Last Sunday night, we headed out to Mt. Pleasant for a little "staycation" with the kids. We got another great deal at the Soaring Eagle Waterpark and we just couldn't pass it up. For about $120, we got a 1-night hotel stay, 5 water park passes, and a $20 voucher for lunch. The kids just love it when we do this.
On Sunday night, Rob took the kids down to play for a little while. I stayed in the room with Kaiton and hung out with him. The next morning, I ran to Meijer and picked up donuts and milk for the kids to eat for breakfast. I love how excited they get over a hotel stay and a junk food breakfast. They were so thrilled! We spent almost the whole day at the water park on Monday. The Soaring Eagle water park is just perfect for our young kids. It has several slides for little kids, and lots of fun stuff for them to play in. Brooklen was the only one tall enough to go on the big water slide, but the other kids didn't really seem to mind at all. Even Kaiton had a blast! He thought the water slides were so much fun, and he loved the Lazy River too. We ate lunch at the restaurant in the water park and then play for a few more hours. We had to leave at about 3:30 because Brooklen had to get home for hockey.
The rest of the week were filled with baseball practices, hockey practice, gymnastics, and quite a bit of rain. The temperature dropped quite a bit and it felt extra cold because we've had a few warmer days. Since each day wasn't super monumental, I'll recap some highlights from everyone's week.
Rob: His softball practice was canceled this week, but he did get to help Brooklen at Baseball Heaven on Wednesday this week. We met for lunch at Qdoba on Wednesday, and he also had a work lunch on Monday.
Me: I had to rearrange some things because of the kid's sports, so I taught four piano lessons on Thursday and Friday. I've definitely decided that I don't like teaching that many lessons in one day and I ESPECIALLY don't like do them all right in a row. I didn't make much time to work out this week. I need to be ready for the Dow 5k in a few weeks; I ran for a while last night and it was NOT good. I guess I'll have to add in a lot more runs in the next few weeks. I think my biggest challenge with running is that I don't like it. I can push myself so hard with HIIT workouts, but it's hard to get my mind in the game to run.
Brooklen: Brooklen had another busy week again with sports. He got to play hockey several times this week with Jake. They are so cute. Today I watched them for a bit and they commentate their entire game; they even do post-game interviews!
Hurley: We went to the library this week to checkout books for Hurley's animal report. She is going to be researching the beaver. She is excited to do this and we've already read through several of the books. I got to sit in on Hurley's gymnastics class this week. She is doing amazing; you can't even tell that she just joined that class. I was pretty amazed at the workout Lori puts those girls through. They spend about the first 45 minutes just doing strength training. They mostly do exercises that Rob and I use.
Zaya: Zaya enjoyed preschool this week. She also got to play with at Kate's house and she had Jack come over on Friday. She is such a fun girl. She enjoys making up songs and doing crafts.
Kaiton: Kaiton is completely obsessed with balls and dogs. He points to the garage and makes barking noises when he wants to go see the Nyman's dog, Laney. Jenny Larsen watched him for me during Hurley's gymnastics class this week and she said that he cried for 20 minutes until he noticed her son, Ben, playing basketball outside. She took him outside to watch Ben and she said he was happy from that point on. Kaiton also learned to wave this week. He loves to stand in the doorway and wave to the kids as they get on the bus.
Tonight, we had the sister missionaries come over for dinner. We had a nice dinner with them and the kids enjoyed that they got brownies and ice cream for dessert.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Week Sixteen
This week was fun and crazy. I think we had something schedule every night but one night. Rob started softball practice. He is going to play on a new team this year. The guys from church that he has played with for the last two year decided that they didn't want to play this year. Instead, he is going to play on a team with a guy he knows because he is now on a the board for a company. I am excited and proud of this new opportunity for Rob and I am also excited that he is meeting new people to play with.
On Friday the temperature was 73 and sunny. We had a wonderful evening. We grilled for the first time this year and then we played outside with the Nymans and the Whites and took a couple of walks. I am soooo looking forward to being able to spend more time outside with my family. I have to mention that I also brought the ripstick outside for the time. You have to be a little careful of the cracks in the sidewalk, but it was fun to do it outside and I didn't wipeout!
On Saturday, Brooklen had hockey and baseball. Hurley was invited to Hannah's party at Chuck e Cheese in Saginaw. I took Zaya and Kaiton and ran some errand after I dropped Hurley off. Then, when we went to pick Hurley off, I gave Zaya some tokens and let her play for a while. After we got home from Saginaw, the kids played outside for a few hours. I stained some shelves that we are working on for our basement. It was nice to be productive and have the kids happy at the same time!
