My Book Worm

I don't know if you can tell from these pics or not, but Nick loves to read. We've read to him since he was in the womb and pretty much every night since. When he was a year old, he would make us read Dr. Seuss's ABC's to him over and over again, so much that I memorized the book! It definitely paid off because he was reading on his own before he was three.


I thought I would capture the moment with my new camera, which I am loving to no end! This is no small feat for a mom with a son who hates having his picture taken, but I got what I wanted without too many protests!

For A Good Cause

In March, at the age of thirty, my friend, Abbigail Israelsen became suddenly ill and on a ventilator fighting for her life for 18 days. She was in the hospital for 21 days, but thankfully she survived. It has been a long and emotional recovery that continues everyday.

She has joined the ARDS Foundation team to attend a fund raising walk on Sept. 21, 2008. For every donation that is made over $40, Abbi will give the donor an original drawing created specifically for them. The drawings will be done on 100% cotton rag paper with pen, pencil, and ink. You will receive your drawing in the mail by mid October, 2008.

After donating towards the Hike for Lung Health, email Abbi (abbiisraelsen@yahoo.com) with three words that she will use to inspire a drawing as a thank you gift.

The drawings will be shown at the Anton Art Center for a special fund raising exhibition Sept. 12-Oct. 3, 2008. All proceeds made from the exhibition will be donated for ARDS research.

If you would like to read more about Abbi's journey through ARDS visit her website.

http://drawingforards.blogspot.com
The website with her story is: http://mystoryards.blogspot.com/
Hike fundraising page: http://my.imisfriendraising.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=260155&LangPref=en-CA
Abbi's artwork website: www.abbigailisraelsen.com

The Month of June

June was quite a busy month with the school year ending and all the activities that come along with it.


Nick received his red belt in karate (this was technically at the very end of May) and we were so proud of him!


Ashlee graduated from Kindergarten. It's weird to think that she's not a baby anymore. Here she is with one of her best buddies, Lilly.


The kindergarten class had a little potluck get together with all the parents. This is Ashlee's teacher, Mrs. Duman.


The end of the school year also brought the end of Ashlee's soccer season. Here she is getting her team photo and medal from her coach, Don Packard.


She was so excited about this medal, especially since it had her name engraved on it.


These are most of the girls from Ashlee's team.


Ashlee also performed in a "Goldilocks & the Three Bears" play for Kindergarten. She got to play Mama Bear and said her lines perfectly. Good job Ash!


Jere took Nick to his first professional baseball game at Comerica Park in Detroit. It was the LA Dodgers (Jere's favorite team) vs. the Tigers.


Unfortunately, the grey skies brought a torrential downpour . . .


. . . and Nick was not excited about being soaked to the bone! Even their socks were full of water! Free air conditioning, right?