Now This is Christmas - Holiday Tradition With Wham!!!

More Sugar Please Santa

Oh yeah we've been good!














Josh enjoys his juice box, candy canes and cookies after seeing Santa

Josh Break Dancing w/ a Broken Leg

Happy Thanksgiving

Time To Get Our Blog-On!

after a broken camera, a broken leg, broken spirit, a new cast, a new computer, (exchanged for a new one, trip to get another one fixed), kids not sleeping, eating, or listening... there is plenty of new material.

The Blog is Back!

Nov 1 2009 Josh Broke His Leg. He not only jumped off the bed, he jumped up, to get higher and then off the bed. Ouch. He gets the cast off Nov 24. Yes!
















Joel is crawling... he is everywhere. You think he'd burn a bunch of energy and sleep better at night, not the case. He doesn't want to nap... what's the deal?



Josh likes cinnamon on noodles… who doesn’t yum.














Josh is getting around better. He either moves on his bottom or army crawl. He has a new cast... it is purple. Why a new cast? That is a big gross story.


Joel is pulling himself up. He can stand... with some help and next week he'll be walking. He is super advanced, has great skills, so wonderful, has so many talents and is just the best... I think that covers it.















Drew made a Dino-Train and had to have a picture of it

Drew Starts Kindergarten at Bluff Creek

Drew Can't Wait For School - He Is All Smiles!

Running to School

Drew is ready for School

Fire Safety Week at the Machacek's

Let the Good Times Flow

This summer Josh has been going potty. He is getting the hang of it and there have been a few accidents.

Due to the downturn in the economy his reward program has been candy... Free candy that he received from the Chanhassen Fourth of July Parade. Remeber Free is Free.

He’ll have rotten teeth, but at least he’ll be able to go potty on his own. :)

I Fought The Law...

... And Got A Discount (a.k.a the law won)

Yeah, I decided to contest my expired license tabs. So I go down to Minneapolis District Court – what a treat. By the way it looks nothing like downtown Chanhassen. Let’s just say I’m glad there were dozen of police officers around at all times. And I just scream out “cracker- boy” from the suburbs. I tried not to make eye contact or overhear why some guys got a ticket… As one guy yells, “All I was doin’ was drinking a 40 in the park!” “ Holla at ya, and I feel your pain, straight up.” And how come everyone knows each other down there? Maybe they all have been there a few times.

I’m contending a ticket because I never received our renewal notice in the mail… we moved (twice), had a baby, work crazy hours and have a 3 ring circus going on at home. I’m supposed to check that postage stamp size sticker on my license plate, every once in while. Please, that is not going to get me much street cred. I need a life-coach to remind me of these things.

In addition, I believe I’m a victim of racial profiling. That’s right. The Plymouth Police like to hang around businesses looking for speeders, seat belt violators, expired tabs etc. and avoiding the real issues. Really, I no longer feel safe in Plymouth and it is not even a top place to live anymore (replaced by Chanhassen – see previous blog entry). Where are their priorities? It is an easy revenue source to pick off the “Suburb Boys” for this and that.

Anyways, I’m waiting over an hour for them to call my name. By the way it really smells down there in the waiting room…

By the time I'm called to discuss my case, I’m so glad to be out of the waiting room, I’m ready to pay them more. What will it take to get me out of here? Long story short, they take $20 off the ticket. By the way my tabs were due in Jan. What’s the crime in that?

After paying $16 for parking, I’m ahead $4. Take that Plymouth PD…

Favre Joins Vikings

Chris Mortensen tells Colin Cowherd that Brett Favre is headed to Minnesota today and will sign with the Vikings pending a physical.

Favre, a longtime star in Green Bay, came out of retirement last season to play for the Jets. He retired again, only to then entertain the idea of joining the Vikings. Last month, Childress said the quarterback would stay retired.
The pronouncement now appears to be premature.
According to Mortensen, the Vikings had sent their private plane to Hattiesburg, Miss., and left with Favre on it at 10 a.m. ET. The plane is expected to land in Minneapolis at about noon ET; Favre is expected to take a physical later Tuesday.
Two television stations reported that Favre was seen boarding a plane Tuesday morning that was headed to Minneapolis.
Sources told WDAM in Hattiesburg that Favre had said: "We may know something by dinner."
According to Minneapolis television station WCCO, a high-level source also said that Favre is expected to sign a deal with the Vikings on Tuesday.
On Monday, Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, responding to the day's scuttlebutt that Favre was predicted to play in Minnesota this season, said he was not paying attention to any of the talk.
"I pretty much have said [Favre] probably will follow me even when I retire. I'll probably have to hear about it. I'm just trying to take care of my business, and I can't worry about that stuff," Jackson said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "If I let that stuff get to me, ain't no telling where I'd be right now. I just let it roll off my shoulder and just keep going. Just keep trying to get better."

Trip To Dumont Aug 2009

Sixty degrees, cold, cloudy, windy and at the farm...
hey, let's go on the slip on slide!
I'm there dude. Splash!!! Josh















Drew is one and done... brrrr cold!

















Boys in the barn. Drew & Grant
"Hey, move this and we'll have so much
more room for activities."















