Feeling Thankful

As I prepare myself for the new week, I am sorting through pictures of this weekend and Thanksgiving day (I've posted a few of my favorites). While I look at the pictures, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. Yes, it was a busy, stressful weekend (I made three trips to Mott, one to Bison and got up at 3am to shop on Friday), but I realize now, it was all worth it.

I got to see my parents, my brother, my grandparents and my uncle and his friend. I am so grateful that my kids have the chance to get to know my grandparents. They are awesome people and I've always admired them. I know my kids think they're pretty cool too.
In my many trips to Mott I also got to see most of my in-laws. Everyone except for Mat and Kileigh was home, so you can imagine the house was hopping! There was never a dull moment! That's what makes the Kerzman home so special...there's always something going on and something to do. I only wish I would have had more time to visit with each of my brothers and sisters in law. Mary rode to the farm with me on Saturday, so we had three hours of visiting, which was so fun! And, when we got back from Mott on Saturday, the girls and I got to spend time with Chrissy and Rory, Sheena and Jesse, and Ed and Madonna.
And, believe it or not, I am also thankful for my early morning shopping trip. Yes, it was crazy to get up at 3:00 in the morning. I was standing in line outside Kohl's with my friends at 3:40am. The doors opened at 4:00 am and by 5:45, I was out of that store (I didn't shop that whole time.. I stood in line to pay for over an hour!) and onto the next store. I hit four stores by 7:00 am. By 7:30, I was treating myself to a Starbucks coffee and heading home. I got the majority of our shopping done, which means instead of stressing out about shopping, this year I will enjoy this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will get our tree and other decorations up (hopefully) in the next few days and maybe the kids and I will even bake cookies this year!
So, I ask you this...what are you thankful for? Here's my list:
1. My family..that includes my kids, my husband, my parents, my grandparents, my brother, my sister and her family, Mary, Madonna, and my in-laws...even my dogs.
2. My home.
3. My job.. even though I complain and it stresses me out, it really is my dream job, and I enjoy it. I am also thankful to have a job so I can provide for my family.
4. My friends.... I couldn't get through a day without them (you know who you are!) and they remind me all the stuff I have to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the Christmas season!

Another Day, Another Bikini

Lizzy apparently has no need for pajamas anymore. She once again wore a bikini to bed last night. Don't worry... the other once went in the dirty laundry, and she found a clean swim suit to wear to bed! She also found a pacifier.... she looked so funny wearing a bikini and sucking on a pacifier, we went a little crazy taking pictures! She hasn't used a pacifier since she was about six months old. Of course...she also used to wear pajamas to bed...

Anyway, despite it all.. Lizzy is not just another beach bimbo in a bikini. She's very smart..and I've posted the video to prove it.. now if I could just get her to put on some "real" clothes so we can go outside in the snow...

I'll do it myself!

In case you didn't know, Lizzy is no longer a baby. She is very much a big girl, and reminds us in a not so gentle way every single day.

In recent weeks, she has discovered the joys of dressing herself. She loves to empty her dresser drawers and throw clothes all over the house. I'm pretty sure most of the clothes I wash are not actually dirty, but at some point, I quit caring. It's easier just to wash them all rather than try to remember what she wore that week.

In her quest to do it herself, she has pulled her dresser over on top of herself once. I remember before she was born when Brad put that cheap K-Mart dresser together, and we both laughed at the instructions that recommended anchoring it to the wall. We've never anchored any furniture to the wall, other than the gun cabinet. We're currently looking for the pieces to anchor Lizzy's dresser to the wall!

Last night was a crazy busy night.. Jake had Cub Scouts, Lexi had basketball practice, Brad had Knights of Columbus and basketball. Lizzy and I spent much of the evening driving. When we finally got home, she refused to take a bath. I didn't have the energy to fight with her, so I let her skip. I told her to go find some pajamas and we'd go nigh-nigh. She returned with..you guessed it.. a bikini. Again, lacking the strength to argue about it, I let her wear it. I really didn't expect her to wear it all night. She has worn different swim suits around the house for a few hours, but never all night. But, she once again proved me wrong. Lizzy's new favorite pj's...her itsy-bitsy blue polka-dot bikini!

From the Archives: Jake at the Fair

We had so much fun watching the story of Lexi getting lost at K-Mart, that I figured I better post one of Jake too! This was in July of 2006. I had to go to the State Fair in Minot for work. Jake went with us, but Lexi wouldn't skip swimming lessons! Once we got there and saw how interested Jake was in everything, Dwayne and I decided to do a story on the state fair through the eyes of a five year old. There was so much fun stuff I didn't even put into this story! After we shot the story, I went to the station to edit, and Dwayne and Jake checked out the rest of the fair... even the rides. Dwayne is one cool adopted grandpa!

