I’ve been getting harassed about my lackadaisical blogging, so I’m going to try and get back into this.  I’m not going to try and recap all that has happened in the past year because I don’t have that kind of time.  ;)  So, I’m just going to pick up as if we never had a break. 

Last weekend I held a crafting party at my house.  I had been selected for two different house party events and I figured it would be easiest to do them at the same time.  We invited lots of little friends to help us do these crafts as a fun event for a day that Dan was going to be gone anyway.  So, we had 10 kiddos doing crafts and then 4 other little ones running around and playing.  The first part of the party we did the Fuzzoodle Party, which was sent to me by House PartyPalooza.  Everyone had a great time creating their fuzzy creatures and it was cute to see what they came up with.

After our fuzzy creations, we had a fiesta style lunch with quesadilla’s, salsa con queso, and non-alcoholic sangria (Yummmy).  Once lunch was done, we decided to start in on our Perler-Bead House Party (another free party kit).  The Perler-Beads were a little more challenging for the little ones, but the older kids enjoyed creating their monkeys and lizards and then taking them home to hook to their backpacks.  I think that they were starting to lose their patience and wanting to just play instead of crafting, so we wrapped our one project and then we finished the party with a piñata.  All in all, the kids had a great time and it was a fun event to give all of us something to do on a Saturday.

Another big thing we did last weekend was move Dan’s shop (AES) to a new place.  After about 6 months of looking for a new place, things finally fell into place.  We took the leap of faith and now we are in a new place and getting used to the new space we have.  We are excited to see where this new adventure takes us and our business.  God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams with this business and pray that we can continue to pass along the blessings He has given us.  I have yet to get pics of the inside, but here are a few pics of the outside and the sign.

Well, that sums up a big portion of our life (or at least the last weekend).  LOL  This weekend I am at an overnight scrappin’ event, so hopefully I will be able to upload a few of the layouts that I have accomplished while here.  I enjoy getting away with some ladies and being able to work on scrap book pages that I never seem to find the time to do when we are at home.  We are staying at a beautiful hotel in Holland and had a great dinner last night, a better than average continental breakfast, and an incredible lunch.  All that AND good company and conversation with other women - I am truly spoiled.  :)

Well, that should catch us up a bit.  I hope to be back soon with updates on our family (well, mainly the kiddos).  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for checking back here to see what’s going on.  :)

My sister Manda, encouraged me to post about a creative idea that Dan & I had last night.  She told me to just copy and paste the paragraph, but I couldn’t do that because I feel like it needs some background.  At least, it deserves to be mentioned so that I can remember why we came up with this crazy idea anyway.    So, here goes.

Over the last year or so, I have felt overwhelmed/overtaken by stuff.  I realize that when you have kids, you accumulate even more stuff than you do when you are just married and it’s just the two of you.  The problem is that clutter tends to build up and take over me and my whole being.  For example, when my desk is littered with paper at work, I can’t even begin to even think about where to start.  The mess has a way of binding me up and I have to take care of it before I can start anything new.  At home, I find myself to be more lazy and procrastinate and I tend to let the piles form until I have a nervous breakdown.  The problem is that I am at that point crippled by the overwhelming task at hand and I often times do nothing to fix it or solve it.  And so it has become this way in my home with all the kids toys and clothes, etc…  Another problem that I have noticed with the mass amount of toys that have taken over my home, is that I feel like my kids don’t respect them or care for them as much as they should.  Maybe if there are fewer toys, they will learn to respect and cherish their toys and keep them nice, because there isn’t that endless supply of toys.  I don’t know, maybe that’s not going to be the case, but I figure it’s sure worth a try. 

I also have been feeling more and more blessed in the last 2-3 years, but especially just before last Christmas and again this year.  It seems like I am bombarded with amazing charities and opportunities to share the things and finances that I have with.  I sometimes get overwhelmed by trying to decide who, what & where to be charitable to and that leaves me feeling crippled as well.  But, there are so many wonderful things to do and places to give and people to share with.  I am making it a point to try and help out in as many different places as I can.  I want to spread the wealth and share the love with as many organizations and people that I can this year.  I know that the amounts will not be huge, but in our world today, I believe that even small amounts and few or small things can make a BIG difference in someone’s life.

So, now that you know the background and reasons for my creative juices to start flowing, here is what we did last night with the girls.  I had already determined and had been warning the girls that before Christmas, we were going to pick thru all of our toys and give away the ones that we don’t use very much or don’t really care for that much.  Needless to say, they seemed to be on-board with that plan, until we would go downstairs and look thru the toy boxes and "treasure" chests.  Then, I would offer up and item that I know they hadn’t touched in the last 2-6 months (I know because I hadn’t helped pick it up and put it away when we have our basement clean-up day).  Without fail, they would make up some excuse or reason to keep the item and it was usually because someone else played with it all the time.  And so it would go until I came up with a good idea to help them CHOOSE to give up some of their toys.  Last night, I offered them MONEY!  What kid doesn’t like MONEY?!  Well, we already give our kids quarters for doing good things, so this was just a way to carry it a little bit further.  Now, before you think that we give our kids a ton of money for allowance or things like that, I will explain our pay scale.  We give the girls 1 quarter for putting their folded clothes away without complaining and 2 quarters for putting them away without being asked.  Another example is that our tooth fairy only gives 2 quarters for a lost tooth (a little cheap in my mind, but Kylie thinks that it is awesome).  Alright, back to the toy collection last night.  We told the girls that we would give them 2 quarters for every toy they collected to give to other kids that don’t have any toys.  So, the girls went all thru the basement toys (with a little guidance from mom) and they collected a total of 24 toys (or "sets" of toys).  Kylie collected 14 toys and received $7 and Kennedy collected 10 toys and received $5.  I am going to say that this experience was well worth the $12 it cost us.  I personally love knowing that we no longer have quite so much stuff just laying around not being used, and I know that we will all have a feeling of self worth when we bring the toys to organizations that really need our gently used gifts to distribute this year. 

