Sunday, August 30, 2015

Art Show

March 24:  The kids' school puts on a fine arts night each year.  1st-4th grade sing (Kindergarten sings for Mother's Day tea instead) and all grades display artwork from throughout the year.  The art and music teachers do such an amazing job with this--each kid in the school has 5-6 pieces of art work on display!  The concert is fantastic and the scheduling is great--each grade performs at a specific time so you can go to watch your child without spending hours at a concert.  It is a fun night to see the kids art and we loved hearing Sadie sing and perform her speaking part.  

Kinnick's penguin won first place for his entire grade level!
Sadie's clay frog won first place and "Best Overall" for all 2nd grade projects!






Girlie Time

March 19/March 22:  The girls and I got to have some fun nights out.  We have a good family friend whose son was in the musical "Mary Poppins" at a local High School.  Marc decided he would rather stay home with the boys for some March madness so I ordered tickets for the girls and I to go.  It was fun but it was also very long. We went on a Thursday night so Sadie had school next the day.  I even asked the girls if they wanted to leave at intermission but they really loved the show so we got a snack and stayed.  I enjoy taking them to see live productions. 

That same weekend we had the chance for a small group girls' day out.  We went to see the new Cinderella movie.  It was fun hanging out with other mommies and girls from our group.
Macey, Kinley, Sadie, & Aubrey
 

Hearts at Home 2015

March 14:  I love going to Hearts at Home each year... it's been 7 years in a row without missing a year!  It's a great weekend filled with teaching, encouragement, and best of all--Girlfriends!  This year was no different.  An added bonus--meeting Lysa Terkeurst!  It was fabulous hearing her speak (twice!) and I loved getting to meet her and have my book signed. 
Liz & Lindsey

Stephanie

Talking to Lysa!
 

Gala Time

February 28/March 6:  This year Marc and I got to attend two different Galas.  We went to the YMCA gala and to the 5th annual Gala for the Village Christian Church.  I bought a new dress this year and after years of talking about it, Marc bought a tux.  It was fun getting all dressed up for a fancy night out... twice in one week!



My friend Angie came over to do my hair for the night!

Date Days

February:  Every few months, Marc and I try to take each kid for a one-on-one date... Here were my dates with the kiddos in February:

Macey got new skates for Christmas so we decided to go test them out.  We always have lots of free passes to skate at Family Fun Zone (which means we only pay $2 for skate rental).  We took Macey's skates so this date only cost $2 to rent skates for me... which was a good thing because after arriving at the skating rink, I realized that I forgot my wallet.  I had to pay for our date with change that I found in Marc's car!  We had a great time skating and enjoyed sharing a slushie.



Sadie had really been wanting to go to Sunday open gym at her gymnastics facility.  For her date, I took her and a friend to open gym.  It was a relaxing afternoon for me as I got to sit and watch (and read) for 2 hours.  Afterwards we stopped at McDonalds for an icecream treat.  


For Kinnick's date we went to happy hour at Steak & Shake for 1/2 price shakes.  I took some card games and we had fun playing cards while we enjoyed our ice cream.  We also had to order some french fries because he was "starving".  

I love spending one-on-one time with each of my kids and watching as their personalities continue to change and develop.  I love listening to their stories and spending time doing things that they love. 

Harry Potter

February 21:  True Confession--I LOVE Harry Potter!!  I loved reading each book and Marc enjoyed watching the movies with me.  I was able to share this love with my younger brother Jordan.  I have been anxiously awaiting the day when I could share these beloved books with my kiddos.  In November, Kinnick got a giftcard to Gamestop for his birthday and after going with Marc to purchase the Harry Potter Wii game for our nephew, he decided he wanted his own copy.  On our family vacation to the Dells, the kids ran across one of the Harry Potter movies on television and begged to watch it.  Of course I would not let them watch the movie without first reading the book so we decided to tackle book one as a family.  The kids were in love from the first chapter.  They were listening and comprehending (minus Carver) with fierce enthusiasm... and I was loving every minute of re-reading it.  I don't often re-read book because I have so many new books I want to read, but sharing these books with my kids has been so fun.  We finished the last 3 chapters of book one on our way home from Michigan and immediately began planning our movie night.  We were able to watch "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" the following weekend with Grandma Janet and Aunt NeeNee.  I wanted to have some fun treats, so the kids got to have "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (Jelly Bellies) and witches broomstick breadsticks.  The breadsticks were not a favorite, but Bertie Bott's Beans are a MUST for each movie night.  Even Carver requests "I want my Bertie Botts!"  
We have now completed the first 3 books and are halfway through number 4.  I may have to re-read again to Carver one day but I am loving sharing the world of Harry Potter with my big 3 kids!



