The pictures speak for themselves!

No Title!

The only thing exciting that happened today was this...


I did it myself! Matt is so not going to be happy with me, but oh well! He absolutely despises the mo(faux)hawk! I thought it would be cute to try, all I had to do was trim the sides and back with the clippers, I left the top long! I'm sure it's not perfect and it actually needs some thinning on top, but I don't know how to do that, so thick it will stay! I like it and Landon likes it, so that's all that matters, Matt will just get used to it!

Parade Pics

Finally got the parade pics uploaded...
And guess what... I ran again tonight! I got a terrible side ache though so didn't make it very far, but it was far enough to make my legs hurt!

It's almost June...

I'm happy and I'm sad. First of all, I was a guest for Amy Wolff's creative team in April, that got carried over to May, but now May is almost done so that means I'm almost done! It has been great fun and I will so miss it! You can check out Amy's stuff here!
But, for June I was asked to be a guest for Cori Gammon, you can see her designs here (site is actually down, but for future reference) and here! I'm sure that will be a fun time too and can't wait to get started!
So, all in all a bittersweet ending to May!

For some reason I can't get my pics to download from my camera right now, I had this last week too and had to put them on my other computer, then on the EHD, then transfer to my laptop... quite a process and I don't feel like doing it right now... so maybe later I will be able to share some Memorial Day pics!

We had a good day yesterday, or at least productive! We went to the parade in the morning, which turned out to be quite hot! Then the kids both had friends over and played outside most of the day while Matt and I cleaned the house and yard. The house is actually clean for once, not perfectly, but it's clean at least! While Matt was mowing the lawn I was on the phone with Great Wolf Lodge trying to get reservations using a coupon a friend got in the mail, with NO luck! I talked to four different people, with different answers from each, then when I finally got one that started understanding me we got disconnected (or maybe she hung up on me...), so guess what, we just aren't going to go! (Bummer)

Then in the evening we grilled with Matt's mom and brother, we had salmon (some of it was marinated in this...seriously, you have to check it out if you like fish, this is marvelous), fruit salad (with Cool Whip), party potatoes (marvelous), and zuccini squash! Followed by some fruit salad! Yummy stuff!

After all that dinner I decided there was no better time than the present to start running! So I went for a brisk walk, followed by some running, something I never have done or been at, but I was proud of myself. I made goals that I had to run this far before walking and I surpassed by goal by quite a bit! YEAH for me!

I just had to go to get blood drawn and renew my license at the SOS office (always lovely fun) now I'm off to Grandville in a bit to return a shirt and maybe pick up something different! Have a great monday (oops, Tuesday I mean), I'll be back later with some pics hopefully!

J-E-L-L-O...

...that's how my legs feel right now, but more on that later...

So, Friday we went out for dinner. We ended up getting pizza at Clover Bar, not my typical kind of place, kinda small and grungy looking, but I know they have great pizza, so that makes it all ok! I'm kinda fanatical about my pizza, I know what I like and what I don't like, I don't like Pizza Hut, Vitales, Hungry Howies (although I will eat all but Pizza Hut), or any of the other chains really, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE, Marios (tons of cheese and great hot sauce/salsa to put on the pizza), Fricanos (for when your looking for tons of grease), Skiles (nice thin pizza, lots of cheese, great sauce) and Clover Bar (with fresh garlic), oh and there is a place up in Ludington with great pizza too, called Irish Pub I think! Anyway, it was great to get away without kids with friends.

Saturday we woke up pretty late, took our time getting ready (literally we didn't get dressed until 11:00), kinda a nice lazy morning! Then we went to get some steak at Bob's Butcher Block, our first time there, the steak was incredible and not any more expensive thatn the chain grocery stores! Then Meijers to get some other necesities. Matt trimmed the bathroom, so all we have left to do is flooring and some paint! So excited to be almost done! My goal is to have the For Sale sign in the front yard by my birthday! Were going to try By Owner first, if that doesn't work after a while we will have my brother list it!

