The snow has come and come and come. It just doesn't stop. On Saturday we had a Christmas party at my mom and dad's. We packed up all the winter gear for the kids and had a great time out in the snow. Or should I say, Jason had a good time out in the snow.
It looked like so much fun my dad had to get in on the action.
Believe it or not, Mallory is squished in the middle there too. You can't see her but she's there!I have finally reached a point in my life where I need to say thank-you to a dear, dear friend. It's always a hard thing to do when it's someone you've depended on for so long, someone who's gotten you through many tough times, minor emergencies, night duty, etc. I'm writing today to say good-bye and good luck to my companion of the past 6 1/2 years, The Diaper. We've traveled quite a road together, spent a lot of time together and bonded well over the years. But I've managed to grow out of the need now. Yes, my children are all FINALLY potty trained. Even though this moment is bittersweet, I am rejoicing on the inside. I am happy to have no more soggy diapers around my house, no more smelly children sneaking up on me after they've deposited their "gift" into the diaper. Now I enter a new phase of my life; wiping little butts as they deposit their "gift" into the toilet. The need for me never seems to cease. Enjoy the pictures of my latest "big girl"!
Well, the tooth fairy has finally made a visit to our house. On Friday night Maddy pulled out her first tooth. The tooth has been hanging by a thread for days and I finally convinced her that the Tooth Fairy would deliver extra cash if she would just yank it out. So after a few unsuccessful pulls (I think she whimped out on the first try) the tooth came out! She is now the proud owner of a gap in her teeth which she will display for anyone who asks.
Sorry about the blood. It was a momentous occassion and I didn't want to miss anything!
Three nights ago I was folding laundry when Mallory comes running into the laundry room. She throws the clothes out of the dryer (I had the door open and was just grabbing stuff to fold) and proceeds to climb in. Then she notices me and says, "Mommy, shut the door! Mommy, shut the door!" So I naturally comply. What mother woulnd't shut their child in a dryer? Then when things went completely black, she yelled for me to open it back up again. I could hear her muttering, "Dey won't fine me in here". And nope, she was not found by the other kids. The ultimate hiding spot has been found.
Today turned out to be gorgeous here. After school I headed out into the woods with Maddy to take some pictures of her. We cut her hair about 3 weeks ago and I wanted to update some of her pictures. Enjoy!
This past weekend was Teacher's Convention for Christian Schools. We took the opportunity to head up to Silver Lake for a few days. We brought along my family since they've never been there before. Although it rained and it was cold we still had a great time. We managed to hike in the dunes Friday. And on Saturday we drove to Ludington. We visited the State Park, The Badger (the ferry boat), and then went to Pentwater to eat dinner. It was a good weekend all around.
Last week Thursday I headed to the dentist office with all 4 kids. Three of them were pro's at this. But 1 of them was new. Enter Mallory. She was not a willing participant once they called her name.
Dr. Chris is simply trying to show her how gentle the toothbrush is. Look at the big tear rolling down her cheek!
Now I'm restraining her so he can brush her teeth. I believe I was sweating by this time.
The tears are gone and her smile is back. She's picking out her wonderful (albeit cheap) prizes. Job well done, Mallory! Although they informed me as we left that next time she would need x-rays...
I received the following link in an e-mail today. Although I am not one to spout political facts and issues like some, I do feel that this article has some good points. It's very obvious that the media is one-sided in it's view of our presidential candidates and the artile calls them on that. Enjoy the read. It's very interesting.
http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html
We are two nights into the "no pipe" life and it's been going good. She's only asked for it once. This morning we opened the front door to a gift bag from the Pacifier fairy with twinkle shoes and a magic wand. The shoes have hardly left her feet and her wand had to come with us where ever we went. Now if we could only get the Potty Fairy to show her face...
As many of you know, Mallory is three years old and still takes a pipe. Now mind you, she didn't start taking a pipe until about this time last year when we were through with all her surgeries. We've tried the whole "it stays in your bed" thing or the "only at bedtime" thing and it doesn't seem to matter. Somehow we (I should probably say more along the lines of me) always let it slide. But, thanks to Super Nanny I've convinced her to give up her pipes once and for all. We are sending them to the Pacifier Fairy so she can deliver them to new babies who need a pipe. I told her that some of her pipes came from the Paci Fairy when she was in the hospital.
This was the first step. Decorating the envelope that would hold all her pipes.
Next we had to put the pipes in the envelope. She had about 6 I think.
And finally, placing the envelope in the mailbox. Mission complete.
Of course the results of this "idea" are yet to be seen. Stay tuned....
Today was the first day of preschool for Loryn and Logyn. They were so excited to be there and to play on the playground. I'm glad that all the money I pay counts for something! Anyway, enjoy the pictures. Apparently they were so excited that neither one of them could look at me.
Here Loryn and Logyn are finding their name tags with one of their teachers, Mrs. Sheryl.
Every morning when they come into the room they have to find their name on a board and give it to Mrs. Pat, their teacher. After they completed that this morning I took their picture.
I am ashamed to be writing this 3 days after the fact, but Happy Birthday to the baby of our family! Mallory turned 3 on September 1st. It seems weird to me that I now have a 3 year old because I still look at her as the youngest little munchkin in our family. I know she's still the youngest, but I guess she seems to be the neediest yet and that makes me feel good. When we found out we were pregnant with her I was devestated. I had thought that I was complete in the family way and didn't need another one around. I can't believe how much we would have missed out on had she not been in our family. It just goes to show that God knows what He's doing. She's been such a delight to us. No matter how naughty she is it's hard to not laugh at her as you're trying to reprimand her. She's a blessing in every way.
