The Holwerda Family Blog

Good news and Updates.

2012-01-10T08:49:00.001-05:00

Update to the gluten free and vegan style dieting I partook in, in order to get myself better. Well, it didn't really do much except make the nausea less. I'd still get the pain from eating and I'd still have the residual hell the next day, just the same as before. It was worth a try, however. :)
Long story short, we've concluded it must be scar tissue on the area they operated on since nothing else seems to be showing up as wrong. When I stand up, and feel around the area there is a HUGE lumpy bump inside there that is behind the muscle. It hurts like hell when I press even the tiniest bit too hard so I'm pretty certain of this self diagnosis. I do not have any cancers, ulcers, obstructions or anything else, life threatening so it is ALL good. :)
I have discovered that fats from beef and pork intensifies the pain and causes my stomach to swell. What we take from that? Must be an allergy. Which means ALL dairy is out and beef related products are out. Eggs causes the same problem as the beef fat, which means ALL things containing eggs are out. Strawberries, oranges, pinapples and lemon also exasperates the problem which is bad because those are all the items that contain vitamin C naturally. A vitamin my body definitely needs a lot of in order to function right. I get the pirate disease, scurvy otherwise. LOL! That cracks me up so much. I currently have it, actually. ARRRR me aching joints, me mateys!! hehe. Too funny... anyway.
BEST NEWS? I have recently started eating cheerios and other light forms of cereals during the day WITHOUT medicine and am handling it pretty well so far. As long as I do not eat more than a couple bites at a time and allow it to digest for a good hour before eating again, I have very little intense pain and minor discomfort throughout the day from it. I'll take it!!! :) I do this all day long and have been able to keep up with the strength I need to get crap done, that needs to get done around here without having to take a million breaks in between to keep from passing out. It's pretty great!

Marc is back in school starting his second semester of his first year in college to be a CPA! I am so VERY proud of that man. :) He has been working his butt off for his family and we all LOVE and appreciate all his great efforts! He is also no longer a grunt for the company he works for, he's been promoted to Engineering Technician in the office of Hilco. He loves it much better than his previous positions. He says he feels more appreciated and better understood than he ever has been. Finally! I am so happy for all of his good fortunes and many blessings! He definitely deserves them all. :)

Kyndra has started her second semester of 1st grade. She is doing very well so far and the teacher sends home positive progress reports after positive progress reports. She is so smart and so darn eager to learn new things. I really hope she keeps up this determined attitude throughout her life, she will go so far is so. She's becoming quite the little skater girl, too. hehe. Just like her mommy was when she was little (only, we didn't have the cool roller blades when I was kid) :)

Mason also started his second semester of Mommy Preschool/Kindergarten. He, too, is doing very well! He has a bit of a sassy attitude and man is he a stubborn fool sometimes, but he always finishes his work and finishes them right so I guess I'll take the good with the bad. I will, for sure, not be continuing this teaching adventure with him after this year. hahaha He needs a professional teacher to keep his little clever bottom in line! I hope!

As for the cats, Arty's been hospitalized AGAIN. This time for a blocked urethra which almost took his life. :( Thankfully we had a lot of extra cash from Christmas time to cover that freaking outstanding vet bill. We're broke, but we're happy he's still with us, that little high maintenance cat!! We adopted a stray cat to prevent her from freezing into a popsicle during the winter time. Marc is actually the one who decided this, even though he blames me for feeding her in the first place. lol. :) NiN, Six and Helios are old and grumpy, but content. Oh yeah, you counted right. We have 5 cats now. Amazed? Yeah me too! Epecially since I was never really that big of a cat person to begin with and now I have a damn collection of them. hehe. It's fun though.

We hopes you're all doing well and living well! Much love to all our family and friends out there!!

The holidays are among us.

2011-12-19T04:09:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays to all my friends and my family!

And we've started the holiday vacationing's over here. :) We've got most of the shopping done. Some of the baking done. The cards filled out and ready to send. The kiddo's on almost best behavior. Mom get's to stay in bed, until 8am each morning for two WHOLE weeks. Dad get's to stay in bed until he wants to get out of bed or we kick him out of bed for one WHOLE week. =) CAN'T WAIT!

The holiday's mean so much more now than they have in the past years and I am not really sure why. I think I am just getting older and realizing the actual important things in life and I am more humbled by it? Eh, who knows? Who cares? Not me! Let's Christmas it up, everybody!

Some photo's: The kids got to decorate the whole tree (minus lights and garland) this year, they did great! :)

And then they got to wrap all their own presents to everyone this year too! :) They did so great! We had the best time doing this as a family together and hoping this has taught them that they already know exactly what is inside all of those gifts, nothings for them, and so now the gifts will remain safely under the tree, lol. We hope!

Kyndra Turned Seven...Already?

