I'm spending much of today getting ready for the kid's big birthday bash this weekend! I spent most of the morning cleaning out the pool and starting to refill it. That thing got SO nasty while we were away on vacation, and the fact that we went a while without a cover didn't help much... It was green, and slimy, and had lots of leaves in it! BUT I got it all spic and span, and clean. It's white again on the bottom! Yay! Note to self: DO NOT LET THE POOL GO 2 WEEKS WITH NO CHEMICALS OR COVER!!!
While I did that, the kids' played in the yard with the neighbors. Malichi played football for the first time today with the neighbor boys. It was pretty cute !
And just for fun, some more vacation photos:
And these are for you Randy, since I know you read my blog! (your probably the only one in the fam that does!)
I am super busy this week, but I just wanted to post quick to let you all know I am having a BIG sale at Shannon Lee Designs!!
I just got back from a week long vacation with my family on Sunday, and I am overwhelmed with all of the catching up I have to do! It was a fun, and much needed vacation though! Photos to come....
And I procrastinated until the last minute...again. It's almost 2 am and I just finished up my products and previews and got my grab bag loaded into the store! I always underestimate how long previews will take me! They take me forever! And I always get my products started the week of the grab bag, and always underestimate the amount of time it will take me to design my stuff! I swear, next month I will start WAY ahead of time so I am not up till 2 am the few nights before! Anyway, if you want to pick it up...go here! This month my grab bag sales are going to help pay for our family vacation coming up at the end of the month!!! So if you'd like to help such a worthy cause....go check it out!!
Well, I think I'll leave it at that, being that my last post probably took a month to read! And well, it's 2 am and I am butt tired! :)
Okay so I am just getting around to posting about my trip! :) I'm warning you...it's gonna be a LOOOOONG post- and I mean really long!
Friday-Day 1:
So we didn't start out the first day so well. I was on my way to drop the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's and then I was heading to the church... and I got PULLED OVER! Oops. I was going 40 in 30. Tiff was in the passenger seat and realized as the cop comes up that she is not buckled. No time to do it before he gets there either. So the cop comes up: "are you speeding for a reason" "uh... well.... I am leaving for a church trip at 8...?" "is she your daugther"?(pointing to my sister who people usually mistake as my OLDER sister) "uh...no.. thats my sister" "okay can I need both of your ID's" We sit for a while, and I'm thinking, Crap he's giving me a ticket, otherwise he wouldn't be taking so long. So he comes back up to the car. Looks at me and says: "I'm giving you a warning. You need to slow down". Looks at Tiff and Says: "I'm giving you a ticket for not wearing your seat belt"
WHAT THE? The driver gets a warning and the passenger gets a ticket! SWEET.... I mean....sorry Tiff. It must have been my clean record that made him decide to give me a warning... and the fact that Tiff has had 2 tickets in the past 6 months probably didn't help her out any! Guess how much the ticket cost her? $103.00 So the moral of the story is... wear your seat belt even if you are only going across town! :)
Okay so onto the when the trip actually started.
We got to the church and headed out for our LONG drive. The day pretty much consisted of.. driving, driving, eating, driving, taking dorky pictures of ourselves: and then some more driving and eating. We arrived in Custer SD in the afternoon. Set up camp at Custer Mountain Campground. Then we had dinner at Pizza works in Custer and headed off to see the night lighting at Mount Rushmore. Gorgeous!
Saturday-Day 2:
We packed up our camp in the morning, and went into Custer for our Old Time Photo shoot. Brunch in Custer Then we went out to Lake Sylvan which was also gorgeous!
