The Search To "Infinity And Beyond"

Well, Cole wanted a Buzz Lightyear birthday party. So I am like 'okay, this will be easy, I won't even have to make anything. I can buy all of it, even the cake.' Not! So we go to Sam's to pick out a cake. They don't make them anymore in the smaller round cake, and the 1/2 a sheet cake is way too big and we would just end up throwing it out (plus it is double the $). So I convince Cole that we should buy a smaller round cake and we can add our own Buzz Lightyear decor at home. He agrees, so off to find decorations and party supplies. We went to Toys-R-Us, Walmart, and Target in search of plates, napkins, cups, etc. NONE of these stores carry Buzz Lightyear. Apparently he is not "cool" anymore. I was thinking that it would be everywhere because they just re-released Toy Story 2 on DVD. But nooooooo. Not one single Buzz Lightyear decoration or party item anywhere! So we did a little make shift by getting Buzz green balloons and streamers and just "happy birthday" plates that were the bright colors. Cole didn't even care, but I like everything to match. Anyways, the party was fine and we had a fun time with the family.

Six years ago

Well, six years ago I was three days over due with my third baby. I was so excited because I knew our son would be born soon. I had a doctor's appointment early in the morning and she thought any time I would start labor, but nothing all day. We went to bed as normal. I woke about 4:30a.m. Dec. 29th with my first contraction. I didn't wake Mike because I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible. I started having contractions 5 mins apart by 5:30 and we arrived at the hopital at 6:00a.m. Four hours later our little Cole was born on Dec. 29th at 10:09 a.m. He was so beautiful. So, tomorrow is his SIXTH birthday. I can't believe it. Such a little man now.

Karaoke is a hit

Well, the most used Christmas gift in this house is the Karaoke machine. It has been on several times each day. The kids are blasting out tunes at top volume (???? not sure why they think this sounds better?)

They are so funny.

Christmas

Okay, so it has been 3 days and only one comment. That must mean that I have one lone reader out there, but oh well, I will post to Jen!

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas were great. Christmas Eve we went to Dad and Mary's and she made a great meal of ham, chicken wings potatoes, and beans. It was delicious. Then we opened gifts and the kids had so much fun. Mary made these beautiful pictures for each of the kids. She took a pretty print of a Monet oil painting and applied pictures of the kids on the print and it looks 3-D and like they are part of the painting. It is so cool. You will have to see it in person. My Dad made Cole this really cool pillow out of leather and he cut out 2 beavers out of rabbit hide and sewed them on to the pillow. It is really neat and rustic looking. Cole loves it and slept with it both nights so far.

Mike and I recieved a gift certificate and a large ham from Heavenly Ham. Yum!

Christmas day we got up and the kids opened gifts from under the tree and then we went to church wich was nice. Not many people there, but nice. We came home and I opened my gifts and Mom came over and brought over even more gifts. She was like Santa deivering gifts! She got the family a KARAOKE machine! I am so excited. We have been singing for the past 2 days! It is so fun. I just need to get some more CDs. Also, I got new Columbia winter boots. They are really nice and light weight compared to my Sorels that are large and clumpy and heavy. All in all we had a very relaxing day and it was great. The only sad thing is I didn't see Joel and Meg, but hopefully they will come up soon. They spent the weekend in Ann Arbor with Meg's family. Which is great too!

Comment

Oh, if there is anyone out there who still reads this, please post a comment so I know if anyone actually reads! Thanks! JILL

Too Long

Wow! did you know that if you don't do a post in so long it kind of bumps you off? I had to redo my pass word and re-log in just in order to do this post! Well, that tells me that it has been WAY too long since I have done a post.

There really is no excuse except that I have been so busy. Two days this week I was gone for 15 hours from home. That just gives you and idea of how the past month has been. I have been working and running the kids around. Mike has been a huge help with the house and dinner, etc.

