As my sister so nicely pointed out to me, June is over and I should probably update my blog. Thanks Kelly :)

Hmmm...... Summer was busy as usual with Doug being in 2 softball teams as well as becoming a deacon at church. I didn't get to go to as many games this year with my boys at the age they are, but there is always next year right? July and August were pretty uneventful, and at the beginning of September we headed down to Disney World with our kids. So much fun!! With the summer as mild as it was here in Michigan, our bodies had a lot harder time adjusting to the 90+ degree weather with lots of humidity. The boys had such a great time. Of course they had their moments, but they did extremely well & can't wait to go back again some day.

We have taken our house off the market. We were not overly happy with how things were going, and then our realtor decided she was going to stop selling houses immediately. So, we did have another realtor walk through the house, who told us we would probably have to finish our basement in order to get out of it what we wanted. So in other words, we needed to put MORE MONEY in to the house to sell it. Not something we can really afford to do right now, so we are just sitting tight.

They boys are getting so big. Mason will be 4 in November and I swear he has grown three inches over the summer. None of his clothes are fitting, so somehow we need to come up with the money to buy him a completely new wardrobe. Hmmm, guess we'll take that a little at a time. He didn't make the cutoff for PreSchool this year, and he is really in need of something. We will see what I can find. Austin turned 2 in July and he is starting to come out of his shell more and more. This has also made it difficult because they are starting to CONSTANTLY PICKING ON EACH OTHER!!!! There are times that they play nice, but it usually doesn't last too long and Doug and I are back to refereeing some thing or another.

Doug's work is getting slow, but they still do have some stuff lined up which I am thankful for. We will see what comes this winter. My work is getting slightly busier as the holidays approach so I am trying to pick up as many hours as I can. I am doing a lot of night shifts (only from 5-10) so that I don't need to worry about a babysitter. Sometimes I wish I could just win the lotto and life would be much easier. Probably have to play to win though, right?

Crazy Busy

I am so ready for the month of June to be done!! Things have been so busy I just don't feel like I have had any time to relax. We have a wedding every Saturday in June, Doug plays softball two nights a week and just recently got elected Deacon in our church. When we don't have something, we end up somewhere anyway! I think the boys are starting to get a little annoyed as well. They just want to stay home :)

This week, we decided it was time to put Austin in a big boy bed. He has been trying to climb out of his crib (unsuccessfully) & the way he was doing it was making me VERY nervous. I was waiting for him to just tumble over the side and land on his head! So, we are temporarily borrowing a mattress from my sister's old bed until we can find a permanent one for cheap. We got it all set up and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face. He wanted to lay in it, so he got in under the blankets and pretended he was sleeping. It was sooo cute. He looks so little in that big bed, yet he looks so grown up. I can't believe he is going to be two in just a couple of weeks!!!!

Also this week, we decided it was time for Mason to be done with his pipe. (pacifier) We tried in on Monday night and he just screamed at us in bed for like 20 min. In all fairness, I had not gived him any warning, so I went in there and had a little talk with him. I gave him his pipe but told him that when he woke up in the morning, we were going to cut them all up and the next night he was not going to get to sleep with them anymore. I had cut up a couple of them before he got up, and the last one when he was finally awake enough to take it :) He was very upset at first and kept asking about them all day. I got him to take a nap without it (he doesn't really take naps anymore either but I wanted to get him used to it) I layed down with him and he kept saying he wanted something to cover his mouth! :) But he eventually fell asleep and when the time came last night for him to go to bed, he only asked for it once, and was fine when I reminded him that he could no longer have them! He slept all night just fine. We will see how tonight goes........

Kelly is married!!!!!!!!!

My little sister got married on Saturday!! It was so beautiful & I have never spent the day with a more fun group of people in my entire life!!! We had a riot! I was surprised by the nervousness in Rob, and touched by the emotions of his entire family!! Kelly is blessed with a great extended family!! I will have so many memories of this day! I even felt pretty good about my maid of honor speach! Hope you all enjoy the pics:

Beautiful Saturday

Yesterday was the first Saturday, in I don't know how long, that we actually spent the day at home with no prior commitments. Doug didn't have to work, I didn't help Kelly with any wedding stuff, we didn't plan anything with anyone for the evening hours..... it was GREAT!!!! Doug got up with the boys at 8:30 and let me sleep till 9:30. Then we headed outside to get some yard work done on a beautiful day!!
While Doug stayed home with Austin, I went with Mason to buy some flowers. Just a hint: don't go to buy flowers on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. WAAAAY to busy! Mason has one special plant that he picked out and is excited about, but I probably shouldn't have taken him with me. We just found out this week he has pretty bad allergies, and he was miserable when we were walking through the first greenhouse. Thankfully my sister let me drop him off at her apartment while I went to another place. Needless to say, we didn't get ANY of the flowers planted yesterday, and Doug's wheel fell of the wagon on the back on the tractor! lol. Hopefully Monday will be a productive day of flower planting and enjoying beautiful weather!!

