Ahhhh...summer vacation

I am just here at the shop. It is 1:25 am and I am waiting for my software to "upgrade." Otherwise, there is absolutely, positively no way I would be updating this right now. It is one of those times in life when you are in too deep, buried beneath all of the wreckage of life and you know there's no getting out any time soon. As much as you'd like to hop on the next train to Clarksville, it just ain't happenin'. (Because when you get back, your work piles have doubled, and your dirty laundry is still dirty-and stinkier.) So if you haven't heard from us lately, or have called, e-mailed, or sent a carrier pigeon, just know that we are thinking of everyone in our lives right now in our prayers. We are doing well, all things considered, and we will be in touch in a moon or so. Christian has his tonsils removed next Tuesday (don't tell him, we aren't going to until a day or so before-not something to look forward to). Prayers would be great! Especially about keeping him down for almost a week. TV "OD" here we come! Hope all are doing well.

Lots goin' on, not much time!

Hey Jude! That is Christian and his buddy, Jude, from preschool at St. Paul's. They are two peas in a pod and I believe they give their teachers a run for their money...and patience! The photo was taken at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison a few weeks ago.

Here's where the Topel family is at:

Two weekends ago, we hung out, cleaned the garage, and had "Kiki" over to our house. Kiki is an 8 month old who is being taken care of by her Foster parents, who are also our customers and friends. We had a great time with her. She is such a wonderful spirited baby and took a long nap, then crawled around, played, we went on a short walk, and she wasn't trying, but made Brady jealous since he wasn't the baby in the house! I think he was glad to see her go, but we were not!

Dan and I have been working quite a bit during the week, so when the weekends come, I hit the door running!

Last weekend, we went to the library and out for lunch with my mom on Saturday, then went over to the Selck's house for a yummy supper. Man, Kathy can cook a mean prime roast and garlic butter potatoes!! It was a great incentive to get moving this week on some walks!! We had so much fun playing with Ethan, and once again, I got my baby fix-snuggling Barrett! We also got to catch up with our friends, Jason and Stacey Forest, so that was good, too. The time was too short!

On to Mother's Day! We went out to the Sand Bar for brunch and YUMMY YUMMY, more food in my tummy! We saw Jason and Stacey, again! My mom, my Grandma Vitense, Cliff, Vi, and our family all were together. How wonderful. After that, we changed our clothes and headed over to Topel's. Vi said not to get her anything, but she wanted Dan's time. So we cleaned up some of their yard and got a nice big spot for the Topel Family Garden! We are so excited!! Everyone pitched in and you know they say many hands make light work!

Dan is off this week to help our friend, Tim Pulford move some things from his place in New Richmond, WI up to his mom's in northern MN. Tim is going to be making a major career change, as he was an engineer and is going to Florida to learn how to be a pilot! We will be heading down to move the rest of his things on May 29th, the whole fam damily! He has a condo on the Oceanfront near Daytona Beach. Man is that the life! As for this trip, Dan will be taking a few days to partake in his new found obsession: fly-fishing! Believe it or not, things are actually pretty quite here and I'm not going crazy...YET! Shelli is helping with that, I know!

Mallory's dance recital is on Sunday, so that makes her rehearsal on Saturday. This is Mallory's 5th year in dance at the Main Street Dance Studio in Fort Atkinson. The recital is at the Irving Young auditorium in Whitewater at 2 on Sunday. She surprised me this year on Mother's Day with her dance which is going to be the Nutcracker. She is a soldier! Which is ironic because we have been growing her hair long so it could be extra pretty for the recital...she is wearing it in a low ponytail (he, he, he!)

Next week: Christian's last day of school on Wednesday with a program on Wednesday night at 6:30 at school. Mallory's last day of school is on Friday which is actually the day of the school olympics. Every year the classes divide into different colors, participate in events around the outside of school, then at the end, they have an all school relay race-every team has a few from each grade!!! It is always a blast!

The kids are doing very well. Mallory is feeling the stress of the end of year activities and the nice weather. She has taken a special liking to her scooter and was riding her bike until the training wheels fell off...if we just had some TIME, I'm sure she doesn't really need them anyway!! Christian has been sweeter than ever and it just takes a few extra patience and some reasoning power and he puts his brain into good use by making good choices! Still not usually a few days in-between bumps and bruises! Boys will be boys!

