Spark Doggy Dog

Baby Pool Time!!!

2012-01-26T16:01:00.010-05:00

Hey Everybody! Time to play a Leisy Miller baby pool!!! You know the rules, pick a day and a gender and email or facebook me or comment on this blog (or text me) and I'll send a prize to the person who wins!!!! Her official due date is March 5th. I'm going to guess she's having a boy on February 29th (There can be multiple guesses for the same combination of gender and day). Happy guessing (and Happy laboring Leisy!!!). Hope you like the pic Leisy! Since there's never been a photo of you with your pregnant belly (and many of us doubt it even exists), I chose this one of you with the boys! I hope Kent doesn't feel left out!

Hold on to your hats everybody!! Prepare yourselves for a baby boom of cheesy cousins!! My cousin Megan (and hubby Kevin Hinman) are also expecting a baby. They are due on March 10th, they already know they are having a boy, but send in your guesses for which day he'll make his big arrival! Congrats Megan and Kevin! (Same rules apply to this baby pool as the one for Leisy! Prizes!!)

Keep an eye out for Metta and Clair's baby pool!!! They are due July 2nd but I'm going to wait until they find out the gender to start the pool!

Baby Pool Time!!!

2012-01-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

Night at the Museum and Snow Days

2012-01-22T16:53:00.006-05:00

Here's one of the knights from the sword fight. He looked really hot (as in too warm) after the fight. I don't think that armor and chain mail was very good at wicking away the sweat! Sorry for the blurry pic. Low lighting +mediocre camera..boo.
Here's a pic of Soph right was we were getting ready to leave. This whole area was packed full of people on our way in!
There were real dolls having a tea party!
Here's a pic of the fam on the porch of a house in the historic downtown Grand Rapids exhibit!
The kids all got a chance to try to ride this bike!
We had fun riding the carousel!
Here's a pic of the planetarium. It was cool, the guy was dressed like an astronaut and had a blow up Alien as his assistant!

I would have loved to have been wearing one of these costumes!

Soph looked good dressed as a general in the Union Army.
Here's Taylor all dressed up!
Here's another knight! Below is a pic of Sophie and the snowman we made with the snow we got after Christmas. Here's proof for Hailey and Steve that we didn't steal the snow from the neighbors to make our snowman! The snow was heavy and wet and we just kept rolling the snow balls around the yard until they were big enough to stack! All the rest of the snow around the snowman melted so it looked like we'd imported snow to make our snowman by the time Hailey and Steve showed up! :>
Here are some more pix of our Christmas vacation! We went to a special Night at the Museum event at our Grand Rapids Public Museum and it was pretty awesome! We got to go in to the dimly lit (but decorated for Christmas) museum and have dinner (pizza, lasagna, bread sticks, salad and pop, later followed by chocolate chip cookies and cocoa later in the evening). We also got to attend the Christmas lazer light show at the planetarium and listen to a concert on the big organ and go through all the exhibits and watch a real sword fight (real swords spark when they fight, did you know that? The armor weighs 75 lbs alone!). They had a really neat exhibit on the Civil War and it was so cool to see all the costumes. There were pharaoh costumes too! We also got to see a real print shop from the turn of the century and watch them printing some flyers and go for a ride on the carousel.

Christmas at our house

2011-12-26T10:47:00.005-05:00

The elves made some really cool rubberband guns and a target for Craig and Taylor to play with! Pretty neat-o! It's a like a rubberband machine gun! AWESOME! They can hold up to 200 rubberbands! WHOA!
Here's our Christmas dinner. We had ham all last week so we decided to try out some of the steaks that Craig's parents gifted us for Christmas dinner this year! The twice baked potatoes were great too! It was so nice to not have a whole day of cooking to look forward to after Christmas morning! Thanks Mommo and Dad Starkey!
T-money also got some drums!
Katie had a surprise gift. My mom's gift had come at the all too cricital Bus stop time and had gotten hastily hidden in the front hall closet. Thankfully after all the other gifts were opened I remembered it! It was so fun for her to have the last gift of Christmas! It sure didn't hurt that it was a Rapunzel Barbie and a Flynn Rider and some changes of clothes for the barbie!
My mom sent a fun trunk of dress-ups to Sophie. They are really cute and fit her well! Doesn't she look great?!
Rachael and my mom sent Taylor all the Harry Potter costume stuff. He opened the wand on Christmas eve and even slept with it that night!
Here's us on Christmas morning! Pretty great haul Santa! Sophie is getting ready to put on her dress-ups, she didn't sleep naked! :>
We made cookie bars for Santa this year. He was grateful for the variety!
Instead of going out to breakfast (as we have done traditionally in my family) we went out to dinner. It was fabulous to me to have some time out of the kitchen! Katie is trying to cross her eyes.
Check out Taylor's silly face! We went to a local place called "Bagger Daves". They have great sandwiches and burgers and really great french fries! After dinner we drove around and looked at Christmas lights then headed home to make cookies for Santa and read the scriptural accounts of Christ's birth and then "The Night Before Christmas". The kids got to each open one gift then. They were so excited! It was such a nice Christmas. I really enjoyed getting to go to Church Christmas morning and sit as a family. I had a hard time wanting to go to sleep last night because it had been such a wonderful day.

Sophie's Birthday

2011-12-26T10:03:00.006-05:00

At the Craig's family's Christmas party Yaya brought a Texas sheet cake and they sang Happy Birthday to Sophie!It was a great party and so thoughtful of them to add the birthday to the round of festivities!
The kids got to see Santa at the Christmas Party! He even brought them stockings with fun toys and coloring books! Taylor hauled off after Santa when he left because he really wanted to see Santa's sleigh! He was so excited and determined! He's trying to figure it all out this year.
Here's all the kiddos from the Starkey Christmas party (actually it's the Arends Christmas party)!
We also did a Dora pinata that helped me get rid of the rest of the Halloween candy and Christmas parade candy!
After the party games we had cake and ice cream and pizza and then we opened presents!
The older kids had to use a blind fold to make it more challenging.
The little ones didn't have to use the blind fold because it was an educational experience for them.
Steve had the best idea! Pin the poo on the potty! I ran with it! It's pretty much the only time you can rationalize doing something that gross (it's a potty training celebration party) and I knew the older boys attending would think that was pretty funny too! Here's the toilet I drew and the tootsie rolls I had leftover from Halloween and the Christmas parade, wrapped in tape so they'll stick! Ingenius! What a great party game!
Sophie's 3rd birthday was December 18th and we were lucky enough to be in Chicago for Craig's family Christmas party that weekend, so we got to throw a birthday party with Sophie's cousins! It was so much fun and totally the perfect 3rd birthday bash! Thanks to Robert, Annie, Peter and Kate for coming over and thanks to Hailey and Steve for letting us have it at their house!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth

2011-12-26T09:42:00.003-05:00

Here's a pic of Katie and Sophie decorating cookies at Katie's class Christmas party at school.
Look at our cute Little Man and the cute little snowman he made has his school Christmas party!

I have wanted to get a garden gnome for quite a while but I refuse to pay more than $2 for it. This little guy I found on clearance at Meijer! Hurray!
Poor Soph was completely down and out with a fever that wouldn't quit. I finally put it together that she had roseolla when the rash broke out but had a Dr. appt already set, I'm glad I went because her double ear infection from right before Thanksgiving had come back. We had another round of antibiotics. On the bright side that was her only ear infection.
It finally fell out while he was eating some chili (and I didn't even put rocks in the chili!). He looks so cute with his two front teeth missing!

Taylor had this snaggle tooth that he wouldn't pull and wouldn't let Craig pull (Craig lives to pull teeth! Why didn't he become a dentist? I have not desire to make the kids scream or deal with their teeth-pulling issues so it works out quite well for me that he loves to pull their teeth).

Ada's Christmas Parade

2011-12-26T09:35:00.003-05:00

Katie and her Girl Scout Troop were in the Ada Village Christmas Parade earlier in December. They all looked so cute in their little Snowman ponchos and hats. They were all so excited to throw out candy to the crowd! I got to walk along with them and hold the candy bags (lucky me). It was cold and rainy but not as cold as it's been in past years! Craig, Taylor and Sophie watched from our usual spot by the Historical Society barn. After Katie and I walked in the parade we walked back along the route to meet up with Craig and the kids in the barn to make cookies and have hot cocoa. YUM! It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-02T15:24:00.006-05:00

After we got back from Chicago we set up our Christmas decorations outside (it was almost 60 degrees) and inside! It's a great time of year!

Before we headed back to MI Jack and Taylor got to do some smashing pumpkins. I love throwing food.
We went to Naperville's Christmas parade on Friday and brought along pizza to share (for the kiddos, Steve made us some amazing Thai food for the grown ups after the parade).
Here is our dessert table. whoa. WHOA!!!! So good! 8 pies and 1 cake! Beautiful cake Justin! You're a lucky woman Zhenya!
Jack and Peter also got some great prizes in the bingo game.
Craig's mullet looks so natural. Maybe he'll wear it to work! Hailey should be glad that Steve won this wig so that he doesn't really have to grow out his mane!
Steve won a great wig in the bingo game after the meal. It is such a great look for him.
Here is Justin and his wife Zhenya and Robert and Laura's baby Tyler.
Katie wrote a great play about the First Thanksgiving which was rehearsed and put on for all of us. Good work guys!
Robert knows how the THROW DOWN!!! (we all put away ALOT of really great food!).
Check it out! What a spread! Big thanks to our hosts, Robert and Laura! We had sooooo much fun! It was heavenly to spend time all together, let the kids play and also split up the Thanksgiving menu!
Ahhh....here's a great Thanksgiving, I get to play with Baby Tyler and Robert and Justin fuss with the 20lb bird and making gravy!
Here is the little kids table! They mostly wandered around and scavenged food from the adults plates.

We took a hike on a "mountain" that was once a landfill. It was chilly but so fun to get out and play before stuffing ourselves beyond belief.
We went to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with Hailey, Steve, Robert, Laura, Justin and (forgive me I know I'll spell your name wrong) Zhenya. We had such a great time. Here are some (alot) of pictures from our trip.

Crazy Hair day and Halloween day/night

2011-11-06T15:20:00.003-05:00

Here are the crafts for our November craft night at church. I'm in charge of the ribbon and bead necklaces (of course, jewelry can inspire me to be crafty). Then we have the soup jars, the magnets with the glass tiles and craft paper, the photo frame with craft paper and most spiritual, the family pic mat to go with the Proclamation on the Family.
Here's the kids' haul from their hour and 1/2 trick or treating on Halloween night. Our neighbor hood is amazing to trick or treat! We were blessed with a brisk but not freezing night too!
Here's the kiddos just getting ready to head out for Trick or treats. Taylor and Soph both found something to cry about while getting ready. It was a rough start but everybody came around and had fun!
I signed up to help with the Halloween party in Katie's classroom. I chose to be in charge of the food, of course! Decorating cake donuts. They were GOOD! Thanks Forest Hills Foods!
Here's Katie in the Halloween Parade at school. The snake is just a toy she is in love with right now. Go figure. The Super Girl costume was a find I couldn't pass up at a recent consignment sale for MOPS. Not too shabby for $5!
Here's Taylor in his classroom party with his good friend Annie!(yes, Yoda).
Here's Sophie in her toddler bed(the crib converts). Sadly, she kept falling out of bed (like 3x's a night) so we put the side back on. Funny girl! Today at lunch while I was talking about how she looks like a sweet angel that fell straight out of heaven she announced to all of us "I tooted. That's gross!". I appearances can be deceiving!
This is my favorite picture of the kids maybe EVER! It was Crazy Hair Day a couple weeks ago and this is the kids with their "crazy hair". I like that Sophie has a stuffed dog down her shirt. She wore it that way all the way to the gym!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-27T08:58:00.007-04:00

Craig and Taylor joined forces on this pumpkin! So spooky! (Craig got a pumpkin for himself to carve but Katie had picked a rotten pumpkin so we ended up sharing, works for me! Just one fewer pumpkin that i have to hollow out!).
Here's Katie's pumpkin! She did it ALL by herself! Looks great Peanut!
Here's the back of my pumpkin, "SAD". When I saw this pumpkin in the field I couldn't turn it down! What great eyes! But they wouldn't show in the dark and I didn't want to cut them out so I had to do 2 faces!
Here's the front of my pumpkin, HAPPY!
Soph wanted a "princess pumpkin", of course. This is as good as I could manage. I like the eyelashes and lips!
They look pretty great all lit up!
Pretty great, huh? Why am I so crazy?
I finished sewing Craig's costume at 9:30 on Monday night and we decided to wake Katie up to show her the great results! Think she was scared?
Katie was taking the pix for us! Those are REALLY small face holes! Must be for little kids! Hee hee!
I know Katie isn't wearing a coat, but it was pretty chilly! Soph was freezing! The wind was pretty chilly too! Probably in the 40's.
Pretty night to be at the Pumpkin Patch! I think pumpkin patch/fall pix are my favorite out of the whole year!
This little pumpkin patch is just about 5 minutes from our house and it's got great apples and pumpkins and is cheap! They were doing great business on Monday night. I thought the sign was really funny! "pumpki", ha! That's funny!
Here's some pix with Taylor and the mummy at the museum!
More mummy pix! He looks good, doesn't he?

Last Saturday we went downtown to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. We got a family pass there this year and it's a really cool place to go. They even have a carousel and a planetarium! The planetarium was doing a "Spooky Tunes" laser light show. It was fun for Taylor Katie and I but Soph lost it at the first song! Too loud, too dark and too scary!

Monday night for Family night we went to the pumpkin patch and got our pumpkins, apples and the kiddos got donuts. Craig and I split a caramel apple, YUM!

We had the big Trunk or Treat ward party on Tuesday and Craig was mostly in charge of organizing it. I made him a fabulous mummy costume (much to his dismay). He looked great in it and Taylor was King Tut and I was Cleopatra. The girls didn't want to play along with our ancient Egyptian theme so Katie was a 50's girl with a poodle skirt and Soph was Alice the fairy (check the book by David Shannon, she really is Alice! I knew I liked that name!).

On Wednesday we carved our pumpkins! I just love the Fall. Every single second with the leaves so colorful and the air so brisk makes me want to make time stop so I can enjoy it longer.

I'm always up for a party!

