Coast Guard Festival

We were able to go out on the jet boat yesterday. It was quite fun and Caden even started to warm up to it. You can turn on a time and go from 0 to 55 in a blink of you eyes. So much fun on Spring Lake. Too bumby if we went out on Lake Michigan (for Caden). The only problem we had was the stearing went out and we only could turn left, right was quite difficult, but you could manage because the boat has two thrusters. It was just a little excitement.

After that we went to go see Madagascar the movie. Caden loved it, it was just long enough, because by the last few minutes Caden started squiggling and complaining he had to use the bathroom. We ate all of the popcorn. I don't ever remember hogging out that much, we must have been hungry from the boat ride.

Today it is off to church (Paul is already there, helping with parking) and then to a car show downtown.

The business seems to be growing (I am not mentally ready for that) Paul has one employee and is in the middle of negotiations for another large contract which would mean two more employees. Luckily Paul has a lot of contacts and knows who he needs for the job. Plus most of the CyberNet employees still do not have jobs. It is so disheartening to see educated people jobless for almost a year and counting because of the shakey job market here in Michigan. It seems that the only way to make it, is to make it on your own. There are so many cut-backs and a lot of people don't know how long-term their jobs will be. At least that is the way I feel, seeing so much of it around here.

The weather has been too nice for much more crafting here. The hot air balloon is all dry, but we haven't attached the basket. I want to make a few more stuffed animals for the newborns in our small group (3!). We will see if I complete that before they are in gradeschool ;) I was able to go to a wool store in holland. I was able to find soy silk, that will be so nice to combine with the wool roving and make some flower pendants, barrettes, and scarves.

We are still waiting on the puppy....we are waiting for the papers to be compete on the duplex. Well that's life as we know it today! See ya later.

goopy hot air balloons in the making

This is the goopy result of our creativity. I was inspired by the Martha Stewart Kids magazine so Caden and I just had to try to make a paper mache hot air balloon last night. It is still drying....


this is how the balloon looked at the beginning, Caden and I cut up a mound of construction paper with pinking shears...

and then put them in our gooey concoction of flour and water...

(Caden liked that)
When it dries we will make a box or something and hang it from the balloon (and pop the balloon inside). This is a fun project!


In other news...Caden and I went to the aquatic center today. It was like a big playgound in the water. Pretty fun, but not cheap. This is a good thing to do about once a month. It would cost less if we actually lived in holland, but it was still fun. We had received a gift certificate from school to go to the center, it was a very nice gift. Not much else...

introducing lulu

This is the first of many (I hope :) entries in Month of Softies. This month was sock monkeys. I made her from children's socks. I took this picture and haven't seen her since, Caden loves her! I guess I will be making more just because Caden got so much enjoyment watching me make her and helping also!

Things have gotten back to normal here, it is nice to settle back into some sort of routine. A routine is so much better for Caden, which, in turn is so so much better for us!

happy anniversary to us!

We have been married for eight years as of today! We went on the boat, cruised the big lake all by ourselves (Caden had VBS and his favorite sitter). We had a nice dinner, we shored the boat up and had dinner at the Snug restaurant on the pier walk-way. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful night, we watched the sun set and the moon rise while floating on Lake Michigan. It was the best anniversary we have ever had. We have had more extravagant ones, but this was nice, low-key and less stressful. We both were surprised by the gifts we exchanged. I got Paul a pocket watch engraved with "always & forever" (something that we have always ended our notes back and forth from day one). He got me a beautiful diamond and ruby bracelet. We are so blessed.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Paul's birthday. We had a good time boating on Lake Michigan. It was hot inland, but much nicer out in the big lake. Tuesday is our anniversary. I am so excited, this is the first year that I actually thought of a great gift. You see, Paul is the more romantic one in this relationship..I am so lucky!

On the crafting front..I haven't been so successful. I am working on the sock dog (instead of a monkey) for month of softies (http://www.loobylu.com ) Well, I have bought the socks anyways :) Time has been flying by...I must be getting older. It seems that I have been busy entertaining Caden over the summer. This week is Vacation Bible School and I am helping with that also. I am also going to start volunteering in the food pantry.

I received the cutest little scissor charm from http://craftlog.org just as a thank you for reading her blog. Reading her blog is enough of a reward, but it was so nice to get something in the mail. It seems that mostly we receive bills and junk mail, it is so fun to get good mail!

bunny update....They have all grown up and moved on...I see them hopping through the yard here and there. They haven't even bothered my new perennials.

hasta!!!

