The Scarlet Thread

I just finished my first book in quite a while. Last summer, it seemed I was devouring any reading material I could get my hands on. Then I went through a dry stretch where I started two or three different books, but couldn't seem to finish them.

That how this book started. I picked it up several times, reading a chapter or so at a time, then I would put it down for weeks at a time by no fault of the author. However, a few days ago, I got into it. Really into it and stayed up past my bedtime each night working through it. This morning, while plopping the kiddos in front of Saturday morning cartoons, I finished. Ahhh...

I recommend it. Coincidentally, our church has a ladies book club and they happened to be going through the same book at the same time. I wasn't able to finish the book in time, plus we had our college/career group over the same night they met. But I may have to see what's on their agenda next.

AJ found a baby fishy on our kitchen floor today.

Growing out of his britches!

Andrew had his 4-year-old check-up today. And man... was that kid surprisingly exciting about it. It's the first thing he mentioned this morning when he woke up. We dropped AJ off at a friend's so it was just me and my kiddo at the doctor's office.

Andrew did really well. He answered all of his doctor's questions and did everything she asked of him, including peeing in a cup, which to a four-year-old boy... is like so totally exciting! He also got to draw a picture of me for her. I so wish I had my camera to take a picture of it. Although now that I think about it, she had him draw it on the paper on the 'bed' in the room. I am sure I could have tore it off and taken it with me. Oh well, it's long gone now. Anyway, it was so funny. She was impressed (as was I since he never draws people) at the details he included for his age, things like a nose, fingers and toes.

So overall, she gave him a stellar report and couldn't get over how big he was. He is the average weight and height of a six year old. My goodness.

Height: 45.5 inches

Weight: 46.6 inches

BMI: 15-16

BP: 94/58

The good news is he received no shots this time around and we got his medical paperwork filled out for preschool this fall. The bad news is that next year, when he is five, he gets four shots before he starts kindergarten. We will have to prepare for that one a bit.

This week's CVS Game

$6.51 out of pocket

$11.69 left to spend in CVS bucks.

Oh and a nice couple behind us on line bought both of my boys a pack of peanut M&M's.

How sweet!

Not sure what they are, but they are in my yard... in MY yard!!

He graduated from Pee Wee Basketball.

Sorry for the rough pictures.

Augh!

Bear with me... I started tweaking my blog layout and html and now it's all a mess. Yikes. (I am trying to come off cool and calm, but I am very frustrated right now.)

Stupid Human Trick

After almost eight years of marriage, I still found something I could surprise my husband with.

Go fly a kite...

Grandma and Grandpa Dykstra are here this weekend. The boys are having a fabulous time and we are keeping them busy. Saturday, we took a walk around the neighborhood in the morning so Andrew could show off his bike riding abilities. After early lunch and naps, we all headed to the Gardens for some fun. The weather was beautiful and the "Great Lakes" were open!!! (Water pool in the shape of the Great Lakes that the boys play in). We were then treated to Chili's for dinner.

Today we went to church in the morning and hung out and relaxed this afternoon. We hit Target for a little more spoiling and then off to the park/playground. Grandpa bought a $2 kite and it was well worth the money. It was a perfectly windy day and the kite flew like a charm! Even the boys got to fly it! (sorry - the pictures are camera phone quality).

Photographer: Andrew

Security

I'm pretty sure my coffee has been tasting better.

I have been eye-ing itty bitty trivets lately and recently found this at the Garden's gift shop.

It's perfect for my coffee spoon.

Awwww.

Two and Four or Twelve and Fourteen?

Yikes.

Pray for their family.

I'm a big fan of Steven Curtis Chapman. What a heartbreaking time for them.

Don't think I could get one a shirt and not the other...

Ok, I confess...

...I got sucked into American Idol this year. Big time. And David Cook was my favorite from the get go - but, truthfully competing again the other David... I didn't think he would win.

But tonight, Mr. Cook was named the new American Idol. Yea, I'm a big fan.

I am learning the game.

The CVS game, that is. It took three transactions to get all the items. The good news is all of it only cost me $17.87 The better news is, is that from this, I received $9.68 in CVS money (Extra Care Bucks - ECB's) for my next trip.

Spoiled.

In order for me to head north with some friends last week, my parents came up to help Marc with the kiddos. Man, I have some lucky kids. Within four days, they got to go to the Children's Museum, the airport, and the Gardens.

Can you find AJ in the picture?

I had a spoiled time, too. I mean, I got to see my good friend, Jill. I got to know her good friends who were wonderful. We all stayed in the Grand Hotel which is amazing. We ate more incredible food than we could handle. We heard good speakers and laughed hard.

The key speaker was Liz Curtis Higgs, author of several books including a Bible Study I did in college, Bad Girls of the Bible. She was a riot! There was a also an improv group, 321 Improv, that that had me rolling!

"Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, satan shudders and says.... "Oh no, she's awake!"

Sandmen.

The boys blessed their mommy today by happily playing outside getting themselves filthy so that mommy could have some quiet time.

By the way - AJ went right into the shower when he came in only to eat chicken alfredo for dinner and make another complete mess of himself. Gotta love 'em!

