It's May - fun, sun, and activities!
*We have a graduate on our hands! Robyn graduates from kindergarten tomorrow and is awfully excited. We have been hearing renditions of patriotic songs for the past weeks and it will be nice to hear the whole class. I am taking a personal day and we're having our grandparents over for lunch afterwards. Her menu choice? Pizza, of course! She just ran upstairs (5:15 pm) to set out her special dress for tomorrow. She is so sweet and cute.
*I was told by Mrs. Rich (Nathan's teacher) that she has seen him blossom so much this year and how fun that's been to see. She said, "I had to ask him to stop talking recently and it surprised the whole class, including Nathan and myself!" Haha. He has a field day and carnival time next week with his class.
*Aaron's current favorite spot to climb? The CENTER of the kitchen table. Sigh. Each time he is reprimanded, taken down, and I think he seems to be understanding more...He loves charging around the house and makes us smile a lot.
*We sure love our woods! I have been planting some flowers and they look pretty next to the woods. However, I am NOT loving the amount of BUGS!! They are BUGGING me! Tiny gnats to famished mosquitoes-ugh! Also, Ken and my allergies are going bonkers - currently taking two Clarinex a day, instead of my normal one.
*Seth is reading all of his Cubbies verses to me from the past year - recognizes some of the words and says the whole verse. Isn't that awesome?! AWANA is a great program. Ken and I had such good experiences in AWANA as children (perhaps 80% of the verses I know are from memorizing them in AWANA). How cool that all three kids passed their books this year - Nathan earned a Sparky award for all three years!! Passing from one generation to another - exactly like the Bible commands us.
*Just found out that my good friend Cathy, from college, will be coming to West MI for a visit this summer! Melanie, Cathy, and I are planning a girls day together - haven't seen Cathy since 1997-way too long! Her brother just relocated to Holland, MI, for a job (YES - someone COMING to MI for a job! :) and she's visiting him. She's lived in TX and FL for many years.
Stop by soon for pics of our new grad. :)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
A Positive Update
I never realized how happy a DRY cement floor could make me! After nearly two weeks, the water ceased coming in, and after a big rain no water came seeping in. SO, we wait for the next big rain, and hope the minor repairs Ken has done will take care of things. We discovered it was combination of bad factors: full gutters (have to clean them a lot in our wooded area, full of pine trees) so the rain dumped in the corner, soft sand in the corner that was sloping toward the house, a helpful dog who enjoyed digging in the soft sand, making the corner sloping toward the house more prominent, and extreme rains - 7 inches in 5 days a few weeks back.
Ken cleaned out the gutters, added five wheelbarrows of dirt to the corner, sloped it AWAY from the house, I planted dune grass in that corner, he added longer downspouts to direct water further from house...so we are hopeful. The carpet is completely dried, rolled up, and in the garage. We are hoping to have it re-installed once we know for sure there's no water issue. We are glad it was in the sun for four days to kill anything in it. The backing looks great - no mildew, spots, etc. What an adventure. If I don't soak up any water with shop vacs for a long time, I'm OK with that!
Happy Belated Mother's Day to all Moms who read this! You are SPECIAL! We had a nice Mother's Day overall. Of course it is always bittersweet for me, so the tears flow at times. I felt the 'loss' of my stepmom/my kids' Grandma this year, too, which still makes me sad. This year at church we could purchase hanging baskets in honor or memory of a mom in our life. The front of the auditorium was beautiful - nearly 70 fresh, colorful baskets decorating the stage. Thanks, Joanne! I purchased one in memory of my mom from all of us and Ken purchased one for me from the crew. They are now hanging from my porch. Pastor Chris gave an excellent sermon on the priority of motherhood. After church we had a simple dinner of leftovers, the kids gave me sweet gifts from school and church and a special acrostic they made and Ken typed up with the kids' names, all took naps, we played at a park in Cedar Springs (we are becoming experts on all the local parks: "Let's go to the one with the red swirly slide!" say the kids), then into the Grand Opening of the new Meijer in Cedar Springs. Yay!! Meijer only 10 minutes away - how exciting for this Kent City resident! It is a new version of their big superstores...full grocery dept., other departments are smaller but the whole store is very nice. Maybe because it's smaller I will spend less time in it, therefore spending less $$?! It will be great having one close by and not having to drive down Alpine! I am committed to shopping our local KC Marketplace for the specials each week. Our local store needs our business, too, especially since they're in front of our new church and have been so gracious to KCBC. After Meijer we all celebrated Mother's Day with a bowl of ice cream. What a privilege and responsibility God has given me to raise these four precious children. I'm sure thankful for my wonderful husband and the team we are in this parenting role. Though tiring and though it's the hardest job I've ever had, it's Far and Away the BEST job I've ever had and worth the effort!