My final note is to say that we did put a stipulation on what that money is to be used for.  The first quarter is going to be used for a charity that we are collecting money for and the 2nd quarter will be used to buy their sisters Christmas gifts.  Every year, Dan takes the girls individually to a dollar store so that they can pick out gifts for mommy and their sisters.  He has always paid for the gifts out of his stash, but this year they will be able to contribute some of their hard earned money to the gift.  I hope that will encourage them to have an outward perspective and a real spirit of giving.  I do realize that we are paying/bribing/rewarding them for things that they should do anyway, but let’s be real, that ain’t gonna happen.  My girls are 5, 3, and 1 and I don’t believe that it is even possible for them to fully understand a whole lot outside of their own 4 walls (and maybe a few other close family and friends’ 4 walls).  I guess my hope and wish is that this will be the start of a new tradition and that eventually they will form a servant heart from DOING the right thing and that in the future they won’t need or even want the payment/bribe/reward.  I guess I will just pray that God will stir the right thing in their hearts and know that I am trying to do my best to raise Godly little girls who have a heart for those in need close by and for those in the world around them.  And to make this whole process a little sweeter, we are going to commit to making our gift selections more intentional and we are going to limit the number of toys that we bring into our home.

Does anyone else have a creative idea to help teach kids about giving?  I realize that it may be a challenge with little ones who don’t even know that there is a great big world out there and that there are people who are not as blessed as we are.  But, I am open to suggestions as to how we can tweak this tradition or try something new.  Please give me your feedback - I’m always looking for creative ways to raise our children with the right heart and values. 

Thanks for listening to me ramble and thanks to Manda for encouraging me to post this little note (or not so little as it turns out).  ;)  I know that for my purposes, I will be able to look back and remember how we came up with this idea and hopefully keep the tradition alive. 

I know the title is totally un-original.  But, I couldn’t come up with anything better because I am not really all that "original" or creative for that matter. 

Today is a day that we celebrate a day of thanks.  What a special day.  A day to mentally list out all of the things we are thankful for.  Normally I would just stop with the mental list, but today I feel like I should make a written list of all the things I am so grateful for and all the awesome blessings in my life.  The following list is really in no particular order, so please don’t read into them as if they are.  I am just going to type the things that pop into my head.

The things I am thankful for in 2009: 

1. Jesus Christ - He died on the cross to set me free from my sin (past, present, and future).  Who wouldn’t want to serve that kind of unconditionally loving Savior?!  Today I am going to stay in awe of that fact and recognize that the rest of this list is because of HIM.
2. My amazing parents.  A father who is a real life example of my heavenly father.  A mother who is and always will be an incredible role model for me as a mother.
3. Dan - An amazing husband, friend, and father.  I’m so grateful for him!
4. Kylie - My firstborn.  She is such a kind and gentle spirit.
5. Kennedy - God protected her in my womb and ever since the day she was born she has kept us on our toes.  She’s a stinker, but we love her to pieces.
6. Emma - Again, God protected her in my womb and she is my baby.  My last child and I’m enjoying watching her grow into an amazing little toddler.
7. My In-Laws.  From parents to siblings to nieces and nephews.  Dan’s family is not as large as mine, but they are close and a lot of fun.  His dysfunctional family has added to their numbers and has brought some really cool people into my life.  His dad & mom and step-dad have played some really important roles in our life and for that I am extremely grateful.
8. My Family - I have such a close family and I love it.  I’m so glad that we spend lots of time together and that we can pass down our value that family is meant to stay in close relationship.  God is the one who orchestrated families and I think that it pleases Him when we are intentional about our relationships and make it a priority to stay close.
9. My Home - We are so blessed to have a nice house to call our own.  We have turned this house into a home and we LOVE it.  It’s nothing particularly special or grand, but it’s the place where we can build relationships within our family and with our friends.
10. My Job - I have one of the greatest jobs.  I love the people I work for and work with.  I know that it is rare to have a job that is almost always a pleasure to go to and gives me a feeling of purpose. 
11. AES - Dan’s business.  When we started this venture, we did not know how it would work out.  God has sustained us and the business and we have been incredibly blessed financially as well as professionally with this venture.
12. The basics - food, clothing, transportation.  So many things that I take for granted, even though I really don’t intend to. 
13. Friends - I have some of the greatest friends.  It is so hard to squeeze in time for them all the time, but they understand and we always have a great time when we are together.  They are the greatest, because time apart doesn’t change our relationships.

I’m sure that I could go on forever and ever, but I just wanted to highlight a few of the things that pop into my mind.  As you can see, God has blessed us with all the necessities in life and then some.  My prayer/wish is that I never forget that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.  And today is a day that I wanted to put it in writing.  I pray that all of you have or had a great Thanksgiving Day and I encourage you to write the things that you are thankful for today.  There is something therapeutic about writing or verbalizing the reasons we are thankful.  So often we get caught up in the negative or the things that are not going the way we want them to go in life.  Today we need to focus on the positive and all the blessings in our lives. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don’t even know where to begin because it has been waaaayyy too long.  I just looked back and the last time I posted was the end of July.  I feel like my blog has been neglected and I kinda miss it.  To bring you all up to speed would be crazy ridiculous.  We have obviously been busy since I last posted.  Or maybe it’s just that I lost my desire to post.  Or maybe it’s just that when I finally have time to post, I’m too tired to start up the computer and think/write.  Or maybe I just needed to figure out where my priorities are.  Either way, it’s been too long since I last posted so I thought I would take this completely uninterrupted time to say hello and quickly bring you up to speed on the Hower family. 

