Believe it or Not

The delay = my eyes did not want to look at he computer screen one more second last night and I turned it off at 9:45PM. I thought I would watch some tv, close my eyes for a few minutes and then pick the computer up later to blog. Well, I closed my eyes and woke up on the couch at 2AM and I didn't want to blog then.

I have spent my days listing on ebay. I have almost 100 items listed and already half have bids and will sell. I have tripled what I spent at the rummage sale last weekend.

The kids have been loving school. Ellie and Nick participated in 2 new research studies at Northwestern's cognitive learning lab. Nick is doing a math study and Ellie one that looks into learning styles.

Our garden is still flourishing - tomatoes turning red each day, still a few cucumbers coming and the peppers are finally able to be picked.

We will be heading up to Michigan this weekend...so I will post next Wednesday. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Busy, Productive Weekend

First week of school went well - kids both like it. Friday night we went with Mom, Dad and Tony to see Annie Jr. Claire was the mentor to Annie and we got to see Pearl, Tara, Uncle Mike and Aunt Karen, too. We stopped for dinner on the way out and found it was kids' night and there was a balloon artist at the restaurant making creations for the kids.

Saturday we were ping pongs. We hit a couple rummage sales and I had a huge haul at the one. I will be a very busy ebay lister after Labor day. We went to the Backlot Bash and hit the vendor expo for free swag. We did the craft at the library and checked out a couple new books. We came home to cool off and eat and then we went back to the bash. The kids got henna work done on their hands, danced for Radio Disney and we played bingo. We used our library coupons for free dinner at Noodle & Co and came home.

Today we hit a couple sales and goofed around here. Rob came home from his weekend in Michigan. We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. The kids had some extra time to play before we had dinner. It was a nice but long weekend. The heat was gross but the rain is nice. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

School is a GoGo

School started for Ellie on Monday and Nick on Tuesday. Nick was a bit nervous but really likes school. Today was the first day they were both at school all day. I kept checking the clock to see how much time I had left. I didn't do anything outstanding - just got to take the extra time to go through the racks at the thrift stores.

We are back from our summer hiatus and we began our Wednesday night dinners again. It was a hodge podge tonight. I cleaned the freezer out the other day and decided to use things up. We had veggie burgers, potato pancakes, applesauce, broccoli and cauliflower and berries. Mom made a Dr. Seuss pie for dessert - green banana cream.

We had Milliertime here on Monday night. It was great to have Kelly and Molly here. We miss Kelly and it was so fun to see Molly cruising around.

Not much else to share. I think I am going to try to get some ebay auctions going. I have a couple bins of fall clothes and Halloween costumes. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Busy, busy, busy end of the week. Thursday we woke up early and picked Jo up to take her downtown to jury duty. About the only thing open that early is Target so we went there to waste some time until other things opened. The advantage to hitting an inner city Target - they still have summer clearance and I was able to find a metal sprinkler (aka - not a crappy plastic one). We went to the Chicago History Museum - bonus, it was Illinois free day! The kids have never been and I think I was in 4th grade when I was last there. Nick loved the trains, Ellie liked seeing some of the things that she studied about in 3rd grade. We all liked the magic exhibit and the magician who entertained us with card tricks. The rain stopped and we were able to walk over to the zoo after we finished up lunch at the museum. We had just walked into the barn at the zoo when Jo called to tell us she was finished. We were able to sneak a peek at the piglets (only 2 months old) and some very loud cows. We also got to watch some of the planes practice for the air show. We picked Jo up and dropped her at Mom's and then we hit the road. We caught a matinee of Diary of a Wimpy Kid - cute movie.

Friday was a run around day. We hit Costco and Meijer in preparation of school lunches. We returned some things to Kohl's. We garage sale treasure hunted - found some clothes for Nick for next summer. We came home and the kids played until Rob came home. We had Culvers for dinner and then did a bit of shopping. We went to Menards and finally ordered our new screen door. We are changing things up and ordered it in black. We also got an estimate on the front door replacement - decisions to make still. We came home and decided to make s'mores outside and build a fire in the pit. It was a gorgeous night...I think we kept the pesky mosquitoes away with all the fire and smoke.

Saturday was another non-stop day. We headed downtown early in the morning. Ellie had her second fMRI at Northwestern. She did great and was an old pro this time around. We had lunch at the cafe before we left. We were all able to find something there and it was much more affordable than Water Tower. We walked to Water Tower and Ellie browsed through American Girl and Nick at the Lego store. We ran into a friend at the Lego store - funny, we were both away from home and it was just so random. We walked to the lake for the air show. We have passed it many times coming home from Michigan but have never attended up close. It was pretty cool. We walked and sat in a number of places but the best thing was having the Blue Angels fly right over us while we were at Navy Pier. We stopped into the Children's Museum for a little break before walking back. The kids enjoyed an ice cream treat while we finished watching the show. We stopped back at the Lego Store and picked up a small set for each of the kids. We had the best day but we were seriously exhausted by the evening.

