It's official: Bubby is forward facing

I know it's shocking: Bennett is now forward facing in the car.  His car seat has expired so it was time for a new seat so I decided he is big enough to face forward now.  I believe the girls made it a little longer (about 2 1/2) before I switched them.  He is excited to see things from a new perspective and likes to climb up into his seat.

Now, if he could only show some interest in potty-training.  Then, he would really be a big boy!

What is cuter than these three harnessed kiddos?  Not much!

Such a big boy!

White Rockstars: Jadyn's soccer team

Jadyn is absolutely loving soccer.  We decided to try soccer to help her to want to be more active and not just want to do crafts all day.  She is loving it.  She loves being part of a team and cheering on the other girls.  The girls have been really nice and supportive of Jadyn.  Most of these girls have been playing for 3-4 years already so they are quite good.  Plus, her league includes girls that are 8 and so she is a little peanut compared to most of the girls. 

Jadyn is still trying to learn the rules.  I can tell her coach gets a little frustrated during the games and says "Remember Jadyn you are defense", etc.  She really tries very hard, but still does not know all the rules of the game.  She is a fast little runner though and really tries her best.  I couldn't be more proud of the effort that she puts into every game. 

Her team, the white rockstars, has 8 members.

Jadyn in action!

A Month of Firsts: Mom's first race

My good friend Katie (who just had a baby less than 3 months ago) kick started me into running a couple months ago.  We have been trying to get out to run in the evenings 3-4 times a week.  She also encouraged me to sign up for the Kilometers for Cam race.  When we decided to sign-up for the race, we were running 3-4 miles consistently.  So, we decided to push ourselves and register for the 10K race (6.2 miles).  Another friend and running buddy, Leah, signed up and trained for the race with us.

I was nervous since I have never run a race, but liked having a personal goal to work towards.  Because for years (well, almost 7 now since Jadyn is almost 7), I have not focused on anything for me...everything has been about the kiddos and helping Nathan with his schooling/career.  It was really nice to have something to work towards for myself.  I must admit that I love our evening runs...they are great for my physical and emotional well-being as it is a time to vent...I mean chat...with good friends.  We have had other friends join us for our runs as well.

The race was awesome!  I totally see why people say races are addicting.  I felt great almost the entire time (I got a little sluggish around 3.5 miles and my asthma was acting up a little around mile 5), but all in all I felt great and felt like I could have kept running at the end of the race.  Katie and I decided that our goals for the race were to stay together the whole time, run the whole time and not walk, and to try and get an under 10 minute mile pace.  We did just that and came it at right around 61 minutes....so just barely under a 10 minute mile pace.  It felt great to reach our goals.

This was a large race and they had tons of free activities for families.  While I ran, the kids were able to ride the carousel, get their face painted, jump in the bounce house, get pictures taken in photo booth, etc.  After I got back from my race, they had a little fun run for the kids.  Jadyn was super excited to run this with Nathan.  She has such a determined little face when she runs and is actually quite fast.  I think we might need to have her run a 5K with me soon!  She was excited because it was a pirate themed fun run so she got pirate treasure prizes: eye patch, bandana, water bottle, some candy/stickers, jewelry.

Pre-race: Me, Katie, Robyn, Robyn's son Daniel

Post race: we don't look too worse for wear!

Look at Jadyn round that corner

Nathan and Jadyn after their run: Jadyn chose a unicorn for her face paint

Maya's first soccer game

We decided to try soccer with Jadyn and Maya.  I want them to be more active and I figured soccer was a great start to get them running.  At the first practice, Maya would not even participate.  Now, at the games she will at least stand on the field with her team and usually run the right way.  She has yet to actually get in there and kick the ball or block the ball when she is playing goalie.  However, we are definitely making progress!

Team huddle: her team's name is whalesharks.  She has 4 other members of her team: Colin, Benny, Eli, and Greta

Maya: ready to play?

There we go: at least we are running now!

A Post about Bubby

Don't want the bubster to feel left out with all the school pictures of the girls so here are some recent pictures of him.

I get to wake this sweet boy up to go get Jadyn from the bus.  He is always so peaceful I hate disturbing him.

Grandma's wedding wore him out!  He fell asleep immediately on the trip home

Notice the bubbles I brought for Bennett to play with during Maya's soccer game.  Nah, he would rather sit on the soccer balls :)

Since the basement flooded an all the toys are up in the living room, Bennett is having a blast.  Here he dumped out all the dress ups and used the basket to run around and bump into all the furniture.  He cracks me up!

