Where Did 2007 Go? Or should I say Where did I/We go?

Yes...I know as my sister T keeps reminding me...I'm such a baaaad blogger!! So with that said, during this past year...

• I became a volunteer for Hospice of Holland
• After school ended for the kids - my son took gymnastics (twice)
• I also was a Girl Scout Leader for a group of 20 pre-teens for a week of Twilight Camp (evenings @ 90 degree temps. with a camp size of about 120+ girls for a couple hrs. of nuttiness all week long)
• Mackenzie went to Girl Scout Camp (away from home) for a week - scary for her but a great experience!
• At the end of Aug. I got a "Paying" job.
• After starting the job - Mackenzie and her friend along with my mom & I all walked The Race for the Cure ~ 2nd time for Mack.
• The kids started school a couple weeks after I started my job...No, not a bit stressful! I'm now a banker for Huntington and work from 1pm - 10pm.
• Let's see, Mack is in Jr. High ~ Oh Crap ~ "We" don't say that anymore...I mean ~ Middle School now ~ and YES there IS a difference! Don't get me started! She is in 6th grade now ~ a sassy little booger.
• Caleb is a first grader and doing great! We also found out this summer that he was diagnosed with ADHD which has been a real trial and error process. So, I haven't written since I've really had a lot to deal with this past year. I really didn't think anyone really cared to hear about my ramblings and the rough road we were on. At least I'm making money now! ;o)

As I've told Theresa...I'll work on my blog this weekend and try to recap this past year with some pictures. There might actually be some of me in there. So hide your eyes. I did have a really good Halloween costume for work...but didn't win.

Leave me a message if you actually read my blog ;o)

Shannon

Happy Belated New Year!

The Before...

And After the hair cuts...boy, they were shaggy! ;o)

(the full story is further down the page)

It's Been a long time...

I know I've been out of touch for awhile. What can I say! The holidays were crazy! But hey...I made my very first Turkey!!! It was super easy and very good. It was a 24# monster and I cooked it in a bag with beer and Tastefully Simple season salt. It was so tender it totally fell apart. Here's my proud picture! Even Matt liked it...so you know it had to be good!

Christmas '06

Christmas was crazy too. Big surprise~We had many gatherings to go to and it seemed like it was never going to end. I'm sure the kids didn't mind that part...but I was totally burned out. My brother Mike and brother Matt & his wife Cara came home from Portland on Christmas Eve and left on Friday afternoon. We all had some late nights. It was so good to see everyone but so sad to see everyone leave. Here's a photo on Christmas Day at my Uncle Pat's Cabin of: Matt, Me, Mom, Mike and Sean. By the way, for those of you who don't know...we aren't in birth order. And I'll just leave it at that. You can leave me comments and make guesses if you want ;o)

The cousins (and one on the way)

Morgan & Jason (My brother Pat's 2 kids), Mackenzie, Makayla (Sean & Casie's daughter) & Caleb.

The Airport Good-Bye's...Me, Cara (& baby), Matt, Sean & Mike

January...Now we are getting caught up

This is Mackenzie's 2nd time donating to Locks of Love. This time she cut 12 1/2". The first time was in 2nd grade and she did 11 1/2" that time. She is now a 5th grader. I wonder if that means she'll be ready again in 8th grade? Hum?? Well, Mackenzie wasn't alone. She is wearing her Girl Scout vest because she and a fellow Scout got their hair cut together. They both had 12 1/2" cut. Her friends name is Sarah. Caleb had to be in the picture because he had a haircut that day too. Plus he just couldn't stop telling his sister how much he liked her new haircut and that he thought she looked better with short hair. He kept staring at her...it was so cute! Although, she didn't think so ;o)

Sarah & Mackenzie

Notice, there are no patches on Macks vest in this photo...Well I felt so bad that these pictures had to be turned into Locks of Love without her vest being put together, so I stayed up all night and stitched everything on. 24 patches later...Yeks! But the next morning I took the photo of Mack and Caleb before school. I'm glad it's done! I feel better now! Not that you can tell...but her arm is covering up some of the patches and the rest are on the back.

I'm also creating a special Locks of Love hair cutting patch for the girls to honor this event. When I get it resized and stitched out...I'll post a picture. Right now it's a little too big.

Summary

Well, I've been doing a lot of sewing and embroidery. I did a bunch for friends and for the holidays. Also, I've been the volenteer mom teaching the Girl Scouts to sew this season. So on the next update I'll have to do a sewing picture update of what I've been up to. I'm also doing the baptism garments for church. So I've been keeping myself busy during all these snow days. What else is there to do besides snowblowing and playing Webkinz with the kids? Over and out!

Blogging Again!

