Day 3...and counting

Naaayyyyy, clop clop...That means "is it time for lunch?" We have a new language in the Vink household. Some may find it hard to decode, but if you are going on hearing it 24/7 for 3 days now, you tend to pick it up rather quickly. There are many sounds I didn't even know horses made, until Josie transformed into "Girl Spirit". No, her name is no longer Josie. In fact, Josie doesn't even exist anymore--according to her. Her new name---Girl Spirit. Girl Spirit no longer uses the 2 legs God gave her, she uses the "4" legs God gave her. She no longer eats like a beautiful girl, she now laps up her food, chews her cud, and shakes her head when trying to dry off the water she rubs on her face. (Girl Spirit needs a bath you know). My beautiful girl no longer eats with her hands, b/c horses don't have arms and hands. Down goes the face into the bowl and up comes Girl Spirit with a face full of Mac and Cheese, naying and stomping. Is that similiar to the belch meaning "it was very good mom?". Our conversations are limited with her, since no words come out, just naying and shaking of the head, and stomping of the feet. The only words she has said the last 3 days are, "say hi Girl Spirit"--and reluctantly, we have to say "Hi Girl Spirit". Then we get a nice little brush up against our leg by her head, and she is off on all 4's again. Such an affectionate horse we have!! Anyways, I AM ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND OVER IT!! Writing this, I am sort of chuckling a bit, but will it ever end? She has played the horse game for about 2 years now, but never this engrossed in it. I don't know what to do--do I give her the option of stopping Girl Spirit or getting punished--I feel that is condoning her wonderful imagination, but I don't know how many more days of this I can take!! Has anyone elses kids done this? Serioulsy, we are on Day 3--where do these kids come from?? Sometimes I think God is playing a silly little joke on me! 

Twins?

I was going through our old pictures on the computer today , and came across these of Josie and Tessa. I must have thought that standing up by the dishwasher was cute or something, b/c I have one of each of them. (Although the one of Josie is a fleeting memory, I do remember taking the one of Tessa -my mind isn't that bad yet.) Anyway, the ironic thing is , after I started looking harder, I realized that they were both at the exact same age when I took these photos--both were 7 months old. They both have that elated look on their faces of , "look mom, a new trick!" It's fun to see how they all resemble eachother. If history repeats itself, my baby will be walking in just 2 weeks!! I'll keep you posted.

Engine, Engine #9

Yesterday was storyhour at the library. The local firemen showed up and let the kids explore the fire engine, and talked about fire safety, which by the way, I learned our house is way not fire friendly. I think I have some work ahead of me.
The second picture is the kids with their neighbor buddies, Grace, Maddie, and Taylor.
I guess I do venture out once in awhile, don't I.
 

Nothing Noteworthy

I really have been lacking in the blogging lately. I think this is just a stale, dormate time of year for us. The fun of summer camping trips and beach trips are over. The anticipation of school starting has come and gone. Even though Fall is my favorite time of year, I am having the anxiety feelings of winter coming right around the corner. The Vink household does not do well with winter. I think all 6 of us (although this being Tessa's first official full winter with us; she may improve the odds--we'll have to see) have that thing called "seasonal depression". I am already starting to feel the boredom of staying in this house and seeing the sunrise (yes, my kids are up at 6:30 every morning), and seeing the sunset, without once getting out the front door. Our big outings these days are the 10 minute trips it takes into Byron to bring Elli to and from school two days a week. Thys and Josie live for those days--is that sad or what? The constant fighting between kids has begun, which I tell myself is totally understandable. I sometimes wish I had an equal to beat the crap out of on days I was extremely bored too. I dread the question, "so, what's new?" Does anyone else feel like their answer to that question is always so redundant? "Oh, not much". And I can honestly say that not much is new right now. Hence the lack of blogging. I need to just start taking pics of the kids fighting, Tessa's poopy diapers, kids roaming from room to room, me doing Sudoku, Thys in high heels, Josie crawling around neehing like a horse., Elli dressing and redressing Barbies, ......b/c my friends, that is "A Day In The Life Of ME".

Critter Barn

This morning, Elli and I --along with her pre-school class--went to visit the Critter Barn in Zeeland. This is such a cool place to go to with your kids if you havent been before. Loads of animals and everything is hands-on. Elli surprised me by being very brave and touching almost every animal there. She got to feed many of them and learn about them as well. We even got to milk a goat, which made me a little squeemish!! Give it a try--highly recommended.