This n that

Where did the days go? Mike has been busy getting ready for the softball season. He has taken on the role as co-leader for the Sports Ministry at the church. The softball drama is more than I can bare.
Jo's Upward basketball season is coming to an end this Saturday with her last game. Her team has made leaps and bounds in their skills and really played excellent last Saturday.
Brooke is still battling away with two biology classes in her last semester of college and talking about moving AGAIN.
Naomi has decided it is a blast to shut herself in the closet, sit in the dog food bowl and play in the water bowl. I had her pictures taken at the church last week from a company called Antiquities. They put the kids in costumes and have really cute settings then the pics are printed in the antique sepia style. I figured she'd look kind of silly in a lacy dress so I opted for the denim overalls without a shirt under and her hair in piggytails. She was adorable of course but decided she didn't want anything to do with smiling for the photographer, regardless of the fact that he had bubbles. For the fundraiser we got a 10 x 13 and then I got a package of two other poses for helping out with it. I'm actually pretty grateful that the pics weren't something I couldn't live without because they weren't cheap.
Mike and I went to a class at the church called Liberated that gives you hints about cutting your grocery bill. While we were listening to the great tips we were cutting coupons. I loved what Mike said: "if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be spending a monday night in a church cutting coupons....I would have told you -you were on crack". So we ventured out to test out our new knowledge at the Kroger in Grand Blanc last Friday night. A Big Date Night, eh? Mike was doing a happy dance when we left. We saved $75, about a 47% savings!
I'm having a busy week. We have 2 WinterJam events. One in Grand Rapids on Thursday and then one on Saturday in Ypsilanti. Jo's favorite, Toby Mac, will be there, along with Hawk Nelson, Franchesca Battacelli (spelling?), and one of my favorites, The Afters. I don't know how these artists do these shows night after night. It's crazy. Hopefully I'll have some good stories to blog next week!

It's Pot Hole Season!

So today I went on a mission to find some pot holes. Yes, I know that sounds strange but I just pitched the idea of doing a "Pot hole Patrol" page on our website dj buzz page and thought a few photos of the axle breakers might be useful for this.

I knew just where to go. Having flashbacks of driving of my dad's sweet white buick lesabre with a baby blue landau top and catching a glimpse of a shiny object flying off the road into the weeds after hitting one of the numerous pot holes found on the infamous "truck road" behind the high school. I decided to take a trip down memory lane aka "truck road". I remember walking up and down the area with my friends in a tizzy trying to find that rim like it was yesterday. I finally gave up and headed home only to have my dad make me go back and keep looking. It wasn't as tramatizing as when he made me go dumpster diving after school when I accidently threw my retainer away in my lunch bag but none the less it was definitely one of those moments that has actually remained in my swiss cheese of a brain. Truck road didn't disappoint me. It was just as pot hole ridden as it was in the 70's. A pot hole plethora! Just when my excitement started to subside, I discovered some freshly filled ones as I emerged onto Hartland Rd.. You'd have thought I had hit the jackpot. Wow, wouldn't it be cool to actually get photos of workers filling them???? So you guessed it. I followed the patches like Gretel's bread crumbs to these guys, who graciously obliged my strange request to take their pictures. I'm sure it gave them something to talk about over dinner anyways.

Ikea therapy

I feel like such a slacker with my posting. I have been very busy with radio work lately and keeping up with Naomi's messes. I am so very excited that two of our talented friends were selected to play in the Big Ticket Tour and possibly be selected to play on the Indie stage at the Big Ticket Festival in June. Joey Brady and his band My Syndicate will be performing with the tour in Grand Rapids this Saturday at Resurrection Life Church in Lansing and Michael Maher will be with the tour in Highland on 3/21 at Cornerstone Church. I have one other friend who should be on the tour but he didn't submit his work. I won't mention names cuz he knows who it is and I'm sure his wife will read this and rib him about it!
Mike still has a job despite the recent announcements - Praise God! Brooke is on break this week from Oakland University but was scheduled to work most of the week. Hopefully we will get to see her this weekend. Jo-Jo regained her freedom after a week of being grounded for denying her responsibilities and seems to be back on track. She got to get her Grandma Judy fix and spent the night with her on Saturday. We have an extra long "stomp" practice here at the house this friday because half the team was absent last week and the talent show try-outs are coming up fast. Naomi's schedule is still whacked and some days I can't get her to take a nap for nothin'. She has figured out how to get her shoes and socks off and so you will most likely find her barefoot these days, which just confirms my earlier observation regarding her being part hillbilly. I have been battling with the little voices coming from the Girl Scout cookies in the cupboard calling me to eat them. I am extremely thrilled to have a dozen matching drinking glasses and a new light for the front doorway from Ikea. Now I just have to find the time to hang it. OOOOhhh I can't wait to see it up!

Wearing a bathing suit in the snow???

I would post pics of our weekend in Elk Rapids with the Taylors at the home of Danna's wonderful parents, Carol & Dan Sinclair but I was having so much fun I forgot to take them! Hopefully Danna will share some of hers with me so I can post them. We went to Avalanche Bay Waterpark for a day. It was nice of them to jack up the prices for President's weekend. It was odd to look out the window of the 84 degree waterpark and see people coming down the slopes of Boyne Mountain. The "toilet bowl" ride was a favorite. Naomi is a water lover like her sister JoJo. We are hoping to camp up there this summer. There is a campground right across the lake from the Sinclair's home.
I'm heading into a busy time of the year with a slew of events coming up with the radio station. I get to see one of my favorites this weekend. Jeremy Horn is back in Michigan for 2 concerts in Ashley (near Saginaw) and then 1 in Flint.
Brooke is on break from school next week but I'm not sure how much we'll get to see her since she has a "huge" paper to write. We didn't get to visit with her this week either. JoJo has been pretty busy with homework too.
Mike is still employed and seems to feel that he's in a pretty good place right now. We just keep the faith that God will keep us covered.
It seems that the enemy has been attacking in huge ways these days but it always ends with God coming out on top. Keep praying for the safe return of our friend Diana Anderson's sister, Randa Jawhari that went missing 2/10 and for another testimony to God's greatness.

Baked Donuts

Have you tried these yet? Oh my! The recipe was on the side of the biscuit package. Can you say yum? All you do is cut holes in the middle of the biscuits, dip them in melted butter, roll them in sugar and bake. They warm up good the next day too. I'm wearing one or two on each bun.

Naomi update

Naomi has decided that she would much rather ride in her doll stroller than push her babies in it. She is beginning to use "her words" these days. Thank You is her most commonly used word which sounds more like Tahank yewh. She is very fond of Cheez-its and her preference to go barefoot proves there must be Chinese hillbillies too.

Let them eat cake

The Fellabaums were honored to celebrate Magen Taylor's 22nd birthday with her. Pizza and birthday cake were part of the festivities. We got her a bike helmet to wear when she rides her new bike that was ordered for her. I even personalized it with her name.