Musings of a Michigan Mom

Since my laptop is in the shop and I am workign of my desktop, you get to view an older picture. I hope you enjoy!

We have actually have had quite a bit of rain this summer, but usually when it rained we had lighting & thunder so the kids couldn’t go out in play.  Yesterday though was a different story.  Even though it didn’t last long, yesterday we ended up having the perfect rain for Katie to run out and get wet with!   Unfortunately it didn’t rain long enough where Katie could of put on her rain boots and splashed in some big puddles, but she still had fun!   I just wish the pictures showed the rain more.

I just looked at the calendar and realized that it’s just about August and you know what that means… only a little over a month and my baby boy will be going to school FULL TIME!  Oh how different that will be for me.  I know I will miss him dearly as he is my big helper around the house, but then again, I won’t be missing the fighting between the two all day long.   I just can’t imagine how busy our life will start being.  Having to be up and to the bus stop at 8:20, Katie to preschool Tues & Thursday afternoons and then taking Kevin to karate up to 4 times a week. (I will try to have him go at least twice, but if he doesn’t have homework and feels up to going more.. I’ll let him)

I can’t imagine what it will be like when they are older and will start doing sports or Katie starting Dance or Karate.  Karate would be nice as they would be the same time, same place.. .but I know her heart is more into Dance right now.  I did end up finding a dance class that is during the day on Katie’s days off of school so I really think that would be our better option at least this year if I decide to start her in that.

So are you ready for school to start?  Or are you wishing this summer would last a little longer?

I can’t believe we leave for our 2 week vacation tomorrow!   It’s funny, usually when we go I start packing weeks in advance.  This time I started this past weekend and everything is packed from our swimsuits to our battery chargers.  The only thing I have to pack yet is the last minute things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, that sort of thing.

The only bummer thing is Katie has gotten ill and tomorrow morning while I’m getting Kevin ready for school, Paul will be calling the doctors office hoping to get an appointment before we leave tomorrow afternoon.  All I know is I hope she starts feeling better soon.  Right now it’s a nasty cold, but starting tonight she refused to eat because her throat hurt too.  So between the sore throat and her rattly cough I can say she’s had better days and won’t be going to school tomorrow. 

So wish me luck tomorrow!  Finish packing, hopefully have an AM doctors appointment for Katie, pick up our van rental, pack the van, pick Kevin up from school and then start our 20 hr drive!  Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

Sometimes figuring out a Halloween costume for the kids can be such a chore, but then there are the years that everything just falls into place. Here I thought I was going to have a harder time this year as I usually like to do something the kids enjoy or will remind me of them at that age. For example, When Kevin was one I had him be a skunk as he was a little stinker. Then when he was into fire trucks, I had him be a fireman. Last year he was into batman and my mother-in-laws friend actually had a batman costume that was to small for her son and ended up giving it to us. WOOHOO! Now this year I was wondering what would he like to be? I always think it’s fun to have “couple” outfits for the kids. (Last year he was batman & she was robin) Another one I could of done I suppose would be Kevin could be a doctor (put him in scrubs, mask and even get some of those disposable shoe covers and then what could of been fun was to of put Katie in a wheel chair, have her leg all wrapped up, maybe her arm in a sling and with makeup have some bruises as she had been in an accident.

Thankfully what clicked for us though was right now both kids are into Pirates of the Caribbean.  Then last month I had found out about the Pirates League at Disney world (it’s a pirate make-over) and since we are going in February I thought I might as well buy the costumes now and have them be that for Halloween too so I can kill two birds with one stone.  I ended up finding a cute girls pirate costume on amazon.com and ended up getting Kevin a Jack Sparrow costume on ebay! 

Can I say I just love it when things fall together like that?!?

Where or where could Katie’s crocs gone?  Oh where or where could they be?

It’s been 2 days now and I still haven’t found her pink crocs.  I know they have to be here somewhere, but I swear I have looked everywhere.  Under couches, under beds, in closets, in camps, outside in the sandbox, heck even in the bathroom cabinet!  I just can’t find them.   At least she has a pair of gym shoes she can wear, but I would just feel better knowing where they were as it’s still nice outside and she doesn’t have any sandals.

Maybe it’s a sign that I should start looking for some sandals or another pair of crocs for her as the ones she had were quite old looking.  I’ve seen some good sales online, but usually they don’t have the size in the color I want.

Speaking of sandals, that’s something I’m in dire need of too.   I had found some Born sandals a couple years ago that I liked, but didn’t have the heart to spend that kind of money on something for myself.  So instead I went with a cheap imitation and I can tell as after walking in them for a day my feet say no more.  I saw some Naot sandals online that looked comfortable and supposedly they are, but that’s just something I would rather buy at a store so I can try them on and really get the feel for them and not have to deal with shipping them back if they don’t work out.

What kind of sandal do you wear?  Do your feet love you the next day after you’ve worn them?  Or do they beg for you not to put them back on?

I’m sitting here watching Cold Case tonight and I find it more interesting than normal since it has to do with the deaf community.   Here I thought I knew quite a bit of sign language, but when the actors on the show start signing I hardly can catch anything.  Maybe I’m just a little rusty, but I like to think they are just signing to fast.

Whenever I see someone signing I can’t help but think of the show Signing Time.  Our PBS station used to carry it a couple years ago and both my kids LOVED watching it.  I swear it helped Katie so much when it came to talking as she ended up talking a lot sooner than what Kevin ever did and before she could even talk it was nice knowing what she wanted as she would use sign with me.  Even if it was a few words like Milk, more, and hungry.

If you have a little one, I would HIGHLY recommend checking with your local Library to see if they have any Signing Time DVD’s.  (unless you are lucky and your PBS station still carries it)  I personally think this is one DVD that every child should watch growing up. 

Rachel (the lady on the DVD’s) is the mother of a deaf child.  She was getting frustrated that not to many people know ASL so she thought she would try to help change things and started Signing Time.  The way she explains why the signs are what they are helps remember the signs a lot more.  Like for Orange.. you take your hand and make a squezing motion under your chin.  Just like squeazing an orange!  Plus the songs she writes are so catchy!  I could have the same DVD play over and over all night and never get sick of hearing it.

Below I have an example of her Colors song so you can see for sure how do sign the color Orange, plus you can see how catchy her music is!

And here is a video of Katie with her friend Olivia doing some sign language close to a year ago!

`Yesterday was a fun day for us as we got to go to the mall to see Santa this year!  Katie wasn’t quite sure what to think as you can see in the pictures.  We were only suppose to take 2 pictures, but I set my camera to take like 100 a second hoping to of got “the shot”.   The one I loved ended up being blurry, but still thought I would share a few pictures with you.  In case you like the looks of this Santa, he is a Rivertown Crossing in Grandville, MI!