Mom with Mission

Jon's still got it!

2012-02-18T09:00:00.002-05:00

After Michael who would take hours to fall asleep, we were completely captivated by Jon's ability to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. Here are a couple of old pictures of it.

Having had enough of tummy time one day:

All dressed up and ready for church and waiting for the rest of the family.

Now, Jon is at the point where he is starting to give up naps. If he naps too many days in a row he is up late into the night. However if he doesn't take a nap he gets really tired come late afternoon.

The other day the kids were listening to a Mute Math DVD with dad while I was upstairs studying. Now, for those of you not familiar with the band, they are LOUD. When I came downstairs, this is what I found:

Sound asleep on the floor with the music blasting and his brother and sister running around playing.

2 years old

2012-02-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

Once again we have a 2 year old in the house. We celebrated with the DeJong family and joint party for Becca and her cousin Luke who were born only two days apart.

We decided to do a Mickey and Minnie party since the kids have been fascinated by them especially since going to Disney. I tried my best to create fabulous cakes for them. :) Considering I'm not a cake decorator by trade or hobby I think they turned out fun.

Here are the kids blowing out the candles with the help from the Dads.

And then it was on to the presents. Allie (who is only a month younger than these two) did a fabulous job staying happy even through none of the presents came to her.

Pacifier Free

2012-02-16T14:21:00.002-05:00

I have been afraid to say anything for fear I would jinx it, but we are now a pacifier free house!!

When we took the kids to the dentist last month and they said they could see that Jon used a pacifier (although he did give his up many months ago), we got a little worried about Becca and her teeth. Tim and I talked and decided it was at least worth a try. So about a month ago when I put her to bed, we made a big deal about saying good-bye to her pacifier and took them out of her room. She was a bit confused when I put her down, but there was minimal whining and she went to sleep fine.

The weeks that followed were better than I was expecting, but not perfect. First she would complain about going to bed. (When she had the pacifier she used to get all excited at bed time.) She would go to sleep fine, but was waking up early in the mornings and taking naps only about half as long as she use to. I started to weigh the problem of shorter sleeps verses crooked teeth and held off a bit longer, although at times I just wanted to give her a pacifier back.

Then we got sick and sleep because even more erratic. Now, though, I'm happy to announce that her sleep is returning to what it use to be as she must be getting use to sleeping without the pacifier and she never asks about it or anything. I do keep coming across pacifiers that have been hidden in drawers or lost under couches, but for the most part we are now pacifier free!

Michael at school

2012-02-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks of Jan and the first week in Feb, Michael's school had wacky Wednesdays. Here are the pictures of our crazy kindergartener.

First up was crazy hair day.

Then came beach day.

For dress up fancy day I got him in a shirt with a collar but he wouldn't wear a nice vest and we found out that his nice shoes are definitely too small.

The last Wacky Wed was PJ day.

And since we are on the subject of Michael at school, check out what he came home with this week.

There was a note from his teacher that he fell over someone while playing soccer on the black top at recess. He said it hurt a lot and they had him ice it some, but once he got home he said it felt fine. However it keeps freaking him out to look in the mirror.

We've been sick and a birthday post

2012-02-09T19:41:00.003-05:00

Well, as you can tell from my lack of posts recently things have not been normal around here. As the title says, we have been sick. We are going on two and half weeks of sickness in the house. Good news is that most everyone is finally done with it. Bad news is I'm still fighting a bad cough.

However, we did have a small moment of fun in the middle of it all. Jon turned 3 1/2 and we celebrated with brownies. (Notice that there is only one candle because it was all I could find, but Jon still had fun blowing it out.)

And the Walls of Jericho came tumbling down

2012-01-28T09:00:00.002-05:00

Someone asked me the other day if Michael pretends now. The answer is Yes, but not in the way you might think. Michael pretends within boundaries of reality. For example, when he and Jon play a sports game, Jon is trying to come up with new rules like adding tackling to basketball while Michael creates pretend games using real players, real teams, and the REAL rules.

The same goes for blocks. Michael will not pretend by creating a castle and making up a story about a dragon. Instead, he builds the city Jericho which is the story they were learning in Kindergarten this week.

Here are the people walking around the city. At the time of the picture Michael announced that this was their third time around because it was the day they needed to march around 7 times. (Notice Becca sitting back calmly only because we assured her that in a minute it would be time for the walls to come crashing down.)

And...

Doll Clothes

2012-01-27T11:16:00.002-05:00

As Becca is getting more and more into her baby doll I thought that doll clothes might be a fun birthday present for her this year. So I went out looking and ran into two problems. 1. Most doll clothes seem to be for 18" dolls (the height of the ever popular american gill dolls) and the baby we have is 12". 2. People are asking $10-20 (or even more) for a doll dress. I have a problem paying more for doll clothes than I do for clothes for my kids.

So I started rummaging through our baby clothes to see what I could find. Of course even our newborn clothes are too big, but I am having fun altering them for the doll. Now, I do know how to sew a button or fix a small hole in something, but I have only ever used a sewing machine once - a couple of months ago when Michele came over to teach me. However, I brought the sewing machine up from the basement along with an old newborn onsie. After some work relearning how to operate the machine, here is what I made:

It turned out to look a lot like a nightgown so that is what I decided it was. :) To those of you who know how to sew, this probably looks a bit anti-climactic, but I'm so proud of how it turned out, especially since I even had to take the sleeves off to thin the top and then reattach them. I decided to give this first attempt to Becca right now and I'm already at work on some more clothes for the upcoming 2 year old birthday.

Becca and her kitty

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Journaling reads: Becca is so in love with animals right now. She adores her stuffed animals, especially this kitty cat that came as a wonderful present from GG-Pa and Great Sandy. She hugs it and kisses it and loves to have it tucked under her neck. She also pets it and dances with it. She also loves to see real animals. She will screetch and stand in awe at the dogs people take for a walk. She also loves to visit the bunny across the street and pet it’s soft fur.

Layout credits: Best Furry Friends by Sugar Fancy and Find Your Bliss Designs, font is Elicia by Darcy Baldwin

Check these out

2012-01-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

I found a fun article about 25 clever ideas that is well worth the read.
Click here to read.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Overhaul your linen cupboard – store bedlinen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Bread tags make the perfect-sized cord labels.

Win friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila – you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

In case you thought I was perfect...

2012-01-24T15:51:00.003-05:00

:) Here is a picture of the fam watching football. Take a look at all of the mess that is out that no one is playing with.

I must admit that more often than not, our house ends up looking like this. How does that happen? I read somewhere that trying to clean your house when you have toddlers is like trying to brush your teeth in the middle of eating an oreo. I guess that is about right.

UNO

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

The other day the boys asked to play Uno and of course Becca wanted in too. Playing cards like this with my three kids reminds me of when I use to work running activities in a nursing home. Cards was a favorite of those residents too. I would gather them up, shuffle and deal the cards, and then try to help them hold them, frequently reorganizing their cards for them. Then as the game proceeded I had to instruct each turn. Back then it was Kings in the Corner, so I would say, "Do you have a black 7? Do you have a red 8?" etc.

On to my kiddos and their game, I shuffled the deck (of which I think we only have about 1/2 the cards now as they get transported to nooks and crannies around our house or chewed on and ripped up from time to time). Then I dealt and helped the kids to hold the cards. We actually ended up letting Jon lay his cards out on the table. Then as each turn went I was asking, "Do you have a 3? Do you have any yellow?"

Ahhhh, so much fun for all, although after a few rounds the kids were just getting started while I was wearing out.

Look at Becca eating her vegetables!

2012-01-17T14:04:00.002-05:00

After just over a year of serving her vegetables, Becca is finally actually eating them. Like her brothers, green beans seem to be a favorite although last night she loved raw zucchini as I was cutting it up to cook it.

Reading

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

If any of you find yourselves around Michael any time soon, you should ask him to read. He is getting so good. For school he needs to read 10 minutes a day and while I love to sit and read with him, he has even gotten to the point where he can read some books all by himself.

A ghost has found our house

2012-01-13T15:02:00.002-05:00

Jon has been daily turning into a ghost. He has discovered the fun of the blanket over the head.

Becca on the other hand was entirely freaked by the transformation. The first time Jon did it she screamed and ran. We did a few "Jon - Jon ghost - Jon - Jon ghost" by putting the blanket on and off to see if that would help her.

For days, though, she was fascinated but wouldn't go near him. This is a scene I saw a lot:

She would half giggle and watch Jon ghost jump on the trampoline. As soon as he would make one move towards her she would change to crying. With her sitting on my lap we got her finally to reach out and touch Jon ghost. After a week she is now calm about the even and even asked me to put the blanket over her head yesterday. It didn't last long, though, because she has no concept of how to walk as a ghost - she just plows ahead, bumping into everything in her path.

