The History of the Vending Machines

Many, many years ago, Darin decided it would be fun to start a vending business. He was working at Innotec and figured that he could do a better job than the people who had been providing candy and chips for Innotec's employees. Not only did he do a better job, but over the next several years he grew his little "hobby" into a small business, a family business if you will.

Not only did Tyson join the business at a young age, but he was also used in "promotional materials" to market our vending dynasty. Not really, but we did stick him in front of boxes of candy and chips for a totally sweet Christmas picture!

 There were a couple years where Darin thought Tyson needed to stay home and "mature", but ever since he was 4, he has been his daddy's right hand man. "Vending", as our sweet boy calls it, has been a weekly tradition for Darin and Tyson. As with all good things, this too had to come to an end. With our upcoming move to South Africa, we needed to sell the machines for logistical reasons (we cannot fill the machines from where we'll be living) and we were also getting to a place where we needed some money for our upcoming business venture.

Selling the vending machines has been really sad for Tyson, and Darin and I have been sad for him as well. This weekly daddy/son time has been so special for Darin and Tyson. Darin has loved seeing Tyson learn to help him by opening the doors or flipping on the lights or just keeping him company. Tyson knows little things about all of the different buildings that house the vending machines. He knows where gloves are in every building, a very important detail for him! Sometimes Jori and I would go along and I loved listening to his commentary as he told Jori what they could play with or how to help daddy  at each location.

Here are some pictures from one of the last vending runs.

Filling up the machine

My hard working men

Finding some gloves

Our favorite vending helper

Waving to cars on Washington

Here is a little video where Tyson tells you, in his own words, how he feels about the vending machines.

 

I thought we had been doing a pretty good job explaining to the kids why we are moving to South Africa. However, today when their friend Jenna asked them this very question, I found out we might have a little more explaining to do. Jori's answer was "We are going to Bela Bela, because they have a swimming pool there. When we were there last time we lived there for a few days and we are going to live there again." Did we stay at Bela Bela in 2008? Yes we did, and you can read about it here. However, we didn't live there and we are not  moving to South Africa to go swimming at Bela Bela.

Tyson didn't really give an answer to why we are moving, but when Jenna said "I hope you can give stuff to the poor people there" his response was "There aren't any poor people there." When I reminded him of Mama Cathrine, he said "We gave her stuff last time." He then went on to say "I am NOT giving anyone any of my toys or any of my clothes".

It is both interesting and heartbreaking to hear what the kids have to say about our upcoming move. There are times when they seem excited about going, but they both have some definite anxiety about the changes ahead. It is good to hear them put some of their thoughts into words so that we know what's going on in their heads. 

Papa's visit-September 2010

Papa John came out to Michigan for a meeting and then extended his stay by a couple nights so he could spend time with his us! Tyson and Jori have been eagerly looking forward to Papa's visit and they were not disappointed!

Jori and Lily Rose

Even though Gram wasn't along, she sent some pretty fun presents with Papa. Jori was so excited to get a new "Barb" (Barbie) and Tyson got a chapter book, which was a very big deal. He also got some money for hot lunches and is eager to use it up!

Tyson and his book

On Tuesday, after meeting Tyson at the bus, Papa and the kids headed down the path. They were going to feed the fish, but were side tracked by the sandy hill. When they came home they were very happy, but very dirty. After some quick baths, we had dinner, then spent some time reading and playing with Papa before bed. 

Ice Cream Alley!

 Wednesday Papa walked Tyson to the bus, then came along with me to drop Jori off at her first official day of preschool. After that he dropped me off at church for Bible study. I hitched a ride home with a friend because Jori wanted only Papa to pick her up from preschool. (She had a great first day!) Papa and Jori spent a lot of time outside tracking down monarch butterflies. Then after meeting Tyson at the bus, we headed to the bowling alley. Tyson and Jori had fun showing Pop how they bowl, and Papa was on a roll, a turkey (3 strikes in a row) a bunch of spares and almost another turkey at the end. When we got home Darin was there. Pop took the kids back out on the path for a while and then it was time for pancakes, bacon and strawberries. Soon after that, we headed back to the bowling alley for ice cream!

Thanks for the ice cream Papa!

Mmm. Cherry.

