Valentine's Day

As you know, Valentine's Day is coming up soon!

At lunch with one of my sisters and two of my nieces over the weekend, the subject of Valentine's Day was brought up.

"Mom, are we having the family over for a Valentine's Day dinner?" Emily asked.

I love the thought process of my niece. In her eyes, Valentine's Day is just like any other major holiday -- Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, 4th of July. It should require a family dinner.


J.B.

All I want for Christmas

Two years ago, Emily wanted two front teeth for Christmas.

This year, two front teeth were Amanda's wish. You wouldn't believe the bribe I had to come up with to get her to sing on camera for me. I had to sing and dance to Dancing Queen...and that video, my friends, will not be seen here! or anywhere!

J.B.

The tide is changing

This last weekend was a lot of fun. I went to the world's largest corn maze with my nieces and a friend of theirs. I went trick-or-treating at The Landing with my niece, Emily. I went to an apple orchard with my friend, Michelle, her daughter and my other friend, Krissy.

But I just want to blog about trick-or-treating. It was probably the first time Emily and I did something just the two of us since she was probably three years-old. This is mostly due to the fact that she has a younger sister, so special outings involve both of them. She was obviously excited that the two of us got to do something together.

The Landing is a pioneer village with interpreters dressed up as actual pioneers. Each of the different houses had someone giving out treats and toys as we trick-or-treated around. It was actually kind of spooky walking around, as none of the houses have electricity. The whole village was lit by lanterns on the walking path. Emily and I had a fun time. We both dressed up. I was a farmer and she was a pirate. I'd share the picture, but overalls are not flattering! She was a little shy of the interpreters, so she needed me to talk to them at first. And I watched her get more comfortable as the night went on.

But the reality of the situation is this. They used to run into my arms and give me big hugs when I saw them. Amanda still does that, but Emily doesn't always. At one point in time, my nieces would have loved to do anything with their auntie. Well, they still do, but the tide is changing. 

On the way home, I was asking Emily what she liked and didn't like about our trick-or-treating adventure. The thing that sticks out in my mind was when she said that she likes trick-or-treating in her neighborhood better, because she can go with her friends.

And I interpret that statement as she's growing up. Her friends are becoming more important in her life. I'm glad that she enjoys hanging out with her auntie. But I know as she gets older, the more she'll rather do things with her friends. It's fun to watch her grow up into the little lady she's becoming. But it's bittersweet when the reality of it all sinks in, because I love the girl she is right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm super proud to see the girl she's grown into. She's funny and sensitive towards others. She loves singing and acting and making people laugh. She loves animals and horseback riding. She's an awesome artist. I hope that as she grows up, she'll continue to look forward to the special times we get together.

Did you know that in first grade, she said when she grew up she wanted to be an auntie? Ahh, the love!

This is not a hoax

Will the media ever let the balloon boy hoax die?

Apparently, not.

Well, I, boys and girls, have two balloon boy stories to share that are real. Unfortunately, neither one has anything to do with me. Well, technically, one of these stories was made possible with a generous donation (or birthday present) from me (and others).

Story 1:
My sister, Becky, was telling me this story at lunch the other day. I could not believe that a boy actually has been stuck inside a runaway balloon once before.

During one cold Minnesota winter, a boy was inside a hot air balloon for a half-time show that the Met Stadium. The balloon was tethered to the ground when, suddenly, the rope broke and the boy and his balloon floated away. Finally the balloon descended and landed in a river. The impact of the crash caused the boy to be flung from the balloon and he was able to swim to shore despite his heavy layers of clothing. But minus the weight of the boy, the balloon went back into the air. Everyone kept following the balloon and when it crashed into a nearby field, the rescuers were surprised to find the balloon was empty. Thankfully, the boy was found and reunited with his family.

When Becky told me this story, I though it was a hoax. But she wasn't kidding and neither am I. Read the news story here.

Story 2:
My Dad and sister, Rachel, were given a hot a balloon ride for their birthday presents this year. On Saturday, they got to go on the ride. The others (myself, mom, Becky and my nieces) headed out to the field to watch. Once the balloon was in the air, my mom and I chased them across town and captured the ride on film (well, technically a memory card). Although I think the balloon ride would have been super fun, my mom and I had fun watching from the ground. Here's some of the pictures.