Canoeing on the Pere Marquette River

Yes, I know it's been awhile. My sister told me she updated her blog...so it was my turn.

Ok, so what did you miss? We went canoeing in Baldwin at the beginning of Sept. - It was a lot of fun and I hope we do it again but on a much ~ much warmer day next year! It was in the 50's the day we went. The river was freezing and since I've never tipped a canoe before - I never thought of bringing a change of clothes (just in case). I had a short sleeve t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt and a sweatshirt on with capri's. It was pretty chilly! When we stopped for lunch we went up from the river banks to a picnic area and froze because it was really windy. It was a lot better being down on the water. There was less wind at the water level. Well, as it turns out We didn't need a change of clothes but Craig & Missy did! (Thankfully, they packed extra's) Seems Missy saw the tree branch but Craig didn't and when he looked up - instead of ducking...he grabbed it and the boat tipped. Missy went completely under and it was really cold! Thankfully she had a windbreaker on so that helped to keep some of her heat in. We were near a canoe pick-up area when that happened. So, we cut our trip a little short. We went a total of about 4 hours or so and it was about a 7 mile stretch of river. That was a real work out - let me tell ya! That river has a lot of twists and turns. Lots of tree limbs and large rocks to look our for. You have to be on guard the whole time. Not a lay back and relax kind of ride. My arms were pretty sore the next day!!

We also went with 2 other couples that did stay dry ;o) Ben & Martha and Troy & Kim.

Ben says "XL Life Jacket - Ya Right!"

Bad picture but here we have: Matt in the front, then Craig & Missy and then way in the back is Kim & Troy.

Ben & Martha shove off first and Matt supervises.

Yes, I really was there...Bringing up the rear & passing the Beer ;o)

Our Lady of the Lake Carnival

Then we went to the church carnival at the end of Sept. I use the term we loosely because it was just me. Matt went on a guys weekend up north to his friends cabin. So it was just me and the kids. We had tickets for the rides and then the kids talked me into buying 6 raffle tickets for $5. I wrote my name on them and then we walked around and put them in buckets of products that we hoped to win. Well believe it or not...I/We won 2 things!! The first item was a set of Pampered Chef mugs ~ I love these!!! Nothing like a big mug of Chai on a cold day. Then...the big prize - No not the $10,000 - I Wish! But it was a gift certificate to The Lost City worth $115 for Laser Tag, Mini Golf and Pop for 6 people. So this works out perfect for us to give Mackenzie a fun 10th birthday party. It couldn't have happened at a better time!

Caleb & Mackenzie bonding on a ride together

Mackenzie the dare-devil on this ride

Mack & Caleb in the petting zoo area ~ the poor little bunnies couldn't run fast enough ;o)

Caleb and one cute Chick!

Caleb and a Little Ass ;0) ~ Ok it's a Donkey

Mackenzie just couldn't leave those bunnies alone!

Ok, this is it for now. I'll share my sewing projects in the next segment. I've been doing some embroidery projects and Halloween costumes. So the pictures will be coming.

Race For The Cure This Weekend

Grand Rapids 9th Annual

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Me, Mackenzie, Mom (Karen) and Sean

(before the rain started)

The Bag Pipes played Taps in tribute to those who lost their fight.

Saturday's rainy weather didn't stop the 9th annual GR Race For The Cure. In fact the race nearly doubled its earnings from last year, raising nearly $350,000. The 5K run/walk raises money for breast cancer research, screening, treatment, and education. All of the proceeds go to the Grand Rapids Susan G. Komen foundation.The race took place at Rivertown Crossings mall and around Grandville High School with nearly 4,500 people participating in the race. Of those runners/walkers 400 were breast cancer survivors.

Picture of the Survivors ~ Mom's in the center

I'm proud to say that with everyone's help, I was able to raise $650!! And my donation web site is open until Nov. 30th and still able to take donations if anyone still wants to send a tax deductable donation ;o) http://www.firstgiving.com/dontbaboob

Sean, Beth, Mom, Me, Julie & Mackenzie

Mackenzie and I walked with my mom, my youngest brother Sean, a Bunco friend Heather, and cousins Beth & Julie.

Mackenzie, Me & Heather

We walked in Celebration of my grandma (Grace Elderkin) and my mom (Karen Baragar/Ryan) who recently has been diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She won the first fight against breast cancer, and now we're putting on the gloves for the next big fight against bone cancer.

Also, Heather and I walked in Celebration of our Bunco friend Kim Koele in her fight and

In Memory Of (another Bunco friend) Heidi's mother Theresa White who lost her fight this past spring.

You are both in our thoughts and prayers and thought of often.

