Let's Play Anne of Green Gables

The girls had a tent sleepover recently.

I was pretending not to hear all the silly ideas

they came up with.

Solomon graciously allowed them

to borrow his new inflatable boat

at which point someone proclaimed

"I get to be Dianna

so I can pass out and throw up".

What's new?

Well, let me see...

And, oh yeah

And Spicey, Franchesca's new kitten

Hey, we didn't name him Solomon for nothing

Some recent words from Solomon that I will ponder for a lifetime:



"Mama, is our house like the whole world to a ladybug?"

"My coach said we're having a SKIMPAGE this week against another team"


And, while sitting on my lap listening to a story he began laughing and said:

"Cool, I just went gas, did you feel that?"

I tried explaining that he would say "I HAD gas" but he was too busy rolling on the floor in fits of gut wrenching laughter.

Spring Sports

Solomon has started practice for Little League. It is his first official "thing" off of our property.



Doug moved him up to the 7-8 year old team as he felt he was overqualified for t-ball. He will start the season as a 6 year old and looks smallish compared to some but boy can he run the bases.


He enjoyed trying on Nathan's new dirt bike boots when they arrived at the door. He did have a bit of a sizing issue (mens size 11).

We initially thought these were baseballs out in our swamp until Nathan followed some geese close enough to find they were GOOSE EGGS! AJ trekked out with the camera and putting her very life on the line, got some up close pics of them. She discredits my advise about what a mad mamma goose may do.

Canine Cake

Lily just turned 1!

It seems not that long ago we were comlaining about the hot temps, outside behind Harbor Lights School, watching her romp with her 7 brothers and sisters as we tried to imagine which one would be perfect for us.

Another year...

She told Adrianna that she wanted

pizza and Rainbow Chip cupcakes.

Another birthday with no

homemade cake.

Imagine a dog wanting a cakemix.

Being that it WAS her birthday

we bought the mix.

Here she is drooling over her pizza (frozen)

waiting for the ok to eat.

Here she waits patiently for her release to devour her cupcake.

Sugar anyone?

My mom has started to show the girls some tricks she learned from a cake decorating class.

Here, Easter cupcakes were the canvas on which to begin to practice. Unlimited colors of frosting, shapes and sizes of tips and bowls filled with bunnies, jelly beans, Hershey kisses and peanut M&M lay before them. How much fun was that?

We actually had to cut the lesson short as someone (?) developed a tummy ache. She thinks it may have been too much sugar. Ya think?

"I Thought Spring Was Warm"- AJ

Adrianna has been lamenting over the harsh truths of Spring. Gray skies. Muddy yards. Rushing Wind. Rocks and sticks waiting to be picked up.

I shared some of my motherly wisdom with her a few days ago when she just "couldn't get warm, no matter what".

Here she is sporting my sleeping hat while working on her typing. She was pleasantly surprised at how much heat can be held in by a simple cotton hat.

In Memory

Oliver died today.

He was Franchesca's cat.

He was kind, gentle and gorgeous.

Keep on Truckin'

The girls and I drove the truck, pulling a horse trailer, to Niles on Saturday to pick up this little girl


Isn't she adorable? Her name is Lady.

We started the trip crossing the Kalamazoo River with a semi on our left side and a too-short railing on our right. After sweating that one out I decided I could handle anything else the trip could throw at us. Doug offered to drive us down but I needed a challenge and he always has too much to do.

She is so small we couldn't even tie her into the trailer and made several stops to check on her and feed her a few treats. She spent the first day feeling nervous and unsure but by day 2 was following us around, nickering when we first enter the barn and her personality was beginning to shine through. She is perfect for AJ.We still have Lady and Misty seperated thought they can touch noses and smell each other. This weekend we will open the gate and see how they do.

Misty is beginning to lose her winter coat, with much help from Franchesca. Here she is still needing a trip to the salon.

Oh and on the subject of Franchesca, does she have some straight teeth or what?

Multi Purpose Tool

Solomon lost his 1st tooth yesterday

He has been impatiently waiting for the day.

He was behind the couch

with some Playmobile guys

using his teeth

to pull their hair and hats off

when "out flew something white".

When he showed me

and I confirmed that indeed

he pulled his tooth out,

he began sobbing.

The realities of

growing up

are somtimes heartwrenching.

Where Has She Been?

