Honeysett Family Christmas

Last Saturday was our family Christmas. We had it as St. Margaret School in Otsego. We had a great time. Jess and Cindy made it back safely from their Eurpean adventure and were there. Uncle Joe was even there!! It was really good to see them. Well, it was good to see everyone! I'm so glad that I have such a large family, they are so much fun...some are a little crazy, but ya gotta love 'em. So here are some pics of my family. My mom and her brothers and sisters. Noticably, we are missing Uncle Mitch who, unfortunately for us, lives in Las Vegas and couldn't make it this year. We are hoping that he and Aunt Karen will be able to make it next year. We missed them very much!! Also missing is Uncle Mike. He, is in heaven and has been for gosh...14 years, where does the time go. There were a few cousins missing and a few great grandkids, but this is the bulk of us. I tell everyone that we're like a small southern town. There's a whole mess of us and we all know what's going on in each other's lives. Sometimes that's good, sometimes, not so much. But the best thing about having a big family is there is always some to talk to and always someone to help when you need it. I wouldn't change coming from a huge family for anything in the world. THE HONEYSETT'S ROCK!!!

Michael's Birthday Party

Didn't think I was going to post pics? Well here are some from Michael's party at Chuck E. Cheese. We had a great time and Michael loved having fun with his friends.

MICHAEL IS 8!!

Ok, so it was two days ago, sue me! He had a great birthday, after having a week of for Thanksgiving break, it snowed like crazy Sunday night and he had a snow day on his birthday!! He was pretty excited about not having to go to school on his birthday. Despite the crappy weather, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. He had been bugging to go there for a long time, so we went. We had a great dinner. He was disappointed that they didn't have rootbeer in a bottle anymore, but that disappointment didn't last long, especially when they brought him his huge bowl of gelato!
The next morning, he looked in the mirror and was very disappointed that he didn't look any different! He thought that because he got a year older, he should have grown or something. I tried to make himi understand that it doesn't work that way. I've been the same height since eight grade!!
All in all it was a good birthday and is going to be better because his party is this Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese!! This will be his first birthday party with friends, he's really excited. I'll post pics (I promise!!) after the party.

RAVEN IS 10!!

Ravey turned 10 on the 10th, and she couldn't be happier to be in double digits! We went to Applebee's for her birthday dinner and had some good food! Then last Saturday we had a party for her with the family. She is a HUGE fan of Pink and wanted to get her hair cut like her...so I let her and here it is! Isn't she cute!!

HALLOWEEN

As promised...
Halloween pictures!! The kids had their Halloween parties at school, it was pretty fun. They had a half day so I took the day off work and we did some running. Raven had a follow up on her bladder infection and her white count is still way too high (500). They sent it off to the lad and will let us know what our next move is. We went to Mel's for some trick or treating. The kids had a good time and brought back a butt load of candy!! Saturday we had a party at Aunt Dee's house. A great time was had by all. I wish I would have taken more pictures of everyone's costumes, but I was having too much fun. So, here are some pics from the last couple days.

This is why I don't have a diary

I am horrible at updating! This kids have been in school for almost two months and I haven't said how they are doing....well they're doing great! Raven, since starting her meds for ADD is like a new kid. She gets home and gets straight to homework, there is not fighting or crying (usually on my part). IT IS WONDERFUL! She seems to be better organized and now that she's getting letter grades, she is striving for A's. When we got a test back that she took she cried because she tried so hard but she still didn't get them all right. She still did very well, only three wrong, which is a huge accomplishment for her. Last year it took her three days to take one test and she still didn't do that well on it. This year, she is working so hard, I'm so proud of her. I was really reluctant to put her on the meds because I was afraid of what they would do to her. I'm so glad now that I did. She is so much better in school and I think she actually likes school now!

Some other big Raven news, she is in Girl Scouts, which she loves! She has bridged to Juniors. She had to miss the ceremony because she had a mistery illness. (More on that later). Raven love scouts and is very happy about becoming a junior. She loves spending time with her friends and doing good things for people. Last year they went to the vet's facility for Memorial Day and put flags on the graves.

