Picture

Hi everyone. This is Thomas and Anna's masterpiece. Hope you have a great week and will see you at Easter. Abby

dear blog,

i hope you are doing well. life has been pretty busy here. yesterday i got to really enjoy the wonderful weather... can you believe that it was 76 degrees in March! i started the day playing tennis with my roommate. i'm a little rusty, but my serve is getting better. maybe some day i could play against brother peter (hint, hint). after that, i headed to work. luckily, i got to spend most of work outside making hamburgers and vegetables on the grill. i had veggie burgers which were pretty good. then i cleaned my room.

today was also pretty busy. my roommate and i woke up early to go to north minneapolis where we are planning to live next year. it was a lot of fun looking at all of the different kinds of houses up there (and we even got to meet some of the "would be" neighbors). after that, i headed to my first day of classes. today i only had one class. it was a decent class. my goal for this last semester is to not procrastinate. that way, i can enjoy the great weather and not feel guilty. after class, i got to head over to my favorite brother's house. he and megan treated me to wonderful breadsticks and papa john's pizza. it was great to see both of them. it seems like megan is feeling better, so that is very good news. i still can't believe my older brother is having a kid... to think that the one who would always coerce my candy away from me and beat me up would one day bring a new life into this world! well, i know that he will be a great dad and i am glad that i finally get to be an uncle again.

i finished the day running around lake calhoun. it was such a beautiful night and i was feeling very good, so i ran nine miles. that's the longest i have run in a while, so i was pretty happy with myself. well, i gotta go. i hope all you bloggers are doing well, matt

Oh, good...

I really like Abby's new table, but must admit, I think I saw it enough times - like every day when I'd check this blog for the exciting information and news about my kids. So - thank you, Matt, for finally adding something new to look at (although bare chicken and somebody's rear end aren't exactly art!)

We had a great weekend - in fact, I even had a picture illustrating it to put in this blog, but now the camera needs new batteries so I can't post it. Oh well... but I got lots of things done around here and now feel much better organized (except didn't quite get my taxes completed, but I have a little time yet for that.)Your dad had a scout dinner in Elkton, SD, on Saturday night, and was surprised to get a nice award there - assistant scout master of the year for the district - a nice big plaque and certificate went with it...now he just needs a den to hang all his "significant things" in. He was really surprised, so that was fun.

Today it was back to work, and then I made dinner and took to Shannon Rhodes, who had just had surgery. That meant we got a good dinner here too - lasagne and warm bread (and a pie for them, but not for us). The bad news is that tomorrow I go to the dentist for a bit more work - I guess it'll be good when it's done, but it's not my favorite place to be. The appt's at 8, so I'll head to work when I'm done.

So - anyway, this is just meant to say hi to all of you! Hope you each have a very very good week ahead! Love you, Mom

cambridge camping

dear blog,
i just got back from camping up in cambridge with my two roommates derwin and loyal. it was a lot of fun. we set up camp on a big hill overlooking an old river bed which was full of water. it was beautiful weather so we decided to go tromping around water and tried to make it to the rum river. unfortunately, we had to turn back due to very deep water (derwin fell all the way into the water and got really wet). we then built a fire to warm up all of our clothes, collected tons of firewood, and made some benches for our site. after that, we decided to make a spit to grill our whole chicken. it took a lot longer than expected and was still raw when we tried to eat it (most of it was done, but the inside wasn't... but at this time it was dark and we didn't bring flashlights so it was hard to tell what was done and what wasn't). i have a confession to make: i ate some of the chicken even though i wasn't supposed to (in my defense, all we had to eat that was vegetarian was carrots and bread). afterwards we headed to bed and listened to the rain on the tent. it rained all night, but we stayed relatively warm and dry considering.

tonight we had house church. it was nice. one of our neighbors came over with one of his new tenants who is from slovakia and is getting his doctorate in economics at the u of m. it was great talking to him. school starts for me this week and i have classes on tuesday and thursdays. i am not looking forward to getting back into school, but i only have one semester left. on tuesday i am getting together with my brother and sister-in-law. did you know that they are expecting a baby? that is quite exciting. maybe i will bring over some yummy vegetables for them.

can you believe it... in two weeks it is already easter. i wonder who will be home for easter this year. i think i will be going down on saturday morning and staying until sunday afternoon. it should be a great time.

well blog, its getting late. i must go because i have to wake up early so i can play tennis with my roommate at 9 am and then go for a run. hope you are doing well. sincerely, matt

Bosma

Hi everyone! As you can see from moms post, out big news is that Anna is star of the week at school. She is so excited. She had to bring in about 10 pages she filled out about herself, along with her baby book, photos, and an outfit from when she was a baby. Tommow she is bringing in the poem grandma wrote for her. She is very excited. What I'm most excited about, though, is that we got our new table today. Actually out second new table- the first had a scratch and we had to exchange it. It is smaller than our last one so our kitchen seems bigger. That is about it. I hope you all have a great week. Abby
PS I have no idea how this became underlined!