2011-10-17T11:39:00.007-04:00

See how much we were able to get out of General Conference with 5 kids in the house??
PARTY!!!
Thanks for a great weekend everybody! (like the party hat Craig got for me?)
Mom and Amy at the Grand Hotel.
Lunch at the fort!
The children's area at the fort was as fun as last time!
Doesn't Soph make a great soldier with her "hah" in her mouth! OOOooooo SCARY Soldier! Don't SHOOT!
It's the whole fam! Why is Soph dressed like a boy?
This pic is out of order. It's from the Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City where we ate on Friday evening. It wasn't great food and the service was painfully slow but it helped the the kids could write all over the table, benches and walls! (kinda gross actually).
Here we are on the island in downtown Mackinac. I had forgotten how it smells like horse poo.
Taylor is a man after my own heart, he wanted to sit on top of the boat! ME TOO! Man, it sure was cold! They say it's a 16 minute ride but I really think it had to have been atleast 30 mins. My face is still recovering, but I loved it!
AHHHH!!! Don't feed the bear Peanut!
ATTACK BEAR!! AHHH!!
Cute little friends! I'm surprised we didn't meet up with this group when we were on Coeur d'Alene lake this summer canoeing.
Look Soph! Bambie's Dad! (all you hunters are laughing at me now I bet).
Who doesn't want a pic with a stuffed animal (or lots of them).
These are the reverence children.
Bear attack!!! We saw lots of crazy stuff at the Legs Inn in Cross Village! The food was authentic polish and I thought it was fine, but Craig and mom were not fans. It was bitter cold and we were NOT tempted to eat out on the patio, at all!

For my birthday this year we went back up to Northern Michigan. I had intended this trip to be about Fall color but they hadn't really started going in earnest yet. Thankfully my mom decided to come out for the trip and we made a quick trip over to Mackinac Island in honor of her coming! We left Friday morning and drove North hoping that the wind and rain and cold would blow over before we got to Mackinac but it did not so we stopped off in Cross village and did a scenic drive along Lake Michigan and got some old fashioned pix taken during the cold weather and post-poned our trip over to the island until Saturday when it was cold, but atleast sunny.

It was so fun to see the island in the fall. We took the carriage tour and they had blankets for us to put on our laps. By afternoon when we had reached the fort it was sunny and mid-50's and felt much better. We got lunch at the fort overlooking the harbor and warmed up in the sun. Then we walked around through town, got some ice cream with mackinac fudge in it and walked past the Grand Hotel and caught the ferry back to Mackinaw City and drove back down to Grand Rapids.

Hailey, Steve and the boys had come up for my birthday and for mom's visit so we were able to enjoy conference Sunday together. Hailey and Steve made some awesome chinese food for me (yum!) and it was fantastic to be all together!

Craig's Birthday Bash (Still playing catch up- It was labor day weekend)

2011-10-17T11:13:00.005-04:00

Craig, Amy (that sweatshirt isn't doing me any favors, is it?), Mommo and Dad Starkey. Thanks for the help with the party planning Mommo!
Before we headed home on Sunday we took the kiddos to the park in Grandma's neighborhood to run hard before the trek home.
Hailey and Steve were able to come for the festivities!
Thanks to Grandma Arends for letting us crash her house for the birthday bash!
We had bbq ribs and cheddar brats! YUM!!!
It was actually really hot on Saturday and we took a historical tour of downtown Chicago on kayaks. It was cool to be kayaking through the city.

This year for Craig's birthday we went out to Chicago to take a kayaking tour and celebrate another year with Craig with his parents, Grandma, Aunt and cousins and my sister and cousin! It was fun to see everybody before school set back in.

Our trip to the U.P. (this is from August but worth the wait!)

2011-09-25T16:34:00.007-04:00

The view from the top of Sleeping Bear. You can see Craig and Sophie (he's in the green shirt). She cried the whole way up. She wouldn't stay in the backpack and was useless trying to climb, but she still remembers it!!!
This is taken at the bottom. It was so gorgeous and I shoulda worn my swimsuit. The water was the perfect temperature. Next time we do this, I'm gonna have Craig kayak from the beach in Empire so we don't have to climb with the kids back up!
We made it to the bottom! What a climb! Can you believe the color of the water? I have yet to be at Sleeping Bear when it was spectacularly beautiful!
Halfway down!
Looking for Petosky stones (fossilized coral deposited here by the glaciers).
Sophie is smart enough to run from the bears!
Check this out! Now THAT'S an opportunity of a lifetime!! I told Craig we could NOT pass it up!
I think that this'll be our Christmas card pic this year.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was gorgeous by boat (wish we'd be kayaking).
This is looking out of a little bay we pulled into.
Okay, it's not Lake Powell, but it sure is beautiful!
You can see the Indian head profile on the end of this outcropping.
This is Tahquamennon Falls. It's pretty, but WHY do they bother comparing it to Niagara? Obviously not nearly as spectacular!
It was nice of Soph to point this out right before she chucked her paci over the guard rail (I did climb down and get it much to the dismay of Craig and all bystanders, but look, I'm still here today and we didn't have to listen to all the crying so it's all good).

The second week in August we went on a grand explore of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was alot of time driving, but we saw some amazing sights and really enjoyed the trip. We started by driving all the way up to Tahquamenon Falls near Paradise, MI. It was a nice stop short walk to the falls and a pretty view. Next we headed on to Marquette. It was really fantastic to drive along Lake Superior between Munising and Marquette. We had a free night at a hotel in Marquette thanks to Craig's travel points from this year. The next morning we drove back to Munising and caught the tour boat that took us along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (these rock formations were carved out by the glaciers that created the great lakes. I think that the glacier must have deposited all the sediment carved out along the lake shore of lake Michigan and that's how we got the dunes!).

It was a nice trip for most of us. Katie got seasick about half way through but it wasn't anything that a little dramamine and Sprite couldn't cure (I haven't traveled anywhere with Katie without the aid of dramamine for about 8 yrs). Anyhow, it was a great day to be on the water. Really calm waters and warm too. We didn't even need a long sleeve shirt on the boat.

After the tour we got lunch and then headed to Oswald's Bear Ranch (with a name like Oswald's I figured we couldn't go wrong!). It did not disappoint! I think we scored the best family Christmas picture ever! Do you think people we assume we adopted a baby bear cub??

After our visit to the Bear Ranch we high tailed it back down to the mitten to meet up with Hailey and Steve who had spent the day on Mackinac Island. We rented a cabin with them for the next two nights while we explored Charlevoix and Petoskey. It was fun to hunt down Petoskey stones (fossilized coral deposited in that area by the glaciers that created the great lakes) and check out the beaches and lighthouses and quaint downtown shops. After leaving the cabin we headed for Sleeping Bear Dunes to make the climb. We got a gorgeous day. It was advantageous that it started out with rain because it kept down the crowds as well as compacted the sand making our climb back up the 450 ft to the top easier. After getting completely filthy at the dune we drove the 2 1/2 hrs back to our house to clean up and get ready for church on Sunday. I'd rate this trips one of my all time favorites so far!!

Flashback!!

2011-07-31T15:42:00.007-04:00

We made s'mores on the deck for Family Home Evening treats!! Great pic of summer Peanut!
Check out these cute cousins! Taylor was in heaven having "brothers". He kept asking Jack if he wanted to be his brother! I don't think Jack felt like he needed more brothers!
We had fun playing at the beach!
Here's a pick of Sleeping Bear Dunes from the beach in Empire. Pretty huge and vertical!
I probably posted a bunch of pix like these last year when we went, but it never gets old! It's such an amazing place!

WOW! So steep! I better start doing lunges now!!

We contemplated doing the dune climb (but we're putting it off until next month when Steve is with us. It'll be a better parent/child ratio then).
We had a picnic lunch at the beach in Traverse City before heading out to Sleeping Bear Dunes.
This is probably the longest parade in the country! We stayed for probably 45 min and it wasn't even a 1/3 of the way through!
We finally made it to the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City! (I'll be going back next year!).
We fed all 5 missionaries at the same time!! Yay for Cafe Rio dinner!
Hailey is a good one rally the troops for cheering (cheering gets more candy thrown!).
We rode bikes to the 4th of July parade! (wearing our firework t's that we made at the family reunion).
Hailey came and we did fireworks in the street (to mixed reviews, Griff did NOT love it!).
We rode our bikes to Scooper's (thanks Leavitt's!) for family home evening treats.
We took a picnic lunch to Fallasburg park and played in the water!
I nearly but my fingertip off (this is a week later and it's healing up quite nicely).
We went to the Farmer's Market and bought cherries and ate them off our fingers!!

A week in the life....

2011-07-31T15:12:00.002-04:00

Now Taylor has Katie's fever. Oh joy, another 5 days...atleast we know what to expect.
Soph was all wiped out yesterday after I took her and Katie to the pool. Even the girls were going stir crazy!

This last week we have stuck close to home. Katie had a fever she picked up on our trip down to Cincinnati. I finally took her into the Dr's on Tuesday afternoon only to learn what I was pretty sure I already knew. She did not have strep throat, only a virus. So frustrating, but she'd been running a fever for 5 days!! Don't get me wrong, I'm all about keeping everybody healthy, but our insurance plan has us pay sick visits out of pocket and while we're still playing for Taylor's visit to the ER (which resulted in no meds given, or stitches or staples and yet we have $1100 to pay for the 5 hrs we WAITED TO SEE A PHYSICIAN!!). Anyhow, I could had done with out the hour and a half wait with 3 kids to spend 3 min with a dr to tell me nothing, not to mention the impending bills.

Anyhow, I did haul them out to a park on Tuesday because the weather was so nice (meaning sunny but not humid). Then on Wednesday it was almost cool in the morning so I jumped on the opportunity to fulfill one of my summer goals, a trip to the berry farm to pick raspberries. Imagine how elated I was when we arrived at the farm and it wasn't too hot or too sunny and it was the very last day for picking!!! Katie and Taylor each picked almost 2 pts and I picked 7pts. Sophie just wandered around and played with her mermaid barbie, but it was AWESOME to get out and do something great with my kiddos!!

We spent that night making 9 batches of raspberry freezer jam. Sadly, I couldn't find the pectin I used last year so we ended up with sweeter jam than last year, but it's still good. I miss how fresh raspberry-y it was last year though. I'll have to do some research this year so next year I can remedy that problem.

Taylor did end up with Katie's fever by Thursday night. He has been down all weekend. He's finally beginning to recover now and it's Sunday afternoon. Hopefully we'll be all done with it now (yeah right! you know Sophie is next!).

I took the cutest video of the kids helping me make jam and now it won't upload, any ideas?

That which does not kill us will only make us stronger

2011-07-25T09:37:00.003-04:00

Sophie was so wiped out yesterday after getting home we found her up in her room like this! HAHAHHA!!

Here's Taylor's pencil dive at the hotel pool. We spent a couple hours there each day.

Ice cream was the only reasonable choice for lunch on a day that hot. Down below you can see Katie and Sophie in front of the frog and Taylor is in the navy blue swim shirt under the green mushroom.

This past week we accompanied Craig down to Cincinnati. He had to go down for a week of work stuff (the headquareters of his division is located in Evendale, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati). It was hotter than all get-out this week (pretty much everywhere or I would have gone somewhere else). The kids love to stay at hotels so we decided to go altogether. It fell to me to try to occupy the kids during the day and also be on call to drive Craig to and from his work obligations. Understandbly, I was less excited about the prospect of the trip than the rest of the family (also I'm in charge of packing and unpacking).

Anyhow, I did some online research and found some things for us to do that would allow us to stay relatively cool (the kids would have been happy staying in the hotel the entire week) and also not lose our minds completely.

On Monday we went to the Cincinnati Museum Center. It is pretty impressive. I forgot to bring the camera so we don't have any pix, but it's housed in an amazing art deco train depo. We paid for our tix to the children's musuem and spent a wonderfully cool 2 hours playing there, then we had a snack and visited the Cincinnati History Museum (it was free with our pass to the Grand Rapids Public Museum). We spent an hour playing there and loved the gigantic train display of Cincinnati in the early 20th century. Also they had a riverboat we could get on and a flatboat to explore and tear apart and turn into a house and even an accordian player. It was certainly worth a visit!

On Wednesday we visited Winton Woods park. This is huge park with walking trails and hiking trails and a harbor where you can rent boats. Thankfully, we were there for the splash park. Unfortunately, we showed up at 10:15am and the splash park didn't open until 11am. We almost had heat exhaustion by the time we hit the water park, but it was fun and only $5 for all three kids to play as long as they wanted. After playing for a bit we took a break and had ice cream for lunch.

Thursday we had to stick close to where Craig was working because he needed to go to another location mid-day. We explored the play area of a nearby mall. After Craig finished that day we went up to Dayton and he dropped us off at Leisy and Kent's house. We got to spend the night there and go to the YMCA on Friday morning together and make a fun care package for cousin Tanner, all before Craig came back on Friday around 3pm.

After our visit with the Millers we trekked up to Ashland and got to spend Friday and Saturday nights visiting with Craig's parents and brothers. It was so fun to get the cousins together, (eat lots of Yaya's great food, especially the ice cream) and visit with the Webbs.

We are all happy to be home and I'm excited to start hanging things on the walls again (inspired by the gorgeous house that Donna Starkey has redone for her daughter).

But wait, there's more!

2011-07-17T18:01:00.005-04:00

We followed Derek and Rachael's tradition of taking pictures on the walk before leaving for home!

What a cute group in the back of Grandpa's truck!! Too bad Hailey's kiddos had to leave early!

Who knew my nephew Jack lived there??!!!

We had great fun walking downtown Coeur d'Alene!

Had to take the kids to feed the goat in downtown Spokane!

Sophie loved the carousel almost as much as I do!

There's no place like home!

2011-07-04T15:24:00.008-04:00

The morning that Derek and Rachael had to leave we had a special girls (grown-up girls) trip to Rockwood Bakery. You can walk there from my parents house, everything they make is amazing and it's a fun atmosphere to stay and eat there or you can go over to Manito Park to eat it if the weather is nice. I miss this place when we're not in Spokane!

We did shrinky dinks for probably over 4 hrs on Sunday afternoon! Very addictive to watch them shrink! I hope mom has finished her Pirate charm bracelet by now!

We did goop (cornstarch and water) for the kids in the backyard after playing at the park (this is to keep them busy while I made dinner. I think we fed them every meal on the back patio. Thank goodness the weather was nice!

We took them to Upper Manito to play on the playset and in the splash park on Saturday evening. It wasn't warm enough for me to feel like putting a swim suit, but they didn't seem to mind! (brrrr....with a breeze too!).

