Field Trippin' with my Buggy-Boo

The nicest thing about being a semi-stay-at-home mom is that I can go on field trips with my favorite kindergarten girl.  Parker and I have been to the Apple Barn for 2 years in a row now, and this year was our 3rd!!  I was delighted to be able to share this with her again! 

My heart is full.  I have so much to be grateful for in my life.  Three beautiful, healthy daughters.  A supportive, wonderful husband who is also my best friend.  An awesome family with siblings I look up to and love to be with.  My Dad, who is soldiering on the best that he can in spite of his grief.  My Mom, who I miss terribly. I wish I could still talk to her, spend time with her, and know that she is thinking about me too.  I have so much to be grateful for, but I still have these moments when I just feel so sad and empty.  Some days it helps me push on and want to be a better Mother.  Other days, I just want to cry and feel sorry for myself.  This grief is unpredictable and paradoxical.

A Trip to Grand Rapids

Mark had a conference that was in GR, and we decided to make a little family trip out of it.  We had gone to GR last year for our anniversary, and discovered how much fun it was, so we decided to take the girls out of school for a little fall break.

We stayed in the Amway Grand Hotel again.  It's so old-school, classy, and fancy.  It was fun for the girls to wander around the ballrooms and look at the chandeliers and what-not.  There were a lot of events and conferences in town so the crowds made it that much more exciting.

While Mark was in his conference, the girls and I went across the street to the Grand Rapids Museum.  There was a really cool exhibit on King Tut and we had a great time wandering around.  It literally kept us busy for hours!  Afterwards, we grabbed lunch and by that time Mark was done. 

The Comic-Con was also in town that weekend, so it wasn't too hard to convince the girls it would be a good time.

It was a really fun weekend. We don't normally do this kind of thing, but we all definitely needed a little break from reality.  It was nice to be able to escape and see new things and get our weary minds off of the every day. 

I want to make sure we do this kind of thing more.  In the end, this is all we take with us...the memories we make and the relationships with our families that we take the time to strengthen.

Fall at Dow Gardens

It's kind of ridiculous and unreal just how beautiful this season can be in these parts.  We decided we MUST get outside and soak up as much of it as we possibly could this year because we just know that it will not last. 

Anyway, on this particular day we took a stroll through our favorite Dow Gardens, and it did not disappoint.

So gorgeous.

This is actually our neighborhood, view from our front yard across the street.

Fall Dances and Football Games

Maryn is finally a freshman and with it goes all the fun of high school events.  She and her BFF, Katherine dressed up as the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter (their interpretation of it anyway) for the Stake Fall Dance.  They looked pretty cute!

 


She has also been playing every Friday night for the Dow High football games!  Nothing could be more classic and fallish than Friday Night lights!

Where I'm At

This is me lately.  Not the best pic, but not the worst either.  I always feel awkward taking my own picture, but I am realizing that life is too short not to. So here it is.

I have set up camp in the dining room to do most of my homework/studies.  So far, school is going well.  It's a lot of reading, which I knew would be the case, and I definitely need to take it slow.  I have a lot of trouble retaining information.  I can read something once, and forget it 10 minutes later.  So, I have to slow down, take my time, highlight like crazy, take notes, and then re-read sometimes after all of that.  It's tedious, but I'm plugging along.

I am taking a research methods and materials class this semester, and it seems to be going well.  I was able to choose my own topic which definitely makes it more interesting.  I decided to research mommy blogging and how their discourse is an important area of online composition, especially how their rhetoric influences other moms and legitimizes what might be considered un-important work (staying and home and "mothering").  It's been good.

Anyway, my days are much busier than I expected.  Most days I finish dropping Parker off, go on a walk, shower and get ready, sit down and work, eat lunch, work some more, pick up Maryn, then Avery.  At some point in there Mark gets home and we usually pick up Parker together.  Then it's helping with homework, car rides to practices, etc. and then starting dinner.  After dinner, we usually finish up with homework, chores, etc. and then off to bed for the next day!  It's been a lot more than I bargained for, but at the same time I am really enjoying the structure of it.  It's keeping my mind occupied, rather than sad and that's a good thing.

I was recently called to be the RS Secretary and that has proved pretty time consuming as well.  However, at the same time I feel like my spirituality is at a high right now which is blessing my life in all the other important ways.

Anyway, things are good.  I have my bad days too, but overall I'm feeling better than I have in a long time.

Grandma's Punkin' Patch

We tried out a new cider mill/fall attraction this year.  I got a coupon online, and we decided to give it a whirl.  There was lots to do at this place: pig races, park for the kids, Elsa and Anna karaoke, blow-up bouncy houses, corn-maze, and picking out punkins!  The only drawback to this place is that their cider and donuts were disappointingly expensive.  Leaman's Apple Barn definitely has them beat in that respect, but their activities were definitely on point! 

Behold, the splendor of Fall in Michigan! (Well some more of it, cuz I'm definitely not done posting these!)