The Bos Buzz

Internet ties

2011-10-17T22:15:00.001-04:00

My first memory of actually using the Internet was when I worked at All-Phase. It had to have been around 1996 or 1997, based on the office I remember being in. We had all just received connections to the Internet and email addresses. It felt very advanced! I remember performing my first Internet search, using Yahoo, which I think was the only search engine at the time.

These days I cannot imagine being without the Internet. I use it for my job -- in fact, it is my only connection to my job. I literally cannot perform my job without have an Internet connection. I use it to search out information regularly. Whether it is the weather, a phone number, or event information, I would desperately miss such easy access to information if I had no Internet. I use it to shop. I have never really been a big shopper, so being able to buy things I need from the comfort of home is awesome.

Beyond all of that, over the past few years I have found the internet to be an amazing tool for developing friendships that has gone beyond anything I would have ever imagined. It all began when I was first pregnant. The newness of such a thrilling experience prompted me to thirst for knowledge, seeking out anything I could find on pregnancy. I stumbled upon a website called Pregnancy Weekly. It was full of information. I also found that they had message boards that were sectioned by your birth month -- the month you were due.

On the birth club message board you could post a message or question, and anyone else there could post a reply. In the early days there was a great deal of posting of symptoms, to receive confirmation from many others that they were feeling the same things. A lot of , “Am I allowed to…,” with lots of, “My doctor said…” in reply. It was great.

Now, more than six years later, I have bonds with many of those girls that I know will carry through our lives. What started as sharing of information on our pregnancies turned into sharing information about all aspects of our lives.

The group of girls on that site eventually moved off to a privately hosted message board site that was password protected. It was invite only, so we could ensure that it was just our group of about 150 people. We knew who was having more children, who was going through a marriage crisis, who was suffering from the loss of a family member. We knew who had a new job, who was thrilled to have bought a new home, and who was graduating from school. We also knew what we were making for dinner, what our weekend plans were, and posted pictures of our haircuts. Nothing was too big or too small to post about.

Now, my connection with this great group of girls is on Facebook. Just in the past week or so we created a secret group on Facebook which allows us to post just to our group. Beyond the computer, though, I have met with many of the group in person. I’ve had people come and visit me in my home, and I have visited others. This past summer I vacationed in Niagara Falls with women from the group and their kids. The connections have been incredible.

I actually wrote this blog post a long time ago, meaning to add onto it and post it. I forgot about it. I thought to write a blog post about the group today, though, and it jogged my memory of this one.

Our group today received a shock. One “of us” passed away yesterday, very unexpectedly, at the age of 30. She leaves behind her husband, son who is almost six, and her parents that she cares for. It is nothing short of tragic.

I am thankful that our secret page on Facebook was already up and running as it provided us with an outlet for grief and a way to process. I was fortunate to have met Larissa a couple of times because she lived outside of Chicago. I spent time today going through pictures of our times together.

One of the girls in my group posted the following tonight: “I thought about this earlier, and I think it's just amazing that we are this close. Of course, some are closer to others (which is completely normal), but we have all been there to support each other for six years. Pregnancy, birth of November babies and babies after them, funny times, divorces and marriages, arguments and family problems. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support ♥.”

It sums it up so well. We are close. We have shared so, so much. And for the first time ever, we have lost one of our own. And it makes the love that much stronger.

Master Kyle

2011-09-29T22:25:00.003-04:00

This summer was such a summer of "mastering" for Kyle. It's been so amazing to watch the boy Kyle is becoming. The things he is learning, the growth he is experiencing. While still a little boy, he is practically growing before my eyes. I think I would be so sad about the baby boy that is now gone, if I didn't love, love, love the boy he is now.

Kyle began the summer as a boy who still didn't like to get his face wet. He loved swimming, but under no circumstances did he want to jump in because that would require him to get his face wet. By mid summer Kyle took the plunge, literally! By the end of the summer he was a jumping fool and had no problem racing in for a huge splash, as seen here:

Kyle started the summer with training wheels. He had his outgrown bike with training wheels, and a cool new-to-him bike that was just his size -- but without training wheels. I thought the coolness of the new bike, and the smallness of the old, would push him to learn how to ride sooner. But no, he remained pretty content with it all for quite awhile. Until a huge meltdown that his cousin Jack had a big bike like his, but it had training wheels. Why couldn't his big bike have training wheels. And on, and on. I was going to get him training wheels for it, figuring he'd learn when he was ready, but he decided he was ready. He jumped on and never looked back. He sails around on his bike now!

And finally, Kyle also learned how to pump his legs on the swings this summer. He doesn't need me to push him anymore, but my sweet boy will still take those pushes any time I will give them!

And because it falls into the category of Kyle growing up, he also lost two teeth in the past month!

From lazy to fun

2011-09-20T23:54:00.006-04:00

In general, being lazy is not a good thing. I try not to be lazy, but I have a lazy gene that likes to come out. Well, I blame it on genetics. Because otherwise, it would just be, well, laziness. And lazy, as I said, is not usually a good thing.

We get into Halloween in our family. We already have the inside decked out for Halloween, and the kids (well, Kyle) are champing at the bit to get the outside stuff going. I have decided on October 1 for that.

Last Halloween, as with virtually anyone who decorates outside, we had pumpkins adorning our porch. One would think that once the holiday was over I would have ditched the pumpkins. But, they weren't carved, so I decided to leave them out as Thanksgiving decorations. Well, then it got cold. And I don't like the cold. So, I have to admit, they didn't really get thrown out. Um, ever. Instead, the snow of winter came and they just sort of mushed up in the flower pots they had been sitting in.

Fast forward (or reverse as the case may be) to this past spring. I bought flowers to plant, and I scooped out the top layers of the flower pots, including any remaining pumpkin and seeds. I didn't want to completely refill the pots, so I left much of the dirt, and added some new with the new flowers.

The flowers grew. And darned if those pesky pumpkins didn't leave some of their seeds hidden in the pot. I had pumpkins growing in the pots and overtaking the flowers. So I moved them to the front flower bed that the dogs dig up, so I hadn't planted it with flowers.

I had NO IDEA that pumpkins grew the way they do. By August the patch had taken over literally a third of our front lawn. We'd placed a stake out there to stop it from crossing over on the front walk! (Which is did when we were on vacation, we had to wind it back around.)

They flowered like crazy, but overall we got probably half a dozen pumpkins. A few small and medium, and one big one. I now know a bit more about pumpkin growing, and I should have been thinning them out in a specific way to grow large pumpkins. They also self-planted way too early for Halloween; they should have been planted much later. A project for next year on the property I suppose.

So here are some pictures from our pumpkin journey. They kids really had fun with it, especially the big one. And it was fantastic when we arrived home from Tennessee on July 22 and an explosion of growth had taken place. As soon as we rounded the corner the kids were shouting, "Look at the pumpkins!!! Look, they're across the sidewalk!!"

So sometimes, lazy can turn into good times. ;-)

First pumpkin picked. We were so excited. We had an iced pumpkin cookie recipe picked out and were ready to go. We cut into it and I said, "It looks a little mushy." Then the stench hit me. The thing was rotten with a capital R. Phew!

Lots of flowers!Big pumpkin growing!Today we picked the biggest pumpkin. It's really nice -- one I would choose from a bunch for sale. And, since I saw a bunch out today at the farm markets, I think we'll make it to Halloween with it and be able to carve it.

Fun times!!

School: Bring it on!

2011-09-06T20:48:00.009-04:00

It's funny how your mind changes as time marches along. By late May this year I was ready for Kyle's school year to be done. I was ready to drop the structured routine of our days and enjoy the spontaneity of summer. I was ready for lazy days at home, beach days, and day trips to places like the zoo. Bring on the summer!

Now it is the day after Labor Day... time to say goodbye to summer and look to the school year. By a couple weeks ago I was craving the very thing I wanted rid of in May. I needed some structure back in our lives. I needed routine to our days again. While I love summer, I was excited to put a sweatshirt on this weekend.

Last night we hit the routine of school nights hard. We ate dinner earlier than we did in our summer schedule. Water was running in the tub by 6:45, and kids were trudging up the stairs at 7:30. Teeth were brushed, stories were read, and kids were tucked and kissed. And they went to sleep. Ahhh.

This morning as we sat at the table eating breakfast I asked Kyle what he was most excited about and he said learning new things every day. (Just what I wanted to hear!!) I asked Erin and she said the playground. This worried me, only because after the open house we played on the big kid playground -- not the preschool one. I said, "Erin, you know that you will play on the preschool playground, not the big kid one we played on the other day, right?" She said, "I know. Next to room. It has a playhouse!!" Good, she got it. :)

The kids were ready early and wanted to get going, I actually had to drag out pictures and buckling in the car so we weren't too early. We dropped Erin off at preschool first. Erin has sign in things to do, and we put her backpack in her cubbie and checked out the bathroom. Kyle helped her out since he went there, too. She did great! Was ready to go with no issues at all.

With Miss Ehrenberg

With Mrs. Mitchell

Next was Kyle to Maple Grove. We went in, got his backpack in his locker, and settled him in at his desk. He was raring to go! It was exciting to see old friends, and he was looking forward to meeting the new ones.

With Mrs. Miller, his teacher

Both kids reported having great days. I am so thankful to have kids that seem to love school and want to learn. Kyle said his favorite thing from today was learning, and Erin's favorite thing was singing. My favorite thing is that they had happy days, which makes my heart happy.

Welcome, Tooth Fairy!

2011-09-02T23:31:00.000-04:00

The tooth fairy is making her second visit to our home tonight, but it is the first "real" visit. In June Kyle had a tooth pulled, and she came for that tooth. (He'd had a small cavity in the fall, but in May it got infected through the tooth. In an adult tooth it would mean a root canal, but you wouldn't do that to a baby tooth.)

Kyle's two middle teeth on the bottom began wiggling just before we went to Tennessee, so for six weeks we have been watching the wiggle progression. They have been getting pretty darn wiggly! In the car this afternoon Kyle was drinking out of a straw and shouted, "Mom! My tooth!" I asked what, and he said, "It's out!! I dropped it!"

We immediately pulled over for this milestone occasion and found the tooth. We looked in his mouth. We did high fives. Yep, we make a big deal out of things like this. :-)

It actually makes me a little tearful. What a big boy he is becoming. He is losing his baby teeth, because he is no longer a baby. He's going to go through such a visible change in his appearance as he loses and grows teeth. The awkward stage of teeth that seem too big for his mouth, or are half grown. His perfect row of chicklet teeth will be a thing of the past. It hurts my heart a little.

But, baby teeth or no baby teeth, this boy will never stop being my baby.

One year ago today

2011-09-01T10:01:00.002-04:00

September 1. This is an anniversary of sorts. It is the date of my mom’s fall and her first subdural hematoma last year. While I didn’t realize it at the time, the date – 9/1 – would become my own personal 9/11, just without one of the 1s. I look back, and I wonder how in the world we got to the point we were on that date, and how we managed the events of the past year.

A friend of my sister’s said many months back, “Wow. You just can’t make this shit up.” It’s become somewhat of a mantra for Beth and I. As life became more and more unstable, and the bizarre continued to get more bizarre, we would think to ourselves that it was beyond making up. People have told us we need to write a book.

The thing is, I’ve also come to learn that nearly every family has some level of drama and heartache in it. Even the “normal” families have some member who skews the curve. I used to think that I grew up in a normal family. We were upper middle class, my parents were conservative and forced us to follow rules that would allow us to grow into responsible adults. My parents worked hard and were well educated. They passed along a good moral compass and strong ethics.

In 1996 my brother rocked “normal” in our family by having his life of illegal lies outed publicly – something that was enormously embarrassing for my family as our name was dragged through the headlines day after day. In the years since he has yet to hold a steady job in between his stays in jail. Yet still, with the exception of my brother, I considered the rest of my family normal. My sister and I both graduated from college and went on to obtain Master’s degrees. We both married and had children. We both held good jobs that provided us with a living and satisfaction. My parents had “done well” with us, anyway.

