Damn that Trojan virus!

Yup, you guessed it, my computer had the Trojan virus and let me tell you, it was not a good couple of days to be in the Quast household. My computer sometimes feels like my only connection to the outside world so needless to say, when it got a virus, I got a virus of a different type (Trav likes to call it a bug up my butt) - mainly because I was a little crabby. After countless hours reading up on the virus, and numerous calls to different support centers, it seems like everything is back in working order and that nasty virus is gone (for good I hope). So here I am back to blogging and trying to catch up on the past week or so. I guess the biggest event that happened was Trav's 31st birthday on March 21st. Although the kids and I didn't spend the day with him (he instead chose to have a bunch of guys over to help him celebrate) we did still get a birthday cake and were able to help him blow out his candles, just a few days late. Ryan did an excellent job of picking out the perfect dinosaur cake because Trav is big into dinosaurs right now, no wait, that would be Ryan. Anyway, he picked out the best dinosaur ice cream cake DQ had to offer and even got one of the ladies at the DQ to write "Happy Birthday Dad" in red (he was very specific about this detail) icing across the bottom. With the cake in hand, we raced home just in time to get the candles on before Trav got home from work. Now I know it was Trav's 31st birthday, but I decided to put "10" on instead because that is usually how old he acts - just kidding, these were the only two candles we had in the house so that's what we went with.

After the birthday fun, the kids and I headed north to Buffalo to spend some time with Auntie. Ryan was on Spring Break (what does a preschooler need a break from, coloring?) and Auntie had some time off so the four of us planned to have some fun. We started out by visiting the Maple Grove community center where the kids were able to run and go crazy at an indoor play area. After that, we headed over to Noodles for some lunch, ran a few quick errands, and it was off to Auntie's house. The kids, as usual, were in love with the fact that they were somewhere new and different so they ran around the house checking everything out. After naps and a movie, we sat down for dinner and then played an intense game of "Drinking Jenga." This may not be the most appropriate game to play with a 3-year-old, but Ryan seemed to love it. The only difference between normal Jenga and Drinking Jenga is that whoever tips over the tower in Drinking Jenga has to take a drink of their beer, or in Ryan's case, his apple juice. Somehow he managed to knock over the tower almost every time (sometimes even on purpose) and ended up slamming a whole cup of apple juice. As you can imagine, the kid was pretty lit, so around 7:00pm we called it a game and got ready for baths and bed. It was an early night for the kids so Ash and I got to kick back, have a beer, and watch some episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" she had recorded - talk about crazy! After a tough night (Kelty peed all over Ash's bedding, and Ryan woke up around 2:00am wanting a drink of water), we all managed to roll out of bed and get the morning started. That day we had breakfast, went to the gym, packed up our stuff, ate lunch, then headed out for Ryan's doctor's appointment. By the time the appointment was over, both kids were pretty tired so we got home, unpacked the van, and all 3 of us took a nice long nap - gotta love busy days. After that, we were back to our normal routine on Friday, and then spent the rest of the weekend at home just lounging around.

So there it is - our week in one paragraph. It is kind of sad that if all fits into such a small little area, apparently the week wasn't as busy as it felt, oh well.

Sorry Ash

Maybe what I should really be saying is, "sorry Ash's future kids." Kind of a funny story really quick. So Ashley has a really hard time getting rid of anything - if she got or bought it, it is hers and no one should mess with it. Sadly this motto still applies to some of her toys she had growing up as a kid which mom and dad still have at their house. So when the kids and I go to Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house for a visit, they are obviously playing with some of Ash's old stuff - babies, dishes, etc. . . Well, it seems that my children do not have the same gentle caring touch Ash had will her things, and sometimes this bugs her. For instance, Ash had a baby (for I don't know how long) that was always dressed to the "T", was wearing the same diaper she put on it about 15 years ago, and even had a new born wristband on her arm just like real babies get at the hospital. Well, after Ryan and Lauren played with this particular baby a few times, she is now completely naked - no clothes, no diaper, and her cute little wristband is still intact, but no longer on the baby's arm - oops, like Ryan says, "accidents happen sometimes - sorry." After seeing the aftermath of the kid's playing with her dolls, Ash is even more protective and really wants to make sure the toys stay in good shape so her future kids will be able to play with them. One item in particular she is concerned about is her deluxe model baby stroller. I remember the good old days when Ash and I would play daycare and push all of her little babies around in this stroller and if I have to say so myself, it was the coolest stroller ever. In saying that, how can Ash, or anyone, expect a kid to see that thing and leave it alone? So, I'm sorry Ash, but this weekend Lauren could no longer resist the urge to crawl in there and go for a ride - she may slightly exceed the maximum weight limit (by about 20-30 pounds), but she was very gentle getting in and out, and their were no crashes so other than the slight bend in the wheels (oops, maybe that is why there is a weight limit), the stroller is still in good shape and ready to go - see how happy it made her?And here she is after I told her Auntie might be kind of mad at her for getting in the stroller - all she did was look at me like this. What I think she meant was, "yeah Auntie, I'm in your stroller, what are you going to do about it" and then she laid back and we went for a stroll.PS Ash, I'm only joking about the wheels being bent, they are just fine.

