Quiet 4th

We had a rather pleasant, & quiet 4th of July. We had to do Rachel's Advance Newspaper route and some shopping. We then did quite a bit of cleaning before we had a new family from church over. We spent a quiet (only intermittent neighborhood fireworks) evening getting to know this couple and their 4 kids. We had a simple picnic and lots of conversation. I feel a real easy friendship growing with this family. They are just 2 years moved down from the UP and he does accounting for Children's Bible Hour. They are a real blessing.
What I can't believe is how quickly camp week is flying by! I haven't gotten hardly anything done that I wanted to with only one child at home but I have had some offers for some babysitting of him today and tomorrow so I can get some work done. I just have to call and make arrangements.
We also plan to have the couple who "co-camp captain" with Mark on Friday evening. We do this each year to discuss the camp scholarship and other ideas for promoting camp. Then on Sunday, our church is having something called "F.I.S.H." (Fellowship in someone's home) in place of the normal Sunday evening service and we are hosting some other families here. I need to make contacts for that and plan out a menu. At least the house should stay fairly clean between the 3 different entertainment situations.
Saturday, Mark and I will be going to pick up the kids at camp and bring them all home. We have to be at camp at 9 a.m. so it means an early morning for us. Last year I didn't do pick up so this should be interesting. Now everyone should know the camp songs better then they did on the way up.
What Rachel failed to mention in her blogs is that we also have been to several park parties and she is also now a Red Cross certified babysitter. She spent a day taking the class with several of her friends and now even has a backpack full of supplies to take on babysitting jobs.
Well, I better get busy with phone calls.

Gone

Rachel & Stephen are off for the week to Lake Ann Camp. Mark & I took them and 25 other kids from church there yesterday. We will return to pick them up Saturday morning. If you would like to send them an email you can go to www.lakeanncamp.com. The emails are printed and given to them each day at lunch so Friday at 10 a.m. is the last chance to send them emails.
I have lots to do as we are still cleaning up from a yard sale last week and we have plans to have people over 3 times in the next week. Hopefully, though, I will have a chance for more blogging this week while I am down to just one child at home.

HOT!

It is sssooooooooooooooooooooooo hot here in MI!!!!!!! It has been 92 degrees outside!! HELP!!!

Well on Monday July 2, Stephen and I along with kids from church, will be going to Lake Ann Baptist Camp for a week. It is going to be alot of fun!!! Poor Joshua has to stay home:(!!!! Here is what he thinks he will do while we are gone.

The fisrt thing that I will do is probally go to the pool.
Joshua!!

The engilsh reading is "The first thing that I will do is probally go to the pool. Joshua!!" He is weird sometimes. Well maybe ALL the time.

TTYL (after camp)

Rachel

Summer

The things we have done so far this summer:

1. Went to the library
2. Got to see Grandma Joyce
3. Went to the park to do a LifeWalk
4. Had a birthday party for Stephen
5. Went to a WhiteCaps baseball game, which they lost 9 to 7
6. The only person who has gone swimming is me and only at youth group.

That is about it for this summer. I hope that we can have more fun this summer then what we have had. Will blog later.

Rachel

Upset

Our NASCAR fans here are most disappointed with the news about Dale, Jr. To be teammates with Jeff & Jimmy is not what was wanted here. I think they were all pulling for him to go to RCR instead. We'll have to see if Rachel sticks with Jr. after this year. She just may switch drivers. She was already bummed that he is no longer a Gillette Young Gun especially when they came out with the show Fast Cars & Superstars.
Well, I'll try to write more about what we are up to soon. Or maybe I can get the kids writing since they are on summer break now.

Where to start?

Here it is a holiday weekend and we have so much to do. House to clean, groceries to get, summer clothes to unpack, and companies coming. I also have to work this afternoon and the kids, especially Stephen, have homework to do. How's that sound for an exciting holiday? We have promised Stephen a round of frisbee golf down at the park but haven't decided when yet. The weather is cloudy and we had rain this morning. Hopefully that will help to get us busy working so when it clears we can have the fun.

All better

We seem to be finally mended around here. No ER visits in the last 5 days! Joshua even went back to school today!
Rachel & I went on the field trip to Mackinac Island last Thursday. Mom met up with us and we had a good time. The weather was beautiful--much warmer than I expected! Time just flew by and we had to leave much too soon.
Friday, Joshua had a follow up visit with our dr. and she gave him the "all clear" to get moving a bit more and told him "no more visits this summer". We'll have to wait and see if he listens to that instruction.
Saturday was booked solid with stuff and I really wasn't comfortable leaving Joshua with a teen babysitter since they might have to give him medications so Mark asked his mom to come and give us a hand. She came over Friday evening and stayed with the kids on Saturday then headed home as we left for church on Sunday morning.
I was registered for a table at a home business expo show at a local library on Saturday. I really didn't want to pull my Avon booth out of that. It was from 9:30-3 but we had to set up at 8 a.m. The day went rather slow because it was first year but not too bad either. It is still sort of a wait and see situation.
After the expo was done, I went straight to Meijer to work 4 hours decorating cakes. It was the first time I had been there in over a week. I guess rumors were starting to fly as to whether I had quit or been fired. They were really glad to see me.
Mark also had to work at Camp & Cruise on Saturday and he no more than got home when the guy he is doing work for on the side called and wanted to meet. So they met most of the time I was gone to Meijer.
Yesterday, it was rather a normal schedule as we had church in the morning, I worked at Meijer in the afternoon, and then back to church for evening service. Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera so I could still get a picture done even though it wasn't Mother's Day so we did that. Mark also borrowed a truck for the afternoon to go to Newaygo to pick up a snow blower from a guy he works with. This one is in better condition than ours which only starts part of the time. Rachel was also happy with this trip because she got to visit a little with Jackie.
I have lots to get caught up with around here. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about laundry as Mark's mom did that while she was here. Avon has suffered though and needs lots of attention.
I do have a cell phone again and with the same number as before. We checked everywhere for my phone that I lost last Monday and it didn't turn up and since that is the number I have on all my business info I couldn't be without it for long.
Joshua made it through his first day back to school today. He does have a bit of a headache this afternoon though. So it is a calm rest of the day now with plenty of rest again.

