Ramblings

I’m currently without network access, which completely derails most of my work efforts.  So, I thought I’d take some time to blog some general thoughts. Be warned… they’re pretty random.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming down this weekend and babysitting.  It was a huge help.  It was nice to get a weekend away from the kids, even if the main reason for the trip to Algoma was to move Kathie’s dad’s ‘stuff’ out of one apartment into another.  We actually managed to have a great time at the bed and breakfast and just hanging out at a local cafe for lunch or dinner.    I have a new favorite wine… Framboise from the Von Stiehl Winery.  Raspberries and brandy… yum.

The move went pretty well.  We got down in a little over three hours.  Thank heaven we were only moving three doors down (no, not the band.)  A lot of stuff was moved, a lot of stuff was thrown out, a lot of stuff was handled with hazardous material handling guidelines. There was a lot of pickled stuff in the fridge… some of it intentionally pickled.   Thanks to everyone who helped out!

We are under 7 weeks until B-Day (Barney Day).  Yes, we’re still calling him Barney. I’ve made a deal with Braden that if the baby comes out green AND purple, we’ll call him Barney; otherwise we’ll use a different name.   I think the AND is important… it’s possible he comes out purple or green, but not both.

We’ve got quite a bit of stuff to get done before B-Day.  I’m sure Kathie has a whole list ready to go on all the things we need to do, buy and worry about.  We need to stock up on baby supplies… get out the baby clothes and sort them… pick a name… have a birthday party for Braden… square away all the work tasks I need to have ready for when I’m off, etc… So, see?  Kathie has a list :)

It’s my birthday Friday.  I’m going to be 38.  Yikes.  Honestly, though, I feel better right now than I have in a long time, so that really doesn’t bother me too much.  No big plans, that I know of, for my birthday.  Might go to the Admirals game, might go to Kevin’s band festival at KML, might sleep :) 

Great Bed and Breakfast in Algoma

We discovered a great bed and breakfast this weekend in Algoma: The Belle Isle Inn.  I highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.  The inn is very a beautiful house with incredible woodwork and interesting architecture.  The rooms are very spacious.  They have WIFI, HD satellite TV with movie channels and even a Wii. 

They offer a gourmet breakfast.  Saturday we had fresh kiwi, some very tasty homemade muffins, a wild rice blend and bagels with turkey Salami, eggs and a creamy parmesan sauce, followed by a cream cheese pastry for ‘dessert.’ Sunday was fresh strawberries, some homemade bread (I think it was banana), some homemade turkey sausage and a quiche with spinach, red peppers and a bunch of other stuff, followed by grilled apples with a caramel sauce. 

Each evening they offer wine and hors d’oeuvres.   Friday night was some very tasty Bruschetta with an assortment of cheeses and a Sweet Cherry wine.  Saturday was a spinach artichoke dip that I couldn’t stop eating and a bottle of Framboise, that I couldn’t stop drinking!  Both wines were from the Van Stiehl Winery, just across town.

More importantly, the inn keepers, Tia and Scott, are a delightful couple who are extremely pleasant, friendly and helpful.  They obviously strive to make everyone feel at home.  They certainly did with us, as we spent Saturday night just chatting in the kitchen with them, turning what probably would have been an evening of watching TV in our room into a fun social night. 

They are even kid friendly and encouraged to bring our kids with us next time.  We told them they don’t know what they’re asking for! 

I highly recommend a stay here if you’re in town.

Painting

So, I’ve been promising some pictures.  Here they are.

We Are the Champions

My hockey team won the Pettit Center, Adult C2 Gold championship last night.  The whole team played great, especially our goalie, and we won 3-1 against a team that probably had a bit more experience and talent than we did.

We really played well as a team and everyone put in a great effort!  I played center, which I was a bit nervous about, but I really felt like I was flying last night.  I was lucky enough to get our winning goal and an insurance goal. That felt great!

Looking forward to Spring hockey with the team!

March 25th

Catchy title, isn’t it?  I’m not nearly witty enough to come up with a fun, exciting, creative title every time I blog.  So, deal with it.

