Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Halloween

We had a fun month of October leading up to Halloween! We visited Long's a lot! Probably too much.

Our amazing neighbor's decided to throw a block party at the empty lot. Everyone got dressed up, brought a dish to share and joined at a bonfire. It was a lot of fun to get to know our neighbors!




The DeJonge's hosted their annual pumpkin fest which is always a lot of fun!








Our church hosted a trunk or treat in the field. I decorated our trunk and passed out candy! So fun.


And finally, Allie and Hannah went trick-or-treating in Hills of Boggie Lake. Mike, Lori and I followed them around. Ava went in her friend Avery's neighborhood with her friends. It was a cold, rainy and windy night but the girls had fun and got a lot of candy!





 

Fall 2021

 The girls have been busy since school has been back into full swing. We are grateful that school is in person so far this year!
It's been fun to see all three of these girls play stringed instruments. I love orchestra.

My cousin's on got married in October so we were able to see most of our family at the bridal shower! Bretta is the bride and she married Alex!



Allie and Ava both made their school volleyball teams. It was awesome that Ava made it because she happened to have a broken wrist during try-outs. Allie had a great season and had a lot of play time as setter and libero. This picture was taken at a middle school night at Ava's varsity game. (Ava sprained her wrist back in the spring during track, was out for a while, then fell on it again in June during volleyball. We thought it was just another sprain. We took her to the doctor in August and it turns out she broke her scaphoid bone back in June. So we felt terrible about that! She's all healed now, as I type this, and getting into club season).

Allie was inducted into the Middle School National Honor's Society. She was also voted class secretary for NJHS. We are so proud of her accomplishments!


Work on the pool trudged along slowly. We had some amazing friends come over to play volleyball after church one day, and ended up helping us epoxy the floor of the pool first! It was a lot brighter than we thought, but once the water was in, it wasn't too bad!

Ava had her first official Homecoming for high school (it was canceled her freshman year due to covid). She had a volleyball tournament in Novi that day and didn't get done will 6. So she missed pictures and dinner with her friends but made it in time for the dance, and they took a limo bus from the dance, back to a friend's house after. 




Reece and Alayna are on Ava's club volleyball team so it was fun to watch them verse each other!

We had a pretty significant tornado come through the area! Our house had minimal damage, just some trees down and one of the trailers had some damage. But our friend Zach bought a house right in the center of where it hit. His yard was a mess!




Hannah had her first orchestra concert playing the cello! My sweet dad came to support her!

This picture is a little blurry but we had a fun Fall Retreat with the impact students!

Alex and Bretta's wedding was a lot of fun with the whole family!


And finally, the pool was finished...then we realized there was a huge leak, had to drain it, fix the leak, and re-fill it up to the pipes before we could winterize it. We did get a couple weeks of swimming in before we had to drain it again! So that was fun. We're looking forward to enjoying it next summer!


Thursday, August 26, 2021

First Day of School 2021

 Walled Lake started too early this year. The girls' first day was yesterday, August 25th. They all had a great first day and love their teachers!

Ava is a sophomore at Northern. She had a volleyball game the first day so had to wear her uniform to school. She also has a broken wrist, which happened in June at nationals, so she's sitting the bench for now. But still grateful she's on the team!

Allie is in 8th grade and Hannah is in 6th! Two middle schoolers! They were excited to be in the same school again! It was a very crazy morning. Their bus broke down and the traffic was terrible. But they had a great first day. Hannah even stayed after to participate in intramural volleyball! Here's to a great year!


UPBC 21

 We love UPBC. It is such an amazing place. This is our sixth year serving at Day Camp 2. I love that my whole family can go and participate. Allie and Hannah are campers. Mike and Ava are Shephards (Mike for 7th and 8th grades, Ava for 5th and 6th). I am a teacher. We spend the day doing camp, have free time in the afternoons to enjoy the water, and spend the evenings with our team. It's something that every family should experience at least once!


I taught Tuesday and Friday. The rest of the week was spent with this amazing group, Yellow A. They are in 5th and 6th grades. Hannah was in this group as a camper, and Ava was a shephard.

Games time!

Riflery with our group. I did very well and shot a 48 out of 50, surprisingly!

The kids loved playing grisball.

Our team always takes one evening off campus to swim and have our devotional. This was at Presque Isle State Park.

We took this photo through my sunglasses.





Free time having fun in the water!

What an amazing trip. I also help lead worship and it's so incredible to hear over 100 kids shouting praise to the Lord. We love serving at Day Camp and I hope we can continue to make it happen!


Happy Christmas 2021

 Christmas...it really is the most wonderful time of the year. I know that's so cheesy but as I posted all of these pictures, the though...