RIP Yoda

 Yoda had been suffering for almost a year now. I wrote a blog about it a while back, but here's a recap. I accidentally bought him the wrong food last November and that's when the vomiting started. He's never really had long stretches without vomiting since then, even though he was only on that food for about a week. He got a bladder infection after that and that has been an even bigger problem than the vomiting. He was on antibiotics three times to help it. This last time, the vet also recommended some food for him to help with UTIs. Ironically, that was the type of food I had bought him last year by mistake. He seemed to like it at first, but last week he slowly stopped eating it, and everything else. I didn't notice that as much as I noticed that fact that he was getting pretty skinny and bony. I felt bad giving him his medicine because he seemed so helpless. On Sunday, I knew he was going to die soon. I had some good moments with him, which, given my busy life right now have not been very often. Sunday evening I let him outside because that was his favorite thing to do. He just lay there and enjoyed the nice weather. Suddenly, we noticed that he caught something, so we thought maybe he wasn't too far gone after all! Monday he was back to suffering. I called the vet and she said to stop giving him the meds since he had probably lost his appetite because of it.

Yesterday I taught Erik's first day of preschool! That morning, Yoda had not eaten what was out from the night before, so I gave him a small amount of his old favorite canned food, which he threw back up. Victoria went to school concerned for him. In the middle of preschool I looked at Yoda in his corner and thought he was dead. His eyes were glassy. His fur stuck up in weird places because he was so bony. After looking closer, I saw that he was breathing still and he responded to me when I pet him. I snuck in some love to him throughout the preschool. He didn't eat anything the rest of the day, but did finally change positions. We took him to the vet last night. The last few times his kidneys were tested he just a little above normal, but yesterday the tests yielded the results that he definitely had kidney disease. He was only 6.7 pounds yesterday, almost a pound less than a couple of months ago. He was once a 13 pound cat! They gave him some fluids and told us to feed him whatever he would eat just to make him comfortable. We knew he was going to die soon, but we weren't sure if we should try to make him suffer a little less before he died or not. We gave him tuna last night which he ate well.

This morning, he didn't look well still. I told my kids to say goodbye before they went to school, in case he was gone before they came home. I called Jason and told him I couldn't let Yoda suffer anymore. The vet let me come right in. Now he is happy again!

A recent, favorite place of his to sit.

He enjoyed this cupboard over the summer when all the toys were dumped out.

School Schedule

With the changes of moving the TAG kids to a new school came changes of new times. Our school, Miller, has always started early because it was one of the TAG schools as well the neighborhood school. I'm not really sure why it started earlier since kids from different areas were bussed here which probably made it hard on those families to get to school that early. Now they have made every school start at 8:55, even the TAG school. I was worried about starting 45 minutes later than the previous years because school would end really late. I was also worried because all schools are starting and ending at the same time.

Well, this is day 2 and I have to say that I'm loving it! My kids still wake up the same time. They don't have to rush, the girls can practice the piano, and they can play with Erik while I finish getting ready so after drop-off, we can run our errands without having to go home first! I finally gave in and decided Karissa riding the bus wouldn't be such a bad idea. They only bus the Gallimore TAG kids (grades 3-5) on the buses they ride on. Lucky for us, the bus stop is 6 houses away and the times are better than for other kids at Gallimore. Unlucky for us, since her stop is one of the last stops before school starts and the buses are still figuring out the new routes and whatever, the bus didn't come yesterday, or if it did it was after school started. We only waited 5 minutes after it's arrival time today so I could get my Miller kids to school on time and then drop of Karissa. She came home on the bus yesterday and all was well with that, though it was still later and I didn't see her get off.

 My friend took off from work yesterday to see her girls off for their first day and we divided and conquered a last minute car pool to Gallimore and Miller. Today we kind of expected another problem, so we were prepared with plan B. I guess Austin did well going to his first day of 1st grade with someone he doesn't know that well and without any prep for that situation. My friend, Melissa, said he walked in like he'd been going to that class forever! Victoria has decided she loves her 4th/5th split and her teacher so much that she wants to be a fourth grader so she can do it again! Karissa enjoys her new school with her old teacher and bff, Olivia (Melissa's daughter).

