Merry Christmas to All!!

We at the Hull House wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Live, Laugh, Love!

Chicago....Ahh!

So the Chicago trip with Kelly was really relaxing! We got caught up in a traffic jam just south of the city - which turned out to be a jack-knifed truck. The highway ended up being closed down for hours so the police re-routed us off the highway (into the "hood") and we had no idea which way to go. It was totally cloudy - so we couldn't just look for downtown. So we

decided to act like we were on the Amazing Race and find our way! Turned out to be quite an adventure with one of us (hard to believe but not me!!) having to find a bathroom. Along the way we ran across a chicken restuarant called "Hienie's". Ewww! Being the mature people we are....I HAD to get a picture of it! The other pictures are views from the hotel. It was great. The city looked beautiful all decked out for the holidays with lights and snow. Did some Christmas shopping, too.

And what a difference a week can make. It is a good thing we didn't try and go this weekend. Megan and I have spent each of the past two mornings shoveling off the driveway. Snow, then ice, then rain, ice and snow! The winds are making it like blizzard conditions today. Which made it a little difficult for Katie driving to work this morning. She ended up off the side of the road. She's fine and nobody else was around her - so we just had to get her out of the ditch. Good lesson learned about gusting winds, probably a little too much speed and slick roads!

Laura was in from Virginia Monday and Tuesday. It was great to see her. She actually didn't leave until Friday night, but our schedules just didn't work out for the last few days of her business trip. Good thing she flew out before all the fun weather! Then again, maybe not. It would have been fun to have her snowbound here for the weekend! I had an extra shovel.....

All my shopping is finished and now the wrapping can begin! I'm really trying not to do a "marathon" event as usual. Wish me luck!

Thanks, again, to Kelly for helping me recharge my batteries! Nothing like a few drunken rounds of "Don't Forget the Lyrics" to make you feel on top of the world!

Winter Formal

Another year - another winter formal! Megan's first and Katie's last.

They both looked so pretty - if I do say so myself! For those of you wondering - that is Katie's boyfriend, Zane. Megan opted to go with girlfriends Allisa and Brittney. She was asked to go but I'm not sure she really wanted to start that whole "meet my dad" thing on a night like this. Probably a lot less stressful for all involved!!!

I am being adult-napped on Friday by Kelly. She is coming through Columbus on the way to a baby shower in Chicago. We'll be leaving after we get the girls off to school Friday morning - and won't be back until sometime Sunday night. Sounds like a slice of heaven!!!

Thanksgiving

What a great time we had in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving! The Lory's came up from Texas - as a surprise 21st birthday gift for Kaitie & Shellie! Kevin and Lisa took over cooking duties this year. It was nice to see Mom actually listening to the dr and staying off the broken leg. I love it when the kitchen is busy with everyone helping!

Here is a rare bird - a picture of David where he is actually SMILING!!!

My dad made sure he had my favorite holiday wine flowing. Thanks, Pop! We even got everybody playing games together - another rare occurence!

The "bigs" all back together again!

All seven granddaughters!

And the final surprise - - Shellie's boyfriend, Armando, flew up to Cinci to meet the rest of the family. Brave or stupid - - - you decide!! :)

Hope Lisa, Kaitie and Shellie all had great birthdays over the holiday!!

Gabi update - she started chemo on Monday. She's feeling really good today! She'll be doing chemo once a week (two weeks on then one week of rest) for about 18 weeks. Thanks for all the love and prayers everyone has been sending!

Yeah!

It was 65 degrees and not raining today - - - so of course that makes you think of outdoor Christmas lights, right?? I took advantage of the warm day to get all the lights put up outside.
I don't think I've ever gotten them up THIS early in my life. I've spent many a snowy/freezing day putting up lights before. I refuse to turn them on until Thanksgiving night - but they are one more thing off my list! This weekend we'll get the tree up inside so we can take pictures of Kate & Meg next weekend all dressed up for Winter formal. Last weekend Megan & I went out and found a dress for her. We found it so quickly that we still had plenty of time in the day to find shoes, etc. So she is all set! It was a great day with her. We goofed around and picked stuff out for each other to try on just for laughs. Macy's was having such a great sale (and I had a 20% off coupon, too!) that we ended up getting her a dress she can wear for church, etc.



