The Postemas

The Square Root Anniversary

2011-04-09T16:57:00.003-04:00

Neil and I have been married for 8 years, as of today. It's been a nice day so far. 64 degrees and Sunny. We went to the Fredrik Meijer Gardens with the kids and saw the butterflies then we went to lunch at the Melting Pot.

I read that traditional 8 year gifts are pottery or bronze. Too bad we don't buy eachother gifts because this would be the year I would love (as far as gifts go). I beautiful African vase or a modern bronze statuette for my shelf would be awesome. No worries though, they are just things and we have never been ones to give eachother gifts. Although I did request a very specific $15 gift for my 30th birthday this year so I sure hope he remembers :)

I love this little statuette because 8 looks like the infinity symbol. Unfortunately it is $64.99. It's still pretty!

Spring Break is not Relaxing

2011-04-07T10:47:00.002-04:00

But we are having so much fun. I set up a playdate for every single day of our break from school. It hasn't been warm but we have kept busy.

Saturday is our 8th anniversary. That is the square root of 64 which makes it pretty awesome. We're going to see the butterflies with the kids at Meijer Gardens - one of my favorite annual events.

Time flies - Rowyn now has 4 teeth and is crawling and cruising on the furniture. Raene and Ruby just had school conferences and are doing fantastic. Both are reading well above their grade level.

Ruby is still having bladder control issues and I finally took her to the doctor for it to be sure it wasn't a physical problem. She was cleared there and we were recommended to have some psychological testing done. There are so many possibilities out there. Hopefully we will get it all worked out soon since she is immensely intelligent and first grade will be upon us before we know it.

Raene has been having heartburn for months and we didnt get much help from our doctor on this so I started keeping a food log and it seems that milk may be a trigger. After putting her on almond milk she hasnt had any more complaints. We are keeping an eye on it.

Neil is excited because is first gig with the new band is coming up. Both his original progressive rock band and hos Tool cover band are performing at tbe end of this month.

All caught up I think

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-02T09:53:00.002-05:00

Snowed in - LOVE IT!!

Chompers

2011-01-30T23:21:00.002-05:00

Rowyn finally cut her first tooth. Then she bit my finger. I forgot how sharp little baby teeth can be.

Ear Piercing

2011-01-28T09:59:00.002-05:00

The last few mornings I have woken up to screaming. Happy screaming. Rowyn has discovered that it is fun to scream at the top of her little lungs. It's actually pretty funny during the day. Waking up to it is a bit much although it's a great alarm.

Rowyn had her 6 month check up yesterday. She is a TINY! She's only 14.8lbs - which puts her in the 15% of normal babies and she's only 25.5" long which puts her in the 25% in length. Originally she was very long for her age but she has really plateaued on her growth. She's saving me money on clothes though.

So Big So Fast

2011-01-24T00:30:00.003-05:00

Rowyn is growing like crazy! She's already 6 months old. I started making fresh homemade organic baby food for her and I actually find it a lot of fun. She loves sweet potatoes. I never really enjoyed spoon feeding the other girls because it can be enormously time consuming. I'm sure the nostalgia will wear off soon but for now I'm going to soak it all in. She has started babbling a lot more instead of just cooing or squealing and Raene and Ruby are always telling us the fun words they think she is saying. It's hard to believe that we are already half way through her first year of life.

Did I mention we had a baby?

2010-12-30T09:32:00.002-05:00

Okay, I've been a little busy with our new addition and the kids in school. Whoops.

Life Updates:

July 14th - Rowyn AriaMarie was born. Healthy and beautiful. My nephew, Jude, was born 9 days later. Very exciting month full of babies.

September - Raene started 2nd grade and Ruby started Kindergarten. We also took a family vacation to Chicago for Raene's 7th birthday. Raene started singing at a choral academy once a week.

October - My grandpa, whom I was very close with and loved deeply, passed away.

November - Ruby turned 5. Aly gave birth to her daughter, Gabriella, on Ruby's birthday.

December - Wowza, my cousin, Raechel, gave birth to her twins, Charlie and Grace. Raene had her first choir concert. Neil accepted a new job downtown.

Yes, I have been bad about updating since Rowyn was born. But I will do better in 2011. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us.

So close yet so far away

2010-07-09T12:26:00.002-04:00

12 days until my c-section. I'm trying to keep busy without putting myself into early labor. Now that the kids are out of school time is just dragging by. All of my appointments have been great lately. I've been able to see my regular doctor for the last 4 appointments and it has made such a big difference. I feel more confident and more relaxed about everything.

I'm done watching Jack until a few weeks after the baby arrives which just feels odd. I love having him around and I'm so used to his sweet little cheeks that I am going to miss him a lot over this next month.

Raene and Ruby has been playing babies all the time. Raene has even been practicing lullabies for when she comes home :) Ruby likes the idea of the baby most of the time but she has been having a lot of meltdown temper tantrums. So I think she is taking the transition pretty hard even though the baby isn't even here yet. I think getting back into the routine of school will be a good thing for them this year even if it adds more stress to my plate.

Ready or Not?

2010-06-12T10:56:00.002-04:00

I had an appointment this week and it was definitely interesting. She cleared me for our trip to IL for Ted and Megan's wedding but she was hesitant to do so. I guess the baby is head down and nestled into her 'get me out of here!' position. I've been having a lot of false contractions, ie Braxton Hicks, and she said that any more than I am having now and I need to be checked right away. I've been ordered not to do ANYTHING while down there. Hmph! I also have to take a lot of breaks while we are driving to avoid blood clots in my legs. Luckily she gave me great tips to help with the pain I've been having in my sciatica. She sounded very close to putting me on bed rest and I am not thrilled with that idea. I have two crazy kids and it's summer break!

The thing that made me the most happy about my appointment was that I got to see my regular doctor. I haven't seen her at all this pregnancy so far and it has been a rough one. But I'm at the point now of having appointments every two weeks and she is finally back in the offices which makes me feel so much more at ease.

Other than my house never feeling clean right now and trying to make it to IL and back safely I feel like I'm ready for the baby to be here finally :)

10 more weeks to go!

2010-05-12T10:54:00.002-04:00

I'm officially 29 weeks now. Last week I got the results of my glucose test and luckily it came back negative to gestational diabetes. However, they did say that I had anemia. They want me to take an iron supplement but I would rather not. I'm only slightly anemic and I would rather be tired then be constipated. Oh trade offs :)

Mother's Day was nice. The kids made me fun things at school - Raene made me a cute card and a vase with a couple of Morning Glories inside. Ruby made me a little poster with her handprints and a poem.

We also acquired a free swing set on Mother's Day. It's old and metal but it's solid and not rusty so we will keep it for a few years until the kids get a little bigger and we can maybe afford (or find) a nicer wooden one.

We have also pretty much settled on the name Rowyn (or possibly spelled Rowin) for our baby girl. The "Ro" part comes from my Grandpa's middle name of Roland and the "wyn" comes from Neil's Grandpa's name of Edwin. We're still in the process of working on a middle name. Right now we are thinking Aria-Marie but there are a few other good ones being tossed around and maybe some that we haven't thought of yet.

Last night I was at the final PTC meeting for the school year and I was nominated and voted in as the new Secretary of the Parent Teacher Committee. I think this is a role I will be able to handle considering that I will have a new baby next year. All of the positions ended up being filled by new people since we are losing our long standing president and treasurer so next year will be a lot of work and a lot of learning the ropes but I'm excited about it too :)

Counting Down and the Delivery Dilemma

2010-04-20T11:07:00.004-04:00

Well, we have a date of arrival. July 21st is this baby girls official c-section date. That's not to say that she wont decide to come sooner but right now everything seems to be on target. I'll be 26 weeks along tomorrow so that leaves 13 more weeks to go!

I had an appointment yesterday and things seemed good. It was hard to hear the heartbeat with how much she was moving around in there. I've been having a really hard time with the belly growth during this pregnancy because I've got a lot of scar tissue build up from the first two surgeries and as she grows it tugs on the scar tissue which is causing me quite a bit of pain.

I talked to the doctor about my options for delivery and future pregnancies based on all the scar tissue. She said that during the operation they can look at where the scar tissue has formed and if it is not directly attached to the uterus they can cut some layers into the scar tissue and it will move more naturally. I asked about delivering naturally instead of via c-section and she said that they wouldnt tell me 'no' if the baby wanted to arrive early but that they wouldnt want to wait and see what would happen if I went past my c-section date. There's more risk involved with a natural delivery since I've already had multiple c-sections. But another c-section will mean more scar tissue making a 4th pregnancy, possibly more difficult (if we even go that route). I just want to know all my options since Neil is still fixated on having a boy and who knows what the future may hold.

We are also getting closer to settling on a name! I can't wait until I can start using it, just waiting on the final okay from Neil :)

7 Years!

2010-04-09T09:51:00.003-04:00

It's our 7 year anniversary today! Neil and I are heading out to dinner tonight to Carrabbas while our niece watches the girls for us for a few hours. We might not celebrate eachother's birthdays very often but we always celebrate the day we stood before our friends and family and said that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

this was taken shortly before we got engaged.

