Another chilly weekend...

Oh my goodness! What a yucky yucky day here in Michigan. I can not believe that it is the end of March and we had snow today. I was too hopeful that it was long gone. Yes I know that this is Michigan and it is normal for here, but it still sucks!! I saw snow in the forcast, but I was hoping that it was just flurries, but no! It had to cover the ground. However, I am glad that it went away almost as quick as it came. The rain and the wind made it all nasty, but I am glad that I see muddy water in my driveway and not that white stuff!! So with that being said, we did not get the chance to go on our family adventure today, but we did take Ellie for her first walk at Hemlock Crossing yesterday after Maddi had her first play date with her little pre-school friend Luke. She(Ellie) did pretty well. She did all that she could to get that collar off of her neck, but she soon realized that it was gonna stay put. She gets tired a little quicker than we want her to, but she is so little and those little legs went as fast and far as they could go. The girls enjoyed her so much and of course there was plenty of fussing over who was gonna walk her. I assure you that everyone got a turn and the dog did not know the difference. Anyway, we hope that everyone had a good weekend and we wish everyone a wonderful week ahead. It is hard to believe that Monday is already upon us! Goodness where does the time go??? Enjoy these photos from yesterday.

Maddi & Ellie(as you can see Ellie is taking a potty break oops!)

Who is walking who?????


Maddi being a big girl and holding Ellie all by herself

Ellie all tuckered out on the ride home

Here are a few photos of Ellie that Mark took yesterday. She is growing like a weed and has already adapted to living with us just fine. We couldn't have asked for a better dog. I may be wrong, but I think we picked us out a good one!! And as you can probably guess, she is already spoiled rotten. We can not seem to have a dog that is not spoiled. Many say that our dogs are treated better than most people:-) Well I would not have it any other way. All they ask for is love!

Another accomplishment!!

Just a real quick post to say congrats to Courtney once again! She has tried out for the middle school softball team for the past couple of days and today the announcements were made. SHE MADE THE TEAM!!!!! We are so proud of her and I know that she is excited because she has said several times that she can not believe that she made the team. We were hoping that things would go well, but she did injure her foot two years ago while playing in NC. We do not know if pitching the ball and dragging her foot caused this or not, but she has dealt with it for 2 years and it finally seems to be healed enough for her to play. She loves to play softball and has a bit of a knack for it, so we hope and pray that all goes well for her. She has admitted to us that she may do some pitching again this year, but we are stressing that she takes care of her foot and that she lets us know as soon as she gets the least little twinge. Hopefully that won't happen, but you never know. The coach did tell her that she did a great job and she was a good player and she made the team, but she needed to gain some weight because if the ball hits her, then she would be nothing but a bruise! Ha!Ha! Guess he does not know her well enough yet to know that first of all she stays bruised up and second of all, she is a little spitfire and does not take much off of anybody! It is those little ones that you have to watch out for sometimes!! Wish her luck and pray for that foot to hold up for her!!

The newest little rosebud...

Welcome Ellie!!
Well as most of you know, our chocolate lab Brandi is not doing so good and is more or less living one day at a time, so we have gone out and got another member to add to our family. Meet Rosebuds Ellie Mae of West Michigan. She will be called Ellie and she is 6 weeks old. She is a loving little girl who has come out of her shell a bit more today. I can already tell that she is going to be a handful, but we will get through it. It has been quite a long time since we have had to do the puppy stage thing, but we are ready for it and at least we already have quite a bit of experience. She did well in her crate for the first night and then I had to leave her in it this morning for about 3 and a half hours and when I came back, to my surprise, there had been no accidents!! Good girl Ellie!! I am sure that we will drive you nuts with photos of her on the blog from here on out, but the girls are so excited to welcome her into our family and they want to share her with all of you. Here are a few of her first photos. Ain't she a cutie??

