Out with the old...in with the new

Not by choice, Eli and I had to get a new car to take the mighty trip to Dearborn and back. The transmission decided to go on the "Grandma Taurus", of coarse because it was the most expensive thing to go....the story of our lives. Not wanting to put any more money into a car that already had a ton of miles, we did some shopping....a lot of shopping. The best deal we got was on this little number. Payments are tiny bit more and now Eli is driving a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu with only 30000 miles, I guess better than racking up more on the credit card for a new transmission. So this is the first time in our marriage that Eli is driving a new and nicer car than me. Poor Eli only had to wait 10 years. It gets better miles per gallon (32-34 mpg) than the Taurus and a much better than the van. So I get to drive it to Lansing on Tuesday and Thursdays.
Because our insurance company sucks...(they raised our payment $50 bucks a month because of Eli's accident and then wanted an extra $37 for the newer car. We are switching insurance companies, thanks to Dave and Cathie Kurt, for telling us about Deb Hoffman, she is a miracle worker and is just such an awesome person to talk to.

Thanks Papa Schultz

for this wonderful "Schultz" trait........

Can you say Bed Head?

When Erika and Olivia were little like Makenna, their hair was always done with bows, pig-tails, ponytails, barettes, curled, blow-dryed....blah blah blah. Makenna's lucky if I have time to brush her hair once a week. Her hair is so frustrating. Even if I attempt to do it, it will look similiar to this within the hour....I give up.

ALMOST ~ a hole in one

Eli, Jeff and my Dad had a golf outing today. My Dad was this close to getting a hole in one on a par 3!

Tis the season

The girls aren't even in school for a full 2 weeks and we have a bug in our house. Bandit looks after the sick, sad, and/or pregnant. This is his way of taking care of Erika. Poor KaKa.

Makenna Turns 2!!!

Makenna when she was 1 day old

Makenna's first day home from the hospital

Makenna is always getting into something!

Makenna turned 2 yesterday! On Friday, Kimmy, Diane and I went to the park together and we had a little celebration for her last night. Eli made the best ribs and his cheesey potatoes put mine to shame. Auntie bought Makenna this huge canvas play set thing that took up the whole downstairs and kept the kids busy most of the night. Makenna did really great sharing all her new toys with her sisters, cousins and her best friend Marina.
Makenna is growing up so fast and keeping up with Erika and Olivia. Watching Makenna and Marina interact with each other the past few days has been so fun! They love each other and call each other by name now, have conversations and give each other hugs and kisses.
Last night after everyone left, Eli and I sat back and watched Erika and Makenna play together and it was such a precious moment (Olivia actually fell asleep on the couch in between Eli and I and was too tired to play). They were dancing, singing, and giggling. This is what I live for. My family makes me smile. My children make me smile. Time is going way too fast! If I could've pressed pause last night, I would have.

Here are pictures from the park and Makenna's birthday celebration.....

Makenna's 2nd Birthday 2007

Here is a little video when we sang Happy Birthday and Kenna eating her cake. It's a little long, but cute ~ Eli decided to take the video of her until there was no memory left in the camera.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A little stressed!

This was me last night! I think Eli was a little scared.

Better late than never!

The Girls

The Boys

Kevin and Cathie

Eli and I

This is from our trip with Kevin and Cathie, oh about a month ago. I've been waiting for the pictures from Cathie and she finally decided to get them onto Picasa so I could download them. Our vacation was so much fun. The kids were whooped by the end of the day. They were in the water from morning till dark. We had a fire every night.....we even got to have adult time because the kids fell asleep pretty early. Feeding 10 people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner became an assembly line. The weather was perfect and it started to rain when we were pulling away to go home....perfect! What a blast!

You can see all the rest of the pictures here.......

Lake Odessa

For all the Dog Lovers....

Jeffrey Animal Hospital, my favorite place to work, is sponsoring a vaccine clinic tomorrow at Hines Park in Livonia from 12 - 4. I will be there with Dr. Demetriou and Jeannie doing what we do best. Good prices on vaccines and it sounds like there will be a lot to do with you four legged friend. Eli is planning on bringing the girls to see all the fun. I love to do vaccine clinics. It's great to get out of the office, do something different, and see new people, and it's also fun to people watch. Pray that this one goes well......for Dr. Jeffrey's sake.

Last Weekend

Cathie's Birthday Celebration!

Eli and I spend a night out together!

Last weekend Eli and I went out to celebrate Cathie's Birthday. We went out to Zuki Lake Tavern for dinner and then went to 2 bars afterwards. The first bar was like being a gentleman's club, well to be honest, more like whore house, anyways we left there and went to another bar after we dropped some of the couples home. We had a lot of fun and those nights don't seem like they come as often as they should. You can read more about the evening here and here and see the pictures from Cathie's birthday celebration and day at the pool here.....

Celebrating Cathie's 37th Birthday ~ 2007

The Agusti and Marshall Family Reunion

Dad and Uncle Oscar

Olivia and Lauren having some fun in the water!

Last Sunday, we headed out to Irish Hills for the Agusti and Marshall family reunion. Irish Hills is a beautiful area! We drove through Saline and I want to move there. The Agusti's are not blood relatives but were a huge part of my life when I was growing up. I think of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Oscar as true family. Our families did everything together. Kathleen and Diane are still very close. Peggy and I have drifted a little, but alway have a great time together when we see each other! We all have children now, except for David. It was nice to get all the kids together. Interesting that the oldest and the youngest child belonged to Eli and I. We are also the couple with the most children. David informed me that Eli and I are the reason for overpopulating the world. Still, sad to say, David was the only one that couldn't make it, and was missed.
Peggy is a teacher in Livonia and is married to Curt and together they have 2 year old little girl named Megan. Kathleen is a social worker and is married to John and they have 2 year old twins, Dillion and Katie. All the kids had a great time. They went jet skiing, played in the lake and sand box, and made s'mores. Erika loved playing with the little one's. Interesting the our parents left on the pontoon boat and were gone for over 2 hours. Maybe all the kids were too much for them. You can see more pictures here......

Agusti ~ Marshall reunion 2007

And they're off!

Erika's First Day of 2nd Grade!

Olivia is in the Duck Room! She's a big "kindergartener!"

Erika and Olivia off on the bus! (Makenna in the background, yes she is still in her pjs, at least she has shoes on)

Is this totally selfish to say? I'm excited for my girls to be in school. There were people sobbing at the bus stop and sobbing at kindergarden orientation. Oh Please!!! I was ready to get out the pom poms and start cheering. (Yes I was sad when Erika started kindergarten and I may have shead a tear or two, but I am so over that, plus I was pregnant and hormonal!)
It is really cute watching Kenna scream "bye bye ka ka, bye bye bia" and wave to bus all the way down the street. Then her and I run back home as fast as we can and snuggle on the couch and watch Finding Nemo together.

You can see the rest of the pictures here.....

School Days 2007

Makenna in her "Big Girl" bed!

Eli set up Makenna's bed today. It is sad to think the next time we set up the crib it will be for our grandchildren (wipe the tear). Makenna was so proud and she layed down for her nap right away and said......."GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", and pointed to the door. Now I just have to get that stinkin binky away from her. Baby steps.