I am up one Brother-in-Law

My sister Melissa took the plunge on Monday!

Welcome, Erik, to the family :)

Congratulations to you both, you looked wonderful and I wish you a long and fulfilling marriage.

To the Random Credit Union Guy:

Thanks a bunch for the complement on my parenting. You made my whole week!

Usually I get stares, glares, or chuckles, so it was a really nice change to get a smile and kind words.

That's why I look on the bright side!

Let it Snow (Part 1)

PS. Willie has found snowball throwing to be insanely hilarious this year, so if he gets near you with snow, watch out! He's pretty good at aiming at your back, not your face. ;)

Let it snow! (Part 2)

We went to Frankenmuth on Monday to visit family and of course, pop into Bronner's for a few hours while we were there...
I got some beautiful ornaments for me and some for gifts. For my 'nephew' I got a guitar ornament. You can even adjust the strings on it. They are crafted so nicely.
We ate dinner at the Bavarian Inn. I have some fond memories of that tradition on my dad's side from wayyyyyyyyyyy back. They still have the little guys in lederhosen decorating the ice cream scoops. That's kinda crazy. After dinner we went down to the castle shops and then of course, it was dark so we went on a tour of the town to see the lights. Aiden and Bobert kept calling it 'Christmasland'. It was a really special trip.

Willie's new undies

I am scrimping on spending to save up for Christmas, so I took some undies that we already had, and bought some plain ones super cheap and made Willie some 'Cars' underwear! I already had the materials to make the patches. He absolutely loves them, plus it makes laundry easier to sort.
I am so, so, so, happy that we even have a reason to get Willie underwear. Part time potty-learned is better than no potty-learning!
I talked to his teacher and he is going to start wearing underwear during the day at school. YAY!

Amusement #8 - Drums and Diapers

Another thing I find amusing...



DH ran out of space to dry the diapers so he hung them on his Rock Band drums... in the appropriate colors spots of course.

summer sunshine, where didst thou go?

A nice game of tag at the end of the soccer season party while waiting for their pizza to get there. Yay, another trophy to line up on the top of the bookcase.

crisp fall day + plastic slide + polyester shorts = crazy hair!

Who needs the science center when you have electricity demonstrations at the local park. Of course, as soon as he put his feet down on the ground, the hair went down, too. I was highly amused that he had no clue why I was taking his picture. He could not stop laughing later that night when I showed him the pictures.

Halloween - yeah, I know I'm behind in my blogging. It's been crazy here in good ways and bad ways.
Anyway, here are my guys, ready to save the world and the universe!
We got wayyyyy too much candy. Good thing I can get rid of it at work. I slowly remove bags so the boys know nothing.

Finally! Costco tortilla chips without milk

Yes, their tortilla strips are AWESOME, but they have dairy products in them, not good for a family with someone on the GFCF diet. We were in Costco today, and they were doing demos. They have a new tortilla chip - organic tortilla chips, and totally safe ingredients for us! Hooray. We bought a giant bag, and they are pretty tasty. Time to go make some salsa!

Amusement #7 - Don't you hate when your Shoe Crunches

Don't you just hate it when you go to put your tennis shoes on and you hear a crunch?

I mean, why didn't I check my shoes before I put them on. Wouldn't be the first time I found something totally off the wall in there. LOL.

Here's the smashed Fritos I found in my shoe.

Apple Orchard II

Field trip! Willie's class at the apple orchard. For the first time ever, I went on a field trip and didn't have a panic moment! Hooray!



New attraction this year at the orchard - a giant dirt pile with a high and low tube running through. Willie spent a good hour playing in, on, and through the dirt.

Rockin' Out

Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch

Kutless - they rock!

This weekend, I traveled to Kalamazoo to see the Creation Festival. The theme of this concert was to honor our Creator. Cool.

In the line-up:
KJ-52
Fireflight
Worth Dying For
Thousand Foot Krutch
Kutless

We had a great time! I love to see Aiden enjoying himself so much at these things, and picking out songs playing in the background between sets... pulls at the heart strings *proud mama*. My sister went, and some of the youth group. We had dinner at Don Pablos, where there was an inadvertent Halloween costume parade - apparently there was an event at the local mall there and people were all coming in to eat dinner. LOL.

