Cooking with Mama

This picture was taken 12/2006. This would have put Jack at right around 16 months old. It was his first time making food with Mama! We were making cheesy potatoes for festivus. (for those of you who are not familiar with festivus--it is a Seinfeld holiday for the rest of us....we used to celebrate it as a family of three before traveling to MI for the Christmas season. This gave us time to eat, open our presents and have family time). I rarely make these potatoes.....they are my favorite but not Josh's! :) MMMMMMMMmmmmmmm I love cheesy potatoes!!! :)

This picture was taken April 2009--This puts Luke right around 21 months old. We are making cheesy potatoes for Easter dinner at Grandma Tractor's house. This was not Luke's first time cooking with Mama but it is his first time making cheesy potatoes! I think it is interesting that even though the pictures are taken 2 1/2 years apart and in completely different houses, the pictures are very simliar! I asked Josh to take the picture of Luke and I because I knew I had one of Jack and I...I did not know how much they were alike! :) I probably only made cheesy potatoes one or two other times in between these two pictures! MMMMMMMmmmmm I do love cheesy potatoes!

Movers and Shakers

Our children are movers and shakers :) They are constantly tapping, wiggling, scooting, walking, running, skipping, talking, etc (yes they are related to me). Last night this moving gave me quite a chuckle!

Josh settled in to read J and L some bedtime stories. For book #1, he was laying down on his side and was reading upside down to the boys. Both were pretty content with this. When Josh started to read book #2, he changed positions to sit up. He was still reading upside down. As he was reading, Luke is saying, "lap, lap, lap" and crawling into Josh's lap. Luke then proceeds to wiggle until he is in a comfy spot and then wiggles his little hands to me and says, "snack, milk please mama" :) All the while, Josh is still trying to read, around Luke's little body, and Jack is moving around so he can see.

Oh this makes me chuckle! If you can't see it from my post, you will just have to come over and experience it for yourself! I am so glad that even though they are movers and shakers, they love reading and will sit through MANY many many stories....while they move their legs and tap their feet of course!

Butterfly Gardens

We took a trip to Frederik Meijer Garden's today with my parents and sister and her husband--I should say Jack and I did :) Daddy stayed home with a feverish Luke~:( We had a great time (even though we were sad Daddy and Luke could not be with us).

Sisters!


The butterflies were so calm--most did not fly away and would let us watch them from up close!


This gorgeous Orchid was lunch for some lucky butterflies!


Grandma and Jack :)



I love this picture of Jack and me!

Belay On

Josh and I spent time together Friday evening with Sarah and Aaron and a lovely group of their college age friends INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING at Inside Moves! We had an absolute blast! I had only climbed a wall once and that was at the YMCA in Red Wing so I am not even sure you can count that as climbing! I don't think Josh had ever climbed before! It was a great time with lots of laughter and fun. I think I enjoyed it so much as a "spouse" activity for us because it was all about trust, team work and working closely together. It was really a deeper trust building activity. I also got to spend some quality time with my favorite sister in law! We can't wait to go again!

Out of the Mouths....

See if you can answer the following questions correctly by selecting the person who spoke the words! No peeking!

1. "I heard a man say on the radio today on our way to Brenda's that daddy kitties can have baby kitties in their tummies if they want to"
a. Luke
b. Josh
c. Jack

2. "No Hay. No Key. Ride Tractor"
a. Luke
b. Teresa
c. Jack


3. "I did it. I needed the toilet paper in my room so I brought it all with me"
a. Josh
b. Jack
c. Teresa

4. "My boogers are kind of like Luke's. That is neat"
a. Josh
b. Teresa
c. Jack

5. "Whooo Wheee that is a stinky foof"
a. Teresa
b. Jack
c. Luke

6. "If you need me, answer the phone because I will be outside with my headphones on"
a. Teresa
b. Jack
c. Josh





