I think I have aged this season....

Yes, calming the heart down! After a really sucky (no other word describes it) 3rd quarter, once again, The Hawkeyes pull out an amazing performance for the 4th quarter! Now, 1 request. Please, please, please, don't save it all for the end again! I am not sure how much more I can take!! I have aged so much this season! I will be gray by the end!

 

He is still my hero!!!

Saturday we hit up the pumpkin patch in Cambridge like we do every year! Each year something new opens up and it's a great time for kids and parents! We had the privilege of spending the morning with the Axtell's! Beth and Cash were suppose to join us, but she thought it was too early!! We met at Starbucks (perfect start to any morning) and headed up north! It was a little chilly and muddy, but it was a complete blast! We all had an amazing time!

We fed the animals:

 

 

Took some fun photos:

 Played in the corn and jumped on the giant pillow:

 

 New attraction:

*The Luge*

 

Shot some apples:

 

We took a hay ride and enjoyed the scenery:

 

Here are some pics of the kiddos:

The Axtell Family:

 

 

Janzen family photo:

 

We ended up in the general store and filled ourselves with hot cider and pumpkin donuts.

It was a fantastic morning! We will repeat this even every year! Even if we go 3 times! I love this place!

With 2 seconds left...

This catch makes it 8-0!

McNutt, you are my hero!

I have never been so stressed over a game!

**Go Hawks!**

Forks has nothing on 50312

It has been raining for almost 24 hours straight. Not just sprinkling, stead rainfall. When I woke up this morning our window was open. I could hear the rain coming down and it gave me no motivation to get out of bed. After turning my snooze off about 8 times, I finally dragged myself out of bed. It turned out to be one of those: do my hair or my face days. Always do the face! I also didn't take in consideration the weather conditions or pay any attention to the news in the background.


First off, I had no idea how cold it was outside. I walked into the garage without grabbing my coat. I opened the garage door and about froze. At least I dressed my child appropriately! When I got to work it wasn't raining too hard, so I thought I would tough it out and walk outside. Again, weather related, I didn't realize there was wind involved. The rain was blowing all up and down my left side, I continued walking into work while dodging puddles and trying to keep my umbrella from flying to never never land. Second factor I didn't see coming was my shoes. I wore my flats. Not the greatest for walking, or jumping in my case, over puddles. So my feet were completely drenched when I got into work! Of course this weather makes me exhausted and all I want to do is go home and veg out on the couch! Let's just say my productivity was lacking most of the day but lunch was amazing! Once again though, my feet were cold and wet!

Now the fun part. Michael has been working late. He is working on a custom house and blah blah blah...Well I get home and went to let the dogs out. Now Hawkeye, he's a big dog, sort of annoying at times and a total baby so I know he hated being in the rain. They little squirt Zoey...rain is her forte. She prances around, rolls in mud, splashes through puddles and it just an all around pain in the butt. You have to keep a close eye on that little thing. Sure enough, she somehow squirmed her way out of her collar and took off. 

Let's break this down. It is pouring outside, the wind is bending the new trees sideways, I have my flats on, no coat at this time and my little spastic dog is galloping all over the place. I call her name. Doesn't come. More firm this time. Still no response. I put Hawkeye in the house and run after the little mutt. She then takes me on a joy run all over the neighborhood. People were actually starring out their windows at me. Glad to be entertainment. After finding some scent she wasn't use to, she stops. Now I have a wet, mud covered, smelly dog and I forgot to bring her leash with me so I had to carry her with my arms out, back to the house. The next tricky part is both of us are drenched head to toe and there was no way I as putting that little terror down until she had a bath. Jake kindly opened the door and lovingly said "You gross mommy!" Thank you Jakey. The child has no filters! About an hour later she was clean and dry. When Michael got home, he took one look at me and said "Hard day?" Thank you Michael! Ugh! At that point, I just smiled and said "I'm taking a shower."

I really do live in a circus....

The suspect in question:

"A Ha" Moment...

I finally figured out a sport that is worse than Baseball!

EOM

Favorite past time...I disagree.