Third Grade funny

So, third grade is kind of a transition grade where kids are really becoming aware of their gender, and although they still play with a variety of things, there's definitely some choices to be made when selecting t-shirts, backpacks, pencils, etc.
Aiden is friendly and plays with all the kids in his class, but he definitely prefers to play with boys. After all, boys are the ones that are playing with video games and action figures.

But there's girls on the soccer team and girls in his class. Which leads us to this hilarious sketch of:



In case you didn't know, that's a Master Chief cat... Halo meets Hello Kitty.

Another funny this week... a note came home about extra recess for 25 cents. The student council was raising funds for charity. Dad asked if Aiden is on student council. Aiden said no, but there's a representative from my class. When encouraged to try student council in the future Aiden politely declined because, "When you are on student council, you have to march in the Homecoming parade, and I'm not that good at marching."

Apple Orchard I

We went to the Apple Orchard last weekend, what a beautiful, warm, sunny day.
This was the first year I ever had FUN. There were so many things to do - it was great. We had a pretend Amazing Race through corn maze - you had to collect different paper punches on a little white card. The posts with the punches were scattered throughout the maze.
We also got to see Aiden and his Uncle Steven shoot apples out of a cannon! That was cool!
There were play areas for the kids, bouncers, and little tractors for them to ride on. Willie went on a REAL firetruck ride! Exciting as all get-out for him.
And the 'big kids' - Uncle Steven, Uncle Abe, Aiden, and Ashley, did the bungee run. Fabulous.

Here are some pics:
(oh and by the way, don't ever let Bob take the group picture. He has different ideas on what makes a great pic.)







Of course, after the day's activities, we had some refreshing cider and delicious apple cider and cinnamon sugar donuts. MMMMmmmmmmmm......

Life is Good

Time has come
to raise our hearts as one
and glorify the God
of everything
we live our lives
for the renown of Christ
oh we are children
of the Sovereign King.
-Mercy Me, Time Has Come

I went to a contemporary worship concert tonight and it was very uplifting. I am pumped right now! I definitely got my cup refilled. I was pondering and wavering on whether to go but I remembered something I read very recently by Joyce Meyer that says, basically, stop thinking, start doing what's in your heart. Whee!

Baby Chickies

My parents were kind enough to round up their animals for a petting farm to bring to my church. Our theme this year was SonHarvest County Fair - Growing the Fruit of the Spirit. Fairs, farms, fruit, it all goes hand in hand. I am a sucker, so when my children asked me to keep the animals for a week, I said yes.

Amazing, really, how fast these chicks grow! From hatching to eating, it's only 12 weeks. They are pretty big here, about twice the size (or more) than just a week ago when they arrived. You can also see they are starting to get their white adult feathers, which will replace all the fine yellow ones they started out with. We also visited three classrooms!

Here are some pictures of the chicks' visit:









PS, Did you notice that when the chicks are eating, five of them are at the feeder and the fattest one is in the feeder. Cracks me up!

Autism x 6

Discovery Health has a series called Special Families. Oct. 1st, they had the Kirton family, a family with six children, all of them are on the autism spectrum. Aspergers, autism, and PDD-NOS. I knew it would be emotional for me to watch it, yet at the same time I knew I couldn't not watch it.

Somehow seeing other peoples' kids acting just like your is comforting. Bob and I both teared up at parts and chuckled at other parts. The Kirtons also have a 'backwards cut off pajama' boy. They had a six year old who wears diapers and doesn't talk. Their house is a mess and they have all sorts of special modifications. I wouldn't expect anything else. Taping diapers on, strapping the kids in to make them sit at the table, home haircuts because going to the barber is a ridiculous notion... been there! Child crying, mouth gaping, and you have no idea why... no sheets on the bed, cups of water dumped out, naked child running around... yeah, Willie is the most like Amman behavior-wise.

It is definitely a whole other world. I will be keeping the Kirtons on my prayers list. I barely hold it together some days; I can't imagine being in their shoes. Of course, people wonder how I do what I do, but that's normal for me, that's my world. I know I have love and support and it keeps me going.

"One day at a time, with God's help."

Happy Birthday

Well it's my birthday. I did the math but I'm not telling you what I got. I sure don't feel that old most of the time.

