I've not been so good about keeping my blog updated. I've let Facebook take over in the "blog" area. Things have been quite busy the past three months to say the least. October brought a new drug treatment for Caitlin. She is now taking Humira shots every other week and they have been a blessing so far. (fingers crossed) They have changed her life to say the least. She feels 10,000 times better and has no pain and her strength is coming back. She looks wonderful and I'm just thrilled for her. November brought Thanksgiving and a ruptured Achilles tendon for Brian. He had surgery on December 2nd and is on crutches with a cast until the 30th. He will get the cast off then and get some kind of adjustable boot thing he will have to wear for 3 months (my nerve is wearing thin....). Conner started his high school swim season and is doing great. He was Swimmer of the Week a few weeks ago, which was exciting. Caitlin and Conner are both on Christmas break and I am on vacation. I'm loving it. :) That's about it. I'm hoping the new year will bring great health and lots of wonderful memories for everyone. Happy Holidays!

New Etsy shop

After much day dreaming, I've opened an Etsy shop on Etsy.com. I LOVE this website and will sit for hours looking at all the neat stuff people make and sell. I've made bunco game boxes and sold them on eBay before and my friend Diana thought that I should try and sell them on etsy. Well....after many months of thinking about it I've decided to do it. I've also started making funky little gift/trinket boxes as well. I really just love to sit and create them. Truly, I'm obsessed right now. :) Well, in my first week I have an order from a lady that owns a little retail gift shop in Texas for 6 of the bunco game boxes and I've sold another one on etsy. I'm hoping that I can sell a few here and there just so that I can keep making them. http://www.sandboxstudio.etsy.com/

Visit with Mother

Last week my mom came for a visit. My sister Cindy was driving back to S.C. from Colorado and my mom rode along. Cindy drove through so that she could drop my mom off for a visit. It was nice to see them both. Cindy stayed for a few days and then headed home and my Mom stayed until last Tuesday. I truly enjoyed having her here to visit. We took a little road trip to Champaign IL to visit with Cait and take a tour of the college and new apartment. It was a perfect day weather wise and company wise. I was sad to see her go...but she had to get home for her next round of company, my nephew and his wife and 3 young children. That will have the house hopping. :)

1st Apartment!

Well.....we moved Caitlin into her 1st apartment on Thursday. She headed back to school and this year she and two other girls will be living in a 3 bedroom 1.5 bathroom apartment. It's a nice size apartment, I was surprised at the size of the bedrooms. Not as large as her one here at home, but much larger than the dorm.

We got up early and headed out. One of her roomies, Rachel, was already there and unpacking with her mom. Her other roomie, Laura, didn't move in until Friday so we didn't get a chance to see her room all decorated up. The apartment comes furnished with a couch, love seat, end tables, coffee table, dining table and 4 chairs, beds, dressers and desks in the rooms.

Caitlin and I started to unpack while Conner and Brian went to buy cleaning supplies. The apartment was in pretty good condition...but the blinds were filthy. I think her room turned out pretty darn cute. She has some space on her walls that she will need to fill in with photos or something, but it is a cute room and perfect for her. We hung wires up and pinned up photos for now, but she can pin up other things as time goes on and change it up. All in all I like and and I think she loves it. (and that is all that matters!)

We left her around 4:00 our time. It was A LOT harder this year than last year. Maybe because she's in an apartment or because I'm not there to watch over her, or probably the biggest reason is because I enjoy having her around. My mom will be coming out next week for a few days and I'm going to take her over to visit Caitlin and see her new apartment (keep it clean Cait!) I'm hoping I can talk my mom into making a few dishes that we can freeze and take for Caitlin to put in her freezer......especially since the first call I got when I got home went something like this... "hello" -me "Rachel, where is the fire extinguisher?"-Cait "Caitlin!?!"-me "hold on mom....I know we have one, where did we put it?" -Cait "What are you burning?" -me "Well, we are trying to make the frozen pizza"- Cait Need I say more?

If you look closely in the bowl on the dressser, you can see "scoot" the black goldfish that will be sharing the room with Caitlin.

Summer in a nut shell

I've not been good about posting on my blog this summer. Partly because we've had a busy summer, partly because I'm on Facebook now and partly because I'm just lazy. So here is our summer in a nut shell!

1) My garden has grown like crazy. I love going out and picking tomatos and peppers and making salsa on the spot. The onion has not done as well as hoped.

2) Caitlin went to Taste of Chicago and Lalapalooza with her besties this summer. She trained and taught swim lessons. I have LOVED having her home for the summer. She started guitar lessons with Conner and just loves to play. Her health is improving and she feels good. She celebrated her 19th birthday on August 4th.

3) Conner trained all summer and it paid off for him. He participated in the Age Group Swim Championships in July and came home with a GOLD medal in the 200 fly!!! In addition he brought home two Silvers, one Bronze, one 4th, one 5th, and one 7th...dropping time in all events. Well deserved!

5) Conner started school last Friday. :( And Caitlin moves into her new apartment on Thrusday. :(

6) We went to a wedding last night and had a blast! We had great company and had a fun time dancing the night away.....my hips will hurt for a month now!

That's about it........ The summer just flew by!

Saturday night in Columbus

Last night we went to a little street party for a local bar that was celebrating 70 years. They blocked off the street and had a few bands playing etc. So the Wangs, Brennigars and Brian and I went to enjoy the festivities. (we met up with the Tablers while we were there) Well, as we were enjoying our evening of music and friendship we got a little "show" to go along with it.

