Last weekend the boys had their first 'major' cross-cultural experience. Certainly, they've met many of Mike's employees, and hearing the Spanish language is nothing new for them, but I don't believe they've been totally immersed in it up until this point. One of Mike's employees invited us to her son's 4th birthday party. First of all, she told Mike 4pm. At one point beforehand I wondered if Latin Americans in the U.S. operate on Latino time (4pm does NOT actually mean 4pm) or U.S. time (4pm does actually mean 4pm). Well, I wonder no longer! We showed up a few minutes after 4pm and were EARLY. So, we sat on the couch in this tiny house, and sat, and sat, and sat. At one point a mom and her two kids came, and we all just sat there in silence. The Spanish I used to have is basically nonexistent, the boys don't know any, and Mike felt awkward, too, even though he can carry on a conversation quite well. (How do you strike up a conversation with a lady you don't know that speaks a different language??) I was hoping the boys would magically hit it off with some other kids (you know, language is no barrier type of thing), but that didn't happen. Eventually more and more people filtered in. So now we're packed in a tiny house feeling completely awkward because we know almost no one, and can't talk with anyone. Thankfully, a couple of Mike's other employees showed up later on, and that helped at least a little bit (they don't speak English, but I at least appreciated seeing a couple familiar faces). Mike was able to talk a bit with one of the gals' husband, who works on a large dairy farm in the area. Overall, it was one of the longest evening's of my life, but it was a good experience, and it was good that we went. :)
Tuesday afternoon the boys and I went to my parent's house so that I could spend some time helping my dad with his 'books' to get ready for his appointment with the tax guy (farmer's have an earlier due date). It went really well with the kids, and we were actually able to get our work done! Levi napped in his sleeping bag for the first time and he LOVED it. Caleb and Logan had a bit of a quiet time on separate couches and did a good job. The next day, all three of the boys went outside to play in the snow after lunch, and they played so good for so long that we just skipped nap/quiet time. Love, love, love seeing them play nice together!
Thursday evening was Mike's first council meeting of the new year, and he was elected to be Chairman of the Deacon board. I know he'll do a great job. :) The bright spot of him being elected to that position is no more Sunday's where he's "on duty" (having to go early to unlock doors, shovel sidewalks, count during the evening service, lock up, etc., etc., etc.)!!! Those Sunday's are always a bit of a struggle for me.
Friday morning Mike and I met with the superintendent at a school in the area as we're trying to make a decision on the boys' schooling for next year. I don't feel grown up enough to be making this kind of decision... The boys were thrilled to spend some time at Grandpa & Grandma's house while we did that.
Saturday I finally took down the Christmas tree! Figured it was about time. It always seems so dark and empty with it gone. :( We went to my parent's for the afternoon in order to spend time planning our upcoming Southwest Adventure. We're so excited! There are so many cool things to see, and alot of ground to cover - it's hard to choose! Our current countdown is for a little getaway to Frankenmuth - just an overnight to an indoor waterpark. Caleb and Logan especially are very excited and enjoy talking about what they are going to do.
Just remembered a couple fun conversations I've had with Logan lately. He's making plans to open a bakery & cafe for me since I am the "best cooker". (Which is a bit ironic since it seems he hardly eats anything I cook, but anyways....) He mostly wants sweet, dessert type stuff, but I've convinced him we can have a few other food items (hence the "cafe" part of the name). He brought it up that we shouldn't allow pets. And, of course, Mike can come in and get whatever he wants. I'm going to make the food, Logan is going to serve it. Caleb has no desire to work there, he intends to work at Schreur Farms and come as a customer to our bakery. :) Was so fun to talk over all the ideas he came up with!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
stall
Levi has backtracked over the last few weeks with his usage of the facilities. #2 still occurs in the proper place (thank goodness!!), but he hasn't been consistent with #1 like he had been. Oh well! It's still manageable with pull-ups, and he's not even three yet, so I'm not making an issue of it - I've got too many other things to stress about! :)
He has recently become interested in books. He'll finally sit through a book! I'll read one to him, he'll look at it a bit himself, then run for another book. Also, we're really enjoying singing together, and he'll bust out a tune on his own once in a while. Today, while having lunch at my parent's, he broke into the ABC's - he does fairly well with it, misses a few letters and gets the order mixed up here and there, but he's not too bad. :) At bedtime, he and I sing Jesus Loves Me, Away in a Manger, Let it Shine (really had fun with that one tonight), and he'll kinda try to jump in with whatever I sing.
