Where Have You Been?

Okay, I admit I have been very lazy about updating this blog. I've been busy! First off I want to say a great big congratulations to my friends Shannon and Warren. Their daughter, and first child, made her appearance at the end of May. For some reason I cannot remember what day even though I got to meet her the very next day! Must be old age setting in! Anyway, the beautiful Samantha pushed her way into this world faster then anyone could have imagined. I am thrilled for my friends and I am positive they will be fantastic parents :-) Henry finished preschool on May 28th. They had a little ceremony and a party with ice cream after. Preschool was well worth the money. I love how he has grown over the year. Henry will be doing another year of preschool in the fall and Irene will be in the 3 year old class which meets twice a week. It will be hard to pay both tuitions both mark and I feel that this is money well spent.

Below is Henry receiving his certificate from Mrs. Wagner. That lovely lady has the patience of a saint!

We managed to make it to the beach. We've had a lot of rain and finally had a weekend of sunshine. Henry is crazy about the water. Lake Michigan was cold but he was in it anyway even though he was shivering like crazy.

It was Gavin's first time going to the beach. He and Henry have matching shark swimsuits.

Gavin was far more interested in playing with a bib instead of any sand or sand toys.

My pretty girl had a great time. She would lay down on the beach towels and want to be covered up.

This is the pier and lighthouse. I love our beach. I love lake Michigan. It is an absolutely beautiful!

At the beach house is a little restaurant. They actually sell a lot of food. We had a small lunch there after playing. I had a great turkey club.

This summer I was hoping to get the kids involved with sports and other activities. Unfortunately Henry is still too young. Everything is for age 5 and above. I did find, at one of the dance studios, a tumbling class. It is 7 classes long. They also offered a creative movement class for 3 year olds so Irene is taking that. We've been to two so far and the kids love them! Henry is very good at tumbling which came as no surprise ;)

That is a picture of Irene through the door to the classroom. She is on the right.

That's Henry in the blue shirt. He is stretching and actually paying attention!

Another of Henry taken through the door.

That's Henry showing just how flexible he can be!

So that is just a few of the things that have been keeping us busy over the last month!

A Happy Birthday!

On June 7th Irene turned 3! We had a "Dora the Explorer" party for her. We had the party at the Rocketship Park which is right across the street from beautiful Lake Michigan. Thankfully we had sun that day especially since the week leading up was cold and rainy. Mark made hot dogs on the grill and my mom made Manhattan deli salad plus we had a lot of fruit and veggies.

Lots of yummy food!

The grill master at work!

My wonderful friends, Shannon and Warren. Below is a picture of their super sweet (and good sleeper!) baby Samantha.

My mom

My dad

My (little) brother Peter and my sister-in-law Ashley. I was surprised when Ashley showed up. We have not been speaking and everyone (including what I had read on facebook) said she had a student function and would not be able to come. I was glad she came though I was busy with kids, food and general party craziness to get a chance to really talk to her.

My mother-in-law Pat holding Gavin. I think she held him almost all afternoon :-)

My (big) brother Matt. For some reason I never got a picture of him with his wife and their son Eric. In fact I had meant to get pictures of everyone at the party but I missed quite a few!

My dad helping Irene open her mountain of presents. I said no gifts on the invites but everyone brought something. I thought that was very sweet and Irene truly loves every gift! The little boy in blue is my nephew Eric.

My sister-in-law, Kaye, helping Irene with the gifts. Dora jammies!

A make-yourself tutu from the Madsen family (five people I did not get a picture of!).

Henry helping Irene open her gifts....she wasn't going fast enough for him!

Pet sitter Dora!

Dora Loves Pepito! Yes, Irene loves Dora!

My brothers pushing Irene, Henry and Eric on the swings.

My brothers again. In the background are a couple of the Madsen family playing. I can't believe I didn't get their pictures!

My dad, Peter, Irene and Henry

Amy Miller and her son Mason. In the car seat is her beautiful daughter Marah. She has a ton of hair and is a good sleeper...how did my friends get babies that sleep so well?!

