Life In the Fast Lane ( A Recap)

Hello all you faithful blog readers who are wondering where I've been the last few months....

For those still wondering, it's been a bit of a crazy time. We've had some sadness in our family, and I simply haven't felt like posting. By now, most of you probably know the topic to which I am referring, and if you don't, just comment, and I'll let you know in a less public arena.

With that said, I'm back...and I'm hoping to stay a little bit more caught up now. To catch all of you up with what we've been doing these last few months, here is a photo recap:

We played soccer, soccer, and more soccer! (Well, Lauryn did at least.)


We celebrated Great-Grandma Riekse's 88th Birthday.

We were the special helper in threeschool (KJ, of course.)

We carved pumpkins.

We went trick-or-treating.

We ran into our neighbors, who think just like us, and were dressed in the same costumes. (To further prove that we think alike, both of our youngest boys are named Greyson.)

We hung out as a family and were very silly together.

We decorated our house for Christmas.

We sang at church in the Kids Christmas Choir (Lolo).

We made gingerbread houses with "Uncle Tracey and Aunt Karl" (hee, hee, hee).

And, we had LOTS of Christmas parties....





Hope your new year is bright!

Wordless Wednesday

The First of Many Firsts

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 was a day of firsts. It was my first day to purposefully wake a child before sunrise. It was Troy's first day to request a wake up call when he didn't need to get up for work. It was Kaden's first day to wake up and know that his best friend had already left the house. It was Greyson's first day to wake up and be Kaden's first choice for a playmate. But amid all those firsts, it was Lauryn's first day of kindergarten! It was a magical day!

For those who don't know, Lauryn is attending kindergarten at my school. So we got up, got ready, and headed to school...TOGETHER! I had worried that she wouldn't like having me along and that she would want school to be her thing, but she was all smiles. She just loved going to school! She was excited about the hook for her backpack, excited about her seat, excited about her name tag, excited about her teacher, excited about art class, and excited about being excited. And that has not changed in the last eight days. Each night, she tells us, "Tomorrow is my third (fourth, fifth, sixth...) day of school!" It is a joy to watch her love learning and love being here! The whole family, with the exception of Kaden, who is a little lost without her, is so delighted and amazed to believe that we are already at this place in our lives!

And after her third day of school, Lauryn had another first...her first soccer game! She was so confident and cool, it was hysterical to watch. It rained and was cold, but she played like a champ. She showed herself to be the same girly girl she has always been, however, when she tripped and got the tiniest speck of dirt on her white sleeve. She ran straight off the field to show me and ask if I could get the stain out! We laughed, sent her back on the field, and later explained that it's a good thing to get dirty when you're playing sports!

We're so thankful for our sweet and not-so-little girl! She is growing up so fast, and it is really awe-inspiring to watch God work in her life. She has a heart of gold and is already making friends and smiling at everyone at school and on the soccer field. What a gift she is!

Playin' At Piatt

Our last adventure of the summer was our now annual trip to Piatt Lake in the Upper Peninsula. Some friends from our small group, the Lintemuths, have a cottage on Piatt, and they invite the whole group to spend a weekend there each August. We have such a good time. If the weather is good, we go water skiing, kayaking, and swimming. If the weather is cool, we go walking, play games, and read. No matter what the weather is like, we eat and talk in abundance. Our friend, Jon, is a gourmet chef and he "helps" us prepare a wonderful meal at least once while we're in the UP. We spend hours and hours catching up with one another and talking about our summers. There are gorgeous tracks for riding the four wheelers and as the road circles the lake in a 3 mile loop, it is also the perfect place to go for a run. It is most definitely a little piece of heaven on earth!

This year, the weather was cool throughout the weekend, and even rainy at times. We spent Friday evening at the local VFW Fish Fry, and since none of us had been before, we trekked to Paradise for the annual Wild Blueberry Festival on Saturday. At the festival, the kids watched a goofy juggler who was really quite amazing. He could juggle a flaming wand, a ball, and an apple all at the same time, and each time he caught the apple, he took a bite! It was really quite something to behold. Of course, the sunshine came out just in time for our drive home!

It was, as always, a very restful time, and we did manage to snap a great group shot on the Lintemuth's deck just before we left. Now that we're back into the daily grind, we're already counting the days until next year!

Whee-hoo Wisconsin!

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back...it's the start of a new school year, and it always takes me a little bit to get under way. But...I am a few posts "behind" in catching you up with our activities over the last six weeks or so. Because of this, I hope to blog often over the next few days and get us back up and running. :)

So...Wisconsin. Some people say "Whee!" when they are excited. Others say, "Whoo-hoo!" Not our son. Our son says, "Whee-hoo!" It's the best of both sayings. So as we crossed the Illinois-Wisconsin border, Kaden declared, "Whee-hoo, Wisconsin!" And, really, when referring to our trip to Door County, that about sums it up...Whee-hoo!

We had a wonderful time on our eight day trek to the "other" side of the lake. While there, we stayed in a wonderful little place called "Bailey's on the Rocks." Our cottage was called Rockledge and it was a quaint little white clapboard cottage with yellow shutters. What it lacked in air conditioning (we were there during the heat wave with 95+ temps), it more than made up for in charm.

