Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone had a safe and yummy halloween!

Cory, Steve and Jake
Koda
Riley's tshirt
Witchy POO

Witchy poo

Crazy chic seeking fun CCC weekend......hooray this weekend is over and we are that much closer to my getaway!!
All in all a weekend that desired more positives, however NO MORE WHINING HERE!
We got the roof tore off on Friday and I woke to my VERY OWN Niagra falls in my kitchen at 422AM! The rain did not go away until sometime Sat afternoon!! It was hit and miss all day!! Steve and I ran to Home Depot to buy another big tarp - and covered it up! However, today is a NEW DAY!! The rain stopped- we started over this morning and they have made great progress!! +300.00 m ore than we had planned in supplies and repairs....UGH!
HOORAY, tomorrow it should be in even better shape!
Need to still go get 'gumpies'. (Jake's old term for pumpkins when he was small) Tomorrow after eye appts they are heading to Ive's. Hoping to get them carved tomorrow night too!!
More fun pics to come.

My adorable witchy poo!!

end of the season.....

Parkside Eagles 7th Grade Football!!

The best record since 1994- 5 wins and 1 loss.

Glad to be done with football...however, just in time to start hunting and wrestling!!

just a note*feeling better today

NO more !

Flu Shots for this chic!!I have taken one every year for the past 5 years and always been fine. Until THIS YEAR! Monday night I was very restless, felt warm - but the dr seems to think I am sliding into my change which could explain my night! Woke on Tuesday feeling BEAT and kind of warm again....went to work (had to gear up with BIG GIRL panties as I really felt crummy!!) Got to work and I felt worse and worse....my arm was swollen, HOT and I was now COVERED with hives head to toe!! Took 2 Benadryl. The nurse that gave it to me sent me to my dr.... YEP! allergic now to the flu shot...what part who knows. The dr gave me a steroid pack to fill and take if the symptoms continued. After work...just laid around and as the evening progressed my bronchials started feeling a burning like the beginning of Bronchitis and my voice went. BUT no trouble breathing YET. Called the dr....he said take 2 more Benadryl NOW and IF I started to feel short of breath at all....go straight to ER and fill & start the steroid in the morning!

Feeling like CRAP this morning....going to go in and try to do a half day....Jake's last game tonight too! and a dinner afterwards!! HELP! Going to go fill the steroids and get started....

Asking myself....what's so bad about the flu? I think I would trade this for that!

GREAT NEWS! and sad news and ....

My great news to share...my Dad went back to the dr on Wed- expecting to plan the date, time etc to start radiation. They were doing frequent blood tests since the surgery and the last appt they were seeing a little climb in the PSA counts again....long story short....the counts have stayed within the norm range for 3+ mos and they have classified him as cancer free now. No treatments necessary at this time....just monthly blood work and no appts until after the holidays!! HOORAY! Talked to him again this morning and he had me tearful....joyful tears! He said he did not relaize how much the diagnosis had played on his everyday moods and feeling well UNTIL yesterday after the news, a busy day going all day long - he plopped in his E Z chair and he still felt good? Then he mentioned what a great restful night's sleep he got in!! Thanks to all for the prayers and kind words....they got us through!!

Sad news....my mom has left for her sunny beaches, warm weather and suntanned toes getaway!! She left early this year as they are going to a race in TX- huge Nascar fans!! Happy that she has earned the ability to do these winter getaways after years of hard work raising three kids as a single mom and working full time, but she is MY MOM and I MISS HER!!

More bummer news....no Cedar Point this weekend with the Hamlin's. Weather looks very uncertain so we cancelled the trip. No sense spending $350 on tix to walk around in the rain!! Both families made a Plan B just in case and the Barton's are heading to Muskegon to watch our favorite IHL (Muskegon Fury) team play hockey. It is the season opener- free tshirts to the first 500 in the door and autgraphs after the game. Boys are excited!!
Hamlin's are headed to Crystal Mountain!

Great news! Just 2 more weeks until the Crazy Croppin Chics weekend long crop! I am READY for a getaway but no pages planned or organized!! LOL Thinking about some pages and cards....maybe my Christmas cards? We'll see. Beyond the croppin....I just love the laughs, the friends, and having someone wait on me and cook all my meals!!

Last weeks game pics - great game !

