What a day!

It's been a very busy day here at the Rabine house. I woke up early and got Gen in the bath, took a shower and headed for the grocery store. I had to go into work early today so half way through the grocery store I realized I needed to pick up my babysitter, my niece Meghan, so had to rush through the rest of the store. We picked up Meghan came home and all the kids, Meghan, her brother Jordan, Joey, Bobby, and Genesis helped unload the groceries. I put all the meat away and the kids took care of the rest!

At work today the kids washed their dogs! It was a really good time. I'll post some pics and videos on my work blog. We had to stop at about 2:30pm because of what looked to be a typical thunder storm. Turned out not to be just any old storm! I got on the road, M59 and Groesbeck area, and it started raining. By the time I reached Romeo Plank it was raining so hard I couldn't see thing! I had to pull over and parked in a hospital parking lot. It started to hail and then I swear I was suddenly in the middle of a tornado! There was debris and trees flying through the air! Transformers were blowing up everywhere. Trees and telephone poles were falling down. I called Meghan and she had the kids in the basement and didn't seem bothered at all by it. I waited a little while in the parking lot and got on the road as quickly as possible. I couldn't stand the thought of the kids being home in this storm without an adult. As I got on the road I couldn't believe the mess everywhere! The roads were flooded too. The closer I got to home the better the weather got and when I pulled in the driveway it stopped raining. The news said there were some tornadoes in some areas but haven't said yet where exactly. I'm pretty sure that was one. I've never seem anything like it! It was pretty scary. I love storms but I'll pass on being in another one that bad! I love the movie Wizard Of OZ but never had any intentions of trying to get to Oz. ;)

Kids were fine when I got home. We had another storm go through but not as bad. Fortunately for the kids out neighbors lawn, across the street, flooded so after dinner the Gen and Bobby put their suits on, grabbed a couple boogie boards, and headed for the water! They had a blast!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Check out my "Teacher's Pet" blog tomorrow and I'll post some pics and videos of the kids bathing the dogs!

Thanks for reading! Have a great evening!

Trying to sew.....

Yesterday was just a lot of cleaning so by the end of the day I was pretty exhausted. When Bob got home from work we had dinner, hamburgers, steak burgers, french fries, and corn, and then sat down so Bob could show me how to use the sewing machine!

After practicing for a little while I read the manual and decided to get to bed early. I'm off to go grocery shopping right now and then to work and hopefully will get a chance to practice using the sewing machine again tonight!

That's all for now. I should have some pictures to post later! I LOVE that "smilebox" thing! I've been using it for so many different things!

Some father's day photos......

Make a Smilebox greeting

Sadness is over and time to move on.....

Uncle Tony's funeral went well,(I guess I could say that). Almost the whole family was there which is unusual. I heard a lot of good things regarding the family reunion. Sounds like most are coming and I told the ones that might not be coming that I have their addresses now and will come hunt them down if they don't show up! One of my cousins told me a really nice story Sunday. Eugene, my cousin and Uncle Tony's son, took the reunion invitation to the hospital to show it to Uncle Tony on Wednesday. Uncle Tony opened it and got so excited. He asked where it was at and asked Gene to mail a check in for him and make sure he gets there! I guess he was really excited about it. I was happy to hear about that. I hope he's still looking forward to it but I imagine he has much greater plans now!

I have lots of work to do tonight so I won't be writing any more here! Visit the Teacher's Pet blog for info on my day at work, although I may not get to update it until tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and I haven't been able to get any further on the purse yet, I plan to do a little tonight!

Sad news....

About 1am this morning I found out that my Great Uncle Tony passed away. :o( He was 93 years old. Uncle Tony was my mother's, mother's, older brother. He was the oldest and the last of his siblings to pass away. He was a wonderful man with a great sense of humor, so much fun to be around. I knew he was sick and in the hospital but had just heard Wednesday that he was doing much better and was starting on kidney dialysis this week so I was quite surprised to get the news that he had passed away.