So her illness. She came home from school on a Wednesday and wasn't feeling well. That was the day of her Bridging ceremony. When she said she didn't want to do it, I knew she was really sick. So I took her to the doctor the next day and they sent her to the ER for a spinal tap! The ER doc said that she didn't think she needed a spinal tap because she didn't think Raven was sick enough for her to have meningitis, but she did it any way. So that came up negative. (Thank God!!) She was still feeling bad Friday and Saturday she couldn't hold down water. So I took her to the doctor again and they sent us to the ER again. They gave her IV fluids and sent us home. Monday, the doctor's office wouldn't get us in for a follow up and finally got us in on Tuesday. Finally we saw a doc that did a full exam and .... a unine sample. Turns out she had a bladder infection! I was so pissed!!! They never did a urine sample until that day. They did everything under the sun except that! But she's better now!!

Michael doesn't really have a lot going on right now. He's made a new friend at school, Wassem. He went to his house twice last week. We are trying to get him in to Cub Scouts, but with him not having a dad, I'm hoping that if we get him in, my brother can do the stuff with him. He was sick today, but is feeling better. He's got a cold and is coughing a lot.

I took the kids to their first high school football game. It was my alma mater, Catholic Central vs. their future high school Forest Hills Eastern. There was a "Hawk Rally" before the game and they were looking good!! The kids kept telling me that my team was going to lose, but they didn't!!

Last Saturday was the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. We all walked together (me, Raven, Michael and Maddie). Michael walked for Aunt Sharon (who is cancer free!), Maddie and Raven walked for Sara (my best friend's mom...cancer free!!) and I walked for both of them. It was a 5k and the kids did great! I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures of the walk, but I do have pictures after the walk in our t-shirts. Notice the girls' and my pink hair!!!

Promise I'll post after Halloween with pics of the costumes.

WHERE HAS SUMMER GONE?!?!

Ok, so it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. (Ok, a month...whatever). We've been pretty busy. The kids got to go horseback riding. Raven's Kids Hope mentor, Karen, has a son who works at a barn and they let the kids ride Carmel for a while. They loved it, except now they've been bugging me for a horse and lessons!!

We also went to the beach a couple of times. I really LOVE Millenium Park. I think that I'm going to buy a season pass next year, we went almost enough times this year to pay for it and if I buy one, I'll definitely go.

Last Saturday we drove to Detroit with my dad to go to the Henry Ford Museum. We were supposed to go with Pam, but that's another story. The kids really liked it, so did Dad and I. We want to go to Greenfield Village next time. They got to see old cars, go in a train, see the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, and of course the Chocolate exhibit!!

We're now getting ready for school to start. But it wouldn't be my family if Michael didn't have some catastrophe! The other day he was playing with Zach, my daycare lady's 19 year old son, with wooden training samori swords. Well things were going well until Zach's sword slipped and hit Michael right above the eye! He's alright, but he had to get eight stitches.

That's about our excitement. Here's the pics of the last few weeks.

Grand Haven..fun in the sun

Yesterday we went to Grand Haven (I worked half a day to spend at the beach!!) with Melanne and Natalie. It wasn't very sunny, but it was nice. The water was cold at first, but once you got in it was just fine. After about four hours of swimming and frolicking on the beach, we drove off down the strip. We went to Sam's Tacos for dinner. (Great food!) Then we walked down the marina toward the pier. We watched the sunset and headed over to Temptations for some icecream and homemade waffle cones. While we ate our icecream, we watched the musical fountain. It was great! The kids really enjoyed it, although they were a little tired. We had a great time and can't wait to go back. Here are some pics and a video of the kids.

Camp Roger

The kids went to Camp Roger from July 3 to July 10. They had a good time. There were a few tears (from Raven) when I was ready to leave, but all in all it went well. Michael couldn't get rid of me fast enough, he wouldn't even let me help him unpack!!