Two posts in one month...AMAZING!

Okay, so I still have some catching up to do!

Here's what the Topel Family was up to this past March:

The Sporting Show in Milwaukee. I was still recouperating, but REALLY needed to get out, so we packed up and headed to the sporting show. The "kids" caught some trout in the trout fishing pond and we checked out all kinds of places to visit in our "spare" time this summer! The fish had a cool ride home under the hood of the Jeep!

Had some warming up to do in March! We loooove our hot cocoa!

Sharing is caring, right guys?!?

SPRING BREAK:

Some people go to the tropics, we go up north. It is hard to tell, but at the top of this photo is where the water turns to an ice chunk!

We went up to Wood County (about an hour and 3/4 up north) and delivered a vehicle to Nekoosa. Lucky for us and for them, we were planning on going up anyway to visit a possible permanent campsite. It was a relaxing day, just the four of us.

Christian played in the water and got VERY sandy, while Mallory...just hung out!!

There were some beautiful camping sites and we were all gung ho until Uncle Sam came around and I don't know how...after all these years, we had to PAY money in. And did you know, by the way...that if you underpay, that they expect you to make "estimated" tax payments on top of what you already have to pay-quarterly. UNBELIEVABLE...I'm starting to understand all of those rantings about taxes and the government that my grandpa used to do.

Back onto family business...sounds like we'll have to stick around Lake Mills this summer and enjoy what we've been given in our own hometown!

And onto Easter...

Heather Bachmann came over and spent the night on Friday before Easter. The girls had a great day playing, then we colored eggs at night. It was one of the best egg-colorings yet! Easter was a very special one! We had a jumpstart for a U-Haul in Madison and went on another family outing. I know it sounds like a real bummer, but we had a very relaxing morning, including breakfast at Burger King while the kids played in the play area. Our travels took us onward to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall to unlock a damsel in distress at Tommy Hilfiger. Thennn, back home for a delicious dinner with my dad and Dan's parents. It was a great weekend, but I was glad the kids had Monday off from school!

I think...I'm almost caught up, as far as photos go. So much in between, never enough time, we'll TRY to stay current (stop laughing!!)

Lots of catching up to do!

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like
dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Christian has decided for some crazy reason that he likes to wash dishes. Which is a great thing considering our dishwasher sounded like a garbage disposal and we were unable to use it for weeks. For some reason, though his interest in washing peaked just before it broke. Gotta love those dishpan hands!

A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the
same time. ~Anne Taylor Fleming

Our friend Kyle Lehr got married this past weekend. Dan was the best man. It was a weekend full of fun and excitement. Kyle and Cara went to Chicago and I hope they are having a great time. Thanks to Hannah once again for being our saving grace! Hannah even made a new friend while she was there!!! Shelli also stood up in the wedding and we had a chance to see lots of our friends there as well. Our best wishes to Kyle and Cara!

We had a great time with everyone and Sunday came all too quickly!

While there's so much more to report, my six o'clock whistle is going to go off, so I must return home!

We're Back in the Saddle Again...

On the road to recovery, that is!
I went in on Monday for my surgery follow up. I waited about 40 minutes in the waiting room, about 5 minutes in the office, Dr. Kontny came in-ripped the tape off of my stitches, asked if I was feeling better and if I think we "had" it. Told me I could eat anything now and...off I went. Two minutes-okay, maybe 5. Better than the alternative!
Dan is slowly working his way back into his regular schedule. He is putting different tires on his new "project" right now. His new project is a 1996 Jeep Cherokee-RED! It is going to be his new fish-getter.
Mallory has had a "sick" tummy the past few days. She was home on Monday and back at school yestarday and today. School is going well. She has been keeping busy playing her Nintendo DS-Nintendogs. Dan took the kids fishing last night and they had fun playing by the marsh down by Harvey's trailer park. They found lots of snail shells, saw two whooping cranes, two Mallard ducks, and lots of geese.
Christian continues to amaze me with his "canny" comments. Right now, his latest is telling us what we should do around the house. "Mommy, you should really put those books away." "Mommy, you should do the laundry." "Mommy, you should really clean up that stuff." And he's right, but it stinks when your four year old is telling YOU what needs to be done. He is still loving preschool and has a new friend, Jude. Since Jude wasn't in school today, he played with Espen. He is enjoying getting outside these past few days and riding his bike. Yestarday, Heather was not feeling well so he went to Judy's. He missed going over there and had a great time.
Business has been very busy or maybe it is just because I've been down and out for so long. We did hire a new Service Writer. Her name is Joan Samanas. She is learning very well and for starting a few days before all of my issues started, I give her credit for even sticking in here!
Off to play volleyball tonite!

