Week 29

Last Sunday, I took some pictures of Zaya just because.  I got them on the computer this week.  She is so fun and beautiful.

On Monday, we did chores around the house and then went to the ice skating rink for the first time this summer.  The three older kids did awesome; I, on the other hand, was grateful to have Kaiton as my crutch.  I worked with Kaiton for about 45 minutes.  He was definitely pretty scared, but I think as I get him on the ice more frequently, he will get used to it.

Our week was pretty busy with well-child appointments for the two older kids, physical therapy, gymnastics, 2 baseball games, a visit to Plymouth Park, playdates with the triplets and Austin King, and a visit to Brighton, MI for Hurley's first Kickstart testing.

Wednesday was Brooklen's birthday.  He wanted orange rolls for breakfast and he was lucky enough to get a Fitbit from us for his birthday.  He was so excited and he has been tracking his steps, sleep, and calories burnt all week.  At noon, I left to take Zaya to gymnastics and Brooklen went with the Nymans.  They took him out to lunch at McDonalds and then they went swimming at an indoor hotel pool.  He had a blast.  I felt bad that he spent his birthday with them and not me, but he wasn't thrilled about going to watch gymnastics.  At night, we had hamburgers, pineapple, fries, and corn for dinner.  He wanted a peach cake, so we made a peach cake with dulce de leche frosting.  The cake was pretty dry, but the frosting was AMAZING.  When Hurley got home from gymnastics at 8:15, we had cake outside with the Nymans.

On Friday, we went down to Brighton for Hurley's first Kickstart testing.  She did pretty amazing for a girl who has never really performed in front of others.  She pushed herself hard and I think she got pretty good results.  On the rope climb (they climb with legs in a pike and only use their arms) she had only gotten about a foot off the ground at practice.  At the actual testing, she got about 5 feet off the ground (they have to go 6 feet at her age).  It was a really good experience for her and judging by how much she loved it, I think she will really love competing this year.

Below is my letter to Brooklen since he turned 9 this week:

Dear Brooklen,

I can not believe that 9 years ago you made us parents.  I can still remember wondering how it would feel to be a parent to a little baby.  And then that moment that you were born, everything changed.  I suddenly felt an enormous amount of responsibility, a humbling desire to learn, and my heart opened up and I loved you more than I could ever describe.

Those first couple of years with just us were so much fun.  I look back now and although I thought life was busy and at times tough, it seems so carefree looking back now.  I keep thinking about those years and the things we did together, trying to imagine what life will be like this year when I have just Kaiton at home.

Brooklen, I couldn't be more proud of who you are today.  You are such a responsible boy.  You want to do good and I can always count on you.  When I send you off to school or church, I know without a doubt that you will be respectful, obedient, and try your hardest.  Today, you gave a talk in primary and although you didn't initially want to, you wrote it yourself and gave it without even using a cheatsheet.

Your favorite things are definitely sports.  Your favorite sports are baseball and hockey, but you like to watch almost every sport.  You wake up early and read CNN and your dad actual fact checks with you now.  You are always on the go.  You and your best friend, Jake, are constantly moving from one sport to another.  You just got a Fitbit for your birthday and when you are playing outside, you burn a ton of calories!!

Your favorite part of school is gym and recess.  You are very smart, and you are especially good at math.  You don't love to read, but if you are reading a book that involves sports, you enjoy it!  You read every night when you go to bed for at least 20 minutes.

Things have definitely changes this past year.  You are suddenly "old," and you don't really like going to parks or doing things that you deem, "babyish."  This has made this summer quite interesting, but I understand that you are older now and that you want to be treated like a big kid.

Your best friends are Jacob Nyman, Ethan Menzies, and Carter Greiman.  You have become pretty social and you love to play kickball with your friends at school.  At home, you like to play mini sticks, baseball, hockey, and the Wii with your friends.  On the baseball field, you are a vocal leader of your team and you enjoy calling out plays and outs to your teammates.  You are introverted, but you have learned how to make friends and communicate well with others.

You are helpful at home.  You are especially good at helping with Kaiton and Zaya.  You read to them, help Kaiton get dressed, and you help them complete their chores.  They are lucky to have you as a big brother.

Brooklen, I can't believe 9 years have passed.  You have made life so wonderful.  We love you and can't wait to watch you grow into an amazing young man.

