into lukes head

have you ever wished you could get into someones head in the hopes to better understand where they were coming from? lately, that is how i feel with our middle child, luke. i love my luke and yet find myself struggeling to understand him more times than not. as a parent you learn quickly that you cannot parent each of your children the same way - because they are each so different and in turn respond differently. for as confident as luke can appear on the outside i don't know what goes on his mind to make him incapable of doing certain things. for example, yesterday he woke up and told me that he had decided not to go to his friends birthday party because they were going to go and play laser tag. i was shocked. not only was this a very good friends birthday but his big brother was also going. however, luke had it in his head that he did not want to play and did not want to go. when i asked if it was because he had never played laser tag he said, "no, i just don't want to go....". i told him not going wasn't an option - however, if he got there and still didn't want to play that he didn't have to. sure enough, luke got to the laser tag play area and chose not to play and stood on the sidelines and watched on for the next hour and half as his friends and brother played their little hearts out. what is it...? what, as a parent, can i do to encourage him and help him with his anxiety?

any thoughts.....suggestions.......

what would you do for $10 dollars?

if you live in west michigan than nobody needs to tell you about all the snow we have gotten over the last several days. yesterday alone we got like 15 inches. thankfully the bitter cold has blown away and we are welcoming the 20+ degree weather (i can't believe i just said that....) the kids were able to go out and play in the winter wonderland - caleb and his friend z were out there for over 2 hours! you can get a perspective on how deep the snow is when you see the pic of lilly - she is standing straight up in the snow and it goes well above her knees! so, nagel bet dave ten dollars to run out in his bare feet around the play-set and back (probably 30 yards total). dave, in all his wisdom, said, "show me the money and i'll take the run." before we knew it dave had the money in his pocket and was running - it was pretty funny!

christmas plates

every year we talk about giving something more creative for christmas than another set of gloves, dvd or one more settlers of catan (i think we have given out at least 20 games to friends and family who NEED to have the game). so, this year we did it - we came up with a great idea and actually followed through...... we made plates! everyone got one, from my 6 month old niece to my brothers girlfriend, rita. dave and i had so much fun making them - i can't remember the last time we laughed quite so much.

dave drew each of the cartoons and then i scanned them in and did some digital touch-up work and colored them in and added the head shot. there is this great new paper out there called inkjet water-slide decal paper which allows you to print and then transfer the image to a solid object (plates in our case) and then bake the image on. it is a bit of a process - but so worth it!

good-bye nickelodeon

last night we sat our kids down and told them that we were canceling our cable. the first thing out of each of their mouths was, "will we still get nick?". it was a tough reality for each of them to swallow as they began to realize that sponge-bob and icarly would no longer be an option. caleb definitely took it the hardest. he cried crocodile tears as he reminisced about all the shows he loved and the time spent in front of "nicki", our tv, affectionately named after one of our favorite babysitters.

so, why are we getting rid of our cable? well, dave and i have been talking and praying for weeks about what things our family could do or possibly give up so we could do and give more with the resources we've been given. i guess you could say it is our new years resolution. our goal, with Gods help, is to become more creative with how we live our lives and in turn see God work and move in new and creative ways in each of our lives. because this is something we are passionately seeking i decided to start a new blog for the sole purpose of documenting our families journey to give more by living on less.

blessing to you in the new year!

about time..... i know

so, i have been a bit m.i.a. lately and my blog has paid the price. i kinda don't know where to even begin with all the things we did over the last couple of months. we have been super busy and have done lots of fun things including: going to chicago, lots of fun weddings, disney world and disney cruise...... just to name a few.

i hope all of you had a wonderful christmas - we certainly did! happy new year!

home sweet home

according to our airline tickets we should be in new york city right now....... dave and i bought tickets a while back for the two of us to take another quick trip to the big apple for a little getaway. however, after much deliberation, we decided to stay home. can you believe it!! i just felt like i have been gone more than i've been home recently and wanted to just be home. it was only a month ago that dave and i lived it up in nyc with our friends the olthoffs and celebrated our 9th anniversary and jasons 35th birthday! as much as i love getting away i am thankful that i love to be home too!!happy 9th anniversary!!!

little hassles..

i know i am no different than anyone else. we all deal with little hassles now and then.....right? but i am ready to scream at my dishwasher; as i sit in my office (which is in the basement) and listen to the water-droplets landing into the bucket i have placed to collect the water dripping from the ceiling from my dishwasher upstairs. we have had a serviceman come out and look at it and he couldn't find anything wrong with it.......AHHHH! for some reason the dishwasher doesn't leak every time we use it - just about every 10th time. seriously.

so, i know i haven't done very well on keeping up with the happening in our life as of late. and frankly, it's just been because we've been so busy. i'm hoping to update you all with some pics from some of our fun adventures this past month.

enjoy your day - i'm off to clean up this mess!!

