Happy Birthday Back-To-Back Salutations

Happy Birthday Michael!

If I was there to help celebrate your birthday I would probably take you out for ice cream!

Maybe your mom and dad can do it on my behalf. Hey! Its your birthday, might as well take the whole family to share in the celebration! May I recommend odering a banana split.

Blow out a candle for me, OK?

So, if you see or call Michael today be sure to wish him a happy birthday!

Have an enjoyable day and do not forget to get measured every year!

Posted by Randy

Birthday Salutation little Sister!

I wish a Birthday salutations to my little sister Marcy!

She is still in her 30's so she has not reached the mile marker 40 yet like the rest of her older brothers and sisters, while some of the siblings have even made it to milemarker 50 already!

So if anyone happens to sees Marcy today, please wish her a happy birthday and maybe even tell a story about her when you were growing up with her.

I will start,

Back when Marcy was in the second grade (picture on top left) I did custodial work where Marcy was in school. I would hide notes in her desk when I cleaned her classroom. Some of the notes said "Marcy is a Nerd", and "why are you reading this when you should be listening to your teacher?"

Also, I believe the video of her rendition of "Wayne's World" is still at mom and dad's house!

If her other bothers or sisters have a story to share about Marcy's younger years you can add them to the comment section, or share them with her family!

Happy Birthday Marcy!

Posted by Randy

Why am I blinking?

I woke up this morning and looked at the alarm clock and noticed, I could see it, then I didn't, I saw it then I didn't, and I wondered why am I blinking so often? Then I realized my eyelids were not blinking! The clock was flashing! I thought drats, the electricity went out last night, how late is it? Luckily it was about the time I was supposed to get up.

Another windy day up here. What else can I say? Stupid wind, it sprung our side storm door. Now we have to pull it to get it to shut.

We are trying to get Matthew to send out his graduation invitations, real ones not the ones he sent out on Facebook. If you could please send him an email to get them printed and mailed out like now would be very much appreciated. The more nagging the better! Yes, even more than what you are thinking.

I am headed down to Council Bluffs, IA/Omaha, Ne area to teach the second portion of a river rescue class down there. We are teaching it to fire and Law enforcement officer from that area. It is supposed to rain over the weekend so we will be wet both top and bottom.

I come back Sunday and turn around on Monday and go down to Montezuma for two days of rifle school. We were issued rifles and now they want us to become more familiar with them. They are .308 caliber rifles, they provide a good wallup to your shoulder when you shoot them. we will be shooting 500 rounds through them during those two days. I hope I have a shoulder left on Tuesday when I go home. I shot these rifles before, they are an accurate rifle you just have to make sure there is no dead space between your shoulder and the back of the rifle.

Daniel is doing good in driver's ed, he drove today I did not hear anything on my police radio so he must not have hit anything.

Sarah is having fun on her band trip

We hope everybody is doing good and staying healthy

Posted by Randy

"I am a lumberjack, and I'm OK, I sleep all night, and I work all day"

just a quick post from Mary.


OMFGSH, Pandora Radio is AWESOME!


=DDDDDD

we are getting ready for the play this week, i hope it goes good!

Stephen will be Stephen

During Stephen's First Communion Mass, Father Tilp had each child stand up on the pew, face the congregation, introduce themselves and then say one thing they knew about Jesus. I whispered to Stephen asking him what he would say. He whispered back that he would say that Jesus was born on Christmas Day.

I thought we were safe.

When it was Stephen's turn, he stood on the pew, took the microphone, and faced the packed church. He said," My name is Stephen Schnoebelen." Father then asked him to say one thing he knew about Jesus.

Stephen said, "Jesus was born on Christmas Day...or night...I don't know!"

The whole church laughed.

Why did I think we were safe?

~posted by Stephen's Mom

Birthday Salutations

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!

If you happen to see Anna out and around wish her a Happy birthday!

We hope your special day is a fun one.

posted by Randy

Quickly Written

A quick note:

I finally made my decision on wich college I'm going to, and I've decided on Buena Vista. So I accepted their financial aid award, and I'll be sending my housing application soon. And in the fall I will be in college!

