Holman Happenings!

October thus far...

2011-10-03T22:33:00.001-04:00

Ok, so it's actually only October 3rd, but since it's been FOREVER since I posted, I figured I didn't want to overwhelm myself :)Here's what's happening in Holman Land - the condensed version.....Rick - looking for a "real job" to supplement the "oh so seasonal" moped rental business. He's not picky - we have bills to pay and my income doesn't quite cut it. Feel free to send job leads this way. He's done sales for YEARS with the mopeds. He's also gearing up for the start of Cub Scouts.... Joshua is a Webelos 1 this year, which is so close to Boy Scouts and a little overwhelming from a leader standpoint (well, at least from and Assistant Den Leader standpoint... Rick's probably not worried in the least!)Amanda - busy working, Cub Scout Fundraising, Assistant Den Leadering, organizing, staying on top of the family and their various social engagements, and trying to keep her head above water.... It's only been a month... I'm still trying to get a handle on things. I'll get it all figured out just in time for it to slow down again :)Joshua - is a 4th grader!!!!! Yikes! A ridiculously smart 4th grader, who is just starting to get a little bit of a preteen attitude. Not such a fan of that... I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better, but goodness - he's only 9 years old! I thought I had more time.... He is currently selling magazines for school and popcorn for Cub Scouts, so if you're interested, let me know and I'll pass the info along.Logan - trying to figure out this whole "kindergarten thing". Nah... actually he's pretty much a pro. He gets upset because he's not in school long enough each day, LOL! I wonder how long before he starts complaining that school is "too long"??? He loves his teacher but seems to spend an awful lot of time playing by himself (as in, "who did you play with today?" "no one. none of the other kids wanted to play with me" or "no one. I played by myself.") I'm not sure if he's exaggerating just a smidge (he's been doing that a lot lately, too.....) or if I need to send his teacher an email. I might just stop by his classroom on Friday afternoon, but I digress, lol.Riley Roo - lays around a lot, looking very annoyed at the puppy. I think she's too old for this "nonstop playing" crap!Coco (aka the puppy) - is definitely half horse. She is SO HUGE (like a Great Dane should be!), but she still thinks she's a teeny tiny lap dog. She has no concept of her size and gets into all kinds of trouble and knocks everything off my coffee tables, lol!!Well, that's about it from this neck of the woods. I'd love to say I'll be more consistent, but I hate to make promises I might not be able to keep! Suffice it to say, we'll just have to see what happens with the "keeping up on the blog" thing!!

Mother's Day

2011-05-05T22:49:00.000-04:00

To all the moms out there, how are you celebrating Mother's Day this year? I'm spending mine at an indoor water park with my super cool husband and amazing boys :)

My 8 year old was extremely determined to be a top reader in his grade during the month of March - the kid logged 13 hours of reading for the month! The goal for third graders was 300 minutes (6 hours) and he blew that right out of the water. His prize was a free pass to the water park at the Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury.

Sounds like a good way to spend Mother's Day to me :)

The weather is supposed to be amazing. I hope all my great mom friends out there have wonderfully special days with the ones they love most.

Silver Lake Sand Dunes

2011-04-09T16:01:00.002-04:00

(for those of you seeing this as a "note" on Facebook, you might have to go to my blog to see the pics - I'm not sure though. This is the address: www.holmanhouseholdhappenings.blogspot.com )

I am married to a sand dune loving man. Rick and I spent pretty much our entire first summer together up at Silver Lake, driving through the dunes in his Ford Explorer. We've gone every summer since. I have a million and a half memories of exciting things that have happened at Silver Lake. I get him an ORV sticker every year for his birthday, since the dunes open April 1st and his birthday is April 11th. We went up there today for the first trip of 2011 to celebrate Rick's birthday a little early. It was absolutely amazing. Beautiful weather, not too busy, but enough big trucks and Jeeps around to still make it fun. We took the Escape since we don't currently have a big, beefy truck. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my little girl did! She can't make it up the biggest, steepest hills, but she gets us around just fine. Plus, she looks really cute with a dune flag on the front :)

The boys were really excited, but Joshua started to get a little nervous as we were going in. Keep in mind, we've always taken the kids up there, so there's no reason for them to be worried, but it is really bumpy and takes some remembering what it's like if you're in the back seat, I suppose. I reminded Joshua about the time he was in my belly (I was like 8 months pregnant...) and I had to bail out the passenger side window because we got in water that was too deep and the Explorer stalled out and there was water pouring in. I told him that the sand dunes are in his blood, so he might as well relax and enjoy the ride!!

I got some excellent pictures to mark the 1st Dune Day of 2011, so enjoy!!

Blue skies, sand and Lake Michigan.

Taking a break to watch the action on Test Hill.

Testing out the Lake Michigan water - probably about 40 degrees this early in April.

Me and my dune loving man!

3 of the strongest men in the world!!

Driftwood bench.

Logan making a "Sand Angel".

Waiting to get the tires aired back up.

Is it springtime yet?!?!?!

2011-03-30T18:20:00.000-04:00

I really want to believe spring is finally here. After all, the first robins of the season showed up at my house last Friday. Plus, some irises and lilies have popped up in my front yard. They're like 2 inches tall, but at least they're there!

In an effort to speed things along, I've been doing silly things like wearing tank tops in the house, opening the slider door just a little to pretend it's warm enough to air the house out, and insisting that we get the patio table and chairs set up on the deck.

Tonight was no exception. While Rick was grilling burgers for dinner, I went out and hung some sheets on the clothesline to dry. It is, after all, a balmy 43 degrees here in Michigan, and there's a breeze, so they should dry quickly! The sun has been out for days, but it's still cold and I still have some lingering snow at my house. I just REALLY need it to be spring, though!!

Maybe this weekend the last of the snow will melt for good. I'd like the think we're done with winter - for real this time! Not like last time when we were in the 50's for a week and then "bam!" - snow and ice storm....

Gotta love Michigan!

It's Official!

2011-03-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

Joshua remains cancer free!! Radiology report from Friday's MRI states "NED" (No Evidence of Disease)!!!!

Happy Dance!!!

Another year in the books.

2011-03-18T23:44:00.001-04:00

Ugh - Blogger is so frustrating. It absolutely deleted my entire post. So, here we go again...

Today was a long day. I'm glad it's over. Joshua was awesome, and Logan was SO well behaved, but I am a very tired mama...

The results of the hearing test weren't as great as we were hoping... Joshua seems to have conductive hearing loss going on, thanks to negative pressure behind his ears that is creating a vacuum that's pulling his eardrum in and not allowing it to move freely. Luckily, this isn't anything permanent, and if it doesn't resolve itself, they can put tubes in his ears to take care of the issue. The audiologist said it may be caused by Joshua's constant sniffling all winter long. Dr. Dickens, the oncologist, says it's definitely NOT related to the cisplatin chemotherapy Joshua received as part of his treatment plan. That's great news. We're going to follow up with an ENT and see what they think.

Our visit to Hem Onc was great. It was so good to see people we haven't seen in a year or more. Dr. Dicken's said Joshua looks great. Based on his exam, we're not expecting any surprises with the MRI results on Monday. Plus, Dr. D may have mentioned that if they did see anything during the scan, they would call him right away and we'd know before we left the hospital. Radiology walked us to the elevator, so I'm pretty sure that's good news :) It will be nice to get an "all clear" on Monday, though.

The new children's hospital is AMAZING, by the way! For those of you who are local, you know that there is an entire side of the hospital that is nothing but windows. The exam rooms in Hem Onc are on that side and have floor to ceiling windows, that from 10 levels up, overlook the city. It's awesome. When we were getting a tour of the Hem Onc floor, we were going through the infusion area and you can see across the street to the helipad. There were 2 choppers sitting on the pad, and while we were there, one of the helicopters lifted off. The windows were vibrating and it was directly across the street from us, just above eye level. It was so cool! Joshua and Logan loved every second of it. All Josh's labs look good, which is awesome. Now, we watch for secondary malignancies and fertility issues. Any additional treatment-related side effects probably would have popped up by now.

4 more years of annual visits and scans! They only monitor closely up to 10 years past the end of treatment. After that, we'll still keep an eye on things, but it won't be quite as rigorous.

Thanks to our awesome Hem Onc nurse, Mary, Joshua only had to be poked once - when they were drawing the labs, they put an IV line in so that radiology could use it for the contrast during the scan. Josh was SO BRAVE. His vein was popped out really far, so she didn't need to do the tourniquet, but he held so still. They didn't have to hold him down at all - he was sitting up, I was holding his other hand and he had his head on my chest. He didn't even cry until the IV was in. I was bursting with pride. He got to pick an extra prize for doing so great, and they were kind enough to bring Logan a small prize too, for being so well behaved while we were down there. Our Hem Onc appointment was at 2:30pm and I we didn't get out of there until 4:30pm. Just enough time for the kids to play in the lobby for a bit and then we had to head down for the scan.

The MRI went ok. Joshua was pretty fidgety so what should have taken 40 minutes took an hour... Other than that, it was good. Logan got to enjoy the heck out of the new play room down in radiology :)

I'm tired and glad to be home. It's been a long day and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy relaxing tomorrow.

So, we've been successfully navigating life after cancer for 6 years now. Go, us!

Super Fun Scan Day...

2011-03-17T21:08:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is a big day! Time for Joshua's annual oncology appointment. This time we get the added bonus of an audiogram because Rick and I are concerned about his hearing... We get to see all the folks we love in the Hem Onc department, including our doctor hero, Dr. Dickens and favorite nurse, Mary, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's one of my favorite days out of the year...

Josh is going to school for the morning and then I'll pick him up at lunch. My brother, Kevin, is going to come hang out at the hospital in between appointments, so that will be nice.

Audiogram at 1pm, oncology appointment at 2:30pm and the big ole MRI of the brain at 5pm.

Deep breaths. It's all going to be great. No worries - God is in control (which is great because I would probably make a mess of things if I were in charge...).

Amazingly enough, I made it all the way until TODAY before having my first mini panic attack about the upcoming scan. That's progress, folks - I'm normally a train wreck the entire WEEK leading up to a scan. Ask anyone who has to be around me during "that time of year"...

Yay for Josh who will not require sedation for the scan! They'll start an IV for the contrast and he gets to chill out with a pair of video goggles for the duration. Last year I sat in on the scan because he was awake - this year, I'll be in the waiting room with Logan (who gets dragged this year because he doesn't have school and I wasn't able to find someplace more fun for him to go...).

I talked to Joshua about it tonight - he seems just fine. One thing I'm thankful for is that this has been such a constant thing in his life, he's not worried about it. He's not afraid that the scan will show cancer, he's not afraid that the blood work will be off - nothing like that. He's not happy he has to get an IV, but he's excited for the video goggles.

I wish I handled it like he does. It's definitely something to admire in my 8 1/2 year old cancer warrior!

Blind faith. What a blessing.

Why I Don't Buy Cookies...

2011-03-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty picky about the groceries I buy for my family. Part of the reason is because I want them to eat nutrious, well-rounded meals. The other reason is because I honestly have no will power.

Exhibit A: I had a rough weekend. Nothing bad happened, it just felt very stressful, for some reason. Maybe I was thinking about our financial situation since I just got my first check with my reduced hours. Maybe it was "that time of month" and my hormones were getting the better of me. Whatever the reason, I was feeling stressed. How did I cope?

Oreo cookies. Like pretty much the entire package....... And here I am, trying to tone up for summer and re-discover my hidden abdominal muscles, and I eat a whole bag of cookies. Damn.

Exhibit B: Yesterday I came home from work and I had a nagging headache. I was really tired and just feeling junky. I open the cupboard to find a hidden bag of Milano Double Chocolate Cookies. If you follow me on Facebook, you know where this is going... So, I started eating them and before I knew it, half the bag was gone! I'm sure it didn't help that I was laying on the couch. And instead of grabbing a couple and putting the bag back, I brought the whole thing with me so I wouldn't have to get up (lol). Plus, the tv was on, and I ALWAYS eat too much when I'm watching tv.

I got home late from work tonight, found the bag, and ate the rest. Now I have a tummy ache, but at least there are no more cookies in the house! They're all going to be attached to my butt and thighs tomorrow.....

There you have it. Why Amanda does not buy cookies (or junk food in general). I will definitely be "enjoying" a green smoothie for breakfast tomorrow and making better food choices to make up for the last couple of days.

Ugh, my stomach hurts...

Long time, no blog!!

2011-02-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

Yeah... once again I haven't blogged in forever...

Here are some updates from the world of Holman!

Due to cutbacks at work, I was dropped back to part time. Not too thrilled about that, but I do get to spend more time at home with the boys, which is really good for them. Plus, now I have no excuses when it comes to keeping the house clean!! So, my new schedule means I'm down to 4 days a week and 3 day weekends have become standard. No complaints about that part of it - especially once summer gets here and I can take the boys camping or up north to the cabin.

I get to go to kindergarten round-up for Logan this week! He has been waiting for kindergarten ever since he turned 5. I keep trying to tell him that he has to finish preschool first, but he doesn't really seem to understand that kindergarten doesn't always immediately follow your 5th birthday. I love his logic! I wish things in my head were that uncomplicated!

Joshua is very quickly becoming a budding artist. He's been spending a whole lot of time drawing lately. Mostly Pokemon, but that's just what he's in to right now. He spent a lot of time drawing a picture about the computer game "Plants Versus Zombies", which was very impressive. I think he needs a sketch book of his own so he stops using all my post-it notes!!!

We're all anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring. I've been doing some research for our vegetable garden in my downtime (I seem to have more of that lately!!). Things like composting and garden plans have been occupying my mind. I'm craving farmer's market fresh fruits and vegetables and I miss seeing birds! I think seeing the sunshine lately has been a contributing factor. Too bad that it's only 20 degrees outside (even when the sun is out!). Most of our 3 feet of snow melted last week but then on Sunday night/Monday morning we got another foot dumped on us. It was SO NICE to see grass for a couple of days, though.

Rick has been busy with computer work all of a sudden, even though he was getting burned out on it just a couple of months ago. He had put some distance between himself and the computer work until all of a sudden people started coming out of the woodwork to have repairs done. Interestingly enough, this was right before we found out that my hours were being cut in half, so apparently God was preparing us without us even realizing it. No complaints, though... it's been helping to supplement the loss of half my income. Funny how things work....

I need a hobby. Any suggestions? Especially since I don't have to go into work until 3:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids are in school and I have most of the day to myself (that's REALLY weird... I've spent so much time being a working mom I don't remember what free time feels like!!)! We're down to one vehicle right now, so Rick's been scheduling service calls when I'm home, but that means I'm kind of stuck in the house. I need something better than mindless tv and cleaning house to occupy my time! Another reason I'm ready for spring, I think...

Plus, I need something interesting to blog about :)

Soooo...

2010-10-14T20:06:00.000-04:00

Hopefully soon I'll be able to update the pics on my blog!!! One of my co-workers took some photos of us yesterday in the gorgeous Michigan fall woods :) I swear that while the leaves have been at peak color for the last week or so, they all started falling off the trees YESTERDAY, so it made for some fun pictures.

Although you should see my front yard. It's literally COVERED in oak leaves and there are still so many on the tree it's not even worth raking yet! But, they're crunchy and it smells like fall, so I'm not complaining. Yet.

We haven't been able to do family photos in 2 years (although my photo friend Susan so kindly offered to take some of us this summer, it was right around surgery time and I wasn't ready for the world to see the scar in photos that will last forever...) so we had a good time. Even Rick played along (which was huge for him).

I saw a couple shots today and they were great. They were so "us", which is what I was hoping for.

Stay tuned - I hope to be able to post them soon!!!

Good Golly...

2010-09-21T15:35:00.000-04:00

Yeah. I know it's been pretty close to forever since I updated this here blog. To be honest, I've been slacking off on even reading the new posts from the blogs I follow and love. That's not really typical of me. Anyways, life has a way of just getting in the way, so I have a few minutes right now and thought I'd type up a quick post while I'm thinking about it.

I am sitting at my sister's house in sunny St. Petersburg, FL on vacation. I've been here since last week Wednesday and I leave tomorrow to go back home (which is good because I miss Rick and the boys like mad). Since I've been here I've met some really neat and interesting people, done some uber touristy things, sat around and done absolutely nothing with my sister (who is 7 months preggo by the way) except bond, gone swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, taken my nephew on an adventure and went exploring on my own. Plus, I've napped if I've felt like it and just had a great time.

I will say that Florida is hot this time of year, lol. I'm currently hiding from the heat inside because it too hot to be nice out right now. This morning, though, it wasn't too hot so I went hiking at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve and came thisclose to a big ole alligator that was RIGHT by the trail. And I had Thai food for lunch - another first. Later we're heading down to Bayboro House for dinner, which is RIGHT on the Bay, so I'm hoping there's a breeze coming off the water.

This past weekend we went to Fort DeSoto for swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. My brother in law caught 7 sand dollars for me that are currently sitting in bleach water outside so they can get all white and pretty. Sunday we had a picnic at Sawgrass Lake park and went looking for alligators but we only found one baby and that was it! (although today's encounter made up for that!!) I did, though, see a "snake bird" (Anhinga) that was really cool. He went under water, grabbed a fish and took it over to a rock for dinner. Google it if you don't know what they are - they're something else!

Yesterday, I took my nephew on an adventure. We went to the St. Pete pier and went on a "dolphin cruise"! We did actually see some dolphins but they were too busy eating and not interested in coming over to play with us, but it was still really cool. We had a blast. I think this afternoon I might head down to the bay with a blanket and book and just relax until supper time. I was hoping to get some cool stuff during low tides but the low tides aren't really low right now, so I don't think that will happen. I might go manatee hunting in the morning (lol) but I've done that like 4 times and haven't seen anything yet, so we'll see what happens.

St. Pete is gorgeous. I'm jealous of my sister just a little bit (although I hear it's fall back home, which is my favorite, so I'm not that jealous I guess!!). They do, though, have WAAAAAAY more sunny days that we do back in Michigan (average is 361 days a year, I learned). I think I'll take advantage of this for future vacations for sure :)

Seriously... ?!?!?!?!

2010-06-02T21:48:00.000-04:00

The joys of having children...

I know it's been forever since I updated, and I know I need to work on that (because you guys are SUPER interested in what I have to say on here), but this whole "working full time" thing has sort of put a damper on my blog life. It's not that I don't want to blog, or even that I have nothing to blog about - it's simply that I don't have TIME to sit down and blog.

This one, though, I had to share...

So there I was, catching up on other people's blogs while I had a few minutes to myself, when I hear a loudish "thud" in Joshua and Logan's room. I go in to investigate. Bear in mind that the current time is 9:18pm and their bedtime is 8:30pm. Plus it's a school night, AND I've been in there a dozen times telling them to stop messing around and go to sleep. I walk in the room and see that the contents of the pet net are all over the floor. I say "What the heck happened?" and Joshua responds with "Punish me." (while Logan makes it VERY clear that he was not the one who made the pets fall out of the net - that was all Josh). This "punish me" thing is Joshua's latest thing today. Rick and I caught him lying to us (about the same thing, but separately), and the only thing he had to say for himself was "Punish me. I don't care." And who lies about whether or not he watered the strawberries? It's not like I can't go back there and check him to know for sure! If you're going to lie, at least make it worth it!

