Because a laugh is good for you...

...here's one on us this morning...


...and another...


...and finally...

12 years

Dave and I have been married for 12 years now. We've known each other for 15. 15 years including...
...my job as a teacher
...his crazy college buddies :)
...volleyball and waterskiing at the lake
...his proposal in my classroom during our Valentine's Day party
...a wonderful wedding
...a gorgeous honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas
...grandma so sweetly calling me "Mrs. Nosek" and how much I loved hearing her say that!
...our first townhouse together
...our first anniversary--the romantic cruise on the Badger, the ferry from Ludington to Pentwater, and the Christmas tree lights my parents strung up in the trees for us at the Lake Michigan cabins
...two moves, including one where we built the house
...4 pregnancies, 1 miscarriage, telling our families with ice cream, pickles and a hamburger bun in an oven
...becoming parents, joys and struggles
...becoming an aunt and uncle 8 times, and losing one niece
...our trip to Italy for Dave's brother's wedding
...going to Pentwater and the Dells with our family
...going to the lake every Sunday with our family

I love you, Dave!

It was too wet to go out...

...and too cold to play ball......so we sat in the house. We did nothing at all.

All we could do was to SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT. And we liked it. Quite a bit.
When I saw Caroline and Seth sitting in their chairs by the window, I couldn't help but think of the beginning scene in The Cat in the Hat, and we do love our Dr. Seuss in this house!

We got the kids new baseball gloves, and they were trying them out tonight. That is, until a thunderstorm rolled in. Given our recent experience with lightning, we ran inside at the first flash. Caroline set chairs up by the windows so that we could watch the lightning show.

When the kids went to bed, the storm grew a little more intense, and Evan was not too thrilled about that. He kept hiding under his blanket, and would scold the thunder, saying "Go away, Boom-Boom! You are too loud!" :)

Reunited

After a week where our family was separated into three different locations, we are all finally under one roof. We didn't do much when we got home from picking the older ones up from my sister-in-law's house, but it was just nice to be together, eating dinner and snuggling up to read some books.

Since I didn't take any pictures today, and am hoping I can procure some from my in-laws of their week with the kids, I'm sharing a clip of Evan and Caroline visiting the butterflies...

He missed his Daddy!

Thanks, Karen and Jim!

Henry, Seth and Caroline spent this week at Grandma and Grandpa Nosek's. They went to Vacation Bible School and were able to play, play, play with their cousins, Anabel and Nadia.

Dave spent a few days at home working on some projects and enjoying a little peace and quiet.

And Evan and I spent a few days at my sister and brother-in-law's house, where Evan was able to play, play, play with his 1 1/2 year old cousin, Robbie. They totally spoiled us, cooking the most delicious dishes (and fabulous mojitos) and taught me how to make them. My sister and I were even able to steal away to a lunch together when her mother and father-in-law watched the boys. We watched movies, talked and relaxed. It was very special to me to spend that time with my sister and her family. I love you guys!

I'm excited to see Dave tonight, and the kids tomorrow, and to have everyone together in our house again. Its only for a few days though. My mom and I are driving to Texas on Tuesday to visit my other sister, Lisa and her family. (UGH--14 hours in a car with 4 kids!!) Poor Dave's on his own again. :(

I like Robbie's house!

Evan and Robbie have been having a fabulous time together for their cousin sleepover. We've been at my sister and brother-in-law's house since Monday morning, and have been playing non-stop, except for the occasional naps. We've been doing most of our playing inside, as it has been unbearably hot outside. The temperature reached at least 100 yesterday. Ugh.

Most of the time when my sister and I get together, we don't get to really talk much, as there's always so much going on with the kids. Its been wonderful to have this time to hang out, talk, and enjoy our babies together. The kids have even gone to bed early both nights, so we've had the entire evening to relax and laugh with my brother-in-law, Jim.

We took the kids to an indoor pool today. Robbie was a little hesitant at first, but by the end he was loving it! Evan was jumping in the water, blowing bubbles and put his face underwater a few times. He was having a ball.

Here's a few pictures:

Robbie enjoying some milk, and Evan enjoying his new favorite, water with ice.

Robbie lounging poolside, playing with his belly button.

Evan lounging in their backyard, where he proclaimed, "I like Robbie's house!"

Evan, living it up at the mall :)

Happy Father's Day!

First of all...I love you, Dad, Dave and Denny!

