School Days

School is back in and I think we are all rather glad to be back to a routine. Grace is thrilled with her teacher, and she is in a split 2nd/1st class.  Her best friend is in her class, so that is great, too.

Vivian started her Young 5s class this week as well. She goes every afternoon and gets lots of one on one time with her teachers.  I think this will be a good transition to Kindergarten for her!

The weather has been gorgeous, here are some pics of hanging around in the evening.

Good times

We have also managed to have a lot of fun this summer!

Swimming:

We got to take a tour of Michigan Stadium, the biggest college football stadium in the country.

Rob graduated from residency. Hooray!!!!

Both of our families were nice enough to come out for the Chief's Dinner/graduation. Jared and Jen also came, I don't know why I don't have a picture with them....

We went to a Civil War remembrance at Greenfield Village. The kids enjoyed it.

Sam learned to ride without training wheels! He also ran into a curb and chipped his front tooth and scraped up his face. Look really closely :)

Viv went walking in the rain in this truly snazzy outfit.

And for many days after our friend Drew's birthday party, she dressed as a superhero.

Crazy times

Since I posted last, we have been busy! We decided to try to sell the house, as we kept hearing that houses were selling like hotcakes. And, it sold like a hotcake, in 4 days.  We were kind of shocked and unprepared for that to happen! So we scrambled to find a short-term rental and got our stuff packed in a moving truck that drove right to Idaho and will be in storage until we get there. We took a couple of weeks to find furnishings at thrift stores and get adjusted to apartment living, and here we are! Whew!

This is what the house looked like when we bought it 6 years ago:

And here it is, ready to go on the market:

Man, I miss that place.  And here we are at the new place:

Scout

We have a new puppy! She is a Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever + Toy Poodle = smaller, non-shedding, shaggy, mellow, intelligent dog).   We picked her up Saturday, and her first 2 days at home she has been fantastic.  She slept really well last night, no whining, and only needed to go outside once.  She was just in her bed in our room, and she stayed right there.  The kids are head over heels for her.  She is sweet and patient with them, but also ready to play when they are.  She seems to like to just lie at our feet when we're eating meals or sitting on the couch or standing still long enough for her to settle in.  She is snuggly and fluffy and seems to be catching on to things quickly.  We are thrilled with her!  (I need to get some better pictures...)

Sleeping while the girls eat ice cream.

Sleeping again.

 We went on a walk today. She loved all the seed-head dandelions. We didn't get far :)

Boise will have to wait

Rob has decided to do a fellowship in infertility!  It will just be 6 months, but we feel like it will make a big difference for the rest of his career.  His future employer is glad to have him stay, as their group currently doesn't have a "fertility guy".  While we are excited to move on to the next phase of our lives, we are also happy to have a few more months in Michigan.  We're busy crossing things off the "Michigan bucket list" for now, and soaking in our last year of life in the MidWest! 

Sam

My Sammy is not a baby any more. I look at him lately and I definitely see a little boy.  He is a unique and amazing kid with a sweet and gentle soul.  He loves to give kisses and "muh"s (kind of like a kiss, but without the pucker). He has recently been given chores, and what he loves to do is clean the toilet.  He loves to just splash around in the water with the brush.  The other day I asked him to empty the bathroom garbage, too, and then I went to take the kitchen garbage outside.  When I came back, he had put a new garbage bag in the kitchen trash, put the gargage trash into it, and put a new bag into the bathroom garbage. He did a more thorough job than most adults. What a kid. He loves the movie Despicable Me, especially Vector.  He says, "oh yeah!" just like him and randomly brings up "magnitude."  Sam has a fantastic smile that charms everyone.  He's a Sunbeam at church now, and since I'm always in the room, he wants to follow me around or sit with me.    For a couple of weeks it was a problem, because then Vivian wanted to also follow me around or sit with me, and I have responsibilities to take care of.  I felt like a mama duck with my 2 little ducklings trailing along behind. We've reached a compromise now: he sits with Grace's class.  Even if she isn't there yet, he just sits down in her row by himself and is perfectly well behaved.  When his class leaves, he goes with them, with no fuss, but for some reason he just won't sit with them during singing and sharing time.  What a goofball.

The glasses

Viv got glasses! She is slightly far-sighted, and one is worse than the other, so the dr. wanted her to avoid getting a lazy eye.  She picked out boy glasses, but these are her favorites.  She also has a purple pair that she wears sometimes. So far we have had about a 40% success rate at wearing them all the time :)

Happy New Year! (again already???)

For a few years now, "2012" has been a mantra:

• "My food processor has holes that I have to hold my hand over when I chop food in it.... 2012!!!"  
• "I really miss that guy who I married.... 2012!!!!"   
• "I would love to get a babysitter so I can join the PTO...  2012!!!!"  

And now that 2012 is here (hooray!) my new mantra can be "June, June, June."  We can do it :)  

2011 has been a good year, I feel like I am starting this new year feeling great.  Some of the highlights have been:

• Fun trips to Northern Michigan, Myrtle Beach, and NYC with the kiddos
• A nice hot summer full of swimming lessons (only in Michigan would I consider 80 degrees "hot")
• I can take the kids to the mall and not want to pull my hair out by the time we leave!
• Grace having a good year in 1st grade
• Vivian graduated from speech therapy in record time
• Vivian got glasses
• Sam potty trained himself.  Awesomest thing ever.
• I amazed myself by sticking to an eating/exercise program (Live the Life) pretty faithfully for 6 months and started swimsuit season feeling good.
• Rob started his chief year of residency!
• We get to have Rob sitting with us during church again, so the kids don't have to stand on the benches and whisper-yell "Hi Daddy" anymore. :)  
• Got new carpet, yay!
• Kids all started gymnastics and they love it.

And just to keep it real, some "lowlights" of 2011:

• I fell off the Live the Life wagon (and then some!) once summer started.
• Sam has stopped sleeping.  No naps, up late, crawls into my side of the bed in the middle of the night.
• Can't keep the house clean to save my life.
• Didn't make any freezer jam this year since I thought we'd have enough to last until we moved.  Now we have to eat store-bought jam.  Serious bummer.
• Grace's bus is scheduled to come at 8:23, but often comes at 8:17, so she often misses the bus.  We really need those 6 minutes in the morning.

Goals for 2012 mainly revolve around Living the Life again, decluttering, organizing, cleaning, fixing, staging, and figuring out what will be happening after June. 

June, June, June, June.