On Friday the temperature was 73 and sunny. We had a wonderful evening. We grilled for the first time this year and then we played outside with the Nymans and the Whites and took a couple of walks. I am soooo looking forward to being able to spend more time outside with my family. I have to mention that I also brought the ripstick outside for the time. You have to be a little careful of the cracks in the sidewalk, but it was fun to do it outside and I didn't wipeout!
On Saturday, Brooklen had hockey and baseball. Hurley was invited to Hannah's party at Chuck e Cheese in Saginaw. I took Zaya and Kaiton and ran some errand after I dropped Hurley off. Then, when we went to pick Hurley off, I gave Zaya some tokens and let her play for a while. After we got home from Saginaw, the kids played outside for a few hours. I stained some shelves that we are working on for our basement. It was nice to be productive and have the kids happy at the same time!
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Week Fifteen
Life is exhausting and amazing all at once right now. I am super stressed and my mind turns in circles constantly. Too many commitments, responsibilities, ideas, and projects, and too little time. At the same time, everything is absolutely perfect. The kids are all in activities that they love and we are being kept busy with lots of fun and uplifting things.
On Monday, the kids had the day off of school. We all went to take Zaya to gymnastics and then we went home and hung out for awhile. Later in the day, we all went and watched Brooklen play hockey. I think he is really enjoying hockey, and he is doing amazing!
On Tuesday, Zaya had preschool at Jack's house, and then we spent the rest of the day cleaning up and recovering from Spring Break. There was a lot of laundry to be done and plenty of messes to be cleaned up.
Zaya had Jack come over and play on Wednesday. They are so cute together and they really play so well together. I am excited that they are going to be going to Chippewa Preschool together next year. After school, I taught piano lessons and Rob left work to take Hurley to gymnastics. She has switched classes again and she is now in Lori's Little Leapers class. This is her fourth class switch this year, but we have had a terrible time finding a good fit for her. Lori and Michelle knew that she really needed to be in this class and they recommended that we just switch her over. Surprisingly, she cried during the whole class. She knows Lori really well because she coached her for over a year, but I think that she is just really emotional and I also think it has been hard for her to switch coaches and classmates so much this year. Luckily, we know that this class is the right fit for her and she should be able to stay with this group from this point on.
On Thursday, Brooklen had baseball practice and on Friday, we had nothing schedule, so we were finally able to watch Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. Mr. Rajewski read it to Hurley's kindergarten class this year, so I decided to buckle down and read it to Brooklen. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. I was also surprised how closely the movie followed the book.
On Saturday, Brooklen had baseball and then hockey. Hurley went to Addison Jones' birthday party in the afternoon and the kids also played outside with the Nymans and the Whites.
Today, we had our Easter program at church. The choir performed two beautiful numbers that I was really excited for and proud of. Rob taught Sunday School today, so I had Kaiton for the second hour. He spotted Zaya in primary and kept waving at her AND he was saying, "zay zay, zay zay." He is starting to experiment with words. He says, "mom, dad, good job (when he claps his hands)" and "ruf ruf (when he sees a dog; he LOVES dogs)." He is obsessed with sports and just loves watching Jake and Brooklen play hockey. Today, as we were taking a walk, he got really excited. I looked over, only to realize that he had seen a basketball hoop in someone's driveway. The weather was gorgeous today (70 degrees). We played outside and we even grilled for the first time this year!
I wasn't very good about taking pictures this week :( But, I did snap a few pictures of Kaiton in his favorite chair
.
On Monday, the kids had the day off of school. We all went to take Zaya to gymnastics and then we went home and hung out for awhile. Later in the day, we all went and watched Brooklen play hockey. I think he is really enjoying hockey, and he is doing amazing!
On Tuesday, Zaya had preschool at Jack's house, and then we spent the rest of the day cleaning up and recovering from Spring Break. There was a lot of laundry to be done and plenty of messes to be cleaned up.
Zaya had Jack come over and play on Wednesday. They are so cute together and they really play so well together. I am excited that they are going to be going to Chippewa Preschool together next year. After school, I taught piano lessons and Rob left work to take Hurley to gymnastics. She has switched classes again and she is now in Lori's Little Leapers class. This is her fourth class switch this year, but we have had a terrible time finding a good fit for her. Lori and Michelle knew that she really needed to be in this class and they recommended that we just switch her over. Surprisingly, she cried during the whole class. She knows Lori really well because she coached her for over a year, but I think that she is just really emotional and I also think it has been hard for her to switch coaches and classmates so much this year. Luckily, we know that this class is the right fit for her and she should be able to stay with this group from this point on.