I have been planning a Jamroz ( my Great-Grandmother and Grandfather's name) family reunion with my cousin Kimberly. I was hoping to get the family together for once for a fun time instead of a funeral. Looks like we'll be doing yet another funeral before the reunion but the reunion is still a go. Our great grandparents used to own a farm in Richmond, MI. At least once a year our whole family, and it's a big one, would get together at the farm for a reunion. After my Great Grandmother passed away the farm was sold and we haven't had a reunion since. It's been 22 years! A lot of people have passed on since then but there are a lot of new editions to the family also who should get to know their extended family. I've planned the reunion for July 18th at Stoney Creek Metro park. We rented a pavilion and are having a caterer come out for lunch. Kimberly and I got together last week and put all the invitations together and addressed them. Joey helped us out too! We had forgotten to print out maps for all the invites so Joey got on the computer and printed them all out for us. Kids are so good with the computers! Kimberly has been busy planning all kinds of fun games for the kids, and the adults, like a scavenger hunt, egg toss, three legged race, and some other games. We'll also have soccer, volleyball and horse shoes. It will be just like the old days, just lots for new little faces who get to meet all kinds of cousins they never even knew they had! I can't wait!!!

It's been a busy day of cleaning house and the car. You can imagine that after a tough winter and very muddy soccer season the car was an awful mess. The house smells like a wet dog, which I love the smell of wet dog, but it's not what you want visitors to smell when they walk into your house! So, I've dusted and vacuumed and straightened but I'm going to need to have someone come in to clean the carpet.

Bobby had his friend Reese over today for some soccer, games, and other outdoor activities. Joey played with them also. Genesis spent the day swimming with her best friend McKenzie. Bob spent most the day cutting grass, working on his car, and working on the Teacher's Pet van.

Last night I started working on a purse. I LOVE purses and the last few times I visited my grandmother in Florida she showed me a purse that my great grandmother made for her wedding. I just love the style so I took a lot of pictures of it and went to the store for some material. Its been awhile but I finally got started on it last night! I'm so excited. I've NEVER used a sewing machine before and, obviously, never made anything like this before. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I will definitely be posting pictures soon. I'm going to try to finish it this weekend. If it turns out good I'll make a few of them. If it doesn't turn out, well, I'll just figure out what went wrong and start another one. Bob will have to show me how to use the sewing machine. I have one my mother bought me about 5 years ago but have never used it. Bob's hobby is cars and he has used it for some of the interior of his car. He's actually very good too! For Christmas I bought him a heavy duty sewing machine so he can sew things like Leather and other thick materials used for car interiors. Sometime I'll post a few of his pictures also!

Well, time to get dinner going for the family. I'm going out to dinner with a very old friend of mine tonight so I'm very excited! I haven't seen her in about 20 years!

Thanks for reading!

So much to do, so little time!

So now I've added a third blog! Although its not just mine. I've set one up now for Teacher's Pet and all of our volunteers. I got the idea from looking at my cousin, Joanna's, blog that she has with several of her friends to share information. We've been trying to figure out a way to stay connected and trade information, ask questions, answer questions, etc. and the blog is perfect for it! So, the address for that one is www.teacherspetmi.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. I don't want to take your entire day up reading my blogs though!

Soccer is over for the season! Yay for now but after a couple weeks we'll start to miss it. Now I have to start the search for sport camps for Joey. One thing I've found over time is that physical activity is so important in keeping Joey's tics from the TS at a minimum. He gets a lot of physical activity from soccer and school but summers get rough when soccer and school are over. My cousin mentioned that there are so many mis-perceptions about Tourette Syndrome and I have to agree. People hear that my son has TS and assume he walks around screaming profanities all day. That particular tic is very rare but its what is shown on TV because they put the worst of the worst on television. The only vocal tic Joey has is humming. When the day is winding down he hums a lot. We're getting used to it and probably don't even notice it sometimes now. All of the other tics are physical, mostly facial. The most recent tic he has worries me though. He has started hitting his belly, almost like punching it. I've seen this type of tic in other children before and if it gets worse he could actually start hurting himself. We do everything we can to keep Joey off medications so I'm praying that we find a way to keeping this tic from happening to often because this type could be a deal breaker when it comes to staying off medications. Its a really tough call because do we allow him to keep hurting himself with a tic he has or give him medications that could possibly hurt him. I read recently that parents are using Fish Oil for things like ADD, ADHD, and other EI problems so I've been giving Joey Fish Oil. It can't hurt at this dose so its worth a shot to see if it helps any.

