Sunday, June 1, 2008
Well, here we are, the first of June. Only 5 days of school left and then we are full throttle into summer. I remember the feeling of that last week of school and how excited I was to be done for the summer. I am trying to share in that joy with Kenny, but I must admit that the idea of having ALL FOUR KIDS home ALL DAY LONG, is something that doesn't sound altogether appealing at this moment. I'm sure that we will get into our summer groove though and it will be fun.....I hope.
This past week has been all about adding on to our existing deck. Matt worked so hard on it all week long and it is 90% done. All that is left is a set of stairs/handrails, one other handrail, and the lattice underneath. Then comes the daunting task of power washing the existing deck and then priming the floor of the entire thing and staining all of it. Not looking forward to that, but at least the deck is in the shade most of the day. I am not a sun girl, that's for sure. It seems like there are still SO many outdoor projects ahead of us. Once the deck is done and stained, I need to power wash and stain the kids swingset and picnic table. Then I need to stain my new clothesline, which I LOVE by the way, and the post that the bird house and bird feeders is on. Then we need to run the electrical out to the garage and put the brick pavers in all the way around the deck. Then we are going to make a little brick paver area for our fire pit. Then we have a ton of grass seed to put down. It will probably take us the better part of June to finish all of that. We also have to change some wiring around upstairs. Lots to do, lots to do.
This week is going to be a busy one for Kenny. On Tuesday he has Kindergarten Carnival, Wednesday he gets to eat lunch in the cafeteria in preparation for next year, and Thursday is Kindergarten Celebration (the Kindergarten graduation we remember, without the cap and gown), and then Friday is his last day.
I cannot believe that I will have a child in 1st grade next year. And the following year, Nicholas will be in 1st grade. Mind boggling really. You know how sometimes you'll be driving along and realize that you don't remember driving the last 5 miles, but there you are safe and sound??? That's how it is sometimes as a parent. You just cruise along, in your groove, and then one day you really look around and think, "Wow, how did I get here? When did they grow up? Why didn't I pay more attention to it?". And then you keep going, trying with all your might not to rush, to pay more attention, and just enjoy the ride.
This past week has been all about adding on to our existing deck. Matt worked so hard on it all week long and it is 90% done. All that is left is a set of stairs/handrails, one other handrail, and the lattice underneath. Then comes the daunting task of power washing the existing deck and then priming the floor of the entire thing and staining all of it. Not looking forward to that, but at least the deck is in the shade most of the day. I am not a sun girl, that's for sure. It seems like there are still SO many outdoor projects ahead of us. Once the deck is done and stained, I need to power wash and stain the kids swingset and picnic table. Then I need to stain my new clothesline, which I LOVE by the way, and the post that the bird house and bird feeders is on. Then we need to run the electrical out to the garage and put the brick pavers in all the way around the deck. Then we are going to make a little brick paver area for our fire pit. Then we have a ton of grass seed to put down. It will probably take us the better part of June to finish all of that. We also have to change some wiring around upstairs. Lots to do, lots to do.
This week is going to be a busy one for Kenny. On Tuesday he has Kindergarten Carnival, Wednesday he gets to eat lunch in the cafeteria in preparation for next year, and Thursday is Kindergarten Celebration (the Kindergarten graduation we remember, without the cap and gown), and then Friday is his last day.
I cannot believe that I will have a child in 1st grade next year. And the following year, Nicholas will be in 1st grade. Mind boggling really. You know how sometimes you'll be driving along and realize that you don't remember driving the last 5 miles, but there you are safe and sound??? That's how it is sometimes as a parent. You just cruise along, in your groove, and then one day you really look around and think, "Wow, how did I get here? When did they grow up? Why didn't I pay more attention to it?". And then you keep going, trying with all your might not to rush, to pay more attention, and just enjoy the ride.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Also, really quick wanted to add a few new things the girls are doing.
Olivia is now crawling and sitting and she is trying very hard on pulling up. She is also getting her upper left tooth!!
