Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. We've just returned home from a night with friends. We watched the ball drop in New York City. Wow, what a crowd! It's amazing seeing all those people there. Can you imagine all the paper that needs to be cleaned up? Hope your new year is great.

President Ford

Cheri and I went to the Ford museum today to sign the condolence book for President Ford. It was kind of a neat moment. We figured that it was a historical moment that could probably never happen again. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera. We could have kicked ourselves! We didn't really have to wait all that long to get in to sign either. There were a lot of people there with their kids to sign too. We walked on down the path to see where the burial plot was also. It's really a nice area that I never really knew was there. I don't know if I will be heading there next week during the funeral because I'm sure it will be extremely busy. If anybody else gets a chance, I'd say to head down there. Yes, there will be a wait these next few days, but I'm sure you will not get the opportunity again.

Christmas

I don't have my pictures ready to post yet - yes I am slow getting these done. We spent Christmas Eve day at church and then with Dave's family. At night, we always open our own family's gifts. We start off by reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then light a candle on our birthday cake for Jesus. Shaelyn was pretty excited by most of her gifts. She would open them and say, "Wow" and then, "what is it?" Katelyn and Chelsea received digital cameras so they were busy trying to figure them out. We got to bed pretty late and knew this would cause problems for the morning. Chelsea and I had to be up by 7:00 to get to church to play in the orchestra. So lucky Dave and Katelyn got to work with Shaelyn who was tired from last night. But they all made it there. We had an excellent church service. For dinner, we went to Dad's house. Mostly, we hung around throughout the day, enjoying pool and other games. We took the Christmas tree down at night, much to Shaelyn's disappointment but I was ready for it. Now, we get to enjoy a little vacation and hopefully some rest. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.

Christmas party

We had a family Christmas party last night. What a lot of fun. Next time, I'll hopefully have some pictures to post. We knew this would be full of laughs because there was going to be a lot of practical jokes going on. First of all, Laura has this thing against opposums. Cheri had her name for a gift so it worked out perfectly. She found an opposum skin on ebay. She stuffed it and put eyes into it. Then she put it in a box filled with styrofoam peanuts so Laura had to dig for it. She dug and felt something furry. She didn't suspect anything because Cheri had her name. She eventually found the opposum. This was revenge for when we went to the Shack and Laura and Aaron put a dead squirrel on Cheri's van. Then it was time for Santa letters. First, I undeservedly received one about talking too much and then Dave received a shock collar to put on me when I wouldn't leave people alone. Lastly, Cheri received a letter from Santa. This, I may add, was very appropriate. It was all about teaching her to be kind to others that she may meet. I only hope she will learn a lesson and be able to be put on the "nice" list next year. We had a great time, despite Mari getting sick. After Christmas, I'll be able to put up pictures and post about our remaining holiday fun. Merry Christmas all.

Does anyone have a bed?

Here's how Katelyn found Shaelyn sleeping last night. Now you tell me how it can be comfortable enough to fall asleep in a laundry basket! I took that basket out of her room yesterday because she was playing with it. Apparently, she took it back in last night without me realizing it and decided to make a bed in it. Dave ended up moving her into her own bed later. What a goofy kid!

Shaelyn's preschool program

Shaelyn had her preschool christmas program today. This also was very cute. They sang about 8 songs and said a memory verse. Here they were singing, This little light of Mine" while holding their candles. She thought that was pretty cool. They ended with "we wish you a merry christmas". Then we headed into the other room for cookies and pop. Usually for snack, they have fruit or something healthy but today they were allowed sweets because they were being sent home with us. :)

Here she is with Grandpa in her room afterwards. He was able to skip out of bowling early to come and watch her program. She sure loved it that Grandpa came. Now she's ready for Christmas break. The true question is ,"am I?"

Shaelyn's Christmas program

Shaelyn had her Christmas program at church last night. She was in the cherub choir. This is for 3-5 year olds. They sang Away in a Manger and Glory to God in the Highest. After the singing, they recited Isaiah 9:6. It was a very nice program and she sang great. I thought she looked adorable.

