See Daddy I am feeling a little bit better

Here are a few photos of your 4 legged children. They have actually ventured out of the garage and have stayed outside for a while. Brandi is acting a bit better than she has been, but she is no way 100%. She is not acting as chipper as she was last night, but it is rather chilly outside and sometimes it takes her a while to get going. Hopefully she will come around and start acting like her aggervating self soon, but if not, then we know that her age is finally catching up with her. She has been eating good as you can probably tell. I don't think that being sick has left her mal-nourished by any means. Just send a little prayer up for her and hope that she continues to do good until you can get back home. We hope that you enjoy your weekend.

Brandi acting as if she is completely over it!

Getting playful kisses from Ember

All four of them enjoying the sunshine, but avoiding the wind

Just for you Aunt Christy...

As promised, here are a few photos of Les wearing her birthstone earrings that you gave her for her birthday. She absolutely loves them and thinks that they are so pretty. She can not wait to wear them to church on Sunday. She says that they are too special and beautiful to wear to school. Good thinking Les!! Anyway, we kind of had a busy day running, so she did not get the chance to call you, but she WILL tomorrow. Let us know if you are going to the island so that we will know whether we can get up with ya or not. I know how the cell phone reception can be down there. We love you and once again send many many thanks and smiles and hugs and kisses. Have a good weekend!!

Court's Pre-Festival Concert

Mark here are a few photos of Courtney from last night. As you know she had her pre-festival concert to prepare them for the judging next week. They did an awesome job and sounded sooooo good. She says that she is not nervous about being judged, but they have put a lot of pressure on them because since 1992, the 7th grade band has gotten first division. Pray that all goes well for her and her band next Wednesday. They have worked so hard on this and they really do deserve to get first division. I could be a little partial, but I think that they are the best!! Anyway enjoy these because you know how she is about having her picture taken. The first thing out of her mouth last night was, "Oh Momma! You are NOT going to take pictures like you did last time are you? You know that I hate that!" Oh well I took them anyway and here they are!

Blowing a few notes before heading out

Really begging for this to be over. She HATES having her picture taken

Sporting her new West Ottawa Band Sweatshirt Thanks Dad!

Just some random photos...

Casper pleading with me to not take his picture


Dressed and ready for school


Ember taking advantage of some inside time. She knows better!

Happy 10th Birthday Leslea

Finally the real day is here. Well almost anyway. I am typing this before I go to bed so in the morning at exactly, 5:41 am, Leslea will offically be 10 years old. Even after celebrating all weekend long, the child is still excited about tomorrow. I guess she is loving the fact that she is going to be double digits and she knows that it is her special day. Well she is definitely a huge blessing to me and I would not take anything in this world for her. She is a special little lady that has a lot going for her and I hope and pray that all her hopes, dreams and wishes come true. I know that she makes my world a better and brighter place, so I can only imagine what the future holds for her. She will definitely be something else:-) Anyway this is the last birthday post for the year of 2009 for Leslea. I can only imagine what she will want to do next year for her 11th birthday. I am sure that as soon as this one is gone for an hour or two, she will start tossing ideas around. That is just part of growing up and always looking forward to "next year" I guess. Hope that everyone has a good week. Hopefully our will be a little less eventful!

Another birthday update...

The girls had a great time last night at Leslea's sleepover. They ate tacos, opened presents, had cupcakes and made their own sundies, played games, watched movies and stayed up until 2am or later this morning. No major issues, just a good time. I wish that I could say that her birthday is over, but truthfully her birthday not until tomorrow. UGH! And then she has the impression that she needs to celebrate once again when her Daddy comes home. Just how long does turning double digits last?????



waiting so patiently for Les to open her gifts

playing BINGO

Joel calling the numbers

Having sundies

Wanna-be gangsters


The morning after having breakfast

Friday night's celebration...

