The Yukon Twins

The McClelland weekend has been fairily uneventful. Last night we headed out for dinner at Bob Evans, and Quinn talked his dad into a trip to Cabelas afterward. It was a rather fun trip though I must say, they love the fish... well I should say everyone but Avery loves the fish, she is a bit scared of them. We had fun anyway, trying on hats and trying out chairs (The picture of Quinn highlights his latest road rash pretty well... the pavement got the better of him the other day while driving his dump truck). Todays plan was to go to the Harvest Time at the Farm in town, but the rain prevented us so we trekked to IKEA to look for furniture for the kids. Once again a good trip, especially given it was a weekend and we had the kids with us. No purchases, but we got some ideas, when the money allows, I think we'll have a plan. Quinn had to try out all of the beds there I think, he wanted me to take his picture, but I left my camera in the car. After IKEA it was out to Aunt Marys and Uncle Marks to hit a garage sale and see the senior float before it was dismantled. It looked great, too bad they didn't win. Oh well. After that it was home to organize toys, have a big Benito for dinner and Michigan football. Tomorrow its church and a trip to the airport to drop Scott off... Brazil this week... yeah :(.

Pastor Bug, Esther and Mary

This was the year we had to dress up like Bible characters for Halloween... although technically Pastor Bug is not a Biblical character...he was "keepin' the faith". I am posting this because of Andys blog about a halloween party that we had when I was around 10 I think. This picture was the year before if memory serves, and there was a party in the gym at the church that year as I recall. I forget what it was called, but I remember dancing to "Push It" and eating alot of candy. Pastor Bug was looking good and in rare form. It was one of the Schroeder favorites along with E.T. and Johnny Appleseed, thanks Joyce for having a birthday and thanks Andy for the memories.

Happy Birthday Joyce

Happy Birthday Joyce!
Joyful
Original
Youthful
Cheerful Always
Extremely Great Lady!
Hope you have a beautiful and Blessed Day!
Happy Birthday!!!

Random Pictures

Random pictures as I don't have a big theme for todays blog and I was flipping through my pictures on the computer. It is weird that I have hardly printed any of the pictures I have taken since I bought the digital camera. I really should do that one of these days, but the thought of going to print pictures at CVS with 3 kids running around and begging for me to buy them something is probably why I haven't. I guess I should check out snapfish, or something. Poor Kaleigh doesn't even have a book yet for her scrapbook, and Avery's is only 1/4 finished... I think it is time I went to some kind of convention to get some done. Yeah right, there's all kinds of time for that :)!

The Office

A finished room for a great client. Sabrina and I had the chance to visit a client this evening and see the finished office (or almost finished, it still needed some tweaking in the accessories dept.) that we designed. It turned out great and the client is happy (the most important thing). It is nice to get to see the completed room, we don't always get to do this, so when we do it is fun. They are great people and alot of fun to work with, we were also there finishing up the design ideas for their basement. The next project they want us to work on for them after that is their condo in Florida... he says we could trade our design expertise for a weeks vacation at their place at no charge, and he is serious! They want us to bring the whole gang and stay... I don't think that is much of a vacation... I think Sabrina and I will go and have a much needed girls week, if we can get away with it.

Go Blue!

Football Saturday McClelland Style.

Just when you think all is quiet...

The events of this blog actually occured a few days ago,

but I am just now getting to typing it in.

Just when you think all is quiet for the night and everyone is asleep, and you're sitting down to enjoy 10 minutes of Tuesday night television... you hear some clammering in the bathroom...You go in to investigate, hoping it is just the dog looking for water (just kidding, she really has a dish), only to find that the young gentleman of the family has gotten up to relieve himself, and found your brand new bottle of hair gel on the sink. He has proceeded to put half a bottle in his hair and the other half on the floor, counter and sink of a once clean bathroom. Of course he thinks he is very stylish like Daddy. Despite the mess and lack of respect for Moms TV time, she thinks it is quite humorous and takes a picture...then promptly washes his hair and puts him back to bed...Good Night!

For Catching Up and for Scott :)

Haven't blogged in awhile, and Scott is getting on me about it, so here I am. Really it had nothing to do with Scott and everything to do with how busy it has been around here the last few days.
Avery and Kaleigh had (have) colds and for Avery this means a mean bought with her asthma, usual fare for her unfortunately, when she has even a runny nose. So we have been doing treatments, visiting the allergist, all of this among the regular everyday stuff like school, laundry, dinner, dishes etc. etc. etc. She's on the up swing though and looking good. She is so funny now that she is older, she says, "I want to go to the doctor" or "I need a treatment" if she isn't feeling well. It definitely beats the old days of crying and crying and crying. Now we get the doctor statement from her and just a little crying. Anyway, we are all sleeping better now that she is feeling better. Well enough to not miss a beat at school today, she loves going and gets really upset when it is not her day to go... she and Quinn argue daily about whose day it is for school and if it's not your turn, watch out. I am hoping they start to fall into a routine with that so I can stop having to break up fights about it soon. Even Kaleigh gets in on the action when we go to pick them up, she really wants to stay... bad. Today we had to go home and make her a hat because that is what the big kids had done the last two days at school, and she really wanted one for herself. So here they are...Quinn taking a picture of Kaleigh in her fancy hat with his "camer", and Kaleigh trying to convince Avery to wear her hat she made at school. I tried to get them all to sit together with their hats on, they did it for 2 seconds and I lost my opportunity before the camera got warmed up... oh well.

