Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays to you all! This Christmas season felt as if it came to soon, kept us without ideas for gifts, found it hard to feel the Christmas spirit, and will hopefully sneak out as quickly as it arrived. Anyone else find the season a little less spirited?

We have much to be thankful this holiday. Everyone in our immediate family is healthy and safe. Our extended family is spending the Christmas weekend in the GR area, all together - the cousins are in Heaven! The outlook for 2010 is promising - both business wise and personally.

Looking back at the year 2009 leaves smiles on our faces. T1 and T2 had great school years; T3 had his 1st year in preschool @ CMU; T4 grew and changed almost daily. The summer held an amazing adventure for our family. SASSY was boarded by all the McGuirk clan for 2 weeks in the Bahamas then 2 weeks touring the west coast of Florida from Marathon north to Clearwater Beach. Wonderful memories, lots of photos, laughs and fun water times.

Santa brought the kids wonderful gifts; Mommy and Daddy too.

This morning, the 26th, was quiet in the Dean household as I left for a run. With a light dusting of snow and fairly smooth roads, I took off through the subdivisions. Running in this area is nothing like running at home; not a "mount" to be found in Mount Pleasant. Here, though, in the south side of Rockford, I enjoyed quiet subdivisions with many hills to challenge me. Mostly the solitude was a welcome event; sure the air was a bit crisp, but we do live in Michigan and nothing I haven't endured before. A few sprints up and down some very steep "mounts" left me feeling as though someone was stepping on my chest. While catching my breath it was a great feeling to look back and realize just how steep that hill is! Knowing the family was warm and snuggled in their beds gave me even more of a push to keep going to my goal. Being able to survive 3 sprints up Ryan's Valley Hill made me feel as though I needed to push myself just a bit more. So 2 more subdivisions saw my tracks before deciding my legs were just a bit cold. Turning around to go back the way I came led me to pass that Ryan's Valley Subdivision once more. Should I? Sure why not; so yes I ran down the hill for one more sprint back up. 65 minutes later I walked into the house cold, sweaty, and feeling tough. Believe me that hill is intimidating! Bring on the Christmas cookies now! No, after that thrilling of a run the last thing I am putting in my mouth is unhealthy calories.

T1 and T2 are enjoying cousin time and T3 is doing his own version of walking on his toes and his cast. And T4 is commuting from big kid cousin time to hanging out close to mom.

Happy Holidays to everyone out there. 2010 promises to be a comeback for our Michigan economy - or so the economists say... we'll see.

Oh boy this is a first

Yes, this is our family's first broken bone. We've had lots of stitches and staples, but no broken bones till now. What happened, you ask? Boys! That's how! Boys are rough and touch and that's how it was. Ty was playing indoor football/wrestling with his brothers and cousins and was - yes you guessed it - he was on the bottom of the pile. Sunday, November 29, 2009 was quite an experience. The tibia and fibula on his left leg were broken. Clean break says the Dr. and doesn't look like it will effect his growth plate in the knee area. That was good news. Ty was able to have his leg straightened under lite anesthesia at CMCH, here in Mt. Pleasant, so that was good too - no surgery. His Dr. was wonderful and very calm. Like he does this every day. (Actually he does).
When we left the Hospital, Rick and I were, let's just say, a little worried and anxious about what the next 4 to 6 weeks would be like. The first day and night were, umm... eventful. Between keeping him comfortable with pain meds and ice packs and pillows and keeping the rest of the kids from crying along with him... it was an emotional night. But we made it through. The 2nd night we had to take him into his Dr @ 11pm to get the cast cut in order to allow for the swelling. He was in such intense piercing pain from the cast being so tight on his swollen leg. And he was able to let us know that very well! So with the cast cut, we had to be a little bit more careful with him until another cast was put on. He and we survived and inside of one week we became quite attune as to how to pick him up, bath him, get him on the toilet, get him comfortable when the pain comes in waves, etc. Amazing how quickly you are able to adapt to sudden changes in your daily routine. Adjusting it has been for mom too; not used to staying home all day, every day. Sure mom does not work a full time job outside the home, but running the home is a full time job which requires one to be on the go all week! Even so, here we are, one week later, had an x-ray to check the bones, and more cast material put on top of the old cast that was cut. It is blue. We go back next week for another x-ray. More good news!

He received something to smile about, today, during this healing adventure. A wheelchair. Now for most people having to sit in a wheelchair would be traumatic; but not a child, I guess! We were able to rent a small wheelchair for him to use around the house. Yesterday he was doing an Army crawl and not listening to mom about taking it easy; now he can move himself around without having to ask to be carried or being brave and crawling (although it is funny to watch). His temperment has been unbelieveable, I think, for a 4 yr old. Of course he spent most of last week on the couches and mom's bed, and we were very tight on the pain med schedule. But really, up to this point, he has been content reading books, drawing in those write on/wipe off learning books, playing cards and games, doing puzzles, eating in bed, and sure, watching cartoons. Here is a link to a 3 minute watching him learn to use his chair. Enjoy! I promise to provide weekly updates on his healing process and anything else to report.
< href="http://">

