the Life of Olena

In my opinion these are some of the best pictures she has ever taken.  They are by far, my favorite.  She is just radiating joy and pure happiness.  I love when she is like this.  OK....I also understand that I have been seriously slacking again in my blogging but in my defense, we have family staying with us and my computer is in the guest room.  So I am limited in my time, but I promise to update before the Holiday.  BUT, I had to sneak in and get these posted because they are just too cute to wait!

Sorry I didn't get pictures of everything but trying to remember to grab the camera or phone everytime is a bit of a challenge.    Day 3: 300 piece Christmas jigsaw puzzle. Olena is a puzzle lover! however she never wants to do more than the 100 piece.  But those are so easy for her she completes them in 30 minutes. I told her she needed to complete this one for Santa to see so she was determined.  Sat there for about 3 hours straight until she finally completed it.      Day 4 A wood Christmas tree that she had to paint and decorate.  She thought is would make the perfect accessory behind our angel in the Nativity Scene.  Day 5 Chocolate Santa Bar which she kindly shared with her cousin!  Day 6 She hasn't completed it yet, but she got a xmas craft hopefully I can get her to do it today:) It is a winter scene snowglobe. Day 7 Chocolate Christmas coins. Da...

I love doing Advent calendars :) I have tried in the past to be successful in making and sticking with the full 25 days and making it a lot of fun....sad to say but that has been an epic fail up until this year!!!  YAY! I actually had it done, all presents/activities/goodies bought and planned and my mom helped me get it all set up and ready. The odd days she gets a small gift.  Most are xmas activities or crafts but there are a few small misc gifts and the even days are small treats or trinkets that fit into the pockets. Here is the one I am using this year.  We bought it at our annual trip to Bronners Christmas store...a must see in Michigan I might add.  It was only $11.  I thought that was a steal.  It is felt with number little pockets that velcro shut.  I have it draped along the bay window in our dining room. Day 1 were these Xmas clothes pins.  I got them from Hobby Lobby...my favorite place! for HALF off! and there are 3 of ...

This year was the first time I didn't spend it with Jason and Olena, but instead just my parents.  It was low key and relaxing.  J and O took a trip to Ohio with his dad to visit that side of the family.  With all of our dogs, my schedule and the fact that my house needed a massive over haul cleaning, it was best that I stayed home.   While I did miss them, it was nice to get so much work done around the house.  God Bless the fact that I have an amazing mother who busts her butt from dawn til dusk helping me get the job done.  My house it now shiny and beautiful...at least for a few weeks.  SIGH!  4 dogs, 3 adults and a kid can be quite a mess I have come to learn.  I have a lot to be thankful for this year! I hope you all do too :) Happy Thanksgiving.

I know Thanksgiving is right around the corner but I love turkey and it seems there is never enough left overs after the big day so it has become a Warchol household tradition to have our own early Thanksgiving the weekend before.  So today I will cook a 20lb lovely bird, and we will be eating turkey for the next week, which I personally, am 100% ok with.  Sadly our usually festivities took a turn for the worse this week, we usually have my mother-in-law here with us and we spend the weekend eating and watching cheesy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.  On Friday she had a medical emergency which has left her in critical but stable condition, thankfully lots of prayer,some quick thinking and her strong will...she should make a full recovery.  Our dinner won't exactly be the same, and actually may only include Olena and I at some point, since Jason will be up at the hospital, but I have had this turkey in my fridge for a week and it has to be cooked. Olena ha...

I have come to find that my blog has become more of a chore rather than the memory "book" I had originally intended it to be.  After some thought, I have am making it a goal to blog more often, hopefully every other day or so, and try to focus more on our daily life.  I often read back to on my old blog and reminisce about the years past and I love doing that.  However, I find my more current posts are far and few between and they are mainly overviews of what we have been up rather than the simple, often forgotten daily memories that I cherish.  Especially with life being as busy as it is now, these little moments will be a distant memory that I will surely file away and forget about by next month.   So with that said, and in hopes that my computer chooses to co-operate, you will now get a glimpse into my crazy household of 5 rowdy children and 3 very different adults as we all try to co-exist in harmony.  And yes...I did say 5 kids because I count the 4...

We still have our foster Midas, and he is doing great! He is now just looking for his FurEver home :) He is about 45lbs now.  Leash trained. Crate trained.  Very smart.  Loves kids, dogs and cats.  Still nervous around adults, especially when meeting new people but he has been improving every day.  He is now about 10 months old and will make the perfect pet! I love him dearly and he will be missed but I know that there is a perfect family out there for him somewhere.

My BFFs baby Silas! This was a really fun shoot! :)  It is hard to believe that just a short 6 months ago I helped his momma bring him into this world...and boy was that something for National Geographic! LOL

We are still alive...at least I think so? Why haven't I blogged in forever? to be completely honest...I have just forgot, forgot I had a blog - I even logged on and was though "OH MY...I forgot I am supposed to be blogging for our dog rescue too" and haven't done that in over a month and a half.  Life has become pretty busy and the days are flying by and apparently, my brain is bring pretty choosy about what is feels like remembering.  So what has been going on? For starters my job! super busy.  It is our ramp season which means we hire, on the average, 50 new employees a week which me and one other person are responsible for on boarding.  Which requires collecting an application of 30+ pages, obtain all medicals and credentials, background screen, drug test, skills test, and put it all together for the facility that they work at.  And believe it or not this is only about 20% of our job responsibilities.   Sigh*** I have been doing some photography on t...

She is never happy about being asked to take her picture, this was the best I could get out of her today.  I was watching her in the backyard and she just looked so grown up to me, I had to capture the moment. **sigh** how time flies!  

Such a cutie, and doing great! He is a handful, but he has been a lot of fun and I like having him around despite the extra work.  He is just about all healed and completed with his meds so he should be finding an adoptive family soon! I know a few four legged kids around here that will miss him though.  

We spent the weekend in Midland Michigan visiting with some friends and enjoying the local festivies which included the Annual Downtown Classic Car show and the Remax Ballon Festival. The town of Midland is amazing and beautiful in many ways.  I was very impressed and found myself wishing we could live there! the perfect mix of country, city and charm!