May 23rd (Day 143) - I Do ... again

Today Alana and I went to mass and the renewal of wedding vows for our good friends Gary and Jean.  It was really nice.  Mark and Kevin met us after for bunch since Kevin had a soccer game.   Kevin's team lost  both their games today to end up 2-9 for the season.  It's been a rough road.

The Fite's and their niece bringing up the gifts.

Here is the happy couple.

And the whole family.

May 22nd (Day 142) - Walk & Wags

Today was the big Walk & Wags fundraiser for our Humane Society.  Alana raised $490 dollars and was probably the 4th biggest youth earner.  I hope she does it again next years and gets in the top 3 for an award.  We took Ollie and I got my exercise.  He was really pulling on the leash.  After about 30 minutes he started to calm down a bit.   We saw a lot of neat dogs at the event and even one pig.  It was a real success and HSHV earned $140,000.

{ get pic from Alana's camera)

Kevin's team played soccer again and managed their second win.

May 21st (Day 141) - It's a Blur but I know we won

Everything is starting to blur together since I haven't been sleeping well.  I went to Bobbie's for a while even though Kevin was home again.  I came home after stopping at the drug store for her and picking up pizza.  I had to feed everyone and get Kevin to his soccer game.  Luckily he only has a cold because he really needs to play at least a little.

We were under lightning delay when I got to the fields at 6:30pm.  I was determined to get this game in since the other team drove 2 hours on a Friday night to play it.  We were able to start a little late and make it through the first half before there was more lighting. The weather was horrid and it keep raining really hard on and off.  We decided to wait it out and luckily we did.  We were able to play the whole game.  I swear I saw lightning a few more times even though the detection system didn't sound. We won are first game of the season 3-1 and Kevin scored one goal and crossed one that the other team scored on themselves.  Not too bad for a sick kid.

I don't think I took any picture today, but these were on my camera.  Sometimes little elves seem to do my work for me.  Here is Cassie making Turtle do "the curl".  Don't worry, the vet says this makes them better cats when they grow up.

And here is Scotch in another new sleeping spot.  I guess he wants to be Ollie's next meal.

May 20th (Day 140) - Way too much going on!

I returned J.J. and Panda Bear and wished them luck in finding their new homes.   Then I  headed to my rescheduled doctor's appointment.  I got an x-ray of my foot to see if they could figure what was wrong.

Mark got home way late because there was so much to do to help his mom.  He showered and rushed off to work for a few hours so he could get back to her house.

Kevin was sick but when I called school to tell them I found out there were lots of things they were waiting on from me.  I hate when I mess up.  I got it all done, even finding pictures of Kevin for the graduation party.  Since the scanner isn't working I had to take pictures and Photoshop them.  Here is Kevin as a baby.  I felt bad for him today because he was sick and I was basically MIA between the doctor's and helping out at Mark's Mom's house.

A highlight today was finding Scotch on top of the encyclopedias sleeping today.  Reminds me of trying to learn by osmosis in college.

Mark found out today that the home care nurse they set up only takes care of checking her health and medications once a week.  That was not what we were expecting.  So he set up a meeting with another company that provides home care.  Bobbie was not thrilled.  Luckily they met with the company that night and everyone is feeling a little more comfortable.  Women will come in from 8pm to 8am each night and be able to help her get up in the morning.  So after tonight Mark will get to sleep in his own bed again.  

Cassie and I picked up her car today too.  It will be a big help to have another driver again.  I also drove to volleyball.  I really don't think we can keep up this pace much longer.  

May 19th (Day 139) - Bobbie home and Last Day for the Big Boys

Mark took his mother home today from the hospital.  She didn't want to go to a recovery center.  We're still not sure how things will be taken care of.  I had told Mark the other night that she wanted us to handle all her care but he was too tired for it to sink in.  He will be spending the night tonight, but I am not sure how long that can last.

At home I couldn't find the kittens for a while but finally found them in the laundry bins.  J.J. and Panda Bear are big enough for surgery so I am taking them back tomorrow.  I need to lighten my load so I'm able to help Mark more with his mom.   I will miss J.J. especially, he's such a good cat.

