Miss Me??

Hi, everyone!!!! It's been a LONG time since I've written anything. Life just got really hectic when Kelsey started Kindergarten and I started my new job at the end of last summer. I apologize for pulling a disappearing act.

To be honest, I didn't realize that so many people were reading this, but in the past few weeks I have had about SIX people mention that it's been a long time since they've seen anything posted in my Blog. So I got to thinking that maybe I should get back in the habit of writing at least once a week.

So, what's new to catch you up on? There's a lot, and I don't know if I'll get it all in tonight, but I'll sure try,

Well, Kelsey is doing really well in Kindergarten. Her speeach is improving everyday and the teachers are no longer worried that it may cause her to be kept back from 1st grade. I am SOOOO proud of her - she's been working very hard to overcome her speech difficulties.

She is also in TWO dance classes this year - Hip Hop II (for an hour each week) and Cheerleading (1/2 hour each week). Her recital is less than a month away!!! I just can't believe how quickly time flies!!!

Jim is doing well, so am I. He's still at the University and I'm still working for the publishing firm. I love my job, even though it got really stressful for a while recently. Most of the kinks that caused that are getting ironed out, so that's good!!

I'm still not pregnant, that I'm aware of, and I'm still taking fertility meds to try and remedy that issue. I am very seriously longing to be a biological mother. I say that because I'm already a mom - I just didn't give birth to Kelsey.

Jim and I have been searching for a new church to call home. My good friend Tammera recommended a nice Baptist church and we attended Sunruse Service with her on Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful service and the people were wonderful - we really liked it! Kelsey and I went back this weekend (Jim hurt his back at work, so he stayed home to rest). Kelsey and I enjoyed the service once again, and would you believe that we sat right behind Melanie's mom?????

For those of you who don't know, Melanie is that author of "Tidbits of Our Days" (there is a link on the right) and she was in girl scouts with me when I was young. We were very close friends, and then we lost touch for several years, but we found each other again and now we keep in touch via the computer. Melanie's brother was in Boy Scouts with my brother - in the troop that my dad led, so out families were very close.

I knew that Melanie and her family attended a Baptist church, but I had NO idea that it was THAT church - what a pleasant surprise!!!

Well, I need to get to bed, so that's it for tonight. I'll have to do a post soon about the great birthday party that Kelsey had this year. See you all soon!!!

Kenny Chesney, Baby!!!

Today Barb and I went to the Kenny Chesney Flip Flop Summer concert. It was soooo much fun!!





We started the day off at the Flip Flop Hotel Party, hosted by a local radio station at a hotel downtown. The party we pretty fun - the best part about it was that we got to see Pat Green, an up and coming Country star in person. How cool is that??? We got some good pictures of him!!


Pat is the one in the brown

The concert started at 4:30 and lasted until after 11 - that was a long concert, but it was amazing! Pat Green played, then Sara Evans, Sugarland, Brooks & Dunn and then finally Kenny Cheseny!!


Pat Green Live in Concert!!!


Sara Evans Live in Concert!!!


Kenny's about to come on stage!


Kenny Chesney coming out on stage!!!

We had sooo much fun!!!!


Barb and me with the Flip Flop necklace

A Trip Up North

This weekend we traveled up to Manistee and Muskegon with Kelsey's Mom and Brother. I know, it seems strange that we went somewhere with my husband's ex-wife, but we all get along and we feel that it's good for the kids if we do things together once in a while. We drove separately and stayed in different places, so it's not like we were acting like one big family the whole weekend.

Jim and I drove up by ourselves and Kelsey rode with her mom. They left before us since I had to work. We decided that we were going to take our bikes with us because all of the literature we read on the area mentioned the bike trails. So, we packed our suitcases in the trunk and then loaded the bikes up on the bike rack:




That picture is before we came back home, but on the way up there the concept was the same, only the bikes both faced the same direction. We tied the front tires to keep them from bouncing against the car and damaging the paint. It's a good thing we did, too. About an hour from home, I was sleeping and Jim woke me up saying, "Oh no! We just lost a bike!"

I bolted up and looked behind us, expecting to see a HUGE accident from people hitting or trying not to hit it. But traffic was fine. Then Jim told me that it was being drug behind the car. We pulled over and I jumped out to get the bike out of the road. Jim couldn't open his door because there was too much traffic. When I got to the back of the car, the bike was still in the road, but no one had hit it! I drug it out of the road by the rope that was barely holding it to the other bike. Amazingly, the bike is still usable! The right brake handle was shaved to a point, a chunk was shaved off the seat and the reflector on the front handle bars was mangled, but that was it! God was watching over us and all the people on the expressway!!


Here is a picture of some of the damage:



The rest of the trip was pleasantly uneventful! Our hotel room was amazing! The walls and ceilings were knotty pine, the furniture was all natural looking wood. Every room had an animal theme and ours was the "Deer Blind".





Everything was so beautiful up there!! Saturday we drove to Muskegon and spent the day at Michigan's Adventure. What a blast! The park is owned by the same company the owns Cedar Point, but this is smaller, less crowded, has shorter lines and allows you access to the water park and theme park with just ONE ticket. Kelsey even got to meet Charlie Brown!







Sunday morning Jim and I went for a bike ride. It wasn't as nice as we'd anticipated - I was expecting paved bike trails like what we have around home. But no, these bike trails were natural, and northern Michigan is hilly and sandy - do you have any idea how difficult it is to maintain control on a bike in sand when going down hill??? I was so scared that I was going to crash!!