Today is my anniversary with Jason. 8 years ago we were 21 and 24 years of age tying the knot. I am constantly amazed at all that has happened in our marriage. Although each day is new and brings with it new challenges we've survived many struggles already. And I hope that we have many more years to look back on.
We're back! Yes, we are finally home and getting settled again. The summer has been busy and now it's back to reality.
Today was Maddy's first day back to school. Unfortunately she wasn't too excited to go. She was nervous that no one would want to play with her on the playground. I helped her load up her new desk and see who was sitting around her that she knew. Luckily there was one friend in there that she was familiar with. As I left her this morning I had to hold back my tears as I walked out of the school. She look at me as if I was abandoning her.
I didn't have to wait long to see her again because at 10:30am I got a phone call from the school secretary. I thought she was going to tell me that Maddy was so incredibly upset about me leaving that I had to come and get her. Instead she starts out with "Are you close to school? Maddy had a little accident on the playground and Mrs. Coffey feels you should come and check her out." Just what every mother wants to hear! So I sped to school the whole time rehearsing in my head what I would say if I got pulled over. I ran into the office and found her sitting in a chair looking scared. And that's when the strong, tough mommy that I am lost it! I couldn't even talk to her. I just started bawling and so did she. We sat and hugged each other and cried while her teacher, the school secretary, and a nurse looked on. Then I looked and saw the gash on her forehead. Mrs. Coffey advised us to take her in and have it looked at. So away we went to Metro Hospital's emergency room. By 11:45am she was getting 4 stitches in her forehead, violently screaming at the top of her lungs and trying to kick the doctor in the head. What a GREAT first day of school!
I am so over this tonsil thing. When does the pain go away? The wonderful drugs that they told me about are not helping! So far I'm taking Tylenol every 4 hours because the stuff they sent home with me is awful! I puked three times the first night I was home and now I'm managing to eat about 2 pieces of toast a day. Great diet plan but not so good when I'm trying to regain strength. Arghhh!!!
Happy Birthday Madelynn! Man, where does the time go? My firstborn is 6 today! I can clearly remember the morning she was born. I woke up when Jason left for work and realized I was having contractions. I let him drive all the way to Kalamazoo before calling him and telling him to come back home. We went to the hospital, I got some good drugs, watched the Price Is Right for a while and then pushed out this beautiful baby girl. My first child. I remember crying while I held onto her. I was so happy when we brought her home too. She was a perfect baby. She slept through the night at 3 1/2 weeks, hardly fussed, and was so enjoyable. As she's grown up she has remained that way. She's very calm and willing to help out any way she can. She's beautiful, caring, compassionate, etc. And the very best part is, she's mine. I love her to death and every day I look at her I love her a little more for the young girl she is turning out to be. Thanks be to God for giving me this child!
Today we ventured out to the local sprinkler park. Now mind you I am cheap, so this was free and it's worth every penny of gas that it cost to get there. The kids loved it! They ran under and over the sprinklers, played on the playground near by, and ate a picnic lunch. It's priceless. Enjoy the pictures!
Well, here is the post. We have been at Mullet Lake. Those of you that know us well probably figured that out already. And now it's time to share the experience. We had a great trip this year. The weather was cool but it was nice. Not as many sunny days but still enough to get the kids out in the water. I learned a lot about my kids this trip too. Here's what I learned:
1. Logyn really does like to swim even though he pretends he doesn't. I couldn't keep him OUT of the water.
2. Kids are resilient. Even though the temperature was only 70 degrees they still swam. Their lips were blue and they were shivering but they still swam.
3. Diarrhea can last a LONG time. Mallory had it from the time we arrived until the day we left. I'm still not sure if it's better.
4. Kids really have no concept of money. I emptied out all their piggy banks and told them they could purchase whatever they like with their money. Little did they comprehend how much money they actually had.
5. My parents are awesome! They allow us to come on this vacation for free and they never stop taking care of our kids the whole time we're there. My mother is dishing out breakfast if I didn't get out of bed on time or they're putting my kids down for naps so I can sit in the sun. How blessed I am.
6. Coming back from vacation sucks! I drove 4 hours home with all 4 kids and never stopped. I couldn't bear the thought of unloading them all and then re-loading when they kept asking me how much further we had to go.
I couldn't resist this picture. I love how Mallory is "looking up to" her sisters.
And this one is great too. Don't they look like they could start synchronize swimming? I can picture them each just tipping off the dock and into the water.
And I can't forget Logyn. Here's video of him jumping off the dock. He would not stop jumping, then climbing the ladder, then jumping off again. In some of the pictures in the montage you can see how he's trying to do a cannonball. Sorry that it's not rotated. I couldn't get it to save on my computer.
And here is the montage. Sorry for the long, extended post. And whether you believe it or not I didn't fit it all in. There's one more post I'll do tomorrow.
Yes, we are still alive and well. I'm sorry we have been absent from the blogging world but we will update you soon on our where abouts.
The sun, the sand, and the sounds of summer are where we've been hiding. Silver Lake took up a week of our lives this year as we celebrated the 4th of July there. It was great to have time with the kids and no obligations to distract us from them. Although we sold the suburban we had nothing to ride in the dunes with but we managed to get lots of exercise climbing up the dunes the old fashioned way. We ventured into the tourist district and took a ride with Mac Woods too. Enjoy some of the pictures from our great week.
Okay, our tour guide on Mac Wood's asked us if we could "see" some images in this piece of driftwood. "See" if you can find a sailfish, a ghost, and an alligator with it's mouth open.
