Peach Season is Here!

First it was the blueberries and now the peaches have ripened here in Western Michigan. Kevin and I took full advantage of the season this week by going to one of our local orchards and picking about 15 pounds. We've been eating peaches like crazy ever since. Not a bad thing either when you bite into a peach and juice literally splatters on all your clothes. These peaches have been heavenly. Thank you Crane Orchards for a beautiful crop!

Next week apple season starts. Kevin and I go a little berserk during this time as well. We pick so many varieties and types our taste buds get confused. Hmmm..I can't wait!

With all this fresh fruit, I've been trying my hand at some new recipes. I've had a couple winners. The crumbles have by far been the best, but I'm holding my own in the pie department, as well. Not even close to my moms outstanding baking skills, but I'm learning a bit more each year.

My Toothless Wonder

Jordan lost another tooth last night
The Tooth Fairy has been kept busy at our house
How many holes can you have in your mouth and still eat right?
Jordan tells me the girls will still think he is cute...I completely agree!!

In addition to my Olympian Caleb, I have another star on my hands. This time it is Jordan. He tells me he is trying to look like a Jack-O-Lantern before Halloween, and I'll tell you what. He's succeeding! The kid keeps loosing teeth. Two more have fallen out this week, and he's loosening a third.
Kyler wishes it would be closer to Christmas so Jordan could sing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" with pride. Already Jordan's "S" sound is slurred so I can only imagine what he will sound like if he looses the other top tooth!
All I know for sure is that school pictures should be memorable this year.

Happy Halloween in August!!

Team Caleb

My Future Olympian

I have a wanna be future Olympian and his name is Caleb. He is almost as obsessed as I am when it comes to watching the summer games. The only difference is I prefer to watch in my pajamas and slippers, and he prefers to dress for the occasion. If swimming or diving is on he has to grab a funky pair of rainbow goggles he unearthed in his toy box, set out his diving board (which in actuality is a step stool), and he dives and swims away (a little tough to do on carpet, but somehow he manages). And just so you all know....he's as good as Michael Phelps. In fact, it's possible he is better merely because he wins gold whether its the men racing, women racing or the team relays. He's easily up to a couple dozen golds by now. And diving...well let's just say Caleb is superb. Time after time he belly flops to the ground since he has to dive whether it is the Chinese, Russians, Canadians, or Americans turn to go. I'll give him a 10 for difficulty and a 9.5 for execution.

Diving and swimming are not all Caleb is great at. He also happens to be the best gymnast around. Natasia better watch out, because when the gymnasts walk out it signals Caleb to grab his horse (step stool again) and balance beam (mom and dads pillows), and whatever else he finds that resembles gymnast props. When they jump...he jumps. When they flip...he flips (rolls is a way better term here, but really roll does have quite the same oomph). When they are on the high bars...well he raises his arms higher. You get the drill. More and more gold medals are around this kids neck by the minute.

Last night we watched something new. The 4 x 100 relays were on. Caleb saw the men warm up and out came the runner within him. He grabbed his relay stick (happens to be a frozen gogurt bar) and ran circles around his dad passing the stick as he went. Again, Caleb triumphed. He managed to make clean passes 9 out of 10 times. No dropping the relay stick for him (sorry U.S. Men and Women...I guess you should have chosen Caleb as your anchor...you may have made it to the finals). This morning the gogurt reappeared and he practiced with Kyler.

I can't wait to see what tonight will bring.

Ooohhh....Maybe Ribbon Dancing...Keep your fingers crossed!

Way to go Team U.S.A. and Team Caleb!!

No T.V...Horror or Happiness?

Playing at Kollen Park
Jordan trying out a balancing act.
Jordan and Kyler
Caleb (with his reqested mohawk hair style) and Kyler
Somewhere there's a bear back there.
Obviously, something has caught their eyes.
My son...the Lion
And how about a pirate? I wonder which one would win the fight!

Last Saturday our satellite went out, which meant very little T.V. for a few days. We did pull out the rabbit ears and ended up getting a fairly decent reception to watch the Olympics at night, but other than that, our T.V. was mostly powered off. I figured I would have oodles of time to blog, read, scrapbook, and whatever else came to mind. But, the reality of no T.V. didn't seem to give me any of those extra free moments. I managed to NOT read a single page of my book (other than my scriptures...I try and read those every morning while quietness is in the house. That's my peace for the day). I still have 6 months of pictures piled up on my desk begging to be scrapbooked, which has sadly lost my interest over time. And I didn't even catch up on my blogging (this is mainly due to the fact that I inadvertently left my camera home almost every time we went out of the house). Needless to say, I failed these minor goals, but our family still ended up having a pretty fun weekend minus a T.V.

We went to the zoo and the kids got to paint their faces for FREE (one of my favorite words and a bonus for mom and dad)! We had a great barbecue with our friends, the Richards. We released 3 more monarchs (and somehow managed to find 4 ..wait it might be 5 new ones... and the cycle continues). We had a fun playdate at the park. We finally pulled out a bucket and washed our Van and cleaned out the garage, and swept the deck. All of that, and I also managed to pull together a pretty good Webelos calendar since I am now the Webelos leader and I needed a 4 month plan of action. (Whoever thought I would be great in scouts might have had a little too much Nyquil last night. Remember I'm the girl who doesn't even like to camp...I guess we'll find my inner scout somewhere)

My biggest surprise was that I realized I didn't really miss having the noise of the television going throughout the day. Sure, I loved watching the Olympics at night (I'm a bit of a junkie), but it was quite refreshing to focus on things other than what might be playing on T.V. at the moment. They came and fixed the satelite yesterday, so life will resume as normal, but I think the boys and I will be pulling out our Fablehaven book today, and minor miracle here...I am even managing to put together a blog entry this morning. I guess I'm still not missing the tele that much....Not quite enough to tackle my scrapbook problem, but maybe eventually! Hmmmm....Perhaps if the electric goes out! That would mean no T.V., no Internet, no cooking, augggh...no light. Okay...it was just a thought.

