wogoman weekly - volume 3 issue 27

Good Thursday Morning. How did that happen? I was bored senseless last Wednesday and now my break is almost gone and I am wondering what I did with the last week. Oh Christmas and watching a two year old! We had an absolutely great Christmas. Thank you to everyone for everything. Tenille got her first gun and is proudly shooting the dogs with the marshmellows. They like it because they get treats! Tenille also added to her dollie collection and I will have to take a picture of them all now and tell you their names. She is so creative. :) Jason is taking today off of work and we are having our "new years" a night early since he works tomorrow. Oh for next year and hopefully not as many holidays to work. He has been busy feeding our deer out here. The forest has snow (well it did until this morning) but around his feeder it looks like a stamped occurred. I wish I could keep a running tab of all the cute stuff Tenille says. This week I can only remember the one from the bath tub. Tenille was floating around in there and I said oh are you flying? To which she responded, "No mama I don't have feathers. I don't have wings." All I could say was good point. Do most two and a half year old talk like that? So smart. I am sending her two and half year picture with Bart. As soon as we got Bart out to take the picture she ran to the sun room to find the big chair. Only to discover (after months of it being moved) that it wasn't there. She had to take her picture in the chair so we climbed the ladder to the loft (where the chair is) and took this picture. She is so big when compared to how little she was with Bart. There is rumor mill that they are going to move Tenille up to a new class at the first of the year so we will see how that goes. For Christmas Tenille made us cut outs of her hands. J opened them up Christmas morning only to find we had a had for mommy and a hand for Abbie's daddy. Apparently the dad hands got switched and Abbie's daddy got Tenille's had. I can't believe how much bigger Abbie's hands are from Tenille's. Abbie isn't that much older than her. Tenille at two and a half years. Tenille at one month. I get my student teacher next Monday. So everyone say a prayer that it goes well, he's good with the kids, and it doesn't end of being tons more work for me. :) I am starting my new years resolution early. I want to be able to make bread from scratch. I know a weird goal but it is something that I want to do. I have tried twice over break. First time is didn't get fluffy at all. The second time it was a sticky mess but tasted great. So if I try it once a week we outta be good by the time the year is over. I guess it just intrigues me that this is a skill my great grandparents and grandparents took for granted and now here I am struggling with dough all over my fingers. We have moved forward as a society so much but have lost the little things along the way. I mean have you ever made bread from scratch? See. Tenille did help the second time and loved getting the flour everywhere but she said it was "too loud" while I worked on kneading the bread. Well we have one tree down and most decorations put away. Just seems like the new year is coming so we had been clean up for it. May the rest of your 2010 be amazing. See you next year!

wogoman weekly - volume 3 issue 26

Good Afternoon to everyone! I hope this finds you with presents wrapped and Christmas music playing. Just a short one this week. We are completely enjoying the library. There are computer games for her down there and she is so QUICK to figure them out. I am amazed at her all the time. She even lets me pick out books too! :) One of the computer games is actually a song game and she has learned where is thumbkin. Except she sings it like this, "I'm a pumpkin, I'm a pumpkin, here I am, here I am." Isn't that just adorable? She is a little angry with daycare because they are not "singing her songs anymore" now that the Christmas show is over she still thinks they need to be singing! I started helping with her class at church. That is where the picture of the play dough comes from. I have this unnatural fear of play dough. I think it is the texture and how my hands feel and smell when we are done. Play dough is a toy that is better for church and school then here. :) So far in two days off from school I have sewn my little heart out making these little organizers for all our electronic cables. I made one for Tenille out of a some Elmo fabric I had left over. That girl has more cords than I do! But her toys are so smart that it is a given. I put Christmas songs on her Violet the bear and she is SO happy. It is supposed to say your kids name but Tenille is not one of the 1,500 options so I put Neal on there instead. She is so happy. "Mommy it knows my name!" She keeps saying. My other chore is that I used my 4-H cake decorating skills. I always wondered where they would come in handy because really how many cakes do you decorate? Any ways, when we moved in my critical eye noticed that the tile guy had "missed" sections of grout. A little here a little here. Why is that a bother? Because I have been pulling dirt , dog fur, glass, and dog food out of there. So last Christmas I called the guy who we bought the grout from. He gave me a huge thing of grout for free! And it has sat on my shelf until today. I whipped up some of that stuff (there were no directions except pictures so I guess on the amount of water) poured that stuff into a Ziploc bag and started filling in the holes. I vacuumed first to get all the dirt etc out. Two hours later I am happy to say that grouting is just like frosting a cake. And darn I am proud of myself. There is actually more do to but my hands were all pruny from the sponge and water I was also using so I gave it up for today. Still totally proud of myself. Tomorrows goal? Touch up the paint that we have knocked off the walls in the last year. I am happy to report that she keeps saying the darnest things. I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. Her answer, "A pumpkin, with big boobies and a big tummy." Yep that is our kid! It gets even better because apparently she went to school last week and told them too that when she gets bigger she will get big boobies like mommy. Oh I guess I have to watch what I tell that girl. I hope your Christmas is excellent. I know you will all be waiting for all the pictures. I'm sure there will be great stories like always.

