Trial Run Over.....

The last three Sunday's Steve has gone with me shopping, as posted earlier. It has proved to be a very enjoyable time! He has passed the test...with flying colors, no less! He has moved up to pushing the cart ranks!

I normally don't brag or use this blogging place to share about my relationships...but sometimes you just have to! I am realizing what an awesome man I married. He has been amazing. When we spend time together lately we have soooo much fun together! It has not always been this way. Now, don't get me wrong....we have always had a great relationship. It just seems as though it's a great relationship turned greater! More Awesome! More Heavenly!

When we get to our stop...Steve jumps out and runs around to open the door for me. Which has proven to be a difficult wait for me...I want to just jump out. Funny & sweet side note.....last week we took Trent to a Soccer meeting and Steve ran around to open my door. Trent asked Steve "why are you doing that?" Steve replied...'cause I lover her! (AWWW!) The best part, was when we got home, Trent quickly jumped out and opened the door before Steve could get over there! Steve just gave him a smile!

This week, while we were shopping at Meijers. We had another AWWWW moment! Steve snuck away from me and purchased some flowers and ran them out to the car. When we got out to the car, they were there waiting on my seat...I know...AWWWW! I had no idea he was gone that long!

Along with all that, he is emptying the dishwasher, making me breakfast and rapidly working down his honey-do list! What did I do to deserve all this? Am I a princess? Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

The real rewards we are seeing is a attitude change in our boys. They seem to have a spirit of helpfulness. It seems as though....if Dad is doing it, I want to do it first. It's a race to do it before Steve can.

Another side note...The flowers Steve bought were a 'spring' bouquet. Some of you know my Alma Mater, Schoolcraft, competed in the Boys Basketball finals on Saturday. We went with Dad and Linda to the Breslin Center to see them play..unfortunately they lost....=(. Hang with me...there is a point! I think the flowers were actually a 'condolence' bouquet, as they were purple and yellow, my school colors!

Okay, back to my point.....I know I am not a professional writer or even a good amateur blogger but I hope I conveyed my thoughts today. In a world where men are thought of as idiots, belittled and just generally worthless. I wanted to express my appreciation to Steve for all his love and more! He is a wonderful man and I look forward to growing old with him!

I hope this post doesn't nausea any of you! Troy just came in the room and started reading what I was writing and said..Mom delete that...no one cares about you and dad's relationship. I'm hoping that isn't true....I'm thinking he's just 13!

Mom's Moment...

This is an unusual post for me, as I am not high on the emotional chart. This is probably why God gave me all boys. I would not be able to relate to a Drama Queen!

All that being said..I'll continue...
Tyler applied in February to work at Lake Ann Camp near Traverse City for the summer. He applied to work in the kitchen, in his words..that's where all the girls are! Yesterday, he received word he was hired...on the cleaning crew....not his first choice, but he accepted! He thinks this could be revenge, for a 'incident' he was involved in as a camper last summer!

I had received the call during the day asking him to call back after school. As I talked to Mr Miller I had a flood of questions. I wanted to know......when will they have to be there?, what if he wants to go on a Mission Trip?, Where will he sleep?, who will wash his clothes?..... I didn't bombard Mr. Miller with all those questions...I wanted to...but held back.

What I realized during those hours....my baby is going to go 2+ hours away for the entire summer. Granted this crossed my mind many times and I was admittedly...excited. The thought of sending my teenager away, once brought joy to my heart! I had thought this would be great...if you don't have teens...you probably don't understand....yet!

This day was different, it brought a sadness over my heart as I thought about Tyler leaving...only for the summer...but not being present from day to day. It will only be a short time and he will be going to college...embarking on a new life. He won't be with us anymore. He will always be our son...that's not what I'm talking about. He won't come and eat dinner with us every night, he won't sleep here, some other girl will take precedence in his life, he will have a job to go to....

Lake Ann is a great camp and I know this will be a wonderful life-changing experience for him. I'm so happy for him, he will grow undoubtedly, by leaps and bounds. He will come back a changed boy...on the way to manhood. If nothing else, he will be able to clean the bathroom for me!

I'm so excited for this opportunity for Tyler......

King of His Peepdom...

Steve still rules over his Peepdom! I live in a boys-world....this was our after dinner entertainment.





Needless to say he reigned as champion.

Trent said..Don't go easy on me!






Double handed





I almost took him down...but I didn't want to make him feel bad! How embarrassing, if your mom were to beat you!


"A family that arm-wrestles together stays together!"

