Jessica is 8!

How can it be that this little spark plug has been humming her way through life for eight years already?  She chose donuts for breakfast, chicken noodle hotdish for lunch, and I haven't made her request for supper yet (pesto sandwiches) but its on the menu and we'll do that soon.  She barely fits into size 6 clothes, isn't quit 40 inces tall, barely makes it into the 10th percentile, and can be heard for miles around. She has a beat to her own drum in so many ways.  Hurry isn't really a word she understands.  Neither is quiet. Her body is always moving to some sort of beat - really.  People are amazed at how she can dance and move - even while walking.  She is always singing or humming or moving or dancing to the song she hears in her head.  She shines on the stage.  Lives to be in front of people, especially if she can hold the microphone. She'll tell you she hates school, but that's mainly because she just wants to sleep in and watch TV.  Why on earth would you want to get up and put forth some effort when you can just sing and pretend all day long!?!  She wants to be a horseback rider when she grows up and really wants horseback riding lessons this summer.  When asked who her friends are, she still tells you the names of the people back in MN, but did add two from MI this time around.  She still loves to pretend play - mainly puppies or horses.  She is a great little soccer and basketball player. Loves to turn cartwheels and has a fashion sense all her own, but she can pull it off!  Anything with bling she loves to wear.  One of her favorite lines is 'I love to read. Its one of those things that once you know how to do it, you just can't stop'. And she does love to read.  Currently she is working her way through Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew - a younger version of the Nancy Drew books.

We love you dear Jessica.  We love the spark and smile you bring to our day. We love how you make us crazy and laugh at the same time. I love how you still like to hold my hand when we are walking beside each other, or how you like to stand on the chair and sing at church.  There's still a little girl in there and its a beautiful one.  We can't imagine our world without you.  Happy Birthday!

a horse and scooter for her American Girl Doll -
 plus glow in the dark planets for her ceiling  to match the stars already there

Her birthday treat request - brownies and ice cream - with 8 candles - on the special birthday plate!

Happy New Year

Our New Year front door painting!

The party comes to MI from MN

As you can see, there wasn't much snow, but there was enough to make the sleds move down the hill so all were happy!

Friends came to visit, and we partied!

I came home from getting groceries to streamers and 40 decorations.  I got the necessary 40 gift pack of vitamins and stool softeners, so all is well now.

We celebrated with Pizza Ranch pizza and Coldstone Creamery dark chocolate mint ice cream with red velvet cake.  Oh yeah baby.  That's a party.

The next evening, mutual friends came over from Grand Rapids and we partied away with games and laughter.  The kids played outside for a time and we all played some group games inside.  Another good party.

The next day we went to the Y to play dodgeball and run off some pent up energy - it worked and fun was had by all.  That evening, two families from school and a few extras came over to ring in the New Year. And ring it LOUD!  It was a bit nerve racking for me to have my two worlds meet - MN and MI, but it really went well. The adults talked, laughed and played. There were more kids than you could count, mainly because they never sat still enough to be counted, but they were everywhere.  We introduced PIT to a few people and everyone stayed awake until midnight rang out and the ball dropped - live in this time zone!  

Goodbye came the next morning.  Goodbye always comes, and its never easy, but it sure is great to have the memory.  Thanks guys!

40 is fine

Next on the birthday list was yours truly.
I can honestly say I don't really even remember what we did exactly on my birthday.  I know I went to work, but I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday and I know we all ate supper together at home.
Thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook, lots of people piped in with some birthday wishes.   And because a large portion of my facebook friends are high school and college classmates, most of them are at or going to be 40 this year as well.
Its funny to look back at life and remember where you were when others turned 40.  I distinctly remember someone from Faith Church in MN turning 40 and his youngest child was in our high school youth group.  Guess he had about a 10 year jump on me considering my youngest is in Kindergarten.
Now that I am 40, I guess I don't see what all the hoopla is about.  Its just another year.  Another decade.
So, here's to the other side of the hill!

