Burnin'...

Um, okay, I often refer to myself as a terrible mom for one reason or another. This time...Not. My. Fault. {not really}

Caleb had basketball yesterday. I checked my emails in the morning and saw that practice would be at the gym like normal, but it was being cut short to swim for the last little bit at the Annese pool. I thought that maybe he should have some sunscreen on for that because he would be in the sun for about 1/2 hour and it was ridiculously hot outside. I picked him up from a friend's house after work and only noticed he had some color on his face. Not bad.

Last night I was working on an incredibly fun project when Caleb said he was burnt from the sun on his shoulders. I told him to take off his shirt and I'd put some aloe on them. I was not quite prepared for what I saw, and I found the need to snap a shot to share.

Apparently, the gym floor was being refinished so the entire practice ended up at the Annese's. Caleb spent a couple of hours in the hot sun, playing ball, wearing arm bands, sweating his hiney off and swimming. Youch!

Oooh, and Kristin just mentioned a big sidewalk sale at the Tanger Outlets next weekend. Kensington, anyone??

Oooh, and I will share my fabulous project after the weekend. I intended to do so today, before Keith comes home, but I got a bit lazy last night and didn't fell like getting the drill, level and stud finder to finish it off.

Oooh, and I cannot wait to see the mosaic stepping stone made by a child of mine today at VBS! Lovin' the projects!!!

{I am adding to this post as a test...I cannot get my paragraphs to space out at the end...with all the "ooohs-no need to pay close attention}

Define Perfect...

Ahh...the perfect day off. Today was a scorcher and I knew it beforehand so I figured we'd do something fun, the boys and I. MA seemed a logical choice, but there was no breeze this morning {yuck}so I didn't think the water park was the best choice and I've been hankering for some new shoes, so what an opportunity. I figured the stores all had to be cool, much cooler than the water park, so after VBS, we headed to Muskegon. To be fair, I must mention that it wasn't planned to be a spectacular day just for myself. There was definitely something in it for the boys. Mini golf and ice cream. I just wanted to wait til evening, in case it cooled down.

First stop...no luck. The selection wasn't spine tingling but Kyle was decent. Second stop...no good. After many try-ons and countless chases through the store, I had almost enough. We crossed over to the mall. Wrong choice. I cannot say for sure how much bribing I did, how much threatening I did, but none of it mattered. I sooo kept my cool but when I finally had enough, it was too late. I nicely and politely rushed out of the store and out of the mall, my eyes swelling up all the way. Kyle made such a scene, shouting,"You're MEAN" while EVERYONE stared. Once I hit the hot air, I lost it. I couldn't control the tears. I was done. Done, done, done. There was no way I was taking him golfing. On the other hand, I had two boys who sat in the truck very, very quiet, probably wondering why they were being punished because of Kyle. He just kept screaming, telling me first that he can't be good because it's too hard, then telling me he will be good for sure. I just kept crying and shaking my head no. He then started complaining of his head hurting and screaming some more. I explained that it probably hurt because he was crying so hard and screaming so loud. He just kept screaming.

He finally fell asleep. I thought a minute and then asked the boys if they still wanted to golf. I drove back to Montague and took them to the little place in town. I stayed in the truck {in the cool air} with Kyle. Once the boys were finished, I woke him up and we went for ice cream. The big boys had some fun and the other one was none the wiser. He knows he missed out because he thinks nobody was able to golf. I want to tell him the boys actually got to, but I cannot deal with what will come of it. My head hurts. I'm exhausted. And I have no shoes.

Not quite a perfect day off.

E.Vent.Ful. Weekend...

How do we survive?

Friday morning Andrew had a doctor's appointment in GR at 9am. No problem. Kristin took Kyle to daycare and we made it with time to spare. There was a detour on College, the road I needed to exit on but I followed the detour route to Fuller, took a deep breath and found my way. I am not a fan of detours. I am not a fan of driving in GR. I am not a fan of getting lost. I panic. Weh-ell, let me tell you, I got lost. Longest story short-as-I-can-tell, {I am long winded, you know} I took the only exit I could and never saw a way to get back to US31. I called Keith but he was in a meeting and I called Pat, since he did a lot of driving last year back and forth to Devos, but I still got lost. I guess lost isn't totally correct. I knew I'd eventually end up in Holland but who wants that? Pat thought I'd see a sign for Muskegon, but, after the fact, he thought I should have taken Cadillac. Another story, but I never take the Cadillac exit anywhere! I just did what I do when I panic...I cried. It didn't help that as I was heading SW on the highway with nowhere to get off, Andrew kept pointing and saying, Mom, the weather ball is over theeeee-rrrrre!" Thanks, son. As I headed toward Hudsonville and Zeeland, {what the??} I noticed that my gas gauge needle was on E. I was too scared to get off the highway. Eventually I saw a gas station, drove a bit further to get back around to it, and asked for directions. I told the nice lady that I took a detour, got lost and needed directions. She asked where I was heading and I whined, "My hoooo-me." Okay, she didn't know where that was. I was about 4 miles from downtown Holland by that time and that is where I headed to get back on my highway.

