Red Hawks Game

Family Home Evening at it's finest!

The Hoffmans invited us to a Red Hawks game tonight for free! Thanks to the Sunmart/Red Hawk Red-Hot Ticket Giveaway! {Just head over to the Box Office at Newman Outdoor Field and bring your Sunmart receipt for $25 or more. (You have to pick up tickets before the game starts) They'll give you 2 FREE General Admission Tickets to a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday regular season game!} Yeah for FREE! (or "yah, right- it's free!"-- We totally made up for the price of the tickets in concessions- go figure! LOL! And not because things were too expensive-- just simply by pure quantities ;) We had a lot of fun though! Glory's favorite part was the Red Hawk Mascot! She could spot him from across the field! :)

We ate and ate and ate and ate- like the whole time! Too funny! They had a great deal for a hot dog dinner. It ain't a baseball game without a hot dog, right? Then, we followed that up with cotton candy and dippin' dots and oreo mini cookies and licorice and....... OK maybe that was it BUT it was a lot! Will the kids every be able to go to bed tonight? We'll hope so! LOL!

They had a free Red Hawk Bouncer set up for the kids. They loved it! They stood in line several times for turns! Justice and Ian were hilarious. Right before their turn, they would lay on the entrance and pretend to shoot the "turkey"! Funny boys! We so need one of these at our Partay house! Maybe someday, right?

We also had some other Red Hawk Fun! 1)Liberty enjoyed Ben's ipod for quite a while. Thanks alot Ben! LOL! Now she's gonna be begging for one of her own! ;) 2)We got to thank the local weather man, Hutch Johnson, in person, for the cloud that finally came across the sky to shade us from the HOT sun AND watch him catch a flying Red Hawk T-shirt. (He was there with his kids on the same bench as us!) 3)The kids got to play on the playground for a bit. 4)The little girls played in the sand as Andrew ran through it. He thought it was tickly on his feet. Silly kids! 5)AND oh yah- we watched the ball game! That's why we went, right? Well... it was a bonus, I guess!

We wanted to stay until we could all sing the famous 7th inning stretch song. The kids were playing on the playground during the 6th inning. Can you tell they were SO into the game? LOL! Amber and I kept telling the Dads to go get the kids but do they listen? NO! They finally went to go get them halfway through the 7th inning and they all missed the song. LOL! Oops! Glory & I enjoyed it though! She is so funny when it comes to singing. She's very animated in her lips as she sings. It's hillarious! Cute girl. We luv ya!

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out to the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack
I don't care if I never get back
So it's root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes you're out
At the old ball game

Thanks Hoffmans for a fabulous evening! Lots of fun!

Go Red Hawks!

The A Team Date Night

  "I love it when a plan comes together."
-Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith

We had made plans for a while to go see the new A Team movie with Matt & Haylie. I have to admit I wasn't a cheerleader of the idea. I remember faguely watching a few episodes of the old TV show but not enough to get hugely excited about the remake. Well, I was wrong!! We had babysitting group tonight (Thanks Tuckers!) so the Larsens joined us and the Ironroads for our date. The movie was great! We really, really enjoyed it. It was funny, action-packed and very well done. Everyone did a fabulous job. TWO thumbs up from the Seamons. ;)

Looking back at the good ol' days:

Welcoming in the new generation:

After the movie, we met some more friends at the Pizza Ranch. The food was ok but the service was fabulous. AND the company even better! I just love friends that you can laugh with. Since there was four of us couples- the guys decided they are The A Team themselves. LOL! They had a disagreement about which part they get but I think it came down to this: Brett is Hannibal, Ryan is Face, Jamison is Murdock and Matt is B.A. Baracus. (Sorry Matt- the minority is hit again, big guy! ;) We had a blast! Between scaring the lady at the next table with Murdock's butt shot and a little foul language, I'm surprised that we didn't get kicked out! Thanks a lot- Murdock! Good thing your wife loves you! ;) Get your bike ready, buddy-- you're gonna need it if you want to come next time! LOL!

I LOVE date night!

(especially when the plan comes together! LOL!)

Bowling's next- anybody up for the challenge?

