pictures

I will post more pictures tomorrow - it's evening and game time for everyone and the internet connection is dragging:( We had a busy day of school, taking care of the chicks, haircuts for the guys, menards for more supplies, taco bell and now home to play after finishing a few school things... Now I am off to fold laundry for awhile and watch some TV:) Have a great night! Hopefully it isn't too cold in the morning to go for my walk before cleaning the barn!

Gathering sticks to take back to "Bookie"

Daddy and Erin plowing the back field - see her sitting behind/side him???!!

Lyndsay and Missy (and me) following Daddy out back to start plowing!

The boys playing outside!!!

Starting the new chicken barn!

playing outside

the temporary home of the chickens - horse stall

erin playing in the barn

Thunder and Missy

deer outside our bedroom window!

deer outside our bedroom window

Lyndsay got into the frosting on Amber's cake

Erin

Grandma Coe blowing bubbles with the kids.

April is here!

Spring has sprung and so has the rain:( Very very wet here from the past few days of rain! But, the kids have fun no matter what the weather is like - Lyndsay begs to go outside constantly! But, we have to get school done first(usually)... We have 117 chicks we are brooding and 5 turkeys. Jeremy and his brother and a friend built a chicken barn and Jeremy built the brooder inside last night to house the chicks. Had a close call this morning - the air compressor came on during the night and blew the fuse and the brooder lights went out. Thankfully, the chicks kept each other warm enough til we got the lights back on this morning! Amber turned 20 a few weeks ago and tomorrow, Brooke is 17! Where has the time gone! We have had some nice weather - nice enough to get 3 fields plowed! We are planning on planting hay this year and we've been having some fun outside time. Here are some pictures to enjoy! I am trying to do school with the kids in between...

Two posts in two days:)

Boy is it windy out there! I did barn chores this morning and Erin went with me again! She even woke up on her own this morning! She helped quite a bit again! Isaac wanted to go, too but when I tried to wake him up this morning, he rolled over and said he'd stay home with dad... Last night, before going to bed, he says to me "Mom, if you think the rooster is scared of the whip, you are wrong!" and he showed me 2 puncture holes in his knee from the rooster's spurs. Brave boy - he never complained, so momma doctored it up for him and that was that! I came home this morning and went for my walk - the wind helped give me a better workout and helped push me to get home faster:) Now it is raining as well. We were hoping to work on building a chicken coop today for the chickens - their shelter kind of went kerplack in the wind last night! The wind is helping to dry it up out there - rain rain go away! So, no school for us today! Just chilling and thinking what to make for a freezer meal for a couple at church that just had a baby and for our lunch and dinner today! I slept wrong last night and have a kink in my neck today, Lyndsay is hugging me right now, trying to stretch it out for me, I guess:) I wish it would work! I guess I'd better go and let the pup in before she gets too wet and muddy out there!

Spring,spring, beautiful wonderful SPRING!