Brave kiddos!

After we left the cabin on Saturday morning (well, it was 11am by the time we got all packed up and cleaned up) I was able to talk almost everybody into a trip to Paul Bunyan's for a Huckleberry milkshake. Even better than I had remembered!!

Here's what we did at the cabin! Such a perfect family vacation! Hang out, let the kids play, let the daddies play ping pong, throw rocks in the lake, go canoeing. So fun!

I was the only one who did the Stars and Stripes manicure! I think Carver is starting to realize just how crazy his Auntie Amy really is!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!

This rails to trails ride that we took was awesome. Made me long to live out West again! No humidity, not tons of bugs. That sweet smell of sap in the warm pine trees. Ahhhhh.... there's no place like home! I guess you just can't take the Idaho out of a girl no matter how many years I spend away!

Such a great ride! I'd love to go again and go on further! Dad says a couple miles farther there's a little deli to get lunch! That's a great day trip!

Ahoy thar Matey's! We didn't take the boat cruise this time, but we did almost go aboard the ship in true pirate fashion! (without being invited).

It was awesome to walk the boardwalk around the Coeur d'Alene resort again. One of my favorite spots in the area!

Grandma came to get ups from the airport!! So exciting to finally be there!

So thrilling to finally be leaving on our trip (we'd been planning it for probably a year or more. Many breakfast discussions revolved around our trip to WA to visit Grandma and Grandpa and go to the cabin!).

We also go to travel with Auntie Hailey and Jack! PARTY!!

We took a week long trip out to Spokane WA to visit my parents and have a family reunion last week. It was really fun to be all together and go hiking, biking, canoeing and stay in a cabin on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Identity Rehab

2011-06-04T16:13:00.005-04:00

We really helped mom pick out some new glasses, but don't you think that these look great on Hailey? (now whydidn't I get a pick of Mom's new glasses?).

Here are some new glasses for Mom (but they weren't the ones we picked! They might help her have a more rosy outlook on life though!).

The "Wicked Women's Wicked Shoes". Funny, nobody wore red and sparkly....

Man, we clean up nice!

Our seats!

Our sweet ride! yeah, it was a school bus. Funny, on the brochure, mom said it was a limo. I think that's false advertising! Good thing we had too much fun to care!

Getting pretty! (I just look like I'm getting goofier, but Rachael always looks pretty!).

I've yet to meet a PFChang I couldn't like. The crispy green beans were amazing! It's for nights like this one that we can't wait another 4 yrs to do something like this!

I loved our trip to the temple together! Trips like this one make me realize what I'm missing by living so far away for sooooo long!

It's a miracle! Hailey and I both found formals at Nordi's that worked with everything except our budget and lifestyle! (certainly worth a pic though!).My daily breakfast choices pale in comparison to the spread we enjoyed at Rockwood Bakery! (especially the quiche).

Last week I went to what I'm referring to as "Identity Rehab". It's a great spa-like experience that my mom hosted at her house. It was wonderful to be reintroduced to being a person instead of a parent! It was so amazing that last time we all got together like this it was in Paris, France but this time even though we were in Spokane, WA it was still one of the most amazing weeks!!

I drove to Hailey's house Tuesday night (before Memorial Day), then we flew out together from Chicago to Spokane. It was really fun traveling together. We arrived at 1pm and mom came and got us in Dad's truck! We were momentarily so confused but then remembered that Dad had gone out of town and took mom's car to save on gas. Wow was it fun to be together and be free to do whatever we wanted! The novelty of not being tied to any schedules (naps or meals) never wore off! We went by the house and marveled at all of Mom and Dad's hard work. Sadly, I've been gone so long I hardly remember most of the changes they've made and then they're ready to do it over again! That night we went to dinner at Ferrantes and had an amazing Italian feast. It was so fun each meal to order what looked best and pass it all around so we could taste many different items on the menu! The triple chocolate and pistachio gelato was a fabulous way to end that meal. Thankfully Hailey and I went for a walk (we tried to run part of it but were just too painfully full!)to Manito Park that night while Mom had some meetings to attend to.

The next morning we got up and went to breakfast at Rockwood Bakery (see pic above). Then we went shopping and found Mom's top for "Wicked" and her amazing "Wicked" shoes that she should probably sleep in they are so great. Then Rachael called to let us know she had arrived (she drove in from Seattle) so we raced home to see her. Then we all went downtown to help mom return some stuff to Nordstrom and to flaunt our freedom from reasonable parent activities. This is when Hailey and I found those great formals!

On Friday we cleared out the living room of couches and furniture and had our own Zumba class taught by Hailey. It was really fun! After getting sweaty we all took showers and raced off to the temple. I am spoiled now! What an amazing experience to be there all together. Hailey and I realized that I don't think we've ever gone through the temple together! How sad when you realize she's been married for 7 1/2 yrs! After the temple we went to the distribution center and then headed home to grab our stuff for "Wicked". Mom had gotten early tickets by buying them through the Red Lion. So we got to stay in a room there and have a shuttle (our "sweet ride" was a school bus)to and from the show. After grabbing our overnight bags we went to our dinner reservations at PF Chang's. The highlights were the Crispy Green Beans (appetizer), Chang's spicy Chicken and the Beef a la szechuan. We took a Great Wall of Chocolate to go! (we shared that on the bed in the hotel in our jammies after the show, why didn't I get a pic of THAT?? I guess I was too busy enjoying all it's chocolatey goodness and the awesomeness of the present company!).

After dinner we raced back to the hotel and prettied ourselves up then caught our cheese wagon to the opera house. We got there just in time and the show was spectacular! At first our Glinda was doing a funky thing with her voice (think like the Glinda on "Wizard of OZ"), but thankfully, her shrilly voice was reserved for when she was in the bubble and the rest of the show was breathtaking! After the show was over we caught our pumpkin ride back to the hotel where we got hot chocolates and put on our jammies and ate chocolate cake in bed and didn't even remember there was a TV in the room.

Saturday morning after realizing the hoops one had to leap through to get the "free breakfast" at Red Lion we bailed and went to the "Rocket Bakery" for breakfast. Sadly, there quiche was nowhere near as good as the one at Rockwood Bakery, but mom's sandwich was spectacular. Then we shopped a bit downtown and then got to go visit a friend and tour her fabulous Italian villa.

Next we got french fries and milkshakes (yeah, for lunch, 'cause you can do that if you don't have to set a good example and be reasonable for your children) and we were going to go running, but decided that we'd rather shop some more, so we did! HA! But after we went shopping, we did go running (well, Hailey and Rachael did, but Mom and I walked. Man, I forgot what it was like to have hills). And then we went and got more amazing food at Ferrantes and gelato. I got the dark chocolate and the peanut butter/chocolate. It was like the most decadent Reese's Peanut butter cup or Buckeye that you've ever eaten. Cravable.

After we got home we watched "Sara's House" for a bit and talked a lot. So sad, we had to get packed to leave the next day after church. It always goes too fast. Luckily, Hailey and I got to travel together. It's gonna be really painful when she leaves Chicago next July. I'm already bracing myself.

It was nice Sunday morning to have time to have breakfast together. Church didn't start until 11am. Directly after Sacrament meeting we came home, changed our clothes, grabbed our bags and raced off to the airport. The trip home took Hailey and I through the Sea-Tac airport. Too bad Rachael didn't fly also! Hailey and I got into Chicago at midnight on Sunday night. Steve (and the boys too) was a saint and picked us up. The next day I got up and drove back up to MI. I tried to talk Craig into blowing off the ward picnic (it was sweltering+humid)and meet me at the beach, but he had to be there. Luckly, after I got home and Sophie had her nap we all went to the pool! It was the only decent thing to do on a day that hot and humid!

Craig had to get up and leave for a business trip the next morning but I was all rehabbed and ready to become Mommy again! What a great trip!

Katie's Birthday

2011-05-19T08:51:00.004-04:00

It was a great visit! Sorry the weather was so wet, gray and rainy!

Thanks for coming up to visit us Grandma and Aunt Midge!

Great pic on the dress Yaya! It's so cute on her!

This is the pic after they finished bedazzling everything! (it was fun, but I can't even fathom doing a sleepover EVER!!!).

What a fun group of party girls, huh? They were so funny! What a change from the 6yr old boy party last month!

Sophie got her 1st hair cut last Thursday also! They just evened it up some! Such a little monkey! Good thing she's cute, because she's getting molars right now and always wants to be held, super whiny girl.

Check out the sweet owl cake I made out of cupcakes for Katie's party, the owlet wasn't as cute as I'd hoped so I only made one!

Check it out! My ring looked just like Princess Di's after decorating the cupcakes! Hahaha! I'd much rather have a diamond than a saffire though, so I washed it off!

Good job on the pet bunny for Julie the American Doll Mom! She loves it! You really are a fairy Godmother!(but not the Granny one on Disney's Cinderella)!

Katie loves these little lemon cakes that they sell at costco. It saved me from having to make her a birthday cake 2 days in a row, so I was a fan also!

The Thornapple! It magically shows up in your yard for 24hrs and then you send it off to somebody else. Pretty cute school fundraiser. Much better than selling whatever door to door (especially when the whole neighborhood goes to our elementary school).

Katie's birthday was a week ago. I really can't believe that she's 9! It seems like we JUST had her baptism! She woke up to 9 little lavender pancakes with a candle (we aren't gonna be able to carry that tradition much longer!). Then we had our family party that night she wanted waffels and bacon for dinner and lemon cakes for her cake. It was fun we got the Thornapple on her birthday, it's a school fundraiser where the apple comes and you have to pay to have it leave or you can pay to send it to somebody in particular (fun, huh? I only wish I knew exactly what we were raising the money for so I didn't feel so robbed).

We had a rockstar birthday party for Katie on Friday from 6-8pm. It was so fun to have her little friends come over and bedazzle play microphones, flip-flops and sunglasses, then we had Dance Party USA in the basement and also watched party of "Tangled".

About 10 minutes after the birthday party, Yaya and Papa came into town for a weekend visit. It was so fun to get to see them! Saturday morning Grandma Arends and Aunt Midge came for a visit also. We grilled some hamburgers and brats and had potato salad and watermelon, also lime chips and salsa. YUM! Too bad we were all out of nice weather by then!

Ahhhhhh.... Spring!(FIN-FREAKIN'-LY!)

2011-05-09T21:13:00.003-04:00

After our lunch on Sunday we went over to Roselle Park and walked to the river and threw our old Easter eggs in (the hard boiled ones). I can't eat that much egg salad, and I REALLY love throwing food!! I love to watch the eggs explode against the trees. Also I have a friend who is and environmental Biologist and she said the birds eat the egg shells right now to replenish whatever it takes to make egg shell (protein, calcium??)since it's nesting season. It was so fun. We were all sad when the eggs had all been thrown in the river. Don't worry, we didn't leave a mess, we made sure that the park didn't look like it'd been egged (even though it had!).

Here's what our garden looked like yesterday. I planted 12 daylillies in amongst the tulips today. I'm so thrilled the tulips are blooming. The rabbits kept eating them so I was afraid I wouldn't get any this year!!

She didn't complain of the cold, but the wind was brutal!

Cool red lighthouse, huh? (I don't know what Taylor is doing, maybe swimming in the sand since I wouldn't let him swim in the water?).

Brrrrr....that's ICE WATER!

We found a patch of tulips, but this other family had the same idea. (Taylor is so cooperative right now.)

These are the High schoolers.

These are the Kinder Dancers. Taylor says they're in Kindergarten, but they're not, they're in probably 4th or 5th grade.

We had the most wonderful Mother's day weekend! The weather has finally gotten nice and I'm so thrilled! I feel like I have a whole new lease on life! On Saturday we went to a baptism at the church and then had a picnic lunch in the car and then headed to the Annual Tulip Festival in Holland. It was fun to get out and enjoy the sunshine and the tulips (it'll be better this weekend, it's been too cold so there weren't a ton open yet). We got to walk around the square in Holland and watch the dancers and eat Kettle corn and look at the art and funny things that people come up with to make and sell. Then we went to the beach. We checked out Holland State Park. A year ago was our first trip to the shore of Lake Michigan (well, this side of it, we had been in Chicago years ago). It was cold that weekend too. We had enjoyed great sunshine this year, but once we got to the beach it clouded over and the wind was frigid. Even Katie said she was cold! Craig forgot to bring a coat! We didn't hang out too long. I knew it would be early, but I'm READY for some sunshine and some great trips to the beach. It's amazing here in MI. Probably my favorite thing about living up here is the beaches along Lake Michigan.

After we left the beach we went and got pizza and stopped by the grocery store to pick up some steaks to BBQ on Mother's day. YUM! We had the best lunch on Mother's day. Steak, brussel Sprouts, sweet potato fries, and chocolate cream pie. Really fabulous! (I also got waffels with strawberries and cool whip for breakfast!).

Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary!!!

2011-04-25T17:21:00.002-04:00

You should search for the pix of this lighthouse on the website for Ludington, they are pretty spectacular!

This is one the way back I think! The wind and rain was a lot worse on the way back. Craig is such a good sport!

It was fun to hike out there. There was a warning sign on the lighthouse that said something about an "unexpected intense sound could happen unexpectedly". I was a little concerned the fog horn would sound and it would startle me off the platform into the lake 20' below!!! I didn't need to hang out out there or check out the little padlocked door!

Getting closer! (it's 1/2 mi. out into the lake).

Last weekend Craig and I got to run away to Ludington, MI (about an hour and 20 min North of us on Lake Michigan). I had booked a B&B through Groupon. It was so fun to get away, wonderfully quiet. The weather, as you can tell was really windy, stormy and cold, but it was fun to be all snug in the B&B with a fireplace and huge whirlpool tub (I really miss the one we had in our South Carolina master bath!). We left on Friday around 4pm and actually stopped at a place in the village for dinner. Then we drove up to Ludington and check into the B&B. After checking out the place and our room we went to a little ice cream shop. I was hoping for pie. They did have Cherry cobbler (Michigan is known for cherries) but when I ordered it they were all out. I was so disappointed. I got the apple crisp. It really didn't hit the spot.

It was fun to check out a new beach to visit this summer. There is a state park nearby and some other lighthouses I want to hike to and climb (nothing is open in Northern MI until May, just so you know!). I made Craig walk out to the lighthouse near the beach, but I didn't make him go the day we drove it, this is the next day when the weather was much milder (seriously).

