Girls on the Run

Ash had the opportunity to participate in Girls on the Run this year. It was a great experience for her. She wasn't that crazy about the running but she loved the self confidence lessons and the bonding time with her friends, and she had great coaches that she raved about.

Last night was the finally of the event all the girls from the greater Kalamazoo area participated in the 5K run/walk. There was a little more than 2000 girls and then another 2000+ community participants, mainly parents of the girls. Let me just say it was crazy and packed. We saw a lot of our friends from other schools and church too, it was a great time not only for Ashleigh but for the family too!




Here is Ashleigh and her BFF Avery before the run. Avery's hair is spay painted orange, thankfully Ashleigh opted for polka dots in hers so you can't see them here, but it was much easier to wash out last night.

(still haven't figured out how to rotate, help!) The stands in the background were not full when I took this picture,but as soon as the race started they were full of spectators!

After the race, they did it in about 50 minutes, not bad at all, considering Tricia said they probably walked half of it.They came in about middle of the pack. Aunt Tricia is such a trooper, she ended up running with Ash. Originally John was going to run with her but of course he got an alarm call just as we arrived. I didn't have anything with me to go with Ash, but Aunt Tricia was on her way and just happened to have her workout clothes and running shoes with her in her car, so she ran with Ash. Good thing she is a regular runner, so the 5K was no problem for her! However she was not expecting an interval run though, Ash kept making her stop to walk. At the end they were pooped!

I promise Tricia to never give you a guilt trip when the kids want you to come stay with them and you can't (at least for this week!) But hey as you said you got to see some HOT cops along the course!!!

Zoo Trip with the 1st graders

here at the end of the day all the kids were waiting to load the bus back to school, thank goodness Hannah loves Carter so much otherwise why would she put up with him pulling her pigtails!!

I think the giraffes were the biggest hit of the day it was early morning when we saw them and as you can see they were not shy at all. This giraffes must of had a cold it kept sneezing on Hannah and Sissy, poor girls, they were disgusted!

This is one of the 3 babies they were so cute. (BTW can any one tell me how to rotate the picture on this blog?)

Carter loved that the giraffes were hungry he had a great time feeding them! he couldn't believe how long and black their tongues were! Hannah refused to feed them she said they were scary I think she just didn't want to be sneezed on again.

Happy Birthday Ashleigh!!!!

Ashleigh's birthday was this past weekend and as you can see she loved every minute of it! She was so excited to not have to do any chores and milked every minute of that to the point we threatened to make her do chores if she continued rubbing it in to her brother!

I unfortunately did not make the cake like I had planned when I was getting ready to make the cake we had a gallon of pickles spill all over the kitchen (handy work of Ash of course) so by the time that got all cleaned up I had no time to make and decorate a cake before family arrived. So after a little convincing to Ash, she agreed to a pre made cake, so off to Sam's we went thank goodness for them. Ash was excited that they had a cake in the flavor she wanted and one without all the frilly flowers that she hates!

Ash has been begging and begging for a real camera, as she said the fisher price one she had is for "babies" and no longer suitable for her needs. So here she is all full of pride and joy because she got the pink camera that she has been wanting so badly. She loves it and uses it every chance she gets, the only stipulation we had was she has to pay for her own picture developing which she is cool with!

Ash we love you and can't wait to see what the next year brings to us with you there never seems to be a dull moment with you ever!!!!

How stubborn can one 2yr. old be?

Hannah refused to go to sleep last night, so she hung out with me in the living room. It was suddenly quiet and I looked over to find her asleep. She was so stubborn about sleeping she feel asleep in the process of climbing onto the couch, she was out cold. I'm sure that's why she didn't notice how incredibly uncomfortable this probably was, gotta love her she is always keeping things lively around here!

Lovin the warm weather!

We have enjoyed the warm weather lately and playing outside, it's been great to get the kids out of the house! The kids are so tired at night there is no fighting about bedtime (with the exception of Hannah) I love it!

Ashleigh is in live with an old cell phone we gave her, she loves that thing obviously she just can't get away from it, thank goodness it doesn't have service and she just uses it for pictures and for playing with.

Hannah is so crazy she loves to hang upside down and bugs her daddy to keep doing it!

Even John is a little obsessed with the bubbles!

Carter taking his turn

ipod giveaway

I just entered to win an ipod shuffle on one of the blogs I follow, hoping that I win, if I do it will be the first time I've ever won something. Check out the giveaway at qkhunt.blogspot.com keeping my fingers crossed!!

Happy Birthday Carter!

Yesterday was Carter's 7th birthday, he was so excited! (I have to say with it also being mother's day, I got a bit jipped). We went to Colonial Kitchen for breakfast it's his favorite for breakfast. Aunt Tricia and Grandma surprised him and joined us. The night before he spent the night at his friends house, whose birthday also happens to be the same day as Carter. At dinner time we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and to celebrate with the extended family. Carter wanted burritos, he likes the nasty pre made frozen ones, yuck! I also made homemade burritos for the rest of us, yummy! Overall it was a great day (we played hookie from church and just hung out all day). Finally at the end of the day he remembered it was mothers day and gave me a big hug and kiss, and said he was sorry he forgot. These are the moments that make being a mother special!





This is the cake I made for him (can you tell I don't decorate a lot of cakes) originally I had ordered a cake from Sam's with a chopper on it, but he was not happy with that idea he wanted me to make this one, so needless to say I canceled the order and made him the one he wanted. (Sonja thanks for letting me borrow your stuff, Carter didn't want it to fancy though)

He got walkie talkies and we heard those things non stop all day, what were we thinking? At least he didn't sit in front of the playstation all day playing his new games. He also enjoyed riding his new scooter in the house until I put an end to that and sent him outside! He was so excited to get a new scooter his broke last summer in June so he shared with Ashleigh all summer and that didn't go so well!

We love you Carter and can't wait to see what the next year brings our way!

What season is it?

The weather has been up and down lately, but not cold enough for winter gear, but Hannah seems to be confused. A couple weeks ago we had beautiful weather and it was 80 degrees outside, and I came down stairs to find Hannah dressed like this. She refused to take off the hat and gloves so where ever we went so did they, everyone in the store stared at me as if I was a crazy mother, oh well, this kid just makes me laugh, got to love her!