2011-12-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

I absolutely adore how much my little sweet-pea, peanut baby girl has grown up and become her own person in the last seven years. She's gone from this squiggly little, cry ball of baby cuteness to a squiggly giggly little person. It's kind of neat. :)

Kyndra had fun deciding what she wanted for her birthday this year. She's really into Mario Kart and Princess Peach, so she asked if I could find a cake with mario kart on the google nets. hehe. I no sooner loaded the first google search page when she squealed over this two tiered race track one. It was pretty awesome, I couldn't blame her for getting that excited over it. :) What else would go perfectly with that cake? A SKATE PARTY! Her thoughts were, because we race in the game on wheels and skates have wheels, GASP! genius! hehe. It was cute so I put in for the request to her Aunt Apryl for the cake and the party was planned around that. Mario Kart themed, skate party for her seventh birthday present from us that turned out rather well!
Thank you to all the friends and family who showed up to make her day extra special and thanks to all those who helped out to make it a very special day all around!! =)

The Mad Scientist

2011-11-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

In the realm of homeschooling Mason, we have been conducting little science experiments, once a month. The first experiment didn't really work out... It was to be a package of McDonalds apple slices out in the open air. Will it age as normal? Will it not? According to one kid from some state out there some where (i have never been very good with fine details, huh.) They did not... According to Mason, "Mommy cooked them by accident on her cable box". It's true, I did. WOOPS! We rarely go to McDonalds and when it is done, it is usually done with Daddy only, who, btw, usually forgets about the apples (or wants to spoil them rotten in the only moments he get's to be with them, now.). hehe. So....

Science Experiment; ?Apple Decay or Zombie Apples? The MICKY D's Project: FAILED!

This next experiment is one that Kyndra and I attempted when she was being schooled by me wayyyy back in the way back, circa Kyndra age 4ish. Unfortunately, when Kyndra and I did these experiments together, I hadn't researched them very well. Back then, I didn't just think I knew everything, I really really thought I DID! :) This is the experiment... WATER; Where Does It Go When NO ONE Is Looking? What if I add dissolved sugar? Or, Salt? The Great Disappearing and changing Water Project: Starring: Mason. Co-Starring: Momma, NiSi

Kyndra's First, First Grade Reports.

2011-11-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

Marc had the pleasure of attending Kyndra's very first parent teacher conference of her little school career. We all know Kindergarten is just to get the kids ready for the next 12 years. First: he adores her teacher. A LOT! A great surprise to me, because I also adore her and was hoping he'd be just as fond of her as I have been. Second: He is beaming with pride after such good reports from Mrs. Ealy for Kyndra.
Her report card showed she is doing very well at school, and is right where she should be. Her testing showed her being WELL above average for the nation and is in the top 6% of ALL first graders across the nation holding steady at a 90% and above. WOW! According to the results of her MAP testing in mathematics... The districts averages peaks at 148. The nations averages peak at 162. Kyndra's averages peaked at 180. I'd say that is pretty exceptional! In reading: The districts averages at 150. The nations averages peaks at 160. Kyndra's averages peaked at 181. Pretty great right? I'm so proud of her!!! :)
The teacher shows no concern about Kyndra's hyper activity and says it's completely normal for a child this young as well as our dyslexia concerns we had for her. She is exactly where is supposed to be and she is right on target in everything with the exception of reading. She's a reader and has always been one. She excels at reading. :)

This makes me so happy and so proud!! :)

Trick or Treat!

2011-10-30T07:52:00.001-04:00

I feel really bad, though I know it's an irrational emotion... I still feel really badly that I did not make the kids costumes this year. I love how special the kids feel when they see how hard I work on their little costumes... It's one of the few times that they are sweet and genuine without their little ulterior motives, behind them (we've all been kids, we ALL know how the kids brain actually works, come on!) They actually have appreciation for the hard work I put into them too, that's always nice for a job otherwise unappreciated...

So anyway..... This year the kids changed their minds multiple times over which super duper awesome fantasy character they get to be this year. Kyndra's ranged through a multitude of different style princess', while Mason couldn't decide on inanimate (a rock?) object or life like objects(a leaf?), or famous and interesting people to him (hempa,,, he wanted to be grandpa holwerda for a day. that was really cute) finally he decides he wants to be "THAT guy" as he points to Yoda on the commercial. "He a badass ninja" as he does the light saber karate chop move on the TV ...Okay, yes, my son has a horrid vocabulary and yes, it is TOTALLY all my fault. Anyway, THAT aside... it was funny so I went with it knowing Yoda from Star Wars, was a character that Marc would really be into too. Sweet! Yoda for Mason... Now which princess for Kyndra? Princess Peach was the thought for a week, then she switched it up to Princess Zelda (who knew zelda was the princess? i didn't.. i thought zelda was the dude in the green tights. oy. hehe) Princess Kyndra? Sure we could go with that but wait..... Kyndra happened to walk up to tell me something as I was catching up on our cousins Japan Adventures blog where she saw the cutest picture of the two of them, there in Japan in their little kimonos. Kyndra said she wanted to be her, Caitlyn. LOL! She thought Caitlyn was a Japanese princess. Adorable! She went to the store that night with Marc and searched and searched for the perfect stuff for it and came home with a Geisha costume... Japanese princess' aren't an American popular halloween costume idea so we had to take from the Geisha costume, to get there. shhhhh. haha.

So here it is folks... This picture is completely unrehearsed and unscripted... the kids knew exactly what to do to get into their character this year. I LOVE IT! :)

Now in other news. I realise the majority of the members who read this, are out of state, but if you're IN the city of Grand Rapids Michigan and are looking for or know someone looking for a really friendly kitty to add to their family, there has been an all black stray kitty in our backyard for the past week. No Signs of it ever going away and the longer it's here, the more attached my kid gets. I need her gone, so if you do know anyone, please do email me, ASAP! I'm only giving it another week and then I'll have to take her to a shelter. :( As you can see, she is VERY sweet and well taken care of by whoever she belonged to. I'd hate to see her have to go to a shelter.

