Family Traditions

I must admit it, I always thought my mom was crazy for her obsession with picking fresh fruit. You honestly haven't seen a woman more excited than my mom in a strawberry field, apple field, blueberry field or rasberry field, bucket in hand plucking fresh fruit to take home and make into pies, put over cereal and just enjoy.
Here she is in Grand Haven last summer in the middle of a blueberry field, in pure heaven:

Here she is passing down the tradition of fruit picking to my children (who LOVE it by the way):

Well today was no exception, the strawberries were in!
I got a call last week and it was my VERY excited mother who said to me as soon as I picked up the phone "ALERT ALERT, the strawberries are ready for picking" I had to laugh. We made a date for next Saturday (today) to head out to the fields with the kids and pick strawberries. So today we all loaded in the car and my mom led us literally into the middle of no where to find her glorious strawberry fields. I must say that I was getting a BIT inpatient as the kids were arguing in the backseat and we were 45 minutes into the drive and in the middle of no where with no end in sight. But I forgot all of that when we got there.
The kids were so excited. We got our baskets and headed for the fields. It was row upon row of beautiful strawberries (I didn't have my camera, but here is a visual for you):

Luke had been picking with my mom before and was so excited to be the "expert" and he jumped ahead with Lauren explaining "I'll show you how this is done Lauren". Mom picked with the kids a row over from me and I just smiled from ear to ear as I heard the exchange between them. My kids were just LOVING this and my mom was LOVING that they were LOVING this : ) They went on and on about how many they were, how juicy they were, what fun this is, it really was awesome to see. My kids had strawberry juice dripping from their chins, a bin full of strawberries, and had a wonderful time picking strawberries with their grandmother in the strawberry fields. My mom said to me " I now am convinced these children are connected to me genetically" : )
I know longer think my mom is crazy................and I am excited that her love for this picking of fresh fruit and sharing these experiences together is being passed down to my children. My fresh strawberry pie is in the fridge and we have more strawberries than you can imagine and I have a smile on my face remembering those good times we had today in the fields. Thanks mom!

It's so close I can taste it!

Can you smell it, feel it............... I can almost taste it.........
SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's almost here. I only have 4 more days of school, then a summer full of pool time, Disney and Grand Haven, CAN'T WAIT!
I can't wait for times like these:


and these:

Man....... Minnie hugs are the best hugs : )

........and times like these:



Then I can't wait to be out on the pier at Grand Haven looking out at the water (I took this one last summer - LOVE this picture):


As things get stressful these next four school days wrapping things up I am sure I will find myself closing my eyes and getting these images in my mind. SUMMER IS SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT and that makes me............ smile!

Being a Thoughtful Spouse

Boy have I been stressed out lately. I think the word "overwhelmed" would describe it best. I have just been swamped at work, dealing with some very intense meetings lately, and it's been (and will continue to be) time consuming trying to wrap up everything from this school year and get ready for next school year. On top of that whirlwind while I am at work I still have my University of Phoenix online teaching and trying to stay on top of it all at times (especially times like these) can be a bit overwhelming. Well, unfortunately when we are stressed we tend to take it out on those close to us- I hate that! Why is it that we do this to the ones that we love? I am very fortunate to have a loving and understanding husband. I had lashed out at him when he called me at work and then that conversation quickly turned to tears as I poured my heart out about how stressed I was feeling and how I was in a bit of a panic to get it all done and meet deadlines I was facing. A few hours later I was called to the front desk at work and this was awaiting me:

The most beautiful arrangement of flowers that have ever been sent to me.
The attached card read:
TAKE A DEEP BREATH, SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER, LOVE TIM
I can not begin to describe to you what this did for my soul. My spirit was lifted, I was filled with love and a smile overtook my face.
I pray to be a loving wife to Tim, to treat him as wonderfully as he treats me. This is a partnership, we need to uplift eachother and boy did he uplift me this week and I am EVER so thankful!

Where did the time go???