Last weekend my cousin Willie got married. Then on Sunday I took the girls to the "Nutcracker" Ballet at Interlochen. It was so much fun. I had never been to a ballet either. So I think I enjoyed it as much as the girls. After the ballet we went out to eat at Cicero's the little pizza place I used to work at, and then went grocery shopping for baking stuff at Meijer.........$200 later!! (not just baking stuff, but not a lot of groceries either)

Well, tonight Bill and Christa, and Ken and Chris are coming over to celebrate Christmas here. I love having people over. Tomorrow we are going to Dad and Mary's for dinner and Sunday Mom is coming here! I love Christmas.

I hope every one has a Merry CHRISTmas and enjoys time with family!

Banana Bread

I just got done taking banana bread out of the oven. There is something about the cold weather that makes me want to bake and do crafty things. I am taking a loaf to a friend who just had a baby. They should enjoy it. Cole and I are off to the grocery store to get a couple of things. Then it is off to get the girls from school, and home for dinner and off again to Brownies. The girls have so much fun there! Mike has bible study tonight so I will have some quiet time after the kids are in bed.

Stampin'

I went to a Stamp party this afternoon. It was a lot of fun we made a Christmas card and I love doing the arts and crafts stuff. I am hoping to have a party of my own the beginning of next year (maybe even in Feb.). As I said before, I had a lot of fun and am hoping to make some cards with my new stamps.

Thanksgiving

Thursday was a wonderful day. The weather was terrible, so it was nice just to be able to stay inside and be warm. Mom came over for dinner and we just played around the house and ate and ate some more. We gave Joel a call to wish him a happy day and that pretty much sums it up. It was great to me.

Actually the whole week was great. I worked on Monday and the kids went to daycare. I took the rest of the week off. We slept in and played games and just had fun together. On Tuesday we went to Sears to get the kids' pictures taken. That is always fun because they enjoy it so much. They are such HAMS! Friday I met Mom in town at Younker's and we did a little shopping there. I then went to Kohl's, Target, and Sears. I had a lot of fun. I brought Tori and Cole with me, so I wasn't even sure how long I would stay in town. They were so good that we stayed in town from 10-3:00. I even got to try on a ton of clothes at Sears and bought a whole matching Christmas outfit. It is so cute!

We got our tree yesterday. We are going to decorate it today. The kids are eagerly waiting right now, so I had better go and get started!

Winter Boots

I have had a nice past couple of days. Thursday we had 6" of snow dumped on us. It makes the world look so pretty and makes me want to bake and sing Christmas carols. The snow caused a 'snow day' for the kids. Well, this puts a monkey wrench in the whole "working Mom" thing. I talked to Mike and he said that he would stay home from work and work on Saturday instead. This made my life so much easier. I was scheduled for work at 7:15a.m. on Thursday which would have meant that I would have to get up at about 5:15 to get the kids and me ready and leave with enough time to get to work on slippery roads. I don't think the kids would have appreciated getting up at 5:15a.m. either! So anyways, Mike saved the day and the kids had a blast playing outside in the snow. They even made a "snow house" as they call it! :)

Yesterday I also worked and it went well. After work Mike took me out to eat at Red Lobster and he even hired a babysitter! I love that. We haven't had a babysitter since like last January (except for Mom or Dad). It was great and after dinner we went window shopping and came home and went to bed early.

Today Mike worked (due to snowday) and Morgan and Tori and I went shopping for some boots for Morgan. We went everywhere in town. The last place I stopped was Salvation Army. I found the perfect pair there. They were pink like Morgan wanted and quality like I wanted. They fit and they were only $3.00. They had a little bit of dirt on them, but nothing the washer won't get out! I am so excited!

Tonight I want to turn in early. I am still fighting off a cold and have now lost my voice. I need some extra sleep!