Viva La Franks

Quinn has been a piece of work today. He has not stopped talking since I picked him up from school. He has been on and on about what happened at school, what snack he had, what book he read, etc. etc. The kids had chicken nuggets, apples and french fries for dinner and he was telling me, " Mom these apples and nuggets are wonderful, and the sauce is fabulous." I about fell off the chair with laughter and of course just about everything he says Avery "the echo" repeats right after. Earlier in the day he was telling Miss Bonnie, "my dad is in Franks" at least he gets the concept that he is somewhere and not just at the airport the whole time (that's what he used to think). Hey Franks... France... close enough.

Averys Big Day

Avery had her first day of preschool today and she did great! Once again, such a difference from last years experience with Quinn. She was so excited to use her princess "bapak". She said her favorite part of the day was doing the beanie bag dance, I think we will try and enroll her in a dance class... maybe this winter, she just loves to dance. Although, she said she really liked snack too... and the bird food (sensory table)... and the playdough. I think it was fun all around!

First Day For a Four Yr. Old

It was Quinns first day of school today. Technically it was a mini session, but for him, it was Back to School! He couldn't wait to go, he was dressed first thing this morning and asking every 10 minutes, is it time for school yet? What a difference from last year. He followed all the directions, answered questions in class, and participated in all the activities. Last year it was all we could do to get him to sit on the circle for 2 seconds.

After school he had to call daddy and tell him all about his first day.
This evening we headed out to see Matt play soccer. They were winning when we left. Hopefully they pulled out a win.
Tomorrow is Averys first day, hopefully that will go as smoothly as today :)

Rain on our Parade

The few, the proud, the preschool. The crazy and the brave marched through a downpour to walk in the parade. The kids did pretty well once we started moving, but there was a bit of screaming while we were waiting to move. Oh well, it was fun.

Day at the Fair Part 2

Today I remembered my camera, and Lisa and I braved the fair once again. The only problem was that we neglected to notice that the rides didn't open until 3 and we were there at 11, so we had lunch, visited with the animals, saw the tractors again, and saw 2 pulls of the Antique Tractor Pull competition. We then went our separate ways and Ella, Avery and Quinn had their faces painted and then it was back to visit with Lucy Anne and some playtime at Ella and Sophies. From there we were off to the airport to pick up Scott... Mexico this week... to France on Sunday... :(.
The kids talked him into going back to the fair to ride some rides, and since we had gotten in free (we had our stamps from the morning) we went. They once again enjoyed the rides, and this time I had my camera. I wanted to post more pictures, but blogger is not cooperating.

On another subject, I wanted to post pictures from Thursdays "harvest" at Grammys. The kids had fun collecting cherry tomatoes (their favorites) and apples from Grammy and Grampys garden.

A Sense of Adventure

I am upset that I left my camera in the car today. Today was Pre-school Day at the fair, so my friend Lisa and I took shifts working the booth at the fair, and watching each others kids. Overall it was a pretty successful day. The kids had a great time and we got some advertising for the school.
I was wishing I had my camera for the afternoon, because while Lisa was working I took Derek, Dominick, Quinn and Avery around the fair to see the sights and ride ther rides. Lisa kept Kaleigh with her as she was content sitting in the stroller watching the crowds go by. The kids were all dressed in their Co-op shirts and we perused the fair hand in hand (something my kids would have bawked at had Derek and Dominick not been there). But we saw the animals, the tractors, the booths, and then we took to the rides. Now for those of you who know me I am not a big fan of carnival rides. They scare me, not only because they are "carnival" rides, but just rides in general. I was always the kid at Cedar Pointe holding everyones stuff, if that tells you anything. But the kids wanted to go, so what's a mom to do... I had to go too (thank goodness they were kiddie rides, and most of them I didn't have to ride with them). The first ride they really wanted to go on was the "submarine" ride. THis is most definitely something I would not have gotten on had it just been me. Its one of those pirate ship kind of things that swings you up and down in a big circle... it was the kiddie version, but you were still pretty high up in the air and dropping fast. The kids LOVED it. I was trying not to look out the windows, but I made it through. From there it was lighter fare, flying elephants, helicopters, spinning dragons, a caterpillar roller coaster. They had a blast! I am really surprised both Quinn and Avery were so adventurous, they definitely don't get it from me. My sense of adventure is taking 4 kids 4 and under to a carnival. :)

Happy BIrthday Lucy Anne!

Welcome Lucy Anne! 8lbs. 15oz. 21" long. I got the call this morning at 6:30 that Em, Bob and Mom had gone to the hospital at 2am because her water broke. I picked up the girls from Brad at 7:30 and we were on our way to a fun filled day. The 2 eldest Woehlke sisters stayed with us while things moved along at the hospital. Everyone had a great time, playing outside, playing inside, trying on shoes, reading books etc. etc. etc. Scott offered to watch all 5 if I wanted to go up to the hospital, so I took him up on it and got there when dialation was at 7. It only took about an hour from there to see Lucy Anne enter the world. Emily did great, she made it look easy, and trust me I know that it is not!! But she did a great job! After awhile I decided to fight the traffic from the Michigan game and come on home. The kids colored pictures for their new sister and cousin and then we were back on the road to have the kids meet her. Ella took to her right away as did Avery, Sophie wasn't too sure, but warmed up to the idea of being a big sister (especially after getting her special "I'm a big sister" tshirt). Kaleigh seemed interested in a baby but I don't think she really gets that it is a new person. Quinn treated her like she was some sort of alien. He really didn't want to get close, if she wouldv'e had a tractor or truck on her shirt, I think he'd have been a little more willing to sit close. Uncle Andy and Christy were there, they had gone to the game... now that is timing! After saying our goodbyes, we were off to the mall for dinner and more playtime as well as picking up my new glasses. Yeah, I can finally see! That is the day in a nutshell. It was busy, it was hectic, it was fun!