I digress.

Anyhow, I'm still not sure how the contents of the pet net ended up on the floor. Let's just say I wasn't in the right mindset to go there tonight. I'm also deferring to Rick on the whole "punish me, I don't care" attitude. I'm not a fan and I'm not quite sure how to handle it, so Rick's going to "play that game" with Joshua. I'm pretty sure Joshua doesn't stand a chance in a battle of wills against his dad, but we'll see what happens. In the meantime, though, suffice it to say that I don't really like the current attitude. I'm sure it's normal, but it's kind of a pain...

yard demo, soccer, full-time and a 'lil thing called life...

2010-05-05T22:05:00.000-04:00

Reasons why I haven't updated in almost forever: yard demo, soccer, full time work, and life. Not that I'm just complaining - just explaining :)

Yard demo... pretty self explanatory. We've started tearing up the back yard so we can re-do it. As of today, the patio is gone, stairs are gone, fence is down, the half of the yard closest to the house has been rototilled, and everything for the underground sprinkling has been bought. Here's the plan - putting in a wooden platform where the cement patio used to be. New stairs coming down from the sliding doors onto the platform. Underground sprinklers installed and then sod brought in for the yard that's closest to the house. The rest of the yard is going to have seed thrown down and then weed and feed. We'll see what happens with that...

Soccer... Joshua is doing soccer again. This is his 4th season playing - first year with WLYSC. We're REALLY happy with his coaches - they are actually the varsity coaches, so I feel like he's really learning at practice. He's AMAZING on defense, ok as a forward and not so great as a goalie, lol - but he tries really hard. We'll be practicing with him in the net though, for sure! Games are on Saturdays which means I have missed the last few weeks of yoga class, but that's another topic :)

Full time... I was offered a promotion at work. Yay for that! I've not worked full time since I was pregnant with Joshua, so it's a little of an adjustment. Luckily, the kids are handling it well and Rick and I are committed to making it work (I'm salary now, so it's WAY worth it!). I won't lie though - I've been a 'lil on the tired side lately.

A 'lil thing called life... Logan had Preschool Round Up today, I can't really believe it! He is going to school 4 days a week and it's going to be awesome for him. He BLEW through the assessments they had him do today - even I was impressed with how great he did. Funny thing, though.... it was pretty long and extensive, and when he decided he was done, he was D-O-N-E, lol. Even the teacher noticed it and mentioned it :)

I'm having a Partylite party/brunch on Saturday morning - I'm looking forward to some quality time with my girlfriends. There's just something about candles and brunch that suits me oh so well!

I guess I'll close this post out with some pics of soccer Josh this year and the backyard demo... I haven't brought out the camera to get the pics from the rototilling, but I'll get to that later.

Joshua the "Blue Racer":

Yard Demo:

Waffle Iron Review!!

2010-03-14T14:40:00.000-04:00

I can't say enough about CSN Stores! I was amazed at how quickly the Black and Decker waffle iron arrived after I told them I wanted to review it! It came in on Friday, and we decided to make Saturday Morning "Waffle Day"! The boys (and Rick) were all so excited.

Prepping the Black and Decker waffle iron for the first time was really easy. All you had to do was spread oil on both sides with a paper towel. Then you just heat it up until it's ready (about 5 minutes), pour in the batter, close it up and let it cook until the light turns off, in about 4-6 minutes. I was pretty impressed with how easy it was to use, since I'd never used a waffle iron before. The waffles turned out pretty good. It took me a little while to get the hang of cooking them evenly, but it wasn't too difficult. We had them topped with strawberries, and when my father-in-law stopped over as we were finishing up, I even let him have an extra one so I could get his opinion too.

The waffles weren't quite as thick as I was hoping for, but they were still yummy!! I'm looking forward to adding waffles as a part of our lazy Saturday morning breakfasts :)

Thanks to CSN stores for letting me review this product!

Something fun - and my second post today!!!

2010-03-08T18:33:00.001-05:00

As I was wading through emails today, trying to get caught up from the weekend, I noticed that there was an email in there asking me if I would like to do a product review!! Woot!! How much do I love trying out new things and talking about it... if you know me, you know the answer to THAT!

The email came from CSN Stores, which is an online store that has pretty much EVERYTHING you can think of!!! I was actually looking on there this afternoon for a dog crate for Miss Mika. We've decided she's not trustworthy when we're gone, as we learned this weekend (and every other time we go away)...

Joshua and Logan are in need of some new kids bedding and you can bet I'll be doing some shopping from this site!!! I like to have their bedding sets be complimentary, but not identical, and this website has a lot to choose from!

I'm really excited because I'm going to be doing a product review of this waffle iron ! Waffles are a favorite at our house, but I'll be honest, I've never thought of Black and Decker as being a brand name for small appliances, so we'll see how it works! Look for that review coming soon!!

Super Fun Weekend!!!!

2010-03-08T17:53:00.000-05:00

So, Rick surprised me with an overnight getaway. He said it was to make up for all the times we plan to go away but then something comes up and we can't. I just think it was SO COOL that he planned it himself - it's not very often that I get surprises like that!

I ended up getting called into work on Friday - that was kind of a bummer because Joshua and I had plans before they went to the babysitter's for the weekend. I was planning to go in for a staff meeting at 1:30pm, I just ended up going in at 9:00am and staying through the staff meeting. It will be nice to have that extra day on my paycheck, and luckily, Joshua understood and was ok with us rescheduling (he got a trip to Chuck E Cheese out of the deal!!!). As soon as I got home from work, we loaded up the car and headed out. I didn't guess where we were going until we were just east of Ludington. We turned toward Manistee and I asked Rick if we were going to a casino. Turns out we were on our way to the Turtle Creek Casino/Resort in Traverse City!!! I LOVE going to the casino every once in a while, so I was really excited.

The drive up was REALLY nice, Traverse City is about 150 miles from Whitehall. I'd never actually BEEN to Traverse City, I've driven past it, but never actually gone there. We got to the hotel at about 5:30pm. We checked in, dropped our stuff in the room and headed downstairs to the casino floor. We got $160 in small bills and went to the penny slots. Those fives lasted us about 6 hours of penny slot fun!!! At about 11:30pm, I was getting tired of the slots and we were down to our last $45, so we decided to take it to a roulette table. We put it all on black (the color of my underwear, LOL!!) and it won!!! Up to $90! We decided to let it ride and it won again - a nice cool $180 made in about 30 seconds. We took our chips directly to the cashier and cashed out. By then it was midnight, so we went up to our room because we're old and we go to bed early, lol.

On Saturday morning, we got up about 7:30am and went down to the breakfast buffet. After we checked out of the hotel, we headed into downtown Traverse City for some exploring. Spent the morning down there walking around (the weather was really nice for March in northern Michigan), and it was so cute. Around lunch time we decided to head back south. We stopped off out by the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (we want to take the kids there this summer) and then went into downtown Manistee to do some more exploring. It ended up being about 6:30pm when we finally made it home. Rick and I went out to dinner and then came home and watched movies for the rest of the night.

Yesterday, Joshua had his annual scan. We decided to try it without sedation, so I thought that would mean IV free, but then when we got there, I realized they needed to use contrast for his scan, and he would need to have an IV for that. We were both pretty upset when we realized he was going to get a poke after all... But, he was a trooper (always is!!) and it was ok. He did GREAT staying still for the scans, and I got the call from the nurse this afternoon that he remains cancer free!!!!!!! So, awesome news since we're 6 years from his original diagnosis.

The weather has been "warm" the last couple of days (right around 50), so I hope that means Spring is on its way. We still have quite a bit of snow here, but seeing the sun for a few days in a row definitely gives me hope that winter is on its way out. Can't wait for all the mud that comes along with spring, lol... especially when your yard doesn't really have grass.... I know Rick wants to have a lawn put in this year, so hopefully the money will be there when we're ready to actually do it.

An Overdue Update on Life in the Here and Now...

2010-02-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

I really need to stay on top of this whole blogging thing a little bit better! It seems like I'm posting on an average of once or twice a month which just isn't cutting it. I've gotten a job, so we've spent the last two weeks adjusting to that. It's really good - just an adjustment for sure.

I guess I can start with the new job. I didn't want to say much about it until I knew it was a sure thing, so I haven't mentioned it yet. I loved being home with the kids over the summer, but the last couple of months I've just not been happy staying at home. I felt guilty for spending money when I wasn't bringing any in, I was getting lazy because I could always get stuff done "later" and I was getting tired of feeling like I was stuck in a rut. Believe me, I have no desire to work a full-time job, but I decided to look for a part-time job again to bring some money in and get out of the house on a regular basis. I applied at Ross Medical Education Center in December and had an interview in January. Two weeks after that, they asked me to come in for a second interview, and they offered me the job a week later. Last week was my first week and this is my first week working my regular hours. I LOVE my new job. I'm the part-time office assistant and it's great. 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday, and I alternate between working the early shift (8am to 1pm) and late shift (3pm to 8pm). Every day is different, which is fun, and I'm always busy, which makes the time fly by. Plus I work with some REALLY great people!!

What else... hmm... Joshua has earned his Wolf Badge in Cub Scouts and it looks like Rick might be taking over for his Den Leader, which would be so much fun! Joshua is excited to have his dad be "in charge" of the den and they've been busy planning projects for the rest of the year. We also signed Joshua up for soccer again this spring. It's our first time doing it through Whitehall, so we'll see how it goes. Logan is old enough for soccer, but since he won't start pre-school until fall, I think we're going to put him in next year, so he'll have a chance to be with some of his pre-school friends (maybe).

Since I've gone back to work, Rick has been picking up a lot of slack here at home, which has been great. He's spending so much more time with the boys and they're all enjoying it. The boys are still getting used to the idea of me not being home all the time, and Logan is struggling with understanding why he doesn't go to his old babysitter anymore (since that was the only place he went when I worked before), but we'll get there.

Things have been going really well for us - I sure can't complain!! Joshua has an MRI coming up (it's that time of year again), but I feel like I'm in a good place right now, so I'm not really worried about it, which has NEVER happened before! Must be something about being so close to 6 years past diagnosis!!!

Sunday mornings...

2010-02-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

Today's church service was awesome. I was so excited by it that I want to share it with EVERYONE, which is why I've chosen to post my thoughts on my blog - after all, it's my blog, so I can do that :)

I love going to church. I love Jesus and I love being surrounded by other people who love Him too. I especially love church when the sermon "speaks" specifically to me - which is always conditional on where I am in my life that week. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does, it FILLS ME UP like nothing else.

Today's sermon was called "What Word?". It ended up turning into basically an in depth Bible study of a passage in the book of John - specifically John 1:1-14. Go ahead and look it up if you have a Bible handy. I'll wait :)

It's fun to read the gospels because they are so different from one another, depending on who wrote them. We learned some things about the disciple John this morning. For instance, he was writing mostly to the Greeks, because he wanted them to understand about Jesus. According to my pastor, Mark wrote for the Romans, Matthew for the Jews, and Luke was a doctor, so his book is mostly the chronological (because doctors aren't really known to be great writers, lol).

But John wrote mostly for the Greeks, and a little bit for the Jews, so his focus is different from the others. He focuses a lot on "the Word" because "word" was fundamental in their thinking because to them, the "word" was "life". John wanted them to know that the "Word" was the only way to true "Life". He wanted them to know that through Jesus (the "Word"), they would receive "Life".

The disciple John goes on to talk about John the Baptist a little bit in there, but I just LOVED how our pastor broke down the first 14 verses of the book of John. It "means" something to me now, more than just words written in a book by a man. I think I'm going to read the rest of John, and then dive into the other gospels a little more deeply after that. I think each one will offer a unique perspective.

Sunday school was awesome too, but if you haven't read "Crazy Love", my thoughts on that won't make much sense to you (but if you have, I'd love to hear your thoughts on chapter three!). Suffice it to say that there was a whole lot of talk about God's love - his crazy love for us - even though we're so very undeserving. How some of us have "aha" moments where we "get it", and others have always just had that knowledge, so their experiences relating to God are different. How that's ok because all relationships are different, and how sometimes we need a kick in the pants to remember God's love for us :)

There was also a lot of noticing how when we became parents ourselves, it changed everything we thought we knew about God's love for us.

It has been just a great Sunday so far. Now, if Peyton takes the Colts all the way, that'll be the icing on the cake!!

Latest Things Going On...

2010-01-25T20:39:00.002-05:00

I know it's been almost a month since I updated the blog. Time has a way of getting away from me. Staying home with kids, it's easy to put things off because I know I'll have time "later", but who knows when later will actually arrive.

We are slowly starting to get back into a routine. We've been busy with Joshua's school stuff, Cub Scouts, family stuff and time with friends. Oh, and we got a new puppy, so that's been kind of crazy.

Where to start? I guess we'll start with the puppy - she's fun to talk about. Her name is Mika and she's a 16-ish week old boxer pup. An absolutely gorgeous canine specimen, if I do say so myself! She's extremely mellow for a puppy - especially a boxer! Mellow is good for us, though! She brings out some hidden youth in our 8 year old lab-mix Riley. It's fun to watch them play together - especially the every once in a great while that Riley acts like a puppy herself! Now if Mika could just get a handle on this whole potty training thing, we'd be set! I'm getting tired of cleaning up puppy messes!

Here are a couple of pics of our new little girl:

Oh, and Mika snores like a freight train, which is hilarious until you're trying to sleep!

Joshua's Cub Scout Pack had their annual Pinewood Derby yesterday. It was our first year participating, so we didn't quite know what to expect. Rick's step-dad was more than happy to help us with the car, which was a lot of fun for Joshua. Grandpa Cookies even came to the race yesterday to watch, which made Joshua's day! Our little Wolf Cub ended up taking 2nd place in his den! We were so proud of him, and he was really proud of himself. He even won a medal and he's excited to display his car on a stand that he made with Rick.

My small group is starting a study on Crazy Love by Francis Chan. We're just getting into it, but I'm really looking forward to sharing some insights I learn as we dig deeper into the study. So, look for those thoughts coming soon!

Oh My Stars....

2010-01-03T20:42:00.000-05:00

First, let me start this by saying I really, truly, love my family. On that note, I'm thisclose to selling my children to the zoo, lol! Joshua being on break has wreaked complete havoc on Logan and his schedule, and Logan doesn't adjust well at all. Throw into the mix Logan's birthday, Christmas and New Years, and you've got what I like to call insanity... Plus Rick's been home a ton lately working on the basement, too. All in all, anything resembling Logan's schedule has literally been blown out of the water... I'm VERY ready for Josh to go back to school and Rick to go back to work. It's just really tough with everyone here. Everything is chaotic and crazy. At least during the summer, Rick is ALWAYS working, and the kids and I are rarely in the house, but we've got at least 20 inches of snow at my house, so we've been pretty much home-bound for the last couple of weeks!

Tomorrow I'm hoping for a shift back in the right direction. Wake up times will go back to normal, routine can once again happen, and Logan and I are even going to go to the library, like we do almost EVERY Monday, even though there's no preschool storytime until the end of the month. At least we'll be able to get out of the house and do a little of what we usually do. Logan is wired to need structure and routine, and that just hasn't happened for the last two weeks and the effects of that on him have been getting progressively worse since New Years Eve. He's been having meltdowns all day long, he's been getting angry and lashing out, and even being physical. I'm hoping that all starts to calm down once he re-adjusts to the routine again. I don't expect things to get better overnight, but I sure wouldn't complain if they did :)

So, here's hoping tomorrow is a little better than today was. I don't think I can handle another today, lol. Now that both kidlets are down for the night, I'm going to de-stress to Wii Fit Plus (yoga, anyone??) and likely take a bath before bed...

Preparing for Christmas.....

2009-12-12T14:48:00.002-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures as we prepare for Christmas - my favorite time of the year! We'll start with that always fun tradition of finding a Christmas tree. As much as I wanted to wander out into the middle of nowhere (National Lampoons Christmas Vacation style), with two young children, it's wasn't very plausible. So, we decided instead to go to Stibbitz Farm, right down the road. We were going to get a Frasier Fir this year, but decided instead to go with a basic Scotch Pine because we like the contrast of the dark green with the white lights that we use. The kids were really exicited to pick out a tree.

Although it was really snowy, the trees were SO PRETTY on the lot!

We had to leave the tree in the garage overnight to defrost, and when we brought it in, a mouse decided to come into the house with it!!

Here is the tree before:

And after:

And all lit up:

The boys taking a break from decorating:

I'll get some pictures of the kids under the tree soon, but I haven't gotten to that yet. Last night the weather cleared up enough for us to venture out of the house. We decided to take the boys to see Santa Claus at the Lakes Mall. We're used to going to Rivertown Crossings, but since we moved, we had to go somewhere closer to home. At Rivertown, you can use your own camera to take pictures with Santa... at the Lakes Mall we actually had to PAY for the pictures! But, the boys had a blast, so it was worth it.

And then the boys were SO excited, we needed to let them run off some energy at the play area :)

Today the big plan is to make cookies. I have the Gingerbread dough in the fridge, so we'll start on those. Lots of different cookies will still need to be made, but at least we can start with those. The kids are busy playing on the snow hill Rick made in the backyard with the plow. Gramma Sunshine brought the boys some new sleds this morning, so they're breaking those in.

Wintery Weather

2009-12-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

I love living on the lakeshore. Easy access to the beaches in the summer and literally TONS of snow in the winter! The first significant "snow event" of the season went south of us, but the next one MORE than made up for it. Pictures of that later.

The White Lake Santa Parade was this weekend. I'm used to the Coopersville Santa Parade, which is at night, so it was a little weird heading to see the Christmas parade in the daylight! Not as many Christmas lights on the floats. It was COLD, but we were getting some big, fat snowflakes, so that was neat. Joshua was able to walk in the parade with his Cub Scout Troop.

Here's a picture of the boys getting ready to go:

Logan drinking cocoa in the truck:

His super cute snowsuit (think Ralphie's little brother from A Christmas Story!):

Logan and his daddy:

Here come the Cub Scouts:

Joshua is in the orange hat, looking over the banner:

Oh, back to the snow issue. Like I said, we missed the first storm, but the second system hit us dead on. Thank you, Lake Michigan - it was all Lake Effect. This is our backyard, on Sunday afternoon. It pretty much looked like this when we went to bed on Sunday night:

And this is what we woke up to on Monday:

To say the least, Rick spent most of the day plowing. Logan and I were getting a bit of cabin fever, so we decided to go outside before lunch.

I love living in the woods too. Especially the pine woods. I cannot appropriately describe how pretty they are. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S doesn't even do them justice. I'm amazed at God's creation.

Here's our little house in the wintertime:

We got our Christmas tree tonight. It's just a basic Scotch Pine. We were going to get a Frasier Fir, but decided we liked the dark green of the Scotch Pine as a contrast to the white lights that we like. We're supposed to get a MAJOR snowstorm tonight through Thursday (they're thinking maybe 10+ inches including the additional Lake Effect), and we're supposed to have "blizzard conditions" thanks to the wind on Thursday. It's currently defrosting in the garage, but Rick is going to bring it in on one of his breaks (lol) from plowing tomorrow. If Josh has a snow day tomorrow, the kids and I might start decorating the tree. I've got some of the presents wrapped, and it would be fun to see them under the tree.

