Northern WI State Fair 2009

I thought I would get back on the family blog since its been like forever. The Olson's have been really busy with lots of different things. I tend to put some stuff off and keep up with the most important stuff that is happening at the moment. Like our girls playing ball, me taking pictures of some really fun people, Dave coaching, or just being with family. It's summer what can I say.
This year I got to go with the girls to the fair. Normally, it is a "dad-thing", but since Autumn has no fear and wants to ride on as many rides as she can and Ambrea is a little more hesitant I was asked to go so Ambrea would have someone to sit on the sidelines with. Truthfully, I didn't mind at all. It was hot and I tried to be a good sport, but lost momentum at about 4:00 p.m. and we left at 4:30. I am not sure if I will get asked to go next year or not. Time will tell! We did meet up with some friends though and Kaylee and Autumn got to ride some of the rides together for some time. Addison wanted to ride some too so the bigger kids rode a few of the smaller rides to humor her.

First Turkey...

A brief summary of Dave's turkey hunting experience this past week. Starting on Wed. Dave had a Jake come in and decided that he was going to pass him up for something bigger and was out battled by the dominant hen. Thurs. morning the Tom had landed behind him and strutted around for a bit and ran off with the dominant hen. That night Dave and Autumn went out and watched two young deer play and stomp at the decoys and had one hen come up behind them. Autumn was super excited to witness this event and, in fact, could not sleep that night. Fri. morning the dominant hen was at it again and Dave passed up that Jake and kept calling right along with the hen and when she would stop Dave would start again and low and behold led by a Jake the Tom was ten yards behind and as you can see Tom walked into the shooting lane - end of story!!!! I can safely say Dave is hooked and already thinking about next year and how he can get me out there.

loving her = loving a piece of life

this is me holding on to just a piece of my life. this is me not wanting her to get any older. this is me and her spending our days together. this is me wanting only the best for her. this is me loving her to the moon and back. this is me being a mom for nine years. this is me not wanting to let go. this is me giving her strength to go for her dreams. this is me laughing on the inside. this is me crying when she cries. this is me amazed by her. this is me happy.....
this is not the best picture taken, but it is with her and that's all that matters!!

Kalahari? We're there!!

So mid-winter break was upon us last week and we took the kids to the Kalahari. We had a blast. We did just about everything the girls wanted us to do. Ambrea was dead set that she was going to make it up the rock wall. She had five rocks to go and they were out of her reach, but wow! Autumn wanted me to go on the rope walk high above the crowd (literally). I did it - did not enjoy it cuz once you are up there and started you must finish. Yeah - Autumn zoomed through it and was playing games again with her dad before I was even done. She then proceeds to ask me what the heck took so long -thanks! We did water slides I recommend the water roller coaster or as my girls referred to it as the "big blue one." At first, Ambrea went down with her dad and was done doing that the moment she stepped out of the water. She went on the other slides that one just wasn't her cup of tea. Autumn, on the other hand, was bound and determined to get her sister on it again. With a little coaxing - okay a lot of coaxing she caved and as long as she sat in the back of the tube all was well. They went down it 3 times in a row. Autumn's mission to go as many times as she could, full board, don't rest. Dave - well he just wanted his pic taken with the ape. So of course, we had to make sure we got that pic. I actually laugh when I look at it - that's all that matters. We played lots of games and the girls did a couple rounds of Lazar tag. They loved every minute of their time playing and by Sunday afternoon they were ready to go back to school (or maybe we were glad)

Me and my girls.....

Just mom and the girls waiting around and we thought what the heck we could take a pic. Dad was talking with someone else at the time (what's new) :)

Bloomer Jump offs....

