Whirlwind!

These days it feels a bit like we're in a whirlwind. Things have been a bit crazy and I'm thinking MAYBE things will settle down and get back to "normal" next week. Hopefully! 

We said good-bye to Holland, MI last week. We finished up all of our "last" things to do before moving away. Last Saturday night we enjoyed a great BBQ with our church family out at Tri-Ponds Campground. It was a fun night, and the kids had a blast! Unfortunately the only pic I have is this one Adam snapped of dirty Hope before heading home. I'd say how dirty she is shows how much fun she had. :)

Monday we went to Dutch Village, and it was so fun! I forget what a cute little place that is, and both J and H had such a great time. And bonus- we ordered some tulip bulbs to be sent to our new house in Iowa. So we'll plant them this fall and then we'll have a touch of Holland in our yard next spring. :)

Feeding animals, carousel ride, and Ferris wheel ride (for brave J and Daddy!)

Such a cute Dutch family!

Little Dutchies in the old schoolhouse

Had to do this side-by-side! J's first time at Dutch Village compared to now.

Monday night we went to Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's house in Grand Haven. We went up there in the afternoon so J could have some "last" beach time, then we had an early dinner and were off to J's t-ball game! Busy day!!

Quite a view!

Tuesday evening we went to Aunt Cora Mae's house for dinner. We saw lots of family, and my cousin Chuck was there to give train rides on Uncle Carl's train!! J will miss Chuck so much- he LOVES talking trains and working along side him. :) 

Filling the train up with gas!

Train rides are not just for the kids!

Chuck let J help drive the train- he was a LITTLE excited! :) And Hope was the perfect size for riding in the caboose!

Jeremiah finished up his t-ball season Wednesday night. And he had a big audience of both grandpas and grandmas, Auntie Abby, and Daddy's friend Mike (who were all in town to help with the move)!

Oh, and of course we spent time in there packing and cleaning!

Hope was excited :)

Thursday was the big day!

We started about 8 am and had the Uhaul loaded and house cleaned up by 1 pm! And we were off to Iowa. :)

J got to ride in the Uhaul with Daddy while H and I drove the Durango.

You may be wondering why, after arriving in Iowa, we did not actually unload the Uhaul. Well, we can't really get into our new house until July 8, SO that means we are kind of homeless for a week. We decided to view this week of "homelessness" as more of a vacation, since Adam won't be getting any vacation for who knows how long. Better live it up now!

So we arrived in Clinton in time for a late pizza dinner, we dropped the Uhaul off at Adam's friend Mike's house for the week, and then we drove down to Moline, IL to stay in a hotel for the night. J has several John Deere DVD's which talk about the John Deere Pavilion, and ever since he was a little guy he has been saying "we should go there!" So he was excited to know we would be moving only about 45 minutes away. We figured we might as well go now and make one of his dreams come true! And it did not disappoint!!

Grandpa and Grandma Wissink came along for the Moline and John Deere adventure, so afterwards we had lunch with them and then moved on to our next stop.

Chicago! We spent a couple days with Abby (Neil is out of town for grad school for a few weeks!). We arrived Friday evening (later than anticipated- thank you, traffic). :(

We walked from Abby's place to Dante's and grabbed pizza for dinner, and then it was time for the kiddos to get to bed!

Saturday morning Auntie Abby took J on a special trip on the train to get Stan's Donuts! Thankfully they left a note so we knew where they went!

To say J was excited about riding the train would be a major understatement!

Later in the morning we headed downtown (another train ride!) to visit Maggie Daly Park. What a cool place! We definitely have to go back because we did not see it all- there is so much to do!

Saturday night we made tacos for dinner, went to play at Palmer Square park, and then enjoyed Miko's Italian Ice- YUM!!!!!

Today we visited Abby's church, ate lunch at the Logan Square farmer's market, and then we were off to our next stop.

Grandma and Grandpa Wiers' house in Brookfield, WI! We are here now until we head back to Iowa on July 8 to move into our house. :) Whew! Thankfully the kids have done really well (for the most part) with all the changes, driving, late bedtimes, missed naps, etc. I have to admit it breaks my heart a little bit when we're driving in the car and Hope longingly says "Home! Home!" because I know she has no idea that we will never be going back to the only place she has ever known as home. Poor baby! :( But hopefully soon enough we'll be settled into a new home that we all love.
 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

June!

Yikes! So much to catch up on! Before we even get to June, I have to finish up May!

Memorial Day 2016

We tried out the Hamilton parade this year, and it did not disappoint. Tractors, military vehicles, fire trucks, and candy galore!

