Pedersen Pandemonium

Hallie - Girl's Golf All-Conference

2011-09-13T16:44:00.006-04:00

The girl's golf season will end later this month but until then there are some pretty important competitions. Hallie made her mark at Conference Indiana yesterday and we are so happy that all her hard work and dedication is paying off. She absolutely loves being a part of her team and who wouldn't love a day off of school to play 18 holes of golf?!?!? :-) Hallie, we are so proud of you....congratulations!!

I think you can click on the picture and it will enlarge....there are some quotes from Hallie at the end of the article and it will give you the details of her All-Conference win.

First Day of School, August 16, 2011

2011-08-16T09:41:00.006-04:00

If you look below you'll see the last blog I wrote was in regards to Carlie's Kindergarten Celebration at the end of last school year. That seems like just yesterday!!!! And here it is the first day of the next school year already. I really do hope that we won't have as many snow days this coming winter because making up for those at the beginning of June really made our summer seem short. However, we made some great memories on our trip to the northeast and the kids have had a lot of fun being involved in their different sports this summer.

The house is SO quiet right now, although, with the gorgeous weather I can have the windows open and hear all the "outside" noises...a perfect way to start the school year. Everyone was excited to be back in school especially since they have so many friends they haven't seen all summer. One MAJOR change for us this year is a longer school day for everyone. The elementary children will have four more hours of instruction time per week and middle school and high school will have three more hours of instruction time per week. That means going to school 20 (H & Z) and 25 minutes (B & C) earlier each day and getting out 25 (H & Z) and 35 (B & C) minutes later.....EXCEPT for Wednesdays that start about an hour later but get out at the same time. How's that for confusing??! It's extra time for the teachers to collaborate which is great but I guarantee we'll forget a few times throughout the year!

Enough of the details...where are the pictures?!?!

HALLIE - Sophomore - High School

ZACK - 8th Grade - Middle School

BROCK - 4th Grade - Elementary School

CARLIE - 1st Grade - Elementary School

Hallie has already played in six golf tournaments with her golf team so far this year and their golf season will continue through the end of September. She'll take a break from sports for awhile and then start her track practice in January. Her class schedule for this first tri-mester looks something like this....Honors English, Pre-Calculus, Spanish IV, AP Statistics, and Chemistry.....I WILL NOT be able to help her with her homework....guaranteed!! (Well, maybe English) She has a couple fun electives later in the year but for now it's nose to the grindstone!

Zack gets to start Spanish this year so maybe I'll need to dust off my Spanish skills and we can be a bilingual household....haha! Of course football practices are going on and I'm looking forward to watching the games coming up in a couple weeks. The 8th graders "rule the school" this year as the upperclassmen but all that changes when they go to high school next year as the underclass freshmen :-) Enjoy it while it lasts, Zack!

Brock gets to have the same teacher again this year since his 3rd grade teacher now teaches fourth grade. That was great news because Mr. Stallings is a really great educator!! Brock really enjoyed being in his class last year. Brock is playing baseball right now and hopes to get some more golf instruction in this Fall.

Carlie found out who her teacher would be yesterday and we are thrilled with who she got. She was up bright and early this morning practicing her teacher's name so she wouldn't forget :-) Carlie is in a multi-age classroom so it's 1st and 2nd together. Our kids have been in multi-age classrooms many times and our school really knows how it works and they do it well. We are very grateful for the good schools in our area.

A huge thank you to those teachers/educators/administrators who are going to be spending so much time with our children this year!! You all impress me with your love of children and your joy in seeing them learn.

Well, that's it for now. I have a "to-do" list about a mile long that will take me several weeks to finish. Today, though, I'll be going in to Paul's office to help him with a project he's working on....I'm sure I can squeeze a lunch date with him in there too!!

Carlie's Kindergarten Celebration

2011-05-29T20:48:00.016-04:00

Last Thursday night we went to our elementary school to celebrate the completion of Carlie's kindergarten year. It's hard to believe she is our last kindergartner and this phase is over with! There is definitely something special about that first year of school especially for a little girl who was SO READY to do what her older siblings were doing every day. She LOVED every single day of school and there was no way to get her to miss a day! She loved her teacher very much (Brock had the same teacher in kindergarten) and I have been called "Mrs. Shields" more than once!!

The "Class of 2023" had a cute program and Carlie thoroughly enjoyed being on stage and performing her songs for us. We are thankful that she had such a good year and that she's already looking forward to first grade.

I love that moment when Carlie spotted us in the audience and we got the little wave :-)

Carlie receiving her little certificate from our current assistant principal but new principal for next year!

Carlie decided to wear a vintage dress (circa 2001 :-) that belonged to her sister, oh so many years ago!! I believe the dress was handmade by S.Estes Designs. I found a picture of Hallie modeling the dress ten years ago!

We are proud of you, our Carlie-girl.

Earlier last week Hallie was honored at an Honors Night at her high school. Her grade point average earned her special recognition along with her "excellence in art". Great job, Hallie!!

Just last night, Zack was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society at his middle school. We are very proud of you, Zack!! Great job!

(Zack has a mouthful of cookies :-)

Just because there isn't any special occasion for Brock's 3rd grade right now, I hate to leave him out of this blog. Since the theme of this post is "school-related" I'll just say that Brock is a very good student and works hard to maintain great grades. We're so proud of him too!

Even though school is going well for all of them, we're looking forward to the end of the year in just a few days. Staying up late (since it's light until after 9:30pm) and sleeping in, is first on our agenda!! After that we still have a lot of baseball and golf to be played and then one big trip planned so far. If these hot temperatures hold steady we'll be spending a lot of time in the water too!! We hope everyone has a terrific summer!!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-07T23:07:00.015-04:00

Following is a poem that Hallie wrote for me. Because we were in the restaurant when she gave it to me, I had to read it really fast and take a lot of breaths since the kids laugh when I tear up! I've read it several times since then, though!

Dear Mom,

I thought of many ways to express my love to you,

But none would come close to what I know is true.

So I hope this poem shows you my love,

For you are truly a gift from above.

You're beautiful, loving, and oh so very wise,

In a contest for best mother, you would take top prize.

You help us with our problems, our hopes, and our wishes,

And you even help me clean the dishes.

You take us to practices which makes your day busy,

If I had to do it, it'd put me in a tizzy!

You do these things willingly, almost like you are enchanted,

But inside us there's a seed you have planted.

One that will help us to grow in your ways,

And help us be loving through all of our days.

So Mom, here's the end and I have just one thing to say,

I think you're fantastic and Happy Mother's Day!

Love, Hallie

Wow!! Straight to the heart!! Thank you, Hallie, I love you!!

Then I got a "card" from Zack. I love its sentiment just the same and he knows how to make me laugh!! Here he is keeping us entertained at supper.....

And here is his "heartfelt" card!! :-) Oooops....someone may have not gotten the memo on Mother's Day cards being handed out at suppertime! :-) I love you, Zack!

Brock was next and he ALWAYS gets very involved in whatever celebration is going on. He loves to give gifts/cards and there is always more than one thing to be handed out. The more partying the better, as far as he is concerned. Thank you, Brockie! I love you!!

Little Carlie loves that she is old enough to make and write her own cards now! Of course, it's curious why she started out the card as "Dear Jen....." but whatever works! She told me her hand hurt after writing the word "love" so many times on the card. :-) I love you, Carlie-girl!

After some amazing BBQ (best in Bloomington, I'm pretty sure), we stopped for ice cream downtown. We love our town!

Brock really felt like he needed to take a picture of Paul and me and I'm glad he did since I couldn't be living my dream job without this man!!!

Thank you to my amazing family for such a special celebration. Being your mom/wife is more than I had ever hoped for. I love you!

East High School Hall of Fame, Pueblo, Colorado

2011-04-18T11:47:00.018-04:00

This blog is about Paul's induction into his high school's Hall of Fame this past weekend in Pueblo, Colorado. Let me start out by saying that before this weekend I knew VERY little about this type of event and I really didn't know what to expect. However, I did know a lot about Paul's high school career from his stories over the years and let's just say it was an "interesting" time for him. Had you told him 23 years ago that he would be inducted into East High's Hall of Fame, he would not have believed you.

When Paul received the letter at the end of February letting him know that he was receiving the "Golden Eagle Award," I felt like I could understand just how much this award would mean to him. And then when we saw the invitation that they sent out and the newspaper article in The Pueblo Chieftain, I realized just what an honor this was going to be.

Needless to say, I was blown away by the manner in which Pueblo East High School Alumni Foundation conducted its Hall of Fame day events and I could never have imagined just how meaningful and special it would be.

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I thought it would be fun to put a couple pictures on here of Paul's graduation day in 1988.

And here he is with his beloved truck (that he wishes he still had!)

I can't even imagine what went through Paul's mind when we drove up to the school on Friday morning and saw this sign! Again, I KNOW that when Paul was going through high school he never dreamed he would one day drive up and see his name displayed like this.

First we attended an all school assembly in the morning. I only had my small camera and since the lighting is always tricky in an auditorium, this is the best I could do. At least it gives you an idea. The alumni foundation had put together a really neat program for the students/faculty/alumni to attend including the color guard, choir, jazz band, and of course the induction ceremony itself. There were three inductees this year...two for career achievement and one for service.

The inductees had been asked to speak for a few minutes and since I almost never get to hear Paul do that I was very anxious to see what he had to say. Can I just say that I was blown away by what Paul said to the student body, the heartfelt way in which he delivered it, and the humility that resonated throughout?!?!! My feelings were echoed by so many of the alumni, administrators and faculty in attendance as they took the time to come up afterwards and tell Paul just how much his speech was "exactly what their students needed to hear." They were so grateful for the words he had to say and the way he was humble enough to be very personal about overcoming obstacles. I also loved the humor he was able to add, as only he can do! It was a thrill for me to be there in person!! (By the way, there is a video of the entire ceremony and I CAN be bought off :-)

The eagle trophy is very classy as was everything about the event that they put together! Col. Chostner made it very clear how stringent the process is for getting into East's Hall of Fame. They are very set on only inducting two alumni per year, you have to be at least 40 years of age to get in, and they are VERY SERIOUS about their selection process.

A very familiar sight to Paul from "back in the day".

Front lobby of the school! Let's hear it for the Golden Eagle Award!! :-)

I feel extremely fortunate that it worked out for me to go!! A thousand thanks to a certain teenager who makes the best stand-in mom in my absence!!

After the morning's induction ceremony there was a lovely reception held in the media center. East High has a commercial kitchen and the students that take those classes made all the finger foods for the occasion. Everything was delicious and beautifully displayed.

At the reception Paul got to reconnect with some familiar faces from 25 years ago. He really had to think back to pull out some of the memories!

Mr. Vallejo was the Superintendent of Schools back when Paul was in school and his signature is on Paul's high school diploma!

Mr. Pantleo was East High's assistant principal while Paul was there (and later became principal).

Cathy Maloney worked in the athletic office during the time Paul was at East and she was responsible for putting together all the wonderful events surrounding the Hall of Fame inductions. She thought of EVERYTHING!!

Jeff Falletta was on the Eagles football team and Paul had always admired him. It was nice for them to be able to reconnect. We seriously felt like we were making lifetime friends with these wonderful people who were so welcoming!

Paul talking to the current East High principal, Alan Nelms.

After the reception, Paul and I spent time with a few Denver cousins who were so kind to make the trip down to attend the assembly. We had a great time driving around Pueblo visiting old "haunts" and bringing up many memories. Here's a picture of three lovely ladies...second cousins...Avery, Avry, and Kayla. They were very sweet to spend the day with us.

(There are more pictures on FB of Tom, Kevin, and the girls.)

That evening there was a lovely dinner to cap off the day. More kind words were said to the inductees and it definitely felt like we were now part of the East High family. It's a tight knit group and they just made us feel so welcome and very special.

The first picture is the three inductees with the current superintendent. The dinner was held in a refurbished church that was built in 1886.

The banquet program below has a short biography on every inductee since they started the Hall of Fame. Paul's bio will now be a permanent part of the program for every Golden Eagle Award banquet from here on out!

Thank you for letting me share our day with you. Being there to experience it in person was absolutely incredible. Congratulations to my very deserving husband on this really neat honor!! I love you!!

Bacon and Eggs for April Fool's Day

2011-03-31T18:33:00.003-04:00

Brock really wanted to take an April Fool's Day treat into his class tomorrow so we went with the easiest one I know of (in my opinion). Hallie took these into one of her classes several years ago and they were quite the hit. Just use two pretzel sticks for the bacon, melt some white chocolate and put a small amount on the pretzel sticks, and then a yellow M & M makes the yolk. (Of course the ONLY M & M's worth eating are the dark chocolate ones :-) Brock is going to deliver his in a frying pan to make it even more realistic!

Everyone be on the alert for practical jokes and pranks tomorrow!!

"Bob...there is a groundbreaking new book that has just come out...."

2011-02-21T11:59:00.011-05:00

If you immediately understand the title to this blog then you have watched my husband's absolute favorite movie of all times, "What About Bob" with Bill Murray. We have laughingly said that quote many times over the past years each time Paul gets a book published! (Not that Paul's books aren't groundbreaking, but you'd have to see the movie to understand :-)

WARNING: I will be speaking about my husband in a very positive light during this post (okay, it's downright bragging), so if that's not your cup of tea I ask you to exit this blog immediately! Thank you :-)

We never know just exactly when we're going to get the copies of a book Paul has worked on so when they come in the mail it's always a fun surprise. We got another one just last week and since the one before that was only last October/November, it definitely took me by surprise. So, it's definitely time for me to blog about it before I get too behind since there WILL be others, guaranteed (I have inside information on that :-) (I'm laughing to myself as I write this paragraph because those colleagues and friends of Paul that love him will still be saying a big "WHATEVER" and giving him a hard time about this posting!) But let's not forget just how much effort goes into these books, ladies and gentlemen!! All the long hours, late nights, all-nighters, deadlines, deadlines, deadlines, hundreds of email correspondences, reading and re-reading, editing, editing, editing, etc. Thankfully Paul is organized (and dare I say he is even more organized than I am??!!! Seriously, he is!) and he knows how to get things done efficiently which the publishers love!