I took today off - too much to do for tomorrow. Activity-wise, it's a pretty light day, the only thing in the evening is Aiden's soccer. We will celebrate at home today - I'll make some GFCF brownies and we'll have ice cream - Willie gets rice milk ice cream - the kids have fun making it :)

I came across a bag (dh thought he hid) that says Happy Birthday - so I am getting a present... I showed restraint and didn't look inside. Of course, it's probably what I already bought for myself and gave to dh a few weeks ago, but they may have put something else in, too. It's a big bag. We'll see.. :)

Tomorrow, my family is coming over - there's a children's event at church; they are taking farm animals up there for that, and then we are celebrating with family. Also included is my mom - she's also October. I'll go shopping for her later this afternoon.

Okay, off to take Bobert to preschool and go work out :)

Back to School!

Back to school, 3 kids in 3 schools, and mommy at another school presents some transportation challenges, but thankfully, we live near MIL so she helps us out!

Here's Bobert, so full of wonder and taking it all in that he wouldn't stop for a second for a picture. So far, he likes preschool and he's already singing crazy songs you learn when you're little with hand movements and strategic clapping... SO CUTE!


Willie, just waiting for that bus! He's in a new classroom this year - he's getting so big! That parachute harness looking thing is to keep him seated on the bus since he can get out of a regular car seat on the bus. He's been using his communication book with some success so we are going to work on that this year. Of course, his favorite part of school is probably swimming with the motor room and gym as close runners-up.



Here's Aiden at his desk. They let the parents come in the last 45 minutes of the first day. It's only a half day to start, so it was a really short day for some kids. Parents could meet the teacher, look at the classroom, and then you could sign your child out and go to the book fair. I located the clipboard and found Aiden's name. Next to his name there was a '3' under grade! I teared up a little. Third grade?!? Okay get it together, mom. Then we went to the book fair and found some great books. He ended up choosing a Star Wars novel and a Wall-E novel. I told him to keep them in his desk and to read if he gets done with all his work. He's a little chatty, so I'm trying to start this year off right. LOL

Exhausted + Happy Birthday

I am physically exhausted. Three kids in three schools, two in soccer, working again now that school's back in session, plus all the regular laundry, cooking, cleaning, and errands.

*whew*

I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening Saturday at my bestest friend's birthday party. It's actually her birthday today, so Happy Birthday, Biddy! (Like how I ended my sentence with a noun?)

Ahhh, college life....

So my brother and his girlfriend went to a football game... and coincidentally I was at a birthday party in the same town. He wanted a box of his Magic cards that we had in our basement. So, I put them in my car early and everything as to remember them. I called him a few times so we could coordinate a meet-up. We met at McDonald's. He was going to be there first and I knew he would be waiting so I told him to go ahead and eat or something.

We pulled in and I saw his red Mustang right away. We pulled up next to him and we see two partied out college students enjoying an afternoon nap. Ahh, the good old days... tailgating, football game, nap, and then Saturday night revelry until 4am.

I got out, opened the trunk, got the cards, closed the trunk, still sleeping.
I laughed, got my camera out, took a pic, still sleeping.
My awesome husband suggested I take a video. Got that all set up.
Enjoy!

Amusement #6 - The Kung Fu Demo team

Okay so I'm driving... I've spent more hours than I care to count driving lately and I'm passing a truck... one of those big pickup trucks... and there's one guy driving it...

pulling this trailer...



I literally started laughing out loud. It seems that inside that trailer, there's this energized Kung Fu demo team waiting for the right time to kick open those doors and whoop some ninja behind.

And no, don't bother to yell at me for taking pictures while I drive... it's one of my hidden talents. I promise I was driving safely.

Delaware

Since we were already out on the east coast, we visited my aunt and uncle who live in Wilmington, DE and also my 2 cousins who are both married and live in Wilmington. It was so nice to see them - I haven't seen my cousins in YEARS. I'd never met their children, and they had never met mine. It was a great time of sharing, laughing, and playing.
I _love_ their big old houses. Such unique architecture. There was even a Trader Joe's in town. What more could a girl ask for. :)

Here's a few pics...

Group shot at dinner.


Ruby and Aiden. Ruby thought she was older than Aiden because she's a lot taller than him, but he is about 6 months older. Aiden thought the same thing. They got along so great, it was heartwarming. The both like to play with Legos and Star Wars!


Willie and Bobert finishing up bowling at the Oasis center - tubes, balls, and video games... fun place!

