Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

SIX!  I cannot believe it was six years ago today that Garek entered the world!  He arrived by C Section, a week ahead of the scheduled C Section!  He is such a curious young man.  He loves science, nature and figuring out how stuff works!  Today he brought cupcakes to school and he had a kid party here at the house.  It was a bug theme and we will post pictures later in the week.  I just could not resist posting a couple of baby Garek pics!

Mom and Dad buy a new car (first one in 15 years)

So yesterday, my parents (Mark and Dianne) came down because my dad had the weekend off, and they hardly ever have the opportunity to make the 4 hour drive to come see us unless there is a very specific thing going on (which I guess is the case this time since they were coming down to go to Garek's family B-day party at Chuck E. Cheese's in the cities, but happened to have the day before to come visit).

We (Matt and Gigi) have been long time Saturn owners (we did deviate once when we bought a Dodge Mini Van which was the biggest mistake of our life, and we corrected that by trading it in for our current Saturn Outlook), and my sister and bother in-law Andee and Bryan bought a VUE, and my brother Jake bought an SL as his first car and we gave him our SL1 instead of trading it in since it was a great car. So Mom and Dad Dobo have seen how great the Saturn cars are, and have always said that someday they would like to get something like a VUE once they convinced themselves that they could live with something smaller than a Mini Van (which has been the mainstay of the Dobo family fleet before the kids all left the nest and grew wheels of our own).

Since they had some time, I suggested that they stop at Saturn in Golden Valley, since that is where we have purchased our last three Saturns (it isn't that far off course and easy to get to on the way to our place), and our "guy" Mark is all that anyone could hope for in a car salesman. The idea was for them to get some info, take a test drive, so they could start mulling over things. I did give my dad a bit of a pep talk saying that you have to know ahead of time when the situation is right, and what sort of incentives are true incentives and not some sort of marketing gimmick so that if the situation presented, they would act on it instead of letting it slip by (I also had to explain that buying a car is not what you would think making a rather large purchase would be like- especially in the cities where everything moves fast, so be ready for a whirl wind of a ride if you decided to act).

Well, we hadn't heard anything and it was getting late. I was trying to time putting on some Beer Can Chickens so they would be done, but not cold by the time they were here, thinking that Dad and I might catch up while they are cooking. So I called to find out what was up since they had grandma Rose with, and I figured that they were buying a car, or in the ditch some where.

Turns out, they found a VUE they liked, and were just finalizing paperwork etc etc.

Some of the highlights from the experience. Mark (our guy) happened to be working and was trying to get going since he and his wife were off to CA for a vacation (I think they have family out there), but he dropped everything to help my parents because he heard the name Dobosenski. After efficiently narrowing down which vehicle might be a winner, they decided on one that was actually at the Burnsville Saturn, so the put some money down to hold that one while they did the financing thing. Turns out, good thing they put money down, since a couple was test driving that exact car when they called down to inform the other location that they had a buyer for it- too bad for the other couple and sales person who lost that sale. Mark passed mom and dad off to Dan (the financing guy, who is great at what he does, and actually makes all the paperwork and the fact that you are spending a boat load of $$ somewhat fun) who would do most of the paper work, since Mark was off- now having to drive directly to the airport to catch a plane.

Because of having to transfer the car, and do things like the under body sealant and glass treatment, as well as the customary detailing, the new VUE would be ready on Monday (good thing Dad happens to have Monday off, and can stay at Andee and Bryan's, and she can run him to the dealer on her lunch break).

They get down here and we have a great meal as they tell their story.  (Dad still can't believe the amount they saved on it with all the incentives- right now it is cheaper to buy a new car than most used cars that are not junkers)

Today when we were up for the B-day thing, we pointed out that the Burnsville Saturn was a stone throw from where we were, so we decided to go see if we could find mom and dad's new car on the lot so they could see it (as mom pointed out- heck of a purchase to make without ever seeing or driving the exact vehicle that you are buying).

so here it is, Mom and Dad's new Saturn VUE (Dad even cross referenced the inventory control number with the paperwork so he knows this one is their car):

Needless to Say, Mom and Dad are happy with it.

