ethanannaclaire

Finally!! A new post!!

2011-05-07T05:59:00.001-07:00

Hello! It has been way to long since I've posted an update. Facebook has taken over but I decided it sure can't hurt to update this a little more often than every 2 years. Plus I have a new computer that updates pics much better! This photo is on Easter Sunday of my three kids with their sweet baby cousin Ivy Lickley. So Sweet!

Here is a family picture!! Of course, we're missing our youngest family member who is black and white and has a squished face but Grandma and Grandpa don't let him come over yet so he couldn't be there. :) In this photo, Claire is almost 6, Ethan is 11 and Anna is 8.

Ethan is in 5th grade...which is his last year at Kettle Lake Elementary. It is a tradition there that all the 5th graders get a plaster mask done of their face and then they decorate it. I helped with this project and couldn't resist this pic of Ethan looking like he was at a spa day. Some of the kids had their eyes, nose and mouth covered and just breathed through a straw. Glad my kid didn't do that!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby boy!! He turned 11 on April 20. Oh my gosh...time goes SO fast!!!!

Another birthday photo of Ethan with his two sisters. :)

More of our Disney trip

2010-03-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

Oh my....I think I was way more excited than the kids to see that castle and walk down Main Street USA. This was taken at the beginning of our 1st day in the Magic Kingdom. We ended up doing alot of Fantasyland and all of Liberty Square and Frontierland that day. Some memories of our 1st day include 2 times on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for all of us, 2 girls in tears during the entire Haunted Mansion, following our guide, Anna, down all the paths on Tom Sawyer's Island, watching a very hokey Country Bear Jamboree, the kids LOVING the Hall of Presidents (!?! What??), and of course, Peter Pan's Flight and Small World...oh and tons of giggling during the 3-D movie, Mickey's Philharmagic. Last time we were there they all cried so this was a huge improvement!

All ready for bed after a great day!

1st day in Epcot!! We were suprised how much they loved this park!! Some of our favorite things that day were Nemo's ride, Soarin', and exploring 1/2 of the World Showcase....highlight was United Kingdom and France where we kept on spotting characters with little or no line to see them!

Check one entry down for the 1st of the Disney entries....I will be posting another entry in a few days. :)

Our Disney Trip!!!!!

2010-02-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, after MANY hours spent looking forward to and planning our Disney vacation, we are home safe and sound and really missing being back there. We had SO much fun together!! The weather mostly cooperated...a little rain here and there and cool at the end but the beginning of the week was warm and sunny. We started our trip at Animal Kingdom and then headed to Chef Mickey's for a Character Dinner buffet. Here are a few pictures from that night. I will post more but had to get Minnie and Mickey on the first page! Ethan totally stuffed himself at this buffet. Claire and Anna were too into seeing the characters to care much about eating.

We were encouraged when making our reservations for the week to be "celebrating"something. So because the closest thing to celebrate was our anniversary we decided to celebrate that. We got lots of extra perks because of it! Here is our special anniversary dessert at Chef Mickey's. 2 chocolate cupcakes on a Mickey shaped plate with LOTS of sprinkles everywhere...much to Claire's delight.

This dessert was SOOOO cute I just had to take a picture of it. It's a tiny Mickey shaped blob of chocolate on top of an oreo cookie. You can imagine how excited Joel was to have to be in this picture too. :)

Trust me...many more pics will follow...keep checking back!!!

Sorry, Mom!!!!

2010-02-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon Joel and I took Louie for a walk and left all three kids at home for a short time...playing, reading etc. We told them that when we got back we'd have to do a little cleaning b/c we were having some friends over later that night. When we got home we walked in to see Claire scrubbing away at the kitchen table with many huge drops of water on the floor leading over there. :) She was so proud of herself! Anna was scrubbing the heck out of the already clean sink with her sleeves all rolled up. Then they told me the bathroom was already clean too.....1st sign of trouble. Bathroom mirror was totally in a haze....Anna had used the tub and tile cleaner on that. The sink was all set and then I noticed a rag by the toilet and the toilet bowl cleaner on the counter. I nicely asked her if she had cleaned the toilet and with what. She replied, "I cleaned the toilet with that white brush!" "What white brush? The one under the counter in here?" I said, hoping for the best. "No, the one we use in the kitchen sink!" she replied. Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!
Needless to say, we have replaced that brush but thank you, Anna, for your sweet thoughtfulness. What 7 yr old would willingly clean the toilet for her mom? :)

More Thanksgiving weekend....

2009-12-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, we put Claire to work as soon as the tree was set up. No more fun....get vacuuming!!

We also like to cage our children and let the puppy have the run of the house....she did this herself and needed assistance to get out. :) I think Louie was starting to think something was seriously wrong!

We celebrated Christmas with Joel's mom and dad and sister and brother-in-law that weekend too. We had a great Christmas dinner here at our house and had lots of fun opening gifts. Claire was so excited for this "real" microphone....we were not quite as excited.

Ethan has turned from being a huge Nascar fan to a huge NFL fan. This kid has to be talked into taking this jersey off!! He likes to get all dressed up in his gear to watch a game.

Better post some fall pictures before Christmas!!

2009-12-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

For a few weeks this fall we were lucky enough to have my grandparents in GR. We had them over for dinner and here is my 90 year old grandpa with all the great-grandkids plus great-grandpuppy.