Fast forward to 2010. My mom spent more and more of her days in bed and the year went on. By summer she’d lost 40 pounds, took none of her medication, and never left her bed. My basement-dwelling brother was the root of most of her depression. No matter how much we begged her, she wouldn’t get out of bed. Two sessions with a therapist in July gave us all some hope, but then she deemed herself fine and quit going.

The fall occurred while my brother was “helping” my mom into the car to go to a doctor appointment. She lost her balance because of the weakened state she was in, and cracked the back of her head on the pavement so hard that her brain pressed forward into the front of her skull and bled. Between September 1 and December 1 she was in and out of the hospital. She fell more at home, her brain bled more. The blood on her brain caused seizures, and she went into a coma-like state with stroke-like symptoms.

December 1 she went into skilled nursing care. She never opened her eyes, she was in a wheelchair, she couldn’t feed herself. We were beside ourselves with grief over the way she had become, and fearful if she would ever be back.

December 1 to April 20 for my mom proved to be months of dramatic improvement. She progressed through therapy, ate more, was alert more, and earned herself the right to move to assisted care rather than skilled care.

The part that warrants a “you can’t make this shit up” has more to do with my dad. After a Christmas Day blow up he announced he was taking my mom home. Wheelchair, catheter and all. To a house full of stairs and alcoholics. My sister and I were horrified. There was no way he could care for my mom in the state she was in; he’d proven through 2010 that he wasn’t capable in the caregiver role period. With the support of all of my parents’ friends and our family, we were forced to seek legal guardianship of my mom.

The judge deemed our case an emergency, and an immediate order was placed that my mom would not be moved. Over the course of the next several months, my sister and I spent thousands of dollars and countless hours with our attorney to ensure that my mom could receive the care she needed to get better. Not only that, but to ensure her survival.

In the end, it proved too much for us. While we had no doubt we would win in court, we could no longer live through the pain and stress it was causing – not just stress on us, but on our own families. We backed out, and signed my mom’s guardianship over to West Michigan Guardianship.

Through the winter and spring my dad’s reliance on alcohol proved heavy, resulting in significant legal issues for him as well as hospital stays. We thought our mom had been our main concern, but my dad quickly took over as having the biggest issues. This I had never seen coming.

And now, a year later, my “growing up” family has been through hell, but I certainly can’t say hell and back. My mom is mostly better, but her 30-year home is not safe for her and she won’t consider anything else. My dad is through with court dates, but won’t give up the booze.

Through all my sister and I did last year – cleaning their house, bringing over food, living at the hospital and nursing home for days on end, spending thousands of dollars we certainly couldn’t afford, our schedule to make sure one of us was with my mom each and every day – my parents have at this point shoved us out of their lives. My letters to them go unanswered.

So of all the events of the past year which earn the comment of not being able to make it up, having my parents close the door on me – and their grandchildren – is the one I never would have seen coming. And the one I’ll never be able to get over.

Moving on, one year later

2011-09-01T10:00:00.001-04:00

Part 2. The past year has been ROUGH. But, more than ever, I am working my way past this. My perspective is that out of all bad there is some good, and from all bad you can work back to good.

The good from the past year. My sister and I have become unbelievably close, and we both know there is an unbreakable bond between us. While we sat in a meeting with our attorney this past winter we answered three questions in a row in unison. He said, “Wow, you really are sisters.” I replied, “Sometimes lately I think we are the same person.” Throughout all the events of the past year we have been a united front. We have been on the same page at all times. While occasionally we may have taken a different approach to something, we always were willing to go with the other person – knowing we both agreed with either approach. There are no words strong enough to convey that I could not had handled the issues of the past year without her, the one person who could exactly understand the shoes I was in.

I have realized what a rock my husband can be. He has put up with a lot in the past year. He has put up with the enormous amount of time I was spending in St. Joe, at the expense of our family. For a while my parents’ house was cleaner than my own because I managed to do theirs more than ours. He has never said a word about the financial strain I put on our family, both through attorney costs and through all the times I had to hire a sitter. He has stuck with me through my impatience and temper, two things that have been ever-present during the depression and stress of the past year.

My kids are still amazing. They have been yelled at more than they deserved to be, they have heard me sigh with impatience as I tell them to hurry up, they have dealt with my crabby existence. And they still shine. They still smile and tell me they love me. As often as I have worried that I’m going to “break” them, they continue to be great kids. I hope they don’t remember the dark days of this past year.

I have become closer than ever to family members that, while they’ve been there since I was born, I didn’t have the bond I certainly do now. Family friends who have been in my life through my parents, have provided support and love in immeasurable ways. Mike’s family has provided love and support to me. My church family has prayed. And my group of mom friends have provided hugs, prayers, and, well, a night out when needed!

So much good surrounds me.

Where I have the most work to do is making me good again. I need to get out of the funk which had come to define me and move on. It is what it is – get over it!

Being a self-help book kind of girl, I’m reading two right now. Get Out of That Pit, and The Happiness Project. I joined Weight Watchers to get rid of this stress and depression weight I have packed on in the past year (well, and still baby weight in there, too!) We are eating healthier, and being healthier.

I WILL get there! Know it, my friends, I WILL!

Strange Googles...

2011-08-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

Along the left hand column of my blog is a gadget/box that shows where recent visitors have logged in from (FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed.) It is interesting to me, because I can think, "Oh, Macomb, MI, that must be Charlene!" I like it when I can see that someone I knew checked in. I also see places I've never heard of, and other countries, which is also interesting.

Every once in a while I will click further into it, by clicking the real time button. It gives more detail. The thing that is usually interesting is when someone Googles a phrase and ends up landing on my blog. Tonight I did that, and found a wealth of humor. Here are some of the Googlings that had strangers landing on my blog:

Interestingly enough, the last one is there each and every time I have ever checked the detail. I can't tell you how many people have landed on that blog post by Googling that phrase.

If you click the phrase beside each bullet it will take you to the actual individual post Google directed them to.

Completely clueless how "nascar blog" landed them on my page even remotely, because I don't remember ever blogging about it. And a little uncomfortable that "kalamazoo naked students" landed on my daughter's naked bum, when I never had the word naked in there.

My Kindle... one year later

2011-08-26T23:45:00.003-04:00

It’s been just over a year since Mike got me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday, and I am still loving it! (I do have some pangs of envy for the Barnes and Noble Color Nook, because it is like an iPad and book reader in one, and touchscreen; but for reading books, I still love my Kindle.)

I now have more than 100 items in my Kindle. Barely a dent in its 3,500 book capacity. What surprises me is the range of what I have, and how much of it was free. I peruse the Kindle free list every couple of days, and it is rare for me to not add something. Many of the free books I have read have been really good. Of course, their list is achieving its purpose, because there are a couple of authors I have now paid to read their other books.

I have created seven categories in my Kindle: Books Read, Games, Non-fiction, Religious, Children’s Books, Cookbooks, and Kindle Info and Dictionaries.

Books read is obviously the books I have finished. There are 20 in there, which is not bad for me for a year because I also read some “real” books during the year that I actually had to physically hold their full weight and turn their paper pages. Gasp!

Some of my favorites for the year include:

Crossing Oceans, by Gina Holmes
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel, by Beth Hoffman
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
The Ocean Inside, by Janna McMahan
Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah

Games was a surprise for me, because I didn’t realize there would be any. Originally there were a couple word games available, they were fun to play and worked my brain, and then more and more came on the market. I only get the free ones, but I have seven in there now (some of which have multiple games in and of themselves.)

Non-fiction includes a number of writing skills books, organizing, history, etc. I think all of these were free.

Religious… again, free books. I have some in there dealing with various issues, and I also have some study guides and the actual Bible. The thing about this category that brought me a big chuckle this year is when I got an email from Amazon stating that there was a revised, updated version of the Bible available. I thought, “Wow, really?! Suurrree.” As I read further it turned out that the version I downloaded had some typos, and the new version had corrected those.

Children’s books includes a number of classic children’s tales. I figure this way I always have something I can read out loud to the kids.

Cookbooks. The Kindle is not the ideal way to look through a cookbook, but these were all free and I have tried some of the recipes.

The last category on Kindle info is just the files that come on the Kindle on operating it, etc., as well as dictionaries.

I use it a lot, and continue to love to read. I love that I can click a book on the Amazon site and within a minute it is right there in my hand. I love that I can easily carry around hundreds of books and have my choice at any moment. I love that I have put the Kindle application on my phone and I can read my books on there, right from the very page I was on when I turned my Kindle off. (And then when I turn my Kindle on, it opens to the page I left off on while using my phone!)

Ahh, technology!

Red about green

2011-08-25T22:48:00.003-04:00

So, I am a little red in the face to say up until this summer we haven't been very green. As in, hut hmm, we, you know, shhh, didn't recycle. There, I said it.

The thing is, that recycle bin didn't have any kind of home in our house. We did not have room for it anywhere near the kitchen, where the majority of the recycling takes place. Our garage is detached, so putting it in there would have been a nice though, but I knew the follow through wouldn't happen. We couldn't put it outside the door, because the porch isn't covered and it wouldn't have done well in the elements. So, we didn't recycle. I know, excuses, but we didn't.

Then this summer our town introduced recycling dumpsters. It's big! The same size as our trash dumpster. I saw others in town get it, and we called and asked for one. The heavens opened, the sun shone, and AHA! the Bos family became recyclers!

It's been more than a couple months, and the novelty hasn't worn off with the kids. I can ask them to put something in the recycling dumpster and they fight over who gets to do it. (Often they take turns... one opens the lid and the other puts it in, then they switch next time.) Erin interrupted my shower today to ask, while holding her Gogurt container, "Mommy, trash or recycle?"

I have been astonished at the amount of recycling we do, and how little trash we have now. Our recycling dumpster gets picked up every other week, and it is always filled to the brim. Our trash gets picked up weekly, and we are down to one to two kitchen-size bags of trash. Finally, but yay us!!

GVO... and some tangents

2011-08-12T23:08:00.008-04:00

GVO. That's what I'm calling my recent trip: Girls Vacation Out. It went beyond a GNO (Girls Night Out), because it lasted a week. And it included a young boy, Kyle. The trip came about after almost a year of planning with two good friends of mine, Colleen and Christine, both of whom live on the East Coast. Originally Christine's husband, Jay, was going to be in Toronto on business, and we thought we could all meet and tag along. Fast forward, and it wound up being Niagara Falls 11 months later.

My first tangent will be how we all met. In February 2005 I learned I was pregnant with Kyle. Thirsting for information, I Googled everything pregnancy and landed on Pregnancy Weekly. The site included message boards called birth clubs, and you would join the board for the month you were due. This way, you could post messages and reply to messages with a bunch of women going through all the same things at the same times. My. Board. CLICKED. So much so, that eventually close to 200 of use moved to a private message board that only we could access.

Now, more than six years later, I am no longer active on the message board, but I am still connected to probably 50 or 60 of those women on my Facebook page. I've met many of the women in the Midwest, and Colleen came from New York to South Haven two years ago to visit. A couple others have also visited me in South Haven.

So a trip was planned with Colleen, her nearly six year old Megan, and Christine, and her nearly six year old Olivia. We also made plans to meet another friend from the original message board, Sara-Jayne, her nearly six year old Aeva-Grace, and her husband and son. Sara-Jayne lives in Canada, but I had been lucky to have met her twice before already.

August 3

Departure Day! I was worried about driving by myself with the kids for the entire eight hour drive (plus add in meals and potty stops), so I decided to stop and spend the night with my cousin Kathy in Rochester. This was a great plan, because I love Kathy and so do my kids!! We had a great time hanging out with her for a bit, and she made our trip so much easier. Thanks, Kathy!

