Field Trips

Tis the season for field trips.

Jon's class went to a nature center near the school.  I was thrilled that it was on a day Becca was at school and so I got to go along.  I was actually surprised at how much he LOVED it.  I knew he would have a good time, but I didn't realize how much of an impression it would make on him.  He is talking about a lot and sharing a bunch of facts that he learned with his brother and sister.

They got to see a lot of animals, including turtles, snakes, rabbits, and an owl.  They also learned all about different bird calls.  Finally we took a short walk outside (short because it was rainy), and we saw different flowers and animal prints as well as some deer in the brush.





We (Jon, Becca, and I) also took a trip with my Moms group to Dutch Village.  We rode the rides and walked around.  A favorite is always stopping at the wooden shoe factory and trying on the samples, including these giant ones.

One Two Buckle My Shoe

Each month at school, Becca's class learns a nursery rhyme.  Usually I hear her say it once or twice, but this month she has been saying it every day.  The first time I heard her, it started like this:

One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, open the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them down

Cracked us up - makes sense, but not close to a rhyme.  :)

After some more practice, though, here she is:

Christmas Presents

Last week we spent a night working on teacher christmas presents.  I wanted something the kids could help with so we decided on chocolate covered pretzels.

We did white chocolate and semi-sweet.



I let the kids toss the pretzels into the chocolate and then I fished them out and set them to harden on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.



On some of them we drizzled melted butterscotch.  I let them sit in the fridge to harden for a while and then we put them in cute bowls and wrapped them up.  Of course I forgot to take pictures of the final products.



The kids also worked hard to write their own Christmas cards.

Animals

When Jon and Becca get to playing together it usually quickly involves a bunch of animals and dolls.  Last Friday was such a day.  We had just had one of the busiest weeks and on Friday we had absolutely nothing on the schedule.  So while I got some stuff done around the house and got caught up on some reading I wanted to do, Jon and Becca went off into pretend mode.

After a while I went around the house to see what was up.  This puppy is Chocolate.  He slept on the kitchen floor today.  He use to be one of my favorite stuffed animals as a kid (hence the name).  I love that he brings joy to my kids too.



During their games the front hallway always fill up with the friends.  When I ask, they can never tell me exactly what they were doing, but the hallway seems to be a favorite hang out place for the animals and dolls.  Based on what I hear, there is a lot of Mommy, Daddy, and Baby playing here.





And then upstairs it was lunch time.

Cousin Visit

Sam and Michele had a retreat in Holland to attend and so the Williamson kids came and spent the night Friday.  The evening went well and everyone went to sleep without any trouble.  Saturday morning everyone got up and Tim and his sister Sarah who was also with us headed off to play a frisbee tournament so I was home with 6 kids: 8 year old Michael, 5 year old Jon, 3 year olds Becca and Luke, 1 year old Judah, and a baby who is their foster daughter at the moment.

So what does one do with 6 kids 8 and under?  We actually had a great time.  We slowly got everyone fed and dressed and then while the baby napped we went upstairs and played trains and cars.  After snack we got out crayons, markers, stickers, coloring books and workbooks.  I think they played at the table for over 30 minutes.  Even Judah was happy to scribble, pull off stickers, and mostly watch all the big kids at work.  And I must say that our nephew Luke was thrilled to find a bunch of pink markers!

Next up was lunch, and luckily everyone likes the same food so while there were plenty of requests for different things, everyone was satisfied when I announced the same menu for all.  The day ended with some outside playtime in the driveway thanks to the beautiful sunshine God provided.

Here is a picture of the crew.  I can't share a picture of the baby online, but I can tell you that I dressed her in a MSU sleeper for the day at her mom's request.  I knew that Sam wouldn't allow it in his house, so we got it well worn at our house.

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.

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!

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!

Fire Station

This week at one of the rare moments when I thought we were all done being sick, I took Jon and Becca out with my mom's group on a fire station tour.



Jon freaked out when we walked in and didn't want to do or touch anything.  Becca followed his lead a little at first, but once I got her to go through the fire truck (they climbed in one door and out the other) she was happy to run around with the other kids and have fun.



Thank you Holland Fire Dept for a fun tour!

