Different Person?

This is written by Rachel, NOT Mom! I guess if I want to not have to clean my room I better type. I don't were to start? Hmmmmmmmm...????????? Ohhhhhh! I know were how about the car? Did you know that it hit the tire were I was at? That was scary!! I hope we get the money, fix the car, and the forget the whole thing. It doesn't look like that will happen. When we called her insurance company they said that she canceled out her insurance on 10/24/06! That is bad! Really bad! I hope this is done soon!
We had a very nice Christmas together with just our small 5 people family. It was fun! I got something that was too young for me so I got a tamagotchi that is pink! My favorite color! I also got a safe little thing to help it not from being all scrached up. I also replaced something that I am not going to use that much and I instead got a DVD of my favorite singing group. Hurray!!!
I need to do something before I forget.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!! And A Happy New Year!!!!

Everyone's ok...

but the car isn't. I don't have much time to write but wanted everyone to know that we were in a car accident yesterday. I was in the left turn lane when a car in front of me decided they were turning left too. We were side-swiped in the front quarter panel. It didn't want to move so I left it where it was till the tow truck got there. The other driver was able to pull into a drive way. I had all the kids in the car but everyone is fine. A shop owner must be used to accidents there. She let the kids come into the back of her comic book store to stay warm while I dealt with the sheriff and everything else. I then had a friend from church come and get them. Mark came to the scene as soon as I called and almost beat the sheriff there. The other lady was ticketed for failure to yield the right-of-way. The sheriff said that it was clear that I was in that lane and she should have looked better before pulling out.
Unfortunately, we both have just PLPD insurance. Looks like we'll be able to get $500 from her insurance to pay for repairs. The question is just how much the repairs are going to be. We had the tow truck take the car to the recommended shop and we'll hear from them later today. Of course, we can't pursue the money from her until I get a copy of the accident report which could take 5 business days, which is even longer with the holidays.
Depending what we find out on the estimate, we have a friend with a heated garage and lots of experience. He may be able to keep the repairs under the $500. He has also loaned us his Neon to use till we get this mess worked out.
It doesn't help with the budget or the Christmas spirit, but we are just very grateful that we are all fine. Cars are replaceable, kids aren't.
Gotta get busy now though. I was doing 3 large cakes for AWANA at church tonight but that got rather messed up with the "excitment" of late night.

Mom's home & more

Just a quick post to make sure that everyone knows that Mom was able to be released from the hospital and go home on Saturday. She is glad to be there and says she is doing her best to not do anything.
This is going to be quite a busy week for us. Joshua has a school holiday program this evening, Rachel has a band program on Thursday, Mark's family party is Saturday (in Detroit), and both boys are in the church program this coming Sunday morning. Of course, this is all thrown on top of the normal routine of school, homework, AWANA, chores, and work!
That won't leave much time for blogging this week. It also won't leave much time for fixing my Haloscan comments. Oh, well. Bloggers will have to do for now.
I'm also putting in my final AVON order before Christmas. I'll switch the link (if I haven't already) as soon as I post this so you can see the latest books. Just let me know if you want anything.

Changes

Well, I went and did it. I changed around my template...but I also managed to goof up my Haloscan comments while I was at it. Help, blogger brother Nate! It said that it would be saving my old template but I don't know how to get to it.

Mom's being released...soon

I went back to TC to see Mom this Tuesday & Wednesday and they are saying she could be released on Friday. At first, they were saying either Thursday or Friday but they also said that she had to be off the oxygen for 24 hours first and she was still needing it on Wednesday afternoon. Her oxygen levels are doing better but still are borderline. They are still doing breathing treatments too. Actually all she has left for extra attachments are the oxygen in her nose and then the central line in her neck. She isn't letting that port out till she is ready to go out the door. Her poor veins have really had a rough time of it and this makes it so much easier.
Mom called Uncle Mike early in the week and said to come on Thursday but that they might not leave till Friday. She also said she didn't care if he brought his truck or her car but he had better be there when they say that she can go. She told me she feels like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive. She really did look so much better this week!
Well, there is a lot more going on around here but no time to blog about it now. Hopefully will be able to soon. I also want to get some time to play with this new version of blogger to see what type of changes I can make to this site.

Medical updates & more

Yes, Mom has once again been allowed to leave the hospital. I talked to her late on Friday and she said they were sending her out again. I just haven't had time to blog since then. She also told me that she didn't have to go in now this week for the pre-op tests she was scheduled to have since they did all of them while she was in there last week. Now we have only 1 week till the surgery.
As for Mark's nephew, Nick, he is also making a rather remarkable recovery at this point. They have moved him to a rehab ward for teens with head injuries. (The scary thing is that there are so many of this injury they require their own ward?!) He does answer questions and can get up and walk around with some assistance. He seems to recognize people; however, he wakes up very disoriented as to where he is. Each time it might be somewhere different, including the army. This seems like a rather good recovery for such a short time.
This Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for. It is amazing that we have had 2 close calls to losing people who mean a lot to us and yet we still have both of them. God is definitely answering prayers around here!
I think we are staying home for the actual Thanksgiving day. We have a gift of food from someone at church. Everything but the turkey. Then Mark called to say that a guy he works with has the turkey for us! It may even be a wild one, I'm not sure.
We are working on making arrangements to visit Mom over the long weekend though. If Mark can get Friday off, we will go up then. Since Tammy's place is rather small and Rich isn't much into company, we have asked if we can spend time visiting at Lake Ann Camp which is less than 5 miles from Tammy's. This way the kids can play in a different room or run around outside while we visit too. It is supposed to be in the mid-50's (that is up 40+ degrees from late year) so they may even play a few holes of disc golf while we are there. We don't know yet if we will go up on Thursday and stay with part of Mark's family that is up there or if we will make it a 1 day trip.
I also need to contact brother Mark and see what his plans are for next week. We are still making plans. We are thinking of my Mark and I going up Monday afternoon and then he would return to GR after the surgery. I would then be able to stay till Thursday as I am scheduled to work on Friday. Of course, if she isn't doing well, I'll stay longer but will make that call when the time comes. We have friends who are willing to help with the kids we just have to tell them when we need them.
For those who come by for Nascar talk, it was a pretty sad day around here on Sunday. Not only the disappointment of Jimmie Johnson winning the championship but also for the coverage that NBC had where you would have thought Johnson was the only in the race and in contention. My husband is not the least bit sad that NBC will no longer be covering Nascar so that cars not driven by Hendrick Motorsport drivers will get their fair share. Stephen's major disappointment was 10 weeks ago when Tony didn't make the Chase but he was a bit impressed with the Chase anyway. Now that Kevin & RCR are getting things together maybe next year for him which would make Mark happy. Of course, Rachel would prefer to see the 8 car in the winner's circle more often. Just can't please everyone in this house, no matter who wins!

Mom's back in the hospital

We received a call last night that Mom is back in the hospital. She was having trouble breathing when she got up yesterday morning. Aunt Marlene drove her to the hospital because Mom didn't want her to call an ambulance. It seems her oxygen level was low, her blood pressure was low, and her heart rate was low. They gave her oxygen and she seemed to improve quite a bit. She seemed good when we talked to her last night. We don't know what this means for her surgery, whether they will move it up or not or whether they will just keep her in the hospital until the surgery. Everything is all up in the air again.
As for Nick, he has been moved out of intensive care to a regular room. He is eating and doing "some" talking. They say that they still don't know how much damage or how permanent the damage was. Still just need time.

Comerica Park is done!

Well, Stephen (and I) has finished building Comerica Park. It isn't what I would call great but then again it was Stephen's project and his work. Once we got the basic structure of the park down and convinced him it was going to take a posterboard of pictures to actually show most of the details, I let him do it all from there. He was up way to late last night finishing it but hopefully it made it to school safely. Tonight will be Michigan Night for us to go see what all the other kids learned about and how many parents did the work on the projects. When we went to Rachel's 2 years ago, her's looked a little pathetic because so many of the parents had done the work on the other kids. It gets a bit frustrating but we have also talked to some of the teachers about it and they know. They take whose work it is into account when grading the projects. I know that it is really hard as a parent to step back and let the kid do it, but how else are they to learn.
Rachel is headed to her science partner's house after school again today. They are going to finish working out any kinks to a poem that they are presenting by way of a puppet show tomorrow. They had a third girl join their group on Monday after most of the work was already complete so they need to do some adjusting. We'll pick her up on our way to Michigan night.
I'm still doing all I can to push my Avon business. I will be working a craft show booth on Saturday. I'm also working to make sure that customer's have books to order from while I am gone around Mom's surgery. 2 more orders before Christmas and I really want to take advantage of them. I hope to have both sets of books labeled and ready for delivery on Monday so that I have them out before Thanksgiving. I do have someone else that wants to sub-sell for me so maybe that will help.
I think the most exciting news this week is that our church is planning on breaking ground next Monday on our property for phase one of a project. This phase will only be clearing the property, paving a drive and parking area, and building a pavillion to bring in all the utilities. We hope that we will be able to hold lots of different activities there in the next couple of years even though our church building is 1/2 mile away. Hopefully the ground won't be frozen by Monday. We approved the plans back in June or July but it has taken a ton of red tape to get through so that the work could actually start happening. We received a letter yesterday that they are planning a special dedication and ground breaking ceremony for Sunday afternoon after the morning service.
Well, I have lots to do. By they way, "no news is good news", right? We haven't gotten any news on Nick yesterday so all must be as good as can be expected.