Oh the joys of warmer weather! I am loving every minute of it and I can honestly say I am honestly enjoying the mud! We celebrate the breeze drying it up as well! Thanks to mud boots, it is manageable and makes for great entertainment for the kids outside! They have been begging to go outside the last few days and I happily oblige! Isaac had fun adventures today following the little brook from the frog pond over to the real teepee on the property next door with the puppy following him. He carries a horse whip with him in case the rooster decides to attack! Erin and Lyndsay are super afraid of the rooster and stay close to momma when outside! I've been walking outside again and hubby goes with me sometimes... unfortunately I am a morning person and he is not. I love the sounds, smells of spring out there! Today was not so rush rush. Had to go into town quite a bit this week - Brooke had stateline practice and left for that yesterday. They did pretty good, I hear... She is going to the horse expo in Lansing tomorrow with a friend from church and then to her dad's. So, this morning, I went and did barn chores without her, but took Erin with me - she did help muck out a few stalls - so cute! The cats were all glad she was there! Then, home to start breakfast and school. Isaac got through fast so he could go outside and Curt and I worked til 4:30pm on his and then I finally went for my walk! I came home and took Erin on another walk around the front field. She wanted to exercise with me! Jeremy and I have been using the Nordictracks in the room in the barn on bad weather days and Erin will go out there with us and run in place the whole time! She is a motivator, for sure! Isaac also pulled out another tooth tonight! Erin is begging me to go out to the freezer in the barn and get the ice cream! Our freezer in the house doesn't freeze it hard for some reason - that and bread dough, everything else is frozen in there! Lyndsay fell asleep early - I have a feeling she'll wake up around 10pm and be ready and raring to go, though:( The guys had haircuts yesterday - Jeremy hadn't had one since Christmas and Curt finally decided with going short again! Yay, I love the nice short cuts!!! He has sooo much hair and it's so thick that if he doesn't get a clipper cut, it just goes POOF after a week! I am so enjoying living here now! I don't have to worry about packing a suitcase every weekend, food, etc! I have all of the comforts of home here now! THIS IS HOME! I love that as I was doing dishes this morning, I could watch the ducks playing in the water puddles out back, there was also a pair of pheasants in the lane out back, strutting around! So cool! Praise the Lord! Puppy, kids, rain, dirt = lots of mud, though:) But, I just keep vacuuming, sweeping and scrubbing away! It will dry up soon enough! We just wear our mud boots to the van and carry our "good" shoes with us! We are looking forward to cleaning up outside now that the weather's getting better and getting the place for the horse scoped out and ready to plow for pasture and corral and barn. We will keep him where he's at for another month or two until we are completely ready for him! This time is going by extremely fast, it seems! Warmer weather and it will go by even faster! Hard to believe time change is tomorrow night already! Brooke keeps busy going to the barn 3 times a week atleast to ride Gent and a few other horses there as well. Tuesday, us "girls" go for haircuts while hubby is at the dentist and then Wednesday we will venture up to my Dad and Teresa's to do some deck fixing for him! Can't wait! Amber is going to be home next weekend for spring break and her birthday! You can tell your kids are turning into young adults when they start asking for practical gifts for their birthday.... appliances, etc:) Hard to believe she is going to be 20 years old - where has the time gone?! I bought a potty chair for Lyndsay and she's used it quite often, I am not pressuring her, just hoping she will "get it" on her own... right now she also has this thing with bugs and there are tons of those red beetles coming from who knows where - everywhere and mostly in our bathroom! So, we have to get them all out of there before she'll go potty! After she's potty trained, no more diapers! Wow... sigh.... Curt is in a size 10 shoe now and I had to buy clothes for him in the men's department cuz he's so tall! The boy is growing like crazy!!! My camera is on the fritz so I haven't been able to take any pictures:( I think we might need a new battery. Gotta get it fixed soon - too much new stuff going on with playing outside, adventures, etc! Gotta go and get the ice cream!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

We are still here!

Finally - I was having problems signing into my own blog for some reason:) We have just been busy with life... A week and a half ago, my dad was scheduled for another heart cath, was all doped up, IV inserted and the doctor had an emergency surgery and they unhooked my dad and sent him home and rescheduled him for this past Monday. Everything went without a hitch - they put in 3 more stents into 2 different arteries off the third main artery. They were 70 and 80 percent blocked so now he has a total of 6 stents and is feeling much better! His shoulder pain has gone and the chest pain. Praise the Lord! We had fun visiting in the hospital with his pastor, my aunt Tara and Teresa. Got to go out for lunch a few times, too:) Took my Dad-in law for his carpal tunnel surgery yesterday. So, I've had enough of hospitals for awhile, ok??? Everyone stay healthy for awhile:) We spent the day today in Birch Run at the horse expo, then lunch and then dropped Brooke and Jean off at the church for a youth activity. I cleaned house yesterday and this morning so it feels good to have everything done! School is going ok - trying to get on a schedule still... I am struggling with getting everyone to everything they should be, but we will get through! i don't think we have any appointments next week so far, so we should be able to hunker down and do better next week! We get it all done, just seems to take alllll day sometimes! The snow storm was fun - I had gotten groceries the day before so I wouldn't need to go out at all. The neighbor plowed us out again! I took Isaac and Erin outside for a bit and we played in the snow and did some sledding!

