We're getting closer

We're getting closer to meeting our sweet Baby Bella and the kids (meaning mostly the girls) are getting very excited. The kids are going to a siblings class tomorrow night and get to tour the OB department. I hope it's a good experience and they are more prepared to come see me and Baby Bella when the time comes.

I decided to try my hand at making spit cloths for her to use since I had gotten rid of all my old ones. They didn't turn out too bad as long as you don't look closely at the stitching. :) There are only a few things that I would love to have done before her arrival...paint the girls' room and I should probably pack for the hospital. The painting will come this week once we can all agree on a color. Bethany gave me a pile of samples that she approved and then handed me the pile of the ones she didn't care for. Let's just say we have different opinions in what shade of pink to use. She would love hot pink and black. I'm not going for it.

Here's a couple pictures of the spit cloths I made. I really like the fabric and how girly they look. :)

Last of summer fun

Well, I think it's safe to say that summer is officially over. We took down the pool yesterday, had our final camping trip and the weather is perfectly fall-like. I'm trying to gear myself up for Kurtis' long hours of work, but they will still sneak up on me just like they do every year. Lots of patience is what I'm going to need this fall (sad that I know that already). :) The pregnancy is moving right along and it's hard to believe that in less than a month our precious little girl will be here. I think we are all ready for the most part and the kids are getting excited. Only time will tell when she decides to make her appearance.
Labor Day weekend was our annual VM campout. I think we had 47 family members there and only a few missing. It was such a great weekend and many thanks to anyone involved in helping organize it. We're already looking forward to going again next year! I don't have a lot of pictures because my camera batteries ran out, but I'll share what I have. Between all the great food & fellowship there was plenty of other activities to keep us busy...2 mile fun run/walk along with a kid fun run, crafts, 2 base whiffle ball, playground, geo-caching, minute to win it games and our own special church service. The kids had no problems falling asleep each night, but Jaren was also eager to get up early the next morning so as not to miss anything.

Grandma showing the kids how to play their minute-to-win-it game.

I got to be the score keeper. :)

Enjoying the wonderful food...this was our large brunch.

Always a game of football going on with the boys.

Great-grandpa requested that the younger kids sing a few songs. They did a really good job.

Jaren's turn at bat during 2-base whiffle ball.

Bethany up at bat...don't you just love her baseball hat that she stole from daddy. She is such a daddy's girl! :)

The girls loved hanging out in their special tent.

Jaren & Luke had a great time playing cards.

The younger ones finishing up their fun run.

On your mark...get set...GO!

Yes, even Baby Bella and Baby VM had to participate in the kids fun run/walk. Then it was the mommies turn to do the adult fun run/walk. All the kids got prizes for finishing so the kids are enjoying my bag of candy since I can't eat it. :)

End of summer...beginning of school

OK...I had very good intentions of getting this blog updated with all the pictures from August, but I guess blogger had other ideas. I cannot get any pictures to load up except 4 right now so those will have to do until I have some time next week to finish. :(

Well, summer has ended and the kids just got done with their first week of school. The week went much better than expected, but today we have some attitude issues that go along with being tired. I'm sure that will get better over time. :) I thought I should quickly update my blog with some end of summer pictures and first day of school pictures.

August kept us busy with cousin Sara & Brian's wedding. The girls were asked to be bubble attendants and they had so much fun...and they looked adorable also. :)

The week after the wedding found us on a family vacation to the Ozarks with Kurtis' whole family to celebrate Keith & Gloria's 40th wedding anniversary. It was extremely hot there but thankfully we had two pools and the boat to use to cool us down. There was also the traditional mini golf game, go-karts and Dog Patch arcade.

We had one short week to get ready for the start of school, and I believe everyone was more than ready for a little routine around here. Bethany is thrilled to be in kindergarten. She goes three days a week to start and will eventually go everyday. She seems so old to me now until I see her in the school with all the older kids...then she looks so little. :) Jaren is now a 2nd grader. He was not looking as forward to starting school, but has adjusted very well. We are so blessed to have such wonderful teachers at our school and I am really excited to see what God has in store for the students, teachers and parents again this year.

