2009 so far...

So far 2009 has been sad and happy all at the same time!! On the 4th we went to Augusta to spend the evening with Lisa Zunker to help remember and celebrate Jason's life which was taken all too soon, especially from her. It was a nice evening with good friends, lots of laughter, some tears and a great way to put the agony of the last year behind us and celebrate Jason and the reason we all miss him so much. We had to put Jake to sleep on the 8th which was very hard but he is not suffering anymore. He was the first member of our family and was a great dog. He will be sadly missed and never replaced. Sam is really into the Jump Rope contest and she set a school record of 54 jumps in 10 seconds!!! She jumped on the 8th and that was to determine the top 5 girls and top 5 boys from each grade who will then jump on Thursday, Jan. 22 to determine the top 2 girls and top 2 boys from each grade to go to the Bloomer contest on Jan. 31. I hope she makes it to Bloomer, which I am confident she will. She is very athletic and loves to do this sort of competition. This past Saturday (10th) Sam and her Cardinal Flight team participated in a Winona, MN tournament and won 1st place!!! Sam played outstanding. She had quite a few good steals and ran to the other end and did picture perfect layups!! Her defense and offense were both very well played. I think total she made 5 baskets but missed 5 also when she got too excited. Their team looked excellent and it sure paid off. They are off to a great start!! I am now 24 weeks along and saw the Dr. on the 6th. Baby is growing great and is he or she ever moving around!! Even in the past few days I have noticed more and more movement. Before "he" would be active really early (around 5am) when I was first getting out of bed, then a little in the early morning and do gynmastics or dance in the later evening. Now it seems more of a most of the day thing. Like today I think there has only been like 2 hours where I haven't felt any movement, otherwise he's stretching out those arms and legs really well. As for names we are not completey decided but a girl will be Isabella, Anastasia or Evelyn, unsure of the middle name for now and for boys we know the middle name will be Jason but coming up with a first name is being a headache! Nicholas is set on a few names that I do not like and he does not like the names that I love. There is one that we both are considering however I cannot share it as it will be a surprise if we decide on that one!! Hint: It is a family name. Good thing we still have like 15 more weeks to hash this out!!

2009 Goals

I figure if I share some of my goals with someone other than my husband (who just laughs at me) than I will be more likely to keep them up and also get some support in the process. So here are my 2009 goals:

1. Get all pictures into photo albums. (I was so good until I went digital and then everything went to hell in a hen basket!! So I want to try and get my albums up to date)
2. Print digital pictures once a month
3. Update blog once a week (on Sundays) or at least 2 times a month
4. Get together more with friends (at least once a month either one-on-one or group activity)
5. Take dogs for a walk at least 5 times per week
6. Do a craft project with kids once a month (I have so many items I bought for craft projects throughout the years but they never seem to get done so I really want to utilize the items I have and make someone else's day when we give them away to who they intended for originally)
7. Pay $5000 worth of debt
8. Quit using credit cards all together except Kohls (cuz you get awesome discounts!!) but pay it off immediately when the bill comes (already cut them up so that should make it really easy!)
9. Go on a date at least once a month with Nicholas
10. Scrapbook twice a week (even for a half hour or get 2 pages done)
11. Do some sort of workout (DVD's or Wii Fit) 3X per week
12. Brush teeth every night before bed (I have a terrible habit of falling asleep on the couch and so this unfortunately does not get done every night)
13. Designate one night per week as family game night. Order or make pizza, rent a movie and just chill for the evening enjoying each other's company.

Well those are my goals I did the first week of January. I will let you know how I did at the end of the year!!!!

