Oh, No!

While we were eating dinner tonight, Jessie asked for the spoon that the macaroni and cheese was scooped out with. Unfortunately, I had already licked the spoon clean and threw it in the dishwasher. When I told her that, she looked at me, and with much drama, said, "OH, NO!"  Cracked me up! She just stared at me and again said, "Oh, no!"

After dinner a beep was heard coming from the basement and I figured it was one of two smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detector. I called Jon down to go see and fix it and Jess kept saying, "No! No!" I finally explained to her that there was no fire - just the alarm needed a new battery. She quietly said, "Oh, OK."  She's too much.

She had a good day with Brenda - swimming, Rosco The Clown and a million kids at the center, Subway for lunch and a walk at the twp. hall. Brenda said she did really well with all the kids, but wanted to touch all the babies.

Diane came for the second day and worked on the patio paver project. Jon helped her. Lois had an appointment this morning (she's in the States for a couple weeks) then we went shopping all afternoon.

Girls Day Out

Jessie had a good day with Rachel. They read books and watched Full House episodes on TV. Jessie vacuumed the carpets and put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher. They ate lunch at home and then Rachel took Jessie to the show to see Inside Out. Rachel said that Jessie really liked it and seemed to enjoy herself. Especially the popcorn and pop! That's my girl.

Diane came and began on our landscaping project in the back yard. I had a brilliant idea to put down rubber pavers in the area next to the water fountain. I just figured you'd slap them down on the ground and away you go. NOT! I really do have good ideas, but I don't do the research to see what it takes. Luckily I have a sister who likes projects like this and is an excellent worker.

I spent the day doing paperwork for Jessie and completing a year report for Medicaid that is due July 1. That took a while.

Sunday

Jon worked so I was home with Jess. We went to Walgreen's, Benny's for breakfast, then Meijer's for gas. When we got home I sat and rested for a bit then put dinner in the oven. Julie came at 2:30 p.m. and we had dinner together, talked, then watched a movie. Jessie has been very quiet all day on her iPad and with her cards. Tomorrow she'll be busy with Rachel. I turned the air conditioner off this morning and opened the windows and back door. It's a nice 67 degrees outside, with 57 for tonight's low. This reminds me. My mom kept track of each day's weather for years. Not quite sure why, but her diaries always began and ended with the actual weather data. Interesting.

Today's Post ... Saturday

Just in case you only check today's post, I blogged Thursday's and Friday's earlier today, so scroll down to see what we did.

Today it has rained all day and been very windy. A lot cooler, as well. Jess and I usually go out on Saturday, but I just didn't want to. She wasn't very happy about staying home, but, oh well.

While she sat on the floor and watched her iPad all day and played with her Apples2Apples cards, I did 7 loads of wash, made breakfast, lunch and dinner, put away everything from our 2-day trip, blogged, read, and did a bit of paperwork. Unfortunately, while I was stretching a blouse I was hanging up, I pulled something in my fixed up shoulder. It hurts like crazy. I certainly hope I didn't put another tear in my rotator cuff. That would not be good.

Catching Up - Part 2 ... Friday's Blog

Jessie was the first one up, as always. Jon next, then me, as always. After all, I was on vacation!

Their hot breakfast was outstanding and we were able to sit under the huge tree in their eating area. If I'm not mistaken, Lois and I sat at that very same table 2 years ago.

We packed up, loaded up and left the hotel around 10:00 a.m. We stopped at the Village Bakery, also on the property. I am soooooo glad that it's 150 miles away! I've never had such good bakery items. It would be too much of a temptation.











I really didn't want to just go right home and we were close by 1:00 p.m. so I stayed on I-75 and we went to Great Lakes Crossings. We ate lunch in the food court then we went to Michigan's Sea Life Aquarium. I'm glad we spent the money - it was worth the cost. It was really nice. If you have kids, or if you like aquariums, you need to visit this one.


You will notice that we had Jessie in her transport chair. As you know, there's no problem with her walking and it would have been good exercise for her. However, being in large open areas with a lot of people would have been terrifying for her. It's too much stimulation and she would either have run or sat down on the floor and refused to budge. We've learned all this the hard way. The transport chair is the way to go, especially in a mall. I think it makes her feel enclosed and safe.

At one of the exhibits, a worker let Jessie touch an African Star Fish that she had in a plastic box. All the exhibits were awesome and we all had a good time. I especially enjoyed watching the sting rays. They are so graceful in the water. (I remember watching them in the ocean when I was in Hawaii another life-time ago.)

We left and picked up a Little Caeser's Pizza for dinner. There was no way I was fixing any thing to eat. I also took a 2-hour nap from 6-8:00 p.m. And, no, it didn't wreck my night's sleep. I slept from 11:30 to 8:30 a.m. with no trouble.

Well, that brings my blog up-to-date, and I also need to thank Rachel for house and dog sitting. Without her willingness to be here, we wouldn't be able to go any where. Thanks, Rachel!

Catching Up ... Thursday's Blog

On Thursday the kids and I left at 8:00 a.m. on a 2-day vacation. Several years ago when I went with Lois to visit a supporting church in Pennsylvania, we went to Sauder Heritage Inn and Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio. It was such a nice place I wanted to take the kids sometime.

Eric J. Sauder was the founder of the Sauder furniture companies and non-profit Sauder Village, currently led by the second and third generations of Eric's family. If you've never been there, you need to make it a priority to go. Look it up on the internet: www.saudervillage.org.

Bill and I purchased NUMEROUS Sauder furniture throughout our married life. In fact, both kids still have their
Sauder bedroom outfits.

Since it's only about 150 miles from our house, we were in town by 12:30 p.m. (we had our traditional vacation breakfast at Tim Horton's and needed to stop several times for a bathroom break!). We had lunch at McDonald's then we checked in to our room.

Jessie immediately picks out her bed then gets either her Apples2Apples cards out or her ABC tiles and either uses the iPad or watches a movie on her small DVD player. She enjoys this very much.

We rested for about an hour then since it wasn't raining (it had been predicted to rain all day) we went to the Village and spent a couple hours there. (It is a smaller version of Greenfield Village.) When we were done we went to the Barn Restaurant (on the property) and had their famous buffet. When we were done, we WERE done, and went back to the room to relax.

Throughout the Inn there are beautiful quilts and paintings on their walls. There are also numerous fish ponds and waterfalls with a nice bench to sit and watch. It is just a really neat place.

An Unbelievably Busy Day

I had Stephen Ministry tonight and now it's 10:55 p.m. Jess is still on the couch on her iPad. Jon just went to bed. The dishwasher just got started a few minutes ago. The last load of laundry was hung up or put away. I am more than ready for bed.

Jess spent the day with Debbie. Her last day with her for awhile. She's going on vacation for the month of July and Rachel will take her place. For the second day in a row, Jessie slept in really late. Yesterday it was 10:10 and today Debbie had to wake her at 10:40 a.m.! Now, that's something. She's been pretty happy, too, all day.

I went and had a pedicure and Jon went to a couple of stores for equipment for work. Diane came over and the 3 of us went to Menard's to get supplies to put down rubber pavers in the back yard that Di is going to do for us. The rest of the afternoon before I had to leave for SM just flew by. Like I said, I am more than ready for bed!