This morning we had a great morning... at least I did! Elliot slept in until almost 9am... these are nice days! I'm cherishing these moments b/c once school starts that won't even be a choice! Bailey went away with Grandma to get groceries and whatever else Bailey could con her into! :) Actually she only came home with a little dog, not to bad! Landon went to play at the other Grandmas adn Elliot took a nap so i had a quiet afternoon.

Bailey started swim lessons this afternoon. She did really well, I truly thought she would put up a fight and be so nervous, but she did great! I didn't stay to watch, but I heard she did great in the pool too. (Yea for Bailey...)

I talked to my grandpa's sister-in-law and got a bit more info, I am actually going to head down there in the morning and go to an appt with them all. Should be quite a sight all of us trompin' in to this appt! I'm really getting sad realizing that after my grandpa starts treatment he will not longer be strong enough for a lot of stuff. I'm not sure what he will be able to withstand, if he will be able to converse or what! I just want him to know that I love him. I have no doubts that he loves and appreciates myself and the kids! I could hardly sleep last night b/c my mind was going non-stop. HOpefully tonight is better!

Matt and Landon started football tonight. Starting today they will be practicing three nights/week, 6-7:30, so I'm unofficially a single mom for a while. (Lucky for me I do have a husband though, and one that does come home for lunch).

School starts to soon! I really was dreading having the kids home all summer, everyday (I love them, but the thought overwhelmed me), now I'm dreading having them gone every day all day! Elliot is going to be SOOOO bored! I'm going to be bored, I'm gonna have to find something to do for sure!

All right, that's all for now!

(Oh and a few layouts to share!)

All is quiet...

So I think I'm gonna start participating in this challenge... Daily Something, on my own of course. But here is my first entry...

Let me explain the photo... we went to visit my grandpa today. I've officially been updated and the prognosis doesn't look good. I'm actually feeling quite down and overwhelmed right now. Long story short... he will be starting chemo (1 6hr treatment for now) and radiation (10m/day, daily) next week. THey are being very aggresive and there are terrible risks involved with this treatment. It is very hard on the heart and his heart isn't all that strong to begin with. He had the option to forgo treatment in which case the cancer would be terminal, giving him 6months-1yr to live with mild chemo treatments and morphine for pain. AFter starting the treatment he can opt to stop at any time. When the treatment is finished he will have to have surgury to remove part of his esophogus that will be burned from the radiation. He will have a feeding tube inserted this week b/c he will not be able to eat once the radiation takes it's toll. My uncle is in town staying with him indefinately b/c he will need 24/7 care for the duration of the treatment. He will more than likely end up in the hospital after a few weeks of the treatment. So... we all know that God is capable of miracles... let's pray for one!

Good news though... we sold the van tonigh! So now we won't have two car payments this month, so happy about that! Thrilled to be completely honest!

My hard drive had some crazy wierd files on it when I tried to access my pics... not sure if it's from the camera or the hard drive so I'm furiously burning files right now to avoid a giant loss of pictures!

I think my little guy is getting a tooth too! Finally! I swear I see something on the bottom, but I've been wrong before, if it really is a tooth it should pop through in the next few days!

Oh, and as far as my previous posts about being upset with someone, I was able to talk with this person this weekend and am feeling a little better. So, all is well!

GAME OVER

What confusion I tell ya! So did I mention before that Landon's division for this basketball division included three teams of girls (the only girls teams that signed up) who were all at least in middle school, some high school, some were BIG girls. So this morning they went up against one of the smaller girls teams and although they did a great job and played hard the girls were in sixth grade and they did loose (score was 20-16), so they had one more game, scheduled for 2:00. We came home and were relaxing thinking about going swimming or something when the phone rings... It's the bridge, they had complaints about the younger boys playing with the older girls so they restructured the bracket to include only the boys elementary age and our boys were scheduled to play at 11 (the call came at 11:16) but we wouldn't be penalized for not being there on time... (good to know). Our game was now scheduled for noon so I was frantically calling the other two boys that weren't with us and was luckily able to get ahold of one of them (via cell phone number that I just got from them yesterday), the other one I left a few messages at but couldn't reach. So we woke up Elliot and rushed downtown. Kenny showed up just before noon adn Calvin never ended up showing up (although we did end up talking to his mom... story is to long to post here), so they had only three guys which meant no substitutions (did you know it was HOT HOT HOT out and HUMID?). They played a game at 12 and had no problem winning (end score was 21-6), but then they played the team that they played last night (6th grade boys, TALL ones). We were able to use someone that just happened to be there watching as our fourth guy which helped a lot since all of the boys got hurt at one time or another, and they played much better than they did last night but unfortunately they still lost. So we are done now... after much confusion and running around and sweating! (Final score of final game was (9-20).