The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast at the Inn and I was hoping to do a little shopping, but nothing looked interesting in their downtown, so after getting wet walking out to the lighthouse, we drove to Pentwater (I had been told they had a charming little downtown with cute shops). Most of it was closed as well, so we pushed on to Grand Haven. We had only visited the State park there. It was fun to scope out the downtown and the beach they have there. We enjoyed a really excellent lunch at the Rosebud and then stopped in a nearby candy shop to get some goodies for the kiddos.

We were so relieved to get home and get a glowing report from the sitter (nobody was sick! It was a miracle!). I wish we could do this atleast quarterly!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T16:57:00.005-04:00

Here's a pic of "kid table" for Easter dinner. We actually did it on Saturday because Hailey and Steve had to get back to Chicago to teach their primary classes on Sunday. It was fabulous to have the help with rolls and everything!

Here's our Easter egg hunt. We did it at Ada Park (a park not far from our house). It was a great venue for the hunt. A cute little bridge and benches and trees and bushes to hide the eggs in. Even the first blooming daffodils I'd seen this season! We were so happy that Leisy and Kent drove up just in time to join us!

Our lamb cake this year! We actually didn't decorate it! I should make another one and let them decorate it, I made this one with the Absolutely Almond pound cake from Tastefully Simple (thanks Mommo) and wanted it with strawberries instead of frosting!

Here are the eggs we decorated. Sadly, Craig was in Washington D.C. Monday night so he missed our FHE decorating eggs.

Here's the beautiful spring morning we enjoyed a week ago!

Lovely Michigan and it's almost May.

Check out these great pix that Leisy took for us on Easter Sunday after chuch! We were lucky the 4" of snow we had gotten the previous Monday had melted and that Leisy was visiting with her awesome camera.

April Fools

2011-04-03T15:09:00.004-04:00

Sophie found this sz 6 month snowsuit I had failed to sale at the recent consignment sale and decided to wear it today. Pretty fitting if you check out the pic below of the beautiful weather we're having this Spring.

Nice.

C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!

Katie was breaking apart her samoas and when I went over to see what she was doing she had made this face!! Funny girl!!

I went out to run errands in between sessions on Saturday and when I got back this is what I saw! Everybody was sitting in our 1 chair watching conference together!! HAHAHA! I'm glad I wasn't on the bottom!

The playset looks so much better since the kids and I spread the new mulch (it had gotten really muddy).

Here's the huge pile of mulch we had delivered on Thursday morning (check out my new "Swagger Wagon" too!!! We are actually going to call it "The Starkey Shark").

Last Thursday marked the beginning of our Spring Break. It was been a little anticlimatic so far, but we have lots to look forward to (a trip to Chicago starting next week). So far we got to spread lots of mulch on Thursday (it's so nice to have it done), and then we ate Girl Scout cookies on Friday and since it was April Fools Day I came up with a fabulous prank! I told everybody that I had ordered pizza and then I got hamburgers and french fries and shoved them into the leftover pizza boxes from Taylor's birthday party. When everybody was gathered around the table, Katie asked "What kind of pizza did you order?" and I said "Let's look and see!". Then when we opened the boxes there were hamburgers and I yelled "APRIL FOOLS!!!!" . I loved it! So did the kids. What a great surprise and it didn't mess anything up or hurt anybody's feelings! Anyhow, we have been stuck in the house with little sniffles (me and Taylor) and fevers (Sophie)all week and so it was fun to try to liven it up around here!

Yesterday we mostly stuck around and watched conference and today too. Check out the awesome weather. It even snowed today. All of the long time Michigan residents have fled for Flordia to get a dose of warm weather. I object to living here because I refuse to choose between budgeting for a Spring Break trip or seeing my family in WA once a year.

It's that time of year again

2011-03-31T19:59:00.002-04:00

This is a pic of the largest moth on the planet!! whoa! wouldn't want that hanging out on my front porch lamp!

Taylor is checking out the caterpillars that turn into Monarch butterflies.

Last year we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens on the first day of spring to see the butterflies that they hatch in their huge conservatory/greenhouse. This year I couldn't wait until the first day of Spring. We have gone twice already (we're members so it's "free")and I plan to go again, maybe even tomorrow! It's amazing to see them all flying around and feel the fabulous warmth of the greenhouse.

Taylor's Bday

2011-03-28T14:03:00.005-04:00

Taylor is all ready for his Space birthday party !

All his friends had a great time at the party! We are so glad that it was fun (and that it's over).

Throwing the "flying saucers" we made (out of paper plates and bowls) through the hula hoop!

Game #2, Comet Toss! Throw the velcro-covered comets (styrofoam balls covered in foil)onto the felt solar system. Best part? Now it's a decoration in his bedroom!

Check out this sweet moon cake! Perfect size for the party too!

She was okay

2011-02-24T09:19:00.002-05:00

Here's the video I took right after picking up Sophie after she flew off the sled in that last video posted on the last blog. The flat part at the bottom of the hill is the frozen pond. We are sledding in our neighbor's side/back yard. There were questions as to Sophie's well being. You can see in this video that she is a cautious sledder now, but no permanent damage was sustained!

The follow-up

2011-02-22T10:39:00.004-05:00

Sophie is the paci queen. We had a snow day yesterday (and today) because of the horrific storm that came through on Sunday. Good news for me though, Craig's flight to the UK couldn't make it out so he has to go another time! Hurray!!! I really didn't think I'd make it through the week with all the horrible snow and too many snow days. I'm constantly daydreaming of warmer weather and escape from real life.

Look my daffodil is peeking it's head up! Actually since this picture was taken we got 9" of snow so it's buried under all that right now. Brrrrr.....

Look! My bulbs are coming up! These are those tiny little purple irises.

Well, since our last post I got my haircut and highlighted and instead of chopping it I did some fun red highlights. I'm liking them more as they fade a bit. It's something I've always wanted to try but haven't done before. I don't like any sort of color that I have to maintain.

Also you can see the cookies we decorated. I love that I finally figured out a way to decorate them so they don't look super goofy. I think they look kind of like little conversation hearts. Also I tried out a new recipe for sugar cookies that Hailey gave me. They are amazing. I'll post the recipe if anybody wants it.

You can see from the crazy frosting on my nose pic that Craig and I got into a bit of a frosting war while decorating the cookies. He had a seashell shape on his cheek out of purple frosting. I included that pic though and the other I took of myself so you can see my new hair color.

My Funny Valentine

2011-02-14T12:47:00.006-05:00

Here's Katie's breakfast and Valentine.

Here's Taylor at breakfast. Can't you just feel his excitement?? hee hee

I was going through old pix to fill a photo book for Katie and I found this awesome collection of great Craig moments!! I really love the tiny one of him being a "super missionary" see if you can "I Spy" it! I would have scanned them but seeing as I'm allergic to printers I couldn't get ours to work so I had to get creative and just do a collage and take a pic and then download it.
We went out to dinner on Saturday for Valentine's day. We tried a new restaurant that we'd heard about and it was amazing! I also got to get my haircut. It's been a really good holiday!

Craig and the kids got me these great necklaces! I really like them! The necklace from the kiddos even came with earrings (I'm so relieved it doesn't say "#1 Grandma" like the LAST necklace she got me!).

Just a couple minutes ago the doorbell rang. I thought it was a kid to play with Taylor but, even better, it was tulips for me from Craiggle!! Here's our Valentines to each other also.

You can't tell in this pic, but these are pink waffles. Katie was soooo excited that I made them for everybody this morning for breakfast!

This can go in the photo collection at the top of the post! I got Craiggle this chocolate rose with his Valentine! We've had a great day already and it's only about half over. Taylor, Sophie and I are going to the school in a hour for Katie's class Valentine party. Taylor is so excited to go to "Daycare" (they have a play room for the older siblings and since kindergarten is only every other day here we are gonna need it today, can you tell I feel robbed?). I should really get a job so he can go EVERY day since he's so excited!!

Then we are doing eggs and biscuits for dinner (pink heart biscuits, of course) and then we're decorating and delivering heart cookies for FHE. Pretty exciting!

Serve these for dessert!

2011-02-14T12:39:00.002-05:00

I made these Magic Cookie Bars a couple weekends ago. I wish the magic was related to weight loss but unfortunately I think the opposite is true. These bars magically disappear!!! They're addictive (like crack cocaine I would guess).

So if you want an new addiction or just something REALLY yummy here you go:

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/4 light brown sugar, packed

2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 c. chocolate chips (I like the minis for this recipe)

1 c. butterscotch chips (you can use peanut butter chips or mint chips if you want)

1 c. shredded coconut

1 c. pecans coarsely chopped (you can use walnuts)

1 2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350. Place butter in 8" square pan; heat in oven until melted. Combine brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over melted butter. In layers add chocolate chips, coconut, butterscotch chips, and pecans. Pour condensed milk over top. Bake 30 min. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

What's for dinner?

2011-02-14T11:58:00.003-05:00

I discovered a recipe to Calzones (one of Craig's favs) and it's become a standard at our house. Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 c. water

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp sugar

3 c. bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp powdered milk

I usually use hot water and bloom the yeast with the sugar for about 10 minutes while I'm combining the rest of the ingredients. Then I use the dough hook on the kitchen aid to very briefly knead the dough. Next I roll out the dough into a 16x10 rectangle and lay it out on a cookie sheet (covered with foil and spinkled with coarsely ground cornmeal). You can use any toppings that you like. I like to use pepperoni, pizza sauce, chopped bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, red pepper flakes, chopped onion, mozzerella and parmesan cheese and dried italian seasoning. Cut the sides of the dough into strips and layer or braid the strips sticking them together with a pastry brush and water. Lastly lightly brush the whole calzone with melted butter and sprinkle on parmesan cheese, italian seasoning and a tiny bit of garlic salt. Bake in the oven at 350 for 35-45 min. We serve this with warm marinara sauce for dipping. Make sure you make enough for leftovers!

Snow Days

2011-02-03T09:04:00.004-05:00

Look! He did it(well, actually Craig pulled it out)! He lost his second tooth!Hurray!

What a big hole! I bet the teeth that come it are going to look gigantic!

Here's our snow from yesterday.

This is Sophie's sled. It's how she gets to the bus stop. Very handy.

Here's Taylor and Katie in their snowfort.

The top to our silly little lamp blew off. boo. I hope we find it when all the snow melts. We dug around the base and couldn't find it. I guess it's probably not as hard as trying to find a needle in a hay stack, but still....

Look, our front step is entirely gone!!

The snow goes as high as Craig's hand and the little thing at the bottom is a ruler (check it out! It's from when I was kid! "Dare".

On Tuesday a huge blizzard was forecast. We were all a little skeptical because they keep forecasting a foot of snow and we'll get 3". Well this time it panned out. We ended up getting TONS of snow! We had a snow day yesterday, of course, but I was really surprised that we had another snow day today. I guess some of the backroads have yet to be plowed at all. We have been plowed out in our neighborhood. Shoveling the drive yesterday (and shoveling off the deck) was quite a chore. Feet of snow, powdery in top and compact on the bottom. My shoulders, forearms and wrists are sore. Craig's are sore too. We shoveled almost all of it but were lucky enough to borrow our neighbors snowblower to tackle the bottom of the drive where the plow had piled up a huge, heavy mountain of snow. Our neighbors mailbox was completely lost in the snow. They dug it out, but it's encased in snow now. Needless to say we didn't get mail yesterday.

Everybody's teeth are falling out!

2011-01-29T18:10:00.004-05:00

Sophie wants to lose a tooth too. I'm hoping she won't for a while!! She is getting her 2 yr molars in though. We're ALL feelin' that.

Man, our Tooth Fairy handed out dollar bills this time!! She must be LOADED!

First tooth! Thanks for the tooth boxes Yaya. We've had them for years now, it cool that Taylor is old enough to use his!

We're so glad our gorgeous daughter isn't a shark anymore! Just in time for the Orthodontist appt I set up for Feb 8th.

Yesterday Taylor lost his very first tooth!!! The day before Katie lost one of her last teeth (her "shark tooth", since it has a permanent one growing in behind it). I was surprised a couple weeks ago to discover while reading a book with Taylor that his bottom two front teeth were loose. I still can't believe he's already lost a tooth! Man, second time around it really sneaks up on you! It helps he's been acting older this week (less crying for no reason, I hope and PRAY that sticks). I may actually live through this parenting thing. It's been kinda rough recently. I don't think having small children brings out the best in me. I'm really fighting against my lack of freedom to do anything without major entanglements. I know I'd be so sad if we didn't have the kids, I'm so glad we do and I really do love them so much, I'm just excited to do more stuff TOGETHER and a little less indentured servitude. Anyway, that's the blunt, honest truth of it! Pretty exciting about the teeth, huh?!

Christmas and New Years

2011-01-07T17:28:00.008-05:00

Sophie is trying out some new running shoes! Looks like a perfect fit!

AHHHHWWWWEEESOMMEEE 'stache Craiggle!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ( I probably don't need to tell you this look lasted all of a couple hours).

We bribed Hailey and Steve to stay just a little longer by making cookies on Sunday afternoon after church! It was hard to let them go, but luckily we'll be headed out there in a couple weeks.

We thought it was going to be warm on New Year's day since it'd been in the 50's on New Year's Eve (at 11pm) but unfortunately it was really, really freezing! Our trip to the park reminded me that am so grateful to not have been a pioneer! BRRRRRR.... Don't you love Hailey's Russian hair! So funny!

We went to a nearby park that has some fabulous running paths to "enjoy" the weather. It ended up being bitterly cold, but it was really fun watching the guys throw rocks into the river and break up the ice. Also Jack found the lichen that Steve was hunting for ("camoflage", I'm sure it doesn't come as a big surprise it was hard to find, with a moniker like that!). I'm so glad that everybody was a good sport and genuinely had fun.

This is at the park we went to (Roselle Park), they have an old silo that has concrete steps that lead up to a look out. It was fun running up the stairs and the kids had fun jumping on the platforms and making a huge racket. Doesn't Craig look nice in a week old beard? Think how dark it'd be if he grew it longer! I encouraged him to grow it long and put beads in it!! HAHAHA! You all do know that he grew it because at the beginning of break we went out to Chinese and the fortune cookie told him to "Be adventuresome and try a new look.". Mine said to take a trip to an exotic location....where should I go????

Uncle Steve is showing the kids "Tripods"...or something else. Maybe something from "Desipicable Me".

