Mending Day!

Oh God,
Help me mend my ways
so I will not set a
bad example for others!

Ironing Day!

Dear Lord,

Help me iron out all the wrinkles

of prejudice I have collected

through the years so I

may see the beauty in others.

Wash Day!

We have a lot of work to do this week!

Today is Monday - Wash Day!

Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness

and vanity, so I may

serve You with perfect humility

all week.

Amen!

Join me this week as I try
to be the person Jesus wants me to be!

Ear tubes for Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn - 9 months -

is following in Sydney's footsteps!

Kaitlyn will get ear tubes tomorrow

Friday, September 12.

What a cutie this little one is!

Rolls all over to get what she wants!




We sure pray that the surgery
goes well and the tubes do the
trick for her! She has had several
ear infections - even during the summer
months. Poor Baby!
Usually you will see big smiles on her anyway!

We always ask that you try to make

a difference in someone's life -

and this little one has sure made a

difference in ours!

PS - Does everyone out there in

blog-land know that you can click on

the pictures to make them larger??

Happy Birthday Sydney!

9/11/2001

What a terrible tragedy for out country!

We should NEVER forget that day!

Fast forward to

September 11, 2005...

What a wonderful day for our family!

Sydney was born!

We always say her birthday is September 11

and not 9/11 - we want

to never forget the bad but we also

want to celebrate the good!

Hard to believe Sydney is already 3!

She is a smart little cookie

and very adept with a camera -

trying to follow in her Mommy's footsteps!

Sydney loves to pose for the camera too!

Sydney and Kaitlyn (9 months) visited
KiddieKandids for their pictures.
Kaitlyn loves her big sister!
What little cuties they are!



Sydney enjoyed her birthday today -
and will enjoy her "Princess" themed party
on Sunday afternoon too!
Today she received a couple of presents
and lots of phone calls from aunts and uncles!
I had Sydney, Karsten & Kaitlyn today and
Kim sent cupcakes which they had
with their lunch. Then they
had yummy brownies that Michelle sent
for afternoon snack.
All these little goodies are prepared so
carefully and with so much love - Sydney
and Karsten are allergic to milk, dairy, eggs
and a few other things.
After dinner tonight though - Sydney began
welting on her face - the first
sign of an allergic reaction. That means
there was probably a cross-contemination
of something somewhere in the initial
processing of one of the ingredients.
Thankfully it was a welting and not a full
blown anaphylaxtic episode!

We are so honored to be grandparents to
5 of the most darling kiddies!!
No boasting from this grandma!! ;-)

Happy Birthday Andi!

Happy Happy Birthday!

May this be a great year for you!

Hugs to you!

Russ and his Spitfire

In the early 80's Russ bought a little

Triumph Spitfire.

Lots of fun - but you know the

English cars - drive a little and work on them

a little more.

The last time we licensed this car was about 1984 we think.

It was stored here in our garage for

many years - it was a great place to

hide Christmas gifts since it was always

undercover for protection from dust.

After we bought the property where

Contractors Connection is located now,

we moved the Spitfire there.

In the years since,

many other things

have found their way into what we

always called "the Spitfire room".

Since we decided to get the car out

and actually have some fun with it -

we had a lot of digging to do!

Here is is - already uncovered -
and wow is it dusty!!
My friend Jill, shows beautiful parts
of her home on her blog - and here
I am showing -
yikes, dust and lots of it!
But, in my defense, this is not my home! ;-)


After a good wash (ok a little rinse)
and checking on the brakes and clutch
along with replacing the battery and tires,
here Russ is, hitting the roads at last!


We drove around for awhile and then
found granddaughter Sydney at home.
We thought she might enjoy a little ride around
the block. She told her mommy that
she wanted a Barbie car too!
Grandpa said please don't call
my car a Barbie car!

We will have to take Karsten and Megan for a
little spin around the block too.

Can you imagine - Russ and I actually

had all 4 of our kids in this car with us at

one time! Before all the booster

seat laws for sure!

It is hard on my back for me to ride

the motorcycle with him

so we thought this might be a little easier.

Well it is a LITTLE easier - but

I think that a nice Camero, or Mustang

or even a Vette convertible would be

a LOT more comfortable!! ;-)

A visit to Portrait Innovations

Kari and I took Megan and Charlotte

to Portrait Innovations today.

Grandma Shirley joined us too.

This was Megan's 3 year pictures

and Charlotte's 1 month pictures.

Love these matching dresses!

Megan was having such a great day!

Ready to pose and smile as directed!

Charlotte wanted to show off her
coming home dress again.
She is up to 8 pounds now -
and still has to have her dress tucked
in around her!

Megan was enjoying the 2 photographers

playing with a stuffed animal.

Here is Charlotte wondering what the heck was going on with all the feathers!

All in all we enjoyed this studio visit -

with 78 shots to choose from it will

be hard to narrow it down to a "do-able" amount

of pictures!

