June 30, 2009

The show must go on...cast or no cast! Kendall wore her "dancing clothes" and put on a little show to music for about 15 minutes after dinner tonight. Too cute! How does she get these moves?

June 29, 2009

This is my weed patch. I think I mentioned before that we have not mulched for several years....well, this is the result. Just a couple weeks ago I had every single weed out of here....now they are all back. I've read up on eradicating thistles and my research tells me it is quite hard to do. They have a very deep and resistant root system. Oh, I did learn...the more you pull them, the more they "wake up" and grow even hardier & multiply. That may explain some of my dire situation. Well, I dosed them all with Round-Up today. If I'm lucky, it will penetrate to the root and I will not have killed any good trees/shrubs/flowers! :)

There is light at the end of the tunnel....Mark and I went to Select Stone yesterday and narrowed our stone choice to two. We got a sample of each stone and brought it home to see which looks the best. So, as soon as I can get the weeds under control, we will have 15 tons of stone delivered to cover our 1,450 s.f. of landscaping in our front yard. That will be a back breaking job, but SO worth having our yard look nice again.

June 27, 2009

Mark and I drove up to Rochester, MI Friday night for Catherine's (my college roommate) wedding. I was an usher, so we were invited to the rehearsal and then dinner at Catherine's house afterwards. On Saturday morning, we all met at a salon at 8:30am to get our hair done and have some breakfast. Her wedding was at noon, so we then headed straight to the church to change and get ready for the ceremony. The wedding was beautiful! At the reception, Catherine put me in charge of serenading Gar (her husband). I had to coordinate it with all the ladies at the reception! It was a fun time. After the reception, Catherine and Gar had rented out a bowling alley, but Mark and I had to skip that to pick up the kids who stayed the night with Grandma & Grandpa C. at the lake.

The kids had a great time at the lake and Jacob swam without arm floaties. Kendall said she couldn't stop laughing when it was bedtime the night before! I'm sure there were plenty of giggles since she and Jacob share a bunk bed. :)

with Catherine

with Mark at the reception

We didn't stay for more than a few minutes at the lake. We were off to see my friend-from-second-grade, Christine, and her family in town from upstate New York. They were at Grandma T's house in Berkey just for Saturday night to attend a graduation party on Sunday. It was so good to see her and John. Their kiddos have grown so much and are so cute!

with Christine!

Kylene, Sara, John, Jacob, Kendall

It was a busy couple of days, but it was filled with good, old friends near and dear to us!

June 25, 2009

Kendall had a milk spill this morning at breakfast. While I wasn't looking, she made a "picture of herself." Now, how could I be mad over that spilled milk??

We filled the kiddie pool to the rim today - it was hot, hot! I mowed the grass for Mark since we're leaving tomorrow for Catherine's wedding, tonight was his golf night, and it is to rain. The kids and I dodged a thunderstorm and took a bike ride in Whitehouse!

We'll see what tomorrow brings...

June 24, 2009

Mark is starting a new job within the same company next week. This means that he is moving to another building on the campus. So, he asked us to come in to meet/see the folks he has worked with before he moves. Really, he wanted to show off the kids to everyone! :)

This picture was the closest I got all day of Kendall facing the camera. Every time I tried to take a picture she would turn around or run away. Hmmmm....maybe she's tired of me taking pictures all the time. Jacob doesn't seem to mind!

We'll see what tomorrow brings...

June 23, 2009

Mark's sister, Kim, and his cousin, Pam (from Texas) and their families were visiting Mark's Aunt Jo up at S. Lake. I packed the kids up at the last minute and headed up for a quick visit. We haven't seen Pam and Aunt Jo for a few years, so it was very good to see them and catch up a little bit. Pam's youngest 2 of 4 daughters were with her, too: Kara and Mykena. Jacob and Kendall enjoyed swimming and playing with everyone! We are hoping to swing back through sometime during the 4th of July weekend when Pam's husband, Wayne, Jessica and Alexa are there, too.