Here is the cover of Paul's latest textbook....

And since many of you don't know about the textbook that came out last Fall, here is a picture of the cover...
This textbook is beautiful inside because it's full color and filled with pictures that Paul took at many different sporting events.

And if you haven't been able to keep up at all, here is a picture of the first textbook Paul ever did....

He has also written two other non-textbooks and he is founding editor of a journal that comes out four times a year and it looks like this....

Our own little "What About Bob" moment representing thousands of hours of work....

So, a HUGE congratulations to my hubby for another great textbook. I know how hard you worked on all of these and it's really fun to see them on our shelf!

Our trip on Amtrak via the California Zephyr

2011-01-05T16:51:00.017-05:00

**Hours of gorgeous scenery!!**

I haven't blogged since last Easter!! I can't believe how young the children look less than a year ago!! Obviously it's easier just to upload a bunch of photos to Facebook and call it a day. However, I wanted to start out the new year with a blog about our train trip to California in case anyone is researching it on google like I did before we went. It was so helpful to hear other people's accounts of their trip so I could get a little better grasp of what to expect. We didn't give the children many details because we wanted it to be as much of a surprise as possible but as a mom who needed to pack for six people on such an adventure, I needed a little more info!! There was even a youtube video from a guy who had walked the length of the train showing the different areas and that was REALLY helpful!

I'm not going to repeat any photos from our trip on the way out there since those are already on FB, and I'm not going to upload pictures from San Francisco since those are already done too. However, just one note about San Francisco....it is a VERY COOL city and even though we were able to do many of the major highlights, we only scratched the surface of what there is to do. We could have ridden cable cars all day long! (If the signs were correct, they are only going to be using shuttle buses instead of the cable cars from January through the summer of this year while they do a bunch of reconstruction. I'm sure glad we made it there before that happened!) The Golden Gate Bridge is also an incredible sight that can be viewed from so many different angles. I don't think I could tire of looking at it. So, if you have the chance to visit we highly recommend it. The people were very friendly, there are a million different places to eat, and the Bay and the Pacific Ocean are amazing.

As for Amtrak, that was a wonderful adventure in itself!! We enjoyed the fact that we were in no rush and had no schedule that we were trying to keep...I would advise that mindset for a trip of this length (52 hours each way...Chicago to San Francisco). That being said, to my knowledge we stayed very much on schedule and even arrived at many of the stations ahead of time. All the different people we came into contact with that work for Amtrak were very helpful and kind...from the train crew to the bus driver to the ticket salespeople, etc. We were very impressed with how the "train part" of our trip went. It's interesting how you can get acquainted with many people during the train trip and we met some very nice ones. There was even an Amish family of 9 from the northern part of our state that traveled all the way back from California with us. It was extremely interesting to talk with them and learn more about the train adventure that they were on (they took a different route out to California).

**Eating breakfast shortly after leaving San Francisco while our milk was still cold in the cooler!**

We didn't put out the extra money for a sleeper car but a friend of ours said they had felt a little claustrophobic in their family suite a few years ago. We were very happy with the roominess of the coach seats and on top of that there was plenty of space to stretch out in the observatory car either at a booth-like table or at comfortable outward facing chairs and couches. Plus the windows in the observatory car go halfway across the ceiling so that you can truly appreciate the mountains when traveling through them.

The dining car is also a lot of fun and we found the food to be quite tasty. However, I took as much food as I possibly could including a small cooler so that we wouldn't have to shell out a lot of money for the dining car which can be pretty pricey, especially at dinner time. There is a snack bar on the bottom floor of the observatory car that sells many different kinds of snacks, drinks, sandwiches, breakfast items, etc. so that was helpful when our food stash ran low. A popular item to carry on with you is the Ramen noodles in a bowl that you only have to add boiling water to (thanks to the snack car attendant who fills it up for free!)
**Traveling through the Sierra Nevadas**

The California Zephyr route is supposed to be the most scenic of all Amtrak routes and we can see why! The areas of the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas are exceptionally beautiful although there were many other scenic areas as well. In the Rockies you pass through the Continental Divide, several canyons, many tunnels, along the Colorado River for miles, etc. The handiwork of our Creator is truly breathtaking and it's easy to sit there and stare out the window for hours just taking it all in. Of course the snow added to the beauty especially in the Sierras where it was a couple feet deep in parts. There are a few stops along the way where you have time to get out and breathe in the fresh air and take a picture but for the most part, the stops are just for letting passengers off and on. There are stops all through the night but they don't make any announcements over the speakers from 10:00pm to 6:30am so you don't even notice if you're asleep. From Reno, NV to Sacramento, CA both ways there was a train museum curator that got on board and talked about the many historical areas that we were passing through, it was very interesting.

**Traveling along the Colorado River**

Now that I am talking about all these different things it almost makes me wish I had taken more pictures of the inside of the train, however, I don't want to ruin it too much for anyone thinking about traveling this way, plus you can find quite a few pictures already on the internet. One thing that we did find out on the first leg of our trip out was....try not to sit in the rows closest to the doors between the train cars. The reason is just for noise when you're trying to sleep. To pass from one car to the other you just press a button and the doors open automatically and that's not too noisy but while the doors are open you can hear the noise from the tracks and that can be quite loud. Thankfully we were able to change seats after the first night and then on the way back we knew what the best seats were :-)

**With a sleeping bag to pad the floor, Carlie was able to sleep on the floor giving Hallie two seats to stretch out on. The same went for Zack and Brock.**

So that's our trip in a "nutshell". We have hundreds more pictures that will help us "relive" the memories anytime we want to go back through them. It was fun for the children to add three more states to their list giving Hallie a total of 38 U.S. states visited, Zack, 37, and Brock and Carlie, 34 each. We are so thankful for the ability to travel this great country of ours....the most beautiful sights are the ones God created for us but we also enjoy seeing the man-made structures that were built by some very ingenious and creative people (thanks to their God-given brains!)! We appreciate our family and friends who don't mind us sharing our trip with them and who keep in touch with us along the way. We trust all of you will have a blessed, healthy and happy 2011!!

Happy Easter 2010

2010-04-04T15:47:00.008-04:00

So thankful for a beautiful day to celebrate...He is Risen...He is Risen Indeed!!!

Brock debuts in "BUGZ"!

2010-03-02T14:35:00.002-05:00

Random Videos

2010-03-02T10:41:00.006-05:00

"Hal-ey-oo-yah, Praise 'me' the Lord"

Hallie's Braces Come Off!!

2010-02-11T11:45:00.004-05:00

Just over a week ago Hallie found out that her braces were coming off this week!! She started counting down the hours... It has been a long two years and ten months and you will see from the pictures that when we started this process she was just a little girl!! Now she is a young lady with a beautiful smile and for someone that smiles as much as Hallie does it was VERY IMPORTANT for her to have the best smile money can buy! You thought she smiled a lot before?? Well, she smiles even more now, if that is possible! The hardest thing about getting her braces off on Tuesday was having to wait until today to share the good news with her friends. Since we had a snow day on Tuesday and Wednesday she wouldn't let me post this until she had a chance to surprise her friends at school. So, that's all the braces in this house for now. We've been told Zack probably won't need them, I predict Brock will and Carlie won't...we'll see. Congratulations on your smile, Hallie girl! We love you!

February 3, 2007 - The last braces-free picture for awhile!

After all the metal is in place! Braces and glasses...just like her mom...poor thing.

February 9, 2010 - The last metallic smile!

Beautiful!!

Happy 2010!

2009-12-28T01:01:00.002-05:00

Since we didn't get a Christmas card sent out in time...here are our New Year's greetings to everyone. From our family to yours!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy Birthday to our Boys!

2009-12-18T11:00:00.007-05:00

This is my third blog for today...trying to set a record here.

Back on October 15th, Zack turned 12 years old...then on October 19th, Brock turned 8! There is no "set" way we do their parties...some years it is a joint party, other years we do them separately. They don't mind either way and this year since they both were in the midst of their football season, we decided to all go to the park and play football! After some crazy cold, rainy weather we had been having, it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. Brock and Zack both invited some friends from school and others from their football teams.

Suiting up for some flag football.

Since Truman's two older brothers were at the party, we invited him too so he could keep Carlie company.

He is such a little gentleman...I just love this picture.

Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked...this is a blog about Brock and Zack! :-)

Gift time...IU hats, transformers, nerf guns, IU shirts, gift cards, etc....fun stuff!

A beautiful Fall day for a walk in the woods.

It's great to have friends from school AND sports teams...we love our just-the-right-size town!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Brock! You bring so much energy to our family...we love you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACK! We love your humor and your kind heart!

Thanks to Paul and Hallie for sharing picture-taking duty....and Hallie just HAD to make fun of the hot dogs! Let's just say there wasn't a single one left, no matter how burnt it was!!

November 17th - Carlie turns 5!!

2009-12-18T09:19:00.008-05:00

I don't know if anyone else is sighing a big *sigh* of relief that today is the last day of school for 2009...but I AM!! It's time for a break! They are even teasing us with a weather report of snow for tonight but we'll see. So...with our Christmas party over with, the teacher luncheon completed, all baking "gifts" done for teachers, spritz cookies sent in for both boys' parties today, and pumpkin crunch sent in with Paul to his office...I'm feeling very relaxed for a little while! Time to blog about three of our Fall birthdays. However, that's only two blogs because the boys had a joint party this year.

Carlie turned five on November 17th. Hard to believe our baby is going off to school next year! Time just keeps marching on. Carlie is very much into Build-A-Bear right now so we decided to "pay" for a party (with birthday money from grandparents [Thank You!] it's even more affordable!) for the first time ever! Let me just say it was WELL WORTH the money and very reasonable...especially for the hour's worth of undivided attention from one of the store employees.
The "all important" hearts.

The employee did all kinds of activities with the children. They really had a great time.

Hallie is such a huge help! She could have easily been in charge of the party herself!

Time to stuff! It was a lot of fun to introduce three friends to the Build-A-Bear experience. The other three had done them before.

If Matt is around there WILL be laughter. He helped Zack work through the emotions of not getting his own build-a-bear! HA!

Time for a bath....Carlie picked out the black and white dog as her animal this time. She named it Ollie since it looks a lot like our Ollie.

Making out the birth certificate.

Finished products...a cat named Bella, 3 puppies and 2 bears!

Since Carlie's birthday comes so soon after Halloween...and she loves candy....therein lies my inspiration!! Starburst, Smarties, lollipops, Nerds, bubble gum tape....easy as pie (cake).
We went to the food court in the mall to eat our cake...another highly recommended idea!!

Brock trying to turn it into more of a boy's party!!

A baby doll from Grandpa and Grandma Pedersen. [Thank you!]

"Loaded" dollhouse from Daddy and Mommy...major garage sale find from August!

Carlie is a daddy's girl and we love her so very much. She brings a lot of laughter and drama to our home! Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!

Trying to be as creative as Bakerella!

2009-12-18T07:55:00.004-05:00

Let's just say I will never be as creative as Bakerella nor do I have as much patience as she MUST have!! However, I have really been wanting to try out her most basic recipe for red velvet cake balls and I finally did right before Thanksgiving. Bakerella has amazing pictures on her blog but I attempted to do a few of my own....here goes...

First you crumble up the baked cake and mix in the icing. Someday I'd like to try another flavor/icing combination but this one is very rich. I also should have used a little less icing than the whole can...I wouldn't have minded them being a tiny bit drier.

Next you shape them into little balls and put them in the freezer for a little while.

Then you dip them into melted dipping chocolate...I just used our store brand and it was easy to melt and delicious. I tried different dipping techniques but just using a spoon like bakerella says seems to be the easiest unless you are making her cake pops and using a stick. I just had to try a bite to see what all the fuss was about...YUM!

Here are some of the finished products. I drizzled leftover chocolate on some of them and it made for quite a pretty plateful. I would NOT recommend doing a double batch, like I did, your very first time...you'll be at it for quite awhile.

Some prefer white chocolate.

The double recipe made about 125 cake balls...I shared all but a few with the teachers at our elementary school and supposedly they were quite the hit.

I dare you to try out some of the other cake pop recipes that bakerella has so creatively made. She also has some other delicious looking recipes. Her Cupcake Pops are adorable!

Christmas Screensavers

2009-12-03T20:02:00.003-05:00

If you haven't had a chance to check out these great Christmas screensavers, you should! They are so pretty to have on the computer screen and the best part of them is it actually snows...and the snow accumulates over time!! You can do some of them with or without music and/or the rabbits that move and birds that fly. There is also a fireplace that crackles if you choose that one. They are really neat, I promise. It looks like there are ones for other times of the year too.

When you are downloading the software, you will be asked if you want other software downloads...you can decline them all and I have had absolutely no problems with it. You may want to change your screensaver settings so that it will come on sooner and you can enjoy it all the time!

Here are a couple pictures but believe me, they are even prettier when the snow is falling and the lights are twinkling.

Time to Decorate for Christmas!

2009-12-03T13:47:00.005-05:00

We made our annual trip to the Twin H Tree Farm earlier this week. We love how they do everything for you...cut it down, shake it, cut off any low branches you want, bale it, and tie it to the top of the car! The free popcorn, apple cider, and hot chocolate helps too!

