puzzle girl

Meg has taken a liking to assembling puzzles, just like her big sis. A perfect diversion from the TV and knocking-down her brother's Legos.

the boy is now 6.

Henry turned 6 last week... we celebrated with a Lego cake, a bowling party, lots of his friends and lots of Legos. He got the book "Paul Revere's Ride" from Uncle Chris and re-created it with, you guessed it, Legos. Greg was able to read it to him from memory... because his dad read it to him so often. Oh Hen, six is going to be a fun year.

And FYI, this is the 4th time I've blogged about Henry's birthday. Go ahead, check the records there on the right! ;-)

10 things that make winter more tolerable.

1. coffee
2. my van's seat warmer
3. sunglasses (for that God-awful glare when you drive)
4. Christmas (but that's over now...)
5. baking cookies or...anything!
6. snowy paws instead of muddy paws
7. Greg taking the kids outside to sled
8....

ahhhh yeah. I can't think of any more.

Meg the entertainer...

Here's Meg singing "Woody Woody Woody" her own song from Disney's Toy Story....

haunting 2009

just some pics of the little ghouls...

little fashionista.

camping with 'da troop

Troop camping is a highly anticipated event if there ever was one. I took the troop to Camp Merrie Woode for 2 nights a few weekends ago... when it was actually warm and sunny!

To sum it up, it was fun, tiring and relaxing all at once. We earned our Outdoor Cooking Badge, so as you can imagine, we did all of our cooking outside, which is why I booked us a cabin, so at least I could sleep inside.

The girls chose the menu which included: Hobo Campfire packets, S'more Pancakes, Walking Tacos, Tin-foil oven Brownies, Lasagna in the Dutch oven, Banana Boats, Eggs/Sausage/Hashbrowns/toast over the fire.

Some skills we worked on:
- build, tend and put-out a fire
- cook over a fire using a skillet/foil/sticks
- light, assemble & cook on a camp stove
- make a tin-foil oven, and then bake something in it (our brownies were pretty awesome!)
- eat whatever you make "because that's all there is honey"

I'm already planning our next trip... probably going in the winter and staying in a cabin too!

a rosey surprise.

These showed-up on my doorstep yesterday. An early anniversary gift maybe, or just because?
thank you honey...

highchair demo.

Just a little demo of Meg and her new toy from Gran and Papa.

the littlest princess is now 2.

And so the twos have begun...she's becoming quite the little dancer, singer, baby-doll lover, sorter, fighter, story book hound, imitator, picky-eater, mess maker, dumper, streaker, swimmer, hugger, kisser, dreamer.

She's loads of fun. My little buddy Meg....happy birthday princess.

oh Henry!

Henry has once again started flag football (he's in the 4-5 year-old league). This is the same league where last year the kids were quite entertaining to watch as their actions barely resembled any sort of organized football. Many of them ran the wrong way, were easily distracted, pulled-off their own flags, pouted/sat down and cried in the middle of the field, picked dandelions, just hilarious stuff, you name it...

And so the comedy of pee-wee football lives on, beginning with last night's conversation I overheard:

Coach: "Can you believe that my son has already been playing football for 6 years!" (his 12 year-old son was there helping out)
Henry quips back: "I've played for seven!"
Coach: "How old are you Henry?"
Henry: "I'm five."

and this man actually sent home plays for the kids to learn...

beachy kids.

One of the best things about where we live is the accessibility to water. In South Bend, all you had was a river that you'd never think of swimming in, or an hour ride to Lake Michigan or some other lake... located in Michigan. But now that we live here (at Lake Bella Vista) we get to use our neighborhood beach anytime we want. Its free, the kids love it and its right down the street. There are also other kids down there for ours to play with. (Henry will play with any kid, Maddie usually has a few girlfriends who are down there too... and Meg is a minor celebrity when we arrive and is known as "Meggie" by all the other little girls.) Not to mention all the wholesome activities encountered... jumping off the dock, spraying your sister with your water gun, getting buried in the sand, playing "shake-n-bake" (rolling in the sand, jumping in the water, repeat...), building sand castles, catching fish with your net, swimming under water for the first time (which somehow just didn't happen in 3 sessions of swim lessons) and an overall feeling of summertime laziness for myself while I'm watching beach antics unfold.

And if we get sick of our beach, there are about 7 other lakes in a 5 mile radius that we could go to. And of course, the big Lake at Grand Haven, Muskegon, South Haven... etc.!

Well, considering today is getting pretty hot, we'd better be getting our suits on. ;-)