Little Sicky

Today I got up early to go in to work early. At about 1:00 I got a call from the school (which my heart always sinks when they call) and it was the office lady. She had Cole in the office complaining that he was really sick. She took his temp and it was normal, but thought she should call me. She said that he was coughing and had a headache. Now, since I had a headache last week, I could empathize. However, he did not have a feaver, and Mike and I were both working. Now, do I tell him to go back to class until the end of the day (in which case I look like a terrible mom), or do I tell my boss that I need to leave work early, and put her in a bind when I don't REALLY think he is "sick". I decided to pick him up early. I get there and he is all like MOMMY! and happy and smiling. Not too sick I think. So I bring him home and make him take a nap, because gol' darn it, he is not going to have a fun afternoon! So he tells me that he is now feeling better and doesn't need a nap. (also everytime I say the word "sick" he fake coughs) Eventually he falls asleep, and now he is top notch, fighting and wrestling with his sisters. I think he is feeling up to par, but tonight he is going to bed early!

Ugh.....!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I reconciled the checkbook with the bank statement. It wasn't adding up! I found the mistake! One of my payroll checks didn't post with direct deposit! Needless to say we were in the negative until it posted. I called the bank and went in there this morning and got it all fixed, but in the mean time all last night I was in knots and sick to my stomach! Apparently this happend to several Munson employees, because the lady asked if I worked there. I hate that! I don't know who's mistake it was, but the bank made it right! Thanks, now I can sleep tonight :)

Chick Flick

Okay, I love the movie "The Note Book"! We watched it again last night. Every time I see it I cry for a couple of hours afterward. I needed a good cry! It felt good. Mike even enjoys that movie.

P.S. not a kids movie!

Kindreds, Kids, Kleenex, and Kalamazoo

I am sorry that I haven't posted in over a week. It was a busy one. Last weekend I went down to Lansing to visit my friends Jen and Kelli (from Grand Rapids). We had a good time. We went to this AWESOME resturant called Bravo. They had the best food and it was a wonderful atmosphere. It is an Italian place and all of the decore was all of the light Italian colors with marble and white columns. It was beautiful. Jen's sister Becky came along for dinner and it was good to get to know her too. We had a great time laughing and eating until we were miserable. (they had the best desserts there!) After dinner we went back to Jen's and watched 'The Wedding Date' it was pretty good. On Saturday morning we had a relaxing morning and got ready to head out to shopping at the Howell outlet mall. It was great fun. I came home late on Saturday night (1:30a.m.)

This past week was busy just with school and work. I worked at the school on Friday and that is always fun. I have been fighting off a cold/sinus infection, so I have been extremely tired and have had a headache for a couple of days. Not fun!

On Friday the girls each had a friend over to play after school. This went very well because they each had someone to play with. If only one friend comes over they tend to fight and compete. So now I know that if one has a friend it is just easier to invite someone else over too!

Saturday Mom, Mike, the kids, and I all drove down to Kalamazoo to visit Joel and Meg. We were going down to celebrate Joel's birthday (which is on the 17th). We had a good day. We didn't leave town until about 11a.m. and we got down to Kalamazoo about 3. We took Joel out to dinner at a really fun steak house and they sang happy birthday and brought out a cake. After dinner we went back to his apartment to have more cake and ice-cream! It was a nice visit and good to see Joel and Meg too! We didn't get home until about 1:30a.m. because it was raining most of the way home! Hard to get up early for church!

I'm BAAAAACK!

Okay, this must be a record for me that I am posting twice in one day! I just have to vent for a moment. Mike and I scheduled the balloon ride again for tomorrow morning, and the balloon guy just called and cancelled because apparently he already knows that tomorrow morning will be windy! This is exactly the reason it was cancelled before, but the next morning it was beautiful! The one good thing is that at least he called the night before and I didn't have to get up at 5:30a.m. for no reason. Another good thing is that at least they don't take you up in the air if it is dangerous at all! I hope that I haven't ragged on the balloon guy too much. It is such a cool gift that my husband gave me. If anyone else needs a great idea for Christmas they are running a buy one get one free special right now. So anyways, I will NOT be going on a balloon ride tomorrow......so my fun weekend will not start until 12:30 when I leave to go to Jen's house. I am so excited.