Helping Hands

(http://publicaffairs.lds.org/pa/eng/resources/mormon-helping-hands)

For our annual Helping Hands Service Project, our family joined several other LDS familes in Dilworth, MN. We were in charge of staining the playground equipment and benches of 5 of the local parks. Our family was up late last night for Friday movie night, so we went a little late. Oops! But it turned out perfect because we ended up assigned to a park with all our friends. YEAH!!! It was a lot of fun. We had to make a couple of trips to Walmart for more supplies but it just made us feel right at home. LOL! What project have we ever done around the house without running for more supplies? None that I can think of. ;) Several of the kids got into it and helped stain. It was very cute! With no ladder for the upper parts, the guys were very resourceful (borderline dangerous) but they did an awesome job. I'm bummed that I didn't get a before and after shot because it looked really great!

Besides staining the playground, there was other service rendered as well. 1) The kids had a boys vs. girls race to pick up all the sticks in the park. I think they girls had a bigger pile in the end. In the boys defense though- they had half the man power. They all did an excellent job! 2) Heidi & Alexa helped the kids keep busy or get out of the sun for a bit by playing games with them. They played Red Rover and an interesting version of Duck, Duck, Goose. Too funny!!! 3) Glory found a buddy. "Her Sam" helped her on swings and down big slides and helped keep an eye on her. It was an extra special service considering that Glory has been a little leary of people lately. She hasn't really let any other kids except Liberty help her with anything for several weeks now. Whatever it was today- Sam had the magic touch. Thanks buddy!  4) "Woody" and some of the gang went to help finish up at another park. LOL! (Brett wore his cowboy hat and Jamison thought he looked like Woody! By the end, everyone was calling Brett- "Woody" All the kids were chanting his name when they came back from the other park. Too funny! ;) Liberty and Alexa went with them. Those two were such hard workers today! Great Job everybody!!!

With a whole morning of hard work, 10 children we were in charge of, water bottles then pop at lunch AND no bathrooms on sight, we had several gas station runs during the day. It just added to the adventure though. LOL! We ended the day with lunch in the park. They BBQed hotdogs and hamburgers. Everyone brought something else to share. Way yummy!

What a great day of Family Service!!!!

Habit Broken, Reward Awarded

Anyone with an addiction or solidified habit can sympathize. At 6 weeks old, Liberty found her thumb. It's been a permanent fixture in her mouth ever since--- 9 1/2 years!!! We had exhausted our resources for a permanent solution. Thumb, fingernail polish, rings, icky stuff, bandaides, gloves, charts, reminding, begging, threatening, even asked the doctor to cast it (she said no! ;)-- nothing helped for more than a half an hour. Well, at least until 30 days ago....
Liberty has been begging to get her ears pierced FOREVER! After a long, frustrating day of reminding her to keep her thumb away from her face, I finally blurted out- "Keep your thumb out of your mouth for 30 days and we'll get your ears pierced." .....That was it! The magic! ;)
She got a star on the calender for every day she didn't suck her thumb. After 10 days, she stopped wearing a bandaide during the day (her mental reminder to keep it out). Then at day 14, she was done completely even the nights! She still had to wait the whole 30 days but she hasn't given in once. We are SOOO PROUD of her! Habit's are hard things to break. She's amazing!!!
Here's her reward for a job well done!

We just went to Walmart. It only cost us $12.70 and that was with extra large bottle of solution. She was so excited. I think the lady was even more nervous than Liberty- if that was possible. But they both did a great job. Liberty said it stung a little but wasn't what she expected. She did a great job and was very brave. They look awesome!

Way to go, Girlie!

Luv ya!

Blonde Joke

Q: What do you call it when a blonde dyes her hair brunette?

A: Artificial intelligence.

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! If it wasn't so funny, I would be offended. A few of my new friends are having a hard time picturing me as a blonde so......
A picture's worth a thousand words, right?  (Not to mention I thouroughly enjoyed going down a little memory lane while I was on a search for pictures. Man- I have met some fabulous people here in Fargo)

Presenting .....

The Blonde Shay

Just a couple more for fun: ;)
***A brunette goes to the doctor and as she touches every part of her body with her finger she says, "Doctor it hurts everywhere. My leg hurts, my arm hurts, my neck hurts, and even my head hurts!" The doctor asks, "Where you ever a Blonde?" "Yes I was." she replies. "why do you ask?" The doctor answers, "because your finger is broken!"
***What Do You Call a Good Looking Man with a Brunette? A Hostage (I DO feel a little more in control when I'm brunette. Go figure! Sorry Brett! LOL!)

