City Boys Through and Through....

Yesterday we had a graduation party for a family friend to attend and it was WAY out in the boonies (is this a local term?). Plenty of farmland and farm critters to see. Um, yeah---that's where we need some work. The boys saw a field with animals in it and I hear from the backseat: "look Mom, PIGS!". So I look. At cows. "whoops, those are cows, guys!". Oh right, says Beckett and he laughs.
As we're approaching our destination, there is a large pen with more animals laying and walking around. "Mom! Look, more cows!". I had already seen the pen I was sure they were referring to, but I looked around for cows. No cows. "Those are horses, guys". Oooops.
Ever since they were little, they would sail through those baby/toddler books with all the different animals and the sounds that they make. Hmmmm, maybe art doesn't imitate real life in this case.
At any rate, there was a horse barn with a couple of horses inside in pens, so we ventured inside to have a close up look. They were even pretty brave about putting out their hands to have the horses smell them!
We worked on reading road signs on the way home...

When Arielle gets the camera...

Parker had his Regional golf meet yesterday (he had a great day, BTW---the whole team is advancing to Sectionals, but if they weren't Parker would be moving on as an individual!). His favorite sister came out to watch (and brought along a friend again---the more fans following Parker, the better!). She occasionally asks to "see my camera" which means I do a lot of deleting when she's not looking! But I did keep a few from yesterday.

Truthful Thursday

How are those New Year's Resolutions coming along, you ask? Let's check!!
** I graduated!!!! DONE with nursing school!! Unless/until I decide to go back for a BSN degree....
** Sending out cards. Not so good. REALLY not so good. Gotta work on that...
** Keeping the checkbook register up-to-date. Sketchy. At best. Don't look right now...
** Decluttering/organizing. There's a box and 2 bags downstairs waiting to go to the Thrift store. A bag in the works for a co-worker, another bag almost ready to go to another co-worker's niece. Oh, the top shelf in our main closet got an overhaul. I've been wanting to find a basket that would work on the narrow shelf and finally hit paydirt at Target. AND, see all of those empty hangers? Yeah, eBay, baby! I listed a lot of items on eBay and all but 2 things sold. Loving a little extra bones in the account! Of course, the bottom of the closet is enough of a disaster to make one throw up in their mouth a little bit...

Whistling Straits

If you know even a tiny bit about golf, you know that here in Wisconsin we've got this course known as Whistling Straits. Kind of a big deal. The US Open was held here again this past August---like with ALL the big golf names present.
For the 3rd year in a row, Parker has been lucky enough to play golf here. Last year it was FLIPPING cold (like Momma wore a winter coat and a fuzzy hat complete with earflaps) and this year we had to endure rain--to the point that they decided to only play 9 holes (and after the last group was in, the rain cleared, UGH). Since you've seen LOTS of golfing pics of my favorite young golfer (conference champion, did I mention that? First team all conference, did I slip that in somewhere?) these are just some shots of our day at WS with no swinging clubs in sight...

Pin Me!

Here's a little bit of tangible proof that I have indeed completed nursing school. Saturday was pinning and graduation (no pics of me walking through the ceremony--Parker had a golf meet in Sheboygan and I headed that direction after pinning)
Kurt and my parents came to witness the event (Kurt shot photos too) and MIL sat with the boys at home while we were gone.
I thought I was done with whites forever after my last day of clinical, but NO, we had to wear them for pinning as well. GAH.

Couch to 5K....

Have you heard of this? It's a program you can find on the Web that is designed to get you up and moving! Over the course of 8 weeks you start from nothing and will be able to run for 30 minutes, which is the equivalent to running a 5K mini-marathon. You do it 3 times a week and in the beginning its a blend of walking and running for short distances and as you progress, it's more running/less walking. Today was day one for me and I didn't keel over, so there's hope, right? I have some on-line and real-life friends who have done this with great success, so there's really no reason I can't do it--in my mind anyway, HA!
Of course it meant buying a pair of shoes not based soley on how cute they look (although, they are stinking cute) AND a good bra to keep the girls in place! A couple of friends have recommended some apps to download to my ipod, so that's next on my list. Wish me luck, Peeps!!!!

Conference Medalist!!!!

The 2011 SWC conference meet was held yesterday on a very tough, non-conference course. Guess who was the medalist?!?! My baby boy blew the competition away with a 2 over par 74!!!! One bogey on the back, TWO birdies and pars everywhere else. I wasn't able to be there, but his Dad sent me texts after every hole and it was exciting even from a distance, HA!
I sent the message to give him a hug for me and I was told that there was a line to hug him after that round =)
We also learned yesterday that because of his phenomenal season, Parker made first team all-conference. So very proud of my sweet golfer!!

132 pictures of this:

SOMEONE has been playing with my camera. If he hadn't admitted it, I would have figured it out anyway---there were plenty of him in the mirror caught in the act. He says its ok because "I wore the strap around my neck like you're supposed to". Uh-huh....

Happy 8th Birthday, Paxton!!!

OK, technically his actual birthday was last week, but we had his party today to celebrate. Both sets of Grandparents, his Godmother, Arielle, my brother and nephews were here to help us celebrate and Paxton had such a nice day. He received the lego sets he had been dying for (and a couple of surprise sets too!), water guns, a couple of gift cards, savings bond, the always appreciated outfit, a new DS game, a CD player/radio (which Beckett has been playing non-stop), a scooter and Yogi Bear (cute movie!!).
I can't believe its been EIGHT years already since his 9# 14oz self made his overdue arrival =( He's just he sweetest little boy and it is a pleasure to be his Momma

SWC vs SWAL cup, 2011

So last year, 2 adjoining conferences came up with the idea of pitting the top 30 players from each conference in a Ryder Cup style tournament. The #1 player from SWC would play the #1 player from SWAL and so on all the way down to #30. Last year Parker was somewhere in the 11-20 range in points for our conference, this year he is number TWO! (and he's beaten the #1 a couple of times this year).
It was a very cold and windy day---so not fair for May 14! But my baby boy played like the weather wasn't a factor, he was amazing--one of his best days on this course. I won't bore you with tons of golfing terms and lingo, you can just take my word that he "done good" HA!
SWC pulled out the win again today, and Parker adds another medal to his letter =)

No more pencils, no more books....

That's right. For all intents and purposes, I have completed nursing school. FIVE years, peeps. I did it part-time, nights and weekends, summers included. While working full time, mothering 4 children, wifing one husband. It wasn't easy and I had loads of help and now it's over. Well, except for pinning. And graduation. And sitting for the boards. But compared to the 5 years behind me, those upcoming things seem small.
Believe it or not, my classmates and I did not leave the hospital skipping, screaming and throwing books and papers into the air. It almost had a surreal feeling to it. Very hard to describe, HA!
I. am. a. nurse =)

When you're on top....

as Parker is (number one on the team, in the number 2 spot for the entire conference), you get the bigger following in the gallery when you play. Many thanks to all the parents, friends and families that come out to watch the golfers and especially to those that are out to see Parker. It means a lot to them--really.
When you tell people that you're going to your son's golf meet, the looks that you get are interesting. Certainly, its not like spending Friday night under the lights in a stadium cheering on the football team or sitting in the bleachers of the school gym watching a basketball game, but there ARE spectators! Just no refs or popcorn--HA!