While we were downtown I went to check out the new dance studio down there and got all the information. Matt and I had talked about taking a year off just b/c it get's to be a LOT of running around and kinda expensive (I was just re-reading this after originally posting it and thought I better clarify that Bailey is the one taking the dance classes, not Matt and I), but I wanted to check anyway. I was feeling a big guilty looking at a new place b/c I really do love Dance Connection where she has taken classes in the past, but I was just looking into it. So we got home, the mail came and guess what... there was a letter in there from Dance Connection that they will not be opening this year. Isn't that crazy?

I think we are going to go swimming here soon, once Matt is done with his nap and Elliot is awake too. I need to cool off and get these boys out of the house.

I talked to my Grandpa last night, he is going to be starting chemo soon, not next week, but the next week I think. His brother and SIL are looking for a place for him and his friend to stay while he is getting treatments. He will have a feeding tube inserted this next week and a shunt too. I'm not exactly sure of everything going on, I need to call his brother and we are headed down there tomorow to see what we can do. I 'm glad he is going to stay somewhere though, it will be so good for him!

OK, this post has drawn out a lot. Sorry for the cryptic message earlier, I was (and still am) quite upset and just needed to kinda vent I guess. OK, have a good rest of the weekend!

1 of 2 for the day...

I know I will post again later, hence the title of this post. First things first... Landon lost thier second game this morning. They played against some sixth grade girls and actually played quite well, much better than yesterday, but not hard enough I guess. Now they don't play again until 2 so we've got a good chunk of time to waste. I think we will go swimming. The bummer is that they could possibly play the same team again this afternoon, if those girls loose!

OK, back soon with stats of game three (possibly final game).

0 wins 1 loss

Is this three in one day... whoa, I need to slow down I think!

First of all for Sarah... yes that shirt shown below was mine... and they have it in a RAINBOW of colors and I think some solids too! The polkadots are really cute too! And best of all... it's comfy!!!! Definately a big selling point for me! (Beware, i will have 10 of them before the end of the season, I tend to do that)

Landon had his first game tonight, didn't go so well. It didn't help that his team is all little guys and the other team had about a head and a half on all of them. The MiniMites looked like they were sleeping in the beginning and didn't have a clue what they were doing, but eventually they pulled it together, but it was kinda late by that time. Final score: 3 to 20, little bit of a downer. Landon did have 2 of the three points though so that was good (for him).

Dinner was great, I do not like chicken on the bone at all though, I can't stand to see skin or bones or anything else that may be lurking, so my husband had lot's of kids to help... he had to deskin and debone mine, gotta love a hubby that will do that! I actually enjoyed the chicken after he prepared it for me. They had watermelon, coleslaw and beans (neither one on my list of things I will eat), rolls and strawberry shortcake. Definately worth the $8!

We need to thank Youth For Christ (Kate) for sponsoring our team! So generous of them!


So let's hope that tomorow goes MUCH MUCH better! They have thier first game at 9am and who knows from there!

Just some SALES!

Just wanted to share...

Winkflash has 4x6 prints for 6 cents right now. $.99 flat rate shipping does not apply, but I only ordered 12 prints and it still saved me money. Coupon code is JC53YR73

Old Navy has a bunch of shirts 50% off... I picked up three this morning after returning a few things. And the girls tanks (ribbed) are 2 for $6 (or $6.50/e).

