Will I survive???

Well I leave tomorrow for the cottage up in Lake City with the kids, my sister and her kids. My dad is up there already and my brother will be coming to fish with my dad on Thursday. This is NOT a huge cottage so it will be close quarters. This cottage is a family tradition and since my mom died, my sister and I feel like we have to go because we don't want dad up there by himself- beside the fact that our kids LOVE it up there.
The problem is that the weather is not looking too good. There is a big fence all around the cottage so there is no air flow and there is no air conditioning! I might die!
This is the forecast for up there:

Tuesday:
[Partly Cloudy]
93° F | 69° F
34° C | 21° C
Wednesday:
[Thunderstorm]
82° F | 63° F
28° C | 17° C
Thursday:
[Partly Cloudy]
78° F | 58° F
26° C | 14° C
Friday:
[Partly Cloudy]
77° F | 56° F
25° C | 13° C

I'm feeling a little better now because it looks like the cold front is coming 1 day sooner for there than down here. Thank goodness!
So while you're all sitting in your cool air- I will be having extreme air conditioning envy! I'm going to be so happy to be back home!!!
I'm not bringing my computer so no blogging for me( boo hoo)
I'll tell you all about it when I get home- if I'm not a puddle on the floor by then!

The best corn on the cob!

It's that time of year that we crave all winter- time for Corn on the Cob.
We all love corn on the cob and there's a place on the way to Mark's work that grows it and sells it on the side of the road that has the absolute best!!!
What a dinner we had- steak on "George" (Foreman grill- steak is awesome on there by the way because it's extra juicy!) and for our veggies- corn. No complaints all the way around the table. The pictures of the girls were "staged" because no one had time for pictures during the meal. Nick went to a friends so I couldn't include him- I'm sure he's devastated because he just "loves" having his picture taken.





 
 
  

Tour of Homes

Ok, I'll start by apologizing that it's 10:23 p.m. and I'm just getting this done. I ended up being gone all day!
The Tour of Homes is being sponsored by BooMama at:
www.boomama.blogspot.com
Go check out her site to see hundreds of other fabulous homes!

Welcome to my home!
This is my front door- we just redid the entry way so this is our new front door- I'm really happy with the color!


















This is where I'm getting addicted to being! My computer desk where I do all my blogging!













This is my bedroom- we did this room when we moved in 13 yrs ago and haven't done anything with it since. That is changing in the next weeks- it is getting fresh paint and all new accessories- bedspread, window accessories etc... I can't wait!











I think this is one of my favorite rooms in the house- it's my girls room. We just redid this last year in bright colors. It's a very cheery room to be in. Since we adopted our girls from Russia I had them paint on the wall in Russian. It says Sisters and Friends. Hopefully that will stay true!!














This is our kitchen- this is always busy with activity!













This is where I usually end my day- relaxing in the living room- trying to keep the kids in bed!



Thanks for stopping by!

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

In My morning devotions this morning- that song was mentioned. It happens to be one of my favorite hymns. I just thought I'd share the words because it's such a great reminder that being close to Jesus is the only place to be. With all that's going on in this crazy world I want to be hand in hand with my Lord!


I am weak but Thou art strong; Jesus keep me from all wrong; I'll be satisfied as long as I walk let me walk close to thee.

Thro' this world of toil and snares, If I falter Lord who cares? Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee dear Lord none but thee.

When my feeble life is o'er. Time for me will be no more; Guide me gently safely oer To thy kingdom shore to thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee, Grand it Jesus is my plea Daily walking close to Thee Let it be dear Lord let it be!!

beauty starts at a young age!

Arianna found rollers in the closet today and the girls so badly wanted to put them in their hair last night. Arianna did pretty well having them put in. Halle got sick of sitting still about half way through. Both of them were complaining when they laid down to sleep. They thought it was a good excuse to keep coming out and telling me they couldn't sleep! After all the work of putting them in they weren't
coming out! I remember sleeping in them on Saturday nights so we would look beautiful for church Sunday morning. I didn't like it either! I was thinking to myself- this is only the beginning of what you're going to have to endure as a young woman- shaving legs, plucking eyebrows etc....... Boy it's difficult being a woman- but I wouldn't change it for anything!
 