Christmas candy

Today was the day we decided to make Christmas candy. Here's the girls with everything we made. Chelsea made puppy chow, tiger butter and peanut butter balls. (we still have to add the chocolate to them)
Shaelyn made pretzels with kisses and M& Ms all by herself (Well, I heated the kisses for her) and we both made popcorn balls.
Katelyn worked on white chocolate mix, a toffee cereal mix and pretzels with chocolate. I did the chocolate and vanilla fudge and sugared peanuts. Tomorrow we will be decorating our Christmas cookies. On Thursday, we're going to make a mint candy, peanut brittle and chocolate truffles. It's a lot of work but it's really fun to do together.

She's special

Shaelyn was chosen to be special person of the week for this week. Wow, what a big deal. She needed to cut out her favorite foods and glue them onto a plate. Then she had to have pictures of her family and pets. Well needless to say, we didn't have a family picture so I quick snapped one of us all Sunday night before we went to church. Then Monday morning I took some of the cats and Lexi. I had to go get them developed and of course there was a line. For my few pictures it would be and hour and a half wait because people had orders of over 100 before me. So I had to go back at night to pick them up. Then we had to find things that start with J because J was letter of the week and the "J" box needed to be filled. I had a felt "Joseph" and baby Jesus. For some reason she kept wanting to call them Moses. So I tossed out the Joseph and hoped she would remember "Jesus" She went to school quite excited this week with all her little goodies. She had fun so I guess it all was worth it.

The race is on

This is one of Shaelyn's favorite things to do with Chelsea. It's racing. They've been doing this since she learned to walk. They run up and down the hallway. Chelsea has to make extra laps because she's bigger. Now Shaelyn is starting to do this same game with Todd - my daycare boy. Except when she's with him, she has to make the extra laps. She doesn't care though because she's bigger. Ready - set- go!

Christmas cookies

Cheri and I made Christmas cookies yesterday. We tried a few different recipes. Cheri wasn't real happy with the way they turned out but I thought they would be okay. We tried some that you tie into knots and then frost. They weren't the favorites but were okay. Then we were going to do stars that you connect 2 together to make 3 dimensional. Well, they broke when we tried to put them together but found out later that they would work if we let them totally cool down. They look pretty neat when assembled. Last, we made cutout cookies. She had found a different recipe. She was totally bummed when they came out of the oven because they were somewhat cakelike (soft) but when she decorated them later, she found out that they tasted fine. So at least we've got them done but I guess from now on we'll just go with the old tried and true recipes!

It's snow fun

Here are Halle and Shaelyn playing out in the snow. Cheri and I spent the day making Christmas cookies and they wanted to go out. We were up for a little quiet so out they went. They look so stinking cute when they are working together. They were up on the slide trying to get that sled to cooperate and positioned. Grandpa would have loved to watch them manuever. The next time we looked, they were climbing a hill they shouldn't have been, trying to rescue a dead pumpkin. When they came in, their clothes were soaked - literally, we could about squeeze water out of them. We questioned them about the creek, but they didn't confess to any creek action. And I know they would tell us if they were in it! Oh well, coats will dry and they had a lot of fun.

It's back!

After a long weekend with my Webkinz being down, I was finally able to get back on today. For those of you who don't know what this is - let me explain. You buy a special stuffed animal at the store with at code. You go online to their website and put your code in. Then you get to take care of this interactive online pet. You can go play games to buy clothes, rooms and decorations for your pet. You can also go to the tournament area and play games against fellow webkinians. It is for kids but adults can also have fun with this. You don't know until you try! This was rated as one of the top 10 Christmas gifts this year!!! For some reason, they were working on the website this weekend and I was not able to do any activities all weekend long. I was having webkinz withdrawal. :( Now I am feeling better and was able to make some money again today. Hopefully, it will stay up and running now that there is going to be many more kids learning about this wonderful game. Gotta go now and feed my Fluffy a goo goo berry!

Christmas party blues

Well, I am more than a little bummed out. The Christmas party we were supposed to have tonight has been cancelled. They cancelled it before 10:00 this morning. I think they should have waited. This is always the first party of the season and the kids always look forward to it. We get to see everyone and visit again and the kids also get a present. I was just on the roads and there is snow but I thought they were drivable. You just have to take it easy. We did get a snow day so that was nice to be able to sleep in a little (although with my youngest child, I was not able to get much sleep) but that's a story all on its own! We did get her room cleaned after a long drawn out battle this morning. So we'll hope the rest of the day goes better. Enjoy your snowy day and if I may mention - I believe I predicted this weather yesterday. I hate to say I'm always right BUT......

