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.

Christmas

Hello all...yes, we did survive Christmas. I figured I better get on here soon or you would all think we didn't make it through this year. This will probably be a rather lengthy post and may become 2.
Rachel's party went rather well on Friday night. Everyone had a good time, I think and only 1 minor burn with the glue guns that were being used to make the crafts. Rachel and Jackie were still awake, talking, when Mark & I went up at 11:30. They actually slept with the light on because they fell asleep talking.
Big brother's package did arrive on Friday as was expected and then the second package arrived from Dad on Saturday. Thank you to you both. The kids thoroughly enjoyed them. Nate, you must not have been able to get their lists but you actually hit an item on Rachel's. I couldn't get their list on the internet either. I'll find out more about why next year. I have to tell you though, if you continue to get him science kits dealing with electricity and other forms of energy, you really need to move closer...so he can do them at your house, just in case!
I went out early Christmas eve to finish up the last minute shopping. Mark's bonus didn't even make it out of the first store. Then I made sure we had all we needed for groceries before heading home. My shopping also made it possible for wrapping to be done but then I had to help with other wrapping when I returned home. Mark made a nice turkey potpie for our dinner before we headed to church for our candlelight Christmas eve service. We did our traditional ride around town to look and lights (which wasn't very impressive this year since it started raining on Friday and continued on Saturday). Then it was home for our telling of the nativity and checking NORAD for Santa sightings.
We let the kids open one present each on Christmas eve this year. Gramma had made them all new pj's so that was what they got to open. I sort of figured it would help everyone look a little nicer in our Christmas pictures with the new jammies. Mom did a good job on the sizes for not having the kids around to fit.
It was 10:00 before we got the kids to bed and could finish our preps. I had to finish the sewing projects that we had started which I can now tell what it was. I had bought beanbags for all the kids to use in the living room. I really didn't like the covers on them though and decided to make my own covers to go over the originals. Mom and I had completed 2 before she went home so I just had to put Rachel's together. I finished in about 2 hours without much of any problems. But when we went to put all of them into their covers, we made a discovery! Evidently, Rachel's wasn't as full as the boys' and we used hers as our model! It took both Mark and I working together probably 15 minutes or so to coax each of the boys' into their covers. Rachel's slid in incredibly easy! Of course, Rachel really needs the largest one. What we are probably going to do is to open them up and take some of the boys' beans and put them into hers while they are all sleeping.
After finishing the bags, then we had our other wrapping and Santa duties to take care of. We were up MUCH TOO LATE! Mark even wrote a note to Rachel from Santa expressing disappointment that for 2 years now she hasn't left him some of her birthday cake.
I came downstairs about 7:20 and Rachel and Stephen were already up. I thought they, especially Stephen, might melt down before Joshua and Dad got up but they all survived. We were able to get everything opened without major rushing and eat some branmuffins before we headed to the 10 a.m. service at church.
After church, it was home to make biscuits and gravy. The kids asked if they could have a "pajama party" so they spent the day playing and watching DVD's in their new pj's. We got The Polar Express for the family. Mark also worked on his "3" puzzle that he received. I started charging my new cordless phones that I received (was top of my list).
It was actually rather quiet and relaxing...a very enjoyable holiday! When Mark has to be at work on the 26th, travel just isn't feasible. We do miss not being with family during this time of year but also enjoy the time of just being together without rushing around. (We do enough of that at other times.)
I think that about covers it for now. We are busy today with cleaning and laundry. Tomorrow is newspaper day and Rachel is supposed to go to Jackie's in Newaygo for a sleepover.

Rachel's party

It's almost time for Rachel's birthday party. Even though her birthday was Tuesday and we did a celebration with Gramma here, tonight is her friend party. One guest is here, Jackie from Newaygo. The other friend we have to pick up in about an hour. The cake is done and the kids are quiet....wait a minute, maybe it's too quiet! Actually the girls are watching Rachel's Samantha (the American Girl) DVD that we got her for her birthday and the boys have either joined them or are in the basement playing foosball. I have even partially cleaned up the kitchen.

Of course, plans have changed several times in planning this. We were going to make gingerbread houses. I have 2 kits here plus a Longenberger mold to make more. I thought the boys should make one and the girls each have their own but that would have entailed making 2 from scratch. Mark thought the boys could do one another time and just let each girl make their own so that meant making one from scratch. Then I realized I hadn't bought the real butter required to make the recipe (and I'm avoiding taking all 4 kids into Meijers myself just for butter)...well, we'll just go with 2 houses. Then a light went on...I had some craft kits stored away from previous years that I had used for our preschool dept. at church. 1 of them had never been opened because they are "Shrinky Dinks" and could only be baked in electric ovens and I had gas at the time. There are also kits to make bell doorhangers, angel and tree bells. Rachel said that these would make a fun activity for her and the girls tonight! Whew! The gingerbread houses will be something for next week of vacation.

So in the middle of all the rush to get everything ready for Christmas, we take a break and focus on birthdays! Like we need more to fit into our schedules.

We received our first package of 2 we knew were coming from Dad on Wednesday. Thanks for the ornaments. Pretty soon we are going to need 2 trees and 1 will be strictly dedicated to NASCAR. Big brother's box is supposed to arrive today but when I was tracking it on Wed. it didn't indicate that it had left Utah yet. Now the email with the tracking number is not in our inbox so I can't see if it is coming or not. It hasn't made it yet. The package coming from JCPenney's from Mom arrived yesterday and was promptly stashed away. I haven't even started any wrapping yet.