Here is Claire just before being dropped off at preschool modeling a cute hat I got for her at a craft sale. She will not wear it again so here is your only look... :(

This year, we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Susan and Scott's house!! It was so great because Susan wanted to learn how to make an entire Thanksgiving meal and wanted Donna to teach her....you can guess what that meant for me....NO COOKING!!!!! I only brought the stuffing....it was so great not having to make tons of things and Susan and Donna did a wonderful cooking job!
Those of you who know this family know what a miraculous picture this is.....no one is smiling wierd...they all look great!!

Since we are trying a white Christmas this year (i.e. not going to Florida as usual) we decided to cut our own tree instead of using the lovely pre-cut trees at Fruitbasket. This our tree and it is so beautiful. The kids thought it was very fun to walk around and decide which one we wanted. We even got it before the big snow came!!

Forgot to post costumes!!!

2009-11-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Claire was a cheerleader this year which I was very thankful for....we had this entire costume in our dress-up clothes!

Here are Ethan and two of his friends at school. At this point, I'm glad he's still satisfied with sports figures and not anything gross like his friend. Yikes!!

Anna the leopard. When she was talking and thinking about her costume, she said that she would also need to go and find her stuffed animal deer so that she could carry it around in mouth. Nice....apparently she takes after Joel b/c I would have suggested carrying a leopard CUB around and not her latest kill.

Here are all three before hitting the streets for trick-or-treating!! Candy and cavities...here we come!!!!!

Some Halloween Fun!

2009-11-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin carving was fun this year....although everyone truly wants to do all cutting themselves. Thank goodness for those kid-friendly pumpkin carvers they sell now. We carved up on our new island which made cleanup very easy. Another plus for our new space! :)

We carved pumpkins on Friday night right before Halloween....the kids had their school parties a few hours before and Anna was a leopard this year. You can still see the remnants of her face paint and a tattoo on her arm.

Ethan and his scary pumpkin....done entirely by himself with NO help from either parent!!

Puppies and Kittens!!!

2009-10-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here is an updated picture of Louie. He is almost 4 months old now and 11 pounds. He's now as big as Bea which kind of stinks for her. They still do not get along great. Or maybe this is just how it will be....Louie chasing Bea - Bea whacking Louie in the face...Louie barking at Bea hoping to GET chased and then giving up.

And.....this adorable kitten showed up in our woods on Sunday. If I could choose my ideal cat, I would pick this one. She is beautiful...smoky gray with very blue eyes. She's super snuggly too and eats like a pig. She has been happily living on our deck until we find her a permanent home. Of course, Joel had to inform me that if we hadn't gotten Louie, we could have kept the kitten. Great.

This is why we cannot keep the kitten.....lots MORE hissing and dog and cat antics....I have enough with Bea and Louie and can't really add more. :) She really does think she is one tough girl going up against a rowdy barking puppy!

A few more construction updates

2009-10-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the island and some of the countertops...

Another view.....

Here are our wood floors...which we totally love!!!! It warms up our house so nice and I'm even getting that kind of worn, cottage-ish look I've been wanting for so long! :)

More remodel......

2009-10-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

OK....here is what we let the kids do to the wall for the 2 weeks prior to knowdown. It's our own personal Artprize entry!! They had so much fun and couldn't believe we were letting them draw on the whole thing. Check out the previous entry for more "Before" pictures.....

The dumpster has arrived!!! Let's fill it up!!

Here are Mark and Joel most of the way through the knockdown. Awesome!! I think the kids were a little shocked at what the house looked like when they got home.

The next morning....Ethan is wondering where his kitchen has gone.

Stay tuned for more.....

Bringin Down the House...or Kitchen....

2009-10-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ha!! I'm so excited that I can finally upload pictures again to our blog! Too bad I can't get them on Facebook. :( Anyway, we are at the beginning of a huge and very exciting change in our house. We have knocked down our wall that divided our kitchen and living room and are making an island instead. We are so thankful to have our very good friend Mark and his company doing this remodel for us. So far things have gone very well. We have a temporary kitchen set up in Joel's workroom downstairs and it works great since we have a fridge down there and plenty of shelf and counter space. So far....so good. This is as close to roughing it as I get...as many of you know.

Here are some pictures of our kitchen BEFORE........

Meet Louie, our new sweet puppy!

2009-08-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Finally we have our sweet little puppy! Joel has officially caved...actually we wore him down and then made a deposit when he wasn't there. :) Louie is so good....doesn't cry in the night and loves to play. Even his new dad can't resist him! He's 8 weeks old.

He doesn't even mind being held for long periods of time by Claire. :)

On another Claire note, the other day we were getting ready to go to the pool and the girls wanted to bring Barbies to swim. They went running downstairs to find them and get them ready to go swimming. The trouble is we only have one Barbie bathing suit....Claire came upstairs sobbing, "Mom, Anna has the zucchini!" Translation, "Mom, Anna has the bikini!" Barbie bikini, that is.

One more Claire story....We were at the Barry County Fair looking in the cow barn and I pointed to the dairy cows and told her that these cows give us milk. Then we got to the beef cows and I told her these cows give us meat like hamburgers and steaks. She looked at me and asked, "Well, which cows give us gravy?" :)

Happy 9th Birthday, Ethan!!!

2009-04-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Gosh, it's hard to imagine sometimes how fast time goes. It seems like not long ago at all we took our baby boy home from the hospital and now he's 9 years old. This is our sweet boy that we prayed and prayed for and we are so thankful to have him in our lives. He adds alot of fun and spark into our lives. He's our clown and king of silliness. Ethan has taught us all about Nascar and the NFL. We know more than we would ever have hoped too. We have more little Nascar racecars in our house than I ever thought possible. :) He is a terrific big brother and in typical, or so Joel assures me, big brother style - he has taught his sisters the finer points in 3rd grade "cool talk"...like every other word is "dude" and also has satisfied his dad's longing for a kid who loves gross bodily functions and baseball as much as he does.