Mom's Surgery

Just wanted to let everyone know that they have now scheduled Mom's surgery. It will be on Tuesday, Nov. 28th. She doesn't have to go in until that morning. They say that they won't know exactly what all they will do until they are in there. They are looking at possibly replacing the mitrial valve, at least one bypass, and then repairing the hole if they still need too. It is healing well and may not need much work by then.
She said that they only let 2 family members in the surgical waiting room so there is no since in me coming until a couple of days after the surery. Yeah, right, like that is going to happen! NOT! I plan to be right there. I had already warned Meijer that I might need some time that week and the way it is currently scheduled, I work on Monday and not again till Friday. I haven't got it all worked out yet but I only learned about it about 10 till 5 this afternoon and I had to spend most of the evening making Comerica Park with Stephen.
P.S. - Mark's nephew, Nick, has been brought out of the coma but is still rather out of it. He will attempt to respond when told to squeeze a hand or something else but not consistently. He is off the ventilator as well. If things go well, they will remove the pressure monitor from his head tomorrow as well as the chest tube. These are all encouraging signs but he is still far from healed. They really haven't even been able to determine a lot yet about any permanent damage. Mark's sister has another chemo treatment tomorrow. She went home this afternoon which is the first time since Saturday. Mark's mom stayed at the hospital. Geri plans to go back if she is up to it after her treatment tomorrow.

Family news

I've talked a lot about Mom and what is going on with her. I believe I also mentioned Mark's sister is currently undergoing chemo for her second bout with breast cancer. Now we have something else to add to list.
On Saturday, Mark's 16-year-old nephew, Nicholas, was struck by a full-size van on Van Dyke in Detroit (actually Sterling Heights). He is currently in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Michigan in downtown Detroit. He has a severe head injury, broken collarbone, cracked ribs, collapsed lung, and an ankle injury. They have drained some fluid from the brain because of the swelling and fixed the collapsed lung with a chest tube. He is currently in a medically induced coma because of difficulties when they try to bring him out of it. They also have removed his ventilator at one point but decided it best to put it back to let his body just focus on healing and not any extra work. The do think that there is some central nervous system damage but really don't know much until he comes out of the coma but for now they can't let him come out. It could be a quite a while before they know much (with Mom's heart it was the first 48 hours but with the brain, it can continue swelling for up to 72 hours before starting to heal).
Mark went over early Sunday morning and returned late last night. He was only allowed in the room briefly and not until just before he was leaving. He said that Nick has more tubes and monitors than Mom did! He spent most of the time supporting his mom and sister. His mom is taking the blame on herself which she does often even in situations where she had no real control. Mark's sister is holding in there. It is tough because she also has 2 more sons at home to think about as well as her own health. Because Nick's dad died almost 5 years ago and Mark's mom lives with Geri and the boys, they have granted Mark's mom full access to Nick as well as Geri. This will help a little because then when Geri is gone, Ruth can get in yet. They are very strict about any visitors at this time and either Ruth or Geri has to go in with the visitors.
The kids and I stayed home as we had a busy day scheduled at church as well as the fact that I was scheduled to work at Meijer's. Our kids know what is going on with Nick. We have tried not to be too graphic yet honest. Rachel seems to be taking it the hardest at this time. She went and found some picutres of Nicky from 7 years ago and has been carrying them around with her. She was going to put one up in her locker as a prayer reminder. The boys seem to understand it is serious but are doing fine. I also notified all their teachers in case there was any problems at school from the stress of the situation.
We know that God is in control. All we can do is pray and wait. We have seen a miracle recently in the fact that Mom is still with us and now we are watching for another one, if He sees fit. So that is the news from here. I'll try to find something more encouraging to write about soon. Maybe I'll get a digital picture of Stephen's Comerica Park later this week that I can post (after he gets it built that is).

No school...again

Well, the kids are all home from school again today. This week it is for Parent Teacher Conferences. Joshua was home both yesteday & today but the other 2 had to go 1/2 day yesterday. Rachel went to another student's house for the afternoon as they have a project to do together. This student lives in Rockford (which is quite a drive from here) so the mom picked Rachel up when she picked up her own and then brought Rachel back to the school around the time we were finishing up with all the conferences. This saved us all a lot of driving.
The conferences went well. Stephen's was probably the best conference we have ever had in his school career! This teacher really seems to understand him and they get along great. We are so thrilled with her work with him. Joshua is having a slight difficulty understanding that when the teacher or a parent assistant want him to do something he needs to do it whether he wants to or not. He is just being stubborn and wouldn't count past 10 for them when he was being assessed. Last night, though, he counted to 100 for us at home. Rachel is doing well too. Her biggest struggles are with Spanish and the fact that she missed 2 &1/2 days of school during a busy time. The strange weekend of us going to TC probably didn't help any either. She is doing so well in band on her saxophone that the second year students are a bit ashamed of their playing. The director told them they could either quit or practice harder if they didn't like that she was doing better then them.
Now, this morning has been spent with me helping Stephen work on a history project--Comerica Park. This is due on Thursday, Nov. 16 so this is the final weekend we have available. It is quite a project. So far we have the field itself made up. Now we just need all the seating and walls as well as it's extras, such as ferris wheel, carousel, and statues. It's going to be a long weekend.
The latest on Mom: She had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and the doctor was rather pleased. The only vital sign that they are having to keep an eye on because of a couple of poor readings is her oxygen level. This week she saw the cardiologist, next Wed. she sees the surgeon, and then she sees this doctor on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving again. She is still getting lots of company. Aunt Marlene is there with her all the time but Uncle Paul & Aunt Bette say they are staying in Alpena until her surgery is over and they come spend at least a day a week with them in TC. She also had a visit from her friend, Fran, who just moved to the UP in the last year or so. They spend time reading and doing puzzles. She sounds rather encouraged and content with the situation which is better then she was doing with her stay in the hospital.
We voted on Tuesday but are a bit disappointed with the outcome but we know that God's in control.

Mom update

It is my turn to post the update on Mom. She is being released in just a little while to go stay at cousin Tammy's house. The doctors looked over their test results today and were willing to let her go as far as Tammy's but she is to have constant supervision. Aunt Marlene is there and plans to stay with Mom as long as is needed. Mom will also be having weekly doctors visits to keep an eye on her condition. Mom assures me that she won't hesitate to speak up to Marlene if something doesn't feel right (we'll have to see on that one). As you can imagine, Mom is very happy. It isn't Alpena but at least it is out of the hospital.
Mom actually has given the nurses something to laugh about as she put on her jogging suit at least one day this week. Then she was sitting in her room visiting with Marlene & Tammy or they went to the family room and worked on a puzzle and the nurses would come in but couldn't figure out which one was the patient because they were all dressed. The nurses may have gotten tired of tracking her down and helped get the doctors to let her out! Of course, Mom may also haved headed to the kitchen to help out if they had kept her much longer too!

2 posts-1 day

How amazing is that!? I just wanted to make sure that everyone noticed the new link at the side. Now you can look over the latest Avon catalog that I am taking orders from. If you are interested in anything, just send me an email and I'll get it for you. The other way to order it is to go to www.Avon.com and order the items then when it asks for your rep's phone number put mine in.
Also, I better use this chance to say happy birthday to 2 brothers, Tim on 11/1 and Mark on 11/2. It was good to see both of you recently even for just a short time. Keep in touch, guys & have good birthdays!

Catching up again

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. I've barely sat down at the computer very long except to read the updates on how Mom is doing.
We are trying for some semblance of a normal life, all the while awaiting a phone call saying that Mom had another problem and that they are heading to surgery.
The kids did well while we were gone to TC. They stayed with a couple from church that have sort of adopted them as extra grandchildren. I'm told that Rachel was a big help especially on Sunday evening when Joshua just couldn't stop crying. There were good reports from school as well which is a big relief.
The kids are having some crazy weeks at school. This week there is no school on Thurs. or Friday because of teacher inservice. Next week, they go just 3 & 1/2 days, except for Joshua who only goes 3 days, for Parent Teacher Conferences. There will be one full week of school but then they have another 3 day week due to Thanksgiving.
For those of you that don't know yet, I am working at Meijer in the bakery department decorating cakes. I asked for 10-20 hours a week. Supposedly I was going to work evenings when Mark would be home with the kids but they asked if I could train in the mornings. I agreed and now I hope they keep me on mornings. It is really working out well for me to go in from 7-11 a.m. The only thing that they don't like is that I have to leave at 11 to pick up Joshua and can't stay late if we are behind. This schedule gives me evenings at home with my family yet or I do my Avon then. They also aren't exactly thrilled that I have been there just one month and have called in twice (one for the Sunday we were in TC & then Fri Stephen was home with a cold). They will just have to deal with that though.
I'm trying to figure out when I can get back to TC to see Mom again. It doesn't look like this weekend though. Mark has a prayer breakfast Sat. morning and then will be going to work till 2 p.m. I could get someone to cover at church for me on Sunday but am scheduled to work at Meijer from 1-5 p.m. I don't want to call in too much for babysitting favors from friends at church right now either because I know I'm definitely going to need it when Mom has her surgery.
On the other side of the family, Mark's sister, Geri, has recently gone through a second masectomy and has started more chemo. We haven't heard from them recently to know how it is going but we are praying that they have better meds now then when she had it 5 years or so ago.
So that is about it. School, work, and church--and phone calls and trips to TC. Stephen has a field trip on Monday to Lansing which Mark is going on then he also has a project to complete for Michigan night at school on November 16. I have to call for a physical for Rachel since she is wanting to try out for the vollyball team in January. There is just always something more to do.

