Icecubes

Christmas 2011 Our house

2012-01-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

Our advent candles
Duncan and Kate by our tree. This is probably the shortest one we have ever had. It was also spray painted green!! We waited until about the second weekend of December to get our tree and there wasn't much left that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Next year we won't wait so long.

Seriously, they crack me up! This was wednesday night and we had a great time together. The next morning the kids had school and Josh had to work. We all were up early that day though with excitement about our trip to MN. I was up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep! So Josh and I got up about 6:00 and by 6:30 the kids were up too. They are rarely up this early on a school day, we usually wake them up at 7:00. It was a fun Christmas!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Brad, Grandma Kristi, and their grandkid clan. We managed to get one fairly good picture and a whole bunch of goofy ones!

Josh, Brandon, Brad, Kristi, Tyler, and Nicole

Great Grandma Darlene and Great Grandpa Gene and the kiddos! One good picture and one goofy one!

We always have to shoot the guns sometime too.

Babies are so fun to photograph! Here are a couple shots of the youngest ones at my Dad and Mom's on Christmas Day. This first one is of Tori, Leland's fiance's daughter. She is just over 10 months old. And the picture below is of Mya, Landon and Kris' daughter. She is 9 months old.

The annual Brincefield kid picture. The only one missing was Logan's girlfriend Stacy who had to work this weekend. She was able to come later in the day though.

The grandkid picture! Duncan (10), Mya (9 mo), Angel (5), Kate (9), Tori (10mo), Jocelyn (2)

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-09T07:45:00.001-08:00

My brother Logan and his daughter Jocelyn. She just turned two the beginning of December.

Every year Santa comes to G & G Davis' house on Christmas Eve. Since I can remember anyways.

The annual family pictures by the fireplace. We were missing my brother Landon, his wife Kris, and their daughter Mya and Leland and his fiance Carmen and her daughter Tori, and Logan's girlfriend Stacy.

Us! You would think that after all these years of pictures we could get a good one, won't happen! Oh how I love them anyways!

Ice Skating Christmas 2011

2012-01-09T07:20:00.001-08:00

Kate, neither her nor Duncan wanted to ice skate but they had fun just sliding around and playing in what little snow there was. She sure looks pensive in this picture.

Duncan and I. Yes, he only has a few more inches to go before we are the same height!

Grandma Kristi, she is a very talented photographer. I caught her in action!

This is Grandma Kristi, Kate, and Erin (Brandon's girlfriend) as we are walking through the woods to go ice skating on a little pond. I got a new lens for my camera and finally had a chance to try it out over Christmas.

This would be Josh, Grandma Kristi, Erin, Duncan, and Kate. No snow in Wadena either but the pond was good for skating.

Corra, Kate, Tink, Koby, and Uncle Brandon. This is what the kids did for much of the time. Uncle Brandon and Erin drove to MN from Montana and the kids loved hanging out with them and playing the wii.

Our 13th Anniversary!

2012-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Wow! January 2nd was our 13th anniversary. It seems like just yesterday we met at Scotty Carrs house and played basketball together.........

We never know how our anniversary will go being that it is the day after New years day, who planned that anyways??? Past years we have traveled back from Mn on this day, we did say we would never do that again. Not the best way to spend our anniversary. This day however we had been back in WI for a few days, the kids were back in school, and both of our clinics were closed for the day! We had a day to ourselves. We headed to the Y to run, did some shopping, and went out for lunch. It was just a nice day.

How we spent 2011 Christmas

2012-01-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

Every year our little family Christmas is different. Since we travel to MN for Christmas each year we may celebrate with the four of us in the morning one day or in the evening depending on when Christmas falls that year and when we hit the snow covered trail for Wadena. This year we decided that with Christmas eve falling on Saturday and Christmas day on Sunday we would leave on Thursday after Josh and the kids got home from work and school. We celebrated our little Christmas on Wednesday night. It was very nice. For the first time this year we did an advent wreath with the kids. We bought an advent devotional book and each night we sat around the table and did our advent devotional and lit the appropriate candles. It was a good thing, I wish we would have begun it when they were younger. So that night we did our advent stuff, we ordered pizza from pizza hut, and opened our gifts. Then we just hung out with each other. It was quite nice.

This year we stayed at the Ice side. We had been spending part of our Christmas trip at one family's house then halfway through the week moving to the other house but that was just too much. So a few years ago we decided we would alternate years and just stay at one house for the whole time we are in MN. We go to G & G Ice's about 11:15 Thurs. night. We have kept many of the same traditions over the years. We always go to my G & G Davis's for Christmas Eve. We go to church with everyone at the alliance church there and then head to G & G's for food, gifts, and Santa. If everyone were there we would have 69 people at their house. However we had a pretty small crowd this year. Duncan go an under armour sweatshirt and money from Santa and Kate got a Carrie Underwood CD and money. We got to visit and catch up with cousins and aunts and uncles as well.

Christmas day we began at G & G Brincefields house. We had the traditional yummy carmel rolls and other treats for breakfast, opened gift, and visited til about 12:00 or so then headed back to Ice's.

Highlights

Josh-the yearly ice fishing adventures, hanging with the sibs which we don't get to do nearly often enough, the older "kids" went to Ty and Gina's house one night and ordered pizza and played games while G & G took the grandkids to the chipmunks movie and had a sleepover

Kim-we got to do a lot of just visiting with each other, hanging out/going to lunch with my cousing Camille, having pizza ranch pizza at least 3x, the drive to MN is always nice at Christmas time the lights are so pretty, the little ice skating adventure

Duncan-beating super mario bros on the wii with cousins and uncle brandon, I wish we would have been able to see more cousins on christmas eve

Kate- playing with cousins, seeing family we don't get to see very often

2011 Christmas Letter

2011-12-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

What a crazy, busy, calm, peaceful, stressfull, wonderful year it has been for us! As many of you know we moved this year from Tomahawk, WI to Greenville WI after Josh finished his Master's degree in Healthcare administration. He then began searching for a managerial position in healthcare........well maybe the story would best be told by our currently empty house at 110 W. Rice Ave. in Tomahawk.....

So, here I sit, the Ice family's house. I have been here awhile being built in 1918 and all, I have some character to me. I suppose my last family, the Ice's, adventures began with the hunt for a new job for Josh. I remember watching them pray for just the right job many times, even seeing Josh all dressed up for a couple interviews. Late September or early October of 2010 was another such day. He headed off early to Appleton, WI for an interview. I believe Kim felt a prompting from God that day, waking up and hearing him say, "The timing of everything is perfect." Wondering what exactly he was referring to, she would soon find out in a couple days, as Josh would be offered the job of clinic manager at a pediatric clinic in Neenah, WI. Can't say it was an easy thing for them, I remember watching the kids cry after being told the news that the family would be moving. It took a little while to sink in but they were very strong kids after that. The next week I was put up for sale! I mean really! They have lived in me since Kate was only 10 months old and Duncan was 2 and a half! They certainly grew as a family while living here. First days of kindergarten, cubbies, dance, football, and baseball. Bible studies, birthday parties, anniversaries and playdates. I think I offered them many good memories. As of this moving time the kids are 8 and 10 and a half. Eventhough I can certainly understand following God's plan for this family's life, I certainly do miss them. Oh, they have been back a few times, even staying overnight here and there. Mostly they are just back to grab things to take back to Greenville or give me a clean here and there. From what I can gather while they are here, they are really praying for someone to buy me! That would be great, to have another family to take care of and protect. I hope this happens soon, I bet they do to! They are doing well in Greenville. God has really been working in their lives and growning each of them in their faith by leaps and bounds. Duncan and Kate have been involved in Awana, Josh in a Bible study for men, and Kim in one for women. They have seen God grow them together more and more as husband/wife, parents/kids, and brother/sister. It has been a good thing. Many people have been brought into their lives in Greenville that have been very encouraging to them through their move. From what I understand they are living in a two bedroom apartment, hee hee hee! I bet they miss all the room I had to offer! Anyways, God knew the perfect place for them as the upstairs neighbors are a great christain family and go to the same church as them. How cool are God's plans for us! The kids have been involved with baseball, football, volleyball, and Awana and have made a handful of new friends.

So, from the perspective of this big, old house, it seems it is good to pray and follow God's plan for your life. He sent his son down to earth as an infant only to later die on a cross for all of us, so that some day we can accept him into our hearts, have our sins forgiven, and live with Jesus forever in heaven.

We hope that you have a blessed Christmas season!

Lots of love,

Josh, Kim, Duncan, and Kate

P.S. Our new address is: N1245 Technical Dr. #4

Greenville, WI 54942

No Boys Weekend Day 2

2011-11-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Somewhat of a restless night last night, little miss twinkel toes likes to sleep in the middle of the bed! I pushed her back twice but she just rolls right back to the middle. Oh well, at least we slept until 8:23! How fun is that?!? We watched a little TV and had a bowl of cereal, then Anna and Genevieve invited us upstairs for waffles, yeah! We played "just dance" again and then decided we had better get shopping. We stopped at the Verizon store so they could fix my phone, it wouldn't scroll down, then to Barnes and Noble. Kate had a free cookie or muffin coupon for her birthday. We spent quite awhile looking at books. She picked out a book called Cootie Catchers. It is all kinds of those things that you fold then put numbers on the outside and little sayings on the inside. I remember making them when I was her age. She also found these American Girl books Just me and my Mom, Dad, Grandma, etc. We looked through them and she says she would definitely like the Just me and my mom book. Yeah! Made my day! After this we headed to Old Navy, the check out line stretched to the back of the store!!! From here we drove across the road to the mall. We really weren't out for anything major, our biggest endeavor was to fill our operation christmas child box. We had lunch at subway in the food court and swung into bath and body, lots of yummy smells, then to target for the box. Next was Walmart to pick up some pictures and milk and head home. We played just dance again then headed to redbox to return our video/game and rented Marley and me the puppy years, another good movie. Snuggled on the couch and had popcorn. It was an absolutely wonderful day!

No Boys Weekend!

2011-11-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

It is opening of deer hunting weekend in wisconsin and Duncan and Josh have headed somewhere west of here 2-3 hours. We don't know exactly where and that is totally cool because we can do whatever we want, we don't have to watch any football this weekend if we don't want to! We can go to the mall and don't have to stop at Scheels! No hunting movies for us this weekend either! So what have we been doing you ask? Our good neighbors/friends invited us upstairs for pizza for dinner, perfect what girl does not like pizza! After a nice dinner and visit we headed back downstairs to decide what to do next.....I suggested we check the internet and see what movies were in at the nearest redbox. Quess what?!? They have wii games there now too! So.....we rented Just Dance for the wii and Judy Moody and the not bummer summer movie. After a good 30-45 min. of just dance, which by the way is a great workout, we put on the movie, got all snuggly buggly under a fleece blanket together, and just enjoyed hanging out. Kate made it farther through the movie before she fell asleep than I did, but it was a really good family movie. I woke her up and she wanted to sleep with me............hmmmmm..........last time i ended up with little sleep, think cover stealer and bed hog..........OK fine you can sleep with me. How long will she want to do this anyways, who knows! Loved the whole night!

