Big Catch Up

OK, big catch up for the past few days. On Thursday we went to the new Great Lakes Salt Company. I like Jimmy having a business that is actually close enough for us to get and "check on him". Building was a little scary, but it is cheap and services it's purpose.

Yes, that is Isaac on Jimmy's shoulders.

Ash driving the machine equipment around. Such a girl:).

We have been busy. With all the snow and ice we have got, Jimmy has been crazy busy at work. We REALLY like snow..."pennies from heaven" in the words of Jimmy!! This weekend with ice, it actually got upgraded to "nickles from heaven"!

I have no idea what we did on Friday. I know we did something, but could not tell you what it was.

Saturday was Isaac's first indoor soccer game. BEYOND FABULOUS!!! He played hard, hustled, did 2 headers and scored a goal. I love watching that kid play soccer. To see him play hard with that gigantic smile on his face is priceless!! Did a little Christmas shopping and worked on the basement. And of course, went sledding!!!

Sunday was another day to Muskegon to get everything we needed to "start" to "finish" the basement. There is just something very wrong with 5 people in 1300 square feet. The extra 1300 would REALLY come in handy!!! We did manage to get 3 rooms painted and the closet. Not bad!!! Took the kids to lunch and got hot chocolate at Target...that is the Christmas thing we did :)! I also bought National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I remember watching that as a kid and thought it would be OK. I popped it into the DVD player and was driving down the road listening and ended up popping back out...not what I remember:)!!!

school...

Today I got to help in the school Christmas store. It was wonderful!!! It always is. The kids are so full of the Christmas spirit. They have just a few dollars and want to find just the right present for their family. It makes me appreciate what I have. There is always a few kids that do not have enough money to buy that "special" present that I just tell them they do. I just makes me sad that these kids care so much, I guess sad is not the right word...
If you ever get a chance to do it, I would recommend it; especially little ones.

In the Allli and Isaac's class, they are learning about different Christmas traditions around the world. It is amazing all the different things that last for weeks and weeks. Yesterday, they celebrated traditions of France. I had to bring in chocolate cake. The tradition goes something to the effect of they have a big party and serve the cake one person's cake will have a bean in it. The person with the bean in his cake is declared the king of the party. For the record, if a girl has the bean, she is still the king, not the queen. anyway, Isaac got the bean and was the KING OF THE PARTY!!! He was so excited. He left his classroom and found me in the school store just to tell me/show me! Love that little boy!!!

Sledding, baby!

Tuesday was another sledding day at the TenBrink's and we got to bring Andrew along. Like I said before, we don't get to see the Stratton/Tallquist kids that much, so when Andrew did not want to go to the basketball game, I was thrilled to have him come over. I was not sure he would want to sled (not that much of an out door kid), but he seemed to have a great time. It is VERY difficult to ride on the back of a 4-wheeler, trying to take pictures in the dark. So the pictures are not the best but the laughing sound in unforgettable!!!

Thanks Jennie, again, for reminding me to find something special about each day in December. It has been really nice to do!!

Dad's home

Monday was pretty uneventful...until 6 o'clock hit. Jimmy walked in the door and angels sang in my kids world. They were thrilled to have him home. He almost did not make it. In Atlanta he had to run to make his next leg of his flight and missed the turn and kept running in the wrong direction. Adam and Dale tried to yell for him and called him 9 times, but Jimmy was on a mission to run in the wrong direction:)! They tried to hold the plane for him and gave him 2 minutes to get there. He got there with 30 seconds to spare!!
Dad being home meant one thing...SLEDDING!!!! The kids could not wait any longer. Twenty minutes after being home, I put his dirty clothes in the wash and he was outside pulling the kids. Life was back to normal!! Screaming kids, laughing dad and me doing laundry, yeah I would say that is just about right:)!

Sunday December 5

The first Sunday in December is our annual "Mom family Christmas". It was rather small this year, but is always nice to see the family and the new babies that are born throughout the year. 5 new babies in the family this year!
Crazy, my baby is losing her teeth and other people are just beginning...the circle of life:)!

Ash and Poppy. She loves her Poppy so much, not as much as her food, but loves him just the same.

LOVE!!! Such a handsome man and a mom that loves him so much!!

The family photo, minus the Dad because he was too busy racing:)!

It is nice to have tradition and family. I am very blessed!!

Mama Love

Christmas Program

OK, anyone who has followed my rule and blocked out last years Christmas program, let me recap. I have a problem visualizing. When something is in my head it must be that way. It can not be changed. Most of the time, it does not turn out that way and I am disappointed. I am working on changing that. OK, who am I kidding? It is never going to change.
Anyway, last year was our VERY first church Christmas program. Jimmy was racing and I was ready with 3 cameras. My family was there, Jimmy's family was there, even Shelly and her family were there...I was ready, proud mom with a vision. Let's just say the vision did not happen and Isaac is lucky to be alive to hear this story today!!!

This year, however, I got "shy" kids. Oh how wonderful shy kids are!!! I have NEVER had a shy kid before. They are so calm and well behaved!!!!! Seriously, the kids did FANTASTIC!!! Isaac kept his hands to himself and even tried to sing along. He said he had stage fright:)!!

Ashley forgot to smile. She was "concentrating" on being good:)!

