My kids are a bit wild today!

So after one month of being homeless we finally have a home. We closed on our new house on July 29th. Justice's half birthday. When I think of it this way I can do nothing but be amazed at the greatness of God. I had no idea, when Justice was born that our life would go the way it has. We owe a lot to my dad for even making that crazy, hairbrained suggestion that we try to qualify for a mortgage while still having a mortgage! Who knew that we would even qualify for anything let alone enough to purchase this home. Who knew that finding great renters would just fall into place the way it did. Obviously God did, and after all this time I don't know why it still amazes me, but it does.

So what is life like now you ask? Well much the same it has been for the last couple of months. In fact, one day recently, we still lived at my parents house, Veronica was playing mom, her children were Jon (my nephew), Felicity, and Peyton, she was trying to get them to do something and finally she threw herself into a chair, looked at me and said "my kids are a bit wild today." I told her I knew the feeling! In fact it pretty much sums up my life to this point.

So the house: We purchased a split foyer home in North West Ankeny. It has three bedrooms one bathroom upstairs, and one bedroom and one bathroom that needs remodeling downstairs. When I say needs remodeling that includes needing a sink and toilet, shower and a floor because presently there is not any of those things.
There is a fresh coat of paint throughout the house as well as new carpet. We have a fenced in backyard, which has been really nice for the dogs (excluding the times the dogs figured out how to get out!) and a really weird three tier deck that I am starting to get used to. We have a formal dining room and living room. The kitchen is an eat-in kitchen that we will eventually tear a wall down and put in a bar to open it up and add more cabinet/countertop space.
The bedrooms are all pretty good sized. For the first time the kids have room to play in their bedrooms so each of them have a few toys that they get to keep in there. This has worked out pretty nicely. The master bedroom is also huge!! We actually have a rocking chair in our room.
There is a pretty big playroom in the basement which is also nice for the kids. Also in the basement is another living space, where we have a love seat and four chairs, as well as a game table and our desk. It is pretty big!
As for the neighborhood- I feel like we moved to a small town. We have great neighbors, all very friendly. Everyone knows everyone, we have already had a block party and it has become pretty evident that 4 children in a family is by no means a large family on this block. There are sooooo many kids! It was a bit of an adjustment the first week we lived here. Little kids rang the doorbell what felt like constantly asking if the kids could come out and play. Just about the time when our kids were going to bed, the rest of the neighborhood really started hopping. We have worked on boundaries with the kids and I am sure it will all settle down as the school year progresses!

All in all we are pretty excited about the house. We have had to do a few repairs, but nothing too hard for us (Tim) to do, and not too expensive. We have a lot of other projects we want to do but nothing pressing. As each day goes by it starts feeling more and more like home. I can feel the "wild" is starting to subside just a bit. We are getting settled into the house and neighborhood and we are close to starting school again. Whatever normal is is starting to return. Until that day actually arrives you will just have to excuse me because my kids are a bit wild today!

And the hits keep coming...

Peyton comes up to me in all seriousness this afternoon with a burning question. "Mom, when I grow up and play baseball for the cubs, can I use this bat?"

"It HAS the cubbies on it!"

The things kids say

So Peyton has a new owie on his pinkie, actually quite a big chunk of skin has been removed. Anyway, while doing a little first aid today Ronni asked Peyton why he was having a bandaid if there wasn't any blood anymore. I told her because it would help the skin heal faster. So she asked Peyton how long he would be wearing the bandaid and he said, "till summer" She apparently didn't think this was out of line at all and was satisfied with his answer. As soon as I got the bandaid on though, Peyton said, "I feel so bad for myself, Ronni do you feel bad for me?" R- "Yes, Peyton, I should have prayed for you and your pinkie at church, I would have said, please make peyton's finger better, we pray to the Lord, Lord Hear our Prayer!"

Wow, all the while I was thinking, do I put this on facebook or actually blog because I knew it was shareworthy!