August 4

We left Kathy's just after 11, aiming to hit our 4:30 check-in time. We rented a condo so that we could all seven enjoy the space. This would also help out with costs since we could eat in when we wanted to.

Even though Google Maps and my GPS said to go through Port Huron, I decided to hit the Windsor tunnel. (Tangent ahead!) I remember as a child traveling between Canada and the US frequently, and we would take the tunnel one way and the bridge the other way. My kids love tunnels, and I wanted them to watch for the flags in the middle and shout we were in another country -- just as I had as a kid.

The kids did amazing for the whole drive. It helps that we had picked up the newly-released movie Rio just as we hit the road. They watched it all but one hour of the trip. Again. And again. But it entertained them.

We got to the condo all about the same time, and got all of our stuff unloaded. Then the seven of us grabbed pizza by the slice on the corner for dinner. It was good, and it hit the spot after a day of traveling.

August 5

Our day to meet up with Sara-Jayne and her family. We decided to explore the Clifton Hill area of Niagara Falls. This was a lot of fun. We first rode the Sky Wheel and got a great view of the area and the falls. The kids loved it! Then there was tons of fun to be had... mini-golf, arcade games, and a walk along the falls. Walking along the Horseshoe Falls cooled us off, in a soaking wet kind of way, lol, since the mist is like rain. We had a super day.

We headed back to the condo to relax and make dinner, then headed out again to the same area to see the falls lit up in a variety of colors, and to watch fireworks. Unfortunately, after waiting patiently, the message went around that the fireworks were cancelled that night.

We walked back through Clifton Hill and hit some stores, like the Hershey Store. We got the kids home close to midnight and they fell asleep soundly. Colleen, Christine and I stayed up watching DVDs of Friends episodes -- oh how that show can make me laugh!!

August 6

The falls up close and personal! We crossed the border into New York to take in all the views from the American side at the Niagara Falls State Park. While Canada offers a wider view of the majesty of the falls, taking in the size and scope of them, America offers a up close view of their power and the gushing water that leads to them. Both countries show their awesomeness and beauty.

We took a trip to the base of the Horseshoe Falls on the Maid of the Mist. The kids loved the boat ride, and loved our blue raincoats. Nothing like getting rained on by the mist of the falls to make a kid happy! We also walked out on the observation deck for some great views.

Next we grabbed lunch (gotta love a $6.95 hot dog) and watched the IMAX movie Niagara Falls: Legends of Adventure. The kids all did well through the 40-minute trip through 13,000 years. I was impressed with how attentive Kyle was, he was so into the history of the falls and the story behind it. He mentioned things to me later that let me know how much he was really paying attention.

Next up, a trolley ride and the Discovery Center. The trolley ride was a great way to see the rest of the park, including crossing over to Goat Island, the island that divides the Upper Niagara and creates two distinct water falls. The Discovery Center was interesting, but maybe a bit above our kids' level. They had fun, though, and enjoyed the walk back to the car. We were able to go under the Rainbow Bridge, which was cool.

We ended our day earlier than we had previously -- at about 6 -- by stopping at the store for food to cook, The Beer Store for drinks, and then home. Erin fell asleep in the car, I carried her in, and she woke up the next morning!! We made pasta and salad for dinner. The joy of a condo -- the $10 we spent stretched to feed seven of us two nights in a row! And then more Friends with friends. :)

August 7

We began our day in New York again, going to the Niagara Aquarium. We planned our trip so that we would be there for the most interesting activities -- the penguin and seal feedings and the sea lion show. The aquarium was small, but packed in a lot of fun for the kids. As we left the aquarium we sadly said good bye to Christine and Livy, who headed back to Rhode Island.

Just as we buckled in the kids, the skies opened up into a downpour. Not too discouraging though, since we were going to look for a place to eat and then go on the (wet!) Cave of the Winds tour. We hit McDonald's, and then back into the state park. We suited up in yellow raincoats this time, and even got souvenir flip flops. An elevator took us to the base of the Bridal Falls, where a walkway took us the rest of the way.

The views of the crashing water, and the rocky waterfalls beside the bigger falls, was breathtaking. It was awesome to look up at their greatness. And we walked up and up, closer to it. We were able to stand close enough beside the Bridal Falls that the water for the falls pelted us -- in essence, we were standing under the falls.

We explored more of the park after that, going around Goat Island for different views, and walking across the footbridges of the Three Sisters Islands.

After a trip back to the condo for a quick nap, we headed back down to Clifton Hill for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Then -- as Kyle begged -- we played more games. We went on a 4D ride that Kyle and Megan loved. Your chairs moved, it snowed on us, and wind rushed onto us. It was great! We also went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, which was interesting for all of us (well, except for Erin who slept soundly through it in the stroller!)

We were able to see fireworks that night, timing our arrival perfectly. We walked to the falls, picked a spot, and they started!

August 8

Departure day. By the time we all got up and packed, check out time was upon us. We gave hugs and kisses in the parking lot, saying we needed to do a get together every couple years. Colleen and Megan had a full day of driving to get back to Long Island, while our journey was just to Mount Clements, outside of Detroit.

Our trip through Canada was easy, and we were at the Port Huron border before we knew it. It took a half hour to get across the bridge, then the GPS said it was only a half hour to my college roommate's house. I didn't believe it, but sure enough, it was right!

Charlene has three boys, and those boys have four cousins next door who are all boys, so Kyle got a big fix of boy fun after a vacation with all girls. The kids had a blast!! I had a great time catching up with Charlene, and another college roommate, Amy, joined us for dinner.

We had not been together since Amy's dad died three years ago. I wrote about our friendship in a blog post then, but we share a great bond. We were such good friends through all four years of school, and now, 20 years later, I know I can step right into the friendship with ease every time I see them. I love those girls!

August 9

Home day!!!! After a week away from home, and from Mike, we were ready. One more stop, though. I couldn't pass through Lansing without a stop on the Michigan State campus. I took the kids pictures on the field I used to rehearse on for the Spartan Marching Band, we took pictures with Sparty, we ate ice cream at the MSU Dairy Store, and we hit SBS (Student Book Store) before getting on the road again.

Between Lansing and South Haven the kids slept. It was literally the only part of the entire trip they slept in the car!! Thanks goodness they were good all those wakeful hours!

We pulled into South Haven after 6, in time for dinner, baths and beds. Whew. What an amazing trip!

PICTURES...

Again, I have posted albums on Facebook, and have linked them below (you need to click both to see all the pictures.) Even if you are not a member of Facebook, this should be a public link that will allow you to view the pictures. You can see the entire album in thumbnails, or click each picture through as a slide show. Most of the pictures have captions that you can see when they are clicked larger, or when you hover over the picture.

Niagara Falls Trip, Part 1

Niagara Falls Trip, Part 2

Tennessee Vacation

2011-07-26T19:14:00.004-04:00

We had a fabulous vacation last week, heading to Tennessee for a week. We took off early afternoon on Friday the 15th, and spent the night in London, KY. The next morning we stopped to see friends Diane and Ron Kirby in Elizabethton, TN. Mike has spent many weekends there with then while going to the NASCAR race in Bristol. I also spent a weekend there and went to the Bristol race the fall before Kyle was born. We then headed to my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Don's that evening.

We really, really had a nice vacation there. Sunday -- which happened to be my birthday -- we spent time on the boat and in the water. It was so nice to just relax! My Aunt Joan and cousin Jennifer came over for dinner. Monday was more fun on the boat and in the water, and we took the raft out and Uncle Don pulled us behind the boat.

Tuesday we ventured out, and Mike and I took the kids on the Mayfield Dairy Farms tour, and also to The Lost Sea. The factory tour was interesting, and the kids had fun milking the cow in the lobby. The Lost Sea was really interesting. We trekked through the cavern, and when we got to the 4.5 acre lake deep inside we got to take a glass-bottomed boat ride. The lake was stocked with rainbow trout, and when they fed them the fish swarmed.

Wednesday was another relaxing water day, and then Thursday Aunt Peggy and I did a little scrapbook mega-store shopping and some outlet shopping. It was nice girl time together. :) Meanwhile, the guys took the kids to an Indiana fort and McDonald's. That night we had a great dinner at my Aunt Joan's.

Friday we headed home, making the whole trip in one day. The kids really did well in the car, even for a long trip.

For pictures of our trip, you can click here and access the photo album on my Facebook page. (This should still work even if you are not on Facebook. If you have a problem, please make a comment so I can correct it. Thanks!!)

Thank you, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Don!! :)

Another Ford passing

2011-07-09T20:32:00.002-04:00

With the sad passing of Betty Ford yesterday, it reminded me of when President Gerald Ford passed away. Gerald Ford grew up an hour from here, and I remember going to the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids as a child. The airport is named after him. He was the city's hometown hero.

When funeral and burial plans were being made for President Ford, I kept thinking about how close it was all taking place. I decided that this was a moment when history could be witnessed. Where I could watch something historical as it happened. I decided to take the day off from work and go up to the funeral.

I also decided to take Kyle. Knowing he would never remember it at 14 months, I still knew that he would be present for something historical. And being a scrapbooker, he would certainly have the pictures -- a learning moment for later. ;-)

I headed up there with my Google Maps printout in hand, not knowing where I was going or what to expect. It was a cold January day. I figured, we'd see what we could do. If it didn't work out, we would come home. But we'd make the effort.

As far as witnessing history goes, we could not have been more fortunate. We parked literally a couple blocks from the church. We stood right against the barricade, front and center, just across from the church corner. We saw the church entrance, the military processions, the casket. I stood somberly, holding Kyle, as the hearse drove right past me with a flag-draped casket carrying a man of greatness in it. A man with the ambition and motivation to seek and earn our nation's highest office. A moment of silent respect.

Some day, these pictures will tell Kyle the story. And he will be able to say, "I was there." (And, he was good!)

Weep or rejoice?

2011-06-29T20:02:00.004-04:00

We’ve owned our 15 acres for several months now, so we have seen it go from snow to buds to fully-leaved trees. Once things started growing we saw that our land has a lot of low-lying cactus plants growing. And I mean a lot.

It bummed me out, because I want my kids to race around freely through the property while growing up. I don’t want them to have to look where they are going so much.

We drove out there on Sunday to look around and make a couple decisions about the frontage. As soon as we drove in I shouted, “Look! Look at the cacti!” (To be honest, I think I said cactuses. Even a person who makes a living correcting grammar lets some mistakes fly occasionally.)

The cactus plants, which I haven’t liked at all, are in full bloom. They are beautiful.

When I was growing up my mom gave me a poster with a long stemmed rose on it. Alongside the rose it said, “I can weep because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

My sister has mentioned several times in her blog that she is a “glass half empty” kind of girl. I think it’s in our genes. Heck, even my mom knew it when she gave me that poster back when I was a grumpy teen.

So, as I work to dig myself out of the hole of the past year, I think the cacti were there for a reason. A smack-in-the-face reminder that everything has thorns, but there is also beauty abounding. It’s all about seeking it out, and appreciating the good. The bad just makes the good that much better.

So here’s to the good! The beauty among the thorns!I pick to rejoice.
And some more flowers on our property.I asked Kyle and Erin to hold their arms out while I took their picture......and Kyle said, "No, I want one like this." Love that boy!

Movin' On Up!

2011-06-28T00:50:00.002-04:00

Kyle is done! He is no longer a Pre-K kid, but he is a Kindergartner!! And he is excited! What a fabulous year my little guy had. I think back to a year ago when I struggled with deciding whether to send him to Kindergarten -- which he barely met the deadline for -- or send him to Pre-Kindergarten. I decided I didn't want him spending the first couple of months as a four year old in Kindergarten, I didn't want him to always be a year younger than many kids, smaller on sports teams down the line, the last to drive, etc. I wanted to make sure he started with a firm footing.