Right in front of us was this couple. The man had his hand up his lady friend's very SHORT skirt. Higher and higher it seemed to go. As you can see...Hank may have had a beer or two to give him the courage to be in the photo!

I took the photos with my cell phone (while laughing hysterically) so they are not the sharpest...but you get the idea.

Yard Work

Way behind on the posting. Life has been busy. High school is winding down for Conner....1.5 weeks left! Caitlin came home just over a week ago. Glad to have her home. And, we've been doing some yard work.

We had quite a few dead spots from having two female dogs. So we dug up the bad stuff, put down clean dirt and seed. I can't tell you how nice and green the new grass is. It really came up thick. Couldn't be happier. We've planted some new perennials in the garden in hopes that in years to come the garden will be full of bright colorful flowers all summer. The bushes we planted last spring have done very well and look great.

And, I'm most excited to have a "salsa" garden. We've planted several types of tomato's, peppers and some red onions on our garden on the side of our garage. It's not a big garden, but it gets perfect sunlight. We've also planted a flower box herb garden on the deck. I'm excited to say we have lots and lots of tomato flowers and some actual tomato's growing on a few plants.

a little behind on the blogging.....

I've gotten a little behind on my blogging. Not that anyone except my mom, Diana, Suzanne and an occasional stray person read this. But I want to keep my mom happy. :)

So here is a quick update.....

Caitlin came home for Easter weekend. We spent Saturday at our good friends, the Bowling's. Our other good friends, the Wangs, were also there. Diane B. had a beautiful spread for us. There was an Easter basket for everyone filled with homemade goodies and special little things for each of us. (Brian had SPF 900 sunscreen in his basket) It was a very nice evening. The kids fished a little and we ended up watching Marley & Me. (which I didn't really want to watch because I've read the book and knew I would cry like a fool in front of everyone....and I did!)

Sunday Brian woke up and made us Eggs Benedict. It was a nice breakfast....then we had a nap! I drove Caitlin back to school in the afternoon.

Monday brought some Crohn's complications. :( By Tuesday I was back in the car and on my way back to Caitlin. I spent the rest of the week with her taking her to doctor appointments etc. A little set back in her healing, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

Friday Brian came out to attend the year end banquet for the swim team. It was a very nice affair and we just can't believe how fast Caitlin and Conner's freshman year has gone by. Brian spent the night in Champaign and we had breakfast with Caitlin before he left. It was actually "Mom's Weekend" so I had planned on staying till Sunday...she just got to have me for almost a week instead. Lucky girl. :)

Saturday evening a bunch of swim moms and daughters went to cook on the table Japanese food. It was a great time. Our cook was the most fun. He asked for a volunteer to come flip his eggs. Rachel was the lucky egg flipper! I love cook on the table. After dinner the freshman moms took our daughters to see 17 Again with Zac the kid from H.S. Musical. It was a pretty entertaining movie.

Caitlin is feeling better.....Conner is as cute as ever......Brian had to go to a manager meeting somewhere......and I need a nap!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM aka MARGIE!!!

Happy Birthday to you.....Happy Birthday to you......Happy Birthday dear Mom.....Happy Birthday to you!!! Mom, I hope that you have a wonderful day and a fantastic year. I LOVE YOU! (way more than the others...)

Age Group State...one last short course time....

This weekend was Conner's last Age Group State short course swim meet. Next year he will have to swim with the big boys! (which, hello....he does have facial hair starting to grow!) This weekend he swam a TON of events.

Friday he swam the 500 freestyle and the 400 Medley relay. He dropped 6 seconds in the 500 and swam a 5:06. Just to give you an idea how far he's come this season, he started the season doing a 5:45.

Saturday he swam the 200 Medley relay, the 100 fly, 200 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay. He dropped over 2 seconds in his fly, doing a 57.57 and came back in finals doing a 57.43. The 200 free he had a little add. Oh, and he also ripped off about an inch of skin off his big toe during the 200 free. :(

Today he swam the 200 Individual Medley (added 1/2 second) the 100 free (dropped 1.5 seconds) and the 200 fly in which he dropped over 7 seconds swimming a 2:08....and the 400 free relay. We will be heading back tonight for him to swim the 200 fly again in finals.

EXCELLENT JOB CONNER!!!!

Relay for Life

Caitlin is participating in the Relay for Life for cancer research. Her swim team has put together a team and Caitlin's goal is to raise $200. Here is the link if you would like to support her in her race for a cure.

It is a great cause. Everyone know someone who is suffering or who has lost the battle to cancer. Let's help the Illini girls make a difference!

Caitlin visit

Yesterday Caitlin was able to come home and stay the night. Some of the girls were swimming at IU so a few of the girls that were not swimming decided to come cheer them on. Two of the older girls, Amy and CeCe, decided to stay in Bloomington in a room that another parent could not cancel, but they were so kind to drive Caitlin and her fellow freshman friend Torrey to our home to stay with us. It was great to see them all and have her home, even it was only for 8 hours. :) In the morning I drove the girls over to Bloomington and we cheered on the girls that were swimming. It was a VERY small meet and was over by 12:30 (prelims and finals!)
We were so glad to see Caitlin, and her friends are just wonderful!