Sinking in

2010-03-28T09:30:00.002-04:00

The idea of having a third girl is really starting to sink in. I am getting antsy and excited to meet her. We are mulling over names still and are getting very close to having one nailed down. Now if only more room would magically appear in this house. I cleared out a bunch of stuff from the girls room and tackling the master bedroom will be next. The desk and computer have to go in order to make room for a dresser - there's no place to put baby clothes at the moment so that's on the agenda. Then will come the basement, it needs to be organized better so that we can make room for storing larger baby items and clothes since we have had to start saving the girls hand-me-downs once again.

I'm getting super excited for the weather this week. It's going to reach the low 70's starting on Wed and going through the weekend! Garden Time!!! I've already started some of my seeds in trays. They sit in the sun during the day, then I transport them back to the garage and cover them at night. I hope it works. If not, I've only used about half of my seeds so I will still have plenty to sow directly into the soil if my plan fails. Bring on Spring!!

It's A .....

2010-03-22T20:50:00.004-04:00

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Baby #3 is going to be another girl for us!!! We are so overjoyed. She looked healthy and beautiful during the ultrasound and we can't wait for her to be here. Raene and Ruby loved getting to see their baby sister moving around in there and afterward we treated them to a nice family day out. We went to the Meijer Gardens to see the Butterflies are Blooming exhibit and then out to a movie. What a great day!

21 weeks

2010-03-17T19:42:00.002-04:00

I had my follow up appointment with the cardiologist today. The results of my Echocardiogram and stress test came back pretty normal. And my 24 hour heart monitor only picked up 2 palpitations the day I wore it (although I already knew that). He said it seemed to be just pregnancy related and nothing to really worry about since they weren't getting worse or more frequent. Finally some good news relating to this pregnancy :)

I'm officially 21 weeks along today. My ultrasound is scheduled for Monday morning and it can't come soon enough. Making me wait an extra 3 and half weeks has seemed like forever. I can't wait to find out what we are having and those extra couple of weeks should make the pictures really clear. We're taking the kids out of school for the morning so they can come see the pictures of their brother or sister moving around in there. We thought it would be really special for them and afterward we would take them out to do something nice as a family.

I'm hoping the doctor will finally prescribe me some medication for my nausea. The B6 has not helped at all. I'm just so tired of feeling sick all the time. This weather has really helped with getting me off my butt though. I've gotten a lot done with all this sunshine motivating me.

I'll be sure to post the news on Monday.

Little White Belt

2010-03-02T11:22:00.005-05:00

Raene loves doing Tae Kwon Do. She finished her first 6 week class last week. And she was excited to start another round of training. Since she is sticking with it we got her first uniform and belt. In another 6 weeks she can take a test to see if she has earned a purple stripe for her white belt :)

Thump Thumpin Away

2010-03-01T10:53:00.002-05:00

I had the appointment with the Cardiologist on Friday. He thinks that the palpitations are just pregnancy related but wanted to rule out anything unusual. That meant that I got to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours (those things hurt to take off!) and I go back on Wednesday for an Echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) and a stress test on the treadmill. I'm not really worried about all of it though. I think not eating or drinking for 4 hours prior to the appointment will be the worst part. I'm pregnant! I'm always hungry and thirsty and not eating makes me more nauseas - it should be loads of fun.

We got to meet my Dad and his wifes new dog on Saturday. She was so pretty and sweet. She's a german short hair, named Posh. Me and the kids loved her, Luna did not. Luna is just so jumpy and nervous that she didn't want anything to do with her. Poor Luna, Posh just wanted to play with her.

I have been keeping very busy with projects for the kids school. I'm the school's Box Tops for Education Coordinator which mostly means I just collect all the Box Tops from kids and their families and send them into the company. So I set up a collection contest at the school because we were fast approaching the deadline for sending them in this year and being able to receive money. It went really well. The kids sent in over $370 worth of Box Tops this year :) I already can't wait to be able to do a contest for next year.

I'm also involved in the PTC (parent teacher committee), which just had our first BINGO night at the school. It was a lot of fun. There were prizes for the kids and adults and we sold donuts and hot cocoa. I can't wait to find out how much money we raised at the next meeting.

The school carnival is also at the end of the week and I have volunteered to help with that. Right now we are trying to get the rest of the decorations and raffle prizes in order. Then I am going to bake at least 3 cakes for the Cake Walk. I will get to enjoy the first half of the carnival with the kids and Neil, and then I am going to be working in one of the rooms for the second half.

It's hard to believe that my kids are at the age of a million school activities already and now I am starting all over again with the baby stuff.

The heart of the matter - 17 weeks

2010-02-22T13:55:00.002-05:00

I had my doctors appointment today. There was a lot of new things to go through. First, my nausea is still a problem, so she is having me try a combo of two over the counter drugs to try and ease that up. If that doesnt work then I might be forced to try a prescription in order to get on with daily life.

Second, I am being sent to a cardiologist because my heart palpitations are so frequent. I have been having them several times a day and they are probably going to put me on a monitor for 24 hours and then look at the results. My doctor thinks that there's really nothing to worry about but she wants to make sure the cardiologist feels the same way. I've heard this is a fairly common thing that can happen in pregnancy. I'm not that worried about it but glad they are checking it out.

And lastly, my ultrasound. They decided not to schedule me for another month :( Rather frustrating since I was really hoping for two weeks but it seems that there may be a lot to discuss at my next appointment so they want to do a normal appointment directly following my ultrasound. Which means more waiting.

On a good note, the heartbeat sounded great. 145 beats per minute.

More Babies on the way

2010-02-20T18:40:00.002-05:00

My brother and his beautiful wife are pregnant with their second baby. They are due two weeks before we are, making for a very exciting summer on my side of the family. They had their ultrasound this week and found out they are having a BOY!

We are so thrilled for them! They have a beautiful little girl and now they are going to add a beautiful little guy to the mix. It's still a bit shocking for all of us. I think most of the family assumed they were in for all girls :)

I have an appointment on Monday. I'll be 17 and a half weeks at that point so I will be able to schedule my ultrasound at that appointment and it could be anytime in the next few weeks. I can't wait to find out what we are having. I honestly don't care if it's a boy or a girl this time but it's still so fun to find out.

News, Baby, News!

2010-01-25T11:31:00.001-05:00

Well, I have probably already told most people we know and those I haven't told in person have probably read on Facebook but I should probably update this family blog for the few left out there. We are having another baby!

Baby Postema #3 will be arriving at the end of July. My due date is July 28th but we are planning another c-section so he/she will probably arrive around the July 21st or 22nd. The timing couldn't be better for us and we are extremely excited to be adding another member to our family.

I am currently 13 weeks along and it has been a bumpy road so far. I had a scare around 7 weeks with a little spotting. After an ultrasound the baby seemed fine. I have had countless colds and two major illnesses that included lots of vomiting and fevers. The normal pregnancy nausea has been relentless and it's still an ongoing battle. I don't get to use my normal OBGYN and have had to switch doctors and on top of that they haven't been able to get me in to a doctor yet due to constantly rescheduling my appointments and the offices running behind so I still have not had an initial appointment with a doctor. However, I have seen lots of doctors lately because I was in the ER with the inability to urinate. They determined that my uterus is tilted and it is pinching my urethra. That has meant wearing a catheter for the last week.

Luckily, through it all the baby has been fine. The ultrasounds have been wonderful and the heart rate has been strong. I have an appointment today and hopefully my uterus will have righted itself. I also, finally, have an appointment scheduled this Thursday to get to meet my new doctor.

Raene and Ruby are so excited about having a new brother or sister. Raene is constantly giving suggestions for baby names and they both love to tell random people that "mommy has a baby in her belly." I will try and keep everyone updated as things progress and maybe I can even get Neil to take a few belly photos of me while I grow :)

Birthday Ruby and Halloween!

2009-11-04T22:55:00.008-05:00

Ruby turned 4 a few days ago! I am amazed. She's such a spunky, crazy, goofy, snuggly, intelligent girl. She started reading a few weeks ago. Unprompted, just walked up to the magnets on the fridge and put the sounds of words together - she read the words fun, red, extra, pit - I think there were a few more but I can't remember them now. Anyway, she's just growing so fast.

We didn't do much of a birthday celebration for her. There was going to be a small grandparents only birthday gathering at our house on Halloween except Ruby was running a small fever for the second time that week so only Neil's parents braved the sicky kid germs. I made her a 3D Rhino the Hamster cake (from the movie Bolt) upon her request. The little guy turned out really cute. She loved it and it was filled with ice cream. She got some new clothes, a couple of Webkinz and a little money, some books and a bike horn to go with the new bike that Neil's parents got her. Even though there wasnt much to it she still had a great time especially since the evening ended with Trick or Treating :)

This year for Halloween Raene wanted to be a fuzzy blue kitty and Ruby wanted to be a fuzzy white bunny (with pink ears and a pink tail). So, as usual, I went to the fabric store to see what I could come up with. But I was too afraid to put the fuzzy fabrics through my sewing machine for fear of it getting clogged up. So I sewed there costumes by hand over several weeks time. They turned out really cute and I even used face paints this year which I tend to avoid since I'm not very good at them. It was cold and wet weather but the kids still had fun. Ruby's temperature was low enough that we figured she could manage to go up and down the street so that's as far as we went.

