Two Months Old!

Josh is now 2 months old - can you believe it! Here are some pics of our little guy along with a great picture of all the kids in their pj's relaxing in the morning. Josh is staring to smile and almost giggle. He is a lot of fun and everyone is really enjoying him.

Baby #4 Ultrasound Pics

So I'm way behind posting these but since we haven't actually had the baby yet I think I have some wiggle room here. Earlier this month we had our first ultrasound done for baby #4. We DID NOT find out what the baby's gender is - this will be a surprise to all until the baby is born. We love these kinds of surprises!! The kids came with us to see the baby. The girls knew what to expect since they have "been there, done that" before. Poor Drew however was so confused - he thought the doctor was going to take the baby out for a bit and then put it back in. He was bored after five  minutes until he discovered the "jelly" spread over my stomach. Every once in awhile I felt a little finger playing with the jelly along the side of my stomach.

So anyway here are some pics of our little #4:

Baby Birds

A little while ago the kids found a birds nest in our swing set clubhouse. After the discovery they began checking the next regularly to see if any eggs had been laid. Sure enough a few weeks after our discovery the kids found two robin blue eggs in the little nest. They were excited! The girls researched robin eggs and how long it would take for the eggs to hatch. They learned that it took about 12-14 days for the eggs to hatch then after that the baby birds would live in the nest for over 4 weeks. They decided as a "team" to leave the clubhouse (which includes climbing wall and slide) alone until the baby birds flew the coop.

One afternoon while busying myself around the house I heard an ear piercing scream from the backyard from the kids. Scared someone was hurt (aka Drew), I raced to the backyard to find all three kids with huge smiles shrieking "the eggs hatched". Kami quickly grabbed the camera and cautiously ventured into the clubhouse to record what she found. Here is a video of the findings.(1st video shows newly hatched birds - 2nd & 3rd video shows little bit older baby birds)

Our Growing Boy is 3

Drew bear turned 3 on April 30. We actually celebrated his birthday the day before with family here at our house. Here are some photos of this joyous event! The cake was made by Heather and looked (and tasted) great! Thanks to everyone who helped make this a special day for our little boy.

Time with Madelyn

This weekend we are having the pleasure of spending some time with Gary's little cousin Madelyn. She has been so much fun! Here are some things we did on her first full day here:

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings (ok after we get some ice cream tonight!!!!) Enjoy Sarah & Dan!

xoxo

TIMBER!!!

Maple tree in our backyard

The climberTrunk & StumpStump (not ground out yet)

Large pieces of maple for Chester/Cara!

For those of you who have been over to our house you may recall that there is a lot of shade in our backyard. This shade is mostly due to a big maple tree sitting smack dab in the middle of the yard. We've enjoyed this tree for years however we began to notice a significant amount of "sawdust" gathering around the center where the tree forks into to large sections. After a visit from a tree-hugging arborist who strongly suggested we either cable the tree (bolt large sections of the tree together with cable) or remove it due to significant rot issues. He thought a heavy rain storm or ice storm, both common in our area, could put extreme stress on the section of tree that was rotting (and leaning towards the house) possibly causing the tree to fail (translation - fall on our HOUSE). So Gary and I scheduled the removal of this great tree which happened today. It was an amazing process to watch beginning at 8am sharp and ending around 1:30ish. Three guys, one being the "climber", wielded chainsaws, hydraulic lifting machines and a huge chipper took down our tree. Here are some before pictures, during pictures and after.

10 YEARS!!!

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary! It sure doesn't feel like 10 years - boy did it go by fast. I'm so blessed to be doing life with such an amazing guy.

For those who attended our wedding and friends we have met since, we want to thank you for your prayers throughout the years for us, our marriage and for our family. We truly believe that our marriage cannot survive without our constant seeking of God's plan and putting Him above all else.

With Love

Gary & Erin

"Colossians 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Ephesians 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”"

Girls Weekend 2008

10 year Anniversary

2008 was the 10th anniversary of Girls Weekend! Hard to believe this once little idea years ago has become such a wonderful tradition. This year the annual event was held in Fremont (at Dianne's house). This year there were 17 of us including three generations of girls, the farthest of our group coming from Tennessee. For many years the main "events" for this weekend have included food (of course - with chocolate!!), a craft and an outing. Most of the gang arrived on Friday evening and after a yummy pasta dinner we kicked off the weekend with a bonfire, marshmallows and camper pies. Saturday morning rise and shine came earlier than expected due to the noise generated from the MILLIONS of squawking ducks and GUN SHOTS from the duck hunters (apparently duck season is in October). The morning also consisted of more delicious homemade treats to get us ready for our outing to the Heritage Farm for some fall festivities. At Heritage Farm the group successfully navigated through the corn made by correctly answering American President Trivia at each turn. Emma was a real pro - showing off her knowledge of Presidential facts by correctly answering the question "who resided at Monticello?" - of course that Jeff Tom guy (Thomas Jefferson) was her reply! The little ones picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and we all took turns posing for silly pictures in the field.







Later in the afternoon (once the kiddos were down for a nap) we started on our craft. This years craft was sock and glove animals, instructions courtesy of the book Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori. Since the weather was so nice we did the craft on mom (dianne's) porch under the beautiful fall colors of a big maple tree looking out over the lake. Once the creative juices began flowing there was no stopping these girls from creating some of the cutest little animals out of recycled gloves and socks! All this crafting makes a girl hungry! Dinner at Spanky's for the world's best bread sticks and pizza helped us refuel for some a little more crafting to put the finishing touches on the animals. The gang crashed after a long busy and FUN filled day!




Sunday morning started off with the duck and hunter wake up calls as well as a nice spread of breakfast treats. Some of the group had to get back home and get ready for school or work on Monday morning. The rest of us took a road trip to Whitehall to visit Cara's studio. Her latest creation, Uncomfortable Animals, was a hit with the girls! If you missed the studio trip check out her wares on Etsy. We also cruised over to the studio where Chester works to watch him create some pottery. Sunday evening we carved pumpkins down by the lake with the kids, had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows and told stories.




Monday morning the Tennessee girls and the Evans' clan packed into the car and headed back to Grand Rapids to the airport. It was sad to see the weekend come to a close but the memories of our time spent together will last forever. We are so blessed to have people in our lives who love us and so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

See You All Next Year!

(thanks Katie for letting me use some of your great pictures!)

Family Face Painting

Our summer has been full of various activities, including picnics and festivals. One of the most popular things to do at these fun events that our girls just love is face painting. Tonight we decided that grilling out at home with friends was a perfect excuse to try some homemade face painting. I pulled out the WASHABLE Crayola paints, brushes and spread newspaper over the kitchen floor and let the fun begin. Rian loves to have butterflies painted on her and she does a great job sitting still. Kami did a great job painting balloons on her daddy's face! After Rian was done getting painted on she wanted to try painting on someone. I was her first victim! After wiping globs of paint off my eye lashes, Kami declared that Rian had painted fireworks on my left cheek. Daddy also got some "fireworks" painted on his cheek. Both girls became adorable kittens (or lions) after a few whiskers were added to their cheeks. We had a lot of fun doing this as a family and it washed off easily in the tub!