Boys are doing well

Just a couple minutes to post before I have to go get Rachel & Stephen from school. Wanted to let everyone know that the boys are adjusting well to school too. Stephen says he doesn't like school but does very well in it. He has only forgotten his homework twice and turns out that he had a substitute for the last little while of school on those 2 days.
Joshua just loves kindergarten. He was thrilled to come home on the second day of school and tell me that he raised his hand and gave the right answer when the teacher called on him. He also thinks it is pretty cool that he didn't have to tell the music teacher his name but everyone else did. (We go to the same church that she does.) There are only 4 or 5 boys in Joshua's class and the rest are girls. That doesn't bother him any because he rather prefers to be around the girls. He is totally attached to a foreign exchange student that is staying with our friends, Mark & Lisa for this school year. If I can't find him when we are at church, I just look for her and he is usually close by.
Rachel didn't make student council representative but she did have a decent turn out for See You At The Pole. It didn't go exactly as planned but it went well none the less. I don't remember if I put it in the last post or not but she is also doing 7th grade math this year. They tested all the 6th graders at the beginning of the year and if they did well enough, the teacher put them in 7th grade math. She is like 1 of only 6 in her class to be doing it!
Well, time to run again.

Rachel's busy

Of course, we all are but especially her. We're getting into the swing of the schoolyear.
Some of you know and some of you don't but Rachel switched from clarinet to saxophone this year. She has been doing very well at practicing her saxophone. The band director has not been able to come to school yet because of health problems. There has been a substitute teacher so far and most of the time has been spent on theory and paper and pencil projects. This has given her a chance to work on her own to try to catch up with everyone else. The regular band director is hoping to come back this week. It will be interesting to see how he responds to her change and progress now.
Rachel also decided to run for Student Council Representative for her homeroom. Now that she has found out her competitors, she doesn't think she'll win but we'll see. She can make campaign signs and then next week she has to make a speech. The election results will be announced at an all school assembly next Wed afternoon.
Last week, we were listening to the radio and they were talking about See You at The Pole coming up on Wed. Sept. 27. She remembered that last year there was only 1 other car in the lot at 7:00 when it was supposed to start. I said that now that Rachel was in middle school, she could help with promoting it so that people would know when it was to start. She asked 2 other girls if they wanted to help but they weren't interested. She didn't let that stop her though. She asked the principal if she could put up posters to promote it and he said fine so we spent an evening printing signs for it. She has also asked the wife of our Christian Education Pastor to help sing some choruses that morning since they have children at the school too. So she is going right at it. She has even been thinking through what they should sing. We are really proud of her for not just sitting back on this event and letting it pass by. I know our youth group promotes it a lot but she isn't part of the youth group as it starts at 7th grade not 6th. If you want to know more about the event, the website is www.syatp.org.
Well, it is time for Joshua to get home and I haven't gotten much done so I have to go.

School's back in session!

Yes, the children started school on Tuesday! All 3 of them this year! Joshua is in morning kindergarten and has the same teacher the other 2 had. He is really enjoying school and has no problem separating from me for that time. Stephen started 4th grade on Tuesday. He has a new teacher to the school but she seemed very nice at our meeting a couple of weeks ago. Then there is Rachel, she started middle school! This is new territory for all of us, but so far, so good. She has a very nice home room teacher as well.
We spent Labor Day holiday up at Lake Ann Camp for another work bee. It was a very nice get away. Aunt Marlene, Tammy, & Joe met us there with Rachel Friday afternoon. We showed them around a bit before we got settled into our cabin. Rachel & I spent the weekend working in the kitchen. Rachel isn't allowed to serve the food till she is 14 but there were lots of other ways she could help. She wants to spend the summers working in the kitchen as soon as she is old enough. That will be fine with me since it will mean that she gets her week of camp for free.
We did have some minor incidents will we were there. Friday night Rachel fell off the top bunk bed while sleeping. She woke up crying and said that her head hurt. The next morning, it wasn't her head hurting...it was her bottom. Moving caused her quite a bit of pain Sat. but she survived and now the only evidence of it is a major buise on her elbow. When the men came in for lunch on Saturday, Joshua looked quite worse for the wear. Seems he took a tumble down their tubing hill which is in the middle of their disc golf course that Mark and another friend were working on. Once I got his face cleaned up though he looked much better. Mark also ended up with a scratch on his face but everyone survived just fine.
I took pictures of the kids on their first day but don't have time to get them online right now. Will have to try that soon. Boy, do the 3 hours that Joshua is gone just fly by. I'm trying to make sure to focus on my Avon during that time but it seems that 11:15 gets here quicker than ever. Now it is almost time to go get the rest of the crew. I'll try to get on more regularly but you know how that goes.

Doing better

Everyone is fine & healthy again. We have now visited all the kids teachers and seen their classrooms. I have been slowly working on gathering their school supplies and are almost there. I have refused to buy any pens or highlighters till we go through this house and check for any lost ones that we have on hand. The boys need haircuts and there are probably some more shoes to buy but for the most part school prep is pretty well under way. They start back 1 week from tomorrow!
I spent Friday night and all day Saturday at the Hudsonville Fair working at an AVON booth. Friday went well but Saturday was slower than expected. I think because it looked like rain all day it kept people away. I didn't sign up any recruits on the spot but did get some prospects.
Rachel is up at Gramma's house. They have been having fun garage sale-ing and also canning peaches.
Yesterday was promotion Sunday at church. It is my least favorite day of the year. Being in charge of the preschool dept. I have to talk in front of all the parents. I have no problem being in front of the kids but don't like doing the adults. But I survived again for another year.
Well, I have to get busy around here. I'm still playing some catch-up from being sick.

Rough couple of weeks

I told you all about Rachel being sick with a virus a couple of weeks ago. I don't think though that I mentioned having to take Joshua in for an infection in his eye which happened a week after Rachel came down sick. Then last Sunday I started getting sick. It was basically the same symptoms as Rachel (congestion, cough) except no fever. I made it to church last Sunday morning but by evening service declared myself sick and didn't go. Monday, I made myself get up and busy becasuse I'm a mom and can't be sick for very long. That just doesn't work. I kept going best I could till Thursday. My chest really felt heavy on Thursday so I finally called the dr. Probably a good thing I did because he said it was pneumonia. He gave me a pretty powerful antibiotic (Avelox) which I had never heard of before. He also gave me a breathing treatment at the office and an inhaler of Albuterol to go with it. So I have been using those as well as Mucinex & acidophilus (the same as active cultures in yogurt). I didn't get any worse after starting all this but it took till yesterday before I actually felt a little better. I was actually able to sleep in bed (albeit using a special pillow to keep me upright) last night instead of the recliner. That was a first in the last week.
To go along with this fun, I also got to deal with no hot water most of the week. Mark found out Monday morning before going to work that the hot water heater had started leaking. Fortunately, it was only a leak and not a full blown hole. The other thing we are thankful for is that everything that was between it and the drain was up on a pallet so nothing was damaged. I did some research on models and prices even while sick. Wed. evening we went out and bought one. Then we had 2 friends from church come over on Thurs. evening to install it. They had a few problems so they ended up having to finish on Friday. So we now have hot water again without having to put it on the stove first and it only cost us some favors for church family. (The price to have Home Depot install it would have doubled the cost of it.)
Our church family has helped quite a bit this last week. Besides installing the water heater, we had free meal Saturday from a restaurant that is owned by a church family. There was actually enough chicken that it took care of 2 meals. We just added rice to it the second meal. Also, a very dear famly stopped by Sunday afternoon, with a chicken & rice casserole, muffins, and cookies. I'll use that for dinner tonight because Mondays Mark has to work till at least 7 or 8 p.m. Rachel was glad to hear about it because she has been having to learn some simple meals that I have supervised her making while I wasn't feeling good.
I have the kids busy helping around here today to get things done. The Treasure Hunters live finale has been a great incentive to keep them working today. I'm looking at my schedule for the week and trying to determine which items I can handle and if there is anything I can hand over to someone else to lighten things up a little. We meet with the kids teachers this week and I am scheduled at a fair for an Avon booth later this week. I'll just do what I can and rest when possible.

Few minutes

Just I better take a few minutes to blog while I can right now. The weather finally broke and Dad didn't think that much of an excuse anyway. Of course, we were hotter here this last Sunday-Wednesday than what he was in FL. We had temps in the upper 90's and heat indexes around 105-110. Not having a/c, it makes for rather uncomfortable living.
The main thing to talk about in our week besides the weather, is that Rachel is sick. She actually gave us quite a start on Tuesday. She said that her throat hurt a little and she had a headache when she first got up but I sort of blamed in on the miserable heat. I had an appointment at 1 so I took the kids to a friend's house with a/c while I was gone. Except Rachel got worse while I was gone instead of better. I didn't want to hurry home because of the heat so we took her temp there and it was 102.7. We gave her an extra strength tylenol but it didn't go down at all. So I called the dr. and we were able to get a 5:45. I left the boys with the friend and called Mark to have him pick them up when he left work. At the dr.'s, Rachel was miserable! They tested for strep & UTI but both were negative. They said she could have 600 mg of ibuprofen for her fever. She said she felt a lot of pain when they were feeling around her neck and head. She was also dizzy and walking very stiffly. The dr. decided that we should go across the street to the ER. She called them and we headed over. The ibuprofen kicked in while we were waiting to see the ER dr. So they ended up sending us home without further testing (such as a spinal tap). They decided it was just a virus.
She hasn't had a fever since Tuesday. However, she is still rather sick. Her congestion went from stuffy to running like a faucet yesterday. She also has a cough and a lot of joint pain. Then yesterday afternoon, she started complaining of an earache. Seems that some of the congestion caused bacteria to get into her ear canal and cause an infection there. She now has an antibiotic to help that. So we aren't going very far or doing a whole lot with her like this. We are trying to get her better so she can get in her visits to Gramma and her friend Jackie in Newaygo.
They are done with the Saturday morning video time so I better get moving. The rest of our commitments and lives haven't stopped because she is down. It just takes more juggling this way.

