Our adventure at Cabelas

On Friday we were looking for something to do for about 2 hours until Diana got home from work, so Mark suggested we head to Cabela's and check it out. I have never been to Cabela's and kinda wondered what in the world we were going to do there for a couple hours, but I went along for the ride. When we got there we were all amazed. What an awesome place. They had so much cool stuff for the kids to see and also for them to do. Before we even got inside Mark gave Jackson 2 quarters and a penny. We had no idea what for- but Mark had a plan. Right when you get in there is a machine that stamps pennies with a cool picture. Mark collects these pennies and has now passed that on to the kids. Jackson and Jaideyn both got to do it and it stamped a pic of a deer on it. How cool is that. Thanks Mark for the fun keepsake!

In the store there are several areas of stuffed animals (probably not the proper term, but we don't have any hunters in the family- so it will have to do!) They had everything you could imagine. The kids really enjoyed checking everything out.

In the middle of the store they had a huge mountain set up full of animals over the whole thing- and it came complete with a waterfall. Amazing!

Another fun thing was the mini shooting range that they had for the kids. (The adults enjoyed it also!) Jackson thought this was the coolest thing ever. He did a great job and hit pretty much everything he aimed at. Time to get the boy a gun I think!

Jaideyn even enjoyed shooting things.

There was so much for the kids to do. Jaideyn even enjoyed trying out the cool chairs that they had for sale. Wondering about the hat? We found this cute hat and Jaideyn really loved it. She asked Mema if she could get it and Mema said yes. So, she wore the hat around the store the whole time!Here are the kiddos hanging out with Papa in one of the many tents that they had set up.

One final family pic. I think that I took at least 50 pics while we were in the store. Everything was so cool. The kids loved it so much that after we left they asked if we could go back tommorrow! We will definately be stopping by a Cabela's again some time soon! Thanks for the great idea Mark!

Visiting Uncle Mark and Aunt Diana

This weekend we visited Mark and Diana at their house. This was the first time we had been there in about 3 years. The kids don't remember it at all, so it was nice to go so that they could see the place and now know where uncle Mark and Aunt Diana live. We headed down on Friday and spent Saturday at the house. The guys worked on Mark's shed for awhile- or should I say Dad and Tim worked on the shed and Mark and Jackson had fun playing swords with shingles!! The girls went grocery shopping and picked up lunch. After we returned and had lunch Aunt Diana busted out her Barbies from when she was little and the girls were so excited. They thought it was so neat the Aunt Diana had barbies at her house "just for them!" (We will let them to continue to believe that Diana got them just for the girls!)

Mark also dug out a few transformers for Jackson to play with. He gets so excited when Mark lets him play with them! After playing for a bit we decided it was time to make the long trek home. We had a wonderful time and loved spending time at Mark and Diana's.

Today is a good day!

Today is a good day! I feel like it's been awile since I have thought that so I wanted to write about it. After being sick for way too long and having sick children, I finally feel like we are back and ready to face each new day.

I was nervous about today because I have six children here today and a house that has not been properly cleaned in about a week. That makes for a busy day with alot to accomplish! We are planning on leaving for Mark and Diana's house tom. so I want to get everthing done.

This morning the boys were up at about 6am and woke Jaideyn up shortly after that. Not a fabulous start. But I got up and decided we would make it work! Avery woke up with a big smile and a good attitude (which is VERY rare) and things are going well. So, it's 10am now and everyone has had breakfast and are dressed and ready for the day, the kids are all playing nicely- no major fights to break up....yet! Play-doh is out and entertaining 3 of the kids, pictures are being painted, pokemon cards being played with, brownies and cinnamon bread are in the oven and laundry started. Not bad I'd say.

I am thankful for the good start to the day and we'll see how the afternoon is going to go. My guess is a lot of tired children- hopefully they will nap for me!

Happy birthday Mom- again!

On Saturday night we had a babysitter and went out for dinner for Mom's birthday with adults only. We went to The Grill House in Allegan. We had a delicious dinner and wonderful conversations without the kids. It was fantastic!

At The Grill House you have the option to grill your own food. They have a seperate grill room and everyone goes in there and hangs out while the food is on the grill. It may sound crazy that you have to make your own food, but it's all about the experience. They have several guys in the room to help you out- and they pretty much did all of the work for us as we sat and chatted and ate grilled bread! It was a fun experience and it was nice to hang out with Dad, Mom, Mark and Diana. It doesn't happen often so we really appreciate the time we do get!