Of course, he still needs to snuggle with his mom even though he acts like there is no way on this planet he would do this.

We got Ethan a Michigan State helmet, jersey etc and he totally loves it. He has been wanting a helmet for so long....he wears it constantly and has discovered he does have to take it off to eat, which is good. This also came with fake shoulder pads - also a good thing because he used to put on a t-shirt that was 2 sizes too small, put a little foam ball on each of his shoulders (under the shirt) and pretend that those were his pads. Foam balls do not stay in place after having been fake tackled.

We made him wait until the end of the day to open his gifts....we thought he might burst with excitement! Ethan also got a pitchback which he loves and his dad loves even more. :)

Yippeee!! I can upload videos now!! :)

2009-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

OK..I can finally put some cute videos on here that hopefully aren't too grainy like the ones from my camera were. Here is a very cute one of Claire saying the Pledge of Allegiance....we have no idea how she learned this but we love the new "dog" spin she has put on it. I had no idea Dalmations were such a part of US History.

A few more fun pictures from our trip...

2009-02-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

Look who's on a roll now!

Here is part of our big gang that was down in Florida...in addition to our own family, we have Uncle Brett, Aunts Sarah and Erin and Uncle Rich. We were posing during our ice cream eating. :)
Do we look like sisters??

Holy cow, Ethan is beyond excited to be at his favorite restaurant Da Ru Ma....the Japanese steakhouse near our condo. Bring on the the food!!!!

Ahhhh...a peaceful morning on the Gulf. How I wish I could be back there right now!

Beautiful little Claire at our Christmas Brunch.

It's a miracle......

2009-02-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

OK....my computer FINALLY cooperated with me. And wouldn't you know, it was a practice run with the pictures I chose so let's just see what we have here. There is so much to catch up on that I think I may just move forward and not go back to all the xmas ones.

We drove to Florida again this year - 23 hours in the car with 3 kids straight through the night. They did remarkably well and slept most of the night. We had fantastic weather while we were there and lots of fun each day. Here are Ethan and Anna in front of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which is just up the way from our condo. They hire a castle-builder for the week b/w Christmas and New Years. We walk down and check out the progress each day.

Here we are after a great dinner at The Dock. I don't know where the rest of my kids are! :)

This picture will give you a good clue about what our big gift was this year for the kids (and secretly for ourselves). We have all loved having a wii - even Joel who didn't really want it in the first place but now golfs every night. We have all had sore arms from boxing and tennis and the kids love Mario Kart and have gotten really good.

This is a classic Christmas Eve pose....Anna and Ethan eating so many strawberries w/powdered sugar they're about to burst. No sugar highs in this house! :)

This was also Christmas Eve. Gigi and Papa's church has an "unrehearsed" Xmas pagent (sp?) and the girls love to dress up as angels. They were very sweet. Ethan is now "too old" for this stuff plus HATES doing anything new in front of a crowd.

Now that my computer seems to be a bit more agreeable I will see if I can post more regularly again....Thanks for not giving up on me!

I'm still here......

2009-01-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hello there everyone who is still checking this neglected blog! Just wanted to let someone know that I'm still here and am still going to eventually post an update. Each time I try to upload some cute pictures of our super fun Florida vacation, my connection gets reset and nothing loads. It is not for lack of trying as I sit here each night and try, unsuccessfully, to get this done.

We had a great, almost 2 week vacation in Florida and are now back in the groove of real life, which feels pretty good. I am hoping to post Xmas/vacation pictures soon so keep checking...not too often, or I'll look even worse. :)

Our Fall trip up to the cottage....

2008-11-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

We ventured up north to our cottage one last time for the season in mid-October. We celebrated Joel's 35th birthday at the Empire Bar....thanks to my mom, he HAD to wear the Golden Oldie birthday hat. You know he will NOT be happy when he sees this blog.....which makes it all the more fun. ;)

We had fantastic weather while we were up there. The colors were so beautiful and Old Settlers Park was covered in red, yellow and orange crunchy leaves. We had to spend alot of time playing there since the smell of the leaves and the sound of their crunching was so great.

Awwww...big sister and her little brother.

Here is Anna with Brett's dog, Kingsley. She totally loves this dog.

More cottage fall pictures coming.....

Happy Belated Halloween!!

2008-11-13T18:44:00.001-08:00

Fall has been too busy around our household. I am way behind on pictures and will catch up our blog soon but I thought I good way to get back on track was to start with Halloween. Here we are carving pumpkins....we all missed Aunt Jesi who is very creative with carving but now lives in Denver. Claire is doing who knows what in this picture, as usual. I guess she's excited to carve!

This year, Ethan was a pirate, Anna was a vet and Claire was a bunny. It just goes with the territory this year that I never got a good picture of the three of them in their costumes. Here is what I did manage to capture....

This is Ethan at his class party enjoying some lovely sweet treats....

This is our lovely, cupcake eating, vet - also at school.

Here is Claire trick-or-treating. She was so sweet this year. She ran up to each house and yelled out "Trick or Treat!!" at the top of her lungs. People thought she was adorable, which of course, she was. :) Her friend, Katie, is in the background as Ariel. They went around together and were quite a cute pair.

