School is around the corner that means yearly pictures!  Grace and Caleb picked the park and their clothes.  I picked the bridge and creek.  Grace really wanted to park herself against a tree again (for the 3rd year in a row).  Caleb wanted to park himself in the middle of the creek.  Grace is 12 and Caleb is 9!

Summer!!!

Spring ended with a furry of activity.  Basketball, soccer games, musical practice, school and church activities made the spring feel like a whirlwind with lots of fun.

Summer is flying by and I can't believe school is around the corner.  This summer has been filled with a lot as usual.  We have spent time and loved visiting Stuart Lake, Canada, Bass Lake with family and just hanging out.  Our first adventure was to Big Ticket Music Festival in June.  We always love the music, spending time with our friends and drawing closer to God through great artists.  The last part of the summer has been filled with lots of home time due to Caleb's bone graph surgery.  All went well.  We didn't plan very much intentionally due to food restrictions and not knowing how he would feel.

Grace starts 7th grade in the fall and Caleb starts 3rd.  WOW!  I am amazed at how fast this past year went and will be shocked at the speed of this coming year also.  My sister told me one time "fasten your seatbelt and hang on for the ride."  She was exactly right!

The picture I attached is from our climb on Candy Rock Mountain in Canada.  We loved it!

Spring here we come!!!

I can not believe March is here already.  I am amazed at how fast this first part of 2012 has gone.  I have many things to update.  First, school is going well for both kids.  Grace ended last semester with all A's!!  Caleb did well too (2nd grade gets numbers not grades).  According to their teachers, they are good students who work hard and are nice kids to have in class.  Grace also played in her second band concert and I was shocked at how grown up she looked and the other 6th graders compared to back in November.  She still enjoys playing clarinet and is seriously considering playing in 7th grade.  Caleb still holds the police officer job in his classroom and is great at passing out fines to his fellow classmates who break the rules.

We celebrated Chinese New Year with our tradition.......chinese food from Blue Ginger and a pinata!  I have no idea where Caleb got this idea.  Many years ago when we decided to celebrate CNY, we asked him what he wanted to do and that was his answer.  So every year, I buy a pinata and fill it with gold coins, coupons and candy.  For dessert we have oranges and fortune cookies.  When we were in China, I purchased a few articles of clothing for us to wear for this celebration but haven't used them in the past few years.  This year, Caleb found the box and immediately undressed to put on his "china clothes."  He looked so cute, even though the shirt was way too small.

Both kids played basketball this winter.  Caleb played in Upward again and he was awesome this year!  He was on fire.  I couldn't believe how much he has improved since last year.  It was really cool to watch.  Grace backed out of AAU, it was not a good fit for her.  She went to back playing on a Courthouse league with classmates and is having a ton of fun.  She is also improving and thinks she will try out for the 7th grade team next year.  She will continue to play at a few tournaments this summer and camps.  She continues to workout at the Y with Doug on non basketball days while Caleb does Karate.  He started that in January and loves it.  He is punching and kicking air around the house all the time. I hear "yah, kiyah" everyday.  He tests for his first belt next week, the yellow belt.  It has helped him with his paying attention and being more aware.  The instructor has several rules the class must follow:  stand still and look people in the eye when they are talking to you, always do things the first time and is big on using manners such as answering with "no sir, yes sir, no mam, yes mam."  I love it!!!!!

We have had hardly any snow this winter and the kids really missed playing outside making forts, throwing and eating snow.  A few weeks ago we had snow storm and headed to the local hill for family sledding and it was a a ton of fun. I thought about putting away all snow gear because this week is suppose to be 50/60 but thought again, we live in Michigan and it could change on a dime.

We are headed to Florida for spring break this year with many families we know.  The kids are excited because we are staying on the beach in a condo.  I am excited because it means sunshine, warmer weather and lots of reading time.  I have a ton of books by my bed that keep calling my name and a lot of M&M's to melt in the sun.  Believe me, we will be inhaling them considering the whole family gave up candy for lent.

In two weeks, Grace will be in her last church musical!  It is hard to believe 3 years ago she didn't even want to get up on stage to sing with the choir and now she is one of the lead roles.  She has a ton of lines and has to wear a dress for her costume!!!!  I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!  We are so proud of her and can't wait to see perform.  Oh, Doug and I have cameo appearances with 4 lines too.  I could flip on a beam and twist in the air without feeling nervous.  However, 4 lines is already making my tummy do flips.  By the way, I took Grace to see our High School performance of Honk (ugly duckling) last week and she loved it!  She definitely sees herself doing something like that in the future.  Caleb on the other hand told me at Christmas he does not want to do musicals anymore, not even sing mom!

