A New Trick

Sarah has learned how to climb out of the crib.

I guess my illusions of her staying in there until she was three are long gone. Not that I really expected her to be in the crib when she turned three but I was hoping she would make it until at least Christmas. So now I really have to clean her room up since it has become a catch all after the room switch. It was something I needed to do anyway but now I will have to do it. She will eventually move in with Grace but for now she will stay where she is while she learns to sleep in a big girl bed. The stairs are less steep and easier for her to navigate on that side of the house.

I will take some pictures and show ya all the new set up. Keep us in your prayers, I'm gonna need all the help I can get!

Smallville -- Season 3

Thanks to friends of ours, Josh and Emily Cook, we have been watching Smallville. They are fans and have the first 5 or 6 seasons on DVD. We finished with the first two seasons, 22 episodes each, in about a week. We would watch a few at lunch and then a few at night once the kids went to sleep. Josh dropped off seasons 3 & 4 today. I can't wait to get started.

Smallville, in case you didn't know, is a show that chronicles the teenage life of Clark Kent, aka Superman. It has all the regular characters from the comics and movies. John Schnieder, Bo Duke, plays Jonathan Kent. Tom Welling is Clark. Two very nice reasons to watch the show!! Other regulars are Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Martha Kent. Season 4 will introduce Lois Lane! Smallville is in its 7th season on the CW channel, which we don't get-we didn't even get it when we had the dish!! Guess I will just have to watch the DVD when it comes out next fall. It is working so far.

Holy Bats, Batman!! Part 3

We are finally done. Yes, after a whole month we have finally finished our series of Rabies Shots. We went in today after violin lessons. For a celebration we had McDonald's with shakes too. We also sang Happy Birthday to Daniel who will celebrate his 4th bday in a little over a week. We will be at Grandma Adams' next weekend to visit with Uncle Scott and Aunt Nora.

So in case you were wondering here is our shot tally. This is the total for the whole series. You get shots on Day 0, 3,7,14 &28. Day 0 is the hRIG and 1 vaccine. The rest are just the vaccine.

Doug = 11
Robyn = 10
Grace = 7
Nathan =7
Jacob = 7
Daniel = 6
Sarah =6

Doug and I each got more of the hRIG (human rabies immune globulin) than the kids since it goes by weight. Grace, Nathan and Jacob got 2 of the hRIG and 5 vaccines and Daniel and Sarah each got 1 hRIG and 5 vaccine. The kids got all of theirs in their thighs. Doug and I got the hRIGs in our lower back/upper bottom area and the vaccines in our arm. And in there, because I didn't know we would be getting shots all month, I scheduled well visits for the kids and G,N&J all needed Chicken Pox boosters. They weren't too happy with me for that one. Thankfully this one went in their arm not their leg.

But we are finally finished. Now the kids can work in a field that deals frequently with rabid animals and they won't need to go through all of this. And if any one ever gets bit again by a rabid animal, all they will need is two booster shots, which is a lot better than what they had to do this time. So I am now an expert on Rabies. Call me if you get bit or think you are bit by a bat. I will probably have the answer to just about any question you might have. :-) I will let you know how the insurance end turns out. We haven't gotten a single bill yet. I have no doubt that they are coming though, and soon!!

FYI the "Bat Guy" has finished on the house too. He didn't capture any bats but he did seal up the holes they were using and evicted a squirrel. He also put down enough poison in the attic and basement, where none of us ever go, to kill a horse!!! Hopefully the bat problem has been taken care of!!!! For Good!

Maybe next time

Gracie didn't get the part. Her principal called today to let us know. She said they had a really hard time deciding on which girl to pick. She did a great job. They said they all could have done the part.

We will keep trying though. There is a children's theater in town and we are going to try out for that in November. They are doing "Honk!" the story of the Ugly duckling. The boys are going to try too I think. That play will be performed in February. The schedule is more demanding but I think they can handle it. I am going to get more information about rehearsals and such before we make a commitment.

We haven't told Grace yet but I think she will be fine. There are plans to do a play like this again next year if this goes well. So she may be able to try again. Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers.

The play was the Sound of Music by the way. She was up for Marta or Gretel.

UPDATE: They ended up choosing two girls younger and shorter than Grace. One a first grader and one a kindergartener. The part of Marta went to a girl named Faith who has dark hair like Marta on the movie. And Gretel went to Olivia, the spitting image of Gretel from the movie. They did a great job and I am pleased that if it couldn't be Grace that these are the girls the parts went to. We will keep you posted on the Honk! thing. That show is in February. It will be cute and hopefully a good place for the kids to start.

