Baseball fever!!

We were so excited when we found out that the Cleveland Indians' farm team was being moved to Columbus. We couldn't wait to get tickets. The last few summers we've enjoyed attending many Columbus Clippers baseball games. So, knowing we would be moving this summer meant we needed to try and attend a game in early in the season.


The new Huntington Park is gorgeous!!






When we first arrived there was a cloud cover in the sky, which made it very cold. We thought we were well prepared for the cold. We all had layered our clothes, having multiple shirts on under heavy sweatshirts, long pants, hats, and even scarves. Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the windy conditions which seemed to make it colder as we walked into the stadium. So, our first stop was the gift shop where we bought a sweatshirt blanket to keep us warm. Oh, we were in for a long night!!







Before the game started the clouds broke and the sun came out. YEAH!! It wasn't as chilly, but it wasn't blistering warm either. It did make it harder to see the game, but I'd rather have some heat and have to shield my eyes while watching than freeze and not enjoy the only Clippers' game we'll probably make it to before we move.







While Jay and Zack went to get our dime-a-dogs, the girls and I sat close to keep warm. The place wasn't packed, but there were a lot of people there. Especially, when we decided we needed more hot dogs, hot chocolate, coffee, and nachos. A couple of times Jay went to check on the food and beverage line to find them ridiculously long.




PLAY BALL!!






After a few short innings, the clouds decided to roll back in. Since I still can not stand for long periods of time on my foot, I sent Jay to get the hot beverages. My argument was if he never got in line the line would never get any shorter and we would never end up with any more hotdogs, hot beverages, or my nachos. So he ventured around the stadium with the girls to try and find food.


As the story goes, they found a line and stood there for quite some time, 25 minutes, before they realized the line they were in they could only get hot dogs and beer. The hot beverages and nachos were on the other side, visible but not accessible from the counter line they were waiting in. So, Cassie broke away and waited in the other line so when the hotdogs were purchased they could get the hot beverages and nachos. Great teamwork!






About the time they got back, I thought I felt a raindrop. Oh, was that another one? Cassie thought she felt something, too. Mackenzie decided she wanted to get her poncho out just in case. We sipped our hot beverages and ate our nachos and hotdogs and then all of the sudden those scattered droplets were coming down in a fury. Everyone in the bleachers picked up there belongings and headed up top to try and find shelter from the rain. By then, we were soaked through our layers of shirts. We were wet and colder now.





The grounds crew came out to cover the field. So, we ended up leaving in the middle of the 4th inning, but at least we got to be a part of the new era.




As we were making our way out, Zack noticed the rainbow. The shower didn't last long, matter of fact I think they were playing again by the time we got to our car. Who knows, if we can get tickets, maybe we'll try to catch one last game before we move.

Next week, we're headed to Cleveland to watch the Indians play.

Mackenzie was hard at work and play

I was so thankful that Margot was able to take my kids to co-op the last day of the semester because Mackenzie was soooo looking forward to making her fairy garden. Mackenzie took two classes this last semester. One was a writing class and she did NOT want to take it, but I thought it would be good for her. It turned out she LOVED it. But her favorite class was the fairy class taught by Mrs. Miller. They did some wonderful things and Mackenzie had such a great time. Check out some of their fun fairy things at Margot's blog. Mackenzie loves her fairy garden. Thank you Margot for sharing your time and talents with the kids.



Okay, for Easter Mackenzie got a frog/bug habitat. She is having so much fun with her African clawed frog tadpole, which has been very educational for us, including her uncle. We thought we knew everything about amphibians and reptiles from our science studies. Well, it turns out that this African claw frog is not you typical amphibian because it doesn't lead a double life. It is totally acquatic and even has claws.

So, that means the frog habitat needs a tenant that lives on both land and in the water. We got some Northern Leopard Frog tadpoles for her habitat. Unfortunately they only survived a few days. Now she has to wait till we move before we get any more. I'm not sure if it was because of the cool weather they didn't survive.

One of the other things she's been working on is completing try-its for her Brownie vest. She wants to earn as many as she can before we move. Here she shows off her box guitar she made for the sounds of music try-it.



Nice job, Mackenzie. Keep up all your hard work.

Thanks!!

Thank you, Mom and Dad. The flowers are beautiful and the thought and well wishes very much appreciated.

