Boo Hoo

For the record, Ryan doesn't like the homemade quiche that I made from scratch for him. I am so sad, that would have been so easy and awesome.

Rarity

I am rarely actually seen in a picture on my own blog, so here it is....a picture of me and Ryan, my little bug.

Thank you, Amaya for taking the pictures!!

Alone time

This morning I got to spend a few hours, all by myself, in my own home!!! Who knew that this would feel like such an indulgence? It was almost a guilt feeling (but not quite) to be this happy to be without my kids or husband. I am so guilty of being one of those moms who never take time for themselves because there is always something that needs to be done around here. I just can't help it, I just want to get it done.
Well, Amaya was signed up for basketball this week, which they cancelled because there weren't enough people signed up, and today was supposed to be her first day. I took 4 hours of vacation this morning so that I could go and make sure everything ran smoothly for her, plus this way, I didn't need to have my mom pick her up. I have to pay daycare for at least one day every week and today was the day. So, I got them up and brought them at 9:30, just like on a regular work day. I then went to my mom and dad's for a little visit, and then I went home so that I could play Betty Crocker for a little while.
I made little mini quiches for Ryan for his breakfasts (all homemade thanks to Julie), and then I made a big pan of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, yes, all from scratch. I mean really, is there any other way to make cookies??
Plus, I did two loads of laundry, made the bed, did a ton of dishes, watered the garden, took a shower, and talked to some great friends for quite a while. All this before I went to work and put in 8 1/2 hours running around the ER on another crazy night! Phew, that is quite a productive day for me. See how much I get done without my kids?
This is not to say that I don't love my kids, or love spending time with them, it was just so nice to do this all by myself, without interruption.
My shower was even great, I brought in a radio and listened to Bare Naked Ladies (BNL) while getting ready. I was even belting out the words all the whilst washing my hair and dancing in the shower. I haven't done that in so long. How fun!
I know I am a dork, but I am okay with that. I had a really great day!

So Cute

Oh, he is just so darned cute! Sticking his tongue out and zerberting (who even knows how to spell that?)

Finally

Ahh, summer!! It is finally here. It seems that we have waited so long for this warm weather, and now it is not only warm, but crazy....storms, tornados.


I love the summer, it means hanging out with my kids outside, in this itty bitty pool, swinging on the swing, sprinklers, gardning, oh..and did I say just hanging out! Our days are spent lolly gagging around the yard, blowing bubbles, riding bikes, eating popsicles and many, many baths. I appreciate and am so grateful that I am only part time (2 days a week-12 hrs) and am able to spend this time with them. I have longed for the summer when I didn't have to wake up the kids to go to school and here it is!


Ryan is at such a good age for this type of non-routine and he LOVES the water! He is soaked daily and goes through many outfits because I have to change him so often.

Jake is happy either in or outside. He still loves the Nintendo wii system, and his latest game of choice is Lego Star Wars. His birthday is in less than 2 weeks, and he is going to be 5 years old. What a crazy thought. Jake still really likes Spider Man, he has since he was 2 years old when he received his first pair of spider man jammies from Grandma Pat. This is the year (hopefully) that he will learn to balance his bike enough to take the training wheels off. He just can't seem to figure out how to balance.



Amaya, she is a fish. She loves the water, and would honestly spend hours in a pool if you let her. She usually pulls out her plastic animals (giraffe, zebra, horse, and elephant-make them all plural to the 10th power) to play with for the entire day. She has always been this way, and I think she always will.



Sometimes I think of getting a real in ground pool. Scott would love it, and we even talk about putting one in on our next home, but right now, this little pool is great. They are wet enough, and it is perfect for a little one. Plus, we get the hose and sprinkler out all the time. Not to mention the beach is just right down the road, and when that water warms up, we are so there!!

For JJ

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When I was 18 years old, I used to work at Chi Chi's as a waitress/bartender. They had those little Andes mints that you passed out when you gave your customer the bill. Well, I used to take a handful or two home sometimes, and when Jen and I were out, driving my Ford Escot wagon, that didn't have heat, we would eat them. They stayed nice and cold without the heat, so they were really yummy. We would drive around for hours looking for parties or something to do, yet laughing and cracking up the entire time while we had our blankets on and rolled down the windows when we stopped so that we wouldn't get carbon monoxide poisoning from the fumes coming back into the car. (seriously) We would listen to the home made tapes that Gerry Witherell made for me with groups like Cinderella and Skid Row, or we would listen to Queen-Bicycle (like on Wayne's World).
This is such a random post, inspired by Jen's rain post. Thanks for the memory Jen.

Broken teeth

Last night, Amaya lost her second, top, front tooth. It is so funny, because, she has a bit of a lisp. It is so cute! She is so proud to have lost this tooth, she even had to save it to show Ryan and Jaker this morning.

Jake has a hard time sometimes being the little brother. He, so badly, wants to keep up with Amaya, whether it is in school, friends party's, and especially losing teeth. He will be 5 years old in like 2 weeks (holy cow!), but is still little/young in comparison to Amaya. This afternoon, they were eating popcorn as a snack, and I kept hearing this terrible crunch, so I went to investigate. Jake was eating the kernels, which we tell him not to because, "it will break your teeth"! So I reiterated this to him, and Jake replied, "good, because I want the tooth fairy to come!"

He was eating these kernels so that his tooth would fall out and the tooth fairy would come for him. How cute!! I told him that his time would come......

Beauty

Last night Amaya and I went to check out the eagles. We saw an adult, but no baby. As I was watching, Amaya was out exploring in the woods, so I took a few photos of her. She is officially a 2nd grader now, I can't believe it!