Amy and mason and I think that is Henry and Eric. Eric fell in love with Maggie Madsen, a beautiful older woman (age 7!).

The little guy in green is Amy's son Trenton. The rest of those people are my crazy family.

Amy, Mason and Trenton

Overall it was a great party. Very simple and just a lot of play time and fun. I wish I had been able to get more pictures. Oh well...next year!

Where should I start?

I don't even know where to begin. Life has been hectic and the kids have been crazy. I beg your pardon if this post is rambling.
Mark is working for a new trucking company. He was very unhappy at the other place. The pay was decent but they had he constantly driving past his legal hours. If he was to get caught doing that it would be big trouble for everyone! Plus there were a lot of other safety issues that he just was not okay with. In particular, his truck needed a new spring (i think that's the part). They mechanics had the part in the garage and every time Mark came home he would remind them to fix it. The spring was already partially broken and if it was to break completely he would lose all control of his truck and cause a huge accident. Two months the part sat there. They never fixed it. Just after Mark quit one of the drivers side-swiped a car down by Detroit. The car just happened to be on a test run after being fixed at my brother's dealership. They had to call the owner and explained that although their car was fixed it was no longer drivable!

The company Mark is now working for is out of Ludington. This town is half an hour away from our house. What a treat! I know spend one hour TOTAL on the road instead of the five I did before. The money we save on gas is great! Of course he has not gotten paid yet. They made him wait three weeks (UGH) for his first paycheck. I was expecting it in the mail on Friday since they do not do direct deposit. Friday mail...no check. They don't mail them either. They want me to drive down every Friday to pick it up. Yeah, right. I gotta ask, does direct deposit cost the company any money to do? That would make my life way easier. Besides it is a waste of gas! So I have not gotten his paycheck yet. No time this week and I am short on cash. This company does not pay by the mile either. They pay a percentage of the load or 24% of what the truck makes each week. This can be either really good or really bad. Although the same can be said for being paid by the mile.

In MOPS news I am in charge of the MOPPETS group when we start up again in the fall. I will not be watching children (thank goodness!) but I will be finding the volunteers to come in and planning the activities and bible verses that they'll learn each meeting. A lot of our mothers are "graduating" this year and we have a whole new group of women on the steering committee. This is good in a way. I've been told that we've been a bit lax as a group on some things especially the MOPPETS things. I don't know if this is true since this was my first year attending. All I know is that I will be doing the best I can for the kids.

This Thursday is our last meeting. We are each bringing a breakfast item. I am bring potatoes delight. Yum! At our last meeting we had pizza and salad for lunch since most of us stayed late to work on committee things. After that the kids and I went to my friend's house to see her nursery. She is three weeks away from her due date. The kids watched some cartoons while we chatted. Then from there it was off to Henry's parent/teacher conference. He is a "delight" in school. We are still going to have him do preschool again in the fall. He is only four and with his birthday late in September he is the youngest of all his classmates. I think he'll really excel next year and he'll go into Kindergarten full of confidence. Irene will be going to preschool in the fall too. She'll be in the three year olds class that meets on Tuesday and Thursday. Having them both in preschool at the same time will cost more but if we have to sacrifice something to make it work we will.

I've been invited to a knitting group. One of the women from MOPS has a group in her home on Tuesdays. Her kids are around my kids' ages so they can play together. I think there are about six women that get together. Tomorrow will be our first day going. I am excited to join a group. I need to finish those darn baby booties before my friend has her baby!

On Friday morning the knitting group mom will be having a get together at her house. She is giving a presentation on cloth diapers. At the last MOPS meeting we had a presentation on chemicals and cleaners. We had a lot of converts to the goodness of using vinegar to clean with. From this we got onto the subject of cloth diapers and since a lot of us asked about them she decided to get us together and show us what she uses.

Well It seems that I will have to continue this later. My darling baby is crying. Guess my blogging time is finished for now.

Edited to add...Got an email from Kirsten. Two of her kids are sick so no knitting group tomorrow. Oh well...until next week!

For Your Enjoyment...

