Just a couple of tidbits

Today was another day spend enduring the hot sweltering heat of Tulsa OK. Training has been twice as hard, meaning it is harder to run and harder to find the time to run. The kids on the other hand have been having a lot of fun with water. Yesterday they played at an area splash pad and today they hung out in the pool. For some reason Brayden decided he needed his sun glasses....Becca soon followed, what a funny pair.

Today all three kids spent the morning at our church's Morning's for Moms program, we call it school. Becca is always so proud to be big enough to go to Brayden's class. Today she was so cute, I had reminded her about going potty while in her class room and after I finished talking she turned to Brayden and asked "you know where the potty is? yup, was Brayden's reply and then Becca said "okay, mommy-Brayden shows me were the potty is, he know" so cute to see them take care of each other. All three kids did well and love going, and it is always a nice break in the morning for me as well.

After nap Becca had a funny request, she jumped out of bed and came running out of her room, pipe still in mouth trying to tell me something, totally unintelligible. I don't know if she was still sleeping or if I just was not doing a good job of interpreting but I couldn't tell at all what she was saying. So after getting frustrating she took my hand, led me to my bathroom and promptly sat on the step by our tub, held up her toes and said in a very demanding clear voice "PAINT MY TOES!!" OHHHH, I got it-I just don't know where she got the idea as I have not gotten my nail polish out in weeks. Very funny, and yes she was one proud little girl once we were done. Brayden was sitting right next to her but since he was a boy he was skipped (and none too happy). On to Andrea who doesn't miss a beat these days, who had crawled in to see the craziness and also was sticking her toes out to get painted-what next!

As you can see dinner was a messy affair tonight. I am all about easy meals and tonight was no exception, spaghetti and corn. Unfortunately for me it turned into one of the messier meals to date. Oh, well the kids had a lot of fun...but what a mess!

The only other funny conversation that I over heard today was Brayden interrogating Ron when he got home from work. Where were you daddy? Why were you gone so long? What were you doing? What vehicle did you take (yes, he said vehicle)...I guess he was a little sick of spending his time with me. Anyway, I still love to listen to their minds work out loud and see their facial expressions that go along with them.

FINALLY, I caught her standing!

BIG BOY

I guess my little boy is not so little anymore. This morning while I was working around the house he decided to get out his little lego's. I was a little concerned as sometimes he gets very frustrated and usually ends the session in tears. Not so today, I was so impressed with his creation, mainly because he did it all by himself, or as he said "I didn't use a map mommy, I used my instruction power in my belly" whatever!

Slip N Slide

As if we didn't do enough this weekend we thought we would throw in a little slip-n-slide to top it off. Actually the kids were a basket case and 4pm is not a great time for nap time and probably a little too early for bedtime, as it being about 100 degree's out this was Ron's solution. The kids had fun although Becca was not fond of the shark and wouldn't go on it as long as the shark was attatched. Brayden had a blast until he got stuck a couple of times mid way and then he lost it, crying that it didn't work any more. Andrea wanted nothing to do with it after being blasted by the water fountain when Ron' turned it on, to much cold water. Anyway, it was a very fast bed time that followed, I think it was a record of all three kids in bed within about 15 min.

Marvel Family Resort

http://picasaweb.google.com/RB.Haveman/MarvelSmallGroupCamping

This weekend we packed it all in AGAIN...I feel like I have been doing a lot of packing and unpacking lately and headed with our church small group to a family campground. The kids were super excited as we were staying in a cabin. Brayden kept asking about the deer and if they were going to be nibbling at our tent??? I don't really know what he was thinking as we have not stayed in a tent in years and we have never seen deer that close.

Marvel, as the campground is called is right on the Illinois river and our cabin was about 10 feet from it's edge. The river was very high and we all had a great time playing at it's edge. The weather was super hot but next to the flowing water in the shade it was actually a wonderful afternoon. Ron had the kayak which was a big hit, kids and dads took turns paddling up stream and then riding the current down.There was only one mishap/flip sending two boys and a dad tumbling. I actually managed my way in the river and had fun floating in the fast current-even if the water's temp did take my breath away. Brayden had plenty boys to keep up with, meaning there was always someone throwing rocks and always someone wresling or pushing! Becca enjoying just "hanging out" as she calls it, playing at the river's edge. Even Andrea got her feet wet.