Pictures of that to come. Oh, and I'll let you know how much snow we end up getting!!

Unexpected evening...

2009-11-14T21:05:00.001-05:00

Well.... Rick and I were supposed to go on a date tonight. I was REALLY looking forward to it. I've been practically BEGGING him to take me out for weeks now. I honestly don't remember the last time we went on a date and that's ridiculous. I understand that it's not always easy when you have kids, but it's still SUPER important to make it a priority. Anyhow, it hasn't happened, for one reason or another.....

Rick asked a friend yesterday to babysit for us today, and his friend said sure - just call him today and remind him. So, Rick was trying to get ahold of him all evening. The guy's cell phone was going straight to voicemail. Awesome. Good thing we didn't have "important plans" (like our relationship, lol). I was mildly irritated to say the least, mostly because I was SO looking forward to going out tonight. We were even going to leave late, after the kids were already in bed, so all he would have had to do was hang out here and watch tv or hang out in the hot tub.... Whatever. It wasn't meant to be, I guess.

So, my night of going out with my husband ended up being centered around my kids, which isn't a big deal, but is it too much to ask to get to be Amanda every once in a while, instead of Mom? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids to death, and we actually had a lot of fun tonight! It just was not the kind of fun I needed, ya know? But, for whatever reason, my kids needed us to be home tonight more than we needed to go out, I suppose.

We ended up watching Frosty the Snowman, eating popcorn and playing a cut-throat game of Sorry while drinking hot cocoa. It was really great - Rick ended up beating me at Sorry even though I sat with my last guy one space away from home for like 25 turns in a row... Now the kids are in bed, Rick's downstairs playing video games, and I'm just wasting time on the internet... Not exactly what I had in mind for tonight.

Oh well... that's what happens when you have kids, I guess. Everything else is put on hold until they grow up and move out of the house - or are at least old enough to stay home by themselves :)

What a way to end the month...

2009-11-05T12:18:00.006-05:00

Boy am I'm glad to be done with October.

Joshua had a cough for most of the month - I thought it was just a cold, but it turns out it was the flu. Probably H1N1, but thankfully a very minor case. Despite my best efforts, Logan caught it too, so he got to take a trip to the doctor's office because of his age. Thanks to the flu, our trick-or-treating lasted less than half an hour because neither one of the boys was too excited about it. Rick and I got shafted on the candy this year, lol! Josh went back to school on Tuesday, and Logan (who started showing symptoms on Sunday), appears to be on the upswing. Finally. I had a sore throat on Tuesday night, but it never got any worse than that, so fingers crossed, our house is becoming less of a quarantine and we can again re-join the rest of the world...

On a better note, Josh started swim lessons on Tuesday and LOVES them! He wanted Rick to take him, so we were chatting on AIM and Rick was giving me a play by play, lol. This Saturday is Josh's big Cub Scout Fall Hike, so he and daddy are super excited about that. It's a good chance for Josh to do some really cool stuff and they can't wait.

Logan has been quite a handful, being sick. He's VERY clingy and wants to play endless games of Uno and Go Fish. I love him to pieces, but I have my limit when it comes to card games, lol. Luckily he's pretty good during the day, and it's only in the evenings that he gets really bad, which makes it more bearable. I think he's starting to come out of it - he's been pretty self-sufficient today.

I got some really cool news yesterday!! My sister and my nephew are coming up for Thanksgiving! They haven't been back to Michigan in a year and a half, and we haven't seen them since our vacation in February. Josh and Logan can't wait to see Solomon!!! They're going to spend time with my mom in Indianapolis first, and then come up here for my dad's family Thanksgiving the Sunday after.

Oh, and I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my mom and my siblings the weekend before! It's been a while since I cooked for that many people, but I'm looking forward to it.

Before I go, here are some pictures from the end of October:

Merlin and the Boy Wonder:

I have new hair!!! I was ready for something different, so I made a big change. I LOVE it and I'm really happy with it :)

Before:

After:

Looking forward to November and the rest of holiday season! I LOVE this time of year - it's so family centered. I'm even looking forward to snow (for now), because I want to have a sledding party for Logan's birthday! It's not until December 22, but I'm pretty sure that we'll have measurable snow by then, living right on the lakeshore!

October update!

2009-10-27T21:29:00.002-04:00

Yikes - it's been a while! I finally dumped the pictures on my camera so I thought I'd do a quick re-cap of the month thus far.

In case you forgot, the kids were invited to ride in a fire truck at the Fire Prevention Parade this year!

Waiting to load up:

Getting ready to head out:

We also had a wedding this month. Congrats to Kyle and Alx! Here are some pics from the wedding down south:

Waiting very patiently...

Mom and Bob on the dance floor:

My aunt Debbie and uncle Ken celebrating:

Uncle Ken, Aunt Debbie, my cousin Bekah, and mom hiding in the background:

We spent this last weekend with family. We had a Halloween Party with Rick's family on Saturday afternoon, and then Saturday night, we were with my dad and my family for Pumpkin Carving and our annual Chili Cook-Off. I, of course, didn't have my camera, so I don't have pics of the boys in their costumes, but I'll make up for that on Saturday.

Promise!

Super Yum!!!

2009-10-06T23:01:00.005-04:00

I skipped lunch and dinner today. It got a little crazy - the kids were invited to ride in a fire truck for the Fire Prevention parade, so they had Goldfish soup and toast, and I ran around trying to locate hats and stuff because it was chilly and rainy. Afterwards, Rick's cousin and his family came over and we hung out and let the kids play until they were tired out. At about 10pm I realized I was STARVING!! Luckily, Kraft foods had an email in my inbox and it contained a recipe for Loaded Baked Potato Soup. I had to modify it a bit because I didn't have everything on hand, but it was ready in less than half an hour (even though I cooked it on the stove and it boiled over...)!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I'm a big soup person, and I just might eat the whole pot myself tonight!!! I added a can of Cream of Chicken soup because I read that it was kind of thin without it. I skipped the green onions, bacon, and sour cream because I was lazy and hungry, lol, so it's more of a cheesy potato soup, but it's totally to die for!!! Here's the link:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/loaded-baked-potato-soup-94649.aspx?cm_mmc=eml-_-rbe-_-dnr_ideas_from_pntry-_-mjr_mag

Super Yum!! I'm a fan!

Fall Fest, 2009

2009-09-29T12:05:00.004-04:00

This weekend was the White Lake Area Fall Fest. It used to be called Oktoberfest, but apparently people were getting confused because it was actually in September (go figure... they must not know about Oktoberfest in Germany....). Anyhow, my mom came up for the day because Rick had to work, so we decided to check it out.

It was fun! Not too big, but really cool. There were some produce wagons with things like apples, green peppers, peaches, and plums. A local farm was there selling flowers, wreaths, squash, pumpkins and funny looking gourds and there was a HUGE selection of giant mum pots!!!

They also had a cider mill there (YUM!), and elephant ears!! We went through the Arts and Crafts stands and came across some really unique stuff... my mom bought me a birdhouse made out of a giant gourd, LOL!! I'll have to take a picture of that one!

The kids favorite thing (besides pizza and elephant ears!), was the hayride. Double JJ Ranch volunteered a tractor and hay wagon to take the kids on a short little hayride. The boys LOVED it! They wanted to go again!!

After the hayride, they got donuts and apple cider, and even posed for one more "brother picture" for me!!!

Budding Photographer...

2009-09-29T11:59:00.003-04:00

So, I went to unload pictures from the memory card of the digital camera... imagine my surprise when I discovered there were almost 100 pictures on there!! I was thinking "hmmmm, I don't remember taking that many pictures." As I was looking through them, it occurred to me that Joshua had gotten ahold of the camera, lol.

There were pictures of Riley, Logan sleeping, the basement stairs, Rick on the phone, a scrape on his knee, a full dishwasher, the ceiling, the floor, tons of unsuspecting people (none of whom were even looking in the general vicinity of the camera, lol), and some random self portraits, that he took of himself, while sitting on the toilet.

Oh Lord, lol......

I can't wait to bring those up when he brings his first girlfriend home :)

For the Record...

2009-09-23T20:56:00.002-04:00

I was done with my workout by 8:45am today! I was pretty proud of myself! It helped that Rick had to get up early and he wasn't laying in bed sleeping when I was up and about, but regardless, I got it done and out of the way early.

We'll see if that works again tomorrow :)

Oh, one more thing. "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!!!!

Ok, I'm off to finish re-finishing (lol) the console table my mom got me at a garage sale. I'm trying to make the scratches on top disappear...

Been Feeling Kinda Lazy....

2009-09-22T21:51:00.003-04:00

Man, I feel like I've been fighting off a cold for a while now. I have a hard time sleeping, but I'm always tired, and I've been getting some pretty interesting headaches lately. The changing seasons are wreaking havoc on my sinuses, so I'm sure that's it, but seriously! I'm ready to start feeling good again!

It's taking some adjusting getting used to the whole "school year" routine again. I'm up with Joshua every morning to get him ready for school, but the minute he gets on the bus, I just want to go back to bed! Maybe I need to start working out in the mornings - get my energy up right away... I'm going to TRY that tomorrow, but honestly, I don't have much willpower, so I'll probably come up with some kind of excuse.

Sigh.

However, I start an aerobic class on the 30th, so maybe that will help get me back in the groove.

We've been busy working out in the yard lately. Fun stuff like yanking out bushes and removing stone so we can fix our fence. The house next to us is in foreclosure, so this weekend we went out there and thinned out the treeline between our property and theirs. Their yard was SO overgrown that it was making our yard look bad too! That just won't fly, lol. So, armed with a chainsaw, we spent the weekend clearing out trees that were on our property and stocking up on firewood, lol. It's not done yet, but it looks a ton better.

Joshua got signed up for Boy Scouts tonight. He read the paper they sent home from school about it and is CONVINCED that he's going to ride his bike through the mountains, learn to shoot a bow and arrow and cook smores over a campfire, thanks to the pictures that were on the paper, lol. He and Rick are BOTH super geeked about him being a "Wolf Cub"!! Rick maybe even more than Josh, lol! The first big "Pack Meeting" is on Monday, so we'll all be going to that as a family. I was a girl scout for quite a few years, so this is pretty fun for me too :)

Other than that, not a whole lot of excitement in our neck of the woods, but I'll take it! I like when things are quiet!

Oh, I forgot to add... on Sunday, my family had a Golf Scramble, and I DID NOT SUCK, even though it was only my second time ever going "real golfing", LOL! It was fun, and I'm looking forward to next year! It's the time of year when I get to see my family a lot... Pumpkin Carving, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, all really close together! I'm super family-oriented, so it's nice for me to see them a lot this time of year!

Have a great week... I'm off to listen to "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. It looked really funny and I could do with some funny tonight! Thank you, book on CD from the library and MP3 player!

Adios Summer, Hola School Year!

2009-09-08T09:12:00.002-04:00

Another summer vacation is gone. Wow, was it FUN being home with the kids! We were able to do SO much more stuff than we could when I was working. Plus, Rick ended up working just about 7 days a week, every single week, so it was good that the kids were still able to enjoy summer with mom!!

Time to get back into the "Back To School Groove"... Joshua is now in second grade! He was a little apprehensive this morning, but when we left him at his table in Mrs. Morningstar's class, he was fine. Logan, however, is going to have to get used to entertaining himself, without the help of his big brother. When we got home from dropping Josh off to school, Logan started to cry. He so desperately wants to go to school too, poor guy! I'm sure in a couple of days, he'll be fine, and enjoying not having anyone to bother him :)

Here are some pics from this morning:

His breakfast choice was a bagel with peanut butter and a big bowl of blueberries :)

Getting ready to go:

Showing off his new backpack:

I'll try to get some more pics when he gets off the bus this afternoon!!

Ludington State Park

2009-09-02T10:48:00.004-04:00

Rick has been working crazy hours this summer - usually 7 days a week. We haven't been able to do much this summer as a family, which was bumming both of us out. Things are starting to slow down for him so he's been able to have a few days off that weren't because of rain. Yesterday, we decided to take the kids hiking at Ludington State Park.

When we told the kids yesterday morning, they were SO excited! I packed up a cooler for us, tracked down the bug spray, and we were on our way by about 11:30am.

We took the scenic route north through Pentwater so Rick could get his mopeds out so he could rent them over the phone if anyone called (that's what he does when he's not at the store). We drove around Bass Lake (SO PRETTY!), and decided to take the kids to the lookout at Consumers Energy. Just south of Ludington, there's a huge water reservoir where they make electricity. It's like 400 ft deep or something crazy like that. You can walk up the hill and look out at the reservoir and also Lake Michigan. My camera batteries died halfway up the hill, so I didn't get pictures at the top, but I did get some on the way up.

After that, we drove up to Ludington State Park - one of my favorite places to go hiking. We used to go there when I was little and I've been wanting to take the boys for the longest time. It was gorgeous. Warmer than we thought it was going to be though, but that was ok. I wanted to look for a geocache out by the lighthouse, so we decided on the Lighthouse Trail.

When we got about halfway on the trail, I remembered that the last part of that trail, across the sand, is particularly wicked. It was hot and walking in the sand was really hard on all of us, but Joshua did it himself, and Logan tried REALLY hard to make it before Rick had to put him up on his shoulders. Eventually we made it to the Big Sable Lighthouse. It was SO pretty - I should have taken a picture, but I was just so glad to be done walking for a while that I didn't even think about it, lol.

You can climb to the top of the Big Sable Lighthouse for $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for kids, so we decided that would be really fun. After a 5 minute video on the history of the lighthouse, which was REALLY cool, and a demonstration from a volunteer about how light is magnified with a lamp, we climbed the 130 steps to the top of the tower.

It was GORGEOUS up top!!! I've never been to the top of a lighthouse before and was so impressed!! The kids LOVED it!

After we got to the bottom, Joshua and Logan wanted to play on a HUGE tree stump, which was another great photo opportunity.

We decided to take the Lighthouse Road back instead of walking through all that sand again. It was hot, but it was hardpacked, so we were good with that! Right as we were about to get to the Coast Guard Trail to take that back to the truck we saw this:

Unfortunately, it was getting late, so we weren't able to check out the shipwreck, but we're definitely going to see what it's all about next time we're out there. On the way back to the truck, Eagle Eye Joshua spotted some wildlife!!

There is actually a deer laying in the grass in the last one, but you can't see it in the picture. After we made it back to the truck, we went to Dairy Queen for some well deserved ice cream and then we had to boogie back into Whitehall for Joshua's open house at school. But, it was an awesome day and we had a great time together.

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

2009-08-31T21:40:00.003-04:00

Joshua is 7!! Happy Birthday to my firstborn! I won't go into the whole "story of the day he was born", but I will say that my life changed for the better the day he came into it :)

He wanted bbq chicken this year, and we had about 30 people coming for his Family Party last night, so I've been buying chicken every time I go grocery shopping for about the last 6 weeks, lol! I fried up a bunch and then Rick was so kind as to grill up the rest with some bbq sauce. I made a bunch of potato salad (which ran out way too quickly), and we had some baked beans and pretzels. It was very picnicky and that was what I wanted. Joshua LOVED IT! We were able to have the party outside, even though it was chilly, and Rick had a bonfire going which was really nice. Kids played on the playset and had a blast! Here are some pictures:

Here he is with his Bumblebee cake:

Joshua got some great gifts, but his favorite from Aunt Cheryl and Nick. It was a CD, and in the picture, he's trying to figure out which one it is:

And this is when he realized it was TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!!!

He got TONS of money too:

Today we went to McDonalds for lunch and then to the movies. I had asked Joshua what he wanted to do - play putt putt, go to Craigs Cruisers, Chuck E Cheese, a movie at the theater - whatever he wanted! He chose a movie, so we went to see "Shorts". It was actually really cute! Even Logan sat through almost all of it!! It was only about the last 15 minutes that he started to get fidgety, but the theater was so empty, I just let him go sit wherever he wanted and he was fine.

Tonight we had a party with some of his friends. He doesn't start school until after Labor Day, so if we were to have a party with classmates, it would have to wait until midway through September, so this year, we decided to invites some friends of ours who have kids that Joshua plays with and call it good!! It was TONS of fun! Tacos and cupcakes!! It doesn't get better than that! The kids brought swim suits and played in the hot tub. More playset and another bonfire!!

Here is Rick helping the kids with the cupcakes:

Joshua's best friend, Nick, who came out from Coopersville:

Logan, Sydney and Morgan:

Morgan and Chase:

Cameron, Joshua and Andi:

Opening presents:

A hot tub full of kids!!!!

Joshua had SO MUCH FUN! Here he is with Nick - I think that was the highlight of his birthday, seeing Nick again! Amy, thank you SO MUCH for making the drive from Coopersville!!!

Here's Sydney, Joshua and Morgan - he is DEFINITELY his father's son - surrounded by the ladies :)

And some new friends were even made (Andi and Sydney):

Happy Birthday to you! You live in a zoo! You look like a monkey, and you smell like one tooooooooo!!!

WE LOVE YOU JOSH! Hope today was everything you hoped for and more!

Maritime Festival

2009-08-20T20:54:00.004-04:00

The White Lake Area Maritime Festival started today. It's actually a really fun festival. There is a community picnic, arts and crafts fair, beer tent, shrimp boil, trout pond for the kids - tons of fun stuff. Tonight was the Community Picnic. For $2 you got a hot dog dinner with chips, cookies and a drink - can't beat that! Plus, there were games for the kids with prizes and stuff.

I had never been to the picnic before, but I brought the boys and met up with my friends Kait and Dawn, and their kids. There were TONS of people there but it was actually pretty fun. The highlight of the night was the "Foam Penny Scramble". Basically, they put a bunch of money in the grass, then the firefighters cover the whole area with fire retardant foam!!!!!! On the count of three, the kids all rush into the pile of foam and start digging for money, LOL!! Joshua and Logan had an absolute blast :)

The pictures that I got are off my phone, so the quality is far from fantastic, but it's good enough that you will get the idea!!

Here is Logan, just after he slipped and fell UNDER all the foam and was covered from head to toe. I had to wipe his face off so it didn't get in his eyes, lol. He was less than thrilled at this moment:

Joshua LOVED the foam - he had so much fun slipping and sliding everywhere!!!

Logan decided to give it another go and had more fun the second time around:

And Joshua again:

It was right into the shower when we got home to wash all the soap, grass and dirt off, lol!! I am really glad the kids had fun because I only spent $6 total for the night! I can't wait to check out the trout pond on Saturday - I think they are gonna LOVE that!!!

Oh, and I can't wait for the beer tent tomorrow night :)

Water Fun

2009-08-17T11:25:00.002-04:00

I SO desperately wish I had taken pictures of this yesterday, but I was in the middle of cleaning, so I didn't. I will warn you, however, that this story is so much funnier with a mental picture, but I still wanted to record it so I don't forget it!!