Caleb is our outdoorsy guy. He'll mention sometimes that he wants it to be summer so we can go to Uncle Harold's cottage, but he does love playing in the snow and isn't bothered by the temps. He has been getting into doing puzzles lately (mostly repeating the same one so he can get faster at it). He has also showing an artistic side and having fun with some watercolors the boys got for Christmas. All three like doing the watercolors, but Caleb actually paints a discernable picture - maybe Logan's is just abstract art and I need to study more Picasso to grow my appreciation for it. :)
Logan, Logan, Logan. My dear "middle" child is keeping me on my toes! For one thing, you never know what mood he's going to be in and how he's going to react to something. And, I suppose, while reading this my mother is just chuckling... Awhile back when talking to her I mentioned that I didn't think I was too bad with my "emotionalness" until the teenage years, but she put me in check. :) On the one hand he can seem so angry and defiant at times, yet very thoughtful and sensitive at others. At the Krol Christmas party, while we were getting ready to leave, the boys were messing around in the entrance of the school we were at and got some salt on the floor. The janitor came to lock up and was not real thrilled and chewed Mike out a little bit. On the way home we were talking to the boys about their behavior, and at first they didn't seem to really care. But then we got to the point where Logan said something to the effect of, "So, he thinks we don't love Jesus?" He was quite upset and on the verge of tears when this occurred to him. Also, he is incredibly observant and inquisitive. It is awesome, but I don't feel equipped to deal with all the questions! You don't realize how hard it is to explain what a word means without using that exact word in the definition until you have to do it 100x a day... And, don't think you're going to just sit back and enjoy some music or a movie, there will be questions!
Caleb and Logan had their 5 year well child visit today. We hauled the whole family in - good times. Caleb is 3' 11" (99th percentile) and 49 lbs (89th percentile). Logan is 3' 8" (68th percentile) and 40 lbs (42nd percentile). They had to do vision and hearing tests for the first time, which was quite a trip. The eye chart they use for little kids is shapes instead of letters, but we almost wonder if they would have done better with the letters - some of the shapes were kind of confusing! But, they still checked out good. Caleb had some trouble following directions at first on the hearing test, but he ended up doing fine. And, Logan had the benefit of being the second one to go, so he knew the drill. Once again, we're very thankful for our healthy boys!
He has recently become interested in books. He'll finally sit through a book! I'll read one to him, he'll look at it a bit himself, then run for another book. Also, we're really enjoying singing together, and he'll bust out a tune on his own once in a while. Today, while having lunch at my parent's, he broke into the ABC's - he does fairly well with it, misses a few letters and gets the order mixed up here and there, but he's not too bad. :) At bedtime, he and I sing Jesus Loves Me, Away in a Manger, Let it Shine (really had fun with that one tonight), and he'll kinda try to jump in with whatever I sing.
Caleb is our outdoorsy guy. He'll mention sometimes that he wants it to be summer so we can go to Uncle Harold's cottage, but he does love playing in the snow and isn't bothered by the temps. He has been getting into doing puzzles lately (mostly repeating the same one so he can get faster at it). He has also showing an artistic side and having fun with some watercolors the boys got for Christmas. All three like doing the watercolors, but Caleb actually paints a discernable picture - maybe Logan's is just abstract art and I need to study more Picasso to grow my appreciation for it. :)
Logan, Logan, Logan. My dear "middle" child is keeping me on my toes! For one thing, you never know what mood he's going to be in and how he's going to react to something. And, I suppose, while reading this my mother is just chuckling... Awhile back when talking to her I mentioned that I didn't think I was too bad with my "emotionalness" until the teenage years, but she put me in check. :) On the one hand he can seem so angry and defiant at times, yet very thoughtful and sensitive at others. At the Krol Christmas party, while we were getting ready to leave, the boys were messing around in the entrance of the school we were at and got some salt on the floor. The janitor came to lock up and was not real thrilled and chewed Mike out a little bit. On the way home we were talking to the boys about their behavior, and at first they didn't seem to really care. But then we got to the point where Logan said something to the effect of, "So, he thinks we don't love Jesus?" He was quite upset and on the verge of tears when this occurred to him. Also, he is incredibly observant and inquisitive. It is awesome, but I don't feel equipped to deal with all the questions! You don't realize how hard it is to explain what a word means without using that exact word in the definition until you have to do it 100x a day... And, don't think you're going to just sit back and enjoy some music or a movie, there will be questions!
Caleb and Logan had their 5 year well child visit today. We hauled the whole family in - good times. Caleb is 3' 11" (99th percentile) and 49 lbs (89th percentile). Logan is 3' 8" (68th percentile) and 40 lbs (42nd percentile). They had to do vision and hearing tests for the first time, which was quite a trip. The eye chart they use for little kids is shapes instead of letters, but we almost wonder if they would have done better with the letters - some of the shapes were kind of confusing! But, they still checked out good. Caleb had some trouble following directions at first on the hearing test, but he ended up doing fine. And, Logan had the benefit of being the second one to go, so he knew the drill. Once again, we're very thankful for our healthy boys!
Sunday, January 4, 2015
out of the mouths of babes
Levi woke up around 4am this morning, coughing and saying he needed a drink, I noticed he felt quite warm so I took him downstairs to check his temp. I ended up just taking him in bed with us rather than bring him back up to his room (I know, I know...). So, we're laying there and Mike whispers to me, "Why is he breathing so fast?"; and Levi whispers back, "Because I'm coughing alot." Ha ha!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
new year
This past week was our annual Christmas party marathon week! Overall it went very well (evidence that our children are another year older). We've still ended up with some sickness, but nothing too bad. All three of the boys are coughing alot and Levi has a pretty runny nose, but that's it so far. I was up in the night with Levi's cough sounding bad, so let's hope it doesn't get as bad tonight.