Unbelievable

The last week has really been rather unbelievable. We have made 4 trips to the ER in 5 days and the one day we didn't visit the ER, we were actually upstairs admitted during that time. We have even been in the same room in the ER 3 of those trips. I think we should have our name on a plaque pretty soon.
You know about 3 of the trips already. The 4th came yesterday. It was Joshua again. His headache pain was uncontrollable. I had given him all the pain meds that I had here for him. It was so bad it was making him vomit and then we have the threat of dehydration. Mark and I took him back to the ER and they gave him something for the nausea and then also morphine. Lovely drug...really does the trick. After observing him for a while, they sent us home with him again. We were told to do more meds when we got home and then to keep him rather well medicated all day today. I really hate to give him so much meds but it is better than another ER visit and more morphine. We are also to keep him on the couch pretty much completely inactive today.
On the way home last night, we had to pick up Stephen at the friend's house where we had left him and he had his fever back again. We got home and Rachel had spent most of the evening dozing in front of the TV. She had a headache and hadn't even gotten anything to eat. Checked her forehead and sure enough, she had a fever too. So I actually have all 3 home today from school. I'm pushing the vitamins and echenachia today. Rachel is scheduled to go on the main field trip all year tomorrow. We are to leave at 5:00 a.m. for Mackinaw Island. Right now, we're saying she is going to have to be much sicker to stay home and miss this.
I have also managed to lose my cell phone during all of this and have not gotten any AVON done in the last week. Oh, and Meijer's called today. Seems the cake decorator scheduled for today called in sick. They wanted to know if I could come in. Well, I would rather be there then home right now but that isn't a possibility and that's what I told them.
Let's see, what else...oh, Mark was contacted over the weekend by a man that he has done some accounting work for on the side. He had been trying to start up a business and Mark did the work on his planning for investors. Well, we haven't heard from him in over a year and we thought that he had pretty much given up on the company. Turns out that he had a new potential investor and needed some changes to the charts that Mark had done. So Mark has been trying to do some work for him over the last couple of days too. We are all so tired that Mark was falling asleep in the ER last night.
I think that is about all our news for now. Might not be very good news but it is what is happening. Except the extra work for Mark is good news because we could use the extra income since I have missed my last 2 days I was scheduled to work.