Oh I am behind on some blogging items! On 1/31/09 we traveled down the road to the Bloomer Jump offs. Autumn had done a great job to get there and then didn't quite make it past the preliminaries to finals. But we commended her for doing a great job and she learned that jumping in front of a full crowd, in front of three counters and two back ups, on a gym floor all by herself was just a little intimidating. We took them up to Chetek afterwards and stopped at Gilligans for lunch. She was better after she ate something. We just thought it was a good experience and no matter what - she made it there. Autumn is warming up in the above-pic apparently I did a movie of her jumping and not one single shot of her actually jumping.

Shed hunting.....

Dave and I went out shed hunting on Valentine's day (yes, I know I am behind with my posting). We had not seen anything until we came around to the food plot (the same food plot I posted about awhile ago) and all of a sudden I hear Dave say, "YES!" It reminded me of a little kid getting a great toy and when I looked over he had just picked up a rack from a 10 pt buck. See, it is very unusual to come upon a "set" of these. You will normally get one side, but today was his lucky day.

Far from Perfection....

Perfection..... Who invented this game anyway? Certainly does not describe our household. Anyways, Autumn asked her dad to play Monday night as he was getting ready to leave for another week of working out of town. She has been playing lots of games lately from her DS to the Wii to board games, to Perfection. She just loves it when we all get to play something together. By the way, it hurts when you step on one of the pieces-lol. Ambrea's face cracks me up as she was doing an impression of "it's gonna get'cha" while it was Autumn's turn to try and distract her.

The Jump Offs....

Tonight we have jumped our little hearts out, and the results are (drum roll please......) We are going to Bloomer!!! That's right, Autumn got first place with 42 jumps and a jump off with another gal so she officially jumped, 42, 25, 33, 39 to beat out her class mate. I seriously thought she got second, but she took it with the 39 mark. Not to bad, as last year she got third. So it is off to Bloomer on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009 for Autumn. Good luck girl. As for her sister- she didn't do to shabby herself. She took second place with a jump score of 33 and 26. She had taken first place last year, but was still happy to take home a trophy. She is holding the trophy high above her head, but I had to crop some people out of the pic so her trophy went with the cropping -sorry. The moment we got home we called daddy to tell him and he was super excited to be able to have another chance at seeing one of them jump. I do have to say that when its your child up there jumping your heart skips a beat and you pray for the best. They both made us proud. WAY TO GO GIRLS.... I had some really great pics of the girls with their friends, but because I forgot to ask if I could post them I can't share. I wish I could because they were so cute.

Silly Girls

Okay these girls are just a little wrapped up in silliness. They decided while American Idol was on that they too could look just as ridiculous as some of the contestants. Since it was a commerical, they dashed in the bathroom and returned as the "BO GO" girls. Not sure where the name came from, but they must have drank some silly juice as they couldn't even talk as they were laughing so hard.

They were to be getting ready for bed and then again why would they want to do that since daddy is gone this week and mom is such a softy for a good laugh. They then proceeded to try and sing for me. I say, I think I need to move as neither of them can carry a tune. They just giggled and I insisted on a picture of the two of them and their head wraps. Silly girls for sure!!

Sledding with Dad....

I had a girls weekend out and my girls stayed home with their dad. Apparently, they only had sledding on their minds as they had went everyday and spent a couple hours of up and down the hills. They rammed hard and seemed to be pretty popular with their big tube (and they shared it with the other kids sledding) as it went the fastest and furthest. Except there was a catch- they had to bail from the tube when they got to the end of the run. The park had not pulled the Christmas display out yet and since the tube picks up speed the more times you go down, lets just say -they could take the displays out themselves. There was only one incident . Ambrea decided not to bail and met the tree personally. She was okay and only came out of it with a bruise on her hip. She learned and was much better at bailing. I am glad the girls had a great time and I am sure that theywill be asking to go again.

Lost Tooth....