KEY:
1. C
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. A and B
6. A

A Sad Shoe Day

I love my bright yet light pink with white polka dots LL Bean "garden clogs". They are rubber yet comfortable. So comfortable that instead of wearing them to garden, as I purchased them for many moons ago, they became an "every day staple" for my footwear. They have seen their better days. I am sad because I have used them for gardening, digging, etc and they now are too dirty for every day use. I turned them into my dedicated garden shoe as they were beginning to show their age and were looking a bit too shabby to wear as an every day shoe. I am sad to lose such a great shoe. I am even more sad because I looked online tonight at LLbean.com and they no longer carry my beloved shoe. I looked through the entire website and am sorely disappointed as the shoe is no longer there! There is not even a shoe that is close to what I have. I love this shoe so much that I even bought a pair for my mom and mother in law as Mother's Day gifts a few years ago. I spent sometime online tonight in vain looking for something, anything that might compare to my fancy pink and white polka dotted garden clogs. I did not find much....the requirements are quite simple. I want a "rubber" clog that is cute. It cannot be one color. It must have a print or polka dots--I like the sass the last shoe added to my Friday "uniform" of jeans :) I did find one at Amazon...through a company called Norcross. If you have time, follow this link and let me know what you think! I sure will miss wearing my sassy pants shoes in public but am glad they are still alive enough to assist me in my daily gardening adventures.

It's going, going, gone. It's outta here! Home Run!

Let me paint the picture that was occurring in our basement last night.

Pitcher: Josh
Catcher: Me
Batter: Jack
Small boy riding his Mickey toy around the basement: Luke

Josh would pitch the ball. Jack would miss the ball. Mom would try to catch the ball and Luke would run over the ball before Jack knocked it golf-club style with his baseball bat back to Dad....who then pitched the ball....repeat, repeat, repeat! The only variation was when Luke got off the ride-on toy and got his play chain saw instead and walked in and out of the game with the chain saw going full blast--oh we were noisy! :)

It was such a joy to watch Jack work on getting the bat right, feet in the correct spot, etc. Josh was so patient as he taught Jack what he needed to know. When Jack finally connected the bat with the ball on his own, his face lit up with pure joy!!! He was able to hit the ball a few times before he took a turn as the pitcher!

It was such a great night :)

Mystery Fish

Josh loves to eat fish so I decided to pick some up at the grocery store for dinner tonight. Meijer had Rainbow Trout $2 off per lb so I was excited to get dinner at such a bargain! As I served it for dinner, Josh asked what kind of fish we were having. I replied Rainbow Trout...he looked at me oddly and said, are you sure.... well it did not look like Rainbow Trout....too pink and kind of "meaty" for trout but it did taste excellent! Who knows what kind of fish we had but it was tasty! :) I am hoping Josh catches us some fresh fish to eat this summer!

Adventures in Landscaping

We had old mulch. Most of it was gone, discolored or just plain clumpy and ugly. I figured, I am a smart girl and can figure out how to order the correct amount of mulch for our yard. I carefully read the company's website and measured our space....10 cubic yards of mulch later, this is the pile we got delivered on our driveway Friday! :)



We have two burms in our yard--one smaller one in the front and a huge one in the back. For those of you who do not know what a burm is (I being one of them until a year ago), it is a larger clump or mound of yard in which you plant things. We also have garden all the way around the house--some of the spots are over 4 feet deep. Still as I looked at the massive pile of dirt, I couldn't help but wonder if I had ordered WAY too much!

Mulching was a bit more tedious than I thought. For one, I had these very cute little daffodils, and other plants, that I needed to tread carefully around. I also forgot that the back burm had become a bit of a jungle....or a HUGE mess. That part alone took my WONDERFUL neighbor Shannon and I three hours to weed!!!!

Over 8 hours later, the end result is below!!!! :) Josh and I started at 8:30 this morning...with a little help from Jack and Luke :) We took a short lunch break and a short break to put the boys down for nap. We stopped for a dinner at Applebees with the neighbors and then I came back to finish up the front.....sent Josh to a well deserved movie with his Dad and neighbor Scott. I still have some work to do on the back burm but over all we got MOST of it done today!!!! :)

The mulch makes a HUGE difference!

