Sonny alert and Miss Ella

Sonny is missing again....please send good thoughts that he is found safely.

Miss Ella called from the ER the other night. She swallowed a marble. She was all excited to see the marble on xray in her tummy. I hope that doesn't give her incentive to try to see more things in her tummy!

Happy 4th birthday to Miss Ella tomorrow! I can't believe she's getting so big. She says she's going to catch up to the boys and go to kindergarten too.

We've had a gorgeous week!! We spent most of the days on the beach and loved every minute of it. There is a change in weather coming this week so we made the most of it. Romey and Emma were here this weekend and we had fun playing.

September at the beach

We have had two glorious beach days this week. Girl Hayley and I went down by ourselves yesterday and played for a couple hours until Jeff dropped the boys off when they got home from school. She was so tired last night and groaning every time she had to stand up or move. I didn't think she would even want to go with us again today but she was a trooper and she was ready to go.

We spent five beautiful hours playing in the water and sand and there was no one else down there, very few people even walked by. One lady who did stopped to say that she and her husband rent a place here in September every year and that they have looked forward to seeing me and the boys at the beach every time. She said they love watching the boys play, how nice is that? She was from Naples, Florida.

I don't understand why there aren't more people down there. Once Labor Day is over the beach is empty and no one enjoys it but it's my favorite time of year. Each extra beach day we get is a bonus to be savored and enjoyed and daydream of once winter hits.

Pirates in Grand Haven

This week is Talk Like a Pirate Week at the library and pirates sailed into town Tuesday night. We went down to watch with Grandma Kris.

Family day with Great Grandma

The wonder duo and dad headed to a family day with great grandma on Saturday. They had a great time playing games, doing the three legged race and seeing pie eating contests.

First homework

You have no idea how long it took the boys to write these out!!

Here is Jonathan's:

If you can't read it, it says:

Today is Wednesday and it is my first day of school. I felt nervous. I wore shorts. For breakfast I ate cinnamon rolls. After that I was taken to school by bus. My teacher's name is Mrs. Bauer. My friend named Braden is in my class. The first thing we did in school was sit down. Then we learned rules. The part of the day I liked best was when we played. But I did not like coloring. When it was time to go home I felt happy because I wanted to go home. Tomorrow I will go back.

Here is Matthew's:

It says:

Today is Wednesday and it is my first day of school. I felt scared. I wore shorts. For breakfast I ate cinnamon rolls. After that I was taken to school by a bus. My teacher's name is Mrs. Bauer. My friend named Ford is in my class. The first thing we did in school was sit down. Then we learned. The part of the day I liked best was when we colored. But I did not like recess. When it was time to go home I felt sad because I wanted to stay. Tomorrow I will go again.


Matthew said he didn't like recess because it was too short. They only get 15 mins and they have to eat their snack and then can play so it's not much time.

They did well last week. Matthew cried the first two days but didn't on Friday and did fine again today. We're getting into the schedule.

They also drew really cute pictures of themselves. Matthew did one where it had me standing next to the bus sad, there were three people on the bus: him sad, Jonathan happy, and the driver happy.

Matthew also always draws Jonathan as a baby in his pictures. Our family and baby Jonathan. Something psychological in that? Hmmmm.

Sonny the Hamster

Our niece, Katy, is 10 years old and waited for ages to get a hamster amid much negotiating and pleading with her parents. She finally got Sonny earlier this year and has been taking very good care of him.

Sonny was here with them for the month of July at the cottage and had a great time with the kids. Hamsters are nocturnal and Sonny is quite the party animal come 10pm. You can hear him running his wheel and having a great time in his little cage.

Three days ago, Katy had some friends over to play and Sonny's cage must not have been shut tight. The next morning his cage was askew and he was gone.

Katy has been very worried and there was not much sign of Sonny although one hamster poop was found in the bathroom the next day. Mom and Dad looked for Sonny each night with no sign of him despite leaving out food and water for him.

