Rare Moment

Its been awhile. We have been keeping busy and I don't feel much like keeping up with the blog( and still don't) but i snapped this rare moment with Levi and Thor, our cat, cuddling on the couch. Usually he is torturing him, yet the cat seems to always come back to him :) This is what Levi is usually doing to the cat. You can't really tell but that black blob in the drum is the cat. He stuffed him in there and put the lid on! Cat didn't really care. When Levi took the lid of I expected Thor to make a mad dash out of there but he just sat there.

Big Boy Bed

Levi is in a big boy bed now! No more cribs over in this house. I had not planned on moving him yet b/c he was not really attempting at getting out, but he was running out of room in the crib. Plus I had to find a full size mattress set. I found one pretty quickly and we converted his crib in to a full size bed. This is the first time it has been done this way b/c usually I am kicking them out to make room for baby, but he is my baby!
I has been a week and he does pretty well, we have to put up two gates in his doorway otherwise he climbs out and I am afraid he will wake at night and go outside or hurt himself. I have found him laying by the door already and had to move him back to bed. Suprisingly he does well for his naps too. As you can see in the first photo he was pretty excited! :)

Race Day!

Race Day finally was here! Riley was looking forward to racing his dirtbike for the first time ever, we heard about it for about the last month :) We went to one of the last races of the season at Muskegon and when we got there Carter wanted to race his bike as well, but we only had one bike along, so they had to share. Thankfully we had all their own gear. The boys did AWESOME, they did better with each race and were passing other riders and neither of them fell!! They had blast and John and I couldn't have been more PROUD of them!! We are all looking forward to the next season in May!
They each got a trophy( thankfully the same size otherwise a certain someone.., ahem..Carter..would of had a meltdown :) Riley had 7 riders in his class and he got 5th each race(they race twice)giving him 5th overall in his class and Carter had 15 riders in his class and got 12th the first race and 7th in the second giving him 10th overall in his class.

First Day of School

I have been a blog slacker lately. I love to read everyone elses, but never update my own. So I guess I better start with their first day of school since school has been in session for 3 weeks now. It has been going well so far. Carter gets up well in the morning which is good since he is not a morning person and so far we have arrived at school on time. The boys seem to be enjoying their teachers and meeting new friends or hanging out with old ones.

My boys heading back to school- showing off their similar backpacks and no, I did not intentionally dress them in matching colors :)

Carter is going into Kindergarten

Riley is going into 3rd grade. His teacher is my old teacher from when I was in second grade.. Talk about making me feel old!

August

August has been a very busy month, trying to get in all those last minute vacations/get aways before school starts(which is in a week and a half!) Instead of trying to post everything and to avoid overwhelming and stressing myself I will just write about what we have been up to. I have posted most of the pictures on my Facebook profile anyway.
Back in the last week of July we, as in, my boys and I ( John had to work and couldn't take of two weeks from work since we were going to be camping the following week) went up to my sisters cottage on Silver Lake and stayed there from Mon.-Thurs. We had some friends up there as well just down the road so we spent most our time over there. They took my boys on tube rides, even Levi went once with me, not so sure what he thought of it though. We just enjoyed the sun, water and hanging out, we went into town one night for ice cream. On Wed. night I invited my sisters kids to come up and spend the night and next day with us, which my boys loved. They call them their dudes :) Then on Thurs. evening we headed back home so that I could pack for a week of camping in 2 days!

Heres a picture up at the cottage to break up the long post.... :)

After the cottage we headed to Tri-Ponds Campground with my whole side of the family. This is the first year we stayed for a full week and John even took the whole week off! We rented a cabin which was really nice except it had been really hot the first few days we were there and they have no air. We find that this place is perfect for us b/c it has a pond and pool, kayaks, fishing, petting zoo, game room, volleyball, ect.. so there are plenty of things for everyone to do b/c all our kids range in age from 15-2. The weather was awesome, couldn't have asked for anything better, it did rain late one night and then a little another morning, but still got in plenty of sunshine. Camping is a little tiring at this stage yet, trying to keep on eye on my young kids, but I know that they love it and have a great time and we make some wonderful memories. Can't wait to go again next year!