Yesterday I hurt my right arm while carrying Gavin's car seat. It hurts. It hurts every time I move it. Hurts to type, hurts to point and click, hurts to just sit still. Brings tears to my eyes. So I am toughing it out long enough to type this and when my arm is better I'll post again with whatever new family news I have.
Do you remember a few posts back I mentioned that I play the cello? I included a video from YouTube of Jacqueline du Pre. Go back and listen if you missed it! Anyway for your listening enjoyment today while I heal I am giving you the great Rostropovich playing my favorite, the Dvorak Cello Concerto. There are lots of videos and it's long but it is so worth listening. I love how it begins, the cellist doesn't come in until you are a good three and a half minutes into the piece. By then you've forgotten you're even waiting for the cello. The piece has already charmed you. Please enjoy!

Walk, Walk, Walk

Yesterday Mark had our vehicle in Ludington. My mom took Henry to school and Gavin, Irene and I walked there to pick him up. As with almost everything I plan this plan did not go off without a hitch. After many interruptions we finally got out of the house 15 minutes later than planned. Then it was a hike up two steep hills while pushing a double stroller. At the top of the second was a church. I stopped there to have a drink of water and figured if I was going to collapse that a church would be the second best place to do it (hospital would be #1). I pushed on and crossed the busy highway without a problem. It was after I had been walking for a while down the street that Henry's school is on that I realized there was another hill. Not as steep as the first two but still...did I need to go up 3 hills??? Passed another church on that hill, figured if I needed to collapse I'd be good ;) Finally made it to Henry's school. My face was red and my hair a mess (did I mention I left the house with it still wet from my shower?). At least I was not huffing and puffing.
Henry's class was outside playing so we joined the teacher and the two mothers already there. Irene immediately joined the kids playing. We stayed to play even after all the other kids left.

Henry talked and talked on the way back home. It was quite cute! Of course this time when we tried to cross the highway it was very busy. I think we waited five minutes before getting across. Henry got worried and wanted to call daddy to come get us.

I feel like I got a pretty good work out in with that walk. It was a good distance to travel plus I wearing Sketcher Shape-ups. I can feel it today!

Unfortunately it is raining here today. No walks. We were suppose to go to playgroup but Mark has the car again today. I figured we could ride Dial-a-Ride which is our local bus service. They will pick you up at your house and drop you off where ever you wish. I decided not to do it this morning though. Mornings can be unpredictable in our house and I am never sure what time we'll be ready. Plus I am having a bad case of allergies due to the weather change. Headache and sore throat.

Tonight we have Kindermusik and we will be taking Dial-a-Ride to get there. I figure Henry and Irene will get a kick out of the bus ride. Mark should be back in town by the end of class so he'll pick us up.

Too busy or Too Lazy?

My pretty, pretty Princess!

I didn't take many photos during Easter. We drove down to my brother Matt's house on Saturday. We took my mom with us so I was crammed into the back of our Durango. We sooooo need a bigger vehicle!

On Saturday we ate at my dad's place. He had lasagna and salad for us. Yummy! And for dessert...cake balls. Yes, cake made into ball shapes and then dunked in frosting. Yum! After dinner we went back to Matt's and got the kids ready for bed. Then Matt and Kaye made fondue (the real Swiss kind) and we all had delicious cheese and wine before bed. My brother Pete was there as well and he and my mom got into a silly debate about what I no longer recall. It was funny though and we laughed a lot.

Sunday started off well. Gavin slept until 6am. What a joy! The kids got their Easter outfits on (only have pictures of Roo though) and my mom and I made breakfast. Then Kaye's family started showing up. Whew! Those people are loud, boisterous and fun. It was overwhelming for Gavin though and he got upset a lot. I don't blame him though...they can be...a lot.

After the big Easter meal we had a quick Easter egg hunt for the kids. Even though the candy was equally divided after the hunt, the big kids were a bit wild in the picking up of eggs and the little kids kinda missed out. This is the same reason I never take my kids to the city egg hunts. The older kids just don't care about the younger. In the end the candy was divided up and everyone went home with some. We left for home shortly after that.



