The Zucchini's have landed!

zucchini apple bread, zucchini breads with chips, zucchini bread with pecans, fudge chocolate zucchini cake!

I bought some zucchini, it was cheap! Karen went to Maine, she gave me her zucchini. Went to store them in the fridge, there was more zucchini in the veg. draw/ So Danny and I started baking. We had fun cooking and the house smelled awesome. We also went to Howell and signed up for our race tomorrow night. And we broke out our new panini maker and, guess what? Yup, we made paninis!  They were great.  Danny read and face timed with Chris, Molly finished her puzzle, Charlotte word searched, and they all lifted. I walked with Shawne.  Then we all trooped off to Soccer practice.....

Really Bad morning

Oh gosh, Charlotte had said to me last night that she wanted to run with me this morning. We headed out at 8am, and it was awful from the start. She did all her usual things to try to get me to flip out, and added on the haven't seen it in a while but always effective "I need to go to the bathroom" when we were 3 miles from home. It turned into an awful yelling,pushing,going into the mosquito infested woods(of course she couldn't go in there) and just indescribable horror. We got home at 9:20, covered in mud, shit,snot and tears. And then its clean her up, clean up the bathroom where she took her clothes off while I got a drink of water and tried to control myself, and then deal with feeling so bad about the near child abuse that was taking place. It was so bad.
Took kids to lake with Jack and Leah as planned at 10am. It was chilly, Thought we'd come back here and hang out but Jack wanted to go home..Danny was bummed. Got home, served lunch,got coffee and a bowl of cereal, then had Karol stop by with a baby gift for the shower and a nice visit. Jer calls to say he is on his way home, the Caddy broke down in OHIO and he ended up missing his important meeting. The poor guy. Had Molly bring down a puzzle that she and Charlotte and I worked on in the library, which was fun.
Just reeling from the day, and will pray hard for a better one tomorrow.
Dinner a hamburger helper feast, then Jer offered to take the kids to the park to hit baseballs.

Tuesday 8/16 Kohls 30%

Finally got a 30-ironically it arrived yesterday and is only good til Wednesday(ie:tomorrow) so Shawne and I went for a few hours this afternoon. Danny and Charlotte went to play with her kids, so that was cool. We shopped for pants for her, though I got a bed-set for the guest room/craft room bed and a pair of shoes for Molly. We had a good time hanging out sans kids!
Walked with Jerry in the am, and did a kettlebell workout with Danny, wow that is challenging! Soft taco dinner a big hit!

Monday 8/15 Relax?

Relax? All but one, one small mother,had troubles both weary and weighty, plenty of trouble and all caused by....
Hmmmm, good question! Caused by lack of faith? not enough sleep? too high expectations? ingesting too much cereal? not enough enthusiasm for housecleaning?
Who the heck know.
Tough past two weeks, and now trying to get re-energized for the kids, the upcoming shower, the laundry..!
Started out with Molly and I going to mass for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Excellent homily by Father Mark, and good visiting afterwards. I even got to be an EM again!
Onward!!

Mass x 2!

Hey let's go to 11:30 mass this morning..the kids can sleep in, especially Danny, and I can help my friend Linda who needs an EM sub. Great plan right?! We relax and drink coffee and have breakfast, change and head out. While I'm signing in for communion, I glance down and see our name below. WHAT??? We are scheduled for 5pm.! I feel so bad! But we were meant to be at the first mass, Father Mark's homily speaks directly to our hearts regarding our latest situation and addition to the family. lesson- no matter what the question is, LOVE is the answer!
Home we go, to some paper reading, a big family workout(and cleaning up all the junk I pulled out while finding the stuff Jake wanted to take with him)and before you knew it it was time to get dressed in church clothes again and head back to St. Pats. Father Karl says this mass, and it is actually a vigil mass for the Assumption tomorrow of the Blessed Mother. We got to sing Salve Regina! And Danny made it through the mass without feeling sick. I had a roast in the oven, with beef from the freezer in the ongoing ETI plan and I'm happy about that. Danny and Jerry watch Duck Soup curled up in the chair together, and their laughter fills my heart.

Saturday 8/13 3 days in one! (at least it feels that way!)

7am-pile into the Traverse to head for Springhill with Molly,Charlotte,Jerry, Rhonda and Ryan. The ride flies by with our company, and the kids munch granola bars and juice.
9:30 am- gates open and we get Danny's luggage on New Fro, turn around and get Collin's on Storybrook, turn around and park at New fro, take a walk, check out, go to the trading post, then go to the auditorium for mini rallies(big rally rained out)
10:45 Rally for Collin's group of Scurvy Dogs! He seems like he had a great time but looks really tired!
11:15 Danny's mini rally in the gym. He was a bit homesick on Mon and Tuesday, but only when things slowed down, so his counselors helped him work it out and he had a great week.
12noon  On the road home. We pass out banana chips, drinks and home baked cookies and tell the kids they'll get lunch when we get home.
2:30 HOME! The michigan autobahn was in full swing today and we flew! Sandwiches served to everyone!
3:30 pm  Arbours leave, Jake and Cammy arrive. We have a fire going and we all do S'mores, which Danny missed at campfire Thursday night, and he feels happy about it!
5:30  After hanging out outside, we move to the kitchen and play Greed,all together...FUN!
6:45  Jake and I shoot out to grab him a haircut, in a sprinkle which turns into a blowing monsoon as soon as I am on the road! Running from the car into the hairplace at Walmart, we are soaked to the skin!
7:30 Meet up at Leo's for a family dinner to farewell Jakie at his favourite old haunt. I would have cooked had I known how long they could stay!
9pm We give Jake and Cammy some of Jake's old baby clothes(his santa suit, the little red sweater set form my old Ecco Bosses) and some photos. They seem to like them. Jake suddenly decides he'd like his guitar,his warhammer things and some books...okay, down to the basement to tear it apart and locate these boxes. Found them-good! place looks like a bomb went off-bad!
9:30pm Goodbye to Jake and Cammy-we will miss Jake, it was great to see him. We plan to head to Fort Drum soon.
WHAT A DAY!

Springhill Saturday

My boys

Danny and his counselors

knucklehead,inc.

the staff talking about how awesome Danny is

Eagle Creek Lumber Camp

my boys!

oh yeah!

home is a toasty place!

buds

sticky and super sweet!

Danny and Cammy

Cammy shows off the perfect S'more

one last hug