 This morning Papa and Tyson were up at 6:30. When I came down at 7, Papa had coffee made, and the kids were eating breakfast. Then Papa read more of the firefighter book to Tyson, which made Jori pout for a while. After all, shouldn't she always be the center of attention? Ha.

Reading with pop

Pouting because Pop isn't reading to her

We took Papa to the airport and as we were pulling away from the curb, both kids were already saying "I miss Papa so much". I felt the same way. Thanks, Dad, for spending some extra time with us in Hudsonville. We love it when you have meetings in Michigan and are going to miss having you visit us when we move to South Africa. We know that you will come out there too, but it just won't be quite as often! Gram, thanks for sharing your main man with us. We loved having him and can't wait to see you in October!!

First day of First Grade

 We now have a 1st grader in the house! Yesterday Tyson eagerly headed back to school. He kept saying "Mom, is it time to go yet?" and was so excited to head out the door to his first day of first grade.

Tyson in front of his school

We met Tyson's teacher last week at a back to school event, and we are looking forward to getting to know her better this year. She is a literacy specialist, which is great because our boy LOVES to read and we hope that Mrs. Faraci will foster that love and help it to grow!

Tyson and Mrs. Faraci

Tyson standing under his star

 I was so excited to see the bus come down the road. I couldn't wait to hear how Tyson's first day had been!

The bus

Home again, home again

When I asked Tyson how the day had been, he gave me a thumbs up sign. He said he loved lunch and snack time, he thinks his teacher is really nice, and sometime they are going to do science and make GOO. How exciting!

Looks like someone had a GREAT day

It was easy to see that he had a great day and he was eager to head back again this morning. We are so thankful that Tyson loves to learn and goes off to school with a smile on his face.

The "traditional" first day of school pic, taken after school

Our first grader

Thank you, God, for a great first day of school!

Preparing for a storm

It is Friday afternoon and over the past hour or so, the sky has started getting a little dark and the wind has picked up. Tyson and Jori are outside right now eager for the storm to start. Normally, they are both a bit wary of the possible thunder and lightning that might accompany a storm, but not today. Today they are preparing to ride out the storm in their umbrella fort.

The Umbrella Fort

They have been out working on their fort for about 45 minutes.In order to ensure that the umbrella, which is basically the whole fort, does not blow away, they have been busy rigging up a little system to keep it in place.

The rigging system

Our budding engineers

There is one piece of rope, a stick, a 2x4, a paint can (full of old paint and cat litter), a paint roller, and a garbage can. I don't think that umbrella is going anywhere!

Sibling revelry

There is nothing that makes my heart happier than when my kids show love to each other and enjoy being in each others company. I am thankful that these two have been becoming closer and closer to each other.Their bond will serve them well when future storms come, weather related or not.

When Tyson reads the Bible

I already shared this on Facebook, but not all of you are on that, so I'll share it here too. Tonight Tyson was reading the Bible story about when Jesus appeared to 2 disciples after the resurrection. He does such an awesome job of sounding out words, like recognize and prophets, but tonight after a misplaced comma and missing "p" he added a little something extra to the story.
"As they were eating, Super Jesus took a loaf of bread, thanked God for it, and broke it apart." I had to hide my mouth to cover my giggles when he said "Super Jesus". It should have read, "As they were eating supper, Jesus took a loaf of bread..."

I love having a new reader in the house!

Hudsonville Fair 2010

Hooray, it's fair week! We LOVE the fair. It is good, cheap, fun entertainment for the whole family. Mom loves it because I can take my kids out of the house for hours and only spend $3, or if I decide to treat myself to an elephant ear I spend around $10 ;). The kids love it because there are animals, rides, tractors to climb on, friends to see and more and more. Dad loves it because of the fried vegetables and the off road derby, which the kids love as well.

Today I took the kids to the fair from 11:30-3. When we first arrived, we waited in line for 1/2 hour so the kids could pick up the 5 free ride tickets they earned for reading 450 minutes this summer! I am glad we got in line when we did because that line just kept growing and growing. After we picked up our tickets, we headed over to the animal barns. Both kids love looking at all the different farm animals-cows, pigs, horses, goats, bunnies, chickens, geese and roosters. OK, the roosters are actually not a favorite because they make so much noise, but all the other animals are great fun to see and feel!

