Fair Fun!

Well we finally decided to do it. The fair is in town and I took the kids and met some moms from school. I figured this way the kids would have someone to ride with and I would have someone to talk to while they were on the rides!! Win-win situation!! It was a really good time!

We ended up staying for 5 hours!! I got there and we hung out with friends and then when we were gettting ready to leave daddy got home from work and met us so we stayed another 2 hours! The kids did great and rode a lot of rides! Emmah even rode one that I was shocked to see her get on, but she loved it!! They had so much fun riding the rides, eating elephant ears, and hanging out with friends. The weather was great too!! This will definetly be a yearly event for us!

Kate.....

Okay Katie over at A List Maker's Life posted this one and I just had to give it a try!! What Google knows about me....

Kate needs........A shave!
*Apparently it doesn't think I shave enough!! I guess my legs are a little rough, but I do shave regularly I swear!!

Kate looks like.......the kind of girl who makes a jealous woman astronaut drive for hours in a diaper!
*What??? I certainly hope not!

Kate wants......to fill her triangular container with orange juice.
*I don't have one of these....nor do I like orange juice that much!

Kate does......the right thing.
*Wow that is a nice feeling!

Kate hates......short hair.
*I have short hair so I hope not!!

Kate asks.......Pete to choose between her and drugs.
*This is where I am not so excited to share my name with Kate Moss.....who is Pete anyway?

Kate likes.......YOU!!!
*Hope you all feel the LOVE!!

Kate eats.......a cricket!
*Those of you that know me well, know this would NEVER happen!!

Kate wears.....a wedding ring!
*Well I am married after all!

Kate was arrested for.......poisoning her non-existant husband with arsenic.
*Not sure what to say about this one......

Kate loves.......Sydney.
*Never been there, but would love to go someday!!

If you would like to try your own just "(type your name) likes" etc. and have fun!! Thanks Katie!!

Alpena Adventures

This past weekend we went to Alpena to visit with family. I have a brother and two sisters who live there along with nieces and nephews, and other extended family. My sister and her family, who live in FL were there and we thought it would be super easy to see them and the rest all at the same time, so off we went!!

We got there around 7ish on Friday. It was great to see everyone and just hang out. I even got to go to a movie in a theatre......if that is what you call it!! Sorry shouldn't make fun of the small town!! It was nice to hang out with my sister and 2 nieces and see The Ugly Truth (Personal Review.....AWESOME!! very funny movie!) On Saturday we spent the day just relaxing and catching up, then that evening more family joined us, there were about 34 people there. What a great time playing games, and sharing memories!

We got to go to breakfast on Sunday morning with just my sister Mary and her family. We truly enjoy spending time with them and the rest of the family too of course!! The kids had a great time this weekend and so did we!!

Precious Memories

Today, my baby turned 4! I can hardly believe how quickly the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday he was born. As we hit this milestone and he gets ready to go to preschool for the first time, I look back and remember what an absolutely beautiful baby he was and what a handsome young man he is turning into!

One thing that popped into my mind this morning as I thought about my baby turning 4 (yes I can't get over that!!) was how incredibly happy I was that my mom was able to be there for his birth. With Emmah she was there too, and that was a fluke that turned into a blessing. It is so special that she was able to share in the amazing miricle of their births. Now especially since she is gone, I cherish that memory. I have been having a hard time lately, with my mom being gone. Summers were always our time, to hang out, do fun things with the kids, and just make memories. She was such a wonderful Memah and I can only hope that Jake remembers her. I plan to keep her memory alive as much as possible, she was a truly remarkable woman and I can only hope to be half the mom she was to me.

Arrrrg Matey's!!

Jake had his 4th birthday party yesterday, it of course was a pool party. The pool kindly provided by Mimi & Papa!! (Thanks for letting us use the pool and all the supplies mommy forgot!!) A great time was had by all!!

Every year I let the kids pick their theme and then the cake they want. I always make the cake in part because I have so many wonderful memories of my mom making my birthday cakes! I always try to make them special, and this year was no exception! Jake chose a pirate ship! Thankfully Tob was around to help, it didn't go well! In the end it was fine and Jake LOVED it, which is what truly matters! In addition to the cake I also made pirate cupcakes, and even though I didn't think they were going to turn out, they ended up looking GREAT!!