Yesterday was H-O-T and humid in Michigan. Almost 90 degrees, even on the lakeshore!! There was a decent breeze that made it bearable, but it was still crazy hot. I was trying to clean house, so I sent the boys out to water the vegetable garden before lunch. When they were done, they asked if they could play with the hose, and that was fine - I thought they'd enjoy the FREEZING COLD well water that we have out here, lol. I sent them out to the middle of the yard so they didn't get the laundry on the line wet, and told them to have at it.

Famous last words, LOL!

I was going about my cleaning when I heard crying coming from the backyard. I walk over to the sliders and Logan is standing on the patio, covered in mud....... Apparently, the boys decided to make a waterslide. Great idea, except we don't have grass in the backyard - just weeds and dirt. they didn't see that the waterslide was creating a mud hole at the bottom of the slide.

Logan went down the slide, and fell... right into the mud hole, LOL! Now, it was hot, so the kids were chilling in their underwear. I didn't really care because they were in the backyard and we don't have neighbors, lol. It definitely made it funnier to see Logan in his Scooby Doo underwear with his butt COMPLETELY covered in mud, lol. I so wish I had taken a picture before I hosed him off!

They had a blast - and that's the important thing. But, the look on Logan's face when he turned around to show me his muddy butt was absolutely priceless!!!!

Fun Couple of Days!!

2009-08-12T12:21:00.004-04:00

Rick went out of town yesterday, so the kids and I decided on a little mini golf - something "Daddy didn't get to do because he was gone", lol. I took a couple of pics of the boys before we left:

Funny faces:

Today I sent the kids out to play until lunch. I heard a MASSIVE amount of screaming, went flying to the slider door to find out that "THERE'S A FROG IN THE SOCCER NET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". I told Josh to see if he could catch it, and he was successful. It's currently swimming around in a bucket of water in the backyard :)

Joshua's new friend:

Froggy close-up:

A REALLY great shot of my oldest:

I didn't want to leave Logan out of the post, so I asked him if I could take a picture of him playing on the swing - he very reluctantly agreed that I could take one, lol!!

I love having boys :) As long as they don't ask to keep the frog, lol. Or catch a snake!

Playset Pics!!!

2009-08-11T15:00:00.002-04:00

I know I was supposed to have these posted a while ago, but life happens!! Here are the pics of the new playset. I need to re-do the fabric on the top, but in order to do that, I need to find time to get to Joann Fabrics, lol.

Anyhow, without further ado:

Pretty sweet, huh!! I'm looking forward to having it for Joshua's birthday party at the end of the month :)

Hurray!!

2009-08-04T20:52:00.002-04:00

The play set is up and functional :) The boys are uber excited to play on it tomorrow. We let them play a bit tonight before bed, but tomorrow, I can kick them out into the backyard for an extended period of time, lol. Maybe now stuff will stop being overturned in the backyard as the kids look for bugs - that's the only thing they would do out there before....

I have pictures, but I need to re-size them, so I'll try and get those up later tonight or tomorrow :)

Yay!!!

Busy week on tap!!

2009-08-01T11:19:00.002-04:00

Looks like August is starting out with a bang! This week alone, is already filling up on the calendar! If the weather holds, we might be going to a pig roast today with Rick's mom. It's supposed to be a lot of fun and Josh and Logan are looking forward to it. Then tomorrow, we've been invited to Mona Lake, so hopefully Rick can get someone to cover the store. He's been working 7 days a week lately and it's not an easy thing to adjust to, especially in the summer!!

On Monday, we're getting our swing set - I haven't told the kids yet, but they'll be stoked when it gets dropped off in the backyard! It will be SO NICE for them to have something to do outside, other than look for bugs (yes, I have a couple of future entomologists living under my roof!!). Josh and Logan know that we're getting a swing set, but they don't know it's coming Monday. Plus, I can send out invites to Joshua's birthday party now that we'll have it! We were going to rent the pavilion at the park down the road, but we decided to save ourselves the money if we could get the swing set in time.

Tuesday is my brother's birthday. I think maybe we'll take him to Craigs Cruisers or something like that. He'll be leaving for grad school soon, and I'm gonna miss having him around! He's been staying with us during the weeks this summer and it's been nice to have someone to play tennis and volleyball with.

Oh boy... on Thursday, one of my good friends is having her bachelorette party. I haven't gone shopping for that one yet, but I'm looking forward to it! I'm going to meet up with them later in the evening for some bar hopping in Grand Haven. I love bachelorette parties, so that will be loads of fun :)

And she gets married on Saturday! I need to find someone to watch my kids for me that day and night. Rick is HOPEFULLY going to be able to get someone to cover the store so he can escort me to the wedding, but otherwise, here's hoping he can make the reception. I love going to weddings and receptions because it is literally the ONLY time and place my husband will dance with me in public, LOL. Plus, it's an excuse to dress up and wear make-up, so I'm all about that!

Oh yeah, I still have to shop for a wedding gift too... I'm such a procrastinator!!!

More stuff coming up next week, plus my nephew turns 3 and Joshua turns 7 this month!! I can't believe how fast time flies...

White Lake Pier and Duck Lake

2009-07-19T12:41:00.002-04:00

If you know me at all, you probably know that there is no place I'm happier than by the water. One of the biggest things I love about living in Whitehall is that I can go to the water whenever I want because we're right on Lake Michigan.

Rick has been working 7 days a week lately, so we've been trying to do stuff with the kids in the evenings after dinner when he gets home. Last week we went and played mini golf, this week, I wanted to go to the White Lake Pier. It was a little on the chilly side, but jeans and sweatshirts were perfect and we had a really great time.

Here is Logan being cute on the way:

And Joshua's cute face:

The boys on the rocks:

At the end of the pier with Lake Michigan behind them (the sun was kind of in Joshua's eyes, lol):

And the channel leading into White Lake in the background:

At the end of the pier, there were some fisherman bringing in some King Salmon. We got to see them reel one in that had to have been 24 inches long! Josh and Logan were very impressed - as was I, since it took the guy 28 minutes to reel him in!!!

On the way back, we saw a caterpillar sitting on a plant. Joshua swears it was a monarch caterpillar! We tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out too well:

When we were done at the pier, we decided to head out to Duck Lake and climb on the big sand dune over there. I figured it would wear the kids out so they would sleep extra well :)

Here they are at the top of the dune, with Lake Michigan in the background:

Joshua and I got our picture taken - he was being "cute" again, lol:

And then Joshua and Rick:

And then Logan had to get in on that one, lol:

We had such a great time! There was minimal whining when it was time to leave, which was nice. I get really frustrated when there are major meltdowns whenever it's time to leave someplace fun. Joshua has been working on that lately. I keep reminding him that if he whines and cries, I'm going to stop taking them fun places, lol.

I'm taking the boys camping with some friends this week. That should be fun. We've never gone without Rick before, so I'm hoping we have a good time and nothing majorly catastrophic happens over those two days, lol! We're going to Hoffmaster State Park, which is great because they have a nature center and hiking there. I'm really looking forward to it :)

A little bit of a change :)

2009-07-15T15:15:00.009-04:00

Since we moved in, I've been planning on re-doing the bathroom. It's one of the two only rooms that weren't recently updated when we bought this house. The other one is the Master Bedroom, but that seemed more daunting, so I decided to start with the bathroom first.

My "vision" for the bathroom was pale yellow walls with white trim and doors. So, I went to Menards to get some paint. Chose the color, got it home, patched and sanded some holes from hardware, and I waited. I wanted to make sure it was the "right" color. I decided this weekend that the yellow was too dark. So, back to Menards for a re-tint. I had them lighten it a couple of shades and that was it.

I also ended up buying a new light fixture to replace the very dated one that was in there. I want to replace the medicine cabinet too, but in the interest of not spending all the money in the checking account, that will have to wait, lol.

So, Monday night after I cleaned the toy room, I got everything taped off to do the walls. It took WAY longer than I was anticipating.... But, I got it done and was ready to paint on Tuesday.

My brother was my "helper", and we're both pretty picky perfectionists, so it worked out ok. We decided to take the tank off the toilet, remove the old light fixture and take down the medicine cabinet. Talk about more of a job than we were planning on. I think it was like 1pm before we even got the primer on the walls.... and it was midnight before the second coat of paint was dry enough to put the toilet tank on!! Oh, and you can imagine how fun it was to not have a working toilet all day long with 2 kids... luckily they are boys and they can pee in the backyard, LOL!

This morning, we got the shower curtain back up, the light fixture installed and the medicine cabinet back up. In a couple of weeks I'll do the trim, doors, ceiling and cabinet. I don't want to put tape on the new walls until it's had more than enough time to dry. So, for now, the walls are painted, the light is in, the medicine cabinet is up and 1 towel rack in back on the wall. Everything else will have to wait a couple more days :)

I LOVE the color on the walls. It's still a little darker than I had envisioned, but it really brightens up the space. I can't wait to see it paired with fresh white ceilings, trim, doors and cabinets! Here's a picture of the before and after - with blue painters tape still up and everything, lol. I'll take the tape off probably later tonight after the cold front comes through and drops the humidity a bit.

Before:

After:

New Light:

Lemme know what you think!!

Relay for Life TOMORROW!

2009-07-09T17:12:00.004-04:00

Relay for Life is tomorrow! Eek! Despite my best efforts, I'm not ready... I'll feel better later tonight after we've set up some stuff in Allendale.

Hopefully the weather holds... there is a chance of thunderstorms on Friday night. That would put a monkey wrench in the Relay plans...

Prayers would be good.... I'm stressing out about this a little bit.

Donations can still be made at our website: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teamjoshua

Breaks my heart....

2009-07-04T10:42:00.008-04:00

Have you seen this YouTube video? It's been floating around blogs and Facebook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ese3zYZ-NA4

I can't even watch all the way to the end. It's just too close to home. I remember feeling like that. Like you can't breathe. Like you're looking at the world from underwater and everything is distorted and this can't actually be happening. I've joined the CaringBridge page... it's how I keep track of all the people I know that are going through this. Honestly, though, I feel like I know too many families who are walking this road. And it's just not fair. But, I just remember that the reason we were chosen for this journey is so we can hold the hands of other families who will have to face this down. It's the only reason this makes any kind of sense to me....

Anyhow, prayers for another Brain Tumor Warrior. She has a long road ahead of her, and her parent's will need more support than you can IMAGINE. That's from personal experience...

Speaking of cancer, it's the last week for us to collect donations for the Relay for Life. The event starts Friday! If you want to make a donation, go here: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teamjoshua

Donations are way down this year, which sucks. Please consider making a donation to help us fund research to put an end to the number of families that have cancer as part of their lives.

Beaching It

2009-06-23T09:44:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite things about living in Michigan is all the water. My favorite place in the whole world, is sitting at the beach, listening to the waves with my feet in the sand. On Father's Day, we went out to Mona Lake to see family. It was FINALLY warm enough for swimming! Lois has this awesome raft thing that seats, I think, 8 people. It's pretty awesome. Just floating on the lake with my eyes closed is my idea of heaven...

Yesterday, Rick took Joshua up to his Pentwater store so they could spend the day together. Logan and I went out to Duck Lake State Park with my friend Kait and her daughter Andi. We were down there for.... I would guess almost 4 hours. Even after re-applying sunblock twice, I still got burnt! On my shoulders, part of my back, right around my swimsuit top, a little on my stomach, and the front of my thighs!!! Sleeping last night was really uncomfortable. I think I might have sweated the sunblock off because it was so hot out... I'm on a quest for some better sunscreen today on my way into Muskegon - something with an SPF of 1,000,000, maybe :)

We're off to Muskegon in a bit today. Back to Mona Lake. I'll be sitting in the shade, LOL!!

"Ride for a Cure"

2009-06-12T19:37:00.002-04:00

Most of you know our story - that Joshua was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in April, 2004 when he was 20 months old. He's been cancer free for 5 years, and in honor of that, Rick and my brother "Uncle Michael" have decided to do a special fundraising event for the Relay for Life.

They leave on Sunday morning and they're driving mopeds all the way to Key West, FL. Since the mopeds only go 40 mph, they are taking back roads all the way down there. Hopefully camping at State Parks every night of the journey.

All the money raised will be for Team Joshua and the Relay for Life.

There has been a Facebook account created for this trip - if you search for "Rick Moped Holman", you can add them as a friend. They will be updating Facebook with pictures and video as they make their way southward.

WZZM 13 came today to interview Rick and Josh about the trip. They aired it during the 6:00pm news today, but if you missed it, here's the link to the story online: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=110276

So, flood Heaven with your prayers for a safe journey for my husband and my brother... I'm so proud of them both, but I would really like to see them make it home in one piece!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Assorted Athletic Activities :)

2009-06-06T14:34:00.002-04:00

Last summer I remember telling my brother "Michael, I want to play beach volleyball next summer." We were sitting in Muskegon, on Lake Michigan, listening to our dad and uncle play live music on the deck. There was a beach volleyball tournament going on at the beach in front of us. It looked like so much fun! Volleyball was always my favorite, but thanks to bad genetics, I received a knee injury many moons ago that put the kibosh on my plans of professional volleyball, lol. In fact, it was the sort of injury that made it difficult to do ANYTHING remotely healthy for my body - from running to kickboxing, lol... I honestly had not played since before I had children, and Joshua will be 7 in August...

Fast forward to, oh, about 3 weeks ago. My friend from high school, Lindsay, had sent an invite to everyone on her Facebook friends list inviting them to get together and play beach volleyball once a week through the summer!! I love when things fall into place like that! I immediately let her know I was in, and had been waiting to hear when the first time would be. We decided on Thursday nights, at the Grand Haven State Park on Lake Michigan. This past Thursday was the first one. It occurs to me on Monday that maybe a little practice would be in order, to avoid making a fool of myself....

So, Tuesday night, Michael and I headed over to our friend Scott's house for a little "practice", since we all want to play. Practice turned into a deathmatch of insane proportions, LOL. We were ALL out of practice, but were trying SO HARD not to look ridiculous. I was bleeding in various places and we ALL had bruises and contusions up and down our forearms, LOL.

I woke up Wednesday morning barely able to move, lol. Went to the zoo with Josh's class for a field trip and felt better as long as I was moving. Assuming that sitting around would do my aching mucles NO GOOD, we decided to play some tennis on Wednesday night. Much easier on my body than volleyball, for sure :)

Unfortunately, I am not all that athletic by nature, but I LOVE sports, so I don't care. My poor brother (who was a tennis star in HS), took it upon himself to show me some pointers, lol. Luckily I catch on pretty quickly, so it wasn't as disheartening as it could have been!! I felt a whole lot better after a game of tennis, though. A lot less stiff and sore.

So, Thursday night, we headed down to Grand Haven for the maiden volleyball game. It was SO MUCH FUN. I will say that sand is a whole lot more giving than grass is. My body was thankful for that :) Luckily, I've been taking glucosamine for my knee for the last couple of months, and it appears to be working, because I was able to play hard for 3 days in a row and not have any knee issues at all!! I can't wait until the next time we play! We weren't great, by any means, lol, but we didn't look ridiculous, which is awesome! I can't play next week because I have to go back to work (long story, different post - one of these days), but I'm looking forward to Thursdays for the rest of the summer!!

Especially since on Thursday nights, my dad and uncle play at Jack's in Spring Lake, on the deck out there, and it's on the way home :)

Last day tomorrow!!

2009-05-28T22:50:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is my last day of work! I've been training my replacement since last week Friday. I'm REALLY looking forward to spending time with the boys - and NOT driving 3 hours a day for a 4 hour work day!!!

Logan thinks that we're going to Michigan's Adventure on the first day of summer vacation for Joshua, lol. It's not easy telling a 3 year old that we'll go sometime this summer, but probably not the first day of vacation :)

I can't wait to spend days at the beach, 10 minutes away from home. I want to take my kids down to see my family in Toledo - take them to the zoo, let them get to know their cousins - all that fun stuff. Just to be able to hang out with the boys and not do ANYTHING special. I've never been able to do that before - always had to work all summer long.

I'm a little nervous about the single income, lol, but I know Rick will take care of us :)

Living in Michigan

2009-05-18T10:25:00.002-04:00

I've lived in West Michigan my entire life. I was lucky enough to have a dad who worked with my grandpa in the family business of selling travel trailers. I have done my fair share of camping. Everything from Jellystone Park, which is like a resort and not really camping at all, to "roughing it" as we used to call it, up north by the Mackinac Bridge where we were lucky to find an outhouse. My grandpa has a cabin north of Baldwin on Wolf Lake. Most of my summer weekends when I was a kid were spent either at the trailer on Big Star Lake (also in Baldwin) spending days at the cabin, or spending the whole weekend at the cabin. I've never been scared up there.

My brothers wanted to go hunting for morel mushrooms this weekend - this is a Michigan tradition. They grow at my house in Whitehall, under the neighbors Elm trees. We've done a lot of hunting for morels by the cabin, but we decided to try the Ludington area this time. My family has always loved hiking and we would often take day trips to Ludington State Park to hike the trails up there. After having a picnic up there at Lost Lake (at the request of Kevin), we took off for the trails.

2 hours of morel hunting / hiking later, we decided that we needed a different area. Maybe it was too sandy where we were looking, not enough Elm and Ash trees - who knows. But, we were not finding anything.

Out of the State Park we went and we jumped onto M-10. That highway takes you east all the way to Baldwin. It's about a half an hours drive from Ludington to the cabin. We got in, parked at the cabin and took off for the woods. Too dry and too many pines. We searched for a couple of hours, got eaten alive by mosquitoes (they were SO BAD there!!!), and gave up. Decided to head into Baldwin for a pit stop at Jones Ice Cream - yet another family tradition.

We leave the cabin and jump onto M-37, which is the "main drag" and will take us into town. We're heading south - my brother Kevin is driving - when we saw something we had NEVER seen before.

A Black Bear. Crossing the road. Right in front of the car. Oh, and it came out of the SAME woods we had JUST been in!!! In the back of my mind, I knew that there were bears up there. But, I've never been worried of them in the woods. And I've never really seen any sign of them either. Until today.

So, we struck out when it came to morels, but we saw a bear. That made up for a wasted day of morel hunting, LOL. For the rest of the night, the three of us just kept looking at each other saying "Wow. We saw a Black Bear. At the cabin!".

I've heard rumors of Mountain Lions in Baldwin too - I'm going to have to do a little looking around. That makes me more nervous than bears.

The joys of living in Michigan!!!

Mom's Special Day!

2009-05-11T21:29:00.004-04:00

For all the moms out there, I hope you had a beautiful day! No one said being a mom was easy, but if you are one, you know how huge the payoff is!!

I had a wonderful Mothers Day. For the first time since being a mom, my day was about me. In years past, we've always gone to see our moms, or invited them over for brunch or dinner. This year I just wanted to stay home. Do yardwork and spend the day with MY family. I figured that our moms have had many more Mothers Days than I have, so they wouldn't mind. Glad I was right and they were so understanding :)

Joshua was in my room as soon as he woke up (like 7am). He had made me some gifts at school and hid them in his room. He's been waiting so patiently for Mothers Day to roll around. I wish I could have recorded his face... he was so excited it literally melted my heart!! As soon as that boy woke up he was in my room asking me if I was ready for his gifts. They were so sweet! A hand-stamped card, bookmark, and sunflower picture that said "My love for you grows, and grows, and grows."

