We're just sitting here relaxing for an evening. Mark actually came in right after 5:00 tonight. Yesterday it was only about 6:00 when he came home. These are the first evenings he has been home all week before the kids went to bed. Last night I actually sent him to bed when the kids went. They all went up stairs at the same time. It probably won't be much past that again tonight. He actually has to work again tomorrow.
It has actually been rather quiet around here this week. I've been doing some AVON but then have also been working to try to organize our attic.
I don't remember if I mentioned it but Mark and the boys worked hard to clean up the house while I was in Alpena over the Fourth of July getting Rachel. This meant putting anything sitting out in the hall or in bedrooms into the attic.
With these nice cool days and no daycare kids, it seems the perfect time to do these. All our hand-me-downs and garage sale clothes that I have stored in the attic have gotten out-of-control. A bag here, a box there, and some for each child in each container. I'm trying to sort through and get them organized again. I actually found some more shorts for each of the boys today that they should have been wearing this summer. I just barely scratched the surface but hope to be able to get through it before I have a full house of kids again.
I may not be much of a blogger but next week I'm going to be helping a friend get one started. Our friends, the Shepherd's, have accepted a pastor position out in Wyoming. (This means that Joshua will be losing his best freind, Jake, in about 6 weeks.) I suggested they need to start one to let all of their family and friends here in GR keep updated on their lives. She took a look at ours and thought it a neat idea. She asked me to show her how to do it next week. It may take some e-mails to Big Brother, Nate but I'll start her out best I can.
That's about it from our end.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
We're fine!
I know I haven't written anything lately. Have been extremely busy & with the heat we've had lately, I try not to spend too much time on the computer. Not to mention, everytime I sit down to write I have 3 kids asking to play on the computer too.
Rachel is home from Lake Ann Baptist Camp and should be home for the rest of the summer. And I don't have any daycare kids for most of 2 weeks so I guess you call this my "vacation".
Last week was crazy! I worked Tuesday & Thursday evenings at the Berlin Fair for our AVON booth. I didn't get any recruits on the spot but did get some to follow up on. I also will have plenty of customers to follow up with too. Mark always works late on Monday but also did on Wednesday this last week because of lots of work to get caught up on and being short handed. My 2 daycare kids were here on Wed. & Thursday. I took everyone to deliver the Advance paper on Wed. so we could be done before the heat got unbearable. I helped sign up a new recruit with one of my downline on Friday and took Stephen for a well-child visit that afternoon.
This last weekend was Mark's family reunion as well. SO in the middle of all this, I was packing to go camping for the weekend. We borrowed a couple of tents and packed everyone in the van for the trip to Gladwin. We hit a major traffic accident just 20 miles north of town. It was a parking lot for miles so we crossed the median and had to take some back roads to get around it. It was late when we got there so we set up a tent in the dark. It just fit us all for sleeping. On Saturday, we set up another tent. We used one for sleeping and one for supplies. Neither were in great shape but that's what was available so that's what we used. Sunday at 3:30-7 a.m. we got lots of rain with a thunderstorm. We all managed to stay dry but anything touching the walls got damp from water seeping through the sides. We then went out to survey the area and found a few dry clothes. Around 8, the rain let loose again and this time it was with a vengence! Anything that stayed dry overnight now got soaked! As soon as it let up, we just packed it all soaking wet and muddy in the van to get home. Since then we have had to take everything out again, clean it up and let it dry.
We pulled into town just in time for evening service at church and since it was to be a special business meeting, we were going to go even if we did look like drowned rats. I did have Mark pull over long enough so I could find a brush for my hair which hadn't seen one all day. As we pulled into the church lot we noticed a lack of cars. Turns out that the service was cancelled due to "extreme heat index". Our whole area was under a "heat index advisery" which I didn't know they ever officially issued. I really wasn't disappointed that church was cancelled so that we could get home and deal with all the wet stuff in the van.