Invitation to my open house coming soon.

Weekend in Review

The weekend went very well, we all enjoyed the visit of both sets of grandparents!

Stephen made his first Communion and it was really nice to have both sets of grandparents in attendance. We had a little get together afterwards, and Monsignor Slepicka showed up and we all enjoyed his company. Monsignor told us some of his adventures that he had while up in Alaska doing some missionary work up there for the past two months. Monsignor is in his late 70's to early 80's and the amount of activities that he is doing is amazing. He does not look or act like he is older than 65!

He recommended not to eat the whale, the taste was not that great. He explained that on the plate it was the size and shape of candy and it looked like a piece of candy, and having a sweet tooth decided to try it (not knowing what it was at the time he tried it). He found out what he tried was actually whale, and the taste did not come close to tasting like candy.

He also advised us not to taste sea lion oil, it tasted like rotten eggs. The Eskimos and Indians up there hunt sea lions and use the sea lion oil as a staple as a cooking oil. The Eskimos and Indians use sea lion oil all the time.

Out in the bush the price of things are very expensive, a gallon of milk can cost $8 to $9, a small jar of regular cooking oil about the same price. While in the major cities of Alaska the price of goods is similar to the lower states, but out in the bush things are very expensive.

Monsignor also said that the men would do all the hunting and the women in the village would clean what the men caught....hmmmm I kind of like that concept!

We took Mary back to school Sunday afternoon and then went to West Des Moines to attend Sarah's concert. The Wartburg Wind Ensemble played at the New Hope Lutheran Church in West Des Moines Sunday night.

The concert was excellent, for those attending her concert in Iowa City you will really enjoy it. Dr. Hancock did an excellent job of describing each piece of music they played and also talked a lot of the traditions that were a part of the band.

Sarah's Iowa City concert is Friday April 24, 2009 at 7:00 PM at the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church 123 E Market St.

The "Limerick Daydream" piece was amazing.

This will be Sarah's last and final concert in the wind ensemble as a college student. The tradition that they do at the end of each performance is neat, and I am guessing she will probably get misty eyed.

She will play in the May term concert, but she will being playing the clarinet and will conduct one piece. But the wind ensemble band for the seniors will end with this tour

We hope you can attend the concert. The performance will lasts about 2 hours

Posted by Randy

It's Friday! end of the week

The sun is shining today and it is supposed to hit 70 degrees today!

Matthew is back from his Buena Vista Visit. He had a good time and enjoyed it and now he will need to make a decision. His senior pictures are done and he needs to get those picked up also.

Stephen has his first communion tomorrow and there is a lot of things to do.

Both sets of grandparents are coming up and everybody is excited about that. I am having some difficulties in the light inspection department. Currently I have more light bulbs out than replacement bulbs. I need to fix that before tomorrow.

I just found out that they now sell Sterzing potato chips up here now! Wow! how cool is that?

Daniel has his french horn solo tomorrow in Greene, IA, wish him luck on that. Caroline will be going down to see that.

I have to teach a hunter ed class tomorrow morning so things will be a little hectic around here tomorrow.

we are finishing up the last of the homemade cinnamon rolls, boy! were they good! I believe they were my best batch so far.

The Taurus has new front brakes so both cars have been given a clean bill of health. We took both cars in last week to have all fluids flushed, oil changed, and new plugs in the Taurus hopefully with a little preventative maintenance that will help in the long run.

The Buick stills seems to start when we turn the key so we take it on short trips into town. When it decides not to start we will haul it away. Having to inflate the front tire every other day is annoying though.

I pick Mary up today at 4:30 PM

everybody have a good weekend. We hope you are enjoying reading our posts

Posted by Randy

2009 Tour Schedule

My blog will have a closer following of the tour schedule for the Wind Ensemble, but here is the gist...

