Just for fun...more cuteness!

Girls love being naked and hiding under the cushions...I found them just like this, chatting away!

Kiddos ready for baby Adeline's baptism...cute, cute!

My Boy Turns 4 and Starts Preschool!!!

Barrett in his No. 4 shirt

Hitting his T-Rex pinata

We made volcanoes in the sand

Kids dug for dinosaurs

Barrett on his first day of Preschool

What an exciting first week back to school! Barrett started going to Preschool twice a week and he turned four years old! He's getting so big! Sigh! Oh, how I love my little man!

Week at Cabin with My Sister and Kidlets

Rainey grandkids

Lauren hiding in our floating cooler

Our attempt at a group photo

Papa reading to the two older grandkids

My kids love the hot tub!

We spent an entire week at the cabin this summer! Jocelyn and her two kids plus me with my three kids...what a week! The two of us were exhausted by the end of it, but we hope to continue with the tradition. Five kids under the age of 4..whew! Anyway, we had a great time sitting in the hot tub and going for walks. The weather was sunny, but windy so beach days were limited...maybe next year. What a great week...love you, Joss!

An Evening with the Croel's

Lauren and Crosby

Gigglin' Raina

Lauren LOVES her backpack

The kids get together

Barrett with his backpack

We went to visit the Croel's one Saturday evening. We haven't gotten together with them since New Year's so it was well overdue! We played outside and caught up on things. We stayed up late into the evening watching a friend of ours fight a UFC match on PPV (which Gray Maynard..our friend...won and is now up for a title match, most likely in January!). The next day we couldn't stay long because we had to head back to town to take Barrett to his Preschool Open House. So exciting!

Girls Singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

The video is dark, but I tried catching the girls singing as best I could. They were waiting for lunch and decided to sing with each other...so cute!

Ride Home Noise!

Ben and I took the kids into town to do some shopping and on our way home (mind you, this video was taken minutes before they all fell fast asleep) the kids decided to make some noise! Too funny not to share!

Fourth of July and a few other things

Handsome Barrett

Raina attempting her "flippy-do"

Now Lauren gives it a try...put decides to pose instead!

Trying out her pull-ups...maybe we'll just skip to real undies instead

Hanging with the girls

Raina twirling in her dance outfit


This past weekend we spent up at Ben's grandma's home on the lake. She is kindly referred to as "Grandma on the Lake" by the kids. Too cute. Anyway, we went up early Friday and stayed through Monday. It was a nice long weekend. We played a lot so by the end we were ready to come home to our own beds and rest a bit. :) Some pics of the weekend below (although I didn't have my camera out hardly enough as always...I think these pics are really just from a few hours on Saturday...)

Fourth of July Weekend

All in a Weekend's Work!

We decided to cram in a lot of things last weekend! By the end we were happy and over tired, but it was well worth every minute!

Friday
I talked Ben into taking the day off and we headed to Grand Haven for the day. The Janiczek's met up with us later in the day, too. It was so fun to have family time and it was also the only day we had as "just us" to celebrate our 7 year anniversary. We had so much fun! Click on picture below to see more pics from that day.

A Day @ Grand Haven beach

Saturday
Saturday was my dad's big day. In the morning the boys went canoeing (don't ask me why they got to go and Jocelyn and I didn't, but that's another thing entirely, I suppose) with my dad and about 60 other people in honor of the man with whom my dad sculpted. During this time, Jocelyn and I with kids in tow headed over to Trina's to help set-up. The kids we given the opportunity to play in the two enormous jumping toys while we did what we could to help out (which wasn't much, Trina had already done so much). Then we all headed to the unveiling. This was a very nice hour ceremony and my dad looked so proud and we of him! The sculpture stands along the river in our hometown, very cool, indeed. After the unveiling there was a retirement party for Dad back at his house. Many old faces and familiar friends stopped in to say hi. It was such a fun evening!!! Click on the pic below to see more from that day.

Dad's Sculpture Unveiling and Retirement Party!

Sunday
We spent the afternoon with Ben's side of the family at a Lugnuts game in Lansing. It started off as a very rainy day, but cleared up nicely for the game. It was a nice afternoon spent with family. Pics below.