Health wise, the kids are growing like weeds.  Grace is is almost my height and wearing my shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She is definitely in a teenager mode.  I know, she will only be 12 this year but everything about her (including attitude) screams  "I am a teenager."  Caleb has his big surgery in May, a bone graph using hip bone and inserting it into the jaw.  He continues to ask me questions daily.  I don't think he is nervous, I think it is like everything else in his world, he likes to understand every detail and make sense of it.  He still has braces because the ortho is waiting for surgery, so we are in a "holding pattern.".  Dr. H was ecstatic with the progress the head gear and braces made on Caleb's teeth.  He said it was like hitting a grand slam!

Both have birthdays coming up and Caleb's Family Forever Day next week.  Not sure how we are going to celebrate the birthdays this year.  Last year we turned our basement into a theater.  They invited a ton of friends, no presents, just had snacks and watched Star Wars and Harry Potter.  Caleb gets to pick dinner and dessert for his FFD (our tradition) for Wednesday.  WOW...6 years ago we were in China meeting our little man for the first time.  Anyway, his selection.........these nasty tasting SPICY chicken wings that he and Doug love with oreo balls.  He is so geeked!!!!!  I think Grace and my reaction to his choice only fueled his desire even more.  You gotta love little brothers!

Whew!

Oh my!  The learning curve on this thing is huge.  I opened this up to post something new and needed a password.  After resetting it because I couldn't remember what I used last time, I think I am finally in.

Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed.  We had 2 great holidays with lots of family time.  We started Thanksgiving morning off with our family tradition of delivering meals downtown.  What a treat it was to realize we were delivering to the same place as the year before.  It was a bigger blessing when we handed the meals to one particular lady and she recognized our family.  She was happy to see and grateful for the food.  Grace declared the best part of the day was helping the people by giving them food, even though we didn't buy it.  Caleb declared the best part of the day was not having to smell the "smoke" (incenses) from the apartments.  Last year we visited a family from India, it took a few hours for our noses to regain a normal sense of smell.  Afterwards we were off to turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, blue jello and our autographed tablecloth.  Another tradition.

Christmas was filled with lots of activity.  The kids are off  for17 days!  At first, I thought oh my.... that is a long time.  However it has flown by in warp speed.  We have done the usual shopping, wrapping, some baking, movies and sleeping in.  Actually, Christmas songs, the tree and the Elf on the Shelf named Bobby Jo, have been regular visitors since Thanksgiving Day.  Caleb still can't figure out "how" Bobby Jo gets to the North Pole and back to our house over night.  Grace just smiles and says he has special powers.  The secret is out for G.  She loves the times when Caleb talks about Santa...she looks at me with a smile and winks. They wrote their santa letters and G's started off with "Dear Santa, I don't know why I have to write you, I know you aren't real but I will make my mom happy and pretend for my brother."  Caleb's started off with "Dear Santa, I have been good this year please bring me presents."

Over break, Grace played in first AAU basketball tournament.  What a joy it was to watch her play in an advanced league with better quality ball and out of her comfort zone.  She is capable of playing in this league, just not sure of herself and likes the confines of her inner world.  She also got 8 inches of hair cut off to donate!  She has purchased all Harry Potter movies and is incredibly happy with life right now....she got an itouch for Christmas.  She has become my personal tutor.

Caleb received a frog hatchery kit for Christmas.  After catching30 some tadpoles from the marsh in our backyard last spring, Santa thought it would be fun for Caleb to grow his own.  So, he will receive 6-10 embryos in the mail.  He will have to care for them in hopes they turn into tadpoles and eventually frogs.  At that point, they become his pets or released into world.  We also enrolled Caleb in Karate.  He starts next week so we have been working on his 7 phrases:  no sir, yes sir, yes mam, no mam, thank you , please and your welcome.  We have also instituted the same theme in our home that they teach at karate: "first time every time."  I love it!  Karate is going to be soooooooooo much fun for me, I hope he likes it too!

The pictures are from Christmas morning.  Grace also wanted a chin up bar and an architectual kit. Caleb wanted a glow in dark marble maze and ripstick.  Merry Christmas and Happy New.  Unfortunately, that was  the inscription on our Christmas card this year.  As my 6th grader put it with a gigantic smile, "mom, that's why you should always proofread and look over things."  Can you tell she has heard that before?????

Wow, can you believe it? I have the entered the 21st century.

Hi
After reading many of my friend's blogs, it became clear to me that if I enjoy reading them so much, maybe other people would enjoy reading about what is going on in our household.  So, I took it upon myself to sign up.  This is not fancy, the learning curve is huge, I may not be able to log a lot and my kids know more about how to use technology than I.   But what the heck......I thought I would give this a try.  I am starting off by downloading a Halloween picture of the kids.  Grace was a "mega Spartan fan" and Caleb was a "mad scientist."  They had a ball and we are still have candy coming out our ears. It made me smile listening to them exchange, negotiate trading and declaring what what was healthier than others, and what Caleb shouldn't have because of his braces.  Halloween candy and all it's fun!  Of course, they spread it out all over the floor and grouped, counted and sorted too.   It is hidden everywhere in the kitchen (and in my car, my purse and you get the idea)!  Life is good.