It has been yet another interesting week.  Ok, maybe not so much interesting as, well, normal.  Oh well. 

The painters are done, mostly.  The house looks good, the colors look great, and we’re pretty happy with the results.  Kathie was getting a little sick of the painters after more than two weeks. And so was Sterling.   I’ll post pictures soon, but we need to get things cleaned up a little and the stuff put back where it belongs first!

Emma is being…well… Emma.  She finally fell off a breakfast counter stool and hit her head.  I say finally because we’ve been telling her she’s going to fall and hurt herself since she started climbing them at 12 weeks. Ok, maybe it was more like 16 months, but you get the picture.  She also hit her eye on an end table and looks like she’s wearing purple eye shadow.  The other night she decided it was time to get up at 2:00 AM.  She came out of her room and refused to be put back to bed.  And when I say refused, I mean refused in the sense that she screamed loud enough to wake the neighbors for 30 minutes.  Oddly, Braden slept through it all.  After I finally got her to fall asleep again, she decided it was time to get up at 3:00 AM.  I think she’s just trying to train us for when Barney comes.

Speaking of Barney, we have under 8 weeks to go!  We put up the crib and move the furniture in his room last night.  It felt good to get that started.  Emma doesn’t seem to miss her crib.  She kept calling it the “Baby Bed.”

Braden has two field trips this week! On Monday they took the city bus to the library.  Yikes.  I can only imagine taking that many preschoolers on the city bus.  Braden had fun, though, and was very proud to tell me about going on the city bus.  Tomorrow they’re going to see a play.  

Braden and Kathie also took his friend Joey and his mom to an Admirals game this last weekend.  Braden and Joey didn’t stop talking the whole time.  Braden even explained the use of a cup to Joey and his mom… and not the kind you serve drinks in. Of course, the best parts of the experience were the Zambonis and the human hockey puck!

This weekend Kathie and I head up to Algoma to help her Dad move his stuff to a new apartment.  More accurately, we’re going to move his stuff for him.  He’s still in the nursing home recuperating.  Hopefully he’ll get his strength back and be able to move back to the apartments.

Feeling Great

Enough about my family;  Time for something about me!  Sorry if it seems self-absorbed, but you can always skip this post :)

I feel great!  I have now lost 20 lbs since January and am running 3-4 times a week.  I think the combination of the weight loss and the exercise has really started to have an affect on my attitude, my energy levels and just my general happiness!  I feel more confident and excited and am just generally more positive.

I can fit into clothes that I haven’t worn for a year or more.  Some of my ‘current’ clothes are getting too big. 

I’m not getting as many headaches.  I feel like I can keep up with the kids better (no one can really keep up with Emma).  I look forward to exercising and am really starting to think I look good. 

I’ve still got a ways to go to be really healthy, but it has really been fun and exciting to see these changes.  I’m so thankful to Kathie for her support through this (even if she wants pizza too often :) ).  She has really shown me how proud she is of me and encouraged me through it all. 

My goal was to get down to 200 lbs by the time the baby comes.  I’m 9 lbs away and we’ve got 9 weeks left, so it’s definitely in reach.  It won’t be easy, but I really look forward to not looking like a big slug in the baby pictures!!  Plus, I think I’m going to need the extra energy with three kids!

Thanks for indulging me and this post.  I’d really encourage any one to get out there and get active.  It’s really amazing how much difference it can make in your health, energy and, even better, your happiness.

Getting Caught Up

I’ve noticed an emerging pattern:  I get excited about blogging and blog once every couple of days for a week or two, then my blogging drops off.  I think maybe what I need to do is set aside a time every couple of days and blog during that time.  In fact, I think that I should apply that approach to a lot of things in my life.

In the mean time, I’ll try and catch all two of my faithful blog readers up on what has been going on in the Ehlke house.  We’re STILL painting.  Well, ok, the painters are still painting.  It’s been a bit of an adventure.  Both of the guys painting have been sick at different times.  We through a party smack dab in the middle of the job.  One of the painter’s dog fell down some stairs and had to be put down.  So, yes, we’re still painting.  But it is really looking great.  I think the colors look outstanding; Kathie did a great job picking them out.  I’ll post before and after photos once we’re done. 

