Girls Room Re-Do

We have been busy painting, building and decorating the girls rooms this month. Grace got a new purple room and Sarah's is green. Grace's fits her tweenie image and Sarah's is Pixie Hollow. Hopefully I will be including some pictures. I am using Doug's computer and his fancy photo shop. I am still learning what to do and how to do it with this program. So for my first picture here is one of the kids at Easter. Ok so no picture. It didn't want to load. I need to get them smaller. Anyway, I am going to attempt to put more pictures of the rooms up asap.

Not much else is happening here in Britton. The kids are off of school this week and we are just trying to keep them busy. Grace went to a friends yesterday and today and the boys are going to a friends tomorrow. They also had a friend over just before Easter. Daniel and Sarah are staying busy too. They like having the bigger kids to play with too.

Doug spent the last two days in the garage. He built a shelf and stool for Sarah's new room. They are both really good. Sarah's bed is higher than she is used to so he built the stool for her to get up into the bed and the shelf is so she can organize her stuff. Grace has shelves on her head board and she had her stuff on it minutes after it was complete. She likes to be organized. She often re-organizes when she is bored.

OK so I am going to go back and try and learn this photo editor so I can add some pictures to this blog. I hope you all had a great Easter.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Shooting, Stitches, & Substitute Teaching

No, they aren't all related, but they about sum up what we have been up to in the Adams' Clan for the first month or so of the new year! We have been busy and blessed!!

In January the twins started shooting with the local 4H club. Every Saturday they go to the Lenawee county Shooting Grounds and shoot BB's for an hour and a half. They pooled some of their Christmas money and purchased a BB gun. It just arrived this week and they were very excited. They had been using the club's guns. They will continue to do that as they switch each week with the new gun. I am not real sure how I feel about this whole shooting thing, but the boys seem to really enjoy it and it is very safe and structured. I will send the camera with Doug next week so I can post some pictures. They even get pretty good scores, lots of 7's, 8's, 9's and even 10's. (Think of the center of the bulls eye as 10 and each ring away from that goes down incrementally.) Their scores get higher each week.

Now for the stitches. Daniel, you had any doubts this involved him?, two weeks ago Thursday, got his finger pinched in the hinge side of the outer bathroom door at school. They called my cell phone and it was luckily lunch time so I could answer, since I was at work. They told me he pinched it and it was bleeding quite a bit and they wanted us to come in and take a look at it. So I called Doug who happened to be at home on his day off with Sarah, cause she had no school and Grace who was home with plugged up ears due to an ear infection. Doug left Grace at home and went to check on Daniel. When he got to school Daniel was in the office with a very bloody pinkie and he was throwing up in a trash can. Doug thought a visit to our pediatrician would be a good idea. ;-) So he drove to Dundee and of course, they were closed for lunch. Blessedly, the Urgent Care is literally right next door. They took x-rays, cleaned him up a bit, gave him a local and started stitching him up. He started to cry when he found out the Dr wasn't going to use glue to close the cut, but a needle instead. The Dr said, "Can you feel this?" as he tapped Daniel's hand. Daniel said no and the Dr replied, "Then why are you crying?" Daniel shrugged, stopped crying and settled in to watch. Doug had him turn his head and Daniel proceed to FALL ASLEEP!! He got a total of 6 stitches in an L shape above the top knuckle on his pinkie finger on the palm side. He had lots of gauze and wrappings that first day and was milking it!! He just got the stitches out last Tuesday. It still looks a little ugly, but it is healing nicely. The best part is that I had no idea how bad it was until I called on my way home from school at 3:30. Doug and Daniel were just back from the Urgent Care. Grace did a great job watching Sarah, although I don't think she will be volunteering to do it again anytime soon. I think it stressed her out a bit. Daniel is no worse for the wear. We had him stay inside that first week so he wouldn't tear out the stitches on the playground and now he has a great story to tell. He is even semi famous at school. Everyone wanted to know who all the blood belonged too! ;-)

