Down in Des Moines

Last weekend Matt and I headed to Des Moines to spend some time with his family. Friday night we stayed with his brother Chris and wife Jo, and their boys Dayne and Abrym. We played this game called Dance Dance Revolution (I think?) on the Wii. It was awesome. We rocked it. This is a lot of fun for adults and kids. It is also a mad workout. I was sweating like crazy!


Matt and Dayne in the heat of battle


Fight Poster for Matt "Casimir" Kajewski vs. Chris "Taz" Kajewski



We had so much fun playing DDR. After the kids went to bed, Matt and Chris made me watch Jackass 3D. Lets just say I don't have a good track record with Jackass movies. Matt has forced me to go them as a trade for me getting him to go to Jennifer Aniston vehicles. Basically I am bi-polar in the theater when I watch Jackass. I go from laughing hysterically, to wondering if these boys/men have parents and thinking they are going to kill themselves for a movie called jackass. Before I know it, my body is invaded by Meghann and I get all panicky watching them play chicken with a charging bull, and start yelling at them in the theater and I say things like, "well that is just dumb, why would they do that.." Then I start dying laughing because some guy got tasered.. so funny..

Saturday I headed to Amana with Jo,Jessie and Hailey for a double baby shower for Jess and Matt's Cousin Erin. There was awesome food at the shower and I ate the crap out of everything. I love good shower food.. so small town of me, but I expect fabulous goodies.


Mama Jess


The Mama's with their Mama's... Jess, Teri, Linda, and Erin

Saturday was a good day. We are so excited for both Mama's. Saturday night Jess was free as her kids and husband were busy so Matt and I took Jess out for Italian and showed her how Matt and Mo go out to eat, which is basically ridiculous. When you have been together for 6 years and have no children, you develop bad habits. Besides the booze, too much TV, and questionable gambling habits we also love going out to eat, and going out to eat GOOD! So we did it up with drinks (for us), appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts and another drink (for us again)... It was so indulgent and awesome.

In other news Riley has been a bit of a superstar lately. He was on Teen Mom last week on MTV and in the high school play. Basically no one is allowed to look him in the eye, and if we want to talk to him we have to go through his manager, Deborah (that is her new Manager name).Luckily, Riley was not the father of one of the teen babies, but he is friends with one of the teen moms, Chelsea from South Dakota. Chelsea's parents are our neighbors at the lake and Riley has become good friends with her stepbrother Jessie and her.. It was fun to watch him, though he never spoke. How they got tape without Riley speaking is a question for the ages, but he did get the "Riley, Chelsea's Friend" tagline...



I was also able to get back to Holstein to see Riley in the play. When mom was taking care of wisdom teeth Clare in the CF, Dad, Meghann, Lillian and I caught one of the nights with my dad's sister Sarah and her husband Rick. That Performing Arts Center is awesome. The set, the mics, everything!! Lillian was so funny. At one point she turned to my Aunt Sarah and I and said, "This is so good I should have brought a camera!" She also got very concerned when Riley was kidnapped and grabbed Meghann and asked what was happening to Riley. We just reminded her it was Make Believe. She didn't quite believe us until she got to see Riley after the show. We went through the reception line to congratulate the cast and Lillian had two missions. First, to make sure Riley was there, and second she had to meet the girl in the Flapper girl dress. Lillian Marched right up to her and goes, "I love your dress, do you like mine?" Lillian was wearing a new dress Meghann got her in Vegas that is so adorable. She is just so funny and such a girly girl! I love it!

3 weeks till vacay! The shopping has begun. How many hats, shoes, dresses, and swimskirts does one girl need for a trip!? I am so going to look fabulous.. well trying at least.I want to be mistaken for famous, rich, and international...I can totally do it... Alright, this was a long enough post. Peace Bloggers.

Spring Break Holstein 2011

Long time, no post. Mostly because we haven't had anything exciting going on. Working, relaxing on weekends, just being Kajewski's. We do have exciting news for our family, Matt and I get to be an Aunt and Uncle again! Matt's sister Jessie and her husband Blaine are expecting a little girl this July! They made it almost 20 weeks before they broke and told us. We are so excited for the Brunsen's and for Hailey and Nolan to get a new sibling. In other news... 4.5 weeks until Kajewski Spring Break in Mexico. Everything is planned. Just need to get our transportation to and from the airport and maybe get some beach massages scheduled. I am waiting two more weeks to let myself shop. If I start now I will spend way too much money. I hope that if I only give myself two weeks I will spend less. But it may backfire and I might spend more in a frenzy to find a skirted swimsuit that makes look both sexy and hides the girl scout cookies... But we are very excited. Matt will turn 32, Jesus will Rise, and Waity Kate will finally Marry her Prince William.. So lots of events on our Vacay.

