My little book worm

Blake has always been a solid reader, but he has always wanted me to read with him. Since he has started THIRD grade, I have told him that he could read independantly. We have started a NEW bedtime ritual; we still read some with him, do his homework, and then let him stay up later and read. He absolutely loves it. Maybe it is just that he can stay up a half hour later... We give him a time, and tell him to turn his reading lamp off and go to bed when it gets to be that time. He is awesome and reads, turn his light off and goes to bed on his own. I just love that boy.

I am so proud of him. Last night he finished his first ever INDEPENDANT book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He loves those books. This is book #2 that he just finished. We read the other one together.

He is really grown up now.

Kissable LIPS

Madison always has some kind of drama!!!!!! I have been putting off her cavity for a few months now. I rescheduled a few times because of schedule conflicts and honestly I was very anxious about taking her because of our AWFUL experience two years ago. Time had finally come...

I picked her up at school at 3:00 and drove straight to the dentist. She wasn't nervous at all. I was so sick to my stomach. I was hoping that she wouldn't freak out and also hoping that it wouldn't hurt her. We checked in. I was trying my hardest not to let her know how nervous I was. The dentist came out and I quietly told him that she was much better off without me being back there if he was OK with that. He said that he loved parents like me. He asked if he could give her gas. "Please what ever you have", was my response.

He came back out in a very short amount of time and said that she was great. He actually said that she didn't even flinch when he numbed her up. He said that I could come back and visit because he was done. As I was walking back, he mentioned that something did happen. She had bit both sides of her lip bad. Her lips were SOOOO swollen. She said that she felt fine. When we got in the truck she started crying, I asked what was wrong (thinking that her lips were sore) and she said that she tried drinking water and it spilled all down the front of her. I tried explaining to her about her lips being numb. She NEVER complained about them being sore.

Every time that I looked at her lips, it made me cringe. They looked so sore. When I was tucking her into bed that night, she sweetly looked over at me and said that her lips would be great for KISSING!!!!! I was so shocked and surprised that those words were coming out of my 6 year olds mouth... She was so cute. She told they would be good to kiss with since they were puffy and red. I told her that she better never kiss anyone and she started to giggle and laugh.

I took this picture 3 days after and look how swollen they still are. She is actually fine with it. She is soooo tough and brave. UNTIL... flu mist.

A few days later, I took all three into the doctor for their flu mist. She freaked out, made Caitlin go first and almost got the shot instead. I had to hold her head down for the nurse to spray her nose. I couldn't believe it. She let the dentist give her a shot in her mouth, but not a nurse spray her nose. I think it was because I was in the room... Little does she know that she needs another spray and a real shot........ HAHAHAHA that will be fun. Maybe daddy can take her :)

Soccer Mom

Blake and Madison are both enjoying AYSO soccer. We have never signed them up before because I wasn't ready to give up my Saturday morning to soccer games. I heard all the horror stories of sitting out in the rain and snow watching them play. I finally gave in. Each child has a practice during the week - different nights of course - and games on Saturday morning. Blake at 9am and Madison at 10 am. They aren't even on the same field. So I have to leave one to drop the other off and then leave the other to go get the one. I just love being the TAXI driver. Brett has something every Saturday for the soccer season, so I am the lonely single mom :(

Madison is playing U8 and she loves it. Madison is so athletic and aggressive. Her coaches couldn't believe that she has never played before. She is also one of the younger girls on her team.

Blake is playing U10. He enjoys being with boys his age. He is more socialable and less aggressive. I am always trying to get him to get into the game. He is having a good time and likes it, I am trying not to be one of THOSE parents. But my competitive side is hard to control at times.

Blake's first game was cancelled because of rain and lightning. He was a little bummed.

Madison played goalie for a quarter. She was awesome and stopped a couple balls.
Caitlin was a great cheerleader. She had to bring NIGHT-NIGHT!!!
Madison and our good friend Brynn. They were giving each other support even though they were on opposite teams.
Madison's team won 5-0!!!!

Nature's Way

Caitlin is going to a new preschool this year. It is called "Nature's Way". It is affiliated with our Nature Center. She goes M,W,and Friday mornings. We love it. She goes on nature hikes, plays outside, and learns all about nature. It is a perfect fit for our family. We just love being outdoors!!!!!

Caitlin with one of her best friends, Aspen. They are so cute together and so happy that they are in school with each other this year. The first day, I arrived early and saw them hiking the nature trail holding hands!!!!! PRICELESS

Toothless Wonder

Nothing is quite cuter than missing front teeth!!!!! Madison has had her front teeth moving for several months now. It was pretty strange because they were moving sideways, out and over, BUT they weren't really loose yet. We kept working on them, because it looked so silly. We were having NO luck with those two front teeth. She did end up loosing a third tooth on the bottom in the mean time. Brett and I really wanted those front ones out :)

FINALLY - they started getting loose. Monday night Brett was working on it with her while I was reading books to Caitlin. I had my fingers crossed that he could get her to pull them out. He finally convinced her to let him pull - out came the tooth with tons of blood. Brett was shocked at how big the tooth was. She freaked for a brief moment, but then was so proud of herself. She was so excited about the tooth fairy until bedtime. As I was doing our nighttime ritual, she had a scared look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn't want to sleep by herself if the toothfairy was coming into her room. I think that she was envisioning a man like the "TOOTHFAIRY" movie. I reassured her that "he" was nice and did this many times and she wouldn't ever see him!!!!! What a sweet child :)

I was shocked the next morning when she told me that the toothfairy gave her a TEN dollar bill. WOW, I never got that much from the toothfairy. Brett told me that he thought it was because it was her front tooth... She looks just like NANNY McFEE with her snaggily one tooth! We had one more day to get that crooked, LONELY tooth out before school pictures.

