A very special birthday...

After we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we celebrate one of the angels He sent to be my mom.

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From Logan (age 4): Happy Birthday Gigi I love you so much and I love to play. I love you so much, I love you so much. I love to play with your teddy bears.

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From Olivia (age 6): I love that you like Barbie's and we have Go Fish so I am thinking we could bring it. I love that we play with Rebecca and Halley. You are a really fun Gigi, I love you.

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From Stacey: Love you momma, more than words can say. You are such a blessing to me and my family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to an angel :)

1 year...

Last year....
This year....

Can't believe how much the kids have grown. I love them little and I love them getting bigger, I just wish it would all slow down a little.

Hugs!

December snow

We have already had lots of December snow! The kids are loving it. Me? I'm on an official countdown to spring. 90 days to go!

Merry Christmas to us

Tommy and I celebrated our Christmas together in Chicago this past weekend. We stayed at the Talbot hotel on Delaware, just off of Michigan. I loved the hotel, cute, quaint very cozy english style.


We had dinner at the Grill on the Alley, such a nice dinner, just us. Lots of laughs, really - how many waiters can 1 table have? who can keep them all straight! not us apparently. Tommy still cracks me up after 10 years!

I love our little getaways, I love Chicago at Christmas time and I love the way we get back to 'us' within minutes of dropping off the kids. I love coming home to the kids and their hugs when we have been gone. and I already love the planning process of our next weekend away. :)

Thanksgiving 2010

more birthday.... :) Olivia LOVES receiving new toys for her American Girl dolls, she loves her new kitchen! and new outfits for Halley:)

SiPi, our littlest cousin, such a cutie. He steals my heart everytime he says "Can I go bye-bye with you?" LOVE HIM!

Dad and Kathy came down for Thanksgiving, such a fun visit

The boys and their toys. HA!

The girls with their girls

Chapel and Chicago for Olivia's Birthday!!!

This past week Olivia's school had Chapel and it was the Kindergarten and 1st grade's turn to perform. To say I was excited is an under-statement. I was SOOOO proud of her! We practiced her songs, Bible versus and poems. Her class did wonderfully well!

After Chapel I stayed for lunch and brought cupcakes for the kids and the goodie bags Olivia made. LOVE her class, LOVE her school, LOVE that she is so happy there.


Olivia and I are alike in alot of ways. My birthday celebrations are weeks long and Olivia wouldn't have it any other way for herself! I feel like she has turned 6 about 10 times already because of all of the talking about it, planning and talking about it some more :)

On Friday Gigi and I packed up the kids and headed to Chicago to celebrate the newest addition to our family... meet Hallie (short A) Haaaalie, not HAAAAley. HA!

One of my favorite parts of the day, was our favorite lunch spot, the Grand Lux, with a view over Michigan Avenue. We could have sat and people watched all day.

We made a stop in the Lego store, Logan was BEYOND excited! It was fun to watch him take it all in.

Today we celebrate with family and then next Sunday we celebrate again with more family! Just my style, it keeps going and going.

We love you so much sis and are so thankful for you! Happy Birthday sweet girl :)

The Homestead - Glen Arbor, MI

This past weekend we took a trip to The Homestead Resort on Lake Michigan. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! and we can't wait to go back! We hiked, ate good food and just spent time as a family. Logan loved the lodge and "Mickey Ocean" (his name for Lake Michigan, funny story).

Olivia LOVES to hike, so I would have to say that is her favorite part. We hiked a golf cart path up to the top of the hill (the Homestead is a ski resort in the winter) and this was our view. The camera does not do it justice, but Mickey Ocean is right in front of us, along with the Manitou islands. BREATHTAKING in person.

The view from our lodge, wish the camera captured what we saw, it was WONDERFUL! I woke up to coffee each morning, next to a gas fireplace/stove overlooking this view. I was in heaven.

The kids are such great travelers, we made it home Sunday night just in time to trick or treat. What a fun weekend of memories for our little family. Hugs!

That's what friends are for...

..to call you out when you haven't updated your blog in awhile.

Jill and Susie please update you blogs, I miss reading them (and please don't be mad, do you think I should copyright that phrase?) Love you girls! :)

Catching up...

Wow, September has FLOWN by! Getting into the swing of homeschooling, starting MOPS (where I am so blessed to be leading a FANTASTIC group of ladies) and starting Bible Study Fellowship, this month has been busier than most.

School is going wonderfully, the kids are both adjusting to our new schedules, Logan still can't wait until it is his turn to go to school. Next fall Logan!

MOPS is ALOT of fun! I love being apart of the Steering Team, and spending time with such wonderful ladies! Our next meeting is "Favorite Things" sort of like Oprah's favorite things, but I'm pretty sure no one is giving away a car or a trip. :)

BSF is going to be so amazing this year! We are studying Isaiah. The first week the study was on Isaiah 1:1 and we heard a 45 min lecture on this ONE VERSE! The details that are given, the study behind EACH verse is truly amazing and such a blessing. This is the first year for Isaiah there are 600+ women gathered together to study God's word. I am honored to be apart of it. Praying for good time-management, on BSF days, we take Olivia to school (30 min 1 way) and then come back to get to BSF on time. Logan LOVES his class one of his wonderful teachers is the same as last year. What a blessing they are to us!

Some of our Sept activities....

The apple orchard. Logan loves to pick 'em, won't eat 'em. sigh.


Turkey Run State Park. LOVE to take the kids hiking there, SO BEAUTIFUL!

And a trip to Purdue. This is the first time we have walked the campus with the kids. It was very surreal to walk into the union knowing that 12 years prior I was there, having no idea where God would take my life. It was so neat to watch Tommy and the kids walk the halls I walked in college. My life is blessed "far beyond what I could ask or think". God is good!

So glad blogging is a reading activity so you don't have to hear me cough up a lung every few minutes. I'm on day 15 of this nasty cold virus. Prayers are appreciated as our busy schedule doesn't slow down for a sick momma. :)

Hugs!

Olivia's First Day

Olivia started school a couple weeks ago, here are some pictures of her first morning of school! :)

She picked out her own outfit and told me JUST how to do her hair. Sadly, no piggy tails with bows, but I love her style just the same. :)

Can you find the rainbow at the bottom-left of the picture? (It was much brighter in person, and seemed bigger... oh well) We saw this on our way to school, can you picture me trying to take a picture while driving on 465? I told her that when a rainbow is in the sky and there hasn't been any rain, it is a miracle. And that God was telling her to have a great day. She was ALLLLL smiles.

Here is her class! Love, love, LOVE her teacher! I have already been room-mom for lunch duty and am scheduled again for tomorrow. Logan LOVES going to have lunch with her class.

Here are the kiddos having ice cream after our first day. Its not Vic's, but it will do :)

We have all been fighting some virus/allergy junk, so Olivia hasn't felt her best for a couple weeks. Some days she is all smiles when I pick her up and others she is just quiet. One day she actually fell asleep on the way home (we have a 30 min drive) She says she likes some parts of school and others are a little long. "Mom, we are there for 4 WHOLE HOURS!" :) We are getting into a good routine for school at home on the off days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). We sit down after breakfast and get her homework and our supplemental work out. Logan sits with us and I give him work to do too. LOVE IT! Today Olivia had to cut and paste and so he wanted to cut and paste too. Melting this mama's heart.

I pray for wisdom and patience every day as we venture into our school years. I love knowing that God has our family in the palm of His hand and I am so humbled and thankful. I am also so thankful that He stuck with me when I said "NO WAY. I am NOT homeschooling!" :)