Life at Possibility Manor

First Awards Assembly

2011-09-30T14:38:00.000-04:00

One of the cornerstones of Crossroads Charter Academy is to highlight student academic and character achievements with a monthly awards ceremony. During this ceremony, students receive awards recognizing students' abilities to reach academic benchmarks. The reading benchmark/goal for kindergarten is to read 20 books a month (or 20 chapters in a month, for those of us that are into the chapter book realm--thank you Magic Tree House series). We have no trouble reading 20 books a month in our house--it's going to be more of a challenge to see if Mom and Dad are diligent enough to fill out the sheet. Here is a picture of Violet receiving her first kindergarten award:

There were a few tears as she left when she realized that she didn't receive the character award for respect and responsibility, but overall she's learning slowly that life isn't fair, and you don't get a prize for everything. Her teacher is fantastic in explaining that just because you don't receive the award, doesn't mean that you don't exhibit that trait, but it is hard for a 5 year old to understand! Next month's award is for diligence, so we'll have to make sure we're working on that at home as well.

It's hard to believe that the first month of kindergarten is gone! It has been full of fun and exciting things--new schedule, new friends, new activities, field trips, and so much more! If this is how fast a month goes, it's going to be kindergarten graduation time way too soon!

Violet goes to Kindergarten!

2011-09-06T15:14:00.000-04:00

I will need to rewind and post about our summer, but today marks the beginning of a new era at Possibility Manor--Violet is in Kindergarten. Here are a few pictures from this morning:

Some pictures

2011-04-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

Miles decided to imitate being a baby while in Iowa--he loved Lily's rocker and her abandoned pacifier.

Violet all dressed up for spring picture day...Isn't she beautiful (and so grown up???)

Miles is having difficulty sleeping through the night in his own bed again--this is where he finally fell asleep at 4:30AM--with company. :)

The Talsma Clan, April 2011

Update on Violet

2011-04-05T15:47:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, Violet had her yearly appointment with the cardiologist. For those of you that may have not been following the blog over the last year or so, you can read about the journey to this point here

Since, we were tagging a trip to Iowa after the appointment Friday afternoon, we left our house in a little bit of a rush--and of course, Arby's cannot be fast when you need them to be. But, we made it down to Grand Rapids and the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. (Can I say wow--such a great place.) The cardiology department is on the 10th floor, and all the exam rooms are on the outside of the building, giving you a great view of the city while you wait. Both kids enjoyed standing in the wells of the windows to look around.

The appointment went very smoothly; by now, Violet is a pro at having the electrocardiogram and the ultrasound of her heart, and I am just amazed at how kid friendly they have been able to make everything.

The good news is that Violet's condition hasn't worsened. Her heart is growing with her, and the enlargement from blood flow is growing in proportion to the natural growth of her heart. Since we have not noticed any adverse health conditions, the cardiologist strongly encouraged us to wait on the surgery; however, he also encouraged us to get a second opinion if we wanted more information. The main reason for delaying the surgery in his eyes was--if, by chance, they get in there and are unable to fix it properly or at all, replacement of the valve would need to happen, and that brings a whole other realm of side-effects and long-term lifestyle changes. It also would mean that if it was done too early, the procedure would have to be done again because an adult valve does not fit in a child's body.

So, again we sit and wait. In some ways the good news was discouraging for me because it still does not give us an answer. Part of me just wishes we could go in and get the surgery over and done with. But, another part of me hopes that maybe we can avoid the surgery all together. The possibility of that is slim to none, but the cardiologist also told us that he has patients that have gone 15 years without getting to the point of necessary surgery.

The one downer of the visit was that the cardiologist did forewarn us that until the surgery is completed, that he would probably restrict her from many sports (basketball, track and field, soccer, etc.). At this point, Violet has shown more interest in dance than any other sport, so this forewarning may be a mute point, but Ben and I are fairly athletic and sport driven, and the idea of our children not being able to physically participate is a little hard to swallow. Youth sports are not of concern because of the casual/everyone participates philosophy, but upper elementary/middle school/varsity would be of concern.

All in all, we are getting a very large lesson in patience and relinquishing control. We love our daughter and she brings so much joy to our lives and the lives of many other people. And although it may not be the journey we had envisioned, it is a wonderful journey in and of itself.

Thanks again to all of you who keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We ccovet them immensely and will continue to keep you informed/updated.

The big news....

2011-03-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

VIOLET CAN READ!

I had really hoped to catch the big news on video, but a big 4-year old will got in the way. :)

Hopefully she'll become a little more comfortable (our little perfectionist does not like to read books if she doesn't know she's going to read all the words correctly) and we'll be able to capture her reading very soon.

Christmas in Iowa

2011-02-19T15:25:00.000-05:00

I had a few questions about the absence of pictures from Christmas #3 and Christmas #4 in the slide show. Truth is, we left our camera at Christmas #2, and so relied on Grandma Fynaardt's camera to record moments of Christmas's 3 & 4. To prevent having to send multiple emails, and/or explain to my mom how to get the pictures to me, we just uploaded everything to Shutterfly the last evening we were in Iowa. Those of you who use Shutterfly know it's wonderful for storing and printing photos, but not so wonderful for getting photos off their site onto your computer. But, I did want to show everyone that we had some fun in Iowa while we were there. Enjoy!

Photo slideshow created with Smilebox

What we've been up to

2011-02-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

I believe I piqued everyone's curiosity with my last post, but you'll have to wait a little longer for the biggest news that's occurred in the Talsma household. (no, I'm not pregnant). For now, you'll have to live with the knowledge that we've been enjoying life, and staying VERY busy. Miles is entering into that super-fun (yet exasperating) period of constant exploration and disaster making and Violet continues to amaze us as she grows. Enjoy this slide show of some pictures of some events since the last post, and stay tuned for more exciting news from Possibility Manor.

Make a photo slideshow

Still here

2011-02-12T18:33:00.000-05:00

Yes, we are still here. And there have been things happening. Specific update to come.....

Our little man....

2010-10-29T13:29:00.000-04:00

From Baby...

...to little man

Violet's First Day of School

2010-09-13T11:04:00.000-04:00

Today marked the start of pre-school for our big girl. She was VERY excited, and managed to hold off tears until I was just ready to leave--and I think it was more of a domino effect of other kids crying than it was her actually not wanting to be there. I got word that the tears had stopped very shortly after I had left.

This year of pre-school is kind of a testing of the waters for us. With a September birthday, Violet falls on the cut-off date of many states for kindergarten eligibility. Michigan has a tremendously late cut-date (Dec. 1) so Violet would make that with no problem next year, but since Ben and I are both teachers, we know what a big difference 4 months can make in a 5 year old. So, we'll see. We have no doubts that academically she will be ready, but we want to make sure that socially she's not always trying to keep up. So, we'll see how things go, and let the guidance of our knowledgeable pre-school teacher help us make that decision next spring.

We are very happy with the pre-school we have selected. It's a little inconvenient, but feel very comfortable leaving Violet in this teacher's hands. It also helps that they will be transporting her to her daycare after pre-school is over, which allows me to put in a full day of work during normal hours and not having to make up hours throughout the week.

Here are some pictures of Violet as she headed off to her first day of school--can't believe we're already marking the beginning of having school-age children!

Birthday

2010-09-07T09:07:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIOLET DAWN!

It is hard to believe that FOUR years ago today, you made your daddy and me parents. We love your smiles, your creativity, your goofy jokes, your penchant for doing things your way, and your unconditional love. We thank God every day for giving us a wonderful daughter. We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

Love you lots Big Girl!
Mommy and Daddy

Happy First Birthday!

2010-07-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY MILES ELIOT!

We can't believe it's already been a year, yet it's hard to imagine life without you. You bring so much to our lives--including a lot of mischief making! We love your dancing, your singing, your love for all things outdoors, and most of the time, we love your penchant for making trouble. We look forward to many, many more years as you grow up to be a boy and a young man. It will be interesting, I am sure!

Love you tons and tons, big guy!
Mommy, Daddy, and Violet

Chuckle Bear

2010-06-10T10:33:00.000-04:00

Biggby Coffee recently held a competition for its customers to create and name a new drink to help celebrate their 15th birthday. Out of 7500+ entries, they selected 5 for the final round--and one of them is mine!

To win the competition, Biggby has rolled these beverages out, and set up an online poll. The drink that has the most votes and orders in combination, will win. The creator gets their drink on the menu, as well as an I-pad or I-touch!

So, if you wouldn't mind, please head to www.biggbybob.com and cast your vote for the "Chuckle Bear" by June 23. If you happen to live near a Biggby, head in faithfully over the next few weeks and try one for yourself!

Thanks!

11 months!

2010-06-02T11:19:00.000-04:00

Happy 11 months, Miles! Can't believe you're that big already--and that it has almost been a year since I was frantically completing my responsibilities at school in case you came early! We all know how that turned out--and know now that was the only time you were going to be slow! Now we spend all our time trying to catch up and keep you out of trouble.

We love you!

Violet in the Violets

2010-04-19T09:29:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it was about the winter/spring weather, but the violets are in great abundance. So, we enjoyed the lovely 70 degree weather and took some pictures of our Violet in creation's violets. We are definitely in the age of asserting our independence; I actually tried to take some pictures of her in the violets with her Easter dress on Easter, but she would have NOTHING to do with it! On this day, though, it was like I had a little model. Oh the joys! I also included the pictures from years' past, just so you can see how much she's grown!

Violet 2007

Violet 2008

Violet 2009

Violet's Update

2010-04-07T13:49:00.002-04:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who has kept Violet and us in your prayers the last few days, and the last few months. We truly appreciate it all, and it makes it much easier knowing that so many people care.

To catch everyone up, in September we were referred to a cardiologist by our family doctor due to him hearing a murmur at Violet's 3 year check up. Many children have murmurs, so we weren't overly concerned; however, the cardiologist did find that Violet had a cleft mitral valve, which was causing moderate leakage, which in time, could cause significant heart enlargement. In October, we were told to come back in 6 months, which would allow the cardiologist to determine whether the leakage was steady, or progressively getting worse.

So, that leads us up to yesterday (April 6). We returned to the cardiologist, and Violet went through another EKG and had an ultrasound done of her heart. Following the procedures, we had another consult with the cardiologist.

The news is bittersweet--good in the fact that Violet's conditions haven't deteriorated, but they are still there. Medically speaking, there is very little chance that Violet's condition will heal itself, so surgery is still on the horizon. Also, there are no trials/tests/etc. for repairing this condition in other ways--and the cardiologist does not see any major advances in the near future.

As for the timing of the surgery, the cardiologist does not see any rush to do it, however, he understands that some parents don't like living with the knowledge of an impending surgery. So we spent much of the consult discussing the pros and cons of postponing surgery, or scheduling a consult with the surgeon to have surgery sooner. Probably the most difficult part of the process right now is that there are no major benefits or detriments to doing or postponing the surgery.

We now, as parents, are discussing and trying to make decisions as to what track to follow over the next few years. Do we go ahead and have the surgery, knowing that once finished, there's a 75% chance that Violet would not have to have any other procedures? Or do we wait another year for another check-up, and see what's happening, knowing that short of a miracle, surgery is in her future no matter what?

Thanks so much for all your support, and we continue to appreciate your continued prayers as we search for guidance to make these decisions.

