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?

The Month of May 2008

In May, we took a fun road trip to Cleveland, Ohio to see my sister Natalie and her hubby and son. They were there for a business trip and invited us to stay with them at their hotel. There was a really cool playground close by that the kids really enjoyed . . .

. . . Ashlee and Braden gave this dinosaur a good workout!


We didn't miss our chance to eat at PF Chang's, which is one of our favorite restaurants.


We also hit the Cleveland Zoo. Ashlee and Nick wasted no time mapping out our day!


We even made a quick trip to Australia! OK, so that's not entirely true. This was part of the "Australian Adventure." I thought this sign was cool because Ballarat is where I once lived.


Aaron and Braden took a ride on the camel. Don't ask me what this has to do with Australia. I don't remember seeing any when I lived there. Maybe they should move this attraction to the "Saudi Arabia Adventure." That makes way more sense, I think.


Ash and Jere admiring the lions from a distance (thankfully!)


The last day of our trip we went to the Cleveland Science Center. It was also Mother's Day. I would have liked to have been at home being pampered, but I guess whatever makes the kids happy, makes me happy, too.


I did get to go hang gliding through the Grand Canyon so I can't complain.


Jere gave himself a PET scan.


And after making fun of Aaron because he couldn't balance this skateboard for long, I was put to shame by not staying on it much longer, and to top it off, both Nick and Ash stayed on for at least 10 times longer than I did. Oh the shame!!


Ashlee used some sort of secret Egyptian balancing stance . . .


Nick also turned 9! Yeah, I can't believe it either. Here he is at our favorite b-day joint, Red Robin after opening some goodies from Grandma.


And more presents at home, including a tennis raquet and a Rubik's cube. Happy Birthday buddy!

Still Alive!

I have about 3 months worth of "stuff" to catch up on, which includes 2 vacations, a birthday, fourth of July, etc., so I'm in the process of getting all the pix ready for publishing. Tomorrow is my Human Bio final, so after that, I will actually have a moment to do it . . . assuming this gross humidity and heat subside a little. The computer is upstairs where there is no AC, so I will blog the best I can. Later!

Funny Things My Kids Say

Today we went on a "nature walk" together up around County Farm Park. My main intent was to give us all a good opportunity to exercise, but along the way I challenged them to find 5 different kinds of leaves and then collect some for crayon rubbings. Nick & Ash loved the fact that we found some wild raspberries, animal poop that was full of seeds and some really beautiful flowers. Along the way I decided to review my biology class material by telling them all about how antibodies work to help your body fight off "foreign invaders" like viruses. They seemed thoroughly interested and we had a good conversation about it. When it was time to go, we started our walk home. I asked them if they enjoyed learning about nature and they said they had a good time. Then I realized we had forgotten our leaves for crayon rubbings. Nick said, "We may have come away empty-handed, but we didn't come away empty-minded!" Good observation, Nick!

This afternoon I was driving Nick to karate practice. Ashlee was reading her Horse A to Z Dictionary. We were at a stoplight when she says, "Mom! Did you know there is a horse in here called an ass?" I said, "A what?" She said, "An ass!" (Nick starts giggling here.) I said, "Are you sure that's what it says? How is it spelled?" She said, "A - S - S." (Nick laughs even harder!) I said, "Let me see that." She handed me the book and sure enough, there was a picture of a donkey with the word Ass next to it. I said, "Oh yeah. That's a donkey and they're sometimes called jackasses or asses. But I wouldn't go around saying that word too much. Just use it for donkeys." Nick said, "Yeah, Ash. Don't say ass!"

Just Too Busy!

So, you probably noticed that I haven't posted anything for a really long time. Well, I can actually say that I've just been too busy to even think about it! I've gone back to school and I volunteer at the Burn & Trauma Clinic by the University of Michigan hospital. So if I'm not at school, I'm studying or doing homework or just trying to catch up with all the laundry and chores that don't get done nearly as often anymore. Plus, today was the kids' last day of school so I am blessed to have them with me all day long until September 2. I am already running out of things for them to do so I have a feeling this will be a long summer . . . I'll try to keep you all updated but don't hold your breath!

I'm the Biggest Loser!

My sister and I have entered into a weight-loss challenge with each other. We both have to lose 5% of our current body weight by May 14. The loser (aka Sarah) gets to buy the winner (aka Becky) meat pies from the Australian Bakery in Atlanta. She has even posted a link to the bakery on her website for her ordering convenience. She must be pretty sure that I'm going to win!
And for the record, I'm already down 2 pounds in just 3 days. I can smell the Aussie goodness already!