May 18th (Day 138) - Pow!

I took Cassie's car today to get a quote for the glass.  We'll get it fixed as well as the cracked front windshield.  Kevin posed so you can see what they did.  Luckily the alarm scared them away and they did not take anything.  I wouldn't feel comfortable is they had our garage door opener.

And today I found Scotch on the clean laundry.  I guess he couldn't wait for the bed to be made.

May 17th (Day 137) - Blood Thinners are a Necessary Evil

We went to see Bobbie tonight in the hospital.  She was sitting up in a chair.  They have here on blood thinners so she won't get a blood clot, but it causes her to bruise all over.  We also talked to the nurse about what will happen once she's released.  We really don't have a good handle on it even thought it might be in less than 2 days.

May 16th (Day 136) - Not so Good

Yesterday between matches, one of the other parents, Kelly, and I went to the nail salon at Meijer's and I got my first pedicure ever.  I thought I should take a picture.

Volleyball did not go so well.  We lost all our matches today.  It was really disappointing.  I think they got our hopes up since they performed better than expected yesterday.  I didn't take many pictures but did get one of Alana and her coach, Kenny.  Too bad she closed her eyes.  We are really lucky to have Kenny.  He is a really nice guy, a good coach, and Alana likes him a lot.

Calling home we found out Cassie's car got broken into on our driveway at 3am.  Mark had to get up and call the police.  They came out but had to go break up a party and come back at 5am again.  Poor guy, he just cannot get a decent night's sleep.

May 15th (Day 135) - Not so Bad

With all the injuries on Alana's team, including a stress fracture of the back, we weren't even sure there would be enough players to play.  But Kenny got a sub for them and a few of the girls were going to try even though they weren't feeling the best.

We were amazed that after losing their first match, they won the next two.  They did lose one game to the worst team in the division, but came back to win the short game 15-2.  As a team they really get along well and are so supportive.  It's really fun to be on this team.  Today they even let 5' 3" Alana be a hitter.  She did really well.

May 14th (Day 134) - Surgery and off to Grand Rapids

I started off the day trying to find my family at the hospital.  I started at Bobbie's original room and after a lot of misdirection found out there was a waiting room on the second floor for family.  I just missed her before she headed in for surgery but was waiting for Mark and his sister Kim, when they came back out from seeing her.  Mark headed off for work and Kim and I spent time together waiting.  They buzzed us when surgery was over.  They put us in this very small room to wait for the doctor.  Kim said other doctors had gone out into the waiting room so we got a little freaked out.  But the doctor was just filling out his paperwork.  

I wasn't able to stay long enough to see her.  I headed home and packed so Alana and I could head to Grand Rapids for her volleyball tournament.  We stopped on the way there and bought a cute little coach wristlet for Erica for her birthday.  It was on clearance and with the 20% off coupon they handed us at the door, it was in Alana's budget.

May 13th (Day 133) - Sleepy Kittens and Hospitals

Today was a rainy, lazy day.  It worked out well because soccer was cancelled and I could go visit Bobbie in the hospital.  She isn't going to have her surgery until tomorrow.  They are hoping it will just be a partial hip replacement but won't know until it happens.  She was upset when I got there but I think it's all related to all the medication she's on.

Kittens were just lazing around today.  Here is J.J. on Cassie.

And seriously Scotch.  Sleeping with your head in the stinky track shoe.

May 12th (Day 132) - What a Day!

I guess I'll start at the very beginning.  The day began like it has for the last week or so.  With this little bird hitting out window.  He likes the perch on the brick ledge and continually fly into or flap his wings against the window.  Starting at 6:00am.  He does it on and off all day long.  I might have to go buy a gun.

Cassie had the last of her AP exams.  I'm sure she's glad it's done.  And she'll finally be able to start participating at track again.  Her coach is understandably upset with her, but her studies just have to come first.

