Tuesday's With Michael

I haven't posted on this subject in a while. We have either been on vacation or I switched days with Ron but mostly because the weather has been so awful that it always seems like it was cold and rainy on Tuesday's. Well, not today - it was a glorious day!

We left the house at 9:45 a.m. and got home at 5:30 p.m. - what a day!

We did some errands first - post office; a little Kohl's shopping then we headed to Lamb's Farm in Libertyville, IL. Founded in 1961, Lambs Farm is a premier non-profit organization serving adults with developmental disabilities. Lambs Farm has grown from a small pet shop in Chicago to a 72-acre campus located in Libertyville, Illinois where opportunity flourishes for the more than 250 men and women served.

We went to the Pet Shop to see the puppies and to dance with Delta, a Macaw who likes to dance if you sing "La Cucaracha"...she's a hoot! Then we went to the farm to see the animals. Lambs Farm not only helps adults with developmental disabilities, but they also help animals with disabilities as well. All of the animals were so friendly, except for a Llama. Michael enjoyed brushing the goats and sheep in the petting area. They were all so gentle.






We went on a train ride, played miniature golf and had lunch at the Country Inn of Lambs Farm.



We headed back toward our home and stopped off at a garden center to pick up some veggies for the garden. It's going to be a late harvest but you can't mess with Mother Nature.

Our last stop was the new Splash Pad at Central Park in Grayslake. Michael had fun getting soaked and played on the Jungle Gym there as well.




Now, it's nappy time, nothing like fresh air and sunshine...have a good evening.

Lost and Found Show and Tell Friday

Have you ever thought that you lost something for good, something that was very sentimental to you? I have and I have been searching for this sentimental item for a long time. A few weeks ago, Ron was cleaning out the closet in the "computer" room and called out to me..."honey, I think you might want to look in this" and handed me a little wooden jewelry box. I held it to my chest first and said a little prayer, hoping against hope that when I opened the top, I would find this...


I just about cried and hugged Ron for 10 minutes or so. You see, this was my Mom's charm bracelet.

Let's look at some of the charms - first, a pretty heart with pearls and a roulette reel (Mom & Dad liked to go to Vegas back in the day).


Then a charm of NIAGARA FALLS (slowly I turn, step by step - sorry, that's an old Three Stooges skit that my Dad LOVED and it's part of my genetic makeup now).



I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss...



Love letters in the sand...



There are a couple of more but my photos are blurry so I'll have to post later.

Thanks again to Kelli at Kelli's Place Kelli's House
for hosting Friday's Show and Tell. Have a wonderful day and weekend, everyone!

One little, two little, three little ducklings...

four little, five little, six little ducklings, seven little eight little, nine little ducklings, ten ducklings in the pond.


There were 10 ducklings on Friday and I couldn't get a good count of them this afternoon as Mama Duck kept moving them. Aren't they cute, though?

Show and Tell Friday!

Many thanks to Kelli at Kelli's Place Kelli's House
for hosting this, I look forward to it each week.

I think that I got my love of rummage sales, estate sales, garage sales and antique shopping from my Mom. I remember going around in the summer to various sales and watching her get so excited from a "great find". Of course, being young then, I didn't really appreciate it. I have kept many of her treasures and here are a few more to show and tell about:

First, in my dining room I have this little plate display with 3 Wedgwood "Melody" pattern plates - I just love these and think that they look good on my red wall.





Sadly, a couple of them broke when we moved but I have found some on ebay - perhaps I'll add to this collection again!

Here are some darling collector's plates from the 60's??...from the Elephant Folio Edition of Audobon's Birds of America series. I'd like to find out more about this and add to my collection.

This first one is Passenger Pigeons:




I love the detail of the birds and foliage - wow!

Then a Bewick's Wren:





Band-Tailed Pigeons:





I put these darlings in my plate rack for a little change - I like it, don't you?

Happy AnniversarWii!

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary - look at the lovely Roses that Ron brought home for me...