No blogging for now

Sorry, but with the heat & humidity level as high as it has been, I'm keeping the computer off as much as possible. They are starting to say "save energy" and I do my part by keeping this heater off. This is tricky when I need it to work on AVON and the budget/checkbook but I'm do the necessities then get it off. The kids are frustrated too because they don't get their computer time every day like they were. Just know we are fine and finding ways to stay cool. Hopefully this heat wave will break by the end of the week.

House is DONE!

Don't have a lot of time to blog right now but had to let everyone know that the house is finally done! It took probably 6 weeks for the painters to get their part done. I finally signed off on their work although I still wasn't exactly happy with it. I decided I was tired of dealing with them and could do it better & faster myself. I spent 1 Sat. painting the shaker shingles that they weren't required to do. Then we had a friend from church that spent 2 days painting in areas that I couldn't get to (or wasn't comfortable getting to). Then I spent the 4th of July painting till it got too hot to work on the south side. Another friend stopped by on the 4th as it was cooling off and I was about to go back out. He went up and worked just a few minutes till he ran out of paint. Last Friday, I bought another gallon and was back up on the porch roof by 9 a.m. on Saturday. I finished up the front by the time it was too hot to be up there again and then we went around back and finished up the touch up needed back there. I am proclaiming it DONE! There is one side that could still use another coat but if you aren't looking really close and inspecting it, it looks fine.
More on the kids at camp later.

Dad's home

Suppose that means I better get blogging again so I don't get any emails about it. Of course, he got a little taste of how busy my days area while he was here.
Last week was our church's VBS. It went very well. We had around 75 kids the first day but the rest of the week it was closer to 100. I had a very different time this year. I chose not to be the leader of the pre-k & kindergarteners or any other group of kids. Since MI has a $.10 deposit on all cans and bottles, we use that as our missionary offering for the week. The kids bring them in and then I took 2 teens to the closest Meijer's store & returned them. Except for the first day, we had $50-$75 in bottles and cans. It usually took 3 carts to get through the store with all of them. It was really different for me & I really enjoyed it. Most days, I was back to church early and would go around seeing where help was needed or getting to visit with some of the other workers.
This year was a little different for Rachel as she was both a participant and a worker. It was the last year that she could participate because she is going into 6th grade this fall. She is also part of our puppet team which performed every day at the closing of VBS. She thought it pretty neat that she had 2 nametags and was able to leave class early to go do the puppets. Actually, on Friday, she came with me to do the pop can returns because 1 of the teens that had helped me all week was telling the Bible story that day so he couldn't come and she wanted to.
Wednesday, Joshua and I left VBS early. He had been having bowel problems since our trip to Lake Ann over Memorial Day. It was hard to tell if it was a real physical problems or, sometimes we suspected, it might have been laziness. I finally took him into the doctor and she felt that it was a legitimate problem although, not major. He just was out of whack and was going to need some help to get regulated again. He is now on a Rx laxative and doing better.
Our CE pastor and his wife had a picnic for all the VBS workers and their families on Saturday. That meant that I came down off the ladder about 4:30 to get ready. The painters were almost done with the bottom half of the house and so I spent Sat. doing the top part. I didn't get as far as I hoped. I only did the small porch triangle and prepped the top front triangle. Then did about 1/3 of the big back triangle. I didn't like the feel of the ladder going to the top point on the back. I could have climbed it ok. It was the thought of standing there trying to paint that I didn't care for.
Actually, a friend of ours from church that is currently unemployed came by today and has completed the back and is now working on the sides. Hey Mom, when's your next trip down? I think we may be doing some wallpapering when you come. This friend's wife says that she has a room that she wants papered but she doesn't know how to paper. Well, if he can paint, I figure I can paper but I need my coach and helper.
Well, I have to leave it there. The baby I'm watching for 2 days woke up from his nap a few minutes ago. I'll have to try to get on again soon.

Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Musuem

On June 2, 2006 Mom and me went to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. It was fun! We left with the whole 5th grade at 7:00 a.m. We were on bus #2. We got stuck on the second to last row, next to the bathroom. But we still had lots of fun! I liked the museum better because it talked more round want Henry Ford, Wilbur and Orville Wright did to change America. In the Village, they talk about how they lived back then. They even were glass blowing. I'm trying to convince Mom to take me back to see more.
On the way home we were supuse to get home at 7:45, but noooooo. We got home at 8:30!!! We got stuck in traffic. Got to go now. More later.:)

Catch up

Guess it's time to catch everyone up on another busy week or so. We had a very nice Memorial Day weekend at Lake Ann. The heat was unbelievable. It seemed much more like the 4th of July holiday than Memorial Day. It didn't even really cool off in the evenings. Which was really a bummer because I usually put some pops outside our door to be cold for drinking the next morning and that didn't work this year. (Camp serves coke products and we want our Pepsi products.)
The workmen have been here all but 1 day last week and that day it was raining. They are doing a much better job then when they started. I think they found out I wasn't going to accept a half-done job and decided they had better do it right. I think they are finishing the garage today and they already have 2 sides of the house mostly scrapped. A couple of days, rain threatened most of the day so they scrapped instead of painting what was prepped on those days. At least they were here and making progress.
I spent 13+ hours with 5th graders on Friday. It was the big field trip of the year. They sell bags of popcorn to the school every Friday all year to help pay for the trip. We went on charter busses to Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. We had to be at school at 7 a.m. and didn't get back till 8:30 p.m. Rachel wants to blog more about our visit there so I won't say much except that it was nice only having to supervise my own child while we were there. I could enjoy it more because I wasn't having to keep track of a half dozen kids going in different directions.
We had a very full weekend. Mark had to work on Saturday and then he and Rachel went to our ballfield to watch the West Michigan Whitecaps play baseball. Rachel had earned 2 free tickets to go to the game. There were storms in the area when they went so the game was over an hour late starting. The Whitecaps lost but they had a good time and even got to see fireworks at the end.
I'm just trying to stay on top of all the activities. This week will be busy like all the others. The kids are done with school on Thursday at 11:15. They have field day today. Stephen has a field trip on Wed. and I get to have lunch at the Amway Grand since I was able to achieve President's Club status at AVON this year. Mom's coming down on Wednesday and should be here till Sunday. I still have to figure out plans for Stephen's birthday next week. Then there is all the normal busy-ness to deal with meals, laundry, cleaning, and AVON. I better get at it.

Heading to Lake Ann

As soon as Mark can sneak himself out of work we will be leaving for Lake Ann Bapt. Camp. It is up by Traverse City. This is their annual Memorial Day Work Bee. We spend the weekend getting the camp ready for the summer camp season. A lot of families from our church go up and it is a lot of fun. We spend Sat am & pm working at different projects (setting up teepee's, sorting food, or painting) till almost dinner time. We are fed great during the weekend and when we aren't working, we get to play games and disc golf. Sunday is chapel services and family time. Then we work Mon. am till lunch, pack up and come home. The weather is supposed to be more like July 4th then Memorial Day here.
Hope everyone has a safe and good holiday weekend.

Babysitting...contractors

As if I wasn't busy enough around here this week. The lead contractor decided he was ready to have some guys start painting here this week. And from the last 2 days, it isn't encouraging. They came Monday and started on the garage. They are supposed to "wet scrape" since it is lead paint. Well, that is hard to do if you leave the water bottles laying around the yard and you have a cigarette in the hand that isn't holding the scraper. So the paint chips that they are taking off aren't staying on the plastic very well either. They scraped the garage and spot primed it. Then they started on the back of the house. When I looked at the scraping on the garage, it wasn't done. They did some more on it yesterday as well as more on the house but were only here a 1/2 day. When something is primed, that means it is ready to paint, right? Last night there was no way that the scrapping was done but yet 3 sides of the house were spot primed! This morning I have talked to both the contractor and the city supervisor for the lead program. They both assured me that they weren't done scraping. No one had an answer then as to why they had spot primed over areas that still needed scrapped. They have only taken a few of the hardware left from the old storm windows off and only after several were spot primed over which tells me if I hadn't complained they would have just been painted over and left there. And with my complaints about the chips not staying on the plastic, they have brought a hepa vac to clean them up. Today they have stayed till 10:15 and disappeared again. My best guess is that they will be back around 3:30 to clean up and put away for the evening since the contractor usual transports one of them to and from the site. At this rate, there is no way the work is going to be done before the kids get out of school on June 8 and heat and humidity is to set in this weekend. In the mean time, I can't open windows during the day when they might be here working and the kids can't play in the yard. AAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! I don't have time for this. I have way too much going on to have to babysit these useless....... (I'll let you fill that in). Well, thanks for listening to my rantings. I better get busy.

Profile

Trying to get this photo into our profile. It doesn't seem to want to work for me so I guess it'll have to wait. I have other things to get busy with right now.

Pictures

I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures. And it looks like I did it. These are some that Mom sent to me from when we were in Alpena for spring break. I hope that I can get an electronic copy of the family picture taken at church last Sunday for Mother's day. Then I can add that one to the profile. But I better post this and send the church photographer an email before I forget.