While there we relaxed, spent much family time together, and took in the sights. For those who don't know, Door County is a peninsula that sticks out into the northern part of Lake Michigan and makes Green Bay. Door County boasts something like 22 beaches. We spent time at two, although after swimming in some yucky algae the first day, we moved to a new beach and spent the remainder of our beach days there. Our cottage was located in Bailey's Harbor, and thus, our favorite beach was Bailey's Harbor County Park, just down the road. Unlike our local beaches, Door County has very few dunes. We were able to park and walk right onto the beach. The water was very shallow and warm, and about fifteen feet from the shore was a large sand bar where the water was only an inch or two deep. It was perfect! We played in the water, and Greyson could even just sit on the sand bar and be part of the action.

When we weren't soaking up the sun, we played miniature golf at a place called Pirate's Cove, visited restaurants like the Yum Yum Cafe and Shipwrecked Brewery, and even whittled away a rainy day at a place called PC Junction. PC Junction is a railroad themed restaurant with peddle carts on outdoor courses, a big wooden train for the kids to play on, and food served via a toy train with the track mounted right to the bar! It was a blast, and the kids really had a great time.

Other highlights included touring a working lighthouse that has been in operation since the 1860s and attending a traditional fish boil. The fish boil consisted of a huge pot of whitefish, cooked over a fire with potatoes and onions. At the end of the cooking time they announce "boil over" and throw kerosene on the fire, which shoots into the sky. Then, they serve the meal. It was great fresh fish that had just been caught that morning, and there was local cherry pie for dessert.

After a busy school year and start to the summer, it was wonderful just to sit back and relax with the fam. Hopefully we'll make it back to Door County again sometime soon!

Blueberries, Blueberries, and More Blueberries

Wow! Where has the summer gone already? I can't believe it is the end of August. I knew I wouldn't get much chance to post this month because we were vacationing and gone often, but I can't believe how fast the month flew!

To kick off the month, the kids and I went blueberry picking. Troy was supposed to go with us, then got called in to work, then was told he didn't have to come in, then got called in again, but that's another story for another day. Blueberry picking is an annual tradition for us, but it was Greyson's first time going along, and Kaden's first time to actually fill his own bucket. I was a tad nervous because I thought Kaden would be tempted to eat every berry in sight. On the way to the farm (we always pick at Reender's Blueberry Farm), Lauryn and I reviewed with Kaden the two DeWys Family Blueberry Picking Rules:

1.) Wait to eat the berries until we get home and wash them.
2.) Leave the green berries on the bush so they can keep growing.

Kaden repeated the rules and looked very serious about doing a good job, and guess what...he did FANTASTIC! In fact, he didn't eat a single berry while we were picking, and when we were paying for our berries, the clerk offered Kaden a berry to eat, but he politely said, "No thanks. We wait to eat the berries until we take them home and wash them." What a little man!

Lauryn was her usual delightful self. She filled her bucket quickly and carefully, meanwhile calling out what each of the boys were doing lest I forget to check on them. "Mom, Kaden has moved over to a new bush so don't let him get too far away." "Mom, Greyson has a little bit of sweat on his forehead. You might need to wipe it off for him." (Did I mention we picked 5 p.m. on a 90 degree day to go blueberry picking?)

Greyson was also true to form. He rode in the hiking backpack, content to lean over one shoulder and then the other watching me carefully. He also sucked his thumb and wiped his own little sweaty brow.

We came home with just shy of 10 lbs. of blueberries after 30 minutes of picking. Not too shabby, and we froze some so we can make lots of Blueberry Buckle, a yummy recipe I just acquired. (Thanks, Megan!)

Hope you all enjoyed the blueberry crops as well!

To Infinity and Beyond!

If you look back a few posts, you may remember that at the beginning of the summer, we started potty training Kaden. At the time, we thought this task would never be accomplished as he was very set on staying in diapers. It seemed like he would be spend an infinite amount of time in diapers. In reality, once he caught on, he was trained VERY quickly. As a reward, we had told him that when he was completely potty trained, we would take him to see Toy Story 3 in the theater. He was PUMPED! He had never seen a movie in the theater before, and he asked right away if he could bring Lauryn with us. ("Cuz she's my best friend, Mom.") For the days leading up to the movie, Lauryn pumped him full of details about what you do in a movie theater. Since she has seen a movie in the theater (yes that's right, just one), she considered herself to be an expert. When Kaden reached the point where we felt he was trained, we made plans to see the movie. At this point, Kaden was completely dry and clean throughout the day, and although he was wearing a diaper at night, it was always dry in the morning. We had a handful of diapers left, and our theory was that we would just use them up and be done.

So...we headed off to the movies. Lauryn had told Kaden that he would get a BIG container of popcorn and a special drink, so we couldn't disappoint him. He was so cute! The popcorn container was as big as he was, and at one point, when we looked down the row at him, he had his head completely inside the bucket. It was a scream. Both kids loved the movie, and Kaden and I left the theater no less than three times to use the bathroom, and it was well worth it. Our boy is a big boy now!

Two days later, we were getting into pjs a little bit earlier than normal. I had told the kids that we could have a family movie night that night, and we always wear pjs for these. As I was putting Kaden in his pjs, I told him that we would leave his underwear on for the movie and I would put him in his diaper just before bed. He looked me in the eyes and said, "No." I said, "No?" And he stated, "I don't wear diapers anymore. Diapers are for babies like Greyson. I sleep in underwear because I am a big boy. No more diapers for me ever again." And to this day, dry at night and no more diapers ever again! Like Buzz, we have been to infinity and beyond!