It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Matt!!

We have been making use of our Gymco membership this winter! Matt took a super hero training class with his best bud Jack. They can now officially keep the street of Allerton safe with their super hero moves. Katie is taking a gymnastics class every Tuesday afternoon. I thought the cartwheels and tumbling would be cute, but it's far more than that. It's the real deal- work on the bars, pommel horse, etc! She is really enjoying this! I will have to post one of her in her gymnastics uniform! Matt took a sports sampler class and definiltey liked hockey the most. Needless to say, this made Kevin very happy. There was his boy, in an MSU jersey, playing hockey.... if only this could lead to playing hockey at State.... Big game Saturday night- GO STATE!!!

Where's Ben?

This question is heard quite often from me and Kevin! When we are busy with Katie or Matt, Ben will sneak away and find something to get into to. So at this stage in his life, we keep all stools on the counters. I want my counter space back! We put the chairs on the desk or the dining room table, but there are times that we forget and the end result is Ben's pure bliss of being able to do something for himself! I give this sweet child an A+ for effort, persistence and independence at the ripe old age of 20 months! He is our busiest kid yet and will no doubt continue to keep me on my toes! There is no rest with Ben! God love him!

Stotts Winterfest!

What a fun weekend we had! We let the kids invite a couple friends from school for what we called Winterfest! The girls decorated Valentine cookies while the boys and Kevin went outside to make a snow fort. Shortly after the cookie decorating, the girls headed outside to get in on the winter snow action. Our neighbors joined in and we ended up with one BIG snowball fight on Allerton! It was SO much fun! Both Kevin and the dad next door (also Kevin) were bombarding the kids and they loved every minute of it! I don't know who had more fun, the dads or the kids? After the Stotts Winterfest, Kevin and I were able to slip away and enjoy a complimentary night downtown at the JW Marriott! What a treat with special thanks to my mom who watched the kids for us! We were given the royal treatment, thanks to our friend who reserved us one of their best rooms which gave us access to the concierge lounge... aghh.... living the high life! Life is good and this weekend, it was just plain FUN! =)

Kevin's latest project!

I thought it would be nice to post one of the recent articles about a new project Kevin is starting for all of West Michigan. This iniative got a LOT of press. Here's one of the better stories. To read, copy the URL below and post it in new window...

http://bit.ly/c84gFo

Ben is One!

Our baby turned 1 in late July. It's hard to believe. He almost doesn't feel like a baby anymore. Today he is almost 18 months and BUSY. I think that babies are busy from when they start walking (Ben walked before 1) until around 2 1/2. That has always been the magic number with our kids, where things start to click and they really understand the word no (but do they ever fully?), don't go into the street, if I tip this chair it will fall backward, if I throw this spoon it will be taken away for good.

He is happiest when he is in the presence of Katie and Matt. He misses them terribly when they are at school. However, I love that alone time with Ben. We play with his blocks, read 5 books that he is very attached to, in a specific order mind you, roll the ball back and forth and we love playing in Katie and Matt's room while they are at school. They would freak out if they saw what he gets into! He is easy going and always game for whatever the family is going to do, because he has to be! haha! He loves to dance. That is one thing are family does all the time- we dance! We turn the music up loud and get down! I will turn on a CD (such as %100 funk) and if Ben is in a different room, he will come running so fast to dance. It makes us all happy, shakes off the winter ick, gets the kids moving and all of us laughing. Next time you see Matt, ask him to show you the helicopter dance move. It's only a matter of time before Ben will be doing this move with him. He LOVES Matt and already follows right behind him with cars in hand. I wish he loved food, but he is just a peanut! He is only 21 pounds right now! He is just not that into food. So be it... I am sure that will change some day and from what many tell me, someday these teenage boys will be eating all the time! yikes!

Ben is a cuddler! I hope he stays this way forever because l love his hugs!

Happy 6th Birthday Katie!

Katie asked to have a baking party. I love to bake and I love that our kids love to bake with me. They each grab a stool and step up along side me to begin baking whatever it is we are going to make that day. It's great quality time with them spent talking about their days at school, telling knock knock jokes or just putting on music and dancing while we bake. So, I thought hey, I can pull this off! As you will see, I made each girl their own cake to decorate. Each girl took home their special cake to share with their family. We followed this up with the traditional party games once again. And this time, there was a get down dance party at the end. It was crazy fun in our home once again that night,but we like crazy, it fits us.
There are ALOT of pics here becuase I wanted to show some of their creations.

Happy 4th Birthday Matt!

Hot Wheels- Beat that! That was the theme of Matt's party. I can't even remember how many 4 year olds we had here, but I'm thinking 9 or 10? What a great time! Now that was a lot of energy in our home that night, but we kept them busy with good ole traditional party games! They played hot potatoe, musical squares (yes, squares, because 10 chairs would not fit in our living room!) and pin the race car on the track. As you will see, it came down to 2 girls (Libby and Ava) for the final hot potatoe round. Libby has plans to marry Matt! =) Matt glowed the whole night with a big grin on his face. It gives us such joy to see him having fun with his friends!

By the time we got our kids to bed and cleaned up, Kevin and I gave each other a high five and collapsed onto the couch. And we realized we had to do this all over again in about a month....