I had a Teacher's Pet meeting Tuesday evening (see my other blog for update soon!) and then a study group Wednesday with two women from Teacher's Pet. We are taking the CPDT (Certified Pet Dog Trainers) test in September and will need every opportunity we have to study for it! It's not an easy test! Right now there is no required certification for training dogs. It's terrible, you can read a book and call yourself a dog trainer! Dog Trainers are trying to make this CPDT a requirement to cut down on the so-called trainers that have no idea what they are doing. Dog Training can be a very lucrative business so lots of people are popping up all over the place saying they are a "dog trainer". Anyway, we figure we'll get certified now so if and when it is required we'll be all set! As for us (the trainers I know), business is not so lucrative, we just want to make sure people are taking care of their dogs and don't have to give them up just because of a behavioral problem so we help in anyway we can. Isn't that funny the way it works, those of us who know what we're doing don't make much money and the ones who don't know what they are doing are making all the money! I've been trying to get a business going but don't have the slightest idea how to get it going! I'm thinking now though that the Teacher's Pet program is what I should be doing anyways. It's what I'm here to do. But, some money on the side will definitely help! Maybe that other dog training job will come through soon!

I worked all day so Bob was home with the kids. Joey spent most the day at his Aunt's house swimming. Genesis and Bobby went to Home Depot with Daddy and then came home and played in the sprinklers. Bob and Bobby are watching some TV right now, Joey is putting aloe on his sunburn and Genesis is at Melissa's (my nieces) dance recital with my mom.

So, that's what we're up to for now! Thanks for reading!

Busy, busy, busy

Today has been, and will continue to be, a super busy day. I won't have much time for posting now and absolutely none later, unless I decide to give an update in the middle of the night!
We started the day making LOTS of pancakes! We like pancakes around here so this morning I made about 40 of them and put them in the freezer. It's much easier to just pull them out and pop them in the microwave than making pancakes just about every morning. After breakfast Gen got a bath and played the Wii with Bobby. She is cleaning her room right now. Joey slept in till 11:45 this morning! He rarely ever sleeps like that so I just let him. He gets really stressed out sometimes due to the Tourettes Syndrome and has a hard time sleeping because of it, so any good sleep he can get is really good for him. He has soccer tryouts again this evening. The boys just finished up cleaning their room, I still need to inspect but trust they did a good job. Next I'll head in with the vaccuum We have a little bit of running around to do now, and then one of our babysitters will be arriving. Andrea has been babysitting the kids since Joey was just two months old! She is the mother of a friend of mine from when I was a kid. The kids love her dearly, she is like a 2nd mom to them. Unfortunately, we have had her babysit less and less over the past couple years because when I decided to stay home with the kids she had to go back to work full time. So every little chance we get to have her over we are very happy about it! Andrea and the kids will have a blast this afternoon!
I'll be off to work from about 2:30 to 5:30 and then take Joey to soccer and then head over to a co-workers house for a meeting. I always look forward to these meetings. A few of us get together, eat good food, have a glass of wine, and discuss the future of Teacher's Pet and figure out what we'll make happen next. Teacher's Pet is starting to get big now and we're getting a lot of requests from different facilities wanting to start a program. Right now only Amy and I are qualified to teach the classes so we can only handle four locations. We have a few others we are training right now but it's difficult to keep people on board since we can't afford to pay. If they'd just hang in there there will come a day when we can actually pay our employees! Please say a prayer for Teacher's Pet!

Thanks for reading!

I just realized I could put video's on here too!!!! Yipppeeeeee!!!