Well our plans for Friday night did not go as we had planned, but Leslea still got a chance to celebrate with Mrs. Sharon. We had some cake and ice cream and some good laughs, so it was a good night. Mrs. Sharon had to work this morning at 9am doing funeral flowers and we were not sure about how much snow we were going to get over night, so we thought that she should probably spend the night at home and plan a slumber party with the girls another night before Mark comes home. As busy as things are, we will wait and see if that happens. I am sure that we will work something out.
Tonight Leslea is having 5 friends over for tacos and a slumber party, so we will be busy trying to keep all these girls happy. I am sure that Maddi will be the one that is a handful, but she will have fun with all the girls. Some of them have been around her several times, so they know the drama that she brings along. I think she just gets so excited to have so many people to play with and she wants them to do what she wants to do and throws a cow if things don't go her way. Well I can assure you that it does not last long, because once again Mommy is the big bad monster and puts a stop to it rather quickly. We will see how she does tonight. Mark I guess you should be glad that you are gone so you don't have to put up with so many girls. Although you are pretty used to having so many around, so it would not be anything new for you. Anyway, we hope that you have a good weekend. We love you and we will post some photos from tonight sometime tomorrow after everyone goes home. Until then here are a few from last night.

The cake for Leslea to celebrate her birthday with Mrs. Sharon

Thinking of something to wish for

Les blowing out her 10 candles

Maddi and Mrs. Sharon

Oh no! Another meltdown...

This time it is Leslea. Don't know what brought this one on, but the child is broken hearted. I guess she is just thinking about her birthday coming up and dwelling on the fact that her Daddy is not going to be here to celebrate with her. It will all pass, but you just feel so helpless because there is absolutely nothing that you can do but comfort her and tell her that it will all be over soon. I guess you could say that we have some big Daddy's girls. Oh well I can not say anything because growing up, I too was a big Daddy's girl and I would not change the relationship that I have with mine for nothing in this world. Her relationship with her Daddy will only grow stronger as she gets older and it will be harder and harder for him to leave her and vice versa. I am just thankful that my girls have their Daddy in their lives on a daily basis and it does them good to have him leave every now and then. I think that they appreciate our family a lot more when someone has been gone for a bit and then when we are all back together, they realize just how good they have it. It is a blessing in one way and a curse in another. Luckily I know how to deal with the drama and it generally does not last long. Well have a good weekend! We will be having fun celebrating, or at least I hope we will!!!!!!!

The weekend is already sneaking up...

This was not taken today, but on PJ day at school

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is already Thursday. I wanted the week to go by, but it now seems like it went by too fast. I think that we are about ready for the weekend. We have a lot of Birthday plans, so I guess I better be ready. Leslea is getting excited and really looking forward to having some of her friends over for a slumber party Saturday night. A good friend of mine, Sharon, who is also like the girls Michigan Grandma, and I are taking the girls to the Aquatic Center in Holland Friday night and then we will come back and have pizza, cake, and ice cream. Sharon is planning on having a slumber party with the girls that night as well. It will be fun. Poor Maddi is once again having tummy troubles. At least she is not throwing up, but her little tummy is so messed up. She ate a few Fruity Pebbles this morning, but other than that, she has not eaten a bite. Totally unlike her. She usually eats all day long, but not today. She started with this on Monday, but it was just a touch, then Tuesday, it was a little worse, but not that bad. Then along came today and the poor baby is just miserable when the belly pain hits. She says that her tummy will not let her chew food because it hurts. I am just thinking that she means her stomach hurts too bad to eat anything. I hope and pray that she is better tomorrow. She plays and argues with the girls, so I know that she is somewhat herself. Tonight when she talked to her Daddy, she was in tears because she felt soooo bad and I am sure that only made him feel more helpless, but she wanted to talk to him, so I let her. Not long after he hung the phone up, she was sound asleep. Maybe she needs to sleep it off for a while. I told her before she drifted off that she could sleep with Mommy tonight. I think that this is more for me than for her. She is just so pittiful when she is sick. Those big blue eyes look so sad and that makes me feel so sorry for her. So send up a little prayer for her and ask God to take this bug or whatever it is away and keep it away. I am so ready for warmer weather so that all these germs and bugs can move on. Well I am sure that you will be more than sick of updates through out the weekend, but we plan on keeping Mark updated. In a way, we kind of hope that by doing the updates, he feels like he is more or less here with us, or at least, he knows and sees what we are up to. Anyway, hope you all have a good night! Until next time...

Well it is Monday again...

