Shades

This is what I have learned:  I love painting.  I do not love prepping to paint.  I despise cleaning up the painting supplies and mess when I am done.  The actual painting itself is quite relaxing and seeing a finished product, all clean and neat and new, is amazing.  But, perhaps I should limit the work to one room per year instead of 3 rooms per month...

It all started when I realized the kids' bathroom needed a coat of paint.  From there it was an "if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie" kind of a project.  I let the kids pick the bathroom color (the choices were green, orange or purple).  They choose orange.  4 coats of paint later (yes, I said FOUR!!), the finished product looks great and is much BRIGHTER than the builder white that did cover the walls.  Check it out:

Once we began talking of painting walls, the kids were really excited and both wanted their rooms re-painted.  Here are the before and after shots of both.  

We (Mike and I, not Seth) were sad to see the cute animal mural on Seth's wall go. A friend painted it on there 6 years ago when we moved in the house and Seth decided he was ready for something a little more "Big Kid". We are all really pleased with the results of all the rooms!!

Bedtime

Our kids have always been good about going to bed. From the time they were tiny the routine has been: lay them in bed; walk away; they fall asleep. Until recently...

For some reason Katey and Seth seem to be bucking bedtime lately. We say good night, give hugs, send them on their way and within a few minutes one of them (Katey usually) is back downstairs needing a drink of water...and to chomp some ice...and then giving more hugs... And we can usually count on hearing a small, quiet voice at the top of the stairs (Seth), "Mommy, Daddy? I, um, want to turn on my fan, is that okay?" Or he wants a cup of water in his room or his blanket isn't quite perfect on his bed...

Now, I love my kids and I love spending time with them but when evening comes around I am ready for some quiet time with my husband. Bedtime has always been my favorite time of the day...but it seems to be more and more frustrating lately. When I hear or see the kids my heart beats faster and I feel my anger rising. IT IS BEDTIME...GET IN BED!!

Last night it was the same story. I had laid down the law with Katey before bed so I didn't hear or see her. But, just as I was beginning to drink in the quiet of the evening I hear, "Um, Mommy, Daddy?" WHAT, SETH?!? "Can I have my pillow case? Is it done in the wash?"

So I grudgingly head up to give Seth his favorite pillow case (because there was already one on his pillow...just not the one he loves. *sigh*). As I entered his room I noticed there were wet spots on his pillow. When I asked about them he got teary-eyed and told me that he was remembering how 2 of his classmates had called him a liar during the day and he got sad.

Now my heart is breaking in a million pieces and I hear that still, small voice in my head - life is not about Jen and what I want. There are more important things than a quiet evening and bedtime is not sacred.

If I had been really grumpy Mommy (like I wanted to be) I would have yelled up the stairs that he could sleep without his favorite pillow case and that would have been the end of it. I would not have had the opportunity to share in my son's heartbreak and spend time talking and praying with him. We both would have missed out on an important growth moment.

So, tonight when I send the kids to bed I hope to remember this lesson and be a little less grumpy about out-of-bed children and a little more compassionate towards them...even if it means my quiet is interrupted for awhile.

A Decade!

Katey is 10. I have been mulling this realization over in my head for over a week now. How can our precious daughter be TEN already?!

This was a year of no birthday party, but something fun instead. Katey has always wanted to go camping so Mike took her on a special Daddy-Daughter camping trip. They went with some good friends, Erik, Abby and Tori. (Coincidentally, Erik camps often so the fact that we had basically no camping gear was okay!) They headed out to Morrow Mountain for one night and had a great time roasting hot dogs, making s'mores and sleeping in tents. They also saw many deer near the campsite and spent time hiking, fishing and playing in the dirt. It was Katey's dream vacation!

I sent the camera with Mike to get some good camping shots and these are the two he came back with!

After they arrived home we had a family celebration with Grammy (who decorated the house and helped make Katey feel extra special on her big day). There were lots of presents and, at Katey's request, frosted brownies as her cake.

She might be 10 but she is not too old to get a horsey ride from Daddy...just like old times!!

It is hard to believe that our spunky, energetic, think-ouside-of-the-box little girl isn't so little anymore. What a joy and a blessing the last 10 years have been with her. Happy birthday, Katey Beth! We love you more than we can even express!!!

