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!!"

Just trying to get a picture of the boys...

But Levi has this "thing"...every time I take a picture and the flash "pops-up" Levi likes to (actually needs to) go push it back down. So as you can see in the picture (and so many others we have of him) his hand is up and ready to hit that flash down!! So Caleb and Ethan thought it would be funny to join in the fun...

All because 2 people fell in love...

...nine years later and still celebrating!

GOAL!!!

Way to go Caleb! What a great shot, we are so proud of you!!

Levi Bevi

Here are two videos of Levi to enjoy...

Pip-i-e and Lov-i-e

For those of you who know Levi well, know his two most favorite things..."Pipie and Lovie" and he always keeps them close. Normally they aren't suppose to be outside, but we had just gotten home from the store. He decided he wanted to go for another car ride...

Easter

Levi loves his "Gunship" as he calls it, thanks again for the Easter Basket Grandpa & Grandma!


Ethan checking out his treats from the Egg Hunt we did for the boys in the morning before church.


Caleb doing another Egg Hunt at Grandpa & Grandma's house with all of his cousins.


As always the kids had lots of fun together, sure is great having lots of cousins to play with!

Catching frogs...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Enemy

Last night while the boys were getting ready for bed, we were picking out outfits for them to wear to school today...they always want to wear comfy pants, however they keep ripping holes in the knees. So I told Ethan he was going to have to wear jeans to school, his response "Jeans are fine, just NOT a button down shirt...they are my worst enemy!" Gotta love it! :)

These two sure have fun together...

Best place for 3 brothers to be...

snuggled on ONE Beanbag watching a movie!

Hotel Waterpark and Pistons Game

We sure had a great weekend...on Friday afternoon we headed to Detroit. We got to the hotel and did lots of swimming!! Then we went back to our room, ordered pizza, and got ready for the Pistons Game! The game didn't start until 8pm so by the time we got to the Palace Caleb and Ethan were tired. Levi, who took a nap on the ride to Detroit was wide awake. He was so excited...clapping, cheering, and saying "look" about everything! It didn't take the boys long to "wake up" once the players came out, the music jamming, and the fire, flames, and large "booms". Ethan actually was quite nervous about the (huge) flames, so he snuggled close to Kevin but after awhile seemed to enjoy it. All three boys really got into the game and loved cheering for the Pistons! They also enjoyed the "shows" that were put on (between timeouts, halftime, etc). Caleb was so excited with the Pistons last shot...putting them at 101! He thought that was super cool! After the game we got to go down on the court and the boys were able to take 1 shot, it was pretty exciting for them! From there we headed back to the hotel to sleep and then woke up to donuts and more swimming!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cheetah...

My mom (the boys Grandma Choo Choo) has always sang this song to them...

"Rock a bye a baby, ________ is a lady. ________ is a gentlemen. And ________ is a coffee can!"

(You fill in the blanks with which ever name you want.)

A couple weeks ago we are all riding in the car and we were saying what animals we would choose to be. Caleb said a "Monkey", Ethan said a "Grizzly Bear", and Kevin said a "Moose" (to make us all laugh). So after giving Kevin a hard time, we continued to talk about other animals that would be a good choice. Cheetah came up because it is fast and so from that Kevin turned it around that I wanted to be a Cheetah...which made for even more laughs from the boys! So now Levi has made up his own song and it goes something like this...

"Rock a bye a baby, Mommy is a Cheetah!"

Lovely. He sings this ALL the time...around the house, in the van, at the store, etc. And for the record I said I didn't know what animal I would choose, that I would want to be some sort of fish...like a Dolphin. Oh well, it sure makes for LOTS and LOTS of laughs around the Hart home!