Whew, it's hot!

It's really been hot lately and seeing as we don't have our pool set up yet, I bought Shaelyn a new sprinkler today. The object of this is to jump the purple bar that spins around. If it hits you, you get a bigger soaking. So she thought it would be fun to do this with Dad. I thought so too! Apparently, the spinner goes pretty fast and Dave couldn't even make it through. Shucks!! Oh well, she's getting the hang of it now, even though she has taken the bar off. She still manages to get wet. Hopefully, Halle and her can have fun trying this out more tomorrow.

Shaelyn's stitches

For those of you who don't know about Shaelyn's accident yet, here's the story. While we were camping Friday night, a friend from church comes to our campsite, carrying Shaelyn. She wasn't crying or anything but just looked dazed. Apparently, she didn't want us to know because she wouldn't be allowed to play for the rest of the night, so she told her friend not to tell us. She allowed her to tell Becky though. So she comes to us with blood covering her hands and on her face. I took her to get cleaned up and see her chin is cut pretty deep. We decided to head to the hospital. The doctor says she will need some stitches. She still wasn't crying. They took a cotton swap and taped it to her chin to numb it up. She started to talk and was wondering when we were going to get out of there. She wanted a smore. Eventually the doctor came back. He told us that the numbing solution would not get inside where he would be putting 1 stitch in so she would probably cry. We could each hold 1 hand while a nurse held her head. So she lays back and puts her arms out - ready to go. He puts the 1st stitch in and she doesn't flinch. He continues on with her never making a sound or movement. Wow, they say, she's better than some adults. So we wait to get the discharge papers. Now she's really ready to go. She wants a marshmallow and smores. Before we leave, they give her a stuffed bunny pillow and a bunch of stickers because she was so brave. On the way home, I tell her that she's so brave for never crying. "That's because I'm 4 1/2 , if I was 4, I probably would have cried" So at 11:30 at night, Dave is out roasting marshmallows for a smore. She slept through the night with no tylenol. They told us to keep it clean. Right - Sunday she was out there doing somersaults in the sand. This kind of news travels fast throughout a campground apparently because we had lots of people ask if she was the one who got stitches. Then the director tells us to file an accident report just in case- like we're going to sue them or something - but I'm sure some people would. So one of the questions is, "what could be done to prevent this from happening again" I thought about saying, "get rid of all the toys" but decided that none of the kids, including my own, would appreciate that. I should have tried for a free week of camping of being first in line to get my sites but alas, I wasn't thinking quick enough!! All we got for this $100 ER visit was a bunny but she was happy because as she put it on the way home, "I've never had a pillow before"

Congratulations Katelyn!

Yes, finally, here are pictures of Katelyn's graduation from last Wednesday. It was warm out but thank goodness, we were sitting in an air-conditioned church! The ceremony was very nice. They kept it to a reasonable length of time and all the graduates were applauded for. You can see a nice smile on her face as she left - I'm not sure if it was relief or just pure happiness. Later, they went to WMU for their all-nighter. She had a lot of fun there, including caricatures, hot tubs and a hypnotist. Too bad she didn't have a video of that because she said it was hilarious. She came home with a huge cardboard cut-out of Orlando Bloom and a directors chair with her name on it. Today she is leaving for beach week with her friends. They'll be camping for a whole week. We'll see how this goes - I don't know if any of them know how to cook or start fires. At least they know the way to the beach. I guess that's the important part!

When is....?

Just got a minute but thought I'd let you all know what Shaelyn's thoughts were.
"Mom, when is kids day?" Isn't that a question we've all asked and now that I'm the grown-up,
she got the grown-up response. "Honey, every day is kids day" I think she got the right answer. Am I correct?

It'll be awhile

I know, I should be posting pictures of Katelyn's graduation. I have not had time to download the pictures yet and tomorrow we leave to go camping. So don't expect anything until next week unless be some miracle, I have time tomorrow. But I doubt it, I still have all my packing to do. We'll see how the weather turns out. It's looking a lot like rain, but we usually have fun anyway.

Love ya Chels!

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Officially a Kindergartener

Shaelyn had her last day of preschool today. We had a music program and then a picnic outside. You can see that she enjoyed her hot dog.
The next picture shows her with one of her best friends - Lucas. The last picture is with her teachers. She really had great teachers and a wonderful year. She learned a lot and is ready to proceed into Kindergarten in the fall. Can you believe how big she's getting?

Katelyn's Open House

Well, the open house is over. Our weather turned out beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day!








Here's a picture of some of the decorations that the girls put up. I thought this picture of Erin and Katelyn together turned out really nice.