In order to warm up for our vacation we headed to Holstein this last weekend to hang with the fam and to meet the new baby Piper the Puppy. Piper is adorable, but I didn't take a picture. I just love puppy breath and she is just so cute.. I ask for a Puppy weekly and I always get no as the answer. Someday I will get a yes though.

Friday we headed to good ole Galva-Holstein (Still GH to me) Dance Night. Lillian and her dance troupe performed. Riley was also a participant in the Co-Ed dance. The gym was it usual 1000 Degrees. I haven't been in the school in a couple of years. Amazing how so many things have changed, yet stayed the same. The New Performing Arts Center is so Awesome and I am so glad students get to utilize it. So Awesome!


Lillian and the Crew


Co-Ed Dance

Saturday T.C. told us that if we all worked out we could go out for lunch. So Matt and I headed to the gym, Debbie and T.C. went for a walk, and Luke did some push-ups, so we could head as a family to one of our favorites, Monterrey, The Mexican Restaurant in Cherokee. That place is so freaking good. After over indulging on Chips and Salsa we headed to the Hive (Hy-Vee) to start planning our dinner.


Lillian at Lunch


Cosgrove Clan

After Mass and some Naps we made a yummy dinner of Steak, Salmon, Salad, and Mashed Potatoes...Basically we know how to eat. Most of the weekend was spent eating and laying around watching basketball. Just how we like our weekends. Matt and Dad wore matching shirts, because they are that cool. Mom got Dad and Riley the same shirt, a Guinness Rugby Shirt. Riley realized it was not cool to have matching shirts with your dad and refused to wear it, So Mom gave it to Matt. Matt on the other hand revelled in it. Riley walked into the room and saw Dad and Matt in matching shirts and points at them and goes, "Douches." Sorry for the high school put downs, but it pretty much summed up how dorky they looked. Matt got the reaction he wanted. He was hoping someone would call him out. Besides the matching Guinness Rugby shirts, we ate good food, and had a little dance party Saturday night.


Matt and Dad in their matching Son-in-Law and Father-in-Law Shirts


Lilly and T.C. singing to Glee's version of Sing by My Chemical Romance


Jamie and Matt, doing what men do. Drinking Bud Light Lime and wearing matching shirts with their father-in-law.

This weekend we are heading to Des Moines to spend some time with Matt's siblings. We also have a shower for Matt's sister and his cousin who is pregnant with twins. More family fun! So at least I will have some fun things to blog about!

Snowstorms & Valentines

Well since I got publicly shamed on facebook by a certain blogger, (I won't name names, LIBBA!) I figured I could come up with something to blog about. Matt and I have not had a lot going on lately. We have been busy hibernating, getting some projects done, paying off debt, saving money, going to movies, and scooping snow! Now if that is not exciting I don't know what is! We are very excited that we now own two cars outright, that are basically worth nothing to us... but we are going to drive the shit out of them. That was probably our biggest accomplishment this winter!

We have been hit with a couple good snow storms this winter. So bad so that the roads in Omaha were not drive-able. When we were back in Algona sometime this fall, Matt grabbed his coveralls from his construction days in high school and college, thinking he could maybe use them. Well use them he has! We have a really LONG driveway that we are responsible for scooping. I have helped a bit, but Matt has become the scooper of the residence, luckily to my appreciation and the appreciation of the two girls who live on the other side of the duplex!


Look at my Man!


Showing off his technique

The other exciting thing for us is that we have finally planned a honeymoon! I am SO EXCITED! Matt and I have never really been on a REAL vacation. Well Matt has more than me. As a kid Matt's family would take car trips all over the U.S. He has seen the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Badlands, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain National, Miami and Jacksonville Florida, Vegas, Dallas, Michigan, Canada, Boston...you get the picture. I went to Okoboji as a kid. My family could barley handle the drive to Sioux City, so Okoboji is about as far as we could ever get without a dead body..

Matt and have done a couple short trips together. Matt won a trip to Vegas in 2006 which was awesome. We had a blast and I developed a bad habit of losing money and still having fun. We also went to Breckenridge for Jess's Wedding, but no "real" relaxing vacations here. Well we looked at places in the Virgin Islands, Cabo, Caribbean, Mexico and we choose a Resort in La Playa Mujeres. We wanted relaxation, food, and nice place to stay, and after lots of research on travel blogs, websites, conde nast, opinions of friends we choose the Excellence Resort: La Playa Mujeres.

