Our Surprise Weekend to Racine

Kevin decided that a trip to Racine Wisconsin was in order, but this trip was going to be kept a secret from the kids.  We were not going to tell them that we were even going anywhere until the morning we were leaving and even then, we were only going to tell them what to pack.

The day before we were leaving I baked 3 loaves of cinnamon bread because I can't disappoint my nephews and niece and not bring any.  It would be like me going to Racine and not buying any Kringle.  Just.Not.Going.To.Happen.

Friday morning dawns a beautiful day.  We tell the kids to pack and we get the house ready to leave.  They tried and tried to figure out where we were going for the weekend.  At one point Tyler says, "if Mom takes that cinnamon bread then I know where we are going!"  I had to hide the bread in my overnight bag so they wouldn't know I took it!

We left and the kids kept trying to figure out where we were going.  There were a few times, we thought they would get it when they saw the signs, but nope.  We hit Chicago and they thought we were spending the weekend there, until we were through the city and we hadn't stopped.

It was as were were exiting off the highway onto Hwy 20 did Micah finally guess we were going to their cousin's house.  Then he quickly exclaimed "The Land of Kringle!"

Weekends together always include, late nights, breakfasts of cinnamon bread and kringle, lots and lots of games and this time....

Yup we went roller skating.  I think it had been at least 20 years since I had donned roller skates.  I thought for sure I would end up on my butt!  Thankfully I didn't, but I was close a few times!

Now Andy... Well, he is the guy that flies around the rink barely moving his feet, he crosses his legs back and forth, he skates backwards and everything... he has skills.  I tried to get is hair blowing out behind him as he came around the corner, but my iPhone just couldn't capture the flowing locks.  But I think we can all agree that he could pass as Jesus on roller skates.

This is some of the "group" coming around the corner.  Carey doesn't usually skate like this... she was putting her moves on for the camera.. neither does Kevin for that matter...

Then I tried to be all awesome and take pictures of everyone behind me while skating... They are blurry but they make me smile.  As I was trying to take them, more and more of our group tried getting into it so I had to keep raising my phone higher and higher... so only my forehead is in them.

Here is one of just us adults... Kevin snuck into the picture just as I was taking it.

This is Tyler.

Here is a picture of all the kids.

Oh I almost forgot!  Before we went skating Andy made us all cotton candy.  How many roller skating Jesus' do you know that have their own cotton candy machines?!  So we sugared them up to take them skating.  Worked out beautifully.

Here is a picture of the girls.  They could either be found in Emily's room or in the basement dancing to a wii game.  Not once did we hear "I'm bored" or "we have nothing to do" they are just like their Momma's.  Carey and I could keep ourselves occupied for hours as girls... even if we were just laying on a bunk bed giggling.

Ok, one last picture.... it's the ceremonial picture that must be taken every time Carey and I are together.  We started this tradition I think when we were pre-teens??

The weekend was too short and flew by too fast.  We are already planning our next time together... hopefully it will be longer than just a weekend (hint, hint Andy... aka Jesus on roller skates... the pond awaits your exploration)!!

My Crazy Tyler Turns 11yrs old!!

Tyler's Birthday party was the first to be celebrated in our farm house.  It felt so good that there was a place for all to sit, even if it was the floor.  The only thing I miss about the old house was the finished basement.  It was just another place for the kids to spread out.  Aiden kept asking to go see the basement.  It took us awhile to figure out that he was looking for the old basement with all the toys.  Sorry Aiden, most of our basement toys are still boxed up in the garage!

We ordered pizza and Tyler wanted a clown cake for his birthday.  He wanted "Crazy Tyler turns 11 yrs old!" written on it.  After all the hoopla of the birthday party most of us got ready to go to our church for a special event called Tiny Circus.  The kids all seemed to have fun and even us adults got a kick out of some of the acts.

It was that evening that a snow storm moved into the area and dumped quite a bit of snow on us, it lasted until early Monday morning.

Tyler and I headed out to the back forty late Monday morning.  Let me tell you, walking through snow drifts up to 2 ft deep was quite a workout.  We made it all the way back to the pond.  Here are some pictures after the snow stopped and the sun showed it's rare face to us.

