The Pig is ON!

Joe & Dave got some help from the boys as they loaded the pig into the roaster tonight and it smells good already! Joe & Dave pulled in with the roaster on a trailer behind the van and the pig in the back packed in ice. It should be ready by about 2pm tomorrow.

Cat went home to bake another 100 cupcakes, the baked beans are in the roaster, potato salad cooling in the fridge and we have about 200 buns on the counter waiting for that pig. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Simple Pleasures

Tonight Andy came in and asked me if I would like to join him, Mike and Justin by their bonfire. I can't imagine anything better than your teenager wanting you to join them at midnight around a fire. I grabbed my coffee and headed out.

We had worked all week and worked really hard. It has been a constant source of conversation for 13 years to talk about "when we finish the back room". They actually have it almost done! Today we shopped for 8 hours, filling the van nearly to the top with pop, food, charcoal for the pig and the various extras for the party. We ended the evening with yardwork and Joe working on getting the pool open. It was definitely time to relax!

As I sat there enjoying the warmth of the fire and the conversation of my boys I was thinking this is as good as it gets. The fire was crackling, we were all staring at it and just plain mellow. Conversation and laughter flowed easily, which is all too often something rare between parents and teens. Out came the marshmellows and it was really getting good.

Right then, Mike asked "What is it about fire and humans? We are all just staring at that fire." I don't know what it is, but it doesn't get any better.

Busy, Busy Family

The Nuthouse is extra busy right now and even though I am tired, I wouldn't change a thing! As we work together to get ready for Mike's Open House, it has been a house filled with laughter (oh, yeah there is some yelling), lots of food, lots of kids and we are enjoying being a family.

Cat and Tate are here while Paul suns himself in Afghanistan. We enjoy his daily pictures and emails, but miss him very much. We ARE enjoying Tate and he is becoming just another one of the bunch. Everyone enjoys playing with him, as you can see from the photo above, as he and Andy jump on the trampoline.

Laura and Alexis joined us last week for a rare evening of porch sitting. We all gathered at Cat's place and relaxed on her deck for a bit while the kids played. We need a few more evenings like that one. I am happy, but very, very tired!

Although the kids are usually HERE, I have to enforce curfew occasionally. I get them home by allowing them to bring whomever they choose and they DO choose to bring friends. I have to take a headcount at night to be sure what I am responsible for since usually we have Justin, Erin, Kyle and various others sleeping around here somewhere. Often, they are at computers, working with Joe or just hanging out with me, which is the best thing I could ask for. I love being with these kids, even when they do drive me nuts.

Catie and her SEVEN puppies keep life exciting, as if Paco, Josie, Frankie, Rocky and Spike weren't enough. Someone knocks at the door and you would think we have 1000 dogs waiting to eat them. Someone is ALWAYS knocking at the door!

Andrew has his driver's permit and I have turned completely grey, but we are out every single day and night, driving around, doing errands and inventing things to do. Tonight it was a visit to the car wash, the laundramat (we did Cat's laundry while she drywalled) and out for ice cream.

This has to be what summer is supposed to be about.

Open House on Saturday!

Mike took "the walk" last Sunday afternoon as we listened to Pomp and Circumstance for the first time in a few years, picked up his diploma and made Mom and Dad very happy. Cat and Tate joined us for dinner afterwards at Bennigans (Mike's choice) and we called it a night, as our REAL celebration is next Saturday.

Pictures to be seen on the side of the page include some of the work crew this week as we spiff up the house and yard. Seems like we let a lot go recently, but it is all in shape now. Joey helped with the painting last month, which got us started. The back porch is now officially drywalled, the new subfloor is in and we are in the home stretch of finally finishing that nice big room. With our growing family, it will be so nice to have an extra 400 sq ft of space.

Even Tate was swinging the hammer, Cat was taping and mudding, Mike, Andy and Justin were general labor on this crew with Joe definitely the Supervisor. Morning has brought achine muscles for the older set, the kids just lay in bed and moan "NOT AGAIN TODAY!"

Joe is roasting a pig for the crowd, the boys have built a bonfire pit for the evening and we plan to PARTY all day and night to celebrate Mike's graduation! So if you are reading this.......you are invited! Join us for a day of food, family, friends and fun!

Days and Nights Mixed Up!

For those of you who may try to call today, I have my days and nights mixed up. After having an anesthetic to have pain treatments done yesterday, I came home and slept the rest of the day. So, if you add up the sleep hours, I had 9 hours and then it was evening! Not easy to go to bed.

So it is 7:52am and I haven't been to bed since yesterday at 5pm when I woke up from my "pain relief adventure". Cat and I are going to the St. Peter Community Garage Sale and then I will probably head to bed for a while. Maybe by tonight I can be ready for a more normal Saturday night.

Now THIS is Roughing it!

So glad to hear from Paul today and know he is safe and sound in Kabul. It is hard knowing he is away from Cat and Tate, but it does help hearing from him and getting his wonderful and colorful emails.

