The River Christmas Program

Our church has such a wonderful Children's ministry program and leaders.   This year they led the children in some wonderful Christmas songs.  Carter sang, "Rock the Baby" and "Away in a Manger". He wasn't too sure about rocking his Panther because it wasn't a baby, but he did very well.  I think he really enjoyed that he got to sit next to his buddy, Luke DeBoer.  

Josh's group didn't sing, but instead had special Christmas notes for each letter of the alphabet.  Josh was the letter, G.  Here is Josh with the letter, G, message...

Catch-up

Here are some pictures of some fun things we have been up to lately.....


The boys had recently read, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, so thought it would be fun to make some oobleck for ourselves....it was lots of fun and surprisingly easy to clean up.

Michael and Josh traveled to the Rose bowl for their annual UCLA football game.  This has to be one of the highlights of Michael's football season for Josh.  He just loves going to the Rose Bowl.

We took our annual trip up to Oak Glen for pumpkins.  It still seams a bit strange to me that we are picking pumpkins in our tee shirts and shorts, but I guess that makes it more fun, right?!  Our trip ended a bit short b/c the truck's battery died.  We replaced both car's batteries in less than a week...yikes.  The good news is that now the next time one of the batteries dies we'll just buy two and leave the second battery in the car that hasn't died yet....trying to think proactively.

On Veteran's day, Josh and I took in the movie, Wreck it Ralph, while Carter and Michael went to Ford park to feed the ducks.  Carter loves feeding the ducks and is surprisingly not afraid of the big ones.  

On Thanksgiving weekend we decided to go for a hike up near Jenk's Lake.   It was so gorgeous out.  The boys hiked the entire way and never once asked for help.  They really enjoyed the little nature hike part that came with an interactive booklet and stops along the trail.  Fun ages!

Time management

I would say I'm definitely type "A" personality.  I enjoy making a "To Do list" and take pride in crossing items off the list.  Love the feeling of a productive day.  Though lately I have felt anything but productive, I would say more scatter brained.  Yes, that sums it up well.

So I am trying to figure out why I feel like I am getting so little done each day....let's look at a typical week day schedule:

6:15am     Rise to either the alarm or Carter climbing into bed to snuggle (LOVE)
6:25am     Shower
6:55am     Wake Josh up
7:10am     Eat breakfast w/ the family
7:20am     Making lunches
7:30am     Get Carter and myself dressed and ready.
7:45am     Head out the door
7:45-8:10am SIT IN TRAFFIC-fun times!
8:15am    Drop Carter off
8:30am    Arrive at work
WORK
4:00pm    Leave to go get Carter
4:30pm    Go to RCS for Josh (though some days Mike is off early enough to do this)
4:45pm    Head for home or grocery store
5:10pm    Arrive at home if no grocery stop, otherwise arrive home at 5:45pm
5:15pm    Help Josh get set up to start on his homework
5:20pm     Prep dinner
5:30-6pm  Eat dinner
6-6:45pm  Play w/ the kiddos -all about the kids time, review homework, spelling words, etc...
6:45-7:15  Bath/Shower time
7:00pm     Start a load of laundry....seems there is always at least one load of laundry ea/day.
7:15pm    Clean up the kitchen while boys pick up their room.
7:30pm    Read books with the boys.
7:45pm    Lights out:pray & sing bedtime song (aka. Calvin Alma Mater...yes, we are training them well)
8:00pm    Hugs and kisses good night.
8:05pm    Rotate laundry
8:10-30pm    General house pick up/paperwork catch-up
8:30pm    About the time I plop on the couch and catch up on emails.
9:00pm    Hubby sits down and we start a show from the DVR
10:00pm   I'm off to bed....I can't keep my eyes open past 10 most nights, some nights even 9:30pm.

This is just our schedule when Mike isn't coaching/officiating, and Josh isn't in sports.  A typical week when Mike and Josh have sports include us just not getting home on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday till either 6:30 or 7pm.  That gives me an hour to get dinner, homework, and baths completed....no play time (I miss my kids terribly these weeks).

