Here's to You Grandma and Grandpa!

My Grandparents have always been there for their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. They are getting older...they cannot physically "be there" even though they desire it. That is why I wanted to visit them. My folks and my family live the closest to them right now (only 2 hours away). I guess that makes us the lucky ones. Making the drive, visiting and going back home is easy to do in one day(when you are not dealing with bad winter weather). Here is a picture from our last visit with them!

Christmas time is special for us for three reasons (1) Celebrating Christmas as the time of Jesus's birth, (2) My daughter was born on the 23rd of December and (3) Grandma and Grandpa's wedding anniversary; it is the 26th of December. My family wanted to visit with my Grandparents because they just celebrated their 67th year of marriage. Are you wondering if I typed that correctly? Yes, 67 years. Amazing. Their secret? Their faith, their patience, their humor and their love. What great role models!

Here's to you Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks for being such good role models! Thanks for being you! We love you!

Merry Christmas, Santa and family

One of the hardest thing about the holidays is all the food...cookies...cookies and more cookies. The kids (and I) love to decorate cut-out cookies. Here are some pictures of our fun we had and our final products! Picture 1: getting all the supplies ready:


















The kids doing their thing...

















The final products...yum yum yum.















Beside the yearly fun of cookies...the kids make all types of creations as school. This year our son made gingerbread houses minus the gingerbread. They use graham crackers, frosting and all types of food related items for decorating.















The Piepers did their traditional Christmas eve activities...
We had supper at my parents' home. After that, we opened gifts and then headed off to church for Christmas eve service. Every year we take a family picture in front of the tree. This is our 2008 photo!

We had a wonderful Christmas day. All our purchases were done with cash this year...a first. We've been dealing with some debt issues so with careful planning, cutting on other household spending/bills and purchasing items at a big discount, the kids were able to received some of the things they really wanted.

Santa brought our daughter some Kohler Blue Bombers clothing, an iPod, an iPod docking station/alarm clock and a few small items in her stocking. The rest of the items were from family. She loves everything! She is an appreciative receiver of gifts - so many smiles - so thankful - so gracious. I believe the fact that she knows the truth about Santa and that mom and dad bought everything might help.



Santa brought our son a new bike, a race track, a robot with remote control and a few small items in his stocking. The rest of the items were from family. Our son started off the morning as a gift snob (really pissed off the hubby and me). He acted like he hated the bike and couldn't care less about the track. All he liked was the robot. After about 3 hours, he was exited about the track and bike. I just don't know about that boy. We were about to strangle him.


We thought it was funny that each of us received some kind of footwear for Christmas this year. We thought it would be cute to take a picture!

My have things changed!

I've been busy - aren't we all?

I've also been playing in a new place when I have free time - Face book. If you've missed me posting anything recently, I've been posting them there instead of here.

I read back at my previous entries...sorry for being such a bummer. I was bummed when school started (now my adrenaline never stops) and I'm always on the go, but I like it! I was really really bummed after the election, partly because Obama won, but mostly because I watched my husband work so hard and put himself out there like that and lost. I feel better. Alex may run again. We recently learned that VanAkkren put his hat in the ring to run for Mayor of Sheboygan. Should he win that race, the assembly seat opens up again and Alex could run for that position again. He is not sure if he wants to do that again - it really drained our family's energy and it really hurt us to receive the types of letters and phone calls we got last time. The things said to us were lies - yet people feel the need to propagate them.

So, as I said, things HAVE changed...my attitude, my car I drive, my size of my clothes and my hair. Even the kids are looking different. Here is a picture of me with the kids taken just today. Take a good look...



Did you figure it out? Allison had about 8 inches of hair cut off. In addition, she got her ears pierced (for her birthday...for the third time). Okay, when she turned 7, we took her to get her ears pierced for her birthday. Within a few weeks the dog jumped up on her and knocked it out. We tried to put it back in but the hole already closed in those few minutes. Try number two happened when she turned 8. This time the earrings lasted until March but then when she was allowed to change to new earrings, the holes got so infected so fast that we had to take the earrings out and let the holes close. The third time is going to be the charm. If you look at Christian, he even got his hair cut...no more scruffy hair. It's short and styled.

I want to point out and show off my hair...still red (love the color) but I wear it shorter. I have gotten so many compliments from friends, co-workers and students as to how fun and funky my new do is.

Next, my size...I started a new online food journal on July 28th this summer. I document what I eat (foods, portions, everything). It is quite an eye-opener seeing how much one can eat in a day, especially snacking. I used the site's food calculator to determine how many calories I should be taking in if I want to safely lose weight. I then saw my doctor and told him about the site and he said that everything that I was doing was safe and should proceed. However, I not only changed my diet, but continued to work out three days a week. Currently, I spin Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 5 am. It may seem early, but I enjoy it. There are a great group of women that I work out with! I am now down 21 pounds! I was wearing size 14 shorts and large shirts and now I have size 10 pants and jeans and medium for tops. I am more than halfway to my goal. I want to have a BMI that is not in the obese range - for my age and height, that puts me at 125 pounds. I only have 15 more pounds to go (okay - do the math now and figure out where I started). I realized how good I was doing when I was able to put on a dress that I haven't worn since the gift opening after Alex and I were married.



As for my car...We sold the Audi A6. It was a sad day (mainly for the hubby). It was a sexy car. It served us well. My hubby met a great group of people and became friends with them because of this car. We needed to sell it because it was going to take too much money to repair the transmission. We now purchased a Taurus X. I actually like this car. It is not something I'd turn my head at as it goes past me on the road (our Audi made heads turn). It does have seating for 6. It is better for a family, our family. Financially it is a better fit because the car payment for this car is $80 less per month than what we were paying for the Audi.



My attitude has changed. I don't know how to put into words how it is different, but I generally feel different and I exude a different attitude. I can tell from my interactions with others around me. I am feeling fulfilled with what I am doing at work. I am feeling connections with my students in the midst of teaching them about the periodic table (really, how much do you remember or care about the periodic table? My students are doing a phenomenal job of learning about it!). I am loving my career. I am looking forward to Christmas break, but not because it is a break from school, but because it is more time with my family celebrating a truly joyous time!