This afternoon Mark's mom fell going into the hair salon.  She called someone at Mark's work to go help her when she got back to the house, but they were at least smart enough to let Mark know what was going on.  He went to meet her and she was really hurting, so he took her straight to urgent care.  She was transferred to the hospital where they found out she had a broken hip and she'll have to stay for a hip replacement.  Mark didn't get home until 1:30am.   This was really such a bummer since she was leaving for a trip tomorrow to see her friend in Georgia.

On the home front, I went to PetsMart to pick up some things while Cassie was cleaning cat cages.  I then ran around between Volleyball and Baseball, since I could never get ahold of Cassie to ask for her help.  She can seriously drive me crazy but she does a great job at her volunteer job.

May 11th (Day 131) - What a Geek

Kittens are always fascinated with computers, but Panda Bear is an all around computer geek!  Check out the whiskers on this little boy.

May 10th (Day 130) - The Croc Cot

I told you Scotch slept in strange places.  This is where Cassie found him this morning.  It's the all new Croc cot.  He even slept while he was carried around and I took his picture.

And here's another view.

Cassie took her AP Biology exam today.  She said it was much harder than all the practice exams but she thinks she still passed.

Besides that Kevin had his first rec baseball game.  They haven't had a practice and he hasn't played in 4 years.  Most of the other boys play for the school so they were able to win.  Kevin struck out but said he had fun.

May 9th (Day 129) - More Soccer

Kevin's team had to play again today.  Luckily it was only about 40 minutes away and they played much better.  They lost but the score was only 3-1 against a pretty good team.  There was not much else going on today so I spent much of the day digi-scrapping again.  I did a layout on all the purple rooms in the house.  This is my favorite room from a decorating standpoint.  It's my dining room.  I really like how it turned out.

May 8th (Day 128) - Soccer Blowout

Kevin's team didn't fair very well.  It was 36 degrees and snow flurries.  I don't think they were quite prepared or dressed for it.  It was 3-0 at half time and 12-0 by the end of the game.  Ouch.  They then had to drive a few hours and play again.  They lost 8-1.  I'm sure they were glad when it was time to come home.  Not a very good day for the soccer team.

At home it was just Cassie and I.  I took the kitten crew in for shots and then back at home I spent the day taking pictures and digiscrapping.  Here is Cassie with Scotch.  He's such a little lover.  And check out Cassies hair, she got it re-dyed black underneath last night.  It looks pretty good, but blends in with her t-shirt.

May 7th (Day 127) - He comes and He Goes

Kevin had a late school start because of his trip but I just went ahead and let him stay home for the day.  He and Mark had to drive with his new coach, Marty, up to Traverse City.  Alana decided to go with them and drive part of the trip.  She still needs a lot of hours for driver's ed.

And we've named another one.  This is Scotch because of his nice butterscotch color, but we think Scotch is a little more masculine.  This crazy kitten can fall asleep in the strangest places so I've started taking his picture.  Here he is on the remote control.  Of course, no one wanted to move him so we couldn't change the channel on the TV.

May 6th (Day 126) - Oops, Sorry Dr. Leon

I missed my physical this morning.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I guess I was distracted by the kittens.  I didn't do that much today besides the normal.  Except I did go get Kevin.  They didn't get back until almost midnight.  Do you think he called me once while he was gone?  Nope, such a guy.

Here is little Turtle, the last of the kittens.  She's a real handful and not the best at the litter box.  But we love her anyhow.

May 5th (Day 125) - 8th Grade Trip & AP Exams

Kevin left at 5:00am for his 8th grade trip to Chicago.  They go for a quick two days so he'll be back at 11:30pm tomorrow night.  They go on two coach busses.  Alana went 2 years ago and says the bus ride is almost the best part of the trip.  Go figure.

Cassie had her first AP exam.  It was English or Composition.  She thinks it went well.

Bobbie stopped by today to bring some chocolate covered strawberries that Mary had sent her for her birthday.  They were huge and oh so pretty.  That didn't stop Cassie and I from digging in and eating a few.  They were so good!