Some new videos

2012-01-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

Over Christmas break we were able to put together some new videos. First up are some freestyle stacking.

Then, while Tim's siblings were in town they did some singing recording. Where are Andrew and myself? Well as our amazing voices were not needed for this quartet we took the kids to Meijer so they wouldn't interfere with the recording. Yes, we braved Meijer during the afternoon on Dec 23.

Strange weather

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

We had a pretty warm December and were thankful that when we came home from Florida we didn't have to dig our house out. Last week we did have a large snow storm that dropped a foot of snow in are yard. And then by the end of last week we were back in the 40s again. I did get a few pictures of the snow though to show you all. This first one looks so cool with Michael shoveling but it was really Tim's snow plow track.

Happy Birthday to ME

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

As of this past Saturday morning I am 35 years old. Or to word it as we use to as kids when we thought our parents were ancient, "I'm half way to 70!" I had a wonderful birthday. It started on Friday with whispers between Tim and the boys and between Michael and Jon throughout the day about what they were planning.

Then Friday evening I got early birthday flowers!

On Saturday I got up to a yummy breakfast of eggs made for me and some wonderful birthday cards. We had a low key morning and then after naps we headed downtown for an ice sculpture contest. It was so much fun to watch the carving and see the creations. Many of them from the day before were mostly unrecognizable because of the warm weather, but we did see this fun sea horse.

Then we ate an early dinner out and had brownie sundaes back at home. Becca helped me blow out the candles.

Florida

2012-01-07T09:00:00.005-05:00

Yes, we went to Florida for Christmas. All of my family was there and it was fabulous!

Santa came a day early to fill the kids' stocking so that they could open them on the plane on Christmas eve. We had quite the adventure on this trip so it is a good thing there were snacks, nerf balls, cars, and crayons in their stockings. Our trip started at 4:30 am when we left our house to head to the airport. Mostly the trip went fine until we passed into Florida and the pilot announced that our plane had an imbalance in the fuel tanks and need to make an emergency landing. After spending some time on the ground in the plane and then quite a bit of time sitting around the airport we finally got put on a bus to Orlando and made it just in time for dinner.

Christmas day we hung around the amazing resort. The kids swam in the pools and enjoyed the playground. Here are the three little ones ready to race!

The next day we were off to Sea World with Brian, Emily, and their kiddos. We took things pretty slow and the kids lasted well past dinner which was wonderful.

Michael got to stop at each of the animal exhibits to ask a question and earn an animal card. You could just see his brain working to come up with fun questions to ask.

OK, I know this doesn't really seem "sea animal"ish, but the boys were so thrilled that they could ride on this little train. :)

A lot of the days we hung out at the resort playing games, hitting tennis balls, and a favorite of everyone - swimming outdoors in December!

And yes, while we were there we did stop by and see a couple of famous mice:

The kids loved Disney World. We had to stand in quite a few lines as the place was packed, but we had tons of fun. A favorite ride for me and the little ones was the carousel. Becca and Jon loved going up and down and giggled a lot and I loved that there was a fairly short quick moving line. :)

Sarah, Anne, Andrew, and Katherine

2012-01-06T09:00:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Tim's siblings all came out for a few days before Christmas. We had a blast! Here are some highlights.

We did a family Christmas together. The three kids loved both the presents and the attention from so many adults.

Stockings for the aunts and uncle.

All the kids got puzzles.

And of course we enjoyed fun reading times.

The boys got some outdoor toys that included a balloon helicopter and snow ball launcher. Since there was no snow yet, we improvised with tennis balls.

Another winter present was this adorable hat from Grandma. We went for a walk one evening in downtown Holland and Becca loved showing off her new hat.

And this was a super fun memory game from GGPa and Great Sandy that was an immediate hit!

Gingerbread houses

2012-01-05T19:47:00.003-05:00

We got back from Florida on Saturday but as you can see it has taken me a few days to settle back in and get back to my normal routine which includes posting here. When I sat down at the computer to type this tonight, I was greeted by new posts on both Michele's and Emily's blogs, so I see that it must be the day for finally getting back to blogging. I'm going to go back a little before we even left for Florida and share with you some Christmas posts.

The first is that we made gingerbread houses this year with the kids which was so much fun! I used the instructions from this web site and it all worked really well.

Step 1: Make the gingerbread
We did this on Monday night. The kids loved helping to measure and pour things into the bowl and then try and stir it all together.

The boys left after a while, but Becca stayed around to help me hand mix the dough. She loved getting her fingers all gooey!

Step 2: Bake the gingerbread.
The instructions said to let the dough sit over night in the fridge, so that is what we did. Tuesday morning we rolled out the dough and cut our house pieces. The dough was a bit hard to roll for the kids but they had fun putting the shapes on and helping to mash the dough. Becca also had a blast trying to sneak bites to eat while we worked. When we were done we had made a mess, but we had enough pieces to make two houses.

Step 3: Assemble the houses
We did this Tuesday afternoon and I timed it perfectly because Tim's siblings all came out for a visit and they arrived Tuesday around noon. I had anticipated that extra adult hands would be extremely useful for assembly.

Step 4: Decoration!
Now onto the part we have all been waiting for - the candy! Michael had helped me to pick out just the right candy a few days before, so on Wednesday with the houses solidly glued together we decorated them. I think the aunts and uncle had just as much fun as the kids with this part. The houses were brightly ornamented and everyone had plenty of candy in their bellies.

The finished products:

Where did Becca go?

2011-12-21T09:00:00.002-05:00

So the other day I was doing something and turned around and realized Becca was nowhere to be found. Upon further searching I found this:

I still have not figured out how she gets up there, but she loves to eat Michael's toothpaste and brush her teeth. Apparently she can turn the water on too.

Jon's Easy Peasy 20

2011-12-20T14:10:00.002-05:00

Jon has been into stacking a LOT recently. He has gotten some 22s and 23s recently which is very fast for him. He completely frustrates Tim and Michael, though, because he usually stacks like this:
Hands on timer, fast up, up, up, STOP to push up shirt sleeves, down stack, down stack, chat a bit about the sound of the cups, finish fast, stop the timer.
Tim keeps saying how much faster Jon could be if he could get through a stack without getting distracted by something.

So the other day we got this: (Make sure to listen to his commentary at the beginning it's super cute.)

Teacher gifts

2011-12-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

We decided to create some small gifts to the teachers and staff at Michael's school. I love the way they turned out:

Credits: Merry and Bright by geniaBeana Scraps, font is Segoe Print

We made the cup inserts with my digital scrapbooking supplies. Michael picked out the kit and told me where to put things in the design.

I carefully took the cup and rolled it on it's side around a sheet of colored paper and tried to draw a line along the edge. Then I cut it out and scanned it and used that as the template. Then we decorated.

I printed and cut them out and rolled them into the cups. I used a piece of 2 sided tape at each end to keep it secure. Then we filled baggies with the drink mix and tied them closed.

In case you are interested, here is the drink mix recipe:

1 (18oz) jar orange breakfast beverage crystals

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup red cinnamon candies

1/3 cup instant tea mix

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container. To serve, stir 1 1/2 tablespoons of mix into 1 cup hot water.

I added this to a project I was doing about how we can use digital scrapbooking supplies for Christmas presents. Check out my Scrapbooking Christmas gifts Pinterest board!

Vacuuming Couches

2011-12-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

I'm not a big fan of this chore, but with little kids in the house our couches do fill up with things like half eaten cheerios so it must be done on a regular basis. This week I asked the boys to be in charge of getting all the pillows, blankets, and cushions off the couch so I could vacuum. They had a blast!

Michael on TV again

2011-12-15T13:04:00.003-05:00

We were contacted a couple of days ago by Good Morning America asking if they could use one of our videos from YouTube. Here is the clip from the show. Unfortunately they got most of their facts incorrect, but we loved having the video featured!
You can check it out here:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/instagram-app-year-kid-cup-stacker-amazes-15143934#.TufWFbSyrgI.facebook

Check out how much he has changed!

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Funny things I found around the house recently

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Stacking cups?!

Jon has been into sorting recently.