Erica is going to really miss Bethany during the day

Erica and Jaren...the two trouble makers.

Erica helped make and decorate a cake to celebrate the first day of school.

1st day was a success!!!

Fun in MI

Last week, we had the priveledge to go camping in MI with some of my aunts, uncles & cousins. The kids had an absolute blast playing in the lake, all the sand, frisbee golf and all the other fun activies we crammed in. There was a lot of laughing...in fact I think I laughed hard enough each day that I started crying. Great memories were definitely made by all. Here are just a few pictures since blogger doesn't seem to want me to add any more tonight. :) I will try to show some more after we get back from our next vacation. Jaren had a great time climbing up the dune and absolutely loved running down.
A beautiful picture of Bethany.

Our adorable little Erica.

Bethany & Kenzie had fun playing with sidewalk chalk.

Erica and her two alarm clocks. :)

June/July 2010

Wow, I can't believe that the summer is half over already and I think the second half is going to go just as fast. We have been keeping very busy and it's only going to get busier...we love it. :) The kids have been doing a lot of swimming and just got done with their first week of lessons. They are all doing great and loving every minute of it. We just got back from our first weekend camping trip (see pictures below) and have 2 more camping trips (one to Michigan and one to Des Moines) plus a trip to the Ozarks scheduled yet between now and labor day. It's a little tiring just thinking about it, but all of it will be so fun and we are really looking forward to everything we have scheduled.

We had some of the cousins spend the night a couple of weeks ago. Luke, Reagan, Drew & Lauren cam while their dad worked and mom had to take a class. The kids had so much fun playing together and not a lot of sleep was done that night for some of the kids. Thankfully they didn't disturb Kurtis & me. They did some swimming, playing outside, playing Wii (boys), playing house (girls) and having a pizza/movie night. Jaren reading everyone a few bedtime stories.

The boys playing Wii. Notice Luke is still in his pajamas.
Playing in the sandbox. I love how they are all playing in one little corner of our big sandbox.

Swimming!!! It wasn't overly warm in the pool, but they didn't seem to mind one bit. Reagan would have stayed in the pool the entire time she was here even though she was freezing.

This past weekend we have a family camp out with my mom's side of the family. We had a ton of fun and hope to possibly make this an annual event...hint, hint. :) Bethany loving the great outdoors. They couldn't wait to finally go camping.

Everyone enjoying our dessert extravaganza on Friday night.

Erica loved the chocolate chip pancakes Becky made for breakfast Saturday morning. Sunday morning found us losing half our camping group due to the wind knocking down tents during the night. There was a LOT of monkey bread for those of us still there and we are proud/not proud to say we finished all three pans. :)

The kids had a water fight to cool down. The adults stayed in the safe zone so we didn't become targets...except for Kurtis who got sprayed coming out of our camper by Aunt Helen. He tried to spray her earlier but got Aunt Ruth instead so this was pay back.

We played some really fun Minute to Win It games in which we divided into 4 teams and competed.

Ryan got first place in the shoot out...yeah for my team! :)

Jennifer attempting to catch ping pong balls during Buckethead.

Tic Tac Pong

Stick the landing...very hard. Try to toss a water bottle onto a table and get it to stay there upright.

Our final competition was trying to get 4 noodles slid onto a piece of spaghetti without breaking the spaghetti noodle or dropping the other pieces.

Next it was the kids' turn for the competition.

Bethany rolling the marbles to see how many she could stick to the duck tape in 30 seconds.

Jaren bouncing ping pong balls to stick to the peanut butter sandwiches. He did it in record time...1.7 seconds.

The kids also loved playing at the playground.

This picture was to sweet to leave out. Bethany, Reagan, Erica and Drew holding hands and running back from the playground. Pure joy!

Roasting yummy campfire treats.

Happy 40th Anniversary

On June 26, we celebrated Keith & Gloria's 40th Anniversary by taking a family photo, going out for supper and then going back to their place for a surprise party. It's really hard throwing a surprise party at the house of the ones you are trying to surprise, but we some help we were able to pull it off. It was a very fun evening.

Both girls modeling Grandma's going away dress.

Three of the four granddaughters modeling their matching dresses.