A Smattering of Duehrings

When Nick hacks me off, I just send my boys over to take care of him…

Two weeks ago Roger, Julie, Elisa, John, and I drove to Hutchinson for my grampa’s 90 birthday celebration. There was an open house for him in the afternoon where we were able to see lots of family and friends. Happy Birthday, Grampa! I hope your day was special.

My mom, Uncle Jim, Aunt Liz with my grandparents

My brothers and sisters and grandparents…Roger, Susan, Elisa, June, Julie, and John

Molly no longer needs a high chair or a booster seat. Well, according to her, that is. She has decided that she is a big girl and wants to sit on a chair just like the big kids do. She completely flips out when forced to sit in her booster–she has won the battle and is very happy. She isn’t quite as tall as the table when sitting so it can get kind of messy.

On Saturday we went out for lunch with Damon’s dad to Jimmy’s Grotto. If you have ever called and had Damon answer the phone, “Jimmy’s Grotto” (which he has done alot), now you know where that came from. It is a little pizza place where you can get ponza rottas. I think I have had a ponza rotta every time I have made a trip to Wisconsin. They are really yummy.

We also stopped in for a nice visit with Damon’s cousin Micki and her daughter Amanda. We had lunch with them and then the kids had a blast in their very kid friendly basement.

It was a great trip. The kids were tired by the end of the week, but that is fine. They are sleeping really good for me since we have come home.

My laptop is fried and in the shop for like a month. Thankfully, it decided to die on me about a week before my 3 yr warranty ran out. The same exact thing happened with my last laptop and they gave me a brand new computer (the one I have now). This warranty thing has been working out pretty good for me so far.

There is always another computer to use at the Duehring home. Damon has gotten a desktop PC set up for me so I don’t have to go through computer withdrawal.

We got back Sunday night from Wisconsin. As usual, we got stuck behind 3 different accidents where we sat in our overheating van for two hours. At least it was cold this time. Damon cranked the heat and rolled down the windows and the temp stayed out of the red.

We had an awesome trip. Here is a little more about our trip:
We arrived in Wisconsin on Wed afternoon. That night Nick and Melissa took us to an awesome pizza buffet place that was kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese but like 100 times better. There was a full pizza, pasta, salad, and dessert bar. There were 6 different kinds of slushy machines down low where the kids could get their own. I think the kids had mostly slushies for dinner. There were rides, a climbing wall, bowling, video games, etc. The kids ended up turning in over 3,200 tickets for prizes. (they had a bit of help from their Uncle Nick) They were in complete shock at all the prizes they got to pick out. They are used to getting a few spinning tops and a package of Smarties at Chuck E. Cheese’s.

Thursday we woke up to snow. We bundled the kids up and let them go play. This was Molly’s first experience in the snow and she loved it. She lasted longer than all of the other kids outside.

Melissa had Olympic games all day for the kids on Thanksgiving. She had even made 1st-5th place ribbons for them when it was all over. Here they are playing pin the feather on the turkey.

The kids (and adults) had fun playing Wii. I didn’t even know this existed until then. It is fun stuff! It kept the oldest 3 busy most of the time we were at the house. Here is Maggie in a boxing match which she won by knocking the guy out. Go Maggie!

Poor Dink. Molly loves kitties a bit too much. She called the cat “doggie” the entire time we were there even though we told her a million times that it was a kitty. The cat wasn’t going to let Eli and Molly scare her off. She just stayed put and swatted at them when they got too rough.

Friday night we went out for a fish fry at one of Nick and Melissa’s favorite places to go on Friday nights.

On Saturday night Melissa (with the help of my 1,3, and 5 year old) highlighted my hair. The kids were so excited to get to help.