Gone

Well, Mom's gone home for now. I've actually been gone for 4 of the last 5 days. Mom came last Monday to lend a hand here. I earned a trip to Chicago through recruiting with my Avon business. We were getting to go on a tour of our "branch" there that does both manufacturing and distribution.
Mom and Joshua took me to meet up with 5 other reps down in the Hudsonville area last Wednesday around noon. We drove over to Chicago in our uplines minivan. The trip went fine. Even with construction there wasn't any problems. There was a pizza party at the branch Wed. evening and then some shopping as well as visiting at a Ruby Tuesday in our hotel. Thursday we toured both areas of the branch, had lunch, and headed home. Coming home didn't go as well as getting there. It took us 2 hours to go about 40 miles through Chicago. We stopped for more shopping at the outlet mall in Michigan City, IN and then had dinner before heading home. The ladies finally had to be done shopping because the van was so full we almost had to put some bags on their laps. I know that my feet were a bit squished from packages. Mark ended up picking me up at about 10:45 p.m.
Then on Friday, I had to unpack and repack. 3 other moms from church and I were taking our girls to a "Secret Keeper Girls" Conference in Fort Wayne, IN. It was a complete surprise to the girls! We pulled them from school early and were already packed and ready to leave town before they knew anything was going on. This is a conference designed for 8-12 year old girls and has to do with dressing modestly in order to keep the "deepest most beautiful part of themselves" for the man that they will marry. More info is available at www.purefreedom.org. The same author offers retreats for older girls which some of the teens went to this winter so we wanted to check this one out. It was really great and a lot of fun!
The conference was from 7-9:30 and then we had a hotel room at a Holiday Inn. It was a fun time! We had 4 moms & 5 girls and were able to travel all in 1 van. The girls were able to go swimming for a while on Saturday after breakfast. Then, since it was 1 of the girls birthday, we had cake in the hotel room before we checked out.
We only had about 2 snags. The rooms were supposed to have 2 double beds but instead had 1 queen size. The 1 mom had brought an air mattress so it worked out fine for them. In our room, we had them bring a rollaway bed. Rachel used that and I just crashed in the recliner. I was so tired that it wouldn't have mattered where I slept. Rachel wasn't too thrilled with the bar supports of the rollaway though. The second snag came when we were trying to start the van to leave the hotel and come home. It wouldn't start. The battery was dead. (We had forgotten to turn off a dome light we needed to read the directions the night before.) Thank goodness for a AAA membership. After the hotel couldn't get it jumped using their mini-bus we called AAA. They were there within 1/2 hour and since I told them battery problems they sent a van that carries them around. He was able to test the battery. It showed only 25% charge but the health of the battery was at 0%. His batteries would have been over $100 but he was able to tell us where an AutoZone was easy to get to. He gave us a jump and while part of the moms stayed at a playground 1 block from the hotel, 2 of us went to AutoZone and got the battery replaced for $50 and we even were able to get him to put it in for us.
We took our time coming home. We found a gokart place and stopped to race. Then we had to stop for ice cream before getting home. It was a good time but was 8:00 before we got home on Saturday. I was too exhausted to do much of anything yesterday.
I'm still pretty tired today but have to get myself moving. Lots to do. The nice thing is that I don't have to worry too much about laundry because Mom keeps up with that and keeps my kitchen clean. What a blessing!
Well, I better get at it.

Tough week

This has not been one of our better weeks around here. The boys finally got better on Tuesday. Not early enough that I could take Stephen to school at all but at least he could complete all his homework before going back to school.
As the boys were getting better, something outside was starting to bloom that had a bad affect on my allergies. By Wednesday, I was more miserable than my allergies have ever made me. Congestion, sneezing, headache...Oh, boy and that was while I was already on Claritin-D. The doctor thought I should add Nasonex to my Rx cabinet to try to help out.
While I was at Sam's Club being flabbergasted by the price of that Rx, all of a sudden my middle finger on my right hand had shooting pain going up it. The pain would keep coming and going. Sometimes when I would bend it, it would hurt. The next time, it wouldn't but it would hurt to open it back up then.
There was a Fine Arts Festival at the kids' school on Thursday evening. I couldn't miss that because Rachel was performing in 2 different musical groups. The art teacher also displays as much art work as possible so we had to look to see if any of the kids' works were on the walls. Trying to applaud was not a fun experience as it sent more pain shooting from my middle finger. By the time we got home, the swelling was rather obvious up the back of my hand.
I called the doctor Friday morning to take a look at my hand. The middle finger still felt as though it had been jammed in and needed to be popped back out. It wasn't the shooting pain though. The diagnosis...the start of carpultunel (sp.). Oh, joy. So I am now on anti-inflammatory and a wrist brace. By the time I got kids home from school, I was miserable. I managed to get dinner but other than that I was on the couch most of the night. Part of it, may be my body adjusting to the anti-inflammatory. I haven't taken much Naproxen before this. I know it doesn't work well for Dad but so far I was just really tired.
So that was our week. Not one of our better ones, especially for me. My allergies didn't help Mark with getting sleep this week either. He's at work today and the kids and I may try to pull off a surprise since his birthday is next week and I am even going to be out of town for it.
More on that later though as I don't want to do too much typing to aggravate this hand.

Rude Awakening

Well, my week is not off to a very good start. It is a little bit of a rude awakening when a child comes into your room at 3 a.m. crying that they have thrown up on their bed. That was my start to this Monday. It was Joshua and he had gotten it all over himself and the bed. I cleaned him up and had just gotten him settled on the couch and me in the recliner when Stephen came down. He didn't get his bed but made it to the bathroom before he was in the same shape. We snoozed in the living room till it was time to start the day (again).
Joshua doesn't seem in as rough a shape as Stephen. He hasn't had any problems since around 9 this morning. I have let him start on some sips ofwater and a few sips of clear pop, spaced out about every 15 minutes. Stephen has made a lot more trips to the bathroom. He was doing fine so I let him start on some sips of water and then pop but after about 2 sips of pop around 1 this afternoon, he lost that little bit of liquid again. I had hoped to take him to school at lunch tomorrow but that doesn't look like it will happen. They want the kids symptom free for 24 hours before they return.
I don't know what is causing this. I have tried to figure out what they might have eaten that is affecting them like this but don't know what it could be. They haven't had a fever but Joshua did complain a little about a headache once.
Looks like I'm homebound till at least Wednesday. This has postponed Joshua's kindergarten testing for a month. I also was scheduled to help a part of my downline sign up a new representative. I couldn't find anyone to cover so we rescheduled for tomorrow (this was before Stephen heading to the bathroom again at 1). I think I should be able to have part of my upline go on it tomorrow. They just were all busy today.
Hope you are all having a better Monday than I am.

Van's fixed!

We decided to ask a friend/neighbor if he could help with getting the fan off the van with us. Not only did he help get the fan off, he called a friend of his that does even more mechanical work (possibly professionally) and the 2 of them got the fan off, the water pump off, and everything put back together by about 9:30 tonight. We would still have been working at it on Sunday I'm sure. So maybe the water pump was a bit more than we could chew but at least we tried, and the Lord provided the help we needed. The guys wouldn't take anything for helping. I may have to do some cakes in the future for them but that's a small price to pay. I can handle that.
Now the next step that we hope to do over the weekend is new spark plugs and wires. I think we should be able to handle that. If all goes well, we may even do the oil change while we're at it.

Auto help

Maybe I can get more help with this problem than the ink problem. (Were you serious about the brake cleaner, Nate?)

We are trying to replace the waterpump that sprung a leak on Tuesday on our '92 Chevy Conversion van. Our problem has come with trying to remove the fan. We have removed all the nuts and bolts that we can find but can't seem to get it off. Mark pulled and banged and sprayed it with WD-40 but it isn't budging. Are there any other little tricks that maybe weren't in the Haynes repair manual that we follow so closely? On the very front center of the fan unit there is a little coiled up piece of something that appears to be rubbery but we can't get figure out if it is to be removed or is holding the the fan on at all. We have several people from church that we usually consult about our repair jobs but most of them are currently in Georgia on a missions trip. Any one have any long distance advice?

Thanks.

Home a week

I'm rather surprised I haven't heard from Dad about not blogging at all this week. Of course, he hasn't been on since Tuesday either so I guess he can't say much.
The kids and I left Monday April 3rd for Alpena and stayed there till last Saturday. The inside lead work was actually completed on Thursday and Mark stayed here that night but we stayed in Alpena till Saturday to give Mark a chance to get some additional cleaning done. (They'll be back in another couple of weeks to do the outside but we don't have to evacuate for that.) We stayed at Aunt Marlene's house though she was in Florida. Her house is just much more conducive to having children in it, especially since the weather was lousy most of the week and the kids couldn't spend much time outside. We went to see a magician at the library one evening and went swimming at the clubhouse one afternoon. We turned the clubhouse trip into a birthday party for Joshua. Cindy came and brought Emily and Damian plus Mom brought out cupcakes. It was really nice. We topped off the week by decorating colored eggs on Friday afternoon. (Good thing too because I haven't even reached the Easter baskets yet.)
We drove up in a bad snow. At times, I was following the tracks of the cars in front of me because I couldn't see the lines in the road. On one 30 mile stretch, we saw 4 accidents! The way home was beautiful! The only problem was that at times the kids couldn't see the action on the DVD screens because of the bright sunshine.
We spent last weekend helping do more extensive spring cleaning. We have actually done very little unpacking because we are trying to go through things and reorganize instead of just putting all the clutter back where it was. With the family room, I'm waiting to see what the kids ask for. I figure it is spends more than a month in the basement without being asked for, I can probably get rid of it. We'll see.
Trying to organize while trying to stay current with all the other things going on in our lives has made for a very busy week. And will probably keep me that way for some time.
Joshua felt that he needed a birthday "party" with Dad since it didn't happen on his birthday. So last night, we had just a couple of friends over after the Good Friday service. He wanted another Tigger cake. (He doesn't remember his first one since that was his first birthday.) Fortunately, that doesn't take too long to decorate.
I also have a cake to do for Sunday for a boy's birthday from church, then there are 2 showers for teachers at the school on Monday and Tuesday this week that I will do the cakes for. 1 is Rachel's current teacher (and I even organized this shower) and the other is a kindergarten teacher that had both Rachel & Stephen and plans to have Joshua next year. (I helped with her first shower when Rachel was in her class.) I also have been asked to do a wedding cake for the end of September from a family at church.
I think that about catches you up for now. The kids Saturday morning videos are done so I have to get them motivated now for the day.