Today was a good day for me. I dropped the kids off at school and had about an hour to kill before I needed to be at work. I went tanning.....which I always LOVE. After tanning I went to Target where everything from Halloween was 75% off. I got some candy for so cheap and two cute t-shirts for Cole. They have spiders on one and a cute skeleton on the other. They don't even look like "halloween" just cut boy shirts. I love it when I find a good deal! Anyways, when I went to the check out my bill was only $10.31 for 4 huge bags of candybars, two t-shirts, two water bottles, a coke and two packs of halloween pencils (to save for next year)! Bargains!

Oh, and one other little bummer. I hate it when you make plans, and then someone else asks you to do something at the same time. We hardly ever get to go over to friends' houses, and someone invited us over this weekend to play games, we can't go because I am going downstate. Bummer! I am so bummed! Too bad it wasn't any other weekend :(

So Sweet

I just have to brag for a moment about my son. We got his 'character education' report card sent home today and he got an "A" for being a "caring and compassionate person. He is quick to help others in need and is great at sharing." That's my boy. Of course it is funny because tonight when he got home from school he was fighting with his sister and saying that he was not going to share his candy with her! So funny!

Catch-up

Well, here I am posting (and it has been a while!) So sorry to those who are checking every day. I am even getting nasty e-mails from one friend (Jen) who by the way doesn't update her blog very often either. hint hint.

Anyway, here I go. This will just be kind of a boring look into our life for the past few weeks. The kids have been so excited about Halloween. They think that it is so fun to wear a costume. Which is very funny becasue they get to all of the time. They have TONS of dress up clothes and wear them on a regular basis. They were also excited about the CANDY! We decided that we were not going to go trick-or-treating. Yes, you heard me we were NOT going. The kids were okay with this because we were going to take them to the local baptist church where they have this huge fall festival and give out tons of candy. The kids had so much fun and we even got to go on a hay ride after dark! It was a lot of fun. All in all the kids made out well on candy they each ended up with over a gallon of candy which was all good candy bars and chocolate! ummmmm... my favorite. I may just have to sneak some while they are at school. Tori wanted to be an angel again. She makes such a cute little angel. Cole was a Knight. He was sooo cute. Morgan was Cinderella. She brought the picture of Cinderella to me and said that I had to make here hair like the picture....I did my best and Morgan was happy, but it didn't quite look like the picture. The most important thing is that she was happy! The worst part of Halloween is that I accidentally left my camera at my friends house so I wasn't able to take any picutres :(

Over the weekend Mike and I were invited to an 80's dress up fall party. It was so fun. We played 80's music and visited with friends and ate chili and our friends Jim and Stacy made this GREAT 'white chicken chili' which I think is super good! It is such a treat to have! Oh, at the party we even tight-rolled our jeans. We were like so cool, "psych".

While we were at the party the kids spent the night with my dad and Mary. This was their first time spending the night there and they had so much fun! They just love Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Well, again we have scheduled the balloon ride for this Friday morning. So far the weather report is good. I hope that is stays that way. Friday at noon I am heading down state with no kids to spend the weenend with Jen and Kelli. They are my old college roomies and it is always fun to get together with them. We laugh the whole weekend, and I even get to sleep in! yea! So I will post and update on Monday!

Twenty Eight!

Well, it is here. I am officially 28 years old. That sounds old in one sense, and another very young. I am not very emotional about this birthday. 25 so far was the hardest for me, and I am not even sure why that one was hard. I don' t even feel any differnt. Imagine that. I still feel the same as I did yesterday.