After pulling up to the mailbox, when we got home, I noticed this butterfly on the side of the driveway. I took these shots from inside the car.

G & G

Over the river and through the woods..........well, actually is is just down the street, then around the corner, to Granny's house we go.....
I can honestly say that my whole life growing up, that I never wanted to live really close to my parents, but after moving to Spring Lake, and my parents living just down the road, I love it. I love that they are close enough that we can walk or ride bikes over, I love that they are close to help with the kids, and especially in case of emergencies. It is so nice to have them just around the corner. I bring the kids over sometimes just to break up my day. We go over and walk around the yard, play in the playhouse, maybe go for a ride on the golf cart or just to hang out. The kids like it. There is always stuff to do over there, but even more so in the summer time.
The pond has always been a love for my kids. They love to feed the fish, and sometimes, if the time is just right, Granny lets them play in the pond. Granny is always outside working on something. Papa is always doing something too, even if it is just walking around the yard, waiting for his flowers to bloom. He gets antsy if he sits too long. He loves to just watch the kids. It reminds me of Grandpa Louis, his dad, who just used to pull out his chair and set it wherever we were and just watch us. They just get a kick out of the kids, especially the little ones.
My parents have been a tremendous help to us with all the school issues of picking up my kids when I have to work, doctor's appts, and field trips. They have picked them up for years, gotten them to daycare, or taken care of them when we can't. I don't know what we would have done without all this help. We really appreciate all that they have done for us and all that they continue to do.
Scott's parents are great too, they live close, just in Fruitport. They are helpful too in caring for our kids, coming over to help in situations too.
We are very lucky to have the parents that we do. It's funny how different things are when these people become grandparents in comparison to when they were the parent.


More pond fun.

Granny's Peonies.

Goofs

This is such a typical day of my boys. They are goofs and make me laugh all the time.





Ryan loves to color, especially on himself!! He was actually sticking the marker up his nose, this makes me so nervous...he will probably be the one of the three that I have to bring to ER at some point to take a bead or another foreign object out of his nose!


Jake likes to color too, as evidenced by the artwork he did on his bedroom wall this week.........

Jake's lovely hand print that he traced onto the blue paint.

Lady Slipper

Here is a picture of the Lady Slipper that we saw on our nature hike with Amaya's class. It is an endagered orchid flower.

Fieldtrip to Mrs. VanderBroek's 2008

I went on a fieldtrip with Amaya's 1st grade class to Mrs. VanderBroek's house yesterday. (her teacher) Mrs. V. is a self described nature freak, which I love. She started the beginning of their year with tons of monarch butterflies, chrysalis' and many, many caterpillars. That set the tone for the year I think. They have seen a snake eat a mouse, tadpoles, rolly polly bugs, had a pet hamster, and many other "critters" in her 1st grade class. She lives on 20 acres out in GH and has a pond, dunes, many gardens, an orchard and obviously many paths throughout her property to hike. What a great time the kids had at her house on this fieldtrip, and what an easy thing to put together. Parents drove, the kids brought their lunch, and ice cream with chocolate syrup was provided. They went on a nature hike, ate lunch, played games, had their ice cream treat, then bubbles and sidewalk chalk to finish it up. All the kids had a great time, and the weather was perfect for this type of outing.

Amaya talked about this fieldtrip for days and was so excited that I would be going with them. Mrs. V. has talked about all the stuff that she and her 2 boys find/catch around their house all year, and I think the kids were finally able to put it all together. They LOVED that they went to thier teacher's house.

Another thing that she talked about before the trip are ant lions. I think I have heard of them before, but have never seen one...well, here it is, just not all that clear. First, you look for this caved in shape in the sand, then you have to scoop really fast, then you might be able to catch it, which Mrs. V. did. ( If you listen closely, you can even hear it roar!!) Just kidding, but my sister Heidi believed it. Cracked me right up!
The kids kept asking about these tent worm nests that seem to be everywhere around here right now, and Mrs. V. opened one of the "nests" up to show them what is inside. Gross!!
Gross!! Gross!!
And I really mean Gross!!


Next the kids had lunch, then played a few games.

Amaya doing the marshmellow race.

Mrs. V. and Deb Murak demonstrating the potato sack race for the kids. Amaya's turn.


What a great time to have at the end of the year.

Nesting

For years, Jake has been building what we call "nests". He gets a bunch of pillows and blankets and puts them in a big circle, then crawls in and gets comfy. These nests have been all different sizes, depending on how many pillows, and of course, the postitioning of the pillows. Yesterday, this nest was of moderate size, but it had a "path" to it. The path started in my bedroom and ended in the living room, where the actual nest is. He used every pillow from every bed, then used all the pillows off the two couches in the living room. It was funny to see Ryan try and walk on the unlevel path, falling every 2 steps, but getting back up right away to continue on. He just loves to play with his big brother.


Ryan and Jake sitting in their nest playing the drums.

Eagle watching

Amaya, Jake and I rode our bikes down to look at the eagle last week. They looked at the eagle, thought it was cool, then spent the rest of the time in the woods looking for bugs, critters and anything else. They love to be outdoors and seem to appreciate all the life that is out there. I love that about them. I am glad that they can walk in the woods and name animals, certain plants, and spot animals homes. I think this kind of learning is so valuable in respecting the outdoors and appreciating where things come from. I am so happy that they love nature!

On another night Scott and I went and checked out the nest. This is him reading info on the birds that is left at the spot for everyone to enjoy. We are pretty lucky to have this right down the road from our home.