At the beginning of the walk my daughter couldn't believe how many people were there for the 5K. Then, we were no more then 10 minutes into the walk and she wanted to know how long it was going to take. This was of course, when it really started to rain. We all just laughed because we were going up hill and it was pretty big. The rest was down hill ;o)

The great men, women and children in Brown from UPS were cheering us on through out the race. They also had some band members playing under a tent along with some cheerleaders here and there. By the end of the race Mackenzie was saying..."When we do this next year". So I'm really glad she had a good time and wants to do it again.

I hope everyone can join us again next year!

Thanks for everyone's Support!!

Just Call Me "Peg Jr. Mint"

Ok, stolen from my sister...Silly but fun...play along!

YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME
(grandfather/grandmother on your father’s side + your favorite sweet/lolly):
Peg Jr. Mint

YOUR FLY GIRL/GUY NAME
(first initial of first name followed by “izzle” + first two or three letters of your last name followed by “dizzle”):
Sizzle Gridizzle

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME
(favorite color + favorite animal):
Red Cat

YOUR STAR WARS NAME
(first 3 letters of your name - last 3 letters of mother’s maiden name + first 3 letters of your pet’s name repeated twice):
Shakin Dobdob

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME
(”The” + your favorite color + the automobile you drive):
The Red Windstar

Join in the silliness - consider yourself tagged and give it a try!

1st Day of School

Mackenzie, Erica & Caleb at the Bus Stop

Calebs first time on the bus

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1st Day of School!!

Well, Tuesday the 5th was the first day of school and Caleb was the happiest kid Ever! As soon as he got home he said

"That was the Best Day EVER! And...I got to ride the bus 2 times! It was my funnest day!" All of that and then this morning we woke up to fog advisories. So, the kids had a 2 hour delay and AM kindergarten was cancelled. So Caleb didn't have school. He thought his sister was kidding and teasing him (like normal) but it was true. He was so totally bummed that he had to stay home. He was stomping his feet and saying "It just isn't fair that Mackenzie Gets to go and I don't". Ya right...I'll remember that in a few years! Update: Another Fog Day on Thursday Too ~ Can you believe it! Poor Caleb, he felt so left out.

I remember after Mackenzie's first day of 1st grade...she came home and wanted to know how much longer she had to keep going to school. We couldn't help but laugh! Out of the mouths of babes!!

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Race for the Cure Update

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We have reached 86% of our goal!!! We now have $430!! Maybe we should have aimed for a higher goal!! I just had no idea!!

I'm happy to report that our walking group is growing ~ but we welcome anyone that would like to join us!! So far Mackenzie & I will be walking with: My mom ~ Brother Sean ~ Cousins Beth & Julie ~ and Friend Dawn and her 2 daughters.

We decided that we should all wear matching sweatshirts and I have an embroidery design but I/we need help choosing a message to put under the design. So, Please leave me a comment and let me know what you like best!! As you know my site for donations ends with..dontbaboob - so that kind of comes into play ~ here we go:

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1) Don't Be A Boob - Race For The Cure

2) Show You Care & Be Aware

3) Champions Of Hope

4) Together We Will Make A Difference

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Here's the design

The color in this photo isn't that great! The wings are metallic iridescent white thread and the halo is also metallic thread in gold. The rest of the thread is rayon and the body of the angel is a pale pink. Although, next time I'll use the next darker shade of pink for more of a contrast. The original design was all gold so I seperated all the sections of the design so I could make each part a different color. It took a lot of cutting and pasting but I think it turned out pretty good and looks more cheerful.

Ok guys, give me your votes and let me know what you think!!

Race For The Cure Update

As you know, Mackenzie and I will be walking the 5K, Race for the Cure on Sept. 30. I'm happy to say that my Mom and youngest brother Sean will now be joining us on the walk. And...We have currently raised $260 ~ Thanks to all our supporters!! Keep it coming :o) http://www.firstgiving.com/dontbaboob

In addition to walking, earning a Girl Scout patch and raising money for a great cause, this year is even more poignant for us. We are walking in Celebration of my grandma (Grace Elderkin) and my mom (Karen Baragar/Ryan) who recently has been diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She won the first fight against breast cancer and had just received the 5 yr. "All Clear" this spring...and now we're putting on the gloves for the next fight against bone cancer.

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We're also walking in Celebration of a Bunco friend Kim K. in support of her fight and In Memory Of Heidi's mother. You are all in our thoughts & prayers and thought of often.
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From The Cancer Crusade web site, you must watch the Survivor Movie. It's the most amazing movie that provides encouragement and support to cancer survivors and their families. If anyone else you know is battling cancer...please forward this on. It is Sooo Powerful!

I really can't say enough...you really must watch it!