Visiting my sister

We decided to make a trip to see my sister. It was kind of last minute, and it was supposed to include my other sister, but she could not work it out. So, I went with the boys and my mom in my mom's minivan. We finally got on the road last Saturday around 1 pm. We got all the way to Breezewood, PA on the first day. You have to understand, that's really good time for us. There are all sorts of extra challenges when you are driving with three little ones :) Gotta bring diapers and food for Willie.

There were a lot of toll roads on the way. I think we paid over $50. Had I known it was going to be so much, I would have kept track of it just because. I guess it all makes it even when you get gas for $3.34 per gallon. One toll was $12.75... that was the highest. That was from one end of Pennsylvania to the other. The next highest was crossing the Chesapeake Bay bridge-tunnel. That was $12. A very interesting drive...you are on a bridge, then you go under the water in a tunnel, then bridge, then tunnel, then the last section of bridge. It is considered to be one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World. When you are under the water in the tunnel, that's where the giant barges cross. Shore to shore, the CBBT is 17.6 miles long!!



It was a surf and sun vacation... we spent a lot of time at Ocean Breeze waterpark, a really wonderful place with all sorts of things to do, and things for every age and comfort level. A wave pool, an entire section for kids with a pirate ship, slides, and a lazy river, and then some junior slides, moderate slides, and crazy slides. Willie wants to live there, I think. It was nice because there were no lines! I don't know if it was just a good time of year or because they have so much to do there.

Aiden on a daring slide... (Willie went down this one several times as well!)


Willie on a kid slide... although I would have loved to video him on the big slide... that was really his favorite.


Bobert in the kids' lazy river :)


And of course, we went to the beach!! I loved it. I was really nervous when we got there... there were so many people, and so many 'dangers' for Willie! But, I was with my sister, her bf, and my mom, so they talked me into staying. Aiden was very confident, exploring the water and the sand. He didn't want to take off his life jacket. Melissa and her bf made fun of me for the kids wearing jackets, but I don't care. Safety first! Bobert took his off once he made it clear he wasn't going to go in past his knees. He was content to play in the sand and occasionally go get some shells or water. Willie had a surprise! He just ran right into the water, and he got knocked down. I know he swallowed some water. He got a look on his face that let me know. So, he came back towards shore a bit, then ran in again, got knocked down again, and swallowed more water. After that, he played a lot of 'tag' with the waves. He would run to about thigh deep water, until the wave got really close, then he would turn around and run back to shore. Over and over and over. LOL. Willie and Aiden let me take them out a bit deeper. I wanted them to experience real swimming in the ocean. Yes, with life jackets! :)~

The weather there was wonderful. Between 80 and 90 degrees and sunny every day.




Next stop: Delaware!

Willie at the wheel

Only six and already wants to drive! I may have to hide my keys if he ever figures out where it really goes.

Goodbye for now.

Mid July, my father-in-law took a turn for the worse and went into the hospital. He had been falling a lot because he was in so much pain. He could barely walk anymore. While in the hospital, he said that he hung on for so long so that he could see his children grow and get to know all of his grandkids. At one point or another, my in-laws watched all the grandchildren on a regular basis. No matter how much pain he was in, he always put them first. He would get right down on the floor and play with them.

While he was in the hospital, he coded and I got a frantic call from SIL, and we all rushed up there. He passed on in the middle of the night, surrounded by his family. He is greatly missed. There was a lot of sharing and trips down memory lane. The funeral was beautiful, really honoring the person he was. He's not in pain any more. He's standing tall. I'm sure he's waiting at the gate, keeping people entertained with his bottomless resource of stories while they wait to enter the kingdom themselves.
Some of the grandkids - Robert, Gailynn, Racheal, Kenny, Micaela, and Aiden. Also, Micaela's boyfriend, Chris.

Willie turns six

Here he is, opening presents with his Godfather, Zak.



All in all, a nice birthday party. Cupcakes, balloons, Cars, grandmas, and godparents, what else could a kid ask for?

At least he's easy to buy for... Cars beach towel, Cars, and a Cars t-shirt. Happy, happy, happy little boy.

Amusement #5 - A Room With a View - Willie style!

This is Willie's latest and greatest thing to do... watch the cars go by out of his bedroom window. Since the windows are too high for him, why not just stand on the dresser and open up the screen and stick your arm out so one you have the full open air effect. It's like baby NASCAR.