And the other day I heard, "thump, thump, thump, ... " But it was followed by laughter so I didn't worry. Then I heard it again and again and again. When I went investigating this is what I found:

SNOW

2011-12-12T12:41:00.002-05:00

It seems that a lot of people around the country and even around Michigan already got snow, and we finally caught up last Friday. We awoke to about 1 or 1 1/2 inches on the ground and the kids were super excited to go out in it and play. I timed it for us and it took 14 minutes to get all 4 of us in snow pants, boots, coats, hats, and mittens. I will be so thrilled when Jon and finally when Becca can do these things mostly on their own, but for now I had to do just about all of it for both of them. Then we stayed outside for 20 minutes before I was overwhelmed with requests to go in and get warm. Then there were 5 minutes to get everything off everyone and laid out to dry. So 20 minutes of play and 19 minutes of getting things off and on. I'd consider that a success - more minutes playing that getting ready to play! :)

Here are some pictures from the 20 minutes. I lined them up at the garage door and then 1, 2, 3 they were off:

Jon wasn't sure at first, but Becca dove right in.

Here is Michael with what he says is his snow angel.

We couldn't really make a snow man with so little snow, but I did start a snow ball fight.

Even Becca tried to make some snowballs.

Becca copying Michael

Look what Jon found!

For the most part the kids had a blast. Becca kept falling down, though, which wasn't a problem, but then she couldn't get back up with all the snow gear on.

So after the 20 minutes, she had had enough.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

2011-12-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

Tim and I both love potatoes and I've always loved eating scalloped potatoes, but I've only ever made them myself from a box. Recently I went to look for a more homemade version and found this yummy crock pot version. Here is the recipe with (my notes).

Ingredients:
*8 potatoes, thinly sliced. (OK, I always laugh when I see something like 8 potatoes. Depending on the kind and even on the specific bag I buy 8 small potatoes are like half the amount of potatoes as 8 large potatoes. The first time I made this I used 8 potatoes on the larger side and they cooked well and there was plenty of sauce, so I'd say think 6-10 potatoes depending on size.)
*1 onion, chopped
*1 lb fully cooked ham, cubed
*1-oz pkg dry country-style gravy mix (The only "country-style" gravy mix I could find was in a 2.75 oz package. So I used half of it the first time we made this and saved the other half for the second time. I'm always up for a little extra creamy flavor.)
*1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup. I used cream of celery since a certain member of my household if very against mushrooms.
*2 cups water
*2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (Yum)

1. Combine potatoes, onion, and ham in lightly greased slow cooker. (It was super yummy with the ham, but this week I made it without and just served the potatoes with chicken. That was good too.)
2. Comvine gravy mix, soup, and water. Whisk until combined. Pour over potatoes.
3. Cover. Cook on low 7-9 hours or high 3-4. (I've tried both and they both worked out great!
4. Top with cheese during last 30 minutes of cooking. (Yum, Yum)

Shape Sorter Genius

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Becca and I had so much fun the other day with the shape sorter. She would purposefully hold the shape over the wrong hole, and then shake her head, saying "noooo." Then when it went in the right hole she'd get so excited. She lasted at it long enough that I even got a video:

Family Picture Time

2011-12-08T09:27:00.002-05:00

While we were all dressed on the nicer side Sunday morning I decided it was time for a family picture. The ones around our house are still pre-Becca days so we were long over due. I set up the camera on timer and here is what we got.

Poor Becca looks a little lost, but everyone else is smiling, so I will call it a success.

I scrapped a page with it too:

Credits: Papers and Word Art from Bothers and Sisters, Element from Fall Speldor, and alpha for ranson all by WM[squared] Designs; Templateby Brandy Designs; font is Mish by Darcy Baldwin

Mittens

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

OK, so there are many times when I think that my kids area a lot alike, especially when it comes to how they look, but there are times too, when I notice how unique they are. This was one of those times.

Becca has been in love with mittens. We got them out the other day when it was pretty cold out and we were going to walk to the bus stop to pick up Michael. Jon and Becca really needed to get out and run around, so we bundled up and left earlier enough that they could both walk/run and not take the stroller.

Since then, Becca has wanted to put the mittens on again and again. Here are some pictures from one of her "photo shoots" as I'm calling the way she loves to pose for the camera and then check herself out.

Now, the boys hated mittens. I have no idea if this difference is their personalities, a boy/girl thing, or the fact that these season related things are happening at a different age for Becca. She is hitting this winter just before and after 2 years old. The boys did winter at 18 months and 2 1/2.

Here is Michael at 18 months. He looks alright about it in this picture, but he HATED snow on his mittens because he couldn't get it off.

And here is Jon last winter at 2 1/2 - He did not like mittens or anything to do with the snow.

Now of course, Becca hasn't actually been out in the snow with her mittens, but I'm betting the snow won't really bug her. :)

Jon writes his name

2011-12-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

Jon loves to practice writing his name. We have done it together many times and he has scribbled away on his own some too. The other day he was working by himself and told me he wrote his name. As I was busy with some other things, I responded with something, "Great job Jon," but never actually looked at what he had done. The next day I happened to glance at the desk where the paper still sat. Wow! He had done a fabulous job. Jon has been pretty good at the O for a bit now, but I've never seen anything I recognize as a J or n before when he writes on his own - I usually only can tell it is Jon because there is an O between a couple scribbles.

Check it out:

Oh, and while we are on the subject of Jon, I have to share another thing. At home I often make spaghetti with rotini pasta since it is easier for the kids to pick up and we call it Pasta. At the restaurant we ate at this weekend Jon got spaghetti and without being use to the new name he kept calling it "PaTeddy" - so adorable!

Getting back into stacking

2011-12-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

OK, side note: You see it in this second video. Stacking for Jon is mostly about talking about it and less about actually doing it. Right now, this is how he is with everything: at dinner, when playing, when trying to get ready to go out.... He just talks and talks and does almost nothing.

Oh, please help my ears

2011-12-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Jon has developed a love for the drum set.

We finally got a Christmas tree

2011-12-02T09:00:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we got everyone all bundled up and headed out the door to get a Christmas tree, only to find out that it was raining. We had no desire to stand outside looking at trees with three kids in the rain, let alone bring a wet tree into our house, so we headed back in and put the adventure on hold.

Monday evening we tried for the second time - this time with success. We wandered around the lot looking at trees. We found one we liked a lot, but Michael insisted that we stay for a while and look at ALL the trees. So we wandered around some more. At one point I put Becca down and asked her if she wanted to run with the boys. She grinned at me, turned and ran, giggling, right out of the tree lot and into the parking lot. So after catching her, we settled on the initial tree we liked and brought it home.

Tuesday while Tim was at work we decorated it. I must say it would have gone a lot smoother if we didn't have an almost 2 year old her thought it her mission to undecorate as quickly as we could decorate, but we had fun. I thought we had done so well finding one that wasn't very prickly, but now I wonder if a couple good pokes would help keep Becca off of the tree. :)

You know you are a love and logic mom when...

2011-12-01T09:45:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I realized that our toy bins were a bit scarce on toys and innocently thought, maybe some of them had gotten lost under the couch. So I knelt down and lifted the couch flap - AAHHHHHH. The entire area under both couches was filled to the brim with toys, books, old socks, you name it. I was instantly aware that Michael had not been correctly completing his evening chore of cleaning up the living room for quite some time. I must admit that initially I was furious! He has done this in the past and I thought we were over it. Luckily, Michael was at school so I was able to calm down and realize in true love and logic fashion that this was a perfect opportunity to teach him responsibility.

So when I got home from picking him up from school I calmly told him what I had found. He gave me a sheepish grin.

Then I let him know that instead of video games this afternoon, he could use that half hour to clean out under the couches and put everything in the it's proper place. His face turned to a frown and he said, "And then I can play video games?"

I told him, no that this would be instead of video games. That is when the wailing started. At first it was about how unfair it was and how he couldn't clean it ALL up by HIMSELF! To his credit, though, he started right in on cleaning while crying and yelling. Soon, though, the wailing turned to "Why do I always do this? I need to remember...."

Perfect!

So, you know you are a love and logic mom when after all this, your only regret is that you couldn't tell him about cleaning up during video games in the morning before school so he would be able to think about it all day at school and really burn it into his memory. :) I love my job as mom and I love my son dearly!!

The Jon/Michael compromise

2011-11-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

So what do sports loving Michael and cars loving Jon play together?

Let me introduce you to matchbox football:

My dilemma

2011-11-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

This week I am going to work on the following:

So I have three kids which among other things (like lots of laughter, hugs, smiles, fun) means that I hear squabbling ALL THE TIME! When I think about it logically I know that there are times I need to step in and help them practice how to work out their problems and there are times when I need to stay back and let them practice working out their problems. In reality, I think that I step in too much. OK, I know I do, because I step in just about every time.

