Time to Update...

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've posted! I've been busy and not home too much. I know everyone is busy so that's not a great excuse but I've been away from my desk top computer and ability to download pictures and what's a post without pictures? And finally my two loyal readers, anonymous 1 & 2 have been asking for updates though they already know everything that has happened these past almost two months!

The first thing I did was go up north to Traverse City with my Bunco girls, or most of them anyway. We had an enjoyable weekend of talking, laughing, eating, shopping and enjoying being together.

The golf club Pam (our hostess) belongs to was hosting a Motown night and apparently our presense was requested. We had a fun night of singing and dancing with the better dancers trying to teach me some line dancing. My brain struggles with that stuff but I kept trying until I was almost doing it!

It was a great weekend spent with really good friends.

I returned home Sunday evening, spent Monday doing laundry and packing and Tuesday I was on my way to the airport to get ready to meet my new granddaughter!

Here's the happy family the morning before the big day!

I had just enough time to help put a few things away (they had just moved in to this new place the week before) and organize a few closets and learn where everything was and it was time to go to the hospital! Amber & Andy left in the morning, called us throughout the day and then Quinn and I went to visit in the afternoon.

Berit Anne Porter entered the world on July 25, 2013 at 1:19 p.m. I think we were visiting around 3:00. Quinn was a little in awe of her new sister.

Just a few days later (Sunday) they were home from the hospital and the real fun began!

Thankfully Berit is a very content baby, sleeps a lot and is easy to please. She had a little bit of an issue with weight and jaundice the first few days but once her feeding was adjusted and some formula added she put on the weight quickly and the jaundice went away.

The next weekend Grandpa came for a few days to meet his new granddaughter. He also hung a few pictures and helped Andy with a couple "honey-do" projects.

Another week went by and then it was time for me to go home too so that others could visit the happy little family too. They weren't really on their own for almost the first month!

Sisterly love!

So sweet!

Berit is a little more than a month old now and doing great. She sleeps a lot and seems like a pretty easy baby overall. I can't wait to visit her again soon!

After my visit to Virginia I was home for about 10 days finishing up my summer project list and getting ready for our 10 day visit to Florida. I also had to go to school and get my room ready and attend a day and a half training for our new ESL program that is going into effect this year, including screening, testing and cirriculum!

Our first stop on the trip was my aunt and uncle's house in Tennessee. We spent a couple nights there but really only one day and that day we spent around their house and then were able to go out on their boat in the afternoon. We always enjoy this beautiful lake and relaxing visit!

All too soon our time was up and it was time to get on the road again to Florida.

We arrived in Florida on Saturday and as soon as we unloaded our suitcases and groceries we headed down the beach to visit H's brother, Bo and his family who were staying in a large resort down the beach. We hung out on the beach and then went to dinner with them and went back the next morning to meet them and also H's sister, Sharon. We stayed until late Sunday afternoon when they all had to leave to get back home for school and work the next day.

The rest of the week were spent relaxing at Camelot. Our friend Mike stayed at Camelot too and his family came over to visit so we had lots of little ones around. We spent our days at the pool, evenings on the beach and really had lots of time to relax.

We had a two day drive home and they were long days. We were very happy to be home again. We had one day's rest (Labor Day) and then it was back to work for H and I started school. The week was a blur, so busy, but things went well.

A few other things happened while I (we) were gone. While I was in Virginia Tyler called one night to say that Zoe or Charlie or both had gotten into rat/mouse poison and he was in a panic! He rushed them to the emergency vet where they were both made to vomit and it was determined that it was mostly Zoe who had eaten the poison. She went through a 10 days treatment of Vitamin K, no activity and much worry on my part. Her latest tests showed that things were ok but she seems to be having other troubles now, namely a bit of incontenance. She's on an antibiotic right now and hourly visits outside to go potty. We'll see how things go and she may possibly have to go back to the vet again. Then this past week Charlie woke me up in the middle of the night and asked to go outside. The next day Tyler called me at work to report that he was vomiting and had diarrea and was making a mess all over the house. I brought home some Pepcid and Imodium at lunch time and we made an appt with the vet for later that afternoon. The vet determined that he had some kind of a bug that he possibly picked up while eating something he shouldn't have but of course no one saw him eat anything. He's also been on antibiotics for the last few days and seems to finally be getting back to normal. He's on a restricted diet of just rice and a little beef or chicken. Finally today he seems to be feeling a little better. Man, dogs are worse than kids!! We've spent days and days cleaning the carpet and I'm so glad we have that little "green machine"!

