Growing Up

It has been an exciting day around here for the kids and a day that has let mom and dad know that our kids keep on growing even when we would like them to stay little.



The kids had their check-up/well-child doctor appointments today. It always amazes me when the doctor goes through his list of age-appropriate tasks. Most of the time my kids have accomplished every single one of those tasks. Today was much the same, but what surprised me was how well behaved and cooperative the kids were for the doctor.



They answered the doctors questions and actually made small talk with him (Micah asked him who was his favorite race car driver. LOL!) My little girl who never sits still, sat perfectly still while the doctor examined her. My little guy flinched only a little when the doctor burned/froze a wart of his hand and then cried on for a little bit when he had to have 4 shots (stopped crying as soon as stickers were offered).



I was so proud of the kids that we went out for ice cream and had a grand time while we ate it.



The bigger news (real evidence that our little guy is growing up) is that Micah has had a loose tooth for the last couple of weeks. Micah and I went to the dentist about 3 weeks ago and the dentist pointed out that his lower front teeth were a little wiggly (barely moving, but they were). Well, Micah has been telling everyone about it and had been messing with it quite a bit. Add on top of that a few round of sweet corn and that tooth was moving quite a bit, but not ready to come out.

Remember the carrots that we planted in the garden? Well we picked a few more last night. (I was planning on doing a post about the big, the little and the strange with this picture of the carrots, but I think it fits here as well.) See that big carrot on the left? Well it was at least an inch in diameter and that is the one that Micah picked to eat tonight at supper. A few bites on the side of his mouth and then a bite with those loose front teeth.

Needless to say, one of the teeth did not survive the carrot and came loose. Panic ensued as Micah had no idea what was happening, he was crying and carrying on until he got to the bathroom and could see what the hole in the bottom row of his teeth. Then it was all laughter and giggles.

I am quite certain that the tooth was not quite ready to come out due to all the bleeding, but it certainly was an exciting night.
Becca was really feeling left out of all the excitement and she was quite sure that some of her teeth were loose as well. So here is a picture of here with ALL her teeth.

This last picture really has nothing to do with loose teeth or doctor's appointments, but it is really cute. This is how Nick found the kids on Sunday afternoon after their naps. The didn't sleep this way, but it sure was cute to hear them laughing and giggling together (even though I was trying to sleep!)

Backyard Baseball

Last night after we good home from a yummy (but greasy) supper from our local restaurant, Nick and the kids went to the back yard to play a little baseball. Nick would toss the ball for the kids and see if they could hit the ball. Micah is getting so good that Nick has started tossing overhand to him!

Tossing to Micah.

Big Swing and a hit! I am starting to get worried about the neighbor's windows. :)

Keeping our eyes on the ball.

I love the expression on her face in this picture!

Swing and miss, but keeping my eyes on my daddy!


Letting daddy teach me how to hold the bat.

I am thinking that Nick is enjoying the backyard baseball and I am sure that there are little league games in our future!

The Tackle

By request here is a video that Nick took of my sister and I while playing ladder ball on Friday night. Sorry that it is sideways. You will have to talk to Nick about that one.

Rookie Camping

Okay, so I am starting to think that this could possibly be the longest post I have done yet. So you may want to block off a significant amount of time before diving into this one! :)

We have had the privilege of camping during the last week and trust me it was not without excitement. Nick's family really didn't camp as kids and it has been since I was in high school that I have camped. We camped using my parent's old pop-up camper that was purchased sometime in the early 80's. So it is not new. We had do some minor repairs before we left, but really no big deal.

We pulled out last week Sunday afternoon and got the camper all situated and level in our site before we started cranking it up. We were about 3-6 inches from it being "up" when it stuck. I told Nick just to push a little harder, he did and SNAP! We crawl under the camper (on gravel, of course) to check out what we had done and discovered that we had broke a pin in the cranking shaft. Little did we know that was the least of our troubles. We called my sister and brother-in-law to come help and my in-laws showed up hoping to see the camper all set up. Between the 6 of us all we could do was get it set up enough so that it wouldn't get wet inside, but not enough to sleep safely. So we packed up some clothes and went to sleep at my in-laws for the night.

