Flown the Coop!

Yep! This mom has flown the coop! Welcome to the Funny Farm, ladies and gentlemen! This house has welcomed 6 new tiny family members. Let me introduce you to: Sally and Nick (Christian's buddies), Fireball and Cookiedough (Carter's feathered friends) and Maisy and Brownie (Ella's buddies). Let's just say it takes the excitement at our house to a whole new level! Many stories and pictures to follow.

Time with my Princess

Life has been traveling at a pretty rapid rate these days. It is full of all the blessings I vaguely remember longing for when I wanted children. We fill each day up, that is for sure. That is why I enjoy the special one on one moments I occasionally get with the kids. Scott and Carter bonded over Monster Trucks and Ella and I enjoyed an enchanting evening with the princesses. I must say, Disney sure puts on a impressive show on ice. We started our evening with dinner at Friday's with a few other "princess friends".

Here they are modeling their princess crowns. Imagine if you will, a whole restaurant filled with princesses of every sort. Some were wearing their full princess costume. After dinner we waltzed across the street to the show.

Here we are at VanAndel Arena.

Mickey and Minnie introduced the act

Then we sat...in awe...to see snippets from each of the Disney princess stories. AWESOME!

I am so glad we had a chance to go just the two of us! My little girl is turning into a little lady, wow! How quickly time flies. :0)

Family Time

We celebrated some fun family time this Saturday by heading out the the Fredrick Meijer Gardens to enjoy the spring like weather {inside}. The promise of spring was apparent to all the senses: the smells of fragrant flowers blooming, the rushing of the waterfall, the warmth and sunshine, and of course the beautiful butterflies. We had a great time soaking it all in. I think this is our first time here without a stroller--we are BIG time now!
The munchkins

The butterfly bungalows

Taking it all in...Carter finally got it this year that he can not chase or try to catch the butterflies...we still have one little guy in who is still learning this all-important-concept.

Searching .....

for favorites

they were spectacular and SHOWY!

The greenery was amazing too

We walked out to the children's area to enjoy some hands on learning.

Chrysalis Christian {all dressed up in the costume}

emerges as a...pink butterfly!

Ella models the whole life cycle for us:

EGG

CATERPILLAR

Chrysalis

BUTTERFLY

Carter created his own butterfly. The Blue Morpho is his favorite

One of Christians time consuming creations: he put all those chips on the little nails.

Another puppet show in the garden

Of course he wanted to be the big spider

The end of the week had been a busy one shuffling this kid here and that kid there. The garden was a fun place to all spend together. I have more pictures from Friday, but will have to post later. Ella and I attended an enchanting evening of Princess fun with a few other lovely ladies!

Grandma's Visit

We were so lucky to have Grandma come for a visit a few weeks ago. The kids enjoyed lots of one one one time with her. It is always a treat to have her here. Even though there are many miles that seperate us, it's as if no time has passed between visits once we are together! The kids loved every minute of her visit, except for saying good-bye. They are already counting down the weeks until she comes back {with Grandpa...of course in May}.
The days were busy. They played board games, endless puzzles, card games, blocks, and babies. Ella of course spent time with her "crafting". They even put on a puppet show with their paperbag puppets. I must say, the kids have a pretty incredible imagination at this time! They blow me away with the story lines they can come up with.

A puppet production

Loads of Snuggles from none other than the BIGGEST Grandma's boy EVER!

American Girl crafts

We made a very quick trip to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens to catch a peek at the butterflies.

Hopefully a bit of the indoor "spring weather" will get rid of the kids colds.

We ended our fun afternoon at Arnie's to eat. We shared quite a few giggles and good food!

Counting down the days until we see you again.

My Boys don't need...

a calendar! They can feel it in their bones that SPRING is around the corner. They are splashing in the puddles and riding their bikes up and down the driveway. (Can I just say that I am soooo thankful for the paved driveway!--great investment honey!) If only the weather would warm up so they could be outside without freezing.


Dear Spring....please hurry! We are going a little stir crazy here. Our family is ready to enjoy the great outdoors!
Thanks!

One Little, Two Little, Three Little FISH

We officially began swimming lessons this week. I thought I had a 'perfect plan' to have all 3 kids simulatenously in lessons at the same time. Which is really a miracle considering all the ability/ age factors. Well we got there and the boys were in the same class. Not good because Carter swims on his own and needs stroke instruction while Christian just needs the structure of class and not to be clinging to my neck. Ella was too advanced for the class they recommended so it is back to the drawing board. Arrgh! that will be a Monday issue. I was hoping not to have to shuffle 3 kids to the pool on seperate nights. Hmmm, doesn't look like that will happen. Here are a few pictures of the boys swimming!

Male Bonding

Explosives, shooting people out of cannons, loud music, even-louder vehicles, and lots of revved up testosterone....what do all these things have in common? They were all part of the equation for the "Guys Night Out". Scott and Carter had a Saturday evening full of male bonding. They attended the Monster Truck Show at the VanAndel Arena here in town. Carter was in awe. He had been waiting for what seemed like forever, and then some!
The poor baby was sicker than a dog the night and day before. He had an awful fever and cough. He just laid on the couch and slept--which is SOOOOO not our little man! Upon waking from one of his naps, he said with a tear in his eye, "I feel really bad, does this mean I can't go to the Monster Truck show?" It literally hurt both Scott and I to see him in such rough shape and then to miss his big night out! Miracle of all miracles, he got to feeling a little better as Saturday carried on. We decided to give him some ibuprofen and let them hit the town. Man was it worth it. He was in heaven! Almost speechless which is pretty impressive for Carter. Scott said he couldn't decide what to watch- Carter's face or the show?? It was all impressive, that's for sure. Carter still talks about it and it's been weeks. I love it when my boys get to hang out with their dad. Scott is such a great dad. He has so many things to teach the boys, but it was great to just see the two of them go out and enjoy some real MAN TIME together. We decided it would be a good idea for us to each have a date night or special event for some one on one time with each of the kids. So this week, Ella and I are headed out for a lovely evening to see Disney Princess on Ice. (watch for the post sometime soon).

One of Carter's Favorites...Spiderman

They shot a woman out of this cannon...YIKES. Don't get any ideas of some "trick" to play on your sister- Carter.

Smashing of the cars. WAY cool!

Speechless.....

Another favorite, Grave Digger.

catching up

One might think that since February is so cold and gray that I should be all caught up on the blogging. However~ that is not the case. I am behind and by A LOT. But we've been busy having fun and enjoying the snowy winter. Here are a few pictures of some of our Valentine's Day fun. I had the joy and priveledge of attending and helping in Ella's classroom for the party. It was fun. Here is a picture of her box for cards. She is so dang creative. She did this all by herself.

One of her best friends, Avery.

Lola, Ella, and Avery

Opening cards from classmates.

FUN at home on Valetine's Day:

Opening some gifts from each other.
Ella was so thoughtful and sweet. She "made" gifts for each of us. Her cards were so precious and the gifts were things she collected from around the house. She gave Carter one of her nickels. Look at the joy on his face.
We gave Ella a fun whisk. She is really cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Scrambled eggs are a favorite.

Christian loved listening to the cards. Sending love from our house to yours.