Camping Part Deux

Wrapped up the camping adventure with my sister & her family. The cousins had so much fun together that Paige said we should live closer to each other. Cindy came back by saying we should move because we turbo through home improvement projects! Ha! I would love to bulldoze my house and build my dream home right on the same lot. Our neighborhood is just too great. Take today for instance; I asked my neighbor if we could borrow his chain saw to cut up a fallen branch and he said he would take care of it for me. Nice. Then I sit outside on my porch and watch my neighbor across the street chat it up with my kids and then hand them a bag of fresh picked cherries. Too nice. I love it here. (Don't worry Patti, I haven't forgotten about your late night contributions to my baking extravaganzas. Love ya too. And Tara, if you actually read my blog - I miss ya girl.)

Thanks Groots! We had a blast with your family and we love you lots. And thanks Te Slaas for letting them borrow your camper for the weekend.

Time to Reload

This post is dedicated to my neighbor & friend Patti who for some reason finds my life interesting. :) We are home for a day and a half from camping to re-load on food, clean clothes, and for the girls & I (their coach) to get to their softball game tonight. Today is picture day and we thought we shouldn't miss it. Later ...

Mr. Twisty in his sleeping bag.

Camping causes craziness.

The nine year olds; Maddie & Paige.

The 7 & 8 year olds; Zoey & Ellie. Dough boys are so good you want to lick the paper plate.

The hot mamas; Steph, me, Kim

The hot papas; Mark & Jeff playing corn hole. Could this game have a stranger name? :)

The crew (minus Jeff who was snapping this photo.)

Mark & Steph & their four kids

Us & our three

The Hoekstras & their two boys who came to visit for a day.

The Clampetts go Camping!

A pick-up truck is like cheating when going camping.

So easy to pack - love it.

Have I mentioned that I'm not afraid to be a little cheesy? :)

Fruit pizza flag for the 4th. Oh baby, it was good.

Dear Fellow Bloggers,
Hope y'all had a great 4th. Here's some pics of our fun day and a pic of my friend Kim & I who keep getting asked if we are sisters. Thanks to the Hoekstras for grilling up a mean steak & for paying their East Grand Rapids taxes so we could enjoy the fireworks display! I will be unavailable for the next two weeks because I will be working on my tan. Please try not to abuse my comment section by having miscellaneous conversations and musings. Actually, go ahead. I get more comments when I'm gone then when I'm around. ;)

Sulphur smell - yum!

Sisters? If only she had red hair and more freckles.

Boys are pyromaniacs.

Snakes, aka poops. The kids absolute favorite of all time.

Eight IS Enough & We Be Jammin'

(o.k. that's only 7 - where's Mikayla?)

I thought I'd share a shot of our kids & the cousins (all five of them) that we babysat while their mom & dad interviewed for a new pastor job in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They really are the sweetest kids and they were so cute when I told them I got some good ideas for their next birthdays by watching them play with our toys (remote control car and MP3 player). Until two of them told me they would like a trampoline and a Wii instead. LOL! Pastor's kids with expensive tastes - I love it! Thanks to Patti for having a tramp and always letting our kids jump on it. To wrap up our busy day we decided to make eight batches of homemade strawberry jam. The girls did a great job helping and 45 minutes later we were done.

All in a Day's Work

For inquiring minds like Jamie & Amy :) - we got rid of the slider because it was from the 1970's, made our room either the hottest or coldest room in the house, we were sick of always having the curtains closed because you never know when you need to do a quick change of clothes, we wanted a better wall to position our bed on and now can have wall sconces wired in, and finally, because we have another slider that is off the deck from our eating area.

Oh, and I think in the five years we lived here we used it five times.

Enough reasons ladies? ;)

9:00 a.m. the old slider is removed from our bedroom.

Window is installed with a new wall.

Siding going on pretty easily.



4:30 p.m. the outside is complete.

Next steps on the home-improvement to do list: insulate the inside, dry wall, wire in two sconces for either side of the bed, trim out the window, & paint the walls. Whew! Is that all?

Answer This

Jeff was posed this question by a fellow colleague;

Why do you pray when God already knows what's going to happen?

Please join the conversation by sharing your answer.

A Dozen (a belated anniversary post)

(I found a more recent pic.)

How I know I've been married for a dozen years.

1. I laugh now when my hubby says, "you didn't get me a present did you?"

2. I point out good looking women to my husband. Oh, and women with fake boobs.

3. I no longer make him feel guilty for going on a boys weekend. Instead, I make homemade cookies for him to share with his golf/poker buddies.