Meet Misty.

She came less than 24 hours ago but already if feels as if she has been here for years.

This one has been around the block and back and is perfect for kids.

Unlike me, she gets a nice warm coat to shield her from Michigan's Torment. We spent a good amount of time today in the warm sunshine, getting to know her and trying to help her shed some of this amazing coat. She rolled in our mud right away and as you can see we only got her front half brushed out but if the weather forcast is correct we will try to give her a full bath tomorrow.

She is like a pocket pet, who will follow Franchesca around the field all day. She is the perfect size and personality. Finally.

Test

Saturday was the annual Holland Area Piano Teachers Assoc. Student Achievement Tests at Hope College. This was Franchesca's first year for the test as she has always convinced her piano teacher that she just "wasn't ready" (read: nervous). Aside from the actual performing, the sheer number of kids/parents roaming the halls going here and there is overwhelming, not to mention the start time at 8:45 a.m. Who wouldn't rather stay in bed?

So, the students are tested in 4 areas including Performance, which is tested by playing 3 different pieces, from memory while the nice (you hope) judge sits, pencil and paper in hand...

The total of each section is worth 25 points for a total of 100 points possible. I had set a goal well in advance for each of the kids, telling them that if they reached a certain total points, there would be a reward (details aren't important) but Nathan went on for days whining about how that was totally unrealistic and they would never reach that. He has reached that score in the past so I told him to ask his teacher for a hefty goal. She told him almost nobody ever gets a 100 and that the goal was indeed large but not impossible.

I need to say here that we received a large book of piano's greatest classics with our piano and that Franchesca has always loved to sit and try to teach herself from the book. She played a few for her teacher, who encouraged her to play those for the test. Theses songs are Level 7 songs. She is in Level 3. These were difficult pieces.

The morning was a breeding ground for anxiety as each student has their own time for each test, so until that time you can find a practice room or WAIT. She wouldn't read her book, do crossword puzzles, nothing to distract. It is as though she needed to feel the agony, each minute tick by; WAITING.

At the end of the day they both felt fairly good about their work. We finally got off campus just in time to get caught in the traffic of the Green Parade, barely making our way to the Good Earth for some chow to settle our nerves.

Saturday night Mrs. Koeman left a voice mail telling the kids their scores. We were amazed to hear that Franchesca got a 99 on her total and Nathan scored 96.75. They surpassed their goal. I knew they could.

Last night Doug took the girls to the 20th Annual Father/Daughter Banquet at The Pinnacle Center.
I knew I should have pinned a PBJ under Adrianna's dress for fear of her starving. They were served "chicken with grill marks on it, plain white rice and vegetables that were so soft that you could put them on the roof of your mouth and squish them there". She did have 2 dinner rolls and 2 pieces of chocolate cake. Cake always saves the day does it not?

Getting her hair even brushed out is very traumatic for Adrianna. It can easily become a battleground filled with tears, grim attitudes and threats to cut it short like Solomons (her threat, not mine). These curls took awhile and even a book couldn't distract her the entire time. Upon completion, she asked to pull it back into a pony. I countered with an offer to pull the front off her face. I was pleasantly surprised that she didn't ask to wear her mud boots.

Franchesca came home with smiles and stories of Jimmy Needham (the musician) asking his wife to marry him by sending her on a scavener hunt in an evening gown AND MUD BOOTS! through a wet field to a gazebo where he played/sang a song he wrote for her asking her to be his wife.

Nathan stayed home with Solomon last week for a bit and to pass the time, they played Monopoly. I was surprised and shocked upon returning, to hear that the younger had WON. Not that he isn't capable of playing the game, or winning but Nathan has been able to slaughter every oppponant at that game since he first learned to play. He is very aggressive in his buying and thinks of naught but victory.

Unfortunately, the present reality of housing and taxes proved to be foe that he could not escape.

Nathan has struggled to be a gracious loser but this time he handled it well and even took these pics for proof.

Nine years ago

It was 79 degrees the day that Adrianna was born.

I took the 2 "older kids", (then ony 2 and 4) to the house of a friend in downtown Holland. She lived near a park and we walked the 3 blocks to Moran Park. I still remember I had on black leggins and a black/white striped long sleeve shirt. The walk back to her house seemed to take forever in that heat and my condition. I think it was the walk back that sent me to the hospital 2 hours later.