What are we thankful for

Thanksgiving this year we spent in Orlando. We left MI Sat, 11/21 for the week. Yes, we know that the holiday is about being thankful and spending time with family... and that's just what we did. We took time to spend together: some may think we were selfish, and maybe so.
We had great weather - not beach or swimming weather - but very comfortable. Disney was, of course, overwhelming for our kids. It was for us too! Our last visit to Mickey Mouse Land was in 2005, Ty was just 4 months old. For Rick and I, it seems as we age, the ability to tolerate crowds diminishes. Magic Kingdom was so crowded that I don't think any of us truly enjoyed the day! Truly! It took so long to get anywhere. Can you believe out of 3 days visiting 3 parks, we did not get ONE character signature? Really! The lines were out of control. No recession down here, that's for sure. The sad thing is that I don't think Ty and Taryn even understood where they were. These two do not sit and watch movies like Tom and Trevor did at these ages. The older two know almost every Disney character, but not the younger ones. Taryn only knows who DORA is... not any of the Disney princess. Sad, but true. Ty likes "cowboy" who is actually Woody from Toy Story. See, he doesn't even know.
I am happy to say that Tom, Trevor, Ty and I visited the Hall of Presidents. This is an awesome experience. For anyone who has not visited this exhibit, the Presidents who are shown at the end of the program are wax figures. Many of them speak and in unbelievably accurate voices and let's just say unbelievably life like. Even Barak was there, speaking to us. I was proud to look over at each of their faces to see them completely engrossed in the spectacle. We talked about the exhibit after it was over and I was so glad they let me take them to see it. Another "must do" at Magic Kingdom is It's a Small World. This ride was fun for the older boys as I made them guess each country or region they saw as we toured this uniquely touching display of reality. Of course, Ty said "this is boring" about the dancing children in costume. Ha!
Saturday evening we fly back home. This has been a bonding vacation for us... in that I mean, Taryn bonded (attached) to Rick and Ty bonded (attached) to Julie! When not asking for a toy or candy, at least one of the 4 was crying, sobbing, or just plain whining, I think maybe they had a good time? Unsure, really. Who did we take this trip for? Them or us? That is the question!
We did enjoy an amazing turkey dinner at our timeshare. Dad did all the cooking and we spent Thursday - low key - no park that day. We devoured Dad's dinner and each of us went around the table saying what we were thankful for. It was very memorable.
What was the best part of our vacation? The little times where we laughed, tackled, tickled, chased and laughed some more. Sure being away from our family felt a tug at our hearts, however, we take this trip about every other Thanksgiving to step back and enjoy "family" time. For that, I am thankful. Thank you God for all that I have and all that I take for granted. I am truly blessed.

Taryn HOME 1 year today 10-16-09

That's right, 1 year ago today @ 11:30pm Taryn met her brothers and her Dad. We arrived at Flint airport tired and emotional. The year has been very smooth. Our first year's journey began with food. Getting Taryn to try new foods was easier than maybe most kiddos who come home. The sleep thing... well that's another story. We had the family bed for the first 9 months. She slept with us every night. We tired sleeping with her in her bed and sneaking out. We tried putting her to bed with each brother (that didn't last long, each brother kicked her out after the first couple of nights). Not surprising. Taryn has "asthma-type" symptoms which means that she cannot/is not labeled/diagnosed as having asthma until the age of 6. So we treat her symptoms exactly as we would if she did have asthma. If she gets a "bug" she will begin the coughing that so many people have. The cough is persistent, getting as bad as every other second. We began treating her symptoms with a neb machine in early January. Every time she the cough starts, we start the machine treatments. Every time she has been able to get better from her "bug" within days and we wean her off to her maintenance level (1 treatment every day). So anyway, back to the sleeping - her cough in those early months was thought by us as a way to get attention. We dismissed it, even told her to "STOP COUGHING". After doing some research, as all mom's do, we were overjoyed to have some relief to the coughing - simply treating her with asthma medication. So in August Taryn moved from sharing a bedroom with Tyler to her own bedroom. She has a "west wing" kinda bedroom; very long and very cool with neat attic ceiling angles, an awesome bathroom, a closet better that mom's, and a sweet play area/hideout just for girls who love pink. Oh, did I mention, she loves pink? Of course she does. What 2 year old little girl doesn't? (My niece Paige comes to mind...) And within days of moving into her new bedroom with a double size bed with lots of pink sheets, pillows, dollies, etc. she began sleeping in her own bed all night without us! I am sure that it was a combination of events that led to her being able to sleep alone, but the topper was her own pink room! I would say 5 of 7 nights a week she sleeps in her bed all night. Of course the sneak down in the middle of the night is not felt by mom and dad anymore as she stealthily climbs in between us and as we wake up find a small brown head laying on the pillow next to us.

