Friesen Talk

Writing about all the big & little things

Category: Friends (Page 5 of 6)

Off to St. Cloud

June 12, 2013 / / 2 Comments

In an effort to keep myself busy (and out of the house for the endless showings) the kids and I are heading to St. Cloud for the day, tomorrow.  I’m SUPER excited to see Shannon and let our kids interact.  We’ve been able to hang out a little bit over the past few months, but it’s been quite a while since our kids have seen each other.  Let’s face it, sometimes it’s just easier and more enjoyable to leave the kids at home with the hubby and enjoy a nice quiet cup of coffee to catch up!  But now that it’s summer again I’ll be taking the kids along.  And the weather even seems to look very pleasant for tomorrow, so… *fingers crossed!*

Tonight a neighbor called me to let me know there was a free bicycle down the road with training wheels if I was interested.  So I walked over a couple blocks and hauled it home.  It’s a bit small for Chloe, and it’s very girly (think purple basket and pink decals), and the back wheel is popped.  However, I decided to bring it home because it has really solid training wheels.  So we spent a little bit of time transferring the training wheels to the small red bike (from Nana & Bumpa!) that broke last summer and now Josiah can ride a more “boy” looking bike with training wheels.  I was incredibly pleased.   Josiah, on the other hand didn’t care much for the bike tonight… I’m sure he’ll be more interested soon.   🙂

Before I go, here’s a random picture to make you smile.  Chloe found some “earrings” the other day in her toy box and thought this was pretty funny!

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Stacy came to Visit!

June 9, 2013 / / 0 Comments

On Friday morning we had the privilege of having my friend Stacy over to visit.  We had a delightful time chatting, having lunch, walking around the block, chatting, playing with the kids, experimenting cutting her bangs, chatting, playing with the bubbles, and did I mention chatting?  I’m a very chatty gal, if you didn’t know that.  😉

The kids just soaked up having her here.  (Especially Chloe)

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They took a break from the bubbles to smile for the camera!

Oh, and they just got a new puppy (Nimo) who is sooooo adorable!  We haven’t met him in person yet, but she brought pictures, so I thought I just HAD to share the cuteness with you!

Grilled Nimo

Stacy said his ears are still changing–they haven’t decided where to land yet!

 

Lots to do, but little motivation left tonight

February 28, 2013 / / 2 Comments

I have gobs and gobs of things I need to be doing right now but my motivation (and thus my self-control to stop snacking!)  is waning greatly.  Maybe I should just go to bed and hope to wake up more motivated in the  morning… 🙂

So instead I’ll tell you some random tidbits of information again:

  • We have a professional stager coming to look at our house next week to give us a list of things to do.  That makes me feel good knowing someone is going to help… our realtor is actually paying for it.  I think that’s really smart.  Staged houses sell so much faster.  And in our case, we’re just hoping it sells period!
  • This might be the first week since I started this my weight loss endeavor on January 1st that I won’t lose any weight.  That bums me out.  But it also makes me recheck my eating choices and recommit to why I’m doing this.  I always knew this would be a really tough time of year for me, so I just want to keep hanging on…
  • My goal is to pack a box a day.  So far so good.  Well, it actually more like, 2 boxes every other day, but still the ratio is the same.  🙂
  • Chloe is super bummed that Kailynn gets to turn 5 before her.  Then I pointed out that Chloe would be 4 AND A HALF and Kailynn wouldn’t, and that seemed to make her happy.  Hehe!
  • Did I mention that we enrolled Chloe in preschool for this Fall?  Yup.  She’s going to Mount Olive Lutheran Preschool here in Shakopee.  We have a few church friends who have kids currently enrolled and they had rave reviews.  That will be the compromise of keeping Chloe back until next fall to enter Kindergarten… she just misses the cut off to go into Kindergarten this year and we’re fine with her waiting and then being the oldest in her class.  But we really wanted to get her in some type of classroom setting this next year.  We visited last week to drop off our application and she was having so much fun I practically had to pick her up and carry her out in order to get her to leave!  🙂

My first Vikings Game!

November 14, 2012 / / 3 Comments

This past Sunday, I went to my very first Vikings game!  🙂  My friend Stacy and her husband had 2 extra tickets and generously offered to let us come along.  Tim has been to a bunch of games, so it wasn’t a big deal for him, but this was my first time even inside the metrodome.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.

And I must say, I had a fantastic time.