Baseball...

Baseball.....

Baseball.......

I can't stand baseball! I went to go run at 7. I thought, I would run and watch House. It would keep me going. I got upstairs at 6:59:37 pm, turn on Fox and baseball is on. In the 10th inning! This totally messed up my run time. Who wants to watch baseball when you run? It surely does not motivate you to work out. It's the laziest sport out there. What qualifies baseball as a sport? Honestly! The only person on the team that has athletic ability is the pitcher. Maybe the catcher because he has to squat like he is dropping a load for 9 innings. You basically sit on the side line, chew gum or whatever is in their mouth, spit, and wait to head up to bat or stand in the outfield. Now hitting my require some ability, but honestly, how many times have we seen a high hitting baseball game? 33-17? That is a big fat no. For a game that has 9 innings (sometimes more) and only 3 outs per team, per inning, the game seems to take forever. My suggestion would be a play clock. There is no reason whatsoever for a pitcher to take 4 minutes to pitch. "Let's check the bases, chomp on gum, spit, look at the catcher, check the bases, throw to first for fun, check back to the catcher, chew gum even more, spit again, get your signal, then throw." What the heck?! Baseball would only be an hour and a half if we had a play clock! I just can't justify baseball as a sport. Lets break this down.

Football:

   Depending on your position, you have to be athletic. Even the huge 300+lb defensive line players are more athletic then baseball players. Try pushing your own body weight against yourself. It's not that easy.  You are either incredibly strong or a fast runner.

(Had to use the Hawkeyes!)

Basketball:

  There should be no explanation here. You are running up and down and back and fourth. Normally non stop for minutes at a time. You better have amazing stamina.

(I picked this one because he is fiiiine)

Soccer/Futbol:

  Are you kidding me? You want to talk about running. Have you seen a regulation soccer field? You have to have a Masters in Endurance. Plus soccer men are usually delicious!

(20 laps....I challenge most baseball players to that)

Golf:

 

You have to walk 18 greens. That is more work than a whole baseball game. Also, it seems that almost anyone can play baseball. Golf is a sport that not everyone can play. It takes years or practice!

(How can you not laugh?!)

Hockey:

  Again, yet another sport where you sweat more than there is water in the rink. Have you ever tried to ice skate? My arse is still upset with me!

(Enough said)

Other sports more athletic than baseball:

Volleyball

Boxing

Swimming

Dodgeball

Literally every sport in the winter/summer Olympics...with the exception of....BASEBALL.

Game, set, match!

Seems the artichoke is steamed...

If you haven't had the privilege of meeting my child, you should know that he received his grandpa Chuck's energy. He could blow the Energizer Bunny out of the water. Now that it's starting to get cold out, we face the challenge of running off steam indoors. Usually he runs about 20 laps around the kitchen. This is very entertaining but at the same time, I wish he could be outdoors. If we bundle him up, he says "Mommy, I am hot". We take 1 layer off "Mommy I am cold". He then usually walks himself back inside. Today the sun showed its face for the first time in a few days. (Twilight reference) - I was starting to think we were living in Forks and that Edward was about to show up in my bedroom window...I can only dream. We did get a good 2 hour play time at the park. I hope the sun shines and the weather stays a little warmer over then next few weeks. Otherwise, it's going to be a long winter!

We have been working on manners lately. He is very good with saying please and thank you. Although, now he likes to turn the tables on us. Today I took a sip of Michael’s pop and he took it away saying "No, no mommy, this is daddy's" then proceeded to yell up the stairs at Michael telling on me. Fantastic. He did rat out Michael about an hour later after catching him stealing candy before lunch. He told Michael "Timeout". I would love to see Jake put Michael in a timeout!

