Michigan!!

Mark and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on Thursday the 21st. Ten years! It does not feel like it has been that long already. We have been very blessed with the relationship we have had in our marriage.

In celebration we planned on a weekend away. My amazing husband offered to take me to Michigan to meet Sharlene MacLaren, a Christian fiction author who's books I absolutely LOVE! :) And of course I wouldn't turn that offer down!! So, as it turned out she had a book signing that very weekend so off we went!

My dear friend Missy opened up her home to my children for the weekend, and after a prayer for her strength and sanity we took off.

The trip was good until we entered Chicago. Three hours later we left it. Who knew that in some places going 16 miles would take an hour and a half. I am a very happily spoiled country girl!! Anyway, the rest of the trip went well and we arrived at our hotel at roughly 11:00pm, an hour earlier than we expected since we had completely forgot about the time change. :) It was a nice surprise!

We stayed at the Country Inn in Holland, MI. It was a lovely hotel and was rather remote as it was neatly tucked away from traffic. It also had a convenient location as we were smack in the middle between the book signing and downtown Holland.

After eating our delicious continental breakfast Saturday morning we headed downtown to stop at a music store. Downtown Holland is beautiful! A must see for anyone who visits the area. Beautiful shops and brick sidewalks dotted with quaint little cafés.We also learned from Sharlene that the sidewalks and streets are heated during the winter so the snow melts as it hits the 70 degree pavement. Amazing! I need this installed in my drive way and all around my house. Honestly, an always 70 degree floor inside my house wouldn't be bad either!

We decided to stop at a neat little corner café/restaurant called the AlpenRose. It was beautiful inside! Everything was made of wood and carved so beautiful. The ceilings were carved wood, the decorations were carved wood, and all of it very elegant. We both ordered lunch and received some amazing food in double portion! So, two meals for the price of one is not bad! :) And for the quality of food it was already an amazing price!

Next up was my most highly anticipated event of the trip! Meeting Sharlene MacLaren! We had such a wonderful time with her! What a wonderful person! I'm thinking we will definitely make this trip again! We talked for a couple hours and I hated to go but I didn't want to take up her whole book signing time, especially since we stole her away from her table. Okay, maybe I did want to, but I was afraid I would wear out my welcome... Lol! Too much of Mark and Sarah might not be a good thing? Haha! Anyway, it was so easy to talk and we enjoyed ourselves so much! I am so grateful that God allowed everything to work the way it did so that our paths would cross! God is amazing, isn't He?!?

We did a few things more that day, nothing quite as fun of course. :) We stopped on the way back to the Hotel at an antique and collectibles shop. From the outside (it was in a strip mall) It looked small, but from the inside it looked as big as Wal-Mart. Huge! It took us the rest of the afternoon to walk through every isle. If you were to really look at everything and dig through every pile and bookshelf it would take several days, at least!

Back at the Hotel we ate our supper and watched a movie then turned in to prepare for our journey back. Thankfully, Chicago was much calmer at 10:00 in the morning on Sunday then it was during Friday rush hour. We passed through easily.

We had such a wonderful trip!! I am so thankful for Scott and Missy who were willing to take in my kids for the weekend. What a blessing they have been! And thanks also to Mom and Richard in Texas for helping make it possible! Love you all!

It was a great experience for us and it has been a long time since we have had time for just us. Though, I did miss my kids and was very happy to snuggle them again. :) What an amazing weekend!

Cranfest 2010

Cranfest this year fell on Alysabeth's birthday. The air was cool and the forecaster threatened us with rain but it remained dry and was overall a very nice day.

Both Alysabeth and Nathan were a part of this year's Crantastic Singers. I think I enjoyed watching them sing and dance as much as they enjoyed doing it! They both did so well, and of course, made me extremely proud!!

Alysabeth had a solo this year! Her first one, and I think she was one of the best singers there! Tell me what you think!

They had four performances in all. Three were during the day, two outside and one inside, and one at night at the Gospel Sing. They both did an amazing job!

Here's Nathan... notice how everyone else is looking and pointing down? Well, it was the final move at the end of the song. Nathan would do it and then make an immediate exit of the stage while everyone else held their pose. Funny!

Another Belated Birthday Post

Well, my Alysabeth is now eight. Eight!! I can't hardly believe it!!  She has grown up so much, not only physically but in maturity. Listening to her talk and watching her at school makes me realize how short the time is that I really get to "have" them. She is already halfway to sixteen and it feels like only a year or two has passed since she graced our lives with her own. Tomorrow she'll be driving and the day after that, getting married and having her own babies! Ahhh!!! :)

Alysabeth's birthday was a busy one. Earlier in the week we took her to the restaurant of choice since we would not be able to on her actual birthday. She chose Perkins. A girl after my own heart! :) The funny thing about my children is no matter where we go (except for Subway) my children will almost always choose one of three things: chicken nuggets, cheeseburger, or pizza. They get so excited when we go different places, but they eat the exact same things! Funny!!

Saturday 9/25, Beth's b-day, was spent at Cranfest, so the previous day we made white cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to take with us. It was really a nice day and after the afternoon performances I took Nathan and Alysabeth for snow cones and then we shopped around for Alysabeth's b-day. She chose to have money to spend at Cranfest for her present from us and with her money bought two beanie baby kitties, one beanie baby dog, and two real-fur animals. After that we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma Collins' house for cupcakes.

Alysabeth had a wonderful birthday!! :)

Birthday Party at Knuckleheads!

Well, it has been three years since our last birthday bash at Knuckleheads, so we decided it was time to do it again! :)

My mom and dad (Kim and Cliff), Dave and Laura, Jamie and Gina, and Great-Grandmother all came along to celebrate!

