2!, 5!, 9!, 2!, 5!, 9!...

There have been at least 100 posts that I've wanted to make these past few months but things are just busy; they just are. I'll catch up eventually, I know I will but it weighs on me, especially when I watch my "baby" two-year-old be-bop around the house doing numerous cute things that I wish I made time to blog about.
So tonight I am~with no pictures, but just the notation that lately she is doing a super-cute thing called "hide and seek" that she is obsessed with. And what makes it the cutest, is that she hides in the SAME PLACE everytime. Everytime! But sometimes she counts there and other times she is just quiet as a mouse and still -with her toes sticking out under the clothes hanging in my closet-waiting for someone to find her.
And to double the cuteness factor she counts loudly in a methodical pattern; "two!, five!, nine!, two!, five!, nine!, ready not! here I tome! And then giggles and runs out to find you.
Gosh I love that kid. 100 other times a day she makes me so tired but when she does hide & seek, I love her.

It's true.

Today stunk. Maybe because it was Monday and I am just coming off a delicious weekend of alone/adult-time with my hubby and my two youngest kids were totally crabby and missed the memo that Mommy had a pile of work and laundry to do...but maybe also just a little bit because something so wretchedly AWFUL happened in our house over the weekend that I still can't even speak about it without shivering and scanning the room.
Ugh.
So last night we arrived back home with tired but happy kids who easily ate dinner and were hollering for bed at an early bedtime. Yay.
However, I developed some weird nausea/achy-body-tired thing and was on the couch by 7:15 p.m. with only one kid in bed so far and two to go.
So, Raegan heads downstairs with Brad (normally it's me because everyone always wants me at bedtime but thank the GOOD LORD it wasn't me this time) and I continue to lay miserable on the couch.
Until five minutes later when I hear Raegan's voice say "Mom!" -with a slight quiver- followed by, "Mom, Um...my toothbrush isn't downstairs I think it's in your bathroom and I just went potty and there were two mice floating in the toilet".
Wait, WHAT.
Say, WHAT!!??
OMW, did I just stop breathing and start sweating profusely, just now??
WHAT.DID.YOU.SAY??
Oh. My. WORD.

(Good thing I always keep my cool in these types of situations.)

Then this is followed by Brad coming up the stairs and giving me a look and asking Raegan to come back downstairs to finish getting ready for bed.
Because my dear husband -Lord love him- handled things SO much better then I would have by simply saying to Raegan, "Oh look! They must have been trying to go for a swim", and acting like it was no big deal so that my eldest barely thought anything of it and could easily mention it to me in the midst of a train of thought about her misplaced toothbrush.

Instead of the bloody-murder screaming I would have done had it been me that discovered such a fright in the TOILET OF MY HOUSE.

Oh my word.

So, suffice it to say that if you happen to see mice scurrying around your garage-which I did a week ago- then make sure you buy real traps for them-not just poison- and then caulk the heck out of any small space or hole that might even begin to lead into your house from the garage...
Or just shoot them with your husband's muzzle-loader.
Whichever is handiest.
Because otherwise they will come into your house looking for a drink, or a place to die, or a place to swim.

Oh my word.

Do you think I slept well last night? Or will again tonight for that matter?
Why else do you think I'm posting this at 11:59 p.m. while my eyes bleed from lack of sleep?

"Shady Lady", "Last Resort", or "Big Red"?....

A new tradition started this year with our dear friends the Nieuwenhuis', who spent the whole summer working hard to complete their beautifully renovated cottage that will now be our new Labor Day Weekend home-away-from-home. The big debate was what to call the new place - thus the title of my blog. But name or no name- we LOVE their new place!And what better way to start a new tradition but to enter a new "member"!
Meet Carys Nieuwenhuis. The punkiniest, newest member of the N family. She was about two weeks 'home' this weekend and we got to have lots of snuggle-time. Of course she warmed right up to her 'Auntie' soon after we arrived... and I enjoyed every minute of sniffing and smooching her fatty little rolls.

Our weekend was filled with all the "usuals". Junk food, swimming (even an after-dark skinny dip...for the KIDS! Get your mind out of the gutter), movies, beach-time, campfires, exploring, etc. We had such a great time!

Once in awhile the kids need some down-time...and what better place then in the kids-only loft!

These two have quite an oil and water (or brother and sister!) type relationship but they sure are cute! And they don't take any guff from each other...that's for sure.

But these two cuties are two peas in a pod. What fun they have together and they are SO fun to watch and listen to. We hope their friendship lasts for years to come!

New adventures- searching for treasures in the icy cold fresh water spring -and yes, that would be my naked 22 month old. Don't ask.

Syd bein' Syd. Walking stick and all.

Oh Lake Michigan how I love you...

Thanks, Niewenhuis' for another year of great memories!

First Grade!?!

Big Stuff today! I cried a bit last night and this morning but nothing that she noticed and nothing that could overshadow the sheer excitement and smiles that she had from the minute she popped out of bed to when I picked her up after school. I am so amazed at how well the transition to our new school went and am forever thankful for the journey (and it's fruition) that God has led us on for the past 2.5 years. It was worth every prayerful & agonizing moment for me to see her smiles and hear her excited chatter. She (we) could not be more at home! Love our new school and so excited to watch how my eldest 'baby' continues to grow and change whether I'm ready for it or not.

Thank you Lord!

"Not Nice!"

This little pint-sized peanut had her 15 mo/2 yr combined (I slacked a bit a couple months back) well-child visit today. She was cute as a bug during the whole appointment...showing off her talking skills and long-flowing locks. Not even exaggerating when I say that this kid attracts attention NO MATTER where we are!

