. VG .

Outdoors at Grandma and Dons

With all the time that we spend at Grandma and Don's there are some pretty epic pictures that come along with it! Just some randoms from the summer...

JVG

Well, this title is actually pretty old news haha. It's been about a month since the school year has started and it has been BUSY. Its not like you get to ease into all your craziness either... just all at once you better be ready to go or else you will drown! We have officially started the kids at homeschooling. We even went 'back to school' shopping for supplies. They got to pick out markers, coloring pencils, pens, notebooks, scissors, glue sticks and various other school supplies. They thought it was awesome! They keep it all in their backpacks nice and tidy so that it is there when they actually need it. Then, swim started up, music class for everybody, I started working more, G started teaching a lab, and then we decided potty training Norah was a good idea too. haha. So... we have been busy but we are keeping up with it all! At the end of the semester I'm going to say that I can't believe it's over already blah blah blah... haha but for now, we are trying to enjoy every moment. :)

JVG

Last Day at the cottage

As per tradition during Labor Day weekend we headed up to Gracie's cottage to help take out the shore station and the dock. My sister accompanied us this time and some of Gracie's friends were there too. The weather was absolutely beautiful! And, Norah, charmed up everybody there so she was well watched after. The kids had a blast just playing in the water again and we took them out for a paddle boat ride. My sister also had Mrs Timmer (who is one of the Gracie's neighbors) as a teacher so they caught up for a little bit. It is amazing that she remembers us! We did have a funny incident where we had come in from taking the kids out on a paddle boat ride and then we looked back at the lake and saw it drifting away... WHAT?! I swore that we had tied it to the dock, but there it went floating on by. It reminded me of that part from Forest Gump where his boat is running into other docks and he tells Lt. Dan "That's my boat". Holly and I went running after it but I only got so far into the lake before I sunk DEEP into the lake mush... then, I chickened out and ran back out of the lake haha. Holly, luckily braved the weird lake muck and got the paddle boat back to the dock. Turns out, we had tied it up correctly, but the rope that was attached to the dock came untied! Oops! haha. We also got some lovely vegetables from their garden and Dude loved helping pick the beans :) The Ullrey's are such sweet people. Can't wait to see them again!

After we came back from the cottage Holly wanted to go on a run with me and I had to get 8 done. So, we mapped out this course that we thought would be well lit. We were wrong. We had a couple of instances where we rounded a corner and scared some other people who were out haha... and eventually we thought about turning on the flashlight on my phone... so that helped out quite a bit. It is amazing how much easier it is to run with someone else! Glad we had such a fun weekend and that we could hang out with everyone!

JVG

Friend Visit with Danielle

A friend from high school was in town visiting and I got a chance to see her, not once... but twice! She is a missionary with YWAM and works with the Hopi people in Arizona. Usually her visits are pretty short and packed with family and giving presentations about her work. This visit was a bit longer due to some needed time off and things going on personally. It was so amazing to be able to go and have lunch with her and catch up. We got to treat ourselves to Marie Catribs (some place she has never been!) and sit in the sun and just chat about life. She was one of the four girls that were pretty close in softball, and really the only one I have kept in contact with. I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about with her since I didn't know how her perspectives on life would have changed, but it was really really good. Some might thing because she is a missionary she is pretty conservative and bible thumping but it was actually quite the opposite. We had some real conversation about what's going on with the world, and how her life has been changed. About how getting out of the west michigan community and way of thinking has really opened her mind and heart to the great things going on in the world. Not to mention, the work that she does with the Hopi people is very serious and can be very heart breaking. The hurt and damage that has occurred is very deep and has a lot of roots... so she has been trying her best to educate herself and others about the circumstances they are in. After we had our fabulous lunch (which I didn't have to share with anybody... and ultimately was kind of weird for me) we just sat and talked in the sun. We eventually got up and walked around to check out the little stores around the area. It was fun to just chill. To hang out. Try on silly things. :)

The second time we wanted to try out this sushi place we walked past and both had heard great things about. This time I was in town for a final dress fitting and so the whole family came along too. So, she got to meet the crew! I think that the best thing about the sushi place was their faucets in the bathroom. They were soo cool! The food was good too, but kinda pricey. Dude's salmon skin hand roll was probably the best thing anybody ordered. Mmm mmm mmm! One day, we will have a budget, just for sushi ;)

I have to say that it was so refreshing being able to sit and chat with her and find out how she really was doing. I get email updates but it's not the same. She is already back in Arizona but I definitely look forward to the next time she is home!

JVG

Breaker's birthday

We got a chance to go and celebrate with a good friend on her birthday! My sister was going to originally watch the kids since she was going to stay with us but last minute finked out... which, I wasn't pleased about... but our friend Miss Nancy stepped up to the plate and came over to watch the kids so we could go out! I was really happy that we got to go and celebrate with her and friends! We obviously don't go out very often without the kids, so when we get a sitter we make sure the occasion is very special... and it was :)

Happy birthday Breaker! Sorry I licked your hand... but not really ;)

JVG

No more diapers!

We took the plunge and potty trained Norah. Whew... it was EXHAUSTING! I don't remember it being quite as exhausting with the other two as this one was. She did great for the first two days but then the next few days after that was BAD. Like, bad to were I was lamenting throwing all our diaper stuff out. Even bad to were G was thinking the same thing (and usually he the one who is all about staying the course and not giving in). The day we decided to potty train her we took our diaper pail, and all the cloth diapers (which where falling apart, hence the reason why we thought now was a good time to start) and threw them in the dumpster. There was a part of us that thought we should have some sort of ceremony for being completely diaper free, but I threw them in the dumpster and it felt pretty dang good. I took the crazies out and about and we just ran a bunch of errands while G worked his magic with her.

Norah with her treats!

She ended up having a refresher course about a week later because it wasn't getting any better... and we were exhausted... and sick of staying at home. After that something seemed to click and then she was a champ! She also wouldn't pee for me during that first week either, so if G was gone at work or something that meant I was doing a lot of clean up. The first time she went potty for me I about threw her a party!

She has gotten really good at using her legs as a book holder haha

I am happy to report that she is doing quite well and we are comfortably going out in public and doing our normal things again. We did have to buy a little seat that fits inside the bigger ones so that we could go out in public, because she was very adamant that she wasn't going to sit on the big one and we couldn't carry her potty with us... it fits nicely in the diaper bag so everything is pretty good! :) We are super proud of our Norah girl and making all these leaps and bounds out of being a baby!

JVG