I am so ready for spring - not the mud that is going to come with it:( But, warm days, being outside much more just seems so inviting!!! We haven't heard from work at all - rumors fly about the start up date. A few people we know who put in to transfer permanently to Lansing have gotten called and start Monday. Someone said Flint Truck and Bus is adding a shift in July and Ft. Wayne Indiana is adding a shift in August so life could get very interesting! I am praying for Flint - it is closer to home and we put in for it as a permanent transfer! God knows what we need and is still in charge and on the throne! The time has really gone by fast - I am always busy and don't know how I ever got it all done when I was working! I cook a lot more now and find myself running out of ideas now that I'm doing breakfast, lunch and dinner! We do simple things like cereal/oatmeal most mornings, but try a few "big" breakfasts a week to change it up! Jeremy and I went out last week and enjoyed Applebees 2 for 20! That is a great and filling deal!

Speaking of Jeremy... he has had quite the adventure this week and I can't wait to see him tonight:) Just in time for Valentine's day!!! The kids are so excited! Erin fell asleep sitting here with me just now. I woke her up and said you can't go to sleep this early, we have to go and get daddy! "Can we go and get him right now???" she says... Hard to believe Lyndsay is going to turn 2 years old next week! There are new babies being born at church once a month it seems now for a few months - gotta hold one one of these days!!! I need to start potty training...

Okay, gotta go and get some messes the mighty mess makers have made cleaned up and get their jammies on! Have a great Lord's day everyone!

Chris

February!!!

February - that means we are closer to spring, right??? Although, during the 40 degree weather we had a week or so ago, I know spring will bring lots of mud and I am NOT looking forward to that part of it! We will have to trade our snow boots for our mud boots! We have been productive around here lately. Jeremy bought all of the sheeting to do the skirting for the mobile home and worked on that this weekend and it is done except for the roll of vinyl that he's going to get to cover up the wood and keep the moisture away from it. I went out and helped by moving dirt around the bottom of the skirting to close up any gaps between the skirting and the ground to keep out any drafts! The mobile home is considerably warmer floor wise and we haven't had any frozen pipes since (YIPPEE!) and I don't have to be as careful about the cats getting out! Erin loves being outside - she is the only kids in our house that asks to go outside, will completely get herself ready and go out and play. She helped Jeremy and I all day Saturday out there, would say she was tired after a few shovel fulls of dirt, and lay on the snowmobile for a few minutes, then get up and start all over! Yesterday she went out with Daddy, but came in devastated because the rooster had gotten after her. She has a bruise on her arm, poor thing. But, today she got all dressed up again and went out there with daddy and the puppy for awhile! I told her to carry a rake or stick around to scare the rooster away! Our bathroom tub is next - can't wait to have my own shower back!


The past few weeks, Lyndsay has had the yucky nose and goopy eye thing going on. She's been sleeping with us only because it means more sleep for me - very inconvenient that her room is on the opposite end of the house - too cold for me to go back and forth in the night! If she does start out in her bed, she wakes up in the night and toddles quietly into our room so I just pull her into bed. Jeremy says that's why we are sick - from bringing sick little one into our bed:) Oh well, it's worth the snuggle time - she's my baby and I enjoy it! But, I do not enjoy being sick. Started feeling yucky on Saturday - worse yesterday and even worse today! Not good! I need to be better by Wednesday to be able to go and see my dad in the hospital. He has to have another catherization done on his heart - there is another blockage(s) and they won't know the extent til they get in there and look around. Last week, on Tuesday, Heather, Carly and I went up to Grayling to see my mom in the hospital after her surgery. It is so hard seeing your parents go through all this stuff:( Praying for a quick recovery for both of them! I need to call them - been feeling too yucky and just keeping up with my household the past few days is all I have been able to handle! I love listening to the kids and some of the things they say! Erin says the word also like this - alslee... In the hospital seeing Grandma Coe last week, she and Maggie were walking toward the elevator and Maggie says we have to go to the alligator. Erin looked devastated and said, it's not an alligator, it's an elevator and 2 seconds later she says alslee:) I don't have the heart to correct her cuz it's too doggone cute!