The end of May, J started his very first season of t-ball! It's through the Hamilton school district, so some of his friends from school are on his team and teams they play against, which is so nice. He has lots of fun and really likes it!

H wants nothing more than to run out on the field with big bro. :(

How cute is he in the catcher's gear?!?!

The whole team!

May 31 was Adam's last day at CHS! Kind of bittersweet to leave the company he's been with for 10 years, but also exciting to look forward to new adventures.

That's a lot of CHS shirts. His closet is much emptier now!

And on to June!

June 3 was the long-awaited day of J's class field trip to the Critter Barn. He had been SO excited since he found out about it, and thought the day would never come! I was pretty excited, too, to go along as a chaperone. Fun to be a parent chaperone on a trip rather than the teacher (WAY less stressful)! :)

Quite a group!

June 10 was J's last day of Kindergarten. WHAT?!!?! I just can't believe it! He had such a great year, and he really loved his school and his teacher. I got all teary-eyed when he hugged his teacher and the principal good-bye- probably a combo of being sad he's having to change schools next year and also sadness because MY BABY IS GROWING UP!!!!

This little lady will miss school drop-off and pick-up!

She LOVED seeing all the kids, waving to the buses, saying "Hi-yo" and "Mo-neen" to people we saw. And of course she always lit up when brother walked down the hall after school!

J came home with a super cute Kindergarten memory book- I just love it! Love seeing his writing and his progress! A few of my favorite pages:

I mean, that IS pretty cool, right?!!?

Since school let out, we have been spending time packing and cleaning, but also trying to do some fun things "one last time." #1 on the list for J to do before we leave- go to Crazy Bounce! He's been begging to go for months and I always said we can do that on summer vacation. :) He even wrote an opinion writing piece at school about wanting to go there AND wrote us a letter from school about it, too!

How could we say no?!

So to Crazy Bounce we went- both J and H had a blast! H is a little too brave, in my opinion.

We wanted to see the Street Performers in downtown Holland one last time, and thankfully we had exactly 1 Thursday night when we could go.

We couldn't NOT stop at the Peanut Store one last time!

These street dancing/break dancing guys are Jeremiah's absolute favorites!! We had to make sure to put $1 in their money bucket.

He said to me on the way back to the car, "Mommy, those guys are my heroes!"

 And next up on our list was visit the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. This was a first AND a last! Wish we had gone sooner- it was right up J's alley. He loved all the military vehicles, and of course the rides were a hit, too.

Flying Blue Angels!

Being a soldier, storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

On one nice hot day, we hit up the splash pad at Maplewood Park in Jenison (After our first pool visit this year with H, I realized that she is way easier to manage at a splash pad vs. pool).

They both had so much fun!

Daddy took J to the races for the first time! I believe J said we should buy a motor as loud as the race cars, and also he wants to drive a race car when he grows up! Yikes.

On one of our last trips to the library, a reporter from the Holland Sentinel asked J what books he's reading this summer. And lo and behold, there he was in Saturday's paper!

AND J finally lost his first tooth! He has been waiting SO long!

And he even pulled it out by himself. Mr. Tooth Fairy wanted to give him $2 and Mrs. Tooth Fairy wanted to give him $1. We tried to compromise at $1.50 but realized we had no quarters! So, lucky dude got $2. And was up before 5 am to tell me about it. :)

Father's Day 2016. These kids love their daddy so much! And so do I. :)

Popsicles outside on a warm evening! Hope's first Popsicle- she's a fan.

John Ball Zoo was also on our list of places to go before we move! Ever since H and I went in the spring with friends from church, J has been wanting to go. He really likes animals (especially ocean animals) so he always LOVES a good zoo.

Little sisters come in handy sometimes.

Cooling off/taking a shower

We leave in 1 week (yikes!) and have a few more things on our list to do (besides packing, etc). J really wants to go to Dutch Village one more time, possibly the beach, too. He also has 3 t-ball games left, and we can't possibly leave MI without visiting the Sinkes and taking a ride on Uncle Carl's train! It's going to be a busy week!

Packing up :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Catch Up!

We have been up to a lot more than just preparing for our upcoming move! Ha ha ha ha. We've actually done NOTHING to prepare for our upcoming move. Except Adam is bringing home boxes from Lowe's..... So we'll have them when we do decide to start packing up. I am SO not looking forward to packing this place up, it feels like we JUST did! And we kind of did. But when I think about all the stuff/treasures/crap we brought with us from Ankeny, I do feel better because we have gotten rid of a lot! But there is nothing like packing up your whole entire house to remind you that you somehow STILL have a ton of junk!