So, needless to say, I didn't make it back to work. I also didn't do anything I wanted to do. We just went home. Later that night, Kyle and I met up with the TenBrinkman mom and kids for a trip to Lowes. Ahhh...painter's tape and spray paint. All was good. Keith bought a new trailer, {happy Father's Day} Kyle got ice cream, we grabbed pops and a movie and headed home.

After the start of Chelsey Handler, K and I went to bed. One hour and minutes {I can count on one hand} later, the phone rang. Keith was being called in on a shaken baby homicide. {1:18am} I missed a call from him at 9:30 and talked to him around 12:30. He ended up being assigned to a murder case. That was that. The end of our day together. K's nephew's open house was that afternoon. His family on both sides were all there. He never would have missed that. But he did. Kyle and I spent 3 hours at the Bergman's. What a great day for a party. What a great party.

We left to take Kyle to my parents to spend the night. I headed [solo} to a fabulous party. Friends were having a dual celebration. Don turned 40 and Mike got his degree. I thought that I was going to just stay for a bit because I was alone. Let me tell you, I was almost home when Keith called me telling me he was home. The time on my clock was 2:42am. And I knew I had to get up early because of nursery duty at 8am. I popped 3 ibuprofen to be good to go. Oh my gosh, I had Thee. Best. Time. Ladies, and you know who you are, thanks sooo much! I laughed so hard. Connie, if you get on here again, I am sorry for almost dropping you from my shoulders. I am convinced that would not have happened if your butt had actually been on my shoulders. I think I ended up with the backs of your knees on my shoulders instead. Have faith...next time it'll work out. Pinky swear. ;)

Kirt, just a reminder to always empty the Grey goose bottle...

CFM shoes...even Don's mom wants in on the action...
Not sure that Mike was the intended receiver of this, but he did end up on the other side of the door. Must have been the shoes...
I got about 4 hours of sleep and when I woke up I wanted more ibuprofen so bad but not enough time had passed since I took the last ones. I headed to church. I grabbed a bulletin to read while sitting in the nursery. Whaaat? My name wasn't even listed. I was there for no reason??God was watching. He made sure I made it to church one way or another. Good for you, God. My calendar shows I have the duty next month. Ugh.

As I was driving home from church I got a call from K. He was already heading back to work. Yikes. Darn those bad guys. K missed our entire Father's Day trip to Michigan's Adventure. We missed you tons, Keith. We did have a good time though. The crazy little ones all wanted to ride the Sea Dragon. I thought Kyle would get sick. After the initial shaking, Uncle Jimmy held Kyle tight and from then on out, Kyle thought it was the best. {Kyle was shaking. Uncle Jimmy wasn't shaking Kyle} Grandpa and Grandma rode Zach's Zoomer with the twins. Over. And. Over.

Boy, it was certainly one hot day. Kyle fell asleep as soon as I turned the van on to go home. Keith was home right before us. We were all pooped. I fell asleep watching TV with Caleb. Thinking about it, he must have went to bed on his own because K woke me up to tell me to go to bed and I don't remember seeing Caleb. Hmm. Going back, we got my dad an ipod. He was super excited. The boys and I chipped in for Keith's trailer. Kyle made daddy a key chain packaged in this super cute card...Tami is good. Caleb and Andrew made one for Pat, too, while at Tami's for a baseball game.

This morning, K left us for 4 days. He has a homicide school in Lansing. He'll be working with evidence. Doesn't that sound interesting? He'll be home Thursday but we won't see him because he has a shift to work at Summer Cel. Ooh, ooh...it's summer time.

Also this morning, I dropped the boys off at VBS. Last week I got a call from the leader asking if Caleb would want to be a small group leader. He said, "Of course!" It dawned on me that he has to be getting too old to be in VBS but I wasn't sure about the cut-off. Ah ha...the cut-off. Today they are walking to Jen's mom's house after school {I swear I already typed that somewhere this morning} so I asked how to do the sign out process at church. Another Ah ha moment...I was told that since he is in junior high, Caleb doesn't need to be signed out so the boys would be good to go. I just stood there, dumbfounded. Not at the answer, just hearing the answer. My baby is getting so, so big.

