Weekend Recap

This past weekend was a busy, family-oriented, fun-filled one! We started out the weekend by going to the Grand Blanc Homecoming parade. We met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Julie, Anna, Joel, Heather, Stephen, Matthew, and Emily at Uncle Jason's and Aunt Julie's house. We all walked up to the parade together. The parade was super long, but it was nice. It was strange that they had no class floats, the Varsity football team was absent, and they didn't throw any candy. But the kids all still seemed to have fun anyway. After the parade, we all headed back to Uncle Jason's and Aunt Julie's for dinner and playtime. Then Carson and I headed home to bed while Daddy went to the movies with Uncle Jason and Uncle Danny.

On Saturday morning, we got up and headed to Holly to watch Joel play football. He is participating in a flag football program through some local churches. It was a fun game to watch. You can tell they really promote good sportsmanship in the program and all the kids seem to love it! They don't keep score... which is probably a good thing since oftentimes the kids were running towards the wrong goal. :) But its definitely teaching them some great things. After the game, we headed home to spend some time together just hanging out and getting some things ready for Kevin's work trip to Germany.

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's in the late afternoon on Saturday for a pizza dinner. Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, and Rebecca were supposed to join us, too, but they came down with some bad colds and canceled their trip. Hopefully we'll be able to see them in the coming weeks when they come to visit Baby Poirier. The kids had so much fun playing together. Carson is learning so much from Anna and Joel and he just loves them so much. He always has a blast playing with them.

On Sunday morning Sara got her hair done and then we just spent time together as a family and helped Kevin pack for his work trip. He headed down to the Detroit airport at 2:30 to make his 6:00 flight to Germany. He'll be spending the next few days in Gelsenkirchen, Germany doing some packaging and logistics workshops for some of the European TRW facilities. He flies into Detroit on Thursday around 4:00pm, so hopefully he'll be home in time for dinner. We're all missing him. Carson keeps saying "Daddy in mim-many" (Daddy in Germany), Jet has made himself sick with the stress of having to be the "man" of the house yet again (at least I hope that's all it is... and that I'm not having to clean up after him all week... and he really does change when Kevin's gone... he's on extra high alert and keeps an extra close eye on things), and Denver is extra cuddly for some reason. I'm just trying to get things done that need to be taken care of and look forward to Kevin's return... being a single working mama is not my favorite thing, that's for sure! :)

Baby Shower, Vow Renewal, Wedding

I'm playing catch-up. I've been slacking on the blogging front and haven't posted about some fun things from earlier this month that I really want to post about. First up, my cousin Kristin's baby shower. For those of you that don't know Kristin, she's my cousin on my dad's side of the family - our grandmas are sisters, so we're like second cousins or something. We grew up living 8 houses down the road from one another and have been close all our lives. Kristin and her husband, Joe, moved to Ocala, Florida a couple of years ago and are expecting their first baby in January - its a boy and his name is Brody Matthew Katich!

Kristin and Joe came home for a quick visit over Labor Day weekend and the week following. We had a huge shower for them while they were here since they won't be home again before Brody joins their lives. It was held at Kristin's dad's church, Swartz Creek First Baptist, and was very well-attended by family, friends, and members of the church. Kristin and Joe were so blessed to receive a HUGE amount of gifts and it was so fun to see everyone. Kristin's sister-in-law (my cousin Brad's wife), Trisha, is also pregnant and expecting their second child in early December. We're very excited to meet both of their new babies! I've posted all the pics in the photo albums, but here are just a few of my favorites of my family.

The Odykirk Sisters... my grandma (Jackie), Kristin's grandma (my Aunt Sandy), Aunt Beth, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Roberta, and Aunt Jackie

Trisha, Kristin, me, Destiny

Trisha and Kristin - the beautiful pregnant SILs!

Joe, Kristin, Trisha, and Brad

On September 12th, my cousins Josh and Mandy celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by renewing their wedding vows and having a reception for close friends and family. Again, for those that don't know, Josh's and my dads are brothers, so we're first cousins. We don't see each other nearly enough, even though we live less than 10 minutes apart. But we always have a great time when we are together. Josh and Mandy had a short, but very sweet ceremony and a super fun reception with awesome BBQed food. Their neighbor is a DJ, so we had great music to dance to all night. Carson had a lot of fun playing with some of the other kids and just running around. We went over to Josh's barn later on in the night to check out his motorcycles and Carson loved them. He got to sit on a 250 dirt bike and was totally loving it. Then he got to see me take off with Josh for a ride on his crotchrocket bike. Kevin, Josh, and Michelle (my other cousin and Josh's sister) were trying to convince me that we all need to get crotchrockets and ride together... too bad it didn't work. :) I will say, it was fun and thrill to go 100 mph and not even feel like it... but that last bit there is why I'm still not on board... and probably never will be... now dirt bikes and quads are another story, though... :) Anyway, I'll work on getting the pics from this day uploaded into the albums soon, so check back later.