Once again it seems as if the weekend just flew by and now it is time to start all over again. And with the the start of a new week, winter has definitely returned. It was once again 11 degrees when poor Courtney went outside to get on the school bus. Maybe those pretty days that we had last week were not such a good thing. Now we are all really disgusted to see more snow. It was just so nice to see grass for a few days straight. It may not have been green grass, but it was still grass and the ground was not blanketed in snow. Oh well as some may say, this is Michigan and after all, it is only the middle of February. We have more snow in the forecast this week and with that comes colder temps, so we will grin and bare it for a while longer. I think that with it being so cold for so long, we are all just filled with Spring fever and want to get outside without all of the layers. That too will come in time.It seems like our week is not going to be as busy as last week, but we still have enough going on to keep us busy. Leslea is planning on celebrating her Birthday this weekend, so she is way excited about that. We will see how things turn out, but it should be lots of fun for her. Well we hope that you all have a good week. Mark we are sure that you will be busy and this week will probably go by fast for you. Maddi is ready for you to come home, so I am sure that the next few weeks will be longer for her and I than it will be for you. She did last longer than I thought she would. She is a little trooper and knows that you can not come home until you are finished with your school, so we will just keep plugging along and telling her to keep marking those days off of the calendar until we reach March 12. Hopefully we can keep her busy enough that the days will just fly by:-) We love and miss ya. Take care and have a good week!

Mmmmm!!!!!!!

So, so yummy:-)

Thank you for the flowers Daddy!!

Mr. Dwayne came over bright and early this morning to play cupid for Mark. Mark had sent flowers to all of us girls and Mr. Dwayne had the privilage of catching us all in our pjs enjoying some french toast and strawberries. He did not mind one bit though. Maddi was running around in her pajama top and undies all excited that she had gotten Valentine's from somebody. She had no idea who they were from or where they came from, she was just excited that she had got something. When she found out that they were from her Daddy, she seemed a little confused. "Just how did Mr. Wayne(as she calls him)get these from Daddy? He is in California!" We tried to explain, but she then discovered that Mrs. Sharon had sent some homemade chocolate chip cookies and she did not care any longer. Too funny. She is a handful and her little mind never stops. Of course Leslea was not here when her flowers were delivered, so she had to wait until she got home to get her surprise. Well Maddi met her at the door and busted a gut to get to her before she even crossed the welcome mat. She couldn't let her come up the stairs and discover them for herself! She just had to tell her right away. You would think that she would be over Valentine's Day beings she has celebrated it just about everyday this week, but no. She has been to the calendar everyday seeing when the 14th was so that it would be the "real day" as she called it. I remember when Leslea was that age and she was the same way. She even cried when she went to bed that night because she did not want Valentine's Day to be over. Too cute:-)Over all we have had a good day. Both of the girls had "dates" with their closest girlfriends, so they got to do some special things with them. Tonight we are going to have a shrimp dinner and then later on eat some chocolate covered strawberries and watch a movie or something on TV. It will be a good end to a good day. Mark thank you for making your girls feel special today. Even though you are so far away, you still made us all know just how special we are to you. We hope that you liked your package that we sent to you. We know that you will not eat the candy that we sent along with it, but what else do you get to send all the way to California? Make someone else feel special and pass it on to them if you don't want to spoil your diet. We love and miss you! Once again, Happy Valentine's Day!!XOXO

Courtney and Maddi with their flowers from Daddy

Leslea with her flowers from Daddy

Mom's flowers from Daddy

Looks like the girls were pretty special to somebody

Court getting ready to go to the movies. Look how grown up she looks!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Well not today, but tomorrow. Beings Valentine's Day falls on Saturday, I am sure that I will not get the chance to update, or if I do, then the day will already be pretty much over, so I am going to take the chance now and wish all of you a very Happy and Love filled weekend. The girls have plans and of course they start as soon as school gets out. I do not know what it is about kids these days, but they have to be continiously doing something all of the time. And to stay home is almost like a crime. They just can't do it and they don't want to either. Anyway, as you can guess, they will have me running them all over the place, so we will be busy once again, but that is fine. It just seems to make the days go by way too fast when you are running all of the time. Oh well that is life ain't it? Hopefully all of your sweeties will treat you good and you will have a wonderful Valentine's weekend. Hugs and kisses to all of you guys!XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Until next time...

If you are checking in Daddy...