High School

I pulled this off of my friend Libby's blog. It forced me to rewind my brain a few years and remember some great times. It also made me realize I have lost quite a few memories as well. Thanks Libby for a fun and easy blog entry. It's been a while since I posted much.

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes...as well as a few from rival schools. Always fun to go to those football games and dances!
2. What kind of car did you drive? A red lynx...Oh it was the worst! It died every time you stopped, but it looked sort of pretty!
4. Were you a party animal? Not so much
5. Were you considered a flirt? Naa...Well I don't think much of one anyway....Hmmm
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir
7. Were you a nerd? Half and Half...I continue to follow that trend
8. Were you on any varsity teams? No...Sports were not my thing other than I really enjoyed swimming every morning. Oh those 4:45 wake-up days were sort of invigorating.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never, but that doesn't mean there weren't moments.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? I probably could if I heard it, but right now my Elementary School song is stuck in my brain.
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Comadena, who was also a neighbor. He was the best teacher. He could inspire the best of the best as well as those struggling along.
12. Where did you sit during lunch? We went out a lot, but also sat on the benches inside, out in the grass...just about anywhere. Occasionally we headed to the lunch room. Now that I think of it, we probably went wherever we thought the boys were hanging out.
13. What was your school's full name? Logan High School
14. School mascot? Grizzly
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? I am racking my brain here. I went to 3 different school homecomings I think. All the dances are muddled in my brain though. It seems there was a formal dance every other month.
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Hmmm..Good question. I really did love school, but that is also the time I pushed the boundaries more than I should have. Plus all those little cat fights were dumb. Maybe I would go back and hope to change a few of those moments, but its been a long time.
17. What do you remember most about graduation? Hanging out with my friends. Wearing my yellow gown, oh...the candlelight ceremony was cool, too. I mostly remember the days following graduation. Me, Kandis, and Jacqui packed up and went on a road trip to California. That was the best time!
18. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't remember. I'm not even sure we had a Senior day. I left school by noon my senior year to work. I already had enough credits to graduate as well as a freshmen year of college under wraps.
19. Were you in any clubs? Key Club, and I think I was involved in some dance committee. I remember getting out of class to decorate for lots of different dances. Oh...and choir.
20. Have you gained some weight since then? YES!!
21. Who was your prom date? Man, another dance question. I know I went with Brian to a couple of my proms. I might have gone with John to one or two as well.
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? That ship sailed a few years ago. Next year will be my 15 year reunion, but I will have to wait and see where I am at that time. It would be fun to see everyone again. For now, Facebook is how I keep in touch.

Monarchs

We have been having so much success raising Monarchs this summer. Three have emerged this week alone, and it looks like we'll have a couple more tomorrow. Here is a picture of our latest male...Scooby. Monarch season should be winding down this month and then we will be a pet-less family once again (at least until Kyler discovers some new species of insect to love)!

Blueberry Sweetness

Another day off for Kevin which means we had to come up with another idea for inexpensive day #2. We started off splashing around at the beach. The water was 75* at 10:30 this morning which is just about perfection in itself. Kyler and Jordan had a blast on their boogie boards and inner tubes while Caleb spent most of the morning making sandcastles at me and Kevin's feet. It was such a relaxing way to start off our day. After we came home and washed up we went to one of the dozens of blueberry farms around our town. I never realized Michigan is the top producer of blueberries before we moved here. We ended up at Reenders blueberry farms and opted to pick our own (1/2 the price as it is to buy them prepackaged) It was so much fun. In less than 20 minutes we had around 10 pounds of fresh, sweet blueberries and the best part is we only spent $12. Is that not the most amazing deal. I never realized how easy it is to pick blueberries. They literally fall off into your hand with a gentle rub. It makes me want to have a blueberry bush in my own yard. Even Kyler is about ready to give up his milkweed patch in the garden for our own bush....Hmmm...maybe next year.
With so many blueberries, I better start searching for some recipes. Lets see...pie, pancakes, muffins, cobbler...I'm not sure what to make first. Tonight's treat will be a bowl of plain berries, but these are so sweet it will feel like we are indulging in something so much more.

Coast Guard Days

Coast Guard Days

Kevin had a rare Friday day off so we racked our brains to think of the best way to spend an inexpensive summer day. As we pondered the different ideas...beach, movie rental, children's museum, fishing in the park.... we remembered Grand Haven ( a beachside town 20 miles north of us) was celebrating Coast Guard days, so we lathered on the sunblock, threw the kids in the car, and we were off for what turned out to be a pretty great day.

We admired the rides from a distance (inexpensive was the key to today's journey.... as much as this broke Jordan's heart Kevin and I weren't going to budge), we walked along the boardwalk, and shopped (minus the purchasing part) at the craft fair. By far the coolest part of the day was touring the Coast Guard ships. We got an upfront tour of the Coast Guard living quarters, mess hall, engine rooms, different decks, GPS monitoring stations, and the kids got to "steer" the ship. It was a great way to spend a day, and we ended up keeping it fairly cheap...2 diet cokes and 3 snow cones was all it took for a full afternoon of entertainment. You can't beat that!