A trip to the farm

On Monday this week we took the boys to a farm in the area to pick some apples and pumpkins. They had a blast. I can't wait to scrap the pictures, but for now, here are a few to show off:

Oh where oh where can I find routine

I just visited my own blog (here) and noticed that the last post was July 7. If I don't write soon that will be two months and that is just way to long!
I love summer time. It always means vacations and times away from my normal day to day routine. However, I like coming back from vacations too and seeing my old life again. When I'm on vacation I have such a hard time getting anything done. I fall behind on the house work, barely keep up with laundry, forget about my devotional time, feel lazy a lot, and obvious don't post on my blog. I feel now, like we have been on vacation for a long time and unfortunately don't see a way back to my old routine for months. We have now sold our house in PA, moved to MI, spent over a month living with my wonderful parents, moved into our rental house for the year, visited the cottage, taken a summer course, celebrate both boys birthdays, taken a trip to Canada, and so much more - it has been a packed summer. Now we are looking towards fall. However, Tim is going to be subbing and taking classes online this fall and so his schedule is going to be up in the air each day depending on if he gets a sub job that day. I'm going to be taking two classes at Calvin and trying to fit in time to do homework on the days Tim is home without work. I feel like we are going to be on a day to day schedule all fall and I'm not really looking forward to it. I need to find some way to make a routine for it. I need to get my daily life back!!! :)

The calm between the storms

Sorry I haven't been on much. We are having two very busy months right now. For the past few weeks we have been moving. We packed a POD up with most of the stuff from our house - I forgot to take pictures but it was an incredible packing job if I do say so myself. :) It was like one gigantic tetris game. Then we drove a load in our cars up to Grand Rapids and spend three wonderful but way to short days at the beach on Lake Michigan. Then back to Pittsburgh to sell the house (Yahhh! All went so smoothly) and then off to a hotel for two days. Then we said good-bye to Tim who headed for Virginia for two weeks for classes while we drove up to Grand Rapids. We have spent one week here trying to catch up on some much needed rest. Now I feel like I have energy and time to fill this week ahead before Tim comes back and I take a two week intensive course at Calvin.

While we are in the calm week of our busy summer I thought I'd update you all with some pictures of the cutest boys ever!

Here are some pictures from the time at the cottage. Jon loved walking:

Michael and CJ watching cartoons:

Out in the lake:


The hit at the hotel was the pool. Michael loved it and swam by himself with the water wings. Jon was overwhelmed at first by the cool temp and the loud noises, but soon he was having tons of fun too.



For the 4th of July we went and saw a parade. Michael was told that if he waved at the trucks they would throw him candy.



And then there was a carnival too:



Grandma treats!

Jon Walks!

He has been so close the past two weeks. And tonight he did it:




He was so excited that he just kept giggling and trying for a hour or so and it took us forever to get him to go to sleep tonight. I can only imagine the trouble he is going to get himself into this week with his new skill!

Some picture updates

Yah! Jon who has been refusing to take a bottle, is finally learning to drink from a cup! He actually adapted to it fairly quickly once I starting remembering to offer it him on a daily basis. I hope that this will come in handy during our upcoming move when finding a quite nurse might be next to impossible.







Check out this cool shot! Michael who last summer decided that he was deathly afraid of slides has resigned himself to the fact that they really might be fun! He loves the play area at the zoo and especially this slide. By the way, if you have children and are in the Pittsburgh area, the zoo here is a must - it has got to be one of the top zoos for children. Amazing play areas and a path around to see all the animals that isn't too long or too short.




On this trip to the zoo, Michael was allowed to take our old camera along to take his own pictures. He was so proud of himself. Which reminds me, I haven't downloaded the pictures from that camera yet. It will be fun to see if any of the animals actually made it into the shots!










Michael is getting ready for a hair cut. After we wet his hair he wanted it up like the "spiky fish." (Reference to a porcupine like fish in Super Mario World.)










Well, Jon is now standing up on his own. He cruises around furniture and lets go all the time. However, whenever we try to get him to take a step, he just falls to the ground and crawls to us with a giggle. Maybe that is for the better. He already gets into everything (see further down) and walking can really only lead to even more trouble!




Michael has been begging to go golfing, so we took a family trip to the driving range and mini golf course. While Michael is actually pretty good on his own (for a three year old at least), he did get some lessons from Dad.























Jon got to take a ride on my back for the day. This carrier worked great, although Jon still found ways to get his arms free and scare me that he might topple over or something. He was very happy to be hanging out with the family, which is his favorite thing to do!





Michael is still very addicted to cup stacking and we are trying to find a way to get him to a couple of official tournaments this year. Check out this link for some videos!















Just an amazing adorable face!












Michael love to practice his basketball. Here he is dribbling. I think he can get three dribbles in a row now!



















And here is Jon getting into trouble. He fascinated with doors right now - they close and they open, oh my!

Home Inspection - check!

Monday was our home inspection. We had to be out of the house by 8:00am, so we took the boys to Chick-fill-A for breakfast. Michael thought the idea of eating breakfast at a restaurant was a pretty cool idea, and of course loved the indoor playground there. (Actually that is why we chose the place.) Then we had an open house at Michael's preschool to pick up a picture book they made for him. When we swung by the house to pick up sunglasses and they will still at it.
We picked up a friend of Michael's from church and took the boys to the zoo for the day. They had a blast running everyone and seeing all the animals, although they both agreed that the playground and ice cream at the end of the day were the best.
So then we came home to an empty house and wondered what the results of the inspection were. We just found out tonight that all went well. There were a couple of things like poor window seals that came up, but nothing the buyer won't accept. So another step towards our move can be checked off the list!

Who loves you the most?

Tim loves to tuck Michael in bed at night. He tells him that he loves him and that Mommy loves him and then asks, "But who loves you the most?" Michael smiles and answers, "Jesus."
Today the Lord reminded me of the same thing. I've messed up today. I yelled at my kids, I was lazy with my word, I didn't respond in love when I should have. But then I sat down to read God's word and he reminded me how much he loves me. How cool is it that God loves us not because of anything we've done, but just because. Such a simple lesson, but such a great reminder!