Breakfast was a fun event, eaten in shifts. Amazingly, we fed everybody off one batch. Thank goodness for the new skillet I got for my birthday (thanks Mommo!).

Happy New Year! We had the kiddos celebrate at 8:30pm with party pipes and a countdown, lots of cheering and clanging of pots and pans and a toast (and we played Auld Lang Syne)! No fireworks in the street this year, we must be in a "no fireworks" state again, I didn't see any in the store.

Now we all have snuggies!!! Ha! I love that Sophie really wears hers! You should hear her say "snuggie", so funny!

Isn't Katie's Rapunzel wig fun? Thanks Yaya!

Check out Taylor as an astronaut! Isn't this fabulous!! Santa brought the costume and helmet, Grandma sent the boots!

As a tradition the kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Taylor opened this Star Wars laptop from Grandma Howell! He was so thrilled. It's still on the top favs list! Katie was thrilled to shrieking with the mini Molly American Doll and book set from Mom and Dad and Sophie opened her snuggie, also a winner!

Our snowman looks like he's losing his balance! so funny! The next day the balls fell down in a line and then they melted away! How surreal to have such a warm holiday in MI!

Sophie was sucking on this bacon, too funny. I was relieved that she had quit stealing the sugar packets off the table behind her! (This is from our tradition to have breakfast out on Christmas eve. It was horrible last year and painful again this year. Craig loves the tradition. I am ready to drop it and just go to the gym instead!).

This is before all the crying and whining started! The food was great, the company was challenging. I was ready to walk out after ordering. I think next year we'll just go out to brunch or something.

It was so fun to have Craig home for the holiday. Look at the cute snowman they built! Thanks for the snowman kit Mommo!

They watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", such a great Christmas activity!

Sophie got ahold of some markers and colored herself. It was funny that they matched her birthday (from Auntie Hailey, Thanks!) sweater so perfectly! Funny baby! (she's gotta quit coloring herself, it's quickly becoming not so cute).

We went to see the Christmas trees at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. It was NUTS the night we went but really cool. Different trees decorated from all different countries and the green house done with lights (made me miss SC so much and remember last Christmas when we visited Marty and Jess in FL).

We went in to check on Sophie one night and found her like this! Looks cozy, huh? Too funny!

Okay, quick clarification, Craig was off for a week between Christmas and New Year's Day. It was heaven having him home. We were on our own for Christmas but lured Leisy and Kent and Hailey and Steve to our place for New Years. It's sad to be back to the old routine, but it was so much fun to have everybody here! Really the best way to celebrate New Year's Eve! Thanks for coming guys!

Sophie's 2nd Birthday

2010-12-20T14:04:00.003-05:00

Sophie with some of her Birthday loot! Such cute baby dolls (from Yaya, Auntie Rachael and Grandma) a fun stroller from Yaya and Papa (Mom and Dad just got her clothes). Katie and Taylor got her her own legos (duplos).

Thanks to the Hunsburgers for coming for the party and for the cute little cozy outfit!

Elmo is looking "starry-eyed" don't you think? hee hee hee hee

The Pizza party! We were going to go out to Red Robin (as we do traditionally for Birthdays) but the thought of dragging everybody out in the cold and crazy holiday weekend traffic was off-putting. We ordered Dominos! YUM! I even got half pepperoni and half cheese so everybody was happy (Craig and I got our own hawaiian).

This was breakfast.

Last Saturday was Sophie's 2nd Birthday. We had a really fun day. We started out with pink sprinkle waffels and ended it with a pizza party and Elmo cupcakes. I'm glad I thought to make cupcakes this year instead of a double layer cake. I made Katie and big Elmo head cake one year. The thought of a whole cake in our house right now was too much! I think the cupcakes were easier to make and serve. Sophie really got that it was her day and it was so fun to celebrate with her! She is not as easy as she was last year (she has lots of opinions on stuff now), but she's so wonderful to be with and watch grow. I'm so glad she's in our family! When she was first born I kept staring at her and wouldn't have believed that she was ours if I hadn't been there. She just didn't look familiar. THAT has all changed!!! I can't believe how many times I've been told "I have never seen a mom who's kids look like her as much as yours do!". I especially like it when people will say things like " Your kids are so cute!" followed by "They look JUST like you!". Gee, thanks!

I loved that Sophie knew to wait until after we finished singing to blow out the candles and she did it all on her own! We didn't even talk about it before! She really picks up on everything!

The long overdue Christmas post

2010-12-19T17:21:00.005-05:00

Katie taught Sophie to eat snow, she loves it.

The first snow fall!

Sophie is into everything now. I went upstairs to switch over the laundry and came down to this. I don't think she's old enough to wear make up yet, what do you think?

Here's us decorating the gingerbread house. It was a lot of fun. I know it's dumb, but I'm always surprised by how much the kids want to eat the candy. Aside from the M&M's none of it looks worth eating to me.

We were the only ones with chairs, not a surprise now that we know how short it was going to be! Perfect in my opinion! Enough of a parade to be fun, but not so much you had to wait for it to end.

The kids got to make these star ornaments at the church in the village.

Here's the preview to the nutcracker. Katie LOVED it! I'll have to take her to the whole thing sometime. I did get "Fantasia" for them this year so I'm sure she'll love that as well.

This is Taylor on our trolley ride. They even got people to carole as they drove through the village! Isn't Ada fabulous???!

The tree looks pretty great, huh? It's a fake tree friends in KY gave us! Thx Adam and Kristen!

Well I meant to post this way back at the very beginning of December (when this pic of the Christmas tree was taken, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when we put up the Christmas tree). I was going to entitle this post "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" but now it's almost Christmas! Wow! How time flies. We have been having so much fun though. It's great to be together this year. A year ago, Craig was up here working and I was down in SC with the kids. Christmas is much more fun when we're all together (and not in the middle of a move).

The week after setting up the Christmas tree we went to the little village of Ada (a mile from us)and they had a night where they had a Christmas light ceremony at the covered bridge and an old time Santa walking around and free trolley rides and activities at all the local businesses. It was fun and really cold. Free ornament making and cocoa and cookies and a planetarium show about the Christmas star and a preview of the nutcracker ballet. The following Saturday they had a little Christmas parade in the village. Best Christmas parade. We went half an hour ahead and parked on a little side street by the Historical society barn (where they had free cookie decorating and cocoa) where we could watch from the van. We watched from the street. The parade was about half an hour, one marching band, lots of candy and then Santa on a fire truck. We got in the van and drove home! No waiting! AWESOME!

Tradition dictates that we decorate our gingerbread house during the Christmas Devotional but now that we are on Eastern time and it doesn't start until 8pm we decorated it early, put the kids down and listened to it in blissful quiet. Sophie has learned to pull a chair over to the counter and eat all the candy off the house. YUCK!

Here's the dancing cow video!!

2010-12-02T13:11:00.001-05:00

This is what it's really like at our house, just in case you were wondering.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T09:48:00.005-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa's grave.

Sophie sitting in the cats' bed. Eddy the dog likes to lay there too.

I had this funny realization in the middle of our Thanksgiving that I never could have imagined years ago when the Twinners and I were kids that someday when we grew up we'd live in Ohio (or close to it)and get to celebrate our holidays together with our kids and my husbands' family! Pretty close to heaven if you ask me (especially because we weren't sick!).

Gotta get in and "Amy sandwich" pic!

Happy Birthday to Jack! How lucky is he that the whole country takes a holiday from work and has a huge feast just for his birthday. Wish they'd do that for me!

Pin the hat on the turkey was lots of fun, but I don't think any of the kids new that the turkey was supposed to wear his hat on his HEAD! :>

Laney was commissioned to color Zeb's turkey placemat.

Here's the "after" pic of the pie baking (and the "before" pic of us digging in).

Craig and the kids rode the train at the Lodi outlets while Sophie and went to Carters to get her winter/spring clothes.

Yummy lunch!

We had such a wonderful trip down to Ohio for Thanksgiving (I'm so glad we were sick BEFORE we went down so we didn't have to be sick WHILE we were there this year!). We drove down Tuesday night and on Wednesday we took a quick trip to the outlet mall to try to find Craig some new work duds. We didn't have much luck for him, but I cleaned up for Sophie at Carter's (not hard to do). It was so fun to catch some lunch and Craig and the kids rode the train and I got the BEST piece of peppermint bark that lasted nibble by nibble until the trip home!

Wednesday evening Mommo and I made tons of food and then we went to bed and got up the next morning and made even MORE food! You can see the "after" pic of the apple pie I made and on Mommo's blog(yaya and papa), you can see the "before" pic. It was so good that Craig and I had some on Wednesday night before going to bed!

Thursday Phil and Amanda, Jack and Steph, Leisy and Kent, and Laney and Taylor and all the kids came for dinner around 1:30pm. We were all WELL fed as we always are. It was so fun to hang out and eat way too much and laugh about everything and nothing. I had also brought some games for the kiddos and some turkey placemats for them to color. It was a fabulous way to spend the holiday! Thanks to Mommo and Dad for putting up with all of us and our crazy babies!

Friday we took the kids down to Home Hardware (where Craig has his first job) and saw Santa and Mrs Claus. We also drove past Craig's old house so the kids could see where Craig lived as a kid and took them to the Cemetary to visit Grandma and Grandpa Starkeys' grave.

Incognito

2010-11-22T15:45:00.005-05:00

This is "Flint Lockwood" from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". He is making his plans to build his spaceship. He was talking about how he didn't have the right metal and didn't work at GE so he didn't really know how to build the rocketship. It was frustrating to him and really amusing to me!
They insist that the "hat" (actually silicone cake form)is a "condo hat" for ladies who live in condos!! WHAT??? So funny!

He's being Harry Potter.
Now he's a rock star at the "rockstar" birthday party he and Katie attended on Friday night!
I feel like the kids have spent so much time dressed up in costumes recently that they are undercover! Right now as I type, Sophie is dressed as a dancing cow and Taylor is being "Flint Lockwood" from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", Katie is sporting pink cateye glasses that apparently she wore all day at school and told everybody she was blind without them (and crossed her eyes every time she took them off).

Katie got assigned to make bread sticks for an activity day girls service project lat week so I got a recipe and we made these. They are soooo good! Here's the recipe:

Soft Garlic Breadsticks

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups water (70 to 80 degrees F)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh basil
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted
Directions
1. In bread machine pan, place the first nine ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 20 portions. Shape each into a ball; roll each into a 9-in. rope. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Brush warm breadsticks with butter.

I made two batches. One in the bread machine and one on my own (just let the yeast "bloom" in the water for 10min). Both turned out great. I liked how if I had the time I could have the bread machine make the dough and knead it, but if you're in a hurry, then do it on your own.

Last week

2010-11-17T12:21:00.004-05:00

Sophie on Saturday all dressed up and ready to go out on the town!

After I finished arguing with the insurance company I found Sophie here...

and Taylor here.

Last week. It was horrible. Probably one of the most miserable weeks I can ever recall. It started on Sunday night, Sophie puked all over our rug and chair, and all over Craig and the kitchen sink. Ewwww.... I knew that was a bad omen because, of course, Craig had to go out of town. So, just as expected after Craig when out of town, Taylor and I started simultaneously puking. It was a long horrible night full of cleaning up and messes and visits to the bathroom for both of us. By morning, thankfully, I was done being violently ill and okay enough to haul us all to Walgreens to buy all types of sick food. Ginger ale, jello, sprite, pedialyte, and gatorade. We also got some movies from Redbox. Then we just stayed home and I did laundry and the kids slept off and on while I argued with the Dr.'s office and the insurance company about the medication I keep getting prescribed that the insurance company doesn't want to cover. Really a red-letter day for me. Craig came home as soon as everybody was in bed (the beds which had all been remade about 3x's each) and the laundry was all done and folded and put away. Right on time.

Someday, it's gonna be me who skips town as soon as the puking begins.

On a happier note, Katie was the star student of the week a couple weeks ago. I don't think any other student in her class will ever have a poster that out-sparkles hers! Also Taylor flying the moon is pretty fabulous!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-04T10:49:00.005-04:00

How's the blood punch???

so spooky!
Creepy!!

Sophie was an ewok. People kept referring to her as a boy, even with the costume I think she looks like a girl.

I haven't been a very diligent blogger recently. Computer problems + life with kids and a calling in the youth program have me fried most of the time, but here are some pix of our Halloween. We went to a great pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins and carved them and then went to trunk or treat the church on Wednesday before Halloween. The weekend before Halloween we also went to Ohio and got to go to Craig's parents Halloween party. It was amazing! Great weather and just the perfect time to visit.
We also attended the kids Halloween parade and their parties at the school the Thursday before Halloween. Our trick or treating for our neighborhood was on Saturday and we had so much fun doing that all together. We did a star wars theme this year as you can tell. Sorry for the blurry picture, our camera (that I just got last year) keeps turning up crummy pix.

Pumpkin Fest

2010-10-17T14:38:00.003-04:00

The parade had a large collection of preschools and tractors. I guess there is an ambundance of those things in Zeeland. Who knew! I thought perhaps there would have been more PUMPKINS!

They did throw quite a bit of candy! (although not for Kent, even though he begged for it on hands and knees!!).

Cute kiddos! Notice the straw sunbathers behind them! It's kind of uncomfortable to look at scarecrows in bathing suits. It just seems....poiky.

Did you know that Madonna once called Michigan home?

Look!! A famous "Michigonian"!

I wonder where this bus goes... or maybe the better question is, where does it start?

A couple weeks ago we went up to a "Pumpkin Fest" parade in Zeeland MI. It was nearly as pumkiny as I thought it should be but it was still fabulous to hang out with Leisy, Kent, Zeb and Ike! We were lucky enough to talk them in to coming up to visit for the weekend. Unfortunately, poor Ike had a horrible ear infection (unknown to all of us until Saturday night or Sunday morning early) and had to be taken to the ER in the middle of the night!! Poor baby! We are still so glad they came to hang out with us on that chilly Conference Weekend!

Every Sunday

2010-10-17T14:33:00.002-04:00

Every Sunday the ice cream man (or ladyin our case) drives through our neighborhood, right after we get home from church playing "popeye the sailor man" as loud as can be. EVERY SUNDAY!!! A bunch of the neighborhood kids run out and get ice cream. Our kids know that we won't be getting any (before you feel too bad, realize that we often have ice cream in our freezer), but they always run out and watch longingly at the truck. One time Taylor even asked if they could come on a different day "because we don't buy ice cream on Sunday". But, unfortunately, the lady said "no". So here's a pic of those poor Starkey kids who's crazy religious parents make them keep the sabbath day holy!! :>

Happy Birthday Craig (a couple weeks ago!)

