Monday, March 31, 2008

Out Like a Lion!!!

Today is like an early April Fool's joke gone awry! It is snowing and snowing with no end in sight! Yesterday, I was driving home from La Crosse, admiring how most of the snow has melted, and tonight, I was out shoveling about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow! UGH!!! Will spring EVER come??? March has definately gone "out like a lion"!
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There are three in our family who enjoyed our snowstorm--Abby, Jack, and Sophie had a GREAT time frolicking in the fluffy, deep snow tonight! They especially like rolling and wrestling on the trampoline together!
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All of that fresh, cold air makes for some cute, rosy cheeks!!!
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The boys didn't appreciate the snow, until their dad gave them the news that school is definately 2 hours late tomorrow, with the possibility of being cancelled! Then, the snow took on a whole new light in their eyes! Jamie has been in contact with our friend, Monte, the school superintendent, as to the road conditions. Monte was in Madison today for a meeting and needed updates on the roads north from Eau Claire to Barron--he ended up stranded in Osseo, and he decided to postpone school for 2 hours. Jamie is taking all of the credit!!! :-)
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Jamie and I got in one last (I hope) round with the shovels tonight. But the snow is still pouring out of the sky--perhaps I will have another rendevous with my shovel in the morning so I will be able to get out of the driveway?!? Thankfully, Jamie's friend, Adam, was here today and installed our new garage door, so my car is snug and dry in my new garage!!! No scraping for me in the morning!!! :-)
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Hope everyone is warm and dry tonight!



Sunday, March 30, 2008

Wild Weekend!!!!

WOW!!! What a WILD WEEKEND for the Klimek Family! We had several things going on this weekend, one for Andrew, and one for Abby. Andrew had his State Basketball Tournaments this weekend in La Crosse, and Abby had her Destination Imagination Regional Competition in Osceola.
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Jamie, Austin, and Andrew headed out for La Crosse on Friday night to spend the night at the Days Inn to get ready for the tournaments, while Abby and I stayed here in Barron to get ready for Abby's 6:00 am departure for her Destination Imagination (D.I.) competition on Saturday morning.
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Abby has been worried about her team's skit coming together, because people were having trouble remembering their lines, and some of the kids were messing around instead of practicing. Well, it all came together in the end, and the kids put on a GREAT performance on Saturday for the judges!!! They had so much FUN during their skit, and the audience really enjoyed watching their play, too!
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Abby was Goldilocks...
Here she is talking to the Scientist, while the Three Little Pigs and Grandma Goldilocks look on...~~~
The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks, and the Big, Bad Wolf!
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Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs
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Abby and I had to leave right after her performance to head to La Crosse, so we were unable to stay for the Award Ceremony. Abby called one of her coaches tonight, and found out that her team took FIRST PLACE!!!!!!! They are going to STATE COMPETITION on April 19th at UW Stevens Point!!!!!!! We are so proud of Abby and her D.I. team -- they did an AWESOME job for their competition! GOOD LUCK AT STATE, "IMAGINATORS"!!!
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The Barron Golden Bears had an AWESOME day of basketball on Saturday! The boys played 4 games on Saturday, and they ended the day UNDEFEATED!!!! They posted wins against
Edgerton, Sheboygan Falls, Marinette, and Notre Dame (Green Bay)! Andrew nailed a big 3-pointer at the buzzer of the half during the first game, and he had some big free throws throughout the day to help in their wins. He is pretty solid from the line!!!!
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Waiting for the ball on the line...
Sunday was a harder day for the boys...
Our first game was against Wisconsin Dells. They were a tough, fast team. We really competed well against them, and if we would have made some missed shots, we may have won. (Wisconsin Dells went on to take first place in the tournament...)
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Our second game against New Berlin for 5th place was another close game, but in the end, we just couldn't pull it out. The boys played hard, and were exhausted by the end of their sixth game in 2 days. They ended the tournament with sixth place overall out of the 32 teams that were invited to the tournament. There are hundreds of teams in the whole league, and they placed sixth in their bracket in the tournament, so they did really well! We are proud of how well they did this season! Way to go, Andrew and the Barron Golden Bears!!!!
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A HUGE Thank-you to Grandpa Denny, Auntie LaNita, Grandpa Ken, and Grandma Deb for making the trip to La Crosse to cheer for Andrew and the Barron Golden Bears! We appreciate you coming to watch the games, and Andrew really likes having family there to see him play--it sure means a lot to us that you made the trip for his games! Thanks, everyone!
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Now that the traveling season is finally done for Andrew, he has sign-ups for next year already next week!!!
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Here is Andrew again at the free throw line...
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Nothing but Net!!!
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Barron Golden Bears 2007-2008
State Tournament Team
Sixth Place
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My friend, Kelli, bought face paints for Abby and her friends to cheer on the boys! Here they are showing their team spirit!
(Carter, Abby, Ahna, and Sidney)
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Jack and Sophie had fun this weekend, too! They were able to spend the weekend at the Holidog Inn!! What a fun time!! Nick got a new sign for the Holidog--we liked it so much, we thought we would share it with everyone!
Have a great week, everyone!!!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!!!!!