June 22, 2009

Kendall now has a pink cast. It is important to accessorize, you know! This crazy picture demonstrates that her arm is not slowing her down much!

June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!!!! The kids were so excited to give Mark their gifts. Before school was out, Kendall painted a prayer rock and Jacob made a bird house. They were very proud of their gifts and Mark enjoyed them. We also got Mark 2 tickets to see Chickenfoot, a new band with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and Michael Van Halen. I'm hoping he takes me! :)

This afternoon, Mark and Jacob played golf with Mark's dad and my dad. Then, we all (my parents and us) met over at Mark's folk's house for a cookout. The steaks and company were excellent.

Jacob ended up staying the night there. Kendall gets her "real" cast tomorrow. Our neighbor across the street, Izzy's dad, is putting the cast on. Hopefully, that goes well. Kendall is doing really well. We've gone a whole day without any medicine. The swelling is down and she's as active as she is normally.

We'll see what tomorrow brings......

June 20, 2009

No pictures. I cleaned the house and caught up on some laundry in the morning. Mark started putting molding up around his cabinets that he stained....it looks REALLY good (sorry, no pictures). Jacob went to a princess birthday party for a girl who was in his class this past year. I picked up some groceries. After dinner, we went to a little car show in Perrysburg for about an hour. Basically, it was a catch-up day.

June 19, 2009

This morning, Jacob graduated from Safety Township. There was a little ceremony at the school.

It was a rough night for Kendall. I think the swelling really set in and made her miserable. Thank goodness for Tylenol with codeine! But, once the medicine kicked in she was "chatty Cathy" in the middle of the night! That will be the last night I sleep with her for this incident! :)

I was so looking forward to Mark coming home tonight. Other than for about 15 minutes when we got home from the hospital Wednesday night, he hadn't seen Kendall since Sunday! The only night this week he was home from dinner was Wednesday and Kendall and I were busy at the ER! This is a rarity for Mark to work so late, so I am lucky in that regard. It just made for a tough week.

After Mark got home and we ate dinner, I left for some retail therapy! I had to pick up a gift for a birthday party this weekend and for Father's Day. I came back home more refreshed. I need alone time like that every so often. :)

June 18, 2009

Today was a day of recuperation! The night went well. Kendall woke up once, I gave her some pain medicine, and she seemed to fall back to sleep easily.

I think Kendall thoroughly enjoyed the extra spoiling. By about noon, she had acquired 10 get well cards, two balloons, one stuffed animal, and a bag of candy/cookies!! I think Jacob is starting to plan his bone break to get in on all the goodies!

The grandparents stopped by and visited most of the afternoon. Grandpa P took Jacob to the driving range to hit a bucket or two of golf balls....that was great! Grandma C brought over some pizzas to fix for lunch and Grandma P kept an eye on Kendall while I ran to the grocery store for a few things.

Mark golfed tonight and by the end of the day, I was whipped. I slept last night, and will again tonight, with Kendall....just to make sure she's OK. :)

June 17, 2009

I took Kendall this morning to pick up some ballet shoes for her dance camp next week. We must have jinxed ourselves because Kendall fell off the swing set and broke her arm at about 4:10 this afternoon. Anna was over and the kids were drawing with chalk on the swing set platform. I was reading the mail on the deck. Ironically, Jacob had his newly repaired camera and was video-ing when Kendall fell. The video is below.

I put ice on Kendall's arm and called our neighbors across the street. Dr. Glenn is an orthopedic surgeon and, luckily, was home. I took Kendall over there and he confirmed that it was a break and put a splint on it for us. He recommended St. Vincent Medical Center because they have a pediatric trauma unit. He wasn't sure if the bones were displaced and would need "realignment" and St. V's would be better equipped for a 3-year-old little girl. So, I left a voicemail on Mark's work phone, Jacob went to Anna's house, and we were off by 4:50pm.

