Where has the time gone?

No, I have not given up on blogging or been lack of ideas to blog about. Quite the opposite has kept me away from my computer. I hope I have not discouraged any of my loyal readers by waiting too long to post. There I go, assuming I have loyal readers, well aren't I full of myself?

Friday Lilly and I tagged along with my fellow PTO friend Sherry to pick up items for Teacher Appreciation Week. **side note** Can I just say that Sherry is a keeper? Lilly choked on her straw and threw up at lunch and not only did Sherry help me to clean the table, Lilly and myself but she was fine with staying at our table and finishing lunch. She did not freak out or insist we leave... awesome, right? ** Patrick made it home after work, we picked up the boys from school and then headed south to Holland for Tulip Time. For those who may not know, I am a Dutch Dancer in the Tulip Time Festival. We parked far away from my dance spot so that we'd have a good parking spot for later, but that meant I had to walk very far in "not uncomfortable" wooden shoes {that is how wooden shoes are described, they don't call them comfortable just "not uncomfortable"} . After dancing I did a lengthy and tricky change-a-roo in the van out of the many layers of my Dutch costume and in to regular clothes. We walked to the fireworks, polished off 3 elephant ears and sat by dear friends in the super chilly evening air. ~I am the 2nd "boy" from the left, in the green plaid~


Saturday I left home at 8:30am to get down to Holland to dance at 10am while Patrick took the kids to the boys opening game for baseball. I finished dancing, raced home to change and made it to the boys game about half way through. Nathan's game went much longer than we had expected and when we returned home we quickly packed and headed out for Lansing. Why Lansing? Well, you see, my cousin was getting married at 1pm and we missed it due to the boys games but still had time to get to the reception. We had a fun time seeing out-of-town and out-of-country family and dancing the night away.

Sunday morning we met back at the hotel so the cousins could swim and play together. Wouldn't you know that in my hast to pack I had forgotten the kids swimsuits and they were not forgiving for my oversight. I told them it was their choice to swim in their jeans and geez they called my bluff and went in up to their waists... soaking wet and no extra clothes! Later we went to breakfast, said our goodbye's to everyone and headed home. The best part was we went home with an extra person, my younger cousin Becky. She is from Mexico and her flight left on Tuesday from Grand Rapids so we took her home with us since no one else could get her to the airport. The kids kept Becky busy all night long with games and Guitar Hero and Wii - I, on the other hand, was able to clean my whole house and to get some other long forgotten things done. I could have kept Becky forever!

Monday morning Lilly and I took Becky to the mall until it was time to pick up the boys from school. That was SO much fun and Lilly was a very good girl, so good in fact that I let her get a pink rubber duck from Bath and Body Works. Overpriced? Yes! So worth it for a good girl? Absolutely! We came home from school, went to pick Patrick up from work and rushed home in time for the boys to get changed for baseball. After the game we came home just worn out and bummed because Becky was leaving in the morning before we would even be awake.

Tuesday Lilly and I took the boys to school and then went with Sherry to another friends house to work on more Teacher Appreciation items and then home for lunch. I spent the afternoon catching up on bills, other fun blogs, laundry and a million-bazillion emails. Before I knew it I had to make dinner and suit up in my Dutch Costume again and head south to dance. By the time I made it home last night I was too tired for words.

Today I was so happy to see new baby Riley, whose Momma is my good friend Andrea from high school and Riley's big sis' Maddy. They came over to play but Lilly was too tired and ended up sleeping the whole time. Never fear, Maddy made due with Lilly's toys and Andrea and I planned our trip to Cedar Point - just the two of us! I am so giddy and can hardly wait. After our playdate Lilly and I headed over to school to help Sherry with the end of the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon and then home for a nap {sadly, not for me though I could use it} which brings me to this moment so I guess you could say I am caught up. As I started to upload my pictures I realized that somehow all of the ones I took Friday at Tulip Time and Saturday at the baseball games, including awesome footage of Nathan running to first base, tripping on the base and eating dirt, have all been deleted!!!!! So... we are using some "file footage" in this blog for now.

So, what do you think? Kind of a lot for one post... but hey I have 5 days to make up for, so there ya go. Come on over tomorrow for a pic of me with my kids, Dutch style.