Well, I better run. I need to get out some glue guns and a few other last minute preps for the party before we officially get under way at 5:30.

Time

Dad says it's time to blog again but I just haven't had the time. I actually only have a minute or 2 right now. I have my own 3 kids home plus 2 of a friends because she had a medical appointment. After they are picked up, we will have lunch and go do our paper route.

Mom has been here since last Wednesday and we have been busy all the time. She left this morning to head back to Alpena. I probably have her rather worn out...going all day with kids and errands and sewing into the night on a project I'm working on for Christmas. I didn't plan on having her do so much of the sewing but I'm glad she was here or I probably wouldn't have finished the projects. We were working our own design and ran into some kinks I might not have been able to work through without us talking through them together.

We went to the Festival of Lights at Calvary Church on Friday night. It was as beautiful as ever. We have gone more over the last 15 years that we have known about it then not going. I didn't think it would be going on last weekend because it is usually the first and second weekend of Dec. but found out it had been moved this year.

The kids did great in all their programs this year. Both had one for school and then the church one which was Sunday evening. Mom was going to watch the school ones on video but we were so busy we never got the camera hooked up to the VCR.

My shopping isn't done, my sewing isn't done, holiday baking is unheard of in this house, and I have AVON customers that need their orders. Guess I better get busy. Oh yeah, there is also a birthday cake to get baked and decorated for Rachel when her friends come over on Friday night. More about her birthday later.

Wish Lists

Just a quick note to let you know that we have taken the kids to Toys 'R Us and had them do their wish lists for this year. Joshua has been done for a couple of weeks but we just got Rachel and Stephen there today. They are starting to have a lot of fun doing them each year and ask when they are going to get to. Their lists, do not include a couple of items they would really like though, because we couldn't find them at that store. No one would be disappointed if they unwrapped The Dukes of Hazzard seasons 4 or 5. We have 1, 2, & 3 and they absolutely love it. Mom & Dad don't mind the memories from our teens either.

I'll have to get on later and give you my wish list. Actually the top item is already covered. I kept telling Mark that a dumpster was on the top of my list for Christmas. But now that we spent 2 weekends working on the basement, I don't need that because we already made our trip to the dump.

SNOW DAY...

We are experiencing the first snow day of this school year. It's hard to believe it isn't even Christmas yet and the kids have a snow day! This could be a lllooooonnnnggggggg winter!

You are really not going to believe the timing of this snow day--Mark and I have been in charge of a Toys for Tots drive at the school. Each day for the last 3 weeks I have picked up the toys, brought them home, counted them, and reported the total to a local TV station having a school challenge. Well, today was the day to deliver the toys to the TV station during their MORNING NEWS! Of course, Rachel & Stephen wanted to go with Mark to make the drop off. They even went to bed an hour early last night so that they could get up at 5:00 AM to go. So on a day when there was no school and they could sleep in, they were up at 5! I have given a very strong warning already that if there are problems getting along, etc., there will be more than just Joshua taking a nap today. By the way, they were all on TV and Stephen even got to answer a question about our collecting.

I thought I was going to have lots of kids today. In talking with the mom of the daycare kids that come every morning till school, we had made arrangements that they would stay the whole day on snow days. A neighbor is in Mexico this week and she had asked if there was a snow day, her third grade son could stay here while the gramma that is watching him is at work. Plus, of course, I knew Sarah would be coming since both her folks work. Turns out that Sarah is the only extra one coming. The day of the morning kids called and he decided to take a sick day today and stay home with the kids. I don't know what happened to the boy next door but he never showed up either. When I talked to Sarah's dad, he said that she was sleeping in and would get herself here by noon.

You think that means I might get some work out of mine this morning...that has yet to be seen. I have barely been able to get them out from under all the blankets we use to wrap up in in our livingroom. Well, I guess I better start leading by example.

Here we go again...

Joshua is sick again. He is sniffly and congested and starting to cough. I'm starting to think that those 2 parades might not have been the best idea for him but he was fine then.

The other item that could keep our holidays "interesting" is that I have found out that a little boy that was at church on Sunday, in program practice, was sent home from school on Monday with the chicken pox. Of course, all my kids have been vacinated but that isn't a comfort since so had this child and all 8 of the other kids in his classroom that all have it now. If you know the statistics that means the first of mine that might show up with it would probably do so around 12/18 which is the day of the program at church as well as being just 2 days before Rachel's birthday and a week before Christmas.

The other thought that this brings up is "How many others from the Christmas program might end up with it just before the actual program?" If very many do, we may have our program in January this year.

The only thing good about the timing that I can think of is that my kids wouldn't miss any school if they came down with it at the 18th. I can't believe it but they have the entire week before Christmas off! That sure doesn't help a mom get any last minute items taken care of. I know when I was a kid we would have had school at least through the 22nd. From what I understand there are some schools in the area going till at least Wed. or Thurs. but not ours. The principal mentioned that the teachers like it because it gives them a chance to do personal stuff before the holiday.

Well, I have papers waiting to be bagged. Rachel and Stephen are going to have to do the delivery again after school since Joshua's sick but I'll have them bagged and ready. I also drive around to supervise and have more papers ready when they need them. Joshua stays in the van with me to stay warm instead of walking in this cold.

Last Weekend

This last weekend was filled with parades! Mark's work, Camp & Cruise, had entries in 2 different parades in the area and they needed people to pass out candy to the kids. Mark volunteered as long as all the kids could come. So Friday night, we were in the Coopersville parade which was really rather short and then Saturday night, we were in the Grand Haven parade. The weather was cold for both but Saturday we also had quite a bit of snow coming down. It wasn't bad when we left GR but part way there, it started snowing hard. We actually called friends to have them check about cancellations.

