Our Baby Is Turing Seven!!!! Yikes!

It all started Friday morning when Jake shared a special snack with his friends at school and came home with hand drawn cards by each of his classmates. Next we picked up Jake's birthday cake from our friend Amber Ferrier who took Jake's space theme to incredible heights!

I think he likes it, what do you think?

That evening we invited our cousins over for a little pinata fun and lots of great play.

Jake gave it his all.

Connor had a case of the giggles while Jake was making wishes.

Our sweet, sweet SEVEN year old!

Macy (3) made several cards & pictures for Jake

and spent time to share with him all her hard work and well wishes.

No matter where we are ...it always comes down to this:

Saturday morning, marked Jake's real birthday. He had breakfast in bed...

Followed by a session at The Painted Pot in downtown Rochester.

Guess what Connor chose to paint??

And Paigey...

And Jakey...

Next we met up with Grammy & Papa at...

Jake received more Lego's from Grammy & Papa (huge hit!)

Paigey was in a really silly mood...it all started with band-aids

on every little mark she could find on her body...

A little goofy girl.

Hugs for Papa...

Stories for Grammy...

Jake's birthday VOLCANO.

(He's been waiting all year for this!)

We saved the top of the cake to eat on Jake's real birthday.

The rocket and moon were made with rice krispie treats!!

Jake taking a call from his cousin Andrew.

(It made his day!)

Sadly Jake had an attack on the evening of his birthday and he fell asleep without his especially requested dinner and movie time. So we ended up continuing the celebration Sunday evening with a Pizza Picnic in Mommy & Daddy's room and Family Movie Night watching, what else to close this birthday theme? Space Buddies!!

Lent

I've been on a quest that last several years to make our preparation and anticipation of Easter, as fun and exciting and meaningful as our preparation and anticipation of Christmas. So for Lent we made an Easter playlist for the iPod, we began decorating early and hope to grow our decorations over the next few years. We made this link cross as a count down (like the chains often made for Advent), there is a Scripture written on each link beginning with the Baptism of Jesus, going through His ministry, then on to Holy Week, the Cross and ending with Easter. The closer we get to Easter the cross disappears.




I've been looking for a Resurrection Tomb for display and I just have never found one that I really liked. So I did some research and found that the tomb that Jesus was buried in was most likely built into a wall much like the picture below.

And this is my attempt to making something similar.


There is a light inside that goes on and I borrowed a bench from Paigey's princess castle.

The kids, of course, wanted to make one of their own. Guess who's this is??

The boys both took their decorating very seriously.

Connor did a fabulous job and he chose to put his up in his room for decoration.

Paige wanted hers to stay in the family room for all to see!

They also made all the characters to go with it...the angel, the disciples, Jesus.

There's just nothing like over hearing your kids play "Resurrection." The paint, the moss mess was all worth watching our little ones internalizing this most wonderful celebration.

Wriggley Sweet

Jake & Connor have never forgiven us for giving away our black lab, Mac five years ago. They have been asking for him back ever since. Call us crazy, but we've finally broken down and decided that for many reasons now is a good time to bring home a new family member. Meet Wriggle Sweet Posey, our 5 week old yellow lab puppy that will join our family in just three more weeks, when he is old enough to leave his litter.

Paige couldn't be more excited! She asks every day "Today or tomorrow do we get our puppy?" She is an animal lover all the way around from worms to snakes, from kitties to ladybugs, she wants to touch, love and hold them all! She's going to love caring for a new puppy!

Jake, too, is very ready for the responsibility of a new puppy. He's looking very forward to teaching him tricks and having him fetch sticks.

But, there is no denying who will love this "sweet" puppy forever and always. Mr. "Puppy" himself. Connor really wants to name the puppy "Sweet" so we settled on that for his middle name. I think Connor will be calling him "Sweet" anyway. He became kindred spirits with Wriggley from the first day we met. He would have taken the whole litter home if we'd have let him! He loved being able to cradle him like a real baby and can't wait to get him home.

To be continued...

Water Park 2010

The kids had a long weekend from school last weekend so we took a mini family vacation to Dundee, Michigan and spent a couple days at Splash Universe, the new water park they've put in there. We can't say that is it's our favorite of the water parks we've been to, but it was perfect for our little weekend and we had a FABULOUS time!!

The lazy river was definitely a kid favorite and we spent many hours floating in it's current and "diving" in it's side pool.

Paige got a new swim suit for the occasion and it "suited" her well, as you can see.

She also picked out these "fashion" shoes, in lieu of flip flops. I thought she might have a heart attack right there in the store when she spotted them and I personally thought I was going to have heart break when I panicked thinking there weren't any in her size. But, we both survived and she got her jewels and life was good. :)

Connor was always up for a challenge and lept the logs often through the weekend.

This is the smile of a little girl having the time of her life!

Paige was great! "Come on, Mommy! It's so much fun!"

Jake, too, kept the logs in use!

Champion!

These are faces of kids having a GREAT time!!!

After time in the water we did some Arcading!

Good ol' Skee Ball!

You will NEVER seen one of my sons on one of these in real life.
They have been taught that they are death machines that make

young boys do stupid things! :)

A little target practise.

Paige really enjoyed air hockey. She thought if you got the puck in her goal that she was winning. It was marvelous...since both her parents are so good at the game! :)

This was a roller coaster ride. Connor was hilarious! He was scared out of his mind. I'm not sure how he's going to be with heights in future. Cracked us up!

I was feeling a little bad that I didn't have "Steve" written across my back when we were at the water park. But, what do you expect when you're next store to a huge hunting store!

Connor requested this picture to be taken with the bears :)

A little bow & arrow testing...

And Connor's purchase with his own money. He is the King of Campfire. He loves all his little contraptions that cook marshmallows and now ...hot dogs! He was so proud of his purchase!

Back home again, we took baths and then were going to watch a family movie. Some of us didn't make it through the movie...

What a great family time we had! We are so thankful!