FREAKED OUT

i know i haven't posted in like a lifetime...but i have a good reason...er, more like a million. it seems like the first few weeks of school, church activities, i started BSF this year, too....lots of hustle & bustle....but i feel like i'm catching my breath......i have lots of things i want to blog about, BUT I SIMPLY MUST TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO ME LAST NIGHT!

it is monday night, doug is at church for a meeting...and i am feeling all "warm & fuzzy" cuz it is 7:30 and my house is pretty clean, lunches are made, the kids had a bath/snack/medicine/brushed teeth, and are happily playing with legos and watching the cosby show :) all is right with the world...well, in my part of blendon township anyway...

i'm thinking its a good time to take a quick shower, so i go and lock all the doors and i tell dawson..."i'm going to take a quick shower, ok?" he replies, "ok mom"....i'm in the shower for 3 minutes when i hear the first "yell"....i figure if its bad they'll come get me. a minute later i hear another "yell". hmmm....probably fighting over legos or wrestling, but i get out of the shower to dry off, and i hear.....SILENCE.

usually silence is not a good thing, i open the door & yell for them....nothing. great, so off i go with just a towel around me, cuz i'm kind of freaked out. and i see the doors to outside WIDE OPEN, and i start yelling "dawson"....now, if your a mom....aren't like, 5,000 things going through your head right now? then my neighbor melissa comes running into my garage yelling my name! i am thinking really bad & scary thoughts right now...and at the same time thinking, this is really stupid i am in a towel right now, cuz if some bad guy comes at me, i'm helpless....anyway, back to the neighbor....

she said the boys were knocking on her door FREAKED OUT because they had NO IDEA WHERE MOM WAS....which freaked melissa out. oh. my. stars. you have got to be kidding me!!!! i tell her i'll be right over.

let me re-cap last nights weather for you....@48 degrees....50 mph wind gusts.... and its raining. let me tell ya what my kids were wearing....their underwear.

so, i go and get them after thanking melissa 1000 times, hoping she doesn't think i SUCK as a mom...as we are running back home, dawson looks like someone just shot our dog, and dodge says, "mom, dont EVER do that again!"

for pete's sakes, our house is so NOT THAT BIG....i assure you, there are like 4 possible rooms i could be in....why is it, when i DONT want the kids to come storming into the bathroom - they do. and when i want them to come into the bathroom, they run half-naked through a typhoon to the neighbors?

ice, ice baby...

oh. my. stars.

it's finally here...the first day of school. dawson starts 2nd grade and dodge starts kindergarten! i have been dreading this day for a while...dont get me wrong, i'm excited for them. but selfishly, i wish they could stay home with me, too. i am waaaaaaaayyyyy too sentimental, sensitive, and mushy for my own good. i did my very best to not get ONE BIT lonesome sounding as we readied for that first day....i think i pulled it off quite well :)

sometimes, i think my boys are SO different from each other...today was a good example. i heard dodge sneaking around his room at 6:45am getting dressed...talking to himself with a smile on his face...dawson woke to his alarm clock at 7 am, and dragged himself to the recliner, where he proceeds to watch "arthur" for a half hour...cuz he needs his "wake up" time...

dodge is bouncing off the walls excited, asking questions about the playground...dawson is busy telling him all the "rules" he will have in mrs lyon's class...specifically the dreaded TRAFFIC LIGHT...so funny.


so here they are...this is the only shot that wasn't blurry, cuz i couldn't get dodge to stand still.



ok, he stood still for this one...this is a kid who is not nervous...at least, he's not gonna let anyone know he's nervous...he can put on a good show when others are around...and the neighbors were waiting with us at the bus stop...and this is how he acted....hmmm. definitley NOT like his mama.

i am also an official noon hour aide at school...i help during recess and lunch..adam sandler's lunch lady routine from SNL always goes through my head :)....anyway...those kids are so stinking sweet...the youngest kids come in that cafeteria like deer in the headlights...wondering where to go...at one point, dodge came running up to me, and asked if he could eat his muffin now. you have no idea how much i just want to sit next to him, kiss him and talk about his morning. ugh.