This is one of the pond and the little bench that sits on the dock.

I couldn't get over the blueness of the sky.  I guess when you don't see it for months on end, it looks extra beautiful!

One last picture of the birthday boy who spent about an hour hiking in snow with his Momma.  We were both worn out by the time we got back!

Blessings!!

A New Chapter Begins

There are points in life when there is a life shift.  Sometimes you see it coming and sometimes you  don't.  This time I saw it coming.

It was like walking down a road in the middle of a moonless night, when up ahead you see a truck racing towards you with it's bright lights on.  You can't miss it, it blinds you.  You know the minute, the second it arrives.  That blinding light transports you into a new season of life... Our new season...We are no longer considered a "young" family.

Oh my, the tears just well up at the thought that my baby is old enough to now be called a teenager.  Officially it happened at 5:36pm Sunday night and let me tell you, he was not officially 13 until 5:36pm.  His party started at 5pm so all who love him could celebrate this momentous occasion with us.  Our house was filled to overflowing.

I think your 13th birthday is one of the biggest, if not the biggest of your childhood.  It's one of those birthdays you remember for life.

His birthday weekend didn't start off so great.  Things that had been planned were cancelled (due to weather).  There were other situations that caused Micah disappointment.  We adjusted, made changes and as Uncle Andy always says "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade" and that is just what we did!!  I think Micah will forever remember his 13th Birthday.

Micah's cake is comical to us.  He originally wanted me to make his cake.  Kevin and I felt it wasn't really possible with the oven that currently resides in our house, so he was gracious and said that Costco could make his cake.  Micah and I went there to pick it out and this is the one he selected.  I thought it was hilarious being that he was turning 13, and never told him what "over the hill" was referring to.  After Daddy saw it and started laughing did he enlighten his son to the meaning behind the cake and we all had a good laugh about it.

His birthday continued after everyone left with a sleepover with his cousin Nicholas.  Kevin and I went to bed just after 9pm and gave the boys free reign over the house, bedtime, and activities.  Funny, they were in bed by 9:45pm.  Micah gave into sleep around midnight and Tyler just informed me that he and Nicholas talked until 2am (Sorry Toni!!).

Now I'm going to get all sentimental...
Sunday night was beautiful to me.  This old house has seen hundreds of birthdays over it's existents.  Even though the floors cause you to walk like a drunken sailer until you get used to it's ebb and flow, the staircase would be more efficient with a fireman's pole it's such a vertical climb, I have a bucket in the basement catching the water that drips from the shower, but Sunday night it held family and friends together in the celebration of the life of Micah Alan Peters.  There was room for all 30+ people to break bread (pizza) together.  There was space for the kids to run and be crazy.  I love that I don't care if a ding goes in the wall, I love that greasy pizza hands ran up and down the steps and their greasy hands joined the greasy hand marks of children over the past 100 years.  It was night full of memories... Like the paper ball fight that went on around Micah as he opened his gifts (it was Kevin against every other kid here... we were picking up paper balls long after everyone left).  I will always hold this birthday party close to my heart, new friends were included, old friends maintained there steadfast presence and family were all here to surround our family with love.

4 Years of Hard Work!!

He was eight years old when he walked into class for the first time.  He was timid and shy.  My heart was breaking for him as he walked into a room full of people he didn't know.  A man came up to him and welcomed him into class, he took him to the back of the room and stood next to him the whole class period.  Teaching him the very first building blocks the next 4 years would be built on.

Over the next 4 years I watched this boy slowly mature into a young man, I watched him work hard at learning all he needed to know.  Over the last year he was gearing up for the final test.  There is a full year from becoming a brown belt to becoming a black belt.  There are tests and requirements that must be met.  There was an essay that needed to be written and a 128 question test on the origin of Tung Soo Do Kyohoe Kwan (that is the style of karate), many of the Korean words used, the history of the DoJang (karate studio), the meaning of the parts of the Korean flag, and the list goes on.

To say getting a black belt at Crusader Martial Arts is time consuming is an understatement.  Hours upon hours were spent in the studio or at home studying and working on all the different requirements that were needed.

