Best Face Forward

At 11:00pm last night, Courtney left to go stay overnight with some friends, but not before baking 2 dozen cupcakes and a homemade cheesecake. She has been promising cheesecake for all of her Grand Rapids Original Swing Society friends. This morning she spent acquiring a filming location for her friend Caleb. She was ecstatic over the fact she would have 2 different 'credits' in his film. He suggested she could use her 'management' talents on a regular basis. I told her when something needs to be done and it is a challenge, then it is more satisfying when you accomplish the fete. Today is her friend Lauren's birthday and I guess she likes owls, because this afternoon Courtney created 24 owl 'faces' on the cupcakes she baked with mini oreos, frosting, runts, and M&M's. The completed project was a delectable looking treat.

I got a call from Kelsey this morning at 10:00am. She was on break and had just finished Gym Class. They had been playing Ultimate Frisbee. She ran or dove for the frisbee and put her best face forward...and slammed it into another friend's shoulder. It just about knocked her out. She was worried about a concussion, after hearing news reports earlier this year of Natasha Richardson's death, following a minor skiing accident. The athletic director happened to be talking with her teacher and answered questions about a concussion. I called her doctor's office and they had me ask her a bunch of questions, so the text lines were hot. If there is any chance of a concussion they send you straight to the ER. Oh, yay! She kept in contact with me. I delivered her and 2 of her friends Mountain Dew slushies from Speedway at the end of lunchtime. I reminded them NOT to spill, as they have Business Communications in the new Media Center. I really don't think the teacher would have been thrilled with me. The other 5 students in that class were probably salivating for those slushies. Kelsey continued to be dizzy, have a sore neck, a headache and pain in the back of her head, which she did not hit. She is also dealing with a wonderful spring cold. I stuck around Grandville running errands while she was in her afternoon classes. Her last 3 classes are all with close friends so I had them watching for any changes. It could have been as simple as picking her up and bringing her home. Unfortunately, when she had pneumonia at the start of the year she missed 11 days, then another 2 days when Grandpa Louie passed away. Calvin Christian allows a maximum of 15 missed days. Then you may not get credit for any of your classes, regardless the reason. Since the 9th & 10th grade members of the Track team had a JV Invitational in Belding, her practice would be minimal. It was only her and 2 other girls, also going to the State Meet, that had practice. I stayed nearby making sure she could drive home. She took a cool shower, rested while a friend checked in on her, and is now holding up a pillow in the cool basement while watching the newly released movie,'Taken'. I think it shall be a good idea if she continues to use her skills running circles and leaping, even though it is equally possible to get a concussion in the Pole Vault!

We will be monitoring Kelsey over the next few days. She has a local Track meet featuring the best of the best next Tuesday, then the State Meet on that Saturday. Hopefully, the cold leaves her body soon and she has no remnants of that HEAD-on collision. As for Courtney working in theatre, we hope she continues in her medical path and finds respite in assisting her friends challenges. Tomorrow she is cooking dinner. We'll keep you posted.

A New Season

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely,
to risk life, to be needed ~ Storm Jameson

We enjoyed a fabulous Spring Break in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island in Florida. Dave, Kelsey and I joined a few other families that we are friends with. We entertained ourselves with friends, the beach, dinners, an interesting trolly ride, and an even more interesting Bradenton Seafood/Music Fest. We even tried to recreate our version of The Titanic with two sinking pontoons. You had to be there! Kelsey and friends, including our dear friend Linda and son Jon went para-sailing over the Gulf of Mexico. Kelsey created some new friendships with kids from our home area. That has blossomed ten fold into a tribe of friends she now hangs with. Thank you God for the fun that was had in our 'little blue house' on AMI. Courtney chose to stay home with Grandma Arlene and 4 dogs. Normally, Courtney has plans almost every night after classes. Every time we called she was HOME enjoying her time with Grandma. They had a fabulous time hanging out together!

It is hard to believe that another school year is almost done. Courtney has been done with classes at Grand Valley State for almost a month! Kelsey has a couple more weeks until summer break.

Courtney is contemplating a change in majors, from Nursing to Physical or Occupational Therapy. Then it is the decision to study in an Assistant or Doctorate program. If you have input, send it our way :) Courtney has taken a deeper interest in cooking and baking. She likes to try her hand at new menus for dinner and shake up some yummy treats for her friends. It gets her to the grocery store with mom and lets me out of the kitchen for a little while. She has not fully grasped that clean up does not just mean cleaning off the counter and putting the dishes in the sink...lol. It will come. Courtney has been a subject for photographers, some local and others visiting family in the area. Her model portfolio is growing. She has gathered some really nice captures and has had a lot of fun along the way. Just so you know she always has another adult along for the shoot :) She starts a new job this morning. She is helping prep a local corn field for their annual Witches Walk Corn Maze in the fall. Dave would like to hire her for more hours but only has small tedious jobs for her now and then. That doesn't quite offer enough for mad money, let alone gas $$.