Winter's a comin'

Are you ready? They're predicting a good size storm starting tonight into tomorrow. At first, I was a bit skeptical because they do this to us all the time but now I'm starting to believe that we might actually have a good old fashioned storm. Mentally, I'm ready for this. We need some snow to get into the Christmas spirit. (Also, some good cold weather to kill off all the germs hanging around) But physically, we don't have a snow blower!!!! Dave checked on one Monday from LOVE but it has to finish getting fixed. Ahhh - and he will be working this weekend. So who does that leave to clean the driveway? Maybe, this will just turn into an ice storm and not as much snow. We'll know by tomorrow. So get out those scrapers, boots and gloves along with your hot chocolate and logs for the fireplace. Enjoy the season!

Time with Dad

Shaelyn loves it when Dave is home during the day. All we hear is, "want to play a game, Dad?"
We were playing a game called "10" Sunday night with Grandpa. She wanted to play too. We tried to explain that she was too little yet to play this game. She insisted on helping Dave. She started to catch on to this game. He had to leave during one of the hands and so she played it for him. Now, she's playing it by herself against him. They usually only start with 7 cards but she knows what she's doing. And she's quite lucky at it too because she beat him yesterday and today. He still was on 5 today when he lost.

Birthday fun

Here are some pictures of Shaelyn celebrating birthday fun. First, she is with her Cinderella birthday cake. Yes, I know, she looks quite tan but that was the only flesh color I had. Next is her birthday cookies that we made to take to school for her birthday treats. You bake cookies with a stick in them and then decorate with frosting and m&m's. I thought they turned out pretty cute. I know these pictures are a little dated but you know the problems I've been having with this blog. So better late than never, I figure.

Christmas decorations

Wow, it's Christmas time again. We finished decorating the house and tree today. Dave still has to finish doing the outside lights but should be able to finish tomorrow when the weather's nice. The girls are still working on their rooms. They also like to put lights and who knows what else up in their rooms. It is fun to see all the Christmas decorations. We went out for supper tonight and drove around afterwards. There were a lot of decorations out there already. We wanted to drive around "peanut", "almond" "walnut" and "beechnut" drives to look for blue lights but ran out of time. Hopefully, later we'll be able to spot out those areas. I just LOVE those blue lights. We also had a great Thanksgiving Day. Hope you all did too.

Thanksgiving is a Comin'

Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving Day - I emphasize Thanksgiving, not turkey day. That's a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when people say it's turkey day. I realize that Americans have much to be thankful for and I know that we all take it for granted. It's always good to stop and remember all that we have. Some things I'm thankful for are my family, both immediate and extended, Dave having a job right now and not being laid off, my church, good health for my family and myself (although I'm ready to get rid of this cold) but really, we have no serious sicknesses, my country - even when I don't always like the way things are done here, I believe we live in the best country in the world, and my faith in Jesus. There's no easier (and of course, no other) way to get to heaven except through faith in Him.
As a family, we're heading to church in the morning. I do love Thanksgiving service. Chelsea and I will both be playing in the full orchestra tomorrow. I love it when we have a full group - the singing is awesome. Then we're heading over to my Dad's to celebrate with the whole family. Friday will start the Christmas season for us - with the setting up of the Christmas tree.
PS - by the way, I've officially become a "Grandma" today. Katelyn came home with her "baby" from school. I'm babysitting now. I think the teacher set this baby on crabby mode because it's cried 3 times already for me today and I thought it was only supposed to cry every 3 hours. You have to put a key in and hold it until it coos. Earlier, I held it for about 10 minutes. Just now, Chelsea and I took turns and it took about 15 minutes! You'll all get to see your new niece and cousin tomorrow. Shayanna is just adorable. Katelyn will have fun taking care of her in church tomorrow too. I think she'll be sitting in the back row!

Happy Birthday, Shaelyn

It was Shaelyn's birthday on Saturday. She turned 4 years old! Can you believe it? I can't. I still remember waiting to get the referral and being in China 3 years ago. It hardly seems possible that now you are going to school and learning so much. How boring our family would be without this extra little addition. (Actually, it would probably be a little quieter too) Hope you had a fun day turning 4. We love you lots!