Finally, on to the Substitute Teaching. It has made my life a bit more interesting, but I love it. I have to be a little more organized and Doug is doing a little more of the "Mommy Jobs", but it is all working out for the best. It is not a teacher's salary, but it is helping to pay bills and give us some fun money. I had intended to do the bulk of my work in the kids school, Britton, in the lower Elementary. I have in fact only worked there 5 days this whole year. I have been doing most of my work at Clinton Elementary, a nearby district, about 15 minutes from our house. I got my first job there through the Internet sub finder AESOP. I filled a young 5's spot that had the class in the am and then visited various other classed in the afternoon as well as playground duty. One of the teachers I visited that afternoon noticed me and asked me to work a day the following week. That night another of the teachers I worked with posted a job on AESOP and I picked it up. From that day on I haven't walked out of the building without another job for either later that week or the next. I have taken a few jobs in Madison and at the ISD preschool, but Clinton has been keeping me busy. I have been mostly in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms, which is wonderful since that is what I am most familiar with anyway. I have also subbed for the Resource Room teacher several times. I am currently filling in for a second grade teacher who is on a medical leave for about two weeks. She has a great class and I am enjoying my time in her room. I am praying that I continue to be blessed with work after she comes back. Maybe I will have a few more opportunities to work in Britton. I will be sure to keep you all posted.

We have been up to other things here in Southeastern Michigan, but I will save the Line Dancing, Lock-in and Lent for another post...

Trunk And Treat

New this year for the Adams Clan is dressing up and getting to do all the Halloween stuff. Halloween has never been our favorite holiday, for obvious reasons, but here at Emmanuel we had the opportunity to take the parts that we do like and fellowship with other members. We even got to carve pumpkins together as a family for the first time. The girls made a carriage, Daniel made a USA, Jacob made a cross and Nathan made a Jack -O - Lantern face.



Each year Emmanuel hosts Trunk and Treat on or near Halloween. It is a great night for kids and adults alike. It begins with a kid friendly potluck. No mystery dishes allowed. We had McDonald's chicken nuggets, pizza, mac and cheese, jello, cupcakes, cookies, and lots of other great stuff. Then we were each asked to bring a carved pumpkin and when we were done with dinner and a craft we took our pumpkins out to the front of the church, lined them up, lit them, sang "This Little Gospel Light of Mine" and pastor led a prayer.

From there the adults went and got the trunks ready and then the kids all came out and went trick or treating at our trunks in the parking lot instead of all over town. We had tons of fun!! There were lots of great costumes and trunks too.












Doug really got into it a few days before prepping the "boy trunk" ~ command central. My "girl trunk" ~ Pixie Hollow turned out pretty well too. As for costumes, this year we used what we had and the boys were all army guys and the girls were all fairies.

I think the kids really enjoyed their first Halloween. Hopefully we will have many more!!

H1N1

Yes, the Adams Clan has H1N1. It arrived on Sunday, maybe Saturday, and hit Nathan first. His fever got as high as 103.9. Grace was next to go late Sunday. Same deal, high fever and body aches. We took Nathan to the doctor Monday afternoon. She tested for strep and when that came back negative, she tested for influenza. It came back positive for Influenza A. She then sent the swabs off to be further tested for H1N1. We made the decision to keep all the kids home from school. We were glad we did. Jacob went on Tuesday, Doug started on Wednesday, and Daniel went today. He will go to the doctor tomorrow to confirm. Doug is without a high fever, but he has a nasty cough, body aches and other symptoms as well. He has made arrangements for church on Sunday and will be staying home with us. I have been tired, but have no other real symptoms and neither does Sarah. We will see how that changes over the next few days.

So what does a family of 7 do while they are all stuck indoors for over a week? Well... I have taken on the role of RN. This is my white board. As you can see I have been keeping regular track of fevers and medicines. It is very easy to forget who had what temp last and when you gave them medicine. It is much easier to let the white board do the remembering!! Each night I transfer this information to a note book, clear off the board and start again. So about every hour or so, I take temps, distribute meds and give fluids as necessary. The kids have gotten used to me coming up, pulling their ear and sticking the thermometer in!



The kids have been keeping busy in lots of ways. The first few days they watched a lot of TV and movies. They also played the Wii, pool, air hockey and anything else they could since they were home. Especially Daniel, Jacob and Sarah who weren't sick the first few days. Today we got creative. They had watched almost all the movies they wanted to, TV is for preschoolers or adults during the day and even the Wii was feeling a little old and it is tiring when you are sick.


So this morning Doug helped them get started building a "city" on the basement. Grace ran the General Store. Nate and Jake were mailmen and handy men. They ran "Handy Jacks." (Doug misspelled Jake and it stuck) Sarah was the official shopper. She loved buying stuff at Grace's store. Daniel was a police officer/EMT and then a zoo keeper. Doug and I ran the upstairs restaurant "Adams Bar and Grill" We used poker chips for currency and eventually Grace even made credit cards for everyone to use. She got into it the most. The rowing machine was the conveyor belt at the check out counter and she even had an aisle to shop down. The twins were in the process of building a zoo for Daniel. They had string and stuffed animals. They cleaned that part up before I could take pictures, but maybe I can get them tomorrow. I had planned on running the movie theater up stairs, but we didn't have time for that today.