We are going the week of Matt's 32nd Birthday. We also met in April of 2005, and figure we will have been together 6 years and married a year and a half, so a good time to go! We are going to do a full week of sleeping, eating, drinking, reading, sunning, and NOTHING! We are looking to do a couple fun things, and of course work in some spa services. Matt loves a good mud bath and seaweed wrap!

This weekend my lovely husband brought home flowers for me. Now in the 6 years we have been together, this is my 3rd time I have gotten flowers. One Christmas, the Bar Exam, and this Valentines. Gifts are Matt's thing, but usually not flowers. But this time it was the best because I got beautiful flowers and a gift! I got a gift card to my Mecca, VON MAUR! I have said it before Matt is a great gift giver. Of course I am bad wife and valentine, as his valentines gift was just ordered and will get here in a week... sucks to be Matt! But he is getting fancy sandals with a botle opener/church key on the sole, which I know will come in handy in Mexico and at the Lake! I wonder how long we can keep our little gift rituals up. Hopefully forever, if not forever, hopefully Matt can keep it up!


Matt's Version of Romeo


Such Pretty Flowers!



Well this blog is a little too lovey for me. Talk of honeymoons, valentines, gifts, makes me feel like I need to tell a tasteless joke or steal candy from a kid to compensate, but I won't...I hope I pleased Libba on the blog post, but this is really how lame we have been lately.. hopefully we can come up with some fun things to post about soon!

Cosgrove Christmas and Winter Wedding

Finally I am taking the time to post about our Cosgrove Christmas. I have devoted every moment of my last week to finally making a book on Shutterfly of our awesome wedding pictures..I am really on top of things. I started this book a year ago and only finished 3 pages... It is is now officially completed and I don't want to see another picture of me looking sexy, smart, hot, skinny...basically the most beautiful bride, for at least a week.

Well Cosgrove Christmas was held Christmas Eve at the home of Debbie and T.C. We headed to Mass in Ida Grove and watched Mass on the closed circuit TV in the basement. You have to get there super early to actually sit in the church, and I don't care whose birthday it is, I am still arriving 5 minutes early, on time, or possibly late. As usual Debbie put on a mad spread of awesome food.


Meghann and Riley warming up on the radiator.. a Cosgrove favorite..


Here is a few of the snapshots from our Christmas Eve..


LBJ with some major Cheesing!


I don't know what these two are doing....Class of 1997


LBJ and Gaylord the Goose


The Kids


Luke and T.C. Reading... I don't know who is reading to who here..


Lillian Doing Riley's hair with her new beauty salon kit




The kids were so much fun to watch open their gifts. Much more fun to watch than Clare complaining that mom got her a size Large and she only wears Mediums, even if they don't fit.. :) (that's what sisters are for) All in All it was a great Christmas.

The first weekend in January we headed back to Holstein for Donna and Lucas Doxtad's wedding. To say that we had fun would be an understatement. Damon Dotson and his band played and we partied like rockstars. Of course Bubba was a gorgeous bride and Luc was very handsome. It was such a fun, nice, winter wedding.



The Beautiful Couple

After the wedding a big crew headed back to James and Emily's house. The band was staying there and they decided to keep on playing! Riley came to pick us up and we made him go to after hours with us at the James Doxtad home. Well with Damon and his band playing, and everyone singing, Riley looked around and goes, "You know, thirty doesn't look that bad.." It was a great night to be 30, or near 30, that was for sure. It is nights like that, that remind me I love the small town I came from, I loved growing up there, and it is the only place where it is normal for the the wedding reception move to someone's kitchen and you continue to celebrate into the wee hours. This weekend the Whitmeres are heading to the O for Meghann's Birthday. So Matt and I with 4 kids running around will be crazy!

Friendly Family Game Starts the New Year

By Contributing Sports Contributer Matt Kajewski

ALGONA, IA. -- “Chris Kajewski should be put in a cage for how he acted out there today” said the Home Team’s small forward Mo Kajewski in reaction to her team’s 33-24 loss to the Chris’s Orange Team in the annual Kajewski Winter Basketball Classic.


Orange Team: Blaine Brunsen, Chris, Dayne, and Abrym Kajewski

The annual match up, once regarded as a family affair, has turned colorful of late due to the younger kids in the family being able to dribble and the older Aunts and Uncles being able to block their shots without feeling bad. “Our team plays by the number one basketball rule, no layups go up without some kind of contact” said the Orange Team’s Enforcer Chris Kajewski.

“My kids and my grand kids are just great sports and had so much fun out there today” said referee and Family Matriarch Teresa Kajewski as she walked around the Gymnasium while the game was going on.