New Years Eve 2008

Ah, December 31st. A time to reflect back on the year, 2008. It started out not looking so good. Deputy Jason S. Zunker was struck by a car on January 4th and died January 5th. One of my wish kids, Mallorie, also passed away on January 4th. The beginning of the year held turmoil and saddness. My worst fears came true, except it was for someone else, but I just can't shake the feeling of what if. We will say that January 2008 really made me start to reflect on what I wanted to accomplish in life: be a great mother, spend lots of time with my children, husband, family and friends, and get my affairs in order. I was also dealing with the fact I was not pregnant and had not been able to get pregnant for over a year at that point, which only added to the saddness. I was told I would never have children but when you seem like you will not be able to have as many as you want, it hurts just as much as if you couldn't have children at all. But I did get past that and said "Well if this is what God wants, so be it". We were open to foster care, adoption and/or foreign exchange students and are still talking about all three. But we didn't have to wait too long, as we found out on September 1st I was pregnant again!! Yeah!! I had hoped to be in better shape when it happened but life happened too and I was so tired all the time and after getting pregnant that fatigue increased exponentially!! The rest of the year was pretty uneventful. Sam participated in Chippewa Strikers soccer, Katarina and Ian did T-ball and soccer, and we did lots of swimming in the pool. Here's a re-cap.

January: Sam and Katarina both went to the Bloomer Jump Rope contest, honorary flag was raised at the courthouse for Zunker that has been traveling the country since 9/11 for officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty

February: attended scrapbook weekend at 29 Pines with Carisa and we had a blast!, celebrated my 26th Birthday

March: "Famous Icons" bus party, Lutzen Mtn. skiiing with Andy & Dena, Kalahari with Gardow family in WI Dells, Katarina celebrated her 6th Birthday

April: Zunker Memorial Fundraiser at The View, visited Kari in North Carolina, kids and I went to visit Bridgit, Chris & Kaitlin Keller in Iowa, Sam & I attended the MN Horse Expo

May: Madison for WI Law Enforcement Memorial, Madison field trip with Sam, Kalahari for WPPA conference, Ian celebrated his 4th Birthday, Elijah James Stepp born on the 23rd

June: Reese & Julie Anderson married, celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary

July: went to Rock Fest with Jane, Sam celebrated her 10th Brithday

August: Bowe Family Reunion at Denny & Marilyn's cabin on Fireside Lake

September: found out I was pregnant!!

October: Halloween (Ian was a gorilla, Katarina was a cheerleader and Sam was a farmer)

November: Nicholas celebrated his 29th Birthday, threw Rich & Lorraine a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary party

December: CCPPA bowling tournament

We ended the year with a "bang". Nicholas had to work but the kids and I saw the movie Bedtime Stories (we all loved it), went through Irvine Park and celebrated with sparkling grape juice and crowns, and even got the dogs in on the celebration. It was the best New Years Eve I could ask for. Of course none of us stayed up late enough to see the new year come in but I have high hopes for 2009!!

Christmas 2008

Wow I can't believe how time flies!! I know I haven't updated in a while so I am trying to back track. Christmas wasn't the most pleasant celebration this year. Both Katarina and I came down with the stomach flu on Christmas Eve during the day and still weren't 100% Christmas day so all the running really wore us out. I know I didn't really enjoy Christmas at all and Katarina seemed to a little but not as much as children usually do!! Plus it was somewhat ironic that I was puking sick because this year was the first time in like 4 years that Nick and I have both not had to work Christmas and the last time we both had Christmas day off I woke up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve with the stomach flu as well!! It is a sign that one of us should be working I guess. Sam and Ian had a good Christmas though!! It was funny because a lot of the stuff that was opened at Grandma & Grandpa Gardow's Ian would exclaim something to the effect of "I really like that" or "I wanted that too". Wish would have had a working video camera this year, he was absolutely hilarious!!! We got a Nintendo Wii from my mom and dad and everyone loves it. It gives us a way to bond as a family playing games and also get some exercise (added bonus for Mom & Dad)!! Of course we had fun decorating the tree and the house. And before all that we had a lot of fun getting our tree with the entire Gardow family at Pleasant Valley Tree Farm in Elk Mound, WI. All in all it was a good Christmas considering!!