the lake

Spent the day at Lake Somerset on the pontoon and swimming. Finished off the evening at the party in the park with good food, good people and good music. The kids ran and played with other kids and had a blast. I fully expect that we will have a solid night sleep tonight.... The first in weeks. Please. Baby Jesus. Please.

quiet time

It's quiet time around these here parts.   It doesn't always happen so seamlessly, but today is one of those days.   Both boys are cooperating and are quietly reading in their bedrooms.  Hudson has already passed out napping.  Amelia is asleep.  I know it'll only last an hour, tops, so I'll soak it up while I can

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Mothers Day 2014

I am incredibly blessed.   I've had good mothers days.  And terrible mothers days.  This year, however, was incredibly perfect.

Ry let me sleep in, and I was woken only by Porter, who brought me breakfast in bed.... A bowl of Trix cereal in a kids' Ikea bowl, meticulously layered on top of a small kids Ike's plate and then a larger adult plate.  I like this boys' presentation. ;-). He also brought me Oj in a cup with a top.  I love him.  I are my cereal half asleep (partially thinking.... Strain the milk... I'm almost positive he doesn't know to use 1% milk and there's a chance he used Amelia's whole milk).  He came upstairs and snuggled with me for a bit, and then later Hudson and Amelia came up to snuggle with me too.  I love snuggling with my kiddos.

I got up and was presented with one of the best Mother's Day presents ever... A journal from the kids. Ry had found an old scrapbook of mine I never completed.... It had one page in it titled "pieces of me" and was about myself in 2005, pre-kids.   He had the kids each draw me a picture and write a note.  It was adorable.  Then I took the kids outside for a few minutes.... The weather was beautiful.

We decided to go out for lunch.  Ry had outback in mind and I knew it would have a long wait.  I figured mcdonalds was in our future.  I called outback and sure enough, 2 hour wait.  No way.   We went to Wendy's.  A little classier than mcD's.  It didn't matter to me.  I was with my family.  It was perfect.

Amelia and Hudson took a nap and Ry made me some raised garden beds for the yard.  We spent all afternoon planting flowers, building garden beds, digging holes and planting veggies.  The kids helped, and played and were filthy by the end of the day.  My mom came over as well and took the kids to the park for a little bit.  We ordered pizza for dinner and finished the evening off with baths/showers all around.  You know you had a good day when you require two showers and your feet are black from soil!  

It was the perfect end to the weekend.  

Stop, Drop and Enjoy

Today was a super busy day for me, work-wise, and I let the boys know the night before that I'd be really busy and would need them to be super helpful to me.  Well, they did a great job all day--- I let them build a fort in the living room (well, I helped them a bit) and they watched a few movies.   I was able to get some work done, and be available via chat for my teammates, with minimal meltdowns from me.  HAHA!  

By late afternoon when Amelia woke from her nap, things had calmed down and I decided to send the boys outside and play dressup with Amelia.  Oh boy.  It was SO SO humid out!  I was taking her outside in her different outfits to take a few pictures of her in each and by the end of a half hour I was sweating like a pig.   It felt like the air was just drenched with water.  

It wasn't long before it started to rain.  It rained HARD!  I told the boys to run outside and play.   What is wrong with my kids... they were all "Noooo I don't want to get wet!"  Oh my it was the BEST rain to play in... it was coming down in big, fat raindrops!  So, I undressed Amelia and ran outside with her and spun her around in the rain.  She was laughing so hard, her eyes in little half moons.

The boys came out with umbrellas and I coaxed them to strip to their undies and get wet!  They finally did and had SO much fun.  I ran in to get my umbrella to capture a few pictures.  So so glad I did.  These are some of my favorites.   

We all came in soaked, but cooled off and refreshed feeling after this hot, muggy day.  

WAHM benefits.

Mondays.

They usually are filled with to do lists of laundry and editing and emailing clients and dishes and more laundry and bills and grocery shopping. All the things needed to catch up from the weekend. Oh yeah, and taking care of the kids. That would be a big one.

Today was no different. I was gone late yesterday at a session in Bloomfield Hills. I got home at 10pm and had a couple client orders to place with my lab. I didn't get to bed until 2am. Amelia was up bright and early at 6:30 (thanks to Hudson screaming for toilet paper from the bathroom.). I had all intentions of buckling down and getting a lot of things accomplished. I have a few sessions to edit and I'm weeks behind on Project Life. I had a stack of bills to pay and piles of laundry to catch up on.

