Vander Linden Musings

Gerritt comes up to me and says, “Is my tooth loose? It hurts when I chew.” I checked it- and yes it was wiggling a bit. He went outside to let his brothers feel it. Josh pulled so hard it popped it out. I heard Gerritt say, “Oh my goodness- my tooth fell out!” I shouted- “Liar!” Thinking he was trying to fool his brothers. Jake then pipes in, “No it’s for real.” Gerritt comes in with a bloody mouth sans the tooth. He was standing on the deck when Josh pulled, and it fell through the slats. Whimpy Mom decided to brave the spiders and dirt to look for the tooth with Jakob. No luck. Gerritt said, “In my letter to the tooth fairy I’m going to tell her that my brother pulled so hard we lost my tooth- so can I have 100 dollars?” I’m thinking she doesn’t carry that kind of money around. So- I’m thinking- no.

One of Jake’s first comments was, “He beat me to number 5 tooth.” The dentist didn’t want to pull Jake’s teeth- so he’s still at 3 teeth lost.  Then Gerritt said to Jake, “I did beat you to number five.”  Jake said- “I know- let’s say ten.”  So now the race is on for number 10!  They’re funny.

BJ went in today and got Lasik done. He’s so excited that he can see without contacts or glasses! His eyes are kind of irritated- he’s trying to sleep it off. Jake, Josh and I got to watch it being done on a TV outside the room. The head doctor of the office stopped to explain what was happening. It was kind of gross- but very cool!

Now of course I am jealous of him… I still have to deal with the contacts daily. Oh well- he’s worked hard for it! Guess he deserves it a little (TIC). Here’s a picture of him trying to rest and getting bugged by his wife with the bright light!

We have started geo caching. It’s the most AWESOME new hobby to get the wiggles out of the boys. We went and bought a hand held GPS system. You look on www.geocaching.com and you upload locations of placed caches into it before you go. Then you follow your GPS to the cache. Sometimes they are little tiny items attached by magnets to signs in parking lots, park benches or even guardrails on the side of the road that can be opened up and usually there is a log inside to sign. One we found was a large ammo box placed under a bridge. Once you find a cache you go online and log that you found it.

They also have little travel bugs that people leave in the larger caches. These bugs have goals of where they want to go. We found one the other day that was in a race to get up to a certain point in Idaho. We took a drive up to Logan, Utah and dropped it off there. Then we got an email from someone that said-”No! That’s my brothers bug- put that one back and go get mine!” Too late. We had already taken his brother’s! So we went and got his from a park in South Jordan and we are taking it up to Layton, Utah tomorrow.

This is SO fun! I can’t wait until the summer when we can go find some caches up in the mountains! That will be fun to hike around in the mountains looking for little boxes hidden in the trees. We found one in Logan that was a rock that had a hole bored into the bottom of it with a container superglued into it. That’s been the most creative one we’ve found so far.

It’s a fun online community to be a part of! The kids really enjoy the hunt for treasures! If anyone wants to go with us- just let us know- we would love to share our new found hobby! All those out of state- just come visit us and we can go!!!

And we are actually going for the THIRD week in a row! We’ve stayed healthy for three weeks! Knock on wood. Josh has a talk today in sharing time- he’s excited about it. Although I think he would rather give it in Sacrament. All of the boys seem to like doing that. They get that from their father.

BJ traveled to Pennsylvania this past week. He left Tuesday morning, sat on a plane for many hours waiting for the Chicago weather to cooperate. I think he left our house at 9 am and got to PA close to midnight. All of that to spend three hours at his destination and back on a plane Wednesday afternoon. He’ll be doing the same this week- hopefully the weather is nicer so he can get there without any problems and get home on time!!!

Valentine’s Day is this week, and I got to plan our date. We actually have a babysitter this year! We’re starting to do that more often. Jakob no longer has separation anxiety. It’s still surprises me to see him not cry when we leave. I’m so proud of how much he has overcome in the last couple of years. He’s worked hard to get where he is today! Anyway- I haven’t told BJ where we are going to eat- I’m actually going to surprise him! I don’t know if I’m excited about surprising him or torturing him (he can’t stand not knowing)!

Well- Happy Valentine’s Day to all- I hope it’s filled with love!

After church: Well lots of coughing going on at church today. Our kids can’t let a cough pass them by- so I’m sure our 3 week hiatus from being sick will be ending soon Oh well- it was nice while it lasted

Yes- it’s been awhile since I posted- but I’m feeling better from my surgery…so I will post now!

Let’s see what has happened…

BJ got a new job. He’ll now be working from home most of the time and traveling to LA for a work week out of every month (sometimes more). He’s really excited. He’s in LA now and enjoying the new job. Oh- he’s working for Helio…remember… don’t call it a phone. He gets to work for his good friend Dennis that he worked with before. Hopefully we’ll all be able to go out there with him sometime…I love walking Sunset Blvd and the kids would love to go to Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

It was hard for BJ to take this job… he really liked the company he was working for… the people were great and he liked the direction they were going. Unfortunately Dennis made the job with Helio too good to turn down.

The kids have been off from school since we’re year round here. I usually keep them busy with homework but since I’m not 100 percent- all we’ve done is video games and TV. Their teachers will be excited when they get back on track and they have lost brain power. They go back Monday- it’ll be nice to have a routine again!

The kids have been getting sick with something or other every week. Our new ward is starting to act like we’re inactive… I had to explain everything to the primary president the other day so at least she would know this is normal for our family every winter!

Well- I think that is all that has happened since I last wrote… except of course the New Year change. HAPPY 2007!!!

I have absolutely NO idea how people live without an air conditioner! Because of the flood in our basement- we’re having to keep the temp in the house at 83 degrees! Yesterday the clean up crew brought in a dehumidifier and told me to turn up the heater and bake my children.

Last night was our first night with that temperature. I told the boys they could sleep in their underwear so the heat would be a little more bearable. Well I walked in to the room they are all bunking in to make sure they were all sleeping- and there was a bare bum staring right up at me. I guess Jakob thought the underwear was keeping him a little too warm.

But really- how in the world do people do it without the air conditioner???? I grew up without one- so I know I did it somehow. Kudos to all of you that can manage that! Ugh… I need some water.

…our basement flooded yesterday. It was SO fun to be dragged out of bed by the kids with a- “Mom, there’s a lot of water in the family room!” Some pipe broke outside and water poured into the family room then into Jake and Josh’s bedroom. It was great!  Oh and our lovesacs (chairs in the family room) are most likely ruined!
Anyway- we didn’t let it get us down- BJ and I went ahead with our plans to construct a home!

One of our neighbors invited us over to do this. About three times a week during Christmas season they have people over to make gingerbread houses…something they’ve done for about 40 years now. What a fun tradition!!!

BJ left today for Indiana on business. He’s gone until Thursday. Bummer. Much more fun when he is home!!! Here’s a picture Josh took before BJ left…

SO CUTE!!!

Rusty Shane Simon turns 51 today on Thanksgiving! We’re all grateful for Papa! Happy Thanksgiving to all!