Merry Christmas

The "laundry" from Grandma and Papa

Cadence's Big Girl Princess Bike

Here's some pictures of this mornings events! This is our first Christmas away from family, so it's different for us, but more laid-back which will be nice. Brandon's mom came up, and she just left to head to her family's party, and my family is getting together at Gari Lee's today. We went to Christmas Eve services last night, and it was Cadence's first time going into the sanctuary for the entire service. She did great, sang Silent Night, and I think enjoyed looking around at all the lights and decorations. We had a nice dinner last night, so today will just hanging out, nothing special planned. Brandon and I woke up at 6:15, and he said he was so excited, he wanted to go wake up the girls! We waited an hour, got them up at 7:15, and opened gifts. I took us awhile to open everything up, they wanted to play with each gift right away and we had to stop for breakfast. We still have stockings to open, but I think we will do that tonight. Cadence said she was tired and had to lay down in between gifts, very atypical for her to do so, we just thought she was tired from being up late on Christmas Eve. Well a bit later we figured out why she was tired and not doing much, she puked, and all over her new teddy bear. Luckily she now says her tummy feels better, so we hope it's just a one-time thing, and not the flu bug taking over our house! Hope everyone enjoys their Christmas celebrations!

Before the puking began, (I enjoyed the cuddles)!

Couple Pics

Here's a couple funny pics of the girls. We have hockey girl Cadence wearing Brandon's hockey gear and Ainslee who decided she did not want to nap in her own bed!

Avalanche Bay Weekend

This weekend we went to Boyne Mountain to play at Avalanche Bay. We stayed in a three room suite that was bigger than out house, and had more bathrooms. I never felt like we were staying in a hotel, it felt like a home. To make it better, we got a steal on the suite because we were given a off-season quote which they honored!!

The weekend was very eventful, lots of fun, commotion, emotion.... When we checked in we went right to Avalanche Bay, and thought the girls would have a ball. Paige LOVED the water, our girls wanted nothing to do with it. For Ainslee we think it was the sound, loud constant water, and the water avalanche that happens every so often completely freaked her out. Cadence being her timid self had a meltdown on the Lazy River, so she pretty much stayed to the kids area. The "big" kids loved the water slides, so we had fun trading turns staying with the girls so we could go on the big slides. During all this, Grandma and Gari Lee hung back with all three girls, and Paige proceeds to throw up right in the middle of Avalanche Bay, and threw up during the night as well. Poor Paigee girl.

Overall, we had a lot of fun, we are hoping to do this again next year, (if they give us the same price for the room)!!!!

Don't eat the pretzels!

We thought it would be fun to make some chocolate dipped pretzels last night. It turned into a mess, chocolate and sprinkles all over the place, and all over the girls! Just a caution- if you happen to be around us this weekend and are offered pretzels, I would decline, most of them were licked by the girls before they put the sprinkles on!!

It's Really Here

I can no longer deny that the snow is here to stay. It's a winter wonderland up here today, all schools closed, and 5-7 more inches expected before night fall!!!

Deer season

I will have to admit I was almost to the point of giving up on rifle season all together. Archery season is my favorite time of year. I have not had any luck in rifle season since 2001 and that was my last shot and deer taken with a rifle. Well that has changed. I hunted this weekend through Monday morning. The plan was to hunt only a few hours on Monday then get back home to Emmy and the girls. I was pretty deterred only seeing a few deer the previous two long days of hunting. So Monday morning came and I had cut my time even more thinking I would only hunt two hours pack up and call it another year with a rifle. Needless to say as you can see by the pictures Monday did not go how I thought it was going to. At about 7:30 this guy got by me once without giving me a shot but he had something else on his mind. He started chasing a doe, and tried to pass by me for a second time which was his last mistake. This is my biggest buck to date and a very large deer for the area I hunt. I think that I will have to give rifle season a few more chances over the next few years. ( I have also take one doe as well in archery season so far this year)

Hopefully she will be my hunting partner in the future.

