A Long Week So Far

The drama in our life just never ends! It's nothing tragic mind you, just annoying. On Monday the kids started school again. I'm forced to give up my relaxing, lazy mornings for absolute craziness. Tuesday our washing machine pukes on us and I'm left to hand wring out a full load of clothes. We have an "accident" during the night as well so the need of a washing machine is very important. Wednesday is terrible. Logyn and Loryn started school today and I got to be the really cool Mom with the kid screaming his head off and yelling "I don't want to go to school!" After leaving him in the van he finally comes streaking across the parking lot (and doesn't watch for cars). I lead Loryn into school, show her where her backpack goes, get her settled in her chair all while Logyn is wailing at the top of his lungs. I felt terrible for Loryn because I couldn't celebrate with her this HUGE step in her life. After trying to calmly talk to Logyn, his teacher came over to help out and I managed to escape. I make my escape only to come out and find my van dead. Nothing. It won't turn over, it won't start. So there I sit. Luckily my girlfriend is still at school and I hitch a ride to my parents house. Oh what will tomorrow bring?

Way Behind Again

Once again I am behind on blogging. Life right now just doesn't allow for this! But I do have an excuse. On August 14 I had a partial hysterectomy done to relieve some pain I had been having for almost a year. I am feeling better now, still tired but overall doing good. The kids have been great during this process since Mommy has an "owie tummy". I mean really, how descriptive do you get? But before the surgery we hung out in Grand Haven on Lake Michigan and enjoyed the awesome water. The kids swam and swam to their hearts content.

Mallory was taking a rest from swimming.
Logyn's working hard at filling the bucket with sand.
The kids enjoy going to Chinook pier and watching the charter boats come in with their catch of the morning. Surprisingly they are not disgusted by watching the salmon get cleaned.

Fourth of July

Shortly after getting settled in at my parents house we headed up to Silver Lake for the 4th of July holiday. The weather was cooler but we did manage to get to the beach one day while we were there. Loryn made big strides on this trip by learning how to ride a bike WITHOUT training wheels.



Fireworks are a big thing there. It's a beautiful thing to see all the trucks parked on the dunes at sunset. They shoot the fireworks off over the dunes and they reflect on Silver Lake below. Just one of the things that makes life a little bit nicer.

Swimming Lessons

This year we were graciously asked by a fellow mom from school whether the kids wanted to do lessons at her house. I was grateful for the chance since I missed sign-ups with Miss Rita. The week was stressful, hot, and seemed longer than it actually was. The star turned out to be Loryn this time. Logyn developed a MASSIVE fear of drowning for some reason and panicked every time someone went over to the deep end of the pool. Mallory pulled her weight and did what she was told even if she didn't like it. And Maddy decided that her new special talent was swimming.

Mallory cried even though she accomplished everything Mrs. Helms asked her to do. She was cute to watch. After it was done she would say, "That wasn't so bad".
Loryn waited patiently for her turn. By the third morning she was asking why she always had to go first. I thought she meant in her group but she really wanted to know why her and Mallory were the first group to go. They were always cold!
Maddy took her swimming very seriously.

Logyn actually taking off and swimming! I knew he could do it. He just needed to stop panicking.

Days Gone By

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? Our life has turned upside down in the last month and a half. We have sold our house, moved into my parents house for three weeks, and now moved into a rental house for who knows how long. Not only that but we've been on two vacations as well. And two days after I unpacked at our rental house, I am packing and vacationing at Mullet Lake. Life just doesn't get any busier. So...I am WAY behind on my posting and wanted to start at our first vacation.

For the past several years my dad's side of the family meets up in Davenport, IA. the second weekend of June. We went again this year and had a great time. The kids like it because they can swim in the pool as much as they want. The adults enjoy the time to see each other and get in some hiking. Enjoy the slide show I put together of the trip.