I had a brainstorm Friday morning, so that afternoon had my students write a note/letter/acrostic/poem to their Mom on pretty paper. I only gave two requirements: write from your heart, and please write use good writing, penmanship, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. ("You don't want your Mom focusing on what poor spelling you have, etc.") The office had some nice white 5 x 8 envelopes they were glad to let me use, so voila! My 10th graders were all set for Mother's Day! I told 'em they had each saved $3-4! A few already had a plan, but the majority did not. On Monday, I asked what the response was, and of course their moms appreciated it. "My mom cried," said many of them. That was my goal - haha - of course not, but I was glad to have a small role in helping them honor their moms. I have a feeling most of them would have remembered it was Mother's Day on Sat night or Sun morning. ;) When I taught middle schoolers, I used to do something like that for Mother's Day, but seeing "big" teenagers jump at the chance to write to their moms was special. I think during the last week of school we'll do something like that for their Dad (Stepdad, Grandpa, etc.) for Father's Day.
Well, time to go on a bike ride with Seth-er! I'll try to post some pics of Mother's Day cuteness soon. On the way home from church, Robyn asked, "Do you want us to go out to the rocks in the backyard so you can take our picture?!" :0) Too cute.
Ken cleaned out the gutters, added five wheelbarrows of dirt to the corner, sloped it AWAY from the house, I planted dune grass in that corner, he added longer downspouts to direct water further from house...so we are hopeful. The carpet is completely dried, rolled up, and in the garage. We are hoping to have it re-installed once we know for sure there's no water issue. We are glad it was in the sun for four days to kill anything in it. The backing looks great - no mildew, spots, etc. What an adventure. If I don't soak up any water with shop vacs for a long time, I'm OK with that!
Happy Belated Mother's Day to all Moms who read this! You are SPECIAL! We had a nice Mother's Day overall. Of course it is always bittersweet for me, so the tears flow at times. I felt the 'loss' of my stepmom/my kids' Grandma this year, too, which still makes me sad. This year at church we could purchase hanging baskets in honor or memory of a mom in our life. The front of the auditorium was beautiful - nearly 70 fresh, colorful baskets decorating the stage. Thanks, Joanne! I purchased one in memory of my mom from all of us and Ken purchased one for me from the crew. They are now hanging from my porch. Pastor Chris gave an excellent sermon on the priority of motherhood. After church we had a simple dinner of leftovers, the kids gave me sweet gifts from school and church and a special acrostic they made and Ken typed up with the kids' names, all took naps, we played at a park in Cedar Springs (we are becoming experts on all the local parks: "Let's go to the one with the red swirly slide!" say the kids), then into the Grand Opening of the new Meijer in Cedar Springs. Yay!! Meijer only 10 minutes away - how exciting for this Kent City resident! It is a new version of their big superstores...full grocery dept., other departments are smaller but the whole store is very nice. Maybe because it's smaller I will spend less time in it, therefore spending less $$?! It will be great having one close by and not having to drive down Alpine! I am committed to shopping our local KC Marketplace for the specials each week. Our local store needs our business, too, especially since they're in front of our new church and have been so gracious to KCBC. After Meijer we all celebrated Mother's Day with a bowl of ice cream. What a privilege and responsibility God has given me to raise these four precious children. I'm sure thankful for my wonderful husband and the team we are in this parenting role. Though tiring and though it's the hardest job I've ever had, it's Far and Away the BEST job I've ever had and worth the effort!
I had a brainstorm Friday morning, so that afternoon had my students write a note/letter/acrostic/poem to their Mom on pretty paper. I only gave two requirements: write from your heart, and please write use good writing, penmanship, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. ("You don't want your Mom focusing on what poor spelling you have, etc.") The office had some nice white 5 x 8 envelopes they were glad to let me use, so voila! My 10th graders were all set for Mother's Day! I told 'em they had each saved $3-4! A few already had a plan, but the majority did not. On Monday, I asked what the response was, and of course their moms appreciated it. "My mom cried," said many of them. That was my goal - haha - of course not, but I was glad to have a small role in helping them honor their moms. I have a feeling most of them would have remembered it was Mother's Day on Sat night or Sun morning. ;) When I taught middle schoolers, I used to do something like that for Mother's Day, but seeing "big" teenagers jump at the chance to write to their moms was special. I think during the last week of school we'll do something like that for their Dad (Stepdad, Grandpa, etc.) for Father's Day.