They had fun at lunch, ordering and leaving their payment. We made them all take naps, but when they woke up play resumed. They played until about 5:30pm. Daniel's fever was going up and so was Jakes. Nate still isn't 100% yet either so they put on a GI Joe video (1st season of the original cartoon. You know Yo! Joe! GI Joe is there! Now you know, and knowing is half the battle) They love it!! I have even heard Sarah yell "Yo Joe!!"

Anyway, that is how we spent our sick day today. The kids had fun, they didn't fight half as much as usual and Doug and I were able to relax too. Doug's mom and sister even stopped by for a drive by drop off of supplies. We were running low on some things. We are now stocked and ready to go. We could be stuck here for another week and be set.

So we will see what tomorrow brings. Daniel will go to the doctor and maybe Doug too. I am hoping to get some homework for the kids to work on. I would love for them to not be too far behind when they finally return to school. I will try and post regularly and let you know how we are doing.

I hope you all stay healthy. Keep an eye out for influenza like symptoms and stay home if you have them. Check with your doctor about what to do. Some aren't treating it at all and will tell you to just stay home. Others will have you come in and test you to be sure. My kids are taking Relenza which is the new Tamiflu. This is supposed to lesson the symptoms and speed recovery. We will see how it works. The key is 24 hours fever free with out the help of Motrin or Tylenol. But even then, there may be lingering symptoms, like body aches, sore throats and respiratory issues. It has hit Southern Michigan pretty hard. Several schools in Hillsdale County have closed. Only time will tell how it will effect schools here in Lenawee. We will keep you posted.

Blessings All!!

A Long Over Due Post

Welcome to Fall and my return to blogging. I know it has been quite a while since you last heard from me, but I must say it has been a very busy summer. I had big plans for blogging about the vacation to St. Augustine and all our summer fun. Needless to say they never happened. I have bunches and bunches of pictures and they may end up on here in a few days.



Today I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Daniel who turned 6 today. My dad's blog inspired me to at least write here today and maybe put together a slide show of pictures from our summer. I have a blog to write about a bunny too, but that will come. And maybe one about pears...

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my sweet baby boy Daniel. He lost his first tooth this year. We took the family for ice cream and of course Daniel wanted to know if he lost the other loose one the next night if we would get ice cream again. No, Daniel that was just for the first lost tooth, not all lost teeth.

My baby turns TEN!!

I just don't FEEL old enough to have a 10 year old. (I'm often told I don't look old enough to have a ten year old either, but we won't go there.)

Grace officially turns ten tonight at 7pm. Ten years ago today we were living in St. Louis, getting ready to go on Vicarage to Seymour, IN. I remember driving from St. Louis to Seymour with a 6 week old in the car. It took much longer than expected because I had to stop to nurse every two hours or so. As a new mom I was conscious of where I nursed often nursing in the back our small Saturn rather than nurse in public. It was an interesting trip. Anyway I digress...

Grace arrived only a few days past her due date. She was born on a Wednesday and late the week before we had scheduled a induction for Friday, July 2, just in case. Well she must have realized just how hard that would be on her mom cause she made her appearance with a few days to spare. I think her actual due date was June 25, but that was 5 kids ago so the details are all a bit sketchy now. I love my Grace very much. She is a great helper, when she wants to be. She is doing very well in school, all A's and B's, and is very proud of that achievement. She has a new love of horses and small furry animals and would adopt either on in a heart beat. However, don't any one of you send her either. We have no room for a horse and the bunnies would get attacked by the dog I am afraid.
I have included a few of the pictures I could find on my computer of Grace. Although she is the child of which I have the most pictures, very few of them are digital. I don't have a scanner, so I couldn't do it that way either. ;-) I am sure that my dad probably has some in his archives so check his blog too.

On a side note, our vacation went much better than expected. I have a great blog to post soon all about it. Look for it next week. I am still gathering, organizing and resizing pictures from our week at St. Augustine.

Blessings All!!!

OPERATION: This will most likely end badly ~ is a GO!!!

OK, maybe that is a little glass half empty, but if you were leaving for a two day car ride with 5 kids under the age of ten would your glass be half full????

Now, don't get me wrong, I am very excited about this trip. My baby sister is finally getting married. We are going to a great vacation spot and we do need a vacation. St. Augustine is our final destination, but to get there we are going to drive.