Experiment 1: Jon is playing with cars and Becca wants to join. Now let me fill you in that this happens one hundred and one times a day, so I have stepped in to "solve" this problem some forty thousand times in the last year - exhausting! So this time I stayed in the other room and listened. I don't think it went well because there was a lot of yelling and Becca came to me crying and holding her teeth. I think she probably got hit in the mouth. And this is usually why I step in - the younger one in the squabble tends to get the raw end of the deal. But while I'm comforting Becca, Jon runs upstairs and brings down a teddy bear for Becca "because she is cwy-ing" (crying in Jon speak). So maybe it didn't end so bad.

Experiment 2: Jon is playing with cars and Becca wants to join (3 minutes after Experiment 1's half failure), so you see I may not have been joking about the 101 times a day! I hear Jon saying something about his "faborite" car and Becca crying and then Jon proceeds to tell Becca that she can have some other cars and gives her some. Becca comes around the corner with car in hand and a big smile and I shed a tear (ok maybe just a big sigh) at how sweet big brother Jon can be.

My favorite puzzle

2011-11-28T08:41:00.003-05:00

We have this puzzle that I absolutely adore for beginner puzzle users - aka Becca right now. All of the pieces are the same size and shape so you can practice just putting them in the puzzle without having to also figure out which piece goes where. Becca has been playing with it for a couple of weeks now and I was just thinking the other day that I should probably introduce her to the concept that each piece also has a correct spot and see if she can start matching up some of the animals.

She came to me the other day with one of the pieces in her hand, babbling on about something and trying to get me to follow her. I asked her if she needed help and she said she did, so I followed her to find this:

She had matched up all the animals (OK, their heads were all upside down but still) and was stumped by the last two - I assume because they are both brown. So either I simply have a very brilliant girl or she has been tutored in the "right" way to do the puzzle by her brothers. Probably both.

Our Stuffing

2011-11-27T09:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the recipe I made - I need to get in writing because we will want to use it again sometime. This is mainly based off a recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Fill one cookie sheet with bread cubes - half homemade white bread, half corn bread. Set this aside to dry out for at least 24 hours.

In a frying ban melt 3/4 stick of butter. Add 1 small onion and some celery and heat them for about 5 minutes. Then add 2.5 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, and 1 tsp rosemary. (I was suppose to add some fresh parsley too but I didn't have any so I just skipped it.) Cut up 1 apple and add it and about 1 cup of dried cranberries to the mixture. Let simmer for a couple of minutes.

Put the bread crumbs in a bowl and pour the broth mixture over it. Mix it up and add some more broth if necessary.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cover for the first half of the baking time.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T16:55:00.003-05:00

We had our first Thanksgiving at home this year. Each year previously we have taken turns going to our parent's homes for Thanksgiving. This year we were scheduled to be with the Haigs in Boston, but we simply couldn't get there. Tim and Michael had school Wed and Tim had practice afterwards, so our Thanksgiving break was simply not long enough for the long trip to Boston. So we had to satisfy ourselves with a couple of Skype calls with them.

This meant that we were home for Thanksgiving, and since we wanted it to be special and because we LOVE Thanksgiving meals, we decided to cook ourselves up a feast. Here is a recap:

The decorations:
*Throughout the week we made a mobile showing the things we were thankful for. It was inspired by this Thankful Tree:

However, for those who have seen our table you know that it is not very big, so I was pretty sure with all the food on the table, there simply would not be room for a center piece. So instead we made it into a mobile from kitchen light.

*I was inspired by another Thanksgiving decoration I found online too:

Thanksgiving morning I started attempting to make some with the boys and Becca quickly joined us too. After quite a bit of frustration with the little ones, we continued the project just Michael and me. Here is our finished product:

OK, so they are not nearly as perfect as the ones from the inspiration picture, but I think they turned out super cute! And the kids could barely wait until after the meal to dig in and eat them.

The table setting:
We got our some fancy napkins and cups that really spiced up the table and were so much fun for the kiddos.

The menu:
*Turkey - I cheated a bit and cooked it the day before because this is something I've never made before and I wasn't sure how it would go. I believe it turned out very good!
*Green beans with almonds - the way we always do at Thanksgiving with the Haigs.
*Cranberry sauce - easy because Tim prefers the one from the can.
*Gravy - also a first for me since I made it from the turkey drippings.
*Mashed Potatoes - Tim style
*Stuffing - This was my great achievement for the meal I think. It turned out fabulous. Not only was it the first time I've made it from scratch, but I actually combined two recipes to try something brand new.

Dinner time!
We were so excited that the dinner could be even more special because Uncle Nate could come and join us so we could still spent Thanksgiving with family.

What a girl can learn from older brothers

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

First you line them up.

Then you admire your work for a brief second before

Crashing them all into each other.

Oh, and please excuse her crazy hair do - I try but she loves to pull and mush it up.

Jon - a boy on HIS OWN schedule

2011-11-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

Well, Jon is 3 and in the height of "I do things my way on my time!" Lately that has been really causing Tim and I to go crazy at dinner time. Jon just sits at the table telling us about everything and anything, taking hours (literally) to eat.

Here is him from the other night.

We sat down to eat at a little after 6:00. By 7:00 we had given up sitting with him and left him alone. It was actually rice for dinner which was his favorite. At 7:30 I went back and sat with him to help him get a couple of bites, but he didn't eat enough to be allowed to get down (about half his serving) until 7:45. Ahhhhhhhh!

Becca giggles

2011-11-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

Becca loves, loves, loves, pointing at parts of the face and having us exclaim what they are. This weekend she added a twist to the game with Daddy.

Nose

Forehead (a new favorite)

Grab Daddy's glasses - I totally missed getting a picture of the actual grab, but here is the after.

And showing off her cleverness

My kids' favorite web sites

2011-11-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

You have probably already read that my kids can earn computer/video game time by doing chores. We also used computer time as an incentive for Jon to use the potty and to get him to go down for a nap without crying. (I know, I know, that's bribing him, but well, Jon has always set out to make me rethink all I use to think about the right way to parent.) So when the get on the computer, what are they doing?

Hands down the favorite is disneyjunior.com. They can watch mini episodes of Mickey, Handy Manny, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Cars, and on and on. There are also tons of fun games to play.

A recent favorite has also been Chuck E Cheese skeeball. It turns out that they can earn tickets online, print them out, and bring them to Chuck E Cheese to add to their tickets there. Luckily I have convinced them that they can play for fun too without actually printing and turning them in.

The gym

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

OK, I've never been a fan of going to the gym, but...

We are members at our local MVP gym. (We got an amazing discount through Tim's work so thank you to HC.) We used our membership mostly this summer to use there fun outdoor pool that the kids loved. They did swimming lessons, went down the slide, splashed, and splashed, and splashed. But I digress - now it is getting cold. I can no longer go for long walks around the neighborhood pushing the stroller for exercise very often because the kids cry about how cold they are getting. So I've started heading to the gym a bit more.

We were there yesterday. The kids love the play area so it is easy to check them in, because they just run off and start playing. I exercised for about 45minutes and then took a shower. Now I know that some people are a little grossed out by public showers, but I must say it is really nice to take a shower without the kids banging on the shower door to have me solve their latest quarrel. And so it was that this realization hit me yesterday - my motivation for getting to the gym more. I love my kids but being a stay at home mom I am on call 24 hours a day. I get up with them at night, I have them hanging on me throughout the morning. I tiptoe around the house at nap time for fear that one creak will wake them, etc, etc, etc. At the gym I do take a pager with me so technically I'm on call, but I can listen to a book on tape for 45 minutes without interruption and then I can shower in peace. So ,y motivation: I think that all the sweating and feeling like I might collapse from tired muscles and exhaustion, is a worth wile price to pay for a little over an hour of me.

I'm officially

2011-11-17T10:47:00.002-05:00

certified to teach in the State of Michigan again.

I know it's not a very good scan of it, but that is my certificate that came in the mail a couple of days ago.

Back story: We had always planned for me to go back to work at some point, but the Lord has put things in motion that are leading me to get ready for this sooner than I anticipated. I don't know if it means there is a job waiting for me in the next couple of years, but it does mean that I will probably be doing my student teaching hours this spring. The wonderful people at Calvin were very understanding and helpful for my last minute change of plans and they have almost worked everything out to make it happen.

I will be student teaching with students with learning disabilities to work towards my LD endorsement. Since this will be my second special education endorsement I only need to do 1/2 the hours. This is why I went through getting my certificate back current to make sure there was no trouble recognizing that this will be my second special education endorsement.