Love,

Mom

Week 28

Yesterday was our first Saturday in forever that we had nothing scheduled.  It was so nice!  Hurley had spent the night at Hannah's house on Friday night and on Saturday morning, we all slept in.  We basically hung around the house in the morning and then Rob took Brooklen to the batting cages while I took Zaya and Kaiton to Great Lakes Ice Cream to redeem their coupons from the summer reading program.  They both got Blue Moon ice cream and it was fun to be out with just the two of them on a "date."  At 1:00pm, Rob took Brooklen to Carter Greiman's house to play.  Rob and I hung around the house with the younger kids while he was off playing.  At 3:30, Carter and Brooklen came back over and they, along with Zaya and Kaiton, did the slip n' slide outside.  After about an hour, we took Carter home and we ran to Meijer to do our shopping for the week.  When we were done, we came home and made a salad for dinner.  After dinner, I took Brooklen to Great Lake Ice Cream to redeem HIS coupon.  I almost never get time alone with Brooklen, so I was grateful for the chance to take him alone.  Hurley finally got back home after 8:00pm.  She had been with the Hills for over 24 hours!  I was starting to really miss her!

On Friday I taught piano to the Hill girls in the morning and then in the afternoon we met them, and the Rudds at the Plymouth Park pool.  We had soooo much fun! Zaya spent the entire time with the Rudd triplets and Hurley and Hannah played while Maddy and Sydona played with Kait.  I wish we could have brought a friend for Brooklen, but I couldn't find anyone last minute.

On Thursday, we had tried to go to the pool, but the forecast said thunderstorms.  Instead, Abigail and Lucy came over to play with Hurley and Zaya and Brooklen played at Jake's house.

The early part of the week was spent with my parents and Ethan.  They arrived last Thursday evening and stayed until Wednesday morning.  We had a blast with them.  We went to the Nature Center, the Cottage Creamery, Dow Gardens, picked blueberries, went to see Cinco's new movie, "The Secret Life of Pets," went mini golfing, and played at the house.  Last weekend, we actually took a trip to Traverse City with them.  It was so fun!  We picked cherries, ate at Slabtown Burgers (the BEST), walked downtown and spent forever at Cherry Republic.  We also stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge.  It was so fun! The kids had a blast at the waterpark, and they bowled, ate pizza, went to story time, and mini-golfed.  We were so busy, but we had so much fun!  I am so grateful that they came and visited.  It was super fun to have Ethan here too!

Week 25 through 27

Summer has been flying by!  Our kids are getting older now, so summer has been filled with a combination of carefree fun and scheduled extra curricular activities.  Hurley turned 7 last week and Rob's parents were here last week visiting, so I'm going to highlight each of the kids and then I will talk a bit about Hurley.

Kaiton: This kid NEVER stops talking!  He is such a joy to our family.  Today at church he told me that they got a basketball hoop in nursery.  Then, he told me that they don't have a hockey net and sticks and puck and that they need to get hockey stuff.  He is so smart and he impresses me so much every day.

Zaya:  Zaya has gotten to go to two vacation bible schools in the last couple of weeks.  First, she and Hurley did one with Nev and this week, she went in the evenings to one with Elijah and Jaycee from preschool.  She got to have a playdate with Lucy this week and she and Hurley also had Kaitlin Menzies over to play.  She has learned to love nature from her big sister.  On Monday, we went as a family to Tawas.  We found a spot with hundreds of super tiny baby frogs and the girls and Kaiton (and I) were in heaven!  Today, on our walk, we tried to catch a snake in the back of our neighborhood.  We weren't successful today, but I hope to be soon!

Hurley: Hurley is so mature for a little 7 year old.  She has been really excited about moving up in gymnastics.  I've been really proud of how well she has transitioned.  She has been really vocal with her coaches and she even won the gymnast of the week award.  She is our free spirit.  When we go to the beach, she is our daredevil.  She wants Rob to throw her super high in the air and she never gets sick of just swimming in the lake.  Yesterday, we went to the Nyman's cottage and both Hurley and Brooklen waterskied.  They both got up on their 4th try (it had been a year since they'd tried) and they both rode for a while.  Brooklen actually stayed up for quite a long time!  I seriously can't get enough of watching my kids learn new things.

Brooklen:  Brooklen started sandlot this week.  He is super excited because he gets to pitch and start the batting line up on Tuesday.  He is super excited about that.  He got to have one of his best friends, Ethan, over last week and they had a blast!

We had a really great visit with Rob's parents.  They got in late Saturday night.  We spent the day at Church on Sunday and then we celebrated Hurley's birthday with cake on Sunday evening.  On Monday, we went to the Nature Center to catch frogs and turtles.  We caught two medium-sized turtles and then Zaya caught a really tiny, baby one.  I was so excited for her!  We had a bbq for the fourth of July and at night, we decided to stay home and watch the Andriot's fireworks instead of fighting traffic downtown.  We had a great time on the front porch, but we almost had a dangerous accident when one of the fireworks tipped over and almost hit Hurley.  So scary!!!

