The Meyers Chronicles

Silent Night

2011-10-14T10:26:00.003-04:00

Every year, our local fire departments have a ceremony and parade honoring those who have been lost while serving our community. It's called the "Silent Night Parade". We try to make it out every year to see the flashing lights of the fire trucks and to say a big "Thank You!" to those working to make our area a safer place.

Yesterday, the silent night parade followed a huge tragedy in West Michigan. We lost an officer in the line of duty yesterday. During a high speed chase that followed a bank robbery, Officer Slot selflessly offered to help stop the suspects and was killed for his effort. You can click here for news coverage.
The boys certainly had fun checking out the equipment and trucks available to look at. I know that Jeremy enjoyed showing the kids all there was to see after a long day at work (he was working when Officer Slot was killed).
The big boys got to climb up in a real fire truck.
Even with the rain coming down, we still had fun saying thanks to the fire fighters present.

While we had fun at the Silent Night Parade, yesterday certainly served as a reminder that many brave men and women put on their uniform and kiss their loved ones goodbye daily with no guarantee of coming home at the end of the day. Every day they put their lives in danger to help the public, whether by fighting fires or chasing bank robbers. As we remember all of our fallen heroes, I'd like to ask you to specifically pray for Officer Slots family and friends, the officers to daily risk their lives to protect us all, and the officers at Walker and the surrounding area who are grieving the loss of one of their own.

The Healing Field

2011-09-12T22:52:00.006-04:00

As we all know, yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the horrifying act of terrorism that happened in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. As a way of honoring the fallen souls from 10 years ago, West Michigan participated in a nation wide display called The Healing Field. There were eleven fields of American flags set up around the county, one flag for each person killed on September 11, 2001.
I'm not sure I can completely vocalize the feelings I had when first seeing the display. It was breath-taking, heart-breaking, and emotional. I think I actually had to catch my breath. To see so many flags, fluttering in the wind... I can't completely explain it.
We were told that during the ceremony to place the flags, two people read off the individuals names with a 4 second delay between names. In total, it took just over 4 hours to read off all of the names of people who perished September 11, 2001.
Jeremy and I wanted to make today a learning experience for the kids, but without too much information. Jeremy ended up explaining to Jayce that 10 years ago, something very bad happened and a lot of people died. He told our first born that each flag stood for a person who had died that day. My sweet heart of a son then asked if all of those people were in heaven.

Do you see that sign to the right of the picture? There were many "fact" signs around the hillside. That one there said this: "Fact: 2800 children lost a parent on that infamous morning".
Each of the flags stood for a person who died in the terror attack. Attached to the each of the flags was a card with a name, an age, where they died, and a short paragraph of information about them. The cards that had a blue ribbon were for law enforcement who died that day. The red ribbons were for firefighters. Personally, those with the red and blue ribbons were a little harder to see.

I'm glad that my children were able to experience this with us today. I can honestly say, being able to take part in such a humbling and honoring display was amazing.

Grayson's 3rd Birthday

2011-08-27T14:25:00.005-04:00

This little boy turned 3 last weekend. We had a great time celebrating him, starting with a trip to the Gardens on Friday, a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday, and a baseball game on Sunday. It was a very busy birthday weekend.The day of Grayson's birthday, we had a yummy pancake breakfast at home, opened a few presents....

And then jetted off to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate with games, pizza, and delicious cake that my dad made.

We were joined by Grandma, Aunti Kalena and her friend Sterling, and Nana and Papa. Grayson even got to open a few more presents at Chuck E. Cheese.

We had fun playing games and riding rides.
Rhys even got in on a little bit of the action.

And wouldn't you know it, on Grayson's birthday, while we were celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese, we got a phone call telling us that Aunti Lauren had her baby. Grayson got a cousin for his birthday! His name is Tristan and he's an adorable little version of his Grandpa Dave.
We ended out the day with hot dogs and ice cream sundaes at our house. I think Grayson had a terrific birthday, and we are excited to have a 3 year old again! Happy birthday, Grayson!!

The Summer That Flew By

2011-08-27T12:46:00.008-04:00

It is no secret that I've not been great at blogging this summer. Ok, I've been horrible. Non-existent. Well, here's my catch-up. It's all pictures, no words except these. You get to interpret what's happening on your own. Some are just family pictures around the house, fun outings, vacations, visits with an aunt and uncle who live much too far away. Some "firsts" were captured, and many, many trips to the beach. Enjoy our summer that flew by in pictures:

New Post

2011-08-27T11:31:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd warn you, that while I'm sitting in my cool exersaucer today, a totally new experience for me, that my mommy is downloading pictures in an effort to blog today. I know! Look at the expression on my face, I was equally as surprised. I just wanted to warn all you friends in the computer that she was thinking about posting some stuff so that you won't be as startled as I was. - Rhys

June Post

2011-06-30T23:56:00.003-04:00

I know it's wrong, but I wanted to sneak in a quick post so that I didn't go without a single post all of June. I'd like to say that I'll get around to posting some new photos of Rhys and the rest of the family soon, but let's be honest: I'm not so good at blogging right now... My apologies. For now, I'll leave you with this super cute cell phone photo of Rhys, his first time at the park!

Rhys Ronald

2011-05-17T23:18:00.004-04:00

Yes, we are about a week late. However, we are pleased to announce the birth of our third son, Rhys Ronald. He was named after his Grandpa, who went to be with Jesus in 2009. He was born May 10, 2011 at 4:48pm. Rhys was 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and 20 inches long. He is by far the smallest baby we've had! His brothers are in love with him, as are we.
Rhys is adjusting well to life at home. He really is a great baby. He rarely fusses or cries unless he's hungry. As you can see from this photo, he looks nearly exactly like his brothers. I find it amazing that all three of my sons newborn photos look so similar.
Jayce and Grayson are constantly asking to hold Rhys. They often fight over whose "turn" it is or how much time the other boy has left to hold him. They are very curious about everything concerning their new brother, from diaper changes to feeding.
Of course, the big boys are always ready to entertain when Rhys is awake. They were very excited to see this "chair" that Rhys gets to use. Grayson is constantly trying to take Rhys his baby toys, and Jayce is always hugging and kissing on him, or just trying to be close by.
Of course, we are in love with our newest addition.

Blessed by the Butterflies

2011-05-09T07:50:00.004-04:00

The other day, Jeremy and I took the kids to the Gardens to check out the butterflies and get some sunshine on our faces. He actually managed to get a semi-decent photo of nearly 39 week pregnant me, so I thought I'd finally share one. Please be sure to notice the cute boys, not the huge lady.
The butterflies really liked being around us while we were there.
One even landed on my belly for about 15 seconds! I desperately tried to get some pictures. They turned out blurry.
Here's this one as he flew away. By my estimate, "Tokyo" has now been blessed by the butterflies. He's due to come anytime now.
This butterfly flirted with landing on me, but he chose this lady's bright blue shirt instead.

I took tons of pictures of the butterflies and flowers.

Then we got outside. The boys were kind enough to pose for a few cute pictures of them together!

And, of course, we played! Lots of playing.

Aren't these going to be the most handsome two big brothers in the world soon!?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Easter Pictures

2011-05-03T16:14:00.005-04:00

Yes, belated, I know. But I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures we took of our family on Easter Sunday. Fair warning, they aren't terrific. The sun was bright (even though it didn't seem like it at the time), the kids weren't fantastic participants, and Jeremy was super tired after working the night before and coming to church with us. But, they are family pictures.

Proof that my kids love each other.
Some cute shots of just the boys.

We got the boys to smile and pay attention by asking them to repeat silly phrases and making silly faces. Grayson, as always, had a couple of pictures taken with him repeating funny words. Oh well. Makes the memory.

Easter Reminder

2011-04-23T09:53:00.002-04:00

A friend posted this on her blog this morning, and I thought it was such a poignant reminder of this weekend: Easter weekend. While yes, the guitar arrangement is beautiful and I don't think I've heard a much better singer than Carrie Underwood, just listen to the words...

Click for link to YouTube

How Great Thou Art Hymn

Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed;

Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel he gentle breeze;

Refrain

And when I think that God his son not sparing,
Sent him to die - I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

Refrain

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home- what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

I can't help but listen to this song with tears in my eyes. Thanks, Sara, so the awesome reminder of what we are truly celebrating Easter morning.

Robinettes

2011-04-21T23:17:00.002-04:00

Our church campus is currently renting a facility on Sunday mornings, so when we go to church on Wednesday mornings, we end up going to the same church that I volunteer at for MOPS. Therefore, every other Tuesday morning and every Wednesday morning, I get to hear two little voices scream from the back seat, "There's the big apple!" as we pass by a local apple orchard and shop. And yes, out front they have a very large apple that the kids were just dying to get out of the car and visit. We finally stopped (again - they've been there before, trust me) and checked out the orchard the other day. Of course, I wasn't really planning on stopping, so all I had on me for pictures was my cell phone, so beware, not-so-great pictures ahead!

We went inside for a donut and apple cider (only $1 because it's their 100th year!) and had to take a quick potty break and came across this cool old car/truck.

We had a lot of fun just running around outside for a little while on a not-totally-freezing-or-down-pouring day this week.

Praise and Worship - Meyers Style

2011-04-18T17:56:00.003-04:00

I caught these videos on the way home from church yesterday, while the kids were singing their hearts out to Jesus (along with their VeggieTales Praise and Worship CD). While I probably won't encourage them to pursue a career as a musical artist, I certainly love hearing them singing to Jesus now - even off key and at the top of their lungs. Enjoy.

Jayce singing "Thy Word"

Grayson singing, "Better is One Day"

Just a Sample

2011-04-14T16:21:00.003-04:00

I don't have the time to sit down and publish a whole blog about all the stuff we've been doing around here, bunk beds included, so I thought I'd just show you a couple of pictures...

The boys really like helping to pull the painters tape off the stairs when I was done painting them.
Jeremy and the boys with the finished bunk beds!
We have the kitchen walls finished with painting. Please ignore the soon-to-be-replaced ugly flooring and the leftover tape. I love having a pop of color in my domain.
We pulled down the baby border we had put up when this room was a "baby" room, and touched up the paint and then we put sports themed stickers all over their walls. The boys loved helping with that part!
There will certainly be more to come!