Last weekend...

Dave and I took Otis and Cooper down to Minnesota City to see some of our family and visit John's farm. The farm is nestled in a valley surrounded my lush tree-covered hills. It's so peaceful and beautiful. Since it's fall harvest time (yes, FALL), we got to enjoy the fresh produce that John's been growing all summer. We had tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, grape tomatoes, ground cherries, and red and yellow raspberries. I had never even heard of ground cherries, but they were good! We got a preview of the pumpkins and cantaloupe that are growing. We walked around the hillside and toured John's prairie gardens.

While we had an awesome time eating and spending time with family, the dogs had one of their best days ever. They got to run around free for hours and hours. They got to explore the garden while Dave picked us some food. They played with Ann's dog, Minnie. You could see smiles on their faces -- not kidding. When they were tired of running, they'd take a break and lay by our feet. Then after a while, they'd get up and run around all over again. We all can't wait to make the trip again next year!

Here's some pics of our day. I already posted them on FB, but wanted to blog about our day too...since it's a fun one that I want to remember! And I got to play with our new camera!

Cooper squinting in the sun -- he's got those sensitive blue eyes.

Otis resting in the shade -- he gets hot so easily with his thick black fur.

The view from the prairie garden on the hillside.

Cooper, Otis and Minnie -- the three amigos.

Cooper resting with Dad.

Dave successfully picked an ear of corn!

Growing forever

Last night, the family headed to one of our local Barnes & Nobles stores to see my dad at his first book signing and discussion for his book, Victory Principles. It's about World War II's Normandy Invasion and takes an indepth look at the mililary's leadership and how their leadership techniques can be applied to people in leadership roles today. Great for anyone who's interested in WWII history or leadership development!



Thanks for listening to that little sales pitch. Now back to our program. :)



In the car on our way home, Amanda was talking about how she loves getting birdies from Uncle Dave. A birdy is when she runs up to Uncle Dave and flaps her wings (er, arms). He throws her up into the air and catches her.

A: I miss when Uncle Dave worked at Home Depot.
Me: Why?
A: He gave me birdies every time I saw him.
Me: He gives you birdies every time he sees you anyway.
Rachel: Soon you're going to be too big to get birdies.
A: No, I'm not. Dave's going to keep growing, and I'm going to keep growing; so he'll always be big enough to give me birdies.

Three years. We're still running.

Dave and I celebrated our third anniversary yesterday!!! I must say that my husband did a great job making this anniversary so memorable. He had Lou Malnatti's pizza delivered to our house! ALL the way from CHICAGO! It's where we had the best ever pizza during our trip last summer to visit Erin and John in Chicago. And it was just as yummy as I remembered!

The other thing Dave did was order the same cake we had at our wedding (a smaller version). Since that cake was the best ever, we didn't have any left over from the wedding. Consequently, we weren't able to save any and eat it on our first anniversary...as you're supposed to do according to some (weird) tradition. I was really surprised to see that too!

All of this was extra awesome because Dave had school and work all day on our anniversary and we hadn't discussed anything we were going to do. I just thought we'd get take out like we did the year before. But this was the best surprise! He obviously put some time and effort into ordering all this deliciousness and it meant so much to me.

I should also add that he got me the Crocs that I've been wanting. (Not your typical Crocs...much cooler!) He bought himself a similar pair a couple of weeks ago, and I was jealous because he bought the men's version of the pair that I wanted. So I was very happy that he listened to me and bought a pair for me too!

On to more sentimental stuff....

I can't believe Dave and I have already been married for three years. For more than 1,000 days. That means we've been married for almost half the time we've been together. I love celebrating my anniversary because each year is an accomplishment. This last year has been one of the best for us yet.

This year...
We survived new jobs and jobs losses.
We celebrated holidays and birthdays.
We survived the death of a grandma.
We celebrated the election of a new President.
We survived through another school year.
We celebrated friends' weddings and births of children.
We survived a car crash.
We enjoyed our time at home and away.

