Forever Friends

Mia on the Ringenberg's tractor

Everyone has that friend they've known since childhood, that's there for them through thick and thin. A lifelong friend you can always rely on. Well, my friend since the womb has been Sarah (Ringenberg) Niecko. Our mothers were best friends and we spent much of our childhood together. Our families were second families for each other. I loved my days spent at their home on Maple Street, riding the pedal tractor and snuggling with Sweetsie, their beloved dog. Sarah and I attended different elementary schools, but always remained friends. When we hit middle school, we were in the same building for the first time. We had stages where we hung out a lot, but through middle and high school we each developed our own group of friends and interests. Our friend group would overlap now and then, but we didn't hang out as much in the later years. That didn't mean our friendship was gone. Whenever I needed Sarah, she was there. Sometimes before I even realized I needed her. I remember the evening my mother passed away. Karen, Sarah's mother was at our house immediately. She laid my head on her lap and brushed my hair with her hand for at least an hour. The next morning I wanted to go to school. All my friends, who were my main support group were there. We used to go wait in the balcony of the old middle school gym before school started. I was the first one there that morning with my dear friend Kayla who'd come down from Marshall to be with me. Sarah was one of the next ones to enter the balcony. She saw me and immediately ran to me and threw her arms around me and we just sobbed together. She knew my mother and entire family like no one else. I think she understood my loss more than any other friend I had could.

Sarah, Karen, me, and Mia

The years and our locations have distanced Sarah and I. About 1 1/2 years ago, Sarah and her husband Ian moved to the bush in Alaska. Sarah is in the medical field and Ian a pastor. They have amazing stories and adventures that I get to read about regularly. The funny part of them being so far, is Sarah and I have reconnected in a stronger way than we have in a long time. The distance has strengthened our friendship. I email her with news, to seek spiritual advice, or just to say hi. It's great to have my life long friend back in my life. What's better yet, is Sarah and Ian arrived home this past week for a visit with both of their families. I spent a bit of time Friday night catching up with Sarah while the girls were out on their Daddy date. Sarah really wanted to see the girls too, so we biked over last night and were pleased to be able to see Jason (Sarah's older brother) his wife Susie, and their gorgeous daughters Micah and McClaine. We had so much fun reminiscing of old times and Ian sharing tales of their horrific driving escspades in Alaska. Soon they will be leaving this extremely warm Michigan to return to a frozen tundra, but I will hold all our memories close. It's a blessing to have a friend who's known you for life, and you can pick right up where you last left off. I pray that everyone has such a friend.

Olivia always posing

Lifelong friends

Olivia, McClaine, and Mia (being a grump)

Sarah is great with kids

Sweet little Mia

The Girls Make Headlines!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Olivia and Mia were the front page news of the Sturgis Journal on Saturday, March 17th. www.sturgisjournal.com under the title "Doyle event popular with dads and daughters."

Andy has taken Olivia the past two years to the annual "Date with Dad" held at the Doyle Community Center. This year Mia got to join them. She would be so excited one minute about going, and then get her grumpy attitude going and say, "I stay home with Mommy!" the next. I was thrilled when I got home the evening of the big event to see her all dressed up beaming with anticipation. Andy took us all out to eat before hand. I think I only got to come because he wanted me to help with Mia at dinner. Whatever his reason, I was glad to be able to join the fun. After, they dropped me off at home and set off for a night of dancing and fun. Mia was slightly confused as to why mommy couldn't come too, but was still willing to tag along.

Taking some time for silly photos before they leave.

The girls getting ready to load up into their chariot. (Our rental car for a few days while mine got serviced. Andy wishes we still had it.)

I enjoyed catching up with an old friend while my troup was out dancing. I walked home to find a message on the machine that Mia had a lot of fun, but was ready to come home. Thankfully, the message was left less than five minutes prior to me getting home. She made it almost two hours. I drove to pick her up, so Olivia could enjoy some one on one time with her daddy. Olivia's only complaint, no slow songs this year. She really wanted to dance with her daddy. I think all three of them had a terrific time and I'm sure they will be kicking their heels up at next year's big event too!