I have everything but the kitchen sink ready to go. We have DVD players, MP3 players, books, coloring books, word search books, magnetic games, candy, toys and even books on CD. We should be good to go. Hopefully all that will last at least the first day!!

I don't have pictures yet, but when we come back I am sure to have loads. I will post when I can. Look for me on Facebook, we will have Internet while at the condo.

Yes, I said condo. Thanks to Mom and Dad we were able to rent a condo on the beach right next to where the wedding will take place. So we have access to all the amenities the condos afford. Which may come in handy since Doug says there is a chance of rain just about every day, but then again we are in Florida, doesn't it rain every day there??

We have plans for the beach and a little sight seeing too. There are lots of old Spanish missions and forts to look at. Even the legendary Fountain of Youth. It will be a fun trip. Now if only we didn't have to drive...

It Got up and Danced Away!

The kids have recently found a new favorite show. Phineas and Ferb on the Disney channel. They like it because it is clever and funny and has boys as the main characters and a sister who is constantly trying to get them in trouble is also a plus. Doug and I like it because it is about kids on summer vacation trying to keep busy, but not in front of the TV. They are creative and clever about what they are going to do each day. (Phineas is the orange hair one and does all the talking. Ferb the green and he almost never talks. Candace is the older sister.)

Sarah is, as you will remember from my "Shut the **** door" post, into quoting things she hears on TV. The funny thing about this is that she actually uses the quotes in an appropriate way. Two of my favorite are from this show.

The first is from Phineas and Ferb's friend Isabella. Her catch phrase is "Whatcha doin?" She will walk up to Phineas and Ferb and ask this question at the beginning of each of their builds. Sarah, my clever little pixy, will walk into a room where one of the rest of the family is busy doing some task or another and ask, in almost the same intonation as Isabella, "Whatch doin'?"

The second, and this is my favorite one, she did out of the blue and it made me laugh till it hurt. In one particular episode the boys built a giant TV. As Candace, the big sister, was trying to tell her mom what the boys were doing in the back yard, the giant TV got hit with a dancing beam. The TV danced off just before mom turned the corner. When asked what happened to the giant TV Candace was trying to tell her about, Candace said, "It got up, and danced away!" A few days after the kids watched this episode I was asking Sarah where something of hers was and she replied with a very strait face, "It got up and danced away!"

Admittedly this blog will be funnier if one, you have actually ever watched Phineas and Ferb and two, if you have actually heard Sarah's quotes. So this is for those of you that can answer yes to either or both of these questions. For the rest of you, check out Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel, it's on a lot and the episode I reference is called Out of Toon. It has a lot of adult type humor in it too, you know, the one liners that the kids don't really get, but are meant for the adult watching. Don't take my word for it though, watch an episode or two and see what I mean.

Hey, Look! I blogged!!

Yes I know. It has been a very long time since I last decided to dump my thoughts and activities on this blog. I know all you regular readers have been waiting on the edge of your seats. Well here I am so sit back, relax, and enjoy. Hmmm, let's see... Where do I begin?

I suppose I could go all the way back to Easter. This was our first Easter in Britton. It was a great Sunday. There was church at 7am, which we did NOT go to, followed by the Easter Breakfast and then church at 10am. The kids got all dressed up and had a great day.

Each Sunday gets a little better for us in church. Sarah is new to the whole church thing since I religiously used the nursery at St. Paul's. Emmanuel is also a smaller and therefore picks up more of the "kid noise". You know, pencils, clipboards and hymnals dropping, Sarah talking too loud, the boys talking to each other, Daniel trying to talk to his friend three rows up and over, the usual.

The next big event of the year was the Pirate and Princess Party at Britton School. The preschool hosted the party for all the little ones. There was lots to do and see. Daniel and Sarah dressed up in pirate and princess costumes and we began our adventure. The Cafetorium was decorated with lots of pirate and princess stuff. There was dancing and singing on the stage, a pirate ship and princess castle to get your picture taken in and lots of real pirates and princesses to meet. ( The high school kids got dressed up ~ it was great! )

There were crafts to make and cotton candy to eat. The girls could get their hair and nails done and the boys got tattoos. There was even a treasure hunt for gems in the preschool room. They gave away books to all the kids and Daniel even won a pirate CD in a drawing. All in all it was a very fun night, as you can tell by the pictures.

The next big event at Britton School was the opening of the Wax Museum. The fourth grade each became a character in the wax museum. They researched their character, wrote reports, made posters and developed costumes, all in preparation for the grand opening. Each character had a prepared speech that they recited when their "speech button" was pressed. Grace was Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. Two of her friends featured in the pictures below are Emma or Annie Oakley and Beka or Laura Ingalls Wilder. The kids all did a great job!!






