Just Say No!

I hate Wal-Mart. I know hate is a strong word, but yes, I do in fact hate Wal-Mart.

On Black Friday my mother and I began our shopping day at Wal-Mart. We were out to get a 32" Emerson TV and a few odds and ends. I bumped into a friend at 4:40 AM and we chatted a few moments as my mom kindly went to get in lines for the TV. Unfortunately, they handed out tickets for the TV's before we even got to the store. Another special Wal-Mart ran was a Cricut Expressions Cutting Machine for $188. A really great deal and I snatched one of the last two up. Sam's Club also had Acer netbooks for $198; Mom wanted one but that too we didn't get.

I promise that paragraph is leading somewhere!

Being the true shoppers that Mom and I are, we shopped all day on Friday. My mom remembered that Target honors all competitor ads and asked about the netbook and said they would be happy to honor the ad, except that they were currently sold out of the item...Boo for Mom!

Later in the afternoon we were at Wal-Mart again and saw the netbook that was advertised at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart would not for any reason price match the ad because the color of the Sam's ad showed red and Wal-Mart didn't have red. Big disappointment.

So Saturday rolls around and my mom points out that cartridges for the Cricut are on sale at JoAnn Fabrics for $28.88. Mom and I ran over there and learned they were sold out of the cartridges. So later after lunch and a few errands we went to Hobby Lobby to see which cartridges they had on sale...I got one of the three I was after. So we decided to try Wal-Mart to see if they would match the ad...this is where things get interesting.

We found the cartridges at Wal-Mart and looked for someone to see if they would match the JoAnn's ad. Of course the employee didn't know because she didn't work in that department and had to go find the lady who did who was on break. Two trips back to see the lady on break this person ends up with the manager of the store. He wasn't going to honor our Joann's ad because we had torn coupons out of it so my mom told him to go call the store and find out. So he did!!! Well, 15 minutes later we got our cartridge price matched. The whole fiasco took 40 minutes!

I am now boycotting Wal-Mart. I don't care if anyone else shops there but I will not.

Go Sioux!

Never thought I would type that!

Last weekend Bryce and I had the opportunity to take Emily to her very first UND Fighting Sioux hockey game!

Bryce and I have always enjoyed watching hockey and even attend the occasional game. Fortunately for Bryce, he attends a few more than I do. This time we had enough tickets given to us to take Emily with, just in case she would require a ticket. Luckily she did not.

Emily cheered the Sioux on like a true fan, shouting, "Go Sioux!" and "YAY!" when other people around her cheered and when Bryce and I told her to cheer the Sioux on.

The Sioux went on to win the game that evening against Mankato Stat, 4-2. :)

Happy Halloween

As you can see we had a little princess on our hands for Halloween. And I must say she was the prettiest Cinderella I had ever seen! While it took some time to put the curls in her hair, I do feel that the end result was perfect...and the candy Emily recieved from the five houses she trick or treated at showed it. She had a full bucket!

Bugger

Well it has been a long, long time since I have posted anything. I think I can do a pretty good job of catching up now that I am home sick with the flu for the next couple of days.

My dad is doing well. He finished his chemo in August and felt fine throughout the treatments. He has scans scheduled at certain intervals. He had his first one 3 weeks ago and it was determined there was "something" there. He had x-rays last week to determine if it is scar tissue from surgery or something else; results have not been read at this time as the doctor is out of town.

I got my braces off in September finally! That was the biggest event for me so far this year.

Emily started dance class in September as well. She loves to go so she can wear her dance slippers and tap shoes. Heaven for a little girl who loves shoes!

Bryce and I booked our first vacation with just the two of us...Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a week in February! I can't begin to tell you how excited we both are to go somewhere warm as ND gets even colder!

We had our family pictures taken by a coworker's husband at the end of September and they turned out great!

We are looking forward to Halloween this week. Emily will be going as Princess Aurora, her favorite Disney princess. She is obsessed with princesses and has already decided that her birthday will be a princess themed party.