And this week also marks the "baby book note : POTTY TRAINING DONE!" Yup, she has been dry all day/night for over two weeks now and actually is quite over the top about using the potty. Seems like every other minute she is on the potty... which is not a bad problem to have. So, during the day, our entire family, all 6 of us, use the potty! Yay! LOL

So as I woke up today to start my crazy morning of school prep, etc., the "babies" as they are still called - slept in. That is very unusual. Taryn is always up at 7am. She gets up before the big kids who have to go to school. Most mornings if she gets her way, she has eaten, gotten dressed, hair done and teeth brushed... all before 8:30am! OMG! I was able to send Dad and Tom and Trevor out the door, check on the babies, and lay back down! I don't think that has happened since she came home! We we got up and around for the day, we celebrated with donuts and fruit for breakfast; common maybe in some homes... but we don't have donuts here much - cuz mom eats them! Taryn spent the majority of her day with her brother Ty, and one of her favorite babysitters, Whitney. Mom got out of the house for a few hours which made everyone happy. Dinner was quiet. Ty fell asleep, Trevor had a play date with a friend after school, and Tom went to a neighbor's for dinner. So Mom, Dad and Sissy ate a quiet dinner of Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. Daddy picked up a small PINK cake to celebrate the occasion too. So as bed time nears, we will look at her pictures from Russia (a common occurrence) and ready an adoption story (also frequent).

What will the next year hold for Taryn? What adventures will she get to experience for the 1st time. Will she be a "terrible 3"? Keep checking back to read the details of her and our family as we try to share our journey of life, one ordinary day to another, one special day to another.

Ty first day of preschool

Ty began his 2nd year of preschool at CMU Learning Lab today. His school moved to the Education Building on campus at CMU. It is an incredible building and we feel very lucky to be in this program.

The preschool program became full day this year. Ty will go to school from 8:30 to 3:15 Monday through Thursday. He will have breakfast, lunch, rest, and snack there; they take awesome field trips around campus discovering many things that satisfy learning objectives set by the state.

Mom is sad to be without him for a full day, but is excited about his opportunities at this school. Ty also will receive speech therapy at his preschool, which is very convenient; no extra running for this service on mom.

Here are some pics of him on his first day. With new shoes, a new backpack and a new sweatshirt, he was very happy to go and was very relaxed when Mom left him for the day.

Home again

We are home again... from another 2 weeks in Florida. Wonderful time. Awesome weather. Great memories, laughs, shopping, sunbathing, and relaxing.

The kids were VERY ready to come home yesterday. We spent almost the entire day answering the question "When can we go" "What time are we going" "Can we go now". Obviously a 2 week vacation might be a bit too long for our entire family to be together; keeping in mind that we spent most of the month of July together - with no time apart. The first two weeks of July we were in the Bahamas on SASSY and the last two weeks of July we motored the west coast of Florida on SASSY.

I put a link to a photo album from Facebook over to the right, however, it is not working properly; hope to fix soon. If you have a facebook account and are my "friend" you will be able to see them; if not, you will have to wait till I figure it out :>

Nickelodeon Hotel and SASSY trip recap

Today we checked into the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando FL. We left SASSY this morning at Clearwater Beach and drove across to Orlando. We kept it a surprise to the kids and when we drove in, all the kids were asleep so the excitement I was hoping for was more of a sleepy arousal to "what mom?"

Taryn and Tyler would not touch Patrick (from Spongebob) so just big kids to have a picture with him. However, when Dora came out... well Taryn was so excited to see her, but did not want to touch her. Mommy had to help. Ty gave her hugs and told her he loved her! It was too cute. Then Taryn just had to have a Dora cookie... (the really hard ones that have an expiration date of like 2 yrs) but she only took 2 bites... "Yucky Mommy" she told me... Haa Haa

We will spend the day tomorrow (Tuesday) here at the Nick Hotel waterpark and then go to a Dora and Diego party. Then it is off to the JW Marriott to pamper Mom and Dad before coming home on Thursday.

The SASSY boat trip on the west coast of Florida included these ports of call:

Ft. Lauderdale to Marathon Cay

Marathon to Marco Island

Marco to Naples

Naples to Captiva Island

Captiva to Longboat Key

Longboat to St. Petersburg

St. Pete to Clearwater Beach

The days were filled with sun and 90 + degree weather. Some rain, but never lasting long. Smooth waters for each move we made. While we were docked in St. Pete, we took our time visiting Busch Gardens and Adventure Island (owned by BG). Our last day on the beach with everyone before they went home was on Clearwater beach and it was fabulous. HOT HOT HOT. Almost everyone suffered from mild sunburn. The sand on Clearwater Beach is even finer than sugar. Beautiful and very clean. Fabulous way to end the boat trip. SASSY spent the rest of the day in CB before the crew sets out to return to Ft. Lauderdale alone. No passengers on the way back. Everyone we were with on SASSY is back in Michigan; we decided to take a few days just for us before we head back for Dad's busy CMU student move in weeks.