We have enjoyed our crazy busy summer.  There weren’t too many actual boating days, but we did have fun going to the pool and spending some time out by the water.  For most of the summer, the mosquitoes were terrible at our house, so it was nice to get away from those nasty little creatures.  In fact, they were so bad this summer that the girls very rarely went outside to play on their own playground in the backyard.  I think that even they got sick of smelling like bug spray and STILL getting bit by mosquitoes.  So, it was really nice to get away to the boat for a while. 

After the summer season ended, the school year began.  This was our first "official" school year.  Kylie started Kindergarten this year and she goes all day every day.  She was so excited for this and she still just loves everything about school.  I rarely hear anything negative about school and if I do, it’s about the bus or bus driver.  Of course, with the new school schedule, I had to change my schedule too.  It’s going better than I anticipated, but I still kinda miss my one day off work a week to get things done around the house and extra time with the kiddos.  But, I find that I can get just as much done around the house and I have more time to prepare dinner, which saves us money on eating out.  So, overall the new schedule we all have is working out great.

After boating season, we decided to take Kylie & Kennedy to a U of M game to see how it would go.  We chose a game that we wouldn’t really care if we had to turn around and head back home after half time.  So, we took them to the game against Eastern Michigan on September 19th.  The day was absolutely gorgeous and the girls had a great time.  We made it thru the entire game and even hung out for a while as the crowd dispersed and the band took the field to close out the game.  And to top off the gorgeous weather and well behaved kiddos, Michigan beat Eastern Michigan 45-17.  Certainly an improvement over last season.  :)  

I think that the girls crashed JUST after we got out of the parking lot, which was pretty quickly since we waited until the very end of the game to leave.  The nap only lasted about an hour and then something woke them up so we decided that it would be time to stop for dinner soon.  It was such a great day and I am looking forward to making this an annual tradition.  The tricky part will be figuring how to split 4 tickets w/5 people. 

To round out our last few months in review, we celebrated a B-I-G accomplishment.  We managed to stay married for 10 years.  I certainly wouldn’t have ever thought it would be such a big deal to make it 10 years when we got married, but now looking back, it really is a big accomplishment.  And I am so proud to say that we have made it thru the last 10 years and I know that I consider myself a better person for being married to Dan.  There have definitely been some tense moments in there, but we have been thru a ton over the last 10 years.  We went from newlyweds and just the two of us for 5 years to parents of not only 1 child, but 2 more that followed shortly after (3 girls in 5 years).  The first 5 years were a breeze compared to the last 5 years.  But, we have the most amazing little girls and I wouldn’t trade them for an additional 5 years of easy breezy marriage.  I am definitely glad that we were able to build a strong marriage BEFORE we had kids so that when the kiddos added a stress to our marriage, we were able to deal with it and move forward.  I love where we are at with our family and I am so glad to have Dan AND my 3 girls.  We are truly blessed beyond measure and our wildest dreams.  So, in order to celebrate our 10 years of marriage, we took a scenic tour/drive up to the Mackinac Bridge and Island.  So, we spent some time in St Ignace, on Mackinac Island, at Soaring Eagle Casino, and then a quaint little hotel in Whitehall on White Lake.  It was so nice to be just the two of us to do whatever we wanted to do and whenever we wanted to do it.  We could go as fast or as slow as we wanted - there were no kids dictating our pace or our location.  It was so nice to spend time just the two of us as friends - the way we started out.  I wasn’t able to get very good pictures while we were gone because it was cold and rainy/cloudy.  The best pics I have are from our last stop, which was the Weathervane Inn in Whitehall.  It was a cozy room and a beautiful (even though it  was cold).

Well, there you have our last few months in review.  Our simple, everyday, ordinary life that has really cool things thrown in there every once in a while.  This weekend I am picking up digi-scrappin’ (or maybe soaking up some inspiration from my lil sis Manda).  Dan is hangin’ with the girls last night and today for a little while, then I will head home and spend the evening and rest of the weekend with them.  Next weekend we are going to the U of M vs Ohio State game and I’m hoping that our good fortune with weather over the past week hangs on for one more weekend.  Of course, it will probably be my luck that I get to go to the game where it will probably snow.  I’m sure it will be fun either way, but it would definitely be super cool if we have another weekend like this one and last one.  Alright, there is not recap on the Hower life and hopefully I don’t take so long to get back here and update.  I’m really hoping to be inspired to take more photos so I can use some of the cute quickpages that I got and then I will have more pics to post here as well.  So, until next time…

It has been so long since I have posted here.  I’m not sure why, exactly.  I guess we have been busy, but maybe more so because I haven’t had much to say.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I usually have lots to say, but sometimes it’s better not to say them out loud.  Anyway, mostly it’s because I have been busy and haven’t taken much time to sit down and write.  We have definitely been keeping ourselves busy with summer activities.  Mostly boating.  We try to get out to the boat as much as possible.  The weather hasn’t been all that spectacular for boating or playing in the marina pool, but the kids don’t seem to mind as much as the adults do.  So, we’ve been playing in the chilly pool and takin’ naps on the boat.  The girls love to go out to the boat and play in the pool, on the playground, and on the boat.  They don’t always take the greatest naps, but it gives Dan and I time to relax and be quiet and just enjoy the boat and the sounds of the marina.  We also went out and about Lake Mac for an evening with a couple of our "couple" friends.  We just did munchies and sandwiches and took a little cruise around the lake checking out all. the cottages, new, old and remodeled.  There’s just something great about spending time on the water with friends or family.  There is always laughter involved.  I love spending time with others and just having a good ‘ole time.  :)  I’m hoping to spend the coming weekend out on the boat with the kiddos.  The older two want to go "camping" on the boat in the worst way (and if I’m honest, I really want to also).  I miss the times that we would spend the entire weekend out on the boat, cruising around and spending time with friends.  I hope that as the girls get a little older, it will be easier to go out and about with them on the boat with us.  Anyway, we have things planned this coming weekend that may keep us away from the boat for a while, but I think that if we can make it work to stay out there the majority of the time, it will be great.  So, here’s to great weather for the coming weekend.