As the end was approaching Micah came down with influenza and was sick the whole month before his black belt test.  He even missed the written test and had to make arrangements to take the test at a later time (he passed his test 85.5% Whoo Hoo!!).  He also was assigned a mentor to help get him ready for his physical test, but because he was sick, he was unable to meet with him at all.  A week before his physical test he was still recovering from the sickness.

The physical test is a 4-6 hr test in which the students are tested on everything they have learned since becoming white belts.  It is physically exhausting test.  I know this not only because I sat and watched the sweat fly from the faces of the students but because Micah had the chance to go to the Cottage Bar afterwards for lunch and he turned it down to go home, shower, and lay on the couch.

Micah's test lasted just over 4 hours and the reason it was one of the faster blackbelt tests was because all of the students knew there stuff so well, there wasn't much repeating techniques.  Watching I couldn't help but be over the moon proud of Micah.  He was nervous going into the test, which is understandable, but during the first shio (rest period) Sah Bum Nim Lisa (his instructor) came down from the judges box and told Micah he was doing an amazing job.  She would continue coming to him during his shios telling him "you got this Micah, your doing great", it was nice to have her reassure him that he was passing the test.

Each student had to break 5 boards.  They preselected the type of kick, strike, or block they were going to use.  At times it can be painful to watch board breaking because if they hit the board wrong... well lets just say it can be very painful.

Micah was getting ready to do a knee strike and DoJaNim joked with him about getting Sah Bum Nim Duane in the stomach. Sah Bum Nim Duane is Sah Bum Nim Lisa's son, you can see her in the back laughing about this too.

After the the test was done, we waited while the judges conferred with each other.  They made the students stand at attention then gave the news that they all passed!  Micah's reaction... "I DID IT!"

Sorry, poor picture quality, it was my phone

This next picture is Micah with his current instructor Sah Bum Nim Lisa and the man who took Micah under his wing his very first class... Kyo Sa Nim Nick.  It was a pretty special day that may or may not have included tears.

Flash back... Micah and his buddy Dan have gone through this whole process together.  They have been partners for different techniques, they have studied together, and pushed each other along on this journey, so I thought I would share a picture I found of two little boys who were white deputies getting their yellow belts.  Picture is dark, but hopefully you can see Dan on the left and Micah on the right.

and now....

Then for a whole week we had to wait until the potluck for Micah to receive his new belt.  It was a long week for him.... he couldn't wait! His black belt being tied by HuimJaNim Jaci

DoJuNim gets his hug!

The newest black belts!

Then pictures again with all the important people... except the two that paid for all of this... we never got a picture with him.  Hmm....

I now officially have a black belt living in my home.  He has decided that he is going to work towards his 2nd Don which takes about 2 years.  His ultimate goal is a Master, which would take about 9-10 years provided he passes all his tests.  In the meantime, he has applied to be an instructor which requires him to go through more training.

--

Micah, I have watched you grow from a little timid boy to a confidant young man.  God has given you this desire to take your skill to the next level and I am so excited to see you continue to mature into the Man God is molding you into.  You will go far in life as long as you always remember that everything you have and everything you are is a blessing from God.  Without Him you are nothing, with Him you are Everything!!  Keep working hard, I love you Micah Bean!!

A Year Ago Today

**I had written this post yesterday, but forgot to publish it, so it's a day late**

Hard to believe that last year I babysat Lina for the first time at a coffee shop just down the street from Melissa's work.  She slept most of the time, but about 30min before Melissa got back she woke up and just had to sit on Aunt Lynny's lap and talk to me.  She took her bottle and we waited for Mommy to come back so we could go grocery shopping for Daddy's birthday dinner.

Lina at the coffee shop

After Melissa found us we decided to make our way to Whole Foods to pick up what we were going to make for dinner.  As we were walking through the aisles Lina started to get a little fussy so we quickly finished picking out what we needed (which included sweets, because what is a birthday without sweets!) and started our walk back home.  

In New York you don't go to the store and buy a weeks worth of food.  There are multiple reasons why but a big one, is that you need to carry what you buy home.  Now I don't know how far it is from the grocery store to their place, but I'm going to guess that it's about a mile, but I do know that Lina's stroller held most of the food, but my arms held the rest and by the time we made it home they were tired.  Most people in New York have small carts that they use to go shopping, unless you push a stroller, then you load it into that (the strollers in New York are like their cars).