In a Good Spot

I am in a good spot. I have a husband who loves me unconditionally. I have two boys who LOVE me to bits. I have wonderful parents who only live a bit over an hour away and see them so much more often! My sister pops over to visit when she can and makes my day! All of my in laws are so wonderful and helpful! My neighbors are FUN, sassy and reliable. I have a great job in a good district. I enjoy my colleagues and students. I like my grad classes and can see myself using the degree I am working towards. I have a beautiful home with plenty of space and plenty of projects to keep me occupied. I have my anxiety under control (ironically it cannot ever be under control...that is the nature of the "beast" :)) and am feeling good about myself. I am taking care of myself by eating better and trying to get daily exercise. I am in a good spot.

As the sun shined in the windows this morning, I felt the need to blog about all of this. I am so grateful I am in a good spot. Life is good. :)

Another night....

Another night of poor luke struggling to be alone in his bed. I was strong and it was less than 15 minutes of crying tonight. I love that little guy so much. It just breaks my heart to listen to him :( I am hoping tomorrow when Aunt Sarah is here to hang out with him (Date for US, yay), that he does not give her such a hard time. :) Happy Friday!

Peace for the Moment

It took Lukie over 30 minutes to calm himself down but I held my ground--My head won! I am hoping this peace is sustained throughout the night! (and that phase is short lived)

A Phase?

Oh it was a long night last night as Luke woke up several times crying, "My Mama Hold"..... I sit here listening to him cry the same thing tonight. It is a conundrum. If I go down to see Luke, he is quiet and fine as long as I am holding him or rocking him. This peace, however, is short lived. The minute I put him down, he cries! This even happens when he appears to be sleeping! The debate in my body is between my heart (which cries out for him and wants to hold him so badly) and my head (which says, this is Luke being two and he needs to retrain himself to fall asleep on his own). I am certainly hoping this is a phase and a short lived one at that. I know my head will win out....mostly because I have a very logical husband who keeps me grounded and helps hold my heart strings when they feel like they are about to break.

Big Boys

I have two big boys

Jack--going to his first preschool open house tonight!!!!

Luke--using the potty AT HIS request!

Oh they are growing up so fast!

Easter Continued

A great picture of the four of us :)

We hunted eggs on Grandma and Papa's land! The boys enjoyed this very much--this was the second hunt in three days....Luke got much better!

Lukey and I played farmer together! He loves to ride the tractor and I love to practice driving it! He and I enjoyed our alone time together...well Daddy was out taking pictures but Lukey and I still got plenty of Mom/Luke time!

We had dinner with A LOT of wonderful people-Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Sarah, Bonnie and Phil (Aaron's parents), Joey (Aaron's brother), Matt (Aaron's brother's roommate at College), Aaron's Grandma and Grandpa, and of course the four of us. Only Jack and Lukey got such great plates but everyone had the super cute dyed eggs....the grown ups had flowers and the boys had a bunny and a chickie! It was a YUMMY meal!!!!

Easter Sunday

The boys were up and ready to dive into the baskets--camera was left out overnight and therefore picture was foggy:)

Lukey helping Mom make cheesy potatoes for Easter Sunday dinner (taking them to Grandma's). I love this picture because I have one JUST like it from a few Easter's back with Jack!!! Good things stay the same! :)

My two little Honey Bunnies!

I love my Cousins

A quick post before I head off to relax on this last evening of Spring Break.

I realized recently how much more I know about my cousins now that I am on facebook...dorky, hokey, and nerdy I am sure you are saying but it is true! I have been able to reconnect with two of my cousins and it has been wonderful!!!! I love you Linds and Heather! I have also been able to connect better with my husband's cousin's wives...say that three times fast! I love that Cara, Cori and Tina are so much more a part of our life! I love that even though they all live between 3 and 10 hours away, I can connect and share what is happening in my life and learn what is going on in theirs!

I am grateful for such loving family!

Surgery

Today (Wednesday) was Jack's fourth tear duct surgery of his short little 3 1/2 years and surgery number 5 all together. When I put things into perspective and read or hear about other families who go through medical challenges that are much greater, I almost feel guilty that Jack's surgeries are "easy" procedures and nothing about his conditions have been life threatening. On the other hand, he still needed all five of the surgeries to improve his quality of life and to make it so he did/does not get sick as easy. It is very hard for us to put him under the anesthesia and watch him go through the pain of surgery. We are grateful his procedures are "easy" and they have helped him a LOT....tear duct stents and ear tubes have really cut down on his nasty infections!!!!