They kids had more fun today with my birthday than I did. Don't get me wrong. My day was fine, but they just get so excited about birthdays. They love the cake, and 28 candles, and the gift giving, and all of that stuff. Today at work no one even said "happy birthday" or anything. So, I was a little disappointed, but my Mom called me at work to wish me a happy day. When I got home there were a lot of messages on the machine. One from Dad, Mom, Joel, and Christa. :) That helped, and there was even a card in the mail from Mom. I got two cards already, one from Joel and Meg, and one from my Grandma Arlene. Mike and the kids got me a gift certificate to get a manicure and pedicure. I am really excited about that! And Mom got me a sweater and DVD. Joel and Meg gave me a gift certificate. So, all in all it was a good birthday.

Well, I hope that all of you had a good day too. Oh, the best part of the day was the kids and Mike cleaned the house and I didn't have to make dinner, I sat on the couch while the kids waited on me!

Fall Is Finally Here

Well, another busy week. Monday stayed home and cleaned and did laundry all day. I worked Tues, Weds, and Thurs. Yesterday Cole and I went to Target. After Target we picked up the girls from school and met my friend Katie for lunch with her 3 kids. It was a lot of fun. After lunch we brought her son home with us to play with Cole. He loves to have friends over becasue he has someone to play boy stuff with him instead of him playing with the girls all of the time.

Last night was the school carnival. It was fun for the kids. Right when we got there we bought pizza and cool-aide for dinner. We were sitting on the bleachers eating, and Morgan accidentally spilled her cool-aide everywhere and somehow managed to get it on her, me and Mike! So all night Mike was trying to hide his backside because it had a big old pink splash! After the carnival we went over to some friends house to play tripoly with them and another couple we didn't know very well. It was a lot of fun to get together and just have fun. It was fun to get to know the other couple as well. The kids were sooooo good, and they were so quiet.

Well, today it feels like fall now. We went from mid-80's to mid -50's for the high today! Shocking!

Same Old

Wow! This has been a very busy week for me. It was one of those weeks where you feel like you were never home, just enough to make a mess, sleep, and leave again. On Monday Cole and I met Mom for breakfast. After that we did some shopping and I had so much fun in The Children's Place. I got the girls each two out fits and a school shirt. They had a lot of things for only $4.99! It is always exciting to find a bargain. After shopping Cole and I came home a did a little laundry and tidying up around the house, picked up the girls from school, and came home to make dinner. This is how the whole week went, and it was busy at work too. This is the first 'down time' I have had.

We just bought a new camcorder because ours has been broken for about a year. It is not very expensive, but I am still excited because we can record! I missed so much this year!

Oh, yesterday I went to school with the kids and helped out in Tori and Morgan's classes. I had so much fun. I got to do a lot for the teachers and it was fun to get to know some of their friends. Next time will be Cole's turn.

Not much excitement around here. Still working on the roof. As I am posting there are 3 on the roof and one cleaning up the mess!

It's Raining, It's Pouring....

Well, on Saturday moring we had seven men up on the roof working. It was GREAT. They got so much done. My dad, brother, friends Josh & Greg, brother-in-law Ken, father-in-law Jerry, and MIKE were all hard at work. They tore off everything except a little bit, and they got all of the tore off part covered with O.S. B. and tar paper so that it would be water proof. Yesterday was a beautiful day......today however.........

We woke up to rain, which is not a great thing since Dad, Joel, and Mike were planning on shingling today. They worked through the rain! They are amazing! They got quite a bit shingled. They eventually had to stop because it was too miserable. They are so GREAT!

They came in the house to warm up, and I hear this really loud dripping sound....not a good thing. We had a huge leak! Soooooo off to Mernard's to get a huge tarp because it is hard to tell where the leak is coming from while it is pouring and lightning everywhere! The leak eventually stopped, and all is dry! yea!

I enjoyed my weekend. I spent a lot of time with Meg, she is Joel's girlfriend, and she is so sweet. She was a huge help with the kids and with food, and it was great to spend time with her. They just left to go back home. Sad to see them leave, because I never know when I will see them again. Well, getting late and still need to make lunches and get ready for the week.