I will keep everyone posted about the details of this spring as they begin to unfold. Right now I just ask that you keep Tim and I in prayer as we try to get ready for what it means for our family for me to be out of the house so much this spring. I'm a bit nervous about the headaches it might bring and the whole finding good child care for our kids. I do wish I had my mom to talk to for wisdom about going back to work even though this is only a temporary student teaching time. However, I do know that this is from the Lord's leading so he will provide - it can just be hard sometimes to wait and trust.

Overall, though, I'm am very excited for this opportunity. I love that I will get this time to immerse myself in teaching again and fan the passion I have for this part of who I am.

Trampoline Video

2011-11-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

As promised here is a video of the kids on the trampoline. Pardon the shaking camera, but I was holding Becca until it was her turn. On our first try we let Becca go first but then she wouldn't get off the trampoline. :)

11/11/11

2011-11-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

I know that today is the 11th but it was last week. Michael and I both found this date amusing so we set out to take 11 pictures of the things we did on 11/11/11. Here you go:

Morning Chores - here are the boys unloading the dishwasher.

We took a trip to the library - forgot to get a picture at the library with Becca running wild trying to pull books off the shelf, but here we are with the books and movies when we got home.

We also got Michael boots since it snowed the other day and we can't cram his feet into his boots from last year.

Lunch was left over chicken nuggets, home made bread with honey and grapes.

Then it was nap/rest time!

After rest time came some football.

And of course, a day could not go by without Jon playing with his cars.

Tim came home right after school for the first time this week so the kids we so excited to have some Daddy time.

We all got to eat dinner together. I just love our family dinner times.

After dinner there was a dance party to David Crowder Band.

And now let out a big sigh with me because we made it to the kids' bedtime.

And I actually got around to scrapping a page with it so here it is:

Credits: Letting Go by Amy Stoffel, Freebie Template from Digital Scrapbooking Classes Facebook page, fonts are Cinda by Darcy Baldwin and Massey

Michael Reading

2011-11-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

Wow - Michael has finally taken off with his reading. He is now excited to get books at the library and even asks if I will let him read to me instead of me read to him - Ummm, YES!

Last week we got I Can Read With My Eyes Shut by Dr. Seuss from the library. Here is his first attempt at a reading of it. Doesn't he do just fabulous!!

A week of being MOM

2011-11-12T09:00:00.003-05:00

Tim has had a busy week with conferences, his two first basketball games of the season to coach, and church band rehearsal. This has meant that there has been a lot of time this week where I am home alone with the kiddos. I think I did pretty good, although I'm certainly not wishing I was a single mom. So here are some highlights from the week that kept me sane.

1. New toys!
Well, not really new, but I have three huge bins of toys in the basement that we haven't used in a while, so this week we packed up the bin upstairs and traded it with one in the basement. Every time we do this the kids think it is Christmas will all the toys they have long forgotten about. One of the toys that came out this round was "Memory Bears" which is a super cute bear matching game that GG-Pa and Great Sandy gave us many Christmases ago. We played it together many time (both as memory and go fish) and then the boys have been playing it together a lot this week too.

2. Play Date
There is a first grader from Michael's school who sits with him on the bus a lot and lives a couple of blocks away. Since the kids were off school for conferences we decided to give them a call (Michael has been begging me to call them for weeks now) to see if they wanted to play. This boy has a 4 year old brother too so I thought he and Jon might hit it off. Turns out they were thrilled but didn't have a car this week so they invited us to there house instead. So Tuesday morning we hung out at their place. I have a fun time chatting with the mom and the kids had fun investigating even more new toys.

3. Markers and stickers
I wish I had taken a picture of this, but all three kids got really into sticker this week - especially Jon. He went to town filling pages with stickers. Becca was cute too because she kept putting stickers on top of each other so that the whole sheet of stickers would end up in one pile if I didn't help her try and spread them. And I think she needs one of those stick and remove sticker sets because she was distraught that she couldn't peel them back up once they were on the page. And then I got out the markers. I usually make them use crayons, so this was a treat. Jon ended up with markers all the way up his arm. I had to put a stop to the fun, though, when Michael came to me to say, "I had to draw marker on the table Mom to see what color they were."

4. Jumping on the trampoline
This is a perfect toy for a rainy week like this one has been. - Video coming!

5. Movie night - a great way to pass an evening when dad is out.
We first got all ready for bed and I even let the kids take their snugglies down which was a real treat. Then we put pillows and blankets out on the floor and got cozy for Toy Story 3.

Oh, my baby girl

2011-11-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

is no longer a baby.

Becca loves to pose for pictures now and then run back to me to look at the back of the camera and see herself. Her eyes light up and she points "caca" meaning "Becca!" After one such photo shoot I ended up with this picture and simply could not believe my eyes. She is all little girl and no baby.

Layouts from older pictures

2011-11-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

I've been going back a few years to scrap some pictures from years gone by. The quality of the pictures is pretty bad compared to what I'm use to now with my great camera, but the memories are still wonderful. The kids are so cute because they want to come and check it all out but they have trouble figuring out who the kids are in the pictures. The babies are usually called Becca and they keep saying that 2 year old Michael looks like Jon. Can you tell who is who? (And no fair squinting to read the dates on the pages.)

Credits: DSD2011 Fresh Start Grab Bag by Find Your Bliss Designs; Font is Jamie by Darcy Baldwin

Credits: Owls in the Hoot Collab by Find Your Bliss Designs and Simply Magic Designs; Fonts are Chris by Darcy Baldwin and Brando

Credits: Owls in the Hoot Collab by Find Your Bliss Designs and Simply Magic Designs; Fonts are Chris by Darcy Baldwin and BidRoman

Credits: Kit is Boys will be Boys by Find Your Bliss Designs and eNKay Design, font is DaunPenh

Now you know

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

why I don't like Jon to play with cards.

Basketball lessons

2011-11-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

Tim did some research this past weekend on a new basketball system that he wants to teach the 7th grade team he is currently coaching. Now I think that I do a pretty good job keeping up on enough sports so I can talk sports with Tim, but I cannot really get into basketball. When he talks to me about it, I listen and nod, and then after a bit I smile and say, "You know, I really don't care."

So this weekend he took the kids out and taught them the new system so he could practice working it all out. OK, he really took Michael out to teach him, but when you are heading out to play you can never leave Jon and Becca out of it, so they tagged along.

Leaves

2011-11-07T13:07:00.002-05:00

Our tree in the back yard is finally starting to drop leaves. Up until this past weekend we've only raked the front, but the back if finally ready. When I got some piles made, the boys had a few jumps and then went off to play some baseball. But Becca could not get enough. She would run at the pile and at the last minute flip around and fall backwards into the leaves. I didn't get a video of it, but here are some stills showing the process:

It took a while to comb all of the leaves out of her hair.

A new obsession

2011-11-05T13:20:00.002-04:00

Jon has decided that this week he is going to pick a new animal to eat lunch with him at the table. This picture shows the day that at his request I cut up some small pieces of lunch for his elephant to eat.

The next day he requested that I make a unique lunch for his bear since his bear didn't like what we were eating for lunch. That is when I put my foot down.

Counting Money

2011-11-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

We have been saving change in a jar for a long time now, letting Michael know that when it was full we could use the money to go for a visit to Chuck E Cheese. Apparently we picked a jar that was too big because in two years we haven't filled it. So this week we decided there was enough money to go ahead and empty it anyway.

We stopped by the bank and picked up some coin rolls. The teller was sweet and offered that the downtown branch had a machine but I thought the kids would have more fun (and maybe learn some things) while counting them ourselves. So we poured the money out on the table and then the boys sorted it all and stacked them in piles so we could count them. I was so proud of how well they did.

Michael had 12 stacks of coins in 3 rows of 4. He quickly counted them 4, 8, 12. He has been doing a little bit of multiplication so I showed him how this was multiplication: 3x4 - three rows of four each. He smiled and quickly explained back to me that it could also be 4x3 - four rows of three each: 3, 6, 9, 12. He never stops amazing with how much about math he really understands.

Jon did amazing too. He stayed with the project all the way through, which was more than a half hour. He did a fabulous job sorting coins, even sorting the quarters and nickels. He then continued stacking piles of four or five and counting, counting, counting. He was so proud of himself for being such a big boy.

Halloween

2011-11-03T12:56:00.002-04:00

Here are my cuties from Haloween.

They had a blast trick or treating and even more fun passing out candy at our door. :)

Elephant and Piggie

2011-11-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

Michael and I are loving this series of early read books:

This is the most recent one we got out of the library - Michael likes then all but of course prefers the ones with balls in them.

So why do we like them?

From Michael's point of view: He can read many of the words and they are full of humor totally appropriate for his age.