Star of the Week

Twinkle, twinkle little star
Yes, I know just who you are...
This is your special week at school,
I'm not surprised, 'cause you're so cool!

Eyes of blue and long blond hair,
In your cheerleader outfit, you dressed with flair.
Nail polish, purple or pink?
And jewelry too, I certainly think.

Today your class got to learn about YOU,
What you like and what you do...
And you got to sit in a special chair,
And all week long you'll have special care.

So, Anna, have a super time,
And as this week's star, let your light shine!
And remember that you're our star too,
And - as always - we love you!

Anna - I hope you had a very wonderful day at school today, and had fun being the star! Did you get to show your pictures, and your baby outfit? I bet the other kids enjoyed seeing all you brought! Have a good, good week! Love you, Grandma

The word from Slayton...

We had such a fantastic time at our church retreat this last weekend. As part of it, three of the newer couples in church shared their life stories and how they came to where they are now, and it'a amazing and encouraging to hear how God works in people's lives. We also had some good devotional thoughts, great singing, very nice weather, good meals and an abundance of snacks (yes, Peter, I took the rice krispy bars you like, and also the caramel puff corn...). And we had an absolutely riotous time playing Catch Phrase until about 1 AM on Friday night...Peter, be sure to bring that to Lanesboro (and whenever we get together!) It was a great time of building relationships in the church and your dad and I both appreciated all of it.

Then, the icing on the cake for the weekend was having Abby and Thomas and Anna and Rex come for Saturday night and Sunday...Justin went kayaking, which seems kind of chilling in this weather, but a totally guy thing! Anna spent all of Sunday afternoon with the Seidschlag girls next door and loved having playmates --- Thomas kept busy reading (thanks to your books, Matt) --- Rex got a bath thanks to a little accident --- Abby and I got in one game of Scrabble (and I must note that I actually beat her, which doesn't happen often!)...so, all in all, we had a wonderful time with them here.

Tonight I had book club (Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald) and your dad is hearing a motivational speaker at the school (Will it motivate him? and for what?) The rest of the week will go quickly - kids club on Wednesday, and your dad plans to go to the Cities for Thursday and Friday... My priorities will be cleaning and decorating for Easter, and finishing taxes (Sarah and Matt, are you getting yours done?)...So that's all the news from here. Hope you all have a great week! Megan, especially hope you're feeling better. All of you, take care. Love, Mom

pizza

happy monday. this is sarah and matt reporting to the blog. hope everyone is doing well (especially megan).

not much is happening here. we are making pizzas... mmmmmmm! talk to ya'll later, matt and sarah.

Almost the weekend!

Well the weekend is almost here and Peter and I dont have any exciting plans. St. Patricks day is saturday so we might go out and have a green hamburger and fries. This week has been challenging for both Peter and I and we cant wait to relax. We both came down with aweful colds with a fever last weekend. Today is the first day we are feeling better. My mom made us homemade chicken noddle soup which helped a ton. The baby seems to be doing fine. I have gotten to the point where it is difficult to button my pants and I have a little bump that some of my coworkers are noticing. Personally, it just looks like I gained a lot of winter weight in my tummy area.

Well I hope everyone has a nice week. Hope to see you all soon!

Peter and Megan

Hi, people...

Hi, all of you. I don't know if you're feeling like me, but I just can't seem to function well this week, and I'm thinking it's the daylight savings thing. I can't get to bed early at night and am not really ready to sleep until about midnight, and then in the mornings I just can't wake up. I'm thinking my body didn't make the switch in time...in fact, I notice this computer didn't either...the time on the bottom of the screen says 5:34 and I know it's 6:34. Oh well, I have two clocks in the house I haven't figured out how to change either, plus the clock in Peter's old Grand Prix. The whole clock thing made me wonder why we have so many clocks in our house anyway...I guess half of them have sentimental value to me, and the other half are parts of appliance things...