Charissa, Ben, Violet and Miles

Another long overdue update

2010-03-06T09:06:00.008-05:00

No one who knows our schedule should be surprised that our blog posts are very infrequent. Part of it is sheer busyness, but most of it is probably due to a desire to spend the little time we have at home playing with our two wonderful children! Both Ben and I are entering the insanely busy portion of the school year, so our chances to just sit around and be a family are few and far between!

So, news worthy of updates:

We spent a long weekend in February with Grandpa Talsma and Grandma Jeannee, which was a lot of fun. We are looking forward to spending more quality time with this set of grandparents now that they have moved back stateside. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed their time with the kiddos as well--although their eardrums may need some time to recover from Miles vocalizations. :)
For all the Iowa people who read this blog and are still digging out from having more snow than we do--we are enjoying a week of 40 and 50 degree weather, and have lawn in our backyard. The downside is that we only got 4 snowdays this year, so I'm still hoping that we have a good spring ice/snow storm yet. You get used to averaging 8-10 snow days a year--4 is just not enough.
Miles had his 6 month appointment in late January (so he was really closer to 7 months) and is still on track to be the next giant to grace this planet. He weighed in at 17 lbs., 10 oz., and was 28 in. long. Earlier this week, I stood him up by Violet's height chart on the wall, and he is even with her 1 year mark.
Having Miles around has made us realize that we were quite spoiled with Violet; EVERYTHING goes in his mouth from cheerios to paper to cat fur to flower girl petals--you name it, he's had it in his mouth. It has also made for some great stories that will be sure to come out on his graduation day or his first date, but I"ll save those for his baby book. He is quite the talker--there is never a quiet moment, and if there is, it usually means there's something in his mouth and we should hurry to get it out.
Miles is showing signs of wanting to scoot or crawl (and at that time we will be in big trouble)--but only if we're not looking. If we're around, he will let us know what he wants with some very loud expressions.
Violet is... AN EMERGING READER. I like to say she is reading, but we still have to sound out quite a few words, but she is blending in her head, and knows some words just by looking at them. We read a book together last night, where I read one page and she would read the next--that is a very very cool feeling, and one that is very difficult to describe.
We are currently planning on sending her to preschool to see how she does in a couple of different peer groups; with her birthday, she falls right on the cut off date for many states, so we have that difficult decision of do we send her early or sort of late. Michigan is one of those strange states that has a Dec. 1 cut off date, and as a former kindergarten teacher, I know how different a 4 year old is from a 5 year old at the beginning of the year. It made for some very interesting class mixes as well--you could have almost a two year age gap in one room. This particular preschool has told us that they would work with us to let Violet be in preschool this year, and if we decide we don't want to send her to kindergarten, that they would make sure she could have a different preschool experience the following year. From an academic standpoint, she's ready--that is not the difficult part of the equation. The difficulty lies mostly in which social peer group she would fit best in--one in which she's the youngest, or one in which she is the oldest. And part of me can't believe we're to this point in her life already.
Violet's 2nd appointment with the cardiologist is April 6. That has brought a new wave of anxiety and worry, so prayers would be coveted. We knew this appointment would happen, and we hope that after this appointment we will have some more concrete information. However, having it set has brought it back to the forefront of our thoughts.
Ben and I are still enjoying are positions at Crossroads. Ben is eagerly anticipating (and I am secretly dreading) opening day of track and field season on the 15th. It looks like the team should have a lot of talent, and he's hoping that it will also be large in numbers.
This is the crazy time of year in my position. I have been working on completing grant applications, meeting compliance deadlines, and attending more meetings on how to do things and what form follows what form than I care to. I'm also very tired of hearing, yes that does sound like a great thing for your students, but no you can't spend the government's money that way. Even though it's disappointing that Michigan did not qualify for the Race to the Top funds, I am secretly relieved as it means I won't have another book to read on how we can and cannot spend the money.

So, that's a quick update. I'm sure I"m missing something, but I'd rather get this posted and have to add then have this sitting in my draft posts for another week. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon!

A long overdue update

2009-12-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

I truly had hoped to make an entry for every event that occurred this fall; unfortunately that didn't happen. Part of it was because some of it was hard to write, and most of it is just due to the fact that time is precious, and playing and interacting with my daughter and son takes priority over keeping the blog up-to-date. That being said, I did want to summarize the last few months before we head off on our Christmas travels:

Violet's Updates:

at her 3 year well-child appointment, it was discovered that her heart murmur had re-appeared. After a visit with a pediatric cardiologist, it was determined that she has a cleft mitral valve, which is causing moderate leakage of blood back into her atrium. It is not causing her any significant health problems at the present time, but will probably require surgery sometime in the next two years. As you can imagine, we were shocked and stunned, and covet deeply any thoughts and prayers you can send our way. It is a common surgery, but we still are quite worried over the fact that our daughter will more than likely require major surgery before or during her kindergarten year.
is taking acrobat class at the local dance school. Ben and I realized over the summer that we needed to get Violet into an environment where she could learn how to take authority from people other than ourselves. She LOVES the class, and her teacher is phenomenal. I know I used to teach kindergarten, but it takes a special person to WILLINGLY teach a group of 12 3-4 year olds somersaults, cartwheels, crab walks, and the like!
has also started Children's Worship and Sunday School at our church. It really warms our hearts when Violet comes home and starts telling us about Jesus, Jonah, and all those other 'kid' Bible stories.
is really enjoying having her Uncle Nick as a babysitter. We know that Violet and Nick had a special bond, but I was a little concerned that the bond may strain a little when they're with each other every day, for many hours in a day! But, they both seem to be enjoying it just as much as the first few days...however, I will say that Nick's reaction to getting to leave for 2 weeks for Christmas was much different than Violet's! She really did not want to see him leave!
loves to talk about Santa coming, but will not go near him.
is, overall, a very good big sister. Now that Miles is playing with things a little more, it may be interesting to see how the sharing thing goes, but she does love him immensely, and will be his biggest defender--that is until he is bigger than she is and the roles reverse!

Miles update:

grows by the day, we believe. He is currently tipping the scales at 16.5 lbs. and is 27 inches long. That was early-mid November. He's got some chub, but he's pretty much just long. He's outpacing Violet by about 3-4 months. Finding clothes that are long enough for him that don't hang too loosely is becoming rather difficult!
loves food. Took him a couple of tries to figure it out, but once he did--he eats! For you new mommy's out there--at 5.5 months, he typically eats one container of Gerber 2 cereal/grain fruit mix at brunch, and then a container of veggies AND at least a 1/2 container of fruit at dinner. This is on top of his regular nursing schedule, although I can tell that at his dinner feeding he's not necessarily drinking as much. Of course, we have light days, but that's pretty much what we average!
loves toys that make noise. We have a variety of little things he can grip and shake and chew on to explore, but if we give him one that doesn't rattle, he literally gives us a dirty look.
loves to watch our cat--thinks he's the funniest thing ever!
loves to watch his big sister--thinks she's the funniest thing ever!
has rolled over front to back once. He's not a big fan of tummy time (neither was Violet) so both of them are late rollers. I figure that just gives us more time to make sure everything is out of the way that needs to be out of the way!

Ben & I update:
Things happen to us too, I guess: I am still working full time and enjoying my job. It has it's ups and downs as all do. My schedule is nice in the fact that I can come home for lunch most days and have 40 minutes with the kiddos. I don't have to pump as much, AND it breaks up my day, which is nice. I'm also participating regularly with a praise team at church, and finding some time to do some scrap-booking. I've also managed to read a few books for leisure!
Ben is still teaching 2nd grade, and has a year full of anecdotes that I'm sure he could share. His cross-country season had it's ups and downs, and I enjoyed the one week when cross-country ended and track and field practice hadn't begun yet... I believe that he will be looking into taking another grad class either in the spring or summer.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I hope that we do a little better job posting in 2010 than we did in 2009! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and blessed New Year!

Until then,
Charissa

Miles' Baptism

2009-10-19T09:18:00.005-04:00

Taking our vows and the baptism.

On September 6, we presented our son Miles to be baptized. We were fortunate to have many family members in attendance to witness the dedication of Miles as a child of God. It was a happy time, and we enjoyed being able to spend some additional time with our extended family without the craziness of the birthday party! It was somewhat of a comical event; Violet, who normally sits very well during the service, was very impatient for the baptism to occur, and so was telling us to "Just Do It", prior to the ceremony. Then, when it was all done, she decided that it was enough church for one day, and during the sermon declared that, "Baptism is done, let's go home." Of course, there is no thing as a 3 year old whisper!

Family Picture after the service.
Violet did not want to be a part of it.

Miles and his Great-Grandpa Fynaardt

Violet's Birthday

2009-10-19T08:50:00.007-04:00

Violet's 3rd birthday party!

Yes, we have been slacking in our blog posts; however, as always, we have been tremendously busy. Add to that some not so great news, and you have the perfect recipe for no blogging!

So rather than trying to tackle everything all at once, I thought I'd just try to tackle the big events.

We celebrated Violet's birthday a couple days early over the holiday (Labor Day) weekend. We combined it with Miles' baptism, which allowed some of Violet's extended family (Great-Grandpa and Grandma Fynaardt, Great Auntie Alice and cousin Lydia) to join her to celebrate three years.

I'm finding that birthdays get progressively more difficult; or that the 3 year birthday is just one of those birthdays where no major new skills come into play, so the realm of toys/presents is a bit smaller. Ben and I struggled with ideas for her; she had her heart set on getting one of those motorized cars, but we said no. One, we live on a very busy street, and two, we just don't have the space. That being said, Violet still managed to rake in quite the collection of new things--tools, coloring books, a talking view finder (from the Discovery channel, which is actually quite cool), more my little ponies, a kite, and some other things that aren't immediately coming to mind. But perhaps the most exciting present came courtesy of her Grandpa Fynaardt--our back yard is now the proud owner of a TIRE SWING! This was also something that Violet has wanted for a while, and it has been a nice source of entertainment for our live in babysitter--Uncle Nick.

Here are a few pictures from the big event; the theme was My Little Ponies--as much as I tried to prevent Violet from loving the color pink, it seems to have backfired!

Swinging on the Tire Swing!

Presents, Presents, Presents!

VIOLET'S THREE!

2009-09-07T09:28:00.003-04:00

Three years ago today, at 1:45 AM, Violet Dawn Talsma entered our family. We can't believe it's gone that fast!

We love you Violet!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Miles at 8 weeks

2009-08-28T19:37:00.002-04:00

We had Miles two-month appointment today (officially, he's 8 weeks; he'll be 2 months next Wednesday) so I thought I would update the stats:

Weight: 12 lbs. 9 oz.
Height: 24 inches
Circ.: 15 cm

These put him smack dab at the 75th percentile. What does Miles do? It's really quite amazing. I knew with Violet that things went quickly, but with Miles things seem to be going even faster. He babbles a LOT and has become quite the smiler and laugher, especially at his sister. His 'happy' time is usually in the morning right after he eats, and he likes to see what's going on. He, like his sister, does not like tummy time at all, but still has great head control and will be ready for the bumbo seat in no time. He also likes to use his head to tell us where he wants to be--we've had some amazing catches as he decides to fling it one way or another. I'll have to post pictures later.