Mothers

Today I feel so blessed to have two beautiful boys! I have always dreamed of becoming a Mother and it is everything I have hoped for and more. God has truly blessed me with wonderful, loving boys that are always willing to give me a hug and kiss and tell me they love me back! What a joy it is that God has chosen to put them in my life!

Crazy Busy

Every time that I think life is just crazy busy, my kids always have a way of making me laugh. I have nothing specific to share, its just the little things they do/say. Austin is talking more and more, and some of the words that come out of his mouth are just hillarious. Yesterday he say, "maybe, probably thats a truck" How many 20 mo olds say something like that?? He is just too funny. It is in these moments that I sit back and just enjoy them!

Mason has pooped twice on the potty now again and I hope that continues, but we all know how that has been going?!?! He is currently playing Super Mario Brothers as his most recent "reward bribe" :) I actually have a video of him trying to teach Austin to poop on the potty but my computer doesn't have all the right stuff to upload it. ( I have 64 bit processor not currently updated with Adobe reader, stupid computer people!)

Fragile Life

Sometimes, life seems so fragile. I feel like so often there is something new creeping in to our daily lives, that it is only Christ that can hold us up. It has been a week and a half since I found out that Mrs. Wever was hit by a car and killed while walking. Let me say I have never in my life met such an amazing women. I remember in middle/high school when Christina and I were good friends. Mrs Wever always had a smile for us and the love she had for her family was always evident. I will remember the romance between her and her husband as told through Christina! What an amazing couple. I also remember that her faith was always shining from her! What a woman of God!! I truly know that all of heaven is rejoicing to have her with them.

Second on my mind is the Guikema family. Mark has been friends with Doug longer that I have been around and I am privileged to call him and Brooke friends of my own now. As Mark awaits results from biopsy we pray that God is good to them! We love them and it is so hard being far away. (hard normally and harder when something is going on like this) God is faithful and I pray that whatever it is that he chooses for Mark and his family that they always feel God's presence!

Some days I don't know if I could get any more frustrated. I have been dealing with Mason and his "not pooping" that I am so exhausted I don't even know what to do any more!!! I am at the point of almost being in tears. ( not gonna lie, that actually has happend a lot already!) Why will this child not poop on the toilet?!?!? He knows he is doing it and that is the frustrating thing! Just now I had him on the toilet for 5 min becuase I could tell he needed to go. I let him get down and within 2 min, he had pooped in his underwear. I just want to yell and scream and I try so hard to stay calm but COME ON ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. God, I need some serious patience and a little wisdom would be nice too!!

I woke up this morning to "Mommy the sun is out". Obviously it is time to get up right?!?!? Luckily this was at 8:15 and not at 6:30!

The sun is out and it looks so nice outside. Just really thinking of what it would have been like all those years ago when Jesus died on the cross! What an amazing thing our God has done for us! That he loves us that much! Last night in Bible study we started a series on good and evil. One of the things talked about is that to not love God is the ultimate evil!! He gave us the choice! Not only that, he sent his Son to die for us and take away all those times we don't chose the good! What an AWESOME GOD he is!

On Wednesday this week, I had the awesome pleasure to take my first born on a date. Just me and him! What a great way to spend the day. We got up in the morning and he got a haircut and bath. Every 5 minutes he was asking me, "mommy is it time to go yet?" He was so excited and that warmed my heart to no end. We left the house around 11 and dropped off Austin at Grandma T's. (good alone time for him as well!) First stop was to Celebration Cinema to watch Monsters vs Aliens in 3D. We got in to the theatre while the previews were starting and Mason was just in awe! He wouldn't take his eyes off the screen. I kept asking him if he wanted his pop or popcorn and he would keep staring straight ahead and say "no". Finally about half way through he took a drink of his pop and asked for the popcorn. (he had both gone by the end of the movie!

Our second stop was to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Right now they have a temporary dinosaur exhibit. Mason was a little uneasy about going in to the exhibit at first because they have moving dinosaurs. Once he got going, he was ok. I think he liked some of the other exhibits we saw a little better. He loved it all just the same and was completely exhausted by the time we left. I asked him if he was going to stay awake on the way home and he says "no, i just gonna fall asleep." He was not even five minutes from the museum and he was out!! I had so much fun with him. Just being able to give my full attention to him was the greatest! And it taught me to let him go a little bit. He is starting to do so much on his own and I tend to forget that. He is able to walk through the museum and not run away anymore! That takes a great amount of courage on my part to let him do that in all the business but we got through it! God has blessed me with such a wonderful son!