Carrie texted me asking about places to take Teddy (her 1-year old). I suggested the treehouse and then thought... Why not join them? I started to respond but then deleted my words. Then I looked at my babies and thought.... There aren't many more Mondays ill be able to just pick up and take them somewhere fun, to spend the day with them.

I hopped in the shower and was ready in record time. A few girlfriends met up with us- Carrie brought Teddy, Heather brought Rowen and Karinya brought Katherine (which Hudson was thrilled about... Someone his age!) and John.

I had only planned to spend 2 hours there, tops. We ended up staying and chatting until past 2:00. It was nice to "skip work" today and make some memories with the kiddos? Because I'm sure down the road they'll be more likely to remember the day mom threw her list away and packed them up for a fun day out instead of entertaining themselves and watching tv all day. I hope I can try to remember these type if days are needed once in awhile, if not on a regular basis. Work will always be there. "When in doubt, choose the kids. Work can come later..."

I smell springtime!

I'm certain it is just a tease, but I'm going to enjoy the nice weather while we have it.  You never know... we could have a snowstorm next week!

So this entire week is supposed to be in the upper 60's, and I've heard tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's.  My favorite weather!

The nice weather had all of us outside and doing spring-like things around the yard.  I totally overdid myself and am paying for it with lots of pain.
What I accomplished today:

• Nap with Hudson (from 2-4)
• Put together new outdoor dining table 
• Picked up all the garbage, chewed toys and shards of shredded sand buckets around the yard (thanks, Cooper!).
• Helped Porter learn to rollerblade
• Cleaned out the flowerbed by our mailbox (raked, pulled/clipped dead plants)
• Pruned plants in front landscaping
• Filled in 2 holes in another flowerbed that Cooper dug
• Played fetch with the dogs
• Gave the boys AND Cooper a bath (not at the same time)
• Did 2 loads of laundry

Okay, that does not seem like a lot, but man... it feels like a lot!  My body is killing me.  I want to lay in a hot bath but that'd mean I have to scrub out the tub from washing the dog and I just don't have the energy to do that. 

The boys and Ryan did a lot this evening too.... Ry's dad came over and we grilled out hotdogs.  Perfect first-grill-out to kick off spring.  Hudson played on the slide, Porter and Ry and Dave played baseball for a bit, the boys rode the gator and bikes, Porter rollerbladed.  WHEW.   Lots of fun!  

(Dunky Doo... he's such a doofus.  He has tape or some kind of plastic hanging from his lip beard and he has no idea!)

Tuesday Thoughts

• This fall weather is so wonderful.  I'm loving the 60-70* temps.  My absolute FAVORITE.
  
• Tonight I'm finally feeling back into more of a normal routine.  Got home in time to get P off the bus, the boys played outside with the dogs (oops still need to do a post on that) and now they're over at the neighbors playing.  I can hear their laughter echoing through the windows while Jack Johnson on iTunes sings through the house.  Ribs are on the grill... carrots and biscuits are in the oven and the weather is just perfect.  What a good night.
  
• I've noticed brown sugar has become my "special ingredient" to cooking.  I always add it to chicken fajitas... and tonight told Ry to add some to the ribs... and then I went and added some onto my carrots I'm baking.  YUMM.  I love that sweet/spicy taste.
   
• 
  

relaxin' and maxin'

Today we attempted a 3 mile bike ride but ended up needing to be rescued halfway through.  We first set off down the road and I realized my tires were low.  Real low.  So we turned around and pumped up the tires.  They said 50-70psi so I pumped until the bike pump gauge said 50.    We got down the road about 3/4 mile and the chain on Porter's bike fell off.  Greasy hands and a fixed bike later, we continued on our ride.  About another 3/4 mile down the road I noticed a rubbing noise from my bike.  I thought it was maybe the fender but as I continued down the road it was getting louder and I could tell something was rubbing/hitting my brakes.  After inspection I realized my tire was coming out of (off of?) the rim... there was a lip bulging over the rim.  I figured we'd continue the ride since we were literally halfway around our "block", but 2 driveways later it was getting hard to ride... my brakes were getting stuck on the tire.  I looked agian and it was REALLY bulging over and starting to rub the tire badly.  I went to the house to see if they had a tire gauge thingy but no one was home.  I called Ryan and he told me to press a rock or something in the tire nozzle.  I did that and what do you know, I squeezed my tire back into the rim but I let out TOO much air and my tire was now flat.  There was no way I could ride it.  Ryan had to leave work and come rescue us! 