We had a busy weekend, and are having a busy week too. We enjoyed dinner with Dennie and Cindy on Friday night, and I worked all day Saturday on taxes, but think I have them pretty much figured out. And Sunday we had a Kiwanis dinner so did a lot of visiting there. Last night I worked hard to get a purse finished for my friend Julie, whose birthday it was today...mission accomplished, I got it done and she was pleased. Now tonight your dad is giving a Scout presentation on abuse prevention, and tomorrow night we both work at kids club, and on Friday and Saturday we'll both be at a church retreat. We're really looking forward to that...it will be a great way to get to know some of the newer people in church, and should be relaxing too. It's an overnight thing at Shalom Hills Farm, which is a very inviting setting.


So that's what's happenin' here - or at least some of it. The temps have been in the 60's and I'm thinking Geo weather (but it's till in the garage...) Our snow isn't quite gone, but water is running like a river down the streets (and I'm glad I don't have boys playing outside in the mud anymore!)

Hope all's well for all of you...We'll talk along the way. Love you, Mom

Hi,
Just a quick note with some exciting news...today Megan and I had the first doctors visit and we heard the heart beat on the Doppler (not sure if this is how you spell it). It was going around 170-180 beats per minute. We could also hear Megan's when the doctor moved it around, but the babies was definitely distinctive. Anyways, that is the excitement from around here. I have to work this weekend and Megan is going to be recovering from a cold that she has developed. Talk Later
Peter and Megan
...sorry no cool pictures today...

Doggie tricks...

I heard that Rex knows a new trick, but I didn't hear what it is. Begging? Rolling over? Playing dead? Maybe Thomas can take a picture of him doing it and post it on the blog...I know he's a smart dog and I'd love to see what he does now!! And then...what about Toby? Can he compete? Any trick he can do and you can post??? Mom

dates

hope things are going well with all of you. i was quite amazed at dad's impressive artistic ability... who new? also, i was impressed with mom's digital posting of pictures. anyways, school is pretty busy right now with two big papers due next week. i just wanted to let you'all know that the weekend for the half marathon that i am running in duluth is June 16th (not the next weekend). i must have given mom the wrong date. i start running at 7am, but it would be fun to see any of you at the finish line. also, i am not quite sure when easter is this year, but what are all of your plans?

not much else is going on. i got a haircut at greatclips and i am trying to run every other morning (at 7... crazy). maybe sometime in the future i can take a picture of my hair so you can all see what a wonderful job Tanya did. talk to you later, matt

ps. dad- i talked to the others about camping before the marathon and they all said that that would be great. if you could make a reservation (or i could), we probably should do that pretty soon before everything fills up.

Is it art or is it a potato?

Help! Madman in Slayton insists on playing with his food!!

What is it???

Your dad bought this at the grocery store in February...just a coincidence that it's shaped like a heart, or is there more to it than we can fathom? What do YOU think?!

try again...

winter

Is this a miracle or what???!!! I don't mean the beautiful snow outside - although that's great...but I mean the fact that (I think) we're posting actual pictures on this blog??? What next!? Of course, we at first thought maybe by mistake we were loading all the pics out of the computer into the blog, but I guess it just takes a while with our dial up connection...so don't expect this too often. But it's nice to know it's possible...Mom and Dad

Snow here too!!

I wish I could do the picture thing for the blog, because it is absolutely so beautiful outside right now. We got 15-20 inches of new snow yesterday - and on top of what we already had, it's verrry deep out there. And it all looks so bright and clean (I have to say, prettier than on the streets of Minneapolis, Matt - I liked your pics, but Linden Avenue would be more photogenic!) The bad news, of course, is that Peter and Megan won't be coming due to the weather :>( So I surely hope that we can work out another time! It looks pretty calm here in town, but I guess visibility in the country is very poor due to blowing snow.

The other bad news related to the snow storm is that your dad's been eagerly waiting for the chance to compete with all the other guys on our block in using his snowblower...and wouldn't you know it, we finally get the big storm and his snowblower won't start! He was pretty perturbed! He tried new spark plugs and that didn't help, so I don't know what the next plan will be. Luckily for us, all our sidewalks and the alley were cleared by the other guys around here (boys do like their toys...)