A Glimpse

This is Sarah in the play room. She is so good at playing by herself. Daniel would rather play Star Wars so Sarah gets some alone time in the morning. Thanks Aunt Julie for the great book. She loves to put the animals where they go.

The Domestication of Robyn Cont...

My Friend Kathy dropped this off last night. Guess what I will be doing for the next few days...

Update

No news on the audition yet. There is a practice on Friday so we hope to hear before that. I will post here as soon as I know. Especially if she gets the part. Any guesses as to the play or part or both?? No fair guessing if I already told you. I think Aunt Nora knows. Anyone else?

Look what we got Dad!!

I think it took all of 2 minutes for the boys to tell Doug about the Wii and start playing it. I set it up before Daniel came home from school so it was ready to show off. Daniel and Doug played a game of bowling then the twins came home and while Grace and I were at Violin, they showed him all the other games. They each got to take him on one on one in bowling during shower time. Then after the kids went to bed I took him on in some Boxing matches. I won three out of three. Guess I have some pent up aggression!!

Auditions

Grace had her first audition today. She did a great job. Audition for what you may ask. Well....

Thursday last week Grace and two other girls from her class were measured for a play. They didn't tell the girls what one and if they did Grace didn't remember. She had no clue what play it was, who was doing it or where. So I figured I would get a note or something later on. Well Friday came and went and we didn't hear anything. Then we left for the weekend and kinda forgot about it. When we got back on Monday though there was a message from school. Grace had been chosen to audition for a school production of.... I'm not going to tell you yet. The music teacher and principal looked at the girls they thought might be able to do the parts, who had a strong singing voice and who had parental support. It was not an open call. It will be a joint production between Will Carleton Academy and Hillsdale Academy. Auditions were tonight from 6-9pm. I had to scramble to find a sitter for the rest of the kids since Doug is in Grand Rapids till Wednesday. Katelyn came through for me and I was able to take Grace.

It was all very business like. They had her sing, dance and do some line. I think she did great. It just boils down to what they want for the part. The girls were trying out for the last two roles to be cast. There were 7 girls at auditions tonight. Two older, three including her from her class and two younger. She has a shot but it will depend on if they want an 8 year old to play the part of a 7 year old or if they want a 11 or 12 year old to play the part of a 7 year old. We shall see. I will be sure to post as soon as we know. The play will be April (yes April) 4,5 &6 so mark your calendars if she gets the part. You won't want to miss this one.

Do you want to know what play she auditioned for? Can you guess? See Renee's Blog "Peyton's Place for a hint.

Aunt Shell Shell Visits

Sit down. Get comfortable. I have a lot to tell you about today. No worries, all of it is good. We were just busy this past weekend. Lets see, it all begins Saturday Morning.....

6am -- I am up and the kids aren't too far behind. We have a quick breakfast, finish packing, load the car and clean up a bit for Doug, load the kids into the car and we are off. First a stop at a local coffee shop for an Extra Grande Artisson for me. (Its a latte with vanilla and Carmel, whip cream and Carmel drizzle on top - yum-0) We drop Doug off at church and we are headed for Clinton Twp.

8:30am Call into mom to let her know we are on our way. Should be there in two and a half hours. Along the way we call pappa for some radio station info. He helped us find AM 910 Radio Disney. The kids loved it. They were able to hear their favorite Disney songs, like all the HSM2 songs or ones by Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers.

10:30am We arrive at Granda and Pappas. I have a lead foot. ;-) We settle in, unload the car, say hi to Cousin Peyton and her friend Drew, and make our selves at home. Aunt Shell and her boyfriend Josh are there too. They brought gifts. Namely a new game. Wii. They had already set it up the night before and had tried it out so it was ready to go for the kids. They all caught on very quickly. Josh was the main man as far as teaching how it worked and supervising the kids as they played.

12:30 Lunch at Granda's. Nap time for Sarah, Peyton and Drew, but everyone else is still playing Wii. Boxing was a fun game. The favorite was bowling or Baseball, depending on who you talk to.

4:30pm Headed to the softball game. Rachelle's friends boyfriend was playing in a softball tournament near Grandmas so we went to see a game. We all piled into the suburban and headed to the game. It was at Liberty Park in Sterling Heights. The big kids had fun but Sarah and Daniel were fidgety. We did a lot of walking. Daniel also practiced his numbers by telling me what numbers he saw on the jerseys as they passed us.

