2009 October

Learning about life from dead leaves

October 31, 2009 By Heather 5 Comments

I love Autumn.

I love the crispness in the air. I love the abundance of apple cider. I love all the colors.

But it takes a child, who is growing into a beautiful young woman to make me truly step back and see the joy in this season. To see the beauty in a bunch of dead leaves that are destined for the compost pile.

Instead of worrying about dirt, bugs, or anything else…she just was enjoying the breeze and tossing some leaves around in the warm autumn sun.

Thank you Ariel, thank you for helping me to slow down yesterday and just appreciate all those scattered leaves with you.

Filed Under: dead leaves, enjoying life, life with The Chicken

You Capture-Autumn

October 29, 2009 By Heather 11 Comments

This week’s theme over at You Capture was Autumn. This made me very excited as we were planning a fall trip to Put in Bay to press the cider from the apples hubs & FIL harvested last weekend-something I have never been able to do before this year-so I was very excited.

There is normally a line at all of those windows with cars waiting to get on

during the prime season-in the fall it was just us.

On the path that leads to the cottage-a path worth traveling on.

The apples freshly washed and ready to be pressed.

Sanitizing the Press

The Hopper full of Apples going into the grinder.

Our friend collecting the pulp in the mesh bags to put on the press.

The Press in Action. Look at all that cider…YUM!

Walking back to the cottage on the cold, dreary day. That yellow

leaf was shimmering like gold, it really perked me up.

The Perry’s Monument on a brisk fall day.

On top of the monument-it was cold, it was high….

But with all these views it was worth the trip up and nearly getting blown

over on the windy side. It is strange to see the empty docks.

Another view of the monument. It was just so beautiful.

Filed Under: 2009, autumn, fall, weekend at the bay, you capture

He makes me smile

October 28, 2009 By Heather 6 Comments

I love how he knows how important capturing life is to me. Even when he is busiest he still feels the camera on him and instead of scowling or hiding his face, like so many others do when I try to take their photo. He always pauses and gives me the most loving smile.

I am so thankful that we were able to get away to the island this past weekend for three days, sans kids. Not that I don’t love my girls, but its always nice to be able to get away and enjoy your time with your loved one after 17 years together. To look into his eyes and see just why after all these years you are still together.

Filed Under: happiness, Jeremy, love

Wordless Wednesday-Saying Good bye

October 21, 2009 By Heather 4 Comments

Balloon release after Logan’s funeral. The stormy skies opened up to the beautiful blue.

Filed Under: Logan, tribute, Wordless Wednesday

A Thank You & A Give Away

October 18, 2009 By Heather 8 Comments

The Contest is closed. Congrats to Kathy as she is the winner of the tickets with her # being drawn from random.org. Thank you all for entering.

Yesterday we went and celebrated the life of Logan. So many people came out to greet the family-it really meant a lot to see how much this young man had impacted so many lives in his short life. It was a constant drizzle that morning until we got to the cemetary for the balloon release. The grey clouds broke and there was a bright blue sky with the sun shining down. It was beautiful.

Thank you for all your thoughts & prayers for the Spradlin family.

Now a quickie giveaway…..

a few weeks ago Mom Central contacted me about hosting a giveaway for a family four pack to Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey “Zing Zang Zoom” That will be at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. I was very excited. I have never taken my girls to the circus…I know, I know…bad mom. But I remember vividly going to the circus when they were featuring the Unicorn! I think I was ten or so. Even though it wasn’t really a unicorn, I truly enjoyed the circus experience and would love to share it with you! (with Mom Central’s help, of course)

This contest is a quickie and will end at 9PM EST on Monday (10/19/09) for a Four pack of tickets to see Zing Zang Zoom at Quicken Loans Arena on Opening Night Wednesday October 21, 2009 (as in this Wednesday!) at 7:30 PM. (just pick up your tickets at will call with a valid photo ID)

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment below. Please make sure that you either leave an email address or I can contact you through your profile or I will have to select another winner.

For a second entry you can tweet about this contest (once a day please)

For a third entry you can update your facebook status to reflect the giveaway-just leave a link here.