Now, lets see how it goes next week when we factor in the extra activities like dance and piano!

(If you're on facebook, then you saw these pics already. I was hoping to take pics of the bus today or of Austin in front of his class, but there was no bus again! Maybe after school today...)

Get Ready

We've enjoyed our summer of multiple activities, but we're ready for school! Last week we went to Miller Elementary for a meet and greet. Half of our school is going to Gallimore (where the new TAG school will be), including our principal, her office staff, the TAG teachers, some newly hired TAG teachers (three of which are my children's teachers from last year), and the TAG students (Karissa included).  Those loses will be replaced by more than half of the previous Gallimore students, a new principal and office staff, and some new teachers. All summer we've been attending Gallimore TAG socials to help start up the "new" school, but finally we had something at Miller since it will have a lot of changes too. We met some new students and teachers there. We even met Austin's new teacher, though we didn't know he was assigned to her class til yesterday. Austin will be in Mrs. Essenburg's class. He told me after the meet and greet that he is ready for homework again! I love this age when they love school so much!

Victoria will have Mrs. Morrin in a 4th/5th combo. Being a fifth grader and her last year in elementary, she's not very happy about it, but at least I know the teacher is good (something I can't say about the other 5th grade teacher...) Hopefully she'll rediscover that she can still see her besties in the other classes at recess and enjoy this last year at Miller. Meanwhile, Karissa will have the same teacher as last year, Mr. Anderson! Since she will be at a different school it will be nice to have the same teacher. We know his expectations and he knows Karissa, so it should be a positive first year in TAG. The principle actually called me a few weeks ago and asked me if this is something we would want, so it's no surprise! She will also be taking the bus for the first time ever. I was hesitant at first, but found out it will only be the TAG kids grades 3-5 on the bus, so I feel pretty good about it. It will make things a lot easier for me. The bus comes just 6 houses away from our house!


One other big change for us is that Logan and his family moved 2 1/2 hours away. He will be in kindergarten this year, so we wouldn't have seen him much anyhow, but this makes it way less often. They had some fun times with this boy!!

Lego's were the favorite.

Halloween in August

The Best Camping Ever!

We traveled down to Nelsonville, Ohio to Hocking Hills State Park where there are lots of caves and waterfalls. It's about an hour or so from the West Virginia border, which to me, explains how there are caves in Ohio. We live only an hour from the Ohio border and I couldn't imagine any caves around these parts! Just like the pictures, it was gorgeous!! We went on lots of short hikes (and one very long 2 miler) and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

We stayed at a campground called Happy Hills. It was so quaint and nice. There was hardly any noise late at night, a lake and pool to swim in, a bouncy pad, some four-wheel peddle cars, and no mosquitoes!!  The only downfall to the campground was that it was about 45 minutes away from all the hikes we wanted to do. I enjoyed the drives, but those who got car sick, even the driver, not so much!

The other thing that made the campground so nice was our new camper! I have never slept so well camping. I completely forgot where I was each night. The kids slept well too. Luckily, the weather was pleasant, so we were perfectly comfortable in that regard too. Even though was had a camper, we still cooked most of our meals outside in the fire and dutch oven, so I felt like we were really camping. We could enjoy being very active outdoors because we were all well-rested. Since the beds are under the canvas of the camper, you still have that "being in a tent" feeling as you can hear the crickets and feel the air when the windows were open.

All set up!

Cozy in the king bed.

Old Man's Cave

Lower Falls (just a trickle, really)

Upper Falls (another beautiful trickle)

Cedar Falls (this 2 mile hike took us a very long time, but they were troopers and enjoyed it!)

Rock House. It was too dark and dangerous inside to take many pictures.

