Kori's Blog

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Day to Me!

2010-05-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Mother's Day, a day that is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. When I was younger I remember whispered giggly conversations with my dad about where to take my mom out for dinner, and what to get her for a present. I always felt it was something close to a birthday. You buy a present, go out for dinner, say "Happy Mother's Day, mom!" and that's it. Just a chance to celebrate.

Now I understand. Now I have a little boy who calls me momma. He tells me he loves me. He gives me hugs and kisses. He demands I'm the one to put him to bed everynight. When I do something with my hair he says, "Your hairs nice, Momma." He hates seeing me upset. When I struggle with depression he's there to force me out of it. Somedays he's the only reason I get out of bed. Well, him and his little brother. That one doesn't say much of anything yet. But he smiles at me. Smiles so big his entire face lights up like I'm his whole world. Which I am. He doesn't use words to tell me how much he loves me and needs me, but we don't need words. Yup, I'm pretty much the most blessed person in the world. My husband is just as awesome as my boys. They really made me feel special this weekend. Saturday they took me to lunch, then we went to JoAnn Fabrics so I could get some scrapbook supplies. Then we headed to the mall where I got my hair cut. They surprised me with some of my favorite truffles from Godiva (extra dark chocolate). Sunday we got up and Mitch made coffee, the we headed to church. The boys went to their nurserys and Mitch and I sat through the service, enjoying tribute to mothers. When I went to the 3 & 4 year old nursery to get Alex, he surprised me with a card he made me. Yes, it's a plate with stickers on it. I will treasure it forever! We stopped at whole foods on the way home where I got to pick out some treats. We got home and I was forced to sit down and RELAX. Alex and I ended up having a hillarious photo-shoot with daddy going crazy on the camera. Eli eventually joined in too. I'll post pictures soon. I love my boys. It was a great weekend!

Eli James at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-04-19T09:45:00.001-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Eli James LaVire

2010-04-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Eli James LaVire was born at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, MI on February 4th, 2010 at 4:00am. He weighed 7 lbs. 15oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. I was only in labor about 11 hours and only pushed for ten minutes. The nurse timed it. They were impressed. Everything went well, no problems. And he's beautiful!

He met his older brother Alex and his grandma when he was about 12 hours old.

We came home from the hospital when he was only a day and a half old! He even got to meet Sampson!

First week home

Chillin with a puppy

First Smile!

St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Remembering

2009-09-10T15:43:00.001-07:00

I remember September 11th, 2001. I was a senoir in High School, in choir, when our principal come over the P.A. to announce that NYC had been attacked. I thought, "Oh, how sad!" and wondered what had happened. After choir I went to senior english (boooring class!) and sat in my usual seat next to my friend, Bryant. Our teacher was extremely laid back and turned the TV on for us so we could watch CNN and the coverage. So we sat and watched. I overheard some guys in the back of the class joking about how maybe they'd let us go home from school early because of what had happened. Jerks. Bryant and I were the only ones really paying attention, everyone else was goofing off having a good ole time, like it was a party or something. I saw the second plane hit the other tower and so did Bryant. We turned to each other and both said, "DId you just see.....? I think I saw...." We were in shock. Our next class we had together, and it was Economics. That teacher too was extremely laid back and let us watch TV all hour. So we watched some more. And then we stayed there during lunch and watched even more. It was so sad. It was also sad to see how most of my classmates reacted to it. Lots of joking. And yet somehow I was voted "Most Immature" in our class. Jerks. After lunch we went to different classes, and my teacher actually held class like normal. By that time there was no new coverage or anything. But I was pretty much in a daze all day. My dad came to pick me up from school like usual and we drove home, wondering how the world was going to change. Our first clue was when we drove by the gas station in town. It was PACKED OUT, people were lined up into the street to get gas. I asked my dad if we were going to go through another depression or something, or if the world was ending. He just shook his head and said, "We'll see." But everyone was panicking, it was crazy. We got home and turned the TV on to watch some more. A few days later dad was contacted by the FBI (I think). His name had come up in a list of people they were calling to come help with rescue/recovery. He was very qualified because he was a firefighter, and EMT and a Pastor, so he was good for everything, including counseling. So he packed up and left, picking up his friend Leo on the way. When he got home he had aged about ten years and had a lot of stories to share. I could see the sadness in his eyes and it really bothered me. He told me all about it, about the body sniffing dogs, and the smoke and the smell and the noise, and walking through a building that may collapse in order to get to a building where people were trapped. And about the "bucket brigade" lines of volunteers that would pass five gallon buckets of debris to try to get people to save them. They didn't save anyone. He found a torso, a leg and an elbow I believe. I still don't know how he did it. He's a hero.

I have a few pictures from when he was there, I'll post them tomorow.

Little Blob of a Baby

2009-07-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

We went last week for an ultrasound to determine how far along I am. Turns out I was only at ten weeks, so here's a picture of my blob!

And because no one can tell what they're looking at:

The green circle is my uterus and the little blob is the baby. Cute, isn't it?

Here's a picture of what a baby at ten weeks looks like, to give you more of an idea. My baby is in pretty much the same position.