On Wednesday Henry went back to school after having a week and a half off for spring break. He was excited to go back. Thursday was a MOPS day. I left Gavin home with Mark and took Henry and Irene with me. They love to go and play with the other kids. Sherry from Sherry's Sheer Delight gave us a cake decorating demonstration. We made flowers and letters out of fondant. Then we frosted and decorated our cakes. It was a lot of fun and I am surprised at how nicely it turned out since cake decorating is not my forte! Sherry makes beautiful cakes and I am tempted to have her do Irene's birthday cake in June.

When we got home Henry ate the flowers off the cake. I couldn't get mad though, he was so thrilled about those darn flowers!

On Sunday I went to a baby shower for my dear friend Shannon. Rochelle, a friend of mine from school, was there. I have not seen her in years and we sat together, along with some other lovely ladies, and chatted. The gifts at this party! There were so many gifts! This baby is never going to wear the same thing twice for her whole first year! I felt kinda bad because all I had for her was a knitted baby blanket that I made. I am still working on a bonnet and booties. Compared to most of the other gifts mine was small. My mom said my gift was hand-made with love so that made it special. I did work my tail off trying to get it done in time and it was made with love :-) I had to leave before Shannon had gotten through even half of the gifts. I really wanted to see everything she got but Gavin was screaming at home. Maybe Shannon will invite me over to see everything and the nursery...hint hint ;-)

A little funny tidbit...I was dressed and ready to go to the shower at 10:45am. I thought the shower was at 11am. Thank goodness I checked the invite just before walking out the door...the party started at 3pm!

Today Irene, Gavin and I are walking to Henry's school to pick him up. Mark has our car and is currently in Ludington about half an hour from here. My mom took H to school at noon. The weather is sunny and nice and this way we save some gas and money. Not sure how we are going to work it tomorrow though. We have playgroup in the morning and Kindermusik at 5pm. Hmmmm.

Enjoy the sunshine!

...and if you want to read about and see pictures of the baby blanket I knitted you can check out my knitting blog. I will be posting about it soon.

An Award!

I've been nominated for the Sugar Doll award by the lovey Arley! Now I am to share ten things about myself....hmmmm...

1. I play the cello, flute, and bassoon. I wish I could play the cello like Jacqueline DuPre.

2. I used to be a nanny in a suburb of Chicago. I was there for a year but before that I had babysat for them and the rest of their family whenever they came up to their cabin in a small town about 15 minutes from here. On the night before I was suppose to leave the mother accused me of having an affair with her husband thus ruining a close relationship of more than three years. And no, we did NOT have an affair.

4. I'm married with three children, which is pretty obvious if you've looked at this blog.

5. None of my children were planned and were in fact a HUGE surprise. Each one more of a surprise than the last, which is funny because we should have known after then first one how babies were made!

6. After the birth of my first child I had a nasty time with post-partum depression. Thankfully my husband forced me to the doctor's office and she immediately started me on a treatment. With my next two pregnancies she has been right on top of the problem and although I have had some rough days I've not had a repeat like the first. My doctor and my husband saved my life.

7. I love to knit. My grandma taught me the basic garter stitch when I was very young. Knitting is a stress reliever for me, plus I love to make things for people. My next big step in knitting is going to be socks. Socks are made with 3 to 5 needles depending on the pattern. I am determined to master those darn socks!

8. I love to read. I recently found books written by the Yarn Harlot. She writes about knitting. So now I have a way to combine my two favorite things! I am also reading 3 books about women interned in Japanese internment camps during World War 2.

9. I also love Tudor history. Love to read any books on the subject and will argue my case for Anne Boleyn and why she is not the evil women that everyone made her out to be.

10. This may make me absolutely crazy (literally) but I wouldn't mind having a fourth child. Keep in mind that Gavin is 5 months old and DOES NOT sleep through the night. One more...and then I am done. DONE!
I hope you enjoyed those 10 little things about me. I nominate everyone one of the lovely people with fantastic blogs that I follow. I can't wait to hear about you! And Arley, thank you for nominating me and writing such nice things. I am so happy to have you in my life even if it is just in Facebook every day! You amaze me with your strength!