We have basically been cleaning up ever since, with the exception of a dentist appointment for Joshua and occupational therapy for Stephen.
Today I had an appointment for possible new daycare kids. The parent actually showed up! I was pleased just by that. This would be for 2 little girls (1 & 2 years old) just every other Friday and part of the day on the same Saturdays. That would probably be about enough. I'm getting rather spoiled by having primarily older kids (Joshua being the youngest). They take less work and you can do more things with them. This would also leave plenty of time for doing AVON during the day when school starts.
That should about get everyone caught up on life here. If the weather stays cool hopefully I can get on more. I could have the whole summer like our weather today. It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all!
Rachel is home from Lake Ann Baptist Camp and should be home for the rest of the summer. And I don't have any daycare kids for most of 2 weeks so I guess you call this my "vacation".
Last week was crazy! I worked Tuesday & Thursday evenings at the Berlin Fair for our AVON booth. I didn't get any recruits on the spot but did get some to follow up on. I also will have plenty of customers to follow up with too. Mark always works late on Monday but also did on Wednesday this last week because of lots of work to get caught up on and being short handed. My 2 daycare kids were here on Wed. & Thursday. I took everyone to deliver the Advance paper on Wed. so we could be done before the heat got unbearable. I helped sign up a new recruit with one of my downline on Friday and took Stephen for a well-child visit that afternoon.
This last weekend was Mark's family reunion as well. SO in the middle of all this, I was packing to go camping for the weekend. We borrowed a couple of tents and packed everyone in the van for the trip to Gladwin. We hit a major traffic accident just 20 miles north of town. It was a parking lot for miles so we crossed the median and had to take some back roads to get around it. It was late when we got there so we set up a tent in the dark. It just fit us all for sleeping. On Saturday, we set up another tent. We used one for sleeping and one for supplies. Neither were in great shape but that's what was available so that's what we used. Sunday at 3:30-7 a.m. we got lots of rain with a thunderstorm. We all managed to stay dry but anything touching the walls got damp from water seeping through the sides. We then went out to survey the area and found a few dry clothes. Around 8, the rain let loose again and this time it was with a vengence! Anything that stayed dry overnight now got soaked! As soon as it let up, we just packed it all soaking wet and muddy in the van to get home. Since then we have had to take everything out again, clean it up and let it dry.
We pulled into town just in time for evening service at church and since it was to be a special business meeting, we were going to go even if we did look like drowned rats. I did have Mark pull over long enough so I could find a brush for my hair which hadn't seen one all day. As we pulled into the church lot we noticed a lack of cars. Turns out that the service was cancelled due to "extreme heat index". Our whole area was under a "heat index advisery" which I didn't know they ever officially issued. I really wasn't disappointed that church was cancelled so that we could get home and deal with all the wet stuff in the van.
We have basically been cleaning up ever since, with the exception of a dentist appointment for Joshua and occupational therapy for Stephen.
Today I had an appointment for possible new daycare kids. The parent actually showed up! I was pleased just by that. This would be for 2 little girls (1 & 2 years old) just every other Friday and part of the day on the same Saturdays. That would probably be about enough. I'm getting rather spoiled by having primarily older kids (Joshua being the youngest). They take less work and you can do more things with them. This would also leave plenty of time for doing AVON during the day when school starts.
That should about get everyone caught up on life here. If the weather stays cool hopefully I can get on more. I could have the whole summer like our weather today. It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all!
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Busy day
Rachel is off to Lake Ann Baptist Camp this week. Her friend, and a day care girl, Sarah is also gone. Sarah is actually gone for the next month as she is staying with her godmother after her week at camp. This means just 2 days of daycare kids this week, Wed. & Thurs.
We had a couple of busy days. I had all of the ones here help me with the Advance newspapers yesterday. I wanted to get them done before it was too hot and they were calling for rain in the afternoon.