Mom, I'm glad your surgery was successful. Now we continue to pray for a quick and easy recovery. Dad, don't get ran too much!! Jay was at my beckon call for only a few days -- wish I was closer so I could help. Love you both - - see you in May.

PUT your things away

I'm sure we all have told our kids over and over and over and over and over to put their things away. I'm sure we have all said that someone is going to get hurt tripping on something that is where it is not suppose to be. Toys have homes, books have shelves, clothes have drawers or laundry hampers, and shoes have closets or shoe bins.


Well, last night Zack's shoes were not where they belonged. But seriously how much damage can a boy's shoe do . . .





This shoe, which still isn't where it should be, caused a ruckus last night. After we said our nightly prayers and started our bedtime routine with the kids, I walked out to our back porch, which use to be a three-season room but my father-in-law finished it so it could be used year round, anyway I went to sit before the kids actually went to bed. As I stepped down the lone step, I stepped directly on Zack's shoe and before I knew it I was on the floor. Okay, I have twisted my ankle before and I could get up and walk it off - not this time! There was groaning, screaming, crying and hyperventilating.


In pain and scared that I broke my ankle, Jay phoned his brother to see if he could come and stay with the kids while he took me to the emergency room. You see, our live-in roommates, Jay's parents, are in California. Anyway, Jay's brother and his wife have very early schedules and it was already late so he wanted to know if we could bring the kids to his house. Unfortunately, Cassie still isn't quite old enough to stay home late at night while we're going to be gone for an undetermined time. Luckily, the hospital is close to Jay's brother's house. So, I had Jay drop me off at the emergency room - he got me signed in, and then he took the kids to his brother's house.

I checked into the emergency room around 10:30 p.m. After waiting about an hour and a half, Jay had to find a nurse to wheel me to the restroom. Finally after waiting for three hours they took me back for x-rays, but they still didn't have a bed for me so I had to go back out to the waiting room. There we waited another hour before they took me back to a bed to see the doctor. I'm so glad I wasn't in excruciating pain - as long as I didn't move my toes or put weight on my foot it was just a dull throbbing pain.

Once we were in the room, the doctor came in to inform me the x-rays didn't show any breaks or fractures. YEAH!! However, probably the way I rolled my foot/ankle I sprained it. My foot never did swell, but there is a nice purple bruise near the ankle. While we were waiting, we got the opportunity to talk with a male nurse whose wife had done some youth ministries in Minot, North Dakota - for those of you following our journey that is one place Jay is scheduled to interview for a pastor position.

After the doctor shared the good news about my ankle he sent one nurse in with pain medicine and another in to wrap my foot, put a splint on it, and give me my new crutches. Of course, Jay wanted to know if we could return the crutches when I am done with them to get a refund. LOL A second doctor came in to go over my injury - I have to ask, WHY do they all have to touch the foot to verify where the pain is? Come on people!! Then this second doctor wanted to let me know that a break or fracture is better because it doesn't take as long to heal and with a sprain now my foot will be weak and more susceptible to sprains. When he walked out of the room Jay said he just wanted to tell him to shut up and to work on his bedside manner.

You know if you ever want to just watch people, go spend a few hours in the emergency room. We saw some interesting characters and events.

Well, we got home around 4:30 this morning, which was just enough time for me to get settled and Jay to have to go back to get the kids from his brother's house. Today I have spent quite a bit of time in bed resting or recovering from a sleepless night. I've been elevating my foot and icing it down. I have to say that trying to get around on the crutches is not the easiest thing. Of course the kids are looking forward to playing with those when I no longer need them.




So, this is my new footwear fashion.

I had to call in some favors today. I had to find a sub for our mid week walking paper route, which Jay normally walks, but with his school schedule tomorrow there's no way he can get that route done and then drive the other routes with Cassie. So when he gets home from school he and Cassie will go out and deliver our driving routes.

Then I had to put a call in to a fellow homeschooling co-op mom to see if there was any way to get the kids, especially Mackenzie to her fairy co-op class. She has offered to come pick up all the kids in the morning so they won't have to miss any of their final co-op classes or the pizza party. Thank you so much, Margot.







Jay and the kids have been taking good care of me. They laugh when I have to get down on all fours to get down that lone step on the back porch. I keep feeling out my foot - wiggling my toes, putting a little weight on my foot because I have things that are planned and things that need to get done, so I can't be put out too long.