Don’t want to have to worry about whether or not you will win….or after the fact if you don’t win…no worries. You can enter the word MOM at checkout and get 4 tickets for $44 for mantinee Weekday shows and $4 off all weekend tickets. So whether you win here or get the tickets yourself….you too can enjoy the circus!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

His Name is Logan

October 13, 2009 By Heather 10 Comments

This past weekend I got a call from my surrogate Mother in Law, Gail. I knew something was wrong when I didn’t the get the cheerful and usual “Hi There!” When I answered the phone. She asked if I had seen the news, and since I was wrapping up a jewelry party at the time, I replied no. Thinking that maybe that something had happened, but not ever imagining the next words coming out of her mouth would be “Turn on Channel 8, the Logan that they are talking about it our Logan, Sherri and Jason’s Logan.”

I frantically began searching for the remote that had been moved in a cleaning frenzy and I couldn’t find it. She heard me scrambling and she told me “You will hear that they haven’t found his body yet, that they had to stop for the evening. Its a terrible tradegy.”

I turned on the TV to see the Falls. The beautiful falls that are in our town. The focus of their searching. Logan slipped, hit his head and fell 30 feet into the cold water below. My heart ached for Sherri and Jason, for Amanda, Stephanie, Mykka, and Connor….oh Connor my heart ached for him probably the most. This young man has been through so much death in his short life than any of us should have to go through within a lifetime.

We sat in silence on the phone for a while and then I told them if there was anything at all I could do to please let me know.

In my inbox today was a note from Shannon, Logan’s Step Aunt….she told me that the funeral costs are staggering and that Logan’s other step aunt had set up a Memorial Fund for Logan Spradlin at our First Merit Bank Branch located at 565 S. Abbe Road, Elyria, OH to aid with the costs.

Because honestly who plans for their child’s funeral. I know that if something happened it would strap us financially. And Sherri and Jason have 4 other children at home. There is simply no way.

So if you feel it in your heart to give, even something as significant as $1 can help this family say good bye to their son that they lost too soon. And yes, you did read that right….every dollar is significant. If you are unable to get to a First Merit Branch you can also use paypal. Please pay eringobarn@yahoo.com and put Logan in the message to Shannon.

So, with heavy hearts Jeremy, Alexis, Ariel, and I will be going to a funeral for a young man this Saturday. We will try to comfort this family during this hard time. And we will thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts, prayers and donations to help them.

Filed Under: life, Logan, things I shouldn't have to blog

Heart Shattering

October 11, 2009 By Heather 3 Comments

Not long ago I learned of some news that is just heart breaking. A family that is close to us in a very complex way lost their 12 year old son this afternoon. He was playing around near the guard rail near the cliff of the river in our town, slipped and hit his head and fell 30 feet into the river. As of this evening the local rescue crews have called off the search as the conditions were too dangerous for the rescue crews, the will start again in the morning. This little boy, just a bit older than The Chicken and a bit younger than Giggles. A boy whom I have seen at a distance grow up in a family that has over come so much grief already…..it just isn’t fair.

I feel so lost, I want to do so much. I want to help, I want to rush to them, but I know that they are surrounded already. My heart is breaking for the grandmother to the oldest-she is our connection. Our girls call her grandma and I am hurting so bad for her. All I can do it pray.

So many things have happened lately that have brought me to my knees. I keep asking WHY Lord WHY? This can’t be in your plan, to have babies and children ripped from their family. For the heartbreak and the tears shed. This simply can’t be the way.

But yet, I still cling to my faith, and I pray.

As these things happen closer and closer to home, I will admit….I am scared.

Please join me in praying, sending positive thoughts, or well wishes to this family and to all those families who have suffered for reasons we will never know.

Thank You.

Filed Under: life and prayer

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition Review

October 8, 2009 By Heather 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I was contacted by One2One Network to see if I would like to do a review for the upcoming release of The Diamond Edition Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Blu-Ray & DVD combo pack. Because my girls love Disney movies, I of course, said yes.

A couple things that I like about this combo pack is that it includes both the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the movie in the package, yet is no larger than the other Disney DVDs that we own. While we don’t have an HD TV, we do own a Blu-Ray player courtesy of our Playstation 3, so we were able to watch the DVD and compare the quality to the Blu-Ray Disc.

While the color to me seemed about the same between the DVD and the Blu-Ray discs, although I believe the Blu-Ray disc was a bit brighter, The Chicken insisted it was brighter and more colorful on the Blu-Ray. She sited specific differences in the Queen’s chair and the eyes in the forrest.

The Blu-Ray offered two choices when it came to watching the movie. You could watch it in 4:3 format (square TV for those of you who don’t know what 4:3 is) or with Disneyview.