The past few days of not feeling well and everyone is into causing trouble, misbehaving, etc. I am going to have to kick them all outside tomorrow:) Yesterday, they had piled a bunch of pillows, blankets, etc. at the bottom of the couch and were doing all sorts of things, jumping, rolling into the pile... giving me a heartattack. Tonight I got back from taking Brooke to the barn and they had done the same thing with the pile, only at the bottom of Curt and Isaac's bunkbeds and were jumping off the bunk into the pile:( No, NO. NOOOO! I am a party pooper! Reminds me of the day when Rick Roenicke babysat us and used to pile all of the couch cushions at one end of the living room and push us off his feet into the air and hopefully onto the pile across the room:) Oh well.... sigh...

Puppy Missy is getting bigger and BIGGER! She weighs about 24 pounds now and is twice as big. She has her good days and her bad days - potty training wise! She is a good little dog - goes outside and doesn't wander off - she enjoys playing with our beagle - they both fit in his doghouse and will play, taking turns going in and out (won't be able to do that for long, though). It helps to wear her out so she doesn't cause as much trouble inside. Don't know who is worse - the pup or Lyndsay!

Well, the nyquil is kicking in, better hit the hay - looking forward to a nice warm bed and good night's sleep! Lyndsay fell asleep at 9 - if she doesn't take her nap by 2, I make her stay awake the rest of the day. She's in her own bed PTL, so off I go to sleep in the middle of my bed instead of on the edge:) Have a good Tuesday everyone!!

Saturday and tired!

Boy, it's only 4:45pm and it feels like 10pm!! I've started my morning walk/jogs again this week and have been trying to stay on track diet wise but have been failing miserably at that! I love to bake and have a lot of time to do so in between helping kids with school, etc. I do hate doing dishes by hand so you'd think that would slow me down in the baking department, but NOT! Wednesday took the kids in to school to practice for stateline, then to ortho appt. for Brooke - the tooth she had exposed had really moved down in 9 days time (they didn't want to see her for 4 weeks - usually go 8 wks inbetween, but doctor said he didn't want to lose the tooth). Well, it looked like if we were to wait 4 weeks we might lose the tooth, so we went in for them to look at it. They readjusted wires and went to the next step. Makes up for the lost time while waiting for the exposure surgery to happen:) Then to the mall to pick up shades for the living/dining room windows - I got tired of the kung fu panda blanket covering the one window! Then to church and home again! Thursday we spent the day at home, then the barn. Friday at 4 we dropped Brooke off at the church for a teen activity - going to Grace Baptist in Gaylord for a college tour then today they played laser tag somewhere up there... We went on into town to look at tub surrounds for our bathroom then McD's for supper, then stopped at Heather and Brian's and ended up playing Domino's with them. That is so much FUN!! I WON:) I even beat my husband! We had left the puppy at home in her kennel not thinking we'd be gone late and when we arrived home after midnight, she was one happy puppy! Needless to say, she was not ready to go to sleep! 2am we finally went to bed and Curt slept with her in Brooke's bed. I woke her up at 7:30am this morning and took her for a hike around our property. We saw a deer in the corn, heard turkey and owls. When I took her out last night, you could really hear the owls - eery sound in the middle of the night!! I went to Clio for grocieries, then a baby shower at the barn where our horse is, then home! Delicious meal of lasagna at the shower - I feel like going to bed! Puppy is snoring at my feet, Lyndsay is still sleeping from a late nap... I bought her some pull ups today. Everytime she goes potty she wants and takes the diapers off. I will find her naked all of a sudden out of the blue and she looks at me and says POOPY... (poopy means everything wet/dirty, etc.) So, we are going to see if she wants to potty train at 19months! I am not really looking forward to doing it this early, but if she's ready! I will be running to the restrooms at stores, gas stations, etc. again!! She's a smart little girl and I think it will come to her quickly! She loves to sit on the potty and doesn't even waiver or get scared when I put her on it!

Hubby pulled our tub out of our bathroom yesterday and is sealing all of the cracks in it out in the barn before he brings it back in and sets it in concrete. I can't wait to have my shower back again!!! The kids' bathroom is all done and looks pretty nice! After that, we will have the final plumbing inspection and overall inspection and be done. Then, we will hopefully hook up the woodstove to help with heating costs! Propane bill was 440.00 and we heat our hot water with electricity and haven't got that bill yet:( Woodstove makes a HUGE difference in the budget! Praise the Lord we have it! Not to mention the good exercise we get from cutting and collecting wood for it! I think that's why I am so tired out by this time - my walks are giving me fresh air every morning!

