relocating

don't freak out, neighbors, we're not moving... just my blog is. :)

you will now find me at www.waterlilyphoto.com/blog. see you over there!

new heights of style

miriam has never been much for dolls, but she sure does like to dress up her little brother! this is how he came downstairs yesterday...

and this is how he ate dinner last night.

this is what levi picked out to wear today. hey, it's better than what he woke up wearing this morning: just the black & white cowboy vest and his lightning mcqueen boxer briefs. it was quite the sight to behold.

and while the boys sport their fashion statements, miriam prefers to find uniqueness in the places she chooses to do her reading.

coming soon to computer screens near you

matt has been doing some part-time work for a friend of his who recently started up a web development business, and as a result was able to hook me up with a cool new blog. just wanted to give you a little heads up before the big reveal so that you don't think you're in the wrong place in a few days. while i am sad to lose a lot of my sidebar stuff, i am excited to have larger photos and a more customized look. see you there soon!

first day of friday school

miriam got out of the shower last night with a whole list in mind of what she would need to do the next morning before leaving for friday school. she also wanted to make both her and levi's lunch. i had to go out for a bit and when i returned, there was her list on the table (dictated by her, written down by daddy) and the sandwiches were made and in their lunchboxes in the fridge, each accompanied by a folded napkin (competely her idea). where did this litte list-maker/planner come from, i wonder...? :) needless to say, she's excited. levi was initially apprehensive about the whole idea, but by this morning he was also looking forward to it. i feel very blessed to be a part of this program this year. it is really well-organized and so far all the staff i have met are wonderful.

so, what to do with the rest of my day?? i didn't want this two mile run hanging over my head all day, and with it being cool & cloudy this morning, i figured i'd just get it over with. so... I DID IT!! even while pushing the jogging stroller, which matt usually does when we go together. i'm not sure which was harder, the last 1/2 mile or giving birth. but i am getting better at my self-talk -- less "this sucks" and more "i can do this!". and now, i think some rachael ray and a nap (sawyer willing) may be in order.

i still try to dress my kids by my definition of cute when we go out sometimes, but most days the older two pick out their own clothes and dress themselves now. this is an exercise in letting go for me. miriam and levi have both worn their bears jerseys probably 50% of the time this summer. levi insists that he must wear it most days "in case i see kevin" (our neighbor, who is an avid lions fan). levi also has these red umbro hand-me-down shorts that he loves to wear because they are "shiny". i feel the need to point out that the above outfit would never have been my choice, either... though i must say it doesn't look that bad. and for some reason he decided that he only wanted to wear one shoe.

miriam hates to wear dresses, anything with spaghetti straps, and capris... pretty much all the things i think are cute. instead, when she is not wearing her pink bears jersey, she is usually wearing one of her two soccer shirts. one is this neon green and the other is burgundy... yeah. and she usually pairs it with one of her oldest, most 90's style hand-me-down shorts.

sawyer i still get to dress myself, but i must say that i'm pretty sure he's one of the most consistently dirty kids around. in the words of his almost-uncle kevin, "i used to think sawyer was dark-complected, but then i realized he is just dirty most of the time."

a change of heart

everyone i talk to comments on how fast this summer has gone. i agree. even though my kids aren't going off to school today, it still marks a change in season for us with the neighbor kids going back to school. they have been a significant part of our summer, and if you read this post i wrote a couple of months ago, you'll remember that it didn't start off gracefully. i don't know if it was before or after i wrote that, though, that God really began convicting me of my attitude, particularly toward the kids directly across the street from us who are in foster care. levi made a comment to me one day about these kids (based on something he had heard me say) that became the catalyst for my change of heart. hearing my attitude coming back at me through the mouth of my own child was quite convicting and made me quickly realize how NOT in line it was with what we want to be living and teaching to our kids. God began to soften my heart toward all the neighborhood kids, but especially these two across the street who don't even know right now who their real family is. we began including them as much as possible in what we were doing and the kids clocked hours and hours of play time together over the past couple of months. what could have been a constant annoyance became a real joy to all of us. and honestly, while it will be good to get back to more of a routine around here, i'm a bit sad that the neighbor kids will now be gone at school all day.

how ironic

a strangely hilarious thing happened today. the subtitle of my last post actually came true in a way other than what i intended when i wrote it. this morning we heard lots and lots of truck horns going off through town and i vaguely recalled hearing something about a truck parade. well, if you know my boys you know that of course we had to rush out and find it. so i'm driving along and thinking, man, traffic sure is slow and there sure are a lot of big trucks on the road... and it didn't take long before i realized that somehow i had actually inserted our sweet minivan right into the middle of this so-called truck parade. people were waving and the truck drivers all around us were still blowing their horns. apparently, since the parade went all the way from zeeland to holland down a main road, they don't completely shut it down to the rest of traffic. i laughed for a while after that.