P-I-T-Y PARTY! Table for 1.

2011-10-17T11:38:00.001-04:00

This past year has been an incredible whirlwind of crazies, sadness and other health related stupids.....

Pardon me, whilst I blog out the past year of hell to you folks. I started out last October in kind of a haze of health issues. My stomach was hurting nearly every day. I was developing bruises and weird rashes seemingly caused by nothing at all. I had red spots in(not on, people, IN) my skin. My hair was falling out. My body ached so bad and I was SO tired all of the time... I was convinced I was dying from something. Turns out, my gallbladder had just died, literally, and as it was decaying in it's little spot near my liver. After they removed the gallbladder, I started noticing that my stomach or appetite had become a lot pickier than it had been before they did the surgery on me. I'd eat but it wouldn't stay down. I'd drink liquids and they wouldn't even stay down. I'd get food to stay down only to be in agony, dealing with these sharp pains in my upper stomach for hours after. After countless test showed nothing wrong, I figured out a way of coping with both the nausea and the pains through suggestions from friends and family and with my doctors help of course. (yeah yeah, i know you've all read this crap before...just hang on. i promise it gets somewhat interesting) For a while, things seemed to be going really okay until the beginning of this month, when it felt like there was something twisting/pinching/stabbing the organ right below my ribs and the pain went all the way around and into my back... Whatever had gone wrong, scared me enough that I ended up back in the hospital. The test they ran on me said I'm fine and assured me, I'll live so they sent me home with no answers, again. Now, I was happy to be sent home. It's not ever my intention to be admitted into that hospital, ever, again! I was NOT happy, however, with this new constant pain in my ribs/diaphragm area with no answers so I finally agreed to see the surgeon that my Doctor had been pushing for me to see, since May of this year. BOO! (he was mean to me...i didn't want to see that guy ever again :()

Keep in mind that I've been struggling so hard to keep my weight on, this whole time. I was scared when I dropped below my comfortable, bottom weight, in the beginning of spring this year. I'm 20 lbs less than I was at that point, I'm pretty scared now. I'm willing to try anything to make it better SO when I met with the surgeon and he dismissed any physical or permanent damage to my organs as the cause, I was confused. I was elated and even more anxious about it at the same time. If it's not my organs, then what? What could he possible offer me as an explanation?

Food allergies....

....Food allergies? Gluten and animal bi-product, most likely. AKA, Celiac disease diet.
Do you people know how much is out in this world that has gluten in it? EVERYTHING! From foods you eat, to stamps you lick, to envelopes with dried adhesive (as well as latex, huh...interesting) to medications. MEDICATIONS??? ARGH! I'm pretty tylenol/aleve/ibuprofen dependent and have been since the car accident that screwed up my back at 18, folks. There hasn't been a day since that, that I have not had to, HAD TO, take a couple of tylenol or ibuprofen just to get this old back going well enough. Now what the hell do I do? These people sure are removing every last little bit of "quality" I had left in my life. Now I've got a constant pain in my ribs, right side front and back, as well upper abdomen pain and my lower back is all tense and achy from a very old injury, flaring up in this cold weather OH and I also get hormonal migraines too (stupid femaledom) and cannot take anything western medicinally for it, anytime soon. The horror!

No, not really. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a diet. I'm not dying nor are there any signs of me going to die anytime soon so I should just suck it up and learn to deal with it. Right? Right!
Any celiac disease, sufferers in the family or anyone out there, who read this blog? HELP! I've googled and researched as much as I can... I need basics on how to get started and organized with this new life. Which stores carry the best items? Which restaurants are ACTUALLY gluten free and vegan? Are there any true vegan/gluten free eatery's out there? I've looked up the menu's in some of these so called places and moved on to the next when I would read "buffalo milk mozzarella" or "fresh farm raised eggs, aioli"...Honestly, false advertisement should be a department in the government (since they like to be involved in everything else, in the average americans, life) and they should have these people's eatery's on the top of their 'get em' list.

So, in short. I have a new weight number, given by the surgeon, that I can "safely" get down to without worrying anyone. I'm to follow this new gluten free and vegan diet, STRICTLY, for 6 weeks with absolutely NO cheating...:(. As well as I have to have a scope done to check for any ulcers and THEN I should be a happy, in less pain, girl again. Eventually... I hope!
Although right this second, I am just hoping that this is honestly the REAL reason, I have been going through so much hell in the past year and I am not just jumping through even more annoying hoops in the search for my answers.

9 years ago today.

2011-09-07T10:57:00.000-04:00

I was freaking the crap out over all the families melding together, nicely or not. While I was not there to break up any disagreements. or not.

I was waking up late and trying to figure out how on earth to shower without getting my hair wet.

I spent an hour, waking my bridesmaid. Mental note: Testing out a new anxiety medicine, 3 hours before you're supposed to be up and ready for a wedding, not so smart. hahahahahaaaa!!!!

I was running late from the hair salon, where the salonist took more time explaining her life and all it's ambitions, rather than curling and pinning my hair up where it belonged. Not to mention she forgot the daisy crown until the very end, when it was too late to set it in without messing it all up. D'oh!