The kids did great and had a ball! The worst was just waiting around for the parade to get started and for our turn to move came. Besides several normal layers, they all had on their snowpants, hats, gloves, etc. and then I topped them off with 1 of Daddy's work shirts. It not only helped keep them warmer, it also made them easier to see and keep track of. I kept Joshua right close to me and we worked out of one container of candy. It was really funny watching him try to hand out candy with the kind of big mittens he had on. Sometimes he thought he had a piece of candy in his hand but he didn't. Other times, he had the candy but couldn't get it dropped in the other kids mittens and it fell in the snow at their feet.

There was hot cocoa after both parades. Coopersville had cocoa and cookies for everyone at their jr. high gym and then Sat., Mark's bosses invited all of us to a restaurant for cocoa and dessert. It was a nice visit only because of the snow it ended up being 11 p.m. before we got home. I ended up sleeping on the way home because there was the smell of gas/diesel on a lot of the crews boots because of the generator they were using to run the lights on the float. The smell really got to me. I don't know whether you would consider it my allergies or not but it made me rather miserable.

The float was rather cute. They took a pontoon boat and put a box around the middle of it so both ends stuck out and they had lights strung on them. They had the box wrapped with a BIG bow on top and a sign that read "NO PEEKING". I thought it looked rather neat.

Stephen had hoped that we would have a new tradition to replace our trapsing through the snow to pick out and cut down the tree together as a family since we had to go to an artificial tree now. Who knows, maybe this will be it.

Basement

Boy, have we been busy! I can't wait for someone to come visit and see our basement! We have spent a good part of the last 2 Saturdays working down there. It isn't completely cleaned out because there was some boxes we are going to have to go through item by item but it is definitely improved.

At the same time, we also managed to clean out the garage enough for 1 vehicle to go in it--the van! This is especially good since we are now under a Winter Snow Advisory and are expecting 8+ inches tonight and tomorrow. The van is rather difficult to get cleaned off well and is usually home first and out second in the mornings so that is why it is getting the privileged position in the garage.

All this cleaning and reorganizing took 3 trips to Goodwill and a dump trip to do. For Goodwill we just used the van but for the dump we had a friend bring over his full size pickup. We had the bed of that truck packed full and piled up as high as the cab of the truck. We were even able to move the game table and stairstepper machine into the basement. Of course, the basement will be even cleaner on Friday morning when the school's Toys for Tots drive is done and we can deliver the 130+ toys that they have collected to a local TV station.

I have been spending my days breathing through a filter to keep the allergies under control while we worked. I really don't like those things but they do help. I probably should buy a few more to keep them closer at hand and not have to search for them any time I need to do a bit of dusty work.

I'll have to fill you in on our other cold yet fun activities later. Now that Dad has a blog, I've sort of been challenged to blog more often and keep you all better informed. I'll have to figure out a way to put a link to his blog over on the side later too.

First things first...

Sorry Dad. A Belated Happy Birthday to you! I didn't forget, I just didn't get around to making that phone call that I planned on. I know you're in GA but thought I'd call your cell phone anyway. I just never thought about it when it was actually convenient to pick up the phone and call. Hope it was a good one any way.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! We had a rather quiet holiday here. Usually at least part of Mark's family from Detroit comes to visit. On Tuesday we found out that they couldn't come this way and with Mark working today, we couldn't make it over there. Weatherwise, we had a white Thanksgiving and were under a winter weather warning for subzero wind chills the entire day.

We had the usual huge meal with all the favorites. It is my husband's favorite day to do all the cooking. He does most everything and it is all from scratch. I just contribute the applesauce cinnamon jello and the bran muffins for breakfast.

We watched the Macy's parade and then part of the Lion's getting walked all over. We checked out the ads and played Nascar Monopoly. We finished the evening with "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" Special. I probably should have turned in with the kids after that but didn't.

I was never one to think shopping the day after Thanksgiving sounded much like fun but it has become tradition over the past 4 or 5 years. Usually it is my mother-in-law and me but I went solo today. We had found just a couple of bargains today that we wanted to get so I ventured out at 5 a.m. to get them and get home before Mark went to work for 9 a.m. I only had 2 stores to hit and I just barely made it back in time. This was my first year to do Menards on Black Friday and it is the last unless I have someone to hold a place in line while I go around the store getting what I want. The line of cars to get into the parking lot was over 1/2 mile long. The 5-6 lines to check out all stretched at least to the back of the store.

The children weren't exactly thrilled when I walked in the door since I was carrying 2 snow shovels with me. They didn't think they were worth venturing out for. That now gives us 3 shovels and 3 kids...sounds about right to me. They have even went out to "break them in" already today.

We have plenty to keep us busy around here. Since we already have our new artifical tree, we may even try to get it up this weekend but there is lots of cleaning to do before then. Hope all of you had a nice holiday too!

Change

This weekend has been the most frustrating in quite some time. We finally decided to change to DSL since we could get a deal where it was actually cheaper than our current dial up. SBC assured my husband that running our church prayer chain through it would not be a problem. WRONG! Seems you can only send email to 100 people in an hours time. We have 125 addresses on our list. Do you see a problem here? It has taken 3 phone calls and TOO MANY hours to count to try to get all the adjustments made. I still don't know if we are completely functional!