Here's Brock ready to start hunting for the perfect tree...

Zack got a lot of exercise running beside the car!

Here's my cute husband (A.K.A. Clark Griswold)

Back home opening up their new ornaments for the year.

Ollie got to be involved in the whole process too!

(Obviously out of order)...the perfect tree has been found.

Before we work our magic.

The finished product! Hopefully it will stay nice and healthy for a whole month.

Here are a few more decorations. Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Football Memories from Fall 2009

2009-12-01T09:21:00.008-05:00

Zack's football team photo was in our newspaper today. He had such a great time playing on this team and they did really well overall. I think we were third in the league. Zack is #7 (John Elway's number in case ANY of you forgot!! How could you?!?!?)

"The Matt James Auto Mobile Services Raiders enjoyed a successful season in the NFL of the Monroe County Youth Football Association. Team members were, from left to right, front row: Sam Foust, Will Stowell, Jacob Oeding, Jordy Jackson, Taran Tavares, Hunter James and Jacob Magness; second row: Ross Gleason, Josh Hall, Matt Rogers, Hayden Rich, Luke Barrow, Zack Pedersen, Conrad Schlegel and Alec Tourner; third row: Sam Helm, Jacob Holbrook, Tyler Anders, Thaddeus Luong and J.L Lampkins; back row: Brad Jackson, Andy Barrow, Stan Moscrip, coaches Greg Tourner and Dave Schlegel. Courtesy photo"

Here are a couple more photos from Zack's season since I never blogged about it....

Zack going in for a touchdown.

Making his presence known!

The all important fan club.

Brock had a great season of flag football too! Here he is making his move.

But, more importantly, he always wants to make contact with us and know that we are watching!

I found this photo in the same folder of pictures and just had to add it.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

2009-11-26T18:32:00.005-05:00

Happy Halloween

2009-11-03T16:31:00.004-05:00

The blog vs. facebook dilemma is an interesting one. I suppose I have gotten used to the new facebook set-up although I can't really say that I'm a fan of it. I don't like having to do so much clicking around just to find everyone's pictures. It's definitely a quick and easy way to stay in touch and I know most people won't mess with a blog so facebook is nice in that way. However, since it's been almost six months since I updated my blog I thought I'd do a post just for something different.

It was fun to see how all our friends/family dressed up (through FB and blogs) for trick-or-treating...there were some serious costumes out there! I didn't think we were going to have to do costumes this year since we were going to be out of town but those plans changed and we were able to get our act together in time.

Carlie wanted anything with wings and as long as it looks fancy and is pink/purple/etc., she'll go for it. She didn't like it when the people at the doors said she was a princess or something else...she was a FAIRY, and that was that!

Brock was a Shadow Ninja and was pretty happy with the way his outfit turned out. Swords always help!

I think Zack could pretty much take or leave dressing up but if it involves sports then it's OK.

Hallie loves to dress up and it is never run-of-the-mill for her! She got a lot of comments on her outfit...I think it was very strange for people to see mostly little children at their door and then an obviously elderly lady! She had fun with it.

Who is the new face for the "Breakfast of Champions"??

Paul didn't wear the Wheaties box all night but he did enjoy wearing the mask quite a bit. The neighborhood parents were grabbing their children aside when he walked by!

The cute elderly couple!

I decided we had enough costumed people for one family so I opted out...or maybe you think this is my costume :-)
We won't be running out of candy any time soon and I have a feeling in a few days most of it will go off to school with Paul for his college students...good!!

Mom is here and we are in the kitchen!

2009-06-12T00:37:00.004-04:00

No time to blog these days because I've got to keep up with Mom who is keeping me busy!! Pumpkin cookies (to be iced later), pumpkin bread, pinch-me bread, and a whole lot of containers of strawberry freezer jam!! Not to mention four lemon cheesecake pies and the "traditional" roast beef dinner for our family and a dear friend who has cancer and her family. It's been great fun and Mom has been such a big help. I only am able to get her up here about once a year so we're filling the freezer and doing other projects to take advantage of it. I shouldn't mention that she is having trouble with her sinuses and has some laryingitis...she won't sit still...I tried to make her! Thanks Mom for all your help!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-05-31T19:09:00.007-04:00

It is only fitting that I write this post in purple since that was our main wedding color 18 years ago!! May 31, 1991....we were surrounded by many, many family members and friends but the main attraction for me was the most unselfish, loyal, hard-working, handsome, free-spirited, fair, logical-thinking, did I say hard-working, man I know!! What a crazy, fun, unpredictable, wonderful life we've had together so far and I just want to say HAPPY 18th ANNIVERSARY, PAUL MARK PEDERSEN!! Thanks for the incredible privilege to be your wife!

(I restrained myself to scanning in two wedding pictures although I would have loved to upload more since so many of you were there. Needless to say we aren't the only ones that have changed over the past 18 years!! :-)

Spring Makeovers

2009-05-18T10:40:00.006-04:00

I've always been a huge fan of "makeovers". It started years ago when the new Good Housekeeping magazine would come, the first thing I would turn to was the makeover of the month. I loved to compare the before and after (and someday I'm going to get my own before/after done by a professional!). I also love home makeover shows. Anyway, I decided to have some fun showing you our makeovers from this month. They are pretty mild makeovers compared to some but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

First there is Ollie...it was high time for his "summer cut" which means really short! He was a good boy and posed for pictures quite nicely.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Then it was Carlie's turn. She has very fine hair and we were starting to get more and more tangly the longer it got. So, after 4 1/2 years, she got her first trim. She was very pleased to find out that I was honest when telling her she wouldn't feel a thing and the lollipop afterwards was an added bonus.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Now it's time for Zack and Brock. They have very thick hair and it grows quickly. I finally bought a new pair of clippers so that they wouldn't keep asking to go to the barbershop instead of having mom take out chunks of their scalp with the old clippers! The new ones work great and they even convinced me to do a little bit of artistry with their new "do's".

BEFORE (end of April):

AFTER:

JUST KIDDING!! I think both grandmas just had a heart attack!

The Real AFTER:

"P" for Pedersen!

"Z" (self-explanatory!)

Now for the flowers. I love flowers but I am not very much of a green thumb...just enough to get by. A few years ago, my sister-in-law Michelle, helped me arrange my flower beds and bring some color to the front of the house. The back row of bushes are still evidence of her hard work and they are really growing. The second row of bushes gave in to a late freeze two years ago so last year I put in some new things and to my delight they came back up this Spring! I do still have to plant some annuals and I may have gone a little crazy with them this year...we'll see...they may overrun the flower bed eventually. My big helper assisted in putting down the mulch. We haven't had to do any of our own watering because we have had so much rain. Now we can just sit back and watch them grow! Sorry the pictures aren't much better. If you click on them you can get a little better idea.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Now all we have to do is some re-seeding of the lawn. The weed killer put down about three weeks ago really worked and the lawn is looking better already. I'll try to send an update later in the summer when the flowers have HOPEFULLY grown AND the basketball hasn't run them all over!

Hope you enjoyed our makeovers. HAPPY SPRING! (It was only 35 degrees here this morning!!) But it will be 60-something by this afternoon and in the 80's by Wednesday.

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-13T11:56:00.001-04:00

I loved spending Mother's Day with the four best kiddos in the whole world...and their fantastic dad as well! The very best Mother's Day gift EVER is not having to cook...and our meal was so much fun! I got a Coleman Roadtrip XL grill too and I've already put it through it's first trial run...it works like a charm!

Hallie the Happy Hurdler

2009-04-24T08:22:00.008-04:00

Hallie LOVES the hurdles!! We went to her second meet yesterday at a school about 45 minutes north of us. Guess what?? She won first place!!!! That's a step up from Wednesday's second place win so needless to say she was very happy. Paul surprised her with a pair of track shoes before yesterday's meet and Hallie put them to good use. She also runs the 200 and a 4x100 relay but she enjoys the hurdles the most and concentrates mostly on that. By the way, the girl she was running neck and neck with is OK after falling at the last minute. I got distracted by the fall and missed Hallie actually crossing the finish line. (Hallie is in a blue shirt)

I couldn't get youtube to embed here properly but here's the link for a little bigger view than the one above... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RBPk9wlKDA

An update (because it's been almost two months!)

2009-03-27T12:24:00.004-04:00

This update is for my mother-in-law who is really tired of clicking on this blog and seeing pictures of snow! There is definitely no more snow here in Indiana, in fact, I can look out my window and see forsythia, daffodils, Bradford pear trees and a lot of other colorful things in full bloom!! We're still having "jacket" weather for the most part but the winter coats are back in the closet and it would take a blizzard for us to get them back out! We definitely still have a chance for cold weather but we will be optimistic that it's gone until next winter. Spring has arrived and it's as beautiful as ever. (Sorry I don't have any pictures of it yet)

We had a wonderful time in Florida for Spring Break although it flew by so quickly. It's hard to believe we've been back "in the swing of things" for a whole week already. As always I have hundreds of pictures to share but as always who knows when I will get them on here! We did enjoy a day at Disney World and Epcot thanks to a good friend of ours. The six of us got in for free and I would have to say that is the best way to enjoy it :-) The weather was perfect and the crowds were tolerable so it was fun to take Carlie there for her first time. She rode Goofy's roller coaster three times and the look on her face during the ride was priceless...intense fear and pure exhiliration! Ollie even survived the day in the great care of the Epcot kennel. It was a wonderful way to end our Spring Break.

Since returning home Zack has had one basketball practice and one game (they are 7-0!), painted a stained-glass window for his medieval history project, and gone to the IU Art Museum for a field trip. Hallie had her basketball banquet to end the season, and is currently working on a Shakespeare project for social studies and a project on the amphibious creature "siren" for science. She'll start track and field practices on Monday and can't wait for the high jump and hurdles (the two events that I would choose NOT to do because they scare me!). Brock's class is doing a project on seashells (his teacher was in Florida for Spring Break too!) and he had a whole bag of them to add to the class's collection. He's looking forward to baseball practice that starts in a week. Carlie has just been trying to keep up with everyone and she does so with a lot of animation, hugs and "I Love You's".

Today the three oldest are wearing purple to school in support of one of our high school basketball teams that will be playing in the state tournament tomorrow night. In fact the whole town is supposed to be wearing a lot of purple today. However, yesterday it was IU red and white for Paul, Hallie, and Zack. The three of them left on one of two charter buses that headed over to Bowling Green, Ohio (where we used to live) in support of the women's basketball team that is advancing in their tournament. Paul's main reason for going was to see his good friend, Ray, that he used to work with but it ended up being a really fun experience for all of them. The trip takes five hours each way so the three of them didn't get in their own beds till 3:00am! I have a feeling Hallie and Zack will be taking a nap after school!

Well, that's about it for now. It's a lot more info than I'm used to giving but I hope it will be a decent update until I can get back into more of a consistent pattern. And, as I heard Goofy say about a hundred times over the speaker while waiting in line at Disney...."TTFN, ta-ta for now!"

And Even MORE Snow!!

2009-02-03T10:29:00.004-05:00

We have really enjoyed having more snow this year although it has made for some topsy-turvy days, cancellations/reschedulings of all kinds, and a lot more shoveling! We even had a mini-snowstorm this morning and it's still blowing around out there. These pictures are from the rest of the snowstorm that we had last week. My previous post showed the first four or so inches and then we got a lot more to total around 11 inches (see the picture of the ruler in the snow!). Needless to say, the kids had hours of fun in the white stuff and I thought I'd share a few more pictures with you.

If you compare this picture with the one from my previous post you will see the changes...more of the wall covered up, my pots on the front stoop piled higher, etc.

Come join us around the fire pit!

Ollie had a blast too! He didn't seem to mind the snow that was caked on his body.

Hope you had fun playing in the snow with us! See you later.

SNOW DAY!

2009-01-27T15:23:00.007-05:00

We haven't had a good snow like this in so long! And according to all reports we're supposed to get quite a bit more tonight! The icy drizzle is coming down very steadily right now but that is supposed to change over to snow later on. Needless to say we'll be sticking close to home and I imagine we'll have another snow day tomorrow. It sure is fun to play in, though, and the kids were out for a couple hours. Makes all the bundling up worthwhile.

The snow sure makes a pretty sight. We like it much better than ice!

This is probably the biggest hill in our town...it's right outside one of the middle schools. If it wasn't so treacherous to get around today it would be packed out. Plus with the temp feeling like 15 degrees or so, not too many people want to get that bundled up. The kids had fun doing it for about half an hour but it's exhausting walking all the way back up!

Here is the link to youtube in case you don't see it above.

Hallie makes front page in "blurred" fashion

2009-01-22T08:02:00.005-05:00

That's Hallie on the right in the red sweater...her best friend Arielle is sitting next to her. The story is talking about being able to get high school credit for advanced math classes at middle school level starting next year. Here's the LINK to the whole story. All I can say, is thankfully Hallie doesn't need help with her homework very often! I can dredge up a few memories of Algebra I but not many. It was fun for her to be on the front page...blurred or not!

Hallie's 13th Birthday

2009-01-20T00:59:00.003-05:00

I did a photo book for Hallie with all the pictures from her party and YOU CAN SEE IT HERE. (You don't have to sign in to see it) It was a gorgeous evening on the intracoastal waterway and we had a wonderful time with the relatives that were able to attend. Hard to believe we have a teenager now!! Hallie is such a blessing to our family and it was fun to celebrate her "growing up." Hope you enjoy looking through the book.

For the relatives that want to order pictures...HERE IS THE ALBUM on shutterfly where you can do that. I know Hallie really appreciated everyone that was able to come and she is so thankful for everyone's generosity in gifts. Thanks for helping her to have such a great time.

