Well family, I finally got to it. Back to my blog. That is the classroom blog that I was always bragging about last year :) I made my first two posts...so if you're interested
www.msbohlken.blogspot.com
Head on over and meet my new class. I also posted about the space unit that we've been doing. You HAVE to watch the first youtube video on there. The solor system song. I was searching for videos about space and this one popped up. Andrea was in my room when I found it and she thought it was super creepy and that the kids would hate it. Wrong. They LOVED it! We have watched it at least ten times (usually after they have been begging for a while.) I think it sounds like a song that someone created while they were high...but to each his own I guess :) Here's the link in case you don't want to go look at my page.
http://youtu.be/BZ-qLUIj_A0 Enjoy! 


As most of you know... I turned 26. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh! A little over a week ago. I took it well, for the most part, publicly at least. Inside, however, I'm feeling it family. Andrea turns 26 tomorrow. Almost identical ages but completely DIFFERENT lives. She's married. She has a beautiful daughter (who I adore very much.) She owns a house. Everything that I assumed I would have...or would at least be close to at this point in my life. Somewhere it took a turn. Sadly, I've fallen in love with someone who isn't exactly sure that they want those things out of life. I haven't told most of you this...so I'm kind of pouring my heart out here. All of my closest friends. Those who know both Wade and I say that he'll change his mind. He'll grow up and realize what he's missing. After over two years and a now long distance relationship...I'm starting to wonder. At this point, I'm really struggling with whether to stay in this (because I do love him SO SO much) or to give up and look for someone who knows that they want the same things I do. I have an amazing family, wonderful friends, and a great job...but I feel like something is missing. Big time. I know that none of you know Wade (another point against him) but I need advice family. I absolutely can't decide which path to take. Wendy emailed the other day and said that Wade was a little like Flat Stanley...she wasn't sure that he actually existed :) Here's a couple of pictures from my birthday celebration (which involved margaritas) including a picture of the ever illusive Wade. He would be absolutely 100 percent mortified if he knew I was telling and showing you this (on a blog especially!) I would love to hear anything you have to say...miss you all so much.

Me and Andrea

Me and Mrs. Parde (A 1st grade teacher at Central)

Me and Wade

xoxo
Taryn

a message from the beyond?????

Dear Family:  I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to the Bellar family.  Our niece, Jennifer, finally had her baby.  Jennifer is about the sweetest girl you will ever come across it is no wonder that Jennifer shares the same birthday as another sweet lady, our mother.  Now here is where it gets kind of eerie--her daughter, Leena, was born on Dad's birthday, August 25th.  I feel as though there is a message   telling me that mom and dad are together and through this little baby and Jennifer there will always be something to celebrate on these special days.  Hope you enjoy these pictures--she definitely is a cutie!
Love to you all--
Lolo

pictures to share



Where we ate in Lincoln  when we went to the Simply Bungalow event



My lovely sisters (Diane, Cindy and Kimmer)

All the Alexander Girls (Diane Cindy Lori Kim)

What a group of good looking girls! 
Diane Cindy Lori Kim and Tori

My latest creations ruler wreaths

My final creation a rustic wreath made out of none other than clothes pins and silk flowers

Love you all--xoxoxo
Lolo

Desk

I had this school desk that used to sit in my kitchen. My kids used to play on it, color on it, hide under it...and then they grew up.  It just seemed in the way then but I couldn't just throw it away (Thanks Mom) so we stuck it out in the shed and Randy used it to put his gas cans, oil cans and whatever else on top of it. I totally stole an idea from the blog: "sisters of the wild west" from Witchita Kansas by the way. But decided to try it on a much smaller scale to see if I could pull it off: Here is the before...

And here is my after:

She is feeling pretty again. Too bad I don't know any teachers who would love her!!

Love you all!
Cindy

stress reducer

Love to you all--Lolo

The Windy City

Hey there family.
I'm finally back home in Fairbury. Sitting on the regular spot on my couch. Watching Bones on tv. Laptop in my lap. When I left last week I was absolutely ready to get out of this house and town. Amazing how a few days away can make you appreciate your own space so very much.
My whirlwind week started with celebrating Riley's 21st birthday on Tuesday. Met him and mom and dad for dinner. Bought him his first shot. Hugged him and wished him luck. Unfortunately, this big sister is getting too old to hang with those young kids. After much worry and the viewing of a few scary pictures on facebook; I heard from him and he survived! 22 shots later...I think he's glad that it's over.