Friday, April 17
7:00 p.m.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
1206 C Ave.
Vinton, IA

Saturday, April 18
7:30 p.m.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
517 SW Des Moines St.
Ankeny, IA

Sunday, April 19
7:00 p.m.
Lutheran Church of Hope
925 Jordan Creek Parkway
West Des Moines, IA

Monday, April 20
7:00 p.m.
Lutheran High School of Kansas City
12411 Wornall Rd.
Kansas City, MO

Wednesday, April 22
7:30 p.m.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
327 Woods Mill Rd
Ballwin, MO

Thursday, April 23
7:00 p.m.
Mt. Ayr High School
1001 E. Columbus St.
Mt. Ayr, IA

Friday, April 24
7:00 p.m.
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
123 E Market St
Iowa City, IA

Should be a good run! :-D We leave tomorrow at 3pm.

Doctor declares Caroline is alive!

My yearly physical is over and I'm not diabetic, but my blood pressure is a little high. I'll keep tabs on that. I also got medicine for my migraines. I'll see if that helps.

Stephen's First Communion is this Saturday at the 4:00 pm Mass.

Matthew got back from his overnight visit to BVU and now needs to make his final decision on college.

Avocados were on sale for a buck each, so I'll make avocado, feta, salsa for Sat. We're sorry you can't be here Sarah!

posted by Caroline

Birthday Salutation!

A Birthday salutation to my Nephew Mathias!

May all your presents be tax exempt!

posted by Randy

Philomena is posting, Boredom is boring

HI I'm posting because I am BORED OUT OF MY MIND.

And now a word from our sponsor.

Have you ever been BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND? If you have, I have something for you. It will change your life forever. It is to go outside and play, right now, I mean it, go outside and use your imagination!

thank-you sponsor.

Now where was I? Oh yes, of course I am BORED OUT OF MY MIND, because I have already done my schoolwork, already played Matthew's Xbox 360, played outside and used my imagination. (This Is what you should be doing right after you read this). Go take a book outside and read it. Maybe something like an educational book. Here is a warning: if you play brain mushing games like computer and Nintendo DS I will track you down and make you go out side. Do not go into hiding, I will still track you down and make you go outside, because it will cure you of your BOREDOM! Thank you.

Oh and one more thing Matthew is even nerdier than me.

posted by Philomena

Daniels post......WHERE'S THE ICON!?!?

Hello, I am trying to get an icon up on this blog and not being very successful. I was also going to show you a video of a guy putting 12 glow sticks in a blender but it wasn't uploading for some reason, ):~[P a reason that requires a big complicated emoticon an even better one was 6 Bic lighters, there was a nice 'splosion on that one, but oh well life goes on..............and I want a break.

Philomena is all better

Philomena had a doctor's appointment and her x-ray was clean. She is completely pneumonia free!

Stephen tried to get out of doing school work by reminding me that it was Easter Monday. (You gotta love those religious calendars.) I had to explain to him that, yes it was Easter Monday, but that was not the same as Easter Sunday and the no unnecessary work because it is a Holy Day did not apply.

Daniel has his 2nd Drivers Educ. class Tues. night. Last week, his instructor said he loved having homeschoolers in his classes, because they can drive during the school day.

Matthew is only working the 5am shift at Fareway two times this week because of his college visit to Storm Lake.

I just got done taking down Easter Hallmark cards at HyVee and putting up Mother's Day and Graduation. It only took me 6 hours.

It was great having Sarah and Mary home for Easter break even though I didn't get to see them very much because I worked at Perkins for 5 days in a row. Now they are both back at school and working hard.

posted by Caroline

Mary has gone to the dark side and stolen their cookies, yaay me!

after leaving at 2ish today, Libby and I made it in good time arriving at 4, making it before Megan and my acting partner. i didn't think i would arrive that early.

yes!


well my dorm room is as cold as ever. frink, what is up Central? it's up all the way and its cold! it set to "warm" not to "cool". its like they set the whole building to air conditioning and when you have that you don't want it to be warm, cuz its hot outside, dumb, its still cold outside and i cant sleep well!


i have lots of candy now... i wont be able to finish it before i go, haha, i barely even delved in Megan's and Jens pile of candy that they gave me. and now Easter candy! that's good cuz i need chocolate, they gave me cool candy not the fundamental of loneliness.