After that we headed out to finish our drive to the town of Pine Ridge. We arrived at the Retreat Center in Pine Ridge and hour and a half later. Karen, the intern that helps run the reatreat center, met us, and talked a little about what to expect while we were there. Then we headed of to a Pow Wow at the Oglala Lakota College. The Pow Wow was amazing. The costumes (if that is what you call them?? I am not sure) were amazing! We were told that we might be stared at, and that we would most likely be the only white people there, so I was a little nervous. But once we got there, I didn't feel like we were stared at all. One Native American woman, came up to us, and told us we were welcome there, and we could go find a seat in the crowd if we wanted to. How sweet. :) I snapped a few cool shots at the Pow Wow:
Sunday-Day 3:
10:30 worship at the Makasan Presbetyrian Church. The service was and HOT and long! It was 100 degrees out that day and the service lasted an hour and half! But it was a good service, and the Pastor was great! He actually took time to have each person in the congregation introduce themselves! (which is why it was an 1 1/2 hours long!) Then we had lunch at the Church. In the evening we met with Larry (he runs the Retreat center) and learned more about life on the reservation, and the culture. I learned a lot of new things today!
Some Random Facts we learned:
-It was talked about a lot that Alcoholism is prevalent on the reservation, as is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The reservation is a "dry" reservation, meaning there are no liquor stores on it. Where we stayed, we are just minutes from the Nebraka border, where there are liquor stores. People will walk there to get alcohol, or drive there, drink, and then drive home. There are these signs posted on the sides of the roads that say "think" and "why die", and each one of them represents one person that has died due to an alcohol related incident. We saw many signs. It was very sad to see. -Diabetes is also prevelant due to lack of a good diet. -Alot of men die by the age of 45 due to diabetes, alcohol, or heart problems. -Women's cycles are sacred. The men leave during that time so the women can be together. -a common food- Tripe soup, which is made of the stomach lining from a cow. Yum-O! -Stray dogs roam around, sometimes in packs of 3 or 4. We saw a lot of that, which was kinda scary. I'm not talking cute dogs...they looked like wolves! -There are not a lot of jobs on the reservation. Not much farming or industry. The biggest jobs are at the Hospital, school, and government/tribal counsel. -The Public school on the reservation has boarding and dorms. -Sometimes when there has been a tragic death in the family, men with cut off their ponytails, and women will cut their hair short. -Many of the people are very spiritual. -A person can take any last name, it does not have to be the one their mother or father has. They can decide it when they are older and make it legal then. -Relatives and family memebers of the opposite sex do not call eachother by name. They use their relation (neice, uncle etc.). -The average annual family income on the reservation is $3,000 to $5,000. -8th year of a drought -Alot of men and women join the military. -In their culture the land doesn't belong to them, they belong to the land. They believe when they die, they go back to the land. -30 to 35% speak the Lakota language. -About 8 people die a week on the reservation -The turtle stands for fertility and long life.
Monday-Day 4:
Hit the coffee shop in the morning before making out to the work site at 9:00 am. We worked on a retreat center they were building next to the Makasan Presbyterian church. We worked on leveling dirt for the basement, staining doors, and cutting wood. It was 104 degrees. Yuck. Day one at the work site we see a prairie fire: Larry says "there's a prairie fire, and I am a little concerned about it getting over to us" Great. Obviously, it didn't and we are fine! :)
After we finished up for the day at the work site, we toured Red Cloud Indian School just outside of Pine Ridge. Red Cloud is a private Catholic school on the reservation. We got a tour of the school, and learned some of the history in the church and school.
And then we went back to the Retreat center.
Meet Delaine:
Delaine is a man that lives on the reservation. He hangs around the retreat center alot and was there often while we were there. Delaine had a little crush on Kris. It was pretty cute! But after he found out she was married, he asked us to help him find a girl. Red hair. Tall. Freckles. Doesn't Drink. Doesn't Smoke. Get married, have 2 kids that don't drink or smoke. That is what he's looking for. Don't worry...we're workin on it Delaine! Delaine was such a joy to be around! He would pinch your nose, and feel your forehead and ask "are you ok", EVERY time he saw you! He was just funny, and so sweet. He said he is going to call me on my birthday.