Thomas and Anna, I liked all your pictures on the blog...and yes, Thomas, you should write in the blog again. Maybe you could given an explanation about the model you made (I already know about it, but I bet the others don't, and they're all scratching their heads, wondering about it!) And Anna, I liked seeing your cheetah again - but not as much as I liked seeing you with another tooth out! And you posed so nice in front of your fireplace...you must have been having your own fashion show!

I loved this snow day, and didn't go out of the house all day. No newspaper or mail, of course, but I got the house cleaned and that feels great! And I finished the book I was reading - it really captured me. It was "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. It's non-fiction about an innocent man on death row - Justin, you'd especially find it interesting with your legal background. (It actually is a little scary, and makes you wonder about our legal system at times...) Then tonight your dad and I decided on the "picnic pack" from Pizza Ranch for supper - it just seemed like such a perfect day for a picnic! So we had chicken, potato salad, and (my favorite) cactus bread...

Since Sarah doesn't write in the blog, I'll just update you a little on her. She finished her intensive therapy group today. I think she really appreciated this group and felt it was a benefit to her. She said the therapist talked with her today about ending her speech therapy. She's finding it hard to accept that, but I told her it's a mark of success that she's accomplished enough that she can move on. I know the therapists have all been such a huge support to her that it's hard to lose that connection. She'll go again yet on Monday for the post-testing after her intensive group - and I'm thinking she can still continue with speech therapy at the U of M if she desires (and pays for it herself).

A few dates --- Lanesboro is April 27 - 29. I think Sarah and Kojoe graduate May 14-15, and Matt graduates June 2-3. We're thinking of camping somewhere near the Cities for the weekend of Matt's graduation - anyone can join us. Also, we're planning to camp near Duluth the weekend of June 23rd as Matt's running in the Grandma's Marathon that Saturday - anyone want to come for that too? Just a few things as you think ahead...(kind of pleasant to think of camping, now that it's like the dead of winter outside again!)

OK, really late now and time for bed...Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Megan, hope you'll feel well enough to eat (and especially drink). And, Matt, hope you get your reading done! 'night, all.....Mom

snow in minneapolis

finally it snowed! great to read about your lives on the blog (and see your pictures). things are going pretty well here. just trying to get homework done and figure out next year's living arrangements for me. school was cancelled on thursday so that was very nice, but i still didn't get everything that i should have gotten done. hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekends, matt

more pics

Hi

Hi! We are snowed in. I'm pretty sure we are not getting any visitors this weekend. I was really looking forward to it. I was even going to clean- and everyone knows how much I hate that. The kids are getting bored. The first snow day was fun, but the second is getting monotonous. Anna and Tom took some pictures- I'll post them. We also did Anna's nails. Notice her missing bottom teeth in the picture. I'll also post a picture of the model Thomas made for school. It is his favorite scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When the door opens, all the candy turns to face the door. Can you guess what kind of candy it is?

Anna woke me up this morning and told me she was moving to Iowa because no one would play with her here. She had already packed three bags. What a tough life. That is all that is going on here.

Megan, that sucks about the morning sickness. Hopefully it won't last to much longer. If you ever need to complain, you can call me. I promise I'll be very sympathetic. I better go, though. It is quiet upstairs. That is never a good sign. (and that is very good parenting advice for Megan and Pete. Always be very scared if it gets quiet.) Abby

No More Snow

Well, I feel bad that Peter and I havent posted anything in awhile since our exciting news, so I am posting today. I am at work and its dead slow. We are all praying that work gets cancelled this afternoon and we can head home before rush hour starts. We are suppose to get a foot of snow by tonight...yuck.

As for me, I have been feeling pretty aweful again this week. Starting last sunday, I have had trouble keeping anything down including water. My doctor and the nurses were concerned that I was getting too dehydrated and might need to go to the ER to get an IV of fluids. Luckily, monday night I was feeing a little better and was able to keep a glass of water and mashed potatoes down. I missed work again on tuesday and that night was able to keep a mcdonalds vanilla malt down. YUM. I have been back to work since wednesday and I am feeling a lot better. I am only down 4 pounds since sunday, which is ok since I have a lot to spare.

Peter had been pretty busy at work. They have had a lot of people taking time off and have worked short for a few days. He is looking forward to stepping down some time this spring. He is also proving himself to be a good dad already. He rubs my back and tummy when I feel sick and he is willing to go get me anything my cravings are asking for.

Well thats it for us. Stay warm and safe these next few days!

Peter and Megan