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!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Neal and Me!

We got to celebrate Uncle Neal's birthday a few weeks ago.  The picture below shows just how much Ryder is like his Uncle Neal - neither of them can have a normal face in a picture!

The week after Neal's birthday we headed to Pennsylvania to visit Jim's family.  It was so great to see the kids playing with their cousins all weekend!

Aunt Krista sure knows how to spoil the kids!  She bought Addisen an Elsa nightgown that matched Sydney's.  Aunt Chrissy and Aunt Krista also bought the girls matching Cinderella necklaces - needless to say she was one lucky little girl!

Easter Sunday was a little chilly in Pennsylvania but luckily the rain held off until after the Easter Egg hunt.  The kids all had a lot of fun searching for the eggs that cousin Nathan had hidden.

The adults even joined the hunt when we couldn't find the last egg. 

The kids were all excited for Nanny's extra prizes!

On Monday we took a trip over to the house that Jim grew up in.  His parents moved into a new house about 4 years ago and just recently had someone offer to buy it.  It was a bittersweet trip for me, so I can only imagine what it was like for Jim.  I have a lot of memories at that house:  It is the place that I met Jim's entire family for the first time.  I remember arriving and Jim being there for about an hour with me before he left me there while he went on a day long bachelor party with his brother.  Crazy to think I stayed with him after that!lol  It is the place where we had our wedding shower.  My parents flew to New York and then somehow got lost on their way and arrived a few hours late.  That same day Jim told his dad that my dad was a big scotch drinker (very far from the truth!) but my dad was too nice to say anything so he drank the scotch!  It's where we had the baby shower for Brody after he was born - it has some of the best memories at it! 

Watching Ryder walk out to meet everyone in the backyard provided me with some more great memories.  I got to see all of our kids play in the same backyard that gave Jim great memories! 

Jim and Dave worked on taking down some old barn wood for Chrissy and I while the kids enjoyed playing in the backyard.

These are two of my favorite pictures from that day!

Aunt Chrissy took them to find some treasures in the old chicken coop.  By treasure I mean old shells in a hermit crab aquarium that still had the dead hermit crab in it!

On our drive back to Michigan on Tuesday we stayed the night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky.  The kids were excited to stay in the Wold Den room for the first time!

Ryder was a little apprehensive of the water at first but quickly started to enjoy the toddler pool.  Brody went down every slide possible and Addisen even tried out some of the slides. 

Brody was extremely sad to leave there on Wednesday morning.  He was spoiled by getting to go back to the pool with just Jim on Tuesday  night and then to the arcade with just mom on Tuesday night!

I woke up on Wednesday morning to Ryder saying: "Mommy I tooted, Mommy I burped, Mommy I hiccuped"!  I didn't know he knew what all of those bodily functions were :)

Finally getting some pictures with most of the family in them!  Addisen and Brody enjoy taking pictures with my camera!

Today I celebrated my birthday!  I had to teach all day but we had a great dinner tonight (complete with balloon animals and a balloon crown for me!) and then a walk to get ice cream and sit by the dam downtown.  I can't believe life is going by so quickly, but at the same time I wouldn't change it for the world.  I have been so blessed with a great husband and children that amaze me every day.  They are each special in their own way - Brody is my thinker and the one that is teaching me the most about parenting!  Addisen is my lover, no matter what happens in the day she always reminds me that I am the best mommy in the whole wide world and that she loves me (nothing can make you feel better than that!).  Ryder - he reminds me to be full of life!  There is never a dull moment with  that guy and just when you wonder what else he can come up with he turns around gives you a little smirk and says love you mommy!