Today is a work day in the Van Hulzens household. I am cleaning out some of the kids' drawers to make room for stuff that fits :-) and we are cleaning outside as well. Jon is hoping to go get some mulch in my dad's pickup and spread some of that around.
I started on Elianna's drawers last night and am almost done. I am bringing them into my bedroom (so I can be somewhat entertained by the TV as I clean them out :-)). She walked in just now and said, " Mom, you are taking this WAY too seriously! This still fits!"
It was a shirt, that yes, it probably does still fit, but it is a long sleeve shirt and she probably won't be wearing it anytime soon, so into a tub to be sold it goes :-) Elianna LOVES to hold on to EVERYTHING!!
I usually have to clean her stuff out when she is not around. Connor, on the other hand, loves to get rid of stuff he know longer uses!
Okay, that's a long enough break for me, I suppose. Back to the grindstone! Happy Weekend!
:-)
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Mean Moms
I still haven't had time to download pics, but I received this email from Angela last night...how true it is!!
Mean Moms
Someday when my children are old enough to
Understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . To ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you
Discover that your new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger,
Disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must
Learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the
Responsibility for your actions even when the
Penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough . To say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all.
I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to
Understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean?
I know mine was.
We had the
Meanest mother in the whole world!
While other kids
Ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.
When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.
And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
Different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.
You'd think we were convicts in a prison.
She had to know who our friends were,
And what we were doing with them.
She insisted that if we said we
Would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it,
But she had the nerve to break
The Child Labor Laws by making us work.
We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs.
I think she would lie awake at night
Thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
By the time we were teenagers,
She could read our minds
And had eyes in the back of her head.
Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up.
They had to come up to the door
So she could meet them.
While everyone else could date
When they were 12 or 13,
We had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced.
None of us have ever
Been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
Property or ever arrested for any crime.
It was all her fault.
Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults.
We are doing our best to be mean
Parents just like Mom was.
I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
Someday when my children are old enough to
Understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . To ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you
Discover that your new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger,
Disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must
Learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the
Responsibility for your actions even when the
Penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough . To say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all.
I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to
Understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean?
I know mine was.
We had the
Meanest mother in the whole world!
While other kids
Ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.
When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.
And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
Different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.
You'd think we were convicts in a prison.
She had to know who our friends were,
And what we were doing with them.
She insisted that if we said we
Would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it,
But she had the nerve to break
The Child Labor Laws by making us work.
We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs.
I think she would lie awake at night
Thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
By the time we were teenagers,
She could read our minds
And had eyes in the back of her head.
Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up.
They had to come up to the door
So she could meet them.
While everyone else could date
When they were 12 or 13,
We had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced.
None of us have ever
Been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
Property or ever arrested for any crime.
It was all her fault.
Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults.
We are doing our best to be mean
Parents just like Mom was.
I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
disclaimer...I never had to do my own laundry until I went to college! Thanks Mom!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Kids say the darndest things
One quick cute kid story before I go to bed.
The kids had just gotten out of the bathtub and we told them they had 40 minutes before bed time. Elianna says, "We better not have any fun, cause then it will be too fast!"
Yes, Elianna, time does fly when you're having fun :-)
The kids had just gotten out of the bathtub and we told them they had 40 minutes before bed time. Elianna says, "We better not have any fun, cause then it will be too fast!"
Yes, Elianna, time does fly when you're having fun :-)
Monday, May 12, 2008
Busy, busy, busy
It has been awhile, again, hasn't it!
Jon enjoyed his weekend in FL with the guys! They were able to play a round of golf, hit the beach, sleep in and enjoy the warm weather while we were experiencing snow!
I enjoyed my scrap booking weekend and got 40 pages done! I almost completed our whole album of our Black Hills vacation (3 years ago!!!). I have a scrap booking night at my house this Friday, so I should finish the Black Hills and start our Missouri trip. I plan to do our Alaska/WA trip when we get back. I am planning to do another scrapping weekend in July.
The kids have been busy too! They are still both doing gymnastics on Monday afternoons and Connor's baseball has started on Mondays and Wednesdays. I have to sign Elianna up for the summer session of gymnastics still. They will both take swimming lessons and tennis lessons as well this summer.