Wonder how they will do with all 5 grand-kiddies!?!

Our granddaughter is SO smart!!!

Our granddaughter, Kaitlyn, age 8 1/2 months,

is so very, very smart!

Take a picture of Kaitlyn and she will be smiling!

Mention pat-a-cake and she is ready to play!

Wave bye-bye and she waves back (most of the time...)

Now she knows what to do in case of emergency!

Michelle got home from work today to see the police

driving away from her house.

Never a good sign!!!

She got inside to hear the story...

Kaitlyn was on the floor playing and the

cordless phone was nearby.

She must have been listening

as Mark & Michelle have been

teaching almost 3 year old Sydney

to dial 911 in case of emergency.

Kaitlyn managed to actually

turn the phone on and dial 911

without any help!

How smart!

And then continued to play and babble

to the 911 operator!

When the doorbell rang and Mark found

a Macomb County Deputy Sherriff there

he was a little puzzled.

The officer asked if everything was

okay and Mark said yes.....

The officer explained that someone was on

the phone with 911 and they just

wanted to be sure everything was okay.

What a hoot!!!

Bet the phone won't be quite so available

to her in the future!

Happy 3rd Birthday Megan!

Megan is 3!!

We all gathered at The Bounce House

for a jumping fun birthday party!

You can see Megan's ouch on her forehead

from her recent trip to the ER.

She was opening a very special

gift from Andi - some

beautiful hair bows!

We love our little Megan more than words

can say! Cannot believe that 3 years have

past since we first met her and held

her in our arms!

We pray God's special blessings on her!

Megan's turn!

Megan will be 3 on Sunday!

Already! Where does the time go!!??

The night before her first birthday she fell

hitting her head on the wood on the front

of their sofa. Tonight - she fell again hitting

her head on the wood on the front of

their sofa! First time was a

nice bruise and goose egg. Tonight

was a nice bruise and a trip to the hospital.

Doc said it needed about 5 or 6 stitches

or some glue.

They chose the glue!

That little girl is always on the move -

hoping she will slow down just a little!

Grandma doesn't like the kiddies getting hurt!

Cousins Meet Charlotte

How exciting to see!

All the cousins got to meet Charlotte today!

I am sure that Kari or Michelle will

send me pictures - I was too busy watching!

Karsten was first - he came in and

touched her hand and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

He held her very tightly - didn't want to drop her I am sure!

Sydney came in next and got to hold her too.

She was talking and I didn't catch what she said.

Then Michelle told me -

Sydney introduced herself and then said and

that is my little sister Kaitlyn. How cute!

Kaitlyn was excited too - even at 8 months she

knows it is a new baby! At least she knows

it is something new to grab at!

We know that the 5 of them will continue to

grow and love each other!

Uncle Steve came in also - he LOVES

these little kiddies! He plays with each of

them at their level - and is not

afraid to hold a new baby!

God is so good!

Charlotte goes home!

Baby Charlotte went for her first car ride today -

she got to go home with Mommy, Daddy & Big Sister Megan!

Here is a picture as she waited patiently for all the paperwork

to be completed!

She stretched out so her little feet were peeking out of the dress!

The tiny little socks that were purchased were way too big!
She thought the paperwork was taking too long -
so she took a little siesta!

Sydney, Karsten & Kaitlyn are looking

forward to meeting their new little cousin!

We know Megan will enjoy showing her off!

Meet Charlotte

Here are some pictures of

Charlotte Nichole Barch

yep, I had the middle name misspelled earlier!

Megan & Grandpa getting ready to go see Charlotte.

Megan brought Charlotte a little present and

was surprised to find that Charlotte had

already been shopping and had a gift for Megan too!

They will be great friends and sisters!

Charlotte looking around

Not the "greatest" picture, but trying to show her light brown hair!

Kari with daughters Megan & Charlotte

Kari & Rich with Megan and Charlotte

She is here!

Charlotte Nichole

born 7/28/08

4:31 p.m.

6 pounds 6 ounces

20 inches

Proud parents are Kari & Rich

Excited Big Sister is Megan

Will post pictures after I see her!

Thank you God for our newest angel!

Been busy!

Busy, busy, busy!

Like all of you!

Russ and I along with Aunt Retha, Uncle Joe,

Pam, Mark, Kathy, Darrell and

Kim and Dave

attended a Muscular Dystrophy dinner party on

Saturday night. We are a sponsor for

this particular dinner for each of the three

years it has been in existence.

The guest of honor, Jessica Laughhunn,

has muscular dystrophy. You will never see

a more beautiful young woman - so full

of energy and laughter! And rolling around on her

scooter like a crazy woman! She even led a

congo line! We pray they find

a cure for this dreadful disease soon!

I thought I would be the "leader" for a moment

on Saturday evening. The bidding opened for a pool table

so I figured I would be the opener. Hey, it was for a

good cause and someone else would outbid me anyway.

The opening bid was $500 and up went my hand.

