The last two lighthouses are ones I’ve posted pictures of before.

The Old Mission Lighthouse

This is one you can be lighthouse keeper of.

Mackinaw Lighthouse

I took this shot when I visited the island with Beth this summer… Great time.

And to finish off the weekend posts I leave you with this picture of Charlie…

Calling the Waves

Oh to have the joy and imagination of childhood again.

One of my favorite things about being a parent is experiencing my childhood  over again through them.

Why have kids if you aren’t going to enjoy them, right?

What’s a great memory from YOUR childhood?

Charlie after the race.

Charlie is in Track and Field this year, I don’t know if I told you all or not.

I love that he is being active and healthy but I am glad the season is almost over.

 Track takes a lot of time and gas and there is an incredible amount of waiting.

What do Cooper and I do while we’re waiting?

I know you want to know.

Well, we FLY! Of course!

What do you do while your waiting?

Cooper is going through a stage… I PRAY that it’s a stage. 

He is more then a little stubborn and rude. I keep reminding him to be nice or be polite but…

Yesterday he was wearing his Spiderman costume, which he does often, he insists on it. We were in a restaurant and the owner looked at Cooper and said  “Well hello Spiderman!” and Cooper yelled at him… “I’m Cooper! This is a costume. I’m NOT Spiderman. I’m was pretending!” I apologized. I made Cooper apologize. Then I commented to Ben that I hope  Cooper grows out of the stage soon. Ben assured me that he would and then he reminded me of the stages our other children have gone through…

Isabelle had a fear of weather and natural disasters. All of the New Orleans stuff was happening around the time she was four. That one wasn’t horrible, it just took some reassuring and some  talks about rolling with the things life throws at you. I also believe she had a disaster escape plan, but it wasn’t really easy to understand as it was written/drawn in the language of four year old.

Charlie was obsessed with death. Yup… death. He had planned his head stone, he wanted Transformers instead of flowers. He wondered about how people died and when and why. The kicker was one day when he was standing in a line near an old woman with a cane and he turned to her and said “Are you waiting to die?”  I think Ben almost fell over from embarrassment.

I think I can handle a little rudeness… Still I hope it passes soon.

What stages have YOU had to deal with?

The Easter Bunny was busy this morning.
So was I,  working at the bakery at three a.m. to help fill all of the Easter orders.

His job looks like it was more fun then mine…

Although mine wasn’t bad… just busy.

He put out 16,000 eggs for the hunt, it was more like a slaughter in my opinion…

The eggs just LAYED there.

Isabelle the mighty egg hunter.

We waited an hour for something that took the kids twelve minutes to finish…

but they had fun.

I got to play with my camera a little…

That was nice.

Cooper filled his bucket, and when he was done he said “My bucket’s full! I WON!”

That was nice…

Charlie with his best friend T and Isabelle, sneaking into the picture…

They got to be the Three Stooges…

That was nice…

We did a little swinging and then I went home and took a nap!

That was nice!

I hope your weekend is shaping up to be as nice as mine!

What are your thoughts on Easter dinner?

Is it a eat at home full family affair or a buffet out event for you?

Traveling home from a lunch date with my children the other day, I commented on the fact that my son had chili dog breath and offered him a piece of Orbitz gum.

Charlie- “The other day Jordan and I had a bad breath contest at school.”

Me- “What?!”

Charlie-(pleased look on face)- ”We loaded up our hot dogs at lunchtime. Mine had onions but his didn’t. He breathed on me and there was only the sweet smell of hot dog, I breathed on him and he almost passed out. It wasn’t only the onions,  I think my breath was bad before I ate the hot dog, that’s why I won.”  

Me- (with mock horror)- “Oh gross!”

Charlie- (with very serious face)- “Mom, it’s what men do.”

Now I know you see it coming… What kind of sidekick would you want? I know we’ve all thought about what super power we would want. Invisibility and flying of course. You haven’t? Oh come on! I know you have. But I’ve never really thought about who I’d want at my side, much to my sons chagrin. So again… What kind of sidekick would you have? or who?

I’m here! Just really, really busy!

I am loving it.

Charlie decided to do cross country this year!

I was so excited when he came and told me.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, in the summer when he and his sister are driving me nuts bickering…

I make them do laps around the house, when they are done they are too tired to bicker!

This summer Charlie always asked if he could do more. 

Today was his second to last meet.

When he started he ran a mile in 10 minutes 30 seconds, today he ran it in 8 minutes 13 seconds!

It has been great fun watching him and his team mates. They always include Cooper in their warm ups.

Charlie and one other boy are on the team with thirteen girls! I think he likes it.

One of my favorite things about going to the meets is cheering for the kids, there is always that  last kid that is struggling to get to the line, I love yelling encouragement to him or her and watching it give them their second wind, it makes my heart feel good.

I am astounded by their desire and determination.

 I never participated in sports in school, at first it was because we lived so far from the school, then when I got older it just wasn’t me… I was into band, theater and art club.

It makes me look back at my childhood and wish that I had put myself out there.  

Charlie doing cross country gives me hope that he is setting himself up with a healthy habit and a lifetime joy in running.

Did you do a sport when you were in school?

This weekend was all about

fish,

fish and more…

fish.

Every year my Pop puts on a fishing tournament for his shop.

This year it was a little wet out…

They didn’t bring in as many fish this year, I wonder if the weather had anything to do with it.

Charlie’s fish was so big he had a little trouble holding it up for the picture.

I don’t think he minded at all.

His boat didn’t win any prize money this year, but he still had a blast.

He was fishing with Grandpa!

This year the fishing was done on the bay’s here in Traverse City,

 Next year it will be back in Frankfort, I can’t wait!

The picture taking is far better there…

Last year I got two posts out of it!

HERE and HERE…

Only one more week until the kids school starts.

Is it wrong for me to be looking forward to it this much?

About a year ago my son had a tail…

His Aunt D paid him twenty dollars to let her cut it off.

Since that time it is his goal to always have a tail when he sees his Aunt D.

He has been patiently waiting for her to notice it.

That way he can torment her into paying him to cut it off…

I posted the first scalping HERE!

This time much haggling ensued before the price was set.

The cost of gas and the fact that we are in a recession was blamed for the fall

From 20$ to 5$…

The exchange of money takes place…
Charlie insists on it up front…

No more tail for Charlie…

HE is happy with his deal.

The others sit by clueless to the financial gains that can be made from bad haircuts.

No geocaching today…

  Over heard while the monsters where playing in their room.

Charlie: “Cooper get on that bed and stay there!”

Cooper: “NO!”

Charlie: “Now! I’m counting to four! One…two…three… Good! Now stay there!”

Cooper looking down safely from his perch high above on the bunk bed: “Or WHAT?”

Charlie: “Or I’ll count to five!”

Cooper: “oh” whispered with some gravity as if this was the worst punishment in the world…

I love kids.