We have seen many facebook posts about the weather at home... maybe we'll stay just a few more days....

family travels update

Our family has been traveling on SASSY again, this time in the Gulf of Mexico along Florida's west coast. Thursday night/Friday morning we arrived on SASSY in Marco Island, after another disaster of a trip trying to get to Florida. Our trip began Thursday, July 23rd, in Flint with an 11 am flight. That flight got delayed; after waiting for another, we did make it to Atlanta. Another flight delay left us waiting in the airport for what seemed like days. The plane was eventually loaded with passengers about 7pm, and left the runway at 9pm. Arriving in Tampa (please not that Tampa was NOT our original destination) at 11pm, getting the last car... seriously, the last car (so they said) and started the trip south to Marco Island. 2 1/2 hours later we crawled 4 tired kids and 2 very testy parents onto the boat and made our way to bed. We left Marco Island for Naples on Friday mid day, and stayed there in the Naples Boat Club, 4 blocks off of 5th Avenue until Sunday morning. SASSY then moved north to Ft. Myers area; Sanibel Island - Captiva. It is beautiful here! We are at South Seas Plantation Resort at the end of the island. This place is really great! We spent Sunday afternoon all in the pool, all of us - big kids and little kids. It was so relaxing. Lots of laughs, splashes, and fun. Tomorrow, Monday, Uncle Pat is taking kids fishing. I guess there is great fishing here. As for mom, she is working on her tan and reading book 2 of the twilight series... seriously! Why did I get started on that? Till next time...

Ty is 4 today

Happy Birthday Tyler! Ty gets to celebrate his 4th birthday on SASSY in the Bahamas! We woke up to a beautiful blue sky with crystal turquoise water and another hot sunny day. Ty picked out "Handy Manny" themed birthday supplies, so we began our day making cupcakes for everyone, then made awesome pancakes for all the kids to eat for breakfast. Ty loves to cook; he cracks the eggs, stirs the batter, the works... he loves to help. Soon we will be headed to Atlantis' resorts man-made lagoon/beach to ride paddle boats and have a beach scavenger hunt for the kids. Dinner tonight outside on the back of SASSY, cupcakes and Ben & Jerry's ice cream will top off the menu, and a few small presents to open (more at home... too big to fly here). He has been infatuated with mom's camera lately, taking actually some pretty good pictures, so his "BIG" present is his very own "real" camera... memory stick and all.

Today is Wednesday, day 8 of our 2week vaca... we are all doing well... enjoying the relaxation, the pools, the beach, the resort food, etc. Wishing everyone could enjoy it with us!

Can't post any pics up to the web; internet too slow. So just use your imagination :)

Happy 4th from us!

Independence Day is celebrated by our family this year in the Bahamas! That's right... we are on SASSY in the Atlantis Resort Marina on Paradise Island, Nassau Bahamas. We are enjoying fabulous hot sunny weather with our family. We were able to bring along 2 babysitters for the kids (9 of them) and us adults will be able to enjoy some dinners and evening entertainment. Last night, July 3rd, Rick, Julie, Chuck, Jennifer and Sandy saw Reba McEntire, here at Atlantis in concert. We enjoyed a fabulous japanese dinner (sushi, yum!) and saw the concert, then went to a new club that just opened recently and danced the night away to an awesome DJ. Our sitters were happy to report this morning that all 9 children behaved very well and went to bed as told. Today, July 4th, we woke up to rainy skies and clouds; which to much of our relief was a good thing... you see we all have had lots of sun over the past few days. Tonight, the Atlantis resort will put on fireworks for the USA Independence Day, however, the Bahamas celebrate their Independence Day on July 10th; so we will see another fireworks display then too! SASSY is very beautiful and more spacious than the last girl, offering different amenities this time that we did not have before. We are all sleeping well and eating well and enjoying the sun, pools, and Caribbean music.

Happy 4th to all of you bloggers: more to report soon. Pictures are not uploaded yet; still on the camera.

Tom is away at camp

Tom, 10 1/2 yrs old, went to camp today. Springhill Camp, Evart MI, is an awesome Christian, exciting activity based camp. He will be there 5 days and 5 nights; home on Friday. He is at camp with 2 cousins(Nick and Ginger) and 2 friends(Gavin Percha and Nick Riggs). Tom went to this camp last year and was eager to attend again this year. If you have time, click on the link and check it out... it is an impressively run, clean camp with phenomenal staff and volunteers. Here he is with one of his counselors, Luke, and with his cousin and friends (Yes, Luke's hair is a red mohawk). We get to log into the website daily and email Tom and see pictures of him too. This year Tom is very excited to be there with kids he knows; last year he was very brave and stayed in a cabin where he knew no one. We are very proud of Tom and can't wait to hear his stories when he gets home.

Family updates

Lots has happened since our last post. Trevor completed his First Holy Communion on Sunday May 3rd, Taryn was Baptized on Sunday May 10th, and Mother's Day. Baseball has been going well for Tom and his team. McGuirk Sand sponsored his team this year so the team colors are "mcguirk" royal blue and white.

This Saturday, May 16th, is FREE PLAY SAND and Community Day at McGuirk Sand. If you are local to Mt. Pleasant you will know what I am talking about and will want to mark your calendars and come on Saturday sometime. Free food, play sand for the kids, large piles for the kids to climb, etc. Good times for all!

We also want to ask our fellow bloggers to pray for a family that just lost their Dad/Husband. Tom's friend (10 years old) is in shock, of course, and we ask for prayers for his family during this difficult time. Tom's friend has two older sisters too. Mom is a wonderful person and needs all the support she can get, so a few prayers from above will be welcomed.

I also ask for prayers for our son Tom during this time. He has not had to deal with death yet and is very sad for his friend and I'm sure confused also.

