Paying homage to the Rotisserie Chicken

Today started out like any other day. Get up. Get dressed. Eat some cereal. Contemplate what to make for supper as you are getting the kids off to school. I pulled some salmon out of the freezer with every intention of grilling it this afternoon. But somehow, as the day wore on and my energy waned, I just didn't feel like firing up the old grill. Not to mention that the weather has taken a turn for the worse and its freaking cold outside. After I picked the kids up from school I ran into the grocery store to pick up some veggies to go with our salmon when I smelled it. Fresh Rotisserie Chicken. Dreams of grilled salmon were shoved to wayside as I drifted aimlessly on the savory fumes of rotisserie chicken. Before I knew it one was in my cart and I was happily paying the cashier for my ready-made supper. What a wonderful idea someone had. Cook peoples chicken for them. Then I can go home, put it on a plate with some veggies and pretend I'm Holly Home-maker who prepares fresh and healthy meals for her family! The best part is, one Rotisserie Chicken will serve the girls and I for three days! (Ryan is out of town for work.) Woot! Woot! I don't have to cook. So tonight, it's Rotisserie Chicken and veggies. Tomorrow, shredded Rotisserie Chicken in pasta salad. Saturday? I don't know, maybe Rotisserie Chicken enchiladas, or Rotisserie Chicken and wild rice soup. How about Rotisserie Chicken fried rice? Really, the possibilities are endless!

Hey Hey Hey

My lovely sister-in-law, Cheryl, is now designing free headers for Delightful Dots blog designs. Check them out at:

http://delightfuldotsheaders.blogspot.com/

Bright Lights/Big City

Check out some of the dresses from Carrington's Prom. Bright. I love it! We all wore black at my prom. This is much prettier.

Rainy Day Blues

The rain/snow that was forecast for yesterday arrived today. First thing out of Rylee's mouth when she woke up this morning? "I'm bored!" Oh no you don't. Don't even think of starting that crap! I told her she would go to summer school all summer if I heard that out of her mouth one more time! It's only a month till summer vacation and I'm not about to hear the "I'm bored" chorus! Anyway, after the initial boredom, she and Brooklyn got right to playing nicely together. Whew! That doesn't happen every day, but today was a great day. At one point the went out worm hunting and I watched from the back window as they trekked around the park with a bucket and an oar. (Not sure what the oar was for, but it sure was fun to watch.) Now they are happily watching a movie in the "hammocks" they made on the "tropical island" in Brooklyn's room. I love days like this. I hope they remember these times forever and ever. Days like this will sustain their relationship forever.

I called it!

I always said that Ryan's and my siblings wouldn't have kids until ours were old enough to babysit. And I was just about right on the money! Yesterday Brooklyn got her Red Cross Babysitters Certification. After an 8 hour day and a rigorous test, she is now fully qualified to change diapers, warm bottles, feed babies, make play dough, do arts and crafts. She is also an expert in basic first aide, handling emergencies, Heimlich maneuver, CPR and many, many other wonderful traits anyone would want in a babysitter. Actually, one week before this course she had her first real babysitting job. She babysat Kanin and Korbyn while Tina went to dinner with her parents. It was a breeze (mostly because both boys were already asleep!) Rylee was a little mad that Brooklyn got paid to watch sleeping kids. Her time will come! Anyway, if any of you are in need of quality child care for a night out, you will have to move to ND so that your darling niece can tend your children!

Flood Expeditions

Forecast for Saturday was snow. Yep...snow. So imagine my surprise when I woke up to this! It was a little chili, but otherwise beautiful. Brooklyn was at a Babysitter Certification and Rylee was in Bismark with friends. Ryan was working, so I called on my other half...Carla. We did a little roller blading and then decided to check out the Highway 9 bridge that has 5 feet of water over the top of it. It's just a few miles from town and sounded like something cool to see. Under all that water there is a bridge. The kids were funny. (Carla's and Anna's kids were with us.) They kept saying "I thought we were going to a bridge?" We kept telling them there is a bridge out there under water, but they didn't seem to get it. We'll have to take them back in July when the water is finally supposed to be down. There was still a little snow laying around and the kids were in shorts and flip flops, so we thought we needed a snow picture. After Number 9 bridge, we went and drug Angela off her porch and made her go to Sykeston Park with us.

The bridge at Sykeston Park is blocked off because less than a week ago, it was under water.

Rollerblading Bliss

Spring has finally sprung and that means it's time to break out the Roller Blades! Carla and I went 9 miles the other day. I didn't have my camera, but I did have my phone and tried to get some pictures of the gorgeous scenery. We like to take off on Jackson Highway, west of town, and head into the country where there's not a lot of traffic to run us over if we forget how to use our brakes. Highlights of the ride were a deer crossing the road in front of us, and the weather being warm enough to take off our sweat shirts! Woo Hoo for Spring!

