mini golf

we did a first as a family. last friday night we played mini golf.
we tried to keep it organize, play according to the rules, and take
turns but that didn't last through the first two holes. then it just
turned into every man for himself. nonetheless we had a lot of fun.

coopersville

last saturday we went to the festival in coopersville. there were
lots of classic cars on display. i feel like i have seen more classic
car shows in the last few years than i have in my whole life. it
really is surprising how many people fiddle with these cars and then
like to show them off. anyway, one of the highlights was that boden
and i were able to take a short ride on the train. we had to keep it
short because heidi (she had no desire to go on the train) and mommy
were waiting for us and a storm was approaching (we ended up getting
soaked by the time we got to the car).

Sing and dance

we caught the elusive heidi singing and dancing on video. she sings quite a bit, but it is hard to capture.

bits and pieces

lately the kids have been doing and saying so many things that i'm like - "i've got to blog that!" - but of course i forget or don't get around to it. i'm going to attempt to try and pull up a couple bits and pieces to record and share:

-a few days ago, heidi and i were riding together in the car. she was making up a song (not a totally new thing) and to be truthful, i wasn't paying that close attention until she asked me to sing with her. that is when i realized she was making up a song on her own in a minor key. she decided she didn't like me singing with her so i stopped and listened more closely to her. not only was it minor, but she had repeating sequences and would often start phrases on the same note.

-same day or the day after at the dinner table heidi sang some food word (can't remember, maybe it was eat or cheese or milk or please) on a major ascending triad and finished it off with V - I. pretty cool for a 2.5 year old!

-boden often comes and snuggles with me in bed in the morning. it is one of my favorite things. we have been doing this since he was a baby and i'd be afraid to even put my arm around him for fear that i'd fall asleep and crush him with the weight of my arm :) anyway, as we were laying there, i was reflecting and thinking that it is getting close to the new school year and a new schedule for us in the mornings and that both age wise and schedule wise we may be nearing the end of this phase. i say to boden - "don't ever get too big to snuggle with your mommy, ok." he says, "oh no, i won't." after a short pause he says to me - "when i get older i'm going to live by myself or with someone else or with my kids. it's God's decision though. God will decide."

-boden is really into geography lately and the statistics that are related to size and number of states, cities, countries, people, etc. eric got him an atlas for his birthday and they have been looking at it a lot together. we were in yet another 'bigger than' conversation together tonight at supper and boden was often referring to his 'atlas' and wanting to confer with it after supper. the funny thing is how he says 'atlas'. he mixes the letters all up and it comes out - 'asslet'. got eric and i laughing pretty hard and he couldn't understand why we were laughing because he was very serious about his subject. of course, we couldn't really tell him why :)

-boden had a doctor appointment with his ear doctor (also know as - the snot dr or the dinosaur dr.) today to check on his tubes and hearing (everything checked out fine). on the way out the scheduler lady was giving the kids some stickers for coming. i told the kids to say thank you to her. they both mumbled something under their breaths. i told them to say it louder so the lady could hear them. heidi loudly exclaims - "i love you!" the scheduler lady and i both had a pretty good laugh.

-lately heidi is admit that she is not a baby anymore! she is a big girl!

-walking into target with heidi this week, it was sunny and a slight breeze blowing, and i look down at her: she has a cute summer play dress on, her hair was all freshly brushed and pulled back, she had on her pink sunglasses and purple shoe flops, new pink necklace around her neck, silly bands covering a third of her forearm, and her pink and purple purse clutched at her elbow with her arm bent, and she was parading in like she owned the place. least you think i influenced this get up, the only thing i had to do with the whole ensemble was doing her hair. :) i wish i would have gotten a picture of her but i thought of it too late. :(

-the absolute most favorite spot for our kids to go to the bathroom is in public restrooms. seriously. especially if it is one that they haven't tried out before. heidi will still pee in her pull-up at times at home, but never when we are out. boden especially has a fondness of doing the 'higher number' when we are out and seems to be able to produce on command. it wouldn't be half as bad if they didn't seem to have to touch EVERYTHING in the restroom. it is enough to make me want to puke.

i know there are loads more, but that is all i can come up with right now. at least i got those, right? ;)

Mower girl

I know I already included a photo of the mower girl in a previous
post, but it is just so cute that it warranted more photos.

Zoo day

On Thursday we went to the zoo. It sure was a lot if fun. Some of
the family favorites were the penguins, flamingos, and the drums.

Take note of boden's necklace and ring. That is how he has been going
around lately....

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we visited a furniture store. Boden thought the finger
chairs were pretty neat.

We also played in the yard a while. Boden has really been enjoying
playing baseball. He played catch with Uncle Robbie while he was in
OH and I can tell his throwing has greatly improved from that. Heidi
does well swinging the bat, left handed.

Heidi likes to mow the lawn. She got a "new" mower from the
neighbors. Almost as nice for me as for her because the old one kept
breaking.

Beach morning

We did the beach the other morning. We did all the usual stuff:
splash in the waves, bury each other, layout, and got very sandy.

Natural morning

This morning we went for a hike in Upper Macatawa Greenway. It was
fairly short, as the kids stamina for such things is much less than
dad would like. However, we did see Dutchman's Creek, dragonflies,
the river, lots of bugs, water striders, and fish.

After the hike we went out to the farm. While there we played in the
slide/swings, walked in the corn, had lunch and played with Grammy's
toys.

park tour

we went on a park tour yesterday evening. we loaded up in the
push-cart (actually we reconfigured it to a pull-cart) and rode to the
brown park. we played there for a bit, then headed headed over to the
cemetery park. we had the most fun playing on the slides at the
cemetery park.

Production

Here is Boden with some of the produce from our garden. Much of what
we have grown has not made it past Heidi as she picks it. Un-ripe
seems to be her preference.