2010-09-13T14:58:00.006-04:00

See how nicely they play together!

Thanks Yaya for the peace jewelry! As you can see, "Peace Rocks!". If only everybody in the world agreed with Old Navy.

Cute hat Squof! (we call Sophie, "squofi" or "squof").

He's showing you how "freakish"ly esctatic he is! Wow! That IS freaky!

See! Look how happy he is with his new toy!!

How cute is this!!! After fighting tooth and nail for the past couple weeks it's nice to see some love!

EVERYBODY had fun on the carousel!

Who wouldn't want to go to the mall for their 33rd birthday???

Party appetizers! Check out Taylor's new specs! They're fashion specs, he thinks he wants glasses! Yaya is so indulgent of my children's crazy whims! (I'm pretty sure that's what grandparents are for!).

Check out this guys' name! We had some fun with it. Hope he wasn't listening from the dead and getting ready to hex us all!

We threw rocks in the river to console ourselves after getting turned away from the museum.

Taylor is going to be and astronaut when he grows up. Maybe he'll live in one of these!

Happy Birthday EGG!

Sophie came up with this on her own!!!

She takes after her Great Grandpa Howell. If anybody has a pic of him on his motorcycle doing this, I need it so that I can post it next to this!

A couple weeks ago (Labor Day weekend) we celebrated Craig's birthday. We were fortunate enough to convince Craig's parents AND Hailey, Steve, Jack and Griff into coming up to our house to celebrate the event! UNfortunately, it was cool and windy and rainy. No worries, I planned a trip to the Public Museum of Grand Rapids and even made sure it was open and checked on admission. Too bad for us, their power went out, and they even had a hand written note telling us, in no uncertain terms, that the museum would NOT open again even if they got power back up and running. Well, we had already promised the kids a carousel so we took poor Craig to the mall food court for his birthday. I still feel a tad guilty about this. But we had a great time. We rode the carousel and ate junky mall food court food (french fries, rootbeer floats, fried cheese curds and movie theater popcorn w/ the extra butter, all of this sounds even crazier as I type it out) and laughed ourselves silly and then went home to eat more food and even have birthday cake!

For those of you who contributed to the GPS THANK YOU!! He LOVES it!

Laura's french bread recipe

2010-09-12T15:55:00.003-04:00

French Bread

2 pkgs of dry yeast (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 c. water
2 c. hot water
3 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
5 tablespoon oil
6-8c. flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c. water and let stand 10 minutes.

In large bowl combine 2 cup hot water, sugar, salt, oil and half of the flour. Mix well and add yeast and the rest of the flour (I start with 6 cups but always have to add more to get the correct consistency). Knead well. Let rise until double--about an hour.

Punch down and divide into two large parts or three smaller parts. Roll each into a 9x13 inch rectangle. Starting at a corner, roll into a loaf. Seal edges and put seam side down on a greased cookies sheet.

Let rise about 30 minutes and bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Look!! You did it!! You made awesome homemade bread!! (Now send Laura an email and thank her for giving you your self-esteem back).

School Days

2010-09-12T15:40:00.003-04:00

Taylor really likes riding the bus(Katie doesn't because it's too loud).

Katie at her new desk in her new classroom. Cute hair cut, huh? She wanted to get it cut short just "like mommy and Ramona".

Taylor at his new class room. People keep asking me if he's in "young 5's" a program they run for kids her turn 5 in the fall and just miss the kindergarten cut off. NOPE! His birthday is in March. He's just a shrimpet. Smart as a whip though!

Walking into the school on the first morning!

Katie got her Halloween costume last Monday! She has been so excited to get a poodle skirt! The glasses and scarf are so cute with her hair cut!

Last Tuesday was our kids' first day of school for the year. Taylor just started Kindergarten. I'm on the fence about how I feel about the schedule though. This school district is running every other day Kindergarten this year in order to accomodate the bus schedule. hmmm....who cares about education as long as the bus schedule doesn't get messed up, right? We'll see. Anyhow, Taylor is going to school on Tuesday, Thursday (8:35am-3:45pm) and Friday afternoon from 12:30-3:45. I kinda like that he and I still have some days together, but it doesn't seem like much time to be in school and it does seem like I've been waiting a LONG time for this kid to get into school and now that's been put off another year. It'll be nice that he'll be around to play with Sophie though.

Taylor likes Kindergarten alot and there are 9 other kids in our neighborhood in his class so he knows alot of the kids already and some other kids are from his preschool class last year.

Katie is going into 3rd grade this year. She has Mr. Williams. This is our first year with a man teacher. He seems very nice and organized. I'm anticipating it'll be a great year for her. She did lots of hard work over the summer to help with her Audio processing disorder and we're hoping that getting help in the resource room for math will allow her to keep up and have a wonderful time in 3rd grade.

I am experiencing some anxiety about flu season starting, homework,early bedtimes, and making lunches but I am hopeful that this year will be better than the schedule I was desperately trying to keep up with last spring.

Old Amy learned a new trick!

2010-09-02T10:45:00.002-04:00

I made it into Garlic bread to go with our Spaghetti when the missionaries came over.

Sophie is asking for "just one more piece"!

It was really good fresh out of the oven with homemade raspberry freezer jam or local honey from the farmers market.

Looks good, huh? I made 2 of these huge loaves. Should I have brushed it with butter before letting it rise the second time or do you put and egg wash on it like pie crust??? Or a milk wash??

I finally successfully made bread. I know plenty of people who make bread on a very regular basis, but I always rush the rising process and end up with "unleavened" bread and have never been very happy about it. Last week I got up my courage to try it again. Laura gave me an easy recipe and I was actually able to make it happen!!! My next goal is Parker House Rolls. I hope eventually I get as good at making bread that it will come as naturally as it does for Laura and Rachael!! (I may just keep making pies and cookies).

Frederik Meijer Gardens

2010-08-30T10:29:00.007-04:00

Katie is a bird in a bird nest sitting on her eggs.

Fountains to play in!

This reminds me of a huge tower of rock candy.

It's amazing how huge the green house is! That's where we saw the butterflies! You remember that post?

I love that they have all this colorful blown glass out in the garden like it's exotic flowers!

We finally made it to the Frederik Meijer Gardens. They are really close and actually we did go to see the butterflies in the Spring, but just not out into the scuplture garden because it was snowing that day. Anyhow, I went ahead and got a family membership. It's such a cool place to go!

The Children's garden is so fun. They have a place to excavate for dinosaur bones and a huge water table shaped like the great lakes and so much to see and do. In addition to that they have some great exhibits. You can see the pix of the Chihully blown glass exhibit throughout the garden as well as inside. They also have a video talking about the artist and how the glass is made.

In the winter they have a Christmas tree exhibit and in the spring the butterflies and I'm sure more stuff throughout the year. As you can tell I'm really excited about it!! We're thinking when our family comes out in October that we should bring everybody here!

My daddy dressed me...

2010-08-28T14:28:00.002-04:00

Finally the Return of the Cheesy Cousin Campout

2010-08-28T13:54:00.004-04:00

Playing at the beach!

Somebody convinced Robert to dig a really deep hole at the top of the dune and then we put the kids in, one by one. None of them went to China though.

More cute pix of cute girls.

Hailey and two "lost boys" at the top of the dune.

All the daddy's breakin' it down to "Party in the USA"!

Hugging cousins are better than Kissing one's, right?

Sophie's best "Thriller" impression.

The Three amigos. They sure had fun digging in the dirt and throwing stuff in the fire.

Annie and Katie played barbies in the van while we loaded up the tents.

Sophie is going to help Uncle Steve set up his tent.

I wish I had more of this right now. Yum Yum! Laura's Pot pie in the dutch oven. Prepared and cooked to perfection!

Last weekend we finally arranged to go camping with Robert and Laura and Hailey and Steve. We went to Warren Dunes State Park, the same park we visited on Memorial Day. It's nice because it's half way between us and Chicago. Only 1 hr and 1/2 for each of us!

Unfortunately, the day we went camping it was brutally hot and humid and then it began raining that night and rained all the way until noon the next day. Thankfully, we had great company and sound tents that kept us all dry. The clean up was fairly brutal however.

We met up around 5pm on Friday evening and each brought our own dinners (Laura made the BEST chicken pot pie in the dutch oven. I skipped out on my lame foil dinner and had some of her fabulous pie!). Steve made the most amazing cobbler and we brought ice cream to accompany it. I have been wishing for more of that cobbler ever since!! I've gotta get a dutch oven!

We took showers in an attempt to cool off before bed. I don't know how much it helped though, I ended up with dozens (sadly, not an exaggeration)of mosquito bites, especially on my heels. Miserable. Anyhow, then we went to bed after being shushed by the ranger (at 10:30pm). You know how rowdy a bunch of mormons with small children can get after the kids are down!

The rain was loud on the tent all night long and I'm pretty sure none of us slept much. The next morning it rained off and on torrentually but I set up the beach umbrella over the table and made lots of bacon and doughnuts and Robert made some great pancakes and eggs and hot cocoa! It really was fun! Taylor did burn himself (of course, that kid won't listen and has burnt himself more times than I've cut myself, and that's saying something). But he didn't cry forever about it so things are looking up.

After breakfast we spent some quality time in our new tent playing Uno and charades. Craig did a great impression of somebody getting their finger melted off in hot lava.... we don't really know where that came from, but it was fun!

Thankfully about 11:30am it quit raining so we could pack up our tents. Then we headed over to the dune and climbed to the top and played in the cool sand. It was nice that it was still overcast because the humidity was thick! After climbing the dune, we came back down and had a picnic lunch at the cars. Robert and Laura headed back to Chicago and Hailey, Steve, Craig and I and the kids stayed and played at the beach for a couple hours. It did clear up and was a gorgeous day at the beach by the time we left!

It was so fun to get together with everybody. I would love to do it again sometime soon! It's so wonderful to have family close enough to see on a regular basis!

ho hum

2010-08-11T15:29:00.005-04:00

Sophie was given this cute little outfit from our friend in SC. She is Taiwanese and used to watch Sophie for us during 3rd hour when I had to teach Beehives. She finally fits them!

We celebrated all of Katie's hard work on her tutoring program yesterday. She has been working on a special program 90 min a day 5 days a week all summer and just finished yesterday! She got dinner at Culver's and a set of pink legos!! We're so proud of all her hard work!

We shot some hoops last Saturday after riding into the village to get ice cream cones.

I was just starting to feel like my white shorts were invincible. Unfortunately, they are not and somehow some chocoate ice cream got on them. Boo. I searched Miejers for a bleach pen today with no luck. I'll have to try Target. I even wore them all day on the Fourth of July and they were fine. I guess it had to happen at some point.

All the kids wanted to help Craig pull the van back in the garage after we pulled our bikes out to ride into the village for our ice cream.

We went to hear Emma Hunsburger play her flute in the marching band last Friday night and Sophie really enjoyed the free popcorn afterwards.

Here's Sophie and Emma after the performance!

Sophie got all dressed up last week. She walks pretty well in my heels!

The kids wanted to scare their Dad last week when he came home from work! Looks scary to me!!

So I haven't blogged lately because I've been too busy running around doing who knows what. Why is it I can feel so completely worthless and yet be so completely necessary for anything to happen around here? I guess that's just one of the joys of motherhood (like the constant heartburn I've been fighting since Katie's conception). Anyhow, here are some pix of what we have and haven't been doing!

Good Times had by all on a family vacation!

2010-07-25T21:24:00.009-04:00

We got a room with a view! Not too shabby for FREE!

Yes, I let my baby eat french fries, even if they are covered in sand!

Look! Sophie is walking on the sand!

Pretty great beach in Traverse City! I bet the have even nicer ones that aren't attatched to Holiday Inn's! We did get to watch a sail boat race! Such a nice night!

We buried Taylor in the sand.

And, of course, we buried Katie!

Taylor on the path to Sleeping Bear Dunes (Empire, MI).

Craig and Sophie on the lookout at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Check out the water! So pretty!

The fam on the #10 lookout at Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Wow! What an amazing place!!! The water and the sand just go on forever!

The Maritime Coast Guard Museum at Glen Haven.

The "Mighty Mac" from the Ferry on our way to Mackinac Island.

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

The lookout by Arch Rock.

The view from the Fort.

Katie and I are glad we have a washing machine to do our clothes!

Taylor loves dressing up! This is in the "Kids Quarters" at the fort.

Sophie could not be corraled for this photo op!

It was fun watching them fire off the cannon. It was louder down below than when we were up on the hill.

The Grand Hotel. They filmed "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour here and also an Esther Williams movie. (Thanks to Tasha I have actually even seen "Somewhere in Time"). They painted the ceiling blue so the birds will confuse it with sky and not nest under the porch. It's World's largest summer hotel and also has the longest covered porch in the US. You have to pay to go inside so we didn't this time. Maybe when Craig and I go back someday without the kiddos. There is a dress code after 6pm. Men must where suit jackets and women aren't allowed to wear "slacks" (I'm guessing that means we'd have to wear dresses???).

The light house on Round Island (from the ferry).

The view of the "Mighty Mac" on the ferry on the way back to Mackinaw City.

Ice cream with real Mackinac Island fudge. Neither Craig nor I love fudge so we did this instead. Especially at $8 a piece for the fudge. The whole fam had ice cream for $5!

The kids loved staying in the hotel and watching cartoons (they had an "Anne of Green Gables" cartoon on the public channel on Saturday. I guess that's what you get being that close to Canada). Katie kept asking us to "pause" it when she had to get dressed or brush her teeth. Silly kid! Guess she doesn't ever really watch TV besides movies at our house!

The lighthouse and bridge at Mackinaw City. Craig was a sucker and got the kids those silly huge round suckers at the visitors center at Fort Michilimackinac and the kids got all sticky and didn't finish them because they were too big and loved it all! He's such a fun Dad! (I'd have said no!).

We had such a great family vacation last week exploring Michigan! We left on Wednesday after Craig got done with work (mid day since he'd been out of town that week)and drove up to Traverse City (home of the Cherry Festival) and checked in to our free hotel room (courtesy of all of Craig's traveling for work). It was nice that the Holiday Inn (yeah we're high rollers) was right on the beach, but too bad that we had such rowdy drunks for neighbors that night. Luckily the kids slept through it and Craig and I did mostly also, until they set off the fire alarm, but we didn't have to evacuate and after 1pm all they mellowed out.