The next night, out came the other front tooth. Brett had to pull that one a little. Grandma also bribed her with a TWENTY dollar bill. I can't believe the money this girl was making on her teeth!!!! She loved all the attention.

She woke up at 5:30am the next morning to find out that the toothfairy took her $10 bill and left her with a $20. She thought that it was so funny that the toothfairy made change with her. She now has $40 to spend at Target. Grandma took her out to Target as soon as she got off the bus. She was so cute about the whole thing and loved her special time with just Grandma and herself. She picked out a Barbie Glamour house.

Every time that I look at her sweet face, I just have to smile. I wish that she could stay that way for a long time. I'm not a fan for those big UGLY teeth to come in. She is an OFFICIAL "big" kid now ---- so SAD.

One down, One to GO!!!!!

She tilted her head back so that I could take a picture of her NEW tooth coming in already!

Blake's "new Room"

Blake's favorite guy - Captain Rex
Yoda's light saber glows in the dark.
Another glowing light saber!

One week this summer, I decided to paint Blake's room. He has been talking about a Star Wars room for a very long time. Blake has had a dinosaur room since he was two. When we moved to K-zoo, he wanted the exact thing. Thankfully The Company Store still had the dinosaur decals. I always loved Blake's enthusiasm for dinosaurs. I was almost in tears taking down all his dinosaur collectibles, bedding, decals, posters and flying pteradactyl's.

My friend told me a great blue color to get. It is called Blueberry hill. It turned out awesome. I was a little worried about it being all blue, so I decided to paint a strip of khaki 3/4 of the way up the wall. Brett had so much fun picking out and putting up the wall decals. We also are going to hang some Star Wars "shuttles" from the ceiling. I also have a picture at Hobby Lobby to be framed. I must say, he room looks so grown up and amazing. Blake was so happy about it. Both girls said that they want a new room now :)

We also moved his furniture around a bit so that we could get him a desk. He also has a computer in his room. He loves being able to play Zoo Tycoon when he gets up in the mornings.

It always amazes me how much they change.

Michigan Adventure

I finally got Brett to Michigan Adventure this year. We went with the Warner's and another family. It was great because we all had kids close to the same sizes and could split up who went with who. I loved hanging with the "littles". Caitlin loves Ava so much and they had a great time riding together. I did get to ride Shivering Timbers with Madison. It was a steep and fast roller coaster. Madison loved every minute of it. We are hopoing to make this a summer ritual.

Brett and Blake

Carrie, Madison, Chad and Drake on Shivering Timbers!!!

Madison loved every ride!!!! She is our dare devil.
Our friend Don took all the "middles" on this ride. They got drenched. Thank goodness I didn't go on it!!!!
Caitlin and Ava on the flying elephants.

Blake wanted to do the bumper cars soooo bad.

Back to School

The time has come... they are back to school. We had an amazing summer. I can't help but think how lucky our kids are. They got to do so many cool things this summer. Madison is in Ms. Snow's First grade class and Blake is in Mrs. Tower's Third grade class.

All this back to school stuff actually makes me miss teaching. I loved how exciting it was to set up the classroom, buy new stuff and find out who was in my class.

I also get very sad that another year has gone by when they get on the bus for the first time every year. They do keep me very busy, but I am going to miss that when they are all grown up :(

New shoes are always great. Grandma takes them shoe shopping!!!!


Madison loves her new backpack. She wanted me to take a picture of it. I think that she loves it because it has the little monkey stuffed animal hanging from it!

Tough LOVE

Raising kids is such hard work. I never knew how hard it would be, until I have to do something like tonight to my sweet Blake. Blake is a pokey kid with schoolwork and really doesn't like homework. When we went to open house last week, his new teacher wanted them to journal the next few days until school started. I love the idea, but knew that Blake wouldn't quite like it.

Around 5pm today, I asked him to write his journal for the last few days - yes we were soooo busy this weekend, that he missed two days. So I knew that we needed to start this early in order to get three days done before bedtime. He right away started giving me a hard time. I really hate arguing about homework. JUST DO IT!!!!!!! Does that sound like the teacher side of me?

We of course were getting nowhere but frustrated. Luckily Brett knows when I can't do it anymore and stepped in. He told Blake that he would set the timer and when it went off, 20 minutes, if his work wasn't done, he would go to bed. We all left the room to let him work. He cried, threw himself on the floor, threatened to hurt himself, yelled "You are the worst parents in the world" phrases over and over and over. Timer went off and Blake wasn't done. I secretly pleaded behind Blake's back to have Brett give him another chance and Brett helped me hold strong. Blake went to bed before 6:00 pm!!!!!!

It was really hard to have him so upset before his first day of school, but hopefully he learned a lesson. I of course went in and checked on him, so that at least my night would end on a good note seeing his peaceful sleeping body. Third grade might be ROUGH!!!! I really wanted to hug him so tight and tell him how much we love him...

It was so hard to hold strong and not give in to him - but Brett kept reminding me that we will be so thankful that we are being tough at age 8 before the teen years come along.