Some random photos...

As you can tell, not much happening so here are a few random shots from the weekend. The weather has been quite wet and we had a lot of inside time, so we were bored and took some pics. Sunday evening, it did clear up for a while and we snapped one of Ellie in the grass while the girls were throwing a softball around with their Dad.

Court not being amused easy

Les sporting her new haircut


our BooBoo Bear with her ball

someone not wanting her photo taken at all
she looks like a wild woman

Weekend getta-way

We broke down and got us a RV and here are a few of the pictures. Nessa has spent two days cleaning and getting it in excellent shape. Sorry the photos are posting weird, but no matter what we do, we can't get them to do right!!!



close up of master bedroom


view of kitchen and living room area


kitchen area


another view of the kitchen area


table/bed


bathroom


bunk area

Happy Birthday Papa Wink

Happy Birthday Papa we love you very much. Love Court, Leslea, and Maddi.

Zeeland Cityside Beats Harbor Lights

Well as you can tell by my title, Court and her team lost today 14 to 7. The girls were challenged by a wonderful pitcher that meant business when she was on the mound. She was amazing and will definitely be an awesome ball player as she continues to grow. Court did pitch for one inning and did well. She just has to continue to practice and gain some speed with her pitches. It will all come together eventually and she is only in 7th grade, but I know that she wants to do it all and she is just not ready. She does however do good with what knowledge she has. I think that if she continues to take softball serious she will be something to watch too! Anyway, her next game is on Tuesday at Grand Haven, so we will see what Tuesday brings! That's all for now! Until next time...

Another update on Miss Ellie Mae...

I know cheezy right? Well sorry but she is one of our babies and we just can not believe how big she is already. She is 10 weeks old and is already acting like a dog instead of a little puppy. She knows when she has to go out to do her business and has done so good about not having any accidents. When it is nice out, she spends most of her time outside with the big doggies. They still get a little annoyed with her because she wants to nip and pull on their ears and lips, but she will eventually outgrow that. Little by little, they are starting to love her. I know that they will accept and love her when she gets a little less annoying, but boys can they make me mad sometimes. I yell at them and tell them to be nice and love that baby and all I get are "yeh right" looks and they flop down and tolerate her, but sometimes I have caught them loving on her when they do not realize that I am watching them. It is funny to see them act like humans sometimes. They truly do have their own little personalities. Ok enough about the dogs!! Hope you enjoy the rest of your week! We will be on the ball field tomorrow evening, so I am sure you will see another update. Until then, happy blogging!!!!!

Ellie and her favorite stuffed animal

I love my webkinz bear!!

Look how big I have gotten in just a few weeks!

Slackers...

Well it seems as if the "blog slacking" has hit us or me I should say. Truthfully there has not been much happening that is really worth talking about. Our weekend was good. We messed with our deck a little getting it ready to spend some time on it when the weather gets warm. We went to our friend's Melissa's and Howie's on Friday night for a hotdog roast and sat around the fire and just enjoyed being outside. The mosquitos decided that they wanted to join us, but they were not too bad. Les went to a birthday at Lost City and had fun playing laser tag with some friends from school, Court got some much needed rest, and Maddi just played and played outside enjoying the sunshine and taking full advantage of getting dirty. Then as most of you know, the rain and colder weather came back on Sunday and has not left us yet. We have also taken advantage of the rain and done some inside stuff. The girls cleaned their rooms good on Sunday afternoon and yesterday, Leah and I textured the ceiling downstairs. I am pleased with our work, but we do have to prime it before we paint the walls. Slowly but surely, it will get done. Now the big thing is to find a color that I will be happy with. I have chosen a few, but not decided on one just yet. Oh well, guess I have rambled on long enough. Good things I did not have much to say! Ha!Ha! Enjoy the rest of your week! Until next time...

Another win credited to Harbor Lights!

Well Court and her softball team won their second game, 13 to 9. It was a good game and there were a lot more hits, runs and catches than yesterday. There were walks too, but overall it was more contact. It made for an exciting game. Court pitched to 3rd and 4th innings. In the 3rd, she threw 5 pitches and the inning was over. The 4th had a few more hits and the defense was changed around a little, so it took a little longer to get out of that inning, but she survived and did well. Once again we were proud of her and look forward to seeing her play next week! Have a good weekend. I am sure that you all will be glad to know that our posting for the week is done:-) That is unless something exciting happens that we want to share! Ha!Ha! Yea right!!

Field trip, softball game and visit to the vet...