Hopefully, now

Alright people, I just got an email about switching my blog to beta. I'm trying it. I've tried posting like 3 different times this week and it didn't work so I'm trying now and hopefully will be able to put stuff up about Shaelyn's birthday. Later!!!

Alert - Chelsea's on the Road!

Chelsea passed her drivers training class on Thursday so we are headed to the Secretary of State office tonight. She's very excited to get her permit and show me her driving skills. I'm not sure if I feel the same way?!! I can hardly believe that she is old enough to be driving yet. It seems as though I have just finished this with Katelyn (and still am nervous about her sometimes). I know it's a big step for these kids. So be prepared - she's on the go! Congrats, Chelsea!

Exhaustion

We've returned home from our day of shopping. What a lot of fun we had. We managed to hit a lot of stores. It was already busy. I think people are starting to shop earlier every year. (How dare they invade our time & space!) We had a nice extra guest share lunch with us. Later, we hit the Olive Garden for supper. Yummy! Then it started to rain. What a pain! Then there were the looks when we checked into the hotel. We loaded all of our packages onto the cart to make the two trips necessary to get them all in. It does get somewhat embarrassing. There was a lot of laughter when we were trying to get to sleep. And speaking of sleep - I didn't get much of it. Cheri was continually waking me up and harassing me all night long. I may have to take a nap this afternoon. In spite of all these problems, I'll be willing to go again next year with them!

Shopping

Tomorrow's the day I go Christmas shopping with both of my sisters. We start off in the morning and hit all the big stores, then on to the mall. We get to stop for lunch and then continue on. It is so much fun plus it makes it so much easier. We draw names for our kids. This way when we're shopping, we have their Mom's there to help pick out what they want. We get to go out to suppper at a place where our husbands don't usually want to go. After this long, exhausting, laughter-filled day, we end up at a hotel for the night. We carry all our packages in with everyone watching and wondering about what we've been doing all day. We get to hang out at the hotel together for the night. It is so much fun. I really don't know how long we've been doing this for, but we love it. I totally recommend this for any sisters!

Do your duty

I'm sure that you all know that today is election day. This is just a friendly reminder to do your patriotic duty and get out there and vote! I didn't really have to wait long this morning but would have been willing to. I'm worried that my candidate won't get in (go DDV) but at least I did what I could to help the moral (and economic) factors of this state. Our freedom to vote is what many countries are striving for so I don't think that we should take it for granted.

Congratulations Katelyn!

All right, I'm trying this for the 3rd time! Arrrrgh!!!
Katelyn received a letter yesterday from Kuyper. It was an acceptance letter. She was pretty happy. We kind of figured she would get accepted but it's nice to have it in your hands. Now we'll start working on more forms - registration and scholarships. Hopefully she'll be able to get a few to cut down the costs. Way to go Katelyn, - Get ready for a lot of fun next year! 

Canning Applesauce

Cheri and I decided to can applesauce today. We did it at her house so I don't have pictures but you can check out her blog to see our accomplishments. We were a little bummed that the apples cooked down so far - out of 2 bushels we only got 24 quarts. That narrows it down to 12 quarts a piece for the whole day's work. :( But at least we have something. Doing your own tastes so much better than store boughten. I don't know if it's because we grew up with our own or not but I remember the first time I tasted store boughten. I took a big scoop onto my plate and took a taste and was utterly disgusted. We said we couldn't remember ever doing any canning while it was snowing outside. Then we decided to put some Christmas music on to put us in a wonderful state of mind. Don't worry - the music didn't last long. Although we heard that Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away and Christmas is only 7. I know - I'm not at all ready for that yet!
Chelsea had to do her 3rd drive today - on the highway. She was a little concerned because of the snow but it wasn't a problem. She said it was fun driving fast on the highway - is that scary or what?

Halloween - The Search for Candy

The night Shaelyn was waiting for finally came last night. As you can see, she was a duck. (And awfully cute if I say so myself) You should have seen that tail waddle when she walked. Cheri got here around 5:00 to eat supper. We were ready to go by 6:00. It was a little cold but I had put a sweatshirt under the duck costume to stay warm. It made the costume a little tight but I figured it was worth it to stop any complaints of the cold. We made it through the development but Cheri quit before doing the side streets. Chelsea wasn't with so Shaelyn was going to share with her and Dad. I think every year gets a little easier with her getting older - you don't have to carry or put her in and out of the stroller! We did manage to get quite a haul at the last house we hit. Thank goodness we got there when we did because we were told that they were almost out of candy!