Counting My Blessings

2009-07-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm pregnant for the second time, I find myself tired all the time, sick to my stomache alot, achy, irratable, crying for no reason, being mean to my wonderful hubby, not having any patience with my two year old, and a whole bunch of other wonderful things. Needless to say, I've been finding a million and one things to complain about. And complain is what I've been doing. And being mean. And wishing things were easier. Pregnancy really is a miserable experience if you let it be that way. But I don't want to be a miserable person anymore. I was just reading a friends blog, and all three of her daughters have now moved far away. She's a wonderful woman, full of love for Christ, her girls and her hubby. And anyone who needs her. While reading about her struggles I realized how stupid I've been acting. I have a wonderful husband, an amazing son (even though he's now acting like a two year old), a great family, great friends, and now this new little miracle thats growing inside of me. Not to mention a Saviour who loves me no matter how horrible I act. I really need to just shut up about how icky I feel. It doesn't matter how tired I am. I need to stop complaining. If I'm really tired and don't feel good, I can just Mitch (sometimes even Alex) or someone else if anyone's around, and they will help me and take care of me! I also realized today that I have the very best father in law a girl could ask for. He works nights, so he's exhausted most of the time, but every couple of days he takes Alex out either to a store or to his house. I know he loves spending time with him, but I also realized today that he does it to give me a break and let me rest. He is amazing, truly a gift from God. And I've been rude to him, because I was tired. *sigh* But reading my friends blog made me appreciate just what I have. So no more of the attitude. Yes, I'll still be tired and feel sick all the time. But I'm so blessed! Thank you friend, for reminding me of this. Your daughters are extremely blessed to have you for a mom, don't ever forget that, especially while you're apart!

To all my friends, family and anyone else who's done something for me or my family:
Thank you. I truly appreciate you.

Yup

2009-06-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm pregnant!!!

2009-05-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

The Game Starts!

2009-05-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

So here's the actually game we went to, not just walking around Detroit and the pre-game warm up, lol.

Lots of fun!
And the players take the ice!

It was a very good game, I took waaaay too many pictures.

During the Second Intermission we took pictures of ourselves. We were a little tired at that point...

Check out that wicked face paint!!!

We won!!!!! We won!!!

Red Wings Game!

2009-05-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday May 19th my friend Kelly, my hubby and I went down to Detroit to see the Red Wings game! Round three, home game two of the play offs! We spent the whole day down there, walking around, eating at Hockeytown Cafe, and riding the people mover. We walked by Comerica Park (where the Detroit Tigers play), and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the giant Tigers they have there.

We got to the Joe Louis Arena very early (we were pretty excited) and we hung out outside the front doors and people-watched for a while. Always alot of fun!

SOOOOO much fun! We got inside and I took a couple of pictures with my two favorite players, Chris Osgood and Darren McCarty (I've loved them both for a long long time)

Mitch doesn't really understand my attraction to Darren McCarty, and I suppose judging from this picture I don't really get it either, you just have to see the man play!!! Mitch thought he was being funny... and he was.

Kelly and I got our faces painted and got some gigantic liqour filled drinks. The face painting was free and totally awsome, and the drinks were delicious!

After we got our drinks Kelly went up to our seats and Mitch and I headed down to the ice to watch the pre-game warm up, which was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life I think. We stood behind the goal and had a ton of fun watching all the players.

It was amazing seeing the guys all goofing off together and laughing and teasing the crowd. Jiri Hudler kept shooting pucks at the glass where people were standing, not where we were, but around the corner. We did have a few stray pucks hit the glass right in front of my face! It was terrifying, but awesome!!! Make sure you turn the volume up on your computer. It was so loud and very exhillirating!

When Ty Conklin was in the net for a few minutes warming up, all the guys on the team went right up to the net they all started shooting at the same time. It was so funny! They were all laughing and teasing each other, and Conklin was throwing himself around trying to stop them all at once! He even fell a couple of times, it was really neat to watch them all act like that!

sick children should be quarentined.....

2009-04-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Alex had the flu this week. I got thrown up on. Twice. The poor boy is so exhausted he doesn't know what he wants and so he just whines, "momma momma momma momma momma momma" constantly. It's starting to wear on my nerves. I'm about to snap. But then I take a deep breath and remind myself that he doesn't feel good and I'm the only thing that makes him feel better. So I slap a smile on my face, pretend I don't have three inch bags under my eyes, get another cup of coffee and scoop him up onto my lap where we rock for another hour. Until he starts whining for something else. So here I go.

Today

2009-03-15T18:14:00.001-07:00

Well today was an okay day. Mom and dad were being incredibly stupid yet again, so I couldn't stop crying at church and didn't want to sit through the sermon, so Mitch got Alex from the nursery and we headed to the mall to blow off some steam and try to cheer up. Alex had a lot of fun trying on sunglasses in Claire's, and even modeled for me a bit.

And yes, he cheered me up. Mitch helped too. :-) I've got a couple of very excellent guys.