Wow! What a busy day for us!! Leslea had a field trip to Grand Rapids with the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders today and she seemed to have a blast. When we picked her up from school to head to Courtney's softball game, she talked non-stop about her day. We are glad that she had a good time. They went to some museums, ate lunch by the river and just had fun on the bus ride to and from. Court had her first softball game and I am happy to announce that they won 13 to 4, but due to the mercy rule, they logged it as 10 to 4, but that is ok! They still won. Courtney finished out the game with 3 good outs. It was her first time pitching in almost 2 years, so we are so proud of her. I do believe that I was way more nervous than she was. Pitching is a lot of responsibility(sp?) and I do not know why she wants to put herself in that position, but she always does well. I just think that it would be hard because the pitcher, in most cases, either wins the game for you or loses the game for you. I would not want that on my plate, but she enjoys pitching and I support her. Her Daddy is so proud to see her on that mound. Nothing but a smile can be seen from him and he has worked pretty hard with her to get her where she is, so we have to give him some credit too:-) And then ol' Ellie girl had her visit to her new vet today and she did really good. Of course she was a big hit and everyone thought that she was a cutie. She did get a shot and some wormer, so she is not 100% this evening, but I am sure that she will be back to her sassy self tomorrow. She is growing way too fast. I almost forgot just how quick they grow. She is already 9 weeks old and weighs in at whopping 12.30lbs. We go back in 3 weeks, so it will be neat to see how much more she has grown in such a short amount of time. Well hope all is well with all of you! Until tomorrow when we post on game 2....

Employee of the Month!!!

Just joking. Leslea's school had a fundraiser at Dairy Queen where 10% of the profits tonight goes straight to Sheldon Woods Elem. They had some of the kids busing tables, cleaning/wiping them down, etc. Well Leslea even took trays of food to the people. We were a little nervous when she was bringing us ours b/c Maddi's ice cream looked like it was going to slide off at any time. It did not and she did a good job. We do not have to worry about her not giving 100% to anything that she does. She just jumps right in, gets the job done and makes it fun no matter what she is doing. She is something else!! She makes us so proud. Here are a few pictures that we were able to snap of her while she was "working."

How beautiful is this?

Mark took this picture of the sunrise this morning. It almost seems as if it is a true promise that Spring is on its way. The temps proved otherwise, but the end of the week looks like it will be nice. We are so ready to see the 60 degree mark. Court has her first softball game tomorrow in Zeeland if the rain holds off, so we will let you all know how it turns out if it even happens.Ok I will just add this here, the game was canceled so we will have the first on Wednesday now. Hope you all have a good week.

Just a look at our Easter morning...

Here are some random photos of our morning. Of course one of Courtney's friends spent the night and I did not mention to the Easter Bunny that we had another girl that needed a basket, so she got a make-shift one, but she was happy with that and she knew that the Easter Bunny was still going to come to her house and leave her one:-) Ellie was even lucky enough to get a basket. Needless to say, she wanted her basket more than what was in it. We have had a very blessed day and we hope that all of you have as well! Once again, Happy Easter from our house to yours!

Shelby, Courtney, Maddi and Leslea


Ellie with her basket




Is this not a cute picture of Mark and his new little girl? She is loved just a little bit!

Happy Easter!!!

Here are a few photos from the Easter egg hunt at our house this morning. We had the older kids, Court, Les, and Shelby, hide the eggs for the smaller kids. Most of the little girls were with me all day yesterday and we took regular sand pails and dressed them up so that they could use them for our egg hunt. They are such girly girls and had to have them all prissed up. They turned out really cute! After they found all of the eggs, we enjoyed hotdogs that Mark had cooked on the grill along with some baked beans(Southern style of course), macaroni salad, chips, cupcakes, cookies, etc. Mmm! It was so yummy. The kids enjoyed playing out in the backyard in the SUNSHINE!!!!! Over all, they all had a blast. It was such a beautiful day here and we took full advantage of it. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Easter Sunday. We will be off to church early, like 8:40am early because the girls are playing the bells for the choir, and then we will have our Easter dinner with Dwayne and Sharon, and then the girls will have their very own Easter egg hunt. Like they need more candy:-) I am sure that the Easter Bunny will be very good to them, but Mom and Dad have to hide eggs for them to find too. I do not think that they will ever be too big for that. I don't care if they are 50 and I am still able, I will do my best to make it special for them. That is just me! Anyway, enjoy your day and know that you are all in our thoughts today and we are thankful for each and every one of you! Hugs and kisses!!

Just a few new snapshots of Courtney

All of you know just how hard it is to get Courtney to let us take a picture of her, but she was more than willing to pose for a few so that she and her friend Jillian could post them on their facebook pages. Yes she has one and her Daddy is not too thrilled about it, but I told her that she needed to ask him and needless to say, she ended up doing it anyway. We know a ton of people with them and don't worry, she will be asked a million questions on what she is doing and with whom online. You just never know these days. I know that we can trust her, but it is everyone else out there that you have to worry about. She is a good kid and questions things that she is not sure about, so that it a blessing. Anyway, I think that she is changing by the day. The teenage years are creeping up on us with her, 3 months, to be exact, so it won't be long before we have to keep a closer eye on her:-) I hope she stays a homebody for a lot longer! At least we know where she is and what she is doing. Well it is already pretty much Friday! We hope that you all have a wonderful Easter weekend. Let's all remember exactly what this special time of year is all about! Love to you all!!!