 

Men and Doctors

I think this is a fairly common issue- men won't go to the Dr's unless their life is on the line! Well I made Mark go for a physical and I made him ask the Dr about a mole he had that I thought was changing. The Dr agreed and said it should come off.
Mark wasn't thrilled! Well yesterday the time came for the big appointment.
He came home and I asked him how it went and he tells me that this was worse than the others he's had taken off- it took 3 inside sutures and 5 outside sutures to close up where they dug the mole out! Well that tells me that it was good that they got rid of it! I'm sorry he's uncomfortable for a little while- but better that than issues down the road! I don't think I'll get him back to the Dr any time soon though after that!





  

I scream for Ice Cream!

We went to the new Fire Station Ice Cream place in town tonight. We had never been there before. What a neat place. There's all kinds of old fire station stuff around to look at. The kids loved it!






 
  

Laura- this one's for you!!

Your Pirate Name Is...

Arch-Pirate Ivy the Infected

What's Your Pirate Name?

Works for Me Wednesday

These are fabulous kitchen tools that I just love! They come in sets of 3 and they are small, medium and large in size. I believe they are made by Zyliss.
You use them to scrape the insides out of almost anything- baked potatoes, cantaloupe,
etc....
I especially loved them when I was working with my zucchini. It took the seeds out and made it so easy!
Works for Me!!

We have our Christmas Tree all picked out!

As you all know I'm a very "on top of things" person. I'll give you all a couple of moments to compose yourselves again!!
Ready??
I'm happy to announce that we have our Christmas Tree all picked out already for the Holiday Season! The wonderful news is that it's in our garden!!
We planted 3 lettuce plants this year and it produced so much I didn't need it all.
This is a plant that I hardly picked any from and look what it turned into! Who knew that they turned into christmas trees if you didn't use them. If anyone is in need of a tree this year "lettuce" ( sorry I couldn't help myself!) know and we'll save one for you also!!!!



  

Our very own Sophia

As most of you know, my niece got a new puppy a while ago named Sophia. Well we all fell in love with this puppy. I do hear however that she can be very naughty. At the museum on Monday we told the kids they could get something small in the souveneir shop. Halle found this stuffed animal and it reminded us all of Sophia except a little darker. Now we have our very own Sophia without all the naughty!!
What do you think of the comparison?







 
  

slide show

Chicago part 5

This was Nick and Garrett on the ride home:

 















This is what Halle did while we were boarding the train- the entire train ride home- and all through the night until 7:30 this morning!!


 














This was a picture of Lake Michigan on the way home- It was beautiful with the sun setting!
  

Chicago part 4

This was a really cool exhibit about having ideas and working them through.
The kids loved this place!


 
 
  

Chicago part 3

The kids went on a sub training mission! Nick did it with his cousin Keegan- as you can see they had a successful mission- Arianna and Halle tried valiantly- but were just a little less successful!!


 
 
  

Chicago part 2

Here's the whole group of us- 25!!
Arianna and Halle inside the heart exhibit
The outside of the Museum



 
 
  

Chicago!!

I wish it was yesterday- we had so much fun!!! Mark's mom and step dad took the whole family- all of us and Don's kids- to chicago. We went on the Amtrak and then they rented a bus-(when you see the whole group of us you'll understand why!)
We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and then they just gave us a time to all meet up to go back so it was nice that we could just go as our family. It would have been crazy to try to go through all together. The kids loved it and it was nice to see each other again. We don't get to see Don's kids often because most of them live out of state.
What a nice day we had!
I'll be posting a couple of entries because I have lots of pictures to share!
Katelyn- I ran into Vic on the train and he asked about you so I gave him your phone number!!LOL



 
  

The tooth update

Here is the latest picture of Halle's tooth. It is getting darker. So far no bump above her gum- which is good- that would mean abscess and it would have to get pulled. It's really starting to not look very nice at all- I'm starting to wish the thing would just fall out! She's so funny when she brushes her teeth- she's a pro about not brushing hard on that tooth. She doesn't realize it's going to fall out or come out- one way or another yet. It's a good thing because she will start to wiggle it as soon as she figures out there's money on the end of this ordeal and they said you don't want to wiggle it- it can affect the adult tooth.

The Zoo- Part Two!

This was the highlight of the day for the girls- they were so excited to ride the camels! I thought Halle might be a little scared when the camel stood up- but she absolutely loved it!
















This was Jordan's reaction when the Kimono Dragon stuck his tongue out- too cute!!