6.22.2011

Lions & Tigers & Bears! Oh My!

Well, not really! The Binder Park zoo actually didn’t have any lions, tigers, or bears!  Crazy huh?  We took our first trip to the Binder Park Zoo this summer.  Normally we head to the John Ball Park Zoo since it’s closer, but I got a great Groupon deal for the Binder Park Zoo and we have been wanting to see the giraffe exploratory, so we headed down to Battle Creek one day as a family!  It ended up being a cold and cloudy/rainy day, but we still had a lot of fun!  If you have not gotten a chance to meet the giraffes up close and live anywhere near the Binder Park zoo, I strongly suggest going!  It was amazing!  We were literally RIGHT by the giraffes.  Like petting them and feeding them!  So awesome to get so close to such a beautiful magnificent animal!  I’m always amazed when we go to the zoo by the variety of animals that God created and how different and amazing each one is!

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It was a fun day for our family!

6.12.2011

Once a Month Post

Guess I can barely call this blog my “Everyday Life” blog when I have been updating it only once a month lately!  I may have to come up with a new clever title!  Smile  As usual, and much like everyone else in life…things are busy!  Summer Break is officially here, and so all three kiddos are home with me on the days I am home and don’t work.  Our first week was very fun, very busy, and I guess I could say successful!  I think the kids would consider it that  at least!  I on the other hand felt a little overwhelmed with everything.  The constant questions about who can we play with, what can we have to eat, can so and so eat over, can we swim, can we have a play date, etc….Let alone the fact that they were in and out of the house a million times a day.  I had to keep telling myself that it was all ok, and that they are just being kids and enjoying summer!  This week we have a few more structured things planned which will be good!

Without sounding like I am whining, I just have to complain about the house for sale business.  I am so sick of trying to sell our house.  I keep telling Kyle that this is the last time I am doing this.  We are staying in the next house!   I am so sick of showings, so sick of hearing that people don’t like this or that about a house I LOVE, and sick of being in the top 2 or 3 choices for someone and showing our house 2-3 times to the same couple just to have them decide on another house.  I don’t get my hopes up when we have a showing.  I pretty much go into it thinking it won’t amount to anything, but I stress about having the house spotless and making it perfect, because you know it just takes that “1” right buyer.  And needless to say, doing that with 3 kids, and at kind of inconvenient times  in a bad market is just exhausting.  There.  My rant is over on that!

I haven’t been really into scrapping lately for some reason.  I’ve never had this much of a lull with that, but I have been trying.  Spring/Summer is always a tough time to scrap because there is always so much going on, so I am cutting myself some slack!  Here are some pages I have done since my last post though!

Friends

How-does-your-Garden-Grow

i-love-THIS

Preschool-Graduation--teacher

Recovery-Gunner

Slow-Down

This-Day-was-Awesome

This-is-Us-copy

Tulip-Time

Tunnel-Park-Beach-Fun

You-can't-be-prepared-for..

 

Our basement is now drywalled, painted, and on it’s way to being finished!  I am loving how it is turning out – it’s always fun to see your plan come together!  I’ve been repurposing some things and painting some canvases for art – which gives such a sense of accomplishment!  And Kyle has been doing some things on his own that he hadn’t done before like laying wood laminate floor and putting up a tile backsplash!

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And one more thing to talk about!  We went geocaching today!!!  Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.  I had heard from a couple people that it’s so much fun and that the kids would love it, so I suggested we do some while we were on our bike ride to the park.  The girls got excited and we really enjoyed the hunt for the little boxes!  This is the site that we got our locations off of, and while we didn’t do it the exact way we were supposed to, by putting in the coordinates into a gps, we got the location from the geocaching website and then used some clues and ideas from the map!  We did two today, and they both were a little tough to find at first, but after some hunting we finally found both and signed our team to them!!!  The girls were enjoying it, and at the park they mainly wanted to find the box rather than play on the playground!  If you haven’t tried geocaching yet, you really should give it a go – there are hidden treasures everywhere!

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Have a great week!!!

MandaKay

5.11.2011

Vacation is over and I’m back to reality!

I’m always amazed the difference between my time on vacation with no kiddos and my time at home in the normal everyday grind!  We took an adult only vacation with our friends, and our only stress for the day was where we were going to eat that night for dinner!  I didn’t have to worry about making lunches, doing homework, running to t-ball practices or gymnastics, work, etc…  I didn’t really sleep in on vacation – it’s just not something I can do, but to be able to get up in the morning, check some emails, sit out on a porch listening to the gulf waves, and having a good breakfast was wonderful!  I even read a book – literally a whole book in one day!  That is a huge achievement for me!  I am just not a reader.  I wish I was, but I never take the time to do that.  To be completely honest there is always something else I’d rather do…like scrapbook or browse galleries/forums.  My girlfriend had brought along the book “Heaven is for Real”, and she was telling us some of the facts about the book, and it intrigued me!  She finished it up, and I started right in!  We had some great dicussions about the book and the concept of heaven, while sitting on the porch at night!  I now have my hubby reading it!  It’s a pretty unbelievable story, and it paints a great picture of heaven!  And the whole concept of children in heaven…wow – how precious!  They truly are Jesus’ children!

