GOODBYE 2011!

It's hard for me to believe that 2011 will be over in a couple of short days. The years are certainly flying by.

• Allie had her last Brownie meeting of the year. They are gearing up to sell cookies. Allie has a big goal, but after last year, I'm not sure I can handle all those cookies!
• Jake gave his biography speech. He had to be Lou Gehrig for his speech and tell all about Lou like he was Lou.
• Allie gave her biography speech on Helen Keller and presented her poster.
  
• The kids had their school winter party. Allie began to not feel so good as her party started. So, we left and sure enough she had the stomach flu.
• I got the stomach bug on our first day of break. Mine didn't last very long. Whew!
• I got my hair colored and love the new color with NO grey!
  
• Scott ended up with the stomach bug for almost 48 hours. He was feeling better by Christmas Eve night.
• Jake went to basketball practice and when I picked him up, he said he must be out of shape because his stomach was hurting. Since he had the stomach flu only 4 days before this, I didn't think much of it. He immediately fell asleep on the couch. He awoke an hour or so later vomiting everywhere. UGH! He had the bug twice in less than a week. He laid pretty low on Christmas Eve.
• We decided to cancel our Christmas Eve/Day plans with my parents, brother and his family. We told them all to stay home to avoid the sickness going through our family. I was bummed.
• We enjoyed a very relaxing & quiet Christmas here, just the 4 of us. Everyone was feeling normal again. The hit gifts were an Xbox 360 for Jake, a Kindle Fire for Allie, UGG boots for me and a gun for Scott. We were also blessed with many more things.
  
• The kids and I went to the Quad Cities the day after Christmas to shop for bargains with my sisters. Allie joined the girls while Jake helped Michael with the little kids. We also got together with my parents for pizza.
• Allie started complaining she wasn't feeling well again. This time it was a headache. I took her temp after a few hours of complaining and she had a fever of 102. Here we go again!
• Jake played in a scrimmage with his old ball team. What fun.
• Jake went to the rec and spent the night with his friend Nick.
• Allie and I have done some more shopping/returning.

Coming up: Jake has ball practice and a tournament with a different team that was short a player, we have a wedding so the kids will spend NY Eve with my parents, Jake has a scrimmage, back to school/work, then back to piano, ball practices, tournaments, UNICC etc.

Jake with his Xbox
Allie with her maracas
Jake as Lou Gehrig for a speech
Jake as Gehrig for his speech
Cookies that Allie & I made for the holidays.

ON THE GO!

Yep, that's the story of our lives. Being on the go!

• Jake had a scrimmage and many basketball practices.
• Allie had birthday parties for her friends Lauren and Jayna. She had to miss Madison's party because she got a stomach bug and was throwing up. She was bummed!
• The kids and I went to the Quad Cities so I could shop on Black Friday with my sister and sister in law. We had a great time. The kids spent the day with their cousins playing, while we shopped. When we got back to Kim's, everyone napped. The moms, dads & kids. It was a quiet 2 hours since we were all pooped! The kids and I had dinner that night with my parents.
• Allie had her piano recital and she did a nice job with her songs. My mom came to the recital with me. My dad took Jake to the UNI basketball game at McLeod and then over to the Dome for the football game. UNI won both games! We all met up for dinner at the Brown Bottle. They spent the night and then we all had breakfast at the Waffle Stop before the got on the road.
• Allie had Brownies at the Hearst Center for the Arts. She came home with lots of creations.
• Jake is still going to his baseball clinic every Sunday afternoon. That ends in mid January.
• I am still taking my sign language class each week.
• I was sick for about 3 weeks and finally went to the doctor. I had bronchitis and after some antibiotics, I was a new woman!
• Allie & I got our hair cut by my friend Sheryl. She did a great job.
• Jake got to play basketball at half time of the UNI women's game one evening.
  
• Allie is still singing with UNICC. She had her winter concert and it was wonderful.
• Jake had tournaments in Grinnell and Dysert. Their team didn't do well, but Jake did great. I will do some bragging now. He made 5 out of 6 free throws, had double digit points in almost every game, rebounded well, had a couple of 3 point shots and had the game winning assist in a game. He's really becoming a good ball player.
• We went to Christmas at my sister's house. It was so nice having all of my siblings and their families together along with my parents. I just love my family. The high light of the day was the pet fish that Aunt Tesha got for Allie. She named it Carlos. Jake was jealous & ended up getting his own fish name Rick.
  
• Scott's sisters Kelley & Tracy and their families came to our house to celebrate Christmas. We had a great time. They got to see Jake play ball and he was on cloud nine. We caught up with them and since we only see them once a year, I'm glad we were able to have a good time.
• Jake had the stomach flu. Poor kiddo.
• Carlos the fish died after only a week of living with us. He was quickly replaced with Abby the fish. We'll see how she does.
• I had my staff Christmas party and then dinner with friends after that.
• Scott and I had lunch with our college friend Gopher when he was in town briefly.
• The kids observed Hat Day at school.

Coming up: Brownies, basketball practice, school winter party, Christmas break and my parents, my brother and his family spending Christmas Eve and Day with us. Yay!



Jake at a tournament
Allie with her custom made Bieber shirt from Aunt Kelley
Allie at her UNICC concert
Lucas, Maddie, Alex, Allie & Jake
Allie & Carlos
My family
The kids opening gifts.
The boys hanging out
Allie at her recital
Allie before her recital
Ready to shop!