Our new home

Today we closed on our house. Hopefully this will be our last move until way after the kids are gone. Between Jamie and myself, I think we've moved dozen times in the last ten years. Three within the last 18 months. We are going to have to move in the middle of the winter, which isn't ideal... and the house is much smaller than we're used to. Both of these things made us a little uneasy, but after spending a lot of time praying about it, I really think we're going to make it work for us.

Thanksgiving 2011 part deux

Thanksgiving 2011 was certainly a blessed one.  Mom and Paul and Grandma came over mid-morning while Linda, Richard and Mike showed up a little later followed by Mark and Tammy. We all ate (a lot) of snacks around lunchtime while the wine and kahlua flowed.  Avery's lemonade and tea stand by the front door was a success (she raked in $11.37).  My friend from work, Becky, arrived about an hour before dinner and put up with all of us until we ate.

Of course, we had our favorite dishes there, most of which were brought by our guests. I only had to take care of the turkey, potatoes, biscuits and gravy all of which turned out really well. Pumpkin and apple pies topped us off.

I hope our kids have good memories of our Thanksgivings, just like I do of mine.  While I loved having everyone here, it was a little sad when everyone left within an hour after dinner. Last year we all hung out in the evening, then met in the morning for shopping and leftovers. I missed that, and after talking to mom about it, think we'll alternate Thanksgivings so we won't each have it at our house every year.

So, with Thanksgiving being a day on which it's good to look about you and appreciate the things in your life you tend to take for granted, I realize I have several. I'm so thankful my children are who they are. They fight a lot and don't listen to their parents often, but I love them dearly. I know they'll grow up to be wonderful adults, despite all the times outs they have had as children (maybe because of them). I love my husband dearly, for who he is too. We started off our marriage not knowing one another very well, but we've grown closer, our love and respect for each other deepening with each season. I'm grateful for my family, and the fact that we live in Michigan so we can see them so much more often. Mostly I'm thankful for God, because I realize that without him and his blessings, I'd have none of it.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was certainly a blessed one. This year we celebrated at our house. Everyone was assigned something to bring, so all I had to do was cook a turkey then make potatoes, biscuits and gravy. Gravy, right? Right! Mid-morning mom and Paul showed up with Great-Grandma. Within an hour, Linda, Richard and Mike showed up followed another hour later by Mark and Tammy, then by my friend Becky. We ate appetizers and chatted while we searched with our noses for the first hints of roasting turkey. Devine! Avery's lemonade and tea stand by the front door was a success (she raked in $11.37). By early afternoon it was time to eat. Richard did his usual expert job at carving the bird. The boys sat in the living room in front of the Lions game, while the gals sat in the dining room in front of the fire. The meal, as expected was delicious. Although no one was hungry, a while later we were dishing out pie, dolloping whipping cream and sipping decaf. The Hawkses and Becky left late evening, but mom and Paul and Grandma took off the next morning. A couple hours later, we were out walking around the property, marveling at the warmth of the late November day. We were playing follow the leader through the woods, when we heard Grandpa Ron pull up with Buddy in his truck. He unloaded some venison, pickles and an enormous fruit salad. Buddy chased our chicken Meatball until she went airborne and then played with another dog we were watching, Reggie. I made homemade bread and used it to make hot turkey sandwiches. Grandpa stayed until early evening and we really enjoyed our time together. I hope our kids have good memories of our Thanksgivings, just like I do of mine. While I loved having everyone here, it was a little sad when everyone left within an hour after dinner. Last year we all hung out in the evening, then met in the morning for shopping and leftovers. I missed that, and after talking to mom about it, think we'll alternate Thanksgivings so we won't each have it at our house every year. So, with Thanksgiving being a day on which it's good to look about you and appreciate the things in your life you tend to take for granted, I realize I have several. I'm so thankful my children are who they are. They fight a lot and don't listen to their parents often, but I love them dearly. I know they'll grow up to be wonderful adults, despite all the times outs they have had as children (maybe because of them). I love my husband dearly, for who he is too. We started off our marriage not knowing one another very well, but we've grown closer, our love and respect for each other deepening with each season. I'm grateful for my family, and the fact that we live in Michigan so we can see them so much more often. Mostly I'm thankful for God, because I realize that without him and his blessings, I'd have none of it.

