I was supposed to set the timer?

Fortunately, we make 3 pizzas on pizza night and had two others to eat for dinner.

Questionable Cosby?

We have started watching The Cosby show.  I had forgotten how good it was and when reintroduced to it recently, I loved it all over again and thought the boys would too.  We started recording it and watching it here and there.

So far the boys love it!  However, the other day was an episode done on smoking.  It was well done and just fine for my 6 and 8 year old.  And of course, Mr. Huxtable handled the situations with perfect parenting skills.

A couple of days after watching that episode, AJ had his friend spend the night and while they were eating dinner, I offered that they could watch a Cosby.  AJ came over very quietly and asked me, "Is the Cosby show appropriate for (insert friend's name)?"

I just laughed as I thought about my 6 year old being concerned about what's appropriate for another 6 year old.  Plus... c'mon.. it's the Cosby show!  But then, I soon caught AJ giving his buddy a very serious play by play of the smoking episode.

Ahhh...  that's where the question came from.

To: Santa, not Dad

Andrew made sure the cookies were eaten by the right man on Christmas Eve.

He then signed the note using the first initial of each of our names.

Merry Christmas!

Sentimental Sunday: Door on a Door

I’ve been blogging for over 8 years. That’s a lot of great and not so great moments documented. I main reason I blog is to remember these times… good and bad. “Sentimental Sunday”, is when I link back and remember posts I’ve written in the last several years.

Originally Posted November 23rd, 2008 …"so everybody will know what our door looks like." ….

Mr Who?

The other day, Andrew was walking around with his hoodie on.  However, the hood was tucked inside the back of the jacket and it looked more like a sweater cardigan than a hoodie.

I mentioned he look like he was wearing a Mr. Roger sweater.

He responded, "Mr. Who?  You mean Aaron Rogers?"

For those of you who may not know, Aaron Rogers is the quarterback for the Greenbay Packers.

Sigh.

Very Sick Little Boy

So... twas the week before Christmas and all through the house, we are Lysol-ing and laundering the blankets and every available surface.

AJ is sick.  Man, he is sick.  Came home from school with a fever on Monday and hasn't been back.  Poor little guy.  It's been a rough couple days and it's still going.  So we are doing everything in our power to help him get better and help us stay healthy.

Might be fighting a losing battle. As every mother knows..... when you're kid is miserable, hacking and sneezing left and right, and he just wants to be draped over you, snuggle next to you, or sleep in your bed....  there is only so much you can do.

He's missing out on all the fun week-before-break activities at school including his class Christmas party today.  I don't think he's really realized it yet as I think he's lost track of time with all his days home, but I feel terrible for him.  He was SO excited about it.

Honestly, I was really excited about today, too.  I took the day off work.  I rarely get to attend the boy's school parties or their field trips.  So I intentionally took today off so I could be there for both boy's parties AND have time in between them to do some much needed tasks before Christmas and family comes to visit.  Things like errands, shopping, sitting in a coffee shop drinking my free birthday coffee, working out  (which I haven't been able to do AT ALL this week), meet my hubby for lunch... another thing I never get to do, despite him asking regularly.

Ok, I was SUPER excited for today.  So the mom in me feels terrible for my AJ and how miserable he feels.  The very selfish side of me is really disappointed that instead of my plans... I'm home washing, washing, washing.

But that's the way it goes.   It's part of being a mom and since that's the best job in the whole world, I'll take these days along with the mostly good days.  I have my 6 year old to hold and snuggle and get me sick and that's not something to take for granted this Christmas.

Dykstra Family 2012

We all gathered together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and to celebrate Mom's upcoming retirement.

It was so great to see everyone and watch the cousins play as if they see each other every day.

Free toys for sale!

AJ packed up a few of his old toys in a box and asked to out them down by the curb with this sign.

(he's seen his mom & dad get rid of a few things that way)

Trust

Resting in His shadow today and prayerfully placing my children there too. 

Ps 91 "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Thanks Sue.

Sentimental Sunday: Mission Accomplished (Might be the cutest video ever!)

I’ve been blogging for over 8 years. That’s a lot of great and not so great moments documented. I main reason I blog is to remember these times… good and bad. “Sentimental Sunday”, is when I link back and remember posts I’ve written in the last several years.

Originally Posted December 20th, 2007 (Link Fixed)

See how AJ even hugs and kisses them? (please click through - it will make your heart melt!)

Thirty-Something...

It's been a somber day here in light of this.

However it is my Birthday today.

Does it mean I'm old if I want a pan of enchiladas from our local mexican restaurant over a birthday cake?  Just stick a couple candles it and I'd be a happy girl.

...unless it's a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake.