In other news, Quinn starts back to preschool tomorrow. I know she must be so excited! She hasn't attended a school program since last April and she loves learning so I'm sure it will be wonderful for her.

Tyler still hasn't been able to find a job in his field but did work at school with me on Friday. He is on the list to sub for para-edeucators and aides and already has two jobs for this coming week. It's not perfect but it's something and maybe it will lead to something more permanent.

Scott turned 25 yesterday but sadly this wasn't one of his happier birthdays, I'm sure. He came home on Wednesday and announced that he had been let go from work. They had let go 10 people and he was one of them. He didn't even see it coming and in fact the night before was talking to H about asking for a raise on his one year anniversary which was coming up. He seems to be keeping a positive attitude and he actually has an interview tomorrow morning and a phone interview in the afternoon. He only got two weeks severance but can file for unemployment insurance which he plans to do and in case he doesn't find something quickly we are able to add him back to our insurance until he is 26.

So that's the last two months in a nut shell! See Anon 1 & 2, you guys already knew this stuff!!

Have a good week!

Best Month of the Year!!

July in Michigan is usually a beautiful month. Hot some days but then it cools off a bit and you can open the windows for a few days and enjoy warm weather but lower humidity. That's exactly what it's been like. The 4th of July was a beautiful day, in the 80's but tolerable humidity. We went to our friend's house (Mark & Cheryl) and our bowling partners (Bill and Judy) came over too so it was a lovely afternoon spent going to the craft show, swimming in the pool and grilling followed by watching the fireworks right from their backyard.

This past week I spent some time up at school. Monday I helped move the ESL room into a different room. We didn't move furniture, just books and other things from the classroom. It was a hot, sticky job that lasted a couple hours and then we all went to lunch. The next day I was back up there to help paint the girl's and boy's bathrooms as part of our school makeover for Leader in Me. It was hot, sweaty work as the humidity was high. Between the wet paint and heat and humidity, by the time we finished painting the floors were wet! They both look so good though, pink with a green stripe for the girls and blue with a red stripe for the boys! On Wednesday I was back up there again helping my friend Natalie paint and decorate letters that spell Leadership to put up on a high wall. Tedious work but at least we worked in the teacher's lounge which was air conditioned.

On Friday I went over to a friend's house to help her and another teacher paint her kitchen. We had so much experience painting the school we felt highly qualified to paint this girl's kitchen now! During the time spent painting we were chatting, as women are known to do, and the topic of Tyler's job search came up. When I mentioned that he had applied for jobs at the DNR, Mary (the friend's whose kitchen we were painting) said that her brother-in-law was one of the top guys with the Michigan DNR! How fortuitous! She offered to pass Tyler's resume along so that's just what we did! He later called her to tell her he could do his best to get Tyler an inverview! Can't ask for more than that! Thank you so much Mary!! I will owe her big time!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were gorgeous days. Days I could open windows and go for walks first thing in the morning without sweating! All that changed today. It's been quite warm and muggy and the air conditioned house feels so good! I went over to Cheryl's this afternoon for a little sun and pool time. The sun was hot and the water felt cool!

In other news, Amber, Andy & Quinn are packing some of their things this weekend into a "pod" so it can be placed in storage for a while. Hopefully these things won't be needed for some time. Then on Wednesday the movers come and move their furniture and things they will need to their new "home". I wouldn't say they're excited about the move but at least they will be all moved in before the baby comes. Speaking of the baby, there isn't much time now. Just a little over a week now before the big day! We are all so excited. Quinn even took her "sibling" class on Saturday so she's all prepared for the new arrival.