Please be nice weather...please be nice weather

Well, here I am AGAIN making a post that our balloon ride was cancelled! We woke up this morning at 5:30 and called to see if it was still on and they said that it was too windy! It seems like a perfect morning to me, but I guess that they are very carful about the safety of the passengers. So, I had my mom coming over to watch the kids and she didn't get my message that it was cancelled and came over, which was nice because when I finally rolled out of bed at 7:00 there was coffee made and it smelled wonderful, and my mom was sitting at my diningroom table all cheerful and chipper.....many of you may not know this, but I am NOT a morning person for about 30 mins. I am very grumpy and it takes me a while to wake up....so it was interesting to have my smiling mother in my diningroom. (I am still not sure how she even got in the house?)

Ummmm.... yesterday we had a dumpster delivered that we will use for tear off on our roof. We will start tearing off tonight...I am excited to have a new roof, and nervous that it will rain or something (since we don't seem to have good luck with the weather). So by tomorrow night I should no longer have 6 layers of shingles on my old house! Yeah!

That is pretty much what is going on around here...I'll let you know about the roof later!!!

The mullet

Today some friends and I were joking around about Mike's old Mullet, and someone said to check this website out! www.mulletjunky.com It is pretty funny to look at the pictures (sorry if anyone still has a mullet :p )

Kidless!

This week has been a good week. Yesterday was my first day without kids where I didn't have to work. It was great. I had three whole hours to myself. It was great to go shopping and actually try clothes on in the fitting room instead of after I get home and then they don't fit and I have to return them! It was great!

Pale, White, Gringo

Today my dad and step-mom took the kids fishing. It is weird being home with nobody here. Mike is at work today. I have had a busy morning though. Lowe's delivered the shingles and OSB to do our roof. Also VanDrie's delivered my new loveseat to replace the damaged one we had received previously. So, I have had to be here to meet the delivery people. I have gotten a little bit of house work done in the mean time. It seems like the laundry NEVER ends! I tried to go tanning here in Kingsley and that place is so frustrating!! Every time I go there in the evening they close earlier than the posted hours, and I don't get to tan, and today I am like "good, they can't close 5 hours early" so what happens? they are remodeling, and I can tan if I want, but there are no doors on the booths!!!! What is up with that!!!

On The First Day...

Yes, his day went fine; and mine did too. It was actually nice to spend the day with the girls (they don't start until next Tuesday). We just hung out around the house and they helped me with laundry and things.

When I picked Cole up from school he was really excited and he said that kindergarten is sooooo fun. I asked him if he missed me and he said "yes I missed you, but not enough to call you on the phone." Well, I guess that is good. One part of me was hoping that he had missed me terribly, but the other part didn't want him to miss me at all. So, I guess it turned out good! He is so excited, and can't wait until tomorrow until he goes back. All day today he has been asking me and checking to make sure that he gets to go back tomorrow.

While he was at kingergarten he made a picture and it was of me smelling a flower :) that made me feel good because he really was thinking of me :)

It's A Girl!

Congratulations to my GREAT Friend Katie! She and her husband Josh had a beautiful baby girl: Emily Ruth, 7lb. 13oz. 20-1/4" and she is so cute. I got to hold her when she was only 12 hours old. There is something so heavely about a newborn.

My Baby Is A KINDERGARTENER!!!

Well, I did it. I just dropped Cole off at Kindergarten. I think that this is harder on me than on him. On the way to school he started to tear up and said, "Mom, I am gonna' miss you today." I told him that I will miss him too, but he will be having so much fun that he won't have any time to miss me. I started to tear up as I left the room. I left when he was busy playing. I gave him a kiss good-bye and left. He was fine. I am sure he will have a great day. I took lots of pictures. He looked so cute!

It's Back To School Time

We just got back from the annual Grand Traverse Academy open house. The kids had so much fun seeing their teachers and friends. Cole got to see his classroom, and Morgan also got a new room (but same teacher). Cole does not have any of his friends in his class. This isn't nessarily a bad thing, because he will make new friends. There was actually pretty good chance of knowing someone because four of our good friends have kindergarteners this year at G.T.A.