This little piggy...

Mallory's play was this past Friday at St. Paul's School. She had a few special lines along with her friend Haley. Above, she poses with her friends, Abigail Hackbarth and Shayane Anderson. Shayane was the cow that wouldn't "moooo." It was a very Mooooving play and we all had a swine time!

Hannah came again this weekend to help out with the kids. I don't know where we'd be without her!

Dan's back is slowly getting better (definitely muscle related and better now if he keeps moving). My butterfly stitches still have not fallen off and I'm getting really close to ripping them off myself! I just want to be "normal" again! I do recommend getting your gall bladder removed if you want a great diet plan. Between that and my allergy to fresh fruits, my McDonalds menu available to my eating without the two "d's" (death and diarreha) is now a shake, a GRILLED chicken sandwich, a side salad, and pies! Not such a bad thing if you really think about it!

We are off to Madison to do a tow job and try to catch up with our household supplies from the past 3 weeks! Spring...here we come!

Who needs a gall bladder, anyways?!?

So it has been quite some time since I've had a chance to update. There is lots to tell and not much time because if I don't hurry up, my stack of work will collapse and then I'll really be in trouble!
Not this past Friday, but the one before, I started having some major pains in my right side just under my ribs. Dan took me to the Watertown ER for a quick checkover and 5 hours later, we went home with the knowledge that they really didn't know for sure, but they thought I had an ovarian cyst rupture and that there was some "unknown" fluid that was probably due to the cyst. Oh by the way, I had 2 small gall stones. Spare all the details, it wasnt' better and I finally found a Primary doctor, went to see Dr. Stephanie Nottestad in Cambridge on Wednesday. She sent me to the surgeon at the Fort Atkinson clinic. He checked me out, read the reports, and scheduled my surgery to have my gall bladder removed.
Thursday morning, I went in at about 9:30. At about 11:15, went down for surgery. About1:00, returned to my room. Hung out for just over an hour, left a present in the lobby before I left (the Vicodin didn't sit very well on top of the anestesia), and was home by about 3:30, one less organ in my body! (oh by the way...the fluid they saw last Friday was bile.)
By Saturday morning, I was off the Vicodin, just taking ibuprofen.
Saturday night, what seemed like a pulled muscle in Dan's back, made him incompacitated. What a pair we were on Sunday! So Sunday, Dan was down and out for the day. Monday, he could at least WALK. Off to Dr. Nottestad we went and boy, the pharmacy is really liking us at this point...muscle relaxers and MORE...Vicodin!! Tada! He went to see our friend Jennifer Jeschke who is a physical therapist who got the honor of kicking the living tar out of him (okay, it just felt like it!).
Here we are today. Wednesday, March 7. I'm getting back on track (have been working half days since Monday), and Dan is slowly making his way around-in fact just got back from loading up a car. (Don't tell our insurance agent!)
The kids are angels and though they've felt the stress a bit, they are doing outstanding!
Our very special list of THANKS:

Kathy Selck for the yummy lasagna.
Hannah Hinrichs for her time and abilities with the kids Friday and Saturday.
Shelli Roedl for being my drug deliverer and for her time hanging out with us.
Stephanie Bartels for a delicious soup and fixin's.
Jon Hendricks & Josh Ramsey for covering for Dan.
My mom for helping out with the kids...
and endless thanks to Cliff & Vi for EVERYTHING they do...lemon cake, slimfast, taking the kids on Sunday,
and everyone else for phone calls and prayers!

I don't know where we would be without everyone else's time and talents.
Until next time...