then, i go out to recess with the older kids...just then a para-pro comes running out..."rachel, i think you better get inside" and she hands me an ice pak....all sorts of things go running through my head...but not this: "dodge was drinking the blue liquid out of this" ...good governor. so, i go inside. dodge tells me he's fine, it tasted like water, and it was all over my lunch bag. (i thought this "sheet" of ice was so nifty, cuz you can cut it to size...well, i must have sliced it a little close)

so, on the first day of school, my first day on the job, i find myself sitting in the secretary's chair, googling "rubbermaid ice paks"...lovely. dont worry, it WAS non-toxic...geez!

later...when my boys got off the bus...dodge yells, "that was COOL!" and dawson says, "hi mom". dodge's backpack is wide open, and later his teacher e-mails all the parents informing us that "after the dust settled, two info packets were found on the floor" wanna take any guesses?

more to come on school days...it has been a very busy week, full of emotions, and not just mine :)

the end of an era.....

before reading this post, please hum queen's "we are the champions" ....got it in your head? it makes reading about the following subject that much more tear-jerking...heart-wrenching...

as most of you know...doug gets attached to things...doesn't like change....could care less if he is in style...he just wants to be comfortable...

enter the nike high tops/air jordan flight....circa 1988....the shoes doug owned when i met him - and they were OLD then...if they could only talk...about the gus macker tourney (yes, he still has that t-shirt, cuz i'm not allowed to throw it away)....the purchase of snowmobiles...a marriage...a couple houses....a couple kids...they're like an old friend.

oh, sure...there have been others...another pair of black nikes, and now black NB'S....but i assure you, nothing...NOTHING have been as comfortable as the blessed nike high-tops....

...and we'll keep on fighting....till the end......cuz we are the champions...we are the champions...OF THE WORLD

and then it happened...doug announced...these are "junk" they're falling apart. i dont think he could even throw them away...he just set them in the garage...ETOD (thats estimated time of death) was 5:46 pm monday, sept. 7, 2009.

i set them by the road with the trash, and actually had a hard time doing it...like i said...they're like old friends...me and the boys watched the trash man toss them in the truck...i said, "look, he doesn't even care about them." dawson says, "yeah, we should have dug 'em a grave out back."

ha ha ha ha .....good bye nikes...we will miss the stories, the comments, the looks that only you could egg on....

say cheese...actually, dont.

this august, we had some family pictures taken....i have been dreaming about this ever since i can remember...i've never liked "posed" pictures...and i've also never liked the idea of spending big money to get pics done...i ran across leah by word of mouth...she's just a young thing, and does photography on the side...she is very creative...and pretty...i think dodge had an instant crush on the girl...

so, this is a sneak peek...more to come!

here are grandma & grandpa with all the kiddos...

this one is my VERY FAV!

here is pic of all of us...love it

(notice dodge...prob showing off for leah...ugh.)

this teal-blue color is my very favorite color...i have it throughout my house....and i love how dodge's eyes show up here...my sweet pea

dawson was such a good listener...always eager to please & do everything that he's asked...isn't he just so handsome?! he did inform leah that he would NOT be kissing his mom for ANY pics.

my three men

cousins...

grace 3yrs, dodge 5yrs, grant 10mos, dawson 7yrs, jessi 5yrs

family

day off

it is labor day weekend...and doug took the boys up north to do "boy" things, and i had a day to MYSELF!!!! yippee :) i slept in till 9:00...and may i just say, i slept like a rock...beautiful.

i drove down to fulton street (thanks for the idea, court)...and parallel parked for like, the first time in my life...went to a couple little antique shops...with the occasional looking over my shoulder, cuz I AM NOT A CITY GIRL. G.R. makes me nervous...i cant help it. anyway, i also went to the fulton street farmers market...it was kind of fun...i grabbed a bunch of fun flowers...happy birthday to me...and some fruit & veggies & some official "hungarian apple strudel" made by a cute little hungarian lady, well, she would have been cuter, had she been a little friendlier...my OCD kicked in a little, later when i was taking a bite...hmmm...did she wash her hands...does she have cats that walk on her counters...does her husband smoke and use her apple strudel pans for ash trays...how long has the strudel been sitting on that table....does the FDA approve farmer market pastries...DANG!!! it now sits in my fridge, waiting for doug...the guy who eats anything. without exception.

here are my happy flowers...

