Halloween.....yay

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

We hope everyone has a safe and fun night!

Mixing it up

You gotta love Michigan weather! Throughout the day yesterday I witnessed a clear blue sky, rain, hail, a rainbow and even about 10 minutes of snow. I was at work and did a lot of driving so it was nice to have something different to look at every 10 minutes.

Deep fried turkey.......YUM!

Aunt Katie and Micah...I think this picture is blury because Jason had turkey grease on his fingers and got it on the lens.

Stephen and a beer.....they just go together.

A demolished turkey.

Maximo reading Lindsey a book.

Aaron and Melissa being their goofy selves.

We decided this week we were going to have some friends over and deep fry a turkey. So Saturday we did just that. It was delicious and a good time. God food and good friends makes for a great day!

Fire department fun

Max was having a blast "driving" the truck

A fireman's hat, badge and a cookie.........life is good!

And of course, Micah just hangs out and takes it all in.

we went Yesterday to the Millbrook Rolland Fire Department open house. We work with the fire chief there and thought it would be nice to show our support and check out their new station. Max had tons of fun exploring the trucks and eating cookies. We didn't stay long but I'm glad we were able to go.

Fall Fun

We raked leaves and had a riot jumping and playing in them. I love fall and am so sad its almost over.

Its a girl!

Congrats Mike and Jessica Chapman on the birth of your baby girl Zola! We are so happy for you and can't wait to meet her.

JASON IS GOING TO JAIL

Yup, its true. Jason has somehow managed to stay out of jail his entire life but the law has cought up with him and on November 6, 2008 he will get thrown in the slammer...........for charity. He needs your help to get him out. He has to raise $1,600 for MDA to get out of Jail and so far he has $50. If you guys are feeling generous, click the link and save Jason from staying in jail all day and from becoming someone's boyfriend.
https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/26913/Participant/jmacdonald/Default.aspx

Polls

A new AP poll came out today of likely voters and it showed that Obama and McCain are neck and neck. I am so happy that McCain is still in this race....no matter what the press has to say about it. I'm a big fat republican and I say hurray McCain.........go get em!

Our poll ended today and it shows that over half of you think its okay to grow Max's hair out. I am very happy about this. Now I just have to convince my husband that its a good idea. I think all I have to do is remind him of what its like to take Max to the barber. You would think that he is getting tortured in that barber chair. The tears flow like rain and he even shakes. Its so hard to watch him go through this but at the same time a little funny because he is so ridiculous about whole thing. When do they outgrow this? Anyone have any insight about this? I think I will let his hair grow until that time has come.

Dad update

Just a quick updates on our dads. Don had another Cath done but no more stents placed. Everything looked good so they are changing his medication to see if that helps him. So good news there.
Dan had some complications with his surgery yesterday but is doing good now and on his way home from the U. We knew he would be okay when we got report that he came out of anaesthesia giving the nurses hell. So he will go in next week for another surgery and hopefully he and Don will both be done with hospitals for awhile.
Thanks for praying for the old grumps for us.

Dads

Apparently someone is running a special on heart procedures because Jason's step dad Don and his Dad Dan are probably both having work done tomorrow.

Don is on his way to Midland hospital because he is still having chest pain even though he just had a stent placed. It is likely that he will end up with another stent sometime in the next day or so. Hopefully this will solve his problem.

Dan is going down to Ann Arbor tomorrow to have some work done on his left carotid artery and then on Oct. 30Th he is having an abdominal aortic aneurysm fixed. Between the two of them they have us worried sick.

Keep them in your prayers for us.

Stubborn Don

So my father-in-law Don, whom I love dearly has been having chest pain for 2 months. He finally went to the ER this week and ended up with a stent and a couple days in the hospital. He may have to go back in a couple of weeks for more stents. Keep him in your prayers for us. Mostly pray he won't be so stubborn and a pain in Kathy's butt! Just kidding Don. We love you!

Metrosexual Max

Every morning Max insists on putting mousse in his hair, deodorant under his arms and aftershave on. Of course he is just copying us and we only pretend with the deodorant and aftershave but it is funny how paricular he is about these things. I guess its never to early to want to look ans smell good.

A Fall Football Game

My nephew is in there somewhere.
One of the best things about cool Fall days are wearing fun hats!