The next morning my dad came and declared that we would get this taken care of. After 4 hours it was determined a ball-bearing the size of a bee-bee had been broken or crushed and was causing the mechanism to seize up. It was just unfortunate that it happen the moment we wanted to camp. Dad rigged up a come-a-long and a safety chain and we were were set to camp!

Our campsite on Monday morning.

My dad and Nick under the camper trying to figure out what was the problem.

Becca and Micah spent the entire "repair" time playing on the campground park. The both thought that the park was the best part of vacation!

Camping improved greatly from this point on. Another difficulty was when Micah threw one of the ladder ball, balls into a tree near our campsite. Since the game didn't belong to us, Nick pulled out all the stops to get it out of the tree. The kid's soccer ball was the first attempt and then a long stick was used. When they failed he took down the clothes line and attached the chain that he had been using to lock up the bikes.

Nick threw the chain in the tree many times. It got a little scary a few times when the chain would get stuck, require a little extra force to be removed and then come flying at his head!
As you can see he was successful. We actually ended up with another set as well as a previous camper had apparently had the same issue as us! :)


Here are the kids playing on their bed in the camper one morning. I probably didn't want to have to clean them up before breakfast and thus made them stay in the camper until after breakfast. The first part of the week was warm and beautiful!

Nap time was a little interesting, but after Becca didn't get a nap the 1st two days we discovered that she really, really, really does still need those naps. Here is Nick in one of our attempts to get her to lay down. Picture like this with Rebecca are few and far between!

We didn't get to the beach as much as we had hoped. Nick and his sister Tricia took the kids on Monday afternoon when I had to go to work for a few hours. It was warm and sunny on Monday. We didn't get back until Thursday and by then it was cloudy and cool. The kids still got in the water, but I barely got out of my shorts and t-shirt. The kids and Nick had a ton of fun playing the the sand.

After playing like this in the sand, Becca had sand in some of the worst places imaginable. She didn't seem to mind!

Here is Micah, Race (a beach buddy) and Nick showing off their river. (Nick thinks that they look like a AT&T "More Bars in More Places" commercial!)

Here is what happens when you decide to let your kids splash in a little water back at the campsite and then you want to make it useful! Bath time in a Rubbermaid tote! The kids look happy in these pictures, but the water was a little chilly and they didn't care for that!

Friday morning was cold when we woke up! (Actually we woke up in the night and knew that it was cold already!) Here is a picture of our campsite. You can tell that it is cold because Micah is just sitting by the camp fire.

We enjoyed trying our hand at cooking over the fire. Here is our bacon and french toast on Friday morning. Micah was supervising the effort.

A trip up the Cordova tower on a windy Friday morning. The kids loved being up so high and Micah was so proud that he made it the whole way up and down all by himself! Nick carried Rebecca, but she took every step on the way down. (It was a long trip down.)

Friday night we had a bunch our family to the campground for pizza pies. It was unbelievable cold for being the middle of July. As you can see from the pictures we all had sweatshirt and jeans on and sat as close the camp fire as we could! Several games of ladder ball where played and a good time was had by all!

Trying to untangle the ladder balls.

Enjoying the warmth of the fire!

The week was a good time and we are hoping that the part to fix the camper comes before Labor Day when we want to take the camper out again! Now we just have to survive the mounds of laundry that seem to be taking over the laundry room! LOL!

Overwhelming

The title of this post clearly explains how life has been around here lately. Since our trip to Cedar Rapids (Yes I will post more about that sometime) life has been crazy. We came home physically exhausted from the trip. The week that we return was crazy busy and then Becca ended up getting her finger pinched which required 3 doctor's visits that ended with 2 stitches. For a week she required that we keep the finger covered otherwise it was "hurting, mommy!" She got the stitches out the same day that Nick's grandpa passed away. Not only was that 5 days of emotional draining our anticipated trip to NW Iowa had to be postponed (not that we would have had it any other way). The day after grandpa's funeral Becca started to not feel well and came down with a fever and some of the ickiest dirty pants I have seen in a long time. Finally today I believe that she is starting to feel better, but now we are trying to get ready for our first camping trip as a family. So much to think about and remember! On top of all of this events at work have made time there full of "excitement" as well. (I am actually going to have to go to work for a bit during my vacation.)