Later we went back to the retreat center to do kids club. This was my favorite part of the whole trip; getting to spend time with the kids on the reservation. They do Kids club every day monday through saturday year round at the retreat center. It is such a good thing for the kids to do, and have a place they can go because a lot of the kids that come, have a tough home life. We tye dyed shirts with the kids on Monday, and they were just so thrilled to make the shirts and actually get to take them home! We had fun!
After dinner, we had a speaker lined up to talk with us. His name was Mike Her Many Horses. We had quite the crazy ride out to his house with Joan getting us lost and taking us off-roadin' in a 13 passenger van! I pretty much had a panick attack in the back seat!
Mike spoke about what it was like going to the Red Cloud Indian School when he was young, and he also told us a story about meeting Senator Robert Kennedy in 1966 when he came and visited their school. Mike said he saw a blue ora around Kennedy, and so he went home and told his Mom. His Mom told him to pray for the senator because he would be leaving the earth soon. In their culture a blue or a yellow ora means death is coming soon. One month later Robert Kennedy was assassinated. He talked about some of the rituals such as Sundance, as well as the different dance styles used in Pow Wow's. One of the biggest Pow Wow's in the nation is in Shakopee MN, the 2nd weekend in August. Mike goes to it every year. We are going to try to get our whole Pine Ridge group back together to go to it with him.
Wouldn't that be fun?!
Tuesday-Day 5
We spent the morning working at the work site, putting up walls and staining more doors. For Lunch we went to the Su Anne Big Crow Boys and Girls club. Su Anne was a teenager in Pine Ridge. She was a really good athlete and an exceptional basketball player. She was also a leader. She wanted to curb alcoholism on the reservation. She talked about the teens having nothing to do, and no place to go after school or in the summer where they would have a healthy environment that would help keep them away from drugs and alcohol. At 17 years old (1992) Su Anne died in a car crash. The boys and girls club was built in honor of her after her death. Inside the club they have a 50's themed restaurant where we enjoyed some massive foot long hot dogs:
Then again at 3, we had kids club at the retreat center. Today we made suncatchers and played games with the kids.
After dinner we had another speaker, Will Peters, come to the retreat center. Will was amazing. He had a really great message about women, and repecting ourselves, and others. And expecting respect from men. My favorite quote from him "It is the women's power that makes the men shine". Will has a CD coming out in July, and a book called "Spiritual Justice" coming out next year sometime. I would love to get them both. Will rocked.
Wednesday-Day 6.
Today was the hardest day at the work site! We had to move these big 50ft boards for the floor/ceiling of the retreat center. It may not look that heavy but it WAS. We are some buff girls:
After working we went out to the Pine Ridge School, and then out to the Wounded Knee Massacre site.
For Kids club today we made frames with the kids, and gave them each a picture we took of them. After Kids club we had a worship service and dinner with the kids. We also got a little beat boxing lesson from 2 college guys from Custer that were there to help with the kid's worship. Rachel had a little crush :)
That evening we went out to Poker Joes for a buffalo feeding! And that was..well...interesting. They were HUGE! Watch:
And a sweet photo of Joan from the Buffalo Feeding: Lookin' good girl!
Thursday-Day 7:
One last picture of our group:
We said goodbye to Larry, Karen and Delaine, and headed out for our 10 hour drive back home.
And boy was it good to be home. It was so good to see my babies and to see my hubby! :)
I am hoping to go back on this trip again next year, and hopefully can talk Aaron into going with me. I learned so much about the Culture of Native Americans, and about their history, and it was all so intruquing. We met some pretty amazing people, that were willing to open up and share with us about their life, and their culture which was pretty awesome. And those kids, they were just a joy to work with.
so...you still here? I told you.. It was gonna be long! It only took me like 3 hours to write this whole post! :) Well if you made it this far..feel free to leave me a comment! :) :)
Blake was kicked off last night *weep*. I knew it was comin'. Jordin is awesome too, but I just love Blake! We watched with the kids last night, and they were so cute getting into all the music and stuff. Kinzie was up dancing. She was trying to beat box too. It was HILARIOUS. I wish I had gotten it on tape.
