Memorial weekend and then some

I decided that since the kids had Friday off, I'd take it off too! That's the last time I do that. LOL I worked my butt off on Friday. We finally got the stuff donated to In The Image (if you're thinking of making donations to a charity, please consider In The Image, they give the things to people in need, not sell it), cleaned the house, did laundry and crashed!

Just part of the stuff we donated! The car was packed!


Saturday we walked to the Farmer's Market and to Van's Pastry for a cookie. I love going to the Farmer's market, that's one thing I'll miss when we move, it not being a block away. We also took in the Whitecaps game. It was our first game of the season and we can't wait to go to another one. (They won, 2-0) GO CAPS!!!

Sunday we spent the day at Uncle Bill & Aunt Dee's house. Grandma and Aunt Coleen came up for a visit too. The kids played and Uncle Bill even ventured out with all four kids to the store and the park. He survived!!! :-0 We had a lot of fun, but man were we tired when we got home.


Monday we went to Grandma's house to take in the Plainwell Memorial Day parade. It was nice and we got to spend a little time with Jerry and Molly. After leaving the Gee household, we ventured to WalMart to get Raven a new pair of shorts. I also got the kids a new pair of crocs (Grandma even got a pair!!) After Walmart we went to the cemetary to clean off the headstones and put red, white and blue flowers on Grandpa and Uncle Mike's graves. This isn't something that is new to me, I do it every year, but for some reason this year Uncle Mike's grave really affected me. I don't know what it was, but I just cried and cried. :-( I guess I'm really missing him lately.

After the short week (which seemed to take FOREVER) Raven had her Girl Scout campout on Friday and Michael had his class ice cream social. They all had a great time. Saturday morning Michael and I got up to go to the museum. On Saturday, we got to have Maddie over for the night. We went to the park and played for a while. After Maddie left we went to the Kids Hope picnic. Kids Hope is a wonderful organization! They take members of a church (in our case it is Orchard View Church of God) and pair them up with kids from single parent homes. The kids meet with their mentors once a week at school and do projects, play or talk. Raven and Michael both love being involved. They even got to go on a field trip last month and Kids Hope helped Raven go to Camp Roger last year.

Finally it was the last week of school. The kids couldn't wait...that is until the last day. Michael was alright, but Raven was kind of bummed. She really loved her teacher, Mr. Miller, and didn't want to leave his class. Mr. Miller is a great teacher and was really wonderful with Raven. I'm going to miss him as well.

Saturday we went to John Ball Zoo because I thought the lion exhibit was opening (turns out it's this Saturday), but we had a good time anyway. After the zoo we went to church and Raven served for her second time. This time, however, she was by herself! She did great!

Yesterday was dinner at mom's. We had a great time, the kiddos put on a talent show, it was pretty funny. We got home to no power so I took the kids to a hotel for the night. I found out today that the power had come back on about an hour after we left, but we got to go swimming and had a good time.

I guess that's all for now, I'll try to keep up on this more often. Have a great week!

Here are some pics from our adventures the last couple weeks.

At the Whitecaps game

Jake, Jacob and Michael at the icecream social

Playin' at the park

Painting the treasure boxes at the Kids Hope picnic

Who doesn't have a picture with good ole' John Ball?

Raven's big day

Raven had alter server training today. I must admit that I had my doubts, I even dreamt that she burned the church down! But she did great. She even got to serve mass! She was so excited and happy to do it. She served with a boy who had been serving for a while, so she wasn't very nervous because he was there to help her. She did great!! No one could tell that she had only been trained an hour before and it was her first time. Fr. Dennis told her she did a great job and I know that meant a lot to her. She can't wait to serve this summer!

Our First Blog

Ok, so everyone seems to have their own blog, so I wanted one too. Since everyone in the family doesn't have a Myspace account, I figured that this was a good way for everyone to keep up on our lives.

We've had a rough year. (Yes it's only May, but I'm talking 365 days, not just months). As many of you know, Jeremy passed away in November. The kids took it pretty hard, but they got to meet their big sister Maddie!



She's great and they get along wonderfully! Raven LOVES having a sister around, Michael...not so much! LOL





She's a great addition to our family. We all love her.


Raven has been struggling in school. She recently was tested and has been diagnosed with ADD. She recently started medication, and wow what a difference! She is able to complete her homework and is doing much better focusing. We are all very proud of the progress that she is making.

She is playing coach-pitch softball this year. She is pretty good, and loves it.


She's had two games so far. They don't really keep score, but she gets some pretty good hits!


Michael is doing well in school. He LOVES math and science! He got a microscope for Easter and is so cute doing his "experiments". He says he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. (Along with a soldier, fireman, policeman and professional wrestler!)


He is playing t-ball. He's a lefty! He loves it and he's good. He can really crack the ball.




They are both going to Camp Roger this summer for a whole week! Raven went last year and loved it. Michael wanted to go and since it did Ravey so much good, I thought it would do him some good too. Me...I'm not to sure about it. As much as I say it's going to be nice not having them around for a week, I know that it will be the worst week of my life. I barely can go a weekend without at least one of them. So this Camp Roger thing will not only be a growing experience for them, it will be for me as well.



Other than preparing myself for "camp week", I'm doing well. I recently bought a new car. Finally, a reliable vehicle that I don't have to worry about. It's a 2004 Honda Pilot, and I love it!
Here she is: (yes, I said she!)



I'm still working as a legal assistant at Strain, Murphy & Vander Wal. I really like my job.
We're also getting ready to move! Uncle Greg is going to rent us his house. We are all really excited about it. The kids get to have a yard to play in and it's much closer to work and school. We're going to move at the end of July/beginning of August. We can't wait!!!

Not much else going on right now, so I guess my first blog posting is done. Hope to hear from/see all of you soon!!