Random photos of our Sunday hike

Thought that we would share a few of our photos from our "family" time today. When the weather is nice on Sunday's after we go to church and have Sunday dinner, we try to go and do something as a family. We generally like to go on one of the nature trails and just spend some good quality time together outside. Today we thought that is was nice enough to venture out and we went to Mt. Pisgah in Holland. We climbed 258 stairs to get to the top so that we could then follow the trail around. The views were beautiful of the lake. We had a good walk/hike and just enjoyed being outdoors. Enjoy the photos.

Happy Spring!!!

Even though it is the first day of Spring, it still has the feeling of winter here in Michigan. The sun is shining, but the air is chilly. I am ready for some green grass and colorful flowers. I am sure that by now, all of us are ready for the warmer weather to come and stick around. I know that it won't be much longer and we will probably be wishing for some cooler air, but I know that you won't hear me complaining when the warmer weather sticks around. It could be 75 degrees all year long and I would be happy! Oh well. Anyway, we have birthday parties to attend this weekend, but other than that, not much on the agenda. We hope that all of you have a wonderful weekend with whatever you have planned. I am sure that it will fly by like the rest of the week, so take the time to enjoy each other! Have a good one!! Until next time...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Wishing all of our blogging buddies a very Happy St. Patrick's Day! May the luck of the Irish be with you whether you have Irish blood or not. Enjoy this beautiful day that we are supposed to have in Michigan today! I know that we are going to be messing around outside as much as possible! Have a good one!

It is Monday again

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Ours was pretty good. We didn't do too much, but never the less we had a good one. Saturday we went downtown to the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was really cute and man did that sunshine feel GOOD! Sunday we went to church and then had some friends over after the services for some steaks on the grill. MMM!!! What a beautiful day to enjoy being outside. We still had to put a layer on, but it was not as bad as it has been. Today is another beautiful day and tomorrow is supposed to be better, so we are looking forward to that. Mark went back to work today and says that he has been busy catching up on things. I am sure that there is plenty to keep him busy especially after being gone for 5 weeks. I had to go and pick Court up from school due to a migraine. Yuck! Not a good way to start out the week. She unfortunately gets those from both sides of the family and we can not help but feel bad for her when she gets one. They really take it out of you and sleep is the best remedy. Anyway, welcome to a new week! We hope everyone has a good one! Until next time...

Daddy's finally home!!!

Well the 5 weeks of being in California is finally over. Mark made it home safe and sound. Thanks for everyone's prayers and good wishes. It all worked out well and we got home from Grand Rapids at around 8:30pm. As you can all guess, the girls are totally thrilled to have their Daddy back in Michigan with them. Maddi is like the energizer bunny, she keeps going and going and going. Little does she realize that she has school tomorrow and she is not going to want to get up and go. Oh well, maybe she will and maybe she won't! Guess we will see what tomorrow brings! Hope you all have a good weekend with whatever you have planned. For us, we will just be hanging out and enjoying some family time. Hopefully we will get to enjoy some nicer weather too!!

Maddi showing off the poster she made for Daddy

Waiting for Daddy's plane to land

The girls staring out the window looking for Daddy's plane
Note: Daddy is standing behind them waiting for them to turn around
SUPRISE!!!!!!!

Only 2 more days...

And then we will head to the airport to pick Mark up. We head to Grand Rapids Thursday evening. Mark should fly into the airport around 6:15pm, so we plan on leaving right after Leslea gets off of the school bus. It should be an eventful ride there, but who can blame them? They have not seen their Daddy in 5 weeks. In some ways it seems as if it has gone by fast, but in other ways, it seems as if it has been a lot longer than only 5 weeks. I am looking forward to having a little bit of piece and quiet if I choose to. At least if he is here and I need a moment, I can walk out and not worry about who will be killing who because someone other than me will be here to seperate them. No they are not that bad, but when you have a strong willed 10 year old and a smart mouth almost 13 year old, you just never know what is going to happen next. Then to top that off, a 4 year old going on 8 or 9 has to get her mouth in it, and it just goes on from there. Anyway, it is already the middle of the week, so it did not drag on like I thought that it was going to. I hope that all of you continue to have a good week and if you think about it, keep Mark in your prayers and pray that all of his flights are on schedule and that he gets home safely. Lord knows that man is more than ready to come home!! Until next time...