Happy Easter!!!
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Celebrating Christ's victory over death and our assurance of life everlasting when we put our Faith in Him...
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Remember the Reason for this Season!! Saturday evening found the Klimek Family facing 3 and a half dozen eggs that needed to be beautified and colored. (The other half dozen didn't make it past the boiling--even a minute crack needs to be eaten!!!) So, we pulled out the crayons and mixed up the dye and went to work. Some of us (Abby) were more excited than others (Austin and Andrew)...
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Here is Austin joyfully coloring his eggs...
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Andrew is hard at work making his egg lovely!
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Abby put a lot of time into making a special egg for the Easter Bunny...
(more to come on that later!)
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All done with the art project--we now have 42 beautiful Easter Eggs!!!!
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Abby showing Jack (left) and Sophie(right) their Easter Eggs...
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Abby wrote a special letter to the Bunny in school last week. She also made him a special egg with a picture of the Bunny on it. She took that egg and set it on the coffee table with her letter so the Easter Bunny was sure to find it. Unfortunately, Sophie found it first. :-( Abby was VERY upset about this and scolded Sophie--not that Sophie cared--she just kept wagging her tail at poor Abby's tears. When it was all said and done, Abby peeled the special Easter Bunny Egg and gave it to Sophie, since "her saliva was all over it anyway".
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Here is Sophie waiting for her special Easter Bunny Egg, trying her best to look contrite.

After the whole Easter Bunny Egg Tragedy, I convinced Abby to redo the egg design on a plastic egg. That way, Sophie couldn't ruin it, and Abby can re-use it every year and put a special treat in the egg for the Bunny. She did re-make her special egg, and put a nice, leafy piece of lettuce in it for the Bunny to enjoy!
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The New and Improved Easter Bunny Egg...
Have a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Birthday Celebrations and Shamrocks

Tonight, the Squirrel tried on all of her St. Patrick's Day attire that she will be wearing to school tomorrow--doesn't she look SMASHING?!?!
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Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Klimek Family!!!! ~~~~
For Austin's birthday on Friday night, we made a trip to Oakwood Mall in Eau Claire so he could do some birthday shopping (per his request). After our big shopping expedition, we went to Red Lobster for a Birthday Supper. We all ate too much--it was delicious! Austin discovered a new love of lobster--I guess crab legs are a thing of the past for him!
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I took some pictures of our evening of fine dining. I guess there was an unspoken contest to see who could make the ugliest face for my photo ops...
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Here are Austin (with his lobster tail) and Jamie... ~~~
Abby posing with her snow crab claw...
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and Andrew--not really sure what he is doing, but he succeeded in looking ugly, just like everyone else!!!
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Jamie bought Austin a new X-Box game for his birthday, so the boys played it in the back of the "station wagon" all the way back to Barron. Here they are "patiently" waiting for me to restart the car after getting some fuel...

We had a fun--and somewhat nutty--night together celebrating Austin's birthday!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Happy 15th Birthday, AUSTIN CRAIG!!!!

Today is our "Little Ed's" Fifteenth birthday, so today's blog post is a tribute to Austin...
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Austin Craig
March 14, 1993
7 lbs, 6 oz
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Voted "Cutest Baby of 1993" by his family!

A happy little boy at 8 months!



A.K.A. "The Little Cowboy" per his big cousin, Timmy!


Sweet little puppy!



Austin has always been cool...



Just one more year until he will be driving a car!!!




Austin is always clowning around!



Austin through the years...
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Austin's first birthday


Second birthday
"I'm two years old!"

Third Birthday


Fourth Birthday

First Day of Preschool
Age 4
Isn't he cute!?!?!

Kindergarten
Age 5

First Grade
Age 6

Second Grade
Age 7

Third Grade
Age 8

Fourth Grade
Age 9

Fifth Grade
Age 10

Sixth Grade
Age 11

Seventh Grade
Age 12
(What a hairball!)

Eighth Grade
Age 13

Freshman Year
Age 14

Basketball 2007-08
Freshman

As you can see, Austin has changed a lot over the years. One thing that hasn't changed is how much we love him. We are proud of the young man he has become, and we are looking forward to watching him grow up and into adulthood. We love you, Eddie! (Craiger, Weiner, Buggie)
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Happy Birthday, Austin!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Poor Little Sophie...

The Squirrel was snuggling this weekend with Sophie and Jack on the COUCH!!! Rotten dogs!!!
Sophie is on the left, Jack on the right... Poor little Sophie is almost 6 months old, and today was her big day. She went in this morning for her surgery to be spayed. I picked her up after work, and she sure is groggy and tired--not her usual self at all. Abby is just beside herself that her puppy is not feeling well, and now she wants to sleep in the kitchen tonight with Sophie! Jack is distressed that his playmate doesn't want to play with him. and poor Sophie just wants to sleep, but keeps "gurking" (Baaderism) instead! We sure hope life is back to normal around here tomorrow!

A Radical Face Lift

I came home from work today to find a great deal of the siding on our house!!! Yesterday, they guys had about half of this done, and today they have been working in the drizzle to get this far! I feel like I am driving into someone else's driveway!!! The front is almost done, although there isn't any railing on the porch yet.... The side of the house will be done by the time the guys leave tonight...
Abby wants to let you all know that "Bob is Cool!" (That is Bob the Contractor, or , A.K.A., Bob the Builder)