New School Year 2011

Of course we all knew this day would come...The end of summer and the beginning of a wonderful new start to a school year. Cmon, I am trying to stay positive here. I imagined it would go like this...Maddie would be so excited she wouldn't be able to sleep the night before and Aidan would be filled with anxiety. Like all kids do, they surprise us! Maddie woke up and was just so terrified of her 1st day of 4th grade that she thought she would puke. She ate one bite of her sausage and refused to eat a bite of french toast. Aidan was as happy and easygoing as ever. You wouldn't think a nervous bone in his body. I had been dreading this day because my babies are growing up so quickly. This would be my 1st year without a child at home with me on my days off. My "little helper" would be no more. It will be quiet and lonely and way too much time to clean. All the things I longed for when he was with me I am now getting and regretting I ever hoped for them to "hurry up and get here." Sometimes it is just so unfair. They both hopped on the bus and I hoped they didn't see my tears. The bus was late dropping them off and I heard the brakes squeaking and ran to the garage to see them off. They were both running towards the house with big smiles on their faces. Maddie said "I love my teacher, Ms Bailey" I had to pry to get anything out of Aidan, but he did admit it was a good day. We went through the backpacks and I noticed right away they didn't eat their lunches, or much of them anyway which makes me angry b/c its a time issue! We waited til Daddy got home from work and ate a nice dinner of chicken chili together and talked about our "day."

Summer Begins!

Ahhh summer, just the sound of it makes me smile and feel warm inside. Some of our best childhood memories happen in the summertime. Ethan and the kids had their last day of school a few days ago. Maddie isn't so sad this year she says though "Mr Wilkinson has been her favorite teacher." She worked on her little gift certs the last few days of school writing something special for each teacher whether it was PE or Art. She is one thoughtful young girl. So thoughtful in fact that she asked me to write the same thing to a teacher as I did last year because as Maddie put it "I want her to cry again when she reads the note." Well Maddie wrote her own note and this teacher cried:) Maddie was pleased.
Aidan is not upset in the least that school is over with for some time. Thats not to say he won't miss Mrs Hauschild, she was a patient and kind and nurturing teacher for him. She got him a scholarship for summer school starting in July and goes til early Aug. Its just a few hours a day, Monday-TH.
Aidan has been having great fun with his neighbor buddy, CJ. CJ comes over and they play "crash up cars" and "war" with water guns/marshmallow guns. He is also doing T-ball right now and the funniest thing happened on the first game he played. Aidan is a total "watcher" so while he was playing 1st base he was listening to the opponents coach talk to the runner on 1st. Aidan was shaking his head so intently listening like this coach was talking to him! When the batter his the ball, the 1st baseman took off running...and so did Aidan! The runner at 1st was able to make it all the way home before the ball came near the plate...and so did Aidan!!! Myself, my Mom and EThan were laughing so hard we had tears coming out of our eyes. Later the next day we had a talk with Aidan about playing offense and defense:)
Maddie just finished Cheer for the season. They had a fabulous record. The State Cheer Competition took place the day after school got out and they placed 2nd!!! Maddie loves cheer to say the least. She practices her toe touch, pike and herkie jumps EVERY day! She wants to try out for Elite Cheer in August and we think she may just have a chance to make it.
So now we have a 4th grader and a 1st grader in the household...the years just keep flyin by...

Funny Kids

I know I haven't blogged in awhile and its not b/c I haven't wanted to, but somehow real life just gets in the way. A couple things that were really cute happened these past few days. (though cute things happen EVERY day)
March is reading month at school and it is Monday morning and a really BIG day for Maddie as she is getting a kitten tonight! We were in the process of adopting for almost 3 weeks and Maddie has been so patient. So I go in to wake up Peanut (b/c of the time change it still has screwed up the kids schedules) and I say "its read a word day at school." "I know" says Maddie. "Well what word would you like to be today?" "Moody" says Maddie. I was surprised by this b/c of the kitten thing. I figured she would pick Excited or something like that. "No, I want moody." "OK" I say. I wrote the word out and pinned it onto her shirt and she asks me "Mom, what does moody mean?" OMG, I about died but explained it means one minute you are happy and the next minute sad...on and on. She then said to me "I want excited as my word." Ha Ha.
Aidan was playing up in his room and got into his books/magazines and found a flyer for the Christmas Toys R Us wish book. He brings it to Daddy and says "there are some things in here that Santa forgot to bring me." It was so cute.
Because Maddie got a kitten (which she paid for) Aidan has been promised a quad this spring/summer. It is all he is talking about!