Once home we all rested for awhile and then us ladies started to make dinner.  I can't remember what exactly we made... but I do remember that Melissa taught me how to make pico de gallo and I do remember that dinner was very good.  Oh Wait I remember... we made tacos!!  Then for Birthday dessert it was an assortment of treats.  Not exactly birthday cake... next time I'm in New York I think I will make Tim birthday cake, even if it's for no ones birthday.  The poor guy misses out on it over a dozen times a year and every time he is home he talks about birthday cake.

It was present time... He was a very capable dad and held Lina the whole time he opened gifts.  

Lina even made him a birthday card! I'm sure it's the first of many she will make him over the years.

 It was a pretty low key day, but I think it was a good day, Tim's first Birthday as a Daddy!!

**OK, so I wrote this yesterday but I have to add that last night we faceTimed Tim and Melissa (Lina was in bed already) and they were showing us videos of Lina walking.  It's just amazing to me to see How much she has changed in one year!  Since I only get to see her at the most 3 times a year, but probably only like twice a year, the change is so much more obvious.  Just looking back at these pictures reminds me how quickly time flies... make the most of each moment, because one day your holding a brand new baby, you blink and she is walking and sprouting the cutest curly little fro.** 

Never Would Have Thought...

It's midnight, there is a dark figure standing next to my bed.  As I slowly awaken from a deep sleep I hear... "Mom, I texted you, why didn't you come to me?"

Welcome to the year 2014 (almost 2015).  It used to be my name being called in the night.  There have been times of bells ringing if I was needed and calling for me was painful.  But texting??

Now my phone sits next to my bed, ringer as low as it will go so that if my children need me during the night, they can text me.  That feels funny just typing it.  But over the last few days, we have been waging a war against influenza.  Thankfully I have escaped it's grasp so far, but the rest of my family hasn't been so lucky.  Micah, not one to want to bother me, will usually either handle things on his own or come downstairs and quietly ask for my help.  The other two... Well they stay in there beds and send me messages as to how they are feeling and I send reply's.  Sometimes, my reply's get me out of going upstairs and sometimes they don't.  Two nights ago, I think I climbed our stairs 20 times throughout the night. 

I am praying we are over the worst of it and over the next few days we will slowly regain our health and our ability to join the community again.  Although our sickness did interrupt Christmas party plans, New Years plans, and spending more time with Tim and Melissa while they were here, I am not complaining that it has forced us to stay home and spend time together as a family.  That was a real blessing.

Praying your family had a Wonderful Christmas Celebrating the Birth of Our Savior and will enjoy the Blessings of a Happy New Year!

A Trip to Midtown

While in New York Tim and I took a night and went up to Time Square.  When people think of New York City, this is what I think people picture.

I took this picture moments after Tim and I got off the subway.  Just for memories sake... I need to note that while Tim and I were waiting for the train, there were rats running over the track.  Tim's comment to me was that they were small ones.  I was very excited that for the remainder of my stay in NY, I never sighted any "big ones".

Tim took this one of me in Time Square.

If you have never been to NY everything is bright and flashy.  Neon signs are begging at you to look at them around every corner.  It can be stimulation overload!

Tim and I did a lot of walking that night.  We hit all the main touristy things.  This is me by Radio City

It's kind of hard to see the sign... you can see it a little better in this picture.  It's a vertical sign that looks kind of pink in this picture and it's just to the upper right of my head.

Rockefeller Center skating rink. Notice the Lego store in the back left corner.  I sent that picture to Micah, he could have cared less about the skating rink, he just wanted to see the Lego store.

Of course you have to get a picture of the Today Show.

The next place we walked to was Grand Central Station.  If you are ever in NYC, I highly suggest you go see this amazing building.  You will encounter crowds, but don't let that stop you!  It is an amazing historical building that is well over 100 years old.  It started as Grand Central Depot, then the name changed to Grand Central Station and now it's name is Grand Central Terminal.  But most people still refer to it as the 1901 name... Grand Central Station.  

