groceries

So, more often over the last couple months or so I've been trying to get out during the day with the kids for groceries.  It's manageable, but barely...  Of course there's always the need for a trip to the bathroom.  And, I haven't quite figured out the best way to handle the logistics of three little boys and a cart full of groceries.  The last couple times I've taken Levi in his stroller and then pulled a cart behind me.  That would work well IF Caleb and Logan could walk along nice...  This week we had so many incidents we barely made it out of the store walking on our own feet.  As we were walking into the store Caleb and Logan were hanging onto the side of the cart, somehow Logan fell off, sandal came off and everything, and there were a few people watching.  A few minutes further into the store, Caleb actually tipped the cart over onto himself!  Loud screams, which is understandable since it did look like it hurt pretty good.  Thankfully that happened in an emptier aisle where we didn't get lots of stares.  There were a few more cart and stroller incidents throughout the store - walking too close, not paying attention...  It's always a relief to get home, get the groceries put away, and be done with it for another week!

Tuesday night was another Zeeland Zoom 5k!  Can't believe another year has passed already.  This year my brother Mike, my dad, Mike, and I ran.  My brother Mike ran super fast (finished 2nd in his age group!), and my dad, Mike, and I ran together most of the way.  Mike agreed to run slow with me - he pushed Levi in the jogging stroller which helped slow him down.  :)  It was warm and muggy!  My time was a little worse than the Fifth Third in May, but not a ton.  And, my time would've been better had we not been stuck behind a bunch of walkers at the beginning of the race.  Caleb and Logan were with my mom during the race, and they actually were able to see us at the start, twice in the middle, and at the finish!  So fun to see them and give them a high five partway through.  Levi really enjoyed being in the race - lots to see.  He even did some clapping and yelling.

It's been warm enough now that we've had our little pool out for a few days.  Caleb and Logan LOVE it.  Levi has enjoyed it, too.

I've been making headway on Levi's baby book - I'm about halfway done!  Yay!  :)

kneeboarding

Alright, so here's the video of Caleb trying to kneeboard. Of course, I hate hearing my voice, but I think it's sort of funny to hear the trepidation in my voice at the beginning as I say, "Have fun!"; and then we had to laugh at the end when I shut it off because I'm saying, "This is..." and Mike said he knows the rest of the sentence was "...why I didn't want him to do it." :) Caleb has been praised up and down for giving it a shot, so hopefully he's not too scarred from the whole experience. :)

good times

What a great weekend!  There was tons of summer fun to be had, and we had it.  :)  Starting with Thursday evening we had a group from church over for ice cream as a sort of farewell to some friends of ours that are leaving for the mission field in a couple weeks.  It was a nice time of fellowship, the weather was beautiful, and of course, the kids had a blast all playing together.

Friday Mike got home from work early!  I still can hardly believe it.  :)  Mid-afternoon he headed up to Harold and Kara's cottage with Caleb and Logan.  They spent the night in a tent out in the yard.  While the big boys are away, Levi and Mommy will play!  :)  Levi and I headed out for the evening for dinner and some shopping.  I did take him to the play area in the mall (Holland) for a few minutes, but he wasn't all that into it.  I'm guessing if his big brothers were there he would have been a little braver in checking things out.

Saturday morning after I got all the food stuff ready, Levi and I headed up to the cottage.  What a perfect day there!  The weather was awesome, the kids had fun, and it's hard to believe, but I think I actually relaxed a little.  :)  Caleb and Logan are at the point where they still need to be supervised, but for the most part they play great, are more surefooted, and have a healthy enough fear of the water that they can sort of be trusted.  I remembered the pack'n'play this time, so Levi took a nap; and I took a section of plastic fence for him to play in, which he did great in and kept us from worrying he was going to crawl off the edge of the deck or something.  Also, he was perfectly happy to just sit on a raft with Grandma for a long time.

Caleb actually tried kneeboarding...yikes!  Now, remember, so far when it comes to watersports it seems that Logan is more "Krol" and Caleb is more "Steenwyk".  :)  He has fun and all, just doesn't seem to be quite as comfortable with it.  I'm guessing that when he said he wanted to do it he wasn't aware that falling off into the water was an option...  I was not too thrilled with the idea at first, but Mike and I talked and he convinced me (pretty much...sort of....) that everything would be okay.  I'll post the video clip separately, but basically he fell off right away.  Mike had forgotten to tell him to let go if he fell off, which is kinda important...  :)  He was initially scared, but it doesn't seem that he's too traumatized by it (Not only was I afraid of my baby getting hurt, I was afraid that after falling off he would be too traumatized to ever try anything ever again...).  I don't know that we'll get him to try it again this year, but maybe next!  :)

For some reason Logan has decided he's scared of fish.  So, he'll do his swimming in the shallower water, but won't swim further out.  Last time we were there he was swimming with Mike, saw Mike's leg and thought it was a big fish, and FREAKED out.