So guess what my son did today? He decided it'd be a good idea to cut his sisters hair! AHH. I was not a happy mommy this morning! I won't have to get her hair cut to "fix" it though, so that's good at least. It was like 3 spots on one side of her head that he cut. I went downstairs to brush my teeth, and I come back up and Kinzie says "Malichi cut my hair" all excited with the hair in her hand ready to "show it off". And he looked at me like Oh S*@& I know I wasn't supposed to do that! Kinzie thought it was great though, she wanted him to keep cutting! I have a feeling I am going to need to keep scissors away from her for a while, so she doesn't "get him back"!!!
and a little TOOT to finish off my post for today. Nancy Comelab has asked me to be on her CT! I love Nancy and her designs! And she's gonna be on my team too! :)
Did you have a nice Mother's Day everyone??? I did! I am enjoying my new laptop, which Aaron now tells me was my Mother's Day present, and that even though he didn't say it when we decided to buy it, he was thinking it! Which is obviously a wonderful Mother's Day gift...BUT on mother's day I did not even get a card from him! Come on Babe, better late than never. (hint hint) :)
We went to Lee and Carolyn's (my in-laws) for lunch and spent the afternoon with them, and Steph and Adam, and Aaron's great grandma. We had a nice time. And then we went over to Mankato to meet my family at the Olive Garden. YUMMY!!! And then we went to a park so we could have more time to hang out together. Aaron and I were able to have a really good talk with my sister Rachel. I am so proud of her for doing the things she has needed to do for a long time to take care of herself. Love ya rach.
So.. today was 92 degrees out!!! We are putting in the rest of the air conditioners after the kids go to bed tonight!!! The kids and I went over to Kristie's so our kids' could swim together, with it being so hot! Here's a couple pics from today.
And tonight is 24 night! Looking forward to relaxing and watchin some tv, and maybe even proof some pictures, or design while I watch, now that I have a laptop!!!! :)
So Aaron and I decided on Saturday night to buy me a laptop, and and external hard drive! And everything came today! I am sooo excited! :) I haven't even had time to open the boxes yet, but I am sure Aaron and I will be getting everything set up and moved over to that computer tonight! Yay! :) So exciting!
It is freakin' HOT in my house! We haven't put the window air conditioners in yet. It's 85 degrees today, and we could really use the air conditioners! The main level isn't bad, but the 2nd and 3rd are quite warm! I can't put them in myself, so we've just been sweatin' in the heat today! That might be another task we have to do tonight!
And don't forget about the Grab Bag event coming up at My Digital Muse next weekend!
Kinzie is so goofy, always has been. But these past few days, she's just cracked me up! Yesterday morning, I woke up to her in her room saying "That's not fair! That's not fair!". I could hear her on the monitor. I went in there, and she's just sitting there with her toys in her bed talking to them, telling them something wasn't fair!
And then the other night we were sitting in the bathroom, while she was going potty. (She takes FOREVER to go potty by the way!)So we were in there chatting while she was sitting on the toilet. And she starts talking about her hair out of nowhere. She's like "ohh my hair so wong(long). It's so wong! I need to brush it. Let's brush my wong hair!" It was hilarious. If you've seen the movie Superstar, you'd think it was even funnier. You know the part where Molly Shannon is standing in front of the mirror and she is talking about her boobs and how big they are, and how she needs a bra. Picture Kinzie talking about her hair JUST like that! It was HILARIOUS!!!!
Another funny thing she likes to say: "you can't eat your email!" Thanks babe. Good tip! :)
So...I have my first maternity shoot tomorrow! I am excited about it! It is for my Mom's Fiance's daugther. I hope I get some great shots for her!!! Wish me luck!
Anywhoo...just had to blog about my funny girl before I forget all the funny things she says!
SO Nate and Joan are FINALLY married! And I am FINALLY getting some pictures posted! Meant to do this Monday, but it has been a busy week!