Kate-o

2011-10-05T10:56:00.001-07:00

I just loved that she wrote that someday she wants to be an "at home mom" so I took a picture to save it forever!

Gross!

2011-10-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

So the other night we were sitting on the couch and the kids were getting ready for bed. They were in the process of brushing and flossing their teeth when Kate comes to the couch and sits down and sets here used floss on the arm of the couch. Duncan walks over and in all seriousness says to Kate, "Can I borrow that?" We realized he was talking about the dental floss! He wasn't kidding, and I start gagging! He says to Kate which side did you use and she says I think that side he tries flossing with the left side of the floss and he says, "that side is wet" and Kate says I guess it was the other side then :) Regardless he uses the floss!!! Aren't they wonderful!

Duncan

2011-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Duncan has been having football practice for about 3 weeks now and he says football is his favorite sport. He really did a great job at practice trying as harder or harder than most of the guys on his team during the drills. It was fun to watch him. He is the tallest kid on his team!

Last night when we put them to bed Duncan has this funny, cute smile and says, "I know it's kind of weird or whatever but I am excited to go back to school tomorrow, is that crazy?" We will see how long that lasts!

First Day of School 9/1/11

2011-09-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Aren't they so cute!!!! Today was a much easier first day the greenville schools than their first day back in January. I think there was a little nervousness but not near what it was being the brand new kid. I even had the runs that morning, being nervous for them! They each had a few kids they knew from last year in their classes this year, that is good. There is also one or two kids from church in their classes and that is great! Kate has 26 kids in her class, yikes! Hopefully all goes well, Duncan has 23 kids in his class. He said it is the best class he has ever had! The fifth grade is in the middle school at Greenville. I think it is partly a space issue and partly a transition thing. He has a locker with a padlock on it which he has been diligently practicing. The class runs on an elementary type schedule though, I think he may switch for science and that is all. He is also in band this year playing my old alto sax! So every morning I drop Kate off at the elementary and Duncan at the middle school! Honestly I am denying that he is in middle school though, I mean, really he is only in fifth grade......I will come to terms with the middle school thing when he is in 6th grade....hopefully. They ride the bus home from school this year which is new and I am a little nervous about this but I told them if they had any trouble to let me know and I will send their dad after the kid! All went well!

A few more pictures!

2011-08-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2011. Try as we might in every picture someone was being goofy, love my Kate-o!

Duncan and Josh before the triathalon they did this June.

Kate doing some baking. She likes to cook and made mac and cheese all by herself yesterday. The apron she is wearing was made by my mom who made all of us girls aprons for christmas this year.

Some pictures finally!

2011-08-28T12:04:00.001-07:00

This was fourth of July weekend. Duncan took first place for the largest fish and Kate took first place for the most fish. We stayed at the lake for the whole week. We had beautiful weather and a great week.

From the left they are Kate, Jocelyn (my brother Logan's daughter), and the last three girls are my cousin Camille's Morgan, Meagan, and McKenna. We were all going for a walk by the cabin.

Just a good day

2011-08-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

We had no plans for this weekend. Sometimes non planned weekends go well and other times they go south. So they day began with sleeping in for the most part it was 8:00 ish. Kate came in and said we were going to Manderfields for breakfast and that I should get up. Her and Josh are the early birds and had already made this plan. No problem with me! Manderfields is a great bakery, doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies, and a huge variety of breads! We still had some back to school shopping to do, Duncan needed a backpack and some socks, new socks just feel great! Kate needed a pair of jeans. We also happend by the Jansport store and they were having a tent sale misprinted shirts so we picked up nine shirts, t-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, and a fleece for a total of ~$22!! That was a steal, you can't tell most of the problems with them.

After our little shopping trip I was on facebook and saw that my cousin had posted that she was playing volleyball in Green Bay this weekend! She plays for UND and they had a game at 4:30 so we hung out at home then headed to Green Bay. Kate spent a good 2 hours before we left working on a sign for Tiara to cheer her on! After all her work we found that the printer was out of colored ink so we had to print it in black and white and she gave it to Tiara after the game.

We would also appreciate everyone's prayers as we are still trying to sell our house in Tomahawk. It has been on the market for about 10 months and we just dropped the price again a few weeks ago. We are trying to decide if we should rent it out this fall or just keep it vacant. Pros and Cons to each choice. UGH!

Door County Day 2

2011-08-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Day 2 found us waking up from a wonderful nights sleep! The beds were so comfortable! Us 4 and uncle Brandon shared on room that had 2 queen beds, Tyler and Gina had their own room, Coly's family slept upstairs and had the 2 person whirlpool tub :), Gma and pa had the couch bed. We had breakfast duty and make pancakes with chocolate chips or blueberries and scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, peppers, and onions, OJ, and caribou coffee that Ty and Gina had brought to top it off.

After breakfast we headed to Choice Orchards in Sturgeon Bay to pick cherries. None of us had ever picked them before. We picked about 3 good sized buckets for $7 each and a cherry pitter. They tasted so good. After the orchards we took the cherries back to the hotel to put in the fridge and we packe up the cooler with lunch, snack stuff, and drinks and headed to Egg Harbor. We had to take 3 vehicles everywhere, a minivan and 2 cars as there were 14 of us. We stopped at a county park with a great beach to have lunch and swim. The park had a little playground and by it a boat had been beached and kids could play in it.

Packed up from this spot and went to Sister Bay where we saw the famous restaurant that has goats on the roof, weird. Gma and pa took the five kids to the beach and us older kids went for a walk downtown hoping to hit a few cute shops but all they had were eating places. Oh well, we found a candy shop that had candy cigarettes and bought some, it was pretty funny, Josh's mom chuckled when we found them back at the beach with our "cigarettes" in our mouths. The kids were jumping off a huge pier into lake Michigan. Josh got some good pics of this, hope to get some on here soon.

Next was Penninsula state park. Our first stop was the lighthouse we thought about taking the tour but it was too spendy, instead we got to meet the rude tour guide. Wow! She was quite brash. The kids were sitting on a rock wall with us right next to them and it wasn't dangerous or we wouldn't have let them sit there and she stops her tour and tells them they should get off and yadda yadda yadda so they hop off and we walk away from where the group was to a bench and sit and talk. Well pretty soon here comes the tour group and she forthrightly says I bet these young guys would get up and let these elderly people sit on that bench, well of course we would do that but does she need to be so harsh about it? Then she sees Tyler's t-shirt that says fergus falls fire dept and she goes on and on about him working for the fire dept and thank you and on and on as we are walking away. Strange. So we head to the fire tower and make the 75 foot climb to the top. Then it is back to the hotel and more swimming for the kids in the outdoor pool that night. Cole and Scott were in charge of dinner and make delicious shredded pork and beef sandwiches and new potatoes. We took some family pictures and spent some time outside on the boardwalk.

The last day we had to be all packed up and checked out by 11, no problem, Brandon had to head off to the airport by about 6:45. Today we went to whitefish dunes state park. We walked for quite a ways on the trail and the rocks down by the lake. The kids love to walk on the rocks. They had a great beach here sandy and beautiful water. We spent most of the day here and all headed our own ways about 3:00. The kids had school registration that night, Coly's family and Ty and Gina all headed back in their minivan, cozy! and Brad and Kristi stayed up there a few more days before coming back to Greenville and staying with us for a few days. Now they have headed back to MN with our kids! However I do miss the kids already, but it is nice to have some time to us. We biked for 11 miles today and just hung out and read on our little porch. I made pesto today. It was pretty good, maybe a little too much garlic though.

Ice family at Door County

2011-08-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

It was our year to plan the Ice family get together and we decided to head to Door County. We are at a Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay. Beautiful! We have a three bedroom suite with a great view of Lake Michigan and the lift bridge. Every time the bell rings the kids head out to the balcony, we are on the 3rd floor, to watch the bridge open up and see what kind of boat is going through. We saw a fire boat, a large ship, and lots of very expensive boats.

Yesterday we did church and then headed to Lambeau field. Josh and I have been there before but no one else has. It was pretty cool, the tour was too expensive so we just walked around. I can't believe all those MN guys wanted to go there. That night we all stayed in out 2 bedroom apartment, all 14 of us! There were four of us in our bedroom, 5 in Duncan and Kates and five in the living room. Cozy! After Lambeau we checked into our hotel and the kids could not wait so we went swimming. First in the indoor pool then the outdoor pool. They had a great time with Uncle Brandon and Tyler in the pool. Ty and Gina had dinner duty and made us tacos, good stuff. We headed for a walk into Sturgeon Bay and got ice cream and then walked down by the lake and on the little boardwalk by our hotel. The ice cream store had all kinds of candy, even dill pickle mints and bacon flavored gum! After getting back to the hotel and putting the kids to bed we played cards and did lots of laughing! Fun night!

First great bike ride.......and sunburn

2011-05-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun day! Church and sunday school then home and everyone had to make their own lunch. Hee hee no cooking for me! Finally a sunday that was beautiful and sunny. After lunch we packed water bottles and filled the camelback, put the bikes in the truck and set out to explore a new bike trail. There are many bike trails in appleton. We parked in the police station lot just off of CB and headed out towards Menasha then Neenah. Kate did a great job of biking, no tears the whole trip and that is amazing! We went across a really long bridge that goes over the fox river and watched the locks work to bring a boat up from the lower waters. We then headed to the library in Neenah and refilled the water and parked our bikes there. The library is right on the river which has boat docks and a nice park/pavillion/grassy area. We walked out on the dock and then decided to walk down the street in downtown Neenah. Kate had found a five dollar bill on the bike ride to the library and wanted to use it to treat us to ice cream. We stopped at a place called Cherry on Top and bought a pint of ice cream and grabbed four spoons and headed back to the bench on the dock to eat it. Chocolate chip cookie dough, good stuff. The way back was pretty uneventful but we could see the storms coming off in the west. We had gone about 10 miles. The ride was great but now we have sunburned arms, ouch. Oh well fun day!

Baseball game #2

2011-05-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Game number two did not go as well as the first game.........though the weather was much nicer.
Duncan's team is called Capital Credit Union since this is who is sponsoring them. They played the Green Knights and lost 12-7. Six of the seven runs were scored in the last inning. Duncan played catcher and third base, I think. Batting didn't go so well. He hit the ball every time but I don't think he made it on base. Getting dinner on the table after these evening games is tricky, we didn't eat until 8:00 tonight! I will have to do a better job with some easy quick meals for these game nights.