Birmingham, England - Dathan Rocks!

2009-10-12T10:39:00.003-04:00

In case anyone missed all the posts I put up on Facebook, probably annoying everyone, my brother is Amazing!

Over the weekend he ran the World Half Marathon Championships, in England. He did a phenomenal job. He placed 3rd but it was a battle all the way through. There was always another medal contender that he was holding off. Such a great race to watch! He kicked serious butt, getting himself a new personal record as well as being the first American to medal at the World Half (ever). I am just so proud of him. He has really embraced his new trainer, the new workouts and he seems so revitalized. He left his old trainer this spring and has been with his new one since June. Since then he just keeps kicking butt race after race.

Here's a great article about the race if you want to read it.

Photo found here. Courtesy of Getty Images.

Course 1 complete

2009-10-02T11:28:00.003-04:00

I just finished the first Wilton Cake Decorating course offered at Michael's craft store. The classes meet once a week and there are four courses offered. The first course was a 4 week class covering basic decorating skills. I took the class with my friend, Apryl, and it was so much fun! I can't wait until we start the second course next week. Here's the last cake I made on the last night.

Two Backpacks Full

2009-09-26T12:09:00.010-04:00

Both the kids have been off to school for a few weeks now. Raene started first grade this year! Its a crazy transition. She's in school all day now and I have to pack her a lunch *a special thanks to her Grammy Nessner for buying her all of her new school clothes, school supplies and her lunch box as an early birthday gift* It's been a rocky start to the new year but she seems to be adjusting now. I miss her though. I'm always happy to see her after she has spent 7 hours of her day off at school.

Raene also turned 6 last week! She's getting so big. She wanted her cake this year to be a Black-Eyed Susan with ladybugs and butterflies on it. She also wanted her school cupcakes to have this theme. So I worked hard and she loved it. We had her party in a small park again.

Ruby also started school this year. She's a big Preschooler! She made it into the free program that I applied for and started a week after Raene. So far the first two weeks of school have been pretty good. She loves it and is very angry that she can't go to school on Fridays like Raene and she always wishes she could eat lunch in the cafeteria (she has had that chance a few times now).

As for me, I started finally taking a cake decorating class. This coming Thursday is my final beginner course class and then I start course 2 a week later. I am absoluting loving learning some of the proper techniques for some of the decorating I do. I will be starting to work on another cake soon for our friend's son, Jack. His first birthday is coming up. Jack is the little guy who I watch at our house a few days a week. I absolutely adore him! He's is so sweet and gobs of fun.

Autumn is officially here. My favorite time of year but also our busiest. Hopefully, I'll get a few new posts up before Christmas :)

Frustrations

2009-07-22T11:10:00.002-04:00

I guess this is to be expected with life. Some big changes are just NOT for the better. I decided not to continue with the job at the gym. The job has had a very negative impact on our family and life. Sure we need the money but we need eachother and I need my sanity more. I wont go into too many details in this public forum but if you are interested you can ask me more in private.

However, I will divulge one awful side affect of taking this job, which is that Ruby has reverted completely on her potty training. She will be 4 this fall and she is wetting in her pants all the time! I probably wont even be able to put in her in preschool and will have to do homeschooling coupled with group activities this year. She has to be 100 percent daytime potty trained in order to attend school, no pull-ups allowed. She is a busy girl, who hates to stop what she is doing to go potty but this seems like more of a defiance thing because of my going back to work. I don't know for sure but either way, that was the straw that broke the camels back. Wish me luck on getting her back on track. I have one month before the school year begins and I need every single day to prep her if I will be able to send her at all.

I'm not completely out of work though, I will be doing some babysitting which will help. So if anyone needs a babysitter feel free to call :)

A bit of good news - my mom will be visiting from Colorado all next week! She hasn't been back since Christmas and we have missed her terribly.

Princess Raene

2009-07-16T13:17:00.009-04:00

My Grandma Adams heard about some great mini summer camps being offered through the public museum. One was a three day class called the Life of a Princess. Which teaches kids about what life was like to be a princess. Each day the kids got to dress up, bake, do crafts and learn about the customs happening during a new era. This year there was Colonial, Medieval, and Victorian times to explore. She asked if Raene would enjoy going to the class and of course the answer was a resounding "Yes!"

Raene had so much fun in the class and can't wait to take it again next year. Here are some pictures of her in the adorable dresses that Grandma either made or found for her.

Raene is holding the doll she made during class in this picture. I forgot to get a picture of the teachers in their costumes on the first day. The lead teacher is the costume designer at the museum. Grandma made this little colonial dress for Raene and when the teacher saw her she said, "She looks like she belongs to me."

On day two they made jewelry boxes and flowered headbands.

Raene liked day three the best. All the sugar they ate may have had something to do with that. They had a tea party and made homemade lemonade, cupcakes and sugared flower petals. Apparently Raene spent most of the class dipping her fingers in the bowl of sugar.

Getting Ready for Changes

2009-06-28T14:40:00.005-04:00

I start my new job this week, probably on Tuesday. I can't wait! I'll have two months to get used to it and then the kids will be in school. I'm sure the school transition will be harder than this one but we will take that one step at a time.
We're currently on hold with Ruby entering preschool. Originally we were told she would be getting into the program and now we have to wait and see because there are so many families who want in. The old system was that you had to meet the requirements and it was first come first serve because space is limited. Well, the state decided that they would be taking kids that were at a higher risk first now even if the program was already full. So now we have to wait for a month to find out if Ruby will get to get in the free program or if we are going to have to find an alternative that costs money because if she doesn't make the program we can't send her to public prek because those programs are also full. So that would mean spending money we don't have on a more expensive private school. I thought I could do it on my own at home but honestly, Ruby is in need of some guidance and so am I. She needs the extra structure of a school atmosphere and I need to have someone tell me what she needs next. It's just frustrating to think that we wont know until a month before the school year begins. I am really hoping we aren't going to have to go school searching.
Raene is excited because she gets to start Princess Class soon. My grandma signed her up for a class in July at the Public Museum where the kids get to find out what it was like to be a princess during certain historical periods. It's a 3 day class and each day they learn about a new era. She gets to dress up, learn to make bread, how to properly set the table, etc. I think she is going to have a lot of fun.

Rainy Day Fun

2009-06-19T09:21:00.007-04:00

This week has been pretty wet and yucky, although the garden is loving it. We went to the library to see a Magician on Tuesday and sign up for the Summer Reading Club. Now that Raene can read by herself we wanted to be sure to encourage it all summer instead of just me reading to her each night. We also went back to the library on Wednesday for their weekly family movie and saw Hotel for Dogs. Raene loved it. With all the extra rain this week we had some fun indoors. Lots of painting and molding play dough.

Oh My! Time Flies!

2009-06-12T14:06:00.012-04:00

We have been so busy for the last few months that the updates have been nonexistent. Raene finished kindergarten a few weeks ago. We are so proud of her! She ended the year as one of the best readers in her class and with a writers award. She also made great improvements with her math skills and she can't wait to start first grade this fall. Hard to believe in just a few short months my baby will 6 years old and in first grade!

(Raene's last day of school)

Ruby starts preschool in the fall. I'm constantly blown away by how much information that kid soaks up. She can recognize all of her numbers up to 100! And we did NOT teach her that (at least, not on purpose). I took her into the eye doctor a few months ago for her routine check up and I got some good news. The muscle problem she was having with her eyes, is gone. However, she still can't focus properly. What this means is that she will need glasses (most likely) until she is at least 12. It is possible that she will need them her whole life but she will not need surgery :) There is the slim chance that her muscle problem will return or that she may end up needing bifocals to help her focus but we are trying to focus on the positive and there's only a small chance that either of those things would happen.

The girls tend to fight a lot because of how different their personalities are but lately they seem to really be enjoying eachother as well. I love watching them play board games together or when Raene reads Ruby some books. They are so cute. Raene has started taking on the role of "big sister" much more. She's always trying to "teach" Ruby something new. Of course, Ruby usually ignores her or argues with her just because she can but it's still fun to watch (most of the time).

(the kids at Festival of the Arts this year)

My best friend, Aly (Amber) got married a few weeks ago. It was very exciting to be a part of her wedding. We each played a role. I was the Matron of Honor. Raene and Ruby were the flower girls and Neil played guitar as guest were seated and were exiting. I also made Aly's wedding cake! The ceremony was beautiful and we are so happy for her and her new husband Matt.(Bridesmaids with the bride!)

(The wedding cake I made!)

(two of the most adorable flower girls EVER!)

