My Princess

The other morning I asked Becca if she was a princess.  "No" she said "I Becca!"

A few minutes I asked her to take off her pjs so we could get dressed.  She got this far and burst out laughing.



She ran to the mirror and asked to be lifted up to see.  As soon as she spotted herself she said, "Now I princess!"

My Little Hobbits

My kids have always been pretty good eaters, especially in the morning.  And then there are times when one of them will increase their eating by 200% for a week or two preceding a growth spurt.  This past month all three of them were gearing up for growth spurts.  They all started eating and eating and eating and I started getting flashes or what life might be like when they are teenagers.  Michael was eating more than I did during meals.

It got to the point where they all got up in the morning and stated "For my first cereal, I want...."  First cereals, second cereals, cereal bar, snack, second snack, lunch, ....  You get the point.

Unlike Hobbits though I guess they are now growing.  Jon proudly walked out of the bathroom the other day proudly announcing that he could turn on and off the water without using a stool.  Becca has been sitting on a stool at the table but recently sat on a chair and jabbered on and on about how tall she was and how she could see over the table better.  She also keeps announcing, "I grow bigger!" and running her pointer fingers up from her toes to the top of her head.  And Michael, who has been wearing the same size clothes for two years now, put on a pair of his jeans which barely reached his ankles.

We have loved

having Aunt Katherine for a visit!

Baseball

Michael is so excited to play coach pitch little league this spring!  He is on the Orioles.  For the first time in Holland sports, Michael is actually on a team with 4 others from his school.  They are so excited to play together although sometimes I think Michael is even more excited when there is someone from his class on the other team.  I wonder who he gets such a competitive nature from?


A few weeks ago was opening day.  The kids were pumped up and they had a large flag raising ceremony.






And then the big moment came and Michael got to actually play.  He still swings left handed and is laughing that his coach needs to get better at pitching to lefties.  He is doing great on the team and is loving every minute of it.

A Day At the Park

During tennis season we often go to the park by Tim's matches after school.  My kids love playing there.


Recently the boys have been playing Star Wars and this day Becca wanted to join.  Jon couldn't figure out how she could though because Princess Leia is the only girl.  She is a good guy but they were playing the bad guys.


I told Jon that maybe there were some girl bad guys and pointed out that many of them where helmets and maybe there are some girls under the helmets.  He was completely baffled by this idea and took a while to ponder this possibility.


Eventually they agreed to let her play but...


She of couse had already moved on to other things.


I simply can't believe how big these kids are getting.


I love them to pieces.


So while Tim coached his team


We were there to "watch" the match that day.

The Paradoxes of My Mother's Day

The Serious
In many ways I love Mother's Day.  I don't get (nor do I want) lots of gifts, but it is so nice to be loved on by the people who love me.  A hug, a phone call, a smiling face screaming "Happy Mother's Day!" all bring great amounts of joy to my day.  And I love saying Happy Mother's Day to all of my friends who are mothers too.  I know how tough this job can be and yet they do it with joy and smiles and wouldn't have it any other way.
However, the one person I wish I could say Happy Mother's Day to isn't here anymore and I miss her so much still.  If she were here I'd give her a huge hug and let her know how much I appreciate her.  She had one of the warmest hearts for people - any people who crossed her paths.  She genuinely wanted everyone to experience life to the fullest, enjoying all that God had for them and to see them grow in their faith and abilities.  For me, she was the one I could always talk to about anything and I miss sharing my life with her.
I also feel some mixed emotion as a mom.  I have three fabulous children.  God has gifted them in so many wonderful ways and I feel so honored to be their mom and have a roll in shaping who they will become.  Tim and I have talked over the last few years about adoption from foster care.  So on mother's day I can't help but wonder if I have other children out who are not yet a part of our family.  This is exciting but also a bit sad on Mother's Day, knowing that I can't hug them too and imagining that they are probably living through some tough situations where I can't support them yet.