{Our} April Resolution

2011-04-02T14:59:00.005-04:00

I have to admit, I did not do as well as I would have liked for my March resolution. I only got 3 of the books I listed read, although I did read a "fun" book and I started and got about halfway through Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. My library hold was honored much sooner than I anticipated. Don't ask me what I think of it yet. I really don't know. I've been doing a pretty good job keeping up with the housework schedule I gave myself in February, although a big part of that is nesting, I'm thinking. Also, I'm about 3 or 4 days behind on my bible reading, but I'm keeping up with that too. Now, on to this month!

Last week, we purchased wood, paint, and other needed tools to make the bunk beds! So, while Jeremy was away yesterday working hard on those, I had one of those overwhelming desires to paint the kitchen. We've lived here for nearly 8 years and the kitchen is the only room in the house that we have done nothing with, under the pretense that we are just around the corner from being able to gut it and recreate it exactly how we'd like to. I've come to the conclusion that our complete remodel is never going to happen, and that I need to make the best of what I have. Which meant that I painted, on a whim, while Jeremy was out of the house for the day. Thankfully, he took it well.

He even took my idea for a birthday present for me (yes, I'm going to be 30! on Tuesday - yikes!) of tying up all of the "loose end" projects around the house. We'll see how he feels after the bunk beds are finished. But because of this, my (our) April resolution is going to be to get this house truly ready for a new baby. The hole in the kitchen wall from hooking up new electric? Patched. The wallpaper we started peeling in the stairwell nearly 7 years ago? Completely torn down and painted. Finish painting the hallway, touch up paint in the boys room, clean out the linen closet (seriously, how did that get so much junk in it?), clean out the basement, paint the kitchen cabinets, clean off the back porch, start putting stuff aside for the major garage sale we'll be having this summer. All that good stuff. And of course, bunk beds!! I think we are going to have a busy month. And that Jeremy will never again ask me what I want for my birthday when I'm pregnant. This whole nesting thing is the pits for him!

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Lastly, a funny story. Yesterday, as I was getting everything out to paint the kitchen, someone knocked at the front door. I love that our storm door locks and has a screen I can easily slide open for occasions when someone I don't know is knocking at the door, just like yesterday. I said hello, and he said (this is a direct quote), "Hi, is your mom or dad home?" I kid you not. I will be 30 in just a few days, and he's asking to speak to my parents. I informed him that I was indeed the homeowner. I suppose that ought to make me feel better about getting older!

Boy Genius.

2011-03-27T21:04:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I get it. Everyone thinks their own kid is fabulous. Of course, I'm of that same persuasion. However, I really do think I've got a smart one on my hands here. Tonight's evidence? A drawing of Lightning McQueen, complete with the word, "Rusteez" written across Lightning. He completely sounded out the word on his own. He decided it should be spelled "Rusteez" because I recently told him that "tree" was spelled with 2 e's because of the "eee" sound in it. Apparently it sank in.Both of the boys were really excited to use some "Lightning and Mater" pens that Jeremy had gotten for Christmas.
We've worked really hard with Jayce on how to hold a pen/pencil correctly. It certainly hasn't been easy, especially because he's a lefty. I can't even hold a pen correctly with my left hand!
He just kept working on his drawings, not even caring that I was snapping picture after picture of him working so diligently.
Just in case your eye can't catch the wording on his drawing (mine wouldn't be able to either if I hadn't seen him write it out), I highlighted the letters in red on this picture.
I love my little boy genius. I can't wait to see what he's going to be able to do next year while actually in school!

Spring Fever

2011-03-23T10:30:00.009-04:00

In light of the fact that this:is what we woke up to this morning, I'm choosing to see the beauty of the ice on our surrounding trees and bushes (and roads and cars - since I'm inside today) and I'm thinking back to just a few days ago, when we spent two full days out of the house, outdoors in the sunshine and pleasant spring weather....

We made trips to the Gardens and our local zoo on our two beautiful days of sunshine. Unfortunately, I neglected to bring the camera to the Gardens, so today, zoo pictures.
Of course, I took some pictures of the animals. The otter was out and playful, Jayce really thought the iguana was cool, the penguins are always a favorite of mine, and this poor horned owl was being fed a tootsie roll pop by a group of teenagers. Thankfully, he survived.
More importantly, here's pictures of the kids. I told Grayson to act like a fish. Here's what I got.
Jayce posed with the bull frog. This one is especially for my mom, who loves frogs! (This is completely sarcastic, she hates them. Something about a bad experience... we'll leave it at that.)
Here's Jeremy trying to point out the snow leopard to Jayce. He was actually active and "talking" while we were there!
Jeremy showed off his jumping skills, so the kids wanted to see how high they could "jump" with a little help from Daddy.

Grayson with the pelicans.

Looking for lions. They were a little harder to see this time. I suppose those African animals don't really appreciate high 40's and low 50's with sunshine as much as this native Michigander.
The boys posing with the Komodo Dragon. We actually got to see him up and walking around. I think that was the first time in several years of visiting our zoo.
Posing with the penguin statue.

Of course, we played on the train.

Grayson tried to give me a heart attack by climbing over some stuff in a very dangerous way. That poor kid has more bumps and bruises on his head, I just didn't want him to fall again...
Sitting at the table in the "dining car".
When we asked Grayson to sit with me and smile for a picture, he put his arm around him. So cute!
Mommy and Jayce.
Grayson doing more acrobatics on the train.
Grayson got a thrill ride on the way back to the car. Jeremy let go of the stroller and let him roll down the hill. He thought it was great fun!
So Jayce got in on the action too. I think he just wanted an excuse to shove Grayson down a hill, and he saw how much fun Grayson was having.
That led to Jayce and Jeremy running along with Grayson in the stroller. I was laughing at the top of the hill, trying to keep up.
Grayson even got a kick out of falling on his rear while trying to get off the stroller while it was still moving.
All in all, a beautiful day spent outdoors with the family. And something to look forward to... when all this ice melts away. Happy Spring!

A Little Update.

2011-03-23T09:25:00.004-04:00

This week, I got a compliment on my recent "change my life" quests. I guess I'd never really thought about it like I was out to "change my life", but I think that's a little bit true. Consider it a "mid-life" crisis on the idea that I'll be turning.... (gulp) THIRTY very soon. I guess there are some areas of my life that I'd like different: my spiritual growth, my house being cleaner/more organized, working on self more than other things. So, I'm on a mission, in this year of thirty, to change myself into what I'd rather be.

We recently canceled our cable. We've had it for more than 6 years, and because of the cable, the TV had become a fixture in our household. The first thing the kids would ask for after getting up (from night time or nap time) was a show or a movie. HGTV was our go-to Saturday companion. I wouldn't go to bed until at least midnight because there was always something to watch. I'd even sleep with the TV on overnight on the nights that Jeremy was working. The TV was becoming a problem.

When Lent rolled around for this year, my first thought was, "Let's get rid of TV!" I thought I'd have a hard time convincing my family, but I didn't! Jeremy was right on board, even suggesting we cancel the cable (why pay for something for 6 weeks that we aren't using)! He went through and unplugged everything so it couldn't be a temptation, because if I was honest, I'm not sure I could figure out how to plug everything back in! The kids don't even ask anymore to watch - it's a non issue.

Jeremy and I have found ourselves "connecting" more - we talk and read and go to bed at a decent time. I don't find myself planning the kids schedules based on the big black box. (Yes, I was totally guilty of trying to throw them in bed early because of the TV.) We get more done around the house. Today's project is starting on cleaning out the basement. I don't even think the kids miss it - the first thing they reach for after getting up is toys instead of the remote.

This Lenten time has been a good time to reflect on the sacrifice we are making, while thinking forward to the celebration of the sacrifice Jesus made so many years ago. This past weekend, our youth pastor at church spoke about being "Set Apart". He spoke on how our relationship with Jesus really calls us to be different than those around us - others should be able to look at us and realize that we are different. He asked the questions: What have you had to give up that you didn't want to because of Jesus? What have you had to do that you didn't want to do because of Jesus? How is your life different than those around you because of Jesus? Doesn't the Lenten season really make you consider what sacrifices we are making our own lives in relation to the sacrifice God made for us?

March Resolution

2011-03-02T19:44:00.002-05:00

I'm deciding to continue on my year of the new Melissa by giving myself a new resolution for the month of March. It's come to my attention, and not by any other person than myself, that I waste a lot of my day. There are days in which I am busier than I can imagine and just sitting down to eat is a treat, but most of my days are not like that. I find myself spending a lot of time sitting in front of the TV, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and generally doing things that are not necessary.

So, this month, I'm resolving to catch up on some reading. I'm giving myself 5 books (it was originally 4 books that I've started reading, but never finished) to finish reading before the end of the month. I'm actually planning on keeping a "book journal" that I'm going to take notes in throughout this journey. I've found myself much better at remembering things when I actually write stuff down. I'm an avid note taker at church on Sundays because of this. Here's my list:

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

*I've had this book for probably 5 years (a gift from my brother, I believe) and I started reading this book last summer, but I never really got into it. Therefore, I'm finally going to finish.

Bittersweet by Shauna Neiquist

* I went to a book reading by Shauna this fall and really enjoyed it, so I bought the book. I started reading it that same week, and just never finished.

For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn

* Jeremy and I went to a marriage conference last February, and I picked this up here. I ready 3/4 of it soon after, and actually picked up several copies to give away for Christmas, but I never actually finished reading it.

Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman

* I heard all kinds of good things about this parenting book a couple of years ago, so I bought it and started reading it, got the main idea, and quit reading. Again, I stopped for no apparent reason - I've even traveled with this book several times, hoping to finish it, but never have.

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

* I was only going to pick out 4 books for March, but I've had this for a while (another Christmas present from my brother?) but never had much of a desire to read it. However, after all the controversy surrounding his most recent book this week, I figured I'd check it out. Besides that I'll have a little extra time this month because I'm getting away for a whole weekend without kids!

Wish me luck on my newest adventure to becoming a "new Melissa"!

Best Buddies

2011-02-21T20:27:00.003-05:00

Today, I was working at the table, paying bills, Grayson came to me with a Thomas the Train book he wanted me to read. I told him that I would as soon as I was done with my "work", and the next thing I know, Jayce and he were reading it together on the couch. I took a break from my bills to catch a few photographs.

I even took a video of the event. Jayce "read" each page, word for word. I think the volume is pretty low, so crank up your speakers before pushing play!

I love that they truly are best friends.

A "Spring" Gardens Run

2011-02-17T23:15:00.006-05:00

Or a practice run. We've had unseasonably warm weather here this week, so even though it was a tad rainy, we ventured out to the Gardens with Grandma and some friends today. Just to take advantage of the weather.
It did drizzle a little bit, but the umbrella really came out to play.

