Wednesday, December 24, 2008

end of the year fun

We've had a great Christmas break!

The kids have gotten to hang out and watch movies


































hang out and play in the tub,

























Daniel quickly decided this was his favorite present, before it had even been opened! He carried it around for the whole week before Christmas















it turned out to be a very cool circular saw!




We had a small party for Alexis at home. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate and pink icing, per Alexis' request,

































then Daniel helped me decorate it with princess sprinkles.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Alexis is SEVEN!!

A few facts about my oldest daughter:

she is trilingual

she loves girly stuff, but can hang with the boys as well

she is top of her class in linguistics

she is excellent at math

she loves animals of all kinds (and wants to be a Vet someday!)

she is a natural born leader and loves to direct

she is my favorite daughter and I love her very much!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

yes, Virginia



"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. "Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?"
VIRGINIA O'HANLON."115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

SANTAAAA I KNOW HIM!!!

Every year, Emil Kletke becomes Santa. And every year, we go to visit him at his "summer home"
Alexis says she wants a puppy, but not a real one.





Daniel says he wants the electronics deptartment at your local store. "a phone, remote control, computer..." etc He really is a Chin lol



the process of Christmas

I really do like Christmas :) I like the preparation, and I LOVE the shopping. One of my favorite things to do is gift shopping. Every year my church adopts local families who have a little trouble making ends meet. We can buy a certain dollar amount of clothes and toys for each child, turn them into the church and they get distributed to that family. Sometimes there are parishioners who want to donate money but either hate shopping or just don't have the time.


That's where I come in.


I take the donated money and the children's information, buy the clothes and toys, wrap everything up and drop it off to the church. A perfect arrangement since I haven't worked in 6 months and wouldn't have the money to do it otherwise!



Daniel and I were shopping at Meijer and I couldn't resist capturing the pure joy a few fish can bring




This week we had our annual "drag the tree out of the attic, and into the garage, use the leaf blower to blow off all the dust from the parts and put it all together"
Alexis was excited...


Daniel put on his Bob the Builder hat and pitched right in!




















Friday, December 12, 2008

The musical!

The musical, The Mystery of the Manger, was a great success! We had a blast, are glad it's over, but are looking forward to the spring musical!
















Christmas Season

A new craft I'm learning is Chinese brush painting, it is HARD!!



Daniel and I went power shopping Wednesday. We hit Starbucks....
Found a few weird pieces at Big Lots,
Flasher Santa!


and the game that needs no explanation...






Friday, December 5, 2008

naughty list?

oh I am such a naughty blogger. I've got pics and stories, here are a few!
It's a winter wonderland at our house these days....aren't you glad we live in michigan?

I made B.L.T. deviled eggs for a party at church, they were a big hit!

I bought some sculpey and had fun with an idea Kelly Parsons gave us at Mothers Morning



Alexis saw the doctor and was put on a nebulizer. She's getting retested for allergies next week!




For moms birthday last month I made a polka dot blueberry pie! Here it is, unbaked




:)











Friday, November 7, 2008

Remember when I said Alexis was going to be in her first musical? Well as a double bonus, I'm going to be in it too! I'm Mrs. Evans, the choir director :) Let the fun begin!

a few more halloween pictures

I had some random pictures left over from Halloween. Alexis had a parade the day before halloween. This young lady is one of Alexis' favorites, her mom is a teacher at Post Oak and we all thought her costume was hilarious!




Alexis, getting ready for the parade Daniel and I had a great time watching all the kids

our awesome pumpkins, all lit up with our safe, flameless candles

Next up, Mom's birthday and Thanksgiving! Yay!








Sunday, October 26, 2008

It takes a village...

The past week has been bad and good wrapped into one. The obvious bad being I had a trip back to the hospital and was in more pain than I can ever remember. The good (of which is the focus of this blog) has been how my friends and family have rallied around me to help care for me and my children.

Starting moments after I pulled out that darn staple, Mom called the the ambulance and then called David (my brother). He was here to go in the ambulance with me in less than 5 minutes, all the way from Holt.
Soon after that Kathy, her son Joey and his girlfriend Amanda (who also works with mom!) showed up to check in on me and drop Kathy off. I vaguely remember this which is amazing since I had so many drugs on board at that point!
Kathy and David stayed with me in the ER, while Mom stayed at home so the kids lives remained as stable as possible.
Friends showed up, seemingly minutes after I got there, including Pastor Sue, Mindi Cromwell, Kim and Brian Seidenstucker (who were there on bed rest for Kim and baby Seidenstucker).
The nasty nurses and doctors (who really were good but I didn't care for them at the time lol) kept poking at me and EVERYONE seemed to ask if I was nauseous. David kept them at bay, answering questions and asking why things needed to be done, what else could be done etc. Kathy kept me calm, stroking my head and speaking softly, keeping me in conversation to distract me. They stayed with me until I was tucked in my bed upstairs, hours later at around 3am.

