I want to go drink beards

Macy's watching the videos from our recent ski trip to Lutsen, where Ken's wearing his "kissy pants". A pair of J Crew Jammy pants I bought for him about 6 years ago. He recently told someone that an old girlfriend bought them for him...is this a sign that he's mourning the loss of the girlfriend I was? I had to very gently remind him that I bought those for him...

Anyways, Macy looks at the video and says,

"Mom, what is Dad doing in that movie with his kissy pants on?!"

I said, "Well, he's just hanging out."

She says, "Well, I want to go where you guys are."

"You want to go skiing?"

"No, I want to go with you to drink some beard."

uh oh...Is she destined to be like Dad?

We did just arrive home from Lutsen on Sunday night. What a fantastic 3 days of skiing and fun. We went with family and friends and enjoyed many, many laughs.

This photo is of someone's butt skin. Yes, that's right...butt skin. In an attempt to depants one of our fearless participants during an undies-only wii game, someone got a bit rough and shed some skin off. Zoykes.

The quote of the weekend was, "Wendy, are you hung over?"

"No."

"Oh, you look like it." ha! Whoever said that deserved to get skin ripped off his butt!

All In All, it was an awesome weekend with great weather. We missed our little twirps a lot, but they had lots of fun with Orange Gramma & Papa. I'm sure Gramma's had a few naps in their absence, already. I have more videos I'll post to the website when I get more time. We're back to the daily grind...aaaaahhhh!

These are the days

He walks into the house after work. It's the first time that Jorey is in on the game of hide and seek. While they are hiding out in the "tunno" (Dora tent with a tunnel on it), Dad starts searching for them. He's doing the typical, "Where could they be" commentary, while walking throught the obvious non-hiding places. Finally, he says, "Are they over here?"

We hear, "no"

"Are they on the couch?"

"no"

...we're dying by now with laughter because it's the cutest little thing.

"Where could they be?"

"Tunno"

That's how every game of hide-and-seek goes with the goyles, lately. It's so funny that she knows she's hiding, but will answer him when he's calling for her.

I just spent 3 days in Indianapolis, visiting with our employees down there and I missed my family terribly. I sometimes wonder if this new venture in my life is really worth the cost to my personal life. I hope I've made the right choice and that it will slow down enough to be with them all I want to. Gone are the days of my 3 days in the office and 2 at home to relax and play. I mourn the loss of those days on a very regular basis.

Macy is way too smart and sassy for her own good. She continues to make me laugh every day. She's totally destined to be in sales. If I weren't the same type of person, I'd certainly give her everything she ever asked for because she's just that convincing. She has twin babies named Jon and Mitz - Jon has been "sleeping over" at Carter's place since we left him there a while ago, but he's nestled in a bed in his room for safe keeping. Now, Annie is the chubby, life sized baby that she first had named "Bandy". Bandy? What kind of name is Bandy? I finally talked her out of that and she chose the more sensible "Annie". She comes with us on a regular basis. her carseat needs to come to the stores, etc. One day, she had to ride to daycare with us. A couple of my co-workers saw her in there and had slight mini heart attacks at the sight of a baby until they realized that it was just little ole' Annie.

I have promised myself that I need to prioritize with my life and try to be as effective at work as I can be in the hours outside of that arena. I've booked a few trips. Ken, his brother, sister, and a few other friends and my sister Kenz are heading up to Lutsen next weekend for a little ski trip. Then, in June, we'll travel to Florida for a Lawmen tournament. Then, in October, we're off to Palm Springs for the tournament out there. That should help balance the whole relaxation thing. Now, I just need to spend more time with the kiddos. I'm totally in withdrawal of our relaxing nights at home. I'm also severely sleep deprived and those of you that know me know that it's not good for ANYONE to be around me in these troubled times.

So, here's to my new year's resolution...it's just a little late.

You'll likely be hearing from the Fry family more often. :)

We recently had some great fun with Strawberry Shortcake Tattoos...they are bad a$$es. I know...

