The big 3-0!!

Derk's been dreading turning 30. I've been loving teasing him about turning 30. ;-) When I asked him earlier this week what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted me to FORGET about his birthday. Since I couldn't do that, he decided he wanted to go out to dinner and a movie. So I lined up a babysitter for the kids. Then he called me from work earlier today and said he changed his mind, that he had decided he wanted to spend his birthday with his kiddos instead. Melted my heart! So we canceled with our friend that was going to watch the kids, and we decided to go bowling instead.

While he was at work, the kids and I decided to make him a carrot cake. He loves carrot cake, and the kids were super excited to help! But we were running a bit short on time, so we decided on carrot cake cupcakes instead.

They were such good little helpers and were so proud of the end result!

We had fun bowling, too. They make super yummy pizza at the bowling alley, so we decided to eat there as part of the birthday festivities. The kids did pretty well bowling and following the rules (mainly, "Stay out of the way when someone else is bowling so you don't get seriously hurt!"). As usual, Derk was not very cooperative with letting me take pictures. I thought getting old(er) meant getting wiser? ;-)

And here's my little family in action! Kyrie kept standing with her hands on her hips as she was watching her ball, Bri kept dancing while watching her ball, and Asher would throw his ball and then run away from the lane to watch it from a distance. They'd do it every single time, and it was so funny!

The birthday boy:


Kyrie:


Asher:


Bri:

Happy 30th birthday to Derk!

Kyrie gets a hairstyle!

She's had haircuts before, but this was the first time we did more than just cut it one length. I did a lot of browsing around magazines and websites and figured out what the best style for her was going to be. She was very adamant about wanting her hair to be cut because she wanted it to "have style" (lol!), but I really wanted to keep her length! So I talked to her about keeping the length but cutting long layers. She loved the idea! It's the perfect cut for her, too! We can dry it and use my flat iron to style it one way, but then the layers take out a lot of the weight and make her hair extra curly for days when she wants to do it another way. And it's still plenty long enough so that I can have fun with cute hairdos from all the fun blogs out there.

She LOVED going to the salon. She couldn't stop talking (Kyrie talking? Imagine that!) about how she got to read a magazine, how good it felt to have her hair washed, etc. :)

Here it is!

Chore charts!

I was browsing around blogland one day and came across a blog called Moss Moments. When I saw this idea, I knew I had to steal it. She had some fantastic things on there that I just fell in love with. It's been really amazing!!!! It's really simplified my life, and the kids have responded very well to it.

For those of you who aren't going to click over to that blog, let me explain the idea. ;-) You print off a chore chart and then put it into a picture frame. I got 11x14 frames and matted them to an 8x10 size. Then you use whiteboard markers to cross off the chores as you complete them each day. At the end of the day, you just wipe it clean and start all over the next day!

I took her idea to the next level, though. I have my own chore list typed up on the computer as well. It helps me stay organized and ensures that I get all the deep cleaning done that I feel needs to be done each week. I decided to use the same idea for the kids' chart on my own. Then I hung them up right next to each other.

Like I said, there were several things on her chore chart that I thought were genius. The main one is the "Ask Mom" chore. Completely fabulous! I just take a job from my own chore chart that is age appropriate and write that down under the child's name next to the "Ask Mom" spot.

The other ones that I really love are: read, create, practice, play. My kids usually always do these things anyway, but it really helps me to make sure they have a well-rounded day. For practice, that other blog author said she has her kids pick something they want to learn about. Kyrie has been really interested in learning how to play my flute. I've been working with her for a few weeks now, so she decided yesterday that she'd practice playing the flute for her practice time. For create, that can be anything like play-doh, making cookies, painting, etc. Play is a big one that I'm grateful for. It's so hot here that sometimes all the kids want to do is hang out under our big ceiling fan in the family room and play the Wii or watch a show. Having play on their chart helps me motivate them to actually play -- legos, cars, Barbies, Polly Pockets, whatever. The only rule is that there's no screen involved.