Matt was busy doing stuff today so i wasn't able to see him today. and hes been kinda moody lately, so I'm gonna wait for him. he'll contact me when he wants to hang out.

its kinda funny, one of my best friends here at Central is also dating a Mat (he only has one "t" though) I have a brother Matthew, Sarah's Luke also has a brother Matthew. lots of Matt's. =]

mines tall. taller then Matthew, haha, he's 6'6", my top of my head comes to his shoulders ^-^

he makes me happy =DDDD he was one of the people who just listened to me last semester with my boy problems, along with Andy (who is in London right now), and Matt's just really nice, and he's just ah! i just like him alot! i could write alot more but i feel like you guys would find that boring ^-^

that's my warm fuzziness about my boyfriend, its still really new to me, i hope it will turn out good, i hope i hope i hope i hope...

i cant believe that cue-to-cue is next Saturday. then the performance, wow. and this week Stephen is receiving his first Communion.

i have not had a weekend for myself!

oh well.

well I'm going to bed 8am class tomorrow, best wishes!

~~Mary~~

Let's add some color

This is an Icon.

It is used to add color to your blog.

There are also apps you can install that make your blog more interesting, and not just text.

These are my helpful tips today, I'm going to work on my homework now that the computer kindly deleted for me. ):-[

~Matt

---

Philomena is a Nerd.

Post from Sarah

Okay, so I am proving to Dad that I can post to this blog without signing in on his account, since he "invited" me to be a member of this blog. (Actually I invited myself, as I was there helping Dad set up this whole thing.)

Also, Dad, I go back to school on Tuesday.

Does anyone want my jelly beans? I get them every year, no matter how I try and hint that I don't like them and don't want them....

Okay, I'm going to go procrastinate my homework in some other manner...

Easter 2009

Post By Randy:
We are winding down from Easter, the kids still have candy in their Easter Baskets (they did not eat it all in one sitting!)

All but Sarah and Caroline went to the Saturday night Easter vigil mass at Holy Family in Mason City. Caroline and Sarah went today at 10:00 AM at Holy Family. It was a nice Saturday night Vigil, the priest invited anyone who wished to go out for the lighting of the Easter Fire. I took Philomena and Stephen, they enjoyed that since they do not normally see that part of the service. I did have to "SHHH!" Stephen because he wanted the Deacon to move out of the way so he could see the Easter fire. Stephen makes his first communion next Saturday April 18, 2009 another milestone reached! Both set of grandparents are going to be there, it will be exciting, cake and ice cream afterwards!

I made homemade cinnamon rolls yesterday for Easter Sunday breakfast. They turned out good, they were actually really moist, I think I was a little heavy on the icing, but my theory on icing is that "if there is any cinnamon roll exposed...it needs more icing!" Each time I make them I am perfecting and improving the making of them. As I told Marie it would be nice to make them again for everyone.

The kids had fun finding all the Easter eggs hidden around the house by the Easter Bunny. They also had to find their Easter basket of candy and the chocolate Bunny that Grandma and Grandpa Siefken got them. We have been doing this tradition ever since Sarah was born, so far all eggs have been recovered and returned back to the cartons and refrigerator! We have had a couple close calls in years past. Whew! Sometimes I wish the Easter Bunny would leave us a note to let us know where he places those eggs!

Our Easter meal was excellent, we ate around 3:00 PM we had a Kor-Bert Ham (which is the best ham made. I do know the person who produces these hams they are good he is a really good generous guy) yams, garlic, (and extra garlic) mashed potatoes, snicker salad, fruit salad, green bean bake and buns.

I made the yams and mashed potatoes, I put the ham in, and Caroline finished up the ham, Philomena made the fruit salad, dessert, and set the table, Daniel made the snicker salad. Shoot! I forgot to get out the dessert for bed time snack for the Philomena and Stephen, oh well there is always tomorrow.

Caroline and Mary went to work at Perkins after we ate. Mary is finding out the cost of college and decided to work to acquire a little extra cash.

Sarah is home this weekend, and is currently visiting her adopted parents the Taylors, and our adopted daughter Jessica :-)

It is nice to have everyone home, I hope they are enjoying their time away from work, I know I did when I was going to school. Both Mary and Sarah go back to school on Monday.