Gabi has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to talk about what the next step(s) would be in her treatment. She has decided to try chemo. Please keep her in your prayers.

Emily has Pioneer Day at school tomorrow. She is really excited - but wasn't feeling too well this afternoon - so keep your fingers crossed for her that she makes it to school. The class has to dress up in appropriate attire (like Little House on the Prairie). They have to bring lunch - no plastic bags, juice boxes, etc. She is taking hers in a basket and all the contents will be wrapped with a cloth napkin. They actually go to an old one-room school house for the day.

Thanks to all of you that sent me recipes! I will have to get things prepared and out of the way before David gets home from work tomorrow as he will be taking over the kitchen to make his wonderful pumpkin pies. YUM!!!

We are Cincinnati bound for Thanksgiving - so if I don't post before then - everyone have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Suggestions?

I'm in charge of bringing appetizers for Thanksgiving this year. Anybody have suggestions on what to make? They have to be something I make ahead since the oven/stove will be occupied on Thanksgiving day. They need to be able to be transported in the car for two hours. I'm looking for something different - but not too complicated. Yes, I want it all and I want it now....easy, tasty, not too ordinary.

Gabi is doing well at home. Not much news. She goes back to the doctor just before Thanksgiving to discuss chemo.

David, once again, is in California for a few days on business. Kate starts her new job at Polo/Ralph Lauren this week. More money and less hours! Yeah! Everybody else is doing well - thankfully it is a relatively quiet week for us!

Home Again

Gabi was released from the hospital and I'm sure she's thrilled to be home. Friends and family have been very thoughtful in bringing soup, etc. and making their visits brief so as not to tired them out. Gabi's youngest son, David has been a huge help. He has been living with them during the transition time of his divorce. Luckily for all of us he won't be taking possession of his new home until after Thanksgiving.


On a lighter note - the scholarship hunts have begun! Anyone with ANY knowledge on how to go about this please let me know! You always hear about scholarships that go unused because no one applied for them. There are just soooooo many sites that come up when you Google that it is overwhelming. Any help you guys could give me - sites that helped or didn't, good places to try, etc. would be greatly appreciated!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Prayers, Please

I know it has been a bit since I have updated everybody. But sometimes things are just too hard to write. We found out Oct. 28th that Gabi, David's step-mom, has ovarian cancer. On Halloween she had surgery to remove the masses. Recovery from that has been slow for her. She was having trouble breathing this last Saturday. They removed over a pint of liquid from her lungs. Testing on that shows it is just below the line for containing cancerous cells. The doctors are terming this as Stage 3C cancer. She is hoping to be out of the hospital this week. We are hoping to get her strength back up so she can do chemo in a few weeks. I will update things when I can. Any and all prayers would be appreciated.

IU Bound!

Yesterday Kate got the news she has been waiting for - - - she has been accepted at Indiana University's School of Journalism. She and her great friend, Jamie, are going to try and room together. She was nervous about getting in - which she really had no reason to be. She is excited about following her Dad's footsteps to IU! I'm excited because she'll only be an hour away from home.

Fall Break

I can't believe it is Fall Break for us already! Between Megan's arm and Kate's work schedule, we decided to not go away as we usually do. Besides, the Turner Hotel in TN was booked for this week! The weather is finally starting to act like fall with those wonderful, crisp mornings. With the weird weather we've had, I'm afraid it may be too late to expect much color out of the trees this year. I'm afraid most of them will just turn brown and fall off. David has been in FL all week - and we look forward to seeing him tonight. We're hoping to get out this weekend and get some pumpkins. Just didn't feel right doing it while the temp was in the 90's the last few weekends! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Graceful