After that, the "boys" (Rick included), decided I needed to sleep in. They wouldn't let me get up until 9:40am!!! I snuggled with them all, and then laid in bed by myself (not sleeping, just "sleeping in"). Then the kids would come back in for a while, then leave again. It was so important to them that I "sleep in" that I didn't have the heart to get out of bed until they told me I could, LOL!!

Rick made me french toast (yum!!) and then while I was in the shower, he and Josh assembled my gift:

I told Rick when we first looked at this house that if we bought it, I wanted a hammock. So, Happy Mothers Day to me!!!

We spent the rest of the day doing yardwork, took a drive to Lake Michigan, went for ice cream, and did some geocaching (which Rick doesn't really enjoy, but Joshua and I do, so it was nice that the whole family came along). Then home to relax in the hot tub and do laundry before bed. I even got a Mothers Night backrub before I fell asleep, lol!!

It's so easy to get caught up in all the busyness of having young kids, so it was so nice to spend the day just enjoying them for a while! I often lose sight of the fact that they won't be little for long and expect them to act older than they are... One day I know I'll regret that, so I'm trying to stop thinking that way. It's not worth it! Soon enough they'll be big and they'll never be little again! I don't want to miss out on any more of that! I'm actually done working at the end of the month and I cannot tell how much I am looking forward to that!!!!!

Be on the lookout for millions of pics of the boys as we get closer and closer to summer :)

Whirlwind!

2009-05-05T10:27:00.002-04:00

It's been pretty crazy here lately... Started last week Friday when my brother Mike's girlfriend's sister starting having major complications after having a baby on Wednesday. Spent the evening snuggling the baby at her house while the family was all at the hospital - amazingly enough I didn't get 'lil girl fever!! I thought for sure I'd go home with the idea of having another one in the back of my head. Didn't happen though, which is good, because I really DON'T want to have another baby right now!

Spent Saturday doing a little geocaching in the morning and then helping my step-mom, Sue get ready for a birthday party. My dad celebrates the big 5-0 tomorrow, so we were celebrating early. My feet were KILLING me by the time 9pm rolled around and Rick and I headed home shortly after that. Got home, watched a movie and went to bed! We were up at 5am on Sunday to head down to Indianapolis. Spent the day there and then came home Sunday night after dinner. Got home between 11pm and 11:30pm, hit the sack, and woke up for work yesterday! It was a pretty jam packed weekend!

I've decided to leave my job at the end of May. Since we moved to Whitehall, I'm now70 miles from work! I have to leave at 8:30am to be to work at 10:00am!! And then I drive another hour and a half to get home! It's not worth being on the road for 3 hours for a 4 hour workday... So, I'm for sure taking the summer off. Not sure what I'll do in the fall - depends on what we can afford. I'm really looking forward to being able to do so many fun things with Josh and Logan this summer!! It'll be nice not to have to push everything back to the weekend. There aren't enough weekends in the summer!!

Oh, funny development... Rick and my brother are driving mopeds to California to raise awareness for the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life!! I think we're going to call it "Cruising for a Cure". They plan to leave the second week in June. They will be gone for probably 2 weeks for the round trip. I'm sure glad I don't have to ride a moped that far!!

Mother's Day is this weekend and then my birthday is next Friday, so that should all be fun! I'm not planning anything for my birthday... Rick is always really busy this time of year, so I'm not holding my breath for anything, lol. Same thing for our anniversary in July, lol... We always plan stuff but it falls through because of work.

Ciao for now!

Some Cancer-versary Pics!

2009-04-27T23:25:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share a few "Cancer-versary" pics from this weekend.

I know this is blurry, but it was on a whiteboard and I had to turn the flash off. You get the idea, though :)

What we had for dinner:

SuperJosh and his "Happy Remission" cake:

A toast for Joshua. I wish you could have seen his face - it was pure joy!!

Five

2009-04-27T11:10:00.005-04:00

April 27, 2004. The day my life, and everything in it, was flipped upside down and shattered into a million pieces.

I don't need to look at pictures to remember the day. I assure you that everything about it is burned into my memory. The sounds, the sights, the smells - it's all there.

I remember sitting in Joshua's ICU room. It was dark because he was still really drugged up. I had scooted the rocking chair right next to his bed. I was holding him in my arms and just rocking with him. All the lines and tubes were draped across his body, keeping him hooked to all the monitors and IV pumps.

Rick had just left with his brother. They had gone across the street to Burger King. My mother-in-law, Patti, was sitting on the other chair across the room, by the window. We were just talking quietly.

The door opened, and in walked Dr. Dickens. We had only met him once before, during surgery. He had come into the surgical waiting room and had asked us if we would allow him to keep Joshua's tumor for research if it turned out to be cancer. He seemed really nice, but honestly, I didn't want to know him if he was a cancer doctor. When he came into the room, I looked up, and felt sick to my stomach.

He kneeled down onto the floor in front of me and he looked me in the eyes. "We looked at the tumor under a microscope and we're pretty sure it's cancer."

That was it. One sentence that literally changed my life forever.

I started to cry. I just held my little baby and rocked, back and forth, clinging to him like he was all I had left. My mother-in-law walked over. She put her hand on my shoulder and cried with me.

Then something occured to me. Rick was gone. He wasn't there when Dr. Dickens came in. When he got back, I was going to have to tell him the news. It was about 10 minutes later when he came in with his brother. I told him we needed to go for a walk. We went down to the lobby and I had to tell him the worst possible thing for a parent to hear.

Our son, this child we created together, who was literally our whole world, had cancer.

The days after that are a blur. I remember getting moved from PICU to this place called 7 South. It was where all the other "cancer kids" were. We stayed there for the rest of Joshua's recovery from surgery. I remember these oncologists coming in and talking to us about treatment, chemotherapy, side effects, stem cells, harvesting, transplant, rescue, survival rates. I didn't understand any of it. I couldn't even absorb it all. I just sat and cried during the entire conversation. Thank God our moms were there and heard what we didn't. We were in shock and could not comprehend all these things these doctors were saying.

One day at a time, we made it through. Sometimes trying to survice the whole day was too much for me, so I would promise myself I would make it through the next hour, or the next 15 minutes. Whatever it took.

Two weeks after surgery we started chemo. I remember sitting in the hospital room on May 9th, which was Mother's Day that year. Joshua was getting his first round of chemo. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is not how I wanted to spend today." May 15th is my birthday. Joshua was still getting chemo. I sat there and thought to myself, "Who would have thought I would spend my birthday watching my child get poison pumped into his body to fight a disease that will otherwise kill him?"

Fast forward through 5 rounds of standard chemo, one round of high dose chemo, a stem cell transplant on October 27th, 2004. We checked into the hospital for transplant in October and didn't leave until December. Then we had to keep him in isolation at home until February, 2005.

It was our life for almost a year.

But today, April 27th, 2009, Joshua celebrates his 5 year "Cancer-versary".

Look how far he's come. Look how far WE'VE come as parents and a family. God has greatly blessed the people most important to me, and I am so thankful for that.

I know too many parents whose children lost the battle. I've seen with my own eyes, too many children that I love and care about earn their angel wings and leave their devoted families behind to learn to live again without them. It's not fair. I still cry about it and I still get angry sometimes. Why is it that children, who haven't even had a chance to LIVE, have to go through something like this?

It doesn't make me less happy that my child survived. But it does make me more passionate at finding a cure for this, so other families will NEVER know how hard this journey is.

Something to Celebrate

2009-04-26T22:02:00.011-04:00

Tonight, Rick and I had some special people over for a special kind of party. Tomorrow, April 27th, Joshua celebrates 5 years since his diagnosis of a malignant medulloblastoma brain tumor. It's his "Cancer-versary", to steal a phrase from my friend Michelle. Because it's been 5 years, we wanted to celebrate Josh, and also take the time to thank our family, who were truly our ROCK when he was so very sick.

Here are just a few reasons why we celebrated them tonight. They might seem like small and insignificant things, but I assure you, they meant the world to us:

They all spent an agonizing day in the Surgical Waiting Room with us on the day of his tumor resection. We grabbed a corner and commandeered all the chairs around and just sat. And waited. And they took us to get food and coffee, made us take walks when we didn't want to, because they knew we couldn't just sit there the whole time. They cried with us, held us, held us (well, me) UP when I could barely stand because I was such a wreck...

My mom, more than once, gave me a ride to the hospital when Rick would have to rush Joshua to the ER because he spiked a fever and I would have to stay behind and get the "Hospital Bag" packed because we knew we'd be there for at least a week for IV antibiotics. We would always stop and get Joshua something new to play with for this inpatient stay. Hey mom, remember the time we got stuck in the traffic jam when I-96 was closed? It took us almost 2 hours to get through it and get to the hospital. I was a train wreck. Thank you for being there for me - I can't imagine I was good company at all. In fact, if I remember correctly, I may have yelled at you a couple of times for not being able to make it all go away... sorry about that!

Sue, my step-mom, would pop in on her lunch break from work because she worked in downtown GR, not too far from DeVos Children's Hospital. Just to give us a break when she could.

My father-in-law, Rick, paid for us to get new carpet because we didn't have the money (obviously) and we needed to replace the carpet before Joshua could come home from his transplant.

My dad, who absolutely hates hospitals and cannot stand to be in them, came down and painted a Winnie the Pooh scene with tempera paint on the window in Joshua's room when he checked in for his transplant. It was going to be our room from October until December, and we wanted it to be just a little more homey.

My grandma came down, faithfully, every Wednesday morning. I would stay at the hospital on Tuesday nights so Rick could have a night at home, and then she would come down when I had to go to work on Wednesday so Rick wouldn't have to come back until Wednesday night.

Lois, our other mom, came down and cleaned our room when we were at the Renucci Hospitality House before we could come home after transplant. It was a transitional place, but she knew how important it was that the room be as clean as possible since Joshua was so succeptable to infections and it would have been SO DANGEROUS for him to get sick. If you know Lois at all, you KNOW that no one does a more thorough job cleaning than she does - it's incredible. And it's something I could not have done... there was so much other stuff on my mind, that never would have occured to me.

Our dear friends, Hillary and Luke, went out of their way to keep things as normal for us as possible. In small ways, like coming over for cook-outs, or whenever we were home to play Euchre and just hang out. Things you take for granted but are SO important when you're going through something THIS life altering. It was a little taste of normal for us, every once in a while. And it couldn't have been easy for them to see Joshua the way he was - they didn't have kids yet...

During transplant, our moms worked out a system where they alternated doing an overnight shift one weekend night a week. That way, Rick and I had ONE guaranteed night that we could be home together. Not to really do anything, just to be together, and not at the hospital. When your child is in the hospital for so long and you have to be at their side 24-7, you would be amazed at how important it is to be home with your husband or wife, even just once a week.

Patti, my mother-in-law, also drove through a literal blizzard in November, well over an hour, when the roads were truly treacherous, so that Rick and I could go to Terry and Lois' house for Thanksgiving dinner. She stayed with Josh and shared his turkey dinner from the cafeteria, and we were able to go be with family, like our lives had a shadow of normal left. That was the one holiday between May and December that Rick and I didn't have to stay in the hospital for.

This is just a snapshot of the support system we had. It might not seem like a lot, but I promise you that when you have to go through what we went through, it literally makes ALL the difference in the world. There were more people, too, who were incredible, don't get me wrong, but these were the ones we wanted to thank tonight.

We had dinner together, and my mom brought a "Happy Remission" cake, so we had a toast. Mostly toasting Joshua, and how far he's come, but also toasting our FAMILY - the honest to God reason that Rick and I made it through Joshua's cancer. We could not have done it without their support. See, the thing is, this wasn't just our journey. It was their journey too. They walked it with us, held our hands, and helped to hold us up.

I could tell you over and over how thankful we are, but there just aren't words to describe the depths of it. It's why we survived as well as we did. Thank you, everyone, so much, from the absolute bottom of my heart.

Finally Some Good News!!!

2009-04-21T19:45:00.002-04:00

Went to see Dr. W. today. I just love her to pieces. There's just something about seeing the one who delivered one of your children when you're dealing with something scary like this.

There was 1 area that was abnormal. Lucky for me, Dr. W. uses a local anesthesia to numb the area before she biopsies (my other doc didn't do it, which is why it hurt SO BAD last time. She said it didn't look bad to her AT ALL, and while I was numb, she could just go ahead and take the whole area off with the pinchy thingies she uses for biopsies. So, it's ALL GONE.

I asked her what the chances were of the lab results coming back as cancer, and she said in her opinion, they were ZERO!!! Plus, I'm still young enough that they aren't in a rush to do any additional treatment on me. No LEEP or anything like that until I turn 28, lol. So, I have just over a year for this to stay gone on it's own before they will want to do more if it happens again. I go back in 6 months for a repeat pap and colp, but I'm not NEARLY as scared about it anymore.

Holy cow am I sore. Driving or sitting for long periods of time (more than 15 minutes) is more than I can handle... But, as long as I'm up and moving around, I feel better. Which is why my mom and I went shopping this afternoon for new (happy) celebratory summer clothes, LOL.

Praise GOD, the power of prayer, and a HUGE support network.

I should have final labs back later this week or early next, but if Dr. W. isn't worried, I won't be worried either :)

Visit to the Doc Tomorrow...

2009-04-20T11:20:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the big doctor's appointment. Ugh. Today is not a good day, tomorrow will be worse, but I'm sure hoping that the week will end on a high note. There's sunshine coming later this week, as opposed to the incredibly depressing gray that's out there right now, and I'm hoping it brings sunny test results with it.

Love my mom - she's taking me in tomorrow. Nothing like having your mom there to hold your hand when you're scared and it hurts! I bet I can even get ice cream out of her if I do a good job (when we were little kids, that was what she did - if we were brave when it hurt, she would take us for ice cream when it was over)!! I'll post tomorrow night and update how many biopsies Dr. W ends up taking.

trying to link with Facebook

2009-04-15T13:08:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to like my blog to my Facebook so it's easier for people to get to. Let's see if this works...

Joshua and his new school...

2009-04-15T11:15:00.002-04:00

Monday was Joshua's first day of school. Rick brought him in and stayed with him until he was comfortable - that only took 40 minutes!! When I got Josh off the bus, I asked him how school was and he said it went GREAT! Talk about a huge relief! I was so nervous that this was going to be a difficult transition for him, but it appears that he's taking it all in stride (for now, at least!).

It sounds like he's making friends, although he can't remember their names yet (lol), and they've been practicing some songs for an Earth Day concert that they are doing next week so he's been singing those all over the house. Super cute!

Oh, and since he's one of the last kids dropped off the bus after school, it's a long afternoon, and yesterday he decided to take a little nap on the ride home, lol. I actually had to go onto the bus and wake the poor kiddo up!! That was pretty funny.

He rode the bus in for the first time this morning - I'm sure that went much better because he's one of the last kids picked up before they head to the school. Much shorter than the afternoon ride, lol.

So, for now, things look like they're going well in his world!! I'm very happy with his teacher too. She's really good about sending emails and calling us at night to fill us in on how the day went. I really appreciate that. I just wish Shoreline had Spanish class for the elementary kids! I'm going to have to "homeschool" him in Spanish so he doesn't lose what he's learned so far!

He is Risen!

2009-04-13T10:55:00.003-04:00

Hallelujah - the stone has been rolled away and He is risen!

Hope your Easter was beautiful. We didn't go to church - that was tough. First time in more years than I can count that we missed the Easter service. That's the thing about moving, and not having a new church home yet. Add to that the fact that we've all been so sick (Joshua finally caught it late last week and didn't move from the couch hardly at all this weekend...) and it just didn't happen. I won't lie, it was tough. Even though I KNOW the reason for Easter, and I assure you it wasn't forgotten, I'm still upset we didn't make it to church. The sunrise service on Easter Sunday has always been my favorite...

I did, however, order a new children's Bible from Amazon today. One that has come HIGHLY recommended from someone whose opinion I truly respect. I can't wait to share it with Josh and Logan :)

I think I need to do a Bible Study. I feel far away from God right now, and with my doctor's appointment coming up in 8 days, I have a feeling I'm going to need him. Oh, and I need to find "Footprints in the Sand". On a bookmark or something so that I can carry it with me always. I can't tell you how many times it was my saving grace when Joshua was sick. Amazing how I used to see it everywhere and never thought much of it. I guess it didn't apply to me at that time in my life. Now, however, I feel compelled to carry it in my heart. Might have to take a trip to Family Christian or Hages...

All in all, we are doing well. I can't wait for temps in the high 60's later this week. I'm so tired of being cooped up inside because it's too cold out. I want to plot out my garden and get my hands in the dirt... I just need Spring, and the promise of a new beginning.

Hope you have a beautiful week!

Life in the Here and Now...

2009-04-07T10:11:00.003-04:00

The spring sickies have hit our house full force. It started with my missing a day of work about a week and a half ago because I was unable to lift my head off the pillow. Then at the tail end of last week, I noticed my sore throat was coming back, and Logan was stuffy and starting to cough. By Saturday, me, Logan and Rick were all competing over couch space. Sunday was even worse. I slept until 11:30am - that is unheard of. Finally late Sunday I started to feel better - less like I'd been hit by a semi-truck. I think it was the flu.

Rick and Logan are still sick - Rick got the worst of it this time around (and he RARELY gets sick, so that takes some getting used to...). He actually blacked out on Friday night and cut his eye when he fell into the corner of the wall. Yesterday the three boys stayed home while I went to work. I hear it was 2pm before Rick was able to get out of bed! Luckily, Joshua is SO GOOD at helping when we are sick. He pretty much took care of Logan for most of the day yesterday.

I just hope Joshua lucks out and never gets this. He was coughing when he woke up this morning, though... He starts at his new school on Monday, and it would be a bummer if he ended up sick.

Rick is still home today. He thought he was going to go into work, but I told him that was probably not the best place to be. He's got Logan with him again (he didn't want to cooperate this morning when it was time to go to the sitter's house, and it just wasn't worth the battle), so hopefully they will both take it easy. I can't wait for everyone to feel better so I can change ALL the sheets on ALL the beds and spray everything down with Lysol, especially since we have company coming this weekend for Easter.

I'm tired though - it's a lot of work to take care of a sick family, especially since I'm not 100% yet. Getting better, but certainly not "there" yet. Is it too much to hope that this will be IT for us for a good long while???

Health Update...

2009-03-30T23:13:00.003-04:00

It's been quite the couple of weeks on the health front. Let's see if I can get all this out without sounding disjointed and skipping around too much.

Ok, after my pap tests came back for HSIL, they sent the sample in to test for High Risk HPV (the ones linked to cervical cancer). It took 3 weeks for those to come back as positive for one or more high risk strands (they can't get more specific than that). So, everything was sent to Dr. Wisebaker, my OB/GYN. I called her office on Monday the 16th, and they had received the results, but Dr. W wasn't going to be back in the office until Friday the 20th (on-call at the hospital). They said a nurse would look everything over and if she felt it couldn't wait for Dr. W to get back, they would call me. No phone call, which is a good thing.