Spring Concert

Well, Thursday was the Spring Concert at school. The girls love an excuse to get dressed up and I love an excuse to do their hair. They don't let me do it very often any more. And even when I do get a chance, I have very strict guidelines I have to follow. Gone are the days when I get to do what I want with my cute little girls. They now have opinions of their own. And apparently, I'm not up on the current fashions. Ryan and I get a kick out of Rylee at the concert. She barely moves her mouth and tries her best not to crack a smile!
Brooklyn, on the other hand, loves to sing and loves a crowd. The walls of the school are filled with an Art Exhibit on concert day. I took pictures of Brooklyn and Rylee's contributions to the exhibit. The first two are Brooklyns pictures. She drew Rusty and herself.
The last two are Rylee's pictures. She drew a duck and a giraffe.

Last of the Kaylee Pictures

Kaylee's been gone more than a week, but I'm just getting around to the last of the pictures.

Dance Free

I had all kinds of productive planned for my first week dance free. Clean out my office that looks like it didn't survive World War III. Clean the garage. Rake the lawn. Pick up dog poop! Clean out some closets. Paint the bathroom. Etc. What have I done on my first 2 dance free evenings? Well, the kids and I went on an 8 mile bike ride after school on Monday. Rode threw puddles deeper than our bike tires. (It's a good way to feel young again.) Explored all the flooded areas. Good times. Then I went for a long walk with Anna. Enjoying the sunshine. Went home and crashed. Tuesday? More of the same. Finished a book. Taught a boot camp class. Broke out the Rollerblades. I'm not sure the cleaning will ever get done...but I feel good! Maybe I'll get to some yard work today, but then again...It's supposed to hit 70 degree's. Why waste weather like than on yard work?

Happy Birthday Grandma Weezie!

Things I think of when I think about Grandma Weezie:
* Snowmobiling
* Swimming at Fairmont Hot Springs in Butte, MT
* Purple Shampoo
* Mount Rushmore Hotel and Waterslide
* Telling stories on the snake river
* Pictures...lots of pictures! That obsession has been passed on!
* Cowboy Hot Tub
* Sewing and stuffing our own stuffed animals
* Music boxes
* Trips to Enis, MT
* Plays at the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone.
* Swimming in the Firehole River
* Fly fishing
* Licking the beaters while she baked a cake or cookies
* Watching My Fair Lady, Little Rascals, Shirley Temple and Fiddler on the Roof
* Playing Tripoly
* Eating too much Easter Candy at Lake Powell!
* Playing Yahtzee
* Campfires
* Good cooking! And Many Many Many more wonderful things. I love you Grandma Weezie!

Adoption Day

I wish I could be there. I love you Andrew, and I love you Isaiah Daniel Manzanares Kimball!!!

A great end to a great season!

Fargo United We Dance Competition was yesterday.
First place in Middle Kix 4A division goes to......
CARRINGTON!!!
Way to go girls. You were amazing.
Check out those kicks!

So many pictures...So little time!

Last night was my big Spring Show for dance. 19 dances taught by Lauren and I were performed for an audience of over 300. I don't have time to display all the pictures right now (have to go take pictures at Prom and get ready for competition tomorrow), but I have some requests from a few family members and some friends to get a couple pictures up here. So, more pictures later. Here's a few to start.

OK, so that still ended up being a lot of pictures. There are literally HUNDREDS more! I put my mom in charge of taking pictures and I get my picture taking obsession from her. I'll post a slide shoe later.

Happy Birthday Grandma Kimball

Happy Birthday to the wisest, most loving woman I know. Grandma, I hope you know how much you mean to me. You have always set an example of how a lady should act. I love you more than I can say.
Love - Nicole

Local Flooding

One of my dancers was up all night last night sand bagging at her house. Check out these pictures of her yard and all roads leading to her house.
And Mom and I drove out on Jackson HWY yesterday and came to this: And as I type...it's raining!

More fun with Kaylee

Kaylee loves her cousins Bwookie and Wywee. And Brookie and Rylee love to show off their baby cousin, the princess. Here's a little of the water we have around town. This is normally a dry ditch. Full of water right now. Rylee told Kaylee she wanted to walk to the ditch and Kaylee says "Wywee...don't say that word!" Apparently she's having a hard time distinguishing ditch from another word that sounds very similar! My monkey girl and my wet back yard. We are lucky. Many of my friends have sand bags surrounding their yards. Kaylee's special spot. The girls filed the laundry basket with pillow's and blankets for Kaylee to watch a movie in. Last night Kaylee wanted to sleep with her cousins, so they all piled into Brookie's bed. At 6:30 I got up to move Kaylee down to the guest room with Grandma so that she could continue sleeping while the girls got ready for school. When I went into Brooklyn's room, I couldn't see Kaylee. I checked Rylee's room, the couch, the floor...no Kaylee. I went downstairs and checked Grandma's bed...no Kaylee. By this time I'm getting pretty worried. The doors are locked. She couldn't have left. Finally, I find her under Brooklyn's bed. When she woke up she said "Auntie Colie, what am I doing down here?" Silly girl. She scared me to death! With all the commotion of trying to find her, she was wide awake and ready to eat breakfast with the girls before we took them to school. Right now, Kaylee is on a worm hunt with Rylee. I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.