This weekend was not a very graceful one for our family. My mom broke her leg and Megan bruised the bones in her elbow. Mom was carrying a box downstairs and misjudged the last step - the weight of the box didn't help her balance - and she ended up breaking her leg. I don't think the jet-lag helped her any, either! Megan was goofing around with friends at the football game. One friend had her arm and somebody bashed into her. She lost her balance and fell on her elbow. She didn't tell us about it because she just figured she had pulled something (even though her friends heard popping/crunching sounds). She kept quiet about it Saturday - as she didn't want to miss going to the Lorena McKennitt concert with David & Kate Saturday night. But Sunday morning during church I saw her tie her hoodie strings together and make a sling for her arm. We went to Prompt Med and they said it looked like she had fractured the elbow. They put a half-cast on it and gave her a sling. We took the x-rays to the ortho yesterday and he said she had badly bruised the bones and badly sprained the muscles. They took off the cast - but she has to wear the sling at least until we see him again next week. She's one tough girl - - but I wish she would have told me about it sooner! On a lighter note, Emily, Sarah & I went to the Ethnic Expo Saturday and had lots of great food, listened to some interesting music and saw a great firework display. We missed not having David, Kate & Meg with us as usual - but they were having a great time at the concert. I was supposed to go with them - but Em & Sarah ended up with things they were doing that weekend - and we couldn't get a sitter for so long. The concert was three hours away and so they had to leave in the early afternoon and didn't get back until after 2am. Sarah had a "Communion Mass" (mandatory attendance) so I had to be sure to get her there. I would have been too wiped out getting home that late to get them up for class and then services. You'll notice that Megan (again, what a trooper) made it! Of course she was able to sleep on the ride home. I can't sleep in cars anymore! It's dreary and rainy today and I don't really want to run my errands. The rain is great though as I reseeded several large areas of the yard Saturday.

Great Day!

(L) Four beautiful girls - dreaming of their own weddings??? (R) One beautiful woman with her dream coming true!

(L) Megan, Lauran & Katie sharing a laugh

(R) Lauran & Laura




(L) Lauran & Papa (One of my favorite pictures!)

Lauran & Mark

(L) Lauran & Cory
All smiles!

(R) See, I really was there!

(L) Papa, Lauran, Cory & Gabi

(R) Cory & Lauran (Duh!)

(L) Kissing Cousins! Liberty & Megan

(R) The Hull Clan

Emily's 10!

Emily turns 10 today! She woke up and was thrilled to announce to the whole family that she is now a pre-teen! Double digits!! It doesn't get any better than that - - - at least until you're 13!

I think her favorite present will be that she can "officially" know that Maggie "Squash" Diehn will be moving not only back the the USA - but to Columbus next summer!!

Wedding details will follow hopefully tomorrow - it was a WONDERFUL DAY - but for now I have just a little shopping to do before tonight......okay, so I've been busy!

Today's The Day!

Today is Lauran and Cory's wedding! Can't believe it is here! The wedding is outdoors and the day is supposed to be almost 90 degrees and sunny! The reception will be indoors, though. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

More Birthdays!

Happy Birthday today to my poor husband, David, who now has that wicked head/chest cold I had last week. To add to his fun - - he is currently on a plane flying to California for the rest of the week! Poor Baby! Megan also has is - but has not missed school yet. Don't know where she gets THAT from??!! Emily didn't make it to school today - but I'm not sure she's got the same thing. She's complaining about her tummy. I should have known something was up with her. She went to bed on time and quietly last night. Not her usual routine! Megan was in bed by 9:30 which totally says "I'm sick" for her! Oh well - two more to go and it will have run through the entire house. It has to run it's course quickly, though, because we've got Lauran's wedding Saturday. Guess I'll stay home today and disinfect even more stuff! My hands already smell like bleach and cleaner. Such a lovely smell.

A big shout out of HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lisa Bennett!!!!

Party Girls

Wow! What a great time! Stupid camera "lost" the pictures I took from getting our manicure or pedicures and from the dinner when I took out the battery to light up one of Lauran's "toys" for the evening. Once again the girls taught me a new drinking game - and I think I mastered it! I was fighting a head cold the whole night and didn't end up spending the night. I've been really down with this cold since then, which is why I'm just now getting to post about our fun. Lettie, Heather's mom, was such a trooper! You'd never know it looking at her face in the picture with her "new friend" but she wasn't drinking! Looks like she had fun anyway! Raina showed us that she really, really knows how to dance - without looking like an idiot like I would have if I'd have tried doing her type of dance! Not posting any pictures of Heather - as she is a professional - and don't want her to get in trouble - he! he! - but may blackmail her someday......Nobody needed bailed out of jail - although some of the dares from the bachelorette book could have gotten us there! (Guys in white socks, ewwwww!) Nothing like asking questions on street corners and having people jump out of cars to answer! It was so funny pulling the "aunt" card on the one guy talking about Lauran and watching him try and back out of what he'd said!! Thanks, girls, for an unforgettable night!