We’ve got a busy week coming up.  Tonight we are going to the Ottawa County Fair to walk around and play and watch some Off Road Demo Derby action.  Dan is not racing at OCF this year, because he has to work for the Fire Dept.  He volunteered to make sure that his department would be able to cover the event for Fire & EMS during Saturday’s event and they don’t have enough volunteers without him being one of them.  So, he won’t be able to race on Saturday.  He also was too late in getting his entry into tonight’s show, so he won’t be racing tonight either.  So, since he couldn’t race, he’s working the medical unit tonight.  I’m going to take the 3 girls and we’ll try to catch up with him when we are out there.  I’ll have help, though.  Dan’s mom & step-dad are going with me and then a good portion of my family will be out there, too.  Lest you think that I am super-mom or something crazy like that.  I don’t usually go out in public with 3 kids unless I have another person with me.  Either I’m not that great of a parent or my kids are just that horrible sometimes.  I think that both statements are equally true at various times.  :)  Then, we have my work picnic or summer event on Tuesday night at Craigs Cruisers out in GR.  My girls LOVE to go there and we only go once a year with my work.  As much as we would like to go there more often, because the girls have fun, we just never seem to find the time or make the time to do things like that.  I think that makes them enjoy it all the more, though.  We have no plans yet for Weds-Fri, so I’m hoping that I’ll have time to get things ready for a weekend on the boat.  :)  Then, like I said, Dan has to work at the fair on Saturday night, so we will likely go there again on Saturday night to get one last night of junk food in.  Mmmmmm.  Not that I eat the really good junk food, but it still counts if it’s food that you get from a vendor cart at the fair, right?  I’m not a huge fan of elephant ears, but the girls like them, so we usually get one of those before we leave.  The one thing that I ALWAYS have to get is the Lemonade (and Fiske fries, but that would make it two things).  I must be getting hungry.  LOL

Alright, I’ve babbled long enough and it’s time for me to get ready for the fair before all 3 girls wake up.  I hope you all enjoy your week and I’m thinking that I will try to get back this weekend if I’m sitting on the boat while the girls are napping.  It’s not like I can just leave when they are sleeping - I just sit in the sun on the back of the boat.  So, maybe, I’ll be back this weekend to babble some more. 

I don’t know what on earth has been happening in our lives that I haven’t been able to post.  I guess that I have just had to re-prioritize my life and computer time.  I would love to be able to post more often.  Maybe they would be shorter posts, instead of really, really long ones.  I don’t know for sure, but it seems to make sense.  For some reason, I just felt the need to post here today.  I have so much swirling in my head and I’m not sure I’ll share all of it or not, but I just felt the need to write.

One of the big things that has been going on in our little family is that we have been doing a lot of appointments with Emma.  She has had an ear infection since the end of February.  Or, at least, every 4-6 weeks when we go back for the re-check, she has an ear infection.  I’m not sure if she has been getting rid of it and then just unfortunately comes down with another cold or something that causes another ear infection, or what the deal is.  Either way, it doesn’t really matter.  We now have an appointment with an ENT on Monday morning.  I’m pretty sure they will check her out, review her history and tell us we need to schedule an appt for tubes.  I’m not so worried about that procedure, I really just want her to feel better.  She hasn’t really been all that bad, but she’s just not as happy as I remember her being about 6 months ago.  She doesn’t mess with her ears all that much and hasn’t had any real terrible fevers.  She doesn’t really say too many words and she often times loses her balance when she’s walking.  I don’t know if that is related to the ear infection or not, but it will definitely be interesting to see if tubes will make any difference in those instances.  It’s weird to me that the first two girls haven’t even had 1 ear infection (ever) and now the 3rd got one and can’t get rid of it.  I would have never known she had an ear infection had it not been for her 1 yr well child visit at the end of February.  I’m just praying that everything will go well with the tubes procedure and that it will help her feel better and she’ll get back to her happy little self.  I’ll try to keep you posted on what happens.

One of the things that has been keeping us running around crazy is that I enrolled Kylie & Kennedy in swimming lessons for this past week and then 1/2 of this week.  The girls have been enjoying swimming lessons and they are learning a lot.  I can’t wait until their little program at the end of this week.  The funny/interesting/ironic (whatever) thing is that the head teacher is the lady who taught me and my siblings to swim.  She even taught swimming lessons for a while in our family pool when we had one.  Now she is teaching at her own home pool and her daughter and son are also helping.  I like that they teach the kids to be comfortable in the pool without any flotation devices (no swimmies, jugs, life jackets, nothing).  Learning to swim is more about being comfortable in the pool at this age, than it is about learning specific skills.  Summer time is great!