Kate made a friend in her class right off the bat when we moved named Emma. She has a brother Duncan's age. Kate will be going to her birthday party on Saturday and she is excited about that.

We had dinner with some new and old-ish friends on the spur of the moment Saturday. The family Josh stayed with when he first began work invited us and the Dorns over for pizza. Carley Dorn was in my small group bible study. They have 4 kids. This was the first time the kids all met eachother though but they played together very well. It is always so good to visit with other moms and pick their brains on bringing up children.

First baseball game of 2011

2011-05-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

The day was windy, cold (45degrees), and a bit drizzly. Duncan had pictures before the game at 3:00 and game time was 4:00. The coach (Josh) made sure they were there nice and early to scout out the competition. Yes, Josh is coaching again. Thought he may take a year off being new to the city but he said he would help out wherever he was needed and they asked him to coach. There are 11 3rd and 4th graders on the team. Duncan was able to play 1st base, pitcher, and right field. Duncan was 2 for 3 hitting. Coach says, "they played a pretty sound defensive game, he was proud of how the kids handled themselves on and off the field, and is looking forward to a promising 2011 season." :)

In other news it seems that we have gone from 0 mph to 70 mph in a few short weeks. With Duncan playing baseball, Josh coaching, and playing on his own softball team, Kate will begin Zumba classes soon, my new job, Duncan has decided to give band a try, life has gotten busy fast. If our house would just sell very soon that would be one less thing to think about. We are finding this to be quite a test of patience and waiting on God's timing for it to sell.

Hoping to ge some pictures up again soon!

New Job

2011-04-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

I finally found a new job! Happy/sad about that..... it was nice being home all the time, though with both kids in school there were some times of, yes I am going to say the word...boredom, and loneliness. Being in a new city, new neighbors, new church, new school, new stores, new, new, new AHHHHHH! There were times that i thought I would freak out if I had to tell one more person our moving story. We really have had a very good experience in our move however. The kids adjusted well to a new school, new friends, and new activities. Duncan just started baseball and Josh will be his coach again. Josh is loving his job, he is very busy each day, but is home every night. He has been sleeping on the couch tonight since 8:30! Anywho, I had been searching for a new job since January, had a two interviews and neither worked out. Sent out other resumes, either I was not qualified enough or overqualified. It was getting frustrating! Had a little talk with God (one of many) and asked him if it would be possible that he would not send me on another interview unless I would be getting the job. Interviewing is soooooo nerve wrecking! I saw a job posted on the YMCA website called YMCA US Venture Wellness Coordinator, I had the qualifications, and applied. A week or so later I was called for a phone interview which went well, then an in-person interview at the Y, after getting a call a few days later that they would like to set up another interiview with me and the HR person at US Venture. This is a company just across the road from the Y. I interviewed with her on a wed. and was called with the job offer the following mon. It is 20 hours per week, mon-thur., 9-2. Maybe a little tweak of the hours some weeks but that is the basics. Now we just need to keep praying that our house in Tomahawk would sell before this fall!!!!!!

We went up to Tomahawk a couple weekends ago and it was kind of bittersweet. The kids were kind of funny......sad......nostalgic maybe, I couldn't put a finger on it. But I feel funny when we are there too. Kind of like it is home but it is not home......We had soooo many good memories there. I asked Josh if he could tell that the kids were acting kind of funny and he noticed it too. We really just need to sell it and move everything down to Appleton.

Sledding

2011-02-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

The weather has finally began to warm up a little, 43 degrees, earlier in the week the windchill was -30ish! We went to Sunday School and church at Appleton Alliance Church which is where we have been going since moving to Appleton. It is huge but personal at the same time. The kids love sunday school and Awana. After we picked them up from Sunday school both of them were talking excitedly at the same time something about having a long line of kids with their arms connected and eyes closed and doing sit ups and the crab walk....I can't remember what the biblical lesson was but there was one.

After church and lunch we headed out to two sledding hills in the area did some sledding, had a snowball fight, and built a snow duck? at the first place. At the second park we did mostly sledding. It was fun Kate and I went down together a couple of times and ended up tumbling off. When we came home we built a snowman in our little tiny front yard in front of our apartment. Hope the other living around us enjoy it to.

We have a married couple with an 8month old above us, another couple next to them, and a hmong family with 3 kids, all must be under 4 under them. On the other side of us is a Polish family with two cute little boys maybe 3 and 1ish.

After getting home Kate wanted to make a huge heart shaped cookie to take to her class for vlentines day, we rolled it out on the cookie sheet and fyi, cookie dough spreads while baking so we had some in the oven. Oh well. Then she wanted to make hearts on it with frosting which we didn't have. So off to the internet and found an easy recipe of butter, powdered sugar, and milk for the hearts. Duncan and Josh played a game called Risk and Kate and I played war. It was a good day.

110 W. Rice from the kids and Josh

2011-02-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

Duncan-

remembers having sleepovers with his friends and staying up all night, (he said they had a contest on time to see if they could fill up the toilet by not flushing all night!)
playing in our little woods in the back yard and making a fort out of it
playing catch with the football in the front yard and making up plays to run with mom (they were all a different letter A-E I think, I had the hardest time remembering what was a pass play and what was a handoff)
his big bedroom, his was the biggest because it was also our playroom

Kate-

remembers doing a lot of things with our neighbors, the pintens
I remember a princess tent she had and it was filled with her stuffed animals and we read a lot of stories in there
all of the windows
we did a lot of chalk drawings on the sidewalk

Josh-

remembers redoing the wood floors and we were working on the floors in our bedroom and the ventilation wasn't very good so we had to keep running outside for fresh air because the stuff we were using to strip off the old stuff was so strong we were getting loopy
having gma and pa hosner out for a week that ended up being 2+ weeks
gpa gene helping us knock out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, plaster and lathe makes a huge mess
the bats that I killed while Kim and the kids were hiding out in our bedroom
every time I would leave on a hunting trip Kim would end up with a mouse in the house
my roses

110 W. Rice Ave

2011-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

I wanted to remember a few things about our first house:

We planted flowers coreopsis, allysum, gerber daisies, other daisies, petunias, etc every spring with the help of my mom. This past year we even did a little garden one with our neighbors between our two houses and one in our tiny back yard that was just for duncan and kate.

Josh and his dad made the swingset and Josh built our garage.

There was a handful of pink rose bushes already growing in the background and Josh planted a couple more, a white one that grew wonderfully and one other bush, he took very good care of these. We had been doing a compost bin for the last couple of years too.

We LOVED our 3 season front porch. Nice and warm for much of the year, could start seeds there in the spring, read lots of books to the kids here, read lots of books myself and did many devotions here, drank lots of coffee and tea, ate MANY lunches and suppers on the porch, played games, it was a good extra space on rainy days when the kids were smaller

The house had all of the original (1918) woodwork and we redid the wood floors, loved the foyer and the french double doors to the living room.

The kitchen sink would gurgle when someone took a shower upstairs.

Great neighbors! That is how life should be, you should be able to call or run over to your neighbors house anytime you need a cup of flour or a share a cup of coffee. They became our good friends.

When we moved in Kate was 10 months and Duncan was 2 and a half, when we moved out Kate was 8 and duncan 9 and a half. Time flies!!!!

Cooked my first thanksgiving dinner here, kate had just learned how to walk right before we moved in.

We walked to a lot of places from home, library, post office, coffee shop, parks, grocery store, preschool for duncan.

I remember the last run Josh and I took. There is a great trail in tomahawk used for walking, biking, running, and snowmobiling so when Josh didn't have to be to work too early and the kids were at school we would run together from our house to the library and hop on the trail, over the river and through the woods (literally) to the hospital or further and back. That day it was really foggy over the river very pretty in fact. We had some good conversations while running.

Well, those are a few things I can remember, I will have to check with the kids and Josh and have them add their favorites too.

We are in Geenville!

2011-01-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

A quick note on our move. We made the trip on Saturday with the truck and enclosed trailer and the car. We only brought what was necessary for the most part. The house in Tomahawk is still for sale so we don't have to bring everything til it sells, though I do have a list of what we need to bring back the next time we are there. Which may be this weekend since we have the trailer parked in the clinic's parking lot and one of Josh's bosses asked him if there was something Josh needed to tell him, he was teasing him that Josh was living there.

The kids started school on Monday, we were all a little nervous that morning. I had a lot of unpacking to do to keep busy but I prayed for them often. Both Josh and I brought them to school that day, at first Duncan didn't want us to walk him to his room then he said we could but we couldn't kiss him good-bye. He has been playing football at recess just like he did in Tomahawk. Kate made a new friend named Emma. They both went to Awana last night, it was a rocking, crazy place. They both had fun. Duncan said there were at least 4 kids from his class at Greenville there, and Kate had one that she knew. That is a good thing. The other night when Duncan prayed he thanked God for our nice, new house. Our 2 bedroom apartment :)

This morning I went to an exercise class at church, it was circuit training and I will be one sore mamma in the am but it was good to meet some other women. They are having a spinning class on friday that I think I will go to also. Then I went to Josh's clinic to take some pics for them. It was good to meet some of his coworkers.

The days of being here have been good. I think I go through most every emotion each day. I just have to not dwell on the bad/sad ones and all is well. We know God has put us here and we are excited about the great plans He has for us!

Happy 8th birthday Kate-o!

2010-11-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

Kate-o turned 8 this past Tuesday!! It has been quite exciting to see her grow.
Some of her favorites: nail polish
puppies/dogs
babies
music especially country
pants that aren't tight around the waist, so no jeans
her blanket
doing crafts
snuggling
tumbling class and swim club
friends and sleepovers
She has just begun to be more conscious of her height/frame, she is not one of those little wispy girls that will blow away in a breeze, she is tall and muscular, not chubby, just not a toothpick. She said to me the other day that the pants she had on made her legs look fat! And the winter jacket she has makes her look fat!! So we keep reassuring her that no you are not fat, you are beautiful! I know when I was growing up I was the tallest girl in my class until 7th or 8th grade then everyone else grew and I didn't, I graduated one of the shortest girls. So we will see what Kate-o does.

We had our wednesday kids bible study last night and we had some good thinking by Kate. We were talking about sin and how when you let it enter into your mind/body you can't change that. We had a glass of milk and dropped blue food coloring into it to represent the sin entering into us. When can never again separate the milk and the food coloring but Jesus could. We also played a game where two of the kids would pick a letter from a hat either letter a or b and they couldn't tell the other partner, then they had to blow a ping pong ball into their circle with their letter on it. So either they were working together to blow the ball in the same circle or they were working against the other to blow it into opposite circles. This was showing how if we have friends who are not christians they don't have the same goals as us and will try to lead us astray. So Kate asked about a christian friend of hers who spends a lot of time with another girl who is not a christian and what should she do about it. She also asked a question about babies and how when they are born they have sin but they can't ask for forgiveness then what? Big questions.