And the same one in black with white polkadots

And I can't find a pic of the other one...

So those are my great finds of the day!

Argghhhhh... Migraines!

Last night I was down and out most of the night, and Matt was gone fishing... and didn't really want to come home when I called him (although he didn't want me to be mad either... hmmmmmm). So his mom came over and watched the kids for an hour so I could sleep, but it seemed to get worse once she left and I was a wreck. My kids even felt bad for me. Thankfully Elliot went to bed around 7:40 without any issues, I just laid on the couch in a lot of pain for a little bit, then I had to go to bed... around 8:30. My poor kids, but truly, they are used to this, I used to get them once a week for sure, now thankfully it's more like once a month or even every other.

So today Landon has a friend here kinda last minute, right now they are playing x-box, but soon we will all have to get our lazy bodies up and get moving, I have some errands to run (tried yesterday, but just couldn't finish all of them), then MAYBE just maybe we will go swimming. (I haven 't even mentioned it to them yet). Trevor will leave around 4 and then one of Landon's three on three teamates is coming for the weekend at 5. We will head down for dinner around 5 (downtown to the chicken barbecue) and find out what time Landon plays his first game at. They will have one game tonight, and then for sure two more tomorow, hopefully not to early though, my little guy has been spoiling me and waking up for his bottle at 7:30 and then... get this... going BACK TO SLEEP! Yesterday it was until 9;30, today only til 8:30 but I can handle that. It does mess up naps a bit though.

All right, I better go dry my hair and get some makeup on... make myself presentable! Have a great friday and weekend!

The busyness continues...

Today was another one of those days... started at 7:00 this morning (way earlier than I've gotten up in a long long time) I got up and got ready, packed the Jeep, got all of our beach stuff together, then we headed to the bakery to meet up with Sarah & Lisa again. The kids ran around for a bit then it was time to go... to work. Payroll day. That took me about two hours, then we were headed up north to Whitehall where my family is camping. We stopped in Muskegon at the Grand Traverse Pie Company for lunch (and some yummy baked goodies), then were on our way again.

On the way I got to listen to some Christian talk radio on my new FREE (for a year) Sirius Satellite radio. I am kinda wierd in the fact that I really enjoy talk radio, especially Christian talk radio. I wish I could remember the name of the show I was listening to, I was really zoned on it. It was talking about the 10 truths and 10 lies about Abortion. I know this subject can be very controversial with many people, I don't condemn anyone that has chosen this option, I just don't agree with it. Our God forgives those who seek forgiveness, therefore I need to forgive too. Judgement is not mine, but His. THere were just so many good points on this show, talking about how some women call this thier choice, thier body, they can do what they want, but the host of the show had a good point in the fact that they are partially right, they can do what they want to thier body, but the body that is growing inside of them is not thier own, God created that body, God has a plan for that little person, it is not up to any women to make a death decision for that child. Oh, I wish I hadn't misssed any of the show, I may need to do some searching on line to see if I can find it and listen to more. It was a series on 10 truths and lies about different subjects, so I'm also curious to see what the other subjects are.

Once we arrived at the campground we relaxed for a little bit, then headed to the beach. Mary kept Elliot with her so I was able to actually enjoy the beach for the first time in a long time. I took the other four kids (Landon, Dimitri, Bailey & Angela), my grandma went and took my cousins daughter (5yrs) and my aunt came and took her grandson (7yrs), so there were definately lots of kids, but they entertained each other mostly, I went swimming with them for a little bit, jumping waves and splashing, but otherwise was able to just hang out and listen to my ipod and take some pics. Sooooo NICE!
Here are a few pics I took...

I'm normally quite anal about car seats and such, but we didn't even have to go on the road really and I didn't want the sand in the back seat of the jeep, at least this way it was contained to the rear!

And yup... you guessed it, (ok, so you probably weren't even thinking it but it will come as NO suprise), I got FRIED!!!! Yuck, when will I learn?????? And I'm not even pregnant, so what's the deal here?

