Kids Pictures

Yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day, so after a few haircuts, the boys and I headed out to the back yard to take some pictures, Bradyn and Austin for their yearly school pictures, and Calvin for his 2 year picture.

The older two were easy enough, and aside from trying to get them to smile more naturally, we got some decent ones of them.

However, Calvin turned out to be a rather difficult one....after all, he is two, right? What fun would it be to have a perfectly obedient two year old? :) We took about 15 total pictures of him and only 2 were what I was looking for. :)

So there you have it, another year of pictures. I can't believe how big they are getting!

Artprize 2012

Every year for the past few, the city of Grand Rapids has put on an art competition from the middle of September through the first of October. Artists from all over the world submit their works of art and all the art is set up on the streets and throughout the buildings of downtown Grand Rapids. Our boys, Bradyn especially, are always excited about it, and this year we made a trip downtown to view some of the art pieces. We picked a Saturday, I believe it was September 29. It was super busy when we got there (it took us about 30 minutes to find parking) and there were people EVERYWHERE!! After we finally found a spot, we headed off to see the art. We were not able to see nearly all of it, probably not even a quarter of what was there, but what we did see was pretty neat, and the boys enjoyed themselves. Here are a few pictures of what we saw.

Dinosaur skeleton outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum

Giant colorful fish outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum

A boy in a canoe, made out of metal in the reflecting pool in front of the museum.

Here is Calvin peeking through the hole of a fake theater.

Bradyn peeking through a hole on the same fake theater.

This isn't an art entry, but it looked cool. It's a misting pool by Rosa Parks Circle that the boys thought was pretty neat. Here are Bradyn and Austin checking it out.

We definitely saw more art than this, but didn't take pictures of nearly all we saw. When you're toting around three little kids, it's hard to keep track of them all AND get pictures of everything. Some pieces you can look at and say "hmmmm is this really art?" while others are pretty spectacular. Russ and I intended to go back just the two of us so we could manuever more easily, but we never got the chance. O well, I guess there is always next year right? :)

You Are Beautiful

I received an update from one of the blogs I follow called "Passionate Homemaking" on the subject of beauty. I thought it was very well written and thought I'd share it with you all. I think it's something that all of my dear sisters in Christ could benefit from.


You Are Beautiful

By Lindsay on October 4, 2012 in faith & womanhood

There we sat snuggled in and playing a roaring game of cards (the game Speed in fact). My husband in his sweet way looks up and says, “You’re so beautiful.” Immediately, my self conscious way pips up and points out the leftover baby flub on my tummy as I emphasize the fat by holding between my finger tips. As if he wasn’t fully aware of the way my body has changed and grown over the years and the effects of birthing three babies? In a laughing insecure way I respond, “but this isn’t very attractive.”

My husbands instant reply struck me to the quick: “The only thing I find unattractive about you is your lack of confidence in yourself.”

Wow. My heart was instantly convicted. The only thing my hubby, and I might just venture most men out there, find unattractive about us as women is when we speak negatively about ourselves. It only makes us unattractive to our men. We need to let go of the silly notions about image and appearance. Your man loves you for who you are not based upon how skinny or fit you are. He loves you with all your quirks and baby flub, just like our Heavenly Father.

I look at my numerous stretch marks and say, “yuck”, but my husband looks at them and sees beauty. These are the marks that brought his children into the world. These are the scars that brought forth precious life. I exchanged temporary physical perfection with eternal precious little souls. I imagine these stretch marks as a permanent kiss offered for my child.

When we speak negatively about ourselves, we ultimately mock our Creator. He who has fashioned and designed you unique and imprints “beautiful” all over you. When we look at ourselves in frustration and despair, we are doubting His goodness and that His ways are perfect.

Sisters, make yourself beautiful for your man and others by cutting out the critical attitude about yourself. Embrace the way God has beautifully created you to be. You are beautiful and precious in His sight. Embrace your appearance, your specific gifts, your style, and seek to use it for His glory in bringing life into your spear of influence.

