MOM AND DAD HAVE A BUYER FOR THEIR HOUSE IN ROCHESTER HILLS!!!!
Everybody pray that everything goes smoothly. They should be closing on the sale in around three weeks. The home inspection was today and the inspector was duly impressed, and made his opinions known to the buyers.
Hooray!!! Yay Mom and Dad!
30 June 2008
28 June 2008
Busy, busy, busy...
You'd think, it being summer, that we'd not have so full a schedule, but lately we have been really busy!
Last weekend we spent mostly moving things, cleaning and organizing in the house. We moved the entertainment center and sectional couch to the basement playroom - and got a new TV, anticipating next February when our analog set was no longer going to pull a signal. It's a 32" flat panel. We also changed around the way the speaker system was set up, so now it sounds a lot better, too. When we moved the furniture to the basement, we donated the old (and gross) green couch and chair to the Salvation Army, and moved the treadmill to the other end of the playroom. This precipitated a need for wireless headphones, so that we can watch TV while walking the treadmill.
Okay. So since we replaced the itty-bitty TV with our whole "home theater" setup in the playroom, and completely got rid of any television access at all on the main floor, we are using our second satellite connection for a TV tuner on my computer. This way I can record DVDs of DVRed TV programs using my computer. This takes just about as long as it did on the DVD recorder, but doesn't have to be babysat all day, so it is less labor intensive.
In the living room, we put our rocking chair, which looks quite nice in there next to the fireplace. But there wasn't anything else, and our purpose in moving all the entertainment electronics to the basement was to reclaim our living room for more of a relaxing/entertaining guests sort of place. So we got a leather loveseat and chair, and a coffee table and small endtable to round out the furniture in the living room. I also found some lovely basket-type chests, one in which to put the music for the piano, my flute and the kids' handbells; and the other in which to put a few toys we're keeping for our younger friends and family.
There were sure a ton of toys in the playroom, and if we didn't move them, there wasn't going to be any room for the rest of the setup we wanted to do. Some of the toys went home with Megan when Scott came to pick her up on Saturday evening. (By the way, we sure enjoyed our weeklong visit with Megan, and she was sure good and fun to have around. She can come back anytime!) The games and some of the toys in bins stayed in the basement. The rest moved upstairs to the kids' rooms, into some really nice cloth bins - with labels! - in their closets. Everything's been gone through and organized and it has turned out very well.
So we're pretty much finished with our 2008 Summer Reorg. The only job that remains is getting all of our "actual" photos scanned and backed up on the computer so we can get rid of these piles of albums and boxes of photos. It's going to be a big job, but now that my book is done I think I'm up to it!
Last Friday night (the 20th), our neighborhood had its first gathering. It was fun to meet everybody and have a chance to chat. I wish Jim could have been there, and everybody else did too, but it was a good time. We had hamburgers and everybody brought something else to eat, and the kids all had a great time playing together.
Tuesday 24 June was our 13th wedding anniversary! We had a lovely, relaxing day with the kids and took them to Spices Asian Cafe for dinner. After they went to bed we watched Love Actually on TV (which is a really good movie, by the way). Happy anniversary to us!
Wednesday seemed like a really crazy and hectic day but really it couldn't have been - I was just trying to do to much in one day. Esme and I had a dentist appointment - Esme's teeth are just peachy and I have to have a filling replaced, possibly with a crown if there isn't enough tooth left to fill. I did laundry, which always seems to suck up the whole day, and I was also trying to get started with the DVD recording on my computer. This is really quite easy but as I had never used the software before I had to go through the learning process first.
Thursday 26 June was Megan's second birthday! Happy birthday, Megan! We hope she is enjoying the little kitchen and the Little People, and we know she is happy to have her mommy home again.
Yesterday we were really busy recreating! In the morning we all went to the beach at Holland State Park and it was SO nice. It wasn't too hot or cold, the water was freezing at first but easy to get used to, and the weather was perfect. The kids and I played in the sand and water all morning, and Jim took lots of pictures. After lunch we went to the cinema to see Wall-E and it was super good. A very sweet story and terrific animation as usual. Even the Pixar short at the beginning was good! Jessica came over to take care of the kids in the evening and Jim and I went to see Get Smart which was much better than the reviews painted it. Maybe they never saw the TV show and just didn't know it was supposed to be ridiculous.
Tonight we're going to a Whitecaps game with our friends the Fortunas. Here's hoping we win!