Happy Birthday Jesus

We started the morning by emptying the stockings.  Yes, I bought some $1 candy and stuff to fill up the house even more.  We don't fill the house with the idea of Santa but we do hang stockings by the fireplace and fill them up on Christmas Eve and the kids empty them on Christmas morning.  Generally its candy, gum and pencils, which is mostly what it was this year.

Anika and all her gum that she now can't have because of braces - oops mom!

Then we have coffee cake with candles in it and we all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  Coffee cake doesn't last long at our house. I believe this was gone in around an hour!

We spent some time painting ornaments - each kid paints an ornament each year - and then we headed off to our friends on the lake for a delicious prime rib dinner.  Not everyone can say they played on the beach on Christmas afternoon!  We played a rousing game of Settlers of Cataan that lasted close to three hours - it was crazy long, but everyone stuck it out.

This is one of the last pictures ever taken of Mollie our beloved dog of our friends.  The owner sat down at Christmas lunch and announced that 20 kids were going to have a great dog to play with soon.  He was referring to the kids from the shooting in CT and Mollie.  Mollie was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and was quickly fading.  She died about 12 hours after this picture was taken.  We all said goodbye before we left which is always hard to do.

We ended our evening in Grand Rapids with my aunt.  We went ice skating, along with a whole lot of other people - but we fully enjoyed it. We also enjoyed a small recital by the kids back at their house as well as soup and some games.

It was a lovely Christmas spent with some wonderful people making some great memories.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve together.  Something I have learned to love is the time we spend just the six of us.  It doesn't always seem to happen, so when it does, and its an enjoyable time, I try to pack it away in my memory - especially for the times when things aren't so enjoyable.

Both Matt and I spent a few hours at work.  I came home and found that Matt had brought two kids away for a short play date before supper.  The family they were playing at came over for supper and then we all went to Celebration for our Christmas Eve service. It was a nice service.  Low lighting, personal candles, and lighting to Silent Night.  We enjoyed the song 'Follow the Shepherd Home' which is a beautiful song that has been sung in our church a few times.  

After the service we came home - just us - to open presents.  The week before there had been a 'Santa Shop' at school where the kids could go through and pick out presents for their family - $1 each.  The kids were so excited to give it a try.  Those of you who know me, know how excited I was about getting $20 worth of $1 items in my house.  More stuff, of course we need that.  And such vital stuff that I'm sure we'll use over and over again.  So, I was less than excited about the prospect but I conceded and handed over the money.  We had a chat about it at work, and I was reminded that the joy for the kids is in the giving, so I just need to smile and nod.

So, we are at home, opening these presents.  I was amazed at how much thought the kids put into getting presents for each other. They actually found things that were thoughtful and thought out and had no personal gain.  Brandon got Anika a book light.  A little light she can clip on to her book so she can read at night and he can sleep in the dark - brilliant.  It never worked, but what do you expect for $1 - but-  he really thought about it and it was a perfect gift for her.  He also got Maria another version of the game of Memory.  Maria is the queen of Memory.  All in all, three of the presents ended up in the Goodwill bag, one in the garbage and a few I don't have any idea where they are, but I was pleasantly surprised with the joy they had in watching each other open their gifts, and how much fun they had with it all. I am a self proclaimed hater of Christmas.  I find it all to be very stressful, very expensive, and way too commercialized. I like the music, the snow, the lights and the story, but that's about it.  I'm a pretty good grinch - I even have a stuffed one.  But I did genuinely enjoy spending that time as a family. And, thankfully, no one has asked me where the Santa hand towel is!

Christmas (and birthdays) at Papa and Mimi's

Anika and Jessica in their new sweater dresses

The weekend before Christmas we headed a bit south to Illinois to celebrate Anika and Jessica's birthdays with Matt's parents and Christmas with his parents and brother and sister-in-law's family.  We enjoyed the visit and of course the kids loved papa and mimi time, cousin time and presents.

We played some wii, played a rousing game of fox and geese out in the dusting of snow, and stayed warm by the wood stove.

We ate supper with some of Matt's extended family (uncles/aunts/cousins) before heading back to Muskegon for Sunday morning worship.  

It was a short trip, but a good one!

cousins and presents, what more could you ask for?