In the evening we went to Ryan and Kari's to grill with some friends. It was nice to get out of the house and socialize, it was raining though so we couldn't do a campfire, but that didn't stop us from s'mores, we just had to use the stove! The kids all played well together, Mayci and Elliot actually kinda played, Elliot was a master at crawling, he is getting around so well now and getting faster by the day, which may not be all that great, but for now it's fun to watch! Mayci was quite the ham when the camera came out...so cute. The babies actually stayed up quite late (like 9:00, normal bedtime of 8:00 or before for Elliot), and they were doing great, smiling and all!




Today we went to church and then out for lunch, then home for naps (the kids had to take naps b/c they chose to stay up LATE to watch the Jazz/Spurs game)! Matt is out fishing this evening, he couldn't wait to get out salmon fishing, as many times as he has tried he hasn't been able to salmon fish with his boat yet! And yeah for him, I just talked to him and they have one and lost one right at the boat, I'll update later on how many he comes home with! While they have been gone Bailey and I went for ice cream at Coldstones and then put Elliot to bed and we went and jumped on the trampoline for about half an hour, which brings me back to my title, my legs feel like jello! At one point I couldn't even breath and thought I may be dying, but it was good for me, I can't believe how out of shape I am. Then we came inside and played 2 game of Sorry, we each won once! And now we are watching Ice Princess on ABC family, such a cute movie, and munching on popcorn!

Tomorow we are off to the parade, not sure if the kids will be in it or just watch it, we'll decide that in the morning I guess! I need to clean my house (don't I say that every time I post, it feels like I always need to do it) in the afternoon, then grilling Salmon in the evening with Matt's mom for Mothers Day (yeah, a little late, but we didn't have any fish before)!

So enjoy your Memorial Day!

And a couple of random pics to share with you...

Have you seen enough bath pics of my boy yet, this was his first one in the big tub without a seat and he was so thrilled to get in! He seriously goes CRAZY when he sees water running, CrAzY I tell ya!

And...Elliot just LOVES his dog, (ok really any dog, but especially his), he always is crawling over to him to try and play with his feet and as often as I try to stop him, Dex has licked him a few times, much to Elliots JOY! He giggles so hard, but grosses me out so bad!

ETA:

Family free time, finally!

Today was a HOT, windy, gorgeous day...


This morning I had to go to Target to get...diapers! Gotta love spending money on that! I also got myself some of these...in both black and camo, not sure about the camo ones yet, they are a size smaller than the black ones and I wore the black ones today and they were sooooo comfy!

I also picked up some of these...in cream soda, berry lemonade and green apple, they are kinda fun!

So after target I had to get home to give Elliot his nap and get him all ready to go to EJ's while I went on a field trip!

Bailey's class had thier class picnic today, we walked to the park from school (not a long walk, but not right next door either), ate lunch together, played on the playground, did a few relay races and blew some bubbles, then ate ice cream sundae's then walked back to school. The walk back was way longer than the way there, the kids were tired and complaining about everything (God didn't grant me a lot of patience when it comes to complaining!). While at the picnic I had brought sunscreen and was putting it on anyone that asked, but in the chaos I forgot to put it on one important person...me! Keep in mind that I never used to burn, I could be white as winter, go to Florida, spend a day on the beach and get nicely brown... sometime during my pregnancy with number three the hormones changed and it only took about 5 minutes outside (sunny or cloudy, maybe even rainy) and I was lobster red, well I was hoping that would go away when Elliot was born, but no such luck! I am in soooo much pain right now, I have never ever been so red, it's almost purple!

Here are a few pics from the picnic...

For the first time in a very very long time we had no plans and no sports on an evening...so we decided to take advantage of it. We took the boat out for a ride, no fishing poles (which was very hard for Matt to do), just our family, life jackets and the boat. Keep in mind this boat isn't huge, it's not even big, but it's bigger than the fishing boat we had before. It's nothing super special, but we like it, it's perfect for fishing (which is the main reason we have a boat) and it doesn't take $100 or more to fill up the tank. This was Elliot's first boat ride and we weren't sure how he would do with the lifejacket on. He wasn't thrilled about the lifejacket at all, but once we started moving I think the noise and vibrations of the motor calmed him down and he almost zoned out. Then I fed him a bottle as we rode through the channel which made him real happy. It was so hard for him to sit with that jacket on so he prefered to lay, which is the top middle pic, I finally just laid him on the floor and he was so thrilled with that, except that he couldn't roll over! Anyway, it was so nice to get out with the fam, away from the things we have to do at home and I'm sure we will be going again soon!