I totally had to depend on my horrible sense of direction to find my future mother in laws house, with my sister driving in a town she had NEVER been in, WHILE attempting to put on my own make up in the passenger seat so I could finish cramming myself into the things I needed crammed into, in order to wear that beautiful sparkly white dress hanging in my future sister in laws, old childhood, formerly marcs old childhood, bedroom.. (I found it, the first time. Odd, I know. Especially since to this day, I still can't find it without getting lost at least once.)

I was scolded by the photographer for being 10 minutes later than I said I was going to be, which was at least an hour and 20 minutes earlier than I even thought I would be there. :)

I was informed that I forgot to hire somebody or other for something specific having to do with the something or other, so our DJ was kind enough to read my thoughts without my having to say them harshly aloud, and they took care of everything that needed to be done, themselves. lol. and they did it very well at that.

My mom looked beautiful, but was a nervous wreck. Even though she only had to stand and pose a few times for cameras she couldn't contain her feelings that well. at all. period. mom. you talk WAY too much about really annoying things when you're nervous. stop it! lol.

My dad was so proud and so sad, but mostly he was happy he didn't have to worry about my well being anymore....it was all on Marc's head now. lol.

I almost passed out, twice. Once, while I was doing NOTHING at all but sitting and waiting for my cue. Eating before weddings are a good thing. Especially if you're the bride AND you've spent the night before, nursing a bottle of coconut rum.lol

I about killed our old roommate for leaving the wedding to get a damn 2 lt of pop. He was ushering the guest for us and got thirsty/hungry. lol.   People and their incredibly SILLY addictions, but I wouldn't want them to be any other way. RIP, Ivan.

I realized just how much I loathe being photographed in a professional manner and I may have lacked in tact sharing this new found UNdesire, with the photographer, too.

My nephew Trenton was so nervous about walking me down the aisle as the train bearer. I seriously feared being puked on the walk down. lol. He did GREAT!

My nephew Corey and soon to be nephew, Bryce were too busy flirting with my little flower girl, Shianne and kept insisting the pond is where they were supposed to be, all along. :)

My wedding party was sweating profusely with very little complaint.

My sister was an incredible support system for me, even though I was such a lounaticish beyotch. LOL!

I listened to my two best friends, Jerrica and Monica discuss what married life is really like, etc. etc. etc. *blush* lol

I almost slipped down the stairs and my dad hurt his back saving my life. AND THE WEDDING! :)

I had a minor anxiety attack when we approached all the guest, staring at me!

My husbands groomsmen, Marc was crying like a baby while his best man, Gary was too busy wiping sweat from his bow to care about the blubbering mess behind him. hehe.

I listened to the preacher talk while I looked at my future husband. I was amazed at how easily all that stress melted away and everything felt, right, once again. :)

I promised my heart and soul to the only man in the world, meant for me.

I realized how damn lucky I was to be living in this moment, 9 years ago today.

...and I'm DAMN lucky to have the honor to see all the wonderful things that tomorrow and the NEXT 9 years will bring to us.

Love you, Marc!! Happy Anniversary!!

Mason is 4!

2011-08-03T08:48:00.000-04:00

I can't believe my teeny tiny littlest midget is 4 years old. That means I really have to knock the baby talk off, now... dang it. :P

Felix the Cat, cherry cherry chocolate chip brownie cake made by: Apryl Cherry (= Thanks so much, Apryl!=)

This is the first birthday he really, really got into his birthday and knew exactly what he wanted to do, what to have, where to be etc. He wanted specific things like, more engines (thomas the train), hugs and kisses from Marc and I, a day at the beach, ....BACON. hehe. He got everything he hoped for and more for his special day and then, a couple of days after his birthday, we all headed out to Jenison to spend the afternoon with Marc's parents and siblings out at their beach for some watery sunshine beach time fun and of course, birthday brownie cake and ice cream. hehe. At first, he wasn't sure about the brownie because it resembled cake too much (he is my son, folks. HATES cake, loves frosting and brownies.) but, he ate about half the darn left overs himself and got mad whenever Kyndra or Marc had some. LOL! So, in all... I am quite positive Mason thoroughly enjoyed every little part of his birthday this year. :)

Happy number 4, Mason!! We're so blessed to have you in our family, little man!!!

Awkward Family Photos

2011-06-23T08:21:00.006-04:00

For Fathers Day, my wonderful mother in law had a great idea of getting together to take some much needed, updated family photos. The last ones we did, were done at her house and it was when Mason was just a few months old. It was time, so we got the kids all dressed up in bright colorful clothes and Marc and I went with monochrome... to coordinate with them without being way too matchy. To start, neither kid could even agree on the bright colors they wanted to wear. (you just wait, all you parents of very tiny, non-opinionated, YET children...) Mason had a tantrum over the color yellow, announced his utter disgust for the color entirely. Kyndra announced her serious distaste for orange, and how it makes her "skin look off". *rolls eyes*. She liked bright blue, he liked dark blue. She liked bright pink. He didn't want pink at ALL. He liked bright green, she likes yellowish green (which started another battle over it being yellow, NOT green) ARGH! He settled on an orange plaid shirt combo thing. (Of course.) She found this really cute yellow dress. My thoughts were; orange and yellow, same color family. CLOSE ENOUGH!
Come Fathers Day, Mason is just not feeling this photo shoot and proceeds to make a stinky face in every single photo, with the exception of the last one and wouldn't you know it, MARC is making his "I'm just so happy but I totally look drunk off my ass" look. LOL! I gave up trying to make these people cooperate with me and my mother in law and decided cropping, super imposing, editing and cloning sounded a LOT freaking easier than dealing with them soooo... That's what I did.