Lugnuts Game

Father's Day

Father's Day 2010

**Click on the above picture to see more from Sunday.**

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday was the 2nd annual "Breakfast on the Farm" were a local farm gives you a free breakfast and lets you tour their farm. This was a large event (they estimate 3,000-4,000 people were there), then after that we headed to my friend Lottie's parents house. She was hosting a pool party. It was a nice casual afternoon at the pool and I got to see her son who is 4 months old, too! After all of that we met back up with daddy (he had been volunteering at the breakfast thing then had a golf outing in the afternoon) and went to Louie and Jenny's party. Sunday we headed up to Grandma at the Lake's house. We all love it there. Katie joined us and we all relaxed and played in the lake. On our way home we went to my dad's house and saw their new back porch. I'll try and get pictures up of this, but it is something beautiful for sure! It was a a nice weekend!

slip-n-slide (among other things)

Barrett was so excited for the slip-n-slide. When I was putting his swimsuit on he whispered to me "This is going to be AWESOME!". It was so great!

Lauren giggled and stomped through the water!

Raina wasn't too sure about it, but I did catch a few smiles along the way!

Kids getting ready for the slip-n-slide

Daddy gave Barrett some help

Lauren accessorizes herself and says "Ready!"

Morning of Mother's Day

Friends came to visit (here's Samuel J. with Barrett and Raina)

Here's a collection of photos to highlight a few happenings around here.

But I must make note that I did turn 30 recently, but since it was a surprise party...I have no pictures. It's probably for the best....man was it a good time! :)

Komen Race 2010

Not Komen, but rather the Green & White Game Day the Saturday before the Komen Race...too cute to not post! Even if it is the wrong colors! ;)

Ben and I after the race

My family...lots of emotions and lots of LOVE!

Rainey cousins (minus Emmett who stayed with grandparents)

Sisters for the Cure! Love you, Joss!

Big weekend last weekend. Saturday Ben took Barrett to the Green & White game at Spartan Stadium. He took him last year and will most likely make this a yearly father-son bonding event. It's cute. Then, later that day my immediate family got together for dinner at my dad's. We just told stories and laughed. It was a great evening. The next day was the Komen Race (click for more pictures from the weekend) at the capitol. Jocelyn and I put together a team named "You Gotta Be" in honor of our mother's fighting song. Jocelyn made t-shirts and we all raised money for this great cause. The team met up before the race, we handed out shirts and got a group shot. Some people ran the race, some walked it, but everyone had a great time! Ben finished the race around 25 minutes, I finished around 33 minutes, and Dewey finished in second place in her age group (and won a medal!). I ran with Anne Edin for almost the entire race and to be honest with you, I don't think I would have ran the entire race without her! It was so nice to run with someone! Afterward, we all met back up and had a few drinks then continued on to another restaurant for dinner. By the end of the night we were exhausted (but the kids seemed to get a second wind at home...whew!). More pictures from the weekend are on the link below.

Girls are 2

Girls Turn 2

The girls turned two years old a few days ago! I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone by. On Saturday we threw them a party at our house. It was a beautiful day and we were all able to get out side and play a little bit, too. The girls are growing up quickly. Below are some of their stats @ 2 yrs. old.

Lauren
~*~Talks a lot, can make phrases and many gestures
~*~Has blond hair and blue eyes
~*~Loves t.v. especially Dora and Diego
~*~Loves to read books and "talk" on the phone
~*~Very independent
~*~Loves her "taggies" on her blankie
~*~Loves to give hugs

Raina
~*~Loves to suck her two middle fingers on her right hand
~*~Loves baby dollies
~*~Climbs everything
~*~Talks, but it's limited...she'd prefer to just move around
~*~Shovels food into her mouth...startles people sometimes
~*~Wanders sometimes in her sleep...I've found her at the foot of our bed and in-between Ben and me on some nights
~*~Attached to momma and wants "upie" all the time (meaning on my lap or being held)


Both girls love to play outside. I am excited for this summer, because I think they will love the water...if bath time is any indication! Barrett has been growing like a weed, too. Most of his clothes are either 4T or 5T (and he's only 3!). He is a sweetheart and only is "naughty" when he's tired. He's now fully potty-trained...this took some time... but are very proud of what he has accomplished. He can be hard on himself and I know this was difficult for him. Overall, all of kids are doing very well. They bring more joy to our world than we could have ever imagined.

On a side note, our family also welcomed a new cousin on April 11th. Kyle and Melissa had their new baby girl, Avery McLeod Williams. Welcome to the world, little one!

All Dolled Up

Lauren

Raina

Raina & Lauren

Mommy with her girls

Cold winter days...chillin' at home

Barrett takes on daddy in a very long wrestling match

Before Liam's baptism...Barrett didn't want to change his clothes...can you tell?!?

Raina with her beautiful "fake" earrings

Lauren is the ultimate girly girl

So handsome