Fluffy

Scott, Ryan and I went for a short walk last night, on the way back, I noticed the cutest caterpillar crawling around on Scott's shirt. This thing reminds me of a fluffy puppy that just had it's hair done with a pretty little bow placed by it's ear. I have never seen a caterpillar like this.

He rode on Scott's back the entire way home, when we showed Ryan, he immediately knocked it off and tried to squish it with a shovel. Poor little cute pillar.

Ryan has no fear of bugs. He is always trying to pick them up, even spiders or bees. In fact, (this is really gross) when he was really little and had just started walking around, he ate a dead spider off my basement floor. I couldn't get to him quick enough when I realized what he was going for. Blah!

I am really surprised that he was just going at this pillar with the shovel. He isn't usually this brutal with the bugs!

No Pee

Jake and I went to pick up a pizza the other night. On the way there, we were driving down the road and out of the blue he asked me a question.

J: Mom, why is there a "No Pee" sign on the road?

M: What?

J: A "No Pee" sign? They don't want you to pee on this road?

M: What are you talking about?

J: The "No Pee" sign, why do they have a sign that says that you can't pee on this road?

So as we are driving, I am looking around and see the "No P" sign.

M: Jake, that is a no parking sign, it means that we can't park cars on this road.

So funny. I am glad that he is observant, it really was a good translation for a 5 year old.

Pay your debts

We ran to Target earlier today. Amaya always wants to check out the earrings. She wanted some dangly ones and they were only $3.99 for 3 pair. It seems like I am always buying stuff for the kids, ie..she was already getting a Camp Rock t-shirt, backpack, and journal. So I told her that if she wanted to buy this with her own money that she could get them. She agreed and I bought the earrings. (We had the same scenario last week at Toys-R-Us and I bought her a horse, but never asked her to repay me) When we got home, I asked her for the money for the earrings, which she already had in her ears. We went to her room to get her money and all she had was $2.60. I told her that she needed to earn $1.40 and we would call it good. I told her about the acorn job again and she agreed. I came upstairs to find her watching TV. I told her to get to work, but she just kept whining and carrying on. I finally told her that if she didn't get the money to pay me back, that I would take the earrings back and return them. I feel like a mean mom for this, but I want her to know and learn that not everything is just given to her. She needs to learn to work hard for things and respect what she has. I feel this is an invaluable lesson. We don't make her do too much around here, and picking up acorns for some earrings isn't going to hurt her.

She went outside and went to work, after about 15 minutes, she came in with her bucket.

Amaya counting her acorns.




Amaya's "loot".

She is now very proud of her earrings and how she bought them herself.

Guess

Guess what this is................
This is what happens when you take your eyes off Ryan for just a few minutes. The kids brush their own teeth and Ryan always wants to do it when they are. I usually put a minute amount of toothpaste on a toothbrush for him (if I don't he throws a fit, because he has to be like his bro and sis). Today, I just sent the kids in the bathroom to get the job done on their own, because I had other things to do before running some errands.

Jake came and got me and says "you have to see what Ryan did".

I go in the living room to find him squeezing Amaya's princess toothpaste all over the floor.

GRRRRRRRR!!!

P.S. Pink toothpaste doesn't come out of carpet that easily!

On another note of leaving kids unattended for 5 minutes:

I worked this last Sunday. Scott tells me on the phone that night that while he was on the computer for like 5 minutes, Amaya came down the steps and said to him..."you need to look".

So, Scott turns around and sees a grape on the wood floor in the basement behind him. He goes upstairs to find grapes all over the living room floor. Not just a few, or even a handful, but the whole bowl (I had just bought them the day before) scattered everywhere. Jake decided that he would toss the grapes up into the living room fan, which is at the top of the vaulted ceiling. He wanted to see them get hit by the fan, then fly around the room. Then on top of that, you have a Ryan, who ran all over the living room having fun while he was crushing the grapes into the carpet. Sounds fun, doesn't it??

Glad that I was not here for that one.

I can't wait to show these kinds of stories to Jake when he is older and has kids of his own. He is so mischievous, but even this makes me laugh.

Random Quirks

I am following Angie's lead and taking her tagged idea of 6 quirks (or more) of myself . It is fun to see others quirks, so I dare others to do the same. Here goes;

#1. I drink water right out of the tap. Not cold, or even with ice. I get a fresh, big glass of water in the morning, then refill as needed. It sits on my counter all day long and into the night. Sometimes I drink my water from the day before. I know, it's weird, but I can drink more of it that way. If I do get ice water when we are out, but I like a straw, because the ice hurts my teeth.