St. V's was great! So much better than our ER trip to Toledo Hospital for stitches. We were checked in and IN A ROOM within 15 minutes of arrival. Wow! The worst part of the whole trip was the x-rays. Kendall had to turn her arm which was painful. The x-rays showed that both her radius and ulna were fractured (her bones are still soft, so they were more 'bent' than 'fractured'). No realignment necessary, thank goodness. The doctors put a temporary cast on her arm, gave us a prescription for the pain, we were discharged. We dropped the prescription off and drove through McDonald's while we waited for it to be filled. We were home by 9:15pm.

June 16, 2009

Today's synopsis: Safety Township, morning errands, weeded some of the front flowerbed, Kendall napped, Jacob caught a toad with Anna, registered Kendall for a Fairy Tale Dreams dance camp next week, we got Mark his father's day gift (shhh...), Mark wasn't home for dinner, so tonight we had lunch for dinner!, took the kids out for ice cream after "dinner," I did my walk/run while the kids biked beside me.

The surprise came in the mail. On Friday (today is Tuesday, mind you) I mailed Jacob's Bean camera back to the manufacturer (under warranty)....the toggle button/joystick thingy didn't work and the clip seemed to be loose - I was afraid to clip it on anything for fear it would fall off. Well, a new camera arrived in the mail TODAY! Wow! They must work weekends! LOL Plus, I can't believe they sent a new one with all the accessories. They specifically told me not to mail them any of the cords, software, etc. when I sent the first camera to them. Very nice. Especially since both "issues" with the original camera were probably from inappropriate use by a certain, unnamed little boy! :) Jacob is happy to have his camera back.

Until tomorrow...

June 15, 2009

This week starts Safety Township at the Monclova Elementary school, so Jacob is enrolled in the morning session. Kendall and I met with playgroup at Side Cut Metropark briefly before we had to pick Jacob back up.

Lisa was gracious to invite us and Angel & her children to swim at her house in the afternoon. It was a perfect day for it. She got out the slip & slide for the kids, as you can see from HER pictures (thanks for sharing them, Lisa). Kendall never slid, just caaaaarefully walked down the plastic. Lisa definitely spoiled the kids with WARM water running through the hose to the slip & slide. :)

Mark sub-ed in an O-I golf league tonight, so I made banana pancakes for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is always a treat when Mark isn't home since he doesn't like to mix up the meals. :) Anyway, the pancakes were SOO good, we all stuffed ourselves. Actually, I don't know if they tasted so good because of my cooking skills or because we were famished from an afternoon of swimming.....my guess is the latter!

June 14, 2009

Here's Jacob & Kendall monopolizing the computer from Mommy! :) (Mark actually took the picture.)

I took some great video today of Kendall performing a dance and Jacob jamming with his guitar playing Guitar Hero. I'll post them some other time...I'm pooped tonight.

If anyone has trouble viewing past or future videos on the blog, please leave me a "comment" on that page. I can always try to tweak the format so everyone can see it. Thanks!

June 13, 2009

There was an all Ford national car show, swap meet, and drag races at the Milan (Michigan) Dragway. We piled in the car this morning and headed up. We were too early. Not many cars had arrived for the show and all the drag races were preliminary heats. As we left, around 12:30, people were pouring in. The kids enjoyed it. And, it was fun to see mostly Mustangs drag racing.

We came home....Mark worked on his woodwork staining, I vacuumed what I didn't get done yesterday and played Candy Land with Kendall. Then, we piled back in the car and went to the nearby Fallen Timbers mall which was hosting their monthly car show, with bands and other entertainment. The weather had a hint of rain, so the turn out wasn't so great. We came home and had a quick dinner.

I finished up my first week of running on a sour note. I couldn't complete my run tonight. My legs were in knots - the more I ran, the more pain. I did walk all of my route but am bummed I couldn't run it. Next week, I ramp up my running time, so I hope my legs can recover quickly!