Another thing that has been heavy on my heart and mind is a tragic event that has happened in my world.  My daycare lady has been going thru some rough times and unfortunately now it has come to a very tragic end.  Her husband tragically died on Friday.  He left behind a daughter who is 18 and a son who is 12.  I don’t know what to say about this situation, other than it breaks my heart.  It’s a reminder that life is too short.  It also reminds me that we really never truly know what’s going on in someone’s life.  I will admit that I have not taken time to just chat with her and ask her how things are going, and now I feel bad that I didn’t.  I can make excuses in my mind about how I am always running late for work and don’t have the extra time.  Or, that there are always kids around and it’s not really appropriate to discuss that kind of stuff in front of kids.  I don’t know - it just seems like there are too many excuses.  Now, I’m on the "outside", feeling like I have no place to offer help or support.  I realize that we aren’t really best friends, but she takes care of my kids when I go to work and I trust her with their lives.  I know that I am a pretty laid back mom and I don’t demand a whole lot from those that watch my kiddos, but I must feel like they are trustworthy and that they would NEVER put my kids in a dangerous situation and they would ALWAYS protect them.  She has done that for 3 years.  We’ve known each other for 3 years and she loves my kids and they love her.  I guess we have more of a business relationship than friendship, but I care for her and her well being more than she would probably ever know.  I hate not knowing how to help or what to do.  Do I give her space?  Do I just stop by and give her a hug?  Just send flowers and a card?  I don’t know.  I’m always concerned about doing the WRONG thing and too often that leaves me doing NOTHING.  I would hate for someone to say to me…why didn’t you just stop by?  I thought that you didn’t care much, because you didn’t call, you didn’t stop by.  I don’t know how I would respond if someone was hurt by my lack of action when I thought that it would be best.  Death can be such a tricky and sticky and uneasy situation.  What do you say, or do?  These are obviously rhetorical questions, but they are the thoughts floating around in my head. 

Sorry for the depressing ending.  I really didn’t think that I was going to be writing about this, but it just came out.  I guess I just needed to write it to get it out of my head.  Needless to say, this coming week will be busy and short.  It’s short because of the holiday weekend - I’m excited and hope the weather is nice.  But, before that, I have the ENT appointment on Monday morning.  The girls swimming lessons in the afternoon (mon-weds).  Funeral visitation is Monday night and then the funeral on Tuesday.  That leaves Wednesday and Thursday, which are sure to be crazy busy at work.  I think that all of this stuff is contributing to the headache that I have.  Like I said earlier, I am ready for a long weekend and hopefully one that will just be relaxed and focused on my family.  I hope you all have a great week and a great 4th of July.

WOW!  I just noticed that the last time I posted was Tulip Time, which was about a month ago.  Things have been a little busy around our place, I guess.  I will have to sum it up in pictures, since I just downloaded a bunch of them and I don’t really have much to say today.  I just thought that maybe I should get back on here and post again.The first group of pictures is from the first night we went downtown with friends of ours to take pictures by the tulips (notice how "put together" the other family is).  The Lawrence’s were adorable and I got some good pics of just their family.  

Then we went another night to watch the dancers.  We watched our babysitter, Rachael dance and then went to watch the alumni dancers and Aunty Betsy dance.  While we were waiting for the dancers on 8th St. to start, Emma spotted a puppy and she made a beeline for the dog.  She was just learning to walk, but it was much faster to crawl.  So, that’s what she did.  Once she got to the puppy, she just sat there and smiled and pet the puppy.  She just LOVES little dogs. 

I think that it was the following week that we had our deck torn up, expanded, and replaced.  Of course, the girls wanted to watch the guys working, so they stood by the slider door and just watched them work.  Emma is the one who would have sat there all day watching them work and talking to/yelling at them thru the slider door.

The deck and sandbox were built and completed just in time for the party that we had with a bunch of friends.  I don’t even recall how many adults and kids were there, but we had a great time.  Oh yeah, you may also notice the gazebo we have on our deck - that was my mother’s day gift.  I LOVE it!

The last picture is terrible blurry, I couldn’t figure out the right setting on my camera.  But, you can definitely tell that it’s a picture of "Uncle" starting a massive fire.  Thank goodness we had a bunch of firefighters there.  Hahaha. 

Memorial Day weekend brought lots of bbq events.  We had a great weekend.  Here are some obvious "beginning of summer" pictures…

The Zeeland parade was full of excitement.  LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of tractors.  In fact, I think the tractor to all other group ratio was astronomical.  I’m sure that it is quite rare in comparison to other Memorial Day parades across the country.  The first pic is a a picture of my boss’s dad who is 92 yrs old and still takes his old cars all over the country.  He is a very cool man.  The second pic is a pic of a horse towing a Jeep Wrangler.  Not exactly sure what happened to the Jeep, but it died in the middle of the road (right in front of us) and it just so happened that the horses were following him and there was a tow strap in the Jeep.  It’s amazing how God was looking out for the group driving the Jeeps.  :)

Last, but not least, we had Kylie’s Preschool Graduation last week Thursday night.  It was a very cute program and I’m amazed at how quickly time flies.  I can’t believe that this coming fall, my firstborn is going to be starting Kindergarten and she’s going to be going to school full days, 5 days a week.

Well, that pretty much sums up our month of May.  I didn’t get around to doing a May desktop, but I did complete my June desktop. 

I think that I will have to go back and do my May desktop, just so that I have one.  Those are the only scrap pages that I have made and have made it a priority to make them.  I have downloaded lots of quickpages and free scrappin’ stuff, but I never seem to find the time to do anything with them.  But, I will be well set, once I decide to make that a priority.  Sometimes I wish that there were more hours in a day, but I’m not sure I would use them wisely anyway.  ;)  Thanks for hanging in there with me and all my pictures.  I hope you have a great week and I’m gonna start saying that I don’t know when I’ll get back here.  So, just don’t hold your breath in anxious anticipation.  LOL

I don’t even know where to begin with this post since it has been so long since I posted.  There has been a lot going on around us lately.  Some good and some bad.  I never know if it’s better to start with the bad and end with the good or to start with the good and end with the bad.  I think that I will start with the bad so that this ends on a good note. 

