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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Who Is YOUR Hero?

A question that I've never really thought to ask Jack about but they did at school is "Who is your favorite hero?" and I was shocked by his response. Not in a bad way, in a "I'm so proud of him" way.

We talk alot about what people do and who we know who are Firefighters, Police Officers and Paramedics. Last night, I was picking up the boys and walked by a large flip-chart piece of paper that they had recorded what the children's responses to the question "Who is your favorite hero?" in a circle time conversation. Jack's response was enough to elicit another one of those PROUD MOMMY MOMENTS from me because I knew that it was a true, genuine, unsoclicited answer........see for yourself!


I seriously stopped, turned and asked his teacher "Did he REALLY say that?" and her response was "Yes! All on his own? He's obviously very proud of them!"

P.S. Uncle Chris is Chris Hogan, my brother in-law, a Volunteer Fire Fighter/Paramedic with Atlantic Ambulance and St. Claire's Hospital System in Chatham Township, NJ and Uncle Dan is our friend Dan Phillips, Officer for the Glendale, MO Police Department. They are BOTH true heroes!
The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will. That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Scoop, Muck & Dizzy! Rolly Too!

The latest craze in our house is Bob the Builder. Jack has become pretty proficient at singing the theme song. Mason's got the first three words down pat. Jack's version is not "quite" right, but it's close. Close enough that he can get through the entire thing. When it comes on when he's watching one of our BTB movies, he sits up straight and BELTS it out like he means it. You've got to love it!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Boys Don't Bounce!

Why is it that little boys don't bounce? I tell you....if they did....Mason would be a rubber ball!

Here's why (or a least a run down of the past month). Week BEFORE vacation, I get a call from school that he was running on the playground towards the picnic table, tripped over his own two feet, fell and hit his forehead on the concrete. Didn't split his head open (thank god) but had a pretty nice goose egg.

Week AFTER vacation (last week), I get a call from school again. Mason was out playing on the playground and fell AGAIN and hit the exact same spot on his forehead. Now he had a goose egg on top of the goose egg that was just starting to go away. This time not only did he have a goose egg, but he scraped it so it was even better looking than the first time. A couple days later I took the boys to get hair cuts which accentuated the bump even MORE!

Fast forward to yesterday. Mason has become VERY independent and insists on doing almost everything for himself. Don't get me wrong, that's GREAT and I'm happy that he does, but sometimes it can be an issue rather than an asset. Case in point - breakfast was over and he has asked to be excused from the table. Tim had wiped his hands and mouth and Mason was sliding out of his booster seat down to the floor when his feet slipped out from under him and he hit his head on the floor. Not a good way to start the day. Then last night.....we're sitting at dinner and Mason leaned over to Jack's place mat, lost his balance and fell right out of his booster seat and landed smack flat on the floor hitting his head AGAIN! Poor guy! Tim and I felt terrible.

Finally this morning......Mason woke up at 4:30 am from an apparent bad dream and didn't want to go back to sleep in his bed so I brought him into bed with me. (I know, I know - bad Mommy for doing it but I wanted 2 more hours of sleep!) So we fell back asleep and when it was time for me to get up, I rolled out of bed and put pillows all around him so that he wouldn't roll off. You see where this is going, don't you? I went into to Tim's office (he was already up) to tell him what I was doing and that Mason was still asleep on our bed (we've left him that way many times before with NO PROBLEMS). I grabbed my robe, went into the bathroom and closed the door only to hear a loud THUD and then a scream! In that split second, he rolled OVER the pillow and was laying flat on our floor - not the best way to wake up.

My poor baby! Why oh why, didn't God make boys bounce? It would be SOOOOOOO much easier that way.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

We're Baaaaaack!

Well, I've had time to come out of the fog that settles in after you've come back from 10 days of vacation. Leaving for 9 hour drives at the wee hours of the morning is not too conducive to being a productive Mommy (or Daddy) but we've realized that that's the best time for the boys as they sleep most of the time while we (or should I say Tim) drives. But, we survived. Laundry is done and suitcases are put away. Now it's back to reality and the grind of every day life.

We had a WONDERFUL vacation! It started off NOT being so great with Mason developing a 102.5 fever less than 12 hours after arriving at my Grandmother's Cottage at Epworth Heights in Ludington, MI, and then a trip to the local ER on the holiday because there are no Urgent Care Facilities in the thriving metropolis that we were in. The result was a developing ear infection (which was causing his fever) and aggrivation of his asthma due to the damp, musty air up north. But after a few doses of Motrin and Tylenol, you never would have known he was sick, and the antibiotics that he was on the entire time we were there kept the ear infection at bay (thankfully) so we were able to enjoy ourselves.

We celebrated the 4th of July with a parade in town that was a TRUE, HOMETOWN 4th of July parade and it gave me goose bumps it was so cool! A colorguard, fire trucks blaring horns, marching bands, horses, lots of support for the troops and more! A great way to kick off the day. And it was long.....an hour and a half! It wasn't a whimpy parade at all.







We capped off our holiday watching fireworks that were shot off from the Ludington Breakwater Pier from the comfort of the front porch of the cottage. Talk about prime seating - it was awesome as we had protection from the mosquitos and no long walk/drive home. Since it doesn't get dark up north until 10:30pm, Tim and I did our best to keep the boys awake to see them but unfortunately they fell asleep about 10 minutes prior to the start and we COULD NOT WAKE them up to save our souls. Oh well. Maybe next year they'll see fireworks. These were pretty good though - I was sorry they missed them.

We spent lots of time on the beach playing in the sand, building sandcastles, chasing seagulls and even flew a kite (which was a HUGE hit with the boys). The lake was very cold so Jack and Mason weren't too crazy about it but Jack got comfortable walking in to about his waist and had fun when the waves weren't too big. He fell down a couple of times but gathered up his composure and didn't let it stop him from having fun.








Other things that we did to keep the boys busy and not in the sun the WHOLE day included going to a local Hands-on Children's Museum, playing putt putt golf (again Tiger and Phil watch out!), playing at a beautiful playground overlooking the harbor, going to get ice cream at House Of Flavors, and the best of all was an upclose and personal adventure at Amber Elk Ranch where we got to touch and hand feed 1200 lb elk! They were huge and amazing and it was an experience that ALL of us will always remember.
















So that's it...our 2008 Summer Vacation in a nutshell. We had awesome Michigan weather, the boys had a blast and did great in the car (something Tim and I were concerned about) and were as good as can be expected for being out of their "element" and WE (Tim & I) got a chance to relax and take a breather from life in general. Until next summer.................. bye bye Epworth, we'll miss you!



Thursday, July 3, 2008

ON VACATION!


Check back soon when we post pictures from our Summer Vacation in Ludington, Mich!