Maybe with out the teddy bear.

I just thought this angle made him look big.

I could have used Cadence when I had to drag him out of the swamp.

Ainslee singing her ABC's

Ainslee has been starting to sing her ABC's, I finally got it on tape this morning. Disregard the jelly all over her face, and her trying to ignore me by looking away from the camera!!

Our Silly Girls

Cadence said she was waiting for deer to come to her

so she could watch them with her binoculars

Ainslee's favorite way to brush her teeth, on the counter
(and check out the socks and crocs that have to go on over her jammies)

Ainslee on the naughty wall

This is what happens when we put Ainslee in time out on the naughty wall next to the dirty laundry!!

Halloween

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. We had a party at Grandma and Papa's house with Cowgirl Paige and Spiderman Caden. We also had Michael Phelps and Leo from Little Einsteins, but I would be in serious trouble if I posted those pics!! Ainslee dressed up as Snow White, and Cadence was the witch from Snow White. It seemed fitting for the girls to dress up as those characters. They love to read Snow White and like to play a game that we call "spell apples". Someone plays the witch and gives the other a bite of a pretend spell apple, then they fall asleep, just like Snow White. Then the "amsome" (handsome) prince has to come and give Snow White true loves first kiss to wake up. It's quite adorable, and fun to get kisses from the girls!

Fall In the Leaves

Cleaning up the leaves in our yards inspired the girls

to do what all kids should do in the leaves!

Making Pizza

We made yummy pizza today.

The girls thought it was great to put their hands in the dough and squish it around.

Of course since it was chicken teriyaki pizza, they thought it was more fun to make than eat!

Emmy's 30th Birthday

It's official, I turned 30 today. I had a wonderful birthday weekend in Grand Rapids. We came down Friday and that night Brandon took me out to Bonefish Grill, just the two of us! Saturday morning, Grandma, Papa, Grandma Glass, Gari Lee, Chris, Paige and our family went to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins, feed the animals and enjoy cider and donuts. We had so much fun, the girls wanted every pumpkin out there! We then had a relaxed afternoon and Brandon told me we were leaving around 4:45 to go get an appetizer, then heading somewhere before dinner. He told me I had to bring my makeup and hair stuff, so of course I think we are going to get a massage. Well, after we ate, he didn't head towards the spa near the house, so I was completely thrown off. We were heading towards our sister-in-law's spa so I thought, ok we're going out there. He was telling me that the spa normally closes at 4pm, (it's now 6), but Amy kept the spa open for us because they had a bachelorette party in there for services as well. So we walk into the spa and Shelly who works with Brandon's mom is at the front desk. At this point I have no clue what's going on and I say "Well, I'm just going to have to go with the flow". She takes Brandon and I back into the Bella room, the lounge area, and that's where our family and friends were there to surprise me! Brandon set up a wine tasting party, and oh my goodness, they did a great job, it was so much fun. They had 6 wines to taste, a port to taste, beer tasting, and delicious food. All of those who truly know me, know I love to eat, all of the food was incredible, and paired with the different wines, it was fantastic. It was so beautiful, and amazing, a lot of people put hard work into this, so thank you so much!! Sunday morning my parents had a brunch at their house before we left to come back home, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!!!

Thanks Tiff for the pictures, if anyone has more, send them my way and I'll put them on!

Donuts for the girls

Brandon and Cadence went shopping Friday morning and came home with treats from the "Donut Store". Cadence usually picks out a sprinkled one, but today that was Ainslee's. As you will see, Cadence picked out a wonderfully fruit filled one!

Mackinac Bridge

Okay here you go. We have had a few requests to see the girls last year picture. These were taken in August of '07 .

September, 6 2008

Last year we took a picture of the girls with the Mackinac Bridge in the background, I loved that picture. I now hope to make it a tradition and take a picture of the girls every year up there.