Trial Run....

I would have expected this post from a newly married couple...but not 'seasoned' married couples like us! We have been married almost 21 years...Wow..that's quite an accomplishment. But this is not about how long we have been married....It's not our Anniversary....We aren't taking a 2nd honeymoon..(are we?)

It's about something I learned long ago...You don't let your husband go shopping with you!!...end of post!!! But yesterday was a rare day for Steve and Joanne...we ventured out to go shopping together. Now, this wasn't one of those quick in-quick out after a dinner shopping jaunts. You know the ones...you go to Walmart after a dinner to get one or two things. No, this was full fledged shopping. Like stop here-stop there kinda shopping.

It has always been customary for Steve to stay home with the kids while I shop. It's much more pleasant for, lets see....me, Steve, kids, other shoppers....just about everyone involved! So in Steve's defense, he has always been his duty to stay home.

He sprung the question on me as I was looking through the ads..."can I go with you?" Thoughts raced thought my head...do I want him to go? Will he hurry me? Will he leave me at the store? Will he tell me not to buy things? Will we get upset with me? Will I get upset with him? I said..."we will see." As I spoke those words, I thought, shouldn't I let him go with me? He promised to be different..not the "newly married" Steve that I once knew. I let him go only on a trial basis.

To my surprise...we had a great time. We headed out with lists & coupons in hand. We made 7 stops and not once did Steve complain..that's right..not once...and one of those was even Michael's! Not many men can say that about themselves...that right there is quite an accomplishment!

He even opened the car door for me at every stop....which is not something I or he is accustom to. He then wanted to push the shopping cart..I have my limits. I did let him try it out a couple of times though.

Our biggest treat was sharing a piece of pizza at Sam's Club. I also taught him an invaluable lesson...bargain shopping! First...is never buy anything that isn't on sale. Second...try to use a coupon. Third..stop at the store that has it for cheapest sale.

It was a great sale week at Meijers, it's was their 10 for $10 and get one free sale. For ever 10 items you buy you get one free. It's then 90¢....I then pulled out the 75¢ off coupons. This is when Steve started to get impressed. Even I was impressed! I have to admit here...I even purchased somethings I truly didn't need, just to use my coupon. Hey, it was only 50¢!

Now, I know I have made Steve out to look like a bad husband....he's far from that. We all have things that we have learned early on in our marriage...this is one of them! It seemed to work for us...it wasn't a bad thing that he didn't go get groceries with me. So let me just lift Steve up for a moment...he is a great husband and I wouldn't change our life for anything!

The lesson here.....We all have the ability to change...we are not stuck in the "that's just how I am mold!" We can change what WE want too! It's definitely easier to stay where you are, usually less painful. It's hard to change there is no doubt..change is difficult. My challenge to myself & you..look for something you want to change...big or little...make strides to change it..today!!

The Main Dude...

Who knew it was Dr. Seuss's birthday this month?....I'm guessing everyone that has an elementary student. So to honor him, Trent and I made Green Eggs and no ham for his breakfast

this morning.

He enjoyed them....but I'm not so sure about them. I'm sure they tasted great.

We will have to make them again, on Tues morning for St. Patty's Day.

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH...

.....The Angels in heaven above are singing..I just know it! They are rejoicing! There is a gladness in the air! There is a jubilant (is this a word?) party going on! My dishwasher is fixed...Hallelujah. Everyone now...Hallelujah! (come on Carolyn, I-can't-hear-you!)

Mr. Fix-it is on probation for now. We are pretty sure we are back up and running but I usually have to give it a week to make sure everything is good!

We thought we had our problem solved on Wednesday, when Steve went to pick up his brothers broken dishwasher that had the part we needed...perfect we thought. How does that saying go...'if it's to good to be true it probably is!' Needless to say, the part didn't work and now we were up by one broken dishwasher!


So we turned to what else..eBay! We purchased the part and in a very timely manner it came..today! So eagerly Steve put it in, as to boost his self esteem...hmmm....there seems to be a problem?? It's still not working properly....now it seems to be another part...what...how can this be?

Oh...where will we get this part on Saturday afternoon...oh....the dishwasher in the back of his truck.....bonus! So in he comes with the switch (at this point, I'm not feeling to bad about his brother's broken dishwasher)....it's in....hmmmm....something still is wrong.....out to steal another part off the other dishwasher. It works!!



Okay, I'm not sure what was truly broken....I'm just glad it's working. I'm doing a happy dance!

Jaxi and Trent doing there part!