My baby Lauren who was born October 2003 2 months early because her 2 1/2 year old playful brother jumped on my belly, not knowing what he had done, just playing with his mom but caused EARLY labor - my precious premie who left the hospital at a mere 4 pounds 1 ounce is growing up and I'm trying to figure out where the time went.

We had her Mother's Day Tea at her school last week:



Tomorrow is her graduation from preschool and I can't believe it. Tim and I are having a hard time with this one, our baby girl, our little premie is graduating preschool and growing up. Today she told me: "Mommy, I'm getting older, and soon I will be married, I'm five you know" : )

Mother's Day 2009

I think Mother's Day 2009 will go down in my history as one of the best ever. I know I need to cherish these wonderful days when my two children truly love me (not that they won't always love me I hope, but the precious way they do now in their young age). Tim had to DJ late last night and both of us were sound asleep in bed this morning when I got a tap on my shoulder, looked up and my two wonderful children were standing there and said "Happy Mother's Day". What made it super special was what they were holding. Luke was holding a plate with jelly toast and Lauren was holding a glass of orange juice. The toast was made out of the heal of the bread and the jelly was hap-hazardly spread across the bread but it brought tears to my eyes. Luke had woken Lauren up, they had tip-toed downstairs and he had problem solved how to make his mother breakfast. Lauren proudly boasted that she got the cup, held the glass and got Luke the knife. PRECIOUS!!! I just love my babies!!!

Tim showered me with wonderful gifts, Disney shirts, Disney plates and glasses, and a digital keychain loaded with pictures of the kids. We met my parents and my brother and his wife at our new church, WHAT A WONDERFUL SERVICE! I can't describe the way these services, the music, the messages make me feel. AMAZING!!!! So glad to have found our new church home. Everyone enjoyed the service, then we headed to an incredible brunch at a local restaraunt - it had more food than you could imagine, and my favorite: a chocolate fountain with strawberries for dipping - YUM! I even was able to get a nap in today.
I am so blessed and I thank the Lord for my children and my wonderful husband. I will always remember this Mother's Day when my two babies got up and made breakfast for me all on their own. I never thought that jelly toast made with a heal of bread would go down in history as my favorite breakfast of all time.

Stranger Danger!

Luke came home with an alarming letter in his backpack today warning us of an incident that happened a neighborhood over from ours. A man in a white van approached an 11 year old boy while he was waiting at a bus stop, asking the boy to come inside the van and play video games, thankfully the school bus approached scaring the man away. What is so scary about this is how close it was to home obviously but also that the very same day this occured I foolishly let the kids walk a street over together to play with some friends. I don't let them do this often and have always found comfort when I did allow it that they were together but NEVER AGAIN! I had a serious conversation tonight with both kids about stranger danger tonight. I didn't want to scare them to death but also wanted them to understand the seriousness of it. Luke broke my heart by asking, "what if you say no and run away but the man keeps coming at you". Fear and chills ran through my head as the thought of my poor baby ever being caught in this situation overwhelmed me.
I did a quick Youtube search trying to find a stranger danger video that I could show them, I found this one:

The kids listened attentively. Luke nervously said "I'd just punch the guy and run", and "he looks wimpy, it'd be no problem" While he was saying this he was red in the face and he looked nervous, I could tell the effect it was having on him and knew these comments were just his nervous reactions to what he was seeing. Lauren asked to watch it several times and kept asking good questions. Luke and I also had a good discussion about what he learned and how he felt. What a rough night this was, I hate that we live in a world where these terrible things happen to precious children. I pray the Lord will protect my babies and they will never EVER have this happen to them, but I feel better that I have prepared them and educated them about the evils of this world.

Movie Night!

You can tell the nights are getting warmer when Tim breaks out his DJ equipment and projection equipment and we invite the neighborhood to a movie night. The kids were SO excited. We selected Hotel for Dogs, invited everyone over, popped popcorn and got candy ready and the movie night began:

The kids had so much fun, we had fun socializing with the neighbors as all of our kids watched the movies. I pray that when my kids look back on their childhood these are the small things that they remember and puts a smile onto their faces.