Anyhow we played on the beach that evening and Craig even got the kids McDonalds for dinner!!! The next day we set out to explore Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was such an amazing view! I could have stayed and played at the dune pretty much all day! The dropoff is so extreme and the sand is so amazing and the view is so spectacular! Taylor and I were ready to take the plunge and run all the way down to the lake but Craig was the voice of reason. I still plan to do that, but not with Sophie in tow. It's a near vertical climb on the way back up!

After checking out the dune for a bit we drove up to Glen Haven and looked at the Maritime museum which talked about ships and shipwrecks and the Coast Guard on the Great Lakes. It was fun and FREE! Another thing we got free was most of the kids meals thanks to the library reading program!!!

After the museum we headed off to Mackinaw City (by way of free lunch at Qdoba). It was a short 2 hr drive. After arriving we checked out our hotel and the beach and went swimming in the pool. We got a pizza at a local place that night and went to bed.

Friday morning we caught the 10:30 am "Mighty Mac" Ferry boat to Mackinac Island. It took off from Mackinaw City, went under the "Might Mac" suspension bridge and then over to Mackinac Island. Once on the island we caught a carriage ride around the island. We saw the Grand Hotel and all the ancient (200 yr old) lilac bushes). Bicycles and horses are the only transportation allowed on the island from April until October when the snow sets in they are allowed to use snowmobiles (and there are a few special people on the island allowed to have trucks).

We stopped at the Arch Rock and enjoyed the view there and learned about the wildlife and winters on the island and then got off the carriage at Fort Mackinac. Originally the Ojibwa Indians named the island "Michilimackinac" (which is REALLY fun to say)meaning "the island that looks like the back of a turtle" or something like that. The French and British fought over the fur trade and eventually the Brits moved the center of the fur trade over to the island to have it better protected. Of course, after the revolutionary war, we took it over. The Fort was really interesting and the view was awesome. We watched some reenactments of courtmarshals and firing of guns and canons and played in an interactive exhibit. After we had worn out the kids, we caught the next carriage back down to downtown and got some lunch and tried out some fudge (in the form of ice cream). Fudge was INVENTED on the island!

We walked around and looked at the pretty houses and hotels and did some people watching and played at a playground and then caught the 6:30pm ferry back to Mackinaw City and our hotel.

Sophie was really wiped out and fell asleep the moment we put her in the car so I put her to bed when we got back to the hotel and the kids went swimming again with Craig. I was amazed and relieved that she wasn't woken up when they got back from swimming. Sharing one hotel room for 5 people wasn't my favorite thing to do, but it went pretty well.

Saturday morning we went to the light house in Mackinaw City and threw some rocks in Lake Huron. Then we drove over the "Mighty Mac" (started construction in 1954 and finished in 1957, one of the World's longest suspension bridges at the time) so we could say we had visited the "U.P." or "upper pennisula". We grabbed some lunch in St. Ignace and then we high tailed it home. It was about 4 hrs home. Not too bad.

It was nice to get home on a Saturday (at 5pm) and have time to mow the lawn and do the laundry and even visit the swimming pool before Sunday rolled around.

It was such a great family vacation! We really enjoyed learning new things and visiting new places. I'm so excited for the "kid" phase of being a family. It's great to leave the baby stage and be able to enjoy doing things together!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

2010-07-19T21:48:00.004-04:00

As you can see we have been busy having fun! July 8-11th we went out to Chicago to help Hailey and Steve move into their new place in Naperville. We are so excited that they are there. It's only 3 and a half hours from us in Grand Rapids! It's been a long 9 years since we lived close enough to anybody in my immediate family to visit without flying. We were able to stay with Laura and Robert while we watched Jack and Griff and ran errands and did anything and everything we could think of to help Hailey and Steve get settled. I hope we really were a help!

On Saturday we went into downtown Chicago and visited Navy Pier. Steve, James (Steve's brother), Craig, Katie, Taylor and Jack went on the Ferris wheel. Mom, Hailey, Griff, Sophie and I thought it was nice to watch from the shade below (it was 98 degrees at 10am that day at Navy Pier).

After the Ferris wheel we had an exciting lunch at McDonalds. Then we took a really fun boat tour. It was wonderful to be out on the water and feel the cool breeze. It made me so excited for this Fall when Derek and Rachael, and my Mom and Dad come out too. There is so much to see and do in Chicago. We are so excited to have so many reasons to go to Chicago (tons of Craig's Aunts and Uncles, his Grandma Arends and his cousins live in Chicago also, in addition to my cousin Robert and his wife Laura).

We were able to sneak in a visit to Craig's Grandma Arends and Aunt Midge on Sunday too. It was so fun to check out the new cover they put on the deck and hear all about the wedding details (for Amy and Eric's wedding in Oct).

Since Steve had some research that took him back to Utah the day we left for home, we talked Hailey into coming to stay with us for a bit last Wednesday. It was so fabulous to have her here! I'm so in love with the idea of having her close for the next 2 years! She stayed until today around noon. The kids played together wonderfully and it was the closest thing to cloning myself that I have been able to work out. We went to the gym together and the pool and even fit in a trip to the beach on Saturday! It was sad to see her leave today, but I know she is anxious to get settled in to their new place. I'm hoping to put together a camping trip with them not long after Steve gets back from Utah!

The Fourth

2010-07-08T11:21:00.004-04:00

Betcha' can't guess who's who!

Fireworks and M&M's go hand in hand!

Katie wanted to jump on her bike and join the parade. We actually made them wait.

Baby pilates (our neighbors went down to Greenville, SC to visit family and let us use their pool. What a great set up).

Kickin' back!

I'm pretty much in love with the 4th of July here in Michigan! We had the most beautiful day (actually all of these things happened on the 3rd since the 4th was Sunday). We rode our bikes from our house to the village of Ada (1 1/2 miles) and watched the parade. It was cute and fun and not too long. They threw out lots of little candies too.

After the parade we went home and had lunch then we headed over to the village green and they had a little craft show and blow ups for the kids to play on. It was all free! Craig got a characature done of the kids. So funny, whenever we see those he wants to get them done! The kids also got to play on one of those things where they wear a harness and jump on a trampline. Taylor was hilarious to watch! He went SOOOO high! After the carnival and sharing some ice cream cones we came home and took a nap.

Around 9pm, we jumped on our bikes again and went to watch the fireworks in the village. It was wonderful to not worry about traffic at all (we were stuck in traffic last year at Thanksgiving point for 2 hrs after the fireworks!!). We lit sparklers and talked to a bunch of our neighbors that were there and ate M&M's. Then we rode our bikes home and went to bed! The fireworks didn't even start until almost 10:30pm so it was late when we got home, but it was really fun! Next year I'm bringing head lamps for us to wear on the bike ride home. It was REALLY dark! It made it kind of exciting though!

The Great Escape

2010-06-22T10:37:00.007-04:00

Yum yum Cabesa! (above the happy couple takes off! in a car full of balloons)

The ID Shot gun wedding!

The best help in the West!!

Cousin Tanner, lookin' all bad!
Thank goodness it didn't rain for long! Nothing these bridesmaids can't handle!

Looks delish Hailey! (I think you do have a future as a Vanna White type).

Mom and Amy at the reception. Great work Mom!!!

Take a bite for Laney!

Amy, Emily and Hailey

Amy and Janna

The wedding party jumps for joy.

The Happy Couple! Jake and Emily Mortenson. Congrats!

Me, Mom, Dad and Hailey after the sealing. Outside the Boise, ID temple.

Wouldn't be a family get together without a big picture!

Grandpa recieves his Father's Day gift. The whole family signed the matte. Uncle Bobby pitched in the dollars.

Two Melon-heads at Dave and Michele's for the breakfast!

This was Emily's Bachorlette party, they did her up like this and took her out to dinner!!!

Katie has a loose tooth that she won't pull! Look what a snaggle tooth girl she is!

We celebrated Father's day on Tuesday before I left. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and stirfry and brownie sundae's for dinner. I got Craig AAA this year for Father's day. He has wanted it for as long as I can remember. Also he got a life is good t from the kids.

Well, after a long 6 months since we moved into the house in MI I escaped for a little family time out West. My cousin, Emily got married this past weekend and I was lucky enough to attend (sans les bebes even!). I would have preferred to go with Craig, but airfare being what it is, I came alone.

I flew into Spokane on Wednesday (I was supposed to arrive in the afternoon but didn't end up getting in until about 7pm because I barely missed my flight in Chicago. Too sad.). Mom and I did some quick shopping downtown and I got to visit with my friend Tricia Martin and spend about 14 hrs in Spokane (Dad even drove through Manito Park for me on our way out of town)before heading out to ID.

We drove to Grandpa Howell and Edna's cabin in ID. It was fun to finally see it after hearing about it for years. Also I got to watch Grandpa and Dad take down a tree. It was pretty entertaining and I'm happy to report that there weren't any injuries. Overall the drive was really fun hanging out with my Mom and Dad and stopping in McCall at "My Father's Place" for milkshakes and burgers.

After a really chilly night at the cabin, we drove down into Boise. Once we arrived we got to work setting up stuff for Emily's reception. Dad and I put together a gazebo and I even got to help a little roofing Bobby's shed. It was fun to work with my Dad. Then mom and I ran to get flowers and Hailey arrived around 4pm. It was so fun to see a bunch of my cousins and be free to help out setting up the reception.

Saturday morning we went to a breakfast for the family at Uncle Dave and Aunt Michele's house. Sadly, they are out of town (not so sadly, they are in Australia for the summer, wish it were me!), but I got to visit with the rest of the Aunt, uncles and cousins and get everybody's input on the Laney and Taylor Hawes baby pool (more on that later).

After the breakfast and after awarding Grandpa a signed pic for Father's day (and some cold hard cash, apparently that was a tradition of Great Grandpa Howell to give money for bdays, in this case it was Father's Day). We went back to the hotel to get ready for the sealing.

It was such a blessing to be able to be in the temple with so many members of my family for Emily and Jake's sealing. I really enjoyed feeling the love and support that comes with being surrounded by family in a place that reminds me of our Eternal goals.

After the sealing there were pictures outside the temple and then a luncheon where they served some fabulous Idaho potatoes!! Also they had the Chocolate Chunk cookies from costco, we all enjoyed a bite in honor of Laney(even though it wasn't Sunday)!

After the luncheon Mom, Hailey, Dad and I changed into work clothes and raced to set up stuff for the reception back at Bob and Chele's house. It was HOT! But fabulously it was dry heat.

The reception was beautiful and so perfect for Emily's fun personality. They had a soft serve ice cream machine and candy to put in bags to take home as favors and cute little Jones' soda bottels and pinwheels on the tables. Even their guest book was cute, it was "oh the places you'll go" by Dr Seuss.

Sunday morning before 6am I was at the airport and headed back home. It was sad that as soon as I arrived Craig grabbed a rental car and took off for Cincinnati, but atleast I got to go when I did. Reality has set back in now that I'm back in the humidity and there are no mountains around. Atleast I have Hailey's move to Chicago in a couple weeks to look forward to!

Success, at last!

2010-06-13T18:46:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we went down to Ohio to visit Craig's parents. While we were there we were successful in completing a trip where NOBODY threw up. It was a miracle! It seems like every time we leave the house somebody gets sick.

We also got to meet up with our friend Lara. She lived next to us when lived in Wooster and it seems like whenever we come down she's gone or we don't connect. It was so fun to get to see her and hang out!

Another success story from this weekend is our visit to the temple. My friend Tasha Tanner came to Columbus to visit her brother and we arranged to pick her up and go to the temple together. It was a wonderful experience and also great for Craig and I to get to visit the temple together at teh same time! That hasn't happened in YEARS! After the endowment session we got lunch at PFChang's. It was wonderful. The whole way home I kept gushing about how great our day was. I had so much fun catching up with Tasha and eating great chinese food and it was so rewarding to finally get to the temple together. A huge thanks to Yaya and Paw paw for keeping our crazy kiddos while we were down in Columbus.

In addition to visiting friends and going to the temple we had a fabulous weekend visiting with family and playing in the pool. We even got the chance to see Phil, Amanda, Alexis and Addy on Friday night. I can't wait to hang out with them again (and go to Cedar Point together this Fall!). Katie was thrilled to see "the cousins" (Driana, Summer, Anthony and Cameron) and go swimming with them on Saturday night in Ya ya's pool!

We made the drive home today and it was nice to break it up with a lunch break at Kent and Leisy's house. It was a great weekend full of many of my favorite people, now that's what I call Success!!

Katie's Baptism

2010-06-13T18:38:00.003-04:00

Katie, Taylor and Sophie on Sunday after she was officially welcomed into the Grand Rapids Ward!

Sophie, Amy, Katie, Taylor and Craig before the baptism.

Katie and Craig before the baptism. That cute little dress is the dress the building has for girls to be baptized in. It fit her perfectly. She was so glad to not have to wear a jumpsuit.

Craig, Sophie, Amy, Katie, Yaya, Paw Paw and Taylor before the baptism. Down below is Katie with her Baptism Towel. Thanks for the awesome momento of the day Ya Ya!

Katie was baptized on Saturday June 5th. I would have put pix of the baptism up earlier, but for some reason blogger was saying they were down. Here are some pix of her big day. It really was nice. We joined forces with another family in the ward so she was baptized the same day as a little boy in her class named Elijah Chino. Craig's parents were able to come up for the baptism

and we were so happy that they could that we asked them to be part of the program. Craig's Dad said the opening prayer and Craig's mom gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and even gave Katie a really excellent book on the Holy Ghost that she likes reading (she even read it for our FHE lesson last Monday). After the baptism we had ice cream sundaes. It was perfect!

I'll have her add some words of her own about the experience when she comes in from riding her bike!

And the holiday hasn't even started yet!

2010-05-30T09:12:00.007-04:00

The kids had Friday off for Memorial Day weekend so I begged Craig to take a day and we went to Warren Dunes State Park (near Michigan City in MI) to meet up with Robert and Laura and play at the beach. Taylor took a heart bite out of his apple in the car on the way to the beach (only an hour and a half). We had wanted to go camping, but of course by the time we coordinated which weekend to go, it was all booked up. We'll try for another weekend. It was an awesome place to go!