Friday was a little hectic getting last minute things packed and then we ended up having to get Aarons Tux fixed last minute! He had waited till late Thursday night to try on his Tux. And it was WAY too short!!! We had to take it in on friday to have the pants fixed. They had to let them out 4 1/2 inches!!!! Yeah...they screwed up just a bit! And then Friday night we had the rehearsal and Groom's dinner. Aaron was one of the Groomsmen for the wedding, and my little Malichi was the ring bearer. He was so cute! :) So at rehearsal he got to practice with Harper, the flower girl. And boy is she a little flirt!!!! She was loving Malichi! At one point she even told Malichi he would be her husband one day! We'll have to tell them eventually that they are now related and they can't get married! :) They were just so cute together!
And here is Nate, in his spiffy outfit for the Groom's Dinner:
I gave Nate and Joan their scrapbook on Friday night, so they could set it out at the wedding or reception if they wanted to (which they did). I hope they loved it!!!
Saturday was a BUSY day! I was taking pictures for a few hours before the wedding, and then of course we had the ceremony, and then more pictures, and the reception. Steph and Adam watched Kinzie for me so I could take pictures all day. Thanks guys, for your help! It was long day, but tons of fun. A couple of my fave shots:
And check out my handsome little man: I was SO proud of him! I thought he would be nervous, and we'd have to bribe him to go down the aisle or something, but he wasn't and we didn't! He did amazing! And all through the ceremony he just stood by Aaron, and watched. I am just so proud of my boy! (Aaron, I am proud of you too!!)
And the reception was tons of fun. The kids were such troopers! They danced like crazy, and surprisingly, neither of them were crabby! Kinzie did get a little nap in with Steph and Adam driving her around, so that helped. But they both made it until about 11:30 or so! They were both out on the dance floor most of the night! Malichi and Harper danced together most of the night. It was pretty cute, although I am not sure I am ready for all that yet!!!! He can wait on the flirting a few more years! And Kinzie wanted to dance with everyone...but me. Everytime I tried to dance with her, she'd yell at me and go find someone else!!!! Such a stinker that one is, and a little too independent sometimes!
And Guess What? I danced. Me. The one who never dances, and has NEVER danced except maybe to a few slow songs in my whole life. Mom has been trying for years to get me to dance, but I have not caved. I told her a few weekends ago at the bachellorette party, that if she went up and tipped the drag queen during the drag show at gay 90's (I know..thats another story), that I would dance with her, but no, she wouldn't do it, so I didn't dance! BUT.... at the reception..I decided I would let loose and at least try. I am the most uncoordinated person ever, but what the hell!? It's Nate's Wedding! (and Mom said she'd buy me a drink if I danced!) So I DID!!!! I even went out on the dance floor multiple times! Can you believe it! I did the electric slide, and I danced to "Cotton Eye Joe", and to some other fast songs! I managed to get my Grammy out there dancing, and Aaron too! I must admit, It was fun. BUT...Mom... sorry to burst your bubble...don't think I will be doing it again. I'm quite sure I won't be! I can't even imagine what an eye sore I was out there on the dance floor! Oh well! :)
And then on Sunday, we went to Nate's for the Gift Opening, and lunch. It was a nice, relaxing end to the weekend. And then Monday they left for Hawaii! I'm a little jealous...but I hope they are having a GREAT time!
One last picture.. Aren't they so cute together? I am so happy for them both. I love seeing my brother so happy, and I adore Joan.
Want to see more pictures from the weekend? I've posted more in my flick gallery HERE
Been a while, yet again. Lots going on. Lots to catch up on.
NOEL
Last week my brother made the decision to put Noel to sleep. We found out on Wednesday that she was really sick. It was really all of the sudden. As far as I know, on Tuesday she was fine, and then Wed. she wouldn't get up and walk or eat or anything. Mom took her to the vet on Wednesday, they did exploratory surgery and found out she had tumors all over her liver, and something had burst inside of her, I believe. They didn't know if she would even make it through the night. So Nate decided to take her home. We all went over to Nate's and just kinda hung out, took some last pictures of her, and with her, and sat with her, and said our goodbye's really. Nate decided that even if she did make it through the night, he would put her to sleep in the morning. She wasn't eating, wasn't moving really, when she drank water, she was throwing back up, and her incision was bleeding.