We all ate our meals together-very nice, as you can see my kids loved the donuts for breakfast. We also got a lot of use out of the pool-Becca's favorite of the weekend, even if she did spend most of her time playing on the steps. Andrea also loved the pool and would just grin when we would pull her around in her float. Brayden's favorite past time was the mini-golf. He got to play twice and loved every minute of it, poor Ron had to sweat it out with him.

The cabin thankfully was air-conditioned and had little loft with two twin matresses for the kids to sleep. They thought it was so fun to sleep way up in the top and in their new sleeping bags. We managed the nights fairly well-compared to some of our past camping experiences except this time it was myself who struggled with sleep, atleast there was no crying (although Brayden said I snored!) Thankfully Andrea decided to sleep as I somehow forgot to pack bottles and formula for her. She managed just fine without them, guess she doesn't really need them? We will see....

It was a fun but very busy and exhausting weekend. We made it home this afternoon and after listening to endless crying and fussiness all kids were in bed by seven and sleeping by about 7:05. What a crazy couple of days!

HOME

Today was a home day, meaning we spent the bulk of our time at the house. Not a bad thing but is actually requires almost more work than taking the kids out. Today was pleasantly not that bad. Brayden and Becca managed very well together, yes we did have the screaming and yelling but not the extent where either one had to spend time in their room/chair. The pictures above is the kids jumping in Andrea's bed, they just love it-all fun until the bed falls through, probably explains why Andrea thinks bed time is play time.

We did make it to the grocery store, something I have never enjoyed and now with kids it has fallen lower in my enjoyment list. Funny thing I discovered this week to deal with all the whining requests. I don't carry a list with me but in the mist of being badgered for something we didn't need I said, "no, it's not on my list" Brayden looked at me, AND DIDN'T ASK WHY! so now I have a great excuse for the constant asking, it's just not on my list today. We were buying for our upcoming camping weekend so I decided to let them get some snacks and candy we don't usually get. Becca was so excited, "it's on the list mommy?" Yes, babe it's on the list, "ohhhh goodie," was her response. How funny, because I don't even carry a piece of paper with me.

Today Brayden actually helped Becca put on her shoes. So sweet to see as I was yelling to get shoes on and out the door and Becca was crying with her shoes so I walk into the kitchen to help and their is Brayden on the floor next to her putting them on.

Andrea is starting to be a little stinker and understands a lot more that I give her credit for. I taught her the sign for more, the only sign I usually use as I get so sick of the whining. That little girl know how to do it but she gets so mad she just sits in her chair clapping as hard as she can. I also found out that I can't no longer just put her in her chair with out the seat belt. As you can see from the pictures the is becoming a little monkey.

Anniversary

Today marks the day Ron and I started on our journey of life together. We can hardly believe that it has been nine years, they do really fly by. It is hard to believe all the different things we have done together, seen and experienced since our first years of marriage. The list seems endless: new city/state to explore, jobs, travels, pets, moving, changes with friends/family, kids. We are truly blessed and I know both look forward to more years to come. So I thought I might jog some memories with some old photo's, if you can believe our wedding was before all the digital craze, so these are a little fuzzy. I can hardly believe the changes...mainly kids, okay yes, we do all get older!

To update: we now have three kids, Brayden, Becca and Andrea. Doug is getting married in a month. David is in Montana, continuing with post grad work. Sharon is married to Kevin and just had their first baby! Welcome to Emily Diane, born yesterday at 3pm at 8lb 20in.

Jody and Dan have three children and are currently involved in a big family migration! Amy and Dave also have three children. Tracy is married to Dan and Mulligan their dog keeps them busy.

I can believe it is nine years when we are not doing anything special...date night tomorrow will be the great event this year to commemorate the date, maybe I will see if we can get an updated picture of just the two of us.

Thanks to Aunt Sharon for some fun new music to listen to this week. The kids love playing their instruments, lots of fun but a little loud for my ears.

Andrea and her Maracas, shake shake Andrea.

Becca is still the gentle nature of the bunch, so sweet and always thinks of others... most of the time!