About half the group, one of my brothers family didn't come till mid-week and most the guys were at work yet.

We were gone from Sunday to a Sunday so the week after camping I just spent putting everything away and getting back into a normal routine. The Sat after we got we headed to Chicago with John's side of the family. They have a visitor from Uganda that is stayign with them for a month and they wanted him to see Shedds Aquarium. This was are first time going there and it was a nice place to visit. Lots of underwater creatures you don't normally see. We also watched a short 4D movie which Levi did not like and a dolphin show. It was very busy there and was getting difficult to move around the place so I was ready to leave. We were going to go to Millenium Park and see a few things but it was raining we we all headed towards home and on the way we stopped at The Cracker Barrel and had a nice home cooked meal. Another great adventure with our family.

Road Trip!....

Riley and Levi with their 3D glasses on...

This one is out of order and should have gone first, but we also went to John Ball Zoo with my sister in law and her to kids about a week or two before the cottage. It was a perfect summer day, we went right away in the morning, checked out all the animals/exhibits, had lunch there, rode a camel, feed the birds, touched sting rays( only me though the older two would not tough them, and were done and home for naps by 2:00, nice little day trip.

The classic photo on the statue, I even have one with all my cousins :) My neice Lexi and Logan on the bottom, Levi in the middle and then Riley and Carter on top.

Riding the camel...

I think that is it for our family adventures for now, but this Sat. John and I are going to Cedar Point, just the two of us for some much needed alone time. The boys are going to have a sleepover at grandma and grandpas were I am sure they will be spoiled. Then its a whole new kind of busy, school starts along with soccer. Riley is a doing it for his 4th year and this is Carter's first time. Until the next blog post, hopefully I will keep on top of it next time.

A Day at the Track

Today was a nice day to ride around the track at the farm where my parents graciously allowed us to put one up last summer, so we meet my sister in law, her husband and their two kids and let them play around. There was a toy there for everyone to ride, so they had lots of fun!

Riley jumping the tabletop. He says he is ready to race so we may try one of the fair races at the end of the summer.

Logan let Levi ride his toy quad around and Levi loved every minute of it. He went up and down the jumps and all over the field. He got to act like one of the big boys!

Levi and Logan. I see these two being up to no good together in the future :)

Logan and Lexi

finally got Carter to ride his bike this summer

cousins : Carter, Riley, Levi, Logan, and Lexi ( we are just missing Conner)

Potty Training Success

Potty training is my least favorite thing to get accomplished. The older two were 3( even a little after) before they trained, Riley probally b/c he was my first and I didn't really push the issue till later and Carter was just stubborn! So I was pleasantly suprised that Levi showed an interest in it so young, ( maybe the others did to I just didn't tune in to the clues they were giving me) and I think its safe to say that after only a month he is pretty much potty trained except for naps and bedtime( which he has been dry alot after those too. Once I even forgot a diaper during the night and he was dry in the morning!) He just turned 2 a few weeks ago! I usually let him be naked in the house which makes it easier than taking the pants and diaper of constantly and when we go out he wore a pull up, but now he even asks to go when we are out and about. He also thinks its fun to go outside.We skipped the small potty altogether and went right to the big potty, no potty ring/seat either and he did fine with it. When he went #1 he got a small candy( remember sixlets candy? just little balls of coated chocolate? he got one of those) and if he went #2 he got a bigger candy. This task was a little harder, he seemed afraid of the process at first but now I think he is good. So glad to be done potty training my children( hopefully he does not regress) and most important, I don't have to buy another pack of diapers again( except for pull-ups but they last alot longer, so less money spent!)


such a big boy!

checking out his "deposit" :)

Levi's Birthday Party

This past Sat. we had a little birthday party with the grandparents to celebrate Levi's 2nd birthday. We opened some presents and enjoyed some cake and ice cream.

mom, dad and the birthday boy

family picture

opening his present. He got a bubble bucket with extra bubbles from us, a pirate ship water table, from grandpa and grandma VanRhee and a stand n' play raceway car track from grandpa and grandma Scholten

playing with his new present. His brothers enjoyed them as well :)

his dump truck cake, I think he liked it alot