15 Great Grandchildren (ages 7 and under)
Only 2 kids are having a melt down at
the moment... can you find them?
















Ryan is ready for the birthday parties
for Julia & Grant
















Julia cries for the very first time and it is
caught on camera for all to see. I wouldn't
believe she could cry, unless I saw it myself.
I guess she is not a fan of cake.
















Joel is relaxing.
















1:33 pm Sunday afternoon 8-9-09, driving
back to MN and Josh is out.

Josh Playing B-Ball June 1 2009 (Play Video)

I Want My Balloon Back

Almost #1

Chanhassen is the second-best small American town to live in, according to a new ranking by Money magazine.
Reasons for the ranking include an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent, falling property taxes and rising median income, according to the magazine.
"It's a little humbling," said Chanhassen Mayor Tom Furlong. "And we are proud of what we have, absolutely."


Furlong said the town deserves the honor, given its quality of living, the level of education among residents and recreational availability.
AMENITIES: Chanhassen boasts miles of trails, 11 lakes and a park within a half-mile of three-quarters of the homes in the city. The University of Minnesota arboretum also is located in the city.


Chanhassen is one of 12 Minnesota cities on the S&P AAA bond list, signifying its strong economy, City Manager Todd Gerhardt said. That is the best rating, meaning the city is highly unlikely to default on loans and interest.


OTHERS IN THE TOP FIVE: The top five on Money's top-100 small towns are: Louisville, Colo. (1), Papillion, Neb. (3), Middleton, Wis. (4) and Milton, Mass. (5).
OTHER MINNESOTA CITIES: Three other Minnesota towns made the list. Chanhassen's neighbor, Chaska, was ranked 20th, Lino Lakes was ranked 36th and Owatonna sneaked in at 97th.



Plymouth was number one on the list in 2008, but it was excluded from consideration this year because of changes in the criteria. Last year, the list ranked "small cities," defined as having a population between 50,000 and 300,000, according to the CNN Money website. For the 2009 rankings, Money focused on "small towns," defined as having a population between 8,500 and 50,000. Plymouth's population is 71,057 according to www.census.gov.

After 59 years, a war widow can bury her husband

"I always prayed that he'd get home," said a Roseville woman whose husband died in Korea.
By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune
Last update: July 6, 2009 - 9:49

Lorraine Machacek, holds a wedding ring she wore when she was married to her first husband, Sgt. First Class John Holman.

Star Tribune

Lorraine Machacek looked through a box of letters and correspondence.

Lorraine Machacek had always wanted to give her first husband, lost at an early age in a faraway war, a proper funeral. On Saturday, after a 59-year wait, the 81-year-old Roseville woman finally will be able to do so.

Just four months after Machacek and John Holman were married in 1950, Holman's Army Reserve unit was deployed to the Korean peninsula, where U.S. and other U.N. forces had intervened on behalf of South Korea after a North Korean attack.

Machacek's young husband never came home. In February 1951, he was captured by Communist forces in a grisly battle near Hoengsong, Korea, and died of dysentery while in captivity, according to letters from fellow soldiers and documents from the Army and government officials that Machacek has kept in a binder for all these years.
Late last year, Holman's remains were positively identified through DNA testing by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii, and they recently were returned to Minnesota.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Holman will be buried next to his parents, Wally and Betty, during a military ceremony at Union Cemetery in White Bear Lake.
"It's bittersweet," Machacek said Monday. "I never thought the body would come back, but I [still had] always prayed that he'd get home while I'm still living. ... With the funeral, I will have some closure."

Uncertainty, then grief Machacek met Holman, who had graduated from high school in Hastings, Minn., when his older brother, Harry, "fixed them up," she said. They were married on June 3, 1950, at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul and then moved to Ames, Iowa, so Holman could study engineering at Iowa State University.

Soon afterward, he left school when his unit, the Army's 38th Infantry Regiment D Company, 2nd Infantry Division, was one of the first sent to Korea. Machacek moved to Red Wing, Minn., to live with Holman's folks.

On Feb. 12, 1951, the 23-year-old Holman, a sergeant first class, disappeared during the bloody battle of Hoengsong when Communist forces from China and North Korea overwhelmed U.S. forces near the Bean/Suan Camp. Hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they were forced into a rapid retreat and surrounded by opposing forces who took control of the only escape route, through a narrow twisting valley.

Others, including Holman, were taken prisoner. But at the time, there was no word at all about his fate, not even a missing-in-action designation, Machacek said. His letters simply stopped.
"There was a lot of anxiety there when media broadcast names and his wasn't there," she said.
It would be another two years before she and his parents learned of his fate. "Those were the worst couple years of my life," she said of the uncertainty. "It was hell." On June 9, 1953, Machacek got the news she feared most when a letter and two somber Army officials arrived at Holman's parents' home in Red Wing with the news that he had died of dysentery on April 30, 1951, while being held as a prisoner of war.

"You don't forget those letters," she said. "The day the letter came, it was both a shock and relief."

A farewell to her 'first love'

Though Machacek vowed then never to remarry, she eventually did. She said had a "great" life and realized her dream of raising a family of three children with her second husband of 53 years, Charlie, who died in 2007.