Pictures just don't do this this building any service at all.  The architecture is amazing!  

I don't even know how many miles we walked that night, but I had a lot of fun seeing all the sights with my brother!

Gettting Back to Blogging

These past six months I blogged only a handful of times and although I felt bad for not updating more, it was a really great break for me.  I am discovering my love of waking in the morning and sitting at the computer and writing again.  It feels good to get life memories back down "on paper".  I'm excited to show you things that are from a few years ago that I have rediscovered in the past week or so.  It's kind of reliving wonderful memories and who doesn't love to remember all the good while all the bad slowly gets forgotten.

I am going to start by going back not quite a year.  I need to finish up my New York trip.  Especially because I am getting very excited to see my Tim, Melissa, and Lina in a few short days.  Tim sent an email just the other day telling us that Lina might take her first steps here in Grand Rapids!!  Now that is exciting!  First steps are a mile stone that you just never forget.... at least for your first born.

Here are a few pictures that I took of Lina on Sunday January 12th.  Tim's birthday is the 13th so on Sunday we met Tim and Melissa's family that lives in NY for brunch.  This is a picture I took of a Daddy and his little girl... Neither of them is smitten with the other.  I love how he has no problem throwing a flowery burp cloth over his shoulder all in the name of Lina.

These next two pictures I grabbed while Lina was sleeping.  Who doesn't love a sleeping baby!  For that matter I still love to look at my kids while they are sleeping, it's kind of like glimpsing Heaven... the peace is like no other here on earth.  I took these pictures early in the morning.  Lina loved (at that time) to get up before the sun and while I was there Tim would bring her to me so they could sleep a little longer.  Lina would fall back to sleep and on this morning after I took these pictures I fell back asleep too and thats how Tim found us sound asleep.

And for good measure... another sleeping baby picture.

 I took a video of Lina "talking" to Melissa and smiling and being so absolutely cute!  But since videos are my nemesis on the blog,  I'm posting this picture of her sweet little expression while she conversed with her Mommy.

I know that when I see Lina in a few short days I will be blown away at the little girl she is becoming.  Just last night I was looking at my nephew Ryan and thinking how he is looking like just a little boy!  He was running around with all the other kids at the Christmas party last night having a great time and it seems like just yesterday I was babysitting him doing everything I could to get him to crawl! 

Thats it for today, off to go unpack some more of these unending boxes!

There is a WHAT in Our House?!

I think it was early last week that the farmer cut the field down that runs along side of our property.  My Dad made a comment about watching out for mice since their homes were just cut down.  Not two days later did I have a white faced little girl racing down the stairs to tell us that she heard an animal rolling around above her bed.  Sure enough there was something up in the attic rolling around and scratching.

We were prepared mentally for the possibility that we would have to deal with a mouse since we were living in a old house.  But we were really hoping that it wouldn't be an issue.  Well... apparently it's an issue and if you have been reading the blog since the beginning you know how our family loves mice. The first step of eradicating the unwanted house guest has begun and hopefully it hasn't moved it's family into the attic as well (I know wishful thinking).

Poor Jilli had to fall asleep pretending she was Cinderella and the noises she was hearing was her little friends making her a pretty dress to wear to the ball.  I also turned her radio up a little so hopefully she would concentrate on that instead of the rolling, scratching noises.

Not much other news to share right now... unpacking is wildly boring and not really picture worthy.  I still have boxes all around us.  But our Christmas tree did make it up!  That was spurred on by Jilli who just wouldn't let it rest that our tree wasn't up yet.  Thank goodness for our little Jilli, it feels much more festive now.  It still doesn't feel like "home" yet, it kind of feels like we are just visiting.  I think that will change when we start putting our stamp on this house.

I will leave you with this picture from a road trip we took about a month ago.  We needed to get out of the trailer for awhile and decided to ride up to Ludington.  We took country roads all the way there and had a really fun time.  Romeo obviously came with us on our day trip.

This picture was taken at the Consumers Power Reservoir just south of Ludington.  

Blessings!!

Old House Living

Well last night was night #4 in our "new" house.  My computer finally has a place to call home in our "loffice"  the word we coined to lovingly call our office/laundry room.  Blog posts will now be happening more than once a month!!  YAY!!

