Family Pics

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I posted. I am soooo super sorry. I don't know where the time went. Oh wait... i do. Not only trying to get ready for the holidays with my kids, but also running like crazy every day. I seriously didn't start shopping until about 3 weeks before Christmas. Usually Shawn is the one Ba hum bugging, but I can honestly say this year it was me. I usually have the tree up the weekend after Thansgiving. It just got put up two weeks ago and I want to take it down before Monday when the daycare kids come back.

This was a sad holiday without grandma. But we still enjoyed the holidays with family. The only thing that we did get a jump start on was our gift to our mom and to our dad. It started off as a group photo for them. It included my family and then my sister Jessica and her fiance, Geoff. Shawn's cousing is just getting into photography and has a little studio set up in her basement. She did this for real cheap! My dad lives in Alabama so we thought of him missing all of us. And for my mom...geez...pictures always make her cry. It's her favorite thing in the world. And that's my intention on Christmas, don't ya know. To be a complete and total sap!
The whole gang!

But then, we have so gotten hounded lately because no one has gotten updated pics of the girls for their walls. The last one I have on my wall was from 2 1/2 years ago when I took my first black and whites at the beach. So we did a couple of those.

And then it didn't become official until about a week after we took these, but Jessica and Geoff had never gotten their pics taken professionally. Geoff proposed about a week after this photo. I am so excited she is engaged! Jessica is so happy and that's all I want for her.
Jessica and Geoff

Me with my honey. Everyone picks on him because when he smiles, you can't see his eyes. I love him like crazy and feel truly blessed.

Here goes some more shots for fun.

Me with my sister and best friend, Jessica.

Another one of us sisters.

Me and my girls....if only Meagan was looking!

Me with Meagan

Me and Katelyn

The girls love their Aunt Jessica.

Aunt Jessica and Katelyn
Aunt Jessica and Meagan

We got one of Shawn and Katelyn. Meagan was done with the pics though. Didn't want anymore of it. :)

Another family pic. Shawn is smiling better in this one.

So now my walls at home are updated too. I will post some Christmas pics soon on here. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a good New Year.

Over the Hill???

So I didn't forget about Halloween and mom's birthday pics. I just haven't had time to update this blog. But I love keeping everyong updated with what is going on in my boring life.

Katelyn

Meagan

We had a great Halloween. Mom came over and carved pumpkins with Shawn, myself, and the girls. For the first time ever we used the carving cheat sheets.

Grandma with Katelyn and Meagan
Meagan with Shawn
But I totally suck as a mom. We went trick-or- treating at Shawn's mom's. The girls were all dressed up and I so forgot my stinken camera. What mother does that? Meagan was of course a cowgirl, and Katelyn was some evil princess or something. We had the great company of two families with a total of 6 kids and we all had fun.

And then the following weekend, it was time for Mom's big 5-0. Shawn and I don't get out a whole lot. Maybe a few times a year do we actually go where there is music so I can dance. And yes I did say I. My hubby does NOT dance. And if he does... watch out. LOL. But he does go and have a good time and loves to watch me have a good time.

We started off the night with some mexican food at Flamingo's, which is normally very good, but the service just stunk. Mom still enjoyed herself.

Mom and Lil' Jessica.



When we first got to where we were hanging out at, we gave her all her gag OVER THE HILL gifts. This was by far her favorite but there is a story behing it. Every year, for all of our birthdays, she calls us up early in the morning. And she sings. But not the normal "Happy Birthday". She sings the "Today is your birthday. Na Na Na Na Na Na. Your gonna have a good time." We found this little mouse at Spencer's. He is pushing a walker and when you push his toe, he sings that song. She absolutely LOVED it. It doesn't take much to make her happy.

Mom, Jessica, and Nikki

Lil' Jess, Jessica, Mom, and Me.

Me and my girl, Renee.

Me and my mom. Sometimes she can be a pain. But who can't. I think I am sooooo lucky that I have such a cool mom that I can hang out and have a good time with. And that would be there for me in a second if I needed her to. Thank you mom for raising me the best way that you could. I don't think I turned out tooooo bad! Love ya.

Me and my little sis, Jessica. I couldn't ask for a better friend in the whole world.