Today, I went to get a haircut and for some reason was telling the woman who cuts my hair about Sonny and how worried Katy is. She said that each time her kids got a hamster they got loose and ended up in their sump pump with a sad result. I didn't know if my sister's house had a sump pump.

When my sister called tonight I asked about Sonny again, still no sign of him. I told her what the stylist said and she went to look at their pump. There was Sonny!! Mary Anne was so excited she hung up on me and I wasn't sure he was alive. I called back. No water in the pump, thankfully, and a live but very hungry Sunny waiting down there to be rescued.

Katy and Sonny had a joyful reunion and he's enjoying a meal and water and his cozy little cage.

I love a happy ending!!

(I did call the salon to report the happy story but she had left for the day, I will fill her in tomorrow.)o

First Day of School!!

Yesterday, we had orientation at school and the boys got to check out the bus and did a scavenger hunt of the classroom area. We saw their teacher, Mrs. Bauer, again and got to visit a bit.

The boys had already seen the class and been around the building at the carnival last week. When I pointed out the principal they checked him out and told me he doesn't look scary! I think they thought he would since they know kids who don't behave get in trouble with him.

This morning, they were up way too early at 4am during a thunderstorm. They went back to sleep in the basement playroom and got up early for cinnamon rolls and yogurt for breakfast.

They were happy and ready to and outside for the bus twenty minutes early! We had time to play with Hayley and take more pictures and have a little talk about being polite and rules on the bus.

When the bus pulled up, Jonathan was ready to go. Matthew started to say, "I'm a little..." and just melted into tears! That was all it took for Jonathan to cry too and I had to help them both get on the bus.

Luckily, I had plans to go out for breakfast with friends or I would have cried too.

They just got home and say they had a fabulous day and lots of fun. Jonathan says Matthew started to cry again when they got to school but he held his hand and helped him. Very sweet.

All in all, we all survived and will do it again tomorrow.

Labor Day breakfast

The boys and Jeff went to the annual Labor Day breakfast on the tennis courts at the cottage while I was at work. Everyone brings a dish to pass and eggs to add to the scrambled eggs the men cook in a huge skillet on the weber grill. It's tradition and fun and a sad day because it means the end of summer.

This year it didn't rain, it usually does. Cousins KC, Romey and Emma were among many friends and family there.

We don't give up on summer though, we'll have some more good beach weather this fall.

Jonathan's new glasses

He's pretty proud of these new specs, he's been showing them off all day to anyone who will listen. They came with a cool case with a surfer on it too. I think he looks pretty darn adorable in them. All ready for big boy school now!

We're thinking school time!

The boys have had full work ups in the past couple weeks. We started with hearing and vision screening at the health department that are required of all kids beginning school. They both did fine with the hearing and Matthew passed the vision. Jonathan was having trouble with the smaller letters and the lady caught Matthew pointing for him showing him which way the "E" was pointing!! They were cheating!! Jonathan was referred for the eye doctor.

We hit the dentist and did fine there except Matthew has a chipped molar so he had to go back for a filling that took all of five minutes.

Jonathan and I headed off for eye appointments. I have bad astigmastism and my prescription has changed. Jonathan has it too, go figure, luckily his is not nearly as bad as mine so he has picked glasses and will need to wear them for school and reading but should be able to not wear them when playing and being rough. It's hard to believe he needs them, the kid can spot the Coast Guard helicopter from miles away before you can even hear it!

We then headed to the pediatrician and both of them got 4 shots for school. Matthew has a cold and ear infection too so he's on meds. The shots were rough and all three of us cried.

We did some back to school shopping and I have been working furiously on the school paperwork (and there is a LOT of it!) so we're getting there.

Can I tell you how nervous I am for that first day?

Coast Guard Festival

We love the festival!! We watched ships come in, we did the carnival, the parade, the goodbye to the Mackinaw. The boys were so beat they didn't even care we missed the fireworks.

I have never seen the state park beach so crowded as it was that Saturday!! It was so crowded there was no room to sit so the people down there were all standing! Glad we had our own beach further south.

It's quieting down now in town, the water is cooler and the tourists are dropping off a bit. We're getting ready for school!