I am so glad of the decision I made. Kyle had a wonderful teacher. She was great with him. He learned so much, and I have seen so much evidence of his knowledge. And he LOVED school. I have no doubt that he will head to Kindergarten next year as ready as anyone can be, and he will have gotten the strong foundation this year that will allow him to excel next year and beyond. Great job, Kyle.

Now on to the fun... Kyle ended his school year with a bang. His class had a picnic lunch trip planned to Kids Corner. They were going to ride the bus, play and eat. FUN! Fortunately, it rained. And then poured. And then lightening and thundered. Fortunately, you say?

Well, the *first* attempt at the trip led to activities being planned at school. They had a great indoor picnic and fun time. The parachute was brought out, there were bean bag songs -- you name it.

But the teachers felt bad they missed their trip, so they still got to go the next week! So Kyle's day of fun turned into two days of fun. :) And then, of course, there was the final end of the year picnic for the whole school. What a great way to end things!

Here are pictures from all three events.

Kyle and his teacher, Mrs. Flower.

Kyle and Granny Betty, the classroom grandma that helped each day.

23 is not 31... but...

2011-05-31T22:54:00.001-04:00

Alright, this is post 23. I didn't make my goal of 31 in 31, but I think I did a pretty impressive job trying. My true goal was to jump start my blogging again, and I think I did just that. So, here we go... let's keep it up. :)

My gardens... so far

2011-05-31T22:45:00.003-04:00

I love this walled in garden. It is mostly perennials, and I get so excited when they come up bigger and more bountiful each year. I am really excited to plan out gardens for our new house and property. I saw a book on Amazon called the companion perennial or something like that. It talks about pairing up your plants in ways that the heights and blooms all match and provide beautiful gardens all summer. Ahhh... it makes me happy to think about it.This is the garden by the back deck. This fall I plan to removed the hostas and take them out to the property. They are getting pushed out by the ground coverings... myrtle and pachysandra. There are also day lilies in the back, and I had pansies grow again from last year in the front. To the right are lilies and black-eyed susans.I have two main areas left to work on. One will be a challenge because when Mike put the new water line in last fall it really ripped up my garden. The other is not too big, but has a lot of stuff that needs pulled right now.

Anyone have

2011-05-31T22:42:00.002-04:00

the number of a dermatologist? My girl is changing colors! :)

George

2011-05-29T22:34:00.005-04:00

When my mom was first moved to Lakeland Continuing Care Center on December 1 I learned a lot about myself. I sobbed as the ambulance crew readied my mom and wheeled her out of her hospital room. She was nearly in a coma at that point, and completely unaware of what was happening. I, however, knew exactly what was happening. My mom was being moved to a nursing home, and we had no idea how much recovery we would ever see. A nursing home. Ewwww.

At that time my nursing home experience was limited to Christmas caroling there with youth groups and my time working in marketing at Lakeland. There were -- hut hum -- old people there. I really didn't know how to deal with them, and knew I would never want to work in one. There were people who drooled, in wheelchairs, and I had no idea how to approach them.

How life changes you. I spent hours and hours there in the five months my mom lived there. I realized how wonderful the residents are. I realized how compassionate the staff there is, and how hard they work. I learned that I can relate to "old people," and I loved it.

I loved sitting my mom at the same lunch table each day. Talking with Agnes who was always, "Fit as a fiddle and ready for love," when you asked how she was. And who amazed me when I learned she was 102! I enjoyed conversations with her daughter, Kathleen, who lunched there most days. I learned to smile and cheerfully answer Virginia's same questions again... and again... and again. And George became my boyfriend. :)

George has been a resident for many, many, many years. A massive stroke has him in a wheelchair with the use of one hand, an inability to talk, and swallowing issues. In my prior life he would have been the resident that I saw drooling in a wheelchair, food on his face, hands and shirt... and I would have left him to someone else to help. In my new life I am happy to hand George napkins, help him with his food, and talk to him. I have learned enough of his facial expression language to converse with him. But my favorite is his thumbs up every time I see him. It hurts my heart that, although married with a grown family, I never once saw anyone visit him. So when my mom moved, I handed George a McDonald's milkshake and told him that I would still visit him. He got a hug and a kiss, and a thumbs up on my way out.

I feel guilty that it took me a month to make due on my promise. Today I stopped in with cookies for George. An employee I knew was there in the doorway when I got there, and most residents were in a program in the dining room. I talked with the employee a minute, then peeked in the dining room looking for George. The employee said he had been taken to the hospital today, but he couldn't tell me more because of confidentiality. I said, "Well, maybe I can swing by there to visit." No, I was told it wouldn't be a good idea today and he was still in the ER.

So here I am, saying prayers for George. Hoping that someone came to sit with him in the hospital and keep him company. Ease his nerves. Hoping that what took him there is minor and he gets to go back home soon. So if you've read this far, whisper a prayer for George for me.

Our little mama

2011-05-27T21:29:00.003-04:00

Erin is SUCH a little mama to her babies. She loves them with her whole heart, and hugs them and dresses them and walks them in the stroller. She feeds them and puts them in her new baby swing. She is a mama through and through. Even at Kyle's baseball game the other day she was sitting next to another little sister she met that night and rubbing her back. And at play group she kept checking on the brand new baby that was there and wanting to help with him. Our friend Rachel is pregnant and due in August. Erin talks about Rachel's baby all the time, and what she is going to do to take care of him (bathe him, feed him, put him to bed... Rachel is set!) I love this little mama!

Kids getting political early

2011-05-25T21:41:00.006-04:00

For the second year I took the kids to Lansing and the State Capitol to rally for early childhood education. It was part of the Star Power rally for funding the Great Starts program. We met with our legislators to voice our concerns, and also got to enjoy some fun activities. Here are some pictures from our day.

When we arrived we marched as a parade to the Capitol steps.Once inside we met with our representatives. Here are Erin and Kyle and on the House of Representative floor, and then with part of our group along with Representative Aric Nesbitt (on the right next to Erin and I.) Kyle is peeking out from the center of the picture, to the right of the baby in navy blue.Fun with emergency vehicles demonstrations... Kyle on the motorcycle, and then in a fire truck with Joshua.This was a huge hit with the kids, and so simple. They just had squirt bottles with colored water -- red, blue, and yellow -- and they mixed colors in ice cube trays.Also bouncies and trees for climbing. Climbers are Dorian, Joshua and Kyle.And proof that it was a muddy day!!

Teddy Bear Tea Party

2011-05-25T21:31:00.003-04:00

The library held a Teddy Bear Tea Party at our church last weekend, and Erin LOVED it. She has so much fun taking a teddy bear with her, she loved the Teddy Bear Princess, and she loved the magician they had. She especially likes that the magician had a pretend raccoon (which she thinks was real) and it burped in the magician's ear. Again, the whole mix of girly girl and tom boy!!

16 in 8

2011-05-23T23:47:00.003-04:00

I had such aspirations on May Day... 31 in 31. I began the month with a daily post. I missed a day, but mostly kept up. Blogger was down for posting for two days, and I fell apart. I'm blaming them, of course. :)

Seriously, while I have fallen off track, I'm still okay with it. Today, May 23, I have 15 posts in -- 3/4 of the posts I have made for the entire 2011. I'm still improving. And 16 more posts in 8 days to hit my 31 in 31 goal... doable. I have some up my sleeve that I am working on. Some will be just a pic. I'm still going to give it a go!!

And hey, I just realized the birthday post I just did was 15. This is 16! Hey, I'm already down to 15 in 8!! Woo hoo!

Erin's Third Birthday

2011-05-23T23:29:00.004-04:00

Catching up, I'm posting about Erin's third birthday. She had a party the day before the big day, with her Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Beth, Uncle Troy, Jack and Brett joining us. She had a lot of fun, and was spoiled with some great gifts. She liked every one of them!

At three Erin is still sweet and cuddly, but also forceful and assertive. She will shout no at you if she doesn't want to do what she is asked. She will whine and cry to try to get what she wants. We have entered the terrible threes, which is really what it is... two is still easy.

Erin is a girly girl, yet also a tom boy. She loves being a mommy to her dolls and dressing herself. At the same time, she copies Kyle in his boyish ways and we see a lot of that shining through. It's great when we hear it in the poop, burps and farts references... not!

Here are some pictures from her party. On her actual birthday she got to go out with Gran, Papa and Aunt Beth to Dairy Queen for lunch.

Super Star!

2011-05-17T09:36:00.003-04:00

Kyle had his last game of soccer on Saturday, and was thrilled to get a medal. He's our super star!

Clip girl

2011-05-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

"Why thank you, Kyle, for doing my hair for me!"

That's a bunch of bunk...

2011-05-14T18:07:00.003-04:00

Not really, there is a bunch of bunk! Well, two may not qualify as a bunch, but there are two bunks. Yep, a top for Kyle and a bottom for Erin. Kyle is excited to get to sleep up high. Erin is excited to be out of the toddler bed she hated because it was too small. She now has a full bed, and will excitedly tell you it has TWO pillows. They have spent three nights in them now and are doing great.

And Mike and I are excited, too. No more going to bed and having to move Erin from Kyle's bed to hers, and Kyle from ours to his. About one more year and they will each have their own rooms!!

Muffins with Mommy

2011-05-12T00:40:00.000-04:00

And because everything is fair in love, war and PTO breakfast fun, the Mommies got their turn this morning. I went in with Kyle to have muffins. :)

Doughnuts with Daddy

2011-05-12T00:38:00.000-04:00

No, I still didn't make any... but the school had a Doughnuts with Daddy morning that Mike took Kyle to. Here they are heading out.

Time to make the doughnuts...

2011-05-09T23:33:00.004-04:00

Okay, I have never actually made doughnuts. Really, never. But the phrase still comes to mind when I think of something repetitive, or of work. So here is a post about my work. That is, beyond my stay-at-home-mom take care of the kids and house kind of work.

While I do some occasional freelance writing and photography, I really don't seek it out because I really don't have time. But sometimes it comes in, and I do it. :) I do, however, have two regular part time jobs.

The first is editing for a company called Bare International. They perform mystery shopping services for a number of well-known companies and organizations. A shopper is assigned a shop and given a set of guidelines to follow. Once they have performed the shop they enter the information into a pre-designed form on the Bare International intranet site. This is where I come in. As Editing Superhero I rid the report of nasty grammar and spelling! I seek out inconsistencies and halt non-direction-following shoppers in their tracks! I save the day by saving the report! Yeah... in other words, I edit the report to make sure they did it right and it reads well.

My other job is a merchandiser for American Greetings. Without me South Haven residents would be glum and tearful that they weren't receiving and giving greeting cards. We would, in essence, be without greeting! Seriously, I have three accounts I maintain in town -- Dollar Tree, Dollar General and WalMart. My hours vary by week depending on the season. For example, this week was busier because today I took down Mother's Day cards and put up Father's Day cards. I also added some more graduation stock. I also maintain the everyday cards and order more as needed.

The best thing about both of my jobs is their flexibility. They are excellent jobs for a stay-at-home-mom. The editing job is pretty much a daily job. They send me assignments, and I do them. But I can still do them when it works for me during that day. The American Greetings job is weekly. I am assigned calls on Sunday. This week I have five. I can basically perform them anytime during the week, but I have activities which have time frames that may affect my call schedule. For example, I have to have Mother's Day cards down by tomorrow.

Yawn. Excuse me now while I go finish editing so I can go to bed...

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T22:20:00.002-04:00

What a great mother's day weekend I've had! Yesterday Beth and I took both my parents out for lunch. It was a really nice time. All the stress and worry of the past year seemed to take a break for two hours while we enjoyed a pleasant, happy lunch. Just like old times, and what a relief!!

Yesterday afternoon we hiked around on our land and Mike cut down more brush to create our drive in. There's going to be so much nature to see there! We explored a lot, and checked out some fallen trees and animal holes up close. And I've realized that 15 acres is probably enough to get lost on, haha!