tuesday - september 2, 2008

i adore my kids. after having each one of them i found a new capacity for love that i had no idea existed. it amazes me how much each of them are a bit like me, a bit like dave, and a bit all themselves. they are each amazing and a gift....

just about five years ago when i still had three in diapers i began to calculate how long it was going to be until all of them were in school and i would re-claim my sanity. well, today was that day. it was the first day of school - for all three kids!!! as dave and i drove away from dropping them all off it was incredibly bitter-sweet. i'm no longer looking to re-claim anything (especially my sanity) as i have come to realize how fast it all goes by and the fact that we are all a little bit crazy....
caleb began 3rd grade. he is getting HUGE! i can actually wear his flip flops!! as we sat around the breakfast table before leaving i asked how he was feeling. he told me, "my stomach doesn't know how to feel - there are just too many emotions - i'm excited, scared and happy, it just doesn't know how to feel."
luke is in 1st grade. he is excited about learning how to read and hanging out with his friends. although he would tell you that school was boring there is no doubt in any of our minds that he is loving it!
lilly jane started kindergarten. she could not stop bouncing and smiling. she loves her teacher and was quick to tell me all about her new friend, although she couldn't remember her name :) for as excited as she was once she realized her dad and i were leaving she got noticeably upset. we both gave her a few more hugs and then i told her i needed to go and that i would be back in a bit. as i walked to the door she called out to me and said, "mom....i love you, i love you, i love you...good-bye, good-bye, good-bye." and then blew me a kiss. at that moment i knew she was going to do great!

twas the night before......

tomorrow marks the first day of school for the kids. yes, all three of my babies will be in school. i wish i could have captured their excitement as they laid out there clothes and backpacks in preparation for tomorrow. at dinner i asked what they were the most excited about. all three of them agreed it was their classrooms. then i asked them what they were the most nervous about, so we would know better how to pray for each of them. all three of them agreed again and said that they wouldn't be too shy or nervous. i love my kids and their sweet innocence.
yesterday was a big day in our house as our dear friends got married. jeff mcclain became one of our closest friends since we moved to muskegon three years ago. we have spent countless hours hanging out, playing settlers, and talking together. jeff two years ago rode with our family 24 hours to florida for a week long family vacation. he is a member of our family and we love him dearly. a year ago we said good-bye to jeff as he left for north park seminary. there he met the amazing carrie. over the last year (and yes, they both came on vacation with us this last may) we have fallen in love with carrie too and couldn't be happier to see the two of them come together in marriage. dave officiated the wedding and this is the first wedding (the kids can remember) ever being invited to. needless to say we all had a blast. we danced the night away with all sorts of friends and enjoyed the day to the fullest

congratulation jeff and carrie --- we love you!!!!

camera is M.I.A.

ok, so it's not actually missing....just not in my possession. i left it in my mom's car over the weekend and haven't gotten it back yet. AHHH! i can't believe how naked i feel without it. at least i have a REALLY good excuse for not blogging recently. i mean, it's too hard to blog without a photo, right? well, hopefully i will get it back soon and i will get to upload a bunch of fun pics from our trip to mimi and papas last week.

chicago - - here we come!

i don't have a photo today.... sorry! the day just kinda got away from me. we are heading out to chicago in about an hour for the rest of the week. i am really excited to see family and friends and of course, just hang out by the pool. going to mimi and papas is such a vacation for us and we love every minute of it! this will be our last trip to naper-thrill before school starts. which is rather bitter-sweet. it some ways i feel as though summer just started and in other way's it feels like the kids have been out of school for an eternity :)

what a weekend!

we had a wonderful weekend. we had a blast as a family and with friends. although i can't wait for school to start i am very thankful for the time we had together this weekend.

the kids have begged all summer to do a lemonade stand - the day finally came on saturday. the kids set up their stand at mary and joseph's house, where grommie works during their garage sale. the kids worked it all morning and had no problem asking for money!after a long morning "working" the kids went tubing. if you can believe it, this is our first time out this summer on the tubes. needless to say they had a blast!

nothing like summer in michigan

it seems as though summer took a long time to get here this year. however, today was an awesome reminder of how awesome summer is here in michigan - especially on the lake! as the slogan says, "yes michigan.....the feeling....forever".

family date night

tonight we went out just as a family. we are blessed to have a lot of people in our lives and love hanging out. most nights of the week we seem to spend with friends. a usual question from any one of the kids at any given time is, "who is coming over tonight?". well tonight, it was just the five of us. we went downtown grand haven and walked around and then found ourselves at one of our favorite restaurants and sat outside for dinner. we had so much fun together.
tonight i was reminded of how precious my sweet family is..... considering earlier today i was beginning to question if i still wanted to be a mom. it sit here writing this amazed at how fast it all goes by and what an honor it is to be their mother.