The weather has been good this week and the kids got to go out and play.  They sure do love going outside.  Emma has mastered the playset, so it’s kind of nice not having to stand right by her while she climbs something that’s way to big for her.  I remember her hanging from a ladder run yelling, “Help!!!!” last year.  Braden really likes playing soccer and baseball.

Kathie’s dad had a set back this last week.  They think he had a virus that just knocked him off his feet.  After a short stay in the hospital, he’s getting stronger, but, he’ll have to spend some time in a nursing home recovering.

Braden has his speech reevaluated this week.  He has met or exceeded all the goals set for him last year and is making good progress.  He’ll still qualify for speech therapy during the summer, but I think everyone is pretty happy with his progress.  Emma is really starting to talk more and is using phrases and sentences a lot more.  She can repeat anything we say to her.  She still has a little trouble with her colors (everything is blue) and calls a fork a spoon, but that’s all normal and cute.

Once we get the painting all done, we can start setting up the nursery.  I think we’re all pretty excited about that.  We have nine weeks to go!

Bradenisms

I’ve coined a new term: Bradenisms. 

Braden continues to amaze me with his imaginative, extroverted comments and conversations.  I really hope he keeps his ability to say almost anything that come to mind.  Ok, I do hope he learns to temper it a little bit.

Bradenisms from this week:

• “Up, down, up, down, up, down” in rhythm to the painters’ rollers.
• “Mom, can I sit here and watch the paint dry?”
• “Mom, can I watch my grass grow?”
• Dad: “Who made it so cold out here?!?”  Braden: “Jesus did, Dad!”
• A conversation with another boy at the McDonald’s playland:
  • Braden: “Hi, my name is Braden.” 
  • Boy: “I’m Taylor.”
  • Braden: “It’s nice to meet you!”
  • Boy: “It’s nice to meet you too.”
  • Braden: “I have to poop.”
• “Mom, when I flush the toilet, are there bugs down there that eat the poop and pee?”

By the way, the grass is the grass we planted on Science Night.  Suddenly Tuesday it started growing, and growing fast.  I think it might actually be growing fast enough to watch.

Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down

We have learned that Braden would make an excellent job site supervisor.  We have painters in this week to paint almost every room in our house.  Braden is helping out a lot.  I think the painters both are amused and annoyed by him.  The first day he watched them use rollers and, just to make sure they knew what to do, said “Up, down, up, down…” over and over again.  Painter Matt really was unhappy that his ipod wasn’t working that day!

So, speaking of painting… it has been a fun week.  Kathie hosted a neighborhood Bunco party last night.  Yes, we are crazy.  We had painters in our house all day Wednesday and then had a party that night.  Somehow we pulled it off, but it was a long three days of moving furniture, hiding toys, cleaning, helping painters, keeping kids out of wet paint and shopping.  To make matters worse, one of the painters got sick, so they were short-staffed.  They got the kitchen, living room, dining room and living room all done, somehow.  But they didn’t get to finish the arches between the rooms, so it looked like…well… like we were in the middle of painting!  But the paint dried and it looked good before the party.  I’m pretty sure I’m not doing the level of chaos justice here, but I think I’m also trying to repress the memory somewhat!

And to stick with the up-down theme, I had a fun night with the kids while Kathie’s party was happening.  I took them to Monkey Joe’s.  MJ’s, as they call it, is a indoor, inflatable slide/climber play land.  They have all kinds of inflatable climbers, bouncers, slides and obstacle courses.  It was a blast!  Braden and Emma both started off in the ‘beginner’ course, which is designed for kids under 3.  Emma had so much static build up her hair stood up like the bride of Frankenstein. 

I had to pry them away from that area to try other playgrounds.  They both like the bouncer, but that wasn’t quite exciting enough for Braden.  We moved over to a smaller slide.  Once Emma saw Braden do it, she was all over it.  It got even better when she finally realized she could just go back in without asking me to put her in it.

Braden branched out to other toys then and managed an obstacle course designed for kids a little older than him.  It ended in a slide that was about 12 feet high and he loved it. 

