Kids at 20 months

Olivia and Garrett on a tractor. I think she may be a little older than 20 months here - but you get the idea.
Garrett painting pumpkins. He must have just gotten in trouble, b/c he looks like he's been crying. What a sad boo-boo face!
Esther, a little younger than 20 months. The next picture is Olivia at the same age, in the same cover-up. Esther was ready for Lake Michigan, Olivia was ready for the Jersey Shore.

Because I have no recent pictures to blog, I thought I would take a stroll down memory lane with each of the kids at around 20 months. I think they look like siblings, but not like carbon copies of each other, like a lot of people say. Do you think they look alike?

Hopefully in the next weeks or so we will have pictures to blog. We went back to film until we can get the camera. We've taken a lot of pictures of Garrett's room in progress and some of the kids. They still don't get that they can't see the picture after it's taken, they keep asking, "Can we see?" right after we take the picture. It makes me feel old. I can't believe there are things that my kids expect that I would have never dreamed about, even 10 years ago. Who'd a thought you'd be able to see you pictures right after you take them? Don't you just love technology?

Fun pictures and bad news

Esther playing in a puddle in the driveway. Am I a terrible mom for not caring about some mud on my kids? We needed the rain so bad, we weren't the only ones playing in the puddles.
Olivia looking HOT with her hair flipped back - girls, you know you did that as a kid!
Garrett and Gideon's room decor. We've decided to re-do the boys room before Gideons arrival. The choice was between a Chicago cubs themed room, or an Incredibles themed room. When I brought the pictures home of the two choices, there wasn't even hesitation, Incredibles were the hands down winner.

Now the bad news - we will have no pictures of the room in progress (like yesterday when all three kids were painting in their underwear and diaper) or the finished product. . . b/c we have no camera again. The other camera that was given to us pooped out too. We knew it was on it's last leg when it was given to us. Oh well. Here's to saving for a new camera!

Fishing Pro

We went out to a friends camp ground the other day for a couple of hours and Garrett was intently watching the other boys while they were fishing (I don't know if he really thought it was interesting, or if he was tired of playing with the girls!). Anyway, our friend, Amber got her daughter's fishing pole and taught him how to fish. He had a great time. So this is Garrett's first fish. And yes, that is a Barbie fishing pole, they have three girls, what do you expect? He didn't quite get the casting part of it, but jerked the line a lot, I think that's why he caught a fish every time he threw the line out. Amber and I weren't too thrilled about having to touch the fish to get them off the hook, but she handled it like a pro. This mom won't be fishing without a dad to do the dirty work!

Erik Mongrain

I was introduced to this guy's music at the Leadership Summit that Willow Creek puts on every year. He is from Montreal and he calls this type of guitar playing airtapping, but I find it so innovative and creative. Just sit back and enjoy, may be one day I'll learn how to do this.

25 weeks

The kids decided to color the blocks the other day. My first reaction (in my head) was, "Great, they ruined their blocks." Then I thought about it and decided that it wasn't that bad, it actually made the blocks more interesting. So, I affirmed the creativity, but told Olivia and Garrett that if they ever wanted to color on anything other than paper they NEEDED to ask. Then I jumped in on the fun and started decorating too. It was a fun time with the kids, and now they play with the blocks a lot more!

I can't believe that 25 weeks is already here! I'm feeling pregnant, that's for sure. He's a really wiggly guy when I finally slow down, He's still not quite strong enough for the kids to feel him, but Olivia frequently comes over and puts her hand on my belly and waits for movement. We started addressing my belly as baby, so that Esther will know she's not the baby anymore. So far she wants to kiss the baby all the time, lets hope the love holds up after the birth.

Beach Day

Esther hangin' in the sand.  Right before this picture was taken she was face down in the sand.  I think she was ready for a nap.
Garrett digging in a hole.
The kids playing SO well together.  There was no knocking down of castles or anything!
Sun Kissed cheeks the next morning.
Morgan and Garrett after the beach.  