Life Goes On

2009-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm horrible at updating my blog. Get over it. I guess I've just been hiding from life. But life goes on even when I don't write in my blog. So I guess I should start dealing with stuff instead of hiding from it. That blows, but life goes on. All in all I suppose things aren't that bad. My parents fight all the time. But I still say that I'm a grown woman and their problems shouldn't bother me so much. But they do. Imagine that. Mitchell and I want to go to DTS as soon as possible, then off to the mission field. But I don't really want to. We'll have to get rid of all of our worldly possessions and start a brand new life, yet again. I'm kinda sick of it. I want a house with a yard and a dog and neighbors and a good school system for Alex in a few years. But no, we'll probably end up in Africa or something like that living in a hut. And you know what bothers me the most of all of our stuff that we'll lose? Our DVD collection. How stupid is that. I KNOW, I am fully aware, that we're not supposed to store up treasures on earth and all that. But I like our DVD collection. It's something Mitchell and I have done together since we first met practically. It's the ONLY thing we've been able to hold onto during all the moves and drama and crap that is ours and ours alone. And I don't want to let it go. On the other hand, I'm ready to live somewhere else. Last night I dreamt we were back in Florida. I woke up thinking we were in Florida. Crashing back to the reality of being in Michigan is a horrible way to start your day. I found out the other day that an aquantice from high school is now living in Slovakia playing basketball. Who goes to Slovakia to play basketball? How odd is that. Now my desire to go back to the Czech Republic is twice as strong. If he and his wife can live in Slovikia and ENJOY it, there's no reason my husband, our son and I can't live in Prague. And I want to go back to the Karlstejn Castle, and I really want to show it to Mitchell. So we shall see where God leads us, and I will continue to pray and let go of world possesions that don't mean anything.

Karlstejn Castle

Anniversary in Chicago

2009-02-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

Last week Mitchell and I went to Chicago for our Three Year Anniversary which was February 11th. We took the train from Flint to Union Station on Tuesday the 10th. Our train left at 6:30 in the morning (which was early!) and it was about a 5 hour ride. It was Mitchell's first time on a train, and my first time on a train in America.

The train was very comfortable and relaxing, we even had a snack car on the bottom level of our car. It was amazing!

We got to Chicago around 11:30am and hailed a cab to our hotel, The Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers.

Our hotel was beautiful, the staff were wonderful and it was an amazing experience! They upgraded us to a suite for free for our anniversary, which was neat.

We had a dining room table!

That afternoon Alfred and Alicia came to hang out with us. We went walking around the city and went to get some Chicago Style deep dish pizza for dinner! It was amazing!!!!!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and we played in the Club Lounge where there were snacks and drinks, computers and a massage chair.

We had a great time visiting with Alf and Alicia!

The next day was our Anniversary and it was rainy, windy and cold. We got up and had breakfast, then took a cab over to Navy Pier where we did some shopping.

When we were done shopping we headed back to the hotel to drop off our packages, then went walking (in the rain and cold). We ended up at a mall, where we bought a new game, then took a cab back to the hotel for some hors d'vours. We played our new game while we snacked in the club lounge.

After we'd snacked we watched TV in our room for a bit, then went back outside to explore some more. It was extremely cold so we didn't get too far, but we went to TGI Fridays and had some chicken and fries, then headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

Thursday morning we got up, had some breakfast, packed up and checked out of the hotel. We walked through chicago, into millenium park and downtown. We visitied the Bean, which was hillarious.

We had lunch at another pizza place called Pizano's (which was good but not as good as Giordano's) then we rode the L around for a bit.

We got off the L at the Quincy station and walked two blocks passed the Sears Tower to Union Station.

Union Station was pretty cool. I had seen it in movies and really wanted to spend a few minutes in the Great Hall, which was definately worth some pictures.

We boarded the train hassle free and headed back home. It was a fabulous time! A great anniversary!

Fun Table

2009-02-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/videos.html#gid=demos&vid=starwoodlaunch

We had two of these touch screen table computers (which are actually called the Microsoft Surface) in our hotel lobby in chicago. It was so much fun to play with. I've been searching online to see how much they are. They're only available for commercial use, so I guess we won't be getting one any time soon, lol. I think they're around $10, 000. But they are awesome! If I was rich I think I'd get one, lol.

Two More Days!

2009-02-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

I just have to get through tomorow and Monday, then we're on our way! I'm excited about seeing Alfred and Alicia, I'm excited about riding the train with Mitchell, I'm excited about our hotel (it looks freaking awesome), and I'm excited about EVERYTHING! Pizza, cab rides, Navy Pier, coffee shop (in the hotel!), indoor pool, vacation, eating out, shopping and a magnet! We collect refridgerator magnets from everywhere we've been. Oooh, the hotel has a gift shop, so we'll get one there, like we did at the Sheraton in Nashville.

I wonder how much I'll miss Alex... I've never spent the night away from him before. It kinda scares me. I know he will be just fine. Just not sure how I'll be. We'll see.

2009-01-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

Alex being held upside down and tickled.

And another one!

