A Day with Daniel

Friday's are usually Doug's day off. I say usually because as a Pastor he often doesn't get his whole day off. Sometimes church functions or other responsibilities fall on Friday so he either takes a different day off or just doesn't get an off day that particular week. Today though he was able to spend the whole day as DAD and didn't have to share it with PASTOR. I ended up have a busy day, so Doug and Daniel got a lot of time together. This morning Doug took the big kids to school then drove over to the eye doctor for an annual eye exam. It went well, especially since his prescription didn't chance which meant we didn't have to sell a kidney for new glasses!!! They did dilate his eyes which always throws him for a loop. I am actually surprised he made it home! When he got back he asked Daniel why he wasn't dressed. I answered "because we haven't got there yet." To which Daniel replied, "Yeah, she's a WOMAN, so she tells me what to wear." I wasn't sure whether to laugh or punish him for that one!! Doug laughed!! After that I took Sarah to Dr. Herberner and the daddy/Daniel day began.

Sarah has the same strep infection Daniel did on her bottom, so we went to the doctor, picked up the antibiotic from the Market House, talked to Jonathan for a few minutes, ran over to church to meet with the violin teacher and show her the room she will be working in for the month of June and chatted with the TGIF team. Meanwhile, Daddy and Daniel were painting Warhammer scenery and talking. Actually Daniel was talking and painting, Doug was just listening. They also did some cleaning in the "War Room". Daniel was getting into trouble, climbing on something he shouldn't, and Doug said,"Daniel if you had a theme song playing everywhere you went it would be "Living on the Edge"! Too True!

The rest of the day was very similar. Daniel did a loooooot of talking and Doug listened!! At one point Doug asked Daniel to turn it off and zip it. Daniel agreed but not two minutes later he asked a question, realized what he had done and said, "I unturned it off and unzipped it, sorry!" I love the way his mind works!!!

Nathan came home around 1pm, he wasn't feeling great. His arm was really bothering him today. Still no news from the Doc, maybe by Monday. We had Taco's for dinner and were all ready to watch the hockey game when much to our dismay, it isn't on until tomorrow! Who puts those schedules together anyway??? Well, we will be ready to cheer on the Wings tomorrow then. Hopefully it isn't too late of a game. Got to get up early for church ya know!!!!

He's Safe! The boys Win!!!

Tonight Kris, our regular babysitter, and her boyfriend Aaron(yes, that is Aaron Johnson) came over for a game of baseball in the field and dinner after. The kids have been looking forward to this for a week. Aaron brought his brother Isaac too. I think it was big "Kids" versus little "kids". I was in the house making spaghetti. Everyone had a great time, until Nathan slid into home plate. He scored, but he broke his arm!! Not bad, mind you, just enough to have to wear a splint for a month. :-) Dr. Herbener will call tomorrow after the radiologist takes a look at the x-ray. It may be worse or not even broken. He was having a hard time reading the computer generated x-ray. So I guess it is a good thing that is wasn't a blatantly obvious break. We will update you tomorrow.

Despite the game ending injury, the kids all had fun and would probably be up for a game tomorrow if everyone could play!! Nathan and Jacob have been signed up for coach pitch baseball. Practice begins next month and the games are in July. Hopefully Nate will at least be able to play in the games. I will be sure to post pictures when I get them. TTFN!!

Our Trip to Greenfield Village

More About Greenfield Village

The rest of our Memorial Weekend was wonderful. Sunday after church we packed up and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Adams' house. We arrived around 4pm. Papa had been working hard all day on dinner. Ribs on the grill, potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, hamburgers and hot dogs. Yum-o!! Grandma even made a chocolate cake. So much for my diet!!! Great Grandma and Grandpa were there too! The kids ran and played with the dogs and had a grand old time. We headed to bed early so we could get up and get to the village a little before it opened.

Monday we rose early and arrived at Greenfield Village by 9am. This is a great idea since no one is there yet. We got a prime parking spot and were one of the first families through the door. They were handing out flags to everyone who walked through the park. Sarah liked hers. We got a schedule of events for the day and headed onward and upward!! We checked out the two armies drilling on the green, explored the two camps and the boys even enlisted in the Union army. Daniel actually thought we were making him join the REAL army. He didn't realize we were only acting!!! You can see his dejected look in one of the pictures in the slide show. We had hot dogs for lunch, with the band playing in the background. At noon there was a Memorial Day commemoration. We couldn't see anything so we opted to ride the carousel and train while everyone else was busy. The kids loved that, so did the big kids!!! Daniel even fell asleep on the train ride. We left the village around 2pm. It was a great memory!! We spent the rest of the afternoon at Grandmas, playing Civil War. We headed home about 5pm. It was great to not be in a rush and just enjoy the trip and the time with family.

