Percy Jackson Craze at the Bolles'

O.M.G. My daughter is C.R.A.Z.Y. for Percy Jackson!!! She has just finished up the fifth and final book in the series and holy kamolies it is like the end of the world for her!! She is doing all she can to extend the life of these books, which I find completely adorable. She is now sitting with her foot propped up, looking at her newest book, the Percy Jackson Ultimate Guide. It talks about each character, what their purpose in the story is, and details about their families. I feel like a part of these books, and I've never even read them.

I am beyond thrilled that she has found the wonderful love of diving into a book and getting lost! And she is so very excited about them, that she feels it is her God-given duty to share it all with the rest of us! Way to go Andie - keep on readin'!

Spring Break

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I just love this time of year! The Robin's are out, the Tigers are on, and things are just starting to come back to life.

We just returned from a short family vacation to Chicago. The kids had never been there, and while Chicago doesn't boast any palm trees, it was something that they have been wanting to do. Oh wait, the palm tree addiction is mine, not theirs! That's right :o)

So we took the train from Holland (a first for them), visited an array of attractions Chicago has to offer:

Shedd Aquarium (first for them)
Field Museum (first for them)
Planetarium (first for them - see my theme developing here?)
Museum of Science & Industry (another first)
Sears Tower Deck (you guessed it)

I'm struggling a bit with moving my pictures around - so they're at the top only. I wanted to get a little more creative and place them accordingly, but when I upload them, it's all just a bunch of codes and not actual pictures. For this non-techy girl, I just decided to leave them where they are!

So the first two pictures are at the top of the Sears Tower. If you haven't been there in a while, they have a spot that is a window that you stand on and you can see all the way to the ground. F.R.E.A.K.Y.!! But if you go all the way to the top, you just HAVE to stand there and look down! Unless you're Mike Bolles, but we won't go there. Just kidding! He did it too! But holy cow is it weird!

We also did a little bit of walking on Michigan Ave., ate at a few yummy places and delved into the hustle and bustle of the city. We ended up coming home a day early...and for a few reasons.

One being that we were just citied out...three days is plenty! Another is that we wanted to enjoy more than one day of the weekend at home, and the last (and therefore the largest...) is that Miss Andie hurt her foot at school almost two weeks ago.

She managed to hobble around the city by holding onto my arm and limping, but not without painfully doing so. So I had been keeping an eye on it the last week and a half, but it just wasn't getting better, so I decided to take her in for an x-ray. Sure enough. Her foot is broken! My poor girl!!

She definitely takes the award for Tough Girl, and I definitely take the award for Bad Mom. I feel absolutely horrible that she went as long as she did with it broke.

So there she sits in the recliner with her foot propped up with a cast on it. Well, just a temporary cast right now. I have to take her to her Dr. on Monday for a hard cast. All I can say is I'm sorry Andie! Mom loves you!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 11th Birthday Miss Andie Makae!!!!! Unbelievable that our kids are growing up so fast. They still change and amaze me everyday...I love you Andie!

Good Day...

Today was a day for tears for sure! I'm not sure what is in the air...but it seemed like every time I turned around, somebody was shedding a tear or two. And for some reason, it hit me too! Crazy. I'm sure there will be many more tears this Thursday - NOT because Miss Andie will turn 11, but because it will be Michelle's last day of working with us :o( She is going home to be a stay at home mom full time. I am so thankful for the time I had at home while Drew and Andie were little - I am very excited for Michelle, but she will be missed.

Let's see...what else? Got an A on my two tests tonight at school - yay! I positively cannot wait for this semester to be over. Now that sports will be picking up for both of the kids, we will be busy all over again! Not that we're not busy now, but it's just going to pick up again. I'm glad - I love watching them with their friends having fun. Oh - and Physical Therapy. Had that today too. Got some fun bright pink tape on my shoulder - just for you Ashley! The place I go to in Spring Lake is a great place if you need PT. Everybody there is very nice and it seems to be helping...just need to wait and see what the good ol' doc has to say in a few weeks.

We are enjoying this nicer weather very much!! Kris and I have been walking again and it feels great to get back out there! I just hope it doesn't snow Monday like they're calling for right now. Let's keep our fingers crossed :o)

Creative

I'm feeling rather creative tonight, so I decided to give the blog an attempt to have it show. Hope it makes me look good! Happy St. Patty's Day first of all...

Went to Target tonight with my favorite older sister that I don't get to talk to or see very often these days. We have an exciting baby shower coming up this Saturday and needed gifts, so off we went! Mashawn is due within the next month with her baby girl and we are soooooo excited for her, Brian and Aiden! I can't wait to see this darling little girl (and maybe babysit sometime...??) I ended up with some grocery items I didn't think I needed when I left the house, but realized I couldn't live without once I got there. Has that ever happened to you? Also got a start on Easter candy, which I hadn't planned on opening until, well, Easter, but my hubby had other plans for it. Right about this time, I am bumming that I gave up chocolate for Lent. My hips will eventually thank me for it, but right now it's tough! Gave up potato chips too. Ouch! If you don't hang around the Bolles' very often, you may not realize that Frito Lays Potato Chips are a favorite in this house. Not just by me. I think Mike loves them more than I do. In fact, I forgot about this whole Lent thing the other day when I was at the store and bought a bag. On the way home, I remembered that I gave them up for Lent, but then myself said to myself that I wouldn't be able to eat them, but the rest of the family would, so it was all going to work out in the end. Then I talked with MB and remembered [as I was telling him I bought them] that he gave them up too! So we sat at the table for dinner watching D & A eat them. Tough!

