Videos

This was a time lapse of the sunset in South Haven! It was a beautiful night. 

We also had a fun time at the DeFauw's for their slip n slide party!

Some Fun Videos

So I'm going to try to be better about uploading videos. The girls like looking back at the videos the most. The first one is when we got a ton of rain in a short amount of time. Mike had the great idea of boogie boarding in  the yard. Ava was happy to oblige!

The last three are of each of the girls at their color run.

Phone Pics

We enjoyed August at home! We didn't travel anywhere or do anything crazy or exciting. We just enjoyed the beautiful weather as much as we could and sleeping in every day until school started in September. These are all pictures from my phone from July until November! I'll go back and re-post about some of the big event!

Allie ended up losing all four front teeth at the same time! Her and Braden both lost their two front teeth at the same time.

Mike, Dave, and Marty were in the blind canoe race in Milford. I think they had the third fastest time. They did a great job! 

We checked out Marshbank Park in West Bloomfield with some friends! 

We tried out The Root, a great restaurant in White Lake. 

Allie and Hannah got new haircuts for school! 

We checked out Clintonwood Park in Clarkston! That was a lot of fun since they had a cool splash park, 

My sweet mother took all the girls to get pedicures before school started! This was a lot of fun to do together! 

The girls had their first day of school. This was a tough and exciting day for me! It was hard to think that Hannah was going all day. We had had such a fun summer together I didn't want it to end. At the same time, all three girls are in school all day! I have 7 hours to get stuff done! CRAZY! Although, that all changed in October with my new job. I'll have to update about that later. 

Mike and I met Hannah at school. She really wanted to ride the bus with her sisters on her first day. 

These are two girls Hannah went to pre-school with. Sadly they're not in class together. 

Mike and I were able to stay with Hannah for the first hour. We did a craft together, organized her supplies, took a tour of the school and had a snack with her. Then it was time to say goodbye. She did such a great job walking bravely to the carpet after hugging and kissing us goodbye. I can't express enough how grateful I am that my kids have gone to school with no issues. I know it's hard for some kids to adjust to it and I would have such a hard time if they didn't like it, or cried every morning having to get ready to go. Mike and I were leaving the building and saw so many kindergartners crying for their moms. I couldn't handle it!

We finally finished our driveway, which was quite a huge undertaking. It took four concrete trucks to finish it! But we are loving having two entrances. Again, I need to post some before and after pictures of our house!  

I was on a very fun co-ed volleyball league at Oakland Yard this year! We took first place too which was awesome. Then in the fall, aside from my Monday night CHS league, I joined the Lock girls for an outdoor fall league. I only played a few times but it was a blast! 

Joey came up with his two guys to help with the driveway. They stayed with us a week and it was great to see him! 

I went on a field trip with Ava's fourth grade class to Cranbrook. 

Our CL2 groups started up again! Love these guys. 

Mike let the girls cut his hair. I know, he's brave! They did screw it up a little but he didn't care. 

The Impact leaders went on an amazing retreat to South Haven. Our house was a three story mansion right on Lake Michigan. We had so much fun with some great people! 

I got to have lunch with this sweet girl and her friends! Love their school so much. 

Mike made our hearts swell by bringing us all flowers! Such a sweetheart! 

The girls had their annual fun run, which is the biggest fund raiser of the year. They had an added bonus of it being a color run this year! I had the privilege of tossing green powder at the kids! The girls had a lot of fun. 

Dave and Todd did their annual 5K race and we came and cheered them on. It's always fun to get together with these awesome families. 

We celebrated this amazing man's birthday. I can't imagine our lives without him. He's such a great day and husband. He provides for our family in such a selfless way and adores these girls. Love him.

We went on the Impact Fall Retreat in Saugatuck. Such a fun weekend with some incredible students and leaders.  

The girls had a VIP day for mileage club where they could invite a special person to come run with them. The girls felt so special to have Devin, Marty, and Grandma come run! Love you guys. 

There have been some gorgeous sunrises!! 

The fall fest at the DeJonges was a blast again this year. Love this tradition! 

I had mentioned to some students that Chipotle was my favorite place for lunch and some had never been before. So I told them I'd have to take them sometime. So we made a plan and it turned into quite a gathering! We had a great time eating with these sweet students. We even prayed together outside a pregnancy clinic when we were done. 

Halloween was a cold and rainy night this year...again! I hadn't been feeling good so I didn't last long. Mike ended up taking the girls around Ava's friends neighborhood, The Hills of Bogie Lake. 

I'll post a little more about Halloween later. For now, it's good to feel caught up!

Vacation 2015

Well this may have been the longest I've gone without posting. Sorry, it's been one crazy summer! Here is a very long post to make up for it. This is our great trip to New Hampshire! We had another wonderful vacation at the ocean. We split up our drive out again, stopping in New York somewhere and getting really lucky with a beautiful hotel! Too bad I didn't get pictures of that.

On our way out, we watched Harry Potter 1 through 4. My parents hadn't seen any!

One of the first things you must do when near the ocean is get lobster! The girls are never too thrilled with this, however. 

The weather was amazing. Sunny and hot the first couple days, then it got a little cooler, but it was amazing to sleep in cool weather, with no air conditioning! We stayed in the neighborhood we love in Seabrook. We had a different house this year, and my fam and my parents were upstairs in our own unit, while Mike's parents and aunt and uncle were below us. Just down the street was also Chris and Miranda, as well as Alex and her fam, Heidi, Jack, Loretta, and their families as well! Nick and Melissa were a short drive away in Salisbury. It was great to get everyone together at the beach! 

We did go down to Hampton to shop a couple nights. 

Mike went deep-sea fishing with the guys again and caught some tasty fish!

He also made all the kids day by renting this sweet little scooter thing. This baby got up to 45 MPH! 

Ava, the little entrepreneur, decided to try to make money on the beach by selling popsicles for $.50 each! 

We thought about going up to Acadia National Park in Maine but turns out, it's a five hour trip one-way. So we decided to take a ferry from Portsmouth Maine out to Peaks Island. It was a cute little island. We rented a golf cart and checked out tide pools and had lunch. I probably wouldn't go back again, unless we were to bike the whole island. 

On the way back to our cabin, we stopped at one of the oldest light houses in the US. It was beautiful right there on the coast. I love the ocean! 

We took advantage of all the beautiful weather and spent every day at the beach! 

Mike took the girls on the water slides for a couple hours while my parents and I shopped! 

The girls had fun on this mechanical shark! 

Mike has always wanted to go to a Red Sox game and decided this would be the year. A couple months before our trip, he found out they would be playing Detroit the weekend we were there as well. So that just sealed the deal! My dad, Mike, Ava and I took the train into Boston and caught most of the game!  

The sky was amazing! 

Aunt Miranda bought all the girls beautiful necklaces! 

It was fun to meet our new cousins too! It's hard not coming out every year. We miss a lot! 

These kids all had a blast playing together! 

We love our time with family out East and can't wait till the next time!