And for the best picture of the whole night. My love.

I have more photos from that night, but they don't ALL need to be on here. I have uploaded ost of them on Myspace. (Which I said I would never get involved with... whatever).

Mom came over to my house the following Monday for dinner and we did her cake then. Happy Birthday Mom. Hope we made your 50th go as easy as possible, ya old fart! Love ya.

Thankful

Ok, So I am a total slacker. I feel so horrible that I can not find the time to update this thing. Maybe that's why I haven't scrapbooked in a year. I give full props to my friend, Jen, who blogs almost every day (sometimes twice). I can usually get in a few a month but not this month. And the only reason I have a moment for this is because I have 9 little ones (including my 2) sleeping in a fort in the middle of my living room and it is going on midnight. You see, I don't like to shop. For those of you that aren't aware... I get huge anxiety over the idea of spending money when we are so far in debt. I would rather make it than spend it. I know, every guy's dream. So I put out an offer with my daycare parents that whoever needed me to watch kids on Friday, I would be available. Some of my parents work in retail and had to be in VERY early. So we just decided to do a sleepover. And they are doing awesome.

Today is Thanksgiving. And honestly today was a real emotional day for me. I am so thankful for my husband and my girls. I have the best family in the world who is so supportive. And I have a bunch of friends that I love to laugh with.

So why am I having such a hard day? It's not only the first Thanksgiving without Grandma.

Christmas is right around the corner and I won't have her sitting at my table giving me my jar of strawberry jelly. It's the fact that even though we invited her best friend of almost 40 years, he didn't show up and I felt like having him here was going to be the one thing that helped me get through the day. He has been by her side for every birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We are his only family and I don't (CAN'T) lose him too.

And I think about Pops. How much he is missing out on. Or actually how much my girls are missing out on. Will our constant talk of him help them to sustain a memory of how wonderful their PaPaw was?

In the middle of my self pitty party, I have been reading my bible quite a bit. And even though I am sad, I feel blessed, if that makes any sense.

I am Thankful for those that have touched my life every second. Every person affects who we are and who we have become. And I am happy with my life really. I just miss those that are not with us anymore.

I am Thankful for my loving husband, whose arms I feel warmth and comfort in. Who's laugh I long to hear and smile that makes me feel better. And his creative way of fixing things???

I am Thankful for my humor. Or at least my husband's for listening to my crazy comments and laughing his butt off at me. (He got another good one for the book he is going write on my blondness comments tonight) Save it for another post. :)

I am Thankful for my beautiful daughters, who I live, breath, and hold my head up high for every day.

I am Thankful for my parents, siblings, grandparents. Every minute spent together is a blessing.

I am Thankful in Christ.

My crazy Meagan with her peace sign, Aunt Jessica, Uncle Geoff, and Katelyn. And Jessica, you do have a great smile!

Granny and JT, with Katelyn and Meagan.

Me with all my girls. My mom, Me, and Jess. Katelyn and Meagan.
Katelyn on Aunt Charity with Meagan in front.

I REALLY love this photo of these two. Happy Thanksgiving!

Somehow going through the photos of tonight has helped me feel better. Thank you for letting me feel however I want to feel.

May God Bless everyone with the upcoming holidays.

How time goes by.

So last week, Shawn and I had been together for 11 years. Married for 8, but together for 11. In this day and age, that's hard and I feel happy with our time together. Like everything in life, you have good times and bad, but we can honestly say the good times far outweigh the bad.

Since Katelyn has been in gymnastics, it has been a long time since Shawn and I have gone away for the weekend, or even a night. We sold our house on Hilton Park (we actually signed the same day Grandma passed away). So we absolutely insisted on saving a little bit of it to go away for the night.

We normally always used to go up to Traverse City for our anniversary in May, but haven't in 3 years. I love it up there when the spring hits. To go up by the vinyards and the lighthouse. We have our favorite restaurant. Everything. Once I find something I like, I don't like to change. Change scares me..... seriously. But this time, I wanted to live on the wild side. I wanted to go somewhere we have never stayed before! I know.... whoooo hooo exciting.