It is so hard saying goodbye...

But we all know that it is a part of life and today, 4-04-09 we had to say goodbye to a very special and important part of our family. Our beloved chocolate lab, Brandi, passed away. She was so loved and will be missed more than she or anyone else will know. She would have been 12 in July, so some would say that she lived a good long life for a dog, but for me, I wish that she could have lived on forever. I believe that she left way too soon. I do not know how our other 3 labs will react to this, but we will all get through it. It is not going to be easy because a part of us has been torn away, but I am thankful for all of the years and memories that we have had with her. God knows she was a good dog and none will ever replace her. My heart is so broken right now and I wonder why I or anyone would ever want to put themselves through such pain, but when they are here, they show you nothing but love, so every minute of mischeviousness is worth it. Well I guess all that there is left to say is, "Goodbye my sweet girl! May you live on forever in our hearts and memories. You will be missed so much more than words can say. You were more than just a dog! You were our 4 legged daughter, sister, companion and friend. We love you and do not want to let you go. God was ready for you to go, so we have to accept that, but we hope that you know you will never be forgotten. We hope that you run free and play without any aches and pains now! We love you and miss you already!! Bye Bran! Bye our sweet girl!"

Ready for Church...

Well almost anyway. Maddi, Court, Les and I went shopping around for Easter Dresses today, and no we did not have any luck. We did see some possiblities, but needless to say, we did not make any purchases for Easter. We did however find this little dress that came with a dress for Maddi's baby doll, so she just had to have it and insists on wearing it to church tomorrow. Well all that is fine and dandy, but she wanted to try it on and put the baby's on her and have some pictures taken, so here are the results. They did not turn out the greatest, but I think that you can get the idea of what her and her baby look like. I guess this means that I will be taking 4 girls to church with me tomorrow!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Congrats to Courtney!!!!!

Just a quick little post to let you all know that the West Ottawa 7th grade band that Courtney is a part of won First Division!!! They really exceeded what was expected of them. Maddi and I got the chance to go and listen to them perform and they were sooooo good. No I am not just being partial because one of my children was involved! They were exceptional!! We even went into the band room after their stage performance to see how they did on their sight music, and they blew those of us that were in there away. This part that was being judged, was where they were given music that they have never seen, played, or practiced before and they had 7 minutes to look at it, discuss it, and then play it. They did two parts of this and when it was over, the judge stood up and commended them on how well they did and how wonderful it was to see how they worked together by listening to each other and feeding off of one another. He could not find 1 mistake and that is amazing. Of course a lot of credit has to be given to Mr. Wheeler because he has done a wonderful job with them!! So once again, CONGRATULATIONS to Court and her 7th grade band!!!!!!!

Messages to Daddy from Maddi...

Make sure your volume is turned up. She is a little bit hard to hear!!

Another weekend gone in a flash...

Well it is already Sunday night here at the Rose's and real close to bedtime, so I thought that I would type a little note to wish everyone a good week ahead. Beings it is our last full week of Mark being gone, I am sure that it will probably just drag on by. The girls are already starting to get a little hyper and we still have 11more days before he heads this way, but just knowing that it is only a week and a half away, they are excited. Lord help me when I head to Grand Rapids to pick him up!! I will need some nerve medicine and some really good ear plugs:-D I will survive I am sure, but if they stay like they are now, then they may not be alive to go with me. Just joking. Anyway we hope that everyone's week goes well for them. We are already looking forward to some warmer temps for the end of the week! Sure do hope that they happen, especially after these past few! Brrrrrr! Have a good week!