Anniversary Trip

For our anniversary, Chad and I were able to go to Traverse City overnight with the baby. We had such a nice time! Chad just spoiled me. We stayed at the nicest place in Traverse City, called the Tamarack Lodge. Oh, it was like being in the lap of luxury. Of course, I would never want to live like that every day because then getting away wouldn't be nearly as much fun! The above picture is a view from our balcony.

We took our bikes and went on a ride on a nearby bike trail. Then we took our bikes down by the water and rode along the shore line--so fun! Tyler slept right through it all. We went back and took a swim in the pool all by ourselves and then brought dinner in to our very nice room, complete with a full kitchen. A much nicer kitchen than I have in my house, I might add. They have the best of everything. We bought the necessary items to make breakfast right there in our room in order to be able to enjoy every last minute of our time in the beautiful room!

Favorite Moments of Recent Days

These photos are not in any particular order--just some occurences that have happened in the last couple of weeks that I enjoyed and wanted to share. Sometimes motherhood can be quite a daunting prospect (okay, for me, most of the time) that I have to consciously look for the good, or funny, or whatever! :)

Derek was trying to lay across the swing outside, but he ally

hiked a little too far forward and wound up on his face instead.

He had dirt in his mouth, in his nose--everywhere!

This is our sweet Elisabeth at her 11th birthday party!

On July 4th we went to Taquahmenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula with some friends.

Kevin, this is as close as I can come to a family picture right now!

This is our sweet Lauren having a bad day. I know that the picture is way too bright,

but I just love the sweet look about her (even though she's pouting)!

Our sweet little angel, Tyler! I don't think I have ever been more in love with a baby than I am with this one. He has begun "talking" to me while he's nursing, and boy can he get pretty loud! I am cherishing every minute of his babyhood as I now know how quickly they grow!

We have spent this afternoon with friends over after school, so I have to get cooking dinner for them.

Jackie, thank you for commenting. It's great to hear from you! Hope you and Chris are doing well. I think of you and yours often. Tell your mom I said hello.

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

September is full of birthdays at hour house! Budge's birthday is the 9th, Derek's is the 12th, and Brian's is the 27th. Right smack dab in the middle of the birthdays is our anniversary--the 14th. So September is busy at our house--especially this year as all of the children have requested a friend birthday party--something we have never done before but did do this year (except for Derek, of course!).

Budge's Tank Birthday cake!

This is Elisabeth's friend Elizabeth. Elisabeth's party was in August instead of June so that she could have a swim party! It's kind of hard to tell, but we made individual ice cream flip flop cakes that they decorated themselves with assorted candies. Much fun!

A better view of the tank!

Derek's football cake! He loves any kind of ball right now!!!

Derek was enjoying his cake!

Super Saturdays!

This is how the four oldest children spend a good chunk of their Saturdays!

A stack of papers waiting to be sorted and bagged!

This is the girls' pile. They put each of the sale papers inside of a Glen's paper and then stack them up. Once this step is finished, they bag each set of papers with a Northern Star paper and place them in a bag to be delivered at the home of the people.
The boys, Chad and Brian, deliver the papers with Daddy. The first time we did it, Elisabeth, Budge, and I did it, and it took us five hours! Now, they have added two more routes, daddy takes the two boys, and they can deliver all four routes in about one hour! (I guess Mom is just slow! :) )

Elisabeth and Meagan hard at work!

We are so proud of our little workers! They have been doing this paper route for about 8 months now, and the three older children have a good chunk of money saved already. Sometimes they whine and complain about the work, but they are learning so many things by doing this job that we won't allow them to quit. We have decided, however, that we should allow them to spend at least a small portion of their money occasionally so they can "see" the rewards of their labor! We're thinking of taking a family outing to the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City during the week when no one is there (since school started!).

I have so many pictures and stories that I want to share with family and friends, and I thought that this might be the easiest way to do so. Please follow this blog and "spend time" with our family from afar! We love you!