Our Vegetable Garden is coming along very nicely. We have planted 3/4 of what we were planning to so far. We started everything from seed, which we have done with our smaller gardens in years past so we are hoping everything comes in well. So far (from left to right) we have planted Jalepenos, Broccoli, Turnips, Radishes, Peas, Carrots, Cuccumbers, Green/Red Peppers, Lettuce, more Peas, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Spinach, Cabbage, Onion, and Wax Beans. I also have Basil, Parsley and Cilanto on my deck in pots. We still have to tear out a little more grass and plant the Cayenne Peppers, Squash (3 varieties including Zuccini), pumpkin, cantelope, and possibly watermelon if we have room. Those might go in our old garden area. Hopefull all of those will be done and planted by the end of next week at the latest. I think I'll be able to have it done on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I was hoping to start the new job at the begining of next week but there was a delay in getting the new carpet laid so it could be as long as two weeks before I get to start now. I'm a little bummed because I can't wait to get started but it will work out :)

Our Friends, Dave and Jaime and their son Jack, plus our friend Dan have all moved from Arizona back to Michigan. We are very excited to be able to spend regular time with our good friends again and we finally got to meet Baby Jack. He is so adorable and just makes my heart melt. Dan is currently living with us (he lived here about 4 year ago as well) and we are very happy to have him around.

(Jack - 8months old at his first Festival)

My birthday came and went at the begining of the month. I turned 28 this year. Neil took me out for a couple of drinks with some friends. It was a nice evening.

(at Billy's for my birthday - yes the camera setting makes me look on fire)

I'm sure there are some other events or more news I am forgetting. Hopefully now that the school year is done I will be able to keep up more with the blogs.

Where will we be 10 years from now?

2009-04-21T15:00:00.005-04:00

April 9th was our 6th anniversary. I made us reservations at Mangiamo which is part of the Gilmore Collection of restaurants. It used to be Gibson's which is where Neil proposed to me. It was a really wonderful evening filled with wine, good food, and a lot of laughter.

In other fun news, Neil turned 30 on Saturday. We went to the zoo with the kids for their Earth Day celebration and then worked on the dryer (which is finally working again - Yay Neil!) and the vegetable garden. We also got a small pine tree from the zoo which we enjoyed planting as well. My friend, Aly, was kind enough to stay with the kids while Neil and I enjoyed a night out with a few friends. We don't usually celebrate birthdays but I thought it would be nice for Neil to go into the next decade enjoying himself.

Finally, I was offered a position at a new health club around the corner from our house. I will be working in their childcare area starting some time in June. I'm really excited about this job and so far it seems like it will allow me to continue babysitting. And if I need to I can bring my kids into work with me.

School Spirit

2009-03-28T00:02:00.017-04:00

It's been a fun week at school for Raene. There were themes each day this week (school conferences were going on). Here are a few pictures of Raene

Tuesday was Crazy Hair Day

Friday was Favorite Team Day - We don't really pay attention to sports but our favorite team is always the one Uncle Dathan is on :)

We also had a lot of fun with St Patricks Day. It turned out to be the nicest day of the year so far - 72 deg and Sunny! So I was sure to get the kids in lots of green and we went out and enjoyed the weather. I even put green ribbons in their braids :)

Overdue Posting and Valentines Day

2009-02-16T12:19:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted for a while because the month of January was kind of a difficult one. My paternal grandmother passed away on New Years Day and there was a lot of family grieving. She was 94 and lived a long life.

There were a few family birthday's that I don't want to forget to mention through the month of January - I'm sorry I am only getting to them now - So, Happy Birthday to my cousin, Adam, our niece, Alexis Faith, and to my mom.

For Valentines Day this month I organized the party for Raene's class. The kids all had a great time. We had ice cream sundae's with fresh strawberries and whip cream. Played a fun (and silent) letter hunting game, and made some cute books.

For our own family Valentine's Day we had a Tea Party! I made the kids some invitation. Then the kids helped me make oatmeal raisin cookies. While they were baking the kids got dressed up and I made some hot cocoa. They had a ton of fun and we got to spend the time together, which was the most important part.

Adams Family Christmas

2008-12-30T13:16:00.014-05:00

We celebrated in the evening this year on the Sunday after Christmas. It turned out really fun because we did all finger food and lot of drinks. It was very relaxed and the kids had a lot of fun opening their gifts.

(family picture - all of us for once)(Raechel and Brienne were Santa's helpers this year)(awwwww - Alexis giving Grandpa Great a kiss)(the coolest present ever this year was the pop up Wizard of Oz book from Great Aunt Linda)(Siblings - Raechel, Adam and Emily with Grandpa)(Siblings - Brienne and Dathan with Grandpa)(Alexis snuggling with her Daddy)(Addy snuggling with her mommy)(my cute and goofy cousins)

Christmas Morn/Ritz Family Christmas

2008-12-30T12:46:00.014-05:00

Raene was up at 4:30am on Christmas morning! We managed to keep her in bed until about 6:10am when she just couldn't wait anymore. The kids checked the cookie plate, opened they presents and stockings and a little while later we were off to Papa and Nana Ritzenhein's house. We opened gifts there and then headed to the Ritzenhein extended family party.

(Santa came!)
(Papa and Nanas House)(haha! Addy with her giant can of tuna, courtesy of Papa)
(Extended Ritz Family Party. Santa came by before heading back to the North Pole to rest)

Postema Christmas

2008-12-30T12:36:00.012-05:00

Christmas Eve was spent with the Postema side of the family. The kids had a lot of fun and Santa came by for a visit.

(waiting for Santa to arrive)

White Winter Fun

2008-12-30T12:24:00.011-05:00

Before all the holiday gatherings we had some fun in the snow, made cookies for Santa and Raene had her school holiday party. I helped the class make pinecone birdfeeders and everyone had a ton of fun.

(Drinking hot cocoa)(Raene's "gingerbread house" that she made at school)(Having fun with her friends at the Holiday Party)(snow fight with Daddy)(Sledding in our front yard there was so much snow)(decorating sugar cookies for Santa)

Busy Busy Bees

2008-12-05T08:41:00.004-05:00

This last month just flew by for us. Ruby turned 3 so we had a fun joint party with her cousins, Chandler who turned 7 and Joshua who turned 8. We all went to a place called Play World where there were inflatables to climb on and tubes to crawl through. The kids had a blast and the adults didn't have to clean up afterward :)

We welcomed a new member to the Postema side of the family in November as well. Riley Grace was born to Neil's brother, Chris, and his wonderful wife, April. This is their second sweet little girl. She is so precious and she looks a lot like her big sister. We are so happy for them. And on a funny note we now have 3 Postema cousins born in a row in November - Ruby is Nov 2nd, Riley is Nov 3rd, and Chandler is Nov 4th.

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. We had my side of the family over the weekend before. It went pretty well all around other than a few people not being able to be there. I made my first turkey. Actually, this year I took on most of the main dishes because my kids are getting old enough that I was able to get more things done. The turkey was falling off the bone and was awesome. On the otherhand, I accidentally left a bag of giblets at the neck - hehe, and my sweet potatoes didn't turn out as well as they have in years past. Oh well!

Unfortunately, the kids and I missed the Postema Thanksgiving this year because Raene came down with a case of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. It's not as terrible as it sounds other than being pretty contagious among kids. Raene handled it like a champ most of the time although she was pretty bummed about missing her school Thanksgiving Feast and not getting to see her cousin, Ashley during the holiday.

And things are starting to come together around here for Christmas. We are making plans and getting things ready for Santa. The snow is in abundance and it really is beautiful.

Autumn Fun!

2008-11-01T20:56:00.019-04:00

What a busy month! Raene finished her gymnastics. We will probably be putting her back in after the holidays since she liked it so much. Raene has also been keeping very busy with school, and in turn, keeping mom very busy with school. I put together a fun Halloween party for her class and we also took a field trip to the apple orchard. Her school conferences are coming up next week and Neil and I are looking forward to hearing about her progress and finding out what we can help her improve on. Ruby has been running us ragged with her crazy antics. She's a pistol for sure! We are continuously working with her, trying new things to see if we can channel some of her energy in a positive manner. Here's a few pictures from the last month - sorry about the lack of updates, my computer is still broken so I am having to steal time on Neil's to get these up.

(Raene practicing her balancing skills)

(Raene and Ruby at the Zoo Goes Boo!)
(Ruby being cute while we were at the Zoo)
(Raene and Ruby doing some pumkin picking)
(The pumpkins that Papa and Nana helped them carve)
(the pumpkins that mom and dad helped them carve)
(Raene's kindergarten class all dressed up for their Halloween Party)
(the 'under the sea' ice cream cake I made for Ruby's and Grandpa's birthday since it is two days after Halloween)
(Mermaid Raene and Bumblebee Ruby getting ready to head out Trick-or-Treating)
(the make up helps cover up the black eye Raene gave herself earlier in the week)
(ready to run to the next house)
(Yes, I made this mermaid costume this year. The ones at the store showed a bit too much skin for my liking)
(Happy Birthday Ruby and Grandpa! She managed to get to those candles before he even had a chance to help her)
(She loved the singing Tinkerbell card from Gram and Grandpa Great)
(the girls playing with the puppet theater from me and Neil)

Pulaski Days

2008-10-05T12:55:00.006-04:00

Neil and I enjoyed our first Pulaski Day's this weekend. We met up with my cousins down at one of the Polish halls downtown, GR. We danced to the live polka band, ate yummy polish food (anything with sauerkraut is awesome to me) and had a great time.

Tumble Bug

2008-09-21T13:06:00.002-04:00

Raene started her first tumbling/gymnastics class last week. This was her birthday present from us. She absolutely LOVED it and can't wait to go again this week.