Here are a few photos from our vacation!

Our drink cups and tunes!

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the dolphin that was extremely close to shore!  We could completely see his whole body very well!

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We had a pretty good time watching this movie – The Other Guys!  Got a couple good lines from that to joke about all week!

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From the roof of the condo – great pool and beach!

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The guys went out for shark and tarpon fishing, but only caught one smaller shark.  Kind of a bummer.

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And one night we went to the dog tracks.  I have never been and was interested in what they were.  We aren’t big gamblers and we have kind of bad luck with these type of things, so we were out after $10!  Good night though!

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And of course we had to love the guys cooking breakfast and cleaning the kitchen!

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And the guys were even good sports and wore these fun, LOUD, touristy shirts that Beth got a steal of a deal on!

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Good times…just good times!  It was a great break from parenting and my kids loved the time they got to spend with Grandpas and Grandmas and Aunt!

 

Braelyn is in her second year of t-ball and she is liking it much better this year!  She is much more confident and is really getting the concept of it.  Last year was somewhat brutal to watch because none of the kids really understood what to do with the ball!

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She made it to home plate on each inning!

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And what would a t-ball game be without ice cream afterwards?!

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My diva – jumpin’ around

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And today we went to the Tulip Time Parade, and I forgot my camera!!!  Gasp!!!  It was fun to just enjoy it though!  I think I actually got more sun in one day here today in MI than I got the whole week in FL though!  I ALWAYS put on sunscreen when I am laying out, so I was lathered up in FL, but I don’t always do so good lathering up at home when I am just running around or doing stuff outside all day.

And I haven’t been scrapbooking much at all!  I don’t know what it is, but I am just not feeling it.  I did manage to do this LO while on vacation though, and I LOVE how it turned out – it was the perfect kit for the perfect picture, and the LO got picked yesterday on the Gallery Standouts blog!  Such an honor!

Sweet-Little-Princessy

 

Have a great rest of your week!

MandaKay

4.14.2011

Long time!

Whew…it’s been a long month!  I always wonder where the time goes!  I know you all do to!  We’ve just been living life!  It’s funny because when I don’t blog for more than 3 weeks, then I never know what to write, or where to begin!  It seems like it’s easier to just do a little picture update – I love getting some outdoor pictures finally for the year!  I’ve really been struggling with my project 365 and taking a photo a day, and I know it’s because I am so sick of taking indoor pictures!  So it’s nice to finally have sunlight and get outdoors!

First off, Gunner has gone from 15 lbs. to over 40 lbs. so far!  Not the best photo – hard to get one of them outdoors because they are CONSTANTLY moving!  He’s really fun to have in our family – the girls adore him and love running around the yard with him – he’s super fast!

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Second, our basement went from this…

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to this!!!   And now it is primed and the trim starts going up this coming week!

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Spring break was fun!  We had play dates, slumber parties, made crafts, and baked.

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Grandpa even took all 13 grandkids (and most of his own kids!) on a field trip to the hatchery!  It was such a fun day!  Grammie even treated us to ihop lunch!!!  Such a great memory!

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And of course we had to go out with a bang for spring break, right?!  Last Friday Selah got her finger shut in a door, and broke a bone, and needed 8 stitches!  Beware…this might make you cringe!  OUCH!  I must say though, we have been parents now for almost 7 years, and this was our first trip to the ER for an injury of any sort!  She already gets the stiches out tomorrow, but will need to wear the splint for 4 weeks, and no gymnastics for 6 weeks the Dr. said. Sad smile

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I also might have done a little baking this month!

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So, that’s been our month, in a nutshell!  Full of life and good memories!  I am just hoping that the next two weeks go as fast as the last two, because then I will be sitting on a beach in Florida!  I love my girls SO much, but I cannot tell you how excited I am to go out to eat without having to cut up food, or take a child to the public restroom (have I told you how anal Kyle and I are about public restrooms, and yet our kids seem to have to go EVERY time we are out and about!)  I am looking forward to some warmth – if not even HEAT!!!  This 50 degree weather is just not doing it for me!

Hopefully I can pop in here again before then!

MandaKay