Pher

He was home, and then he left again. He came home to pack clothes/toiletries and because his mom asked him to come home and stay the night. I miss him. He is going to be a Senior this year. I'M THE MOTHER OF A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL. Please say it ain't so! He is leaving with Zeke and Zeke's mom to visit their cabin on Lake Superior. It's been an annual trip for the last several years. I don't know why I'm taking it so hard this year. I would really like to have my family back together. Now I know why Mom is always extra chipper when all of the goslings are in the nest! When I dropped him off at Zeke's, he asked why I had tears in my eyes. I told him it's because I miss him. He kissed my forehead and said, "I love you, Momma!"

I guess as parents you love them, you nuture them, you teach them, and then you let them go. It still stinks! At least he will be home in a week and a half, and then school starts. I have him for one more year...

Maui and the headless 1-winged duck

The dog goes nuts over stuffed ducks. He got 1 for Christmas and chewed it apart. Todd bought another. It's been an endless battle. Maui rips the duck. Todd sews the duck back together... Yesterday the duck saw its demise. Maui brought the duck to Todd and plopped it on his lap. This means, "Play with me!" They started using the duck as a tug. The duck lost a wing. Maui picked up the duck and started swinging his head back and forth and then went back to Todd for more tug action. The duck lost its head. Maui thought this was cool. He now had three duck parts to play with. Not so fast dog..

While Todd was playing tug with Maui and the duck body, he was sharing with me his friend's dog trauma. Dave's dog Sasha has been ill for 6 weeks. An x-ray showed something in the dog's GI tract. They will be taking another x-ray this week to see if it moved. Dave thinks it may be a piece of rawhide stuck. Todd's telling me this story while allowing his dog to chew on small dismembered duck parts. I calmly told him that if Maui gets something stuck in his GI tract (like a duck part for example) we are not spending money on vet bills. We have enough human medical bills right now.

The duck pieces were immediately picked up and thrown in the garbage. Todd will be going to Petco today to buy the dog a new duck. Stupid dog.

More blueberries and baking

Todd, Emma, and Haven went to The Blueberry Patch... again. This time Todd and Emma brought home 3 1/2 lbs of blueberries. Haven's take was 1 1/2 lbs. Todd took the camera for this trip.

He talked with the lady who runs the Patch. One of the rows of bushes is 50 years old. They also have raspberry bushes that will be ready in about 2 weeks. I sense another trip or two in the near future. On Saturday we decided to bake blueberry pies. I researched recipes and found one that was perfect.

While I was assembling the pies Todd suggested an emergency visit to Bill & Val's for dessert. He called, they were up for it, and plans were made.

I made 2 pies. They took up 10 cups of blueberries. We will keep some for snacking. I am freezing the remainder today.

I love Allrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Crumb-Pie/Detail.aspx?prop31=2

The Blueberry Patch

I remember Mom taking me to pick strawberries when I was little. It was so much fun. I would eat more strawberries than I put in my bucket. Today Daddy took Emma to The Blueberry Patch. Emma ate more blueberries than she put in her bucket. They did manage to bring home about 2 quarts of blueberries. I was going to make cobbler tonight, but I got lazy. I thought I would make it tomorrow instead.

Emma's got her hands in the blueberry bucket again. I'm not sure if there will be any left for baking. She is her daddy's daughter.

Little Miss Manners

I guess we have done a good job. Tonight I was in the garage and Emma was in the driveway unaware that I was behind her. The neighbor boy (Nick, 4) and a visiting friend (Corey, 7) came over. I heard Nick say, "Corey this is my friend Emma." Corey said, "It's nice to meet you Emma." Emma's reply was, "And it's a pleasure to meet you Corey."

I would not believe this story except I witnessed it. She does have manners, and she knows how to use them!

Growing princes, several princesses, and a couple of frogs

Baby Faith is not Baby Faith any longer. Faith is now officially a "Big Girl." She is three. Her birthday was July 17 and the Princess Luau was the 18th in Indianapolis. It was supposed to be a super hot July afternoon complete with princesses and swimming. The princesses were present; a couple of princes in the making were present; and a couple of frogs showed up too! The swimsuits were on only briefly as the high temperature was 15 degrees lower than the average. It was a chilly 68 degrees in Indianapolis. Brrr...

Two princes in the making wanted to play with sand

And squirt guns

A couple of frogs were good sports wearing their Princess Party hats
The princess cousins were beautiful!
...And then Faith decided she wanted to be a ballerina and not a princess anymore. OK... It was her party after all!

Bummer, Dude

There is nothing I can do to help him out this time. Cameron broke his hand. Yesterday he had to turn down two very fun invitations due to the broken hand. Jonah invited him to go to Cedar Point next Wednesday. "Nope, Dude. You can't ride with a broken hand." Austin invited him to go play laser tag laser tag last night. "Nope, dude. You can't play with a broken hand."

It's hard to be Cameron right now! I do feel bad for him... just a little bit.

Todd's turn!

