Snowmageddon 2014

and it just keeps snowing!!! I wish it was at least warm enough to go outside and play in all this snow but it's crazy cold! The boys have been out for short periods but it's seriously freezing out there! Last night at dinner, Colin announced that he's pretty sure it's going to snow forever. On the upside,  Colin thinks Santa Claus will probably move here because it's like the North Pole now.

It's kind of weird how life has sort of been at a stand still this last week. There has been no school, cancelled appointments, and few outings. We've mostly just been sitting inside watching the snow fall.... and trying to pass the time. Sometimes we see a big snow plow go by (VERY exciting for the boys) and once we saw people skiing down the middle of the road. In a way it's been nice and in another way, the boys are climbing the walls and the days have felt very long!

View from our front porch

When it gets warm enough, the pile off our back deck is going to make a great sledding hill!!

I took the following pictures last evening because I thought the snow might show up better at dusk.... but really the pics just look a little darker. :)

See you in the spring, digger.

Summer went out with a bang!

We spent the last week of summer on our family vacation right here in Holland, MI!

The week flew by and now suddenly it's September!

Typically, we each take a night on vacation and cook dinner, usually laying the food out buffet style. This trip we most often ate outside on a picnic table overlooking the lake, while watching/ playing with the children in the back yard. One night while sitting at the picnic table my dad laughed and said, "What do you guys notice?" 

I hadn't a clue what he was referring to by kyle did.

"The original five!"

I looked around and he was right. The only people left at the picnic table just happened to be my mom, dad, kyle, gavin and me. We all had a good laugh because we can't remember the last time it's been just the five of us at a table. It was kinda weird/ funny because we're all so grown and yet in that moment I had flash backs to all those times as a kid, sitting around similar picnic tables on family vacations (usually camping trips) with the four of them. 

My family. 

And now we've grown much bigger! 

Reese and Owen were the newest members this year.

We spent A LOT of time at the beach

Owen liked to nap at the beach under the tent.

Sometimes with company

 

Owen also turned 3 months on this trip!

A little known fact about me is that I generally don't swim in lakes or oceans... or ponds... basically any water except a pool. I know, weird. I love to swim, just not where there are other creatures swimming as well.

And yet, my boys managed to drag me into the water this trip. 

"Mommy come on, let's go swimming!" they'd say in their adorable little voices.

And I would. Those boys.... they get me every time.

We celebrated my mom's birthday.

 And my brother Gavin's birthday. 

On G's birthday, we went paddle boarding which was so fun!

Don't even ask me why we're posing like that. 

We also rented a pontoon boat and watched the sunset. 

Loved watching these kids play together! They had so much fun!!

Lastly, we watched a lot of beautiful michigan sunsets!

Till next year....

Vacation Time!

We are on vacation!

I thought I'd have time to blog but as it turns out I've been very busy doing things like this:

That's Owen and I laying in the hammock enjoying the breeze. He's yawning and fell asleep just after this picture. I could have laid there all day with him sleeping on my chest. 

Each year my parents generously take our whole family on vacation. We've met up in Michigan City, IN., Manistee, MI. and this year Holland, MI.

And yup, Holland is where we live! :)

It's been wonderful! My parents, brothers, sister in law, and nieces all stay at a lake house only a few minutes from our house. Each morning we get up and head over there to spend the day at the beach and do all things vacation. Then each day around nap time and bedtime we're able to come home and put the boys to sleep, in their own beds. I feel like we've been able to enjoy all the fun of vacation without having to pack up all our stuff, including enough pack in plays and gear for five littles! 

Back to chasing my littles on the beach and sneaking time with Owen in the hammock.

I have lots of pictures I'm excited to share though. 

What a great vacation this has been!

Here are the cousins last night after coming up from the beach!

Go fly a kite!

Last night, on a whim, we decided to go to the beach. It was a beautiful evening and the boys had taken a later nap, so we knew they'd have energy to burn!

As soon as we picked a spot near the water, the boys grabbed their shovels and got to work! Digging, digging, digging. If there is sand, they shall dig!

The weather was absolutely perfect. We watched the boys play in the sand and the sailboats sailing in the background. It was so peaceful!