I love the Waterford Vase - it was a wedding gift from my cousin Bonnie from Utah. I use it every chance that I can get.

Oh, see what else "wii" got for our Anniversary...



It's actually quite a lot of fun - I am channeling my inner "Rock Star/Super Star"...so "Hit me with your best shot...fire away"

Oh, I totally rock at Wii Golf. I'm also planning on hitting the WPGA tour in a few weeks. I talked to Annika and she wants me to take her place since she retired from the tour. Happy to help ya out, GF!

It's going to be a busy sumnmer!

As a side note, why is it that when you mention new technology gadgets like big-screen Hi-Def TV's, computers, games, etc. that husbands are "I'll get right on that, honey" but when you ask them to help paint or finish the crown molding project or ask them to put away their tools, they are the masters of procrastination...just wonderin'

Have a great day!

My Birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday! I spent 2 hours at the DMV to get my license renewed (I guess that's not so wonderful). Then I went to see Michael and Ron play T-Ball - it was much fun to watch all the 5 year olds run around like crazy! Late afternoon I dropped Holly off at the groomer's and then I got a nice pedicure, shopped a little and bought a new pair shoes. I came home and the boys had cards and a fabulous cake from "The Lovin' Oven" - they make the most delicious cakes and other baked goodies! Our next door neighbors came over for cake and ice cream.

Later today I am going to Target to get my new Bicycle - a Schwinn Hybrid!

Have a blessed day!

My Fabulous Find

I so missed posting last week at Kelli's Place Kelli's House
but since I was at Disneyland with my two most favorite guys, I knew you'd all understand!

For this week's Show and Tell, I want to show you this sweet little Ladies Spinet Writing Desk that I found at an adorable Antique place called Country Church Antiques, in Ridgefield, Illinois. I have to get back there soon - they had so many treasures but I could only fit this in the back of the Santa Fe.

I needed a "spot" just for me to get a little peace and quiet and write out cards and letters. Now I am looking for just the right chair and little lamp. I hope you like my find, I sure do!

We're Back!

We are back from Disneyland and San Diego. It was an adventure flying out there and an adventure flying back but we sure had fun! Michael was a real trooper and did great. I have some funny stories to share. More later, including my "Show and Tell" Friday post.

Show and Tell Friday

Good morning everyone and Happy Friday - Woohoo! Here is my third post for "Show and Tell Friday". Thank you Kelli for hosting, this is so much fun! Kelli's House

For today's S&T, I'd like to show you another treasure that I inherited from my Gramma (when she moved to Florida). It's an Edward Roos Cedar Chest. The company was located near Chicago in Forest Park, Illinois. I've tried to find out more about them, but there's little information. I have found that there are a lot of folks out there with Roos Cedar Chests though.



I think it has a art deco feel to it. I need to get the legs worked on a bit...



I hope you all have a wonderful day and weekend!

Show and Tell Friday

Hello again! I want to thank all of you who stopped by and wrote a comment on my first "S & T" post last week. I tried to comment on all of your posts as well, but I may have missed a few.

Here is my second installment for "Show and Tell Friday". Thank you Kelli! Kelli's House
When I was a young girl, I practically lived at the public and school libraries. I LOVED to read anything about animals, especially Dogs and Horses. I always loved reading Marguerite Henry's stories and recently started collecting them. Here is my collection so far...




I love them all and can't wait to read them to Michael, but this one holds a special place in my heart.



They made a movie about this book in the mid 60's and I remember going to the Carmen Theatre to see it and the real Brighty was there in person! I was so excited and got to pet him a lot and talk to his handler. It was cool.

Tuesdays...Er, Thursday With Michael

I had to switch days with Hubby because we had a large meeting at work on Tuesday for all of the VP's of my company. So, here's my "Tuesday's With Michael" Post.

We stayed around home most of the day except to get our hair cut and colored (just me). We wanted to get it done before our vacation so it doesn't look like we "just got our haircut, haircut"...you know what I mean. Michael did really great and he wanted some "color" in his hair too - he was shy and didn't want me to take his picture, but I finally got a good one!