A day in Avery's classroom

I went to Avery's kindergarten class today for a couple hours to help her teacher, Mr. Rajewski.  I was actually a little nervous, but Avery assured me that it would be fine, tried to tell me what to expect and helped me pick out what I was going to wear.  It was so nice to see where she spends half of her day each day.  The kids all seem sweet, and I was surprised how quiet they were and how well they listened. I got to help pass out papers, math chips and their little bags of books. I read with a few of them and helped walk them down to the library.

It was fun to look over at Avery and share a smile or a shrug. I saw her friend Lilly there, who we had over a few weeks ago and she was excited to recognize me and wanted to hang out with me, which was cute. The kids were so funny I couldn't help but laugh out loud- I honestly don't know how anyone is a teacher without completely cracking up all. the. time. 

After we got out of class Avery and I walked to the car, and discovered it was snowing a little. We haven't gotten but a little snow yet this season, so it was exciting to see. We drove to the mall to eat (yum, right?) and had a nice lunch together. I dropped her off at home, then went back to work. All in all, a very nice morning.   

Perfect Fall Saturday

We had a great Saturday.  Avery and I went to the grocery store and ran a few errands together (I left Asher with daddy, although it made me feel terrible when he was crying that I wasn't going to take him... he kept saying "I want you to choose meeee." :( ) and worked together to stay within our budget. Avery spent a good deal of time looking for a prize for Asher because he was so sad. 

We had a good lunch together and watched 101 Dalmations for quiet time. I was able to take a little nap, which I really needed after my long week. After quiet time we spent a little time playing Wii, then went outside for a bon fire. It was a cool afternoon, but not too windy or cold so it was perfect out. Daddy and me were sitting by the fire, sipping peppermint schnapps hot chocolate and playing seated Simon Says (that's the version when  you have lazy parents who refuse to get out of their chairs to play with you). Then they went into the corn field behind the house to gather corn for the chickens. After feeding the chickens we all went inside for a bowl of cheesy chicken chili (which was warm and yummy)- then back outside for s'mores.  That was probably our last bonfire of the year. Unlike in Missouri there's usually so much snow on the ground here in Michigan we can't even SEE the firepit. 

After coming inside, we all got our jammies on and snuggled up in front of the TV and watched a movie called Daddy Daycare. Then, a sleepover on our floor. The kids love doing that on non-school nights- we gather nearly every blanket in the house to make a nest so the kids can sleep together. It's way cute. :) 

The Moving Animals

Yesterday I came home from work and the kids were waiting for me a the back door, with very serious looks on their faces. Dressed in jammies (already) with wet hair from the pool and rosy cheeks from standing by the fire, they stood there with big eyes telling me they were scared. Scared of what, I asked. Our animals are moving, said Asher. Then, in turn, they began telling me of how their stuffed animals had a way of moving from here to there without anyone moving them. I tried to explain that they couldn't move, that it was impossible and that someone had to have done it. They denied that outright and I couldn't convince them otherwise.

So, we were getting ready for bed, and Jamie told Avery to bring all her stuffed animals from the living room (where there was a pile of about 20 of them) and take them into her room. She clearly didn't want to either because she was scared of them at this point or she was being lazy. So, I promised her that she could leave them there all night long, and that if we woke up in the morning that if ANY of them had moved at all that I would clean them up for her. If they hadn't moved, no TV before school AND she had to clean them up. She agreed. I made Jamie pinky promise me not to move them anywhere because the kids really did seem scared- although it would have been kind of fun to mess with them a little.  

This morning we got up and thankfully none of them had moved. Except the horse. The freakin' horse. I have NO idea how it moved, and I'm not even sure it did but it totally freaked them out. And now Avery is trying to convince me *I* have to clean them up. I said that Charley probably moved it and she said that no matter how it got moved, it moved so I need to clean it up.  I asked her if I really had to and she said "1) the horse moved, and 2) the horse moved, and 3) the horse MOVED so yes you have to." I couldn't quit laughing, because I have no idea how she learned to enumerate things like that.