Levi was happier when he was up out of the water...

the three amigos

trying kneeboarding with Mike pulling

Levi reading a book in his fence

kayak ride

And then Sunday was another fun day!  Some friends of ours have a speedboat out at Lake Michigan, and in the evening a few couples met up to head out with the boat.  Wow.  What a ride!  We left from Grand Haven, headed up to Muskegon, we were going to have dinner there but there was nowhere to "park", so then we went back to Grand Haven, docked along the boardwalk, disembarked for dinner, then enjoyed the rest of the ride back to the marina.  I know nothing about boats, but it sounded nice, looked nice, plenty of heads turned as we were headed out the channel, and it went faster than I need it to.  :)  Lake Michigan was a bit choppy, and we hit some waves pretty hard...  I know our friend was driving smart and would keep us safe, but I was hanging on pretty tight and was a bit anxious to get back to a "no wake zone".  :)  I would love to know what the boat looked like from a distance as we were speeding along.  There were times the boat was not in contact with the water.  On second thought, maybe I wouldn't want to see that...

part of the group

our sweet ride for the evening

This pic does nothing for me, but maybe there are some that can appreciate it...

Just a little windblown by this point...

docked in Grand Haven for dinner

beautiful night!

favorite things

It's high time I post a list of some favorite things about my boys!  It's easy to get bogged down in trying to manage the chaos of three boys aged three and under, but I try to stop and enjoy the moments that make me smile (inside and out).  Here's what's popping into my head, no particular order of importance:

• Listening on the monitor as Levi wakes up in the morning.  He jabbers happily for quite awhile, and he starts playing with his stuffed cow or pig - they play music when you press their belly, sometimes he gets them both going at once and it cracks me up. (And brings back memories of when Caleb and Logan were that age and had those toys in their bed.)
• Seeing how excited Levi is when Caleb, Logan, and I go into his room to get him out of his crib in the morning.  He jumps and squeals with delight at the sight of his big brothers.
• Watching the look on Caleb's face when he's totally into a story that Mike is telling.  This boy doesn't slow down much, so to see him totally engrossed in a story is pretty neat.  
• On the same note, seeing the boys sleep.  After going, going, going all day it's a treat to see them peacefully asleep and at rest.
• Seeing the smile on Logan's face when he's mad about something and I very sternly tell him, "Whatever you do, don't smile!", knowing that I'll get that funny little smile out of him as he tries to keep a serious face.
• Hearing the questions Logan comes up with.  He really thinks about things and comes up with some good questions.  Many times I can't answer the questions or the sheer quantity of questions exhausts me, but I love it that he's so observant and thoughtful.
• Getting an unsolicited "Good meal, Mom" from Caleb after putting almost zero effort into what he's eating.  Someday they'll appreciate that I actually CAN cook.  :)  I also get a "Your pretty, Mom" from him sometimes and it melts my heart.
• Watching Caleb and Logan enjoy time with their cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.  They LOVE spending time with our families, and it's neat to see the unique things they get to do with each family - cottage stuff with Mike's family thanks to H & K, farming stuff with my family, etc.
• Observing the boys play when they are totally focused and concentrating on what they are doing on their own.  It can be rare to see those moments when they are in their own little world, and I just love seeing that look of concentration on their faces!
• Seeing Caleb and Logan stop to look at books WITHOUT ME TELLING THEM TO.  :)  Many times when things are starting to get a little crazy I'll have them go sit on separate couches and look at books for awhile to calm down, and they do good with that, but now sometimes they'll actually choose on their own to go look at books.

These are a few of my favorite things.  I'm sure I'll come up with more during the day - at least I hope we have that kind of a day...  :)  My heart is full, I am feeling blessed, I thank the Lord every day that He chose to give Mike & I these boys - even though there are moments I think I might pull my hair out.  ;)  

baby steps

Levi took a few steps today!  The first time he took 1-2 steps for me outside.  A little while later Mike came home from work and we tried to get him to do it again - he took 3-4 steps for Mike.  THEN I went and got the camera and he wouldn't do it anymore.  :)  Doesn't seem like he's just going to take off running, but there's progress.