May 4th (Day 124) - Hugo II or Panda Bear

This little one looks just like one of our first fosters, Hugo, so Mark calls him Hugo II.  Cassie wanted to call him Bear and we finally settled on Panda Bear.  They all really love their ducky and Panda Bear loves to hug it.  I've even made a scrapbook page about it.

May 3rd (Day 123) - Painting all Done

They finished painting today. Our bedroom and bathroom, Kevin's bedroom and bathroom, and the powder room have a fresh coat of paint.  It feels really great to have it done and to have them out of the house.  I can never get anything done with workers in the house.  Here is my newly painted bathroom.  I really love it.

May 2nd (Day 122) - Stylin'

Kevin had a soccer game this morning. One of the defenders got red carded. It's the first time we've ever had that happen on our team. I really think it was not earned and it caused us to lose the game. Even playing with only 10 players we were still getting shots off. I know we would have won with a full team on the field.

Today was also Bobbie's (my MIL) birthday.  So Kim and Steve and the kids came across town and we all took her to Applebee's to celebrate.  Don't ask me why I didn't take any pictures.  I at least got one shot of Marisa's cool shoelaces.  Who knows how long it took her too weave these babies together.

May 1st (Day 121) - A New Favorite

Alana has picked out a new favorite whom she's names J.J. He's a spunky little thing but he hasn't really purred.  Doesn't he look familiar. Yep, he almost the same as Carmie, her last favorite.  Here he is snuggled up with her on the couch for a nap.

Apr. 30 (Day 120) - Where's Anya

Since it was Friday, Doreen and Liz were here to clean.  I could not find Anya in the office at all.  How do you lose an eighteen pound cat in a 12ft by 12ft space with no real funiture.  It ends up she was hiding behind the TV.  I didn't think there was enough room back there.  I uncovered her enough for a photo.  I think she was scared of the vacuum cleaner.

Apr. 29 (Day 119) - Sibling always Share

I decided to see if the little kittens would try some canned food.  I thought maybe it wouldn't be as messy as the formula.  I thought the little ones could share off the same plate so I wouldn't go through them so fast.  Wrong and wrong!  The darker girl was trying to shoulder her orange brother right off the plate.  Luckily he's bigger so she just ended up sliding the whole plate.  It's so funny to watch.

Apr. 28 (Day 118) - Kittens in the Kitchen

The plan was that the kittens would be in a cage in the office with Anya.  Right away that didn't work.  Anya sat across the room and just growled, she was one unhappy girl.  I thought they would be okay since they were in the cage but darned if some of the little devils couldn't climb up the side of the cage and squeeze through holes in the top.  So I had to relocate them to the kitchen.  Here they are in action.

Apr. 27 (Day 117) - Bottle Feeding failure

The two little kittens are supposed to be bottle fed.  I tried and just couldn't get it to work.  I even tried syringe feeing which has worked in the past, but they would have none of it.  Their favorite method to get kitten formula is straight out of a little tupperware lid.

This is what a little kitten looks like when drinking formula.  Yuck!

Apr. 26 (Day 116) - We have kittens again!

We went and got our 2nd batch of kittens for the year.  I picked up 3 male kittens from 3 different litters.  No sooner had I gotten home when there was a call that someone had caught the sister of one of them.  So four kittens are now at our house.  Ollie has to check them all out good before they're allowed to roam.

Apr. 25 (Day 115) - A Little Scary

I'll admit that sometimes Anya is a little scary.  She's so big and I can never tell what she's thinking.  She's a pretty cat but I'm not sure how long it will take to get her a new home.

And Mark surprised me by saying the painters would be arriving in the morning, to start painting the last 5 rooms in the how.  So we had to quickly start picking out colors.

Apr. 24 (Day 114) - Surprise

My Mark took Kevin to his tournament in Kalamazoo, so I went along to Diane's surprise 50th birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  The funniest part of the night was before it even started.  Diane's old high school friend took her to the spa as her "distraction."  About the time they were expected back, Mark (her husband) gets a call  saying their car had been towed and they need a lift home.  Everyone thought that was so funny.  Here a picture of the Mueller's and one of the boy's little cousins.