My favorite thing about the long Thanksgiving weekend was that we put nothing on our schedule and stayed home as a family....NO SCHEDULE.  These are the moments that refuel us and keep us focused on the importance of each other.  I feel so tremendously blessed to have such a great job and such loving places for my kids to go to when I am not able to be with them.  As much as I would love to have more time with them I know that I am very purposeful and diligent in making the most of the time we do have together.  I love my family and feel tremendously thankful for our full schedule...no matter how little of my projects I get completed or crossed off my "To Do List". 

That's not to say that I wish I could get more done both with the kids and with my craft projects.    Where does all the time in a day go? Ugh!

In-laws

Growing up you hear about, "those crazy in-laws" and how much they drive the spouse bonkers.  Well I have to say I feel awfully blessed because my in-laws are anything but crazy.  Michael's parents are kind, compassionate, loving, God fearing, grandkid spoiling, family loving people.  It goes to show in how they raised such a great son, Michael.  I will never forget the first time I met them and how at ease they made me feel and how I immediately felt part of the family.  They have such a natural way of making sure everyone is comfortable and feeling loved.  They are seriously the #1 host & hostess.

Christmas time is always extra special when under their roof.  Not only are they great a hosting, but they reflect the kind of marriage that Michael and I strive for.  They understand each other with out having to say anything and understand their roles as they move around playing host to all us kids and grandkids.  Before Michael and I got married we would sit and talk about what was important to us in a marriage and what our roles would be.  I will never forget b/c it was then that I realized how much Michael admired his parents, he said, "I would like to have the kind of marriage my parents have."  Well, as if I hadn't fallen in love with him already, I was absolutely head over heals for him now.  A man that admires and respects his parents is one that I am proud to raise my children with.   I'm thankful for my in-laws and the example they set for their kids, b/c I know that Michael's siblings would reciprocate what he said.  I'm thankful for their incredible trust and faith in God and how they raised each of their children to live each day as a reflection in Christ.

Not only have they blessed Michael by raising him with solid morals, but they have blessed me and our kids to give us such a great man to admire and love.  Thank you, Mom & Dad!

Michael's health

Today, I feel tremendously thankful for how healthy Michael has been.  If you had asked me a year ago if I thought he would be doing this well, I would have just laughed.  But looking at him today he is just as strong and healthy as ever.  We go by most days not even realizing or thinking about the disease.....and for that I am extremely thankful.  

Wish I had a picture of him today, but he was in a serious rush to get out the door and I was well not in any rush to get anything done....it's my day to relax with the Roo.

Little kicks

Today I feel thankful for those little baby kicks I have started to feel over the last couple of days and look forward to when the boys can start to feel those little baby kicks.

Quiet time

Thankful for those simple quiet moments that just seem to invite the calm in and wash the busy day away...

Nov.7: Redlands Christian School

There is many, many reasons I am thankful for Redlands Christian School (RCS).  This year, Josh's 1st grade year, has added even more reasons to that list. 

RCS has provided my husband with his dream job for 12 years.  Michael loves his job, and that may even be a bit of an understatement.   I know very few people that wake up as excited for their job as Michael does.  I know my husband well and he has such a passion for those kids and he has such a gift for what he does.  I really admire him, and I try to tell him that often.  Though one of my favorite things of all time is seeing how much my father in-law admires him and continually tells him how talented and gifted Michael is at teaching.  Teaching is definitely a gift and RCS has given him the opportunity to use that gift to his best ability.

We have had the privilege of seeing more people with this same gift work in Josh's life this year....his 1st grade teachers (Laura Witvliet & Mary DeWaard).  Josh just beams when he talks about his teachers and what they are doing in class.  I have cried tears of joy to see such amazing joy in my child's heart for learning and his teachers.  Each of Josh's three years at RCS so far we have had such amazing teachers.  I am so thankful for Lynda Hofman, Julie Brandenberg, Laura & Mary for using your gift and passion to share God's world by show God's love to Josh.  I know he will always treasure each of you and remember the love that you showed him forever AND that is priceless. 

The community of parents that surround and love the school.  I absolutely enjoy walking Josh in to school in the morning and seeing all of the smiles on familiar parents faces.  It brings such delight and comfort to me to see that my child is surrounded by loving people that genuinely care about others and about their school.

Nov. 6: America

 Thankful and proud for this beautiful country that stands for our freedom....

