Willa stories to spark a smile or two

-Willa has had a few time outs in her 19 months on earth. They have mostly stemmed from pounding on the computer keyboard or hitting poor old Luther. These time outs consist of me walking her to the corner of the living room and asking her to look at the wall, while I bite my lower lip to keep from laughing out loud. The last time she took one of these "time outs", when it was all over and I had explained to her why she had a time out, she looked me right in the face and licked me. How can you be upset with someone who will lick your face???

-in the above picture, Willa was attempting to put a pair of her pajama pants on both Luther's front and hind legs. She was unsuccessful.

-Willa's piggy bank is in the form of a ceramic owl. So she calls any form of money "owl." Or anything that you put money into, like a parking meter, atm, billfold, etc. Anything associated with money is "owl." She is very good at getting people to give her "owl." We find wadded up, green "owl" all over the place. Lots of times when I put my shoes on, there is some form of "owl" in my shoes.

-some of Willa's favorites: shopping carts, broccoli, na-nee (candy, usually suckers), soy milk, orange juice, her stuffed dog Arf-Arf, her LeapFrog phonics video, apples, plums, peanut butter, any person that you put the word Auntie or Uncle in front of, Target, Shrek, Fox and the Hound, Toy Story, her belly button and tootsies, the word "babies" (although she seemed terrified when she met an actual baby at book club), her cousin Abbey, barking, hats, headphones, ba's (baths), jumping on the bed.

Apologies for the lame cell phone pictures

I keep putting off any blog updates, as our computer at home is on the fritz and I have been shying away from downloading any pictures to it. But my blog is just getting so sad and I am so bored at work that I decided I would just go ahead with the cell phone pictures and a few little tidbits on the lives of the Van Boenings.

The biggest thing going on in our lives is the selling of our house. It has been on the market for a little over a month, we have had a few open houses. We have a very kind and helpful real estate agent named Elizabeth who listed our home and has taken us to look at lots of places to consider for our next abode. Right now we have our hearts set on a small acreage just outside of the Lincoln city limits. It has amazing potential for flowers, vegetable gardens, chickens, play structures and MAYBE even a small dirtbike track. Fingers crossed that our house sells in time to snag this one!!!

Other goings-on: Brad's newest band, Chasing the Sun, has been playing a lot all over town and in Omaha, I am training for the half marathon again (and I am actually registered for it this year), Willa is still into hoarding stuff and carrying it around the house in various bags/baskets/purses, lots of fun things coming up to include St. Patty's Day, a snowboarding trip, Brad's 30th, a road trip to St. Louis, all jam-packed into the next few weeks!

NO idea how to rotate a picture

If you would all just kindly pick up your computer screens and turn them in a counter-clockwise fashion. There! Now you can see our Willa, sitting on the toilet! Before you go thinking she is some super-genius-baby and that she is potty trained, she only sits there. She has produced nothing on the toilet. And, I made the mistake of using my hair dryer to warm up the seat the first time I put her on it so that the coldness of the seat wouldn't turn her completely off to the idea of the potty. Now, she expects me to warm the seat each time. One of these days, she will understand why she is sitting on that seat, I'm just sure...

The best part of turning 30 is

The fantastic friends I have made over the last 30 years!




My beautiful family.
Jodi, Brent, and Andrea
Kalika, Brent, and I: the best employees Bryan LGH ever had.

Tosha and Mandy
Chris, brooke, Brad and Brian

Some more amazing Bryan workers:)

Maggie, Sam, Tosha, Hillary and I.

I think there should be a party like this for every year that I am in my 30s. Possibly even 40s. We'll see how I feel when I get there! I thought turning 30 might be tough, but so far so good. I couldn't imagine a much better situation than what I have (well, unless I owned a summer home somewhere tropical and had the money to fly there whenever the mood struck me.) Here's to a great decade!

Pondering an upcoming holiday

Right off the bat, I DID NOT make these cupcakes...Yet. But, I am making plans to do so on September 21st, as it will be International Day of Peace and also World Gratitude Day. Brainstorming other ways to celebrate a day that sounds like it has so much potential! Maybe a trip to the Humane Society to walk dogs? A litter pick-up walk? Take food to Matt Talbot? Get a tattoo of a dove? Looking forward to September 21st!!!

Mary Jane for babies?

Willa got her first pair of vegan, hemp shoes!!! So cute and comfy. They are Isa Booties and we found them at CircleMe.

So many chances to help St. Monica's!

Hello, friends and family! Want to give you all an update on an awesome fundraiser that I get the opportunity to be a part of this September. It is called the Amazing Chase and it benefits St. Monica's behavioral health treatment organization. I am part of a team with three other girls (brooke petermann, Melanie Nebesniak, and Amber Smith) and we will compete against 30 other teams in a great big puzzle-type race that takes place all over Lincoln on Saturday, September 18. The goal of the whole group is to raise $60,000 to help out the women that the organization serves. Last year, the top fundraising team raised over $9,000. I would LOVE to see our team break $10,000! (Not to mention that the prizes are super-sweet, like a trip to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas). The more money we raise, the earlier our start time will be for the race and the better chance we have of winning. Here is the website for St. Monica's, in case you are interested to learn more about their life-changing services or about the race: http://www.stmonicas.com/

We have a few projects in the works to help out with our fundraising efforts, and a few others that we are still cooking up so I will keep everyone up to date on ways they can help out.
On August 19, 20, and 21 we are holding a garage sale at the home of brooke petermann (8800 Garland St) and all the proceeds will go to St. Monica's. We invite you all to come and pick up some great deals! But prior to attending the garage sale, we are looking for anyone who has a few things in their garage/basement/spare bedroom that are collecting dust or stubbing your toes when you enter the room. Anything that you would like to be rid of and that could bring in a few dollars/cents when the right person comes across it. If you have anything of the sort, please contact me and I will come and pick it up! You will never have to see it again! Yay! You can call me, text me, email me, tell my husband and we will run on over and get it. My number is 402.890.1737 and my email address is allisonvanboening34@gmail.com. It would be best if we could get it by next Wednesday evening, as the sale starts on Thursday, late afternoon.

Another really awesome deal that I would like to extend to anyone wishing to donate corresponds with my cleaning business, Purely Maid. I would like to offer to anyone donating $50 or more, a deep cleaning of all of their bathrooms. And, if you are really feeling charitable (or really not liking to clean) I will clean your whole home for a donation of $150 or more. OR if you would like to make the donation and give the cleaning as a gift to a friend, loved one, day care provider, boss...we can certainly work that out. All I ask is that the donation be made by September 15 and that the cleaning be scheduled by the end of this calender year. Monetary donations can be made directly to our fundraising site: GI Gals or a check can be written to me to be donated at the end of the collection period. Please feel free to share this information and the cleaning offer with anyone you feel would be interested! We are really motivated to WIN THIS RACE and to do great things for the women at St. Monica's. Please check back, as we have a few more FUN ideas in the works...Thank you for your time!