Simple Pleasures

Today Bryce went to Watertown to help out his uncle Steven so, I got the pleasure of spending the whole entire day with my favorite person in the whole world ~ Emily! We began our morning by watching Dora the Explorer and eating unhealthy cereal on the couch; Trix and Cocoa Puffs.

After we both made ourselves presentable we went to Barnes and Noble for story time. I read her Pinkilicious and another story about a Gorilla who wants a friend and gets a kitten and then the B&N employee read two stories about how to make a friend. They were called Grumpy Cat and Big Smelly Bear.

After having a snack and browsing the aisles of books and music we headed to lunch for some delicious McDonald's. We had burgers and fries and apples and Emily even got the toy she wanted that she saw pictured! (Was it her lucky day or what?!)

After our lunch date we went home and took naps. After naps we went to Target and then the mall. Emily ate most of her supper at the mall, so as promised we went to DQ and shared an Oreo Blizzard with extra Oreos. It was during this treat Emily looked up at me and said, "You're my bestest friend in the whole wide world!" Then she hugged me and kissed me and went back to her blizzard.

Simple pleasures...what more can I say?

A Ton of Bricks

Last Monday my family and I received some devastating news: My dad has been diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma. In short he has cancer and a tumor located in his bladder. My mom said the doctor believes it is approximately the size of a golf ball and located near the top of his bladder. He will have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible on Thursday. After the surgery they will know what type of chemotherapy he will receive; it will either be the regular old IV chemo or the chemo will be injected directly into his bladder. We are all hoping that it is able to be injected into his bladder, because with this route of therapy, he will most likely not suffer most of the side effects that go along with chemo- hair loss, energy loss, nausea, etc.

I think and feel like most every person who has battled cancer or has a loved one who has battled it. My first thought was, 'why my dad? what did he do to deserve this?' Sometimes I get upset with God because he did this to my dad, but I immediately regret being upset because we need God on our side to get Dad through it all. Sometimes I dream the doctors will do the surgery and will come out and say that everything looks great no further action is required; it's not realistic, and I know that. Sometimes, especially after I had just gotten the news, I felt like there was a ton of bricks sitting on my chest and I could hardly breathe. I couldn't even catch my breath.

Since we learned about the cancer and tumor, I have asked my mom a ton of questions- sometimes they are the same ones over and over- I have been praying, thinking the worst, pretending it isn't real, realizing it is real, and then praying again. I cried a lot. I cry daily, not a lot but at least a few tears. Bryce and I talk about it a little bit, but I am not really ready to talk about more than the medical aspect of things. Emily, being the smart child she is knew something was wrong as Bryce and I were discussing the situation so I told her that Grampa Don is sick and that he has owies in his tummy and it was called a tumor. She prays for him too every night.

This is a week for prayers and love and battling the things that we wish weren't real. Please, if you remember, say a prayer for my dad to get through this.

Emily and Grampa when Emily was about 6 weeks old.

First Haircut

Today was Emily's first haircut. I had been thinking about getting it trimmed for a couple of weeks. I got the prompting I needed after I saw how much hair Emily's cousin Kiya seemed to lose after her first haircut. I knew that it would be better to trim just a little bit off now rather than lose inches if I waited any longer.

I went to a local children's hair cutting salon in Fargo called Lil' Whipper Snippers. I decided to try this place out after a parent at the center very highly recommended the place to me. So, I made Emily her first hair appointment.

I told Emily when I returned to work after my break that Daddy and I would take her to get her haircut after school. Emily has been asking for and wanting a haircut for months now, so she was pretty excited to learn the news.

Here is Emily before we left for her haircut:

A picture of Emily while Lindsay was cutting her hair:

Emily after returning from her haircut:

The experience for me was great. I was allowed to take pictures of this very special first for Emily and we got a lock of Emily's hair that was cut off, a keepsake photo, and a t-shirt that says, "I got my first haircut at Lil' Whipper Snippers."