2009-01-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

Can you find thirty (30) books of the Bible in this paragraph? Actually, there are 31 if you can find the variant of one Old Testament prophet's name.

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless.

2009-01-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

Can you find sixteen (16) books of the Bible in this paragraph?

I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible (merely by a fluke). It kept people looking so hard for the facts and for others it was a revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the name of the books were not capitalized, but the truth finally struck home to numbers of readers. To others it was a real job. We want it to be a most fascinating few moments for you. Yes, there will be some really easy ones to spot. Others may require judges to help them. I will quickly admit it usually takes a minister to find one of them, and there will be loud lamentations when it is found. A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can concentrate better. See how well you can compete. Relax now. There really are sixteen names of books in this story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Books are:

Esther, Titus, Amos, Peter, Mark, Luke, Kings, Acts, Revelations, James, , Numbers, Job, Judges, Lamentations, Hebrews, Ruth

Tower Building!

2009-01-25T17:01:00.000-08:00

Alex and Grandma were building a tower this evening in the living room. It was cute, he kept standing on his tip toes even when the tower was only up to his chest, lol.

Third Anniversary Means a Trip To Chi Town!

2009-01-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

Mitchell and I will be celebrating our three year anniversary on February 11th. Since we never had a honeymoon and we've been drifting apart we've decided to go away for a few days, without Alex. We're going to go to Chicago! We chose Chicago for a few different reasons, 1. It's a big city 2. We can take the train for cheap and not have to rent a car because of the lovely public transportation 3. We can see Alf and Alicia 4. Very tall hotels 5. Lots to do!

The tentative plan right now is to take the train (Amtrak) from Flint to Chicago on February 10th early in the morning. We'll arrive in Chicago around 11:15 local time and take a cab to our super awesome looking hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. Yeah, I know. Super cool. All 1,209 rooms and 34 floors of coolness. We will be on the top four floors, in a Club King Room, where we will have free continental breakfast, snacks and hor's deavours and beverages all day long. There is a giant indoor pool on one of those lower floors overlooking the river. There are bars, resteraunts, coffee shops and a gift shop. Oh, not to mention a freaking ball room!!! And room service and all that other fun stuff.

We're not making any plans except to relax and hopefully spend some time with Alf and Alicia one evening while we're there. We've talked about going to the Shedd Aquarium, or the Planetarium or one of the Museums, but we're just going to go and be together and do whatever we feel like doing! Mitchell wants to ride the L and I'd like to wander around and do some shopping. I'd also like to get some Chicago Style Pizza (I've been to Chicago before but never had pizza there...). We will take a cab ride and ride the L and walk and just be together! It will be wonderful!

Snowfest 2009

2009-01-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went up to Frankenmuth to walk around in the freezing cold to look at ice and snow sculptures. It was cold, but it was fun! My favorite carvings were the polar bears, the dragon and the baby star wars. :-) We had hot chocolate and ate at Zenders and bought caramel apples at the Bavarian Inn and bought candy at Rau's. It was a great day but unfortunately I didn't have my camera (dead battery) so no pictures. But my fingers were so numb I probbaly wouldn't have been able to push the button anyway... So I stole a picture from the internet!!!

Christmas Date!

2009-01-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Mitchell got me a $50 gift card to the Somerset Mall in Troy, MI and $75 for dinner on the same day. We went yesterday after church and had a great time! The mall is on both the north and south sides of Big Beaver Road (really, I didn't make that name up!) and it's connected by a huge walkway with the moving floor thing, like in airports! It was a fantastic mall, with super nice rich fancy stores (Coach, Tiffany, Gucci, Louis Vuiton, ect.), stuff I couldn't afford! But we had a great time together and i managed to buy a few things. :-)

This is the walkway over Big Beaver Road.

This is some "artwork" in front of the mall...
It looks more like something you'd throw at
an approaching army or something.

The lobby of the south side, complete with
picturesque fountain and self playing grand piano.

The roof in the food court, with some snow on it.

A peacock, in the Peacock Cafes (the food court).

The inside of the mall, north side.

Our dinner at P.F. Chang's!!!

Lots of leftovers!

Dessert in shot glasses!

We're so cute! And full!!!

A cocktail napkin.

The horse statue out front of P.F. Chang's.

The stuff I got at LUSH!

clockwise from top:

Almond Soap

Lemony Flutter cuticle creme

Whip Stick lip balm

massage bar

blonde hair shampoo bar

vanilla bath bomb

Happy Hippie shower gel

Dream Cream lotion

2009-01-10T12:01:00.000-08:00

This is probably my favorite video of Alex. I love the way he says 'bye' at the end. :=) Enjoy!

Dance Dance Dance

2009-01-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

The dancing baby! Shake ya groove thang!

2009-01-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

New Video

2009-01-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

Dog drool and other fun.

New Years Eve and Day

2009-01-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun on New Years Eve. Mitchell's family came over, minus Alf and Alicia, and we played Wii and watched the ball drop and had a grand old time!

Ben and Katie came over too, Ben came to hang out with Mitch and Katie came to visit with Quincie. It was a good family night, everyone had a fun time!