More hospital visits

but first I should tell you all that we had a wonderful visit with Mom last weekend. We even ended up with 2 mom's here since Mark's mom wanted to surprise him for his birthday and came to visit for the weekend. The kids loved having 2 grammas here for the weekend. Saturday evening, we went out to Berlin Raceway in Marne and watched some school bus races. There were other super stock races too but the highlight that took us there that night was the school bus races. It was really fun to watch. I think Mom took some pics and if she sends them to me, I'll try to post them. In a way, I guess you could say we had Mother's Day a week early. Of course, then we didn't bother with much of one this weekend and here's why:
Friday about dinner time, Joshua started complaining of a headache. When it didn't settle down shortly, I gave him some tylenol. He sort of laid around a bit Friday evening but we were all watching a video so it didn't seem strange. Then at bedtime, he complained more. I gave him some motrin and put him to bed. He was still crying almost an hour later that his head hurt so I took him to the ER. It was busy there so it took 4 hours for them to say he was simply dehydrated and send us home. We slept downstairs the rest of the night and I pushed him to drink every time he stirred. Saturday, he seemed to be improving so we thought they might have been right. Then around 1 p.m. he started having a fever and it went over 103 very quickly. While I was waiting for phone calls from the nurse at our dr.'s office, he vomited and that made up our minds that we were headed back to the ER which we did around 2. This time they did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and determined it was meningitis. All signs were pointing at viral (aseptic) meningitis but the cultures to determine that for sure take 48 hours to develop. As a precaution, they admitted him (us) and started him on IV antibiotics. They were also able to give him better pain medication to keep the headaches and fever under control.
The plans for Saturday had included a Gaither Homecoming concert that Mark's Mom had gotten us 4 tickets to. We felt Joshua too young to go but knew the other 2 would really enjoy it. When Joshua became sick and had to be admitted, we didn't want the tickets to go to waste. Mark took Rachel, Stephen, and a good friend from church to the concert. They did really enjoy it! Rachel was able to meet and get autographs from 4 Signature Sound members (only not meeting Ernie Haase). Stephen was also excited that he got to meet Ben Speer. They all stopped by the hospital to see Joshua and I afterwards. They even brought Joshua 2 Gaither's Pond DVD's.
Sunday, Mark took Rachel & Stephen to church before coming to spend the afternoon at the hospital. He brought me up clean clothes and other items I needed to spend another day & night at the hospital. They also brought my mother's day presents including a painted flower pot that Joshua made at school and had a flower planted in. He was really glad about that because he was upset thinking he wouldn't get to give it to me on Mother's Day. This was the first year that I can remember in the 12 years of being a mom that I didn't get a picture of the family done at church so that was a bit disappointing but Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera next weekend to get one for us.
Mark & I had to go over what needed done to be ready for the week and I sent them home mid-afternoon to work on some things before evening service. They came back for a visit afterwards and then one of our pastors came too. It turned out to be a second late night for Rachel & Stephen.
Yesterday, we had to wait for the results of the tests to come back at 4:30 before we could be released but as soon as they came I was ready to go. Mark and the kids came and got us and then we had to grab a quick dinner and I took Rachel and Stephen out to watch Stephen's spring program for school. Mark had some other things to do at home so he took his turn staying with Joshua who actually fell asleep on the couch as soon as we got home from the hospital and slept till 10:30 last night.
Stephen was really dragging after his concert and complaining of a headache. We had to stop by the store and get some stuff before coming home and he just was wiped out. By the time we did get home, he had a fever and said that it hurt to put his head to his chest (oh, boy, here we go again). I called the dr. afterhour care for advice and they said that he needed to be seen so back to the ER we went at 11:00 last night. It took till 1:30 for them to tell us that they thought it was just a virus and not the meningitis that Joshua had. My main concern was pain management and had been hoping that they wouldn't hospitalize him even if it was meningitis since Joshua's was not bacterial anyway.
So today I am home with both boys. Joshua is doing rather well, still some headache though. Stephen is rather miserable. He has been sneezing for over an hour straight. He has taken a claritin but it is slow in taking effect. He doesn't have a fever at this point yet but it is early in the day. We will have to see how he does at night. I did get a list of just how much of both tylenol and ibuprofen he can take at a time to help him with that. I'm even keeping a list of exactly who is taking what medicine when because keeping it straight for 2 is hard enough when you are thinking clearly but I am basically on fumes today with lack of sleep. Mark is too but he gets to go through it at work. Sometimes I think that would be easier because around here I have chairs and beds that would be so easy to curl up in but he doesn't and also has people needing his input and needing him to keep on tasks.
I just keep thanking God for his timing in all this. If this had happened a week earlier, Mark would have been out of town, Mom would have been here (she doesn't need exposed to viruses), Joshua would have missed Awana awards, and I had to spend a lot of time the first part of last week putting together the picnic for the last night of Awana and would have not been able to do.
We basically have a couple of down days right now anyway and the next big thing is Thursday. Rachel & I are going to Mackinac Island with the other 6th graders from school. Well, Mark has requested the day off so he will be here with any boys not able to go to school. If they both make it, he then has lunch duty and carpooling to deal with as well as a kindergarten ice cream social in the evening. Our biggest question there is getting Rachel & I back and forth to/from school at strange times but there are others that live nearby that can probably help.
Needing help with transportation should tell you that the van is down again. It worked for all of a day before having more trouble with getting fuel and for some reason (I wonder why...haha) we haven't had time to look into it.
So that has been our weekend around here. The picture of Rachel as Carrier of the Month finally came out in the Advance last week. We thought she was getting it for April but I guess it was for May. I'm going to try and get it scanned in later and posted but will have to get some other things caught up around here first.

Mom's coming

and my house is trashed. I have an Avon order due today, the kids have dentists appointments at 3, & Mark has left for a Men's Retreat at Lake Ann Camp this weekend. I worked at Meijer this morning and then had lunch duty. Sound busy enough for everyone. So much to do and so little time (and sometimes energy)!
As bad as my house looks, I'm still glad Mom is coming. It is nice to have her for a visit and we either completely blow off working or do it together and either way, it is enjoyable.
My hubby's birthday is tomorrow so I decorated a cake at work this morning and I'm sending it to the retreat with a different vehicle then he rode it. It should be a nice surprise for him tomorrow.
Well, I better get to that Avon order. It was due an hour ago and I have quite a bit to do before it goes in.

ER Visit

Well, we had to make a trip to the ER last night. After the evening service at church, Mark was talking with people about the camp program or the upcoming men's retreat & I was in a meeting planning a luau for the last night of AWANA. We were both interrupted with reports that Joshua was hurt outside. Turns out that he had been running a race (obstacle course) with 2 other boys along a stretch of sidewalk and took a spill. He says he was in a rocky area where they removed some trees (but not stumps) from last year when he fell. Mark had brought him into the nursery and had guaze taped to the wound by the time I got in there. We had several nurse or paramedics that had looked at in before he covered it and said it was going to need stitches. So after leaving Stephen & Rachel in the care of our friends, Mark & Lisa Ellison, we raced to the ER with only a momentary stop home for his pillow buddy, Diego.
The ER doc ordered xrays to check for any additional damage or foreign objects but all was fine there. He then had to clean and stitch up a "corner" gash. It is about 1 1/4 inches horizontal under his knee and then 3/4 to 1 in. vertical. They gave Joshua some nitrus oxide to help him relax and not move while they worked on it. He still did quite a bit of crying while they were injecting the site with numbing med but after that did quite well. It took either 9 or 10 stitches. There are only 8 visible from the outside but I am sure that the dr. did 1 or 2 under the skin first that are not visible now because I know I saw him with 2 different color sutures.
They said that Joshua could go to school today but it was after 10 when we left the ER and none of us had eaten dinner yet. We swung by Meijers for fresh bandages, Wendy's for dinner, and then picked up the other kids before we go home around 10:45. We was about 11:30 before we headed to bed. Joshua's leg hurt pretty bad and so we put him in bed with us for the night. That worked till his meds wore off about 3 a.m. I gave him more pain meds but he just won't settle down so he and I came downstairs. I laid him in a chair in the living room so I could clean off the couch for him to sleep on but he got rather comfortable there and didn't want to go to the couch. So he and I spent the rest of the night sleeping downstairs. I felt it was too much for him to go to school with that little bit of sleep and not knowing how it might feel when the meds wore off again. It is rather a good thing I didn't send him. He is having quite a bit of pain still this morning. The wound looks fine but I think it might be some soreness to the knee or muscle around it that is hurting. So he is just resting with his leg up and watching his Go, Diego, Go! DVD.
I forgot to mention something a little strange that happened at the ER. They have this nurse who comes through and explains everything to the kids and helps them understand what the doctor is going to do so that they aren't scared. When she walked in to the room last night, by the time she got done with the introduction she said that we looked familiar. She was the same one that saw Stephen the last time he was in for stitches. That was several years ago though and for her to recognize us I thought rather amazing. She is now buddies with both boys because after Joshua's procedure last night she brought him a slushie and also a "Huggable Diego" toy as a prize for being brave and following the directions we had for him. She gave Stephen a little block set but he makes friends with all the ER workers.