Mom took a few pictures

Pointed out how much she likes the color (even matches the color of the camera us kids got her for Christmas)

So, I would like to introduce the newest members of the Saturn owner family- My Mom and Dad:

I guess it isn't official 'till Monday, but darn close enough.  One step closer to an all Saturn family- which might not be all that long since they said that they found a used VUE when they were looking that my youngest sister Katrina is seriously looking at since she would like to buy a car of her own since she is done with school and working now. . . 

I "never" win. . .

So an interesting side story to a previous post has come about, and I can't resist.

You will remember in the last post, that we recently went about getting a larger vivarium for Dudley. Something that I didn't mention in that post (because I never thought in a million years that anything would ever come of it) was that when we were waiting at the register getting ready to pay, some random guy comes up to us pointing out that there is a drawing for a new and complete habitat setup from Exo Terra (the company that makes the Vivs we like)- their new "Mayan Rain forest Kit". Turns out that the guy wasn't some random stranger trying to be cute, he was the rep for the distributor in the US of the Exo Terra products- since they are based in Europe. We chit chatted back and forth, and I made some sort of a "yeah right, like I would ever win, and what the heck do I need another terrarium for" comment (since this wasn't the right sort of stuff for a bearded dragon). After all, the guy should be happy that I was in the process of buying several hundred dollars of "stuff" from the products he reps, so you think I would be the last person he would be trying to target for some give away. He wasn't going to drop it anytime soon, so I finally said "fine, where do I go to fill out the slip" just so I can get him off my back and move on since we needed to get going.

I go back to the table set up, and they have the box with the "prize"- which is a very nice, so maybe it wouldn't be all that bad to win; maybe we could have the ball python live in it. As I was filling out the slip, I watched as several others were back there stuffing the fishbowl with entries, and thought to myself "oh well, at least that rep will leave me alone". As I was walking up to the front, I shot a comment his way about how my entry was the one that is on the yellow slip of paper and everyone else was on white (even though this wasn't the case), so he better pick mine since I went though the effort of filling out an entry .

As far as I am concerned, this situation is over, since I never win anything.

Interesting side story to all of this is that my brother Jake is the sort of person that wins everything, all the time. If we go to the casino, he is hitting the jackpot. He wins the concert tickets on the radio contest. He plays the crane game where you try to get the stuffed animal, and not only does he pull out a stuffed animal, but there is something like an iPod that happened to be snagged (I don't think this has actually happened- he wins the stuffed animals all the time, but I know that one time he did find a video iPod laying in the middle of the road in practically mint condition and after trying for a while he never found the owner, so "ta da an iPod for Jake.")

So I'm going about life, thinking Dudley's new digs rock, and on Thursday in the afternoon, Gigi calls me at work:

"Pet Expo just called, and you are the winner of the Terrarium, you need to go to customer service with ID and pick it up"

Needless to say, I was not expecting this.

Yes indeed, I had won, and there was a very nice set up sitting there with my name on it. So now the question is "what do we do with this one?" Maybe this is a sign that Garek's desire to get another pet for his birthday was somehow "OK'ed" by the powers that be (after all, our aversion to some other new pet was based on the fact that Garek wanted another reptile of sorts, and the main cost associated with these sort of pets are the habitats- and that was just given to us).

So now we have the challenge of what to do- it would work for Sammy Stick for a while, but isn't big enough to be his permanent home. We could try selling it, and get some $$ to offset the cost of Dudley's new house, but never get what it is worth. So we are looking at what sort of animals could call this one home without having to upgrade in the future, that preferably has similar dietary needs to the other animals so we don't have to stock some other sort of food in addition to what we currently have, and somehow have Garek think that this other pet was the exact pet he wanted all along (originally he said he wants another Bearded Dragon, but there is risk with that since we would need to get a female in order to have it be able to live with Dudley, or risk needing to get another huge Vivarium setup).