Last Friday was their Jump Rope for Heart at school. Thank you to those who donated to this cause! We didn't send all of you an email because we know you get inundated with requests from other family members and friends. The kids were so excited to see the pledges go up!! Thank you!!
Elianna has her "Letter Celebration" this Friday afternoon. This is where the kindergartners sing a little song about all the "letter people" they studied this year and a couple of other songs. It's always really cute :-)
Connor's class will have an end of the year program for parents too. Their spring concert is on May 22nd, we're going camping Memorial Day weekend, going to a Twins game with my coworkers, have an awards night at TLO, going to Canterbury Park with my coworkers, Jon's going to Dallas for work, then the kids and Jon will go camping with Cadets, and THEN we go on our Alaskan Cruise!! Busy, busy, busy!!!
The last month of school is chaos!! The kids get done with school a week and 2 days before I do. Thankfully Jon's parents are willing to come up for 2 days before they fly out to WA. Thank you!! Jon will have 1 day off to prepare for the Cadet campout, so then I have 3 other days to figure out. I'm guessing my Dad will take 1 and I may have to beg a couple of friends for the other 2 days (so be prepared!). If nothing works, the last 2 days of school are finals, so they could probably come hang out here with me and my mom.
This past Saturday was a busy day. We went to Chutes and Ladders to celebrate Camden and Cade Mellema's birthdays and Andrew Bosch's. It was fun...a little wet, but the kids didn't care! That night the adults went bowling...lots of fun! I can tell I haven't bowled for a while...and the Wii bowling doesn't count!
Hopefully I will post some pics soon. I know it won't be tonight...gymnastics and baseball night!
Hope you are enjoying the fairly nice weather!!
Jon enjoyed his weekend in FL with the guys! They were able to play a round of golf, hit the beach, sleep in and enjoy the warm weather while we were experiencing snow!
I enjoyed my scrap booking weekend and got 40 pages done! I almost completed our whole album of our Black Hills vacation (3 years ago!!!). I have a scrap booking night at my house this Friday, so I should finish the Black Hills and start our Missouri trip. I plan to do our Alaska/WA trip when we get back. I am planning to do another scrapping weekend in July.
The kids have been busy too! They are still both doing gymnastics on Monday afternoons and Connor's baseball has started on Mondays and Wednesdays. I have to sign Elianna up for the summer session of gymnastics still. They will both take swimming lessons and tennis lessons as well this summer.
Last Friday was their Jump Rope for Heart at school. Thank you to those who donated to this cause! We didn't send all of you an email because we know you get inundated with requests from other family members and friends. The kids were so excited to see the pledges go up!! Thank you!!
Elianna has her "Letter Celebration" this Friday afternoon. This is where the kindergartners sing a little song about all the "letter people" they studied this year and a couple of other songs. It's always really cute :-)
Connor's class will have an end of the year program for parents too. Their spring concert is on May 22nd, we're going camping Memorial Day weekend, going to a Twins game with my coworkers, have an awards night at TLO, going to Canterbury Park with my coworkers, Jon's going to Dallas for work, then the kids and Jon will go camping with Cadets, and THEN we go on our Alaskan Cruise!! Busy, busy, busy!!!
The last month of school is chaos!! The kids get done with school a week and 2 days before I do. Thankfully Jon's parents are willing to come up for 2 days before they fly out to WA. Thank you!! Jon will have 1 day off to prepare for the Cadet campout, so then I have 3 other days to figure out. I'm guessing my Dad will take 1 and I may have to beg a couple of friends for the other 2 days (so be prepared!). If nothing works, the last 2 days of school are finals, so they could probably come hang out here with me and my mom.
This past Saturday was a busy day. We went to Chutes and Ladders to celebrate Camden and Cade Mellema's birthdays and Andrew Bosch's. It was fun...a little wet, but the kids didn't care! That night the adults went bowling...lots of fun! I can tell I haven't bowled for a while...and the Wii bowling doesn't count!
Hopefully I will post some pics soon. I know it won't be tonight...gymnastics and baseball night!
Hope you are enjoying the fairly nice weather!!
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