“I don’t know what game she was calling out there today, but I can spot a homer ref when I see one” said the Home Teams Matt Kajewski about the way the game was called. “The large gap between the rules of Hockey and Basketball became a little blurry today with the way Mom was calling the game”


Home Team: Matt and Mo Kajewski and Hailey and Nolan Brunsen

The family game between the Orange team and Home team started out without incident, but the game dynamics changed early when during the first play the Orange team lost starting guard Abrym to distraction. When asked to comment the Five year old simply said “Do you think I can climb those bleachers”.

Leaving the Orange with only 3 players in Dayne Kajewski, Chris Kajewski, and Blaine Brunsen, the game at first turned to advantage Home team. The team of Hailey Brunsen, Nolan Brunsen, Mo Kajewski, and Matt Kajewski took advantage of the Power Play and jumped out to a 10-4 advantage behind Hailey’s point guard skills and Mo’s picks. The game went to 12-6 on jumpers by Dayne and Nolan, before the turning point of the game just before half.

With Dayne dribbling to his right at the top of the key and guarded tightly by his younger cousin Nolan Brunsen, Blaine Brunsen then set a pick on his unawares namesake knocking him to the floor and thus changing the flow of the game in favor of the Orange team.

“I really didn’t mean to knock him down, but it was kinda funny” said Blaine in response to the pick.



The game went into the half with the Home team’s lead cut to 16-13, with momentum clearly on the Orange’s side. With what must have been a huge halftime speech by Enforcer Chris, the Orange cruised in the second Half behind the stoic Point Guard Dayne Kajewski’s 20 pts.

“I know if I could just get in my niece Hailey’s head and give Mo some elbows, they would not be able to stay with us in the second half” said the pointless for the night instigator Chris.




“They came out better in the second half, and it really cut down on our celebration time” said Mo in reference to the way her husband and her celebrate as if every basket is a touchdown.

“She likes to do the double guns and holster them, while I prefer the wave or the rooster walk/strut” says Matt.



“There is a reason we the Orange are the greatest family team since the 71 Osmonds, and that is because we elbow and charge on almost every play” says Ron Artest fan Chris Kajewski

Site: Sentral Gym
Attendance: 1 (2 if you count Abrym after he got distracted)

Orange Team Min Pts Ast Fouls
Abrym Kajewski .5 0 0 0
Dayne Kajewski 30 20 4 0
Blain Brunsen 30 13 3 0
Chirs Kajewski 30 0 0 2

Home Team Min Pts Ast Fouls
Hailey Kennedy 30 7 3 0
Nolan Kennedy 30 4 1 0
Maureen Kajewski 30 6 3 0
Matt Kajewski 30 7 2 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another great contributing post from Matt! We had Kajewski Christmas last weekend and we had a blast. Great Gifts, Even Better Food, and one hell of a basketball game. Matt's mom is a teacher and we hit up the gym to play some ball New Year's Day, and boy did we have a blast. I was much better at this event then the softball game. Still one more holiday post to go, the Cosgrove Extravaganza. No sporting events there, unless you count consuming large amounts of calories, cocktails, and teasing eachother endlessly as a sport, but we still held our own. Hope everyone is on top of their Resolutions. We are trying really hard here at the Kajewski household.. we will see how Matt holds up on his commitment to scrub the bathroom and rubbing my feet daily, and we will see if I quit yelling "MATT" from the other room. Happy New Years!

Don't Hate, Decorate

I promised the Kajewski Decorating Post a long time ago and I am just getting around to it. My New Years resolution is to stop making promises I cannot keep. I promise I will quit falling through.. Damn it, I did it again. Well basically I sexed up my tree a bit. We don't have a lot of ornaments, but this year Matt got two "Fancy Dr. Swells" Ornaments to start our collection. Plus I hit up the half off sale at Jesus Decorates (aka Hobby Lobby) and got some of those picks to put in the tree and I made a mad wreath..


O Kajewski Tree


Yeah I made a wreath.. no big deal

Matt and I celebrated our Christmas the weekend before. We had cocktails, gifts, and sushi. Just like the Three Wise Men. We have done a good job with making "our" own traditions. Like Walgreens only stockings, Matt making weird faces at the sweaters he opens, me faking enthusiasm over my gifts.. jk. I LOVE all my gifts. Matt is a great gift giver. Though I kicked ass at his stocking this year. Can you say What What!



See Bloggers, I get him that great stocking and this is what he does to me...



Overall we had a great Christmas with the two of us. I got a fancy jewelry armoire, a big ipod, perfume and my Walgreens stocking. He got clothes, outdoor running gear and a razor. Basically Santa was good to us.


Matt's obligatory, thanks, a sweater picture.