wogoman weekly - volume 3 issue 25

I asked my fourth block class Friday, would you like to hear the gross story or the messy story. They opted for the gross story so we will start there. Picture it a nice evening at the library. Tenille and I hung up our coats, have picked out 5 books, have colored on the computer, and are now doing puzzles. Tenille say she has to go potty and we head in that direction. Only to be side tracked by the chalk table. After moving her past there she looked and me and said. "I already go" I look at her pants and no, they aren't wet that I can see. So we head to the bathroom, me being confident that we had it. That is until I pull down those pants and realize that the underware are NOT leaving the bathroom with us and that the pants are soaking. So there I sit. My perplexing problem was this: My daughter had nothing for the lower half of her body. I didn't have anything with me to put on her. In fact, the long I sat there the worse I realized I was. I didn't even have my keys to the car because they were in my coat which was in the middle of the library. So do I 1) leave the naked girl in the bathroom and make a brake for my coat and keys. no. 2) do I take a naked girl into the library? No 3) wrap her in paper towel and take her out there. no.4) quickly clean up the pants the best I can and run for the keys. yes. So as I am literally running through the library I pick up our stuff get the books checked and out and start running for the door. Tenille at this point is in tears. Why? not because she is in half poopy pants but because she didn't get the get her hands stamped when we checked out. so back to the circulation desk we go, get two hands stamped with a chocolate smelling Christmas oranament and head out. Ugh. We made it to the car with no further problems. So now for the the messy story ( I know how could the last one NOT be the messy story) I go to school Friday to hear drip drip drip. Oh yes my ceiling is leaking at our new school. Guess that is what you get for putting a flat roof on a big building. Anyway, our awesome janitor comes up looks at it while I am at a meeting, and when I come back, no dripping. Awesome. Then during second block I hear it louder and in different spots. Then my kids says, "um your ceiling is cracking" I run over there just in time. I put a trash can under the cracked area and the ceiling falls down. Most of it went in the trash can. :) But then there is the thing, handing from the ceiling . . what is that . . oh another trash can that is now holding all the water that has been dripping for the last 4 hours. So my students (who are awesome when the need to be) jump up on my desk (oh yes this is all happening over my computer and my desk and my pictures) and hold the ceiling up while I call my janitor again. I am just glad I had 3 tall guys to help. So the janitor came in and took everything down and brought me more trash cans. They called the roofers and by the end of the day, no more leaks. Let's pray that it stays that way! On Saturday I decided that taking Tenille to the store is now a challenge. Toy Story is out and so is the new Shrek. So besides all the other cool stuff to play with at her level, she kept running around the store wanting to look at whatever Shrek/toy story merchandise they were selling. Then she declared she had to go potty so we run to the front of the store and there is a big sign. "no unpaid merchandise" so I leave my cart with the nice girl "vanessa" behind the counter and head in there. She did great and was so excited that Target has sinks her size. So we come out and then I remember, nope didn't bring my purse in. So we have to go out to the car, get the purse, and come back in. By this time, Tenille is about in tears because the new dolly I was going to get her has now been left twice. Poor girl. The check out clerk gave her a candy cane and the world was all better. The individual string chesse that I had bought for her didn't hold up to that. While all these stories have made my life interesting I keep hearing thise cute things she has said lately: "Mommy I am going to make a rainbow" when refering to peeing in the toliet. "I love her mommy" when I gave her a new doll. "I need you to help me play" when we wanted me to play house with her. "I look like a princess" when she put on her dress for her christmas play. "oh look I found a blue's clue" She saw a paw print on some soap to get rid of pet stains. "yes brie did it." When she found coloring on her notebook she blamed her cousin Brie. We might be in trouble ladies and gents. After all these great stories am I sure you are thinking there can't be more . .ahh but there is(hey J was gone all week, what was I going to do but type to you and wrap presents) Anyways, with the terrible winds we had Sunday I was amazed at how "leaky" our house was. The wind would blow and the doors would rattle. The air was a movin. So I close both chimmeys. They the wind really blew and the door to the gararge opened! I was so amazed and a little scared. Then when I downstairs to wrap presents. I went to get a pen in our "craft" room and it was SO cold! Why, oh the basement door was open and it had snowed in my house . . .probably all day! Awesome. So once I closed that door, hey my house wasn't so "leaky" and my furance wasn't running so much. But boy was that room cold!