She fell asleep on the way home. I tried to get her into bed and take off the costume but as you can see, she woke up, telling me, "oh we're home now. I wasn't asleep. Can I have my candy now?" Then she proceeded to divide it all into piles to split up. At least she's willing to share. 

The Shack

Here's some of my pictures of The Shack. We really had a good time - despite the weather. Sunday we were able to get a few more pictures. Here's the girls - loving picture time. I wish we could have had more time on Saturday to walk around on the trails but it was just too windy and rainy out.

I love seeing these two together. Shaelyn sure does love her Uncle Duane. During this time, he had become her personal chauffeur. Every time they walked, she had to be on his shoulders.







What a beautiful place. I had never been there before. Everything was done in in the rustic look. Our rooms were beautiful and the food was delicious. I can't believe how much they feed you there. It was rough on the poor treadmill this morning. This will be a weekend that everyone will remember. 

Vacation

Although I'm sure we're all posting the same thing, I'm writing about our leaving for the Shack. Cheri and I have already chosen the toys for Shaelyn and Halle. You know, they have to have the same things and amounts so everything is equal. We are very excited to go even thought the weather will probably not be so good. I also know that I have not posted much, I'm still trying to get over this stupid cold. I'm feeling better but still am congested, so hopefully, I'll be doing better by tomorrow! Can't wait to see you all there! Thanks, Grandpa.

The Great Escape!

Last week, I come home from dropping Katelyn off to find Chelsea downstairs with a flashlight. I come in the door and they say, Nope, just Mom not a mouse. I'm somewhat confused and Chelsea tells me that Graham Cracker - her hamster - has escaped. Not a good thing with 3 cats in the house. Apparently, Katelyn broke a latch on the cage. They put a scrapbook on top to hold it down. Well, they didn't tell me that. I saw the book on top the next day and returned it to its rightful place because I didn't want to take the chance of the hamster chewing on it. Because there was nothing heavy on top, he could just push it open and run out - which is what he did. Chelsea and Kristie searched through the room and moved all of her stuffed animals away and didn't find him. So I searched throughout the night too. When we went to bed, I decided to shut her door with Nerman inside. Nerman is notorious for killing rodents. She will kill mice and deposit them at the foot of Chelsea's bed for approval. Since, we had searched the room, I thought it safe to lock Nerman in there. Around 7 in the morning, Kristie heard some scratching and saw Nerman and Sammie sitting still and staring by the wall. She woke Chelsea up to tell her that she thought the hamster was over there. He wasn't moving so Chelsea thought he was dead. After she picked him up, he moved. So back in his cage he went. Now the book is on top and I hope he learned a lesson. We keep him in there to keep him safe. Oh, the joys of having pets!

Katelyn's college visit

Katelyn went to a college visit today. I know, my little girl is growing up. I can't believe we have to think about college. She went to Kuyper last night for an overnight stay. She wasn't really too sure about this but I kind of pushed for her to try it. She really seemed to have a good time. She thought the dorms were nice. Then this morning I met her there. We met with a social work professor - that's what she wants to do. They gave us a bunch of information about it - her class course and what not. We went to the chapel service which was nice. Later, we split into groups and they toured us around. We got lunch at the cafeteria and later had an important meeting about financial aid. They are really willing to help fill out all the scholorships and financial aid paperwork which I appreciate greatly! The students all seemed very friendly and it's such a small campus - around 300 students. Every class room is in 1 building which has a covered hallway to the cafeteria and student centers. She really loved it there. She thought maybe she should check out at least 1 more college just to see if there is a big difference but we'll see. We'll see how much in scholorships she gets as this could determine if she stays on campus or not. I'm sure that this will all happen quicker than I want to think about.