The Emergency Room

I need a few moments of your time to rant and rave for awhile. I am sitting here sleepless in a house that is crawling with illness. Thus the issue of my rant.

Last Monday I noticed that Loryn had a fever. Per the doctor's policies I waited until Thursday to bring her in (based on the theory of a fever needs to run for 3 days before being seen). They checked her over and found nothing wrong with her. So we left the office.

Later that afternoon I happened to pick up Mallory and found her to be burning with fever as well. So now I am nursing two sick children. By Saturday Mallory was covered in a rash and her fever had not disappeared and neither had Loryn's. I took them both to the ER to have them checked out.

I should have known better. Deep down I knew I should have just gone to the Urgent Care center. But I tried to be practical in my thinking. I had to get on another highway to get to the Urgent Care facility and the hospital ER was right here.

We follow all procedures by registering, waiting to be called to Triage, and then waiting some more to be called back to a room. I walked into the ER at 7:15pm and was called into a room just before 10. Now mind you, I am not ranting or raving. Just simply biding my time as best I can with two children. Meanwhile it provides a great source of entertainment for them. As long as Mallory wasn't touching Loryn (Loryn was convinced that whenever she brushed up against Mallory, Mallory was "burning" her) we were good.

Once in the room our nurse comes in promptly to check us on. The doctor was not far behind her. He checked over both girls within 5 minutes tops and diagnoses Mallory with Roseola and ordered an X-ray for Loryn. So we wait again. Pretty soon we get the X-ray completed and wait again. By now it is 10:30pm. The doctor comes in to say that Loryn's X-ray is clear and she is good to go home. Diagnosis: nothing wrong with her.

Our nurse comes back in (a blessed part of this whole trip and an SCHS alumni) to discharge us. Upon handing us the papers she brushes up against Loryn to find her fever back. So we wait again for her to administer Tylenol and Motrin to her before we leave.

Finally at 10:50pm I am walking out of the ER $200 poorer because I'm too stupid to look at the co-pay on our insurance card and utterly exhausted.

Why do I hate the ER? I hate that there is no reasonable way to handle children in the ER. There were tons of people in there with broken arms or legs or sprained wrists. Why can't they be ushered into another area while they wait for their X-rays? I know my thinking is not logical at this point but now I am ravaged with fever and here I sit. Waiting again for this to go away.

Random Photos

We got a new camera a few months ago and I have not had the time to really check it out. So this morning I pulled up a web-site about how to photograph your kids. I don't think I totally grasped what the guy was saying but I gave a good effort. Here are the results.



The sun was too bright for him to look directly at me. I thought it was still a cute shot.

Same scenario for Mallory.

A New Addition

We have a new addition to the family and NO it's not ours! Jason's brother and his wife had their first child a week ago. Evelyn Grace is a new niece that we are blessed to have in our lives. I'm already looking forward to babysitting this coming weekend. Enjoy the precious pictures!

Tulip Festival 2009

A great West Michigan tradition. Tulip Time. We enjoyed our late Sunday afternoon walking the downtown streets of Holland, taking in the different colors, sizes, and even shapes of Tulips. Did you know that some tulips grow outward instead of curving in? The kids loved all the colors but not all the walking. Although we promised them a park at the end of the road, it turned out to be a carnival. They weren't so happy when we didn't pay for admittance. Jason and I were wondering with the cost of food at these events, how can this be a "Dutch" thing to do?

A rare picture of all of us together.
A one man band. The girls "donated" to him but Logyn kept his distance.
Loryn made sure to eat every morsel that was on the table.
This was the only patch of tulips I could find without other people surrounding them.

Field Trip Day

Today I went on a field trip with Loryn and Logyn. We had the pleasure of visiting the local zoo with their preschool class. First, we attended a class where four animal friends were presented to the kids. It was great to see their interest in mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and the amphibians. And they even understood all those words! After the display of animals, we got to wander around the zoo and check out the bears, penqins, Kamono dragon, etc. They could hardly stand in one spot long enough!