The bad…It seems like it has been a terribly long fall, winter and start to the spring season.  Our family has had the stomach flu go thru our family 4 times this season.  Emma was sick Friday night into Saturday and then again on Monday.  With infants it’s so hard to know when they can start eating "normal" food again.  I think that every time she has gotten the stomach bug, we started back to normal food to soon and then find out that her stomach wasn’t ready for it yet.  Having a little one sick with the stomach bug is disgusting and a LOT of work.  Inevitably, she pukes in her highchair or her bed - both of which need to be stripped down and washed.  Yuck.  Now, Kennedy has the bug again.  She has learned over these "sessions" that she can make it to the bathroom to throw up in the toilet, which has been a HUGE blessing.  She has even made it to the bathroom in the middle of the night when she is sleeping - AMAZING.  Today she had a little accident and it snuck up on her, so she threw up on the living room floor.  I have been putting off the whole carpet cleaning thing for a while, but I think that now is the time to get it done.  I just hope that the stomach bug is done going thru our family.  Luckily, I have not gotten sick even once.  I have to knock on wood every time I say that, but so far I have dodged the bug.  Maybe I have an iron stomach and an incredible immune system, either way, I am extremely grateful that I haven’t gotten it.  Yippee for me!

More bad… A family friend is a police officer and he shot a victim while they were doing a drug bust.  I don’t know all the circumstances and all the facts, but this was a horribly tragedy for both the officer and the victim.  Thanks to media and a bunch of others that have made this situation worse, the officer is being charged with careless discharge of a firearm.  It makes me sad that we live in a world where we assume the worst of those who sacrifice their lives to make our life better.  I know that there are bad cops out there and there are those who abuse their power, but overall we are far better off with law enforcement than we would be if we didn’t have them.  And this man is a good man and he deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt.  He is a 12 year veteran and he has worked in some extremely dangerous situations while undercover.  And as far as I know, he has a spotless record.  Yet, his superiors refuse to give that information to the public or even minimally support him.  I pray for this man and his family as they go thru the judicial process.  I trust that the judicial system will do it’s job and clear him of the charges they brought against him.  I have faith that when the facts and truth are known, that this man will be cleared and restored to his position on the police force.  The good side to this story is that a support rally was held for him and there were about 300 people in attendance.  Not all of them knew him personally, but wanted to show their support for all police officers.  They do SO much for us and one of the biggest problems with our society is that the law abiding citizens don’t speak out against the outrageous rights that we give to those that break the law.  I don’t think that our forefathers ever thought that the freedoms they gave to us would actually be used to empower those that break the law.  Anyway, my heart has been heavy for this family and the pain that they are experiencing. 

The ugly… A co-worker of mine was killed in a terrible car accident while on his way home from work last week Thursday.  It was a very rainy day and his car hydroplaned and he lost control.  My understanding is that he almost regained control but slid into the other lane and was hit by a semi truck.  Needless to say, car vs semi rarely turn out with good outcomes.  This is one such case.  My co-worker, Dave Schreur, was 39 and left behind a wife of 13 yrs and a 6 yr old son.  My heart breaks for his wife and son.  I can’t imagine picking up the pieces and moving forward.  I know that it is only by God’s grace that this woman will be able to move forward.  I also know that she personally felt God’s presence during her darkest and deepest moments.  I have NO doubt that Jesus Christ lived and died and will come back in all his glory.  A side story to the tragedy is that when I received the phone call that he was in an accident, Kylie was still awake and she broke down.  She has such a tender heart and I know that she sensed my fear.  It took Dan and I about 45 min to get her to calm down and go to sleep.  We prayed that the doctors and nurses would be God’s hands to make him better.  And if they weren’t able to save him, that Dave would get to go to Heaven and that there would be a party for him.  We told her that Heaven is a wonderful place and that there are parties and good times.  And that when Dave gets to Heaven, his body would be healed and made whole.  She did finally calm down and went to sleep.  I told her that I would tell her what his status was when I heard about it.  Of course, I received a phone call around 10 pm that he had died.  I didn’t sleep much that night.  On Friday morning, I knew that I had to go to work and I wouldn’t have the time to spend with her and deal with the situation that was sure to go poorly.  I told Papa to not mention the situation and I would talk to her when I got home in the afternoon.  And wouldn’t you know it, when I got home and she woke up from her nap, she asked if I had any new information.  I decided that it was best to tell her then that Dave had died and that he is in Heaven.  Much to my surprise, she said…"that means he is in Heaven and there having a party."  I think that I was in tears over the fact that she had heard what we said the night before and she "got it."  I had a very hard day at work, as did all of my co-workers, and to hear her cheerfullness about the party that was going on in Heaven was a reality check to me.  I’m extremely sad and will miss Dave a LOT, but I can rejoice because he is spending time with our maker and soon enough we will see eachother again.  It is a reminder to me that my real home is with my Heavenly Father.  Whether I have a day left on this earth or another 40 years, my home is in Heaven.  I want to make the best of this life on earth, but I am not sad or afraid of what comes after this life.  The funeral for Dave was a reminder and an example of someone who lived his life to the fullest and tried his best to live a Godly life.  I hope that the lessons I have learned thru this will not fade, but spur me on to living my life more and more like the greatest example we have ever had, Jesus Christ.  Please join me in praying for the Schreur family as they grieve and miss someone they loved dearly. 