After a fabulously fun Father's Day full of boat rides...
trampoline jumping...
sliding...
aiming...

and shooting...
we sent Henry,
Seth and Caroline off to spend the week at Grandma and Grandpa Noseks' house for a week full of Vacation Bible School with their cousins.
It was odd just bringing one child home tonight. He was sad to see them go, and asked about them for the first ten minutes of the drive home. Then, the action-packed day, the Berenstain Bears and the quiet of the car lulled him to sleep......with him probably dreaming of his "vacation" with his cousin. See you tomorrow, Robbie! (and Karen and Jim!)

Friends

When Dave left for the camping trip, I gave him our camera and told him to take as many pictures as he could. I was thinking that he might come home with 30 or 40 pictures. He came home with 5. Ok, so he had a few other things to deal with other than my picture cravings, I'll give him that. :)

Fortunately, my friend Kathy sent me a few more today. (Thanks, Kathy!) I love this one...these 3 boys have been friends since Kindergarten.

They're back, safe and sound!

Henry and Dave arrived home around 5:30, and wow, were we glad to see them (especially Evan as he's been wondering where they were)! I gave them both a great big hug, and then we all plopped down on the couches where we debriefed them. :)

Henry was talking about a mile a minute, describing, as he called it, "the scariest night of my life." (That being said, he did NOT want to come home early today. He actually wanted to stay another night!) Henry was very brave. After the lightning struck, Dave went out and helped with the 2 men and 1 boy that were hurt. (The mens' legs were temporarily numb and paralyzed, and the boy was unresponsive.) Henry stayed in a tent with his good friend, Grant. A few minutes later, one of the other dads brought Grant and Henry to the shelter, where Dave soon joined them. The shelter was actually a public restroom, and after things had calmed down, some of the counselors spread blankets on the floor and the boys actually fell asleep there for a little bit. Henry said it was pretty clean and big, but he was still, as he said, "freaked out" that they slept on a bathroom floor.

When the storm stopped, they went back to their tent, and slept the rest of the night there. Actually, only Henry did, as Dave was dealing with a flooding tent, a mind racing with the possibilities of what could have happened, and an extremely noisy calling bird. Dave figured he might have only slept about 10 minutes. Poor thing!

A sweet, little story...When Dave and Henry were in the tent trying to go to sleep after the storm, Henry said to Dave, "I'm glad that I have such an awesome Dad." Dave replied, "Aww, thanks, Henry. I'm glad that I have such an awesome son!" Henry said, "Thanks, Dad!" Apparently, Dave couldn't resist...He replied, "Oh, no, I'm sorry, I was talking about Seth!" Thankfully, Henry gets his Dad's sense of humor, and they both had a good laugh. :)

Here's a link to an article about the lightning strike:
The Chronicle | Batavia youngster, two adults OK after lightning struck their campground

Shared via AddThis

Update on the lightning strike

Apparently the lightning struck a tree right by the tent, so that the people in the tent felt the surge. Other people felt the surge too. One of our friends was laying on a rubber mattress, but because he is tall, his feet hung off the end. The surge traveled from the ground up into his foot and leg. He said that his leg was numb.

Dave called me to tell me that they were heading home, that they had canceled the rest of the camp out. He also told me that they were only 3 tents away from the lightning strike. I am anxious to hear more when they get home this afternoon. Dave said that Henry has a lot to tell me.

It will be VERY good to have them home safe and sound.

Bottom line...they're all ok.

Thank God.

I got a phone call from Dave this morning. There was a big thunderstorm at their campsite last night. Lightning struck a tent about 20 yards from Dave and Henry's tent. The scout in the tent was found unresponsive, and his Dad couldn't feel his legs. (This was the same campsite where another scout was struck by lightning a couple of years ago. Looks like they need to change up their policy for severe weather.) There was one more person in the tent, and I am not sure what happened to him. But by the time the ambulance brought them to the hospital, they seemed to be ok. Everyone at their campsite was rounded up and brought into a shelter. When Dave called, Henry was still sleeping, as they obviously did not get a lot of sleep last night. Dave said he was very brave.

I'll update when I hear more news.

Taking pictures

There have been many times in my life where I haven't taken enough pictures. This would NOT be one of those times. :)

When I go through a period of time where I'm not taking pictures, I feel a lot of guilt that I'm not doing enough to capture memories, and sadness when I look through my albums and there are bare spots representing time periods that I've missed. I usually think, "Oh, I'll take some pictures later," and then I wind up not taking any for days or weeks at a time.