It was loud, yes.  But not as loud as I expected.  (And Yes, I brought ear plugs.  Pretty purple ones even!)  It was rowdy, yes.  But, again, not as rowdy as I expected.  It was way up in the bleachers, yes.  But the field was much larger than I expected, so it was easy to follow what was going on.  And I’ve been married long enough to actually understand the game now.  Ever since we started dating, Tim has done a wonderful job of slowly (I’m sure painstakingly) explaining my gazillion questions about what’s going on, so now I pretty much get it.  Once in a while I’ll be totally clueless on what just happened, but I can hold my own pretty well.  🙂

I will admit there was a moment that I questioned my decision to go.  It was as we were filing in at the very beginning at that exact moment when we were literally pressed up on every side against strangers… Everyone was at a stand-still trying to go both ways (unsuccessfully) and it seemed like I would never get free.  It was a bit scary actually.  But it soon loosened up and there weren’t any more scary crowd moments after that.

And as a side note, I tried to crop out my double chin in the picture above, haha!  But it made my face ridiculously small… 🙂  So I guess you all will just have to love me–double chin and all!  😉

Gah! I need to write a post and I just get too lazy after supper and then before I know it, the next day has come and gone already!

August 21, 2012 / / 1 Comment

Yes.  That heading about sums it up.

I’m so motivated and productive in the morning/early afternoon that by the time supper rolls around I’m wiped out!

I’ve been enjoying being generally more productive since we’ve been back from our Texas trip but now I’m starting to become aware of the summer coming to a close.  And that makes me excited and sad all at once.  I love the school year–I love routine, I love new school supplies, I love the fresh start, I love knowing that Christmas is coming soon, and I most definitely love the cooler Fall weather.  But then again my “free” summer is going to be gone.  I’ll be back to being busy and having to really manage my time better again–instead of sitting on my butt and watching pointless t.v. all night.  🙂  And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Last week was a lot of fun.  I had a blast visiting my H.S. friend in Wisconsin–and the road trip that went along with it, which included two other H.S. friends.  It was non-stop conversation from 9:00 – 9:00!  We can sure talk up a storm!

Then on Thursday we made special cards for Emily who was heading back to Utah.  Chloe was very concerned that she was able to say goodbye, so they made a point to stop by for her.  It was so sweet.  And they even brought their hedgehog to show her!  It’s very cool.  I took a picture of it, but it’s on my camera still so I’ll try and upload it tomorrow.

Friday we went up to St. Cloud where I was able to spend the afternoon helping Shannon after her surgery–and the kids got to hang out with Grandma Patsy and Logan and Allison. So we all had fun!  I’m amazed at what they can do these days (surgery wise) with such small incisions.

In other random news:  Kumi and Alisa took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo today.  They had such a great time and Chloe even touched some of the fish (or was it a small shark?)  Either way, that’s a big deal to her.  I wasn’t sure how scared she would be of everything but it sounds like it went great.  And Josiah eventually fell asleep in his stroller too, so he woke up happy as a lark.

Oh, and I have one more post about the Texas trip and I promise that will be my last one.  🙂  Later this week I’ll put it up.

4 kids 4 a day!

June 8, 2012 / / 2 Comments

4 kids 4 a day!

Today Scott and Shannon came down to the cities to help a friend move and then celebrate their anniversary.  They have been married for 10 years now–can I hear a big “whoo hoo!” from the crowd?  Yeah!  🙂 Oh, and while we’re hooting and hollering, I would like to also wish my Mom & Dad a happy (late) Anniversary.  They celebrated 36 years this past Tuesday.  36 years!  Isn’t that AWESOME?!?!   😀

So, while Scott & Shannon were in town I volunteered to watch their 2 kiddos.  I admit I was a bit nervous, having never watched their kids before and never having 2 babies under a year (that part made me extra nervous)…  But I’m pleased to say that everything went smashingly well.  The Chilson kids didn’t even have any major melt-downs, which I completely expected, being a a new house.  Everyone was in chipper and agreeable spirits.  We had a nice lunch, watched our very first episode of Barney and friends, they all took a nice afternoon nap (at the same time even!), we played in the pool/sprinkler, and played with trains.  It was a bit crazy when they all woke up from their nap at the same time, but once we got that under control it was fine.  I even managed to take some pictures!

Watching Barney!

Chloe & Xavi had such a great time playing

The boys played a piano duet... it was LOUD

Kisses for Bailey (quick before Josiah gets there and clobbers her!)

There was a very short but HEAVY rain so they watched (and got a little wet, hehe)

Baby Bailey

Sprinkler fun

Bailey hung out under the umbrella while the other kids played in the water

My Dear Friend Shannon.

January 19, 2012 / / 1 Comment

A blast from the past!

Shannon could use your prayers.

She threw her back out (I’m not sure if that’s the technical way of saying it, but that’s how I’m going to say it) just after New Years Day.  After going to the doctor and trying multiple visits to the chiropractor and acupuncturist (and I’m not sure what else) without any relief, they finally scheduled an MRI.  The results showed not just one, but TWO disks bulged and one sitting right on a nerve.  She’s in a lot of pain.

