Summer Break

Spinning at the park was a big hit.

Racing on the slides.

The hot tub after the beach.

Face painting at Festival.

Levi's first time at the paint-in.

He was not really enjoying face painting.

Memorial day parade.

T-ball. What a stud!

The tire swing at Festival. (you can see Levi's shoes, he's on the other side)

Cookies on the front porch.

A few pics that show a small glimpse of our life. If you have any more ideas for summer entertainment, please let me know!

Mother's Day

This is my first "real" Mother's Day poem! He was so excited to give it to me that I received it a little early. I am proud to say he wrote every word of it.

Mom

Super, Best

Christian, Rocks, Kind

She's the Best!

Mama mia

Thanks Buddy, This mom needed to hear that!

About me

This is a "4" things post that Marissa has kindly suggested I do. I think it's because I have not posted since February. Sorry about that! Here it goes.

Four jobs that I have had in my life
1. running money at the office
2. cashier at D&W
3. sales clerk at Rogers
4. art teacher

Four Movies I would/have watch(ed) over and over
1. The Sound of Music
2. Cars
3. Sixteen Candles
4. Christmas Vacation

Four places I have lived
1. Walker
2. Sparta
3. Kalamazoo
4. Grand Rapids

Four TV shows that I watch
1. October Road
2. Flip That House
3. Ugly Betty
4. Brothers & Sisters

Four places I have visited
1. California
2. Nevada
3. Colorado
4. Oregon

Four people who email me regularly
1. Jerry
2. Kristy
3. Kelly
4. Mom

Four of my favorite foods
1. guacamole
2. cinnamon rolls
3. strawberries
4. potatoe soup

Four places I would like to be right now
1. in a clean house
2. somewhere tropical
3. a world where my children listen attentively and follow my every direction
4. on a real vacation anywhere


Four things I'm looking forward to this year
1. summer and the beach
2. going back to work part-time
3. my baby turning 2
4. all the craziness of being a mom to 3 boys

Four people who should post 4 things
1. Kristy
2. Kelly
3. Mom
4. Crystal

Enough Already!

Fun in the snow. Once we go out they never want to come back in. A mom can only take so much snow (plus I need a nap after carrying them back up the hill a hundred times).

Mixing colors with colored goo we made. Jakob was not pleased that blue and red made purple. (purple is so a girl color)

We even made an obstacle course downstairs. Crawl thru the tube, drive the car thru the roads, ride around the pool table, crawl to the instruments, make up a song and sing at the top of your lungs, jump from pillow to pillow, start over again.

So... needless to say, I like snow days and all, but enough already! We are seriously running out of things to do around here.

Rules for wrestling

Jerry and the boys love to wrestle. Jakob recently informed us that he would like "Daddy" to play by the rules. Rules as follows...
No hugging

No kissing

No snuggling

No tickling

No huggeling - yes... huggeling, I guess that would be a mix of the above

Snow day

We never really got dressed yesterday. It was a snow day... so we decided to take full advantage and enjoy the day. The kids were crazy, the day was fun, I love snow days. We played outside, had frosting and graham crackers for lunch, introduced Levi to the movie "Nemo", and played outside some more. As you can see from the pictures above we really did enjoy the day.

shhh...I am secretly wishing for another snow day tomorrow.

random thoughts

Okay, so we have made it through the last week without a crib tent. I do have the railing down on the crib to prevent a long fall down but all things considered, Sam is doing quite well. Each day I put him down for nap, he stands up, reaches his arms around my neck in a very tight squeeze, and tries to get out of the crib. I say I love him and it's time for a nappers. He cries, I say love you, night night and walk out the door. I then proceed to stand at the door with a small crack open and watch to make sure he is not trying to climb out. I usually need only open the door once or twice to prevent the climb out and then he lays down and goes to sleep. (if you call less than an hour a nap) He sure is a fiesty little guy. I am counting the days till we reach the end of this "phase."

Levi is such a funny boy these days. Being almost 3, he has started getting a little mouthy. Whenever he does not like what I have to say he does a little spitting thing. It's his way of saying "whatever mom". I really am not enjoying that much. He can't wait for his birfday. He wants a boo birfday cake and a boo prusint. He cracks me up. I am for sure making a birthday cake with blue frosting and am doing my best to find blue presents.

Jakob is star student this week at school. He is thrilled about it. All the pages have been colored and all the family pictures we could attach to one piece of paper are on the bulletin board at school. He is beaming! Today mom and dad got to be the special visiters in his classroom. He wanted us to come and read some books about space. Of course, we did. It was great. He sat on Daddy's lap and smiled from ear to ear the whole time.

It's busy around here. The house it decorated and the kids love all the christmas lights. I am doing my best to remind them that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and it's not all about presents. I feel so blessed to have these 3 boys and all the craziness they bring. God is teaching me alot about claiming his peace in this time of my life. I pray that each one of you reading this will claim the peace that only Jesus can give and truely enjoy the celebration of the birth of our Lord.