The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Amy and I are part of a fabulous dinner party group called DinSanity. This is a group of couples made up of City employees (engineers and attorney), consulting engineers, and significant others. We generally meet once a month and rotate the party around to each other's house every month. This past was the Christmas Dinsanity party. As usual, food was plentiful, beverages a flowing, and games a playing. To add a twist to our monthly parties we decided to add a theme, and what would be more fitting for a Christmas party than "ugly sweater" night.


Also due to the holiday celebration we decided to have a gift exchange. This gift exchange was described by each person bringing either a White Elephant gift (used or made) or something new as long as it is under $10. So, to me this seeemed like an opportune time to make a Christmas present........and I had a certain item in mind.


A month or so ago I had received an email (from another DinSanity member) that was quite humorous and featured slippers made out of maxi pads. So, that seemed like a good idea to me.

Time: Approx 1 hour (with much laughing)
Supplies: Always Maxi Pads, Glue, Cotton Balls, small Christmas decorations/tassles

The best part, I coaxed my buddy Rob into picking my present because I wrapped it in newspaper (rule for the exchange) with Shonn Greene all over the front. I also hinted that I shopped at a local favorite store. I know that was dirty play, but it was worth it.

Children Know Best

Amy and I recently learned that listening to your kids is not always a bad idea.

Example #1:
Last week Taylor kept telling us Wednesday night that she didn't have school the next day. We told her she was crazy but she continued to insist. Before sending her off to school we checked the lunch menu and there was the scheduled lunch listed for the day. We looked at her monthly calendar and saw nothing regarding a no-school day. So, we continued to proceed with a typical school morning and dropped her off at Kid's Club, which is where she always goes prior to school. Shortly thereafter I got a call from Amy to inform me that Taylor does NOT have school and will need a lunch if she intends to stay at Kid's Club. Thus, after dropping off the boys I had to go back home and get Tay her breakfast. The reason for the cancellation of school was a sad one and not previously planned as a high school student and her mom, who was Taylor's lunch lady, were killed by a drunk driver in a car accident.

Example #2:
Last week Carver insisted that he only had one boot at school. He told us that his other one fell out of the car, so again we told him he was crazy. Amy said she took all the boots and snow clothing to school with the boys on Monday. Later that next day while I was home with the kids for a snow day, sure enough I found his other boot behind the basket in the entry way. Granted, it did not fall out of the car but he was correct in saying he only had one boot.

I....O.....W......A

Obviously we are die-hard Hawkeye fans, but that doesn't mean attending just the "big" sporting events. Though we have season tickets for football and Men's basketball, we also have season tickets for wrestling. In addition, we have continued to broaden our Hawkeye spectrum of sports by going to events such as women's basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball. Next on our list is indoor track, softball, and field hockey.

A lot of these more "obscure" sports we have been going to with our friends the Iverson's, and we have more scheduled. What's funny is that now every time we take the kids to a game or meet, they ask where Bill and Katie are if we are not going with them. That was the case on Sunday when we were at the women's basketball game.

Speaking of women's basketball, the Hawkeyes had a great week as a whole and more importantly against their rival Cyclones. We were part of the NCAA record crowd that watched the Iowa wrestlers defeat the Cyclones Saturday night. We had a great time as we were able to go with our friends Rob and Dave from my work, as well as our usuals Bill and Katie.

Sunday, Amy and I took the kids to the women's game and watched them crush the Cyclone ladies. The women looked great and the kids had a wonderful time. The Hawks looks to make it a clean sweep in all the major sports on Friday and I will be there to watch that as well with Rob.

Grab a Sled

We love to sled in our family. Making things a bit easier this year is the fact that we can sled on some pretty decent hills right in our backyard and in the neighborhood. We have now hit the back yard on two different occcasions and have had a blast.

Of course, we can't have snow without making a snowman!

And you can't go sledding with Amy without her old favorite ski hat. Yes, it does say "Mental" on the front. How fitting!

Goofy Elves

Oh Christmas Tree

The kids took full control over decorating the tree this year. And let me tell you, they did a great job! For some reason, we seem to have some areas that contain multiple ornaments in one location.........but it looks wonderful.

As tradition, the fire was roaring, Christmas music playing, and ornaments breaking. Umm, I mean hanging.

Finding the Perfect One

After searching long and hard, we finally found the perfect tree for 2008. Though Amy was disappointed because it wasn't 15' tall, the family vote resulted in this beauty from Barnes Tree Farm.
We lucked out as it was a pretty nice day for the end of November and we were accompanied by Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Sue. And as you can see, I had plenty of help cutting down the tree and carrying it back to the car.

Born To Dance

There's never a dull moment in the Boelk house. The other night we had a little breakdancing going on.

You can't tell, but the kids are spinning on their back. What I'm doing......I'm not quite sure.

Believe it or not, I'm showing the boyz some serious moves here. Yes, I'm breakdancing, not breaking wind.

Ruby Love

Today is my parent's 40th Anniversary!!! First of all, we were lucky enough to spend the weekend and this special day with them as we enjoyed our trip up to Minny for the football game. Both the pictures here are of my parents in the top row of the Metrodome (see previous post). Yes, that is concrete behind them because we are in the last row!

Anyway, my sister and I have truly been blessed to be raised by such loving, caring, and most importantly unselfish parents. I am so proud to have them as my parents and look forward to the same accomplishment with my beautiful wife in the future. They are the ultimate role models and I look up to them in every aspect of their life, in particular their 40 years together.