So I mentioned that I haven't spent much time with my sister, and I need to explain a bit. I've been working more hours this winter/spring, taking a class at school, and going to Physical Therapy twice a week. Not to mention helping Drew and Andie with whatever homework they have going on and all the usual housework stuff mom's do. So.....some days I'm not sure what's going on...am I coming or going?? Now with this precious lost hour of sleep...I am also excited about the lost hour because that means that the nice weather is finally on its way!!!!! yay :o)

Kris and I have started walking again this week. Wow does it feel GREAT to be back out there walking!! It's been a long winter. I'm just sayin' Apparently we aren't the only ones with this opinion because we've seen many friendly neighbors out and about too - it's nice to see :o)

We celebrated Miss Andie's birthday with family this afternoon (I'm continuing this on Sunday...). She will be 11 on Thursday and I also need to shout out a Happy Birthday to my Grampa Anderson too on Thursday. I miss him so much! She is happily playing with her new iPod Touch right now...which makes Drew oh-so-very-happy because now he doesn't have to constantly hear, "Drew, can I play a game on it please?" She also got a Ripstik Scooter. We're sure to end up in the ER with that thing! But it also came with pads for her wrists, elbows and knees. I wonder if they keep bones from breaking? Hmmmm... Oh and she got [another] Webkinz from Drew. She really needed another one. She also got a really cute outfit from Mimi and Papa, and Aunt Shani will be taking her to Barnes & Noble for their yearly ritual of book shopping. She's really into the Percy Jackson series and she doesn't have the last one yet, so she's looking very forward to spending some time w/Aunt Shani!!

I'm having a battle with importing the pictures from my camera to my computer...so I'm just going to go ahead and post this while I continue to work on this techy stuff. I'm so not the techy type!

Well It's About Time...

...that I put something on here, don't you think?? So much has happened, where do I even begin?

Let's see, I'll start with the most recent. Andie is home sick with the flu. Yuck. I'll spare the details, but let me just say that from 2:30 a.m. on, we didn't get any sleep last night! Poor sweetie! Drew had it Saturday night, so I guess it's only fitting that Andie has it now. We're going to Traverse City this weekend for Mid-Winter Break, so I hope that Mike and I both stay healthy!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for the Mom Protection... looking very forward to hanging out and chillaxin' with some great friends, eating some great food (Boone's!!) and hoping for some great deals at the Mall! (Andie and Lauren are looking forward to Justice!)

Andie got braces put on her teeth a couple weeks ago. She looks so darn cute! I've got a picture of her, but of course, it's not been uploaded to my computer. I'm seeing a pattern here, are you?? Maybe I should've made it a resolution to get better at it, but it just hasn't happened yet.

I cannot tell you how much I am ready for spring! I think the "gray-ness" of this year's winter is really getting to me! I took Cowboy for a short walk yesterday and it felt great to be outside, even though it was only 25 degrees! It's pretty bad when it's only 25 degrees, and you walk outside, take a deep breath and think what a nice day it is out!!! Sad. But it did feel good to be out there breathing the fresh air and just moving! I've really turned into a slacker this winter...looking forward to getting back in the routine of exercising :o)

Need to start shopping (ok, just looking) for an orange dress for my sister's wedding. Erica and Lucas are getting married, hopefully on the beach, but I'm not sure if it's going to be this September, or next year September. Guess I should really find that out before dress shopping, huh?? Anyways, I'm soooooo excited for them! They're building their house right now and she just e-mailed me some new pictures - it looks great! I can't wait to fly out to Phoenix one day and see her new place! I miss you Erica!


These are two of the pictures that we took during the Christmas break while we were geocaching on a gorgeous day! Yep - they were taken with my new camera...that I still don't know how to use real well. I so need to take the class that The Camera Shop offers! That's at the top of my to-do list.

I know there's much more to update you on, but since I've basically been up since 2:30 this morning, my brain feels tired and ready for bed. I'll post more again soon - it won't take as long, I promise!

Proud Moments

This past Saturday evening after Church, we had the play that the kids have all been working on for a while now. Andie was asked to play the part of Mary, since there was a singing solo. She likes to sing with the ladies in the choir during Mass, and since she is the only youth that participates, they knew she would do an outstanding job in the play. Boy did she do an AMAZING job!!! I teared up when she started singing...and she just made us so proud! She started out with a real baby, as seen below, but then when the baby start squirming a little bit, her Mom came and got her from Andie, then handed her a doll. Andie looked much more relaxed after that! Maybe it was just Mike and I that were a lot more relaxed...yep, I think that's it!

Anyway, back to the play. Drew was volunteered by his lovely sister to be a camel. She figured that since she had some speaking parts, as well as singing, it was only fair that Drew do something. He also did an amazing job, but at his request, I am not posting any photos of him. I get it. 12 years old. Photos might make it around school somehow. Or worse - facebook! He might qualify for a butt-kicking at school if people actually see this picture. (hee hee).

Isn't this picture beautiful?? I put just a touch of makeup on Andie for this...it was a special occasion, and even though she wasn't on a stage, it just seemed like the thing to do. Of course, her Dad wasn't home for either one of us to ask beforehand, so...I just made an executive decision on my own. She doesn't get it everyday - she doesn't need it, but I thought it might make her feel good for this particular evening.

Today just happens to be Drew-B's 12th Birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW! We had his birthday party last night, combined with Joshua's 2nd birthday (December 29th) and it was a fun-filled party. Can't believe how fast these amazing kids grow up!! Good thing we, as parents, don't age even though our kids grow up :o)

I have so much more to post, but my mind is fried right now...will catch up soon. We are all looking forward to having some time off for the holidays - so be on the lookout for some detailed updates.