But not to be out done by his, Sweet, Walgreens loot!


Next up, Cosgrove Christmas Recap... to be followed by Kajewski Christmas we are having this weekend, and After all of that, you will get a blog post of us sleeping and walking around like Zombies. We have been on the weekend move since the weekend of my Birthday November 18, and we are dying! But we will just keep eating and drinking if we have to, It is what our founding fathers intended, and Matt and I are Americans.. Merry Christmas

27 Dresses, 27lbs, 27 Drinks...I need a 27 step Program..

Well I thought I would blog about my 27th Birthday Weekend and the following Thanksgiving Weekend. I was born at 4:34 P.M. On November 18, 1983, and I know what you are thinking, She was born during Oprah? Yes, yes I was. We all know I love the O. I spent my birthday working and eating.. Matt and I went out for Italian.. which is my favorite! Matt also undertook the daunting task of going out and buying me a cake... never mind my carrot cake process I undertake every April... (Jk he is a great cake buyer!)


Check it out.. still got it... ignore my blue Scrunchie, I love it and only wear it at home. I have forgotten it is is in my hair and worn it out before. When I realize I have it in, I pretend I am feverish and disoriented so people don't judge me. Works. Every. Time.



It just happened to work out, that the weekend of my Birthday was a great weekend for the UNI girls to get together. Since I am in the middle of Des Moines, KC, Sioux Falls and Sioux City, all the ladies came to our place. We shopped, drank, and ate. Here is a picture of us at Ash's Wedding from August, which I somehow forgot to blog about, but look at how hot we are!!


Us at Ash's Wedding (being the Wildest Cats aka PANTHERS... She was a BEAUTIFUL Bride.. But really we all have been hot brides!!)

We had a great weekend. I am lucky to have met such wonderful girls at college. Hard to believe that we have known each other almost 9 years!


Liz, Bri, Me


Anna, Ash, Amy

Thanksgiving was awesome. We had 3 in one day this year! For the last couple of years, Matt and I head to Algona the day before Thanksgiving and celebrate with an early Thanksgiving Lunch with the Kajewski's. I then nap and Matt drives us to Holstein and we eat again. This year we had a 3rd meal at 11 o'clock at night. Okay, so the third one was voluntary. But by that time I felt it was our American Duty to eat leftovers.


Look what we found in the fridge.. Lukee Boy Joseph


Clare graced us with her presence for Thanks day


Jamie and Lukee Boy (this pic is funny)

Clare and I may have also taught all the kids a bad habit at Thanksgiving, and that is that the best food comes in compressed forms.... Cheez Wiz, Gogurt, and Redi-Whip..



Also Matt and I are obsessed with the show, "The Walking Dead" on AMC. Luckily a few of our family members are into it also. If you are not watching this show, you are a loser. It is the best. When Matt said we were going to start watching a show about Zombies I was not into it. I mean, our DVR is packed and I just didn't know if we could fit in another weekly hour long drama, but I made the adjustment. Now I am all into it. I am ready for Zombies. See, you think you can get away from them, they move all slow and methodical, but in a group they are crazy! And you are so confused watching the show. Did Zombies only take over Atlanta, or Georgia, or just the South, because that I could understand (no offense Southern Young Sisters), but then you realize these Zombies are crazy and they are everywhere! So in honor of the Pilgrims and Indians, we did our best Zombie impressions.






Saturday I headed to Sioux City to help Donna "Bubba" Hanson party it up for her Bachelorette Party. We had a blast. Em. S. made it down from Sioux Falls with Jami, and Vollmar and I in one hotel room was dangerous... There was a lot of giggling, security only stopped at our room once, and bad dancing.


The Mama Em's


Jami and Mo

Also, I realize some of you have noticed our home looks different. Yes, Matt and I have moved, again. We are now in Omaha and have been for a few months. I haven't blogged about it because it has been a complicated situation. Nothing bad or anything, we are happy and healthy, just logistical issues and job issues, and it may not yet be long-term/permanent, so I just side-stepped it. But we are enjoying the Big O! Minus all the dumb Husker fans, there is nothing we enjoy more than working our way through a city one Restaurant at a time! I will fill in the details on this later, but there still may be a move in our near future, and I want to see how that turns out..oh the saga of the Kajewski's...to be continued...

You thought this was a big blog! Wait for the next one.. That is right Blogger's, the annual Matt and Mo decorating the tree post is coming up.. And this year we added a wreath! WHAT THE WHAT! To be coming in a few days...

I am done with the ominous continuances for one post... or am I??? Okay really this time. So now you see that over the last couple weeks I have worn 27 dresses, gained 27 lbs, and need a 27 Step Program...for everything.