Wordless Wednesday - Throwing in Green!

Zack's first MSU track meet. He took first place! Way to go Zack!!!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Thanksgiving

Here is everyone relaxing before lunch. Expect for Mark who must want to eat soon because he is carving the bird.



We have outgrown my mom's table. I see that as a good thing. Wink! Mark and I offered to sit at the counter with Kaylyn and Libby so they didn't feel like the kids were being pushed to the curb... er, counter.



Ready for dessert. This is when it pays to sit at the counter. Maybe Mark had ulterior motives after all. We have mom's pumpkin pie and my raspberry cheesecake. Even though my mom makes the best pumpkin pie ever (in my opinion) she doesn't care that much for it so she asked me to bring something for her.


Emily LOVED grandma's pumpkin pie.



Lunch is all cleaned up now it is time to go over the sale flyers and give grandma ideas for Christmas.



That would be Mark opening a whole can of trouble...



That would be Zack teaching his daddy a little lesson.



That looks like me saying "boys stop that you are going to break something".



I hope you all had a wonderful time of food and fellowship with your families!

Wordless Wednesday-Cutest "floor cleaner" ever.

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Happy Birthday Kaylyn!

A little late again. My poor blog is full of cobwebs.

Kaylyn turned 14 a couple weeks ago. We usually celebrate on Sunday's with cake and ice cream but because life has been so hectic we squeezed it in on a Tuesday night and I made tacos for everyone and then we had cake and ice cream.

Kaylyn has been asking me for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for the past couple years. Her Grandma Hill made it for her every year but Grandma passed away in 2005 and Kaylyn has been missing her cake. The problem is my mother, uncle, and myself get headaches from chocolate so a double chocolate cake is way too much for us. I came up with a simple solution that I should have thought of long ago. Provide 2 desserts. I had one happy girl this year. Wink!



It was also nice to have Grandpa join us. He loves all his Great-grandkids. Emily thinks he is pretty cool too because he gives her rides on his walker and she thinks she is pretty big stuff on it.

Mono? Really? She's 10!

Libby started running a fever on Sunday afternoon and fell asleep on the couch. I kept her home on Monday because of the fever and noticed that she was complaining a little about her throat hurting. She rode along with me to bring Zack back to MSU. She slept pretty much the whole way there and back. When we got home she went to her own bed and slept. At dinnertime I pulled out a flashlight to get a look in her throat. She was very swollen, red, and white ick (that is a very medical term) was on her tonsils.

Tuesday morning I got her into see the doctor. They did the swab of her throat for strep and swab of her nose for a virus. The strep test came back negative. The doctor looked in her ears first and found that she had an ear infection in her left ear. Then she put her hands on Libby's neck to feel her glands and her reaction was shock. I hadn't even thought to feel her neck and when I did I couldn't believe it. Her glands were so swollen it felt like baseballs. Then she looked in her throat and again couldn't believe just how swollen her tonsils were. The doctor ordered blood work because she was quite certain that Libby had mono. Apparently it is going around by us although I haven't heard of anyone else that we know with it. She looked just miserable. She also tried to answer the doctors questions with motions because it hurt too bad to talk. The doctor sent us off with 2 prescriptions, one for the ear infection and prednizone for her swollen glands.

We headed over to have her blood drawn. Poor thing was already becoming dehydrated from not wanting to swallow so it was really hard to find a vein. The nurse ended up finding one in her hand to use. Libby had been doing fine but the minute she realized that the nurse was going to put a needle in her hand she lost it. The look of fear in her eyes just killed me. The nurse stopped for a minute and I explained to Libby that it was really no big deal and it wouldn't even hurt as much as her flu shot. Libby calmed back down and after it was done agreed that it really didn't hurt.

On the way home we picked up her medicine. The pharmacist told me the prednizone had to be taken with food. That would be a challenge since Libby won't hardly swallow water. So we got home and I seen that it could be food or milk. We went for the milk. Then I gave her the liquid medicine for her ear. Then it was time to take the prednizone, 5 of them. They are really small pills and if you have ever had them you know how awful they taste. They must not be coated. So we both agreed it would probably be best to take all 5 at once since they are so small. BAD IDEA! She started gagging on them right away. Up came everything, milk, pink medicine, and the pills. Ugh! Then she ran to the bathroom and continued to heave. Poor kid!

I called the doctors office and they suggested I bring her back in and they would give her the first dose of prednizone via injection. I knew that was they best option but I was so not wanting to tell Libby. She took it fine. I think by then she had lost all energy to fight. We get to the doctors office and Libby pulls up her sleeve for the shot and the nurse says, "I'm sorry hunny but this one has to go in your hip". There was that look of fear again but no tears this time. She did say that that one stung bad.

