My lil' cowpokes

These three cowpokes have been obsessed with cowboy/cowgirl hats today. I had a meeting this morning at 8:00, so Lisa and her girls came over to get Cobe and Katie on the bus. Thanks a TON Lisa! She then took Brooks and Sadie back to her house after dropping Aliyah off at school. I picked B, S and Maya up when I was done with my meeting and brought them back to my house so Lisa could go to work. Then she'll take them back to her house when I go back to work this afternoon. Whew! I told the kids it would be a day of musical houses. Literal Brooks asked that I play music at our house when it is time to go back to Lisa's. haha






This picture below is Sadie a few days ago. She was calling Presley over and over asking her to come to "my house." She has a semi-real conversation almost daily with "Presley" too which cracks me up. Wait until this child gets a hold of a real phone- she is like her mama- she can do some talking!

Start of a new week

Today was a good, relaxing day. Really all weekend was pretty low-key and relaxing. We spent a lot of time as a family on Saturday and Saturday night. This morning we went to Sunday School and church and then to Mary Jo's for lunch. It was delicious! Justin and Jake came home with us from her house to play. Sadie napped and the boys all played together, so I made a big pot of chili to have for this COLD week ahead. Lisa and I are starting our dinner swap again this week after a few week hiatus due to the holidays, so I made chili for our dinner and their dinner tomorrow night. I doubled the recipe, but for some reason, it made just as much as a single recipe which doesn't make a bit of sense. I never had to add extra water like I do with a single recipe, so that must have been the difference.

It is weird to me for it to be January 13th and not to have hardly any snow on the ground. I like how we keep getting snow, but then it disappears before the next snow comes. It seems to be prettier than to have piles of brown snow everywhere. Supposedly we are getting snow flurries every day this week, but who knows? I think I saw it snow today for about 30 minutes total, and that didn't stick.

This week is an unusual one for the work week. School doesn't start each day for middle and high school until 9:55. That means my class doesn't start until 1:20. Thursday, I agreed to work from 10:00-1:00 to help out my principal with a project he is starting up, so then I don't have to go in on Friday at all. Good trade-off. All the kids are off on Friday for Records Day (end of the first semester), so I wouldn't have had kids at school anyway that day, but at least I don't have to go in.

Saturday is Cobe's birthday. I can't believe I 'll be the mother of an 8 year old! He seems much more grown up than 8 in a lot of ways. He thinks he is so independent already, that I dread his teenage years. He is obsessed with sports these days. His favorite thing to do is watch football with his dad. Or play football on the PS2. Or read the sports page about football. Or toss the football with Ryan in the den. Get the idea? He is all about football. Cobe really thrives on being interested in something that his dad is obsessed about too- so Packers fans they are- through and through. They are both on cloud 9 that the Packers won the play-off game yesterday. It is really cute to watch how much he emulates and adores Ryan. We aren't going to have a party this year. Cobe got to have a 4, 5, 6, and 7 year old birthday party, so this year, we are taking a break. Great Wolf Lodge on the 26th is going to be his birthday celebration/party. I kept thinking he would be upset about it, but he hasn't even brought up having a party since before Christmas. I think his birthday has snuck up on both of us- it does that every year since it is so close to the holidays.

Tomorrow night is BSF- I missed last week due to still being sick. And before that we had 3 weeks off for Christmas, so I am really excited to go back tomorrow night. I talked to my leader tonight, and she is just a really sweet lady. She did say that we would have a double group tomorrow night which I am not thrilled about, but oh well, I am still happy to be going back. I loved the lesson this week and can't wait to talk about it. Cobe says he is not going back. The same thing happened last year after break. He went every Monday night before break (just like this year), and then boom- he has a few weeks off and he thinks he doesn't like it. Frustrating! He was really enjoying it this year too- he just can't remember that. I am not going to push him. He has 2 Monday night soccer games this season, so I know he would miss those nights anyway. We never did his lesson for tomorrow night, so I guess I'll let him miss tomorrow night and reassess the situation next week. I just feel like he learns so, so much- WAY more than he has ever learned in Sunday School, Children in Worship or Wednesday nights at church put together. He can just apply so much that he learns in BSF. I think by typing this out, it has convinced me to make him stick with it. Maybe we can get his lesson done tomorrow after school and I'll make him go at least tomorrow night to see if he can get back into the swing of things. I know he'll fight me, but it may be worth it.

I scheduled Brooks a haircut for Tuesday night. His hair looked so cute after Lisa cut it last time and now it is too long again. I vowed to keep his hair cut because he looked so much better with the cut that she gave him, and it is now to the shaggy point. Cobe is going to keep growing his out- he is looking kind of bushy, but for some reason, I can handle his long because he has such great curls. And poor Sadie, she has some thin hair. She has stopped breaking it off- she still twirls it, but she doesn't knot it anymore. Girlfriend had on the cutest little outfit at church this morning, and then...... her hair sort of ruins the look. She looked like a cross between Donald Trump and Farrah Faucett. I wish I had taken a picture- it would be easier to see than explain.
After her bath tonight, her hair looked adorable with her curls, but once she sleeps on it, it is a mess again.

