I'm not tired...

Whenever there is a mention of sleeping or resting in our house Samuel's immediate response it "But I'm not tired." He could be yawning and nearly falling over because he is exhausted but he insists that he is not even remotely sleepy. Knowing he still needs a nap most days, I often spend well over an hour fighting with him before he finally falls alseep. This gets really old really fast. So about a week ago I said fine. He didn't have to sleep but he still needed to take a rest in his bed for an hour. He could sing, read books, tell stories, whatever he wanted as long as he was laying in bed. He agreed and we set him up with about five books. For the first 20 minutes or so I heard him going back and forth from this bed to his bookshelf. Then it was quite. Fully expecting him to be either in the bathroom or in the spare room messing arond I went up to investigate and this is what I found. So much for not being tired.I was estatic. No more fighting but still getting a nap! Yeah maybe we were on to something here. That lastest until bedtime when he realized what we were up to and refused to look at books in his bed or anywhere else for that matter! On to the next trick...if I could just figure that one out.

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever

Last week Mike and I had our first official school Christmas concert. Samuel's preschool class participated in the St. Paul School concert. He had been practicing his song for about a month and was so excited to shake the bells up on stage. The day of the concert Samuel kept telling me he didn't want to go, that the big kids sang too loud and he didn't want to sing. After negotiating with him for several long minutes it was time to head in. He walked up with his class but refused to go on stage, instead he sat on his teachers lap in the aisle. Stage fright? Sensative hearing? Who knows...either way we know we will have many many more years of Christmas concerts to attend!

6:30 am

Our house is usually up and moving bright and early. The other day I grabbed my camera and captured everyone about 6:30am. Here is what we are up to...

Mike getting ready for work...

Samuel "fixing" things...
more like getting into everything he is not suppose to be in...

Liam watching whatever was on Disney...

Wrigley taking her morning nap...

Bailey taking over our bed attempting to stay away from Wrigley

And I was taking pictures while attempting to finish a cup of much needed coffee.

Breakfast with Santa

Well the Christmas season has officially begun. This month is going to be filled with family get togethers, lots of delicious food, presents all around, trips to see Santa, driving around to look at lights and lots of Christmas carols.

This year is pretty exciting since Samuel is so into Christmas. He is really curious about Santa and just exactly how he will fit down our chimney. We have the conversations at least once a day that Santa is magical and will be able to go both up and down the chimney with the presents! He is also worried about the reindeer landing on the roof and falling because it has snow and is slippery. Oh the worries of a three year old.

This weekend we kicked off the Christmas season by going to have breakfast with Santa and pick out our Christmas tree. At the breakfast the kids ate and were able to make some Christmas crafts. Both Samuel and Liam were pretty excited when Santa showed up and quickly got in line to see him. Samuel has been talking nonstop about seeing Santa and telling him what he wants for Christmas. But when the moment came the excitement turned into anxiety and neither Samuel nor Liam wanted anything to do with the big scary man in red.

Samuel hid behind Mike and Liam clung to him with all his might. Once they moved away Samuel started yelling to Santa what he wanted. Pretty cute! Maybe next time we will be a bit braver!

We then headed out to pick out our tree. We found the perfect tree which now resides in our living room. More pictures to come...

Wrigley

We would like to welcome the newest addition to our house...

WRIGLEY!Short story...We went out to buy a Christmas tree and came home with a puppy. She is a lab mix and is about 8 weeks old. The boys adore her and are constantly following her around the house. She loves to sleep and play and seems to be quite a chewer.

Long story...Today we went out to buy our Christmas tree. On the way we had to stop at the local farm story (yes we have a local farming store) to pick up some saw horses on sale. I dropped Mike off thinking he would run in, grab them and we would be on our way. He came back out within a minute and said I had to grab the boys and come inside. Thinking it would be Santa I agreed and we headed in.

When we went in there were 5 puppies for sale. Now we have been talking about getting a second dog for some time now and actually turned a Goldendoodle down a week or so ago. We wanted to get a young puppy and Mike preferred we get a dog from the humane society or something similar. So these fit the stipulations. I feel in love right away and the boys were so excited about the possibility. We decided to get what we needed, leave, get our tree and think about it until we headed back through town.

After picking out or perfect tree we headed back to choose our puppy. We chose Wrigley from the 5, got the rest of the much needed puppy items and headed home.
So far so good!