Yes, in case you missed it in the last photo, that would be my daughter flossing her teeth with a rubber band. Can't win them all!!!

He did really well until the end, but this was the worst thing he did all service. I consider that a HUGE SUCCESS!!!

Good Will

Not to be confused with the store!! Today, I did something nice to help others. Actually it really was no big deal, but I have to have something Christmasy so I am going with a good deed. Keith had to work late and Jodi had a date with Caleb so I took Kyle. We played 100 games of Old Maid and had a good time just being. It is always fun to watch "both sets of twins" play together. With Kyle living next door you would think he would be around a lot, but he really isn't. It really got me in the Christmas spirit. Just enjoying family, playing with my kids. Taking it all in slwoly. Thanks Kyle, Allison, Isaac and Ashley!!!

Kaos Motorsports

Sending a lot of love and hopes of success to Kaos Motorsports as they attempt Snowball Derby again this year in Florida. Yes, Florida. Very jealous, but it makes me feel a little better that it is in the 40's. Wish I could see Kelley but she is still HOURS away from Jimmy. Last year they did not farewell when John forgot to turn in his first lap. Anyone who knows anything about racing will know that you MUST turn to go around the track!!!! When you don't you hit the wall. NOT GOOD:)!!!

With back to back championships under their CRA belt, I feel this year is going to be GREAT!!

Nothing better than this on the finish line!! Well, John may feel different.
(yes, that would be Rebecca at the races...all American Girl dolls go to races, right? Maybe that will the next girl of the year...Racing Reagan!)

Good luck Jimmy and John!!

Day 2

Well, I actually did something Christmasy today. We put the ornaments on the tree!!! With the house is its crazy state and not knowing where ANYTHING is, Jimmy was kind enough to buy me some new ones; pretty red, green and gold ones. Lovely!! We also got caught back up on the advent calendar. The kids were very sad getting 2 pieces of candy instead of one:)!

A couple of pictures of the "process". For some reason, my camera has been having issues. It has lead a very full life with a lot of use. Things are starting to break on it and for some reason the focus is having some issues. Oh well, still love it!! The best Christmas present e.v.e.r.!!!

Kisses to all and to all a good night!!!

For you Jennie

I do not have a picture for today's post and it is going to be short and sweet!!

I was having coffee with my friend Jennie yesterday and she was talking her December daily and committing to writing something everyday for the month of December. I am hoping that it makes me take the time to breath and enjoy every moment of the great season. I love Christmas and everything about it. I start early just to enjoy the moments, but this year like EVERY year, things are spinning out of control. The basement is not done, the house is not decorated, I have no place to put presents (so I can not wrap them or hide them). Life is just a little crazy, but it would not be Camp Chaos without a little crazy.

So anyway, yesterday was the first day of December, the first day of enjoying the season. WE DID NOTHING!!! We did not even open our advent drawer. Not a good start!! OK, let me see if I can put a positive spin on this. We had our first snowfall of the season, well, the first snow that actually stayed. Very pretty. Very Christmas like. I did buy ornament holders to put the bulbs on the tree (yes, the tree that has been up for 5 days without any ornaments!). Allison skipped ballet to go to Muskegon so I could buy snow pants and boots for the kids. All three grew again this year, imagine that:)!!!

So that is what I did...I purchased the hangers for the tree and prevented illness on Christmas. All in all a successful start!!!!

Life...

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life, the facts of life...

My FAVORITE show growing up (on a side note, waiting patiently for the "older" seasons to come out on DVD and watch them with my girls, LOVED that show!), The Facts Of Life. There was just something about that show I really liked.

The theme song seems to be playing in my head a lot lately. It really is true of my everyday life. You do have to take the good with the bad...I am very blessed that I have no "major" bad, just things that make me a little sad like the kids starting school again. I always get emotional this time of year. It is like time slaps me right in the face. The kids act older, look older...ARE older. It makes me feel like I missed my opportunity to "be the mom". I am always the mom, but the older I get the further away them seem and I like to give myself a VERY hard time about working and not staying home. I like to stress about things I can not change. It is great fun.

At the request of my lovely sister, Jodi, I am going to start my blog again. I am going to take the good, the bad and the ugly of my life and treasure it for what it is...MINE, all mine!!

Here we go...

Isaac...

I also realized that I have not posted any photos of the other two playing soccer...so that will follow!! BUT, I had to share my current favorite soccer photo of Isaac. Not the best "picture" (lots I would change about it, like getting WAY closer!), but Isaac's face is the BEST!!! He has taken a lovin' to soccer and his mommy has taken a lovin' to watching him!!!!

Ash the soccer player

I realized that I never posted pictures of Ashley as "the soccer player". She has done quite well this year. Hopefully, it will continue. She is not afraid to run after the ball (and take it from her own team mates!). She isn't too aggressive, but does get the idea of playing hard. She has scored a few goals, some against "good" goalies and even one against her own team!!! After a few tears, we did find out those do not count; good thing!! Over all the season has been a lot of fun. I am actually sad that this year is almost over. Just one game left!!!

So, here is my youngest soccer star...

attempting to turn the ball...



going down the field...


hanging out with her dad, she does get a little territorial over him at the games...wonder where she gets that from!!

trying so hard to kick the ball while in goalie that she missed the ball...classic!!

she got it that time :)!

My baby, the goalie!!