Buddies Kim & Steph

Hello Digital

Our first digital video camera and clip. Enjoy & remember this isn't high quality entertainment ... or video for that matter. :)

'Tis the Season

Apparently for my husband, 'tis the season to get his butt grabbed. Let me back up a little. Our friends threw the most amazing wine-tasting party last Saturday night. The food was gourmet all the way, the wine tasting was fun (yeah, I pretty much guessed what I was drinking and definitely did not smell the bouquet) and we met some really cool and unusual people. Unusual and frisky. Jeff was chatting by the sink when he felt a hand grab his rear and since I was standing across the way, he knew it was not my hand.


Oh my. This very colorful (and I hope innebriated) woman had grabbed his tush right in front of me and her hubby. Then she claimed she thought it was her husband. (Ummm ... hello. They were not even wearing the same colored pants and Jeff is way hotter.) :)

Merry Christmas and keep an eye on your man this season.

Blog On!

This is by far my favorite thing in the house. A cheap barn window that hold pictures of my three priceless kids. Thanks to my good friend Steph who once again captured each one of their unique and colorful personalities.
Zach on the hunt to find Sacajawea. (When we met her, she had the most beautiful black hair with bright blue eyes. Hmmmm ...curious.)
I guess it's hard to find non-Dutch actors in the Ada area. :)

This is Paige and I on the way to the David Crowder Band concert sporting our new T's. (Yep, we're that geeky. And no, I wasn't drinking prior to this picture being taken. My 13 yr. old niece snapped it and apparently has a very unsteady hand.)

Mya (photographer of pic above) & Paige. It really was a tiny glimpse of heaven for me that night. To see my favorite artist, hear my daughter singing every lyric to every song, and watching my 15 yr. old nephew, Ross, lifting his hands up in worship right next to my husband Jeff. Take me home Jesus. And make sure Mr. Crowder is playing that night.
Oh yeah. That's my skinny-big-haired-Jesus-loving friend.

(O.K. really we're not friends but I know if we ever met, we would be like BFFs.)

Filter Me, Please

I have a problem. I'm a conversation filler. If there is a long pause or someone is shy and just looks at me then I'll just start filling. Usually that's o.k. Today? Not so much. Sorry. I'll be back on my 'A' game tomorrow. (Maybe.) I'll leave you with this photo of Michael Phelps. It leaves me speechless. Which today ... is a good thing. :)

What Have I Been Up To?

1. Nearly 5'6" if I'm stretching. :)
2. Getting all the paper work together to get a passport so Jeff and I can go to the Dominican Republic with a group from our church on a mission trip.
3. Jumping through hoops to get my teacher's certification back --- just in case I decide I would like to get join the work force again. (In other words; get paid for working instead of the current SAHM salary.)
4. Avoiding housework.
5. Finding rocks and sticks in the bottom of my daughter Zoey's backpack. Will I someday miss the "treasures" they bring home?
6. Doing laundry. Like daily. Seriously Deb, I don't know how as another mother of three you only do it once a week.
7. Blowing my nose and coughing for about a month now. I'm sick of being sick. Time for some drugs. Too bad I have never gone to a regular doc. Could my high risk OBGYN prescribe me something? :)
8. Playing on facebook. Where does the time go?
9. Taking a crying four year old to swimming lessons.
10. Going to see David Crowder Band in concert. I've still got a "holy crush".
11. Making 50 homemade invites to a brunch that I'm hosting.
12. Looking forward to our couples get away to Chicago the first weekend in December.
13. Watching the Lions and U of M lose on a weekly basis.
14. Did I already say "avoiding housework"? It needed to be repeated.

Please Hold

My friend Tara uses this line when her kids interrupt her. "Please hold". I've decided it applies to my blog since it's on hold since I joined facebook last week. Sorry. Please hold. :)

For the Grandparents

And for anybody else who wanted to see the kids all dressed up for Halloween. Here's the cast of characters; Paige - flapper, Zoey - 50's diner waitress, and Zach - the happiest kitty you've ever seen. :)

Zo and her friend Abby

(Abby seriously has the best giggle ever)

Got the flapper dress for 50 cents at a garage sale.