Pirate Ethan and his friend Carson as Harry Potter

And last but not least, the glamorous vet with her sick dog Kingsley. :)

Claire has more teeth than Anna and Ethan combined. They have each lost 7 teeth. Ethan lost 2 in one day this past Tuesday to reach the level Anna has been at. Now neither kid has full top front teeth and partially in front bottom teeth. They are very happy that they can w/out any loose teeth for the moment.

A new post will hopefully happen soon so keep checking back. I'm hoping to get back to posting every other week or so. :)

Ballerina Claire, Napping Claire and Bear....

2008-09-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

Claire has FINALLY started a dance class and for those of you who know Claire well, this has been a long anticipated event. Neither girl took dance last year and this year both are taking a class and loving it. Claire is taking ballet/tap and Anna is taking jazz/ballet. Here is Claire in her outfit before her class.

Here are two sweet pictures of Claire napping on the couch. We've been out having lots of fun since it's just the two of us during the day and sometimes we stay gone too long and she ends up "resting"on the couch. Amazingly enough, she sacks out every time.

Joel went bear hunting this past weekend and my cousin shot this huge bear. Thankfully it went home w/my cousin and not my husband. :)

Back to School...

2008-09-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

And we are off to another fun-filled school year. These pics are about a week or so late getting posted but these were taken on the morning of the 1st day of school. Here is Ethan - all excited about starting 3rd grade. I can't believe my baby boy is already in 3rd grade.Which leads me to my 2nd (toothless) baby.....off to 1st grade! I think it might be harder for me to adjust to her being gone all day every day but so far so good. She likes it but says it's kind of long to be gone. :) Just so you know, there is yet another loose tooth in that mouth.

And the true baby of the family....little Claire who is stuck home w/mom. She's really been missing them but we're having alot of fun together. Her favorite things so far are to go shopping and out for lunch....I am in serious trouble. :)

And the whole gang....

Pools, Fairs and Beaches....

2008-09-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Here is where we spent many summer days....at the pool! Here are a few of the kids enjoying the hot tub.

Please notice the lack of teeth in Miss Anna's mouth. :)

Our tiniest glamour swimmer. By the last day the pool was open she was SO close to swimming all by herself. She really did great this year and loves to check out E. and A. underwater w/her goggles.

They have a huge waterslide and Anna was finally tall enough to go down this year. It took 20 minutes of convincing the first time around and then for the rest of the summer she want down about 20 times each time we were there.

Of course, our summer is never complete without a trip or two to the Lowell 4-H Fair. Ethan found a few super cute cows that were so gentle and loved to be pet.

Claire wouldn't dare get near this one! :) Too much bigger than her I guess.

Sadly, they love the rides more than the animals so we had to visit the midway. This is E. and A. on the Paratrooper. Joel was worried that Anna would fall out of the bar...I was very sad that he brought that up b/c that ride was going super fast.

Claire rode the more tolerable rides. She was queen of the motorcycles. :)

This really doesn't need any explaining.... they all loved sticking their heads through this sign. It was too big to get the whole sign in the picture though.

Here is a better picture of Anna without her two front teeth. Since this picture, she has lost another one on the bottom for a total of 5. Ethan just lost his third but still has his top two.

We also took a trip out to Holland this summer but the wind was not our friend that day. It was super windy and almost chilly. We still had fun watching all the boats and playing in the sand.Now that Ethan and Anna are back in school, expect a few more regular updates as I know have somewhat of a life again. :)

A very fun Sunday....

2008-08-24T18:49:00.001-07:00

Today we decided to have some fun. After church we packed up the kids and headed to Michigan's Adventure. We hadn't been there since Claire was 1 and at that time, we had to worry about her nap etc. so things were much more enjoyable this time around. The kids were so excited to go and we had a blast. Here are a few pictures from our day.....

This is the brave dad on the Sea Dragon w/Ethan and Anna. Anna felt that the bar was not going to hold her so she only partially liked the ride.
Here is a mom who is very scared of heights trying to be brave on the huge ferris wheel. No one could notice that my eyes were closed behind my sunglasses. :)

E. and A. on the Frog Hopper. This thing goes up and just randomly bounces the kids down. They all giggled throughout the whole ride...it was super cute.

Anna on the Airplanes....

A fun boat ride....this is about the only really good picture I got of Claire although she had a great time. She was able to ride all the little kid rides. Her favorite was the motorcycles that did "wheelies" and the 50's cars that you drive around on a track. She loved that she would stop steering and the car would hit that track that runs down the middle. I was riding with her so that was great fun for me. :)

Sadly, I could not get any pictures of the most fun part of the day. Ethan is now a total roller coaster lover just like his mom. He was a little apprehensive on the first small wooden one but had SO much fun. Awhile later we went on a regular sized (big and fast) wooden one that was AWESOME! I could tell he was hooked. By the end of our time there I got the kid on the Corkscrew (the one that goes upside down) in exchange for a ride on the Nascar Go Karts. He was loving life and was very brave to do that crazy roller coaster w/his mom. He wants to go again tomorrow.....

Catch up....

2008-08-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

I've been having some annoying troubles uploading pictures to the blog this summer. I've finally been able to get some on so you can see what we have been up to this summer.

First of all, we had some trouble with our trampoline, as you can see. This happened at the end of June during an awful windstorm. I was not here but this is what Joel saw when he drove into our driveway from work. The wind had picked up the tramp and literally wrapped it around this telephone pole which was about 10 ft away from it. Needless to say, we no longer have a trampoline.
Another view, you can also see our dog cousins Rio and Kingsley at the bottom of the picture. Rio belongs to my step-sister, Sarah and Kingsley belongs to Brett.