Violet has her 3 YEAR! appointment soon--I can't believe she's going to be 3 in a little over a week!

Pictures are up!

2009-07-30T10:25:00.003-04:00

The photo albums have been updated and are now ready to view on the kids' websites. If you do not know the password, leave a comment and I'll send it to you--I'm a little leary of having the pictures just out in the world for anyone to see!

Enjoy!

Miles' pictures

Violet's pictures

Early Miles

2009-07-09T22:04:00.002-04:00

Miles is proving to be a very convenient baby; he eats well and sleeps even better. He is healthy in every way, shape, and form, and is spending a little more time each day awake, alert, and generally pleased.

Violet has been greatly enjoying having Grandma with the Tractors up; it's especially nice that the fair is in town this week, and they get to make regular visits. This evening, she rode the Ferris Wheel, the Tilt-a-Whirl, the Berry-Go-Round, the Merry-Go-Round (also called a Carousel), and a tiny little horse (pictures to follow). She's enjoying an elephant ear even as we speak.

Charissa is recovering nicely; she walked about a mile today at a reasonably brisk pace, and lived to tell the tale. She and Grandma took the new double stroller--thanks D & J--and it worked wonderfully.

The Church has been providing meals, so we've been eating like kings and queens--thank you to any PM followers who also have volunteered your culinary talents!

I just submitted my final paper for my grad class--it was an enjoyable and intriguing two weeks, but I'm glad to be done. Now, aside from fathering, I'm staying busy getting the cross team ready for the season, and getting plenty of running and swimming in myself. I'm tentatively planning to run the Grand Rapids half-marathon in October.

Submitted by: Ben

Announcing the Arrival of...

2009-07-05T20:49:00.004-04:00

Miles Eliot Talsma!!!

Miles entered the world at 2:19pm on Thursday, July 2. He weighed a whopping 9lbs., 7 oz. and was 22 in. long. He has the same dark blue eyes Violet had when she was born, but a dusting of dark hair. Right now he doesn't do much but sleep, eat, and snuggle, but that's okay. I'll post more details when I've had a chance to really reflect on the whole experience. It was not an easy delivery, but I'm slowly making my recovery, and feeling pretty well.

I'll leave with one of my favorite pictures thus far. We're happy to have you in our family, Miles!

Arrival Imminent

2009-06-30T10:36:00.003-04:00

A brief update for those of you who do not follow Ben or I's facebook page: barring his decision to come on his own terms, baby "Sammy" will make his arrival sometime on July 2. I will be going in to be induced at 7 AM that morning, and we'll see how it goes from there. The doctor has prepped me for the possibility of a C-section, as Violet had a hard time getting her shoulders out, but reassured me that really, it's anybody's guess as to how well this guy will come out. Of course, we're expecting that this baby is considerably larger (the doctor threw around the 10 lb. lingo yesterday) but you still never know. Many people have told me that their bigger babies were actually easier to deliver. We shall see!

Anyway, it's nice to finally have a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm a little disappointed that I'm not there today having the baby, but the birthing center was full! And really, after 42 weeks, what's a couple more days?????

Anticipating the Arrival

2009-06-07T18:21:00.003-04:00

For those of you that keep an eye on the baby counter on our blog, I thought I'd give you a little update. The date used on our countdown thing is our 'original' due date of June 15, which held up to around our 20 week ultrasound. That, however, dated baby closer to June 27, which is now the due date the doctor is using. So, depending on which one you pick, I either have 8 or 20 days to go.

To top this off, doctor doesn't believe that I will go early or on the due date--he anticipates me being late--possibly into July (that seems impossible, if you catch my drift). Not something you tell a 9-month pregnant woman who is already measuring 40cm at her official 36 week appointment, feels like she's carrying a toddler and not a baby, and who, being pregnant in September and through the entire school year, already feels like she's been pregnant for forever.

So, keep us in your thoughts the next couple of weeks--we're eagerly anticipating the arrival of this little guy, and I'm about done being pregnant. This pregnancy hasn't been the easiest to begin with, and the thought of going almost a month longer than originally anticipated, makes it even more challenging. We keep telling ourselves that it doesn't matter when he comes, as long as he is healthy, but it still is challenging--especially when you're school teachers and July signals half your summer is over already!

Alright...enough whining...but to put it in Violet's words: Baby "Sammy"--it's time to come out! I want to be a big sister!

Tulip Time in Pella

2009-05-18T20:21:00.004-04:00

People have asked me why I have the desire to travel back to Iowa for Tulip Time, when there's a well-renowned festival right in Holland, MI. I say because they're completely different--even though they celebrate essentially the same thing--great, fatty Dutch food and tulips. The big difference is the one in Michigan is only 2 hours from the house, while the Iowa one is 8...on a good day.

And so begins our adventure to Tulip Time in Pella. I had been toying with the idea of going for a while; I had always wanted to take Violet back before we had more kids, and well, this was the last year that would be possible. And, I was having one of those stir-crazy moments where I had to just get away. Ben is super busy with track, and if I went, then grandma and grandpa could entertain Violet, and I could get some rest and relaxation. Tuesday, I decided to pull the trigger, and Thursday morning we left Big Rapids at 7:30 AM EDT.

I'd done the trip this way before; with a early awake time, Violet takes a relatively early nap, usually allowing me to get through Chicago before she wakes up and we need to take a break. The trip was going well; we'd had one potty break in Holland, and although Violet didn't fall asleep, she was riding very well and keeping herself entertained. We got to Chicago proper without much of a hitch...and then the fun began.

First, there was an accident at the Indiana/Illinois border. For those of you familiar with I-80/94/I-294 in the Chicago area, you know this is not the best place to have an accident. Fortunately, the construction of the last five years has helped congestion quite a bit; it slowed us down considerably, but we were never 'stopped' and waiting. And, Violet was having a ball at watching all the cars zoom by. No big deal; got through it and as soon as we were past, traffic pace picked up to normal. I breathed a sigh of relief...and then...

...came the I-80/I-294 toll booth. Now, the great minds that compose the construction crews of Illinois must have decided that the Thursday before the Mother's Day weeked would be the best time to close down not one, but TWO (out of 3) anes of I-80 about a mile past the toll booth. Traffic was backed up to two miles PRIOR to even reaching the toll booth--I didn't time it but I'm pretty sure, based on our total travel time, which I will reveal later, that we spent 2+ hours going 4 miles to go through and past the toll booth. I must say, thank goodness for freight traffic, (even though I was tired of breathing all the fumes) because I was able to entertain Violet by looking for different colors of semi-trucks. It is important to note, that during this two hour trek of 4 miles, the air conditioning was not keep up, so I rolled down my window to try to avoid having the car overheat.

So, finally, we make it through the toll booth, squeeze through the one lane of traffic (seriously, it was for about 500ft to patch holes with that granular black stuff--it couldn't be done at a time other than in the middle of the day??), and as I went to roll up my window...it wouldn't go. Ever. For the rest of the trip (about 4 hours) I got to drive down the interstate with my window rolled down. All the way. And, did you know it was pop-up thunderstorm season in Illinois and Iowa? Yes. Through two of them. With the window down.

Finally, after 11 hours, we rolled into my parent's house in Iowa. I must say, Violet, though, was a trooper. When I noticed we were approaching a thunderstorm, I pulled off, threw her her coat and told her to hold it over her head and in front of her so she would get wet. She thought that was one of the funniest games ever. Her reward--a Fisher-Price doctor kit. A two year old that loves to tell the story of the 11 hour trip to Iowa with a giggle, no fits, and not an accident until we were only an hour away from our destination (and that was more my fault) deserves a little bribe.

So, was Tulip Time worth all that. Yes. It was nice to be home for spring planting and seeing the plains of Iowa in that time of the growing cycle was very rewarding. I don't think I've been home in May since I graduated from college, so it was time. It was also fun to eat some of the good food that I remember from my high school days, and see some old friends--even running into my high school track coach, who's daughter I baby sat is now a junior in high school.

And, these pictures really tell the story of Tulip Time. Violet is actually in my sister's Dutch costume; I would've had a bigger one that matched. There's nothing like bringing a blond haired, blue-eyed girl to Pella and sticking her in a Dutch costume...

Smelling the tulips..thank goodness she didn't pick one; that's a $500 fine!

She's not smiling, but this is just such a classic picture...

Our return trip was much more uneventful...thank goodness. I have more pictures, but these are the ones that are currently accessible on the computer. All she needs now is a pair of wooden shoes...

Finally...an update

2009-04-27T18:51:00.008-04:00

So, I think we have earned the title of terrible bloggers. It's not that we haven't had things to blog about--it's a matter of finding time to do it. So, here are a few highlights of the last few months:

February:

School continued, and the plethora of snow days ended.
Ben began planning for the beginning of track and field season, and kept plugging away with the 2nd grade curriculum
Charissa began planning for 'track widow' season, and her curriculum job became a lot busier with the beginning of state education grant/funding application season. Trying to make sense of the education 'stimulus' package also takes up a lot of her time, as well as dealing with being increasingly more pregnant and tired
Violet continued to be Violet--amazing us more and more everyday--and visibly becoming a little girl, and not a 'big baby'.

March:

A few glimpses of spring appeared, but generally we were reminded that 'spring' does not really come to northern Michigan until AT LEAST April
Track season started on March 9, and Ben is very excited about the potential of his athletes--especially on the boys' side.
Charissa continues to plug away in solving what exactly the state wants schools to spend grant money on
Work begins on Violet's big girl room in preparation for the arrival of 'Baby Sammy' (Violet's name for the baby, not necessarily the chosen name). This results in the downstairs of our house looking like a storage facility, as everything in that room must find a new place. Also results in us probably using more than our fair share of landfill space (but we did try to repurpose and recycle as much as we could). No one wants old plaster, though. It is currently a shell of a room, patiently waiting for either the planting in Iowa to be finished, or for a week of rainy weather which prevents Charissa's dad from being in the field (ideally, the former, rather than the latter).
Violet began swimming lessons at Ferris State University. These lessons are a little more intense than the summer program at the community pool, but after the first couple of lessons, our little fish reappears. This makes our weeks tremendously busy as lessons are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings--many weeks we are not home in the evening until Friday.

April

Spring break is a welcome week of respite from the day-to-day efforts of teaching; however, it is replaced by MAJOR cleaning of the house. By the end of the week, the downstairs no longer resembled a warehouse of odds and ends, and Charissa's scrap-booking stuff was organized into a closet. The weather even cooperated towards the end of the week, showing us that winter is NOT eternal in Michigan. Easter found us not going to any organized egg-hunts, but having our own in our backyard.
Track season is going strong, and Ben's athlete's post some great early season performances. For the most part, weather is cooperating, and the team and Track Force One (the track booster club) pull off a successful pancake breakfast. Unfortunately, the accompanying club meet is cut short by a monsoon...
Grant proposals and state funding applications are coming together, and planning for next year has begun. Charissa would prefer knowing a little more concretely what her job is going to be next year, but has chosen not to devote too much worry to that quite yet. She is perpetually exhausted, and has a hard time believing it's still 6-8 weeks before Baby Boy Talsma makes his appearance.
Violet continues to flourish at swimming lessons--paddling to the deep end and back with the assistance of the floaty barbell on her own (25 meters), and willingly and under her own power, going under the water. Her bravery and comfort with the water makes mom and dad proud, yet a little concerned, as we've had multiple occurrences where Violet decides it's time to 'swim' and Mom and Dad weren't quite ready. We'll have to keep a very close eye on her at the beach this summer. She has also started 'reading' to her stuffed animals (pointing to the words and everything) and her favorite 'activity' right now is telling us she has to go to a meeting, and that she'll be back in a "few minutes". Hmm...wonder where she got that....