June 12, 2009

This is the sad state of Mark's 1968 California Special Mustang. He was tearing it down to get the body repainted, until, BOOM, the basement project kicked into full gear. The poor car is now being used as a bench/shelf/table. The kids' pool is even stored on its roof! It will get the attention it deserves when the basement is finished.

Speaking of which, Mark stained cabinet shelves and some molding pieces (seen in front of the car in the picture) tonight. Today, I cleaned the house, went to the post office, bank, Goodwill, and hit a nearby neighborhood garage sale (no finds there). Kendall was in bed by 7:15 and I played Lego Starwars on the Wii with Jacob for a little bit before he hit the hay.

We'll see what tomorrow brings....

June 11, 2009

Nothing too exciting to report today. :) The kids and I got together with some neighbors across the street for an impromptu playgroup this morning. I made yummy grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch - always good on a damp, dreary day like today. I had another cleaning project today. Mark golfed in his league tonight, so the kids rode their bikes in the rain with me as I completed Day 2 of my 5K running program! :)

Tonight before bed, Kendall wanted to play cards (pictures to the left). We've been doing this pretty regularly for a few months now. However, she changed the rules tonight.....the rules clearly benefited her! She's so sly! We played the game her way (she won, of course) and then had a discussion (mostly with Jacob) of how bending the rules is usually not fair to somebody.

June 10, 2009

Jacob had his kindergarten screening first thing this morning at 8am. He said it was "super easy" (his words) and told me about what he had to do: hop on one foot, identify letters and their sounds, follow directions, sort shapes, draw shapes. He did say the he wants school to start NOW. He is very excited about school.

After the screening, we met Mom out at the Neowash house. They now have a For Sale sign out front and wanted me to take pictures for a sales brochure. Well, I took 53 of them (one at left)! I might go back this weekend for another round of exterior photos because it was a rainy day and the grass wasn't freshly mowed. The house sure does look good, though.

When we got home, I spent some time one-on-one with the kids: reading with Jacob and playing dollhouse with Kendall. After that hour or so, I spent 1.5 HOURS cleaning my laundry room!! That's how bad it was! I'm a slob at heart and it's the only room that really no one else uses but me, so I can make a mess and just close the door - it doesn't bother anyone. But, when it's so cluttered I couldn't throw the clothes easily from the washer to the dryer, I knew something had to be done. Now, its emptied out, everything's put away, and very, very clean. I can now leave the door open without embarrassment! :) Now, I need to try and keep it this way.

June 9, 2009

Happy birthday, Tyler!

Today the kids and I went to the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg. What a great place! We packed a lunch and ate it up in a tree house. We played in the children's play and music area. We took the "River Walk" to the Maumee River, looked at a bee colony under glass, dug for fossils, fed fish, admired the community gardens, etc., etc. We spent over 2 hours there and had a great time. We also went to two different libraries, too!

Tonight I started my training for a 5K run with Lisa in September. I did a walk/run combination for 25 minutes around the neighborhood. We'll see how sore I am tomorrow.

Mark got more shelving tonight for the cabinets downstairs - prefinished. We are deciding if they match or not.

June 8, 2009

I am caught again without a photo today. Besides playgroup, the kids and I just hung out at home. We made muffins, Jacob played the wii (in timed intervals, or else he'd play it all day), Kendall and I had a tea party, and I fixed salmon for dinner.

June 7, 2009

Well, I was caught again without a picture for today. So I snapped a couple of Mark playing Guitar Hero and pretending he's a rock star! LOL He's so cute.

More spray paint clean-up was done this morning (another boy joined in the cleaning). One of the father's is coming over to reseal a patch of our driveway tomorrow. However, a neighbor just called tonight saying that another neighbor friend's car was spray painted, too, and they hadn't heard who did it. Ugh. Those boys have more apologies and more clean up in their future. Perhaps grounded for the summer...??