Browsing the internet is wonderful! The speed is great! It is also a nice little marvel everytime the phone rings while we are browsing. But this transfer is about to get the better of me. I really had a lot more planned to spend my time on than having to reenter all 125 addresses a second time into MS Outlook. Supposedly, this is a way to send as many emails as I want without SBC realizing it is more than 100 at a time. The problem now is that I have requested Outlook to send out a test email twice and it still shows up in the outbox as not mailed. But I think I'm getting error messages from having sent it.

The transfer of email addresses didn't go right. The notifications, well, I had someone tell me they got 8 of them! Now I know why we waited so long to switch. It is frustrations like this that really emphasize why people hate change so much. I was looking forward to this upgrade but now I'm just too tired to care.

Hope my Big Brother who hates AOL is happy! Just wish you were closer to help with all the frustrations of putting in the ethernet port, hooking up the DSL, and all the other little glitches that keep coming up.

Another quick update

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are back from the doctor. She said that this is just the croup lingering on. They did do a strep test to rule that out and it was negative. She said that it can take about 2 weeks for the cough to go completely away. As long as he doesn't spike another fever or have trouble breathing, we just wait it out.

He also got a flu shot while we were there so he didn't enjoy the trip. Between the swap for strep and the shot, he wasn't a happy camper but he did fine. We'll just keep up with lots of fluids and lots of rest. (I wish he would rest his voice a little more since the inflamation appears to be right on his voice box. This kid loves to sing and talk though and is only quiet when he is asleep.)

Speaking of talking...he starts speech therapy next Thursday. It will only be 20-25 minutes a week. We finally connected with his therapist and scheduled it for every Thursday at 2:00. I guess the only nap he will have on Thursdays will be in the van.

Well, lots to do. Hope to post again soon.

Quick update

I just wanted to post a quick update. I'm heading to the doctor with Joshua in a few minutes. He is still complaining of a sore throat as well as coughing a lot. There isn't any fever for the last day or so but he really doesn't sound too good.

I've got to spend a lot of today getting ready for a craft show. I'm setting up an Avon booth at the craft show at the kids' school. Fortunately, I have 3 other of the reps that I have signed up doing it with me. That has spread out the responibility a lot so it hasn't really overwhelmed me. It has been hard to do a lot of running around this week with Joshua sick. I have to get some flyers ready and labelling done. If I get them printed during the day, the kids can help me get them put together after they get home.

Well, I have to finish getting ready to go.

What a weekend part 2!

This is part 2...seems I ran out of space on the first post. You may want to go down and read part one before reading this one.

We arrived in the Triage to be taken directly back because of how bad his breathing sounded. I could barely keep up with the nurse pushing his wheelchair. Before I know it there are about 3 nurses and a doctor surrounding his bed. They ordered an immediate breathing treatment and then a set of throat x-rays. His temp was at 103.7 at that time. After the first treatment, his breathing improved but was still rather raspy. The doctor determined that what he has is actually croup. It took a second treatment and a steroid shot but he really perked up rather quickly after that.

The doctors decided to keep him for observation Saturday night which was fine by me! I didn't want to have to make that trip again. If we were at home it would have been different. I was much more comfortable with him staying there too. It was 11:00 p.m. before we got to a room. Our dinners were out in the van and it was the middle of a thunderstorm. The nurses got us a little snack and we called it a night.

His fever stayed almost down for the night and his breathing did fine too so we got released Sunday. Fortunately the doctor came in around 8:30 a.m. and we were out of the hospital by 9:00. Remember, we had the church van and there were 2 families waiting for us back at camp to come home. As soon as we got there, we loaded up the trailer and headed home.

Yesterday, he seemed pretty good most of the time. But now today, he is very congested and coughing more. This cough now sounds like what I'm used to croup sounding like. His fever is back too. I may give the doctor's office here a call before the day is over. We're thinking that he may have been coming down with it before we left but playing in all the leaves, with their dust and molds, may have exasperated it. They say that the croup has caused an inflamation right on his voice box.

SO that was our exciting weekend! It really wasn't a complete lost and we did enjoy spending time with friends and at the camp. Now it is back to real life.

What a Weekend!

Rachel was well enough to go to school for the 1/2 day on Wednesday and full day on Thursday. However, anytime you touched her lower back, she grimmaced pretty bad. She was very tender right around the kidney area. I put a call into the doctor but she didn't come into the office till 4 p.m. The nurse confirmed that the infection Rachel had should be wiped out by the antibiotic that she was on but left a note for the doctor. As soon as the doctor came in, she scheduled Rachel for a renal ultrasound. We were supposed to leave for Lake Ann Baptist Camp that evening but instead spent it at Spectrum Butterworth having this done. We were given the all clear for Rachel to travel though.

Instead of leaving Thursday evening, we left the house around 8 a.m. Friday and arrived at camp around 11 a.m. We travelled with another family from church and used the church van and trailor since we were there for the men to go to the Camp Captain's Retreat. As soon as we unloaded the trailer, the men and kids started on the leaves while the other mom and I organized our cabins. After lunch, we all worked on leaves for a while. They had these great leaf blowers! Besides several hand-held or backpack blowers they had these 3 lawn mower size blowers! They really worked neat and even I, with all my allergy problems, was able to use one without aggrevating my allergies. We were able to make these huge piles. I took Joshua back to the cabin for a nap for a while but every one else worked till dinner time.