I must say that I have tons more to write, but not enough time tonight. So you will have to come back again soon to hear what else we have been up to in Britton. See ya all soon!!

KID OF THE WEEK #5

Sarah Lynn

July 15, 2005

Sarah is my baby. My bookend. She also came the fastest. She was born less than an hour after we arrived at the hospital and with out an epidural! She was my second biggest weighing in at 9 pounds 2 ounces, only 5 ounces lighter than Daniel. She is a tomboy and a girly girl all at the same time. She loves to play princess and tea party but will wrestle and "fight" with the boys too, in her princess dress!!! She is three going on 16! We often call her the Gestapo. She has a radar for all the things the kids are doing that they shouldn't and loves to let Doug or I know.

She is going to preschool at Britton school. She goes on Monday and Friday from 8-11am. Her teacher is Mrs. Cookie. She is a great teacher. I often see older kids in her room visiting their former teacher. Sarah loves her!

Sarah has her own room now for the first time. She shared with Grace in Hillsdale and when we first moved here to Britton. Now she has a Tinker Bell themed room all her own. She is Tinker Bell. Sassy and smart all at the same time. This picture is her trying to play her "violin" like Grace. It is an electic guitar and a sword.

She is a very good girl though. She is a great sleeper, although she likes to come in my room at like 6am and cuddle. I don't mind, I am usually waking up anyway and she isn't going to be able to cuddle much longer so I take what I can get when I can get it! She loves to hug and give kisses too. She is very sweet, but I am bias, I am her mother and she is my baby!

I am not sure what else to write about her. I have bunches of pictures though and I think that maybe these will say much more than I can write here. I hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit more about my wonderful kids. Next week is back to regular posts about everything and nothing, unless I come up with another grand idea. With school coming to an end and lots of fun adventures planned for the summer I should have an endless list of things to write about. Check back in a few weeks to see what the Adams Clan has been up to. Blessings and Happy Easter to you all!!!!

KID OF THE WEEK # 4

Daniel Edward

October 7, 2003

Daniel is my baby boy. He is very sweet and very precocious. He was my biggest baby, weighing in at 9 pounds 7 ounces. I had gestational diabetes with him, if that tells you anything. He was born in Coldwater in the middle of the night. We made it to the hospital just in time for an epidural and a few pushes and there he was. He was a very good baby. He slept a lot, he played well, he was a very happy baby. Until we brought Sarah home. The first day I had all 5 kids home alone, by myself, was the first day Daniel decided not to take a nap or do anything else I wanted him to. So much for perfect children, they only exist in our minds!!!

Today Daniel is still a beautiful little boy. He is 5 and in Kindergarten at Britton Macon Elementary. He adores his teacher Mrs. Stahl and has already made lots of friends. That is Daniel's thing though. He is a people person. His first teacher, bless her heart, used the term "used car salesman" when describing Daniel once and I would totally have to agree with her assessment. Daniel is a people person. He loves to talk and he loves to be social. He also loves his girls. The girl in this picture is Liz and she lives in Texas, good thing cause I don't think her daddy will let her with in 100 feet of Daniel after the day this picture was taken. They were fast friends after about 5 minutes of knowing each other and inseparable. That is my Daniel.

Daniel was asked all the usual interview questions too. His favorite color is red. Mostly because green and blue are taken and I won't let him like black and the rest are "girl" colors. He likes lions because they run fast and roar loud. His favorite sport is baseball because there is a lot of hitting, throwing and running. He likes gym and recess at school because you can play games and run. Are you sensing a pattern? Daniel is all boy. He also thinks he is 8 just like the twins and thinks he can do all the same things they can. The thing is, he usually can. His feet are only about one size smaller than theirs and he can wear their clothes from the previous year. He is wearing some size 7 tops and they don't look too big. He is going to be a big tweenie and teenager I think.

Daniel also loves to help. He will almost always do "jobs" for me when I ask. His favorite is taking Tiger, our dog, outside. He is at his best when he is busy. In Hillsdale he had homework every night, not a lot, but something. Here he just has a book to read, so when that is done he likes to do other homework. At first he worked on a book from his Montessori school, but he finished that rather quickly. So I bought him one of those thick workbooks that covers all the subjects. He sits down at a lap table and works on that until the big boys are done with their homework. He is going to be well prepared for 1st grade!!

Daniel's biggest and best features are his dimples!! They melt my heart everytime I see them. He has a face that is hard to say no to. Maybe that is why all the girls just love him. I know I do!!