Here's my handsome guy -






Then, my doughboy wanted to bake a cake, well, I baked it and he put the frosting on it.

My Little Cubs Fan

This was made 2 years ago when Michael was just 3, pretty good at remembering the words, don't you think?




Did you notice the GIANT Charlie Brown Pez? He's wearing a Cubs Hat! I can't wait to show you my Pez collection!

I feel the earth move...

well, actually I didn't but my husband did this morning! Around 4:37 a.m. while I was in dreamland, there was a whole lotta shakin' goin' on...a 5.4 earthquake! Ron thought the roof was going to come off the house. I can't imagine what the quakes in California are like and since we're off to California in a few weeks, I sure hope we don't find out!

TGIF!

Show and Tell Friday

Welcome to my blog! I ran across Kelli's
Kelli's House and thought that this sounded like fun! For my first Show & Tell Friday, I'd like to show you some of my most prized possessions, ones that I inherited from the ladies on my Mom's side of my family.

My Aunt Catherine married an Army man, Uncle Ken, and they were stationed in Germany after WWII. Aunt Catherine sent home the following Dresden Figurines. First, my Mom got this cute set of ballerina's, sorry for the reflection, I am too tired to get them out of my China Cabinet.


These lovely ladies were my Aunt Jeanne's.





And finally, this gorgeous figurine was my Gramma's. When Gramma and Aunt Jeanne moved to Florida, they left these with my Mom. When Mom died in 1981, I kept them and have tried to take good care of them. I just love looking at them and remember dusting them every week to keep the lace clean...

Tuesdays With Michael...Preface

This is my first "Tuesdays with Michael" post and I hope to keep this up each week as kind of a diary of my "special" day with our wonderful, yet challenging, young son. I want to take this first "Tuesday" post to explain how it came to be...

We pulled him out of a five-day per week, more "institutional" type of daycare/preschool as we felt that he wasn't getting enough one/one attention and therefore, he started misbehaving and was put on a behavior plan - can you imagine a 4-year old on a behavior plan?.

We were both so upset about the whole situation and were trying to figure out what we could do to help him. Our school district had a Learning Behaviorist observe him back in the fall who recommended a smaller class environment, consistancy between us and the pre-school, etc. We met several times with his teacher and the director at the pre-school but it just wasn't getting any better. I spent hours on the phone talking with the Special Education District in our county but he would have had to have another "Class Action" observation done and that has to be dictated by the Principal of the school he would be attending in the fall for Kindergarten. I emailed the Principal (who we have also met) about the situation at pre-school...do you think he has emailed or called me back? NO! I'm so disappointed with the whole public school system and my son hasn't even started there for Kindergarten!

Being a parent is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! We were both so upset over how unhappy Michael was, I wasn't concentrating at work, making silly mistakes, getting frustrated with work and homelife. As I was driving home from work one evening, I passed by this lovely old farmhouse on a hill with massive Oak Trees in the yard and a sign popped out at me...it is a small Homeschool Prep. I called the number and spoke with Bea, the owner/teacher, she was so comforting to talk to, she had been a teacher in public and catholic schools for over 30 years and has been home-schooling for 8 years or so. We all went one morning to meet her, hear about her program and have a look around. After about an hour, she asked if we'd like to leave Michael there to see how it goes. We were a little anxious, but Ron was working at home that day and this prep is only 3 minutes away. So we tried it, and Michael cried for about 3 minutes and that was it. He cried again that Friday for 2 minutes and that has been the end of it.

School is only on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays so I have asked my manager to test me staying at home on Tuesday and Ron will stay home on Thursdays. Michael has been there for about 3 weeks now and so far so good! We feel so blessed that we found Bea. We have also been going to a child therapist to learn how to deal with Michael's challenging behavior and slowly but surely that seems to be helping us all.

So there you have it, now on to the fun stuff. Last week I took Michael to the Kohl's Children Museum in Glenview - what an awesome place! We had so much fun, I am looking forward to taking him back when the weather gets better. There was a special guest-appearance by a certain BIG RED DOG...can you guess who it was?

Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself. -- Leo F. Buscaglia



Wishing you all a very blessed Easter!

A Cute Coot!

I finally found out what this bird is - an American Coot. It's a pretty cute coot, hopefully it's not an old coot! *LOL*







Our "pond" has not receded much and I'm worried that we are going to flood out or something after the 9.5 inches of snow we got yesterday starts to melt. I went out in the backyard to fill up my bird feeders and the Swans swam close to the fence line. I ran in and got my camera and snapped a few photos - aren't they beautiful? They were not too concerned with me, I think that they would have come right up to me had I had something that they wanted to eat.



I love geese too! It's something else to see them (I call them the Air Force)fly right by our back windows.

Swan Lake

with Buffleheads, Mallards and Geese! Oh My! Our little "pond" in the back has grown considerably since all the snow has melted. I swear, it looked like a glacier came through. In February, we had one day of warmth followed by two days of rain and then more snow. So the pond grew and froze and now we have our own little lake, teeming with wildlife.

There are a couple of decent size lakes "over yonder" where we have seen Swans before, but this is the first time they have visited our little piece of heaven. It's been so much fun watching them all, especially the adorable Buffleheads - diving ducks. I am trying to get a photo of them - there are about 5 or 6, but they skedaddle when I go out on the deck.

"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the palm of his hand."

Bob, Bob, Bobbin'...

When The Red, Red, Robin
Comes bob, bob, bobbin'
Along, along,
There'll be no more sobbin'
When he starts throbbin'
His old sweet song.

Wake up, wake up you sleepy head,
Get up, get up, get out of bed,
Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red,
Live, love, laugh and be happy.

What if I've been blue,
Now I'm walkin' through
Fields of flow'rs,
Rain may glisten
But still I listen
For hours and hours.

I'm just a kid again, doin' what I did again,
Singing a song,
When The Red, Red, Robin
Comes Bob, bob, bobbin' along.

"Spring, where are ye, eh?"

The Chicago Flower and Garden show started today and runs for two weeks. I'd like to go to it on Sunday. I'm craving the smell of dirt, flowers and plants. This has got to be the longest winter ever! I think everyone is ready to take off their parkas and mukluks. Mukluk - what a funny word, but one I'm totally comfortably using. I think that is what my paternal grandmother, Mimi, used to call snow boots.

I haven't seen a Robin yet -- that has long been my first indicator that spring is on the way. I found my organizer from last year and I noted that I saw my first Robin on March 1st. So, where are ya???

Birdie

Birdie came into our lives in December, 2001 after we tried for over a year (unsuccessfully) to have a baby. (I will write more about our infertility trials and tribulations in another post). Birdie's owner, Beth, had recently died of a brain tumor. Beth was a vet-tech and had a soft heart - she adopted over 5 wonderful dogs who were going to be euthanized, Birdie being one of them as her breeder brought her in to the vet as a puppy to be killed because she "had something wrong with her" - she had diabetes insipidus, the water diabetes. It's a very rare disease but with medication, she could function normally.

Ron and I were heart-broken over not being able to conceive so when we heard about Birdie needing a new home, we went to go meet her - I fell instantly in love! She was so petite and quite adorable, smaller than most Australian Shepherds. She was a little leery of Ron at first but soon grew to love him and he was nuts about her.

We went a little kookie over Birdie, as everyone should with their furry companions. We took her to obedience classes; bought yearly permits to our county's Forest Preserves, many of which have these wonderful dog parks. She went every where with us and I firmly believe that having her in our lives made us more relaxed and took our minds off of our infertility problems. The yearning for a child was so strong that in the spring, we decided to try going the egg-donation route, which is another long journey in itself. There are months and months of preparation and protocol which must be followed and we were willing to do it...however, like the saying goes, "God Works in Mysterious Ways" and something else happened...