He adds his address:

Paul H Schwartz
CSTC-A CJ5
APO AE 09356
DSN3182370957

(Snail mail takes one week, per Paul's info)

paul.h.schwartz@afghan.swa.army.mil


He is getting quite the tour, in that he has already visited Newfoundland, Ireland, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. I couldn't pronounce, that city, muchless spell it!

Will keep you updated as we hear from Paul!

Not Exactly Roughing It!

Memorial Day Weekend for Joey, Alexis, Mike O and Catie was one big adventure. They loaded up and took off for a camping weekend in a great 5th wheel. Catie and Alexis report it was a weekend of fun complete with SomeMores every night, lots of laughter and just being together. Doesn't get any better than that!

Forgot how much fun babies are!

We went out to dinner on Friday night with Cat and Tate. It was getting pretty boring for a 2 year old to sit and wait for the food. So I decided to take Tate for a little walk outside and give Cat and her Dad some peace.

I saw the gleam in his eye when we passed the puddle. Nope, he couldn't resist!

Amazing What You can BRIBE Your kids to do!

Andy was BEGGING me to take he and Justin somewhere last week. While he was begging, he began to act up, putting on various faces and personalities. I was laughing SO hard that I finally struck a bargain. "Let me take your picture looking like that and you have a deal." Well, here's the proof!

We have Puppies!!!

Frankie Jeanne-Marie is the proud mother of 7 puppies! 2 black and 5 brown little darlings. She is a good Mom and stays right with her puppies all the time. NO ONE but Catie and I are allowed in the room as of yet, but I am sure as they get bigger we will be able to show them off.

It's been a busy week for the Chin's with Cat and Tate getting settled. They traveled light, bringing only a couch, Tate's crib, toys and a few boxes. Although Joe managed to fit in Cat's potted Lily plant, she is sleeping on an air mattress.

Carol came through as usual, with a kitchen table and chairs, end table and coffee table. She even came up with a little stool for Tate, who was using Cat's scrapbook bag as a seat. The temporary Schwartz home is looking more like home each day.

I am still in disbelief as to how long it takes Comcast to hook up. Cat is still without internet or TV, after a full week. Knowing how much she loves both, I am surprised at her good spirit. Paul has called and emailed and has reached his final destination. He has traveled in a convoy across the mountains of Afghanistan, slept in a tent with 20 guys (no air conditioning) and still seems to be in good spirits. That's our Paul!

Cat's Coming Home

Tomorrow is the day. Joe and Joey leave for St. Louis to bring Cat and Tate home. I am a bit sentimental about the idea of having all my children home. Every time someone suggests that maybe "God intended it this way to help everyone heal", I want to tell them that I am sure Paul would have gladly shipped her home, paid the rent and skipped the trip to Afghanistan!

We HAVE decided that Andy is the official family BABYSITTER this summer. Cat needs a break and we are going to make sure she gets it. Andy is the official "Baby Whisperer" and I know he is up for it. Sounds like we need a night of listening to Laura at Kareoke, at least and maybe an hour here and there for Cat to sit at the local coffee house and relax. Andy needed a summer job anyway.

Quote Found on MySpace today

Everyone goes through places in their lives where some things are more important than others, but I have realized that you should never let anyone take your dreams away. So here I am, once again. -Karen Elliot

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

As I sit in the wee hours, unable to sleep, I checked my email. Once again, it is filled with messages from friends sending love. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of the people in our life.

Old friends have appeared at the door,to hug or say hello. They are just making sure we are ok and keeping us from lonely moments. Friends and relatives email daily, keeping us busy answering, reminding us that we are loved. Daily calls, even just for a moment. A phone hug.

High school classmates are corresponding, trying to do what they can to ease the grief. Neighbors stop when taking their walks, just to say hello. Church friends just drop in, stop in stores to hug and the phone just rings and rings.

Yes, this has been the toughest month of our lives. With the loss of Karen, we are desperately trying to begin to go about our daily lives. With the news of Paul's deployment, our hearts broke a little more. It just doesn't seem fair. Not now.

Joe and Joey will go and get Cat and Tate. We will huddle together as a family and get through the tough times together. We will hold them so close, grateful to be together, praying for Paul's quick and safe return.

Each one of us hurts badly right now and yet, we have this 12 year old little girl to nurture, who lost her Mom. How do you make that pain any better? So I pray, "Lord, please give me the strength to help this child."

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that most people are just plain kind and loving. I really tried hard to hide, behind closed curtains and grieve alone. It was not good and the wonderful people in our lives just made it impossible.

Whether it was Dara taking the day off work to take me to lunch, Jim popping in and going to church with us, my cousins' daily emails and calls, Kathi calling me to get out, Tony and Maria stopping by to hug, Carol and Valli calling with invitations, Bobbi's daily calls, Eric's calls to listen, Kaye's pop ins and hugs, Matt's ability to listen and console each day, Fr. Ben's strength and guidance, the tons of emails, instant messages every time the computer goes on.....the list goes on and on.

I just never realized how many wonderful people were in our life. In each of their kind actions, they give us strength.

Back to Work

Today was the big day. Back to work I went, relieved to have my mind busy and my body tired at the end of the day. I actually hope and pray that my body holds out, as I was not meant to stay at home. The days are long and I just plain love my job.