From my perspective: They are actually pretty funny. The whole books are written in speech bubbles for what the characters say which is engaging and also easy for me to read some and Michael to read some. Also, they actually tell a story well in easy words to read. Too many of the early read books are "The frog sat on a log" etc and there really is no story development so Michael gets too quickly board with them. But these tell a story with fairly easy words so Michael can read a lot of it.

If you've never seen them before you should check the kids section of your library. :)

Saturday

2011-10-31T10:05:00.002-04:00

With all my family together last Saturday we had a lot of fun talking, playing with the kids, watching Michigan football (the guys),taking a good walk (the girls), and eating lots yummy food.

Here are some photos from the day:

Here are the finished pumpkins from the afternoon. They look great, but the kiddos weren't quite up for a photo shoot with the pumpkins. lol

2 years

2011-10-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

Today is 2 years since my mom passed away. I'm so blessed because my whole family is coming over to my house so that we can be together for the day. I still miss her so much. Yesterday I made her banana bread and cried because I wished so deeply she could come over and eat some with me. I wish she could see our house and hold and kiss Becca. I wish we could just sit around and talk again. And yet, I think I'm moving to the acceptance side of grief. Right after she died I felt I was living in an alternative universe. If you've even seen Back To the Future II it is like when they come back to a different 1985 and they try to go back in time to change the event so they can get their old 1985 back. So much of the world seemed the same and yet there was something so different and so wrong for me. However, I feel now like I've lived in the alternate world enough that I'm starting to make my home there. I still wish I wasn't here at times, but it is life now. I have things to work for and things to be happy about. This past year I've started going back and scrapbooking some layouts from times with my mom. Here are some great pictures of her I've come across.

Poor Jon

2011-10-28T09:00:00.002-04:00

He unfortunately inherited not only my allergies but also my asthma. Last fall we had to take him to the med center a couple of times for breathing treatments. So now we have some breathing medicine at home. Fall is back and so is the asthma. Jon is being such a big boy about it.

Pushing the Wagon

2011-10-27T21:27:00.001-04:00

I can't seem to convince Becca that wagons are for pulling. Today she just pushed it round and round the house.

Are you ready for some football?!

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Fall Sundays in our house have always been football days. Before the kids, and even when we just had Michael that usually meant heading off somewhere where we could see the Patriots. If anyone is reading this and doesn't know my husband, well let's just say he is a Boston sports NUT. He slams remotes and yells at the TV when watching recorded games he's seen 20 times already. He has thrown me from the couch even in one emotional moment.

However, I do have a soft spot for the Patriots for two reasons.
1. I remember listening to the Patriots/Bears super ball game back in the 80s. We lived in Boston at the time and we were at my cousin's house painting like every room with them. There was a TV or radio on in just about each room and I remember the excitement level just draining from the house that day. I think every child in New England was a Patriot's fan that year and all felt the devastation together as they lost.
2. The Patriots are what brought Tim and I together. It was the Patriots heading to the Super Bowl in 2003 that led me to e-mail Tim an I'll be thinking of you message that gave him the courage to ask me out. :)

Well, now that we have 3 kids going out and staying at a restaurant to watch a whole football game is next to impossible. So instead we pay careful attention to when they are shown on TV, which for being far out of New England here, they are actually on quite a bit. We have also been keeping up on the Lions this season too and cheering for them which has been fun. Well, all of us cheer for them except Michael. Michael, who will tell you he "grew up in Pittsburgh" is a die hard Steelers fan. Next in line he chooses to root for whoever is playing the Patriots or the Lions. Boy does he like to ruffle his daddy's feathers!

This past weekend, though, the Patriots had a buy so we found ourselves with a bit of extra time on our hands. Tim took the kids outside to play a bit and they ended up having a blast of a football game themselves:

Big Girl Pig Tails

2011-10-25T20:09:00.001-04:00

Today we got all the hair up in pig tails, not just the front hairs like we usually do. Aren't the tails getting long?!!

God Sees My Future

2011-10-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

I was totally inspired by the October Shutterbug challenge over at 9th and Bloom - a digital scrapbooking site. You can check the challenge out here.

The challenge was to be selective in what you focused on in a picture, choosing something that may not be the most obvious or normal for the shot but really helps to tell the story. Here are a couple from the challenge:

I love the focus on the kid taking the picture and having the camera in the foreground out of focus.

Then there was this cool one focusing on the raindrops on the window. You can still make out the thermometer but I wouldn't have really paid any attention to the rain drops if they weren't the focus.

Here is the one I took to show the flower blossoms still out in the fall.

All of this inspired me to put together this mini layout too:

The weather outside is frightful!

2011-10-21T09:00:00.002-04:00

OK, at least it is not snowing yet, but we have had rain and highs in the 40s for the last couple of days. While this means I've actually gotten some housework done, it also means that the kids have been stuck in the house. They tell me they have nothing to do, but I assure you that we do have a house FULL of toys. Sometimes in fact I think that maybe our problem is that we have too many options for the kids that everything looses a bit of the glamour.

So how do we pass our time? How about a kitchen table tent!

Or maybe some barnyard singing and dancing.

When I got this barn out, the kids played with it for a few minutes before figuring out that it made animal noises and played music. After pushing buttons for a while, Jon all of a sudden jerked his head towards me and grinned. "That's Old McDonald!" The first couple of times he sang along he waited and just sang on the "EIEIO"s. We have been working on the other words too.

Becca, as many of you know, loves music too, only she is the dancer in the family. I find her dancing along almost every time we turn music on. In fact, she dances a lot even when music is not playing, sometimes humming to herself. I think she has music playing in her head most of the day like her dad.

Halloween 2006

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

I went back through some old Halloween pics the other day and was recalling Michael's first trick or treating from 2006. I loved the dark pictures of him in that skeleton costume from that year. In fact I found this great video we took that night where you basically just see the skeleton with his hands and face attached - so super cute. He just wandered up and down the street that night, not really interested in going up to houses for candy. lol

And here is the layout I created with it.

Credits: Everything - including template from Hocus Pocus bundle by geniaBeana scraps and Cluster Queen Creations, font is Courier New

Count so high!

2011-10-19T09:00:00.002-04:00

Jon is getting so smart!

He actually got up to 39 just before I brought out the camera but this one was pretty good too.

Cutting the grass and the driveway

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Both useful skills to have. :)

In a Bucket

2011-10-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

Jon and Becca love to climb into the buckets around our house and then try to bring a bunch of toys in with them. Believe it or not about a week ago Jon fell asleep like this on a day he didn't get a nap.

Little Pooh

2011-10-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

OK, I have failed my children. When I was little (and even in college) Winnie the Pooh and his friends were awesome. We read the books, watched the cartoons, and collected anything we could find with them. Eeyore was my favorite - I loved his devotion to his friends and how he mixed joy with gloominess so well.

This week we found my old Eeyore doll. Jon exclaimed that it was Pooh. I tried to tell him about Eeyore, but he now loves to walk around with his "Little Pooh" as he has now named him. I need to find some Hundrend Acre Wood books to educate my kiddos in the world of Winnie the Pooh.

Oh, well, at least he knew it was related to Pooh, right?

Pretending

2011-10-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

It has been so much fun to have Jon and Becca into pretending. And not to be outshown by his little siblings, Michael is even finding joy in pretending now. This week:

Shorts and leaves

2011-10-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was suppose to be the last summery day here so we made sure to get outside a lot. It was high 70s and sunny - it may have even hit 80. So what did we do? Raked leaves! And jumped in them of course.

It was a bit strange to watch the kids jumping in leaves in summer weather - the boys even wore shorts, but they had a blast. Jon has been begging to jump in leaves since the first one fell off our tree. I guess last year's fall made a big impression on him. Becca got right into it too and kept giggling.

All was going well until Becca got stuck buried under the leaves and Jon lost a sandal in the pile.

Go Green Lunch Box

2011-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

We made a great find this year for Michael's lunch box this year. Instead of needing to bags or multiple containers this box has individual compartments that can hold each food in it's own space. It is so cool. Here are some pictures and you can find more information on the website too.

Grandma and Grandpa Haig

2011-10-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa Haig were here for a visit. We had so much fun. Unfortunately Tim and Grandpa were a bit under the weather at the beginning of the weekend so we decided to stay close to home. So here are Jon and Becca having some fun with them in our driveway.

Biking

Playing Ball

Visiting a cat on a stroll through the neighborhood

Goalie!

2011-10-10T20:42:00.002-04:00

Michael got to play goalie in his soccer game this weekend. He had an absolute blast. Here is tossing the ball out after making a save!

Farm

2011-10-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

This week we visited a family farm.

