Raking Leaves

The leaves are in full color this week. We had a bit of a windy weekend which means many trees have lost their leaves. Adam was going to mow the lawn but realized he should rake beforehand because there were too many leaves to mulch.

Gerrit loves being outside and seeing it was so nice out we decided to see what Adam was up to. Gerrit took to the raking right away but didn't want much to do with the big pile of leaves.


After Adam putting him in the middle of the pile a few times, Gerrit warmed up to the idea of the leaves. He ran through them - well, fell and then crawled out. I was able to get a few photos:




What I find interesting is that we don't even have a tree in OUR yard! Thanks to the large trees at the church next door we get the opportunity for leaf raking without having a tree. I often get frustrated spending so much time taking care of others' leaves.

(We did think about raking the leaves back on the church's property - but didn't. In fact, Adam actually raked some of the leaves from the church and disposed of them because he knew they would end up on our lawn in a day or two anyways! He said one of the volunteers who takes care of the church's property did drive by and wave. The church has at most 30 members and is over 100 yrs. old so you can imagine how big the trees are on their property!)

The Farmer and the Dell

While watching MSU beat up on Northwestern today, Gerrit spent a lot of time playing with his animals that go with his John Deere toys. He took all of them and lined them up on the chair that I was sitting in, then he would walk across the room and admire his work, come back and knock them down and start the process over again. I thought it looked pretty cute how he lined up all the animals and the farmer . What is 'the dell' in that song anyways?????

My Little Helper

Today I did some major cleaning because we have guests coming this week. Yep, Omah and Opah (aka my parents) are coming for MEA. We are excited to have them come but that means getting the house into shape. Adam wasn't feeling real well so I let Gerrit hang out with me while I cleaned. When in the kitchen Gerrit thought my cupboard that houses all my plastic containers needed some work:He spent a long time putting the lids in the butter tub and taking them out. He was kind enough to put them all back in the cupboard when he was done.

When he got bored with the butter tubs and lids, he went to the utensil drawer and pulled out all of my cheese spreaders (the handles have basketballs and footballs on them). When I thought I had the kitchen cleaned, I looked around and saw not only my cheese spreaders on the floor but also table spoons and tea spoons. I left them and dealt with them when Gerrit forgot about them.

The house is clean (for the most part, just don't look too close) and we are ready for Omah and Opah!

A Bit Quiet Around Here

I stayed home again today due to my lack of voice. I layed low and didn't do any cleaning which was tempting - NOT! I will be going to school tomorrow regardless of my voice. I feel bad for Gerrit though as I can only whisper. I only imagine what he's thinking. He did go for a long bike ride with Adam before dinner and loved it like usual. He fed himself apple sauce at dinner and I think he ended up with more on his face than in him. I cringe at the site of him being a mess but realize he needs to learn to feed himself (as do I to let it go).

I did hear of a new book I am going to get while watching Rachel Ray (not my first choice for daytime television). She had on a guy talking about kids meals at restaurants and what choices we as parents should make. It was interesting and any help we can give Gerrit to making healthy eating choices at an early age the better. She also had a nummy recipe for turkey sausage burgers with cranberry sauce. Anyways, off to bed.

One last thing, Gerrit is back on track! He has not become a night owl (yet)! Sweet dreams.

Way to Go HUB!

I'm home from school today b/c I don't have a voice. The bright side - I was able to sleep in (Adam brought Gerrit to Julie's) and got a few things done that I've been meaning to do. I feel ok, just can't talk. Anyways, I decided to make muffins that my friend Elizabeth has raved about. It calls for flax meal and I figured I'd have to get it at a 'real' grocery store, not my little one in town. I didn't make it to a real grocery store so I thought I'd just see if they had it here in town seeing I needed a few things anyways. And low and behold (a phrase commonly spoken by my mother) they did! Way to go HUB! I need to give them more credit than I do, as they have quite a bit and are willing to get it if you ask.

The weather is beautiful and I took a few minutes to harvest some pumpkins - sound like a true farmer? "Gerrit's" isn't orange yet so I left that one but cleaned up the others that were ready. I noticed a little one had started (seems awefully late in the season) so I decided to write "Birr " on that one, we'll see how it turns out, might not be in time for Halloween, but still a good Fall piece of decor.

One last thing as I need to head out to pick Gerrit up, but he was quite a pistol last night! He didn't want to go to bed. I'm really hoping he isn't becoming a night owl because that isn't my style. I like having my few hours after he goes to bed before I go to bed. I am not sure what his deal was last night but we tried everything: a snack, rocking, laying with him in our bed (which he either jumped on or hopped off and headed for the office where Adam was working), and finally after a 1/2 hr of sheer crying, gave him some Tylonol (our version of sleepy medicine since he can't actually have Benedryl yet). That calmed him down from 11-2 30 and then he started up again. So we brought him back in our bed (hoping this doesn't become a regular thing). He fell asleep right away on me - with his head shoved in my neck! So Adam brought him back to his room - he screamed again! So we brought him back and he slept with us the rest of the night. We have a queen size bed and it wasn't big enough for the 3 of us. Gerrit is like his mother and is a restless sleeper - he was tossing and turning and of course sleeping more perpendicular than horizontal to us. Uggg. We all got some sleep and I am really praying that we can tucker the kid out tonight and get him back on track. Stay tuned.

Feeling Proud

Tonight I was invited to a high school volleyball game. It wasn't just any old volleyball game, it was "invite your FAVORITE TEACHER" to the game night. I have a 7th grader who is on the JV team and she invited me! I am battling a terrible cold - I don't have much of a voice but went to school today just because of this volleyball game. She had asked me every day if I was planning on going to the game which I thought was cute. I felt proud that she invited me as silly as she felt inviting a middle school teacher because the rest of the team would have high school teachers. I couldn't let her down. We lost the game but she did very well. Other than looking younger, you never would know she's in 7th grade. Her parents I have known for a long time as I have had her brother and sister in the past too. They both came and talked to me for a while and thanked me for coming. Following the game, Brittany came and thanked me for coming and gave me a thank you note. I didn't take the time to read it in the gym and waited til I got in the car. This is what it said: "Thanks for coming to my volleyball game. I hope you had fun. Love Brittany." I just chuckled after reading it; I don't know what I was expecting it to say - she is only in 7th grade.

I think it is a great idea to invite your teachers to your game. I had wanted to go to one of her games but didn't think I would because it would mean I wouldn't get home till after 7 30. This was a great reason to get me to go and it was nice to see other teachers there as well that probably wouldn't otherwise take the time to go.

Excitment at School

Today we had a bomb threat which always makes for an exciting day. I don't take them seriously because to be honest, I don't think of middle schoolers in my building as real threats. So often they tell on each other before they can carry out their 'plan' anyways. However, we have to treat them all as if they are real. So 5th hr we had to keep our 5th graders in the gym and not let them out to use the bathroom or get a drink. They just played dodgeball and we did another skill test. They loved that they had an extended PE period and at the end thought the lock down was just a test (as we have to practice lock downs these days like we do fire drills).

In the end, the dogs deemed the building safe and they actually caught the kid who wrote the threat. See, middle schoolers aren't real smart! After explaining to the kids that there wasn't an intruder with a gun in the building and yes, there were bomb sniffing dogs in the building, they all went home.

I'm not sure what will happen to the kid but it made for an interesting afternoon.