1st Trip to the Apple Barn of the Season

Welcome Fall!  You are balm to my soul.  I was so glad to welcome a new season this year.  Fall just makes me happier. 

This was our first trip, and although the weather is still pretty warm, it still feels great to enjoy some fall-ish traditions right about now.

In the Swing of Things

Fall is underway, and the girls are definitely in the swing of things.

Parker is loving kindergarten!  She has just blossomed this year, is learning so fast, and has adjusted very well!  We couldn't be more happy and relieved.  On this particular day, she came bursting out of the doors of her classroom showing this octopus that looks like DAD!  Haha, we both couldn't stop laughing at this one!

Avery made the 8th grade girl's basketball red team again this year, and is in full swing of practices and games.  So far, they are undefeated! Go Huskies!

Maryn is enjoying performing in the marching band at Dow High!  Even though she is one of many flutes in gigantic band of over 250 students, she still is managing to love this new thing in her life.  I think it's been a great way to meet new people, make new friends, and start feeling like she belongs to something important.  Go Chargers!

This is such a fun time of year, and things seem to be going as well as can be expected.  It's been a hard transition for me, so I am grateful that at least my girls are happy and busy in their lives.  It's a welcome distraction.

Avery Turns 13

It's definitely official at this point...Thirteen is actually becoming a real, live teenager.  I don't know if I'm okay with this.  With Avery, I feel like we've been inching closer to this over the past few years already.  The operative word being "inching." Because she's been growing soooo much, she basically started looking like she was a teenager when she was still, well, um...11, I feel like I've already been launched into this whole phenomenon. Maybe we'll just sail through the next few years of this whole thing and get done early?!?  Yes, that would be great.  I'll take an order of that, please.

Anyway, she had a fun birthday this year with just us...her fam.  She is kind of a home-body type girl anyway, so a night with us isn't the end of the world.  It's actually just how she likes it, I think. I hope.

I'm so grateful for Avery.  She is so funny, helpful, supportive, dependable, talented, and smart!  Happy birthday to my beautiful Avery Jane!

She was especially excited about finally being the legal age for Facebook and Pinterest!  Now she doesn't have to "borrow" her sister's pinterest boards anymore!  Haha!

She chose the OG (Olive Garden) for her birthday dinner of choice.  I love that about her.  :)

Ragweed and Missing my Mom

I knew what ragweed was from the time I was very young. My Mom would point out the fuzzy, golden spikes topping the long, green stalks of pervasive weed during our late afternoon commute to Dearborn. We only had one car, a station wagon, and with six kids my Mom would drop off and pick up my Dad from work so that she would be able to have the car during the day and not be stranded at home, at the mercy of begging rides from friends and neighbors. On this particular late summer afternoon, she pointed out the ragweed stretching along the embankments of I-96 East, making it's way to the Southfield freeway continuing in tall, stubborn patches on medians and curbsides leading to Ford Motor, Co. "That's the stuff that makes this time of year miserable!" she would say already congested and drowsy from it's effects.

It seems to be everywhere in late summer, like one last desperate attempt to stretch skyward for the warmth and sunlight, holding it out as long as possible. Some people say that some weeds are too pretty to be considered the scourge that they are. Dandelions, for example, look more like a flower with their bright yellow blooms cheerily dotting green grassy fields. People might even say that ragweed is similar to dandelions in their beauty; their regal, golden yellow crowns swaying in the late summer breeze. I would argue. Dandelions are a weed.  Ragweed is a weed. A weed is a weed is a weed. Especially when you are allergic.

I have allergies. I am convinced that I had them as a child, but was never diagnosed or treated until I became an adult. I now get weekly injections to help build up my immunity so that my body doesn't become infested with histamines. I take multiple nasal sprays and occasionally allergy medication so that I don't become a snorting, sneezing, watery, itchy mess when confronted with my seasonal nemesis.  My Mom had allergies too, but she was never diagnosed or treated for them. She would sneeze and snort and cough to no end.  She was part of the generation of suck it up and move on. She was also part of a money grubbing HMO with high deductibles and spotty coverage. Therefore, she just dealt with the symptoms of her allergies with no end in sight.

She would start sneezing and literally not be able to stop. It was a suck up as much air as possible, eyes clamping shut, face twisting into her neck process with the exhaled sneeze coming out in a gush of air and saliva and the loudest, ACHOO! This was always quickly followed by another, and another, and another until it became an all-out fit! The fits were so spastic that her body would be jumping and seemingly convulsing with each sneeze to the point where all sense of control would be lost.  Unfortunately this often included bladder control.  "After six children doing cartwheels on your bladder", she would remind everyone, "you have absolutely no control!"  This was a bane to her existence, I'm sure, along with the seasonal allergies.  The two were so annoyingly intertwined that she would probably cringe at even the thought of another sneezing attack.