So, here's a video! This is one of the songs Joey's 6th grade class performed at their graduation ceremony. It's the last time most of us will probably see our "little" boys singing a song on a stage! So, enjoy! Do I Make You Proud.......Monfort Elementary 6th grade - Class of 2015.

Joey is to the far right (looking at the video, far left otherwise), front row, behind the tall kid with the light blue shirt, BUT, he decided he needed to hide in the blue and white balloons so you can only see him peek out once or twice! Stinker! When the balloons start to sway, that's Joey!

Monday 6/15/2009

Today has been pretty uneventful. The kids played with some squirt guns this morning. We had some lunch and then we worked on learning about stress management and recognizing stress in dogs. I've decided to teach Joey and Bobby the same lessons I teach my kids in the Teacher's Pet program. I've decided to do this for a few different reasons. First reason, Joey needs it. He has Tourette Syndrome and lately it has started to get difficult for him to deal with. If he is relaxed and stress free he deals much better so I'm hoping going through my class he will learn some about himself and ways to deal with his own stress. Bobby has some pretty severe ADD and has no patience what so ever! Although he got almost all A's for the school year it was a difficult road. The nights he had homework were no fun! So I'm hoping Bobby will learn to keep his focus and more patience. Which really, couldn't we all use that?! I am also very interested in watching this transformation. I teach the classes and then the kids go back to where they came from someone else updates me on their progress. Working with Joey and Bobby will actually give me the opportunity to see it for myself and help MY kids at the same time! So, they did really well. This is a big step for Bobby since he really hasn't cared much for animals (i know, can you believe one of my children doesn't care much for animals?!). He's really excited about it too. Bobby will be working with our dog, Lukas, and Joey will be working with his grandmother's dog, Jazz. Joey will also be helping me train my cousin Kimberly's dog, Bailey. Bailey was abused by a woman and her child before Kimberly adopted him so this will be great therapy for Bailey also!

Tonight we're having grilled cheese and soup for dinner. I know, a little cheesy (pun intended) but Joey has soccer try-outs tonight so need something quick! Which reminds me, I should probably get started!!!

Oh, Joey needs to work on his reading this summer so if anyone has any good recommendations for an 11/12 year old please let me know!

Sunday....6/14/2009

This morning we had a sick child. Genesis had a stomach ache so after showering I laid in bed with her for a while. Fortunately, just before 11am she started feeling better so we packed up the kids and headed for Stoney Creek for a picnic with some families from Joey's soccer league. Bob and I drove separate cars just in case Genesis started feeling ill again I could leave with her and not worry about Bob and the boys finding a ride home. It was the perfect day for a picnic, barely a cloud in the sky and about 72 degrees! While Joey and his team mates played some soccer Genesis and Bobby played in the sand and on the swings. Bob and I enjoyed talking with all the parents. For lunch they served Chicken, fried and BBQ, potato salad and various other salads, fruit, chips, and all kinds of desserts! It was all very yummy!

Gen and Bobby enjoying the swings

Joey and some of his team mates having lunch
Joe, Pato (Joey's coach and trainer), Joey and Gregy

We left the picnic about 1:30ish. Genesis had remembered that the Octagon House was doing tours today so Genesis, Bobby, and I decided to stop in there before heading home. First a little history on the Octagon House....

In 1840 a man named Loren Andrus entered in a bet with some friends on who could construct the most unusual home. Mr Andrus decided to build a home in the shape of an Octagon. Construction on the Octagon House started in 1857 and finished in 1860. It took one whole year just to build the beautiful winding staircase! All of the materials used to build the house were acquired from the surrounding farmland, except the windows. He won the contest although I could not find out what the prize was!

Looking up the staircase

The house was on the route of the underground railroad leading to Canada. They were able to easily hide slaves in the large basement. Now I remember when I was a child going to the Octagon House and seeing names and dates carved into some of the walls in the basement but today certain areas were closed off for some reason and I wasn't able to show that to the kids. It bummed me out because I was really looking forward to seeing that again!

Just one of the pianos in the house. I love old pianos!