#2. If I order a mixed drink....I want 2 of those little straws with it. Not one, but 2. My friend Kristen always new this about me and would always make sure that I got my 2 straws. (long, long time ago)

#3. I am a self proclaimed liberator. I LOVE to cut the vines, picker bushes out of the trees around my house. Some of them aren't even on my property, but I feel that I have to do it to save the trees. If it isn't done, the trees get strangled by the vines and die. I have even been known to take my pruners on a walk with me to liberate while walking on the bike path.

#4. I love to prune the bushes and trees around my house. Or anyone else's for that matter. (Just ask Robin or my mom) They need to be a certain way so that my gardens get the optimal amount of sunshine that they need.

#5. My second toe is longer than my 1st. (I have heard that this is a sign of intelligence-ha ha)

#6. I never thought that I would get married. Heck, I never even thought that I would have a serious, nice relationship. This is not because I didn't want it, but growing up, I never knew that relationships that are on the TV really existed. I didn't know that people grew up in households with respect, love and patience. I surely didn't see it in my house, and I didn't even see others around us.

#7. I can't stand sitting in traffic, and worse, I can't stand being lost, while in a car. I get so frustrated and look for ways out constantly. I'll take back roads, just to keep moving, even if I know that it will take a little longer.

#8. I can't stand my toenails being long. I keep them very short. I look at other girls cute toes, painted all cute. Their nails don't look long in actuality, but for me, they are too long. I just can't do it.

#9. I vacuum my kitchen floor everyday. Sometimes 3-4 times, depending on the crums, etc. that fall on the floor. I do not like having stuff on the tile and walking in it and having it stick to the bottom of my feet!

So there you have it. I am weird, just like the rest of the world, but in different ways.

S'mores

Saturday night, my cousin John (Christopher) and his family came over to hang out. Scott has played basketball with John since before I knew him, and the kids have known each other for a very long time, because they go to Sunday basketball with John and Scott. We don't get together very often, but when we do, we all get along so well, that it is crazy we don't do it more often. Will even ended up sleeping over at our house, Jake loved it, as it was his first time having a friend sleep over. They both slept in Jake's twin size bed and you heard them giggling for quite a while before going to sleep. It was so cute!

We just let the kids run around and play, had a nice dinner and then did s'mores. This is the first time for s'mores and the fire pit this year, which is ridiculous. We have a beautiful fire pit area with 2 cedar benches (my dad made) that we don't use near enough. I always get pics of us doing s'mores for the first time of the year. S'mores just remind me of summer. Everyone loves roasting marshmallows, then making the S'mores. My mom always comes over if we are roasting marshmallows too.

Granny doing her roasting.

Renee roasting.
Amaya and Colin making S'mores.

Ryan picking it apart and just eating the chocolate, after HE wanted to roast the marshmallow.

MMMmmmmmmm, yummy!!

MMMMMOOOOOOOO!!!!

Before we went tubing, we all met up at Country Dairy to have lunch. They had yummy food, all the milk you could drink (LOVED the chocolate milk), a playground, and COWS!! All the kids played on the playground for a little while, then went over to the cows to see if they could TOUCH one.

Amaya, Josh, Justin, Jake and Mason.

This cow just kept mooing at the other cows to come and help him. Finally a female cow came to his rescue. Justin kept asking me, "are they going to make out?"

MOOOOOOOO!

Amaya trying to touch "Bessie", as I named her.

Amaya pretending to milk the cow.

The dairy also has a tour, in which you attend Moo School to learn more about the dairy, then you go on a tour of the facility, and finish it up with a free ice cream cone ( they made the ice cream of course ). I'd like to go back on another day to attend the tour, I think my kids would enjoy it.

Tubing-Stoney Creek

Yesterday we had plans to go tubing down a river, we have had these plans for a few weeks. Joel from work set the whole thing up. Scott even had the day off so that he could go with, as we were going with a few friends from MY work. Amaya and Jake have been anxiously awaiting for Thursday to roll around so that they could go tubing. We had a babysitter all lined up for Ryan so that we, #1 wouldn't be out numbered going down the river, and #2 because he is quite young and we wanted to enjoy ourselves by relaxing as we went down the river. We woke up, the weather was gorgeous, talked with the girls who were going, then later got a call from Trish...


T: We're not going!


L: What do you mean, you're not going?


T: It's pouring here and the sky is all dark.


L: Hold on, don't make any decision yet, I'll call you back.


So, I turned on the weather channel and it showed a green blob over Muskegon and surrounding areas, but seemed to be moving south. It was small enough that I wasn't worried about it staying over where we were supposed to go. I called Trish back and all was good!


Driving up to New Era with the kids, we were driving into this storm. The sky was so dark and the rain was pouring down.


Jake: I don't think this idea was such a good idea


We started laughing, it was so funny.