Cousin's at the Park and Zoo

2008-09-14T13:46:00.020-04:00

(Showing her how it's done)
(Raene just adores her Uncle Dathan)(Ruby's big hugs for Papa)(walking Addy!)(Lovin' that slide)(Raene chatting with Aunt Kalin)(Raene looks like she's afraid she'll accidentally run into Addy - hehe)(Cousins - too cute)(She's getting too big for those baby swings but she would have let Nana push her all day long)(Daddy's Girl)It was wonderful having my brother, his wife and their daughter home for a few weeks. We had a couple of opportunities to spend time together and let the kids play. We met at the park one afternoon with our Dad and his wife, aka Papa and Nana to the kids. And we were able to spend a lovely morning at the zoo with our Grandparents, aka Grammy Great and Grandpa Great, another day.

(The kids petting the baby wallaby)(Ruby really liked the pigmy goats)(the girls touching the sting rays)(Raene really loved those sting rays)(Raene feeding two budgees at once)(Sharing budgees)(Raene getting a little help with the birds from Grammy Great)

Welcome Fishy Friends

2008-09-14T13:35:00.006-04:00

We got fish! There's a rewards system in our house - every time the kids to something unexpectedly nice or helpful they get a colorful stone in their cups. After 5 stones they get a sucker. Well, in an attempt to teach savings and delayed gratification, Neil made a deal with Raene that if she saved 20 stones that she could get an aquarium with a fish. It took her over a month but she finally reached her goal and Neil took Raene to get her fish. Ruby reached her goal of 10 stones the next day and also got to pick out a fish. Neil also decided that the fish needed more friends so Mom and Dad also got their own fishies. So here they are.

(this is Brienne's fish, Betty)(Here is Raene's fish, Boop)(these are the twins, Odd, which Ruby named herself, and Even, which is Neil's fish and his attempt at being clever - hehe)

Addison Turns 1!

2008-09-14T13:28:00.005-04:00

Well, close enough, she'll be 1 shortly but Dathan and Kalin had her party the last day they were here in town. She was so adorable eating her cupcake and playing with her new toys. It hard to comprehend that I am not going to see them for another 3 months and Addy will be walking like a pro by then. I miss them already.

Raene Turns 5!

2008-09-14T12:50:00.007-04:00

Well, technically she doesn't turn 5 until Wednesday but we had her mini party at the park last week. She was so cute. She described a few of her gifts as "adorable" "stylish" and the ultimate "fashionable." The kids had a lot of fun being able to run around and play on the jungle gym and the weather was great.

Raene's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-02T16:29:00.006-04:00

She was soooo excited about going to school that, starting around 9:30am yesterday, she began asking if it was bed time yet so that she could wake up to go to school. She was so cute and not in the least bit scared. When I picked her up she was absolutely ecstatic as she told me all the fun things they did in class. She can't wait to go again tomorrow.

Marion, MI and Beijing, China

2008-08-27T15:31:00.005-04:00

Well, Saturday was jam packed for us. We drove 2 hours North for the annual Little Family get together at Terry and Ann's farm. Unfortunately, it down poured on us for the first few hours we were there. We were all huddled under tents near Mel's camper while the pig was roasting. When it came time to eat the rain finally let up and everyone was able to have some fun. The girls each got a quick ride on the horses and then we had to hop back in the van and book it back to Grand Rapids for an Adams Family get together to watch Dathan run the Marathon in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He did phenomenal with a 9th place finish (first American) and a time of 2:11:59. We are so proud of him!

Chillaxin' for Raene's Birthday

2008-08-16T10:37:00.005-04:00

This year we are not having a traditional birthday party for Raene. We have decided that one of these weekends in September, when the weather is nice, we will be heading to a local park to let the kids play for the afternoon on the jungle gyms and swings. We will be bringing along a cake and some drinks. Our friends and family will be more than welcome to join us if they want. It's going to be a very laid back afternoon. We'll send out emails when we decide exactly when we will be going.

Can I ask her not to grow up?

2008-08-14T11:07:00.004-04:00

Raene starts Kindergarten in a few weeks. We went to her new school yesterday to finish registering her. She will now be attending school with her cousins, Ashley, Josh and Krista. And we found out that her teacher will be out with her new baby for the first part of the year and be back in October. I'm excited that she will be going every afternoon.

Raene has picked out an adorable Tinkerbell backpack and we are going to be finishing her school shopping next week. I don't think Ruby has realized that Raene is going to be gone yet. She hated leaving Raene at school last year. But we think Raene will excel dramatically this year. She is reading and doing math. She loves science and astronomy. Her social skills have improved immensely. I think the biggest issue is going to be making sure she doesnt get bored and stays challenged. I can't believe she turns 5 in a month.

In other news Ruby is almost fully potty trained now. She has been a tough one because she's so busy she had no interest in stopping her fun to use the facilities. But she finally got annoyed with pull-ups enough to give it a try. Yay!

And, if things weren't weird enough in our household we have added some new temporary pets. ANTS! Yes, we finally got around to sending away for the ants for Raene's ant farm. She and Ruby are completely enthralled by them (well, I guess Neil and I are too - haha). Those little buggers are pretty cool to watch.

Be Watching!!

2008-08-04T11:04:00.002-04:00

I'm sure everyone already knows that Dathan will be heading to the Olympics soon to compete for the USA in the marathon. We are so excited for him. I just wanted to let everyone know that NBC will be broadcasting the marathon on Saturday August 23rd Live at 7:30pm EST. I hope you all get a chance to watch. You know we wont be missing it :)

Stay at Home Mom Once More

2008-07-29T21:54:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I quit my job at Chili's last week. I had planned on having a final two weeks there but due to my own stupidity I sprained my foot and can't finish out my last week there. So I am officially a stay at home mom again which means if anyone needs a babysitter be sure to call me :)

Puzzle-aholics

2008-07-25T10:18:00.002-04:00

Raene LOVES puzzles just like her mommy :) Lately, she's really taken to gigantic floor puzzles. This is a picture of us with our latest creation. She's so good at stuff like this, after she does it once she can easily do it again. She can now do this entire puzzle on her own in less than 10 minutes.

Postema Summer Gathering

2008-07-06T10:20:00.011-04:00

The second annual Postema Gathering was this Saturday. Steve and Bridgett were gracious enough to host again. There was lots of good food and the kids had a ton of fun playing. Neil and Jeff shaved their heads. Neil decided to get rid of the facial hair too and someone compared him to Shrek - they were very right :) Then the water fighting commenced. That was not a surprise since it has become a bit of tradition for the Postema's to get water happy when the hot weather hits. Although this year there was more prep with all the water guns available. The biggest difference this year - I got soaked :)

Independence Day

2008-07-06T10:08:00.008-04:00

We had a lot of fun this year for the Fourth of July. We spent the evening at my cousin, Raechel, and her husband, Chad's house. We grilled out and played some games while the kids played on a slip n slide. It was also Chad's birthday so we had some patriotic cake and ice cream :) Then we did a few fireworks by the street before heading downtown to catch the big ones. The kids were pretty tired by the time we got down there and our view wasn't the greatest but they had so much fun earlier in the day that it didnt really matter.

Fenn Valley Winery

2008-06-29T10:57:00.010-04:00

I went wine tasting yesterday with my cousins, Emily, Cassi, Raechel and her husband Chad. It was so much fun. We got to tour the winery and learn about some of the different kinds of wine. We sampled a lot of different whites and reds. After a few hours there we went out for dinner in downtown Saugatuck and walked around some of the shops. It was a wonderful day.

Lions at the Zoo!! Yay!

2008-06-29T10:40:00.009-04:00

Aly and I took the girls to the zoo last week. We had fun getting to see the new lion exhibit. I wish we could have stayed at it a bit longer but Raene was not a fan of looking down on them. I think the height scared her. But we still had a ton of fun.

(Raene and Ruby climbing on the statue of John Ball)

(the girls looking at the new pelicans)

(The male lion in the group)

(these monkeys were just adorable)

(It's kind of dark but this iguana stayed right on the glass and followed Raene and Ruby when they would move near him. It was really amusing to watch.)

(this cameleon wanted nothing more than to grab Aly's finger like a branch and climb onto her. We stood there for probably 5 minutes while he dangled there reaching for her.)

(Me and the girls with Mr. Ball - Ruby couldn't keep her finger out of her nose :) )

Park Play

2008-06-20T19:03:00.004-04:00

My friend, Amy, and I met up for a playdate today with the kiddos. It's was a lot of fun. This little park in Rockford we went to was soooo cute. Raene was funny because she wanted to swing across the monkey bars but wasn't really tall enough to reach. So after Amy showed them how it was done the girls decided they really liked dangling off those bars :)

Raene with Amy's cutie pie, Analiese.

Pirate Ruby!

2008-06-13T16:10:00.003-04:00

Ruby had an eye doctors appointment the other day to check the progress of her eye muscles. She was checking to see how much the glasses were helping. Unfortunately, Ruby's eye is not progressing at the rate the doctor wanted so now we have to put a patch over her good eye for an hour every day to stimulate the bad eye to work more. She is taking it all pretty well, although, she just wont wear the thing unless we call her Pirate Ruby.