We set records that day for warm temps. Sure wish we could do that again sometime soon! My, how the years do proceed at great speed.

Here is a little something that Doug and Nathan whipped up in the barn while the girls and I drove to see the mini horses on her birthday.

Once again, the James blood prevailed in the Choosing of The Cake. Nothing baked at home with love. Nothing that requires days of labor and many bowls. No sweet fragrance filling the rooms leaving all who smell longing for The Moment. Nope, it was DQ Ice Cream Cake. With blue frosting and horses on top.

Blurt

I opted out of the game of Blurt last night to stand right up on the hearth, something I do when I simply can not get warm. I observed the game in action and cautiously grabbed the camera. I got away with a few non-scripted pics of my children with their best manners.

Before long, they caught on and put on their poker faces.

I couldn't see Doug, FGJ or Solomon from that angle.

I presume they were eating 1 kernal at a time.

Please Excuse the Mess

While Doug was playing cards, Nathan was playing air soft in the dark and the 3 smaller kids watched Black Beauty, I chose to mess with my blog. I can easily have my mood lifted by making slight changes in ANYTHING; moving furniture around, rearranging a cupboard, cleaning out the medicine cabinet or even parting my hair on the opposite side (sounds mildly neurotic but that's life when you stay in Michigan all winter).

So, here's to the days getting longer, warming up and becoming more of a friend than a foe.

Perhaps I do have time to blog on occasion. As we know, there hasn't been a day since the beginning that the sun has not been shining. We don't always see it, it is there, but oh what power is in it when it does break through.

Words of Wisdom

Yesterday, Adrianna approached me and asked if I heard her practicing "Oh, I Wish I Was in Winn Dixie" on the piano. (She has seen the movie and ? thinks that is a city in the south? )
Solomon was reading to me some story with a character by the name of Will. He found this terribly funny for some reason and I asked him if he knew what my Dad's name is (William). He responded in a very sarcastic, confident bordering on arrogant tone, and said "OF COURSE, DADDY"! (We didn't name him Solomon for nothing).

Most kids go through a phase when potty words or any words having to do with bodily functions are extremely funny. If someone tries to suggest that perhaps we shouldn't make fun of perfectly normal but sometimes personal incidents, they become even more tantalizing to the tongue. Solomon has been a bit delayed with his interest in these ideas and has begun repeating things that don't even make sense just to hear the word. Several days ago I was applying creme to Franchesca's hands for winter dry skin and he began insisting that he have some. When I told him his skin is as soft as a baby's bottom he busted out and hasn't stopped exclaiming the beauty and sheer genius of that phrase.

Words take on an entire new meaning when they rhyme with gas or butt.

Oh, I wish I WAS in Dixie, or anywhere warm and sunny.

(Pic from Florida 2005)

Blue Eyes

I pack up the kids homework when they have finished a subject or book, one more good use for those plastic tubs with lids. (No, definately not eco-friendly).

I always have fun looking back on earlier years to see how far we've come, especially in the area of handwriting and drawing. We often have 3-ring binders with special papers or just sketches in them from that year and I often slide a photo of that person in the front of the binder to show who it belongs to and what they looked like that year.

I recentely came across on of AJ's. Check out this fantastic pic (not referring to photo quality but to subject matter). I don't have a digital copy of this so I shot the original (tacky but true).

OOOH, I want another one of these. They should use her for doll prototype. I've changed my type color to blue in her honor.

Growing, in size, age and wisdom

UUUUUUM. Yes, if anyone is still following this blog-I haven't given up.

I told myself one particularly difficult day when I was feeling the pressure of _____(lots) that I was done blogging. Boy did that take the anxiety away but the residual feeling of something left undone remained and so.....

I thought what I would do tonight before closing my eyes is throw up a few pics. No explanations, no title, not a hint as to the story behind them. Somehow, just seeing this page waiting to be filled, I feel unable to post without adding something, even the (illegal in our house) word "um". More on that another time.

Nathan recently sold his first dirtbike on Craigslist (yes, even in the midst of Michigan's worst season) and bought a bigger, faster, more ominous sounding replacement. He couldn't stay off, even in the snow.

Did I mention he celebrated his 13th Birthday on January 19? Back blogging is so frustrating. One would guess I don't like doing this from my infrequent posts.