A COUPLE MORE CUTIES

I find it hard to believe that Andrea is four going on five.  She is a little sweetie, waking up in the morning to come snuggle my leg as I get lunches ready in the morning.  She has a great imagination and loves playing during rest time lately with her barbies.  She has a little high voice I hear a lot when she is playing in her room-almost the same high voice that she sings with.  Andrea still loves to sing, I always think that the kids need fast and loud songs to get their attention but Andrea loves the lullaby and quiet songs-she calls them mommy songs.  I so badly wanted to fix her tooth in this picture but this is how she looks tooth and all.  I try not to notice but it still sticks out like a sore thumb to me. She plays hard but for some reason doesn't have the reflex to catch herself with her hands, choosing by default to use her face.  Andrea has finally learned to write her name but doesn't show a whole lot of interest in learning.  She is a great book reader and listener-about the only time she sits still.  She is still in her twice a week speech class and is finally showing some improvement outside of class.

Last but not least, James.  He thinks he is one of the big kids and would be a whole lot easier to deal with if his vocabulary was able to keep up with them.  James knows what he wants and is great and yelling "NO" then hitting whatever is close followed closely by flinging himself on the ground.  He loves to eat, although fruit and yogurt make up most of his diet.  Sleeping is sporadic, the moment I think he has found a routine of sleeping through the night he decides he would much rather be up or in our bed.  He knows what he wants but understands a ton.  He hates to hold my hand in the parking lot and doesn't want any help doing anything from anyone.  If someone tries to help he just flat out quits what he's doing and throws a fit.  He does have a great laugh and smile and is just one little tickle bug.

Some Update

Just a couple updates seeing as the kids seem to be growing everyday lately.

Brayden definitively carry's a lot of first born traits....not always good.  He is very meticulous and is not always big on trying new things if he feels he is unable to do them well, or unsure of himself.  He is doing wonderful in reading as long as we sit and do it, which always seems hard.  He is enjoying playing basketball and has loved watching some JV and Varsity games this past week, although today they were shut out by an awesome team-some boys eat/breath basketball!  Brayden is great at getting his home work done after school and is my task oriented kid-he is all about getting it done so then he can play.  Sad to say he is still my child who just reacts, resulted in hitting, tackling, pushing....so hard to get him to think first and not lash out.  This week he had his first big fight with a neighbor boy-no blows but lets just say I saw Brayden jump on his friend out of the corner of my eye and not in a nice way.  Of course there is always an excuse not to apologize, always the other person's fault.  I thought a perfect opportunity to explain how God forgives us no matter if we deserve it or not.  Brayden could have  cared less....his friend was mean first and he wasn't apologizing so why should he!  It is time for registration for next school year and spring sports....so hard for me to believe that in a couple months he will be eight!

Becca is the polar opposite of Brayden.  She is so easy going and always eager to please.  She fills my table with little notes on love and hearts-always some little art project she is working on.  She enjoys school but is never able to tell me a whole lot.  She is finally able to check books out at the library and while Brayden bring home books on war, machines, star wars....Becca's books have all been animal related-cats, dogs and horses.  She is super creative and today is putting together a whole play-staring Andrea.  She can be bossy which her siblings but I don't see that side of her at school.  Most of the time she is giggling and goofing off with kids-she loves to make her friends laugh.  Reading is coming slowly, once again I am sure more time on my part would help.  She had her sixth year check up the other week and she is growing right on track.  She told the Dr that all her teeth were sweet teeth when she was asked if she ate her veggies.  Becca loves her dolls but is not into dressing them or hair-same for herself, and if I forget, there have been many days she has walked out of the house with some WILD hair...I love it that she could care less!  She is still in her tumbling class putting her little muscles to good use.  Once again hard to believe she is six and I find myself almost sad registering her for the first grade next year-time for serious school, which I think is going to be a little stretch for her!