Christmas in Florida 2008

2009-01-19T00:43:00.007-05:00

Click HERE to immerse yourself into our memories of Christmas...give yourself some time...there are 176 pictures!
(Hallie's 13th Birthday will come later in a separate album) A few pictures you will have seen before on either Mary's or Donna's blogs, and/or a few on Facebook...but it was great to relive the wonderful time we had with both sides of our family during our two weeks in Florida. The weather was incredible and we truly enjoyed feeling the warm sun on our skin. I'm sure that extra dose of Vitamin D has helped us get through the past week here in the midwest that has been so brutally cold!

There are way too many pictures to caption so I'll just mention some of our activities here (mentioned in order of how they appear in the album)...
*Christmas Sunday with family and friends, seeing familiar faces
*Domino games, cousins having a great time with each other
*Christmas Eve with the Pedersens (way too much fun)
*Christmas morning with the Esteses (the two grand-dogs tolerated each other)
*Silly string fights (Carlie not thrilled with the mess)
*Christmas dinner with BOTH sides of the family (too much laughing for good digestion)...can I just say here and now that we are very blessed to have both sides of the family very willing to "share" holidays with us so that we don't have to divide so much of our time between the two families! Our children benefit greatly from having both sets of grandparents present at most of our activities and I know they don't realize how lucky they are...it seems normal to them. We have double the fun when we're all together and we really appreciate our families being so "blended". They truly like each other and enjoy spending time as "one big happy family." Thank you everyone!
*A fabulous dinner at Maggiano's with a crazy group of people
*Too many sleepovers with cousins to count!
*Garage saleing with grandparents
*Another Sunday service where SOME of us were taking pictures and SOME of us were trying to listen
*Driving past Tiger Woods's house under construction on Jupiter Island (not a whole lot to see!)
*A quick stop at Blowing Rocks for some pictures (Carlie wasn't with us)
*Paul, Zack, and Chris at a Florida Panthers hockey game
*Zack making money by pressure washing
*Paul and Rick at the Champs Bowl in Orlando
*New Year's Eve (staying up way too late!)

*Spending the last few minutes with cousins before heading on the long trip home.

Congratulations to those of you who make it through the whole album!

Thanks again to all our family and friends who make our vacations so special by spending time with us. And thanks for the great gifts...sorry it was another "IU t-shirt year" for some of you...we'll have to come up with something more creative next year. Another HUGE thanks to the very best sister in the whole world...we turn her house and her world upside down for two weeks but she takes it all in stride and says she likes it...it's a personality trait that most do not have (including me!).

We trust that everyone is having a fantastic 2009!

2008 Portraits

2009-01-12T11:22:00.003-05:00

I can't say that our children really enjoy the dreaded "photo session" and when they see me getting all set up there are definitely groans. However, I make it as quick and painless as I possibly can and they have to realize they are dealing with an amateur and I'm still learning! Lighting is my biggest issue and I've found out my best option is to tape the black backdrop to the garage door, set a stool in front of it and shoot away. It has to be a bright but non-sunny day otherwise there is too much squinting! I used to take their annual portraits in the early Spring after they had all their birthdays, but it has gotten later and later every year and now I make myself get it done at least a week before their next birthday!! I probably should save myself the hassle and take them back to Wal-Mart like I did for years, but I just can't see getting all those pictures and having them sit in a folder somewhere...it's just too easy to only order what I need (which isn't much). The album is below for the grandparents and relatives that want to order their own copies...I have chosen the first one in each grouping as the best but you may have a different opinion. 2008 Portraits...no longer on the to-do list.

PORTRAITS ALBUM

Korean Christmas Dinner

2009-01-12T10:03:00.003-05:00

One of our main events (pre-vacation) in December was our Korean Christmas Dinner. It's becoming an annual event because we are so blessed that here in Bloomington there is such a large population of Korean students and families. For the first time since moving here we were missing some of our dearest friends, the Baes, and some others that have finished their degrees and moved away. However, we've added some new friends and our group continues to grow. We had a wonderful time with everyone pitching in on the delicious food. Our children can't wait for these events because they have so much fun playing with their friends! You will see in the photo album that Brock doesn't mind being chased with Barbie dolls by several young girls! Hmmmmm...wonder what side of the family he gets that from?!?! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

SHUTTERFLY LINK

P.S. Dear Carmen, thanks for being patient....I'm getting around to the Florida Christmas pictures slowly but surely. There are hundreds of them to go through but I hope to have them on here soon. Thanks for you patience! Love, Aunt Jen

December 2008 Pictures (before we went on vacation)

2009-01-11T16:12:00.002-05:00

It's time to get caught up on December! It seemed like there were fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and what a difference it made...it was crazy! I put a collage of our Christmas decorations in the last post using Picasa 3 that seems so popular. It's a very cool program to use and free! Hope you enjoy them.

This album contains pictures of our one and only snow thus far...it was enough for sledding for one day and that was about it! There are also two picture from Hallie's 7th grade choir concert, a few pictures of some homemade clay projects the boys made for us at school and a few other things. My next blog will be pictures from our annual (or what is becoming annual) Korean Christmas dinner...stay tuned.

Here's the SHUTTERFLY LINK to see the pictures.

Christmas 2008 Decorations at our house

2009-01-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas Card to You...

2008-12-17T21:41:00.004-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

P.S. A complaint has been made by Paul that there are no pictures of me, and Brock wasn't happy that there was no picture of the family all together. Well, this is so last minute and we are leaving in a couple days for two weeks and I haven't packed a thing! It will have to do this time. Enjoy!

Hallie elfs herself, her siblings, and the dog!

2008-12-10T21:55:00.004-05:00

CLICK ON THIS LINK!

IU Sport Management Faculty Elf Dance!

2008-12-10T16:16:00.005-05:00

Just click on this ELF DANCE link to see our distinguished faculty members. It's pretty crazy if you know the four of them personally but funny even if you don't!

Thanksgiving in Virginia 2008

2008-12-10T10:04:00.009-05:00

About 15 minutes into our trip this duo was "out like a light." Ollie is quite the world traveler and does a great job. However, he is quite partial to the front seat!

We had to make a quick stop in Louisville so I could stop at Old Time Pottery and buy some hostess gifts (love that place!). Paul and the kids went next door to Bass Pro Shops.

Our wonderful host and hostess! They kept us full with delicious food and we had a wonderful time! Thank you Philip and Margaret! Come see us soon so we can return the hospitality!

Here are the cousins from oldest to youngest...Hallie P. (12 3/4), Zack P. (11), Annaliese E. (10), Andrew E. (8), Brock P. (7), Kirsten E. (6), Nate E. (4), Carlie P. (4), Kate E. (2).

Here are proud grandparents with their 9 people grandchildren and 1 granddog. (There is another granddog that is missing, Liz's Maggie).

We had a lot of fun doing a live broadcast from justin.tv.com. We set it up for Liz since she couldn't be with us (and we missed her!). However, we also were able to share it with several other relatives and friends and it was crazy!

We were happy that one of Paul's doctoral students and wife were able to join us for Thanksgiving Day since they live in Maryland. Unfortunately, on their way to see us a deer ran out in front of them and did some damage to their car!

Of course there were a lot of Domino games!

We went ice skating one day. It was a first for Brock and Carlie and everyone had a great time.

Carlie and Nate are two peas in a pod! They have such a great time together and there is always a lot of laughing!

Annaliese celebrated her 10th birthday while we were there. She had a special breakfast out with Philip, Paul, and Hallie. Then in the afternoon she, Hallie, and three friends got their nails done at a salon, and then we all ate at Golden Corral since it was the restaurant of Annaliese's choice. Happy Birthday, Annaliese!

After eating supper together Dad and Mom headed back to Florida and we headed for Indiana. Dad and Mom ran into an insane amount of traffic on I-95 and got home a lot later than they had planned. We ended up driving home all night and made it home in 10 hours. It was a terrific vacation and it's always great to be with family for the holidays!

There are a lot more fun pictures if you just click on this SHUTTERFLY LINK!

All I Want For Christmas....

2008-12-04T23:51:00.005-05:00

...is my two front teeth! (Actually Brock doesn't want his two teeth to come in before Christmas because he wants to show the Florida relatives first!)

This was the "before" picture when that one tooth was hanging on forever! The professional "tooth-puller" (not me, by the way), helped it along.

It's only 20 degrees outside and I should be in my warm bed but I thought I'd catch up on blogging instead! This is the fourth blog so far tonight so you may want to scroll down to "Miscellaneous" and get caught up. Or, you may want to do 101 other things that are more important...however, if so, you won't do very well on the pop quiz I'm giving later!

Stay tuned for Thanksgiving pictures...but don't hold your breath!

Denver - November 5-9, 2008

2008-12-04T23:34:00.003-05:00

Ooops...I just realized this happened before Carlie's birthday so should come after that post...confused?? Not important!

Anyway, Paul and I were able to fly out to Denver at the beginning of November for a conference he had there. THANKS TO LIZ who flew up to be with the kids, it was a wonderful little get-away for Paul and me and we had a wonderful time! Our hotel was right in the heart of downtown which was fun but we also spent a day traveling down to Pueblo (where Paul used to live) and we also visited Royal Gorge. The scenery is so different in Colorado and I feel like I could just drive around for hours being fascinated by the uniqueness of the West.

We didn't take too many pictures but the ones we did are at this SHUTTERFLY LINK. You are not allowed to watch them as a "slideshow" or "full screen" because then you will miss the captions I put on there! :-) I'm sure you're dying to read my additional info...HA...so just double click on the first picture to see a smaller version that includes the caption. (As if I have any control over the situation!)

We had a great time eating dinner with two of our cousins but we're hoping the relatives that we didn't get to see have forgiven us by now! We know they don't really want to see us without the kids anyway! We wish we had had more time...next time!

Carlie's 4th Birthday

2008-12-04T22:21:00.006-05:00

On November 19th, Carlie turned 4! She is a little tall for her age so people have been assuming she is this old for awhile but now it is official. After three years of "just the six of us" celebrating her birthdays, she finally had a "friends" party. We invited four of her little Sunday school friends and they had a wonderful time together. After seeing both her brothers celebrate in October, Carlie was a pro at the birthday thing. I was pretty thrilled with the outcome of the cake, partly in thanks to a video tutorial on the web that gave me some good pointers. Probably the biggest helpful hint was to wrap the bottom half of the Barbie doll in saran wrap so it wouldn't get icing all over!

Brock's gift just couldn't be beat! He gave Carlie his origami whale that he had made in Sunday school along with the study cards for his memory verse, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed." He was very serious about it and needless to say our children's pastor, who was in attendance, was thrilled (and highly amused) that the Sunday lesson was so gift-worthy! :-)

It seems that Grandma Pedersen (and Grandpa too) knows quite well that a Dora doll with a backpack filled with gum would be a huge hit! Wonder how she knew that??

Aunt Liz couldn't resist this apron with cakes and cupcakes all over it, since that is something special she and Carlie do together when Aunt Liz visits.

Hallie, Zack, and Brock are not sure how fair it is that Carlie's sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa Estes has an air mattress in the bottom of it and theirs don't!

Carlie helped me rake leaves a few days later and really enjoyed jumping in the piles...we love Fall!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG GIRL!

Here's the SHUTTERFLY ALBUM for the rest of the pictures.

Miscellaneous (because I've never used that title before)

2008-12-04T22:01:00.005-05:00

I just had to post a picture of these homemade cinnamon rolls I made a few weeks ago. I first tasted them at one of our church's Mom's meetings because my friend Anne brought them. She bakes something almost every day and LOVES TO BAKE!! They were delicious and I just had to try my hand at them. While kneading the dough I realized that I don't think I had ever kneaded dough before (I can't remember anyway)!! GASP! I know my friend Laura Hausman probably just passed out (I remember watching her make dough for rolls back in our college days). I think I've only made Sharon Addison's dinner rolls and you don't have to knead those. Anyway, they turned out great and I was VERY proud of my efforts. It made 24 cinnamon rolls so we enjoyed them for several days. It's the icing that tastes just like Cinnabon's if I do say so myself! Thanks for the recipe, Anne.

Here's a shutterfly album that has the pictures from Halloween, Election Day and a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo/White River Gardens. You don't have to sign in to see the pictures, just click on "View Pictures". I didn't put any captions. Stay tuned for Carlie's birthday blog...

Costume Fun

2008-11-07T11:23:00.006-05:00

I know I've already put these pictures on facebook, but I must blog about them for the relatives who aren't up-to-speed with the newest way to keep in touch! :-) The kids' costumes mostly came together on the last day or two...we hadn't put too much thought into it up to that point. What really helped was the great weather we were having. It allowed us to do very little layering and no coats, gloves, etc. Makes things a lot easier!

Carlie's chocolate shake was a recycled costume from Hallie who wore it in 1999. Carlie is more in the "princess" phase right now but this came out of the box first and it was definitely the easiest!

Brock's Ninja costume was recycled too! Zack wore it in 2002! Love those hand-me-downs!

Zack's costume was an idea from www.familyfun.com. The bones are white contact paper! The mask was $2 and we took the easy way out instead of making our own. For the gloves we just used white paint on a pair of black gloves I had. He was pretty pleased with the outcome.

Hallie's was a little more complicated and also came from www.familyfun.com. It was supposed to be a "granny" but we couldn't find a mask for her so it became "gramps". Hallie was definitely pleased with the results but her neck did hurt by the end of trick-or-treating with gramps under her chin the whole night.
Hope everyone had a great time and got lots of candy!

Happy 11th Birthday Zack...Happy 7th Birthday Brock!