The Last Week +

We've been shut up in the house with sick kids for a while now. Here is the run down: Monday April 8: *We arrive home at about 1:30am after driving from the Chicago airport. *We sleep from 2-6 am and I get up to help Tim get out the door and let Michael's school and carpool know I'm letting him sleep in and bringing him late. *Jon wakes up wheezing so we do breathing treatments every 4 hours throughout the day. *Things go pretty well except that I'm exhausted. *Kids go to bed 1/2 hour early. *It rained most of the day. Tuesday April 9: *Jon wakes up in the middle of the night with a high fever. I need to give him a breathing treatment and tylenol throughout the night. *By morning I figure I've gotten 8-9 hours of sleep in the last two nights. *Jon is feverish all day and can't get off the couch. *Jon and Becca watch a lot of cartoons and I actually get a morning nap on the couch! *It rained most of the day. Wednesday April 10: *I was up with Jon every 4 hours through the night for more medication. *Jon is again feverish and has no energy. He will try to play, but after 2-3 minutes lays back down on the couch. He barely eats anything. *Jon and Becca again watch a lot of cartoons. *Becca is getting restless. She wants to play but can't go outside and Jon is not making for a good playmate. *Michael's 1st baseball practice is canceled and he is bummed. *It rained most of the day. Thursday April 11: *Exact repeat of Wednesday! Friday April 12: *No kids wake up at night so I get to sleep through! *Jon and Becca both have runny noses and a cough. *I get a sore throat. *Jon is getting back to his usual self and his fever is gone. *In an attempt to get out of the house I take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner where everyone else thought it would be fun to go to get out of the house. Super busy but they do fabulous! *It rained most of the day. *11:00 pm, Michael wakes up screaming - he has just thrown up. Saturday April 13: *From 11:00 until 3:00 am, Michael throws up about every 20 minutes. I sit on the couch with him and watch you guessed it - more cartoons. *After making sure Michael fell asleep and was done throwing up, I finally sleep from 4-7am. *7:00am I kick Tim out of bed to be with the kids and I sleep for another 3 hours. *Michael is sick all day. *Becca is about ready to bounce through the walls. *It snowed. Sunday April 14: *Becca couldn't sleep and woke me up saying that her lips hurt. *An hour later Becca woke me up to tell me that she'd wet her bed. *Tim went into church for rehearsal and both services. *I stayed home with the kids. *I did as many loads of laundry as I could full of sheets and blankets from the bedrooms and the living room. *We sanitized every square inch of the house. *Michael had a mild fever, no energy, and no appetite. *We had our Bible study group over with the kids quarantined upstairs. *It snowed. Monday April 15: *I got a full night's sleep! *Michael woke up still feverish and lethargic. He stayed home and took a nap. *Jon is feeling great and Michael's energy returns by evening. *The kids play/fight/play/fight all day. *It rained, but not until the evening. So, if you have made it through that post (it overwhelmed me a bit to type it all) here are some patterns: *I did not get much sleep and I don't function well on lack of sleep. *My boys were each sick for 3 days with NO energy. *We had a few germs floating around the house, but now I feel like I have the best disinfected house and the cleanest blankets. *I don't function well on lack of sleep. *Did you notice that it rained a bit? *We "enjoyed" some mid April snow flakes. *I'm a bit nervous to take my kids out of the house, but I think we are on the mend. *Did I mention that I didn't get much sleep? Good night!

Puzzles

A couple of weeks ago my kiddos went to visit Aunt Michele while Tim and I were at a meeting.  She had some puzzles out for them to play with and since then puzzles have been all the rage for Jon and Becca.  So the other day I got our big box of puzzles and we went to work.



Jon's favorite was the pirates:




And not surprisingly, Becca's favorite was the animals:

Best Friends

Jon and Becca have become best friends.  Jon will often crawl in Becca's bed at night to give her a kiss and tell her that she is his best friend.  It is so cute.

They have gotten into a very good routine on the days we are home.  Some days they play together really well.  This usually involves legos or animals or both.

The other day they came to me super excited to share that they had built a kitty hotel all by themselves. They begged me to come see:


When I asked where the kitties were, they showed me inside.


Another day I couldn't find them they were playing so quietly.  After some investigations (because a quiet house is usually not a good thing as any mom of young ones can tell you), this is what I found.  Can you find my kiddos?


There are days when they need there space.  Sometimes they come to this decision on their own and search out activities.  Other days this has to be imposed by mom.  Either way, though, I'm glad they are both kids that know how to play.