Long story short she does have mono. She has been doing a lot of sleeping. Hasn't had much of an appetite. Her swelling has gone way down. Her fever left yesterday. She is regaining energy. She has gotten a week off school. And we have told her she has to stop kissing boys. Wink! Who would have thought a 10 year old would have mono? Not this mom.

Do you Skype?

I have fallen in love with Skype since Zack left for college. He will call me on his cell phone on the way back to his dorm and say "Mom I will be in my room in 10 minutes. Wanna Skype?"

Do you know what Skype is? It is a software application that lets people talk with video online. And here is the bonus... it is free!

You know how hard it can be to get 2 words out of a male teenager on the phone but with Skype I can see him and he is so much more engaging! I also think Zack's ADD keeps him from being able to focus while he is on the phone. "Oh look a bird." This way he has something to focus on while he talks.

I like to snap still shots while we are chatting. Here is Zack chuckling with his room mate during a funny conversation. Zack had already told me that Chris's girlfriend was coming up for the weekend and planning on staying in their dorm room so he was setting Chris up in this conversation knowing how I would answer. He asked me what I thought of that so Chris could hear. I said, "Chris will have to answer to God for that decision." So this picture I snapped as Zack was saying, "Dude did you hear my mom? She said you will be in trouble with God." They are so cute aren't they.

Zack also snaps pictures of us while we are talking. Here is one from the other night. I was sitting on the floor in our bedroom when he called. You will often find me on the floor when I am working on the computer. I think it is comfortable. You will probably never catch Mark sitting on the floor. I made him join me (under much protest) because I didn't feel like moving. Ignore the laundry waiting to be folded on the bed behind us. Apparently Zack gets his lack of focus from his father who was caught watching tv while we were talking.



In case you Skype my account is "zaankali6".

Update on my sister.

This is a picture of Jodi with our niece Emily taken at Zack's Open House this past June.

I want to honor my sister's privacy while still giving you an update because she really appreciates and feels all the prayers being said on her behalf. The bad news is her bone marrow biopsy came back with the cancer cell count at 70-80%. That is really high. The good news is she has no lesions on her bones and her heart is healthy. She will start chemo this week Friday. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Thank you!

Been busy?

Who hasn't right? But my blog is shriveling up. So I thought I better post something and since I don't have time to write creatively I thought I would just share some pictures instead. After all they do speak 1000 words right?

Youth hunt '09





Art Prize '09

The doll Anna is holding is a class project. It's a computerized doll that is designed to give the students an idea of caring for a real baby. Both Kaylyn and Anna have the class and they were both ready to be done with caring for the baby after only one weekend. Success!



Libby likes having her picture taken. Can you tell?

Check out the bronze "statue" in the next picture...

See a diference?

It is a real live man! Isn't that crazy?

Please pray

Tuesday night was a rough night and I am still living in a bit of a fog waiting for the dust to settle in hopes to get a better view of what is going on.

My oldest sister, Jodi, has been dealing with some unexplainable health issues this summer. She was told she was in renal (kidney) failure. She was referred to a Nephrologist (fancy name for kidney doctor) who ordered a biopsy of her kidney. They took 7 biopsies last Wednesday and sent them off to the Mayo clinic for testing and had an appointment scheduled for Oct. 1 to review the results.

Tuesday she received a call from the Nephrologist. It's never good news when they call you. He had gotten some of the results back and had to tell my sister that she has cancer of the blood. It is called Multiple Myeloma and is a cancer of the plasma cell. It is an incurable but treatable disease. You can read more about it at MMRF. The Nephrologist has already set up an appointment for my sister with the Cancer and Hematology Center for this Friday.

Please keep Jodi, her husband Randy, and their 3 children; Derek (20), Brandon (18), and Kendra (16) in your prayers. The boys had to learn about this via phone call as they are both off at college right now.

This is crazy!

After seeing this you will want to keep your kids even closer to you in public.




That poor man. Living with that much anger can not be easy.

Wordless Wednesday - MSU move in day!

Final goodbye picture....

"Quick honey, one last Zachary sandwich..."


"We love you Zachary!"

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Worth Framing!

Libby heard me telling Anna about this post I made on Twitter this morning:

I would really like to just get away for a long weekend somewhere warm and lay around in the sun with nowhere to be and no one needing me.

Then I showed both of them this header from Kat's blog and said I will just have to imagine myself sitting in that red chair soaking up the sun.


Later in the morning after I came down from taking a shower I found Libby painting and here is one of the things she painted just for me....


I will be framing it and hanging it in my bathroom. I just love the compassionate heart of my sweet Libby!

Wordless Wednesday - Fun at Aunt Julie's

Check out the older two carrying on a casual conversation while the youngest looks like she has a death grip on the handles. LOL! It is always like this.


See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Seriously!