My favorite hike on our last day, though I can't remember the name of this one.

This is part of my favorite.

The lake at our campground, Happy Hills.

We loved our camper, the hikes, and the area. We can't wait to go on more adventures!

Our New Toy

Jason has been talking about getting a pop-up camper for a couple years, maybe not even that long. I didn't think it would happen this summer! We had been doing some prep work on the van so that we could tow it. When the last of the work was complete last month, he said we could casually look around and if we find a good deal, we would buy it. Well, we found a good deal and we bought it! The kids and I finally got to see it last night. We're taking it out this weekend for the maiden voyage.

It has a grill and a shower on the outside.

table

King sized bed where Karissa, Austin, and Erik will sleep.

Austin wanted to be in every picture when he realized I was taking pictures.

Kitchen. The canvas behind it unzips for a window.

Queen sized bed where Jason and I will sleep.

There is a radio to Karissa's right. Austin loves the remote control that goes with it.

This is the table area that turns into a bed and will be Victoria's sleeping space. The canvas also unzips for a three-way window here.

It's kind of unreal to me still. It seems like something somebody else would have, not me. We can't wait to use it!!

IN and OH

We had the wonderful opportunity of going to see the open house of the Indianapolis Temple. Living  in Michigan, we don't get that opportunity very often, so we planned it for months! The kids were excited to see all the rooms in the temple and felt the Spirit along with Jason and I. It was beautiful! It seemed big to us, compared to the mini Detroit temple, but was small compared to many of the temples in the west.

Taken by Karissa.

Taken by Karissa.

It was so bright outside, we were lucky that they had this little set-up inside.

 The next day in Indianapolis we went to Connor Prairie Interactive Park. They had a Prairie town with homes from the mid-1800s (like Nauvoo), they had a Civil War set-up with activities and enactments related to that, a water play area, an Indian encampment, petting zoo, and some indoor displays and play areas.

Tram ride to Civil War displays.

Sending Morse code.

Soldiers ready!

"Attention!" They led the kids with "rifles" on a march and taught them to charge!

Water play area.

Petting zoo (the favorite)

Cute little lamb.

Little book nook.

Fort making.

 They got to dip candles and work with pottery. It was super fun!

We came back from Indiana Saturday night, went to church Sunday, hung out part of the day Monday, then went down to Toledo, Ohio to see Grandma and Grandpa Chatterley on their way to Philadelphia for their year-long mission! They stayed right off of I 80, about an hour from us, so they could keep up their schedule to get there. The kids and I got to swim with them in the most comfortable temperature pool ever! We got there, swam, ate dinner, watched So You Think You Can Dance, went to bed, ate breakfast, then swam 'til we left at 11 the next morning. So fun!

Bright sun and crazy pool hair! Victoria was water-logged at this point. 

Sweetness

Jason and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday, the actual day! We decided to just go out to a nice restaurant and enjoy dinner together for our gifts to each other. We went to a Cuban restaurant in Detroit and ordered various tapas to try and even dessert and a delicious drink! We got dressed up, ate slowly, and had conversation at a normal speaking level- heavenly! The food was fabulous. I'm starting to like downtown Detroit more now since we've been getting there a little more lately. Jason said it was our "sweet 16" anniversary, and it was sweet!

This was at Belle Isle. I finally got Jason's pics from his phone. Notice my long-sleeves. That was when  my arms were at their worst with poison ivy.

What also is sweet is Erik. Beneath all his tough, crazy, boy act, he's so sweet! He has really been enjoying getting his back "pet" by Jason or me. He'll lie on the floor or my lap and say, "Pet me!" and I'll rub his back for a long time and he won't budge! On Sunday we had root beer floats. He just had plain ice cream, but when he decided to try the last few sips of Jason's melted float, he loved it so much he said, "Austin, you have to try this! It's so good!" Even though Austin had just finished his. So sweet!

Look at this face!