A week after Dr. W got the results, I still hadn't gotten a call to set up follow-up. I called them on Friday the 27th, and the nurse couldn't find my test results in my chart. She said she would find out what was going on first thing Monday morning (today). It was close to 5pm on that Friday, so she couldn't call me PCP to have them re-send the results, so it had to wait. I got a call from Dr. W's office this afternoon. She said that Dr. W had my test results for the last week in her personal possession. They want to do a colposcopy to start off with. But, Dr. W is in Mexico for the next 2 weeks, so my appointment isn't until April 21st. I'm a little comforted by that. I really feel like if Dr. W felt like this couldn't wait for her to get back, she would have requested that another doctor in the practice do the colposcopy sooner. Dr. W knows me - I used her for both my kids, and I trust that if she felt I was in a dangerous situation, she wouldn't want to wait.

So, here's the game plan. Colposcopy on the 21st, including biopsies of any areas that are a concern. Depending on the results of the biopsies (displasia, cancer, etc), that will determine what the next step is. There is a chance that my body isn't fighting off the HPV like it should be, so the longer it stays in my system, the more at risk I am for developing cervical cancer. Most adults will get HPV, not all will get the high risk strains, but usually people (especially young like me) are able to fight off the virus themselves before it starts causing problems. I'm not sure exactly why I'm not fighting it off, but I plan to call my PCP and see if she has any recommendations of things I can do in the meantime. I've heard of some things that have worked to reverse HSIL in other people's cases that I'm going to ask about, and also things like CoQ10, Folic Acid and B Vitamins that can help with HSIL and high risk HPV. We'll see what she has to say about all of that.

I've been doing really well burying being scared lately. Even Rick wasn't aware that I was scared to death until I finally broke down and fessed up to him tonight. He said I was doing such a good job hiding it that he didn't think of it as the reason why I've not been acting myself lately. It feels good to have told him how afraid I am and to be able to use him as a support. I was trying to protect him (and myself) by trying not to think about all the "what-ifs" and apparently I'm a good actress, because he really had no clue that I was still scared about all of this... I don't know what he thought I was feeling, but let's face it - guys and girls deal differently, and I think he just assumed I was ok. But, it was really nice to be able to break down to him tonight when I got home and let him hold me up for a little bit and be there for me. I think that's really going to help me as I wait for the next appointment.

I was driving home from my last meeting with my amazing Small Group tonight. I've been a part of this Bible Study for 2 1/2 years now, and I was so sad to have to leave them. I was already feeling vulnerable, losing that support system, and I had an hour drive home. My mind started spinning out of control and I was REALLY upset as I was driving. I knew that wasn't healthy, so I asked God to quiet my fears and put on my heart a Bible verse. I'm an immature Christian in that I don't have a huge arsenal of Scripture memorized. But, there is one verse that I memorized 2 years ago that fits SO MANY situations. The first 2 lines were just what I needed to quiet my heart. I got through those, started to feel better, and was going farther into the Scripture (I had memorized like 11 lines worth). There was ONE WORD at the very end that I just couldn't remember. I thought I had it (and I did), but it just didn't feel right, so I spent almost the next half hour trying desperately to retreive this one word from the recesses of my memory. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was sure an effective way to take my mind off my current situation!! That had God written all over it!!!!!

Finally, house pics!!

2009-03-23T18:31:00.005-04:00

I assure you, I did not forget about house pics - it just took a while to get to them! Here they are, though!!

I will start with some of the exterior shots. We spent all day Saturday pulling bushes out from the front of the house. We are both not "shrub people". The plan is to put a porch in off the front stairs that goes in front of the living room window, and then do landscaping on the other side of the stairs, under the bedroom windows.

This was after pulling out the bushes. Here's what it looked like before:

After Rick pulled out the big tall one that was next to the stairs.

I think it looks SO MUCH better, minus the bushes. Don't you agree?

Now, onto the rest of the house.

Here is the kitchen, coming in from the mudroom:

And some more kitchen pics...

As you can see, it's not a huge kitchen, but it has TONS of cupboards and counter space and I'm the only one who cooks, so it works for me!!

Here is the dining room:

I took these on Friday night. It sure gets dark in the country, as you can see from the sliders! And yes, I know there are no blinds or curtains - We have woods behind us, and I haven't found window treatments I like for the sliders yet.

As of Friday night, this was the ONLY place with something on the wall, lol. I haven't gotten the rest of the "homey" stuff up yet - that'll happen. I need a new piece of art for the dining room and for my living room.

This is part of the living room, with the front door and a coat closet on the far right side.

The rest of the living room:

As soon as we have electrical run in the basement (which will hopefully be in a week or so!), we're going to move the GIANT tv and tv stand downstairs. I'm getting a small unit for the corner by the window and we're going to get a 32" Plasma tv for the living room. That way I can watch tv if Rick wants to watch a movie in surround sound, or play video games in the basement.

We only have one bathroom, and it's small, but there's a huge linen closet behind the door that makes up for it. Plus, I'm the only girl, so I can deal with a small bathroom for now!!

Here is "My Space". An office of my very own, which is helpful since one of my jobs is working from home. I don't like "clutter" in the bedroom, so I love having a place for all my books and personal stuff, without it being all over the bedroom. Eventually this will double as our guest bedroom for when our friends and family come to visit, but we need to get a new mattress for Josh's old bed before we'll get it set up in there. Trust me, I'm not anxious :)

This is Josh and Logan's room:

Their bunkbed is a little big for the room, but we made it work.

And Joshua has his very own desk for doing homework. I still need to get him a chair, but eventually that'll happen :)

This is the Master Bedroom:

As soon as it's warm enough, the dated wallpaper and ugly chair rail are coming down. I'm going to paint the walls a slate blue and we're actually going to downsize to a queen size bed. We need a new mattress, and we don't need to have a king sized bed anymore, so we're just going to replace it all. Plus, I need a reason to get a new bedding set and window treatments!!

Double closets - that's nice!!

There ya have it - the grand tour of our new home!! We really love it. Hopefully everyone can come over and see it, now that we're not living in boxes anymore!!

On a health update - my OB/GYN has all my test results. I'm waiting for a call with an appointment for follow-up so we know what we're dealing with. As much as I want to know if it's cancer or not, because it's been a while and the initial shock is over, I'm actually coping much better than I was. I'm still scared, but even more than that, I know this has already been ordained as part of God's plan. I'm one of the lucky people who can see God in everything - good or bad. I've been through too much not too. I'm very thankful for the gift of feeling Him everywhere, and in everything, though.

I covet your continued prayers, though. I know that's part of why I'm "ok" right now.

Hope your week is a true blessing!!

Man, I'm a Slacker!!

2009-03-16T10:27:00.002-04:00

Goodness - I can tell life is getting busier because it feels like I'm not updating like I normally do!

What's going on now... well, I'm still waiting to get in to my OB/GYN. They just got my other test results last week, now they need to go over everything and then decide what to do next. Hopefully just a colposcopy, which I'm praying will be fine...

Yesterday it finally warmed up to like 50 degrees! And there was this big orange thing in the sky that we haven't seen much of in the last 4 months. I was able to take the boys to the park down the road from our house. Rick had two of his best friends from high school over and they were playing video games, but it was WAY too nice of a day to waste inside! So, I made the kids go to the park and play for a while to get some fresh air. Today it's supposed to make it into the 60's!! And be sunny! And I'm at work, lol. But, I told the kids we can go back to the park after dinner tonight.

Joshua only has another 3 weeks left at Coopersville before I'm switching him to Whitehall. That will make my life a little easier. Instead of needing to leave Whitehall at 7:30am, I won't have to leave until between 8:15am and 8:30am. Plus, he can start making friends before summer vacation. And then Logan and I should be getting home by 3:30pm instead of 4:30pm, which will be nice too. For as long as I continue to work in GR, that will be helpful. I am glad, though, that I decided to keep him in Coopersville for a while. He's had enough changes in his life lately without having the throw that into the mix too. At least not right away, anyhow.

We're going to start looking for a new church home, too. I've gotten some recommendations from some people in the area. That'll be tough - I LOVE our current church, but I can't drive to GR 6 days a week. It's just too much for me. So, prayers that we find the right one for us quickly.

Have a beautiful, blessed week!!!

Just an Update

2009-03-10T10:50:00.005-04:00

Figured it was time for an update. First off, nothing new on my test results yet... hopefully any day now. I guess these results can take a couple of weeks, but I'll be calling the doc again today and find out if they've been forwarded to my OB/GYN yet. I'd really love to get this taken care of. As much as I try to remember I'm NO DIFFERENT than I was before I got the results back, I'm still struggling with the "not knowing" part. I have a feeling I'm not going to like what comes of the follow-up appointment, but I really hope that's just Satan trying to make me feel what's not real. Once I can get in for the follow-up appointment and see what's going on, that will help. If you know me at all, you know I struggle with patience and waiting. I'm not very good at it, ESPECIALLY when it comes to stuff like this. I just keep thinking that my first pap EVER was abnormal (when I was 18 years old), and then the follow-up for that was fine and I had clear paps until my post-partum with Logan. And then the follow-up for that was fine, and I've had clear paps again until this one.... I just feel like if there was something going on, it's had a lot of time to get bad. Plus the other ones were low grade changes, and this one is high grade. That's scarier to me...

But, like I said before, my God is bigger than that. And he will never give me more than I can handle. That said, though, I think the scariest part of all of this is knowing that if I do end up having cancer, that will mean that 50% of my family will have had cancer... is it fair that after going through it with Joshua that Rick and I might have to go through it again with me? Not fair at all. And what about the rest of our family? Our parents? Grandparents? Siblings? Should they have to deal with it again? Of course not... but life isn't always fair. I just hope that it's NOT something that we have to deal with. The thought of what it will do to my family is more scary to me than what it will mean for me, although I'm plenty scared for myself.

Onto better, not so depressing stuff.... I don't need those thoughts in my head today. We're doing well with unpacking the new house! I got my office all set up and organized yesterday. That felt REALLY good. I love having my own "space" and being able to find all the important stuff that I need. Our house is actually coming along. I have some work to do in Josh and Logan's room - putting up shelves, moving a bookcase (I think) and a little rearranging, but not too much. Our bedroom DESPERATELY needs to be re-done cosmetically. There is wallpaper in there that I hate, a really dark wood chair rail halfway up the wall that needs to go, and a couple of other small things, but that'll happen eventually. I can't wait for warm weather so I can repaint in my bedroom and bathroom (the only 2 rooms that haven't been freshly repainted)!!

The living room has some furniture that needs to be swapped out once we get the basement set up and I don't really have any of our personal stuff up yet, but again, that'll happen. I finally got the kitchen all organized, which makes a huge difference. I have significantly fewer boxes laying around then I did last week, which is a good thing :)

Rick's cousin is moving and they bought all new furniture for their new house. We SCORED and got all their old (but in REALLY good condition) carpet and furniture for our basement. Saved us a TON of money!! Rick's helping them finish moving this week. They live like 5 minutes away from us now, which is way cool. It's nice to have some people I know so close by. I know some people in Whitehall, but not many, so it's easy to feel a little lonely. Although once the house is in order, we can invite people over and hopefully that will help. And, when it warms up, it'll nice to venture out and check out the neighbors :)

Well... that's about how life is for us right now. Lots of stuff going on, but it'll all work itself out, one way or another. If you could keep us in your thoughts, though, that would be great.

Have a blessed week!!

Good news for Josh!

2009-03-04T09:59:00.003-05:00

Joshua had his semi-annual MRI yesterday. They put him under General Anesthesia for this one, which was traumatic for me, but way easier on him. Our nurse called me last night and everything looks good!!! Praise God for that!

I'm still waiting on the rest of my test results before they can be sent to my OB/GYN. I'm going to call the doctor today and see if they're in yet. I'm still really scared, but honestly, God will get me through whatever comes, and I KNOW that. I'm confident of that, even if I'm scared. Whenever I start to feel panicky about it all, I just remember that Satan knows that I'm terrified of cancer. I ALWAYS have been - even before Joshua got sick. I know that's the reason why I'm so scared, it's like my biggest fear. And because Satan knows that, he's trying to use that to his advantage. Lucky for me, I know that my God is bigger than all of that. I just say a prayer for PEACE with what happens - regardless of what it is. And then I feel better. For a while, anyways, until Satan sneaks his way back into my head.

Oh, our house is a disaster area. We have ALMOST everything moved in, but there are SO MANY boxes I can't even barely walk around. I'm hoping to get that all taken care of this weekend... As soon as everything is in order, and I re-discover where the camera is hiding, I'll take some pictures. We really love our house and we're really happy there. It's hard to be happy about that, though, when I'm so scared about being sick, but I'm working on that...

Less than awesome news..

2009-02-27T09:43:00.002-05:00

Joshua was supposed to scan today. This morning, when Rick and I were trying to get ready to take him in, we both realized that we have the flu. Joshua had thrown up Wednesday night, and Thursday during the day. He wasn't acting himself, but we weren't sure if it was nerves or the flu. Apparently it was the flu. And now we have it. And Logan isn't feeling well today either. Ugh.

There was no way we could take him in this morning - not with both of us being sick. My nerves are already shot - add the flu on top of that - and a two hour scan. No way.

So, I called and canceled his MRI. We went back to bed. My mom says Logan has had diarrhea all night long. Oh, and we're moving this weekend, too.

I called radiology this morning to reschedule, convinced we were going to have to wait until April. Miraculously, there was an opening on Tuesday, March 3rd!!! And it's not an awful time, 11:15am.

That's where we are now. I'll update again soon. I'm having some issues of my own, which are incredibly stressful. My pap results came back with some pre-cancerous, high grade changes, so I need to have some follow-up testing done. My OB/GYN is waiting for the rest of the test results to come through before they decide what our next step will be. So, please pray for me. As you can imagine, I'm pretty close to terrified at the words "pre-cancerous". I have a sense of peace about it right now, which I know is a God thing. I'm still scared, but I have faith that God will handle it all so I don't have to worry about it. I sure hope I'm ok, though.

Vacation Recap!!!

2009-02-16T23:20:00.003-05:00

Ok, here goes! I'm a lot less tired tonight and have been uploading photos to Facebook, MySpace and MMC, LOL :)

We left early on Saturday morning - actually got out the door on time! It was SUPER warm in Michigan that day and we had awesome weather the whole trip down south. The stupid GPS had us go all the way to Atlanta, GA instead of straight to Birmingham, AL where we were SUPPOSED to spend Saturday night. That was 2 hours out of our way! We ended up getting a GREAT deal on a hotel room in Cartersville, GA, which is a little north of Atlanta. It had an indoor pool, so the boys were able to swim.

Sunday morning we headed out after breakfast. We took a detour over to Ft. Benning, which is in Columbus, GA. Rick did Basic Training there and he wanted to show us all the things he's told us about. It was actually really cool, even though Rick was really disappointed at how laid back it was now. We actually saw soldiers on their cell phones on base which was unheard of when Rick was in there.

Joshua was complaing that his ear hurt all day long on Sunday. We gave him some Tylenol and he seemed to perk up, but by Tuesday he had a full blown ear infection and we had to have our doctor send a script down to Florida for him - thank God she had seen Logan just the week before for the same thing, so it was no big deal.

We got to my sister's house about 8:00pm Sunday night. Spent the night catching up and getting ready to enjoy Florida!!

Monday morning we took a bike ride to the park in Largo. There were a TON of turtles in a pond there and the boys were super impressed, lol. Bethany and I did some super shopping too - she works at Bealls Outlet, so I got some really good deals!

Tuesday was spent in St. Petersburg. We walked around the downtown, grabbed pizza for lunch, filled Joshua's script and then headed down to the pier. There's an aquarium at the end of the pier, so we went there. It was small, but REALLY cute. Joshua was able to feed the pelicans - we got video - it was HILARIOUS!!!!!

On Wednesday, Rick and I had my nephew Solomon for the day while his parents were at work. We took the boys to Indian Rocks Beach, which is JUST down the road from my sister's house. It's on the Gulf of Mexico and is SOOO pretty! Rick and I decided to celebrate Valentines Day early, so we got a hotel room at a hotel RIGHT on the Gulf. We were able to bring the boys up there for lunch and then let Solomon nap while Joshua and Logan played in the sand with Rick. Oh, Rick got SO sunburned, lol. It was kind of funny - this happens to him EVERY summer, lol.

Wednesday night we dropped our kids off with Bethany and Big Josh and we took a roadtrip up north of Clearwater, FL to Honeymoon Island. We parked on the causeway and went "treasure hunting" along the shore. When we got back to Indian Rocks Beach, we ate at Crabby Bills, across the street from our hotel. Oh WOW - the food was AMAZING!!! Then we found an ice cream stand for dessert and then went back to the hotel. We left the window and the balcony door open so we slept to the sound of the ocean - it was so cool!!

After we checked out on Thursday, Rick and I went beachcombing again at low tide. We found a HUGE jellyfish on the sandbar. It was bigger then this one that we found later that day at Fort Desoto.

Fort Desoto was a little chilly and foggy, but still really cool. We spent the day at the beach, looking for sand dollars and collecting shells. Rick was able to swim in the ocean for the very first time - it was cold, but he did it!! Joshua even lost his second tooth during lunch at the beach - Aunt Bethany was REALLY excited to be there for that. The kids played in the sand, and then we went to check out the fort. We also walked the pier which was pretty neat. We saw some HUGE crabs in the water next. The pictures didn't turn out though. Here is a good shot of the boys on the pier:

We also got a good family photo at Desoto!!

We were supposed to leave and head home on Friday, but Rick REALLY wanted to take the boys to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, so we stayed an extra day. It was worth it! The day was perfect - sun and warm (like 85 degrees!!) - it was awesome. Here are a few pictures!

We got out the door on time on Saturday to head home. We made it out of Largo, over the I-275 bridge that crosses the Tampa Bay and we had JUST gotten into Tampa when Rick said "Uh oh, something is wrong with the truck." We pulled over and sure enough, this is what we saw:

A Tampa "Road Ranger" came up behind us and let us use his floor jack. We got the truck jacked up, and the tire off. My brother-in-law came to rescue us and pick up Rick (after about an hour or so) and they found a tire shop to get a new valve stem. We got the tire back on and were on our way. It ended up being a 3 hour delay, though. We had to drive ALL NIGHT LONG to get home at a decent time on Sunday. We won't do that again... It was so much better to break the drive up and get a hotel room for a night on the way down.

Logan and my nephew, Solomon, are SO close in age that they fought a ton! Over toys, over wrestling, over Solomon "scaring" Logan by pretending to be a monster - everything!!! That got old after a while!!

It was a really great trip! I think we're going to make it an annual thing. It was SO nice to spend time with my sister!!! But, I am glad to be home!!!!

We are home.

2009-02-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

We made it to Florida and home again safely - praise God for that. I'm exhausted and don't have the energy to recap everything, but just WAIT until I get the pictures on my laptop!! Maybe this week.

