Cran-Hill Ranch

Call us crazy if you want.... go ahead, we are used to it. Some people just don't get our intense desire to go camping at any opportunity that we are offered.. and that is OK. We know that we are "different" but in this day and age, I think different IS good. When you are more shocked to hear that a couple is celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, than to hear that a couple is divorcing. When you take a double-take of a teenage boy who is wearing nice clothes and a clean short haircut, than a boy who has long hair and is dressed sloppy. I will gladly wear the names "weird, different, and crazy" because that means we are doing something right.

This past weekend, was one of those weekends that people thought we were crazy. The forecast was for WIND, rain, snow and high temps in the 40's. BUT we had a FREE weekend up at Cran-Hill Ranch, a place that is near and dear to my heart. So, being the crazy weird people we are, we were not scared off by the forecast because..well.. we are die hard campers (as long as we have heat, hot shower, microwave, tv, dvd, etc.). I made sure we had "non-messy" crafts for the kids to do indoors. Our friends we were camping with made sure that we had movies that could be viewed for our children's enjoyment and we hunkered down for a cold wet weekend of fun.

Over the next few days I will be sharing some of the fun that we had on this Mothers Day weekend.

**note the picture above was taken on Sunday when the sun finally decided to show us it's beautiful face**

BB Gun

Tyler waited all day until Daddy came home so that they could shoot the BB gun together.

They had a lot of fun shooting at different things. I even got to try my hand at shooting the gun. Who would of thought that a little BB Gun could make a little boy (and big boy) so happy.

Blessings!!

Little Mechanic

Last week Jilli got it into her head that she was going to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. I have no problems teaching her, but I did see one small complication in taking her training wheels off her bike. **When sitting on the bike seat her feet don't reach the ground**

We have this nice grassy little hill on the side of our house. It is perfect for teaching little ones how to ride. You just have the kids sit on the seat and push them down the hill (the grass makes falling off not so painful). Their feet don't need to be on the pedal they can use them to help balance. After a few times down the hill the kids start to pedal down the hill and from that point on they are pretty much trained how to ride a bike. With both the boys it took less than two days of consistent practice and they were off on their own.

Back to the one small complication... Jilli has the cutest shortest little legs. They just don't reach the ground and although I am sure she would be a quick learner, you kind of need to be able to reach the ground before the training wheels come off.

In enters Tyler...

Little Miss got what she wanted, all she needed to do was ask her big brother Tyler. He grabbed his tools and got right to work. Off came the training wheels. He was so proud of himself and Jilli was so excited to try the wonderful world of two-wheel bikes.

It lasted all but a day and she wanted her training wheels back on. Two trips down the hill (which she balanced just fine even though she couldn't touch). Daddy tried one trip around the neighborhood and she was done. She announced that she needed a bike the size of Sam's to learn how to ride (Hmmm.... Mommy might be smarter than she looks).

Training wheels are back on the bike (thanks to an unexpected visit from PopPop) and she is back on her bike tearing up the neighborhood again.

The Hat

I took the kids to visit my Grandparents today. I was a bit nervous about the visit. Not sure what I should expect when I arrived. My Grandparents had moved into a home 2 weeks ago and my Grandfather has been failing quickly. Yesterday the report was that he wasn't eating and was "unresponsive".

I had prepared the kids as best I could. We talked about how Grandpa probably would look like he was sleeping either in his chair or his bed. We talked about how even Grandma might be tired and laying in bed. We had a long talk about how when we get old our bodies get very tired and they just can't do the things that they used to do. We talked about how Grandpa was getting ready to see Jesus in Heaven and once he is there how he will be able to run, bike, and of course, slide down huge mudslides (yes, we believe that will be one of God's ways of having fun... mudslides).

Tyler took great care picking out his clothes for the day. He was going to wear his special hat. Grandpa's hat... Last week we went to their house and went through some of their things and picked out a few things that would be special to us. One of the things that Tyler took was Grandpa's hat. Although it is a little big, it fits Tyler to a "T". All the stories that I have heard about my Grandfather and what he was like growing up, reminds me so much of my Tyler. So it was appropriate that my son would chose Grandpa's hat.

When we arrived at the home and got to see my Grandparents it was a surprise to see my Grandpa sitting in his chair awake. I smiled at him and said "hi" and walked over to give him a kiss (because Grandpa LOVES kisses... especially from pretty ladies my Grandma used to tell me). Then he spotted Tyler walking in the room with the hat on. His eyes got big and so did his smile. A stroke stole his speech many years ago, but you always know what he is thinking by the way his eyes light up and he thought it was great that Tyler was wearing his hat. He kept looking at Tyler and kind of chuckling. It was a beautiful moment. One that I am thankful I didn't cry a bucket of tears right then and there (the tears came after we left).

The kids did great, they were quiet and respectful. They were animated telling stories to Grandma and quiet when talking to Grandpa. They hugged and kissed them both when we arrived and when we left. It was a good morning, one that I am so thankful we had.

I pray that we will get to see them again before my Grandpa takes his final breath. I would love to have some pictures of the kids with Grandpa and Grandma. I did take my camera today, but the opportunity wasn't right. So if God calls Grandpa home before I have a chance to take pictures, I will have the ones that I took in my head with me forever.... and let me tell you they are some of the best I have ever taken...

Sleepy Hollow

Our first camping trip of the year...

We went to Sleepy Hollow State Park with our friends who we just happened to be related to. It was a really fun trip loaded with a lot of great memories. I will just share some of the pictures with you.

Jillian and Allison (they are a week apart in age). Allison was blowing bubbles and Jilli was popping them.