As for Layla, she has two new phrases:
"There you are! I was so worried!"
"Well, well, well. What have we here?"
Oh, and I slipped the other day when I was aggravated with the double stroller and said "What the heck?!", so all the way to the park I heard Layla saying "What the heck mama, what the heck?". Woops.
Olivia is now crawling and sitting and she is trying very hard on pulling up. She is also getting her upper left tooth!!
As for Layla, she has two new phrases:
"There you are! I was so worried!"
"Well, well, well. What have we here?"
Oh, and I slipped the other day when I was aggravated with the double stroller and said "What the heck?!", so all the way to the park I heard Layla saying "What the heck mama, what the heck?". Woops.
Wow, another two weeks gone by in the blink of an eye. Scary how fast it goes by.
We are glad to see the end of May so close. Matt was laid off for 3 very long and stressful weeks. We tried so hard to enjoy it, but it got more stressful with every new bill that arrived in the mail. However, God is good, and he was back to work, full swing, as of last Wednesday. He is now working 10 hour days, and some weeks will be 6 days for him. Let the summer construction season begin!! The kids really miss having daddy around so much. I hear "Mama, when will daddy be home?" several times every day. Anyways, let's attempt a re-cap.
Last Saturday, Matt took Kenny, Nicholas and Layla to the Dupont Airport in Lapeer. It is under new ownership and they had a bit of an open house, complete with hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, popcorn, pop and many other treats. Matt had a wonderful time talking to all of the mechanics, etc. that work there and was able to meet several of the gentleman that are in the monthly EAA chapter in Lapeer. For those of you unfamiliar with EAA, it stands for Experimental Aircraft Association. Matt, and his dad, are members of EAA and tried to go to the EAA Airventure air show in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin every year, if not every other. We are blessed with the memory of going there in 2005 with Dan(my Father in Law), his wife Joanne, Kenny and Nicholas. Layla was still in my belly at the time. So, Matt is ready to start attending the EAA meetings and I am thrilled for him to have this group to look forward to. It sounds like they are working on some interesting projects and it will be a very great experience for Matt. I only wish he had his dad to share it with him, but I feel that Dan will be there in spirit. Here are some pictures from that day:
So, while they were doing that, my mom and I did our annual trip to DeSmet's greenhouse to get our annuals. Olivia had a great time in the Baby Bjorn, trying to grab whatever flowers she could get her sweet little hands on. Almont was having their yearly Garage sale mania, and I had some minor luck on Thursday and Friday, so I stopped at one last one on the way home and hit the jackpot!! It was actually my old babysitter's house, which I did not realize, and she had a HUGE pile of size 7's and 8's, which is the next size for Kenny, so I bought everything that I could find, and she gave it all to me for $37.00. I was thrilled!! The rest of that day was just playing outside and we all went for a bike ride. Olivia isn't quite sure what she thinks of the bike trailer, but she managed.
Saturday night was interesting. It was about 11:30pm. The kids were sleeping, I was in the living room watching "The Holiday" (I highly recommend this movie!), and Matt was in the dining room on the computer. All of a sudden we hear this crash/loud thud. It sounded like a limb fell on the house or something heavy fell upstairs. I yelled to Matt "What was that?", and he said he didn't know and ran upstairs. Meanwhile terrible thoughts of what it could be ran through my head and those fears were met when I heard Nicholas crying. By the time I got upstairs, Matt had Nicholas in the bathroom and there was blood pouring out of his nose. All that we can think is that he fell face first out of bed. When Nicholas is asleep, a freight train could go through their room and wouldn't wake him up. Anyways, he had a fat lip, his top two teeth were a bit loose, he had a large bump and bruise where his forehead and hairline meet, and a bloody nose with bruising in between his nose and lip. He just kept crying that he wanted to go back to bed. I obviously couldn't let him sleep without supervision, so I brought him in bed with me. I stayed up for a few hours, jiggling him every now and again to make sure he was responsive. Boy is that kid squirmy. I had seen some blood on his sheets the night before, so I went to get those to wash them, and the entire floor in between the boys beds was dried blood. Scary, scary, scary. So, we skipped church Sunday because he said his head really hurt. Lots of Tylenol that day. So, this is what the kids did Sunday morning:
Kenny and Livvy:
Nicholas and Layla:
Later that day we went to our friends new house to see everything and had a very nice visit. Then I made spaghetti for dinner and my mother-in-law Debby and her husband came over and we had dinner and another lovely visit. All in all a very nice weekend!