Dirtbikes . . . really?

As some of you may know, the SDSU Jackrabbits made their debut appearance in this years Women's NCAA Basketball tournament and they not only won, but they won big - 90-55! In winning their first round game against TCU, they also managed to tie the record for most 3 pointers in a tournament game with 16 - not too shabby for a first time team from South Dakota. Anyway, I'm very excited for their next game and hope they continue to have great success, but that isn't really why I am mentioning the Jacks in the first place. As a former basketball player myself, I have a little (okay, maybe a big) part of me that would love it if Lauren would follow in my footsteps and be able to play and love basketball just like I did, but after this weekend, I'm not so sure that will happen. During a visit out to my Aunt Nancy's house, Lauren was opened to a whole new world of mud, country living, and dirt bike riding and I think she loved it! Actually, I don't think she loved it, I know she did as evidenced by her squeals of delight and resistance when it was time to leave it all. After playing outside for a while, Bridget's (my cousin) son Jack brought out his dirt bike and showed off his abilities. It took all of two minutes before Lauren wanted her chance to ride the bike. I was a little hesitant to let her get on, but with Bridget as her tandem rider and guide, and a great pair of goggles to protect her face from the harsh winds and dirt, I figured it was okay so off she went.

I don't know what was funnier, having the boys in their bike helmets chasing the bike, or Lauren's constant bobbing and pulling to get the bike to go faster. And don't worry, no one was injured in the making of this video although I was pretty close to peeing my pants - I think the same could be said for Grandma Donna and Aunt Nancy too.

So here I sit, a mother with a dream for her child that seems to be on a different course than the one she would like to pursue. Sometimes being a good mother means keeping your mouth shut and putting your dreams aside so that is what I'm going to do. So it is out with the basketball gear - no more future Jackrabbit, and in with the dirt bikes, goggles, and riding jackets - maybe not what I would have picked for my precious little daughter, but she can still count on me to be there cheering her on when she wins her first race!

Here are some more pictures from the day.

I got a sty in my eye!

The great debate about whether or not Ryan needs a nap continues. He insists that he doesn't need to nap, he just needs to rest. So lately I've agreed to let him choose whether he naps of not. He goes into his room around 1:00pm and lays down, but if he feels like he doesn't need anymore rest, he can get up and play, but he has to stay in his room until I go and get him (usually around 5pm - I wish! No really, I go in there around 2:30pm). Anyway, I can always count on him to nap on school days, but on non-school days, I'd say about 75% of the time he naps, the other 25%, he plays quietly with his action figures. So this Wednesday was the day this week that he decided he didn't need to nap. Later in the day, we got the kids are ready to go outside. Trav and I had to run out to the car to load up a few things, and when we came back into the house (about 3 minutes later) to get Ryan, this is how we found him. You be the judge - you think he still needs naps? Onto the sty in my eye. After school today, I noticed Ryan had something hanging on his eye. At first I thought it was just a piece of lint, or some fuzz so I tried to brush it off. When it didn't come off, I took a closer look and noticed that it was not something hanging on his eye, it was something in his eye. So we went home, ate lunch, and took our afternoon naps (yes, Ryan did sleep today). With the kids napping, I did a quick Google search just to make sure what I thought was a sty was in fact a sty and not something more. After some brief reading, I confirmed my diagnosis. When Ry woke up from his nap, I took him in the bathroom and showed him his sty - he of course cried. Some quick thinking on my part led me to blurt out, "crying will only make the sty bigger" - no more crying - wow, that was easy. After that, I showed him some pictures of other people with a sty on the Internet so he knew what he had. After looking at numerous pictures, he thought he was pretty cool to have, "a sty in my eye." He proceeded to say that same phrase over and over the rest of the day. But by the time bath time came around, we were onto the worst part his "sty treatment" - washing the eye area! Talk about drama. Ryan instantly started crying, but quickly stopped when I reminded him that crying will only make the sty bigger (I assume all moms tell little white lies sometimes - don't they?). Once I finally convinced him that washing around the eye is no different than washing his face, he agreed to give it a try and everything went great - the eye got washed, there was no more crying, and he was ready for bed. After that, I figured we would be done talking about his sty, but after we finished reading his book, I said goodnight and got ready to walk out of his room. Usually he rolls over and shuts his eyes at this point, but he just laid still, flat on his back with his eyes wide open. So I stopped and asked him what he was doing. He said, "I can't close my eyes with the sty in my eye." Of course he can't, I should have known. I tried to tell him that it was just fine to close his eyes, in fact, closing his eyes and sleeping would actually make the sty go away quicker - maybe another little white lie, but there has to be at least a little truth to this one . . . right? Whatever, at least he shut his eyes and went to sleep. So there you go, the sty in the eye is sleeping and we're just hoping it doesn't last too long.

