Tuesday July 29

Today is 'lasagne day'.  Knowing me and my family you might assume we would make a beautiful summer farmer's market lasagne (like we made last week).  But, since we were having dinner at my parents house (and lasagne was not on the menu), we had to be creative.  The kids made a chocolate lasagne for dessert.  Sometimes you just have to be a little crazy!  I can't imagine how they all ended up with cool whip noses either! 

Monday July 28

Ironically, after my post yesterday, I snapped this shot while lounging in my favorite chair on the back patio... after mopping the floor.  I love our backyard, especially in the summer.  I enjoyed a few moments reading and soaking in the summer while the kids played.

Sunday July 27

Kids live here.  I saw a beautiful blog post earlier this year that was a collection of photos people have taken of the lovely signs we have around our homes every day that show 'kids live here'.  Be it the 'shoe graveyard' outside the door to my garage, or the cap of the bubble jar laying on the front walk, or piles and piles of legos, or the beautiful splatters of paint decorating my sink after many days of sick girls painting.  I'm not really a neat freak, much to Tom's dismay some days, but what that does allow is the ability to notice and be thankful for the signs that kids live here.  Kids who are active and creative and fun.  Kids that I love. 

Saturday July 26

I really like to play catch with my dad whenever he is home.  Almost every day my grandpa comes over to play catch while my dad is at work.  Today was extra special because I got a new glove!  It's the same glove as my grandpa and the same size as my dad's!  I gave my mom my old glove.  It has no padding, but when I play catch with mom I never throw her "the heat". 
By Noah

Friday July 25

Even though a couple of the kids are under the weather, we are still having fun.  Sick days make everyone slow down, which isn't really all bad.  We are doing a lot of snuggling, reading, and painting!

Thursday July 24

Love.

Wednesday July 23

You know it's summer when kiddos return home from a camping adventure with grandma and grandpa M. to enjoy hydrangeas from our yard on the table and corn on the cob from the farmers market on the plate! 

Tuesday July 22

Tonight while the kids camp with my parents in Ludington we enjoyed an amazing event to benefit the Eighth day farm in Holland.  The farm does amazing work, and is beautiful (this location is 2 acres right in the parking lot of the Outlet Mall).  We know several people on the board and I have been blessed to have the farm manager speak to my class at Hope a couple of times.  We enjoyed great food, music, and conversation.  We enjoyed relaxing and being together. 

Monday July 21

Today was National Junk Food day (incase you couldn't guess!).  We had a big party to celebrate.  Each kid brought their favorite junk food to share.  We had a healthy lunch and LOTS of junk food treats (if you know me, you know I did my best to moderate a little...and every kid went home with a packed 'to go' bag!)!  The kids had a blast playing junk food themed games/activities like building tall structures out of toothpicks and gumdrops (photo...well actually in the photo this activity had turned in to a gum drop fight!).  We also played bad-mitten with a giant marshmallow, filled balloons with the gas that escapes from pop rocks in soda, Nerds Chromatography, and a marshmallow spoon race.  It was so fun to hear the laughter!  It was a good day to be a kid!

Sunday July 20

Can you guess what 'National Special Day' we are celebrating with a big party of friends tomorrow?  Stay tuned!

Saturday July 19

Yummy!  Today we learned that leftover blueberry crisp can make a wonderful breakfast.  Today we remembered how much we LOVE Thai Palace!  Twice this summer Tom has taken his girls here for dinner while Noah is away at a slumber party.  One of these days Noah is going to realize he is missing out on an amazing meal.  Today I remembered how much I adore having adventurous eaters! 

Friday July 18

Today we woke up and decided we needed an adventure.  After a few moments deliberation, the kids hopped on bikes and I tied up my running shoes and we headed off to Deboer Bakery for breakfast!  Note:  before we left for the 2.5 mile journey we double checked to see if grandma and grandpa M could bring their truck to pick us up after breakfast!  We made it (a little more quickly than I would have liked....they bike a little faster than my 'jogging' pace!!).  Luckily for me we had about a 45 minute wait for a table so I could stop sweating and regain my breath!  We had a wonderful breakfast together and enjoyed the rest of our day!  We heart summer.

Thursday July 17

Summer fun!  This morning Noah and I enjoyed a stop at Lemonjellos while the girls were at 'acting club'.  In the afternoon we walked to the park nearby and Noah played baseball with a friend while the girls spun endlessly on the tire swing (and I read my book and cheered everyone on).  Later in the day Noah and grandpa took off for a little batting practice while the girls, my mom and I hit a garage sale.  After a rousing game of Apples to Apples with grandma (a garage sale find) the girls had a little twin doggy pile!  All in all, a beautiful summer day. 

Wednesday July 16

Farmer's Market fun!!

Tuesday July 15

Today we found balloon 'animal' making books and supplies.  The kids got right to work.  There were dogs, hummingbirds, and even a bouquet of tulips!  We can check it off the summer list, and it was so much fun!