Just a couple pictures of Carson loving the cake...

And finally, on September 19th, Kevin and I went to Lansing to attend a wedding for some friends of ours, Dustin and Thyra. Kevin used to work with Dustin at Faurecia. It was a beautiful wedding and reception. We hung out with another of Kevin's old Faurecia buddies, Larry, and his girlfriend, Erica, for most of the night. They're a lot of fun and we look forward to hanging out with them again sometime. I'll work on getting the pics uploaded soon.

How Carson likes to spend his spare time...

eating an apple and checking his blackberry for emails already!! (the blackberry is really Sara's, don't worry) ;-P


or working on his car bed with Daddy's wrench... he's been watching Daddy and Papa too much! :)


or sitting on the pot... practicing...


and getting embarrassed because Mama took his picture on the potty...


He still loves riding his quad... while standing up and doing tricks...


and he's getting crazier on his bouncy horse, too...

19 months old!

Carson is now 19 months old. He continues to learn so many new things each and every day. His speech is getting better... more precise... and he is putting more and more words together. He's using prepositions and adjectives with his nouns quite often. We're having fewer and fewer tantrums due to communication frustrations/barriers these days, which is nice! :)

The little man is becoming more and more strong-willed every week. He is constantly testing his limits to see what and how much he can get away with. Some days it is an almost constant struggle of the wills. Thankfully, he's also a super sweet little boy and the sweetness definitely far outweighs the strong-willed part of him. But, from what I've heard, every toddler goes through these phases at some point or another. Right now, we're up against biting and hitting. I've definitely seen way worse in children, so I'm not concerned about it, but it does get old... and fast. :) We just do our best to hold our ground and teach him that biting and hitting are not nice things to do. He understands this, but he still pushes his limits. Right before he'll slap my leg or something, he'll say "no, no hit - no nice." But he'll slap anyway and then look right at you to see what you're going to do about it. And he is very good at giving us the puppy dog eyes and making his little lip quiver when he doesn't get his way, too. Its hard not to laugh sometimes. :) I do hope we're through the worst of it at least, because it does seem to be becoming a lesser thing the last few days... let's keep our fingers crossed!

Carson has been making lots of progress this last month with his shapes and colors. His favorite colors seem to be red, yellow, and green - in that order. He is growing more and more independent about things, too. He likes to pick out his clothes, PJs, and socks almost everyday now. And if he can pick out something that is red, his day/night is made. Especially if his red socks are clean and in his drawer. :) Carson does not want to wear his red socks rolled over or under his clothes... he likes them pulled straight up and over top of his pants. He likes all of his socks pulled straight up, but only his red socks have to be on the outside of his pants. He's a quirky little one, already. :)

Carson is such a great helper around the house. He loves to do his "chores" and takes great pride in helping out. He helps pick up his toys and blocks, he puts his books back on the bookshelf, he helps empty the dishwasher (he will pull out a clean dish one at a time and will hand it to Kevin or me to put away and he helps sort the clean silverware in to the drawer), he helps wipe the counters (he gets a rag and I get a rag, he sits on the counter or table and helps me wipe up messes), he helps switch the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer (I hand him the wet clothes and he puts them in the dryer), he puts his laundry away (he knows where all of his stuff goes and can put everything away on his own, with the exception of the hanging stuff in his closet), and he makes sure all the doors are closed and locked if they're supposed to be (he has some obsessions with locks, doors, and lights still). Carson even helped me clean out the refrigerator this past weekend - I would give him the stuff to throw away in the trash or put in the compost bucket and he helped me wipe down the shelves.

Carson is doing great with his personal hygiene these days. He absolutely loves to brush his teeth in the morning and at night before bed. We're very thankful its not a daily fight to get this done! He asks to get up on his stool and brush his teeth many times a day, instead. He is very good at washing his hands and also asks to do this quite often in the day. Hopefully this habit will help fend off some germs and sickness this winter!

We have been thoroughly enjoying this summer and are looking forward to the fall. Although, we've been making the most of the warmer weather this week and have been heading to the park almost every evening after dinner. We've all loved it! We are continuing to just have as much fun as possible and enjoy every minute we have with our little man!