So many of the events could not be controlled and so there is really no where to place blame. There are just times in your live when you have to step up to the plate time after time after time and hope that eventfully you will get a chance to sit in the dugout for an inning or two or three....

Someone told me to take it hour by hour, but even that sometimes seems to be more than I can handle. I am having a hard time believing that I finally sat down to do this post! I am truly hoping that our week camping will not be stressful and that I will be able to put my feet up and relax! (and that once we come back home things will be a little quieter!)

In Memory

On Thursday morning, July 2, Nick's Grandpa Ver Heul went to be with the Lord. He had suffered greatly from emphysema for over 15 years and while we miss him greatly, we know that he is no longer suffering and for that we are thankful. We were able to visit with Grandpa & Grandma on Tuesday night and had a wonderful visit with them. We are thankful that Grandpa had clarity of thought and mind through the end and was a joy to visit and converse with. Grandpa we will miss you, but we know that you are in a better place and for that we are grateful.

Grandpa's Birthday March 2007

Giving Grandpa hugs & kisses was always important because we didn't know when the Lord would call him home. (Spring 2007)

Grandpa had a Tetris game near his side for many, many years. The kids always liked to mess with it when they came over. I am not sure who is teaching who in this picture! :) (July 2008)

Becca was Grandpa's favorite doctor! He always asked for his check-up when he saw the doctor's kit. (Fall 2008)

Reading Time. Becca always wanted Grandpa to read Noah's Ark. And he did every time that she asked him - even less than 36 hours before died. (Fall 2008)

Christmas 2008. We were all surprised when Grandpa lived to celebrate this last Christmas with us. Grandpa was quite certain that Christmas 2007 was going to be his last one. However he lived for another 18 months much to his surprise, I believe.

We visited Grandpa & Grandma on the day that my sister Melinda got married so that they could see the kids all dressed up and lookin good!

Easter 2009. The kids had their Easter Egg hunt at Grandpa & Grandma's so that they could get in on the excitement.

These pictures and the memories are one of the reasons that we moved back home. Our children will now know one of the many people who played an important role in our lives. Grandpa, we love you and miss you.

Saving Our Pennies

So I have been trying to save a few dollars (or even pennies) around here these days. There are many ways that we are working on this. Here are just a few of them!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we planted a small garden in my parent's backyard. Between the rain and busy schedules we have had a terrible time keeping the weeds down, but the garden it still producing. Tonight was the first night that we enjoyed some of the produce from that garden.
A single serving of green beans and one little carrot (that I forgot to take a picture of).

Micah was so excited that he helped me clean the beans, but then he wasn't so excited about eating them. (They tasted different than the canned ones from last year.) However he did finish the little carrot in record time and is anxious for the carrots to get bigger so that he has more carrot to eat the next time we pick one!

I have also tried my hand at some new recipes instead of buying items. I made some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and tried my hand at some buns. The muffins turned out great. The buns not so well. (Recipe for the muffins can be found at: http://http//www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/06/baking-day-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins.html

This is my favorite money saving item I have found recently. About 18 months ago Becca got a hold of my glasses and twisted them all up. Not a huge deal because I don't wear my glasses that often, but when I want them I really miss them. Not wanting to spend a ton of money on a pair, I haven't gotten a new pair yet. Recently I found and post on one of the money saving blogs that I follow about a one day deal on a pair of glasses at Costal Contacts. I checked it out and discovered that I could get a pair of glasses for just over $15. I was a little skeptical, but decided that I couldn't go to wrong for $15 so I went ahead and ordered them. Still wondering if the deal was for real. Well... they came in the mail today!Not to bad for $15!

Last but not least here is a picture of the kiddos. This is one of the fun playing together moments and yes this is what Becca's hair looks like at the end of the day. It is just so hard to teach a two-year-old how to keep her hair looking nice! LOL!

Oh, here are some of the blogs that I have been following. Maybe they can help you save a few pennies (or even dollars!)

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/

http://www.shesaved.com/

http://budgetsavingmom.blogspot.com/

There are others out there so if you find a good one please let me know! I love a good deal!