The next day, New Years Day, we got up and were lazy for awhile and played Wii. Quincie had a hard time aiming the controller at the TV, and it was hillarious.

Once we'd all gotten up and dressed the girls (Quincie, Kathryn, Sue and I) went to the mall for some shopping. We had a good time, spent a lot of money and laughed hysterically. Quincie had lots of fun posing like the silly mannequins in the stores.

While the girls were at the mall the boys went to the store to buy a silly computer game called Starcraft. Captain Dave and Grayson came over to hang out with them too. They spent the day playing, and when we got back from the mall we all (except for Al, Sue and Quincie) went to Fuddruckers for a burger.

Chad and Kathryn headed back to Memphis the next morning, and we miss them alot. We had a lot of fun with everyone! It was a great start to the New Year!

Videos of the Snowman

2008-12-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

Lots of fun making a ten foot snowman!!!!!

I love how they scream like girls. :-D

I also like how Chad yells "Stinky poo!"

Up North at Grandma and Grandpa's!

2008-12-30T15:47:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas Mitchell had to work, but after he got home his parents, Quincie, Kathryn and Chad picked us up and we all went up north to Sue's mom and dad for the weekend. They live way in the middle of no where, I'm not sure where. But it's in the woods up north. And it was beautiful and relaxing and we had a lot of fun! I was initially worried about Alex, him and I were recovering from head colds and he was so exhausted from the excitment of Christmas. He did very well though. We got the spare bedroom and we brought the portable crib play pen thing that my mom has, so he slept at the foot of our bed, and he slept well. He was so worn out from all the playing! We got up there late friday night and saturday morning we all got up, had breakfast and went outside to play in the snow! The boys thought it would be a good idea to build a gigantic snowman...

It was extremely entertaining watching the three of them (Mitchell, Chad and Dad LaVire) trying to make it "big enough". Silly boys. The snow was sooo wet and heavy. It was actually raining during all of this! Nasty weather!

But clearly we all had a lot of fun, despite the rain! The rest of the weekend was spent playing games and drinking! Grandma has a bartending book, and she's trying to test all of the drinks, so we helped her out!

Chad, Mitch and I played Starcraft for four and a half hours (we didn't finish). I was going to win, but we all got sleepy and wanted to watch Dark Knight with everyone else.

There was also Euchre, Pirates, and Settlers of Catan to play, not to mention movies to watch and talking. It was a very relaxing weekend and we're looking forward to going back up soon!

Twas A Very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas! I know I keep complaining to everyone about how much I don't like being back in Michigan, but Christmas with the families was wonderful! And it was even more special because Chad and Kathryn were able to come up from Memphis and Alf and Alicia were able to come from Chicago, so the whole family was together!!!

The Christmas Eve service was fun, I was the angel, hahaha. I was a pretty awesome angel too if I do say so myself. :-) That's where we first got to see Mitchell's family, Chad & Kathryn, Alf & Alicia and Grandma & Grandpa! There were so many people to see and visit with that we didn't get a good chance to chat much, plus we wanted/needed to get Alex home and in bed, so we didn't stick around for long. We knew we'd see everyone the next morning!

We got home, put Alex to bed and went straight to work! Mitch was wrapping his gifts and I was finishing his quilt that I'd started just two days before!!!!! Yikes! I was up until 1:30 finishing it, but it looked awesome and Mitch was thrilled!!!!

Christmas morning we got up, started the coffee and cinnamon rolls, made some sausage and scrambled eggs and opened presents! I received some very awesome gifts, but my favorite is probably the "Create A Date with Mitchell LaVire". The date includes a $50 Gift Card from Somerset Mall (a super fancy nice rich mall in Troy, MI), and $75 for dinner at a fancy resteraunt of my choice! So we're going to find a grandparent to babysit for us one day and have us a date and I'm going to get to go shopping! Woo hoo! My grandparents were down for Christmas too, and they gave us a $20 Appleebee's Gift Card, which is very special to me, because they didn't really have the money to do that, but wanted to do something. So I'm looking forward to the spinach artichoke dip! My mom got me a gigantic make-up kit and I had way too much fun with it!

Alex got some fun new toys, including wooden puzzles that he loves to do (now that he's figured it out) and a bus that makes the most annoying noises!!! Thanks grandma! Mitch got some great gifts too, a lot of DVDs (I got him almost all of M. Night Shamylan's movies. I forgot one, oops!), his quilt and some thermal undies to keep him warm at work to name a few.

After we opened gifts and played for a bit we headed off to my in-laws for more presents and food and good family fun! When we got there we gave everyone hugs (it felt like there were 50 people there I swear!) and settled down for the Christmas reading and then came the presents! Everyone got some very nice things, I don't think anyone was disapointed. It's so much more fun now with Kathryn and Alicia around, it's like GIRL POWER all the time! Mitch pointed out to me later in the day how very estrogen packed most of the gifts and conversations were, hahaha. I hadn't realized it, but he was right! There was alot of clothes and make up and nail polish and jewelry. I told Mitch I thought it was funny to see how obvious it was that the females did the majority of the gift picking and the men folk just handed over the cash, lol.