Jake loves to watch this story.. and make fun of himself, and the way he talks! Seems speech class has actually done some good! Enjoy!

From the Archives: "Losing Lexi"

This is a story I did on December 13, 2002. I stumbled upon it at work the other day, so I burned it to a DVD and we've had fun watching it over and over again. Lexi was so cute! She is still cute, but she's a young lady now... in this story she is just a little girl! She was three years old... and the night before she, Jake and I had been shopping at K-Mart when she got lost. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of the scariest moments I've experienced as a mom. I hope that this story was a good reminder to other parents to keep a close eye on their kids while shopping. I think about this everytime I take Lizzy to a store..she's ten times braver and wilder than Lexi ever was. I remember when Jake and Lexi were little I always thought Jake would be the one I would lose in a store. I never dreamed it would be Lexi!

Enjoy the video... I just love it! And look for more videos like this.. I have used my kids a lot in stories over the years!

Snow Much Fun

A week ago I couldn't get her to even look at these snow boots..now, I can't get her to take them off! Lizzy spent much of the morning wearing her pj top, a diaper and her snow boots. She may have looked silly, but she was happy.. and in my book, that's all that matters!

Once she finally got dressed for the day, I took her outside. She didn't really know what to think. She did not want to walk in the snow...she pretty much stuck to the shoveled sidewalk.

The big kids, however, were a different story. They LOVE the snow! They dug a tunnel, started working on a fort and a snowman..and thought the snowbank the plow created on our boulevard was the coolest thing ever. I decided not to teach them how to play King of the Mountain.. I really didn't have time to take them to the emergency room today. I suppose they will play that game for the rest of the winter at school!

Snow Day!

I never thought it would happen. In fact, last night Jake and I talked about how they never call off school in Bismarck because of snow. I told him that maybe the farm kids or the Lincoln kids would be excused, or get to be an hour late, but the town kids would still have school. I was wrong.

For the first time since 1997, Bismarck Public Schools called off school today because of the blizzard! I had no idea! I didn't watch the news this morning, and Brad is gone hunting so he didn't either. The kids and I got up at 7:00 and started getting ready for the day. At about 7:30, my next door neighbor called and asked if I needed a ride to work, what I was going to do with the kids, and if I needed her daughter to watch Lizzy. I had no idea what she was talking about. When she told me school was cancelled I didn't believe her! I thought she was pulling some kind of mean practical joke on me! She couldn't believe that I, the news lady on the block, didn't know! I hung up with her, checked our station website, and called my aunt, who also knew already. Boy did I feel stupid!

After I got over the shock, I went about making arrangements. Of course, this storm (we got over nine inches of snow and lots of wind!) happened on opening deer weekend, which means Brad is not home. He and his buddies left Bismarck for Mott at 3:30 yesterday afternoon. They finally made it to the farm at 9:00 last night! It took five and a half hours to go 90 miles! I should have known then it was a bad storm! At any rate, while he was trying to get to the farm, I was left with a giant snow drift in my driveway. So after the kids went to bed, I called Paul to come over and sit in the house in case Lizzy woke up while I went outside to shovel. Paul brought Curt and a shovel over. Together, we cleared my side of the driveway and the walkway to the front door in good time. I was concerned about the sidewalk because the milkman comes on Friday mornings and I did not want him to have to climb through the massive drifts to deliver my milk and bread. He had to anyway. The wind came up after I went to bed, and it snowed even more...and my path was completely covered with snow!

Times like these I am very grateful for good neighbors. My next door neighbor came over with his snowblower this morning and cleared the whole driveway. Then he gave me a ride to work in his four-wheel drive pickup. While I worked (and he went hunting) his 12 year old daughter watched my kids. I think her mom was home much of the day too, because she sent the big kids and a few other neighbor kids to my driveway to shovel the rest of the snow. It was all caught on camera too... we had a crew doing a story on kids enjoying this extra day off from school... they just happened to get video of the kids on Laredo Drive! Check back soon for the story, and the unedited video!

If there's snow where you are, happy shoveling. If there isn't, you're missing out! This blizzard reminded me of the good stuff in life. It's easy to complain about the snow, the shoveling, the headaches. But watching my kids play in the snow (they were outside by 7:30 this morning!) and enjoy their first-ever snow day helped me put it all in perspective. I'm just sad I had to work and I couldn't be home to make a snowman with them! Maybe the next blizzard will hit on a weekend and we can all enjoy being snowbound together!