Last weekend we spent mostly moving things, cleaning and organizing in the house. We moved the entertainment center and sectional couch to the basement playroom - and got a new TV, anticipating next February when our analog set was no longer going to pull a signal. It's a 32" flat panel. We also changed around the way the speaker system was set up, so now it sounds a lot better, too. When we moved the furniture to the basement, we donated the old (and gross) green couch and chair to the Salvation Army, and moved the treadmill to the other end of the playroom. This precipitated a need for wireless headphones, so that we can watch TV while walking the treadmill.
Okay. So since we replaced the itty-bitty TV with our whole "home theater" setup in the playroom, and completely got rid of any television access at all on the main floor, we are using our second satellite connection for a TV tuner on my computer. This way I can record DVDs of DVRed TV programs using my computer. This takes just about as long as it did on the DVD recorder, but doesn't have to be babysat all day, so it is less labor intensive.
In the living room, we put our rocking chair, which looks quite nice in there next to the fireplace. But there wasn't anything else, and our purpose in moving all the entertainment electronics to the basement was to reclaim our living room for more of a relaxing/entertaining guests sort of place. So we got a leather loveseat and chair, and a coffee table and small endtable to round out the furniture in the living room. I also found some lovely basket-type chests, one in which to put the music for the piano, my flute and the kids' handbells; and the other in which to put a few toys we're keeping for our younger friends and family.
There were sure a ton of toys in the playroom, and if we didn't move them, there wasn't going to be any room for the rest of the setup we wanted to do. Some of the toys went home with Megan when Scott came to pick her up on Saturday evening. (By the way, we sure enjoyed our weeklong visit with Megan, and she was sure good and fun to have around. She can come back anytime!) The games and some of the toys in bins stayed in the basement. The rest moved upstairs to the kids' rooms, into some really nice cloth bins - with labels! - in their closets. Everything's been gone through and organized and it has turned out very well.
So we're pretty much finished with our 2008 Summer Reorg. The only job that remains is getting all of our "actual" photos scanned and backed up on the computer so we can get rid of these piles of albums and boxes of photos. It's going to be a big job, but now that my book is done I think I'm up to it!
Last Friday night (the 20th), our neighborhood had its first gathering. It was fun to meet everybody and have a chance to chat. I wish Jim could have been there, and everybody else did too, but it was a good time. We had hamburgers and everybody brought something else to eat, and the kids all had a great time playing together.
Tuesday 24 June was our 13th wedding anniversary! We had a lovely, relaxing day with the kids and took them to Spices Asian Cafe for dinner. After they went to bed we watched Love Actually on TV (which is a really good movie, by the way). Happy anniversary to us!
Wednesday seemed like a really crazy and hectic day but really it couldn't have been - I was just trying to do to much in one day. Esme and I had a dentist appointment - Esme's teeth are just peachy and I have to have a filling replaced, possibly with a crown if there isn't enough tooth left to fill. I did laundry, which always seems to suck up the whole day, and I was also trying to get started with the DVD recording on my computer. This is really quite easy but as I had never used the software before I had to go through the learning process first.
Thursday 26 June was Megan's second birthday! Happy birthday, Megan! We hope she is enjoying the little kitchen and the Little People, and we know she is happy to have her mommy home again.
Yesterday we were really busy recreating! In the morning we all went to the beach at Holland State Park and it was SO nice. It wasn't too hot or cold, the water was freezing at first but easy to get used to, and the weather was perfect. The kids and I played in the sand and water all morning, and Jim took lots of pictures. After lunch we went to the cinema to see Wall-E and it was super good. A very sweet story and terrific animation as usual. Even the Pixar short at the beginning was good! Jessica came over to take care of the kids in the evening and Jim and I went to see Get Smart which was much better than the reviews painted it. Maybe they never saw the TV show and just didn't know it was supposed to be ridiculous.
Tonight we're going to a Whitecaps game with our friends the Fortunas. Here's hoping we win!
20 June 2008
Murphy's Law
Last night was a long one!
Jim was in St. Louis on business.
Aidan had a sore throat that required the use of Motrin before he could sleep, which he thankfully did, all night.
Esme woke up at 9:15 p.m., screaming. Upon investigation, I discovered that she thoroughly believed there were bunches of people in her room, trying to put Band-Aids on her, and she didn't want any Band-Aids. You see, when Esme has a fever, she has either hallucinations or nightmares, depending on her state of consciousness. It's scary. Her fever was about 101 degrees, so I gave her Motrin and Aidan and I got her calmed down and back to sleep, but it took a while.