Ink

Ok, family. I have a problem I need help with. On Wednesday, I had a cap come off a pen in my back pocket. I was wearing a light weight long-sleeve buttondown shirt over a tshirt and when I took it off there were a couple of big ink spots on it. I washed it out in the sink right away as much as I could. I have now washed it in a color-safe bleach and with a stain remover and neither have hardly touched it. It is now going through the washer after a treatment of hairspray and a toothbrush. What's my next option? Those are about all I know about and I'll be up to about anything. It's an AVON shirt that I really like and I don't want to lose it.

By the way, tonight we are going to a band concert that Rachel is in. Tomorrow starts spring break after a half day of school.

Buck's gone

I know I usually write about what our family is up to but just had to take a minute to make sure that everyone had seen the news: Buck Owens died on Saturday. I'm bummed. Just saying the names brings back so many memories. I can't believe it but I have actually seen that they are putting seasons of Hee Haw out on DVD. I think that would be a rather fun collection to have.

Well, I am rather overwhelmed this week and have been for a while. Mark's mom and dad were here over the weekend. Rachel participated in the Awana games on Saturday and our team took third place. (Stephen was an alternate because we had too many boys.) I'm busy with Avon, taxes, sending out info to his family about their family reunion this year, and packing. The kids and I will be leaving next Monday to spend spring break in Alpena so that the contractors can come in and put in the new windows and do the inside painting. I have to have everything in the house 5 feet from any work area, which means every window. Fortunately, they have given us some exceptions to the 5 foot rule such as our waterbed but we have lots of windows so this is a lot of work. This also means any other valuables in the house need packed and out of sight. What a major case of "spring cleaning" we are attempting to do!

Gotta run. I hope to be able to blog again before we leave but am not promising. Maybe I can use mom's computer to do an update while I'm up there. I'll have to be on her computer to place an Avon order anyway.

Survived...with help

We have all survived an extremely hectic week but only with the help of Mom. I was running so much last week that I didn't even check the email on somedays till the kids were in bed for the night.
There is a Women's Expo in town every year and my upline has a booth which she needs help manning. That also involves lots of prep work on our part. It is a great opportunity to really give a boost to our Avon businesses. That was Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But I had 600 packets of catalogs and flyers to prep before Thursday so they could be at the booth at setup. I worked the booth on Friday during the day and Sunday between church services.
The same weekend is a church ministries conference. It is on Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday. It is really a wonderful experience with lots of practical ideas to help with our church ministries. Our church covers the cost for any that want to go and I really needed the encouragement so that is where I was on Friday evening and Saturday.
Mom came down on Thursday to watch the kids so Mark and I could go to the conference. She also watched Joshua while I was at the Women's Expo on Friday. She helped with laundry and started the packing of items for us to get ready for the lead work.
It was a beautiful weekend weatherwise. Saturday was nice enough that Mom and the kids walked to a nearby park and stayed for about 2 hours. Even yesterday it was around 65 around lunch time. Then the wind kicked up and now we woke up to a light groundcover of snow. Windchills are in the teens and windter has returned. Hopefully, my hyacinths that started to come up over the weekend will survive ok.
Now, of course, there is followup to do of contacts that we have from the Women's Expo plus keeping up with the everyday work needing done around here. I believe though that I was able to earn an overnight trip to Avon's branch in Morton Grove, IL. They call it a "Queen for a Day" tour of the Avon headquarters. Even if I didn't, I have almost doubled the size of the unit I have in just the last month or so. If my leadership checks stay consistant or go up then I'll be giving up 1 Advance route soon. If I keep 1 route it will be Rachel's and we will transfer it to her name as soon as she is old enough.
No word yet as to when the lead work is going to be done. I had 1 contracter come through to get info for the bid another was scheduled but didn't show yet. I have a lot of running to do but am not looking forward to it in this weather. I'd rather stay right here.
This weekend is going to be a little quieter but not much. Rachel is part of a solo & ensemble competition with kids from other charter schools in the area on Saturday and then there is also practice for the Awana games on Saturday and this is Mark's week to work on Saturday.
Well, that's about all the news from here.

Busy weekend!

This is going to be a busy weekend, not that most of them aren't. It's just that this one actually has a lot scheduled. Most of the time it is just busy with household stuff that can happen whenever we get to it over the weekend.
Rachel and Stephen are going to be in rough shape by Sunday. I'm pretty sure of it. They are going to a "Camp Out" at church tonight with the Awana leaders. They are supposed to be picked up by 9 a.m. but they are also part of the Awana games that will be happening at the end of the month so they have practice from 10-noon. We asked if we really had to pick them up for the hour or if we could just leave them there and were told that they could just be left there. So after the camp out they will be spending at least 2 hours practicing all these running games. Then Stephen has a birthday party to go to from 2-3:45 at a gymnastics studio. They have all sorts of tramps and bungies, etc. so I don't think this will be a "sedate" party by any means.
The kids' school carnival is tomorrow too from 1-4 but I don't think we will be making it. I haven't volunteered and feel a little bad because I haven't even baked any cakes for the cake walk but just don't know when I would have found the time or money.
I'm actually going to spend the day at the Muskegon mall with some other Avon reps. We are going to be trying to sign people up to sell Avon. I have a unit underneath me that is doing rather well. Right now though there is an extra incentive to earn a trip to Chicago. My leadership checks that I get from having a unit are starting to really look rather nice but need to get a bit bigger to really help out around here. The way to do that is to increase the number of reps under me. That's the long-term incentive. A night away in Chicago being treated nicely by Avon (and all the little freebies they want to throw my way) would sure be nice though. So Saturday is a big Avon push! With Mark's work schedule, I sort of have to do it whenever these opportunities fit into his work schedule.
I think I'll be opening my own "barber shop" on Sunday. It's time to get my clippers out when both Mark & Rachel are complaining of needing a haircut and Stephen needs it whether he says so or not. I sort of like the feeling I get when I'm done. So far, no major errors in their cuttings and I always know that I have saved at least $50 when I do the whole family.
Well, I think that is about it for now. Joshua and I were supposed to go grocery shopping this morning but he started acting like his stomach was upset so I would rather not chance it. I'm going to focus my day on laundry and cleaning up around here. I may do the shopping after the kids go to the campout or just make Mark a list for their meals for Saturday and then go shopping Sunday afternoon or Monday if we can last that long.

Busy, busy!

What a schedule we have today! My first activity was cancelled which was a makeover with a friend from church. That just means that I can breath for a while. Later today, I don't think there will be time for even that.
The kids have Parent/Teacher Conferences today. Ours are in classes trying something new called Student Led Conferences. This will be a new experience for us all. Ours are scheduled for 4:30 & 5:00.
The kids then have practice for the Awana games at church from 6-7:30. I told them we are going to pack sandwiches for them to eat between the school and the church.
I am part of a small group Bible study that meets at 7:30-9 on Tuesdays. Our entire church is going through a "Season of Renewal". And most everyone is working through the "Experiencing God" Bible Study. The church was able to get the books at a discount and even had youth editions available. It has really been interesting! We even had an evening worship service "in the round". Because we have chairs in the auditorium, the pastor had the chairs rearranged between services so when we came in at night they were in circles facing the center of the auditorium. He used that night as a sharing time for what God was doing since the Bible study had started. He wanted people to be more comfortable sharing and everyone to be able to see who was talking without them having to come to the front. It was a casual atmosphere and really unique.
Well, I have Avon customers awaiting their orders. Joshua and I will be off delivering them here soon.
At least with P/T Conferences this week, it means I'll have help delivering the Advance papers tomorrow because the kids only have a 1/2 of school.