Me with Logyn and Loryn at the Lion exhibit.

Lexi Burgess, Loryn, and Logyn.
Loryn was waitng excitedly for the next animal to be brought out.
Here they are petting a rooster. This thing was huge!

A Day Away

This past weekend I got the opportunity to visit a friend out of town. Lindsay lives in Phoenix, AZ and Kim, Tami, and myself all headed out to visit for a little R & R. The weather was better than we could have asked for and it was great to sit and catch up with each other. Although we didn't do much sight seeing, we did discover the fun of shopping at Nordstrom Rack.

Dining at the Kona Grill.

Tami and Kim all tucked into the back of Lindsay's jeep. Headin' to the store.

Turning The Big 3-0

This past weekend I reached a milestone in my life. I turned 30. My birthday fell on a Saturday and it started out as a really great day. My husband let me remain in bed while he got up with the kids and fed them breakfast. I read in bed for awhile and then got a surprise when he brought me breakfast in bed. I finally managed to climb out of bed and spend the day with the kids but in the afternoon my parents came over and picked the kids up for the night. It was so nice to have some quiet time. Jason and I laid on the couches and just talked. There were no interruptions, no crying, fighting, whining, or injuries. It was so nice to just relate to eachother on an adult level for a few hours. And then it was time to get ready. He planned a party for me with friends and family and it turned out to be a great night. He picked up supper for all the people that were involved in the planning and he even arranged for people to help him get a birthday cake (thanks Nikki), decorations and flowers (thanks Mom and Michelle) and other stuff. It was truly a great night.

I got to cut my cake just like at my wedding.

Me and some of my girlfriends. We've been friends since preschool and kindergarten.

A kiss for the birthday girl.

I Thought This Day Would Never Come

Well, here it is. The day that I thought would never happen in my life. Six and a half years ago it never entered my mind that I wouldn't be celebrating this momentous event until now. People always told me that I'd get to this point in my life someday but it always seemed so far away. And now I am living proof that it does happen. There is an end in sight. There is a day when you will no longer have a crib in your house. Yes, that's right we are officially crib free. Our youngest has "graduated" and moved into a "big girl" bed. I must admit that I shed no tears the night Jason took apart this piece of history. I thought it would be tough, emotional, and sad to watch. But I was impatiently waiting for him to get the crib out of the room so the new bed could make it's debut. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet. Maybe I wasn't as attached to it as I thought I was. Whatever the case may be, after setting our crib up over 6 years it has never come apart. Even when we moved it stayed intact and readily available to whatever child needed it. Now it is disassembled and resting in our storage room. But Mallory is happily enjoying her new bed and that's what matters most.

This Past Weekend

This past weekend we headed out to Grand Haven with my family. We spent one night at a hotel where the kids could swim and get rid of some of their "cabin fever". Of course with our family there is no trip complete unless something happens. First we started off our morning late. Then we arrived at the lake and tried to get all 6 of us dressed in snow gear in our mini-van. Needless to say there was a lot of whining and arguing about space and who's glove was who's. Once we all mastered that, we stepped out, ready to walk out on the ice. Then came the complaints of being cold and two (Loryn and Mallory) headed back to the van to wait with Grandma. We managed to stay out for awhile and when we got back to the hotel we geared up for swimming. Swimming went well until Loryn pulled herself up on the edge of the pool spitting and sputtering because she got caught in the "deep". Then a few minutes later she proceeded to puke in the pool after a coughing spell. There I sat, scooping puke out of a public pool. Nothing like a grand way to spend my night. And as we all headed up to bed Mallory starts running a fever. It was a great weekend!

Year in Review

Where oh where have I been? My newest addiction is Facebook. I apologize to loyal bloggers for my indiscretion. As the past couple of years have gone by I've loaded up all the photos from the previous year for everyone to enjoy. I hope this year does not disappoint.