The boys have been playing games all day with Dad, off and on. Erin is at Grandpa Steve's for a bit and I need to go and pick up Brooke in a bit! So, off I go to think about dinner, I guess. Have a great weekend everyone!

January 19th!

Wow, the time seems to be flying by! Trying to get into a better routine for school, etc. I need to make a visual chart for the kids to go by or something! Fighting off a migraine the past 3 days, but feeling better today - actually got up and went out for a jog/speedwalk this morning - beautiful outside! I need to do that everyday - gets me motivated for the day and good for my mind and body! Last week, ended up bringing home a lab/shepherd mix puppy for our "farm". So far, doing pretty good. A few accidents here and there... Brooke and Curt were gone for the weekend and Saturday morning, she wouldn't eat, then started getting sick from both ends and finally I saw something disgusting come out (outside, thankfully) and took her to the vet where he promptly wormed her and gave her her shots. She weighed 17.1 pounds at 8 weeks old! Big girl! I took her for a walk out back this morning after I came back from my walk - didn't know if she'd make it with me that far! She always has to carry something in her mouth - so cute! She's playing with the kids right now - everyone perches on a couch or chair to avoid her teeth. A few pieces of clothing have holes in them.... sigh... I hope she will turn into a good dog. Maybe we will do obedience classes in the future to help that along! The cats avoid the floor as much as possible as well! Watch out:)

Jeremy is now working on our bathroom tub. We don't know if it's fixable so we'll see! Bummer... very big cracks in this one. He's been enjoying helping the neighbor with the calves and other things. They harvested some of our corn 2 days ago and will finish that this week more than likely. Jeremy and Erin hand picked a 5 gallon bucket and have been grinding it fresh every morning to feed our chickens with! The chickens have started laying 2-3 eggs a day again finally! They seem much happier - letting them out during the day to free range and roam about! Erin hung out with daddy outside all day Saturday. Days like that and I don't even have to tell her to go to bed! I am going to get everyone outside for awhile today after lunch! We'll go for a walk out back or something, we all need fresh air!

Went to church Sunday both services. Got groceries at Meijer's after morning service. Sunday night, something told me it wasn't going to be a good night. I was right. Sitting in church with Isaac, Erin and Brooke, Isaac to the right, Erin and Brooke to the left. All of a sudden, I heard a "t00t" from Isaac. He started giggling, I tried real hard NOT to giggle, Brooke also tried, but didn't succeed - had to hang her head low, covering her face with her hair! Erin didn't hear, thank goodness! Gave him the evil eye... not even 10 minutes later, another "toot" and giggle. Go get a drink of water and get a hold of yourself. Comes back in giggling!!! Ok, get a hold of myself... another one! By this time, Erin had fallen asleep while drawing. When I got up to take Isaac out, Erin woke up complaining she wanted to draw, still (LOUDLY)... I felt like EVERYONE was looking at me and my out of control kids!!! :0) How come I had a hard time not losing it laughing wise! I needed to be serious! Sorry pastor and congregation and the Badours who were sitting behind us! I need the back back row from now on!

Ok, had another good laugh (sorry!)... off to lunch.. Have a great day!

So, off to do lunch and other things. Have a great day!

Winter is fun when you are all dressed for it!

I went for a walk out back so took a picture of our home from the back!

Erin got to go one last time!

Isaac even lasted out there in the cold after he lost his scarf!

Try snowboarding on a sled (Jeremy and Curt) with Isaac in front.

last bunch of pics

Erin loving the snow!

Curt giving Jeremy a push.

Curt, Erin and Isaac

We got to see the neighbors newest calf - one week old there were 2 as of yesterday, another one was born! So cute!

Curt, Isaac, Daddy and Erin! Erin loved it so much, she had to go one more time before we went in - she didn't want to quit but we were all hungry and cold!

Grandpa Coe

Grandma Coe and Brooke after her gift of monkey butt powder:)

Brooke and Aunt Heather - Heather is wearing the vest Grandma got Brooke

Amber and Francisco

Grandpa playing for all of us!

winter pics

Dad playing guitar and harmonica!

Opening gifts!

my brother, Phil

Amber and Lyndsay - she was doing peek-a-boo

winter fun!