That night as I was putting them to bed I saw that Kate had been looking through my Bible. In it there are little extra pages for moms to encourage them in there daily lives and walk with God. She had found a page that said my prayer list. So she asked if she could be the one to say bedtime prayers tonight, she starts out with the usual thanks for our bible study tonight and keep daddy safe, then she starts reading from my bible "thank you God that you are good, thank you God that you are holy, thank you God that you are truthful, thank you God that you are faithful, thank you God that you are powerful" It really brought tears to my eyes. She is such a blessing.

thoughts

2010-11-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

So we met a lady as we were walking into Kohl's yesterday and she says that she heard we were moving and how she wishes she could be moving. I think, one, be careful what you wish for, and two, ARE YOU KIDDING ME! There is soooooooooo much that goes into moving! I need to keep reminding myself that this season is temporary and not to get caught up in the all the what ifs, sadness, and newness and just go forth. Each day has enough to do regularly and adding all of the things you have to do to move, sell a house, buy/rent a house, etc it could bog. you. down. So, for now, I am choosing to spend quality time with God, sit and be still with him, move forward each day with tasks that need to get done, regular ones, and moving ones, and to remember that this is temporary. God has big plans for us and I don't want to miss a day or a moment of them.

Josh and I had an Athletic Training conference this past weekend in Milwaukee which was very good. It was good for me to get away. The hotel was nice and kind of pampering and I didn't have to cook for three days. While we were away I have a wonderful mother-in-law who came to stay with the kids. She spoiled them rotten! It was wonderful! I am very thankful for her!!!

Move update

2010-11-06T07:16:00.001-07:00

This week has been a crazy one! Josh has been gone on a little hunting trip so I have been on my own for 8 days so far and 2 more to go. The kids have been really great though. We have been having a lot of mac and cheese and soup, minimal cooking since he is gone!

I made a bunch of calls last week to schedule some school visits for next tuesday. First I had a connection with a lady at the Alliance church district office in Appleton so I gave her a call and spent a good 25 mins talking with her about schools, her kids are about the same age as ours. Next I talked with a lady from the alliance church and we chatted for another 15 mins. They both had wonderful advice and I am so glad they took the time to talk with me, a perfect stranger! I spent some time online looking at the different schools, there must be 15 or so public elementary schools in Appleton! We are going to visit Ferber, Houdini, and Berry in the appleton school district and Spring Road in the Neenah school district. All of the secretaries were very friendly except one. So we will go visit them on Tuesday and see what we think!

I guess Josh shot a 8 point or so buck this morning!

Fall 2010

2010-11-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

Kate was a rock star for Halloween and Duncan was a severely injured guy.

The kids and their pumpkins.

Every fall the kids participate in the school's fun run. Both of the kids grades ran a mile or so. Duncan came in 10th place for the 4th grade boys and Kate came in 7th place for the 2nd grade girls.

Kate is in the all pink outfit.

This past september was my grandpa and grandma's 60th wedding anniversary. This is a picture of four generations of Davis girls.

Here is the whole Brincefield clan for now. In March of 2011 my brother Landon and his wife Kris are going to have a little girl. Yeah! We are very excited for them!

Moving to Appleton

2010-10-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well it is really officially official and it has been for a couple of weeks, and I really should have been keeping track on here how it has been going so far but I haven't and now I am going to have to back track in order to keep track of this next chapter of our lives. AHHHHHH!

To begin with just over two years ago Josh finished his master's degree in healthcare administration and began job hunting for some type of healthcare management position. I think we both thought this would be a short process but God had much to teach us in the area of patience. I am glad He is the one in control and not us! Josh had a handful of interviews and sent out numerous resumes during these years but no job offer. He was starting to get a bit frustrated and it was certainly trying his patience. So a few weeks ago he went on an interview for two clinic manager positions one was a family practice/urgent care clinic manager and the other a pediatric/women's health clinic manager both in Neenah. He left the interviews with a good feeling about the pediatric clinic and an Ok feeling on the other. Well the next morning HR called him and offered him the pediatric clinic manager job and after talking with me about it he accepted the position that day.

It is a weird feeling knowing that we are going to move.....a little bittersweet for now. The kids were pretty sad when we told them. Duncan cried for a good couple of hours and finally fell asleep. They both want to finish out the school year here but I'm not so sure that is God's plan, we will keep praying and see where he leads us. It is just hard since this is all they have known and all we have really know as a family, Kate was born here and these are the only friends they have known. The transition may be hard to a new school and new friends. I think I am most nervous about how this move will affect them. I will keep praying about this too.

Lots of details to be worked out, a house to sell, a new place to buy or rent, which schools are good in the area, and which neighborhoods are also good and family friendly....It will all work out i know.

Valuable possession

2010-10-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight at our kids bible study we had to bring a valuable possession of our kids without them knowing about it. I brought both of their blankets. After the activity with them and our Bible study on the commandment about not stealing Duncan says to me, "Do you know what my most valuable possession is?" I said "No" and he answers "you" Oh that little guy is so sweet! He just melts my heart.

church

2010-10-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, after having a frustrating time with Kate-o in church, we decided that they needed to pay attention and take notes during church. We got new pens for them to use and today went really well. The church bulletin has an outline to fill in for the message and they followed this pretty well. There was some blank space to draw in so Kate begins drawing a picture. I ask her what she is drawing and she says a picture of heaven. A few minutes later she has drawn a little table with things on it and I ask what it is. She says it is chocolate fondue and things to dip in it! A girl after my own heart! Yeah for chocolate in heaven!

Our pastor is doing a series on colossians and asked Josh and Duncan to read a few verses and pray this morning. It was pretty neat to see them up there together. Duncan said he was nervous but he did a really good job.

We had Josh's mom and grandpa and grandma here this weekend. It was a great time. They got to see Duncans football game on saturday. He played some cornerback and tightend. Super fun to watch! I think they had a good time too.

Football and new school year

2010-09-13T10:54:00.001-07:00

Duncan 4th grade and Kate-o 2nd. Duncan has a new teacher this year since he moved up to upper multiage. Kate has the same teacher she had last year since lower multiage is made up of 1st -3rd grades. They both still love math, Duncan loves recess and gym, where Kate loves computers and art. Kate and a few of her friends are making up a show during recess complete with comercials. I think her teacher is going to videotape it! That should be pretty neat.

Here is a good example of why I need a bigger zoom lens for our camera......Ducan is about right in the middle of the picture out on the field with his back to us. His team is made up of 4th and 5th graders. He has been playing cornerback. This game was the very first one and they had some confusion to start off with, too many guys on the field then not enough, oh well. They were playing Rhinelander here and lost the game. This past friday they played phillips and won! Duncan got to play a lot of the time as a cornerback, he had 4 tackles and one interception! Pround parents were we!

Here he is before his first game! He loves football! Just after this game he got a haircut too!

A few things I wanted to remember....

2010-08-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

Duncan- almost 91/2 Ahhhhh!
Loves-carrots, broccoli, green beans straight from the garden no washing, mac and cheese the shells variety, code red mountain dew, fishing-him and Josh are out muskey fishing as I write this, baseball, football, swimming, playstation 2, reading Mike Lupica books, snuggling on the couch, the air conditioner in his room, playing slug bug, playing uno attack, going for bike rides, taking care of his garden, and tubing.

Dislikes-any other vegetable accept the ones mentioned above, yelling, quinoa, his sister picking on him though this summer they have been sleeping in the same room and I haven't heard any complaining, there really isn't too much he doesn't like, he is a pretty easy going kid.

Kate-71/2 Ahhhh!
Loves- puppies, babies, taking care of her dolls, painting her finger and toenails, (sometimes more than once a day) green beans from the garden, yogurt, string cheese, lettuce, craft projects of all kinds, (grandma sharon just taught her how to knit) swimming, softball, grape juice, listening to country music, being given responsibility of something, tumbling, fip flops, going shopping and trying on clothes.

Dislikes- biking fast, (she has her own speed and there is no changing that) changes in the schedule for the day, though she is getting better at that, sad things, (she has a tender heart) her brother picking on her.

I have come to realize that we are now at a stage where what we do and say REALLY matters. Not that it hasn't in the past but it seems to be even more stressed now. The other day we were at Black River Harbor with our neighbors, it was beatiful. We swam, looked for rocks, and had snacks.....and then we walked to the waterfall. We got there and the older kids wanted to go down on the rocks by the falls so they went and Duncan wanted to go to but I said no, it was too dangerous. Then he was mad, sad, and kind of pouty. We hung out there for a little while and then talked more to him on the way back to the beach. We said something to the effect of, "Duncan it was too dangerous and slippery for you to go down there by yourself, maybe if one of us was with you it would have been ok." He says, "That's just it, I don't want you to go with me, I wanted to do it by myself." Whoa! Kind of a blow to us. I think he is just walking this line of needing more independance and we have to be careful in what independance we give and don't give. Parenting is soooooo tricky!

Feet Comparisons

2010-07-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

As we were all sitting on the couch snuggling and watching wipeout, Kate and I had our feet on the footstool and I noticed that they are VERY close to the same size! I had Duncan put his foot up next to mine and Kate's and sure enough all three of us are within a quarter of an inch of the same size feet! We could all share shoes! They are just 7 and 9! WOW! The time really does fly. I am grateful that they are healthy, growing kids.

We have always been giving the kids jobs to do around the house and now they are getting older and can take on a little more responsibility. This is kind of new territory for us as we have never had a 9 year old son and 7 year old daughter before. So the other day I had Duncan make mac and cheese for lunch, he accomplished it fairly well. The same day I had them help me clean out our front porch. I thought I was going to pull allllllllll my hair out! Whine, complain, argue, whine, complain, argue, etc. so I finally said nobody can talk unless I ask you a question. That lasted until I sent both of them to the garage and Kate comes back and says Duncan talked in the garage, then arguing began again! Earlier Duncan had found Kate's tic tacs and "accidently" dropped 2 of them in his mouth so Kate bopped him a good one and started yelling at him. They both had to apologize and Duncan says, " I am not hugging her..." so I had them stand big toes to big toes and apologize and yes, hug. That night we had them do dishes together as we have no dishwasher. It took them an hour, two sinks of water, some tears, some music, a couple dish towels, some reprimanding but the task did get accomplished. Crazy day!

