So far, this is our itinerary. Everyone is invited to do all of it (please, join us for FHE and at The Fly Trap!) or just the major things. I just want to spend as much time as we can together--because we're all so stinkin' fun to be around!

Tentative Thanksgiving Itinerary:

Sunday night- Kari and Jana, and their respective families, arrive in town, dinner at Hillary's (time to be determined)
Monday: chill out all day, FHE (put on by the Hairs), Kari and Eric go on a hot date
Tuesday: lunch or dinner at The Fly Trap in Ferndale (featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!)
Wednesday: spend day at Bronners/Frankenmuth, family pictures in evening
Thursday: Turkey Bowl, Thanksgiving, Book Club/Block making and painting
Friday: Black Friday shopping

I spoke with Mom and she didn't say that this wouldn't work for her, so I assume it's pretty ok. I still have to speak with Wendy and see when we can come see her.

Kurt, would you be able to cut those blocks for me? Should I ask Charlie? Do I have to buy the wood?

As for Black Friday... Jason wants to buy a laptop and BestBuy apparently has the best buy. Ha! Anyhow, each store only is going to carry 10 of them. We are newbies at this, how early do you think we'd have to be there to snatch one up? Get in line at midnight? Ugh, it will be soooo cold. Just wondering what you seasoned Black Fridayers thought.

I really can't wait to come. I am excited for Addie to play with Harvey and Noah and Hillary's girls. I am excited to play Carcassonne. I am excited to sing with the piano. I am excited to have everyone hold Macie and tell me that she's cute (yes, you MUST do that). I am excited for the holidays with all of you!!!

When will we do it all?

I thought I would list all of the things that have been talked about doing while everyone is here for Thanksgiving, because I'm wondering what kind of a time table we'll need to do it all. Kari wants to go to Bronners and Friday morning shopping. Jana wants to go to a diner in Ferndale. We are going to have pictures taken on Wednesday evening here at the house. We need to find a time to have our book club discussion. The Hicks are doing the turkey bowl Thursday morning. We need to plan a time to make the blocks. And of course, there is the Thanksgiving day meal, which I would like to have everyone make a dish for. Hillary called last night and volunteered to make the rolls. Dad will do the turkey and gravy, I'll do the pies, and that leaves potatoes (mashed and sweet potato), some kind of vegetable dish, and the traditional (for Mom) cheese whiz filled celery. Stuffing comes out of a box, and anyone can do that. I think we can go to Bronners and the diner sometime between Monday and Wednesday since not everyone needs to do those things. But we still need a day for doing the blocks and book club. We could do the two things at the same time (talk about the book while we do the blocks), that would save time. I thought it would be easier to figure these things out here, in one place, rather than trading emails back and forth.

How is Harvey?

Because of various stupid situations, Noah has not and will probably not recieve the H1N1 vaccine before we come.  But the nurse at the doctor's office told me that if Harvey is better when we get there then he is not contagious anymore.  So my question is, is Harvey better or almost better?

H1N1 in the House

Looks like Harvey might have come down with the H1N1 flu. He was pretty sick yesterday and last night. He spent most of the evening vomiting and wouldn't take any fluids till this morning. He seems to be feeling somewhat better today but he's still not taking in a lot of fluids and he isn't eating much at all. His fever is down at least and he hasn't thrown up since bedtime last night. Our doctor called in a Tami-flu prescription for him. He couldn't keep the first dose down but we gave him another dose this morning. We're hoping that the meds will help us get through this a little easier. Harvey has never really been this miserably sick. We're going to be hanging out at the house for the next couple days. The doctor said to plan on 5 to 7 days out of daycare (and work for me) before he's healthy enough to go back. Usually when I stay home with him I can get a couple hours of work done each day but right now he requires full time attention and cuddles.

Hope everyone else is staying healthy.

What will YOU be doing in 2014?

I know like that sound like far away, but what will you be doing in 5 years from now?  I can tell you what we will be doing...attending Eric's graduation from medical school!!!!  That's right, my man got into medical school starting next fall.  I am incredibly proud of him and am excited to finally know what we will be doing for the next...well, until we die I guess.  Congrats babe!  You've worked hard for this.

What the Hairs have been doing

Our family walked in the annual "Walk for Sight" that was partially put on by Jason's school. Here we are, all five in our family. Jason, me, Addie, Macie and Stroller. Aren't we a nice looking bunch? (Oh yeah, and I'm wearing a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear in a while!)
We have been spending a lot of time outdoors. This is what each of us did at the park the other day.
We had our first "sleepover" in nearly 2 years. We take our mattress out into the living room and watch movies until we fall asleep. It was fun to do it with the girls, but very squishy!
And, finally, here we are for Halloween. I made Addie's cat costume (tail, headband, cat bracelets) and Macie's duck costume is always a hit. We had fun at the ward Halloween party, nand trick or treating the next day. We've done Halloween at our friend's house each year we've been here, and their tradition is to have Weeny Stew (basically broth, hot dogs, onions, and potatoes). It's not the greatest in the world, but a funny tradition. We may pick it up.

F.Y.I.

Just thought I'd update you with the newest happening in our family. I was just called to serve as the young women's first counselor. I've served in young women before, but never really felt comfortable there. I still am not totally comfortable with it yet, but know that it will be good for me. I'm looking forward to it and hope to do a good job. I'm just glad that Lexi and I get along pretty well so that by me being in young women won't cause too much conflict for her.

Charlie finished his class last week. He got an A. Wrestling starts tomorrow. I'm going to be a single mom again for the next few months. I'm glad he gets to do something he loves, but not glad for me and all the alone time I'll have:(.