More warm weather

Oh how I love waking up on a Monday morning to a window full of sunshine - well, maybe not a ton of sunshine, but at least more than there has been in a very long time. The kids and I took full advantage of the nice weather today and got outside as early, and as often as possible. After a short morning walk, we headed back to the cul-de-sac and pulled out some riding toys. Lauren wasn't really interested in any of the toys, but boy did she love just being able to walk around and check out everything. This is really the first time in her life that she has been able to do this so she was loving it. She would walk over to a snow pile, and reach down and touch it and turn around and scream (a good scream), and then she would do it all over again. After a couple minutes of that, she would find a leaf, or a rock, or whatever and would be amazed but it for a while until the next cool thing caught her eye. It was pretty fun to watch her check everything out. Ryan on the other hand was too cool for everything and just wanted to be left alone with his car (which he is getting too big for, but doesn't want Lauren to use so he continues to squeeze himself in there). After a while, Lauren finally noticed that Ryan had the car out so she ventured over towards him to see what he was up to and before I know it she is pushing him around and he is screaming (a bad scream). I of course got a good laugh out of it - here is Lauren pushing with all her might while her big brother is screaming to make her stop and there I am taping it all - what a picture perfect scenario.

After Lauren finally stopped tormenting Ryan, she decided she had had enough and just started walking away. I'm not sure where she thought she was going, but I am sure she wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't went to get her. The girl has no fear, doesn't grasp the concept of boundaries, and pretends she might be deaf whenever we try to tell her to do or don't do something - but through it all we still love her.

Here are some more pictures from the day. You'll notice Lauren has a nice, clean pair of khakis on. By the end of the day, they were pretty much pitch black from all the dirt and mud she got into - so much for trying to dress her up.

picking their noses, or thinking - not sure

checking out the "cool dirt and rocks"

Kid-free weekend

Gosh, the more I look back at past blog entries, the more I realize we have a lot of kid-free weekends - aren't we lucky! Anyway, this weekend Auntie and Mike took Ryan from Friday to Sunday and boy did they have fun. The kids and I went to Ash's house on Friday to see some of her new decorating and painting she has been doing and around 4:00pm Lauren and I headed back home and Ryan started his "weekend at Auntie's house." As I was not there to actually see what was happening, I can only give a brief recap of all the fun they had based on Ash's stories. Friday night Mike didn't get home from work until late so it was just Ryan and Ash. They spent a lot of time outside playing with some neighbor kids, took Kelty for a walk, and cuddled up in bed together before Mike arrived - not a bad Friday if you ask me. Saturday was the big day for Ryan, he was finally going to learn how to ice skate. "Uncle Mike" (although technically not really an uncle) as Ryan likes to tell the story, "took me to the ice skating place and teached me how to skate" - his words, not mine. He told me this same story, or a modified version of it about ten times on the ride home Sunday so I assume this means he had a good time. Before the skating, Aaron and Ann stopped by Ash's place for a quick visit and some lunch so Ryan got some good face time with everyone this weekend. After the skating, it was back home to relax, watch some cartoons, and play the day away. On Sunday, it was back to reality for Ryan. I picked him up around 2:00pm, then headed south to get Lauren who had been shacking up at my parent's place for the weekend - talk about a lot of driving! A small price to pay for a couple of free days though. After both kids were rounded up, we headed back home where we saw some of our neighbors for the first time in almost six months. Give us a little nice weather, and everyone wants to be outside. There were people all over the place and kids were running around playing games and screaming. So we hustled into the garage, got out of the car, and immediately got out some toys and let the kids go wild. After an hour of racing, running, and screaming, both kids were ready to go inside, eat and get ready for bed. They both had fun, long weekends and were ready for a good night's rest. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids that were taken before they both left for the weekend - they were both being so cute and cuddly I had to get my camera out and capture the moment.