Mid Week Relief

Okay, so it really is not quite mid week but it seems like the weeks and weekends are all running into each other lately.  Monday we were hit again with the reality of work, we are pretty good at procrastination over the weekend, actually just really good at forgetting it all-having fun with each other is just so much more fun and relaxing.  It seems that the stresses of helping two kids read, write, memorize- gets to me.  The list Monday just overwhelmed me-Brayden has his first little presentation this week on top of spelling, bible, math and reading, daily reading with Becca is on the list along with daily work on her numbers-which we found out she is quite behind in.  Bible blast is wonderful but is more additional reading and question review.  All this along with house work, meals, basketball, tumbling, speech.... just coming off of a week cleaning up after a rampant stomach bug and then colds was just too much.  My perspective was short and narrow-which leads to crazy mom!  Anyway  today that perspective was readjusted.  Satan works great with isolation and that is where he had me...colds/sickness has been keeping me away from BSF and Wednesday nights at church.  Today we went-runny noses and all and WOW I was so glad.  Never had I been so surrounded with such comfort.  I left feeling every hymn sung every word and Bible verse we studied had given me encouragement and peace...thank goodness for Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, and to some of the best leaders willing to allow the Lord to speak through them. So the week continues, the work is still there....nothing has really changed but my outlook has, once again reminded how little of this life I control and how wonderful that I can turn it all over to my Lord who can take on any and everything! 

To top it off it is mid January and the kids and I were able to have a picnic with friends at the park-yeah for great friends!

 I am finding Brayden loves being looked up to by James.  Today he was all able teaching James to climb a tree.

Pine Wood Derby and Basketball

This morning was a boy saturated morning.  It was finally the Saturday for Brayden's cub scouts' derby car race.  Ron had been working on it the past couple of weekends and we thought we were right on pace to have it done with time to spare.  Well, I decided to actually print off the rules and realized we had a major infraction three days before race day.  I had bought a precut car and the rules stated the car needed to be cut from the original block of wood.  Needless to say Ron was up quite late cutting and sanding and we did manage to get it painted and full of weight on time....lesson learned-always READ the rules, no scanning!  Turned out Brayden's pack raced with our church pack so it was a lot of fun-church and school friends all together.  There was some computer issues so the whole morning got off to a late start.  It was actually quite a long morning, each car raced three times and I don't think they started till 11....Brayden was there already at 9:30.  I was glad I opted to stay at home for a while.  We actually left-played a basketball game and then came back to church and we were still able to see Brayden's car race his last heat.  Next year I am packing a huge lunch-we were all starving by the time it was all finished.  Brayden's car did well-eighth overall (total of seventy cars)  and then second out of his pack-for which he got a trophy.  Sad to say the basketball game did not go as well.  They played a team that made all their shots and got all their rebounds...it is so hard for me to watch and not get competitive when I see our team losing, good thing I am not their coach!!
   The girls did quite well tagging along today.  We learned that we could have done a sibling car so Becca and I are all set to enter a car next year.  Becca loves to be creative and this morning was all about making paper puppets-so fun, she comes up with all the ideas and Andrea try's to copy her, which always annoys Becca.

A Smile

Some days the endless chore of  trying to selflessly serve is just draining-thank goodness there is usually some moment during these draining days to make me smile!  Today it was this little guy-covered in yogurt and oh so happy about it!

Animal Update

If you are not an animal lover than you might want to skip this post.  I love my pets and lately the realization that they are aging have started to hit me.  Kitty is no longer a big fan of dry food-yes, you might call this picky but seeing her fill out a little after becoming skin in bones makes wet food an easy fix in my opinion.  She is still queen of the house although she is softening in her old age-actually letting the kids, and some friends pet her and not opting out for the quiet of the bedroom for most of the day.  She really seems to be aging gracefully.

Ephie on the other hand is struggling.  It is so hard to see her age, her gray hairs on her snout are more every week.  I finally decided she needed more help than the extra vitamins and took her in for some more advise from the Vet.  After some more pain medicine and extra we actually found out she has wonderful hips!  Yeah...good breading does make a difference.  Bad news was that she has arthritis in her back-will be ongoing battle for the rest of her life.  She also has a stretched ACL-thank goodness it was not shredded, this is the big reason she is limping around like she has been....she gets lots of sympathy from everyone who sees her, so pathetic with that big body.    Anyway, after a day at the vet she is groggy and not a very happy camper.  It saddens my heart to see her struggle and makes me sad to see her age to quickly.  I love my pets and I think these last couple years are going to be hard for both of us.  Go ahead and laugh....but they are the ones by my side and feet during all the craziness of the day and night-wonderful companions during the good days and the best during those days that just don't seem to end.