Busy weekend...Koda bow hunted for the first time alone on Sat- he had 2 deer came in under his tree stand - he was ready but they stayed behind a branch and he was unable to get a shot- but he was stoked and ready to go again this week!!
This weekend was Mom's farewell dinner. We drove up today for dinner at Logan's Steakhouse. We have gone there many times with a big group and had great service. This afternoon the service was ok by the wait staff but the kitchen messed up royally. They kept sending a couple plates out at a time- we all ate in shifts. A group of 13 of us but by the time I got my plate my sister in law sitting beside me was done? Needless to say- we ate for free. Their mgr came over , apologized and told us the bill was on them ! That was a big bill. Good food. Great visit with Mom....always too short- now she is leaving this week for TX! Not to come home again until April! :-(

Took the kids to get Halloween masks on Sat afternoon...they cracked me up so much in there....I was crying!! I will post pics soon. Jake hates the movie, Childs Play- Chucky doll movie? Steve put the mask on and Jake took off....he would not come near us...then Steve started chasing him....on my. We had fun.

Cooler damper weather expected this week....hoping for a nice weekend....Big CP trip planned this coming weekend.

a day at the spa

A day at the Puppy Day Spa (groomer) was a FUN experience this time for Riley! We changed groomers - the last one was a terrible experience for ALL OF US!!
We actually ALL approved of the cut this time and the boys LOVED her bandana!! No bows or foo foo just a SWEEEET bandana. LOL

Road trip

Tonight our 7th grade team traveled to Ionia and played their 8th grade B team-

and

WON 16-12 !!

Way to go boys!

I missed the game, but all of my boys traveled and met my mom who traveled 1 1/2 hrs to catch a game before she heads south.

Love you Grandma- thank you!!

Thank you Steve for catching a few shots for me.....

Off to bed...late night....

Sunday = Funday

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VOTE! VOTE! Which one do you like best?
We drove out to the Waterloo area yesterday and took these with my digital and the tripod. We had loads of fun and I think we got a few nice pics!! If you ask Jake he will tell you that we took about 500 - just a little exaggeration but we had FUN!
What do you think....share, please!

Jake's Marching Band Debut

What a busy week...Here is a video I did on my camera for all of you that missed Jake's first marching band performance. Can you find him?

(He is the last trombone player looking from L to R.)

I think he is finding that doing both football and marching band to be a bit much. He was very tired last night....he had been on the go since 545am! School, then football pratice until 430pm, home to shower-eat and get dressed, then to Withington Stadium at 6pm for practice before the game, we finally were home at 930pm.

BEWARE!

Completely chaotic week ahead!!
(actually a continuation of last week!)

• football
• orthodontist
• marching band
• choosing instruments for elementary band
• work!! working loads of XTRA hours
• meal planning for all the chaos

Had a great weekend- although our boys did not shoot a deer. :-( Jake never saw one...Koda saw a doe with 2 fawns and could not shoot her! He was with my cousin Marshall who eventually talked Koda into thinking about a shot....and just then they all took off. Run Momma , Run! :-) I was so proud to know that beneath the teenage hard surface there is still a tenderhearted young man that listens to his heart!!

Had a great visit with family! Sure do miss them all living so far away. Somedays I ask myself why I moved in here ... then I smile and see all my men!! But I sure do miss my family!!

Hope everyone has a great week.

JILL and KRISTIN - did you get the crop invite for Oct 6th? Had not heard from either of you.

First game of the season

and they fought hard in the end....however were defeated by Battle Creek Lakeview. :-(

Not the best pics....Steve did take a few though. I think I need a better camera from Santa....LOL hint hint

Jake DID get to play lat night - the last quarter he was in on two plays. He says a dude bigger than him knocked him on his 'toosh' the first time- THE NEXT time he went in he said he got a much better stance and knocked him down....he felt GOOD! It was great to hear him tell it....isn;t that the best part of youth sports? listening to them do the play by play!! Love it.

*Jake had been sick and the coach had told him that he would nto be allowed to play as he missed practice and school one day and another day he had a jammed locker with his football pants inside.

Happy Thursday everyone - lunch date with beth!! Now there is my fuel for the dreaded Thursday before heading north for yuouth hunt....my brain has been zooming all morning already making lists!!

many signs of fall

OH my the many signs of fall are appearing!!

• sick kids!! ALL 3 and the BIG ONE 2 w/ ear infections, 1 w/ sinisitis, 1 w/ a sinus headache


• vibrant red, yellow, orange leaves on the sidewalk and yard


• football is in full swing


• youth hunt weekend is this week - bag a buck boys! pleeeease


• weekend trips north have become fewer


• homework every night


• need sweatshirts for the bus in the morning


• Riley hesitates to go out to do her business in the morning - it's cold Yorkie's do not have an undercoat - so she has been burrowing under the blankets at night


• Mom is planning her winter getaway - dinner is Oct 14th

Other happenings in our life....my Dad's cancer counts are on the rise again even though he had the surgery. Which means he starts radiation soon.

