Grand Rapids

Sledding with Kim and Caleb

Going down with Daddy

Racing with Caleb

Best buds

Caleb, Kim, me, Brady, and Breslin

It has become a yearly tradition heading out to Grand Rapids.  In the morning we hang out with Kim and family and in the evening we hang out with the Grand Rapids Burrill's.  I only got pictures of our morning though.  Caleb and Breslin became best buds on this visit.  Breslin LOVED Caleb, and we are pretty sure that Caleb is the only one with enough energy to keep up with Breslin.  It was great catching up with Kim (my former coach in gymnastics).  Since we both have been done with gymnastics, we both have gotten in to running.  So we were sharing running stories and different races we had done, etc.  Always a good time. I wish we could see each other more than a few times a year.

 

Once we left Kim's we headed over to Leesa and Dan's.  EVERYBODY was there.  Dan, Leesa, Nick, & Blake.  Julie, Eric, & Kyle.  Kristy and Blake.  Lindsey, Joe & Baby Harper.  Aunt Sandy and Uncle Claude.  Terry and Ron Zandbergen.  It was a bit chaotic at times, and Breslin was running on steam...  missing a nap in there, but everybody had so much fun catching up.  We have to plan a summer trip out to Michigan and hang out with them some more.  We love our time we get to spend with them.

Playtime with Teagan

Breslin getting some snuggles in with T

smoochin

They look like they were caught soing something...

2 peas in a pod

Anna, Breslin, Teagan, Me

Teagan pushing Brez around

Teagan and Breslin.  One can only hope (sorry Brian) that they get married someday so that these pictures can go on their wedding slide show (jk.... but seriously).

Five for Fridays

1.  Enjoyed a great first week of winter break.  I can't believe it has already been a week.
2.  Took Breslin on flight #17 of his short little life.  At 18 months old Breslin has flown 17 flights.  One could say he is a veteran traveler.
3.  This was a week of firsts.  Breslin went to his first Christmas Eve Service (last year we flew in on Christmas Eve and missed out), he saw his first real snow fall, and went sledding for the first time.
4.  We had a great Christmas.  My parents sure do spoil us.  They still treat us like we are little kids on Christmas morning.  The magic is still there.  The excitement is still there.  I absolutely love it.  I think sometimes Brady gets a little overwhelmed at the amount of presents that still go out, but it's how our family does Christmas and we all love spoiling everybody.
5.  I got my dad and sister addicted to "the Walking Dead."  Score!

Sledding!

At the end of an eventful sledding day!

Auntie enjoying a little sledding.

At the bottom of the hill

Brady had NO CONTROL over his sled

Love the workout that comes with sledding... there is no chair lift, we have to march all the way back up.

"WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

What do you think?

1-2-3 Go!

Oh the highs and lows of parenting!  Today, definitely a high!  There is nothing better than to be able to do kid things without people thinking you are a dork.  All of us "adults" were able to use Breslin as an excuse to act like little kids again when we took him sledding.  We tested out sledding on our driveway, and when Breslin seemed to like it we went over to a real sledding hill.  Now I know Breslin had a good time, BUT I think the adults had a little more fun than he did.  I can not even remember the last time I went sledding.  We had a blast.

SNOW!!!!!!!

Breslin's first "real" encounter with snow.

"Snnnnoooooooowwwww"

not too sure today...

Let me investigate it a little more...

Grandpa... what are you doing?

I want to help...

Breslin and daddy and grandpa snowblowing!

Five for Fridays (or Sunday)

1.  It's the hoooooommmmeee stretch.  We are now down to 8 school days left before a much needed winter break.
2.  The month of November had been a rough sleeping month for Breslin.  He hadn't been going down easy, he had been waking up in the middle of the night for hours at a time.  So this past week we decided to sleep train him again.  We started on Tuesday night.  He gave us a half hour of crying when he went to bed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night.  But by Friday night, no crying... and all of those nights he has slept through the night!  We needed to make sure that he could be back on schedule when we go back to Michigan.  So far so good!
3.  We had our annual Christmas party!  It was great :)  Good people, good food, good desserts, and good gifts :)
4.  I'm tutoring like crazy these last few weeks.  It is exhausting, but we can always use the extra $$.
5.  The kitchen is almost a go.  We need to sign a few last items, and then we just need to schedule a time for them to start.  (I'm hoping over Christmas break....)

Five for Fridays (or Sunday)

1.  We took our Christmas pics down by the lake on Saturday.  It felt like a beautiful Michigan fall day, not the first day of December!!!!  As always, Mitzi does an absolute fabulous job!  Thanks Mitz :)
2.  The countdown is on with school.  We have a total of 10 school days left and 3 days of finals.  It is bitter sweet, I have come attached to my classes, but I have been dealing with a few issues that I will be ready to get rid of!
3.  Breslin's new favorite thing is the McDonald's play place which is great, since it's been quite wet around here these last couple of days!!!!  He is used to going to the park almost every day, so he needs somewhere to run out his energy!
4.  Our Spartan basketball team is doing the same sort of thing our football team was doing....  breaking our hearts.  Christina (my sister) went to the game against Miami, and sadly, they lost... tore out mine and Christina's heart.  I felt uber bad for her, so I made sure to talk to her after the game, to make sure she didn't drive off a cliff!!!!  (JK... or am I?)
5.  Got most of our decorations up for Christmas this weekend.  The tree is up, the mantel is done, the pictures switched out, now I am just waiting on Brady to putting on the Christmas lights outside.  It is feeling a lot like Christmas, now if we could get some snow going out in the midwest, so we can have a white Christmas that would be awesome!
*On a side note, Brady and I are OBSESSED with the Walking Dead tv show... anyone else?