At the end of June, we went back up north with lots of family and spent a few days at the cottage. Here is Claire with her great-grandma Gigi.

Claire, Violet and Ethan snuggling in a very old chair that we all sat in when we were kids.

Anna and her favorite Uncle Brett at the sunset (that you can't really get the full effects of).

Fast forward a few weeks....these pictures were taken in late July. We had the opportunity to buy a few large maple trees for our backyard. Joel and his dad are trying to get them to our backyard. :)

Joel and Ethan standing in the tree hole they had just dug. We're hoping our new trees will give us some much needed shade on our deck.

Our first fair visit of the year was to the Barry County Fair. Here is Claire getting to know a cute little goat.

Ethan bonded with this little guy....

And here are all three enjoying a little bit of a horse show that was going on....Aunt Jesi, we wish you were still showing so we could watch someone we knew. :)

More to come, now that I think I have this picture problem fixed. :)

Happy 6th Birthday, sweet Miss Anna!

2008-08-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite a long time since you have seen any updates here. This is due to lots of summer fun, a tired mom at the end of the day and an uncooperative computer. Thankfully, things are looking up and I was actually able to get some pictures to appear here. We have lots of catching up to do so stay tuned over the next day or two and we'll get up to date.

We'll start not in chronological order but instead in order of importance....Miss Anna's 6th Birthday. Our sweet little girl turned 6 July 19 and this is a picture of her with her cake. We had a fun day that day celebrating as a family. I took her out for the afternoon to paint pottery and one of those pottery painting stores and then to Krispy Kremes and also a stop at a bookstore. :) we had alot of fun. She wanted pizza for her birthday dinner so we did that and watched a movie. She had a great day.

A few days later, she had her birthday party with some special guests from Colorado. Grandpa Pete and Grandma Donna were here and we got to celebrate Anna's 6th and Grandma's 60th. It was a special celebration w/lots of gifts, cake, food, family and of course, in true VE style, beers. :)
Anna was SO sweet opening her gifts. She sat and took her time carefully opening each one and her expressions were priceless.

Ethan ran inside during the gift opening and grabbed a gift bag and filled it with items from his room that apparently he didn't mind giving away. Here is his sister's crazy expression while examining this scissors she has seen a million times.

The birthday bunch....Nelson turned 60 the day before Anna turned 6 and Grandma turned 60 a few days after Anna's birthday. In case you are wondering, the cake says "60 & 6!" but it is incredibly hard to make an "&" sign with frosting.

Of course, Ethan needs to help blow out the candles.

June Vacation Fun....

2008-07-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

June was a very busy month for us but mostly because we had so many fun things packed into a mere 3 or 4 weeks. After our trip to California, we headed up north for our first cottage trip of the year. We spent time with my grandparents and had lots of fun on Glen Lake. Here is Claire snuggling with Gigi. Please note, she has now given up her pacifier and we have been "badee"-free for over a week now!

I tried to capture a good picture of our big 8 year old boy. :)

And here is Anna's 5 year - almost 6 year picture.

Ethan, Anna and Daddy by the lake enjoying another beautiful Glen Lake sunset.

Here are Ethan and Anna on top of Sleeping Bear dunes. Claire was not cooperating for pictures but made the climb up too. They loved running down and we spent lots of time doing it over and over again until everyone was totally full of sand...that's the whole point, of course.

Joel coached Ethan's baseball team this year and here is Ethan playing first base.

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to John Ball Zoo in GR. Here are E. and A. on top of the statue of John Ball.

This was taken at a beautiful rose garden just outside the zoo. You may see this photo in a card later this year....if they don't ever sit next to eachother again and smile. :)

More posts coming of 4th of July and our trip up north again with lots of aunts, an uncle, 2 dogs and a grandma and grandpa. :)

More California Pictures.....

2008-07-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wow - our month of June was extremely busy and I didn't ever get a chance to go back and finish our pictures from our fun trip to California. So, at long last, here they are......
Here is Miss Claire with her cousin, Mac. They look sweet but can be alot of trouble, and those of you who know them know what I mean. :)

Mommy and Anna

Here is Claire with one of the many kittens who lived on the front porch while we were there. The kids had so much fun with them. Lucky for Joel we were in CA otherwise we would now have 2 cats.

Lots of people think these two look alike. What do you think?? This is Ethan with his cousin (2nd cousin?), Chris.

Here is Claire with Chris's younger sister, Kelly, playing a hyper game on their porch. Kelly was the reason we all made it out there since she was graduating from high school - good excuse to get together. I think right before this picture, Claire was running full speed into Kelly and they were then roaring at eachother. :) I can't remember exactly but I know it was something crazy like that.

To California and Back!!!

2008-06-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

We had quite the kick-off to summer this year with a fantastic trip to California to have a family reunion of sorts with Joel's family out there. We flew into San Francisco and had a great lunch at the Franciscan at Fisherman's Wharf.

Afterwards, we walked down the wharf to see the sea lions. On the way, we had to have a shot of the bay with Alcatraz in the background.

Claire was so excited by the air conditioner in our hotel room. She spent quite a bit of time "drying" her hair.

Of course, she had to use the real hair dryer too.