Oh, I forgot to post this pics yesterday. Mason and I were downstairs and all of a sudden I saw this big brown thing run past the window. Then another, and another..... Mason and I quick ran to the window and there were five deer that had stopped in our front yard to eat some berries off of the ground. So, we ran upstairs and watched them for about 15 minutes out of my bathroom window. ( I even woke Austin up so that he could see!) Anyway, this is what we saw.....

I never thought the day would come! Mason has now pooped twice on the toilet!! (In a row even) Doug took him in the bathroom last night and he was so excited because he FINALLY got the Rescue Hero guy that has been sitting there teasing him till he went! Then this morning I went in his room and he says "I'm not pooping mom, it's ok" So, duh, I knew he needed to and we went in the bathroom and woo hoo he got another Rescue Hero guy! It is a great day in the VandenBerg household. I hope it continues that way!!!

Austin is continuing to be my little trouble maker. He know how to turn on a whine and he tends to do things that get his brother in trouble! We really need to work on that!! But otherwise, he is so funny. Everyday he does or says something that is making Doug and I go "He's got to be your kid!"

I am so blessed to have two beautiful boys. (Don't tell Doug but I am hoping our house sells soon, so we can maybe add a little girl to that mix!! :) )

Still no bites on the house, which I am rather bummed about. It has only been two week, but I can still hope right? This is proving to be a great challenge for Doug and I to decide what to do if our house sells. You think it would be easy, but we are not finding that to be the case! I think we would both love to build again, and we have a great house plan picked out, but we are trying to decide if that is the best way to go. We are going to try and look in to some forclosures, but not sure if we will find what we are looking for. This whole area of my life is something I need great patience in right now!

Why is it that one morning you wake up and you have a sick kid. The next morning you wake up and the other one is sick as well!! AHHHHH. Both of my boys have a runny nose and bad cough. I just hope that something more doesn't come of it!!

On a better note, we had our first open house this week Sunday. It went extremely well! We had 8 couples that walked through. Unfortunatly we have no idea if any of them are interested or not. We will wait and see!! Doug and I drove around a little bit that afternoon and looked at houses/lots that are for sale. We are really going to struggle agreeing on something I think!! The only way to get close to what we both want is going to be to build, I think. We don't want to sell our house and be stuck with no ideas, but it is really hard for me to focus on that, when I am not very positive our house will sell. We will see. In the mean time, we'll keep praying!!

Well, our house is officially up for sale. We went to a dinner at church on Monday night and came home to a for sale sign in the yard!! Very excited. Although I am trying hard not to get too excited do to the fact that it is for sure a buyers market and we very well could sit on it for a while! :( We are already having our first open house this week Sunday and I am beginning to think there is no way I am going to have my house clean enough. I pick something up and the boys make an even bigger mess!! Not to mention this leaves no time for actually cleaning things. We will see. Pray it all goes well and things can move quickly for us!!

It seems as though on the days that I am feeling lazy and not wanting to do anything, those are the days my boys are CRAZY!!!! Austin has been in to "Mine" or "My Turn" lately. It is not easy to explain to an 18 month old, why it is his brothers turn for something. For the most part, Mason has been extremely good with this. He usually lets Austin have the toy, but some times (rightfully so) he tends to just screem back at him. Today seems to be one of those days.

I never realized how much more quickly Austin would want to do things because his brother is doing them. For instance. We have a little booster chair that we can still strap Austin in at the dinner table. OH NO, not any more. Austin has to sit in a big chair. And by sit, I mean stand up because he can't reach the table otherwise. :)

Also on my heart today is so many people in the Tiemeyer family! My grandpa was recently hospitalized again with dizziness among other things. He is currently in a rehab facility but struggling with depression. My grandma has alzeimers which he had confessed has gotten much worse in the week and a half leading up to him being hospitalized. He is worried that she will not be able to live back with him at their apartment and will have to stay in the alzeimers unit she is currently staying in. My cousin Jill is having another iodine treatment today for her thyroid cancer that she was diagnosed with about a year or so ago. She is such a strong women. I am so proud to call her family!! My cousin Rebecca has been having some health issues and all the tests that have been run have come back negative. So, this Friday, she is having surgery to see if they can figure out what is going on. My cousin Todd is getting snipped this Friday! I think we should all send him a bag of frozen peas!! lol

God is so good and I know he is with each of these people through all these difficult times! Today's verse on my computer is Psalm 100:2 "Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs"

Today the sun is shining and I thank God for all the wonderful things in my life. I have a great husband (with whom I tend to take for granted) two beautiful boys, and the greatest family in the world. I have to admit that lately I have been needing some boosts in my personal relationship with God. I find myself forgetting the simple facts of things that I learned so long ago. I pray that God will reveal himself to me in ways I have not yet seen but also remind me of all the things I already know about him!