Becca loves the music but doesn't like Brayden and his loud drum!

Brayden loves to just hammer away, he usually ends up in the back yard for all the neighbors to enjoy!

Andrea just sits on her knees and bounces.

We are all waiting for the news of a little new niece or nephew, Auntie Sharon and Uncle Kevin are soon to be new Mommy and Daddy!

Routine Saturday

It was back to a normal everyday Saturday at our house this weekend. I was up early for the weeks long run with my neighbor and friend who I almost missed, for some reason I had the wrong time in my head. We managed to meet up and get our run in; thankfully, as I was not prepared to go the distance by myself. Ron did his first run into work on Fri and managed a full day of work after the long hot run, so he was on kid duty in the morning. Brayden and Becca of course slept in along with Andrea and they enjoyed the typical Sat cartoons.
We decided to take a drive to a peach orchard in nearby Porter OK. I was expecting a big farm, lots of people picking fruit, a typical orchard. Brayden was all ready to do some picking. Turned out to be a little covered building by a farm home surrounded by peach trees, which no one was picking. It was like a little mini super market on the farm. The workers would unload boxes of peaches and people would just pick them up and then go stand in line, which was quite long I might add. I guess I had a different picture in my head, more types of peaches, more people looking at them picking the best ones...not a lot of that, just a lot of people standing in line. Some what disappointing but we ended up with some good peach jam, and now I don't have to wonder what it is like every time the Porter Peach Festival is occurring.
We made the more than what I like frequented stop at Sonic on our way home. You would think since we get two kids meals the toys would be the same, they were not, consequently we had fighting kids for most of the ride home. Brayden is big on wanting anything that Becca has, even if it is her baby stroller that she got for her birthday. He is constantly on her about sharing and won't let up on his goal of getting what every she has. As you can imagine this is what was going on in the car..."Can I have that, Becca? You can have mine. Let's trade Becca. Share Becca. MOOOMMMMM Becca is not sharing!" After a quick explanation about it being Becca's toy and how he had his own toy, he would start all over. Becca just sits and and her usual response is "in a little bit" Then after holding out for about three rounds she just decides to trade. Of course Brayden then could care less about his new toy and after seeing Becca play with his old toy he decides it looks more fun again and the cycle begins all over. It can give anyone a huge headache!
We made it home for nap time, something that is never missed unless we are doing something extremely fun, Mainly due to the fact that I need a break from the above child discussions, after a morning our ears are a little sore. Becca loves bed and usually is in it before I can even get everyone out of the car. She misses her pipes/pacifiers. I found her this week playing a hunting game with Brayden, camping out in the pop up Thomas the Tank Tent. I discovered she was not really playing but hiding out sucking on her pacifiers. Andrea on the other had has not been sleeping. She can be a total basket case but put her in bed and she just pops up and starts jumping and giggling. This was the case for about 45 min yesterday, then when she get tired she just stands there handing on the side rail sucking her thumb, until she get her next burst of energy, usually resulting in her blankets and water getting thrown out of bed.
We decided we all needed a little fun after some much needed rest and all did a little swimming at the pool. Brayden is getting the hang of swimming, although it is always under the water. Becca loves jumping into the pool, but does so at about 1ft of water. She gets the biggest grin on her face. Andrea like the water as long as Ron or I are within touching range.
After swimming we decided to head out for supper. The kids were great, both had fun buttering their own bread and Andrea enjoying flirting with all the wait staff. If you can believe we walked into the cheesecake factory and were immediately shown a table at 6:45pm. I think they saw the kids and said we need to get them in and out as fast as possible! It was a wonderful meal and worth taking everyone out for.
We ending the evening looking for some running shoes for Ron, I will let you ask him what happened to his regular pair....he might be in line for the coal this Christmas. As usual we walked out with shoes and lunch boxes, there is always something to entice the kids, but lunch boxes at a sports store??? Anyway, big stuff for both kids, they have been hanging on to them ever since, and both had a nice lunch in theirs after church today.
Home to bed and we called it a day. Just a typical day in our family's life and a fun one at that!