The kids enjoyed splashing around in the puddles. I'm thankful for (mostly) waterproof winter boots!

Jayce was trying to get the horse to step on him.

Grayson saying, "Hi!" to a friend.
This is why you wear snow pants when it's still so cold and wet out: these girls got to play in the mud/water. Then they were willing to pose for a picture!
Jayce wanted to pose with Fred and Lena Meijer before we left. Too cute.
A fun day outside (finally!) and a good practice run for spring. I can't wait!!

Holy Cr@p

2011-02-15T17:50:00.005-05:00

Yes, it's crude. I know. Be warned about the content of this post.

However, we have some really exciting news!! Grayson has started "potty-training". Well, not technically. I'm not sure I actually want to undertake that quite yet, but tonight Jeremy noticed that he was starting to put a number 2 in his diaper, so he asked if Grayson wanted to go in the potty instead. Grayson asked to take his diaper off. Then he pooped. In the toilet. Sort of. He at least "finished" what he was working on, while sitting on the toilet. I'll count it because it was the very first time he had put anything in the toilet.

He was pretty proud of himself, especially after Jeremy and I made such a big deal out of him going. He even got a fantastic "prize" for going.

We even got out the little Elmo potty, to see if that would be more comfortable for him.

Holy Cr@p. I have a potty-training two-year-old and I'm having a baby in 12+ weeks. Wish me luck!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T12:49:00.006-05:00

Because today was Valentine's Day, I made the kids a special lunch. Yes, lunch. I decided to forgo the usual request portion of our day for breakfast because we were trying to get out to the door to the library (coincidentally, we did not make it there). So, when lunch rolled around, Grayson requested pancakes, just like he does nearly every day. I decided that since Valentine's Day only comes once a year, I'd oblige him and make pancakes. Pink pancakes. Heart-shaped, with sprinkles.
It was a big hit with the kids. Especially since it was served with blueberries, which I've finally convinced myself that it's alright to spend $1.50 on a pint when snow is on the ground. I got very much used to paying a much lower price when we went blueberry picking this summer.
When I pointed the camera at Grayson, this was his version of a smile. The one where I told him to show me his teeth was much worse.
The kids made these cute heart projects that I got from church a couple of weeks ago.
Grandma also came over and helped the kids make these "talking valentines".
I walked in the door after running to the store for a few things, and I was greeted by two sweet faces, framed in hearts, that said, "Happy Valentine's Day! I love you!"
Getting the kids to sit together on the couch to take a picture? Well, that part was difficult. This one was a tad blurry...
Obviously, one can see what's wrong with this photo.
After those two, Jayce was off and running again, and Grayson had turned his valentine into a "talking hand valentine". At least he smiled with his teeth this time.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

What's Going On With Us.

2011-02-14T10:30:00.003-05:00

I guess since I'm not posting all that much, I may just throw up an all inclusive update on our lives every week. So, here is goes:

My venture into becoming a proper housewife/mother is going well, I suppose. I put up some pretty lofty goals last week about de-cluttering... that didn't happen. However, I did keep everything clean. We kept up with the toys and dishes everyday. I managed to get all my laundry done and put away on Monday, so I actually skipped it for the rest of the week. Of course, that means today there is a huge amount ready to go, but I'm ok with that. The best part about this whole adventure into keeping my house regularly clean is that I have no qualms about inviting people over at a moments notice. My greatest fear used to be that my mother-in-law, who is next to a perfect housekeeper, would stop by sometime when dishes were spilling out of the sink onto the counter next to it, my stove top would be covered in food and crumbs, and the house was filthy. Now, that's not a possibility now. Another great advantage to working so hard toward keeping things here under control is that I've got regular help from the men who also live here. There's been more than one occasion that Jeremy will pop into the kitchen and do the dishes so I don't have to, and the kids have become pros about cleaning up their toys every night. They've also come to realize there are consequences to not cleaning up after themselves: the loss of toys. I love that the whole family has gotten involved in our cleaning adventure. Now, I've just got to get to that de-cluttering that I really want done. I think that Valentine's Day is the perfect starting point for that, right?

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I've started the search for the perfect school for Jayce this fall. I hate this. I can't figure out who I want to hand my child over to for his education. Part of me (a big part) wants to just keep him home and try it myself. Except that Jayce regularly talks about going to school. I think he's excited about the option of actually going to a school building and meeting new friends and learning. So, I'm searching. There are a few local options that would be alright with me. Our local elementary school has a Pre-Kindergarten program (because Jayce will be five in late November, which is in time for the cut off, I want him to start with a Young 5's or Pre-Kindergarten program, although I know that he's smart enough to be able to handle Kindergarten, just too young), and better than that: they have one of the two Montessori programs in our district. I think that Jayce would love a Montessori program and that he would do so well in that kind of environment. I'm also checking into a few of the local charter schools that have a Pro-Kindergarten program. Jeremy and I also want to check into some of the local Christian schools and see how expensive they will be. I would love to send my children to a Christian school (I went to a Christian school K-12, along with college), but the expense of it is what really scares me. We live on such a tight budget as it is. Then again, if it's God's will, I know we could come up with the funds. I think that I just want my baby to stay to little for school. Unfortunately, that's not exactly happening...

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I have to admit, this week has been a huge fail for me in regard to my daily Bible reading. I'm very behind, and I've had a hard time motivating myself to do my reading during the daytime when I have energy to get through some of the tough parts (Currently, I'm stuck in the end of Exodus, when God is giving Moses the rules of living and the measurements/plans for the temple - it's tough to feel motivated for all that detail.), and I'm usually really tired by the time I get into bed, so I've been falling asleep while reading, or just not reading at all. I certainly need some motivation and some prayer from my fellow believers to get myself back on track. I know that I'm going to finish out this resolution, I just need a little something to push me through this tough patch I'm going through.

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Lastly, Happy Valentine's Day! Tonight, Karen (AKA Grandma, Mom and mother-in-law) is coming over to hang out with us. Which reminds me: Jeremy had an interesting night at work. He was working a radio and got a call from an officer who was involved in a developing pursuit. The officer had started following a suspicious car, and the driver pulled into a driveway and ditched the car, letting it run through some one's garage door. As Jeremy was getting the information from the officer who was chasing the suspect, he realized that the lucky garage door belongs to his mom. Yes, some crazy (or high or drunk or both) guy allowed his (or whomever's car it was) vehicle to run into Karen's garage door. At 1am in the morning. Thankfully, the people Jeremy work with are awesome, and they got everything worked out, even allowing him to go check on her and make sure everything was ok - except that Karen really needs her garage door fixed. I know that's making for a very interesting Valentine's Day this year. At least we can (hopefully) be a distraction for her tonight. So, Happy Valentine's Day! What are your plans for tonight?

Update

2011-02-07T11:39:00.002-05:00

Ok, one week down on my new resolution. I'd like to think it was a success. My house was cleaned everyday, and we even had company over and there was no last minute cleaning that needed to be done, except running the vacuum through the living room. I'm pretty happy with how things went. Especially when I take into consideration that I was sick for a couple of days, and my wonderful husband (and mom!) stepped in to make sure dishes were done before bedtime, toys were picked up, etc.

Of course, I certainly have room for improvement this second week of our new, cleaner lifestyle. I only cleaned things this week - there was no actual "decluttering" (Is this actually a word?) done. I didn't do laundry the first couple of days that it was "assigned" to me. I also ignored my bedroom because it has piles and piles of laundry that needs to be put away and we had family over for the weekend.... Lots of excuses, but truthfully, I would prefer to call it room for improvement. Because that's exactly what I plan to do: improve!

This week, my goal is to clean out some of the clutter. I know it's not going to happen all in one week, but I figure that if I start now, by the end of February, we'll have a cleaner, more clutter-free house to live in. And a great start to a new habit.

More Snow Pictures

2011-02-02T14:32:00.004-05:00

Standing in the middle of the street, talking with my neighbor. I looked over and noticed some of the 2 foot plus deep tire marks in the middle of the road.
Some of the drifts next to our van.
Our neighbor's pool. During the summer, I can stand next to it and rest my arms comfortably at shoulder level. That's another 2-3 foot on top.
Our neighbor's swing set. I think the snow will inhibit the swinging today.
Compare the pile to the back of our SUV. Yeah.
My front yard. At first glance, you might think, "So what?" until you realize that it's level with our 2.5-3 foot tall porch. Yes, we did dig out a path for the mailman.
I tried to get even with our 3 foot tall fence in the back yard when I took this picture. Notice how the snow behind it is actually taller? That's a lot of snow.
Our back yard. There are actually some toy tub sitting next to the shed one cannot see anymore. Also, I don't think that sliding would be fun - only going down 1 or 2 feet instead of 4.
It's official. I stand corrected. We got the storm. My apologies to the weathermen (and women) that I doubted.

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-02T09:20:00.005-05:00

As it turns out, our local meteorologists were excited about something: we certainly got our blizzard last night. Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what we're dealing with this morning:

This is the snow, drifted up to our front porch. Our front porch is 3 feet tall. Our covered front porch also needed to be shoveled this morning. That never happens.
My 6' 2" husband standing in our front yard. The snow was up over his knees.
Walking through tire tracks in the road in front of our house. Otherwise the snow would have been up and over his boots. Jeremy had the privilege of working overtime last night because of the storm. He was sent home this morning and had no problems navigating the roads until he got to our road. As he came down the hill near our house, he "gunned" it to make it all the way to our driveway and drove through a hiding snowdrift that was at least 3 feet deep. He told me at least 6 inches of snow covered his entire car, and that he couldn't stop. Thankfully he made it home safely.
This is a 2-3 foot drift in our back yard. I don't think we are going to be going out to play.
The edge of our driveway. Thankfully our wonderful neighbor came over to help Jeremy with the driveway after he got home from work. Again, that's between 2 and 3 foot deep.
This is the product of shoveling in your work clothes.
Stay tuned: this storm still isn't over yet. It snowed about an inch while Jeremy was outside working on clearing out the driveway. I love living in West Michigan.

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

2011-01-30T15:06:00.003-05:00

I am not a good housekeeper. I never have been, but I hope to be better at it one day. When it comes right down to it, I would rather do just about anything else besides clean. Of course I like it when my house is in order and there isn't stuff everywhere, as it tends not to be with two small boys living here. However, it doesn't really bother me to let things go a bit, until someone wants to stop by or I trip over toys on my way to the kitchen. Believe me, if the above saying is correct, I am far from a godly person.