After our boat trip I had to run to Target AGAIN to get new bike helmets for the kids, both of thiers were broken and I won't let them ride without them and since Landon rides to and from school he needed a helmet!

Now the kids are in bed, all is well, I'm resting so I can clean clean clean tomorow, we need a good deep clean around here, what a fun fun Friday that will be. Actually we are going out for dinner tomorow night with some friends (no kids...) and then a campfire and grilling with other friends Saturday, so that should be fun! Enjoy your memorial day weekend (I'm sure I'll be back before you know it, but just in case you aren't...)

80 degrees and lovin' it!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day! Sunny and warm, finally (although that could change again this weekend...gotta love Michigan). I tried to lay out for a bit and get a little sun on these white legs of mine (aren't you lucky, no pics of that!) So, yeah, that worked for like 10 minutes, then Elliot decided to wake up way early from his nap, so I tried taking him outside with me, tried putting a hat on his little head, tried being the key word, I tried about 15 times and finally gave up! :) And you can see in the following picture what we did next to stay cool... our own little "pool"...

This lasted about another 10 minutes and then he decided he was tired again and needed another nap..., but that time I was over being outside, so, no sun for me...

Here is Landon's baseball team picture...

And I scrapped one of the pictures already last night...

Credits can be seen... here! I used these new papers by Amy Wolff...Just Plain Wonky, check them out! And, while you are there, check out the gallery at the LilyPad, there is so much great stuff to be seen and ideas to be had!

Today I'm babysitting so were a little busier, but it will be a fun day for the kids none the less...as long as Bailey cheers up! The baby's are sleeping right now and the girls are playing Polly's so I had a quick break...and here I am, should be cleaning more...ok, off to clean!

Enjoy your day!

God is SOO good!

They got the results from the spinal tap on Angela and it is viral, not bacterial, so praise God for that! She will be able to leave the hospital today. I know that she still has headaches and such, but that will pass, and has to run it's course, just as a cold would have to do!

Last night was our last night of BSF, Sharing Night, where people can get up and talk about what God has done in thier lives in the past year as a result of studying our lessons (Romans this year). It's always good to hear what other people have experienced. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would stand up. I am so not good with words and can never get all of my thoughts out (whether typing or speaking, I always feel like I left something important out). All of a sudden some thoughts popped into my head (things I wouldn't have even thought about) and I sat and kept telling God (in my head of course) that there was no way I was going to stand up and say anything! Especially what I was feeling he wanted me to share, there was just NO way! But, the feeling just wouldn't go away, I was near tears just out of pure nervousness, but somehow God made me raise my hand for a microphone. It was totally God speaking through me (although I'm sure I didn't let him say EVERYTHING he wanted me to say because I was so ready to sit back down), I'm still unsure why he wanted me to share something so minor, but I know there was a purpose, someone needed to hear what I said, either that or he just wanted me to feel that completely sick feeling for some wierd reason!

I haven't shared this with many people at all, but I guess there is no harm in sharing what God is doing, right? I was scheduled to go in for a hysterectomy about a month ago on a Tuesday, not so we can't have babies (although that is obviously the case) but for preventative reasons. I had the kids all scheduled, where they would be, sleep, who would take care of them etc (big stuff, I would be in the hospital for 3 nights and not be able to walk all that well for a week or two, they were going to go in right on my c-section scars, so basically having another baby surgury without the joy of having the baby...). I waited as long as I could to tell anyone that needed to know, but pretty much didn't tell many people. Monday night as I'm rushing around after taking Bailey home from Ballet and trying to get to BSF I had a message at home and guess what, the surgury was cancelled because my insurance wouldn't cover it. So, less than 12 hours before I had to be at the hospital, I found out that I didn' thave to go. Now, I had prayed about whether or not to have this surgury for quite a while, we are sure we are done having kids, but this would make it SO final! I went to the doctor and without really feeling like I had a clear answer from God I went ahead and scheduled the surgury. (I guess I felt as if no answer was better than a no, so I would go ahead) So, this was God's way of telling me NO I guess. I have totally been at peace with waiting, God has a purpose and I may find out what it is, and I may have to wait til I meet him in heaven to find out! (I just really hope it's not that he thinks our family needs more babies, b/c one is driving me nuts right now!) I have been totally patient with His timing and just continue to wait, of course I HOPE that he will make his will clear to me, show me what the purpose of all of this is, but that isn't in my control!