THIEF

There is a THIEF at our feeder!! So much for that squirrel baffle, or whatever that thing is called that sits atop the feeder supposedly to keep the squirrels away.

Okay, after I snapped these photos from our kitchen window, the kids ran out the back door screaming and scared him away . . . only for him to return later.

Mackenzie is feeling GREAT!

It's hard to believe that Mackenzie had surgery 19 days ago. But I have to tell you Friday, April 10th, was a very big day for her. For two long weeks after her surgery she couldn't run, jump, climb, or do anything strenuous. She was an awesome trooper. She'd go outside with her siblings, but wouldn't be able to "play" with them and the neighbor kids - because of her restrictions. BUT Friday was a different day, it was the two week marker from the date of her surgery.

I caught a glimpse of her running by the front storm door when Cassie came in and told me to look out the kitchen window. There she was running all over the backyard with the biggest smile on her face. She finally made it back into the house and yelled with pure excitement, "I can run!!"

One of the other concerns we had was the fact that she lost 10% of her body weight. I'd love to lose 10% of my body weight, but on her little 60 pound frame it was a lot. If you recall she was sick a couple of weeks before her surgery, so when she went to pre-op we found out she had lost three pounds. Of course the days that followed surgery she didn't eat much at all. I stocked up on frozen treats, pudding, applesauce, ice cream, chicken noodle soup, and yogurt for her, but she's a finicky eater and none of that was very appetizing to her. She was great about drinking her fluids - - the apple juice, Sprite, and sweet tea, but wouldn't drink the Nutri Pals we got hoping to get some calories into her.

Well, after I talked with my dad and relayed the message from Grandpa Tom that she needed to eat lots of chocolate pudding or drink a few chocolate milkshakes, she decided to take an interest in eating. She's been checking her weight, and we are excited to say she has gained back those pesky six pounds, and she is eating just about anything, that is if she likes it, these days.

YEAH, Mackenzie! She made it through those two weeks of recovery and now she no longer has any restrictions. We take a peek at the back of her throat periodically, and it looks better and better everyday. She sees the ENT for her follow-up on May 12th, but I think I can honestly say - - She is back to her ornery self, I mean she is 100% healthy.

A week's growth

Last weekend Mackenzie brought home this cute and almost invisible tadpole -- it was soooo small.



Only a week has gone by . . .

I'm glad our kids don't grow this much in a week.

He has stripes on his tail, he's at least three times the size he was when he came home, and you can still see his heart beat (that red spot obviously is his heart).

Our Family Easter

I tell you what, the beginning of the week is pretty mellow for us; Mondays and Tuesdays that is. Come Wednesday, our week takes on a whole new meaning. One day it is Tuesday and I swear the next is Sunday afternoon - - what happens in between there is always such a blur.

Well, this past week wasn't any different. Monday and Tuesday were somewhat typical school days . . . we finished up our standardized testing and did a little work. Wednesday we had a relaxing school day and just touched on a few subjects. By Thursday, we were focused on co-op classes, delivering papers, and Jay had a church commitment in the evening. Then we gave the kids Friday off since the neighbor kids were on spring break. While the kids hung out with their friends, Jay and I bagged the weekend shoppers, watched movies, and he prepared for his Good Friday service.

Before I knew it, it was Saturday and Cassie and I were out delivering the weekend shoppers. We totally forgot about decorating Easter eggs. So I phoned Jay and asked him to do a couple of things. First we had discussed the fact that he was going to miss the kids' Easter morning finds as he had a sunrise service at 7:00 a.m. and he had to leave the house by 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. So, we decided maybe he could call the Easter Bunny and explain our situation and see if it was possible for him to visit our house early. The EB was so eager to oblige, we just had to make arrangements to be out of the house for a while.

So, before we could leave we had to make sure we had decorated eggs for the EB to hide. While Cassie and I finished delivering, Jay steamed the eggs, went to the store to buy egg coloring kits - everything seasonal we own is in storage -, and then Mackenzie decorated the eggs. Cassie and I were home briefly and got to decorate a couple of eggs ourselves.



After Cassie and I got home and had some down time, the girls and I decided to go buy some craft supplies, which I have to admit turned out to be more of a hassle and we didn't get a thing. When Jay and Zack were done taking care of a few things, we met them for dinner.