Spring Has Sprung

We had such a mild winter and the weather has been eerily warm lately. We're not complaining at all. The girls have been loving the opportunity to play outside more, although Mia is quite confused why I say it's bedtime when the sun is still up. I usually get a, "it's not dark yet, Mommy?" question from her sweet little lips. She has enjoyed abandoning her tricycle and riding a big girl bike with training wheels. She's doing terrific. You'd never know she couldn't even pedal her tricycle last summer.

Adam and Olivia lounging on the porch

(don't worry, I finally pulled the poinsettias and trees out of the pot on the front porch)

Olivia is a social butterfly, enjoying every moment she can be out visiting with friends. It seems life is miserable if she doesn't have someone to play with at all hours of the day. The family just doesn't seem to cut it any more. She's still loving school, excelling and made lots of friends. Completely what we expected of her.

Mia trying on a swim cap

I love her cheesy smile she gives the camera.

More to come soon!

Coach Feyes

Andy with his co-captains, Austin, Grant, and Nathan

So many of my posts I write are all about the girls. I decided I should write one about my dear husband, Andy, or coach as he's been referred to by many for the past four months or so. For six or seven years he had been coaching the youth swim program, Stingrays. He really enjoyed it and formed some great bonds with a lot of his swimmers. A year or two ago, Andy's former high school swim coach, Ray Martin retired, and Andy was approached about taking his place. The idea did intrigue him, but he didn't want to stop working with his Stingrays kids. Well, this year he decided he would do it, knowing he would hopefully be able to coach a lot of his Stingrays swimmers, once they hit high school. I think he's thrilled he did. He's had a spark in him that I haven't seen in years. I feel he's had so much fun reminiscing about his past swim years, and finding so much joy in seeing his swimmers succeed. I've been so proud to see the teamwork he brought together. The girls and I attended the home meets and last weekend drove to Battle Creek to watch their big league meet. Andy was elated at how much improvement each and every swimmer has made over the season. The number of "personal bests" they set was dramatically high. He would light up talking about how each swimmer performed, or his hopes for the next meet. I worried he'd get too hung up on winning, but that was not the case at all. He truly just seemed to care that everyone tried their best, made improvements, and worked as a team. Don't get me wrong, he loved to win too, but it was evident that he just wanted each and every swimmer to be their best. He reminded me of a parent with their child. A parent never really cares if the their son or daughter is the best, they just want to see them succeed and be happy. And that was Andy this season. He heads to Oakland next weekend, with half a dozen or so swimmers for the state meet. I know he'll come home proud regardless of how they finish, because they'll give it their all.

This season he has come home with comical stories, times of struggling with the pettiness of some of the swimmers towards each other, videos of dives gone wrong, headaches and hardships, but mainly inspiration. Swimming has always been Andy's passion, and I think it had been missing for awhile. He loved doing Stingrays, but as I've always said, Andy is a kid himself. He relates so well to the high school swimmers, that it was a perfect fit. He made swimmers put aside differences and unite. I don't think he's like some old washed up dad who lives vicariously through his son forcing him into a sport, but I do think he got to relive a time in his life that gave him so much joy. At the awards banquet last night, he even got choked up talking about a few of his Seniors, and had to fight back the tears. Seeing Andy openly that emotional was moving.

He's a great coach, husband and father. We are blessed.

Andy with Parker, aka DMB

February Fun

I attempted to snap pictures of both girls in their cute Valentines get ups before they headed out for the morning on Valentines Day. Of course Mia was right there willing and able, but Olivia was off in search of the perfect hair accessory before having her photograph taken. I snapped a couple of Mia alone, while waiting on Olivia, only to have my camera battery die. Therefore, no photos of Olivia on Valentines Day. The girls both had fun celebrating the day at school and daycare. Andy and I don't ever do much for the day. It's just another day for us, but I was thrilled when he picked up Taco Bell, so I didn't have to cook for the evening.

