Dylan Update

Remember THIS post about Dylan the little boy in the picture on my sidebar. Well things have changed for him and his family and he will be undergoing another open heart surgery on september 20th. A friend and neighbor of the family is holding a fundraiser this weekend. You can read about it at the facebook link below. If you are in the area, please consider attending. It is a GREAT cause. This family needs this love and support at this very difficult time.



http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146129142075873



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Summer...Where did you go?

I had to face reality this week. It was back to work for me, after an incredible summer home with the kids. School starting brought a week of full time work for me...back to school breakfasts, all day meetings, setting up my classroom in a new building that was still under construction most of the week, and the best part, one nice long weekend ahead with my family.



This summer brought many changes around here...

• Eva mastered potty training


• Melia learned to swim completely on her own, with no help from a life jacket or arm swimmies


• Parker and Eva gave up the passy


• Parker stopped nursing


• Parker learned to walk

to name a few of the major ones. We had a wonderful summer filled with vacation, family, friends, many trips to the park, a fair, bike rides, and so much more. I am so thankful I get to to be home in the summer.

This was also the first summer with our garden. It was a huge success. Our final garden tally count is...

Zucchini...13 Pea pods...14 (we only ended up with one plant) Green beans...32 (after replanting and almost not making it, they finally did give us some beans) Cucumber...15 Green peppers...9 big and 6 small mixed peppers and finally our 5 tomato plants gave us 95 large tomatoes so far with about 20-30 still waiting to be picked. I can't wait to can sauce and stewed tomatoes. Already looking forward to next year :)

The fall brings changes too. I am in a new building this year and the kids are going to day care/preschool. We went and visited all the classrooms that the kids will be going to last night. They were nervous and excited all at the same time. Surprisingly, Eva was the first to run and play. P and M tentatively watched and hid their faces, when their teachers talked to them. I can't believe that the girls will both be starting preschool. E is so excited to go to school like she watched her big sister do last year. I am really excited to be able to peek in on them and see them throughout the day. P is at another location, but grandma works near by, and is looking forward to visits with him.

Another big change this fall, I will add college student to the list. Every five years as a teacher I am required to take 6 credit hours to keep my certification current. Well, I am in my fifth year and the six credits need to be done by June. Next time I don't plan on waiting so long, but growing our family has filled the last five years and time just got away from me. While I am excited about being a student again, (I love taking classes and learning), my ability to juggle wife, mom, teacher, friend etc. is a little daunting. I am confident that I can do it, it will just take a little re-prioritizing and good time management. Both classes are 8 weeks and online, so it will go quick. I ordered my books and am going to pick them up today. I have a few more weeks before classes start, so I can focus on my family and starting the school year for a little longer.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Free Family Fun

I used to think, to have fun it had to involve money being spent. ie. going to the movies, a dinner date, zoo, water park etc. Living on a strict budget, these days, has not left much room for extra spending on these types of things. But we have discovered there is still plenty of fun to be had. I am sure many of you have done these things, but wanted to share some of my experiences and hoping you will share some of yours in the comments.

Summer is a great time for free family fun...

• splash pads- Splash pads seem to be popping up all over these days. There are two that we have tried. There is a new one in Oxford thats free for residents and a small fee for non-residents. Adults are free! We have family in Oxford, so we've been able to get in free and the kids have really enjoyed it......once they got over the freezing water :) We have also ventured to Partridge Creek Mall. They have jets that shoot water from the ground and a kids play area right next to each other. The kids LOVE it there.


• beaches- We have been to several beaches this summer. While it takes some work to pack everything needed for three young kids, it provides great free entertainment. I've also had to get over having sand in EVERYTHING from the van to between every toe, but worth it for free family fun.


• bike rides- If you have bikes and don't mind the exercise, this is one of our favorites. The kids sit in the trailer and enjoy the scenery and we get exercise all at the same time. We usually try to stop at a park or maybe splurge for an ice cream cone on our ride to give the kids something to do. Their favorite stop is at this little Pioneer town, in our town that has four goats that will eat anything that you stick through the fence.


• local parks - try a different one each week. There are lots of parks around from community ones to school playgrounds.


