Christmas Eve-

In the morning we went to Bebe & Grandad's and exchanged our gifts (how did I not get a pic of Grandad??)

Angry Birds + Star Wars = Yes Please!

Nora and her beloved new baby doll. 

Here's what happens when we try to take a family photo.

Mags checking out her new LeapPad.

The Mc Gang.

 That night Bubba and Grampy fed us dinner and we exchanged our gifts with them.

Ben's new droid tank = AWESOME

The REAL Santa came by our house and it was soooo cool!

Nora and her new tutu + Bree Shirt.
She still wanted nothing to do with Santa! 

Big Weekend!

Auntie finished Grad School so Tim organized and we hosted a surprise party for her. It was hard to keep the secret (I couldn't talk to her for a few weeks for fear of ruining the surprise). We're really proud of her and can't wait for our second niece this summer!! Woo hoo......

The next day we made our annual Currant Cookies -- YUM!!

Ho Ho Ho!

 We went to a friend's annual Christmas Party and the BIG GUY showed up. Ben was all about saying "hello." (Although he was quick to point out it was obviously one of Santa's Helpers ... "I saw his real hair, Mom.")

Nora was just fine looking from a distance and wanted no part of it.

After school-

After a long day of school we like to hang out in my bed ... watch a show, Nora has some milk, we're goofy, we chit-chat (Ben's words) and read books. It's a nice way to to spend the afternoon as long as everyone is in a good mood!

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year. We started the day at Ben's school where they had a parade, school-wide flash mob dance to Thriller and class party.

After dinner our ghost and little dinosaur (Nora had a great dino rooooaaarrr!) headed out for some Trick-or-Treat fun. They got a ton of loot and Ben was very good and responsible with his peanut allergy. 

JUMP!

We just got a letter!

Ben's class had a really fun letter writing project this year. They all got letters delivered to school from friends or family and then had to write a letter in return. Thanks to Lisa and Jason for writing a very sweet letter to Ben. He was very excited about the whole project! He had a little trouble explaining to the class who Lisa and Jason were ... he said, "How do I describe who Lisa and Jason are? Are they my grandparents? I don't think so." Too funny! We now have dubbed them as a bonus aunt and uncle!

Once the kids had all written their letters we had a walking field trip to mail them and went to the ice cream shop as well. I was lucky enough to go with the class - what a fun afternoon! The kids had a blast and were sooooooo excited.

Farmer's Market

The market near our house always has a great pumpkin patch with tractors the kids can ride on and fun slides. It's becoming a fall tradition to walk for a visit!

What she's up to-

Here's our "sweet little miss-miss" ... how we all love her so! She is super funny these days and is  growing up so fast. She loves to sing and dance; wear "pretty" bracelets, necklaces and hats; talks a lot; loves Elmo and Big Bird; loves her "broder" (she doesn't call Ben by his name - mostly "brother"); she loves her "deet" (somehow that translates to milk in a cup); she loves going to the sitter twice a week with all of the boys (she says "ohhhh boys!" and expects them to follow her every instruction - I think we're in trouble in the future); gives sweet and sloppy wet kisses; and in general is as sweet as pie. Here's a laundry list of some of her words:
Dada, Mama, Brother, Bubba, Grampy, Bebe, Daddad (Grandad), Maggie, Doggie, Kitty, Bus, Night-Night, No, Stop, Otay (okay), Bear, Read, Fish, Up, Nono (Nora), Pretty ...

1st Day, 1st Grade

Here's Ben with his teacher on his first day of school. He looks a TAD nervous, no?! Mrs. M. is the perfect first grade teacher - sweet as can be with a fun sense of humor but can lay down the law - especially with those rowdy boys.

Vacation to South Haven, MI

We dragged Bebe and Grandad to MI with us this summer. It was exhausting and fun.

 Building...

 Taking a swim break...

 More building...

 Catching the sunset in Holland.

 Friends Good Will

 Someone LOVED the MI blueberries!

 Still building...

 We went to Air Zoo in Kalamazoo.

Ben checking out the boat of the woman who was rowing around Lake MI in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. She happened to be in South Haven while we were and it was fun to see her and her stuff. What she endured is pretty amazing. I'll definitely be reading her book if she writes one!

 Loving ice cream.

 Fun at Tot Lot.

 Look Ma, no life jacket!

After our amazing blueberry cobbler our teeth and tongues were blue for hours.

It was absolutely worth it.

Now vacation is over ... is it back-to-school yet?!

More Summer Fun-

Ben went to swimming camp for a week this summer and he REALLY improved in the water. He is so much more comfortable and even moved up a level. Woo-hoo!

Here's our little swimmer Nora with Bubba at Innsbrook. She LOVES the water and is fearless when it comes to swimming. We'll sign this girl up for lessons soon!

The boys used a 5-gallon bucket and made a river at the beach (like we did with our friends in WI). This kept them busy for several hours - thanks for the tip, friends!!

Ben and his beloved cousin A.J. We had the chance to celebrate A.J.'s 7th birthday at Innsbrook. See Charlie in the background? He's almost a teenager - sheesh! It was so much fun we swam and swam and swam and played Uno late into the night.

Here's Ben at another camp - science camp. He LOVED it. At the end of the week they shared their experiments in front of an audience. He told me he has stage fright but did it anyway.

Ben and Uncle T

Ben has been busy in Grandad's workshop the past few weeks. He told me he had an idea in his mind to make a "T" for Uncle Tim and just decided to build it. So here is Uncle with the letter "T" in addition to a ball Ben made for him from yarn and ribbon. Ben took a lot of pride in his gifts and wrapped the present just so with Bebe ... then he proceeded to badger me every five minutes to call Uncle to give him his present (even though I knew Tim was at work at the time). Thankfully Auntie and Uncle dropped by our house later that night (because they are NICE like that ... they even had a free night without Mags and STILL came over). I think you can tell by the look on Ben's face that he was pretty pleased with himself!

Moonrise & Camp-

Here's me and my sweetie at the Moonrise. Joe surprised me with a night out for our anniversary. We got to drink-and-eat-and-drink-and-eat and sleeeeeep innnnnn all by ourselves. It was amazing with no kids pulling at our sleeves every five minutes -- and no one needed a waffle made for them within five seconds of their feet hitting the ground after waking up. See how well rested and refreshed we look? The good news is that we still like each other after 13 years of marriage!

Here's our resident jokester at summer camp. They had a "photo booth" and e-mailed parents the pics. What a riot. He is having FUN at camps this summer. It's a lot of work for this taxi-mom to take him everywhere at the proper time, but it's worth it. Happy summer!!

Aladdin and swimming

Bebe took Ben and me to see Aladdin at the Muny. It was AWESOME. We had rented the movie so Ben knew what the story was all about and what was going on. He really loved it and was smiling almost the whole time ... Bebe decided Ben was the sixth generation to go to the Muny. It was a beautiful night - a storm cloud rolled through and cooled things off but didn't rain - so it was perfect. Thanks, Bebe!

 We got home at midnight and this boy was tired after a long day at camp and night at the theater!!

Here's a bonus pic of Missy in the baby pool at home.

She's our little fish!