We really wanted to know what was behind this tiny door but weren't allowed to open it!

Between 1894 and 1945 the house sold eight times! In 1974 the house was condemned and just four days before it was scheduled to be demolished it was bought by the Hamilton family and restoration began. The house is now funded by grants and donations and they are still working on restoring a lot of the house although most of it looks wonderful!

In the basement

Tomorrow I'm going to call and see if I can get Genesis and I in for the Tea Party on the 19th. That should be a great time!

So that's all for today. Just cooking can cleaning for the rest of the day, and maybe updating the other blog....oh, and Joey has a birthday party to attend this evening at 5pm. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice too and maybe we'll hit the beach!

Love to all!

Our Garden.....

Our garden, front and back yards, is absolutely gorgeous this year! We have worked so hard on it for several years, planting a lot of perennials, and it finally looks great. We have also planted some annuals and will continue to do so every year but it's really nice to have most everything just come up year after year! Here are some pictures...... I will try to name what ever I can, as for the spelling, forget it!.....

Honey Suckle and Hostas

Front yard...Hostas, Honey Suckle, Lamb's Ear, Pianese

Our pond that Bob installed a couple years ago, it is probably going to get a make over this year, it seems to be sinking! Not good! We have several gold fish in it that Joey has won at carnivals. He is really quite good at that game!

This is in the center of our front yard. This has been challenging over the years trying to figure out what works here and what doesn't. We decided to just plant all kinds of things and see how it turns out. I love the "wild look", not tailored or patterned, just all kinds of stuff. Don't ask what we have here, I'm not very good with the names!

Fox Glove. I love Fox Glove and have tried it in a few different areas here and this is the first time it has worked! We have two of them in the circle.

I can not remember what this is called but it came up beautifully this year and the butterflies and humming birds like it too!

A beautiful Iris!

We have a vegetable garden in the back yard. This year we're growing Green Beans, Lettuce, Spinach, Jalapenos, Green Onion, Roma Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Carrots, Cucumbers, along with Strawberry's, Watermelon, and several herbs.

It's not in the best shape right now! I should be pulling weeds, not blogging! But everything is coming up wonderfully. We can already pick some lettuce and have been picking the Strawberries as they turn red and freezing them so we can have some Strawberry Shortcake!

This is our wild garden in the backyard. There are Ferns, Hostas, Trillium, and Columbine growing here and everything comes up every year. I don't even bother pulling weeds here.

Columbine

And last but not least......my Gerber Daises......

Forsythia, Gerberia Daises and Hostas....in a corner of the backyard.

Oh...and I can't forget what Genesis has been working on.....

I believe it is Sunflowers. I guess it'll be a surprise if I'm wrong! It is planted in a yogurt container wrapped with old wall paper and stickers.

So this isn't everything but it's a good start! To be continued.......

Genesis......

Genesis is 5 years old already! She just finished Preschool and is starting Kindergarten in the fall. She loves school. She loves the work and loves making friends. She is one of those kids who finds the kids in the class that doesn't have anyone to play with and she plays with them and/or gets them to play in a group with other kids. Her teacher told me that Genesis was really good for some of the kids to have around. She pulled them out of their shells and helped them make friends. I got tears in my eyes when she told me that! Preschoolers don't get actual report cards but I was given a sheet where the kids got 1-4's in different skills. Genesis got all 1's which was for exceeding expectations. She was ready for Kindergarten this past year so I imagine she'll fly right through it next school year.

Genesis was on a soccer team with several friends from her preschool this spring with Daddy as the coach. They had a great time. No score keeping just lots of fun!
She has tried dance but didn't like it much, which surprised me since we dance at home everyday! I'm not sure what she'll try next. I think she's finished with soccer. She really just loves the socialization. Maybe gymnastics or karate? We'll see!

During the school year when I work at a school for emotional impaired students, Genesis goes there with me. I really think it has been a great experience for her. She not only has learned a lot about dogs and training but has also developed empathy and compassion. She's met a lot of kids with a lot of different problems!