Get the Lead Out

We have been learning and working through a program here in GR called "Get the Lead Out" since last fall. Mom knows about it but I figured it was time to fill everyone else in as well. The object of this is to get lead out of older houses that could be dangerous to young children.
I had to sit through a class on the dangers of lead and safe ways of cleaning. We also had to fill out an application and give them all sorts of income paperwork, etc. I turned that in early in Dec. and waited a month. No word from anyone so I called. A week later there was still no word. Finally, the guy I was calling gave me the number of the lady he was awaiting info from and I called her. That seemed to get the ball rolling.
By late January, Mark & I had to sit down and go over paperwork with a city inspector. We received a lot more information at that time. Turns out that it is actually a loan program. We were this far into it before anyone used the term "repayment" or anything that gave indication that we would have to pay to have the work completed. This startled us some because of the fact that we hadn't heard anything and we were so far into the program already. It really isn't that bad of a program though. The city is going to write off 30%. We are approved for up to $12,000 and it would be at 0% interest for 10 years. There is no lean put on the house or anything like that. The inspector also had to look over the house to make sure that it was worth fixing if there was lead in it.
Less than a week later, we had a full-blown lead inspection done. It took 2 people 3 hours to go through the house and test lots of different areas with a special machine (XRF) which reads the lead content of all layers of paint. They had to do inside and out and even the garage. They also did dust swipes and soil testing.
This morning before Mark went to work, the city inspector came back with the official results. To no ones surprise, we have a lead problem. The good news is that most of the interior of the house is safe (just some in the basement stairway). The problems are in the window sills and the exterior of the house. So the city is proposing all new windows and repainting the outside including the garage. (Part of the outside is not contaminated, but he is going to try to have them do the whole thing.) The other place that it is, that was new for the inspector, is a bare patch of soil in our driveway. So they are talking of replacing all that grassy area in the drive with concrete. (This makes my husband happy because it was awful trying to shovel or snowblow that grass strip.)
The next step is for the city inspector to write up a report and send the work out for bids. He is hoping that it won't be a problem keeping it at or under the $12,000. I also have to take Joshua to the health dept for a blood test. (If his levels were high enough, they would actually change the amount written off or would write off the whole thing.)
Frankly, we think that the lead has possibly affected his speech development. His speech improves dramatically during falls and winters. During times when windows are open, his speech doesn't get worse but it also doesn't continue to grow and improve as it should. From what I have learned about lead, it is also a possibility that the lead has caused, or enhanced, Stephen's Asperger's Syndrome. From the class I went to, lead can affect any part of a developing child's body except the lungs.
I keep talking to the inspector about timing of having the work done at each visit. He is going to see if we can push it through to have the work done during the kid's spring break (the first week of April). We will have to move everything 5 feet away from the windows and vacate the house on Monday morning. We won't be able to get back into the house till after 5 on Friday. This will be while they are doing the windows and interior painting. The outside work won't be done till early May and we can be in the house while that work is done as long as all windows are closed and the kids don't play in the yard. We sort of figured that Spring Break week would be easiest when I can just take the kids and go stay with family out of GR. It wouldn't be too hard to find a church family to take Mark for the week so he could work but to take the whole family of 5 and deal with our crazy schedule could be rough. With this type of notice, it shouldn't be too hard for Blacks to work something out for Sarah for that week.
Well, that's about the biggest news from here. The only other thing going on is that Stephen has tested positive for strep again. This is twice in 2 weeks. They have switched antibiotics but want him tested again in 3 weeks to make sure that he isn't a carrier.

Mid-winter break?

What is this? I know we never had such a thing. Our kids are having a 5 day weekend. They have today, tomorrow, and Monday completely off school. It sure seems strange but then again. The schools scheduled to be open tomorrow may not be anyway.
Have any of you seen the pretty colors on a West MI radar today? From white to several shades of blue, pink, green, and yellow too! We have had a whole rainbow of colors all over the radar screen. It has really been strange to have thunder and lightening during February. We started this morning with snow...then hail and rain. It has really come down hard for a while too. Some people are even without power. Of course, it is supposed to go back over to snow over night which will make for fun travel to work tomorrow but that is why I said that schools that are scheduled open still may be closed tomorrow. All this precipation to usher in the coldest weather of the year! And just 2 days ago we were up around 40 and some people weren't bothering with coats. I think I have your weather rollercoaster beat, Dad!

Finally

I finally seem to have a minute to sit down and blog since I know it has been a week and I owe you an update on the AWANA Grand Prix. Rachel's car weighed in just fine which was really nice to not have to worry about. However, she didn't fair too well in the racing. They go through the racers 4 at a time with the top 2 moving on to the next round. The do this till they have the top racer and they take that one and put it in the "Trophy Round". They then go back through the racers again leaving out the fastest from the first round. They keep doing it 4 times till they fill the "Trophy Round" positions and have a final race. Unfortunately, Rachel's never came in higher than 3rd in any of her heats. We take some consolation though in the fact that there was to be a new rule this year that didn't get enforced and all the cars faster than Rachel's were not following that rule. Seems that some people took to making their tires thinner which tends to make them faster. The officials at the area race were not aware of this rule change till just prior to the start of the race so they just let them race that way this year. We all had a good time though and learned from it. Rachel can also now say that she made it to the area race and she has a pin to prove it.

Now a family update: Stephen has strep. One of my daycare girls had it after she left here on Monday. I really thought that Joshua would end up with it since he was in the closest proximity to her while she was here. Joshua started with a runny nose on Wednesday but hasn't had anything else. Stephen had a runny nose last weekend without any other symptoms so we thought it was probably allergies and he seemed to be improving since it got to be winter again. Yesterday, Stephen started complaining that his throat hurt and he had a low-grade fever before bedtime. Took him to the dr. this am and he came out positive. Now the question is when any of the others will come down with it? I'm thinking, better safe than sorry so I will have to make some phone calls and get someone to teach my SS class on Sunday. If I don't someone will definitely be sick Sunday morning.

We have actually been doing fairly well this winter and avoided anything too major. These sniffles are about it till the strep. I figured we'd get something pretty soon. I guess you could say "We were due." I was enjoying the healthiness but sort of holding my breath knowing it wouldn't last. I am starting to believe in using echenacia though. Mark was starting to come down with something a couple of weeks ago and this type of something usually moves down into his chest to become bronchitis. I started giving him echenacia right away and after about 5 days it was gone. It never became anything else and never got bad enough that he missed work.

Times up for now. I need to put the boys down for a "rest time" and then get some work done around here. Hope my big brothers are having a nice visit in UT. (Is Nate's blog goofing up anyone else's computer, especially the comments?)

Good thought

I just had to pass along the following that I received via email. I know I owe you all an update on the Grand Prix and hopefully I can post that tomorrow. Here's a thought shared by an AVON upline of mine:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr.Common Sense. Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).
His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the TenCommandments became contraband, churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, then she spilled a bit in her lap and was awarded a huge financial settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights and Ima Whiner.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Super Bowl Fun

Of course, the hype of the week around here is the Super Bowl this Sunday. This blog usually only talks about 1 sport, NASCAR, but we had to share the following to show just how much we think of our Detroit Lions in this house. (For Nate, this might require one of your liquid/keyboard spill warnings.)

What do you call 47 millionaires around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
The Detroit Lions

How do you keep a Detroit Lion out of your yard?
Put up goal posts

Where do you go in Detroit in case of a tornado?
To Ford Field-they never get a touchdown there!

What do you call a Detroit Lion with a Super Bowl ring?
A thief

Why doesn't Grand Rapids have a professional football team?
Because then Detroit would want one.

What's the difference between the Detroit Lions and a dollar bill?
You can still get 4 quarters out of a dollar bill

How many Detroit Lions does it take to win a Super Bowl?
Nobody knows and we may never find out.

What do the Detroit Lions and possums have in common?
Both play dead at home and get killed on the road!

Grand Prix Update

We received a phone call last evening from the AWANA Commander from our church. Turns out that each church is actually eligible to take the top 3 boys and top 3 girls from each of 2 different age groups. (Not just the top 3 finishers club wide.) This means that Rachel is eligible to take her car to the area grand prix on Saturday. She was really thrilled when she found out and is really looking forward to it. We'll let you know how it goes!

AWANA Grand Prix

Last night was this year's AWANA Grand Prix at church. I haven't gotten pictures of the cars yet but hope to and will post them later. We had 2 cars racing this year as Stephen is now in the group that participates. Rachel came in 5 and Stephen came in 8th we think or at least 9th. That's 2 top ten finishes! Rachel was still a little disappointed because she was hoping to make it to 3rd or better to go to the area grand prix on Saturday. Well, she has 1 more year to keep trying.

We put a lot more time and effort into the cars this year than other years. Stephen's, of course, had to be a Nextel Cup car. What really surprised us was that it wasn't orange with the famous 20 on it. He decided to make an 88 UPS car. But not just any one, this was the ones from the commercial where UPS is finding a new use for Dale's cars since he is going to "drive the truck". It had several packages on it's trunk. Thankfully, UPS lets people cut and paste their logo off the website. I was able to give him printups just the right size to glue onto the car and help the design some.

Rachel took some advice from her Uncle Nate. We made hers high in the front with a quick dive in. It actually looked about like a sail boat minus the sail. She painted it pastel colors and covered it with stickers that came in the mail that were from around the world. The thought with the design is that because the gates drop down and the other cars are usually very low cut, she gets a little bit of a jump on them as the gate drops. It must have helped but I think we need to work a little more on the design for next year. The car that ended up winning was higher in front like hers too but a little more sleek in its design.

We also made sure to buff the axles well and we used a graphite lubricant that Hobby Lobby has. I'm sure we'll be into there a lot earlier and coming up with even different designs for next year.

Well, I have lots to do as usual maybe more so because of doing a cake for a little farewell party for a couple at church last night too. Laundry and dishes are really piling up. And as usual for a Thursday, Joshua and I have to go do lunch duty at the kids' school and then Joshua has speech therapy at 2 p.m.

Grease monkey

Mark and I were able to do something this weekend we feel rather good about. His car was in desperate need of new spark plugs and wires. For a tune up from the garge it was going to cost us over $200. After reading through the repair manual we decided we could probably do it ourselves. Mark has done some on other cars but not this one and not in a long time.