Today we started the morning at church. We came home and got cleaning. The basement had every box out and open and in various stages of play. The dining room table was a mountain of things to be gone through. I still had boxes full of things to be gone through to put on the shelves in the back room. Motivation = last minute change and Millertime is here tomorrow. While I cleaned the table, Ellie cleaned her room, Nick and Rob worked on the upstairs bathroom. We discovered, by accident, that the hot whip was leaking. Rob had gone under the sink to de-gunk the pipe because drain cleaner wasn't working and low and behold - the towels under the sink were wet. Anyhow, Rob replaced the bad parts and installed a new faucet because that had some bad parts. He also installed a new spout int he tub because that was sticking. Flash forward 5 hours and the living room, dining room, back room and kitchen are clean. I got all the boxes put away on the shelves - looks great and I still have room. I do have one more box of crap - I got tried of putting things away and just emptied the table off into an empty box.

Ellie and I made some treats for the week - back to school bites (aka - zucchini bites) and blueberry muffins. We got many of the lunch packs put together - cookies, pretzels, gold fish packs for the week. We had a nice dinner together and then got the kids ready for bed. Ellie got her backpack ready for tomorrow and then we were off to bed. I'm excited for the kids to both be in school. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

I Guess it is Wednesday

I think I have a summer cold. I thought it might be allergies but claritin isn't helping. Aagghh.

We've been hanging at Mom and Dad's house this week. Kids have painted, played and blew bubbles like mad. Nick did a study at Northwestern this morning. We were supposed to go to the pool this afternoon but opted for the Exploritorium and park instead. We hit the pool with Rob in the evening.

I took the kids for their first eye exams and both did great - wonderful vision with no need for glasses. We found our missing library books and returned them. Finally got around to grocery shopping and re-stocking the fridge and pantry. We tried the pool last night but when we got there, the water was freezing and only the kids went in.

Kids have had some nice outdoor playtime. We put new training wheels on Nick's bike and he is able to really motor around now. We are driving Jo down to jury duty tomorrow - she has been serving all week. I think we might try to hit the history museum or children's museum - we will see what the weather brings. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy August

Vacation was fun but it is always great to come home. Especially since the weather really changed the last few days. We began at almost 100 degrees and almost saw the high 40s this past weekend. We had to hit up a Goodwill store to buy some long pants for the kids.

We began our vacation with an ER trip for Nick. The day we were leaving, we had a playdate with my old girlfriends, Dena and Laura (and her younger girls). We had lunch in Evanston and walked around and then went to the Exploritorium to let the kids play as we continued to catch up. Nick was running to catch up with the girls and he tripped and fell into a train table. He came to me crying and jumped on my lap before I could access the damages. When he finally lifted his head, I was alerted to the blood that was flowing from his ear. Laura is a nurse and after she looked at his ear said it probably would need stitches to seal it closed. I called our doctor and the nurse said to head to the ER. Nick was pretty much out of it. After a couple people looked at it and heard that we were headed for a beach vacation they decided to do the tissue glue instead of real stitches that way it was 7 days out of water instead of 14.

We got up to the cottage on Monday evening and took Nana up with us. The kids had an awesome time at the clubhouse for 2 weeks. Games, movies, crafts and the carnival. They each won ribbons for participating int he talent show - 3rd place tie. They also won for capture the flag. We were able to get to the beach almost everyday until the rain came in on Thursday.

Favorite summer things to do - bowling, mini-golf, go-cart racing and the blueberry fest parade were all done. We got some nice visits in with our friend Travis and Cindy and her kids. Dean and Lauren and the girls came up for the first weekend to meet Uncle Edwin. The clubhouse carnival was on the Friday night and all the kids ran a game and then got to play for the second half.

Unfortunately, the fruit crops have really suffered this summer and blueberries are sour and our favorite orchard isn't offering u-pick this year. Can't think of anything else - we had a nice vacation.

We came home and what better way to end a vacation than to do it similarly to the beginning. Nick was playing at our neighbors and came home crying and all tears. He finally got out that he tripped over their dog and fell - cheekbone and eye first - onto the edge on their furniture. Big black eye forming and bigger bump. We had family Sunday at Mom and Dad's house. Mom made a Mexican inspired menu - good eats and so nice not to have to cook. It was nice to visit with the GGs and see how Tony and Matteo have grown in 2 weeks - TeTe is crawling! Mom and Dad offered to keep the kids for an overnight, too. Rob and I came home and watched the closing ceremony which was like a dance party of my youth. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree