The Determan's cabin

We had a super fun weekend up at the cabin. It was us, mom and dad, and Mindy and Kaylee......oh, and Sharon, Dan, Amy, Becky, Nick, and the 5 girls....but that's all. HA! Becky, along with our family, has a camper that they set up in the backyard so that takes care of a lot of space issue and chaos. It was chilly at night, but the days were beautiful. We swam, fished, boated, played cards, and laughted. Chef Sharrone showed up and made pancakes for the kids, that was a riot.

Here she is....

The kids first all made chef's hats....



Then she read "If you give a pig a pancake"....

Then it was time to make the pancakes...




Amy gave the kids rides on the 4-wheeler.....oh man, did they LOVE that!





I think Jay is getting used to the idea of owning one someday too.....

We left on Sunday evening by about 7:30pm and the temp had dropped from a nice 72' to 46' in no time at all. Jay and I packed up the camper in the cold and rain....I was glad we weren't going to be sleeping in that, but at the same time I hated to leave. Being up north like that and seeing how much fun the boys have swimming and boating and fishing makes me really long for the cabin we used to have. All those summers that we had up there and the fun times we had.....how great it would be to still have that today with our huge, growing family. I'm grateful for the times we have with our friends up north and our family weeks in June, and I'm excited about our years to come with our camper and the memories that will make for the boys.

Before I go, I have to share the project that Sharon had for the kids. She had bought T-shirts for all of them and paints. Then she had me go in the freezer and get out a bag of frozen fish....not Van de Kamps frozen fish....not even cleaned pan fish fillets.....just real, WHOLE, frozen fish....sunnies of all sizes and one perch. What the heck was she planning with these?? The kids took Q-tips and painted the fish.....PAINTED the fish....then they were used on the shirts as a stamp to make a design. It was hilarious and cute all at the same time. Who the heck would come up with something like this......well, Sharon, I guess. HA!








What a fun weekend. Here they all are....the 11 kids that outnumbered the 10 adults. Heck, I'm used to being outnumbered.

Couples meeting

Last night we went to church to attend a Couples in Christ meeting for all the groups. It was sort of a kick off for the year to start. One of the components of the night was that one couple from each group come up and explain what their gang was all about. The reps from our group were me and Jay. I had been coughing all during the presentation leading up to that and so when it was our turn to talk, I had to have Jay bail me out a few times when my voice couldn't talk. We only talked for about 8 minutes and it went fine. As we were walking up to talk about our group and what it was going to be for us as a couple and for our faith, I wondered quietly if I should mention the fact that we had an argument in the car on the way over.....Hmm.....or that it went all the way up until we literally walked into church....Hmmmm....Oh well. I love when you have to put on that smile and act like you are enamured with your spouse when really all you want to do is shake and strangle him. Buuuutttt......I suppose if we were all perfect couples, we wouldn't need a group like this. Maybe there will be a lesson one month about how to deal with my husband...though I'm sure he's hoping for the same thing with me. We got home, watched an Oprah show from yesterday and Tuesday's episode of NCIS, all the while ignoring the issue surrounding the argument. Sometimes, the rug that we sweep stuff under is a welcome sight. This morning, it doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore.....it never does.

P.S.

I almost forgot....I have changed my deadline. No, not because I'm being wishy washy or making it later than planned. I actually realized that Friday, April 2nd is Good Friday, which I wouldn't work on anyway AND the boys are off on Thursday, April 1st. So I've decided that March 31st sounds just perfect! I got to knock 2 more days off my ticker. YAY!

Been sick

Talk about feeling like crap. UGH..I've been sick since last week with a sore throat and cough, but yesterday was the worst. I don't suppose the schedule I had over the weekend helped any. It was one of those crazy weekends where there's not a moments rest.
On Friday morning, I had to be at the salon by 8am to do a wedding party of 8 girls. I had a sub come over for the daycare and I was home by 12:30. Tanner woke up not feeling great and had a cough also so I kept him home from preschool. By the time I got home from the salon he was out and had a fever and was pretty sick. I stayed home with him that night while Jay went to the Coon Rapids Football game with the others. It was mandetory for Tyler and Timmy cuz they were getting introduced at halftime with the other football players.
On Sat. I worked from 9-4pm and got home to go to church at 5:30. Jay had gone to a game at 12:30 that afternoon for Tyler's team which I had to miss...I hate that.
We got home and had dinner and by now it's 7:30pm.
On Sunday, I had to be in Bloomington by 7:30am for a wedding party I was doing. I got home by 10am and we started cleaning. We had our Couples in Christ group coming over at 6pm. We also had a family picnic at 4pm for Timmy's team, so we really had to be ready by then. We cleaned for hours....it was bad, let me tell ya. The boys were put to work...Jay scoured the kitchen....I went through bags of papers and corners of clutter.....it's amazing how much stuff people can acquire. I never used to let the house get this way, but I swear since I've done daycare I work all day just to keep it a mess. It's neverending...and after this summer of 11 kids, forget it!
Anyhoo...so we got that done and went to the picnic where Cindy met us at 5:30 so we could come home for our couples group. She stayed with the kids while Timmy had his game at 6:15. Our group ended at 8:15 just as the boys were all coming home.
So that was our weekend in a nutshell. It's no wonder I felt worse and worse every day. Yesterday, the daycare kids were gone by 4:30...I went to take a shower and Jay begged me to just stay in bed and get some rest. He told me he would take care of the boys, dinner, football practices, making lunches, setting out uniforms for morning, homework, tucking in....so that I could get some rest and feel better. So I did. I actually took a shower and went to bed at 5:30pm. I fell asleep right away and didn't wake for a minute until about 3am...for just long enough to look at the time and go back to sleep until my alarm went off at 6:30am. I slept for 13 hours. Oh my gosh. That's crazy. But as my mom would say...."you obviously needed it". I'm sure that's very true. I still have a bit of cough this morning, but I definately feel better. That's how much sleep I usually get in TWO nights.
I was going to take some time to pack last night for our weekend trip to a friend's cabin, but I'll figure that out another day. I work tonight and Thursday and tomorrow we have a meeting at church, so I'm not sure when it will get done...but it always seems to somehow.
Wow, I'm really rambling today. It's been so long since I've posted, that there is a lot to ramble about. I'm going to call the agency this week to get our application submitted and our homestudy process started, so I'm excited about that.
For now, I'm just trying to get through another day.

It begins

Last night, Jay and I went to an adoption info meeting at Crossroads Agency. We were very impressed and have decided to use them for our journey. We came home with the paperwork and application to get started and so.....it begins. Today. September 17th, 2009. I'm excited and yet nervous....not about the process or the adoption itself, but about the money. I just hope we can make it work. I realize that I just have to have faith. My prayer is for God to show us that this is what we're supposed to be doing by opening the path for it to happen. I truly believe that this is what He's done up until now....so I have to believe that He will continue to do so. How can bringing home a child that needs a family NOT be His will.
Until He shows me otherwise, this is my faith during the process.

Here I am with the application......here goes nothin'

WOOHOO!

I'm so excited! I knocked off another day from my daycare ticker and VIOLA....it's under 200. Just like that....I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since I started my countdown. It's fun to see the number get smaller....a little scary, but fun. I kinda feel like the contestants on Biggest Loser when their weight finally gets into the 100's for the first time.......only my butt is just as big as it was 2 weeks ago. Oh well, that's another story.
YAY!

Tanner's first day

I was fine....why wouldn't I be....my baby started preschool....so what. No tears....from him anyway. I'd like to say that he missed me terribly and was miserable being away from me for those 3 hours....but that would be a lie. My baby is not a baby anymore. Mom's gonna have to deal with that one.

Getting up on his first day...rise and shine my big boy.


Eating breakfast on the big day. Hey, it's the little things I'm capturing here.


A picture outside before we leave...of course. I especially like the dead flowers in the background.


Finding his cubby....


....and finding his best friend in the classroom. I'll bet she'll show him the ropes.


And so it begins for my Tanner Bananer.....