After the beach we headed back to the campground. Elliot had fallen asleep laying by Mary, which he NEVER does, so he did get a good nap, so we just hung out for a little bit and left the campground around 5, perfect timing for hitting rush hour in Muskegon and even worse, Grand Haven. WE made it home around 6, Matt had a football meeting for 2.5 hours tonight, so he wasn't home, so we just made Pizza Rolls for dinner quick and Landon had his three-on-three buddies coming over at 7pm to practice. Matt still wasn't home at 8 when it was time to take the boys home, so I packed up all the kids (including my freshly bathed and ready for bed little guy) and took the other boys home. Matt was home by the time I returned so that was a relief. Tomorow night he is going fishing though (40% chance at least, according to the weather) so I'll be alone again, but next week Football practice starts three nights per week, so he won't have much time for fishing after that (he's coaching if I didn't mention that before).

And, since I like to end with pics, I will leave you with a picture of the three-on-three team with high hopes! Enjoy your Thursday!

Busy busy busy day/week/month/year/life...

We have been so busy, just like the rest of the world I'm sure, this week is just a bit overwhelming. Most of it is self inflicted, but this week was supposed to be quiet, I"m glad I started writing things down.

This morning we met Sarah & Lisa (who NEEDS a blog...) at the bakery. Note that Zeeland Bakery has NO air conditioning, and they are a BAKERY, meaning ovens running, add a little humidity and you get misery! But it was raining so we had to sit inside, good to see them again after thier vacation!

After the bakery we came home to give Elliot a nap, the kids played for a bit, i did a bit of cleaning. This picture was taken at lunch today... I'm very lucky that Matt comes home every day, so is Elliot. He is SUCH a daddy's boy, something we are very much not used to. Elliot will not eat lunch for me. It's his tradition to sit on Matt's lap and eat whatever Matt is eating, so much a tradition that the child will NOT eat in his high chair, or from me.

This afternoon after lunch we headed to the Aquatic center. Elliot has never been so I wasn't sure how he would do, turns out he LOVED it. If you've never been, there is a splash pool for the little ones, a slide and whirlpool for the older kids and the big pool with diving boards and blow up toys is open. The splash pool is like a beach, it angles in so it gets deeper the further you go (not deeper than my knees though), Elliot didn't quite understand this concept though and kept trying to crawl in deeper and deeper. He did have a great time though, for about an hour, then he decided he was tired and had had enough. So we left and gave him a nap, unfortunately I think he awoke a little to early and this is how we spent the afternoon... I felt bad for him, but truthfully I got pretty darn sick of it too!

When Matt came home we went to Craigs Cruisers. It was supposed to be our small group, but b/c of different circumstances it ended up just being the Overweg's and ourselves. We ate dinner there and I have to say that the pizza there wasn't all that bad (if you remember at all, I'm VERY VERY picky about my pizza). Landon drove the go-karts for the first time by himself, he was pretty proud of himself (although he woudl never say that). They all did the bumper boats too, all getting pretty wet! We all had a fun time.

So yeah... busy and active day here, and another one tomorow, and Thursday and then this weekend too! Agghhhhhhhh! Oh well, it can always be worse!

Friday, if you need dinner (and who doesn't eat)... there is a chicken barbecue downtown Zeeland benfiting Youth for Christ. I think WJQ is also going to be down there and there will be some concerts going on Friday and Saturday. The Bridge is putting on a three-on-three tournament Friday and Saturday too (they will be taking registration for that until Friday afternoon), Landon will be doing this with some friends (and he's SOOOOO excited). So if you need something to do this weekend, here are some options for you!

Have you seen this kit????

Beautiful again... like they all have been! This is from Songbird Avenue... all the proceeds from the sale of this kit will benefit the Make a Wish foundation! Imagine the possibilities!!!!!

This morning I made some Pesto for Chicken sandwiches, I've never made it before... click here for the recipe. I couldn't find enough Basil at two different grocery stores, so I used some fresh spinach too. I also added some sun dried tomato's and parmesan cheese. I had to borrow the food processor, but I think I may be purchasing one of my own soon. I grilled some chicken and toasted some rolls, added some honey mustard, swiss cheese and lettuce with the pesto on top of the chicken... so yummy! I actually recenlty had one similar to it at Boatwerks recently, now I can make my own! I cooked enough chicken that I can have it for lunch tomorow too, and it won't be as much work!