We bought all the needed items on Saturday evening after he got out of work and then did the work Sunday afternoon. As most car work does, it took both of us working together. I spent a good portion of the time under the car reaching up to work with the wires and coils while Mark took care of the plugs themselves. They were really bad! Fortunately, the weather was in the mid to upper 30's so it wasn't terribly cold. It was rather rainy though and the car was wet so I did get a little dripped on as well as having the floor wet.

The important thing though is that it worked! And we are rather pleased with the money we saved and that we didn't have to call our friend from church to have him do it.

I just kept thinking about what would my customers say if they saw their AVON rep under a car with grease up to her elbows? But I was back to clean and presentable in time for the evening service at church.

I still have a ton of things needing my attention so I better get at them. I just had to let you know about our accomplishment this weekend.

Wow!

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I sat down to blog. I'm not quite sure where the week went. It just seems to be one thing after another. Between school, church, and other activities, we just seem to be constantly going except several times this weekend I had to "crash". My allergies are getting much more sensitive and sometimes I can't do much but sleep them off.

Last week, I was "tagged" by big brother, Nate. I'm assuming this mweans that I'm supposed to answer the same questions that he did. I acutally wrote these down so that I wouldn't forget any of them. Let me answer them now though:
List 4 jobs I've had:
Cashier (several times), customer service/purchasing agent, Lifeguard/swim instructor, substitute teacher.
List 4 movies I could watch over and over:
The Sound of Music (I already have Rachel hooked on this one too), Dirty Dancing, The Outsiders, and The Santa Clause Movies
List 4 books I could read over and over:
I don't have particular books, it's more of authors. I really liked Janette Oke and I did make it through the Left Behind Series but other than that don't have overwhelming favorites.
List 4 places I've lived:
Dublin, IN; Alliance, OH; Alpena, MI; and now Grand Rapids, MI
List 4 TV shows I watch:
Commander in Chief, Biggest Loser, Numb3rs, and WifeSwap
List 4 places I've been on vacation:
Florida (often), England (including Pooh Corner), Louisiana, and Canada
List 4 websites I visit daily:
woodtv.com; NASCAR.com (that's about it for daily, I have others that are occasionally)
List 4 favorite foods:
Ice cream, popcorn, steak, CHOCOLATE!
List 4 places I'd like to be right now:
Can't seem to narrow this one down. Even an hour at the hot tub gardens would be a nice change. I think this one is too dangerous to consider the possiblilities.
List 4 bloggers I'm tagging:
I can't because I only read 2 regularly and one of them is who tagged me. So Dad I guess that leaves you to be tagged.
That's it for me for now. Joshua and I left the house at 10:30 this morning and except for 10 minutes to put away perishables, we didn't get home till we pick up kids from school and got home about 3:45. So now I have all the stuff here at the house needing my attention.

Posting

So much for the kids posting much. Hopefully, they will start sending more. They have both already learned some proper typing skills at school so I was hoping this would encourage using them more. I'm going to try to cut & paste a document of what we have been dealing with this weekend. We knew Buddy and his family from our church and have watched his deterioration. Being in charge of our church prayer chain, we stayed close by our computer after last Wednesday when it was obvious that he would be home soon. Let's see if I can get it to work:


“Buddy” Joseph Clemence Ellison, Jr.
October 13, 1965 - January 14, 2006

Buddy surfed the ultimate wave into the arms of the Lord he loves at 5:45PM on
January 14, 2006. He fought a long and courageous battle with brain cancer, surviving
13 ½ years by the grace and mercy of God.
Celia Jane Figueredo, Buddy’s mom, preceded him in death. Left to celebrate Buddy’s life is his wife, Ruth (Hopper), and two wonderful children, Zachary Joseph and Celia Naomi. Also surviving are Buddy’s loving family including his dad and step-mom, Joe and Deborah Ellison of Benson, North Carolina; his brother Jonny of Florida; his maternal grandmother, Lee Figueredo of Florida; many uncles, aunts, cousins, special in-laws and friends.
Buddy was born in Agana, Guam when his dad was serving in the U.S. Navy. When he was still a toddler the family returned to Florida where Buddy spent most of his childhood fishing and surfing. As a teen, Buddy’s family moved to Smithfield, North Carolina where his parents opened The Galley Sandwich Shop. Buddy’s claim to fame is the scrumptious Malibu Tuna Sandwich.
In April 1991, Buddy moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. On his second day in paradise, he met his future wife, Ruth (aka Ging). They were married on July 11, 1992 and just a month later, Buddy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. By God’s miraculous power, Buddy survived four brain surgeries and various treatments. A 7 ½ year remission included the blessings of two children, Zach in 1994 and CeCe in 1995.
Buddy’s faith in God was strong during his battle with cancer. His illness allowed many opportunities to share Christ’s love and God’s gift of salvation with those he met.
Buddy has chosen to be cremated. A celebration of Buddy’s life will take place at North Park Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on January 21, 2006, at 11am with visitation
1 hour prior to the service. A memorial service and scattering of his ashes will also be held in Honolulu, Hawaii at a later date. Hawaiian/casual attire requested.

Well, everything came over except his picture which was taken during their last visit to Hawaii last summer. Ruth is from Hawaii and when she came to GR for college the same year Mark did, she had never even seen snow. The family was at church yesterday and plans for the meal after the service was getting started through the ladies at the church.

More later if I can. I'll also see if the kids will update you more. on other parts of our lives.

ALL ABOUT ME

Hi, I am STEPHEN Waters. And I LOVE SPORTS. Espechily NASCAR. Speaking of NASCAR,
THE DAYTONA500 is comming soon. It's over and out, from MR. SPORTS.

It's Me Again

Stephen has not been able to write. So today I asked mom to let me on, and she said ok. Stephen said it was his turn to do it. I do not have a lot to say so I will let him write.

It's The Kid's Turn!!!

We are still trying to get mom to let us (me and Stephen) to have our own blog. She says we can at least write in the family blog. Oh well. Well I get to write first about me.

I hate school. I play the clarinet (which was mom's). I cannot spell. Friday is the class spelling bee. The 2 best kids go to the school wide spelling bee. I have 2 best friends who have moved away. Sarah is still here to be my friend. Katie and Taylor are my friends at school. I do not have any boyfriends(even though everyone thinks so). I like my teacher. Every year I get a teacher gets pregnant or gets married. This year she is pregnant.

Well that it for now. Stephen will write tomorrow. Bye!

Records

Have you heard about our weather records we have set recently? We went 15 days without registering even a single minute of sunshine! This tied the previous record. We have also gone 47 days with some form of measureable precipitation (rain or snow, some days both) each day! This record is way longer than the last one and is still going on! This has given us the distinction of being "The Cloudiest Place on Earth"! Oh yeah! I really could have lived without that label for my entire life! Fortunately, we actually saw some very strange yellow light (called sunshine) yesterday, at least briefly, not that it is back today though.

We had a rather busy weekend. Christmas is almost put away now. All that is left is a couple of shirts to get washed and I was waiting for the cups that were in the dishwasher. Now we can finish the last box. This also meant that the floors were able to be swept. We also got Rachel's picture's taken at Walmart. Everyone, except me, lined up for me to cut their hair. It was back to a normal schedule at church. (Teaching the 2-3 year olds, I can tell you they are struggling getting back into the routine.) And Stephen got to see a lot of the wild card games.

Stephen is starting to really get into football. It is somewhat of a crossover interest. He most likes the Washington Redskins. This is because Joe Gibbs is coaching there and owns his favorite NASCAR team at the same time, Tony Stewart. But I think it has been very good for him to learn more about football. That is what a lot of the boys at school play and he is better able to talk and participate more with them since he is learning the sport more.

Rachel spent her birthday money this weekend on the new American Girl movie "Felicity". We gave her the other one "Samantha" for her birthday. She really likes the stories and as long as they are the historical ones, we'll let her watch and read them. I joined the crowd that overwhelmed the American Girl company with emails when I found out about them being linked with Girls, Inc. with the "I Can" bracelet. I know my daughter is growing up but I don't need them educating her on homosexuality or abortion. I have inspected her last 2 catalogs that have come from them before letting her have it and the bracelet and all reference to "Girls, Inc." have been removed.

You might begin to see some different posts on here. Rachel & Stephen have asked if they could start their own blogs but Mark & I aren't too sure about that. Instead, we have suggested that they are more than welcome to start blogging here. This is the family site so it seemed a good place to start. We'll see how that goes.

So it's still Christmas...

it is around our house too! I started taking stuff down yesterday and have made progress today but still am not finished. Besides, I don't think I want to say too much about New Year's. Just know that we were home with Mark's mom and 2 of his nephews here.
Getting back into routine this week has been good but I am missing that day lost on Monday. I'm ready for the weekend but keep thinking it must only be Thursday. Kids returned to school Tuesday as well as Mark going back to work. He took vacation days to have some extra time over New Year's weekend.
Yesterday was really busy. Rachel's class went to the IMAX to see Lewis & Clark and I was a chaperone. I took all the kids to school then went to a friend's house to drop off Joshua. Then it was back to the school and off on a field trip. We got back to the school at 11 and I had to do lunch duty in Stephen's class at 11:40. I didn't feel like running to get Joshua during that time so I left him till after lunch duty. Even then he was having so much fun he didn't want to come home. We were here just a little over an hour before I had to go pick up the kids from school.
That's going to have to be it for now. I have to figure out what's for dinner and I have children lining up for a turn on the computer.