Joshua had complained of a sore throat a little on Friday morning but he says that quite often and I didn't think too much of it. I did look in to see that there were no white spots or anything. By Saturday morning, Joshua was definitely worse. He sounded funny and was coughing as well as not eating much because of a sore throat. I wouldn't let him work on the leaves instead we stayed at the cabin most of the day. By nap time, he was obviously feverish even with having ibuprofen at lunch time. By 4, he was still napping but the sound of his breathing was getting bad. I called GR Peds and located a thermometer to check his temp. He was at 102.3 with only being 5 hours since his dose of ibuprofen. Our friends have a child with asthma and they had a nepulizer with them. We gave him a treatment of that and his breathing improved some. After talking to the nurse in GR, I loaded him into the church van and took him into TC to Munson Medical Center's Emergency room probably 20 miles away. (Mark stayed with the other kids at the camp.) TO BE CONTINUED...

Rachel's still home

We kept Rachel home again today. It seems that we were into the doctor just before other symptoms started showing themselves. She spent a lot of time yesterday sleeping. She did a little reading but everytime she started reading she would end up just falling to sleep. She complained about a headache and backache too. She didn't want anything to eat which didn't bother me as long as she was drinking. Her temp never got above 99.8. She is eating some today but mainly just crackers and dry cereal. This afternoon she is a bit more active and moving around a bit. But then when I suggested a nap she laid down and actually slept. Hopefully, the antibiotics are starting to kick in and help fight this infection. Also, this morning I just barely touched her lower back (near her left kidney) and she jumped. I haven't heard any more from the doctor but will keep you informed.

Rachel's sick

Just thought I should let everyone know that Rachel is sick at home today. She came to me yesterday and told me she had burning when she went to the bathroom. She didn't have any other signs or symptoms but with our last encounter with a urinary tract infection resulting in a hospital stay, I wasn't taking any chances. I called the doctor this morning and we got in at 10 a.m. In her urine sample they found some blood and a high white blood cell count which means the UTI that I suspected was probably right. However, she also has tenderness in her abdomen and back off to the left side so the doctor is suspecting a kidney infection as well. The doctor started her on an antibiotic but said that depending on what further testing shows at the lab they may have to change which one it is. I thought about taking her to school for the afternoon but the doctor suggested just letting her stay home and rest. The doctor did give her the ok to go to the Meet & Treat at church tonight but I'm seeing that she is really dragging. She kept looking for places to sit down while we were waiting for her Rx to get filled. I'm going to hold off judgment till closer to time to go. I'd rather miss tonight and her be able to go to school tomorrow than have her push it too hard too soon and not give the antibiotics time to get a handle on the infection.

We also have a rather big weekend planned that we want her well for. Thursday evening we were scheduled to leave for Lake Ann Baptist Camp. The kids have Friday off of school and Mark and another friend from church are supposed to be there for a Camp Captain meeting Friday evening and Saturday morning. We decided to turn it into a work weekend for both families. We will be raking leaves or whatever else they need doing during the day on Friday and Saturday. While Mark and Bruce are in their meetings, Bev and I will keep the kids busy with work or play. Of course, this now is all contingent on Rachel's health. Home is always the best place to be when you're sick so I won't push for her to go at all if the antibiotics haven't kicked in by then.

Sorry

It's been a while since I had a chance to sit and post anything. Just been very busy!

I'm trying to get winter clothes situated for all 5 of us. Turns out I have enough for probably 3 boys size 4T while I don't have enough shirts for a full week for Stephen for the winter. Rachel is pretty well covered I think. I haven't even hardly started on Mark's and mine yet. This has entailed a couple of days of working through our attic. It has been a long job but I can definitely see progress being made. I have made one trip to Goodwill with a full van and will make another one soon. I also have bags set aside for a friend of mine that can make use of the hand-me-downs.

Last weekend, Mark's mom came for a visit. We actually asked her to come watch the kids. I spent Saturday at a Certified Beauty Advisor class for AVON. It was in Battle Creek from 8-5. Mark had to work so we needed someone to watch the kids so I could go. It was good to see her and the kids really enjoyed it. She also cleaned my house and did my laundry while I was gone! What a bonus! She then had to go home on Sunday.

The class was great! I am now certified to do makeovers. The real plus was all the product knowledge that I received that day! Now I just need my supplies so that I can line up some "guinea pigs" to practice on.

On Monday, my mom arrived. It had been quite a while since she came for a visit. The reason for the timing of this visit was for Grandfriends/VIP day at the kids' school which was Thursday. The kids had wanted her to come other years but it hasn't worked out so she came this year. (Other years, friends from church stepped up to visit with the kids at school so they did have someone there that day.) Her and I spent a lot of time this week with all sorts of projects especially the attic.

God also answered a big prayer for us this week. I think most of my readers know that last year I had a severe allergic reaction to our real Christmas tree. This has already been on our mind this year because buying a fake one was going to make Christmas expenses even greater than most years. We also wanted to make sure that we had one that was nice and we could really enjoy it. While Mom and I were at Goodwill with a full van to donate, we went inside to look around. They had 4 Christmas trees available. One was a 7 foot Manhattan pine that was originally from Frank's Nursery and Craft for a cost of $139.99. All the other trees were around $60-$70. This one was marked just $24.99! I asked a little about it and when I found out that I could return it (just like at a regular store) if we didn't like it, I bought it! I put it up just as soon as I got home and it met everyone's approval! This is a big relief for us! As I started with, we really feel that this is an answer to our prayers.

Today, Mom left for Mark's house in Wooster, OH. There's still lots going on and I really have to keep going. This ended up being a lot longer post than I planned on but I think that pretty much brings everyone up to speed on things at our place. It's time to get the kids from school!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Has everyone made their annual phone calls to Mom today? It is her birthday! Her and I have actually been playing phone tag this week already. I'll try again tonight either before or after my meeting in Hudsonville. If I don't get through though I'll just figure that I wasn't the only one to not make it to the store for a card in time to mail it. I should probably go send one electronically just in case I don't get to call.