McGuirk kids photo shoot link

Saturday, April 11th, we took the kids to our wonderful photography studio in Mt. Pleasant for some fun pictures of the kids. We brainstormed over outfits and poses and the like for many weeks prior... wanting the day to be just perfect. You may ask "How can anything be perfect with four kids and a camera"? Well, you are right, however, below, for a limited time, is the link to take a look at the proofs online from our photo shoot.

You judge for yourself how well they did...

P.S. The pictures of Taryn alone are for her 6 month home anniversary.

Enjoy.

Here’s how to get in:

www.Guysanddollsphotography.com

Click on CLIENT PROOFING (all the way to the right)

Under VIEW AN EVENT (purple):

u/n: McGuirk29033
p: 13344

then click on webshow

*Remember, this is for a limited time. Eventually they will not be available for viewing.

Trevor is CONFIRMED

Saturday, April 18th, we watched Trevor become Confirmed in the Catholic faith along with 139 other children from our parish and surrounding parishes. The temperature was cool, which made it comfortable in our Church (no air-conditioning). Trevor received a red stole, was blessed and brushed with crisim oil by the Bishop.

Another one of the catholic sacraments, Trevor, who is in 2nd grade, will also have his First Communion on Sunday, May 3rd.

Trevor's sponsor for his Confirmation was Daryl McCormick. Daryl is a family member; he is Julie's Uncle. Daryl is in his Sophmore/Junior year at CMU, studying Finance. He is a great kid and is gracious enough to come over and wrestle with the kids now and again.

This is Trevor with Bishop Carlson.

This was a busy day. Mass in the morning and a baseball scrimmage for Tom's team at 1:00pm. We did not have a formal party for this sacrament; we will celebrate Trevor's achievements along with Taryn and cousin Brandon's baptism on May 10th.

We are very proud of Trevor, attending weekly religious education, and sometimes teaching us things he learns there.

Spring Break photos

Look below on the right margin for a link to our Florida Spring Break photos.

Have a great day!

Ty and the butterfly world

Ty is so proud of his butterfly, at Butterfly World in Pompano Beach. We went there while on Spring Break in Florida.

A typical day in the McGuirk household

So, I am seeing a pattern in my posts... I only post when something happens in our family. Makes sense, right... why post everyday routine days?

Well, today is Thursday. Let me describe to you a typical day:

6:45 am mom awake, dog outside

7:00am start waking up big kids (usually takes 30 minutes!)

7:30am downstairs for breakfast, make lunches, finish homework, study spelling words, etc.

8:00am brush teeth, pack backpacks

8:20am Dad and big kids head off to school, Mom cleans up breakfast round #1

8:30am "babies" (that's their nickname) wake, eat breakfast (round #2)

9:00am watch Dora the Explorer, Mom starts a load of laundry (daily at least one load, if not more)

9:30am baths and Mom shower, get dressed.

11:00am switch laundry, play time - outside time - Mom's computer time

11:30am start lunch

12:00pm babies eat lunch, get Tyler ready for preschool (Mon thru Thurs)

12:20 pm load up and take Tyler to preschool

12:30pm either run a couple errands or head home for Taryn's nap

1:00pm Taryn naps, Mom cleans up dishes, switches laundry, check's email, enjoys "no kid" time

3:00pm Taryn usually naps till 2:30 or 3:00

3:15pm Taryn and Mom load up and head to Tyler's school to pick him up

3:45pm Pick up big kids from school, head home

4:00pm Snacks for all kids, homework, cartoons, outside time, Mom thinking about dinner (or rather about NOT cooking dinner) :)

5:00pm Start dinner or make plans for what to do for dinner, kids continue to play outside or downstairs or with the neighborhood kids

6:00pm Dinner - sometimes with all of us, sometimes just Mom and kids, sometimes just Dad and kids - depends on the evening (mom @ workout or dad @ meeting)

7:00pm Not really sure where this hour goes... one minute it is 7pm, the next it is 8pm... How that happens, not sure

8:00pm baths, showers, etc for everyone (some days babies take two baths), PJ's, feed chameleon, snacks, cartoons, reading for school, brush teeth

9:00 babies go to bed in Mom and Dad's bed

9:30 lights out for all kids, Mom and Dad catch up on computer time, laundry folding, dishes, mail, sometimes we even get a chance to talk just the two of us! Imagine that! :)

Somewhere between 10pm and midnight Mom and Dad move babies to their beds upstairs, and get to sleep... some days it is right at 10pm; some days... Mom is up alone, enjoying the quiet house, preparing for the next day...

AND SO WE WAKE UP AND DO IT AGAIN!

So, when in there are we supposed to "slow down and smell the roses?" What roses are we to smell? The multiple poopy diapers that I change throughout the day? Not sure who said that... obviously they did not have kids!