Michael's favorite: the zip line

Jon's favorite: feeding the goats

Becca's favorite: the pumpkin train ride

And they each picked out a pumpkin to take home.

Be Quiet

2011-10-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was instructed by Jon to "be quiet" because they were napping. He actually says it "Be Ki-wet."

Art Prize

2011-10-06T09:52:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we dropped Michael off at school and headed to Grand Rapids to tour (a small section) of Art Prize with Michele and cousin Luke. Here are some highlights:

Jon is all about fountains right now and pointed them out to me everyone, so this was really cool for him. There were bear statues posted around and in the fountain.

And then we came to a bunch of hands sticking out of the ground - representing the number of new children's beds opened in the hospital I believe. We got Becca an Luke to hold up their hands to for a fun shot.

We saw the cool big dog. I asked Jon if he could touch the dogs head. He went up an tried jumping for a bit but wasn't even close.

And the monkeys on the bridge. Jon said we needed to get a picture to show Michael.

She's becoming girly!

2011-10-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

Becca was given a doll last Christmas. I was so excited to show her how to play with it, but she just didn't get it and the doll would get tossed aside in favor of the cars and balls her brothers played with.

Now, however, she loves dolls and stuffed animals. She will take them for rides in the doll stroller or large dump truck and she will feed them bites of her snack. And in the last few days I'm constantly seeing her walking around with one tucked under her arm.

Play-doh again

2011-10-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

Jon and Becca are loving play-doh, and I'm always loving things to keep them busy, so our play-doh is making an appearance multiple times a week. I couldn't resist taking a picture this week, when Becca started using the cookie cutters as bracelets. She absolutely loves anything she can wear as a bracelet!

Oh, and the educator in me couldn't resist a little play-doh mini lesson. You see the three balls we made. We practiced counting to three and talking about little, medium, and big!

And speaking of education, we got letter stamps for Jon and look what he did on his own:

Close up:

My superheros

2011-10-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

A possible preview of Halloween!

By the way, they are showing off their muscles in this photo.

Breakfast for Becca

2011-10-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

Becca has been getting very sick of dry cereal for breakfast and so we have been substituting things like bagels or waffles which she loves. This week, though, I let her try cereal with milk and she was thrilled!! Periodically she started trying to scoop with her hand, but with a few re-directions to her spoon she did a pretty good job. What a big girl. :)

To nap or not to nap?

2011-09-30T09:00:00.003-04:00

Jon has been spending naps time quietly playing in his room for the last month or so. This was totally fine until he started getting louder and louder and then venturing out into all different rooms of the house - waking up Becca frequently. So we decided to start a new "rest time" routine with him. Starting Tuesday this week, I brought him up to my room with his pillow, snugglie, and some books and quiet toys just before 1:00. We made a little nest for him in my bed, and he was instructed to stay in the bed until the clock said 2:00. Both Tuesday and Wednesday he played quietly and then fell asleep before 1:30. I think without the shelves of tempting toys to distract him, he was able to calm down well - something he has trouble doing now without his pacifier.

So then Wednesday night at bedtime, our Jon is not tired at all. I assumed that it was because he napped two days in a row and probably only needs a couple of naps a week now. So yesterday I let him stay downstairs and watch a sesame street we had taped during rest time. About half way through the show he got very quiet:

Coloring Time

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday when Michael was home we had some coloring time. Michael was never into this much as a toddler but Jon and Becca love to get the crayons out. Becca is actually pretty good at scribbling. I noticed this week that she was staying on the paper (mostly) and even holding the paper in place with her other hand.

Speaking of Chores

2011-09-28T09:00:00.002-04:00

I mentioned yesterday that I love to have the kids help with chores. It starts very early in life with having them help picking up their toys. Usually we begin by handing them a toy and having them put it in the bucket, but it soon becomes a fun game for them. Laundry is always another favorite early chore. The kids pull dry clothes out of the dryer and then help put the wet ones in. Becca likes to help with these types of chores. She is even getting into pulling clean dishes out of the dishwasher to hand to me but it means I have to be very careful to empty sharp knives and things before she gets there. It is a bit of work to let her help, but it does keep her from getting into trouble elsewhere while I work. For example, the other day while I was folding laundry without her she pulled my laptop computer onto the floor (luckily onto a pillow an it is fine) and managed to open it up, pull up some strange web pages, and pull off two and a half keys.

Jon is still in the stage where I'd say his help with chores doesn't really save me time, but he is getting pretty good at picking up an sorting shoes. I definitely appreciate not having to bend down so many times to pick up things on the floor. Michael is now getting old enough that he can actually be very helpful with chores. He can clean up a room on his own (although we need to check under the couch to make sure he didn't just stuff everything there) and can even wipe down a bathroom pretty good. This is one of the boys favorite chores - bathroom cleaning. They each take a clorox wipe and Michael does counters and sinks while Jon does toilet tops and seats. They do a pretty surface level job but it is enough to get by so I don't have to clean them as often - perfect because bathroom cleaning is NOT one of my favorite chores.

Haig House Preschool

2011-09-27T15:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was on of Michael's school days so I thought I'd use my camera to document my preschool day at home with Jon and Becca:

Little did I know that the day would start off with a bath. When I went to get Becca up I found that at some point in the night she had pooped and then stuck her hand in her diaper - it was everywhere. Uggg! No more two piece pajamas for her for a while. Of course this was right around the time Michael was suppose to be picked up by his ride for school, so I told him to watch through the window and yell to me when they came so I could supervise the bath upstairs. I was so nervous that I wouldn't hear him and he'd just leave without me knowing, but it all turned out fine. And I had supper happy and clean little ones splashing away for a while.

After baths we set about playing with the trains. Jon and I had put them together the day before during "each kids plays in a different room" time. Jon and Becca love these as they can really set up the trains and get them going well. And I could use the time to get myself dressed and do some chores upstairs. I was frequently interrupted - they would play for a couple of minutes, then come and check on me, get bored with my sorting of laundry and return to play, repeat. However, I got about 20 minutes of work done which is an accomplishment.

Throughout the morning we kept taking potty breaks! Jon has been resistant to sitting on the potty until I bought another one for Becca. If I talk to Becca about sitting on the potty - Jon doesn't want to be left behind. And yes, those are in my living room (a bit yuck but very practical) and yes, Jon is on the pink one - apparently the new one is way cooler than the older one (and I wouldn't want to gender stereotype my kiddos). :)

OK, I promise that is the last picture that is a bit x-rated. Next up is making banana bread. They had so much fun dumping things in, stirring, and making a mess. And don't forget licking the spoons!

The it was time for a snack and some Mickey Mouse.

You can barely see it but there is a music player on the fridge. Some day I will try to get a video of this, but my kids love to dance and sing along.

We found a month on the window that was fascinating to Jon so we spent some time talking about butterflies and moths.

We also did a ton of laundry that morning as we were pretty far behind. I'm a firm believer that kids should start helping with chores even before they can walk. I certainly don't expect their help to make the chore go faster - in fact it often takes longer, but it is good training and good quality time together. Here Becca is taking things out of the dryer and passing them to me to be folded.

Finally we got to eat some of the nice warm banana bread for lunch!

And all of that was before noon. Well, actually I'd say all of that was about a tenth of the things we did before noon!

Medication recall

2011-09-24T21:51:00.002-04:00

So there was a recall for the birth control pills I've taken over the past year. I have had them filled apparently at three different Meijer pharmacies, because within about a two hour time bracket one morning I had three messages from Meijer pharmacies asking me to call about a drug recall (not exactly the topic you want to hear about for your medications). So I called one of them. They told me that I had filled my prescription there last June and that there was a recall on those pills. They then asked if I had any of the pills left. I wanted to explain to the pharmacist that there were 28 pills in the pack and that I took one each day and that it is now September, so if I had any pills left in that pack I might a bigger "problem" with my birth control than a recall. Instead I just said, "No." She replied with, ok, well if you did have any left I'm suppose to tell you to use alternate methods for birth control that month.

??????? That was in June and you tell me now ???????

So then I called my home Meijer store to see what they wanted me to do about my current pack. They told me the recall was because some of the packs were rotated 180 degrees when the pills were inserted so I should bring it in and trade it for a replacement from another company. Now these pills for those who don't know come in two colors - three weeks of one color and the forth week of a different color. So I politely asked if I could just look at the colors of the pills and find out if mine was rotated. She said, "Well, yes I guess you could."