Since they helped with work yesterday, we had a fun day today. The Ford museum was celebrating Ford's birthday today so it was free admission and then birthday cake for the first 500 people. I didn't figure that we would be there very long but we had quite a surprise when we came in the door. There is a travelling display about sports. Right inside the door there was Rusty's #2 car and a #94 McDonald's car of Bill Elliott's. Boy was Stephen thrilled!
After that we went to the zoo for a free zoo day! It was busy! We had to park way out in a field. There was an inflatable slide that looked like the Titanic before we ever got in. Then there were cookies to decorate right inside the gate. We went through the zoo and did some of the extras, like face painting, but not all of them. Stephen was a bit disappointed because there weren't any real koalas as part of the Australian trail exhibit that they have for the summer. It was almost 2 before we got home. Joshua was exhausted! This was a big day for him since his recovery from mono. I had Selena keep him awake on the way home so he would eat lunch and take a nap for me.
I finally put my Avon order in about 3:00 today. It was actually good that I was late putting it in because I had a call to place a $30 order from a new customer just before I put it in.
Gavin & Selena were picked up early and now I need to get busy cleaning up the kitchen. Then I have a meeting tonight. Just another typical day!
We had a couple of busy days. I had all of the ones here help me with the Advance newspapers yesterday. I wanted to get them done before it was too hot and they were calling for rain in the afternoon.
Since they helped with work yesterday, we had a fun day today. The Ford museum was celebrating Ford's birthday today so it was free admission and then birthday cake for the first 500 people. I didn't figure that we would be there very long but we had quite a surprise when we came in the door. There is a travelling display about sports. Right inside the door there was Rusty's #2 car and a #94 McDonald's car of Bill Elliott's. Boy was Stephen thrilled!
After that we went to the zoo for a free zoo day! It was busy! We had to park way out in a field. There was an inflatable slide that looked like the Titanic before we ever got in. Then there were cookies to decorate right inside the gate. We went through the zoo and did some of the extras, like face painting, but not all of them. Stephen was a bit disappointed because there weren't any real koalas as part of the Australian trail exhibit that they have for the summer. It was almost 2 before we got home. Joshua was exhausted! This was a big day for him since his recovery from mono. I had Selena keep him awake on the way home so he would eat lunch and take a nap for me.
I finally put my Avon order in about 3:00 today. It was actually good that I was late putting it in because I had a call to place a $30 order from a new customer just before I put it in.
Gavin & Selena were picked up early and now I need to get busy cleaning up the kitchen. Then I have a meeting tonight. Just another typical day!
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Doctors' visits
Just thought I'd tell you about a week of doctors' visits this week.
When Rachel & I arrived home from Alpena, all it took was one hug to know that Joshua was feverish. Mark said he sounded congested but it wasn't normal sounding congestion. After a little while, I noticed Joshua rubbing his neck. I asked if his throat hurt and he said yes. Without a flashlight, it was clearly visible that he had white spots all over his throat. I assumed this would mean strep. First thing Tuesday, I called for an appointment. When we got there and the nurse went to do a throat culture, he said he wasn't a physician but he wouldn't be surprised if it was positive. As the doctor was doing the exam, the nurse poked his head in and in amazement said that it was negative. The doctor then pretty much shocked me by saying that there's a good possibility that Joshua has MONO. I didn't know kids his age could get it. She said that it is actually easier on a person to have it at a young age. They didn't do any blood work because it would come back inconclusive that early on. We go back this Tuesday for a recheck. They may do blood work then but they really want to check on his spleen because mono can cause it to become enlarged.
Joshua is now on an upswing. He is eating a little better. Fortunately, it has been overly hot to cause dehydration even quicker. The first couple of mornings, he would wake up in bed crying because his throat hurt so bad. Then one day, he came to my room crying when he woke up. Yesterday and today, he came in complaining of a sore throat but not crying.