If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking

I believe yesterday's post was necessary for me (us) to realize just how fully God's love for us is.   I read this today and it humbled me so much that I had to share it.


http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/09/when-its-all-pressing-too-much-youd-like-answers/

November 4 & 5

Well I'm going to have to do a combined post today and  it includes no pictures....failure!  The last few days have honestly been a challenge for me emotionally.  It seems as though when you are trying to make sure you find all of the good in life and things to be thankful for that satan tries his hardest so you don't, right?!  I've tried to make sure I see the good in this process of waiting on the house of our dreams, but the reality is it's killing me inside....like breaking up with your first love, rip my heart out kind of feeling.  I can't stand when people say, "It means that God has something better in store for you".  Great!  Maybe He does, but have you ever been so sure of something before and watch it slip right out of your fingers and there is absolutely nothing you can do?  It's some good hard tears hard.  It's  realizing the house you pictured the Thanksgiving day turkey with loved ones gathered around, and your kids running down the stairs Christmas morning to look under the Christmas tree, will never happen.   We could already envision where the stockings would be hung, and where the Christmas tree would be displayed.  We looked forward to finally having a house that we could comfortably welcome friends and family.  It almost seems silly to say we could see those things, but with this house it was so easy, it just seemed right.  This holiday season is going to be especially hard as we see friends and family placed in their homes with room to host others.  It feels like a slap in the face.  Like we've done something wrong or are undeserving.

This wasn't just any ol' house this was "the house".  We were so intentional about praying and talking with God before even putting an offer in on this house.  We felt till just today confident that this is where God wanted us to be and we have prayed fervently throughout this year that God would lead us where he wants us.  Our judgement of where God was leading us felt so right with this house.  It has felt so right for so long, and as we watch the house slip out of our fingers we have grown more and more weary, unclear, and completely confused.  How can we trust our feelings and judgements?  It seems like in the last two months our prayers have changed to asking for clarity.

As we look towards the future and the uncertainty that it brings we continue to pray for clarity.  I feel especially heavy hearted for the family that has been trying to sell their home.  They have done everything in their power to get the 2nd bank to approval...including hiring an attorney.  The house is on the market due to a job loss and I can only imagine the pain and hurt this family is going through.  So even as we struggle to grasp our understanding and find answers through this, it's important to realize the family on the other side of this and what their struggles are.  What I wouldn't give for the Bank to have a bit of heart and understanding.

Freckles

Love those freckles and the personalities behind them....

Outdoor Fun

today i am thankful for the opportunity to play outside, my children's love of the outdoors, and my husband's passion when he plays with his kids outside.

Children's imaginations

today i give thanks for my children's imagination....

Giving Thanks

The month of November has to be my favorite; the smell of apple cider, pumpkin, Chai lattes, the leaves covering the ground, and the opportunity to to give thanks and share a huge meal with loved ones.  This year I am following the suggestion of a blog that I subscribe to and will post a picture daily of things in life that I am thankful for.  There is no blessing to small to be thankful for and this month I want to concentrate on simplifying and giving thanks for everything.....

Making up for lost time

I would like to say that I will be better about updating our blog in the future, but that would be an out-right lie.  So, instead I will promise to do my best....it's what I ask of my kids, so it only makes sense I apply it to my own tasks, right?!

Well, a lot has happened since our last update about our road trip to Bellingham/Lynden, Washington.  We are now expecting a sweet lil' one mid-April and we couldn't be more excited about it.  The boys are especially excited about the coming baby and watching mommy's belly grow.  Josh loves to ask, "How big is the baby this week?"  It's been fun to see him involved with this baby's growing process and watching Josh grow in amazement in understanding of how God can create something so precious and beautiful.  Beautiful blessings on so many levels!

Michael and I will be finding out the gender of this baby, unlike we did with Josh or Carter.   To say this was a mutual agreement would be, well, another outright lie....it's probably best to say, Michael finally came around and reluctantly agreed to find out the gender.  Regardless, I can see the excitement in him grow as we approach our ultrasound date. 