A Sensitive Heart

No I am not talking about myself. Veronica has such a kind heart and apparently a sensitive one too. Today we were watching a movie and when it became apparent that the main character was sacrificing himself to save the world, we heard this odd noise. It was Veronica weeping, full fledged sobbing. Words can not express the way my heart felt when I heard her crying because she was sad that someone (an animated figure, no less) was getting hurt, I just wanted to reach out to her and try to make everything better for her. Thankfully Daddy jumped right up and cuddled her and we found out within a minute or two that he indeed lived! But for those few minutes, our little girl was heartbroken... so was I.

All I can think of now is being careful to guard her heart so as to not lose that sensitive nature that makes her so special. She can only watch so many movies with this kind of thing in it before she is desensitized. I look forward to Veronica growing up and seeing what kind of person she becomes, I pray she takes this compassion and love for others (animated or real) and does something great, I am sure she will!

I did it!

I was trying to go a whole month without blogging, and it is safe to say, I did it. It is also safe to say, it wasn't hard and I wasn't trying! Without even blinking February went by and now here we are in March. I have plans of doing a better job blogging, but then, I have said that before.

The problem wasn't that there wasn't anything to say, there was a lot going on in February. A very special little boy turned 4, we went to a hotel to celebrate. We were running this way or that way the entire month, which, for the month of February is good. Normally this is the month where I am most affected by the winter doldrums, that hasn't been the case this year, despite record amounts of snow fall and cold and days below 40 and days without the sunshine...

So here we are in March and things are going well. I have a few things I can update you with for the kids, pictures to come later.

Veronica, last week she had a couple of blog worthy moments. The first, we got a lot of candy from Tim's work and there are two types of suckers, blow pops with a gum center and tootsie pops with a chocolate center. I asked her if she wanted the tootsie pop and she said, "No thanks, I will have the other one because I am fast forwarding from chocolate." I was very impressed that she remembered that she wanted to fast from chocolate during lent, the second day of suckers in the house didn't fare as well! :) Also, she was holding Felicity and exclaimed. "Wow, you are a lot heavier than last week!"

Peyton turned four on February 17th, Ash Wednesday, so we celebrated his birthday early. Thanks to my sister in law, Sarah, I found a great deal on priceline for a hotel, we went and had a marvelous time. It was nice to have something to break up the monotony of winter. I think it may be a yearly tradition for our family. Peyton has all kinds of Peyton-isms, his most recent, 'that is rediculous". And he says it in the most matter of fact way, that is impossible not to laugh. He also says, that is weird- all the time, I am afraid he offended someone at our church because he called him weird, really the guy was very funny and the kids all loved him but "You are weird", didn't quite convey that message. We have since tried to curb the "weird" statements.

Felicity, OH BUG! She is crazy right now. I think she is teething four teeth and is just having a terrible time. Just ask my mom, dad, grandma, my aunt Diane, my cousin Kimmy or any other poor soul that had to be around her these past few days! She just is having a rough time. I don't ever remember this with my other children, but they all have teeth, so either I got really lucky or it is a passing thing that I will forget someday!

As for Tim and I we are great. You can count us among the millions of people that would say that the Biggest Loser (the TV show) has changed our lives. We are in a new and improved weight loss competition with 14 other people, and both of us are really changing our lives. We both get in about 3 hours of exercise each week and are really trying to watch what we eat. So far since the week before the competition, I have lost 28 lbs and tim has lost nearly 15 (over 25 pounds since our first biggest loser competition last year!). Tim is back into the pant size he wore in college (wish we wouldn't have gotten rid of those clothes!) and I am in a size I have NEVER worn before, not even in high school. We both feel so much better and I am hoping for a really active spring/summer!

Works for Me

If anyone has ever wanted a pretty good resource for parenting, here is the best one I have found. It is called, Rasing Godly Tomatoes, and it is basically a book online. It is pretty straight forward and easy to read. Here is the hyperlink, I would encourage you to check it out. It has everything from Potty training to sitting still in church to sibling rivalry. There are somethings I actually do disagree with, but it is the closest thing I have found to be, in my opinion, a good parenting style- online. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me!Here is the book, it is by L. Elizabeth Krueger. I have never bought a parenting book before, and to be honest have never really read one either, I am seriously considering purchasing this book, if that tells you how good I think it might be!