Faith

Wanted to let you all know about an event that happened in my life this week. As you know, Dave has been laid off of his work the past couple weeks. Well, there has been no money come in either. I scrounged up what I had to make the house payment. After that, there really was nothing left in the checking account. Saturday night, I was getting stuff out for church the next day. I saw the budget envelopes on my dresser. I thought to myself, "well, I can't write a check this week because we don't have any" And then I was reminded that we will be taken care of and we need to have faith. So I wrote out my check. It was rather scary putting it into the collection plate on Sunday, but as I watched it go down the aisle, I prayed, "Lord, You promised you would take care of this and what we give will come back to us." Dave called his foreman at work Sunday night to see if there was anything yet and he said nothing was there. I took Shaelyn to swimming Monday morning and stopped at the bank because I had to transfer $ to my checking. I come home to find a message for Dave to call into work. I called him and told him to call me back. He didn't call right away and I must say, my faith was still wavering. Eventually he called and said he had to go into work and later told me that he had a fairly large job and could spend as many hours as he wanted on it. I literally started crying. I knew that this was an answer to prayer. Now I know that I will probably always struggle with this faith issue - especially when finances are involved but I do know that we were taken care of and this was an answer.

The hotel

Well, I've given up trying to post any pictures of our night at the hotel. This is now my 4th time trying. I'll just give you an update. When, we got there, we hung out until Katelyn could make it. We headed out to pick up some Chinese for supper. It was delicious! Then we thought the pool would be a great place to excercise it off. We swam till 7:00 after which Katelyn had to leave and go to the dance. I called Dave to find out when he would be there. He was out of town and things were not going well. So he finally made it to the hotel at 10:00. Chuck and Sue were late too and made it around 8:30. We decided that we should go for a swim that night together so the girls had a good time running from pool to hot tub. We enjoyed a great game of Catch Phrase when Dave arrived. And of course, the females pretty much took every game. We managed to make it into the pool once more in the morning after breakfast. We would have preferred to go camping but since the weather was going our way, it was nice to spend a night away from home.

Going to the hotel

Well, we were supposed to go camping this weekend but alas, the weather has ruined our plans. We were really hoping that it would be better tomorrow, but the forecast doesn't predict that. So, we are going to a hotel with Chuck and Sue instead. I've got a coupon for a cheap stay. The kids seemed to be fine with that, so maybe I'll have some pictures when we get back.

My instant comfort

I'm responding to the blog that Heather wrote about instant comfort - Here are some of my favorites :

1- Snuggling with Shaelyn in the morning when I don't want to get up - She's an instant heating pad

2- A hot cup of chocolate on a cold day - Unfortunately like today!!

3 - Watching my kids playing together

4- Singing some of my favorite songs in church

5 -Sitting by the fire during a blizzard - Can you see that I keep thinking snow?

6- Taking out my coat for a new season and finding money in the pocket

7- Petting the cats and feeling them purr

8- Holding a new baby

That's some of mine - who else has any?

The race

Chelsea sent an email to me complaining that the middle child is never in the blog so here you go. Shaelyn and her like to have races down the hall. Here they are at the starting gate. I was told that I couldn't say who usually wins the race but I think I can give a hint. If it's not a tie than the one who's under 3 feet has a tendency to pull it off. But Chelsea did have papers to deliver papers today so it wasn't quite as fair for her because she was tired.



Just a note on the side: Katelyn got her proofs today so whoever wants to see them can come on over. They turned out really good! 

Update report

Just wanted to give you all an update on the "grandma" from our church. She finally came home from the hospital on Friday. She is taking a regular chemo pill for 5 days and then I believe she is off for a month to check how things are going. Regular IV chemo would not be good for her heart. She made it to church yesterday morning. She was tired but did not get sick from the pill the previous night so all seems to be going well. They did a cat scan on her brain and did not see anything there. But then last night, Hubert informed me that their daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer last week and their insurance will not be kicking in until another month or two.
You know, sometimes it just seems like it's one thing after another. I know you all know the feeling. So I'm sure they would appreciate any prayers for their family yet.

The fight for the Computer

Well, last week, we finally got our computer set up for high speed. First, it caused some trouble to my blog so that is my excuse for not putting anything up lately. But now, it has become a fight for the computer. Shaelyn needs me to go to "pony land" with her and earn points (although it is rather fun seeing what we can do) and now Chelsea has started hers up too. Katelyn wants it for school papers. Every time I decide that I'm going to start going to the computer, I see the light on in there, and alas, someone else has taken over. Ahhhhhh! I believe I will have to set limits on everyone (besides myself) Hopefully, during the week, I should be able to get my fix in while the girls are at school. Otherwise, we're going to have to purchase another computer! Ha

Katelyn's pictures

Well, we got to preview the first of Katelyn's pictures yesterday. She said she started with around 300 and she weeded it down to 50. Now it was our turn. We had to get it down to 30 for the proofs. We didn't do too bad at first. We had it down to 35 but those last 5 were killers. There were 3 sets of similar ones. I liked one and Katelyn liked the other. We ended up keeping all those sets and eliminating some others. So you will all have to be ready to help us decide. Judy has to upload them to a developer and then we'll get the proofs. I think they turned out really good. Hopefully, you all will be able to see them too.