Landon's friend (our neighbor) has been gone for a month now (at his mom's) and I can't even explain how much the child has missed having him to play with. Landon found out that 'K' was supposed to return last night sometime so the kid played on the front porch basically all evening, then this morning he went and sat on the steps out back, just wishing 'K' would come outside (normally they do come out as soon as my kids exit the back door), it was kinda sad, but kinda cute to see his excitement just waiting. Unfortunately 'K' just came and knocked on our door and Landon is gone to Austins house, I'm sure if I called him he would come home in a heartbeat, but that's not fair to Austin either, so I'll hold off, they can play together tonight!

Good Monday to you...

Weekend Recap...

Friday night EJ, Kim and I were going to go to the Taste of Holland, but after reading the list of vendors we decided to go to Perredies instead and get some stuff from the deli. I got the BEST Greek salad, there was so much goodness in it... HUGE green olives, kalmata olives, artichokes, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, the yummiest greek dressing and lettuce of course! It was seriously HUGE, I definately couldn't eat it all. Kim and I also split the Brie cheese with pears, crackers and bread. So good!

Elliot started running a fever at some point on Friday and still has it, easily controlled with Tylenol, but he just isn't himself. I feel bad for him! I'm hoping it's teeth, but am not quite conviced.

Saturday as I stated in my previous post we cleaned the house, took naps, ate perch for dinner, I had a YUMMY Mojito (I'm not a huge drinker, but I can have one now, so I did). Spur of the moment we had a fire out back with the neighbor kids. We all played Sardines for a little while before coming in. The kids have such a good time doing that!

This morning we went to church then to Grandville for lunch and so I could finish getting Mary's birthday gift. We stopped at Children's place too, jeans for all three kids were only $9.99 (not the premium ones of course) so I got each of them a pair, I could have gotten them a bunch of other things too, but Matt was with and he isn't the best shopper, he's quite terrible to be honest. Children's place is so hit or miss and today it was definately a hit, at least for the boys, I only saw a few things I liked for bailey's size, although the baby girl stuff was quite cute, doesn't that always happen though, you find cute stuff when you don't need it?

Now my dear sweet husband is getting groceries with my dear sweet daughter. I'm so lucky that he will go do that for me, he doesn't necesarily like to do it, but neither do I, and I WILL NOT go with three kids. The one time I tried it I almost had a breakdown, I had employees trying to help me at every turn I looked so desperate.

Not to much going this week. Actually I think we have quite a bit but I didn't write any of it down so I'm not sure what we have. I think I have a hair appt tomorow afternoon, a much needed, long awaited appt! Not loosing any lenght, just getting it trimmed! I think I really like it long, I just wish I did it more often, I'm so in a ponytail habit. I rarely have time to dry my dreadfully thick hair so it just has that "look" and needs to be put up (although the longer it gets it does have it's days where it's ok with that air dryed look).

Anyway, enough rambling from me, I will leave you with a few layouts!

I don't really LOVE anything I've done lately, kinda in a rut. This weekend I picked up some templates from the wonderful Janet Phillips (seriously, if you don't have this, and you scrap of course, you NEED this, you will NOT be disappointed, trust me, I'm normally not a huge fan of grab bags, but continuously LOVE hers), normally when I get like this if I use templates for a bit it cures it for me... cross your fingers!

Only 13 more days...

Bailey discovered while watching the Disney channel last night that there are only 13 more days until the premier of... HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2. Man I hope that movie doesn't disappoint, she is sooooo looking forward to it. I really didn't mind the first one either, so we have it written on the calendar that it's a "family" night, although I'm thinking we might need to have a little party with a few of Baileys friends to watch it... hmmmmmmm!

