Friday, December 26, 2008

It's a Boy!

We are pleased to announce the Denkins Family is going to have a BOY! Derek believes his name is going to be yucka. The pregnancy has been going very fast. I can't believe we are 1/2 way.

In other news we also have a new nephew, Jake and Michelle had their baby on Christmas Day, and named him John.

We have a couple feet of snow but the weather is warm today, after a very cold December.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Letter 2008

The Denkins Family wishes all our friends and family a happy and healthy holiday season.


What a year 2008 has been! Our dream home is almost complete. We are so grateful for all the help and hard work of our loved ones. Thank You!

Derek is 3 and full of energy. He loves to pretend, tell stories, ask questions and read books.

Jenna is 1 ½ and is becoming such a little lady. She loves purses, shoes, and baby dolls.

We are looking forward to our new bundle of joy arriving in May.



Dustin and Jill took a trip in April to Las Vegas with Jill’s family to celebrate her grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed the weather and great shows. In June we attended the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Wisconsin and during the summer we went to the Denkins Family Reunion held at Grandma Helen’s. Dustin’s also celebrated his10-year high school reunion. In September we traveled to South Carolina in the motor home. We also enjoyed trick-or-treating this fall with our scary dinosaur and cute little lady bug.


Our holiday plans include having our house on tour for the local Habitat for Humanity, spending time with our families, and of course the kids are looking forward to a visit from Santa.

We hope 2009 is wonderful to your family.

Happy New Year!

With Love, The Denkins

Sunday, August 24, 2008

August Review

A review for the whole month. It is hard to believe I can only find time to update this blog once a month.

A little update on the house. We are currently working on drywall. We started the month off working on electrical and plumbing. Those two projects went extremely well and we passed the inspection with flying colors though we has to wait a week for the inspectors to come. So, the house is coming along. I am working on picking out paint colors which will be lots of fun. I can't wait to start painting.

We also have been picking fresh fruits and veggies. We just finished picking raspberries and peas. The green beans are coming and I hope to have a zucchini this week.

Other happening. We got to meet Dustin's cousin's Candy's little girl, Lilly. Jenna had her 15 month check up and is a very healthy little girl. Went shopping in Appleton, to buy stuff for house and out to dinner with Julie. Jason, Leeanne, and Jerome came to visit.

Monday, July 28, 2008

July in Review

Since, I have not posted the month of July. I will give you a quick review.

First of all our house (the inside) has walls! Very exciting news. We have started to work on the electrical, then its plumbing and drywall.

I dressed the kids up in a bathtub for the kiddie parade. We attended the 4th of July picnic and had a picnic at my mom and dad's. We attended the opening of Central Park in Manistique and watched Chad and James carve.

We got to spend a couple days at the beach which is always fun!

We picked radishes, and lettuce out of the garden and wild strawberries and blueberries. We also found a patch of pink wild roses, so beautiful.

Last weekend was the Denkins Family Reunion. Dustin and I planned most of it, so we are thankful it is over. We all had a great time. We ate some Mexican food and played the Denkins Olympic Games, which included the javelin throw with a feather, shot put with a balloon and Olympic ring toss.

Jenna is 15 months old today. Hard to believe! It seems like yesterday we were in the hospital with her.

I have been doing lots (ok, probably too much) research on products for our new house and green eco-friendly products for our business. I just came across a new type of drywall call Eco-Rock, sounds interesting but won't be out until the new year.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Interesting Thought

Personality and attitude are what carries us through life.

Friday, May 30, 2008

National Wildlife Federation

What's New Around Green Heart
Today it's raining so maybe I will catch up on some housework.
Dustin signed our property up with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
The house is coming along good too. The first coat of the stucco is almost complete. I spent yesterday scrapping and prepping the windows for stain. We are going to use raw linseed oil as the stain.
The kids are doing well and enjoyed a beautiful day outside yesterday.
Hopefully today Happy Earth Products will be able to accept credit cards.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Spring is finally on it's way!

We have made great improvements on the house since my last update. We have a beautiful concrete floor, cut in a diamond pattern. The outside of the base coat of stucco is also almost complete too!
The trees are just starting to get their leaves and we have been able to eat some fresh rhubarb and asparagus. Yummy! I can't wait until the garden is ready. I have only planted onions but plan on getting the rest in this next week.
Dustin finally got his tractor today. It is a John Deer 2020. We bought it to lift the dirt onto the roof and plow the driveway ( hopefully not the plowing part though for a couple months).
The kids are both doing great. Jenna is speaking her own little language and loves to pick rocks up in the driveway.
Tonight I made egg rolls and Chinese chicken salad for dinner.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Ohh Happy Day!

I did it! I graduated from college. According to some google research only 35% of the population has graduated with some degree from college. I put many long hours into studying with 2 kids, a husband, building a house, and starting MOMS Club. I look back and I don't know how I did it.
Jenna's 1st birthday was great as well. We had about 40 people attend the party. She is so funny. She was very excited to blow out her candles.
Last week Dustin was in Detroit for work. The kids and I survived. It was a nice break from cooking, but we missed Dustin. On Friday we had a family fun night for MOPS. It was nice Dustin was able to go with us. Saturday was graduation and we enjoyed lunch at H & H in Escanaba. Today, we spent the day outside riding 4 wheelers and had a cookout at James and Grace. Dustin and I then took Derek for a ride up north to look for fish.

Monday, April 21, 2008

It's Spring!

Some pictures we took tonight playing in the yard. Jenna's 1st pigtails.