Thanksgiving 2010

Today I will write about what I am "thankful" for not just because the holidays are upon us. Maddie has been perfecting her backbends, handstands and her "cheer" for competition coming up in Dec. I really think she is a natural. This morning she must have said "Mom, can you come watch me just for a minute" or Mom, can you spot me on this one try?" at least 5 times. I feel bad b/c mornings are so busy as it is and here she is set up in the living room doing her gym work and just wants me to sit and watch. She is truly proud of her accomplishments. She has proven to herself that practice and perserverance DO pay off! She had her conferences last week and her teacher said she is "the model student." He has a hard time not calling on her all the time b/c she is so engaging with every activity and raises her hand almost every time a question is asked. She wants to learn and always is helpful to others when they needs some extra attention. Ethan and I are so very proud of Maddie and I sometimes feel we expect so much from her but then again we know she can handle it.
I took her to see Beezus and Ramona on Sunday---just she and I. She had been reading the book and was almost finished with it. She said the book is better than the movie but that the movie was SOOO good. It of course had Selena Gomez in it who Maddie thinks is just "so pretty." I liked it b/c it had John Corbett from S*x and the City who was "Aidan" where our Aidan got his name from.
Now Aidan has been just growing so much this schoolyear already. He is no longer a little boy but growing into a young man. He still lets me kiss him on the lips. I say to him "oh what did you forget to give me today?" and he says "kiss" and puckers right up! I will take that little kiss for as long as I can. He has been playing MarioKart on the Wii throughout the days on as many opportunities as he can. I suppose he knows too that with practice comes perfection and he never fails to run to the bottom of the basement stairs to yell "I WON" He and I played basketball yesterday b/c the weather is simply amazing. He makes sure to get my balls for me when they go too far out into the grass. I ran into his parapro (Mrs DeHaan) for Mrs Van and she asked about Aidan and said she sees him here and there. She told me how she prayed for him and us and that we didn't even know it. We both were crying at this point. What great leaps he has made in the past 3 years!!!
Working on his letters and he can read "My Dog" which I saved to look back at years from now. I really don't think he can "read" it yet but with the pictures helping out he gets all the word right:)
So I am truly thankful for my absolute wonderful children. Ethan and I couldn't be more blessed!

Wish I Could Come

The kids were spending the night at Grandma Veldings and Ethan and I had "date night." It was decided that I would pick Maddie up at Grandma's the next morning at 9am to take her to my friend, Heather's, marathon race. She seemed anxious to go and I knew she could keep up with me if we had to run etc. Had our bag packed with some warm clothes as the temps would be in the 40's. Date night was wonderful and on our way home I called the kids to say goodnight to them. Maddie talked first and said they were laying in bed watching Wizards of Waverly Place--the new one. I asked if Aidan was asleep yet and she said no. She put him on the phone for me. "Hi honey" was what I said and he asked where we were, what we were doing right now and I told him. Then I told him Daddy would pick him up in the morning and he asked where Maddie and I would be. I explained we were going to watch a race. With a little bit of hesitation all he said was "wish I could come." Those words were all I needed to hear to make the decision that he was coming too. It might not be as "easy" as if it were just Maddie and I but sometimes "easy" is not what great memories are all about anyway.
The kids did great that day...the bickering really didn't start until we walked in the door on our way home:)

Home Sick

Now Maddie has always been one to "hear about it and get it." If there is someone with a cold 100 miles away and she knows about it, she will get herself into a tizzy and get sick right along with them. Monday morning came and though I had planned on going to work that day, Maddie came down into the bathroom and cried "Mommy please stay home with me today---I don't want to go to grandma's---I want YOU to stay home with me and take care of me." The words were all I needed to hear to make my decision. She needed me. How many times left are there when she will need me like this? I know she will always NEED me for many things but when a young child is sick, crying for their mom, well, that is short lived. We spent the day getting fluids down, picking up the prescription, looking at funny cards with songs in them---"Lollipop..." and we spent alot of time just listening to eachother---one on one. Aidan was not around to interrupt us, he was in school. Daddy was at work. We watched a movie together that she picked out, one that we both would enjoy...Twilight.
The next day she stayed home too and this time Aidan was with us and it was my "day off." She was well enough to fight with her brother and vice versa. They played Wii and both stayed in their jammies all day (b/c it was spirit week at school and it was jammy day too.)
One thing I didn't tell her was that because I stayed home on Monday from work there would not be a parent at her character award ceremony on TH. Grammy will be there with Aidan as she is presented this award from her teacher, Mr Wilkinson. Her daddy and I are so proud!!!!

Summertime=Backbends, Durro, and Sweaty Armpits

So summer began and our calendar was ready for action. What a packed summer it has been so far! Maddie and Aidan have been to L. Michigan 3 times already this year and at least 3 more times we will make it yet before summer is through. After almost a year of practicing, last week Maddie perfected (achieved) a backbend without any assistance. Horray!!! She was so proud of herself. About the same time Aidan was watching the X Games with Daddy and discovered MOTO. His words exactly "I am so going to do that when I get bigger." Ha---not if momma has anything to do with it! Thats dangerous stuff there!
Our trip to Pentwater in June ended in disaster as we sprang a major leak and had to leave after just 2 days---didn't even get to put our feet in the water or walk downtown. Very sad story. We sold it and the convertible to purchase a 1959 Durro camper that was manufactured in Alma, MI. We are still waiting on estimates for repairs/restorations. Next year we WILL be camping...
These hot, humid August days led us to a new discovery this year...Maddie needs to wear deodorant!!!! She is getting older and even though we joked about it, I know she is excited to wear it. She stated that "Lia and Anna wear it too."
Summer--is there anything better???