Mason's Crabby face. Marc's I'm just happy, face. I tried to fix them because Kyndra is looking perfect in this one, but there is just no fixing that....so I cropped us three and made this into a Kyndra singular photo. Came out pretty great if I do say so myself. =) Weird angles and off poses are totally in right now, right? :P

This one didn't come out too bad un edited. Mason's "angrily saying cheese" face was still cute enough to work with while Marc's over tilted head wasn't TOO over tilted. All I had to do with this one is crop it and edit the coloring and tinting.

I accidentally saved the super imposed photo of this as the original. Oh well, it's probably best I did that. The original had Marc looking less than perfect, to put it as politely as I can where as Mason is ACTUALLY smiling perfectly. Kyndra is aggravated in this one, but she is pretty good at hiding it for the camera. If Marc's face looks familiar, it's because it's the face from the pictures above. LOL

Grumpy McGrumpers. Still an adorable little stinker, even though he's trying so hard to be everything BUT.

Then there are the ones that had absolutely no hope at all.

This is the whole families "sweet lord, the sun is bright today" look. :)

This is my, "Did you push the button, yet" look. hehe
If you look closely at Kyndra and Masons face, they both have a partial smile, opposite sides so you put them together and they have a full smile, I guess. hahaha.

Well, you get the idea. In all, the shoot was not a total loss. I would have liked for the boys to be a little more cooperative, but it is what it is and thank GOODNESS for photo editing programs. :)

First time for first.

2011-06-13T07:14:00.001-04:00

Marc accrued a staph infection in the wound from way back in the beginning of April, and was admitted into the hospital on Thursday night for IV meds and close observation. It had spread up to his knee, into the knee joint and then all around. The doctors drained 10 cc of the infection out of the knee on, Wednesday and by Friday it had spread rapidly throughout his leg. SCARY! But, he is home now and doing well. The infection is lessening and according to Marc, the pain is getting less as well. =)
This was, Marc's first time spending a couple nights in the hospital since he was born so the whole ordeal was a little scary all around, but a great patient he was for the staff of Spectrum, none the less. Cracking jokes, not being too demanding etc etc. His nurses were sad to see him go and some of the nurses aids not believing he was ever their patient... Good times. hehe.
We're all so happy to have him back home and for him to be feeling/doing better. :) :) :)

Another year older.

2011-06-06T15:10:00.000-04:00

Summer has begun, by the way.
6/4, old and new.

Sorry for not posting a link to the pictures!

Marc turned 36 on the 4th. Yay! Another year older. I've known him since he turned 25 when I surprised him with a tiny birthday cake for the occasion. We've been inseparable ever since then! hehe. Awww. =)

Kyndra's First Recital.

2011-06-02T08:39:00.000-04:00

Kyndra had her very first and last recital of her Kindergarten year last night and I must say, we were all really impressed with how well they all did! :) Great job, Ken-O-Sha students!!!
Next week finishes up, Kyndra's first year in school. WHAT a year, but as much as I love her going to school and learning, I love her being home with Mason and I even more. I can't wait for the little adventures that the summertime brings. The sleeping in until 7am again. Lots of walks, scooter and bike rides. Park adventures. Picnics. Swimming in grandma and grandpa's lake. Boating. Rafting. Airplane watching and flying kites at the airport. CAN'T WAIT! hehe.

Lining up for the first show.

Anxious little lady. :)

This was such a cute little number.

Mason was crabby.

Her little class did so great! :)


The whole school (or the ones who showed up)

Reminiscing

2011-05-31T07:07:00.002-04:00

As most of the Holwerda Family blog readers know, I have moved countless times throughout my life. That in itself made life as a young child, extremely difficult. Repeatedly getting my heart broken with each move to a new town or state. A whole new culture of people to learn and meld with. The culture of people and friends I left behind, numerous times before. Great friendships formed then ripped apart by another move. It's definitely not a lifestyle I would choose for my own kids, knowing first hand how devastating it is. It teaches you a lot of difficult life lessons in many ways, but I would never want that for my kids.

Amongst the many moves in my life, the move from Tennessee to Michigan was the most difficult for me. The people here in Michigan are just so different from those in the south. Not just in Tennessee, but Florida which was the state we moved from just a year before that, with a quickie Georgia residency in between there. The culture here is so different. The language here is so different and the way in which people interacted with one another here was,,,interesting to say the least. I didn't get it. At all. So, for my first year living here we 'lived' in a couple of different places while I attended New Era school up in Shelby Michigan where I befriended a few people, but not many. Shockingly, we managed to remain in the same school district for three whole years. In my last year, I got too comfortable with the temporary stability and allowed myself to form some friendships... My most favorite person of the people I let in, was Marivel. She was this unique and interesting girl. She was cool. She was honest and she and her family were humble. I don't remember how we met or when we started to become friends, but she was a great person and a great friend. Even though her mom hated me. hehe. The funniest story that sticks out in my mind was this Shelby football game she and I went to with the intentions of me going back to her house for a pizza party sleepover thingy, but... I tripped and rolled my ankle while we were at the football game and had to go to the ER with my dad instead. Her mom was pissed off for some reason or other concerning my ankle and loudly complaining about me, while I sat in the backseat of Marivel's dad's truck all the way back to their house. They didn't speak English, I had no idea what was being said. haha. Marivel and I had a great laugh about it on, Monday morning and agreed to try that again sometime only without the rolled ankle part.......