I will update again, when I'm not so tired :)

Two More Sleeps!!!

2009-02-05T20:19:00.003-05:00

We leave for Florida on Saturday morning!!! Heading out early to get a head start. We're taking 2 days to get down there, so we should be getting to my sister's house Sunday night. We are staying through Friday and then we'll take another 2 days to get home. I need to dig the suitcases out of the shed and get everyone packed up.

We also have someone else coming through to look at our place. Tomorrow afternoon. Like the NIGHT before we leave, lol. As if things aren't crazy enough! But, no complaints. We're very anxious to move and we've FINALLY found a great house in Whitehall, so hopefully it won't sell before ours does!!! Another guy called on our place today too - he's coming down from Clare after we get home from vacation. He sounds REALLY promising.

I'll keep you all posted. We'll be uploading photos from our trip to Facebook, so keep an eye out for them while we're gone :)

Sickies Be GONE!

2009-02-02T10:54:00.002-05:00

First Joshua had a cough - it lasted about a week. He had a little congestion with it, but not too bad.

Then Logan started coughing. And his nose was running like a faucet. This was on Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, he was significantly worse. I stayed home from work with him on Friday after he didn't get any sleep (nor did we) on Thursday night. He spent all day on the couch on Friday, not moving. After a dose of Motrin, the fever he woke up with jumped all the way up to 103.1 degrees! After a call into the doc's office, I started alternating between Motrin and Tylenol every 3 hours. While his fever didn't jump that high anymore, it also hasn't gone away yet. And it's now Monday...

All is can say is thank God Rick was home this weekend. There would have no way I could have handled everything without the extra pair of hands! Especially since Logan is exponentially more difficult when he's not feeling well. We thought he was doing better last night, but after yet another rough night, and Logan waking up again not feeling well, I decided to stay home with him again today. It's not worth sharing the germs with the babysitter's family.

Oh, and we're supposed to go on vacation next week. I have so much work to do to get caught up/ahead that missing 2 days in a row isn't going to help that very much... But, I'll just work late for the rest of the week until I get everything caught up.

Prayers that Rick and I will stay healthy for vacation and that we will have safe travels as we head to Florida on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to seeing my sister and her family - as well as sitting my butt on the Gulf of Mexico and not moving for a week!!!

Ideas Needed!!

2009-01-28T18:44:00.002-05:00

Tis the season for the Relay for Life planning to begin! This is Team Joshua's 4th year participating in the event. I need some new and creative ideas for raising money....

I also need some volunteers to help. Interested?

The event is July 10th, 2009 and will be held at Allendale High School (for those of you who are newbies). It's a 24 hour event, from noon on Friday until noon on Saturday.

This year's theme is "Rope Up A Cure" and it's a rodeo theme. If your fundraising idea includes that, all the more awesome :) Or, if you have any cowboy/rodeo type stuff that we can borrow for the event (we decorate our campsite), that would be awesome too!!

If you're in regular contact with me, watch your inbox because I'll likely be sending you an email trying to solicate donations - but it's for a really good cause!!!!!! And seriously, is there ANYONE anymore who doesn't know someone who has dealt with cancer?

If you have any cool ideas or if you want to be a part of this awesome event, let me know - I'm sure I can find some place to use you!!!!!

Yikes! Been a while!

2009-01-26T21:15:00.003-05:00

It's not like me to go almost an entire week without blogging! Just goes to show how busy life gets!

This past weekend, my dad's band (the Sons of Beaches) played the Grand Haven Winter Luau. It was a CRAZY good time! I rode in with him, helped set up, helped some folks "get lei'd for Hospice", danced my butt off for HOURS with my best gf's, did a little crowd control to keep drunk folks from trashing the stage, almost got in a smack down with a incredibly drunk bride-to-be at her bachelorette party (she didn't appreciate me telling her she needed to get down), was told I looked like Nicole Kidman, danced with a guy whose hands wandered a lil too close to my waistband (lol), helped tear down after the show, and then went out to breakfast with my dad, uncle, grandma, 2 aunts and the drummer from the band at 1:30am.

It was awesome. My feet STILL hurt.

Glad I didn't drink too much since I had to get up at 8am for church, LOL. After getting home at 2:30am. But, Rick let me take a nap yesterday afternoon, so that was good.

Oh, and the biggest news of all............................................................................

Joshua lost his first tooth today!!! And then he promptly discovered another tooth is loose!! It came out at school - I sent him an apple for his snack today and it came out in his apple, LOL. He is SO proud! He's been calling all his grandparents to share the good news.

I still can't believe he's big enough to be losing teeth......

So nice

2009-01-20T11:07:00.002-05:00

It was so nice to have Rick home this morning. I had forgotten how helpful it is to have another pair of hands when everyone is trying to get out the door! Between getting Josh ready for school, Logan ready for the sitter's house and myself ready for work, the mornings just weren't working when he had to go in early to plow! We hadn't yet figured out the "routine" that we needed to be in for things to go smoothly. I tell ya, I was actually able to cook myself some breakfast this morning because I had so much extra time when everything was said and done!

Hurray for a break in the snow! I know Rick appreciated not having to leave so early this morning too! Our car goes into the shop today for an in depth look-over. We want to make sure it'll be good to take on vacation to Florida if we can manage to get the money together that we need to go. Fingers crossed that there are only minor things wrong that are inexpensive to fix. We're on a "self-imposed spending freeze", buying nothing but essentials in order to get everything paid ahead so we can leave for vacation on February 7th.

Hope you're watching the news today - regardless of your personal opinions, history is certainly being made today!!!

And the snow, snow, snow came down, down, down...

2009-01-16T11:58:00.001-05:00

Rick has had to leave early EVERY SINGLE MORNING this week to plow. It's been crazy. And we're supposed to get "several more inches" tomorrow too. Some of which will be "lake enhanced", thanks to Lake Michigan. And we're supposed to go to Indianapolis again this weekend.

I think we're going to try and go down tomorrow morning and come home tomorrow night. There's no way Rick won't have to plow, so it looks like we can only go for the day. I'm bummed about that, but I understand.

When the weather warms up, we can go down for a real weekend. That will be so nice.

Just a quick one today - Happy Friday, all! Hope you have a great weekend!!!

Home Again.

2009-01-12T12:53:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it there and back from Indianapolis safely. The weekend did not go hardly at all "according to plan", but it was GREAT. We had a wonderful visit and we're going back down there this coming weekend. We're hoping to go to the Children's Museum on Saturday - I've heard pretty great things about it!

So much for bowling, lol, but there were some computer issues that popped up while we were down there that Rick is trying to fix for my uncle, so we need to bring him his hard drive back :)

We didn't end up leaving my uncle's house until 8:15pm last night - got home about 1:15am. Made 2 stops to fill up the truck, and then 1 more stop to detour through a little town on the way to find a Wendy's to grab some food, lol. Joshua and Logan did SO GREAT in the truck. I was uber proud of them! I love taking road trips with Rick because we travel well together. We never fight in the car (where you would think arguments would pop up) and we can always find something to do to pass the time, which is nice. It was really a good time. Felt like a weekend away.

I hear there's more snow on the way, so if you're in the area, get ready! I think it's supposed to start snowing tonight and tomorrow. On Thursday our high temperature is supposed to be a balmy 9 degrees. With windchills between -15 and -20 degrees... chilly!!

So, I was thinking...

2009-01-09T13:44:00.004-05:00

Do you guys like to bowl? We LOVE to bowl. I'm an awful bowler, but it's so fun, I just don't even care :)

Maybe next weekend Rick and I will take the boys bowling. They are always so cute at the bowling alley! They're usually good for one game and then they get bored, but that's just how kids are.

If you want to come with us, that would be awesome. I always like to go bowling in a group - it's much more fun that way! Feel free to bring kiddos if you want, ours will likely be there! Leave a comment if you're interested and I'll get you the details when they're set.

We're off to Indianapolis in the morning. The boys and I will be home on Sunday. Rick will come home tomorrow night because he'll have to plow on Sunday, but the boys and I are staying over at my Uncle Ken's house. I'm really looking forward to it! I've never been to their place in Indy and they've been there for YEARS, lol. It's pretty sad, actually!!

Have a great weekend! I'll update after our trip. It looks as though we'll be driving through massive amounts of snow going down there, so prayers for a safe trip would be appreciated!

Time Out! I need a pause button!

2009-01-06T13:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, with the whole van situation, I was home for most of the day. So, I picked Logan up from the sitter's house before lunch. When we got home, I made him his "peanut butter and jelly sandwich with no jelly" - that's Logan Speak for a peanut butter sandwich (LOL - if you know Logan, you know that's exactly how he says it, too!). After he was done, he came into the living room and told me he was ready for his nap. As I was setting my laptop down to help him get into bed, he stopped me and said: "Mommy, I can do my covers all by myself". Then he gave me a kiss, went into his room, got into his bed, tucked himself in and went to sleep all by himself. Like I didn't even leave the living room!!! It was SO bittersweet! On one hand - it's so great to see that he is independant enough to do things like that himself, but on the other.... he's never "not" needed me to tuck him in for his nap when we're home. Bittersweet for sure.

And then last night, when Rick and I were picking the boys up from my mom's house (she watched them while we towed the van home), I got an overwhelming urge to check Joshua's mouth. I was just thinking he's getting to the age where he's going to start losing his teeth. As I was looking in his mouth, I saw a space between two of his bottom teeth that isn't usually there. I checked the teeth around the space, and sure enough - he has his very first loose tooth!!!!!!

I sit here today wishing for a pause button. I'm not sure HOW my babies have suddenly gotten big enough for things like tucking themselves in and loose teeth, but they have! And it's a little sad for me! I'm sure all parents go through this, but the feeling of "whoa" is just overwhelming today.

God's Sense of Humor...

2009-01-05T12:16:00.003-05:00

If there is any doubt in anyone's mind that God has a sense of humor, let me share this story with you. It's true - it happened to me just this morning, LOL.

Literally last week, Rick and I decided to take a vacation to Florida in February. We haven't taken a vacation in far too long, and we decided that since I have a weeks worth of paid vacation from work that expires on my anniversary date (Feb. 16th, I think), we would do it then. We didn't even tell my sister yet, who LIVES in Florida because it was such a new plan and we were just starting to work on the details. Last night we were chatting, and Rick said that since we're driving down, if anything happens to the van on the way, we'll just have to leave it there, rent a car to come home in and then mail someone a title. Not a big deal - it wouldn't be worth the cost to send a wrecker down there to pick it up to fix it up here (and we only let 1 place work on our vehicles, so it would have to be done up here).

We're also driving to Indianapolis on Saturday to visit my uncle. We'll be gone for the weekend.

We currently have 3 vehicles. My van, Rick's truck, and Rick's Neon. The Neon has been "For Sale" for a while (we don't need 3 vehicles with 2 drivers, and the money would be helpful). Twice now, we've been sure to have it sold, and it didn't end up selling.

Can you guess where this story is going?

On my way to work this morning, my van suddenly overheated (I didn't even know it was running hot until the light kicked on). I was on the highway, passing a semi truck, so by the time I got around the semi, off the highway and into a gas station, my van died. JUST as I was pulling into a parking spot. We're pretty confident that the head gasket is blown and the engine needs to be replaced.

I guess we now know why the Neon didn't sell.

The van has 210,000 miles on it. It's a 98, we've had it for 2 1/2 years now, and we only paid $2500.00 for it. The only other major thing we've had to replace on it is the transmission, which we did about a year and a half ago. And now we'll be replacing an engine, but then we should get another 200,000 miles out of it. Not bad, in my opinion, for a vehicle that runs as well as this does.

Obviously, the engine was going to go. Because it happened so suddenly, I'm confident that it was just time for it to go. It's not as if it was running rough or anything lately, or ever ran even a little hot, so I know that's what happened. It just went.

How wonderful that it went today. It could have happened this weekend, when we were all (me, Rick, the boys, my mom, and my 2 brothers) on our way to Indy. Or, it could have happened next month, when we were on our way to vacation. The point is, it was going to happen. I'm so happy it happened today.

Today Rick isn't busy at work, and I have sick time, so I won't lose pay for not making it in today, and he can leave early to get the van home. Today, my mom was home, and could come pick me up from the gas station where it died and bring me up to Whitehall. Today, I was able to pick up Rick's car and bring it home and he can drive his truck home. Today, we can take the truck to where the van is, hook up a tow strap and pull the van home going 25 mph on the back roads. Today we can put it in the driveway (which is currently clear of ice and snow, even though it's winter in Michigan), and leave it here until the flatbed from our garage comes through to go to the car auction. They can pick it up on their way through, we don't have to pay a tow bill to get it to the garage. We don't have the money to fix it right now (thank you Christmas), but just knowing that we're "ok" until we can fix it is such a relief. I will drive Rick's car, he'll drive his truck and everything will be fine.

Although I was pretty stressed when it happened (understandably), now I can see how lucky we are that it happened now. If only God's sense of humor also included money falling out of the sky in exactly the amount we need to get it fixed - that would be the icing on the cake, lol :)

And yes, I do realize this is a fulfillment of God's promise to take care of his children. But the way it all worked out just makes me feel like God's having a little chuckle up there about how he always has everything under control, even when it doesn't feel like it down here :)

I love that about Him.

Rockin Out!

2009-01-04T23:23:00.003-05:00

So a friend asked for recommendations for workout music for her iPod. I pulled up the "workout/running playlist" thats on my iPod and now that I'm listening to some of the selections, I'm totally motivated to go for a run. And it's 11:30pm on a Sunday night. And I have to work tomorrow. And everything is covered in ice outside, LOL.

Why do these urges always come at the most inopportune times?? I doubt I'll be this motivated tomorrow.... Oh well - asi es la vida (so is life), I suppose :)

I REALLY need to go to bed, lol. Have a super great week!!!!!!

Welcoming 2009!

2009-01-02T11:34:00.002-05:00

We had a lot of fun with New Years this year. A friend of Rick's had a party, and there were other kids there, so we were able to bring the boys. They both made it until midnight (thanks to me making them nap until 6:00pm, LOL)!!!! It was fun to watch them watch the ball drop. They are not fans of sparkling grape juice, though, and neither one of them would kiss mommy to welcome in the new year (but I'm ok with that) :)

Yesterday, we took down the Christmas tree and then loaded the boys up into the van. We picked up our friends Jenny, Sydney and Nathan and we all went sledding in Muskegon. Then after that, we got hot chocolate at Starbucks, and then went to Jenny and Sydney's house for dinner. We ordered pizza, the kids got to play, and Rick got to play Guitar Hero (which I have a feeling we'll be buying because it's WAAAY fun!!).

Last night I had to work for an hour, and then it was off to bed! I got a new book at B&N earlier this week called "The Exhaustion Cure" and so I'm trying some of the tips in there to up my energy level. I'll let you know how it works out!

Oh, and by the way, the $95.00 I spent on boots and gloves was SO worth it. I stayed toasty warm sledding yesterday! It's so much more fun when you're not freezing your toes off!!

Have an awesome weekend!

New Boots!

2008-12-30T22:40:00.004-05:00

I think I picked THE WORST time of year to go shopping for new snow boots. Seriously - I went to like 10 different places before I found a pair today. My boss got me a Visa giftcard for $75.00 and I decided to put it to practical use. I have a pair of boots, but my feet are ALWAYS cold in them. And there is NOTHING worse that trying to go sledding with cold feet...

So, I did some research today. Some brands that kept popping up were Sorel, Kamik and Columbia. I searched for Sorels and Kamiks today - not a lot of luck, so I ended up going with these: http://www.columbia.com/Product/5/Footwear/520/Womens/9351/Sierra-Summette.aspx

They were only $65.00 at Dick's Sporting Goods (on sale!). I also ended up spending $25.00 on gloves that I HOPE will finally keep my hands warm!

I'll let you know how it all works out :)

The Holidays are Winding Down

2008-12-26T10:57:00.003-05:00

Merry Belated Christmas, everyone!! Hope your day was beautiful.

Here at the Holman household, things have been CRAZY! We started the Christmas celebrations last week Sunday when we saw my dad and my extended family on that side. My dad and step-mom always head to Wisconsin for Christmas, so that works out very well for us. I had to work Monday, Tuesday, and until noon on Wednesday, but then Wednesday afternoon, we headed over to my mom's house for our Christmas celebration with her, my step-dad, my brothers and Katelynn. It was loud - always is - but there was limited drama, and for that, I am thankful :)

Yesterday I was SO proud of my boys. Because Rick's and my parents are both divorced, we have 4 Christmases with our parents, and then Christmas with the Lohmans t00 - the Lohmans are our "Other Family". That makes 5, yep - count 'em, 5 - Christmases for our household. We had plans to go to brunch at the Lohmans at 10am yesterday, so I knew the boys weren't going to be able to open their presents at home first thing in the morning. The compromise was that they could play with what Santa brought them - which he wisely didn't wrap - and open up their stockings. Everything else would have to wait until the evening after we got home. Joshua and Logan were AWESOME. I can't imagine it was easy to leave all those presents under the tree - but they didn't fight it at all.

So, Santa and stockings at home, then off to the Lohmans for brunch (prime rib and eggs - YUM!!) and presents there. We stayed for a few hours, then drove up to Rothbury to see Rick's mom and his step-dad. That was really nice - it was just Patti, Dave, my BIL Jamie, and our family. The boys, of course, got loaded up with presents, and loved every minute of it. We stayed there for dinner - swiss steak, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, pumpkin pie - and it was delish! We headed back to Coopersville about 5:45pm and then spent some time with the boys opening our presents to each other. Tomorrow, we'll drive up to Whitehall to see Rick's dad and the Holman Family, and then down to Toledo in January for my extended family on my mom's side. As crazy as the juggling is, I understand how lucky I am to have such a huge family, and I promise, I'm very thankful.

I had to work last night from home, and I'm at work again today, so my house is CHAOS right now. It's a lot stressful, but I'm hoping to get things back in order tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll feel a lot better after that. We were so very blessed with so many great gifts this year that I'm not quite sure where we're going to stick them all :)

Have a blessed weekend!!

A Little Bit Sad Today...

2008-12-22T12:12:00.002-05:00

Somehow - and I'm not quite sure how this happened - my little baby is turning 3 today! It's a little bit tough, I'll admit that. Seems harder than when Joshua turned 3. Probably because when Joshua turned 3, I was getting close to the home stretch of my pregnancy with Logan and I knew I'd have a new baby in a few months. But, here we are. Logan is 3 now, and I can assure you I'm not in the home stretch of another pregnancy.... that means no new baby in a few months. I'm not even sure if Rick and I will have another baby. I swore that Logan was "it" after all the problems I had with that pregnancy, but it's funny how time has a way of making you forget some of those "I never want to do this again" thoughts.

Regardless, my baby is turning 3. In the last month, I can't believe how much Logan has transitioned from toddler to little kid - right before my very eyes. It seems like the last WEEK has been huge in that regard!! I'm not sure I'm ready for that!