Some good sleeping...

I went in my bedroom this morning to see what Ellie was up to and this is what I found. A bit earlier, Maddi had wanted to put her in the bed with her, so I did and then went into the kitchen to put some dishes away. When I went back in, these two were sleeping together and I had to snap this picture. I think that ol' Ellie Mae likes to sleep on people's heads. Just remember that she is NOT spoiled. The sun is actually shining and we have already been playing outside, so I guess that after I get my running done we will be spending a lot more time outside enjoying this long awaited sunshine. I am sure that we will be updating again real soon, so until then, get outside and get some vitamin D!! LOL!!

Who knows I may jinx it, but...

I highly doubt it. It looks as if the UNC Tarheels will win the NCAA tournament and I have 2 girls, Courtney and Leslea, that are totally thrilled. I guess what they say is in some ways true. You can take the girl out of the state, but you can't take the state out of the girl. Ha! Ha! These two, along with their Daddy, are die hard Carolina fans. Courtney did not want them to play Michigan State because everyone in her class is rooting for them and she is the only one wishing for Carolina to win. Well sometimes it is good to be different. It is kind of strange that we are from North Carolina and we now live in Michigan and they are the two teams that ended up playing for the championship. We are all huge basketball fans, but as most people, we have our differences on who we root for. I am the outcast by being a huge Duke fan and Maddi is too young to really know or even care, so we are out numbered, but that is ok. Being a die hard Duke fan usually means to go for whatever team is playing against Carolina, but I could not do that tonight. There is a lot of pride of where you grew up that you carry with you where ever you go, so tonight I have to admit that I was hoping that Carolina would pull this one out. It looks as if they are going to make all of us North Carolina folks proud. Way to go UNC!! Sorry to all of our Michigan friends, but sometimes it is what it is!! Michigan State is an awesome team too, but I think that the seniors on Carolina's team were determined to go out in style! It has been a little while since they have won one, so I guess we have to give'em one every now and then:-) Anyway, have a good week and happy blogging!!!

Look how Mark spent his Sunday afternoon...

We couldn't resist this photo. Of course Courtney had to take it in black and white, but never the less, it is cute. We were relaxing on the bed after we got our bellies full from our Sunday dinner after church and Mark decided that beings I had Ember on the bed with me, he would get Ellie and put her up there to see if she would lay down and relax with the rest of us. Well she did and here is the end result. He has already said that she is "HIS" dog and I guess she is. He has even admitted that he hates dog kisses, but he kisses Ellie all the time and lets her kiss him back. He just said yesterday, "GEE! I have never kissed a dog in my life and now look!" Well I think that there are plenty more in store for him!!!! Hope you all have a good week. Hopefully ours will be better than this past!

It is so hard to say 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!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

We are kinda doing this in a weird way, but we want to wish our brother-inlaw, TRAVIS, a very Happy Birthday. We hope that your day is just as special to you as you are to us. We love and miss ya and hope that Christy and the boys treat you right on your special day. We know that Christy will treat ya good, because she usually does and she is such sweetie anyway:-) So have a good one and know that we are thinking of ya! Sending lots of hugs and kisses from Michigan!

Happy Birthday
Love ya,
Vanessa, Mark and girls

Can you say TROUBLE???

I think that is what we are in for with this one! She was trying on her new Speedo bathing suit and said that she wanted to be a super model and this is one of the poses that she gave me. I think that Mark should start worring about her even though she is only 4!! That blonde hair and big blue eyes might get her in more trouble than she wants when she grows up. Especially if her personality stays like it is!!

Spring Break...

Well when school gets out today, the girls will officially begin their spring break. However, we are not all that excited about it because it is supposed to be COLD. It is April and it seems as if we will be celebrating winter break instead of spring break. Seeing snow in the forecast for 3 days stinks! Oh well, as usual, we will make the best of it and do what we can. Mark will of course be leaving town on Monday afternoon and will not return until Thursday evening/night, so he will be gone just about all of their spring break. How convienent hunh? Courtney has softball practice everyday but one, so we couldn't do much anyway. Her first game is the Tuesday that they return from break, so they need all of the practice that they can get. Most kids are going to Colorado or Florida, so I don't know just how many will be on vacation and how many will be practicing. Well everyone else that is about to start spring break, we wish you warm weather and good times. Think about us here in Michigan freezing when we should be somewhere warm sunning. Oh well when life hands you a bowl of lemons, you just have to use them to make lemonade right??? We will make it fun somehow and appreciate the warmer weather whenever it decides to finally show up:-) Until next time...