Robinette's

On Saturday after Jacksons football game we headed to Robinette's apple orchard. Mark and Diana came into town for mom's birthday and so we made a whole day of celebrating. When we got there the first thing we did was go inside to get tasty donuts and apple cider! Here is an action shot of everyone enjoying their treats!

After our bellies were full we headed outside so that the kids could play, but first I had to get the traditional photo next to the big red apple!

Jaideyn and Jackson enjoyed a few trips down the slide. It was very cold out Saturday, so we didn't spend a ton of time playing.

We did however decide to brave the cold and take the kids on the hayride. Mema and I were the only brave ones though! We snuggled up and went for the ride. It was actually not that cold once we got back into the woods and we all enjoyed the ride!

A cute pic of Jaideyn and Avery hanging out in the crates of pumpkins!

Happy Birthday Mema!

On Thursday it was Memas birthday and we had a little party for her at our house. We grilled for dinner and then had cake. The kids enjoyed singing to Mema and helping her eat the birthday cake!

After dinner we gave Mema her present. Those of you who have little kids will understand when I say that Mema really did not open the present the kids did! They all knew what was in it and they were still excited to open it and see it. Avery almost told Mema what it was, but we caught her and made sure she remembered that it was a suprise!

After the present opening came the most fun part for the kids and the most entertaining for the adults. They decided that they would stuff all of the wrapping paper in their shirts and have big bellies. When the wrapping paper just wasn't enough they all dissapeared into their rooms and came out with even bigger bellies because they have stuffed clothes up their shirt! Sounds silly, but it was hilarious!

After they stuffed their shirts and were confindent that their bellies were big enough they started banging into each other with their big bellies. Oh my word was that funny! Poor Jaideyn went flying when Jackson hit her, but she was a good sport and giggled the whole time!

And of course Avery had to get in on the action. At one point she dissapeared into her room to stuff her belly and was gone for quite a while. I started to get a bit nervous because she was so quiet in there. When she finally did come out she had 3 pairs of shoes stuffed in her shirt. Oh Aves- just another reason we love you! We did make her take the shoes out before the hitting began and she replaced them with jeans and a shirt! She too went flying when Jackson hit her with his belly- but she loved it!

So, happy birthday Mema! Our party was a mix of tears and craziness from the children, but a good time was had by all~ and wonderful memories made!!

Art Prize

I know that I am a bit late, but I still wanted to post these pics. We spent an evening downtown checking out Art Prize. We went kind of as a last minute thing and had no idea really what it was all about. When we got there we were amazed at all of the people and all the activity. First we went on the bridge and checked out Nessie and the table and chairs and all of that neat stuff. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Jackson thought this was cool. It's a moose made out of nails. It really was awesome!

Jaideyn and Avery had fun ringing the huge wind chimes. I loved how everything was hands on and the kids could feel a part of things instead of just looking!

I packed suppper for us and we found a cool spot to sit and eat. What an awesome famiy outing. I am so excited that we decided to go and check it out. We only had about 2 hours to be down there and we only saw a few things and we still had an amazing time. I hope that they will do Art Prize again and we will definately plan a whole day to be there.

Here is Avery playing with the red ball. This was definately the kids favorite thing. It was a soft big red ball and they spent a lot of time hitting it and running and jumping into it!

Here are the troops at the end of our journey. As you can see they are hyper and enjoying life.

A visit with the Dejongs

Recently we hung out for a night with the Dejong family and Ty and Avery decided that they should feed the chickens. We had melon for dinner and so they wanted to feed the left overs to the chickens! Avery was very excited to do this and I was very interested to see if she would really go into the chicken coop and feed them.

So, off they went to the chicken coop.

And in she went without hesitation and gave the chicken their food.

After they were done watching the chickens eat their food she decided that she would like to pet the chickens. She was a little unsure once the chicken was in front of her, but she pet the chicken and didn't freak out! This is a huge accomplishment and I am so proud of her. There is hope!

Family Pictures

Here are a few of our family pictures that we had taken in August. Thank you Melissa for taking such adorable pics!