My favorite family tradition

Every Sunday night we have 'family movie night'. It is by far my favorite time of the week. The very best part is when we push the sofa and love seat together, find the big down comforter and make a "nest". We all pile in and snuggle for the entire movie. It is amazing. Tonight we watched a 'censored' (by Tom...who knows the entire movie by heart) version of Tom's favorite Christmas movie 'Christmas Story'. Doesn't get any better than this.

Skipping ahead to Christmas!

I know, it's been too long! I have about 70 pictures to be sorted and lots more I could add from our wonderful Thanksgiving with all of my family. I'll get to that... But, for now, we had the kids first Christmas program at school tonight. It was amazing! Abby had a speaking part...in spanish! Sophie found out Monday that she would sing a duet. And Noah was part of a special song. It was precious, amazing, adorable! I think the best part was seeing my kids give each other fives/saying "great job" after each did their special part. I didn' t capture it on video, you can almost see it in the upper right corner of one of the videos...but not quite. Each time one returned they all gave each other 5. I could hear people around us saying, "They must be brothers and sisters". They love each other and they are each others biggest fans. Priceless.

Noah "S-A-N-T-A" (see the girls in the upper right corner)

Sophie's Duet :) (See Abby and Noah in the upper right corner)

Abby's finale in spanish! (you know where to look for the other two!)

Crazy Cousin Fun!!

We have had the most wonderful past 9 days! Martha and her family drove across the country and stayed with us! We packed every moment with fun, laughter, craziness, and adventures. It was (and is, we still have another week of fun to be had!) amazing to see our kids get reacquainted and fall in to an amazing friendship/love. It was so fun to pick up with my sister like we'd never been apart. Here are a few highlights from our time, with more to come (see Martha's blog too).

Gordie and Noah in the same jammies, purchased on opposite sides of the country!

Family Ice Skating!! Noah skated like a pro...too fast for his slow mom to keep up!

The girls loved their first time!

Dance Party USA!

Happy Halloween!

A fairytale Princess, a unicorn, and a lego :)






We had a wonderful Halloween weekend that started with a Fall Fun Night at the kids's school on Friday. They had a blast, and loved showing grandma and grandpa B. around their school! Saturday my parents came over and we had a relaxing fun day. At night we trick or treated around our neighborhood (farther than we've gone before!), visited our friends the Bolt's for pumpkin soup (labeled a tradition by the kids..our 2nd year) and ended the night by visiting my Aunt and Uncle (a ~10 year tradition). The kids say it was the best Halloween ever! They managed to crash quickly despite the crazy sugar high they were on! Tom and I even mustered the strength to go out to the bar for a couple of drinks after the kids were in bed (thanks to my parents for babysitting!). Today we enjoyed a traditional "sweatsuit Sunday" after church we put on sweats and relax. No laundry, no errands, only fun, relaxing family time. We also try to do a family hike each week, today we visited Kirk Park (between Holland and Grand Haven) for an amazing hike along Lake Michigan.
What fun!! Have a wonderful week!!

Fall!

We are loving fall!! School continues to go well for the kids! They love it, and they are doing very well according to their teacher at Parent-Teacher Conferences. I enjoyed attending their field trip to Post Family Farm earlier this month. Riding the bus with the kids was a riot! It was fun to put faces with names of their friends!
The girls finished up soccer today with a victory, and a goal scored by Sophie! Both of them learned so much and had a blast! Noah continues to love his 'football skills' class with Tom on Thursday nights. I was able to go watch once when the soccer practice was rained out! The kids have had such a wonderful cheering section this fall, Grandma and Grandpa Bonnema, Grandma and Grandpa Mosher, even Great-Grandpa Low made it to a game! It made the kids feel so special to have such fans!
We also enjoyed a wonderful weekend with my parents in town and another trip to Post Family Farm!
Today we were able to do something I have never done before..we picked concord grapes. It was amazing!! Beautiful, aromatic, and such fun. The kids were thrilled to use "snippers" to cut the grape clusters, and did a great job. In about 20 minutes we had picked 35 pounds. We look forward to making jam, pie, and juice tomorrow!
I hope you are all having a wonderful fall! Blessings!

(note: for some reason it won't let me upload the other 5 pictures I wanted to post!!)

Go State!! Go Tigers!!

We had a great weekend with so many wonderful moments!! The girls soccer game! MSU Victory!! The kids were able to spend time with my grandpa and my parents on Saturday night so Tom and I could go to the Tiger game. The Tigers lost, but came back ready to play and did win Sunday, so we are excited for the big game Tuesday! Sunday the kids went to a great camper show with my parents while Tom and I ran some errands. Sunday evening we had a wonderful birthday dinner for Joan and Steve! It was a busy, but fun filled weekend! Off to bed!! I'm chaperoning a field trip tomorrow!!!