Some things that I have already discovered about living in an old home.  Not all the rooms heat the same.  Our "bedroom" (formally a formal dining room) is COLD.  Last night we added another comforter to our bed.  That makes 2 comforters and 1 quilt that we are sleeping with at night.  I guess it's good Kevin likes it cold when he sleeps!  Even though there is only 1 heat register in the upstairs the kids have been plenty warm.  Thats where all the warm air from the main floor goes!

I get sidetracked very easily by the view outside my kitchen window.  I just stop and stare in amazement gazing at what God has blessed us with.  I look at my big red barn and dream about days gone by and days to come.

I'm not the biggest fan of our well water.  We have a water softener on it, but it tastes funny.  I guess that's what you get for being raised a city girl.  Thankfully my Dad has taken water samples before and after the water softener and is having it tested to see what can be done about the salty sulfur taste.  Good news is that I don't pay for water anymore!

Romeo LOVES being out in the country with room to roam.  I played with him outside yesterday for about an hour and couldn't get him back in the door!  His nose takes him all over!  I call and he starts running and then he smells something and the breaks go on and he is off on a new trail.  Thankfully his taste buds likes treats more than his nose likes smells.  I am a little concerned about being on a busy road and his lack of experience with busy streets and cars/trucks.

I am starting to learn more everyday about country life, what things are called, why they were/are used and the importance of it all.  Much of this comes from my parents.  Mom was raised in the country (well some of it, some of her childhood was in the city too), but I think her heart loves the country.  She is a wealth of information, who needs wikipedia when they have Sheri!!

I am now entertaining the idea of raising my own bull calf for beef.  What a great experience that would be!!  I need to put up a pasture fence again, but the barn is ready for cattle.  I can already picture the blog posts about Jilli trying to ride Stanley the steer and Tyler laughing as she falls off again while Micah comes racing in to tell me to come watch what Jilli and Tyler are doing now...  I'm thinking there is no better place for our family to grow and love then here on this little patch of earth God blessed us with.  I'm so excited for our future here!

Things I miss about living in the city... nothing really.  The only thing is our church is now 20 min away instead of 3 min when we lived in the trailer.  But it's a small price to pay for this house we are making into our home.

It's been a week since we started moving the stuff into the house and the craziness of moving is still very much alive and well.  I have boxes everywhere! As soon as I get a box emptied, 2 more show up that needs to be unpacked.  Moving is a process that overwhelms me.  I am having to go through every box and decide yet again if we should keep it, find a place for it, or store it.  We have more stuff than this house has room for.  It's the simplifying that is soo good to do, yet so hard for my brain to mutter through.  I don't want to be one of those people who move and 20 years later there are boxes that still haven't been opened.

Hopefully I will be able to start posting pictures soon.  There is still too much clutter to take a picture and have you see anything but boxes.

Oh I almost forgot!!  Yesterday I took a trip into our local hardware/everything store (my Dad's new favorite place to go) and asked to talk to one of the owners.  His Dad was born in this house!  His Dad is now 92 years old and is still living.  He is going to either bring his dad over to our house, or I am going to go to his nursing home to get the stats on this here home of ours.  I would LOVE to get copies of any pictures that the family has of the house "back in the day".  Kevin and I have already started to piece together some of the changes that this house has gone through over the years.  The information that I can gleam from this gentleman will be so helpful!  Apparently he loves to talk the house and his childhood here and since I love old people and love to listen to their stories, I think we will get along fabulously!!  I can't wait to share what I learn from him!!  It will be like hearing the house talk for the very first time!  Can you tell I am excited??

So thats about it for today.  I need to get back to unpacking boxes and laundry.  One of my best friends moved just before us and she told me it took about two weeks to get her house set up.  So, I have 1 more week before I start having a breakdown.  The frustrating thing is that this is such a busy week for us in the evenings when Kev could be helping me move furniture, we are gone running kids to different activities.  Our church's musical performances are this week, Jilli has a main part so there were added practices for her and tonight is the first performance.  Tyler has a speaking part ans he is part of the black-light dancers.  I'm excited to see it all put together!

Blessings!!