We bought a house!

About a month and a half ago, Matt accepted a job back up in Midland, where he did residency.  If you’d have told me 7 years ago, when I was just planning to move to Hawaii for a year that I’d be living in Michigan, married, with 3 kids, I’d have laughed in your face.  But, here we are and staying in Michigan for at least the next few years.  Matt is getting to help start up a sports medicine clinic along with one of his former residency faculty.  He will also be doing some urgent care while the sports picks up business, but hopefully that will be short term. 

We went up house hunting one weekend and after seeing pretty much every possible house in our price range, ended up making an offer on the first one we had seen.  It had been on the market for quite awhile (had several offers where financing fell through) and we ended up getting a fantastic deal! (the pictures aren’t great, we are kicking ourselves for not taking our own).

Great kitchen—I am loving all that counter space!

The basement is partially finished, and they did it really nicely!

The boys are going to love the yard!  Especially since we haven’t had one at all in the last year.

It does need some minor updating, mostly paint and ripping down wallpaper.

I’m a little nervous that the master is on the main floor and the kids will all be upstairs, but I think once we get used to it, it will be fine.

We’re excited to get back to somewhere familiar, where we have great friends and a wonderful place for kids!

Annie’s Birthday

This girl had a birthday!  I know it’s cliché, but I really can’t believe she’s a year old already (and at the same time, that she’s only been around for a year)!  She’s already so pull of personality and is quite the drama queen.   She adores her brothers, no one can make her laugh like they can.  She is saying a few words (daddy, hi, uh-oh, mama (mostly while whining).  She loves books and anything that plays music or has buttons.  She has two little teeth (just like Jack did!) although others look like they’re coming soon. (as of today—at 13 months, she finally cut number 3).  She loves to eat frozen vegetables, especially peas and broccoli, and bananas make her gag.  We are sure happy to have her around and love her lots and lots!

The boys helped me pick her cake and choose the colors.

She thought the balloons were fabulous.  We love balloons so much around here though, that they cause major fights which inevitably result in tears and popped balloons.  We may not get balloons anymore.

She wasn’t so sure about the cake at first…

…but she came around.

Happy Birthday, Annie!

Easter

I’m trying to catch up, so these posts will be pretty much all pictures.  Here’s Easter!

I am long overdue for a few posts here.  My sister, Lindsey, and her boys came out to visit with my mom and dad in March.  Our boys had a fantastic time together. We made superhero capes that were (and still are) well loved. We went to the Air Zoo and brought home pinwheels, which the boys still think are wonderful (and worth scratching out each other’s eyes over). We went to the park and for walks and just generally had a fantastic time.  We are really excited to see them again in a couple weeks in Florida! 

Oh, and did I mention it was in the 80s for most of the week? In MARCH? In MICHIGAN? There was a shortage of summer clothes, but we managed.

Jack is FOUR!

Jack turned four on the 21st!  He wanted me to say: “I’m glad I had a birthday.  I loved my birthday.  I’m glad I got a Joker House.  We went to Jungle Joe’s. We went on everything that’s there.  An obstacle course, lots of slides and lots of games.  The games were my favorite.  Then we came home and ate  my cake and ice cream.  My cake was a dinosaur cake.  It looked like Spot [his stuffed dinosaur].  Then we opened presents.  I got a Joker House! And some cards.  And a airplane card.  And a camera. And a my workbook. And that’s everything! That’s everything I did at my birthday!”

We can’t believe our little guy is four….and that he’s ONLY four.  He is a happy, happy kid. His preschool teachers call him “smiley Jack.”  He loves learning about animals and nature at school and playing with his friends. He loves playing pretend, especially “Batman” and “bad guy” and “cooking” in his kitchen.  Jack loves to play games of all kinds.  He is starting to play very nicely with Cole, and is great with Annie.  He is a terrific little helper and always asking to help.  He is a joy to have around and we are so glad to have him in our family!  We love you Jack and hope you had a great birthday!

And just an extra one of Annie.

I’m a little behind...so I'll be quick. We had Christmas with just our little family at home. I have almost no pictures….sorry, Mom. Jack got the “rest of a pirate costume” he asked Santa for…I realized when I was getting it ready to wrap that it may look more like a little Hugh Hefner smoking jacket than a Captain Hook style pirate costume. Oh well. Santa tried and Jack was happy. Cole asked for (and got) a “spider and a snowman”. I didn’t get pictures somehow. They are both just plush and Cole regularly sleeps with one on his pillow. Annie got a rather annoying singing puppy that she loves. She also got a doll that we are pretty sure she thinks is a person.

We were going to spend Christmas in North Carolina with Matt’s family, but Western Michigan football got a bid for a bowl game on the 27th….as our schedule revolves around college sports this year, we had to adjust our plans. We still went and saw his family, but only got one day when we were all there. It was fun to see everyone! Last time we were all together was at Matt’s and my wedding. We finally got to meet his sister’s two kids and our newest little nephew. Sadly, I again have no pictures. My talented sis-in-law, Rebecca, took some great pics of the kids while we were there and I did manage to get a couple of the kids in their Christmas clothes. New Year’s resolution? Take more pictures!!

Just pretend your eye doesn't go right to the bottom of their shoes.

And just for fun….Cole was having a hard time getting his pants on and asked for help. I tugged them up for him and he went on his way. A little while later I looked at him and realized they were Annie’s pants. Size 9 months. On my two year old. I’m glad we weren’t on our way out the door!