Well, that takes us pretty much to the present. Hopefully, as things begin 'winding down' for the year, we'll be able to post more frequently. The good news is, that if we haven't posted, there hasn't been anything major to share--just the regular old stuff. But, it's the regular old stuff that makes life interesting and worth it all. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures, and I'll post more later; this afternoon, I was able to get the annual Violet in the violet's picture...and it struck me today just how much of a girl Violet is--she's really not my 'baby' anymore.

Violet 2007

Violet 2008

Violet 2009

He's a Boy!

2009-01-31T17:05:00.002-05:00

See with what frequency the blog is updated?

We had our ultrasound on Wednesday, and were able to determine quite clearly that the newest Talsma will be a boy! Finally, some balance around here. While I have suggested the name Estevanico, Charissa has given it a veto.

At Long Last

2009-01-31T16:28:00.004-05:00

Life at Possibility Manor has not been nearly as dormant as "Life at Possibility Manor". We embarked on and returned from our annual Christmas Odyssey, a description of which will constitute the bulk of this particular post. In addition, we've gotten started with the 2009 portion of the 2008-2009 school year, and Violet has continued to grow up at breakneck speed. Therefore, we owe you an update (full disclosure: I am not the regular blog author. Charissa is drawing with Violet, and so I--Ben Talsma--am filling in).

We rearranged our Christmas voyage slightly this year, beginning in Muskegon so that Alex could make it back to California in time for the wild and crazy New Year's parties. We continued our tradition of pitching twenty bucks into a pool from which we could shop for each other's presents--this year, we opted to shop at Target. I got a very nice wicking shirt. Charissa got wild and crazy socks. We played a host of board games, most of which I won, and then struck off for Miracle Camp and the Extended Talsma Christmas.

If you're not a Miracle Camp regular, it would be instructive to know that there is a gym and a volleyball net, and many tables conducive to the play of card games of all varieties. There is also an adequate kitchen, and so the various family chefs all nicely contribute contributions that contribute nicely to our waistlines. As usual, a good time was had by most, although the brothers and I were soundly bested at Snerts, and Violet had a tendency to roll off the bed.

We went from Miracle Camp Christmas to Beach House Christmas. When we left Miracle Camp, the powdery snow had blown over some of the two-tracky backroads, so we had an adventurous time billowing through the drifts as we plowed our way back to the highway. Violet received several books aimed at postgraduate students, but returned the favor by drawing all over the wall. She certainly has a nose for trouble.

Yes, her nose is like a magnet for trouble.

In fact, you could call her old, Magnet Nose*.

Violet, Grandpa T, Grandma Jeannee, and Uncle Alex also made a trek to see the frozen lake and beach, and while there, built quite the snowman. Charissa, Uncle Nick and I decided to forgo the chilly walk, and instead entertained ourselves with some Wii golf, bowling, and tennis. Upon the return of the beach-goers, we again packed up the fan and made the trek to Iowa. Considering the plethora of snow and ice storms that pounded the Midwest, our trip was remarkably uneventful, however; on the night before Christmas, cars and mice stir alike.

We had an excellent time in Iowa, enjoying both the traditional Immediate Fynnaardt Christmas celebration and the Extended Fynaardt Christmas celebration at the local Comfort Inn, where we tested the capacity of the indoor pool. Charissa received a bike to replace the one that is still on the lamb, and I got a visual encyclopedia for students that is still the hottest item in class. Sully CRC does a nice job with their Christmas service and concludes with "The Hallelujah Chorus", as every Christmas service ought.

We took off on our return trip to Michigan looking forward to the Sikkenga Christmas, but on our way back we received word that Grandma Marilyn had passed away. She had been very ill for quite some time, but it was still something of a shock, and we were very disappointed that we had not been able to see her recently. After attending the visitation, we were struck by some terrible sort of bug, and were not able to attend the funeral, or the Sikkenga Christmas. All in all, it was a rather unfortunate end to the vacation.

However, we recovered in time to go back to school. Violet is, in general, enjoying her baby sitter's, although she has recently gone through a spell of very two-ish behavior both there and at home. Charissa continues to enjoy her new job, and I continue to have a very remarkable class. In response to student curiosity, we recently conducted an experiment on whether your stomach would explode if you drank Diet Coke and ate Mentos. Only one of the student's stomachs exploded**.

Violet's newest gig is going around and offering her hand and saying, "I'm Violet Dawn Talsmo. Pleased to meet you. Shake hands please." She is also really enjoying her new whiteboard, a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Fynaardt, and can write her name quite well, as long as you don't worry about whether the letters go from left to right.

We are nicely settled back in, just finished a fairly thorough cleaning of the house today, and should be able to post more frequently now.

*This is an inside joke, obviously. And you really should buy "The New Yorker" board game.

**Actually, we used a dummy stomach. And no matter the combination of saliva, stomach acid, and the chewing of the Mento means that your stomach is quite safe.

Delay in Posting

2009-01-07T16:57:00.002-05:00

My apologies for the delay in posting about our Christmas travels. The end of our Christmas vacation was marred by a terrible illness to Ben & Violet, and the death of Ben's grandma Sikkenga. Throw in the start of school, and hopefully you can understand our delay in posting.

That being said, other than a day of intensive stomach illness by me (which I'm still not sure wasn't connected more to pregnancy and cleaning up from the other two) I seem to have avoided whatever bug it was. (Everyone knock on wood now please!)

Flour girl

2008-12-09T20:37:00.009-05:00

No, it's not a typo. We knew that Violet loved the sand, play-doh, snow, and any other material that allows her to get her hands in it and manipulate it, and this week, it was flour. The first time it was innocent; Ben and she were making the first batch of Christmas cookies, and since I hadn't done the weekend vacuuming yet, I really didn't care how big of a mess they made. Besides, the bigger the mess, the better the memory, right? They had a blast, and Violet is actually quite the cookie maker--rolling out the dough and everything. Here's a few pictures from the 'planned' event:

Then, Sunday afternoon came. We had gotten everything cleaned up and put away, but we had left the flour canister in the middle of the kitchen table--far enough out of reach that I really didn't think anything of it. I was doing work on the computer, and I remember thinking, it's awfully quiet, but that usually means Violets in her book nook reading stories to herself, so I finished my work, only to come out to this:

Yes, Violet had managed to climb up on the table, quietly open the flour canister, and proceed to empty probably a pounds worth of flour onto the table and herself. She, in her words, was making her own cookies. These pictures are after I had discovered her and somewhat reprimanded her, so the joy on her face doesn't show. It was one of those moments where, as a Mom, I was SO frustrated because it was a BIG mess, but had a very difficult time not laughing and playing in it with her. Our memories from 2008---Violet's 2 renditions of a flower/flour girl!

Oh, and for all you moms reading this that might be expecting another little one, here's a link to a contest to win a free baby carrier
http://www.alongfortheride.biz/Win-a-Free-Organic-Embroidered-Ergo-Baby-Carrier-s/49.htm

Big Sister News

2008-11-17T18:21:00.002-05:00

So, at the end of the last post, I mentioned that there was more news to share. Well, as you can see by the title of this post, and Violet's shirt, this is good news! We are getting ready to welcome baby #2 into the Talsma household! This baby's estimated arrival date is June 15, just before my birthday, and just (hopefully) after school is out for the summer. We had our first doctor's appointment last week, and he said that everything looked good, so we decided to go ahead and share the news with our extended family of blog followers.

Things are going alright for me; I seem to have a bigger case of morning sickness this time that is not just limited to the morning, and I'm tired, but that is to be expected. Violet is being a wonderful big sister--reading books to the baby and saying good morning to him/her every morning by talking and waving. It is the cutest thing! It was also so sweet this morning--it was not a good morning food wise for me, and she came up to my belly and told the baby to stop making mommy's tummy feel sick, and to "please be nice to my mommy".

By the way, we found out about this in the midst of all our challenges the last month. It was both a bright spot, and made the whole financial issue that much bigger. But, we are truly excited to be in the process of having another baby, and I am anxiously awaiting the end of the next couple of weeks to hopefully kick this morning sickness!

Time to catch up

2008-11-15T17:50:00.007-05:00

It has been a long while since I've posted, and my sincere apologies for that. After we got all of our issues taken care of, we just became very busy, and the blog posts got put to the back burner. So, what has been happening since October 21--

Halloween:
This year, Violet wanted to be Winnie-the-Pooh. We thought for sure we were going to have a little monkey this year, given her obsession with Curious George, but that was not the case. She was very adamant about being Winnie the Pooh, so that is what she was. Violet got to go Trick-or Treating twice--once a week early in the Big Rapids Fall Festival/Costume parade, and once on Halloween night.

Violet ready to march in the parade--
with M&M's of course!

The parade was a bit of a joke--it was Big Rapids 1st year of doing it, and it could have been done better, but I'm not volunteering! It was more designed for people wanting to dress up their dogs, and older kids, and not real appropriate for the under 4 set. Violet, of course, wanted to do everything that the big kids were doing, and had a very hard time understanding why I wouldn't let her try to climb on the unsupervised inflatables that they had in the middle of the street. I did eventually let her climb through the one that was supposed to be meant for littler people, but since it was misty, the rubber was wet and slick, and she couldn't climb up the stairs inside it! And, consequently, got stuck. One of my dear kindergarten students tried her best to help her, but I ended up having to go through this thing and hoist her up and out. She had much more fun in the trampoline one, until some crazy kid decided to try to jump clear across the thing and land on her. Tough life lessons, I guess, but I was starting to get very annoyed at how little supervision was going on at this, so we decided to pack it up and go.

Violet going down the inflatable
big slide with a nice older girl willing
to help her up the steps!

Violet in the inflatable

trampoline, pre-accident

She had a blast trick-or-treating with her Daddy--I stayed home to pass out candy as we get a lot of school kids who would be disappointed if they didn't see at least one of us. I guess they went about 4 blocks down and back up before Violet decided that was enough. She walked the whole time, and Ben said she said Trick or Treat at every house and said thank-you. YAY!

Violet's 1st stop

On her way to get
more candy!

General Fall Fun:

Another thing we've been having a blast with is the abundance of leaves in our yard. Violet loves jumping in the leaves, and it's really unfortunate that we haven't had a lot of dry fall days. Despite that, we managed to have one good, warm Saturday afternoon that we got to spend outside raking a big pile of leaves for her to play in. Notice in this video how she briefly panics for a moment, but eventually gets herself out:

Another thing she did this fall was climb her first tree. Her father put the idea in her head by climbing up first, and she thought it was quite silly. But then she decided that she wanted to be like the letters in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and climb to the top of the coconut tree herself! Here is a picture of her and Daddy in the "coconut" tree:

I think that wraps up the fall/Halloween news pretty well. And, I'm at the limit of Violet being able to entertain herself in her playroom! More news to come!

