Lots of Fun to get the warm summer started out right! :)

Auntie Dana, always the reliable, and way more fun than mom baby-sitter, drew pictures, and the kids got to color them in with sidewalk chalk.

Fire-breathing dragon!

Weird robot.
A dinosaur (of course).

Grrrr...Fun lady herself!

Here is Annica holding Cassidy Joy at Brad and Lynn's house. She can't wait to have our own baby at home. (Just not so red- or so she told Grandma Kuiper at the hospital. he he )

Here is Seth, Luke, Dad, and Jason at the annual PR softball tourney.I'm sure Andrea would be thrilled that I put her pic up here, but really I just wanted to show you the burger. This is the Fifth Third burger at the Whitecaps game. We went with a group of our friends on Friday. Anyhow, it's $20.00, so we all pitched in and had a few bites. If a single person eats the whole thing, they get a T-shirt. It's a new promo they have this year. Kind of funny.

Hope Classic 5K run/1mi fun run.

Our kids wanted to be in it too, when they found out from the neighbors, so Jason and I ran with them for the fun mile. Evan had been in "training" for a few weeks, running every day when the neighbor boys came home from school. Back and forth on the grass patch b/w our driveways, around the barn....They are so funny, talking about working out their leg cramps and such....
This is Annica, Josh Bosveld (next door), Evan, don't know the kid in grey :), Justin Bosveld (next door), and Zachary Schwartz (down the road).

Fatty and Annica waiting for the l mi. So I brought the stroller b/c I just KNEW Annica would get tired. But she didn't. She ran her little hiney off. Seriously, she didn't practice at all, and ran to the half mile mark w/o walking, and left me in the dust feeling really dumb. I finished dead last with the big stroller. Very embarrasing to be cheered on by the whole crowd at the finish line. That will make you feel out of shape and foolish. Oh well. I wan't going to run. I have a big ball on my front.

Little Annica coming up through the last stretch toward the finish line. Way before me.

Here are all the boys/men waiting for the beginning of the male one mile. Jason is by the road sign, Evan you can't see.

Here is Evan, (red shorts, white shirt). He finished in 10 min, 23 sec.

Daddy with the kids.

Very Random Pictures!!

It's been a while again, so here is what we have been up to in the past few weeks.....

Here is the beautiful view that we enjoy out of our dining room window each evening. There was a gorgeous sunset the other night. The picture does not do it justice. I just stood there in awe of the beautiful colors with a smile on my face for the longest time. The Lord is certainly the only One capable of creating such spell-binding beauty!

Lynn Holstege and I have 3 weddings this month. The next 2 pics are not my favorite wedding, b/c it was to be outside, and had to be converted to inside at the last minute. The hanging baskets are nice, but not our normal thing....

Currently I am OBSESSED with the beautiful flowering trees that are in bloom all over West Mihchigan. These are my favorite kind. Crab apples. Yes, I do drive around and snap pictures of trees. How else am I supposed to explain what I want to the garden center folk? :)


This wedding is more our normal thing... Leshia, do you miss it?

Some reception flowers

Evan had kindergarten Round-up. He is sooo excited for school!

This is his cousin Ethan Copple who will be in his class.

Evan also lost his first tooth this past week! It was very loose, and when they were washing their faces in the tub, he was biting on the washcloth when Annica decided she wanted it, and yanked it out of his mouth, and the tooth came out too!!

The ducks... They love to swim in our pool. Right now we still have the cover on, and there is rain water on top of it, with lots of plant junk, so they love to swim on that and eat stuff.

Anyone recognize this from moving day? This white frame is the front of the armoire that we couldn't get out of the upstairs, so I tearfully took a crowbar to it, and tore it apart. I saved the front of it though, and made it into a magnetic chalkboard.

Evan and the ducks... They love him, and will sit on him forever.

Okay, that is all the pics for now... Hate to say it, but the ducks are like two feet tall, so these pics aren't too up to date. They grow like weeds. Also, I've been working in my yard like crazy, and just transplanted TONS of plants/bushes from my old house, so I'll have to take some pics of the outside our house.... Maybe when the pool is open and doesn't look disgusting. Anyhow, love you all, and talk to you later!!

