He’s still just a little boy…

Punky just never ceases to amaze me.  He’s such a sports fan.  He’s constantly moving, throwing baseballs, catching footballs, or acting out a play-by-play in either sport.  The boy is a fanatic.  The best part is during all of this, he’s still just a little boy.

He brings out all of his stuffed animals and dresses them in the appropriate uniforms.  When he plays baseball, the teddy bears are dressed in Twins attire.

When he is playing football, the bears are dressed in Bears jerseys.

He’s just the cutest kid.

 

 

Schad Ketchup Time

SO, I’ve been absent from ALL of my blogs for over a month now.  I have lots to say, but, I’ll just summarize a few things bullet-style here… (So, for my “punny” readers…..Here’s the Schad “Ketchup” not mustard!)

• I quietly turned 38 last month.  38 and pregnant.  Yikes!
• Baby making is going well.  Heartburn seems to be the killer this time.
• Fought a lovely sinus infection off with Amoxicillin and Tylenol.   Kinda like drinking water and chewing bubblegum.  Last time I was pregnant with Punky I could at least have Sudafed!
• Watched some great movies the past few weeks: Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (Fabulous); The Help; Moneyball; and Bridesmaids.  Even saw Dolphin Tale (which was adorable!)
• Been hooked on The Voice.  Punky and I LOVE it!  My favorite so far is Pip!
• Also hooked on Revenge.  Great show!
• Getting organized for a scrapbooking weekend retreat next weekend!  I am so excited!  I leave Thursday after school!  :)  (Be ready for some pics of layouts next weekend!)
• Hubby has been PHENOMENAL.  I am so lucky.  The poor man works all day, and then comes home to an exhausted, heart-burning wife who has the energy level of a sloth by the end of the school day.  :(  I keep telling him the second trimester will be better!  (So far, it hasn’t…..buut hey, it just started!)
• My parents are on a cruise for two weeks.  I talk to my mom MULTIPLE times a day usually.  it’s quite weird not being able to pick up the phone and chat!   Not sure I like this!
• Had Punky’s parent-teacher conference last week.  The kid is a rockstar.  He’s made LOTS of gains with friends and the whole social aspect of school.  I just have to get him a bit more relaxed about going!  Academically, he’s doing very well!  Math is his forte.  Pretty sure,   No, let’s try that again, VERY SURE he didn’t get that from me!  I finally talked him into entering his “baseball game” into the Art and Academic Expo next month.  He’s excited.  
• Signed Punky up for baseball this year instead of advanced t-ball.  He’s VERY excited for this to start!  He’s also got his heart set on Flag Football in the Fall.  He’s such a sport nut!
• I have no brain left.  Really.  This kid is sucking it all from my  head.  (I even overheard Punky  telling Hubby this one day!)  I need to write EVERYTHING down.  I have 25 more weeks to go…..and then the “Baby Brain” hits from exhaustion.  Can’t wait!  It’ll be so worth it!
• Ultrasound has been moved up to March 22nd to take another peek at baby and hopefully determine gender.  (This baby better cooperate!)  I am excited!  Punky is set on a boy, whom he wants to name Kirby Puckett Killebrew Schad.  Seriously, I’m not kidding.  
• Punky and I will head to Illinois to visit the Murawski family over our spring break.  Hubby will stay back here and work to save his days for later this year!  :)
• sat down to do our taxes yesterday.  Royal Bummer.  I was expecting a small return, but nope, instead, my new job bumped us into the next tax bracket, so we have to pay in….to state and federal.  So not the news I wanted this weekend!  :( oh well.  
• Punky declared today as PAJAMA DAY.  Being as thought it is now 1:45 PM, I guess I should just surrender to that idea!

I promise to not stay away so long.  I am hoping my energy level will be bumping up a few notches in the next few weeks!  :)  A girl can wish, right?

2011 – A Bloggy Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.  Some interesting stats here!  Thank you to my commenters during the year!   You guys ROCK!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,500 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Look What Came!

