What did you do today?

I am quite sure that we are one of the few people that can say we went swimming in Lake MI on St Patrick's Day.  Brandon and Anika both had friends over.  We climbed the dunes, went swinging on a twig rope swing, and played in the water and the sand.  We came home to pizza and shamrock shakes - all homemade and then mint brownies.

Tonight, we walked the circle that our house is on and met a few more neighbors.  I am writing the names down on a map so that we don't call anyone by the wrong name like we did for 8 years in MN!

Sleep well!

Storybook Character Day

Today I sent off 4 new kids to school:
Despereaux, Fancy Nancy, Ruby the Red Fairy and Roger the Jolly Pirate

It was storybook character day at school!  The staff dressed up like the character's of Charlotte's Web.  I guess Despereaux and Roger didn't make it much past a few minutes as not very many people in their classes participated, but they sure had fun coming up with ideas and creating the costumes.

Brandon had Cadet-O-Rama last weekend.  His car did not do as well as he had hoped.  The last night of working on them in Cadets, the axle of his car was cracked trying to put in the lead.  So, with 10 days to go before race day, Brandon had a plain block of wood to start over with.  He and Matt quickly recreated the same car, different color but the paint didn't have long enough to dry so that caused some problems. Then, I guess its taboo to melt lead into a car like the good old days so Matt bought some lead at the Hobby shop and attached it to the bottom of Brandon's car.  This turned out to not work so well as the screw that attached it got caught on the track and made jumping off the starting line a slow if non existent process for Brandon's car.  Next Wednesday is the race just within his cadre, so hopefully they will be able to drill out some of the car and put the lead further into the base.

Day light saving times - curses.  We still hadn't gotten used to MI time and now they go and change the clocks on us again.  We were liking the late sunset previously, but this is crazy.  Living on this side of the time zone, the sun is barely up at 8 am - makes getting out of bed VERY difficult and going to sleep at night not so much fun either- at least for the kids - its still light out!  I used to laugh at all the postcards and notifications that were sent out about 'Remember to turn your clocks ahead (or back)'.  This year however, it was one such postcard from our realtor that alerted us to the fact that we had to Spring ahead.  I think one of us would have caught it on Saturday, but it would have been pretty funny if the pastor didn't show up on time for church.

Brandon won the ticket draw in his classroom last week.  At MCS, each teacher uses the same rewards/discipline system.  You receive tickets for a variety of things varying from extra credit, homework on time, not flipping (discipline) etc.  (every child starts out the day on green, and flips to different colors through the day if things are less than grand in their world - like getting your name on the board with checks, or similar to Mrs. KP's system at CCS). Some teachers have you start with the tickets and take them away as needed, others have you earn them as the week goes along.  Each teacher uses the rewards differently. Brandon has a draw for something at the end of every week and you can put in as many tickets as you want, based on how many you have and how much you like the prize.  Brandon's teacher used to be a clown so he can make cool things out of balloons. Last week was a hat, so Brandon only put 4 tickets in - he wasn't super interested - but he won!

I trust everyone had a happy pi day.  We did not have pi or pie.  Maybe next year.
We are gearing up for celebrating St Patrick's Day.  Shamrock Shakes and mint brownies!

I got another long run on the beach today.  It was incredibly foggy all day, but the further from the water, the clearer the air.  We live close, so it was foggy!  Some day I'll take my camera with and take a picture of what I get to see when I run.  Today was literally on the beach so I had to choose between running on the hard sand and risk getting wet feet or running - ok I stopped to walk twice - on the soft sand and working really hard to not get very far.

Tomorrow, I'm going to clean the house.... maybe.

Twins

I haven't updated lately because I didn't feel there was much to update.
I realized I hadn't looked at my birthday/anniversary calendar for friends and family in a LONG time and so, some of you had your special date completely missed by our family - Sorry.  Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary!
I spent 7 hours in the basement yesterday organizing and repacking boxes.  This may seem silly. but I am organizing and packing everything up as though we are moving again. I love to have things organized, and when/if we do this move thing again, I want to be more prepared. I go through every box and take out what we will never use.  We have a nice size pile ready for the Goodwill.  Mainly I did our Christmas stuff and the girls' clothes.  I have purchased more plastic tubs in the last 6 months then I dare to count.  A friend and I commented on how we paid lots of money to put the clothes we got for free into a tub.  Sort of backwards, but it works.  Maybe it would make more sense to not save clothes, not spend the money on tubs, and then go and buy the clothes when we need them.  But the clearance section at Kohls for the next season is oh so hard to pass up.  I did discover that I could outfit an army of little girls in the size 7 and 8.  Really.  The tricky part is, when we go through the boxes, both Jessica and Maria will probably only find 10 things they like.  The rest will head to the Goodwill or some other lovely little girl.  With Jessica, things are never 'cute' or 'pretty' enough.  She needs bling on her clothes.  This is how she was dressed for school the other day and could not be persuaded that she didn't match.  She definitely has her own style!