Sometimes we fit in dance time... we put mom's iPod on the speakers and turn it up really loud and dance... we tickle, we laugh, we take pictures, we chase each other, we have pillow fights, we build forts with blankets, we get all the toys out and don't pick them out until the end of the day... sometimes we break the routine and mom skips a shower, or even better... mom doesn't do laundry that day! Hah! (Only for the next day the piles are bigger...) I guess those are the roses to smell... the times that we don't do the routine, expected things when we are supposed to; those are the times that make having kids truely enjoyable. I only wish there were more of them. Thank goodness someone invented VACATIONS. Those are all "smell the roses" kinds of days...

This was, of course, a typical week day... the weekends are a different story. Somehow when the big kids are home and daddy too; well, the days are just not the same.

Every mom reading this can relate. And those of you who fit in an 8 hour day in an office... well... the routine is even tighter for you.

So, as we celebrate today being the last day of Winter... as the saying goes... "TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES".

Have a great day.

Trevor is 8 years old today

Trevor celebrated his 8th birthday all weekend long. It started with a party at school, treats and fun activities. Then on Saturday, his cousins, Nick and Ginger arrived for the weekend. So they played all day, then we headed to a community basketball center, new for our city, for the birthday party. We played and played and played for over 2 1/2 hours; basketball, dodgeball, interactive games, running, chasing, laughing, etc. Pizza, hot dogs, pop, and cake were all there too. Trevor had all his cousins there and 5 other friends, all his siblings and plenty of adults to control this wild gang. Then after the party, cousins came home with us to spend the night. 11pm mom had all of them asleep and everyone cracked open their eyes about 9am Sunday morning. Dad prepared the hardiest breakfast around... pancakes, bacon, sausage, the works... they enjoyed that and spent lots of time playing outside in the rain... yes, I said, in the rain. Kids right? Oh well, everyone was safe and they had lots of fun. The fun continued with dinner at our Mexican restaurant here in town; just our family where they sang Happy Birthday to Trevor and surprised him with some yummy ice cream and sprinkles. So, how does it feel when I think about Trevor turning 8? I am amazed at the difference between Tom at the age of 8 and Trevor at the age of 8. I am proud of him for so many reasons and yet I look at baby pictures and wonder where did the years go? Have I been so busy living life and keeping things together that I have missed all the time? I am so thankful for all my pictures. I suppose all parents feel this way and only stop to smell the roses a few times each year. Maybe we all should try to slow down a little bit more. Happy Birthday Trevy... Mom and Dad love you!

Boys will be boys

So, yeah... so the saying goes; Tom had an accident sledding and ended up at the ER with a gash on the top of his head. After multiple xrays and a CT Scan to make sure no neck and spine injuries were there, we watched as our brave 10 year old endured several needle sticks to numb his head and then 7 staples to close the laceration. He was sledding with a friend down a driveway hill and hit the top of his head (face first) on a reese hitch of a pickup in the driveway. I know... sounds graphic. His friend was so worried about him, all day, and even came over to see him after we got home and brought him a gift... very nice boy and good friend to Tom.

Tom spent most of the day on the couch, had some pain medicine and lots of TLC from his family. He was able to sleep all night and is up and moving about today.

So it goes down in the family memory books as another day to remember. Tom was incredibly brave and we are so very proud of him, and he has a great show-n-tell for Monday morning!

4 minutes of your day today

Please let this video touch your heart today. Click on the link below: Enjoy

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c00ad5d668617b3ffd65

Ty is in preschool

So, yeah, my 3 1/2 year T-Y started preschool last week at Central Michigan University's Human Growth and Development Laboratory. Long name for a preschool run on campus and staffed with full time teachers and CMU students. This has been a hard decision for us... Ty has a delay in speech and is somewhat delayed in other behavioral areas also. We researched the school, talked with some past student parents and also observed the classroom in December. We decided to give it a try. What a wonderful opportunity it will be for him! We are very excited for his growth at this school. Ty goes to school 4 afternoons a week for 3 hours each day. He just finished his 2nd week of school this term and is very well adjusted to the class, routine, friends, etc. He makes a picture in art every day to bring home, he plays outside with kids everyday, he receives speech therapy 2x week, and is genuinely happy about going every day (so far!) Yay!
Thomas and Trevor did not attend this preschool when they were young. They went to a preschool housed in the First United Methodist Church, here in Mt. Pleasant. We were very happy with this preschool, however, decided to try this school at CMU with Ty. He will be in school well after Tom and Trevor are out in June, which will be hard for him to understand if everyone else is at home, swimming in the pool, etc., and he still has to go to school; we will cross that bridge when June comes, I guess. His last day of school is something like June 24th or close to it... Anyway, I just wanted to share that bit... we are noticing changes and growth in his words and sentences everyday... He is a very happy little boy. He is very head strong, yet the most cuddly, giant baby I have ever known. Some days are a real challenge getting through to him and other days, well, we just have some really fun days together. I could not imagine what our life would be like without his dynamic personality in it. He definitely is the spice of our family recipe! Oh, TY... you are just a gem... truly you are.