Congratulations to you Mom and Dad. We are happy for you, proud to be part of your special day, and love you with all our hearts.

Happy Anniversary!

A Real Butt Kickin'

Well, we took our bi-annual trip to the Metrodome to watch the Hawks beat up on the Gophers this weekend. As you probably know, this trip was even more memorable than those in the past as it was the last game in the not-so-sound-friendly Metrodome. We had a great time with the usual suspects.....my parents, sister and her family, and our good friends Jim ("Slim Jim") and Diane Griffin. Many thanks to Amy's parents, Jeff and Sue, for watching the kids, house and dog while we were away!


As always, the Dome turned into Kinnick North and was full of thousands of Hawkeye fans. Our seats...........a bit high up there. To say the least. We did prove the atmosphere is quite colder the highter you get in elevation as most of us left the coats on throughout the game. We were seated in the top row at the Dome and literally between ductwork and piping.
Funny thing is, no matter where you watched the game from......be it the top row, front row, or your couch at home; the Hawkeyes DOMINATED the gophers and should be headed to sunny Florida for the holidays.

It was great to see the Seniors go out with such a big win and exciting to seen Greene break the rushing record. We only wish he and DJK didn't play bumper cars on the way toward the endzone on his last run. Somewhere in the picture below is Floyd, can you find him?

As always, the Hawks were thankful for our fan support and showed it by walking around the stadium and celebrating with all of us.

Love That Front Porch

Neighborhood Treats

I know, I know......we've been a bit slow at the blogging as of late. So, I thought I would go back and share a few pics and summary from our night of trick or treating.


The kids had a great time going around the Pheasant Run neighborhood as the weather was absolutely beautiful. Being that we live in the outskirst of small town West Branch, the kids took a ride in the trailer, hooked up to the ol' John Deere, as we met up with other friends.

After the search for treats, we headed to the Yeggy's for a great Halloween Party. Many thanks to Jodi and Kim for setting this up for the kids and adults. Jodi had some great spooky activities for the kids including the famous gross body parts (food) and the now infamous mummy wrap race via the use of toilet paper. It was a great time!

"She's beautiful"

So little Miss Katie Iverson says we need to make a new post, so for lack of a post with actual content or photos, I remembered this funny story from a month ago.

So I'm taking the boys to get haircuts at Twin Image and we are sitting there waiting our turn right by the reception desk and the conversation goes like this:

Carver: Who's cutting our hair mommy?
Me: Danielle, that lady right over there behind the counter with the curly hair.
Carver: Oh, I like her hair, it's beautiful.
Me: Wow, Carver beautiful? Where did you learn that word?
Carver: At school. She's beautiful.
Me: Well you should tell her that if that's what you think.

Danielle is ready and comes walking over to us.

Me: Carver, don't you have something you want to tell Danielle?
Carver: You're beautiful! (4 yr old talking, sounds more look bootiful)
Danielle: Oh that's so sweet! (In a high pitched voice)

And Carver gets a big hug and a kiss on the cheek from beautiful Danielle. Since then, Carver has used this method on a few waitresses with the same result. Kinnick chimes in with his own bootiful's every once in awhile too.

May that be a lesson to all of the men out there, sincere compliments MAY get you a kiss and a hug!

Pre-Marital Bliss

9 years ago today, yes on Halloween, my beloved husband proposed to me. We took a picnic at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. After driving around trying to find the perfect picnic spot (I think it was at least 45 minutes), we finally settled on a place under a tree. Imagine that, a good place under a tree at an arborteum. :-)

We first ate our lunch, then Brian gets out one of those pumpkin trick or treat bins to put your candy in. Inside it was a ton of candy corn, my favorite halloween candy of all time! I was like ooohhhh sweet, my favorite. All of a sudden, Brian gets out a sheet of paper and he says I wrote a poem for you. It was titled "Candy Corn" and was very sweet (haha get it, pun for dear Grandpa Fred). I had no idea Brian could write poems and good ones at that! He had managed to touch on our years in college together when we were just friends in our civil engineering classes and then the year we had spent together in Chicago. I shed quite a few tears and didn't even realize what was going on, until Brian said look in the candy corn. Buried in the candy corn was a ring box with my engagement ring in it. I was completely surprised and had no idea it was coming. Of course I said yes, and a year and few days later we entered "marital bliss" on November 4th, 2000.

Most people don't remember the specific day they got engaged, but thanks to my creative husband, I will never forget how it happened on Halloween. Thanks baby for the memories!

Crave to Carve

As some of you know, one thing we look forward to doing every year is carving pumpkins come Halloween time. This year we ended up getting one pumpkin for each member of the family from the Kroul farm.

Of course, have the fun is gutting the pumpkins and pulling out the seeds to bake later. The kids love this part!

It was a lot of fun this year as the kids were able to tell me what they wanted carved on their pumpkin. So, here are the results.....

Taylor wanted a pumpkin on her pumpkin with a bat balancing on top of the pumpkin, and of course what ever my girl wants I provide.

Carver decided to go with a scary type of ghost. Here is what I came up with.

Kinnick was the more challenging request as he wanted Bob the Builder on his pumpkin. Though I had some issues with Bob's overalls, all in all it came out pretty good.

Not only I do carve the pumpkins, but Amy is talented as well. Here is the pumpkin she chose and carved herself.

And finally, I decided to go the Star Wars route this year and carved a Darth Vader pumpkin. It was difficult but fun to see the end product. I was then able to take the Vader pumpkin to our church couples group as there are several Star Wars fanatics in our group.

All the pumpkins together!