So when we got up there, the weather was beautiful! The water was warm, and the river was great. It wasn't deep at all, infact, the kids could have walked just about the whole thing. We just floated down the river peacefully. Ahhhhhh, relaxing. We all want to go again.


The kids had a ball and loved it. (Lesley, Scott, Amaya and Jake. Trisha with Mason and Justin. Julie with Josh, and Becca with Baby Hunter-still in utero)
This is the crew, minus Joel's family, that went down the river. Joel was getting his family ready- (brothers, kids, and other friends that he had go)
After the float, some of us hung out at the beach. It was quite windy, but the kids still loved it.

Scott and Julie at the kiddie pool being hawkeyes. Caity with Tanner.




Jake, Scott and Amaya playing in the "kiddie pool"



Jake making a run for the deeper waters (about 3 feet)


















Joel making a sand castle, while Josh supervises.




Amaya's cool big jump.

Tuckered and cold Josh.















What a beautiful day we all had.

Pot O' Gold

Last night I went and did a small photo shoot with a family. The night was so beautiful, perfect temperature, and really cool clouds. When we finished the shoot, I noticed really dark clouds coming over the lake. It reminded me of times, years ago when I would go down to the beach and watch a storm come in. It was so cool to watch it just float, peacefully, over the water, up to the lighthouse. Then it would downpour. So cool. I have always loved a rainstorm, I grew up with that. My mom always got into the weather and would try and "catch" a shot of lightening. She learned to not like storms after our neighbors house caught on fire from the lightening. I, however, wasn't there to see it, and still LOVE a good storm.

So, after the photo shoot, I had to go to Meijer. Within a few minutes of getting in the store, you could just hear the rain pounding down on the store roof. (Man, we just finished the pictures. We were very lucky)

After shopping, I came out to a brown/orange sky with a rainbow. Remember when you were little, and would try and find the end of the rainbow? I would try and walk to the end so that I could find that pot of gold and try and catch the leprachaun. I really wanted my 3 wishes! I am not even kidding. There were many times that I would walk quite a ways thinking that the end of the rainbow was just over that next hill. I never did find the end of the rainbow, OR the pot of gold. I will always be looking!

Refreshing

Tonight we went down to the SL beach, just as a last minute thing. We didn't go til 6:30, and only stayed a little over an hour. The kids loved it, and Ryan was venturing more than ever into the water. The water was perfect, and it was warm outside, so it felt awesome! I love little last minute things like this, we don't seem to do them enough.

Ryan and Daddy playing in the sand.

Jake in the sun.

Amaya in the sun.

Amaya and Jake brought their goggles and found cool stuff. Amaya was picking up itty bitty shells and rocks, and Jake found a treasure so big that even he and Daddy couldn't pick it up. The night was just beautiful.



Amaya showing off her shells.

Jake showing Daddy where to dig for the buried treasure. "It's right here Daddy!"

Amaya out to lend a helping hand.

Ryan doing what he must LOVE to do.....throwing sand! Frustrating. He is so cute, but such a STINKER!

ZZZZzzzzz....

It has been a busy last few weeks, even to the point that when Jake gets up in the morning, he asks...."where are we going today."
That is so not usual for us, as we usually just hang around and keep busy around here. It has been nice, but crazy...soccer camp, horse lessons, garage sale (again), extra hours at work, pool time, beach time, etc.....
This week things are going to not be as hectic, and I am happy about it. Just a little more planting to be done, and I will almost be done with the flower gardens. Then comes the bark, then I really will be done.
We are going on a "float the river" trip with some friends from work on Thursday and we are bringing Jake and Amaya. I am excited about this, even Scott is going. We all enjoy nature and have never done this with the kids, it will be great.
Anyways, I am tired....(maybe more so because it is 23:24 at night and I just got home from work), maybe.
Anyways...off to bed.

The Olden Days

So, we were driving in the van today, and it is hot outside. It seems like 90 degrees. I had the air conditioner on and we were sitting comfortable. Jake got kind of cold, because we had it on high to get the temp down in the van.

Jake: Mom, can you turn off the cold air, I am getting cold.

Mom: Yes (and I proceeded to turn off the air in the back, but left it on in the front)

2 Minutes later

Amaya: I'm hot, will you turn the air back on? (mind you, she is sitting in the middle of the van, just behind the front passenger seat)

M: Amaya, it is not that hot, you can handle it for a little while.

A: No, I am going to die, it is too hot!

M: Amaya, you will be fine. When I was little, my mom never even put the air conditioner on.

J: Did you get really hot?

M: Yes, but I just dealt with it. It's not that hot right now. Amaya will be fine!!

A: Ya, You didn't have air because you were born in the olden days!!

I started cracking up! I guess I am THAT old to them. Funny!