Sorry it has been so long

Life has been kind of crazy around here but there is hope in sight that things will slow down.

Ben is now at Sunflowers Preschool. He seems to really like it although he did ask yesterday if "next week he could go to another new preschool". I love it because it takes me 4 min to get there. It is great!!! Ben seems to have adjusted well while in the classroom it is just when I bring him home that the adjustment is a little hard. He gets a little wound up because of all the excitement I think. I really like his new teachers and the other moms seem so nice. We have a day at the pumpkin patch coming up, a harvest party before halloween, they will have a thanksgiving feast before thanksgiving, and a Christmas concert which will be lots of fun I think.

Jacob seems to be doing well also. He is just such a sweet little boys and always seems so happy. He moves around quite a bit and seems to still spit up all the time :)

Sorry for no pictures this time but: our memory card broke and we just got the new one last night. Hopefully I will get some good shots this weekend to post.

Have a great weekend

Lindsay



****** Just a note that a space opened up in the Tuesday Thursday Sunflowers program and they didn't end up having enough kids for the Monday Wednesday Program.

Here is the link to the sunflowers site if you are interested in learning more
http://www.fpcro.org/sunflwrs.html

Update

Well I talked to sunflowers this AM and they are not 100% sure that there will be enough kids for another section of 3 year olds. I am sure a lot of people responded as I did "um, well I am not sure what to do". Mary Kay the teacher said she is hoping to know by Thursday at the latest so it is back to Woodside this week for preschool. I guess I am going to have to pay sometime too :)

Here is a cute picture of Metro that Josh took yesterday she seems to be gaining weight just in case you were wondering.

The week in review

This week was a very crazy week here is a brief review (well turns out it is not so brief)

Sunday - we got home late Sunday night and tried to unpack and get ready for the next day.

Monday - They boys has swimming at 10:30. They both did great. Ben has Mauve as a teacher and I am very excited because she is great. Jacob didn't seem phased by the water but he sure knows how to kick. Hopefully that will continue. Benjamin threw a royal fit after his lesson because I would not buy him a ring pop. I had to leave Jacob with Carolyn to be able to get Ben into the car and then come back to get Jacob. Good thing she was there. Monday night we (the 4 of us) went to the mall to get some shoes for Ben that fit him. He needs to wear tennis shoes type shoes to school and he didn't have any that fit.

Tuesday - this was Ben's first day of school, I had an interview with Kathy Barr, and then I had to teach swimming at night.

Wednesday - We had kind of a low key day but then had the first day of cubbies (the awana program for Ben) at night. We tried to go early for dinner but found that the route we took to church was not the right one and it took us an hour to get there. We scarfed down some dinner and I really enjoyed my bible study and Ben seemed to really enjoy cubbies. I started another Beth Moore study on the fruits of the spirit. So far it has been pretty good.

Thursday - off to church again for preschool for Ben. Jacob and I drove around and got some Halloween costumes at Target as well as some groceries at Nino's. I did my bible study in the car and still had about 45 min. to kill. Jake and I just kind of hung out in the lobby of the church until we picked up Ben and headed home to drop off the groceries. We got home, had some lunch and got ready to go to my parents so that she could watch the boys while I was at swimming. During this time at home I kept thinking that life was so crazy, the house was a mess and the days that we had home were just spent recovering from our crazy days away. I knew that God had a plan for us and that for some reason we were where we were. Anyway a little while later I got a call from the director at Sunflowers called and said that they were going to start another section for 3 year olds on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 1-3. So that put a new spin on life. I made a chart of what our lives would look like if each scenario took place. With that thought in mind i headed off for a night of swimming.

Friday - we had nothing planned which was so nice. I kind of thought that maybe Dalton would be coming but he didn't so we just had a relaxing day alone. I decided that it seemed like sunflower's would be the way to go for us for school. I would be able to have good alone time with Jacob on Monday and Wednesday's, the school is about 5 min. from our house, the cost is about 30 less per month, it would make our Tuesday's and Thursday's much more manageable. I can still go to Mom2Mom on Thursday's. If I were to get the job at church I would just have to figure that out but I really don't think that I will get it. I also thought that I was getting mastites on Friday but it didn't end up showing up which was nice. We went to take Josh's car for an oil change and got some yummy food from Papa's Joe's for dinner.