On Tuesday, we took Rob's parents to Tawas for the day.  In the evening, we fished and the kids caught one fish.  On Wednesday, we hung around the house and played, went to Pizza Sams and Cherry Berry for dinner, and then we went and watched Rob's softball game.  He scored a home run!

On Thursday, we went to the museum and then we went over to the library.  In the evening, Brooklen and Rob went to Brooklen's baseball game and I took the younger kids and drove Rob's parents to Flint.  We had so much fun with them and we are grateful that they came to visit.


Dear Hurley,

I can't believe my "mini-me" is 7 YEARS OLD!  Hurley,  I couldn't be more proud of you.  You are growing up to be such a lovely young lady; you are so kind and so bright.  You love life and you are always up for an adventure.  You tackle everything with courage, strength, and ambition and your creativity is so exciting.

You do so well in school.  When I come visit your classroom, you are so serious and focused.  This focus transfers to everything you do: sports, academics, music, you focus so hard when you are learning and growing.  You love to read.  You finished the Junie B series and you have recently started reading several other kinds of books.  You tried to beat a boy in your class all year long at AR points and Rocket Math.  You fell just a bit behind him, but you never gave up!  Your favorite thing about first grade this year was getting to hatch chicks in your classroom.  Once they hatched, your class got to name them and play with them.  You had a wonderful 1st grade year; your teacher had only wonderful things to say about you.

Your favorite things to do are gymnastics, crafts, play with friends, and read.  You like to listen to your ipod shuffle and your favorite singer is Megan Trainor.  Recently, you fell in love with an older Miley Cyrus song, "Party in the USA."  You are a beast when you are working at the gym.  You can do almost 10 pull-ups in a row and you are always determined to pick up your next skill and to improve.  You also had a great baseball season this year.  Your athleticism and mental toughness carried you and it was so fun to watch you improve this season.

Your best friends are Hannah, Laney, Lily, and Aubree.  You love to be creative.  You have always got an idea up your sleeve.  You've made yourself casts, made a robot costume, created jewelry, and today, you even made a sword out of paper that was 8ft long!  Recently, you've also shown an interest in photography.  You are excited to learn a new skill and you even got a polaroid camera for your birthday!

You are good big sister.  You try hard to include Zaya and you even let her join your playdates when you have friends over.  Kaiton just loves you.  Often times we find him in your bed or sleeping in your room.  You are always looking out for him; you have such a nurturing personality and I know that you will be an amazing mother someday!

Hurley,  I love you so much and I am so proud to call you mine.

Love,

Mom

Week 24

Well, school is OUT for the summer.  Like every year, it feels sort of bittersweet.  It's always hard for me to send my kids back to school at the end of the summer, but then they have these fabulous experiences with teachers and friends and it's sad to see that end.  Once again, my kids had AMAZING teachers.  Hurley had Mrs. McGee (Brooklen had her two years ago).  Jackie is such a sweetheart.  She is kind and gentle, but she pushes the kids to their potential.  I felt bad because I only volunteered one day this whole year in her class.  I was room mom, however, and I planned all of the parties.  At the class party, I presented her with our class gift (gift cards to her favorite places).  The following day, she sent me a card with a gift card to the Eastman Party store to thank me for all of my work.  She also came to watch Hurley's last baseball game that evening.  I'm telling you, she is a gem.  She really loves her students.

Brooklen had Ms. Stanton this year.  Aspen is a first year teacher; she is only like 21 or 22 years old.  She beat out 200 other applicants for the job as 3rd grade teacher at Woodcrest.  She is such a sweetheart; she has so much energy, her class is adorable, and she is really amazing with those kids.  On the last day of school, she also gave me a gift (I was room mom in her class too), wrote me a sweet card, and she pulled me aside and told me that she was so grateful to have Brooklen in her class.  She got teary-eyed and said that she appreciated how respectful that he is and that he is one of her favorites.  She thanked me for doing such a good job with him and told me that I am a sort of super mom.  The reason I am recording this is because I really, really appreciated her comments.  Of course, I know that I am waaaay far from being any sort of super mom, but I appreciate that she loves my child and that she recognizes that Rob and I are doing something right!

On Friday evening, Brooklen had his last baseball game.  The boys played great and they won their last game.  Once again, Brooklen has played with a great group of boys and had some really good coaches.  It was so fun to see him develop this year.  After the game, we had a fun bbq with the other families.

On Saturday, we went to West Branch to watch Rob sky dive.  He did AFF skydiving; two instructors held on to him until he pulled his shoot and then they let go and he came down alone.  It was a long, hot day and we waited for about 5 hours before he jumped, but it was so cool to watch.  Rob wasn't feeling good, but of course, he did amazing and he even landed on his feet.