Trials and Tribulations

2008-10-21T11:36:00.003-04:00

Do you ever feel some days that the world is out to get you and you just don't know how you're going to handle it all? That's kind of the point that Ben and I are at right now--the beginning of the school year started with some challenges, and they just keep coming.

So without feeling like a whiner, but coveting thoughts and prayers, here are some of the trials we have been given over the last few months. Some of them are both blessings and trials--but because of other circumstances, the trial seems bigger than the concurrent blessing!

~our furnace went on the kaput and is being replaced, which gave our finances a BIG hit
~our babysitter is taking a job at school (tomorrow) so we need a new babysitter NOW, which will probably be more expensive
~our bikes are still gone, which means we're driving the car everywhere=GAS
~my job is changing (good, but) which means I'm transitioning and really have no idea what it is all going to entail--next MONDAY (maybe); I was also reminded that I am a curriculum coordinator and NOT the curriculum director (semantics)

When I list them, there doesn't appear to be that many, but they all affect every area of our life. Not having a babysitter affects both our personal and professional life; not having a heater primarily affects our personal life, but it affects how much we can afford for other things--including things for our professional lives.

I keep telling myself that challenges make us stronger, but I'm having a hard time seeing that at this point in time. And, I know that there are a lot of people who are worse off than we are, and our blessings far outnumber our trials, but that doesn't make it easier.

So because I need a reminder of my blessings, here's a few of them that you can include in prayers as praises:

~we BOTH have jobs: no small feat in Michigan's economy
~we have a house, and are in no danger of losing it
~I have a beautiful daughter, who will probably adjust a lot better than I will, and a fantastic husband
~I have family that cares and is beside us all the way
~We live in a greater school community that is working with us to find a solution to the babysitting problem
~we will have heat tomorrow, (but that does mean we pay a gas bill) and it will be much more efficient than our last one.

I promise I will make a post about Violet soon--we got the funniest video of her yesterday.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers in advance!

Comments

2008-10-15T18:28:00.000-04:00

Not sure why the comments aren't appearing on the last post, so hopefully they'll appear on this one.

By the way, keep us in your thoughts through the next week as it is to get colder and we haven't gotten the new furnace installed yet! Thank goodness we have been blessed with lots of blankets!

New job & a trip

2008-10-14T20:12:00.010-04:00

Things have been pretty crazy around possibility manor the last few weeks. Some things have been good, some things not so good, but all a part of life! So, the not so good first--shortly after discovering our bikes missing, the weather decided to give us a sneak peak of winter...and we tried to turn on our furnace..and tried is the key word there. Long story short, the furnace that was somewhat 'economically' installed in our house prior to our purchase of it finally gave its last breath and we get to buy a new one. Where is the money tree when you need it? Fortunately, that was the last of the major 'bad' things to happen to us that week...sometimes when it rains it just seems to pour. Oh, and the thieves didn't just make out with our bikes...I also noticed later in the week that they had also stolen some frozen pizzas out of the freezer...College/teenage kids perhaps???

Now, on to the good news. I've been waiting to post until everything was official, but I was offered and did accept the position of Curriculum Director at our school. It's not an administrative position (usually it is at other schools) but I will work with teachers in developing and maintaining our curriculum, and schedule and suggest professional development activities. It gives me a great foot in the door and adds to my resume extensively, as Curriculum Directors are quite often administrative positions (at least Central Office) in other districts. I'm not too bummed about the non-administrative part; if I had the ability to hoist other powers that administrators can, it would probably mean that Ben would have to resign due to conflict of interests. So, it works out for the best. Because this position is a part-time position, and I wanted (and needed) to stay full time, I will continue teacher K and 1st grade music, and a days worth of computer teaching. I still have not officially started the role--it appears that they are going to wait until they hire the person that will replace me before moving me into the new role. I do have some sadness in leaving my elementary kids--especially the 2nd graders--but I will still be in the building, so I will get to see them! I'll keep you all posted with the new adventures, joys, and frustrations that this new job will no doubtingly entail.

My co-driver

The second bit of news for this post is that Violet and I took a trip to Iowa this past weekend. Chandra flew home from California and we spent 2 days doing wedding dress shopping. I had forgotten all that that entails, but we had lots and lots of fun. I took two days off work (Fri. & Mon.) so we wouldn't be rushed, and that enabled us to have a great Sunday with the Fynaardt family. Violet did fantastic--she had lots of fun laying on the stool that the brides stand on and Chandra, good aunt that she is, played right along pretending to step on her and cover her up. All the bridal stores we went to were VERY family friendly as well, which made the whole process that much easier. One even had toys! It was very encouraging to see the effort, and not have to worry too much about Violet disturbing or distracting the store! And, Chandra found some very beautiful dresses, but I think a decision is being held off for more shopping :). We also found that the stores had just been to market, which means the new designs will be coming in around Christmas, and since she is not getting married until next September/October, she has plenty of time!

I have some pictures from Iowa to share--Violet has gotten into Winnie-the-Pooh lately, and loves to play Pooh sticks. The farm has a nice little creek running through it, so we all got to walk down and play Pooh sticks with Rabbit and Tigger and Eeyore and Piglet, and Caisey-Daisy, G&G's new puppy. We didn't get Violet into the tractor or combine--she's still scared of big trucks and tractors for an actual ride, but we convinced her to wave from a quiet, not running tractor!

Violet and I in Uncle Eric's super smart tractor--
seriously it's more techno-advanced than I am!

Auntie Chandra and Violet in the grass by the creek.

Grandpa and Violet on the R.R. tracks.

Violet and Kasey-Daisy--best buds--
as long as Kasey wasn't too excited!

To close, here's the video of the tricycle race with Grandpa Fynaardt:

Downs and Ups

2008-09-30T16:58:00.004-04:00

The last few days have brought quite the roller coaster of emotions for us. We were actually having a really nice, relaxing weekend until Sunday, when we went out to the garage and discovered that our bicycles had been stolen sometime during the night/day. This included Violet's bicycle seat and helmet. It really isn't the value of the bike that upsets us so much (although we found that bikes aren't cheap), it just really makes you sick to your stomach that someone was in your garage and taking your stuff--mostly likely while you were sleeping. And, really, what kind of person steals a bike with an infants' seat on the back????

Fortunately, Violet doesn't completely comprehend the situation, and feels in her heart of hearts that the policewoman that took our report, is out scouring Big Rapids for our bicycles and she will bring them back. Oh, to have the faith of little ones....

To add to this misery, we came home from one of Violet's friends' birthday party and our computer had crashed. There was no choice but to set it back to factory settings, and when we first got it turned back on, I could not find any of Violet's pictures after her first birthday. I was already fried emotionally, so I turned the computer over to Ben, and he eventually found where they were hidden. Phew! I am buying a large MB flash drive very soon and getting all of those backed up! And, I have vowed to update Shutterfly more frequently, because they're always there. Thank goodness for them!

So, needless to say, we went to bed Sunday night somewhat emotionally exhausted, and for those of you that know that I was interviewing for a new position in my district, that was happening on Monday. It really didn't feel like the stars were aligning very well for me!

But, Monday morning came, and my interview wasn't until 2:00, so I taught all morning and begged for the afternoon off so that I could prepare for the interview. It was very weird getting ready--I haven't interviewed for a position in 7 years! Even when I moved to music, my 'interview' was the principal asking me if I wanted to move, so the last time was when I interviewed for a kindergarten position straight out of college. My how time flies! And of course, they ran late, so I got to sit in the office and wait a little longer--all the while 'revealing' to fellow staff that I was gunning for this position. (Although I was rather proud of myself because many of them were surprised!)

The interview went very, very, well; at least in my opinion. I haven't heard anything official back, but I've gotten good feedback from some members on the interview committee, and really, job or no job, I now have my first 'administrative' interview under my belt. I now have an idea of what they are going to be like! I felt very good with my answers, felt very prepared--even with some unexpected questions, and now I'm just in the waiting game. As soon as I know more, I will pass on the news.

Well, I'm going to get some 'real' work done now. I have a daughter who is playing 'doctor' with her dolly, and we're patiently waiting for Ben to get done with X-Country practice because our car died uptown and it is raining so I didn't want to walk home carrying a 2-year old. Hope all is well wherever you are!

Possibility Manor

2008-09-20T20:54:00.003-04:00

When I started this blog, I said I would explain the name of it at some point in time. That time is now. There really isn't much of a story, but it's a story nonetheless.

About 4 years ago, shortly after purchasing our house and coming to terms with living 'up north', Ben and I took an overnight trip to Cadillac to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary. Since we were up north newbies, we took the opportunity to walk around downtown Cadillac, which we had heard was somewhat of a 'destination' and came across some unique boutiques. One of those boutiques had all sorts of home decorating things in it, and because we had just got our house, we were looking for things to decorate it that weren't passed down from family and friends (even though we REALLY appreciated all the passed down things). We came across some wooden plaques that had different key words spelled out in bold letters, and a 'famous' (and excessively cloying) quote using that bold word. We took turns vetoing, scorning, or ridiculing each plaque, until we came across "Possibility", with Emily Dickinson's quote, "Dwell in possibility." Since we were just starting out in our married lives, in new jobs, and in a new house, we decided that it was just cloying enough for us. We picked up the plaque and dubbed 824 Rose Ave. "Possibility Manor".

And that's the story...probably more meaningful to us than anyone reading the blog, but at least now you know why the blog is titled "Life at Possibility Manor".

All about Violet

2008-09-18T19:00:00.002-04:00

It dawned on my today that we really don't talk about Violet's 'vitals' that much...probably because we get to be around her all day, so when people point out something to us, we're just like, yeah, that's our Violet. Anyway, here's an update for those of you that are interested:

At her 2 year appt., Violet was 33 in. tall and 26 lbs. (fully clothed--she even got to stand on the BIG scale while dolly snuggles got weighed on the baby scale). This puts her in the 25th percentile for height, and 27th percentile for weight. She is definitely taking after her mommy! (And making it VERY difficult to find clothing that's long and skinny enough)
She is, for the most part, potty-trained, as long as mom and dad aren't too busy to take her to the bathroom (which only adds to the clothing issue--no more bulky diaper taking up room).
Sings the entire alphabet song, in rhythm, with all the letters, including L,M,N, O, P.
Can "read" (fill-in-the blank) of a couple hundred (not exaggerating, she has a small public library in our house) of her books
jumps, getting both feet off the ground, and land!
hangs on the trapeze of her swingset and lands on her feet (most of the time)
pedals her tricycle (when she wants to)
counts to 10, 20 with hints
counts with one-to-one correspondance
identifies letters, and numbers 1-9
points out her favorite letters on walks--look mommy, there's an X on the sign, etc.
knows her basic shapes, and identifies them (square, circle, triangle, rectangle)
knows her colors
has a CRAZY sense of humor, and her new favorite phrase is "that's kinda funny
has a vocabulary that is amazing--and she's very quick to pick up words--which is VERY scary!

This seems like a little brag session, and I really don't want to be one of those kind of parents. But, for the family and friends that don't get to see her, hopefully this gives you a little glimpse into what Violet 'does'.

Until next time!

Violet's Birthday Bash!

2008-09-14T17:27:00.006-04:00

Saturday, September 13th was the date we set for Violet's birthday party. A little late, but we decided that having all the grandparents there was more important that celebrating on the day itself (and it gave Ben and I time to settle back into the school routine before being hosts!).

