A New Beginning

I know a few people are questioning My New Found Freedom status on my Facebook page.
As of yesterday I have found myself without a job. This is the first time this has happened for me, so I'm trying very hard to stay positive and keep things together. I don't talk about my job much on the blog but I will say this. I did very much love where I worked and people I worked with. I still do. The last six months have been very hard though. There were alot of changes made and I was passed over for a couple of job promotions. Plus it seemed we were working short-staffed quite a bit. Needless to say I was getting burnt out and I made a mistake.I'm only human. Granted I think it was a little extreme that I was let go and not giving a warning first but I had a responsibility to perform my job and failed. So I am going to take some very much earned time off. Spend some time with my wonderful daughters, organize my house,(Lord knows it really needs it) work on my book, and wait to see where God leads me on this journey.

Visting The Mother Ship

We had been promising the girls we would go to the zoo for the last two weeks. So on Labor day we decided to head to Grand Rapids to see the zoo and maybe do a little shopping while we were there. To our dismay the zoo had a water main break and they were closed for the day. After talking up the zoo so much and getting the girls so excited we felt we could just turn around and go home. So we headed off to BattleCreek to the Binder Park Zoo. I'm so glad we did. It was amazing. There was so much to see and do. We hit the cafe first to grab something to eat ( it was lunchtime by then) There were peacocks wandering around the cafe looking for scraps. Riley and Piper tried to catch one. The one thing Riley wanted to do was pet the Giraffes. I kept trying to explain to her we could look but not be able to touch them. The exhibit where the giraffes were was a two mile hike up a hill. There was a tram to transport visitors up and down the only catch was you couldn't bring the wagon with you. The stroller yes, wagon, no. We didn't want to be chasing or caring the girls around while we where there so we began the two mile hike up the hill. Man it was hot that day! It was good exercise right?! When we got up there it was set up like a little African village. The girls discovered drums you could beat on and they liked having their picture taken with the giraffe statue. When we finally got to the giraffes, we discovered you could buy special cookies to feed them and yes you could pet them. That made Riley's day if not her entire four years of existence. The little monkey had the nerve to tell me, "See Mama, you can pet them" Smart alec, gets it from her dad. I think Piper was disappointed to see that the giraffes weren't dancing. (Her favorite book is Giraffes Can't Dance. )We saw the zebras,wild dogs, birds and of course monkeys. We couldn't go to the zoo and not see the monkeys right?!
We headed back down and passed the stand where you could buy stuffed animals that you stuffed yourself. We had already passed this once and Ben had told them we'll see. Well while we had been walking around, Piper had been hanging her head outside the wagon. After several warnings to keep her head in, Ben went to make a turn and Piper caught her ear on the fence.He felt horrible. So now as Ben is getting ready to say no, Pipe starts complaining about her ear.Stupid this girl is not and knows Daddy is a big softie. So Riley got her Snow Leopard, Piper her Nemo (a new obsession) and Aubrey, her monkey. After riding the carousel we headed over to the petting zoo. They got to pet rabbits, horses, goats, ect. The goats they got to feed and brush. Ben at one point had a small herd around him. He is now the Goat Whisperer. Aubrey didn't care for them. One of them bleeped(Is that what they do?) at her and she started screaming. After that we moved on. All in all we had a great day. The girls were fantastic considering they missed naptime and had a lot of fun. As we loaded them all in the van, Riley asks " Hey Mama, When are we going to go to the zoo?" Kids say the darnest things!

Is it a Boy or Girl?

I thought I would give you an update on my sister Jennifer. As most of you know she is due with her first baby this December. They were supposed to find out the sex of the baby in July. We thought that was cool because the ultrasound was scheduled on my Dad's birthday. Unfortunately the baby wouldn't cooperate and they couldn't tell. You can already tell the baby is showing personality traits from our side of the family. Jen has been having some problems with her Kidneys. The doctors thought it was kidney stones, did another ultrasound and they got a nice butt shot from the baby. They put a stint in to try to alleviate the pain. She is still in of alot pain (if you can keep her in your thought and prayers that would be greatly appreciated.) They did another ultrasound this past Thursday to see what was going on with the stint, Third time was the charm! Its a Girl! We are all very excited and are looking forward to meeting little Erica Jayne when her time comes. We are betting she comes out with a head full of curls like her Mom!

More Fishing Tales

Since we had such a great time fishing with the girls the last time, we decided to do it again. The girls had colds during the week and by Sunday they were still a little whiny and testy. Mistake number one. It was also Labor Day weekend. Mistake number two and we only had a couple hours to fish. Mistake number three. We tried out a new location and it wasn't as good of a spot as the last time. The fish weren't biting and so the girls got bored real quickly. One of my biggest fears is that the girls are going to catch their hooks on somethingor somebody. That's one of the reasons we cast for them. Piper managed to get her line tangled up and while trying fix it, Riley starts playing with her pole. After being told to be careful and wait just a minute till I got Piper situated, I felt something snag my shirt. I look down to see a big, dirty,slimy,creepy crawling,very much alive worm attached to my shirt. I hate hate worms. At this point I'm trying to stay calm and call to Ben I need his help. He tells me to hang on while he casts in another spot. By this point I'm so over the fishing trip. Thank goodness for undergarment with padding otherwise it could have been alot worse. Ben finally managed to unhook me. A little disappointed because it was a new shirt and one of my favorite undergarments. Oh well! Least it just did damage to my clothes and not me. Riley was told to sit while we packed up. Piper no matter what always feels the need to sit with Riley. She tossed her pole aside and claim " I don't like to fish!" Lessons we learned that weekend. Never rush anything, strollers are not meant to go off roading no matter what my husband says and never leave worms in the frig but that is a whole other story! Aubrey's Fish Lips

Riley and Ben

Piper following behind them but is enjoying the scenery

Ben caught the only fish that day

Riley in time-out

Misery loves company

Happy Birthday Piper!

Wow! I really can't believe Piper is 3 years old. How time flys. It seemed just like yesterday I told Ben that Riley was going to be having a little brother or sister. Piper came in to this world at 2:15pm on September 4,2005. A full month early. I remember waking Ben up early that morning to tell him I thought it was time. His response?! " Okay, I'll go take a shower." The second child is always different. She was a surprise and still to this day is always so full of surprises. So in honor of her birthday here are ten things I love about Piper.
1. She is a free spirit and very opinionated.
2. She can say No! at least 10 different ways.
3. Her laugh
4. The way her eyes sparkle and the mischievous grin appears on her face before she does something shes not supposed to do.
5. How she says 'I don't like that!' before she does anything.
6. The way she dances
7. Shes fearless
8. The way she gets excited over the smallest things.
9. Her Imagination
10. The way she thinks her Daddy can do anything.
Happy Birthday Chicken! You have brought so much it to our lives! We look forward to watching you grow older and seeing all the amazing things you will do!