Katie was so plastered with sand the WHOLE time we were there! I don't know how she could stand it!

Sophie just chilled on the beach towel and even wore her sun hat. I was happy there was very little sunburning envolved.

Taylor had a great time playing in the sand and in the water. Laura got a great picture of the Taylor and Peter that you'll have to go to their blog to see, but this one is cute of our Little Man.

We had lots of fun playing in the sand. I was tempted to load a bunch in the car and haul it back for our sandbox!

Sophie didn't like the feeling of the sand on her. She stayed on the towel or fussed until somebody held her the whole time. It was nice to know that she wouldn't wander off though!

We buried Katie in the sand, she loved it!

Annie and Katie were brave enough to play in the FRIGID waters! It was literally like ice water! I convinced all the kids that the lake was frozen over solid just before we got to the beach (it felt that way).

We climbed to the top of this huge dune overlooking Lake Michigan. Taylor was the first one to the top and Katie was the first one to reach the bottom (running at full speed). I could have stayed up there for an hour. The view was spectacular and the temperature was perfect!

I couldn't leave without a pic of this cool tree. I loved all the exposed roots. Laura was nice enough to snap this for us. It was great because all the kids were strapped into their seats in the car so we didn't have to chase anybody around (this tree is next to the parking lot).

The Pink Princess Party

2010-05-17T09:41:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Auntie Hailey and Uncle Steve for the gift card to Build-a-Bear to get her cat "Coota" a husband!! Thanks to Yaya and Papa for the birthday money so that Coota's husband (known as "Gabe" or "Mr. Owl") got a tux to wear for the big day!

I told Katie I'd play the piano for the wedding! I think it's set to happen this Saturday! They make a cute couple, don't you think?

Look at T-money! Doesn't he look cool twirling his baton! This was not during the party, this was earlier in the day. You can see my awesome brand new Cuisineart ice cream maker I got at the neighborhood yard sale for $10!!!

Sophie found a little doll twinner of herself at one of the yard sales! Pretty cute!

Do you think that Barbie is scared of her flaming dress?? She probably should have been! The cake is half cake, half ice cream with a fudge oreo crumb layer between! It turned out a little goofy looking, but fun!

Pink Princess Katie holding court (opening presents). One of the only issues I have with birthday parties is relinquishing control of how many toys (and which ones) enter the house. I may be a control freak afterall. We ended up coming through pretty well though! She got some Polly Pockets, a little pet shop digipet thingy, a nonstop barking nintendog that is banned to her room or the basement, a cute little webkin and some colored pencils. Not too bad!

This is just about as girlie as it can get! We decorated tiaras, put on makeup, played a Princess and the Pea game, and a kiss the frog game. We made necklaces or bracelets, had pizza and cake. It was 2 hours of a little bit crazy, but just the stuff that an 8 yr old birthday party should be made of!

She really did it!

2010-05-14T13:30:00.004-04:00

yeah, not Sophie's birthday but this pic was too cute to exclude! She sure loves dressing up and hamming it up!

Thanks Auntie Rachael and Uncle Derek! Fits like a GLOVE!

Sophie wanted to wear her bday dress for Katie's birthday and her cuppycake shoes. She really did pick out the dress on her own! Funny girl! Katie still mostly lets me dress her!

She wanted to make sure she wore ALL PINK for her birthday!

We made sure the Robin wasn't there and it wasn't "too loud". She wanted to be certain not to miss them singing to her and getting her ice cream.

Okay so I keep trying to upload the video I took WHILE Katie got her ears pierced but it won't load. I'll keep trying. Maybe I'll have Craig try. I think the computer hates me! She did really go through with it and she didn't cry and her new favorite hobby is cleaning off her earrings (I'm a big fan of that!). She picked the cutest little pink sparkly flower earrings and I made sure we did 14k gold so she wouldn't have the pain and suffering that I experinced first time around.

She had fun getting a new bike (although it certainly didn't feel like she was surprised about that AT ALL), going to Red Robin and getting her ears pierced. Today is the big "Pink Princess Party". She has 6 of her little friends coming over to play games, and have pizza and barbie cake and put on make-up and nail polish. Should be a great time!

2010-05-13T16:53:00.001-04:00

There was a little girl...

2010-05-10T16:22:00.003-04:00

There was a little girl,

And she had a little curl,

Right in the middle

Of her forhead;

When she was good

She was very very good,

But when she was bad

She was horrid.

Sophie is mostly very very good. But she now likes to climb things and get into everything and steal things from her brother and sister and then run away laughing like a little banshee. I know I don't want her to be a baby forever, but it's always sad to me to see their sweet nature be taken over by the kid side. She is leaving my side and going to her brother and sisters' side. boo.

Tulip Time in Holland MI

2010-05-02T09:27:00.005-04:00

After we left Tulip Time we went over to Saugatuck Beach on Lake Michigan.

Check out all the great Tulips behind Craig and Sophie. It was such a nice day too, cool and windy but not cold. I think the rain first thing in the morning was nice to help keep the crowds away!

This is about as much sun as we saw, but it was nice enough to have our picnic and watch the dancers and enjoy the flowers and the Art show.

Katie wasn't quite tall enough. Craig is holding Taylor up. Cute little Dutch kids!

Downtown Holland was a lot of fun. I'm excited to go back sometime and check out some of the fabulous little shops they have along there. It's only half and hour from our house and then the beach is only 15 minutes past Holland.

Yesterday we had a lot of fun visiting the Tulip Time event in Downtown Holland Michigan. I have been excited about this since we moved in. It's not as impressive as the tulip fields in the Pacific NW, but it was fun and alot closer to our current home!

We headed over around 9:30am and it was raining, but it cleared up as we got to a parking spot (free on the street). We had packed a lunch and had a picnic and bought some cinnemon roasted almonds and walked around the art show (the kids got Bug catchers) and watched the Dutch dancers in their costumes and wooden shoes.

After we had had our fill of the Tulips we hopped in the car and drove 15 minutes to the shore of Lake Michigan and played for a couple hours one the beach. We found a bunch of great skipping rocks and Craig all impressed us with his rock skipping skills and taught the kids how to skip rocks. I think all dad's must be able to do that! I still cannot and just throw a handful of rocks in at the same time to simulate rocks skipping.

It was a fun adventure. I love exploring new places. I think that next year my mom and Yaya need to come to Tulip Time too. Make your reservations now!

Our little artist

2010-04-29T11:31:00.003-04:00

Kinda looks like he has polio, but he was just too short to get in the same pic with his profile pic and self-portrait.

This is his pinch pot. He really wanted to take it home with us that night.

His pic is the one right behind his smiling head!

He informed me that this is a "still life".

Ask him to sing the "hoochy coochy dance" song to you! I really like the one entitled "Down by the Bay". He has a song about family's that he needs to sing for Grandpa, it goes "All I really need is a song in my heart, food in my belly and love in my FA-mily!". It's so great when he sings that one!

Taylor's preschool put on a little art show and concert on Tuesday night. It was so fun to see all the great stuff he has been learning and working on over the past couple months. I think he really has some talent! :> I especially love his Kandinsky.

You can see his artists profile behind him in the pic with Craig holding him up, also his self portrait is the one with the blue background in the corner of that picture. I love the huge smile and the eye lashes and eye brows.

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary!

2010-04-29T11:02:00.005-04:00

Who knew that two such different looking people could make such adorable kids???

It was fun to get these couple pix taken last October. Thanks to mom and Hailey for keeping the kids in the van while we took these! It's fun after 10 years to have some pix together!

Posing like our cake topper.

It's nice we still feel this way!

It's that time again! Yup, April 29th. Craig and my wedding anniversary, only this year (as you're all aware if you've been reading the blog) we're celebrating 10 years!! Somehow it seemed like a long time at first, but in retrospect, it's still just the beginning. Shoot, we've only moved 7x's so far! :>

I'm including a bunch of pix from our wedding day in addition to the pix we had taken last October at the Beach. Thinking back over the past 10 years, I still think Craig has been one of the best choices I've ever made. Making that choice was as easy as living with him for the past 10 years has been. Even when life hasn't been easy it's been wonderful to know that we're in it together. I'm so grateful that we got sealed in the temple and that we have the gospel as a common ground. We have the same goal. Our commitment to each other is strengthened by our commitment to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. It's the most wonderful feeling to know that we can share everything with each other. So I guess I'll just repeat what I say every April, 10 years down, ETERNITY TO GO!! (maybe I was a cheerleader even in the pre-Earth life).

I kinda already hate fishing.

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There are ponds in our new neighborhood. They are mostly man made ponds to entertain the people. They skate on them in the winter and they have little boats and go fishing on them in the summer. Anyhow, Taylor has been obsessed with going fishing (is it really that exciting??) since the ice melted. Thankfully Ya ya and Paw Paw got him a fishing pole. We were going to go while we were there for Easter, but he got sick so we didn't. Then for whatever reason I was responsible to get the hooks (probably because I do all the shopping for the household). I had no idea (still don't) what to get. I got some little hooks. They have ALOT of fishing stuff at Meijers (the grocery store). I didn't know to get weights or bobs or loop-loops or nee-naws or mopalopsas or whatever else you're supposed to get.

Our first fishing experience was with the little hooks I bought and then we used gummy bears (just the heads). Needless to say, we didn't catch anything. Although it's a miracle that Taylor didn't hook either one of his sisters or me, so it wasn't a failure in my mind. Let's hope for more fruitful trips in the future (maybe under the guidance of Uncle Steve ). Sophie liked munching on the left over gummy bears though!

I had the time of my life! (ya gotta love a good Dirty Dancing reference).

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Cool Milton quote on the Chicago Tribune Bldg.

Night time view from our dinner table, not too shabby! (now you see why we had dessert when we weren't hungry (aside from the fact that that bread pudding was AWESOME).

Dinner looks good, huh? i think I liked the Salmon and the brussel sprounts best.

Here we are! Happy 10 yrs to us!

Day time view from our dinner table, navy pier.

View from our "Executive Suite". Pretty, huh?

After walking Craig through the Tiffany & Co. store for me (and asking Craig if he wanted to have breakfast there, which he was really confused about), we went to check out the ipad at the apple store.

(directly above) the Picasso sculpture. They still don't know what it is supposed to be(armadillo/horse?), but are grateful to Picasso for the gift.

Trump Towers. I think Craig would have preferred to stay here!

Cool Aqua building designed by a woman to resemble water, cool, huh?

The Shedd Aquarium, supposedly Atlanta's aquarium is bigger, but I liked this one better.

Soldier's Field (where the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox play.

Planetarium (gotta take Taylor here).

Field History Museum (really wanna take the kids here).

Navy Pier

Chicago river on Michigan St.

Our Hotel "The Drake". LOVED IT!

Here are some pix of our trip to Chicago. Man, did we have fun! It was a trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I have to say I absolutely LOVE being married to Craig. He's cute, he's funny, he's smart and so easy to live with. I can't think of anything that I don't love. He has an adorable way of being so straight-laced and traditional and conservative that I just love, but he's got a great sense of humor. He's thoughtful and kind and makes me feel safe. I remember when we were on our honeymoon how fun it was to just be away together. That still hasn't changed!

Thanks to the willingness of Craig's mom to watch the kids (at her mom's house in Chicago), we got to spend the night downtown. It was soooo much fun. I really love traveling and seeing new things! Thankfully for us we were blissfully unaware that Katie got sick that night until we got back on Saturday afternoon. We really are on house arrest. I'm trying to only remember the good times.

Anyhow, we stayed at the Drake hotel in downtown Chicago and even got a complimentary upgrade to an "executive suite" with a fabulous view of Lake Michigan!

We had dinner at the John Hancock, "Signature Room" and watched the sunset on the skyline. It was awesome. The food was fabulous. I'm still dreaming of those crunchy brussell sprouts. yum yum! I got the duck. Craig had the salmon. Then we had chocolate mousse and caramel apple bread pudding for dessert.

Then we walked the magnificent mile and came back to explore the hotel. It's so cool and historical!

The next morning we loved the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Almost as good as the breakfast at the Biltmore Inn. They even had little individual nutella's (I should have stolen some for Leisy).

Then we took the Hop on Hop off double decker bus tour, which included tix to the Sear's tower (now willis tower) and freebie popcorn from garrett's and freebie Hershey bars.

The Sear's tower was really cool. I couldn't believe what a big deal it was. For some reason, I didn't think it'd be such a big tourist attraction inside. It's almost like a museum and luckily for us the lines weren't long but it was obvious that they get EXTREMELY long.

After the tour we stopped in a couple stores on the Magnificent mile on our way back to our hotel and then drove back to Grandma Arends house.

I'm included TONS of pix for you all and for Hailey and Steve! So excited that they are moving to the windy city(which apparently is in reference to how loquacious Chicagoans are).

Spark Doggy Dog

Baby Pool Time!!!

Baby Pool Time!!!

Night at the Museum and Snow Days

Christmas at our house

Sophie's Birthday

All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth

Ada's Christmas Parade

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crazy Hair day and Halloween day/night

Happy Halloween!!

I'm always up for a party!

Craig's Birthday Bash (Still playing catch up- It was labor day weekend)

Our trip to the U.P. (this is from August but worth the wait!)

Flashback!!

A week in the life....

That which does not kill us will only make us stronger

But wait, there's more!

There's no place like home!

Identity Rehab

Katie's Birthday

Ahhhhhh.... Spring!(FIN-FREAKIN'-LY!)

Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy Easter!

April Fools

It's that time of year again

Taylor's Bday

She was okay

The follow-up

My Funny Valentine

Serve these for dessert!

What's for dinner?

Snow Days

Everybody's teeth are falling out!

Christmas and New Years

Sophie's 2nd Birthday

The long overdue Christmas post

Here's the dancing cow video!!

Thanksgiving

Incognito

Ingredients

Directions

Last week

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Fest

Every Sunday

Happy Birthday Craig (a couple weeks ago!)

Laura's french bread recipe

School Days

Old Amy learned a new trick!

Frederik Meijer Gardens

My daddy dressed me...

Finally the Return of the Cheesy Cousin Campout

ho hum

Good Times had by all on a family vacation!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

The Fourth

The Great Escape

Success, at last!

Katie's Baptism

And the holiday hasn't even started yet!

The Pink Princess Party

She really did it!

There was a little girl...

Tulip Time in Holland MI

Our little artist

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary!

I kinda already hate fishing.

I had the time of my life! (ya gotta love a good Dirty Dancing reference).