The first available appointment date to see the surgeon wasn’t until the end of January.  I can only imagine it feels like an ETERNITY, especially living in pain; and that wasn’t even the surgery appointment.  That was just the appointment to see if she would need to have surgery.   Which meant it would be longer than 2  more weeks for sure…

But I just found out that she was able to get her appointment bumped up (Hallelujah!) and was able to go in yesterday morning.    She has a surgery scheduled, a Partial Discectomy, for next Wednesday.

So, if you have a moment, would you say a prayer for her.  Her right leg has stabbing pain and she’s lost feeling in her foot.  And I’m sure it goes without saying, but she’s feeling a little blue.  Life is still crazy for them getting used to a newborn and Xavi is an active 1.5 year old.

Our God is a powerful and loving God.  I know he can give us unimaginable things:  like joy in our pain and healing when we didn’t expect it.

I love you Shannon–I’ll be praying.  🙂

And now for more details

December 2, 2011 / / 0 Comments

As you could tell by my post on Wednesday, Shannon finally had her baby girl!  She made it to 35 weeks–which is AMAZING since she had been on bed rest for the past 6.5 weeks!  They actually didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, so it was a delight to find out.  I’m beyond thrilled that they now have a girl since I’ve loved having a girl so much.  Now we can share girly stories together.  🙂

Bailey Joy was born in the wee hours of the morning, making her birthday in November and not December which I found humorous since we had joked about not wanting to have the baby share her birth month with Christmas and now she doesn’t have to!  She was 5 pounds, 13 ounces and 17 inches long–just a tiny thing, but healthy and doing great.

I’m planning to go up and see them on Sunday afternoon (Wednesday’s picture was thanks to Angie Chilson).   It will be weird to hold such a tiny baby–especially with my chunk of a baby, JD!  🙂

In other news…

Chloe and I went Christmas shopping this morning.  We had a bunch of errands to run and she did really well except that I could tell she was getting progressively slower at each store.  I finally let her ride in a cart in the last store to give her little legs a rest.

I’m starting to gear up for my studio recitals on the 18th.  The cakes have been ordered, everyone has their songs picked and I’m working on getting the programs started so I’m not working on them last minute.  Now I need to start working on making Christmas candy this weekend!   It’s a big task, but I enjoy doing it.  This year I don’t have a full weekend to devote to making candy so I’ll have to break it into smaller chunks of time and hopefully I’ll still be able to get everything done without feeling frantic.

We just found out that the other piano player at church is moving away at the end of this month.  Her husband was offered a job in Michigan, so that’s that.  I’m sad to see them go.  I’m also stressed about what that’s going to mean for me playing… will I need to step in and play every week?  And then what about when contest season rolls around?  I normally take a few weeks off to keep my sanity, but perhaps I won’t be able to do that this year… yikes!  I guess we’ll just have to see.  Maybe someone will emerge from the woodwork and volunteer to play.  🙂

Going to visit Shannon

November 4, 2011 / / 1 Comment

I’m heading to St. Cloud tomorrow to spend the afternoon with Shannon and help out with Xavi.  She is still on bed rest–can you believe it’s already been 26 days!?!   She’s officially 31.5 weeks along (if I remember correctly) and they hope she’ll make it to 36 weeks… so just a few more weeks to go.  I’m excited to see how much bigger her belly has grown since the last time I saw her.  🙂

In other news I went to see the Vintage Porch this morning–which is a house that my family is renting for New Year’s weekend when we all get together.  It’s sooooo cool.  I’m so excited.  (Oh, and if my family is reading this I wrote more about the house on our Christmas website so check there for more info.)  It’s going to be wonderful to be able to hang out in a larger house so we can all be together and not be tripping over each other like we would be here.  It makes me extra excited for Christmas to come!

I had a meeting in St. Paul this morning to help assign judges for the MMTA piano contest.  I was reminded how much I hate driving into the cities, and yet how unbelievably grateful I am to have a navigation application on my phone (which was a great help me when I got lost due to so much construction and detours…)  Tim was able to stay home with the kids this morning since his schedule is starting to wind down.  Then when I got home from my meeting he went to work for the afternoon.  He said he’s probably down to a week or less of work.  I can’t believe we’re already to his off season–this fall has just whizzed by!  I guess life with an infant will make things a blur…

Speaking of infant–he’ll be turning 4 months in November and do you know what that means?  He gets to start trying a few “solid” foods!  Not that he needs help growing more by any means, but it will be a fun new chapter in his life.  🙂  That also means it’s just about time to dig out and clean off our high chair for round two in the Friesen household!

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