The Van Vleets

In our freezer, there will always be a bag of frozen mixed veggies.  I find it is a very convenient way to keep vegetables around for our dinners when recipes call for such.  And because I have become extremely frugal in all our grocery shopping, I want to buy the most economical friendly item.  But in all my searching, the absolute cheapest per-ounce bag I can find is the one that contains the very undesirable.  The lima bean.   I liken the experience of eating those little green pods them to biting into little morsels of mushy chalk (yuck!).  So I have a dilemma.  To buy the corn, carrots, and peas individually that I want in either fresh, canned, or frozen bag form would cost me much much more than I want to spend.  And when I weigh the misery of picking out the lima beans once they are on my plate against the joy of buying a cheaper food item (did I mention I was frugal), I feel I come out even.  

But last night, I had a solution! 

In starting this blog and going back through all the pictures we have on our computer to try to get life with our girls up to date and in one place (they have no baby book), I see picture after picture that captures Halle’s desire (actually, obsessive compulsiveness might better describe her actions here…) to sort things.   She absolutely loves it!  She must sort! She even pre-sorts her colors before starting her artwork.  When friends asked me what she would enjoy for her 4th birthday, I had to answer with responses like, “well…she really likes to just sort things.  Buttons, sea shells, beads, colors…anything.  No toy preference, just something she can sort.”  Advice was noted and that is exactly what many of her little peers got her.

My aha! moment came when I put two and two together.  One, I have a bag of vegetables with something I don’t like.  Two, I have a daughter who loves to sort.  Halle…I have something “fun” for you!  I really don’t think this was a manipulative tactic because her smile was huge when I told her about the opportunity to remove the lima beans for me.   Comments that followed were, “mom, that was such a great idea.  I really enjoyed that.” 

It won’t be long before I can put her to work/play on my kitchen drawers and cabinets.  There is much need for sorting to be done there.

Every kid takes this learning course.  Some parents enroll their kids at an early age, like when they turn two.  But I had a very positive experience with Halle of “holding her back” a year till she was three.  And I was hoping for the same manner of quick graduation and enrollment in potty training 201 (no diapers at night) with Dee and Gracie.  But after this morning, those hopes are no longer with me as day 1 did not go as I had hoped… 

Because the girls turned 3 on Sunday, I decided it was time that we would officially start our first day of learning how to use the big-girl potty.  Some very flowery-princess-heart panties were picked out and put on.  Then each girl was given an m&m (those chocolaty treats were my learning incentive with Halle and I wanted to acquaint D&G right away with what would await them when they go to the bathroom in a potty and not their diapers).   But not two minutes had elapsed from sitting on the potty and swallowing their M&Ms, before I was interrupted in my breakfast-prep by this tiny sprinkling sound on the tile floor.  Uh-oh…Gracie!  Even though I was quite reassuring towards her that it was ok and not to worry, she was still sad and wanted a diaper on again.  Dee wanted to press on and in just minutes following, actually pee-peed in the potty.  Yeah for Dee! High-five, girl!!! You get an m&m!!! Of course, now Gracie wants to try again.  And because she HAD JUST WENT, I thought it would be safe to dress her with some new panties. The timer is set for 30 minutes and I am back to breakfast things. Interrupted again.  This time  it is Dee telling me ‘gracie got my arm wet.’   I swallow hard because I know they are not in the kitchen (on the tile) waiting for breakfast, they are in the den (with carpet and fabric-covered things that do not wipe clean).   Wondering what damage I will find, Dee leads me to the crime scene.   It is a hit and run incident because I see that the accident is on the couch but Gracie is on the floor, appearing oblivious to the fact that she had accident number two in less than 10 minutes of class start time.  What to do???   

After much deliberation about how I should proceed with the day, I decided to post pone the “official” start day for another time.   And it is typing this out now that I remember I didn’t put panties on Halle when I first started potty-training with her.  The timer was set for 30 minutes and each time it went off, we would take the DIAPER off and let her try on the potty.   OH! So that is why I remember having so few accidents!! It was because Halle had many successes of using a potty BEFORE we switched to panties.  Oh well…details details… And just like I will have many purchases that I am likely to call “the last box of diapers” before huggies and pampers are a thing of the past, there was never a chance that I would only have one “official start date.”

So the diapers went on, encouragements are offered for future success, and live goes on.  We’ll start again this weekend. Rob will be home and that way he can get a good glimpse into a new feat we are trying to achieve.

Let’s do it!  

It was really on a whim that we decided to use one of Rob’s 3 weeks of stored up vacation and journey north to Hartland, WI.  Trying to keep vacation costs to a minimum yet still seeking something we would all enjoy, a little bit of brainstorming helped us reach the decision to drive 19 hours for a week’s worth of retreat.  And oh was it ever worth every hour on the long long (very long) road trip! Our lodging was right on the water at “Auntie Susie’s place” on Beaver Lake.  Rob spent many childhood summers up there and it was so great to let the girls get to experience many of the same delights Rob had growing up.

Swimming, sailing, kayaking, boat rides,cruising around the lake, watching regattas, catching minnows and turtles, hanging out on the pier, chasing fireflies… they were never without something fun to do.   They were all so brave on the boats and in the water.   They loved jumping off the boat and the pier and had great big smiles when Rob and Susie would take them sailing.  Although Rob did “accidentally” tip D&G on the kayak one time and I had to earn their trust back for the next day’s ride (not nice, daddy!)  But that was probably the only tragic moment, the rest was absolute bliss and we will definitely make the drive again and again!

more Beaver Lake pictures

It’s been 4 years but we finally made it back to Livingston to stay at the lake house my grandfather built 30 years ago.  Lots of family; dad, stepmom, sisters, brother-in-laws, brother, his girlfriend, and the littlest of the bunch, my new nephew brayden.  It was a great time.  Halle, Dee, and Gracie did so well!  They braved the jet ski, the rope swing, and jumping off the dock.  And the uninviting murky, deep, brown livingston water didn’t bother them one bit (nor the dead catfish that would occasionally float by) .  The absolute best was on the last day, out on the boat.  They had a blast getting pulled around on this big ski tube and it was so fun watching them.  Rob took about 300 photos to capture the moment because it was hilarious seeing their big grins and excitement. 

The girls enjoyed the fireworks display in their own way.  Gracie stayed inside and watched Cars. Halle felt it best to have her fingers in her ears and then eventually went inside with her sister.  But Dee was down front and center all the while loving every bit of it.  

Dee never could get her terminology straight.  She kept telling us she wanted to go swimming in the “pool” with her “coat”.  ”It’s called a lake, baby girl”  and we wear a “life jacket” were my constant corrections.  But to no avail, her own words prevailed and the correct nouns were never uttered.  Just like she likes to call my step mom, “grandpa”  and my dad, “that boy.”  Her manner of speech and grasp of concepts always keeps us smiling.

more Livingston pictures