Thankful for the Cottage

It has been just about 6 years since we decided to buy the cottage and I really can't think of a better leap of faith that we have taken.  We have been so blessed by the neighbors that we moved in next to and those that we have gained over the years.  I always dreamed of having a cottage and having a place where the kids would want to return to once they had grown.  There have been so many memories made there over the years.  What started out as mostly just a family escape has turned into a place to make memories with many of our friends.  There really is nothing better than to hear your childhood best friend's daughter say that her favorite memories are made at your summer cottage.  We have worked hard to make it a place where people could come to escape the fast paced world and feel comfortable.  We added on a polebarn across the street a few years ago that has a bunk area that will sleep 8, yet another great leap we took in spending some extra money to get a great return in memories.

This weekend we finally had a day that we had time to go up to there.  We hadn't been back since late last fall.  We normally make at least one trip in the winter but with both boys playing hockey it seemed to be impossible to find a free weekend.

One of the great improvements in the last couple years has been the reopening of the lake store.  We frequent there at least once a weekend in the summer to get ice cream.  This weekend was our first scoop of the season.  You can tell that Ryder sure enjoyed it!

Brody has gotten to the age where he can now drive us around on the green machine.  It is kind of funny to ride along with him and see how serious he takes it.  He hasn't figured out how to slowly accelerate yet, so we normally take off real fast and he is very tense trying to keep us safe.  Even Addisen got a try at driving this weekend.

Brody is our animal guy.  I really think a Zoo Keeper would be a great profession for him.  All animals love him.  It was no different this weekend as we came across two turtles on our ride.  Brody quickly stopped and picked them up to carry them to safety.  Ryder and Addisen aren't too sure about touching them, but they like to get pictures!

This weekend is the last of my 30s.  I'm trying to convince myself that you are only as old as you allow yourself to be.  This isn't a big deal.  But I'm always reminded of how quickly these kids are growing and how fast the next stages of life seem to be coming.  This birthday I am just wishing for the ability to slow down and appreciate each of these days with the kids and find joy in my days and not so much anxiety about what is to come.  Here is to the next decade being better than the last!

Spring Break 2019 - Short Trips

The kids started on Spring Break last Thursday.  We unfortunately didn't have too much planned since Jim had hernia surgery at the beginning of last week and I have to teach this week.  We were all pretty bummed to have to stay in the cold weather while friend were headed off to warm places.  Addisen and I were able to head off to Pennsylvania over the weekend for a quick trip to celebrate Chrissy and Matt's baby.  Addisen had so much fun helping at the shower and spending time with her cousin's Kylie and Sydney.  It was nice to have a girls weekend and spend time with just her.  She reminded me that she has a lot to say....even at 4am driving to the airport :).

Jim and the boys stayed home and enjoyed some video gaming and hanging out with friends.  Today Addisen and Ryder are at Grandma and Bobo's while Jim and Brody went off to a RedWings game.  I'm glad that they are at least on a mini trip to have something to talk about when they return to school next week.

Since they are gone, I'm sitting here alone feeling like we really have made it to the next chapter in our family.  This is one of the first times I can remember being home by myself and everyone off on their own and really not needing me for anything.  Even to call to check in on them they only talk to me for about 5 minutes.  I only had to pack one night's worth of clothes, no need for a list of a routine for the night.  They are pretty self sufficient.  While in some ways it felt amazing, in other ways it is a reminder that they are growing up so fast.  

Blogging the Next Chapter

I recently got around to publishing the past posts into books for the kids so they could have the posts I wrote during my pregnancies with each of them.  We received them in the mail yesterday and Brody asked if I stopped writing in the blog because Ryder was such a crazy kid.  While Ryder was definitely the hardest to raise (to this point) he was not the reason I stopped blogging.  Trying to raise three kids while working full time was about all I could handle at the time.  Now that the kids are 11, 8 and 6, I find that I am gaining back some of my free time, so what better thing to do than restart the blog.  Mostly because as I read through the books I was so thankful that I had documented all of those memories.  While the "firsts" won't be coming as fast for each of them, there are definitely a lot of firsts on the way for us.  Last week we attend 6th grade orientation - wow!  My oldest is going to be in 6th grade.  The other big event coming is that I turn 40 in less than a month.  This will be the birthday to me that really hits home that I am on the downward side of the slope of life.  Up until this year I could picture myself living to at least double my current age, but 80, most people are lucky to live until 80.  I find myself thinking more and more about the time I have left with my kids.  There are only about 7 more summers that I have guaranteed with Brody, and even with that he will likely stop wanting to spend much of the summer with us in about 5 more.  I hope that some of the decisions we have made along the way will encourage them to stay close to home - especially the purchase of our cottage.  There are so many great memories that we have made there already with the kids, family and friends.