At about 1:00 a.m., Esme no longer had a fever, so there was no screaming, but she came into my room to tell me that her ear was hurting really bad. I gave her some Tylenol and she went back to bed.
At about 5:00 a.m., Megan woke up screaming. She is thankfully not sick, had no fever or anything, but she didn't have her pajama pants on anymore and was sad about something or other. So I changed her and put her pants back on and rocked her for a while until she was ready to go back to bed.
Aidan got up about 7:00 and went downstairs to play video games. Esme got up a couple of minutes later still complaining of an earache, so I gave her some more Motrin and she went back to sleep for a little bit.
Aidan and Esme didn't go to Bible School this morning - they went to the doctor, instead. Aidan has the ubiquitous sinus infection, and Esme has an ear infection that burst and is draining. It is pretty gross, and she hurts pretty bad, too. They are both on antibiotics now. Megan, fortunately, seems to be fine, and even better than when she arrived Sunday night with a runny nose.
I am looking forward to my next night of uninterrupted sleep, whenever that might be.
Jim was in St. Louis on business.
Aidan had a sore throat that required the use of Motrin before he could sleep, which he thankfully did, all night.
Esme woke up at 9:15 p.m., screaming. Upon investigation, I discovered that she thoroughly believed there were bunches of people in her room, trying to put Band-Aids on her, and she didn't want any Band-Aids. You see, when Esme has a fever, she has either hallucinations or nightmares, depending on her state of consciousness. It's scary. Her fever was about 101 degrees, so I gave her Motrin and Aidan and I got her calmed down and back to sleep, but it took a while.
At about 1:00 a.m., Esme no longer had a fever, so there was no screaming, but she came into my room to tell me that her ear was hurting really bad. I gave her some Tylenol and she went back to bed.
At about 5:00 a.m., Megan woke up screaming. She is thankfully not sick, had no fever or anything, but she didn't have her pajama pants on anymore and was sad about something or other. So I changed her and put her pants back on and rocked her for a while until she was ready to go back to bed.
Aidan got up about 7:00 and went downstairs to play video games. Esme got up a couple of minutes later still complaining of an earache, so I gave her some more Motrin and she went back to sleep for a little bit.
Aidan and Esme didn't go to Bible School this morning - they went to the doctor, instead. Aidan has the ubiquitous sinus infection, and Esme has an ear infection that burst and is draining. It is pretty gross, and she hurts pretty bad, too. They are both on antibiotics now. Megan, fortunately, seems to be fine, and even better than when she arrived Sunday night with a runny nose.
I am looking forward to my next night of uninterrupted sleep, whenever that might be.
19 June 2008
Picture Update
Last week Jim took the kids to the zoo one day. They all really wanted to go, and I didn't - I had to do laundry anyway - so they took advantage of our zoo membership, which I think has now paid for itself two or three times, considering the number of times we've all been to the zoo this year. Anyway, Aidan petted the renegade goat that is always trying to escape the pen.
He also got a chance to feed the parakeets - and one landed right on Aidan's stick!
During the last week of school for Aidan, Daddy took Esme to the Children's Museum to see the Bob the Builder exhibit. She got to dress up as Bob's colleague, Wendy!
While they were at the zoo, Esme petted a less renegade goat, one that is almost always content to not only stay in the pen, but also to stay on the petting side of the red line. The zoo staff put in the red line so that animals who need a rest can get away from the frantic kids on the other side!
We visited Meijer Gardens and stood in front of the water wall.
When we got home from the Gardens, Aidan took his shoes off and then I think he was trying to get a running start to go play, when he hit the corner of the wall. Hard. This was the egg that resulted. OUCH.
Hmmmm...these pictures are a little out of order! This is the macaw that said "Hello there!" to the children on their zoo trip last week.
Jim always takes good pictures. This is at the Meijer Gardens.
As is this. Looks like driftwood, right? It's actually metal. Pretty cool, huh?
The title of this sculpture is "Eve leaving the Garden" or something like that. The sculpture park is full of beautiful setups like this.
They're celebrating Monet's art at the Gardens right now, so they have planted water lilies in the pond. It looks just like a painting.
Those three little spruce trees are supposed to be over 350 years old. They're from a mountainous climate.
This arch sculpture was built from red sandstone, completely without mortar, pins, etc. It's totally held up by gravity.
The kids always love it when they put water back in the Great Lakes in the Children's Garden.
Aidan's particularly fond of sinking boats in the whirlpool.
The kids always get soaked playing in the Great Lakes, but it's great fun and it was a warm day anyway.