6:30pm Back to Grandmas for Pizza with the Easons and more Wii. Grandma and Pappa had gone to a SCWAPS get together earlier so they were gone for dinner.

7:30 Sarah to bed. She was tired.

8:00pm Daniel to bed. I was tired.

9pm Grace, Nathan and Jacob to bed. No protests, no horsing around. Everyone was tuckered out. That Wii is intense!! Aunt Renee and I even got in on it. Boxing is fun.

And that was just Saturday!!

Sunday was even better!

6:30am Everyone up and getting ready for church.

8:15 church at Immanuel. All the kids stayed in the service the whole time. A first for both Daniel and Sarah. I don't usually have 4 extra people to help with crowd control. After church we hung around for a while to talk to old friends. I ran into Joel Neumeyer who is teaching at Immanuel. Funny how small the Lutheran circle can be sometimes.

10:30am The girls head to the mall and leave the boys to play Wii -- of course.

Did you know Lakeside mall doesn't open until 11am? Neither did we. Good thing Sears was open early.

12:30 Lunch at Grandmas again. More Wii and a nap for Sarah. Uncle Brian, Aunt Kay and Great Grandpa Wyckhuys stop by for a visit. They watch the baseball and football games for a while thanks to dad's split screen feature on the TV. Then they play ummmm Wii.

5:30 Dinner -- KFC Very good. There is no KFC in Hillsdale anymore. So this was a neat treat. After dinner we of course played Wii. The kids all went to bed at a decent hour and the adults played more Wii!!

Bedtime for the adults was earlier tonight. We get tired just watching the kids.

Monday we got up early again as is normal for the Adams Clan. We loaded up the car, had breakfast and headed out. We took Rachelle and Josh to the airport. They had an 11 ish flight to catch and it was on our way. We stopped at Grandma Adams' for lunch and a break. Then we headed home. We got home around 3pm. It was a quick trip in but worth it. It was good to see Rachelle and Josh. Doug has gone to Grand Rapids for a few days to a conference for Professional Church Workers. He is due home on Wednesday. I feel like two ships in the night.

Thanks to Grandma and Pappa Wyckhuys for a great weekend. We love you tons and tons!!

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to the Strawn family. They welcomed a new baby boy into their family on Tuesday!! Go the the Strawn Family Happenings on my side bar for more details and pictures!!

Al and Sarah are friends of ours from way back at Concordia College in Ann Arbor. They are currently serving a congregation in Nebraska. Thanks Strawn family, for keeping us posted!

Tuckerd Out!!

Daniel used to take FOREVER to fall asleep. He would fight it to the very end each night. Several trips to the bathroom, missing stuffed animals, and lots of questions later, he would finally fall asleep. Now in all fairness to him I was giving him a 2 hour nap every day. Since school started for him however, things have changed. He is a bit grumpy in the evening and more prone to whining and melt downs but he falls asleep in five minutes flat. Usually without any reminding on my part. I guess school just plain Tuckers him Out!!


On a sad note: One of my all time favorite authors died on Sunday, September 16. He had been fighting a rare blood disease. His pen name, by which he is the most well known, is Robert Jordan. His real name is James Oliver Rigney, Jr. He is from Charleston, SC. He wrote the series of books called "The Wheel of Time." There are currently 11 books in the series. He was working on the 12th and final book when he died. Hopefully, someday, someone, will finish it for him and for all of his fans too. Thanks to Amanda for calling with this information. I couldn't even log onto his blog it is too overwhelmed.

Anyway, so as not to leave you with a sad story: The kids are really excited about going to Grandmas this weekend. Last week they were ok with the fact that the pool was closed for the season, since it was so cold. Today however Grace was hoping Pappa would reopen it since it was going to be very warm and nice while we were there. I told her she would have to wait until next year to swim -- I didn't think pappa would reopen it just for her!!!!

Just Cause I can!!

This is Daniel climbing the wall. It is upstairs in their room, between the landing and their room. The picture of Nathan doing the same trick gives a better view of where they are. Neat trick!! I think I will make them clean the walls next time.



This is Sarah. Cute ain't she!! I didn't fix the red eye on purpose, it fit better.



Smile!! Someone in Hillsdale loves you!!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I wasn't sure if I had anything to blog about tonight. I thought however, that something was better than nothing so here goes.