Taxes

Our taxes are done! I finished them up about 6:00 p.m. last night! With 2 businesses they get rather tricky and I am not much of a paperwork person. Next year should be better because I am no longer a licensed daycare so that takes part of the complications out of it. Also, our house is a wreck right now because serious organizing is underway. That should help make taxes easier next year too.
Now, I have to get busy catching up on Avon that has been put off so taxes could get done.

Sorry...

I know it has been way tooooo long since I blogged. I've had numerous phone calls telling me so. I've been as busy as can be but not much I felt notable enough to blog about.

The Awana games have come and gone. Both Rachel & Stephen were on the teams this year. The T&T girls took second place and the T&T boys took third. This was the first year that we have had 2 separate teams other years they have had a coed team.

Weather...we have seen about everything recently. We had a beautiful spring in March but now we are back to winter. My hyacinths look pretty pitiful covered in snow. Right now we are under a winter weather advisory expecting 4-8 inches of SNOW by tomorrow morning. When I left for work at Meijer this morning we were forecast 1-4 inches but had changed by noon. A lot of things are cancelled for tonight and I am anxiously awaiting to hear about our church services. I am usually one of the first to hear because of being in charge of the email prayer chain. They will either call or email me so I can put the announcement over the email. Personally, I am tired and have a lot to do so an evening at home wouldn't break my heart too much.

Spring break...the kids all had spring break last week. That was the reason I knew lousy weather wasn't done. Around here, it doesn't matter how early it turns spring, the weather for spring break is always lousy. We had plenty to keep busy with and didn't even get to do all the things we wanted.

We had a nice quiet Easter, however the rest of the week was rather crazy. Joshua turned 6 on the 6th which happened to be Good Friday this year. We decided to let him have 2 friends over for a little party on Thursday because he wanted to go to a Griffin hockey game on Friday (which we could do because our church didn't do an area Good Friday service this year). It was a fun time and I even got to visit with a mom I hadn't met before. The problem was that they sold out of hockey tickets before we got ours for Friday. He was disappointed but now he & I are going to the final home game of the year this coming Saturday instead. Both he and Stephen had earned free tickets to games by a reading program through school.

Saturday, I had an Avon booth at a local craft show. It was from 8:30 till 3 and there was set up and tear down time too. Rachel went with me and I had 1 other rep working it too. It was a worthwhile day I felt. Then after we unloaded the car, I changed clothes and worked at Meijer for 4 hours. I got done about 9:30 and still needed some groceries for Easter dinner. It was a long day!

We had a nice visit with Mom a couple of weeks ago too. It was good to see her. This was her first trip down since the heartattack. She took Rachel out for a belated birthday breakfast on Saturday and then took Joshua out for an early birthday breakfast on Sunday. They both really enjoy that.

Report cards came home just before Spring Break. All is looking pretty good. Rachel is back up to an A in band so I bought her a new sax book with Disney songs in it to practice on. We have been assured that Joshua is plenty ready for 1st grade and Stephen's teacher commented on how he is doing much better since Spring Break.

Update: Wednesday evening services at church are now cancelled. I don't think that has happened very often in the month of April but I remember one year that we missed 3 of them in Jan. & Feb. Now I can focus on getting things done here at home. The only thing is that now I have to make dinner. Our church offers dinners on Wednesday before the other programs and boy do I get spoiled. With the weather the way it is, I'll take fixing dinner over having to go out in it again.

Rachel will be home shortly and she has to deliver the Advance Newspaper in this. At least she can have some help since Stephen can do his homework later with no church tonight. Actually, the other exciting news is that Rachel has been named carrier of the month for the Advance. Usually they put the kids picture in the paper but they haven't called to set that up but she got a gift card to the movies which is all she cared about any way. Her supervisor says she hasn't had any complaints with Rachel's service which is pretty good.

So that's some of what we have been up to. I'll try to do better at getting on here more but no promises.