Giant Heads

So a few weeks ago Ronni asked me out of the blue, "Mom can we go and see the giant heads?" Giant heads, what the heck is she talking about? But the kids didn't drop it, finally this past weekend, they showed a placemat I had purchased that has all the presidents on there and a picture of said giant heads. Sure enough our kids just requested we go and visit Mount Rushmore! So now, Tim and I are planning our first whole family vacation! The kids are super excited to know that sometime after peyton turns four and Ronni is almost six we are going to get to go. So excited in fact, every morning since Peyton has asked us if he is four. We are gearing up to start homeschooling and I am pretty sure I have found a year long topic in which to study! Thanks, kids, get ready to learn about the giant heads.

Summer Thus Far

I was updating my profile and pictures on the side and I saw all the pictures I took with my blog in mind. It is kind of funny because early on in my blog writing I had stories but not pictures, now I take pictures for the blog but never write the story that goes along with them. Oh well.

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, we have been on the go this summer; from the zoo, to park day, to wading pools, back to the zoo, to picnics, to fashion shows and then to the zoo and wading pools again! Man, have we been staying busy! Just yesterday Ronni was telling her daddy at dinner, "I had A LOT of special blessings today, I got to go to the pool and have chocolate milk from McDonald's, that is a lot of blessings..." It was really funny. Anyway, here are few of the pictures from our crazy-busy-fun summer thus far!

Growing Up Fast *Updated*

The children in this household are growing up pretty quickly these days. Ronni has decided she wants to be a nun (with some positive peer pressure from her cousin Bethany). In fact, she announced it at the Aldi checkout and I am sure I got more than one shocked look, especially when the two girls were jumping up and down saying, "We can go to the same convent and we could be sisters!!" Peyton has also decided he wants to be a nun, we have explained that only girls are nuns, and boys can be Priests, but he is still pretty insistent, we'll see. Felicity is a mover and a shaker, that is for sure. She is grabbing life by the horns! She loves crawling and loves eating and loves being awake at 5:30 am and loves her siblings and her daddy- did I mention she is awake, for the day, at 5:30. That is the only bit that I am not loving. It is so sweet to see her so excited about life, she can brighten up the darkest day with her sweet smile, we are so thankful for her.

This past weekend was a whirlwind for us. My sister was an intern for the Principle Charity Classic and hooked us up with some pretty sweet tickets. We took the kids on Friday, all in all they did pretty well. There was one little hang up when Peyton fell and scraped his knee and wouldn't stop crying, one of the tournament helpers came running down the stairs to where we were by the portapotties, cookie in hand, asking me if it would help get him to be quiet, you would think, but it took a few second of convincing him he wanted the cookie/shoving it in his mouth before the crying actually stopped, I was mortified! But we moved on and the rest of the day was great. We came back, childless (except Felicity, thanks to my Aunt) on Sunday and got to watch the dramatic 4 hole play off! It was great fun! (thanks Kaela!)

I was helping with First Communion at our church, so Tim (the rockstar he was all weekend) took the kids to the Zoo to see Duck from Word World, a really neat television show on IPTV.They had a great time.

They also got their faces painted. The last time Ronni got her face painted, she had a spider web all over her face and she called herself spider-girl...

We are looking forward to an exciting summer. In addition to the zoo, and the pool and the lake, we have lots of summer activities planned. I just hope the weather will start cooperating. I actually like warm weather, and I am so looking forward to the temperature rise! To give some of you an idea... Tim had his space heater in his office on this week. It is JUNE!!! That is crazy. I hope all of you have a great summer!