And remember…the only thing unattractive about you is when you speak negatively about yourself. I’m letting go of the crap (for that is what it really is) and embracing my design.

Calvin is TWO!!

I am amazed that it has been 2 years already since Calvin joined our family!! He has been such a joy to us, and we are so very thankful that God has entrusted him to our care. Yesterday was a pretty normal day for us. We started off the morning by baking Calvin's birthday cake. Calvin had some nice one on one time with his big brother looking at books.

Austin and Calvin looking at books together.


Then, at the last minute the 3 of us decided to go to some garage sales with my sister Chelsea and my mom. It was a perfect day for a nice walk and I was able to come away with some pretty good finds, so it was well worth it!

We came home and while Calvin was napping, Austin and I worked on Calvin's cake. I decided to make a train cake, since lately he has taken a lot of interest in the Thomas the Tank Engine and friends we have around here. I found a tutorial video online that showed me how to make the cake. Austin has always loved helping me in the kitchen, so he was excited to work one on one with me on the cake. Bradyn helped a little when he got home too, but then realized that playing baseball outside was a lot more fun! :) I was able to finish the cake just in time for Russ to come home. For Calvin's birthday dinner we had pulled pork from the crock pot on buns and some vegetables. Calvin LOVES any meat done in the crock pot, and corn happens to be one of his favorites, so he was a happy boy!!

After supper, we had Calvin blow out the candle (with a little help) on his cake after we all sang happy birthday to him. Then we had cake and ice cream. Just like last year, Calvin wanted nothing to do with his cake. He is not a sweet lover AT ALL, but I guess that isn't so bad is it?

The cake

Ready to blow out his candle.

When we all were settled with our cake and ice cream, we had him open his present from us (with a little help from his big brother) and his cards from his grandma, great grandma, and great great grandma. He got a lego duplo block set from us, and was pretty excited about the dog figurine in the picture on the box.

Ready to open gifts! (Please disregard my messy kitchen, and the fact that there is somewhat girly paper on his gift. You'd think with having all boys I'd have some boyish paper around....not so much. :)

Hmmm, what's in here?

He did it!

He found the dog!

Checking out what's inside!

I'm fairly certain Calvin had NO idea what having a birthday was all about. Bradyn and Austin kept saying "Happy Birthday" to him and when they sang the song to him, he was a little overwhelmed and yelled for them to STOP!! I'm sure next year he'll have caught on to it all.

Back to School

Blink....that was our summer. It's gone already and it's time for school to start again. Heritage Christian School officially opened its doors for another school year yesterday, September 4. Bradyn is now in the third grade and has Miss Sarah Koole for his teacher. He was pretty excited to start school again, and he is ready for a good year. I didn't get any pictures of him on his first day, but we took some today on Austin's first day.

Our big third grader.

Brothers, ready for school!

Our three boys before school this morning.

Austin was so excited to go to school today, he got up 10 minutes early and promptly set the timer on the microwave as a countdown to when we would leave. He wanted to leave at 7am, I was able to talk him out of it when I told him no one would be at school if we went that early. By the time the timer went off, he was standing by the door with his shoes and back pack on ready to go!! I took him this morning so I could show him where to go, and get some pictures of him on the playground. He was smiling when I left, so I think he'll do just fine.

Our not-so-little Kindergartener on his first day of school!

Austin and Laura before their first day.

Austin and Tyler before their first day.

Trying out the toys on the Kindergarten playground.

All lined up and ready to go into the classroom!

The kids waving "goodbye" to their parents.

We are Blessed

Some of you know this already, but we made the official announcement on Sunday that we are expecting baby number four. I had my first doctor's appointment today, and everything was good. I was able to hear our precious little one's heartbeat, and it was music to my ears. My doctor had a bit of a hard time finding it at first, (she has with all our kids so I wasn't surprised) but after a few minutes of searching, she finally found it. We are so very humbled and thankful that God has given us another little one to care for. We covet your prayers, as we take on this task, that God will grant us the grace to be patient in all things and wait on Him in all things. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers already expressed, we are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving friends and family.