Busy, busy

We have a couple of fun, busy days recently which is why I have not had time to update the blog, well that, and the fact that I haven't really had much motivation as of late. In fact, it seems like I haven't had much motivation to do anything lately . . . workout, make meals, shower (imagine the worst, and than go a little lower, that is about where I'd be). The nice weather during the trip, coupled with the crappy weather back here has been a deadly combo for me. I just want the snow and cold to go away so we can get outside an enjoy doing some new things. Because to be honest, if we are trapped too many more days inside playing "Super Heroes", I might snap Superman or Spiderman in half, and that would not sit well with Ryan. Enough about that stuff, onto the fun.

On Monday morning we had a play date with the Olson's, which started bright and early at 9:00am. I was a little unsure how the day would go considering the last time we got together Ryan spent most of the time crying because he didn't want the other kids playing with "his" toys (we've since worked on this skill with Ryan and he is much better). Anyway, that was almost a year ago, and over that time, everyone got a little bit wiser, and a little bit nicer, so things went great. I'm not saying there were no tears, but they were kept to a minimum and were far outnumbered by laughs and good times - in kid world, I'll take that any day. After the playing was done, we all sat down for lunch and then it was time for Katie and the kids to hit he road and time for the Quast kiddies to hit the sack. The kids must have worn themselves out as Lauren slept for 3 hours and Ryan for close to 4 hours - that made for a pretty easy afternoon for me.

On Tuesday, Ryan went to school and Lauren and I hung out at home together. Since the time change, we have been having some issues with her napping schedule because she now sleeps in until close to 8am every morning and therefore isn't ready for her usual nap at 9:30am (which worked great because she would nap pretty much the entire time Ryan was at school, and I got to use that time to catch up on things I needed to get done). So today I tried letting her skip her morning nap all together. Things were going good, but right around 11:00am she started getting cranky. I knew she would probably good down, but I couldn't let her because we had to leave to get Ryan in about twenty minutes. Instead, I did my best to distract her and keep her happy long enough to pack her up, get Ryan from school, hurry home, eat lunch, and then put her down. By then, it was close to 1:00pm and she was exhausted. She actually feel asleep as I was reading her a book - she was so cute and peaceful, it was hard to imagine just an hour earlier she was screaming her head off. She slept for a good 3 1/2 hours and woke up as happy as could be. I'm still debating on whether or not to stick with the one nap per day thing, or go back to two - such tough decisions I have to make. Anyway, with both kids sleeping the day away, I was able to sit down and watch the SDSU Jackrabbits win their first Division 1 Conference tournament securing their spot in the NCAA Women's' Basketball Tournament - GO JACKS! After the game, I headed out to meet the girls from our Tuesday night basketball league. No, we didn't have a game (we lost in tournament play by 3 points last week). Instead, we met up to have a couple of drinks and reminisce about the past season and debate on future seasons. Yes it is fun to play, but getting there (it takes about 45 minutes from the time I leave my house until we actually arrive at the gym), making sure Trav gets home from work in time, and clearing my work schedule, are all things to take into consideration. Plus, my body doesn't work the way it once did and I swear I could have fallen over dead after our last game because I was so tired. Granted, we only had five players so we didn't get any breaks, but come on, that used to be tough, but lately, it is down right deadly. Our self-appointed team captain, Jen, is looking into the next season and will give us all the details before any commitments are made - I'll let you know what we decide. After some good conversation, some good food, and a couple of drinks, we were all headed home for the night.

And now it is today, Wednesday. I sit here trapped in the house again not wanting to go out and face the bitter cold. Lauren is down for her one nap of the day and Ryan is watching some "Handy Manny" on tv. We haven't been doing much so there isn't anything to write about, but I did manage to pull out the camera and take a few pictures. You'll notice both kids are wearing turtlenecks in the pictures. It turns out Ryan really loves turtlenecks lately and because he only has one, he has worn it the past three days. Lauren is lucky enough to have a couple so we have switched hers out, but Ryan insists that they both need to wear them because it is "so cold around here" - why would I even try to argue with that? Enjoy the pictures and video.