Today is a BIG cleaning day here... obviously I'm not doing much of it right now though... oops! I just needed a little break! Getting ready for an open house that won't happen for 2 more weeks (from today). We were going to do next weekend, but Landon is doing a basketball tournament and we never know how long that will go, so we can't schedule anything! Not real interested in doing one on Sunday, so the next week it is! I'm typing that here so I have a little more accountability. I work best under pressure, but knowing that something is scheduled get's me motivated too! All right, I may be back later when taking another break! We'll see... good Saturday!

The beginning of the end?

I had my appt with my dr today. It went well I think. I feel like I got some answers (as many as one could get I guess) and I feel like it's a beginning of an ending of a chapter for me. The baby did measure at 8 weeks 5 days at the ultrasound I had on Tuesday (11 weeks 5 days), so the baby had stopped growing three weeks ago, although I did see a heartbeat after that, he or she was no longer growing. So the fact that I didn't feel great about the pregnancy from the beginning proved to be justified. I know in my head that there is nothing that I did wrong to make this happen, but my heart isn't completely ready to accept that. Did I drink to much caffiene, were my sugar levels to low (I suffer from lows way more than highs), was my endo doc right, am I really dumb, is it because I wasn't excited about this baby at first? Logically I know that none of this can be true and that there was probably a chromozone problem and that this was God's plan and his plans are ALWAYS better than my own, but I think it's only natural to go through this process too.

I know I've put a lot of myself out there during all of this, but that's just me... an open book. I find it somewhat theraputic to be able to journal my feelings and thoughts too.

I know that God has been preparing me for this journey for a long time. Things even long long before I was pregnant keep popping into my head, but specifically while I was pregnant there are things that I can look back at and be thankful for. I am so thankful for my faith in all of this and that I know that my baby (along with many other wonderful babies of many other wonderful women) is in Jesus' arms right now, enjoying heaven long before I will. I'm sure the lullabies there are beautiful. (taking lines from the song in the previous post here, if you haven't listened yet, I suggest you check it out, but have kleenex nearby!)

My intent here was never to complain, I know that many other people have much bigger problems, having to do with babies and any other range of things, I'm holding fast to the fact that it could be so much worse. I'm trying very hard not to complain about minor things, it's not worth the breath or the stress (not that this is comletely minor I know, but I guess I'm talking about overall, life in general)

So thank you for the thoughts and prayers and for caring for me. I have felt those prayers in the peace I have felt. I will still have bad days I'm sure, or maybe just moments, but for now (and maybe tomorow will be different) I feel as if I'm nearing the end of this chapter.

SOrry if this post is all over the place, I've kinda been jumping around adding and deleting things here and there, so if I'm confusing once again I apologize!

Enjoy your weekend! I'm thinking about going to the Taste of Holland tomorow but I'm unsure of how it works/how much it is etc, I've never been, but it sounds like fun, so if you have any info you want to share I would love that! (This is all IF the perch aren't biting, cuz I'm not taking the kids by myself...)

This is the song that Nina sent me lyrics to and I listened to the whole song for the first time today and found such comfort in it (and a few tears too)! I love songs that go with a period in life, no matter what period, songs with words that mean something, and this is DEFINATELY one of those songs... thanks Nina for this comfort!

OK, once again I can't get the video to embed so you will have to click on the link... if someone wants to explain the process to me I wouldn't be offended at all (by the way... I've tried to copy the code from the "Embed" box, doesn't work for me though)!

Click Here For Video

Thank you

I need to thank everyone for thier kind words, prayers and green olives (thanks Kari:) during this time. I'm doing better today. I had a few (very very few) maternity things to return this morning so I thought I would try a little retail therapy (no suprise, but it didn't do anything for me). Physically I don't expect any problems, it's emotional I'm worried about. I wasn't in a great place to begin with but I'm trying to stay strong and not let this take it's toll on me.

I made a doctor appt for what seemed to be the last remaining appt this week, tomorow afternoon, so I'm guessing I will know more then. My frustration in all of this is that I don't know what to expect and have only briefly talked to a doctor, so I will feel much better after my appt. For all I know right now this could still just be a joke... right? (I know it's not, don't worry, but one can hope)!