**Not too big after all...Kristin just called. She offered the boys a ride to the Erdman's because of the heat and Caleb initially refused because he didn't think Carol would be happy with him for "getting a ride to her house from a perfect stranger." Hmm. Kristin had to convince Caleb that Carol knows who she is and that it is perfectly fine for Caleb's aunt to give him a ride. Anywhere. Silly kid. He's just trying to look out for everyone.

Small...

Sometimes small projects aren't so small after all.



If I may say so, these letters were a bitch to put up. Ugh. I worked on this wall for Quite. Some. Time. Don't analyze it. I find three bothersome things about it, but what do you do? I changed these to black and white because the red walls were hurting my eyes. Yes, red. Yes, this is my house.

The saying is just the cutest thing. Kristin stopped at a scrapbook store in Chicago while plying with her girlfriends last winter {?} and she picked up this cute saying for one of my brothers pages. There was just something about it. I fell IN LOVE right away and decided those words needed to be in my house. I hope I made a wise choice with the location. It's different, but I like it.

This next one didn't take near a long to hang, but I wasn't without stress during the process. I had to climb up on Andrew's loft bed to hang this. Not a big fan of heights. Plus, I have a fear of breaking the dang thing. To make matters worse, Kyle climbed up with me and wouldn't get down. Not only that, but once I was finished, he wouldn't get down first, so i had to climb around him in order to get down. Not a graceful sight, let me tell you. Again, black and white. No red wall here. Just a little glare that isn't pleasing to my eye. The letters are actually red. Too cool. {and not crooked, regardless of the way they look here}


Two projects down, 13 zillion to go. At least I have a goal.

Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer...

I can hear Sammy Kershaw blaring in my head every time I look at this. What kind of conversation would I stir up if I kept this rocker in my van all the time? I know one thing...I'd be sure to have Keith drive me around more often. I really don't think it looks out of place.

The kids came over to play Croquet. Apparently, someone needs to teach them kids the way of the game. ;) Kyle cleared the crowd by swinging the mallot like a baseball bat.

They also need to know the placement of the...white things.

Random Dorkiness...

I was just going through my pics, updating my month of June when I came across these doozies. We grilled out last week {didn't I make it sound like these pics are ancient?} and built a fire for smores. Nobody ended up interested in the roasting of the marshmallows. I only got a few shots, but, to me, they are priceless.

Kyle loves to dance a jig.

I'm not sure at what point Kyle took off his pants and put them back on...

...but it was definitely before this!

I think this was one of those things where Andrew wanted his picture taken but then was like, "What? 'You talkin' to me?"

3 Boys + A Camera + Time...

A couple of weekends ago K and I took the boys to the drive-in. We intentionally got there early to be able to run around and play catch or whatever. The bugs had other plans for us. We decided to camp out in the van. Boring, right? Not by the looks of things. Give a kid a camera {or in this case, have him just take a camera} and let the games begin. The idea snowballed and before long, all 3 boys were happy, snapping away.

The boys had a great time. I didn't realize that I had never taken them to a drive-in movie before. Hopefully our next trip will be less buggy so we can bring the truck and an air mattress. Fun times, fun times.

Ask...

...and you shall receive, Jennie.

The full size pic is much more spectacular. It even has easy to follow instructions for doing it right. I typically don't do things right...I am always looking for a shortcut to done.

I stopped by the Hokey Pokey today for inspiration. Inspiration, indeed. I've wanted a table for my living room, like a coffee table, for sitting around on the floor chatting and playing games or whatever. Everything in that room, from the furniture to the frames to the shelves are all square or rectangular in shape. I'd like a big round one to soften the lines a bit. I saw a sweet one but it is too small so I am brainstorming my own model. I still have 50.00 to Hob Lob and, thru Saturday, a 40% off coupon. I'd also like fabric for my wicker chair cushions and possibly some artwork {yes, fabric} and well, I love Hob Lob so if I walk in there I may end up with something completely different. Something paintable, perhaps? Hey, if anyone has a way to get hands on old wallpaper books, let me know. {another idea} I'm also into the idea of changing my dining room a bit. Still love the grape jelly walls but I saved a pic of a dining room {with the same purple walls, mind you} with oranges, avocados {colors, not fruit} and off whites...like white washed white. Brightens things up a bit. This translates to sanding a piece of furniture and white washing it. {with all my time}

Enjoy the fan. Come up with something to spray paint. It'll make you feel better. Guaranteed. Oh, and isn't the saying the greatest...