The good… It is tulip time in Holland, MI and I love tulips.  I am of dutch decent and I love the heritage that has been passed down to me.  Tulip time is a very clear reminder of where I come from and who I am.  The dutch have some very good and sometimes "trying" personality traits, but who doesn’t?  I love going downtown and taking the girls to eat junk food, watch dutch dancers, and get pics by the tulips.  I personally don’t go all out with the costumes, but we have fun taking in the dutch heritage.  I’m thinking that we might try to go to the biggest parade of the week on Saturday - kids love parades (and so do moms and grandmas).  :)

More good… We are getting a lot of things accomplished around our house this spring.  We are doing things that we haven’t done before and I hope that it pays off throughout the summer.  We are also hoping to tear our our old deck and replace it with new deck and make it bigger.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to do composite decking or traditional wood decking.  I’m leaning towards the composite decking because it is far less work and neither of us likes to do that kind of "hard" work.  I know that it is more expensive to do the composite, but I think that it will pay off in a few years because we won’t have to pay someone to keep our wood deck looking nice.  I dunno, I’m still trying to weigh both options.  Dan is trying to watch the bottom line, while I am trying to figure out what option is best for us, regardless of cost.  I’m the type of person who would rather get it done right the first time and not wish that I had made a different decision.  Either way, I am excited to have a bigger deck and to have our yard spruced up a bit.  If anyone wants to weigh in on choices they’ve made and how it has turned out, I am open to ideas.  Leave me a comment.

Well, I think that this post has been long enough.  If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there with me.  I have lots of pictures that I am downloading as I write this, so maybe I’ll be back later this weekend with some tulip time pictures. 

Well, almost all of that is true.  It’s not really pouring, it’s just sprinkling.  Perfect kind of rain for bringing up the flowers.  It would have been better if I had taken a few moments this past weekend to spread some grass seed in some spots where I had removed the moss from.  Oh well, it’s early in the spring season.  Hopefully I will have at least one more good chance to plant the seeds.

Dan is snoring and it’s only 4 in the afternoon on a Monday.  Not normal, but just a sign of the sickness that is again running rampant in my home.  I don’t know if it’s just our family that is so susceptible to this stomach bug, or what, but I hope that this is the last time it goes thru our house.  It started with my mom getting sick late in the morning on the day that she was watching the girls.  I figured that by time she had called telling me that she was sick, it was already too late.  The girls would either get it or not get it.  Obviously, they got it.  Emma threw up Thursday night after she went to bed.  I had a church meeting at night and I could smell it when I came in the house.  It was NOT pretty and I felt sick as soon as I had finished cleaning her and her bed and started the many loads of laundry that were to follow.  Poor thing has been on antibiotics for an ear infection that doesn’t really seem to bother her, but it didn’t go away with the mild antibiotic the 1st time, so we were kicking it up a notch.  The best part is that augmentin causes some NASTY diapers and butt rash (which really didn’t even start until yesterday, which was her last day of antibiotics).  She did start eating again yesterday, so hopefully that helps to firm up the diaper contents, if ya know what I mean.  ;)  Kylie started throwing up on Friday morning, but she takes the whole thing in stride.  Not that she LIKES having an icky stomach, but at least she can make it to the bathroom and not make a terrible mess.  I thought that we were in the clear on Saturday, but Kylie threw up again Saturday night while we were out on a date.  The babysitter handled it SOOOOO well.  She cleaned everything up and even put sheets in the wash machine and folded the clothes that were in the dryer.  And if that wasn’t enough, she also made sure all the dishes were cleaned and the house was picked up.  She spent the night with us, but I was certainly shocked that she was still awake until midnight when we got home.  She has babysitter business cards, but I’m not sure that I want to pass that information out.  She is probably one of the most amazing 13 year olds that I know - she LOVES kids and can handle ANY situation.  Thanks, Bethany!!!  Oops, I can’t believe that I just let that slip.  ;)  Anyway, Sunday was a day for everyone to stay home (except for me, I had church duties) and get better, except for Dan.  He decided to take a nap in the afternoon and woke up feeling sick.  I sure am glad that I didn’t take a nap.  :)

Not much else going on around here.  We’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather that we have been having and have been outside a LOT.  Working on the yard and just plain playing.  We gotta get our yard in shape so that we can start getting the boat ready this year.  Spring brings a lot of work just so that we can enjoy the summer.  It’s a good thing that summer comes and we are able to enjoy the beautiful weather and the lake.  I’m hoping to be able to take the boat out more often this year.  Gas prices are supposed to be lower this year, so we won’t have that excuse for not getting out on the big lake.  I’m also glad that the girls are getting bigger and hopefully will be more fun to have on the boat and go for rides. 

I said that I would post some pics, so I am going to try to upload them now.  But, I’m not sure how many I will get on here, because my laptop seems to be sluggish and I am downloading some music.  Not sure how well my computer can do two things at once.  Enjoy the ones that I am able to post and have a great week!

Alright, I am sick of waiting, so that’s all you are gonna get.  I still have to take a pic of our front entry system and post those, so I’ll try to get that soon.  TTYL

It has been almost a month since I last posted.  So much has happened since that last post and it is almost impossible to even recap what has gone on.  I know that we had Kennedy’s birthday in there and we had two separate parties.  One at Chuck-E-Cheese on her actual b-day and the other was on the following Friday with my family.  Of course, Kennedy had gotten a 2nd round of the stomach flu starting on her b-day (I thought it was car sickness) and then Emma came down with it AGAIN, too.  I hope and pray that we are done with the winter illnesses until next winter (which, in MI is only a few months away - ugh).  Another thing that has been happening in our household is a minor re-vamping in our basement.  I painted the 70’s dark paneling and we put new play flooring down in the play area.  Hopefully that flooring will be much easier to take care of IF our basement floods again due to sump pump failure.  Then, because of our bad luck with sump pumps, Dan decided to build a couple of wood shelving units so that we can get all our crap off the floor.  Now, I just have to go thru all those boxes and totes and eliminate things that haven’t been seen since long before we moved in to this house 3 years ago and organize the stuff we want to keep.  I am feelin’ the spring clean out feeling, but it’s overwhelming to think about so here I am blogging instead of going thru the totes and organizing.  I am such a procrastinator.  Other than that, things have been pretty normal and good around our house.  Oh yeah, we did finally get the front entry locker unit and we just have a few finishing touches to add to it.  I love it so far and once we get the hooks up and the baskets in the cubbies, I think it will add a feeling of organization and sanity to our home.  I will try to get pictures up once we have the hooks up and can hang some jackets up.  Right now, the girls like sitting in their little locker units and reading books - it is super cute.