Since I've started this blog, I have been inspired to pick up my camera every day. I laugh at some of the things that I am taking pictures of, but I truly am so happy that I have these pictures. Everything is so fleeting, especially kids' childhoods. Along with all of the tiredness and frustrations that goes along with young children comes a lot of happy, sweet times. I just listened to Trace Adkins' song, "You're gonna miss this..." , and I know I will.

A side effect of all of the picture-taking I've been doing is that the older boys have become a bit camera shy. Although I have to say that they've been getting better as of late as they've been reading our blog and love reliving their adventures. My photographing has had the opposite effect on Caroline. When she sees me with a camera, she is CONSTANTLY asking me to take a picture or video of her. :) She's a bit of a ham.

So, tonight after dinner, we headed to the school park, and of course, I started snapping pictures. The results? Nothing too extraordinary, but I'll treasure them just the same.

He's packed and ready...

...for Webelo Camp! Henry had the hardest time sleeping last night because he knew that they were leaving for camp today, for 4 days and 3 nights with his Dad, some of his best friends, and the great outdoors. To top it all off, he is able to wear his brand spanking new Webelo's uniform, which was exciting in itself.

As they were getting ready to leave, he was saying goodbye to his brothers and sister, making sure that they knew that they would not see each other for 4 whole days! Caroline proceeded to make Henry a bunch a pictures that he could take along on his trip for when he missed her. :) Poor Seth has a sore throat and a fever, so he didn't give Henry a big send off. (Thank God Henry got sick with that bug first!) But Evan tried to get in the car with Henry and Dave, and was pretty upset when I took him out of the car. He's asked me several times this morning, "Where's Henny?" They will be missed!

Things I love about Sweet Caroline...

1. Her musical giggle...it makes me happy.
2. She is probably my best cuddler. :)
3. She holds her own with her brothers quite capably.
4. She sings herself to sleep. She'll either do that or has her stuffed animals talk to each other. I love to listen outside her door.
5. She makes a mean tater tot casserole. And she can now crack eggs when we make cookies!
6. She has a very curious, fast mind, and comes up with fabulous questions.
7. She's a fun playmate.
8. She looks out for her little brother.
9. She's the perfect mix of pretty princess and tomboy.
10. She's our little girl.

One of those days...

Today was one of those days.

Let's start by saying that Dave spent the entire afternoon yesterday changing the tires from our old van to our "new to us" van. Just before we bought the new one, we had replaced the tires on the old one. So, naturally, we wanted to keep the newer tires.

WELL, apparently you can't do that (my cousin, who is a mechanic, confirmed this). Because (I know I shouldn't start a sentence with "because", but it seems more dramatic if I do in this case.) after we had gotten everyone ready, packed the car, and were looking forward to a day at the lake, THE CAR WOULDN"T MOVE.

So guess what Dave did this afternoon? That's right...change 8 tires again, the same 8 tires he had changed not 24 hours ago. Ugh. He wasn't too happy. And the kids weren't too happy. (Me neither.) So we unloaded the car and spent the day at home.

After Dave finished changing the tires, we tried to rescue the day by taking the kids out to McDonald's and then to mini-golf. Only it didn't work out that way. Henry started feeling sick on the way there, so he and I hung out in the parking lot of McDonald's until he started to feel better. We cancelled mini-golf, and decided to rent a movie.

At least the movie was good. We highly recommend Madagascar 2. :)

(On a happier note, here's some pictures from our visit last year to the farm, the one with the butterflies and the silo.)

Comfortable, Evan?

Can I get some more pillows for you?

He has preferred, as of late, at least 5 pillows when watching his episode of Word World. It takes some effort on his part to set it up, but apparently it's well worth it.

Ahhh, the life of Reilly (I mean Evan).

The Farm

Today we met up with my dear friend, April, whom I've known since junior high! She has two boys, and I brought our oldest two boys. (I left a napping Evan and an under-the-weather and napping Caroline with my husband.)
What fun! We climbed a silo...

...gazed out over BEAUTIFUL farmland...

...went on a hike......and went in a butterfly house...
The butterflies were sooo tame. We were able to get so close to them without them flying away. The kids were fascinated, and I was able to practice close-up shots with my camera. :)
This is the picture that I took for Caroline, as her favorite color is pink, of course. We'll be going back to the butterfly house next week, as soon as she is feeling better. :)