4. I make him feel my legs when they are freshly shaven. It used to be more of a common occurrence during the dating/newlywed stage.

5. I can tell by his breath when he's getting a cold.

6. I can point out my physical flaws without embarrassment

7. Ummm ... the three kids is evidence enough that we didn't just get hitched. :)

8. We can joke about each of our families without getting defensive.

9. I yell, "that's my hubby" when he makes a diving catch or hits a home run when we play co-ed softball together. And by the way, I know that's cheesy & I don't care.

10. My husband knows that sometimes "granny-panties" are called for.

11. He is my favorite person to be with and I have the most fun with him.

12. I love him more today than I did on June 7, 1996 - our wedding day! Love ya Jeff.

Have Kids? Must Camp!

Happy Father's Day Dads!

Picture above - cute. Picture below - not quite as cute! :)

The girls

The boys (minus Daniel who was snoozing in the stroller.)

The annual camping trip with the Guikema family is in the record books! We were supposed to go to Ludington State Park this weekend but it was closed due to flooding. So Dad G. got on the phone and found some great sites left at Van Buren State Park (South Haven). The weather was a bit cooler than normal but we had plenty of sun and the big lake was actually warm. (There is a nuclear power plant just down the lake that kicks out some heat that warms the lake up --- now if we just don't suffer any side effects --- just kidding!) The cousins got along so well and the adults had fun drinking countless cups of coffee, eating monster cookies, Vander Heide cheese, gorp, dough boys, etc. The kids loved the "elephant ears" which is crescent rolls cooked over the fire on a wooden dowel and then sprayed & shaken in a bag of cinnamon and sugar. YUM! I just love camping --- the slower pace of life, the countless special treats you only eat when camping, the kids entertaining each other without a computer or t.v. --- really you should try it.

Ummm Jeff, there is a shower here.

Mom and Dad (don't they look too cute and clean for camping?)

Funnies this Week

• When yelling through the house, "where's my keys", Zach yells back, "I don't know. I didn't use 'em". Uh yeah --- gotcha you big four year old.
• When I stopped by Paige's class this week about ten of her classmates asked if I would sign their yearbook. I was joking how popular I was and Paige said, "Mom, don't get too carried away." I think I just got put in my place huh?
  

Looking at our beautiful rhododendron I comment on it's beauty and Jeff says, "Yeah, it's hideous all but two weeks out of the year." Hmmm ... he's right. But oh, for two weeks those flowers are quite grand.

Me begging Zoey to let me just buy something at Costco for her birthday treat. Her responding with no, I want dirt cake with gummy worms and a paper parasol. That all girlie?

Schools out for summer. Three words for you; bring --- it --- on!

Happy Birthday Zoey!

Zo turns the big seven today! I still remember going into labor with her hours before Jeff was supposed to go to a Rampage Game with a buddy. I'll do anything to kill a boys night out huh? While laboring, our good friend Steph came to see the birth and generated a list of possible middle names since we were set on Zoey but couldn't figure out what the heck could go with it. Maybe Elmo? :) We even asked our very sweet nurse what her middle name was and she replied, "Oh, you don't want to use mine. My parents were hippies." After teasing her to just tell us her middle name already, she said, "it's Love". Hmmmm ... Zoey Love. Now that's a hippy name.

Happy Birthday Zoey. We love you!

I Miss Wet Wipes

O.K. I have to admit that one thing I miss about having a diaper-wearing kid around the house is the easy access to wet wipes. They're in the house, in the diaper bag and maybe even in the purse. So I bought the 99 cent package at Target and I've almost used them all this weekend.

On to what is in my purse. I used to carry the smallest purse that held only my essentials - wallet, chapstick (I'm an addict), once a month something else, etc. When did I become the mom who's packing? I've got hand sanitizer, ibuprofen, chapstick (still addicted), lip gloss (let's face it, the old girl could use some shine once in awhile), Sponge Bob Square Pants band-aids, tissues, a water bottle and now wet wipes. I actually got mocked last week by a fellow mom because I was so prepared. And yet, her mockery fell flat when her daughter fell flat and she needed a Sponge Bob for each of her knees. :) So here's my two questions,

1. When did I get so darn responsible? (Remember - I'm the baby of my family and let's just say ... the word responsible & me were rarely used in the same sentence.)


2. Why am I embarrassed that I have a purse that's "packing"?

Things I've done this Week

1. Left the sprinkler on in the same spot for approximately 7 hours.


2. Backed the van out this morning and took out my newly planted flower pot. Shattered a styrofoam container. I didn't know styrofoam could even shatter. Had to salvage $20 worth of plants that I had just potted the day before.