I don't know why they have a horse saddle here, but every kid that passes by wants to sit on it.
The Children's Garden also has a Five Senses Garden, with things to see, smell, taste, hear and touch. Through the periscope you can see lots of other things all over the Gardens.
Is she saddlesore, or just tired?
Aidan and Esme LOVE the Banana Boat song that Harry Belafonte sings. (You know, Day-O?) Aidan created his very own Banana Boat lego set - banana trees, a black tarantula, and the banana boat itself, along with Harry Belafonte (he's bald, you see) in the boat.
Dad's retirement party was a good time for everyone. This is his excellent friend Mark Ellis, who emceed the event. Dad and Mark have been taking care of each other for almost 40 years.
Dad and some pals.
Aidan, what is this look for?
Megan had her hair up for Papa's party.
I think she was yawning.
The kids were loath to sit and listen to speeches, so they all got filthy playing in the dirt - well, there wasn't anything else to play with!
Dad's friend Becky knows how great a phone talker he is, so she got him his own "phone" - a tin can with a loooonnngg antenna.
We had a storm pass through to the south of us the other night. We were able to watch the thunderheads form around the sunset. Cool.
We went to the zoo again on Wednesday this week with our friends the Fortunas. It was really fun. Here's a wallaby joey poking out of his mama's pouch.
And here you can see both the joey and the mommy.
Aidan was really helpful with Megan, who LOVED seeing all the animals.
Here are all the kids posing in front of the back of the macaw: Brooklyn, Shea, Aidan, Esme, Mason and Megan.
Jim, ziplining!
Mason, ziplining!
Aidan, ziplining! Notice how Jim is waving, but the boys are hanging on as tight as they can.
This is how Esme felt when she learned that she isn't big enough to go ziplining.
We ALL loved the stingray tank, which now also has sharks and hermit crabs in it, too. Megan had a nice time splashing in the water, but I'm not sure she noticed the critters swimming in it!
Mason is trying really hard to stay dry, and Aidan is getting really wet in an effort to feed a stingray!
Aidan, Mason, Shea and Esme in front of the brand-new lion exhibit!
What a successful trip to the zoo! Thank you Mr. John Ball!
This is Aidan with his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Schmuker. She's great!
Aidan, Esme and Dad rode the camel on their trip to the zoo last week. Even the camel smiled.
He also got a chance to feed the parakeets - and one landed right on Aidan's stick!
During the last week of school for Aidan, Daddy took Esme to the Children's Museum to see the Bob the Builder exhibit. She got to dress up as Bob's colleague, Wendy!
While they were at the zoo, Esme petted a less renegade goat, one that is almost always content to not only stay in the pen, but also to stay on the petting side of the red line. The zoo staff put in the red line so that animals who need a rest can get away from the frantic kids on the other side!
We visited Meijer Gardens and stood in front of the water wall.
When we got home from the Gardens, Aidan took his shoes off and then I think he was trying to get a running start to go play, when he hit the corner of the wall. Hard. This was the egg that resulted. OUCH.
Hmmmm...these pictures are a little out of order! This is the macaw that said "Hello there!" to the children on their zoo trip last week.
Jim always takes good pictures. This is at the Meijer Gardens.
As is this. Looks like driftwood, right? It's actually metal. Pretty cool, huh?
The title of this sculpture is "Eve leaving the Garden" or something like that. The sculpture park is full of beautiful setups like this.
They're celebrating Monet's art at the Gardens right now, so they have planted water lilies in the pond. It looks just like a painting.
Those three little spruce trees are supposed to be over 350 years old. They're from a mountainous climate.
This arch sculpture was built from red sandstone, completely without mortar, pins, etc. It's totally held up by gravity.
The kids always love it when they put water back in the Great Lakes in the Children's Garden.
Aidan's particularly fond of sinking boats in the whirlpool.
The kids always get soaked playing in the Great Lakes, but it's great fun and it was a warm day anyway.
I don't know why they have a horse saddle here, but every kid that passes by wants to sit on it.
The Children's Garden also has a Five Senses Garden, with things to see, smell, taste, hear and touch. Through the periscope you can see lots of other things all over the Gardens.
Is she saddlesore, or just tired?
Aidan and Esme LOVE the Banana Boat song that Harry Belafonte sings. (You know, Day-O?) Aidan created his very own Banana Boat lego set - banana trees, a black tarantula, and the banana boat itself, along with Harry Belafonte (he's bald, you see) in the boat.