We had a GREAT day yesterday at the beach.  Morgan was visiting from IN this weekend, and Josh was at conferences all day yesterday, so we took the kids to the beach.  We packed a lunch and plopped our stuff on the beach a little after 10.  It was gorgeous, the water was warm, and the kids were awesome.  I thought it was going to be fun, but 45 mins of uninterrupted sitting time for me was a huge surprise.  Morgan was a big help, of course.  Taking the kids in the water and playing in the sand with them.  But most of the time, they just wanted to be alone with their new friends they made.  I tried to go out to the water with Garrett and he wasn't interested in playing with me!  I thought we'd be leaving around 2 because the kids would be getting fussy and tired, but we didn't leave until 3:30!  Even at that time, they were still really good!  I was so relaxed, I was ready for a nap!  It was a great day - hopefully the next time will be just as great!

Reading time

Josh and I have been reading a lot lately.  Of course the kids want us to read to them whenever we have a book in our hands.  Josh had just gotten done with a marathon reading to the kids when he picked up his book and began reading.  Garrett, wanting to be just like daddy, picked up Josh's New Testament, sat down next to Josh and began reading.  He was asking him questions like, "Is it a good book, Dad?" and "What's yours called?"  What you can't see in the picture is Garrett's mouth moving, silently, just like he was reading to himself.  SO CUTE!  Esther couldn't be left out and plopped herself in the midst of the reading.  

Just in case you care, Josh is reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  As I mentioned before, Garrett is reading the NT. And Esther is reading a Horse book.  Olivia and I were working on an I Spy book (left by her cousins last weekend) before I paused for the photo op.  When not reading to the kids I am currently reading Soul Cravings, by Erwin McManus.  I just finished Sex God, by Rob Bell this morning.  It's a pretty easy but thought provoking read.

Slideshow of Vacation

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Summer Vacation 2007

Esther looking COOL in her cousins shades!
Sunset over Lake Michigan
Garrett and Micah taking a ride on a motorcycle at Playworld.  This was a dreary morning, so we got out of the house by visiting an indoor play area for the kids.
Garrett digging a hole on the beach.
Olivia giving me a sad face on the beach.  This was right after I had to punish her, so she wasn't real thrilled to see me in her face with a camera.  However, I love the picture of her!

We just got back from a great week on Lake Michigan with Josh's family.  His parents, Eric and Erin and their boys all came up to MI for the week and we stayed in a house right across the street from the beach.  The weather was pretty good - we had a couple of cloudy and rainy days in the middle of the week, but found other things to get us out of the house.  Overall, the kids were great, all 6 of them!  There were very few fights to break up and bed times were pretty stress free.  They loved the beach and especially the water!  Esther and Garrett especially like the water.  Yesterday the water was warm, but the rest of the week, it was pretty cold.  The coldness didn't stop Garrett - he went in even when the water was 58 degrees!  I'm hoping to get a slide show put together, so these pictures are only a taste of what's to come, ENJOY!

Pastor Steve & Family

Well, here at Burnips Wesleyan Church we are about to have a new pastor come in. I was trying to find their blog because Steve had told me that Beth had found our blog, and I found it. They are in our links, so check them out, but I found this picture on their blog and we will be able to see the group that is about to join our family. Jess and I are very excited to meet the family and we are excited for what is about to happen here at the church.  Blessings!!!!

20 weeks

Thanks to the news of the baby being a boy, we have more nights like this to come!
20 Week belly, I don't think it looks much different from the last time.

Boy or Girl??

It was 1:45 pm as we waited patiently in the doctors office for our name to be called. We were both a little nervous. Josh, mostly b/c he wanted everything to be ok. Me, b/c we really want this baby to be a boy!

They call our name, "Crisp." The tech walks us back to the room. "Do you want to know the sex?" She asks.
"YES! And if you could make it a boy that would be great!"
She starts the ultrasound, checks the size and goes right for the leg region. Luckily baby wanted to cooperate. "It's got BOY parts!" she says. I had to ask her to say it again, b/c I wasn't really listening, I was too busy trying to figure out what I was looking at!
So baby #4 will even out our family and we are so glad! Everything looked normal during the ultrasound so that's a praise too. Josh was more worried about that b/c he doesn't feel the baby move yet, like I do. We are so thankful for a good report today! Thanks for all the prayers!