What a beautiful day. Spring is such an amazing time. The frogs in the pond tonight, the baby cows, raking, ohhh all the things that remind me of spring.
Our trip to Las Vegas was really fun. It was beautiful out there. We went to three shows and loved them all. It was nice to have a break from everything at home and just relax.
Last weekend we went downstate for Jason and Leeanne's baby shower. We had a good time. I got to plan the games, I know you are all surprised.
Sunday is Jenna's 1st Birthday party. I feel I am not ready and have lots left to get ready. I know it will all come together.
We went to visit my great grandma colegrove last week. She is 94, and still lives alone. I am amazed at her strength. You should see how clean her house is.
I am also a little excited about graduation which is next week. So, thankful to be done.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas. I am almost packed. Not only did I have to pack myself and Dustin for the trip, but I had to pack the kids to stay at James and Graces. I think they have 10 x's more stuff then mom and dad.
I am very excited for the trip. It will be nice to be in sunny weather, spend some time with my family, and alone with my husband.
The house is also making some progress. We have the heat tubes laid in the house and the garage doors up. The cement should be poured sometime this month.



We participated in Earth Hour on Saturday night.

Here is what the website has to say about Earth Hour.

Earth Hour, run by WWF, the conservation organization, is a global climate change initiative which calls on individuals and businesses around the world, to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday March 29 2008 between 8 pm and 9pm.The aim of the campaign is to express that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better.The event itself will clearly demonstrate in participating cities, the connection between energy usage and climate change, showing that we as broader community can address the biggest threat our planet has ever faced.

Not, only did we turn our lights off but Dustin decided to turn the whole breaker off. Since we have electric heat in the cabin, it got pretty cold.

In other news
Mother Earth played an April fools joke on us and decided to dump wet, heavy, snow, thankfully it is melting today.

I am tired of dealing with a two years olds picky eating. The only thing I can say he likes is cheese!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

A Week of Updates

I really wish I was better at keeping up the website! I can't wait for the kids to read it someday, and look back on everything we did.

Last week was a typical week. We had MOMS Club which was a little disappointing due to me having to do all the work. I also went to yoga and to a business meeting, both of which I enjoyed a little time to myself. I also went to MOPS this week. Wow, a busier week then I remember.

I made Egg Rolls for the first time this week. Fairly simple and very tasty.

Yesterday, we went to see the Easter Bunny. It was held at the Tribal Center. We had breakfast, colored, tried to get a picture with the Easter Bunny and the kids both got a new toy. Then I had a baby shower in the afternoon. I made a cool sunflower cake too.

Today, I made poppy seed bread, a recipe I got from Tammey Denkins. Then I went and did a little cleaning at the new house. I was think how big it is going to be and I actually have to clean it everyday! Ohhh boy! We changed the plans this week to include a 6 x 6 shower. I am also going to have a built-in area in the dining room.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Friends and Family and Another Week

A quick recap of this weekends events first. We had a great day on Saturday. I spent some of it seeing my sister, who I hadn't seen since Christmas. Then Dustin and I went to Marquette. We fast $$$ trip to Menards and Target. After that we went to dinner with friends at the Waterfront Restaurant. I would give it a **. But, we had a great time with friends we haven't seen in a long time. Then we went to the Landmark for drinks.
Sunday, we celebrated James' birthday. We first went to pizza hut, and then bowling. It was Derek's first time bowling and he had a blast. Chad, Angela, Jake, Michelle, Grandma, and Deb all went bowling and Uncle Joe and Aunt Tammey went to eat. It is always fun when everyone is together.

Monday was pretty typical except I got to make cards, which I haven't done in a long time. We watched a "family movie" too.

Today is going ok so far. Dustin's truck won't start again. The kids are just waking up and I have a list of things to do.

List
MOMS Club Newsletter
Website for Happy Earth Products
Vacum- (upstairs)
Dishes
Go to Bank
Menards Rebates
Put away Laundry

Friday, February 29, 2008

It's Friday.

Even though my work week doesn't end on Friday it always seems to be a great day. I typically get the house clean and make something yummy to eat, if we don't go to Sidetracks for fish.

Last night I went to Yoga, I really love being able to spend doing something for me. Last weekend I actually got to scrapbook a little too.

It's snowing a little today, so the kids and I are going to go out and play.

The garage is all painted it looks great. Dustin is going to start working on his truck.

List of things to do.

MOMS Club Newsletter
Website for Happy Earth Products
Vacum
Dishes
Go to Bank
Menards Rebates
Put away Laundry

Looks like a busy day.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Keeping Track of Life

Finally, I started a blog. My goal of this blog is to keep better track of my daily life and try to be more organized.

A little background about me. I am a 24 year old stay-at-home mom aka housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, facilities manager, taxi car driver, CEO and psychologist. I also recently finished my associates degree. I enjoy gardening, cooking, and scrapbooking.

Dustin and I have two children Derek and Jenna. Derek is almost 2 1/2 and Jenna is 10 months. Everyday they make me smile more than I knew I could. Jenna is just starting to walk and Derek just loves his little sister (most of the time). Derek loves puzzles and play dough and is a typical two year old.

My husband and I are building our dream home in rural Upper Michigan on 80- acres. We are currently living in our "cabin", with hopes of being in the new home in July.


The house is begining to show great progress. Today Dustin and Uncle Steve began to prime the drywall in the garage. The next step is paint. We choose to use Benjamin Moore's Aura paint, a low VOC paint, which uses a new colorlock system for color.

The kids have finally recovered from a nasty cold, which lingered almost two weeks. Potty training is still in progress, though somedays are much better than others.

I am almost ready for our new business, Happy Earth Products, to open. I am still waiting on the logo and to finish up the website. I am really excited about all the products. I can't wait to see how the business is going to do.

Today I tried a new recipe for lunch Honey Orange Sesame Chicken. It was tasty.