Time with Gma

Do you believe that I used to wear Grandmas clothes to school? I remember leaving her house with gold shoes (back in the day when I was a 9) and a t-shirt tied to my side that said "Bloomies" on it with lots of gold flowers!

Us three kicking leaves together.



Little Minnie in a pouting spree! If only that worked. . .I find it beyond entertaining. This is lipstick under her eyes in case you were wondering why they were red.

Mural Kids and Flashdance!

Well, this is just another day at the Hogan-Lefler household! The kids have started a mural in our house below our island in the kitchen. This is part one. They will be layering it throughout the months and years. I am excited to see the progress!

Like the leaves! It's fall and we like to make clothes out of our fall leaves!

This is the current finished progress!

Sela has a dance class on Friday that we all go to. A. has been her biggest supporter, he helps her get dressed and supports her throughout the class. She calls the horsie that she rides in class Aidan Rue. This was the current outfit that they picked out. Flashdance baby!

Of Course, Halloween!

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY! We have been playing in the 2 Xtra Large tubs of Halloween costumes for the last couple of weeks having a ball! Sela, A. daddy, and I got dressed up for Sela's pre-school Harvest party. I was some freaky lady, as usual, A. was a rock star (in my sparkly pants from 9th grade dance class), Sela was Minnie, and daddy was a baseball player (he wouldn't be the hot pimp in my tight tassle pants for the pre-school party!)

A. was adamant about being a shark this year, so once again I go to the sewing machine. Here he is showing it off in his school parade.

These are A.'s friends he went T or Ting with.

Sela was a Flying Princess Fairy Poodle. It started off as she wanted to be a dog, but she kept adding!


And this was the feeling all night!

YAY!! Candy! Mumma had to let go of her obsessive sugar deal. I actually let the kids eat candy this year, we were with friends so it was kinda hard to say once piece and that's it. They did great, especially A. after experiencing 4 previous years of obsessive mumma. He did go a little sugar bonkers, but no tummy ache's!

And I dont't know what is going on with these photos, the horizontal ones keep cutting themselves off ~ even when I add them as small. Heather, when you read the blog email me and let me know the scoop ~ she's the one who started me on the blogging and she is my blogging pro ~ even with 4 kiddos!

Fall Around Here

I am sitting here toasty in our home. . .we have two fireplaces burning. It's been rather exciting having a fire burning every day. I wake up on Saturday and Sunday mornings, after everyone, (I get the weekends to sleep in) to the crackling and the smell and warmth of the fires in our home. It is fall.

Here are some glimpses of our everyday around our house.



Now come inside. On our table is our mascot the scorpion and our current favorite game, CAMP. It is made by a couple out of GR, MI and it is a great game for all ages. Sela can answer the 1 questions, A. the 2 questions and mum and dad the 3 & 4 questions. If I could figure out how to post a link I would do that. Maybe I will figure it the retype it in.


Mom, you should be so proud! Look at your plant, it is beautiful! See I really can take care of your plants while you are in AZ. It is lovin' our W sun!

And my little Miss Minnie! Dom started this when he got back from FL with a stuffed Minnie Mouse. Just last week A. Kelly gave Sela her girls old Minnie ears and they are attached permanately to her head.
Such a sweet moment before bed though.

I've got some goodie ol' photos that I can't wait to post. This weekend I am sure!

Tae Bo and Cheeseburgers

Wanna see Niki doing something out of the ordinary? Take a good look.

Yep, that's me, IN A PARADE! I guess back in the day you could catch dancing on the back of a flat bed for the Oehrlein Dancers in a parade, or riding in a fancy car in a fancy homecoming dress, or marching in the band playing the drums, or wearing a cheerleader outfit. . .Wow! I guess I have had my share of parades. Never Mind! And, yes! for those of you who are snickering. . . I was a cheerleader. I could really never do those jumps though, I was much more of a tap dancer. . .Liked the noise.
This summer during the annual Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival we had a tie dy had a tie dying booth. (For those of you who have never heard of the festival check out this: casevillechamber.net It is 10 days of craziness in this little resort town. There is music every night and cheeseburgers gallore!) The parade was one way of promoting ourselves. The booth was a brilliant idea. We drew a design that was printed on the shirt, taught customers how to "tie" in fancy ways, then we dyed with professional dyes. We sent them away with a wet shirt in a bag that needed to sit for 24 hours, then THEY had the fun of opening the design. It was a hit!!
Connor you are a star. . .he needed a hug!

And on to the TaeBo! So, my legendary grandma Edie gave me about 10 TaeBo tapes that I will never ever use. (never been one for working out!) We had just moved into our new home and the kids needed a little down time so they chose a movie to watch. I was unpacking boxes when up on the 2nd level I hear lots of movement and some guy counting. I snuck up the stairs to find this:



They were exercising to the TaeBo tape. All on their own they set it up and went to town. I was in histarics!!!!! I have a bunch of clips on my cameras video camera also. (Maybe a clip or two needs to go to the Funny Video Guy!) The movements they were doing. . .check out A.'s thrusting movement!!!!! They are in shape now!!!

I'm Back!

So. . . .Wow. . .It has been an extremely long time since I have posted. I am feeling it again, now being once again in a schedule. A whole bunch has happened and you'll get tid-bits along the way.

We went raspberry picking a couple of weeks ago! I made a yummy pie from them. I actually eat a little pie with my whipped topping.

There was a wonderful old truck we stopped at to get a photo. . .This is the best after a day of picking. Gosh, I should have taken a photo of the big daddy grasshopper we caught. Although, now thinking of it, he is probably still in the travel coffee cup in my car!

I wanted to start out my new post with our doggie Vega, but thought after months of not posting that would be too sad of a start. But, I still had to get her up here as a little honor to our dog. Vega Sky had to be put to sleep because of a brain tumor. It was a very traumatic experience, starting off with a seizure, being told she had bloat and would die that night, to her getting better. Unfortunately, after many, many test and feeling better for days she started having neurological problems. I'll stop there. SHe was beyond an amazing dog!!! Aidan had her collar hanging in his room and a day doesn't pass that we don't talk about her. SO now that I've gotten myself crying I will end. Just look at her cuddling with Aidan! The look in her face was her personality, she was a huge gentle and goofy (she lived with us!) dog.

Desperation

So I chose this title, then looked in the Thesaurus. I may not be feeling full desperation. Although, I may now as Sela screams and tugs on my arm. Have I ever told you of my obsession for Dictionaries and The Thesaurus? Guess that will come another day, after I finish the book I am reading.

I am desperate to find a renter for our home in 3 weeks.

I was desperate to find an ice pack. A frozen banana was chosen instead.

A showing for our home was bumped up so I had 40 minutes to perfect my house. In a moment of desperation I put the kids in the car with 2 popsicles each. A week later, cleaning my car, I asked myself what this red sticky stuff was.

And I feel full desperation knowing our best friends are moving away this summer.

Ken, are you sure you can't just find another job in Ann Arbor?