Today I got to sleep in (well lay in bed late, at any rate, dozing amongst the noise of children.) I even read a few pages of my book before hauling my lazy bum out of bed. We went to our favorite breakfast joint, which we hardly ever go to anymore. It was a great meal, and fun to say hi to all the servers again.

The day was gorgeous!! What a difference sunshine and warmth makes! Even with the nice weather, we took in a movie because we'd been promising Kyle we'd take him to see Rio. It was very cute. Although I have to say we will not let it leave our cheap hometown movie theater again without getting there... we had to hit the expensive one!

Soccer!

2011-05-07T23:30:00.003-04:00

FINALLY we had a nice day for soccer. Poor Kyle only associates cold and rain with soccer, because that's pretty much all he's ever know. He had a good time, but I don't know that he's interested in it enough to stick with it.

An exercise in teamwork?? :)

10 years

2011-05-06T19:00:00.001-04:00

It was ten years ago today that Mike and I went out on our first date. We went to The Pump House in St. Joseph to eat, and then we went to see the thriller Along Came a Spider. The date, obviously, went well! Here we are ten years later, having tied the knot and brought two children into the world. Who knew ten years ago? Although I think maybe we both did. :)

Here's the first picture taken of us together. It was about a month later, and we were at a going away party for good friends Cathy and Gary Lane. While I was so sad to see them move all the way to California, Mike and I have had some fabulous, fun trips out to see them. And I've pre-dated this post to post while we are out. I have secretly gotten a babysitter so we can go out on a date night to celebrate!

It takes a village

2011-05-05T15:13:00.003-04:00

We often say this in my group of friends, because we help each other out so much. I made a decision several years ago that has changed my life. I was new to the stay-at-home mom scene, having quit working at Bronson early in the summer of 2007. When September rolled around the play and learn group sponsored by the school system was starting up again. I had never seen myself as a "play group kind of mom," but felt it was important to provide social opportunities for Kyle since he lost them when I took him out of day care. So, for Kyle's benefit, I went to the play group. I knew no one there, but there we trudged every Thursday.

Kyle had a blast playing, dancing, singing and crafting each week. And I got to know people; I got to have adult discussions with other moms. And friendships grew. I have three play group sessions left, and then it will be summer vacation, and then Erin will begin preschool. I'm ready for that next stage, but mainly because my friendships are so steadfast that we go far beyond play group.

Beyond our kids, my group gets together regularly without -- gasp -- kids. We call it book club. This joke began when I asked a few other moms if they would be interested in creating a book club. The response I got was, "I don't have time to read, but I'll come for the eating and drinking." So our "book club" consists of just the eating and drinking, and we love it that way! Several are scrapbookers, and we scrapbook together.

I can't imagine my life without these fabulous friends. Simply put, I love them. I know without a doubt that they will be there if I need them, as will I for them. I know they offer and accept shoulders I can cry on, smiles and laughter to share, and just the comfort of hanging out.

Life has had it's challenges lately, and my friends have stepped in a lot. Monday I was stuck in St. Joe helping my dad and realized I might not make it back in time to pick Kyle up from school. A phone call later it was taken care of, he would go home with a friend. This morning a friend had a doctor appointment for one child, and I took the other and then dropped him off at preschool. While I did this I was able to leave Erin with another friend, so Erin wouldn't have to miss out on a party with her friends; that friend dropped her off at home. A friend is bringing Kyle home from his after-school program today. I drop my nephew Jack off at school each day. The list is endless. We help each other out in a heartbeat, and we all love doing it.

I often say I don't know how single parents manage. How they swing it alone when there is so much that raising children entails. Well, not only would I have trouble as a single parent, but I don't know what I would be without my village. To each and every one of you, and you know who you are, I thank you and I love you!!

Ayyy batter batter! Ayyy batter batter!

2011-05-04T23:49:00.005-04:00

Kyle officially began baseball today with his first ever t-ball game. He did great! It was so fun to watch him, watch all the other kids his age, and watch Mike help coach. Five-year-olds learning an organized sport is a hoot. Here are some of my favorite things:

How many times I heard a mom say, "Do you have to pee?"

Watching EVERY boy in the field try to get the ball... no matter position.

Tears over things like hats. (They were all tired by then!)

Hearing coach comments like, "When you get to home plate you have to let the players running bases in front of you cross first."

Seeing Bos Concrete on all their shirts! :)

Even Erin had her friend Gracie to play with!

Country Living

2011-05-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

After a long search, looking for land, not finding any and looking at houses, not finding one and going back to looking at land, we found it!! Exactly what we were looking for!! In early March we became the proud owners of 15 acres of land!

The land is just four miles from the downtown and beach, and a straight shot out of town. Easy access to everything, yet we have our piece of quiet country living. The land is flat and wooded. We will clear enough to plop our house down in the middle.

We hope to build next spring, and are looking at ranch plans. Erin has already insisted on a purple room, which is just fine with me. When she suggested a purple house I said she probably wasn't going to win that one. ;-)

Our budding artist!

2011-05-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

South Haven has a great art center just on the east side of the downtown. The kids have enjoyed craft days there during such city events as the Icebreaker Festival.We were thrilled to get a letter that Kyle had created a piece of art that would be displayed in the elementary art show. Go Kyle!! Here he is with the ribbon he was presented with.And here is the clay heart that he made that earned him his spot in the show. Way to go, Kyle! We're proud of you!!

31 in 31

2011-05-01T21:35:00.000-04:00

No, not a reference to my days of old at Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors. In an attempt to jumpstart my blogging, I am challenging myself to 31 posts in 31 days. Bring on May! I would venture to say that many of these posts will be short and sweet, usually with a picture or two. I have some catching up to do!

Early in January a friend started doing 365 Project and I thought it looked so cool. I knew, though, in the craziness of my life at the moment that I would set myself up to fail. I knew I wouldn't manage to post each day. Also, I knew I wanted to stretch my photography outside of the random day to day pictures I take and post "cool" pictures. So I settled on that being a goal for next year. This might help me get some of those shots taken, too, though.

So here is a May Day post and picture to begin the month. Bring it on!!! :)

Three years as a blogger!

2011-03-31T15:41:00.005-04:00

Three years ago today I began this blog. A new start because we were about to have a new start; a baby was set to arrive six weeks later. I look at my life then and my life now, and am amazed at the difference three years brings. While there is a degree of sameness – I am still a stay at home mom and part time freelance writer/editor, I live in the same house in the same town, I hang out with many of the same friends – there is so much that is different.

Three years ago we had just returned from a trip to visit friends in California and the concrete convention in Las Vegas. Traveling was easier with one child, and we haven’t attempted it with two yet. Three years ago Kyle was still in that middle ground of baby turning into toddler turning into preschooler. Now he is such a big boy; off on his own in school, doing things without his mom by his side. It is Erin who has not only arrived in our lives, but arrived at that middle ground of baby turning into toddler turning into preschooler.

While I was a parent three years ago, my parenting role has changed immensely today. Parenting a five year old means that he is old enough to fully comprehend what it is I am asking him to do and why. In a way this makes it easier, but oh so much more frustrating when he doesn’t respond how I want him to. And frustrating when he wants to exert his independence, and I’d rather my shepherd-wannabe be a sheep. Erin is a bit easier right now for the most part, but she also has an independent streak that may surpass Kyle’s. She wants to do everything herself, and make up her own mind about whether she does what you want her to do. I have trying days indeed!

Almost harder than parenting my children, is the role I now find myself in of parenting my parents. With my children I am their mother. My role as an authoritarian figure is defined and expected. It is up to me to steer them in a direction that will enable them to be good, responsible, productive members of society. With my aging parents I can see what is happened to them. My mind and my heart know the answers and solutions, yet my parents remain unconvinced.

When it was their turn to raise me into a good, responsible, productive member of society they excelled. They guided me to be a person who tries to do the right thing. Even when doing the right thing with them, the very thing that must be done to literally keep my mother alive, leaves me as the target of their anger. So this mode of parenting I find myself in with them leaves me questioning myself every moment of every day. It helps that my sister and I have been firmly backed by our family and my parents’ network of friends, and even the court system that we had to turn to, but it does not stop the soul searching.

So the past three years has brought much parenting joy to my days. My husband and children so openly love me that my heart overflows. Even when my kids are in trouble, they are seeking my love – and of course they get it. And when they’re not in trouble, the love is even better! It helps soften the hardness often left in my heart by the actions and inactions of my parents in the past eight months.

My new and unexpected parenting my parents role has had an affect on this blog. It almost doesn’t exist right now, because of a lack of time since I have spent so much time down there, and also because it’s been a depressing time. But, now that I am regaining time lost to caring for them, I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more. Now that I am replacing some of my bitterness with the joy of my immediate family, and the arrival of spring in more ways than one, I aim to cheerfully post!

Welcome back blog, happy three years! And welcome back me.

Who Dunnit?

2011-02-17T19:06:00.004-05:00

Here's Erin in her long-haired glory. The girl that as a babe in the womb the ultrasound tech kept saying, "Oh my gosh this baby has SOO much hair!" The girl with hair down her back and long pony tails at two and a half.

This morning as I was blow drying my own hair, Kyle comes in to tell me that Erin is cutting her hair. A lot. I come out to find clumps of hair and chunky layers. An emergency call is made, and this was Erin this afternoon.

And the after. I still love her beautiful hair on my beautiful girl!

An interesting thing happened at the salon, though. Rachael asked Erin what happened to her hair and Erin announced that Kyle cut it. Oh really??

So here is Kyle this afternoon.

His story is: "Erin cut her hair. She just snuck and did it. She used the black scissors."

Here is Erin.

Her story is: "Kyle do it. He cut my hair. Then he letted me cut it."

So they both have admitted now that it was a joint effort. The story continues to vary as to who made the first cut. But here are the accomplices in crime:

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

40 Days and 40 Nights

2011-02-09T21:57:00.004-05:00

The flood that occurred while Noah and his ark floated along. And the number of days it has been since my New Year's post to return to blogging. Sigh. And here I am, still in a Sahara Desert of blogging. Why? Sheer busy-ness. Stress. And wasting time when I can get away with it to try to get rid of some of the stress. Or so I tell myself when I play a dumb Facebook game again. And again.

A snapshop of our lives...

6:40 -- I'm up. After hitting snooze a few times. Very quickly hitting it, because while I hit snooze, Erin does snooze in the sleeping bag on the floor beside me. Our compromise to, "NOOO! Sleep with Mommy!!"

7:00 -- Out of the shower, dressed. Jack arrives, and Erin gets up at the same time. Snuggle up Erin in a blanket, put the fire truck together for Jack.

8:00 -- Mostly ready for the day. Two are breakfasted. Go to get Kyle up.

8:45 -- Out the door. Why is the last 15 minutes always a frantic rush, even though I think I have planned enough time? I go through Kyle's backpack as I add the things for today. While I take out yesterday's paperwork I see a note from the teacher. My regular day for helping in the classroom won't be needed since Binder Park Zoo is coming for a presentation -- but I'm welcome to attend that. Alright, I'm running out the door and Erin is already set up for a switcheroo. Hmm.

9:10 -- Kyle to school. Jack to school. Erin to the gym daycare where she will hang with her buddy, while my buddy works out. Get gas and a pop and head home for a minute. Grab my comforter off my bed to wash it at Beth's -- fits in her washer, not mine. To Kyle's school. I plan to stay for about 20 minutes of the zoo presentation, and get Erin early.

11:05 -- Sucked into staying for the whole thing. I was enjoying it, and enjoying sitting with Kyle in the gym bleachers. His teacher had forgotten her camera, so she was glad I had mine.

11:15 -- Ready to head to St. Joe to see my mom. Erin decides she is hungry, so I decide on a whim to not actually eat with my mom and get McDonald's so Erin can eat on the way down. My sister will be there for lunch, too, so it will work out.