Today in history......26 years ago today I married my best friend! Happy anniversary, David!

Party weekend

Lauran's bachelorette party is this weekend! Should be a GREAT time! We have booked rooms and everything is within walking distance - so no bailing people out of jail! I can't believe the wedding is just around the corner! Doesn't seem that long ago that I was anticipating her mother and father's wedding. Didn't get to go to that bachelorette party as I would have been underage at the time. Yeah - it was a long time ago, thanks for thinking it :)

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY this weekend to KELLY BENNETT!!!!!

UMMMM

Ok - so check out the comments for my last post. Some idiot from another country is trying to sell me an internet connection of some sort (I think). How weird is that?? I like this part "(If he will be possible add the CresceNet(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in your blogroll I thankful, bye friend)." Blogroll??? Sounds like something you'd get at an Asian restaurant! No, thank you, I don't want any in my blogroll! He! He!

New sign

It's Friday - the day I normally try and wrangle the cluttered house somewhat into order. The sun is shining, I've got the windows open and it is beautiful out - - - so somehow I'm just not in the mood to clean! Can't blast my cleaning music since the windows are open - hey - I'm airing out the house - that's at least a start, right? Better find some headphones and use my Ipod to get this junk done. DVR update - I got the new one and hooked it up myself in time to record the show for Kate. I think I'll have to take it back, though, because the "regular" channels are all "fuzzy". I usually watch just the HD channels - but sometimes still need the regular ones. Think I'll procrastinate (as usual) and put that on the list for next week. :) I Found cute, yet inexpensive dresses for Emily and Sarah for Lauran's upcoming wedding. I actually found one for myself that I loved at Kohl's - but talked myself out of it due to price. It kept bugging me - so I went back yesterday afternoon to see if it was even there anymore. Not only did they still have ONE left in my size, but it was on sale for 40% off and if you used your charge card they took another 15% off! Figured that was a sign from above that I should by the dress. Now I only need to find something for Megan and we'll be all set. Ok, guess I can't put off the cleaning any longer. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Honoring Heroes

Land of the free because of the brave

DVR

Ok - so Suzanne likes to order groceries by computer - I like to DVR (like Tivo) shows and skip through the commercials. We all have our vices! Our DVR has been having problems for awhile now - but I was trying to get the kids to watch all the stuff they had on it before exchanging it. They are my children - so they procrastinated - and over the weekend the whole thing went down. No more being able to pause live tv - - - how archaic! Tonight is the season finale of Greek and Kate works until 9 so she'll miss it. I'm going to try and exchange the box at our local Comcast office - but have set up a tech call on the box for tomorrow am in case they don't have one to exchange. How pathetic is that? Sarah had a great time at her sleepover - and no middle of the night call to mom!

First Sleep over

Sarah is at her first sleep over tonight. Wow - a "last" first for me! Weird to think about! She was excited, but nervous. I'm sure she'll do fine - but I'm still going to sleep with the phone beside the bed in case she calls to come home. I can't wait to get all the details in the morning.

Happy birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL TURNER!!!! Good luck with the party tomorrow, Kelly!

For those of you that may care - the Colts ruled last night in a 41-10 victory over the Saints!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Football

As some of you know I LOVE FOOTBALL!! The Colts opening game is tonight! Are ready for some FOOTBALL??? I know I am! Good luck to all the teams!

Weekend

A thanks to the Turner girls for a nice weekend! Kelly made up a scavenger hunt for Rachel, Sarah, Emily and their friend, McKenzie. It was a great "dry run" for the one she'll be putting on next weekend for Rachel's 12th birthday party with about 20 kids! Good luck with it!! Amazing how fast they grow up! The three "bigs" went out and got hair cuts together -couldn't get them to stand still long enough to get a picture - but I'm sure they took some themselves. I'll try and get one from them to post this week. They really turned out great.
We tried to watch a number of movies - but I kept falling asleep by midnight! Sorry, Kelly!

Kelly's coming!

Can't wait for this weekend! Kelly, Michelle & Rachel are coming up for the long weekend! Just what this house needs - more hormones -sorry, David! John & Stephen are going to stay home and "watch football". Sounds like another chick flick and munchies weekend! See - I may chase my friends out of the state (and the country) but they know Hotel Hull is always open!