Great Wolf Lodge

(I apologize for the small camera-phone pictures.)

Great Wolf Lodge was AMAZING!!! It was so much more than I thought it was going to be and the kids loved it! We loved it too! (the parents, ha!)

I am already starting to plan our next trip (not until next year, but so excited already!) :)

This is a picture from their website


Not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the lobby was BEAUTIFULLY decorated for Christmas! Loved it!

Still going...

*Still using the camera-phone. ugh

Olivia's birthday celebration officially started in October with the trip to the American Girl Doll store.... and it is still going strong almost 2 weeks past her birthday. Here are the events of her big day...

We took Olivia, her cousin Isabel and her friend Maggie to Fun-Time at our gymnastics place. so fun! (the pics at the gym didn't turn out) They all had their American Girl Dolls while they played. so cute!


Then the girls came back for lunch, ice cream pie and playtime!

Then Grandma and Apu came to celebrate! More Ice cream pie!!!! yum!

Today Grandpa and Grandma W's gift arrived. We knew it was coming UPS and I think she opened the front door to check for the package 150 times before noon!

It finally arrived, gifts from her new favorite store, American Girl!

Rebecca in her new outfit.

This weekend we are off to the Great Wolf Lodge for Gigi's gift of the waterpark overnight!

Then Sunday is the FINAL hoorah! Disney on ICE!!!

This has been such a special birthday for a very special girl. Now it is over, just in time for Chirstmas! HA!

Thank you Jill and Susie for her cards, so sweet of you guys! Thank you Maggie for the BEAUTIFUL necklace!, Thank you Isabel for the CUTIE tea set! Thank you Grandma and Apu for the FUN clothes,toys and Disney on Ice, Grandpa and Grandma W for the CUITE outfit for Rebecca!! and Gigi for the waterpark!

From Olivia: Thank you for my presents and cards in the mail. Thank you Grandma Kathy for Rebecca's outfit. and thank you for mommy (I didn't tell her to say this, I promise!) and thank you for bubby and thank you for daddy and grandpa W and for Grandma Kathy and gigi. I'm finished.

It's finally here!!!!

To say we have been WAITING for Olivia's birthday to arrive would be an understatement. We talk about it ALL year! I can't believe she is 5 but at the same time, there are times when she appears older. I love her thought processes and all of the in-depth discussions we have. She is truly our angel and a wonderful gift from God.

As I explained to her (AGAIN) the events that took place 5 years ago today, I couldn't help but think it all went so fast. I heard someone say "The days may go slow, but the years go fast" I couldn't agree more.

Here is Olivia at the beach making a pretend birthday cake... yes we were actively planning in July...

And here is the actual "cake". Actually, Olivia doesn't like cake (she gets that from Uncle Brad, wierd, I know.) so she requested an ice cream dessert. So this ice cream pie has a chocolate cookie crust, her FAVORITE ice cream, mint chocolate chip in the middle and her second favorite, chocolate on top. Topped with peanut butter cups, her ALL TIME FAV!

Tomorrow morning we are off to "Fun time" at the preschool-age gymnastics gym with Maggie and Isabel. She STRICTLY said "NO BOYS, not even Silas" which I think is funny, as he is often in tow with Aunt Kiki :)

In a couple of weeks we head to Great Wolf Lodge with Gigi and then to Disney on Ice with Grandma J. for a "girls night".

Not to mention the American Girl trip that was technically for her birthday a couple months ago. Grandpa and Grandma W. along with us, the mommy and daddy, will be supplying her with ample outfits for Rebecca.

It's funny. I was the mom who said I wouldn't make "too big of a deal" out of my kids' birthdays, but this year it just turned into the well-thought-out, ever-expanding, almost-never-ending event Olivia hoped it would be.

Happy Birthday sis, you are so loved.

Quote of the day from Olivia:

"Mom, will Logan get a present on my birthday too?

I wouldn't want his feelings to get hurt."

We are calling it "kiddie-chic"

Our kitchen table broke the other day. Plus-side? I have had my eye on a new table for awhile. The minus-side? Tommy is out of town, thus I have no way of getting a new table for a few days.

In the mean time, we have the kids' table in the kitchen! We are tossing the idea of an oriental-themed dinner so we can eat while sitting on pillows.... anyway, this puts a new twist on meal-time at our house!


In keeping the "kiddie-chic" theme, Olivia - resident tree decorator, finished her masterpiece last night. Complete with stuffed animals, bracelets, headbands, necklaces and a pink boa. This is by far my most favorie tree ever!

Grand Rapids

We joined Tommy on a business trip to Grand Rapids this past weekend. My momma came along which is always SO much fun!

We took the kids to the Frederik Meier Sculpture Gardens, AMAZING!!!

This is the waterfall in the tropical garden, sooooo nice in the fall....


This is the HUGE horse sculpture, truly breathtaking. I think we read that it was a tribute to Leonardo DaVinci...

Can you see the kids at the bottom? The horse is SOOOOO big!

(the pictures are from my phone, still need to replace the smashed camera....)

Pizza Calzones

The kids loved it! (ok, Olivia ate half of one and then asked for cereal, but at least she didn't completely turn it down). The recipe can be found here on the Kraft website.

Popsicles in November

Logan is not a fan of fruit.

This I can NOT understand, but whatever, each child is different.

Usually if Olivia will eat it, he will at least try it. but nope, not fruit. SOOOO we give him alot of applesauce with fruit, i.e. blueberry applesauce, strawberry applesauce, etc. He also LOVES the Cliff Bar Fruit Twists which are equal to 1 serving of fruit. So anytime we can get him to eat more fruit it is EXCITING for us!

Yesterday Olivia wanted to make homemade popsicles. I used to LOVE doing this as a kid. We looked at Walmart for popsicle molds, but I guess the Christmas cooking making kits sell more than popsicle molds this time of year.

So we made our own, SOOO wish I could post a pic, they are pretty funny looking, but delish. We used plain old orange juice.

You can imagine my delight when Logan discovered that he can't get enough frozen orange juice popsicles! YAY!!!

Never mind that this is the EXACT same fruit that makes him turn up his nose and say "THAT is for OLIVIA, not me!"

Momma outsmarting the kids: 1
Kids turning down good-for-them food: 0

Logan broke our camera...

I mean, why wouldn't I think a 3-year-old boy would enjoy slamming a camera on the table repeatedly? ugh.

So we got rid of it.

The camera, not Logan.

And we will be getting a new one.

Camera, not Logan, we will be keeping him. :)

So in the meantime, I will be posting picture-less posts.

Dressing up and secrets of a momma...

Olivia decided to trick or treat as a ballerina-fairy. This isn't much of a stretch since this is something she would wear anyway... :)


Here is our Superman, getting ready to take the candy-world by storm!

It was a PERFECT evening, sunny and not too cold. Olivia quickly shed her coat because "How can everyone see my beautiful costume if I have my coat on?" Who can argue with that logic?

The kids LOVED getting all of the candy, but this momma quickly tired of all of the fuss around eating it. SOOOOOO I have been secretly throwing away 2 pieces at a time each time they get a piece.... shhhh.... don't tell.

Update to post below

Found the blanket.

Gave to Logan.

Expectation: a huge, happy reaction. :)

Reality: no reaction at all. :/

Go figure. The blanket means more to me than to him. {sigh}