Now for the second doctor visit. Rachel started complaining of her right knee hurting on Thursday. I gave her some ibuprofen and just 6-7 hours later she was complaining again. She did the same on Friday. I wouldn't have thought too much about it and would have let it go a couple of more days except she goes to Lake Ann Baptist Camp at 7:30 Monday morning. There was no visible problems and she didn't remember any injuries to it. (The one she hurt on the way to Alliance was the left one.) When I called the nurse Friday afternoon, she agreed to give us one of the Saturday appointments. When I took her in today and the doctor checked her out, she called it patella femoral syndrome. This basically means that her kneecap is moving around more than it is supposed too. The groove in her knee isn't deep enough to keep it in place and her thigh muscle isn't strong enough to keep it in place either. The doctor wants her to stay on ibuprofen while at camp and also do some strenthening exercises. If it isn't better in 2-3 weeks, we'll have to go back for x-rays but she says this isn't that uncommon in girls that are getting close to puberty age (GULP!)
So that is about it for around here. Joshua is under quarantine and is vegging out with videos as much as possible and Rachel's poppin' pills for knee problems. What next! (Actually, that's rhetorical because I don't think I really want to know!) You'd think this was a house with a 70 year old and 92 year old with all these doctor visits!
When Rachel & I arrived home from Alpena, all it took was one hug to know that Joshua was feverish. Mark said he sounded congested but it wasn't normal sounding congestion. After a little while, I noticed Joshua rubbing his neck. I asked if his throat hurt and he said yes. Without a flashlight, it was clearly visible that he had white spots all over his throat. I assumed this would mean strep. First thing Tuesday, I called for an appointment. When we got there and the nurse went to do a throat culture, he said he wasn't a physician but he wouldn't be surprised if it was positive. As the doctor was doing the exam, the nurse poked his head in and in amazement said that it was negative. The doctor then pretty much shocked me by saying that there's a good possibility that Joshua has MONO. I didn't know kids his age could get it. She said that it is actually easier on a person to have it at a young age. They didn't do any blood work because it would come back inconclusive that early on. We go back this Tuesday for a recheck. They may do blood work then but they really want to check on his spleen because mono can cause it to become enlarged.
Joshua is now on an upswing. He is eating a little better. Fortunately, it has been overly hot to cause dehydration even quicker. The first couple of mornings, he would wake up in bed crying because his throat hurt so bad. Then one day, he came to my room crying when he woke up. Yesterday and today, he came in complaining of a sore throat but not crying.
Now for the second doctor visit. Rachel started complaining of her right knee hurting on Thursday. I gave her some ibuprofen and just 6-7 hours later she was complaining again. She did the same on Friday. I wouldn't have thought too much about it and would have let it go a couple of more days except she goes to Lake Ann Baptist Camp at 7:30 Monday morning. There was no visible problems and she didn't remember any injuries to it. (The one she hurt on the way to Alliance was the left one.) When I called the nurse Friday afternoon, she agreed to give us one of the Saturday appointments. When I took her in today and the doctor checked her out, she called it patella femoral syndrome. This basically means that her kneecap is moving around more than it is supposed too. The groove in her knee isn't deep enough to keep it in place and her thigh muscle isn't strong enough to keep it in place either. The doctor wants her to stay on ibuprofen while at camp and also do some strenthening exercises. If it isn't better in 2-3 weeks, we'll have to go back for x-rays but she says this isn't that uncommon in girls that are getting close to puberty age (GULP!)
So that is about it for around here. Joshua is under quarantine and is vegging out with videos as much as possible and Rachel's poppin' pills for knee problems. What next! (Actually, that's rhetorical because I don't think I really want to know!) You'd think this was a house with a 70 year old and 92 year old with all these doctor visits!
Friday, July 08, 2005
Last weekend
I haven't had a chance to write to let everyone know about our 4th of July weekend. Rachel had been with Gramma for 2 1/2 weeks and we decided it was time for her to come home. We decided that it would be good for her and I to have some mom/daughter time so I was going up to get her and Mark and the boys were staying here. We thought Mark was going to have to work on Saturday but they closed up instead. We considered me leaving when he got home from work Friday but decided on leaving first thing Saturday instead. (Which was a good choice since he didn't end up getting home till 7:30 p.m. Friday even though they closed at 5:00.)
