Happy Thanksgiving

Time to post a blog that starts out a little happier than my last post - jeeezzz.

Sorry about the doom and gloom, but since I've posted last, Ava has gotten better, had her birthday party - both for family and friends (life is good at 5, don't you think??), oh, yeah, and gotten in her first car accident. Yep. I was on the phone tonight to Shani asking for a simple recipe when she got hit by a car that failed to stop at a stop sign. All I heard was, "Aaahh! Aaahh! Uh oh." And then I heard Ava start freakin' out and screaming. Then Shani said, "I just got hit. Gotta go." Disconnected. What a helpless feeling!!!!!!! I didn't know how bad it was, where she was, or if anybody was hurt. Nothing. But only a few minutes went by and she called back to say that they were all fine, but they were just waiting for the police to make the report. Whew!

Let's see...what else has happened? Oh yes. How could I forget? Drew had every intention in the world of going deer hunting with Mike. He had been helping with the new deer blind that was being built by my ever-so-talented husband, in the garage, for two nights, with all the doors closed, and sawdust flying everywhere. Not a good combination for one Drew Bolles with asthma. Mix that with just a plain ol' virus and what do you get? Let's see...you get a fever of about 101, increased strength of Advair, add nasal spray, singulair, albuterol, zyrtec, and then to top it all off, steroids and an antibiotic. Wow. (Need a breath.) Fast forward 10 days later, and Drew is doing much better and not coughing like he was. Thank you Lord! It just breaks my heart to see him suffer like that when these things hit...but I am very thankful for Dr. DeTorres and his staff at Shoreline Allergy. They are great at what they do!

Hmmmm, what else am I thankful for? My Mike. My Drew. My Andie. My family. My friends. My job. My life. There is so much to be thankful for. I love this time of year when I can really reflect on what's important and how fortunate I am to have this amazing life that I have and everybody that's in it. If you're reading this - THANK YOU for being part of my happy life!!

My good friend Kris had the big 4-0 last week. Jodi and I planned, along with the help of Don and Connie, (and pulled off!!) a surprise party for her last Saturday. She was just expecting to spend a nice evening at Keith and Jodi's w/Mike and I for a bit of relaxing fun times between friends. Little did she know what we, along with about 20 other people, were at her house waiting for her to arrive. It was a very fun night with friends - and yes, we did the floor party too! Wouldn't have been a party w/o the floor party - right girls????

Looks like we'll be getting Christmas decorations out tomorrow. Andie has been nagging me all week to get started on the house!!! I told her before I would get one single decoration out, we had to do some major cleaning. I like to think that I keep my house pretty clean...but I must admit, it's been tough with being back in school. I know...no excuses, right? But man, I'm telling you, it's tough! With helping the kids everyday with their homework, dinners, everyday mom stuff, cooking, etc., cleaning has become tougher and tougher. BUT. We got into it and it feels soooo much better in here! So I told her that tomorrow morning, we would start with the village. I'll post pictures - I promise! I know I'm not that good at posting pics, but hopefully Santa will be good to me this year :o). But I will. Get pics posted of my village. It's one of my favorite parts of Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your dinner and families and everything else wonderful that goes along with this holiday.

Love Friday :o)

Ok...Ava's got H1N1 it looks like - keep them all in your prayers so that everybody else doesn't get it!! Shani just took her for an x-ray because her fever has been so high since last night (around 103-ish), and she's been saying all day that her chest hurts. Good indication of pneumonia...but the x-ray showed only a little shading in her lower right lung, which could mean that it isn't full fledged pneumonia yet, so hopefully getting her started on antibiotics right away will help keep it that way. My poor new five year old goddaughter! Breaks my heart that she's not feeling well, Josh too. :o(

So we had conferences this week...and do I just have to say how proud as a mom I am of my two munchkins! Drew is currently carrying a 4.0 GPA and adjusting remarkably well to middle school. Way to go Drewcifer Jenoble!

Miss Andie Makae is doing outstanding as well. Even though she's missing two worksheets in math, her grade is still an A...and Mr. Knowles is letting her turn them in still. So she has the pleasure of competing this assignment twice. How lucky for her! Thanks for Mr. K for his flexibility! She claims to have completed them, but they've somehow been misplaced. Hey - it can happen! So other than that little hiccup, she's doing well also. Mrs. Dorr said she's going to start really pushing Andie with her writing. Fine by me - Andie's pretty creative and Mrs. Dorr apparently sees quite a bit of potential there, so go for it as I told her!! Stretch her abilities!

Great job Drew & Andie :o) Mom and Dad are proud of you.

Indoor soccer is well under way at this point. I'll try and remember to take the camera to tomorrow's game so I can post some pictures. All the kids have such a blast playing, and I think all the parents of the W.L. MasterTag Maniacs (boys' team) have just as much {if not more} fun that the boys playing!!

I'll post more when I've got the photos to share. Have a great Friday...it's easily my favorite day of the week! And tonight we've got a great fire in the fireplace and are chillin' at home together. Doesn't get any better than this!

Can I just say that it's been forever since I've blogged?? My goodness how time flies! Much has happened since my last blog, on October 9th...let's see, I've celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary and received a most beautiful diamond necklace from my amazing husband! I've finished up with my first class since returning to finish my college degree, started my second class. Been to Las Vegas for the first time, and gotten Mike and Andie back to healthy status, as they both had the crud...thankfully not the H1N1. But many prayers to everybody that does have the nasty H1N1 virus and many thanks that we've not been plagued with it. Can you just imagine how nasty that will be if Drew gets that, on top of having asthma?? Goodness.

