My seventh grader (yikes)!

It's hard for me to believe that my girl started seventh grade today. She's growing up fast and her Dad and I just couldn't be more happy with the way she's turning out! I especially love the fact that she doesn't think she's too cool that mom can't take her picture like a billion times the first day.

I remember when I was in seventh grade. Mr. Butzow was my teacher (yes, you can just imagine what we did with that name), I had a major crush on Bo Duke, and I would have done anything for a pair of Guess Jeans. I'm quite sure my mother would never have let me paint my toes like this.

This is a spider web that we discovered while waiting for the bus. Isn't it pretty?

Operation lunch box

This afternoon Holly and I mobilized "Operation lunch box". In an effort to make this school year a little less frenzied and chaotic, I decided to prepare (as much as I could) the kid's lunches in advance. We put crackers, carrots, and snacks into individual serving bags; put Ranch (Holly thinks one can't eat carrots without Ranch) into little deli containers; organized the pantry; and had a group discussion about healthy eating (it took a while to convince Sam that fruit snacks are not actually a fruit).

Holly and I are going to try and do this every Sunday afternoon. We'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully at least until Labor Day!

You may be wondering exactly how the Hiemstra family spends their last weekend before school starts. Even if you weren't wondering that, I will tell you.

John worked. (insert sad face here)

The kids made a water balloon family and then threw them at each other...

Since they were wet, I made them wash my jeep....

Sam tried to fly a kite...

And Holly had her first official babysitting job...

Here she is giving me her I'm-only-waving-at-you-so-you'll-go-away-and-not-follow-me-into-the-house-and-embarrass-me pose.
Today my friend Julie tried to take some pics of my kids. Katie was less than cooperative. Lucky for me she is an incredible photographer and I'm just sure she got one of all three kids looking at her and smiling although it never actually happened. I know. She's that good.

In closing, speaking of my youngest...

What to do about this girl's hair. It's getting long in the back and long in the front and there is very little on the sides. She has a baby mullet. As much as I am longing for the return of the big bangs of the eighties, I never did appreciate the mullet.

Our week in a flash

Whoa. I can't believe it's Friday already. I remember when I was working full time and I would wake up and say "TGIF"...now it's more like, "Oh my goodness, it's Friday already? Where has the week gone? Why did I get nothing scratched off my to-do list? What happened to getting the house all cleaned and chores all done during the week so we could actually enjoy the weekend?" Oh well.
It was a good week. A week when nothing amazing happened and I didn't get much scratched off my to-do list but a good week.
The kids start school next week. Holly starts Monday and Sam on Tuesday. We got to do the go to school and meet the teachers and see the classrooms thing today. Holly was a little jealous of Sam's room. She said she wanted to be in kindergarten again. I could feel her pain because sometimes, so do I.
I did manage to get the kids to go through their toys this week. After a summer of garage sale-ing the basement was starting to look like a toy store had vomited down there. One bad thing about having three kids six years apart is that you need toys for three kids that are six years apart. In one square foot, you may find fingernail polish, matchbox cars, and a teething ring. I won't sugarcoat it. It can be chaos. So, the kids went through the toys and then Mom went through the toys after the kids were in bed and then Mom took a couple of large, black, non-see-through bags to the Thrift Store.
One good thing about going through toys is that they discover really cool things that they had forgotten they had...

like really disgusting looking plastic teeth.

Or an electronic Operation game. I love how Sam concentrates with his tongue hanging out. John does the same thing.

We went to the library this week too. I got this...

I am so excited. You should be too. When I get done reading this little gem I'm quite sure my blogs will be more thought provoking, humorous, and grammatically correct. Or maybe not.

Katie has decided she no longer likes to eat this week. Let me re-phrase that... Katie has decided that she no longer likes to eat vegetables and meat. She does however still likes fruit and chocolate chip cookies. This is her new lunch time routine...

Dump out meat and veggies, chew on bowl for awhile and then proceed to mush up the meat and veggies and throw them on the floor.

This is Katie when she learns that she will not be getting fruit or chocolate chip cookies for lunch.
This week we did some school clothes shopping. I discovered Sam had one pair of jeans. We found a couple pairs at a great consignment shop in Bellingham and since we got such a good deal, I let him get a really cool camouflage shirt that he somehow spotted (it is camouflage after all) on a rack and thought he just must have. Holly got some cute things off the Aropastale clearance rack - that child may not look a lick like me but she's got my shopping prowess. She doesn't even look at the rest of the store, just heads right back to the 70% off. It helps that she wears an extra small and that's usually what is left over.

