Happy Birthday America

Happy Birthday America is what my husband decided to call our 4th of July party. And this is one birthday party he had fun planning!:)

The party began with Andrew P. pulling in on his riding lawn mower,
which he sold to us and decided this was the best way to get it to our house.

Dessert!

A mean game of Bocce Ball

Miss Ida entertaining

A game of cards

Love the hand holding...and the imaginations!

Our very own concert!

Don entertaining :)

Can you tell what's going on here?
An attempt to have Corey touch Spartan logo.
He didn't fall for it, even with the offer of beer!

Sparklers!

Carys holding ice on her finger after
touching the sparkler as soon as the fire went out. :(

The kids thought a chair on top of the car looked like fun.
Of course, parents promptly told them
this would not end well.
So one of our guests went and
grabbed duct tape to strap the chair down
and make it at least appear more safe.
Well, the kids had fun!

Finished off the day with fireworks seen from our yard.

Strawberry Picking

I went strawberry picking 3 weekends in a row this year. I made sure our freezer was full for smoothies, breads, pancakes and whatever else I want to use them for. The kids weren't always big fans of picking for hours, but they enjoyed this outing with friends.

Here come the troops, looking for a good spot to start picking.

Carys and Lily hanging out.

The strawberries were very sandy,
which didn't seem to bother her at all!

The boys hanging out.

June 2011

The Decemberists...and Friends

We had the opportunity to see one of our favorite bands play in Grand Rapids. We got into town and headed to Old Boys Brewery where we met up with old friends and enjoyed good food and company.

Heather and Ben are always awesome with my kids!

Our long table filled with friends - it was great to see everyone!

Concert time!

We did a "Carys" pose.:)

Lead singer for The Decemberists

The Decemberists
We had a great time! They were amazing!

Shopping the next day...
Auntie Heather was very popular!

Of course we had to get some reading time in!

Auntie Heather's cats were a HUGE hit with my kids!!!

It was fun to get away for a couple days!

Saturday with Friends

We spent a lovely Saturday hanging out with friends, eating, egg hunting, egg dying, making egg rice krispie treats and dancing to a Wii game. The kids had a blast, as did their mama!:)

And they're off!






Carys is rehiding the eggs she found.



Elie










Carys was more into crushing the egg than dying it... everyone kept telling her to eat it (she eats hard boiled eggs often), but she gave her brother quite the look and then proceeded to mash it
and dump it.






I believe this was "Who Let the Dogs Out." The kids were really into dancing...okay, so we mothers had just as much fun.:)







Good times had by all!!!

The guys had plans for the weekend, so my friend and I got together and made sugar cookies with the kids.

  I didn't realize till they arrived at our house

that Caedmon had a fever.:/ 

We tried to quarantine him during the cookie making,

but it was kind of impossible.

It was a good time.:)

January Fun

 We brought the New Year in with Ben, games and food.:)

 Lookin' cute all dressed up.

Think she'll start a new fad?!

 That smile is the best!

Carys is slightly obsessed with footwear

and often adds a hat to complete the effect.

 In unison now...

 

 I think we've instilled a love of music in them 

and they, like me, can't sit still.:)

 I think she's attempting to match her brother's smile.

 They put up with mama's photo shoot

and even gave me beautiful smiles!

Hollywood pose...and done all on their own!