Children's Museum Play Day

2008-06-13T16:04:00.007-04:00

Here are a few cute pictures that I took of the kids at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. We are getting a lot of use out of our membership :)

Congratulations to Adam and Cassi!!

2008-06-03T11:28:00.007-04:00

My cousin, Adam, got married this weekend. His new wife, Cassi, has been a member of our family now for about 4 years and we all just adore her. It was a lovely ceremony outdoors at Frederik Meijer Gardens, with their daughter, Alexis, the flower girl, and a very elegant reception at Bridgewater Place. We wish them all the happiness in the world and can't wait to see what exciting things come next in the life they are building together.

Spring Time Fun

2008-06-03T11:06:00.006-04:00

A Little Green Here and a Little Green There

2008-05-20T13:20:00.003-04:00

I love being able to save money and save the planet at the same time. So freakin' awesome. I have been trying not to spend money on cleaners and such and I have managed to find some great ways to clean inside and out via the internet without buying extra expensive cleaners. I just thought I would share :)

This site has an awesome list of home products that kill weeds in your driveway or patio without buying a specific weed killer at the store.
http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/2006/05/7-deadly-homemade-weed-killers.html

These two links have great lists of ways to clean your home without using extra chemicals and with things already in your cupboard.
http://organizedhome.com/pantry-recipes-homemade-cleaning-products
http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm#substitution

The reason I find this so interesting is that if you ask people a generation or two beyond my age they know most of these things. But our society now is so inundated with advertisements for products to make our lives easier that we often don't realize what we already have at our disposal.

Fresh

2008-05-13T11:44:00.004-04:00

I have been wanting to head down to the Farmer's Market a lot this year but haven't been able to justify it since it is located near downtown and the gas to get there would outweigh the benefits of going. So I went searching online for some farms around our house that we could visit knowing how close we are to Caledonia. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there is a Farmer's Market located not 2 miles from our house. I am so excited! Next time I have a little cash on hand I am going to take the girls down there and see if we can find some fantastic fresh local grown fruits and veggies.

Addy's Baptism and Mother's Day

2008-05-11T21:27:00.005-04:00

What a special Mother's Day for my sister-in-law, Kalin. She got to be back in Michigan, surrounded by her family and baptizing her daughter for her very first Mother's Day. And a congrats to her for doing so well in the 5/3 Riverbank Run yesterday :)

(beautiful Addy in her baptismal gown)
(My brother and his adorable family)(the three cousins showing us their belly buttons - in other words, flashing us :) )
My mother's day was simple. Just spending time with my family. Raene made me a pretty little card and I made the hottest buffalo wings I have ever had for Neil and I for dinner. It was a good day.

Preschool Graduation

2008-05-10T08:43:00.005-04:00

Raene's first year of school is over. She had a cute little preschool graduation ceremony and a pizza party. She spent most of the party hanging with her best friend of the week. She is so excited for kindergarten. She thinks kindergarten starts right after prek ends even though we have tried to explain that she will have the summer to play first. It's just not quite registering. Understandable, considering this is her first summer break.

Unique Style

2008-05-10T08:35:00.007-04:00

Raene loves to pick out her own clothes and do her own hair now. She definitely has her own style. Check out this outfit - striped shirt, flower printed leggings with a green dress. And the hair - her own creation. I love it!

Bailey's First Communion

2008-05-04T21:22:00.002-04:00

Today was my goddaughter, Bailey's, first communion. For those of our friends or family who read this and aren't Catholic - this is a big deal. She looked beautiful and got to carry the wine to the altar. I'm so proud of her!

Last Field Trip

2008-05-04T21:16:00.003-04:00

School is almost out for Raene. She has been signed up for kindergarten this fall and we are looking forward to Summer for now. She has 1 week left of preschool. On Friday I got to go one their last field trip. We headed over to a car wash and an ice cream shop. Raene had a blast and loved Mama riding on the bus with her. She wants me to be at her school all the time when she's in kindergarten next year. At least, that's what she says now.

Ahhhhhhhh T-shirts

2008-04-07T15:29:00.004-04:00

What a gorgeous weekend we had. Neil was very busy with work projects so the girls and I decided to take on some projects of our own - which meant YARD WORK. The girls got their own rakes from the Easter Bunny so we managed to rake the front and back yards up. I got rid of all the doggie piles and we started working on hauling rocks from the front yard to the back yard, we got the deck furniture out and half of the garage swept out as well.

I am finally getting around to moving the 5 lilac bushes in the front to the back yard. We have been trying to decide on how to keep Luna from running along the fence and creating a dirt path back there. My solution this year is to space the lilac bushes along the fence and use the extra wood we have back there to mark a boundary along them. I may plant some flowers or something around them as well. We'll see if it works.

(a picture of the wood I moved across Luna's dirt running path. I had to see if I had enough pieces to line it with when I put the bushes and flowers back there. Turns out I have more than enough wood)(A picture of the rocks I am removing from around the tree and bushes in the front yard so that I will be able to dig them up soon. )

Raene the Blogger

2008-04-02T21:14:00.003-04:00

We decided that since Raene says some pretty funny and interesting things lately that maybe she should have her own blog. She LOVED the idea. All the posts will be her own words and she will be choosing the images that go with them as well. She liked an interesting Sponge Bob template and she wanted to call it her Library. So her first post is a special note to her Uncle Dathan and Aunt Kalin. Take a look at Raene Aleta's Library.

Earth Hour. Please Join Us.

2008-03-29T13:34:00.003-04:00

Tonight, cities all over the world will be participating in Earth Hour. From 8-9pm, local time, whole cities and individuals will be turning off their lights to save energy and make a statement. We will be participating. We have already planned on turning off more than just the lights. Anything in our house that is an unnecessary use of power will be off. No lights, tv, computer, etc. Please join us, take a stand, and make your contribution toward helping in the fight against Global Climate Change.

Workout Princess

2008-03-16T12:04:00.006-04:00

I've turned Raene into a little fitness princess. She sees me working out everyday and always tries to copy what I do. Well, she found a workout video in with the dvds and begged to do it. So now we workout together in the morning to the video as well as my normal workout. She LOVES it and it's super cute to watch her.

Bob the Builder Museum Fun

2008-03-14T10:16:00.005-04:00

I took the girls down to the Children's Museum yesterday and met up with my friend and her two sons. The boys are fairly close in age to Raene and Ruby and they always love playing together. There was a Bob the Builder exhibit going on and the kids had a ton of fun with it - we may have to go back again before the exhibit is done so that Neil can play too.

(Ruby and Gray playing in one of the big worker trucks)(Raene fixing the plumping in Bob house. She has loved pipes ever since Neil explained how they work to her.)
(Raene and Beckett. Aren't they adorable!!)

I knew we were going to need that warranty

2008-03-11T15:08:00.006-04:00

We have already had to get Ruby's glasses repaired. She has managed to bend them out of shape twice which Neil and I have each had the great fun of fixing. She has already scratched one of the lenses although not enough that I need to get them replaced and yesterday I had to take them in to get one of the nose pieces replaced. I have no idea what happened to the first one.

While we were out getting Ruby's glasses repaired there was a wishing pond with huge fish that the girls threw pennies in. Raene wished "that my daddy would come home from work" - awwwwww.

After all that fun we headed to Chili's. Raene has been begging to go to work with me for a while. She thinks that because she can go into Neil's office once in a while with him that she can also go into work with me. So I took her there for lunch to show her that it's not feasible. I'm not sure she really got the hint cuz she was having too much fun flirting with my managers.

Itching for Spring

2008-03-05T21:17:00.002-05:00

We must all be getting cabin fever around here. Raene and Ruby have been running around the house like crazy for a few weeks now. And I don't really blame them. We haven't gone anywhere lately and they have been couped up inside for months. I think it's been the hardest on Ruby because she is so energetic. She runs around all the time and she is still getting used to how things focus with her glasses on. A few days ago she smashed her head really bad while I was at work and now has a goose egg and huge bruise right between her eyes. Then, Neil took her into work with him and she tripped on a file box and got a cut across her cheek. And those are the visible scuffs. She trips and falls and bruises herself all day long. I'm going to start getting them out a bit more and see if it helps. I've been working out like crazy trying to burn off my cabin fever - Raene is lucky she gets to go play in the gym at school at least once a week. I can't wait until it warms up enough that I can take Luna out for a run when I get home from work at night. I don't like going out at 10pm in the cold dark of winter. Come on spring! We're ready!

Wow, this is what the world looks like!

2008-02-22T10:22:00.004-05:00

We picked up Ruby's new glasses this morning. She is soooooo cute in them! It's funny, she has been walking around very slowly and watching her feet a lot. It's like they are all new to her. She's even been noticing little things like dust floating in the air when is bright. I think these are going to be a HUGE help for her.

Hey The World

2008-02-14T13:04:00.004-05:00

Here's a link if you want to hear a short little song that Raene made up.

Hey The World.

It's really very pretty. She sang it into Neil's recording machine and then Neil added instrumental to it. Raene just loves to sing (wonder who she gets that from :) ?).

Post Update:

As requested, lyrics for Raene's song. This is our best guess at what she is singing.