Ok, enough about me thinking about the downward slope - the purpose of restarting this blog is to focus on the now and remember all of the great moments that we are experiencing day to day.  For a little catch up on each of the kids:

Brody - He is almost halfway through 5th grade.  He is definitely a natural athlete that loves any sport that he can play.  He has been playing hockey for about the last 5 years and has really grown into a great player.  Man he has perseverance - the process of watching him learn to skate was too much for me.  But that kid continued to go week after week and see his small successes vs. all of the falling that I saw!  He played mites (1/2 ice) for one year and then started with full ice as a Squirt.  His team experienced a lot of lessons in loss that resulted in a lot of growth and continued through his recent PeeWee time.  He just finished his most successful year - his team won two tournaments and came in 3rd in the state tournament.  He continues to be one of the luckiest kids I know with the opportunity to be the skater of the game at the season opener for the RedWings this fall.  He is currently in the transition to playing lacrosse for his spring sport and impatiently waiting for the opportunity to play football for the first time in 5 years this fall.  Along with sports he loves to play FortNite with his friends and watch YouTube sports videos.  

Addisen - She is halfway through 2nd grade and continually to grow academically.  She recently took a standardized test comparing her to other 2nd graders in the Rockford School district and she scored the highest on Reading in the district with math and comprehension also in the ~95th percentile.  Her anxiety often still gets the best of her and unfortunately she focuses on the possibility of failing vs. all of the success she sees each day.  Hopefully with the continued support of her teachers, amazing friends and us, she will start to see just how special she is.  She continues to participate in gymnastics and loves to go there once a week and spend the hour with her best friend, Ella.  Her favorite pass time is to read - she finishes chapter books about every other day!  She is a brave girl and decided she wanted to get her ears pierced this year.  About a month ago we made the trip to Claire's and she pierced them with no tears!  To our surprise Brody even said he was thinking about getting his ears pierced!  This led to a lot of discussion on how Jim had piercings but Brody couldn't!  Addisen is also one of the most caring people I know.  She definitely sees the best in everyone and has been rewarded for it by being chosen at school to participate in Links at school where she spends one lunch a week with a friend, Nora, who learns differently than her.  I hope that she keeps her love of people and the ability to see the great in everyone.

Ryder - I can't believe it but my baby is halfway through kindergarten!  We were lucky enough to have one of our good friends that we met through hockey be his teacher this year.  I was so nervous for him to start as he has definitely been a strong willed kid throughout the years.  He has done amazing with the transition and for the most part has done very well listening and following the directions that he is given.  We struggled last year trying to figure out how to help him make good choices without constantly fighting against each other.  He had some severe tantrums that left me wondering about my ability to parent.  Luckily through some discussions with my sister in law we came up with the idea of trying melatonin to help with sleep and a weighted blanket - it was a miracle from night one.  He use to lay awake in bed for almost 2 hours after we put him to bed and he now falls asleep within 15 minutes.  This helped tremendously with his mood and life has been so much better!  He has followed in his brother's footsteps and learned how to skate last year.  In February during one of his learn to skate classes he fell and broke his collarbone.  He showed us that he has a high tolerance for pain and bounces back without any fear.  The day he was cleared to start skating again he was out on the ice.  Last year we also found out that many of his teeth were decaying and it resulted in him needing to get 10 crowns!  He now has 8 silver crowns in place of his molars.  As he started school this year he started to care more about people asking about why he had silver in his mouth but luckily as time has gone on things have gotten better.  The poor guy has had to deal with a lot of physical changes.  He was able to start playing mini-mites this year and greatly improved his hockey skills.  At the first game he could barely stand and was often on the side skating in his own circle.  By the end he was commonly right in there fighting for the puck...or even just fighting.  He definitely has a more aggressive style than his big brother :)