Remember when I took Emma to the family doctor's south office, and then to Parkview Radiology Department, and then to our family doctor's north office? Well... today was Todd's turn with Cameron. Here's the very long story (because I feel like venting about my dilemma):

About 2 months ago, Cameron spent the night at a friend's house. Actually, a couple of boys spent the night at this friend's house. Cameron came home with a scratched/blackened eye. "How did this happen, Cameron?" "I was walking along and fell out of a tree" was the reply. Um, I don't think so. Most kids don't just walk along and fall out of a tree. The truth came out. It was a boxing match. I wasn't happy with Cameron for lying. I expect boys to scrap every once in awhile. Tell me the truth and all will be OK.

Yesterday afternoon Cameron asked if he could spend the night at the house of one of these buddies. I denied the request and suggested that the friend spend the night at our house. Fine. He came and so did another buddy. We had a spontaneous sleepover with two boys. Boys are fine. I have no problems handling boys... until last night.

Cameron came into my bedroom at around 2:30 a.m. asking for Tylenol. When I asked why he needed it, his reply was "I think I broke my finger." "How did you do that, Cameron?" "I hit it against the table." Fine. My thoughts were that boys were wrestling and he hurt his finger. I rolled over and went back to sleep. I sent Todd a text this morning asking him to check on Cameron's finger. All three boys were sound asleep and comfortable when I left for work.

After a range of motion assessment, Todd took Cameron to an urgent care facility this morning. X-rays showed a double spiral fracture on the 3rd metacarpal on his right hand. Sprial fracture, huh? That is not consistent with the hitting it against the table story. He was immobilized and this type of fracture required an immediate orthopedic consult. Todd took Cameron to O.N.E. (Orthopedics Northeast).

The truth of what happened? One of the boys started having spontaneous nosebleeds at 2 a.m. He has a platelette disorder and he does bleed easily... so easily it makes me nervous. The family room was stuffy so they went out on the back step; then they went for a walk; then they saw a car coming, and they knew they weren't supposed to be outside so they bolted and Cameron fell over something. The end result was the fracture. Now, what do I do with my 'close to perfect son' who has lied to me twice about injuries? I expect lies from Christopher, and I don't get them. I expect the truth from Cameron, and on two important occasions, I have not received it. What is a mom to do?

Every black cloud has a silver lining...

You all know that I work for a company that manufactures concrete mixers. I'm pretty sure you are all also aware of how crappy the economy is. Well, the crappy economy has a direct negative influence on concrete truck manufacturing, which in turn has a negative influence on my job. I knew it was coming. We all knew it was coming. It doesn't take a Nobel Laureate in Economics to realize that no trucks in the schedule means no revenue for the company which means no work for employees.

Bad news is no work for truck production side of the business. Good news is the aftermarket side of our business is very busy. More customers are ordering parts and repairing their trucks than are ordering new trucks. This in itself is a great thing. Always look for the silver lining, right Mom?

Regardless, while the Aftermarket side has a silver lining, the production side has a black cloud. Shut down for the production side starts on Monday the 20th of July. I love my job. I love going to work every day. I love the people I work with. My silver lining is that I get to spend time with my kids before they go back to school on 8/13 and I have time to prepare the house and meals before I have my surgery on 8/18.

No socialized healthcare here!

When Christopher was younger, he battled tonsilitis and ear infections often. The infections always cleared up completely with antiobiotics but would return after a few weeks (sometimes months) passed. Last Friday morning he called home from Zeke's house. He asked his dad if he could make an appointment to see Dr. Mike... "sometime next week." This concerned Todd as Christopher does not EVER request to see the doctor. After Christopher described his symptoms, Todd decided that an appointment the same day was in order. This could not wait until next week.

Todd took him to see Dr. Mike. Tonsiltis was diagnosed and amoxicillin was prescribed. The three of them discussed problems Christopher has with his tonsils (we did not know about all of the problems because the kid does not complain). It was decided that they probably should be removed. Not only did Christopher get in to see our family doctor the same day, he also got a referral to and an appointment with the same Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor that removed Emma's tonsils. His appointment with the ENT is mid-August. He was surprised that it could all happen so quickly.

Yes, we have problems with our healthcare system, but it still beats socialized medicine hands down. We were able to get two relatively immediate appointments with doctors of our choice. Chances are great that Christopher will have his tonsils out by the end of September. I wonder if the speed of this will change his mind from liberal to at least moderately conservative... please?!

Saturday the 11th

Friday night was adult fun. Saturday and Sunday were family fun. Cameron, Emma, Todd, and I travelled to Holland, MI to eat ribs. Yes, we drove 3 hours and spent the night in a hotel to eat ribs. These were not just any ribs, they were Buit ribs, and they were worth the drive.

Here's the history. We have dear friends whose parents host rib parties several times a year. They have done this for well over 25 years. Now one of their sons and his wife host a couple of these annual parties. It's like passing the baton down to the next generation. On Saturday, the rib party in Michigan had a record breaking 187.43 lbs of ribs cooking. Cameron went straight from the van to the rib pit. Rob hooked him up immediately with a rib:

Everyone brings a dish to share:

After most guests left, Rob took us to see their lighthouse... Big Red. Rob and his family live about three minutes from Lake Michigan.

