School lunch? School smunch.

Since last summer, Madisyn and I have been brainstorming school lunch ideas for her. She doesn't care for sandwiches (Subway and turkey and cheese roll-ups are suitable, but PB&J or ham and cheese, forget about it). Needless to say, it was getting difficult to come up with new ideas by year-end. Which brings me to this year... twice as many lunches to prepare (thank you Thermos) and two snacks every day! At least I have won one battle, by convincing her to take hot lunch one day/week :) Anyway, since being motivated by Jen @ IHeart Organizing, I decided to get the ball rolling. Here's a preview of Madisyn's school lunch drawer:

All of the snacks are two deep, except the granola bars, which are four deep.



Refrigerated snacks (carrots are in those foggy bags):



And while I was at it, I took a picture of some of our other food cabinets... just because. I know this drawer will make some cringe. Yes, there are times when we eat pre-packaged pasta meals (Cheddar Broccoli Knorr is M's favorite), but we don't usually have mac & cheese in the house... go figure.



Breakfast drawer, with individual portions of cereal on the left, ready to add milk if desired, although generally we do yogurt, fruit, protein shakes (milk, yogurt, banana, peanut butter), waffles, pancakes and/or eggs for breakfast.



One of my temporary pantry shelves (my new pantry is in the making :)).

Definition of Cookie

Cook-ie [kook-ee]
Proper Noun
1. Temporary name of our beloved third child, affectionately named after Cookie Monster by the elder brother whom already adores his soon-to-be sibling.
2. Name that fits the question, "Where's Cookie?" "In Mommy's tummy!"


Picture courtesy of the talented big sister at 15w 3d (to be exact)

Fun on the lake!

Don't get too excited... this daily blog post thing is not an indication of what's to come. I just have some catching up to do :)

We don't spend as much time on the boat as we would like (well, Rob gets to spend more time while fishing), but as often as we can, we get the kiddos out for a day on Lake Michigan. Our friends and old neighbors (in Alger Heights) were visiting and staying with us from Canada with their four girls, so we all went out and the kiddos had a blast! Well, at least Madisyn and the girls did. There was about an hour where all LD wanted was for the boat to stop rocking and for him to go home :( But after some Mama love, and cuddling, he was good to go!



Rob doesn't love his picture taken, but I catch him every once in a while anyway :)


LD post-crying fit.

Ottawa County Fair

I have been slacking on taking pictures, which then has a drastic effect on my posts (who wants to see a post without a picture?!). I may actually start a daily photo blog because I've been so inspired by Katie and Theresa (and Theresa's blog post)! None-the-less, I have taken a few pictures this summer including some of the kiddos and their cousins Joshua and Levi (their only cousins, but only for another 3-4 weeks!) at the Ottawa County Fair.






Blurry? Yes. Priceless? Of course!

The news is out!

And we couldn't be more excited! It's been way too difficult keeping it a secret! :)





Baby D3 should arrive around Valentine's Day!

Thanks Mindy, for helping us share our news!

March Birthday Party

Of course I'm running late on blogging... something that I continue to say that I'm going to work on, but haven't successfully improved. Albeit late, I don't want to miss out on posting great pics from the event filled day!

I really love having their birthdays close together, so that we can have all of the family over for one big celebration... so far they don't mind sharing the big day :) We've also started doing their own smaller, low-key parties with friends, which gives them their own special celebration!






I included a lot of their birthday cakes because I was so proud of the job that they did! They were thrilled when I offered for them to decorate their own cakes! After I iced them in the colors that they picked, they rolled the fondant and cut out the shapes, and put them on wherever they wanted :)

LD's hair... and personality :)

It's always a difficult decision for me to make, whether to let his hair grow (and gain those curls that are one of my few traits that he possesses) or to cut it short like Daddy. I didn't quite get to the curl stage before I gave in this time! If you ask Landon, he likes it, "like a dinosaur." :)

Riviera Maya

Better late than never, right?! Ever since I've begun posting pictures on Facebook, I find it difficult to keep up with our blog, but I know that there are a few out there who look at this instead of FB. Anyway... Rob and I had seriously the best vacation EVER in February! Neither of us have been to Riviera Maya (or Mexico, for that matter) and we loved it! We had absolutely perfect weather, we went snorkeling (first for both of us), we went with wonderful friends, we were gone long enough, but not too long, everything was just great! I think the best part for me was that we spent about half of the time with our friends, but also about half of the time just the two of us.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Our crazy little boy is 4!

It's hard to believe that the baby in our family turned four today! As (I assume) any four year old is, he was over-the-top thrilled with his new found age yesterday morning :) He continually amazes me with the things that he says and does. He may or may not be the smartest child ever, but he sure has a sense of humor and is quick witted. I truly don't know where he got it from, but none-the-less, he can get us all rolling after a one liner!

He is also a typical boy... being a little naughty and sneaky, but then turns into the kindest, affectionate, sweetheart in a moment. Yes, he has me wrapped around his finger. He seems to have that effect on people, as he dishes out compliments to just about anyone he comes in contact with. The latest is that he likes my mouth, face, feet, but doesn't like my lipstick :) He went through a stage of telling just about everyone, "I love you!" Which even melted his dental hygienist's heart!

I wish I did a better job of keeping track of milestones, but alas, that is one of my major flaws... and I'm willing to accept it. The most major thing that has happened for LD this year is that he started "three-school," which he absolutely LOVES! He's made a best friend, which was fun to see him do on his own. And, if you ask me, I think he picked a good one, because his mom and I get along great too (and she's even at my MOPS table :) ).

Little boy, you sure have grown up in the past four years! We love you!!!

Baby girl is 6!

Our baby girl turned six this week (on her golden birthday). I think it may be time for us to stop calling her "Baby." :) Every year I am amazed at how quickly it has gone by... I can't really be a mother of a six year old, can I? I am so glad that I've had another year at home full-time to spend with her before she starts full-time school next year.

As I was thinking about her last year, I thought of a few milestones that she reached... which reminded me of how much she's grown in the past year and how much I need to absorb each and every day that we have together!

She...
* Took her first airplane trip (that she can recall)
* First experienced the ocean
* Took two sets of swimming lessons (can swim some on her own)
* Graduated pre-school
* Started kindergarten
* Proudly conquered her stage freight fear in her Christmas program
* Lost her 3rd and 4th teeth
* Hit the big 4' in height (not too far behind her momma)

I had such a hard time picking out a few pictures of her, that I limited myself to her first year, I'll have to follow-up with a the rest. I just LOVE those chunky legs! She liked to eat then and she LOVES to eat now :)