Let's see... The twins have checkups tomorrow. That ought to be fun. Let's hope they aren't due for shots. I also have to go to the bank, post office, and grocery store. Right now I should be preparing my list, signing my checks and making lunches for tomorrow. I'm blogging instead. I also have about two more loads of dishes to run, I have one in now, laundry to fold and some to wash and dry. I have junk to pick up and put away and I don't want to do any of it. I just want to sit down and read or watch TV. Smallville would be great. And once 10pm hits I have to stop anyway cause then it is time for bed. I always seem to want to work at night instead of during the day. It should be the other way around. Maybe after September is behind us I will start to feel back to normal and able to get back on my schedule.

Today was church and Sunday School. Not a bad morning. Doug didn't preach this week, although he was scheduled to. He just couldn't think after the shots on Friday and well Pastor Johnson is already preaching at 8 and 9:15 so what's one more. Sarah went to her class today. She goes to a Parent's and me, without the parent since Doug and I teach other classes. She has fun and there are plenty of other mommies around to help out. Daniel and the rest all have their own classes too. They have fun. Then we went to church together, sort of. Grace sat with friends and Daniel and Sarah play in the nursery. Daniel should really be in church with me, but I didn't feel like fighting with him this weekend. Next week we will give it another go.

Well I guess I have talked enough for tonight. Time to go make a lunch or two.

Gardening and Shots

Today was Doug's day off. So we kinda just hung around the house. He did get out to cut the grass and pick through the garden. We have a few tomatoes. I am looking for a spaghetti sauce recipe that uses fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Something that I can make and freeze. If you have such a recipe please forward it on to me -- before my tomatoes go rotten!!!

Today was also shot day. The rabies is a series of several shots given on day 0,3,7,14&28. Today was day 14, handy that it is also the 14th of September. The kids are becoming old pros at this. Barely any tears were shed today. Daniel had a few and so did Sarah but both were composed before coming back into the holding room. From the adults perspective this one hurt more than the others. Not the going in part, but the after tenderness. Doug can really feel it in his muscles and I am, for the first time, feeling something similar. I am so glad we only have one more to go. We were just all feeling better when we had to go back again. They don't make us sick necessarily, but there is tenderness at the site and we are edgy and moody for a few days. It seems to really mess with Doug's muscle system, probably something to do with the Malignant Hyperthermia. We did the shots after Violin today, which means we didn't get to the Hospital until 5:30pm. It only took an hour today. Then we went to get a movie and pizza. I think the kids like shot day. They get lots of treats.

The picture below is of the kids watching their movie. We rented "Everyones Hero" an animated movie about a boy named Yankee and his quest to return Babe Ruth's bat Darlin'. The kids loved it. It would be one to own, seeing how the boys are huge baseball fans. Doug and I rented "Wild Hogs" and "Pathfinder". We also have the first two seasons of "Smallville" to watch so we are set. So I am going to get off the computer and go watch a movie!! See ya!!

Old Friends

Do you ever start thinking about friends from High School or College for no apparent reason? Or for a reason for that matter? I do. I find myself often thinking about old friends. I love the song "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." I have a great group of friends here in Hillsdale, but whether it is because I am the pastor's wife or there is something to be said about college friends, Hillsdale is just not Concordia. I will often skim through the "Lutheran Witness" or "Michigan in Touch" looking for names I know or even type them into the church worker finder on the LC-MS website. Handy little tool that ya know.

Of course my closest friends I still keep in touch with, mostly. The picture below is from this summer.

Left to Right on couch: Ben Brenner, Jacob Adams, Joel Brenner, Grace Adams, Daniel Adams, Nathan Adams. On Floor: Sarah Adams, Payton Berringer and Haley Berringer.

In August the Adams clan ventured over to Saginaw to meet up with the Brenners. Along the way we met up with the Berringers. The picture is of all our kids. Mark and Renee (Jenista) Brenner have two boys , Joel 8 and Ben 5. Todd and Brooke have two girls Haley 3ish and Payton about Sarah's age. (Sorry if I spelled any names wrong, its been a while ;) We had a blast. Todd and Brooke brought an inflatable castle for jumping in and we pulled out the slip and slide along with a great steak dinner. Mark did an excellent job grilling and Renee makes some great side dishes. The kids all got along very well. The Brenner boys and my kids are together every summer so they fit right in, and the Berringer girls found their place too. We reminisced about old times, caught up on life after college and talked about the future too. As I have said there is something about old friends. You seem to just fall right back to the way you were without too much awkwardness between the "How have you beens?" and "Lets do this again soon. "



If you have a long lost friend I would encourage you to call them up . You will be surprised how quickly things return to the way they were or almost nearly. There is that husband/wife and kids thing, but hey now you have something to talk about!! I have included the blogs of some good friends from college on my side bar. I would love to add more. Blessings to all of you old friends and new!!!!