My canvases!

I hung them up over the couch in the living room.

So, my living room is coming along nicely!

Just a few minor things left!  

My Favorite Guys

Man, this baby-making stuff is tiring!   I slept from 1 AM – 9:30 AM this morning.  Got up, my awesome hubby made us breakfast, ate breakfast then curled up on the couch to watch the Rose Bowl parade… and I slept for 2 more hours!   Good grief!

My favorite part of today was watching my boys.   They created this game with Punky’s baseball cards.  Punky sorted the cards by league…National and American.  He then created a team for each league.   He and hubby placed the cards on the table in position.  Then, Punky rolled a dice.   Punky created these rules:

• roll a 1: Batters gets a single.
• roll a 2: Batter gets a double.
• roll a 3:  Batter gets a triple/
• roll a 4:  Batter gets a HOMERUN.
• roll a 5 or a 6:  Batter is OUT.

When there were 3 outs, they changed sides, rearranged the field, and did it all again.   Punky kept score on a piece of paper.  It was so dang cute!

Here are a few pics of my guys.

Setting up the field (I'm along the 3rd baseline)Batter Up!

Punky keeping score

A Homerun! Punky marks it down!

   

The Final Score

It was so neat to watch them play this!

 

An Adventurous Start to 2012

Just because I feel like I can do more in a day, I have 2 new adventures starting up.  You can see their little buttons on the left side of this post about 1/2 way down the sidebar.  See them?

One is for project 365.  I started up a blog to document a photo a day.  Click on the 365 widget here to peek at it.  (You can always use the sidebar buttons too, since this post won’t always be on top here!)

The second project is called “Digging Out.”   My sister-in-law, Jeanne, called me and asked if I’d be interested in working with her on a calendar we both had pinned on Pinterest.  The calendar is on de-cluttering in 2012.  We created “Digging Out” to hold us accountable and to document our journey!   You can click on the widget here too.  (You can always use the sidebar for this one too!)

What do you think?

I think it sounds like fun!   I just have to keep up with it!  ;)   No biggie, right?

A Look Back at 2011

Things I accomplished in 2011:

• Lost 30 lbs
• Started going to the gym on a regular basis (Granted the 1st trimester of this pregnancy has hindered me here…but I will be back soon!)
• Ran 3.5-5 miles on the elliptical each time I went to Anytime Fitness this year….. that would be 134 visits for approximately 455 miles!
• Although I love to read, I didn’t read nearly as much as I have in years past, but I did complete 12 novels…and a few books on best practice in education.
• Made 7 trips to Illinois to visit my family.
• Had a tremendous time on our family vacation in California to celebrate my Mom and Dad’s 40th anniversary.
• Held Charlie Kitty while she passed away on July 19th
• Successfully played the “Tooth Fairy” role three times this year!   (I know I will forget some day!)
• Attended numerous t-ball games to cheer on my little All-Star
• Attended numerous Champlin Park Rebels Football games with my little Rebel fan!
• Somehow survived the 1st year and a half as Special Ed Lead at my school.   I have a few more gray hairs, but I am loving it!
• Posted 83 posts on this blog
• Spent 2 full weekends scrapbooking with friends, completing over 30 2-page spreads.
• Taught myself how to use Photoshop Elements for scrapbooking and much, much more!
• The list goes on… but those are the big ones!

As I look forward to 2012, I can’t wait to meet our newest member of our family…but that won’t be until August!  I am excited to keep watching Punky bloom into a young man!  He’s growing up so fast!   He’ll be a big first grader this year!   I am looking forward to spending lots of time with my  family and friends…

Happy New Year!

Christmas Snow

As I am taking down all of our Christmas decorations, I came across what was one of my favorite gifts to ever get from my mom and dad for Christmas.   All three of us Murawski kids actually got one.  You see, my mom and dad’s house becomes an enchanted magical Christmas wonderland every year at Christmas.  They’ve scaled back on the decorations as we have gotten older and grandkids have entered the picture, but honestly, it’s still as beautiful as ever each year.