Unfortunately, the weather was the only thing that decided not to cooperate! But, despite the rain that lasted all day, we still had a fantastic time celebrating Violet's 2nd birthday (and her grandpa Fynaardt's 53rd!)

Recently, Violet has gotten into pretend play, and really loves to pretend to cook things. There were a couple of kitchen sets at the various doctor's offices that we visit from time to time, and Violet always has a blast 'cooking' in them, so Ben and I bought her a little toy kitchen, and she also received play food and pots and pans from her various grandparents and friends.

She also received a child-sized rocking chair,

a collection of British stories and poems from her grandparents across the ocean, tinkertoys (the real wood ones) from her Uncle Nick, and a alpha/number recorder-boom box from her friend Andy that she can sing into and it records her voice! So, the last 24 hours, Ben and I have been enjoying gourmet dining thanks to our new chef Violet, and her dolly Snuggle (another present she opened on her birth day) has enjoyed many a story in the new rocker. It really is so much fun to watch her play--sometime I'm going to have to sneak a video of it!

This year has also seen an infatuation with all things Curious George (the books, not the new cartoon). So, her 'theme' this year was Curious George, and in keeping with that infatuation, Auntie Chandra bought her a plastic George that blows bubbles in the bathtub! We haven't tried it out yet, but I think it's going to be hilarious and tons of fun (and probably a big mess)! For you Star Wars fans out there, when you squeeze George to get him to blow bubbles, he sounds very similar to Darth Vader, which makes the toy that much more fun!

Well, I am being served a piece of toast, on a leftover George plate with some lemonade and water, so I will close with some pictures. Turning 2 isn't quite the hoopla as turning 1, but it was still tons of fun. Ben and I really enjoyed celebrating Vi's birthday with all who came! I can't believe she's 2 already.......

Violet was very thirsty after opening all the presents. The George on the right is the bubble-blowing George.

She wasn't quite sure what to do with all the attention--and she tried to put the candles out by grabbing them.

Sunday morning we finally got her to wear her hat for more that 30 seconds--the rest of us

including Bu!
got to wear those hats while she opened presents!

VIOLET'S TWO!

2008-09-07T15:44:00.004-04:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Violet Dawn!

You are our BIG Girl, but still Mommy's Little Pumpkin and Daddy's Big Gaboo!

Love you lots!

To those reading: Violet's birthday party will be held this upcoming weekend--there will be pictures and stories I'm sure!

Summer's End...

2008-08-26T19:35:00.007-04:00

It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I make this post, as the title indicates that our glorious summer vacation is coming to an end. But, not before we had the chance to do some pretty fun things! We spent a long weekend at our parents' beach house on Lake Michigan, (which included some quality time with Violet in the sand) took Violet on her first trip to the zoo, had Violet stay at Grandma's house overnight without Mom and Dad, ate lots of corn on the cob, went on our first camping trip (on which we forgot the camera :( ), and frantically got ready for the upcoming school year. So, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures of the end of Violet's 2nd summer. Enjoy!

Summer, 2008

`

Happy Anniversary!

2008-08-02T16:52:00.002-04:00

Ben & Charissa
August 2, 2003

Today marks 5 years that Ben and I exchanged vows in an outdoor setting at The Big Red Barn in Iowa. How time flies!

The Wedding

2008-08-02T08:58:00.006-04:00

Blowing bubbles at the reception

I'm finally getting around to posting about Violet's first flower-girl role. I say first because shortly after my brother's wedding, my sister and her boyfriend announced their engagement. So, it appears that Violet will be reprising the role of flower girl next fall.

It was quite the experience for Violet, well at least for her mom! The week of wedding festivities began with shopping for her dress. We found out very quickly that Violet LOVES pretty dresses, but does not like the salespeople. We were shopping in one of those stores that the salespeople bring the dresses to the dressing rooms for you, and after we had gathered about 10 possibilities, this really nice salesman came up and took the dresses to the dressing room. Unfortunately, Violet was convinced that he was taking her dresses away, so that got the whole process off to a rather tearful start.

I was already dreading having to fit her into multiple dresses, and starting off on this foot did not help matters any. We managed to get her calmed down and there was another little girl trying on dresses as well, so they got to twirl for each other. We got Violet into the first dress, and it was gorgeous (and secretly I knew it was the one we would end up with, but grandma wanted to see the others). We took her out to the big mirror outside of the dressing rooms, and she was such a princess--twirling and smiling at herself. But...then she found the big bow right in front, and decided she didn't like it. It was safety-pinned on, so it was removable, but of course, this is one of those stores that if you damage the dress, you buy it. So, I'm trying to just take it off so she doesn't rip it off, and then the lovely salesman starts saying, "No, no, don't mess..I will fix...don't worry..." and that freaks Violet out again! So the rest of the trying on process was completed with a crying Violet. Not much fun. But, we got the dress, and got Violet out of the store and appeased with some chicken nuggets. Phew!

Practicing at the rehearsal--she didn't actually throw the flowers at the wedding.

Fast forward a week to the wedding...Violet did fantastically. Ben and I were so proud of her--she isn't even two and cooperated very nicely at the rehearsal, practicing her walk down the aisle and giving silly smiles to the bridal party. We did have some bribes--Violet had gotten attached to some little 2 in. care bears from my childhood, so we had two with me at the front of the church, and one she carried down in her basket.

Dress is on...we're ready to go

The wedding also went well; the only hitch was that she and the photographer did not hit it off very well, so she wasn't in many professional pictures, and because Ben and I were trying to keep her happy, there aren't a lot of pictures period. I've made a note to make sure I take someone along to next year's wedding just to snap candids! She successfully made it down the aisle with little fuss (I don't think my brother and sister-in-law chose to video tape the ceremony) only asking for Mom the last 10 ft or so, and only giving the photographer a life-threatening look when he popped out to take her picture) and danced with Mom with the bridal party at the reception. It was a great evening, lots of fun, and I've decided that there is just not a good time for weddings if you have two-year-old. No matter what, you're going to run into nap time!

Grumpy face--this is what she did if she decided she didn't want to do something!

But really, she's such a princess!

That's the story of the wedding. I hope you enjoy the pictures. It amazes me just how big she is getting, and the fact that she's doing all of this before she's two!

Happy Belated Fourth of July!

2008-07-06T22:01:00.007-04:00

A family picture on my Grandpa's restored 1955 combine

Hello from the great state of Iowa! We made it down safely on Thursday evening, leaving after Violet's swimming lessons that morning. Violet is having a blast with her grandparents here, and Ben and I are enjoying a little bit of 'vacation' from the parenting thing, as Violet has plenty of aunts and uncles to entertain her. She still wants to snuggle with her Mom and Dad at night though, which is, I believe, one of the greatest feelings in the world.

We haven't been too busy since the last post; Violet is still a little fish, although a fall off the side of the pool at swimming lessons instilled a little bit of fear in her about the water. I really shouldn't say fall; she was jumping off the side (which she loves) and didn't get close enough to the edge before she jumped. She didn't make it to me, and ended up doing her first head-first dive into the water, and we believe she probably caught her feet on the edge. She'd jumped in and put her head in the water before, and still will swim with her face in the water, but she doesn't enjoy jumping quite as much. That's why we think she must have clipped her feet. That, and the fact that we found a blister/scrape on her toe a couple of days ago which led to this:

Violet's first Band-Aid.

And now, of course, she is fascinated by Band-Aids, so she has begun asking for Band-Aids for every little ouchie she has!

She also loves, as I mentioned, to imitate her Mom and Dad. Here is a picture of Violet putting in some good hours 'working':

We had a good time watching the fireworks; Violet loved the sparkles, but not the booms so much--she asked very politely to have her ears covered the whole time. She also did her first sparklers, which she loved. These pictures are from the fireworks display in Grinnell; I love the 2nd one because you can see by Violet's face that this is the exact moment that the first fire work went up.

The weekend was also highlighted by attending my great-grandmother's and therefore Violet's Great-great-grandmother's 97th birthday party. It's been a very tough year for her; she broke her hip (she didn't fall--the doctor said that she's just lived such a long life that bones get brittle and just break) which caused her to have to move out of the home she was in to a full-fledged nursing home, which she did not like at all. But, the hip has repaired nicely and just a week ago, she was able to move back into the assisted living facility where a lot of her friends are, and is much happier. It was just cool that Violet got to see some of her extended relatives, and have another opportunity to meet this wonderful, strong woman.

Violet and Great-Great Grandma Cobie

The family picture

The rest of the week will be spent relaxing and getting ready for my brother Eric's wedding. Violet will be the flower girl, so look for pictures of her in her little purple princess/fairy dress. I must say, it is the cutest thing, and I can't wait to see her all dolled up in it. I'll tell the story of the buying of the dress when I get those pictures.

To close, here are a couple of pictures of Violet 'modeling' her Winnie-the Pooh shades! Isn't she just the grown up little lady? :(

Cover Model

2008-06-24T13:55:00.002-04:00

It will have no effect on whether or not Violet 'wins' but she does have a gallery at Parents.com and has been entered in their 'cover model' search contest. If you would like to give her your recommendation, visit www.parents.com and click on "Cover Contest" and then search photos for Violet. Today she was the first picture on the second page of Violets--who know there were that many Violet's in the world?!?

Anyway, we're not betting the house or our retirement on Violet's chances, but it's kind of fun, and gives us a chance to show off our little girl to people outside of our friends and family circle.

Thanks!

Yankee Doodle

2008-06-13T21:20:00.003-04:00

If this works, here is a video of Violet 'singing' Yankee Doodle'. And no, we did not teach her this through rote memorization...it's just what she has picked up through listening to the story.

And yes, she is convinced that Yankee called it macaroni...and cheese. Hope you enjoyed this video!

Slacking into Summer

2008-06-13T17:31:00.005-04:00

"hi. order two sausage pizzas peas"

My apologies for slacking the last few weeks; it seemed like the end of the school year would never come, and then it was here and there was so much stuff to do! Add that to a little bit of stress concerning job status due to the budget issues Michigan as a whole is experiencing, and I think you can understand why blogging ended up on the bottom of the list of things to do.

That's not to say that things haven't been happening at Possibility Manor--quite the opposite in fact. Violet seriously becomes smarter (and consequently, a little scarier) EVERY day, wowing us with her ability to speak in sentences, her polite manners (not sure where that one came from...), and her ability to be uncannily quiet when she's drawing on her carseat with the markers I let her take with her to to the store. oops. She's also become quite the helper; this week she helped me plant flowers by putting them in the holes I dug, and carrying them to me from the patio. Not sure if the flowers actually lived through that ordeal yet, but it's definitely a time of great memories.

Now that summer is finally here, it is going to be incredibly fun. Violet is a little daredevil, but a little princess as well, and it's fun to see both Ben and I coming through her little personality. I really need to figure out how to put movies on this thing, so there's a project for the upcoming weeks.