Dad's retirement party was a good time for everyone. This is his excellent friend Mark Ellis, who emceed the event. Dad and Mark have been taking care of each other for almost 40 years.
Dad and some pals.
Aidan, what is this look for?
Megan had her hair up for Papa's party.
I think she was yawning.
The kids were loath to sit and listen to speeches, so they all got filthy playing in the dirt - well, there wasn't anything else to play with!
Dad's friend Becky knows how great a phone talker he is, so she got him his own "phone" - a tin can with a loooonnngg antenna.
We had a storm pass through to the south of us the other night. We were able to watch the thunderheads form around the sunset. Cool.
We went to the zoo again on Wednesday this week with our friends the Fortunas. It was really fun. Here's a wallaby joey poking out of his mama's pouch.
And here you can see both the joey and the mommy.
Aidan was really helpful with Megan, who LOVED seeing all the animals.
Here are all the kids posing in front of the back of the macaw: Brooklyn, Shea, Aidan, Esme, Mason and Megan.
Jim, ziplining!
Mason, ziplining!
Aidan, ziplining! Notice how Jim is waving, but the boys are hanging on as tight as they can.
This is how Esme felt when she learned that she isn't big enough to go ziplining.
We ALL loved the stingray tank, which now also has sharks and hermit crabs in it, too. Megan had a nice time splashing in the water, but I'm not sure she noticed the critters swimming in it!
Mason is trying really hard to stay dry, and Aidan is getting really wet in an effort to feed a stingray!
Aidan, Mason, Shea and Esme in front of the brand-new lion exhibit!
What a successful trip to the zoo! Thank you Mr. John Ball!
This is Aidan with his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Schmuker. She's great!
Aidan, Esme and Dad rode the camel on their trip to the zoo last week. Even the camel smiled.
What a Week!
We've been having a good time with Megan and basically having a great summer vacation so far. Aidan and Esme have been in VBS at Uncle Shawn and Aunt Lori's church mornings this week and they are having a GREAT time! Every day they have something to say about what they've done and they are really enjoying spending that time with their friends.
Yesterday we went to the zoo with our friends the Fortunas, and it was terrific. Megan really loved the bears and the snakes, but she had a good time being with all the kids, too. We were all very glad to finally see the new lion exhibit! The stingrays were super cool, too. Jim, Aidan and Mason did the zipline - Jim was just sure that at the last second Aidan would decide he didn't want to do it, but he did it and LOVED it! Both boys wanted to go a second time as soon as they got done with the first one!
Scott came up from Grissom AFB last night, where he is an instructor for a driving course this week. The first session was over yesterday afternoon, so he had a brief break before the second session began today. Megan was SO happy to see him! After the kids went to bed, Scott let me drive the Pontiac Solstice they are using for the course he is teaching. Mmmmmmmmmm! Completely impractical, but yummy.
The kids decided today to use some of their allowance to adopt more WebKinz animals. Esme adopted an elephant, whom she named Ruby. Aidan brought home a striped snake, whose name is now Smokey. They are now happily using up all their computer time for today!
I am surprised, but I have been keeping up with my housework and everything else this week, in spite of caring for an additional child. I didn't get the laundry done until 10:30 p.m. last night, when it is usually done by 4 p.m., but that's okay - I did spend most of the day at the zoo.
Over the next few weeks or months our house is going to undergo a major organization and storage overhaul. Sometime this year we will be changing our playroom's status so that it will also be a home theater - we're going to move the TV and all the stuff that goes with it to the playroom, and reduce the amount of space taken up down there by toys. There are lots of toys the kids don't even play with anymore, mostly because they have outgrown them. Megan will be taking some of them home with her when her daddy comes to get her.
In order to do what we would like, we need to make more room in our entertainment center for DVDs and CDs; there's plenty of room, but right now it is taken up by obsolete photo albums and boxes of photos that no one ever looks at. I'm slowly working on getting all those pictures scanned and sorted in my computer, then double-backed-up so I can get rid of the hard copies.
The kids' closets need to be organized better so that more of their toys will fit in their rooms, in nice accessible places for them. There will still be plenty of room to play in the playroom - we're just not going to store so much stuff in bins along the wall! So if anybody has any good closet organization ideas, I'd love to hear them! The kids' closets have nice shelves, but they're not great for storing toys.
In other news, I have found homes for all 30 of The Glander Family books that I had printed in the first printing. I received requests today for #31 and #32, so I have ordered a second printing! Yee-ha!
I have lots of new photos - from Dad's retirement party, from the zoo, from various and sundry other occasions, so as soon as I have time to unload the camera and sort through them, I will post some!
