summer plans

It seems like a lot has been going on around here but at the same nothing at all. We are doing the usual stuff - playing, swimming in the kiddie pool, taking trips to Target, etc. On Saturday we are looking forward to heading out to Grand Haven and spending the day with Derk and Bethany (and Jalen!) at the Coast Guard Festival and at Bethany's parents' pool. On Monday, I'm heading down to Michigan City for our annual/somewhat annual outlet shopping trip with our small group girls. Also looking forward to the Holland Sidewalk Sales next week, followed by another Macker for Matt next weekend. It's hard to believe, but it seems like the summer is starting to wind down, especially because Dylan is starting preschool in September.

Hurray!

AC update (I'm sure you're all dying to hear more on this topic) - turns out a power surge last week caused our AC to poop out (blew up the compressor somehow) which means a new AC unit is covered under our homeowner's insurance. Seriously brilliant stuff. Now instead of paying $3,400 for cool air, we only have to pay about $500 AND we are getting a much more energy efficient unit that will not only save us money in the summer but also in the winter. We can use the AC unit to pump out warm air during the cold months, so we'll only have to use our furnace during the really freezing cold months (i.e. January and February). According to our heating and cooling guy, we can make up the $1,000 difference between this model and the basic model in about 6 years (which will really only be about 3 years since we're only investing $500 into it). He's coming to install it tomorrow, so the heatwave around here will be over soon.

In other interesting household news, we're also getting three new toilets installed tomorrow afternoon which will end our seemingly endless problems with leaky, running, clogged, overflowing toilets.

Oh! And Dylan pooped on the potty today all by himself. What a day.

T pillow

I just ordered this accent pillow from etsy.com (SoBright Designs). I've been working on replacing my living room pillows for a while and I finally found some red and cream striped pillows and some solid red pillows from Pottery Barn, but I needed another accent pillow. I found this seller on Etsy and she custom made this pillow for me.

If you haven't already discovered Etsy, look at your own risk - there are many wonderful, wonderful handmade items for sale and you will end up wanting them all :).

Class of '98

We went to Matt's 10 year class reunion last night. It was a fun night and Matt enjoyed seeing everyone again. It was at McFadden's downtown which was nice atmosphere - more casual and not so banquet hall-ish. Matt and I dated Matt's senior year of high school so I knew quite a few people. We drove down there with Ross and Kara, so I had plenty to occupy me. At the end of the night, Kara and I had to practically drag those boys out of there.

This picture is of Matt and Ross with two of their good friends (both back in HS and now), Corey and Josh. These four reminisced about the Spice Girls lip sync they performed back in high school (complete with skirts, wigs, make up and fake boobs). They took 1st place for that effort, and it lives on as a favorite memory. If I ever come across the original picture, I'll be sure to post it :).

Water Baby!

It's Ella's turn for swim lessons - we are doing a Waterbabies class with her at the high school. So far she is enjoying her experience much more than Dylan did, but she also obviously gets to have one of us in the pool with her too. She's the youngest in her class, but she's keeping up pretty well. She doesn't quite have the motor skills to do everything in the class (or the language skills to understand what she's being asked to do) , but she's having fun and loves jumping off the edge and trying to blow bubbles. I took her the first couple times this week, but tonight Daddy was home in time so he got to play with her in the water while Dylan and I watched.

the 4th

We spent our 4th of July in Grandville watching Matt play basketball...again (just try to keep us away from a 3-on-3 tourney). We also managed to catch the parade and spend some time with friends (lunch with Katie and Ernie at Katie's grandparents' house) and family (Matt played with his brothers Chad and Brett). The eight hours we devoted to basketball that day paid off because the boys went undefeated and took first place.


We spent the rest of the weekend with my family at my parents' condo on Lake Michigan. The kids swam and swam and played on the beach. Now back to real life - loads of laundry and tired kids :).

kids on a couch

I've taken a few pictures of kids on couches recently, so I thought I'd share. The first picture is Dylan and Ella with their cousins Isaac (7) and Nicholas (4) on the couch at my parents' condo in Holland.

The second picture is of my kids with my good friend Katie's kids - Xavier (2) and Zoe (4 months) on our family room couch.

I'm sure you all have pictures of yourself lined up on a couch as a kid with your siblings, cousins, and friends - it's just part of childhood :). Next up: kids lined up the steps (youngest to oldest, of course).

pigtails!

Big news around here: we have finally put The Mullet to good use. We have discovered that Ella now has enough hair for two tiny pigtails. Mostly I put them in for our own amusement because she's so stinking cute running around with them sticking out. Dylan was confused at first - he wanted to know why Ella had horns. I explained to him that they were called pigtails, and he's settled on referring to them as "Ella's pig horns." Close enough.