I decided we'd call it quits for bike riding and then we went into town to run a few errands (Rapid Refill and Pet Supplies Plus).  We also went to the library to redeem their Summer Reading Logs (we're doing the Summer Reading Program) and they got prizes and new reading logs.  We also picked out a TON of books.  Funny, I made them library bags, intending to tell them "you can get out as many books as you are able to carry in your bag"... meaning 2 or 3. But I can't stop myself and I end up picking out so many kids books that I have to use their bags to carry them and I end up carrying both bags plus a few extra books!  Looks like Mama needs her own library bag!  

When we got home I whipped up this book tent.  Rope from b-ball hoop to tree, 4 clothespins, 2 sheets, a quilt and some pillows?  Voila!  There was a nice breeze and we laid here and read books for awhile and then fell asleep for a couple hours.  Naptime outside- sweet!  (don't get too jealous... the "getting to sleep" part wasn't so easy.  I had to threaten and growl a few times but finally they fell asleep and I was finally able to get my much-needed rest! haha!)

The light was gorgeous and filtered underneath the tent... maybe I need to try this for a session HAHA!  We had some fun with the camera and I got a few shots I looove!  Perfect for Embrace the Camera!

so, are you ready to embrace the camera?

here's the nitty gritty:

1.  take a picture with you and your kids/spouse/family member/friend/whatever.

2.  blog about that picture and include a link to our blog, or grab our button.

3.  link your blog post up on the link tool below.

4.  visit the other embracers...give each other lots of compliments about how good we look with our greasy hair andsweatpants velour jogging suits on.  cause yah, we need a little boost when it's been days since our last shower.

5.  have fun!

I love these boys.  This summer... this summer has been amazing so far.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my days with them and, even though there are nights I say to Ryan "I'm done... I can't deal anymore today", I think I'm doing a pretty damn good job keeping my wits about me.  Ryan is gone 2 nights a week so in addition to me being home fulltime, there are 2 days a week we don't see him at all.  The boys and I have done so many fun projects and activities this summer I'm really dreading going back to work.  I wish so much I was able to stay home with these monkeys.

A breath of confidence. Of contentment. Of life.

Tonight was relieving.  I had texted Ryan during the day to let him know I needed 20 minutes when I got home to get some things crossed off my To Do list.  I'm addicted to my To Do list and for some reason the act of NOT crossing anything off during the day makes me incredibly stressed out.   So, I got home from work, Ry was home so he and the boys played outside while I ordered some client images and entered some invoices and payments into Quickbook (btw... photogs... what bookkeeping program do you use?  QB is on my PC and I am now on a Mac... so I'd like to transfer!)

After I felt my little accomplishments were finished I headed outside, camera in hand, and enjoyed my kids.  We got the hose out and made a muddy mess in the yard, soaked the driveway... the dogs... the kids... the toys.... but they had so much fun.  Dave came over for dinner and we (errr.. Ryan) grilled out chicken, corn on the cob and we had a delissssh dinner.  After dinner the boys and I headed outside for a few more minutes to savor the last bit of warmth before night- and storms- rolled in.  

The pink tree in our front yard FINALLY bloomed.  I've been anticipating this all spring (ha... can you even call the past month or so spring??) and waiting waiting for the tree to bloom to show me a little hope that it will soon be warm here in Michigan.  I love summer... love fall... I can even love winter.  But spring... oh I hate spring.  I hate the endless transition from snow to warmth, the dragging on and the holding your breath hoping for warmth only to be disappointed with snow and cold rainy days.  Spring sucks.  It is my least favorite season.   Our tree has bloomed.... and I know summer will soon be here. 

The boys picked some dandelions for me (and for Linda next door... we chatted for a bit while the boys filled our hands with beautiful dandelion bouquets).  These are the best kind of flowers to receive.  Such a childhood memory I never want to forget. All the while Hudson is streaking around the yard in his undies.  Little monkey butt.  Nothing should surprise our neighbors by now. 