(The seller? Bill Hybels daughter Shauna. So it's kind of a famous dress right?)

A Little Pre-Halloween Fun

Obiwan Kenobi and Princess Leia

(yeah, we know they didn't date but that's the free costumes we borrowed from our friends.)

Have we mentioned how much Zach loves to dress like a kitty. Every day he tries it on.

Loved the head-to-toe costume. My "buns" were a little itchy however.

Our friends Stan & Jackie.

More friends - Scott (Wilma) & Jeannine (Fred)

Tami (Martha Stewart) & Dave (Joe the Plumber)

Well the kids can't go to college now, but it sure looks pretty in our kitchen!

Beware of Footy Pajamas

This blog has become more about pictures than writing and since I'm not a professional photographer like my good friend Steph, I should stick to what I can kinda do, write. So last weekend Jeff was at a YGuides camp out with Zoey and since he is the "early to bed" partner in this marriage, I was excited to stay up late watching a movie &/or reading my book. I rented "Becoming Jane" (very good in a heart-wrenching-she-ends-up-alone kind of way) and then decided to read my book club book "Beautiful Boy" (also good in a heart-wrenching-your-kid- is- on -crystal- meth. kind of way.) So after going to bed around 12:30 (yeah, that's late to a mother of three) I fell asleep and slept soundly until 6 a.m. when Zach came into my room and told me he had pooped. Now he's been potty trained for about a year but we haven't tried the overnights yet because ... well to be honest ... we've been lazy and we don't want to change sheets in the middle of the night. So Zach's up, there's a poop in the diaper, there's no hubby to roll over and hit, so I stagger to the bathroom with my stinky short friend. As I unzip his footy pajama, I realize that one side of his diaper is already unstuck. Uh-oh. I tell Zach to wait so mommy can undo the other side so we can keep the poopy in the diaper. Too late. He's yanking at it and plop. The plop has plopped inside one of the legs of his pajama. Did I mention it was a footy pajama? After shaking out both legs over the toilet because I couldn't tell which one was heavier, I wiped Zach up, got a clean jammy and tried to get him to fall back asleep next to me.

Yeah right. 5 1/2 hrs. of sleep. That will teach me to stay up "late".

A tale of two pictures

The girls looking cute.
And then there's their little brother ...

Running with the Bulls

So, I volunteered to organize a float from our school and it was fun and Jeff was amazingly helpful. (Even though he flat out refused to be the bull rider but instead opted to be the truck driver.) Our elementary school really is amazing. You shoot out a few emails and the next thing you know, your house is filled with moms making tissue paper flowers! :)

Thanks everyone.

(Dad G. for letting us borrow your trailer, Sheryl for dropping off a sweet yellow shirt and cape the day of the parade, Tasha for finding a matador hat at her church, Nicole, the art teacher, for making the incredible signs, and all the moms, dads, and kids who helped make the flowers and/or walked.)

(This dad, Tom, was an amazing matador.He had to act like he wasn't having any fun, but we know the truth! He had the most props of any float participant and held a rose in his mouth for the entire parade - 45 minutes!)

Getting Ready for the Big Parade

Here are the neighbor kids (& a couple of mine own)

using the trailer for their Rock Band.
These girls can jam!

Can my kids be average?

In a world where each child is pushed to excel at everything they do at school, at home, or on the playing field, can I ask just one simple question; can my kid be average or does she or he have to be excellent at everything?

You forgot how to read certain musical notes over the summer? Get out the flashcards and practice before piano lessons next week.
You forgot some of your multiplication facts? Hey, we got flashcards for that too.
Go to soccer practice to improve your ball skills.
Don't forget to read every night.
Get an 'A' on your spelling test every week.
Here's a math sheet for homework.

I'll admit most days I want my kids to exceed, excel, be excellent. But I also want them to be a kid. Just a fun-loving, care-free, average kid.

Chew On This

"Pride is forgetting the bigness of God and the smallness of you."

Fall Feast

Candy corn + peanuts =

Absolute Deliciousness

(It tastes just like a Pay Day candy bar. But looks more festive.)