As we prepare for another lil' one we are feeling quite a bit of pressure to have a plan of where we are going to be living.  We are now closing in on a complete year of waiting on a short sale house....yes, 365 days.  We have heard from so many how they think we're silly for hanging on for so long. Although we have actively looked at homes over the course of this year each of them have confirmed our love for this SS home.  Yes, I can see the silliness that others see, but that look Michael and I shared as we walked around the house for the first time was a look that needed no words yet seemed to say, "THIS is it!"  We still get excited thinking about making that house a home, but with a bit more hesitation.

Carter has been growing up so quickly.  His speech is getting better and better everyday and we are excited for him to start some therapy soon to give him that extra little bit of help.  He goes to a friend of mine for daycare while I am at work and he absolutely loves it...which makes this momma happy.  They do some preschool learning, frequent the library, and recently visited the Pumpkin Patch.  It's exciting to see the folder of art work and crafts from the letter they have been working on and be able to sit down and have him show us everything.    Such a delight to see his mind and world growing!  Thank you, Becca!

Michael is doing really well.  He is on his last week of football and I'm not sure who is more excited him or myself....probably a tie.  His health has been great and we are so thankful for that.  He still has to go to the Liver transplant doctor every 6 months to check his liver enzyme levels, but it's good to be monitored and watched so closely, and you won't ever hear him complain.  He decided against basketball officiating this year for a few reasons and he is very happy about his decision.

Josh is doing really well in 1st grade.  He adores his teachers and the learning.  He continues to blow us away at how well he can read and just how quick he is at math.  I'm happy that school comes so easily for him and that he loves it so much.  Hope those continue for a long time.

As for me, feeling much less nauseated and have a bit more energy these days.  I'm still taking classes from CBU online to complete my BA in Business Administration.  I love my classes, though so much of my evenings is be taken from them, but I love the learning.  I am super excited because I am headed back to NY with my friend, Becca, to see our good friend, Kim, at the end of November and do some Christmas shopping in NYC.  Fun, fun, fun!

Geesh, this is a really long update.  Sorry!  But now you are informed, maybe even too much so.

Happy Reformation Day tomorrow :)

Family time

The beautiful Pacific Northwest is so majestic and lush.  Michael and I love that we have the opportunity to go home for Christmas every other year, but there is something special about visiting during the summer. We were looking forward to visiting the multitude of parks and participating in the many outdoor activities that Whatcom County has to offer, that you just aren’t able to do during the winter.

We broke our time in PNW up into two sections; family from my side first, and then on to Lynden for Michael’s family.  I’m from Bellingham, where my parents and two of my brothers live.  We were fortunate enough that my sister from Colorado Springs was in town for a wedding, and my oldest brother was up from Olympia.  It was so wonderful having everyone together. 

Here are some pictures of our time together in Bellingham.

 

Road Trip Day 3

Oh, how I love waking up to a nice cool morning mist and a Prefontaine trail to run on.  It's simple a great way to start any day!  I forgot how much I miss running on trails vs the road.

We were all pretty excited about day three and the fun stops we had planned.  First stop, walking around Autzen Stadium.  What a cool stadium.  Josh was pretty disappointed that there wasn't any football practice at the time, but he was soon forgot when we walked into the gift shop for a souvenir.

From there we ventured to the Salmon Creek area just outside of Vancouver to visit Caitlyn and her family.  Caitlyn was a RCS classmate of Josh's that just moved to the area. It was nice to see her and her family again and give the kids lots of time to play together again and catch up with their new life in Washington.

After a fun lunch with the Mercurio family we headed to NW Trek in Eatonville, Washington. NW Trek is similar to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, but showcases animals of the Pacific Northwest area, i.e. grizzly bears, bald eagles, badgers, mountain lions.  It was a gorgeous day and not a lot of people were at the facility.  Infact, there was so few people there that Josh was baffled.  He kept looking around and turning to ask, "Where are all the people?" 'Isn't it supposed to be crowded?"  Haahaa, I guess this is what someone that visits the San Diego Zoo would expect from any other zoo-like area.  He had us giggling with how bewildered he was.

In front of Autzen Stadium

Carter's U of O football player

Caitly and Josh playing

At NW Trek

Male elk resting

Sweet boy

Brotherly love

Beautiful boys

After NW Trek we headed straight to Bellingham.  Michael and I were so amazed with how the boys did on out trek up to Washington.  They were GREAT!  I think we can do more road trips in our future.