Back to School

It is that time of year again. Back to school!! After a fun summer we were all looking forward to getting school supplies, meeting teachers, seeing friends and heading back into a normal routine everyday. (Okay, I admit that I was more excited about all of this than the kids were. But, they were looking forward to it, too!)

So, true to form, both kids were up nice and early and ready for the day in plenty of time. Both had picked out new school clothes at least a week in advance.
Katey choose her dress because, "It looks like an old-time school girl dress." Awesome. Both were super excited to wear their new tennis shoes. We did have to spend a few days re-teaching Seth to tie shoes, but he is now a pro...again!

The kids headed to the bus stop. In the fog. At 6:40 AM. Seth was sad to say good-bye to Belle for the day, but I think Belle was pretty glad to spend 7 hours without the fear of being...um...too loved upon. Yeah.


I enjoyed a quiet day of cleaning out Katey's closet and the kids came home all smiles. The first day back to school was a success!

2000 Miles...part 3...Ohio

Even though we were all tiring a bit of riding in the van, it was good to be on the way to Ohio and know we had 5 days of NOT riding in the car to spend with family and friends!

We arrived Monday evening and spent Tuesday doing nothing but playing. Papa Dana came over to hang out with us Tuesday and we all enjoyed visiting with him. The kids also had a great time climbing the tree outside Shannon and Jason's house. Both of our kids are little monkey's and got rather high in the tree.They even planned a little welcome tree-skit for our good friends, Sara, Anna and Dayton when they arrived for a visit on Wednesday. I'm not sure what all was involved apart from all of them being in the tree and waving hello and jumping out of the tree!

While Sara and the kids were at the house we did more of just playing and enjoying spending time together. The kids swam, ran, crafted, did puzzles, schemed and made posters for a lemonade and cookie sale they planned. Aunt Shannon and the kids set up the stand at their church before Wednesday evening services. All the money collected went to a special ministry called "Life Straw" - straws with filters that make even dirty water drinkable. They raised $163!! Pretty cool!

We were so glad that Sara, Anna and Dayton made the 3 hour trip to hang out with us for a couple of days. It is always good to spend time with them and makes us miss them all the more!

Thursday evening we celebrated Aunt Shannon's birthday at a Japanese Steakhouse. Jen and the kids had never been to one before so it was quite a treat to watch the chef cook in front of us! Here is what Katey thought of it:
Do you see her in the pink shirt with her hands on her face? :-) Seth kept scooting back further and further in his chair as the chef flung stuff and lit fires. It was pretty funny! We all had a great time and enjoyed the delicious food!

Shannon with Aubrey. We don't think Aubrey liked the fire very well.

Friday was Shannon's actual birthday and she was awakened to Gabriella and Katey calling her on the phone to tell her to come to the kitchen for breakfast. The girls had worked hard on a special birthday breakfast. And, when I say "special", I mean it:
Why yes, those are grapes and green peppers placed artistically on a plate! Shannon was so very surprised!! And, we were all surprised that she was willing to share her wonderful birthday breakfast with her girls.

They decided to take advantage of the chop sticks we got from the Japanese Steakhouse the night before.

Later that day we headed to Jay and Kathy's house for another day of fun outside. The kids rode the zip line, got to see Emily and meet our new little cousin, Laken;
and put on swim suits and goggles for a fun surprise...THE SHAVING CREAM FIGHT!!
It was tough to get good shots of the kids in action, but here is Aubrey after the fight. They all pretty much looked like this. HA!

We also took a little trip to see Great Grandma Brown and Great-Great Uncle Carl - but I forgot to pull out my camera. Grandma's house smelled delicious as she was working on freezing some Incredible Corn (can't wait to hopefully get a taste of that over Christmas break!) and we had a nice time catching up with them as well.

The most surprising part of the trip was discovering that Seth is a HUGE kitten lover! Our son, who seriously claims to be 1/2 dog (I wish I was kidding on that part, but it is true - he tries to convince us daily), fell in love with Summer the kitten, whom he dubbed "Kitty Litter". He spent the entire time we were at Shannon's chasing the kitty around and picking her up. He was holding her one day and exclaimed, "I'm not sure why dogs don't like cats. I just don't understand because this cat is pretty nice!"

