I'm a fan of the spray tan

At the recommendation of one of my friends I decided to do a spray tan. My Friend Jen is getting married this weekend and I'm in the wedding. The dress is strapless and I have horrible strap lines from my tank tops. I would highly recommend The mystic tan. It only takes 40 seconds and then you are done! You feel a little sticky after ward but by the next day you have lots of color. If I had the money I would continue to do it for sure. I don't remember being this tan ever. I'll post some pics after the wedding so you can see. Oh the funniest thing is that Paul doesn't know I've been doing this and he hasn't said a word about how tan I'm getting. I laugh out loud every time I think about that.

What a big boy!

Today Atticus pulled himself up on our little whale slide, stood up, and climbed up the stairs and went head first down the slide. I'll try to get a picture of him doing it again. After his adventure outside, we went up for a nap and i was saying How about a nite-nite and he said ni-ni! It was too cute. I can't believe that in less then two months he'll be a year old.

Wordless Wednesday - My Family 19 or so years ago

Busy, busy Erbe's

Boy, what a weekend. I was still fighting my cold and not feeling great. Todd's graduation party went really well. I can't believe my little brother is now going to be a freshman in college. We got to spend some time with by older brother and his family and got to have pizza with my dad on Father's day. This next week is only busier. My Best Friend from college is getting married this weekend and I'm in the wedding. It's going to be awesome! She's waited a long time for this, It's going to be quite a celebration.

A warm day in Michigan

The Erbe's from Texas are in michigan so we all headed to a inland lake in Allegan. It was 90 degrees today but there were some great shade trees. The kids were in the water most of the time that we were there and I realized how stressful that was. The water was really shallow but you never know. After lunch Alexandra and Sebastian both wanted to swing so they did. It got to be almost 2 PM and I decided that I needed to take the kids home. Sebastian was fading and Atticus was getting really really tired. Paul stayed with his family and his brother brought him home later. I think the kids were happy to be home too. After dinner we played in the beans and then took a bath. After the bath I asked Sebastian for a kiss. He gave me one and then Alexandra gave me one. They kissed me over and over. It was such a sweet moment. I then read them some books to settle them down for the night. I am realizing that with three little ones I am in need of more and more downtime. I watered the garden and the flowers and watched a little TV the rest of the night.

I'm a slacker blogger

Wow, I can't believe that it's been so long since I blogged. I guess with the warmer weather we are spending more time outside and less time in front of the computer. We had dinner Friday night with my inlaws and it was great fun! Hopefully Paul's brother Dave and his family will make it in this week so we can hang out with them. Dave's wife Melisa and their sons haven't met Atticus in person yet. We went to Todd's (my youngest brother) graduation yesterday. We decided to get a sitter and leave the kids at home. What a great idea. It was so nice that we didn't have to watch the kids while watching the ceremony! I started getting sick again over the weekend and now I've lost my voice. One of my friends echoed a thought I had. With three little ones it seems that I'm so tired and am not getting enough sleep so my body can't fight things as well. I think she might be right! Alexandra had her first taste of Garage sales this weekend and loved it! A neighbor across the street had one and so did some homes down the street. We found some stuff we couldn't live without, of course. She just can't understand why the neighbor isn't have the sale again today. It's suppose to be really nice and warm here in Michigan this week so we'll be spending some time in the kiddie pool. More later.

You gotta love being a mom moment

After changing a poopy diaper on Sebastian he put his arm around me and said "U r da bes". Toddler speak for you are the best. It was so sweet and nice! You gotta love being a mom when that happens.

Weekend highlights

Friday night brought a dinner out at Chicken coop. It was so great for all of us to be out to dinner together. Saturday Alexandra and I ran some errands and we went to a graduation party. Sunday was Church and working in the yard. Alexandra and I got the rest of the garden planted. Last week I bought a bike for Alexandra for her birthday. It's a two wheel bike and we still need to get training wheels so she can ride it. I had it covered up in the garage so she wouldn't see it. Paul moved it to get to some things and it was on the ground with a little of it uncovered. She was outside playing and found it. She came in the house all excited that she found this bike and she thought it was for her. Paul and I talked. This may sound cruel but we decided to not show it to her and tell her she needed to wait 5 weeks until her birthday. She cried and cried. She kept saying to me that she couldn't stop thinking about that bike because it was so nice. It has Disney princess' on it so it was of course very attractive. After her bath she didn't mention it again and she hasn't mentioned it this morning. We hid it in the house where she can't see or find it. Whew.

Memorial day - Erbe style

We went to the Memorial day parade in downtown Kalamazoo. We wanted to make sure that Alexandra knew that it was about more than fun, little American flags and candy. Paul told Alexandra all about how we honor and thank our service men and women on Memorial day. We are free because of their sacrifice and we need to thank them and this is one way we do it. It was a very good speech and I think she got it. So we turned around to pull out of the parking lot and we hear "owwwwwwww! Buddy just hit me with his flag!" We couldn't help but burst out laughing and then scold Sebastian for hitting Alexandra with his flag. It was too funny! As you can see from the pic, not everyone is open to pictures. I was excited to be there though!

I'm not who I was, Praise God!