Currently he is sporting a few bumps and bruises on his head. Saturday, man, I have no idea what was wrong with him. His depth perception must have been way off. He ran into counters, furniture, doors, and the fireplace at a friends house. Maybe he was just tired. He got a few nice shiners. Then Zoey decided to scratch his face. She didn't mean to do it, but Jake still put her in her kennel and said "No owies Zoey!" Never a dull moment in our household. He did use the potty 3 times this weekend!! He does a potty dance afterwards! Then has to show anyone who is here what he did. This is my apology for anyone in the future who has to witness this! =)

The Hawkeyes are 7-0!!!!!! Plus Texas won! (This is for Beth!) I will say we are very lucky at times. I never quite know what is going to happen but they have been pulling through. Plus, OSU lost!! So amazing!

We had a pretty good weekend! Got some more things over into storage, and cleaned half the garage out! I got to see Wicked for the 2nd time. It will never get old! If I could have gone everyday, I would have. Also, congratulations to all mi amigos that participated and completed the marathon today!!! I am very proud of ya'all!

How 'bout them Hawkeyes?!

7-0

That's all folks!

In case of a fire, head to room W518...

because you will get out of the building quicker than if you follow the rules of your superiors. We had a fire drill today. Mind you, we have been in our new building since February. Luckily the place hasn't burned down in the past 8 months. Since this is a drill, it is suppose to be a "secret." Nothing in the CLPC is a secret. Everyone knows everybody's business and we have our own form of Wisteria Lane. The impending doom was to hit around 2. I work with some exceptionally bright offspring and we decided ahead of time to go around 1:45. This was a very good and well thought out plan. Not really, it more came from our lack of patience. Try unloading 5 floors of cubicle junkies in about 5 minutes with 4 stairwells. If we passed, we need to up our standards. A fire drill should not take 30 minutes. First of all, it's freezing outside. Why not pick a day in the summer? Lets instead pick a day where half the building is not wearing coats because we have not yet embraced the current state of the climate we live in. Also, you would think, we would have had this drill 8 months ago when we moved in. We do things different. Our boss also has no sense of direction. "Let's meet at the SE corner of the 3rd floor parking ramp." After making almost a complete lap, we found our boss at the SW corner. He needs a compass for Boss's Day. That or he could just give us his cell number, then problem dissolved. We stood in the parking garage for about 20 minutes till they gave it the "All Clear." (Thanks Ross) Now if this were a real fire, it would be mass chaos. It was a 10 minute wait just to get out of the building. Could you imagine if this were a real fire? All I could think about was the episode of The Office (Stress Relief) when Dwight stages a controlled fire and everyone goes mental. I haven't tested the windows on the 5th floor, but we do have a printer/copier near us. It might break through. Still haven't found an overhead projector.

Let's just leave it at, if there is ever a fire at 1200 Locust, the crew on the 5th floor will probably be stuck in the stairwell or in the halls. Or you will find Josie hiding in the bathroom standing on the toilet seat. She will be hiding from the people in the green hats with flashlights. Instead of posting laminated posters with directions on how we should get out, we should just put these up for the 5th floor:

Colds, chocolate, and snow...oh my!

Well we have been officially hit with our first wave of sickness in the house! Jake caught a cold. He was battling it all week and finally gave in! He is doing much better but has passed it onto me. Saturday was a rough one but today I am back to just sneezing. I feel like colds are the worst! You either are sneezing, coughing or having snot drip out of your red nose. Never fails. Michael is just keeping his fingers crossed that he doesn't get it!

Another adventure was Zoey this weekend. Michael ran and errand with Jake as I took a shower. He left the dogs out. Never a good idea. This is probably the only thing we have ever really differed on. I know my dogs, I do not trust them when they are unsupervised. Hawkeye, well, he's Hawkeye. He doesn't care. Now Zoey...well she is a superdog from another planet. She gets into anything and everything and I swear she has Kinnick (our cat) on her payroll! The cat goes out of his way to knock things over for the little beast! Anyways. I came downstairs from my shower. Low and behold I find a empty bag of chocolate cover peanuts on the ground. Hawkeye is just sitting there, while Zoey is perched on her pillow licking her chops. Fantastic! First thing that ran through my mind was she was going to die. This dog weighs all of 4.5lbs and ate a 18 oz bag of chocolate and peanuts. It didn't take long for her to start vomiting every where. We kept an eye on her and eventually she stopped. I kept waking up in the middle of the night to see if she was alive! Sure enough, this morning she as licking my face with her nasty puke scented morning breath. At least I woke up to something! She was back in normal form, chasing the cat and getting into everything this morning! Glad to have the spazz back!