So then, we moved ...again. Two weeks or so after that football game. This time to Muskegon county which is actually where we ended up for the remainder of my school career. I lost touch with, Marivel and everyone else from Shelby. I was only 12 years old and in a day of no cell phones, internet or beepers. Keeping in touch meant a LOT more than it does now. It sucked, but I got over it as I always did. However, I never really let go of the memories like I had in my past. I took solace in those memories. In a weird way, I knew memories of the good times were the only thing my parents could never move me away from. Makes sense in a 12 year old's mind, anyway. :) Years go by and the more comfortable I became with the idea of actually staying in ONE spot for longer than a few months to a year, the more friends I started to allow into my little world. (a mighty world it was) In my junior year of high school, most of my friends had moved away from me or had graduated / quit school. I was feeling the other side of it for the first time and it really didn't suck any less than me being the one moving away. I became close with one of my friends brothers, Mike. He and I shared a class together and we shared a lot of the same interest. Partying, mostly. We were both pretty spectacular at partying. It sucked when he graduated and moved on at the end of that year. As history has proven in the past many of times,,,we lost touch.

Fast forward about 15 years. Three weeks ago, I see his sister on facebook, along with a few other people I had lost touch with from Musekgon and decided I would like to do some retouching of those people [yeah yeah... not that way, pervs!] and sent out a couple friends request. In my disbelief, I see on his sisters suggested friends I may know (thanks facebook) Marty Brandel was one of them. The face looked SO much like my friend, Marivel from Shelby. I started stalking this persons facebook. I couldn't really tell for sure, sure, but what I could tell was she was married to my junior year, best friend, Mike (or henry now ) from Muskegon and if fate was to play a any roll in this at all, him being her husband HAD to make her Marivel, right? IT DID! I was so excited, like imagine a little girl in a shop filled with fluffy kittens and ice cream, kind of excited and that was me in that moment. We started emailing back and forth, reminiscing about old times, the football game, her moms cursing me out in a foreign language. lol. We talked a little about what happened in our lives during the times were were disconnected. All three of us, Mike, Mari and myself, couldn't believe how freaking small of a world we were living in at this point. It was so surreal, but I was so happy....

A few days went by with no responses from either, Mike or Mari, but I thought nothing of it since it is Memorial day weekend and all. Until, I logged in Sunday afternoon and see a last respect post from the sister on Mari's Facebook wall. Wishing her well and for her to rest in peace with the Lord. I couldn't believe what I was reading and not just from Mike's sister... hundreds of people, all showing their last respects to her in the same way. I still didn't believe it, and didn't for a few hours. It just didn't seem right... It seemed like a set up for a REALLY sick joke, but unfortunately, it wasn't. The bestest person in my world at one point in time, had passed away the Friday before. The woman I had JUST reconnected with in hopes of reforming that great friendship with again, was now gone. For good.

I'm not sure what my feelings really are. I'm really sad, in a weird way. I've dealt with death and loss many many MANY times in my life. I'm usually greatly impervious to it. My heart has pretty much turned that, caring about loss or death, part of itself off years ago. My own personal defense against another inevitable loss, mechanism if you will and yet, since I found out all I want to do is curl up in my bed and cry. Then there is the stranger side of it, where I don't really even know her, who she was today. I wasn't given the chance to get to know her, who she is now. Really, it's as if she was a stranger and she passed away, leaving me completely confused on how I am supposed to feel. I'm heartbroken. It's a feeling I haven't felt since I was really little, I think. I've had sadness over boys and broken relationships. I've been sad over the loss of a loved one. This feels so much different from that so I'm just gonna call it, heartbreak. My heart is broken. She was a great person through and through and she touched a lot of peoples hearts in her short life. I'm so honored to have been one of them.

In short... I'm so happy that I found her again, if it were for only a week and a half, but I am heartbroken that I will never get to know her again. =(

If it's odd, freaky or just plain impossible....

2011-05-17T15:38:00.003-04:00

It will happen to us.