And then....no one else bid!!

We have a pool table - and a basement so full that we

cannot even get near it - we sure didn't need 2!!

Finally I went out on the floor saying I was really

just kidding and my husband would kill me if someone

else didn't get busy bidding. Unfortunately the

guy leading the bidding misunderstood my intentions - and

canceled my bid and began the bidding again. This time he

dropped the price - and someone bought a beautiful

pool table for $400 or $450!! Now I

feel guilty - I should pay the difference between that

bid and what I originally bid. Some folks there said I

should just forget it - after all we do donate a lot for the evening

and also for all the silent auction things and for all the raffles and for

all the prizes that we donated also. Still feeling a

little guilty - and learned the lesson not to bid

unless it is something I do plan to get!

Megan is here with us tonight - her mommy and daddy will

have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning to get

labor officially started! She is already almost

half way to the "pushing" anyway!

We are excited to meet our newest granddaughter

will be posting tomorrow with some pictures and

hopefully a name! The name list still

has many possibilities on it!

For anyone who "knows" CWC - Donna Hall was injured

playing softball on Saturday - has a concussion I understand.

Prayers go to her for a quick recovery!

Make a difference in someone's life!

Almost Time....

Unless Baby Barch decides to arrive sooner -

we will meet her Monday!

We are so excited to see the little Princess

that God is sending our way!

That will give us 5 grandchildren UNDER 3 years of age!

We can say that until mid-August when Megan will

turn 3 and then mid-September when Sydney turns 3.

Exciting times for the Patterson's!!

Please be praying for an easy delivery for mom and baby

and good health for both of them!

Note to self....

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS

wear your glasses when chosing

a couple of bottles of hair color out

of the linen closet!

I usually mix 2 colors -

this time it was 2 of the same.

Which meant I had to follow it with the 1

that is different to try to take the "edge" off

the darker color.

Oh well, hair color is usually fixable!

(It is really not bad - I just prefer to do slower

color changes!)

Lots of visiting!

Last Friday around midnight my sister and her hubby arrived for a little visit.

We had so much planned to do - and actually did all of it!

On Saturday we went to see the Tigers play at

Comerica Park. We got rained on and then we sizzled with

the heat! And in the end, the Tigers lost to Minnesota.

Afterwards we went to eat at a great Italian restaurant,

DiFratelli's here in Shelby Township.

Sunday we went to Greenfield Village. Always a fun place to visit.

But again, it was very warm - and I managed to get a sunburn.

Sunday evening we all gathered here for a balloon memorial

in honor of my dad and mom. Fun to see the

balloons flying up into the sky!

Monday we went to the Chrysler Museum in Rochester. Gerry is a

real gear-head so he loved seeing all the cars. Saw a

1984 Chrysler Minivan - the first one off the line. We had

one too! Apparently Lee Iacocca got right into this one

and got locked inside! After that they had to manually

check the automatic door locks to be sure they worked properly!

Tuesday we went to Frankenmuth for a great chicken dinner. We

drove there on all side roads - you see a lot of small towns that way!

Wednesday we stopped by Kari's to say goodbye and then had lunch

on the St. Clair river. Beautiful lakeside scenes!

Then it was off to the Flint airport. They arrived at the airport

at 5:00 pm and had a 5:45 flight out - cutting that one close!

They already had boarding passes and seat assignments - just

had to check their baggage. We always go early to get

exit aisle seating - we have long legs and get claustrophobic in the

regular seats! After leaving the airport we got in the

middle of a nice summer storm - lots of rain, wind and hail!

I am sure we have a few dents and dings from that!

Good to visit with Dee and Gerry and hope they come back again soon!

Next time we will head for the Mackinaw Bridge and some UP sites!

8 years ago yesterday...I met my chiropractor!

On July 2, 2000 I found myself in a real mess -

unable to stand up without a lot of pain.

I had spent about 45 minutes bent over trying

to start a lawn mower (trying to be helpful!).

Funny thing is this lawn mower always starts very easy

but I had no idea that the gas was shut off and so no

way would that lawn mower start!

The next day, July 3, I had Kari drive up and get me the phone

number of the chiropractor near our house.

They were so very nice and said to come right in.

I got to meet Dr. Arnold, his wife Kristin and

assistant Louise that day.

After an exam, x-rays and an adjustment

Duane told me that he would be golfing in

the morning on July 4 but he would call me and

wanted me to come in for another adjustment.

Can you imagine someone coming in on a holiday

to help you out???

Dr. Greg has now joined Dr. Duane Arnold.




Office Manager Trisha






Assistant Kate (who is also a
personal trainer at Level Fitness - 25 & Van Dyke)







and last but not least,
Emily, a Certified Massage Therapist.


Can't say enough good things about
Washington Family Chiropractic.
Always professional,
Always friendly,
Always ready to help patients learn
to be more healthy!

And in case you are wondering -
no, I never tried to start that lawn mower again!