Birthdays

All three kids celebrated their birthdays in the last couple months...here is an update, mostly in pictures:


Her favorite thing at the time was zebras...because they were "fancy".





A "scooter/bike"...no pedals, lightweight...awesome!


Kids came over for a birthday party...


They colored a big sign to hang on the wall...


They made fruit-loop necklaces...


They dressed up and paraded around the house...

First time:


Second time:


Grand finale:

Maybe she was a little partied out after that...




Then Geno's turn in October...


A new jacket (that he was just thrilled to try on)...


Football party with a few friends at a local park...




If I had known this was the only "cake" picture I would take, I would have taken a better one!




Then, Lucy's turn (finally!)

She got a much-longed-for umbrella. To share with Jane, of course. But maybe we should have gotten Jane her own...



It was a beautiful fall day, made much better by wearing a party hat...


She had a kid-party too, and they also decorated a wall-poster.


Then they made their own pizzas...




Then they decorated and ate their own cupcakes...



Then, they decorated and made and created to their heart's delight!




Happy Birthday to my three very wonderful kids!

Work

I just had a realization about work and getting things done in general...when I make a huge "to-do list" (usually on a Saturday), my goal is generally to get all those things done before I go to bed. No matter what I put on it, or how many things, I won't feel happy unless I finish them all. So I'm usually just setting myself up for failure since it would generally be impossible to finish everything.

Today I am home with Janie (who threw up this morning, and then pretended it had never happened and asked for food and has been happily playing all morning...) and started thinking about all the extra things I could accomplish on a day when I usually would be at school. I could catch up and actually be ahead in some areas of life. I could prep all the dinners for the week, plan for thanksgiving, do extra laundry, do, do, do... But what is the point? So for a few days I would have slightly less work to do, at the expense of a whole day slaving away to get ahead.

I don't think it really matters if we're slightly behind or slightly ahead. The point of work is to take care of ourselves, take care of our families, and our belongings. It will always be there- work will never completely go away. It is meant to be done, every day (except Sunday) and that's all there is to it. If we get ahead one day, we'll just find more to do the next day. If we stress about how much work we have to do, we'll just stress some more the next day.

I am going to try and do my work diligently, without dawdling, but also without hyperventilating because of the massive amount of work I think I have. Yes, during some periods of life there is more work to do than others, but I just need to acknowledge that...and JUST DO IT.

God grant us all peace and joy as we complete our God-given tasks:)

September Update

Sorry, no catchy titles and no pictures right now. But I did want to post something! I was asked two weeks ago to be a "real" preschool teacher at the school we were last year, and we had a week to get the classroom ready. It's been a whirlwind since then. This was our third day of school with the little ones, and it's been really great, and really overwhelming at the same time. Everything has gone really well so far, much better than I expected, but I have a lot of ideas and no time to think about them or implement them. Fall is always a busy time for our family, but this is insane!

So...we'll see how it goes. We're trying not to schedule anything extra right now, and do the bare minimum around the house. But here's what's on our plates for the next couple months:
-I leave the house (with kids ready for school) at 7:15 every morning
-come home (with Jane) at 1:15.
-our neighbor Michael comes over two afternoons a week for preschool at our house (which I'm loving- he's such a great kid!)
-one afternoon is for errands (so we don't go home right away)
-pick up big kids at school (leave house at 3, back at 4:00)
-then an hour to unwind, which is filled with emptying backpacks, sharing stories from the day, etc.
-dinnertime comes all too soon, then the bedtime routine starts. Kids in bed by 7:30ish, then lunch-making and catching up on stuff.

Plus:
-Brendan is training for the Chicago marathon in October, so he's going out running about 4 days a week.
-I am in charge of registration for the women's retreat at our church, which is coming up in a month. I have not done registration before, and probably wouldn't have volunteered to do it had I known I'd be teaching. But I did, and I am, so I'll just see how it goes...from different sources it's "not that bad, kind of enjoyable" and "crazy hectic". I'll take the former, please!
-Jane's birthday was a few days ago, and she's having a little kid party soon (again, planned before the teaching job)
-there's a whole bunch more, but those are the basics.

*Sorry to bore you with our schedule, but that's how it is, folks. I haven't taken many pictures recently, but I'll try to post some soon and get back to our "pictures with a few words" type posts.

Mid-summer

At the beginning of July, Brendan competed in the Ann Arbor Triathlon, and we all came to watch. Gene and Lucy were so excited to be going, they promptly fell asleep in the car on the way there...


Jane wasn't sleepy, so she worked on curling her tongue.


The weather was great, there were a lot of people there, and the horn sounded for the start. Swimming is first.


Brendan didn't want anyone to see him in his swim cap, but I got most of him as he ran up to get his bike.

And then he came it toward the finish...still running!


Afterward, everyone jumped in the lake because it was so hot. We had forgotten the bathing suits, though.




Then we had some normal summer days at home. Wearing sundresses...

Lucy practiced tying... (and Jane's getting in on it, too)


Geno mowed a few strips of the lawn (!!!)...



And chopped some nuts...


And in really random news, a cutting board toppled over one morning and smushed the butter, and broke the butter plate. It was worthy of a picture, we thought!


In mid-July, Lucy went to Safety Town with with some friends who had also signed up. Just great! I forget the name of this bear, but he had something to do with safety...


Aunt Reenie had a party, because the VANDERVEENS WERE BACK IN TOWN!! Jane was so excited to see Ellie, and we were all happy to see everyone:) The girls started out eating their dinner sitting inside the wading pool, but then moved out so it could be filled up.


Then we went on vacation! After a five-hour drive up north, we were all glad to get there.



What were we going to do now?


Well, climb on the bunk beds...



Take a bath in the foot-rinsing bin...


Do art at the beach...


Pose for pictures...



Throw water balloons...


And relax...


It was so hot that week, we pretty much lived at the beach. No complaints, here. Lucy also got some practice on her 2-wheeler, Hannah got some practice on her road bike, and Brendan played a lot of volleyball and swam across the lake. Gene played tennis and shuffleboard, and Jane played with whatever Ellie was playing with.

Then we had to come home...

But we have visited Grandma's pool many times since then. That kind of made us feel better, since it was (still) very hot.



All the kids like the rafts, and Jane wears her waterwings from the moment we get there, till it's time to go home.


Snack at the pool...




It's been a great summer so far! Here's to a few more good weeks before school starts.