All That Glitters

...isn't always gold, nor is it a bad Mariah Carey movie. Rather, it's my poor decision to be suckered in by product marketing for a...glitter Easter Egg decorating kit. You'd think I know better than to go for the pretty picture on the cover (since marketing/advertising is my profession...see more below), but oh no. Hind sight is 20-20 and I'm going to save you the grief by simply stating why glittery Easter Eggs are a bad idea:
1) glitter all over the decorating table, fingers, etc.(and in our case, the kids were a bit cranky anyway...not a good mix)

2) glitter all over the house...the Easter bunny must have been so surprised!

3) glitter all over your plate and hard-boiled egg...rinse cycle is required.

Obviously, these 3 outcomes were not taken into consideration at the store. The cover picture was just too pretty to think past it! As it turned out, only half of our eggs were 'glittered" and the rest were just creatively colored. One never stops learning!

And speaking of learning, I just learned a new term..."rick rolled". It's basically misleading someone to a link that actually goes to a bad Rick Astley video from the 80's. You Tube is "rick rolling" all front page videos to Rick's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video. Too funny.

Now, back to what the ribclan has been up to! Easter was very relaxed at home, with a visit north to see Great Grandma L & Uncle Myron, Cousin Dan and my mom/Paul. We had a great time visiting and we were even able to squeeze in Church before we left (little B's best buddy, Brennan, even sat next to us with his family. Wow!)

ribB worked like crazy last week--he went in everyday around 3:30am...he was wiped out by the end of the week. (It didn't help that he was on call and also had a night of on-call work that kept him up until 1am...yes, he still went to work at 3:30am!) Of course,the March Madness kept him bouyed a bit. All good...until the Badgers lost on Friday. We enjoyed dinner and the game at our friends' house (Brian & Katie)...the kids played and the adults dreamed of the day we could totally chill out together. Someday.

On Saturday, little B had his first "playdate" with Brennan at an awesome indoor playground in town. I got to know Brennan's mom more, and that was really fun...and funny. We couldn't believe the "small world" similarities of our lives, and we just met in the fall/winter! Little B had a BLAST and it was a hoot watching those 2 run back and forth, etc...too funny.

Saturday also brought the opportunity for a quick date for ribB and me...my mom came and watched the kiddos for a couple of hours. ribB and I did some errands, including a run to my fave used-CD store in town. My treasured find? The classic CD by "Nelson"...if you know this band, you win a prize. ribB was initially refusing to play it in our truck, but I won. It's, like totally, awesome. The best $3.95 I've spent lately! Ha...

The rest of our weekend involved a sick little boy, a Sunday drive and adventure (I'm going to leave you hanging on this one!) and a visit with my dear friend, Jacqueline, and her family. I appreciated the laughter and a purse show-and-tell.

The work week is here...and I alluded to my work earlier. Now, most folks seem to understand ribB's job. You just say "social worker" and his position and people begin asking relevant questions. My job...not so much. I work in a Marketing/Advertising agency. One way to understand this job...did you watch Melrose Place? I'm joking a bit, but not totally. My job involves building a business's brand, or image. Think Coca Cola....what comes to mind? Red, white swoops, people happy, having fun, singing, a bubbly life...well, those consistent thoughts amongst all of us is a marketing job done well. You have taken those messages from the company's marketing and created a perceived image of what it's like to drink Coca Cola. Which makes you buy it again. And again.

Now, I'm not working for Coca cola...but all businesses, both small and large, need help with creating that "consistent" image and message for consumers. I'm at a small agency, so I'm pretty hands-on in all facets of the work here with my partners in crime (Heather, Part-time Patty, Mindy (design) and Mary (design).(Typically, there are multiple people hired for each position at a large agency: art direction (deciding on look, color, feel of an ad--or even notepad--for a client, and explaining those decisions to a graphic designer), copywriting (my fave...writing the content of printed materials, whether it's an print ad, radio ad, tv ad, press release,newspaper article--all with the intention of making a sale), media placement (getting print/radio/billboard/tv ads placed with the company that handles them); account management (talking with clients about their marketing, advertising, budgets, goals, changes in industry--all that good stuff!); public relations (clever ways to get media to publicize information about a business...not a big part of our business or expertise, but we can do and have done;...and more.Kind of like those NBC shorts, "The more you know...", you can now get the gist of my job.