MISS BECCA

Tonight was the hard training night, not just for Ron and I but for the kids as well. They have to sit by the track for a good hour with not a lot to do but watch some lacrosse practice. So after we managed to get our work-out in, complete with potty breaks, skinned knees (Becca's) and tears we decided it was an ice-cream night. We stopped at Sonic-which we really missed in MI and Ron ordered for all of us. He decided to get the kids ice-cream cones. The entire time he was trying to order Becca was crying very loudly from the back seat about her owie not getting any better. Then she heard Ron say, "I will also have 2 very small kiddie vanilla cones" she got a big grin on her face and said, "kiddie cones??? I like Kiddie cones." I was a little surprised, we get ice-cream a little bit more than we should and I didn't think she liked it that much to over come her tears. So we got our order and Becca kept saying "that's not my cone" over and over, I had no patience left and said "this is all your getting, take it or I am eating it." She looked at it and then me and said, "it doesn't have kitties on it, it needs kitties on it" Great, how am I supposed to explain the difference between kiddie and kitty when they sound basically the same, I will let you imagine the explanation and the complete confusion on her face. We ended by deciding that Sonic just didn't have kitty cones tonight, maybe some other time. WHAT NEXT!

GETTING INTO THE SWING OF THINGS

http://picasaweb.google.com/RB.Haveman/FourthOfJulyMI

Gradually we are starting to get back into our Tulsa routine. It has been beautiful weather and we made it out this morning for our casual morning stroll around the neighborhood. Although our run last night was something terrible in the Tulsa heat, I miss that cool lake breeze! Today I got an interesting lesson on flags and why they are out in our neighbor's yard. Brayden was pretty proud to explain that someone died by the flag and that when they died they got us our land. I asked if it was there to REMEMBER solders who died fighting in battle/war, his response was "No mommy, they died by the flag there and got our land." Some what of a warped independence day story but fun to hear him recall what he learned.

Slowly we are unpacking, funny how much sand I can find in one suitcase. Andrea is back to her normal self, actually sleeping the entire night through. Ron was up early this morning and I guess rode his bike into work...I was still half asleep when he left. Becca is going through pipe/pacifier withdrawal. She got to get them a lot more while on vacation and so she has been spending a lot more time in her bed, the only place they are allowed in our house.

One cute thing Andrea learned on our car ride home was how to clap. She would get all excited when the kids had on their movie and start clapping, the sound surprised her and she would get more excited and clap even harder, and just giggle and giggle, very funny to see.

HOME

So we made it home last night and instead of being responsible and unpacking I have been parked in front of the computer all morning. I will slowly get some pictures posted, these are some of Ron and Dad jet-skiing. Not the biggest waves but enough to get some fun pictures.

The kids are having a blast tearing the house apart, they are actually playing together and their imaginations are running wild, it is so fun to hear them talk-they are into building fires this morning. Andrea is under the weather and after a quick visit to the Dr to check her ears discovered that it was just a sore throat, not a big deal but she sure it crabby!

Running in MI

Our time in MI is drawing to an end and we decided that we would try and complete a race while we were here. Much of the week has been beautiful weather, some rain but we have been able to do most everything we had wanted. Today, the day of the race we awoke to a huge rain storm, with no end in sight. After getting the kids up and heading into town, which was desolate we were both wondering if we were totally crazy. As we were sitting at a stop light both thinking what in the world were we doing a running group blew by us-totally sprinting...it was inspiring just to see, then right behind them was our brother-in-law Dave (and they think we are crazy training for a marathon!). I think we both thought that if they were running the race was on, what crazy people here in MI! So we dropped the kids off at my parents house in town and drove to the race course-still down pouring and freezing. Could you believe people were lined up, getting packets and running like no big deal! Well, to make a long morning short we did actually run the 10km race. It was not as bad as the initial start, Although I felt a little out of my league lining up with all these die hard runners. The race was mostly trail, beach and included a monster sand dune...which I could hardly walk up let alone run. It was a hard race but a nice change of pace from road runs. Ron got sixth in his age and I managed a second place in my age category....(I don't think everyone showed up for the race).