Valerie, my daycare assistant, told me about a hotel in South Haven. Called the Lake Bluff Inn. It's right on Lake Michigan. I used to live in California and Florida. Everywhere I have lived has always been 10 minutes from the water. Even up here in Michigan. I love water scenes and just the calmness of it. So after calling and checking on prices and saying "Whatever". They only had one room left because of a wedding going on that day there. I thought about it and said why not. How often do we just splurge on ourselves.

So I called back and they told me the room had a lake view and a jacuzzi tub. Okey Dokey.

Book it before I change my mind. Shawn, the awesome person he is, just let me do what I wanted.

So we pull up and it is an absolutely beautiful little (not just a regular ritzy hotel) but homey kind of and with a wonderful view of the lake..... from someone else's room. We could see the lake when we walked out to the bluff. We had to giggle. And then the jacuzzi tub.... don't let your minds go crazy.... it's not one like at Holiday Inn where we can both fit in. Nope, it's in a regular size bath. Ya know. The ones that everyone has a hard enough time fitting in anyway. Now I am saying "whatever". But what do you do. You make the best of it. And that is what we did. It was still a beautiful hotel. Don't get me wrong. Just next time, it won't be all booked so I can point to which room I want with the awesome view and the balcony. If only I could live with a scenery like that everyday. Awwww. How relaxing.

We ended up going to their downtown area where they have all kinds of shops. The thing is I hate to shop. I know.... not a typical woman. But we enjoyed walking in and out of the shops, then went out to dinner at a very good restaraunt. We walked down to the pier trying to catch the sunset but it was too quick for us. We did get some nice photos though.

Thank you, Shawn, for 11 years together. I am so blessed.

Blessed

I really don't think there are any other words I need to say than 'Blessed'.

Lewis Field Trip

OK, I know I way over did it on pictures here but honestly, I still have a lot that I didn't even post. We just had so much fun. I can't help it. !

This is in no way, all my little friends. I actually had three families that couldn't make it. This is my girls and just a handful. All the rest were running around with their families. We had a total of about 14 kids along with all the parents.

Oct. 11th, was a much better day this year compared to last year. Last year, it was drizzly and rainy and we couldn't go to Lewis' Farm like we wanted. We did end up having fun at Crazy Bounce though. And I do say "we" because my parents and I had just as much fun as all the kids did jumping on all the stuff. We all have photos. It was a blast.

But I was so excited to plan a Lewis trip again this year (with a plan B in case of weather) and glad that we could go. I usually do a daycare trip during the week but opted this year to do in on a weekend day. I thought by doing this, most of my parents would be able to come without taking time off of work, and could watch their kids having fun.

Josiah with his sister, Kaitlyn. Their brother, Nate, is in the background.

This is one of my favorites. Angie with her two boys, Michael and Tator (Nate.)

Meagan feeding the camel, Jeffery.

The weather was perfect. I did a group party, so the kids got wristbands to play on the jumping pillow, the pumpkin jump, the blue train, a cup of food for the animals, and a ticket for the hayride. Even though my husband swears it's not a hayride because there is no hay. They actually call it the Apple Express and the kids get to go for a haunted trail ride through the apple orchards. Our price also included pizza, cupcake, and juice. I swear if anyone has fall birthdays for kids, this is the place to go. I have known about Lewis' for 4 years now, thanks to my wonderful assistant, Val. It's my favorite place to take the kids.

Meagan, by a pony. Go figure. LOL. Katelyn's hair having as much fun as she is.

Meagan's smile says it all.

Sarah having a blast.

Our friend, Ric, brought his three girls. This is his oldest, Emily.

His other two girls, Claire and Isabelle.

Jessica and Chloe on the blue train ride.

Katelyn with Jessica.Meagan picking apples with her daddy.

Meagan is such a daddy's girl.

Meagan (with Katelyn holding her up high enough for the picture)

My beautiful Katelyn

Great turn out. Great time! The day we did this, it was also a big thing on the radio stations. I was glad that we got there when we did. By the time we left, there were cars up and down the road. It got insanely busy. We could have been there all day but 4 hours was enough. Can't wait to go back though. Just to get pumkins to carve. And maybe some of their baked goods.

Have I told you how lucky I am to have all my parents and daycare kids. They make me love my job. Pony party in the spring!