2008-10-27T17:11:00.014-04:00

Each year is a different scenario regarding Zack's birthday and Brock's birthday. They are only 4 days apart! Brock was born three weeks early so it added an interesting twist to birthday celebration time. Some years we have completely separate parties. Other years we have had a joint party with both boys inviting their friends but definitely two separate cakes. This year we decided to make it a little easier and have a joint birthday party and a joint cake! Thank goodness! SpongeBob wasn't too awfully difficult but I can't imagine having to make another cake too. We also kept the guest list really small only inviting Zack's two best friends from school and Brock's good friend from school/neighborhood. Zack and Brock had a really great time and they'd like to thank the family members that sent them gifts and cards (Wow...is that the biggest cop-out for a handwritten thank-you note ever?...what has this world come to??).

I wasn't sure where to go with the theme this year but since Grandpa and Grandma Estes got them each a SpongeBob Lego set, we went with that. Thanks to Necco wafers and black string licorice for making it a little easier.

After eating some cake, we took all the kids to a farm close by that had a hayride, pumpkin patch, petting farm and hilarious little train ride that the big boys just HAD to go on. We were really looking forward to doing a corn maze but they weren't able to open that part of it this year. Oh well, the kids had fun running along the huge hay bales anyway. Hope you had a great birthday, Zack and Brock! We love you!

You can CLICK HERE to see the rest of the birthday picture album.

You can also CLICK ON THIS LINK to see the rest of the August/September/October photos that weren't in a previous album.

"Most blogs in one afternoon" award!!

2008-10-05T17:40:00.004-04:00

(Thanks for the sunflowers for my birthday, Liz! They inspire me to get the rest of the decorations out.............tomorrow!)

I skipped my Sunday afternoon nap for this and I deserve an award! Even if no one else thinks so. That's four blog entries (make that five) in two days and I'm going to consider myself caught up for now. It's not really true but it makes me feel better. You may want to start at the bottom with "Hoosiers Outrun Cancer" and work your way up...some of my comments may make more sense that way. Hope you enjoy seeing our family visitors from the past two months...we sure enjoyed having them here. Hope everyone is having a terrific October thus far!

Grandma Pedersen visits: 9/17-9/23/08

2008-10-05T16:27:00.007-04:00

Last but not least, Paul's mom came for a visit! We really enjoyed her being here and Carlie took full advantage of having Grandma to play with while the other children were at school. Grandma was staying in Carlie's bedroom so Carlie felt it her privilege to be in there whenever she well pleased! It worked out that Mom was able to watch one of Hallie's cross-country meets and one of Zack's football games and they enjoyed having another "fan" on the sidelines.

We also took Mom apple picking since she had never been before. It was a great excuse to visit Anderson Orchard for the fourth year in a row...we really love picking apples there. Another reason Mom likes to visit this time of year is so that she can visit her mom at her brother's house just two hours away. We were able to spend a few hours with the Smith relatives and it was really good to see Grandma Smith again.

Paul's 38th birthday took place while Mom was here so she got to help him celebrate. I made an apple tart with our freshly picked apples for the occasion! So, we kept her busy but it was a great time together and next time we hope she can bring Dad with her. Thanks for visiting, Mom!

Here is the SHUTTERFLY LINK to see the rest of the pictures.

Grandpa & Grandma Estes visit: 9/5-9/9/08

2008-10-05T15:41:00.005-04:00

The next visitors we had were my mom and dad. We ordered some beautiful weather for them and my number one goal was accomplished to some degree...they were able to actually relax a little! We live about 20 minutes from a huge lake so we rented a pontoon boat and spent a gorgeous afternoon out on the water. The kids had a lot of fun on the "tube" and Ollie got a lot of swimming in that day. That evening the "boys" were able to go to an IU football game while we "girls" did some shopping.

The next day we were able to meet up with the Tilleys who go WAY back with Dad and Mom. We enjoyed visiting the cabin where they were staying in Brown County and the four of them had a lot to catch up on!

We so enjoyed having "Grandpa and Grandma" here and I just love it when our children can spend quality time with that generation! It's soooo important!! Thanks, Dad and Mom, for coming to visit...come back any time!!

NOTE: For those of you who aren't on facebook, you may not know that Dad had a cardiac catheterization this past week with angioplasty and three stents put into place. He had a couple areas of 80-90% blockage and we're just thankful that he only had some short episodes of chest pain that made him aware of the bigger problem. He is doing well and we're very thankful for all the prayers and support from those of you who knew about it. By the way, for those of you who live near him, if you see him at Dunkin Donuts...kindly tell him that Jen said "Go Home!!"

Here is the SHUTTERFLY LINK for the rest of the pictures.

Aunt Liz visits: 8/7-8/11/2008

2008-10-05T14:30:00.005-04:00

I was in the mood to catch up on some pictures and after being at it for about 20 minutes I've already lost the motivation. However, I'm going to try to stick with it and at least get through the months of August and September! We had three different visits by family members and we really appreciated them making the effort to come see us so I want to get those pictures on here as a way to thank them.

The first visit was from Liz. She came to help the children have some last-minute summer fun before the school year started. When she lived in Indianapolis, she enjoyed attending the Indiana State Fair so we went right from the airport to the fair. It was "IU Day" at the fair so we got a lot of freebies including bags to put all the stuff in. You HAVE to have fair food so we tried several favorites but no deep fried Twinkies or deep fried Oreos for us! Thankfully it was a beautiful day because sometimes August can be really hot. We had a lot of fun.

And let me just tell you a little bit about my sister, in case you didn't already know. She is the most giving, sweet, kind, unselfish, loving, smart, gracious, etc. sister you will ever find. (Not to mention that she can entertain like nobody's business, decorate better than Martha, cook as good as Emeril, be a huge help to church ministry, and the list goes on). [She's single and available too...some guy is really going to win the jackpot one of these days!] Soooooo, when we found out Liz was coming to visit, Paul and I asked her if she would mind if we spent a couple nights in Louisville just as a little get-away. Of course she said yes and I know for a fact that she actually enjoys spending that time alone with the kids. And, of course, they love it too because she spoils them rotten!

So, Paul and I had a very relaxing, refreshing couple of days just getting away to do some sightseeing on our own. One bonus of going to Louisville was the chance to meet up with Julie (Tilley) Vick and her husband Kent. Julie and I have been friends for a very long time and she is such a great friend. We don't get to spend very much time together but when we are together it is just like old times and better! She is a really fantastic person and we enjoyed getting to know Kent better and he's great too! Thanks for dinner, you two! And thanks, Liz, once again for giving Paul and me some valuable time together. We are so grateful!

Here is the SHUTTERFLY LINK for the rest of the pictures. I did put a few captions on but I may not bother next time because I noticed that if you watch the slideshow they don't even show up!

Hoosiers Outrun Cancer

2008-10-04T23:40:00.010-04:00

We are so proud of Hallie today! She did a 5K run for "Hoosiers Outrun Cancer" in memory of her great-grandma (Geneva Cude - my dad's mom), and her great uncle (Joe Pedersen - Paul's dad's brother). She ran the whole time (no walking) and it's a longer distance than any of her cross country meets and her time was really good. She did such a good job and it was a fun experience for her. There were over 5,000 people involved in today's events, the majority of them for the 5K run. Her cross country season ended on Wednesday but as much as she has enjoyed running, I know this isn't the end of it. Paul is looking forward to a treadmill neighbor over at the YMCA when he jogs. Hallie will be great motivation for him.

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While we're on the subject of Hallie.....you know how some people sing in the shower...well, Hallie creates poems in the shower. She's done it quite a few times. She tries to write them down when she gets back to her room so she doesn't forget. I was the happy recipient of one of these poems since she gave it to me for my birthday...

Mom, I can not explain,
How wonderful you are in words.
Great is too simple,
And amazing is for the birds.
So, I'll give you a big hug,
Tell you you're one of a kind,
Spectacular, magnificent, and so glad that you're mine.

(Crazy sombrero but good fried ice cream!)

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Aunt Liz and Aunt Donna get kind of cranky when I don't put enough pictures on here so just a couple more to appease them until I can get a whole album uploaded.

No way my "baby" is going to be four in just over a month!

This was exactly a month ago when Grandpa and Grandma Estes were here. We rented a pontoon boat to take out on the lake...even Ollie got to join in on the fun!

Carlie's Early Birthday Present

2008-09-17T11:36:00.003-04:00

Acre Visit

2008-08-23T13:16:00.005-04:00

Hallie (12), Patrick (11), Zack (10), Brock (6), Miranda (6), Carlie (3)

The day after school started for us, our "Michigan cousins" arrived to play! Patrick and Miranda don't start school until the day after Labor Day so they were our last link to summer vacation. Michelle and I did a terrible job of taking pictures but mainly the cousins just played and played together and had a great time. It had been nine months since we had been together and that is just way too long for a distance of only eight hours between our homes! Thanks for making the trip, Michelle! CLICK HERE for a few pictures on shutterfly.

Life in the fast lane

2008-08-21T00:35:00.003-04:00

I'm really not sure what inspired me to write this goofy blog...maybe it's just really late and I'm in zombie mode and don't really know what I'm doing. I'm waiting on a load of laundry so my clean sheets can go back on the bed...why am I doing them this late? They came off the bed a lot earlier in the day but as you will see...I got a little side tracked and the job just never got done. My day doesn't usually look like this although it has been a little nutty lately. Today was just a lot worse than usual and I think it's rather hilarious how it all went. Only those closest to me will really care about this and even then that's questionable. Oh well, this is more interesting than folding clothes. I know some of you will think that this is nothing compared to your day...believe me, I'm not deceived into thinking that my day is harder than anyone else's and I certainly didn't do anything to change the world. It was actually quite fun since there was nothing difficult or painful. Here's how it went...I should have known it was going to be a doozy when the first thing happened at 5:00am.

5:05 - Carlie wakes me up for a drink of milk....have no idea why the early morning for her, she's wide awake it seems so I set her up with PBS Sprout or something like that and crawl back in bed...(thank you, thank you, I know I deserve an award for my mothering skills!)
5:55 - Alarm goes off, make sure Hallie is up and getting ready for cross country
- Pack sack breakfast and sack lunch...make sure her change of clothes is ready
6:20 - Leave for the middle school (this is my first time, Paul usually does it)
7:00 - Reset the alarm and crawl back in bed
8:00 - Alarm goes off...wake the boys up, get their lunches ready, etc.
8:35 - The boys are off to school...Paul takes them. Put Carlie back to bed.
9:00 - Fix Paul breakfast (I very rarely do this!), lay down on the couch, read for a few minutes, chat with Paul...
10:00 - Out like a light!! I couldn't keep my eyes open if you paid me...I didn't go to bed on time last night!
11:00 - Carlie is up, fix her some food, get her dressed, do some clean-up, take my shower and get ready for the day...HA!
12:00 - Help Paul get his stuff together for a two day trip to Urbana, IL with his publishing company.
12:30 - Since the van is getting a new starter, drive Paul to the golf course where the sport management department is having their inaugural golf tournament that Paul set up.
1:00 - Carlie and I run to Wal-Mart and buy everything on my list and then some...had to hurry because...
2:30 - Pick up Hallie from middle school, then we went back inside the school to figure out why her P.E. locker is giving her such fits...figured it out, then drop Carlie and Hallie off at home.
3:15 - drive to the elementary school to pick up Zack and Brock, bring them home.
3:45 - drive Zack to the golf course because he really wants to hang out with his dad and ride in the golf cart.
4:10-4:30 - park the car halfway between home and the auto mechanic, walk about five blocks, pay for the new starter, drive the van home, I ride the bike while Hallie rides the scooter to where I parked Paul's car, put the scooter in the car and Hallie rides the bike home, drive the car home.
4:45 - Hallie, Carlie, Brock and I leave the house to drive to the golf course so we can take Paul to Enterprise so he can pick up his car for the trip and so we can say good-bye to him.
5:30 - take Paul to Enterprise, get the car, follow him back to the golf course so we can pick up Zack, hang out for a few minutes to see who won and say our good-byes.
6:30 - drive Hallie to our church so she can attend the junior high beginning-of-the-year cookout and get-to-know-you time.
6:55 - drive a few blocks to the mall so the rest of us can eat at Chick-Fil-A for supper (I know, I know, another award for a home-cooked meal). Peek in a couple stores. Pick up my free 2 oz. lotion from Bath & Body Works.
8:00 - pick Hallie up from church, head for home
8:15-8:40 - supervise the bedtime routine for the three youngest including showers, reading time, etc.
8:40-9:15 - make sure Hallie has everything she needs for tomorrow, help her with one math question, off to bed she goes. (By the way, she absolutely loves running for the cross country team and they have their first meet this Saturday. She said this morning's run was challening but "it felt really good." Is she crazy? They will switch to afternoon practice times in a couple weeks so this early morning stuff won't be quite as bad! I'm counting the days!)
9:15 till now (12:30am)- put all the Wal-Mart stuff away that was still sitting in bags on the counter, clean up the kitchen, do two loads of laundry, talk to Paul four times since there was a mix-up with his hotel room and he didn't have the right phone number for his host (problem resolved), take out the trash and recycling, yawn a lot, write this crazy email....
From now and for the next hour - put the next load of wash in the dryer, probably eat another snack (Chick-Fil-A was a long time ago) and then spend a good hour in devotions (as my cute husband would say).
Then, start the whole thing over again at 5:55 this morning...do you see another late morning nap in my future? I sure do. Tomorrow will be much quieter with just Carlie and me here and Paul is out of town. It will be a "quiet" day from 9-2:30 and then the craziness starts again...not as crazy, though.

OK...that's enough babbling on for me...I don't even have a picture to add since I'm on the laptop. I know, I know...not even worth your time without a picture of some sort...sorry! I'll do better next time.

Another School Year Has Started!

