Dave and I are heading up to Muskegon in a little while.  I'll keep my mom posted but at this point it's not looking good.  I'll update again when I can.  Thanks for all the prayers.  Keep Michelle in your prayers since she's never been really alone with Kaden and she's not happy that we're leaving her!

Please pray for my father-in-law.  He is in the hospital suffering from Pnemonia.  He has Parkinson's so an illness like this is very serious.  Dave's mom just called.  She's home and very tired.  It says a lot that she can leave him - it says that she is totally exhausted.  Al  will be 86 in a few weeks.

Somebody (maybe Senior Moments?) suggested that we take pictures of Kaden next to a stuffed animal to chart his growth.  Now that he's almost 4 weeks old we've finally gotten around to it.  He's wearing an outfit from great grandma josaju and is next to the creature she made for him.  They are about the same size.

The creature makes the perfect head rest.

And this morning in his bouncy chair.  Which I'm shaking as I type.

We already took a walk together while mommy slept.  I have a massage in about 30 minutes - my leg has been hurting so badly I can hardly walk so we'll see if little mommy wakes up to tend to him then.  Not that she has a choice!

Then later this afternoon I'm going to a high tea to say goodbye to one of my bookclub buddies.  She's retiring to New Mexico.  So the whole group is taking her out.  Should be a blast.  Think I"ll wear a hat.

Oh yeah - can anybody tell me how to add a video link to my blog?  I have some video of Kaden that josaju at least wants to see and it's too big to e-mail to her free e-mail sites.

One thing I forgot to mention with the potatoe recipe.  I usually turn the potatoes at least once so they brown evenly.

We slept in late.  Felt good.  So now we're going to attend a different local church.  It's actually the closest church to us and we've never gone to a Sunday service there. 

More later.

Two in one day!  But you've asked for this.

We just got back from seeing the Prarie Home Companion movie.  It's excellent.  Meryl Streep is dynamite as were the rest of the cast.  We love the radio show, but you don't need to be fans of that to enjoy the movie.  But if you are a fan, it's a must-see.

Two recipes.  To roast a pork roast on the grill I used the same technique as roasting a chicken.  Heat up both burners to clean off any residual stuff, then turn off the side you'll be putting the meat on.  Turn the meat periodically so that all sides heat up.  Just keep an eye on it and use a meat thermometer.  It was quite delicious.  I rubbed mine with fresh pressed garlic and pepper.

Parmesan potatoes:  Cut up in bite-sized pieces about 6 unpeeled potatoes.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a 9X13 pan by placing in a 350 degree oven.  Double bag two paper lunch bags and put in approximately 1/2 cup each of flour and parmesan cheese.  Add ground oregano and salt and pepper to taste.  Put in a handful of the potatoes and shake to coat.  Place in pan on top of melted butter.  Continue until all pieces are coated.  If any of the mixture is left after all the potatoes are coated, sprinkle on top.  Top with a couple tablespoons more of butter, just dotted on top.  Bake for an hour or so, until potatoes are tender.  Yum!

No more Kaden pictures.  He's not here.  What can I do?  And yes, I did clean up the study.  I feel good now.

It's a rainy Saturday morning.  I guess that means I'll have to spend the time cleaning out my study.  Once of my least favorite jobs, yet one that seems to require doing way too often.  Sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating in paper.

I spent yesterday morning garage sale-ing.  I bought a serving bowl for me, then the rest of the $20 went toward books, bottle, toys and clothes for guess who.  I don't think I'm going to get him any toys at retail!  Do you know how cheap baby toys are?   I'm a garage sale convert.

A little grainy pic of Kaden.  This was in Peter's room.

Here Peter is holding him.

Eye-to-eye.  The guy in the background is Joe.  Joe and Peter flew to Virginia to shot a wedding this weekend.  Peter is the main photographer and Joe will act as his assistant.  Both Joe and Peter are MK's (missionary kids) and met at an MK retreat. 

Kaden and his parents are spending the weekend in Napanee.  Sam's parents are hosting church in two weeks so Sam and Michelle have been going there once a week to help them get ready.  It is healing some hurts and helping them all bond.  I'm happy for this development.  I'd also say I'm glad that Michelle will be able to attend an Amish church service, only the service is in Amish German and so she won't understand any of it.

Dave brought over one of his collaborators, who is in town from California.  So I made a pork roast on the grill, along with parmesan potatoes (I made up my own recipe and I have to say, it is delicious), sugar peas blueberry lemon muffins and chocolate chip bars. 

So today I have no excuses and have to spend the time cleaning out the mess in the study.  I said that already.  If I say it enough, I may actually do it.  Hold me accountable!