It was a nice drive up. A little strange being by myself but nice. I pulled in as they were setting the table for lunch. How's that for timing? Actually, I hadn't told them I was coming early so I figured showing up at meal time would assure they were there. Big brother, Pete and Deb had gotten in just a little earlier that morning.
After dinner, Saturday evening, Rachel and I rode a tandem bike over to Aunt Marlene's house for a visit. Uncle Mike got quite a laugh out of the look on my face as we first tried to set out. Not only have I not ridden any bike in quite some time but this was a tandem, the seat was too high, and I was wearing sandels not hardly meant for riding bikes. We made it safely though.
Sunday, we went to church in the morning and Uncle Glen's boy, Phil and his family were there. They were presenting to the junior church about their work in Africa. Even though it was for kids in second grade and under, Rachel went down and watched it. They have a boy, Mark, that is just a year older than her. By the end of the weekend, they were playing around like we all used to on our trips north.
Pete and Deb wanted to learn to make strawberry jam so we spent most of Sunday afternoon doing that. We were just getting done when we got a call from Glen & Jeanette's family that they were ready to decorate the church for a surprise 50th anniversary party on Monday. We went over and helped out. They then asked Mom to come along while they did the food shopping for it. She had wanted to go to a patriotic concert at First Church but went along with them. Rachel & I went back to the house and worked at getting a banner out of Mom's computer. We took a break long enough to test out the new ice cream store at the top of the hill from the house. (It passed inspection!)
Monday it was a rainy morning. It stopped just long enough for us to think it was safe to go to the parade. Then started sprinkling just as the parade reached us. Mom, Gramma, and a lot of the others stayed at the house while Rachel and I went. We were able to find the right "Manning" spot where we always meet up and watch together. The kids came away with plenty of candy as usual.
After that it was back to the house for a quick lunch and then convincing Glen & Jeanette to go to the church. As the open house drew closer, I checked with Pam & Barb about sneaking over before they all came so any early birds would be greeted. They had Rachel & I do that. We then stayed around to help with the cutting of the cake and serving punch. By then it was time for Rachel and I to head home.
I'll have to post the surprises of this week later. Time to get busy around here.
It was a nice drive up. A little strange being by myself but nice. I pulled in as they were setting the table for lunch. How's that for timing? Actually, I hadn't told them I was coming early so I figured showing up at meal time would assure they were there. Big brother, Pete and Deb had gotten in just a little earlier that morning.
After dinner, Saturday evening, Rachel and I rode a tandem bike over to Aunt Marlene's house for a visit. Uncle Mike got quite a laugh out of the look on my face as we first tried to set out. Not only have I not ridden any bike in quite some time but this was a tandem, the seat was too high, and I was wearing sandels not hardly meant for riding bikes. We made it safely though.
Sunday, we went to church in the morning and Uncle Glen's boy, Phil and his family were there. They were presenting to the junior church about their work in Africa. Even though it was for kids in second grade and under, Rachel went down and watched it. They have a boy, Mark, that is just a year older than her. By the end of the weekend, they were playing around like we all used to on our trips north.
Pete and Deb wanted to learn to make strawberry jam so we spent most of Sunday afternoon doing that. We were just getting done when we got a call from Glen & Jeanette's family that they were ready to decorate the church for a surprise 50th anniversary party on Monday. We went over and helped out. They then asked Mom to come along while they did the food shopping for it. She had wanted to go to a patriotic concert at First Church but went along with them. Rachel & I went back to the house and worked at getting a banner out of Mom's computer. We took a break long enough to test out the new ice cream store at the top of the hill from the house. (It passed inspection!)
Monday it was a rainy morning. It stopped just long enough for us to think it was safe to go to the parade. Then started sprinkling just as the parade reached us. Mom, Gramma, and a lot of the others stayed at the house while Rachel and I went. We were able to find the right "Manning" spot where we always meet up and watch together. The kids came away with plenty of candy as usual.