We bought a trailer!

We bought a trailer yesterday. Well actually, we bought it last week but had to wait to get it until Dave could do some adjustments on the hitch. It has two beds that pull out from both sides like a pop up camper. We wanted a trailer but really needed one that was light enough for us to pull and we finally found this one. I'm especially excited to have air conditioning and a bathroom!
Here is the girls side. It has a double bed on the end. Chelsea will probably sleep on the couch, which was where she usually did in the camper. The bathroom is on the right hand side. On the left is a cabinet to hopefully store our clothes in - if there is room enough for all of Katelyn's things.
This is the larger bed - which will be mine. Katelyn finds it somewhat humorous that I will have to be crawling over the couch to get into bed. You can see that the bed is not pulled out here because the cushions are still propped up. The girls were pretty excited because they didn't know we were getting this. Hopefully, this will work good for us. Cheri, are you ready to go camping this summer? We're ready whenever you are! 

Kid Kinex

If anyone is looking for something fun for a birthday gift - try these. They are Kid Kinex. Shaelyn got some for Christmas last year. They are something like tinker toys but are plastic. There are all different kinds of sets of them and young kids can put them together themselves. She had them taken away from here for awhile for discipline purposes and now they're back, so she's been busy making things with them again. She wanted a picture taken of what she had made and here's what she did. Pretty cute, huh? 

McDonalds for Lunch

Today, we went for lunch at McDonalds. Cheri and I thought the girls would like to do something different for lunch today because it was rather dreary out again. Neither of them usually have the chance to play on the toys at McDonalds. They ate their nuggets so quickly so that they could play. As you can see, the slide is very fast - that must be why Shaelyn is so blurry. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the picture taker!










Here, Shaelyn and Halle are both hanging out in the tube before entering the slide area. They had a lot of fun because they could get rid of a lot of excess energy and they used it up together. 

Prayers please

I know I asked you to say a little prayer yesterday for nice weather. It turned out great and Katelyn got her pictures done. It was very busy at the park too because everyone was there trying to get shots. I can't wait to see how they turn out. Hopefully, in another week she'll have them ready for us.
I would like to ask for more prayers today for an elderly lady in our church. Her name is Jean. The girls think of her as their grandma. She had some cancer spots found on her leg earlier in the year. The doctors removed them and said to keep a watch out for more. She cannot have chemo or anything because of heart problems. Well, last week, she had a routine scan and they found some spots on her liver. She is having a biopsy done today and will be meeting with the doctors again next week to discuss options. We're pretty nervous about what they're going to find and would really appreciate any prayers for her and her family. Thanks

Love this weather

Wasn't today a beautiful day? I loved the temps today. I was really getting sick of the rain we've been getting lately. Not only are the gray skies depressing but my grass has been growing like crazy. I really don't appreciate having to mow more than once a week! They are predicting nice weather for tomorrow too. Katelyn and I are really praying for blue skies with no wind. She is going to try to have her outdoor pictures taken again tomorrow. We've had to cancel them twice already. As nice as it was during the day today though, it sure took a change during supper. The clouds moved in and it got windy. I really hope it doesn't do that tomorrow because that's the time of day she's getting them taken! So if you think of it tomorrow, can you say a little prayer for blue skies?

Katelyn and her Doctor

Katelyn isn't feeling too great today. She has gotten the dreaded cold too. Shaelyn decided to take care of her. Here she is giving Katelyn a shot. (She did have a little assistance deciding to do this) When Katelyn was younger, I remember her doing the same thing to Mom and me. Whenever we would get headaches, she would take water and mix stuff into it and rub it onto our heads. Miraculously, her cures always seemed to work. I wonder if Shaelyn's cures will work for Katelyn too. 