Christmas at Dad and Teresa's Brooke and her peacoat with Carly and Heather

Chelsea opening her gift

Isaac's face says it all!

Erin and horses....

Curt and some shoes he's wanted for atleast a month!

Here we go!

Grandpa, Erin and Maggie feeding the birds!

Daddy and Lyndsay napping near the woodstove!

Goofing around with Uncle Chris

trying to get our Christmas card picture - Erin was not cooperative!

Well, the well has been inspected, the chickens are outside in the stall (gotta check on them this morning to make sure the owl I heard this morning didn't get any:), the kids' bathroom is put back together - no more leaks in the tub, no falling through the floor (new subfloor and linoleum), new used vanity to replace the 2x4's holding the old sink up, now just have to paint it and it will be ready to use. We will use that bathroom cuz now hubby will have to pull our garden tub out of our bathroom and fix it as well. There are 2 huge cracks in it. We are trying to fix things as cheaply as possibly - this is temporary! We have been battling frozen pipes and once the inspections and leaks have all been fixed, we will put skirting on and hook up the woodstove to help with heating costs! I keep it at 68 and we are freezing. I am turning into a slipper wearer - if my feet are warm, the rest of me is warmer:) Sweaters are a common sight among us now, too! Once the skirting is on, hubby will put the radiator under the trailer with a blower and that will warm the floor, then some baseboard heaters in a few of the rooms will help immensely! We went sledding the other day, saw a few baby calves across the road, keeping busy with school, etc. Today we are almost done with school and heading out to do some errands, banking, groceries, etc. It's always good to get everyone out of the house once in awhile! The boys could play video games all day 24/7 but are ornery as all get out! I was up early today thanks to the cats running around being very noisy in their wrestling and prowling. Shadow was upset with Jeremy for closing the shade in our bedroom. She loves to lay on our bed and look out the window - even at night with the moon, you can see quite far out there! She's laying there right now! Yesterday, Brooke had an orthodontist appointment - they hooked up to her impacted tooth via a wire/chain deal - very painful and has to go back in 4 wks instead of 8 to have it adjusted again. The tooth is almost in the middle of the roof of her mouth - yuck!She was in pain last night! My pantry is runnin low and need to resupply it today! I hate it when I go to make something and don't have everything! I was going to make french toast this morning - not enough syrup! I hate making scrambled eggs- use a whole dozen to feed everyone! Oh well - they were good! I have been trying to go back on my diet but it's been really hard to stay away from what everyone else is eating:) I made some apple bread 2 days ago - got the recipe from someone on Facebook and it was delicious!!! Well, going to post some pictures - so enjoy:)

Back to the diet....

Wow - what a holiday season - lots of good foods, desserts, fellowship and now time to go back on my diet to lose the dessert parts! It was worth it, though! We stayed at Aunt Jenni's New Year's eve and I went in to lay down with Lyndsay after the midnight ball dropped and fell asleep myself:( But, everyone else had fun and stayed up til wee hours of the night. We got up, made pancakes for breakfast, watched the parade for a bit then headed home. The wedding was beautiful (the church was still decorated for Christmas - lots of lights, etc.) and we had fun visiting with family there. Saturday night we had Christmas with my Mom and Bill at Heather and Brian's house - that was fun. Francisco got to come with us and he hopefully had a good time - I know it was atleast memorable:) We played dominos there, too - fun game! It's nice when the kids get older, you can actually sit down and play something without being interrupted every 5 seconds! Especially when the cousins are playing! Now we are trying to get into more of a schedule. Getting to bed earlier, up earlier and going in the morning. Started school again this Monday. Going pretty good. Jeremy's been working on organizing things, putting away things in the barn so we can get farm equipment back in there. They are coming out to inspect the well on Monday. A few more inspections to be done before we are done. Once they are all done with those, then we can build something for the horse and chickens and do a few more electrical things in the barn. We moved my 2nd set of washer/dryers into the room in the barn as well as our freezer and then Jeremy moved his lathe and some shelves in there for tools. My norditrak is in there, too and the room is pretty well full now! We've been putting the dog in there at night - too windy and cold outside. He loves his kennel full of hay and shavings!