Christmas is almost here!

Well, it is almost here. Christmas. My favorite time of the year just gets more and more stressful as the years go by. As the list of people to buy for grows and the time to do it dwindles, I generally lose my mind. But, as luck would have it Auntie Nad came over and played for 4 hours today. I got my wrapping done. I only procrastinated on a few - waiting for more clever ideas to somehow jump into my head...but, some will definitely be disappointed again this year. Sorry in advance!

First things first...let's back up - way up! to the 8th of Nov when we took Heidi Fry out for her Bachelorette Party. Please enjoy the following: Heidi taking her first of many "I'm not taking shots" shots...She was purchasing them later in the night! She drank from a special "Ho Fo Sho" goblet all night and she was the Sho, that's Fo Sho! She and the gals sang a very special rendition of Amarillo by Morning...can you tell who was most excited to sing this?

She married Kyle, FINALLY, on Nov 14th. It was a beautiful ceremony. We were ALL in it, so it was a bit crazy, but fun. The girls were all dressed up with sassy hair and all. They had a blast at the dance and were very disappointed at the end of the night when they were too tired to know they were insane and had to go home. Here's one example of the meltdown.

Let's back up a little farther - Halloween. Macy was a ladybug princess and Jorey was the purple dragon. Macy was so jazzed about her costume, it made up for how un-jazzed Jorey was about hers. When I told her to smile for her first pic, she started flapping her arms like wings...dork! But, it was cute and hilarious.

Now, let's fast forward to current day. The day where I'm finally caught up with a couple of things and can update (since Halloween) on the blog. Recently, we've seen Jorey turn into a talking little lady. Some of her most entertaining things are:

Ce Ce - Macy

Cock-A-Loo - Cock a doodle doo

Bleep - Grape

Icky - Nuk

Blee - Blankie

I'm sure there are more, but why rack my brain on them!

Here's a fun video of her wearing her squeaky shoes that Orange Papa and Gramma got her. The first pair she wore made her cry. These just made her curious and prompted some stomping. And, here's a video of her trying her best to keep a piece of gum away from Natalie after raiding her purse. Quite the little sassafrass!

Macy is in love with Pink's song, "So What". She dances around the kitchen singing, "So What, I'm a Rock Star, Rock Star....Rock Star...So What". She's missing a few key words in the middle, but that's OK. I appreciate her passion for Pink's rockin' music.

As you saw on our Christmas card, we made a gingerbread house, here. Macy was and IS so proud of it, she can barely contain herself. A few weekends ago, my sisters and I made some X-mas cookies. It's the beginning of a wonderful tradition. And, it produced some extremely entertaining times. Macy used the rule of mom's younger days...Go big or go home. If you're not going to put 350 silver balls on each cookie, why bother?! You don't want anyone just eating those and not chipping a tooth...oh, no... pile it high! So, we caught this shot of some of her best.

I would like you to note the arms surrounding her work. "Hey world, these are mine and I want to make sure that you're aware of all of my splendor as I frame my masterpiece." She did also do that in the gingerbread house photo from the X-mas card. I. love. that.

About a week after cookie decorating, Ken had eaten all of the "plain and boring" cookies, so he ventured into Macy's collection. He commented on how beautiful it was and as she was discussing how she made it and why it was so awesome, all the while looking very pleased with herself, Ken ate the cookie and she was instantly devastated. She couldn't believe anyone could eat anything so beautiful...and those are for Santa. Luckily, Santa got his brace face off so he can eat those cookies this year. Dr. Rohrer would not be happy if I lopped off a bracket on an over-red-hotted cookie.

We did enjoy the 12-bars of X-mas on Friday night. I do have plenty of great shots from the eve. I'll have to try to get those up soon!

Ella Hope Hauschildt

I know I haven't entered anything for a long time and I hope to update on Halloween and the exciting wedding we celebrated last weekend, but sadly the first news I have to share is that Ella has passed on.