Holly decided that she needed a new "do" to start the school year off. This is her before....

And this is after...

I have been working real hard on letting go and relinquishing control so I let her go to the beautician all by herself. Aren't you proud? She does look cute. She hasn't had bangs since she was like six years old. She says these are "side bangs". I didn't even realize there was such a thing.

Lastly, I have begun dry cleaning John's work shirts. I know...call me wild and crazy. I have ironed his shirts for seventeen years and I have been saying for years how I am going to take them to the cleaners and I never do. I did.

A girl could get used to this.

So, that's my week in a flash. Except looking back now, that really wasn't "in a flash". It was wordy and contained all kinds of details that you really didn't need to know and I digressed a lot. I bet my blog book will have something to say about that.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Recap

John and I had so much fun this weekend! We left the kids at home (thanks Uncle Gary and Aunt Sally and Uncle Rick and Aunt Amy) and went to Chemainus, BC (that's in Canada for you midwesterners) with a group from our church.
Here we are on the ferry on the way to Vancouver Island. It started out a little overcast but it soon "burned off" (for you midwesterners, we use that term a lot around here...it basically means the clouds went away) and we were treated to a beautiful ride. The ride took us through the Gulf Islands so we were always in sight of land. It was fun seeing the houses - some were big ole mansions, some were little fishing shacks. Some of the small islands just had one house on them. What a strange life that would be. I couldn't imagine being that isolated. I couldn't do it...like what if I had a huge craving for a brownie batter Blizzard or ran out of cream of mushroom soup when I was making a casserole?

Look at this cool whale we saw!

Okay, okay...so we didn't see a whale. We never see whales. I'm beginning to think they really don't exist anywhere but Sea World. I did have fun fooling the other couples from church with a picture I took off a mural on the ferry though!
The town of Chemainus was really cute. They are known for all the murals around town...and John needed to see every one of them. Since we said this was our anniversary trip, I walked the entire town without once complaining or demanding ice cream. I didn't take any pictures of the murals but I did love this statue. I hope when John and I are old and grey that we still hold hands and that still looks at me like this metal guy was looking at this metal gal.

Hey, I guess I did get a mural. Here's my honey in front of it.

Apparently, they think these are flowers in Canada.

Chemainus has an awesome theater. We went to see this...

I can't say that I loved the story line behind Oklahoma. What's with Laurey anyway? Does she love Curly or not? Is Jed a psycho-weirdo or just misunderstood? Was I suppose to laugh or cry? Anyway, the singing was awesome and Holly would have been so impressed with the actors diction (that's a theater word I just recently learned). We had a buffet dinner in the theater before the show. YUMMY! They had an out-of-this-world dessert bar. You know how I feel about desserts. I had a nainamo bar with my salad...I just couldn't wait.

This is our group. These guys all know how to have a good time!

Playing Quiddler on the ferry ride back home. Did you know that Ai is a word? I don't remember who won but John and I tied. I think that's very romantic. I was way ahead of him but then he got this really long word and claimed it was some medical condition. I'm pretty sure he made it up.

Yesterday was also a birthday to some very good friends. Jonathan and Hannah are now teenagers! I can hardly believe it! I still remember the day they were born...I got a call at work from Doyle and he said, "It's a boy....and a girl!" Nobody knew but I was pregnant with Holly at the time and I remember thinking that that was perfect - my baby has an automatic BFF no matter what gender it was! I really had no idea though what special people they would be to my Holly - both of them. Their family was the hardest thing to leave behind in Iowa and I am just so thankful that when we do get together, the kids act like we never left. Holly always said she was going to marry Jonathan and that Hannah would be the flower girl. In just six short years they will all be at Dordt together. Who knows???!

