Not Good News :(

So the gist of it is that we had a great dinner last weekend, and not much else, other than within the next year John will be promoted to a major's position (his work does promotion the military way), and that is only if business in Kalamazoo continues to grow. Basically we felt that the owner was just trying to figure out if John is still actively pursuing a police job, which of course he is.

Even though we didn't get great news, John isn't too disappointed, he just found out he has been moved through to the next step in hiring with Michigan State Police, and he is still #1 on the hiring list with Kalamazoo County and should be able to be hired in April May, so we are keeping our fingers crossed:)

Good News?

Today John was in Jackson for meetings all day, and on his way home he calls and says that I need to call Bravo's restaurant and make reservations for tomorrow night for 4. Of course I ask all my questions as to why I need to do this and his reply completely shocked me. He says the owner of the company he currently works for is taking John and me out for dinner with him and his wife tomorrow night because there are important issues he wants to discuss with us.

So now we are so curious we could die, and the only thing we can agree on is that we may be getting an offer we can't refuse for John to stay and not continue to pursue a police job. John has excelled at this job, and it has been no secret that they want to keep him, and will greatly miss John if he leaves for a police job, which they have known from the beginning was a possibility and they respected that. But now business in Kalamazoo area is bumming, and they really need John, especially since they just landed the Stryker account, and we also heard this week that the owner really wants to keep John, and is afraid he will leave. We have discussed staying with his current job, because how often is it that you actually find a job that you love and that the employer respects you as a person as actually values you , and not to mention the prospects in Michigan right now for police careers is slim pickings.

So if things tomorrow go as we are guessing we are going to have a serious decision to make. I'm excited to see what tomorrow night brings! Hopefully fantastic news!

Bronson Park on Christmas Eve

Every year we go to Bronson Park, the kids love to run around and look at the displays. I love it because it reminds me of my childhood when my parents took me and my sisters every year. This year we decided to go on Christmas Eve (just as I did as a kid), and I wanted to take the kids on the horse drawn carriage ride too, but lets just make it clear the carriage company is crazy, they wanted $110 for a 30 minute ride. We of course decided not to take a ride, and I was disappointed because it has never been more than $20 in the past. Another disappointment is some of the displays that have been there ever since I can remember were not up this year, apparently they had to be retired, just more of a confirmation that I am getting older, great!

Candy Cane Lane, the kids ran so fast I couldn't get an up close shot, but if you look carefully you can see them

Pretending to be the missing statues

The lights on this little bush were much more beautiful than the picture shows


The same nativity scene that has been there every year, still looks good so hopefully it will be there for years to come
Actually got them to sit for just one quick picture, there were so annoyed with me every time I tried to take a pic someone would walk in front of me, it was really busy for Christmas Eve.

Funny Story !!!

So the other day the kids were watching the movie Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer. After the movie Hannah was very insistant about calling Grandma to talk with her, we tried to convince her to wait since Grandma was at work, but she wasn't having it. So we gave in and called Grandma. Once Hannah started talking with her she kept asking are you okay, over and over. We had no idea why she was asking, and Grandma kept assuring her that she was okay. Finally Hannah accepted that Grandma was okay, and then Hannah says I thought you got ran over by a reindeer, and were hurt. We all started laughing so hard, because we finally understood why she was asking Grandma if she was okay. Grandma still didn't really understand until I explained it to her and then she got a big kick out of it too, it really was funny! Got to love 3yr. olds and their thought process :)

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!

Hannah turned 3 on the 7Th. (I'm a bit behind in blogging) I love this age as far as birthdays go, she not old enough to want a birthday party with friends (yeah for me!). So we had a family birthday. She asked for spaghetti for dinner and a pink cake (aka strawberry).

This was the best picture I could get her to take by herself, she was being uncooperative, one of her many talents!

Opening presents, this year she understood what was actually going on, and had a blast. She was even nice to Ash and Carter and let them help unwrap a little.

This is Aunt Tricia and her Boyfriend, Jeremy, they make a cute couple, they looked so thrilled to be watching presents being open, in their defense I caught them off guard and they weren't prepared for a picture.

More presents being opened!

here is one of her many presents, she is obsessed with Christmas. Every store that we go to we have to look at all the Christmas trees and decorations. She saw the pink Christmas tree at target this year, and loved it. So she asked Grammy and Papa fro this Christmas tree for her birthday, and of course they got her for her. She had so much fun decorating it, it even has mini twinkling lights. It's been a great nightlight! There were little mini presents for decoration, but those have since been thrown away as she and one of her friends decided to open them one day. They were disappointed though, because it was just Styrofoam inside. So I asked her why did you unwrap them, and she replied to me, because mom your supposed to unwrap presents, and then she rolled her eyes at me as if I was dumb for asking such a crazy question!

Her is one of her other many presents. This is GO GO, this dog is the closest thing you can get to being real, she sleeps with her every night, and then she has her every where she goes all day long. The dog in my opinion is a little weird, it barks, walks, etc. One day it even barked back at the dogs on TV (weird), but she loved it!


And finally, here is the cake I made. Her request was pink cake and Dora (one of her other obsessions). I think it turned out pretty good, but I swear I had carpaltunal afterwards, it took me 2 1/2 hrs. to decorate the thing. I think tears came to my eyes when it got cut up and mutilated in only 5 minutes !

Sledding Fun

Check out this video of the kids sledding yesterday. It was fantastic for me they played outside for hours, and were so exhausted they just passed out at bedtime! Sorry no sound I was using my camera. Hannah is the one in the blue jacket and pink snowpants, watch in the 2nd video how she gets stuck, it's hilarious!

Were On A Mission

We have started limiting TV and Video games lately. This is new to us we have never limited these things before, but I have gotten to a point that I don't like to hear the TV and video games on, and not to mention that there really isn't very many appropriate programs for the kids to watch. Anyways the other day I found the kids playing and they had made a fort, so I asked them what they were doing. They responded we are on a mission Mom, we have to capture all the evil aliens. It amazes me how creative they are when they are forced to be, and how well they all get along, John and I are loving it. So here are some pictures of the fort they made and them hiding out in it.

Love the fort, but it meant I couldn't work at the computer very easily, oh well they were having fun.
Caught cha by surprise ! Typical reactions from all, Carter looks completely surprised, Ashleigh as always has the smile going on, and Hannah is just looking annoyed that I am taking yet more pictures

Love the smiles on their faces here, they are truly enjoying their time with eachother.