Monday July 14

We are so proud of Noah who was asked to play on the West Ottawa All Star Team this year.  Noah had fun playing with different teammates and playing different teams.  We are most proud of Noah's all star attitude and the example he set with his actions. 

Sunday July 13

Today we read a lot! As you can see,  there is quite a lot of books being read (or were already finished)! :)  We pushed the chairs up to the couch. Then we placed the big pillows on the couch and the slightly smaller one against the couch. It was like a couch on top of a couch.....With leg rests! One time when mom was doing the laundry, we convinced Ernie (out dog) to jump up up on to mom's spot. We read for I think....two hours. Two hours!
By Abby

Saturday July 12

Today is my favorite kind of day! We snuggled a lot. Today it was mostly sunny, but it rained a little, even though I don't like going potty outside when it's raining, I still love today! Sophie took this photo of me and aren't I cute?! I was just enjoying my toy, when she took a picture of me! The flash hurt my eyes. Today is a great day!
By: Ernie

Friday July 11

Today is my 39th birthday.  As I enter in to the last year of the my 30's I took pause to think about how I want to live this year.  The word that kept coming to mind is laughter.  I want to laugh more.  I want to laugh more with my kids.  I want to laugh more with my wonderful husband of 15 years.  As the girls and I spent time at a park today (N was with a friend for a couple of hours) I sat down with my book on a bench and A immediately asked me to swing with her ("i love you swing"...see earlier post).  My first response was "in a minute..when I finish this chapter..." but I quickly amended that answer to a resounding "YES!".  While swinging and being photographed up-close paparazzi style by S (who had her turn second), the girls said, "This is how you laugh when you are 39 mom." 
Yes.  Yes it is. 

Thursday July 10

Picking blueberries on our 15th wedding anniversary!  It was a wonderful day full of time with family and friends.  

Wednesday July 9

A last day of beach fun with our Cali cousins before they head home.  We loved having them in town and miss them already!  Noah...are you there?

Tuesday July 8

I love that no matter how big the kids get, they still sit in one chair to watch tv.  Love.  Love.  Love.

Monday July 7

Life was one of my favorite games as a child and now my kiddos love it too!  They have been playing it every chance they get with their Cali cousins!  Joy. 

Sunday July 6

Noah two days in a row!  Today is 'Fried Chicken Day' part of our celebration of 5 special days each month (as described in a book of Sophie's).  As the busy day progressed (relaxing time for Martha and Me, baseball practice, park time for the girls, and treasure hunting) we thought perhaps we would need a run to KFC, but after a 3 hour baseball practice for the All-Star Game, Tom and Noah decided to run to the store and make our dinner from scratch.  (See Tom hard at work in the background).  They created what was described to me as amazing Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.  Perfect!

Saturday July 5

Noah created a couple of amazing desserts for his cousin G's birthday party today.  He made a lemonade ice cream pie and a variation of a Food Network Chocolate-Nutella icebox cake.  He did a great job substituting ingredients and creating an ice cream version!  They were both delicious and we had a wonderful day! 

Friday July 4

Happy 4th of July!!  We had an amazing day at the cottage with family and loved every single moment!

Thursday July 3

Today we went to climb Mt.Pisgah (just a sand dune). We climbed about 220 steps. (Maybe  less.)  After that, we walked some more. We even came across a hill. I tried my best to not fall. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to climb UP the same hill.  We still got to climb up a hill, though. It was fun climbing up Mt.Pisgah. After that, guess what happened???? We got ICE CREAM!!! Before lunch!!!!!!!!!!! I got an M&M flurry. It was YUMMY!!!!!
By Sophie :)

Wednesday July 2

Today we started off by going to the farmers market to get strawberries for homemade jam (as you can see in the photo). Also, we got a ton of fruits and veggies for a "farmers market lunch". We got snap peas, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, peppers and broccoli. It was so good! Later, as I said before, we made strawberry jam. We made two different kinds (you can only see one type in the photo). The one you see above is made with sugar, the other kind is used with honey (we had to cook that one, I forgot why, though). Noah was at baseball practice (he is on the All Star team) while we made the jam(s). We then decided to make biscuits so when Noah got home,we would be able to eat them with the homemade jam. When he got home, we ate them and they were delicious with the the jam! What a fun day!
By Abby

Tuesday July 1

Hello July.  We are excited you are here.  Especially because it is National Ice Cream Month!  We had a wonderful start to the month by spending some time in Saugatuck with our cousins, relaxing, playing baseball with grandpa (N), painting (A and S with cousin A)and even eating late night ice cream at Captain Sundae with grandma and grandpa B.  We are looking forward to long, lazy, and fun days this month. 

Monday June 30

Ahhh, a day to relax.  Such a relaxing day Abby and Sophie stayed in their pj's all day!  We had time to be quiet, time to snuggle, time with cousins and time for Noah to play baseball.  It was long awaited and wonderful.  We savored every moment!