There's a song right now that WaYfm's playing called "I'm not who I was". It's by a singer songwriter Brandon Heath. For some reason, God has used this song to remind me
of the work he's done in my life over the last few years. It's amazing to look back at times when I was so selfish and self-centered. Not that I don't still struggle with those things but God has worked some of that out of my life. God has used the change in jobs (staying home with the kids), going through three pregnancies in 4 years, struggling with depression, our church closure, a new church start and much more. Even though I don't think there was a huge change all at once but over time. I'm thankful for that. I can't imagine what that change would look like. It makes me love God more because he's taken time and effort to show me the areas that I needed to change. If you'd like to hear the song and play the video the link's below! Thanks be to God that I"m not who I was!

"There's a bean in my nose!"

Those are the words that woke me up at 5:30 AM this morning. Alexandra came in just sobbing trying to convince me she had a bean up her nose. Who knew beans would cause nightmares in our house. I asked her if she'd put a bean up her nose, she said no but she was still sure it was up there. I asked her if she had a dream and she said, yes I had a very bad dream. I told her it was still nite-nite time but that I would check her nose in the morning. She didn't forget either she had me check her nose to make sure there wasn't a bean up her nose. Her young mind can't comprehend that what she's dreaming isn't true. At least she went back to bed.

A trip to see the Grimes'

My Brother is a track coach for Malone college and this is his busiest time of year. My sister-in-law is with her three kids most of the time during track season since my brother is gone so much. Usually during the spring I go to Canton OH to see them but with three little ones I decided not to do it this year. They came to Michigan though and we drove just an 1 1/2 hours to see them. It was a ton of fun! Alexandra loves her cousins and they are so good with her. I think the boys had a good time but it's hard to tell. Here's a pic of everyone!

Another contest over at 5 minutes for mom!

Janice and Susan are giving away this very cute Tutu thanks to Tutufantasy.com. I can just see Alexandra dancing around in this for days on end! You can enter to win it as well at 5minutesformom.com

We've got Beans!

The specialist working with us for Sebastian recommended we allow him to play with beans to help stimulate his touch sense. I put them in the pool today and they had a grand time. It was pretty fun to watch Sebastian play and play and play with them.

Wordless Wednesday -- The Grimes girls 4 years ago

My family is known for helping out. When I was almost ready to give birth to Alexandra , we decided to re-roof the house. My brother, his wife and their three daughters came to help along with my dad, step mom and brothers. This is a pic of my nieces doing their part!

It only takes 3 minutes....

to scan my head! Can you believe it? When we were trying plan this CT scan we didn't know how long it would take. I got there early this morning and my appointment was at 8 AM. I was actually out of the hospital building by 8 AM. Technology is amazing. Now we wait to see what going on in my sinuses!

My Cuties

Although it took me about 10 tries, I finally go this good pic of all three of the kids!

Another busy day

Today, I got to sleep in, in to 9:30 that is. Paul was nice enough to let me stay in bed until I had to take Atticus to his 9 month check up. It was really nice to just take one kid to the Dr. Atticus and I played in the room, he crawled around. It's amazing to me how much I enjoy him without two other distractions. He took the two shots well and is doing good on his growth. His ear infection is almost cleared up so that's good as well. I also got to go to the grocery store by myself today. Wow what a day. Tomorrow is Alexandra's last day of Preschool and dance so we get a little bit of a break for the summer. I'm taking Sebastian to get a hearing test tomorrow to see if there's anything physically wrong with his hearing to help the therapists. I know you mom's who have older kids are saying to yourself, she doesn't realize this is only the beginning. I'm going to cherish the somewhat quiet summer!

An unwanted visitor

As Paul is gone this weekend, something like this was bound to happen. I don't like spiders. I don't really like anything that's creepy or crawly. Yesterday afternoon, I saw a spider in the kitchen. It was up on the ceiling and it was difficult for me to reach and kill. Plus it was lunch time so I was busy. I thought, ah, I'll just let it go. It went upon it's business. Later after getting home from dinner, putting the kids to bed and settling in to watch TV, I'm minding my own business sitting on the couch and I see something out of the corner of eye. It's the spider and it's coming to see me, up close and personal. I yelp and get up to see it was about an inch from my shoulder. I tried to kill it but of course was unsuccessful. So, needless to say, I went to bed cause I was sure he wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs. :)

A weekend on my own!

Paul tries twice a year to get away and camp with the guys. This is his weekend. I love that he does this. It is so good for him and he always comes back rested and with a different perspective on things. Normally I don't really mind that he does this cause it's just a like any other day for me. I say normally because although I know we'll be fine, I'm struggling with my sinus infection still and my head and throat were on fire this morning. I have a ct scan scheduled for Wednesday since the 2 week strong antibiotic they put me on didn't kill the infection. They think something is going on in my sinuses since I have like 4 to 5 infections a year. I've had an allergy test and MRI's and XRay's and nothing had shown up! Paul still says to me that with all the times they zapped my head they should have been able to find out what was wrong. We are suppose to go to a graduation party today but I'm not sure we'll make it. It'll all depend on how I feel. I really hope they find something on Wednesday so we can get this fixed and I can live without drainage and headaches. Pray for me that some resolution will come for me. Thanks...