I hope everyone here is enjoying the last dose of winter we just received...wet, sloppy, heavy snow! Of course, we took the boat out of our garage on Sunday...just in time to get snowed on. School was even delayed a couple of hours today, but summer is just around the corner now that it's, gulp, April!

Photos: a photo of Kdee feeding the deer this winter, glitter,

"...and the other's gold!"

If you've ever been in Girl Scouts, you know the feel good song, "Make new friends, but keep the old...some are silver and the other's gold!" Well, in the spirit of dear old friends, I share this recently found photo...it's a classic. Ang, Jac and Lisa...this goes out to you. I'm thrilled we're all still good friends and can have a laugh at how far we've come....7th grade dances have nothing on this long friendship!

Spring Break

Remember when Spring Break meant going somewhere warm? Ahhh, not here in MN/WI! It's a time for more snow and cold temperatures...you gotta love it. I snapped a couple of photos on my way to work of the awesome beauty that greeted me the other morning. It's not palm trees, but I think these type of mornings can revel a palm tree anyday.

This week has been full of meetings and running around...hence this short entry. And, for all of you who've kindly asked, we (my coworkers & I) didn't get a chance to submit a peeps diorama this year (this early Easter business has put a cramp on our marshmellow madness). Here's a look back at last year's entries--Peeps Prom and Britney Peep Shaves Her Head....ah, good memories.

More to come soon...it's Friday...crank some great tunes and make the most of your day. Happy Good Friday!!!

Lucky You! More Photos...

It's too hard to pick just a few photos from a fun weekend...so here are even more....

*Our cousin's good friend all dolled up to celebrate
*the English bulldog hanging out next to us at the parade...totally gentle mannered and adorable
*the family poses in "Rowdy's"...and I swear, I'm not PG or extra huge--I was in the most awkward position for this photo, wearing a large Irish t-shirt layered with another shirt...but, the rest of the family looks adorable, so I will sacrifice this awful photo of me for them--ha ha!

*Uncle TIm, the leprachaun, and Bingo the dog all dressed up...

*Street view, with the appropriate parade participant, Guiness (ribB got extra special Guiness beads for all of his Guiness gear (including hat with bottle opener)....

Top O' The Morning...

Our weekend of all things Irish was a lot of fun. One thing is for sure, those Boland's sure know how to celebrate and make a person feel welcome. We had a great time hanging out with our Aunt Barb & Uncle Tim, their children and the many other family and friends there. They literally take over a huge portion of a hotel, a firehall and a bar during their annual tradition. Kites are flown, masked bandits spook the older kids and Irish jigs are performed here, there and everywhere. The kiddos enjoyed an exciting parade where lots of candy was thrown and even some 3M products, too! We all "survived" sleeping in a hotel room together (although there was lots of interrupted sleep due to little B who seemed to be a bit discombobulated). K and B also did a ton of swimming...I swear, Kdee would have swam all night long! I now understand even more why pools are a must at a hotel.

After our time in St. Pattysville, we made a stop in LaX and enjoyed a visit with our parent, sis-in-law and nieces/nephew. We even got Rocky's & DQ...not a bad way to wrap up our trip.

That said, the true wrap up to our trip was little B screaming, crying and kicking in the backseat for the last 20 minutes of our drive. Oh, yes, it was lovely...he was mad because we moved the DVD player and when he then began saying "I'm going to throw it away!" (3 year old threats are tough!), we turned it off. Oh, he didn't like that...but, oh well. We gotta talk nice and behave to get privileges like movies (no matter how tired you are). So, we heard repeatedly "I WANT TO WATCH SCOOOOOOOBBBBYYYY DOOOOOOOO!". It became hard not to laugh, actually.

Lots of pictures to share...and I think there will be a couple of entries to cover them all! Here's our little Irish lad, ribB and his Aunt Barb, me and the kids, St. Patrick and the family marching in the parade...

Sprung Forward

Why is it that weekends go by so quickly? Oh, maybe it's because we "lost" an hour this time around? Now, I love the whole idea of spring coming and longer amounts of daylight...but these time changes kinda mess with a person. Or, more specifically, the kids. Hard for them to go to bed "early", even more hard for them to wake up "earlier". Ah well...in a couple of days we'll all be adjusted! Or so I hope...you know what I mean...