Saturday - we spent the morning cleaning the house and then went to pick up Josh's car from Goodyear. I went on to a shower for Erika and Josh and Ben went to the "go blue" game

Sunday - both boys got sick at some point during the week so I was off to church by myself to work in the nursery. We just kind of bummed around all day but did got to Costco to get some food. Tonight (for those of you that stopped reading this is a good story) We purchased a gargantium chicken pot pie at Costco because we were lured in by the samples as well as the fact that it was 3.oo off. Anyway we figured Josh could take it for lunch and we could freeze it for him. Anyway, Ben decided that he didn't like Chicken pot pie before he even tried it. I am normally not to concerned if he does not eat a ton because he makes up for it at another time but I was annoyed that he would not even try it. I made him sit at the table until he took a bite. I remember mom and dad doing this to Allie and I one time when we had fish for dinner (funny since we both like fish now). Anyway I then offered him some steamed veggies which he promised he would eat but did not. The joys of 3 year old eating:)


**** the other excitement of the week is that sometime Jacob taught himself how to get to a sitting position from laying down. he is quite proud of himself and has been moving across the floor doing it all night and he then looks and Josh or I for praise :)

The first day of Preschool

The first day seemed to go pretty well. Ben woke up at 7:00 exclaiming "let's go to preschool" He wanted to make sure that he packed all of his toys especially his ABC puzzle. He said that he would need that one at school :)

It does seem like he had a good time however. He had a momentary freak out when I dropped him off because he wanted to go to his Sunday School classroom which is across the hall. He got over it quickly. After all he really wanted was the lunch that we packed for him in his lunch box. It seemed like he had fun, he got a good report from his teacher, and he came home with a dry pull-up :)

here are some more pictures just because it is sometimes hard to get a good pic. of Ben since he does not stand still too well.


In other news: I had an interview this morning at church for the Thursday morning bible coordinator position. It is a 10 hour per week job paid position and the only time I would be required to be at church would be Thursday mornings between 8:30 and 12:00 I am already there between 9:00 and 11:30 because Ben has school so what is an extra hour :) I am not sure that I will get the job but it would be a fun idea.

Ben also went to my parents this morning to take his rest before I went to swimming. He got out of bed at one point and saw me and said "why is you not at goldfish" mom and I are still laughing about the words he placed together in that sentence.

Chicago

Here are some pictures and a review or our trip to Chicago this past weekend.

Friday

We woke up Friday at 4:45 and left the house at 5:30. It really ended up working well because the boys slept most of the trip and we got to Chicago about 9:30 Chicago time. We only had to stop one time on the way there and that was just to get some food for breakfast and some much needed coffee for Josh and I. Steve and Ann ready to go when we arrived and we headed out to downtown to check out some museums around 10:30ish.

We hit the Aquarium as well as the field museum. The Aquarium was amazing. It is unbelievable how many fish God has created and to think that there are tons more than were on display there and some that have not ever been seen by man. Ben was so excited to see the dino's that he was jumping up and down running from one to another one it was very cute. We got to that part of the exhibit before Josh and Jake did so we went back to go and find them and he had the same reaction again. Very priceless.

Some Trisaritops

Ben and Josh's feet in a dono foot print

Josh and Ben in front of Sue

Steve Ann and Matthew in front of Sue

After our museums we went to meet Scott and Steph and kids in Oak brook at the Cheesecake factory. It was great to see them and we always have fun when we are together. Ben and Anna enjoy playing with one another. We had a super long wait and Cheesecake and all 5 kids were not so happy about that (neither were the 6 hungry adults). By the time we got back to the Bovenkerk's it was about 10:30 or 11:00 Chicago time and we were all very ready for Bed.

Saturday

Steve and Josh went to a golf tournament. Ann and I just kind of hung around and helped recuperate the boys from their busy day the day before. We were all very tired but we had a nice relaxing day. Josh and Steve got home around 5:45 and we headed out for some dinner minus Matthew who was already asleep. My boys were so tired that it didn't make the dinner all the enjoyable. Ben was falling asleep eating pizza and Jacob was crying (which is rare) so I left to sit in the car with the kids who both fell asleep. Ben does not even remember the dinner at all but his eyes were closing as he was eating the pizza we had ordered for him.

Sunday

We woke up and headed downtown again. This time to hit the shopping as well as Navy Peir. We left the house around 9:00 Chicago time. We traveled to the top of the Hancock building first and it was so nice to be up there without all the crowds.

Ben admiring the view

Ben washing the windows :)

After the view from the top we walked around and visited some stores. Ben was quite grumpy and made the day not so enjoyable but we did get some Jomba Juice :) One of my favorites from California as well as some yummy dark chocolate fudge from Ghiradelli's too bad they didn't have any peppermint ice cream. The last stop of the day was at the lego sore. Ben thought it was great to sit by the Lego man and he was suddenly a happy boy once in the car :)

We left Chicago area around 4:00 Chicago time and after tons of traffic and a stop to feed Jacob (and ourselves) we finally rolled into the house around 10:00 Detroit time. Ben fell asleep at 4:10 while driving down lakeshore drive and woke up around 6:15 to then watch movies the rest of the way home.