Needless to say, I'm headed home in a couple hours and I imagine I'll be cleaning up a boatload of stuffed animals off the floor.  But who knows, maybe by then they'll have made their way to her bedroom all by themselves.

DST withdrawl

Daylight savings time hasn't been kind to us.  It never has been, if I recall, although it's probably loads better now than it used to be. But, our kids are early risers on a good day (thus, the reason I instituted our "do not get out of bed until this number on this clock at least a 6" rule) and setting the clock back an hour doesn't do us any favors. Honestly, I try to get up at 5 and work out for an hour, before everyone else gets up. It's my ME time. It's the time I don't have to referee anything or feed anyone or answer a question. Granted, I'd rather be reading a book or soaking in a bath, but I need to work out and it's the best time to do it. So, Monday morning it's me and my P90X DVD started at 5:10 sharp and within 15 minutes I hear one of them pattering around upstairs. First down the hallway. Then in the bedroom.  Then on the stairs. Finally Asher peeks around the corner. Sigh. There goes my ME time. Then I feel selfish for being disappointed that he's up. So, I let him "exercise" with me and am only slightly annoyed when he continues to tell me that I'm doing something or other wrong. In fact, at one point he told me I needed to touch my toes. I told him that as I got stronger, I'd be able to get my feet higher and then would be able to... to which he replied that I simply needed longer arms.

Today he at least slept until the last two sets of my workout and he only distracted me a little by showing me how he could lift this giant iron weight directly over his precious little head. But I saw how happy he was that I let him exercise with me, and even showed him how to do some of them. My little buddy.

Avery's been good since Tuesday morning, but Ash is going to take a bit longer.  I don't want to look back at his coming down during my workouts as an annoyance, so really try to appreciate his desire to want to be with me. I do admit, though, that I'll be glad when daylight savings withdrawal is over with and everyone's obeying my clock rule again.

Space exploration on hold

My Asher... the boy who has given us the revelation that monsters live in Africa and the primary diet of skunks is coconuts.. continually cracks us up.  Just this morning he asked me how many days until we went up in a rocketship.  The funny thing was is that he's always asking how many days til Halloween, how many days til we go to the zoo, how many days til we see Granny and Papa, and he asked about our rocketship trip just as though it was as ordinary as these other things.

Where did the summer go?

I'm horrible at posting regularly. I go in spurts, but unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose) we carry on with a myriad of post-worthy material. Hopefully someday I'll get better. Probably not, but I can hope. :) 

This week marks a year that we first came to Michigan and searched for housing. At this point last year, we knew where we were going to live beginning on October and all I had to do was go back to Missour and put in a few more weeks of work. Little did I know they'd be awful and filled with petty, unprofessional individuals doing their best to make it well known they were upset I was leaving them with my workload. A year later, I'm glad I did and I would do it again. 

We had a terrific first summer here in Michigan. We got to spend several weekends up at Traverse City. The kids loved swimming in the Lake and riding on the Mickey Fickey. We got to see Barb, Ben and Andy as well as Alex, Anna and Angie (yeah, we have loads of "A" names in our family) and Adam, Krystl and Addie, and George and Sue. Whew. 

Jamie did a great job being home with the kids. We now have chickens, so they made sure to go down every day and take care of them, and gather the egg(s). We planted a big garden and are now enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of our labor. 

Today marks the second day of the school year (I'll probably cheat and post something for yesteday and act like I actually wrote it yesterday). Avery seems to love her school and seemed pretty excited to find out she already knew much of what the teacher was telling them they'd learn. She told me this morning she sat and listened to the teacher talk a lot. I told her to get used to it, because that's pretty much what school is. Trust me. I was in 24th grade when I stopped going to school. This morning Asher went to Montessori. For the past nine months or so the kids have been going together twice a week. We're now sending Asher (alone) three mornings a week. That little dude never hung onto my leg as tightly as he did this morning. I think it will be good for him to get out from under Avery's wing, but it'll certainly be an adjustment. 