We ran a few errands together this morning. Mark mowed the grass, I grocery shopped and caught up on laundry. Productive, but un-eventful Sunday.

June 6, 2009

We let Jacob buy his first wii game. Picture to the left. :)

The bad excitement today was that we got graffitied last night. Mark got the paper this morning and said "MEN" was spray painted in black on our sidewalk. Then, "Sorry Wrong House" was spray painted in white on our newly sealed blacktop driveway! A neighbor called to say someone wrote a very bad obscenity across another neighbor's garage doors and yet another neighbor's mailbox. Mark and Kendall went for a walk and noticed between our house and next door, some more obscene stuff was spray painted. Later, the neighbor called back because they found out who did it (a 14 yr. old kid in the neighborhood and his friend) and they apologized to the 'garage door people' and will be replacing/painting the door. I went out to clean the rest of my windows and found much worse graffiti on our sidewalk towards the northern edge of our property (F word and a huge drawing of male anatomy). Oh, my! Then, I called the mother immediately. She wasn't aware her son had done even more damage.....and she was in the middle of her 12-year-old twins' birthday party! Poor lady. They all came over tonight....the 2 boys, 1 mom, 2 dads to clean up. The neighbor boy teared up when he apologized to me. Ugh. As I am writing this at 9:20 pm, I hear car doors and the power washer has stopped. They must be done for tonight. Hopefully, most of the paint came off.

As I mentioned, I finished all the windows today....it took about 4 hours to do 18 panes of glass, inside & out, and hose the screens for most of them. Some screens I cannot remove because of the particular blinds we mounted. I use those microfiber cloths (one wet and one dry) and plain water to clean the windows. They do a good job, no streaks, and it's quick. The kids played outside most of the day while Mark put second and some third coats of polyurethane on his cabinets. He thinks the third coat will be the charm!

June 5, 2009

OK - first I'll explain the picture. I've discovered a cool nail polish product: incoco. It's basically dry nail polish that you rub on your finger nails. No dry time! Woo hoo! Their french manicure line is to die-for! 6 different colors of french manicures. They claim to last 14 days. Well, the photo is day 13 for me. I'm sure mine has 3-5 more days of life....not a single chip. Other than growth at the cuticle, there is no wear. I do dishes, I washed windows today, I clean the house semi-regularly without gloves. I have to give this product kuddos. It is only sold at Walgreens around here. Website with application instructions/video: http://www.incoco.com/ When you consider spending $15-20 for a french manicure, this is a steal....and it lasts longer and is dry instantly...no smudges. The only con is that it is very hard to remove once you decide to take it off.

Enough of that girly talk! Today I caught up on loads of laundry and washed the south and back side windows of our house. I took off each screen and cleaned them, too. Oh, my...the windows look so much better! I hope to finish the front of the house tomorrow afternoon. I was able to get a lot done today because Anna and Ashley came over and played with the kids from 10:30 am until 4:45 this afternoon! They are leaving on vacation tomorrow and their mom ran errands and packed up while they played here. Such nice, polite girls....they are welcome her anytime! The surprising fact of the day is that Kendall actually took a nap while they were here. :)

We had a family game night with the wii tonight. Jacob chose Super Mario Galaxy (which arrived today), I chose Brunswick Bowling, and Kendall chose the paper airplane game on Wii Playground. We ran out of time for Mark's game. However, he is playing it now and for a couple hours yet to come: Guitar Hero World Tour.