Yesterday we went to the zoo with our friends the Fortunas, and it was terrific. Megan really loved the bears and the snakes, but she had a good time being with all the kids, too. We were all very glad to finally see the new lion exhibit! The stingrays were super cool, too. Jim, Aidan and Mason did the zipline - Jim was just sure that at the last second Aidan would decide he didn't want to do it, but he did it and LOVED it! Both boys wanted to go a second time as soon as they got done with the first one!
Scott came up from Grissom AFB last night, where he is an instructor for a driving course this week. The first session was over yesterday afternoon, so he had a brief break before the second session began today. Megan was SO happy to see him! After the kids went to bed, Scott let me drive the Pontiac Solstice they are using for the course he is teaching. Mmmmmmmmmm! Completely impractical, but yummy.
The kids decided today to use some of their allowance to adopt more WebKinz animals. Esme adopted an elephant, whom she named Ruby. Aidan brought home a striped snake, whose name is now Smokey. They are now happily using up all their computer time for today!
I am surprised, but I have been keeping up with my housework and everything else this week, in spite of caring for an additional child. I didn't get the laundry done until 10:30 p.m. last night, when it is usually done by 4 p.m., but that's okay - I did spend most of the day at the zoo.
Over the next few weeks or months our house is going to undergo a major organization and storage overhaul. Sometime this year we will be changing our playroom's status so that it will also be a home theater - we're going to move the TV and all the stuff that goes with it to the playroom, and reduce the amount of space taken up down there by toys. There are lots of toys the kids don't even play with anymore, mostly because they have outgrown them. Megan will be taking some of them home with her when her daddy comes to get her.
In order to do what we would like, we need to make more room in our entertainment center for DVDs and CDs; there's plenty of room, but right now it is taken up by obsolete photo albums and boxes of photos that no one ever looks at. I'm slowly working on getting all those pictures scanned and sorted in my computer, then double-backed-up so I can get rid of the hard copies.
The kids' closets need to be organized better so that more of their toys will fit in their rooms, in nice accessible places for them. There will still be plenty of room to play in the playroom - we're just not going to store so much stuff in bins along the wall! So if anybody has any good closet organization ideas, I'd love to hear them! The kids' closets have nice shelves, but they're not great for storing toys.
In other news, I have found homes for all 30 of The Glander Family books that I had printed in the first printing. I received requests today for #31 and #32, so I have ordered a second printing! Yee-ha!
I have lots of new photos - from Dad's retirement party, from the zoo, from various and sundry other occasions, so as soon as I have time to unload the camera and sort through them, I will post some!
17 June 2008
Day Two with Three Kids
Today went pretty well, too, at least from my point of view. Megan looks at me funny each time I tell her no, or make her do something she doesn't want to do, like take a nap. I think she's confused, because I've never been "mean" to her before! I tried to explain that this week I have to be in loco parentis, but she didn't even try to understand.
We had a fun time and Megan is more used to me now, so she is more cuddly and runs to me when she needs "saving" from something. She has a great time with Aidan and Esme and they have been SO helpful and kind. They help me without moaning and groaning, and actually seem happy to be helping out!
That little girl can put away the food. She is definitely eating more than Esme! For breakfast she had a slice of toast and a BIG scoop of pineapple, and a sippy cup of milk. At lunchtime she ate three slices of deli ham, a cheese stick, a bowl of carrots and a bowl of strawberries, and sucked the milk right down. For dinner she ate and ate and ate. She had half a chicken patty, three big scoops of yellow beans, and a big serving of strawberries and pineapple, with milk of course. At snacktime it was blueberries and a cheese stick. She never hesitated, all day. When she asked for more milk at bedtime, I told her she had already brushed her teeth, so no more milk. She said, "I have water." It's a good thing she's growing so fast and running so ragged!
Megan still misses her Mommy, and said "love you, Daddy" on the phone to Scott when he called. Scott will be here tomorrow evening to spend a bit of time with his little gem. Cathy has reached Barcelona safely; next stop, Pamplona - and no, she won't be running with the bulls!
We had a fun time and Megan is more used to me now, so she is more cuddly and runs to me when she needs "saving" from something. She has a great time with Aidan and Esme and they have been SO helpful and kind. They help me without moaning and groaning, and actually seem happy to be helping out!