• library events- I feel this is a severely untapped resource. There are many fun things that libraries have to offer. Story time, craft times, special events, and if nothing else, an outing to bring new books and sometimes movies home. We love the movie section. They have a decent new release section (for being a library and not a movie store) and they're free. Go to the library during the day and then plan a special family movie night for the evening. Have the kids draw and cut out movie tickets for each person, pop some popcorn, turn the lights down, snuggle on the couch and enjoy the show.


• parks and rec events - This summer our parks and rec department has been hosting movies in the park, family swim nights, a kite day, and many other free events just for family fun. Check out your local parks and rec. There may be fun at your fingertips just waiting for you.


• game nights- when the weather isn't permitting for outside activities, game nights are always fun. We like board games, relay races, duck duck goose (the girls will even play with just the two of them), and then there are always made up games. M will make things up for us to do. Spin around three times, jump up and down, and then lay down. Be creative!!! It can even be as simple as pulling out a few toys that haven't been played with in a while.


• things in your community - Before kids, I didn't give much thought to things going on in our community. But now I look for things all the time. A few weeks back there was a community open house. They brought in a bounce house, had a farmer's market, petting zoo, and fire trucks on display. The kids loved it. In out little town, there are also concerts in the park and a few yearly events that take place, sidewalk sales, peach festival and victorian days that offer free entertainment for families.


• When you just can't seem to find anything to do, go to the "family fun" website...familyfun.com We get the Family Fun magazine which is FULL of great fun and free or almost free activities to do with your family. When we went to visit Chris's family recently, we had a three hour ride each way, so I spent the trip going through each magazine and tearing out pages of ideas I would use. It's two fold: I get a few pages of fun and then toss (or recycle) the rest of the magazine, decluttering my desk at the same time.


• Camp out- one we have not done yet, but am looking forward too. We have been searching craigslist and garage sales for a cheap used tent, so the kids can "camp" in the backyard with daddy. Flashlight games, star gazing, making smores...the ideas are endless.
  

Other not quite free, but worth the cost (in my opinion)

Zoo- I listed it up there as an expense, but if you can budget $70 for a zoo pass, you can take your family year round for that price including parking. So while its not completely free, it is a great value for a family. It was going to cost us $50 just to go once, with parking and admission for 5 of us. Now we can go anytime we want. If the kids get tired and we have only been there an hour, that's okay we can come another day or ten other days for that matter :)

Park with Dinner - It's Friday night and dinner isn't made and your feeling like getting out. Grab dinner and head to a park. One of our favorites is Rochester park. There are two different play structures, ducks to feed, rivers to splash in, and trails to walk on. The kids have loved it. They get to meet other kids, play, and make family memories all at the same time. Of course packing dinner is always a more ecomical option, but there are just days where makingn dinner just doesn't happen :) We have done both this summer.

When the weather is not good a trip to a local fast food play place is fun. Sometimes, we eat before we go, and then I will just buy the kids a drink when we get there.

So there you have it......... some of my ideas........what are your family favorite free activities?

Four Generations

This past weekend, we visited Chris's grandparents. We were surrouded by lakes, and we were able to take advantage of some great time on the water. The kids had their first wave-runner, paddle-boat, and pontoon boat rides.

More importantly, I loved seeing four generations of family together. Our kids are so blessed to have three sets of great grandparents still living. Here are a few shots of the kids with their great grandparents. These first two are from P's b-day.

My dad's parents My mom's mom

Chris's mom's parents

And a few other shots of the water fun. Chris's Uncle John took us out on his pontoon boat. His dog, Gunner came along too. P loved laying on, smacking, petting, and getting kisses from the puppy.

E wasn't sure at first but with a little convincing, she enjoyed the ride.

M loved it from the start and wanted to go faster the whole time.

Vacation 2010

Week before last we spent a week in Port Austin with my family. My parents generously rented a cabin for them, their kids, and their grand kids; 13 of us to be exact; 7 adults and 6 kids under six. We had a blast. My brother went back to work for a few days, but the rest of us were there for the week. We spent our days walking on the beach, playing in the water, eating ice cream, going for bike rides, laughing, playing board games and the Wii, and just enjoying each others company. This was our first year doing this and after this week, I am sure we will make this a tradition in the years ahead. I feel so honored and privileged that we could spend a week with my siblings and parents and enjoy every second of it. The kids loved being together. Eva and my niece Sydney (who are 6 months apart) did EVERYTHING together, from going potty to playing in the sand. It was adorable to watch.