For Maria, things have to feel and fit 'just right'.  She needs sleeves that are tight on her wrists and pants that are tight on her ankles, or dresses and skirts with tights.  She rolls the waist over on some of her pants so they fit her the way she wants them to feel.  Reminds me of a 15 year old I know in MN!

We enjoyed some spring and some winter.  There is a dusting of snow again after a 60 degree day on Wednesday.  Last Sunday we went sledding.  There was just enough snow covering the hill nearby.  We had a couple of spills where the sled hit sand and it stopped and the person/people riding it did not, but overall it was a good outing. Brandon snowboarded the whole time.

And that brings us to what we have done every night this week.  PLAY PRACTICE.  Weeks ago, a high school girl from church told Matt to bring Jessica and Maria to play tryouts because they needed little kids for their spring musical, Carousel. We had never heard of it but Jessica and Maria were quite excited about it. They tried out, got two of the parts, and practiced every Saturday for a few weeks. Tonight is opening night and tomorrow they do a matinee and an evening performance, so every night this week from 7  - 9 PM, we head out for play practice.  They are on stage in three scenes for probably a total of 5 minutes, but its pretty cute.  Maria listens to every possible instruction and follows it to the letter of the law. Jessica feels she knows a better way and tends to do as she likes, thus she isn't always in the right spot or looking at the right thing.  They have the girls dressed as twins, which they think is ridiculous.  So many people think they look alike, we don't see it, but here's a picture so you can decide.  They are part of the Snow family, they are two of the 9 Snow children.  We weren't all that impressed with the play, but now all four children can sing songs from it after being at so many practices!

The7 youngest Snow Children, looking rich and snooty, this is how they walk around the  stage.

Today, it is my turn to clean the church.  I don't know how long that is going to take.  Will it be one or two movies for Maria?

Missing and Moving on

It was hard to let go of the fun and excitement of last weekend.  Tuesday morning, I had some sad and crabby children.  I heard several comments of 'I don't want them to go home' and 'Why do they have to go?'.  At one point during the week, Maria and I were driving somewhere and she asked me, 'Can we just leave all this now and go back to our house in MN already?'  I tried, again, to explain to her that we don't own that house anymore and that someone else is living in it.  Then she asked if we could go and visit her.  Kinda cute really.  Earlier, I found Anika just gazing at her framed pictures of her soccer team and her class, big smile on her face.  I didn't interrupt her, she was just lost in thought.  Later, all three older kids got out their journal books from their classmates.  When we lived in Grand Haven, those books were bedside and looked at frequently, but they had to get packed up and brought to this house so they were forgotten for a bit.  Tonight, they are all back out and bedside again.  I don't know what triggered the reflection, but it seemed to hit all of them at once.

We did go sledding again tonight at the same place in Grand Haven that we went before. This time was completely different.  Only part of the hill had snow on it and we were the only ones there.  We had a great time, left while they were still having a bit of fun, and only a few bumps and bruises.

The boxes are bugging me.  I spent some time downstairs organizing and reboxing.  I got quite a ways and hopefully can finish that up tomorrow.  Then I need to attack the dining room!

Beautiful weekend, most of the time

Ordination weekend is no ordinary weekend.  I don't ordinarily feed 35 people Sunday lunch. I don't ordinarily have 15 children playing Just Dance in our family room.  I don't ordinarily rearrange furniture and cook until midnight.  I don't ordinarily laugh so hard I cry about situations so very late in the night.  I don't ordinarily watch the sunset from the beach, although that one I could get used to.  And from what I can remember, I only got mad once.

My parents came on Thursday evening and I promptly left to go to school for conferences.  All is well at school - we just have a whole lot to get used to yet.

Friday my dad was my handyman.  I now have a straight toilet paper holder, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in every bedroom, my bedroom light turns on with a switch, and my false cupboard fronts by my kitchen sink have hidden holders in them.  Nice.

Saturday was the craziest of them all.  People were coming and going all day.  By bed time: 4 children had gone to the mall, 2 children had gone to play practice, 1 child had gone to basketball, 11 children had gone swimming, 11 children had eaten pizza, 13 children had burned numerous calories playing Just Dance, 10 children were not in their normal beds, and 1 child had attended the Wild Game Dinner - but she's a senior, so maybe child is a bit too much there.  And that's just the children.  But they were oh so happy to be together again. And so were the adults.

Sunday came around and I would like to announce that my family and the family visiting were ready ON TIME and at church 10 minutes early.  I realize there were so many people mingling that nobody noticed, but it happened..... really!
The service was definitely all about Matt, which he wasn't so hip on, but he survived.  They made me stand up next to him for awhile... WHY!???  I survived, too.

I think everyone had a good time, the purpose of the day was known and fulfilled, and everyone got fed, so all in all, a success I guess.  Best memory of the day:  Two 7 yr old girls and two 5 yr old girls went out to our van and got the pack of CDs, brought it into the house, found a specific country CD, put it in the CD player, blasted the first song, and began dancing in front of 10 people they didn't know, complete glee on their faces.  Much laughter was had, even from the two moms, as we quickly RAN to shut off the CD before the words of the song began.  I thought of it later that if this is what they can sneakily accomplish at 7 and 5, what are we in for at 17 and 15?  Not quite Country Boys and Girls Getting Down on the Farm, but a close rendition (although they can all sing that, too).  Perhaps, city boys and girls getting down in the 'burbs.

