For Mom

Ethan picked these for me today (Monday) and brought them inside. We put them in a vase and decorated the table with them :) Peter said they were weeds, but Ethan and I think they're beautiful !!!

She's ONE!!!

My sweet little baby girl turned ONE last week--May 12th!! (She shares a birthday with her Grandma W.) I honestly, truly can't believe how fast this year has gone. I probably say that every year, but this is ridiculous. If time keeps going this fast, I'm gonna be an old woman next week!

We celebrated Haven's birthday with my parents on Easter. Here are a couple pictures of her.

Haven opening her presents

Shirts and dresses!!!!!!!!

We also celebrated at home on the 12th. We had a meeting at church that night so we made a birthday cake and took it with us. Haven opened a present from us, too.

A new carseat!! She's the first of our girls to get a pink carseat :) Rachel, who can't wait to get out of her booster seat, really wanted to sit in it!!

Ok, I'm sorry. My computer is having some technical problems right now and it's not letting me upload pictures and add comments the way I want to. It took me about 1/2 hour to do this post and I don't have that kind of time. After my dear, sweet husband has time to fix the problem, I will put up the other pictures I have. I just wanted to get Haven's birthday pictures up before she turns 2 :)

FISH for the girls

Sarah and Rachel decided that they wanted to buy a fish tank with their birthday money. They've been bugging me the past several Saturdays--when we go to Meijers and they see the fish. So, today, I finally gave in and said Yes! Of course, Tom got the honor of setting it up when we got home. We have 4 goldfish right now, but we'll see how long they last. We may try a different type of fish later--if these don't survive :) Here's a picture of the tank.



I hope you're impressed with this post--we just bought this TODAY!!!!

The birthdays continue

Happy 15th Birthday to Nathan on May 2!! I can't believe how fast the time flies, but our firstborn is now 15 years old. I have changed diapers every day now for 15 years--no, not Nathan's!! We have had at least one, sometimes two babies in diapers for 15 years straight! Wow.

Grandma decided to make him a birthday pillow case

He also got a teddy bear--long story, but now he
has a bear for Christmas like the other kids!

His favorite present from Grandma and Grandpa

Nathan blowing out candles--notice sweet, little Ethan watching him!
Nathan with his airsoft gun from DAD
(Mom is in no way connected with this!!)

Happy Birthday, Nathan!! Just think, only 15 more years until you can drive and get married :) You're halfway there!!

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays...

While we were at my parents for Easter, we celebrated my dad's birthday. His birthday was April 25--he's 24 1/2 years older than I am ;)

Nathan and Grandpa talking before opening presents

A new USA flag!!

Ooh, Cabela's :)

What's in this box--Peter watches eagerly!!

A new spotlight :)

Why is the title "Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays" when that was only one birthday?? I guess you'll just have to check back in a couple of days to find out :)

Easter Pictures

Well, here it is, not even a week later and I have some more pictures :) You don't have to wait until May, either!!! We went to my parents' house in Davison, MI for Easter. We celebrated on Saturday with 14 other people for a grand total of 24!! It was a bit crowded and overwhelming, but it was a beautiful day and the kids were outside a lot. Here are some pictures.

Sarah waiting patiently for the egg hunt to begin

Sarah

Rachel is ready, too :)

The hunt is on--Sarah (looking for yellow eggs)

Ethan (green eggs...ham for dinner!)
He had fun looking for his eggs!
Aunt Amy with Haven

Sarah helped Haven after finding all her eggs

Haven's eggs were blue

Rachel and cousin Brenna took a break for a picture!
(Rachel is just 7 months older than Brenna.)
Cute smile, cute boy--while hunting eggs
Rachel with her pink eggs--looking at all the stuff inside :)

Haven touching grass for the first time--she
didn't really enjoy it :)

This didn't last too long!

Dad with the kids after the hunt--looking at all their stuff
Haven loved playing with all the eggs and baskets

She sat there for a long time moving the eggs from
one basket to the other

Sweet baby girl (she's cutting molars; hence, the nose problem!)

Sisters...after a long, hard egg hunt ;)
Tom in the background

Eggs and basket

Another basket

Sweet little, um, big guy :)

Ethan loved playing with this sword most of the day

Ferocious!!

The older boys had a scavenger hunt this year instead of an egg hunt. Some of them decided they were too old to hunt for Easter eggs (I won't name any names!!). They had a good time walking around the neighborhood looking for clues. They ended up tieing!!

Peter and cousin Carson
Peter (Aug 1999), Carson (Aug 2000), and Andrew (Sept 2001)

Nathan and Daniel trying to look cool :)

Peter trying to escape the camera. Ha ha, I got you!!

Nathan after the scavenger hunt

Daniel after the scavenger hunt

Andrew and Daniel hanging out

Andrew

The older ladies and the younger ladies

(back row l-r) my great Aunt Loie, my Grandma Horning, my Grandma Shankland
(Aunt Loie and Grandma S. are sisters)
(front row l-r) Rachel, Haven, Sarah, Brenna

Brenna, Rachel, Sarah--matching shirts from Grandma

Haven