Regional Grand Prix Results

I have had an email asking about the results of the Grand Prix last Saturday. Unfortunately, my family came home rather disappointed. They didn't place at all. Mark was a little bit encouraged because he did manage to come in ahead of the car that took first place at our church races. He finished 7th and she came in 12th. Other than that, things didn't go too well. We learn a little more each year and I figure by the time Joshua is through T & T, we'll probably be able to bring home something.
By the way, we all seem to be on the mend around here. Joshua was able to go back to school on Tuesday but was rather worn out by the time he got home. They are all still doing a lot of coughing but since that could last 4-6 weeks, I'm not keeping them home for that. Rachel did get herself into quite a coughing fit last night at AWANA while running in the games. We pulled on our coats and stood outside for a little bit. The cool air seemed to calm it down but everytime we went back in, she started up again.
We are in the middle of a fasinating MI storm here. Not often we have thunder and lightening with snow, sleet, & freezing rain. It is now almost all rain at least till tonight. Overnight we are to get some more accumulating snow. That should make this slush real fun to deal with.
This weekend we are camping at church Friday night. It is the T & T campout. At first, Mark was going to take Stephen & Rachel while I stayed home with Joshua since he isn't old enough for T & T yet. Then last night they were saying that they are short handed, especially on female leaders so I guess Joshua & I are going too.

Joshua's turn

Well, Rachel is better. She started feeling better Friday afternoon and was able to go to the Father/Daughter Banquet at church. Then on Saturday, Mark, Stephen, and Rachel went to the Regional Grand Prix in the morning and to watch a Griffen's game in the evening. (I won tickets to the game from our radio station.)
However, Joshua started with a fever Friday afternoon and has been sick ever since. He had most of the same symptoms that Rachel had except his fever was lasting over 3 days and getting higher each time the meds wore off. When it hit 104.2 Sunday afternoon, we called the dr.'s office. The nurse there recommended we take him to the ER to be checked out. The dr. ordered up some xrays and decided probably pneumonia but also gave him a steroid because the coughing sounded "croupy". By the time we got home and them Mark went and got the Rx of amoxicillian filled, no one made it to church last night.
Since starting the antibiotic and having the steroid, he seems to be improving. His fever is down and he managed to sleep through the night. I was awake at 5 a.m. checking on him because the last 2 nights we were up between 2-3 a.m. when his ibuprofen and cough meds wore off. I'm going to call our dr. office for follow up shortly.
The good news is that this hasn't affected my working at Meijer's because I ended up with this whole week off. I didn't plan it that way but it is nice of the timing. Besides Joshua being sick, I need to spend some time down at my Avon upline's house sorting through and bagging up $6,000 worth of Avon for a fundraiser that we have been doing together. Now I just have to get Joshua back to school so I can get to this work.
The reason for the time off at Meijer is because corporate is being a stinker and thinks that our bakery has been going over budget on wages. After 3 weeks of getting in trouble for overscheduling, my "team leader" decided to give them what they ask for and let them see what the bakery looks like after a week. As it is we haven't been able to keep up with everything. I couldn't believe how crazy Valentine's week was! This schedule is going to leave them completely without a cake decorator for at least 2 days. I'm going in to go shopping just to watch the cases go bare! The team leader also told everyone that they are to walk out the minute their shift is over and they have to take all their breaks and lunches. She isn't going to stay over either. I know corporate may think they know how things work but hopefully they will learn a little something from this. Our store is actually closest to corporate and we are having remodeling done so a lot of "big wigs" are in regularly. This should be interesting!
Well, Joshua is well enough to be bored with TV but not well enough to play much by himself. I better tend to him.

Still Sick

Rachel is still down sick. She has now officially missed this whole week of school. We took her to the doctor yesterday and the official diagnosis was influenza. So the "flu" has hit and is making her miserable. She had been fever free since late Tuesday but it is back today. The doctor said that it could last 7-10 days from the start but the cough could actually last 3 weeks.
This is a real bummer around here. Rachel was supposed to go with Mark to a Father/Daughter banquet at church tonight. We have already paid for the tickets and a corsage is ordered to be picked up this afternoon. Also, Rachel qualified for her car to race in the regional Awana Grand Prix tomorrow morning. I don't know now if she will make it to that or not. Hopefully, they will let someone else race her car even if she can't be there.
The good news is that I haven't had to keep dragging her all over to get things done that I need to do. Since she is old enough, we leaver her for short periods of time like when I have kids to pick up at school or this morning when I had to take Mark to work because the van wouldn't start when he was to come home last night. It gives her a better chance to rest.

New link

I'm putting a new link on the side panel of the blog. This will be to my personal AVON website. Everyone is welcome to visit it and place orders if you like. If you are in the GR area, I can personally deliver the order. If you are not in the area but would like to help my business, you can do that too. Just choose delivery and the order will be shipped directly to you. I think I saw that the shipping charge is just $3 but you'll have to check into that more. Let me know what you think of the new site.
Rachel is still home from school today. The nurse at the dr.'s office says that this is probably the virus that is hitting our area. Right now, there isn't much that they can do for it but it has been leading to strep in some kids and pneumonia in others. We have to give it a few days to see where it might go from here. Too soon in and we will just have to make another trip in a couple of days. She has to be improving by Friday because there is a Father/Daughter banquet at church Friday evening that she and Mark are attend!