Weekly update

So, it is Friday night, and how exciting is my life... I am home on the computer! The big boys (Tom, Trevor and Dad) are downhill skiing tonight and I am home with the little ones (Ty and Taryn). So, Ty had his first experience with a head injury and a doctor! Thursday afternoon he was at home and fell and hit the back of his head on an upholstered ottoman. The cut is on the back of his head and we felt it necessary to be looked at by a physician. It is obviously where there is lots of hair and hard to see just how deep of a cut it was, so after we got the bleeding to stop, we took him to see the doctor. We all decided 1 staple was sufficient in helping it heal properly. So with Dad and Mom and the nurse holding him down... the doctor moved very quickly and inserted the staple into his skin. Afterwards, he kicked, bit, hit and screamed at anyone he could reach... I tried several times to get a good picture, to no avail. The camera would not cooperate, then Ty would not cooperate. So, just use your imagination.

Next weekend, Rick and Julie fly off to Las Vegas for 5 days! I know! Seriously! I can't believe it either! We have awesome family willing to do the childcare for 4 crazy kids for 5 days! Yikes! So, other news, mom is wrapping up a PTO fundraiser for our elementary school and starting a small part of the giant workload for our annual elementary school carnival. Dad just had a crazy week with meetings, a HUGE student leasing party where they had tremendous turnout and lots and lots of apartment leases signed... Bella, well she is just... no news from her. Oh, she got a new collar recently (CMU Chippewas!). Taryn is doing well. She had some immunizations last week and will be caught up with all of them next week; had a visit to a pediatric endocrinologist this week for her thyroid... will post more on that condition as information becomes available. Trevor and Tom both had great report cards for this past marking period... Trevor's reward: some college football jerseys ordered online. Tom's reward: CASH! (please, he's 10!)

Ty started preschool at CMU's Human Growth and Development Lab this past week. He did absolutely wonderful! He transitioned very well and was excited to go each afternoon. He will attend this preschool 4 afternoons a week, about 3 hours each day. He will also receive his speech therapy there, like he was receiving through the school system, which has made such a difference in his behavior; he is better understood, therefore does not act out quite as much because we can mostly understand him.

So, we have no plans for the weekend... packing and hanging out with family... plan to love on that new nephew and I'm sure have some big kid friends over to play; but other than that... pretty low key... looking forward to some VEGAS time! We have tickets to see Donny & Marie and Elton John, while we are there. It is somewhat of a business trip; Rick has a trade show to go to for Student Apartment Rentals/Management, so while he does that... I'll be relaxing in the spa! Yay!

All for now... honestly, I have been playing on Facebook for about 2 weeks now and I am addicted to it! It's awesome, check it out!

Brandon Leroy McGuirk

Our new nephew, Brandon Leroy, was born tonight! Mom, Jennifer's water broke shortly after 7pm and he was born at Central Michigan Community Hospital about 9:20pm or so! Yup! like 2 or 3 pushes! Seriously! Here he is with his big sisters, Paige (age 7) and Alexis (age 5). Mom Jennifer and Dad Chuck are very proud. I (Aunt Julie) ran up to the hospital to see him tonight while (Uncle) Rick stayed home with kids because he is sick, so he will have to wait to see him.

He weighed 7# even and is 19 3/4 in long. I think lots of thick black hair and beautiful skin. Jennifer is like a baby machine! You did great again!

Weekly update

Yay! So, my sis-in-law, Jennifer, who has been preg forever... her water just broke! We will have a new McGuirk in our family soon! We think it will be a boy, which is wonderful since they already have two girls in their family; and another boy to carry on the family name will be wonderful too.

So, my scrapbooking weekend was great. I am officially going "digital";scrapbooking that is. All us girls got lots of photos scrapped, had lots of laughs, some of us had wine, some had only water. Anyway, these weekends are cherished by me and again will look forward to another one before the summer months come.

Another bit of info, mom (me) just finished a workout program with her trainer and several other gals and had really good results! It was a 10-day program doing TurboJam, either live workouts or at home. Really fun workouts and rewarding too! Rick and Julie are going to do a "Couples" Bootcamp starting Feb 1st for the entire month. Workouts will be with each other and other couples. Food plan, workouts, extra "homework", the works... We both have goals to work towards... mid-March we are going to Ft. Lauderdale for two weeks with the fam... TWO WEEKS on the beach... if that is not an inspiration I don't know what is.

So, tonight we are in the basement trying to have a family movie night. We are all in PJ's and looking for a movie we can all agree on. Saturday night we have a sitter so we can go out with friends... Keeping the balance is a must in this crazy family!

Mom away for the weekend

Mom is a scrapbooker. I love to look at photos, take photos, and organize photos. Hence, scrapbooking weekends are a necessity to keep up. This weekend, mom joined 7 other gals at a lake cottage for the weekend to have some "girl" time and work on family photos. So, Dad and Grandma are in charge of kids. Grandma and Ty are enjoying some alone time, while Dad keeps the troops in line at home. Friday was family movie night at our elementary school and it was sponsored by the PTO organization, so I left scrapbooking to attend the movie night. It was a nice time enjoyed by over 50 families in the gymnasium. After that, mom drove back to the cottage to join the gals and scrap-ed until 1:30am. Up again at 9am to get started again. That online photo album that I mentioned earlier will hopefully be up and working after this weekend. Howz Dad doing? Just fine, I bet...

