She Decided....

Our church has a Father/Son Campout every fall and this year it was windy, cold, and rainy so we had mercy on the poor boys in our life and shared our girls night with them which left us with one sad girl because no one was more excited about Father/Son Campout than Julianna!!!  Though the guys bringing us menus to order our breakfast in bed was a special treat and she was glowing like a princess(ssshhh don't tell she does not like princesses anymore) but she did say she felt loved and cherished...awwww!!!

 

Let's fast forwward a few days and we had a grouchy little lady on our hands and she said I spent more time with the boys than her...but after talking it was she was sad we didn't have time just us over Father/Son camput weekend. Dad was nice enough to take the boys with him to Young Mens(thank you boys for being so obedient and staying on the stage playing your games together) and we were able to have a small little girls night.

 

The one thing we always do on Girls Night is go to Claires.  She loves it and we always have fun picking out something super girly.  Well this time my sweet girl finally decided to get her ears pierced and I told her when she was ready to get her ears pierced....

 

so would I!!!

 

 

 

Our girls night really was a shopping trip for all things girly and so we now own a

One Direction CD(at least she is not a Bieber fan) and an American Girl Doll book. 

 

You could tell to day "what makes her feel beautiful"!!!

(for those that are unaware the above quote is form a One Direction song) 

 

 

 

 

Field Trip to the Farm

 

Today I had the oppurtunity to go on a field trip with David and all the 4th graders to

 

Laurenz Farm

 

This by far was David's favorite part...

Petting the animals:

 

 

They also learned about lambs, goats, pigs, cows, how corn is planted, harvested, stored, and shipped, they heard from a popcorn farmer, they learned about how all of their food comes from a farm including their favorite-PIZZA, about the biggest export from MI, grains and the things you can make out of them, they learned about soil, the water cycle, and pollution.  It was an information filled day that was a ton of fun ending by lunch under the big oak tree in front of the farm house...AHHHH!!!

The Most Fun Service EVER!!!!

David's company is BIG on community service and over the years

we have baked until we have ran out of counter and table space, popped popcorn until we couldn't pop anymore, and, grilled until there was nothing left to grill to make money for

Breast Cancer, AIDS, Diabetes, and the locale community. 

 The kids love participating in all the activities and this year by far was their most favorite.  We walked the Step Out:Walk to stop Diabetes and the walk was at THE DETROIT ZOO!!!!!

 

It was the best...first you get to get in the zoo early and for FREE, next they fed you breakfast(and my favorite at that), gave you snacks and drinks for duirng the walk,  you were able to walk around looking at the animals, walked around again went into the buildings.  The weather was perfect and the kids were beaming.  Great day spent as a family and we were giving to a good cause too(this one was for you Granny)!!!  Plus someone asked us to watch their child for for a couple of hours that day and well we stole him for the whole day instead and he had never been to the zoo before and well he loved it too(even having to wake up at 5 am to get there)!!!  Did I mention this also counted as a a day of work...SA-WEET!!!!

 

 

 



First Day of School 2012

This year was a bit different for all of my youngest because when we moved last year we had actually moved to a different area of town and they would attend a different elementary school but since we still owned our old home when school started we were able to continue to send them to the current school..this was great Jensen was able to have the best kindergarten teacher which all my other children had too.  We have school of choice in our district and so I could have continued to send them there but I was driving and this is just driving time only not waiting in the parking lot in the traffic at the school so just driving 1 hour and 30 minutes a day and that is only taking them to and from not including the days I would drive there to volunteer which was 3 or 4 times a week.  . 

 

 The elementary school in our neighborhood is at the end of our street so it made a lot of sense and felt like the right thing to do..This was very hard for me because your school and the people their are like part of your family.  It was hard to say good bye to that family I had been a part of for over 14 years, the, moms you chat with, walking down the familiar halls, waving back at the children you have served over the years who know you by name, talking with the teachers you have gotten to know over the years...it was emotionally hard for me but it felt like the right thing to do...so we did it, we made the big switch!!! 

 

The boys were fine with this change but for Julianna who is very social and had a group of friends she loved it was harder but this first day of school she was excited.  She met a girl there named Erin when went to visit last week and we asked her if she would be her helper and show her around the school and  I think they will be fast friends. 

 

It was raining this morning but it was just a light rain so we decided to go ahead with our original plan to walk to school...with our umbrellas in hand off we went for our 15 minute walk(some of us ar slower than others) and got the children to their classes and settled in.

 

 

I thought I might be super sad to have them all gone all day.  That sadness has yet to come.  Maybe because David is home with me this morning(so we will see what tomorrrow brings) but for today I am excited for them and there new adventure because I too will have a new adventure too(which I will talk about at a later time)!!!

 

  

 

As you can see Jensen will be in 1st grade, David 4th, and Julianna 3rd!!!

First Day of College

Our very first day of getting someone off at school was August 22nd and that was taking Christian off to SVSU to his dorm room, super excitng and soooo exhausting all at once, I was very grateful that Grandma took the three younger ones that day becasue it was a long long day. 

 

We started off by loading up the van with the already packed and previously bought items and then we shopped and shopped and shopped.  Did some last minute laptop prep(which we finally gave up on and worked on it that night) and off to college we took him.  It was interesting to see him a bit nervous and excited all at once.  The questions on his mind were Am I going to get along with my suitemates? Are they going to be messy? Am I going to be able to find my classes? do I have enough time between them to get to my dorm, grab my stuff for the next class, then get to that class?   Am I going to like the food?  Am I going to have enough time to study with 20 hours of track practice a week????

 

Once we were there at our designated time slot it was very organized and soon we had keys and id card in hand and were off to unload and unpack.  At the curb they had other SVSU students with red rolling bins that you loaded your stuff into and they lead you to your dorm and then you unloaded it.  It was so quick and simple I was impressed by how organized it was.  Christian knew who is actual roommate was going to be and he was there unloading as well.  It was fun listening to their interactions of how they were going to organize their room and they worked very well together.  I realized something right then I did a good job as his parent not a perfect job but  a really good job. 

 

Here is Christian and Steve his roomate:

 

 

After unpacking we ran to change his lunch account, sign up for a bank account with the bank they use on campus, and get his books and then we were off for more shopping.

 

It was a long day(we got home at 9ish pm) and am so glad he is on to the next part of his life, a new adventure.

 

Since this day I have been back 3 times.  The first time for the laptop delivery, a list of newly discovered needs, and a picture of our family was requested too(makes the heart happy), this was a good trip the other children came with me and it helped them to understand a little more where he was going to be.  The second was to pick him up for lunch and some track shopping.  The third was to pick him up for some family time on Labor Day, followed by some food shopping and bug spray(needed for the late night bball games). 

 

In good news with my last food delivery their dorm is still clean and organized.  I met a coouple more suitemates and all is well.  He was made for college life that is for sure.