2008-08-13T09:37:00.008-04:00

I just couldn't resist putting the "first day of school" pictures in here from 2005, our first year here. Only two in school then and Carlie was just a baby. How quickly time flies and how fast they grow!! Unbelievable!

Well, we're off and running! What a change in the schedule this will be! Hallie has gotten us a little used to it because she has been practicing with the middle school cross country team each morning for the past week and a half, but that was just one person and we could go back to bed afterwards! Thankfully, though, everyone was very excited to be back in school. Carlie and Ollie are taking it in stride and kind of enjoying the house to themselves, at least for a little while. It's definitely challenging to have one child starting school at 8:00 and the other two at 9:00, but because Paul is able to take Hallie and I can take the boys, it works out just fine. Hallie is thrilled to be in middle school and she has a lot of great opportunities academic-related and sports-related this year (not to mention being able to have her own locker stocked full of cool stuff from Aunt Liz!). Zack is already full swing into the football season and he is thrilled to back in it. Brock is excited to be back in school with a classroom full of friends. Hopefully he doesn't notice this morning that he went to school without any breakfast!! (I'll accept my mother-of-the-year award later). He was too busy trying on his new shoes and he's not a big breakfast eater anyway...I didn't realize it until I got home from dropping him off! Yikes! At least he's got a big lunch to make up for it.

Liz left yesterday afternoon and we miss her already! It was so great to have her here for a few days...come back soon, Liz!! Meanwhile, I'd better get busy on this house as we are happy that Michelle, Miranda and Patrick are driving down from Michigan to spend the weekend with us. They don't start school for a little while and we haven't seen each other in nine months so it's definitely time for a visit!

Hope everyone else has a successful "first day of school", whenever it is.

2008 Florida Family Vacation

2008-07-28T18:04:00.004-04:00

Four full weeks of hanging out with relatives...are we crazy?? One week in Virginia and three weeks in Florida...we had a wonderful time seeing all members of both sides of our immediate families except for the four Acres in Michigan (where were you guys??). The three weeks in Florida would not have been possible without the generosity of my wonderful sister, Liz, who allowed us to stay in her spacious two-story townhouse for the entire time. It was the perfect set-up because there was room enough for us to entertain friends and family ourselves, plus we had access to her pool, plus she was able to stay with us and we didn't feel guilty for kicking her out of her own house. THANK YOU, LIZ!!! It was a very busy vacation trying to spend as much time with everyone as we could but it was a great way to spend our July.

Just click on this SHUTTERFLY ALBUM LINK to see all the pictures. I put captions on a lot of the pictures so if you watch the small slideshow you will see them. WARNING: you will see many pictures of "penny on the dominoes"...thanks to the Huff family we are officially hooked and it's a game that anyone age 5 and up can enjoy. You will also see quite a few pictures that are less than professional quality. I think my batteries may have been low or something because I'm not real thrilled with some of them. As usual, I'm sad about missing a few picture opportunities like, the four children with each set of grandparents, or ANY pictures of the four children together at the ocean, or the four children with Aunt Liz (we'll remedy that when she arrives here in Indiana next week for six days!), and a few others. Oh well, we were too busy having fun. Thanks to all our Florida family and friends for spending time with us! Now it's your turn for a visit!

Happy Birthday, Mom and Grandma!

2008-07-25T12:01:00.005-04:00

Today we want to say Happy Birthday to a special person who is our mom, mom-in-law, and grandma. To most people she is known as Candy....speaking of which, Carlie always knows she can find special candy treats in Grandma's purse....speaking of which, it will always be a Coach purse...speaking of which, she also has Coach shoes....speaking of which she has A WHOLE LOT OF SHOES that I love to bug her about. Oh, if only we wore the same size!!!

(I saw this interesting shoe wheel on the web...Mom would need SEVERAL of these!)

But more than Coach purses or shoes, she LOVES her family!! We just enjoyed three weeks of special times together and we know Mom is counting down the days until the next family get-together.

Mom is 61 years young today and we are wishing her a very, very, Happy Birthday with many more to come.

P.S. Check out Donna's blog (listed on the right) for another birthday tribute to Mom.
P.P.S. Check out that "light orange" key lime pie in the picture above. It's a special kind. (Sorry, Mom, I couldn't resist!) I was told by others that it was delicious anyway!

Another name for Kleenex

2008-07-23T18:58:00.004-04:00

When we were in the car yesterday, Carlie asked me, "Mommy, why do you have those bless-yous in the car?" It took us a minute or two to figure out what she was talking about but finally we figured out it was the box of kleenex. I guess between the word "tissues" and all the "bless yous" when someone sneezes....she thought that's what they were called!

The outfit above is courtesy of the following people....sunglasses from Grandma Pedersen, shirt and purse from Aunt Liz, gauchos from Grandma Estes, and black flip-flops from mommy. Bringing her back home and away from all her spoiling relatives has been a little jolt of reality but Carlie is adjusting OK so far. I must say she did feel pretty much in charge of the world down there!

P.S. I have promised my dear niece that I would post the Florida vacation photos just as soon as her uncle brings the laptop home from school. It will be fun to "relive" all our great memories of the three weeks we spent with everyone in Hobe Sound/Stuart. I must say, though, that we are thoroughly enjoying our upper-70's weather right now and I knew we were home in Bloomington when I looked out the window the day after we got back and a doe and her two spotted fawns were walking right in our yard! An incredible sight!

Pictures from Virginia (only 200+)

2008-07-02T12:38:00.003-04:00

If you care to browse through our Virginia vacation photos you can click HERE to see them. There are a lot of pictures but each one has a memory for those of us involved so it was hard to delete any. There are some incriminating photos of Dr. Paul M. Pedersen but I love that he's willing to just have a good time and let others laugh at his expense! I didn't take the time to caption any of the pictures...just email me with questions!

Thanks to Philip and Margaret for allowing us to use their home as vacation central this year. As a family we decided to save some money and not rent a vacation home...gas is expensive enough! We had a great time and the scenery in Virginia is amazing. We found the most obscure swimming hole in all of Virginia and it was quite the hike to get there...but the laughs on the way there and the scenery all around us made it all worth it.

It was definitely a great way to start off our vacation...relaxing, uncomplicated (or as much as can be with 9 grandkids, 12 and under!), and spent with family. Now we are in the sunny south which actually has been quite un-sunny so far. We're hoping for some improvement in the weather very soon but no matter what we'll enjoy the time spent with more family members and close friends.

Now That's More Like It!

2008-06-16T21:11:00.006-04:00

This evening's weather is pretty much idyllic and after last week's unseasonal heat wave it feels absolutely perfect!! It called for an impromptu picnic at one of our local parks and Zack introduced us to a waterfall we had never seen before. The windows are wide open, the breeze is blowing, and it's so relaxing. I just wanted to blog about it so when we are roasting later in the summer we'll have this to come back to and remember!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T13:02:00.008-04:00

Happy Father's Day to a guy who exceeds all expectations of who I wanted as the father of my children!! He keeps the kids guessing as to what opportunity they are going to experience next and they always need to be prepared for anything! They may need therapy later on but boy do they have stories to tell. One thing they know for sure, they are a priority in their Dad's life and they can go to him for ANYTHING and he will be there to listen and help. Thanks, Babe, for being such a great dad to our children...you are amazing!

More pictures from our Canada trip.

2008-06-04T00:02:00.006-04:00

Here are a few more pictures (in no particular order) from Niagara Falls and Toronto. I'm especially partial to the "rainbow" ones since it appeared right as we were walking back to our car to leave. It was a splendid display of God's promise to never flood the earth again! None of us had ever seen the beginning AND end of a rainbow and we felt especially privileged to witness it. It was so sunny and the heavy mist from the Falls was raining down on me as I was taking the picture so I really couldn't even see what I was doing...I just hoped for the best.

Will you get tired of seeing our Indiana sweatshirts?? Probably! Oh well...they were the perfect attire for the weather that day.

This is the CN Tower in Toronto.

The last two pictures were taken at the Toronto Zoo. We went with a friend and her two little girls, Zoe and Ava. We were also able to go to the Ontario Science Center which was great. Riding the subway and then a bus to get to the Science Center was half the fun!

While we were in Canada, Paul and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary! This particular academic conference is ALWAYS over our anniversary but at least we were on vacation! (I must confess that without cell phone service, no kitchen calendar to remind us, and the usual losing track of time on vacation...neither one of us remembered it was our anniversary until Mom Pedersen sent an ecard that morning!) We got a good laugh out of it anyway!

Niagara Falls

2008-05-29T20:14:00.009-04:00

Just a few pictures from Niagara Falls. Don't worry, there are about 100 more where these came from....maybe another day! The weather was PERFECT and the scenery was incredible!

TENURE!!!!!!

2008-05-07T19:48:00.020-04:00

After eight long months and many levels of evaluation, we received final word last Friday that Paul was granted tenure here at Indiana University! This entire academic process started back in 1988 when during the second semester of Paul's freshman year he received the award of "Most Improved GPA!" It's been a wild uphill ride ever since.

There is so much to be said about this entire 20 year process but guess what, I'm not going to say it! (or not much of it anyway) It's so difficult to explain in just a little blog entry but I can say this, Paul absolutely loves what he does, I absolutely love what he does, he works hard because he doesn't know how to do it any other way, and he does it all so that he can take care of his family for the long haul. Tenure gives him the ability to close that chapter of his academic life and open up a whole new chapter where he will enjoy his job even more.

Paul has gone through a whole range of emotions since receiving final word on tenure...all I can say is WATCH OUT if you're going to be with him this summer...he is feeling pretty perky and we all know that things can get a little crazy (crazier) when that happens. Another thing that was really nice last Friday is Paul finished writing his portion of another textbook of which he is co-author. So even though he's already teaching a class during Summer I and will teach an on-line course in Summer II...we plan on having the most "normal" summer that we've had in a VERY long time!

OK...let's move on to the pictures now before I start going into the details that I promised I would spare you from. I'll try to let the pictures speak for the journey instead (remember, you can click on the pictures to make them larger).

This is where it all started. There were a bunch of crazy people graduating that year! This was only a week after Paul and I got married...we had just gotten back from our honeymoon! Associate of Arts degree.

Next we have a Bachelor's Degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Next is a degree from Emerson College in Boston. This is the only graduation we didn't attend. We had already moved back to Florida by this time.

On to University of Central Florida for another Masters in another field of study...do we see "professional student" happening here? (I was pregnant with Zack)

Florida State University, the final degree...a PhD! Dr. Paul M. Pedersen! We had a lot of fun celebrating with the family and friends that were able to come to Tallahassee that day.

Paul's first semester after graduation he stayed right at FSU and taught the Spring semester. Then we got a job at Bowling Green State University for that Fall and moved to begin our first official job!! (We enjoyed being only two hours away from Dad and Mom Estes)

Our next job was back in Florida at Paul's alma mater where he started PBA's Sport Management program. We had a great time being near all our family and friends again, but after two years we moved to...

Indiana University! And this is where we will be the most settled in EVER! Paul and I will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary at the end of this month and we are living in our tenth home! Can we help it?? We both come from families who did that all our lives...it's in our blood....until now??!!?!?!

Just a few short years ago Paul was getting "hooded" and now he gets to hood his own doctoral students. These pictures are from last Saturday when he hooded his second and third students (Dr. Andrea Eagleman and Dr. Galen Clavio). Andrea will be a professor at Saint Mary's University in California and Galen is at the University of Miami. This is one of his favorite parts...helping the doctoral students figure out their careers and then guide them in getting a job.

Remember this crazy stack of stuff?? The tenure dossier that resulted in...TENURE!

Hallie, Zack, Brock, and Carlie have hung right in there with us and they are very proud of their Dad!! Don't even get me started on what I think of this man...he is unbelievable and if I say any more than that the tears will start to fall! Seriously!

I hope you haven't minded my little walk down memory lane and I hope you don't mind us sharing the good news. What it means for all of you is...now you know where we will be so plan a visit our way and let us show you around our town. We'd love to have you visit!

Mommy Gone For A Week!

2008-04-24T14:10:00.004-04:00

Last week was definitely an interesting one in our lives with me being gone for seven whole days (OK, I was home for 10 hours part way through)! I don't know that I've ever been away from the kids that long...EVER! Korea in February 2006 would have come close but even that wasn't seven days. Anyway, from early Sunday morning to late Tuesday night I was in Florida for Grandma's funeral. Then about 9:30 Tuesday morning to Sunday afternoon I was in Memphis at a conference with Paul. We didn't plan on both things happening in the same week but that's the way it went.

Paul did a fantastic job, as usual, taking care of the kids while I was in Florida. It was party central with Daddy in charge and Hallie, Zack, Brock, and Carlie made the most of their free time, without bossy Mom around :-) I laid out their clothes for the three days and left a little extra food in the fridge, but other than that they were on their own. Paul is unintimidated and has no problem stepping in to take over and he does a wonderful job with all four.

Meanwhile, "Aunt" Liz had already planned on being here the rest of the week since I was going to be in Memphis with Paul. We were able to fly back from Florida within 20 minutes of each other on different airlines. The kids had taken a nap so they could stay up late to see us arrive and of course they seemed bigger and older to me just in three short days! After they went back to bed, I did some re-packing so that Paul and I could head out in the morning.

Then, after getting the kids off to school in the morning, Paul and I were out the door to Memphis. It was amazing to be able to just walk away from everything knowing that Liz had it completely under control and the kids were absolutely thrilled that Aunt Liz would be in charge for the rest of the week. Because Liz has been to Bloomington before, and because she knows our children so well, I didn't even have to leave any written instructions, or any directions, and there were maybe two phone calls the whole time asking a question. I wish everyone had the chance for an Aunt Liz!! Memphis was so relaxing for me mainly because I knew that the children were having a blast with Liz and I knew that she truly enjoyed spending time with them. What a blessing! I was able to shop, shop, shop (I had been saving up for quite awhile knowing that my opportunity was coming), while Paul was at the conference. Then we were able to have several date nights in a row...WOW! Times like that are definitely needed every once in awhile for parents! Thanks a million, Liz, for giving us the opportunity. We miss you!