I am feeling a little frazzled as I worked all day, and one of the babies cried the WHOLE afternoon, and I mean that! So after work I rushed to pick up the kids at child care, rushed home, took shower, rushed back into town, went to B.K. for dinner, and rushed over to the school for the open house before it was over at 7:00. I am beat now! I still need to get the kids ready for bed a tidy up a bit.

Work...Sleep...Fashion...

Well, today so far has been a really nice day. It is one of my days off this week, and the kids and I are just hanging out playing and doing housework. It is nice to get caught up on some things. The past three weeks I have worked four days a week, and that makes it so crazy! So today the only thing I have to get done is go to the school and register the kids for after school care.

Work has been going good. I have been moved to the newborn room for the time being. It is a lot of work, but I like it and there is something peacful about the babies, even when they are crying, because you can usually fix whatever it is they are crying about. (If that sentence just made sense)

The kids are done with summer camp now and are going with Cole to his daycare at Munson. They like this because they are older than the other kids and they think that they are helpers. It is nice that they get to be with Cole.

Not really much of anything exciting. Just busy with work and house stuff. Oh, I got an antique window redone. It is one of those leaded glass widows that used to be above the front door on a huge house. It looks so cool and I had Mike hang it in the livingroom picture window. I love it and it makes rainbows all over the room when the sun in shining.

Over the weekend I was feeling a little under the weather. I had a sinus headache and a feaver. On Sat. night I told Mike I was going to take a little nap. I slept all the way from 5:30p.m. on Saturday to 8:30a.m. on Sunday! I couldn't believe it! And Mike took the kids on a bike ride in the evening and gave them baths, and put them to bed and I never even heard a peep!! He was so sweet to let me sleep! I was feeling much better when I woke after 15 hours of sleep and believe it or not, I was tired again and ready for bed at 8 on Sunday!

Well, we are getting stuff ready for school. Today I had Cole try on some of the things I have collected over the past year. The kids have to wear uniforms at their school, so I have gone to Goodwill and yard sales and gotten alot of items like sweaters and shirts and pants. So today was fashion show! It went pretty well, except that the one outfit that was my favorite, he hated and wouldn't even stand up to let me see. He looked so cute. It was a red v-necked sweater with a white turtle neck and navy pants! He looked so handsome, but he would have nothing to do with it, at all! I may have to bribe him to get him to wear it to school. :)

Raining on MY Parade

For Christmas Mike got me a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride. I have always wanted to go on one and I was so excited! Well, it has been sitting in the drawer until June, when I scheduled the ride for Friday August 12 (yesterday). We have had the best summer as far as weather goes in Northern Michigan, but not yesterday! NO! It is raining and thunderstorms, and windy, etc. The balloon company called on Thurs. night to cancel due to the weather forcast:( I was so bummed, but we will re-schedule. It is just hard because I don't always know the days I will be working during the summer. Oh well, I am sure it will work out.

The girls have been going to Munson's summer camp (which they love!). On Thurs they had a talent show, and I hear that they stole the show. They did a little dance to the Y.M.C.A. song. They were all set with a song from V.B.S., but the teacher wouldn't let them do it because it said 'Jesus', what's with that? I thought if it was the kids' idea they could do it, I don't know?! It was all their own idea, I didn't help at all. Anyway, I am sure they were soooo cute!

Busy week next week. I am working four full days, some even 8-1/2 hours!

Well, I hope that your weekend is great!

A Day At The Beach

So...I never have been very good at keeping up with journaling, etc. Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. Let me see.....what have we been up to.....

Last week was pretty uneventful, except for the couch, and did I mention that we also purchased the matching loveseat? It came on Friday! They look so great! I love to just sit in my livingroom and relax.