To our surprise when we got home that fabulous EB had visited our house. He left baskets full of goodies for the kids. Along with the traditional solid chocolate bunnies and plastic eggs filled with candies, they got movies, educational things, Webkinz trading cards, pink Wii wheels (the girls), and some other really cool things.

Mackenzie was really excited about her frog habitat. Of course the tadpole she got from COSI can't go into it because he's a water frog. So we ordered her two tadpoles for her new habitat. Cassie also got a butterfly pavilion, so we ordered her some larvae to watch them go through the whole metamorphosis. The kids love watching things change and grow. YEAH . . . so do I.

After they went through their baskets, Zack found a stray egg. Yeah the EB hid the decorated eggs, too. So Kenzie scoured the house to find them all. She had a really hard time finding the very last one, but thankfully, Zack came to the rescue and found it hidden in the most unlikely spot, one of Cassie's sweatshirts.

Sunday morning was very relaxed for four of us. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, Jay had to get up extremely early to preach at the Easter Sunrise Service in Adamsville. By the time we got to church, he had preached one service and baptized a 7 month old baby, had breakfast with the congregation, taught Sunday school, and was preparing for his second of three services of the day.

Once we were all home from church, the kids spent a lot of time outside while Jay and I played catch up with household chores . . . mostly the laundry. I guess you do what you have to do. Now our week starts over.

Cherished Moments

Family is truly a very valuable thing in life. I know I tend to get stressed when family events are planned. I can almost say that I dread the whole "get together" thing because then I start nit picking at everything. Is the house clean enough? Will the kids get too wound up? What food to fix? And the list of things goes on and on!!

But when it is said and done and I go back and think about the events of the day and look at the memories that were captured, I am so thankful that we had that cherished time together.



Jay is such a great father and he adores his niece and nephews as much as his children. He loves making all the kids laugh, but he enjoys sitting with them, too. Little Princess will be two soon and she has not been a big fan of Uncle Jay. So this visit was very special when she would talk to him, bring him things to show, and then finally sat with him. His youngest nephew, Odie, still loves hanging out with his Uncle Jay. Here they are both sitting watching one of those Baby Einstein DVDs with Uncle Jay.



Chloe was so sad that she wasn't getting the attention she normally gets. Everyone was oohhhing and awhhhing over the twins and Odie. So, Chloe decided to see if Grandpa would give her any love.



Princess decided to hang out with Grandpa for a while . . .



. . . then Cassie tried to steal some kisses, but Princess just played with her.

So, to my family . . . Thank you for the memories. I know the time we will have together will be harder to come by once we move to North Dakota, so I am truly thankful for the time we have together before we make our move.

Scavenger hunt . . . looking for their baskets

Okay, so it's not quite Easter yet, but with family that will be in California on Easter, we were all able to come together early and do our family Easter this past Sunday. Zack was so excited he got to hang out with his cousins who live just up the road in Dayton.





Once everyone arrived and got to visit briefly, Grandma Karen was ready to send them out looking for their Easter baskets. This was a family tradition for my husband and his siblings. The last time it was done was for Cassie's first Easter in 1995. Grandma color coded each kid to a single colored plastic egg and then she put their initials on the egg so they knew for sure it was their egg. Grandma Karen passed out everyone's initial eggs and the hunt began . . .





Cassie hanging out with her favorite chunky monkey, Odie.





Zack's first clue took him out to the tree by the "barn" in the backyard.




Mackenzie's second clue was found outside by a big tree in the side yard.




By the time I caught up to Cassie, she was going to Mackenzie's room to find her next clue egg.




All the kids hunted for their baskets. Here little "Princess" got help from her mommy.



Once Little Man found one of his clues outside with his dad, he decided it was time to play soccer.



Lightning found one of his clues outside and there was money inside. All the kids got money in their eggs, and the money totaled up to their age. Zack was excited because he got one whole extra dollar than his age. Poor Grandma when she did the math based on the year of Zack's birth she was right, but she forgot that his birthday is towards the end of the year so he hasn't had his birthday this year. It worked out for him because he one whole extra dollar.

At the end of the clues, they found their Easter baskets filled with all kinds of goodies. This will probably be the last time we are all able to get together for Easter, so it was nice to be with family. We did miss Auntie Heather and Wes, who couldn't make it all the way from California. Hopefully we'll get to see them soon, too.