SkyZone

A few weeks ago we had a planned family fun night.  Friends from MN were coming to Grand Rapids to celebrate the opening of a new SkyZone!  Its a trampoline park and oh so very much fun.  It is owned by someone that attended Faith CRC as a child and is now all grown up and lives in GR.  His two sisters and nephew and niece came out for the Grand Opening and invited us to come along.  It ended up that I had to work, but they let me leave early and we had two hours of jumping and eating and a whole lot of fun!

the foam pit

The big jump area

one of the dodgeball courts

Family pictures and fun in the leaves

I have been looking for someone to take our family pictures in earnest for around 3 months - longer just casually. I have been on facebook, craigslist, email, you name it, its been on my mind and I have been hunting: sending out inquiries and waiting for responses.  Don't get me wrong, there are lots of talented people willing to take our pictures, but for a small fortune, and I wasn't ready to pay that much for the memory.  I sat down at facebook one night and noticed someone's picture of a sunset. I thought I'd ask if she took pictures for fun, or if she would be willing.  Turns out she does take pictures as a side job, had openings in her schedule, was very reasonably priced, and would give me a CD with all the pics and the copyright to print them as I wished.  The kicker?  She is Matt's secretary at church.  Talk about searching for something right under my nose. Maybe next time I should mention to Matt what I am doing.  He knew she did this a long time ago.  CRAZY!
Anyway, I knew which park I wanted to go to and I had an idea of a few pictures I wanted taken.  We made a plan of when to go and she took her daughter Jessica along with as well.  My children adore Jessica and she had some great ideas of shots to take and she helped carry all our coats!  It was a fun but very crazy time.  We went to a park down the road that was COVERED in leaves and fallen trees with a path out to the beach.  The kids were running up and down the dunes, finding places they wanted their picture taken and poor Holly just had to run all over after them to shoot!  All in all, we were gone about 1 1/2 hours and it was pretty successful.  Thanks Quantum Red Photography!
We went back the next day just so the kids could run and play and be crazy.  They miss playing in the leaves so this was a perfect time to run, jump, slide, throw and pretend to be Tarzan.  They had been begging to rake leaves for anyone!  They would seriously point out homes that needed their leaves raked as we drove around town asking me to stop so they could rake and then play.  The park offered a wonderful place to slide down hills in leaves, jump in leaves, throw leaves.... you name it!

the tarzan rope

beautiful park

the shed

Matt spent many nights the months of September and October reffing high school soccer games in the area.  We cashed each check and saved it up until it could be turned into wood and nails!  The project of the shed began the last week of October. It started with Matt's dad coming to town with the truck making it possible to get all the stuff from Menard's to our home.  The first day they got the floor built.  Day 2 brought lots of rain.  Did I mention that for the last 3 weeks we have had only two or three 24 hour periods that it HASN'T rained.  I never was ready to build an ark because there is so much sand here is just disappears, but there is still LOTS of rain!

Anyway, since it was raining, Matt and his dad worked in the basement framing in the bedroom down there.

Wednesday dawned a bit sunnier and warmer.  My parents showed up to help also, so the three men spent the day building and got quite far.  The week got colder but they kept working.

By Saturday evening, it was a full shed with a roof, but the shingles didn't quite get finished - they ran out of nails.  Monday morning they finished up the shingles and the shelves inside and then my parents left, also.  Now it just needs some siding, but we've already got stuff inside and the garage looks beautiful without all the stuff in it! Nice job guys!

completed - but not finished

Halloween

the witch, the unicorn, the tree frog, and the ballerina

Halloween was a highly anticipated evening - but not necessarily with excitement.  In years past, the kids run off the school bus, get their costumes on, and we spend the next few hours with our neighbors.  So, this year, they kept asking what we were going to do.  Could we go back to MN?  I kept telling them that I thought it would be best if we made new memories in our neighborhood.  We were asked to join some friends for trick or treating in another neighborhood, but I had to work, so Matt and the kiddos hit up our neighborhood.  And oh my, were they successful!

It was cold and rainy (thank you Sandy), but they were not to be dissuaded.  That morning at work, my boss asked me when trick or treating was that night.  I was very confused and told him so.  He explained that there are set hours in each suburb that trick or treaters are allowed out.  We had a good laugh over the silent dog whistle that blew that only trick or treaters could hear.  I looked it up on our city's website, and sure enough: 6 - 8 PM were trick or treating hours. CRAZY!