Speaking of rules, I made it very clear to my kids that ONLY Mom is allowed to mark off the jobs. There are several reasons for this, the main one being that they were trying to be sneaky and cross off jobs they hadn't completed yet. ;-)

Here's how they look hanging on the wall. At the top of the kids' chart, I write the day of the week. And you can see where I wrote in their "Ask Mom" chores for today. Kyrie's was to deep clean their bathroom, Asher's was to vacuum his bedroom, and Bri's was to help feed and water the cats.



And here's a close-up of the actual chore charts. Hopefully they're not too hard to read. I tried to size them as big as I could. This one is mine. I have blank spots down at the bottom right corner for miscellaneous things that don't go on my usual list. The one thing on there this week (and I only put one because it's a HUGE job) is to organize the craft cupboards.

And here's a close-up of the kids' chart. The quote on the bottom right hand side I stole from that other blog, too. I tried to find one of my own, but I couldn't find anything nearly as perfect as what she had on hers!

If you try it, let me know how much you love it! I can't say enough good things about it!!!

Our beautiful boy

I just love this little guy. He is the sweetest and constantly is coming up and giving me random loves throughout the day. I realized the other day that I've only got about another month of having him all to myself before he's officially a big boy and starts Kindergarten. It's making me so, so sad. I don't know what I'm going to do without him all day long! He's just my little buddy. *sniff*

ANYWAY. Yesterday, after I got him ready for church, I just had to take a few pictures. He is the most beautiful child, and I cannot stand how handsome he looks all dressed up for church! He used to hate getting dressed up on Sundays, but now he loves it. He loves to look handsome like Daddy. Their Sunday routine is very precious. They always shower together, and Asher makes sure he uses the "boy soap" (i.e. Derk's manly smelling body wash). After that, Asher will always ask Derk what he's planning to wear to church because he wants to match his Daddy. They both have gray suits, which Asher thinks is the coolest.

Without further adieu, here is my beautiful boy!

Our 9th anniversary

Can you believe we've been married for 9 years?! I sure can't. It makes me feel really old! ;-)

This year we hired a babysitter for the kids so we could go out for a long evening. One of my Mia Maids came over to watch the kids for us, and the kids love her. I don't love paying for a babysitter, but my kids have so much fun with her that it's totally worth it to do it every now and then!

We headed out and did a little shopping first. Then we went to Ah-So, which is one of our most favorite restaurants that we never get to go to because it's super expensive when we've got the kiddos with us. We normally do teppanyaki when we go, but this time we decided to eat in the dining area instead because we had a movie to catch. Dinner was......interesting, to say the least. Seating arrangements were very close quarters (they were packed), and we were seated next to a very strange couple. They were older (40's) and were dating, and the guy kept criticizing every single thing his girlfriend said or did. He definitely wasn't a lady's man, and we both hope he got dumped after dinner! ;-)

Dinner was SOOOOoooooOOOOoooo good! We decided to be brave and tried some sushi, and then we each really enjoyed our entrees. Here's Derk right before trying the sushi. It was delish!

After dinner, we went and saw Inception. It was really good! We really enjoyed the directing, the actors all did a great job, and it was a very clean movie (as far as swearing/sex go). We did end up having a group of younger girls sit right next to us, and they kept laughing LOUDLY at parts that were NOT even meant to be funny, and they kept texting through the whole movie. That was distracting. But we still had a great time. Here we are in the theater. Derk thought I was a dork for taking pictures in the middle of the theater, but I didn't care! :-)

What a fun and crazy 9 years it's been so far! I really love reflecting back on how our marriage has changed over the years. I knew I loved him when we first got married, of course, but the love we have now is so much stronger and more complex than it was back then. It's quite amazing to think about! :-)

Scooter cuteness

Today we were getting ready to go run a few errands, and Bri asked if she could go ride the scooter for a few minutes before we left. I told her she could, so off she went. When I went outside to load her into the van, I just had to snap a few pictures because she was being way too cute! This girl is so girly that she even insists on holding her purse while riding the scooter. :) She is happiest when in a dress, wearing her flip flops and some pretty earrings, her nails painted, and her purse on her shoulder. I love this girl!

Wordless Wednesday