I never learned to love a clean house - or better yet, I never learned to love to clean my house and keep it neat and tidy. Honestly, growing up, it was something we did when we were having company over (sorry Mom for throwing you under the bus there) because we were so darn busy: church 3 times a week, sports practices and games, weekend outings, etc. Naturally, that's my mode of operation now too: clean when it becomes necessary. There are actually days when I wish that I was just a touch of a germaphobe (not too sure on the spelling of that one!) or that I actually enjoyed cleaning. Mostly, I just wish that we could afford to have a cleaning lady come in once a week or month. No luck yet on any of those things.

In light of all of this realization, I'm coming up with a resolution for the month of February too: I'm creating a chore list for me (and my husband, when he wants to pitch in!) that I will keep up with everyday! I've had some success at keeping up with my resolution for 2011 (here's a reminder in case you don't remember!), and I've decided that I think I'd really like to make this the year of a brand new Melissa. Nothing too drastic, but give myself monthly goals/standards too live up to. So, in case you were wondering, here's my chore list (I'm assigning a room per day to clean, along with some other daily activities):

Monday: Living Room and laundry (including putting it away)

Tuesday: Bathroom

Wednesday: Playroom and laundry (including putting it away)

Thursday: Kitchen

Friday: Bedrooms and laundry (including putting it away)

Saturday: Hallway/Stairs in addition to clean sweep of all rooms

Sunday: Day of Rest

Everyday: pick up stuff, toys put away, dishes done, counter tops/stove top clean

I'm currently writing this out on a pretty piece of paper (or plain ol' notebook paper) for my refrigerator (our printer is not currently hooked up to our computer, and it's too much hassle to print something out). I will commit to this schedule, I WILL!!

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Since this is nearly the last day of the month, I thought I'd update you on my progress with my actually New Year's Resolution. I'm currently caught up on my daily reading, along with a short daily devotional on the life of Paul (by Beth Moore). I'm also trying to catch up on another short daily devotional that I really enjoy, but I'm a tad farther behind on that one. I've also realized that while my time in the word is becoming more sufficient, my quiet time and prayer time is lacking. I'm trying to work on that now. A couple of ladies from my Monday night Bible study suggested keeping a prayer journal by recording and praying over scripture that I'm reading that's really impacting me. I love that idea, and I am planning on implementing it. I'd love your prayer and support in those areas that I'm working on now. Thanks!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-19T19:20:00.002-05:00

Yes, these are cell phone photos. Not fabulous, but what I had on hand....These were taken at our Wednesday morning bible study Christmas party. All of the older kids (not babies) sang a few songs for the moms. My two children sang the loudest (and were the only singers on one song). Proud Mommy.

Jeremy's Resolution

2011-01-17T05:04:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it's not really a "resolution" per see for Jeremy, but it is something that Jeremy's hoping to do this winter/spring. We need to build our kids a set of bunk beds before our new baby comes.

We actually spent an hour Friday afternoon looking at various stores to see what they have, what's affordable for us, and what is actually possible for us to try to create on our own. We certainly got some fabulous ideas (we're thinking a loft bed with stairs that have storage with a twin bed on the floor underneath), and would you believe how inspired I was to log onto Twinsanity's blog and see that she's made the exact thing we are wanting to make for the boys' room! She even provided us with links to the plans she got to build them. Considering that she managed to make that awesome bed/playhouse for her kids, I am even leaning towards the idea that I could certainly help/maybe make them too... Wow.

So, here we go... I'll let you know how it goes. Or which store we end up buying bunks from. Which ever comes first.

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

When you manage to get up off the floor (because of the surprise of me actually posting two new posts in just one day - can you imagine!), I'll fill you in on what my New Year's resolution for this year is.

Last year I was successful at my New Year's resolution for the first time in my life. Yes, after 29 years, I have finally managed to make a resolution and keep it - for the entire year. If you remember, my resolution for last year was giving up pop, more specifically Diet Pepsi, and drinking only water for a month. I needed to kick a bad addiction I had going, and I managed to go an entire year without any pop (minus one short mental lapse in which I enjoy a glass of punch at a wedding without thinking about the fact that there was probably pop in it).

In light of the fact that I managed to fulfill my first ever New Year's resolution, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to resolve to do this year. After some thought, I decided that reading the Bible every day was what I wanted to do. So I dusted off the Bible in a Year my brother had given me for Christmas a few years ago. Mind you, making a resolution to stop doing something (like drinking pop) is very different from resolving to actually do something new. Yes, I was reading the bible every once in a while, but actually carving time out of every day to read a porting of "God's words to us" (what Jayce tells me the Bible is every time we sing "The B-I-B-L-E") is going to be a lot different.

And that's exactly what I came to find out that first week. I managed to ignore my new reading for a week straight. It was easy to do, you see, because Jeremy was home a lot, things were starting up again for the winter, and the boys demanded a lot of attention, along with the normal household chores, taking down all our Christmas decorations, etc. But then we went to my friend, Heather's, house, and she told me that she too was trying to read through the Bible in a year. Suddenly, there was someone in my exact place, but with a busier household, more space to clean, more laundry, etc. I knew immediately that I had a buddy who would keep me accountable and keep me in the Word every day. So, thank you, Heather.

I can't tell you how exciting it was to turn to Matthew 9:9-13 this morning at church and realize that I had just read through that passage this week. How exciting it has been to learn more about Abraham, Noah, Isaac, and Jacob than I had in my 18 years of Christian education. How refreshing it is to start and end my day in "God's words to us".

So, here I am, putting it out there: this year, I am resolving to get to know God better, by spending time in his Word. Every day.

Gasp! A Real Post?!?

2011-01-16T14:33:00.011-05:00

Yes, many of these photos are nearly a month old, but I thought you might like to take a look at what our crazy-busy Christmas looked like this year! And I managed to only add a couple of photos from each celebration - so this won't take you a whole day to look through, only an hour or two. Just kidding. I think.

To start off, one of our local malls installs a huge electronic train set every Christmas season, and it is always a highlight to check it out. It seems like they add more and more each year, including Thomas the train and some of his buddies.
They also have a free Santa who comes in at certain times of the week - it doesn't cost a thing to visit him, take your own picture, and they have a digital camera there should you have forgotten your own that they will email you a copy. Who knew that there is a mall out there that actually embodies the true Christmas spirit - give not take!
We spent a week at my parents house just before Christmas, which included many Christmas celebrations. Our first, other than getting to see my brother and sister-in-law (from Virginia), was family Christmas for my dad's side of the family. I couldn't decide on just one or two photos for this one because there were so many people there we hadn't seen in so long! First, the photo of Kevin is because of that beautiful butterfly stitch on his face: he attacked my dog, and she defended herself. I just had to include it! Also, we were thrilled to see Tyler (top right), who is 18 and just joined the Army and who we haven't seen in several years (I didn't even recognize him!), my Grandma D, who broke out of rehab where she was recovering from knee replacement surgery, and my Aunt Carol, who was hospitalized not too long ago for having fluid around her heart - very scary situation! Looking back, it was so much fun spending the evening with all these people.
Our next Christmas party was with my mom's side of the family. These are all the younger generation of 2nd cousins who were at the party. We were actually missing 5 others, and the oldest 6 didn't want to sit with the "little kids" on the floor. They also didn't get presents!
By far one of my favorite times of this party was torturing my cousin, Austin, with the singing doll his little sister got. He hated the song it played, so it was great fun to turn it on nearby him and watch him squirm.
While we were at my parents' house over that week, we carved out some time to go spend with my Grandma D, who was still at rehab recovering. She got the boys some Christmas gifts that they opened while we were there, and Grandma D got her gift from us.
Since we weren't going to be with my parents, brother, or sister-in-law for Christmas, we had our own Christmas celebration. I tried sticking a red bow on Lexi and giving her as a "gift" to Kevin and Rachel, but they didn't go for it. Lexi wasn't too happy about me trying to give her away either.
Grayson loved the hat that Kevin and Rachel got for him, and he still wears it every time he goes out of the house.
A cute picture with our Aunti and Uncle we don't get to see nearly enough!
The boys had so much fun playing with Uncle Kevin the week we were with him. For how shy Grayson was with him a couple of weeks before that, he certainly warmed up after spending so much time together.
Christmas Eve, we got together with Jeremy's family to celebrate Christmas. Jeremy's sisters, brother-in-law, and mom went together and got this awesome train table for the boys. Needless to say, it was a big hit!
We also got to meet Jonathan and Lauren's new puppy, Tallahassee. Here he's sitting on his new couch, a Christmas present from Kalena and Karen. Isn't he cute!?
Christmas morning the boys had fun opening gifts together and apart, seeing family who came for breakfast, and just relaxing.
Aunti Kalena even got involved in a very frustrating game of "The Duck Game," which I had to bow out of because I couldn't handle some one's refusal to play by the rules. Thankfully, Kalena is a better sport than I am!
One of my favorite things about Christmas at Jeremy's mom's house is that when we were opening up our stockings, we found some of the clues Jeremy's dad had used when they were kids. Jeremy's mom and dad always made a game out of figuring out whose gifts were whose, and where they were. It was usually a day long process to open gifts at Christmas, even sometimes going into the next day. Jeremy and his sister had fun looking back at the old clues and seeing their dad's handwriting again.
Last, the boys got these suckers in their stockings this year. Do you know who they are? If you are at all familiar with Mater or the Cars movie, you should have recognized them right away.
As you can see, we had a great Christmas this year, filled with tons of family and celebrations, part of the best part of Christmas for me. But truthfully, even better than family and parties, remembering the true meaning of Christmas, and having my kids know that Christmas is just a celebration of Jesus' birthday, that He came to earth as a baby who would eventually grow into the man that would take away the sins of this world, was what really made Christmas special this year.

I know, I know

2011-01-14T18:42:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know it's been a VERY long time since I've actually posted on here. My apologies. Especially because tonight I'm not actually "posting" something... I'm just checking in to say "Hey! Check out my friend, Kristi's, blog." It's called Broken and Redeemed - Confessions of an Imperfect Woman. Understand, she's only posted one time, so far, but she's a totally amazing woman who certainly has a lot to say on faith. I especially love her first post on Trust vs. Fear. It really hit home. So, if you have a few extra minutes in your day, check out what she has to say.

And I'll use my extra time to finally download our Christmas pictures and hopefully get a few of them posted.

Baby Meyers

2010-12-31T20:23:00.002-05:00

We had our ultrasound this past Thursday, and I thought I'd share a picture of our "perfectly developing" third boy! We are excited to meet him and find out his name come this May!