Monday afternoon, Erin, Lyndsay and I took Amber, Rachel and Fransisco back to college. We hit a snowy stretch for about 80 miles on I94 and got there around 6ish I think. I headed back about 8pm. Erin got so upset after we pulled away, I had to turn around, call Amber back out so she could give her a kiss as well. I pulled away the second time and Erin wanted to tell her she loved her. Sorry, only twice going back for me kiddo... She always wants to stay at college with Amber! When we go up to Amber's room, she and Lyndsay like to race up and down the dorm hall and I encourage it so that they burn energy they've accumulated from 5 hours in the car and a nap:) Then, we dress in jammies and head back home. I ended up stopping for a nap again at around 10pm and then got home 1:45am. It's funny - I fight staying awake all the way home and once I was home, I couldn't fall asleep! UGH! Amber had a job offer with Americall which will help her pay for schooling in full with no student loans. I am proud of her for taking it. It will be hard with classes and everything, but I know she can do it! She had to move to a different dorm after agreeing to the employment. Be praying for her, please! I believe it's an opportunity God has put out for her to enable her to keep going and finish her schooling!

Brooke came out this morning and announced that Sheridan Road had a snow day! I laughed and said - too bad for you:) So, after we got the majority of our school done, we all got dressed up warm and headed outside to enjoy the new snow. We went across to the neighbors (love our neighbors - he had already plowed our driveway for us:), and got to see 2 of the 18 or so calves he's expecting fro heifers in the next few weeks. The mommas were very nervous and protective, but it was neat - they are a week old and very cute! Jeremy got the snowmobile to start with no problems and we headed up to the hill at the neighbor's to do some sledding! Lyndsay even went down with me once. After an hour, we were hungry and getting cold. Erin was upset we had to stop - she didn't want to quit sledding! We are all tired out from all the fun! Curt and Brooke are at all night youth activities - separate locations for the boys/girls so we dropped them off and I stopped by our old neighbors on Moore Rd to give them some banana bread and our Christmas card and new address info, then headed to Jen's to practice a song for sunday night and even got to eat some of her delicious lasagna and salad before heading home. Erin and Lyndsay had a great time playing with her girls and didn't want to leave! I need to get up early and pick up the kids at 9am and 11am and am bringing one or two extra boys home for the night - our first guests in the mobile home since we've had power:) So, I need to get to bed and get my beauty sleep:) Lyndsay has been sleeping awhile and now I have to convince Erin and Isaac it's ok to sleep in their rooms with big brothers and sisters here. Isaac hates sleeping alone and it's even worse now that his room is at the opposite end of the house from us:( I used to be able to convince him it was ok because I'd leave our door open and his room was just across the hall in the old house. So, wish me luck! Have a good weekend and God Bless!

New Years Eve!

Happy New Years Eve everyone! We have had a great week! Went up to my Dad and Teresa's on Sunday and had our Christmas there - lots of good foods and treats and fun watching the kiddos opening presents and watching the cousins playing good together! Dad played his guitar and harmonica at the same time - very impressive! Monday morning, had to be in Saginaw at 8:30am to take Amber and Brooke to the oral surgeon - Brooke had a tooth exposure done for an impacted tooth and Amber had all 4 of her wisdom teeth pulled. But, they were ready to go to the mall right after for a little bit:) Then stopped at Walmart on the way home. Tuesday was a relaxing, laid back kind of day, laid around played video games, watched HGTV, hallmark movies... Wednesday I took the kids to see the Christophers at Grandma Reid's. Brooke and Curt leave to go to their Dad's tonight for 2 days and wouldn't get to see them when we go to a wedding tonight. Had pizza with them and good visiting. Today I plan on doing some baking for tonight, laundry, baths, etc. We are going to a wedding at 6pm, then to Jenni's for games, food and fun! I plan on spending the night there because I don't last as late as others - need my beauty sleep:) Saturday night we have Christmas with my mom's at Heather's house and then we are done:) Seriously back on my diet to counter all the goodies I've been eating! I miss going for a walk everyday - maybe I'll get back into that next week - just don't enjoy the cold! Once i get out there it's not so bad... just talking myself into getting out there is the hard part:)

So, updating more often now, I hope. Hope you all have a great night tonight with friends and family! Christine

merry merry Christmas

From our new home to yours - Merry CHRISTmas!