2010-07-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kate up to bat

Duncan waiting to go back into the field

Josh heading out for the 56 mile bike part of the half iron

2010-07-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Duncan waiting for his turn on the tube

Kate climbing back up on the dock. The kids would do this a hundred times

during the weekend, run, jump off the dock, climb back up and do it again.

Josh and I just before the Hodag 5k run!

Summer 2010

2010-07-11T12:04:00.001-07:00

has been flying by!
Duncan-has only about 3-4 more inches to go before he is the same height as me! By the end of 4th grade it will be pretty close. He took some fun summer school classes, games galore, don't judge a movie by the book, and pop glop and fizz. Also been doing swimming lessons, he was in level 4. He has been playing baseball this summer, B-ball. Josh is once again helping coach. Tomorrow is their next playoff game, they won the first one but they have never beat this team before, but there is always a first for everything! This year Duncan has been playing a lot of shortstop and center field. He has also pitched a few innings and done a little catching. His favorite positions are catching and pitching.

Kate-also growing like a weed, we can now share most of our shoes with each other!!! She also took some summer school classes scrapbooking, first aid for children and pop, glop and fizz. She was in level 2 for swimming lessons and really liked it. She wants to take level 3 still this summer and be in swim club this winter. She played softball this spring and now likes to play catch with me in the yard. Next week she is doing a little volleyball camp and is excited about that.

Josh has done one half ironman this summer, came in at 216 out of 5oo plus people. All of us ran in the Hodag run in June. It was a first for me. I came in at 26:24 in the 5k, Josh also ran the 5k, and the kids ran the kids fun run. Josh was the race chairman this year and did a wonderful job!

We spent the 4th weekend at Round lake with my mom's family. We have been doing this for about 25ish years. The kids love to play with all of the cousins. The weather was great! There was a lot of swimming, fishing, tubing and sun tanning. There must be about 14 kids Duncan's age or younger so that makes for a lot of fun! However by Monday afternoon there were some pretty tired kids!!!

We have now swapped cousins. Kate stayed in Mn with the grandmas and grandpas and josh's sister, nicole's, family while we took Koby home to tomahawk with us. Definitely starting to miss Kate-o! We have been keeping Koby busy with biking, baseball, a couple of trips to the windmill for icecream, mini golf, and a trip to the beach. We will head back on thursday to meet Josh's family at leech lake for a long weekend at the lake. Never a dull moment!

We have had a little garden this year, tomatoes, herbs, green peppers, green beans, carrots, beets, spinach, and lettuce. We put together a little garden for the kids too. They each have some flowers and beans. Kate has lettuce and a cucumber plant and Duncan has a watermelon plant. Duncan is the responsible first born and takes really good care of his, Kate on the other hand loves her garden but needs to be reminded to take care of it. Oh well, I love their differences.

A few more pics

2010-06-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

We four cubes with the pretty river and mountains

Uncle Brandon took us horseback riding at the outfitting ranch he works for on Wednesday night. It was beautiful out there. We all had a great time riding the horses. This horse is named Zoro.

Sydney and Kate needed something to do so Holly suggested they go see if they could catch a gopher behind where everyone was shooting.......well maybe fifteen minutes later Syndey came back holding this gopher! It was hilarious! She had found this dead one and wanted to take it with her everywhere.

Last full day in Big Sky country

2010-06-02T11:14:00.001-07:00

Kate, Sydney, and Taylor

Ryan and Duncan

Ok so I am finally getting around to the last day of our trip! Friday we met up with some good friends of ours who moved from Rhinelander to Idaho, the Holly's. We hadn't seen them in about 3 years so it was wonderful to catch up, over dead gophers of course!

They made the trip to Drummond from Idaho and we met them about 9:00 friday morning at one of the best gopher hunting spots ever, according to my husband and BIL's. Of course all three of their kids look are looking older and growing up, it was just so good to see these friends of ours that we all had clicked with so well. The guys and boys shot gophers, Holly and I took a couple of shots too but mostly we just visited. The kids took to eachother almost right away even though it had been 3 years.

2010-05-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

Kate, Grandma Kristi, and Duncan in Ovando, MT. Hunting for Gophers and looking for deer and elk sheds.

Josh and Kate-o taking a break.

Kate-o learning the ropes.

Kate and grandma Kristi searching for the next good spot.

Kate and uncle Brandon after she found her elk shed. We had just gotten into the truck when she spied it lying on the side of the road in the grass. She was sooooooo excited to find it. Prior to this she was kind of bummed out because she hadn't shot any gophers but finding this made her day.

More Montana trip pictures

2010-05-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Like father, like son!

Duncan's first gopher!

It was so big out there! And wide open! I had this thought a zillion times while we were there. This picture of Sara, Dalton, Caden, Kate, Kristi, Brad, and Duncan kind of shows the vastness of the land.

Montana trip pictures

2010-05-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is our first day of gopher hunting. From left it is Duncan, Caden, Kate, Dalton, and Grandpa Brad. The two boys are Duncan and Kate's 3rd cousins. We were just heading out to the hills.

Duncan's first round of gopher hunting, mine too! I don't think I killed any this time though. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I had shot a gun before this. Like the gopher hunting gun in the background!

Duncan scoping out his next gopher.

This picture is of all us girs at the hot springs. We are in the inside pool. I hope to get some pictures from Kristi from the outside pool. I think there was a couple cute ones of the kids and on I since it was Mother's Day.

This one is of all the crazy guys at the inside pool. There was also a waterslide that went from inside to the outside pool. Duncan, Kate and Grandpa Brad had a lot of fun on that!

This picture was from our travels on the way out to Montana. When we got into western ND the scenery began to change from farm fields to the bad lands. The kids thought it was so cool they must have taken 50 pictures from the truck. Here is just one.

Thursday Day 6

2010-05-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Thursday found Kate and desiring to do something else besides look for gophers. Thankfully so did Kristi, Josh's mom. We all left Brandon's around 9:00 ish and headed back to John and Nancy's house. On the way there there was a beautiful spot for taking pictures with a river and the snowcapped mountains in the backround so we pulled over and stood on the bridge for pictures. The boys then headed off into the wild blue yonder for some more gophers and Kate, Kristi, and I to Drummond. Once we arrived we picked up Josh's grandma and grandpa who had flown out on tuesday and headed to a little town called Phillipsburg (P-burg). We ate lunch at a neat little diner and while they all these people were coming in to eat with these huge cameras around their necks and on tripods. We were very curious as both Kristi and I had recently bought canon cameras ourselves. We found out they were a group of students from all over the U.S. that were here at a university for a couple weeks taking a photography class, very cool. I wish I would have had more guts and asked more questions of them but oh well. After lunch we checked out the stores. Kate bought a rock called a montana thunderegg and had the lady cut it open. There was a neat design inside of it. The very helpful lady told us how these cool eggs formed but I can't remember, something with lava. We also checked out a huge candy store where we bought some candy and Kate bought some to bring back to here class. She has a very giving heart, just like her dad :) I bought some mountain huckleberry tea, wonderful, and we headed back to drummond. Another day down.

Wednesday Day 5

2010-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

This morning we were headed to Helena to help Josh's cousin and her husband move. I got to drive on my first mountain pass. Thankfully it was four lane and not to tricky. We were up high enough to be driving past snow for some of the trip. The trip is about an hour, to get to most places in this neck of the woods it was an hour. The kids really did a great job with all of the car riding! Today was also Josh's dad's birthday. After lunch and finishing getting them packed up we headed to costco, very cool store, for dinner and then back to brandon's. After dinner that night we went to the ranch that Brandon has done some elk guiding for, to go horse back riding. The kids have never done this before, Kate was excited but Duncan was a little hesitant. Brandon saddled up 5 horses and after some instructions and "Do not let my children ride on their own or you will be in the biggest trouble of your entire life" speeches we were off. Brandon held onto the reins of Kate's horse and Grandpa Brad onto Duncan's. Kate's horse was named Peaches, mine Murray, Josh's Zoro, and I can't remember Duncan's. It was a beautiful evening, the ranch is right by a lake also. We had fun and nobody fell off their horse and no horse freaked out on us so that was good.

Tuesday Day 4

2010-05-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

We stayed another night in Drummond. Josh's aunt and uncle are wonderful for taking us all in! This morning we headed up to Ovando, where Brandon lives. We went into the woods that some friends of theirs own and shot gophers, had lunch, and looked for elk and deer sheds. There was a little stream that went through the property and lots of beautiful scenery. We did a lot of walking that day looking for sheds. Duncan and I found elk antlers it was pretty cool. We were in an area that had elk, moose, dear, and bear. A little bit freaky considering you could run into a bear and we only had one gun that could probably kill a bear.....I was a little on edge. Kate found a rock that was shaped just like a heart. I collect heart shaped rocks so it makes my heart happy that she finds them to collect too. As we were walking back to the trucks we heard a tree fall near us and I for sure thought it was a bear but we never saw any so who knows? That night we stayed at Brandon's house. He lives with another family, Nick, Krissy, and their little girl Sawyer. They were also wonderful for having us there. Kristi and I went to the grocery store that afternoon to get things for dinner. It is not like running to the store here, it was at least a half hour trip down a dirt road, long and dusty but it was beautiful! The town we went to was in the mountains and had a huge lake by it, very neat. We had a campfire that night, the stars seem so much bigger in the mountains.

Monday Day 3

2010-05-13T07:02:00.001-07:00

Last night we stayed in Drummond, MT with Josh's aunt and uncle, Nancy and John. Today was the first of the gopher slaying days. Absolutely crazy thing to hunt, yes. But these guys love it. I guess the gophers get to be a nuissance to the farmers so they don't mind you hunting them. Josh, Tyler, Brandon, and Brad headed out to the hills about 8am and the kids and I slept in a little and played with their cousins Dalton and Cayden for the morning. At lunch time Josh's cousin Sara drove us out to where they were hunting. We had a picnic lunch in the hills and then it was off for mine and the kids first gopher hunt! After some gun safety lessons the shooting began. It is just crazy! The hills are covered with gopher holes and you just spot them and start shooting. Of course you have to take pictures of the dead gophers too! Duncan loved it! Kate, Kristi, and I took lots of scenery pictures. Kate was OK with shooting the gun, she was a trooper. She found an elk shed that day! She was very excited about that! She was in the truck and said stop stop and hopped out and found this shed!