thursday=settlers

our goal for the summer was to play settlers of catan with our friends the olthoffs every thursday night. although we didn't quite meet our every thursday goal, we have played together quite a bit. i love our dear friends and am so thankful they'll play geeky games, eat brownies and enjoy "christmas in a cup" with us.
dave won!

mother of the year!

i was an awful mom today...... i have nicknamed our tv "nicki - the babysitter" to make me feel better about when i tell my kids to go and sit in front of her. today was one of those days. i had a bunch of loose ends to get caught up on and found myself working all day in front of the computer. fortunately dave took the kids to the gym in the morning - but the rest of the day was spent with "nicki" until we rushed out the door at 6:15 for a meeting a church. there i earned more points for my mother of the year award as i left them for the next two hours in the church nursery and did i mention that i didn't feed them dinner. so, i pulled into burger king at 9:30 to buy the kids dinner and on our way home lilly says to me, "mommy, you are the best mommy ever!" then luke & caleb chimed in, in agreement. i almost started crying - as i thought about what a neglectful mother i had been to the kids today. i know that their praises were coming as a result of the fast food aroma filling our vehicle - but hey, i'll take what i can get and appreciate the fact that they will love me despite my inadequacies and short comings :)

47 in a 30

this morning as i was heading back to the hospital to have a ct-scan done on my kidneys to see if there are any more little stones finding a home in there, i found out that laketon (the street the hospital is on) is 30mph. i was driving 47 as the police officer so kindly pointed out. as the police officer came to my car with my ticket in hand this is what happend....

officer: here is your ticket - i cannot be leniant when you are exceeding the speed limit that much.
me: i'm sorry - it's been a long time since i've gotten a ticket
officer: yeah, your record is clean
me: i'm just glad my kids aren't in the car
officer: (with a chuckle) nothing like trying to explain why mommy is getting pulled over
me: (with a gigle) yeah!
officer: you have 10 days to dispute this ticket - just call this number
me: dispute it?....(giggle)....i know i was speeding
officer: so, where were you headed in such a hurry
me: to the hospital for a ct-scan, i was here last week with kidney stones.
officer: i hear those are awful
me: yeah, the worst pain ever. i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. (with a giggle) i wouldn't even wish it on you...
officer: (full blown laugh)....i hope everything is ok - have a nice day!
me: you too!

now this is where it gets funny.... so, i roll up my window and put my car in gear to go when i look in my rear view window and see the police officer waving me down.... so, i rolled down my window and he approached the car and said...

officer: let me see that ticket
me: ok (handing him the ticket he had just given me)
officer: i am going to just give you a warning (tearing up my ticket)
me: seriously? (in shock)
officer: yeah, it's just really nice to have someone take responsibility for what they did and be so nice.
me: thank you....(pause)...thank you!
officer: have a nice day maam and slow down

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!

lilly and her funny words

some of you may not know that lilly had a very difficult time talking. at 2 and a half she only had about 10 words. she screamed A LOT in frustration because she wanted to talk so desperately but just couldn't for the life of her figure it out. with the help of a speech therapist - by her third birthday lilly was a talking fool, but not without a few mis-formed words. lilly's under developed pallet made it difficult for her to form certain sounds and as a result she had a hard time enunciating certain words. today you would hardly be able to tell that she ever had a problem with her speech. if you spend more than five minutes with her she will talk your ear off :) so, i tell you all this because i just had to chuckle tonight at how how she say's mcdonalds. now, i'm not sure if it is actually a struggle for her to say the word or if she says it this way because she's so used to saying it that way..... but i love it when she asks to go to "mcdongals".

oct. 19th

yes, i know october is still a ways off. but this is the date a group of us gathered to talk about this evening. as renovate continues to grow one of our visions is to work with and in our community, partnering with existing organizations. on oct. 19th we have the opportunity to work with every womens place, an organization who both shelters and cares for women and children who are coming out of domestic violence. as a church community we will be going to their facility and offering a day of pampering to the women which will include hair cuts/styling, mani's/pedi's, massages and facials. we will also be offering child-care, food and gift baskets which we are hoping to fill with items that may or may not be covered by government assisted aids (ie: diapers, disposable cameras, gas cards, etc.). we are all really excited about the opportunity to serve hopefully 50 women in this manner. although we have quite a feat in front of us in terms of raising funds and donations i believe it will all come together. already we have a number of people within the renovate community who are volunteering their skill sets to help with the day of pampering and care taking. so, if you are reading this and would like to either donate or help participate in any manor please let me know. blessings to you all!

blueberry pick'n

today we got to go blueberry picking. YUMMY! friends of ours have a blueberry patch in their backyard that they open up to friends and family. this year was our first year taking advantage of the opportunity. we picked for a little over an hour and filled up an entire bushel basket. it was so much fun watching the kids eat more than they picked. lilly ended up being the only one who actually contributed to the stash we brought home. it was a beautiful day. for dinner i made blueberry waffles - they were delicious! i can't wait to go back and pick more - i want to make sure we have plenty to freeze :)