On Saturday, we were at the open house of our cousin Kelly, who graduated from high school that weekend. There were many other VanElderen relatives there and as I was sitting on the front porch this little girl walked out and I totally did a double take. She looked so much like Claire. Turned out she is the daughter of one of Joel's 2nd cousins (I think). It was crazy how similar they looked. Claire wouldn't cooperate for a good picture but I'm sure you can see what I mean. :)

Keep checking back b/c I have many more California pictures to post! :)

The Step Nap

2008-06-04T11:01:00.001-07:00

Soooo....the other day we had a little issue. I got home from an errand and Joel said to check on Claire b/c she got up from her nap but never came upstairs. For those of you who don't know, Claire's room is in our basement. I started to walk downstairs to check on her and I found a sleeping girl ON the steps.

Here is a picture of what happened next, somehow she managed to move herself, without falling, to a more comfortable step position. When she eventually woke up, she acted like this was no big deal at all. :)

Ethan had his first piano recital this spring. Here he is flying through his two pieces. I never knew he could play that fast!!! He really did great, though. Many of his friends take lessons from this same teacher so they had alot of fun at their recital.

This is what it looks like when Claire does her own hair. This is why I insist on doing her hair myself.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Princess Claire!!

2008-05-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we celebrated our baby turning 3 years old. She had a pink princess party and was loving the whole thing. I guess there's no doubt she's not a baby anymore. Here she is enjoying her party. :) How sweet is this picture???
Here are the crazy siblings along with the birthday girl. I have no idea what Ethan is doing. I guess this is his new smile.

Claire LOVED opening her gifts...especially when she got to this princess dress. As you probably have guessed, she now wears it every day and you know I'm not kidding. I've laid down the law and will not allow her to ride her bike in it but other than that - it's pretty much always on.

Birthday girl and her daddy. :)

This is how excited Ethan and Anna were during the gift opening.

More posting to come.....stay tuned for piano recital pictures, Field day at school and other completely exciting things along those lines. :)

Some Tulip Time Fun.....

2008-05-11T10:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, while Joel was turkey hunting, we ventured to Holland on Sunday to check out the tulips. Here I am with Claire at Windmill Island. Anna took this lovely picture. :)Anna also took this beautiful picture.

Here are the three munchkins (+ an old woman) in front of the huge working windmill. They loved running around in this huge tulip garden.

Ethan was very cooperative posing for his mom in the pink tulips.

Sweet baby Claire - not really a baby anymore.

We also went into downtown Holland to see the tulip gardens there and the dutch dancers. Ethan had to bring his Webkin Benji along for the ride. Ethan loved the red tulips so he had to have his picture taken by them.

Miracle....All three children smiling at once!!!

Anna was photographer again - this time for me and Ethan.

Claire smelling the tulips....not much to smell but she didn't care.

Back to Miss Claire again....Anna didn't want to be in many pictures here. She was way to busy checking out other things and wasn't in the mood. Claire found this spot and posed all by herself and demanded to have her picture taken. :)

Goodbye Sweet Violet.......

2008-05-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had to say Goodbye to our sweet baby cousin Violet this week. She is now living in Denver with her mom and dad. We will miss them so much! We got to spend alot of time with her the few days before she left which was so great.

Everyone had to have a little trampoline time. We think Violet liked it. :)

This was our last day together. Grandma spent the day with us too and Guy was over several times as well. We had alot of fun entertaining Violet although Claire was not always so excited with the fact that she was no longer the queen of the house.

Here are Grandma and the girls hanging out together.

Anna and Violet playing some sort of silly game at snack time...

We'll miss you Violet!! We can't wait to see you in June!

Happy Birthday singing.....Video!!

2008-04-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well...I finally was able to upload a video. It is quite fuzzy but for those of you not able to watch in person, here is a little glimpse of Ethan's party tonight. Please check below for another new entry that I posted today, too. More birthday pictures. :)

Oh, and I'll leave you with a quote from our adorable Anns....
"Daddy, I don't think I want to go to heaven....I'm afraid of heights."
She told this to her dad tonight before she went to bed.

Happy 8th Birthday, Ethan!

2008-04-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Our sweet boy turned 8 today! We celebrated by doing lots of nascar playing, soccer playing and basketball. We had a fun family party tonight where these pictures were taken. He got lots of great gifts - he's so excited to play with things that he doesn't want to go to school tomorrow.This is his reaction to his "birthday sundae". He said he "doesn't really care for cake". Oh - great - less work for the mom! We did make-your-own sundaes instead and it was yummy!

Our annual mom/dad/son picture....how sweet! :)

Here is Anna working on her drawings with some reading glasses her mother received as a birthday gift from her own mother. Not funny, mom. They are not needed yet but made for lots of fun for kids playing "office".

Some Spring Fun ....

2008-04-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

I cannot figure out how to get lots of pictures on here and keep them all in the right order so I apologize for that. At least there are more than 5 pictures in this entry.

Well - we have survived our spring break and a big part of that survival was our trip up north to Great Wolf Lodge. We went last week Thurs/Friday and we had a great time. Here are Anna and Joel in the shallow "kid" area.

Here is Ethan enjoying the Lazy River. We discovered that if the kids wore life-jackets and didn't use the tubes they flew around in that river super fast - this occupied lots of time and they totally loved it.

And here is Miss Anna relaxing on her tube. She rode around like this for a good 30 + minutes - just taking in the scenery. Ethan and I were racing down the huge tube slides while she was taking it much slower. :)

Ok - here is the "out of order" part. Here is a cute picture of Claire on Easter Sunday eyeing Grandma's cute Easter table decorations. She eventually got her way and got to play with the cute little chicks.