To end this post, some of the 'accomplishments' we've had in the last month or so:

1. Reciting alphabet through G
2. Speaking sentences with a subject, verb, and direct object...example: there was sock that got left behind in the last day of school clean up process and Violet says: "Sock fall on the ground". or "Violet ride in Andy's stroller."
3. Semi-mastered jumping.
4. 'reads' "The Hungry Caterpillar"
5. 'sang' parts of Yankee Doodle this morning...I REALLY wish I had the camera for that...it was so cute.
6. Identifies the letters X, V, T, O, and F in print. (don't ask me why those letters...),
7. Loves to COLOR and WRITE. (YAY!)
8. An amazing ability to imitate and copy things that Ben and I do...and unfortunately, they're not always so cute!

I'm sure there's more, but those are the ones I could think of right now. To end, here are some recent pictures:

Smelling the tulips--a true Dutch girl

our lovely "Ogurt face"

Our author and illustrator in the making

The world's two biggest Cubs fans

Mommy's shoes

Cubs and Iowa...two of Violet's favorite things!

Violet in the Violet's

2008-05-13T18:05:00.004-04:00

Last spring, I came home from school one day and we had this amazing patch of violets in our yard, and I dropped everything and plopped Violet in the middle of them for a photo shoot. You can't get anything sweeter than Violet in the violets. So, I decided that would have to become a yearly tradition.

Violet, Spring 2007

Well, it seems that violets the plants don't always cooperate (much like Violet the daughter on some occasions). Instead of huge patches of violets, we had violets sprinkled throughout our lawn, a result, I believe of a grub issue we seem to be having, and the amount of snow and subsequently, salt that we received in greater Big Rapids this year. However, I was not going to be defeated by the whims of nature--no, no, no--we were going to have a picture of Violet in the violets...even if I only had one! So, I marched her out...and....

well, it seems that Violet the daughter and violet the plants, are conspiring against me this year. I managed to get one decent shot of Violet with a few Violet's, and some lovely pictures that are no doubt going to come out at one of her graduations or future visits from boyfriends, just so they know what they are really getting into! And of course, they will always be on this blog, so hopefully, it won't affect her run for public office in future years. But, enjoy them anyway...these are pre-haircut, so her eyes are a little hidden...darn wind! But, isn't it amazing how grown up she is, in just a scant 365 days?!!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T09:42:00.003-04:00

We had a fantastic weekend celebrating Mother's Day; if you don't count Sunday. Saturday was a beautiful day, and my mom (Grandma Fynaardt) was up visiting to allow my sister Cali and I to go to my future sister-in-law Laura's bachelorette party/bridal shower. Grandma and Violet enjoyed their time at the mall while Cali and I mini-golfed with the party goers, and we then met back up with Grandma and Violet after we finished mini-golfing. It was nice to be able to interact with Laura a little more before the wedding, but still work it out to be able to spend some quality time with my mom.

Sunday wasn't the best day--part of it was the weather, and part of it was Violet got sick! So, I spent most of my mother's day snuggling with a little girl who just didn't feel good at all. The tylenol did seem to perk her up a bit in the afternoon, but it still wasn't the most 'relaxing' of days. That being said, I can't complain too much because I did recieve a beautiful butterfly necklace and earring set from my darling daughter, complete with violet-colored crystal/zirconia accents. I also received two of my favorite indugences from my husband--Mountain Dew and a snickers candy bar.

So, despite the illness, it was nice to be appreciated in 'special' ways. I know that I'm always appreciated, but it's really great to be reminded of that!

Bye Bye Hair, Hello Bangs!

2008-04-29T09:21:00.004-04:00

Violet had her first 'trim' last evening. Grandma Fynaardt had tried to convince me to cut bangs since Christmas and I refused--I just didn't have the heart to cut her fabulous blond hair, and I wasn't about to spend money to take her into a beauty shop. But, it finally got to the point where she wouldn't wear ponytails and her hair was just always in her eyes, so I took the plunge and cut her bangs last night. Violet did very well, considering she had scissors next to her eyes, and dad trying to capture the event on film. When all was said and done, she still looks cute, and I now have the tiniest lock of hair imanginable. It sure seemed like a lot more hair when I was cutting it. So, here's the before, during and after pictures:

Shaggy haired Violet

Sitting for the trimming

Dancing after it's all done!

Growing Up

2008-04-24T09:37:00.002-04:00

Besides Violet constantly going through growth spurts, we have yet another development that shows that our baby is not really a baby anymore. The big news is that we now have a lovely pink cushy potty chair in our bathroom for our 'baby' girl. And yes, this was entirely her initiative, and yes she has done both kinds of potty on it without much difficulty. The only challenge we're finding is that we as parents aren't quite ready for the time and effort needed to do the complete potty training. But, we figure, as long as the interest is there, we'll encourage it, and then when summer comes, we'll be all ready!

Finally

2008-04-20T15:25:00.007-04:00

So I've started this post about 10 times, only to be interrupted by Violet or the end of my prep periods. I'm going to try to make this quick and not bore you with all the mundane details of our trip, and instead just give you highlights.

We started our trip with a car trip to Chicago and an overnight stay in a hotel that gave us a place to park our car free while we were gone, along with a shuttle to the O'Hare airport. It was here that Violet gave us our first glimpse into the daredevil that she is going to be by demonstrating her ability to somersault. Yes, she has mastered the somersault, and even tries to do them off the edge of beds as demonstrated by this picture.

We had a great time at the hotel, despite here daredevil antics. We went swimming, ordered Chicago style pizza and watched some college basketball before turning in early since we had a 7 AM shuttle the next morning.

We ended up taking a taxi to the airport Sunday morning (paid for by the hotel) because the hotel's shuttle person decided not to come in to work that morning. Talk about an expensive sick day for the hotel! We had a very nice taxi driver; unfortunately because the hotel nor the taxi service did not provide a car seat, that meant we had to haul Violet's along with us the whole vacation. Fortunately, I had packed Vi and I together into one suitcase, so we did not have to worry about having an extra 'checked' bag. We also chose the right airline, American, that still allows passengers to check two items per ticket without charging extra. We got to the airport in plenty of time; O'Hare at 7AM on a Sunday morning isn't the chaotic place it normally is. We got through security without any trouble, and spent an hour and a half watching planes from our gate window. Hence the first word of Violet's description--plane. She absolutely loved the planes and is still pointing out any and every plane that travels through the greater Big Rapids airspace. I'm not sure she ever realized that she was on the plane, but she does talk about it. Here are a couple of pictures of the plane rides. Both were uneventful (although landing in Reno it was a bit bumpy) and we ended up having nice stewards and stewardesses who re-arranged seating so that we could have three seats for Violet to crawl around on.

Auntie Chandra and her boyfriend Mike picked us up in Reno, and then it was an hour and a half drive to Susanville. We got to learn the ins and out of some of the California quirks--a border check-point when we left Nevada into California, mandated headlight on driving for a stretch, and my favorite--no smoking in any public establishment or restaurant! That made it really easy to go out to eat with Violet as we didn't have to worry about it being too smoky for her. My sister lives in a 900 sq. ft one-bedroom house, which is where we were staying, so it was a little cramped for the four of us, but we managed pretty well. Violet did not seem to be affected at all by the time zone change, unlike her mother and father. That first night Ben and I forced ourselves to stay awake until 8:30pm and then we called it a night. Here's a picture of Violet finding some entertainment with Mike and a laundry basket as her mom and dad struggle to keep their eyes open:

According to the local weather officials, Monday was going to be the best weather day, so we decided to take the trip to Burney Falls. It was about an hour and a half drive from Susanville, but it was supposed to be very beautiful and have some good hiking trails around it that weren't too long. So, that's what we did. It was a beautiful day, and we timed it just right as Violet took her nap on the trip out. The hike to the falls was only about 3/4 of a mile, but there was a loop that was only 1.2 miles that would take us around the falls, so we set off figuring that between the two of us, we could carry her without too much trouble. Well, we were wrong. Not that we couldn't carry her--Violet just didn't want to be carried. She wanted to walk herself! So, Violet walked a good portion of that 1.2 miles--only being carried when it was too narrow or dangerous for here to be walking. And that was probably the longest 500ft. ever. A toddler that wants to walk is not a fun toddler to carry. She had a blast though--and that's where the rest of her description comes in. She went on a walk, saw the water go boom (waterfall) and it splashed her in the eyes. Here are a few pictures from that adventure:

Burney Falls

This is one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip. She was going to walk that trail, even if it meant leaving us behind. A little early for that kind of independence, isn't it???

Violet was also fascinated by all the rocks. We had to keep telling her to leave the rocks and sticks for the other people, otherwise we would've had half the park in the car trunk!

We travelled back slowly, stopping by some satellite field on the way back (Ben will have to tell those of you who are interested in it as we got there right at closing time, so he ran around reading all the signs) and Lassen Peak. Much of the Lassen National Volcanic Forest was still closed for the season, so we didn't get to see that. We'll have to go another time I guess.

Tuesday was spent exploring Susanville, which meant Ben and Violet sitting in a bookstore and me discovering that the shops that looked cool we actually closed. We also played a lot in the park, where Violet got her first injury of the trip--a scraped chin from falling off the end of a slide. I didn't make it to the end fast enough, but in my defense, Ben had told me she'd stop on her own at the bottom anyway.

Wednesday was our last day there, and Chandra had the day off work, so we packed a picnic lunch and planned to go hiking in some of the city foothills. We had it all planned out and then we had Violet's second and more serious injury of the trip due to this bridge:

If you look really closely, you can see there is a raised track where car wheels would go on the bridge just before you get to the square log that is the base of the walls of the bridge. We were walking along, and Violet, in her excitement to see the water, took off for the side of the bridge. She caught her toes on that track and fell head first right onto that log. I quickly scooped her up, thinking that it couldn't be that bad and started consoling her and continued walking; Ben however, took a closer look at it and saw that she was getting a huge goose egg on her forehead. I never saw it, but Chandra and Ben both said it was gigantic--so I'm thinking golf ball size, because her forehead isn't that big. We turned around and were going to go get ice, but the nearest gas station was going to be a ways away. Coincidentally, one of the local forest fire-fighter brigades was doing child rescue training that day, so they provided us with a first aid kit with an ice pack and told us to keep her awake for fear of concussion, and if the swelling didn't go down, to take her into the hospital. So, have you ever tried to put an icepack on a 18-month's old head, when all she wants to do is snuggle with her mom?!? It was not fun, but thanks to the heroic entertainment efforts of her Auntie Chandra, and her dad's funny reading of some of her books, we managed to keep the ice pack on for about a half hour, and the swelling subsided quickly. Since our options were to go on our hike or go back to a 900 sq. foot house to try to keep her awake, we opted for the hike. Violet was a trooper, and got right back into her wanting to walk frame of mind, but we carried her over bridges from that time on! We even made it to the top of the "mountain" and still had our picnic lunch. We also retrieved what I believe is the largest pine cone ever, but that got left in Auntie Chandra's house. Here are some pictures of the rest of the hike, after the bridge:

All bumps and bruises considered, it was a fantastic vacation. No offense to the grandpas and grandmas, but it was very nice to go on a vacation away. It was the first time we had been on vacation since Ben and I were married. Besides an avid love for hiking (we've been on many walks and rides since we've been back) Violet also got a new game that she calls 'nigh-nigh' where she pretends to go to bed in Ben and I's bed. We have the lovely Auntie Chandra to thank for that:

We arrived home safely with a couple of days left in our spring break, which happened to be GORGEOUS, and I have to close with this picture. It just cracks me up. I guess after being on a plane for 4 hours, even the car seat looks like a good place to relax. The little boy was there picking up his luggage as well, and they (Violet and him) were quite enthralled by each other. Make no mistake, however; Violet let it be known that that was her car seat:

I hope you enjoyed this lengthy post, and my apologies for taking so long to get it up. But, in my defense, when it's close to 80 out, you have to be outside--not stuck in front of a computer.