Our Christmas Letter 2010

In the hopes of bringing you entertainment and knowledge of our family we have created our 2010 story for you:   C is for the care that we have been putting into the outside of our house.  Time flies by so fast and yet there is so much to do.  We had some Amish guys come in this spring and cut down some trees that were either dead of hanging over the house.  Then we were able to use a bulldozer to accomplish tons more work than we ever thought was possible in one year.  We can now see clearly out of our back windows into our forest.   H is for Harry and Sasha.  Sasha is doing well and is as feisty as ever.  Harry is a "98 model" as the vet said and is starting to slow down and lose weight.  It makes us sad.   R is for relationships.  J and I are doing great.  We celebrated our ten year anniversary with four days away.  It was the longest we have been away from Tenille.  J got two new guys on his rig this year and is training them.  I am teaching a new IB math class which is challenging but something new.   I is for the internet.  Our blog is still up and running at wogomanweekly.blogspot.com   S is for sleep that we wish we were getting.  Tenille is not sleeping.  Or maybe I should say, not sleeping very long.  Most night she gets up several times for all sorts of reasons.  Mostly because she is scared or doesn't feel well.  Ahh for the days of sleep!   T is for Tenille, Obviously!  She is growing like a weed and so smart.  If you ask her she will even tell you so. We are working on big girl panties right now.  What an interesting event that is.  She is still at Little Saints daycare and doing well.  She loves her teachers and is learning so much.   M is for maturity of our garden.  Jason used the bulldozer to flatten off a new area for a garden next year.  I tried my hand at growing seeds and only accomplished to bring squash, little pumpkins, and one zinnia into fruition.  So next year, watch out.  I've got herbs going and will be more prepared for the visitors that come to my garden.   A is for animals that that I just mentioned.  Tenille has named some of them; we have Flo the deer with her two babies, Abby and Tracy; the kitty cats which Sasha helped to "remove"; Dorothy, the 23 cent goldfish that was used for a decoration for Tenille's second birthday that is still living; and the birdies.  Ahh the birdies.  We have the most delicious house.  The woodpeckers come out of the woodwork (ha ha) to eat our house and two barns.  We also were graced with a bat in January.  There is a nice video of it on our blog.  The bat came into the attic via the hole from a LARGE woodpecker.  I got the bat a house for outside so I hope it moved into there.   S is for all the super things we hope to accomplish next year.  We are hoping to restore our pool to actually being a pool. This will be AWESOME.  So have a great Christmas and      remember the true reason for this season. Love, Jason, Tracy, & Tenille Wogoman