On Wednesday, after Wade got done with his fifteenth (I'm probably exaggerating, but not much) football camp, we headed off on our road trip to Chicago. Since we couldn't leave until around 1:00; we decided to stay in a town about 45 mintes outside of Chicago that night. Found an extremely cheap hotel room (that also smelled kind of funny) and went to bed fairly early so we would be ready for our adventure the next day. 
We made it to our next hotel (one in Chicago) fairly easily. It was, I swear, the last hotel left with openings in a 20 mile radius of downtown Chicago. Unless of course we would have opted for a five hundred dollar room in downtown Chicago. Wow! The hotel was about a block from the "L" train. Chicago's famous elevated train system. I was SO excited to ride it. However, after the first or maybe second trip it's amazingness had completely worn off. You guys know how I feel about my bubble right? Ick! Anyway, we made it to downtown Chicago. I walked out onto the street and couldn't believe it. The buildings are SO SO tall! :) We did all of the touristy things that day. Walked Magnificent Mile checked out Millenium and Grant Parks. Took a boat tour along the Chicago river and out on Lake Michigan. Ate on Navy Pier and even had some drinks at bars on Rush Street. By 10:30 we were exhausted!
On Friday we woke up fairly early (9:00) and headed way up North to Wrigleyville. Ate lunch at the home base of 312 (a delicious beer brewed in Chicago) and then headed to Wrigley for a Cubs game. The stadium is pretty and you can tell that Cub's fans have a lot of pride for it...but I'm going to be honest with you and say that I would take KC's big screen over old school any day. However, Wrigleyville is AMAZING! So many cool, laid back bars and great places to eat. All within three blocks of the stadium. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. Wade and I definitely fit in better there than we did in those fancy bars in downtown Chicago :)
An almost ten hour road trip back the next day followed by a wedding in Geneva that night and this girl is absolutely exhausted! I can't tell you how excited I am to sleep in my own bed tonight! I didn't take many pictures...I'll have to work on that next time...but here's a few of them.

Love you all! xoxo

Geyer update!

Need a laugh! G has been laughing and laughing lately...it is the cutest.  I thought I'd share this clip to make your day. :) There are always laughing babies on youtube, but he has the most contagious laugh - love him!

 


Also, I'm posting a link to my shutterfly page.  This is new to me, but should take you to my picture webpage where you can see the latest pics.  There are quite a few pics, but the album (nine & ten months) is from this summer.  ENJOY!

http://carriegeyer.shutterfly.com/

Lastly, I love the blogs. I check it daily, so keep posting. And Ashley I get to yours just as often and love it - your posts are awesome!  It was great to see how you incorporated Grandma's things into your apartment.  I'm working on mine... pics to follow! :)  I'd love to see everyone's. 

Have a great week!  Hugs-n-kisses - C&G

Lucy

Okay family:  I told you that Lucy would be an entire blog in itself so let me share with you what has been going on with my little "girl"!   When Jay and I went to Philly I had received a call that Lucy wasn't doing well and that it was taking her a long time to go pee.  I didn't think much of it as I have noticed this too and I thought she was just being a girl and taking her sweet time or marking her territory since we moved into a new place.  Anyyway--so when we got home I took her to the vet and they thought that maybe she had an infection because her white blood count was extremely high and the acid in her urine.  So they put here on antibiotics.  Which by the way she loved way too much as she earned her nickname our "drug dog"! But she continued to have problems so we went back in and did another analysis of her pee and it was again high acid and had some traces of blood.  So thought maybe kidney failure.  POOR BABY!  They kept her over night not only 1 night but 3.  Finally after all of this they decided to do an xray and found out that  she had not one but two (2) bladder stones which are like kidney stones but in the bladder go figure!  Anyway since she was out for the xray they went ahead and did surgery and removed them.  She stayed another night in the hospital and then was able to go home with me  I mean us.  She is a much happier baby and I am very happy that she is okay.  So after it was all said and done while Lucy was at the hospital she had 2 IV's, 3 rounds of antibiotics, lost 3lbs, 2 blood samples taken, several urine samples taken and tested, xray and surgery!  Whoo--The vet and technician was very good to her and treated her like theirs the vet even took Lucy home on one of the nights.  So thank you Dr. Miller and Lisa Kramer for taking great care of my (our) baby girl!  Here are some pictures of what was inside Lucy's bladder.  They did have to send one of the stones in to figure out what her new diet should be! 

the one on the left is the bladder stone (which we get to keep oh joy) and the one on the right is a shooter marble.  Lucy had two of these stones in her tiny bladder.  the xray was amazing to see. 

My Baby Girl "LUCY"
My love to you all,
LOLO

So family. I'm doing it!
I'm going on vacation :)
Granted...it is only a four day vacation; however, it is to Chicago. A new town and state for me and....
drum roll please....Wade and I are going! :)
Four whole days together including an almost nine hour road trip one way.
Wish me luck and I'll share pictures when I get back! 


xoxox


Taryn