We walked down the pier and watched the sun set.

We walked to the pier on the main road. We walked back to the van on the beach.

Friday night LIVE

About 10 weeks ago, we were invited (along with many other Homestead HS Facebook friends) to go to Covington Bar & Grill on Friday July 10th.

Todd, Troy, and Jeff caught up before the band started.

The stepdaughter of a classmate was singing in a band and the proud parents wanted to show her off. She was amazing.

She serenaded James and then Jeff.

We had a great time visiting with friends. Some of the people that came haven't seen each other in more than 25 years. Everyone picked up like there was no time in between visits.

Troy and Greg:

Lisa, Barb, Curt:

Barb and Curt:

Beautiful crazy Laura...:

...And her fabulous husband Mark (He went to a different high school but ironically was neighbors with Jeff when they were elementary school age! Fort Wayne really is a 'small town'):

Laura's mom came to the bar also. She used to have many of these teenagers hanging out at her house. Shane, Troy, and Greg talking to Laura's mom. All has been forgiven!:

Cameron is gone... Again

He left at 8:15 this morning for West Virginia with the older boys in the Boy Scout troop. He's officially classified as one of the older boys now. He's a mentor for the younger Scouts. He will be challenged with strength, endurance, and leadership over the next several days. He will be encouraging the younger scouts and assisting them when needed. Monday he will be hiking 10 miles in the Appalachain Mountains, Tuesday he will be whitewater rafting on the New River, Wednesday he will be treetop zip lining in the mountains. Home is the last place he will be thinking of. However, he will be missed by his parents, Mommy especially. The house just doesn't feel right without him here. I know, I know, someday he'll be gone more than he's home just like his older brother. I'm just not ready for that phase of my life. With both of the boys gone, it's horrible. At least Christopher is coming home tonight. Having him home is some comfort for this adjusting mother.

Todd took Cameron to the meeting spot this morning. Emma was still sleeping after last night's festivities, so I stayed home with her. When they were leaving, I handed Todd the camera and told him I wanted a picture of the "three Cubs." He knew who I meant. I was feeling nostalgic. Cameron, Aaron, and Alex have been in Scouts together since 1st grade. Todd was their leader 1st through 5th grades. He helped mold these boys into being the responsible young men that they have become. I miss having these three boys involved in my every Tuesday night routine. I also miss seeing their parents weekly. I am very proud of how they are maturing, as are their parents.

Todd with the boys in 1st grade. Top row [l-r]: Cameron, Aaron, Mr. Todd, and Alex. These are the three boys that departed this morning:

This morning, Mr. Todd said, "Boys, line up. Mrs. Meyers wants a picture!" All three obliged without contest. (l-r) Alex, Aaron, Cameron:

4th of July

Fourth of July was great. Todd & Emma went to a party at a friend's house in the morning. They live in a small town close to Fort Wayne. She (I'm using pronouns instead of names to avoid embarassment in case she visits the blog) said, that there would be a parade going "Right in front of the house." It didn't happen. The kids were pumped for a parade. The parade goes in front of their house for the town's festival in August and not for the 4th of July. It was actually very funny, but she had a house full of people at 8:30 in the morning for a parade followed by lunch. The kids played and made the best of it, and the adults chatted. We ate and the party ended at around 2.

Party #2 started around 5. This one was at Dave & Shelane's home in Auburn. They recently bought a great house on 4 or 5 acres. The kids have lots of room to run, ride the 4-wheeler, and shoot fireworks.

Cameron has some sort of firework inside a tube. Note the sparks falling out of the tube. What is it with guys and fire anyway?

Emma and Willow ran around like crazy little girls. I guess that's their job!

FIRE!

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Todd wanted to build a fire in the backyard. He built a ring with large rocks. I asked him to cut out the grass, but he insisted that the fire would burn it away and that would be good enough. No sense in debating with him. I know from previous experience, that if I continued to discuss the topic, I would would be initiating a disagreement, and I did not want that. Our dear friend Billy called and was looking for something to do. Todd mentioned, "FIRE" and Billy was over right away.

In the beginning it was a nice small campfire...

Oh yeah, the neighbors behind us were having a birthday party. They had probably 30 people in their backyard. Our fire sparked them to have a fire. They were having a great time, we were having a great time. As they sang Happy Birthday, we chimed in from an acre and a half away. Todd and Billy got more wood and the fire grew. Everything was still good. Then Todd got out the four pallets he's been storing just waiting for the inaugural fire. All four pallets were placed to form a square teepee. I thought the cops were going to be called. Not called because of the fire but because of all the hooting and hollering the neighbors were doing once the pallets started burning. Todd with the hose (sorry it's so blurry). It was hard to take that picture when I was laughing so hard...

This is what we were left with a couple of days later. The grass is starting to grow back. I think we need to put down some flagstone and rocks around the perimeter of the fire ring. Sigh... how can something as simple as a backyard fire ring turn into a project? That domino effect gets me every time!