Sick

Well, the kids have taken turns being sick over the weekend only Rachel waited till their 5 day weekend was almost over to get it. Stephen started it with a fever and headache on Wednesday. Thursday & Friday everyone was pretty much fine except for a few sniffles. Then on Saturday, Joshua ended up with a fever and sore throat. He missed a family outing to see a Griffin hockey game Saturday evening. I also kept him home Sunday morning. We did all go to church Sunday evening but then he had another low grade fever by the time we came home.
Rachel started complaining that she felt like there was congestion in her chest yesterday. She had a little coughing but not much till last night. She is really miserable today - sore throat, fever, headache, and coughing. I am waiting for a return call from the pediatrician's office to get her seen later today. The good thing is that she is now old enough to stay by herself so I was able to work at Meijer even though she was home. She just got a couple of vaccinations last week and I am almost wondering if these have led to her being sick. One of the side effects say that it, on rare occassions, can lead to pneumonia but we will have to wait and see what the doctor says.
Hope all of you are doing well. We are in the middle of a February Thaw. It has hit 40 - 2 day's in a row now! That is really amazing when you consider that we haven't even hit 30 in about 3 weeks at least!

Prix Results

Well, the Awana Grand Prix was Wednesday evening. Stephen & I had to stay home because he had a fever and didn't feel well but he had his sister race his car for him. Turns out that all 3 cars are going to the regional's next weekend. (The last post said that regional's is March 24, actually that is the Awana games. Grand Prix Regional's is Feb. 24.) Stephen finished with a third place in design in the 3rd & 4th grade boys. Rachel had third place in both design & speed for the 5th & 6th grade girls. Mark placed second place in both design & speed among the leaders. This is the first year that our church has divided it up in the different ages but that is how the Regional's do it so we now do too.
I will try to update more soon but Stephen is doing fine now. Still a few sniffles but no fever anymore. We are headed to see the Griffins play hockey tonight and have a lot to do before then.

Cars in Progress

Ok. I took some digital pictures of the grand prix cars that the family has been working on the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, I will be able to post them here. Rachel's wheels are on but not glued in place yet. The guys still have to finish weighting theirs and then put on the axles and wheels. We have followed most recommendations. Rachel's design is at the suggestion of Nate. It made one pass down the track during pit time last Wednesday and worked well but that was just one heat. We have also buffed the axles and have a tool for alignment and graphite to help with speed.
The races will be this Wednesday night. They had to delay them because of the blizzard last week. If they finish well enough at our church races this Wednesday, they will get to go to regionals on Sat. March 24. Rachel is really hoping to get a ribbon or trophy this year because this is her last year in AWANA. Next year, she joins the "youth group" (is that really possible?).
Well, it is late and there is no reason that there won't be church tomorrow so I better get to bed. Besides, I'm sore from going with Rachel to a Middle School bounce party last night but more about that later.

Cancelled again

Schools are closed again today. It seems that the crews have gotten most of the snow off the roads; however, that has left them down to the layer of ice. There were some major accidents this morning. I love some of the ways that people are finding to keep warm. I'm going to try posting a couple of pictures. If that doesn't work then check these out at this link: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6029303
Hey, I got one to work, I wonder if I can do a couple more. It worked! but not in my preference of order but I'm not good enough to try to change them around.
These are about my favorite but there is one more amazing one. There is a picture of someone's outdoor digital thermometer that reads -26 degrees. The picture was taken in Rockford at 7 a.m. on Monday. I think Phil was playing a cruel joke in PA last week.
Well, I have to figure out how to get some cake mixes from the store so I can get them baked for tomorrow evening. At least it will be nice having on the oven for a while.

Cancelled

Everything has been pretty much closed/cancelled all weekend. Yesterday was even a snow day from church. The cancellations started Friday evening and continue on through today at least. Saturday, banks, libraries, and even malls closed early. What was really amazing and as far as I know, completely unheard of was that they shut down the Grand Rapids city busses. But Meijers, stayed open the whole time and, being the only thing open, were very busy. Busses were up and running again yesterday but area churches were all pretty much closed including ours. Now there are over 400 area schools and businesses still closed today, including the kids'.
The sun is out and it really looks nice out side. Problem is that the air temp is -8 and wind chills are running -15 to -25. Even though snow plows have been working continously all weekend, the wind didn't settle down to stop the blowing and drifting till today. The temps are so cold that salt is useless to help with clearing the ice. Most of our roads are covered with packed snow and a layer of ice underneath. Even the interstates are only moving at about 25-30 mph. The closings of highways because of multicar accidents has been numerous, including on Saturday, a 10 mile stretch because of 2 different accidents--one involving around 25 cars and another involving 30. Fortunately, the accidents have not included much for injuries.
I did venture out for work on Saturday and Sunday, but other than that the family has pretty much hibernated for the weekend. Today, it is Mark's turn to venture out. With no heat in the van, Mark is even doing our errands on his lunch or on his way home from work. I'm not taking the kids in that van any where. I don't even know if the van would start right now. We haven't started it since Thursday.
I seriously considered calling in on Saturday but they were pretty desperate for workers. Then I made my team leader's day on Sunday. Since we were so far behind and since our church was closed, I offered to do an 8 hour shift instead of just the 4 I was scheduled. She jumped at it! The extra money will be nice too.
Since the schools were already closed for Monday, we let them stay up and watch all of the Super Bowl last night. Mark actually let the Super Bowl for them start at around noon with all of the football specials and pregame. I told them it was a good thing that I was at work or else it would not have started till at least 5 p.m. Stephen was cheering for the Bears so he was a bit disappointed by the game. The rest of the family was going for the Colts, however. I said that I had to go for the Colts since they were lead by Peyton MANNING. I know that there were Mannings on the Bears too but, somehow, I think we have a better chance of being related (distantly) to Peyton than the ones on the Bears.
Well, there is a lot to get done around here. And I have some children with lots of energy and no way to burn it off. (They did go out and shovel for a while yesterday but can't have them do that today with this windchill.) I think I need to find some productive ways to harness it. Somehow, I don't think they are going to appreciate the ways I can find to take care of energy.

