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.