have you ever tried to take pictures of young kids at a water park?

It's no easy task. We had such a fun day at Tropicanoe Cove-the water park down the street from our house. Our friend Heather and her daughter Penelope (or Kenelope, as Mary calls her) came with us. I wish I could've gotten at least one good shot, but alas. We really had a good time.

I love my garden

I love that I can go cut just enough fresh lettuce to make a salad and there isn't a soggy bag of wilted greens at the bottom of the produce drawer in my refrigerator. I love that my kids enjoy eating our own green beans and helping me shell peas. I love picking grape tomatoes right off the vine and eating them. I love cutting zinnias and putting them in vases in my house. I love weeding and watering and looking for what is ripe in the twilight after my kids are in bed. The only down- side is that when I go to the farmers market at this time of year there isn't much for me to buy!!!

Fourth of July Spectacular

In typical Greene fashion we loaded up our whole family as well as some loyal friends--can't leave town with out them!! and celebrated the 4th of July in nearby Wolcott, IN. Brian's band, The SmallTown Heroes played as a part of the festival. It was pretty hot and humid, but despite what weatherman Prangley said--NO severe weather!!!!! We spent all afternoon and evening there and even managed to stay awake for the fireworks.

Highlights from our weekend north

First I should say that Northern Michigan is where I spent a good portion of my summers when I was growing up. It was a long drive from where I lived in middle Michigan and a drive that is really too far to venture with our small children from our home in Indiana. So, we have only been up one time since we've been married. We always refer to that one trip as our best vacation ever. So, you can imagine my feelings of pure enjoyment to spend 3 days walking around the towns and beaches I have loved my whole life long!!

We stayed at Fisherman's Island State Park in Charlevoix. It is a rustic camp ground--no flush toilets or showers. Thankfully we were able to visit some family staying near the area and use their shower twice!! It is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I have ever been to. It is on--and I mean on Lake Michigan. There are a number of sites right on the beach. We layed in our tent at night listening to the water crash on the beach.

On Friday we drove across the Mackinaw Bridge into the upper peninsula and took the ferry across to Mackinac Island. We walked around and ate and just kind of relaxed. The funniest part of this day was that Bob, Brian's dad was on a motorcycle trip and was in the same town so we had dinner with him in St. Ignace, MI.

On Saturday we walked around Charlevoix and shopped a bit, ate lunch at my favorite restaurant in town and then headed back to the campground. I took a book and a blanket and read the on the beach all afternoon and Brian rested in the tent. On Saturday night we drove over to visit my aunts and cousins who were renting a house just miles from where we stayed. We had dinner with them and watched the sunset before driving back to have our last campfire.

On Sunday we made breakfast and had devotions then cleared out our camp so we could start the 6 1/2 hour drive home. We stopped in Holland and had lunch with my parents on their boat and took the little motorized dingy raft across the lake to get ice cream before we headed home.
All-in-all maybe the best vacation we have had. Certainly the most appreciated.

Weekend getaway

It seems like we've been taking the weekdays to recover/prepare for the next weekend. This weekend will be my last outing for a few weeks. I am actually getting (a little) tired of so much vacationing! This weekend Brian and I are taking some time for the two of us and we are camping in Northern Michigan. The weather looks cool, so I don't think there will be much Lake Michigan swimming this time, but it's kind of exciting to be able to do whatever we want for three days. We are going to a State Park that is so beautiful and right on the lake. There are also lots of nearby water towns to wander. We've even kicked around the idea of Mackinac Island--it's only an hour away from where we'll be...

Elijah and Mary are staying with Brian's mom for the weekend. I think I am taking our separation the hardest of anyone. Blast these pregnancy hormones. I took them to the sitter today and that is where we said our goodbyes until Sunday. Elijah was watching some cartoon and Mary was busy playing with the kids. So, I got my kisses and hugs and they were like, "Yeah, we get to spend the weekend at grandma's!" Which IS honestly better than them crying and being sad--then it would be really hard to go.

What a weekend!!

