Ice fishing

The kids and I joined our neighbor Robbie ice fishing this afternoon on our lake. The kids had never been ice fishing and it was a perfect day. The total number of fish that we kept was 4 but as you can see by the size of Kyra's fish, some had to be thrown back so they could grow up. Mark had to stay at home to work on his homework. The kids had fun, until the fish quite biting and they got cold.

Yesterday we went to Bloomington to visit the Bane's. We went swimming at a local hotel and ordered pizza. It was a great visit and the kids had fun. I forgot the camera, it seems to be at the bottom of my list these days.

Valynn had her first basketball game yesterday with me as her coach. She did good and had fun. We had to loan two of our players out to the opposing team because they only had three players show up.

We bottled our first batch of beer on Friday. In two weeks it'll be ready to drink, what we tried was very good flat beer. Brad and Chantel left on Friday. The kids spent most of the day over here playing. Valynn and Mason had a half day so they got to spend time with the Bowdoin's before the left. I watched all 8 kids for about 1 1/2 hours. The new neighbors aren't moving in until April or May.

Son, that'll be coming out of your college fund. We got the bill for Mason's endoscopy yesterday. Any guesses on the amount that a minor 20 minute surgery (yes, it's considered minor) costs? $8500 (that would be the cost without insurance). That's not including the doctor's bill for the surgery, the anesthesiologist, or pathology. Those are separate. After the insurance discount the amount drops down to $3500 of which we have the deductible and the 20% to pay. The gastric emptying test, $1200 (without insurance). The amount drops to $550 with the insurance discount. It's a good thing we got our taxes down, we're going to need the refund to pay for our medical bills.

I hope everyone has a great week. Stay warm!

Meet the Parents

I never thought I'd be saying that when Valynn was 5. We had Valynn's boyfriend's family over for supper last night. We took the kids fishing after we ate and they had fun, it was a beautiful night. We got enough fish to have them back over for supper another night. The kids had a great time visiting and we enjoyed our visit with the parents.

Wild Ride

We went to Wildlife Prairie State Park again yesterday and did some of the other activities they have to offer. We checked out the snakes and reptiles and went sliding on the 50' slide. We also rode the train. They kids had a great time but we headed home early because of the heat. Could someone send some rain our way? On Tuesday, Valynn, Kyra, and I went to the Mother Daughter Banquet. We had a great night with just the girls. Mason and Mark went out the eat and then went fishing. Mason caught a bass as long as his arm, they caught about 9 in all. To all of the dad's out there, have a great Father's Day.

What a great weekend

We had a nice relaxing weekend. For once there was nothing that needed to be done. Friday night we had friends over for supper, after supper we all went fishing. Everyone was catching fish. Valynn laid her pole down and as she walked away a fish pulled her pole into the lake. The bobber came up so we borrowed a boat from the neighbor and Mark rowed out to the bobber and pulled in her rod. We all were laughing except for Valynn. On Saturday we went to town to get water and watered the garden. We then went to Jubilee State Park and hiked for about 3 hours and had a picnic lunch. We came home and the kids went swimming at the neighbors and then we went to town for supper and grocery shopping. On Sunday we went to church, got some donuts on the way home and ate them. In the afternoon we helped set up for the block party and then relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We met some more neighbors, and visited until the evening. The kids played well together and had a blast.

Look what we caught!!!

We went fishing on Friday night and we were successful. We caught 5 fish and kept 4. That meant Mark got to clean fish. Last night we ate what we caught and they were delicious. The kids are excited to go again. Saturday we spent most of the day with our friend Mark S. from North Dakota and his cousins that live nearby. We enjoy getting together with them unfortunately we only do it about once a year. It turned out to be a long day for the kids though. Sunday we went for a bike ride after church. The kids love going for bike rides and we stopped to have a picnic along the way. I also have a picture posted of Valynn and Mason showing off their new cousin, Ty, they can't wait to meet him.