Magnuson Funeral

Jeff's Uncle Jim died in July and we headed to Kalamazoo for the funeral with Grandma Cindy's family. It was a very sad day, hard to lose a man who was so young so quickly.

The kiddos were happy because the luncheon was in a fire station so Papa Terry got them all out to see the trucks and we never pass up an opportunity to see a rescue vehicle in our house!

We have a winner!

There has been a tooth wiggling battle in our house for a couple of months. Matthew lost his tooth first and was rewarded with a gold dollar coin from the toothfairy!

Jonathan is wiggling his teeth like crazy but doesn't have a very loose one yet.

Now, we can the two new teeth coming in for Matthew's lower teeth but the other front one hasn't fallen out and has moved over into the middle of the big space and sits there proudly like a crooked jack-o-latern tooth.

Muskegon State Park with the Batch Twins

We spent a windy, not so sunny, but totally wonderful day with the Batch twins, Laura and Adam, and their mom Nancy. The kids had a great time playing in the beach grass on the dunes and making it as hard as possible for me to take pictures of them, they were all bobbing up and down and hiding from the camera and then got extra silly posing for me. Goofs.

We never fail to have a good time when we get together and Nancy and I love that each year gets easier for us because the kids are growing and play together so wonderfully. We hope to play again before summer ends. We hear the Batch family has a new playset so we may have to check it out or we'd love to have them to our beach too.

BIG Garage sale

We bit the bullet and finally cleaned out the storage room to sell all of the boys' clothing and more in mid-July with much help from my friend Brenda. The boys gave away free popcorn and sold lemonaid and water to our customers.

Two things I have learned:

1. DO NOT SAVE ALL OF THE BABY CLOTHING FOR SIX YEARS!!!
Fifteen 35 gallon tubs of matching outfits!! It was out of control. Shed clothing as they grow or give it away. As nostalgic as I am it was very hard to do but I had to.

2. Big storage room= BAD!!
Too much room to put things and let things pile up. Ridiculous amounts of things.

We had a garage sale two years ago and sold most of the baby gear and toys but still held onto the clothing because I was simply overwhelmed by the amount of it. It feels so good to be rid of it all. I did keep a few outfits as keepsakes and a big tub for little cousin Kellan but we sold all the rest and donated what was left to Goodwill.

I can't wait to organize what is left in the storage room this fall. We could put a pool table in there. Jeff wants to build a train set like my uncle has...I'm a little worried there are far too many options for filling that darn room!

Skimboard City

The boys got skim boards from their pirate friend for Christmas last year and were anxious to try them out this summer. For those of you who don't know, skim boards are wooden boards you throw along the waters edge, run and jump and glide along the sand. The boys have spent HOURS practicing and learning and watching the big kids do this to learn tips.

They found another friend on the beach too, Drew is 6 like them and they were proud to tell me that he was their new best friend because they all had so much in common:
they are six, just finished kindergarten, all had wiggly teeth, all played t-ball and best of all, and most important, THEY COULD ALL ARMPIT FART BEETHOVEN!! Wow!! What an amazing bond!

Little do they know that Drew's dad and I grew up together in Grand Haven too, those summer friendships last many generations in the hills of Highland Park.

The surf's up!

Desperate for some wave action, we take even the smallest waves and go surfing. We'll build up to the big stuff!

Pirates Loot

Cousin Emma turned 7 and decided she wanted a pink and black pirate themed party, we were all into that! Everyone got into the spirit and got some temporary ink to celebrate. The big hit was a pirate pinata at sunset and then cake! Talk about a sugar buzz!

Happy Birthday Emma, thanks for inviting us to your fun party!

Beach time!

Finally! A few good days of beach weather.


Cousins Katie and her friend Morgan spent a day playing with the boys and cousin Emma at the beach. They had a ball having tube wars and seeing if they could knock each other off.