Life, etc...because style isn't just about what you wear.

Sigh...

I've been doing that a lot lately. I have a lot in the works. Some projects are actually started, some are in my head and some haven't had the chance to become thoughts, but I know they are there. I want to spray paint a ceiling fan a fresh bright raspberry, but let's face it, it wouldn't match a thing in my home. I saw it in a mag and fell in love with it.


I decided this morning that my talents would be better represented elsewhere. In other words, I think I should quit my job to...play. I don't have the money to play so I guess I stay at Northland. Kristin and I haven't purchased any scrapbook supplies in A.Long.Time. Okay, so I broke down last week on a deal I couldn't pass up {free s/h incl.} but other than that...nothing. Well, the mood has struck. I think it's because I went to a crop with Jennie last weekend. I want to create something. Spruce something up. Finish a project. Paint a fresh coat on something. Take a photo. Clean it up. I'm feeling restless. I guess it's 'cuz I didn't get to do anything brain inspiring, awe inspiring yesterday. A girl can dream.

Shucks...

I think Kyle has a little man-crush on Coach Rake. Isn't it just adorable?

Summer Turns Me Upside Down...

...summer, summer, summer...it's like a merry-go-round.

We kicked off summer {early} on the last day of school. I picked the boys up, shared some teary hugs with not one, but two fabulous teachers, ran through the drive-thru at Mickey D's and ventured to none other than Michigan's Adventure. {Michigan Adventures, to Andrew} The first day is always a time waster because of the line for renewing our passes. Blah. This year a lot of the lines for the rides were long, too. In years past, the last day of school and the entire month of June was always the best time to go. traffic didn't seem to pick up until July. I took pics, of course, but they are stuck on my little camera like most of spring. Hopefully Hong Kong comes through for me soon. We had a great time. After we left, I picked up Kyle, dropped the boys off to Pat and headed back to the park with Kyle. We stayed til they kicked us out. We rented movies that night because of the big weekend we had in store for us.

Saturday morning I packed for four and headed out to Andrew's soccer game. Undefeated. Great job, yellow. Andrew had a decent game. He rocked the week before.


After the game, we snatched up Caleb and took off for his first of five games in GR over the course of the weekend. Caleb's team played well. They lost their first four games and won their last. In their defense, the club they play in now only plays against other kids from school. These poor boys had no idea what was out there as far as talent goes. After the last game, coach upped the weekly practices a day. Caleb went home with Pat and we went out to lunch at bd's with the Rakes. Yum. When we got home, we watched another movie. She's Just Not That Into You received mixed reviews from friends and family, but both Keith and I really enjoyed it. As a side note, Revolutionary Road was different. I think I liked it, but I'm not sure. It was just that different that I cannot honestly know for sure.

Monday...nothing much must have happened Monday because I cannot even remember it. Oh yeah, football camp...the boys signed up for a three day camp from 1-2:30. Tricky. The four of us have jobs, so...Oh well. I tend to live on the edge and like last minute stuff, so really this isn't much different. It always works out. I only had to pick the boys up and take them to camp and it just happened to be at the beginning of my lunch hour.

Yesterday was quite another kind of day. Days off aren't really days off anymore with older children. Proof...being gone all weekend, I am a bit behind with house stuff. Caleb had basketball from 9:30-11:30 so I drove him to town and drove back home to start working. I picked him up at the end of practice and was home in time to get lunch for the boys 45 minutes before I had to leave again to take the big boys to football camp. I went back home just to have the extra time to clean and then drove back to pick them up. Sigh. Once home, I scrambled to get a bunch done and, before I knew it, it was 5pm. Andrew's soccer party was from 6-7, back in town, and I hadn't showered yet. I called Keith to see when he'd be home. He was just heading back...from town...where he had his hair cut. He wasn't thrilled, but graciously agreed to take Andrew back for the party.

Today is the last day of camp. I am driving home to pick the boys up and Kristin is taking them home. Thanks, sis. Tonight and tomorrow night I have cheerleading tryouts and Keith is in charge of the Tenbrinkman children. Keith has a polygraph in GR this afternoon so Caleb may be in charge until he gets home, depending on Kristin's plans. Tomorrow I think the big ones are tagging along with my daycare to Michigan's Adventure. Breathe.

Upcoming events include basketball camp, soccer camp, VBS and two more AYBT tournys. I think we're passing on soccer camp this year, though. Poor kids, is this really summer vacation?

Unedited, unpretty pics...

A merry-go-round indeed.