Last week was just playing outside and doing the usual schedule. I actually got to go to the grocery store by myself on Tuesday, which is a VERY rare treat. And as I mentioned before, Matt returned to work on Wednesday. Nicholas had a preschool playdate at the park, so we went there and stayed for a couple of hours and then walked through the woods to my parent's house. The park is practically in their backyard through the trees. We had a visit with my mom and then came home for naps. I went to a couple more garage sales on Thursday and picked up a few things for Layla and Kenny, so that was a plus. Nothing too special on Friday.
On to the holiday weekend. Saturday Matt had to work and we just played around the yard. Here are some cute bath tub pictures of Layla. Matt loves to sculpt shampoo'd hair:
Sunday we had a barbecue with my parent's and my mother-in-law Joanne. Then we had a bonfire and made S'mores. Then Memorial Day we decided to set up the pool that Matt's boss gave us. They had it and didn't use it, so they passed it on to us!! It's 42 inces tall and 18 feet in diameter. They gave us the vacuum, filter, skimmer, solar cover, pool toys, etc. We are all so excited to have this to look forward to this summer! We have been debating getting one for 3 years now, and so now we don't have to debate anymore. And of course, the kids had to play in the water. It was a gorgeous 80 degree day yesterday, (which makes the chilly 57 degrees today seem that much more cruel), and they were able to thoroughly cool off. Ah, the days of not minding the numbing cold of hose water:
It took about 24 hours to fill it up completely. I did a shock treatment this afternoon and will let the filter run tonight. I doubt we'll be able to use it for a couple of weeks, but at least it's ready when we need it!
So, that's us for now. Off to get the kids in bed and collapse. Love to all!!
We are glad to see the end of May so close. Matt was laid off for 3 very long and stressful weeks. We tried so hard to enjoy it, but it got more stressful with every new bill that arrived in the mail. However, God is good, and he was back to work, full swing, as of last Wednesday. He is now working 10 hour days, and some weeks will be 6 days for him. Let the summer construction season begin!! The kids really miss having daddy around so much. I hear "Mama, when will daddy be home?" several times every day. Anyways, let's attempt a re-cap.
Last Saturday, Matt took Kenny, Nicholas and Layla to the Dupont Airport in Lapeer. It is under new ownership and they had a bit of an open house, complete with hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, popcorn, pop and many other treats. Matt had a wonderful time talking to all of the mechanics, etc. that work there and was able to meet several of the gentleman that are in the monthly EAA chapter in Lapeer. For those of you unfamiliar with EAA, it stands for Experimental Aircraft Association. Matt, and his dad, are members of EAA and tried to go to the EAA Airventure air show in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin every year, if not every other. We are blessed with the memory of going there in 2005 with Dan(my Father in Law), his wife Joanne, Kenny and Nicholas. Layla was still in my belly at the time. So, Matt is ready to start attending the EAA meetings and I am thrilled for him to have this group to look forward to. It sounds like they are working on some interesting projects and it will be a very great experience for Matt. I only wish he had his dad to share it with him, but I feel that Dan will be there in spirit. Here are some pictures from that day:
So, while they were doing that, my mom and I did our annual trip to DeSmet's greenhouse to get our annuals. Olivia had a great time in the Baby Bjorn, trying to grab whatever flowers she could get her sweet little hands on. Almont was having their yearly Garage sale mania, and I had some minor luck on Thursday and Friday, so I stopped at one last one on the way home and hit the jackpot!! It was actually my old babysitter's house, which I did not realize, and she had a HUGE pile of size 7's and 8's, which is the next size for Kenny, so I bought everything that I could find, and she gave it all to me for $37.00. I was thrilled!! The rest of that day was just playing outside and we all went for a bike ride. Olivia isn't quite sure what she thinks of the bike trailer, but she managed.