Anyway, mom always made these cute little vignettes around the house and would sprinkle “snow” on everything to make it even more special.  So, for Christmas one year, we got a “box of snow.”  No, really.  We got a box with some of the “snow” mom used to decorate our house with each year.

 

 

 

So, every year, I used just a bit of the snow around my Gurley candles…

 

And every year, it goes back in its special box.

I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Crazy December

Our crazy December… no other way to describe it!

December 3rd – Take most of my maternity clothes, and a good chunk of baby clothes to Goodwill to clear out the garage, as I keep promising Hubby we’ll be parking in there soon!

December 6th – While talking at lunch, my friends are naming teachers in our building who are pregnant.   I get to thinking, when was my last period?  Hmmmmm.  I proceed to ask anyone and everyone that very same question in hopes that something will trigger my mind.  I go home, and that nagging question lingers, so after dinner, I go to Walgreen’s to buy a test, and then I quickly stop at the liquor store as we are all out of wine.   I come home and run up the stairs to the bathroom, shut the door, and hold my breath.   There is no way.  And then… there it was!

I called Keith upstairs, and Punky followed.  As I handed Keith the test, Punky said, “Mama, are you ok?  You got a fever?”  (I love that line!   You’re right buddy—–it totally looks like a thermometer!)

December 7th – Well, since I asked EVERYONE the day before about my period, it was pretty hard to NOT say anything at work.  I walked in and got a lot of “Well?????” questions.  :)  Head to the clinic for blood draws to check hormone  levels to try to guess how far along I am!

December 13th – Keith and I head to the clinic for our first ultrasound.   I still have NO clue on dates.  I used to make fun of people like this!  The ultrasound lady was not my favorite… didn’t tell us much…just that there was a “healthy sac.”  How many of you can say that?  LOL!  Baby is too small to see!  5 weeks pregnant…

More blood draws and pokes.

December 15th – We tell Punky he is going to be a big brother.  :)   He is super excited!  I really wanted to see a heartbeat before we told him, but we are hosting Schad Christmas on Saturday!  So, the news will be out!

December 17th – We host Schad Christmas.   Punky proudly wears his “Big Brother Jack” shirt to tell everyone.  Lots of hugs!

December 20th – Keith and Punky are off to Punky’s very first field trip…and Mama has a second ultrasound.  Super scared as I soooooo needed to see a heartbeat so that I knew we weren’t repeating March 2008.   This ultrasound technician was AWESOME.   She showed me everything, took measurements, and gave me pictures of  ”that piece of rice!”  Heartbeat was 123 beats/minute.  Perfect!   6 weeks along…

December 20 (PM)… Get the “goose” which will announce to my family about their next grandchild.   Tag it and wrap it…and it’s ready to go!

  

December 21,22… The secret is killing me….I still haven’t told my MOM and DAD!  Punky avoids most phone calls with them as he wants to see their faces too when we tell them!

December 23 – We arrive in Chicago, and Mom and Dad open up their 4th goose…

ANNOUNCEMENT!

(Click on the link to see it on YouTube!)

December 24th – Punky announces it to the Hill family (and FACEBOOK) on Christmas Eve… He couldn’t be any prouder!

In fact, the boy is still smiling…

and still smiling…..days later….

Mama and Dada are still smiling too, Buddy!

Buffalo (Wings) Boy

Punky loves him some buffalo wings.  Every payday Friday, we go to “Choir Practice” (read “HAPPY HOUR” code for teachers).  When we were in Chicago over Thanksgiving, he thought he’d order some wings while we were watching Grandma Holly and Grandpa Ed bowl on Saturday night.

So, here he is, sans milk, enjoying his wings.  (He goes through about 6 glasses of milk each time he orders them at “Choir Practice.”)

Digging in...

Breaking for liquids....

Look at that face!

I just love watching him devour these each week!