I thought I would end this week's post with a conversation that went on in the car tonight with Addisen and Ryder.  Somehow we got started talking about getting married.  Ryder said he would make sure he liked the person before he got married.  I said that was a great idea and asked if he would want to marry Addisen.  He said "Yes!  Let's do it!"  Addisen said "Sorry Ryder, you can't marry your sister".  So then we came up with the idea for him to marry Addisen's best friend's sister.  Addisen went on to say that once you are married you kiss to share your DNA to make a baby.  So for example you could have smart and weird DNA from each person and you would get a smart weird kid.  I asked if that was what happened to her.  She said no - she got loving and smart DNA from my family and loving and travel a lot DNA from Jim's family :). This conversation reminded me on the importance of blogging - I would never remember these conversations!

My goal is to update the blog every week again - we will hope I can keep that up throughout my 40th year!

Not so good at this blog thing anymore :)

 

Well I haven't kept up on my promise of trying to post at least once a month!  A lot has happened since I posted back in April.  Brody decided to take a break from hockey and try coach pitch baseball.  It was a great season and so rewarding to see how the team improved!  The last game they all had great hits and worked well together on the field.

 

Last Friday was Brody's last day of school!  He was actually sad to see the day come because he was going to miss seeing all of his buddies.  I was happy to hear this since we had some struggles this year with getting him to willingly go to school.

Crazy to think we officially have a 2nd grader in our house!  Where has the time gone?

We celebrated the start of summer by heading to the cottage on Friday afternoon.  Grandma and Bobo met us there and we had a great time.  On Friday night we went out to dinner and then bowling.  It was the first time we have been as a family.  It was so funny to watch Ryder get so excited about the ball going down the alley -I don't think he had a clue what was going on, but since everyone else was excited so was he! 

On Saturday morning we all headed to Anderson and Girls Orchard to visit with the animals and check out the slide and play equipment.  This was the first year that Ryder ventured down the large tube slide.  They all had so much fun!  

I really enjoyed watching the kids feed the animals and get to make some new memories with Grandma and Bobo.  I had to travel for work this week for the first time in years.  I was pretty emotional about the thought of leaving my family - so I think this is why I enjoyed the weekend so much!  Sometimes I get so stuck in the routine (or survival) of our days that I forget how much these little people and Jim mean to me!  It has actually been a nice chance to reflect on how lucky I am. 

Ryder was happy to watch Bobo feed the goats. 

Addisen was brave enough to feed the donkey this year! 

Watching the fish in the pond. 

Having fun on the new Pirate ship! 

Grandma holding Ryder on the horse swing :) 

Walking to see the zebras 

That is a camel that they are staying at. 

Ryder is talking so much.  He is just a little ham and enjoys copying what anyone says.  On the way to daycare the other morning Addisen was trying to talk to him and he said "I can't hear you!  I have my headphones on so don't talk to me"  I have never heard him talk in such complete sentences!  His other favorite word lately has been "disgusting".  He uses it in the appropriate context but says it about things that he likes to eat...lol

Addisen has been obsessed with our cat being put to sleep.  It has been interesting as she tries to figure out the idea of life and death.  Last week we were coming back from the grocery store and she saw a cemetary.  She said "The dead people are in the rock, we didn't put our cat in a rock, we put her in the ground."  I explained to her that the people weren't in the rocks, they were in the ground and that Zodoe was in heaven too.  She asked "Are there bodies in heaven?"  I said no, they are in the ground, just part of them went to heaven (not knowing exactly how to explain the concept to a 4 year old).  She said "Oh yeah, just their heads went to heaven".  All I could say was "yep".....

The highlight of the weekend for Brody was fishing!  This boy loves to fish.  He would stand on the dock all day everyday if he could.  Jim took him out on the boat Saturday night with Addisen to do some fishing and Jim was the one to catch the big fish.  But then on Sunday morning Brody through the line in off the dock and caught this big guy!  He was so proud! 

I am so thankful for what Jim and I have been blessed with.  We were lucky enough to have three healthy kids and the ability to have a cottage when they can experience the outdoors while they grow up.  We really couldn't ask for anything more!