So, outside of time changes, the ribclan household has been pretty status quo. One of the big things we've been doing lately is a new "reward" system for ms. Kdee. We created the system after her last teacher conference because academically, she's doing great, but she's a bit too much on "her time" versus "teacher time". We notice some of that at home, too, so we took the opportunity to help improve the situation for all of us. Basically, our system is nothing fancy--a series of marks for 3 specific areas of improvement and if she attains enough of the good marks, she gets the pre-approved reward of her choice on Sunday. The rewards aren't costly, but she's motivated by the ones we approve. So far, she's gotten to go to The Spiderwick Chronicles with ribB (her second time going), 2 hours of computer time & hang out time with me--and this week's reward? She gets to take 25 pictures on my camera--how funny is that? I tell ya, it doesn't take much to motivate her and when she's motivated...look out world!

Little B is still transitioning to the 3 year old room. It seems like he's missing his best buddy and the loose flow of his previous classroom (including long nap times, etc.). Well, our suspicions were confirmed this week when the 2 year old room teacher told us he's walking up to the ground-level window (of the 2 year room)at recess and peering in to see what they're doing, etc. Ohhhh, my...kind of pathetic and sad all in one! He's a good little spirit and we know that this is just a process he has to work through...but, it can still twist a parent's heart. It's interesting for us, too, because Kdee is one of the youngest of her class and little B is going to be one of the oldest. Wild.

ribB and I had the opportunity for a night free from kids last Friday--it was awesome! My Mom watched the kids overnight and we made the most of it. Since ribB has been a good sport with concerts lately (and often goes for dates to movies!), I decided to be a good sport back and go shooting for the first time at the Archery store. Turned out, we shot for 2 hours and it was a lot of fun (I wasn't even too sore the next day!) Afterward, we went out to BW3 for beer & wings (fun!) and...if you can believe it, we still went to a movie at 10pm! (Be Kind, Rewind--actually not so good...dang!). We got to sleep in the next day and have a lazy start to the day before we picked up the kids at 11am (and got to go to lunch with my mom). It was so wonderful! The rest of our weekend was very relaxed and nice...lots of catching up on household chores and hanging out together.

And, speaking of weekends, this upcoming one should be lots o' fun. We're heading down to a big St. Patty's Day celebration with Brett's Aunt Barb & Uncle Tim. I'm not Irish, but trust me, I'll celebrate for my family and the many other fine Irish folk in attendance--erin go bragh!

Ding Dong, Life's A Song...

Here's a little diddy,
about life in H-City.

You ready to follow along?
Catch up with my song?

Things have been swingin', way social,
even a dash of pure emotion-al.(just make it work...it's late :-)

Golden statues, lots o'cleaning--a night with the Foo,
Small groups, reward charts and a date with TobyMac, too.

Trips to LaX, mom stays behind
dinner out with dad...the boys rewind.

A blur, lots of laughs--February's blown
a new month is here, look how we've grown.

Kdee's gettin focused and I'm not kiddin'
little B's moved up, Ms. Mindy is smitten.

ribB's workin,
la
I'm workin'
la la
still ol' same ol'
la la te dah

No grand pictures to create a splash
just your imagination with a bit of flash.

Off the hook, that's how we roll
keepin' life hoppin', just all about soul.

**No rhymes next time, instead a more complete entry. Suffice it to say, things have been busy and work has been zapping my time and writing skillzzzzz! Just know that the Oscar party went off without a hitch (menu below), ribB had a great trip to LaX with the kids (giving me a weekend alone to prepare--yea!--thanks Christina for watching the kids!) and the week of concerts was really awesome (Foo Fighters with Ang--old school fun!--and Matthew West/Jeremy Camp/TobyMac with ribB--inspiring!).
March is sure to slow down a bit...but with some spring to our steps, of course!

Oscar Menu:

Beverage: Sunny D (Juno)--some folks added vodka to it to make it a true cocktail...what a crazy color Sunny D is!

"Appetizer": Fruit of Atonement (Atonement)--we had to redeem the rest of the night's glutony with some fruit

Main dish: Mini Burgers with Fixin's (Michael Clayton)--he's a legal "fixer" in the movie

Side dish: Light as air potato chips (No County For Old Men)--air compressors never had so many uses by a villan

Dessert: There Will Be Strawberry Milkshakes (There Will Be Blood)--for the famous "milkshake" scene in the movie

And, as always, there was lots of movie candy & popcorn!!!!

Couple of "pics" included here: photo from the Foo show, Oscar poster and billing from TobyMac/Jeremy Camp show...