This Shouldn't Happen, Right?

2010-12-16T18:00:00.002-05:00

So, last Saturday, my husband and I decided to brave the world known as Toys-R-Us-at-Christmas. Naturally, they didn't have the sale items that I needed for Christmas presents for my kids, and they told me that there were none at our other local store. My only option, according to the sales person, was to order it online at the sale price and maybe it would get to my house before we leave for our out of town Christmas celebrations. So I did it. Because they other store didn't have the game. Or so they told me.

Because I have all the time in the world at this time of year, I decided to run to the other store and just check and see if they had what I needed. Would you believe they did - and 5 of them! I went ahead and purchased what I needed, and called the 1-800 number to cancel my online order. Much to my dismay, I was just too late to cancel. I suppose this is one good thing about toysrus.com - they immediately start packing up what's been ordered. Thankfully they offered me a free return label so that I could ship my package back.

And then this is what I received in the mail today. It's half open, with paperwork dangerously close to falling out, one whole corner ripped up, and banged up so badly that the gift inside was slightly damaged. Awesome.
Moral of the story: Avoid Toys R' Us at Christmastime. And maybe UPS isn't the best way to ship this time of the year.

It's Official

2010-11-22T10:43:00.002-05:00

Ok, people. It's official. I need to be locked up in a loony bin. Or at least in my house come Friday this week. That's right, I'm going shopping.

This year, it's not the usual get up early and go out route I'm taking. I'm starting at 10 pm, Thanksgiving night. At Toys R' Us. The most insane after-Thanksgiving shopping place EVER.

Now, where's my straight jacket?

In Search of Color

2010-11-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that it was November 11, the boys and I (later joined by Grandma) managed to enjoy a beautiful, sunny day at the Gardens. Sadly, November marks the month where all of the technicolor Chihuly starts to disappear, along with the beautiful fall foliage. I still went in search of a little color, and I was pleasantly surprised to find as much as I did. Fair warning: this post contains a ton of photos, but not too many words.

I asked Grayson to take his fingers out of his mouth for this photograph, and I got a kiss being blown at me instead. Oh well, it's still cute.
This is what happens when I say, "Grayson, put your hands down here," and put my hands on my legs. Monkey see, monkey do.

The place looks a little drab compared to some of the beautiful summer photos we'd taken. The Chihuly installers are in the final stages of removing all of the installations from this summer's exhibit.

Jayce found a friend to play hide and seek with - here he is counting.

We decided to picnic at the Gardens too. It was much too nice of a day to go home and eat inside.
So, we picnicked (is that a word??) in front of the horse statue. Gave us something to look at while we ate.

Out to the farm we went to ring the bell.

Then we walked all the way to the opposite side of the park to the waterfall. I had some very tired boys on my hands when we got done.
The last of the exhibit being removed. Sad day.

The Christmas trees are being put up and decorated. We took advantage of a photo opportunity while I had two willing participants. Unfortunately, Grayson and Jayce both got a little washed out. I'll have to work on that for next time.

Jumpin' In The Leaves

2010-11-12T06:15:00.000-05:00

While Jeremy worked hard at getting our yard cleaned up the other day, and I kind of worked hard at the same, the kids decided to do some hard work of their own: jumpin' in the leaves.Before one can really jump into the leaves, one must rake them into a pile. Thankfully, the kids were willing to do their own hard work.
They actually worked at it for a long time before needing help from a bigger person with stronger arms to pile up the leaves.
Ok, well, actually one little boy asked for help and the other refused it. I didn't really enjoy raking with a kiddie rake, but hey, we do what we do.
Unfortunately, only one boy really wanted to jump after we worked so hard, but that was his choice.
Ready, set....
JUMP!!
I'd give this landing a perfect 10!
We had a lot of fun jumping again and again into the leaves.
Meanwhile, the other boy tried to swing on his own. Unsuccessfully. He's a little short to get up on our swing by himself.
He really didn't appreciate my taking pictures instead of helping get him into the swing.
Especially when I kept snapping more and more pictures because I thought he looked funny. Rest assured, this was the last picture I took before he went for a quick ride before playing in the nearly empty sandbox.
Do you now understand why I said that Jeremy worked hard, and I hardly worked? Hey, someone has to watch the children (and take pictures).

Cook's Farm Dairy

2010-11-11T15:32:00.003-05:00

I never quite understood why Cook's decided to name their place "Cook's Farm Dairy". I've always thought it should be reversed. But, I suppose no one consulted me...

A couple of weekends ago, we traveled back to the East side of the state, and my baby cravings drove us to Cook's for some cute pictures and delicious ice cream. I thought I'd take the opportunity to try to get some cute fall pictures of the boys. I thought this one turned out nice, minus the need of haircuts and Jayce's goofy face. It was, however, the best photo of both of them.
Of course, they had to check out the scale and see how much they weighed. I wish it was true, as the scale said that the two of them together was only 74 lbs. I know better; after all, I'm the one who pushes them around in a stroller!

We also checked out the baby cows. Grayson peeked in the window of this one and was startled when the calf looked at him. Many screams were followed by some sweet lady trying to comfort him by touching his face right after she let a cow suck on her fingers. So disgusting! Who does that?!?
It was feeding time for the adult cows too.
Then we ventured back to check out the pigs.
Grayson finally got over his fear of the calves and pet one. We did a thorough cleaning of the face and hands before we went inside and got ice cream.
Funny, I don't have pictures of our ice cream... I guess I was too busy stuffing my face. Maybe next time.

What's Better Than Going To The Mall To Play??

2010-11-05T16:32:00.002-04:00

Answer: Having a special Aunt to bring along who will get in the boat with the boys, crawl through tunnels with the boys, and go down the slide with the boys. She even went down the slide head first, with Grayson riding her like a surfboard. Needless to say, the boys had a good time.

Rain, Wind, Snow, or Sleet

2010-10-28T18:16:00.009-04:00

Well, we really only conquered one of those things today, but it still felt like a victory! But first, we carved some pumpkins at Grandma's house.

Jayce liked to think he was able to do it on his own, but both boys really needed help.
Grandma "helped" Grayson with his pumpkin. In all actuality, Grandma did all the work. Grayson didn't really want anything to do with it. I'm not sure if it was being at Grandma's house and being able to play there, or disliking the insides of the pumpkin, but neither boy really wanted to have anything to do with the insides of our jack-o-lanterns.
We had the boys draw a face on the pumpkins and then we actually did the carving.
Here's Jayce's drawing. It was a tad small, so I had to encourage him to add to it a little bit.
Then I got to carve his pumpkin for him, with a little help from Jayce.
Grandma and Grayson worked on Grayson's pumpkin.
Jayce with his finished product!
Grayson with his jack-o-lantern.
After we carved our pumpkin friends, we toasted our pumpkin seeds and had lunch. Then Grandma made us chocolate chip cookies before we headed off to the Gardens, for that last Chihuly visit. Of course, we brought along some toasted pumpkin seeds to share with our friends.
Can you imagine? We actually got a good picture of all of the big kids again.
That doesn't mean that we didn't get a few not-so-great photos first.

Grayson met some new friends back at the farm.
We also stumbled across a pumpkin patch made up of huge pumpkins! Jayce was kind enough to actually pose for a picture for me.
Then he tried to actually move one of those huge pumpkins. Not an easy task for a near four year old.
Grayson was kind enough to pose for a picture too. He doesn't do a very natural smile... yet.
I didn't want to leave our stroller-bound tag-along out of the picture taking!
Jayce goofing off with the big pumpkins.
This is an attempt at getting a posed picture of my two kids together. I had a little help from my friend, Heather, who was making faces at the kids to get them to smile. Jayce decided to make faces back at her.
But Grayson's picture turned out well!

We actually found the last Chihuly that I hadn't seen in the six months it's been on display.

One last stop at the tree house...
and our exhaustion fully kicked in. Grayson sat on the robin's eggs and stared off into the distance for a full two minutes, which led us to believe it was time to go.
Not even rain, high winds, or low temperatures kept us from the Gardens and our pumpkin fun today. And the best part? The kids skipped naps and ran around outside for two straight hours so it was early to bed for everyone! My kind of day.

Baby Meyers 2011

2010-10-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

Blurry, yes. But we captured our first pictures of Baby Meyers, 2011 this week. We also got to hear the heartbeat during the ultrasound. Baby's heart rate was initially 182, but it was also measured at 176 at the end of the ultrasound. Now, according to the old wives tale, the heart rate indicates it could be a girl. However, both boys had initial heart rates that measured at 176 - somehow Jeremy remembered that information! My doctor, the one who told me the old wives tale, also told me that in his experience, it was about 50% accurate. Put all that information together, and we are definitely having a boy. Or a girl. I guess time will tell!

The Gardens - Fall 2010

2010-10-26T23:33:00.002-04:00

I bet you thought that I might be posting one final Gardens set of pictures before the fall weather/snow move into West Michigan and take over. You're probably wrong. I fully intend to make it there again this week, just so I can enjoy the Chihuly exhibit one more time. Which is exactly what we did a few days ago, with some good friends.

Can you imagine how surprised we were that all of the "big kids" with us actually wanted to sit down on the same bench and pose for a picture together? I can't believe that it actually turned out.
As we were walking out, Jayce took the hand of one of his future girlfriends (I'm sure), and they walked together, fingers interlaced. So. Stinkin'. Cute!!!
You should know that I am in no way responsible for these fantastic photos. That's my friend Heather. Pop over to her blog to check out some more of her cute photos!

Ms. Betsy

2010-10-25T13:39:00.003-04:00

Library time is our Monday morning activity of choice for many reasons, most of all Ms. Betsy. As you can see in the following picture (sorry, cell phone pictures - not great), my boys have really taken to her. Grayson finally participates and Jayce doesn't really want to move up to the "big kids" Monday class because Ms. Betsy isn't the teacher. That's why last week was so bitter-sweet. Ms. Betsy announced that she's retiring at the end of this cycle of library times - in only 3 weeks!Come January, I know we'll show up at the library on Monday morning, but I'm not sure what we are going to do. I do know one thing for sure - We'll be missing Ms. Betsy!

ArtPrize 2010

2010-10-23T21:43:00.009-04:00

It's fair to say that I live in one of the coolest, most exciting cities in Michigan or better. We have a million things to do here: apple orchards galore, museums, parks by the dozen, small town atmospheres, a zoo, botanical gardens, an awesome children's museum, etc. However, the best thing Grand Rapids ha brought into our lives lately is ArtPrize. Last year we enjoyed walking around downtown and exploring this new and different art competition. This year, we really tried to get the kids involved, to get them interested in art.