Click this SHUTTERFLY LINK to see just a few more pictures.

Liz had to leave Monday morning and since then I have had to do a few things to catch up on a week's absence. Twelve loads of laundry and counting...I'm not done yet! It was totally worth it though and I don't even mind because I love my "job" and it's wonderful to be back in our little routine again. The weather when I left for Florida last Sunday was in the mid-30's and now we are staying in the upper 70's and low 80's...Spring has finally sprung!

My pictures from Grandma's Celebration Service

2008-04-24T13:13:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to add my photos from April 15th...Grandma's funeral. Some of them are repeats from Mary and Charlene but I may have a couple new ones. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and it was so enjoyable to be with the cousins again. I just wish all of our families could have been there for another family reunion! The service for Grandma was especially meaningful and everyone that participated did a great job of paying tribute. What wonderful memories we all have of her!

Just click on the SHUTTERFLY LINK to see the photos.

Things I Remember About Grandma

2008-04-11T12:46:00.005-04:00

Grandma and Paul hanging out in our apartment in Boston (1992).

My wedding day (5/31/91).

Mary did a great job blogging about Grandma and what she meant to all of us. She was indeed a special lady and she had a huge impact on my growing up years. We even got to live with Grandpa and Grandma for about 10 months when we came back for a time from Korea. The list of memories is endless in regards to Grandma but I thought I would just put a few of the fun memories I have in bullet points and let those of you who knew her well relate to some of them. Some of them will be reminders of the house at 111 Mary Street but they are deeply intertwined with my memories of Grandma so it's hard to separate them. Some of the memories I have won't mean much to some of you but I hope you don't mind. I don't even know where to start and I won't take the time to organize them so I'll just type them as they come to my memory....

- The story of Pamenondus (sp?) during bath time (I have tried in vain to find any version of this story in print!). Also the "three-men-in-a-tub" rhyme told in a sing-song voice over and over again to little ones getting a bath.

- Leaning over the kitchen sink while Grandma rinsed my hair in vinegar to make it shiny?!?!

- That crazy heavy dishwasher that she had to roll around the kitchen...the rugs rolled up waiting to be put back in place.

- And what about all those rugs?? She was determined to keep those carpets nice...I don't blame her with all of us grandchildren traipsing in and out of the house!

- The squeaks and groans of the infamous basement stairs.

- The creaks of the floorboards as you walked through the living room...I finally learned where to step to avoid them.

- That huge, huge fan with the mosquito netting on it, set up on that old black/aluminum chair at the dining room door trying to keep the breeze blowing into the house. Then later in the day Grandma would move it to the bedroom hallway to keep the air flowing.

- The big picture window in the dining room.

- The cabinets on the back porch and the cabinets in the basement with all kinds of interesting gardening things in them. The smell of the dirt/fertilizers/etc. all mixed in together.

- The tennis rackets used to "try" to keep the moths out of the garden.

- The tire swing and pools that Mary already mentioned.

- The clothes line apparatus in the middle of the backyard, not to mention that crazy one with all the metal spokes coming out of it.

- All the fruit lined up on the counter getting ripe.

- The speakers in the kitchen that Grandma tried to have fixed many times...they were touchy.

- The jello with WAY too much fruit in it that Grandma worked on tirelessly every Saturday afternoon. Homemade whipped cream.

- That wonderful deep freeze in the basement. Can anyone say "Pepperidge Farm??!"

- Grandma's place at the table where she could hop up if anyone needed anything...always being the last to finish her meal with her hot cup of decaf or tea in a pretty teacup.

- The corner china cabinet that had a wonderful smell to it.

- Those cane back chairs in the dining room.

- The cupboards in the den that held all sorts of surprises and that I had fun organizing many times over.

- Grandma whistling or humming as she went about her work.

- "Flying" to Giant supermarket with Grandma for some last minute items for supper. I was with her when she got stopped one time! :-)

- Broiled fish done to perfection on "fish days."

- Hard rolls (Pepperidge Farm, of course) warmed up in that side part of the oven and ALWAYS real butter.

- Ring dings have already been mentioned but what about Lido and Milano cookies!!!

- The "blue" room with a fan on, with the hum of traffic going by, just perfect for taking a Sunday afternoon nap.

- The two brown couches that had many configurations over the years. I laid there being taken care of when I had chicken pox back in the second (?) grade.

- Grandma's "ironing area" in the den and the clothes hanging on the door. This is one trait I did not inherit (or refuse to inherit).

- Grandma's "frustration" when she would be helping me with my homework and Dad would come up and say things like, "'f', as in elephant."

- The wonderful breakfast nook table and those comfy yellow chairs.

- All the beautiful flowers, bushes, garden items around the house. Those funny looking things Grandma put in the flower beds to keep the deer and dogs away.

- Monday lunch...cold roast beef on delicious bread (Pepperidge Farm, of course), cheese, and fresh lettuce from Grandma's garden, washed meticulously before it would go on my sandwich.

- Yellow beans in milk, rutabaga, Welch rarebit...yum!

- Carob chip cookies...OK, not so yum, sorry Grandma!

- Vitamins, cold prune juice in little glass bottles...tolerable.

- Popcorn, apples, grape juice (with a little orange in it) before church on Sunday night.

- Mentos in Grandma's purse in church!

- Grandma's ALWAYS neat appearance...she was a classy lady!

- The metal file she used to do her nails and always pushing her cuticles back...she always wished she had my Dad's half moons under her nails.

- Picking up neighborhood kids in her car or others that needed a ride on the way to church.

- Hearing her tell stories during junior church.

- Seeing Grandma pore over missionary papers and books about missionaries. She was definitely a missionary right in Binghamton, NY!

- Don't even get me started on the memories from the campground and Grandma's room!

- All the tablecloths she took great care of to set a pretty table.

- The vacuum cleaner at the entrance to the kitchen where she was "just finishing up" when we would come to visit. :-)

- The unconditional love that I felt in Grandma's hugs...I never doubted it for a minute!

- I also love her for being so wonderful to Paul and for loving Hallie, Zack, Brock, and Carlie so much. She always made them feel special.

And the list could go on. I also want to echo a lot of what Mary said about Grandma's character and her servant heart in helping others. Grandma meant so very much to me and I will miss her dearly, however, knowing she is happiest where she is right now is very comforting! At least the Lord will get two vegetables with every meal now!!

Korean Celebration Dinner

2008-04-08T23:31:00.010-04:00

Last Friday night we had a "Korean Celebration Dinner" to celebrate several occasions with our wonderful Korean friends. Three of them will be finishing up degrees in the next few weeks and one of the families will be moving from Bloomington to Michigan to take a new teaching job. We also wanted to celebrate the birthdays of JoonSuk and InAe who have become very dear friends of ours in the three years that we have been here. They too will be moving from Bloomington in the very near future since they have accomplished what they came here to do. We will miss them very dearly but we can't wait to visit them in Korea someday! Their two boys are Zack's best friends and we have enjoyed many occasions with this wonderful family. We always have such a great time with this group and it was a bittersweet occasion knowing that we wouldn't be together again like that since there were many changes coming up. I guess that's why the party didn't end until after midnight! The pictures will tell more of the story so we'll leave it at that.

Please click on this SHUTTERFLY LINK to see the photo album.

P.S. You may notice that Hallie, Zack, JongHoon, and SungHoon are missing from all the pictures. The four of them were at the public library for the evening shooting the new promotional DVD for the library's summer reading program. This is the third year they've done it and they quite enjoy their little acting gig.

Check out Hallie's Blog

2008-04-03T01:13:00.003-04:00

If you go to Hallie's blog (listed in the right hand column), you'll get to see what she got to participate in on Wednesday. There hasn't been a US President or past US President in this town for 90 years! So it's only Bill, but hey, he WAS the president!

Unfortunately for him, he was a little bit upstaged by the "bigger" news in town which was the naming of our new basketball coach. Everyone seems very excited by the new hire and it looks like we have a quality guy this time. Needless to say, our little town was a-buzzin' today.

You can also see that Hallie's swelling is down and back to normal. Her mouth healed up quite nicely, thankfully. Of course now we're back to soft foods for a few more days because she got her braces tightened on Tuesday and now she has new rubberbands that form a triangle shape from top to bottom. At night she has to reposition them and it keeps her mouth closed completely. Crazy! Progress is being made though and she'll have this whole mess done with before she ever reaches high school!

Feel free to leave comments on Hallie's blog...she loves to get them!

Brock

2008-03-27T18:12:00.017-04:00

Apparently Brock and a couple of his friends were "pretend fighting" in the bathroom the other day instead of staying on task. Brock's choice for punishment was writing a letter to Paul and me. It's definitely one for the keepsake box!

FRUM BROCK

I BETIND I PUNCH JAAVIN IN THE BAFOOM AT SCOOL WIN IT WUS ARE FRST BAFOOM. IM SARE.

(I pretend I punch Javin in the bathroom at school when it was our first bathroom [break]. I'm sorry.)

While we're talking about Brock, I'll post a few pictures of his "date" with Dad the other day. He was so excited to have time alone with Dad and the pictures will explain most of what they did. He even got his first Webkins animal which he's really been wanting!

Pacers vs. Knicks

2008-03-18T10:02:00.007-04:00

Paul was given last minute tickets yesterday for the Indiana Pacers vs. New York Knicks game in Indianapolis. The student had a connection or two, thus the pictures with Isiah Thomas. They had a great time. Thanks for the tickets, Ty!

A few things going on around here...

2008-03-04T09:44:00.011-05:00

Don't worry, this post will include current photos/info, not pictures from last summer! My "picture mess," that has been invading my dining room table for a few weeks now, is coming along great and I'm so excited to see light at the end of the tunnel. Who knew that you could actually be about five years behind on photos and eventually get caught up??!! It has been a major undertaking, using some pictures for baby books x4, some for school scrapbooks x3, a "first year" photo album for Carlie, and then the regular family photo albums. Plus, there were pictures that had been pulled out of photo frames and extras from here there and everywhere. OK, enough about that. I've got to get the rest finished in the next day or two since we have a professor friend from Miami coming this week and also Dad and Mom Estes arrive on Friday for a few days' stay. I hope all three of them are ready for some coooooold weather! On Friday night it will be a Real Feel temperature of -1 degrees!! We enjoyed 60ish degree weather for Sunday and Monday but now it is just cold and rain, rain, rain. Our yard is looking swampy! Here is Carlie singing Row, Row, Row your boat...

Here is Brock's new look...the bottom tooth was first out last week and then the top tooth came out this week (with help from Dad, of course). I have a feeling he'll be sporting this look for quite some time since the other top tooth isn't all that loose yet. The size of that top tooth wasn't very "babyish!"

Hallie and Zack both finished their Upwards Basketball seasons on Saturday. Both teams won their game so that was a fun way to end it. Hallie scored 12 of her team's 14 points and Zack scored 6 for his team. The newest Family Fun magazine had a great snack idea so I had to try it out. I didn't go hunting for chocolate basketballs so that element got skipped. Also, they don't really stand up all that great so we went with the laying down look.

That's our little update for now. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Album #2 - July 2007

2008-02-25T17:47:00.004-05:00

Here's the rest of July 2007 in pictures. We were excited to have Mom Pedersen visit from Florida and while she was here we were able to have Grandma Smith visit and also Michelle, Patrick, and Miranda from Michigan. We hit the annual Bubblefest, some parks, Nashville, IN, Amish country south of us and we also celebrated Mom's 60th birthday! We had a great time together...how about a repeat this summer??

A week after that Paul left for China and the kids and I headed over to Philip and Margaret's in Virginia. More fun with cousins, swimming at the lake, etc. Even with all those kids in one house, I got to read a couple books! The day after we got home, Paul arrived from China. It was fantastic to be back together as a family again. Click on this shutterfly link to see the photos.

Album #1 from July 2007

2008-02-25T15:54:00.008-05:00

Amidst all the sniffling and coughing going on around here I thought we would revisit last summer again. I'm working my way through the July 2007 photos and I had no idea there were so many. I had also forgotten what fun activities and great memories we made during that month. We were also much more tan!! We'll start out with an album that includes a few pictures from the 4th of July and then the rest are from a trip to Cincinnati that Paul took the kids on. Thanks to a great hotel from priceline and some gorgeous weather, they all had a great time. Hallie, Zack, Brock and Carlie know that when they go on a trip with dad, there is GOING to be fun! (i.e. jumping on the hotel beds WITH shoes on!) You're allowed to do that right??!! Click here for the link to the photos.

Paul's Trip to China, July 2007

2008-02-18T09:36:00.003-05:00

Our next "photo trip" takes you to China! Paul finally got them all uploaded to shutterfly and even though he didn't take the time to caption all 216 of them (there were over 500!) I think you will still enjoy the trip there. He went for the purposes of speaking at a sport conference as well as speaking to university students majoring in sport management. He had such a great time and is ready to go back and visit as soon as he can. The people were so kind and gracious and he is especially grateful to Tony who was his interpreter for the entire trip and did such a great job. Please click on this shutterfly link to see the photos.

Beware of the Disney Dinosaur Ride!

2008-02-13T13:38:00.010-05:00

While working on my old pictures, I came across this picture of Zack, Hallie and Paul at the Dinosaur ride which at that time was at Epcot (2001). Now that same/updated ride is at Animal Kingdom and they rode it again just a few weeks ago. Apparently the ride is still pretty scary and some people just don't seem to learn, do they?

