Change !!

This little fella was visiting Mr. Barton's garden- how cute is he?
This fella has not realized how big he's getting - can you see that there is NOT much slip n slide left when he lays down? LOL
Snuggle buddies - JT and Riley
She knocked a flower off the plant so her daddy put it on her to wear!!

Sorry for my lack of updates...life has been just a wee bit crazy here. More to come............

Stung!

That I was. Nope not by a bumblebee........

I was stung by a Blackman Township seatbelt enforcement sting!!

CLICK IT OR TICKET

I had it on when I left work, dropped by phone, slipped the belt off at a light, grabbed the phone, the light turned and off I went.
Those slick buggers have a orange road sign with saying seatbelt enforcement sitting in a yard with a cop car complete with flashing lights to get your attention- SAY CHEESE when you look....as you have just been busted!! Yep, just as I passed the sign - POOF there he was lights a going....I turned by blinker on and pulled over before he even got close to me. HELLO? I knew he had me....he even commented when he approached me and said he wished all motorists were as honest as I was. How can I fight it? I am sure he has heard them all...
So after 22 years of a spotless record....not one ticket...I have now tarnished my perfect license. Actually he told me that there were no points attached just a $65 fee. Excuse me....did you say JUST $65? LOL he mentioned that he need be cautious as he may be looking to me for help someday- had my badge on...however, he must have thought he would not be needing Hospice for a long time therefore he still gave me the ticket. LOL

Hmm, lesson learned! (never look at a cop car with flashing lights again?
ok, click it and leave it clicked!! LOL)

EYES

Grandma- LOOK we all have EYES!! All 4 of the kids got haircuts!! My handsome men and little lady is a QT !! :-) None of these 4 are any more anxious to head into a salon....they all drag their feet. Yes, I am a licensed beautician and occasionally cut their hair BUT no one knew what they wanted and all were hard to tackle and get in the chair when I wasn't on the go! One stop to Fantastic Sams and all three boys were done. Poof! Koda is trying some new styles....he loves the Fohawk - and actually he sports it rather well. :-)




I love this pic The boys playing Guitar Hero on XBox 360. Two are playing - the other is just practicing along. I wish we had more room.....they really want rock band. Hmm, where can we condense down and make room?

It was a nice weekend for a change. Saturday afternoon we took the boys to Steve's sister, Jody's to hang out while we went with Jody and Bryan on a date night!! We went to Mt Pleasant- did well a few times - cashed in 135.00 once - hit that with just 1.50 in a machine. Then we gave some back- all in all we spent about 80.00 for a full day out - no kids - no cooking - that included 2 meals and a beverage while in the casino. :-)
They boys had a riot.....they took their x box over - all together when we left they had 4 - X Box 360s and 4 tvs in her living room all playing against one another.....they had a blast!! Wish I had thought to get a pic of the gamers and gaming area. And they spent the night!! :-)

Steve and I both worked today!! Now dinner, laundry and some ZZZZZZZZZZs

They've grown

Unfortunately we've been faced with a couple of rough weeks. 2 losses in just 15 days.
But on the bright side....Steve has re-kindled relationships with his siblings.
His brother is missing from the photos- working in Mexico.

my crew
neices and nephews

Happy Mother's day, Happy 41st Birthday and more loss

Happy 41st Birthday to my hubby today!! We had a fairly nice day - played hooky - planned a few weeks ago.

Update you all...Sat we went up to celebrate Mother's Day with mom and my Steves' birthdays! Loads of smiles and fun. Peek a a few pics we got below...

Sunday, Mother's Day - we planned to go to church - as we were getting ready I had Steve call his mom to see if she was still going - and learned that his grandpa (ex husband of the gram we lost 2 weeks ago) was doing very poorly and they were saying SOON.....we let the kids got back to chill out mode and he and I went to hospital. Steve was able to visit with family and see Grandpa before he passed. 2 weeks and one day later Steve lost both of his Grandparents. ugh My Mom

Koda, Jake, Mom (Gram) Alyssa, Steve II
Never too old for Peek A Boo (JT)

The Crew

How time flies!!

Happy Birthday - Steven!!

Is it over?

Thank you for all of the wonderful cards and offers to help us through this past week. It is awesome to know that we have such an awesome group of family and friends!!





Oh what a week

• visitations,- Tues, funeral- Wed, and family gatherings multiple times since. The boys were so excited to see their cousins....and Steve and I were most excited to see the neices and nephews again!! Oh how they've all grown.


• our cold water pipe (s) to the bathroom plugged up after they flushed the hydrants- yeah us!! Steve spent one bereavement day plumbing the bathroom!!


• last night the neighbor's grandkids were playing on the sidewalk in front of our house- skipping stones in the puddles and bouncing rocks....one tried to bounce a walnut and it hit the van!! the window on my driver's side sliding door....shattered !!


• Spent a couple hours cleaning up glass inside and out and taping cardboard and trash bags over it. The dad of the young man that threw the stone or walnut insists they will pay for the damage. They made him go withdraw from his own savings to pay for the damage- that killed me....he's just a little boy - I am raising 3 myself and I know what they are capable of....just lucky so far that none have damaged someone else's property. ugh


• spent all morning looking for somewhere that could repair the glass - as more rain is on it's way. NO luck....best we found was someone that could repair on Monday but offered to shelter it in the garage until Monday!!


• Jake is really taking the loss hard!! I got him to open up a bit to me....and he was very serious about us getting back to church. That's it. We've been talking for months about wanting to find a 'home church' that has the things we're looking for. Right now, one important factor for us is teen involvement. I would like to find a church that offers activities for the youth. A gal at work invited us to come to service this weekend and give it a try - she and her son love their church. More to come...... oh and I learned that some of Steve's family also go there? Could be fun for the kids.

I am hoping that we can find 'normal' again this week. Not that we were ever normal - but at least the Barton normal would be great!!