All in all Emily did really well. She was excited to go get her hair cut and she was very interested in watching her stylist cut her hair. She was a little nervous to sit in the chair, but enjoyed wearing the cape with penguins on it and watching Curious George. Her favorite part was getting a pink sucker at the end of it. I don't think we will have to convince this girl that haircuts are great!

Struggling

In the last week I have been struggling on more than one level. I am struggling as a teacher, as a mother and as a wife.

At work I have a child who is particularly aggressive and best described as a bully. Today the bully was in trouble five times at the zoo and I caught this child taunting my new Autistic child and I lost it. I really laid into the child and told them that they were the meanest kid I had ever met. I regretted it immediately and know it was VERY unprofessional. However I can't say that it isn't true. Sad.

As a wife I feel that I am not being what I want to be. I want to have meals planned. I want to have a tidy, fashionable house. I want to be so many things that I am not. Every evening I come home and it is all I can do to just stay awake. I can't make a meal and be pleasant to my husband and do all the laundry and cleaning without being a little resentful that he isn't helping, even though the majority of the cooking and cleaning is done by him. I just don't know how to snap out of it.

Having a child was the biggest dream come true of my life. And Emily has always been the light of my life. I couldn't imagine loving someone more than I love her. However I am struggling as a parent and I am not sure what to do to get 'my' girl back. Emily has been very sassy and not listening and throwing little hissy fits again when she doesn't get what she wants. She had five time outs on Sunday for just being downright naughty. Tonight (possibly as a result of stress caused by above mentioned child) I put soap in Emily's mouth for screaming during a fit. She didn't like it and I feel a little bit bad for doing it. I just don't know what to do to get through to her that she is not behaving in an appropriate manner. So, here comes them guilt of motherhood.

My dream is that tomorrow I wake up and I am the mother, wife, and teacher I dream of being; and know I can be!

Catching Up

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote. The busyness of the spring has me a little behind things!

Emily is spending more and more time outside. We find it harder and harder for us to get her into the house each evening.

Bryce's parents visited us last weekend and we had a great time with them. The girls did some shopping; Emily scored 2 new swimsuits and I got some new shorts...hoping we will actually need these items SOON! The guys had the project of moving the TV to a console table in hopes that we would be able to sell the TV stand at our garage sale that we just wrapped up yesterday; we didn't.

We spent this past Friday and Saturday out in the garage trying to rid ourselves of the clutter. We began with Emily's clothing and toys. It started with 8 Rubbermaid boxes of clothes and blankets, and ended with just 4 boxes. We sold all of the furniture that was left from our garage sale to my cousin Amber. Lucky for her we took good care of everything we previously owned. Unfortunately we were able to sell our large couch on Friday morning to a lovely older couple who are building a lake cottage and we now have no upstairs furniture. Until we are able to get a new couch, we are using camping chairs as our seating...kind of silly when we have perfectly wonderful, comfortable theater seating downstairs!

This marks the last week of preschool for me. I have made it a whole year. It has been a lot of work, a lot of fun too though. But, I am really looking forward to the summer and the warmth that the sun brings!

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Over the weekend I purchased a set of ice cream sandwich molds made by Tovolo.
The set includes a pig, a cow, and a chicken.

The set was really super cute and Emily thought it was a set of puzzles so I was a little concerned that she might not give them up. She did give them up in the end and tonight after she went to bed, I finally got around to using them. First I had to make the cookies. I used chocolate chip cookie dough by Pillsbury. Then after waiting precisely one minute I had to cut out the cookies with the mold. This left for lots of yummy leftover chunks of cookie!

After cooling completely I put the cookies inside of the mold, scooped ice cream in, topped it off with a matching cookie and pressed down. This process had to be done quickly and by the end I still had a little bit of a mess. The end result was a delicious ice cream cookie sandwich, which of course I ate!