New chair

Well, not new, new but at least a different one. Our Moms should be very happy. My husband finally got rid of "his chair". On the way home from church yesterday, we passed a recliner on the curb marked "free". We turned around and checked it out. It is a dark brown plaid. It is a bit worn with just a few little holes worn through. But it really isn't in too bad of shape. The recline and footrest mechinism seem to work just fine. Best of all, it sits a lot higher than the old chair.

It was actually just at the end of the block so Mark just carried it up the hill. We brought it home and Mark vaccuumed it out. I Febreezed it and it is a real hit in here. It isn't anything great but the price was right and it is an improvement on what we had.

I have a ton to get done and am trying to figure out which order will get everything done so I guess I better get at it.

Not much going on

At least not much noteworthy. We are pretty much in a routine now. We're plenty busy but it is just the usual, school, homework, AVON, Advance papers, shopping, cleaning, and cooking.

What is unusual around here is the weather. We have been in the 80's the last 2 days and will be again today and tomorrow. It has only been getting down into the upper 60's during the night. We are in for a change though. October weather should arrive again on Thursday with highs cooler than what it has been getting at nice recently. We haven't even gotten a frost here yet. Of course, they are talking about temps back into the 70's again early next week.

I know we need to get storms on and prep for winter but that is a little tough when we still need to get some air to keep it from being too stuffy to sleep. I've actually been tempting to turn on our air conditioning yesterday and today because of the humidity being so high too but have resisted since we just got an electric bill last week.

Oh, I know the big news here. Rachel ended up with a black eye...and her brothers didn't even help her get it. We put her to bed Saturday night and she was fine. Sunday morning she got up with quite a shiner. She says that she hit it on one of the side bars of her bed as she laid down. She didn't think it would get too bad so she didn't bother coming down for ice.

Mid-term progress reports came home last week. The kids are doing fine. There are a couple of weak areas for each to work on but overall they looked good. Rachel is working on an Inca ABC project due tomorrow as well as her band. Stephen has a field trip to the zoo coming up at the middle of the month. They are also looking forward to Grandfriends/VIP day at the end of the month. MEAP tests started this week and will be for the next week or so.

That's about it for now.

Testing

Well, Joshua had his testing yesterday. After an intial stubborn streak where he didn't want to talk or otherwise cooperate was squelched, it went fine. The hearing test showed ears working just fine. We will have to wait 2 weeks for the official tests numbers. The tester though said she saw a very definite problem with his speech patterns and there would be some help that we can get for him this year. We meet with her on Oct. 11 to find out her recommendations and what programs she recommend for him. One thing that she did point out that I hadn't realized is that some sounds he says fine when it is in the middle of a word but not when the sound is at the beginning of the word. (Example: the f sound in fish or fun comes out more like a p sound but he can say elephant fine.) Some of the testing that tests for understanding she actually skipped because he was testing way above age level which doesn't surprise me at all.

Well, we are starting a second Advance Newspaper route today. This is a one day a week local paper. This route is just 5 more papers than our current one. Hopefully, Joshua and I can have it done by the time the kids get home today since they are forecasting rain for later. This is going around all 4 sides of 8 city blocks. It's rather good exercise. So we have a full day lined up.

Rachel took the clarinet to band yesterday and it worked just fine. Her band leader didn't seem to have any problem with the sound or anything! I thought it would but just felt like it wouldn't be completely done till it passed "professional inspection". Now I can cross that off my list.

Retreat

I haven't blogged because I haven't been home. At the last minute, arrangements were made for me to join our ladies from church for the retreat at Lake Ann Baptist Camp. I knew for just over a week that it was a possibility but it was literally the day before we left that the final details were worked out for me to be able to go.

It was really a nice retreat. We left on Thursday afternoon and returned Saturday around 4. We had rain on the way up but otherwise the weather was very nice. There wasn't many colors changing yet but the evenings were crisp and just right for enjoying L.A.'s delicious hot cocoa. We had 30 ladies from our church which is the largest group ever.

After I got home, Mark put the new alternator on the Cavilier. It seems to have done the trick. We are back to being a 2 vehicle family!

While I was gone, the supplies that I had been waiting for arrived in the mail. I have been working on getting my old clarinet ready for Rachel to use. I didn't think this was going to be such a big deal. I thought I should be able to get new pads and corks on it easily enough. The local music stores wanted $150-$200 to do the work! and also told me that the instrument wasn't valued at that much. The all wanted me to rent a new or used instrument from them. I also couldn't seem to get any supplies from them to do the work myself. As much on the internet as I am, surprisingly that was the last place I turned. I found a wonderful website, www.shopforband.com out of Mesa, AZ that had all the supplies plus step-by-step instructions to do the work myself. That is exactly what I did! Last week, I took all the keys off, removed the cork, and treated the wood. I was just waiting for the supplies which arrived on Thursday just after I left. I put the pads in the keys Saturday night. I then put the cork on Sunday afternoon and finished it up this morning. By lunch time, it seemed to be working fine! Putting the keys back on was quite a puzzle but I did it!

Now I'm trying to get caught up on cleaning, laundry, and AVON that all fell behind while I was gone.

Joshua will be tested tomorrow morning concerning his speech. It is a 2 hour period with 1/2 hour for hearing and the rest on language/speech. I'll let everyone know the results as soon as I know anything. I don't know if that will be tomorrow or whether we have to wait for results.

