First Days of 11th, 8th and 4th Grades

Lots of first days this week! Austen started on Monday with a half day so he didn't have to go in until noon but he did have to get up for his ACT prep class at 9am. Yes, it's that year - Junior Year - the big one where your classes are hard and you have to prep for all of these college entrance exams. I don't feel bad for him though - he has more resources to do better than Tom and I did. 

Not sure which class he likes best as he closes out his first week. He has talked a lot about his AP US History class and is very interested in the issues being discussed there. He is also taking an honors architecture class too where he says the teacher talks a lot but he's excited to use Auto Cad and start designing things. Could be a pivotal class as he decides this year if he really wants to pursue architecture. He's also debating dropping his PE class for a study hall first semester (since he can get a waiver for being a Varsity athlete) and he seems more excited about his English class this year as they review and analyze movies. But, his Biology class might be his favorite so far because he really likes his teacher and all of his friends are in that class. So he's really happy he didn't do AP Bio this year. So I guess he is off to a solid start. 

Peyton started her last year of middle school on Tuesday. I think she's ready to move on to high school quite frankly! She's really become an advocate for herself. I remember being so worried when she was transitioning from 5th grade to middle school that I would have to be on her more for tests and homework. Nope. She does it all and is super responsible if she needs to miss a class and gets her work done. She did have to change a few elective classes after deciding she didn't want to be enrolled in drama anymore but she handled that all on her own. 

I'm really proud of my older two for really being self starters and advocating for themselves. It's not like I never have to give them guidance but I rarely check their grades (accessible to us in real time) and never for missing assignments. They really have been great students and I'm grateful that I don't have to be that nag checking every little thing they do. What a blessing!

Hailey once again didn't get the teacher she really wanted but was just as happy she didn't get the teacher that she did NOT want. She came home from school the first day very happy. She said her teacher, Mrs. Matt, loves reading and they were going to get along great because of that! Ha! Here's a girl after my own heart as I see so much of me in her - writing stories and just a kid who loves to read. Besides IU, my other happy place is the library or a bookstore. There's just this calm that comes over me when I walk in there and I notice the same about Hailey. We could spend hours in either! Anyway, she's very happy with 4th grade so far - has some good "guy" friends in there and a gaggle of girlfriends. 

We're off to a great school year! 

First Day of 4th Grade

First Day of 8th Grade - Hurry up mom!

First Day of 11th Grade

End of Summer Activities

Jo Jo's Shake Bar

It's the end of summer and I've officially run out of things to do with my kids. It's time for school to start (two more days!) and for them to go back to structure and things to do. 

For my girls, I've done it all. Sleepovers with friends complete with taking them to Dancin' in the Streets, specific food order requests and making them popcorn and pancakes. Hailey has had lots of playdates and pool party dates. I've taken Peyton back to school shopping (Hailey could care less plus she has lots of hand me downs.) We've done donut runs after doctor and dentist and eye appointments. They've been to Jo Jo's Shake Bar twice (it's actually a pretty cool place with really good regular food too). They've gone to the driving range and golfing (I'm learning this year too). 

We went with friends to Morton Arboretum to see the giant statues of women made out of logs and sticks and got our steps in roaming the grounds. Of course we went on a really hot day too and the girls didn't want to bring any water (so they drank mine). We went for walks at the park and lots of runs to Andy's Custard. 

The Chocolate Nirvana Shake

Vacation for me is coming and it's called Tuesday and I can't wait. It's been a long summer of entertaining and the kids are wondering what we are going to do tomorrow so I need to sign off now and figure out what fun thing we can do for the last two days of summer! Yippee!

The Girl Scout Cookie Shake

Morton Arboretum 

Woman! (We weren't supposed to be standing on there but only realized it after! Shhh!)

Summer Vacay 2023 in SW Michigan

Typically, we don't go anywhere for vacations during the summer (unless it's soccer related) because we have Michigan, and want to make the most of the time we have during the best months of the year. So this summer, we started off with Father's Day there and then a long 4th of July week, before we had a blissful weekend of just us in mid-July, and then a return for our true summer vacation just last week. 