Kelsey has had a decent season with Track. She took All Conference for 100 high & 300 low hurdles for Calvin Christian. At the Conference Meet she also placed 3rd in the Long Jump and as 3rd leg in the 400 Relay, that team took a close 2nd. At Regionals this past Friday, she placed 2nd in the 100H and will compete for the 2nd year in a row, at the State meet on May 31. She scratched by a few inches on her best ever long jump(meaning her toes were over the scratch line of the take-off board). If the 'scratch' distance were subtracted from the length it would have put her in 2nd place and on to State for LJ...maybe next year. Her Relay team has had substitutions due to injuries, sickness and for the Regional event...Prom. Their relay team took a 6th place and were less than a second from the State qualifying time. They went to State last year with the 400 Relay. In the 300 low hurdles, Kelsey placed 3rd with less than a second from State qualifying time and only 2.5 seconds behind the 1st place hurdler, who is ranked #1 in the whole state! We think she and her team mates performed well.

As I mentioned, Friday night was the Jr/Sr Prom for Calvin Christian. They had a beautiful venue at the VanAndel Public Museum. Its located in a prime downtown location along the river with bridges and cityscape views for fabulous photos. We rushed home after her last running event so Kelsey could shower, dress & make-up her already beautiful face. I dropped her off just as the dance portion was getting under way. She missed out on the ice-cream sociai, one of her favorite foods, and all the picture taking going on. They even had the carousel open for the kids. I heard from a couple of her friends that the music was lame and reminded them of a Middle School skating party. Kelsey agreed but had a great time anyway.

I have been snapping myself into craziness. I absolutely love my camera and take pictures of everything I can. Of course that is usually my children and their friends! I have so many photos on my computer that I can not even edit until I download past photos to discs. It gets really frustrating. The girls & I love our Macs. Dave doesn't. He's a PC man...haha. I need to upgrade my internal memory and all will be better. I guess I should have stuck with that more expensive MacPro that I started out with. I decided on the smaller iMac 24" for portability...hmmm, what was I thinking?

Dave ventured to the Upper Peninnsula a couple weeks ago. At the house in Nahma, he took out the furnace and replaced it with the space heater that mom & dad had taken up last year. Loaded up the old but 'new' furnace, an old boat & trailer, and a wicker set to his flat bed trailer along with his 4 wheeler already on board. He only spent a couple days at the house, then spent Thursday to Sunday with a large group of guys from our church 4 wheeling across God's north country. He was accused of looking like a Beverly Hillbilly when he arrived at the outcamp! They had good weather and a fun time.

My Mom, Arlene, visits Dad's resting spot regularly, checking to make sure the grass didn't completely wash away in our monsoon rain we had. As she put it, 'someone had trampled across the new grass with giant footsteps'. Then she realized they they had placed the bronze plaque and had a board supporting it. She planted flowers on Dad & Marvin's grave, went back to cover them from frost and then uncover them...a couple of times. Mom has been making sweeping changes all over their homestead. Shortly after Dad's passing she paid her neighbor and his brother to put on a new deck, adjoining the newer portion that Dad had replaced for the hot tub a couple years ago. The old portion, like what Dad replaced, literally broke through the week of the funeral. Her hot tub has been repaired from the boo-boo caused by the electrician cutting through the water line. She has already enjoyed it sometimes twice a day! My cousins Jim and Roger and the neighbor helped remove her old bathroom vanity, cupboards in the little bedroom, and furniture. They have sorted and scrapped all sorts of things from the barn and yard. Mom has ripped up carpeting, painted walls and will have new wood floors in the bedroom to match the dining room, new vinyl flooring in the bathroom, along with a new toilet & pedestal sink. This work is being done while she has escaped to Nahma. She even has my cousin Jim on 'frost patrol' at the house and cemetery. My cousins, her friends and neighbors are so good to her :) She took paint along to Nahma to tackle some tasks up there also! It has been cold in Nahma. Mom said it is nice and toasty with the new space heater and it doesn't sound like a jet taking off like the furnace did. She has been busy sorting and tossing at the UP house also. She will be home this weekend before the honors service at the cemetery. She also wants to watch Kelsey in the State Track Finals. Mom plans to tackle the kitchen and dining room when she returns home.

I've been trying to be as ambitious as my mom. Whew! My schedule with my kids doesn't allow me hours at a time to stay on a project so I try to be as effiecient as I can. I get easily sidetracked though. Maybe I should just get a full time job. Yeah, good luck with that one, and hire my organization and dispersal of items to someone else. Mom and a couple of friends did clean our bathrooms top to bottom while we were in FL. That was a nice treat to come home to. Thank you ladies! We are trying to make our basement 'hang-out' friendly. We have boxes of clothes & toys to go to Nice Twice, Calvin Christian's second hand store. We have items that need to get marketed on craigslist and ebay. I have more painting of walls and of furniture, including a bed frame before Mom comes back home. Courtney is begging to redo our dining room table. Yay, I finally have someone to help me do to that project! Dave and I need to tackle a problem perennial garden we redid a few years ago. We have enough projects to last us until Kelsey's graduation open house NEXT YEAR!