Flip Flop

This past weekend one of Samuel's friend (and cousin) had a birthday party. Both boys were invited to go to a gym about 40 minutes away. Since Mike was working on the house, I took the boys and we all had a great time. They were able to run and play for about 45 minutes before we took a break for pizza, ice cream and presents. They then were able to go back in for about 15 minutes. Both boys loved running around and playing. Here are a couple of cute pictures of the little monkeys!

concentrate...balance...stay on the beam

The Liam scoot...notice the tongue.

Watch out mommy!

Liam was finally about to push Samuel around.

First Snow

Well the snow has started to fall here in Michigan. Although we have only had a small amount and it has already melted, the boys are both excited to see it. Samuel wanted to put on his rain boots and head out on the deck right away. Here are a few pictures. A few of many more this season I am sure!

Today I Miss Seattle...

Today I miss Seattle. As I was looking through some photography sites, I spotted the MHGS bookmark on our toolbar and clicked it. There is a video that was created over the past year at the top. Even though I have seen it several times, I clicked it to watch it yet again. After about a minute I found myself crying.

Seattle holds such a dear and precious place in my heart and in my story. The three years we spent there were not only transformative for Mike and for us as a family but for me as in individual. I began to hear my own voice and began to believe that it is a voice of strength and beauty. I began to believe in my heart and trusted that my desires and passions are worth pursuing.

Seattle was home. Looking back at the pictures I remember the comfort I felt there. A place where my voice was heard. A place where I didn’t have to explain my thoughts and people just seemed to get it. A place where a crazy passion was not critiqued but served as an inspiration and a starting point to begin dreaming. A place where what matters to me most, also mattered to others. A place that I called home.

When we moved back to Michigan we knew Seattle would be dearly missed. We knew that there would be a void left by the friends that became our family there. We knew that we would miss all the walks around Green Lake, the wine parties, the Settlers games, the Zera night and the Sunday afternoons. And yet we chose to leave. We chose to head back to family where the boys could be close to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We chose to take what we had learned about ourselves and our world and desired to create our lives here. We chose to say goodbye in the hopes that we were saying yes to a new chapter in which we would continue to journey together. We chose what, as a family, we thought would be the best decision for all of us.

I still believe in our decision. I love the way family can light up the boys faces. I look forward to having the boys close to family this Christmas and am eager to see how life begins to play out as we establish our routines and rituals here. I desire to reclaim the passions that once fueled my daily routines. I look forward to finding those passions in me that make me desire more, that make me want to make the world a better place for my boys.

And yet today I cry because today is one of those days that I just really miss Seattle. I miss the comfort and the friendships. I miss the routines and the life we had established together. I miss the beauty of the mountains and the comfort of a latte on a rainy afternoon. I miss the understanding of a listening ear and the encouragement of a friends hug. I miss the strength and beauty I felt within myself. I miss the values I found in the diverse culture and the realizations of what really matters. Today I miss Seattle, a place I still find myself calling home.

Halloween

Well the boys had a great Halloween. This year Samuel dressed up like Scooby Doo and Liam was Scrappy.

Our activities started last Saturday with the Coldwater parade. The boys loved the fire trucks, police cars and costumes. They also were pretty excited about all the candy. Samuel then got to wear his costume to school on Thursday for his party.
Friday night after dinner, Mike, the boys and I headed out for a little trick or treating. Samuel caught on within the first five minutes and was jogging from house to house. He made sure he was saying trick-or-treat and thank you. After turing away from each house and heading back to Mike and I he would declare, "Mommy, I said thank you!" It was pretty cute. We were out for just over an hour and the boys seemed to enjoy themselves. Although we all had a good time I am grateful that Halloween only comes once a year!

Fall Fun

The other day I took the boys to the park so they could play in the leaves and I could take pictures. The weather was perfect for a fall day. Here are a couple of my favorite shots of my little munchkins.

Goulke Sunday

Each year my dad extended side of the family get together to make Goulke. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Goulke originates from Czechoslovakia where my great grandmother is from. It is a pastry of sorts but often feels like a "rock" in your stomach. The dough is prepared beforehand and as a family we "stuff" them before we cook them. We stuff them with many different things including poppyseed, prunes, raspberry puree and even chocolate. They are then boiled, rolled in butter then sprinkled with poppy seeds. I know it sounds crazy and it is, but it is tradition.

As part of the day we eat a good meal, play a little football, watch the Lions lose and take a family picture. Here are a few of the pictures from this years event.

To see the rest of the pictures click here then look for the folder with Glouke Sunday pictures.