Well, time to go on a bike ride with Seth-er! I'll try to post some pics of Mother's Day cuteness soon. On the way home from church, Robyn asked, "Do you want us to go out to the rocks in the backyard so you can take our picture?!" :0) Too cute.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friend and Foe
*A tall glass with ice cubes and clean water.
*Gorgeous Lake Michigan - sitting near it, walking next to it, gentle waves or bigger waves
*The creek next to my Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's house in Mishawaka, IN. Out in the country, long summer days playing with my brothers in that little creek.
*A pleasantly warm bath, watching one, two, or three of my children happily splashing and playing.
*The school pool or any one of our friends' outdoor pools.
*Ahhhhhh - a hot tub that soothes the skin, body, mind, soul....
*Hearing raindrops outside while snugly in bed inside.
*Seeing the lush, green grass thriving.
All of the above would DEFINITELY be in the 'FRIEND' category.
Discovering water in your finished basement, noting the sump pump is in the opposite side of the basement from where the water is originating, determining to salvage the carpet it needs to be removed, moving all furniture from room, carefully removing carpet and draping over deck (drying quite nicely at this point), tossing the pad, shop-vaccing load after load of water from basement floor, water still coming in along outside back wall at this point...oh, and finding out insurance does not cover 'floods.'
The above would, WITHOUT QUESTION, be in the FOE category.
Things could be worse. I talked with my brother and he re-assured me and said that there wasn't a need to panic. His neighbor had just come over and shared that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. My friend Megan brought my attention to the plight of the invisible children in Uganda - children ages 9 and up abducted from homes while sleeping and forced to be part of a rebel army. The video on the website is powerful and so sad. Those things put water in the basement in perspective.
It's been an incredibly wet winter/spring - ice melt, deluge of rains again and again.....people that haven't ever had water in their basement have water, something I read said we've not had this much water in this period of time since 1989...I believe it! No sign of water before in our home - with us or previous owners.
Yet, I am weary, though trying not to fret and instead to PRAY when I get concerned. If you would pray that we find the solution soon, with minimal damage to our home, we sure would appreciate it. And preferably one that doesn't cost an exorbitant amount of money. I just wish the water would stop coming in! Brad (my brother) did tell me on Thursday that it would keep coming in for at least 3-4 more days, so I guess we're 'normal'. Today I felt like I was just trying to keep my head above water (yes, pun intended!) as I tried to balance playing with and caring for the kids as Ken and Nathan were in Detroit.
I need to go bail. I assume that if you read this, you care about us, so thanks for caring.
*Gorgeous Lake Michigan - sitting near it, walking next to it, gentle waves or bigger waves
*The creek next to my Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's house in Mishawaka, IN. Out in the country, long summer days playing with my brothers in that little creek.
*A pleasantly warm bath, watching one, two, or three of my children happily splashing and playing.
*The school pool or any one of our friends' outdoor pools.
*Ahhhhhh - a hot tub that soothes the skin, body, mind, soul....
*Hearing raindrops outside while snugly in bed inside.
*Seeing the lush, green grass thriving.
All of the above would DEFINITELY be in the 'FRIEND' category.
Discovering water in your finished basement, noting the sump pump is in the opposite side of the basement from where the water is originating, determining to salvage the carpet it needs to be removed, moving all furniture from room, carefully removing carpet and draping over deck (drying quite nicely at this point), tossing the pad, shop-vaccing load after load of water from basement floor, water still coming in along outside back wall at this point...oh, and finding out insurance does not cover 'floods.'
The above would, WITHOUT QUESTION, be in the FOE category.
Things could be worse. I talked with my brother and he re-assured me and said that there wasn't a need to panic. His neighbor had just come over and shared that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. My friend Megan brought my attention to the plight of the invisible children in Uganda - children ages 9 and up abducted from homes while sleeping and forced to be part of a rebel army. The video on the website is powerful and so sad. Those things put water in the basement in perspective.
It's been an incredibly wet winter/spring - ice melt, deluge of rains again and again.....people that haven't ever had water in their basement have water, something I read said we've not had this much water in this period of time since 1989...I believe it! No sign of water before in our home - with us or previous owners.
Yet, I am weary, though trying not to fret and instead to PRAY when I get concerned. If you would pray that we find the solution soon, with minimal damage to our home, we sure would appreciate it. And preferably one that doesn't cost an exorbitant amount of money. I just wish the water would stop coming in! Brad (my brother) did tell me on Thursday that it would keep coming in for at least 3-4 more days, so I guess we're 'normal'. Today I felt like I was just trying to keep my head above water (yes, pun intended!) as I tried to balance playing with and caring for the kids as Ken and Nathan were in Detroit.
I need to go bail. I assume that if you read this, you care about us, so thanks for caring.
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