Visiting

I visited Ryan and his family yesterday and it was a lot of fun.


Two handsome guys....

Joy made us an delicious apple crisp...yum.

He Man..helping Dad dismantle the bar.

Legion

A legion of mushrooms guarding our lawn

First day of school

This is Faith on her first day of school, (she picked out the outfit herself) I cant believe my pumpkin princess is 4! You want to see them grow and the one day it hits you "holy cow, shes sooo big!" Enjoy the moments while you can!!

Cheese!!

She is ready for the runway!

When Faith saw that it was a different bus driver picking her up this year, she was soo sad!

Breaks my heart, I hope she will grow to like her new bus driver, and her new symbol, she said " why cant things just go back to normal?"

I got her to smile though! She is my little angel!

Faith had a great day, the teachers said it was a zoo, but she was a great helper to the new kids!

Baritone Boy

Adam is so excited to be starting band this year!

This past summer we made a visit to the music store to try out all the instruments and his face lit up when he tried the baritone! I knew this was the instrument for him instantly. The band director gave me a baritone to bring home for him while I was volunteering at school and he was thrilled when he got home and discovered it!

He sounds amazing!

Roma!

Paul was upgraded to first class and I was left to board in coach! Boo but it did not matter and much to my surprise just as they were closing the doors the man at the desk came calling my name and took me to 1st class too! it is great to be a platium thanks Paul!

We have arrived! We left Altanta at 3:30PM Friday and arrived Saturday at 7:30am. We took a shuttled from the airport to our hotel "Hotel Anglo Americano" The rooms are small but nice and since we arrived so early we stored our bags and went to look at Rome. It's old!

We first went to the Spanish Steps about a 15 min walk then over to Trevi Fountain where I had to sing three coins in the fountain and threw my coins in hoping they bring me back again someday. we that walked over to the Colsseum and the Roman ruins from the first building of Rome.

We that neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeded a nap so we all had lunch and took some time down. Paul and I got up went shopping a little at the Palazzo Barberini about 20 meters from the Hotel. Yvonne and Dick then joined us for Dinner at a little Ristorante we had homemade pasta, roasted chicken, and red wine. It was very good! How back to sleep. Tomorrow Paul and I are going to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel and take the 2 hour tour of the Colsseum. Yvonne and Dick have been there not to long ago so they are off in the morning in another direction we will meet up at 1pm for lunch and touring. I will not say what we have planned in the afternoon you will have to take a look again tomorrow.

Okay maybe I am more tried than I thought I can not get these pictures where they have the right words. I can't move them or anything. so Iam going to bed and will try to do better tomorrow.

love you all

Emily

Get me to the church on time

We are all so excited about Tim and Sarah's upcoming wedding. This week, Mom, Bob, Linda and I took a trip to Big Bay to see where they will be married. Isn't it a pretty church! The gardens on the side and in back were beautiful. We are all looking forward to the big day. We toured the Big Bay area and thought it was a beautiful spot for a destination wedding.

Our trip to Chicago

We went to Colony Lane later in the day after Jim's funeral. Oh Michelle, we feel for you.

We stopped at Pete and Emily's on the way home.

Blue-eyed beauty, Addison

Alaina, being a very good Mommy

Muscles, with his little beauties

Kirsten and the so endearing Natalie

Jimmy (right), all dressed up for his Daddy's funeral and his best friend, Alex

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great time for Labor day weekend this year. Faith spent time with Ryan, Joy, Isaac and Adam and Joe and I went to his familys farm in Onaway. We spent a lot of time on the 4 wheelers!!!

Can you tell that Joe like riding?? LOL

Sunflowers on the farm

Horses on the farm

Making our way back to the UP


Our hot tub in the hotel we stayed at in Menomiee, i loved the faucet!!! Isn't it cool??

Joe and I went almost 1000 miles this weekend, and it was worth it. We went to Menomiee to meet Joy and Faith went with her to Manitowac, then Joe and I drove to Onaway, MI then back to Menomiee on sunday, then we picked up Faith on monday at Joys and drove home that afternoon. BUSY BUSY BUSY We all had a great time! Thank you to the Carlsons who watched Faith and took such great care of her, she is still talking about all of the fun she had.

I also wanted to announce that i got a new job last week. I am now the lead teacher of the Great Start Program in Gwinn. Great Start is just like Head Start but it is offered to other Families that may not meet Head Start standards. I have been still working my old job and doing all of the trainings for my new position. It has been exhausting, and my head has been spinning for days, but i am so excited to start my new job, and this corporation is something that i cant be with for a LONG time with TONS of room to move up in the company!!!! It has been an amazing year, finding the love of my life and getting a new job, wow, a beautiful healthy 4 year old daughter, who could ask for more?? The Lord works i myserious ways, but if you follow the path he sets out for you, good things will come!