Each struggle, each accomplishment; we've done it together, hand in hand.
We've grown closer together.
Fallen more in love.
There's no one else that I'd rather have on my journey through life.
I'm so blessed to have Dave and to be his wife.

Here's a slideshow of some of our highlights together from year three. I should also give credit to Katie Mathews Photography for some of the pics and the collage. Having a photographer in the family has its benefits. ;)

Quiero calcetines

Tonight Emily and Amanda are sleeping over at my house. While we were eating, they said they missed their Auntie Stevie because she's always so far away, so we decided to make a movie for her. (Uncle Dave -- they miss you too, but they just didn't say it in the conversation). I don't even know if Stevie looks at this blog -- but hopefully you do...because this movie is for you.

Take 1


(Otis and Cooper went a little crazy).


Take 2 -- The real movie, "Quiero Calcetines"

A real Easter egg hunt

Easter Sunday, we were over at my parents' house. My nieces were late, because they were flying home from their spring break trip in Mexico with Becky and Steven. My mom put together some eggs and candy for the girls to find, but misplaced the bag of eggs, so she asked us to find the bag before the girls' arrived. There was even a prize involved!

So the four of us (me, Dave, Rachel and my mom) get up and start looking. We're pretty competitive, so we're running all over the place opening cupboards and closets trying to be the first to find the eggs and claim the prize.

But we couldn't find the eggs. We searched and searched. In the kitchen. In the living room. The laundry. The garbage. The garage. The basement. My parents' bedroom. Everywhere. We exhausted every possible hiding place and couldn't find the eggs!

We even asked St. Anthony to help us.

We questioned whether or not my mom really put together the eggs or if she was delusional.

We questioned whether the dog, Nels, stole the eggs and ate the candy.

We questioned whether my dad stole the eggs and ate the candy.

My nieces arrived and we still couldn't find the eggs.

Dave asks, "So what's the prize?"

He's backing up towards the laundry room, saying, "I have an idea." (My nieces are playing school down in the basement.)

He comes back out of the laundry room with a bag of eggs. "So what's the prize?" he asks again and smirking.

Did Dave find the eggs earlier in the day and kept us all in the dark?!?

He says he didn't....but I have my suspicions.

And the prize was....well, there was no prize, except the satisfaction of saving the Easter egg hunt for the girls!

Conversations with a 7-almost-8-year-old

My soon-to-be 8-year-old niece Emily called me last night.

“Will you come to my birthday party on March 22?”

“Sure I’d love to come.”

“Good, because you make the best birthday cake!”

“Wait – you want me to make you a cake and bring it to your party??”

So we talk for a few more minutes. She tells me the names of everyone who’s coming. 12 people. But apparently her little sister got 20 people at her birthday (editor’s note: I was at Amanda’s b-day…there weren’t 20 people there).

Then I get a call from my sister Rachel (Emily’s other aunt) a couple of minutes later. Rachel tells me that Emily forgot to tell me the theme of her party and Emily wanted Rachel to call me and let her know. Rachel, being the awesome auntie she is, listened to Emily’s demands request and promptly called me. But as Rachel is talking to me, my call waiting breaks in and it’s Emily’s phone number. I tell Rachel I’ll call her back and I click-thru to Emily’s call.

“I forgot to tell you that the theme of my birthday party is dolls.”

“Yeah, Auntie Rachel just called me and was telling me that.”

“I forgot to tell you, so I asked Rachel to tell you. But then my mom and dad said it wasn’t Rachel’s responsibility to tell you and that I had to call you.”

North Carolina Christmas pics

Katie posted photos of our Christmas in North Carolina on her blog earlier this week. If you're interested to see pics of all the fun stuff we did, check them out.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

My Grandparents and Stevie and I a long time ago
(I think I was 12...Stevie, 10; Grandpa, 76; and grandma, 79)

Yesterday was my Grandpa's 91st birthday! Wow! I am so lucky that both he and my grandma (both on my dad's side) are still alive and healthy. Since Grandpa lives in New Jersey, I couldn't help him celebrate by eating some cheesecake. A phone call had to suffice. 91 years is a quite a lifetime to have lived...and hopefully he has several more left! Anyway last year (2007), I posted a list of stuff the happened the year my Grandma was born. I thought I'd do the same for my Grandpa....so let's take a look at what happened in 1918.