wogoman weekly - volume 3 issue 24

My evening conversation went like this. "Tenille here is your toothbrush." "Is this a new toothbrush mommy? "No" "I think actually it is" Is it weird to you that our two year old (excuse me two and a half if you ask her) uses the word actually in a sentence? My grandparents party this weekend was so nice. Family and friends from all over came to see them. We got lots of pictures and were able to hear stories that haven't been told for awhile. Like my grandparents friends wrote Just Married on their car with soap. The problem? The soap scratched the paint and so as long as they owned the car it said "Just married" Fun huh? I am sure my grandfather didnt think it was funny back then. We are "knock on wood" 7 days into no accidents with Tenille. She is still sleeping in a pull up and some mornings is dry. The other night she work up screaming mommy I need you. I go it there and she says she has to go tinkle. So we go and she does and then she falls right back asleep. Isn't that amazing? I think so. Today daycare said that she is going to the bathroom all by herself (that stinker, she doesn't do that at home) and so therefore are going to put her on the potty trained list and we now will get to pay LESS for daycare. Yippy! After looking at last week's photos I had to laugh. If you look at all my family at the tree farm I look so tiny compared to everyone. Am I really THAT short? I would also like to comment on our tree upstairs this year. While it is fake, J has decided that this is a "building year" for the tree. What does that mean. It means we have only 1.5 strands of lights that actually work, and angel that doesn't want to stay on top and a daughter that keeps moving the decorations. Next year I'll be sure to by more lights. :) My sister came over Sunday to sew some Christmas things. She helped me fix my machine and we both decided that I am sewing challenged. :) We made a pillow for Tenille and she is oh so excited it. She was supposed to take it to school today but didn't want to get it out of her bed. So it stayed at home today. We talked to Tenille about her new cousin that is coming in May. Tenille woke up this morning talking about her new cousin. She then said that she was going to name the Susie. Then changed her mind and decided she would call the baby, Baby. My Uncle Bill thinks we should call the baby squishy until it gets here. :) Jason got a deer Sunday night. Yippy now there will be meat in the freezer. He also had breakfast with Santa and made etruth.com Stinker told the paper the wrong name so this is what was printed. Gotta watch out for that boy! Caption: Elkhart Central fire fighters Bret Schrock (left) and Mike Nemes (right) make pancakes Saturday morning at the station for the annual pancake and sausage with Santa breakfast Saturday, December 4, 2010. (Truth Photo By Adrienne Barnett) http://www.etruth.com/Know/TruthPhotos/PhotoDetails.aspx?id=120610 Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

wogoman weekly - volume 3 issue 23

Good evening all! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a great time at our house. I had an extra day off of work and it was AWESOME to relax just a little bit more. That being said, Of course I filled it with things to do. Like Candy making and last minute gifts for people. Thanksgiving day after I got out of the shower and dried my hair, the power went out. I had to bake my baked corn at my mom's house. Crazy. So I am sure in Middlebury there were a few thanksgivings that didn't go as planned. But I guess that is God trying to remind us to be flexible. :) Potty Training is going so well I am afraid to jinx myself. She is sleeping in a pull up at home and at school and she wears one when she goes outside to play but that is it. Something about that cold air makes her have to pee like right now. I learned first hand when she peed down the slide at the park. ugh. She is currently 4 days accident free. :) Potty training is lending itself to quite a few fun phrases: 1)I'm gonna poop a big one 2)it's too hard to poop 3)I can see my tinkle in there, bye bye tinkle (as she flushes the toilet) but my favorite one is: my butt is empty mom (when she is all done peeing) or my butt has a lot of pee in it. How are you supposed to respond to those with out laughing? We got our trees up. I got a fake tree (gasp I know) for upstairs. I don't think I can survive another year of our tree falling and losing ornaments that will make me cry again. So the upstairs tree is special ones, the downstairs really tree is the fireman tree. Tenille got some ornaments last year so we gave her a fake tree. I thought she could put her few on there. Well she loaded that one down with anything that she thought was nice. I am surprised it doesn't fall over. :) Only two weeks and two days of school left this year and that I am done(for the year). Yippy! I always like to tell my kids I am quiting and not working for the rest of the year. They just roll their eyes at me. You know, how teenagers do. Well I think that is about it. Grandma and Grandpa Watson are having a big party on Saturday and Jason has breakfast with Santa that day at the fire department so it outta be a busy but good time. Tomorrow night is date night and we are off to our new favorite spot. The white pigeon inn. Thursdays is $5 pitcher nights, they have frosted mugs and pitchers, and they dote on Tenille like it is no body's business. So much fun. I have to end with a huge blessing in my life that I must pass on. I washed one load of clothes today like everyday and what do I find in the dryer? My USB. Ugh, my 8 GB USB with all my photos from the blog and my christmas letters and everything! I plugged it in and guess what? If you wash and dry your USB, it still works. How about that? I of course plugged it in and immediately backed it all up on my new 1.5 terabit hard drive. Yep, I braved the cold and the crazies to get 1.5 terabits. What am I going to do with all that space. . . anything I want. :) 24 more sleeps until Santa comes! Have a great night.