Blizzard

Well, we aren't officially in a blizzard yet...we are just in a blizzard warning. Want to see the latest on our conditions, go to www.woodtv.com. We could be in an official blizzard by early afternoon or evening. Which is real nice since I'm supposed to go decorate cakes at Meijer this afternoon. For those who plan to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow in sunny Miami Florida, check out the sight and see how we are doing.
I don't have much time for an update right now but will try to get back on soon. If any of you hear unexplained laughing, I'm sure it is Dad rolling on the floor at his house looking at the pictures of our area.

Roughing it

Well, we are having a bit of a "Survivor" experience in our own house. Thursday evening we got home from running some errands to find that we had no water. Mark called a friend a few blocks away and they were without water too. I called a neighbor and they too were without water. By this time, I decided we needed further investigation and checked our local news website. Seems that there was a watermain break that was leaving 3,000 customers without water for the night. The city hoped to give us water by 7 a.m. the next morning. Sure enough they actually had it on by 6:30 a.m. but now we were under a boil water advisory. Now we are told that the advisory will last at least through the weekend and possibly longer. We are glad to have the water back for bathing and flushing but the everyone is still struggling with not using the water to brush teeth or drink. I keep boiling water and trying to keep a full pitcher in the fridge but that just adds to the crazy schedule.
I mentioned lots of things coming up in our schedule and haven't gotten back to writing about them. Now we are actually part way through them. Rachel started volleyball try-outs last week. She has them again this week through Wednesday before she finds out if she makes a team. They have 2 teams and there are 12 girls per team. Right now, there are only 31 trying out so she has a pretty good chance, I think. But this also means someone going back out to the school at 5:30 to pick her up after practice. The good news though is that our neighbor girl that rides with us to the school and a friend from church are all trying out too so we have broken up the extra trips. Now, we sort of hope that either they all make it or none of them do to keep the trips to a minimum.
Rachel didn't quite get all the info right on the AWANA grand prix cars. We did have pit day a couple of weeks ago but we are having another one next weekend to finish them up so we are still open to more suggestions if anyone has any for us. Mark even made a car this year since we are working with the program. Rachel's is going to look like a offering plate and she is using real money for the weights. Stephen made is basically a slim triangle painted red. He plans to put a white Coke symbol on the front of it. I don't think there is any question what Mark's looks like for anyone that knows his love of Nascar. Rachel is really hoping for a trophy or ribbon this year since it is her last chance. I think she might make best design if nothing else.
The kids had a 1/2 day of school yesterday since it was the end of the marking period. Joshua went on his second field trip. This one to the local children's museum. Then in the afternoon, there was tubing at a place called Pando Ski Area. It was sponsored by the school although no school supervision was provided. It was for 3rd through 8th graders so Joshua mainly got to watch. It was a beautiful day for it! Boy do these guys have it easy! The worst part of going sledding was always the trip back up the hill. Now, they just attach a tow rope to the line and sit back while they are pulled to the top of the hill again! It looked like lots of fun! There were even some teachers that joined in but only towards the end since they had to stay at school till all their grades were in the computer.
Stephen's class is in the middle of a series of water safety lessons. Rachel never had the opportunity to take these but I am really glad Stephen is. Each 4th grade class takes turns being driven to a pool of another school system and spending an afternoon learning water safety. They did it back in second grade too so this is more advanced. There are 5 classes and they have done 3. This week they even have to take an extra set of clothes to get wet and they will be jumping in fully dressed to work on how to stay afloat using the clothes. I used to teach the same thing back in Alpena only we only demonstrated and didn't have the kids do it too.
We also have the AWANA games that Stephen and Rachel both want to be part of. Practices are twice a week starting the end of Feb. and running through March. The area games are on a Saturday at the end of March. Last year is about the only year, I don't think that our team has placed with Rachel on the team. This year, we hope to have enough to take 2 teams to the area competition which would give Stephen a better shot of making the team. Last year he was an alternate and everyone showed up so he didn't get to compete.
Mark's also swamped at work. They had their FNI (finance) person quit at the first of the year and the bosses are dragging their feet at hiring another person. Now they are into boat show season and wondering why Mark can't keep up. He is really frustrated because the main show he will have to spend the entire show at is Daytona 500 weekend.
We have our car back! It is running good. It needs an alignment yet but other than that it looks and runs good. Our friend was able to get it going for just $450 in parts which leaves enough from the $500 to cover the alignment. Our next car adventure is to get heat in the van again especially now that the garage door is broke so we can't keep it in the garage at night and no heat means no help clearing windows.
Well, I have to get these kids motivated around here. We played yesterday, now everyone has homework to do today but while I'm at the computer they don't think they have to do it.

Tips

I need tips. Rachel here, and I am about to make a Grand Prix Car. I remember that I need to cut it so that it looks like upside down car. I can't remember were you put the weights. If you have any tips please tell me. I need them by tomrrow morning. Hope to hear from you Uncle Nate ir any one.