The Sun!!

After a few blustery and rainy days we were very excited to see the sun today!! We enjoyed a wonderful walk along Lake Mac this afternoon and then had a blast doing sidewalk chalk with our little friend Jack. Abby drew a picture of 'Zebra Abby and Zebra Jack' adorable!! We even squeezed in a visit to the library where the kids are THRILLED to use the library cards they got earlier this month. You can imagine what it looks like when we step up to the check out counter...4 people, 4 library cards, and at least 4 books each! The librarian laughed out loud when she saw I was checking out "Yoga for Stress Relief" Hmmm....why is that funny?!

Update!

My wonderful and talented friend Kate took these family pictures for us at the beach.
Getting ready for family pictures is never my favorite thing, but we got ready for these in less than an hour. Showers, selecting 'coordinating' outfits, and out the door. That's the way to do it!!



"It's the second day of otoño" Noah announced when he got home today. Hmmm...is it October I wondered? "NO mom, that means fall!" Oops. Can I get a spanish dictionary here????
The kids are LOVING school. They are making friends, learning math, and learning so much spanish I am amazed! They love their teacher, the girls have two friends from class on their soccer team, they love riding the bus home, and are doing great!
The girls have 2 soccer practices a week and usually one game. Noah is their biggest fan, but is beyond excited to FINALLY start "football skills" tomorrow night.
We've been enjoying September getting in to a school routine. Enjoy the pictures!!
Blessings! Happy otoño!!

Thank you Auntie Martha!!

We love our new shirts!!!

The Bus Ride Home!!

The kids had another wonderful day at school today. They were thrilled with the bus ride home, they just loved it!! I am amazed by the amount of spanish they are learning on only day 2!! They are singing songs and throwing out new words left and right!! It's adorable!!
ps I apologize for my HIGH PITCHED voice in the video...not sure what is up with that!! Geez!

The first day of school!

We made it!! The kids had a wonderful morning at kindergarten. Aside from Tom and I thinking school started at 9, therefore arriving 2 minutes after the 8:50 bell rang, everything went smoothly!! They came out of school saying, "Buenos Dias" and singing like crazy. They loved it!! The only disappointment in their eyes was that I picked them up today, and they don't get to ride the bus home (I'll be driving them in the morning) until tomorrow!!
After I picked them up, I was off to Hope for my first day of class. My class has doubled in size this year (from 7 to 14) and it seems to be a wonderful group of anxious to learn middle schoolers!!

Tonight the girls waited out a rainstorm and had their first soccer practice. They looked adorable in their shin guards and socks (had to call my sister to see which went on top!!) not to mention the cleats!! They have a bit to learn about the actual game of soccer, but they had a BLAST!!!

I'm ready to have a glass of wine and relax. What a day!

Ready or not...

Here comes school. We had an amazing last week of summer vacation. We hit parks, the Binder park zoo, open houses, read 2 'chapter books' while snuggling in bed...it was perfect.

Today we marked the 'last day' by allowing all 5 of us to select a 'summer' activity we wanted to do one more time. Our day looked like this:

Family Driving Range time (selected by Tom)

Park at their school (selected by Noah)

Ice Cream (selected by Sophie)

Dinner (much needed!)

'Hike to the tower' at local nature preserve (selected by Abby)

Reading the rest of 'Edward Tulane' in bed (selected by Mommy)

It was an amazing day. Sophie stopped at one point today to ask me if I was nervous before I started school. I scooped up my baby and gave her a big hug. Yep, I was nervous as a child, and I'm nervous now as a mom letting my babies start kindergarten tomorrow. I'm even a little nervous to start my own class tomorrow afternoon at Hope. I'm pretty much a blubbering mess tonight as we prepare for this next stage of our lives. School. I think they are entering the class of 2022. They are ready, they are excited...I'm just not sure how it happened so fast.

Happy Fall everyone!

Summer Fun!

The 'Field Trip Friday' gang outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum in GR

Admiring a picture of one of Caroline Kennedy's dolls from her days in the White House. It was a wonderful exhibit!! Go see it if you get the chance!

Raising triplets is a zoo sometimes!! A visit from our friends the Pylman triplets!!

The kids passion of the moment...drawing out of drawing books. I kid you not, they sit for an hour at a time (yes, Noah too)

We are trying to get every last second out of summer vacation this month!! We've been to the beach, watermelon spitting contests, parks, bike rides... The kids are very excited to start school, I keep trying to remind them to enjoy the moment and Noah even told his sister yesterday to "Be Present" (my 34th year mantra!). Of course, I'm thrilled that they are so excited to start school!! They had 'kindergarten assessment' yesterday and were able to meet their teacher. Sigh. My babies!!
Here are a few pictures from our past week of fun!
I hope you are all savoring every moment, and "Being Present".