Eventually Emma got bored with her slide and started following Braden around.  They found a slide that went all the way up to the ceiling.  I’m not sure how high it was, but I’d guess it was over 20ft.  Braden climbed right up and Emma started following.  Of course she was a bit slower and Braden was able to lap her.  I figured once Emma got to the top, she’d realize how high it really was and I’d be climbing up to help her down.  So I was watching closely as she turned the corner to where the slide was… and she basically threw herself down the slide with no hesitation.  She didn’t even stop to think about it!  I figured she’d come up screaming at the bottom, but all I heard was giggling and her typical “Again, Daddy!”  I was thoroughly impressed!

They also found another obstacle course that was probably a little hard for Emma, but she surprised me even more.. she climbed a ladder that had rungs almost as tall as she was.

After Mj’s we had dinner at Denny’s, since they were too busy playing to eat.  I do have to say that was pretty brave on my part, because I had two very tired kids and it was 8:00 already.  But the hunger override the tiredness and we had a fun dinner.

I’m very proud of both of them… they were so much fun and so well behaved.

Bloggers Block

Ok, it’s been a few days since I’ve blogged.  But I’ve been starting at my Windows Live Writer screen (yes, Josh, I use Live Writer and LOVE it) and just can’t come up with anything witty, fun, informative or worth reading.

And it’s not like I couldn’t just throw some random thoughts or news out there;  I could.  But I guess I just haven’t been that into it this week.  So, to my two faithful readers, I apologize.  I’m sure you’ll be able to find other revenues of entertainment or information.

Tonight, Braden and I get to go to Science Night as church/school.  Should be very interesting doing scientific experiments with 15-25 preschool age children.  I’m guessing our margin of error on the experiments might be a bit off.  Maybe I should bring my laptop and do some data recording and write up a college style lab report, just for old times sake.  On second thought, I really hated those labs.  Scratch that idea.  But it’ll be good Father/Son time for us.

Word of the week: “Yup”  Not sure where/when Braden decided to switch from his very clear “Yes”, but now everything is “Yup.”  And I can’t really do it justice in a blog… the attitude he conveys with it is something you have to just witness.

Emma is starting to really blossom as an orator.  She is using full sentences all of a sudden and repeating almost every little phrase Braden has: “Close one”,  “Yup” (it is the word of the week!), “Silly Daddy”, “Huh????”. Ok, those don’t really reflect her skills as an orator accurately.  She actually uses a lot longer phrases, but those were the ones I could think of right now.

Ok, somehow I managed to dribble out some thoughts… time to get back to work.

Trains, Baptisms and Running Rampant

What a weekend! Phew!  Grandma and Grandpa came down Saturday to that Kathie and I could get some shopping and prep work done for painting.  They took Braden and Emma to see the model trains at the Mitchell Park Domes.  It’s an annual trip for us, but Grandma and Grandpa were excellent stand ins and it sounds like they had a lot of fun!

Sunday was Owen’s baptism.  That kid gets cuter every time I see him!  The baptism was at Risen Savior, where Stephanie teaches I have to say they seem to be one of the friendliest congregations I’ve seen.  Everyone there really made you feel welcome and took the time to talk to you. The service was very nice and the baptism went well, even if Owen decided he didn’t like water dumped on his head when he was napping.  I do have to say Kevin has this dad thing down:  he was able to calm Owen down like that, in front of church, in a very high pressure situation.  Nice job!

Open house followed at Kevin and Stephanie’s house.  They really have lots of good friends and wonderful family.  It was great talking and visiting with everyone.  Braden provided the majority of the entertainment.  I’m still not quite sure how we got such a Type-A personality kid.  He introduced him self to everyone, chatted up the other kids, and was polite for the most part.  He even handed out cake!  But he never stopped moving or talking.  I had a couple people ask if I was his dad and then tell me he is a “Hoot.”  Hopefully he wasn’t too over the top.  Emma did her best to keep up with him, but I think the majority of her time was spent putting Boo Bunny down the ‘Boo’ chute. 

All in all, it was a great day!  I feel blessed to have such wonderful family and it’s always nice to be able to spend time with them and celebrate wonderful events like this.