Ok...so let me go back a bit to my list from above. Las Vegas. What an interesting place!!! It was really neat to see for the first time, and we traveled with great company!! Thanks to the Rake Families - Ron & Carol, Don & Kris, and Todd & Kim for a great time! While there, we visited the Hoover Dam. What a neat place! Check out the pics...

Oh my word is that a llloooonnnggg ways up! My big strong brave man is afraid of heights and not afraid to say so!!! Yep, he struggled with looking out over the dam while we were there, but did it anyhow! The photo of us together almost didn't happen. I had asked Mike to turn around and back into the groove so he wouldn't have to look down. But I really wanted a picture of us with the gorgeous background. We had to be ready for the camera as soon as he put it up there. Snapped the picture. And he was gone. But at least we got the photo!

We're still having {fun} with outdoor soccer. I hesitate to use that word because of the awful fall weather we've had this year! But Drew's team played in their third tournament game tonight and won 3-0, so we advance to the championship game, which will be played at 9:15 a.m. this Saturday. You know, cause who needs to sleep in on a Saturday??? But this should be an exciting game because it's for first place! He also has an indoor game this Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., then Andie begins her indoor season Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Oooohhhh, then fun! It's Halloween!! Drew will be dressing up as a nerd this year, and Miss Andie will be a MSU fan...didn't go over too well with her dad!!! We will be doing the annual tradition of tacos before trick-or-treating with my family. Andie has decided not to go t-or-t again this year so she can stay and hand out candy to everyone with my mom and I. I guess my sugar-nazi ways have finally started to rub off??? good :o). For all of you who will be trick-or-treating...be safe and have fun!

Sorry if I seem to be jumping around tonight....I've got so many thoughts running through my small brain tonight and am trying to get them all down. Oh, and in addition to everything we've got the pleasure of having Louie visit this weekend too. Gonna be a crazy household this weekend, but like I said before, it's who we are and we love our busy lives!! As long as we spend it with those we love and have fun, what else do we need, right??

For You Jodi!!

So here it is...The 'W' Retainer...I don't think it's the best photo - but it's the best I've got considering my camera situation, which is my new phone. I'm just very thankful that it takes pictures and I can show you this. The bottom one is just like it, but without the 'W'.

Oh, and in response to Andie's 'sweater gloves' they are pretty cool, I agree, and she loves having them! Her response to me about them was, "Well at least now I can still wear short sleeves and be warm at the same time!" Hey...when she's got a point, how can I argue???

Still - Go Yankees! They won again tonight :o) yay!

Tigers? Whatever.

GO YANKEES!!!!

Oh The Pressure...

I just wish the Tigers would get some hits and build a cushion!!!! It's the bottom of the 7th inning, one out, one on base...Zach Miner is pitching and seems to be holding it together somewhat. Oh how I want to be there!!! Ok. Never mind. Twins just hit a two run home run, which put them up by one run. Snap. Now I'm going to be a bit snarky for the rest of the evening.

BUT. At least we're all home together for an evening without any sports, school, or other activities that we have to attend tonight. There's just nothing better than spending time together watching baseball, you know??

Does anyone remember when we had our Indian Summer? Cause I sure don't. Oh wait, maybe it was from June through August. That's right. We never really had summer, just skipped right over it and went right to fall.

Have a great night and root for the Tigers!!!!!

Sweatshirts!!!

Holy cow...did fall arrive with a vengeance! Cowboy needed his sweatshirt this week, as did the rest of us! Last week we still had summer weather and all at once it changed. I talked with Erica on Monday and told her it was 50 and raining and windy and do you know what her response to me was?? I can't remember her exact words, nor should I type it exactly as she said, but she said it was 106 degrees in Phoenix that day. 106!!!!! Now I'm not exactly a big fan of 50, rain and windy conditions, but I'd rather have that than 106. Geeeeeezzzz! Want to know how completely unprepared I was for the fall season?? Drew and Andie don't even have fall jackets! Guess what we'll be doing this weekend?

Check out these pictures - Andie just looked exceptionally cute on this day before school, so I had to take a pic. And the one of Drew is the day he got his braces off. Look at that puuuurrrrddddyyyy smile! He now has his retainers, which are really cool. Half is red, the other half is black, and it has a white W in the middle. Go Vikings! (That one is for you Shani!)

So we just got done grilling steaks for dinner - complete with marinade made by Drew. Yum! We'll be having steak again on Sunday at Mike's parents as we celebrate his Dad's birthday (which is today). So after Drew's two baseball games Sunday afternoon, we'll be heading over there. I need to make gluten free lemon bars for dessert and boy are they GOOD! The gluten free part is the crust...instead of using flour and oil, I use gluten free graham crackers. They're delicious.

Let's see...what else is going on? Oh yes. My cousin Mashawn is getting married tomorrow. Congrats to her and Brian!!! If anybody deserve some happiness - it's definitely Mashawn. She has endured her share of trials and tribulations, so we wish her nothing but the best and a lifetime of happiness! Love you Mashawn :o)

I received my new shoes this week - black casual Puma's. Wow are they comfy! I was going to take a picture of them earlier today so I could show you, but I was busy busy busy and just flat ran out of time. They're now tucked neatly away in their box...so the photo will have to wait.

This next week brings Fire Prevention Week - which means fire truck rides on Wednesday at Montague Fire Station. Best part? They're FREE! That, and my Dad will be there. Need I say more? Drew will be in heaven hanging out with his Papa, and seeing all the trucks. I'd love to be there with my family, but I'll be busy running a 5k for school. Yipeeeeee.

Big game tomorrow afternoon! U of M vs. MSU. Go Blue! Have fun whoever you decide to cheer for!