After the gifting was over Al and Sue told us they wanted to talk to us, and Sue stood in front of everyone and told us that they knew we were all aware they were having problems, and they couldn't keep avoiding the truth and not communicating and they were asking to help us keep them accountable with their actions with us and each other. Then we all prayed over them, well most of us did, but Kathryn, Quincie, Grandpa and I were all crying to hard to actually pray out loud. It was so wonderful to finally have it out in the open and I love them so much (and all of thier children) and I'm so so so very sad for them. It absolutely breaks my heart to see a relationship fall apart like that. And what's worse is that there doesn't seem to be any one good reason. The only thing Mitch and I can figure is that Al has hurt Sue and Sue has hurt Al, but they won't talk about any of it, and so wounds are just festering and getting deeper. Sue has been threatening to leave instead of talking and Al just meekly goes along with whatever she says instead of talking. It makes me so mad and so incredibly sad all at the same time. I wonder if their marriage can be salvaged after all the years of hurt going unspoken. With God all things are possibly. But only if you allow Him to work. *sigh* But at least they're being a bit open and honest with their kids. I love Mitch beyond words, and Chad and Alf and their spouses too, not to mention Quincie. I feel somewhat like a mother tiger protecting her cubs whenever they're hurting, and I have an especially soft spot for Mitch and Chad. So I've been stuggling for awhile with all of this, with the mad desire to tear someone limb from limb to stop them from hurting my boys. Oh it's such a big mess. But this is a happy blog entry! So let's move on!

After we prayed other family members and a neighbor arrived and we ate some really yummy turkey. The boys played this ridiculous xBox game that Mitch bought Chad. It was hillarious.

Uncle Alf played with Alex a lot. They both, and Mitch too, love to play rough. The three of them are on the same level I think. Wrestling and playing catch (or in Alex's case playing watch the ball roll by me and then going to get it) and throwing Alex around seemed to be the favorite games. They also had fun with the wiffle bats Chad got them all (thank you so much Chad). Alex didn't really get the "bat" idea, but he enjoyed sliding it around on the carpet like a hockey stick (that's my boy!). It was absolutely adorable watching Alfred play with Alex. He is going to make such a great daddy someday!

After all of that we were all exhausted and had to get home so Alex could get to bed and Mitch and I could finally catch our breath! So we packed up said our goodbyes after a few family photos, and headed home.

It was a great Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had to rest up for our trip up north on Friday night to Grandma and Grandpa Wesenicks!!!!!!!!

Video of Alex

2008-12-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

This is a video of Alex and I goofing around with out new camera.

New Pictures of Alex

2008-12-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

2008-12-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Today mom and I went out to do a little Christmas shopping and I had to exchange some pants and get some dressy shoes for Christmas becuase I'm singing with the choir and dont want to go dressed like a bum. So we went to Fashion Bug, Target and Payless and I spent some money and got some nice stuff. Alex was with us, of course, and he was real sleepy and kinda cranky, but I bought him some juice and popcorn at Target and that seemed to keep him pretty happy. We had fun, I got dad some dress socks (he's so boring when It comes to Christmas presents) and bought some stuff for myself, hehehe. I got some cute ankle boots (it's waaaay to cold for dress shoes) and black pants, and I'm hoping to find a shirt somewhere, but I may just wear something old. Oh well. I've been taking pictures with my new camera and having lots of fun.

2008-12-17T04:50:00.000-08:00

So I was lurking around kelly's facebook and found these pictures from when she was down to visit us in Florida in July of '07. :-)

Christmas Presents

2008-12-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

I met Kelly for dinner at Red Robbin last night and it was super yummy. Whiskey River BBQ Burger all the way! It was so good, and we had a lot of fun, we sat there for 2 1/2 hours I think talking. She gave me our Christmas presents too, a cute outfit for Alex (jeans and a nice button up shirt), a Red Wing Jersey for Alex, a stuffed animal sheep that her mom got him, a very nice down comforter that her and Michelle were going to give to their parents (but they didn't want it) and a new camera! It's a green Finepix Z20 and it's sooo pretty and really really nice.
This is a picture of it I got offline (obviously I can't take a picture of my camera, lol. Actually I could use mom's webcam, but it doesn't take that nice of pictures, and this is much easier. But the battery is charging right now, so there will be lots more pictures to come! I'm making Kelly a quilt for Christmas (it wont be done in time), that's why she got me such an awesome gift. :-) She knew I wanted it for Christmas Day, so that's why we met up yesterday, and she was too afraid of getting sick so she didn't come over to the house, hahaha. She's funny. Everyone's feeling much better now, thankfully.

I know what Alfred is getting me for Christmas too. Quincie was over on Saturday and we went shopping (yet again lol) and he called her while she was over asking her what to get me. She told him the Twilight soundtrack, but didn't realize there was the soundtrack and the score, so she asked which one I wanted (both) and told him. So I know I'm getting one of them from Alfred and Alicia.