Visiting Sara

We had dinner at Dornans on the upper deck, which had a gorgeous view of the Tetons.

Sara is dressed up to go to a Gaper Party where you had to dress up like a tourist. So cute!

The weather varied a lot while we were there. Here we are posing in front of Sara's house on a warm day.

We had a great time visiting Sara in Jackson Hole last week. We had lots of fun helping her settle into her new place, seeing the sights, playing with Ella and Murphy, eating out, shopping and just hanging out. It was hard to leave.

This final pic is Yellowstone Lake.

1 Down, 179ish to Go!

9/7/2010 First Day of School

Who Moved My Cheese?

double click to enlarge

I'm burning the midnight oil right now and just finished up with a few last things for the first day of school! It's going to be a whirlwind in just a few hours. I've been working a lot of hours lately - writing curriculum, attending meetings, discussing best practice, and organizing my room. My favorite part, of course, is organizing my classroom. This year I did a MAJOR overhaul and had the custodians move my HEAVY desk to the Northwest corner instead of the Southeast corner. Now I have a lovely view of the courtyard, a place to meet with students face-to-face, a window, and a whiteboard that has no obstructions. I think that it is going to work out really well. I'll find out tomorrow! Here are a few pictures of my new set up. There are still a few odds & ends I need to attend to but for now I'm loving it. Check out my fancy periodic poster in which a photograph of each of the elements (if possible) is shown! I love that the kids can see what the substances look like. Happy First Day of School!

Things That Go Round & Round

Saturday Night I spent a couple of bucks in order to ride the Ferris Wheel. It was totally worth it just so I could see all the people below enjoying Arts Beats & Eats. We took a few spins around and around and thankfully a couple of shots turned out of the crowd below!

This is across the street from the train station. The festival continued down the street past the tall building for about 1 mile south.

There were tons of people. I'm looking forward to when the news reports the actual total wristbands sold. This is the north end of the festival in front the "Alternative" Music stage and several of the food vendors. The festival also has several other stages: Rock, International, Main Stage, Country, &, and Americana. Friday night I enjoyed the rock stage where my friends' band the Insyderz played. The stages are booked for the entire festival and I have been able to hear Macy Gray, The Royal Oak Symphony, and so many of the acts all the way at my house! The power of sound travel!! Tonight Clint Black will finish up the event at 7:30. I'm sure we'll be able to hear him while we do our last food rescue with Forgotten Harvest. There is a kids zone where there were smaller rides, games, caricatures, and a Karaoke booth that our church sponsored. My friend Drew (who went on the Haiti trip) manned the booth for an enormous number of hours. He had to listen to Mylie Cyrus for more hours than a human should ever have to! On the cross streets there are couple hundred arts vendors with a huge variety for sale including ceramics, paintings, clothing, fabrics, wood, metal, glass, photography, graphics, jewelry, and prints. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with several friend walking through the arts area. I didn't buy anything but there are a few artists I really enjoyed; especially the couple that took photographs of graffiti that had meaning. They would find a beautiful saying and capture it on "film". It was really neat.

And don't forget the eats. My favorite restaurants so far have been Black Finn, Cafe Muse, Bo's Smokehouse, and Andre's Louisiana Seafood!

The Broccoli Girl

Faith has been spending the weekend with us and we've been having a wonderful time! Pictures will be coming soon! I wanted to share a cute story about Faith. Today Ryan and I brought the kids to Green Bay to do a bit of shopping and to eat at Red Lobster (the kid's favorite). Faith ordered mac & cheese with a side of broccoli. When her dinner came she ate every piece of broccoli on her plate and when our server stopped by Faith asked, "could I have some more broccoli please?" Our server told Faith she's been working there for 17 years serving a couple hundred people a week and it was the first time a child ever asked for more broccoli !!! : ) She did get a big 2nd plate and she ate it all! I think this makes up for the kiddie cocktail she had to drink right?
Feeling thankful for a house full of kids!
Joy

The Latest Adventures . . .

Our dear friend Kim held the second annual "Teacher Appreciation" Dinner for Carrie and me.  She bought us these really cool ecowatches from Sprout.  She made us delicious grilled shrimp skewers.  We had a blast!

 

(Double Click to Enlarge)

After getting in the last days at work this weekend I am spending as much time as possible at Arts Beats & Eats Festival.  This is the first year that it is in Royal Oak and it is AWESOME!

 

(Double Click to Enlarge)

Most exciting I am working with my church, Genesis, and Forgotten Harvest to rescue food at the end of each night at the festival.  More on that soon!

and one other exciting note

the tile is installed

more on that too!

U.P. Pics

Here are some more pictures from the visit to the UP.

Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer. It went by too quickly!

Love, Debbie

Congrats to Tim and Sarah! We are looking forward to the wedding in November. It will be great to see everyone. Faith can't wait for the wedding.

Love, Aunt Debbie