We took a hike on an island, Kevin went exploring on his own and this is where we found him.
Micah was laughing at his cousin.
Gasp.... I am in a picture!! I was helping Allison balance walking a crossed a fallen tree.
Kevin and Paul trying to figure out where the frisbee golf course went. It was really too windy of a day to play, but the kids had fun trying.

TyTy is a tree climber! Every climbable tree that we passed on our hikes he had to climb.
Only my husband would build a fire like this :-)
The girls would hold hands whenever they went somewhere together.
The girls kind of remind me of my cousin and I growing up.
Tyler laughing at his cousin while playing Star Wars.
Blessings!!

Karate

It's been busy around here. Trying to figure out what schedule is best for our family is never an easy process. At the beginning of the month we were facing weeks of constant going. Monday and Fridays are Micah's baseball practices. Tuesday and Thursday are Tyler's t-ball practices. Wednesday is Karate for both the boys (and maybe Jilli too) then church after karate. Thursday nights is also volleyball night for Kevin and I and every other Friday night is our small group night. YIKES!

Kevin and I have always said that we don't want to get our kids so involved in things that I spend most of my time driving the kids from practice to practice. Well here we were staring that very situation in the face and we needed to either surrender to the busyness or make some hard decisions.

Hard decisions have been made. Baseball is out, Karate is in. My sister got the boys 2 months of Karate (it is Christian based) and they started last week and LOVED it. Jilli even got to try it out and LOVED it. What impressed us was the level of respect that the instructors demand at all times. There is no "out of control behavior" and if a child acts up, they have to do push ups or planks. The kids are not left to themselves, they are being instructed the whole time. It just seems right for us and we are excited to see how the kids do.

Hopefully I will get some pictures soon. I did take some video (with my ipod)... Micah is the one in street clothes. He gets his uniform in the next week.

Tyler and Jillian are the ones on the very end. Tyler was shy, of course Jillian was in her element. But both of them were so excited when the class was done which is not usual for Tyler. He usually gets shy and wants to be done with something, not this, he is excited to get his uniform and do it again.

Hoping to get some pictures of them once they have their uniforms. Just a warning.... if you come to our house, you might get Karate Chopped by any of the three, so you better be on your best behavior!

Blessings!!

Black Bird

Laying in Bed this morning I was listening to a black bird make a lot of racket out side my opened window. I then hear Jilli yell "would you please be quiet, I am trying to sleep!" I had to laugh, her window was opened as well, and on the same side of the house as mine. I lay there a little while longer and I hear her yell louder "WOULD YOU PLEASE BE QUIET!" I get up, go into her room and ask her what the matter was, and she tells me that Micah and Tyler are making a lot of noise. I smile and tell her to close her eyes and go back to sleep.

Little do the boys know they were getting blamed for the noise of a black bird. Micah was downstairs quietly watching TV and Tyler.... was still sleeping :-)

Blessings!!

Micah's Cookies

At the beginning of March Micah was responsible for bringing a snack to Cub Scouts. Part of his requirements for one of his badges was to make a snack for his family or Den. We decided that Micah would make cookies all by himself for his Den.

He did such a great job. He made them a little bigger than Mommy would have, but hey, thats part of the fun of making cookies yourself, you can make them as big as you want.

I'm just sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished product!

Blessings!!

No Easter Dinner for Us Today...

Here it is Easter Sunday and we are at home. We had two invitations for lunch, and we could have enjoyed an Easter service at church, but no, we are in the sick house.

Since Micah's explosion at Aunt Laurie's, he seems to be doing fine. He is eating and drinking and telling us he feels just fine. He even said "a day isn't a day unless you can play with friends." This was after I told him he couldn't play with anyone because we didn't want to share our germs.

Tyler is still doing fine, we are praying that it stays that way, but Jilli..... poor Jilli, she just can't seem to kick this bug.

After being fine all day yesterday she gets sick around 5pm and then continues for a few hours. Everyone slept fine during the night then this morning she gets up and starts up again. Can't really figure out why my baby is getting hit so hard with this. As I am typing this she is upstairs sleeping in my bed (on Daddy's side, cause that is her favorite side :-) It breaks my heart to hear "Momma, my tummy hurts super, duper, really, really, duper, super bad." She is so sweet too, because she also says "thank you for taking care of me Momma." Then as I look at her while she is withering in pain, she smiles at me and tells me she loves me. She is so precious.

Praying that tomorrow will be a new day with no sickness in it and that the rest of the week is the same.

Blessings!!

We thought that we had escaped until early Wednesday morning (3 am). That is when Jilli woke up saying her stomach hurt. Then for the next 8 hours her head was in a bucket. Thursday dawned a new day and her stomach woes were gone. The kids enjoyed playing outside in the beautiful weather and all was well.

Early Friday morning Jilli again woke up throwing up. What the world?? She was FINE the day before!

Micah had been planning a sleep over with Aunt Laurie for Friday night so I called her to tell her what had happened and gave her the option of canceling. She said she would take the chance and still have Micah over. She picked him up at noon and off they went for a fun filled afternoon of gymnastics, sonic slushy, shopping, Bob Evans for dinner, Movie, walk, and then back home for Star Wars the Clone Wars. Except Micah fell asleep on the couch before the show even came on. Aunt Laurie put him in bed.

10:30 pm we get a phone call... "Micah got sick, it's all over my bed." Kevin left to go pick him up. Micah felt so bad for getting sick, especially all over Aunt Laurie's bed. He continued to get sick through the night.

Now I am just waiting for Tyler to start. So far he seems fine, but so did Micah yesterday. As a precaution I have given Tyler his own "bucket" to sleep with in case he gets sick in the middle of the night.

Kevin and I had a conversation last night about how we don't remember our parents getting sick when we were kids and had the stomach flu, so we are banking on the fact that we too are going to stay healthy during this bout of sickness. Only time will tell.

Blessings!!