Dow Gardens and the Butterflies

I love Dow Gardens any time of year. Last year when we were there to see the butterflies, it was 60 degrees. This year we there is snow and ice. We could have spend an hour just playing on this bridge.

I got a butterfly to sit my finger. The boys weren't about to try this. Probably better for the butterflis that way.

Max checking out a butterfly.

They have an orchid room. I love orchids!

Getting these boys to look at the camera is about impossible.

My mister serious!

Max actually taking a moment to stop and smell the flowers.

Apparently they knew we were coming!

This picture defines all of Max and doesn't need help with words!

Camp Scare

This is Max's homemade camp fire
This is Max's "cool"pose

This is Micah's "cool with a dirty face" pose.

So Max and Micah have been on this kick where they want to watch this Scooby -Doo Camp
Scare movie everday. Because we have been sick and stuck inside, I have been letting them. When I walked into Max's room the other day, he had an entire pile of toys on the floor and when I asked him what he was doing he said, " its my camp fire". He was even stoking it with a gun. He have had lots of fun with pretend camping this week.

Sick of being Sick!

Hoping to see this transition soon!

I haven't been great at updating the blog lately. The past month has been so busy. In the past 4 weeks, we have been to the doctor 5 times. Max had the flu on the first week, Micah had a sinus and ear infection the week after that, Max had bronchitis the following week and Micah has had strep this week. I don't think there is possibly anything else they could get so I hope this is the end of it. I just can't wait for the weather to change! I feel like that will help a lot. Its not just my kids that are sick either, its everybody right now. Welcome to Michigan in the spring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We wish all of you a very Irish day with every Irish blessings reaching you!

Hair

This was the result of Max wearing a hat the other day. He loved his "spikes"!
This was Micah before Jason gave the order to the barber to go "shorter than last time."

This is what he looks like now. I am kind of devastated that his curls are gone but can't help but think he looks so handsome and grown up without them. This doesn't mean they aren't coming back. What do you think?

FFA

I went to MSU last Thursday to see my niece receive a state award for the FFA. Her and her team received second in the state in their division. I am very proud of her and was glad I could attend.

Lent

Let it begin!

I just ate enough chocolate to feed a small village and now I'm ready to go without junk food for 40 days! Thanks Jesus for your great sacrifice!

P90X

This is what we're hoping for!

Jason and I have completed 1 month of P90X! Two months to go. We took pictures when we started and then took some today. We both could notice some subtle differences and improvement. I am excited to see what the next month brings in changes and then the final month. Depending on our final results, we may put our before and after pictures on the blog. We'll see how they go. As of right now, they aren't so pretty.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I wish I was eating this today!

Every year I give up pop and sweets for lent. I'm not Catholic but I think its nice to give something up for the big JC since he gave his entire life for me. This year is a little different. Because Jason and I have been doing P90X it has already been a month since I've had pop. I have done a good job of cutting most sweets out of my diet but not entirely so I will still give up sweets. I am torn about giving up the chocolate protien bars I've been eating. They are chocolate and technically a sweet but they are important to incoroprate into P90X. I guess maybe I won't eat them and stick with vanilla protein shakes. That makes it a little better right? I could also just say that I will give up sweets outside of P90X. That will still be a big a challenge for me. What do you think I should do? I take this very seriously and feel pretty conflicted about these two things I am committing myself too.

Thirty One

I really enjoy selling Thirty One products but I have gotten off to slower start than expected. It doesn't make me feel better when the girl I signed up under tells me she is so busy she can't keep up. I am not a natural sales person but I really do love and believe in these products. Would you guys pray about this for me? I really feel like I was led to do this and I have faith in that but I would like to see this pick up. Just in case anyone wants to have party, here are some of the newer prints and products and the March special.

an out of this world afternoon

When I walked into Micah's room yesterday and found this, I knew we must find something fun to do.
So we decided to have an Alien Party. I have been trying to find fun ways to incorporate Max's speech therapy exercises into everyday life so we were able to sneak in a couple here.

We started by cutting light sabers out of cardboard and painting them.

Max loved painting his but Micah just painted the paper plate.

We then made Alien marshmallow treats with Oops All Berries Cap'n Crunch.

It looks alien right?

I brought sand in from outside so Max would have a fun way to practice writing his name but the sand was too wet so we hid magnets in the sand and called them moon rocks. Max used a butter knife to sift through and "catch" them. He had a ton of fun with this and I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of it. I'm usually not so good with coming up creative fun things to do.

We ended the evening with an animated movie that came out a couple of years ago called, "Fly Me to the Moon". It was about 3 flies that snuck into the space shuttle and went to the moon. It was a nice day with the boys.

Speech Therapy

I took Max to speech therapy today. They said his speech was great except for a couple sounds which he "fronts". This means he produces the sound in the front of his mouth instead of his throat like he's suppose to. For example, he says "torn" instead of "corn". They didn't think this was such a big deal and told us we can just do little exercises at home to correct this. I think this is great because I don't want to have to throw more appointments into our already busy lives if we don't have to. They are suppose to be sending us a packet of stuff in the next week so we can get started.

So we not only got good news about Max's speech but the ladies that worked with Max were great. They complimented him up and down and when I had to discipline Micah for misbehaving, they applauded me and said I should be set as an example to all moms. Wow, for the first time in a long time I didn't feel like a failure as a mom and felt like maybe I was doing a descent job with the little monsters. I didn't realize a speech therapy session was going to be so uplifting for me.

Not something you see everyday!

Yesterday I worked. Jason had a late meeting last night so the boys had to stay at daycare until I could pick them when I got out of work at 7. At 1:30 I got a transfer to Troy. I knew that if we didn't waste anytime I could make it back by 7 to pick up the boys. I told my partner we were on a tight schedule and not wasting any time. That's so me. So we did the transfer and headed home.

As we made to to M-20 in Midland, the Garmin told us we would back at 6:57. Perfect I thought. Of course that thought no more than crossed my mind when a car going about 85 mph with his hazard lights on flew by us. Keep in mind the speed limit is 55 here. Two seconds later I hear my partner say, "Oh man that guy is going to try to make that turn." The next thing we know that car missed his turn and ran into the side of the a house. We instantly turn around and go to the scene of this accident. This process of turning around takes only about 20 seconds but by the time we get to the car, the driver is already gone and running down the street.

So shortly after a hysterical woman shows up and tells us that that's her husband's car in the side of the house. She advised us that her father, who was on hospice, just passed away and her husband was on his way to see him. So sure enough, the police find this guy at his father-in-laws house just a street over.

So this is what I don't get. You know that when someone is on hospice they are dying. So it should be no big surprise to you when they die. I understand that the sorrow is no less but you know its coming. So why drive 85 mph so see a dead man you can do nothing for. And then, why not take two seconds to make sure you didn't kill anyone in the house that you just ran into at 85 mph? I am giving this guy idiot of century award!

So no one ended up being hurt but we had to stay on scene 40 minutes to give a statement to the police. I left work at 7:45 and luckily Jason got out of his meeting early was able to pick up the boys from daycare. This is what I get for planning and always trying to do things my way. lol.