Yesterday we went to a great football game. It prabably wasn't as lively as the Central vs. Western game, but it was fun. We took the boys to my nephew's 8th grade game. Max was saying, "ooh football" the whole time and jumping around the bleachers like he owned the place. After the game we went out to eat with my sister and her family. It was great to visit and spend time with everyone. There's nothing better than football on an Autumn day.

Pretty in Pink

Yes, that is my son!

So at Jason's mom's house today Micah managed to have two blowout diapers and I of course only had one extra outfit for him to change into. Luckily, Kathy had some outfits from when Katie was a baby so Micah got to wear pink. He looked cute and ridiculous all at the same time. Kathy had too much fun dressing him up and Jason was horrified. Micah would of made a pretty girl.

You have a baby......in a bar.

Bye Norm and good luck! And yes, that is my son with no pants on in a bar...he definitely takes after his dad.
Max behind the bar.....practicing for future employement....hopefully to put himself through college.
Max sweeping the bar......learning on the job skills.
Micah passed out at the bar......he also takes after his dad.
these wewre glowing bracelets that Max had on his ears.

Our friend Norm, who we work with is moving to Arizona. There was a going away party for him at The Bird last night. The Bird was opened up just for the party so we decided it would be okay to bring the boys. Max was a hit. Everyone knows him because he's kind of the unofficial mascott at work but last night he really poured on the charm. He was running around like he owned the place. He was dancing, playing with balloons, eating everything in sight and just being a crazy man. All was well until he threw up all over the floor and Jason. I think it may have been the combination of pickles, chocolate milk and dancing that did it. We decided it was time to go after that.

Marilyn

Saturday night we went to a Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the Saginaw Art Museum. It was a very nice exhibit. The company we work for was the premier sponsor so we got to have a private evening with Marylin. It was fun to get dressed up and visit with fellow employees and community members. The only difficult thing about the evening was staying away from the chocolate fountain.

Beautiful Autumn

Fall is here and its so beautiful. I am always so glad I live in Michigan this time of year. I can't imagine living somewhere that doesn't get to experience season changes. Now ask me in a couple of months and I'll be singing a different tune. I will probably be saying something like, "why don't I live in Florida where it so warm and you don't have to get up 20 minutes early to scrape ice off your windshield."

Fun at Papa's Pumpkin Patch

This makes my tractor look soooo wimpy. I wonder if dad will buy me one of these?
I don't know why mom makes us do this stuff Micah but you might as well get used to it!
Yeah, You're right.
Proud owner of a pumpkin.
Kim and Cassie......so cute.

Saturday we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. It was fun watching Max run around. He got to take a hay ride and pick out his own pumpkin, he got to feed some fish, he got sit on a big tractors and he got to eat donuts. He passed out in the car when we were 2 seconds down the road on our way home.

It was a nice surprise to run into the Taits while we were there. Kim, Danny, Mary, Alden, Cassie and Linda were all there enjoying a warm Autumn day like us. We just love them. We also managed to get some pictures done while we were hanging out at the pumpkin patch. We had Jamie our day care lady/photographer meet us there and do some pictures. I think we got some cute ones......you know, between both boys screaming. I felt a little hoity toity when Danny Tait asked us if we came with our photographer and I answered, "why yes we did". It made me giggle.

It was a beautiful day and it was so nice to spend it outside with family and friends.

Still on about the tractor.

Pulling a lawn mower with a lawn mower
Fixing the lawn mower.
Chilling on the lawn mower.


Max still loves the lawn mower. Now if he would just learn to steer it.

Shrek

Max has a new found love for Shrek. This means we watch it like everyday. Lucky for us there are 3 Shrek movies so we get a little variety. Sometimes we have Shrek night. Max puts his Shrek PJ's on, uses his shrek tooth paste and then we watch Shrek. I wonder how long this phase will last?