So, now I've shared something I really had never planned to share, but God had other plans! (Keep in mind I was much more vague at BSF)

Good day to you all, have a wonderful joy enjoying this wonderful Michigan sunshine! (Hah, Lanodn would love that, Michigan Colors!!!!!, he was so geeked this morning when he woke up and saw that the Pistons won last night, and only by three!!!)

Weekend re-cap

So I told showed you quite a bit of our weekend, but pics can only show so much!
On Friday I had a garage sale with Julie, we both did pretty well and were able to donate a bunch of stuff too! We were able to donate all of our kids summer clothes to a family that is going to Jamaica this summer, she will be bringing a large box of our stuff along with her, so that felt good! After the garage sale (which I might add was only open from 8:30-1:30, we just got sick of it), I went home, cleaned up, relaxed for a short minute.

Then off to dinner at 84 East (YUM YUM YUM) with Kari, then we were going to go to the ballet, well, the power was out in most of downtown so the ballet ended up starting an hour late, so we waited outside with a ton of other people. It really wasn't that bad though, the girls did great! The ballet was great and much shorter than I thought it would be. Kari and I met up with another blog friend and her beautiful daughter there, it was very nice to meet her! :)

Saturday morning I had to go get a birthday present for a party that I forgot about that Bailey was going to, then I had to go wait in line to get ballet tickets for Bailey's ballet (we wait in line to draw numbers and then get in line in order of our numbers (so it's kinda like a lottery), I drew number 44 out of 100, and the girl I was with drew number 97, we were going to buy tickets off of the lower numbers, so we ended up with 44, although we were hoping for a much lower number, not great seats, but there really aren't any terrible seats). Then rush home, mow the lawn (yes, Matt could have done that, but I really don't mind doing it now that we have a rider) while Matt went and got me lunch, ate lunch really fast (like 4 minutes fast) and then off to get Bailey at her birthday party about 20 minutes away. Then we went to the kite festival (see pics below), then home!

This morning we got up and got ready for church, shortly before leaving for church though I got a phone call from Mary (my step-mom). They were at the hospital with my little sister (she's three). Long story short (yes I do know how to shorten things contrary to everything I typed above), she was admitted to the hospital with menengitis, not sure if it's bacterial or viril (did I spell that right?), they won't know til Tuesday, if it's viril they will let her go home, if it's bacterial they will have to keep her on the antibiotics for 12-15 days... in the hospital. A strong willed three year old in a hospital for 2 days is bad enough! So prayers would be appreciated for her...pray that the doctors know what they are doing and that the test results come back as viril (ok, that so doesn't look right, but I can't figure out the right spelling).

So, another subject, this morning in church we sang a short song in closing called "Casual Christian". The lyrics are...

I don't want to be,

I don't want to be a casual christian

I don't want to live,

I don't want to live a lukewarm life

Because I want to light up the night

with an everlasting light

I don't want to live a casual christian life.

and in the spirit of thinking about some deep things lately (more on that at a later date, maybe), I jsut realize that this is a perfect song for what I'm thinking lately.

Our message was great for me too! There was an outline so I'm including some things directly from that for you... (by Rev. Timothy Custer)

"Lessons on being spritually authentic from the first six chapters of Daniel"

1. Be willing to change, but also know when to draw the line (1:1-8)

2. Ask and pray for wisdom and tact (2:14), give God the glory (2:27, 28), and you will often be blessed (2:48, 49) Wisdom is just as important as being tactful.

