Filling In the Blanks

Now that summer is over, it is time to fill in the blanks...

The details are fuzzy now, but some time in May my husband went for an extra long run in a forest in Belgium.  Long story short...he got a tick bite.  Has some really nasty neurological symptoms that have lingered for weeks.  He's on a fourth round of antibiotics and under the care of a really great Infectious Disease doctor at U of M.  There isn't much to do in this situation, but wait, pray and be thankful for good insurance and health care options.

Sarah failed her 4 year old well check hearing screen.  I had taken her in earlier to get an opinion on her tonsils/adenoids after that horrible spring cold she got in Texas--her entire voice changed, she was snoring LOUDer and becoming very hard to understand (for me).  She's been taking an antihistimine and nasal spray since last spring.  She also failed the bigger hearing screen at the ENT's this summer and is scheduled for an adenoidectomy and tube placement in about a month.  She still sounds congested and nasal.  I'm not sure the medication is doing anything and I'm really hopeful the surgery does.

The last weekend in July our family loaded up and headed to Indianapolis for a mini-BE reunion and a first time NASCAR race for the boys.

It. Was. HOT!!  Last night at "Back to School" night, Nathan had written about it as front page news in his summer newsletter.  The first line: "98 Degrees F!  Crazy, right?"  He had a great time hanging with his Belgian buddies that weekend (as did the rest of us) and they really did enjoy the race (for the first 100 laps anyway).

They had headsets to keep out some of the noise and to hear the drivers talking--I think that it who was talking anyway. 

Apparently as racetracks go, this is not the favorite.  They could see the cars pit (see how I used the lingo there?)

I was mostly thankful that they were on the shaded side.  The boys all had a super late night at the pool and in the hotel room the night before and it was entirely too hot for them to spend four hours in the beating sun.


I can't remember the last time I updated on what we now refer to as our "Neglected Garden".

Here it is on July 4th--before the neglect.

And entirely by coincidence, here it is exactly one month later.  Carrots!

Strawberries!  These never did turn out quite right.  Too squishy.

The tomatoes were the best--also the only thing not one of the kids would eat.  They also have been the most neglected as of late.  The Mammoth sunflower never became an actual flower and eventually shriveled up and died much to the dismay of the little gardener who loved it. :(

Cucumbers did well.  They were the most impressive--growing from seeds into a crazy monster plant and almost as quickly, they shriveled up and died.

I was a bad mom and didn't get a final picture of Nathan's cabbage.  One of the cabbages we didn't pick soon enough and had to throw it out.  The other one was perfect and was used in home made coleslaw--which of course, Nathan did not eat.  What kind of kid does not lot mayonnaise? I'm fairly certain I'm the one to blame for this picky eating habits--and compared to my own childhood ones, they're not so bad.

In between Holland visit number one and Holland visit number two, we went camping.  Yes, it was cabin camping, but for me that is camping.  It rained almost the entire time.

Here is  view of the rest of the campsite and some of those brave tent campers.  I must say that "Up North" in Michigan is beautiful.  I now wish that I had planned to take Hollands one or two or both "Up North".  So pretty.  We canoed in the pouring rain.  Literally at times it was like buckets of water were being poured on our heads.  We only canoed half of the three hour trip because: number one, we had never canoed; number two, we have one child who up until last year was not a fan of any type of ride--she cried on the train at the zoo for goodness sakes; number 3, it was raining and fore casted to rain the entire time.  Even with all of that?  I'd do it again.  It was beautiful even in the rain.  I loved it.

Yes, I know that this is not "roughing it", but I still struggled with the dirt and bugs in the bed.  I'm such a girl.  A friend told me (well, e-mailed me) that my kids would love camping.  She was totally right.  Even with our recent frustration with tick bite trouble, I loved how relaxed everyone was about where the kids were and what they were doing.  It was simple fun.  At one point, Hannah was following around someone who was holding a frog.  That's pretty good for her.  Maybe next year she'll even hold the frog?  Doubtful.

One thing I could not remain calm about was fire.  Well, not so much fire, but the proximity of my children to it.  At one point the adults were around one fire and I noticed most of the kids were somewhere else.  I saw one middle school aged child collecting firewood and thought, "Hmmmmm..."  I followed her and quickly pulled my own kids away from the fire "supervised" by adults from a cabin window.  I also suggested that another middle school aged child, not blow bubbles near the fire for the kids to chase.  Fire scares me.

Also scary is the fascination others seem to have with fire.  (The teenage boy across the street for example). 

But s'mores are good.

Some people don't even need the whole s'more.

Ahh, the simplicity of watching birds in nature, even if they are "angry".

He didn't play the whole time.  Mostly.

So, even with the rain, the mosquito bites and the stress of children around an open flame, we'll do it again.

Here's that "pathetic" first day of preschool picture of Sarah.  We were running behind after I had to walk her big brother and sister in to find their rainy day line up spots.  She's been so excited to bring a lunch to school.

And because this year she is in the morning preschool, she has lots of new friends.  Grace is also going to preschool there this year.  Her teachers have already said that she loves having so many more kids to play with and she is really enjoying the extra hour of lunch and play.  It feels so strange to be the mom walking in wearing work out clothes and leaving childless.  Watching the other moms juggle a new baby in a car seat and/or the toddler who isn't quite preschool ready takes me back.  Strange in a good way.  I'm loving my new freedom.

Week two is going well.  I'm feeling much more caught up around the house.  We've got a first grade meet and greet tonight after dance class.  We already had gymnastics, another dance class and back to school night.  We've also had a couple of grouchos in the mornings.  Hoping that will get better as we get better about bed time.  This is my favorite time of year in Michigan--I think a nice, cool fall makes up for the looooong, cold winter.

We're gearing up for pumpkin patch and apple orchard visits, weekends of football, Halloween costume planning...the nine year old is struggling with choosing a Halloween costume this year.  He even threw out the possibility that he might not wear one.  He was told that he would not be trick or treating without a costume---that is called begging.  The middle one wants to be a ghost.  She's asked to be a ghost for a couple of years now.  For some reason, I keep saying no.  The simplest of costumes just doesn't seem that simple for an occasionally high maintenance child.  I can already imagine the complaints she would have.  The little one started out wanting to be Strawberry Shortcake, but today mentioned she might like to be Katy Perry.  She is completely obsessed with Katy Perry---Firework is her favorite song and once she found out Katy Perry played Smurfette?  Forget about it.  Don't worry, our four year old will not be wearing cupcakes on her chest and a blue wig.