Giving these boys an education

Marc decided it was time the boys learned the game RISK. If they manage to not knock the board over between their celebration jumps when they take an army, it will be a miracle. It's also quite a test of their "teacher's " patience. Might be an annual game only. We'll see.

Oh Christmas Tree

Check out our Christmas Tree story here!

 

Life with Boys

I’d like to say this us the first time we’ve had to dry out homework. Unfortunately… It’s not.

MVP of the Day: My Kitchenaid Stand Mixer!

Yesterday,  I got the majority of my Christmas baking done!

Huge batch of cut-out cookies.  Couple batches baked and frosted, the rest are cut and in the freezer ready to baked then frosted.

Huge batch of Spritz cookies.  One batch baked and already gone, rest pressed and in the freezer, ready to bake

Four batches of biscotti made and ready to give away.

Huge batch of peanut blossoms.  One batch baked, the rest rolled and in the freezer ready to bake.

I still have a few batches of biscotti to make, a pan of baked oatmeal for breakfasts, and I'd like to try my sister-in-law's chocolate pecan pie this year.  Of course, I am sure I will need to make more banana bread soon as that is a staple in the house, anyway.

Any sweet tooth in the house should be satisfied for a while now.  Christmas-time is just lovely!

Sentimental Sunday: The Bubble Song

I’ve been blogging for over 8 years. That’s a lot of great and not so great moments documented. I main reason I blog is to remember these times… good and bad. “Sentimental Sunday”, is when I link back and remember posts I’ve written in the last several years.

Originally Posted May 16th, 2006  …So I asked him about it and he just kept asking me to sing the Bubble Song. So I thought and started singing Tiny Bubbles knowing full well that can’t be what song he is referring to. “No! No! No! Sing the Bubble Song”. ….

Guess what we did last Saturday.

We started our morning with breakfast at the Real Food Cafe. This is our second year eating breakfast here before picking out Christmas tree from across the street at Ken's Fruit Market.  Buy Local!

My Surprise Gift

This folder with the Ninja drawing was found in my office bag one morning as a surprise to decorate my office.

We don't rake to remove leaves....

Still working out blog kinks... bear with me.

HAMerica

 Andrew was packing his lunch the other day and was attempting to make homemade "lunchables".  As he slicing a round piece of ham into smaller squares, he called me over to check out his America.

Happy Veteran's Week

On Veterans Day, Andrew's third grade teacher handed each child the lyrics to Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA and played the song in class.

She played it a few times and taught the class the song. Going through Andrew's folder later when he was busy doing something else, I found the lyrics and started singing the song.

His head shot over in my direction with a shocked look on his face.

"Mom! How do YOU know that song?"

  

God Bless The USA

by Lee Greenwood

 

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I'd worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I'd thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can't take that away.

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I'm proud to be and American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

Pinterest Project Spectacular

We are blessed with a large garden tub in our bathroom.  One that we hardly take advantage of because our hot water heater runs out before the tub is filled.  However, that being said, we love it and feel confined whenever we travel and have to use a standard size shower.  Spoiled, I know.

Now our shower is all white tile and over the last several year, the grout has gotten mildew-y.  Really mildew-y.   Like black grout.  It was gross and made our shower look disgusting.  I had tried everything to clean it.  Bleach, baking soda, vinegar, tile cleaner, all purpose cleaner, bleach pens, etc.... all with no luck.

This photo is just a small snippet and as much as I don't want to admit it, wasn't even that bad of a segment compared to the rest of the shower.  Sad, I know.

Again, a larger segment of nasty, yet not the worst of it.

Then, I came across this post on Pinterest that recommended using cotton beauty coils.

I used masking tape to tape the cotton stings along the grout.  Then using a spray bottle and eventually a face maska and glove (didn't use the last two the first go around and regetted it).

I sprayed down the the coils with straight bleach until they were saturated and push them right up against the grout.  Then waited.  Because I had tried so many other things, I didn't have high expectations.  However, a few hours later, I removed the cotton and to my amazements, the grout was white.  Amazingly white-white!

It looks like a whole new shower!  Thank you Pinterest for saving my tub.

My Punkins

In mid October the boys had a Friday off school for a teacher's inservice day.  Unfortunately, I still needed to work, however, I was blessed to be able to take a half day.  The boys came to work with me in the morning, and then because it was a gorgeous fall day, we grabbed lunch and hit the Meijer Gardens in the afternoon.

Chill Out!

Andrew has been reading the Michigan author Johnathan Rand for a couple of years now.  He writes the American Chillers, the Michigan Chillers, and the Freddie Fernortner and the Fearless First Graders series.  They like to tout themselves as scary books, but every time I start to question them (mostly based on the cover art - which I do NOT love), the read one and realize they are mostly just suspenseful and age appropriate.