The Whole Gang

Our Family

We ventured in to Pigeon for the farmer's festival one morning...We fed animals, went for a train ride, decorated cupcakes, took pony rides, and the girls got their nails painted all for free. It was a great time.

Beach fun....We had a private section of beach out in front of our cabin. Hours were spent on the beach and many treasures were found and built.

Cousins

Our beautiful Eva

Where it all began...Thanks mom and dad for an incredible time. You are truly a blessing.

My parents and all the kids....morning snuggles with Nana

A daddy and his kids

Our clothes line looked like this most of the time

Going out for a before bed walk on the beach in our jammies

and getting ready to ride. Three bike trailers to hold six kids. :)

I have hundreds more pictures...but you get the idea.
Hope your family is making many beautiful memories this summer too.

Big Milestones

We have seen big changes in Parker this last month. He turned a year and decided to show off some big boy skills. He has decided (on two occasions now) that feeding himself with a spoon is much better than waiting for me to feed him. So yesterday, I let him and shot this little video of it. We haven't done that much practicing, but about a week ago, he literally refused to let me feed him his dinner, and then did it again today. I am all for independence, but the independence vs. messy factor is a hard battle for me right now :)

4th of July weekend he took 5-8 steps several times. We haven't seen much walking since. until yesterday. After his afternoon nap, he decided walking is for him, and every time I turned around he was walking towards me instead of crawling. After capturing many spills on camera, I got this little venture down the hallway (a little dark), showing off for daddy last night. He walked almost as much as he crawled yesterday. He will be on the go, go, go now. I do a double take when I see him come walking toward me. It just looks foreign still. The girls clap, cheer and shout every time he just gets up and walks to them.

He has also decided to grow teeth. His first two teeth have come through the surface in the last two weeks. He now has his two eye teeth coming in. Yes you read it right, not his bottom or top middle teeth... his eye teeth.

He had his one year check and shots a few weeks back. One more set of shots, then he his good until he his four. He weighed in at 21.6 pounds and was 30 inches long. He fell into the 25% for height and weight. He matches his sister Melia, who is also in the 25% for height and weight. Eva is in the 50% for both.

Goats, Veggies, and Fruit

Last night we went for a bike ride and stopped at "Frontier town" a few miles from our house. In this town they have four goats. All of the kiddos LOVED feeding them. P was having a conversation with them, in babble of course, while M and E scoured the ground for every leaf, twig, and branch they could find to feed them.

(Sorry for the quality, it was on my cell phone)

E kept saying, "Come here little fella" She cracks me up.

We have been sticking close to home this past week and finding little things like this to do with the kids to get out of the house. We have been battling what appears to be the flu. It has gone through all of us, but M can's seem to get rid of it. It landed us in the ER for fluids last week, and we went back to the doc this afternoon. He referred us to a Ped. GI doc. We, amazingly, have an appt. for tomorrow afternoon. It usually takes months to get in as a new patient, but our doc convinced them it was a priority. It has been going on for almost three weeks now. Poor Girl. A few hours of the day she seems sick, and then the rest of the day she acts as if nothing is wrong. There are many more details, but I just don't have the energy right now to spell it all out. Any prayers would be greatly appreciated :)

On Sunday we picked our first two Zucchini and today we picked two more. We gave one to our sweet neighbor who is going to water our garden when we are on vacation next week. The garden is out of control. We have about 40 baby green tomatoes growing (and a ton more blooms), 5 little cucumbers with about 30 more blooms, and 3 more zucchini growing as I type, with about 35-40 more blooms. I better start looking up what to do with zucchini :) It is a highlight in my day, when the kids and I go out to see if anything new has grown. Before the week is out we will most likely have 3 or 4 more zucchini ready to be picked and our first two green peppers.

Last weekend we ventured out and picked 11 lbs of strawberries. Many were consumed, but the rest were turned into 10 jars of yummy jam. This was my first time canning, and it has me pumped for future canning endeavors. I plan to can tomato sauce with all our tomatoes. I would also like to can peaches and pears in the fall.