Dear Cousin Ella

Dear Cousin Ella,

I know we started out on a rocky path, I am big and move quickly and have knocked you over a few times. You hurt my feelings when you yelled at me and I scare you when I want to come see you.

We started to become friends at Christmas and by the time you left we were buddies a few times.

I got the necklace you made for me with the dog charm on it. I will wear it for all my dress occasions.

Looking forward to coming to visit with you in Cincinnati in April, I promise not to steal your cookies from you and pledge to be your faithful friend when you need crumbs picked up.

Love,
Hayley

Valentine's Day at our house

We always have a special table setting for the big day. While Jeff and Jonathan were out, Matthew and I set the table this year.

Happy Valentine's wishes to all!!

Our Twin Friends

After school yesterday, we had a playdate with our friends Adam and Laura. The kiddos are all getting so big, we decided to review some of the highlights of our friendship.

When I was pregnant I met Nancy on the twins message board. We live only half an hour apart and met when we took a multiples class in Grand Rapids. Our boys were born just a few weeks before their twins, Adam and Laura. The boys and I visited Nancy while she was on bedrest with her babies.


The babies at the mall. This photo shoot was hilarious, they all kept falling over and falling on each other.


On a couch today:


First Halloween at the pumpkin patch:


At the zoo:


The boys' first birthday:


Lunch at the pool at age one:



Lunch today at age 5 1/2:


On the floor together then:



On the floor today:


And our infamous attempt at a portrait picture of the four:


We had a wonderful visit today, talking about the challenges then and the challenges now of raising twins, picky eaters, behaviors, the unbelievable energy level of a five year old boy and more!

We also discovered Nancy's 91 yr old grandmother winters in Venice, Florida and that is where my 91 yr old grandmother lives too! Nancy is going for a visit next week and has sweetly decided she will go visit with my grandmother while she is there. Grandma Niecy is looking forward to meeting Nancy and having company. Next year, Nancy and I are BOTH going to visit our grandmothers and take a winter break toghether. What fun that will be!

We are so thankful for our good friendship and can't wait to make more memories together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The boys had a Valentine's recital in their class for all of the parents. They sang a few cute songs and did very well. Jeff posted his video on youtube but there it's not great quality. After the concert there was a class party and it was fun to see the boys with their friends and classmates.

Link for the video, click here

Ford's Birthday

A birthday party at Chuck E Cheese with all the boys in your class??

HEAVEN to a five year old boy or two!!

February

We had lots of snow up until a warm spell last weekend where we almost hit 60 degrees. It spoiled us, the boys were ready for warm weather and no coats and now we are back to cold and snow again.

We celebrated Daddy's birthday on Tuesday. Hayley tripped me coming in the door with the cake so it is decidedly lopsided but escaped being smashed, thankfully!

Happy 35 Daddy!!!

The Day the Katmai Bay Came to Town

The city called for a Coast Guard cutter to come break up the ice in the channel this week because of the threat of flooding like we had in December. The ice builds up in the channel and the river floods Spring Lake. Jeff and the boys took advantage of the day to go check it out, never ones to miss the opportunity to see the Coast Guard in action! Jeff was interviewed by Fox 17 and the boys were thrilled to be on tv!

Saturday in Saugatuck

We decided to try something different so we headed down to Saugatuck yesterday since it was a beautiful, sunny day and almost warm (ok, it was 30 degrees but compared to what we have had it was ok).

We challenged the boys to climb to the top of Mt. Baldy. Jonathan was all for it, Matthew was not so happy. He made it three levels up and came back down. Jonathan and Jeff made it all the way to the top! There was a man and his dog there who were climbing it six times and we did see him do at least three laps while we were there.

While the boys were on the way back down Matthew decided he would meet them and he went at least half the way up. It wasn't an easy climb in the snow and we had not brought gloves with us.

On the way back into town we stopped at the state park and looked for signs of the lake. They said earlier this week that the ice cover stretches out eight miles off Grand Haven right now, not sure what it is in Saugatuck but there was no sign of open water as far as the eye could see there either. The boys bolted back to the car after being hit with that wind!

We rewarded the boys with ice cream cones at Kilwyn's and they said ice cream was a good way to "warm up". They also decided we should come back in the spring with Hayley and see if she will do the climb with them, I'm sure she would be happy to try!