We are currently on mid winter break. Olivia was bored the other day and complained that no neighbor kids were around to play with. I jokingly suggested she could entertain herself by picking up dog poop from the backyard instead. But the proposition of doing a chore and earning some money enticed my Olivia, and she was out there hard at work for a long time. She came in and exclaimed, "Do you know how much dog poop weighs?" Yes, Olivia, I sadly do. But I am thrilled she wants to take that task over and earn an allowance doing so. They have school banking every Thursday at school. She takes a few dollars in each week and is excited to watch her money accumulate. Olivia is always scheming to find ways to make money. We have a little entrepreneur on our hands.

She wasn't happy I took photos of her in action, but I couldn't resist. She definitely is a hard worker, when she puts her mind to something.

The painting above is one of Olivia's masterpieces she made with her art supplies she got from Santa for Christmas. She did this painting on a snow day back in January, but I realized I hadn't posted a picture of it yet. She's quite the artist. She loves to create any art, although she can get very frustrated during each creation. I have to remember my patience with her, when trying to teach her any new techniques.

Baby of Mine

Although, not apparent in these photos, Mia stayed home sick today. Both Mia and I were feeling a bit under the weather last night. Mia was running a temperature of about 101 degrees. Enough to warrant her staying home for the day, and I gladly was the one to stay home with the way I was feeling. She stilled had a fever this morning, but it started to decrease all on it's own, without medication. I am happy to report no vomiting, diarrhea, or coughing incurred. I've just got terrible congestion that came out of nowhere, but I will live. Thankfully, it was a day that Mia and I could just spend some quality time together. We don't get much alone time together to just have fun. We didn't do much. Watched movies of Mia's choosing, fixed her foods of her choice, and she soaked in the tub. Oh, but napping with her was heavenly. I love to take naps with Mia. There's just something magical about having a sweet little child sleeping next to you or in your arms. You can hear their gentle breathing, and when you awake they are right there cuddled up to you. Snuggling in bed with my girls is one of my top mommy favorite things to do of all time.

All smiles

freshly dressed and just out of the bath

Mia is truly a joy. Very different than big sister Olivia, but I love all of her energy and tenaciousness. She keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with her in our lives. She loves for me to sing her Baby Mine, especially when she's tired. It's our special song. Sadly, I think she's got my musical skills since she enjoys my singing, but hopefully she won't be tone deaf all her life. Technically today was a sick day, but I'll remember it in my book as a Mommy and Mia day.

It's Official, We Have Ourselves a Swimmer

Olivia learned to swim last summer. Would I say she was a strong swimmer? By no means. I trusted her to swim without a life jacket on her own in a pool, where adults were present. I would never let her swim alone, or off in the middle of a lake. She could keep her head above water, but was lacking in technique. She was off to a great start, but we felt she could use some additional training. The community pool was having swim lessons on Monday evenings. Olivia joined the group late into their session, but she was getting some extra practice and she seemed to enjoy it. Andy was at the pool most nights, so he was always the one that stayed with her. Chasing Mia around the pool, while Olivia swam was not my idea of a good time, so I hadn't seen how much she was improving. Andy would come home with comments on how good she was doing, and I did believe him, but didn't grasp just how good.

Then one night he came home and said she was going to swim the 25 yd backstroke in the Stingrays swim meet that Saturday. I was a bit surprised. Mind you, the last time I saw her backstroke, she would turn and crash into the sidewalls. I was excited for her and ready to cheer her on no matter how well or poorly she swam.

I sat there at the start of her meet, anxiously awaiting. Various scenes played through my head. Would she enter the water at the right time, start too early, have a real slow start, get disqualified for some silly mistake? Boy, did she ever amaze me! She took off so quickly in the water. Within no time she was multiple body lengths ahead of the other girls in her heat. She swam straight as an arrow like she's been doing this forever. I screamed from the sidelines and snapped numerous photos. After her heat there was even a reminder about no flash photography at the start of each race. I'm sure that was directed at me. It was my little girl's first race, so oops, I got a little too over zealous with the photos. Sue me.

Here is a photo of her time. The photo was taken before the other girls finished so their times aren't accurate. She swam the same event later and beat her time by about one second. We're so proud. Looks like Stingrays are in her future next year, that is as long as she still wants to do it.