Saturday night was interesting. It was about 11:30pm. The kids were sleeping, I was in the living room watching "The Holiday" (I highly recommend this movie!), and Matt was in the dining room on the computer. All of a sudden we hear this crash/loud thud. It sounded like a limb fell on the house or something heavy fell upstairs. I yelled to Matt "What was that?", and he said he didn't know and ran upstairs. Meanwhile terrible thoughts of what it could be ran through my head and those fears were met when I heard Nicholas crying. By the time I got upstairs, Matt had Nicholas in the bathroom and there was blood pouring out of his nose. All that we can think is that he fell face first out of bed. When Nicholas is asleep, a freight train could go through their room and wouldn't wake him up. Anyways, he had a fat lip, his top two teeth were a bit loose, he had a large bump and bruise where his forehead and hairline meet, and a bloody nose with bruising in between his nose and lip. He just kept crying that he wanted to go back to bed. I obviously couldn't let him sleep without supervision, so I brought him in bed with me. I stayed up for a few hours, jiggling him every now and again to make sure he was responsive. Boy is that kid squirmy. I had seen some blood on his sheets the night before, so I went to get those to wash them, and the entire floor in between the boys beds was dried blood. Scary, scary, scary. So, we skipped church Sunday because he said his head really hurt. Lots of Tylenol that day. So, this is what the kids did Sunday morning:
Kenny and Livvy:
Nicholas and Layla:
Later that day we went to our friends new house to see everything and had a very nice visit. Then I made spaghetti for dinner and my mother-in-law Debby and her husband came over and we had dinner and another lovely visit. All in all a very nice weekend!
Last week was just playing outside and doing the usual schedule. I actually got to go to the grocery store by myself on Tuesday, which is a VERY rare treat. And as I mentioned before, Matt returned to work on Wednesday. Nicholas had a preschool playdate at the park, so we went there and stayed for a couple of hours and then walked through the woods to my parent's house. The park is practically in their backyard through the trees. We had a visit with my mom and then came home for naps. I went to a couple more garage sales on Thursday and picked up a few things for Layla and Kenny, so that was a plus. Nothing too special on Friday.
On to the holiday weekend. Saturday Matt had to work and we just played around the yard. Here are some cute bath tub pictures of Layla. Matt loves to sculpt shampoo'd hair:
Sunday we had a barbecue with my parent's and my mother-in-law Joanne. Then we had a bonfire and made S'mores. Then Memorial Day we decided to set up the pool that Matt's boss gave us. They had it and didn't use it, so they passed it on to us!! It's 42 inces tall and 18 feet in diameter. They gave us the vacuum, filter, skimmer, solar cover, pool toys, etc. We are all so excited to have this to look forward to this summer! We have been debating getting one for 3 years now, and so now we don't have to debate anymore. And of course, the kids had to play in the water. It was a gorgeous 80 degree day yesterday, (which makes the chilly 57 degrees today seem that much more cruel), and they were able to thoroughly cool off. Ah, the days of not minding the numbing cold of hose water:
It took about 24 hours to fill it up completely. I did a shock treatment this afternoon and will let the filter run tonight. I doubt we'll be able to use it for a couple of weeks, but at least it's ready when we need it!
So, that's us for now. Off to get the kids in bed and collapse. Love to all!!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Wow, amazing how quickly the weeks can fly by. I will try to sum up the last few weeks as best I can.