So, here's to a good school year, for everyone. :)

Avery's first day of school

Avery started kindergarten today. It was bittersweet to see my little girl all ready to go to school. I do think it was easier because she'd spent so much time in daycare and preschool. It was the backpack, though. She's never needed one, and it made her look so grown up. We had a special breakfast and made a big deal out of her going. I missed taking her to school because of work, but Daddy did a good job of taking pictures and keeping me posted.

Avery and little brother before she goes to her classroom. 

Our big little girl

Everyone gets pictures taken with our school girl. 

Asher's personality

I love Asher's sense of humor. He's not only very silly, but he's a right out there kind of guy, and it cracks us up. The other day he was looking for my iPod, on which he loves to play Angry Birds. I don't mind him playing in the car, or when we're waiting for something but I don't love him playing it when there are plenty of other, more stimulating things for him to be doing. So, sometimes I take it and 'hide' it from him. The other day, he asked me if I knew where it was. Well, it was on a ledge right behind him, so I took it and acted like I took it right out of his ear. He looked at me like I was magical, and asked me how I did it. I smugly shrugged and told him I could do just about anything. The next day he was looking for it again (the fact that he needs to look for just about everything is fodder for another post), and after I repeatedly told him I didn't know where it was he came close to me and asked me to look in his ear! Of course, I couldn't resist pulling it off the shelf again and pulling it out, only to hear him tell me that he KNEW it was in there. As funny as it was (I'm chuckling three days later), it does speak to his excitement and absolute trust that he has in what he sees. It's made it easy for us to trick him into thinking he has a magical finger that can turn the television on and off, as well as windshield wipers and even our car (thanks to the automatic starter). His enthusiasm and bright smile make even the silliest things seem special. We are truly blessed to have such a funny (and smart) little guy.

Asher turns 4

Today Asher turned 4.  This was a big day for him in a lot of ways! He'd been talking about it forever, and we'd been playing it up as the day when he would start being more of a big boy. So, to our surprise, in addition to being his birthday it was also the day he swam for the first time in the pool without a life jacket. He went all day without having a potty accident, and he woke up this morning with a dry pull-up.

We invited a handful of people over for his birthday party.  I try to make the kids' birthday cakes myself, and when I asked him what he wanted me to make, he told me he wanted a world cake. The world, really? Yep, the world. And he didn't waiver. So, I toyed with ideas of making a globe, or a flat map (which would have been infinitely easier), or a combination of the two.  Because he likes Diego,  I decided to incorporate Diego into the cake, and came up with this: 



Grandpa Ron, Aunt Linda, Uncle Richard, Michael, Nate, Katie and Max and Molly came over that evening. I made my famous (cop out because it's easy) shredded chicken and slaw for dinner and cake for dessert. Asher loved opening all his gifts and it was a very nice evening.

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is four. He is really a high energy little guy that always keeps us hopping- but he can be very snuggly and loving. He's always the first one up in the morning, coming to get me by tapping on me til I roll over or coming down in the basement to find me on the treadmill. He is shy in public and when he first meets someone but within a few minutes he warms up and acts like he's known you forever. I can't wait to continue to watch him continue to grow- learning things and becoming stronger. He's a light in our family and we all love him very much.

Sickies weekend

We had a bit of a sickie weekend at our house. Asher had a pretty high fever on Thursday night then all day on Friday. Saturday he still wasn't feeling well, but he was a bit better. I went grocery shopping and made minestrone and meatballs (two separate meals) when I got home. The kids were outside helping Jamie plow the driveway (we actually did have enough to plow, probably four inches worth). 

We had a sleepover in our bedroom, and Avery slept on our floor snuggled in about fifteen blankets. She woke up in the middle of the night thirsty and coughing a pretty bad sounding cough. Sure enough the next morning *she* was sick and running a fever. We were going to get together with the Coadys but canceled (again... we were supposed to get together Friday but Asher was sick) and ended up just hanging around the house all day. I think Avery watched TV all day and I got to spend a few hours in the basement going through boxes.