Boating

We spent last weekend boating with the big powerboats. This is Caden and Paul, driving along. We got to see huge boats that could go extremely fast. Unfortunately one of the boats flipped and two people were killed. We didn't see the accident, but it sure did put a damper on some of the experience. Even though the boats are made to go fast, not just anyone can drive them, you really need a calm head on you shoulders. Small mistakes at 90mph on the water can equal death.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the various boats at the marina and along the channel. They quite often had very elaborate paint jobs, pretty showy.

Even when you are away, you can make my day!

Paul was away for business today...look what he sent! He made us feel so loved, he was gone for only one day, but it made us sad, so the teddy bear was for Caden and the flowers for me. I love sunflowers, so happy and summer-like.



Thank you, honey! You made our day!

statiscally speaking...

do you want to be one?... so to http://blogsurvey.media.mit.edu/

not much new here, just busy busy. Mainly we have been busy with medical appointments. It seems that they know the problem and it can be treated for a few months and then go back to normal...er whatever that is...

Caden has had some boughts of "super meltdowns". I am not sure how to handle them...he just freaks out and gets unconsolable and almost incoherant. He is focused on what he wants and cannot calm himself to be able to realize that he cannot have his way. Oh-the drama of a four year old.

Happy Birthday Grandma-lini!

Happy birthday gramma-lini, wish we were there!

felting away

Today Caden and I made felted beads. pictures to follow tomorrow maybe.... It was fun, but Caden had about no attention span, so he would help make a bead and then run around like mad. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Last night we had fun scavening the beach with Grandma. Caden found lots of leftover treasures like a shovel, a moon man, and two fish forms. So we did our "beach cleanup" last night. We thought it would wear him out, but I think it recharged his batteries! It was also fun, no matter what the result :)

Bunny update...all is well, momma bunny still taking care of the babies and they are getting too big for the burrow! They are getting close to moving on, it looks like. Of how fast they grow up, thank goodness we don't grow up that fast! Caden is already so big! I couldn't imagine sending my baby out into this cruel, cruel world. (ie, London) Who are these people who would do something like this, is this the world they want to send their babies out into?

bouncing baby bunnies

While weeding over the weekend I discovered a bunny burrow. It was placed right in front of the back deck. Inside, six baby bunnies were all nested intertwined together. Their eyes had not opened yet. I carefully replaced the weeds. Luckily the momma bunny has come back and is taking care of the babies still, and their eyes are opening!

(bunny butt)




We had a wonderful fourth of july weekend. We went to the beach, and art festival and enjoyed our own fireworks from the back of our car in our driveway. We were supposed to be on a boat, but the weather did not cooperate, so Paul braved the drizzle and entertained us with our own small firework display. Caden was in awe of them. He asked and asked for them and then he would hide behind me when they went off. He would cautiously peak over my shoulder and stare in wonder. The look on his face was like he knew it scared him but he couldn't take his eyes off from them.

I also got to pick up some art supplies.

Some beads, and wool felt. I am so excited to get back to crafting, I just haven't had the time lately. hmmm...actually I think I keep putting it off subcontiously because I just don't want to fail. But some of the greatest things in life has come out of "failure". I just need to get back into the swing of things.

Beautiful Breeze

this is an abstract pic of out resident dragon fly, taken through the window screen, isn't he cool. He sat there patiently while I clicked away, taking multiple shots, I thought the contrast between the screen and the bug was cool.


this is one of our finches that thinks he owns the feeder...that is until his girlfriend stops by...as you can see in the picture, she dive-bombed him and got him out of her way!


(she's the tan smudged, she was moving quick!)

In other news, we have been accepted to adopt a pug. We are waiting the right match. They have a litter of puppies, we may get one of those. We will see. The girls that I have previously listed have already been scheduled for home visits and may have already found homes. We will be patient, the right pup will come.

Today we perused the Art in the Park at Muskegon's Summer Celebration. It was nice, but very busy. Caden got a home-made set of finger puppets that an elderly gentleman had made. So far, a good start to a holiday weekend.

breezy summer days

this picture by Joleen Thiessen at http://joleensartisticendeavors.blogspot.com/ captured the essence of yesterday. It was a beautiful breezy day.