Pumpkin Is Gone!

Last summer, a VERY happy little boy brought home a new best friend.














He loved everybody



















and everybody loved him



















Well...almost everybody














But after awhile, even Minnie adapted to the new family member.














And he really was completely adorable














But after awhile, what seemed like a wonderful addition to our family started to become more trouble than pleasure.

Running outside constantly














Scratching up the new paint job in the kitchen














Tearing several shower curtains and ripping apart the drywall in the basement



















And it wasn't just his claws.

Pumpkin ate WAY more food daily than Minnie could in a week



















As well as eating the blinds



















and the foam pads in the basement, followed shortly thereafter by throwing them back up in various locations.



















He was also jumping on the counter tops getting into anything and everything, and regularly knocking over anything that is on top of the cupboards.

He was also CONSTANTLY on top of Minnie. Sometimes Minnie would put up with it, but other times after growling and snarling at Pumpkin for awhile, she had to go and hide just to get away from him.

Now you may be saying, "Yeah, that's just what cats do."

And I'm sure you re right.

But we had two cats, one who made life a nuisance and one who didn't.

So after a LONG time time going back and forth, we decided it was time for Pumpkin to go.

I got a call Monday afternoon for someone interetsed.

At first I was trying to figure out a way to have the kids out of the house during the exchange, but them I decided it would be better to involve them, so they wouldn't be scarred for life.

So I went into Noah's room, sat on his bed and asked him a question?

"Noah, remember how you wanted a gerbil or hamster?"
"Yeah"
"Do you remember why Mommy said no"
"Because the cats would eat it"
"the catS?"
"No, just Pumpkin. If we get rid of Pumpkin, can I get a hamster?"

You can see where the rest of the conversation went from here.

An hour later, Pumpkin's new family was here to collect him and the boys were saying their goodbyes.



Notice Princess Minnie watching guard over the scene








Noah got a little weepy as they were pulling out of the driveway, but then asked to go swimming next door.

Since then, he's been fine and has been snuggling with Minnnie in his bed for bedtime.

And the hamster yet to come...it's already been named "Phoenix"

Weekend Top Five

I already posted about my little accident prone 4 year old. Two head/face injuries in the first 24 hours of summer vacation. Thankfully, we made it through the rest of the weekend injury free.

Here's my top five:



5. The Neighbor's Pool FINALLY
Ever since the kids started wearing shorts, Aaron has been asking, begging, cajoling, NAGGING about going swimming in the neighbor's above ground pool. So Friday afternoon, I went over to check the temperature of the water.

A BALMY 71 degrees.

Aaron begged again so I told Steve to let him dip his feet in.

Not five minutes later, the crazy kid was in and swimming. Following the craziness, Steve and Noah jumped in as well.

After swimming for about twenty minutes the kids were shivering so bad that I brought them home and dumped them into a VERY warm bathtub to warm up.

Of course, they repeated this pattered again on Saturday.

4. Daddy singing at festival
Every year the first weekend of June, Grand Rapids hosts the festival of the arts. The streets of downtown are transformed into several performing stages with performing groups at each one all day and into the late night.

The same group that Steve sang with on my birthday performed at festival for their eighth year in a row. This is a patriotic group whose director sang with the Voices of Liberty group in Epcot at Disney World, and they sing the same arrangements that the group down there still currently sings, all arranged by it's founder. Eight part acapella singing...very cool.

Steve sang a two verse solo on "Oh Susanna"

3. Artwork at Festival
While we were waiting for Steve's group to start, the boys and I headed down to the kids activities area. The first area was a "paint-in" where parents are NOT allowed in while the kids paint. the boys both created works of art. Noah made a rocket ship and Aaron a roller coaster (he's obsessed ever since our trip in March)








2. Wood working
After the "paint-in" the boys visited a new area that they hadn't done before, making works of art with wood and glue.
Aaron was done in about two minutes, but his project turned out pretty neat.

















Noah takes his artwork very seriously, and was not willing to leave when we finally coaxed him out. His work of art was very 3 dimensional and Steve LOVED (hear the sarcasm, LOL) carrying it the mile back to the car trying not to let it break














When we got home, I used the glue gun on a couple of spots of Noah's masterpiece and then he and I painted it together. I have no clue where we will display it, but you can bet it will displayed prominently when I find somewhere for it.



Yes he's wearing his swimsuit. See #5 above





1. Ice Cream
What fun day outside would be complete without ice cream cones to finish it off.

This picture (as bad as the smiles are) displays very clearly how tow related boys can be soooo different.

Noah is the neatest eater ever and always has been, no matter what he eats.

Aaron can make a mess with anything, especially a drippy ice cream cone with sprinkles.