Avery's a star!

Tonight at gymnastics class, Avery won a "Star of the Week" award. The teacher gave it to her because when she was hanging from the bar she is the one that got her feet up into the air the farthest. The look on her face when she got her little certificate and pencil was priceless! She was so proud of herself, she wanted to call Granny and Papaw to tell them... AND she finally had something to bring to show and tell tomorrow!

Something cute.. when we were standing there before class, she was watching all the other girls in their classes. Some of them are really good! But she was just looking down on them from the balcony and I heard her say "I just can't believe I'm here." How sweet is that??!

Happy New Year

We just came off a really fun weekend. The kids went to school on Thursday and I got to stay home. Even Jamie was gone, giving me the rare opportunity to actually be ALONE. I got a bit of house cleaning done, which is always good to do when the kids aren't around. I also went grocery shopping so I didn't have to do it on the weekend. I nearly cried when I couldn't find the car after ten minutes of wandering around the parking lot with NO coat on. I swear I'm losing it... 

Friday was a weird weather day. It was warm and wet, then it started raining and ended up raining all day. Mom and Paul dropped by on their way to Florida to drop off a few things and to say goodbye. When Avery asked why they went to Florida, Asher answered that Papaw doesn't like the snow, which is funny and pretty true. He was upset when they only stayed less than an hour, but after a few minutes on the Wii he was back to his old self. We got to go out a little bit, and Jamie brought in some wood, but we spent a lot of the day inside playing games. The kids especially liked the rainbow jenga game and the Hungry Caterpillar game. We made yummy pizza for dinner. 

Saturday it got colder and it was snowy. We all spent time picking up things and packing away the last of the Christmas stuff. The kids got to go swimming, which always tires them out so we had a good 'quiet time' of Asher sleeping in front of one TV and Avery and I watching another one (I actually got to drift off a few times... although Avery did keep saying "mom... I love you" which she does sometimes when she's content). Asher finally got to try out his new shaving kit, which he's been wanting to do since Christmas. 

Asher and Avery also discovered sleepovers. Saturday night it was on Asher's floor and Sunday night it was Avery's bed. I was surprised at how well they did together, and was even more surprised they wanted to do it in the first place. 

Sunday Avery and I left to go to church together. Unfortunately they didn't have an 1115 service because of the holidays, so we wandered around and looked at the kids' area. It seems like a nice church, so I hope Jamie comes with me once and we can all go together. That's the dream anyway. So, Avery and I ended up going to a movie together. Gulliver's Travels. It was just okay and furthered my commitment to the fact that 3D movies SUCK. We both hate them and they're more expensive. I hope this is just a fad- there are so many out there that are 3D though, just as we're starting to go to more movies. 

The weekend ended with a fairly sucky dinner. I try to make a nice dinner on Sunday but Jamie wanted fondue so I went with leftovers for the kids and fondue for us. I have my tried and true recipe that calls for emmenthaler and gruyere, but only had gruyere and asiago. Bad bad bad idea. Bleh. I did make half a dozen meatloaves and a salmon loaf and some taco meat for later this week... yes, a ground beefapalooza! I like prepping food for the week, but it sure makes for a long day in the kitchen!

First gymnastics class

Tonight was the kids' first official gymnastics (or nimakskiks, per Asher) class. The kids were so excited, neither one of them wanted much dinner. 

Asher is signed up for a class 15 minutes before Avery's- so we arrived a little early and looked around. There were tons of people there! I was really surprised. 

Asher is the only one in his group. His 'coach' Kristen let Avery go to the pre-K room to help him get adjusted. Sure enough, a couple minutes later she emerged sans Asher who she said was doing just dandy. Her class started just after that and there was one other little girl in there. They went downstairs and we got to watch her hopping and stretching. They went over onto the bars and hung upside down then worked on backward somersaults and cartwheels. Asher soon came onto the floor- the only boy in a sea of young girls- and began doing the same thing. 

It sure was cool watching the kids listen to their teachers, take turns and follow directions. They both had a fantastic time and can't wait for next week.