Sunday morning Mike went to church by himself while I stayed home with the boys. It was a late night Saturday, and knowing the kind of week we had coming up, we opted out. (Had I known we'd be missing tomorrow due to them being sick maybe I would have tried harder to go last week...) Sunday noon my whole family had dinner at my parent's, we celebrated the December birthday's (Natalie and Heidi), played Bingo, and then in the evening went to my parent's church for their special "family" Christmas service - several people from the congregation participate with testimony/song/etc. Lea Anne and Katie sang a duet, Michelle played a piano solo, and my mom read a story. All three of the boys sat very well during the service! Afterwards the fam went to Culver's for supper and ice cream. Of course, Mike knew plenty of people both at my parent's church and at Culver's and my brother likes to give him a hard time about it - I think Mike's new nickname is "The Mayor". :) Oh yeah, I also just remembered that in the afternoon there was another small haircutting incident... At dinnertime Eric said "hi" to Levi and rubbed his head, a bunch of hair went flying...Eric asked Levi if he just got a haircut, and I'm thinking, "Um, no, he shouldn't have..." He's got a couple small bald spots and as best we can figure, Caleb was the culprit.
Monday I actually got some major purging/organizing done in our room! I was hanging onto too many clothes and it was time for some of them to GO. Feels good to just get rid of a bunch of stuff. Late afternoon/evening was my family Christmas party at my parent's. Big breakfast for supper, carol time, prayer time, the Christmas story, and then presents. Oh yeah, can't forget family picture time! For the first time ever we did it BEFORE the meal, and OUTSIDE. We're really shaking things up. Was fun to see the boys get their presents - Caleb was excited about the fishing pole he got and couldn't wait to tell Uncle Harold about it, Logan got a big shark pillow that he's been reminding me about for a month now, and Levi got a tractor that he very happily played with right away.
Tuesday evening was the Krol party at Jenison Christian. The boys sure had fun running around with all the other kids - and there are alot of them!
Wednesday (New Years Eve) we ended up staying home as the boys were starting with their coughs. Had a fun movie night at home - watched Despicable Me 2 with the boys, and then after they were in bed Mike and I watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. (Now that the third movie is out, it was time for us to watch the second!)
Thursday we went to my parent's for some hayloft play time, and ended up staying for lunch as well. Nice, lazy holiday. Now it's Saturday and Mike will go back to work on Monday! It's been wonderful having him home this whole time through the holidays, and I'm not sure I can handle things on my own again. :(
Sunday morning Mike went to church by himself while I stayed home with the boys. It was a late night Saturday, and knowing the kind of week we had coming up, we opted out. (Had I known we'd be missing tomorrow due to them being sick maybe I would have tried harder to go last week...) Sunday noon my whole family had dinner at my parent's, we celebrated the December birthday's (Natalie and Heidi), played Bingo, and then in the evening went to my parent's church for their special "family" Christmas service - several people from the congregation participate with testimony/song/etc. Lea Anne and Katie sang a duet, Michelle played a piano solo, and my mom read a story. All three of the boys sat very well during the service! Afterwards the fam went to Culver's for supper and ice cream. Of course, Mike knew plenty of people both at my parent's church and at Culver's and my brother likes to give him a hard time about it - I think Mike's new nickname is "The Mayor". :) Oh yeah, I also just remembered that in the afternoon there was another small haircutting incident... At dinnertime Eric said "hi" to Levi and rubbed his head, a bunch of hair went flying...Eric asked Levi if he just got a haircut, and I'm thinking, "Um, no, he shouldn't have..." He's got a couple small bald spots and as best we can figure, Caleb was the culprit.
Monday I actually got some major purging/organizing done in our room! I was hanging onto too many clothes and it was time for some of them to GO. Feels good to just get rid of a bunch of stuff. Late afternoon/evening was my family Christmas party at my parent's. Big breakfast for supper, carol time, prayer time, the Christmas story, and then presents. Oh yeah, can't forget family picture time! For the first time ever we did it BEFORE the meal, and OUTSIDE. We're really shaking things up. Was fun to see the boys get their presents - Caleb was excited about the fishing pole he got and couldn't wait to tell Uncle Harold about it, Logan got a big shark pillow that he's been reminding me about for a month now, and Levi got a tractor that he very happily played with right away.
Tuesday evening was the Krol party at Jenison Christian. The boys sure had fun running around with all the other kids - and there are alot of them!
Wednesday (New Years Eve) we ended up staying home as the boys were starting with their coughs. Had a fun movie night at home - watched Despicable Me 2 with the boys, and then after they were in bed Mike and I watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. (Now that the third movie is out, it was time for us to watch the second!)
Thursday we went to my parent's for some hayloft play time, and ended up staying for lunch as well. Nice, lazy holiday. Now it's Saturday and Mike will go back to work on Monday! It's been wonderful having him home this whole time through the holidays, and I'm not sure I can handle things on my own again. :(
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