I think these will definitely be a summer favorite at our house!

A Very Long Week

This week has been quite long for all of us. We began the week with a very thorough cleaning of the house because everyone ended up with the flu. On top of the cleaning we were also battling temper tantrums from Emily; tantrums like I have never before seen with this child. They were long tantrums-one lasted an hour. Our way to handle them was to ignore them. They got shorter as the week went on and Wednesday and Friday we didn't have one tantrum with Emily. Ignoring a tantrum is much easier said than done!

This week at work I began teaching my preschoolers their songs for preschool graduation. The kids were doing quite well on the first day. I glanced up from my song sheet and realized these little kids have come so far in the last nine months and I began to cry. Who would have thought that these kids have grown on me so much? I think I will miss a majority of them when they are off in kindergarten next year.

On Thursday evening I put my apron on (figuratively, not literally) and I became Susie Homemaker. I made a loaf of banana bread and a batch of my amazing cinnamon rolls. The banana bread was for us at home. The rolls were for Bryce to take to work. I have made them for Bryce to take to work before and they were a hit 2 years ago. So much in fact that one guy who had them talked them up to everyone and by the time it was all said and done the men of Microsoft required 16 cinnamon rolls. None were left for me to enjoy. :( Oh, don't ask me for the recipe because you won't get it. That is the one recipe that I refuse to share. If you ask nicely I might make them for you though!

This weekend should be a nice relaxing one. Today the plans are for a little laundry, some shopping and then the Elton John & Billy Joel concert tonight. Emily's favorite teacher and my good friend Whitney will be coming to the house to hang out with Emily so Bryce and I can go to dinner before the concert. Th picture below is of Emily and Whitney at Whitney's wedding last summer.

Hopefully the weekend drags on the way the week itself did!

Sick Saturday

Today began like any other Saturday. I got up before the rest of the house. I brushed my teeth, put my contacts in, and went down to check and see if Emily was awake. She was. I got her out of bed. We had a short snuggle before Emily demanded I 'put her down on the floor'. She needed a story. She needed the light on too so she could see what book she was going to make me read as she went potty. Then she coughed to clear her throat and instead of a regular cough she began throwing up. YUK! All over the floor. We changed into comfy sweats and are now spending the day watching TV (Disney Channel has some pretty good shows!) eating crackers, sipping fluids and napping in between sprinting trips to the sink to spit out the puke.

I hate when Emily gets sick because I know there is nothing that I can do for her. But what I hate worse than not being able to help her is cleaning up puke. I can clean anything else in the whole entire world. But puke is the worst thing in the whole world for me. It's just beyond disgusting. I would gladly let Bryce cleanup the puke any time that he so desires!

I also feel that Emily being sick is the last thing she needs or deserves. Wasn't her stay in the hospital enough for the poor girl? Hopefully she bounces back quickly so we can go to the circus tomorrow. Hopefully the Corduroy bear I got her at the grocery store helps her feel a little better too! :)

The First

While this is my first time blogging on this site, I am no stranger to blogging. I have been writing about my daughter since shortly after I learned I was pregnant with Emily. I have enjoyed the site I use a lot and I will continue to post notes about her as regularly as I can, but as Emily has gotten older I find myself outgrowing the current site. It is geared more for infants and a lot of things are only available for paying members...the amount of pictures you can share, the themes of the page designs, etc. Plus, I would like to be able to share other things, like how the weather is or things we are experiencing. So here it goes...my first real blog!




In this first post I thought it might be fun to learn a little bit about the 'Andrisen 3'. The three people this refers to is my husband Bryce, our daughter Emily, and me. The 3 will remain forever constant as we have no future plans to add to our family. We just got too lucky with such a smart and sweet little girl that we don't want to tempt fate! I am a preschool teacher and my husband works with computers. We like to spend time with Emily and just be a family. All in all, we are a fairly run of the mill, boring family- and I'd like to keep it that way! :)