Maya's First Day of Preschool

Maya started preschool on September 10th.  She was excited to start because she has 3 children from church who are also at her preschool.  She attends MWF from 12:30-3:00.  I carpool with a friend so I only have to the pickup.  It works great!

Maya, of course, would not wear what I picked out for her "first day of school outfit".  She insisted on wearing her favorite outfit.  It has been well-loved this summer and has a couple stains on the shirt, but I didn't fight her.  

After a week of attending preschool, Maya is loving it.  She is excited to go to school and obediently gets ready to go.  She is tired when she comes home...which makes for some fun mealtimes with Jadyn and Maya both being exhausted.  I hope they can both adjust to the school routine soon.

Ready to go in!

With two friends from church: Alyssa and Eliza. 

Waiting for her turn to grab her name stick

Saying hi to Mrs. Hildebrandt

1st Day of School: 1st Grade

Excited to go back to school

Best friend hug...Maya is already missing Jadyn

Backpack still overtakes this little peanut this year too!

Mrs. Vree greeting Jadyn as she walked in

Happy but tired getting off the bus

Telling me all about her first day.  Notice how sweaty she is.  Poor girl sweats easily like I do and they don't have air conditioning in her school

Note from school: Jadyn said that she came to school on the first day and felt "sad and happy".  She said she felt sad because she missed me, but happy because she likes school.

Fun Friday

We have decided to start a tradition of having "Fun Friday" on the Friday before the kids start school to enjoy one last fun-filled family day before school starts.  We had some friends mention they did this with their children and we think it is a great tradition to start.  We had a blast this year.

We started off by going to the local supermarket and letting the kids choose a donut.  They were thrilled as we only do this a couple times a year.  We also let them pick out a redbox movie to watch in the car.  Jadyn said, "Mom you are the best mom.  You are doing all these fun things!".  Keep the praise coming :)

Then we headed up to a little dutch village in Holland (an hour away).  It was a little dinky, however, I had a groupon so it was not full price.  The kids had fun and got to eat popcorn and salt water taffy.

Then we went up to a large mall in Grand Rapids.  That is one of the things I miss most about living here...we do not have a mall.  Everyone got to pick what they wanted in the food court.  The kids loved getting to choose where they each wanted to eat...mom and dad would have preferred the Texas Roadhouse we saw on the way!

Then on the way home we stopped at Crane's Pie Pantry.  Oh my...heaven in a pie plate.  We bought the raspberry pie and it was delicious.  We can't wait to go back sometime.

When we got home we were all wiped out and had cereal (and pie!) for dinner.


It definitely was a Fun Friday!

Here comes Maya

No Fear from the Bubster

Jadyn kept wanting to go down the slide over and over

Do I look thrilled or what?  The swings go up in the air about 15 feet or so and it made me dizzy

Dad had to go the next time with Jadyn

Bubby waving...he was a very serious horse rider and held on tight through the ride

Maya loves carousels

Eating popcorn waiting for the dutch dancers

An interesting fact we learned is that the dutch dancers wear 5-8 pairs of socks to help keep their wooden shoes on.  One of the dancers shoes kicked off during the first dance and flew all the way into the pond.  Bennett thought it was hilarious

Jadyn doing the pedal push car.  She went twice around the track

Jadyn got to walk a goat.  This was Jadyn's favorite part of the day.  She really loves animals.

In the wedding wagon: Maya is dancing in the back to her own music :)

Kids posing in the stork (the national bird Netherlands).  They were pretending they were crying babies and Bennett even got in on the pretend play

Windmill shot

Jadyn (and Mom and Dad) thought the wooden shoes were hard to walk in

August Summer Fun

Bennett absolutely loves the beach!

Maya running down to the water

Jadyn loves the beach too...but only because she likes to socialize with all the girls from church!

I mean, what is cuter than that?

Waiting to go peach picking...watching a caterpillar

Bubby was a very serious peach picker...he filled up his bag quickly

Maya more like to dance around than actually pick peaches

Jadyn was good at directing me or Ellie to the ones she couldn't reach

The peach picking crew...minus Ethan and Lewis who didn't want in the picture

Look at those beauties

Bennett helping me cook...he is actually quite helpful

Greta keeping Maya warm

We had a great month of August filled with lots of beach time, parks, and just playing together.  We are sad school is starting this week.  Boo to structure and strict bedtimes!