Car troubles

Well, it's been almost 6 months since the last problems with the car so I guess we were about due. Rachel and I were out delivering AVON catalogs on Saturday when all of a sudden I noticed the battery warning light on. I pulled into the closest parking lot and shut off the car. It started up again just fine but the light didn't go off. So I brought the car home right away. The serpentine belt looked fine so we called a friend from church for suggestions. He said it would be easiest to have the problem diagnosised by a garage and then do the work ourselves. Since it was almost 8 on Saturday, we could have much done till yesterday.

PepBoys is about the closest garage we have to our house and since we knew they weren't going to do the work anyway, we decided to have them check it out. The news wasn't good. They said it was the alternator and the battery. They also say that the belt tensioner needs replaced. (Of course, they also said that we needed 3 or 4 other things done that have nothing to do with the electrical system for a grand total of $515!) We'll be starting with the alternator but not till at least Friday. Fortunately, this is something that we should be able to do ourselves or with just some help from a friend from church. I have to talk to that friend to see what he thinks about this belt tensioner business.

This means that we are having fun trying to get through this week with only one vehicle. With the type of schedule and the number of kids we have to haul around, this is a bit of a challenge. The only thing that I can say is "Thank you Lord that we have the van running". It would be a lot harder if we only had the car instead of the van.

The other thing we are thankful for is the fact that gas prices are going in a downward direction this week. We were rather excited to fill up yesterday at just $2.54/gallon. Of course, today I saw it at $2.39 which is frustrating but at least maybe it'll be lower still when we need more. But this is still a lot better than if this had been 2 weeks ago when it was over $3/gallon.

I better get busy with other things now. I'll have to fill you in on my instrument fixing later.

Update

Figured I better get back here and fill everyone in. This is the kids first full week of school since it started 3 weeks ago. They went 2 1/2 days the first week, then 4 days for the next 2 weeks in compliance with state laws about Labor Day holiday. This is actually really nice when the kids are in kindergarten or first grade and just adjusting to the school schedule.

Rachel is in 5th grade this year. She is really happy with the teacher that she has. What's going to be really interesting is that she is in class with Sarah, aka daycare child and neighbor, and with Hannah, who is a friend from church. She's never had Hannah in class before but the last time she was with Sarah, it was not a good experience. Just too much time together for the good of their friendship. She also has chosen band over choir this year. She is going to play the clarinet. Actually, it is MY clarinet. We are waiting for the music store to get replacement pads in so I can fix them and the cork so it is ready to go. I was shocked that they wanted $145 to do the work at the store. Turns out that's almost all labor because I can get the pads and cork for around $35. Somehow, I'll find the time over trying to squeeze out the money. I've actually done the pads before myself. I haven't done the cork but it shouldn't be too hard. I think getting what is left of the old cork off will be the hardest part.

Stephen is in the 3rd grade this year. Things seem to be going rather well. He actually has a substitute till November 1 since his regular teacher adopted a new baby girl over the summer. The occupational therapy that we went through this summer seems to be paying off. With the exception of a small incident at 1 lunch, the only problem seems to be that he still struggles with shouting out the answers without raising his hand. (Not a big deal at all and I wish this would be the only problem all year. I'd be thrilled!) A lot of people were concerned that a charter school might not give us enough support for his Asperger's syndrome but they are. He receives "brushing & compressions" (recommended for his sensory issues) by a paraprofessional once or twice a day. He will also be starting a small social skills group with the social worker in the next week or so. There is also an occupational therapist at the school that we can work with if necessary. We are very pleased because the teachers are using some "Brain Gym" activities that we learned about at therapy with the whole class. They are good for everyone and it doesn't make Stephen feel separated from everyone if he is the only one that does them. They are just short, sensory stretches and activities that help children to focus and listen better. (I think they are so good that I hope to teach them to our Sunday school workers for them to use at church.) We are also pleased that he is not in the same class with some of the kids that seemed to make him an easy target last year. He actually has 3 other kids from our church in his class. We're hoping that this change will help him socially.

Now it is just Joshua and I home during the day. He is rather pleased with that. He gets more time with mom as well as more time on the computer. I have called and requested testing on his speech. There are times that he is difficult for me to understand as well as everyone else. I talked to the speech therapist at the kids' school and she can't do it there. I have to go there G. R. Public for his age. She was glad that I was being proactive about it. If he were to need her help next year, they would probably want to put him in a Young 5's program. I really don't think his other skills would require that so I don't want the speech to hold him back. She also said that speech difficulties can hamper learning to read which we definitely don't want. I'll keep you posted when the testing is scheduled.

Well, I better get on with my day. I have AVON, our budget, and some sewing to work on today. We had to go get pants for Mark & Rachel over Labor day and, of course, they all needed shortened. I have just one pair left to do then I'm done. I also have to make sure dress clothes are set for a family picture to be taken tonight for our new church directory. This is all in addition to the usual cooking and cleaning to be done before picking up kids and supervising homework.

Shepherd's Notes

I'm putting a new link on the sidebar to the new blog we set up for some friends of ours. It is finally operational thanks to my big brother, Nate. It may be a couple of more weeks, however, before much is posted there. They need to unpack and get new internet service before they can get started. Hopefully, they don't lose the information before they get the service.

Blogging

I know...you would think with the kids in school this week that I would have more time to blog....but that's not been the case. The little amount of time I have had for blogging this week, I have spent trying to get another blog up and running for a friend. I am almost there. I'm still having some trouble with the Haloscan comments so I have brought in an expert, my big brother, Nate, who introduced me to blogging.

