First day of school!!

So here we go again! Another school year has started. I can't believe how fast summer break went! We had a lot of fun camping and everything this summer, but I could tell the girls were getting board and ready to get back into a routine. They were very excited this morning as they got ready. Abby is in 1st grade and Brooklynn in kindergarten. Abby was a little hesitant this morning, but as soon as she saw her friends on the playground she was gone and I never saw her again (til after school anyway). Brooklynn did very well and was most excited about getting to ride the bus home after school. It helped that she knew 4 kids in her class already. She has the same teacher that Abby had last year, so she feels like she knows her a little already. Abby has a male teacher this year and told me after school today that he is a very good teacher :) They are very excited to go tomorrow and are having a giggle fest in their room as I write this!! I'm so glad they like school, I know this will probably change the older they get, but it makes it really nice right now!!

Our summer so far....

Well, I can't believe it's already August. Summer has gone really fast and we've been very busy. I thought I would add some pictures from what we've been doing this summer.


In June we went camping with our small group from church. We went to a park in Muskegon, Pioneer Park. This was the first time we had been there and we had tons of fun. The lake was a little cold, but the kids still loved it! We survived some strong thunderstorms! And I realized one of my favorite things to do is watch storms come over lake Michigan. It was pretty amazing!!



We spent the 4th of the July at the cottage as always. It was really cold this year though, so we spent a lot more time inside. The kids did some crafts and we went to the local carnival one day. The kids still had fun hanging out with their cousins though!!



We have been watching Madison every other wednesday this summer. She is getting so big and smiling all the time now. Abby especially loves having her around. The girls tend to fight over who gets to hold her and feed her! Atleast she is well loved!



Brooklynn turned 5 years old at the end of July. I can't believe she's that old already. We had two parties this year, one with each side of the family. She got lots of new clothes for school, which she is very excited about! She will go to kindergarten this fall as she can't wait!



We went camping at Silver Lake at the end of August with my sisters and thier families. This is one of our favortie places to camp. The kids love the dunes and there is plenty to do there. Again the weather was not as warm as normal, so we didn't do a lot of swimming. The kids kept busy riding bikes and we spent two days on the dunes. It was lots of fun!!



So Abby and Brooklynn got a hold of the camera and took some pictures of themselves. I thought I would post one of their pictures to show what wonderful photographers they are!! They thought they did great!!

We are going to try and enjoy this last month of summer by spending as much time outside as possible. We have one more camping trip planned and hopefully we will get to spend some more time at the cottage. Hopefully the warmth will stick around for awhile now! The girls are excited for school to start, which is good, but I enjoy having them home too!!

Pics, just for fun!

We have been busy the past couple of weeks running to soccer and t-ball!! The girls are having a lot of fun and getting lots of exercise! Here are some pictures, just for fun!

Mother's Day

Abby came home from school today with some gifts they had made for Mother's Day. She told me that I had to wait until Sunday to open them, but after being home for only 2 hours she told me she couldn't wait any longer and that I could open them. One of them was a necklace she had made in art class. I told her how pretty it was and then put in on. She looked at me and said "Ummmm...you should only wear that IN the house." I laughed and asked her why and she said it looks like a kid's necklace. I asked if I could wear it on Sunday and she said no cause people would laugh at me!!! She is so funny! Most kids would be heart broken if their mom didn't wear it and she would be if I did wear it. So, I posted a picture of it below since I won't be wearing it anywhere!! (and that's really ok with me!)

Lots of cousin time!!

My sister(Laura) and brother in law are in France for a week. So, their kids are over here while they are gone. Austin is not here yet because he had to go to school. Our kids think it's great to have their cousins here to play with. We went to the mall on Friday and then stopped at the movie store on the way home. They all fit on the love seat to watch a movie (they were a little squished!).



Today we headed to the zoo. We figured it might be the only good day to be outside for awhile. The kids had fun and were very excited to see the lions!! The above picture is in the aquarium and as you can see Tim was VERY excited to be there!! He just loves going to the zoo (ok, not really) but, we all had fun and it was good to get out of the house!




And this is Madison, it was her first visit to the zoo and as you can see she was in awe!! She just liked the lights in this building!! I just had to include her because she is cute.

The kids will have lots of time with their cousins in the next week. Hopefully this will help pass the time since it's not going to be a very nice spring break (weather wise).

Birthday Girl!!

Olivia turned 3 years old this past week and like always we celebrated with her cousin Adia! Adia is only 3 weeks older than Olivia so they always have fun having a party together.

They were both singing happy birthday along with everyone!



Of course they had fun opening their presents!! (It's almost impossible to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time, oh well)


We had to get a new picture of all the cousins now that there is a new one!! Madison makes grandchild #7 for my parents. The house is getting very crowded when we all get together! But all the kids love having a new cousin. Abby especially loves to just sit and hold her. We have one more birthday party tonight with Tim's family!! More cake :)

A new niece!!!

Jessica had her baby early this morning!! We went to visit her in the hospital after the girls were done with school. She is very cute! They named her Madison Grace. Olivia's middle name is Grace also, so she thinks that it's pretty cool that she gets to share part of her name with the new baby! Jessica and baby are doing great.

Wildlife

We always have some sort of wildlife in our backyard, atleast it seems that way. Last week Tim looked out the back window and there were three deer walking at the back of our backyard. You can only see the two doe in the picture, there was also a buck (he's behind the trees). He moved before I got the camera. This isn't the first time there have been deer, but it's usually just one. We see a lot of wildlife for living in the middle of Jenison. The girls love it!!