Girls night out

Last night we had an awesome girls night out! We went for dinner and drinks at Roses. I love that restaurant! We try to schedule a night like this about once every month or two. It worked out that we were all able to make it last night. It was so much fun. Geat friends , great food and great conversation!
We all have families now and stay very busy, but I love the fact that we are able to stay connected in one way or another! It was great to see everyone and I look forward to doing it again!

Who's kid is that?

You may be wondering why Jackson is wearing this hilarious costume? Well, at SP they go through the whole year with all of the "holidays" in the summer. This weekend was halloween. So, the kids get to dress up and go trick or treating.

I asked Tim to bring out some costumes for the kids and he chose to bring out this fabulous Tigger costume for Avery. Please note that it is made out of fleece and it was about 90 degrees on Sat. when they were going trick or treating! Anyways, Jackson found the costume and wanted to wear it. He put it on and did not want to take it off. He even sat and watched tv with it on. He thought it was great. And of course I could not resist taking pics and posting them!

When it was time to go out he begged me to let him wear it. And I must admit I was extremely close to saying yes just because it was so funny! Tim and I could not stop laughing! Tim of course put his foot down and said no when the dad instinct kicked in. "He could not let his son
go out looking like that!" Tough guy huh?! Anyways, thought it would be good for a laugh!

Avery's surgery

Our little Aves had to have tubes put in her ears and her adnoids taken out today. I am very thankful that this finally happened, but I was a bit nervous- and still am! Avery has been a sick little girl for- well most of her life! She has been fighting ear and sinus infections for a long time now. Apparently her adnoids were large and they were blocking the drainage in her sinus' so it would all pool up in there and cause infection. So, we finally got the ok to take them out. Please pray that this is the answer to her problems. I am fairly certain that she also has allergies which adds to her problems, but the doctor says its too early to test that. So, we will go this route!
We arrived at the center at 7:30 and she was whisked away to the OR at about 8:40AM. About 9:15 the Dr. came out and said all is well and everything went great! About 10 minutes later the nurse from the recovery room came to get me and said that Avery was not a happy camper. When I got in there she was screaming and disoriented. I tried my best to calm her down, but she was not having it. This continued for the next 10 minutes and they wheeled us into her room. This way Dad and Papa and Mema could be in there with us.
Avery was still not happy with life. She cried and fussed for quite a while. All she wanted to do was go "bye bye". We finally just asked the nurse if we could go home because we knew that she was not going to calm down while we were still there! So, about 10:30 we were allowed to leave. Avery continued to cry and fuss on the way home. When we got home we tried to feed her, but she wanted nothing to do with it! All she kept saying was "nu night". So, I put her down in her crib and she fell asleep within about a minute and is still sleeping.
What a traumatic event for Avery and Mom. Fortunately she will not remember it and hopefully with in a few days will be back to normal (whatever that may be!!).

She thought it was pretty cool when the nurse took her blood pressure!
And they let her keep the little cuff to play with! Jackson and Jaideyn enjoyed standing back and watching Aves get ready.
Checking out her stylish hospital wear!
Our post op unhappy camper! We love you Aves!

Our weekend "Away"

Last weekend we had a wonderful kid free weekend. Where did we go you might ask? Actually we did not go anywhere. We chose to have a quiet relaxing weekend at home. Sounds strange, but we are so glad we made that choice. We got to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted and could leave the house in a matter of minutes- something that never happens when you have to get 3 kids ready to go somewhere! Also, we had the comfort of our own bed at night, ensuring a good nights sleep! Friday night we went out to dinner with Ben and April at Rockwell's and sat out on the deck. It was a gorgeous night and we enjoyed dinner, drinks and good friends. No cutting up kids food, no unecessary trips to the bathroom and no kids fighting. What could be better than that? Afterwards we went to MoJos and enjoyed the piano players.

