Zoo

Oliver came down to visit us this weekend, along with Jacob, Trish, and Dave. We spent today at the zoo, and had a great time, despite the colder temperatures. Here are some shots.


Starting out, in the wagon Heather picked up at a Mom 2 Mom sale yesterday. It worked out great.


Some cool butterflies.


This was a little room off of the butterfly room that had butterfly cocoons.


A snake statue in the reptile house.


You'll want to look at the bigger picture for this one. On the far left laying down is the world's largest rodent, a capybara. On the far right is a bunch of geese for size comparison. Yes, it's the size of a person.


Giant anteaters!


Here's Heather deliberately disobeying a sign.


I promise the boys were having fun.


A prarie dog.


Harvey's imitation of a prarie dog.


The family animal!


Riding the train back to the front.


Going through a tunnel on the train.


Saying goodbye in the parking lot.

There are a few more pictures on flickr that I didn't put in the post here. Check them out.

Thank You For the Pictures

Thank you for posting the apple pictures. You guys are pretty good photographers. Here is an up date on the bathroom; the plumbing is all roughed in and the electrical is all in place. Hanging the drywall is the next step. They couldn't get the shower surround down the stairs, so they're going to have to tile the shower. Actually, I'm kind of glad, it will look a little bit more custom made than it would've with the surround, even though it won't be very expensive tile.

Advent Calendar for all!

Last year we made our own puppets for the nativity puppet show. What are the chances that this year we can all make the same Christmas advent calendar that you have, Mom? It could be this year's annual craft. I realize the ornaments may be expensive, but I'd be happy to pay for the materials. I just haven't been able to find one I like as much as yours. Let me know what y'all think.

Enjoy!

From here down are pictures from Erwin's.And from here down is another cider mill (starts with a P) that Mom took us to earlier in the week.

By Popular Demand - Apple Picking Pictures!

Here are our Apple Picking Pictures.


This is a Cortland apple. I decided it was the single most beautiful apple in the whole orchard. Too bad it was mealy.

And here are pictures of Harvey, Simon (Joe West's son), and me making chocolate chip cookies.


A fun new autumn activity

Where are the pictures of the apple picking?

All of you who took pictures of the apple picking, how about posting a few pictures? It was so fun to have Kari and all of you here for the big event. They have started working on the bathroom in the basement and yesterday they jack hammered the floor to put in the plumbing. Now I have piles of dirt in my basement and dust everywhere. We'll keep you informed as to how it goes.

New Bed!

Besides the recent developments of being able to count from one to nine, and being able to sing most of the alphabet song, Harvey has taken another big step. Last night we took down his crib and set up his toddler bed!


Heather caught this great picture when he was climbing down. It's just the right height for him.


Pretending to sleep. His head is actually at the foot of the bed here.


Here he is rolling around in it.


And I couldn't resist sneaking in after he fell asleep to get a picture of his first night in his new bed. Yes, this is taken with a flash. We don't make him sleep with a light on.

He did pretty well. He cried a couple times, once for a tissue (he has a runny nose), and the other time Heather said he was standing in the middle of the room crying. We think maybe he was just a little thrown off by the new setup. Other than that, he slept remarkably well and didn't seem to get out of bed to play or anything. This morning he was even waiting for me to come get him, sitting in the corner of the bed like he did in his crib.

Christmas Consensus

What was the consensus on Christmas?

cute hat. cute girl. 'nuf said.

I meant to post this a long time ago. Mom made this hate for Adelyn and it's adorable. I thought everyone should see it and be proud that our mother is so crafty. She also made one for Macie, but it's still pretty big. I'm sort of trying to make one, but I doubt it will be this cute. I'm sure Kari's will be fantastic, too!

Family Pictures

I sent you all a note about family pictures at Thanksgiving suggesting that the adults wear sweatshirts from one of the colleges that they have attended. I should have put the info here, because Hillary wants some calcification and we can vote on it better here. Let's take a vote as to whether we should wear sweatshirts or t shirts for the picture. My vote is for sweatshirts, I think they will look better than a t shirt. Also it will be in November after all. Then we can just wear jeans with it. Now it's your turn to weigh in on this important matter.

No surgery

As a general notification-and for those of you who've I've talked to about this-I am NOT going to be having jaw surgery. Not now, and probably not ever. If you look at the picture to your right, you will notice that there is a large yellow nerve coming out from what seems to be the ear. The incision for the surgery to correct my jaw problem (problem=no cartilage between my left jaw bones) would be made right by the ear and thus right by the nerve. And if you go down to the second picture...

...you can see why this is one of the riskiest surgeries to have. All of those nerves control your face in one way or another. The yellow and orange ones control motion and the green and blue ones have to do with senses. And I am sure that there are other smaller ones that are not pictured. I visited with an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) doctor yesterday and he told me that the only people really qualified to do this surgery are those doctors that specialize in them. He told me not to trust this surgery to anyone else-because of the risk. Any nick or mess up could leave me paralyzed on the left side of my face.

So I am saying, "no thank you" to that and we will just figure something out. The pain is bad, but only sometimes, and it does seem to be relieved using anti-inflammatory pain killers like Aleve, Motrin and Advil. He also told me I can try hot and cold compresses, jaw stretches (which he did on me while I was there and that is something else I will say "no thank you" to), and if it gets really bad, they can inject the area with a pain killer to numb it-but it would only be temporary and the injection itself would hurt.

What does this mean for my head and my meds? Well, we are still discussing our options, but since I can't get rid of the jaw pain like my brain doctor wanted before we decreased the meds, we might just do the easing off of meds ourselves and see how it goes. Don't worry, I'm not stupid and if I go off of them and see an adverse difference, I will go right back on. My health is number one and I know that. I had a blessing a couple of nights ago and I know that this trial will soon be over ("soon" being the Lord's term, so we'll see how long it really is since His timing is different from ours). So my new mantra is: "Hold on they way...Fear not...,for God shall be with you forever and ever" (D&C 122:9).

New entry way -- new bathroom

Well, after a couple of weeks of work, not steady of course, the entry way is at last complete (or at least 96.75% complete). I still need to put the door back on the coat closet and wash one tile that I didn't get the grout sealer off; but other than that, it is complete. I didn't think to take pictures for a before and after but you've all seen the ugly tile that was there before. I do have a middle picture (after I did the grout) and the after picture. I'm sure you'll love it as much as we do (please don't read any pride into that comment -- although I'm sure it's there). Any way, here they are.



Also, another piece of good news. After so many complaints about the lack of bathroom space in the house, we have decided to have the downstairs bathroom remodeled and put in a real toilet, real shower, and new vanity and lighting. We're hoping it will make staying here much more comfortable when we have a full house. I have taken a picture of the bathroom as it stands today so that you can remember what a wonderful place it was (I'm sure some of you have fond memories of it.) It is supposed to be completed before Thanksgiving but we can't have it started until after we return from Utah. You'll be impressed with how it turns out.

Balloon sighting

So we're sitting at dinner last night and Mom heard this blow-torch-like sound and ran outside to see what it was. It was a hot-air balloon right over Mollie's house. It was very close and looked like it was coming down in Taylor's backyard. I think it made it over into the field by Theiser John Deere but we don't know. At any rate, I took three pictures of it and thought you might enjoy them. Isn't Michigan fun!!

Thank You

Thank you Hillary and Kurt, all of those pictures were great! I should complain more often.

Funny spoof

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMzv_rnU5l0

Charlie and I were watching the news the other day and they spotlighted a guy who makes literal music videos. He has some really funny ones. This is a spoof he also did of the product called the "Snuggie." I thought it was so funny I just had to share it.