My Certified Public Manager's program (CPM) is going well, I am really enjoying the learning opportunity the program is offering, and it has really opened my eyes into Public managing. CPM is a certified program just like the CPA program is to Accounting.

I will start my masters program in Public Administration with my first class the Friday after Memorial Day. This program is set up as a cohort program, were I will take one class and it will meet on one Friday for 4 hours and then for two additional Friday and Saturday sessions and I will be done with that class. I will be taking 6 credits each session, and I will be able to complete my masters in 2010. My CPM course provides me 9 of the 27 credits needed to complete my masters in public administration.

Matthew is going to a college visit to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake on Wednesday, it will be an overnight. Matthew has his choice narrowed down between Morningside College in Sioux City and B. V. University in Storm Lake. We are waiting anxiously for the big announcement. His decision has to be decided before May 1, 2009. Matthew is also working on completing his Eagle project for Boy Scouts which is constructing a Bat house at the outdoor classroom at the Clear Creek school in Clear Lake. Matthew graduates this year on May 17, 2009.

Sarah graduates from college this year on May 24, 2009

Daniel has a solo contest this Saturday, he is playing french horn. Everybody wish him good luck

Philomena is in dance, Girl Scouts, and 4-H and is going to Girl Scout Camp this year.

Mary is the Craft Director at the Girl Scout Camp at Camp Tanglefoot in Clear Lake for this year. It is a new job position for her at camp!

Stephen is enjoying cub scouts and he goes to cub scout camp in June

I am taking a crew of scouts to the boundary waters for a week during the last week of July. There will be two other adults besides me going with 6 scouts, Matthew and Daniel will be going also. This will be Matthew's 3rd time to the boundary waters, Daniel's first time. We outfit ourselves so the cost of the trip is unbelievably cheap. It is a great time up there, it is my 3rd time as well.

A major house project this year is to put a ridge vent on the roof of our house. It appears the static vents are not ventilating the attic as needed. We found this out last December during a warming spell and water was dripping through the ceiling. with all the cooking we did over Christmas the moisture was collecting in the attic and froze, and then when it warmed up it melted. I have a friend who does construction and he said we can get it completed in just a half a day. Getting me up on the roof will take about a week to accomplish.

Well I rambled on for ever, I will cut this off, Obviously it has been a while and I felt the need to catch-up on. Hopefully these Blogs will shorten up as time goes on.

Keep in touch

Randy S.

The beginning of a new era

Well,..a big thanks to Sarah for helping me set up this blog site I am trying a new and additional way of staying connected to each other. It will not replace the telephone or a visit, but a way to try and remain connected.

It seems that our lives are getting so very busy. Just the simple act of trying to remember to pick up the phone and call can be distracted by another task that requires immediate attention, and before you know it you run out of daylight to make the call, or the other distraction caused you to forget to make the call. I am hoping by setting up this blog it will be a way to keep our family members up-to-date on what we have been doing and the little "going-ons" that is occurring with our family. Feel free to post quick comment to any blog entry that you feel moved to comment on. Like I said it will be another way of staying connected. So when we do remember to call or even visit we can talk right where we left off on what we posted on our blog site. I know just making a phone call can be time consuming and if reading our blogs will help you stay better connected that is my goal for setting up this blog. The last thing I want to do at a family reunion or a visit is to be forced to say or hear someone say "Boy,! It has been a long time since I have seen you. What have you been doing for the last 15 years?" With this blog we can try to keep everyone up-to-date with what we are doing.

Also with our children off at college they can read the home blog to see what it going on each day, just as I enjoy reading their blogs.

As time goes on and we get comfortable blogging we will post pictures and things. It will not just be me writing the blogs, but Caroline Matthew, Daniel, Philomena or Stephen may post with Sarah and Mary adding guest blog posts. The blogger will identify themselves who is writing the blog. We will also link to Sarah's, Mary's, and Matthew's blog site posts , but somehow Sarah said she can also add a post to this blog as a remote blogger(which we added to the settings) I have not figured out just how that works yet, but Sarah may have to demonstrate by showing how that is done.

Mary is also a remote blogger to this blog

that is all for now

Randy