Grand Rapids had a huge storm blow through the night before the competition officially started. Since most of the outdoor art was already set up, it had to weather the storm. This piece didn't do so well - the bottom of it shattered. We actually got to see the artist fix this piece and start it up. Jayce really enjoyed it!

This is a sculpture made of metal that melted glass was being poured over. It was interesting to see the artists making it.
These elephant heads moved in the wind.
One of the art exhibits was several pianos painted and set out around the city. People were encouraged to play them, and the boys certainly got into it.
This huge portrait was made completely of Rubik's cubes.
Nana and Papa made it over for a weekend of ArtPrize too.
This is a live statue. He's incredibly talented and totally realistic.

The finished product of the melted glass.
When you laid on this platform, you could hear the music from the speakers above. Fun and interactive.
This beautiful piece of artwork is a mosaic made of glass. So beautiful!
This beach scene is made of many layers of ribbon and string. So interesting!

A gigantic penny made of pennies.

This is a close-up shot of the picture above. It was made from little plastic balls (or paint balls - I can't remember which) lined up in plastic tubes.
My kids were so patient waiting to play this gigantic xylophone.

This Grand Rapids city scape was made from a single piece of paper.
Waiting patiently in line to get into the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
The $250,000 winner. This is a pencil drawing - and you can see how big it is. Amazing.

We had an amazing time, exploring art and our city. Won't you consider journeying to Grand Rapids next fall to check out one of the coolest cities and art competitions in the world?

BIG Announcement

2010-09-26T14:58:00.002-04:00

I'd like to say that our big announcement is that I'm planning on blogging a lot more frequently. But if you look at my most recent post, it's from September 1 - nearly a month ago. I certainly haven't been too good at keeping up with things on here. My apologies.

However, I think that my BIG announcement is much, much better than that! In fact, I think I'll let Jayce tell you himself:

Jayce: I have a surprise for you! It's a secret! My mommy has a sister in her belly!

Ok, truthfully, we don't know that it's a sister yet. I'd say that part is wishful thinking on Jayce's part. But we are expecting again! Jeremy and I are beyond thrilled and excited and apprehensive. While we certainly we not surprised by our third baby, suddenly the realization that we need more space is hitting us. We'll see how that works out.

Telling Jayce about our newest addition has certainly led to some interesting conversations, such as this one:

Jayce: Mommy, my sister is in your belly.

Me: So, you think it's going to be a girl-baby?

Jayce: Yes.

Me: What if the baby is a boy-baby?

Jayce: Then it's a sister-boy-baby.

Me: What should we name the baby?

Jayce: girl-baby sister!

I think that the next seven months or so are going to be very interesting around here!!

Munising, MI

2010-09-01T19:45:00.020-04:00

I guess we're starting at the end of our trip. I started uploading photos of our recent family vacation, and realized that it would be insanely long. Therefore: Munising, Michigan.

Kevin and Rachel flew up from Virgina a couple of weeks ago to enjoy a Mahan family tradition: Gitche Gumee Bible Camp. Because they were flying out the day after camp ended, the whole family traveled to Munising, MI to take in some beautiful scenery.

Here we are hiking a short path to the Munising Falls.
My Dad and Grayson, checking out the falling water. The boys were surprisingly interested in doing a lot of the sight seeing.
They just weren't as interested in posing for pictures. Keep in mind this was the end of the week - don't you just love Grayson's "death stare"?
Such beautiful scenery.
Climbing down from the upper viewing area.
"Look, Mom! That's where I just was. Up there!"
The family posing on one of the bridges along the trail to the falls.
We kept driving down the coast and found this awesome place!

It was a retired Coast Guard station.

As you can see, there was an overturned life boat along the shore line that made a fantastic photographic opportunity.

Our family even got in on the action. Although, I was a little nervous being on this obviously deteriorating wooden boat. I thought I'd be going in the water to fish out a child or my husband.
Obviously everyone wasn't so into posing for pictures.
They preferred to explore. Off they went down the beach to see what kind of mischief they could get into. Those are tracks that the boats would ride down to get in the water from the Coast Guard building.

Another vantage point.

The sand was a brilliant pink/red color. I think this picture will do well for scrapbooking - whenever I find the time to start again!
Mom and Dad wanted an opportunity to get a nice shot together. I suppose it could have been better without the rugrats in the background, but I'm guessing they will like that aspect of the photo.
London Bridge anyone?
This was inside the Coast Guard building. I'm not sure what it's being used for now other than storage.
After dinner, a dip in the swimming pool, and a good nights rest, we were off exploring again before Kevin and Rachel had to get to their flight. This time we hiked to Miners Castle Falls. While we thought it was a relatively short hike, it really felt much longer.
Jayce was lucky enough to get a ride from many different people.
Grayson got a ride too. Can you see the falls in the background?
A better view.
This is Miners Castle, part of the Pictured Rocks National Shoreline. The picture is unedited because it didn't really need a bump in color: this is exactly how it looked in person. It was absolutely beautiful. The color of the water, the rocks, the trees and even the kayaks totally complimented each other. I've now added to my list of places I want to see in the Upper Peninsula the rest of the Pictured Rocks National Shoreline.
I couldn't take enough pictures at this place. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I can't imagine what it would look like for one of the people in the water.
Grayson had a bad habit of grabbing glasses: Kevin complied this time and let him wear his sunglasses.

Kevin and Rachel at Miners Castle.

We stopped for a very quick lunch before my Mom and Dad took Kevin and Rachel to the airport.
Then we had to say our goodbyes.
While Mom and Dad took Kevin and Rachel to the airport, we took the kids on a glass-bottom boat Shipwreck Tour. This is the building we left from in Munising.
Once we got on the boat, the boys got to have their lunch: cheese and crackers, cucumbers, and fruit snacks. Yum.
Peeking out the window as the boat got going. He wanted to see where we were headed.
It's hard for a nearly two-year-old boy to sit still...
Some of the views as we made our way out to the first shipwreck site.
We came across another boat, just like ours, at the first site.
Our first glimpse. On the bottom deck of the boats, there were viewing wells that opened up (they were benches other wise) and allowed the passengers to look down clearly under the water. While I was busy taking a few first shots, and Jeremy was keeping Jayce busy, Grayson took it upon himself to get a good look of the first shipwreck. He nearly fell into the five foot deep viewing well (which was difficult to actually do, but he found a way) but for the kindness of a stranger who saw him starting to go over the side and grabbed him. Thankfully he was just startled and not hurt. The gentleman on the microphone telling us about the different wrecks we were seeing said later on that they have had to go into the wells for many things before that people had dropped, but that this was the first time he almost had to go in after a child. That's my Grayson!
It was amazing how clear everything way - like you could almost reach out and touch it, even though most of the artifacts were still 5-25 ft underwater.
The area we were in was at the very beginning on the Pictured Rocks National Shoreline, so I took way too many pictures of the scenery.
Totally amazing.
A lighthouse we passed on our way to one of the wrecks.

The boys had a hard time being interested in everything along our boat ride. Jayce got creative with his crackers (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) and Grayson explored ways to derail the rest of the trip and get into things he shouldn't.

In the Upper Peninsula, highway 2 runs right along the Lake Michigan shoreline. There are many, many places you can pull off the side of the road and take a quick dip or put your toes in the water. So we did. My parents managed to catch up to us (or we caught up with them) in the UP so they stopped with us.

We should have realized that we wouldn't stay clean and dry (and should have left a change of clothes out), but playing in the sand was totally worth it. Here's Grayson in a hold Jeremy dug.

Jayce jumping into the same hole.
We don't get too many opportunities to take pictures with just us, so we posed with the beautiful background.
After crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we stopped in Mackinaw City to eat dinner and explore some souvenir shops.
We found a restaurant that didn't have an hour long wait on a Saturday night, and Jeremy carved the boys' names in our booth, which was covered with other carvings.
Then we got to see the sun set with the bridge, all lit up for the night, in the background. A beautiful ending to a wonderful family vacation.
I'm already counting down the days until we go back again!

What Does This Mean?REVISED

2010-09-01T14:02:00.003-04:00

Can you guess what this is? Or what it means? Tune in later today to find out!
This was Jayce's attempt at writing his name in the sand in Munising, MI while we were on a family vacation a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I'm that behind. I'm trying to get all my photos edited and ready to post, so hang in there: we should have some new stuff soon.

Happy Birthday, Grayson!

2010-08-20T08:41:00.003-04:00

Two years ago today, I was a very tired and very pregnant Mama, eagerly awaiting the birth of her second-born. I can't believe it's already been two years! Happy Birthday, Grayson!

**These photos are from our recent trip to Gitche Gumee and our birthday celebration for Grayson that we had with Kevin and Rachel.**

There Are Tigers In My Mall!

2010-07-30T23:19:00.002-04:00

Can you believe this! My husband was working a long shift the other day, so in a desperate attempt to preserve my sanity, I took the kids to the mall to play. Much to my surprise, there were three tigers along with other wild animals. The cages were flimsily constructed with a fence that would hold back nothing surrounding it. Thankfully there were two cubs and an adolescent there. The best part is this: the tigers were there with an organization that was raising money for tiger rescues. One could pay $25 to allow two people into the tiger cage for a period of time. Pretty cool, until I saw one of the cubs playfully chewing on a "trainer". I then determined that I would never allow my two small children in the cage with the animals.
It sure was fun to see the tigers at the mall today!

A Kick-Butt Workout

2010-07-27T14:38:00.002-04:00

Today, I thought I'd get a little exercise and take the kids to the park near our house - on bike! I've biked to this park a few other times, and I always felt like I had a decent workout, but today was completely different. For the first time biking to this park, I was pulling over 90 pounds behind me in the shape of my two children and their trailer.
The kids had a blast playing at the park - their legs didn't ache from the ride there.
After they determined the playground equipment was too hot, they took to inventive playing.
There was running around trees.
Hanging out at the picnic tables.
Walking on the picnic tables (and yes, I quickly removed him as soon as I snapped a quick photo). Grayson soon found this activity to be dangerous. At our house, Grayson tried this and fell off - thankfully he didn't get hurt.
Playing near the disgusting water. I'm so thankful we didn't get too close.
We finally did get around to playing with the playground equipment.
We just played underneath. In the shade. It was great.
The downfall to our day, trying to get back home. Apparently, the path to the park is mostly downhill, so my tired legs had to pedal up hill, pulling 90 plus pounds, all the way home. I don't think my legs will ever be the same again. That's a good thing, right??

i {heart} faces

2010-07-26T21:44:00.003-04:00

I'm actually entering a photo this week! Go me!! This week's theme is "Purple". I didn't really consider how hard it would be to find a photo for this theme until I realized that all I take photos of is my kids - and I have two boys!! After searching for a while, I came across this photo of my kids from one week day night. They tend to get a little wild and crazy in the evening, and this night was no exception. It just included a couple of my headbands!