I hate. hate. hated that I found out she had to have 4 shots today though. Poor pumpkin sat so brave in my lap and didn't even cry out at first until the 2nd round of pokes when she then started bawling big alligator tears and after burying her head into my chest with her 'nigh-night' proclaimed amidst a string of jibberish that that experience was very clearly, "Not nice!" The giant sticker of a Barbie and a "woofoo" (dog) that she got did help ease the pain a bit and she was VERY proud to show her sissies both her sticker and her pokes. She kept pointing at her bandaids and saying "Shot!" and then producing a fake sad-face and cry. It really is never a dull moment in this house. Love her.

Stats are as follows:

Weight: 23# (15th percentile)

Height: 31 inches (8th percentile!)

Head: 70th percentile-not sure if they made consideration of the hair-bomb or not ;)

p.s. She picked out the knit hat at my friend's garage sale before the appointment. It suits her perfectly, don't you think?

Oh Summer...

How quickly you flew by but how FUN you were! Can't believe in only 7 sleeps we'll be waking up to an alarm clock again and heading to off to start a NEW year and a NEW school.

This week I'm just hoping time slows enough to catch up on all the "one last times" we've been talking about. So far, so good!

And here's to a Fall with a little more time for me to catch up on this blog that got away from me!

See you then~ ;)

Memorial Memories

Oh I do loooove the start of summer being Memorial Weekend! Mostly because my super-busy-working-insane-hours-husband is home for 3.5 days in a row which feels so crazy and luxurious that I can't help but be happy. And also 'cause I love having lots of time to spend with friends and family to just 'hang' out and get started with all the fun things that scream summer.... Like driveway bonfires with our neighbors! A great start to the weekend.

Then moving on to crazy-but-typical Michigan weather. Cold, then Rainy, then Stormy, then Tornado-Watching, then H-O-T. This is a shot from Sunday afternoon in Holland at my parents as the storm rolled in.

But luckily, it was gorgeous for our annual Veterans Memorial Parade in Holland. A tradition with us Rottschafer girls while our men go fishing.

Then we wrapped up our weekend with a laid-back evening BBQ with our dear 'old' "Mars Hill Small Group Friends", the Selfes. Our first meal on the deck and with perfect weather! Great friends, great food, and a yummy dessert. Lesley was so festive with her red-white-and blue trifle that I forced her to let me take a pic.

Ah...I do love our backyard in the summer. So green and lush!

Whoo hoo! A fish! (p.s. Try not to mind the kids sans life-jackets. Eek! We forgot our stash in Holland and decided we "need" to get some for the house too.)

Waiting patiently...two little buddies. (Don't you love Syd's festive Memorial Day gear? She picked out the star spangled shorts and fireworks emblazened shirt all by herself at Carters~ I just love this kid and her choice of clothing. I've given up on trying to fight that battle)

Yay! Finally their turn.

And...a random shot of my freshly-planted back deck flower pots. They make me happy. Hello, Summer!

Who needs veggies?

Turn my back for a second and look who grabbed the veggie dip lid off the counter next to her highchair? Can't say I blame her. I mean, carrots are really just the vehicle...

Stinker. :)

Easter~ Group shots galore

These pictures crack me up. Mollsie cannot possibly sit still for more then 2.5 seconds, especially for a picture and the best part being that she jumps up and yells "Cheese!" with all of her 6 teeth. She is a hoot and all I can do is laugh because as much as I wanted the 'perfect' shot of my girls in their dresses, I knew it wasn't happening. Anyways, enjoy~
Grandma always comes through with matching dresses for the girls. One of the many perks of having 4 girl grandaughters after having 3 sons!

Moll's either jumps up with a "Cheese!" or a clapping "Yay!"

"Cheese!" This may have been the best of the 12 I took.

Gotta love it.

Birthday Blitz

Four and Six. WOW! We had over a week of festivites here again this year and I fear that someday that will become expected for birthdays; but what else do you do when you have out-of-town family and Easter weekend and two seperate days that need to be special so close together?
We let the girls have a combined friend's party at the local "gym place" and it was an absolute blast. I wish I had a better camera that took action photos because it was so much fun to watch 15+ kids jumping and running and climbing all over for 2 hours. The girls were spoiled with all kinds of great gifts and they beamed and talked about their gym party for days afterwards. I love that they don't mind sharing their festivites! I hope we can drag that out for at least a few more years cause Lord knows we don't need TWO Costco cakes at a time in this house!! ;)
(And just for the record, I have been begging them for the past two years to let me make them special cakes but darn Costco wins out everytime. Can't say I really blame them.)

Basking in birthday-song-singing glory.

Times two!

The Easter Chocolate Cheesecake stepped up as a birthday cake for the girls' second "family"party

This face is priceless. Sydney got a new-to-her Barbie Jeep from us for her birthday. She'd been asking for the one at Costco for months.

Of course a TRUE princess prefers to be driven, not the driver. Cousin Caden was happy to oblige.

See ya!

Big Change

Can you believe it? I still can't quite yet. Six years of long hair-and loving it- and this big girl opted to chop it off to donate to special kids who need it more then her. I'll be honest, I planted the seed, but was quite shocked when she wanted to go through with it. I have teasingly mentioned in times past that 'maybe' we should cut her hair and I was always answered with a vehement, "No!".

But after checking out the Locks of Love website and talking a bit about kids who "can't" have hair for one reason or another, I could see the wheels a spinning and soon enough she was begging for a haircut. So on her actual birthday I called up none other then my driveway-hairstylist and very dear friend Jenn who came right over to do the deed. I was waiting for tears but this girl just shook her head and bounded into the house in search of the mirror with a big ol' grin on her face.

She's really growing up.