I picked up my sexy specs today! Now I AM OLD! Dr. Buseth said I should wear them for reading, crafting and driving for now.

Please do not laugh TOO HARD!

Riley will soon be going to have her surgery- her friend FLO finally left! WOO HOO- now that was nothing I want to go through again!

Happy belated 31st Birthday, Jill. so sorry I missed the day!

just a few updates

The future Kid Rock - he thinks or Hank Jr!! He loves his new guitar from G & G - 15th bday! He also takes guitar class this year as an elective class.....and he is getting pretty darn good, if I say so myself!! LOL

a fish eye view of the girls from our weekend...we had a lot of fun!! The craft fair was fun too@




























Riley's Halloween Hat! She looks very sad here don't you think? She tolerates it long enough for us to snap a pic then it comes off!! LOL Jake found it among the costumes at Meijer when we were all grocery shopping yesterday and he thought it would be a cool way to get her to dress up- so now we are putting it on her daily trying to get her used to it! LOL




















Big busy week ahead! Jake's first football game this Wed in Battle Creek.
Youth hunt is this coming weekend....Jake and Koda are hunting up in Shelby- my old stomping grounds. they will hunt with Steve and my cousin, Stephanie's hubby, Marshall on their 15 acres!! Koda hunted the same spot last year- and it was warm out- they saw turkeys and squirrels. :-( Hoping they will get a shot this year. I think Marshall is more excited than my boys....he cannot wait! Steve II and I will go up also...but planning to stay Friday night with my dad then go to visit on Sat evening- back to my dad's Sunday for his bday dinner.
Should have my sexy new specs this week !! Interesting to see how different life is without the strain!! LOL

Have a happy week.

“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough.”
“There’s plenty of days when I’m like ‘Oh God, why?’ But that’s just life. It’s every job, not just mine. Every moment is not perfect. But it’s definitely more good times than bad.” —Beyoncé, singer/actress

ahhh refreshed

The girls weekend was a BLAST!

• Friday
• dinner at Applebees - my favorite
• craft lessons by the PRO - My momma
• cocktails in the room with crafts
• Saturday
• alarm woke us at 6am - then Mom and I had the giggles and woke up Barb!

loved the gigles with the girls!!

• breakfast in the hotel
• craft show in GR - 9am - 1pm (broke my flip flop at the craft show- had to go bare foot!! ewww until I found a booth that had the crochet flip flops. :-)
• lunch at bennigans - YUM
• Hobby Lobby - yeah baby - Steve is lucky Jackson does not have one!! $$
• Pappa Johns chicken alfredo pizza for dinner....
• swimming and hot tubbin
• crafting some more
• Sunday
• breakfast in the hotel - more fun watching all the weird people!!
• headed for home around 1130am

We had a great time.....love spending time with my mom and sis in law!!

pics to come- Blogger will not play nice tonight!!

WOO HOO

a short week. Love it and hate it too.

Love it as I need a break- hate it because Monday was a holiday, I took a 1/2 day on Tuesday, and now Friday off - and it is end of a py week- which means I have to work a couple hours on Sunday to complete payroll- UGH!
But on that note- I am going to make certain that I have an awesome weekend with my mom and sil. :-) Planning a crafters weekend- BIG craft show in GR tomorrow morning we are going to....Christmas ideas? Just spending time with the girls is always fun. Hoping this weekend we steer clear of the police, no running red lights, Mom- LOL We always have fun memories.

School is going well- Steve is struggling a bit with the morning routine. He gets on the bus himself at 811am and he does not like that. I leave at 735 for work so he spends a 1/2 hour alone and walks to the bus stop.....big deal for most- for the baby of my family which has always had a brother with him at every school- now I have three at three schools. OH well- he is being forced to adjust. Steve Sr offered to call Kyle and arrange to pay Bradley to get him on the bus as Brad is able to get himself and 2 siblings on the bus after his parents go to work- he did NOT think that would be cool.
Jake loves Parkside. and football. He got home after 6, ate dinner, did some homework and crashed OUT COLD before 9! LOL
Koda loves his classes this year but hates lunch as he does not know anyone this year on his lunch. He has chemistry, geometry, spanish and guitar class- those the favs :-)

Hoep everyone has a nice weekend. Back on Sunday.

Happy Labor Day

Happy School Starts Tomorrow Day -

to all of us parents that are so ready for the schedules!!

ME!

