What a Crazy Day!

There's a reason this blog is coming up a day late. I had absolutely no energy to put it up yesterday. By the time 8:30 came along, we were settling down for a deep slumber.

To back up a bit, our plans for the weekend were changed a bit when I got the phone call on Friday that Michael (my twin sis' hubby) was headed for the hospital for a probable appendectomy. That probability turned into certainty Friday night as they removed his appendix - that is normally the size of your pinky finger, but Michael's was the size of corndog! Good thing they got in there when they did. Fortunately, the removal was complete, no rupturing, but given its size, it took a little more muscle cutting than is standard - and Michael's recovery has been a bit slower going.

When all of this began to unfold, Michele and I talked about me coming to pick up the kiddos - meeting with her in Salem. So, Stephietoo was my co-passenger on Friday as we picked up the cousins, meeting at Costco, just as Michele was receiving the phone call that the surgery was successful.

Friday night, even after returning, was stressful. We had agreed to take part in a friends' garage sale- providing/selling concession stand treats, as well as throwing in a number of things we wanted to unload. Through the week, I made 4 pans of brownies, 6 batches of Rice Krispie treats, and 8 loaves of zucchini bread.....hopeful to let the kids have their hands at earning a bit of money. Unfortunately, all of this took some organizing, and with three extra kids, we didn't get to bed until close to midnight. Throw in a crazy night terror on Traig's part about an hour later (no worries, kiddo, it was a stressful day for you too!) and I was a walking zombie come Saturday morning.

But, no time for that....way too much to get done. Because, while the kids were manning their "stand" with Daddy, I had to be at the church to host a table of 8 for our Womens' Ministry Style Show.

I was proud of the kids - apparently Traig was the hardest worker, so he got to earn a little sales money himself....

As for the Style Show - couldn't have asked for a better table group. The first pic shows the "Three Stephs", how fun is that? Then, there's a shot of Julie Fulton and her daughter Lucy - I've enjoyed every one of the few encounters I've had with Julie, and hope for a lot more! Finally, we were blessed with the company of the mom, aunt and cousin of my college friend, Kara. Based on that last pic, you can definitely see the resemblance of Kara and her mom! Kara was a part of the "Style Through the Decades" show - one of the members of the team that put it all together. She's modeling an outfit from the 90's....... The production was very well put together.





Both the Style Show and garage sale ended at noon, so that allowed us to plan to meet at the house at 1:00 with Keith, Julie and Micah for the "do-over" boat trip that had failed before.

This time, the boat started (we later found out that nothing had been wrong with the boat, we just didn't try long enough to get it started.....grrr). First up, is Micah. While her jumps are impressive, even more so are her moves along the wake - demonstrating her amazing skills at surfing. It was a lot of fun to watch, but not so easy to catch on still shots.....




Next up, Keith - in all of his amazing glory. What can you say to these stunts, other than WOW? And, another wow goes out to Julie for catching all of this on film.




Finally, a shot of Julie - an official wakeboarder now. That girl was so determined trying to "get up" (yesterday was her first attempt). Her hands and knuckles are so swollen and achy today because of how hard she gripped and the torque from the boat pull. But, she didn't give up, listened to everyone's "helpful" words of encouragement, and eventually demonstrated her natural skills and finesse on the water.


I love this shot of Brayden and the girls. Brayden was Ellie's favorite while we were on the boat - particularly after he had her sit on his lap on the intertube. The 5 kids did great for the 4 hours we were out there. Toward the end, Brayden was telling the girls stories that had them obviously well entertained.

And, get a load of this stud! Once again, first try, perfectly "up". He only did one short pass as the water was sooooo cold and the temps only got to the upper 60's. The other boarders had full body wetsuits.

When we got home, we had promised Brayden that we'd start a fire so he could make s'mores with the cousins....kind of picturesque. But, John and I limited the playtime so that we were all slumbered up in the living room by 8:30. To say we all needed the rest and a good night's sleep was a massive understatement. And, I'm happy to report - everyone slept very well. Praise God, we needed it!


As for an update on Michael, word has it, he's walking around the hospital halls like Superman today. We're awaiting a call from Michele to here discharge details. Not sure how all of the Mother's Day plans will pan out, but that's news for the next post.......