It was the coldest, rainiest Fiddlers Gathering I can ever remember. We huddled under umbrellas and sweatshirts almost all weekend. Brian, Dallas and Bethany played the open stage on Saturday afternoon and did a great job!! The highlight of the weekend was Sunday. We watched The Woodstove Flapjacks (a local band that are friends with Brian) play as well as our old favorite--Foghorn Stringband from Portland, Oregon. Foghorn has been to Lafayette several times in the last few years and Brian has really taken a liking to them. He asked them to come over to his dad's retirement party after the show and surprisingly...they came!!! They spent most of the evening with us eating, drinking and talking, and even gave us our own private concert in the yard!

Fiddlers--Day 1

Happy Birthday Grandma Grace!

My dad with his mom
and three sisters
This weekend we went to visit my family in Michigan to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. She LOVES baseball--especially the Detroit Tigers. So the party was a Tigers theme. Lots of people wore Tigers gear and there was even a hot dog vendor with all the trimmings. My cousins were walking around "selling" baseball snacks --small bags of sunflower seeds, cotton candy, chips...We got to spend Friday through Sunday with my grandparents and we all just had the best time! The kids --MY kids stayed up and swam until 10:30 pm. Unprecedented for us. AND even better--they actually slept in past 8:00 the next morning and had no meltdown. Elijah and Mary each had a turn to ride there or back with my parents and got to spend a day by themselves at the sailboat. On the way home from Michigan we picked up Brian's aunt and cousin who are spending the week here as we get ready for Fiddlers' Weekend and Bob's retirement party.





Mary and cousin Jacob

The first real day of summer

We swam in 2 different pools. We went to the YMCA. We went to the grocery store. I cleaned. I think I am ready for bed.

Survival

Okay, so I have survived the first three days of my workshop. It actually has been really informative and only a little boring. Thankfully we have also been receiving lots of (expensive) classroom materials that I will probably even use. AND it's been fun to go out to lunch every day with teachers I know pretty well, but don't get to see very often. Only 2 days left until my summer officially begins.

Today was Elijah's last day of zoo camp. He learned about mammals, birds, and reptiles. It was kind of pricey, but it seems like it was money well spent.

Today when Brian and the kids picked me up from my workshop we went out to Battle Ground and picked strawberries at the Pretty Prairie Berry Farm (say that 3 times fast). A couple of observations about fresh picked berries:
1. they are much smaller than the ones from the grocery store--in fact some were more the size of raspberries. The larger ones were over-ripe
2. they are not as sweet as the ones in the store--which makes me wonder about modified food. It's a little sad to me that food from the farm just doesn't taste as "good" as what is the most large and colorful from the supermarket shipped from across the country.
3. they might be most delicious right there in the field

Zoo Camp

Elijah started zoo camp at the Columbian Park zoo today. He had the best time! He came home talking about mammals and made a couple of cool crafts--one was an anteater sock puppet. Tomorrow they are learning about birds. It was sort of an afterthought to even sign him up so I am glad he is enjoying it so much.

I started day one of my five day kindergarten conference today. It felt really long, but informative. I came home and crashed for like three hours, watching two episodes of The Magic School Bus and even one Dora, now I am finally perked up. I guess one of the consolations for myself is that the weather was kind of chilly and rainy today so we would've spent the day indoors anyway if I weren't attending.

Summer is here

so why do I not feel excited? I am really struggling with feeling grateful for the time that I have off this year. I am resentful that I have to attend a conference all next week so that my summer starts even later than it already is. Plus, I am already worrying about the beginning of August coming too soon--school starts on like the 18th next "fall," so that means I will be back at least a week before that. Most people are lucky to get 3 weeks of vacation off in a row so I really need to quit whining, but so far I am just kind of gloomy about summer.

happy kids

Here is Mary wither her new haircut. Notice the new privacy fence that Brian installed last week!!

A few new pictures

My parents have a great backyard! They live right in the middle of town in a neighborhood, but they have this huge privacy fenced yard with tons of mature trees so it feels totally secluded.