Here's an entry from their caring bridge site.
Our Lord showed us his mercy when he brought our sweet Pooh Bear home tonight at 9:45 pm. She is now singing and dancing with the angels as she so loved to do with us. She will forever be in our heart and on our mind.
A Butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam. And for brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world. But then it flies again and though we wish it could of stayed, we felt so lucky to have seen it. -unknown
Tonight I am thankful that my little princess is no longer in pain and is able to laugh, play, dance and sing like she was meant to.

Say a little prayer for Ella and her family as they try to get through this.

Use the Knockulars to find the boy deer

Well, the hunting season is officially here (sigh...). We've been very busy here at the Fry house, but that's been fun. Macy and Jorey got their flu shots yesterday. Jorey also got a few other immunizations and then had double ear infection. Dad had to take them for the first time to get shots and he didn't think that was the most fun activity. :) I was not sad that I wouldn't have to witness the tears.
The other day, Macy and I were building a big tower when she started talking "knockulars". Fortunately, I was able to capture all of her words of wisdom.
Click Here to see Macy explaining what Dad does out in the woods when stalking the deer!

Have a great week!

Runnin' in the rain...Runnin' in the rain!

First, in logging in to put this entry in, I noticed that I wrote that Macy had a dirty "BUT" from scooting off the slide. I don't know why I caught that immediately but would like to note that I'm fully aware of the correct spelling of "butt". (in case anyone was wondering)

Now onto some business...

Two weekends ago, Amy ran her little heart out at the Twin Cities Marathon. What a trooper. It poured the whole first hour and we even wanted to cancel our trip there, but knew that it was important to support her...especially if she had to run with soggy feet in the pouring rain. When we got there, it was pouring. We almost missed her. Ken asked, "What's she wearing?" and I started telling him what she said she'd wear and then she went flying past us. What a speed demon.

The girls enjoyed it. Jorey didn't want to sit still and Macy just loved using her Dora umbrella. She also thought running through the pouring rain was pretty fun.

Jorey just thought running around non-stop was pretty cool.

Granny Fry was trying to figure out why the photos were blurry...a mystery I hope was solved.

Then, this past weekend, we enjoyed Heidi's wedding shower. She's getting married Nov 14th and we're all in the wedding. It could be very interesting. :) At the shower, she had a lot of help from Piper, Mia, and Macy to open every gift.

A Dirty Bum, A Rat, and The Witch!

A couple weekends ago, we went to a new park. It was a little bit wet that morning and we got there pretty early because we just had to get out of the house. We were playing along and while I was helping Jorey play on one of the toys, Macy went down a straight, big slide. She flew down it so fast, she shot off the end and landed right on her butt. We laughed so hard. Then, she had a wet dirty but and gave me the ole booty shake for a picture.

She digs her Strawberry Shortcake shades. Jorey likes them, too, so it does create a conflict every now and then.
Last weekend, the girls hung at yellow Papa and Gramma's house while we went to a baseball game. We arrived home to Macy sitting out int he front yard with this git-up...that's her father's daughter, there.
Then, on Saturday this past weekend, we attended Pumpkin days out at John and Rhonda Kath's farm. We went with orange gramma. It was pretty cool. The girls got to see all sorts of "heeeeheeeheee" horses, "keey" kitties, "quack" ducks, and even went on a hay ride...pulled by "heeeeheeeheee" horses.
We hung out with Great Papa Eddie and Gramma Kay. There were also many other family members and friends out there.

But then, when we walked over for our photo opp with the witch, Jorey nearly had a heart attack. She was set on the witch, (Carol's) lap. Macy was unscathed by her witchy appearance, but Jorey hadn't even looked at her. When we set her up there, she slowly looked around, checked things out and then...she looked up...and...

she immediately screamed in fear. It's not appropriate to laugh when your children are scared half-to-death, but I did. :)

Then, we went to Orange Papa and Gramma's for some of Papa's freshly grown apples.