As always, click on over to i {heart} faces to check out all the other awesome entries!

Undergoing Construction

2010-07-25T16:35:00.001-04:00

Please be patient!!! We'll be back, better than ever very soon!!!

***I think I'm finally done!***

Berry Cream Muffins

2010-07-23T09:47:00.003-04:00

On a suggestion from a friend on Facebook (who also reads my blog), I'm posting a fantastic recipe that I baked yesterday. It's a recipe borrowed from the Taste of Home Cookbook:

BERRY CREAM MUFFINS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Combine these and set aside.
1-1/2 cup berries (The recipe calls for 1-1/2 cup berries to be tossed in the dry mixture, but I mashed them and added them to the wet mixture. And I used closer to 2 cups of berries.)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream (I substituted 1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I substituted 1/2 cup applesauce - healthier!)(However, I figured out that you need a little bit of the oil. I did about half oil, half applesauce on the second batch which turned out a bit better.)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine wet ingredients; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.

Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes (I think it was a couple minutes longer for me. I'm pretty sure they were in there for 25-27 minutes.) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

As my mother-in-law commented, "They taste like more!" meaning she wanted more after just having one. These things are so good and so addictive! Beware.

I did manage to get about a dozen of raspberry and a dozen of blueberry into the freezer (I made 2 dozen - one batch - of each). Hopefully they freeze well. I suppose time will tell.
I think I need a muffin now...

#400 Post - Alternately Titled: Box Boys

2010-07-22T09:47:00.004-04:00

I'll agree with you. This totally looks like one of my laundry tubs. However, to those with a wild imagination, this can be many things...It can be a toy to climb in and out of.
It can be a race car.
It can be a way to test gravity.
It can be a hiding place.
It can be a clubhouse.
It can be a way to work together.
It can be a place for a silly dance.
It can be a turtle shell.
Most importantly, it can be a way for two little boys to spend an hour before bedtime playing and laughing.

Chicago

2010-07-21T22:25:00.007-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, our family made the trek to Chicago (technically Indiana) to visit some family that was "in town" visiting from Arizona. While we adore all of our Arizona family, we were thrilled to be able to see Mike and Megan, and to meet their adorable daughter, Minuet!The kids had fun playing "together" for an evening - let's be honest: together just means they played in the same general area. I think this is the only photo of all three kids in the same area.
Grayson got a kick out of this singing, dancing flower pot. I was thrilled, however, to leave the next morning and to never hear that thing again.
Isn't she adorable!?
Jayce, of course, gravitated towards some cars that Megan's grandparents had to play with.
Grayson tried his hand at ping pong. The only problem was that the ping pong table was also a pool table and he got confused over which balls to hit across the net.
Minuet loved our Bob and Larry that we brought along. I'd like to say she's giving Bob a kiss.
Grayson working out.
Jayce being silly with Minuet. I suppose they kind of played together after all.
I absolutely love her blue eyes! And she has the sweetest smile and giggle. It was so fun getting to meet this little lady (and getting to see her parents again!!).
Since we were in the Chicago area, we decided to go into the city for a day. We spent Saturday at the Chicago Children's Museum. The kids had fun playing in their Block Party exhibit. Jayce and Grayson "rocked out" to the music.
Our next stop was at their firefighters exhibit. You can see here that the kids got to dress up in life-like gear.
There was a pole to slide down, a truck to pretend to drive, a radio (which Jeremy proved how good he is at his job) to talk through, telephones to answer, and a "smoke room" to practice crawling through. The boys loved this area!
This is a musical slide. As you go over the white on the "sliding board", little hammers underneath hit different musical notes.
This area was really neat. It was an invention spot. You could create a Styrofoam flying shape and use this machine to raise it to the ceiling and fly it down. There were timers to see how long it would fly. The kids never tired of this room: Jeremy and I did! We needed a break.
The Museum had an awesome water-play area. The kids could put on rain coats and venture all over the place in here: they could great a tube structure to make water flow through, there were various pumps and devices to "move" the water, there were sprayers, and all kinds of fun ways to get wet.
We did eventually break for lunch at Navy Pier where we enjoyed Chicago hot dogs and people watching. Then we went back to the Museum for a while longer where the boys enjoyed building with Daddy. If you take a close look at these photos, you'll notice that all of the big building projects were mainly constructed by the fathers/men in the room. My boys (and yes, I do mean all three) got into the tools and building.
All in all, we had a great trip to Indiana and Chicago and we are hoping to be able to see our Arizona family again soon.

How We Beat That Summer Heat

2010-07-18T15:29:00.003-04:00

Raspberry Jam

2010-07-17T23:45:00.007-04:00

So, we went blueberry and raspberry picking the other day with a friend and her kids, and low-and-behold, I forgot my camera. I did manage to take one lame picture of Grayson stealing my raspberries. Although we all came back with scrapes and scratches, we had a lot of fun picking (and eating!) the sweet berries.So, since I forgot my camera for the really interesting part of the day, I'll show you pictures of me making red raspberry jam. First, washing the jam containers.
Mmm, sweet red raspberries.
Turned into sweet red raspberry mash.
This is the stuff I chose for pectin. I think I need to look for something with a lower sugar option. I still had to add 3 1/2 cups - seems like a lot!
See, sugar. Lots of it.
Add a little water...
and boil. This was so simple.
Add berry mush...
and viola! Look what we have: red raspberry jam!
I plan to try some on my toast in the morning. :)
Next up, black raspberry jam, blueberry jam, blueberry syrup, and who knows what else... :) Any suggestions??

Columbus

2010-07-16T22:50:00.000-04:00

About 6 weeks ago (yes, I know, Mom. Long overdue!), the boys and I packed up and drove south with my parents. We met my brother, Kevin, and his wife, Rachel, in Columbus to hang out. Our visit with them was long-overdue and brief, but so very good!

The night we got there, the boys were so exhausted from the lack of nap. Grayson even fell asleep at dinner. However, as soon as we got back to the hotel, he was ready for some giggling and goofing off with Uncle Kevin.
Grayson and Jayce slept on their blow-up camping beds while we were at the hotel. However, Grayson didn't sleep so well that way, so he ended up in bed with me by morning. He was just so cute sleeping that I had to take a picture.
We went to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday. Our first stop was at the petting zoo. Grayson and Jayce had so much fun hanging out with the goats.
Our next stop was the polar bear exhibit. There were characters walking around, a play ground area (that Grayson took quite the tumble and got a huge bump on his head - see next picture), an above ground polar bear viewing area, and an underwater polar bear viewing area. Very fun!

The big bump.
The men on the trip with the elephants.
Uncle Kevin gave awesome piggy back rides when little ones got sick of riding in the strollers.
The boys had fun running around and around this elephant statue.
After the elephants, we took a quick break for lunch. I don't have any pictures from lunch because I was busy chasing off Canadian geese the entire time. These birds were tenacious. They never stopped trying to get food from us - and there were 10 birds! One actually tried taking a chicken nugget out of Jayce's hand. So, no pictures.

Our next stop was the aquarium because it was raining. My parents, Kevin, Rachel, and the boys went through the touch and feel line while I took pictures. Jayce wasn't thrilled about touching all of the underwater creatures, but Grayson sure enjoyed it!

Checking out the huge tropical fish.
The manatees!
Jayce was brave enough to touch the snake in the reptile house! So was I!
These turtles were exhibiting some strange behavior. Do you see the 3 of them stacked on top of each other... Odd.
Grayson and Uncle Kevin had fun checking out the reptiles.
Our next stop was a visit to the gorillas. These guys acted like they were posing for pictures.
And these guys needed a nap. Unfortunately, they didn't see much of the gorillas or any of the monkeys.
They really missed out by not seeing this little guy. This is a 4 month old baby who got in the way of a fight between his mom and dad, and dad took it out on him: the father bit off his leg! Pour baby, but it was so cute!!
The boys woke up to pose for a picture with Uncle Kevin, Aunti Rachel, and a tiger statue.
See, he gave rides to those who were tired of the stroller.
The last thing we did at the zoo was go for a train ride.
We had such a fun time meeting Kevin and Rachel in Columbus. While it helped to spend time with them (because we don't get to see them nearly enough) playing games, swimming, and hanging out, it does make me miss them all the more. Thankfully, we get to spend a whole week with them at one of my favorite places later this summer. And after looking through all of our pictures from our Columbus trip, I'm looking forward to that week even more!

My Firstborn

2010-07-13T23:13:00.002-04:00

Tonight, I took the kids out in the evening to run errands. I had built in rewards to ensure good behavior: dinner at the Pizza and Hot Dog Store (Sam's Club), fruit snacks, and ice cream from McDonald's.

As I paid for our ice cream treat, Jayce asked me for the change.

Jayce: Mommy, can I have your money?

Me: No.

Jayce: Why not?

Me: Because I need this money to pay for groceries this week.

Jayce: But I want the money.

Me: If you had my money, what would you do with it?

Jayce: (Thinks for a minute) I would buy ice cream.

Me: Well, since I already paid for ice cream, you could do something else with it. What would you do with the money if I already bought ice cream?

Jayce: I would keep it! Mommy, let me have your money and it will be mine!

I laughed for a couple of minutes over this one.

----------------------------------------------------

As we were driving home, we cut through an area that has a daycare with a huge playground. I had previously explained to him that it was not a playground we could play at, but that it was for kids whose parents worked and they needed a place to be while their parents were at work. Tonight, as we drove by, Jayce said this:

Jayce: That's where the kids whose mommies and daddies work go while they are at work. I'm a kid!

Me: Yes, you are a kid, but you don't need to go there. Your mommy doesn't have a job.

Jayce: You have a job, Mommy! You're a Mommy!

Melt my heart: someone recognizes that being a Mommy is work/a job. I love my kid(s)!!