Lights Out!!!!!!

TWICE!! One, two..... TWICE!!! the power shut off yesterday.
First was during the evening. Brett took Justice on a date to the new Karate Kid (guy date, way overdue) so the girls and I were on our own. No big deal, right? Unless... a storm comes in and wipes power out from 6:30 to 10:30. ARRRGH! We were a little worried about the Sump Pump (with the storm dumping rain over our home) but I kept an eye on it and was prepared to figure out how to hook the generator up to the house if I needed to. (That's usually something Brett does so I never have worried to pay really close attention- oops!) We played Chutes and Ladders, took a candlelight bath and put together a puzzle. It was actually kind of fun until it was time to go to bed. I definitely need more emergency night lights at my house and need to train my kids to go to bed in silence. LOL! When Brett got home at 9:30, we plugged the house in and tried to get the kids settled for bed. Whew! I LOVE that genereator except for how loud it is. If we close all our windows, you can't hear it much so if you don't mind ticking off neighbors-it's pretty awesome!
We switched off the generator at around 10:30 when the real power came back on. What a long evening! Poweroutage over, we headed for bed.
A cry came from the little girls room about 5 am. Usually that means my 4 year old needs to use the bathroom and is not coherent enough to get off the top bunk to get to the bathroom. So I trudged out of bed- soon realizing that it was pitch black... AGAIN!!! I pulled the emergency nightlight back into her room and settled her down. Then, I made the call to the power company. Their automated system let me know it would be back on by 6:20 am or they would call me. Decisions, decisions! Do we hook the generator back up or wait? We checked the sump pump and decided we'd give it a half an hour and see how fast the hole started filling up. We waited and waited and ...I hate it when you get woke up and then just lay there with your eyes closed pretending that you are relaxed and getting some rest. ARRRGH again! After our decided waiting time, the phone rang. They changed the powerup time for 8 something. Decision made, we plugged the house back in and went back to bed.
We all woke up after 9 am to the power back on. Oops! What a long lightless night!!! Makes me grateful for modern conveniences-- well, when they work! ;)

Chahinkapa Zoo

The weather was great so a few of us headed south for a SHORT trip to the Chahinkapa Zoo http://www.chahinkapazoo.com/. LOL!- Short?, Yah, right! {Oops! My memory of our last year's Zoo trip must have failed me. I told the ladies it was like 30 minutes. Well.... more like an hour. I'm serious...The whole town of Wahpeton must have moved South since last year. ;) LOL! Sorry ladies!}

It was a great day and we had lots of fun! Chahinkapa has a good avriety of animals and lots of shade.

One of the favorite things was collecting feathers. The coveted ones were the ones from the crying peacocks. My favorite was when... Liberty found a huge peacock tail feather and everyone wanted to hold it. Finally, Lily put her hand on her hip and said, "Liberty since you ARE my best friend..." I had to giggle. I guess best friend statis comes with specials rights. LOL! The feathers were very pretty though!

The kids favorite I would have to say was the Raspberry Patch. In the back of the zoo by the Mountain Goats, there is a large raspberry patch along the path. It was hilarious to watch all the kids eat every single red object they could find. We had to laugh because by this time it was getting to be lunchtime (we had several whiny kids complaining that they were starving ;) so a few of the kids said- "Well at least this is something to eat!" Just love what kids say! LOL!

Other fun at the Zoo:

What a great day out with the Mom. These kids are very lucky! I am so grateful I get to be a stay-at-home Mom. I try not to take that for granted and I hope my kids don't either. (I don't know where Bonny was when we were taking these pictures. We'll have to get one of her fam next time! ;)

After the Zoo, we went to the Park for lunch. They have 2 great playgrounds but did the kids use them? Not really. Instead they chose to become Human Skateboards. I love the creativity! So fun!

Thanks for joining us at the Zoo, ladies & kids. I promise I'll get us to a couple of zoos this year to make our passes worth it! LOL! Dang Red River! Maybe Wahpeton will move closer. LOL!