and my raspberries, after eating a bunch....and YES! yellow tomatoes...i had them for the first time at courts...sliced and put on toast with salt & pepper...yum :)

and, as always...as i drive home and get closer to hudsonville...i actually start to feel my body relax...and the heart palpitations cease. no lie, when i worked in grand rapids at saint mary's and when i went to school down town...i would get real stressed while there....couldn't wait to get back to hudsonville....back to places where faces are familiar....you dont worry about getting a flat tire...cuz some mechanic/farmer/nice neighbor will be glad to help ya...

its been a fun day...sleeping in...eating what and when i want (i love jimmy johns :))...not feeling guilty for doing things like antiquing, going to a farmers market....eating half a bag of hershey kisses and watching the walton's...and i'm reminded how good time alone feels...and how much i miss my busy, noisy house with my three favorite guys...

the hudsonville fair

oh, how i LOVE LOVE LOVE the fair....it makes me happy. it makes me feel like a kid again. it makes me love small towns...even if it also reminds me that hudsonville is getting bigger & busier every year.



this is the first year since i DONT REMEMBER WHEN, that i haven't been there every day. in fact, i was only there a mere two times. ugh.



our family met up with the nedervelds, so the kids could do the rides together. we graduated to the slightly "bigger" rides, and the kids had a ball ;) i felt my age when just watching rides i used to love to go on made me queezy just to watch!








the infamous tire pics...i dont know why, but i get a pic every year of the boys in a tractor tire. if only i had a scanner, i would include some older ones!

the glass house...or something. dodge ran smack into a window...we were dying. it was good entertainment for us adults. i cropped out the super-scary carnie guy. do they always look ticked off, or like they hate children? does anyone do a back-ground check on these guys? i've always taught my kids, that if we get separated...just find a worker. EXCEPT when we're at the fair...then just find a mom.

bumper cars...oh, Lord, please make dodge grow, so he can drive on his own next year. it is like some kind of sign of "manhood" for him. but for now, big brother happily took him for a spin.

a shot from the grand stands....small town america....at least thats what it is to me.

on a very last minute whim...we decided to sign dawson up for the motocross race for friday night. he has been talking about it since last year when his cousin wyatt raced at the fair...he was not nervous at all...which is amazing, since he can worry about stuff. but he was very confident - very cool.

doug quit work early that day, and looking back, i am so aware of how TERRIBLE i did at documenting the whole ordeal with pics...ugh. as we are walking the track, doug is explaining stuff to dawson, when dodge declares HE WANTS TO RACE TOO. after trying to talk him out of it and wait one more year...ha, thats a funny sentence. trying to talk dodge out of someting. hee hee. dodge is just a little bull-headed. so...we sign him up.

here is dodge during the national anthem...so sweet.

here is doug with the boys befor the practice ...it was a little touchy, cuz both boys were racing one dirt bike...it was just a little chaotic...which would explain the lack of pictures! i did get quite a bit of video of the actual racing. but during practice, dodge "popped a wheelie" and wiped out. i didn't see any of it happen, cuz i was helping get dawson off the track...anyhooo - i guess he was pretty upset, and then declared I'M DONE, I'M NOT RACING! dang. if you remember, nobody talks dodge out of anything....so he's done. he is very proud to tell anyone who will listen that he popped a wheelie!

dawson did as good as he could on the bike he was on. evidentally, there were kids that race three times a week on actual motocross bikes (i dont really know what this means, but doug says they have better schocks, automatics, etc...) dawson is pretty competitve, so he was pretty upset he didn't do "better"...he was upset people were passing him, that rules said he had to take his shifter off....the kid had big expectations for his first ever race....he must get that from doug :)

and of course, by the end of the night, dodge felt bad that he didn't race...and he wanted to get back out there. so, i had two unhappy & tired kids by the end of the night.

well...at the end of the night, we went to the race trailer and found out that all the kids in the 50cc class got a TROPHY!! this healed ALL wounds...the boys were happy happy! you see, for the last few years, they each have one of doug's old motocross trophys on their dresser. they have pictures of doug when he used to race on their bulletin boards...maybe thats why it was so important to do good. i love this age....when they just assume daddy was the best dirtbiker in the world...and yes, honey, you were darn good. :)


here is my hunky husband...a VERY long time ago...like 1991. this is one of the pics the boys have hanging in their rooms...remember - no scanner. so this is a pic of a pic...not bad, eh?

here is my sweet pea, with a death grip on his beloved trophy...in spite of being PASSED OUT COLD. i think i just stared at him like this for 5 minutes...i love days like this. drink it up.