Everyone else is doing well. We all enjoyed Halloween and trick-or-treating. Although we didn't last very long because it was cold. My kids started to complain and wanted to go home, so we did after only about an hour. I wasn't too upset, but couldn't believe that my kids gave up so easily, especially Jaxson and his stomach.

I hope Heather and Harvey are feeling better. We missed seeing you guys. But we'll be seeing you at Thanksgiving, at the very least. Yeah for holidays!

Grandma

I don't know which will be quicker getting the message out email or blog (I probably should just call everyone -- and may end up doing it anyway).

Grandma went to the hospital for a blockage in her bowel. She needed surgery today and Trish said the doctor said it went fine but the next 24 hours are critical. Because of her age, if she has complications, they will occur within the next 24 hours; if she survives the next 24 hours, she should be okay.

Trish is beginning her fast this week right now and suggested any of us who wanted to could as well. She has contacted my siblings and suggested to them the same.

Your faith and prayers will be appreciated; no matter what you choose to do.

Love you all.

The saga is complete

Well, the saga has finally been completed. The electrician came and completed the last of his work; the general contractor brought over his handyman who completed the rest of their work; and Mom and I added the last touches (shower rod and curtain, towel bar and towels, mirror, toilet paper holder, etc.). Our bathroom in the basement is now ready for occupancy. Enjoy!!

Here are the final pictures to give you an idea of what to expect.

Hillary's children

Here are a couple of the fun things with did with Hillary's children while they were here (okay, one of the fun things). We really enjoyed hosting them for the evening. They probably stayed up too late, however.

Halloween party

We hosted our Halloween party this passed weekend. I'm hoping to make it an annual affair. It was lots of fun and here are some pictures from it.


We had more people come this year than last year. I think this helped it to be more fun.

Charlie was a monk and I was a Greek goddess. I wanted Charlie to stuff his tummy, but he didn't think that was such a good idea. He did wear the balding/circle of hair wig most of the night though. What a good sport he is! Heather came as a geologist. Kurt wanted to be dental floss, but didn't have time to make his costume. Maybe next year.

This is the brain and fingers I made for eating.

These are the eye balls I made to eat. I think they turned out pretty good.
I have to give a special thanks to Mom and Dad for taking my kids that night. That was such a nice help for me. Thanks Mom and Dad! You're the greatest!

Yeah Jack-o-lanterns!

Last night we carved pumpkins. This is what we got...




This is Charlie's pumpkin. The side of it had rotted so he cut it out and made it look like a wide-open mouth. All the pumpkins, but Chelsea's, came from our garden. The frost came too early for some of them to ripen up, but they carve just as well.

This is a silly picture. Jaxson had the bright idea to put one of my knee highs on his head and Chelsea decided it was funny enough to follow suit. I don't know where Jaxson came up with the idea in the first place, but they all got a huge kick out of it.

New family pictures

We had pictures taken this weekend with Harvey and his cousin, Oliver. You can check them out here. I can't believe Harvey is 2 already. We got his hair cut and he looks like a real little boy now rather than my baby.

Run, Jason, run!

Jason and some of his friends have been training for a half marathon. The race will be December 6th to support St. Judes. He started the actual running schedule about 2 months ago and this morning he ran 10 MILES! I'm proud of him and wanted to share...he made it to the double digits!

Late additions

I forgot to add a couple of pictures from today. You can see the toilet and part of the vanity and almost see the new shower head.

Bathroom update

We have gotten to a point that we thought we would post the progress of the bathroom so far. It is going to be great! The plumber came this morning and hooked up everything and completed all the plumbing work. Now the painter needs to come and paint and then whatever finish works needs to be completed and then it's done. Here are the pictures; Mom's been great at keeping up-to-date with the progress.








Notice we've added a heat vent to heat the bathroom from the basement cold. We also added a tile stripe in the shower (thanks to Hillary for the suggestion) -- it looks great! We hope to post the finish picture sometime next week. We think you'll like the completed project.

Post

Now, on with the updates. The kids are doing well in school. We just went to their Fall Festivals celebration that the PTO sponsors. It was lots of fun and it was good to see the kids hanging out with friends. I'm glad that they've been able to pretty easily make new friends. Lexi and I volunteered our time face painting. She loves art and especially drawing so I was glad that she said she would help. She is the only one of my kids that doesn't really like her new school. She seems to be doing O.K., she would just really prefer to go back to the charter school. I can understand where she is coming from. The kids at the charter school were more like her than they are now. But in the long run, it will be better for her to stay in school in this area so she can make friends to go into high school with rather than having to make new ones while starting high school. We've started piano again too. Lexi is doing so well. Makayla and Chelsea are taking lessons too. It's Chelsea's first time and Makayla started in Wisconsin, but hasn't had lessons since. They are all happy to play. Merrit was going to have lessons but has since changed his mind. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm not going to make him play if he doesn't want to.

Charlie is doing well in his class. He is almost finished for this semester. He's going to take at least the next one off, maybe the next two so he can focus on wrestling. There really is no way that he'll be able to do both. I'm doing pretty well in my classes even though I'm feeling swamped. My computers class will be finished in a week. That makes me happy. Then I'll only have three classes to worry about. I'm already looking forward to the end of this semester. Too bad it's so far away.

Church is still church. We are going to be having some major changes soon with callings. The young women's leader is moving next weekend. With that move, that calling will need to be filled and in our ward when you fill a calling like that it means shuffling every other auxillary around, perhaps even some of the priesthood calling, to accomplish that calling-filling. So I'm waiting to see what the bishopbric decides, since Charlie isn't at liberty to tell me anything.

The house work is on hold for the time being. We probably won't do anything else, major, until next summer. I'm happy with how it is for now. I'm happy to be finished working on it for now too.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hope to hear from you soon!

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.