R.I.P. Shelbi (March 25, 1995 - August 27, 2009)

On August 27th, Sara's family lost their beloved Shelbi. Carson and Sara were headed over there around 6am that morning so that Carson could stay with Nana for the day. Carson, being the animal-lover that he is, always looks so forward to seeing Shelbi and getting "heh-bee keesses" (Shelbi kisses). Shelbi has always loved seeing Carson, too... probably partially due to knowing she'd get lots of treats while he was there since he likes to have a bite of snack for himself and then one for the dog. :)

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get that last greeting from Shelbi that morning. She wandered into the road for some reason and was hit by an oncoming car just seconds before Sara and Carson arrived. We just hope she did not suffer and that she went instantly.

Shelbi was 14 years old, so she did live a good, long life, but its always hard to lose our pets. They are truly an integral part of our families. We have many, many wonderful memories of Shelbi that will always be cherished in our hearts. Even Carson, as young as he is, will remember her, I think. He still asks about her at least once a day, or will tell us that "heh-bees gone" (Shelbi's gone).

Shelbi had a huge personality for a little dog, as is typical of dachsunds. She had feelings that were easily hurt and she sure could hold a grudge! There were a couple of years that Sara's mom had forgotten to get Shelbi an Easter basket. When Shelbi realized she didn't get one as Sara and her sister, Lindsay, were digging in to theirs, she gave everyone some dirty looks and went to the corner of the room and pouted for a good while. She wouldn't look at us, or respond to us for at least an hour, she was so upset with us all. :)

Shelbi LOVED opening presents, she would tear in to them, whether they were for her or not. We could never leave wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree with Shelbi around... we'd come home and they would all be unwrapped! Christmas mornings were always fun as Shelbi helped open every single gift with us. It will be a strange Christmas this year without her.

I could go on and on with more great memories of Shelbi, but I think that's enough for now. We are all missing her terribly and hope that she is resting comfortably in the backyard with our other family pets, Torri and Missy.

RIP Miss Shelbi, Shelbi-shoo, Shelbers... We love you!
(March 25, 1995 - August 27, 2009)

Labor Day Weekend

We have had a very busy holiday weekend. Friday was Sara's last Friday off of the summer (at least she'll be off every other Friday, though). The cabbage from the garden has been coming in, so Sara and Carson invited Apple and Poppy (what Carson has decided to call Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Burge), Reno, and Becky over to make some favorite family recipes using cabbage - golabki (polish pigs in a blanket/cabbage rolls) and kraut bierock (german meat pockets). Apple ended up not feeling well on Friday, but the rest of us had fun and made some great tasting food!

On Saturday, we headed west to Greenville for a wedding reception. Aunt Julie's childhood friend, Pennie, got married and invited us all to the reception. Carson wasn't quite as rambunctious as he normally is, but he still had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. We tried to take an updated picture of the 4 cousins, but it didn't work out too well... mostly due to the fact that Carson just cannot sit still. :) We all had a lot of fun at the reception and it was great to see the family and to see Pennie and share in her wonderful day!


On Sunday, we headed to Fenton to Sara's Aunt Jeri's house for a family party. Kevin got to slalom and waterski, so he was very happy. He's having a hard time dealing with the fact that he only got to ski twice this summer.... we'll have to see how things go, but maybe we'll be seeing a new boat in our future (next spring). No guarantees, though! :)

Then on Monday, we headed to Cheddars in Lansing for lunch to celebrate Great Grandpa Van's and Aunt Julie's birthdays. We had a great meal and enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up. Before we left for Lansing, Carson took a bad tumble in the living room. He was running as fast as he could and tripped... and fell straight on his face. He put his top teeth through his lip again and smashed his nose good... we're just hoping its not broken or anything. It bled some, got super swollen, and is bruised. The swelling has gone down, but the bruising seems to be spreading. At least his nose is straight, he can breathe ok, and it doesn't seem to be too sensitive. We'll keep an eye on it for a day or two before deciding whether to take him to an ENT or not. Let's hope not. :)

On our way back from Lansing, we stopped in to Sara's cousins' house to see Kristin and Joe (they're visiting from Florida). We got to visit with lots of family - Becky, Jim, Kristin, Joe, Brad, Trisha, Braylen, Deanna, and Destiny. Carson got a little play time in with Braylen in her play kitchen, too. He had a lot of fun with her. Its so fun to have other little ones in the family! And there are more on the way in just this small part of Sara's family... We're very excited for Brad and Trisha have their baby in early December. And we can't wait to meet Kristin's and Joe's son, Brody, in January!!