This was taken last weekend when we experienced nice 60 degree weather (for a mere 3 days). We took advantage of it and tried a little tree-climbing.

Anna and Joel were working in the yard while Claire modeled in the tree.

And another picture out of order - this was taken at Frederick Meijer Gardens on Spring Break. We went to visit their butterfly exhibit and Ethan was lucky enough to have one land on his wrist. It looked like a white monarch and just sat on him for awhile.

All in all we had lots of fun. Baseball, T-ball and soccer season is about to begin so keep checking back for updates. :)

I found my Camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. My camera never was really "lost". It was just "put away" in a different spot. :) So glad to have it back!

Here are a few pictures of Ethan and Anna on St. Patrick's Day. We decided that Lucky Charms would be a great after-school snack.

Spring holidays were super close together this year so a few days after all the clover fun we had to do a little egg decorating. We had some very intense egg-dyers at our house. Here is Ethan displaying his colorful eggs.

I tried to get this all done while Claire was napping so I wouldn't have to have a 2 yr old playing with egg dye but she woke up early. :) She loved it, of course, and didn't really make too much of a mess - if you can believe it. We had saved 4 eggs for her to do and then she did those so fast we let her re-dye the eggs that were already done.

That may be why we ended up with such brightly colored eggs. Of course, in Vredevoogd family tradition, you must use 2 Paas color tablets per mug. We do not mess around. :)

My Camera is gone!!!

2008-03-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I have misplaced my camera or it has been stolen or one of my children has hidden it from me. I am so bummed! I'm hoping to get a replacement soon so please don't give up on checking this blog.

Knowing my life, it will probably be a week or two before I can update. :)

February Fun!

2008-02-17T11:21:00.001-08:00

Anna and I made a Valentine's Day gingerbread house this year. She had a great time decorating and eating. I thought it would be a big pain but it was actually very fun and will probably be a new tradition in our house. Here are the girls eating lunch on Valentine's Day. Heart shaped PB&J's and any other red or pink food I could find. We had a busy day with all the class parties. Claire held up well under the pressure and no nap. Probably b/c of all the candy.

This is taken at Ethan's class party. They had just decorated cookies and were opening goodie bags. Now the cool thing is the two-finger hands. :)

Claire got to decorate a cookie too....she concentrated very hard and ate one 1/2 of a bite. :)

Bubble Bath time!!! Need I say more? They had a great time!

More Florida pictures....

2008-01-20T18:49:00.001-08:00

Sweet Anna...she took naps on the beach on a few different days. There's not much cuter than a sacked out kid comfortably sleeping under a beach umbrella. I guess my Grandma and my sister were talking to her minutes before and looked down and she was totally sleeping. :)

Here are our sweet, angelic children....not sure what happened to Ethan's smile.
This was taken outside of our favorite restaurant DaRuMa - a Japanese steakhouse. It's always a highlight of our trip!

Sadly, these three crazy people are related and, worse, related to me.
We do not allow Ethan to spend too much time with his two uncles.

Here is Miss Claire sipping her Japanese soup.

For some reason (thank you Ethan) every time we told Claire to smile on this trip, she decided to pull this "suprised" look. Oh well. :)

Aunt Jesi and Claire were posing for our photographer, Anna.

We had a great sunset photoshoot one night. The girls did not care, they just wanted to build castles. :)

OK, Anna will be happily interrupted to smile for her mom.

Clearly, Ethan will pose too. Look at those muscles!!!

Here is a great picture of the Jesi and Violet, my mom and Claire and I. Apparently, Claire is upset that Violet upstages her at times and gives her a dirty look when she thinks no one will notice.

Would you believe I have even more pictures??? I'm too tired to post them now but more will be coming. :)

Happy New Year.....Better Late than Never!

2008-01-20T18:34:00.001-08:00

Well, we survived our drive to Florida and here are the kids the first night down there celebrating their freedom from the van! :) They did great and we had so much fun in Florida. Sunny and warm each day - you can't ask for more.

Ethan and Anna got huge lollipops from our neighbor down there. Of course, Ethan's was gone in a matter of hours while Anna gave up and gave hers to me.

Christmas Eve with Uncle Brett.

This was our typical view every day. Until they "got bored"....who gets bored on the beach??

This picture was taken at Quail Creek right before our fantastic Christmas Brunch. Wow...we all ate way too much!

Mom is too busy in December to take normal pictures....

2007-12-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

I got to take Ethan and Anna out to the Civic Theater in the beginning of December and we walked downtown to watch the ice-skaters. They were hooked and we went back the next week to skate. It was the first time for all the kids - super fun! Ethan did really well, Anna looked like a cartoon character whose legs would not stay underneath her and Claire skated pretty well while either Joel or I was bent over helping her. Our backs did not fare well. Sadly, I took no pictures - this one is taken downtown when we went to the Civic, though.

On a sunny Saturday in early December we went to the Santa Claus Parade in Caledonia. Small but fun - I think the kids were more interested in the hot chocolate than the parade.

No Christmas season would be complete without Pillsbury cookie decorating. Please try to note the HUGE pile of sprinkles/sugar completely covering every inch of Anna's cookies.

Ethan was more meticulous than his sister. I didn't know it took so much concentration! :)

Bears being herself by our tree.