Guilt aside :) Here is the update!

Jack's surgery went well. They put catheters into the tear ducts to expand them and then placed stents in to keep them open. The stents will stay in for a few months. Jack woke up hard from surgery (as he had in the past as well) and was under the "influence" of Morphine...made him a bit crazy :) He drank a lot of water and then had to go potty....we moved a bit too fast and he got sick but once that was over, he was much better. He was a trooper! We got to leave at 11. He slept all the way home and all the way until 3:00. He woke up in a GREAT mood, ate a ton of food and ended up playing the evening away with the neighbors. I am so impressed with how quickly he recovers from surgery--all five times! He asked for Tylenol once and that was it! His eye drops (4x per day) sting but he always lays down so easily and lets us put the drops in WITHOUT fussing! I am so proud of how well Jack takes his medicines and eye drops! He is such a great kiddo!

We have an appt in early May to see how much longer the stents will need to stay in.

Sigh of Relief

I have not exercised since Wednesday last week--I pulled a muscle in my back and/or got a spasm somehow...either way, right under my right shoulder blade has been VERY sore. I also caught a NASTY cold... :( The good thing is that even though I have not exercised, and have eaten kind of healthy, I have stayed the SAME weight :) I was worried I was gaining! At least for today, this is a sigh of relief! I have been working so hard to exercise daily and was worried since I had to take almost a week off that I would gain AND have trouble getting back on the exercise band wagon!

T.P.-ing

Decorating with baby shower streamers on a windy day turned out to be a bad idea! If you remember, I threw my friend Vickie a baby shower at her house over the weekend! :) It turned out to be a beautiful, cold and very windy day! I took out two colors of streamers in hopes of decorating the front porch. The wind kept whipping the streamers around and was making it very hard to hang them. I had two colors I was struggling to entwine and wrap around Vickie's beautiful beams in front of the house--I wanted to let the guests know where the party was at! As I got the blue streamer hooked the beam, and started to wrap, out of the corner of my eye, I see something fly off the porch! Off into the blue sky flew the ENTIRE roll of white streamer! There was no way I could grab it as it was already way up into the air and starting to head towards a house nearby. All I could do was chuckle! I decided that the streamers were a bad idea, grabbed the blue streamer and went back inside. After the party started, I overheard a neighbor ask Kristy (V's friend/neighbor) if Gordon and Jesse (Kristy's husband) had been out t.p.-ing people's houses. Kristy said no...why.... the neighbor replied, "because someone t.p.-ed our house".... TURNS OUT my white streamer ended up in their TREE and they thought it was toilet paper. It wove its way around their house and up into their tree! Oh I was so embarrassed but so amused! Good thing the neighbor had a sense of humor--she thought it was funny:) I am even more amused she thought Gordon would be out pulling pranks :)

Tuesday of Spring Break Week

Today was my first day home with my boys over my spring break--my goodness are they active little munchkins! Here are some highlights from today! :)

*Spending close to an hour playing hockey in the basement with Rhino Bacino Sino Flino (aka Jack). He named himself this as he scored his first goal and even made me write it on the chalkboard so he could remember it later. He asked me to call him this the entire morning! :) My name was China Flina. Yes...he loves rhyming right now!

*Hearing Luke cry on and off for most of the morning because I would not take him to Papa Tractor's house for a tractor ride. Poor Luke cannot get off that track in his mind! :)

*Taking an adventure! Any time we drive down a dirt road, Jack calls our trip an adventure so after we dropped off the recycling, we took an adventure! We drove close to 10 miles on various dirt roads around our house and both boys LOVED it!

*Listening to Christmas Music while on our adventure--both boys have been obsessed with the Elf Soundtrack for a LONG time and we end up listening to it year round. Luke is now in the habit of asking for "Shoobie Doobie" (track 1) over and over...and over...and over again :) Good thing I like that song! It is a remake of Frank Sinatra's "Pennies from Heaven".

*Making grilled cheese and ham for lunch, along with a side of "spicy chips" (doritos) and grapes!