• Woodrow Wilson was President
• Russia switches from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; the date skips from February 1 to February 14.
• World War I: Germany, Austria and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war.
• Czechoslovakia declares its independence from Austria-Hungary.
• A new Polish government is declared in Western Galicia (Central Europe). Poland declares its independence from Russia.
• The Hungarian government terminates the personal union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian empire.
• World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.
• Austria becomes a republic. Hungary becomes a republic.
  
• The German Revolution
• World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France.
• Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.
• Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains in personal union with the King of Denmark who also becomes King of Iceland.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.
• The British occupy Palestine.
• By order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by the Cheka, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia....and the Russian Revolution
• The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time
• General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
• The United States Post Office Department (later renamed the United States Postal Service) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
• The Spanish Flu (influenza) becomes pandemic; over 25 million people die in the following 6 months (almost twice as many as died during the war).
• The Boston Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs for the 1918 World Series championship, their last World Series win until 2004.
• The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment is founded to promote repeal of prohibition in the U.S.

It appears that there was a lot of political unrest and chaos in 1918? While reading Wikipedia (my source..lol), almost every entry had to do with a war and countries declaring independence over one another. For the first time in a while, it made me feel like our world's state of affairs is somewhat calm and orderly...even though I know there are too many places in our world where wars are currently occurring. Coincidentally, I keep hearing people talk about the show that was on the History Channel this week about the world ending in 2012? They point to the anarchy and financial recession as evidence that it could really happen. Hmmm...I wonder what people thought in 1918 during The Great War or later during The Great Depression or during World War II...if those events were Armageddon? Life and hope has always prevailed!

That's a little off topic...so back to the point of this post.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! Hope you have a fantastic 91st year!

January

It's the beginning of the month (well, close enough, I guess). It's that time to share all the exciting things we have going on in January. The problem is....we don't really have anything exciting this month. January is the month to recover from the holidays and hunker down and try to stay out of the cold month. lol.

Most noteworthy and least exciting: Dave and I start new semesters at school.

Most exciting: Hair cut (eh...trim, technically)....and I did that yesterday, so it's already done and done.

I'm hoping that my sister and I can reschedule our double dates for later this month and hopefully we'll see some friends we haven't seen for a while.

That's pretty much it. Oh, and some b-days and anniversaries for grandparents. Got to make some b-day cards quick!

The Holidays -- Balow Style

Here's a bunch of pictures showing what the Balows did for the holidays in Minnesota. Sometimes it's easier just posting pictures than writing. Katie just posted some pics of the holidays in North Carolina on her Facebook. I'm sure she'll be posting some on her blog too, so that's where you'll find the rest of our holiday pics (I didn't take one picture in North Carolina!)

Cooper's so handsome.

Cooper by the Christmas tree (he must be licking his lips.)

Otis knows how to pose for the camera.

Cuddling on the couch (how I spend the majority of my time at home).

My nieces at the Holidazzle Parade.

Santa!

The three of us at the parade.

So snowy I had to get out my boots.

Amanda opening her b-day present from her Uncle Dave and Aunt Jenny.

Cutting out cookies.

The family volunteering at Feed My Starving Children looking cute with our hair nets. In the two hours we volunteered, our shift packaged over 11,000 meals!

Rachel and Becky packaging meals.

Krissy and Emily scooped the food.

Amanda sweeping and cleaning at the end of our shift.

Family Christmas was at my house, which was right after volunteering. We enjoyed lots of food....molasses marinated pork tenderloin, green beans, cesar salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, root vegetables and rolls. Later in the evening (after opening presents), we got out the Nintendo 64 and played a lot of Mario Kart. I think it's funny to see the whole family piled in front of the TV.

Easter & Emily's B-day

Here's a bunch of photos from today's Easter and Emily's B-day party...