We have been staying very busy and my blog is suffering, evenings come around and by the time the kids are sleeping I am about 10 minutes away from hitting my bed as well. The kids have been on the go much of every day. Today they enjoyed seeing Mingo the monkey (a tradition with G and G Mulder) and playing some mini-golf with Uncle Doug and Robyn. I might add that I did not come in last this year, a record for me. We concluded the evening with a fire on the beach and some hobo pie's. I had been waiting for an evening we could do them and I must say the dessert one's were delicious, best with extra chocolate.

Brayden and Becca both got in the water tonight, just the right size waves that made it fun but not scary. Brayden discovered trails in the dunes and was busy all night making trails and hiding treasure. Andrea was covered head to toe with sand, she actually did a face plant, solid sand everywhere, didn't seem to bother her in the least, just looked terrible. Becca enjoyed a marshmallow, complete with pieces in her hair and all over her hands, what a mess, but so much fun.

Between parties, seeing grand-parents, friends and enjoying the cousins we all have had a wonderful somewhat tiring, very fun visit to MI. I am headed to bed, but will stop by the kitchen for some home-made blueberry pie first, what a week!

One of Those Moments

We have been having a lot of fun with family and we have enjoyed seeing the kids play with their cousins. It has been very nice because they are busy and off playing for most of the day. The down side is that I do not interact or even see Brayden for good chunks of time. So yesterday I was reminded of the special moments I get to have as a mom. I was trying to get some group shots of all the cousins, nearly impossible but Ron was being the wonderful husband and was trying to herd them by playing a racing game. Anyway, all eight kids were lined up to run the beach in a race to some unknown finish, which most of the kids didn't really care who won or who was the fastest. Once the race was on it was evident that the older ones were in it for the long haul and pretty serious about who finished first. Of course there was a little disagreement on who was first and then the big question....what was the prize. There was none, but quick thinking Ron said, "a BIG kiss from your mom" you could just see the older kids faces drop, like.. great, that's a terrible prize. Brayden on the other hand looked around then came over to me and I gave him a big kiss. It was then that I got my biggest reward for the past couple of parenting weeks. He got the biggest grin on his face and looked at me like I had just given him the best prize I could ever buy. My day was complete!

Happy Fourth of July

We have been enjoying some wonderful weather over the holiday. It was a little questionable how the weather was going to be as the evening that we arrived a terrible storm blew through and knocked out a bunch of people's electricity. Thankfully Ron's parents had a generator and we were able to make it through an evening and most of the day with out power.
The kids are loving their time here in MI. Their cousins are staying at the house as well and the older playmates are a wonderful entertainment for them. They have been on pretend hunts, bike rides/races, and most of all, lots of fun at the beach. Our Fourth of July celebration started with a small neighborhood parade which all the kids took part in. Becca didn't have her bike so she decorated her baby stroller and pushed her baby. The kids loved the parade, mostly because there was a ton of candy and most everyone was in the parade so not a lot of on lookers. Becca ate candy almost the entire day...she was soooo happy.
Brayden managed to get on the ski-do and ride a little with his cousin Micah and Ron. Most of the days he has spent playing in the sand and jumping on the tramp. Becca's loves the tramp, she loves to do tricks, somersaults and then run fast around and around. The water is very cold and neither kid has spend much time in the water. There is a water tramp with slide and Brayden loves to play with all the big kids on it but screams when he is trying to get out to it as has been freezing cold water.
We bought a bunch of fireworks on our drive to MI and for the past couple of nights have had a lot of fun shooting them off. Becca hates the loud noise and after the first session I found her in the house, up in her room, door closed and in bed with her pipe. Thankfully when we watched the forth of July fireworks from the water she seems much more relaxed and watched without any crying. You can only imagine a boat with nine little kids and 12 adults. Today Ron managed to get up on a wake board behind the ski do today, only after becoming a human submarine the first couple of trys. The days have been complete with hot dogs roasts, hobo pies and smores. I on the other hand have just been enjoying some days in the sun, Ron has not convinced me or managed to throw me into the frigid lake MI water.
Yes, we did manage to get out run in this morning, and were actually able to convince Ron's sister to run with us. What a wonderful morning to run with temps in the 70's and no humidity. It was a great start to a very fun and relaxing day. The down side of our past days on the beach is some very red skin....mostly Ron's face and back, a small price to pay for a day of fun with family.