The first day of the rest of our lives

I thought I'd interrupt my summer review as today is Tim's first day back to work. This marks two things for me:
1. We have now lived in our new home for a full year. We moved in the weekend before Tim started work last year. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that we still have a few boxes in the basement that are not unpacked. I should probably go through them next summer and do a garage sale or something because we obviously don't NEED the things in those boxes as we have gone all year without them. :)
Here is a memory from moving last year:

Layout credits: MSA Celebrating Life: At Home, pieces by FruitloopSally, Kelly Mickus Designs, Kaye Winiecki, Oscraps, and Cinzia Loosemore

2. Today marks the day of trying to start back into our school schedule. I have spent most of the summer at Calvin taking classes and Tim has been stay at home Dad. I really enjoyed the ability to talk with other adults for hours at a time and to be able to deepen my thinking about teaching and students with disabilities. It has refreshed me an stretched me. However, it has also confirmed for me that my job right now is to be home raising my kids. I'm thrilled to be back into this routine right now. It does mean that I have to do things that I don't like like laundry and dishes and cleaning bathrooms, but it also means that each day I get to tell my kiddos how much I love them, I get to teach them about God and his world, and I get to watch them grow and learn and change which is a huge blessing.

Colossians 3:23-24 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." This is the verses I want to live each day for. And what a great lesson to instill in my children. I really don't like putting the books back on the shelf again because Becca keeps knocking them down, but I'm going to do it joyfully as if I am preparing the room for Jesus. Steven Curtis Chapman has a song about it:


So to help me out I've made a fun dry erase board for chores and dinners for each week.

Credits: Shabby Kitchen by Jessica Edwards, papers from Blessed With Blue by Bella Gypsy, Elements from Spring Clean and Baker's Dozen by Kate Hadfield and Jacque Larsen, font is Amanda G by Darcy Baldwin
(If you want to see more about it, check my Digital Scrapbooking Classes blog post.)

And on that note, here are some pictures of the fun today with my kids:
All three playing race cars together. The boys were so cute because they would race around fast and have their cars jump over Becca each time they lapped her.


Then when I said it was time for lunch, Becca ran right over and climbed up onto her high chair by herself - my little monkey.


Finally, you can't see it that well, but Becca is eating a carrot stick. My little girl will not eat vegetables. We have tried everything, including hiding them in things. She has the skill to take the bite, move the food around in her mouth, and spit out only the vegetables. Well, apparently, a raw carrot at lunch time is not a vegetable to her. She will slowly naw on them - I think she probably gets about 1/5 of a baby carrot, but still!

Summer Review #13 Tennis

While Grandma and Grandpa were still in town we also took the kids out to play tennis.

Michael is good enough now that he can volley a bit with Tim.


Becca had a blast throwing and chasing tennis balls.




Jon was so excited to try and actually did very well. He is turning out to be a very coordinated little boy.


Before the day was over we also stopped by the playground next to the courts. Check out this cool three-way slide.

Summer Review #12 MiniGolf

Tim's parents got to come out for a whole week this summer. It was right in between my two summer classes. I had a ton of work to do writing a final paper for my first class and reading ahead for my second one, and it was great to have them here to help keep the kids entertained and give Tim a break from being single parent most of the day. I was able to take a break to do some fun things. On one afternoon we went to Grand Haven to look at boats and also stopped for some mini golf.

Michael, our sports nut, was entirely into it.


We got Becca to try too, but she preferred to wander around pick up people's balls off the green which irritated her oldest brother immensely and kept me chasing after her more than playing golf myself.


Jon loved playing for a few minutes at a time, but in between he wanted to wander around to see other things and to swing his club at random objects. He could not figure out why we had to do the holes in a specific order and kept wanting to go off and try other holes instead.

Summer Review #11 New Cottage Lake

I mentioned earlier that my dad had bought a new cottage. It is up in mid-Michigan on an inland lake and we are loving it. The water is about knee high at the shore so it is perfect for the kiddos to play in.



In her floaty, Becca can walk around on the sandy bottom and has an absolute blast being on her own in the water.


Michael is getting very daring with swimming and even let Tim toss him some.

Summer Review #10 T-ball

Michael played on a 5 year old t-ball team this summer and had so much fun. Probably about half of the kids were into the game (Michael being in this group) and half the boys just played in the dirt or spun around in the outfield. My favorite thing was that they had the kids wear helmets that were huge on them and basically just sat directly on their shoulders.

Summer Review #9 4th of July

Our neighborhood does a super cute 4th of July parade. The kids all decorate their bikes and then parade around the block. Then we all meet up for a picnic. Michael and Jon really got into it and had a blast decorating their bikes.


Becca and I decided to stand in the driveway and watch the parade. Becca had a blast waving the flag while we waited.


Michael is now an expert two wheeler and followed the float twice around the block.


Jon on the other hand is still working on his pedaling skills and needed a lot of pushing. This duo only made it around the block once. :)

Summer Review #8 Wedding

Another big happening this summer is that my father got remarried. Yes, things moved very quickly in the relationship but he has met a wonderful woman and they are now husband and wife. Her name is Chris. As this is what my family has often called me, things can get a bit confusing now. I just need to insist on "Christy" from everyone. :)

Here are some photos from the event.

My three boys never like to get dressed up but don't they look handsome?


Becca was all dressed up too, but unfortunately the best picture we got of her was after she had already pulled out her hair bow.


Chris has four children so here is a shot with all of us


These are my grandparents: My grandma (mom's mom) and my grandpa and Pearl (dad's dad and his wife). It was great that my many people from my mom's family came to support my dad at the wedding.


Chris' eldest and I were the witness at the wedding. And I then gave the "best man" speech at the reception - something I've never done before. :)


And finally one of the bride and groom (laughing at some stories people were telling about them).