11:45 -- At my mom's. She's not feeling well, so no lunch in the dining room anyway. Odd how that worked out well with Erin's Happy Meal! She was apparently so hungry that she fed the nursing home dog, Shadow, two of her chicken nuggets. :) Talk to the nurses, stop in the dining room to say hi to the friends we normally sit with, and spend time in my mom's room. We leave with Shadow snuggling in close to my mom.

1:15 -- Later than I wanted to leave because I continue to ruin Erin's nap, and we need to stop at Target for diapers and Valentine's for tomorrow's play group party. We put the diapers in the cart and Erin pouts, "No more diapers! Done!!" I tell her for bedtime. She says, "Ahh! Right!" Hello Kitty Valentine's for her, Scooby Doo for Kyle -- praying it works out okay that I picked them for him. Can't find Valentine crafts I need to have in five hours' time.

1:45 -- Leaving Target and spot Michael's -- that's it!! Valentine's crafts! Hit the jackpot because they are actually 60% off. Three stores down to get printer ink at Office Depot. Oddly both WalMart and Target were out, and I can't print in red only any longer. Thrilled that Erin is being a trooper with all the stops.

2:52 -- Pull into South Haven. Erin is sound asleep and I don't want to wake her. I really don't want to get in the pick-up line yet either, though. I decide to drive from school to the land we made an offer on to time it. Ten minutes. Not too bad.

3:15 -- Number two in the pick-up line! Never this far up. Talk to another mom. Read a few pages in my book. Erin is awake. She wants the cheese puffs she talked me into buying at Target.

3:55 -- Pull up at home. Try to put some stuff away, get a few things done, answer two American Greetings emails from my boss, snacks for the kids. Gather stuff for WILD Wednesday.

5:25 -- Leave for WILD as I call Mike and ask him to pick-up the wet comforter from my sister's since I forgot. Leave Kyle and Erin in choir -- Erin's first time. She sings at home, maybe she will be okay. Worth a try. Upstairs to set up all the crafts for the night.

6:00 -- WILD starts. By 7:15 the kids are done with the crafts, the place is a mess, and I am about to lose my mind. Help swoops in and I can clean up while the kids play musical chairs with Pastor Jeff.

7:45 -- Home. Kids are wiped out. So are mom and dad, for that matter. Bedtime. I handle Erin, Mike does Kyle.

8:30 -- Downstairs. I have 60 reports to edit. Argh! Working in the evening after bedtime is tough. I want downtime. I want to not use my mind. This is usually clear because I intersperse goofing around most nights. I swear no Facebook, though.

10:30 -- Yeah. I am finishing this post. I have only done ten reports so far. Not good. And when I decided to write a blog post I noticed a new post on a blog I follow. I haven't read it in ages. It was one I followed, but not a person I personally knew. I clicked her post, and lo and behold there are hats on her son from a friend who just made hats for my kids. What?? I click the link and end up on Amber's hat page on Facebook. I see Amber in the chat list and chat with her that I saw her on the blog. Small world, she follows that blog as well. Interesting turn, but it all took me away from reports, where I now will head back to.

Yawn. Will probably make it to bed around 1. Maybe I will try to do a picture catch-up post in the next few days. Or maybe in the next 40.

Happy New Year! 1-1-11

2011-01-01T17:21:00.003-05:00

Ahhh, 2011 is here! It is officially 1-1-11. I love patterned numbers and dates. Doesn’t it just look cool? It is 1-1-11. I had to type it again. I even went so far as to tell Mike we should get pregnant next month and have a baby on 11-11-11. That would be extreme, and NOT gonna happen!!

2010 was a rough one for me. It started out well, and seemed to just be on a path toward destruction in the second half. I am hopefully that those issues will work themselves out and thankful that my immediate family is and has been well!

As with most people most New Year’s days, I’ve been thinking about what 2011 will mean for me with regard to change and improvement. It’s an opportunity to reflect and see what I can be doing better. So, here’s my laundry list for now.

1. I always say I and my family will eat better. So again, this is on the list. My thoughts on this for 2011 are many. I’m going to look toward more real food, and less foods that have long lists of ingredients I have never heard of. I’m going to be more forceful with my picky children and make them try new things and broaden their tastes.

2. Spinning off of number 1 is an effort to be a great couponer. I have subscribed to a couple coupon sites, Coupon Divas and the Krazy Coupon Lady, and man are there deals out there. The reason I spin 1 into 2 is that one of the things that will fit both categories is I am going to try to meal plan better. The article I was reading suggests planning and shopping for a month at once, but that might be a drastic start for me. I’m going to try two weeks. The point is that you will not end up picking up something unhealthy and expensive. Unfortunately, this has happened a lot lately with my crazy life and schedule, so this should be a good step.

3. Organize. Geez, this makes the list every year. I really need to clear out junk and clean up stuff. When we move to our next home, I want it to be easy and as painless as possible. I am not moving any junk! I need to be more diligent in getting rid of outgrown toys, instead of saying, “Oh, but Erin played with this for five minutes two weeks ago!”

4. Time management. Again, this spins off the one above it on the list. I need to organize my limited time well. With three part time jobs that I schedule around my full time job of the kids and home, I need to plan well. Then throw helping care for my mom in the mix, and I need more hours in the day! So procrastination needs to go out the window. Getting sucked into the world of Facebook needs to be limited! I will do it! I really have to, because the 1am nights were killing me since Erin is my 6am riser. I also need to be able to squeeze in my sanity hobbies – my girls nights out, my scrapbooking, and reading.

So, that’s enough for my list. I also hope to get back to blogging. Life is what it is right now, and I need to fit my family’s life around the challenges.

Here’s to 2011! Bring it on!!

Above is a picture from our very first New Year's Eve out with a sitter! We had a great time last night with our friends Ralph and Kristine.

School Pictures :-)

2010-11-16T22:06:00.002-05:00

Kyle's Pre-Kindergarten (often known as Young Fives) pictures. What a handsome dude!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T22:15:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, Kyle!!

2010-11-02T22:58:00.003-04:00

My sweet boy turned five today -- a whole hand old! It's hard to believe the time has gone by so fast. At this time five years ago we were sitting in the hospital holding our wide awake newborn. Kyle entered the world at 4:28 pm, and then quietly spent the next six or seven hours awake, just looking around and taking it all in. We just gazed at our new bundle of joy, amazed at his temperment and beauty. (Okay, I admit it, we also watched the new episode of Lost.)

There hasn't been a day that I haven't felt so blessed to have Kyle. I cannot imagine any other boy in our lives. While he can try my patience like no other, he quickly has my smile back. He tests me, pushes his boundaries, and steps over the line into being independent, like any other five year old, and we love him for it. He is so smart, so thoughtful, and has such a good heart.

Kyle... like I did five years ago (actually five years and nine months ago!), and every day since, I love you to the moon and back. Heck, through the entire galaxy and back. LOVE YOU, BUB!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T22:32:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday... for Jay :-)

2010-10-20T21:58:00.003-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T22:03:00.001-04:00

We interrupt this blog...

2010-09-30T12:57:00.003-04:00

... with a busy life! Ahh, we have been busy. Here's a peek at a typical day, and why I didn't even manage a Wordless Wednesday yesterday!

7am
Up and at 'em! Getting myself, Kyle and Erin fed, showered for me, dressed and ready to get in the car.

8:40am
Out the door to take Kyle to school. Meet up with Kristine so I can hand Erin off to her and we switch cars because of car seats. Back into school to volunteer in Kyle's classroom.

11am
Done at Kyle's school. Meet up with Kristine again to get Erin and switch cars back. Then home.

12pm
Lunch and first attempt at putting Erin down for a nap. No go.

12:40pm
Second attempt to get Erin down, and I lay down for a few minutes to try to get a break from the raging cold I have. No go for either of us, since it's a nap refusal day for Erin.

1pm
Try to work on some things for W.I.L.D. Wednesday at church, check my email, straighten up the house, etc. while also entertaining my non-sleeper.

3:30pm
Go pick up Kyle from school. Erin falls asleep on the way home.

4pm
Try to finish up the W.I.L.D. stuff and get stuff ready for work, while entertaining kids and getting them snacks.

5:20pm
Out the door to W.I.L.D Wednesday, where I am one of the leaders.

7:35pm
Drop Kyle back at home (Mike already had picked Erin up from church) and I leave to do American Greetings at both Dollar Tree and WalMart. After I finish the cards at WalMart I pick up a few things we need.

10pm
Back home. Try to go through some pictures to get a print order in before my scrapbooking weekend

11:10pm
Picture order uploaded, ready for bed, climb in.

11:45pm
Still laying awake. Realize I never posted a Wordless Wednesday. Decide to do this post. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T20:49:00.002-04:00

Soccer Star

2010-09-11T16:46:00.003-04:00

I think Kyle is going to excel at soccer. He loves to run and he is FAST. He is coordinated and kicks the ball well. Probably the top two skills for soccer! The other day we were at the football field kicking the soccer ball around and twice Kyle stopped to "play track meet," and ran 1/4 mile around the track without stopping each time. He's good!

Today was Kyle's first day of soccer. He is with a group of 15 other boys who are almost five. They practice for half an hour and then they scrimmage for half an hour. It was cold. It rained the whole time. Kyle was already exhausted from his first week of school. Soooo, not such a good start to soccer, but there is always next week!

Here are some pictures before Kyle had his meltdown. :)

Kyle's First Day of School

2010-09-08T14:14:00.004-04:00

Kyle had take two on his first day of school today! It was supposed to be yesterday, but he coughed all night and wasn't feeling well. He slept great last night, though, and had a great start to his day today!

We got to school and Kyle was so excited and raring to go! He hugged his teacher, Mrs. Flower, and went right to his spot to start some activities. I could barely get him to kiss me goodbye, which is great for him! I'm so glad he settled right in without a worry at all.

When I picked him up today he said he'd had a great day. He was mostly concerned that he did not get to feed the guinia pig today. I asked him what he learned and he said, "Not a lot. I don't remember." :)

He is attending pre-Kindergarten at Maple Grove Elemetary here in South Haven. He's got some friends in his class, which is really nice, and only 15 students. He starts at 9 and doesn't finish until 3:50, which is a long day!! I think he's going to be sleeping really good at night!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-08T13:48:00.002-04:00

Summer busy-ness

2010-09-01T21:10:00.004-04:00

Our summer has been busy. Three posts in August was not because there was nothing to post, just no time! We have lots every week, and some lazy days in there, too.

A couple things that kept Kyle busy this summer were two vacation Bible schools and nature classes. The VBSs that he went to were at our own church (Galactic Blast!) and at another local church (Baobab Blast!). He loved them both and we still listen to the music regularly. One day in the car he told me, "Mom, I talk to you more than God just because I can see you." I love that he talks to God, though!

His nature classes were at Sarett Nature Center. Long story short, I accidentally signed him up for more classes than I intented to. However, he LOVED them so much that I didn't drop any of them. He went to about one a week. I stayed for a couple and took some pictures, but mostly he was on his own and did great. Here's what I captured of his time there.

Sitting right on the guide's lap for a story. :)Petting a turtle.Erin had fun on the walk, too!Learning about animals inside.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-01T21:07:00.002-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-11T21:20:00.003-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-04T22:30:00.003-04:00

Oh so techy update...

2010-08-04T22:29:00.001-04:00

So my new Kindle is returned already! Thanks to the announcement of a newer, better Kindle at a lower price, I am getting that!! The downside is I need to wait until the end of the month to get it, but it will force me to read a couple more actual books that are sitting here. ;-)

Oh so techy!

2010-07-22T21:07:00.002-04:00

Mike gave me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday, and I have been so excited about it! I'm loving it!