Let's see, we had Nicholas's birthday on April 20. He is now 5 years old!! I still think of him as a 3 year old, and on most days he acts so much like Layla, it's not too far fetched!! We had his party the day before his birthday, on Saturday, April 19. It was a nice time and the kids had a great time playing together:
On Nicholas's birthday, we had a leisurely morning and then Matt took the kid's fishing over at his dad's house. I picked up a Pepperidge Farm frozen cake at the store and we had that after dinner. Then he opened his gifts from us.
I made some zoo themed cupcakes for Nicholas's birthday at preschool. The letter for that week was "Z" and we were going to the Detroit Zoo the following day, so I found it fitting. Here is a picture of them:
We went to the zoo on April 22 and had a GORGEOUS day. Perfect weather. My mom and mother-in-law went with us and it was a ton of fun. All of the animals were out and about. Here are a few pictures from that day:
Nicholas with his preschool friend Kameron:
Nicholas just loves to draw and color and I LOVE this picture of him:
The rest of April was pretty much a blur. We had some very nice weather and we all got a very nasty cold. Here are two of my sickies:
On May 1, Nicholas had yet another field trip, to the farm this time. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Joanne, Aunt Denise, Aunt Darlene and Uncle Andy go with us!! There were lambs there that had just been born that morning! You could still see the umbilical cord dried up on their bellies. It was a great day and we had SO much fun together:
From left to right we have Denise and Layla, Darlene and Nicholas, Andy and Joanne:
That night we had a barbecue at Joanne's house and it was so nice. We discovered Nicholas's love for barbecued chicken skin. Yuck, yuck, yuck. And Nicholas got a spruce sapling for Arbor Day and we planted it by the garage. I took a picture on May 2, and will do so every year so that we can see how Nicholas, and his tree, are growing. So, here is year one:
My daughter, the thug:
And we've had a ton of exciting things happen over the past week!! Firstly, Kenny lost his 2nd tooth!! So, the tooth fairy paid another visit to our house. Then, Olivia got her first two teeth! She has her bottom two teeth now. Then, Nicholas graduated from preschool. It was the cutest little ceremony. He was a bit shy, and faced the side of the stage the entire time. A flashback of Kenny's graduation. Kenny stood in the exact same spot and did the exact same thing at his two years ago. Silly boys.
My graduate with his cap and diploma:
And lastly, Kenny and Nicholas have learned to ride bikes without their training wheels!! Matt and I thought that this would take forever to do, but it was a matter of minutes for Kenny and hours for Nicholas. Now it's all that they want to do. We are so very proud of all of our kids and their accomplishments.
Layla's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Her newest words are "You're welcome", "Hello, nice to meet you", "Hello! Please come in!", "Leave me alone", "Bless you", etc. She is really into Olivia now because Olivia is becoming more interesting. She hasn't figured out the whole "gentle" thing yet, so we are having to watch them very closely when they're together.
Olivia still cannot crawl forwards, but has backwards down pat. She is also sitting up very well, and starting to croutch on her knees. Very cute. Now, if she could just sleep longer than 2-3 hour increments at night. I thought that once her teeth broke through, she would do better at night, but no such luck. Oh well, she is still a cutie pie. And her newest thing is her tongue. It hangs out of her mouth most of the day. Layla did the same thing, but at a younger age. It's pretty funny, and you can see it in the following picture. And Nicholas is taking more of an interest in her now. He didn't want much to do with her before, but now he is wanting to hold her and talk to her. He even let me take some pictures of him holding her. The first since she was born:
I had a wonderful Mother's Day and am still in shock that I have four children to call me mom. They are so very different and I love getting to know each of their personalities. Amazing where life takes you, even when you are fighting to go in the other direction. I've long since given up fighting it and have decided that I'll be better off sitting back and enjoying the ride. I've always been a fan of the really crazy, twisty, up and down rollercoasters, and I'm finding myself on the most exhilarating, scary, exciting and sometimes nauseating, ride of my life. Cedar Point, eat your heart out:
Let's see, we had Nicholas's birthday on April 20. He is now 5 years old!! I still think of him as a 3 year old, and on most days he acts so much like Layla, it's not too far fetched!! We had his party the day before his birthday, on Saturday, April 19. It was a nice time and the kids had a great time playing together:
On Nicholas's birthday, we had a leisurely morning and then Matt took the kid's fishing over at his dad's house. I picked up a Pepperidge Farm frozen cake at the store and we had that after dinner. Then he opened his gifts from us.