Amazing love

I was on the treadmill this morning when they came in with a news update. That tends to always make my heart jump just a little bit when I hear it, but this morning they were showing the space shuttle coming in for its landing. You know, I think we sometimes tend to take these space things so for granted because we've seen so many of them while we were growing up. But as I watched it come down, I thought how cool it really was. The speed that they come down with is incredible. It's really amazing to me to think of how large our galaxy is. Last week, we had open house at the girls high school. Chelsea's science teacher informed us what he wanted to teach the kids. He said, if you take a pin prick and designate that to be the earth, then take a tennis ball and place it 9 feet away it would be representative of the sun. Then you have to take another one and place it (now I can't remember if it was 90 or 900) feet away, (either way it was a long ways away) that would be the next star. He said that God created all of this and takes care of it but the incredible thing is that He cares for all of us little humans on this teeny planet even more. I think that we tend to forget how much He loves us. So, just a reminder for the day - God loves you!

Arrrggh! I'm too busy

Arrrggh? That would be my pirate talk for the day for those of you who know that it's National Talk like a Pirate day today. As I explained to some of you yesterday, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. With school starting, everything is getting busy. I said that I was still thinking it was around Septemember 8 yet when I realized it's the week of the 20th! I didn't even have time to check my email yesterday. Arrgh So today, I 've got this little iota of time when Shaelyn is at preschool. Then this afternoon starts with paper delivery again. Last night, Katelyn went to have senior pictures taken in the studio. We started at 6:30 and finally got home around 9:00. The lady taking them was going along nicely when she says, "oh memory card full. That would be 154 pictures so far and proceeded to insert another card in. I bet we got around 200 pictures last night and later this week we're supposed to try to do outdoor ones. Now granted, a lot of these will get weeded out but I think we're going to have a tough time picking.
Hoping ye all enjoy your pirate day. Now go over to Laura's blog for some great pirate info.

Sisterly love

While I was out mowing my lawn yesterday, or from the way it looked - my jungle grass - I was watching Shaelyn and Chelsea. They were on the swingset together sharing a swing. It was so cute. I really wanted to get a picture but I was too slow and I really wanted it to be natural. I love it when they get along. It's either "feast or famine" with those two. Just seeing Shaelyn so happy to play with her sister really made me wonder, "I wonder what her life (and ours) would be like if she still lived in the orphanage in China" I really am thankful that she is now ours even though there are days when it can be difficult. I love my family and wouldn't give them up for anything.

I started school today!

Shaelyn's first official day of preschool started today. We were both very excited. She planned on packing a lunch to put in her backpack. She didn't have any problems saying good-bye to me. She chose her center - art center - and started coloring. I left and had the morning to get groceries all by myself! I didn't even need to bring along an extra penny. When I picked her up, I asked her how preschool went. I was informed that it was not preschool but school. Apparently, someone thinks they're bigger than they really are! Oh well, at any rate, we both had a marvelous day.
 

Happy Birthday Dad

We celebrated Dave's birthday tonight. I went to get a cake with Shaelyn today. She wanted to pick a cake with roses but I finally talked her into getting one with a sun and bees. Then she had to pick her birthday present for him. She was thinking to get him a candy necklace or a pacifier candy. She was sure that he would love those. I explained to her that he probably would prefer a candy bar. Then came the balloon. Again she thought a flower balloon was nice but settled for a blue balloon but it had to have a pink string. Oh well, I guess it's the thought that counts. 

Happy days are coming

It wasn't an official preschool day yet but it's a start. We had visiting day today and I had to stay for it. Shaelyn was very excited. We got to see all the different things to do at preschool. Thursday will be official - She gets to stay all by herself! Both of us are quite excited for that! 

Swimming Lessons

Shaelyn started swimming lessons this morning. She was so excited to go - it wasn't even hard to wake her up this morning. I don't think the instructor realized what she was able to do. He would catch her when she jumped into the pool so she didn't get her head wet. I was thinking " let her go all the way" When one other mom explained what her son was able to do, I decided I could do the same. She had a lot of fun and can't wait to go again next week.

On a sadder note, we're remembering the tragedy that took place 5 years ago in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. I can hardly believe that it has been 5 years already since those terrorists committed such cowardly acts against us. I'm thankful that our younger children can still smile in innocence without knowing what is outside their "little world." Our prayers are with all the families that lost a loved one on that day and for our country as we continue this fight against us.