Glad I am a Nurse......

Well the stomach bug has decided to visit our family this week.  I really thought James  had just eaten something the other night because it came on so sudden and was over within 6hrs.   So much for being optimistic.  We almost made it through the entire day, just a wonderful normal routine until we decided to head to the Vet.  First sitting in a little office with all four kids and a nervous dog is almost worse than having all four at the Dr's office.  Midway through the consultation Andrea interrupts to tell me her tummy hurts-I just  brushed her off as I was trying my best  to listen amongst the kid activity to the Vet in hopes of helping ephie who is not doing well hip/joint wise.  Would you know half way home I hear Becca scream from the back seat and there is Andrea puke everywhere....uhhhh, what a smell.  Even nicer, I had just put ephie in by the kids so she was in the mix of it.  Needless to say everyone was very anxious to get out of the car.  As we were getting out of the car everyone had instructions.  As Brayden ran in from the car he yelled back over his shoulder..."SURE GLAD YOU ARE A NURSE MOMMY!!"  so am I, school for four/five years to clean PUKE, nice!

First Snow

This morning we woke up to a thin blanket of snow and freezing temps!  For being almost sixty the past couple days the morning temps seemed frigid-yes we are spoiled!  Becca left for school upset that she could not take Kanani out to play in the snow.  Brayden wanted his boots-I really didn't think they would be playing outside, usually any temps under freezing and they are inside for the day.  Well, I was tempted to cozy up for the morning and just stay inside but after talking to a friend I realized I should bundle up the kids and let them enjoy some of this winter weather.  I don't think James knew what to think-I think he was still a little under the weather seeing as last night he was battling some stomach bug, thankfully his stomach seemed a little more settled this morning.  Andrea was ready to play and had so much fun eating snow, making snow angels and sliding down the slide into the snow.   As usual everyone has fun till someone gets hurt-the fun ended this morning with Andrea hitting her mouth AGAIN on the slide, more blood, same tooth.  I am going to be shocked if that tooth doesn't turn brown.

  Amazing, just a little bit left late this afternoon....still entertaining!

The things they learn

The other day Becca called out from the back seat of the car..."Hey, mom, listen"  and promptly sang the entire Oklahoma song.  I was so surprised since I have never heard her singing it at all.  OK is home to the kids (still makes me cringe a little to say) I over heard the girls playing the other day and all the barbies were wanting to take trips to either Kansas city or Dallas-very funny to listen to.

Warm Days

It took some convincing to get this tramp but it has more than payed for itself over the past year.  With all this warm weather there is usually one set of kids jumping.  We are just loving this warm winter-although I still miss all the fun we have in the snow.

It is so nice having all three kids who are able to play together, yes they fight and bother each other but I love that there is always someone around to play with.  Today Brayden decided to be a big brother to James and spent a lot of time playing with him-James just loved it!  He followes the big kids around but usually ends up screaming at them because they leave him behind.  I loved seeing Brayden's softer side today-actually some restraint!



First Week Back DONE!

Somehow getting  up and going these past couple days has left us all a little on the tired side.  How nice it was to just lay back and take the days as they came during the Christmas break.  This week it was back to schedule, back to checking the calender, school memo's making sure we were at the right place at the correct time with the right work completed....it is amazing how the days can go by and how very little free time is left for the kids or I to play!  The kids did great and really didn't complain to much-thankfully it was a beautiful week (early spring!)   All the warm weather has been great, unfortunately we can't get off the play ground lately without any mishaps.  Yesterday Andrea decided to try and take out some metal monkey bar....with her mouth.  I really have no clue how it happened, I was on Baby and American girl doll duty-actually I was just trying to keep track of James.  As usual it happened 5pm Fri so we will just have to wait and see what the Dentist says till Monday.  Anyway, today she woke up with quite a puffy lip, but not a whole lot of complaining.  I have to say my heart did drop when I saw her running to me with blood running down her mouth-I thought she had knocked them totally out, thankfully just some small chips I am hoping can be filed down.