Daniel Edward Age 4 (almost)

Round Three

Today was day 7 of the rabies vaccine. We have done shots on day 0- Friday, Day 3 should have been Monday, but we got them Tuesday instead (that is a story for another post). Today was day 7 and another round of shots. The next will be day 14 next Friday and then again on day 28. Coincidently all the "Days" fall on the correct day of the month. At least I won't have trouble figuring out when we got the shots or when we are due. We went to do shots around 2:30pm. today. The kids are beginning to get the hang of it and each time there are less tears. Sometimes you can't help but laugh at the whole situation.

"It's like this," says Grace, " One, Two, Three: poke, ouch, squirt, out and you're done!"

After her shot today Sarah told me, "That bugger in there hurt me!"

Daniel was playing with the levers on the gurney type bed in the room we were in while getting shots. Nathan, being the parent that he is, says to Daniel; "Quit messing with that its for dead people!"

It is ok to laugh, we are!!! (Its that or cry!)

I apologize for any misspellings, my spell checker didn't want to check my spelling today.

Ditching the Dish

"There is nothing on TV". That was a very common phrase around our house this year. Doug and I would sit down after the kids went to bed and would try to watch TV. Most of what we found was either violent, dirty, reruns, or children's programming. The 10 versions of Law and Order are good, but repetitive. CSI was good, but now every show is so similar, even ones without CSI in its title. Then there is the whole gay thing. Try to find a show that doesn't have its token gay person or persons. You can't find very many anymore, can you? The History Channel, Discovery Channel and other "learning" type channels are usually good bets, however they often take a non-Christian view of things like creation and time lines. It's not that I don't want my kids to know that other views are out there in the world or to know that there are people who believe differently than they do, but I do want to be able to teach them about those differences. TV often presents these different views as fact not as theory or they only tell one side of the story and forget the opposing view point. I could go on for pages, but I won't. Ultimately we decided to cancel our subscription to Directv. No more dish. No more junk. Do we miss it? Sometimes. There were shows and channels that we would have liked to have kept. ( SCIFI, Disney, Nick Jr, Noggin) I wish you could by channels al a carte. Alas, that is not an option so we are back to basic TV: NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX. Sometimes PBS comes in clear too and the only one not fuzzy is NBC.

This is good. The kids were watching too much TV anyway. Now they can watch DVD's of mommy approved programming. (TIVO was too expensive) They still will be able to watch the things they like, but I don't have to worry about inappropiate commercials or other agendas being snuck into seemingly innocent shows. And hopefully they will watch less and less TV or videos and eventually they will not miss it. There is more to do in their little lives. Baseball, bikes, sandboxes, soccer, volleyball, swings and friends that is what they need. It is amazing how much time TV takes up and how fast an hour or two goes by when zoned in front of a TV.

I suppose the next step is to get rid of the TV altogether, but this TV addict is not ready for that step yet. Did you know that Blockbuster has complete seasons of shows for rent? Now I can pick and choose what I want and there are no commercials!! There are still shows out there that I like to watch or wanted to watch but were on at a bad time. Now when the kids go to bed we won't find our selves saying "There is nothing on TV." We can pull out the show we want and watch it when we want to. (Yes I know that is what TIVO or a DVR does, but I said TIVO was too expensive remember. We are on a budget.) So we will try it the "old fashioned" way and see what happens. We will keep you posted.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the Adams Clan. Grace went to third grade, the twins to second and Daniel to preschool. As you can tell by the pictures, Sarah wanted in on the act too. She was lonely once Daniel went to school. She asked where Nate, Jacob, Gracie and Daniel were and when we told her at school she put her head in her hands and "drama" cried. That is a kinda real kinda fake cry. She has quickly become our new drama queen -- and she is only 2!! Everyone had a good day at school. Grace has a new assignment book to get used to using and the boys have some new friends in their class. Daniel painted about 10 pictures today according to his teacher. And he told me he learned that yellow and blue make green. What fun!! (He already knew that, I think he was just proving it to himself.) I hope all of you had a great first day and that your kids enjoy school as much as mine. Blessings to you all!!

Game: Guess what Sarah is doing!!

Can you guess what Sarah is doing in these pictures? I'm not sure if this came out of her head or one of her brothers, but either way it is cute!! Add your guess to the comments -- have fun.