I made some zoo themed cupcakes for Nicholas's birthday at preschool. The letter for that week was "Z" and we were going to the Detroit Zoo the following day, so I found it fitting. Here is a picture of them:
We went to the zoo on April 22 and had a GORGEOUS day. Perfect weather. My mom and mother-in-law went with us and it was a ton of fun. All of the animals were out and about. Here are a few pictures from that day:
Nicholas with his preschool friend Kameron:
Nicholas just loves to draw and color and I LOVE this picture of him:
The rest of April was pretty much a blur. We had some very nice weather and we all got a very nasty cold. Here are two of my sickies:
On May 1, Nicholas had yet another field trip, to the farm this time. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Joanne, Aunt Denise, Aunt Darlene and Uncle Andy go with us!! There were lambs there that had just been born that morning! You could still see the umbilical cord dried up on their bellies. It was a great day and we had SO much fun together:
From left to right we have Denise and Layla, Darlene and Nicholas, Andy and Joanne:
That night we had a barbecue at Joanne's house and it was so nice. We discovered Nicholas's love for barbecued chicken skin. Yuck, yuck, yuck. And Nicholas got a spruce sapling for Arbor Day and we planted it by the garage. I took a picture on May 2, and will do so every year so that we can see how Nicholas, and his tree, are growing. So, here is year one:
My daughter, the thug:
And we've had a ton of exciting things happen over the past week!! Firstly, Kenny lost his 2nd tooth!! So, the tooth fairy paid another visit to our house. Then, Olivia got her first two teeth! She has her bottom two teeth now. Then, Nicholas graduated from preschool. It was the cutest little ceremony. He was a bit shy, and faced the side of the stage the entire time. A flashback of Kenny's graduation. Kenny stood in the exact same spot and did the exact same thing at his two years ago. Silly boys.
My graduate with his cap and diploma:
And lastly, Kenny and Nicholas have learned to ride bikes without their training wheels!! Matt and I thought that this would take forever to do, but it was a matter of minutes for Kenny and hours for Nicholas. Now it's all that they want to do. We are so very proud of all of our kids and their accomplishments.
Layla's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Her newest words are "You're welcome", "Hello, nice to meet you", "Hello! Please come in!", "Leave me alone", "Bless you", etc. She is really into Olivia now because Olivia is becoming more interesting. She hasn't figured out the whole "gentle" thing yet, so we are having to watch them very closely when they're together.
Olivia still cannot crawl forwards, but has backwards down pat. She is also sitting up very well, and starting to croutch on her knees. Very cute. Now, if she could just sleep longer than 2-3 hour increments at night. I thought that once her teeth broke through, she would do better at night, but no such luck. Oh well, she is still a cutie pie. And her newest thing is her tongue. It hangs out of her mouth most of the day. Layla did the same thing, but at a younger age. It's pretty funny, and you can see it in the following picture. And Nicholas is taking more of an interest in her now. He didn't want much to do with her before, but now he is wanting to hold her and talk to her. He even let me take some pictures of him holding her. The first since she was born:
I had a wonderful Mother's Day and am still in shock that I have four children to call me mom. They are so very different and I love getting to know each of their personalities. Amazing where life takes you, even when you are fighting to go in the other direction. I've long since given up fighting it and have decided that I'll be better off sitting back and enjoying the ride. I've always been a fan of the really crazy, twisty, up and down rollercoasters, and I'm finding myself on the most exhilarating, scary, exciting and sometimes nauseating, ride of my life. Cedar Point, eat your heart out:
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