We left on a Thursday afternoon, had family up Friday through Sunday, and then enjoyed a few days by ourselves before having another 16 friends (10 kids/6 adults) together for our last weekend rounding out our vacation. In total, we spent 11 days/10 nights up there. 

The first weekend, we hit up Waypost Brewery, rented a boat with family on Lake Macatawa in Holland, Mich., then retired to our beach on Sunday before most of the family headed home. We had a fire, toasted S'Mores, played more than a few rounds of cornhole and other games and just caught up. 

Monday brought some getting the house back in order but also some time to try some new things in and around South Haven.  Now that Austen is 16, and can drive, we finally could do the ATV trails in South Haven. We cruised over bridges, up some hills and through the woods on trails for an hour to get our fill. It was fun and a hidden gem in South Haven. The girls wanted to make some candles too at a local shop so Peyton made a candle with a lemongrass scent while Hailey opted to make a sand candle in an array of colors. We also took the kids into Grand Rapids to check out their downtown market (and hit the Costco to replenish), we dined at some new restaurants and visited some old ones (Brewsters in New Buffalo - the kids said that was their favorite. They used to go there all the time when Austen and Peyton were little. It would be our stop after the beach on our way home to the city when we would reminisce about someday having a beach house out that way). We went to the beach where they played for hours in the water on our "lily pad," made sandcastles and searched for beach glass. We played mini golf in Saugatuck where Austen's name still holds the record for the low score for the summer. (We'll see if it's still up there by Labor Day.) The boys kayaked in St. Joe while the girls and I enjoyed smoothies at Clifford's Coffee Canal.

Mini Golf Season Low Score Holder - Austen S.!

Our friends arrived then on Friday, and we headed to Virtue Cider Brewery to sample some ciders, walk the trails and play some games. Home for dinner and more games before heading out on Saturday to Lake Arvesta (one of our usual stops for a group of 16) to let the kids frolic in the man-made lake on their inflatables, play frisbee golf, whip down their giant waterslides, play a few games of volleyball with the adults and end our day with rounds of pickleball games. We headed home to a make your own pizza night capped off with S'Mores before getting up early the next morning (well, some of us) to rain and a viewing party for the U.S. Women's World Cup game against Sweden. They lost in PKs and we all went back to bed before finishing off our weekend with a lazy Sunday mid-morning breakfast. 

That's it. Almost the end of summer as fall high school sports season started Monday so everyone needed to be back for tryouts. Can't believe school starts again in two weeks!

Boy Cousins 

Our Top Papa

Hailey's Sand Candle

Brewsters!

Sand Castle Making

Grand Rapids Downtown Market - Love's Ice Cream

Pickleball Business

Making Pizzas

10 Kids

Dinner @ Clearbrook GC

Only Sadie

Last week, when we were in Michigan (more on our 11 days/10 nights there in my next post), I woke up and peered over the edge of my bed to where Sadie was sleeping comfortably on her plush dog bed. She seemed content so I added a couple of extra minutes to my snooze. 

Next time, I looked at her, she was bleeding from the mouth. Huge amounts of blood leaking out the left side of her mouth. As I tried to contain her bleeding to just her dog bed, Tom ran to get paper towels so we could figure out what was going on. She was literally fine a few moments before. She didn't get up (that would be a miracle), she didn't hit it accidentally that I knew of and now here she was with a mouth full of blood.  We tried to figure out where the blood was coming from. Did she crack a tooth? There was so much blood at first, we couldn't see. When we finally got it under control, we thought it was from her gums. Somehow her gums were bleeding. My vet has been vigilant about telling me that we need to brush Sadie's teeth but while we tried for a bit, it wasn't a high priority and I always thought she'd die of other things first before any type of gum disease. To be honest, it was very low on my list of priorities for her! 

I texted her vet with some pictures and she did her best to not tell me, "I told you so!" Anyway, the bleeding stop. She didn't need any medical treatment and she was the best patient. Just sat there so serenely why Tom and I shoved paper towels in her mouth and packed her gums with them like gauze. She didn't try to eat it, she just laid still and let us do what we needed to do to tend to her. 

Seriously, she is such a sweet, sweet dog. Here are some pics of our Sadie girl with her gum injury and her mouth all packed with paper towels.