The Funny
A church friend and I were talking about what we wanted for Mother's Day.  She laughed and quoted her husband who said, "How come for Mother's Day, moms don't want to do any of the things that make them a mom?"  Isn't that true.  We ask for some time alone - away from the kids.  Restaurants are full because moms don't want to cook meals.  I simply wanted to have a day where I didn't do any dishes.  At some level this makes sense.  We celebrate moms and the work they do by giving them a day off.  But I also find it funny.  Really every day of my year should be Mother's Day and moms should have a day (or maybe a couple) where they can have a small respite from the 24/7ish of motherhood.  Maybe we should call it "Go ask your dad" Day or something.

My Reality
So how did my Mother's Day go?  It was fabulous.  I got flowers times 2, cards, and a small school gift from both Jon and Michael.



I got to spend the day with the people I love the most in this world (including Tim who was behind the camera for this shot).  :)


And check out the new background screen that was on my ipad when I got up in the morning:

Early May Thoughts

The weather is unpredictable right now - even for the meteorologists.  At least 50% of the time they predict rain we get sun (see the parade post from yesterday) or 50% of the time they predict sun it rains. The other day the kids went out to play frisbee with Tim.  After 20 minutes it started to sprinkle.  Everyone went on playing except for Jon who is so sensitive about those things.  I found him waiting out the rain under the slide.  :)


And speaking of Jon, guess who is getting really good at chess?


Check this out!  Do you see what is on our trees?  The buds are disappearing and the leaves are coming out.  I'm hoping that that and the rain we got at the end of the week will help settle down my allergies.  They have been much worse than ever before this year and last year.  This year I was knocked out for about a week, needing to lay down and close my eyes a couple of times a day.  I also got hives up and down both arms.  I love the look of spring, but I've had to hide out inside and even spend the money to turn the air conditioning on to filter our air.


Here is something else to check out.  For the first time ever, I french braided hair.  It turned out a bit wobbly looking, but held together pretty good!

Tulip Time

This past week was tulip time in Holland.  Because my allergies have been so bad recently we didn't get out much, but we did head down town on Thursday for the parade.

I started by trying to get a picture of the kids with some tulips, but the sun was a bit bright.


There, that is better!


And here we are ready to watch the parade.  We brought the umbrella because it was suppose to start raining.  Instead we ended up using it for shade that afternoon (Michigan weather!).  We had a pretty good spot to watch this year because Tim when out early in the morning on his way to work and set out a blanket for us.  Believe it or not, he said most of the spots were already taken when he got there at 7:00 in the morning for a 2:00pm parade.


Two years ago I got the cutest pictures of Jon covering his ears for the parade.  Must be the age, because this year it was Becca.


And where is Michael you may ask?  He was marching in the parade as a little Dutchman!

Early Mother's Day

Look what my son brought home from school for me today!

Look who came to play in our yard!

Magic Trick

Now you see it.


Now you don't.


Where did it go?


Tim loves doing magic tricks with the kids and Jon is really into them right now.  Tim will hold and object out and "grab" it with his other hand.  Then he will have Jon blow on his fist to make the object disappear or change color.  Michael loves to watch, but knows that Dad is pulling a trick on them.  Becca finds it fun but it doesn't yet phase her for something to totally disappear or change - isn't that the way the world works?  Her three year old brain finds it believable.  Jon on the other hand, knows that this shouldn't be but can't figure out how it happens.  He thinks Dad is magical.  In fact, I've found Jon off by himself holding something tightly in his hand and blowing on it trying to make it change like Dad does.

Butterflies

Last week Jon, Becca, and I took a trip up to Grand Rapids to see the Butterfly exhibit at Fredrick Meijer Gardens.  We had a lot of fun.

We found a chrysalis,


and saw many butterflies and flowers.


Jon and Becca loved it when the butterflies fluttered right next to their faces.


But the favorite was the tunnel to walk through behind the waterfall.


Check out the size of this one:




In addition to the butterflies there were lots of kid friendly activities to check out.








Thanks Michele, Luke, and Judah for hosting us for a fun day!