We've come to the sick realization that the universe thoroughly enjoys messing with us. It seems like of all the luck and odds in the world, we've gotten the shit end of the stick each time. For example: Picture being the only PARKED car in a fairly large parking lot, surrounded by tree's, dumpsters and giant brick buildings. Now picture said PARKED car being smashed in by another PARKED (or supposedly, parked) car. Yep. That is exactly what happened last, Thursday.
We pulled into the Social Security office to find the facility has moved to another building on the other side of town. Marc removes the keys from the ignition, jumps out of the car to run up to the door to read the signage on the door about their move. In that time, Kyndra and I hear something crashing along off to our right. We look and notice this silver Saturn plummeting off the side of this hill that we later found out was the Wood TV 8's parking lot. My initial thought was...."Whoa, sucks to be that person" then, my thought switched to "Shit, it's not stopping" when it hit the dumpster, both Kyndra and I sighed with relief thinking that would be the end of it, but sadly we were wrong. It didn't stop rolling. In fact it kept right on rolling, picking up speed as it traveled further and further, unmanned, directly towards Kyndra and mine, side of the car. My last and final thought "Who in the hell just let their damn car roll off a hill like that?". Randy Bryant with Wood TV 8, THAT's who. hehe. Poor guy! The ONE time he forgets to put his car completely into gear or put the emergency brake on while parked on a hill, is the one time a delivery truck decides to rumble past his car. Releasing his car from it's parked spot, sending it down the hill to crash into a curb, a dumpster then, finally resting (smashed up against) our car.
The whole story is pretty funny and spectacular. Even the police couldn't believe the story they were being told and would not have believed if they had not just witnessed it themselves (or the aftermath of it). No one was hurt, thankfully. The car hit the front end passenger side, near the tire. Both car's were completely smashed up, his being the worse since it sustained the most crashage in this pretty funny story. Our car wasn't very operable when it was all said and done, however. His car forced our cars tire to turn and knocked something either loose, or bent something.... Either way, the trip home was a slow, stressful and really scary one. We're now driving a Chevy HHR while our car is getting repaired. Marc really wishes they would let us keep that instead of repairing the Alero. hehe. But, No such luck,,,,or IS it? :P hehe.

BTW: Good thing for surveillance camera's. Hehehe.

Then and Nows

2011-04-26T06:36:00.001-04:00

Oh Hi!

2011-04-07T09:52:00.001-04:00

So as you know, we made it through the cold weather with a lot of illness' etc. Well, the weather is warming up and we're all doing pretty great. A lot has happened between the last post and now, like the interior of our house has been redone. I decided to finally break free of the boring taupe's and bust out the bright and beautiful colors of the Caribbean with a tropics inspired paint palette. (Click: Pictures Here) It took some, very little, getting used to, but we all love it. It makes our home seem that much more warm and inviting.
Game night didn't pan out as planned. No one in our family were ever healthy all at the same time to pull off even one single game night so we made it a family night, instead. BOOOO! Oh well. If I have learned anything in this last year is, expect the unexpected and planning ahead is over rated. lol

Kyndra is doing amazingly at school. She had some minor set backs which left Marc and I both upset and confused for a little while until we met with the teacher and worked things out. There are some pretty high strung and naughty children in her class with her and Kyndra is/was intimidated by some of her classmates because they've been aggressive and abusive towards her and others for being a different color from them, which in turn was affecting her learning while at school. She became too afraid to speak up or to let on that she knew the answers, for fear that those certain kids would laugh at her or pick on her when it came time for recess. I mean, really? She's in kindergarten and dealing with crap I only remember encountering once I hit Junior High. School is far from what it was when I was a kid.
We were tossing around the idea of placing her in a different school, but according to all of the people we've been talking with concerning this, the other schools are the same, if not worse. We're not sure what to do about it at this point. For now, she has figured out on her own what those other kids say or do doesn't matter, she isn't there to make them happy or even to be their friends. She's there so her teacher can teach her things. (her words, not mine) I was pretty excited to hear Kyndra has been doing better with school once she figured that all out.

Mason is still quite the character, as most of you know. (The ones on my FaceBook, anyway.Click: Request me if you're not there already) He's a handful, but in a good way. He's constantly keeping us on our toes and thinking ahead just so we are able to keep up with his little mischievous ways. Haha. He's learned how to write his alphabet out, he has no problems identifying each letter and up to 20 in counting. He can count higher than 20, though he isn't very good at identifying those numbers yet. He's really darn smart and he comes by that naturally, since he only sort of lets me teach him anything. hehe. He is also spelling words, on his own. He put S U N together to spell sun. He's put D O G together to spell dog. He sounded out hot and spelled that one too. Everyday, he amazes me a little more. When ever we're in the car, instead of the one of the many coloring books, he picks up the kindergarten work book and a pencil and does work sheet after work sheet in it. Yep, I am boasting. He makes me proud. Both of my kids make me so proud. =)

Marc is doing great. He's working hard at Hilco and working even harder at home. He's an awesome daddy and even awesomer husband. :) Sometimes I have to step back and remember/reflect/basque in it, just so I can fully appreciate what all he does and for us without ever complaining. (okay, without really complaining) I couldn't have asked for a better partner in my life. (awwww)
Added: Marc was in an accident at work on the 8th. He's fine! A barrel of a hopper fell on him while he was doing a mold change, pinning him between the machine and the barrel forcing a little nozzle/t-bar thing to puncture his calve pretty badly, through to the tendon. I guess he passed out a few times while speaking to his bosses after it happened and he was rushed off to the ER in an ambulance. His first time and hopefully is last! After having x rays done making sure there were no breaks or foreign bodies in his wound, he was stitched up and sent home the same day. He is still in a lot of pain, but he's progressing as far as we can tell.