Wednesday is church again at night- my turn to teach so I need to look over the lesson sometime before then. We also have a meeting with our builder in the a.m. So once again, I feel like it will be a busy week. I can't even think as far ahead to Thursday to know what we have that day and night. At some point, I need to fit in a night where we can have Ryan's parents and grandparents over for cake at least for Cobe's birthday.... maybe that will be Friday night.

I am going to go now and see if Ryan is done watching Transformers- one of his new movies. I did hear that it was a good flick- but I was not in the mood for a movie like that tonight. One of these days, I am going to get industrious and make an alphabetized list of all of Ryan's movie titles and the kids' movie titles. I think it would be handy to know exactly what movies we actually own. Call me a nerd- but I like doing things like that. :-)
Hope everyone has a good, safe week!

2 Quick Pics

Lynette emailed me these two photos that she took of my kids today.

No news yet

Still no phone call from the people who came through our house this past week. I am still hopeful, but not as hopeful. :-)

Seems like we had another busy week. Thursday night we went to a party at the F.O.P- it was put on by the sargeants of the Holland branch. It was more fun than I thought it would be. They cooked hot dogs, brats, and burgers and everyone brought something as well. I had felt so sick all day that day, so I didn't eat much, but the food was really good. We sat with the Converses and the Van Lieres so we laughed a lot that night. The guys (and gals) Ryan works with are a lot of fun to be around and such easy-going people. The Boeves were watching our kids, so we left just before 9:00 so we could go get them. The roads were HORRIBLE driving to pick them up so I was very hopeful for a delay or no school the next day. And, we did end up getting a 2 hour delay out of it. Yay! When we get a delay, I only have to work from 1:20-2:45, so I love those days. I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep once I watched the tube to see the delay. Cobe came in around 8:15 freaking out that he was late for school. The other 2 slept in as well so it was a nice morning. We had to postpone our meeting with our builder since we had all 3 kids home, so we are going to meet with him this Wednesday instead. He may be interested in buying our home. I would rather sell it to these other people b/c I know we'd get more money out of the deal, but at this point, if they don't come through, then we may just sell it to Meiste. He has to have his investors go through it and agree to buy it, so it definitely isn't a done deal. At least it is another option at this point.

Last night we ate dinner then Lynette and I went shopping. We went to Old Navy for their 75% off clearance sale. I got 2 shirts for Cobe and 9-10 things for Sadie- all for a whopping total of $39 bucks! It was trashed in there and I wasn't in the mood to pick through everything. But the the things I did get were cute- nothing cost more than 3 dollars. I find myself buying just to buy at sales like that because I think I am missing out on deals otherwise. Hopefully everything will fit when it should or it really wasn't a deal anyway. We went to Target after that because they had toys for 75% off. Lynette and I had a cart full. Little by little I took quite a bit out of the cart by the time we got to the register, but I still got some good deals. I got a couple of birthday presents for the boys and a few things to have on hand for birthday parties.

This morning, Cobe had a soccer game at 9:00. His team won 7-2 and Cobe scored 2 goals. He played really well- Ryan was so proud of him. I can hardly even watch the game with the other 2 running around, so I never catch his good plays like Ryan does. Oh well- I pretend like I see every move he makes out there. Cobe went to Landon's after the game AND Lynette offered to keep the other 2 as well for Ryan and I to run a few errands. How nice was that!!!! We went to Don's to pick up a Webkins from the Hains' for Cobe's birthday, to Target for a return (and OF COURSE RYAN GOT MOVIES WHILE WE WERE THERE!!!!!!!! 3 new ones to be exact!), and to the Chevy place and GMC place to look more closely at vehicles. The Tahoes are just too small in the back. No room whatsoever to haul of our stuff when we travel. So we nixed that idea. The Suburbans and Yukons are plenty big, but I think I have come full circle and decided to get another van. I don't think I would enjoy filling up those tanks with gas, nor driving such a big vehicle. I'm glad we took our time and looked around so we didn't make a rash decision and get stuck with something that we didn't really like or something that wasn't a good fit for our family. I can get a new van for half the cost of a new Suburban/Yukon too- another great selling point. So now we have some more looking to do, because I don't know what kind of van I want- I wasn't thrilled with the new Odysseys unless I can custom order one with bucket seats in the 2nd row. We'll see....

Sadie is down for a nap, Brooks is resting on the couch, Cobe is still at Landon's, and Ryan is watching sports in the basement, so I am going to go and enjoy some free time. Have a good weekend!

Promising

My email has been down once again all day (I can check it at work, but not from home for some odd reason), so that is always frustrating.