I couldn't resist.

I was up on Mackinaw Island these past few days with some friends. While there I found a shirt for Andrew I couldn't pass up considering his current condition.

Face to face.

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to head up north and visit my friends, Jill and Amie. Jill, I've known for a while now, but Amie, I've only known through our blogs. It was really nice to be able to sit down with her and talk face to face. We talked until we the coffee shop closed at midnight.

Me, Amie, & Jill

Road Rash.

Tonight Andrew had his first crash and burn on his bike and it was a doozy. He managed to get both knees, one arm and his chest (through his shirt) scraped up. He even somehow ripped his bike seat a bit. He was wearing a helmet.

Unfortunatly, we were on our way home from the ice cream stand and we still had a little trek left to go. After I got him calmed down, he initially decided to ride again. But once he saw all the blood running down his leg, he decided he couldn't continue. So... he sat on top of the stroller and the bike's front tire went into the stroller basket and I managed to push both boys, a stroller, and a bike the rest of the way home.


Once we got home, he wouldn't let me clean up the actual scrape. And it really, really needed it as it was dirty and rocky as well as bloody. (The picture was taken after I cleaned up around the scrape as much as he would let me.) So, after much negotiation and bribing, I got him in the tub with AJ. He normally loves tubs, but I had to offer bubbles, tub crayons, AND dissolving capsules that turn into dinosaurs to get him in. And, of course, he got bandaids when it was all said and done. Now he and AJ are chilling a bit with Sesame Street before bed.

And yesterday was Father's Day.

Lake Trout from Lake Michigan.

Happy Mother's Day!!

From a couple of clowns!

(sorry this picture is borderline scary!)

Superstar!

What does it mean when your son walks around all evening with his left arm up in the air and his right hand in his left armpit? I even took his shirt off to see if he had a sore or something under his arm. Nope. Funny little man.

The latest and greatest things here in Dykstraville...

This is the new basketball that Daddy took Andrew to buy. They thought they needed one that was "Andrew Size" just like they have at his PeeWee basketball class to practice with.
This is my newest bag that I've recently finished making.
The inside pockets.
The fabric close up.

Brothers

I was looking at the picture I posted yesterday about the beloved basketball shirt and I noticed something...

... go ahead and check it out on the bigger picture below.

We did finally get it out.

What happens when you stick your finger in your marshmellow gun?

It gets stuck!

Look at his NEW BASKETBALL SHIRT!

Yep... didn't even want to take it off for bed. Oh well.

(As I went to take this picture.... AJ runs into the frame yelling, "Me too! Me too!")

NERTZ!

At our Bible Study last night, which I must confess that not a whole lot of Bible got studied, I learned the game Nertz! What a fun, fast paced, chaotic game. Like Solitare on crack.

Like Paypal, but with NO STINKIN' FEES!

And - if you sign up, as a promo, they give you $25 bucks in your account.

Um... yea, I'll take that.

Don't rain on our BBQ!

Wow - it's been awhile since I've done a 'what are we up to' post. And without boring you with all the day to day activities... it's been a lot as you can tell from my lack of posting.

A few of the highlights are our two weekly Bible Studies with tonight being our last Wednesday night study for the summer. We are having a BBQ/potluck tonight, so I'm busy today getting the house ready and getting the grocery shopping done for that. By the way - we got soaked grocery shopping. It started pouring while we were in the store. The boys didn't like getting that wet as we ran to the car, but they thought it was hilarious that their mom got soaked since I had to put the groceries in the car, put the cart away, and buckled up two boys.

We are also having some plumbing work done today. I am praying everything gets fixed relatively inexpensively.

We've also had a few trips to the Garden's the past couple weeks that I haven't mentioned... and while I have some pictures, I'll spare you because, well, they look like all the other Garden pictures I've shown you already. But I will mention again... that I love the Gardens!! When we went Tuesday, it was just the boys and myself and God blessed us with amazing weather!

We also made a somewhat impromptu trip to Ohio last weekend. My past roommates and families were getting together on the other side of the state, so we hopped around visiting them and family.

Monday we were invited to a little dinner party with amazing food. Last night, Marc and Ryan took Andrew and CJ fishing, so Becky and myself with the little kids walked down to get ice cream. Tomorrow is Andrew's pee-wee basketball.

I am unbeleivably thankful that I am not working out of the home at this stage in my life... that I am able to do all of these fun things that makes our life so crazy. I love warm weather!

–verb (used without object): to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.

For awhile now, Andrew has been using the term "starving" rather loosely.

"Mom, I need lunch. I'm starving!" (mere minutes after breakfast) or "Can I have snack, I'm starving!" (when he wants to get back out of bed).

Last week, Marc sat him down and explained to him truthfully what the word really meant. Andrew got it too, as he hasn't used the word since. He just states now that he is "super hungry".

Well, Friday, during his lunch break, Marc played basketball instead of eating lunch. He then came in the house later asking, "What do we have to eat, I'm starving".

Andrew's eyes got huge as he yelled acrossed the room, "Dad! Are you dying!?"

Whoops! (as we laughed until we cried.)

Pee Wee B-Ball