and sings and plays games. This was not so much for him. So, we moved on to the balloon guy where he asked for a black sword. Done. asked for a red car painted on his face. Done. and got to eat a brownie and some popcorn before we left. Later that night, I got to celebrate (early) my birthday with a few girls out on the town. We started at Shiki for sushi and ended up dancing at the Silver Dollar after a few more cocktails. It's been awhile since I've been out and it showed this morning when I crept out of the bedroom and begged Luke for one of his breakfast sandwiches "with bacon please!!!"

Today, Luke put up the last of the drywall behind the bar and now we can start looking for a bargain on cabinets and the countertop. Should be finished by the end of the year ;)

Crazy day in Billings

We headed up to Billings today for a post-op appointment for Jolene's ears. Everything looks great. and she has a terrible cold at the moment and her ears still look great. Pre-surgery, she would have had a terrible ear infection due to the cold, so we are thankful that she is feeling like a normal 6 month old with a croupy cough.

At TJMaxx today, they had a potty book(one that we don't have) on the clearance, so I bought it to add to our collection of hopes that sit on the back of the toilet. I mentioned this to Luke tonight while he made dinner( his(Mark's) famous/delicious chicken parm). His comment almost made me spit out my red wine I laughed so hard. I made him write it down since my memory is sh*t these days(that must be the red wine talking!). Luke said "Karen, I have many golf magazines by our toilet and I don't think I play golf any better. What makes you think that Emmett having a new potty book is going to improve his use of the potty!?" TRUE, RIGHT?! Anyway, I thought it was worth a pretty good laugh and thought you'd enjoy as well.

Another funny thing these days, is Emmett LOVES to wear his swim goggles around the house. Too funny to see in his PJ's. No where near a pool, but thinks they are cool just the same. and the boys got new Chiefs gear for next season. Thought you would like to see the winning gear for 2010-2011 season.

If anyone is a Facebook-er, they have a site called "Scenes from Washington, IL" It is pictures of my hometown of Washington, Illinois. There are some amazing photos on there and some of Pleasant View, the school I went to as a young'in, after it closed. They are actually really well done and show the horrible way the old school was not taken care of after it closed. Great memories for the Tarvin children and many others of our era. I will post of few of the pictures taken by Ron Renken, who posted most of the photos. (Mom-you should really get on and check it out. Some really old photos and even one of the Round Barn!).

Pictures of the kids

We had fun playing in Jolene's room the other day and I had to get the camera. Joey was playing with her puppy, then Emmett ran and got his puppy... just cute(and partially naked! Joey was having a bare break before we put on clothes for the day. and of course Emmett had to take of his pj's-he loves to be naked too!).

Thoughts and Prayers

I just heard that Kate's Dad passed away this morning after his struggle with cancer. Kate, my heart goes out to you and your family.

Funny noises

Jolene is getting quite boisterous these days. She loves to laugh and her new thing is spitting. I think she continues to do so cause her dad and I laugh so hard when she does it. Her face scrunches up and she looks like a cabbage patch doll- all puckered up.

The sickness

Emmett has come down with strep throat and Luke is not feeling very well either. It is a house of sickness today. Cross your fingers that Jolene and I stay healthy! Jolene is 24 weeks this week and growing like crazy. She is loving the green colored foods, but not handling the "oranges" very well- the nastiest diaper rash I have ever seen! We'll try them again in a few weeks. Fruit got started a few days ago and she doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Moving right along.....before I know it, she'll be ordering up pizza!

Birthday party

Our friends', Tara and Willie, daughter Cora turns 4 on Monday so we got to help celebrate today with cupcakes, a pinata and Skittles the Clown. Emmett really did not want anything to do with the clown because Tara's son, AJ, had so many toys to enjoy! (At least I got some great ideas for his birthday coming in a few months!) Skittles painted the kids faces, made balloon swords and animals, and danced and played with the kids. Everyone loved her. It was a very fun day for all the kids. If Emmett is infamous for anything it's playing hard and falling hard asleep on the ride home. He was blowing his birthday horn one minute and out like a light the next.

Happy New Year 2010!

This new year, we had the opportunity to try something new. Our friends, Jeff and Jessica came over with their kids and we got to celebrate without anyone leaving the house. Their oldest, Melody, got to invite a friend since Layla and Emmett are the same age and would've driven her nuts. So Melody and Skylar came with huge intentions of not spending anytime with the "young" kids. They brought a laundry basket of play clothes and played dress up for hours by themselves. I guess when the girls left to come over they exclaimed "It feels like vacation!". Glad we could oblige. It also felt like vacation. Emmett and Layla played without a problem and we never saw the "older" girls and Jolene was in bed by 8:30pm. The adults had a wonderful fillet mignon dinner and the kids had "make your own pizza" night. The kids celebrated with fancy horns and tiaras with sparkling cider at the "New York" new year. Once the kids went to bed, we adults played cards and had a few drinks to ring in the actual new year. We got up this morning and made breakfast and watched the parade. What a wonderful way to start the new year. Luke, Emmett, Jolene and I went to the Anderson's to watch football and enjoy the last of fattening food before the resolutions begin. We did celebrate the year's good fortune with a new recipe for Spicy Black Eyed Pea Dip that is delicious and nutritious! The much good fortune from eating the peas is well deserved this year. We wish that fortune for everyone! Happy New Year to you all!

And a HUGE congrats to Sara Bomar and Eric on their engagement!!!!! What a rock! I mean... what a wonderful guy! Ok, both will do!