Hey the world, you can shine
In it, every time, I go
Everywhere I can go
And in the dawn, everyday
And in it do so much
That you could do some stuff, very lovely
That you can hear the whole world for me
That you can do everything by you.

Ruby Is Getting Glasses

2008-02-13T15:31:00.004-05:00

I have been noticing lately that Ruby's eyes have been acting a little strange. It seemed that one of her eyes was crossing while the other was focus straight. I took her into the eye doctor today and it turns out that she has a condition called Strabismus where the muscles in one of her eyes don't work as well therefore her brain has just been not using that eye to focus. She will need glasses to correct the problem right now. It is possible that she could outgrow the problem but it would take a long time. Apparently it's good we brought her in now because she is already showing signs of her eye weakening due to lack of use.

It's nice to be recognized

2008-02-10T23:27:00.000-05:00

Neil got a nice surprise on Friday. He was voted 'Employee of the Quarter.' Apparently once a quarter the whole company votes and that person gets recognized for all their hard work with a little bonus. He definitely deserves it.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

2008-02-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

Would you believe that a bear hug could break your nose?

Well, I found out the hard way that it can. Ruby went to give me a gigantic bear hug and her forehead hit the bridge of my nose so hard that she broke it. Her head is fine. My nose currently doesn't have to be reset. So, I am stuck with a bit of swelling and bruising, and a lot of pain.

This "two" shall pass (I hope)

2008-02-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

Ruby has most definitely reached the stage most commonly known as "the terrible twos." She has temper tantrums ALL the time. She prefers to scream when she's angry or doesn't get her way. She's very demanding and 'time-outs' have become a quite frequent. The silver lining to all this is that she really is a sweet girl. She loves to cuddle and gives the greatest bear hugs of any two year old I have ever met. She is super super smart - the doctors are all astonished by her motor skills and language and comprehension skills. She even knows all her phonics. Her ability to speak so clearly and understand all the things I have been trying to teach her have come in very handy however she still has the patience and emotional volatility of a two year old. I can't wait for this stage to pass cuz that girl has got one huge set of lungs.

More than ABC

2008-01-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

Raene Aleta has started reading! Yay! She has been able to put the sounds together for a while now but we have been working with her a lot lately and she is picking up on it so fast. She is already reading 5 and 6 letter words. Earlier today she read the word 'grasshopper' to our amazement. She is so proud of herself that it is really cute to watch when she finishes a page. The smile is just enormous.

???

2008-01-26T09:11:00.000-05:00

"Look Mom, three funny Guess Balloons!"

Raene was looking at her animal magazine and there were three question marks filled in with animal prints. I corrected her but I think I like the name 'guess balloons' better than question marks.

The Green Machine is Running

2008-01-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't already know, we are trying our best to be as "green" as possible. About 6 months ago we started this project as a way to teach the kids about helping the planet, save money on energy cost (and many other hidden costs that we are only now realizing the benefits of) and trying to do our part. Here's a list of the things we have done so far and the list keeps growing with each passing month.

- Recycle.
Kentwood has a free recycling center now and we use it to recycle our phone books, plastic, glass, metal, pressboard/paper, cardboard, etc. We used to throw away at least 3 bags of trash a week and we are easily down to 1. Plus, it's right on the way home from taking Raene to school so I'm not using extra gas. I also found that the local library recycles household batteries.

- No more paper towels.
I use only rags to clean now. This saves us a LOT of money. We used to buy Bounty Double Rolls in the 15 pack every 2 months. Now we are only buying a 2 pack of recycled paper towels every 2 months.

- Changing all of our bulbs to energy efficient ones.
As our old bulbs burn out I have been replacing them with energy efficient ones. I have most of the house done now. A 60 watt bulb that I used to use has been replaced by one only using 13 watts and will last at least 5 years.

- Unplugging.
We now unplug anything that is not in use when we are done with it. Our coffee pot (I put coffee in a thermos if I plan to drink more later), toaster, hair dryer, etc.

- Reusing.
I wash a reuse plastic ziploc bags. This has saved us a lot of money. Right now I am still getting plastic bags from the grocery store and reusing them or recycling them but I am planning on getting some cloth bags to carry groceries soon.

- Energy efficient drying.
We have an energy efficient dryer and this spring/summer I will line drying a lot of our clothing.

- Reusing clothes.
I shop a lot at goodwill (especially for myself) and we donate there regularly.

- Cloth napkins.
We only use disposable napkins given to us a restaurants/fast food places now (we save them for use at home if they give us a lot). We are using cloth napkins/hand towels at home now.

- The obvious - No littering, turning lights off when you leave the room, turning the thermostat down.

I'm sure there are a few more that I am not thinking of right now. Anyway, the reason I am posting this is that I want to challenge all of my family and friends to make just one change. Try it on for size and see if you like how it feels. Let me know how it's working out for you. This started out small for us and has become addictive in a way. It feels so good that everytime I get completely comfortable with a change I add another thing to my "green list." Also, if you have any good suggestions that you think will work for our family, let me know. There are a few things that we are not quite ready for (like owning a hybrid) but we're open to suggestions.

Trudging Back to School

2008-01-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

Well, Raene is FINALLY over her stomach virus. That was a rough one. She missed two weeks of school and lost a couple pounds from not really eating for so long. She went back to school today but didn't really want to get back into the classroom after being gone so long, even though she talked a lot about missing her friends. It was obvious how much better she was doing when she helped me shovel the driveway yesterday and was doing belly flops in the mounds of snow. I'm just hoping for everyone to be sickness-free for a while so we can all catch-up on things.

The Sick and the Diaperless

2008-01-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a crazy couple of weeks. Neil was scheduled to go out of town for work so I ended up taking two weeks off at the restaurant. I decided that since the holidays were finally over it would be a good time to get Ruby fully potty trained. She's been doing pretty well but we have a ways to go with getting her to a point of wanting to stay dry. In fact, the other day I went to put her on the toilet and she decided to let the floodgates loose as I was pulling her pants down. Being peed on is not usually my idea of fun.

The day after I started working with Ruby, Raene came down with an aweful stomach virus. She's been sick now for over a week and is JUST now starting to get better. She had a fever over 103 degrees most days and barely left the couch. The worst part for her was all the stomach cramping. Nothing would stay in her little body so she's had a rough time and missed a lot of school. I'm hoping she will be well enough and have enough strength back to get into the classroom by Friday.

So the last couple of weeks have been less than relaxing.

Holiday Happiness - better late than never

2008-01-16T09:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have not posted for quite a while on the family site. I've been meaning to but the holidays were as busy as ever and Raene has been very sick recently.

We had a great holiday this year. Raene was so excited about Santa bringing presents. It was the first year she fully understood that when she woke up in the morning there were going to be presents under the tree. Her face was priceless when she walked into the living room. Well, on with the pictures!

(Neil and Chris with Santa Larry)
(a rare photo of me with both girls)(Raene, Ruby, Ashley and Neil playing the kids new favorite game - Hungry Hungry Hippos)(Ruby playing with Aunt Mel - she couldn't get enough of it)(Ruby on Christmas morn wearing her new monkey towel while she played with a computer drawing toy that Santa brought)(Raene at Papa and Nana Ritzenhein's house holding her new light up princess dress - this is her FAVORITE thing to wear right now)(Uncle D playing with the girls at the Ritz family party)(Raene doing Ruby's hair at the new toy vanity)

An Adams Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T16:12:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Adams side a little early this year. Raechel and Chad hosted it for the first time in the cute house they bought this summer. Everything turned out lovely. Good food. Fun with the family.

(Raene being cute)(Ruby playing pony boy with grandpa great - she liked the end when he would fling her into the air)(Raene and Ruby with their pumkin pie)(Ruby feeding Grammy some pie)

The Monkey Birthday

2007-11-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Ruby's 2nd birthday this weekend. We had it a little late this year. I made a monkey cake and she got to have her own little banana shaped cake. I put little umbrellas in the ice cream balls to give it a tropical feel. She got some fun toys, in particular she really likes the Leap Frog phonics magnets that Aunt Mel and Uncle Mike got her and the Magnatastic magnets from Aunt Aly.

I also made a small froggie cake for my grandpa because he shares the same birthday with Ruby and another mini monkey cake for Aly since her birthday was Monday. After the cake and gifts all the kids enjoyed swimming in the pool. We had the party at my grandparents condo clubhouse for some extra room and had the perk of the pool being there. It turned out to be a really fun party.

(Monkey Cake w/ banana)(Ruby sneaking a taste of the cake)(Ruby with her cake)(mmmmm stuffing the face)(sharing cake with Grandpa Great Adams)(Opening Presents)

Raene's School Progress

2007-11-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

We attended Raene's first school conferences today. She is doing really well. The only "problems" she seems to be having is that it sometimes takes her a little bit to warm up in class socially for the day and she does much better in small groups than large ones. These are things we already knew though. She's just not as outgoing as some other kids. Her teacher did mention one thing we found quite funny and that was that Raene doesn't usually sing the songs with the class during music time. The reason this is so odd is because when she comes home she doesn't stop singing and she knows all the words to all the songs they sang in class that day. We decided that she must prefer a smaller audience :)

A Belated Congrats and Rememberance

2007-11-12T13:55:00.001-05:00

First, to my brother, Congrats on the marathon!! D came in 2nd at the NYC marathon olympic trials on Nov 3rd. So he is off to Beijing this summer. We knew he could do it.