*Trying on new clothes that I bought for the boys yesterday--Jack is adorable as he really likes to get new clothes and try them on. Luke did not think it was so great but he really enjoyed wearing my boots around while I was helping Jack!

*Watching Jack play Excite Truck on the Wii! He did a great job!

*Reading books with both boys!

It was a wonderful day home with the boys! :)

Shopping! :)

I spent an ENTIRE day shopping with Mom in Law Linda and Neighbor Shannon! We left the house at 8 am and returned at 9:40 pm!!! :)

Hit:
Kohls and Holland
Outlet Mall for Gap Outlet in Holland
Rivertown Crossings Mall in Grandville (including Kohls)
Kohls on Alpine
Target on Alpine

And funny enough we actually (amongst the three of us) bought something from each of the Kohls locations! :) We also fit in two meals and LOTS of laughing!!!

It was a WONDERFULLY tiring day of girl bonding!

Tractor Obsession

Luke needs to go to TOA--Tractors Obsession Anonymous. Here is an example of the conversation we have MANY times a day:

L: Tractor
Me: Yes, Lukie. You love tractors.
L: Papa Tractor
Me: Yes Luke. Papa has a tractor
L: Tractor now!
Me: No Lukie, we are not going to go on the tractor right now
L: Tractor. Key. Drive.
Me: No Lukie. Maybe another day soon!
L: Tractor! Key! Drive! Now!
Me: Oh Lukie. Wanna read a book?
L: NO. Tractor!!!
Me: Let's play with a tractor Lukie! Won't that be fun!
L: Papa Tractor NOW! Drive!
Me: Let's go play with a tractor over there on the floor....

This ends with Luke crying :)

That boy is obsessed with TRACTORS! He rode on Papa's tractor Friday and Saturday.... but that was not enough to fill his needs! I have been "bribing" him to use the potty with "potty candy" but perhaps I will be making a chart for him to color in to earn Tractor Rides..... anything that motivates him! :)

Inspired to Share

I truly believe Josh and I were meant to be together--how else could you explain our story?

Josh moved around a lot during his youth--I mean a lot! He has lived in Florida, Vega, Okinawa, Ohio (and so many more places). When his dad retired from the Air Force, they decided to move to MI for job opportunities. They actually had placed an offer on a house in another city and when they fell through, they moved to Cadillac. I lived in Cadillac for all 18 years before heading to college. I knew our entire group of classmates and really did not ever date. I was (and still am) very picky about guys and had high standards. In October of our Sophomore year, Josh moved to Cadillac, and joined my 10th grade English class. I sat in the second row and he sat in the back row. I remember thinking he seemed nice enough but was a bit dorky looking and always had a hat on. At the end of our Junior year, he seemed to have changed. He was not as shy and did not wear so many baseball hats (odd thing to remember). We ended up decorating for the prom together and I thought, wow this is a really great guy.... I was going with Sam (not a BF...just a date to prom) and he was not going at all. It was at that moment I thought, I think I like this guy! I spent our entire Senior year chasing him. I asked him to homecoming....Nope he was going with a girl as a friend (she had a boyfriend). I stayed at a basketball game and sent my mom home so I had no ride...I asked Josh for a ride, he gave me one and when I asked him out for a date/told him I liked him, he smiled and said No thank you.... :) By the end of Senior year, I was quite bummed. I had a prom date but it turns out my best friend really liked my date. Since my date Corey was just a friend, I hooked them up and was going solo to prom. I spent time talking to Ursula, Erin and Betsy....and they convinced me to ask Josh to prom (and oh by the way, Josh's dad was my track coach and knew all about this). I asked and he accepted (and I learned later, he was encouraged by all those little birdies). Prom was AMAZING! It was a perfect first date! I asked him to a movie for later in the week (he said no)...... long story short, a month later, he called ME up and asked me on a date. We dated all summer (3 months), then headed to college 10 hours apart. In October (now dated for four months), we came back home and he proposed.... we spent all four years of college 10 hours apart and got married the month after we graduated. The rest is history :)

Imagine if he had not moved to Cadillac. Imagine if his dad did not encourage him to go to Prom with me. Imagine...Imagine...Imagine. I am forever grateful I found the love of my life!