Joe was back cooking dinner tonight. Catie was complaining that it was too late, as she has become used to me getting dinner on the table by 5:30 or 6pm. She suggested we just start eating at Burger King and McDonalds since it "takes too long to cook." NOT!

The kids have an adjustment period to go through. As Joe told them, "Mom's taxi service is GONE! Don't forget your lunch money, your homework or your ass, because your mother is not going to bring it to school for you." That was pretty blunt. Any bets?

Playing Pool or ELSE!

Joey, Justin and Andy decided they NEEDED to play pool NOW! It was nearly midnight, there was no light on the back porch and there were boxes and junk all over the place, making it impossible to shoot. Not to mention the table was covered in dust and the pool cues in need of repair.

One trip to Meijers and they had the repair tools and Andy and Joe went to work on that issue. Now I have been begging them to clean up the porch for weeks. It is amazing how fast it got cleaned! I will say that Justin did the majority of it, since Andy can't use his right arm very well right now and Joey was busy "rigging" the lighting. It was absolutely ingenius how he rigged the ghetto lighting.

The living room is now officially missing a standing lamp and we have a brand new piece of decor on the porch. It is TIED to the ceiling rafters and works quite well. See pictures!

What a Weekend!

This was a very busy weekend at the Nuthouse. Meijers had a paint sale and I wasn't going to miss out, since the whole house needed painting. I headed home with 4 gallons of ceiling paint on the first trip. There was method to my madness! If I got Joey started on the ceilings, which is the worst part, then he was bound to get it on the walls and would have to continue. It worked!

Joe came in and didn't wait to be asked. He promptly changed into his jeans and got a roller. Soon I had a full scale paint crew. The kids were helping to pack everything up, the little ones begging to paint and I was a great supervisor. As you can see from the pictures, Alexis and Catie both got to paint with Joey's assistance.

Watching Joey on the extension ladder, painting the BIG wall in the living room, which is about 3 stories high was fun all weekend. That would be fun, EXCEPT for all the complaining. He HATES that wall!

I had first started with a deep orange/melon ??? color and a green accent. Now that is SO not me....I am definitely a "blue" person. I change things a lot, but always end up back to using blue, just about everywhere. Well, before the paint hit the wall, I headed back to Meijers and came home with......BLUE! I added not one, not two, but THREE accent colors between the living room and dining area. I will either return the "Halloween" colors or some bathroom in the house will end up looking pretty wierd eventually.

The painting went on from Friday afternoon through Saturday about 11pm. It was not finished, but everyone had sore muscles and Sunday was Mother's Day. We all groaned and moaned, but made it to church almost on time. There was no way to make it through all the talk of mothers and children without some tears, but I kind of knew that was going to happen. Catie was anxious to head off to the cemetery with her bouquet for her Mom. In honor of Mother's Day, she took Frankie with her and they also planted some flowers. Catie did well and I was proud of her.

The girls and I went outside to pick Lilacs in remembrance of my Mom. They were her favorites and thanks to Joe, I have a bush that blooms every spring, just in time to pick a bouquet for my Mom. Catie and I had a talk about missing our Moms and I hope my example of remembering mine with fondness today helped.

Laura came to visit and brought me a book titled "Welcome to the Funny Farm". Could it be more appropriate?

Can't WAIT for Tate!

After seeing these recent photos of Tate trashing Cat and Paul's family room, I decided I could NOT wait for Tate to arrive. After all, Mikey, Andy and Catie were not getting the job done and even when Joey arrived, they could still use some help. There are days when we can still find the kitchen countertops and sometimes we can even tell what color the carpet is. They need a little help keeping 500 East Knight Street TRASHED!

After all, on weekends we were still missing one. Last weekend when Alexis, Daniel, Cameron and Nick joined in the place was almost trashed. Now we will be able to take it to the MAX! Come on, TATE!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Daniel was 2 years old on April 30, but we celebrated today at Chuck E. Cheese, with a Cookie Monster cake (made of cupcakes), all his grandparents and lots of fun. He absolutely loved his music set from his Daddy, as you can see from his picture (on the sidebar) with his cymbals. The toy train seemed to be a hit too, although I think he liked opening the presents as much as the contents.

Inspector Gadget Theme

Dave and I played DETECTIVE today and of course, we caught our man. It seems that Steve thought he had left his cell phone here when he returned to Chicago on April 1, but forgot to tell his Dad. Last night, Dave called the cell and didn't get Steve.......hmmmm

By morning when he viewed his cell phone bill and found it up by about $300 (and that bill wasn't all the way current) Dave quickly recovered from his heart attack and went into action. He began calling all the numbers on the bill and very quickly had it narrowed down to a few Eaton Rapids boys. He called me and I was down to the school in minutes.

Although they had a great time DOWNLOADING, TEXT MESSAGING and calling everyone in the world, the good times were over. Andy and I picked up the phone by noon and Eaton Rapids police will handle the rest.

The classic line of the day was from the Mom of the kid who took it:

"I shouldn't be responsible for the bill because your kid is irresponsible for not telling you sooner!"

Dave's response:

OK...My kid is irresponsible and YOURS is a THIEF! YOU pay!