We had so much fun, and the kids had fun swimming. Thanks to everyone who came. We love you all!

Park Party

Today we went to Maranda's Park Party. She is a local television personality who does these big parties in the summer all over West Michigan. They offer food, rides, and free stuff to kids! I have always heard they are crazy, but my daycare lady said she was going and said it was fun last year and that the kids would enjoy it, so I decided to go.....and we had a BLAST!!

The kids got tatoos, free snacks, coloring books, a cool backpack, stuffed animals, a magnet (they designed!), and ice cream. There were a lot of people, but it was fun. We are definetly going again next year, and the kids did great there were super listeners, which makes it twice as nice!!

Blog Hop! 3 Things you didn't know about me!

Here are my 3 things......

1. I am the youngest of 6 kids and my oldest sister is 10 years younger than MY mom! Figure that out!

2. My husband and I are high school sweethearts, and went to our senior prom together, we now OWN the car we took to prom! (It belonged to his grandma at the time!)

3. I am not a good cook, okay some things I can cook! But it is not my strong point at all. But I make my kids their birthday cakes every year. This year I made a princess castle and am in the process of making a pirate ship!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Well, okay here you go........Not me, I didn't completely ignore the fact that I have at least 3 laundry baskets full of clean laundry that need to be put away, and that every member of the family has full laundry baskets that need to be washed!

Not me, who totally had fruit snacks for breakfast, and then just didn't feel like making lunch so I took my kids out, and then my six-year-old outed me at dinner!

Not me, who has waited til the last minute to complete something I have known about for months, and it has to be done by this weekend!!

I don't know who did these things, but is surely was NOT ME!!!

Pool Party!!

Well we finally did it....we went to the pool. My in-laws have a pool and the kids love to go and swim, which is good, because I am such a pool snob! (note: I don't have a pool of my own and never did!!). Anyway, I wasn't feeling too great, but the weather was nice, and Auntie was going to be there too, so we headed over.

We ended up staying for 4 HOURS!! Needless to say the kids had a blast, I got quite a bit of sun, and it was a good time. We had a few minor issues, like Jake peeing in his suit......TWICE!! And some time-outs for squirting the squirt gun directly at people, and pushing our sister into the pool! But overall great times were had by all. The kids are looking forward to the next time, and we for sure will be there soon. Jake is having his Pirate Pool Party there next Sunday! I will try to add some photos later.

Wordless Wednesday

Blog Hop!

This weeks theme is Favorite photo and caption.

This picture was taken over the weekend. We took a vacation to Chicago, and on our taxi ride back to the hotel, the fireworks started. The kids were watching out the window as we were stuck in traffic. They didn't care, they saw what they needed to!

Michigan's Adventure

What's one more day of fun when you've been a vacation??? Toby had Monday off so we decided to take the kids to Michigan's Adventure. We have never taken them so this was a first. Well the kids had a ton of fun!!!! They loved all the rides and we had to pry Jake out of the waterpark, even though he was to small for some of the rides even with an adult.

Jake also really liked the little roller coaster Zack's Zoomer, he rode it twice and even had his hands up! Overall it was a really great day!!! The kids were so excited and can't wait to go again next year....

I would also like to add that while at the hotel and hanging out before bed on Saturday we were all hanging out in our pj's. Toby only wears a pair of shorts to bed w/o a shirt. Jake was over giving daddy a hard time and suddenly said "Daddy there is a squirrel in your armpit!!" It was pretty funny, we all had a good laugh. Although I don't think either of the kids new why they were laughing!!

Chi Town!!

This past weekend we took the kids to Chicago. We stayed in a hotel, for only the second time (This is something we should have done more often, it got a little crazy!!)

It was A LOT of fun!! Once we got everyone to sleep! We ended up having to put one on the floor and one in the bed, we haven't done the hotel thing much so it was only the second time! On the first day we went to Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Sears Tower. Out of all of them Emmah says the Sears Tower was her favorite! She was a little spooked by the glass floor, but it was cool!!

The next day we went to the Field Museum. They loved all the dinosaurs, and the pirates! It was a great trip that I am sure we will be taking again! Here are some pictures from our weekend!