You can see that the dad's did their share of the work too. For the most part, they were busy grilling the burgers and hot dogs. I do think that they found a little time to eat too. Wow, was it busy though. Trying to find time to talk to everybody was difficult. I know, I know, you're all thinking that's because I talk too much! Now we just have to go to graduation Wednesday night. Then the weekend will be all about relaxing!

Open house plans

It's gorgeous weather out there today. I'm praying that it continues for tomorrow. I believe that the forecast is good for then too. Katelyn's open house is in the plans. We're picking up chairs and tables tonight from church and will probably be trying to set them up tonight. Tomorrow we'll be heading to GFS and Costco for the food. I'm sure I won't be posting tomorrow in the midst of this all - but I assume I'll be seeing most of you!!!
PS - You can think of me on Sunday. Pastor Peter who left almost 2 years ago will be coming to preach in the morning service. We miss him so much and it will be great to see him and hear from him again. Yeah!

The everlasting concert

Last night, Chelsea had her last band concert - POPS 2007. I thought it would be a pretty good one. They play a lot of popular tunes - hence "pops" concert. It was supposed to start at 7:30. I would have preferred 7:00 but oh well. Katelyn came at 7:20 so she could leave early and take Shaelyn with her. She hadn't made it to one of Chelsea's concerts yet so we thought she should go. Well, we're about 20 minutes into it when Shaelyn whispers to her, "I wish we hadn't come here tonight". I tell her to just stay for 1 more song - Unfortunately, when I got there, I found out that the orchestra would be here for this too. I really just want a concert with the band. So the last song they stay for is the orchestra. It's the song that goes on and on and on......
After that, it's starting to proceed at a fairly rapid rate. Then they have to honor all the seniors that are leaving. 20 minutes later they continue to play. I'm looking at my watch going - ok, it's 9:20, we'll be done soon. (I put in a tape to record Idol but NOT Lost) They play 2 more songs with 1 to go and a bunch of kids get up. It's the band directors last concert. He is retiring to go to Honduras to teach band next year. They have gifts for him and then his daughter says she knows it's getting late but she has a slide show to present. UGH!!! My watch is ticking. It finally gets done and they play their last song - Freedom by Michael W Smith with a slide show of American soldiers and planes . It was a great song, I will admit. Then the administrator guy gets up to tell us it's done but we have cake to celebrate the band director. I really don't feel the need to stay - I'll have plenty of cake at the open house on Saturday. We go out to find Chelsea. She's in the line for cake. She had to have it. tick tock, tick tock It's 9:55. Oh, I'm going to miss the beginning of Lost!!! I decide to drive home because it would be quicker. We walked in the door about 10:08 so I didn't miss too much but I think my blood pressure was up a bit. Only those of you who watch Lost understand this passion. I saw my tape this morning of American Idol and was pleasantly surprised to see that Melinda was given the boot. I'll make sure to put in a tape next week to record them both while I'm at graduation

Wordless Wednesday

Where do babies come from?

We were watching a movie - Daddy Day Care - the other night. One of the kids asked where babies come from. Shaelyn turns to Dave and says, "I know where babies come from".
Oh the horror that came to my mind when he told me what she had said. But she very knowledgeably said, "China and America" Why did I even worry?

It's Tulip time

Chelsea got to march in the Tulip parade on Wednesday and Saturday. Not that she was that thrilled about doing it. The weather was great - although she thought it was hot with her uniform on. I told her that it could have been a lot worse. Last year it was really cold and rainy. I was going to get a picture but I was gone to Katelyn's college in the morning when she left and she had already changed her clothes when I picked her up. She got home around 5:30. She's been wanting to go to IHOP for supper so we went there after she got home. We also decided it was too nice of a night to go immediately home after shopping and so we had to get ice cream too. This works out great when Dave is working shows because then I only have to pay for 3!
I must say this weather has been perfect lately. I just got done mowing my lawn because I think it might rain and it's got to get it out of its system before Saturday when we have our open house! Pray for nice weather!!
Oh, mother's day was nice too. Dave fixed steaks and baked potatoes. The girls got me different types of lotions and a gift certificate for scrapbooking. I can always use those things. Hope all your mothers days were good too.

Silver lining of the dark cloud

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. I saw some silver today! You know my van was getting fixed today. He called and asked me if I wanted the good news or really good news. I chose the good news. My van was fixed and ready for pickup. Now do I want the really really good news? It's only going to cost$64 instead of $460. Once the van had cooled down and they did more of a check on it, they found that it was just a leaking hose! So it's fixed and I still have a little money left. I can make it to Katelyn's college tonight with no problem. Yeah!