T-Ball

2010-07-07T14:33:00.004-04:00

My kids seem to have a love for sports. T-ball is the most current obsession. Jayce puts on his bike helmet (he needs a helmet, he tells me every time), and goes to town.
It's not only Jayce that is so excited about hitting that ball off of the stand.
Grayson has been getting a chance too.
Although he doesn't quite understand the right way to hold the bat or hit the ball. From this picture, though, it looks like he might be a lefty!
Jeremy even likes to show off how well he can hit it.
But Jayce, he's got it down. He knows how to stand correctly, how to hold the bat correctly, how to swing correctly....
It seems like we just need a little work on "eye-on-the-ball" coordination.
Anyone up for a game of t-ball?

Playhouse

2010-07-06T18:00:00.000-04:00

A BIG THANKS! to my parents who spotted this awesome find (in their neighbor's garbage - who knew!) and then carted it to our house and helped washed it up and put it together. The boys already LOVE it!!
Grayson even enjoyed washing...
and scrubbing it clean.
(Yes, it does say "The Baby Club" on the door, but a can of spray paint will soon fix that!)

The Lip

2010-07-06T12:46:00.002-04:00

Do your kids ever get those injuries that just baffle you? Or make it look like you've been beating on them? My second born is a walking injury waiting to happen. It probably stems from his thinking that he's actually a three-year-old in a one-year-old's body: he's certain that he can do anything his brother can do! Therefore, he usually has a colorful array of bruises any given day, along with one or two lumps on his head.
Therefore, I really shouldn't have been surprised about the most recent injury. The other day, we were walking out of the house to go swimming at our neighbors. Grayson, being the independent little fellow he is, wanted to walk down the three concrete stairs out the back by himself! The problem was that he was distracted by an ant crawling across the second stair, so he stopped on the top and bent over to take a look - just as Jayce started his way out the door. Jayce tripped over Grayson, and Grayson fell. Fortunately for Jayce, his fall was cushioned. Unfortunately for Grayson, he cushioned Jayce's fall by ending up on the concrete under Jayce. His upper lip took the brunt of the fall. Poor kid!
Wouldn't you know that the same day Grayson's lip is starting to look healed, he took two headers in the house (while the boys were running around and being crazy) and hit his lip both times! Does anyone have some bubble wrap I could borrow for a couple of years??

Some Beautiful Gardens Photos

2010-07-06T11:57:00.005-04:00

Karma and Other Funny Things

2010-06-30T14:07:00.002-04:00

I don't really believe in the idea of Karma, but if it's out there, this is one of those times when it totally worked.

I took my kids to Aldi to do my weekly grocery shopping today. On the way, we stopped and got them a bite to eat because they were having a great attitude about shopping this morning (probably because we started the morning at the park, but I like to think it was just good attitudes). I got two carts, one for the boys eating lunch, one for my groceries. We gathered up all that we needed, and headed for the checkouts. Of course, being Aldi, there was only one lane open, so we waited patiently. Behind me, I heard someone mutter under their breath, "Ugh! She's got two full carts. We're going to be here forever!" I also heard the man with her hush her. I politely turned around and asked the woman behind me if she and her small cart load of groceries would like to go ahead of me. "Oh, sure. Thanks!" she replied, and she went around us and started unloading on the conveyor belt. Just then, one of the workers came over, put up the closed sign on the line we were in, and invited me over to the next lane to check us out. The rude lady just stared at us, dumbfounded. I ended up walking out of the store before she was even checked out. That has to be Karma, right?

On a funnier note, we saw the most hilarious thing while driving down the road today. There was a biker (man) in full biker gear: black, leather jacket with fringe, black jeans, black biker boots, black helmet and a Harley t-shirt. He even had the face of a biker: beard, mustache, stubble, etc. The best part - he was riding an old-lady scooter. I laughed for minutes.

100%

2010-06-25T06:36:00.000-04:00

100% their idea to put on the headbands.
100% friends.
100% crazy, every night, running around.
100% goofy.
100% silly faces.
100% Meyers - can't take his eyes off of the TV.
100% independent - insistent on doing it himself.
100% BOYS. Even with the headbands.

Grandpa's Spot

2010-06-24T06:36:00.000-04:00

The other day we went with Jeremy's mom to place a new flower arrangement at "Grandpa's Spot". It is absolutely beautiful; she did a wonderful job creating it.
While we were there I got to have a first look at the bench that was put in at Dad Meyers' grave site. This is the back.
We also took my parents to see the new marker and flowers a few days later. In this picture you can see the front of the marker - it has both Ron's and Karen's names along with a sweet photo of them together.
We tried to get a good photo of the boys at "Grandpa's Spot".
Then we tried to get a photo of the boys with Jeremy. It didn't work well.
I probably would have gotten a decent shot, except that the children didn't want to sit still, and Jeremy didn't enjoy the wisecrack I said about seeing his "balding" spot in the pictures...
The boys did have a good time running around in the grass. I tried to explain to them that it wasn't polite to step on any of the markers, and they were compliant.
By far, the sweetest moment of the evening was when we told the boys that the bench had pictures of Grandma and Grandpa so we could remember Grandpa. Grayson walked to the bench, pointed at the picture of Ron and said, "Grandpa" clear as day.

Decorated

2010-06-23T13:01:00.002-04:00

I don't believe my children enjoyed my all-black ensemble today...
Because they decorated me with stickers...
Many, many stickers.

Backyard Drama

2010-06-17T10:44:00.004-04:00

Do you remember this mess?
It's finally gone. So is the skunk (we think). While Jeremy bravely dug in this corner that Mr. Skunk called his home, I stood inside our house and "watched" for it to make an appearance. I also took pictures.
It took a couple of weeks (crazy schedules, vacation times two, etc.) but we finally got that corner dug out. While Jeremy and I worked on it (yes, I did finally come outside once it because apparent that Mr. Skunk had moved on), the kids played.
Water and the car made for big entertainers during this time.
I'd fill up the pool every morning (this was back during those really hot days we had in May), and the boys would play and play and get the water dirtier and dirtier. Eventually they would get a snack, and this day, they opted to eat it in the pool.
It was slow-moving, but we did make progress. After we cleared the corner out and dug down about a foot in some places (the compost pile that had been there made for some awesome dirt for my flower beds this year), we filled the corner with sand and created a patio with paver blocks.
While we've been doing all this work, our Shasta daisies that the boys and I planted started growing. The boys are getting a kick out of watching them sprout - since they did the planting and have done some of the watering, I think they have a real sense of ownership.
My flower beds got planted (please ignore the chipping paint - that's on the list of things to be done this summer).
Our new shed. It was a 3-4 week project, but it's done. Now Jeremy is going to build a lean-to type roof thing (like that description?) next to the shed for the kids' outdoor toys. (They are currently covered by a tarp because of the recent rain.)
It's a relief to finally be done with that corner, but truth be told, we have a lot more yard work to do this summer.

It's Been Brought To My Attention

2010-06-17T09:59:00.004-04:00

That I haven't updated the blog in over a month.
Done. (More later, I hope.)

The Skunk Who Destroyed Our Yard

2010-05-16T21:36:00.004-04:00

No, we were not recently hit by a tornado.No, there was not a hurricane or a terrible storm.
There was no natural disaster of any kind...
Except for a skunk. And this dog. Oh yes, Lexi finally met the skunk(s) living underneath/behind our shed. Our shed that is a hazard and is falling apart. Our shed that today, was reduced to a pile of rubble.All it took was a man, a hammer, and a spud/pry/breaker bar. Yes, Jeremy named that long, skinny steel bar all those things.
The shed was a tad more resilient than we expected.

But fall she did. So did Jeremy. I warned him that it wasn't safe to try to break it apart by standing on it and bouncing, but he did. And his leg shows the battle wound.

One would think he might have learned a lesson, but no. Up on top he went again...
Until he was able to declare himself "King of the Mountain", or at least king of the shed! Those skunks are going to have to find a new place to live.
Now we just have to figure out a way to get all this rubble out of our yard and to the dump. Remember that Cash for Clunkers deal last summer.... no truck. Thankfully we have good friends and family who are willing to loan us what's necessary to get this stuff out of here.

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I saw a butterfly and thought it was neat. Thought we'd end on a nice, pretty, positive note.

The Grand Rapids Children's Museum

2010-05-14T12:28:00.006-04:00

Every year, the Gardens does a swap with The Grand Rapids Children's Museum for a month. Those with memberships to the museum can get into the Gardens for free, and vice versa. We plan to take advantage as much as possible in May. Let me give you a glance at what we did on our first visit this year - in collage format. I couldn't make you sit through all these photos, right? If you want to see something more close up, click on the photo collage, and your computer will blow it up for you.

First up, Super Market Sweep! Jayce and Grayson got a kick out of the miniature shopping carts and being able to choose their own groceries. Jeremy even enjoyed playing the part of the cashier - don't let his grumpy look fool you. I learned one thing: never let Grayson put fresh produce in a grocery cart!! He has quite the throwing arm, and made good use of it by flinging apples, melons, peppers, and onions into his cart.
A sampling of some of the fun activities on the main floor. "Driving" the yellow bug, sorting colored balls, the trains, and just plain running around.

Upstairs there was a Vets Office set up. The boys really liked playing at the a desk. Grayson wasn't used to someone actually letting him play with a computer. He kept looking at me like I was about to discipline him.

In the toddler area, there was this ball track thing. Good technical term, I know. Look closely at these pictures in order: Grayson pulls a ball (which actually was a melon from the grocery area) from the bin and loads it on the track and runs next to it as it goes down. Then he follows it right into the bin. Funny stuff. Jeremy and I laughed for several minutes.
Playing with the colorful beads.

Jeremy and Grandma tried teaching the kids how to make these discs roll on the turn table. They didn't quite get the idea, but they had fun watching!

The Bubble Area! By far a favorite of all who visited. Jeremy showed the boys how to make huge bubbles, and Jayce got really good at it. Grayson just played with his hands in the bubbles. Jayce tried to put himself in a huge bubble too.

Some of the table fun. There were dominoes the boys tried to line up and a magnetic table with nuts and bolts.

Drums!

Is this one trippy collage!! There are several mirrored tunnels that the kids would play with while I was taking their pictures. I get pictures of the kids here every time we go.
What a fun trip - I can't wait to go back again soon!

The Zoo (A Tale of Pictures)

2010-05-13T12:57:00.010-04:00

Guess Who....

2010-05-12T16:56:00.002-04:00

Got a haircut today!!

We took a lot off and he was so brave! He fussed and whined about the clippers at first, but the "Move It! Move It!" video did wonders keeping him distracted while I went to town.
He even got a special treat when we were all done because he was so good!
If only he didn't look so old now...