Sunday, Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

We awoke to nice weather on Sunday and headed down to breakfast. Both of the kids had to take showers this morning and after Kate was finished she wanted me to come in the bathroom and she had written, "I love you mom" on the steamy bathroom mirror! Duncan wrote the same and happy mother's day on the mirror after his shower. The plan for the day was to meet up with Josh's family and go to his brother, brandon, softball game. The kids loved the elevators in the hotel. Oh the little things! Brandon and Tyler met us at the hotel and we went to a sports store and a huge whole foods market, it was a very cool place! We then met Brad and Kristi and Josh's aunt nancy and cousins at the game. After the softball game we went out for lunch and then off to Fairmont Hot Springs. There are two pools and a waterslide. They are heated by underground hot springs that come up into the pools. The water was around 90 degrees in the indoor pool and a little warmer in the outdoor one. Duncan and Kate loved the waterslide which went into the outdoor pool. It took Kate a couple of times going with me and grandpa brad before she went on her own. I remember thinking how beautiful it was, we were in the outdoor pool and I was watching the kids and the mountain were in the background! It was a very cool mothers day!

Montana Trip 2010 Journal

2010-05-12T17:27:00.000-07:00

Eventhough it is the 4th day of our trip I wanted to capture some of our memories and now have internet capabilities so here goes!

Day 1 Saturday 3:15 A.M.

We had planned to leave about 10:30 that morning, Duncan was going to try out for a baseball traveling team and the tryouts were outside from 8-10 am but then the snow came! They postponed the tryouts to the next Saturday which in turn changed our departure plans! Which means Kim needed to kick it in high gear because there would be no time in the am to finish packing or laundry or cleaning etc. My first thought was please don't let Josh decide we are going to leave tonight!!! Thankfully we did not leave that night but got up at 2:45 instead! We were on the road by 3:15! We had backpacks packed for both kids with stuff to do, books to read, books to listen to on CD, activity books, some homework, the DVD player and DVD's, gameboy, and DS cords and chargers for everything! A bag of snacks, fyi cheese slices melt fast, books and magazines for us, pillows and blankets and we bought neck things to put around your neck so your head doesn't bob they didn't work so well so they will be returned. We left Tomahawk in some pretty heavy wet snowfall and headed west!

The kids were absolutely wonderful!!!!! They and I slept off and on until reaching MN which was about 6:30 that am. Our first stop was at a rest stop about an hour from Fargo to use the bathroom, lots of coffee will do this to you. Next was a stop at Fargo for gas. The kids were excited over arriving at every state border. At the rest stop we switched drivers so it was my turn. I got the very boring drive of going across ND. We saw the worlds largest cow and largest flying geese! Pictures will follow some day. There were barely any cars on the road and nothing to look at! I dosed once and changed lanes without planning to AHHHH! Thankfully it was just a second of sleep and I realized what was going on! We ate sandwiches in the truck for lunch and stopped at Beach ND for the next gas fill up. This was right on the border of Montana. Shortly before this the scenery started to get more interesting and the kids loved the badlands. This is so cool they said and awesome! We told them these aren't even the big mountains and they were like no way! We loved seeing there expressions of seeing something so wonderful for the first time. We drove to Billings and had supper at Perkins and then stopped at Helena for the night at a hampton inn. It was about 10:00 mountain time! Day 1 done and wonderful!

April 2010

2010-05-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

Kate and two of her tumbling friends just before their recital

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Sharon came to watch the show

back in April.

Kate-o outside our house just before the recital. She had three recital

that weekend. All went really well.

Life's big questions

2010-04-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Every night we have pretty much the same routine. This has changed over the years as the kids have grown. Sometimes Kate would need to be in bed before Duncan and vice versa but now they both go to bed at the same time. Usually around 8 we head upstairs, sometimes they ask for, and get piggybacks, and we head up the stairs. Then it is teeth brushing and potty, every now and then instead of it being a quite wind down kind of time Josh will get them riled up! Then pj's and we all usually meet on Duncan's bed for our little devotional. Tonight after we had finished all this and prayed we sat for a minute quietly then Kate says, "So I have a question..." Thoughts are running through my mind like "where do babies come from?" AHHHH! So Kate continues and says, "How do trees give off oxygen?" :)

Parenting

2010-04-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

We as parents have attained a high honor this week. On Sunday, just after church, Josh was given the award of biggest doofus in the whole world! I don't remember what he did or said to Duncan but then Duncan tells him that he is the "biggest doofus in the whole world!" Hee Hee Hee! I however came in second! Gotta love being parents!

We also went for a bike ride with the kids on sunday, almost 11 miles. This is the first time that Kate biked that far by herself. She has her own speed however and we couldn't get her to go any faster. Oh Well, everyone was happy and there were no tears. I consider this a success.

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Kate and Duncan on our porch with their easter baskets.

coloring easter eggs

Duncan turns 9!!!

2010-04-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

March 25th Duncan turned 9.

Duncan and his friends went bowling for his 9th bday party. They also played football in the yard, had burgers and hot dogs for supper, which later I was told that that was kind of odd since most bday parties had pizza, played a lot of playstation and wii, and most of them stayed up all night! The next morning after everyone's parents had come to take them home the four of us went to the hospital to exercise and on the way home which is about a mile and a half Duncan fell asleep in the car! When we got home I told him to go upstairs to his room to sleep but he said he wasn't tired...right....a couple of minutes later, literally, he was asleep on the couch for the next four hours!

Bookworms

2010-03-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

I, being a bookworm myself, love that my kids are into reading books. Kate had me read a couple chapters of a Magic Treehouse book before she went to sleep and Duncan is reading a new chapter book. He was given this little reading light that hooks to your book. So tonight he found that and turned out his big light and used this to read his book by. He was saying that he might have a hard time sleeping though...tomorrow is his birthday party with his friends! We will appreciate your prayers! :)

2010-03-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Ice fishing, bball, and tumbling

2010-03-17T07:16:00.001-07:00

2010-03-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

So today we decided to go to the second service at church. Usually we go to the first on because this is when they have sunday school, so the kids go to sunday school and we go to church. There is no adult sunday school. First off, it was really nice to have a more relaxing sunday morning. We usually have to be out the door by 8:20 but today it was 10:00. We had plenty of time to all take showers. Much to Duncans dismay, he really doesn't care for showers right now. Though he has been combing his hair more lately.... Josh ran to the grocery store because we were out of coffee, Kate went with him and they picked up doughnuts!

Our pastor spoke on Love God, Love your neighbor, and love your enemy. It was good. The kids had a kid handout that talked about the greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God... and Duncan says, "This is what we are talking about in our wednesday kids bible study." I was like yes, yeah! He has been paying attention. Sometimes I wonder if things sink in! It is good to know that they do. I just pray that it sticks in their hearts. Kate-o was sitting next to Josh and taking notes on the pastors surmon. He had put notes up on the overhead screen. It was neat to watch her take these notes.

We headed to the grocery store after this. I know I shouldn't do grocery shopping with all of us together but I did it anyways...I always end up spending way more than planned, things just seem to hop in the cart.....

We brought our lunch with us, ate, and then went to the movie The Tooth Fairy it was pretty good, had some funny lines in it and a fairly good story. Kate sat on my lap the whole time, it won't be long and that won't work very well anymore :(

How to wear out your children

2010-03-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

We have got two tired little pickles tonight! They didn't have one complaint about going to bed, ask for a drink, or a story, and asked for their lights to be turned off! Tomahawk did not have school yesterday so Josh took Duncan and Kate fishing with another dad and his two kids. They left before 9:00 and had a great time. They were outside from 10:00-ish until 2:00 ice fishing. It was 45 plus degrees outside! They caught a ton of perch. Josh has taught Duncan how to help fillet them and he really likes to do this. Kate and the other family came home about 3:30 and they had mildly sunburned faces! Josh and Duncan went to another lake and fished until 6:00pm. Then Kate had the idea that her and I sleep together in mine and Josh's bed and Duncan and Josh sleep in Duncan's bed. OK....really how much longer are they going to want to do this?!? So that is where we slept, or for some of us tried to sleep. I guess d-dog flipped and flopped a lot, Kate was pretty good until I got a flying elbow in the nose! Oh well, she was up at 6:20am and wanted to get up but I told her wait a little while so she says how about til 6:39? Ok so at 6:39 she gets up for the day.
Day 2 began at 6:20..... D-dog had a bball game today and acutally ended up playing 2 games since another team was short players. He had fun. From this we left for Rhinelander to fish again. We didn't even make it 3 miles and Kate-o was asleep! Fising was fun, another beautiful day 50 degrees! We caught about 9 perch, Kate did a lot of cartwheels, Duncan played some catch with the football, and they both chased tip downs. We went out for pizza afterwards to a new place called Zippy's pizza. As we pulled into the garage there were two sound asleep kids! Josh put in a DVD he has been watching about Shakelton, he lasted about 10 minutes and is now asleep on the couch next to me. So I guess I could title this blog "How to wear out your husband and children!" Good thing Sunday is a day of rest!

Hot Chocolate Extravaganza

2010-02-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

The other day after school Duncan wanted hot chocolate. No problem but he needed to make it himself since I was doing some other things. So he precedes to heat the water and get out the chocolate mix, as well as marshmallow, chocolate chips, sugar, and cinamon sugar? I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making a chocolate extravaganza! A couple of nights later he made them for everyone. It is cute and kind of funny. He only adds 7 chocolate chips and just a dash of sugar and cinnamon sugar. Love him!

Last night after we had done the Bible study with Duncan and Kate Josh took Kate to her room. I was about to get up from Duncan's bed and he says "Can you just climb under the covers with me for awhile and snuggle." Love it!!!! I have to remind myself to slow down sometimes and really enjoy and seek out those little moments that mean soooooooo much to them.

Pictures from the quick trip!

2010-02-16T12:47:00.001-08:00

Josh's dad, Tyler, Duncan, and Josh with the saws used for cutting ice.

Duncan sawing the ice.

Icecubes on the icecubes!

Duncan, Jocelyn, Kate, Trissa

Duncan and my brother Landon on his 30th birthday.

My cousin Camille and her little girl Meagan on the day of her dedication.

Ice harvest, bro's 30th bday, & cousins

2010-02-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have finally had a day to do some catching up on blogging. January and the beginning of February have found myself doing a lot of substitute teaching as well as my regular tues/thurs. hours supervising the Lifestyle enhancement classes and teaching a women's strength and conditioning class. There were a handful of night that I spent doing some athletic training at the high school as well. Everything went very smoothly buy oh the planning and lists involved to help keep it running smoothly was crazy!

As of recent the kids just had a field trip to a place called Palmquists. They took sleigh rides, went sledding, skating, and had lunch following that we headed to MN for a quick weekend. My brother Landon turned 30, Logan, Leland and Leland's wife Becca all had birthdays too. We went to see how they harvested ice from the lake many years ago. That was neat. We tried the saws and took a horse drawn sleigh ride. We are also the Godparents for my cousin, Camille's little girl, Meagan and she was dedicated on sunday. Busy weekend!
Pictures to follow!