But, our clan hit up the church around the corner early.  Apparently, they didn't get the memo and they started their trick or trunk at 5 PM.  So, off the troop went to the church around 5:30, then they could hit up the houses on our circle on the way back.  They came home having found a house just a few doors down that gave out KING size candy bars.  They were quite pleased.  Brandon and Matt warmed up and went out again and hit the next two streets over.  By the time I got home, they had created the Daddy and Mommy 'tax bucket' for us with agreements that when the bucket ran out, we could raid their stashes.  Good stuff.

All in all, they were quite happy with the evening and definitely made some new memories.

Maria is 6

My baby is 6.  Does every mom remember every morning their kids were born and what they were doing at that exact moment however many years ago?

Maria has been quite the addition to our home.  Her smile and giggle are contagious.  She is quite competitive and there are no words to describe her stubbornness.  As a youngest, she WILL be heard, no matter how long or loud she has to say it until someone acknowledges her.  She has issues with clothes - the sleeves and pants need to be tight on her ankles and wrists.  She rolls over her pants waist so it feels just right.  There are about 5 outfits she wears over, and over and over again.  She loves to play with dolls and pretend just about anything. She could (and does) spend hours every day just coloring. She is great at the game Memory and keeps up with her siblings in pretty much everything.  I guess that describes a youngest. They do anything they can do to keep up.  She's reading, writing, trying to add and spell and do all the things the big kids, do.  She's a completely different child in a group than she is one on one.  But for today, we are glad we have our 6 year old Maria.  Happy Birthday baby!  I asked her who her friends were - and she told me 'everyone in my class.'  I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up - 'A normal mom. Y'know, the kind that stay home and do nothing all day.'  Nice.  At least that's better than what I thought she meant.  I figured she wanted to be a normal mom, unlike me - the crazy one.

We have a few traditions on birthdays.  They get streamers hung on their door. They get to choose the meals.  There is a scavenger hunt for their presents.  Candles.  They get to use a special plate and cup.

The menu for the day was donuts for breakfast and clam chowder for supper.  She wanted chicken noodle hotdish for lunch, but since she was at school, I made that for supper the next night.  She also wanted a chocolate layer cake like you see on the box, but she wanted a toy on top.  So I made a bowl cake, cut it in half, and put chocolate mousse frosting in between and on top.  Barbie was a bit too tall for the dress but we just kept piling on the mousse until she was fully covered. It wasn't professional - but it worked.  And capturing Maria licking the mousse off Barbie's plastic wrapped legs was priceless.  I haven't made birthday cake in quite a few years.  None of the kids really like cake, so we usually just make brownies or candy cane pie or get some really yummy ice cream!

Maria has been begging for an American Girl Doll for years.  Before we left MN, I found an Emily on Craigslist and asked a friend to pick it up for me.  She totaled her van in the process but we got Emily and about 5 outfits. (It was a snowy, icy day - but I still feel guilty!) So, a year later, the doll is hers!

reading the clues to Sunday's scavenger hunt

the scavenger hunt rewards

she wanted chocolate layered cake with a toy - wahla - barbie dress

birthday breakfast

birthday scavenger hunt

scavenger hunt rewards

Me and my Emily

Pumpkin Carving

I love carving pumpkins.  Its just so much fun - and I love lighting them up afterwards - and I like eating the seeds.  Every year we look at pictures online to get inspiration.  Then the kids either draw out what they want on a sheet of paper or on the pumpkin.  Anika and Brandon are mostly self sufficient now which helps tons.  My dad has been growing our pumpkins for us for a couple of years.  He also has been part of the carving for many years. This year he even carved one of his own.  My mom got in the action by taking pictures and washing all the seed for us!

The final product - Maria said hers needed eyelashes

seriously?

The fruits of our labor - 4 different flavors

Maria's - Jessica's - Grandpa's

Brandon's

All Anika's - the middle one is LOL then a heart of Love, the word JOY, then a peace sign

Not sure who made the bottom one but the top one is Brandon's from Cadets.  He won the competition with it!

Trunk or Treat

Our church had a trunk or treat night at church.  We weren't exactly on time, but we made it and had fun.  It was COLD, but some friends were serving warm cider and that helped!

The girls - a kitty, an invalid, a mummy, and a vampire
 

the boys - a vampire and a skateboarder

the trunks lined up in the parking lot, a couple of cars had left by this point