Kindermusik and Other Stories

The kids and I made it to Kindermusik Tuesday night. It was a fun, rambunctious time and we loved it. Ms. Melinda gave the kids t-shirts. My kiddies love them! We had a really good time and Henry gave Ms. Melinda a dollar to pay for the book he ripped the last time we were there. One of my favorite mothers could not make it but her dad brought her kids...Henry thought he was the greatest man and played with him a lot during the class. The gent was very kind to Henry and I think Henry would very gladly have him as a grandpa ;-)

Unhappily my basement has become a super scary place to go. And I go there a lot to do laundry. We have had a lot of rain and suddenly the basement floor and walls have bugs on them. I keep calling them slugs but I don't think that is what they are. They kinda grey colored and smallish...I am getting the creepy crawlies just thinking of them! Plus there are webs galore down there and hanging over the stairs is the biggest daddy long legs I have ever seen...I think it has eaten a cat it's that big! Of course I can't reach the darn thing and I am terrified to go down now. Also the rest of the house has become full of cobwebs and an occasional spider. How did this happen? I clean them one day and two days later it is covered again. I realize this house is OLD but I can't keep up and I freak when I think of any of this touching the children. I keep telling my husband I want to move. I can't handle creepy crawlies. Any ideas? I need ideas!!!

And in other news...My mother is still not talking to me. It will be two weeks tomorrow since she has spoken to me. I have NO IDEA why either. Two weeks ago she was going out for dinner with people from work. She said she'd come over at seven and bring dinner for me. I had the doors unlocked for her since six thirty (which I hate having unlocked!). At ten after eight the dogs barked and barked and Henry said she was here but she never came in. I later found my dinner hanging off the doorknob in a plastic bag. She never came in, never called, and she has not spoken to me since. Perhaps she thinks she is punishing me for something but the kids and I have been enjoying our time alone and have been getting out of the house a lot more. My life is stressful enough, I do not need any extra.

Well that concludes the news that I feel like giving today. I hope everyone has a good Thursday and a great weekend!

Easter!

For Easter this year my brother Matt invited us down to Lansing. Mark was going to be on the road and with Peter in Maryland it would have been just my mom and me (and kids) for Easter. We drove down Saturday morning with a stop in Grand Rapids for lunch. When we arrived at Matt's Eric was up and the three kids went right into play mode! They all got along amazingly well. Plus they made a mess of all of Eric's toys.After letting the kids play for a while we drove over to my dad's place for dinner. It wasn't ready when we got there so the kids had time to play at grandpa's...not a good idea. Think breakables, lots of breakables...and all in the reach of the children. Plus someone found jelly beans that were constantly being dropped on the floor and mushed into the rugs.Then an office chair was brought out. Sure it was fun to push around and give rides on...until it was pushed into a pedestal holding a glass flower thing. Crash!

Dinner was very nice and with three kids a lot ended up on the rug under the table. This place was not kid proofed! Back at Matt's Eric was getting a bath, pretty soon Henry was in there and then Irene. Once the kids were in bed the adults sat and talked. It was great to have adult conversation!Sunday morning Kaye made us breakfast and my dad joined us. Henry devoured all the strawberries he could reach. Then it was time to get on our party clothes! Everyone was dressed so nicely and even Irene was disguised as an angel ;-)

Eric and Marne

Best Friends

Best Buddies

Henry loves his Uncle Matt

Pretty Princess

Grandpa and Henry

Kaye's mom and one of her brothers and his family was joining us for lunch. Her brother has three girls, the youngest is about ten and Henry thought she was the greatest thing ever. Lunch was super yummy! Kaye's mom made ham...but it was the best ham ever. I usually don't care for ham that much but whatever she did to it made it taste...not like ham! It was terrific ;-) Henry and Irene ate really well, lots of polish sausage.

While we had been waiting for everyone to show up I had gotten sooooo tired. I could hardly speak coherently. I knew we had a long drive back and we would have to leave shortly after eating. I was disappointed that we couldn't stay longer and chat with everyone. But the kids were tired too and we needed to go. In the short distance between Matt's house and the corner Irene had fallen asleep and Henry was out soon after.

It was a fantastic weekend and I hope we'll get together soon. It's great to know the kids play well together.

Butter lambs...Matt cut up a red jelly bean to give it crazy eyes

A Great Family Weekend

Wednesday afternoon the kids and I drove down to Grand Rapids to pick up Mark. Originally he was suppose to come home Thursday morning but he ended up in Grand Rapids earlier. I was pleased since it meant one more day with Mark.

Thursday I went out for brunch with my lovely friend Shannon. We had been trying to get together for ages but we had a hard time getting our schedules to match. Plus I was getting out of the house ALONE!!! We had a great time and after brunch we went to a Mennonite store...I can't recall the name of it though. When I came home Mark already had the kids down for their naps. Had Grandma over for spaghetti dinner and then we annoyed Mark by watching Survivor. He moaned about having to watch it ;-)

Friday we went out of town again. We went to the mall and got pictures taken with the Easter bunny. Henry sat down with the bunny with no problem. Irene cried at first. I had Henry smiling for the picture but the woman taking the picture kept trying to get Irene to smile and confused Henry by constantly waving her arms in the air. He thought she wanted him to do that too.

The kids got bunny ears after having pictures taken. They don't look happy here but the darn ears were a major hit. Roo wore them non-stop.
After all that fun we took the van for an oil change. In the dealership's waiting area they serve popcorn. I let the kids have some...and the floor had some too...twice. The floor also had some juice...twice.

Sunday morning we went to church and to the pancake breakfast. At church the kids were rather crazy. Towards the end Mark had to take Irene out to the car. Grandma, Henry and I went to the bake sale the church was having for Noah Vasquez. Got a cute cake decorated for Easter and some brownies. Only paid five dollars...very inexpensive bake sale. At the pancake breakfast the kids chowed down. Henry had six or seven sausages and two pancakes! Irene gobbled up almost everything on her plate.

Roo getting ready for church. She looked so pretty and sweet in her dress. That didn't stop her from trying to climb the wall at church ;)

Since April 5th is also my brother Aaron's birthday we went for a ride through the cemetery. The weather was so cold and windy that we didn't put out any flowers or plants. The poor things wouldn't have survived.

Once we got home we put the kiddies down for nap time. I dosed on the couch with LuLu and Mark flipped between Top Gear and the Nascar race. After naps we did some shopping then had Grandma over for dinner.

Monday was the drive back to Grand Rapids. We loved having daddy home. The kids think he is the greatest thing ever ;-) We really did have a nice weekend. I can't wait for him to come home again!