Dakota

2010-02-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we had to put down our black lab Kota. He hadn't been himself for awhile after Christmas and then he wouldn't eat his dog food, but he would eat bread. Strange.... Anyways one day I came home and he had thrown up and there was blood in it that was when we decided it was time to see the vet. Kate and Josh took Kota in and she said he had Lyme's disease, kidney failure, and ulcers in his stomach! She said the chances of him pulling around were slim, she hadn't seen a dog pull out of all of that before. Sad day at the Icehouse.

The first picture is of Josh and Kota goose hunting and this last one was about three years ago with Josh, Duncan, Kate, and Kota.

Duncan swim meet

2010-02-15T10:53:00.001-08:00

This swim meet was in Tomahawk and Duncan was doing the 25 butterfly. He is the closest lane.

Duncan would be the second swimmer from the bottom in this picture. It was either the 25 freestyle or a relay he was competing in this time.

This was the swim meet in Lakeland. The spectators area is up in a balcony like area and was good for taking some nice pictures. Duncan is the second guy from the bottom with the gold swim cap.

He spied us taking his picture in this one and smiled. It was right before the 25 freestyle event.

Swim season is over, Duncan loved it.... and now on to basketball :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-11T10:40:00.001-08:00

This first picture is of Grandpa Brad and Grandma Kristi and the grandkids. Trying to get them all situated and smiling was no easy task!

On Christmas Day we had perfect snowman making snow. We made the four of us and Josh's sister, Nicole, made snowman for the five of them. We also had to have snowball fights and make snow forts. Duncan, Grandma Kristi, and I must have worked for an hour or more on the forts.

This picture is of Duncan and Kate and their newest cousin Jocelyn on Christmas Eve.

This is the annual Brincefield picture at my grandpa and grandmas house. Every year since I was an infant we have had a picture taken by the fireplace. My brother Leland and his wife Becca are missing from the picture as well as Logan's wife Brooke's daughter Trissa.

Duncan and Kate's Christmas program

2009-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

The kids had their annual Christmas program at school this past wednesday. The music teacher does such a good job of putting this together. They sing a variety of songs and plenty of ones about Jesus. The teacher even quoted a verse from Micah. We are so thankful the kids go to a school that does this. The first picture is of Kate playing the bells, she is the second one in, the first girl is one of her best friends, or BFF's as they already call them. The second picture has both kids in it, Duncan is on the top far right and Kate is in the third row just to the left of the middle. The video is of Duncan "rockin' around the Christmas tree." I knew they were singing this song, but I didn't know duncan has such funky dance moves! It wasn't until after they had done the chorus once or twice that we got it on video. I'm pretty sure he gets these moves from his Dad! Have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Duncan's first swim meet

2009-12-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

Duncan had his first swim meet last saturday. It was an all day event and went fairly well. He swam 5 events: the 25 backstroke, 25 and 50 yd freestyle, and two relay events. He received a 4th, 2-6th places, and a first. He was pretty excited about the day.

He still melts my heart!

2009-11-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I know Duncan is 8 almost 9 years but he still melts my heart. I have been substitue teaching at the school in Tomahawk this year. I am only subbing in the elementary for now. Today I had Duncan's class. I have subbed for them before and it went well so I was excited to be back. They had a movie on the plans for today and Duncan's teacher said he was in charge of setting it up on the smartboard for me. He did a great job. Then all of the kids sat down in front of it and I took a seat near the back. After a couple minutes Duncan came back and pulled a chair up by me....then he put his head on my shoulder. It was so sweet. After school we chilled out for awhile and while Kate was playing with Barbies Duncan wanted me to play catch with him. We have a tiny yard so we played catch in the street. Duncan had three plays for today, HM-hail mary, P-post left or right, and D-drag left or right and if I stomped my foot that meant motion. It was great, we played until the streetlights came on. After Josh came home we ate and headed to the bowling alley. Josh and Kate beat Duncan and I...Josh had a lucky game :)

Fall at the Ice house

2009-11-18T07:30:00.001-08:00

We have done quite a bit of traveling lately. We went back to Wadena two weekends in a row for hunting purposes. Thankfully that did produce some venison. Josh shot a doe the opening of hunting weekend. We spent trick or treating with the cousins. Kate was a hippie rock star and duncan was a guy from star wars. They had a great time. We also ate tons of pizza ranch pizza yum!! Both grandparents had bday parties for Kate which included games, bowling, and ice cream cake. The next picture is of Kate's bday party with her friends. It went wonderfully! The girls did a craft, played twister, ate pizza, did their hair, nails, and dressed up, watched a movie and off to bed. Josh even got in on the action with blue and yellow fingernails! The last picture is of Kate and Josh before they were off to the father/daughter dance. This is the second year they have gone and once again danced their little buns off. Duncan took me on a date that night also. He took me to Texas Roadhouse in wausau. That is one of his favorite restaurants. He likes to watch whatever sports they have on the TVs while we eat. They staff there also does this little country dance number when a certain song is played. He had been waiting for them to do it and when they finally did he says "I love coming to this place." While we were waiting for our food and talking and watching the football game the song "your gonna miss this" (I think that is the title) was played. I'm not sure who it's by. It brought tears to my eyes. I hope we can keep doing dates....even when he is 16 or so :)

Helene's Apple Orchard

2009-09-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday Josh left for Casper, Wyoming to hunt antelope and so far they have been successful. He shot a buck and a doe on monday. We haven't heard much else from him however. Apparently there's not much cell phone service in that area?!? Anyways my parents came to stay with us for a few days and one of the things we did was visit this apple orchard in Merrill. The weather was perfect! As soon as you get within 50 yards of their main shop you can smell the apple pastries baking! It was heavenly. They have a corn maze, a hayride, and a big play area for the kids. You can also pick your own apples. It was quite fun. The kids and I also took grandpa to Tomahawk's homecoming game on friday night. It sprinkled off and on during the first quarter and after the halftime show and fireworks we decided to leave being that we were wet and cold. After getting home and each of the kids took warm showers the drain clogged!! Murphy's law...when the husband leaves town problems will ensue. Thankfully after two trips to town, some liquid plumbr, and prayer the drain unclogged! My parents left on Sunday so we will be on our own until thursday when Josh's mom and grandma and grandpa will come to stay with us. We are looking forward to their company too. Maybe the great white hunter will even come home early from his trip!?!

Fall 2009

2009-09-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

The fall is now in full swing at the Ice house. Duncan began flag football last week. In the pictures he is wearing a navy blue jersey with the number twelve on it. He loves to play flag football. He just likes football in general. Yesterday he was watching one game on TV and the other on the computer! Kate didn't quite think this was fair that he had the laptop and the TV. Kate will begin tumbling classes on Wednesday, I have started a new women's Bible study with a group of women from Rhinelander. It is called Cultivating Contentment by the women of faith group. Josh is off on a hunting trip to Wyoming for antelope soon. Hopefully he will get one!

It was also the Tomahawk Harley Fall Ride this weekend. Definitely a crazy weekend in Tomahawk. About 50,000 extra people in a town of only 4,000! The kids had Harley day in school last friday so the other picture is of them and their Harley clothes.

Funny

2009-09-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight Kate and I were upstairs and she had just finished brushing her teeth, she looked at the toothpaste container kind of funny-like and said, "When does this retire? It is kind of zippy." I chuckled inside and said, "Do you mean expire?" Oh, the funny things kids say!

Just finished reading a good book called Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson. It is a christian fiction story but not all light, easy reading. It makes you take a hard look at your life and faith. Definitely a good read.

2009-09-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Duncan and Kate had their first day of school last Tuesday. They are now in 3rd and 1st grade! They are both in the multiage classes at Tomahawk and their rooms are right next to eachother. They could have been in the same room but at Duncan's request (and Josh and I agreed) we had them put in separate rooms. Duncan thought for sure he would end up in trouble with a pink slip and a trip to the principals office if they were in the same room.

Duncan described his first day as Great, he really wanted to use the word fabulous but he thought that was too girly of a word. I guess his day went well. The multiage is divided into lower 1-3 grades and upper 4-5 grades, so he is the oldest of the lower kids. I think that helps and the familiarity of having the same teacher and many of the same kids for the third year added to his comfort zone.

Kate said she had a good day. She was't overly thrilled but this is all new to her. She does know a good handful of kids and has a close friend in her immediate class. She is excited about starting tumbling and being in the next class up this year, she is also thinking about playing in a sunday volleyball club. Last night after school we were just hanging out watching PBS kids and she had her nail polish things out, she loves this. I was going to paint mine too but she wanted to do them for me. I just got my first ever french manicure from a 6 year old, kids rock!

Time does fly, so enjoy your kids today, play, do something kid-like with them, hug and cuddle. "Children are a gift from the Lord..."

Josh wausau triathalon 2009

2009-08-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

Been awhile between posts again....We had a wonderful July! Some of the highlights being fourth of July with all of the cousins, aunts, and uncles at my grandparents on round lake in MN, then off with the college gang to fishtrap lake. Duncan said his favorite thing was playing football with the guys, he absolutely loved making up the plays and Kate's favorite thing was playing with all the little ones, Charlie, Elliot, and Eleanor. We all had lots of fun!

This past Saturday Josh did the wausau tri and did an absolutely wonderful job! He did the long course this year. He had done the short course twice. The long course is a half mile swim, 28 mile bike, and 10k. We were able to cheer him on for most of the swim, and then he was off on the bike ride, the hills were unbelievable!! Last was the run. We are very proud of him.

Bike ride to the windmill

2009-06-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago the four of us took a bike ride to the windmill ice cream shop. It is about 7 miles from our house. Duncan was riding his own bike but Kate was on the tag along that time. This time we were all on our own bikes. We left our house at 6:15 last night. It was a beautiful day and we just couldn't stay home. We made it there in a little over an hour, got some of our favorite ice cream, they have a new one called pirates booty, it was great! We rested our legs and refilled the camelback and water bottle and headed home. We just started back through the woods and Duncan who was out in from of us saw a fox run across the path, I asked him if the fox was red and he thought for just a second and said "No more of cinnamon with white spots." Cinnamon! Where did he come up with that. Then as we were biking I had the water bottle on my bike and Duncan and I figured out that we could pass the bottle to each other while we were biking and then give eachother a high five after the pass. It was getting dark and along the sides of the path the lightning bugs had come out it was sooooo neat. Duncan says " This is the best day we get to bike to the windmill, I saw a fox, and I saw lightning bugs." Ah the simple things in life. Kate has learned how to braid and as I write this she is braiding my hair. I love it.

stuff

2009-05-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

*The first picture is of Kate on third base and the second is of "Coach Josh" giving directions.

*The other day Duncan was praying at supper time and he said, "Thank you for the person who made our supper and thank that a few weeks ago we had mother's day." I peeked at him when he said this and he was peeking back at me. :)

*How long do I suppose Duncan will still hold my hand while we watch TV? Probably won't be very cool shortly.