Now that I think of it, my accomplishments were not on my To Do list.  No.  They are here... in these moments frozen in time for eternity.  Dandelion bouquets... bike riding... sprinkler hopping... grilling out... family time... savoring the fresh scent of a blossoming tree... chatting with neighbors.  Delighting in my life... celebrating the good.  Yes, I think those are my accomplishments today.  

Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?

This afternoon when I picked Porter up from school his teacher said she was doing some spring assessments with the kids.  She told me he identified all his letters (she knew we already knew this from fall conferences) and that he knew all of his letter sounds as well.  She told me that she thought he was probably read to tackle some beginning reader books if I had any at work from working with my students. Porter has been picking up new words he can read here and there, and when we read books after I read each page I usually ask him to find a certain word on the page and he's able to do that.  However, I've never really pushed to try reading with him.  This is mostly because pretty much any "learning" thing I attempt at home ends up being a whining power struggle between the two of us.

Tonight was no exception.  I decided we'd try an easy reader book.  I dug through his bookshelf and didn't find anything I felt was easy enough.  Then I remembered we had a shelf of Dr Seuss books and found Green Eggs and Ham.  We probably have read it 2 or 3 times in his whole life (I know that sounds awful, but we have SO many books I'm not sure we've read any single book more than 10 times each).  

We started out great... I Am Sam.   Sam I Am.  Simple, right?  Got his confidence up.  And then BAM.  Out comes the whining, defeated, I-can't-do-it-its-too-hard-and-I'm-not-even-trying attitude.  I know this may sound mean but I actually had to nearly yell at him to knock it off.  And immediately he huffed and got down to business tackling each word and its sounds.  He did SO SO good for his first time reading!  We took turns, each of us reading a page, and we got through about half of the book and I knew he was getting tired and overly frustrated so we quit on a good note.

I can't believe I have an emerging reader on my hands!  He is getting too too old.  How do I slow time down?  I'm so excited, though, that he's doing so well already.  I'm excited to go into work tomorrow and raid our emergent literacy books and bring a few home for bedtime story tomorrow night!

Ahhhhhh

That is the sound of a breath of fresh air void of 90* and humidity. I'm sitting on our makeshift patio eating my breakfast... The breeze is lightly blowing, the boys are playing in the dirt (yes, they choose the dirt over their ginormous sandbox), Ramsey is laying by my feet and Duncan is chewing a stick.

Last night was the first night in a looong time that we shut off the AC and opened the windows. This summer has been miserable for me. I hate humidity and even more... humidity + heat.

The past 2 years we have only turned on the a/c for a total of about 2 weeks in the summer. Our house stays pretty cool and we usually get a nice breeze throughout. This summer we have has the air on ALL summer, except for maybe... MAYBE... 2 weeks. It has been so humid that the air is needs to simply cut down the humidity.

We have barely played outside in the past few weeks. Primarily because I am flipping miserable outside but also the past 2 weeks, because of all the moisture, the mosquitos have been terrible. Not near as bad as the summer we moved here after the house and yard sat unkempt for a year and the mosquitos would swarm your car as you enter the driveway, but bad nonetheless.

I miss our normal Michigan summers... 80*, cool and breezy at night.

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Travel

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.  ~Miriam Beard

I recently found TripAdvisor's "Cities I've Visited" app on Facebook... and was both stunned and disappointed in the outcome.  I was stunned by the amount of cities and countries other people have visited... and disappointed in the lack thereof on my map.  I feel like I do a decent amount of traveling for me.... but I then realize I really never explore other places, its always the same places multiple times.

Slightly pathetic, don't you say?

Here it is a little closer...

On my Bucket List, I have a few countries I'd like to visit in my lifetime (France and Italy for sure) and I'd love to see the West Coast.  I'm hoping, also to expand the states I've visited.  Sure, I've driven through many states, and probably stopped for gas or lunch in many cities... but to me that doesn't count as "visiting".  I want to visit more places.... explore and stay awhile (ok, even if its just a long weekend)... expand my horizons.

Maybe another goal for my Bucket List should be to visit at least 25 states before I die... or something like that.  Hmm....