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Nobody knows my sorrow!

Do you know the words to this spiritual song? Some days seem more like it than others. Here's my tale of woe -
Yesterday, Katelyn got her oil changed. While there, they check all the levels and tire pressure. We get home and hear this hissing sound. Sure enough, a little later, her tire is soft. Dave monkeyed around with the valve and filled it again but it was still leaking. So he puts her spare tire on to get her by. I'm told to go to the tire place today and get the leak fixed. So after picking up some things for Katelyn's open house and dropping Chelsea back to school after her orthodontic appt., I head to the tire place. The guy asks me what I need and I tell him I need this tire fixed. "Oh, I was hoping you were going to say your front tires. They look really bad", he says. Now I know that Dave had said before that I really need new tires so I tell him to find the cheapest ones and put them on. Meanwhile, I pull into the spot, get out and see green liquid where my van had been. CRAP!!! I'm not happy, my van is leaking antifreeze. So he comes back and asks if I know about this problem. I inform him that "yes" I spotted it. "You're not having a very good morning, are you?" NO!! So he fixes Katelyns tire for free - just a small leakage around the wheel well. $170 later, my van has new tires. Then he says he didn't want to tell me earlier but my back ones will need to be replaced after summer. Great!
I'm ready to head home and hear on the radio that gas is going up again - around$3.30 this afternoon. Do I risk heading to Costco to get gas? Yes! So I make it there and fill up. On the way home, I call Dave.
"what do you want me to do about all my problems? He tells me to take it to the mechanic after I pick Shaelyn up from school. Hopefully, maybe just the belt is loose. So I'm driving behind all these incompetent drivers who don't know how to go the speed limit. Dave's wondering who I'm talking to. I explain about all the idiots on the road. He tells me not to go to fast and overheat the engine. "I know, the lines right in the middle of cold and hot" but I am a bit concerned. So I get Shaelyn and head to the mechanic. He tells me it's something about the antifreeze compartment that's leaking and will need to get fixed. He filled it up to get me around town but I tell him I've got to go to Katelyn's college, Friday night and Saturday morning. He can fix it for me tomorrow and if it's not done, he's got a loaner van for me. Thank goodness! Now this will only cost me around $460. It's just a drop in the bucket - right? But what can you do. Dad came and picked us up. So now, I'm stuck home with no where to go but really, I have no $ to go anywhere either, now do I. I'm sure I'm not the only one with problems but sometimes life really stinks! Tell me your stories of woe so I don't feel so lonely down here. Misery loves company!

Mother's Tea

Last week, Shaelyn had a Mother's Tea at preschool. We received an invitation on Tuesday to come on Thursday. As you can see, it was decorated with our own placemats and table settings. We each had our own cupcakes. Weren't they beautiful? Before we were allowed to eat though, they sang some songs for us and said their special snack time prayer. Can you see the pink paper rolled up? That was a special poem given to each Mom about how we're loved! In the little wrapped up napkin was a special magnet that said,"I love you , Mom" When we were done, Shaelyn and I went to Arby's to grab lunch and then headed to the park so she could play for a while. I have to treasure these moments now because I know how soon they will be gone.


Shaelyn didn't really want her picture taken - she would rather have eaten. (I didn't want mine done either but I waited for my cupcake)

Shaelyn's at it again!

Alright, do any of you have the same problem as me? Yesterday, Shaelyn and I were at the computer, nicely working our Webkinz together. She started poking me and trying to pester -(shocking, isn't it?) "Does this hurt, does this hurt?" I just continued to say, "no". Finally I told her that it hurt. So she says, "I wish I had squishy skin like yours, mine is hard". Now you tell me how it's possible to compliment someone and at the same time tell them they are a "little" overweight? I sincerely hope that I'm not the only one around with squishy skin! Still gotta love her!

Can you guess?

Yesterday morning, I was listening to the radio while getting ready. One of the DJ's always does a segment called, "where does it come from". He will come up with a word and tell you its background. The story yesterday was that when the settlers came over, they were amazed by an animal that could get bit by a rattlesnake and not be affected. They also said that the meat from this animal was a tender delicacy. Also, their fur was so soft that the women would use it in the bathtub. Can anybody give a guess as to what this was? The name comes from the Indian word for this.....












POSSUM - this was especially for you Laura. Maybe you would like to take your possum skin into the tub with you!

Shaelyn's thoughts

Shaelyn was playing yesterday with a ball when she came up with a thought. She said to me,
Wouldn't it be neat if I could throw the ball so high that it would go up into the sky and break it? Then we could see God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I would like to be able to see them."

I just love the innocence of children and their thought processes.