Essentially what Disneyview is extra artwork along the sides of the movie. I guess since there isn’t an option for widescreen format on the Blu-Ray disc, this is supposed to fill up the space. I, along with my whole family, found the Disneyview to be distracting as it really doesn’t blend in at all.

I think it would probably be better on larger HD TVs but on our 36″ regular tube TV, not so much. So when we took the movie out of Disneyview mode and just watched it in 4:3 it didn’t fill up our whole screen like it did when we watched the DVD version of it, which was kind of disappointing.

Although some positives about the Blu-Ray discs are that they more scratch resistant than DVDs. Where was this feature when my kids were little? (Oh right, they hadn’t invented it yet!) But I am sure that it would come in handy for those of you with little ones who have destroyed a DVD or two. The Chicken also loved the way that the Blu-Ray disc shimmered in the light. I will admit over the two discs it was prettier.

All in all we loved the movie, but until we get a ‘better’ TV the differences really weighed in favor of the DVD.

So if you love Disney Classics, this is a movie that should be on your list to get-I am sure we will treasure it for years to come!

*********************************************************************************

For this review I was supplied a copy of the Diamond Edition Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs combo pack. I was not paid for my opinion and this review is based soley on my experiences and not influenced in any way by Disney or One2One Networks.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Post Where I Get Sappy & Sentimental

October 3, 2009 By Heather 7 Comments

As I type this Giggles is getting ready for her first Homecoming. The dress & the shoes are all layed out. Soon we will put the curlers in her hair and drive over to her friend’s house where we will take a ton of photos before they all pile in her friend’s parent’s car to go to Homecoming.

Honey, my wish for you is that you have a fabulous time. I am so thankful that you decided to go with friends and didn’t let heart break get the better of you. You are so confident and strong. When I look at you I see nothing of the girl that I was when I was your age. That is a good thing, because there was a reason that girl was a wall flower.

But I just don’t know if I am ready for this. This growing up thing. I know that you are more than capable of it. I know that you are a fantastic person. I know that you can do anything you put your mind to, you have already proven that.

But sweetie, what you don’t understand is that no matter what you will always be my little girl. The one who decided at three that she was going to run away and find a better family. One who wouldn’t clean her room because she was ‘pretty and nice and had blue eyes’ The one who would always make sure I was in eye shot when we went to the park. The one who drug that stinkin’ 3 foot plastic alligator named ‘Fishie’ around with her for over six months because she didn’t need a baby when she had an alligator.

And I see this….

You in your first formal. I love you so much. Be careful and know that no matter how old you get, you will always be my little girl.

Filed Under: formals, Giggles, homecoming, life, posts that make my children cringe when the see them

Seventeen Years and I love him more than ever!

October 2, 2009 By Heather 16 Comments

Look at us. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that this photo was taken of us nearly SEVENTEEN years ago. We started going out and a week later we were at Homecoming.

Look how young we were. Its crazy. Simply crazy.

Things I think about when looking at this photo (in no particular order)

-my hair. Good Lord what was I thinking when I did my hair up like that.

-Why wasn’t he wearing a tie? I believe it was because his shirt was too tight in the neck, but I can’t remember.

-my shoes. I hated those flats, but I wore them because I didn’t want to be taller than my date. But. HELLO! I was. (This is probably the reasoning behind the crazy hair. Most of the time it was not that tame and it was H.I.G.H.)

-I think about Jeremy. His smile, how he looked. He looks practically the same. He still looks at me with that smile. He still confidently holds my hand wherever we happen to go. He is still the love of my life.

But at 15 did I really know what love was?

No. What 15 year old knows of love. Knows of giving of yourself so that you can make your partner more whole. Knows of the hard work and sacrifice it takes to make a marriage work.

Of course not. But that’s okay. Because 15 year old Heather knew that there was something special about this guy. That he could possibly be the one. And he was.

I would love to tell you that they sailed off into the sunset and lived Happily Ever After. But truthfully our story hasn’t been finished being told. I know that I love him more and more each day and I couldn’t imagine my life without his. Looking back 15 year old Heather didn’t know what it was like when two people become one unit. But thankfully 32 year old Heather does.

Would I go back and warn 15 year old Heather of the things to come?

No. I would just tell her that things will be rough and rocky, but in the end they are most certainly worth it.

So honey, thank you so very much for that first magical evening (yes a dance in a dark gym getting punch spilled on you is so magical) that has led to the rest of our lives.