Olivia's glad there will be three boys and three girls. Gotta love my little organizer!
Garrett's glad he has a BOY to sleep with him in his room.
Esther doesn't really know what's going on, we'll let you know how she responds after the baby is born.

All my friends in blog land can give us some ideas on the middle name for our little Gideon. Josh really likes Samuel, I like Aaron and Joshua. Do you have any good names? And it doesn't have to be Biblical.

It's a. . .

Rabbit!!  Ha! Ha!  You thought I was going to tell you the sex of the baby, but that's not for another couple of days.  So here's our rabbit story.  After we cut the tree down Josh was clearing brush from the yard and found that a rabbit had birthed her babies in the middle of our yard, where she thought it was wooded b/c of all the tree branches and limbs that were down.  We've been watching them closely, checking on them frequently through the day, and showing them to all our house guests that we've had lately.Two of the five rabbits sleeping.  Their eyes have just opened, and the first day that they had opened, two of them when running when we pulled back the brush to check on them.  One ran through the fence, into the woods next door.  I thought he was gone, but the next day all five were back.
A close up of one of them.
This is what they looked like when Josh found them, he and Garrett thought they were mice b/c they were so brand new and their features weren't really clear.

I'm loving all the nature around me now that I live in the country.  I was really freaked out this time last year, I really felt out of my element.  The longer I live here, the more I like the quiet solitude of life, out of the towns, cities, and suburbs that I grew up in.  I love to watch the birds, rabbits, butterflys, squirrels, toads and whatever else comes our way.  I'm not a fan of the snake that decided to say hello the other day when we were checking on the rabbits.  It was only a gardener snake, but he can stay in the woods from now on.

A week or so ago we had lots of fun watching one of the trees in our backyard get cut down.  My reasons for wanting it cut down were, first of all, that it was weeping on one side and was dying.  And secondly, I wanted more sun in the back yard!  Most people think I'm nuts, but we have three BIG trees left that still give us plenty of shade.
Here's what the tree looked like before anything was cut out.  The swing was relocated to another tree in the yard.
Josh took the older two up on the "cherry picker" before the fun began.
Two men worked for 4 hours "topping out" the tree.
Almost done the topping out process. 
Of course we had tons of mess to clean up. Olivia and Garrett helped as much as they could!  It was a lot of hard work, but I'm so happy with the result!  The video of the tree falling is the next post down!

Tree falling

Here's the result of all the hard work! I don't know if the video captures the excitement of the moment, but it was really COOL!

The Foruth of July - Take 1

Daddy and Esther waiting for the Parade to start.
The kids didn't just get a TON of candy at the parade, they also got to watch horses do their "business" along the route.  One of them was so kind as to leave some right in front of our seats.  At one point we told Garrett to run out into the street to get some candy that didn't quite make it to him, and on his way back he was coughing and gagging, saying, "That poop stinks, we gotta go home soon, PHEW!"  He had us rollin'!
Another lovely shot of the three kids, NOT looking at the camera and with eyes closed!  The day I get a great shot, will be the day pigs fly!
Mommy and Olivia waiting for the fireworks to start.  I love this picture of her, because she's NOT posing and looks so beautiful (if I may brag!!).
Garrett and Daddy waiting on the fireworks (seems like we did a lot of waiting, hu?).  But seriously, the kids did GREAT.  If I had the day to do over again, I would do it exactly the same, with no exceptions or changes.

We had a great holiday yesterday, starting with a parade in a neighboring town and ending with a fireworks show in Holland on Lake Macatawa.  Hope you enjoy the pictures from the day!  Keep scrolling to the next post for more pictures.