Sweet sight

Watching my hubby play baseball with Porter and push Hudson in the swing. Love these moments.

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Could it be....

SPRING???

Probably just a teaser... anyone who lives in Michigan knows that true spring won't be here until late April or even May.

But, today was such a nice little glimpse of what we have to look forward to.  It was nearly 50* and sunny out.  Porter and I went grocery shopping this morning... early (like... 9am!).  First we took Duncan next door to play with Graci and Ziva.  He spent a good 2 hours there wearing himself out while Porter and I shopped and Ry and Hudson played choo choo trains.

Then we headed to Cascades to do a little walking.  Porter got to ride his bike for the first time this year and Hudson enjoyed his overpriced car he got for his 1st birthday.  The doggies were great... Ramsey needed a little brush up on her leash manners and Duncan was such a well mannered dude.  Probably didn't hurt that he was exhausted!   We walked the 1.3 mile path and decided to head home for lunch.  It was such a nice way to spend our morning.  I think we will be planning time to do this much more often.

My two little blondies....

Chantilly Lace

1997-ish?

Today I took the boys to see my first pride and joy... Chantilly Lace... aka Lacey. I blogged about her awhile back... I can't believe it has been 14 years since I first met Lacey.... both of us pretty green at riding and, well, horses in general. We had quite the time learning together... me learning what made her tick and her learning how to do what I asked. I'll admit, there was much trial and error as I had no business owning a 3 year old green broke horse. However, I think we both came out of it pretty darn well and had some amazing memories.

I feel so lucky that here we are... 14 years later... and MY KIDS are able to share the joy of Lacey with me. It was so great to see my boys love on her and enjoy riding her. I drove home today thinking... WHY don't I go riding more often? I can ride any darn time I want, and I'm so so lucky that I have that privilege, and I don't take advantage of it.

Well, this summer I am going to take advantage of my time off. I need to and want to. I hope to take Porter to ride with me... he really enjoyed Lacey and has talked non-stop about going back to see her.

And I also hope to get some time to ride with Barbie again soon. I miss my teenage years riding with her... spending hours on horseback in the country chit chatting about everything under the sun.


Hudson, my sweet and loving boy... I hoisted him up on Lacey and he grinned. He grinned so big and laid down on her back to hug her... grinning the whole time. I ran to get my camera (Barbie was near him), and of course when I had it, he had turned the other way.


Porter was really unsure about her. She is intimidating, I'll admit. He didn't want to sit on her bareback but once I saddled her up and got on, he wanted to ride with me. He even let me trot her... riding with me and with me leading her.

If there ever was a successful play date

I'd think it was today.

At 1pm we suddenly had a torrential downpour. I was afraid our play date would have to be canceled but luckily the sun came out and dried everything up.

8 good friends came over with their adorable offspring and we watched them run and play and laugh and have a grand old time. I think every single one of them wore themselves out! Everything went beautifully... the rain held off, we were able to capture a successful huge group picture on the first try (with 9 adults, 14 kids!!), none of the kids fought or got hurt and everyone just, well, had a blast!

Its kind of funny... everyone ended up being from a little group of bloggers... we all know eachother somehow through at least another person or two in the group.

I can not wait to have more play dates like this one.

L-R (back row) Tyler, Sadie, Stephanie, Grant, Grace, Jane, Nicole, Luke, Lori, Leslie, Nicole, Hudson, Nolan, Katie, LeeAnn.
L-R (front row) Allie, Lia, Reyna, Porter, Donnie, Lukas, Shae, Jake

Shae giving Lia a ride

The May Boys: Nolan (5/7); Grant (5/25); Hudson (5/20)

Venturing out... Bear Crawl Style

Reyna: No, mom, I'm NOT eating sand....

Grace

Lukas

Donnie made some new friends: Jake and Tyler

Porter testing out the tricycle
Donnie

August babies... wondering if the color of their shirts is indicative of the babies genders? We know LeeAnn is having a boy...

Luke

Sadie brought along this awesome game called Tag Tails. Its a set of animal tails on a belt and the game is similar to flag football. The kids (or... adults if you have enough to drink!) wear the belts and run around trying to snatch someones tail without getting theirs taken off. The kids had SOOO much fun with this game and ran and ran I bet for an hour or so. I promptly hopped on Amazon and ordered it this evening!