After that it was back to the house for a quick lunch and then convincing Glen & Jeanette to go to the church. As the open house drew closer, I checked with Pam & Barb about sneaking over before they all came so any early birds would be greeted. They had Rachel & I do that. We then stayed around to help with the cutting of the cake and serving punch. By then it was time for Rachel and I to head home.
I'll have to post the surprises of this week later. Time to get busy around here.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Treasure Hunts
Joshua and I were off on 2 treasure hunts today. That's a way to put it for Joshua when we have to run to a bunch of different stores looking for something. Today we were looking for sandals for him and some material for Mom & Gramma. We were successful in 1 area but not both. Joshua is now proudly wearing Buzz Lightyear sandals!
We had checked the Jo-ann's on this end of town last night but didn't find what we needed. This morning we started at Field's Fabrics and were going to check a couple of other fabric stores before going to the other end of town to check those Jo-ann's. Field's didn't have it so we headed to Wal-mart. Along the way, Joshua said he needed to go to potty and since he wasn't wearing a pull-up, I stopped at the closest gas station. Would you believe this Circle-K didn't have a public bathroom? So we quickly loaded back into the van and went to a BK close by which had to have a bathroom. Then we continued to Wal-mart but when I reached into my pocket for the fabric sample, it was gone! Joshua and I looked all over the van, my purse, and all my pockets to no avail. It must have fallen out at one of the last 2 hurried stops. So I guess, I'll get another sample when I go to Alpena this weekend and then have another 'treasure hunt' after the 4th.
The other "fun" we had was that I evidently set my keys on the van seat when we were searching for the fabric sample. I didn't discover this until we were done shopping at Wal-mart. And I actually managed to get all the doors locked this time. So I called Mark on my cell phone. He was all the way in Coopersville picking up the office's paychecks. Joshua and I got to go back into Wal-mart and wait 45-60 minutes for him to get back to work then to Wal-mart. It wasn't too bad to wait. The bad thing was that Stephen's daycamp was doing a puppet show at 11:30 this morning and I was hoping to go see it. Mark got to us at 11:30 so I didn't figure there was anyway to get to the school in time for the show. I will make sure that I leave the house in time for the open house/ice cream social at the end of the day today.
Well, that's been our little adventure for the day.
We had checked the Jo-ann's on this end of town last night but didn't find what we needed. This morning we started at Field's Fabrics and were going to check a couple of other fabric stores before going to the other end of town to check those Jo-ann's. Field's didn't have it so we headed to Wal-mart. Along the way, Joshua said he needed to go to potty and since he wasn't wearing a pull-up, I stopped at the closest gas station. Would you believe this Circle-K didn't have a public bathroom? So we quickly loaded back into the van and went to a BK close by which had to have a bathroom. Then we continued to Wal-mart but when I reached into my pocket for the fabric sample, it was gone! Joshua and I looked all over the van, my purse, and all my pockets to no avail. It must have fallen out at one of the last 2 hurried stops. So I guess, I'll get another sample when I go to Alpena this weekend and then have another 'treasure hunt' after the 4th.
The other "fun" we had was that I evidently set my keys on the van seat when we were searching for the fabric sample. I didn't discover this until we were done shopping at Wal-mart. And I actually managed to get all the doors locked this time. So I called Mark on my cell phone. He was all the way in Coopersville picking up the office's paychecks. Joshua and I got to go back into Wal-mart and wait 45-60 minutes for him to get back to work then to Wal-mart. It wasn't too bad to wait. The bad thing was that Stephen's daycamp was doing a puppet show at 11:30 this morning and I was hoping to go see it. Mark got to us at 11:30 so I didn't figure there was anyway to get to the school in time for the show. I will make sure that I leave the house in time for the open house/ice cream social at the end of the day today.
Well, that's been our little adventure for the day.
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