The boys also brought their kite which they've attempted to fly in our yard... never with any real luck. But tonight there seemed to be just enough breeze at the beach, it might just work!

And it did!

Each boy got to take a turn holding the kite and boy did they think they were hot stuff doing it. Chris kept saying "Hold on tight WITH BOTH HANDS!"

After a bit, Owen and I headed back to our blanket and watched from a distance. All of a sudden I saw the kite take off in the wind. Carter had let go.

Then I watched Chris in a dead sprint racing across the beach after this kite. I was concerned (like that the kite would fly into unsuspecting beach goers) but I also could not stop laughing!! Or taking pictures while laughing. Ohmygoodness.

Chris eventually dove for the end of the kite string and got it! He saved the day! Four little boys were very relieved. In fact, the whole kite flying experience was the highlight of the day. I think they'll be talking about this for a while to come!

The summer nights we'll remember

This past week was a little nuts and in some ways just felt off. There seemed to be more crankiness in the air all around.

On Thursday I attempted a day of cooking. I followed the vegetarian recipe plan from the website, Once a Month Mom. The idea is that you cook a ton of meals in one day and then freeze them for the month. It's something that I've been wanting to try for a while now but logistically didn't happen until this past Thursday. So Wednesday night I feverishly chopped all sorts of vegetables, peeled sweet potatoes and boiled quinoa, rice and pasta. It took me about four hours. The next morning early, my mom arrived to help Jordyn care for the boys (thanks mom!). They all headed to the park and I poured myself a cup of coffee and got to work!

Now, I LOVE cooking for my family. Cooking is totally enjoyable for me and though the number of meals and the volume of food scared me a little, mostly I thought, "How hard can this be?"

Turn out people, it was really hard! For me at least, it was hard. It took me well over 12 hours and by the end I wanted NOTHING to do with the kitchen. I just wanted to collapse onto the couch! Time will tell if this ends up making our family life easier. I'll let you know :)

Oh and did I mention that the oven broke down during hour 4? I mean, seriously....

How excited does Chris look to be dealing with a broken oven?

Luckily our microwave is also a convection oven so that's what I ended up using. Not ideal but it worked.

So yes, it was a wonky kind of week and reinforced to Chris and I today, that we needed to get out and do something fun as a family.

So we packed a picnic dinner and headed to one of our favorite parks by the water.

It was JUST WHAT WE ALL NEEDED!

There were so many serendipitous moments, like when it just so happened that the Holland symphony was also there setting up and practicing for a concert tonight. The boys were so curious about the instruments and loved listening to the music. Or like when a fire truck pulled out of the fire station across the street. Or when a police man walked by and ended up stopping to chat with the boys for a few minutes (Rescue vehicles AND a real live police officer? So cool!)

The weather was beautiful tonight. We watched boats sail by, climbed the jungle gyms and ate dinner under a big oak tree while listening to songs like "Somewhere over the Rainbow" sung in the outdoor concert hall behind us.

Carter: "Firetruck!" 

On the way home, we stopped for some frozen yogurt. The boys loved being able to pull the lever themselves to serve themselves yogurt. Coolest thing ever. It's always the simple things with kids, isn't it?

Know this boys,
               
Your dad and I love hanging out with you. There's no group of people we'd rather be chillin' with on a Saturday night then you five. You're fun to be around, you make us laugh and you always keep things interesting!

First Family Bike Ride!

Ahhhh, what a great evening! 

So on Father's Day, I wrote in Chris's card that I thought we should buy second bike trailer as part of his gift (you know, in addition to the chocolate and popcorn) so that we could bring all of the boys on family bike rides. We have one bike trailer already, which was given to us by Chris's parents. It was a great gift but while living in the city we never used it. I'm sure we could have, we just felt too nervous with all the traffic. So it stayed in it's box until now. 

Chris and Colin went out on that very day and got it and today we hit the open road bike trails for a family ride. 

Started here:

Finn's fired up with his new helmet!

Ended here:

With a little stop in between to check out a deer along the path. 

Colin was mesmerized. We don't see deer in the city! 

Colin said, "Do you think that Santa lost one of his raindeer?" 

Love. 

Summer evenings, time with my guys, and new adventures in a town with oodles of bike paths to explore.