That little girl can put away the food. She is definitely eating more than Esme! For breakfast she had a slice of toast and a BIG scoop of pineapple, and a sippy cup of milk. At lunchtime she ate three slices of deli ham, a cheese stick, a bowl of carrots and a bowl of strawberries, and sucked the milk right down. For dinner she ate and ate and ate. She had half a chicken patty, three big scoops of yellow beans, and a big serving of strawberries and pineapple, with milk of course. At snacktime it was blueberries and a cheese stick. She never hesitated, all day. When she asked for more milk at bedtime, I told her she had already brushed her teeth, so no more milk. She said, "I have water." It's a good thing she's growing so fast and running so ragged!
Megan still misses her Mommy, and said "love you, Daddy" on the phone to Scott when he called. Scott will be here tomorrow evening to spend a bit of time with his little gem. Cathy has reached Barcelona safely; next stop, Pamplona - and no, she won't be running with the bulls!
16 June 2008
Blue Screen Of Death Averted
This morning I came down and turned on my computer to check Outlook for the VBS starting time. (No, I really can't remember anything unless it's written down in my schedule.) I got nothing. "DELL........." stuck on my screen for a long time, and then I got a lot of white writing on a black background but no "Microsoft WINDOWS......." Freaked me right out. The last time something like that happened I lost a whole hard drive.
These days I back up more often and better, but STILL!!! Anyway, My Hero, James William Lowry, took a look at my computer, and when he cracked it open to check the connections, he found a whole colony of dust bunnies living on top of the main hard drive. A bit of Can O Air and I'm back in business. So it really is true that one's computer can get so dirty it won't work anymore.
In my defense, the OUTSIDE looked perfectly clean...
These days I back up more often and better, but STILL!!! Anyway, My Hero, James William Lowry, took a look at my computer, and when he cracked it open to check the connections, he found a whole colony of dust bunnies living on top of the main hard drive. A bit of Can O Air and I'm back in business. So it really is true that one's computer can get so dirty it won't work anymore.
In my defense, the OUTSIDE looked perfectly clean...
Megan O'Hollopeter: Day One
Well. My niece Megan is a pretty well-behaved little girl, and she has made the (temporary) transition to living at our house quite well. Last night there was one short moment when she said "I want Mommy..." but then I asked her if she wanted some blueberries and that was pretty much the end of that. Although she does call for Mommy a lot while she is in bed before she goes to sleep. "Love Mommy! Love Mommy!" So she misses Cathy, at least! When Scott called this evening she deigned to say "Hello!" but then ran away from the phone.
At dinner tonight we all had to try really hard not to laugh. We had chili, which I made into toddler food by taking some ground beef mixed with tomatoes and kidney beans out of the pot before I added the tomato sauce and chili powder. She really didn't want to eat it, but I recalled Scott's suggested bribery methods and promised her a blueberry for every bite of dinner. That worked quite well after we got going. The thing was, she wasn't asking for "blueberries," she was asking for "poo-berries". We also had crackers, which occasionally she would call "crappers."
In the car on the way home after our ice-cream dessert, Megan shouted, "MILK!" I reminded her that she has to say please, and she very meekly said "milk, please."
GOSH, she is sure wiggly and I am tired from trying to keep up. I don't have to keep up with my own kids anymore, and it appears I'm too old to keep up with a two-year-old all day. When Megan doesn't want to do or say something, she says "no." Not "NO!!!" like most toddlers, just a simple, refined, "no." But she sure means it.
Wish me luck for the rest of the week...
At dinner tonight we all had to try really hard not to laugh. We had chili, which I made into toddler food by taking some ground beef mixed with tomatoes and kidney beans out of the pot before I added the tomato sauce and chili powder. She really didn't want to eat it, but I recalled Scott's suggested bribery methods and promised her a blueberry for every bite of dinner. That worked quite well after we got going. The thing was, she wasn't asking for "blueberries," she was asking for "poo-berries". We also had crackers, which occasionally she would call "crappers."
In the car on the way home after our ice-cream dessert, Megan shouted, "MILK!" I reminded her that she has to say please, and she very meekly said "milk, please."
GOSH, she is sure wiggly and I am tired from trying to keep up. I don't have to keep up with my own kids anymore, and it appears I'm too old to keep up with a two-year-old all day. When Megan doesn't want to do or say something, she says "no." Not "NO!!!" like most toddlers, just a simple, refined, "no." But she sure means it.
Wish me luck for the rest of the week...
09 June 2008
Email Changing AGAIN!?!?!
Yes, folks, my email is changing again.
The first time this year that I changed it, we decided to do away with our lowry-family.com domain name and the $86 annual payment that went along with it. We consolidated our email with our Comcast high-speed internet service.