After dropping them off I went to Jellystone in Grand Haven to meet mom, Melanne, Natalie and Morgan for camping. It was pretty fun. The rain the day before had given us a mote around our site which sucked becasue of the mosquitos. Morgan and I had a gaming tournament on Friday, we played pool, air hockey, racing video games and skee ball. I won!! I know, she's 11, but she would have kicked my butt and I never would have heard the end of it, so I kicked her butt instead! (I'm such a great aunt!! LOL)

I also started working out with a trainer everyday at lunch. It's nice because the gym is next door to work, so there's no excuse for me not to go. This is my third week and I feel pretty good.

Here are some pics that were taken at Camp Roger of the kids.

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT

We aren't moving! :( My uncle wanted way more than I could afford, so we're stuck here until I can find something else.

New hair cuts and fun in the sun

Well, here's Raven's new hair cut! Isn't it cute?!? I told her that I hated her because she can wear her hair like that, I just LOVE it!!

They had Vacation Bible School and started Camp Reads-A-Lot last week. The Camp is through the school and is on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the whole summer and VBS was only a week. They had to miss two days of VBS and they were bummed, but they enjoyed camp too. They LOVED VBS! They learned some good songs and learned that God gives us the power to be brave....Eureka!

We went to Dutton Days with Maddie, Melanne and Natalie. It was pretty fun. They had lots of those bounce house things for the kids to play on and other games. The best part...it was free!! There was also a craft show that Mel and I got some stuff at. All in all it was a good weekend. Now we have to get ready for Camp Roger, camping and moving!

I've started packing for the move, you never know how much junk you have until you have to pack it! LOL I've decided that with this move, I'm getting rid of junk, and boy have I, my mom would be proud!! Off to do more packing...bye!

Cheerleading, fishing and motorcycling..oh my!

What a weekend! Raven had cheerleading camp Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. She loves her cheerleading! She got an award for most spirited! She absolutely loves cheering with the FHE (Forest Hills Eastern) cheerleaders. Those girls are wonderful! They are so good with the little ones and even the older ones, like Raven, who are a little shy. She had a great time and is getting pretty good. Friday, after cheering, she had her class party at her teacher's house on Green Lake. I took the afternoon off to take her and boy and I glad I did. What a beautiful lake! I had never been there before, it is gorgeous! Raven had fun. She went kayaking, swimming, boating and fishing. She even caught a bass! It was a bittersweet day for the kids and Mr. Miller. They were a great group of kids who will miss Mr. Miller a lot, and he will miss them.

I didn't forget Michael. He got to get picked up by his grandpa on Friday and hung out with him for a while. When I picked him up we went to Playworld with Melanne and Natalie. What a disappointment. For me, not so much the kids. They charge you to get in, there's only a couple of bouncy things for the kids to play on and the arcade games didn't work properly. Next time we're going to Chuck E. Cheese.

Saturday we went to Cutlerville Days with Melanne, Natalie, Chris and Leah (Leah is Natalie's friend from school and Chris is her mom). We had a good time there was a craft show, car show, it was fun. The kids got to get their faces painted, Raven and Michael got their hair colored and they got some jibbets (decorations for their crocs). After that we went to Chris and Leah's house to go swimming and have dinner. It was fun, the kids got along great! On the way home it started raining, but that didn't stop the fireworks from going on. We watched them from the car and by the grand finale the kids and I were on our scary journey home. The wind and the rain were horrible! It was knocking down construction signs and blowing me and my SUV around. I was glad to be home.

Sunday was Father's Day and we spent it with my dad. We went over to his house and had a cookout. We had steak on the grill. Mmmmm steak! We had a good time and before we left Raven and Michael got to go for a ride on grandpa's motorcycle around the trailer park. They had a great time, they love the motorcycle! When we got home...we crashed! It was a busy and fun weekend. Have a great week!! Oh, here are some pictures from our weekend.