Back to school

The kids are finally back to school and we are working back into a routine. I'm so glad. There is always so much to do and so little time to do it and I seem to get everything done faster when I am doing it solo. With them back to school, I can at least focus on projects better and think through them more. I am glad that Rachel blogged during the break but she left quite a bit out so I'll try to bring you up to speed.
We survived all the programs during December. I think that I had previously mentioned 3, I don't remember putting anything about the 4th which was a puppet program that both Rachel & Stephen were part of. Rachel has been part of the church puppet team for almost a year now and Stephen decided to join in October or November. The team performed on Wed. Dec. 20 for our AWANA program. I'm told they did well. I was busy cutting cakes and didn't get to see the performance. It's on tape though and I'll watch it later.
Also, Rachel failed to mention that after the band concert the director had each child perform a piece in class. He then assigned them "seats" and Rachel is the second seat for the saxophones. Not bad since most of them have been on that instrument for 2 years and she just went to it in Sept.
For those that did hear, I had quite a surprise for my birthday. Dad managed to find out what Meijer I'm decorating cakes at (There are only about 8 in our area.) and called and talked to my manager. He placed an order and paid for it over the phone. I was a bit surprised when the main decorator handed me an order and it specified that I was to decorate it. I sort of thought maybe someone from church wanted me to look good to my manager. Then I looked at the name (Roger) and it had a 569 area code and it was a Pooh cake. I figured out it was for me by then but then I was wondering if he was coming to pick it up! He didn't but I got paid to decorate my own birthday cake this year!
For Rachel's birthday, we went to see the Santa Clause 3 on Saturday the 23rd. She brought 2 friends from school and all had a good time. She didn't like the idea of a store bought cake even if I did decorate it so I had to do hers at home.
We had very pleasant, relatively quiet, holidays. We were right here and didn't even have any family in. Usually part of Mark's family will come for New Year's but that didn't happen this year. We were so busy with things this fall that we didn't go anywhere except his family party for the day of the 16th. For New Year's Eve, we went to a church family's home and played games till the ball dropped. We then hurried home as I had to be at work at 7 a.m. on the first!
As for the car incident, we have been able to get $500 from the girl that hit us! She didn't have insurance so we really didn't think we would get anything without a trip to small claims court. It took some doing but I was finally able to reach her by phone on 1/3. She claims that her boyfriend was to have paid it and she didn't know that he hadn't. Anyway, I told her that all we were wanting was the $500 we would have gotten from her insurance company if she had had insurance. She agreed and came over with a personal money order the very same day! This should cover the parts needed and so we have moved the car to a friend's house who has a barn to work in. He also has a son & son-in-law to lend him a hand on the repairs. He's also the same one who has loaned us his Neon to use until our car is back up and running!
We were also able to go see Charlotte's Web over the holidays thanks to Nate. The movie was really cute and we all enjoyed it. Since we were at the theater the weekend before for Rachel's birthday, I picked up the tickets without the kids knowing it. I then put them in a popcorn bucket under the Christmas tree with the card that Nate had sent. After most of the presents were open, they saw the bucket and couldn't figure out what it was doing under the tree. As Stephen picked it up, he saw the tickets and the whole family was excited. They just couldn't figure out how Uncle Nate had gotten tickets for our theater all the way from Utah.
Our Christmas is all packed up just not put away yet. It is hard to do things in our attic after dark and Mark fell asleep Sunday afternoon while I was at work so the tubs are still in the living room. Of course, I have found several more items that needed put in the tubs since Sunday so I guess it isn't all bad.
We have a lot of things coming up so maybe I'll try to make my next post a look ahead but that is all the time I have for now. Time to pick up the kids.

I Have Been Part Of HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Rachel here and I have been of HISTORY!!!!!!! We waited 3 whole hours to do a 30 sec. thing. But I guess if I if I was part of history ok it was fine. Most of the time I had a hold of the tail of the wolverine on the back of Daddy's sweatshirt. It was really crowded in there. I hope that if I do something like that every again that they make it so that we are in a single file line! My legs still hurt from that night.

I just got back from seeing the movie Night In The Museum. It was sssooooooooooooooooooooo
funny! I hope that we can own it on DVD when it comes out. You should go see it for yourself.

Hope to type soon!

History

Part of our family is proudly being part of history. Mark, Rachel, & Stephen are in line with thousands of other people to view the casket of former President Gerald Ford down at his presidential museum in downtown GR. I am home with Joshua as we felt him too young to understand and appreciate the experience (not to mention standing in a long line of people for who knows how long). If you want to see the news from our local perspective, we use www.woodtv.com. There is a lot of pride as Ford was a well-loved local hero!
It has been interesting to find out how the details have been worked through for many years (basically since he left office). We knew the city was wanting to pretty things up a bit because we would eventually be in the national spotlight, but we didn't know just how extensive the pre-planning was. This has been a really touching experience for us. Maybe I can get one of the kids to blog more about the actual experience tomorrow.

The New Year!

It is me again, Rachel. Mom and Dad are sleepping so I guess I should type. Stephen has been in front of the tv waiting for the Michigan vs. USC at 4:30, I think?

I am glad to say that I sayed up until 1:30 this morning. It was fun last night. We were invited to go to our babysitter's parent's house. We played a lot of fun games, ate some really good food, watch at lest 1 movie, and watch the ball drop in New York! I was hoping to stay up later but oh well.

Hope to type again soon for I have nothing elas to write about.

Different Person?

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

Everyone's ok...

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

Mom's home & more

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

Changes

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

Mom's being released...soon

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

Medical updates & more

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

Mom's back in the hospital

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

Comerica Park is done!

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

Mom's Surgery

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

Family news

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

No school...again

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

Mom update

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

2 posts-1 day

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

Catching up again

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

Boys are doing well

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

Rachel's busy

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

School's back in session!

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

Doing better

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

Rough couple of weeks

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

Few minutes

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

No blogging for now

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

House is DONE!

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