Sisters

 A sister is someone who loves you from the heart,

 No matter how much you argue you cannot be drawn apart.

 She is a joy that cannot be taken away,

Once she enters your life, she is there to stay.

Memorial Day Weekend: Day 1

It's a long weekend and we are off to Canada!!  Rodney (Daryl's brother-in-law) is celebrating his 40th Birthday tomorrow at the Toronto Zoo.  We are excited to join him and a lot of Daryl's family in the celebration.  Daryl got out of work at 10:30 this morning and we were on the road by 11:30. We wanted to leave on time because our destination tonight is Dan and Danielle's house . . . a good 6 hr drive from Kalamazoo and we told them we'd be there in time for dinner!

Aliyah fell asleep about an hour before we hit the border.  We were hoping she'd stay awake until after the border and lunch . . . oh well!  I love how she has her arm around Callie, her favorite baby doll!

The back row riders - Samuel was refusing to look at the camera.

It was an uneventful (but very long) drive to Dan and Danielle's!  It felt good to get out of the car and run around once we got there.  After a delicious supper, Daryl and Danielle played soccer with Samuel and Jordyn.  Jordyn loves balls and sports just as much as Samuel does so it was fun to watch them play together.  If only they lived closer!  They'd have a blast together!

Hope and Madison were the scorekeepers for the soccer game.

Helping Uncle Dan water a tree in their backyard.  Samuel and Hope both warmed up quickly to Uncle Dan, Aunt Danielle, and their 3 cousins.  It was a special evening with a lot of great conversation and re-connecting!

Samuel + Baseball

I know I've written about Samuel and his love for baseball a lot lately.  But it's just too cute not to share!

Samuel is still absolutely all about baseball.  He is my little athlete and also my child that pays very close attention to detail.  He soaks everything in and pays attention to every little thing and baseball is no exception.  We spend a lot of time playing catch inside of our house (shhhh - don't tell!!) and pitching balls to him in the driveway.  Right now he even has a little baseball diamond drawn from sidewalk chalk so that he can run around the bases.  Even if we don't have time to play with him we can often find him with his glove on throwing the ball up in the and trying to catch it.  He loves to slide and roll when he tries to catch the ball.  We do pitch the ball to him inside too - if you visit our house you'd see the sticker on one of our kitchen floor tiles.  This sticker marks home plate.  His favorite is when he is wearing his "slippery pants" because then he can slide into home plate.

He also spends time watching the Detroit Tigers play.  He can't watch long before he has to get up and play himself.  Baseball is a hard sport to explain to a 3 year old but he is definitely catching on!  The past 2 nights he has gone to bed listening to the Tigers game on the radio in his room.  The first night I turned it on for him he looked at the radio and asked where it showed the score.  I told him that he just had to listen closely and the announcers will tell it to him.

When he is watching the Tigers games he'll often see the "Game Breaks" that they show - highlights from other baseball games going on.  He has started to do his own "game breaks" when we play baseball with him.  He'll drop the bat (without hitting the ball) and run around the bases, pick up the bat, drop the bat, run around the bases, and repeat this for 2-3 times.  He'll tell us, "This is the other games now!"  Then, when he's done showing other games, he'll pick up the bat and get ready for us to pitch the baseball to him again.

Tonight after he had hit a big home run (I had to chase the ball down way across the street) I came back and he was already standing on home plate.  I said, "Wow!  You hit that ball so far that I didn't even see you run around the bases because I was running after the ball!"  He says, "Mommy, want to see it in slow commotion?"  He swung the bat (pretending to hit the ball - just like he had just done), dropped it, and ran around the bases.  He said, "See Mom?  That's what I did!  You just saw it in slow commotion!"  Too. Stinkin'. Cute.

Tonight he also needed to run inside to get his sunglasses and his hat because he was having a hard time seeing the ball because the sun was in his eyes.

I hope and pray that he always loves sports this much and that he uses his God-given talents for His glory!!

Doing his home run dance :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today my Dad turned 57.  We went to Kalsec to celebrate with him on his lunch hour.  We had a picnic lunch and my Mom made a yummy cake!  I was right on time and almost to my Dad's work when I realized that I forgot his present.  Ugh.  So much for being on time!  We had a great time celebrating Grandpa's birthday with him and we are praying that God blesses him with many more years here on this earth!

 Samuel and Hope were great helpers!

 Our present to Grandpa.  The picture (made into a canvas) from a few weeks ago when we came to Grandpa's work for a picnic lunch.

Enjoying another walk around the pond.  It was hot a few weeks ago when we did this and it was hot today too!

 I absolutely love watching this girl run.  It can always put a smile on my face!

And overalls?  The cuteness knows no end!! 

 Grandpa and his little shadow.  Aliyah loves her Grandpa!

 Looking for turtles frogs.  We didn't see a single one today!

 So very blessed. :)

 Grandpa and Samuel on the left.  Hope, Aliyah, and myself on the right.

 Sticks and water.  There is truly nothing better!

 Can you believe that we got out of there with not a single wet foot?

Happy Birthday Grandpa/Dad!  We love you so much!!

If the Shoe Fits . . .

Samuel and Levi

Today we took care of Levi and his little foster sister (18 months old) while their Mom worked.  They came at 7:30 and left at 4:30.  Levi is the same age as Samuel - just a month older.  So I had three 3 year olds and two 1 year olds.  Yikes!  It was a crazy chaotic day but we had fun!  The kids did great.  I wasn't sure how Samuel would do but he absolutely loved playing with Levi.  Usually he is constantly asking me to play this with him or to play that with him but today he was always going to Levi and asking him to play!  They had their little fights and arguments but that is to be expected!!  It was fun to see Samuel play with another little boy - and really interact and play with him.  We have a lot of friends with little girls around his age but not too many with boys.  We'll have to get together with Levi more often!!

Levi and Samuel probably rode bikes together for about 45 minutes.  Around and around and around the driveway.  You can tell Levi has two older brothers and that Samuel is the oldest.  If Levi would fall or get hurt he would get up and keep right on going.  Samuel has meltdowns if he gets a little scratch. ;)

Taking a break from their intense playing to play a game on Daryl's Kindle.

Watching "Curious George" together

Words of our Kids . . .

Tonight I was reading Hope a book when she looked up at me and said, "You are a good Mommy. You are a good Mommy for ME!"


As my friend said, "I think God gives them words to say to us sometimes.  He finds a way to affirm and bless us through the words of our kids."

It's so awesome to think that I am the good Mommy that God ordained just for HER.  I am so very blessed!!