On Saturday we just slept in and caught up on housework, laundry, lawn, etc. In the afternoon we went to some garage sales and went on a beautiful drive up the Old Mission Peninsula www.oldmission.com it is so pretty and you can see both East and West Grand Traverse Bay. After our drive we stopped in Traverse City at Sam's Club to get some things that we needed for the potluck on Sunday. We were invited by the leaders of our small group at church. They invited the whole group over to their 'lake house'! It is so nice there. We rode jetskis, swam, and Bob even took us out on his pontoon boat and let the kids drive it. They thought that this was so cool and they are still talking about it. All three kids enjoyed the jetskis, but Tori is very cautious and nervous if I went over 5mph! Not so much fun for me! Anyway, we had a great time, and great food too and great friends! I love potluck food! It is everyone's best recipes! :) We didn't get home until 9:30 and of course the kids were exhausted after playing in the water all day!

On Monday I had to BE at work by 7:30a.m.! This is hard to get me and three kids out the door by 6:45, buy we managed. (I just didn't get any breakfast) Monday was totally crazy at work. Two employees were out on vacation, and one in the hospital, so three out total, and I was in the newborn infant room all day (8-1/2 hrs.) I was exhausted! Each adult takes care of 4 babies each. I survived, and have to do it again all week! I appreciated my day off today!

Today was a nice day, I slept in and did some house work and then the kids and I went over to my aunt Mary's to help her out with some cleaning at her house. In exchange for helping her she gave me an end table for the livingroom, and it matches great! I am so excited!

Well, gotta go, we are going to take the dog for a walk. I need the exercise too!

We have a couch!

Well, for those of you who don't know, we have not had any seating in our livingroom for over a year. Now, this is my own fault; last spring I decided to repaint my livingroom, and it turned out beautiful! Well, I couln't put my old, ugly couch in this new, beautiful room because it would just detract from its beauty. So, I moved the old couch downstairs into the family room, and repainted that room too. Needless to say, we have not saved enough money up to buy a new couch until this week. I have been looking all year at different garage sales and furniture resale shops with no luck. On Sunday we bought a paper and there was a flier for a big sale at one of the local furniture stores. There was a picture of a sofa which was in our price range, and it looked decent, so I dragged Mike down to check it out. We looked around the whole store and I was admiring a sofa and Mike goes "that is the one in the ad that is really cheap!" I said "it is?" and we bought it. I love it and it looks so good in my livingroom! Now we have ordered the love-seat to match. Now I can actually have company over again! I am so excited!

Let's see, what have we been up to? This week I worked on Monday. I had Tues and Weds off and Mike had Weds off so we decided to take the kids to the 'Great Wolf Lodge' on Tues/Weds. This was so much fun! greatwolflodge.com Needless to say, everyone is exhausted now! I think that it is an early night for us!

Today it was back to work for all! This morning as we went to leave at 7:15 a.m.! We realized that the dog had run away! The gate in the back yard had blown open by the wind, and she was not coming when we called! Very scary, but Mike found her down a couple of blocks running around like she had broken out of prison! Silly dog! So I finally got on the road at 7:25, so I was running late! ugh!!!!!

Today we found out who Cole's kindergarten teacher is. It is the same teacher that Tori had, so it is nice because I already know her! Well, I will update more later!

Hello! This is my first post. Hopefully this very cool tool will help friends and family to keep up with our busy family life!

Let me see.....what have we been up to? Today I slept in until 9:00. We were up late last night over at some friends' house visiting. When I finally got up, we got the kids ready and loaded our truck up with TONS of stuff to take it to a place called 'Smoke Stack' which is a place that is like a huge garage sale, and they will sell stuff for you with a small commission fee. It is fun to take things there, and to look to see if there is any more junk we need (but we certainly don't). After we unloaded, we took the kids down to the beach in Frankfort and walked out on the pier and played in the sand for a while. It was a very fun and relaxing day.

I know that this isn't too exciting, but during the week it will get better!