I'll Love You Forever

One of my favorite childhood books is Love You Forever, by, Robert Munsch. When my kids were very young my favorite part of the book was the song, especially when the boy, all grown up, sings it back to his mommy: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, My Mommy you'll be. I would read that and, guaranteed, tear up each time. Three children and four and a half years later, my new favorite part is "That little boy grew, he grew and he grew and he grew... Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!" Well, we were at the zoo this week and I was very tempted to see what I could get for them... turns out the Redheaded Animals don't do well in enclosed spaces so the zoo thinks it is best to keep them in their natural habitat... shows what they know! In anycase, everyone went in and everyone came out, which, I suppose, is saying something. We got a zoo pass with my stipend from the church so we are thinking about going back this weekend, we will have two of the DeVries' redheads so we will see if that sweetens the deal any! Although, all it will probably do is increase the likelihood of losing one of the kids at the zoo, but with that many redheads in an enclosed space (our house for 3 days) we may just have to take that chance! Here are the pictures from the zoo. (Thanks Sadie!)

The 3 Redheaded AnimalsIf you look close you may be able to see a Zebra in the background, I don't know about you but I think they would make a good exhibit, look at how nicely the red hair goes with the green grass!

Veronica on the slide

The green plastic was burning her legs, but she gave a good smile anyway! She is a little sweetheart right now, always trying to help out with Felicity. In fact, yesterday she was playing with her and these exact words came out of her mouth. "Mom I was playing mommy with Felicity and she pooped all over me!" (Welcome to the club!)

My little monkey

Peyton is three right now, which means somedays are really good, somedays are pretty bad but mostly each day is a combination of really good and pretty bad. I wouldn't trade him in for anything (despite my earlier comments) he really is a good little boy!

In other news... Felicity is crawling!!!

Apparently the mouse and keyboard on the floor while I am typing this blog is just enough motivation to get her little (or should I say plump) legs moving!! I hope you all have a great memorial day weekend!

April Blogging

These are all the posts I meant to do but was too busy to actually put it down in writing. I will post the pictures and titles, any creative writing that would have gone along with it will have to be left unsaid! Oh well, what is it they say, a picture is worth thousand words...

Basil Part Deux
Where's Basil?

There she is!

Opening Day 2009

Girl's Night Out

Dude's Night Out

We each took our kids out on a date. We both took them to the fish fry but ate separately, then Ronni and I went to ride the train at Merle Hay and play at the play place and Tim and Peyton went to look at animals at Pet Smart and then Daddy toys at Best Buy and then Peyton toys at Target, where he got to pick out a cool car! It was a good time hanging out with the kids!

"He Looks Like a DAD!"

Go Cubs Go Go Cubs Go

Hey Chicago, what do you say? Cubs are gonna win today!

Best Friends (no, not twins!)

Great Weather!

Ronni at 21?

Golfing with a Pro

Fun with Forts and Felicity

Yesterday my children built a fort, one of their favorite things to do with Daddy, all by themselves. It was a pretty decent fort, for being made by a 3 and 4 year old but we had to take most of it down because we had borders last night (Pat and Sarah were passing through on their way to Sarah's grandma's funeral). So we put up a make shift one instead with some remnant blankets and sheets and Peyton actually got to sleep inside of the fort. I tell you, it was the smoothest bedtime ever. Peyton did not come out of his room once. This morning when he woke up he sad to me, "Mom, I went to bed really, really well last night!" Yes you did buddy, good job. Then this morning, they were still pretty excited about it, showing both of our guests their awesome fort. Pat and Sarah, the troopers they are, climbed right on in... (pat with broken neck and all!) This is a picture of Sarah with the kids... But that is not the end of their fort making career, after all what little kid couldn't use a fort of their own.Felicity was a little unsure at first but we removed the blankets to find she loved her new fort! The kids absolutley love their little sister, they are a little too hands on for my taste though. I walked in from the kitchen to find this picture... The story pretty much went like this: "Veronica! It is not a choice to pick up your sister and put her on the princess chair, you could hurt her- but quick go sit next to her and get your brother so I can get a cute snapshot!"