Christmas, Second set of pictures

This is actually the first part of our Vacation, time spent at my parents house.  We arrived Thursday evening- dog, cat...kids all managed the 12 or so hour drive.  There was no snow-slightly disappointing and frustrating since we had to pack all the snow gear just in case.  The  kids had fun playing in the basement-such a novelty to them.  We were able to play at the park, walk to see Mingo the monkey, make a run to the peanut (candy)store, and explore the lake Mi pier.  Our time spent was filled with party's so it was a little busy coming and going but the kids did well....I can tell they are getting older!  We were totally spoiled and gorged ourselves on any type of holiday bar, goodie imaginable (I didn't even put on my running shoes).  Saturday we had the Mulder Christmas-first time the whole family was together since my Brother's wedding.  Sunday we filled the pew at church and the kids where all at attention trying to see Grandma play her organ and piano duets.  Once again our days were full but such fun memories.  Just a couple of my favorites.....

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 I just loved Emily's hair this morning-she was so happy to open her stockings.

 Coon Skin cap buddies-Brayden was so proud of his hat.  He wore it later that day to another party and everyone kept asking if he actually shot the raccoon-he just grinned.

 The girls just love the robes-Andrea has determined to sleep every night with hers on.

 YEAH!!  I got to give the coal away, Brayden's finger is totally healed and it was time for that thing to go.  Off to the fikkerts for dumping a nice check from Grandpa...okay, almost but it still counts.

 James just loves all the Christmas music-when he was crabby in the car we would have to take a break from our Audio book to play a little music to perk him up.  This is him singing his favorite song-Feliz NaviDA (he had the DA part down!)

 Linnea's gift to David was a new gun...supposed to shoot bear.  It didn't take a whole lot of convincing to have Ron take them our and do a little shooting.  (this was just disgusting....in my opinion)

My sweet girl all decked out in her pink girly wear hanging out with the guys in the woods.

First Installment of Christmas Pictures

I am working backward through my pictures so this set is of our stay with Ron's parents which we did last.  After spending time with my family we moved to Ron's parents and celebrated Christmas...as Brayden said a THIRD time-so excited!  It was a lot of fun, the kids were ready to play with cousins and explore all of the toys.  Sad to say the flu was making it's rounds and Peter was unable to play this year.  Brayden missed his buddy but at Bedtime told me that Jack was a lot of fun to play with.  Becca was in her glory as she got to open her Birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa-an American girl doll.  She has had Kanani's picture torn out of the catalog for about a year now. At one point she thought I had dumped it and about lost it.  Thursday was Christmas with everyone and we started the morning with the traditional yummy Cinnamon rolls and after a while started opening gifts-such fun.  It is amazing how the day rolled by with just gifts-although playing with many of them is what kept the kids going.  We did get in some good games of sequence and golf with the adults in the evenings.  The kids had a ton of fun playing Jingo Christmas Bingo)-complete with prizes! Ron was able to get out and shoot a little with a bunch of shells left from Grandpa.  I tried but was not so hot at shooting skeet-I ended up picking up most of mine in the field, Intact!  Brayden and I had more fun picking off golf balls off Grandma's clothesline.  Becca and the girls had some gourmet tea party's-complete with real china, food and  punch.  Amazing what we all filled our day's with but still it was the most fun just to watch the kids have a blast!

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These are just a couple of my favorites.

 James is such a little sport.  Brayden was out for a while but headed in after organizing all the clay pigeons-James just kept playing and puttering around-loving being outside even if it was cold!

 Blackie is officially demoted-he has been on the floor in the corner ever since Kanani arrived. Today she got a hair wash-such fun.

 Brayden was a little nervous about Ana driving and kept asking her if she could drive good.

This is what happens when our little girl gets play gun as a gift-she just couldn't keep the tears from flowing.

Target shooting-yes, he can hit the target.

The bunch at the extended Haveman party. The party was in a gym-I think the kids felt so free, they could finally run and ram.

The bunch at the DeWitt party-I think Brayden is just excited in this picture because he just received his Christmas money from Great Grandma.  It was fun to hear how much fun the kids had at this party-playing hide and seek in the work cubicles (at request foods)-something Ron remembered doing as kid at the  same party.

2012!

Happy New Year

To All Our Family And Friends