Camping - Wilson State Park

During the last full week of July, Russ and I and our boys headed up to Wilson State Park. It is located in Clare county pretty much smack dab in the middle of the mitten. We went with my sister and brother-in-law Matthew and Chelsea and sweet Malaya of course, and my youngest sister Ashlinn also came with us, it was her very first time camping, and she was so excited! We left from Matthew and Chelsea's house around 11 AM, and after about a 2 hour drive, we arrived at the campground, and began the setting up process ( and let me tell you it is a process!!)

Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful days, and we spent most of the time down by the beach enjoying each other's company. Our boys had fun going tubing behind Uncle Matthew's flat bottom boat. The boat didn't go very fast, so it was the perfect speed for them. The beach was nice and sandy, with a nice bit of sandy bottom in the swimming area. The kids had a lot of fun.

We also went fishing, which we figured out our boys love to do (much to their father's dismay)! It was good fishing and they were able to catch quite a few fish, and loved every minute of it. It also helped that Auntie Ashlinn loves to fish, so she would take them down to the water to fish while we were getting supper.

Wednesday afternoon, my dad came up with their camper. They were joining us and staying through until Saturday. We got them set up, and my mom and brother Ethan and sister Caitryn came up later that evening after work. We had just finished supper and were getting the kids ready for bed, when my mom received a text on her phone with a warning of bad weather in the area. We hadn't heard anything officially, but we were beginning to hear thunder in the distance. Matthew and Russ walked over to the ranger station to check it out, while I was giving the kids baths in the trailer. They came back after a while and said a tornado warning had been issued for our area. We were told to head down to the pavillion on the beach for shelter.

It had begun pouring by then, so we all piled into our vehicles and made our way to the beach. The pavillion was open on two sides, so we could watch what was going on. It never got very windy, but it rained buckets and the thunder and lightning were a bit scary. We stayed in the pavillion for about 45 minutes before the park ranger told us the warning had been lifted and we could leave if we wanted to. It was still raining pretty hard, and the stairs down to the beach had turned into a waterfall, but we made it back to our vehicles, through ankle deep water, and back to our campsite. Our camper faired the best, (apparently we were slightly higher up than my parents) who had a mini lake right outside their door. Matthew and Chelsea's sleeping area was dry, as well, but the other part had not faired so well. We finally got everyone settled down and sleeping around midnight and we all slept until about 9 the next morning.

Thursday morning was rainy and we all had a bit of a hard time getting ourselves going after our late night. Around noon, the weather cleared up nicely and the sun came out. The boys went fishing again, while us ladies relaxed and the little ones took naps.

It rained again during the night and we woke up to overcast skies on Friday. After a big breakfast, Calvin had a blast running through a big puddle by the road, and this called for a trip to the laundromat.

My sisters Chelsea, Ashlinn, and Russ and I took a load of clothes to the local laundromat because many of our towels were soaked from the rain, and we were running out of clothes for our boys. By the time we got back, it had started raining heavily again, so we found a video store in town, and rented a few videos for the kids to watch. It continued to rain while the video played so we all gathered under my parents awning and sat in ankle deep water.

It finally stopped raining around 5pm or so. We were able to have a delicous supper of hamburgs, fruit and sweet corn, and ended our night with fun times around the campfire.

Saturday (otherwise known as packing up day) dawned bright and sunny, and we were able to pack up everything without getting soaked. We left around 11AM from the campground and after a few stops in town for lunch and to fill up with gas, we headed home. We arrived back home later that afternoon and proceeded to unpack everything. This is always the worst part, and always needs to be done before you can collapse in your nice clean bed, after getting cleaned up in your nice clean bathroom.

All in all we had a good time, and decided despite the rain, all that really mattered was spending time with each other. The Lord brought us through the week with no serious injuries, and took us back home safely. For that we are truly thankful.