P.S. Brian just cut Mary's hair off to a short bob, so this is the last time you will see it long for a while.

NEW CLOTHES!!!

Although I don't really love spending money per se, I do love getting new clothes--especially when they are a deal. I got rid of almost all of my maternity clothes for various reasons: too small :( , too worn out, too out of fashion... So, I have had to start purchasing some new things because apparently my abdominal muscles are not what they once where and I am already starting to show at 12 weeks. Which brings me back to the title of this blog.

I have been to Goodwill twice in the last 2 weeks and found several things I liked and I have been using e-bay quite a bit as well. I feel good about having clothes to get me through the summer. I have tons of t-shirts now and today I got a cute stretchy skirt, 2 pairs of capri pants, and some athletic shorts.

I am at the point right now where I don't really need to wear maternity yet, but my clothes--especially bottoms definitely feel tight and not so comfortable to wear. I have a couple of stretchy skirts that have been seeing the rotation a lot more frequently! I am glad to have something to put in their place.

Only 13 days to go...

(Last year's favorite summer pic!)





not that I'm counting...but summer will be here soon. It is a statement I have to keep telling myself. I will really miss my students this year, it has been a pretty nice group, but I am really looking forward to some DOWN TIME!!!Well, maybe a week of down time and then some 'around the house' projects. We want to get some things done to the house this summer because it will probably be a while after the baby comes before we have time to do big projects again.

Our sitter stays open a few days a week during the summer so I think we will send the kids on Wednesdays so that they can have some play time and I can have some errand without kids time, schedule dr. appointments, teach flute lessons, etc.

Brian had his first day of substitute teaching at Harrison today. He said he loved it and the kids liked him---he's tough and funny all at the same time--what's not to love? I'm hoping he'll get called some more before the end of the year b/c we could certainly use the money and the experience is great for him.

The newest Greene

is supposed to be here on the first of December!

Please pray for Mary

She is getting significantly worse--her fever has been up around 104 degrees and she is miserable. So far the doctor says to keep treating the fever (tylenol, motrin, cool baths, etc.) and that it's probably a virus. We are gearing up for another long (or should I say short?) night. Tomorrow morning is my ultrasound--7:20 am.

HIVES!!

Not the bee kind, the big red welty kind. All over poor little Mary. In her hair, down her legs, and all over her trunk. I took her to the doc this morning (on a Saturday--gotta love the Peds. clinic) to find out what in the world this was. It was a huge relief that it was a. nothing contagious and b. nothing that will hurt her. We don't know if it was some sort of delayed reaction to the anesthetic from her surgery or something else entirely. But Benadryl is supposed to do the trick!

Today has been 'get caught up on the chores I don't have the energy to do during the week' day. I actually scrubbed the shower--LONG overdue, am working on the laundry, and got the kitchen spiffed up. Ooh, and I got the doorknobs put back on the doors. Over Spring Break I took a bunch of the knobs and hardware off to strip the paint off, and now they are back on. They look good. The only problem now is that the doors need to be repainted. It makes me feel so much more at peace when my home is in order. I just wish I didn't have to be the one to do it.

Mary's surgery

Mary did really well getting her new ear tube put into place this morning. I was nervous for a couple of reasons: 1. there is general anesthesia involved 2. I didn't know how she would react to being left alone with the doctors. She did just fine though, and bounced right back in the post-op room. We even went out for breakfast afterwards and did some grocery shopping before heading home for naps. Now we will get to relax for the rest of the day and enjoy being home. Elijah spent the night at my parents' house so we wouldn't have to wake him up (we had to be there at 6:30 am) and have him sit at the surgery center with us. My mom took him to the sitter's house so he will be there until after his nap this afternoon. He gets upset when I pick him up too early because he loves playing outside in her yard with the other kids.

On another note, I was supposed to have my first ultrasound yesterday, but it got rescheduled for today. Then I got a call today that the technician was ill again and we wouldn't be able to get in until next Tuesday. I am really beyond anxious to find out when this baby is going to be due!!