Anyhoooooo......  On to what we have been up to this spring!

On April 24 Hope turned 18 months old! HOW is that possible?!?!?! She had her well-child visit and vaccinations on the 25th.

She weighs 23 lbs 7 oz (65th %ile) and is 32.75 inches tall (81st %ile). She seems like such a nice little peanut to me, probably because at this same age Jeremiah was 6 lbs heavier and 2.5 inches taller! :) He was such a chunk! The doctor was, of course, very impressed with all the words Hope says and the connections she makes. I do have to say, she is a smart little firecracker! A couple of my favorite things she does lately: When pulling into the Meijer parking lot she excitedly starts saying, "Pizza! Pizza!" Yes, that is also where the Pizza Ranch is. Also she gets so proud of herself when she does something. After a meal she likes to get out of her high chair and do the buckles. After she does a buckle she exclaims, "dood job!!!" to herself. :)

She watches her big bro like a hawk and copies him all the time. She learned to pull the bathroom stool over to the counter just like brother does! 

Usually that is followed by "deef! deef!" because of course she wants to brush her teeth like big bro.

J is continuing to do well in Kindergarten- the countdown is on to the end of the year! He likes to say he is "almost a 1st grader" now. :)  He brought home his "how to" writing piece, which I thought was hilarious. 

"How to go to Captain Sundae" 

FYI- drive to Captain Sundae, see the building, get ice cream :)

We had a yard sale at our church, and we used that opportunity to get rid of some of our junk (and get a little $)! Of course, we came home with a little bit of junk, too. I had my eye on a mirror.... I am not a DIY person AT ALL, but this mirror just begged to be bought and turned into something else!

Sandpaper, paint, and a piece of glass and voila! Picture frame.

Hope and I ventured to the zoo with my friend Jill from church and her daughter Eleanor. Thankfully we were able to go on one of our really nice spring days. It was beautiful! And Hope loved seeing all the animals!

I put piggy-tails in Hope's hair for the first time, and the resemblance to a Cabbage Patch doll was just too much!!

We enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day weekend! On Friday, J's school had "Donuts with Dudettes" so we enjoyed some yummy donuts together before school.

Saturday I got beautiful flowers from my hubby and kids!

On Sunday I got some cards, which were just so cute. And I am so excited- Adam ordered me stacking rings! He did a great job!

We got to have lunch with Abby Sunday afternoon since she was in GR for the weekend. Then after Hope's nap we hit Tulip Time for a bit. Basically we walked around, let J do a few carnival rides, took some tulip pics, grabbed sandwiches at Jimmy John's for dinner, and headed home. Just enough Tulip Time for all of us!

Love my babies so much!

Last Wednesday all the schools around here had a half-day because of one of the Tulip Time parades. We didn't venture out to the parade, since it was at 2:00 and that is right during Hope's nap. But since it was such a nice day, we did go to the park for a picnic (McDonald's-ha!) and playtime!

I thought this week would be a good time for some tulip cookies! :)

This past Friday was a big day for Jeremiah- after having 4 (at least) ear infections since December and fluid in his ears that would not drain, he finally got tubes in his ears. I thought we were sort of "out of the woods" with that since he hadn't really had many ear infections since before he was 2! But unfortunately not. The ENT said that if that fluid had not already drained, it probably wasn't going to (at least any time soon), and we definitely noticed at home that it was affecting his hearing. So it was time.

I almost wish he could have had this done when he was younger and he didn't know what was really going on. But being 6 years old and very aware (he asked me, "what is the process of putting the tubes in my ears?" Ummmm, I don't know), he knew a lot about what was going to happen, and he was SO nervous! (So was I). The night before the procedure he didn't fall asleep until like 9:30 pm (after going to bed at his normal 7:45 time)! 

It is so so so hard sending your baby away to be put under, no matter how simple the procedure! I had all the "what ifs" going through my mind. Thankfully everything went great, and really the hardest part for J was recovering from the anesthesia. He was lethargic, dizzy, nauseous, for a couple hours afterwards. They did give him meds for the nausea which did not seem to help at all. But finally they decided to discharge him because he was perking up. As we were getting him dressed he said his tummy hurt so bad! :( So I sent him off to the bathroom to try to go #2, and he ended up vomiting. And after that, he said he felt so much better! Weird. So we were discharged (twice while we were getting ready to leave he said to me, "Wait. Do I already have the tubes in my ears?!"), he took it easy for the afternoon, and by evening he was back to his normal self! We're so thankful that is done, and he already says he can hear better and his ears do not feel plugged anymore. Yay!

I think that's about it for now! :)