A sub story, then I'll close.  Thursday was the second last day of school at the high school, but my last day of subbing for this school year.  I gave final exams in two classes.  During the 4th block class one young man asked if he could use the bathroom after he completed the exam.  I told him "no" because that's what I'd been told to say to students during finals.  Then he told me his nose was bleeding and he needed to go to the bathroom.  I gave him a kleenex and told him to hold it shut.  Then he told me I should at least let him go to the nurse.  Seemed like overkill to me and I told him that.  Then some of the rest of the class got involved and told me that I had to let him go since it was a health hazard.  ????  Right.  So I said I'd be happy to call the nurse and let her know he was on his way.  Oh no, just let me go to the bathroom, I don't need to see the nurse.  ????  Red lights were flashing in my head at this point.  At this point the division director walked by and I solicited his opinion.  He told me to let him go to the bathroom.  So I did.  I still think I was right and his behavior was suspicious.  What do you think?

school's out for the summer!

more to come later.

Yippee!!!!!

My mom says it's been "forever" since I posted a picture of Kaden.  So... Peter took my camera upstairs last night while he was being given a bath and 350 photos later, he was done.  I exagerate, slightly.  But those of you who know Peter, know it's not by much!  The problem with some of them is that he took them sideways or upside-down, and I haven't figured out a good way to go from my Picasa downloading site to a place where I can right them and put them on this site so you can look at them without standing on your head or turning your monitor upside-down.

His bellies getting bigger!  All that good breast-milk!

He is a cutie!

Last night Peter's sister and family and nana and grandma (my aunt and uncle) all came over to talk to their parents on Skype.  Roy and Marabeth are missionaries in Ecuador.  That was really cool.  Barney even got in on the conversation.  We held him up to the camera and he meowed.  They had their dog on their side so Cindy and Barney greeted each other.

You can see my aunt feeding Kaden while she's talking to her son.  Michelle's been quite successful at expressing her milk.  It's really handy for when Kaden wakes up before they come back from an errand or whatever.

I'm subbing 1/2 day today for the same teacher I've been subbing for.  Yesterday I sent four different kids down to the office on insubbordination.  The first one, just to give you an example, was sent down after he told me to "shut up".  This would be why many subs don't take assignments the last week of school.  Today shouldn't be too bad.  The first block class has their final exam and the second block is homeroom.  They are seniors and are having a potluck.  I'm bringing in puppy chow since I knew about it in advance.  I feel really bad for the teacher that she isn't here for their last homebase class.  She's been with these same kids for the past 4 years.  They are having 1/2 day meetings for the math teachers - a whole lot of them needed subs today.  I took this one since I'd been subbing for her since Thursday.

Better run.  Another great book, this one with an encoded message that was fun to decode!

What a fun, relaxing weekend.  Friday night with the neighbors was wonderful - it's home back there, it truly is.  And the wedding was lovely.  Beth, my friend and the mother of the bride, introduced us to some church friends who adopted us into their group so we had someone to sit with at the wedding and eat with at the reception.  After a short time we felt like we'd know them forever and we all promised to sit together when the next one of Beth's 3 offspring gets married.

It felt really good to get a full nights sleep - two nights in a row!  And then, to sleep in!  Sheer bliss.  I won't be able to do that tomorrow - I sub three days this week, then no more until the next school year starts up in August.  And then I probably won't sub until September.

Michelle, Sam and Kaden survived without me.  Good.  With each day Michelle gets more confident.  They both told me that he slept 6 hours Saturday night, when they stayed over at Sam's mom's house.  They said that she suggested they wrap him up in warmer night wear.  Maybe that was it.  I just don't like to see a sweaty baby.  I only had one infant and Ken hated to be warm.  He's one of those young men that you see wearing shorts in a snow storm.  Guess he'll always be that way.

It was really dark in the hall so the quality of the pictures aren't that great.  I apologize for that.  The flowers were all silk.  Beth did almost all of them and they were stunning.  I like purple anyway.

There were two flavors to choose from - white with strawberry filling or chocolate with fudge filling.  Guess which one I went for?  That should be a no-brainer!  LOL

Dave and I with Kevin and Beth, our friends and the parents of the bride.

I got the jacket at Chicos - isn't it fun?  On sale of course.

A few of the ladies from the old neighborhood.  I've got a flannel shirt around my waist because we'd eaten on the deck and it was cool out there!

We went to church after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, then stopped over at Beth and Kevins for an hour.  That was really nice because we actually got to talk to them for a bit.  It's so hard at a reception to talk to the host and hostess for any length of time because they have to talk to everyone else.  Everyone understands that, but it makes it frustrating! 

All good things must come to an end and so ends the weekend.  I hope you all enjoyed yours too!

I finished this book on the way to the wedding - I highly recommend it!

One of my subscribers helped with a vacation bible school last summer that was a marketplace theme.  I thought I remembered which of you it was, but I think I must have been wrong.  Could whoever it was comment so I can dialog with you about it?  We are doing Bethlehem Village in 2 weeks at our church and I'm the baker in charge of the bakery and all the food and I need some input!