GO FLY A KITE

Finally the weather has broken a bit to now be bearable, so we took the kids to the park to fly their kites.

Jen got the hang of it pretty fast, but for whatever reason, her kite decided to stop cooperating halfway through.

Jimmy needed some help at first, but his kite worked the best.

Had wanted me to bring the kite down so he could grab it and fly in the sky.

EAT EM UP TIGERS!!!!

Last week Jim's cousin had some extra Tiger tickets and offered them to us. I thought Jen might bow out and have want a girl's night, but she wanted to go as soon as she found out Avery was going to be there.

It's probably been at least 12 years since I have been to a Tigers game and this was the first time I had been to the new stadium.

Our seats were at the top of the bleachers, but couldn't have been better for us. It allowed the kids to roam a little with out getting in anyone else's way.

Jimmy is so easy going. Give him a bag a peanuts, and he'll sit still forever.

Jen and Avery enjoying the game along with frozen lemonade, cotton candy, pretzels and anything else they could find. They defiantly ate their way through the game.

Happy 17th Kidney Birthday to Jim!!!!

17 years ago today someone had to make the decision to donate their child's organs. I can't imagine how hard that was, but I am thankful every day that the choice was made to donate a kidney for Jim.

Everyone knows the story how he got the phone call in the middle of the night, how it was a record amount of transplants that day for Children's Hospital and how well Jim did afterwards. It could have been a totally different outcome-dialysis for years or even worse.

We are very aware of just how lucky Jim was to receive the kidney that night. If you look at the waiting list, you'll see Jim hit the lottery:

WAITING LIST FOR ORGANS
UNITED STATES
This table shows the number of candidates (men, women and children) who are waiting for organs for transplantation in the United States.
All Organs
108,123
Kidney
85,684
Liver
16,093
Pancreas
1,457
Kidney-Pancreas
2,175
Heart
3,150
Lung
1,765
Heart/Lung
77
Intestine
257


-More than 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.
-Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.
-An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
-In 2009, there were 8,021 deceased organ donors and 6,610 living organ donors resulting in 28,465 organ transplants.
-90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor.

I know organ donation is a personal decision, but your decision to someday donate your organs could save up to eight lives. So, fill out the back of your license and let your family know your wishes.

ICE IN A CUP INVENTION - PATENT PENDING

This is the conversation between Jen and I this afternoon:

Jen: Hey Mom Guess what?
Me: What?
Jen: I invented something - ice in a cup!!!
Me: Really? You invented that?
Jen: Yep. It's the biggest piece of ice in a cup. You can just lick it like this. (insert vision of Jen licking ice from a bathroom cup with a huge proud smile on her face)
Me: Wow that's amazing, you should put a patent on it.
Jen: What's that?
Me: You go to a lawyer , fill out a bunch of paperwork and draw up a contract so no one can steal your idea.
Jen: Will you do that for me?
Me: Sure, I'll call the lawyer in the morning.
Jen: Thanks Mom! I have to get a suit to wear.

And there you go - the true story on how ice in a cup was invented.

HENNIGAN FAMILY REUNION 2010

Every year my mom's side of the family has the annual Hennigan family reunion. My mom's cousin Donna has a large property and has graciously hosted it for a couple of years now. She has an awesome heart and is very generous to have everyone at her home. My Aunt Bobbie made my great aunt a crown and crowned her "Queen Hennigan". My kids have a blast and wait all summer long for it, here are a few reasons why:

My little fish was very upset that we left her bathing suit at home. Luckily Donna's granddaughter is the same size and let Jen borrow one for the day. She was in her glory!!!

We were very thankful for the water balloons this year. It was very muggy and it felt great to get wet.

All of the kids participate in games according to their age. Jimmy and Lanie did a scooping up a plastic duck out of a pool game,drop the clothes pin in the bucket and a race. Everyone was a winner!!!!

Jen had a plastic egg on a spoon race, a knock the milk bottles down game and a race.

Jimmy won a nerf air gun which he has since lost all but one dart. He also got a light up dinosaur water gun from a children's raffle.

Jen's prize was this bug catcher kit. Can you feel my excitement about having bugs trapped in a cage in my house??? She has been wanting one for a while and I have dodged that one until she saw it in the prize bucket. Rules for the bug cage are as follows:

1) The bug cage is just for observing bugs up close and they must be released once inspected.

2) Bugs are not pets. They must go back to their parents.

3) The bug cage is to stay outside while housing any animals.

4) There is a 2 hour limit on housing animals. They will be missed by their parents if they are gone longer then that.

They both received far more candy then they will ever need from the pinata.

Injury of the day. Jen somehow stepped on something and sliced her foot open. When I asked her what she stepped on she just said "Something rusty". Are you asking for a tetanus shot??? My cousin's wife is a paramedic and thought she could use a stitch. So I tried to get it to stop bleeding a little to take her to the urgent care. When I looked up I had 20 people looking down at us all giving me a hundred different suggestions - one which involved using super glue. I decided to use a butterfly stitch and band aid and see if it would stop bleeding. After several hours, it started bleeding again so I wanted to take her in. I found out that stitches had be done within a couple of hours or they can't be done so no stitches for her. I should have just taken her in to begin with.

A little after 11:00pm we got a phone call that Jim's Grandmother had just passed away. She had been fighting breast cancer and all of the complications that come with it since the end of last year. As bad as it hurts to know that she is gone, we know that she is now pain free and in a much better place, and I know that she will be leaving us little signs to let us know she is close by.

She was truly the sweetest and most selfless person I know. Grandma Thornton treated everyone as if they were family. She welcomed me with open arms from the first day we met and when Jim and I became engaged, she was the only person who may have been happier than I was.

I could tell you a hundred and one wonderful things about her and honestly could not come up with one bad thing to say. If you think about it, I wonder how many people can say that about someone they know. I am truly grateful for having her in my life and only wish my children could have gotten to know her better. Grandma Thornton will be missed but never forgotten. We love and already miss you !!!

THE BIG CHEESE

There are multiple things I can think of that most people are terrified of : the drill at the dentist, heights, spiders and even childbirth. All of the above don't bother me as much as this place........

It's not the mouse himself that gets me, but what's inside the building. The name along throws visions in my head of children running around, climbing on things and germs and pee everywhere. There is not enough Purell to sooth my anxiety. My kids have only been there a couple of times and that's fine with me. As we were walking up to the entrance, Jenna looked at me and said " Just don't think about how dirty it is".

The ONLY reason we went tonight was because it was Ryan's 3rd birthday. Aunt Shawn had called and invited us and when Jen and Jimmy found out that we were going to go, they were more then thrilled.

They did have a ton of fun and it wasn't half as bad as the last time we went.

Chuck E Cheese brought out a cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to Ryan. We almost made it through the night without Jen and Jimmy wanting to go into the sewers - I mean tunnels. We all survived and had a great time. Thank you Aunt Shawn and Uncle Tom for the invite!!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!!! We Love You!!!