Kyle caught the bug

The summer reading bug that is! The South Haven Memorial Library sponsored a summer reading program called, "Catch the Reading Bug!" Since Kyle and I already spend so much time reading I knew it would be no problem for him to finish. Even though we signed up a week after it started, we completed it on time and Kyle got a lot of prizes. You can see in the picture that he got a certificate, some coupons for some free ice cream cones, etc., a book of his choice, and some bugs. He may like the bugs best, LOL! (And is quite distraught that the yellow one is somewhere between where we stopped to watched the construction trucks and our house -- we were in the stroller on the way home from the library.)

I love that Kyle is a reader and seems to love books. Just this morning he came into my room when he woke up asking for one of his favorite books!

Musical beds...

Erin usually falls asleep downstairs, and when we go to bed we move her up to her crib. Mike will go up right ahead of me to open the bedroom door so I can just go in with her. Well the other night he called down, laughing, that I needed to wait a minute and that I probably would want the camera. Here's what he found:

Kyle looks sooooo big in the crib now! And, by the way, this afternoon he took his nap in there. Silly boy!

Looking to reduce your laundry load?

Kyle offers up this solution. :-)

(Unfortunately in this house people are more than willing to just leave stuff on the floor next to the hamper!)

How to make blueberry muffins... By Kyle

First you ask your mom to take you to a blueberry patch. You’ll get a bucket that you are supposed to put the berries in.

She will tell you to pick the blue ones, but it is sometimes fun to pick the pink ones. When this happens you need to say, “Oh no, pink!” These are the ones you should pick:

Of course, it is very important to try the berries. In fact, as long as your mom is picking, too, I say eat every last berry in your bucket. I know that’s what I did!

And before you leave stop to see the chickens because they like blueberries, too.

Now on to the baking. Clean your berries. Don’t they look yummy?

You want to mix the flour and other dry ingredients. I was confused on “sift” and thought it meant “shift” because I kept trying to move the flour mixture from one bowl to the other.

Crack the eggs. This was my first time and I only got a little bit of shell in!!

Add oatmeal, and then carefully add the berries.

Now you’ve got to put the muffin cup papers in. If they are from the movie Cars it makes the muffins taste even better.

And look, ta da! We have muffins!

And after all that, I’m just not sure about it. Hmm.

Picture catch-up... lots!

As I was uploading the pictures for this post I was thinking about the title, picture catch-up, and thinking it was a picture page. Immediately a memory jumped into my head and a song was running through my head. "Picture pages, pictures pages, go and get your picture pages. Time for your crayons and your pencils." I am too old for Picture Pages, it is my little sister Beth who would race to get her Picture Pages when Bill Cosby came on and told her to as part of the Captain Kangaroo Show. My mom subscribed to the segment so my sister would have the pages they were doing on the show and could do them simultaneously with Bill. And, now that song will be stuck in my head for ages...

I digress... here are the pictures I am catching up on. Below are two shots of Kyle and his friend Brady. Brady lives two doors down from us and is six days older than Kyle.



While we were eating dinner at Brady's (well, his parents', Paul and Amy) Erin was very serious. Serious about a nap, that is.



Erin's first time swimming!! She wore her cute little swim suit for the first time and swam in the pool in the yard. She seemed rather indifferent to the experience, but Kyle thought it was great fun that she -- and Mommy -- had joined him in his pool.



We headed down to feed the ducks the other day. A cute little family with five babies swam up. Kyle was eating almost as much bread as he was throwing, always a plus when it's old bread. At least there was no mold.



When Kyle was a baby I took his picture in the same chair on his month birthday each month so that I could see his growth relative to the chair. With Erin I am going to take her month birthday pictures with this Taggies pillow, which was a gift from my friend Carol. And, sadly, I am such a bad mom with "second child syndrome" going... I missed her first month picture.


And a big smile during the same photo session.


More truck watching pics...

Mike, Muhammad, and Al

So what do these pictures have in common? Homes in southwest Michigan is the answer. Muhammad Ali lives in Berrien Springs, and Al Capone is rumored to have had a number of homes in southwest Michigan. Some of these Capone homes were along the St. Joseph River, which allowed for fast departures by boat.

Why bring this up in the Bos family blog? Well this morning Mike, as usual, went out in the cement truck and delivered cement. Not quite as usual is that it was on Muhammad Ali’s property on the St. Joseph River in Berrien Springs, at the guest house pool area to be exact.

While there Mike asked another worker why the footings were so deep. The worker said he’d show Mike and took him to the pool’s mechanical house. Through there they went down some stairs and there were secret rooms that would have run alongside the bottom of the pool.

The connection to Al Capone? The pool house just happens to be one of the supposed homes that Al lived in or used. Interesting to think about what may have taken place in those rooms, or been hidden in those rooms...

Joy, sorrow and long-time friends

I am fortunate to have friends that I have kept in touch with for many, many years. Friends that live far away, yet I know that they will be life-long friends and would be there if I needed them, as I would be for them. While we don’t see each other nearly as often as we would like, the bond is still there.

This weekend two opportunities arose for reunions. The first was a sad circumstance, with the death of my college roommate Amy’s father. He died this past week at the young age of 61. While I didn’t have the opportunity to know him, he sounded like a wonderful man.

Another college roommate of mine, Charlene, came to South Haven on Friday and stayed overnight with us. We both attended the funeral on Saturday, along with another roommate, Jane. While funerals are always sad, one of the blessings that can come from it is the opportunity to see those you haven’t seen in some time. I was afforded that blessing this weekend.