At this time, Collard Lizards look to be a possibility, but we will see. . .

Dudley's new diggs

So it has been a while since I have contributed to the blog, so my turn to step up and not slack.

This last weekend we had the opportunity to get up bright and early on Saturday to head down to Mankato for our usual restock of "stuff". This trip was with the whole family because the boys needed to pick out a b-day present for Kyle's party later that day (lately we have been making a list of the stuff we need and one of us, Matt or Gigi goes which has really cut down on consumer grazing and spontaneous purchases). The other big need was a restock on pet supplies, and having to look into a new vivarium for Dudley (the Dobo Bearded Dragon).

Garek had decided that for his birthday he wanted us to get Dudley a new home (which worked out well for us since he was going to need the space no matter what). As we were shopping we came to find that Garek logic would dictate that once Dudley has a bigger cage, his old smaller cage could be used for an additional new pet that would be his (he originally wanted another beardy, and the bigger vivarium was his compromise).

As is turns out doing a restock for pets is a small stimulus of sorts for the local economy at our house- after all we do have 2 Shih Tzues (Roxy and Lucy), a Conure (Tiki), a Parakeet (BB), a Ball Python (Sammy Stick) and the Bearded Dragon (Dudley- who coincidently contributes to the fact that we need to keep crickets as "pets" so we can feed him). All said and done this was a big purchase, but then again we figured out that we only have to buy food for the dogs and birds once every 3-4 months, and the snake every one or two months since we buy the mice frozen ten or more at a time (and he only eats two every week or two). Dudley on the other hand requires more frequent trips since crickets don't "keep" very long.

So needless to say, the pet store is to our kids what a candy store is to most other kids (as it turns out our kids don't like sweets- don't ask me how we managed that). The new house for Dudley is a special occasion, but there were a few distractions along the way.

When we first arrived, Garek was going over the list of everything we

would need, and was taking charge

Then there were a few distractions

(there were others as well, but you get the point)















Once he realized that he got sidetracked, he was back on task











After checking out, the boys voted that Dad should go get the Outlook and they would watch the pile of "stuff"






While they were off enjoying the birthday party, Gigi and I took the opportunity to set things up at home (much easier without them around)



The Boys were impressed (it was much bigger than they thought it would be), and although Dudley was a bit unsure of his new surroundings at first, he seems to be settling in nicely.

Happy St Patrick's Day and Belated Birthday to Jon!

We have had a difficult week, and it has led to more than the average blog slacking. Matt's Uncle Frank passed away Monday March 9, and we had a funeral today. There was much to do between then and now, but I think everyone is on a path to healing. Thank you for all the prayers.

Yesterday it was Uncle Jonny's Birthday! My grandpa Wait used to give Jon information on St Urho's Day since it is also March 16. Jon always took it all in, even though none of us are Finnish! Luckily on Saturday, the boys and I had a chance to go to dinner with Uncle Jonny and Grammy. Uncle Jon was also nice enough to share his Fried Ice Cream with Garek!

Today it is St Patrick's Day! Matt and I postponed our annual corned beef dinner until the weekend when we are actually home to cook. In the meantime we press on!

Blog slacking

Okay, so I feel like we are being BIG time blog slackers. We have been so busy, yet I cannot think of new things we have been doing. With a weekly schedule that includes symphony rehearsals, violin lesson, piano lessons, tennis lessons, AWANA, Sunday School, EDGE (Wed church school), assignments and oh, yeah school and work,; it seems there is no time to blog. I will try and catch up some this weekend. Thanks for hanging in there...if any of you have hung in there ;)

Happy Birthday Auntee Jody!

The boys (and Matt and I) want to wish Jody a Happy Birthday. Her last one with only 2 kids ;) Garek suggested I put a dinosaur on here because Jody would surely want one of those.  Gavin recommended a Star Wars vehicle... We hope you enjoy these pictures and have a nice day!