Right now she says she wants to feed otters when she grows up! (Great Grandma will understand why she says this!)Maybe she'll be a Zoo Keeper?

Bobby.....

Bobby is 8 years old, he'll be 9 in August. He just finished the 3rd grade. In the public schools right now, 3rd grade is the most difficult in elementary. When the requirements on education changed with the No Child Left Behind program most of the changes were on the 3rd grade. It's like two years of school in one. Bobby managed to get all A's and three B's all year long. Bobby is the type of kid that can listen to the teacher and then sit down and do the work with no questions asked. He barely has to try. In the picture to the right Bobby was receiving an award for achievement in Math. He certainly didn't get that from me! He also received an award for Problem Solving and one for achieving Honor Roll all four semesters.

Bobby isn't much into sports. He tries and sometimes likes it but he'd rather be reading about Dinosaurs, working on the computer, building Lego's, or playing Bakugan with his friends. Bobby would like to be a Paleontologist (Dinosaur scientist) when he gets older. He has said that since preschool and is sticking with it so far. His dream job though......Lego Master!

Bobby has a few good friends and also loves playing with his sister. He is learning about training dogs right now too!

The picture to the right is at Lego Land in Downtown Disney in Florida.

Joey

Joey is 11 years old. He just finished the 6th grade and will be attending Junior High in the fall! Time sure flies!

This school year was a little bit of a struggle for Joey. He has a November birthday and in a lot of districts would have been in 5th, not 6th, grade. The year didn't start out good but he worked very hard with his teacher, a tutor, Bob and me and managed to get all B's and one C with no late or missing assignments. He is really looking forward to this fall. He will have a math class, four languages, phys ed., technology, a literacy class, and social studies.

Joey is very athletic and quite the soccer player. He has been playing on the team he is on for about 3 years now. They are suppose to be playing in the U11 bracket but have been playing U12 this season for a little competition. Right now they are tied for first place! The kids on his team are great kids and they all get along so well. The parents are all really great too! Joey is hoping to play soccer in college when he's older. A scholarship would be nice! Then on to the pros if possible ;).

Joey loves working with kids and hopes to be a coach for either soccer or football and/or a phys. ed. teacher when he gets older.

Another Blog already.....

I decided to make a blog where I can talk about my family. The members of my family are Bob (husband), Joey (oldest, 11), Bobby (middle, 8), and Genesis (littlest, 5). We live in the wonderful state of Michigan and like everyone else in the state are trying to stay afloat right now.

I work/volunteer for an organization called Teacher's Pet. To learn more about Teacher's Pet please visit my other blog at http://lmrabine.blogspot.com/. I am currently teaching a class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometime around September of this year we'll be adding Monday's and Tuesdays. During the summer we are doing two camps for kids called Kamp K9. It is for kids ages 10 and up. They learn about all kinds of animals, mostly dogs and we bring in several dogs from a rescue. The kids work on training the dogs and get them ready for adoption. This is a really fun camp! The kids are welcome to come back the following summer for a second session where they learn much more. Once they are 15 the kids can come back as a Junior Counselor. We also have Junior Counselors from our regular Teacher's Pet programs. During the school year I also volunteer at a school for kids with emotional imparements and volunteer at my kids school a couple times a week.
Right now I am considering a job at the facility I work at as a Direct Care Staff Worker, if one should open up that would also allow me to keep doing what I'm doing with the kids and dogs. It will give me a chance to spend more time with the kids! I may also take some extra work at a local dog training/kennel facility. I'm praying they call back because we really need the extra money right now!

Bob, my husband, works as a Senior Project Engineer at GHSP. GHSP is doing pretty well right now. They have had to lay off a lot of people over the past six months and the ones left had to take a 20% pay cut. Bob has been told that they are done with the lay-offs and Bob survived (Thanks be to God!). He was even give the 20% back recently! He's happy there and gets along with everyone. His bosses really like his work and he gets lots of compliments. GHSP has really turned out to be a great place to work for!

We have three kids, Joey, Bobby, and Genesis and a dog named Lukas. I will post separate pages for them........