First Birthday Party

Yesterday, my niece Madison had her first birthday party at my sister and brother-in-laws house. When I walked in, the smell of turkey, cheesy potatoes and confetti cake filled the air. Kids were running around playing with toys. The house was full of people and there was never a dull or quiet moment.

Madi was deathly afraid of the cake. We don't know why. My sister put a candle in her CareBear cake, lit it, and put it in front of her. She was fine with the candle being lit, but when it was blown out and when she touched the cake, she screamed and cried. I felt so bad.

After the cake feasting was over, she opened her presents. She ended up getting a lot of neat stuff. She got clothes, toys, books, a picture frame, and a Precious Moments 1 year birthday knick knack.

Overall, it was a good party. Everyone had a lot of fun and hopefully next year she won't be afraid of the cake.

Almost A Year

My niece, Madison Mae, was born on November 4th, 2008. Her first birthday is this Wednesday and I'm really excited. November 4th was a very big day for her to be born. As you all remember, Barack Obama became president that day. I remember leaving school at around 2 p.m. to go to the hospital. I sat in the waiting room with my family until about 7 p.m. that night. Right after she was born, they announced the winner of the 2008 presidential election. We call her an 'election baby'.

She has a little bit of light brown curly hair, beautiful blue eyes and three teeth. She is so fun to play with and I think she's a neat little kid. She always makes me laugh and she never stops smiling. She likes to yell, just to hear herself yell, and it gets pretty crazy sometimes. My parents said that she is a spittin' image of me when I was a youngster. I could only apologize to them for being so annoying when I was a baby.

Her birthday party is this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to have her open my gift and get to see her eat her first birthday cake. Hopefully the weather will be nice. I hope it's not cold, and that it doesn't snow or rain.

An Early Thanksgiving Dinner

Yesterday my grandma and her husband came over to my parents house for an early Thanksgiving dinner. My grandma and her husband currently live in Richland Center, but they will be moving in a few weeks to Racine. My grandma's husband is very sick and he needs to be transferred to a home where he can be properly taken care of. It's too hard for my grandma to take care of him on her own, especially now since she just went blind in her right eye.

My mother made a nice meal for the whole family. We had turkey, cheesy potatoes, squash, garlic bread, cooked vegetables, pistachio fluff and pumpkin bars. I stuffed my face and was hurting a little bit after doing so. I couldn't help myself though. It was all so good!

We had a house full of people and so the chattering, eating and playing of games never stopped. My sister, her husband, and their two children were there, along with my brother, me, my friend, my parents and then my grandma and her husband. My friend and I carved a huge pumpkin and it says trick or treat. I think it looks really cool. The whole family also played Guitar Hero 3 for most of the day and it was really fun.

Jason Aldean Concert!

Last night I went to the Jason Aldean concert at the La Crosse Center with a friend of mine. Jason Aldean was the main singer and the two opening bands were Love & Theft and Gloriana. It was the first concert I had ever been to and it was really fun! There were so many people in the crowd and our seats were in the second balcony, right directly in front of the stage. The seats that we had were amazing.

I never realized how loud a country concert was. The crowd gets pretty rowdy and everyone stands up through the whole show. My friend and I were surrounded by a bunch of grumpy people that got mad whenever we stood up to dance and sing to the music. We stood up through the whole concert and had fun.

After the concert was over, Gloriana signed autographs for the fans. We each bought a picture of the band and they signed it for us. I took a lot of pictures and it was a fun experience. I can't wait for Jason Aldean to come back to the La Crosse Center next year!

Snow!

This past week, I was sitting at my desk and saw it snowing outside. I thought to myself, it's snowing?! It's only October and we have already had our first snow! Luckily, it wasn't cold enough for it to stick to the ground. I'm not much of a fan for snow. I like the snow scenery on the water and trees, but I don't like to drive or walk in it. Making snowmen and watching the snow fall is fun, but the cold isn't. I think that we are in for a nasty winter. If it's only October and it's already snowing, I can just imagine what it will be like by Halloween and the rest of the season.

Volunteering at Riverfront

For our personal challenge assignment I decided to volunteer at Riverfront. Riverfront is a private, non-profit organization helping approximately 2,000 people with disabilities reach their hopes and dreams. I volunteered there for the first time on Thursday. I volunteered for 3 hours and it was nothing but a life-changing experience for me. Seeing people with disabilities having fun made me feel really good inside. They believe in themselves even though they know they are disabled and that's an amazing thing to see.

When I first walked in a feeling of happiness overtook my whole body. Around me were people of all ages with different disabilities. They all had smiles on their faces and some even came over to greet me with hugs and handshakes. As I walked through the hall, passing by different rooms, I knew that I was in the right place. I really liked it there. I made my way into the production plant, where people with disabilities make and sort out things for different companies. I was introduced to a woman named Mary who was an employee there. She set me down at a table where I worked with a disabled woman named Julie who had down syndrome. Julie had two boxes, one on her left and one on her right. Her job was to grab a bag of nuts and bolts from each box and put them on the table in front of me. From there, it was my job to roll them up into each other, put them into a small clear bag, and stick a yellow piece of paper into the bag. We did about 200 of those within about 2 hours.

After I finished working with Julie I went over to another table. At this table, everyones job was to seal the bags shut. I worked with two men named Ryan and Kent, who were very disabled. They couldn't talk to me like Julie could. I stayed at that table for an hour and we got about 150 bags done.

I am going to volunteer at Riverfront every Thursday. I know that I am making a difference in people's lives and that is an amazing feeling.

The Vernon County Fair

Fair season is a wonderful time. The smell of cotton candy, funnel cakes and popcorn is in the air. As you look around you see tons of rides, some that you would never dare catch yourself on, and games that you can't wait to sink your little hands into. I, unfortunately, am not one for the big intense rides. My favorite ride is the ferris wheel because it's nice and calm and you can see so much of what's going on around you. Stopping directly at the top is quite scary for me, since I am afraid of heights, but in the end when the ride is done, it's worth it. The games are so much fun, but you have to be careful about which ones aren't rip-offs.

I had never went to the fair at night before, but I did this year and it's so much more interesting at night-time than during the day! Everything is lit up and it looks so pretty.

Rides and games arent the only sources of entertainment during fair time. A person can't forget about the showing of animals. Children and adults from all over the county enter their animals in the fair hoping to win a blue ribbon to add to their collections.

I had a great time at the Vernon County Fair this year and I can't wait for next year!