On Thursday, Brooklen had baseball practice and on Friday, we had nothing schedule, so we were finally able to watch Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. Mr. Rajewski read it to Hurley's kindergarten class this year, so I decided to buckle down and read it to Brooklen. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. I was also surprised how closely the movie followed the book.
On Saturday, Brooklen had baseball and then hockey. Hurley went to Addison Jones' birthday party in the afternoon and the kids also played outside with the Nymans and the Whites.
Today, we had our Easter program at church. The choir performed two beautiful numbers that I was really excited for and proud of. Rob taught Sunday School today, so I had Kaiton for the second hour. He spotted Zaya in primary and kept waving at her AND he was saying, "zay zay, zay zay." He is starting to experiment with words. He says, "mom, dad, good job (when he claps his hands)" and "ruf ruf (when he sees a dog; he LOVES dogs)." He is obsessed with sports and just loves watching Jake and Brooklen play hockey. Today, as we were taking a walk, he got really excited. I looked over, only to realize that he had seen a basketball hoop in someone's driveway. The weather was gorgeous today (70 degrees). We played outside and we even grilled for the first time this year!
I wasn't very good about taking pictures this week :( But, I did snap a few pictures of Kaiton in his favorite chair
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Week Fourteen
This week was Spring Break. Although it is difficult to get any of my "mom duties" done while all of the kids are home from school, I love having them here.
On Monday afternoon we went to the pool at Delta College. We were supposed to meet several friends there, but only one other family showed up. The pool was surprisingly really clean and it wasn't too stressful to swim with all four of them by myself. Both Brooklen and Hurley jumped off the diving board (with life jackets) and Brooklen had a blast on the water slide. Kaiton really enjoyed the water and they had plenty of small fountains and other things for him to play in. After swimming, we headed to Larkin Park for Brooklen's baseball practice.
On Tuesday we spent the morning at the library. Brooklen and Hurley don't get to go to the public library much during the school year, so we spent a couple of hours checking out books, playing with toys, coloring, and making up puppet shows. When we got home, we had lunch, and then we colored easter eggs. Since we are not eating food dye in our house anymore, I decided to use natural dyes. We used yellow onion skins (orange), turmeric (yellow), spinach (light green/brown), and cabbage (blue). We also bought some really ugly ties from goodwill and made some silk eggs. They were beautiful! Next year, I will definitely blow out some eggs and make some of these for decoration.
Tuesday was a nice day outside. In the afternoon, we also whipped up some chalk paint and the kids painted on the driveway.
Wednesday was April Fools Day. In the morning, I mixed up some mac n cheese powder with some water and gave it to the kids. They were excited that I was giving them orange juice, but they were all super disgusted by the joke. To make up for it, I gave them a glass of milk. I had added plain gelatin, sweetened condensed milk, nonfat milk, and vanilla so it was like jello. They all thought it was funny and they were glad that it was tasty! I also froze Zaya's bowl of cereal. She was so funny. She didn't understand that it was a joke; instead she thought it was some sort of cool new breakfast. I think she thoroughly enjoyed chipping away at the cereal and eating it.
At dinnertime, I made a spaghetti pie. Although it was a fairly gluttonous dish, the kids all liked it. I also used some pound cake to make "french fries" and chicken nuggets (pound cake covered in frosting and a mixture of toasted coconut and cornflakes). Brooklen had gone to the dollar store with Rob and gotten some bugs to scare me with and he also had Rob give him some money so that he could buy an April Fools joke for everyone else (that Rob wouldn't know about). He told me about this joke because he was so excited. He bought a gumball machine and also a box of lemon heads. He told everyone that he had dessert for them and then he let them get a gumball; everyone was surprised when it was a lemonhead! I love that kid and his enthusiasm.
We also had a chance to go bowling on Wednesday morning. The three older kids played while I cheered them on and watched Kaiton. Brooklen won the first game and Zaya won the second game.
Thursday, we finally had time to go to Chuck E Cheese. My kids just can't get enough of that place. Brooklen and Hurley were focused on getting the most tickets that they could. I think all kids go through that phase. They didn't really care what games they were playing, as long as they could win several tickets at once. Of course, they also learned the lesson that the tickets at Chuck E Cheese buy crappy toys. They each had a toy break that afternoon. I tried to reinforce the lesson that we go to Chuck E Cheese because it is fun, not because you can win great toys. Zaya cared mostly about riding all of the rides at Chuck E Cheese. This worked out perfectly because Kaiton is at a perfect age for these too. He laughed and smiled constantly and got super excited every time I would put him on another ride. In the end, I think we spent almost three hours at Chuck E Cheese. I love that my kids can have so much fun there and I love that it isn't a really expensive activity.
On Friday we just hung around the house. The Nymans were home too, so the kids played over at their house and also at ours.