Home back in MIchigan

Saturday started out with early morning (up at 4am, at the airport by 5:30am) travels from Ft. Lauderdale back to Michigan. Our flight was delayed a while on the tarmac and we were worried we would miss our connection in Atlanta; when we landed and found out our plane was boarded and waiting just for us... well Julie ran through 2 concourses with 4 kids and carry - on's to make it to our gate. I do mean, RAN. Rick had to wait for the stroller to come up from below the plane so we took off running with out him. We all had to use the restroom, the bags were heavy and the "babies" were not happy... but we all made it and the plane waited for us. We arrived home in Flint on time, about noon, to 21 degree weather from 75 degree weather. Bummer.

Saturday remained uneventful with Tom taking off as soon as he could to a friend's house for an overnight stay and Trevor over to Cousin Paige's house for some "away time" from the fam... (can't blame them...) the "babies" were stuck with mom unpacking bags and doing laundry, while Dad went to town for a few hours.

We have not posted any pics lately because Julie is trying to get lots of pics organized on an online photo album site that will link through blogspot, so the blog posts will not be so long. Anyway, stay tuned for pics from the beach and others, as I get them organized.

I took a really cute video of the kids at the beach... can wait to share it with you.

Monday we look forward to getting back to school and routines, a new gym/tumble class for all the kids (after school) and the big kids start ski school at Snowsnake Mountain. Julie is getting organized for a scrapbooking weekend coming up soon, and as always, PTO activities keep her very busy. Christmas decorations need to be put away, both outside and inside, and some Christmas presents still need to be opened and put together.

So, we hope all of you had a safe and fun New Year's Eve with family and friends... Here's to 2009... may it be the best year yet.

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Yes, that's what it felt like trying to get our family to Florida! December 26th started out as any travel day does... bags packed, house clean, laundry done, Bella to the kennel and on the road on time (usually). Anyway, our flight to Florida started at Flint airport and when we left the house, the flight was on time (does this give you a hint...?)

Arriving at the airport, we were told that our Delta flight was CANCELLED. Not delayed. Just cancelled. Apparently Atlanta airport (our connection) had LOST it's radar! Yeah! I first thought, *$#&!?*, then I thought, gee, glad we were not already in the air when Atlanta's tower Lost it!, so anyway, after about 1 1/2 hours negotiating with Delta's ticket counter, we were booked on a flight out of Grand Rapids airport at 6am Saturday morning. Fine we thought. We will drive to GR, get a hotel and get to bed early and get on the plane Saturday morning. No biggie, we can handle a small delay in our travel plans. (or so we thought)

So, we do as planned, get to the airport at 5am, Rick drops us off in the rain at the door, with no porter to help with the bags, we get all the bags in the terminal, Rick drives off to park the car and guess what... yup, THE FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED!
FOG DELAY. This time it took us 2 1/2 hours at the Delta ticket counter and when we walked away, the flight they booked us on was out of Chicago on MONDAY morning. Well, earlier when I said *$#*%?!, that does not describe how we felt when we drove away from GR airport. The Fog and warm rain on Saturday was not going to let any flights in to or out of any mid west airports. None. None of out Detroit, Cincinnati, Chicago; for days.

So, we drove away from the airport, went to a restaurant to eat some breakfast and figure out our plan. We decided to drive. Yes, the car was packed, the kids were fed, and we were absolutely determined to get to Florida to have our vacation! So we headed the car south, programmed the navigation system for Ft. Lauderdale and started our journey. (I know most of you reading this are thinking... are they insane?) You are all entitled to your own opinions...

So, after we drove for a while we called friends and family to tell them what was going on with us. A wonderful friend told us to head for Nashville and get a flight from there to Ft. Lauderdale. We called another friend to look for flights out of Nashville for us and soon we again had a smile on our face as we received a refund from Delta to cover the cost of the flight from Nashville to Ft. Lauderdale; so we booked the tickets for Sunday morning, 6am.

We drove all day, stopping every few hours for snacks, potty, etc. and made it to downtown Nashville for dinner about 7pm. The kids were absolutely awesome in the car all the way there. Rick drove straight thru and Julie kept everyone happy in their seats. Our friend insisted we stay at her place in downtown Nashville and so we took her up on the offer. We found a great restaurant to eat at in downtown... Old Spaghetti Factory; where we all ate the best spaghetti ever. We parked our truck at our friend's place and got the kids washed up and in bed by 10pm... we needed to be up again at 3am, so only a few hours of sleep for all of us.

We succeeded in waking the kids up and getting loaded up in the taxi to the airport on time. We checked in at the airport and were confirmed on the flight... Good, we are thinking... almost there. Our flight took off on time at 6am (7am our time... they are an hour behind us in Nashville) and we were on the ground in sunny warm Ft. Lauderdale by 9:30am Sunday morning, a day and a half later than planned.

Jim (Uncle Jim) picked us up and fed us breakfast and got us to our timeshare resort on the beach and we were settled and in the room, later than originally planned, but we made it!

So getting our family home from Flint airport this coming Saturday and getting our truck back from Nashville are minor technicalities... it will all work out in the end... we always have a plan.

The title of our blog is pretty appropriate for this post. Family adventures...

We will post pics of our trip after we get home. The internet connection here at the timeshare is not great.