1st Cottage Weekend and lots of New Experiences

We headed up to Big Star for our first weekend of the summer and our first overnight excursion as a family of 5. Everyone in their pj's ready for bed!!

We were happy to wake up Saturday morning at 7:30 without having been up once in the night with any of the kids!! LOVE a full night of sleep!! The next day it didn't take long for the boys to switch from pj bottoms to swim suits! Gotta love summer when the first thing you think of doing after breakfast is putting on your swim suit! LOVE!!!!!

Jason had a few projects to work on in the morning so we let him work and the boys played on the beach until daddy was ready to take Tenley on her first boat ride!!

Deacon and Jacob both wanted to help Tenley with her life jacket.

While relaxing on Saturday Jason actually got a chance to hold his baby girl! He is normally to busy with life to have much time to relax and enjoy our little lady so I had to get a few pictures of the two of them!!

We enjoyed some of summers goodness with some sweet corn. This was Deacon's first time having corn on the cob and he really loved it! look at him getting into it!

After a fun day of sun, sand boating and swimming we had a yummy dinner and enjoyed the beauty of a quiet night by the lake!!

The next day started of with some more fun first including both boys first time on a seadoo. Jacob really liked it! Deacon wasn't a big fan but we will see if next time around he will like it more. Later in the day our neighbors came up to join us for a Sunday in the Sun!!

Jacob enjoyed his first tube ride without and adult on board. He though he was big stuff riding with the older kids! So fun to see him enjoying things Jason and I enjoyed as kids!

After a little fall off the tube Jacob and Claire cuddled up and watched for a while!

The Mom's and some of the kids!

After a fun weekend we had to get one picture of our family of 5! Not to bad for our first family trip! Looking forward to lots more memories with those smiling faces.

What Happened on Wednesday!

No good name for this post but I love the picture of my boys busy making puzzles!! Both boys have always loved puzzles and it so fun as a mom to watch how the both do things so differently. For a while I thought it was just the age difference but now I'm seeing just how different they really are. So fun to watch their brains work and develop. Reminds me of what I loved about teaching!

Jacob also had his a friend over to play today! we made smore pops and they were a hit. Much easier than the rice krispie pops we made a few weeks ago. I think the kids liked these better too.

Strawberry Picking

We went strawberry picking for the first time this week and LOVED it! I had never been before but a good friend asked us to go and I'm so glad we did. The boys loved just picking and playing with their friends. We also had went to a little ice cream shop and cafe for lunch on our way home and the kids thought that was the BEST! Jacob has said that this was his favorite thing he did all summer! (It is only June but it was fun!)

Jason and I enjoyed a nice strawberry chicken salad and yummy strawberry shortcake for desert. Someday the boys will realize they are missing out by skipping strawberries! Until then Jason and I enjoyed them.

Deacon, Addison, Ellery & Jacob

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to an awesome Dad!! My kids are so lucky to have such an awesome dad! They boys have really gotten so close to Jason since Tenley has been born it just melts my heart. We even have one little boy who wakes up early just to have breakfast with his dad. Thanks for all you do for the kids and me babe we love you!!

The kids are also doubly blessed by 2 super grandpas! We spent most of our day with Grandpa Keith and Deacon even managed a little nap right on his tummy! Sorry dad no pic of you this year!! However the kids love you picture or not! Thanks for all you do grandpas!!!

Jacob has become a little water bug!! So thankful that We have a swimmer on our hands!!

Sweet Treats on a Summer Night

We made some yummy rice krispie pops dipped in chocolate and couldn't resist sharing the sticky goodness with the neighbors! Jacob loves baking and so do some of his little friends so I had lots of help especially with the chocolate dipping. I'm pretty sure Jacob even had some in his hair!!!

Loved watching the kids devour the sugary stuff. What's summer for but having fun with neighbors and eating lots of yummy treats!!

Deacon washing it down with some water! LOVE those eyes buddy!!

Tenley Paige 2 months OLD

Our little girl is 2 months old already!! I'm happy to say she has made it through some rough days and it now a real happy little girl! She is also gaining weight! She still adores being held and I love to hold her so that is PERFECT!!!!

New things for Tenley from month 1-2. She survived her first evening (NOT NIGHT) home with just daddy! has been sleeping through the night since memorial day! She had Grandma Mary babysit just her!! She is now in size 1 diapers and is sitting in the bumbo!

Her stats: Weight- 10lbs. 4 oz. 25%

Height- 21 inches. 5% (She hasn't gotten any longer since birth??)

Another little peanut!

The newness of having a baby sister has not worn of for the boys. They are still very excited to tell people they have a baby sister and share her name with them. Only once have they climbed into her crib to give her a paci. Hopefully they now understand it's not safe for them to climb into her bed!!

2 months have flown by but yet I can't truly remember what life was like without her!! I feel blessed as well as overwhelmed with what an awesome gift each of my children are! Praise God for the beautiful gift of children!!

Strawberry JAM!

We made some strawberry jam this week!! This was the first time I've made Jam since Jacob was a baby like Tenley! Deacon however liked the whole process the most and even had a few extra tastes of the sweet strawberry goodness and we were making it!!

Summer is Here!

It's June and Summer is here! We are excited to be getting more on the move now that Tenley is almost 2 months!! We are enjoying some summery things these first few days! We went to a WhiteCaps game for my brother and sister and law to celebrate their first date 15 years ago! We also started some extreme swimming lesson. The kids are basically held under and taught to swim but I think it's going to work!! :/ Here are a few pics of these first days of summer!

First Day of Lessons! These are some kids who don't know what's coming!

Deacon with his favorite Toy! Had to put this on here so that I would remember how much he loved this garbage truck. here he is in the car with it!

Yogurt pops with friends. sadly to cool to eat outside!

Memorial Day 2011

Jacob was in the Memorial Day parade with his 3 school class from Zeeland Christian. It was so cute to see him up there on the float.

We also enjoyed some family time over the weekend. We attempted a swim at the pool by grandpa and grandma Mary's but got rained out on Sunday. Then on Monday we took advantage of the hot and sunny weather and headed to the beach. Jason may have gotten sunburn but the kids have never played so well and for so long together. Tenley also ventured down to the beach along with her tent and bouncy seat. She was good as gold only waking up just in time for a feeding!

Our little lady all dressed up in her RED, WHITE, and BLUE!

We ended the weekend with dinner on the back porch just the five of us! PERFECT!!!

Baptism

We celebrated Saturday night as Tenley was baptized at our church! We enjoyed dinner with our families at our house before the service. Such a special day for our precious baby girl! We praise God for the gift of her life and the opportunity we have to raise her to know him as her Lord and Savior!

Always need pics of the yummy food and cake!!

Tenley was perfect while being baptized. I honestly didn't even think to be worried about her crying while we were up there until it was over. I guess somethings change by the time its your 3rd. The boys enjoyed being "on stage" a little more than they should have even starting to put on their own show with dancing and spins. I guess to them a stage means its time to perform!!

Grandparents with Tenley

Great Grandparents with Tenley

The little things Tenley wore on her big day!

Beautiful bracelet from Grandma Mary. Her first jewelry!

Tiny little shoes!

Tulip Time

Once Again we enjoyed the fun of Tulip Time!! We are thankful that Grandma makes the costumes every year!! So fun to see all the kids dressed up!!

Grandpa and Grandma with the 7 grandkids 4 and under!! 3 of them only weeks old.

Jacob and Gabe

The whole family!