*I had some in depth conversations this past week. Kate was talking about popularity?!? She is in kindergarten for heavens sake! So we chatted about that. Then while the four of us were on a bike ride a few days later Duncan said that some day he is going to be a billionaire because he is going to play professional football, basketball, and baseball. So I said you know it it not just about the money, it is important the you enjoy what you do no matter what that is. He said yeah, he wants a reputation. Reputation....big word for a second grader. So I said you know there are different kinds of reputations you can make for yourself and he says he wants a good one. Oh, boy!

*We went on a bike ride this past saturday....the bike ride from you know where. Kate is learning to ride her bike and she can do it but she freaks out!!! We have some great fairly remote trails by us, flat and straight I thought would be great for a beginner biker. She cried the ENTIRE time. Good thing my husband has so much patience. I think poor Kate got a double dose of stubborness. We both thought that if she doesn't pick up on this we are going to have to have another one of these bike rides. Yikes! She only fell into the bushes twice but is riding much better.

*On Wednesday mornings I go to Duncan's reading class to help out. This morning his teacher had me take a group of girls to the cafeteria to read a story, all was fine no misbehaving, we read out story and done. So then I had them send the group of boys out next. Four boys came walking out, one of them Duncan, no problem, the other three all a little more rambunctious. I made the mistake of burping, I couldn't hold it in and it wasn't very quiet, soooo for the next five minutes they were burping and trying to say things and then the air started to smell! They finally quieted down and we got our reading accomplished. Oh the differences between boys and girls!

New Baseball Season!

2009-05-20T19:55:00.001-07:00

Duncan has begun a new season of baseball. He plays with other second graders and first graders. The guys had their first game last Sunday and lost 7-4, I think it was first game jitters, they little guys had a hard time just remembering where they put their hat and glove let alone what position they were playing and what to do with the ball. Oh well it was fun. Yesterday they had their second game and won! I think the score was 12-7. Duncan did a great job, I think he was 4 for 5 and made a great diving catch when he was playing pitcher. We were playing in a very little town pretty much a church and some houses, with a field of horses across the road from the field. It was a beautiful evening for baseball. I don't think I could ever get tired of watching my kids play sports or whatever else they choose to do. Speaking of watching kids, I have always loved watching them sleep, no matter how crazy the day was with them, when we check on them before we go to bed and I see their peaceful faces all is well again. Kids are a blessing from the Lord.

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

This was my 8th mother's day and it was wonderful! The day before the kids and Josh picked out food at the grocery store in order to cook dinner for me on mother's day. So, on Sunday we went to church and then came home, everyone changed clothes and began getting lunch stuff together. I knew that if I stayed in the kithchen and living room area where I could see and hear what was going on that I would have a hard time not trying to help out so, I headed to the bedroom with a good book. I am currently reading the Yada Yada prayer group series. Wonderful books! They take place in Chicago! Well, it took Josh and the kids about an hour and a half to make lunch. When all was said and done Josh had grilled chicken and asparagus, Kate had buttered french bread and torn up lettuce for a salad and put cherry tomatoes in it, Duncan had helped cut up pineaple, cantaloupe, mangoes, and oranges for a fruit salad. It was great! They came and said lunch was ready. They helped to dish up my plate and we ate lunch out on the porch, Duncan pulled out my chair, and Kate carried out my drink and I just felt like a queen! It was the best lunch ever! Oh and Duncan opened my car door each time I had to get out today too, what a gentleman!

2009-05-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok all you avid bloggers how, once I have put a picture on the blog can I rotate it? I just can't figure it out?!?

2009-05-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

So, one more quick funny thing from Kate's tumbling recital weekend. Before she got all ready in her leotard I wanted her to take a shower. She opted for a bubble bath, fine. While she was in the bubble bath I was picking up her room. She is a very smart kid, but organization is not a strong point, though she knows where everything is found, I do not, therefore I began picking up. A few minutes into this I hear her singing the song by Steven Curtis Chapman, "I will dance with Cinderlla while she is still in my arms, cuz I know something the prince doesn't know......" So I quietly peek in the bathroom and there she is in our clawfoot tub witht the washcloth over her face singing away. So funny, cute, and heartwarming all at the same time. Love ya Kate-o!

2009-05-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a month has gone by since our last post! I saw Runyans comment and thought I had better get on this! The b-day party went off without a hitch for the most part...I stayed up until about 2:30 then went up and told the boys it was time to put in a movie and rest and they were all like ok ok yeah you should go to bed...should I be suspicious of something?!? After about 10 mins of laying in bed I hear footsteps in the kitchen and I wake up Josh because I want him awake if they are going to throw water on us or some other crazy thing! But all we heard were whispers and the fridge open and close. We heard their voices a couple more times and still no pranks, so the next time we decided to grab the cell phone and call the home phone when they were in the kitchen thinking maybe this will get a rise out of them..they giggled and laughed and ran back upstairs, it is now 3:30 or so. We decided the next time they came down we should call the home phone and talk on the answering machine.."I can see you boys down there"... but they never came back down and I finally fell asleep.........

D-man has started baseball again this year with Josh as the coach and they are so excited! Duncan wants to play 3rd base or center field. Our school puts on a night once a month called lighted schoolhouse where a meal is served and there are activities for families to do together. A week ago the multiage classes put on a live wax museum. Duncan chose to be Cy Young so he had to do a little report on him, then put together a costume, and paint a background. They all did a wonderful job!

Kate-o has just finished tumbling for the school year and had a recital this past weekend. She did a super job! She does cartwheels at home all the time and wants me to help her do backwalkovers and handstand forward rolls allllllllllllllll the time. Oh well practice makes perfect right! She has also been doing a lot of writing. She put together a binder with paper and writes in it almost every day. Her words are not spelled right of course but if you sound them out it sounds like how it should be spelled. I am glad that she likes to write. Maybe I should get her to do this blog sometime......

D's 8th Bday party

2009-04-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well, here we sit with five 8 and 9 year olds upstairs playing in Duncan's room, Kate is sleeping in ours. It is Duncan's 8th bday party and in a moment of weakness I said the boys could stay overnight?!? We picked all of the kids up from school and then headed for the bowling alley. Josh had control of them there as Kate and I had to head off for her tumbling practice at the school. They have a little show tomorrow. After two games of bowling and a pitcher of Mt. Dew?!? they came home. We had pizza and the last of the caffienated drinks, hopefully about 10:00 the high will wear off. They played football outside and hide and seek inside and are now playing the playstation up in Duncan's room. I went up there to check on them awhile ago and they were all sitting infront of the TV with their shirts off! Wonder what was up with that? Duncan informed us earlier this week that they have some pranks planned for Josh, me, Kate and even the dog! We will see what happens. I'm kind of afraid to go to sleep! Wish me luck!

Undefeated

2009-03-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

D's team ended the season undefeated, they celebrated with green shamrock cookies and sprite.

Life's big questions?!?

2009-03-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

So the ice's have been busy, busy, busy but are doing great. As for the title of this post "Life's big questions" here goes... we were just hanging out at home the other day and Kate asks "How does a baby get in the mom's tommy?!?!" First why do all the difficult questions get asked to me? and second the answer for now is God puts them there, entirely true. I will leave a more detailed answer for a few years down the road. Then we were on our way to bible study the other day and Duncan asks Josh "How come you didn't play in the NFL?" Hee Hee Hee we looked at eachother and snickered. Duncan was dead serious, so Josh says I didn't practice enough, and something about not being good enough. Kids are so entertaining!

Duncan has his last basketball game tonight and in the last game he scored 6 points! This was the first time he scored in a game and he was so cute. After the first basket he made he looked up at Josh and I in the stands and had the cutest smile, it reminded me of when he was a toddler, he smiled at us each time a made a basket. It just melts a mom's heart.

winter fun!

2009-02-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

We had beautiful weather this past weekend so we all decided to get out and enjoy it. After D's bball practice we packed a lunch and headed out to pickerel lake up near Minoqua. We found our spot, drilled our holes, and set up the ice shack. We decided that we would have teams, dunan and me, and josh and Kate. Whoever caught the first fish could pick which tip up holes to fish from. I caught the first one, a perch about 4 inches long, but a fish is a fish and we picked our tip ups. I caught another bigger fish, then Josh and Kate pulled up a 15in large mouth bass, then the tears began. Duncan said I never catch any fish...I tried to encouage him, but then Josh caught a huge northern about 25 inches long...more tears...then the guys fishing next to us yelled tip up!! and Josh started calling d's name to go get it. I followed him out of the ice shack and watched as he began pulling it up. I asked if it felt big and he said yeah i think so, then we saw its head! It was a northern! As D pulled the huge fish just jumped right out of the hole and in turn we jumped and screamed too. Needless to say that was the end of the tears and he was very excited.

The next day, after church, we took our kids and two of Kates friends to a place called Camp Forest Springs. We could tube, downhill ski, cross country ski, and snowboard here. It was so beutiful and they had a lot of fun.

2009-02-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

I also wanted to remember this past weekend. It finally warmed up here to about 35 and first Kate and i went to the bridal shop to look for a flower girl dress for my brother leland's wedding. She LOVED trying them on and she was so cute. She got to stand where the brides do in front of all the mirrors and she thought that was cool too. Then the boys went over to our friends the Gerstenberger's to go ice fishing. I decided this would be a good opportunity for Kate and I to take a nap however it did not work out. After she had come into my room a couple of times the phone rang and I let the machine get it, then the phone rang again and it was josh who said we should come and join them because it was so nice out. We went and caught a few fish and the kids tubed behind the snowmobile and went sledding. That night josh was volunteering for the badger state games in rhinelander and kate went with him so i asked duncan if he wanted to go on a date with me and he could pick where we went to eat. We went to mcdonalds oh well. As we were standing in line he looks up at me and says "Behave now" I was dumbfounded and started laughing he looked up at me with a funny smirk on his face. I suppose they hear us tell them that and he was being funny...but he did look kind of serious. We had a nice date and then we went to pick out a movie and he held the door open for me! What a gentleman. It was a wonderful time.

2009-02-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I have finally become up to date with technology! We have created a blog and I am really excited to stay in touch with friends and family this way.

Every Wednesday morning I go to Duncan's reading class and help out. Normally something crazy happens like last week this boy had an obviously runny nose, I could see the snot, so I asked if he needed a kleenex and he said no and made a very loud snuffing noise and there went the snot, nasty! Anyways Duncan did a poster presentation on a book he read about the carolina panthers and he did really well. Back to today, the classroom was uneventful! That rarely happens. Kate has tumbling tonight and that is all. Have a wonderful Day.