November 1998

December of 2003

July of 2009

Thankful Thursday

I can't believe no one called to complain! I totally missed "Wordless Wednesday". I had a really good picture to post too....now you will all just have to be on pins and needles until next week! Since I missed "Wordless Wednesday" I decided to be wild and crazy and try out a "Thankful Thursday". Here goes...
* I am thankful for a Lord and Savior who just keeps right on loving me even though I really mess up.
* I am thankful for my family and friends around here who are always there to rejoice over the good stuff, cry over the bad stuff, and watch my kids.
* I am thankful for my family and friends I had to leave behind who are still there for me to rejoice over the good stuff, cry over the bad stuff, and watch my kids.
* I am thankful for cell phones so that I can talk to the aforementioned family and friends whenever I want to about nothing in particular.
* I am thankful for sweet corn and also for the fact that my body can tolerate me eating five ears at a time with relatively few repercussions.
* I am thankful that school starts in 11 days.
* I am thankful for an incredibly beautiful world that my aforementioned Lord and Savior created out of nothing. There is nothing that man has made that even comes close to topping snowcapped mountains, a field of dahlias, a baby's tiny finger, etc.
* I am thankful for a husband that loves me and is a wonderful daddy to my kids.
* I am thankful for those kids. They (in the words of the oldest one) rock my world.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17

A day at the fair

Cotton candy is sticky...
Corn dogs have no bun...
Going to the fair with the Ball girls...
Is loads of fun!
I know. It's corny. Give me a break, I was at the fair all day.
Sam and his friend Becca waiting for Holly to perform. Sam loves Becca almost as much as he loves his mom.

This was Holly's favorite flower in the flower building. If she was judge, it would have won first place.

Here's Holly doing her "Aren't I am more beautiful than the flowers?" pose.

All the kiddos. We didn't lose any of them all day. Julie and I are good moms.

Sam petting a tortoise. Quote: "My favorite part at the fair was petting the animoles. My baddest part at the fair was not going on the rides."

Holly and her friend Sarah hamming it up white Sarah's mom took 3 biggilion pictures of the flowers.

Holly showing me her shoe. It was so worn down in the heel that she could feel the pavement through it. Don't' worry, she has other shoes. But if you want to send us money anyway, feel free to do so.

Julie wanted to get a tattoo but didn't want to wait in the long line so I gave her one. Don't worry, it's not real.

My feet hurt and I think I ate too much fried food...I'm going to bed.

Life

Here's a little glimpse into my day... Actually, I took this picture last night. When I got home from my I-need-some-time-alone walk I found Sam sitting out by a fire. Apparently John was trying to get rid of some wood scraps left over from the playhouse and apparently Mr. Sam-I-am thought it looked like kind of a nice place to hang out despite the fact that he had just gotten out of the bath tub and was all clean and nice smelling.

Here's a close-up. He's got the boots, the Bible, one of Katie's sippy cups, and a bowl of trail mix...does life get any better?

This morning Sam and I both had friends over. Sam and his buddies played outside while me and my buddies enjoyed coffee and conversation that didn't involve what Transformer transforms into what or whether or not chicken McNuggets are good for you.

This week it's just been just me, Katie, and Sam for the most part and as much as I love the little stinkers, I needed some adult time real bad. Thanks for coming over gals!

After they left, Rachel came over to paint La Casa Hiemstra. I love having Rachel around, she's an endless source of good stories and has introduced me to some funky music. I also love having Rachel around because she is painting the playhouse so I don't have to.

Katie had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. She loves the peanut butter and jelly and thinks the bread just gets in the way so she opens the sandwich up and sucks out the good stuff.

I know...she's so cute. Not so cute when she crawled under the desk and emptied out my entire card box.

Notice the necklace. She's very into accessories lately.
Since John was gone tonight, Sam and I ate corn on the cob. Just corn on the cob. That's the way I prefer to eat it. I think the flavor of the corn really comes out when you just eat corn.

In case your wondering....Holly is here...At Desert Canyon Resort in Eastern Washington. She's staying in a condo with some friends this week. That girl has it made. I'm fairly sure that she hasn't spent seven straight nights in our house this entire summer. I think we may be creating a monster. I can just see it....six years from now when she's at Dordt and allowed to date (because of course she isn't dating before that). Some nice CR guy says, "Hey Holly, want to go get a pizza or something?" And she says, "I'm not sure. Like, what can you do for me? I mean, if this gets serious are you going to be able to support me in the lifestyle that I've grown accustomed to? I basically am like on vacation nearly every day of my life." Holly, If your reading this...just wait until you get home...I am going to have the longest, toughest chore list you've ever seen! It's for your own good. It's for your future.
In closing, these are a couple of conversations I overheard today...

Rachel (while she's looking at the label on the paint can): "Exterior flat house paint. Is there actually a different kind of paint for curvy houses?"

Sam (while talking on the phone with Gramma): "I'm going to sell my new lunchbox after I'm dead."