Maddi had a great Valentine's party at school. She was so excited and could not wait until she got to go. She actually woke up at 6:15am and has not shut her eyes yet. It is 9:00pm and she is still going strong. Guess we all know what kind of night I am going to have. Hopefully she will do well in her bed tonight so she can be miserable all by her lonesome. Boy I am mean, ain't I?? Anyway here are a few photos of her with the goodies that she got from school. Look real close at what she wrote on the bottom of her Valentine holder. She is writing in sentences now. WOW! Well we will go for now. We love and miss ya!

One happy little Valentine

Maddi with her Valentine loot!!

Upon Daddy's request...

We are updating the blog with a bunch of silly photos that no one else is really gonna care about, but what do you do when he is all the way across the country wanting to see what is going on with us back home? Well we made it through the first weekend without any drama. It was actually a good weekend and we even went outside Sunday and enjoyed the warmer weather. I cleaned up around the flower beds and swept the steps and concrete drive really good to get all of the mud and muck off. I even broke out the water hose and sprayed everything down really good to make sure it was all washed away. Mark you know it was warmer if I broke the hose out!!!! The girls decided that they would build snowmen beings the snow was wet and easy to pack. They were making a lot of progress until our little devil got mad and started smashing everybody's. She can be so mean sometimes. Anyway we have a semi-busy week ahead so the days will fly by. Both girls have already made plans for the weekend, so we will see if that happens or not. Depends on their attitudes:-) Well Mark, we hope that you have a good week. It sounds like they will be keeping you busy, so maybe the time will fly by for you too! We love and miss you. Everyone else, we hope that your week is a good one too and we apologize in advance for all of the updates that you will be seeing if you check in on us within the next 5 weeks. With the time difference, this is the best way for us to keep in touch, so please accept our apology. We are certain that most of the updates will be rather BORING to most of you. Anyway, have a good week! Bye for now Daddy!! We love you!!!!!!XOXOXO

Les, Maddi, and Court sending love to you Daddy


Maddi making her Valentine's for school

Brandi and Rookie ventured out of the garage into the sun Sunday

Deer in the field this evening

Well Mark is off!

This morning went pretty well. A few tears were shed, but over all we all handled it rather well and I have already told the girls that time will fly by and before they know it, their Daddy will be back. Leslea's birthday is Feb.23, so I told her that her special day will be the half way point and if she can get to that point, then she will make it a few more weeks. Poor child is such a Daddy's girl and tries to be so strong, but she just couldn't help it this morning. Maddi is too little to understand the true concept of time, so she was ok. And Court, she never shows any emotion, so she deals with things in her own little way, but she did really good. I have 3 strong girls and I know that after the first day or so of Daddy being gone, they will be just fine. It is such a beautiful day here in Michigan, so Mark has a perfect day for flying. Please keep him in your prayers and pray that he gets to California safely. Until next time...

Another Bittersweet moment!

Well it is official! Maddi is registered for Kindergarten. Can not believe that our baby is big enough to be going to "Big Girl" school. I do not know where the time has gone. It seems like only yesterday that Leslea was off to "Big Girl" school herself. It does not take long for them to grow up. It is really sad to realize that our oldest will be in 8th grade this fall and our baby in Kindergarten. I feeling even older when I think of the following year when we have one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school. Lord knows they are getting bigger and I am getting older! Maddi was so excited to go and get registered tonight. She actually made a few of us laugh when we were coming down the hall from the Art room by saying, "Momma this is the BEST day of my life!!!!!!!!!" Too cute. Hope she keeps this attitude until she graduates from high school! Ha! Ha! We all know that won't happen. As long as she can ride the bus, I think that she will remain happy. That is the one thing that she is looking forward to, riding the bus with Leslea. Well tomorrow is a big day for the girls. They have to send their Daddy off to California, so say a little prayer that all goes well. I know that the time will just fly by because they keep us busy. Look at the past week! Something going on everyday and night of the week. It is ok though. It would be really boring if they weren't involved in so much!! Well hope everyone has a good weekend. Looks or should I say, it sounds as if the weather is going to warm up a little. Hope that happens. I can deal with warmer temps and the rain that is supposed to come along with it!!

Maddi in her new school shirt!

Looks WEIRD to see Class of 2022!!