2008-12-11T11:04:00.001-08:00

Okay so I found this website and really want to make a Harry Potter quilt.
http://www.sewhooked.org/paper_piecing/hp_paper.html
Unfortunately I'm not very good, or motivated. But we'll see.

Christmas fun and heartbreak

2008-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

So Kelly is getting me a new digital camera for Christmas because I'm (slowly) making her a quilt. I'm super excited. It's green and fun. It will be great to take lots of pictures and put them right on my computer again.

On a more depressing note, my mother and father in law are not doing so well. My father in law Al was crying so hard at church on sunday that he couldn't even talk, he was just sobbing. It looks like Sue my mother in law wants a divorce and is being a bitch about it. I'm ready to punch her in the face, but I'm trying to just pray for her. And him. And Mitchell. And Quincie. And their two other children. Quincie's going to be the most affected considering she's still living at home. Poor girl. *sigh* I really wish I could help more. Christmas should be interesting. I'm going to have to pray for patience and control of my tongue and to think before I speak... It could get ugly. I'm sick of Sue's crap and I'm close to saying something. I don't want to cause problems for Mitchell though. It's just so sad. She doesn't want to have anything to do with Alex. She came over a couple of weeks ago to hang out with him, but that was the only day she's actually made an effort to spend time with him. Usually she doesn't even talk to him or even look at him. She's so self absorbed and too busy blaming Al for every little thing. Argh, it makes me sick. I hope we can at least have one last HAPPY Christmas together before the shit hits the fan... We'll see.

2008-12-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Alex loves the snow, but he doesn't like mittens or hats or boots. So we're working on it. He's also a little unsure of actually walking in the snow, but he'll get there.

Last night dad came home from youth group early and went into the bathroom so he could throw up. Mom came home a bit later and went to check on him and found him passed out (literally) on the floor. He never threw up but he had diahrreah so bad it was just running out of him like water. Anytime he tried to drink some water it wouuld come out a half hour later. So it was a long night. Today he slept most of the day and actually ate three crackers and drank a few swigs of smoothie. Then he coughed and almost pooped so he decided to go back to bed, lol. And earlier today mom threw up. So we're thinking that dad has food poisoning and mom threw up because she had a migraine all day today and yesterday. Mitchell, Alex and I are all feeling okay so we'll see.

I went out to the store today to get some stuff and it was only 23 degrees. Ugh. I love winter.

2008-12-01T15:00:00.001-08:00

Yeah we had spaghetti for dinner tonight. Time to go hose off the baby.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-01T11:07:00.001-08:00

We got a bunch of snow last night. All the schools were closed. Happy December.

Sunday sunday (bah bah bah duh duh duh) so good to me...

2008-11-30T21:41:00.000-08:00

So today, or technically I suppose it was yesterday, was alright. I did not want to get up out of bed to go to church, but Mitch would've been sad if I had skipped, so I managed to get up at 10:10. We're supposed to leave home at 10 to make it ontime. So I threw on some clothes, pulled my hair in ponytail, painted my face to make myself look alive and went. It was a typical service, we butchered some hymns and listened to dad, then after the service I went to choir practice. I'm only joining for Christmas. Love me some Christmas music. It was hillarious watching all the adults not listen to the director and not know their parts. It made me think of choir at school and all the fun Bri and I had together.

After choir Mitch and I met up with mom and dad and alex and a whole bunch of old people from church at a crappy little greasy diner called Golden Gate. Words cannot describe, but it's fun going to hang out with the old folks, they're a riot.

We got home after lunch and we all went to lay down for while. I was so tired, but I played on the computer for a bit and then watched an episode of Private Practice, which I'm addicted to. Then I slept for about an hour. You see, lately Mitchell has been thrashing around in his sleep and I haven't been able to sleep. For like a week. But I got a nap in today and hopefully I'll get to sleep in tomorow, or rather today... Anyway.

When I woke up it was time to start hauling up Christmas decor from downstairs, including the giant 9 foot Christmas tree for the living room. We got the tree up and decorated, then dad went out and got some Chinese food. Yum, love me some sweet and sour chicken. After dinner I pretty much just sat around on my bootey all evening until Alex's bath time. I gave him his bath, then it was play time for a bit more, then we shipped him off to bed. Then I sat around on my bootey some more.

Now everyone else is in bed asleep and I'm sitting here in the chair with Avery sitting on the arm beside me purring, and we're staring at the giant Christmas tree. I figure since it's almost 1am I should go sleep, but I'll just get abused by some super long arms and legs thrashing about. So I'll sit here awhile longer. Maybe watch another episode, see what Addison's up to. Even though I've already seen every single episode. Oh well.

I've been buying Mitchell stuff off of ebay. I've been spending way too much money, but I want him to have a good Christmas, he deserves it. I'll try to be good though from now on... We'll see.

2008-11-29T15:38:00.000-08:00

Alex and I were playing with the Webcam. I love him very much. :-)

More Pics for Bri

2008-11-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Mom got a new laptop complete with a webcam with fun effects. Kelly was over and we had a bit of fun with it...

