Construction Zone

Well in the midst of everything else happening, we have finally started the renovation of our beautiful green & yellow second floor bathroom. This is the before scene:

As if that wasn't bad enough, we have had a hole in our kitchen ceiling for at least five years now because the bathtub was leaking into the kitchen. Mark thought he could fix the problem, but as we all know, all he did was create a hole in the ceiling.

Kyle loves this hole. Here's a shot of Kyle looking down at me from the bathroom into the kitchen.














In the midst of the bathroom being remodeled, the furnace has also gone out again. The good news it the part is under warranty, the bad news is that it may be a couple of days before it can be fixed!

Keep checking for updates and a new finished bathroom - estimated completion date was two weeks! Started on March 17th!

Life in Erlanger

What a week it's been for Erlanger. On Tuesday, March 10th, Amanda & Ryan Minser (Amanda is the Family Resource Director at John W. Miles Elementary) lost their 7 month old daughter Audrey Ryan to a rare and undetectable heart disease called Endo Cardio Fibrosio. Thursday, March 12th, Erlanger/Elsmere Schools lost a 16 year old sophomore, Kassidy Pleasant, to suicide. Saturday, March 14th, Erlanger/Elsmere Schools lost a 16 year old senior, Chelsea Ryann Westwood, also to suicide. Also within the past week or so, the custodian at Tichenor Middle School, in Erlanger, lost two grandchildren, one 22 year old to suicide, another 4 month old due to accidental suffocation. Add to the sorrow, another 21 year old, committing suicide by being hit by a moving train.

Although, I only personally knew one of the victims, Chelsea Ryann Westwood, my heart goes out to all of them. I do know Amanda Minser, but had never met the baby.

I feel like the world is ending all around me.

Dinner Conversations

It's a joke at our house that you can't leave the table after dinner unless you have told us about your day. Of course, everyone just acts goofy and says "how was your day Dad? How was your day Mom? How was you day xxxx - you get the picture.

Tonight however, was a very loud meal as Mark, Zachary, Kyle, Catherine and William (yes William) told of their experience at school over practicing for a tornado drill! Now of course, William isn't in school yet, but he too had a story to tell about his drill!

Zachary went on and on about how crazy it is to announce that you're about to have a tornado drill before the alarm goes off. Kyle and Catherine were upset because they had to sit on the cold floor and put their head between their legs. William proceeded to demonstrate how loud the tornado alarm sounded - you can only be thankful that I can't blog the loudness of his siren!

Mark said that the high school kids were actually very good during their drill and Zachary said "of course they were, they got out of class."

Dinner with the six of us is one of my favorite times of the day. Once the food is cooked, table is set, and we are all sitting together!

Now, if only the maid would show up to do the dishes as the dishwasher is broken once again! I can only hope!!

Kyle & Catherine

I just came across this picture and just laughed to myself. This was taken, Feb 20th after Kyle & Catherine had spent the day in Frankfort on a 5th Grade Field Trip.


Background: There was no one else eating with them. William was already in bed for the night, Zachary was skiing, Mark was at a basketball game, and I had already eaten before they came home.

So, I walk into the kitchen and find the two of them sitting side by side eating their food from Wendy's and talking like best friends. Even though they were on the same field trip, apparently they didn't get to spend much time together and were catching up with each other on their day!

It's a nice reminder that they really do love each other!!