We're off to Florida for the holidays. We're driving this year so say a prayer for safe travels and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Meijer Gardens Holiday Visit

2007-11-29T18:49:00.001-08:00

Why is it that the one year I do not need a Christmas card picture (remember the 4th of July cards??), I get several great choices without even trying. So, here is the your virtual holiday picture. Minus the card and envelope. :)

Here is Mr. Beans by his favorite Christmas tree at the Gardens.

Another good one of all three....not sure about the look on Ethan's face. Claire seems to be the only one hamming it up - as usual.

Awwww...sweet siblings. :)

Assorted November Activities

2007-11-21T18:46:00.001-08:00

Earlier this month Anna went to her first Libby Lu Birthday Party. The girls get their hair and nails done and basically acted way too old for their age. Actually, it was quite cute and Anna looked like a princess.

The other day, the girls took all the toys out of our toy shelves and decided it was their bed.

Here is a picture of my lovely sister and I while we were in Las Vegas. Wow...what an awesome time it was!! No kids or responsibilities for 4 days!!

However, we still managed to irritate our husbands. :) And we even got it on camera! If I recall, we were simply suggesting they scooch closer together for their picture.

This fantastic picture was taken in my mom's suite - my sister and I, Elvis, and my two lovely new sisters, Sarah and Erin. There was a great Elvis impersonator at her 60th birthday party - he stayed past the party and hung out with us and sang just for us... it was so fun!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-04T18:11:00.001-08:00

And here we have our lovely witch....we've decided we need to use face paint every year from now on. It was so fun!

It's no suprise who Ethan was going to be this year. He was loving life being his favorite Nascar driver, Dale Jr.

Here are the three Halloween Trixters.....Dale, ballerina and witch.

We trick-or-treated at Jon and Jesi's this year. It is so great b/c the houses are close together and decorated so cute. They were very excited to get started!

Here is the post-trick-or-treating pose....lots of excitement and silliness. They had to stop going from house to house because their arms were sore from all the loot.

The whole gang!

One final witch picture to leave you with....
she's got the glamour smile going on.

More Fall Fun...

2007-11-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

Wow...I'm a little behind in the pictures.
Here is Claire at Koetsiers Greenhouse. They have a fun fall kids area set up and she loved it. She's digging dried corn kernels.

Here is our beautiful Anna who has unfortunately discovered how to go cross-eyed on command.

This is our lovely baby cousin Violet the Sugar Plum Fairy. The sweetest halloween costume ever....

The pumpkin carving day had finally arrived. All three were very into digging the gunk out of their pumpkins. No one likes the seeds...just mom. :)

Ethan worked very hard on his and did the whole thing by himself.

Stay tuned for the actual Halloween pictures....

Fall Festival Weekend!

2007-10-02T18:11:00.001-07:00

We visited Klackle Orchards on Saturday for lots of Fall fun....pumpkin patches, apple picking, go-carts, face-painting and lots of animals to pet.

Here we are in an Enchanted Pumpkin headed out to the pumpkin patch.

They had more fun than they are letting on in this picture. There were so many pumpkins everywhere it was very tough for them to make a decision. :) Claire thought she heard a fire engine.

Sorry, I don't know how to rotate pictures yet on here....anyway, she seriously would not remove her hands from her ears!

Here are Ethan and Anna riding a barrel train around huge silos. Claire would have nothing to do with it.

Ethan is defying gravity inside a huge inflatable dinosaur.

They had a pedal go-cart track which had my little NASCAR fans quite excited. They could have spent all day going around this track. Joel and Claire even went too....

Claire liked the pedal tractors....she had a white horse with a pink mane painted on her cheek (and hair).

Soccer Stars and Smiling Lessons....

2007-09-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again......

Here is one of our soccer stars in action...

The other day we went to lunch with Jesi, Violet and Grandma and Anna HAD to be the photographer. Here is one attempt at a group shot....at least the sisters are smiling nice! :)

Here is the other attempt...honestly, Claire and Violet....do you not get that you have to look at the camera and smile??

And, the entire family on the three-wheeler....being very safe, as usual. :)

A few more back to school pictures....

2007-09-14T18:19:00.001-07:00

Here are Ethan, Anna and Claire at the bus stop for Anna's first real day of Kindergarden. It was AYSO Jersey day so they had to wear their soccer jerseys to school.

How sweet...brother and sister waiting for the bus. :)

I have no idea why the color is strange on this picture but here they are again...this time before their first soccer games of the season. Anna really does wear kleats during the game, just not the photo shoot.

Here is Anna today as Allie Alligator. Please note the teeth and nostril.

Claire had to have her picture taken too...she wiped out this afternoon on the cement step in our garage. I was sure one of her teeth had either cracked or gone through her lip but no...just a nice scratch.

Back to School...

2007-09-12T12:48:00.001-07:00

Here is one last picture of our week at the cottage. We went to a Jazz show at a Garden shop - here are our three munchkins enjoying the music...wow...Claire has a very fake smile!

Here is Ethan on his first day of 2nd Grade. He loves his teacher and class so far.

Here is Anna on her first day...she goes all day Mon. and Wed. and then Fri. am. She loves Kindergarten! Her favorite friend is a neighbor named Keegan. Of course, no mention of girls in her class...just boys.

Goodbye Summer....

2007-09-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

We spent the last week of the summer at Glen Lake.
Here is Claire and lots of knotty pine.

Claire and Aunt Jesi and Violet - three happy girls on a couch.

It's not breakfast at the cottage without bacon.

Early morning swim - sun just happens to be peaking through on Anna's buns.

Anna's domino tower. She thought this was no big deal. Her Dad thought it was another amazing thing about his daughter.