Levi's Early Birthday Celebrations

On the Wednesday before Levi's birthday he spent an entire day celebrating with his Grandparents! It was a full fun day!His day began when Grandpa & Grandma R. picked him up and took him to Build A Bear. He picked the elephant.
He choose to make his elephant a baseball player, and named him Duke.

Grandpa helping him register his new elephant.

After Build A Bear Grandpa, Grandma & Levi met Justin and I at Chuck E. Cheese for some lunch. They had a great time! Then the boys went back to Grandpa & Grandma's house.
At 5:00 I picked them up and we went to Caledonia where we met up with Grandpa & Grandma M. at Montery Grill for supper.
Levi loved his new race track & Legos from Grandpa & Grandma!

The biggest bummer of the day was that Eric was working in Traverse City for a few days so he wasn't there to celebrate with us. After we got home we took a picture and sent it to Daddy's IPOD so he could see all the fun Levi had that day!

Rob & Mary's Happy Family!!

Last week I had the opportunity to take my brother Rob's family picture. They brought Lucia home from Ethiopia on January 2 and this was their first chance at a family portrait! We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot as well!

What an absolutely precious family!

Mary & Lucia

The girls!

Tessa & Lucia

Thanks for the opportunity to spend the evening with your family! You are such a blessing to me and I am so thankful for all of you!

Happy 50th Anniversary!

Uncle Ken & Aunt Donna celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary this past weekend at the Trestle Stop Restaurant in Hamilton. It was so good to see them. We enjoy spending as much time as we can with them and we are so glad to share in their celebration!

We love you!

On an Adventure

The other day the boys headed out on an adventure... in the snow... they wanted a picnic lunch and all the "things" that they needed for an adventure in their backpacks!Armed with the BB Gun they headed off on their adventure! Levi was enjoying his own popsicle!

They love to go on adventures in the summer but it was fun to seem them off on an adventure in the middle of the winter too!

Justin's 7th Birthday

My firstborn son turned 7 today! I can not believe it! Time goes by so fast! He wanted a camoflauge cake - and this was my attempt at it! He liked it! I guess that is all taht really matters!
He was very excited to open his presents!

He was pleasantly surprised when he unwrapped his first "real" gun! As you can see from his eyes he really wasn't sure it was for real!

He got a Rossi gun that came with 2 interchangeable barrels a 410 shotgun and a .22 rifle.

He also was floored when he got a scope to go on his gun! Just like Dad's!

Here he is ready to try it out!

The first shot was at a squirrel trying to eat all the bird seed out of the bird feeder! Notice his "hunting blind" is equipped with a full facility - otherwise known as the master bathroom!

Then dad brought him outside to site it in and shoot some targets! He had a blast and is a pretty good shot too!

Build-A-Bear

Grandpa & Grandma R. took Justin to Build-A-Bear for his birthday. He had only been there one other time and that was when Levi was born. He was very excited to go!So many choices!!

He picked a black dog, which he named Dan or better known as "Best Buddy".

Of course you can't have a pet with out some clothes! But again, there was so many choices! He was very happy with his purchase and couldn't wait to get home and show Dad, Mom & Levi!

Celebrating January Birthday's!

On Sunday, January 25 the whole family gathered at our house to celebrate all of the January birthday's!Emily, Alaina, Justin, Eric & LacyAfter dinner everyone headed out side for a beautiful day of sledding! First the were sledding in our yard and then they headed across the street to the BIG sledding hill! Brent, Seth & Alaina heading down the BIG hill on the tobogan.
This is from the top of the hill - it is a BIG hill!

Brent would give the kids a running start and they would literally fly down the driveway!

It was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun!

Justin's Birthday Celebrations Begin!

On Saturday, January 24 Grandma & Grandpa M. came to have pizza and celebrate Justin's 7th Birthday! Justin was so excited to get the sled he had been asking for! He couldn't wait to get it outside and try it out!

Seth & Alaina also came along to celebrate!

Great Wolf Lodge

On Thursday afternoon we headed to Traverse City to Great Wolf Lodge with Scott & Angie and the boys. Little Ceasars for supper.
Eric & Scott enjoying a little peace & quiet.

Justin and Jacob were too scared to go under the bucket but Nathan did. Here they are watching Nathan from a distance.

It took a LOT of coaxing but Justin went down the waterslide by himself - and he liked it!

He also went down the other slide with Dad - he tolerated it!

He loved the lazy river - he spent a lot of time floating and swimming around the loop.

Levi went down the waterslide with Dad too - he did NOT tolerate it...

He wasn't very happy about his ride!

This is Scott & Eric right before they flipped the inner tube!

Just a precious picture of my Levi - we were waiting for everyone to go on the waterslides.

Levi loved the kids area.

Justin & Jacob

More Levi... he was posing for me... "Mom, mom take a picture..."

Havin' fun!

Making sure he doesn't go under!

The boys playing in the fountains.

Jacob, Justin & Nathan

Justin & Levi

Justin, Jacob, Levi, Luke & Nathan

And of course no night at a waterpark is complete without some time in the Arcade.

Levi's favorite was the 4-wheeler race.

Justin liked everything!

What a great quick get-away! Thanks for inviting us!