Ethan Preschool 2009-2010

Last night was Ethan's Preschool Graduation and what a fun and exciting night it was! Ethan had two wonderful teachers, who's love for the kids and Jesus is just overflowing! We are so thankful for them and the awesome job that they do!
Ethan had such a great year learning so many new things, making new friends, going to fun places, but most importantly growing more and more in love with Jesus.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A GOOD DAY...

This past Saturday was just that...it started out at 8am with Caleb's last soccer game of the season. His team played great and won, which is always nice for the last game. Caleb had an awesome goal that went right over the goalie's head, so that was exciting. At the end of the game Kevin and my brother Nate passed out medals and a soccer goodie bag to each of the boys on the team. It was another fun year of soccer for all of us. This fall Caleb will be playing again, with Kevin as the assistant coach. And Ethan will start this fall as well, with Kevin as his coach and Nate as the assistant coach. We will be busy with practices and games, but we are definitely looking forward to both boys playing!

So our day continued and we went and watched our nieces Emma, Lauren, and Claire play their soccer game. Then we got some lunch and headed to Grand Haven for the Kite Festival. It was a beautiful day, however it wasn't so windy out. Kevin and the boys tried flying Caleb's pirate ship kite, but couldn't keep it up for very long. But the boys had a great time playing in the sand, water...yes in freezing, cold Lake Michigan!! We also walked the pier...Levi loved seeing the boats, guys fishing, kids jumping off, etc. But he sure made me weak in the knees so many times...gets too close to the edge and of course doesn't want you to hold him or his hand, ugh. We were there all afternoon and three outfits later we headed for home.

After supper we went to work on the garden...planting some more seeds. Our garden is almost full, we just have room left for tomatoes and maybe a pepper plant or two. Most of our garden is strawberries and we already can see lots of strawberries growing, so that's exciting! Half of our strawberry plants we can eat this year, but the other half we need to wait a year. We also can see little asparagus coming up as well. We are having fun with our garden so far, hopefully everything continues to grow well.

To end the night Kevin made a campfire, so we had to have SMORES! Poor Levi, he missed out on the garden planting and smores because he fell asleep on the ride home from Grand Haven...however just before Caleb and Ethan were going to go to bed, he woke up of course! :)

So this was our GOOD DAY...nothing too major, just being together and doing the things we enjoy. We are really looking forward to more family, fun days this summer...going to the beach, working on the garden, campfires, and so much more!

Levi sure makes us laugh...

Yesterday morning I told Levi he was going to play with his buddy Jack and he says..."Jack, Levi catch frogs...wear boots!" This just cracks me up because a couple days before we gave Jack Levi's old "frog catching" boots. And he is well aware that catching frogs is what Caleb and Ethan do with their friends.

Later on in the day I can hear "trouble" coming out of his room (where Ethan and him are playing). All of the sudden Levi comes running out and I ask him if he is being naughty? He says..."Yes" with a naughty little laugh! At least he's honest.

Then Ethan is playing on the computer and says this game doesn't work. Levi right away pipes in and says..."daddy at work!" Levi loves his daddy and many times throughout the day we have to talk about how daddy is at work, so as Levi says..."daddy work, home soon!"

Levi knows everyone's first, middle, and last name in this family. So it's not uncommon to hear him call the boys by their full name, however he does mix up middle names from time to time. I will hear him call me "Mommy Richard Hart" and let me tell you when he says that he means business! :)

Me and my boys...

Mother's Day 2010

Funny, funny boys...

Kevin and the boys went to get an oil change in the van this morning. All 3 boys wanted to go along, because right next to the oil change place is Farmer's CO-OP. I don't know if you have ever been in there, but they have chicks, ducks, bunnies, birds, etc. all in the store...so obviously the boys love to go there. Well, while they were gone this morning they sent me this email from Kevin's phone...


Ummmm we bought one....


Ha! Ha! Funny, funny boys!! However this did make me a little nervous, because if those puppies were labs...they might of really come home with one!! Now that Farmer's CO-OP has puppies it might not be a good place for Kevin and the boys to go. :)

Our boys are growing up...

Well the school year is coming to an end and unfortunately Caleb's backpack isn't going to make it...it keeps getting more and more holes and they can't be fixed. (Caleb however really thinks that tape would do the trick :) I was thinking we would just try and get by until the end of the school year and then get a new one this fall when he starts 2ND grade. However this was our conversation...

"Hey, Caleb why don't you just use the backpack from preschool for the rest of the year?" And Caleb gives me the "look" and says "no-way!" So I ask him "is there is something wrong with that backpack?" And he says "yes, it has CARS movie on it and I already have to have that on my lunch bag." So I say "oh honey, do you not like that lunch bag?" And he responds with "well it would be kind of nice to just have a plain one."

Well we continued our conversation and I told him I had no idea he didn't like his lunch bag and that I was planning on getting him a new one since that too was falling a part. And that we would go look for a new backpack as well. In my defense I didn't purchase either the CARS lunch bag or backpack. Both were gifts (that he loved) from a few years ago when he was into CARS movie, apparently that has changed! :)

So later that morning I am helping Ethan get ready for preschool and it is raining outside so I pull out his (yellow fireman) raincoat and say "Ethan do you want to wear this?" And he gives me the "look" and says "no!" So I ask him "why?" And he gives me all kinds of silly excuses and then eventually the truth comes out..."I don't like that coat a bit, maybe if it wasn't fireman it would be better." Okay, so I did purchase the raincoat (actually a few of them). I thought they were super cute and worked well for Halloween costumes, since it's always cold and rainy for trick-or-treating.

So my lesson for that day...Our boys are growing up!!! I can obviously see that in their looks, but I need to remember it's also in their "likes". There are certain things that are "baby" or like Caleb says, "that is something little kids like." So I will be sticking with "plain" things, to save my boys from embarrassment! :)

Tulip Time...2003 & 2010

Every year we head out to Holland for Tulip Time...we have the boys picture taken with the Tulips and we snack on a little Cotton Candy and Elephant Ears. I just can't get over Caleb's picture this year. First of all, he's just too cute (sorry I can't help it, I'm his Mom :) and second I can't believe how old he looks in this picture!


It seems like just yesterday we had to actually hold him to have his picture taken with the Tulips! Oh Caleb you are growing up too fast buddy!! We sure love you!

Kindergarten...

Ethan had his "Visiting Kindergarten Day" last week Friday and he was SO excited!! All morning he kept asking us "is it time to go yet...is it time to go yet?" Finally it was time and we were able to meet his teacher for next year, who is new to our school. She was very sweet and we think she will be a great Kindergarten teacher for Ethan. There were some kids from his preschool class there too, who will also be in his class next year. So Kevin and I left feeling really good and excited for Ethan...well after an hour and a half we came back to pick him up and lets just say his excitement was overflowing! The best part was when we got in the van he says "I GOT TO RIDE ON A REAL LIVE BUS...AND IT MOVED!!"