Snow...oh snow. I don't mind the stuff really. I just hate driving in it. I think it's absolutely gorgeous when it falls on all the tress and leaves that beautiful blanket of white. Although, I was not excited to see it in October. The beginning of October. Scares me a little but we will see what this fun winter has in store for us. I guess a lot of evenings at home with a movie! Thank goodness for Netflix! Saturday kicked off movie time for sure. I drooled over Mr. Jackman in Wolverine and then gazed googly eyed at Clive in Duplicity. Horrible I know. Not to mention, Tom was amazing on Smallville this week! =)

Weekend recap:

Friday we were lame and watched Smallville while eating pizza! I did shut myself in my room for an hour to listen to the new Michael Buble CD. AMAZING.

Saturday we had the pleasure of our first snow, drooling over movie stars and screamed until the Hawkeyes won! Then I was way too hyper to go to bed. Luckily Cinderalla Story was on on ABC family at 11!

Sunday I slowly got over a cold and watched a whole lot of football.

All in all, this weekend was a lazy one. We haven't had one in quite sometime so it was welcomed! At least we can be lame together!

My "Other" Michael...

The other Michael in my life came out with his new CD "Crazy Love" and it's spectacular! "Cry Me a River" has to be my favorite song thus far. I have only listened to the CD 4 times so it might change! If he comes back to Des Moines, Jana and I will be there! Then, once again, I will be on the "Michael Buble" 3 month high of his concert! It still makes me giddy thinking about it! How could you resist this face?

Almost as bad as resisting this face:

Alert, Alert...Hot Water Main Break!

I will not be mentioning any names but my own during this post. I do not want the other party feeling any more embarrassed, but I did get permission to share this tale with you all.This friend didn't mind if I used their name, but I'll leave it a mystery!

I received a frantic phone call from a friend this evening. This friend was in a complete uproar. They proceeded to tell me that yesterday morning when they took a shower the water was freezing. They were in and out in a matter of a few minutes. After a full work day and a 2 hour work out this person once again retreated back to the shower. Looking forward to a half hour hot shower, they were astonished to find out the water was once again artic cold. Now, after 2 ice cold showers you might think that something would be wrong. They went off to bed thinking all would be magically fixed in the morning. As the sun rose on this Tuesday morning, my friend stepped into the shower for a third time. Greeted again by freezing water and a short shower, my friend went off to work. As this person sat brewing in anger they finally decided to do something about it. After work they checked the water one final time and still no hot water.Now, before I give you the rest of the story, lets recap:

1 - Shower was freezing on Monday morning.

2 - Shower was still cold Monday evening

3 - Shower was once again, freezing on Tuesday morning.

4 - After testing the faucets and shower again after work, the water was still ice cold.

To me a big red neon sign saying "WATER HEATER" is flashing in front of my face. That is not what this friend thought. They decided to call the Des Moines water utility and complain that their hot water does not work and someone needs to fix it. They explained to the representative that they hadn't seen any news about a hot water main being broken and that they can't believe no one else complained yet. This representative then asked if this was a joke and hung up. Now, since we are learning all about On Your Side service, this was not a hard close and not very customer focused. But honestly...what would you do? I then asked my friend, if their pilot light went out on their hot water heater. Respone: "Sarah, that is the cities job, I can't check the pilot light, it's a hot water main break, how can I fix that?...geez". I didn't laugh at this moment, but explained what a hot water heater was and walked them through how check and re-light. After 5 minutes of directions, KAPOW! Hot water again. My friend thanked me for my time and hung up absolutely mortified. I then laughed for a good 3-4 minutes. I wouldn't have found this as funny but this person has been a home owner for about 3 years. We all have our moments! Sometimes are frustrations block us from reacting the way we say we would! I am very sure this friend has seen moments like this from me!

Just another day at the Janzen house....