Thanks to our dentist & friend for bringing this to a party and introducing it to our family. Is he trying to boost his business? :)

Professional Softball Family?

O.K. I never blogged about our family's crazy softball schedule this summer. M/W/F we were out on the softball field and the girls had fun learning how to play the game. (Their mom/coach had "fun" trying to teach them too!) The girls were very sweet but after yelling, "throw it to first, first base, first, go to one" and then watching them toss it to second, my patience was extremely tested. :) I also had one little player who after telling her to run out to her position, she stared at me and walked every so slowly out on the field. Grrrrr. I think I better wait a few years before I coach softball again. Maybe I should coach a sport I know nothing about ... Zoey's up to bat.

Paige's up to bat.

Crazy girls.

How I Know

This is how I know that I sent a little boy off to school yesterday and not a little girl.

• I had to remind him to try to hold in his "toots". (Seriously, it was our lunchtime discussion.)

This is how I know that I sent my baby off to school.

I was the only mom in the carpool line and since I was a few minutes early I asked the teacher if I was the first one. To which she responded, "No, most moms and dads are walking their child in for the first day." Alrighty then.

I stayed in my car. :)

I watched him run in all excited with his camo backpack looking like a little man.

I cried as I rounded the corner and drove away.

And They're Off ... to School!

1st day of school tradition; picture taken with sign.

One latest home improvement project; displaying the kids artwork.

1 Phenomenal art teacher at school + 2 creative little girls =

13 incredible pieces of art that are now proudly displayed in the basement.

My Boys

I thought I should post a picture of Zach doing something "manly" like washing the car since I posted a picture of him in a pink dress. Sorry little man. You look cute either bare back or in a pink tutu however.

Jeff and his mini-me.

Poor Boy

It's tough having older sisters. Here's to a life of dress up and tiaras.

Room's Done / IKEA Trip / Saying Goodbye

So apparently the word "submit" doesn't get the comments flowing! :) Here is a pic of the inside of our room. I really do love how it turned out and I can now finally walk around in a towel (or less) in my room without feeling like I'm on display. Good news for me; great news for my neighbors? My friend Steph and I headed to IKEA yesterday (great conversations + fun shopping = happy mommy) and we bought a lot of organization and kitchen stuff. The only bummer was that they were out of a few things I "needed": nightstands for our bedroom, curtains for the girls room, and a new area rug for our kitchen. I guess when I prayed at lunchtime for God to help me only buy things that would be useful, he was in fact once again listening to my prayers. As soon as I got back I changed my clothes to go to a funeral visitation for a friend from our former church. Tim was just 41 years old and leaves behind a beautiful wife and four kids. Please pray for Becky if you think of her during the day. Hope all you bloggers are well.

"Monkeying around" with more upper case living art.

Dirty Word?

Best sermon I've ever heard on the word submit. Thanks to Pastor Steve Armfield at our church for helping me re-think submission. If you have a few minutes , o.k. more like a half an hour, take a listen. (Be patient. It takes a few seconds to download.)

If I'm being perfectly honest, I've always struggled with the word "headship". After all, I'm a confident independent woman of the 21st century. I want to be the head of my own ship thank you very much. A funny example of this is when my dear brother-in-law called us about a year into our marriage and just a few months into his own and asked Jeff how he was handling being the "head of our household." To which Jeff moved the phone away from his ear and yelled across our dingy apartment, "Hey Laurie - am I the head of our house?" I think if you have to ask ... the answer may be NO! ;)

Maybe what my brother-in-law was asking wasn't how are you doing at being the "boss" and "ruler" of your home but rather, how are you loving your wife? Are you loving her like Christ loved the church? When you look at her do you see the cross right over her shoulder? I'm going to believe that is what he was asking and that we were too immature to understand the question. Because let's face it, the other alternative would make him somewhat less "dear" to feisty 'ole me. :)

The Zoo, New Hoosier & Wall Art

When did my kids get so blonde?Love us some free face painting!

Don't poop on us birdies.

Our find in Pentwater. A refurbished Hoosier cabinet.

Uppercaseliving art in the girls' newly painted pink room.