Saturday, August 29, 2015

Welcome to the U-P

*Side Note*  My goal this summer has been to catch up on my blog... well, I have had one issue after another starting with our hard drive crashing, up to recently having issues with blogger not letting me add pictures to my posts.  I think I have finally resolved everything and I am ready to share lots!  Here I go with a few more Winter posts, followed by Spring, Summer, and Back-to-School.

February 13-16:  One of my dear friends has been inviting me to travel to Northern Michigan with their family for about 2 years now.  We were finally able to make it happen.  They have lake shore property in the Northwoods of Michigan.  They  originally planned to live here so they built a huge garage with an apartment above and planned to live there while they built their house.  They ended up moving to Channahon (lucky for me!) and never built their house, instead they use the "Cabin" as a vacation place.  It is in the Upper Peninsula or the "U-P".  I didn't realize what a big deal this was until we visited (and I checked a map to see exactly where we were!)  These people call themselves Yoopers and it is like a whole new culture.  We drove 8 hours north, all the way through Wisconsin until we were in Michigan again.  The U-P is mostly surrounded by great lakes--Superior on the North and Michigan on the Southeast.  If you look at the map below, it shows Iron Mountain--we drove through on our trip; and Houghton--very close to where their cabin is.  You can also see on the most norther Peninsula, Cooper Harbor--we visited here on a later trip!  Ok, enough with the geography lesson... 

We woke the kids up at 3:30AM to get on the road early.  We drove until about 10 and stopped for breakfast.  We caravaned with our friends, the Porentos.  We drove through Milwaukee and Green Bay.  Marc showed the kids Lambeau Field to which Kinnick replied, "Ewww gross, why would you show me that?!?"  As we got into the Northwoods (Upper Michigan & Minnesota) we were in awe of the beauty.  As we started to drive through the little (very little!) Michigan towns, a light snow began to fall that made everything look even more magical.  Erika had told me that there would be A LOT of snow, that it would snow most of the time we were there, that it would be COLD (like negative temps the entire time), and that we would spend all day playing in the snow.  Well, needless to say I was skeptical that all of these statements would be true--but they were!  There was a full 3-4 feet of snow everywhere (I'm talking people's front doors to their homes were half buried!).  It was absolutely the winter wonderland Erika had described and we really did play outside all day long.
Enjoying our early morning drive!
Day 1:  The kids were immediately ready to play in the snow.  They were so excited.  The guys spent quite awhile plowing out the long driveway so we could drive in to unload.  We played outside for a few hours then Scot & Erika went into town to pick up cross country skies (Erika ordered them for everyone ahead of time from a rental place so we could pick them up for our trip) and Marc and stayed with the kids and worked on heating up dinner.  We played hard and slept hard!
This is their drive way in the background.  We had to stop in the cul-de-sac and Scot and Marc had to hike in to get a fourwheeler/plow to scoop the driveway. 




Audrey & Sadie

Day 2:  Scot made a yummy breakfast and then we were back outside for more snow fun!  Saturday was Valentine's Day and the kids missed their school parties the day before so we could leave for our trip.  They were bummed to miss their parties so we planned a little V-Day fun in Michigan.  The kids exchanged Valentines and we had some yummy treats.  We spent our day outside playing (and tried out the cross-country skies on their property) and inside relaxing, playing games, and reading.  We got in and out of snow clothes several times but it was worth it.  The kids loved riding the "Kitty-Cat" snowmobile and Marc & Scot enjoyed giving rides on the real one.  We literally stayed in pajamas all day and added layers when we went outside!  It was a fabulous day.






Scottie & Macey!
Kinnick & Colee


Day 3:  Sunday was Macey's birthday!  When we woke up we sang happy birthday to this sweet girl.  Our family stayed in the guest room.  It had a queen bed and a set of bunk beds.  The girls shared a bunk, Kinnick took the other bunk and Carver slept in his pack & play.  We had breakfast and let Macey open some presents.  After that, we loaded up to go to a sledding hill/cross country ski park.  We went sledding first then tried out a ski trail.  Marc stayed back with Carver to let him take a nap in his carseat.  The kids had a much easier time skiing here because there were trails marked out.  You just put your skis in the little groves and get moving.  (The day before at the cabin, Scot made trails for us to follow--it was so fun but too hard for the kids.  I got stuck a few times!)  We ended our day with dinner out then cake for Macey.  It was another fabulous day!) 

7 kids and 4 adults for 4 days--we had a bit of craziness!






Having a snack and hot chocolate in the Chalet.




We ate at this adorable place--it was decorated with all different kinds of snowshoes and had lots of hooks by the door for people to hang up their snow gear.  We came in from our day of playing in the snow and enjoyed some awesome food!


Our birthday princess!

Audrey, Colee, and Scottie got this cute mitten set for Macey for her birthday.
Day  4:  We left in the morning to drive home so we could make it in time for Sadie's volleyball class that evening.  We finished the last 3 chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on our drive.  This was definitely a trip we won't forgot (and look forward to making again!)