When it was first introduced a couple of years ago I was obssessed with it. I kept reading all the reviews, checking the Amazon page, etc. It was on my brain all the time. But, with the $400+ price tag I couldn't see ever getting one. Plus the reviews seemed to point to a few kinks, so I told myself there was no point in getting a first generation product anyway. Better to wait to get those little bugs worked out. So I told myself. ;-)

So here we are. A greatly reduced priced. Second generation. And a birthday gift! YAY!

My first Kindle book is True Believer, by Nicholas Sparks. I chose it because several years ago I received At First Sight, also by Sparks, as a gift. It was a book that followed the same characters as True Believer, so I wanted to read that first. Lately I had been checking the library for True Believer and it was always out, so I made it my first Kindle book. On deck, and already loaded, is Firefly Lane.

There are a lot of free books available, I am assuming from new-to-the-scene authors hoping to get some recognition, so it will be interesting to try some of those.

I am enjoying holding the small device. I like laying on my stomach in bed and not having to hold the book -- it just lays in front of me. I am a person that always liked literally seeing my bookmark progress through the book, so I am making do with the little bar that shows me the percentage I have read.

And the other night I was reading and Mike came up. I said, "I'm just finishing this chapter. Although I have no idea where the end is." LOL I could page forward to it, but then I would just have to page back.

Overall I am loving it!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T18:13:00.000-04:00

Beach times

2010-07-20T21:37:00.009-04:00

Here are a few pictures from a couple beach trips this month. We have loved, loved, loved the little hideaway beach we found here in South Haven. It is not one of the popular, big, crowded beaches. It is a small one away from the main drag. It has a little creek that empties into the lake there, so the kids can play in the creek of the lake. Did I say we LOVE it?

Well... South Haven has had some e. Coli issues this summer. Again, I was glad "our" beach was not the one closed. We continued to hit our favorite spot. Right up until the headline read, "Deerlick Creek probably source of e. Coli." Yep. Our creek. Our beach. We haven't been back yet. Sigh.

This first group of pictures is from a quick trip Kyle and I took to meet the Ayotte's while Mike stayed home with sleeping Erin. It was Brett's first trip to the beach, and I LOVE this picture of him. I also love the one of Kyle and Jack.These pictures are from an evening trip. I took Kyle and Erin down with a picnic when Mike had golf. We ran into our friends, the Asiala's, there. Thomas and Kyle are buddies. Jill and I are buddies. ;-)

Weekend of Festivities, Day 3 -- finally!!

2010-07-18T22:03:00.005-04:00

Here it is July 18 and I am just now getting around to posting the final day of our fabulous Fourth of July weekend! This coming week is a little slower, so watch for some catching up!

Our day began with South Haven's Fourth of July parade. Here is Kyle with one of his best buddies, Laine. I love this happy picture of them!

This is the "candy parade." The kids know that it gets thrown from every parade participant and the scramble begins! Kyle and Erin came home with a bunch of it!

Our day continued on at the Lucius household. We have fun there every time we go, and this was no exception. After the fireworks display Ralph put on Kyle said, "I want to have my birthday party here so Ralph can do fireworks!" lol

Here is Uncle Troy catching Kyle in a splash, and then Mike catching him. He and his cousin Jack were leaping fools! ;-)

Erin is loving the water this summer! She was doing her fair share of leaping, as well.

Kyle called these "practice fireworks." They were little cars and trucks that would spin around with fire and smoke.

Erin playing with Max at the water table. Sparkler and firework time!

Happy birthday, America!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-14T07:21:00.003-04:00

Erin's first haircut

2010-07-12T21:14:00.004-04:00

This should not have been such a hard decision. To cut or not to cut. To actually take that milestone step or not to. I did it. Erin has had her bangs trimmed before, but since about December I have been growing them out. The problem is, her whisper-fine hair will not stay. Within an hour of doing her hair in the morning it is falling out, and the parts that fall out hang far into her face.

I decided that a bang trim at this point should be handled by a professional, and that she could see if Erin needed a little trim while we were at it. I had an appointment tonight anyway, and my stylist graciously took Erin as well. My wee one behaved perfectly while I got my hair cut, then continued her angel behavior for her own cut. Way to go, Erin!!

Weekend of Festivities: Day 2

2010-07-09T21:59:00.005-04:00

On July 3rd we headed to Eagle Lake to the Mullauer's for our annual festivities. This is one of my favorite days of summer. There are always lots of friends there, the food is great, the conversation is great, and the setting is great. I love it!!

This year we did all our favorite things. Kyle got to jet ski and fish, Erin went on her first jet ski ride, and we stayed through the fireworks. It was fabulous!!The cupcakes I made... ducks and corn on the cob.Erin had a ball!Brian playing with Erin.A couple of the older kids caught frogs; Erin and Kyle had a great time looking at them.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T20:42:00.003-04:00

Weekend of festivities: Day 1

2010-07-06T22:05:00.004-04:00

We had an unbelievable holiday weekend! It began Friday when we headed to Battle Creek to go to the Balloon Festival and Air Show. It was fabulous! We got to see the balloon launch, rode some carnival rides, ate dinner, saw an air show, and watched the balloon illume. Beautiful!! It was also Kids' Day, so the kids got to go to some booths with free activities and free take-aways. While there were a lot of people there, other than the carnival ride area it didn't seem crowded. Getting there and parking was easy. It was a GREAT event that we all loved!

A day in St. Joseph

2010-07-04T09:55:00.004-04:00

We had a great trip down to St. Joe a few days ago. We went with Kyle and Erin's friends -- there were ten kids and five moms! We started out downtown looking at all the Hot Diggity Dog dogs. The kids had fun looking at them, sitting on them, and playing in the sand box under one of them.

Next we headed over to the bluff for a picnic lunch. Then we went down the stairs and played in the Compass fountain. This is a great addition to the waterfront, and the kids all had an absolute blast!!

A spin on the Silver Beach Carousel before we left topped off what was a great morning for everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-30T22:36:00.003-04:00

New professional pictures!

2010-06-29T17:12:00.005-04:00

I went and had professional pictures taken of the kids today. These were Erin's two-year pictures, but a little behind. I had to wait for a certain brother to get his cast off! They both behaved very well, and we got some great shots. It helps to bribe them with a lunch at Chuck E. Cheese if they sit as asked and smile! I'm not above bribery, ha ha!

We are family

2010-06-27T13:34:00.003-04:00

...all my brothers, sisters and me! Well, in these pictures there is one brother/son, one sister/daughter, one husband/father and one wife/mother. It is our happy family, and we love it! These were taken on Father's Day when we went down to Harborfest.

Flashback Friday... with some commentary

2010-06-25T20:01:00.005-04:00

I am hopelessly behind in my scrapbooking. Well, not hopelessly, because I still have hope, but I have come up with a new plan of attack. Currently I am up to Kyle at 14 months. Gasp! My problem is I take SOOO many pictures, and I can barely part with any of them. They all go in the scrapbook. His first year "album" is three albums. Erin doesn't even have one yet! Another gasp!

So the new plan is that I am going to make an effort to scrapbook at home. I gave up on it when Kyle was young. It was too much effort to get everything out for a very short amount of time -- like naps or the evening -- since I couldn't keep little fingers away from it. I have been relying on the extended crops I am blessed to be able to do.

My concerted effort to scrapbook at home will begin with both Kyle and Erin's 2010 albums. I will get those up to date at home. Then when I go to long crops I will work on the backlog. Eventually I hope to meet in the middle. Hopefully while the kids are still young, lol!

So now enters the flashback for Flashback Friday. I have gone through all the pictures I took in January, grouped them, decided on pages, and all the prints are ordered. Next week I can begin them. All this planning and plotting has me itching to get in there and start the pages. Woo hoo!

Here is our trip to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum in January that I never made a blog post about, other than this Wordless Wednesday post. There was a new veterinarian exhibit. Enjoy -- the kids sure did!

Beds are optional...

2010-06-19T12:29:00.002-04:00

Erin's transition from crib to toddler bed has been interesting. She moved into the bed very easily. Went down for her first nap in it with no problem. I think it lasted a day where she didn't realize she could get out on her own -- then she was all about it! She'd come in our room during the night and want in with us. Since I don't know the last time I got a full, uninterrupted night of sleep, I was usually too tired to argue.

Finally I decided I needed to toughen up and take her back. So, she came in again and I said, "Erin, it's the middle of the night and you need to sleep in your own bed." She looked surprised, said, "Oh!" and left. Wow -- easy!

Now she's in a whole new phase. She wakes up during the night and wants to sleep on the floor. I'll wake up to, "Mommy!" Usually when this happens I open my eyes and see a small face an inch or so from mine. Now I see no one; I just hear a little voice. I'll peek over the side and Erin will be on the floor, head on our extra pillow with the sham, and asking me to put her blanket on her. She then sleeps there the rest of the night. Hey, whatever floats your boat!

My little cast-away

2010-06-18T20:47:00.003-04:00

Kyle was a trooper today getting his cast off! That four weeks went by fast. When he broke his elbow my heart broke for his "lost summer" of bike riding and swinging. Now here we are with tons of summer left and two good arms!

For the first half of the day Kyle protectively held his arm close to his body and I would remind him on occasion that he could use both arms. By the end of the day he was using it much more. We still have some stiffness to work out, but he is already improving much quicker than I thought he would this morning. The trick will be to be sure he doesn't go too far with it and get careless. It still would be easier to break if he landed on it again.

And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually walked out the door without my camera this morning. In our haste I forgot it! (sniff) These were taken with my phone.We got to bring his cast home with us, as we did when he had the buckle fracture to his wrist. Boy oh boy has he grown! It's amazing to look at the size difference. Although the first one only went to his elbow and this one went up to the top part of his arm, you can see the difference in his wrist and hand easily. He sure has grown!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T19:55:00.002-04:00

Aww, my sweet book worm!

2010-06-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

Erin is a girl after my own heart. One of her first words was book. She loves to bring me books and say, "Read? Read book?" She stole my heart away when she settled down with her baby this week, covered her with a blanket, and proceeded to "read" her a story. It was absolutely adorable! I think Erin will be a book lover just like her mom!! (And her brother!)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

STRAWBERRIES!

2010-06-08T21:22:00.005-04:00

We went strawberry picking this morning and came home with some great berries! The kids had a lot of fun. Erin was a good picker, getting lots of red ones (a few not so red!) and focusing on the task at hand. Kyle was more focused on eating them, which was great too!

And, it is now the tradition in our family to have a strawberry shortcake dinner -- once a year when the Michigan strawberries come in. And it's always yummy when they are the fruits of your labor... hee hee... I'm punny. ;-)

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-02T20:58:00.009-04:00

We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! We started it at The Friendly in Coloma for dinner Friday night, then we hit the car show at Lane Automotive. It pays to know some Corvette owners, because Kyle was thrilled to sit in one!
Saturday morning began with breakfast, then we went downtown to feed the ducks. What we got were geese, and a cute family of them!Saturday we also went to Hannah Seiler's graduation party. She babysits the kids, and we will miss her come fall. (Although thrilled that she is going to be a Spartan!)Saturday afternoon we headed to Taylor's for a cookout. The kids (and Mike and I) had a great time. I love that in this picture only Erin is smiling, and she's holding her trusty hot dog bun.Sunday morning began lazy. ;-)We made cupcakes to take to the cook-out at Beth and Troy's, but poor Brett was sick and it got cancelled. Didn't stop Kyle and Erin from eating leftover frosting!Instead we headed to our friends the Luciuses. They have new kittens (along with the rest of their farm animals!) and they were a huge hit with the kids.Kyle's cast is waterproof, but I decided to tape a bread bag on Kyle's arm anyway. Yeah... he could have kept a goldfish in the bottom of that bag!We watched the Memorial Day parade on Monday morning. Luckily is was an early one, since a couple hours later the rain hit and didn't stop the rest of the day.A great weekend all in all!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-02T01:00:00.000-04:00

The final countdown... last week of school.

