living the GOOD life

Lake Michigan

We took the kids up to Michigan City, IN for a stay at a "real" beach.

It was everything we hoped it would be. Perfect sand, blue water, and perfect kid sized waves.

 

Emily was quite disappointed that she didn't find any real shells. She did enjoy searching for fish, and loved playing in the sand. 

Daniel LOVED the waves. The first day had the best waves, and he spent almost the whole day in the water. He was fearless.

 

Jake followed Daniel into the water as much as possible. He LOVED it. He and I had fun making race tracks in the sand for his cars.

 

Ben finally learned the wisdom in letting us hold him in the water. He loved every minute at the beach, and laughed uncontrollably when we took him in the waves. He even took a nap on the beach every day.

On the way home, I looked into the backseat, and saw this:

 

It was a really, really good trip.

This is what it looks like to live in the moment

More tidbits I want to remember:

-The kids threw me an early birthday party today. They wrapped all my presents in butcher paper. I got a pencil, a bobby pin, a handful of weeds, a hair elastic, a barbie bean bag game, and a bracelet made out of tinfoil, tape and string.

-At dinner, Jake said, "Jesus doesn't want me to have quiet time anymore."

-When discussing our upcoming trip to Lake Michigan, Daniel said,"I could just give you all my money so that we could stay an extra day." I told him how sweet that was, and he said, "Well, you know I'm just trying to be like Jesus.

-Ben loves to eat Salsa by the spoonful

-Jake: My birthday is in Vember. Mom: No, Jake it's in NOvember. Jake: YES it is! It's in Vember! Mom: I know Jake, it's in November. Jake: (crying) yes it is mom! It's in Vember! Mom: Jake, it's called November. Jake: No, it's called YESvember. 

-Ben has been attempting to potty train himself. Several times over the past few days, he has come to me and said, "Mom! Poot!" and so I take him to the bathroom, and he goes. It's fabulous. Except when he yells it during sacrament meeting.

-I spoke in sacrament meeting last week. My kids were extremely loud. They were in the back row. Ben kept yelling, "Hi mommy!" over and over.

-We bought the kids scriptures so that they can follow along during scripture study. We didn't buy Ben one, so he uses a copy of "Persuasion". It has a black cover and he thinks it's the same thing. 

-Daniel has lost one of his front teeth. The other one is so loose, it has migrated over to where the other one fell out. It's disgusting.

-Every night, Ben said, "Mom! Love you!" and I say, "Love you too!" And he says, "Love you more!" and then he says, "Squish. Kiss." and so I squish and kiss him and he lays down and says, "Goodnight! Love you!"

-Emily and I have been reading "Little House in the Big Woods." I love it. I read those books probably a dozen times or more when I was a little girl.

-The other day, I was talking to Kevin on the phone while looking at pictures on the computer. I told him I loved him. He asked what made me say that out of the blue. I told him I was looking at a picture of him. He said, "Oh well, yeah, that makes sense."

Soccer season only ended two months ago.

Emily's team was the Green Wolves. They all loved to howl instead of cheer. Emily was always very, very serious on the field. She was always concentrating very hard.

 

Daniel's team was called the Shamrock's. Daniel did great this season, and his coaches were great with him.

 

He had a hard time at first, but by the second or third game, he was loving it. He got pretty good too!

 

We are taking the fall season off. Three practices a week, plus two games gets a little crazy.

I want to remember...

How much Benson loved the water when we were at Raccoon Lake. How he was totally fearless, and wanted to spend all day running into it.

 

 

How Daniel and Emily begged the Optometrist to prescribe them glasses even though they don't really need them. So they have as low of a prescription as possible. They look pretty dang cute, don't they?

These faces. And the personality that goes with them.

 

How much I love my husband, and how everything seemed right with the world when we were walking along the beach in Florida.

Father's Day...a month late

the kids and I woke up early and made cinnamon rolls. The boys were great helpers.

 

Daniel made a little treasure hunt for Kev that led to his gifts.

 

Daniel wanted to make the biggest card in the whole world.

 

Emily made him a whole pile of cards and love notes.

We surprised him with a fishing pole for himself, and one for each of the kids so that they can go with him!

I hope he had a great day, because he is a GREAT father.

Raccoon Lake

Last minute, we decided to drive down south to Raccoon Lake for a couple of days. We wanted to go to Lake Michigan, but the campground was full. So we went for second best :)

 

The first night it rained, hard. But we stayed dry, and watched movies in the tent. However, being stuck in the tent for so long made me threaten to pack up and go home more than once.

The next morning it was overcast, but we went to the lake anyway. It was fabulous. We were alone on the beach, it wasn't too hot, but the water was warm. Best of all, the kids LOVED it. They stayed at the beach for 6 hours that first day.

 

I'll be honest, it was a poor substitution for the real thing. But the kids have never seen the real thing (not that they remember anyway) so they didn't care.

 

 

Jake kept kneeling down in the water, so that his chin was barely above the water line. Then he would pop up and say, "I'm just kidding!"

 

This is Ben when he realized we were NOT going to let him drown.

He was very upset that we made him wear a life-jacket. 

 

 

after the beach, Ben was exhausted:

 

And most of my beach time looked like this:

This was the first camping trip we have been on as a family where I wasn't totally ready to go home at the end. I really, really wanted to stay, but Kev had to go back to work.

In a couple of weeks we are going to Lake Michigan.

I can't wait.

  

Better late than never...4th of July!

 

Our 4th of July was very low-key.

 

But low-key is all our kids need.

 

A few fireworks in the front yard, some sparklers, and the promise of "big" fireworks later?

 

Yep, that's all they need.

 

Math Whiz

(Studying math, while I study anatomy)

Emily loves "school time". She amazes me every single day. The sheet she is working on has 100 math facts. When we started, she could only do 5 or 6 in five minutes. A few weeks later and she can do between 30 and 40 in five minutes.

I love, love, love this girl. Last night she asked me why she is the only little girl in our family. I told her she was just so special, Heavenly Father figured we didn't need any more little girls. She liked that.

Faces