The Fourth of July - Take 2

Olivia and Garrett starting up one of the inflatable games before the fireworks.  This one had two huge slides on it! 
More sugar please!  This photo was taken at around 9:30pm as we waited for the sun to set so that the show could begin.  They did fine with the food - til it was gone - than it was pretty tough keeping them occupied and out of the way of thousands of people sitting around us.  Overall they did REALLY well at being up until almost midnight.
Esther saying "CHEESE" for the camera - she never looks at the camera - so this is a great shot!
Olivia framing her face with a glow stick (thanks Miss Deb for buying them for us!).  Notice the sky in the background, and the sun still not set all the way.  I think this was taken after 10!
Garrett with his favorite trustee, Mr. Gary.  Gary is so great with Garrett, putting up with all the questions and interruptions while he's trying to work.  Thanks for loving our kids Mr Gary and Miss Deb!

Olivia Riding her bike

Just wanted to update on Olivia's progress with riding the bike. She's a pro now and can even start herself. She's just a bit taller than Garrett, so she's got the advantage with the start. This same night we went down to the church to let them ride around the parking lot on their bikes and Olivia bit it hard! She still had on her bathing suit, so she got a really nice strawberry on her butt cheek and upper leg. Luckily, we were able to get her back on the bike the next day.
On another note about Olivia, she self-corrected the other day and it was AWESOME! We rode the bikes to the park behind our house on Friday and when we arrived there were three other girls playing and they asked Olivia to play. Garrett wasn't too interested in playing at that time, but a few minutes later he was headed to the picnic tables where they were. At first, all the girls were saying, "NO boys allowed!" Garrett kept his distance, just watching for a couple of minutes. He moved a little bit closer and Olivia turned to one of the older girls and said, "He can sit by me, can't he? He's just my brother, he won't bother us." I was so proud of her. All the tough lessons are not in vain!! Thank you Jesus!

Girls will be girls. . .unfortunatly

  Don't you wish they were always this sweet and innocent?  I know that Olivia isn't perfect.  I know that she's not ALWAYS nice to her friends, I've heard her be bossy and controlling.  I know that she has her favorite friends and who she'll choose to play with when a group of them are together.  I also know that she's been on the other side of it.  Being left out, when she REALLY wanted to be included.  Having to sacrifice what she wants for a friend, who may not have even asked or cared about her.  Having to learn the hard way, that other people have favorite friends too, and sometimes, she's not it.   I've been thinking about how hard it is to raise girls for the past two days.  We had a couple of events this past week that reminded me that girls are caddy and mean to each other, even at the young age of four, five, seven, ten.  Not just when you hit Jr. high and high school.

  When Olivia was left out this week and I was there to observe it, I have to be honest, I had to choke back my tears.  Not only does it crush your heart and spirit that your child is being treated unfairly, but for women I think it brings up so many reminders of their childhood. Luckily, Olivia didn't get it.  I was able to redirect her without her realizing that the girls were lying to her to keep her away and save her the heartache of finally getting the courage to go over only to be shoved out of the "circle" or ran away from.

  God has given me great teachable moments in these times we've had lately, but to be honest, I wish there were easier ways to learn, unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness and a taste of her own medicine.  These tough times for Olivia will come in handy when she's mistreating someone, and can be reminded about how she felt the day she was left out.  And I pray that if I'm diligent in reminding her about how she felt, that she will eventually self correct.  So that when she's 12 and has the urge to make a club on the playground with her friends, she'll be the one in the group that suggests that anyone who wants to be in the club can be.

garrett & the 2 wheeler

here is garrett riding his 2 wheeler. he is just getting too big and he is really good at this. olivia can ride a little but not this good. anyway, enjoy!!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Josh is now officially into his 30th year, meaning, he turned 29 today! Talking about the 30th year sounds so much more serious doesn't it? The kids were great, saying "Happy Birthday Dad!" every time he was around. We got him a bike a couple of weeks ago as an anniversary, fathers day, birthday gift, so there were no presents for him tonight after dinner. The kids were a little concerned and asked where his presents were. I'm sure they only cared because they wanted to "help" him open them up! Happy Birthday babe, I love you! Daddy after dinner with the brood - Garrett will have to be standing next year after we add the last one to the bunch! Esther isn't really using an obscene gesture, that's how she points and thinks!
YUMMY CAKE!
DITTO! You'll notice we don't have a picture of Olivia eating cake. That's because she ate it in record time, seriously, like 1 minute!