Emily's is in the middle and Amanda is on the right. Zoe is on the left. She lives across the street from my sister's house and her family came over for the day.

Amanda found a lot of eggs during the Easter egg hunt.

The girls all helped decorate the watermelon cake I made for Emily's b-day.

Emily's all set to blow out the candles. She got them out in one breath, which means no boyfriends until after college.

Amanda with her Auntie Rachel.

Emily with Auntie Jenny

El Arbol Generoso is the present Emily received from Uncle Dave and me.

Now I know why Emily always sticks out her tongue for photos. She gets it from her Dad. Be sure to check out all the hula hoop videos of everyone trying to hula. They are Stevie-snort-out-loud hilarious!

Traditions!

Of course the whole reason why we celebrate Christmas is important, but what I think really makes the holiday season the best is all the traditions we have. Each year we make the time to do our family traditions, and it's great to be part of a family that wants to spend time with each other and keep the traditions going year after year. I was just looking at some of my photos from the last couple of weeks, and as busy as they've been, it's been a wonderful time. Every year, especially during Christmas, we make the time to do our family traditions. And each year, we make special memories. And this year is extra special, because it's the first Christmas in two years that we've all been together. I don't know why we don't do more special family things throughout the year -- we should, but Christmas is one of the few times during the year that all my sisters are home. Spending time with the people I love really makes his time of year special.

Our 2nd Annual Holiday Dinner

The Holidazzle Parade

Amanda's B-day

Making Cookies Someone let the girls sprinkle (pour) the sugar...

Family Time

I spent the last week with my family in North Carolina. It was a great escape from the cold! It also was great to hang out with Dave's family and my adorable nephews. And of course we ate lots of great food! Here's some of my favorite Anthony quotes from the last week.

"Goodbye Uncle Dave. I'll give you a call sometime." (Saying good-bye to Dave at the airport)

"Uncle Dave, when you get another puppy, will you name him Scooby Doo?"

me: "We're going to watch Ratatoullie."

T: "No, it's Ratatootie."

me: "Ratatony?"

T: "Ratatootie!"

me: Ratatummy?"

T: "RataTOOTIE!!"

Uncle Dave: "Tony, you can have Chick-Filet or my toe nails for lunch."

T: "Chick-Filet."

Uncle Dave: "Are you sure you don't want my toe nails?"

T: "You can eat your own damn toe nails."

Diana: "You can unzip your shirt a little bit." (Anthony was wearing a new fleece pullover and had zipped it up all the way.

T: "No, I can't. It's the rules of it."

And some photos, of course!

The Very Busy Puppy-dog

Otis is so tired from all the festivities surrounding his Grandma's trip to Minnesota. First, we had a long car ride down to Rochester. When we got there, there was so many people to sniff -- aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and great grandma. Cousin Jana and Uncle Joe -- they have their own dogs. I can tell because I'm such a good sniffer. All the people kept me really busy, because I had to keep going around the room so everyone could pet me. It's so nice to get so much attention from so many people!

I was a really good watch dog at Great-Grandma's house. I looked out the front door and made sure that the family was safe. My favorite thing to do a Great Grandma's is running around the park that is right next door. I was being a good boy, so I even got to run without my leash.

We were only there for one day and then we had to come back home. Then I had to watch mom and dad make lasagna. I was hoping they'd drop some ground beef on the ground, so I could eat it....but they didn't do it. Then to my surprise, we had house guests! The Dobosenski's came and I had another room full of people to give me attention. Awesome! By the time they were leaving, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. My momma says that it's rude to fall asleep when guests are visiting. I tried my hardest to stay awake.

Today was a nice day. I got to recuperate and relax from my very busy weekend. I hung out in the kennel when I didn't have to be in there. Tonight we had pot roast and I was hoping I'd get some scraps. I must have been good because dad snuck me some meat under the table. Momma poured some leftover juice over my dog food. Hurray!

I had a really great time this weekend with Grandma visiting Minnesota. I love my family and friends and am glad I get to visit them!! Here's some photos we took!

Otis is his name and keeping busy is his game!