3. Tripped out of my neighbors garage while stepping down onto a step with Zach in my arms. Saved him from major injury. Hurt my knee.


4. Got hit in the back of my leg with my husband's razor when I reached for the soap in the shower. Felt a slight sting later and realized I was bleeding.

Consider yourself forewarned. Stay away from me this week! :)

Seriously Cute

1st grade beauties all dressed up for their class musical.

And this how 1st grade boys (and Zoey peeking over them) approach a class musical.

No Offense

How come kids think that if they start out a sentence with these two words, they can say anything they want to after them?

For example the girls BOTH said this to me today, No offense mom but you stink like sweat.

No offense taken girls since I just ran five miles.

Q. How come a Christian music junkie is going to see a "secular" artist tonight in concert?

A. Because I'm a good friend.

I'll give you a review on Lux Land next week. She's the wife of Brian Vander Ark (formerly of The Verve Pipe) and my friend thought she would be fun to listen to tonight. So, this surburban mom of three is going to a concert that isn't headlined by The David Crowder Band. Yep, I'll admit it's a stretch. :)

Why is it that ...

• People circle the parking lot of the gym to find a closer spot to the building? Ummm excuse me, aren't you going in to get more exercise?
• I get the most compliments on my hair when I do absolutely nothing to it? Seriously, I need to stop fighting (read as straightening) my natural wave. Time to ride it.
• When my house is clean, I can find absolutely nothing? I started the pile system under my bed so now I have to dig around the dust bunnies to find papers that need to go to school. Profound Q & A from Paige, "You know what's good about a messy house? You can find everything." Amen sister, messy it is and messy it shall be. Amen.
• Zach calls his boy parts a weenis? Is that a new compound word?
• Zach is waking up in the middle of the night again? He told me tonight it's because his room is dark and scary 'cause we turn the sun off. (That's cute huh?)
• I volunteer to host at-home parties? I think I'm the only woman who kinda dreads getting invited and/or hosting these things. I'm thinking I'll only clean the bathroom that is closest to the room where we will be "partying". (Sangria should also help the party atmosphere. Consider yourself forewarned Patti.)

Totally Blessed

Alright, so my kids (and hubby) let me sleep in a little this morning and the girls were insistent that I get breakfast in bed on Mother's Day. So, I propped up my pillow and dined on some yummy blueberry pancakes before taking a shower. Nice. I also got the sweetest poems from my kids and pretty much bawled while reading them. Half-way through reading Paige's, she asked if I would like her to finish reading it. :)

Maybe I bawled because I kept thinking of Hannah's Mom today as she celebrates her first Mother's Day without her little girl. (She was five and passed away on Saturday after a tragic, backyard accident.) My heart aches for this family.

As Zach came into our bed at 6:30 this morning and we both felt a bit frustrated that he just can't seem to "sleep in", I said aloud to Jeff, "I won't complain about him crawling in bed with us when Hannah's mom would give anything in the world to have her daughter wake her up early every morning." As soon as I said that, Zach leaned over, kissed me, and said, "I love you mama."

I hope you all are showered with kisses, love, and blessings on this Mother's Day.

Ladies who Lunch

Today I "hosted" our Spring PTO luncheon (it's in the job description for the Vice Pres.) and this was the creative centerpiece that my sister Julie made for the big day. If you need a cute gift, cake for your child's birthday, etc. check her out at www.sugarsmiles07.blogspot.com We had a fabulous time. 35 ladies, two gents, great catered food, lots of laughs, beautiful piano music by my best friend, Sarah, and now --- I'm officially pooped. I can check off another job I wouldn't like to do every day: event planner. :)

My Little Public School Kid

The Important Story by Paige, age 9

The important thing about God is all the miracles he has made. He love us so deeply he died so we can be saved from all our sins. If you pray for forgiveness all your sins will wash away. But most important thing is all the miracles God has done.

Her teacher writes one simple word in response, "WOW!"

Yeah. You can say that again.

My New BFF

Sorry ladies, but I have a new best friend forever. Her name is Jodi and she is an acquaintance from church and she gasped the last time she saw me and said I looked so skinny. She also said, "Why would you need to diet?"

I think I love her.

The Ultimate in Being Dutch

My Dutch husband called me while I was out running errands and asked if I would get the coupon for a haircut out of my van and leave it at his "salon" (I use that word loosely.) Since gas is so high, he didn't want to drive home, pick it up, and then go back across town to get his haircut.

I put in an envelope with his name and the "stylists" ( I use that term loosely too) had a good laugh. More like a huge guffaw.

Thanks honey. That was fun!