I cleared off some pictures off of our camera and came across a huge moment. Ambrea's lost tooth. Boy had she been waiting for this moment. Her sister has lost a few by now and was worried that she would never lose a tooth. Needless to say, she hurried up and put that tooth in a baggie, stuck it under her pillow. When I had tucked her in that night I felt under that pillow to make sure that it was still there and by george it was. When she woke up that morning she came into our room with that baggie in hand and a $1.00. She was happy as a lark and put that $1 in her bank. Since October she has lost one more tooth. It was literally loose for one day and when I got home from taking her sister to piano she was greeting me at the door with it. No patience at all with this girl.

Tab's Photo Blog

If you haven't seen it - check it out. What you say? My photo blog! See the link posted at the left. Hit it - its just the beginning.

I said in an earlier post, months ago that I would be pursuing an interest I have had for a long time. Well its just time to dig in deeper. I will be featuring photos that I have taken for my own personal growth and I hope to be taking pictures for others. It will be kept separate from my family blog as I still need to keep up with the family things. With photo "sessions" it will allow me to practice and gain that confidence I am looking for. I am soooo stepping out of my comfort zone, but that is one of my 2009 resolutions - get out of your shell. It's time. I hope that you will be willing to work with me if I call you or for that matter you can contact me. I would love to get going and who knows maybe I can sneak out some great photos for you. Oh! don't forget to post comments on something you see - whether you like it or not. I do need feedback to know what people are liking and what they are not. I am working on candid photos and using natural lighting. None of this studio stuff please. I have enough of those photos and paid way to much for something that turned into a nightmare just to get there. I believe we are more relaxed in our natural surroundings and the smiles are much more appealing.

Christmas Eve...

Every year we have Dave's dad over for dinner and then the rest of his family comes over to share some Christmas cheer with us. We were a little late in bringing out the cameras, but did get my nieces and sister-in-law. We played the game Catch Phrase for almost 2 1/2 hours. Its addicting and full of laughs. Brittany the tall one lives in Minnesota and we don't get a chance to see her very much - she is extremely beautiful and Alyssa the blondie is sweet and cute. We love them both. I am hoping to include them in my photo blog soon. So watch for them as they have agreed to be my practice. We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas.

A Classic Christmas Story...

At school the girls had a book exchange. They each were to purchase a book and in their classes they were to play a game and then they would have a different book to go home with. Autumn got her friends book (imagine that). She said she knew which one it was and knew it would be good so why not pick that one? Ambrea on the other hand said we switched around so much I couldn't keep track. Anyways, when she pulled out Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I instantly had a flash back of when I was a kid and for some reason I remembered that I too had gotten this book when I was either in Kindergarten or 1st grade from a little friend. I loved that book and I know I must have asked my parents to read it over and over. When I read it last night to the girls I enjoyed it even more. They followed along and loved the pictures and to tell you the truth if they would have asked me to read it again - I would have.

Christmas Cut-out Cookies....

Thank goodness for daddy and thinking about making cut out cookies with the girls. I am not one to make cookies and I am not sure why. Maybe its the fact that anything that I make lately - burns!! Anyway, Dave thought it would be fun to make cut outs this past Sunday at about 5 p.m. I said I think to save some time you should just buy the pre-made cookie dough (I am always looking for a way to save some time and mess for that matter). Autumn and daddy set out to the grocery store and returned with no frosting. So they got the cookies all cut out - Autumn helped periodically, but Ambrea hung in there the most. I, on the other hand, was blogging the last blog entry. The next day I ran out and got the frosting and had it all ready for them when they got home. Ambrea did a great job and was even creative with the sprinkles. Daddy even made her a cookie in the shape of an "A" for being such a great helper. The cookies tasted great!!!!

An attempt.....