Nate had a really hard time with it. One of the few times I have seen him cry, actually. I think since she moved in with him, he's gotten alot more attached to her. I didn't realize it was going to be as hard as it was for me either. I didn't see her much anymore. And when I did, I didn't give her a whole lot of attention. Ever since Malichi was born pretty much, because Noel always got nippy around kids. So anytime we were going to be around with the kids, mom would bring her to Nate's house. I feel bad I didn't give her more attention these past few years.
Here she is last wednesday night when she was actually trying to sit up.
And here's Noella Bella getting a bath when she was a baby. She was so little :)
And here I am holding her the Christmas we got her (back in 95'). I begged and begged and begged my parent's to get a puppy! And I finally got my way! :)
Wasn't she sooo cute!? She was a such a good dog too. I will miss her.
Well I went to the dentist today. I never used to have a problem going to the dentist. Never bothered me or anything. And then in the past 2 years, I've started to get really bad anxiety when I go to the dentist. I had an exam 6 months ago, and had some cavities to get filled. So today was the day. I had a 2 hour appt. set up. The first half was the fillings, and the 2nd was the cleaning. I surprised myself at how bad my anxiety was! I actually had tears running down my face while they were working on me!!! I fricken CRIED at the dentist! :( They actually even kept the Nitrious on me for the cleaning cause it was so bad. Nothing hurt or anything, and I wasn't worried about anything hurting either, so I don't know where the anxiety came from, but it sure was there! A couple time the hygenist was even like are you SURE you're okay? Your digging your nails into your skin on your hands really hard! "yeah...I'll be fine"...Hopefully! And obviously I am fine now, but man that was a long 2 hours! And boy was I embarrassed afterwards! I am just glad it's over!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
It's my Dad's birthday today...Happy Birthday Dad.
SOCCER
Malichi started soccer on Tuesday. It was really cold, and raining and snowing, but they still played. I was kinda hoping it would have been cancelled! But Malichi had a ton of fun, even though he was soaked and cold. Here he is with his friend Parker:
And Kinzie and Papa trying to stay warm!
EASTER
Did you all have a nice Easter? We did! We went to my Grandma's last Thursday to spend a few days with her and get away for a few days. I really need a little break from things. I've had lots of stress with being so busy, and having so many things on my plate right now, and then Noel dying, and then I had some family issues going on, and I just felt so overwhelmed. So it was really nice to spend some time with my Grandma. Although we were busy the whole time there too. We always say, ok this time we are going to just relax, and hang out, and not be too busy, we I go stay there, but we always are, and the time always goes by too fast! We stayed until Sunday night, and spent Easter with Grandma, and Mom and Randy, the girls and their significant others :) and Nate and Joan. We just had a nice relaxing day together. Oh yeah.. AND on thursday night Grandma and I stayed up scrapbooking till 1 am! I am soooo excited that she is getting into scrapbooking! We had so much fun! I only made one page, and then we made Easter cards for everyone. Now if I could just teach her how to use a computer so she could go digi! :) It was kinda fun to break out the ole' paper supplies though! I haven't paper scrapped in quite a while!
WEDDING Nate and Joan are getting married NEXT WEEKEND!!!! It has come up so fast!!! My little man is the ring bearer. He's going to be so stinkin cute! And Aaron is a groomsmen. And I am the "unofficial" photographer. They are having a photographer there doing all the normal wedding shots, and then I am going to be taking some fun ones while everyone is getting ready and stuff! Hopefully I can get some creative shots!
GRAB BAG!!!
And last but not least...It's Grab Bag weekend at MDM! Check it out here!