We headed home on Saturday and, while we would have liked a few more days of vacation, we were grateful to be home (and out of the van) and end our 2000+ mile adventure of the Eastern United States...and what a great adventure it was!

2000 Miles...part 2...Niagara Falls

Our trip to Niagara Falls started out with a great surprise - both of the kids slept almost the entire 3 1/2 hour trip!! Guess all the family fun wore them out!

When we got to the hotel Katey was treated to a great surprise:
For those of you who are unaware, 7:07 is Katey's favorite time of the day. She was excited to be staying in room #707!

After dropping stuff off at our room we headed straight for the main attraction. We walked along the Niagara River - it is so wide and very beautiful to watch.
Then it was on to take the ever-famous "Maid on the Mist" boat ride. That is quite an experience!! The boat really does take you to the bottom of the Falls and it is rather amazing how calm the water is at their base.
After grabbing some dinner we headed back to the Falls again to see them lit up at night and watch the fireworks. Several people had told us that we were in for a treat with the fireworks. They have obviously never seen a real fireworks display. We waited until 10PM for them to start and after about 2 minutes (maybe) they were done. Everyone kind of looked around with puzzled expressions, wondering if that was it. And, yes, it was. But, we enjoyed seeing the Falls lit up anyway! (No pictures of the water as my camera wouldn't focus right in the dark. I do, however, have many nice shots of the backs of folks heads with blurry lights in the distance)

The next morning we awoke to rain so we hung out in the hotel and rested before setting off for Canada. Niagara Falls is much more viewable and beautiful from the Canadian side!

Canadian Horseshoe Falls

American Falls and (the smaller one on the right side) the Bridal Veil Falls

The kids were ecstatic to get souvenirs on both the US side and in Canada. They choose timeless junk treasures: yo-yo's, snow globes, a calculator key-chain, a back scratcher, a pencil and a pack of cards. Seth spent the entire evening and following day walking and yo-yoing while looking at the Falls. (Note the yo-yo in his hand in the picture above) Katey spent much time reading all the signs we passed and learning lots of information.

This portion of our trip was short - around 24 hours before we headed on to Ohio - but packed with lots of fun and amazing sights! I am a little embarrassed to admit that my immediate reaction to seeing the Falls was, "Really, I thought it would be bigger!" Don't get me wrong, they are amazing and incredible and quite massive, but from pictures and hearing other folks talk about them I was sure they would be much more ginormous! Still, I am impressed and in awe of this astounding creation of God's hand and am thankful that these eyes (all 4 sets) got to witness it!

2000 Miles...part 1...Syracuse

We had the wonderful privilege of taking a (very) long car trip this summer to visit lots of family, see friends, and witness an amazing work of the hand of God. 2000+ miles later we are home and enjoying the memories of the past 2 weeks.

The trip started with an overnight in Maryland with Brandon, Annie and Nate. The next morning we all set out, caravan style, for Syracuse, NY!!

Aunt Melanie and Uncle Doug allowed 20 of us (plus 2 dogs!) to invade their house during 2 days and we were very thankful for their hospitality and (along with Aunt Martha and Mom Averill's) cooking! We were all gathered to celebrate Grandma TenEyck's 90th birthday!!

Mom, Martha and Melanie put together a wonderful party for Grandma and we enjoyed celebrating her together with family and friends. Here are a couple of shots from the day:

All the Grand and Great-Grandkids with Grandma at the party.

Mary TenEyck with her beautiful daughters!!

While hanging out with the Aunts, uncle and cousins we had much fun playing games, eating, and heading to a nearby (very clear!) lake. It was crazy-hot while we were there and we spent much time in the shaded back yard. Katey and Seth had great fun in the wooded ravine area behind the house.

Cousin Marcia, Christy and Katey trying to swing on the vines!

What a wonderful time it was, spending several days with Mike's extended family!! We hope to see them all again soon!

We were sad to say good-bye to everyone but excited as we headed out for our next destination - NIAGARA FALLS!!