The breast milk incident

So its really not easy or fun to pump at work. When you work on an ambulance its not like you get scheduled lunch breaks so I end up pumping when ever and where ever I get the chance. Yesterday I pumped in the hospital bathroom twice, in the back of the ambulance while we were going down the road once and at our station. Luckily I only work two days a week so its not so bad. I usually work with men and they are all pretty understanding and good about this. Yesterday I worked with Doug who has three kids and understands the hole pumping issue. However, when my breast milk storage bag leaked yesterday and about six ounces of breast milk leaked out of the storage bag, through the cooler pack and onto his coat I don't think he was very impressed. Doug is a very conservative, nice, easy going guy and didn't say anything but I could tell he was a bit horrified. So I apologized twenty times and then washed his coat for him. I not only felt like an idiot for getting breast milk all over the ambulance but I felt so mad because I had lost 6 ounces. I treat breast milk like its gold. Its hard work getting your freezer packed full of milk and I actually get a little stressed when I see my supply depleting. its almost like I feel that I could not possible feed my baby if it runs out. like its the only breast milk on the planet and formula doesn't exist and if I don't replenish that supply Micah may starve to death. I know this sounds ridiculous but when I saw that I had lost all of that breast milk yesterday my heart sank. I was instantly thinking that I had used 4 bags of milk out of the freezer and I was only going to put two back in and that meant I would be short at some time in the future. A bit crazy I know. So the moral of the story is........double bag your breast milk.

A new baby yay!

Congrats to Katie and Rory, they are expecting a little bundle of Joy in April. We are so excited for them. We are really hoping they have a little boy so we can off load all of our goodies and because I just love little boys.

Its done

Its done and Jason survived.......I will spare you all the details.

Back to work

I go back to work tomorrow. I can't believe its time but it is. I am excited and dreading it all at the same time. I will only be working 2 days a week so I can't complain. It will be enough to get me out of the house and keep me sane but now too much to where I am missing out with the boys. We are so lucky to have an awesome daycare. I don't have to worry tomorrow when I drop Micah off. Max loves it there so much he never wants to leave when I pick him up. I am glad to say that dropping the boys off tomorrow won't be as dramatic as when I had to leave Max for the first time. I will just share this story with you because its pretty funny to me now.

On my first day back to work after I had Max I got up early and got dressed and ready to go. Max was sound asleep and Jason had gotten in the shower. This is when the melt down began. I was sitting on the bathroom floor sobbing my eyes out and begging Jason to let me stay home. If he would have let me, I would have called work and told them that I quit. He told me to give it a try and if I didn't feel better in couple days I could become a stay at home mom. I don't think I was physically capable of taking my baby to daycare and leaving him that day. Jason had to do it. I fought tears all day. When I got home from work that day, (the longest 12 hours of my life) and saw that Max was perfectly fine I realized it was going to be okay. It is still difficult for me to leave my kids for 12 hours but its good for them and good for me.

A new bed

These pictures don't do it justice, but this is our new bed with all the fixings.

We got a new bed this weekend. It was long overdue. The bed that we have had my mom gave us about 9 years ago and when she gave it to us it was about 6 years old. needless to say, it had seen better days. So we went to Sam's club to do a little shopping and ended up leaving with a new bed. It is great and we love it. What I also love is that because we upgraded from a full size bed to a queen, I had to buy all new bedding. I don't know about you, but I love new bedding. There is just something great about new sheets. I didn't stop there though. I got a new comforter too. I am so proud of myself because I got a great deal. I got a new comforter, pillows and curtains for under $200. I added up what it would have cost if it was not on sale and it would have been $600. Pretty good huh? The comforter is Vera Wang and I love her and I love my new bed. Now I just need a new master suite with cathedral ceilings, a walk in closet and a bathroom out of a magazine to go with my new bed.

Oh happy day!

I don't know if you can see it, but there is Maximo pee in this toilet.

Yay, Max finally peed in the toilet. He has been sitting on that thing forever without going but tonight he finally went. I am so proud of him. Lets see now if he continues to use that toilet.

Its cold!

Yes, the lawn must be mowed even when its cold.
Mom's got me looking like an Eskimo baby! by the way, don't look at mom in this picture....she looks horrible!
I love to swing!
" I love it when you call me big papa. Put your hands in the air like you a true player"

I attempted to take the boys outside for awhile yesterday but it was so cold and windy we had to come in. I guess thats Michigan, 70 degrees one day 50 the next. I keep forgetting that its October already and its suppose to be cold.

Buckets of fun

I don't even know what to say about this picture.

Happy birthday to Mary Lou and Michael Craig. We hope you have a great day!!!!!