2010-05-30T22:09:00.010-04:00

Kyle had a great last week of school, other than dealing with the arm through it all. On Monday the class went on a walking trip to the beach where they looked for treasures in the sand.Wednesday they had a movie day in their pajamas.Snack time!Popcorn during movie time.I got a couple play ground shots. I always let Erin go in and play, too, because their play ground time was at the end of the morning before pick-up.Thursday Erin had her last play group of the year. Luckily we will see many of those people throughout the summer.Erin puts one rock at a time in the little hole. We could have been there for days!The sail boats on Jello "water" I made.Thursday night Kyle graduated from preschool! In the old pre-children days I thought preschool graduations were silly. Until I watched Kyle... sheesh, I'll tell you now that you may as well invest in Kleenex before his high school graduation if this was any indication! LOL Kyle gets his diploma and hugs his teachers, the principal, and the pastor.His teachers Mrs. Mitchell and Miss Fritzler. Friday Kyle's school had an all-school picnic. Both kids had a lot of fun.Kyle was ingenious to figure out that he could use his two-handed water squirter with his good hand and his mouth!The dog was as much entertainment to Kyle as everything else!Erin was thrilled to meet a new friend.

Casting call

2010-05-27T21:43:00.003-04:00

... an update on Kyle. He got his permanent cast on Tuesday. At the time I thought all our prayers were answered... healing sounded like it was going to go well based on the break (which is right through, not a crack!), cast is only for four weeks, it's got the waterproof liner, and it's green -- Kyle's favorite color.

Here are Kyle and Erin on Tuesday. I took them for ice cream since Kyle had to get his cast. They look smiling and happy!!
Now, however, Kyle is in significant pain much of the time. He can't sleep at night. He moans and whimpers a lot. It's been really rough. When my active boy wants to lay on the couch all afternoon and cries if he moves at all, I know he's in big pain. We are headed in tomorrow for another xray to see if there is a problem. (Although they did take one after placing the cast on Tuesday to ensure the location of the bones in the cast.)

Prayers for our little buddy, please!

If you're browsing through...

2010-05-25T20:42:00.004-04:00

The South Haven 2010 Tour Guide...

Don't miss the smiling face on page 30!

Deja vous

2010-05-22T21:26:00.003-04:00

In September 2008, just before turning three, Kyle went over the arm of the couch and put his hand out to catch himself. The result was a buckle fracture in his left wrist. (You can catch some cast pics from then here.)

Well, today we made another ER trip with a broken bone. This time Kyle fell off his bike and landed directly on his elbow. I got there seconds later and he was crying so hard saying that he couldn't move his arm. There is a fracture in his elbow, and it swelled like a golf ball. It was a traumatic, tearful ER trip. This break hurt a lot more, especially the bending needed for good xrays.

He is in a temporary cast and sling for now, and Monday we will go to the orthopedic doctor. Our number one concern is for healthy healing. Our wish is for a waterproof cast so that the first half of summer is not a bust. Our next wish (well, Kyle's) is that it be green.

Here is my little guy finally busting out a smile before bedtime. He was such a trooper today because I know without a doubt that he was in a lot of pain.

Wordless Wednesday (although watch for more on this!)

2010-05-19T20:55:00.001-04:00

How to make your husband FLIP out!!

2010-05-17T14:56:00.001-04:00

I left this children's thermometer out on the kitchen counter, without any thought at all that this: Looks VERY similar to this: Mike is resting easily now after that near heart attack. HA HA HA. Too bad I didn't think of that for April Fool's. ;-)

Happy birthday, Erin!!

2010-05-16T20:16:00.005-04:00

Erin celebrated her second birthday today! Amazing! Our little angel is growing up so fast! She had a busy, busy day, but a great one. We started off at the church where Kyle goes to preschool so he could sing in their service with his classmates. Then we managed to hit our favorite breakfast place, before going to our church service.

The afternoon was when the birthday fun really began! Erin's party included her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. There were 21 people here and everyone had a blast. The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

Of course birthdays and perfect weather aren't the only makings of a great day with Erin. She is a wonderful, sweet girl no matter what the day. While I am always told that she never stops smiling, we know that she can also hold her own and be quite assertive. Even that is cute, though! (Mostly, ha ha!) Erin's favorite things right now are her baby dolls and coloring. Her birthday party theme was crayons. She is the sweetest mother to her babies, snuggling them tight, whispering them to sleep, feeding them gently. I can only imagine how lucky her children will be some day.

While we have always thought Kyle was our daredevil, we groan a bit to see that Erin may top him. She is afraid of nothing! She climbs the highest slides, up the ladders of play sets, and all around on the tunnels of jungle gyms. She is sure she can do anything she tries, although we do hear the occasional, "Stuck!!!"

Erin is smart as a whip, and beginning to talk. It so amazing to be able to communicate and know what she wants. She can also be quite animated, which makes us smile and giggle. Today my heart melted when she walked her baby over the cradle on her new baby center and I heard her say, "Night night baby." Aww!

Since Erin arrived shortly after I began this blog, you can check out the blog on her birth, and the blog with her first birthday photo/music montage, and the one on her first birthday party, if you are looking for more. :)

Here's Erin when she was born, and on both of her birthdays. We love her to the moon and back!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T19:47:00.002-04:00

Saying goodbye

2010-05-05T21:27:00.003-04:00

I went to the funeral of Doug Felland today. Dr. Felland was the father of my friend Stacy, who has been my best friend since junior high. Theirs was a house I walked into without knocking, spent the night at too many times to count, and enjoyed so many memories. Stacy's parents were like a second set of parents to me while I was growing up.

Dr. Felland was kind, smart, funny, optimistic... the list goes on. What a great man he was, and how he will be missed by so many.

Ironically, as I went to find a picture to post with this, my first thought was to pull up my wedding pictures. I knew I had reception pictures of all the guests. What I pulled up was a picture with the Fellands, and also the Kings. Sadly, we just said goodbye to Roger King this past month as well. Another great man lost to our world, but on to the next.

Godspeed to both of these men. We will miss them.

I'm one proud Mama!

2010-05-01T21:00:00.004-04:00

Kyle was in his school musical last night, and he did GREAT! The musical was called The Big Bad Musical, and it was a trial of the big, bad wolf and had all the characters from different fairy tales. It was a lot of fun and all the kids did great. The preschoolers were the warm-up act for the audience, and they got everyone laughing with their fun songs. They also did two commercials halfway through the musical. I was, of course, beaming with pride at Kyle!

We also made a fun night of it. Kyle's Nana and Grandpa Jay came down and had dinner with us, went to the musical, then treated us all to Sherman's afterwards! Yum! (Thanks, Lyn and Jay!)

And here's some video of a really FUN song they did!! (Click the triangle.)

Woo hoo, what a big girl!

2010-04-26T21:29:00.003-04:00

Erin tried to climb out her crib last week and fell. While I don't think it was going to happen again anytime soon, I thought she was just ready for a bed. She loves to climb into our bed or Kyle's and pull the covers up. She loves to lay her head on a couch pillow and be covered with the blanket.

So last week we got a toddler bed from Mike's sister Susan, and today Erin and I put it together. I say Erin loosely, but I tell you, she watched me like a hawk and she would pick up a screw, put it in a hole, and use the screwdriver. The girl is going to be able to do anything!
We got the bed in her room and I put the bedding on. The crib was moved out of the way. She pointed and the bed and shouted no, running to her crib and holding on. I was amazed -- and worried that she wasn't going to go for the bed. I decided to take the crib down anyway.

Our big girl went down for her nap, and for bed tonight, without so much as a peep. She was asleep in minutes. And at bedtime she hopped right in and had to be reminded about stories!

What a big girl she is!

Happy birthday, Mike!!

2010-04-21T22:06:00.004-04:00

Happy birthday to Mike today! We had a great day celebrating. Mike got to take the day off -- woo hoo! He woke up to biscuits and gravy, his favorite, and presents. We then headed up to Grand Rapids to Frederik Meijer Gardens for Kyle's school field trip. It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time. Kyle can't wait to go back! Then we made it down to Benton Harbor (which gave the kids some nap time) for dinner. El Rodeo for Mike's favorite spicy shrimp dish. It was a great birthday for a great guy!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-21T22:03:00.001-04:00

Whatever sparks your creativity...

2010-04-20T21:03:00.003-04:00

Looking back at Easter

2010-04-19T10:01:00.008-04:00

We had a great Easter! The kids got to participate in several Easter egg hunts and loved each one of them. They also dyed and decorated eggs the day before Easter. On Easter morning the Sinclair side of the family came for breakfast, and we went to church. Then it was up to Holland to celebrate Easter with the Bos side of the family. It was a perfect day!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!!

I love this picture of Erin because she has this expression of surprised excitement all the time.

Erin's eggs. I left the table to get something for a few minutes, which resulted in the very heavily colored egg!

Kyle's eggs, including smiley stickers, wrappers, and coloring! The Easter bunny brought Kyle a Wii game!

The Easter egg hunt at church. Jack and Kyle are here.

Beth, Troy, Jack and Brett.

Hunting eggs at Nana and Grandpa Jay's...

Erin loved coloring with the big girls!

Kimberly did a great project with the kids... using crescent rolls, marshmellows and cinnamon sugar to talk about Jesus rising from the tomb.

And some family pictures!Erin, Kyle, Jack and Brett.All the Bos clan.

Bos cousins... Kyle, Nina, Isabel, Claire, Erin... back row, Nathaniel and Chloe.

Lightbulbs and pasta

2010-04-15T16:39:00.003-04:00

I love the age Kyle is. He understands our language well enough that we can have wonderful conversations. It is so fun to hear him share his thoughts, and get a look into how his mind works. At the same time, he is young enough to still say things that leave me with a big grin and a swelled heart. As smart as he is, sometimes things just come out in the cutest way that only a child would think of.

Three weeks ago Kyle helped me plant 60+ bulbs in the garden. Now we check our "lightbulb" flowers each day. Among the tulips the hostas are now coming up. But Kyle will say that the "pastas" are growing.

So here you go, a look at the growth we're seeing in our lightbulb and pasta garden.

You Capture ~ Comfort

2010-04-10T12:37:00.002-04:00

I enjoy reading my friend Salena's blog regularly. I love her, her family and her blog!! I learn a lot from her posts, and also get some great ideas. She has recently hooked into a challenge from another blog, where you have to post a picture that you feel defines the assigned word. This week is it comfort.

I thougth for a bit about recent pictures I have taken, and what defines comfort to each of us in our family. The picture I decided on is this: Kyle got his green blankie as a baby gift. I'm not sure when exactly it became a must-have item, we just grew toward that need. Sometime around Kyle being a year or so, I realized that we needed a back-up blankie. This seemed highly urgent around 7pm on a Friday night. I had worked all day, and we were putting Kyle to bed. We could not find blankie anywhere. All I could think was that it was in a locked up KinderCare in Kalamazoo, and we wouldn't see it again until Monday morning. (Fortunately I found it in the car, tucked beside his car seat!)

Eventually the first blankie became so tattered I tried to buy a couple more. They no longer sold it in pine green, but hey, navy is close enough, right? NO. It is not. Thus it became green blankie. It now exists in our lives simply as "green."

Kyle always has it at bedtime and in the morning, but we no longer take it in anywhere. Lately, however, his need for it has been strong and he likes it in the car frequently. He took it for his last show and tell at school, along with pictures of him through the years with it.

He loves green. And green always goes with puppy. And I love that he loves them. I love the comfort they bring him, and the sweetness of it.

Flashback Friday, again!

2010-04-09T21:04:00.005-04:00

Flashing back to just a week ago now, when my friend Rachel had a play date extraordinare at her house with 12 kids and their moms. The weather was unseasonably hot and it was perfect! The kids got to play a ton, had an Easter egg hunt, and enjoyed goodies like popsicles and cupcakes. It felt like a great start to summer!! (Although the weather was freezing today!)
It's okay, Sadie. We're all leaving soon!