She maintained a friendly relationship with Holman's parents until they died.
Holman's remains, along with those of 200 others, were excavated in 1992 in North Korea and returned to the POW/MIA laboratories at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Holman's lone surviving brother, Wallace, 79, of Bloomington, submitted a DNA sample, which, along with dental records, was used to identify Holman.
Without DNA testing, it's likely that Holman might never have been identified. Even with the DNA, it took the lab 18 months after it received Wallace's sample to make a positive identification.

"It's a long process," said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA Office in Washington.

Greer said the lab has identified the remains of 100 people, and still has 88,000 sets of remains, including 8,100 from the Korean War, yet to identify.

On Monday, as Machacek looked through keepsakes that included the wedding ring Holman gave her, a photo of him in uniform, news clippings and letters, she said it always bothered her that she had not been able to give her "first love" a proper funeral.

At Saturday's services, which will be conducted by the Rev. Craig Hanson of Roseville Lutheran Church, the urn bearing Holman's ashes will bear a red, white and blue bouquet and a soloist will sing the gospel song "In the Garden."

"I'm glad for this because this is how he'd want it," Machacek said. "It's been a long time coming, but he's home."
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768

Vardaman's Visit June 2009

Oh those crazy Vardaman's came to visit in June 2009.

Julia was just wild, crazy, loud, fussy, super crabby... That little woman is out of control.
Ok... maybe not.


Here she is being super fussy.









Julia is wild... even Josh is stunned at this behavior











As you can see... she is all worked up here - watch out!

Boys eating those muffins... or as Josh says, "Mo Peaz." aka... "More Please"

We went to the zoo and did some other stuff. But I forgot my camera. They'll have to come back real soon so we can get better pictures. Bye-bye cousins.

Grass is Good

We got grass in our yard on 6-22-09! How about that. Nice stuff.

YMCA... at the Children's Museum

I wish I could have been on the stage singing and dancing!!!

Oh well, the price you pay to be the camera man. Lyn says to focus on the kids.

Visit Wagner Spray Tech Today

Save a brush...
Buy a sprayer
www.wagnerspraytech.com

Happy Mother's Day

Josh Calls Sticks... Dicks

Josh Calls Sticks... "Dicks" and it is just so funny.

Josh doesn't say too many of his first letters of words.

Joshie Not Poopy - I'm Dry

Everytime we try and change Josh's diaper, he says, "I'm not

poopy - I'm dry."

Josh Talks About 'Tories

Josh Wipes Off Kisses

Josh is wipes off kisses

The Boys - April 2009

Drew, Joel & Josh

MAC FAM - Happy Easter 09

Drew is 5 years old

"We want cake.... where's our cake?"

More Cake...

Gifts....

Drew Is Reading!

On March 24th, 2009 Drew was able to read his first book... "Inside Outside Upside Down" he is a reading machine. Just for kicks he started to read the book backwards.

Can you see the joy and pride in Drew's face!! He was so excited :) it was the end of the day and not in the mood for pictures.

Nice work, we are proud of you.

Ready for my Senior Picture

Never too early to get ready for taking those Senior Pictures.

Drew is almost 5 and he has the pose down... Smile. Next we'll get the picture of him in his football jersey, gold chain around his next and leaning against his Camero.

Chest Bump

It is never too early to teach the finer points of the chest bump!

I think Josh calls it a "Chomp Bum"

Joel's First Week

He loves his bath tubs... Or is he screaming Go UNI!!!!













Sleeping, eating, swings, bath and a trip out...

Welcome Joel William Machacek

Look at Joel he is just about trying to roll over on the day he is born.

Joel William was born at 9:03 pm on March 8th, 2009. He was a huge baby...

9lbs. 12 oz. and 22.5 inches long - our biggest baby. Of course he was a week overdue, so he had a chance to get bigger.

Joel is a good baby the first few nights at home were rough, but he is getting better and better. At least dad is getting some sleep.

Drew and Josh love him so much. They want to kiss and hug him and they are learning to be gentle around baby... which means staying a good 5 feet away at all times :)

Josh just says, "Baby, Baby, Baby" and Drew is trying to load up Joel's swing with a bunch of toys that he might like.

Yes... Joel was really 9lbs. 12 oz.

Papa-Cheese

Josh loves Parmesan Cheese - He'd eat it for every meal if it was socially acceptable. Anyways when you love Parmesan Cheese like he does... toy blocks become Parmesan Cheese containers and shake it on everything. However, Josh calls Parmesan Cheese "Papa-Cheese."

Waiting for Baby

"Hey, I'm two years old and I got lots of important stuff in this backpack."



















Josh is ready for a trip

Not much going on here. Just waiting for the baby to come

American "Toddler" Idol

Josh is singing "No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed"

Take that Simon! Josh is going to Hollywood!!!

School House Rock - Rocks!

Drew is into School House Rock music and cartoons - Remember those from way back? I think Dad is liking it more. It is a great blast from the past. Well, this is video of Drew singing "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here"

I'm not sure if Josh is a fan of Drew's singing yet. It will grow on him soon enough.

Shake Your Body