Then on Saturday we were able to sleep in and be lazy in the morning. Tim made us a tasty brakfast and we got to work on our basement. Our storage room was a haven for junk and kids stuff. We had gotten to the point of just throwing everything in there when we didn't know what to do with it. We could hardly walk in the door. So, that was one priority for the weekend. It took us a few hours, but we accomplished the goal and cleaned everything out of the storage rrom and basement. Baby stuff- gone, unnecessary toys-gone, junk-gone!!!! And the kids weren't there to try to argue that they needed to keep the stuff because they still play with it!
Saturday afternoon we headed out to Grand Haven. We walked around the shops for a bit and then had dinner. After that we walked the boardwalk to the pier. How romantic huh?!? It was a fabulous and much needed weekend. Thank you to papa and mema and Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura for taking the kids! We appreciate it so much!

Just as I suspected!

So first I must say thank you to Stacey for giving me the look alike idea. I have been wanting to do it for the longest time and I just didn't sit and do it. And now that I have I must say I got a bit caught up in it. Yes, I have been sitting at my computer for the last hour trying to do these look alike things.
Stacey if you read this a little advice on how to save them to the side of my blog would be great. I did that originally and they were on the side, but they were the same size as they are now and you couldn't see them. How did you get yours to be small?
Anyways, I was very excited to discover the results of this thing. And as I was searching for pics to use I realize that I do not have a pic of me since April (when the fabulous one I used of me was taken.) Also, Tim's last photo was in March!! Also, the pics I have of the kids are all candid shots and I really had to search through to even find these. This is of course is because I have the wonderful Melissa to take all my GOOD pics for me. Anyways, I decided that I am going to take pics of each family member in the next week and try it again and see if it turns out any different.

The ones of Jackson and Jaideyn I did first and got the results I expected. No big suprise. The one that I was so looking forward to was Aves. No one really knows who she looks like. As I sit and wait, and wait, and wait for it to do its little thing I am very anxious to find out who this thing says Aves looks like. What do I get? NOTHING! A big let down! She looks equally like us both. Which makes sense, but I still wanted the little meter to lean one way or another.

We love you Aves and you are the perfect combo of both dad and I!!!!

Koster Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Genealogy forums - Roots

Lakeside Park

Today we had a great time playing at the park with Melissa, Justin and Levi. We don't get to this park often but it is really nice. The kids enjoy it.

Here the girls are each enjoying swinging in the baby swings. For some reason Jaidey is just not coordinated enough to stay on a regular swing. I have worked with her 100 times to try to teach her how to sit and stay on a swing, but she just can not do it. Within the first 30 seconds she falls flat on her back in the dirt! Oh Grace- we love you!
So what do you do when there is only 1 available swing and 2 girls whining to swing? You throw them both in the same swing and let them swing away. Although you can't tell from this pic- they really did think it was fun!
Avery has officially thrown in the towel! I can't say I blame her. It had to be at least 100 degrees while we were at the park. The kids didn't seem to mind, but I think that the heat and running around for an hour and a half finally got the best of Avery!

Where's Avery?

Avery loves to climb and also to get into things. If all is quiet around the house I know for sure that Avery has gotten into something and 99% of the time it is something she is not supposed to be doing (and she knows it!) Here is a perfect example- all was quiet in the trailor and I went on a search for Avery. It actually took me a few minutes to find her because I never thought to look in the shower! Who really wants to hang out in a shower and why? Avery was having the time of her life playing in there. And of course part of the reason was because she knew she should not be in there!

Here is one example of her being able to climb and get into something without getting into trouble! I was very happy to find her sitting in this bin and playing with the toys. And I must admit I really was wishing that I had a kid safe top to put on this bin so that I could contain her in there for awhile!

Water park fun!

Sandy Pines has put in a wonderful new water park that we are so thankful for. We use it frequently and the kids absolutely love it. Here are some fun pics of the kids at play.



And of course there is always a required "snack break" time for our little Aves!!

Summer Fun!

Today we finally got out the good ol' pool and slide. Here are a few fun pics!
Jackson being the entertaining big brother!

Her "model poses"!
So, i didn't put a swimming diaper on Aves while she was in the pool. I only have 1 left and I figured I wouldn't waste it on the kiddie pool! So, I took a risk and let her go without one. Then she started climbing up the slide with her bare buns and I absolutely could not resist taking her pic! How cute are those little roly poly thighs and buns! (Sorry Aves, I just couldn't help myself!)

Who are these crazy guys?