I was thinking this year the girls would be up for some fun wrapped up in lights. Or should I say mom thought it would be fun to wrap her girls up in lights. I was taking pictures and listening to them tell each other how they should be posing. At one point, Ambrea said "Autumn you always think your the cuter one." It was quickly answered with a " I do not - I just like to over pose my self." It was fun and challenging to get them to stay wrapped or hold the lights so they didn't look like the lights were growing out of their bodies. Then it came to a point where the "lights are just to hot-mom", "when are we going to be done," and "didn't dad just say it was time to go to Wal-Mart?" Needless to say the attempt at our own personal touch to this years Christmas card was a bust. We choose a nice pic of the girls taken by our dear friend - Kristen. Thank goodness for those pictures. So no sneak peeks here just a fun one that I played around with on my Adobe photoshop. There are more and I may put them in slide form. They are nothing special just a 1/2 hour of their time and me trying to get them to cooperate for what its worth.

Drawings Ambrea Style....

Do you ever just wonder what goes through a little ones mind
when they are drawing pictures? I find pictures around the house
all the time and most of them are intended for me to enjoy. I love
picking up a pile of papers and finding a sketch from Ambrea that involves
my hair all curly - cuz it is! Not so sure why I have arms in
different positions and hers are perfect. (hmmmmm?) At least I am thin in her world (lol!) I also love how at this stage of the game its all about sounding out the words - literally! Did you catch the word "famley"? or the "p.s. I love you" (the p.s. is covered up) where did she pick up the "p.s." part? She makes me smile everyday with her silly little quirks and her cute little drawings. Keep them coming!!!

Another year older.....

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Yes, another year older. Could it be that these will be the better years of my life. I hope it to be, but I also don't want to lose sight of what I have learned along the way to get to where I am at now. I have a great family that makes my birthday mean even more. My girls went out tonight with their dad to pick out a present for me. Ambrea got me the Willow Tree 'Angel of Miracles'- Trusting in life's everyday miracles. My cup runneth over as I look at my girls and know that we are blessed. Autumn got me a new bow case for my bow as I was borrowing one from David. David also got me a Willow Tree 'Heart of Gold' Angel - You will always have my heart. If any of you know me I started to cry. I am a sap I know, but sometimes its these kind of moments that remind you that you really are loved. My birthday is actually tomorrow, but they just couldn't wait to give me their presents. They also got me a cake (the birthday cake had a Bratz ring on it!!) and some great cards. Yes- my cake is sitting on the bow case as I wanted all my little treasures to be in the picture. I love all my presents.

The season is upon us....

It begins... the hustle and bustle of the season. Along with all of that comes the school projects. The girls came home with a "family project" instruction sheet and a huge green piece of paper. We were asked to make a tree that represents your family, traditions, or artistic ability, etc.. You could cut the paper any way you wanted and use whatever you wanted, be creative! Well we gave this some thought and to the Dollar Store we went. Got a few things and realized that the styrofoam cone that we wanted was not there. Off to Michaels on Saturday a.m. with my girls and everyone in their brother out - Yeah! Mind you when we walked into the place you could not get to a check out, but this project was due on Monday we had to proceed. In the Styrofoam isle there is a bunch of things to choose from. My girls can come up with anything that involves hitting each other with something, to being in someones way, to "mom why are we here again?" NICE! But we found what we came for and I wanted out of that place. Got in the longest isle ever then became smart and walked all the way to the back of the store -literally as every isle was full of chaos (don't stores have a max capacity? - cuz I think Michaels was at it) found a check out that I think someone else should have gone before me - but I butted in and put my stuff on the counter - Had to write a check out so it gave the girls time to ask for everything under the sun near the checkouts - hate that they put $1 items by the checkouts - Seriously, are you kidding me? We were out of there. Got home and let my finds sit on the counter thinking that someone would want to help mommy with this. OF COURSE NOT! Sunday morning I got up at 5 a.m. ran to get a paper (more like drove - I have no ambition) came back, drank my coffee, and started on the Family Tree. At about 7:30 a.m. they finally pitched in and by 7 p.m. the decorations were on the tree. Yes -it became an all day thing! The whole point is, we finished it with things that we love about Christmas and the above pic is the finished project. Got to love those school projects!