Tonight we'll have family over. I'm going to make pizza (thank you, frozen DiGiorno) and buy a cake (it was a crazy weekend and I didn't get a chance to make a cake). It will be very low key - especially if the weather doesn't let up. We've had 2 MASSIVE snow events in the last 4 days, and we're due for another significant one tomorrow (possibly another 4-10" I heard!!), so I'm not sure how conditions will be tonight. But, we'll squeeze everyone in the house and just enjoy watching Logan be the star of the night. He is the Birthday Boy, after all!

Oh, and Joshua informed me this morning that since it's Logan's birthday today, Logan doesn't have to listen to me if he doesn't want to, LOL! I wonder where THAT came from :)

Have a beautiful and blessed Christmas. I'm not sure I'll be posting again until after Christmas. I still have SO much to do yet and there's only 3 days left!

But, I will post pics of my big 3 year old after his party tonight :)

So there I was...

2008-12-18T11:46:00.002-05:00

So there I was, sitting at work, listening to the radio. Starting yesterday, Star 105.7 (which has been playing Christmas Music all season long), has been doing a radiothon to raise money for the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. If you haven't been around since the beginning, my 6 year old, Joshua, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in April of 2004, when he was 20 months old. We spent the better part of the next year at DeVos for treatment. They saved my son's life.

Rick and I are SUPER passionate about DeVos. We know how truly blessed we are that we were able to have such incredible treatment so close to home. Yesterday morning, I dropped Tommy and Brooke an email thanking them for what they're doing, and kind of giving them a snapshot of Joshua's story so they would understand where I was coming from.

I'm sitting here at work this morning, and they read my email on the air! I had to leave my office halfway through because I started to cry. You would think that 4 1/2 years of being cancer free, I'd be a little better at handling stuff like that. Not true. It still has an effect on me, even now.

Which is why places like DeVos are so very important. If you are looking for a charity to donate to this holiday season, I can give you a massive list of reasons why DeVos is one you might want to consider. You can donate online at www.star1057online.com or call them at 877-953-KIDS or 616-391-2999.

So, that's what happened to me today. I'm still a little choked up, but especially because yesterday alone, the radiothon raised over $20,000.00 for DeVos and that is incredible.

Christmas tree pics!

2008-12-16T16:30:00.005-05:00

I'm such a slacker - sorry! Getting my boys to cooperate and take a "nice" picture in front of the Christmas tree was not happening until today - when I bribed them for their cooperation :)

Whatever it takes, right!!

Anyhow - here are a few Christmas photos from the Holman Household!

Our Christmas tree. Right in the middle of our living room. I need a bigger house, LOL!

Finally got them to sit nice!

We do not have a fireplace... so "The stockings were hung on the wall with care" :)

My favorite Christmas memory from when I was a kid - the "Mousey Calendar", as we all called it. I had to beg my siblings to let me take this from my mom's house!!!

There ya go - better late than never!!

Broken Heart...

2008-12-12T11:34:00.002-05:00

Have I mentioned how much I HATE brain tumors? Please lift the Fox Family up in your prayers as Hadley Bug earned her Angel Wings at about 3:30am this morning. She has been battling this beast for WAY too long. And yet my heart is broken for her family. Angela was one of my first friends on the "my kid has a brain tumor" journey. This just sucks.

Oh Christmas Tree!!

2008-12-10T21:08:00.001-05:00

We got our tree up and decorated tonight! We had our fair share of "National Lampoon Moments" - mostly regarding the lights.... But, it's done now and it looks great! I took a couple of pictures tonight - I'm hoping to get them uploaded tomorrow. Right now I'm off to bake 5 dozen sugar cookies. And clean my bathrooms. We have a friend from church coming over tomorrow with her kiddos to decorate cookies.

Have a beautiful week.

Snow, snow, and more snow.

2008-12-08T11:39:00.004-05:00

It's certainly winter in Michigan! We have been getting just MASSIVE amounts of snow lately (Lake Effect and regular systems). We're under a Winter Storm Watch for tonight, actually, and we're supposed to get hammered this afternoon and ALL DAY TOMORROW. Who knows how much snow we'll have at the end of this! On Saturday, I shoveled at least 6 inches off my back steps so the dog could go outside! And then I was shovelling the driveway (Rick was out plowing), and by the time I was done with half of it, everything I had just done was covered in 1/2 an inch of snow again!! We got a break yesterday (thank you, Lord!), but it's supposed to get pretty crazy here for the next couple of days. Snow, rain, freezing rain... the whole nine yards!!

Hopefully Rick's truck will get fixed today so he doesn't miss out on what could be a lucrative couple of days of snow plowing! We have repair bills to pay for on his truck....

Anyhow, if you're in my neck of the woods, take it easy for the next couple of day. Hope everyone stays warm and safe!!

Tis the Season

2008-12-03T22:25:00.002-05:00

For Christmas Specials!! We all (yup - Rick too!) watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tonight after dinner. Joshua was SO CUTE - he was singing all the songs from the movie, even though he didn't know them very well. Logan was REALLY fidgety during it, but he's not feeling very well, so I wasn't surprised.

Logan has a touch of a stomach bug - not bad - but inconvenient enough that he hasn't eaten hardly anything all week long... I'm sure it's just what Joshua was fighting last week, but I'd love for it to GO AWAY!

Ahh, the joys of cold and flu season... Hope everyone in your neck of the woods is staying healthy!

So Tired!

2008-11-28T19:36:00.002-05:00

Well.... I made a HUGE dent in my Christmas shopping today! Got Logan completely done (birthday included), Joshua only needs pajamas, and Rick is done except for his stocking! And I was REALLY lazy this year and hadn't really even started shopping before today...

I have a few more people to buy for still (mom, Bob, MIL, FIL, my "sorta nieces" Tabby and Lexxi, my grandpa, my exchange, and the kids' exchanges), but the important guys in my life are just about taken care of :)

Last night I was able to get most of my decorations out, too, which was nice. I have NO idea where we'll fit the Christmas tree (we're gonna have to rearrange the living room again...), but most of the other stuff is out!

And then I unsuccessfully tried to take a nap - that didn't happen, so I'm in a less than happy mood right now. Gotta get a good night's sleep tonight :)

What I am Thankful For

2008-11-22T22:00:00.005-05:00

I stole this from my friend Kellie at: http://momwifesuperhero.com/ so I can't take credit for it, but I think it's really fitting for the coming week.

Ten Things I am Thankful for - in no particular order

1. I am thankful for my friends. They are so awesome and I am so lucky to have them in my life.

2. I am thankful for my husband, who went out and picked up some brand new, clear icicle lights because he knew I'd been wanting some for a long time. And then he spent most of the day today putting them up outside for me - including shortening one of the strands to make it a "perfect fit" for our house so it would all match up nicely.

3. I am thankful for my boys - no matter how insane they make me - because they make my life worth something.

4. I am thankful for my minivan because I can load up my friends and their kids and we can spend time together without taking 3 cars.

5. I am thankful for my laptop and internet - they are my connection to the outside world and to my family far away.

6. I am thankful for Michigan, and living so close to the lake. I could never be far from a large body of water - it's what centers me.

7. I am thankful for DeVos Childrens Hospital. They saved my sons life.

8. I am thankful for homemade hot chocolate mix because it makes everything all better.

9. I am thankful for soup - especially on a cold day.

10. I am REALLY thankful for my super-mega load size washer and dryer because we have a King sized bed and I really appreciate being able to wash our comforter at home whenever I want.

There ya have it - the things I am thankful for. Think about what you're thankful for in the week to come, and remember to always be grateful for what you've been given.

Something fun!!

2008-11-21T14:53:00.002-05:00

Rick and I are hosting a Trivia Night in Coopersville tomorrow (Saturday) night at 6:00pm if anyone is interested in coming. We've spent the week thinking up questions - and it'll be a team thing - so you don't need to be a super genious!! If you would like to come, let me know, we can definitely fit you in :)

Bring a snack to share, and drinks if you want something special.

Have a great weekend - oh - and GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat those Buckeyes tomorrow!!!

Oh how I love Kari!!

2008-11-19T12:19:00.002-05:00

My friend Kari is a massage student. Last night I got a FABULOUS hour long massage from her for a whole $12.00!!! It was pretty much awesome! I have back problems already - on top of carrying all of my stress back there - so the massage was much appreciated. I'm going to be going back to her because my back is a whole ton of practice for her, LOL. As it was, she was only able to get half of each of the 2 giant knots out of the back of my shoulders, lol, and that was after working on it for most of the hour!! After I got home, I soaked in the tub, and was asleep by 10:30pm, LOL. So relaxing...

Thank you, Kari - it was AWESOME!!

Phew!

2008-11-18T16:00:00.003-05:00

Well, I guess the fall pics have been on my page long enough. I ordered a photo book of them all, and that should arrive shortly, but I just LOVE seeing those pics on my blog! I guess I'll just have to find time to swap out the summer pics of the boys with the fall pics on the sidebar... I just haven't had time yet.

This week, Karen, our receptionist here at work is on vacation. That means I'm working 40 hours! 8am to 4:30pm every day this week. It's tough (I'm used to 2o hours a week), but it means Mollers will be paying for my Black Friday Shopping next week when my double paycheck clears :)

But, I will say that the days are long, and I miss my boys! I leave before they're even "up" in the morning, and by the time I get home, it's already dinnertime and then time to start winding down for them to go to bed! I miss our afternoons, when it's just the three of us at home until Rick gets home from work... Plus Joshua has a TON of homework that we're trying to keep up on this week.

I'm sure I'll appreciate the extra money for Christmas shopping, so I don't really mind at all.

Oh, by the way, I am the worst mom ever. Can you believe that my first grader has NO snowboots yet!!! And, of course, it's a very snowy week! I plan to remedy that tonight after work, but I couldn't believe I hadn't bought him boots yet! I'm always REALLY on top of this stuff, it's just been super busy lately. My head sort of feels like it's spinning!!!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is already next week!! I'm not sure where the year has gone, but it sure has flown by!! I'm a Taurus, we love food, so you can imagine how much I love Turkey Day!! Any excuse to gorge myself on massive amounts of food is awesome, but add family into that and I'm in HEAVEN! It seems like we see family so often at this time of year - way more than the rest of the year. It's nice. Usually :)

Hmmmm, what else.... Rick should have his plow installed on his truck today - it will be SO NICE not to have to shovel all the freaking snow we get, living in Michigan, so close to the lake! Oh, we got a new screen door, so we're hoping that cuts down on some of the cold air that sneaks in by the front door! Fingers crossed it works! I hate cold drafts!

Gosh, I think that's about it! I promise not to go so long without an update. I just wasn't ready for the pics to go down the page, LOL. I'll be ok though!!

Have a blessed week - may you feel God's presence in everything you do, and find a way to be Jesus to someone else this week - it'll make you feel SO GOOD!!

Littlest Heroes Project Photos!!!

2008-11-04T19:53:00.008-05:00

THANK YOU to Susan James for doing these for us!!! Here is a link to Susan's website: http://www.susanjamesphotography.com

All of the pictures were phenomenal, but these are some of my faves!! Looks like I'll be swapping out the blog pictures here soon! I LOVE these so much more than the ones I had done this summer at Target. Something tells me that Susan may have had something to do with that :)

New Family Photo:

The boys:

Leaf Fun:

Joshua and I:

Finally! Pics of Rick and I!!

Last, but not least, the reason for this photo shoot, our Littlest Hero, Joshua!!!

Be Thankful for Boring...

2008-10-28T12:46:00.003-04:00

I have a co-worker that I consider a friend. His family is going through some of the worst kind of hurt imaginable right now. I was talking to him this afternoon at work and he said something that struck a chord with me. He was telling me how just a few weeks ago he was commenting to his wife how they do the same thing every day. Get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, play with the kids, go to bed, and do it all over again the next day. Their life was boring.

This last couple of weeks have been a living nightmare for them. He would give anything to go back to boring. So, when you find yourself restless because your in a rut, take a good look around and remember that there might be a time when you will wish more than anything that you could go back to that point. When things weren't quite as "exciting" (whether good or bad).

Keep it in the back of your head, and say a prayer for my friend. They really need the prayers right now...

Tonight

2008-10-27T16:10:00.003-04:00

Well, tonight officially wraps up the fall soccer season in the Holman Household. Joshua's last game is tonight. And it's REALLY cold outside, and will probably by snowing by 6:45pm. Can't wait for that. At least Logan will be going to the sitter's if it's nasty outside - it's bad enough that the game starts so late (it'll be dark already), I don't need a cold whiny toddler complaining the whole time. It's not fair to Joshua. Last time Logan was cold at a soccer game, both Rick and I were so preoccupied with trying to distract him, we missed most of Joshua's playing time!

So, you can bet we'll be bundled up for tonight - long underwear, sweatshirts, hats, gloves the whole nine yards. And a GIANT thermos of hot chocolate...

Maybe the snow will just stay gone - that would be ideal.

Yay for family pictures!!!

2008-10-20T10:03:00.002-04:00

We had so much fun yesterday! We went down to Allegan to meet up with Susan and have Joshua's "Littlest Heroes Project" photos done. The whole family was included in the session and we had such a great time! First of all, our boys and Susan's girls get along great and always have a great time when they're together. Second of all, Susan is just incredible. My boys LOVE her and she even got Rick into the spirit of things, even though pictures are NOT something he enjoys. What I love about fall pics is that you have the best props right at your fingertips. Bring a rake and you have mountains of leaves, which I assure you, little boys (and their daddy) absolutely love!

I am really so excited to see how the pics turned out. My boys were running a little hot and cold between cooperating and not, Logan especially, so the number of pics wasn't much, but I hope that the quality of pics she DID get will be awesome. Well, I KNOW they'll be great because she's great, but you know what I mean.

One of the things I had to do, though, for the session was get a picture of Joshua when he was sick so that Susan could take a pic of him holding the pic to show how far he's come. That's the thing about being so far out - it's easy to forget how sick he was. Rick and I were going through all the 2004 pics trying to find the "right" one. I was doing REALLY well with them until I came to the pics right after surgery........ that was not good at all. I saw the one of the back of his head after the surgery and almost threw up. It was SO DIFFICULT. And then the next one was when he was unconscious and hooked up to all the machines. Oh my gosh, it was awful. I guess I'm not quite "there yet" where I can look at those ones and not have a physical reaction.

Someday, I'm sure, but not yet.

Anyways, the boys were all tuckered out by the end and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. There is just something about watching your husband play with your kids that makes you remember why you chose them in the first place. It was SO FUN to see Rick and the boys wrestling in the leaves, throwing leaves everywhere, and just having an honest to goodness blast. It makes me feel really blessed to be this lucky. My life could be a whole lot different, but I'm so thankful it's not.

Have a great week - we're super busy again, but it's good.

October Busy-ness!!!

2008-10-15T11:42:00.003-04:00

Wow. I can't believe it's October 15th already (happy birthday, Hillary - even though I'm sure you don't read this)! This month has just flown by and it's only going to get busier......

We are booked SOLID for the next 3 weekends! Talk about no downtime!!! Oh, we are having a grown-ups only Halloween party on October 24th if anyone wants to come. Leave me a comment and I'll get you the details. We used to have one every year - it was "our thing", but when Joshua got sick, we stopped, and haven't had one since. So, time to remedy that. Rick and I love to throw parties for our friends, so we're excited.

Of course, once Halloween is done, it seems like Thanksgiving is RIGHT THERE (and my favorite day of all - Black Friday, lol) and then before you know it, it's Christmas morning. Have I mentioned I haven't even stopped to think of any ideas for Christmas this year? I haven't thought about what to get the kids, my parents, my husband.... nothing. I don't even know what I want this year!!!!!

I will admit though, I absolutely LOVE this time of year. I thrive on being busy, seeing my family all the time, good times with great food - I'm all about all of that :)

The boys and I have big plans of doing our "fall craft" this afternoon. We've (mostly Joshua and I) been drawing a lot of pictures with fall trees, scarecrows, pumpkins - things like that. I bought the boys some scrapbooking stickers for fall and we're going to work on making fall scenes tonight I think. Joshua has been looking forward to it all week long.

Oh, I finally got our clothes picked out for Joshua's "Littlest Heroes Project" photo session! I'm so excited about that. I REALLY hope the weather holds so Susan can get us done on Sunday!!! I'm a lot more excited about these pictures than the ones we had done for the Church Directory last Thursday. Maybe because that photographer wasn't very friendly and Susan is so awesome. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to that!

Widow for the Weekend!!

2008-10-10T10:42:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Oktoberfest going on up in Pentwater this weekend, the boys and I are "Daddy Free", lol. We are planning to go with Gramma Lola and maybe Gramma Sunshine to the Pumpkin Roll tomorrow in Montague. We've never been able to go before, but I hear it's super fun. Apparently you buy a pumpkin and then you roll it down a big hill in a race. I'm sure my boys will love the chance to destroy something with permission!!

I'd like to get some apples picked if my mom is up for it, but we'll see. I actually get the night off from being "Mommy" tomorrow!!! Due to some VERY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING plans, the boys are going for a sleepover at my mom's house. I have big plans of cleaning, doing laundry and going to bed at like 9:00pm while they're gone, since Rick isn't supposed to be home until Sunday.

Sunday morning we're going to be heading into Grand Haven to clean out my Great-Grandma's place. She lives with my Grandma now, so it's time to get that last little bit taken care of. So, hopefully Rick won't be too grumpy Sunday morning from working Saturday night because we're supposed to be in Grand Haven around 7:00am!! I think he'll stay in Whitehall and just meet me in GH. I can catch a ride out there with someone else, and then just ride home with him. He doesn't have to drive the extra half hour after working all night, I get the bed (and house) to myself - it works out for everyone!!

My helper is going to take over my Sunday School class (it's her week to teach, so it works out), so I'm able to help out my family. Then, nothing to do Sunday afternoon but watch football and hope my fantasy team does better than last week (which was terrible!).

The weather is supposed to be phenominal both Saturday and Sunday, so we'll for sure be taking advantage of that! Those beautiful weekends will soon be a distant memory as winter heads toward Michigan...

MORE Super Awesome News!!!!!!!

2008-10-03T13:09:00.003-04:00

I got yet ANOTHER call from the DeVos Children's Hospital yesterday. The calls that used to send so much dread now send something completely opposite....

It was a guy named Dwayne, and he was calling to ask if we would be willing to bring Joshua to a really special event coming up. Grand Valley State University is having their annual "Dance Marathon" to raise money for the DeVos Childrens Hospital. They do it every year - it's a 24 hour event. They would like Joshua to be a special guest there!!!!!!!!!! They want (from what I understand) to "show" these college students what they are raising money for. How awesome is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone from the event should be calling me shortly with the rest of the details, but the event is on November 7th. I did a little searching (thank you, Google!!!) and found a page that tells a little about it. Here's the link: http://www.gvsu.edu/service/index.cfm?id=7E7E31C4-FDA5-A7AA-5CE9FA943A398FDF

You will probably have to copy and paste it because I'm not very good at that stuff yet, but it's totally worth a quick peek!!! I'll update again when I have more details, but until then, I'm ABSOLUTELY doing a "Happy Dance" at how God CONTINUES to use what he chose us to go through to impact the lives of other people!!!!!

Woohoo!!!! Have a beautiful weekend!!!