As for Sunday, we didn't do much after we got home from church. Steve has a friend from work come over and do some repair work on a large television that we had gotten from my parents and Steve took the kids over to Deb's for awhile while I was teaching.

The Week Ahead:
Noah has been reading like a mad man this weekend, voluntarily finally. So I am planning to take both of them to the Library Monday to sign up for the summer reading club. The prizes are always awesome and the kids love using the stickers on the chart to keep track of their reading. then, Tuesday through Friday the catholic church near our house is doing a VBS that I am sending them both to. Noah's last two baseball games are also this week and I will also be spending the week trailing Aaron VERY CLOSELY to see if we can break this accident streak he's got going.

Can't wait to hear about your week

Remember the Song...

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." ?

Well, it's been in my mind since school got out yesterday.

Here's my version: You got to sing it in your head for full effect :)


It's the first day of summer break and what is it I see?

A bump that sent us to emergency (room, that is)










It's the second day of summer break and what is it I see?

A fall from the John Ball Statue
and a bump that sent us to emergency









I think I am going to wrap him in bubble wrap for the rest of the summer.

P.S. He's fine by the way, but is VERY covered with scrapes and bruises. I think I may have a daredevil on my hands.

My How He's Grown

I love the first day/last day pictures. So fun to see maturity in their faces especially.






































I'm not sure I'm ready for a second grader.
At least the summer looms ahead to get ready.
Aaron will be starting Young Fives next year as well.
Weren't they babies just last week?

Photo Story Friday: The 3 Stop Field Trip

The last field trip of the year was held on the last full school day of the year.

It was a very busy day.




The first stop was to a local nursing home. The first graders (Noah is the SHY one cheering in the front) joined their sixth grade buddies to sing two songs for the residents.










Then it was off to a local park for lunch.

I managed to get a picture of the entire group on a strange art piece at the park










The next step was to go for a hike on the trail that comes off the end of the park.






Noah's off to the left in the red shirt





I didn't know about the trail walk ahead of time, or I probably would have brought the stroller for Aaron. Instead, he spent most of the time taking turns piggy back rides from parents (not me) and kind sixth graders.















That is one thing I really like about Noah's school is how helpful and friendly the older kids are to the younger kids, even when they don't know them.

After the trail, it was off to the ice cream store.

I guess this would have been a better picture if I hadn't been making them look up into the sun











After all the first graders had finished their ice cream, the adults were still eating and visiting, so Noah (aka Mr. Ringleader) noticed a nearby tree and pretended to limbo. Before we knew it, the ENTIRE first grade class was lined up and limboed chanting "how low can you go!" in an orderly fashion for a good ten minutes.

Cracked me up.







The funniest part was watching Aaron try to the limbo with the "big kids"










By the time we got back to school, there were still a couple of hours left in the day. I stayed around and helped Mrs. T take down stuff from the walls and after it had been awhile, I looked at the clock and realized that the kids had been outside for recess for almost an hour.

What a great last full day of school, huh?

T13: Things I Did On My Birthday

Last Saturday I turned 36. It wasn't a huge milestone, but it was still worthy of mentioning. Steve had to be gone most of the day, first with work, and then on a singing engagement. So we kept busy many other ways throughout the day.




1. Went out for breakfast at Big boy with my sons, my parents and two nieces.

2. Visited Steve at the recording studio where he spent the day and listened to his entire choir sing Happy Birthday to me, resulting in me tearing up.

Why do I always cry when people sing to me?









3. Cleaned up dog poop in my backyard or the millionth time, even though I don't have a dog and I can't catch the mutt in the act.

4. Planted a tomato plant in the hanger I got for my birthday and also a new lilac bush.

















5. Took the boys to Hannah's (Deb's daughter) soccer game

6. Watched (and listened to) my neighbor jackhammer the cement from his driveway, followed by chopping up numerous HUGE roots from our tree that caused their driveway to crumble.









7. Went to Flowerland with parents, sons and nieces and watched them chase each other through the vast rows of plants, pulling each other in wagons.

8. Went out for dinner at Olive Garden thanks to a generous gift certificate given to me by Deb



Since they don't give away free desserts, and I didn't want anyone singing to me, the server brought me a plate FULL of Andes mints with a candle on it to blow out.





9. Went to church to practice the music for Sunday morning service that Steve and I were in charge of.

10. Looked for nooks and crannies to put away the very generous birthday delivery from my parents that resulted from a trip to Sam's Club.

My favorite item was a 84 pack of tampons...I think I'm good until December :)

Noah was most excited about the batteries :)











11. Cleaned the litter box (Woo Hoo!)

12. Watched a DVD of Schoolhouse Rock videos with my boys

13. Played stupid trivia games on facebook while waiting for waiting for boys to fall asleep

So there you have. My birthday in 13 steps.

Happy Thursday

Wordless Wednesday: At Least He's Outside