2008-02-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

Today is a beautifully sunny day, however, the temperature is in the teens and the wind is making the "Real Feel" about 0 degrees!! So, what better way to feel warm than take a trip to Florida? In pictures, that is...old pictures! This week I started trying to get a handle on our "picture mess" here at home and that includes picking up where I left off on ordering our prints from shutterfly. The album started out with 440 pictures and I was able to cut it down to 250!!! That's three weeks worth of memories, though, so not too bad. If you click on this May/June 2007 Shutterfly Link you can see the album. There was no way I was captioning all those pictures and some of them are even out of order...when you're this far behind that stuff becomes so much less important! So, if you're freezing today like we are, take a little trip to the beach!

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

2008-01-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

You may remember that I recently posted a letter to the editor that Zack wrote about the IU basketball games. The letter ran in our local newspaper the week after the IU students left for Christmas break. Well, after the IU Daily Student staff returned to their office after vacation, they decided to run the letter in their paper as well since Zack's teacher had sent it there too. So, it ran as a letter to the editor last Thursday along with the other letters to the editor. Then, this morning, another professor brought today's IU Daily Student to Paul and lo and behold there was Zack's letter again both at the top of the front page and on the front page of the sports section. IU's basketball team lost their first game at home in two years on Saturday and I guess the language from the student section reignited the issue Zack brought up in his letter.

2008-01-26T20:00:00.001-05:00

Just one little note about the smilebox creation. You can click on the STOP button in the bottom right corner of the first page and then just click the > button when you're ready to go to the next page. Otherwise, they don't give you quite enough time to read all the text and look at the pictures. Hope you enjoy it.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

A New Family Member!

2008-01-21T11:56:00.000-05:00

Oliver (nickname Ollie) has been with us for just over a week now and we could not have asked for a better pet! If you can call a dog almost perfect, he is. First and foremost HE DOES NOT SHED!!!!! That was my number one qualification for a dog and since he is a cockapoo he fit the bill. But beyond that, he is three years old, completely housebroken, does not chew on anything but food, loves to play but isn't hyper, loves to just relax most of the time, does not make any move that would make us think that he might be getting aggravated at Carlie or Brock right in his face, loves other dogs and even cats, rarely barks, knows how to shake, and he's really cute too! We bought him for $100 from a family that had to move from one apartment to another and couldn't afford the fees to keep a dog. Plus the lady felt bad that he didn't have much room to roam and they were gone a lot. She originally bought him from a breeder.

So, Ollie has very firmly become a part of the family now and we are really enjoying him. Needless to say, his life is a little busier than it used to be but he seems to be having a lot of fun. He has become my shadow since I am home most of the time with him but I don't mind because he is so good. Carlie sure enjoys having a furry friend to play with during the day.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

2008-01-06T19:10:00.001-05:00

On Friday, January 4th, Paul, Hallie, and Zack were in Orlando at Animal Kingdom. This was a complimentary trip thanks to Fritz and Stacy....THANK YOU! The video of them on Expedition Everest is first and you may be able to tell by Zack's expressions that he was not in favor of going on this ride at all. (He did ride it again later, though.) Hallie, on the other hand, is all about scary and risky roller coasters...as evidenced by the smile that doesn't leave her face the entire time!

The second video is self-explanatory and you can also click on this shutterfly photo album link and it will take you to all the pictures they took that day. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

This blog is in transition right now with the colors, arrangement, etc. but I got tired of messing with it late the other night and the rest of it will have to wait until we get home to Indiana. We have been busy almost every second of our vacation but a good busy and we've had a lot of great times with family and close friends. We are leaving Hobe Sound behind in shifts tomorrow....Paul, Hallie and Zack are going to Animal Kingdom in Orlando from 8am until Liz, Brock, Carlie and I get there to pick them up (late afternoon). We have a good friend who has contacts at Disney but he can only sign three others in. We aren't willing to pay the $60-$70 PER PERSON for the other three of us, at least not this time, so Paul and the two older ones will go. I'll get the rest of our stuff packed up and then Liz will drive us up to meet them and we'll start the trek home.

The "Feels Like" temperature here in Hobe Sound is 58 degrees right now...at home it's 11 degrees. That might be a little shock to the system but it will be a lot easier to transition than last week when it was in the 80's here! We're taking home a lot of great memories and it was a fun way to start out the new year. I will definitely need a vacation from the vacation, though, because we have been keeping some pretty late hours!! Carlie slept for 13 hours last night because she was so exhausted! She LOVES playing with her cousins though.

I'll post some pictures later.....

Hope everyone is having a fantastic 2008 so far!

Christmas Greetings from Us!

2007-12-20T08:56:00.001-05:00

I know most of you have already seen this but I just had to make it an official part of the blog!

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Dr. Pedersen hoods his first graduate!

2007-12-18T23:29:00.001-05:00

(Paul is the one with the "famous" red robe on) (His boss, Dr. Fielding, is hooding another sport management graduate to Paul's right)

Almost 7 years to the day of when Paul was hooded as a PhD graduate, he got to hood his first graduate! Seems like yesterday! And the crazy thing is, Coyte is already teaching at Bowling Green State University which was Paul's first job out of graduate school too! And, they both had/have the wonderful privilege to work with Dr. Ray Schneider!! He is the esteemed co-author of the Bowden book with Paul. :-) Anyway, we are thrilled for Coyte and his wife Brandy and it's been fun for us to reach this new milestone too.

Zack gets published...

2007-12-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

Our local paper published a letter to the editor that Zack wrote a couple weeks ago. He was talking to his teacher about this particular issue and she encouraged him to write it up and send it in. The thing that made it really fun for Zack is that on Tuesdays every one in the school gets a copy of the newspaper to read for themselves...and there it was. I'm not sure if he had to give any autographs :-) He's already gotten a couple "I agree" comments online. The university students are gone right now so I'm not sure how much good it will do, maybe some administrator will see it and do something about it?!?!?! We'll see.

Deck The Halls.....

2007-12-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

I've enjoyed looking at the festive decorations at some of my relatives' houses so thought I would jump on the bandwagon. Thanks to Mary for telling me about the movie maker program that is already on most computers. It is a very easy-to-use program and it's very simple to get creative because of all the options you can use. Hope you enjoy being "in" our home for the holidays!

Santa, Are You For Real?

2007-12-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

I found this book in our church library and it's written by the President and CEO of Christianity Today, Harold Myra. This is what he says by way of introduction...

"Christmas, children, and Santa Claus. The combination often generates adult explosions against materialism and the bearded, jolly Mr. Claus crowding out the Christ Child. Why, the argument goes, should children be so self-centered, so caught up with a myth which distorts Christmas into a push-shove pagan holiday? Why, indeed? I had always been ambivalent myself. But then I read about St. Nicholas of Myra. Even after skimming off the tall tales about him and adjusting for medieval exaggeration, he comes up as a rather exciting person for children to know about. It's important they understand the roots of the Santa Claus phenomenon, and how clearly the original St. Nick put the Christ Child at the heart of his Christmas."

He has also written a book called, "Easter Bunny, Are You For Real" and "Halloween, Is It For Real?" Helpful info given from a Christian perspective!

The Griswold Pedersen Family Christmas Tree

2007-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

Last Friday evening we made our annual trip to the Triple H Christmas Tree Farm just 15 minutes from our house. Carlie was determined to be the "flag holder" this year which indicates the tree we want cut down.

We searched pretty quickly because the temperatures were pretty cool and getting cooler by the minute since the sun was setting. Below is the one we settled on...$25.00 for a 7 foot Scotch Pine! They even shake it, drill the hole for the stand and wrap it for transport. Hot cider/hot chocolate and popcorn included...what a deal!

After several days of hanging ornaments, Hallie was finally the one to finish it up. Here is the completed project (minus the candy canes I just bought).

Here's a picture of our newest ornament (Thanks, Mom).

A visit to the dairy farm.

2007-12-01T21:15:00.000-05:00

On our way home from Michigan last week, we stopped at a dairy farm that is located halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis. The website for Fair Oaks Farms is here. We highly recommend it as a great educational place for kids (and adults too)! Everything was top notch from the activity center to the bus tour to the eating area to the birthing barn. We saw the entire process of a calf being born! That poor mom birthed a BIG baby boy and had to have some extra help from the brave lady pulling it out with ropes. They also have a building where you can watch them making cheese and ice cream. The bus tour is very informational and it takes you right through one of the barns where all the cows are hanging out, etc. The video is of the milking process and it was fascinating. Since we literally drink one gallon of milk per day in this family, it was interesting to visit. It was fun to find out that there is a good chance that the milk at our Kroger comes from this dairy! You should visit if you're ever up that way.

Hallie's Favorite Holiday Song

2007-11-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

Just click on this link to hear "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas!" Happy listening.

Thanksgiving fun in Michigan!!

2007-11-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday afternoon of last week we made the eight hour trek north to Traverse City, Michigan for Thanksgiving. (By the way, it was about 63 degrees here before we left and about 30 degrees when we got there!) We were excited to visit Steve, Michelle, Patrick and Miranda and see their new home for the first time. There was plenty of room for all of us to stay and as always Steve and Michelle were great hosts. If you like coffee, they will always have it brewing for you! On Thanksgiving Day we joined the other Acres that are in Michigan and had a delicious meal. Afterwards, because it had snowed the previous day and overnight, the kids bundled up in the 20 degree temperatures and headed outside to sled and do all kinds of crazy snow-related activities. As you will see from the following video clip, they had a blast!

That night, Dan, Laura and Eastin arrived from South Florida. They loved seeing the snow and the next morning were able to do a little bit of sledding themselves...

We had a fantastic time with everyone and of course the cousins didn't want to leave each other when it was time to go home. If you want to see our pictures from the vacation, please click on this shutterfly link and it will take you to the album.

Thanks for letting us share our Thanksgiving with you. My next blog will be about a huge dairy farm we visited on the way home from Michigan. Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T12:10:00.001-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from us! (We're a day late!) We are having a great time here in Michigan at the Acres' house and we have snow! You might be able to see it in the picture. We hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday, Carlie!

2007-11-18T17:08:00.001-05:00

Saturday was Carlie's 3rd Birthday and for the third year in a row it was "just us" to help her celebrate. She didn't mind, though, because there were balloons, presents, cake and singing...that's all she needs! Buying presents for her was easy this year and all of them seemed to be a hit. She loved the new table and chairs, baby highchair, princess camera, princess "CD" player, play food, and a "specially picked out gift" from each of her siblings. Thanks to those loved ones who sent money for the "cause", Carlie thanks you!. If you want to see us noisily singing Happy Birthday to her (and Carlie slightly yawning while we sang), just go here to see the video.

Fruit Pizza

2007-11-16T11:34:00.000-05:00

This is what I've been up to this morning. The recipe makes two so one is going to one of Paul's Korean graduate students and his wife to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary and his birthday. The other one is going to Hallie's teacher who turned 40 last Monday and we hadn't done anything yet. I'm sure there are many variations of the fruit pizza. This particular one came out of "The Cake Mix Doctor" cookbook. I had never worked with kiwi before...it definitely adds a pretty color but I still have no desire to eat one. Now there is a cake in the oven for Carlie's birthday tomorrow. It's going to be a simple one but I think she'll be impressed! Have a great weekend everyone!

Another song from Carlie

2007-11-14T11:16:00.000-05:00

Now she's singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I messed up though and forgot to turn the camera the other way! It bugs me when people do that and now I'm at fault!

Carlie singing Jesus Loves Me

2007-11-14T11:13:00.000-05:00

Carlie wants to share this song with you...Jesus Loves Me. She will be celebrating her 3rd birthday on Saturday! For at least a month now she has been saying, "my birthday in two minutes!"

Pictures from our trip to Pittsburgh

2007-11-10T12:07:00.001-05:00

You can see the photos from our latest trip here.

Recommendations

2007-11-09T10:11:00.001-05:00

While I'm thinking of it I wanted to give you the link to a couple of websites that I recommend. The first one is the Art to Remember Company. Our school's art teacher takes one project each year and has us place an order to this company if we so desire. We have only ordered the magnet each year for Hallie and Zack but they turn out really great and the kids love seeing a smaller version of their project on the refrigerator. It's a great gift idea for family members and they offer so many different products.

Also, during Hallie's Upwards Soccer Celebration this year they had David Cain, the "Juggler for Jesus" come and perform for the kids. He is captivating, extremely talented, and great at weaving God's Word and the gospel message into his program. He's a world champion juggler and in his brochure he even gets a thumbs-up from Dobson. If your church is looking for a great way to entertain kids and also teach them some spiritual lessons at the same time, I highly recommend him. Check out his website here.

That's it for now. I hope to get our pictures from the Pittsburgh trip up on shutterfly soon. Don't hold your breath, though!

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T01:51:00.001-04:00

We are on our way to Pittsburgh, PA for one of Paul's academic conferences. So these are our Halloween costumes! Can't say I'm disappointed by that since no one seemed to have a clear idea what they wanted to be this year. It's the first time we haven't had costumes although who can beat a Halloween picture with the changing leaves!?!?!! Our temperature got about 68 degrees today....gorgeous! Our trick-or-treating consisted of getting 25 cent candy bars at one of the gas stations along the way. Mind you they were full size candy bars that usually run 89 cents a piece!! What a generous gas station attendant! Hope everyone had fun!

Carlie makes meatballs!

2007-10-25T14:20:00.000-04:00

Ever since Aunt Liz was here Carlie LOVES to help in the kitchen. She doesn't usually like to get her hands dirty, though, so I was very surprised that she dug right in and helped me make meatballs the other day. Try to guess which ones she was responsible for! Very interesting, to say the least.