Apr. 23 (Day 113) - Sleep Over

Cassie had a few girls spend the night tonight.  They pulled out the bow and arrows for the first time in a long time.  Probably because Kevin got a new target at Christmas.  I think they had a lot of fun.  Here are Cassie and Andrea shooting at the target on the hill.  Courtney freaked out when she learned that the arrow were real and could actually go throw somebody, even thought they were just practice arrows.

Apr. 21 (Day 111) - First Rainbow of the Year

We had a late afternoon show.  It go dark pretty quick and started to clear up right away.  Mark called me and told me to look out in front of the house.  There was a pretty rainbow.  I got a picture right as it was starting to fade.

Apr. 20 (Day 110) - Let's Take Aim

Mark and I attended another YPO event.  Last minute for me because the carpool situation worked out at the end.  It was on self protection and guns.  We went to a presentation where they talked about the new gun legislation and how to get a concealed weapons permit.  They had a police office show ways you can defend yourself is somebody has a gun.  And then they had a demonstration with a trained protection dog.  We then got to shoot different guns in the gun range.

Here is Olga, she takes all her command in German.  She gets loaned out to the police but she does belong to a family and she plays with their kids and other pets.

Here is the target where I was shooting.  I think the head shots were all mine. Yikes!

Mark shooting an AK-16, I think.  He like it because it had a sight on it.

Mark with a revolver.  I really like this picture.

I only shot about 8 rounds off on one gun.  I was that comfortable and didn't realize until I tried to fill out our event evaluation that I was still shaking a half hour later.  It was scary that they had all those people in the same room with guns when they didn't know what they were doing.  But, it was a really good event and I'm glad that I went.

Apr. 19 (Day 109) - What was I thinking

When an email came out last Thursday asking if someone would host the Track team dinner, I said that I would do it.  I was told to expect 45 girls and I would be supplies all the food.  Umm, ok.  Do they not realized what a production that is.  I had one mom agree to make a bowl of salad to help.

I actually didn't even start shopping until noon.  A bunch of Gorton's trays of pasta, garlic bread from the Picnic basket, and  a big cake did the trick.  I was so proud that I didn't stress myself out like usual.  But I was lucky that less than 30 girls showed up, because man those girls can eat.  I had part of a tray of lasagna left an that was it.

Here's everyone singing Happy Birthday to Grecia.  Sorry, but I don't really want to post all their faces since I don't know their families. :)

Apr. 18 (108) - Bottle Feeding for Dummies

I just can't seem to bottle feed kittens.  So today I went to a class.  Shari ran through everything you need to know to take care of you kitten, 1 day to 3 weeks old.  She had some cute 2 week old kittens there.  I should have practice but didn't get a chance.  I might have to go back again and try because it's still not working for me.

Apr. 16 (106) - A Swarm of Girls

Not too much exciting happened today.  But at one point this huge SUV limo pulled down our street.  A swarm of little girls came pouring out and ran up to our neighbors house.  They were there for about 3 minutes and then all took off again.  Now that's a birthday party!

Apr. 15 (Day 105) - Need pictures of the other camera

will edit later.

Apr. 14 (Day 104) - Busy People are Happy People, Right?

So Mark left yesterday again for a pseudo business trip and our schedule tonight was packed.  We had track, volleyball, cleaning cats at Petmart, volunteer party at the Humane Society, freshman registration at the high school for Kevin, and ticket to hear the author, Scott Turow.

Why do the things you really want to do always happen at the same time?  So I juggles just about everything and chucked volleyball out the window.  I got friends to take Kevin to registration, Alana's friend who drives took her to clean the cat cages, I went but really missed most of my party, and met Cassie at the Village Theater to hear Scott Turow speak.

All in all, it worked out pretty well.  If you don't know Scott Turow wrote Presumed Innocent (and many other good books).  But you may know that one because it was made into a movie with Harrison Ford and some other well known actors.  Scott Turow is a practicing lawyer as well as an author and Cassie and I really enjoyed seeing him.  I didn't get the best shot since I didn't want to use a flash, but here he is.