Make Way for Ducklings! :) And cute kids.

Hi everyone. We' d like you to meet the latest additions to our family. These are our ducks, Graham Quacker and Quacker Jack. (we started out with Graham and Quacker, but a fight ensured, both children wanting theirs to be Quacker, so we had to think of another name.) Jason just came home from work one day, and said we have to get a duck, so we got the kids each one yesterday. His little brother Seth used to have a pet duck that we all loved, so we knew they make good pets.

Right now they have to be under a heat lamp for a few weeks. They are in the basement in a 6x4 playgate, and a cardboard box for warmth. In a few weeks we will move them to the garage, and then wean them to the outdoors.

1. We let them out of the playgate a few times a day, and let them run around in the basement, which the kids LOVE, and I think the ducks do too.
   
   
   
   
   

   
   

   The kids love to sit and watch them eat and sleep, and can be found often perched on these chairs in the basement.
   

   I know, a lot of pictures of ducks.... Just think how many I'll post when the BABY arrives!!
   

   Here are a few pics of the kids after church this Easter morning.
   

   
   

   
   
   

Here's the hutch I was talking about in the last blog. We are going to put metal sheeting where you see wall for magnetic board. I can't wait to get it all done and have my office back up and running in full swing!

How many Dads are this great, really? :)
Annica was bored so I made her a couch fort like Dwight and I used to make with the old brown and cream sofas in Lacombe. (fond memory)

Annica's new fairy kite she got for a potty training reward.

Okay, so Evan got one too.... his is a shark... way up there. Great pic huh?

Annica flying her kite.

Annica in big girl panties. Better late than never, I figure. Yes Leshia, now you can potty train Nikki, I am done with my three and a half year old now.

Our New Home

Hello all- It has been FOREVER since we have posted anything on our blog, due to moving, and having no internet for a very long time. I have finally gone around and taken pictures of the house, so that you can imagine where we are living. Brad should be very happy, as he said he was tired of seeing the whale skeleton at the museum everytime he checked our blog!! :) But seriously Bradly, if I see Lindsays bunny on the kitchen table one more time..... All the family had better follow suit, and become faithful bloggers once again! Anyhew, I digress.....

The front of our new house.

Our backyard and polebarn.

Evan's BR is upstairs.... looks a lot like his old one.

Evan....

Evan......

Annica's room is also upstairs. There is a small bathroom in between the two rooms. Ooops, this isn't truly a "before" picture, as I have ripped out the built in desk in the corner of this room... The part of it containing electric wires is still there for a time when Daddy wants to finish the job.

Annica.....

Annica.... Yes, she has the biggest room the house... Spoiled rotten!

This is the bathroom in between the two BRs.

Now we're back on the main floor. This is Jason and my room, and the lovely lavendar walls that I have oft spoken of. Hmmmm, the nursery or this room, what will be painted first?

This is the main floor bathroom. Very long and narrow, and difficult to take a picture of! And there is a toilet... way down on the end, around a little corner.

This is the laundry/bathroom off the back of the house. It also has a door onto the deck, so the little kids can just run in to use the bathroom without tracking through the house from the pool.

Okay, I hope you can see it, but the door coming from the garage is just to the left of the large wall cabinet unit thing. The dining room used to be here, but you kind of walked right from the garage into the kitchen table, so we moved it to the living room, b/c there is another family room on the main floor that we will use for our living room. Here is where Dana says.. you always write too much!

Kitchen

This wall is opposite the kitchen island. Jason made me this desk out of two file cabinets that I had, and cut a top for them, and painted it all lovely. He built a hutch for it as well, and I'll show you that in a later post.

Living room. This is on the back of the house. The windows in this picture are on the side of the house.

Same living room, these back windows/door go out onto the deck.

Staircase is directly in front of the front door.This is our dining room. Used to be a living room, but we wanted more table room, so this is it.

Okay, that is all for house pics. There is one more BR that will be the nursery, but it is full of junk, so I didn't want to record that. Also, the basement is nice and large too with a family room, and a toy room, and a room for my craft junk, and a shower room. Also horribly messy. I will finish unpacking that area, and take pics of it later!!