I finally got around to putting the pictures into a slide show on Tuesday. Thanks to Sarah Strawn for the photobucket site. They make great slide shows!! You will probably see lots more of those on my blog now. It was really easy to post them here.

Lately Sarah has been singing, a lot! She knows several songs, but not all of them, only certain parts. Here is a sample of what I hear from her through out the day.

Wanting to get out of the blue room she sings "I'm gonna break! I'm gonna break my.. I'm gonna break this rusty cage and run!"

Playing house she sings:"It's the joy of Motherhood. I do what any other mother would to keep my ducks decked out and living in style."

Just playing she sings "Sarahspundel, Sarahspundel, Sarahspundel, rat zat zat. An Oreo. A chocolate Oreo. I love the creamy center in my chocolate Oreo."

She will also just start singing other songs from Honk! and High School Musical. What ever happened to Toddler Tunes like The wheels on the bus or the Hokey Pokey!!! I guess that is what comes from having 4 older siblings!!!

Boys vs. Girls

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, that's what little girls are made of. Toads and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of.

I think that is how the poem goes, or at least that is how I remember it. It is too true! Today, as we cleaned the house top to bottom, I observed my children and the way their gender effects their character. We began our mission at 8:45am. The BOYS liked the idea of 15 minutes on one job and then move on to the next. Team work was best for them. The GIRLS lingered over the details. All the DVD's had to be put back just right. All the windows had to be cleaned, the pillows on the couch just right, the blankets folded and put away in an organized fashion. The BOYS used one Clorox wipe for the counters, sinks, faucets and toilet. ( I made them go over it with a few more) GRACE'S desk has to have everything on it just so. She has little things everywhere, but knows where it all is. She likes to have a space for everything. The BOYS desk has a few lamps and a puzzle half put together on it. GRACE's bed has sheets, blankets and comforter. I am lucky if the BOYS actually have a fitted sheet on their bed each night. All they use to cover up is a fleece tied blanket, no cover sheet, no other blanket or comforter. It took GRACE about 30 minutes to have her room ready to be vacuumed. It took the BOYS about 90. They had less to clean up too, by the way!!

Once the inside was done about lunch time, we moved outside. While the bottom two slept, I cleaned the kitchen and the others helped Dad outside. The BOYS were pooper scoopers, GRACE organized the order it was picked up!!! Sarah and Daniel soon joined them. Daniel is all boy and runs, jumps and skips everywhere. Sarah found a doll and played with her. She is so sweet. It amazes me how little girls are hard wired to mother. Even at nearly 3 she is very motherly toward her dolls and other stuffed friends. She has never really observed me with a baby or any woman with a baby for that matter and yet she seems to know just what to do. It is amazing.

Our company came about 4:30 ish. We hosted a BBQ (sorry Grill -Out) for the youth. Kudos to the Rushing Family!!! I am so glad they came over. We have over two dozen jr and sr youth families and they were the only family to come, even after spending the day sanding and staining their hard wood floors!!! Along with them, several of our College youth came to eat. Jon, Isaac, Zander, and Nick threw a football around with the BOYS and Renee and Courtney played with Sarah while Alana (Zanders sister who is in Grace's class at school) and Grace found secluded places to whisper their deepest secrets. Once the Rushings arrived, Grace headed strait for the baby, Sarah and Ashley played and the boys continued to toss the football along with the Rushing boys, Alex and Andrew. Anna, the only jr youth, helped with the little ones and chatted some with the big girls. Again that boy vs girl thing was very evident.

I was bummed that only one youth showed up. i guess they just don't know yet how much fun it is at Pastors house. The college kids are our core group. They were part of Doug's first confirmation class here and they have had many picnics and events at our house. They know how much fun it can be. I hope that we can develop the same relationship with this new batch of kids, but it just seems harder to make that connection with them than it did with the first ones. It is cyclical. That core group didn't really develop until they could drive on their own or get rides from older friends. We have very few drives right now. There is a bubble of no kids in the upper high school grades. We have one senior, one junior and few sophomores and mostly freshmen. Then there are the 6-8th graders. Who knows? We will keep trying though, we will keep having these kinds of events and hopefully word will spread and eventually we will have a great crowd of kids at our house like before. Then, it will be our kids and their friends!!! Heaven help me!!!

