More Summer Fun

As I mentioned, we had a great summer! I think our kids are pretty lucky. My last couple posts appear to be somewhat random, but here is a picture of Lacey at her dance camp. They could wear whatever costume they chose, and she wanted her monkey costume that she wore in the recital. Gotta love the glasses.

Paige and Kyle both played in a 3V3 tournament - both had tons of fun and played fantastic games. It was great to watch. Here Paige is in action (kind of).

We also went to Cedar Pointe for a weekend with our friends. Another weekend filled with fun.In all the pictures posted, I didn't have any with Kyle (& Sparky). So here they are!

The girls being silly.

Lindsay Tarpley AGAIN

We are more than lucky to have friends who invited our family (and the boys' soccer team) to charter a bus to Chicago to Toyota Park to watch our hometown hero, Lindsay Tarpley, play with her Chicago Red Stars team. I can't say enough kind words in regards to Lindsay - she is a great role model and always has the precise words of encouragement for young kids. We just love her (I think I've said that before).

Catching up

I realize I have some catching up to do now that summer is gone and school has started. Oh how times goes by. Our summer has been wonderful. Here are few pics to reflect back on.

Kyle went to a soccer camp over in Brooklyn, Michigan, as well as Camp Wakeshma, in Three Rivers; both in July. Here he is with some of his soccer buddies.

Paige also went to Camp Wakeshma the week before celebrating her birthday on the 4th of July. We love her birthday! Here she is at the Schoolcraft parade.

She would rather have a fruit bowl instead of cake.

Lacey had her dance recital in June. Loved it - we all did! She especially loved all the attention she received afterwards (imagine that).

She also had a special day with Grandma and her cousin Jaiden. What princesses they are.

Kyle Choir Concert

I tried posting a video, but had problems with the upload. Here is Kyle at his school choir/band concert. It's hard to believe he will be in 7th grade next year.

Weekend in Toledo

Kyle had a soccer tournament in Toledo over Memorial Day weekend. We made the most of it by going to the Toledo zoo - what a great zoo.
There was a moment at the zoo where they actually all got along well together, so I had to take a pic!


And here is a shot of Kyle in action...

Warm Weather Fever

Paige at her school picnic a day before school was out - YIPPEE!

Lacey's cool...

They had to run in the sprinklers even though they are freezing cold!

Anything to feel like summer!

Girls on the Run

I coached, along with Holly (in the picture) a team of girls for Girls on the Run. We ran a 5K downtown Kalamazoo, starting/ending at Waldo Stadium. This happened to be the same day as my birtday too - couldn't have asked for a better birthday! What a rewarding experience we had...they all did a fantastic job and we were so proud of them!

Lacey ran it too - ok, I need to rephrase, Jason ran the 5K run too, carrying Lacey on his shoulders at least 75% of the run. He's a trooper!

This is a picture with Paige and her buddies, on the bus to Waldo Stadium. Their hair rocks!

Sisterly love.

Kyle attempted to run it with his friend, Nick, before being told they needed to let the girls take the lead (we warned them) - so they were instructed to walk back. Not the best picture, but one could only imagine what it was like for these 11 year boys to be surrounded by thousands of girls their age. :)

Random Fun

This is a funny picture of Lacey that I felt compelled to share - she suctioned a plastic Easter egg to her mouth....needless to say, she had this red blotch around her mouth for a few days (oh yeah, she has a tatoo on her forehead too)!

And here are my beautiful butterflies!

Father Daughter Dance

The girls went to a dance at their school last weekend, the Father Daughter dance, and had so much fun! They also loved getting all dazzled up.

Happy Easter!

We had a GREAT Easter & it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day! Here are a couple pics from the early a.m. ~

Nice underwear:) The Easter bunny brings some much needed items for these kids!

Nice stickers Lacey (she LOVES stickers)!

We then had a fun time in the afternoon with our cousins - we had an Easter egg hunt & as well a GREAT scavenger hunt with a fun surprise at the end (oh yes, and can't forget our WONDERFUL dinner)!

I couldn't include a picture of ALL our family...but, here are a couple cute ones ~ our niece Jaiden & Lacey

My sister Missy, my niece Nikkie & her fiance (yes, fiance), Ryan & nephew Dalton. They are growing too quickly.

So Sorry!!

How terrible is it that I sent out Christmas cards with a link to our family blogspot and then never update!?! Oh my goodness! I am not sure where the time has gone, but there are no excuses! We are all doing very good.

On Christmas, we got a new addition to our family....Peanut. We are not 'cat' people per say, but we certainly have grown to love her. She sometimes acts like a dog. She needs to be around people ALL the time and if she can't see anyone, she cries VERY LOUD! It's cute.

Here she is sleeping while sitting in Grandpa John's arms. Funny.

And we can't forget about Sparky. She and Peanut are friends.

One more of Laceybug...her and Aunt Missy had some fun...

I will try my best to do a better job keeping up!

Happy Graduation Missy!

My sister Missy graduated in December - how proud we all are of her....

Winter Fun Around the Yard

This is what the kids (including Jason - haha) do for fun around the yard after a good snowfall...you might have to look closely at the kids on the sled behind the snowmobile; it kind of looks like a big puff of snow - they love it! It's fun for me too...I might actually get to read a magazine or something......in peace. :)

Christmas Programs

Paige had a Christmas Choir program at school & Lacey had a Christmas program with her after school daycare - Little Lambs. They were both very nice. I suppose Kyle is getting too old for Christmas programs...:(

Lacey was SO excited to be there!

Mom & John (&Paige - interesting smile for her!?) ~

This is a picture of Paigey and her friends Brooke & Emma at Paige's school program. They are cute.

A Night in Kalamazoo

We all went to see Willy Wonka playing at the Civic in Kalamazoo last month. We walked through Bronson Park to see all the lights & decorations. It was a very nice night.

Happy Birthday Lacey!

I'm a little late on my posting, but here is a recap of Lacey's 5th Birthday - November 26th! Our youngest is 5 - where is the time going?! She's great and always has a smile on her face! The picture below she is listening to our friends sing her Happy Birthday - thank you Crissman family!

This is her outfit that she picked out and wore on her actual birthday, to go out for pizza.

Love it!

This is a picture from her birthday party. The party was at Jungle Joe's - you can see it's a facitlity with all blow-up slides & obstacle courses. She wanted to invite all her friends from school along with all her other friends & family. It was chaotic, but so much fun!

Let It Snow!

I have to say, if it's going to be cold, we'd rather have snow to go with the cold!

The kids have so much fun playing in the snow...especially on the first day!

Lacey and Aunt Missy built this yesterday - he got covered up so quickly with all the falling snow...you can't see his cute buttons & snow hat.