I am doing pretty well, myself. I'm able to add more n more foodie's to my diet as the days pass. I still am unable or unwilling to eat during the day since the nausea is generally an appetite killer, but I have figured out a way around it and it seems to be working. I've put back on 11 lbs of the almost 30 I lost in such a short period of time. Believe it or not, but it was never my intention to be uber skinny again. I don't look healthy below a certain number on the scale and for too long, I had been well below that number. It was scary for me. Everything isn't all honkey dorey yet or anything like that, but I'm feeling a little more secure about everything now. I'm alive and I have a great little family and home...... It's all I need worry about. =)

It's spring break in the Holwerda house this week.(Click: Pictures Here) So far it's been a lot of fun, filled with many little adventures, crafts (Click: Pictures Here), imagination stations and baking. hehe. The break started with a night stay at a hotel with an indoor pool. (Click: Pictures Here) This may have been the kids favorite part so far. lol. I love having both of my kids home again. I have missed it so much.

We had a little scare about a month ago, concerning our youngest baby, Arty the cat. Turns out, he's just a Holwerda and belongs with us for his family, completely. He has allergies and asthma, just like the rest of us. hehehe. He had to spend the night in an animal hospital in an oxygen tank because he had an asthma attack that almost took his life. :( That was pretty scary, but he's doing better now. He has albuterol for when ever it decides to act up again and it has. His triggers are the same as, Mason's. Strong perfumes and dust. Haha! (Click: Pictures Here).

We hope everyone is doing well. Keep, keeping in touch! We love hearing from all of our friends and family. :)
Love to all our readers.

What's This?

2011-02-14T14:40:00.000-05:00

Oh just more illness' going around... No big deal.

BUT it IS a big deal. It seems like the kids and us, have been tag teaming one another with every single germ and illness that has been going around this wintry season and I cannot take it anymore! I need the sun back! I need ME back! But, most of all, I need my healthy family back!
At the start of the sickness' I thought it might be our basement or the basement's mildew making us sick, but a couple hundred dollars spent in medical bills and another couple hundred in co-pays later...it's not. (if this weren't a family blog, a cuss word would most definitely be added right here)
Apparently, we're just going through a typical first child's, first year in school syndrome and there ain't crap we can do to avoid it other than all that we have already done which is, disinfecting multiple times daily, daily multi-vitamins, lots of Vitamin C and some extra Zinc to stave off those pesky germs. Psh... Whatever. I'm done thinking these things even try to help with it anymore. I'm more convinced that if it's a germ that contains any sort of illness, the Holwers will be suffering from it as soon as it get's near us.

Is it just me, or do I seem to complain more and more about this the older I get? Perhaps it's just more debilitating the older and older a person gets? Maybe it's just that our bodies can't manage and keep up with the plethora of bacterial infections/viruses spraying around these days? Or, it could just be that I'm getting whinier and whinier the older I get? None the less... it sure does SUCK!

Illness'.... Screw you! Bring on the bugs and mugginess of summertime. I'm ready to welcome the quadrupled electric bills from using the air conditioner over the multiple co-pays being paid out a week due to this crap. I'll take on anything the summertime wants to give to me, if.it.just.will.hurry.up.and.get.here.already!
The end.

Attitude: Check!

2011-01-24T09:49:00.000-05:00

   Being a mom is the most fulfilling career a woman like me could have. I'm not great or perfect at it, but my kids know that through all the yelling, screaming, time out putting and hair pulling... that it is all done with love. (we hope)
    Recently, I've noticed a huge change in Kyndra's attitude. Of course I realize she is growing up and with that, she will become many different things along the way, but this change seemed a little odd. It was as if some teenager had come and taken over her body or something. Some of the topics she would try to discuss with us and the way she worded things were very strange not to mention, way beyond her years. It took me a while to figure out where this new 6 year old teenager was coming from, but I *think* I have pin pointed the problem.
   These last couple of months, starting in October have been horrible on the whole family. I've been in and out of the hospital, continuously being seen and treated by a plethora of doctors and trying to maintain my body weight while living on a very limited diet has really put a strain on my sanity. I've lost touch with my mommy ways, in dealing with all that I have had to deal with. I've stopped teaching them or guiding them, instead I've been coasting through the days on auto pilot and in doing so, I've allowed their television watching to seriously go down the toilet. From iCarly to Hanna Montana, the television was teaching and guiding FOR me. Not good.
   We've removed those shows from the line up and am only allowing them to watch PBS shows, the occasional Disney channel shows, such as Handy Manny, Chuggington or Mickey Mouse Club and even some of the Nick Jr programs, like Dora the Explorer or Diego. The brain healthy, kind of programs like it was before. In 5 days time, we've both noticed a dramatic difference in both Kyndra and Mason's attitude. I was thoroughly shocked by this and I don't even know why. Of course snotty little preteen shows are going to influence my 6 and 3 year old! They're impressionable little monsters right now. I can't believe I was impervious to this OBVIOUS fact. Anyway, I'm thankful I'm starting to come out of the fog and finally getting back into the swing of things with my little family.
   So in short, we're back on the right track and we're even tossing around the idea of setting up a family game night with the kids and their or our friends every Saturday night. We'll see how that goes, but I'm kind of getting excited about it. Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T08:16:00.000-05:00

We have been having a wonderful Christmas season this year and we hope you all have been having one too.
Have a safe and happy new year! We're heading out on the 30th to spend the first week of the year with my side of the family (my sister, nephews, mom and dad) in beautiful Virginia. Can't wait!! :)

A few pictures from our early morning Christmas at home.