Busy Family

I have recently received a request to update my blog so that the first thing seen is not my daughter's Owie from November! OK, I agree that is a reasonable request so here goes!

What had happened since November, hmmmm

The grandbaby arrived December 7, 2010 - Kyzaya Lee and we love her to death - isn't she a doll?

Christmas happened! - we skyped with my parents for Christmas this year. It was a good holiday although bittersweet as it was our first since losing Dave's Mom.

Chase turned 8 in February and he had a bowling party! How is the little chubby boy from Guatemala now a skinny 8 year old who is almost done with 2nd grade?

I turned 40! Yes, had the big birthday in March. My husband pulled off a great surprise party at Grandview on the Lake and my girlfriends pulled off a surprise lunch at Blueberry Hills. Lots of fun memories! And I do love my 40s so far!!Kyzaya spent a few days in the hospital with RSV - thankfully she is recovered and doing great now but she looked so puney!

Mackenzie and Dave attended the Father Daughter Dance complete with limo ride to and from the dance! It was a fun evening for them both!!

I went to Stamp Camp at Camp Ghormley for a long weekend with my BFF Jill!

Spring break showed up with decent weather so we spent a few days fishing with Dad at Roses Lake.

My dad had been living with us since February and is now on his last month here doing some fill-in preaching at Brewster church of Christ. It has been a lot of fun to have him here and the kids have gotten quite used to him around all of the time. He goes home once a month to see Mamma but the kids sure miss him while he is gone - we even had to webcam last week to see him while he was gone (Mackenzie) and to see Mamma (Chase).

The guys have done a lots of fishing at Roses Lake since the beginning of April and my freezer can prove it as I think they are at between 80 and 90 trout since 4/1/11 and they are headed out today for more!!

Mackenzie will be 7 in less than 3 weeks and she is growing like a weed! She is noticeably taller than Chase now!

An Owie

Almost 2 weeks ago I got to be the Mommy of a big owie. Mackenzie ran back into our house to get her backpack for school. As she was returning to the car, she fell down 2 steps hitting her head on a box and split her head open. She was not crying. She came out to the car with tissue over her left side of her face. She was climbing in the car to "get to school Mom" when I made her move the tissue so I could see the owie. This is what I saw . . .

Being a nurse I shouldn't have an issue with this as blood is never an issue for me. However, on this occasion I did NOT expect this huge gash on her head. Momentarily I got nauseous but then the adrenaline hit. She was concerned about getting to school and I said oh no we were going to the ER. I mentioned stitches and that is when she started to cry. As soon as we go to ER and they mentioned they could glue it instead of stitches the tears stop and she was a trooper. The beauty of a local small hospital ER - we were in and out in 35 minutes and this is how she looked.

It is almost 2 weeks later and she is looking better every day. She did not get a black eye as I was sure she would. She is a tough one! This is what she looks like this morning.

A Carrot, An Egg & A Cup Of Coffee

I read this on my cousin's Facebook page and had to share it as we all seem to go through trials but we all react different to adversity. Before reading, think to yourself - in times of trial, am I a carrot, an egg or a cup of coffee? Now read the following and see if you change your answer!

A carrot, an egg and a cup of coffee . . . You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners . . . She fished out the carrots and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. The she ladeled the coffee our and plave it in a cup. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its indie became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the eff that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are lik the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everthing; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

May we all be COFFEE!!!

My Litte Soccer Player

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My Favorite Things Circle Journal

I am part of a group of ladies that have been doing circle journals for a year now. I did a year before this as well. It is a fun thing but is harder to be unique as you get farther down in the group. Today I did two of them. One was My Favorite Things and I did the following as my creative unique approach. I loved it so had to share.

Michelle's Favorite Things

(to the tune of My Favorite Things)

Hot cup of coffee and snuggles with kiddos

Knitting with fun yarn and sun in my windows

Cool winter mornings with fresh snow and things

These are a few of my favorite things.

Good country music and days at the lake

Scrapping and stamping and cards fun to make,

Quilting and sewing and more fabric things

These are a few of my favorite things.

Pictures I've taken of my family

A good day of worship with Christian family

My favorite Bible and family study

These are a few of my favorite things.

When bills are due,

When the phone rings,

When I'm feeling stressed

I simply remember my favorite things

and then I know that I'm blessed.

The Sound of Music movie is part of my heritage it seems. My dad took my mom to see it on the date he proposed. I have watched it for 35+ years and know that the last Sunday in December it can always be found on TV. I love the song My Favorite Things.

Soccer

Well it is soccer time of the year and Chase is a very happy boy! They had their first game last weekend and they did great! They got their shirts just before the game. Big thanks to Shoreline for sponsoring them. Chase chose #7 because he is 7 years old and because his soccer PJs from Mamma have #7 on them. He loves his Mamma!

August A to Z

I got this idea from a dear friend of mine Jane who uses this format to summarize months. I don't get around to blogging often so I think the monthly summary will at least help. So here goes my first A to Z monthly summary post.

Alura - we got to spend the week of camp and a long weekend with our granddaughter Alura - we all enjoyed it a lot.