I think this is hilarious! Maybe because I am such a "rules" girl. Give me a rule and I think I HAVE to follow it after all it is A RULE! I am hoping my good common sense keeps me from acting as ridiculous as this "rules" person though.

Here is a link to the actual site in case this isn't displaying correctly. I seen it posted on Baby Bangs site today and just had to share it.

I blew it!

They say confession is good for the soul right?

I just got back from getting groceries at Wal-mart. I learned a lot of lessons. First don't go to Wal-mart after the lunch hour. Apparently that is when Wal-mart lets their associates take their lunch breaks. I know this because 2 of them were sitting in subway watching the checkout lines get longer and longer.

With a cart full of groceries I head to the checkout and find only 2 express lanes and 1 regular lane open. There was already a line for the regular lane and since I was shopping for the week I was WAY over the 12 items or less limit for the express lane. I got in the line with everyone else and just kept hoping to hear over the intercom "we need all available associates to checkout".

There was a sweet lady behind me who probably only had 14 items but still didn't feel like she should use the express lane (with no line) unless the clerk motioned her over. After a couple minutes she was saved by the clerk. By now there is at least 3 more carts full behind me and still 2 in front of me waiting. Wait some more.

Then I hear those magic words "we need all available associates to checkout". Cool, because it turned out the 2 carts in front of me were actually a husband and wife and they were now unloading their carts so that makes me next in line. I am anxiously waiting for another lane to open because I am next, right? Don't they always open a new lane with the polite "I can help who's next in lane 2"?

I get distracted from my lookout for a second when I catch Libby perusing through a gossip magazine. I ask her to put it back and as I am returning to my watchful post WHAM! The man who had been in the back of the line is flying past me into the next lane over that is... now open! "Are you serious?" "You haven't even been waiting." I have been standing here for what is feeling like forever."

I can't stand for this. Who does he think he is? Didn't his mother teach him proper shopping etiquette? I can't let him get away with this. I need to let him know how wrong he is so he doesn't do this again to another shopper. The mother in me needs to be heard.

The couple ahead of me was done unloading their cart and had moved up so I could move my cart up which put me right next to Mr. "skip the the front of the line without giving any regard to those there before me". So I looked straight at him as he had his head down unloading his cart and loudly said, "Wow. That was rude!" He didn't acknowledge me but that got the attention of the lady in front of me to which I quickly said, "Sorry, not you. I was referring to the man that was in the back of the line who just cut to the open lane in front of everyone." Again saying it so that Mr. "skip the the front of the line without giving any regard to those there before me" could hear me.

As I finished checking out I was just waiting for him to get sassy with me and was busy thinking up what I could say back to him like "just calling it like I see it."

In hindsight maybe I shouldn't go get groceries right after a "Jillian from Biggest loser" workout and a large coke from McDonald's. Apparently it makes me a little feisty. Like I could conquer the world.

You are know wondering how I know I blew it? Stay with me.

On the drive home I just could not get out of my head what had happened. I was feeling proud of myself for standing up to the situation for all women everywhere. So why can't I get it out of my head and why am I so worked up about it? Then it hit me. That still small voice. I hear "judges justly". Oh wow how quick am I to forget. You see two scriptures stood out to me so much during my devotions this morning that I had wrote them down in my journal "because my kids needed to hear this". Turns out God didn't give me the scriptures for my kids but I was too blind this morning to see how often I do the very same thing that my kids do that bothers me so.

I don't know if this is making clear sense anymore but read the scriptures I wrote down and I think you will get what God was showing me and why I now know I didn't pass the test at Wal-mart.

1 Peter 2:21-23 "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

1 Peter 3:8-9 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called. So that you may inherit a blessing."

Ouch! There was no blessing for me today at Wal-mart. As soon as I realized what I had learned I shared it with Anna and Libby who had been with me getting groceries.

Mom blew it.

Wordless Wednesday (kinda) - Can't sit on the sideline

This one needs "some" words...

Do you know those guys that just can't be happy sitting on the sidelines? See the guy in the jean shorts and visor? Keep watching him...

Oh no where did he go? And why is my youngest trying to tell someone to slow down?

Why is he running? Note: My youngest now looks like "I tried to warn you. This oughta be good."

Come on you need to be able to go to work tomorrow. What are you thinking? Is this going to be one of those "why didn't they put down the camera and go help him" moments?

No! The girls were jumping not diving. This isn't water.

I am guessing you now have sand in places that sand should never go.

Men. They just don't learn.

Thank you to our good friend (we won't use his name) for providing entertainment for the kids and giving me something to blog about.
I have a video of him doing a back flip also and burying his head in the process but I promised not to put it online. Hilarious!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Blog Hop '09

If you Twitter you have had to hear all the buzz about about the BlogHer Conference going on in Chicago this weekend. It looks like a lot of fun. But for those of us who aren't sharing in that fun Robin @ Pensieve and Jo-Lynne @ Musings of a Housewife have set up a Mr. Linky so that we can visit with each other while at home.