I am not a good person for an unscheduled - go as you please days. I feel ill when the day passes and nothing was accomplished. Am I ill? I think so, but I know others just like me...confess. LOL Although once in awhile I do enjoy a day of R & R but I usually plan those...LOL

What a week coming-
Tuesday -
Mom- going to work at 1pm - making sure everyone gets to the correct place- and using some comp hours up
Koda- school starts - hoping the Advil 600mg keep him comfy enough he can tolerate his desk seat! (he broke his tailbone- LOL)
Jake- school starts- he is nervous! After school he has his football physical.
Steve- school starts- riding the bus and learning the ropes as he will start his day long after all of us.

Wednesday-
first full day of school for all 3

Thursday-
hope everyone gets the hang of catching the bus, finding their classes and homework

Friday-
No work for mom. Get everyone off to school, eye appt for mom and then off to meet Mom and Barb for the fall girls getaway- craft weekend.

Return on Sunday- have to work on Sunday after the long weekend...ugh. Payroll Monday comes quickly and everyone wants to be paid. LOL

Did you all get the invite to the all day crop in Jax? Oct 6 or something - anyone planning to come? let me know asap.

Learn any awesome lunch packing tricks, treats or ideas...pass them along.
I made BIG chocolate chip cookies for lunches yesterday morning- one per kid per lunch!!

big plans?

None here...keeping the last weekend of summer as simple as we can.

• making lunch packing goodies
• spending one whole day at the lake - farewell to summer
• getting groceries
• making menus - I will be gone all weekend starting Friday at 1 !
• washing up the school clothes
• creating my organized binder for schedules, bus routes, upcoming events notes
• planning the wake up plan.....how many showers can we get in before a 642 bus pick up time? how early do I wake these kids? ugh
• who still needs what for the first week?
• Riley needs a bath - FLO is still here! ICK!! I am tired of this already
• fireworks tonight at the Cascades - we have not gone in years. snuggle with my hubby in the bed of the truck is the plan and watch summer head out :-)
• now I am exhausted....we will see if I accomplish any...lol

Thanks Beth for the link to Gillian;s (is that right?) blog...love it. Any other to share?

:-)

We had a great week followed by a nice weekend! Yeah.
School clothes shopping are almost complete ! hooray. Amazing how much they can grow over a few months, isn't it? Shoe sizes were a great surprise....Koda (15 yr) - size 12, Jake (12yr) size 13, Steve II (11 yr) 9.5 Where will we shop next year? The lady told us we need to start surfing the net for sites that sell over size 13...lol. I need to search for football cleats now.....actually should have been a few months ago. (Jake is planning to play for Parkside.)

Steve and I made salsa this weekend....YUM. Steve and I thought a lot about what we wanted to do with all of our tomatoes.....and he thought of salsa. It was a nice way to use the peppers (banana and green) and tomatoes. We had what we thought was A LOT of tomatoes.....but we got 4 quarts and 2 pints of salsa out of all of it.

Crazy work week- payroll Monday 6am-3pm, Tues and Thurs Home Health Aide computer training, Wednesday right after work is Jake's school open house, Friday I am seeking some R & R!!

Have the girls weekend plans made. This year a little more low key....not as much personal time available for me this year after all the illnesses and surgeries. We have a Holiday Inn Express suite booked in GR. Planning a visit to Meijer Gardens, a chic flick and crafting!

Sent my $$ in for the Crazy Croppin Chics weekend in Novemeber over in Spring Lake again....oh I am so ready and need to scrapbook. Count me in.

Just needed to leave a little update and let you all know...we are all ok. Riley is feeling better but still hanging with FLO :-( poor baby. Grandma- she will graduate back home in 2 weeks if all goes well as planned. Dad is doing much better- his electric current therapyis helping things progress along. :-) Otherwise, all is well.

Update

The boys are back

Gram Meek is making great progress at Arbor Manor - just some more rehab and she will be back home in a couple weeks.

Koda now has an acoustic guitar - Happy Birthday from Gram and Gramps

Took a 1/2 day today....Koda needed to get his schedule - LOSER Mom that I am let him go to Gram's and miss his orientation/ schedule pick up day

Lost our rubber bands at Gram's for braces....picked up a couple of new bags

AUNT FLO visited Riley.....ewwww! Noticed she was PMSing this week ....LOL

Had to go buy her some undies....and she got denim ones...what can I do for a lap dog that lives in the house? I could not punish her and make her stay in her kennel.....so we went to Pet Supplies Plus and bought pants. :-) She was not sure what to think at first but now she prances around in them...lol HEY- We all love new clothes - great cure for the PMS blues!! LOL

Next HUGE adventure....tackling the school clothes adventure.....and SHOES!

Have a great week