As I got older, and we became friends instead of just Mother/daughter, we would laugh at her sneezing fits. She would apologize for the side show circus act that they would often display, and I would laugh at the fact I knew she would have to "do a little clean up" afterwards. After she passed away, and I began organizing the house I came across that package of oversized pads she used for bladder control and I couldn't help but laugh again. I was going to miss her so much, but I was so happy she would never have to use those darn things again! I've heard people who've lost loved ones say that the oddest things will remind you of your loss, and it will catch you off guard.  I certainly felt that today. Seeing a patch of ragweed in my own backyard after my weekly allergy shot this morning brought it all back. Once again, I saw myself as that little girl in the backseat of the station wagon driving to Dearborn to pick up Dad. Some of the best conversations I remember with my Mom were during that commute. I felt so safe and so loved. Growing up, I became more aware of the sacrifices she made for our family and remember seeing how uncomfortable she was in her skin at times because of her physical ailments. I'm so glad that she is free of those burdens now, but it's also hard to imagine never being able to laugh over a sneezing fit again or talk about the ragweed this time of year. It's hard not to be able to drive home and call her to talk about the girl's first day of school, Parker's 6th birthday, and tell her how much I love her.

She passed away at the beginning of August, the beginning of the end of summer. The ragweed was just coming on. August has blended into September and now it's fall. The days are becoming shorter, the air has a chill, and the sun is becoming more distant. Just like summer, my Mom is gone too. Each day brings new challenges. Some days are fine, while others carry pain that is hard to bear. Today is one of those days. I see ragweed and it makes me miss my Mom all over again.

First Day of School 2015

In addition to lots of changes this year, I started school too!  I'm doing a graduate program in English at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.  To say I am intimidated is an understatement!

 Maryn started high school at Herbert Henry Dow High School.  She makes a super cute freshman!

Avery is finishing up her last year of middle school and is an 8th grader at Jefferson Middle School. I think she could probably pass for at least a sophomore in HS though.  :)

Parker started kindergarten this year at Seibert Elementary! I am so excited for her, but my Mommy heart is breaking wide open.  I just can't imagine life with out her (or any more little ones) at home during the day.  It's a good thing I know I will be busy with school because I might just shoplift a baby somewhere!  Haha!

Of course, like her older sisters, she didn't look back!  Once she was in and found her spot, she got right to work!  I am looking forward to the great things she will do in school, but I am going to miss her like crazy!

{After her first day of school, we went to pick her up and it had been rainy and overcast all day.  The sun was hiding behind a cloud and it was pretty dark outside.  She came out and asked if it was already bedtime and if she missed the whole day?  With all day kindergarten, she had never been gone for that long, even at preschool. She thought she had literally been in school from sun up till sun down.  It broke my heart and made me laugh at the same time...such a sweet girl!!}

Parker Turns 6

Why is it that every birthday for this girl brings with it all kinds of melancholy and a little bit of sadness?!?  It's not cool!  This girl is always so happy and upbeat, and I should be the same way on the day of her birth.  I resolve to only be happy from now on...you can hold me to it!

Anyway, this girl is so spoiled.  I fully admit it.  In my/her defense, however, she is NOT spoiled rotten, she is spoiled awesome!  Haha! In our family, we give the girls a birthday party every other year starting at age 5.  Parker had her infamous "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Party" last year.  It was quite the ordeal.  I think we all needed a good 2 year break after that one.  So when she mentioned to us that she wanted a Hawaiian themed birthday party this year, we kind of laughed it off reminding her that she wouldn't get a party until next year.  Yeah.  That's pretty much how things go with this "baby" of ours.  She is just so darn cute, and so hard to say no to.  Ugh, what are we going to do?!?

Anyway, the older two of course gave us a little hassle about it, but ultimately they are smitten too.  The party was much lower key than last year's, so it was much more manageable.  I think she and her friends had a great time!  We made leis and homemade "grass" skirts, played some carnival-type games, limbo, and bashed in a pinata. We also watched "Lilo and Stitch" and had lunch of pizza and fruit salad. Easy. For this girl?  Definitely worth it.

So does that mean she gets another one next year?!?  Stay tuned... hahahaha!