This time, we have changed our high-speed internet service to AT & T, which we wanted to do when we first moved back to Michigan. Then, however, it wasn't available in our area - dial-up only. Anyway, this time the change is accompanied by a $420 annual savings. So now we have email & high-speed internet, land-line service (including long distance), wireless service, and our satellite TV ALL through AT & T. They'd better the heck not let us down.
Anyway, you can find me at wendy.lowry@att.net and Jim at j.w.lowry@att.net and we'll hope we don't have to change it again for a good long time.
The first time this year that I changed it, we decided to do away with our lowry-family.com domain name and the $86 annual payment that went along with it. We consolidated our email with our Comcast high-speed internet service.
This time, we have changed our high-speed internet service to AT & T, which we wanted to do when we first moved back to Michigan. Then, however, it wasn't available in our area - dial-up only. Anyway, this time the change is accompanied by a $420 annual savings. So now we have email & high-speed internet, land-line service (including long distance), wireless service, and our satellite TV ALL through AT & T. They'd better the heck not let us down.
Anyway, you can find me at wendy.lowry@att.net and Jim at j.w.lowry@att.net and we'll hope we don't have to change it again for a good long time.
07 June 2008
Dad's Retirement Party
I was originally just going to do a PowerPoint slide show with all these photos of Dad, but when I saw Jim using Movie Maker for the Father's Day show, I glommed on and I think it's turned out pretty well. This is the final version. Warning to dial-up users - THIS FILE IS 83 MB!!!
Grandma's Ninetieth Birthday
We went to Indiana to help Grandma McEowen celebrate her 90th birthday on Saturday 31 May. I think she had a good time - she was sure glad to see everybody and really enjoyed the gathering. We solicited cards from LOTS of her friends and family around the nation and she got a huge stack of them. The rest of us enjoyed getting together, too, and the little kids all had a great time playing with their second cousins.
Here are Aidan, Esme, Annah and Caeden taking the path from the driveway to the barn.
They look like they're up to no good, but they were just hanging out in the barnlot - Clayton, Caeden, Annah and Aidan.
Aidan and Annah - the "Y2K Kids":
Grandma with her children - Wanda, Juanita, Dave, Marcia, Roger.
I'm showing Grandma the page in the Glander Family History where I dedicate it in her honor.
Grandma with some of her great-grands: Aidan and Clayton on the left, Annah, Esme, Sylvia and Caeden on the right.
Grandma with some of her grands: Travis, Taryn, Scott, Wendy, Tim and Mindy.
Grandma, some of her children and some of her grandchildren:
Grandma with her children again. Okay, yes, we're a photographer's family, we can't help it. At all of these gatherings we end up with multiple arrangements of the same group of people.
Grandma with her children and their spouses, from left to right: Dave and Vonda, Mark and Marcia, Roger and Jean, Wanda and Earl (Earl is behind Juanita), Juanita and Jerry.
Megan was taking a nap at picture time, but she let us take her picture after she got up!
Aidan and Annah, raiding Dave's strawberry patch.
Esme and Sylvia, playing under the big willow tree.
A few sticks kept the kids entertained for hours.
Esme and Daddy were just totally tuckered out.
Here are Aidan, Esme, Annah and Caeden taking the path from the driveway to the barn.
They look like they're up to no good, but they were just hanging out in the barnlot - Clayton, Caeden, Annah and Aidan.
Aidan and Annah - the "Y2K Kids":
Grandma with her children - Wanda, Juanita, Dave, Marcia, Roger.
I'm showing Grandma the page in the Glander Family History where I dedicate it in her honor.
Grandma with some of her great-grands: Aidan and Clayton on the left, Annah, Esme, Sylvia and Caeden on the right.
Grandma with some of her grands: Travis, Taryn, Scott, Wendy, Tim and Mindy.
Grandma, some of her children and some of her grandchildren:
Grandma with her children again. Okay, yes, we're a photographer's family, we can't help it. At all of these gatherings we end up with multiple arrangements of the same group of people.
Grandma with her children and their spouses, from left to right: Dave and Vonda, Mark and Marcia, Roger and Jean, Wanda and Earl (Earl is behind Juanita), Juanita and Jerry.
Megan was taking a nap at picture time, but she let us take her picture after she got up!
Aidan and Annah, raiding Dave's strawberry patch.
Esme and Sylvia, playing under the big willow tree.
A few sticks kept the kids entertained for hours.
Esme and Daddy were just totally tuckered out.