On Saturday, we went to Home Depot for a kids workshop in the morning. The kids made a chalkboard flowerpot holder and planted a gladiola bulb. Then, we came home and watched conference.
Today was Easter Sunday and also General Conference. I wish every Easter was on General Conference Sunday. We had such a nice, fun, relaxing day. We woke up and looked through Easter baskets, hunted for eggs, watched a church video, and ate resurrection rolls. We all stayed in our pajamas all day. I tried to convey the spiritual message of Easter to my children. I'm not sure how successful I was in conveying that message, but I hope that they felt the spirit and understand how much the Savior loves them.
On Monday afternoon we went to the pool at Delta College. We were supposed to meet several friends there, but only one other family showed up. The pool was surprisingly really clean and it wasn't too stressful to swim with all four of them by myself. Both Brooklen and Hurley jumped off the diving board (with life jackets) and Brooklen had a blast on the water slide. Kaiton really enjoyed the water and they had plenty of small fountains and other things for him to play in. After swimming, we headed to Larkin Park for Brooklen's baseball practice.
On Tuesday we spent the morning at the library. Brooklen and Hurley don't get to go to the public library much during the school year, so we spent a couple of hours checking out books, playing with toys, coloring, and making up puppet shows. When we got home, we had lunch, and then we colored easter eggs. Since we are not eating food dye in our house anymore, I decided to use natural dyes. We used yellow onion skins (orange), turmeric (yellow), spinach (light green/brown), and cabbage (blue). We also bought some really ugly ties from goodwill and made some silk eggs. They were beautiful! Next year, I will definitely blow out some eggs and make some of these for decoration.
Tuesday was a nice day outside. In the afternoon, we also whipped up some chalk paint and the kids painted on the driveway.
Wednesday was April Fools Day. In the morning, I mixed up some mac n cheese powder with some water and gave it to the kids. They were excited that I was giving them orange juice, but they were all super disgusted by the joke. To make up for it, I gave them a glass of milk. I had added plain gelatin, sweetened condensed milk, nonfat milk, and vanilla so it was like jello. They all thought it was funny and they were glad that it was tasty! I also froze Zaya's bowl of cereal. She was so funny. She didn't understand that it was a joke; instead she thought it was some sort of cool new breakfast. I think she thoroughly enjoyed chipping away at the cereal and eating it.
At dinnertime, I made a spaghetti pie. Although it was a fairly gluttonous dish, the kids all liked it. I also used some pound cake to make "french fries" and chicken nuggets (pound cake covered in frosting and a mixture of toasted coconut and cornflakes). Brooklen had gone to the dollar store with Rob and gotten some bugs to scare me with and he also had Rob give him some money so that he could buy an April Fools joke for everyone else (that Rob wouldn't know about). He told me about this joke because he was so excited. He bought a gumball machine and also a box of lemon heads. He told everyone that he had dessert for them and then he let them get a gumball; everyone was surprised when it was a lemonhead! I love that kid and his enthusiasm.
We also had a chance to go bowling on Wednesday morning. The three older kids played while I cheered them on and watched Kaiton. Brooklen won the first game and Zaya won the second game.
Thursday, we finally had time to go to Chuck E Cheese. My kids just can't get enough of that place. Brooklen and Hurley were focused on getting the most tickets that they could. I think all kids go through that phase. They didn't really care what games they were playing, as long as they could win several tickets at once. Of course, they also learned the lesson that the tickets at Chuck E Cheese buy crappy toys. They each had a toy break that afternoon. I tried to reinforce the lesson that we go to Chuck E Cheese because it is fun, not because you can win great toys. Zaya cared mostly about riding all of the rides at Chuck E Cheese. This worked out perfectly because Kaiton is at a perfect age for these too. He laughed and smiled constantly and got super excited every time I would put him on another ride. In the end, I think we spent almost three hours at Chuck E Cheese. I love that my kids can have so much fun there and I love that it isn't a really expensive activity.
On Friday we just hung around the house. The Nymans were home too, so the kids played over at their house and also at ours.
On Saturday, we went to Home Depot for a kids workshop in the morning. The kids made a chalkboard flowerpot holder and planted a gladiola bulb. Then, we came home and watched conference.
Today was Easter Sunday and also General Conference. I wish every Easter was on General Conference Sunday. We had such a nice, fun, relaxing day. We woke up and looked through Easter baskets, hunted for eggs, watched a church video, and ate resurrection rolls. We all stayed in our pajamas all day. I tried to convey the spiritual message of Easter to my children. I'm not sure how successful I was in conveying that message, but I hope that they felt the spirit and understand how much the Savior loves them.
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