Pictures for my Bri

2008-11-29T10:23:00.001-08:00

Kelly took me to a Red Wings game on November 11th for an early Birthday present. This is us on the people mover in downtown Detroit. We had a ton of fun, even though our boys in Red lost. We went to Cheli's Chili Bar, Hockeytown Cafe, and walked all over. It was a blast.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T09:39:00.000-08:00

So Thursday was Thanksgiving, and boy did we eat. Mitchell, Alex and I went with my mom and dad in law, my mom in laws mom and dad, and my sister in law to a friend of theirs for Turkey Day. It was a lot of fun. Grandma and mom did most of the cooking, and it was FABULOUS! So so yummy. There was Turkey and mashed tatoes and green bean casserole (which I don't eat because I find it gross) and salad and rolls and stuffing and green fluffy stuff and muffins and homemade donuts and pumpkin pie and rice krispie treats and some kind of fruit pie (I'm not sure what type of fruit because I didn't have any) and my personal favorite, a Gooey Pumpkin Cake that grandma made. It was a Paula Dean recipe, and boy was it fattening. I mean delicious.

We ate and ate and ate, and then we played balderdash (which I almost won!) and then we played Guesstures (which I did win! I totally rocked, the drama geek shone through). Grandpa played Guesstures with us, and one of his words was "stripper" which he proceeded to do... which was quite possibly the most hysterically funny thing I've ever seen. We have a video. Too funny. I enjoyed Balderdash more, that game is a complete riot. I need to buy it I think, it's a wonderful party game.

Once the games were over and we were all worn out from laughing we headed home, bringing with us Quincie (sister in law). She was going shopping with me on Black Friday so she spent the night. We stopped at Walmart on our way home and bought snacks and the movie Hancock, with Will Smith. We got home around 6pm and made snacks and sat around watching the movie (which was pretty good I thought). When the movie ended we sat for awhile talking and playing on the computers until I had to go to bed.

Friday morning I got up at eight when Mitch left for work and made coffee and got ready to go join the insane masses at the stores. Once Quinc and Alex were up we headed to Walmart to see what we could find. It was just after 11 so most of the good sales were over, but I found a couple of things for Mitchell, and Quincie got a couple of things for our sisters in law, Kathryn and Alicia. From there we headed to Old Navy where I got Mitch two thermal shirts for work and Q got Chad a Christmas present. They were handing out mints in line, it was kind funny. After Old Navy we battled our way into the mall, which was kinda scary, but extremely fun. We went all over the mall, buying some fun stuff. We went to Icing and bought gifts for each other, which we pretended were for ourselves. We kept picking things out going, "I think YOU would love this!" It was really funny, the girl that was working there kept coming over to us and laughing at us. Alex loves that store, all the shiny things for him to rip off of the walls...

We had lunch in the food court and then went on a mission to find my mom the perfect pink sweater. She wants a pink sweater, a plain pink sweater, like a crayola pink, or pepto bismal maybe. Do you have any idea how impossible it is to find a plain pink sweater? There's magenta and fushia and purplish pink and really light pink and rose pink... We finally found one at JC Penny that is almost perfect. Im not sure about the color, but it was only $9.88, so I got it anyway. If I do happen upon the "perfect one" I'll just get her that too.

But I got most of my Christmas shopping done. I think we're going to get Chad & Kathryn and Alf & Alicia VISA gift cards. I know it's lame and completely impersonal, but that way they can get whatever they want. I might do the same for Dad & Mom and Grandma & Grandpa. We'll see. No one wants anything, it's incredibly frusterating.

As for Alexander... I don't know. We were looking at a train table set at Toys R Us. We'll see. We've still got time, so hopefully we can figure something out. It's not like he can tell me what he wants.

Personally I really want a PSP. I've been looking on ebay, and I'm actually bidding on one, but I'll probably get outbid. I need to stop buying things on ebay.

Anyway, last night once the shopping was over and Mitch was home from work, I took Quincie to see Twilight. It was my second time seeing it already, and it was great again. I will go see it again and again if the chance arises. I will definately be buying it when it come out on DVD.

2008-11-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

I guess I could have pointed out that in September we moved from Orlando to Flushing, MI. I don't really want to talk about that, it's too depressing. On the bright side we're living with my mom and dad so we have no bills so we have money. I'm bidding on some fabric on ebay, I want to make a quilt for Kelly for christmas.

Almost Birthday Time!

2008-11-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

So my birthday is coming up on Monday. I'll be 25, woo hoo. Half way to fifty. I want either a Transformers party or a space shuttle-themed party. On tuesday Kelly took me to a red wings game. It was a ton of fun. I'm still waiting on most of the pictures, Walgreens gave me a blank cd and charged $3 for it, aren't they awesome. Anyway, I'm tired and don't really know why I have a blog. My life is fairly boring and no one wants to read about it. I stay home with the baby every day. That's about it. Ta ta for now.

2008-07-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is Alexander. His daddy thought he'd bundle him up, because it's just so cold here in Florida in early September.

Hello

2008-07-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I have my own blog. Now what do I do? At least it gives me someone to talk to, even though I'm really just talking to myself. I'm going to post pictures so everyone can see them.