BEWARE:  Deep thoughts and possibly more than you care to know.  But, it’s been on my mind and I want to journal about it.  You may stop reading if you aren’t in the mood for deep and depressing stuff. 

As for me, I have been struggling with some things in my head.  I don’t want to go into ALL the boring details or explanations, but I have been feeling extremely unworthy or insecure.  I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it’s a poor self-esteem issue.  I think that I have always been self-conscious and felt like I didn’t quite belong, but it really hasn’t been an issue until recently again.  In middle school and high school, I always hung out with the "popular" crowd.  I had great friends and we had a lot of fun.  But, I always felt like I wasn’t as good or as cool as my friends.  I don’t think that it was ever anything that they said or did, it was just my own perception.  After high school, I went to college and stayed in touch with some of my high school friends, but not many of them.  And then I decided to get married, quit college, and work full time.  Dan is older than me and he had some great friends that we spent a lot of time with.  So, we didn’t really hang out with any of my friends, we hung out with his group of friends.  Then, we started having kids and our group of friends kinda dwindled to just a few good "couple" friends.  I look back at all that has happened over the last 10 years and there are so many explanations for why we don’t see this person or that person or couple anymore.  All that explanation to say that I don’t think that any of the events over the past 10 years has brought back the feelings of "not good enough," yet somehow they are coming back to the forefront of my mind.  One of the reasons this stuff has come back to the forefront is the tough decision that we had to make about which elementary school we were going to send Kylie to.  As I considered sending Kylie to my alma matter, Holland Christian, I started to feel insecure and have an overwhelming feeling of I don’t want to feel like I have to "fit in."  I don’t feel like I am good enough for "those" people.  I know that what I just said may sound judgmental, but it’s not really a judgmental statement against any of the parents at HC, it’s my own insecurity.  Now, our decision to send Kylie to West Ottawa schools was made mainly due to scheduling issues and the ability for her to go to an all day program in kindergarten.  But, even there, I feel insecure and like I am not good enough to relate to the other parents that I know there.  WHY IS THAT?????  I can say in my head over and over and over again that it doesn’t matter what other people think about me, about my hubby, my kids, my house, my decision to work, my boat, or WHATEVER!  And why is it NOW that these feelings creep back into my head and heart?  My life is so good right now.  I really am content and happy with my marriage, my kids, my house, etc.  Of course, none of those things are perfect and I guess I could always "want" more and better, but it really is good.  So, why do I feel like I have to impress other people, or make them happy, or be something different to be worthy?  Obviously the above questions are rhetorical questions, but they are in my head.  I am frustrated that I have these thoughts and I wish that they would just go away.  I have seen those shows where they make you look in a mirror (or something like that) and tell yourself that "you are good enough," "you are beautiful," you are…"  That kinda stuff just seems silly to me.  I can tell myself that I am all those things over and over again, but that doesn’t mean that I believe them.  How do you make yourself believe those things OR how do you make yourself not care whether or not other people think those things.  I don’t know.  I haven’t had those feelings in probably close to 10 years, so maybe it’s just a phase that will go away.  I hope so.  I hate feeling inadequate and un-likeable.  Anywho…that was a deep subject and just something I wanted to get off my chest.  Maybe there is some valuable therapy in just writing things down.

As I close up this post, I want to reflect on something my pastor said last week Sunday.  The series is about good words for bad times.  Last week, we dealt with the issue that as Christians we tend to think that because we are Christians, we should have an "easier" life than a person who is not saved.  Of course, it’s one of those things that we know is not true, but yet somehow deep down, we are shocked when bad things happen to us or we feel like we don’t deserve it.  Maybe some of you don’t believe that, but I know that I have that feeling way back in my mind (even though I KNOW it’s not true and I don’t believe that).  Anyway, the thing that I took away from that sermon was a reminder that since "the fall," EVERYTHING went bad.  Adam & Eve weren’t spared from evil or bad, nor was any other human or country or planet.  The good news is that ANY good there is in my life IS a gift and blessing from God.  So, while I now that there are sooooo many people out there that are hurting from so many different evils, there are so many blessings in my life and God is GOOD!  And it’s not just a realization that so many people have it much worse than me, but it truly was a reminder that any good thing that I can think of in my life, it is a gift from God.  This week I had a mental list running thru my mind and I was much more aware of the good things in my life.  I am only going to give you a small taste of some of the good things going on in my life right now.  Dan and I have been truly connecting and sharing life together.  My kids are growing as they are supposed to and we are enjoying life with them.  Our house is just perfect for us - we have all the necessities and then some.  Spring has sprung and I am looking forward to spending lots of time on our boat this summer.  We have a boat big enough to enjoy with our friends and family.  Dan’s shop has been doing quite well even with the economic downturn.  My work is slow, but we still have work and I am thankful for that.  Those are just a few of the good things in my life right now.  So often it is easier to focus on the negative that is going on around me, that I forget to praise God for all the amazing gifts that He has given to me and my family. 

So, I’m going to wrap up this incredibly deep post.  I guess that’s what happens when I don’t post for a month and then when I finally do post, I unload.  Well, I am starting to get tired now, so I better get to bed.  If you were able to hang in there for the entire post, Thank you for listening.  Have a good night and hopefully I will be able to get back here with a lighter post and maybe some pics of the kiddos and other new things around here.  Nighty-night!