I finished up the last few things this morning after Brooks and Cobe headed off for school- made the beds, emptied the last trash, etc. We left the house about 9:30 and headed to V's for donuts, then to Lynette's to hang out so the house would stay clean. Sadie had fun playing with Elliot and Carson and bossing them around for awhile.

Left there, picked up Brooks and Maya and took them to Lisa's- fed them lunch there, then headed to work. When I got home at 3:00, the girl who wanted to see the house and her father were already waiting to come through the house. I let them in and in about 10 minutes, her husband came as well. They were a very nice couple from Pennsylvania. They have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. She was a high school English teacher before they moved here, and he works for Fifth Third. They are in an apartment and have it leased until May 1st. She asked questions like when could we be out of the house, so I took that as a good sign. She said she is sick of renting and wanted to do something soon. She said she had driven by our house multiple times and really liked the neighborhood- she wanted to know which houses had kids and what the ages were. She asked if we would leave our play equipment in the back. Soooooooooo, from all of her specific questions, she made me think she was very interested. The husband went around by himself and didn't ask any questions- it definitely seemed like the wife and her father were the ones making the decision. I feel hopeful that they at least liked the house and seemed very interested. Of course, nothing might happen, but I do feel that this may be our best lead yet. She said they would think it over and give me a call. Hmmm.... we'll see! We have a meeting with our builder Friday morning anyway about some other stuff, so it would be nice if we could tell him to dig the hole Friday afternoon. :-) One day it'll happen- I know it will in God's timing, not mine, so I am content to wait until that time.

I am in the process of making a jello salad for a potluck Ryan and I are going to tomorrow night for the police officers. The branch is providing hot dogs and hamburgers and everyone had to sign up for what they were bringing. We had church tonight so I got a late start making it. It isn't until 6:30 tomorrow night, but I will be busy watching kids tomorrow. Tomorrow I start watching Jen's boys on Thursdays while Sharon goes to her job from 10:30-12:30. Brooks and Sadie will have so much fun playing with Josh and Jake and it is usually easier when they are here- keeps my kids entertained. So, I'll have a free morning, then a busy time until leaving for work.

Hopefully the next time I post, I will be posting that we have an offer on our house. So if I don't post for awhile, you'll know I'm still waiting for a phone call. :-)

Great Week So Far

It is shaping up to be a great week- Sunday we had a good family day. We went to Century Lanes and went bowling with the Boeves. I sat out- still not enough energy to bowl. The kids had fun though. Brooks got a 109!!!! Ryan got a 120 and didn't pass Brooks' score until the last frame. We left there and went to Hudsonville to look at cars. Nothing on the lot that we were sent to by a friend who thinks he can get us a good deal. So now we have the guy looking for what we want. Sort of scary since we don't know what we really want. :-) After that, we kept on until we got to Grandville. We had an early dinner at TGIFriday's at the mall. I still don't have much of an appetite, but the food was good and there wasn't a wait. There was a long table of a family that had two soldiers that were shipping out to Iraq that night in our same room. It makes you appreciate them for what they are doing for us and made me thankful that it wasn't someone I knew heading off to war.

Yesterday, not much going on. Back to school for the kids and back to work for me. I was whipped after working, so I skipped BSF. We all just hung out, made brownies, watched football, etc. Today I went to work and then headed home so Ryan could go work out. I got a phone call from a lady who wants to see our house when I got home. So she is coming through tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. You'll never guess what Ryan and I have done all night?????? Yep- cleaned! Even though it is a pain, it is so nice to get it done all in one fell swoop. He said, "Even when this lady comes through and doesn't want to buy our house, at least it is clean from all of your sick germs." You gotta love Ryan- he and I both know that we clean for naught. Oh well- it's done now. All that is left is the upstairs bath tubs which I leave to him. We actually even made it to Logan's tonight for dinner before cleaning. We used our gift card from Jennifer (thanks again- it was NICE not to have to cook!!!!), so it was a win-win situation. Free dinner and we didn't mess up the kitchen. The kids just love that place!

Ryan was mopping the kitchen floor the whole time I have been blogging. So I am off to do the last few little things that need doing so I don't feel too guilty. Adios!

My Date

Well, this is my date.
Brooks and I went to Logan's, had a great meal, then headed to Target for a prize. He picked out this costume. He kills me because he always wants costumes. He wears them for about 10 minutes tops at a time though. Oh well- it is what he wanted. He saw his three triplet buddies from church at Target, so all-in-all, it was a perfect night. For both of us.

We skipped church due to my horrific coughing spasms that cannot be controlled. We have had a lazy morning so far. Cobe is catching up on some homework reading right now. We are going to head out and bowl a game or two this afternoon, then on to the car lot to look for a car again. Back to the regular work/school week tomorrow after having off 2 glorious weeks!