On a much happier note, today I got to see my friend Julie when we went to her wedding reception. I met Julie in 1994 when I began working at All-Phase Electric. She has lived in Hawaii for the past two years, and was married there this spring. Today I was able to catch up with her and meet her husband, George. How fun it was!

So through joy and sorrow this weekend the friendship bonds were strengthened. It is a reminder of just how important friendship is and how lucky I am.

~~~
Senior year at Michigan State... top to bottom is me, Charlene, Amy and Jane.

Julie and I... probably around 1997.

And Julie and George's reception today.

Way to grow!

Erin had her pediatrician appointment on Friday and she has gained three pounds! She is now 11 lb. 10oz. She has also grown from 20-1/2 inches to 22-3/4 inches. She is the 75th percentile for weight and the 70 percentile for height. Silly as it is, I am proud that all that growth is because her mama makes milk!

In addition to her great growth, Erin was healthy all around. She had to have three vaccinations, and boy did she holler. It broke my heart, but as soon as I was able to scoop her up and give her some lovin' she was good to go again.

And, drum roll here as this is huge... she slept completely through the night on Thursday night! ALL NIGHT! She fell asleep downstairs at about nine, and when I transferred her to her crib upstairs I fully believed that she would be awake in about an hour to eat. Nope, she slept and slept and slept. I actually woke her up at about 7:15 because she was making me nervous! No repeat last night, but that's okay. At least I know that we may be headed there long before I imagined we would.

Happy Two Month Birthday, Erin!

Once again my baby has reached a month milestone and I can't believe she is that old! Two months already! In the past month Erin has really been spending more time awake and is full of smiles. She really is a happy and content baby, something we are enjoying immensely.

She has settled into a routine of going to sleep at night around 11, waking up once during the night to eat, and then sleeping again until between 6 and 9. She sleeps in her crib for much of the night now, although I have to admit that when she gets up to eat I bring her to bed to feed her and she often stays there. She naps on and off during the day, with at least a couple that last a long stretch. One of the long ones tends to be when Kyle wakes up from his nap, so Kyle and I get some one-on-one play time in.

Kyle continues to give Erin an unbelievable amount of love. There has not been a jealous bone in his body since she came home. He kisses her constantly and gives her the cutest hugs where he just touches her with each hand. He asks to hold her on the couch a lot, as well. If Erin fusses he gets concerned and wants me to help her. (Of course it's only fair since Erin has to adjust her sleeping schedule around his activities a lot!)

The thing we have been enjoying the most about Erin this month is watching her personality emerge. She is just so happy and smiley. She is also cooing, which is beautiful to hear! She coos the most when she realizes she is about to eat, which makes me laugh. We get to see how much she has grown when she goes in for her two-month pediatrician appointment on Friday.

Look how small she looks on the couch!

Rucks, Mommy! More rucks!

Kyle has really been enjoying all the trucks on our street this week. Since Monday they have torn out the entire road down to the dirt as well as the curbs and each driveway up to the sidewalk. We’ve spend the past few mornings out on the front porch watching from about 7:15 on. Kyle’s been concerned that when we leave now we are driving on dirt. “Dirt, Mommy! Uh oh, dirt!” We must not take him on real dirt roads enough, LOL.

The entire project is supposed to last until November. I can’t imagine that it takes that long to lay the new pipe since they ripped the road out so quickly. We’ll see. I must admit I am enjoying watching this, too. Probably not as much as Kyle, but I find it interesting. Check back with me when they keep turning my water on and off, though!

Here’s some video from this week.

Here's Kyle with the best view... from our porch.

Splish, splash… the water boys!

Kyle has really been enjoying his little pool this summer. So much so that I had to break down and get him one that was a little bit bigger. I think he’s going to take after him mom and be a water-lovin’ boy… maybe a future swim team member?

Here is a short video of Kyle and Jack playing in the little pool, before we got the bigger one. It is followed by some pictures from earlier this week, and then today when we got the bigger one up and going. Jack came over today, also. It’s been especially neat lately to see the boys really starting to actually play *together*. And Kyle has been so into Jack he asks for him a lot when he’s not around. When I tell Kyle where Jack is he starts calling him, LOL!

And after all that play... this is what happens! Awwww!

Fourth of July and pictures from the week

We had a great Fourth of July! We headed out for breakfast (of course!), fed the sea gulls the rest of Kyle's pancake, and went to meet Clifford, the Big Red Dog. Kyle, who fears nothing and LOVES dogs, is apparently afraid of Clifford. Go figure.

After Kyle took a nap we headed to Eagle Lake to spend the day at our friends, the Mullauers, cottage. This is my favorite day of the summer! A day spend relaxing with friends and enjoying the sun, shore, and all the play things that go with it. Also good food! A big thanks to Roger, Kay, Brian, Craig, and Jessica for, as always, a great day!

Here are some pics from our Fourth, as well as a few from earlier in the week.

Our bead and pacifier boys! Kyle and his cousin Jack.
Erin digs some lovin'!Mike unearthed some concrete while preparing a bed for some landscaping. Kyle kept saying, "Mommy help!"

The label says it all.Such a smile!
And drum roll please, Erin spent her first night in her crib on July 3! So far so good, we've had two nights in it. Of course she still wakes up to eat, but we're really proud of her. :)