In fact, when we went on vacation last year, we detoured on the way so we could stop at Chillermania, the author's headquarters.  They boys picked up a few books and Andrew got a t-shirt.

So, when I found out merely coincidently, the Johnathan Rand was coming to Grand Rapids the next day, I was thankful our schedules worked out so I could take the boys to hear him speak and meet him.

He came to a local library, so I picked the boys up from school, we grabbed a bite to eat and then just went to the library early to work on homework until it was time to start.  I was thankful we were there early, there was a much better turnout than I anticipated.  They had a little book store set up, so mom caved and bought them each another book, plus they brought a few of their own for autographs.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed his presentation.  It was obviously geared toward the kids, but had enough thrown in for the parents to keep it really interesting.  They boys were glued and he encouraged them to write and revise and write and revise.

After the presentation he held a book signing where he signed the boys books, signed Andrew's Chillermania t-shirt and allowed photos to be taken.  In fact, AJ took his words to heart, came home that night and wrote his very own adorable super scary story that very night.  I need to scan and post it... it's awesome.  Thanks Mr. Rand for the visit!

My Civil Duty

Took me an hour and ten minutes during an off peak time.  Poor Marc is in line now and it's WAY longer than when I was there.  But proud to be able to do it!

Little bit of Heaven last Sunday

This was part of our evening dinner last Sunday. Homemade biscuits fresh out of the oven with honey. I don't think we would have even need any other food.

Where I joined the ranks of Soccer Mom.

We just finished up fall soccer around here. It was the boys first year playing organized soccer and they really loved it. Especially Andrew... that boys eats, breathes and sleeps soccer, playing it every recess and every other chance he gets.  AJ had a great time just being out there with his buddy and getting his energy out.

The improvement we saw in the boys between the first week and the final week was huge!  We started the season a little hestistant about the program but in the end signed back up for the Spring 2013 season.

Marc coached AJ's team this year, the Silver Sharks.  Andrew played for the Blue Lightning.  All through the AYSO program.At one point during a cold rainy game day, not enough player showed up, so AJ got to play goalie for Andrew's team.  I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of his season.

Since either myself or Andrew was the "assistant coach", we were eligible for one free family photos.  Since we don't really do family pictures, this one actually is pretty good.

By the way - this soccer season led us to invest in 2 large golf umbrellas that have proved to be an extremely wise purchase.

Blog Update

So... a little blog history....

Fall 2004 - I started this little blog, mostly to share pictures and our days with grandmas and grandpas in other states and to be a alternative to time consuming and space consuming scrapbooking.  Blog created on Blogger, the free blogging platform.

Six wonderful years of blogging and family history and photos get beautifully documented.


Spring 2010 - after working for a year where blogging was in my job description, attending a few blogging meet-ups, and doing my own research, I took the plunge, bought my own domain name and moved my blog to a Wordpress site.  Loved the new platform.

Spring 2012 - while I loved my domain name and my Wordpress site, life got busy and I wasn't blogging as much as I used to.  I have no intention of quitting, but struggled to justify paying for something not being used as much.  Granted the cost wasn't great, but felt for what I needed, a free service would be adequate.  Move site back to free Blogger platform.

Shortly later - realized I lost all photos during my time with Wordpress when I moved blog back over the Blogger... along with other nice features.  Plus, in order to at least keep my domain name, I was still paying, not much  but more than I expected.  Mostly, I was very dishearten about losing 2 years of photos.

So dishearten  I practically gave up blogging since I felt my blog was "all messed up" anyway. I very much had a "why bother" attitude, even though I did miss it.  I knew there was a slim chance to fix it, but I knew it would be a long shot, a LOT of work and a LOT of phone calls to hosting IT depts.  It was something I just didn't want to do and so I put it off.  The more I put it off, the bigger of a job it seemed so the more I wanted to put it off.

The cycle grew bigger and bigger until I didn't want to add any more content to my blog even though I have great family content from many years before.  Warped logic, I know, but still how I felt every time I thought about putting a post together.

Current 2012 - So, this morning I receive an email from my previous hosting company telling me my account was about to expire.  Since my account has been expired since spring, I was confused and actually took the time to call them.  Turns out the email was sent in error, but since I had them on the phone I talked to their IT dept and started the process to repair my blog.  I spent a LOT of time on it today and it could take a lot more time, but I think it's do-able.

I am still not sure how the repair will work itself out.  I may stay on Blogger and manually repair each and every post that's was missing photos.  It would suck, but at least it's a possibility now (wasn't even an option before today).  Or I may go back to Wordpress, a better platform in my mind, especially if they can fix all my photos at once. Again...more calls to IT dept.

All that to stay - stay tuned.  I will keep you posted and I do plan to posted more anyway, but that's the long story of why the blog has been neglected to severely lately.