Busy month - I do not know how we got from August 1st to today (August 30th) as quickly as we have. We sure packed a lot into this month.

Camp - we had a fun week at camp to start off this month. Lots of fun memories and a great week for us all.

Dinner at Lakeview Drive-In - after a fire destroyed park of Lakeview Drive-in last month, we were happy to be able to have dinner from the drive-in on the 21st of this month when they opened. The Drive-In is definitely a summer staple in Chelan.

Eager kids - the kids are very excited to head back to school. Mommy is not quite sure how it happened that they grew up so quick as I have a 1st grader and a 2nd grader this year!

Fair - we made a trek up to Waterville to the NCW Fair last week. The kids loved the animals and seeing thier friends who had animals there to show. Now we have a new craving in our house - to have an animal for fair next year! We will see about that!

Grayson - we have started having a routine family time with Bobbie & Grayson as we prepare for the arrival of our newest grandchild Kyzaya in December

Horses - we have seen a lot of horses this month - Kenzie was sure that we made it to Omak Stampede and to the Lake Chelan Jr Rodeo and that I took pictures of many of the horses.

Ice - the kids enjoyed Tropical Sno shave ice after an afternoon at Kids Club on Tuesdays this month. They love the stuff and conveniently there is a stand on the way out of the park! Hmmm - good planning on someone's part!

Joint duties - My sister and I shared camp nurse duties and both found the joint efforts to be a much easier deal than the one person approach we both did at separate camps last year. We are looking forward to another joint effort next summer.

Kids Club - we spent Tuesdays at Lakeside for our summer Kids Club days to enjoy time with friends and swimming and sand fun

Loss - it has been a month of loss for many people that I know. A short list of the lost ones this month would include Clara, James, and Sharla. That added to the list of those with health challenges this month has made for a busy prayer month. We continue to pray for the families of those lost this month.

Ma's birthday - This month brought the first birthday for Ma (my mother-in-law whom I always called Ma) since her death. It was a hard day yesterday for Dave. He made the trek to Mount Vernon to put flowers on her grave yesterday. The kids (as all kids do) wanted to talk about her all day and didn't seem to understand the sadness for Daddy & I. If only we could all have the simplistic view of death that children do.

New laptop - after Dave dropped a full cup of coffee on his laptop (surprise, surprise - it was dead afterward), he got a new laptop. Not necessarily in the budget this month, but he started video stuff for GoLakeChelan for fall sprts this month so he had to have a working computer. I guess the good news is that prices are pretty good this time of year for laptops.

Omak Stampede - none of us had ever been to Stampeded and we had a great evening this year - I think we will make this an annual event!

Play dates - the kids had play dates with Rylee, Raiden, Bella, Teagan, Grayson, Seth & Soren this month - what a fun way to spend the summer!! Nice to have so many kids around that they can have playdates a lot.

Quite a few pictures taken - this was a busy month for my camera! I took over 800 pictures at camp alone. I don't even want to think about the total number of pictures taken this month as I am sure it is in excess of 1200!

Return of football - Anyone who knows us, knows that football is serious business in our house! Thie month brought the return of NFL football - preseason games several days a week on TV! We have a happy house!!

Slidewaters - had our second trip of the summer to the water slides this month. We usually only go once or twice a summer so we are on the mark and enjoyed this day with Alura at the waterslides. Mackenzie even braved Purple Haze!

Tie Dye - we tie dyed shirts at camp and enjoyed it so much that we did it at home with Daddy and then at Kids Club for an end of summer activity last week!

Unusual weather -We had every sort of weather imaginable this month. LOTS AND LOTS of rain in a short period of time leading to slides, 600+ lightning strikes in one evening, temperatures in excess of 100 degrees and mornings with temperatures under 50 degrees. Wow we have had it all!

Very fun times - I know that the memories of this summer will live in my mind for a long time. If someone had asked what summer I would like the most, I would have never guess with would be the summer they are 6 & 7 years old. They are old enough to have fun without me right there to make it happen but still young enough to want me to be part of it. Dave was dead-set on doing spring cleaning this summer and I said we can do it when they go back to school. The kids will never remember that we cleaned the house this summer but they will remember having a fun summer doing fun things.

Water - We spent a lot of time in the water this month. Our pool, the upper Chelan Hills pool, Lakeside, Chelan Falls, State Park, creek at camp, Waterslides, and Brewster Swimming Pool all this month!! The kids are fish and enjoy anything WATER!!

X-rays - Dave had follow-up on both knee replacements. Thankfully all seems to be doing well with both of them! It is nice to have a year without a knee issue for him - the first of that since 2002!

Young kids with board games - This summer the kids have gotten to an age that they LOVE board games. We have played a lot of Monopoly at any available moment. We have finally moved out of preschool games and can play games for readers!! Apples to Apples Jr, Blockus, Battleship, Monopoly, Hullabaloo, Rummikub, Twister, Pictionary are a few of our favorites!

Zebra Prints - we all enjoyed wearing bandanas including zebra print ones while at camp. It was an easy hair day on the days when a shower and a bandana sufficed!