Also, today, I picked the very first thing out of our garden!  A zucchini was looking good and ready to eat, so we had it for supper.  Yum!  There were a couple sunflowers that got eaten by something, the cucumbers suffered a little bit in a frost, but everything else looks pretty decent.

pina colada

Yesterday I was drinking one of those Pineapple Coconut flavored sparkling water things.  The boys were looking at it and Logan asked if pineapples come from pine trees - I thought it was a great question!  Shows he's thinking.  And, after some discussion I realized he wasn't only asking because of the "pine" part, but because a pineapple is pokey like a pine tree/pine cones.  :)

bikes

Caleb and Logan got bikes last night!  Grandpa and Grandma VB get bikes for the grands as a 4th birthday present, but the boys were able to get theirs a *little* early.  :)  They are doing AWESOME with them, and of course they LOVE them.

All my boys spent the day with Gpa and Gma yesterday - I had quite a busy day of running errands, working on projects, having lunch with my dad, and supper with Mike.  When Mike and I went to get the kids they were given their bikes.  They hopped right on and took off!

We haven't gotten them helmets yet, so thankfully there's only been a few minor incidents.  :)  Logan has a scraped elbow from the two of them colliding while riding at Schreur's today.  I knew they looked physically big on their trikes, but somehow being on these bikes now just makes them seem so much more grown-up.  *sigh*

P.S. They have license plates so we know who's bike is who's.  :)

summer

Ahhhh, summer!  I guess it's not technically summer yet, but close enough.  We're not into the crazy part of summer yet, so it's still enjoyable.  :)  I LOVE being outside more, and all the fun things we can do.  Friday evening Eric and Lea Anne came over with their kids, and after supper Mike, Eric, and the kids (minus Levi) went camping out back!  They gathered wood, made a fire, and stayed up late telling stories.  The next morning the kids were exploring around and I guess Caleb saw our house and made a run for it - maybe he missed his mom!  :)  The others hung out back there for just a little bit longer, but then headed out.

After I got my family fed I finished getting stuff ready to head up to Harold and Kara's cottage for our first visit of the summer.  Water was a little chilly, but it was a pleasant day to be outside.  Boys did some playing in the water, fishing, and a couple wave runner rides.  We were partway up there before I realized I forgot the pack'n'play - hopefully I don't make that mistake again!  Levi did pretty well, but did start to get cranky later on without a nap.  He had fun playing in the sand for awhile - you'd think he'd realize after one time that sand doesn't taste very good, but he kept trying to eat it.  :)  The water was too cold for his taste.  He did have fun floating on a raft for awhile.  We tried going in the paddle boat as a family, but he was NOT a fan.  All three boys zonked out on the way home - that's one of my favorite times.  :)

poetic

Last night my parent's came over for supper as my dad was spraying the corn right by our house.  Logan was, of course, very excited to see my mom and upon giving her a hug in greeting he said, "Grammy, do you have a doorway to your heart?"  I wondered where in the world he learned that and how he could be so "deep", then realized he was asking about the locket she was wearing.  :)  So, he wasn't being QUITE as philosophical as I originally thought, but that's still a pretty good question!

There are a few words and things the boys still say wrong, and I'll enjoy how cute it sounds for now.  :)  They both still say "hockalopter" instead of "helicopter" and this one is starting to be problematic for me - they've said it for so long and I hear that word so often and I really have to think twice to make sure I say it correctly.  They say "orport" instead of "airport".  And, Caleb says "honk" instead of "hawk".  Logan tries to correct him, but it does no good.  Logan tends to get the order of words mixed up sometimes, like "bulb light" and "tie bow".

Yesterday and today Levi has stood without hanging onto anything for a few seconds!  Can't remember if I posted before that he had another tooth on bottom pop through.  So, I think that puts him at three on bottom and four on top.

monkey

What could be cuter than my one-year-old making monkey noises??  Not much!  :)  A week ago I sorted/cleaned/purged the toys and after that Logan and Caleb noticed a few stuffed monkeys and have now been playing with them some.  A couple days ago I thought Levi made a monkey noise after I was doing it, but this morning he did it on his own, totally unprompted.  He's now done it a few times today - he'll see one of the monkeys and then make a monkey noise.  Crazy!  He was just my little baby, and now he's learning all this stuff!