So thinking it was all behind me I continued on with life. A few days later I got a letter in the mail from the third pharmacy asking me to call them about a drug recall. Apparently my prescription information can be pulled up by all the stores but not the fact that they already reached me (twice) to tell me about the recall. So I called them back and assured them that I had already talked to my home Meijer store and was aware of the details surrounding the recall. This pharmacist asked if I had brought my pills in and traded them for the replacement. Mind you I got my pills from them sometime like last April and my current pills were all in the right order, so instead of going through the previous two conversations again, I simply told her that I had.

I finished my 2010 Album

2011-09-21T09:00:00.003-04:00

So far in my scrapbooking fun I've been jumping all over the place. I scrap a page about something current and then I scrap some pictures from 2006 or something. Since I do them on the computer I can just store them in files without them taking up any physical space. However I've decided that It's time I start printing some pages so I decided to work through 2010 and scrap all of the pictures that I wanted in the 2010 album but hadn't gotten around to yet. This past week I finished the Thankmas and Christmas layouts!!! And I sent a whole bunch off to be printed. I can't wait until they get here later this week and I can complete my 2010 album. And I'm happy to say that it is before 2011 even ends. :)

So for those who want to get in the Christmas spirit very late - or I guess early now for 2011 here are my Christmas layouts:

Credits: All Things Magical by Traci Reed and Meghan Mullens, Tempate by Cindy Schnider, font is Rita 2 by Darcy Baldwin, Photo actions by Holly McCaig

Credits: Template from my Pack 8, Jolly Jingle Collab from Litttle Dreamer Designs, font is DiNarrow, photo actions by Faith True

I didn't do it!

2011-09-20T15:22:00.001-04:00

This morning I heard Jon running up the stairs, yelling, "Mom, Mom, Mom!" and Michael was screaming at me "Whatever Jon says I did - I didn't do it!"

So my question is does that mean my middle child is learning how to make things up to get his big brother in trouble? Or does it mean my oldest is pestering his little brother so much he doesn't even know which of his transgressions will be tattled about?

We found a new playground

2011-09-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Becca's favorite - a new kind of swing!

Notice the sweatshirt. Last week when I had to put long pants on Jon he complained that they bothered him that they touched his feet (he's use to shorts of course) and refused to wear a sweatshirt. This day I thought it was going to be cold again and dressed them accordingly. By the time we got to the playground the sun was out and it was pushing 80 degrees, but now Jon wouldn't take it off. :)

My boys on TV.

Becca has no fear. When she saw the slide she climbed up on her own and went down before I noticed. She flew down actually, going right off the end and falling face first in the sand at the bottom. I picked her up and tried to clean the sand off her face, but she kept squirming out of my arms to go again.

This is what Michael calls his tricks.

We have an upstairs playroom!

2011-09-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

When we moved into our house we were thrilled to have 4 bedrooms. That meant each kid could have their own - how perfect?! Jon, however, had other plans. He hated being alone at night and would cry at least once a night until I came in and then he would easily settle back down to sleep. All of this was fixed when we moved the boys back in together. Jon got a roommate and Michael got his longed for bunkbeds. Jons old room? Well it became a place to put stuff.

So this past week we cleaned it out. We put in two shelves and brought up the play kitchen. So one shelf now has the huge train set and the other has mostly things for the kitchen. The kids are loving it and so I am since they are so entertained with the new space!

Sept 11, 2011

2011-09-13T10:23:00.004-04:00

At church last Sunday we talked a lot about a big Why question: Why does God allow bad things to happen? This of course was in reference to it being the 10 year anniversary of the tragic Sept 11 attacks in the US. It got me thinking a lot about that day and about other tragedies in my life. I can remember as a child reading Philippians 1:23-24 "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." I couldn't imagine longing to die even if it meant I would be in heaven with Jesus. There was so much I wanted to do on earth yet. I would pray that God would grow me to love him so much that I could say this prayer even with so much I was longing for here on earth. I think that as you get older and live through more tough times you begin to get a different perspective on our temporary life here. Yes, I'm still excited about living and all of the things God has planned for my future, but I also know that in many ways heaven will be a relief - to be with God and all the goodness and love and away from the sadness, anxiety, fear, and troubles of this world.

As I was listening to the message in church about our response to the question of Why, I kept remembering what my parents have said in response to this. While it is an important question, it must be matched with its counter: Why in a world of sin do good things happen?

So to manage all of my thoughts, I put together this layout:

The background has the verse from Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

The journaling reads:
Ten years ago today tragedy hit the United States. I was teaching in my classroom when a note from the principal was delivered to all the staff. It told us that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers and that the Pentagon had also
been hit. We were instructed to not turn on our TVs and to plan on meeting after school. At first my brain registered that there was a plane crash. This happens every day I thought – why the special notice? Then I read the note again and the full impact settled in. My parapro and I worked as calmly as we could until the
students headed off to lunch. Then I was finally able to turn the TV on and watch the news. The rest of the day I felt a bit numb and that evening I headed over to my parents' house, not wanting to be alone. Looking back I see this as a strong reminder that
THIS IS NOT OUR HOME.
When horrible things happen we always ask “Why?” Why would an all powerful and all good God let something like this happen? This of course is a question we really can't answer. We cannot see the picture as big and in as much detail as God can. However, I think that it is so important to also asking the matching question: Why
in this world full of sin is there any good left? With Satan having such a strong foothold on this earth, how is there still love and joy and peace and faith? Because God is Love and he is here with us. God's spirit is alive and at work within us and this world. He loves us so much and continues to pour good things down on us. And there is even more reason for hope. This is not our permanent home. Our citizenship
is in heaven and we eagerly await the coming back of our savior to take us home forever.

Oh how I hate teething!

2011-09-12T14:05:00.002-04:00

Michael:
Michael got his first tooth at 4 month, over Christmas vacation. This meant that he cried and cried on the car trip and quite a lot for poor grandma and grandpa that wanted a sweet baby grandson to play with. It also meant that he was way too young to understand that he shouldn't bite while nursing which led to some moments I happy to forget about.

As it turned out Michael actually got a lot of his teeth when we were on vacation. I sometimes wonder if our relatives simply thought we had an always cranky baby.

Jon:
Jonathan did not get his first tooth until after he gave up nursing at 10 months. I was told that the rate of teething seems to run in families and to expect Jon's around the same time as Michael. However, those of you who know Jon, understand that it is part of his mission in life to be as different as he can from Michael and this was no exception.

I really don't remember much about Jon teething, but since he was in a habit of waking every hour, crying for me to give him his pacifier, I don't remember a lot of specifics about life over that year as I wasn't getting much sleep.

Becca:
Our Rebecca's teeth seem to want to each have the spotlight on their own. Most kids get teeth in pairs or even 3 or 4 at a time. Becca's teeth, however, have all come in one at a time. Before each one there is about 3-4 days where she drools up a storm and doesn't sleep well. Then, a new tooth appears and life goes back to normal.

She so far has all eight front teeth and three molars. However, she has been working on this last molar for two weeks now. She chews on everything and always has a toy or her fingers in on that side of her mouth. And she wakes up crying almost every night. We have gotten in the habit of giving her tylenol when she does as it is the only things that keeps her from continuing to wake up again and again. However, no tooth yet. Every couple of days I think I feel it but then it disappears. Please oh please oh please come up through the gums and give me back my sweet daughter!

Big girl seat

2011-09-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

It seems like such a small thing, but Becca is soooo excited about her big girl chair. She has been causing quite the scares recently because she has learned how to climb out of the high chair - even miraculously when strapped in. So the high chair has disappeared to the basement and we brought up a booster seat. Her eyes just lit up when I asked her if she wanted to sit in it.

This is the first time in a LONG time that my kitchen has been high chair free.

Our Math Wiz

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Tim is using some Math computer problem sets and videos from Kahn Academy for his middle schoolers. Michael has been so intrigued. He has watch a few of the easy level ones and made it up to addition with carrying and got stumped and gave up. This week however, Tim showed him the multiplication video and he began doing the problem sets with great success! You can't see the screen well, but he has just correctly answered 10x10. :)

Jon and his pacifiers

2011-09-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

Jon is now 3 and we have been talking with him about giving up his pacifiers. He has been fairly ok with this idea and so we finally put it into play Monday night. We had Jon put his pacifiers in an envelope and addressed it "To: A New Baby"

Then we put them in the mailbox. He went to sleep perfectly fine that night and slept soundly all night, much to our joy! In the morning he went to the mailbox and there was a package for him.

In it was a note thanking Jon for the pacifiers and giving him three new race cars from the movie Cars. He was so thrilled!

All in all it was quite the success EXCEPT...

He hasn't been able to fall asleep now during naps! Here I though we were doing a great thing getting rid of the pacifiers and now he won't nap. AAAHHHHHH!