Our friends, the Shepherd's, moved to Wyoming (the state, not city in MI) this week. He was called as a pastor to a small church outside Cheyenne. That means that Joshua's best friend, Jake, is now a 20 hour car ride away. This family means a lot to our church and I know that there are a lot of people that would like to keep up with what is going on in their lives so that is why I thought I should introduce them to blogging. I showed our blog to Kris and she thought it a great idea. She was so busy packing though that she didn't have time to sit down and set it up with me. So I set it up for them and gave them all the info to get them started. I bet she'll be even better at putting in updates then I am once she gets started.

We have been busy getting into the school routine. The kids seem to be adjusting well. I have established much more of a bedtime routine which seems to be helping our mornings go better.

I have been trying to get back doing more AVON. Mark is still busy at Camp & Cruise 50+ hours a week and then this week he has been busy with Tom Hines again. For those of you that don't know about Tom, he is a gentleman that Mark did work for through a temp agency the last time that he was unemployed. After Mark went to work, Tom asked if Mark would work on accounting for him on the side. Tom hopes to start a business and it may be a new job for Mark, with quite a pay increase over his current job. It seems that Tom has a couple of investment groups are looking into his plans and may be willing to invest. We had all but given up on this opportunity but are hopeful again!

Well, I have to be going. We are spending as much time as possible this weekend trying to get some extra cleaning and organizing done around this house.

Back to school!

Rachel and Stephen started back to school yesterday! It was just a 1/2 day but today is the first full day. Hopefully, it will go better than last year. Last year, Rachel threw up and ended up with a urinary tract infection that had her hospitalized.

Even though they are in school today it doesn't give me much time to write. I have an AVON order to place by noon and cleaning to do to get ready for a meeting this evening. I'll try to write more often but you know how that goes.

Monday

Thought you might like to hear about our day on Monday but warning...you may need an extra sugar boost after reading this! Rachel, Joshua, Sarah (a daycare girl) and I left the house around 8:30 to drive Mittens to the southwest end of town where she had a haircut appointment. After dropping her off, we went back by the house briefly and then continued north to Houghton Lake. We arrived there at 12:00 to meet up with Mom, Aunt Marlene, and Stephen. After lunch there, we headed back home to GR with Stephen in our van this time. We arrived back home around 4:15. I gave the kids a quick dinner around the same time that Sarah was picked up. We then jumped back into the van, retrieved our bald cat from the grooming school and deposited her at home before going to a park for an ice cream social for the kids' school. We got back from that around 8:30 and Mark came home from work shortly after that! Just another day!

Catch up

Guess it's time to get everyone caught up on our happenings around here. We had a BALL riding the jet ski's that I mentioned before. The kids even had a chance to ride on a tube behind the jetski. Except for bit of a spill toward the end, it was great! The water was even rather warm for being in MI.

I'm back to having daycare kids again. They are all back from vacation and getting prepared for school. The kids start back exactly 1 week from today. Rachel has spent most of the month of August trying to find out who will be in her class. This year she will be with Sarah, a daycare girl, and Hannah, a friend from church. I hope this works out well.

We also went to the wedding of Rachel's 4th grade teacher. It was really nice and we got to see quite a few from the school there. Rachel's 5th grade teacher for this year was a bridesmaid as well as another one of the 4th grade teacher. Stephen's teachers for this year were also in attendance.

Mark's work is keeping him beyond busy! He has been putting in close to 60 hours most weeks. He'll have in at least 30 by the end of today already. The office is starting to slow down but they are short 2 workers so besides keeping up with all usual work, he has been busy interviewing perspective help. They hope to have the positions filled by the end of the week. The kids and I even took dinner out and had it at his office last night so we could be with him for a while.

At least Rachel & Joshua & I did. Stephen is now in Alpena with Gramma. They left on Tuesday just after Stephen's occupational therapy appointment. They made it safely and Stephen is getting to go to 2 VBS's in Alpena this week.

Today I will be going out to the school to fill out forms. Then tomorrow we meet with Rachel's teacher. Since we met with Stephen's teacher on Monday, that means 3 trips in one week. I guess I'm getting back into the school routine myself. I'm ready for school to start but I also can't quite figure out where the summer went!?

Enough for now. I'll try not to be so long between postings but can't promise.

Wet week

It's been a wet week for us but that doesn't mean we've had rain. The heat and humidity has returned so we have been trying to stay cool. We have a friend that lives rather close and she has been telling us to come for a visit so Tuesday we took her up on it. The kids and I went from around 11-2 and except for a quick lunch they were in the water the whole time. I spent most of the time in the shade and yet I'm the one who became a lobster! Stephen was a little pink on his shoulders and nose but I turned red!

Wednesday, we did our Advance route as early as possible but it was still miserable out there. So I called and we ran over for another dip.

A guy Mark works with invited us to join him at a lake for some fun on his jetski's so we are going to do that tonight. As soon as Mark is home from work we're going to load up a picnic and head out. I didn't tell the kids about it till just a little while ago. They are pretty excited!

Even though it is supposed to be much more comfortable tomorrow, we may be back in a pool. The friend with the pool is watching some kids from church and with her own kids isn't comfortable having them all in the pool with only herself to watch. She may be calling to ask us to join them if she needs another set of eyes. We'll see. This is pretty amazing for us to be swimming so much.

Well, I have to run and get our sandwiches made. Hope everyone else is surviving the heat this summer!