Fortunately mom had the next day, Monday, off from work and was able to get the kids off to daycare and school and also pick them up. My doctor decided I should go home Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, he decided that AFTER the kids were already home! Our neighbor, Phil graciously came over after the kids were in bed and waited for us to come home.

Since mom had to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, David was at our house at 5 AM each day to get the kids up, dressed and off to school and daycare.

After work, Mom would pick up the kids and then do allll the night time things I usually do like dinner, homework, bath, and getting the kids in bed.

Friday rolled around and Grandma Chin came and packed up the kids for the night, giving me another day to quietly heal. They went tailgating, to Uncle Doodoo's football game, Grandma and Catie also took Alexis to a birthday party on Saturday!

This morning (Sunday) I stayed home while mom got the kids up, fed them, clothed them and took them to Church.

It really has taken a village this week, and I'm so thankful for the village I'm in!

Monday, October 20, 2008

One more time, again!

Well being on my own by Tuesday was wishful thinking! A few hours after I wrote that last blog, I managed to rip a staple out of my abdominal wall, causing many hours of tears, howls, a fun ambulance ride, 12 hours in the ER, than being admitted for 17 more hours for pain management. I am finally home with a crap load of drugs. So for now I'm exhausted and very sleepy, so goodnight!!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Surgery: complete!

The surgery went off without a hitch, thank goodness! I went in about 2:30 and remember asking what time it was around 5:30.
It was supposed to be outpatient, but my oxygen levels were too low, and my pain levels were too high to send me home so I stayed the night. I can't imagine this EVER being outpatient!
The nurse told me that most people who have a ventral hernia repaired usually end up staying at least one night, so I'm not the exception.
For now I'm hanging out in bed, taking my pills on time (or facing the concequences), and letting mom totaly handle the kids. I'm SO glad she's here!
The kids were picked up friday by Dad and Lori and stayed the night. They had a lot of fun playing with the kittens, and saturday they went to a corn maze! Dad and Lori dropped them off around 6. I had gotten home around 2 so I had a nap before they got home.

The kids have remembered to be VERY careful with me since my entire abdomen is very sore, even with the darvocet I'm taking.
Mom will be here monday, but I'm on my own Tuesday!
Better get my rest :)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

It's October...

That means a couple of things at my house!

The musical gets started up again. Alexis' FIRST musical!

This seasons production is of "The Mystery of the Manger" by Celeste Clydesdale.

In The Mystery of the Manger, Jane Blonde, an investigative reporter for The Morning Star newspaper wants the facts . . . just the facts! Her questions and searching make headline news on Christmas morning. As she observes rehearsal for the Christmas Eve pageant, the children teach her through their songs that "Like the Wise Men" we're all searching for the truth, and that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life are "The Gospel Truth." In examining these facts from Scripture, your children and congregation will discover the overwhelming proof that the baby born 2,000 years ago in that manger IS the Savior of the world.




It also means new decorations for Karen's stone. Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I decided to combine Halloween/harvest themes together this time unlike last year, when it was pretty much all Halloween.





My surgery is tomorrow, I'm pretty excited/nervous/anticipatory and ready to get it over with!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

One more time!!

Ok, so remember when I had my gallbladder out?


Well it turns out that larger than normal incision is going to make some trouble for me. I had a scan in April for unrelated pancreas trouble and it was noted I had a small hernia on that incision. "I wouldn't worry about it" the Doctors said. 6 months later it's being worried about!!

I now have a very large ventral hernia that is being repaired on Friday, the 17th. yipeeee

It's painful enough that I've been taken off work and restricted to lifting 10lbs or less. I took the first date they had available, I am ready! I should be back in full force by halloween, and ready to work in early November *cross fingers*


I spoke with Cat today and she sent me to the cutest little craft idea for halloween!!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Being at home

Being a stay at home mom has given Daniel and I the ability to just "hang" recently.

Daniel is enjoying his freedom to have the house and the mom all to himself!

A few weeks ago, he asked to watch a movie in the dining room. I came out less than 10 minutes later to find him snoozing on the floor lol