Tyler's Kroger job lasted one day. He came home that night and said he wasn't going back. Bummer. He continues to search for that elusive perfect job. Hopefully this DNR connection will help! Fingers crossed. Scott's life seems to go along on an even keel. He was home sick with a cold this week but he was still working. I'm sure his co-workers appreciated him keeping his sneezes at home! What else is new around the house? The flowers have been blooming and my back deck veggies are doing great. After purchasing all the supplies to re-do my 30 year old foyer table, H suggested we just purchase a new one. I found the perfect table at Target and a few days later it was delivered and then Tyler put it together for me. I absolutely love it! It's perfect!

Last week we had this salad and the lettuce and radishes were all from the garden. It was delish.

I've also been making doggie cookies and dog food, enough to last while I'm gone off on my adventures in the next few weeks!

This morning I looked out on the pond and saw this!

The babies are all grown up and you can't really tell which are the babies and which is the mommy!

That's it for the week, mostly. This week will be spent around the house, finishing up organizing projects, yard stuff, garden upkeep and then on Friday I'll be going up north with the Bunco girls for the weekend. Lots of exciting things coming up in the next month. But more on that later!

Have a good week!

Summertime...

It's been another sultry, summer week. We've had hot temps and then quite a bit of rain. On Thursday a very strong thunderstorm blew through with high winds. Our cable (and internet and phone) went out and we didn't get it back until Saturday morning. Luckily we didn't loose our power like the neighborhood next to us.

I heard there was a bit of damage out at the garden but haven't been out there yet. Hopefully on Monday I can get out there and see how my plot fared. The veggies on the back deck are growing like gangbusters. The potatoes plants are huge but no flowers yet.

The tomatoes have lots of little fruits on them. They have more fruit than the plants at the garden.

I've spent the week mostly around the house. I went up to school one day for a meeting about painting the building and then went to my accountability partner's house for lunch. These accountability partners are part of our training, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that we are learning so that we can teach the children in the fall.

It's not easy but I am learning and trying to live the habits. Hopefully they will make me a better person and a better teacher, wife, mother and friend.

I've done a little baking this week, wheat bread, cinnamon raisin bread and a pineapple upsidedown cake from scratch. No pictures of any of those things for some reason!

We also had the carpets cleaned on the main level. I had a couple nasty spots that I couldn't get out when Charlie got sick. They did a good job but it took a while to get things dried out. Luckily today was cooler and not so muggy so we were able to open the windows and that helped, along with the fans.

Here's a little project that Tyler's been working on most of the afternoon on Saturday. He dug the trench and then H went out to help him lay the pipe. Our driveway has been flooding every time it rains since we've lived here. Turns out the drain only extends out about 8 feet then hits solid clay, hence the lack of drainage. They installed a long pipe all the way to the woods so hopefully that will take care of the flooding problem.

Amber, Andy and Quinn are out in Cali this weekend.

They, and the rest of Andy's family, are out there for the wedding of his brother. Quinn is in heaven getting to spend so much time with her cousins, she loves them so.

Almost as soon as they get home they will be getting ready for their move so that they can be in their new place before the baby comes later in July.

Tyler will be among the working class this week. He will be working in the meat department at our local grocery store. He is not happy about this but it's a job. Hopefully he will find something more to his liking soon but in the meantime this will help him pay his bills. Plus we get a 20% discount on grocery store brands!! Maybe I'll get a job at Kroger! I could definitely use that discount.

Nothing new with Scott. He lives the charmed life, what can I say?

We got this new rug. Love it!

The pups have gone on a few walks and trips to the park.

And we've had our share of parties! Wedding showers, 90th Birthday parties, Graduation parties. Party animals, that's us!

Have a good week!