This year the goats were #1

After hanging out in the barns for a while, we climbed on a few tractors. Another favorite FREE activity. Before last year, our kids didn't even realize there were rides at the fair. They were just happy to look at the animals and climb on the tractors.

Wishing they could really take this baby for a ride

Next we headed over to the bleachers to watch a little show. Both kids were sitting down in front of the stage having a great time. They were laughing, clapping, dancing and singing. Then Tyson got picked to go on stage.

Mr. Cool

This caused little sis to feel kind of jealous, so she chose to sit by me in the bleachers instead of getting on stage with a plastic shaker. Here's a video of my main man Tyson rockin' out!

After watching the show, we met up with the Huisman's and headed for the rides! First the kids wanted to go on the race cars.

Ready, Set, GO!

They both were laughing and thought it was so cool. Then we headed for a little roller coaster. I do have a video of them with their hands up, laughing and screaming, but it will not post : ( So you'll just have to use your imagination!

By this time, I was ready to go home. I had neglected to put sunscreen on any of us because it was so cloudy when we headed out that morning. However, I had started to feel my skin burning sometime around 1 and it was now 2 hours later and I was starting to feel a little sore. So we headed home, the kids watched TV, I took a little nap, and then Darin came home.

After doing a little yard work, we headed back to the fair around 5:30. First the kids used their last 3 tickets to go on more rides. The best moment was when Jori was in the fun house and couldn't figure out how to get through the maze of windows. She was literally running into them and the ticket man had to go and help her get out. Tyson came out and said "There wasn't even anything funny in there!" Oh well, live and learn. After the tickets were gone we bought some fried food-french fries and fried veggies. Yum. Then it was back to the animal barns and tractors to show daddy all the cool stuff we had seen that morning. I left a little after 6:30 and have been enjoying some peace and quiet! Darin and the kids are at the off road derby. He is a brave man being there with the two of them, and I love him for it.

Hooray for the Hudsonville Fair. We will be going back. I still need to get my elephant ear!

Birthday party 2010

We had Tyson and Jori's birthday party tonight. I am glad they still don't mind having a party together. We had three families over and a total of 7 other kids. Other than baby Reid, there were three 6 year old girls and three 3 year old boys. Funny how my kids are just the opposite of the other families as far as gender and birth. Tomorrow Jori will be leaving the ranks of the three year olds and will be turning four!!

Here are a few pictures from our night:

Thanks for my new notepad Jenna and JJ!

Argh! I can't wait to be a pirate, matey!Monsters vs. Aliens from Avery and TeoThe party is in full swing!
Check out the pirate (thanks Huismans)

No birthday would be complete without at least one round of Happy Birthday!

Here is a close up of the "cake". It was actually brownies, which make much better leftovers in my opinion!! This is a sad little cake, I know. It doesn't help that Jori stuck her finger in the red icing right before I took the picture.

It was a very fun night. Thankfully there were still lots of little frogs for the kids to collect (and take home as party favors!) and lots of space to run around. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Tyson's 6th Birthday

I can't believe my little boy is 6! Yesterday was Tyson's birthday, and according to him it was a "great day". He was thrilled to discover that the WHOLE DAY was his birthday-morning, noon and night!

He started off his special day by going to VBS-Vacation Bible School. I picked the kids up around 11:30 and we headed to McDonald's for hot fudge sundaes. Yes, they had sundaes for lunch. I felt led to indulge them after talking to my sister, Laurie. After a nutritious lunch the kids watched a couple cartoons, then they went out to play with the neighbors for a while. Tyson rode around in his jeep, rode bikes with his sissy, and just enjoyed running around. Darin came home a little early, which is always a treat.

Tyson had been patiently waiting to open his presents all day, so we decided to do that right away. Here is a video of Tyson opening his quilt:

Tyson's "wonderful" new quilt

We also gave him a new game for his Leapster and he was so happy with that as well. We let him play it in his room before bed and he thought that was super special.

The new Ratatouille game

Then, just when we thought the gift giving was done, Jori decided to shower her brother with gifts. First he got a handcrafted bookmark, made by sissy.