Earlier that same day we got the aweful news that Neil's cousin, Brian Little, was murdered at work. He was only 27 years old. This last week we attended the funeral. He was a great guy and had so many people in his life who loved him. He will be greatly missed.

Ahhhhh! It's a Scary Fancy Pretty Ghost and Elmo!

2007-11-01T09:24:00.000-04:00

Trick-or-Treating was dismal this year. It was raining and the girls got soaked. We had umbrellas but their feet and pants were cold and wet. But they still had fun. Ruby caught on to the whole idea of saying 'trick-or-treat' and get some candy idea after house #1. She even tried to walk in a few doors. My grandparents stopped over again this year to pass out candy at our house while we walked the neighborhood.

Raene decided about a month ago that she wanted to be a "fancy ghost with swirlies and curlies" so we took a sheet and cut it up. I bought puff paints and glitter and we decorated her costume together. Then in the morning I painted her face white and added glitter and swirls to her face. I put baby powder and glitter in her hair and voila! she was a "scary fancy pretty ghost." She marched in the little parade at school and was so cute. Ruby was supposed to be a monkey but I couldn't find brown sweats anywhere and all the shops were out of monkey costumes so we went with plan B. We let her pick a costume which ended up being Elmo. I'm not a big Elmo fan but I wasn't going to tell her 'no' when I had no reasonable excuse for it. It was a lot of fun this year cuz the kids are big enough to really start getting into the holiday.

"There's Gooeys Inside!"

2007-10-29T22:55:00.000-04:00

We carved our pumpkins tonight. The girls were funny to watch. Raene wanted to dive right in this year (last year she wouldn't touch the stuff) and Ruby wouldn't put her hands inside (she normally loves to try new things). Nothing fancy. Raene picked what the faces would be and I made one as a mouse for Luna, since she is our third child. Although, I think we are going to have to leave Luna home during Trick-or-Treating cuz she would probably end up barking at every kid that walks by.

Bouncing Fun

2007-10-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday there was a joint birthday party for Chandler and Joshua. Mel and Cheri decided to have it at Bounce Party. It was a ton of fun and we were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day from all the bouncing and climbing. I got quite the workout hauling Ruby around on my back so she could get to the top of these inflatable slides. I'm only putting up a couple pictures because I'm sure Mel and Cheri will have a lot on their own sites and my camera gave everyone scary red eyes :)

Addison, Oregon and some beautiful days

2007-10-28T16:40:00.000-04:00

I made the trek out to Oregon to meet Addy last weekend. She is so beautiful and Dathan and Kalin are handling everything fantastically. She showed us her first smiles while I was there which was so exciting. I missed my kids and Neil at home but I didn't want to leave either. I am counting down the days to Christmas now so I can see them all again soon.

(Me and Addy)

(Dathan making his daughter smile!)
(Kalin getting a HUGE smile)
(Addy loves being bounced on the exercise ball)
(what a sweet family!)
(After her bath)
(Family Photo)
(Addy!! So Beautiful!)

Autumn Weather is here ... finally

2007-10-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

Halloween and Pumkins. So far Raene has decided that she wants to be a fancy ghost. I am going to take a white sheet and we are going to decorate it with "swirlies and curlies" (as Raene put it) in a bunch of different colors. And Ruby is going to be a monkey. I'm going to have a good time putting that costume together. And since I am flying to Oregon this weekend and the next weekend we are doing The Zoo Goes Boo we decided to have a nice family day yesterday and go pick out pumpkins.

First we filled our bellies with lunch then we headed out to the pumpkin patch over off of Alpine. There was a light drizzle but oh well, that's Michigan for you. We got 4 nice pumpkins and a bunch of apples, cider, pears and squash.

After getting all wet and picking out our awesome pumpkins we decided to head over the the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. That was so much fun! The girls were in heaven. Raene's favorite thing was making gigantic bubbles and Ruby really liked the carnival mirrors. Plus they both got a kick out of making music with Daddy. We are planning another day like that in the near future. We had just as much fun as the kids.

First Photo of Addison

2007-09-29T14:10:00.000-04:00

Here she is world! Addison Lee Ann! Isn't she precious?! I can't believe my brother is a daddy!
I stole this info off the hospital website:

Birth Statistics: Weight: 8 pounds and 4 ounces; Length: 20 inches; Time: 1:14 p.m.; Date: Friday, September 28, 2007

Friday, September 28, 2007 - A Day To Remember . . .

The Weather:: The sun rose over Lane County at 7:07 a.m. and set at6:58 p.m.; Local high: 57; Local low: 44

In the financial world: The Dow Jones closed at 13,895.63; Minium Wage was $7.80

and the prices of some big and little ticket items were: Loaf of bread: $1.98; Gallon of milk: $2.98; Average New Home: $230,000.00; New Car: $21,750.00; Gallon of gasoline: $2.87; First class stamp: $0.41

Populations:: Eugene/Springfield 185,160; U.S. Population: 302,237,840

In the world of entertainment this week: The top grossing movie was: "Resident Evil: Extinction"

Addison Lee Ann shares her birthday with these other interesting people: 1839 - Frances Willard - American political activist who founded the WTCU (World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union) in 1883, one of the forces that resulted in alcohol prohibition during the 1920's.
1856 - Kate Douglas Wiggin - Leader of the kindergarten education movement in the United States and author of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm."
1909 - Al Capp - Cartoonist whose newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner", with characters Daisy Mae, Mammy Yokum, Li'l Abner and others, delighted readers from 1934 through 1977.
1954 - Steve Largent - Outstanding pro-football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks who set records for most consecutive games with a reception, most yards on receptions and others. Later a U.S. Congressman.

There have been some other notable events on this day in history: 1542 - Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed at San Diego Bay, the first European landing on the Pacific Coast and the first exploration of what is now California.
1781 - Some 16,000 Colonial and French troops began the siege of Yorktown, the action that would result in the British surrender and the end to the American War of Independence.
1910 - Optometry classes were offered for the first time in America with the introduction of a two-year course in the field at Columbia University in New York City.

Addison Lee Ann Has Arrived!!

2007-09-28T17:34:00.000-04:00

A big, huge, gigantic Congratulations to my brother and his wife on the arrival of their first baby. Dathan and Kalin welcomed Addison Lee Ann into the world at 1:14pm. Both mom and baby girl are happy and healthy. She is 8lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long. I can't wait to meet her! I'll post a picture as soon as I get one. Dathan said she looks like Kalin so how could the little thing be anything but gorgeous. I can't believe my brother is a daddy. Oh gosh, I'm gonna start crying again.

"We get to ride horses!"

2007-09-22T21:23:00.000-04:00

The annual Little family get together was this weekend. Neil was out of town this year but I still drove up with the girls (in our new van - yay!). It was a long trip up with all the construction and no one to talk to since the girls fell asleep. It took us almost 2 and half hours. Normally it's only about an hour and a half. We all had a good time. This year Ruby and Alexis got to ride the horses for the first time. It ended up being a beautiful day for it.

(Raene and Ruby just loved spending time with their cousin, Krista)

(Ruby playing catch with Grandpa)
(Ruby running down the hill)
(the kids feeding the horses)
(Ruby got tired of feeding the horses and decided to throw straw in her hair)(Little Miss Daredevil, Ruby)
(Raene rode with her cousin, Krista)
(Me and Ruby on her first horse ride)
April and Alexis on their first ride together.(Raene petting one of the horses)

When do the soccer games start?

2007-09-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

We were in negotiations with a dealership over a van since last Monday and yesterday we picked her up and drove her home. Yay! It's a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport. We got them down quite a bit on the price and got them to do all the brakes for free. I'm excited to have a second vehicle again. It's been interesting trying to make 1 car work for our family for the last 3 years.

Raene's First Week Of School

2007-09-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

Well, this week was all new for us. Raene started preschool on Monday and that went really well. Too well if you ask me. I had to know things weren't going to stay so smooth. Wednesday and Friday were much harder. We got to school and she clung to my legs both days, crying to me to come into the classroom with her. It's not that she didn't want to go, it's that she wanted me to stay. The teachers had to pry her off of me (while I was holding Ruby) and take her in while I quickly walked away. I know it sounds aweful (believe me it feels aweful too) but I also know that this separation needs to happen. Each day that I picked her up she was smiling and cheerful. She had a wonderful time and so many good things to tell me about. Monday is her official birthday and she gets to bring in the first snack of the year and something for show and tell. She has decided to bring Quack Quack, her beloved duck (shocker!). Unfortunately I found out today that she has to bring in things prepackaged from the store so we can't bake her something cool. I had fun treats all planned out - bummer for me, Raene doesn't care. She's slowly getting used to it and really does love going, it's just the first 5 minutes we are having a hard time with.

(these were taken after I picked her up from school today. We had to change the shirt she wore because she got blue paint all over it and insisted on posing in the first picture with the new purse Adam and Cassi got for her on her birthday - what a goofball.)