Have a great Memorial Weekend!! Remember in you prayers the families of those who have lost a loved one in the military. Remember too those serving currently, especially those is hostile countries. We love you George!!!!

Spontaneity

Spontaneity does not exist when you have children. Case in point. I wanted to thank Doug for driving to Shelby on Saturday for Jason's wedding. It was a long day for everyone and since he doesn't wear jewelry or particularly like flowers for his desk at work, I wanted to do something manly for him. My idea? Get a sitter, take him to a bar, and let him watch game 6 of the Red Wing playoff game (we don't have cable or satellite and it is never on network TV). The usual obstacle to this plan would be the sitter. I got lucky this time though. Tara just graduated from Ferris and is at home looking for a job. She would love to watch the kids and she was free. Sitter, check. The next obstacle was Doug's schedule. Usually Mondays are busy with either HOPE or Cub Scouts. Luckily the game didn't start till 8 and the Blue and Gold Banquet was early at 6pm. We should be back by 7:30 or 8, just enough time for Tara to help settle the kids into bed. Yes we might miss part of the first period, but the game really only gets exciting in the third, so we were good. Cleared schedule, check. The final obstacle was the kids. This is the one that tripped us up. Jacob got pink eye. Nathan is close and so is Daniel and of course Doug's eyes are itching too. I didn't want to risk our lovely job hunting sitter getting pink eye., that wouldn't help her chances any. Healthy kids and hubby, no check. No spontaneity. We took Jacob to the Dr today. He confirmed the pink eye, gave us a scrip for drops, with a refill, and told us to just go ahead and give drops to whoever got it next, no need to bring them in. In fact when I called the office I told them I had two with pink eye and asked if I could bring one in. They didn't even bat an eye and said sure, how is 10am? So instead of watching the game and drinking a beer or similar beverage, I am sitting on the computer, listening to the game on the computer and blogging while trying to get the kids to go to sleep!!! Not exactly the night I had in mind!!!! Is it wrong to hope they lose tonight so I can try for another night of spontaneity on Wednesday??? (score as I post: Wings 3 Stars 0 )

In other news: I totally forgot to post this yesterday. Jacob is going to be a published author. His poem, BLUE, which I posted a few days ago, was chosen to be included in an anthology of poems. We ordered the book so we can show it off in the Winter when it arrives. Now you all can say you knew Jacob when...

Trying to get back to normal...and not succeeding!!

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but as my title says we have been trying to get back to normal. I have yet to succeed.

HONK! was a hit. The kids had a great time. Grace is ready to do it all again. The boys may wait a while. They were tired and bored for the most part. They liked being on stage, it was cool. Daniel and Sarah love the hoops and umbrellas. We got a cast picture to hang up too. If we get a video we will let you know.

Today was our Church's 10th anniversary celebration. We had church at 9:30am then dinner at noon. There was lots of special music and presentations. Church lasted 2 hours!!! It was Trinity Sunday so, of course, we recited the Athanasian Creed. It is very long!!! We had a guest preacher today, Rev. Hosemann the Michigan District President. He had a very nice sermon. The kids did remarkably well in church too. Daniel only lasted a half hour before I put him in the nursery, but the others made it through and so did I!! ;-)

We will be making a trip to the doctor tomorrow , however. I think that Jacob and Nathan may have pink eye!!! I will keep you posted!!

So now you know what we have been up to. Blessings to you all!!!

A Random Week

Aunt Nora brought all the kids a giant coloring book and lots of markers. They came in a neat holder. Sarah decided she liked coloring on her body instead of the Dora coloring book.

Yes, she even colored in between her toes!!!

I think there are actually pictures there not just scribbles!

There are days when all these two do is fight. Then there are days when they are best friends. There are even days when they are husband and wife or "honey and son" as they like to say. Aren't they too cute!!
Grace had a violin recital on Saturday, May 3. She did a great job. It was short but sweet. She played the tune of "Go my Children." It helps when she knows the song!!

BLUE

by Jacob Adams

Blue looks like my sister's eyes.

Blue smells like a stinky t-shirt.

Blue tastes like salty sea water.

Blue sounds like a bluebird singing a cool song.

Blue feels like a sponge when I scrub the floor.

RED

by Nathan Adams

Red looks like a new barn.

Red smells like a hot fire.

Red sounds like a gunshot when someone is hunting.

Red tastes like really hot redhots.

Red feels like red hand sanitizer.