"Do you want somefing else?"

In this video, you will see the pile of gifts that she gave him-a bookmark, a birdhouse, a little puppy, and a few other random gifts. I finally had to put a halt to her generosity, because I was starting to worry she'd regret giving so much of her stuff away.

After opening presents, it was pizza time! Pizza was Tyson's choice for dinner. Jori wasn't done sharing with her big brother and she poured some of her pop into his cup. I wish she would have poured it ALL into his cup, because about 3 minutes later she tipped her cup over and it ended up splashing all over the floor and half way up our wall... c'est la vie! After dinner we went outside and Darin and the kids rode bike for a little while. Then we came back in, had baths, Bible story, and then let the kids have some quiet time in their rooms before bed.

Tyson Alan, I am so glad you enjoyed your special day. We love you so!!!

Tyson's Quilt

Remember this??


If you knew where that little tag is from, then you are well acquainted with our boy. When Tyson was born we bought a pack of receiving blankets to swaddle him in. We soon discovered that he loved his blankies.

I am not quite sure when it began, but the tags on the blankies were soon making their way into Tyson's mouth. He would suck the tags so hard they'd come off! I'd sew them back on and when they were too worn to be safe, I'd go buy a new pack of the same blankies.



Tyson still sleeps with one special blankie, but the tag was cut of long ago. I had kept all of his other blankies and recently, with the help of some very crafty friends, I used Tyson's blankies to make him a quilt.

Top Side

Back Side
Close up of the planet fabric

This turned out to be a way bigger project than I had first planned, and without the help of Sarah, Amy, Michelle and Kara it would have never been finished (or even started for that matter!). So thank you dear friends, I appreciate it more than you know.

It is not without its flaws, but I love it and hope that Tyson will too. It is full of such precious memories of our favorite boy. I'll be giving it to him next week for his birthday, so I'll be sure to let you know.

King Solomon-wise guy or not so much?

Tonight we read the story of King Solomon's wisdom. If you are unfamiliar with this story here is a brief summary. Two women and two babies live together. One morning the mom's wake up and one baby is dead. Both claim to be the mom of the living baby. They go to King Solomon to have him settle the dispute. He says "Cut the baby in two". Mom #1 says "Great idea" Mom #2 says "Let the baby live, give him to mom #1". So, who's the real mom? (It's mom #2, in case you didn't know.)

I asked Tyson if he thought this was a wise way to figure out who the baby belonged to. He said "No", so I asked him what he would have done. He thought for a bit, then he pointed his finger to the moms in the picture and proceeded to do "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo".

And that was that.

(Please forgive any grammar mistakes, especially any missing or misplaced apostrophes. The grammar police is gone for the night, so it is what it is.)

Tyson's Last Day of Kindergarten

Today was Tyson's last day as a part time school goer. Next year he'll be in first grade, heading to school 5 days a week. Fsxzor the last 3 years I've been wishing and longing for Tyson to go to 5 full days of school. Now that it is almost here I find myself feeling sad and longing for my boy to stay little for just a bit longer.

Here are some pictures of Tyson's last day. The 2 kindergarten classes had a "tasty tidbit picnic" at lunch time. Each child was supposed to bring a favorite thing to share-enough for 10 other kids. My sweet boy chose batman fruit snacks. I must say I felt slightly embarrassed by his choice, worrying that the other moms would think I was a slacker, but another mom at Meijer helped me get over my insecurity and embrace Tyson's choice of food. Thank God for mother's who have been there!! The fruit snacks were a big hit and Tyson was so proud to tell the other kids that HE was the one who brought them.

Tyson loading up his plate

The 2 classes enjoying their tasty tidbits
Jori was SO very excited to be at Tyson's school. She said "Today is MY first day of school"
I LOVE seeing these 2 interact with each other. Tyson was so kind to his sissy today.
Coming back with seconds, or maybe even thirds : )
It started to rain, so the party moved inside. (Mom, here's the infamous root beer)

Tyson and Mrs. Weiss

We are so thankful for the year that Tyson had at Park Elementary. We felt like he was known there and loved. We are so thankful for Mrs. Weiss and all the wonderful things that she taught Tyson and for what a fun teacher she was. Tyson will miss her and so will we!