Planes, booms, and water

2008-04-04T17:33:00.002-04:00

As soon as I feel like I'm back on normal time, I will fill you all in about our Spring Break trip to Susanville, CA. Here's Violet's version of the vacation, just to get your interest piqued, and I quote,

"Plane! Walk, water, boom, eye."

More to come!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T18:14:00.007-04:00

Thought you might enjoy some pictures of Violet's 2nd Easter celebration. It was really the first Easter that she was able to do anything though. She got a kick out of the Easter Egg hunt and has discovered a love of jelly beans and Hershey's kisses. She is her mother's daughter!

The only detriment to the day was the fact that it was only around 30 degrees. We still managed to get out for a walk with Grandpa and Grandma Fynaardt and Aunt Cali who were visiting from Iowa this weekend (and whining about how it was close to 50 there).

Now it's a week's wait until we get the adventure of traveling to California to visit Auntie Chandra! Wish us patience and a safe and uneventful plane ride, and the challenge of packing for California when it's no where near spring like now.

Happy 1/2 birthday Violet!

2008-03-07T21:27:00.001-05:00

Just a little post to let you all know that Violet celebrated her 1 1/2 birthday today. It's hard to believe that our 'baby' is 18 months old already. We celebrated by taking her to our school's carnival. Ben and I took her, but she spent most of the night running around with the 5th grade babysitter's club. It allowed Ben and I to pull our weight in working games, and Violet loves her 5th grade buddies, and they had a blast helping her play the games.

Hope all is well wherever you are!

50 Degree Snow Day

2008-03-03T07:19:00.004-05:00

So this is the entry I was going to post last Monday on our 50 degree snow day, but got distracted. It was snow day number 11 for us, but fortunately, our calendar has 11 days built into it, so we do not have to make any up. Thank goodness because we already go until June 10.

Not much else new and exciting is going on here at possibility manor. We paid a visit to Violet's first babysitter yesterday (last Sunday) and had a great time letting the 'brothers and sisters' play with her and keep contact with her. For those of you that don't know, we had to change babysitters in November because Violet's first babysitter found out she was pregnant. Due to her high risk status, her doctor had told her that she really didn't want Kathy babysitting, so we found another babysitter. Not easy, but it's worked out pretty well. Kathy is doing great and everything ended up going very smoothly, and there will be a new baby boy Walch by the end of March. Violet had a blast and really enjoyed playing with Kelsey's doll so I guess we know what's going in Violet's Easter basket.

Other than that bit of information from last week, our schedule this week is jam packed. Track season started yesterday, so Ben is consumed by that, and the 2nd grade play is this Friday night, so that's what my time is spent doing.

I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures from another 'warm' snow day; we are very anxious for spring as Violet absolutely lives to be outside. After taking these pictures Mom and Dad were cold and so we went in and got to listen to a very upset baby. Violet is getting very good at expressing her dissatisfaction of our choices. Even though this snowman looks extremely happy, he only lasted a few days. Gravity took it's toll.

And just because sleeping babies are so cute...

Have a wonderful end to your week! And may this last picture leave you with a smile.

Violet loves mom's hat!

Valentine's Notes

2008-02-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

A musician in the making

It's been a while--I apologize. You would think that since we've had about 6 snow days since the last post that I would've gotten around to posting, but alas, that is not the case. Despite having lots of 'time-off' there were still plays to somehow get through with very limited rehearsal time, meetings to attend, houses to clean, and for Ben, coursework to do and a common assessment prototype to write. Sounds like he and his brother are conspiring to try to get something put together for teachers to assist them in meeting NCLB requirements. It's a hot market right now, so we'll see if it pans out...

As for Violet, which we all know is the real reason you're all reading this post, she's been entertaining us quite a bit the last few weeks. Here words are starting to fly out of her mouth, which means mommy and daddy need to watch their language at times! She's mastered more, up, down, pop, boo, pooh (as in Winnie-the) George (Curious--one of her favorite series right now) and loves going around the house being phonetic--making the sounds for p, t, k(c), and m. She hasn't quite connected them to the print yet, but she is only 17 months old. Kindergarten is a short(long) way off.

She also likes to talk on the telephone (like any true girl)--but with no one on the other end. It's the craziest thing--she jabbers away to herself, but if we put her up to talk to grandmas or grandpas or aunties, she doesn't say a word.

She seems to be growing more and more by the day, although she still is just a tiny little person. She's around 24 pounds and we're saving to measure her till next month's 'milestone' birthday. But by casual walking by the growth chart, she'll probably be at least 1.5" taller than she was at 15 months.

We did get to take her out in the snow last week before it got arcticly cold, and she just loves the outdoors. Makes us really long for the spring/summer months when we can all spend hours outside and we can begin to appreciate the size of our yard in town, and the short walk to the park. Yes, the snow is really as deep as she is tall, making it tremendously difficult for her to walk--but she's a trooper!

That's about all from here. I'll close with a favorite picture, just because I know that's really all you want to see!

Dadda and Violet and the ape reading.

Pictures of new feats

2008-01-29T08:35:00.001-05:00

"Shh..." I want to hear the music!

After reading the previous post, many people asked for pictures of Violet doing "P.U. Stink-ums". So, we captured it on film, but in doing so, discovered that Violet has become quite the ham for the camera. In other words, she'll do her tricks, but she knows she's being photographed/filmed, so she always has this silly grin on her face. So, the effect isn't quite of that of the original P.U. Stink-ums, which was actually done in the context of a dirty diaper, but you get the idea.

We also were shown this week just how observant our daughter truly is. Due to a cooking mishap, of which I do not care to elaborate, we had to throw out our rug that sits on our kitchen floor to cover the white vinyl tile that the previous owner did such a wonderful job stapling down. That night, Violet goes in the kitchen, looks at the floor, gives us this quizzical look, points at the floor, and does her all gone shrug. It didn't phase her much though, as she discovered that in her footie pajamas, the newly discovered, somewhat slippery floor was perfect for having a dance/twirling party. It provided much entertainment for Ben and I as she would twirl, and then point to the floor and say all gone, and twirl some more. This routine actually continued for a couple of days, but has since expired. It now isn't different anymore--it's the way it is.

Let's see...what else...I think Violet is cutting the last of her teeth until she's older; she's got all four molars, but is missing the teeth between the front 4 and the molars, but her drooling and runny nose has come back this week, which is usually the sign for teeth appearing within the next month...and Violet had her first day with just Dad this past weekend as I was at a music conference all weekend. So, she witnessed her first indoor track meet, as well as experienced her father's idea of a great day--hours in Barnes & Noble. Evidently it went well; she was still in one piece when they picked me up from the conference and happy.

Not much else is going on in possibility manor. We have a snow/ice day today which is nice..unfortunatly we left the phone downstairs again, so we did not get to sleep in. But, we've found that Violet doesn't appreciate the art of sleeping in as well as we do, so it wasn't a big deal.
I wish I could figure out how to post the pictures within the text, but until I do, you'll have to put up with them being at the bottom or top of the page. Hope all is well where you are!

P.S. This last picture is one of Violet showing her 80's style. The headband actually belongs to a doll of hers, and she was running towards me as I took the picture. This picture is a favorite of both of ours, and I thought it would be a good one to end this post with.

Babble Babble Babble

2008-01-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

So, the big news this weekend is that Violet is becoming quite the talker. We aren't able to understand much of her talking yet, but she's definitely increasing her vocabulary, with a very distinct 'car' one of the highlights.

She's also mastered some new signs which just crack us up. She does her own little cheer 'Baby Vi' holds her nose for 'P.U. Stinkums', and unbeknown to mom and dad, also picked up the finger in front of the mouth while saying 'Shhh.' We couldn't have possibly been doing that to her, could we????

The vintage Little People School Auntie Chandra got her for Christmas is still her toy of choice, and now that Ben and I bought her a set of 20 more Little People characters off Ebay, we no longer have to go house hunting for the ones that actually came with the present. It's great fun to watch her 'walk' the little character up the steps and send them down the slide.

Not much else happening here. Ben did finally contact Calvin College and pending faxing of the application forms by Tuesday will be enrolled to take the first few classes for his Master's in Curriculum and Instruction. Of course, he's not actually IN the master's program yet because that requires more paperwork, but he's on the right track. It appears that that tax rebate will be going straight to grad school tuition; a year off from making payments is rest enough I suppose. We did receive good news from my school that my Master's bonus kicks in immediately, so that was a small, but nice surprise. Not near what we'd be making in those other public schools, but it's better than nothing.

Well, it's Saturday, which means it's a whole day of being just a mom, so I better get going. Have a wonderful weekend, and if you're anywhere in the Midwest--stay warm!!!!

The end of Christmas break

2008-01-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

When Christmas break begins, two weeks seems like an endless time to go without routine, albeit a great feeling when you're a teacher! However, when it boils down to it, two weeks is just enough time to get into a routine of non-routine and superb relaxation without any pressing activities, duties, work, etc. It's a glorious glimpse into what summer is like.

As much as I love my job, it's a bit depressing thinking about going back to the 5:30-9:30 schedule. I've enjoyed being up a little later in the evenings, and sleeping in a bit in the mornings (although with a child, 7:30 is considered sleeping in!). I've also enjoyed some of the perks of not working--being able to play and hang out with Violet and my husband, and getting to do some of my hobbies--scrapbooking, cooking things other than hamburger helper, reading for fun (which is a nice break after two and a half years of grad school), and getting the house into some semblance of order.

That all being reflection, Ben, I and Violet had a marvelous Christmas break. This Christmas was definitly one full of highlights--Violet really getting into opening presents and figuring out that as much as she enjoys books, they're not quite as fun to open as boxes, saying good-bye to Ben's dad & step-mom's house in Western Springs, IL., playing volleyball with the Talsma cousins until we all couldn't move, bowling, sledding, and the list goes on. It's a Christmas that we will always remember with a smile.

As I look into a new year, I look forward to the unknowns it brings. I anticipate that by the end of 2008, Violet will be chattering away, and I especially anticipate this summer as she will be big enough to run around in the yard and do all those things I fondly remember as a child.

I hope you all have had a great start to the new year! If I figured it out, the pictures are selections from our Christmas travels.

Entering the blog world

2007-12-29T12:23:00.000-05:00

We shall see how this goes. I've enjoyed reading and following other people's blogs, but have never taken the initiative to make my own. I've always been one of those people who buy a diary or journal and then watch as the year passes and the pages stay blank.

For those of you that will read or be reading this, I hope that this enables me to keep everyone up to date about the happenings in our lives, as well as the accomplishments and milestones that Violet meets. She seems to be meeting them faster and faster, and becoming more and more of a girl, and less of a baby with every passing day. Everyone always told me it would go fast, but I didn't realize how fast it would go once the events of the day morphed past sleeping, pooping, and eating.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and as we are packing up today to leave the grandparents in Iowa, I should probably keep this short. Until next time....