June 4, 2009

Our last "hoorah" with Kim and family was the Toledo Zoo. It was a beautiful day, spent well with each other, including the grandparents. It is so sad to see them go. I am looking forward to planning a trip out to see them in early July. Jacob had a great time spending the night at Grandma's with his cousins. He was weepy-eyed on the way home from the zoo because he wanted to go back to Grandma & Grandpa P's house. He even told me, "Grandma's bed is more cozy than mine. And I love Grandma more than you." "Why?," I ask innocently. "Because she's a spoiler. Why can't you be a spoiler?," he asks. "That's Grandma's job," I say! :)

After the zoo, we headed (a bit on a whim) to Aunt Bev's house. Kendall slept in the car the whole way and woke up at Aunt Bev's driveway. I asked if she knew where she was and she said, "Aunt Bev's" with a puzzled look! I installed some security software on her new laptop while the kids played. Mom met us over there in time for dinner ordered from the Twist (local ice cream place), which was prepared by Haley! We got home about 8-ish and straight to bed the kids went.

Jacob has taken HUNDREDS of photos with "his" digital camera (a Bean). The photo today was taken with his camera. I also uploaded several videos he has taken with his camera. The video below is probably in January/February. It is just a typical 2-minutes of time....me on the phone (no idea he was video-ing), Kendall coloring, a squabble between Jacob & Kendall. It has it all! :)

June 3, 2009

This [picture] is the result of a day of playing with cousins!!

We spent the day at Grandma P's playing with Tyler, Kennedy and Carter. Jacob was having such a great time, Grandma (and the Martines family) made room for him to spend the night tonight. He has no pajamas or clothes for the zoo tomorrow, but he was SOO happy to stay!

Meanwhile, Mark has discovered Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii. Oh, my! If you don't know already, Mark plays(ed) electric guitar and took a semester of classical acoustic guitar lessons at Hillsdale. It's been a while since he's had his guitars out, but he is definitely a ROCK STAR in my book! :)

June 2, 2009

Today, we celebrated Tyler's 9th birthday at our house! Can you tell we all had fun??

June 1, 2009

Welcome, June! I officially took 216 pictures in May (my record high!), though not all of them are good! LOL

Mark took one more day of vacation and finished staining his cabinets and got one coat of polyurethane on some of them. Boy, is that a stinky job.

I met Alice, Kim, & Kennedy at Levis Commons for a quick Gymboree fix. We had a 20% off coupon and everything in the store was an additional 30% off - plus, they had their sale bins out (always a good sign).....so we did get some deals - we are such Gymboree Geeks! I also got a dress for Catherine's upcoming wedding while we were shopping. Catherine asked me to be an usher and her bridal party is choosing their own black dress. So, I found mine.....at least I'll match.

After dinner, the kids and I went over to Lisa's to give Sydney her birthday present. We also got fed cake and ice cream - YUM! We stayed much too late (sorry, Lisa)...I didn't realize it was 8pm before we left. The kids were tired from a couple of fun-filled days, so they went to bed in "melt-down mode!" Ugh.

May 31, 2009

See all Cedar Point pictures here.


Due to rain in the forecast, we bumped up our trip to Cedar Point a day early! What a good time we had! We (Mark, Jacob & I) went with Kim, Joe and Tyler. The two little ones stayed with Grandma & Grandpa P and got spoiled at Build-A-Bear!


I was very impressed that Tyler (almost 9) rode every single roller coaster he could, including Topspeed Dragster TWICE! He definitely made the most of his time at Cedar Point. Jacob was still too short for the big rides, but could go on the kiddie roller coaster and rides in "Planet Snoopy." Kennedy was right in between....she could ride about 5 big coasters, but chose to do only a couple. She kept Jacob company on the kiddie rides and seemed happy to ride them with him.


Mark and I hadn't been to Cedar Point in probably 10 years. Much has changed. There were many new coasters and some rides were gone that we remembered. The train was the same....with the surprise gun fire and skeleton scenes along the way. Such fun.

May 30, 2009

After a birthday party for a neighborhood friend, we headed over to Mark's parents for dinner. Mark's sister, Kim, and her family arrived in town today from Illinois. It was so good to see them and for Jacob & Kendall to play with their cousins: Tyler, Kennedy, and Carter.

(You can't tell much from the picture, but Tyler, Jacob, & Carter have the exact same shorts on in the picture!)

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