Road Trip Day 2

The end of day one ended with enough time for the boys to hit the pool and for me to hit the treadmill.  Both excellent ways to burn some energy and help you sleep well at night.  Needless to say, after a well rested night in the hotel we woke up and ventured out to the Jelly Belly Factory.  Surprisingly neither one of the boys were very excited about this stop, but that's okay, I had enough excitement to cover all of us.  I LOVE Jelly Bellys!!  We had heard that during the summer the line for a tour can be up to two hours long and that was definitely not going to fly with a six and three year old, or for that matter Michael and I (ages do not need to be mentioned).  With this first hand knowledge we ventured to the factory to hit one of the first tours of the day.  Not only did we have a front parking spot at the factory, but we just walked right up to the start of a tour. Can you say, "WOAH!" (like Joey).

The Jelly Belly factory is pretty neat, but our tour guide could have brushed up on a few important facts of the history of the company. Overall, it was lots of fun and and the boys now like Jelly Bellys, yippee (although that means I have to share, shoot!).  My favorite part is when they allow you to pick from a variety of different flavors at the end of your tour because you'll never guess what flavor Michael picked out?!  BOOGER! Seriously, Michael! Buttttt, my mind got to thinking, "What if it's a trick? And what could it possibly taste like?"  Well we are both here to tell you, "It is by far the most disgusting thing we have ever had."  It took the entire day for us not to taste it in our mouths, uhhh.

The rest of the day was Interstate 5 and rest areas.  Not too much to highlight over.  The boys opened a few more gifts and we played a couple of games.  We have a favorite rest area (yes, you can have that) that is right along a river before the Oregon boarder it has a ton of shade and large grassy area. We got out the baseball, bat and gloves.  It was nice to just relax and play a little ball for a while.

We ended day two in one of Michael and I's favorite cities, Eugene, Oregon.  Our hotel was right across from the Matthew Knight Area of the University of Oregon campus.  It was the week of Freshman so the campus was buzzing.  Boy, are kids entering college at a younger age?  They look so much younger than they used too, huh? Heeehee!

Well we got in pretty late that night, so quick dinner and right to bed!  Tomorrow, day three, will be filled with more fun stops and reaching our final destination of the first part of our trip, Bellingham!

Hitting the road

We knew as we approached the summer of 2012 we wanted to take a vacation out of state.  It had been awhile since we visited family and friends in both NY and MI so we planned a three-legged trip to both areas.  But we didn't predict that 6 months later Michael's ENT would still not give him the, "Okay" to fly.  So onto the back burner those visits go. Bummer!  Instead, we decided on a road trip back up to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  Which is where we are now, getting ready to start our trip...

We have had a GREAT trip so far! The boys were a delight all two and half days on the road. I have a LOT of experience with road trips and know exactly how boring they can be for a child.  So with this first hand knowledge I did as much research and pinning on Pinterest.com as I could to find creative and fun ideas to keep the kids distracted.  There were so many fun ideas that even I was excited for them.  Here are a couple of the fun things I came up with: 1)  Purchased about a dozen or so gifts from the dollar section of stores (an equal amount for each child), wrapped them and kept them in the front seat with me so when the kids started to become fidgety or impatient I pulled out a gift for each of them to unwrap.  They LOVED it, which means we loved it! 2) Purchased some new games off Amazon.com that came highly recommended that took 2 or more players so we could play them together in the car.  This one was another great hit, because then it didn't seem like everyone was always doing their own thing, but we had something new and fun we could do together...always a big hit with me.  3) Found some fun multi-compartment containers that we stocked each morning with snacks so that the boys could keep next to them and pick at during the day as they pleased....this one proved to be very very handy.  So those are just a few ideas that proved to be great fun for the boys, which in turn made Michael and I's driving much more pleasant.

Wrapped gifts

Storage containers for toys, markers, macaroni beads, etc...

Happy faces as we pull out of the driveway....

First nap of the car trip.

Still smiling as we check into our hotel after day 1.

Opening one of his gifts

One of the fun games

Day 1 we left the house around 1:30 and ventured to our hotel in Stockton.  We made excellent time on the road which allowed time for the boys to run around for awhile and burn some of that pent up energy.