Today was father's day.  I'm so grateful that I was raised by a dad that "cares."  His family is his number one priority and he has spent every day of his life teaching his kids what is important.  I'm blessed to have married someone, who although he is very different than my dad, he also firmly believes in putting family first.  Rob is so good at taking time out for our kids and recognizing opportunities for impactful teaching moments.  He isn't pushy and he makes sure our kids know that he loves them.  I am so grateful for him.

Week 23

This week as I've tried to knock some more big things off of my cleaning and organizing list AND try to get some photo editing done, I've tried really hard to make sure that I do something fun with the kids each day. I want to make sure that when they go to bed at night, they have something fun to remember about the day. This has also helped to keep me on track and ensure that I'm spending some quality time with my kids. This week we did several fun things like we went to the library one day, caught TONS of frogs at the Chippewa Nature Center, biked to Cook Elementary to meet friends at the park, biked to the Tridge to play at the splash pad.

Friday was one of my favorite days. We woke up early and headed out to a quick physical therapist appt for Brooklen. Then, by 10:00am we were home and started packing a lunch. We headed off on our bike to the Tridge. When we got there we ate and then played in the splash pad. On our bike ride home, we stopped at Thrune Park to play and to try out their splash pad. When we got closer to home, we stopped and picked some gorgeous wildflowers for a centerpiece on our kitchen table. Zaya and I call ed the flowers "jackpot" flowers because they were so pretty that we felt like we hit the jackpot! When we were almost home, I saw something on the sidewalk up ahead. As we got closer, I realized that it was a turtle! We picked it up and took it home with us so that we could show Brooklen and Hurley when they got home. We put the turtle in the bathtub for a couple of hours until the kids got home. Brooklen and Hurley were so excited when they saw it. I let them play with it for a couple of hours and then they took it down to the river in our backyard and let it go.

Yesterday, Rob went to Saginaw for skydiving training. While he was there, I took the kids to Birch Run to get the boys some new shoes. In the afternoon, we rode as a family to the Tridge and then we came back and made tacos for dinner. It was a pretty chill day, but I think we all needed a day like that!

Week 22

If I were to pick one word to describe the past week, it would for sure be "stress."  With the school year coming to an end, I have a ton of stuff that I feel like I need to get done.  This week, however, I babysat a friend's kids for an entire day, threw a birthday party for Zaya, and shot a wedding.  Phew, I made it though; and I feel great knowing that I made it through such a hectic week.

Monday was Memorial Day.  In the morning, we woke up early and got ready and headed downtown for the Memorial Day Parade.  Rob and Brooklen walked and rollerbladed (Brooklen) in the parade with MAHL.  Zaya, Hurley, Kaiton, and I were spectators.  After the parade, we went home and ate lunch, packed up some food and headed to Sanford Beach.  The beach was busier than I've ever seen it and Rob and Brooklen were not excited about the idea of being there on a busy day, but it was Zaya's birthday weekend and she wanted to go, so we did it anyway.  We all had a fabulous time! Beach days are some of my favorites with my little family.

On Tuesday morning, I threw a birthday party to celebrate Zaya's 5th birthday. We invited 9 of her friends for a party at Plymouth Park.  We had a bit of a surprise when we arrived and saw that there were four 1st grade classes there for a field trip.  I took a deep breath, realized that there was nothing I could do and decided to be brave and deal with it.  Luckily, I had picked Brooklen and Hurley up from school to come to the party.  They were a BIG help to me as I tried to keep track of all of the little kids.  The kids played for the first hour.  Then, Rob brought pizza.  We had pizza, watermelon, and root beer for lunch and then the kids hit a pinata open.  Zaya's friend, Nev, was the one who finally cracked it open!  After the pinata, we opened presents and had beach-themed cupcakes that I had made.  It ended up being a really great party.  And since I didn't have to clean up my house afterwards, it was fairly low-key!

On Wednesday, I watched my friend, Tiffany's, kids from 8:30-3:00pm.  At night, we had gymnastics and baseball games.  On Thursday, I think we had more games.  I know I had a busy day, but I can't quite remember what we had going on!

Friday, I took Zaya and Kaiton to Dow Gardens.  We walked around for a while looking at photo spots and then we played in the children's garden.  The kids had a BLAST!  I can't wait to take all of them after school gets out.

On Saturday, I shot a wedding at the Great Hall in Midland.  I was soooo nervous.  Rob came with me and stayed until the reception.  Abby Carn watched the kids and they loved her.  At 4:00pm, Rob came home and relieved Abby and I went to shoot the reception.  I've been looking through the photos today.  It was a really stressful experience, as it always is, but I think I learned some things and got some pretty decent photos.

To close, here is a "data dump" of some photos that I finally had a chance to upload.  I have many more to look at, so hopefully next week, I will have a bunch more to post.