They have also asked that we share a little bit about ourselves but to keep it simple so here goes...

This is a picture of me and my family taken in June at Nike Outdoor track meet in NC with our son.

Like you can probably tell from the picture I am a mom to 4 wonderful kids ages 18 to 10. Mark and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary 2 weeks ago. I feel fortunate to have him love me regardless of all my quirks. Feel free to tell me that I don't look old enough to be Zack's mom because I don't feel old enough.

Likes:

• Coke- I keep trying to give it up but I keep going back to it. (BTW, I am referring to the drink not the drug. Although it is like a drug to me. BAH)
• Family- I am a stay at home mom who is never home. You will find me in the bleachers or sitting at the shot put and discus rings. I enjoy going to my kids sports and cheering them on.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream sandwiches- yep, addiction number 2. Wink!
• My computer and iPod Touch- my family thinks those are an addiction also. Hmph!
  

Dislikes:

• Angry people- that can't be a fun way to live.
• Cold or rainy weather when I have to be at an outdoor event- I am kinda girly/whimpy when it comes to the weather.
• Cleaning house- it is a love hate relationship, I love a clean house but I hate cleaning it.
• Hazelnuts- actually they kinda hate me but my EpiPen protects me.

Make sure you leave a comment and say hello. You can also find me on Twitter. Then make sure you click on the Blog Hop picture above to go check out more blogs.

Smiles!

Quite an honor.

So back to catching up.

On June 16 we found out that Zachary was selected as Mr. Track and Field 2009. This is quite an honor. Out of all of the male track athletes in Michigan only one athlete gets this title every year. I don't know who was more excited Zack or me. I found out through an e-mail and went running through the house to find Zachary. He quickly called his throws coach. I told him to hurry because I wanted to call Mark. Then the little stinker started dialing his girlfriend's number BEFORE calling his father! "Oh no little man! Daddy first."



Here is a link to the list of athletes that made it on the Dream Team.

Some more catch up later...

We interrupt "catching up" with a little Emily sunshine. Since it is SO cold here today. Hard to believe it is the middle of summer and I need a sweatshirt on just to keep from freezing.

"They are my movies little man. Don't even think about going around me."



"I love me a big pillow!"

"Where did my plate go?"


"Grandma please get better soon. Look how this crazy family dresses me. Save me!"



Enjoy your day!
If you are in Michigan... bundle up.
Smiles!

Wow has it really been that long?

I knew it had been a while since I posted but I didn't realize it had been that long. We have had a busy start to the summer. I was going to do one post and catch up on everything but when I went to pull pictures I realized that would be very overwhelming, so I will try to do a couple post in the next couple weeks to catch up on everything that has been happening.

Up first, Midwest Meet of Champions. (Saturday June 13)

This is a meet that is by invite only and you have to be a senior. It is a meet between Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. It is quite an honor to be asked to represent your state at this meet. Zachary was selected to compete in both shot put and discus for team Michigan. It took place in Jackson, MI this year which was a real bonus to us to have it a couple hours away versus in a different state.

I drove Zachary to Jackson on Friday and dropped him off. He stayed at a local community college in dorms with the rest of his Michigan team mates. They were given team uniforms and a nice backpack that was all theirs to keep. The meet is put on by the coaches association and there is no cost to the kids, their food and lodging is all taken care of for them.

It was a bit weird dropping him off at a college (tug on heartstrings). He even mentioned that this was a little peek into what is going to happen later this summer when we drop him off at MSU. (insert mixed emotions for mom here)

On Saturday Mark, myself and Zachary's HS throws coach all drove back to Jackson to watch the meet. The weather was supposed to be rain and yuck so we left the girls home. It ended up being a perfect day for a track meet. Slightly overcast and we never had rain.

The meet was the best ran HS meet we have ever been at. They had more than enough volunteers and things ran very smoothly.

The Michigan boys team picked Zachary as the team captain so he is carrying the flag during the opening parade.

Here is Zachary showing his determination to take a first place for team Michigan in shot put.

He succeeded! 1st place in shot put and he broke the record at this stadium for the furthest throw here.
Why can't the boys smile? LOL!

He took 2nd place in discus with his team mate taking 1st. He is happy with his performance even though you can't tell it from the picture.

Then he got a nice surprise. They pick one boy and one girl from the 3 states as the field athlete of the meet and he was selected this year.
I need to ask him what the young lady said to him because I love the way he is smiling in this picture. Wink!


Then the cherry on the top... Michigan boys took 1st place! What a great day.