Alysabeth, being my little daredevil, started her day on a version of the giant drop. And rode it again, and again, and again, smiling all the while. Even when others joined her on the ride screaming the entire time! That's my girl!! :) Or more like, Mark's girl! Haha! Yeah, I woulda been screaming to! :p

After playing on the ginormous kid play set, and dragging Katie out kicking and screaming, we sat down for some hot pizza!

The kids went on so many rides: Airplanes, The Hurricane, the roller coaster, go-karts, etc. They plumb wore us all out!! But it was worth it!! And after all the games the grown-ups played they were able to cash in tickets for candy.

They also received many gifts!
And on the way home the girls fell asleep, but not Nathan, he was way to busy playing with his new Toy Story toys. What a lot of fun we had!!

A Belated Birthday Post!

Nathan also had a birthday just a couple weeks ago. I missed posting it since I hadn't been updating our blog but wanted to put his in too!

Nathan's birthday began with his favorite breakfast of streusel coffee cake! Unlike Katie, Nathan knew it was his birthday and was extremely excited! He ran into our room and woke Mark up. "Dad it's my birthday!!"

After we ate our breakfast we all headed out to the Cranberry Lodge for a swim, except nobody knew where we were going but Mark and I! When we pulled in the kids started whooping and clapping they were so happy!

We played for about two hours in the kiddie pool. The kids went on the water slides and played with the fountains, they had a blast!

I did learn a little something though. I am going to have to put a little water diaper or something on Katie when we go. No, she didn't go in the pool! Lol! I just had a hard time keeping her little butt covered! The water slide gave her wedgies!! Hahaha!! Of course she seemed oblivious to them and would proceed to climb back up her tiny cheeks hanging out! It was tooo funny!

Nathan picked Culver's for lunch and afterward we headed home for some presents and to make the cupcakes he picked out the day before!

Nathan got some Lego collections and the next day some controllers and games, and Toy Story shirts, some of which were from Uncle Jamie, Aunt Gina, and Grandma and Grandpa Richard! :)

After Nathan's spaghetti supper he blew out his candles, while Dad tried to keep Katie from beating him to it! He then ate his vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles! Yummmm!!

We had a lot of fun! Yay for birthdays!!

Love you, Nathan!!

Another year older....

We had another birthday yesterday. Katie, my littlest baby, turned four. Time sure does fly!

She was a little bit in denial at first yesterday when Beth began her day with the 'Happy Birthday' song. I had to step in and assure her that it was indeed her birthday. We hadn't hidden the fact from her, and had actually been telling her all day the previous day that after she slept she would have a birthday, but somehow she must have thought it was a game. Haha!

She got her choice of a breakfast which turned out to be PB&J and chips. An interesting breakfast and, honestly, I was hoping for pancakes. :) Beth opted for some chips as well... Salt and Vinegar chips with her Honey Comb cereal. Boy, my kids have some strange tastes! Nathan, just had Honey Comb... whew! :)

At lunch, Mark, ran and picked up Katie's second choice for a meal, McDonalds! :) And then Katie got a surprise visit from Uncle Jamie and Aunt Gina who came bearing gifts from them and Grandma and Grandpa Richard. She was so excited!

 

Dress-up Princess shoes from Grandma and Grandpa Richard! She LOVED them! She tried them all on and was not without a pair the rest of the day! :) Of course, I had to convinced her to wear real shoes to Wal-Mart.

 

From Jamie and Gina she got a bunch of goodies and a book that had it's own music player! She danced to the music wearing her new princess shoes. :) It was too cute!!

Afterward just Katie and I went on a shopping trip. We got groceries and she spent the money Mark and I gave her on a white princess dress and a little fur-real kitty. And then she got to pick out the mix, frosting and toppings for her cupcakes! Pink cupcakes with pink frosting and flower sprinkles! My girl is soooo predictable! Lol!

And after another one of her favorite meals (pizza) she got to blow out some candles and eat them!

A successful birthday I would say!! :)

Happy Birthday, Katie!!!

Back to School!

Well, today marks the kids' first day of school! We started out the morning with Beth making a fresh batch of banana muffins (with a little help). She will be learning to make some different breakfasts the next couple months and maybe some easy lunches like Mac and Cheese. I think she is MOST excited about this! I'm hoping my girl loves to cook so she can take over for me! Cooking is not my area of interest! I try though, for the sake of my wonderful family. But it is a labor of love. Haha!

We started the day with learning the Pledge of Allegiance and then sat in our chairs. Everyone got handed their papers/books and went to work! Beth is digging into 2nd grade and I found while going through the books before hand that this year is going to be quite a bit harder. She will have twice as many spelling words a week and will be getting some writing assignments (which I will help with). Math will be a bit harder too and I am hoping she doesn't lose her love for the subject. It is her favorite so far.

Beth's reading has improved tremendously and reading through her school lessons is much, much easier! Yay for that!!

Nathan, was excited this morning too. I started him with some Kindergarten work but expect by the end of the year he will be doing some 1st grade lessons. Being born just before the cut off he was suppose to be in 1st this year (being almost 1 whole year younger than Beth was at that time). I chose to hold him back. He was not ready last year. This year I think he might just make up for it. :) Most of the kindergarten skills he knows, mainly we will be mostly catching him up on some pre-math and writing skills. His reading is also coming along!

Katie, did some preschool work with counting and showing her understanding of the words "more" and "fewer". She did pretty good! Also she did a little with her big and small letters. She's got them down pat! No worries there! Lol! Trying to work on her hand coordination with writing her letters, but I am not too concerned. She also has next year for preschool before entering Kindergarten the following one.

It was a great first day! Light days this week and next we go full bore!
Yay for school!! :)