Our dentist friends were over for lunch and named the teeter totter The Dentist's Friend.  So far, everyone has kept their teeth.

After the day calmed down, we packed up and went to the dentists' house on the beach.  We all clamored down to the beach.  It was a clear evening and the sunset was beautiful. Have I mentioned before how much I love sunsets? and sunrises for that matter. We all got to watch the last seconds as the sun dipped below the horizon.  Again, it was just fun to watch the kids playing happily together.

And that brings us to today.  Five of the six of us have been to the dentist this week. The kids are registered for school next year.  Matt helped Brandon's class lead a praise service. Maria spent the morning visiting Kindergarten.  The kids are registered for Spring soccer (I hope, but that's another story).  Brandon is with a friend tonight.  The girls all have activities tomorrow. Matt is going to experience his first ever trip to the gun club.

Funny story from the dentist.  First, my hygienist hummed through the whole process of cleaning my teeth.  Nothing annoying, although I couldn't figure out what song it was, just something different.  And, at one point, she stopped to tell me that its been such a mild winter that she hadn't even gotten out her REALLY warm jacket... y'know the one for those below 20 degree days.  This MN girl had to chuckle that REALLY cold means something above zero.  Although I do have to give her that below 20 with a wind off the lake is rather cold!  I have experienced that!

So, here's hoping that the rest of your weekend is ordinary, or not.

Valentine's Day

Every year I ask the question -"Make them or buy them this year?"  And every year the answer is the same - "Make them!"  So we begin the hunt online for which valentine each child wants to make.  Next is the list of supplies needed to make said valentines.  Finally, the work begins.  I generally have to go to three or four stores before I have all the supplies, including the candy, and I'm quite sure we spend more on supplies than if we would just buy the things, but they have such a great time making them each year.  Perhaps its because crafts is not my forte and this qualifies as a craft in their eyes!
So, this is the first night they came home from school and I had purchased all the supplies. They got very busy at it!  I did nothing to help Brandon or Anika this year, which was very cool.

And, the finished product.  Brandon made a paper airplane for each classmate and attached pixie sticks.  I think he wrote 'You're plane cool' or 'You soar Valentine' or 'Fly high Valentine'.  Not sure which one he ended up with.  Anika made foam mustaches and lips and attached them to sucker sticks, so when you put the sucker in your mouth it looks like you have either a mustache or huge red lips.  Jessica made aliens for the boys and hearts for the girls.  The aliens said 'there's space in my heart for you' and the hearts had a barrett attached and said 'we click'.  Maria melted crayons into a heart mold and then attached that to construction paper that said 'you color my world'.

Valentine's supper had red heart shaped finger jello and candle light.  Plus, we had red brownies and ice cream for dessert - or at least I did.  The rest of the brownies were eaten later in the weekend.

The rest of the week was spent cleaning, grocery shopping and project finishing.  Our bathroom hadn't gotten the extreme clean before we moved in so I started in on it on Wednesday night.  The kids had a half day on Thursday and as you can see, Jessica and Anika got into it, literally.  I had told them there would be no baths until the thing was clean.  It took awhile, but there have been baths since.  Jessica decided that cleaning bathrooms is fun.  I'll be milking that one for weeks to come.

The teeter totter

This contraption has a story.  I have known about it for years and had it on a wish list of things to purchase for the kids.  I would search for it on Craigslist, look at it online, but never felt like spending the money on it.

Two weeks before we move to MI.  We are contemplating how all of our stuff is going to fit on a truck.  I am pretty sure its not going to, Matt is quite confident it will.  I head out and attend an open house of some goodies put on by friends.  As I pass by a neighbor to them, there is a PILE of stuff at the end of the driveway.  Surely they aren't giving that all away.  I drive by, turn around and come back, knock on the door, and oh yes, it is free for the taking.  Guess what's in the pile - the teeter totter I have been looking at for years.  It doesn't really fit in my van very well, but I was not to be dissuaded.  I also picked up five riding toys for the little girl I was going to visit.

Well, I get home, and the first thing out of Matt's mouth is - that's not going to fit on the truck.  Again, I was not to be dissuaded.  To be fair, he was right, it didn't make the first truck, but I was also right in that not everything fit on one truck and we needed two.  We did not get two trucks, but some friends stored all the extra stuff and my dad is making two trips out with his pickup full. So, a few weeks ago when my parents came to visit, they drove their pickup, and the teeter totter came to view.

Now, Maria asked about the teeter totter OFTEN.  She was quite sure the only time she was going to get to play on it was when we went back to MN.  The lack of winter has produced an abundance of outside playtime.  Did I mention it's light out until after 6 PM - GLORIOUS!

So, almost every day, this is the site I see for at least an hour after school.  Even Matt had to admit that they have an awful lot of fun on the thing.  It goes up and down and around.  Teeter Twirl I believe is what it is called.

Off to today.  The goal is to buy shades/curtains for our bedroom and clean the house.