On the way home, we saw a race car at the gas station - Kelsey was really excited about it, so we stopped and took a picture of her and Jim next to it.



All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip!

Luau Party

Yesterday we went to Luau Party at the home of a close family friend. It was a lot of fun, especially for Kelsey. She got to see her two boyfriends who moved to Ireland last year, Justyn and Tyler.

She hadn't seen them since our wedding - but she didn't forget them and they didn't forget her! Here are some pictures:


The Angels


Tyler watching Kelsey swim with the alligator


Tyler in the tree


Uh oh...in the tree with her boyfriend!!


Kelsey with her boyfriends


Kelsey (the clown) with Mom-Maw and Baby Jordan


Kelsey with Pop-Paw

Saturday Evening

This weekend was really busy, in case you haven't noticed yet!

Saturday evening we drove down to see Joe and Spring. Kelsey was really excited to go see Aunt Spring, Uncle Clown (that's really what she calls him!) and the babies, as were Jim and I. We always have a good time with them!

Our original plans were to take Kelsey to a local mall to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. After Spring called us, we all decided to go to a mall in Toledo for the evening and do the pictures there. We got to their house and then I rode with Spring and the twins and Jim, Joe & Kelsey rode in our car to the mall. It was so nice to be able to sit and talk to Spring - with our busy schedules, we don't get that chance often enough!

Once we got to the mall, Spring told us that she and Joe wanted to take Kelsey to Build-a-Bear and let her make her own bear for her birthday present (they are too sweet!). So Spring and I took Kelsey through the steps of building a bear and the guys walked the twins around the mall while they waited patiently for us.

Kelsey chose a really pretty, soft pink and white teddy bear. When we got to the Stuffing Station, she was allowed to pick out a heart to put in the bear. Once she picked out the heart, she did the following Heart Preparation Ritual: Tap it really hard for a strong heart beat, give it a kiss for lots of love, rub it on your forehead so it's smart, rub it on your ear so it's a good listener, rub it on your cheek for lots of laughs, rub it on your belly so it will never go hungry, spin in a circle so it will always find its way home, jump up and down 5 times for lots of energy. It was so precious, and so neat to watch her do this!

Kelsey decided to name her bear "Princess" because that's what her Daddy calls her (Spring helped her develop that idea, she's so sweet!). Then Aunt Spring helped Kelsey register her bear on the computer and Kelsey got a Birth Certificate for the newest member of our family!

Thank you so much, Aunt Spring and Uncle Clown for this special Birthday Present!

After this we walked to the other end of the mall to see the Easter Bunny! Kelsey took a really good picture (also to be posted later due to technical difficulties), and so did the twins. Here's a picture of the twins that we snapped with our camera:

There was a typical mall fountain near the Bunny's station, and this quickly caught the attention of all three kids after pictures were done. They very much enjoyed reaching down and touching the water as well as throwing coins into the fountain for "good luck". Here are some pictures of this:

See those Bunny Ears on Kelsey? I thought they were so cute that I insisted all the adults have a picture with them on too! I'll spare everyone else and only post the picture of me doing this...
Everyone had a really good time - we need to do stuff like this more often!

Playing Dress Up

Kelsey's really been getting into playing dress up lately. For the past few weeks, everytime she goes up to her room to play, she comes back downstairs looking something like this:

She is such a character!!!

Spring is Coming!

This really should have been posted last weekend, but things have been busy, so I'm running a little late.

Last weekend the weather was beautiful! We took Kelsey for a bike ride and I tried to teach her how to use the jump rope she got for her birthday. Here are some pictures from our activities:

Here's Jim airing up Kelsey's tires - you can see my new car in the background!

Kelsey on her bike withe her babydoll on back.

Luke just chillin' in the yard - he loves being outside when it's warm.

Jumping Rope

Our Very First Sleepover

Kelsey had a friend stay overnight last night for the very first time. She was so excited about it, and I worked hard to make it as perfect as possible for her.

Her friend came over right before dinner, so the girls played in Kelsey's room while Jim and I cooked. After we ate dinner, laughter rang through the house as Jim and I cleaned the kitchen - it was so nice hearing them having so much fun!

We pulled the couch out into a bed and set the girls up to watch Cinderella III (can you believe there are THREE Cinderella Disney movies now??? There was only one back when I was a kid!!) We were going to have popcorn with the movie, but the girls decided they were too full.

After the movie was over, the girls changed into their PJs and I made them root beer floats. They were so exhausted by then that they only ate a few bites and then put them back in the freezer to save them for in the morning (and of course, in the morning they never even thought about them again!)

I was amazed at how quickly the girls slept - I will cherish that because I know that in a few years a sleepover will mean staying up all night no matter how tired they are!! This morning I woke up to the sound of them giggling quietly in the living room. They heard the floor creak when I got up to check on them and Kelsey's friend said "Quick! Someone's up, act like your sleeping!" They are too funny!!

I made them scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Not just any toast, but Pooh and Tigger toast. :-) My Grandma got me this toaster for Christmas that toasts images of Pooh and Tigger on one side of the toast and sings the Pooh theme song when the toast is done - it was quite a hit with the girls this morning!

They played more after breakfast and it seemed like it was all too soon when Kelsey's friend was picked up and taken back home. Kelsey's already asking when she can have another sleepover, and I assured her that this was only the first of many yet to come.