3. But be faithful regardless of the earthly rewards or consequences, as our top priority is faithfulness to God - - who makes lasting judgements (3:16-18)

4. Show the courage to wisely speak the truth - - even to the powerful and priveleged (4:24-27) This is one I have a hard time with, I need to be more courageous in sharing my faith, there was also a video on GodTube that related to this, it's kinda long (about 6 minutes, but great viewing if you have time) 8 reasons I don't share my faith

5. While faithful living may not always be "popular" it does gain respect and even admiration (5:14) I need to be more faithful in every aspect of my living

6. Faithfulness in the "little" things (6:10) prepares us for faithfulness in the "big" things (6:12-23)

Like Daniel, we must consistently live out our faith as we go out ot our homes, jobs, schools and community.

OK, so I will leave you with that...if your even still with me. I realize this is probably the longest post I've ever posted! So if you made it this far, congratulations!

Another picture post...

OK, so reading the above i see that some of it is hard to read (sorry, but I'm not retyping all of it, it takes long enough to do it all once) and I see i have spelling mistakes... I didn't proof read any of it, just wanted to get it done...

Enjoy your Sunday!

~Lynette

NIV with the Ribbon bookmark...

Ok, so I was just pointed to this website GodTube, and after looking around for just a short amount of time I found this and found it hilarious!

Enjoy...

ETA: OK, so I can't figure out how to embed the video I want to share, so I will give you the link, but seriously you HAVE to go watch it!

Baby got book

Let's go "vintage"

OK, so I was inspired to think of the past today (by a fellow blogger)... and these are a few things I remembered...(and one I was reminded of...)

(Watching this right now in fact..., and isn't Paul soooo cute???)

OK, and someone, please tell me you remember this game...I used to LOVE this game...anyone else????? (Seriously thinking of buying it, although not sure where I could ever find it...e-bay?)

And, the kids and I discovered Smurfs were on the Boomerang channel at 5:30pm...I watched it for a bit with them, and truly there was so much on there that I don't remember ever seeing...

And..

I had a bunch of these disgusting things...

So, now it's your turn, what wild crazy funny vintage thing do you remember???? Seriously I want to know, it makes me laugh to see this stuff again!

What I did with Mod Podge...

Remember a while back when I said I was going to get some ModPodge for a project I was working on...well here it is.

It's a photo album made on cd's. I made one for Matt's mom and my step-mom for mothers day. It was a lot of work, but I think they turned out nice. My only problem was the pages tended to stick together even when I let the modpodge dry for a while. Templates for the photoalbum are by Janet Phillips (can be found here). I used products from Jen Wilson, Anne DeYoung, Gina Miller, Amy Wolff and I'm sure there are more, if I forgot someone you see something from, let me know!

Also, just a few layouts to share, I completed this one this afternoon from when we went to the Tulip Time fireworks (credits can be seen here

This one is from when we went to take pics with the tulips... (credits here)

And this one is one I finished yesterday, but the pic is from a while back! (Credits here)


And tonight Bailey was supposed to have a t-ball game with pictures beforehand, so we rushed around and ate an early dinner, got ready to go, got to the field and it started raining. Lovely. They continued on with pictures, but lucky for us the game was cancelled. I did get a pic of the team though...

Saturday was a pretty good day, we got an unexpected and rare treat from Mr. Elliot, he slept in until 8:30, so nice of him! Landon had to be at practice at 9, so rush rush and we got him there. The only thing we had on Saturday was Matt wanted to paint the bathroom. We skipped lunch so we made an early dinner of hamburgers on the grill and corn on the cob, it was so good!

Then it was time for a campfire and my favorite summer treat (ok, one of my favorites), s'mores! Elliot enjoyed plain old graham crackers! While we waited for the fire to be perfect for roasting those marshmallows the kids and I jumped on the trampoline, I'm finding that I really like to jump with the kids, the exercise is GREAT! Unfortunatley I would look pretty silly jumping all by myself!

Today is mothers day...what a great day to celebrate being a mom!
My littlest one looks to be quite a moose in this pic, he really isn't as big as he looks, it was just a "bad angle"!!!

This morning Matt got up with the kids (specifically Elliot) while he let me sleep in. I couldn't sleep so I just laid in bed and enjoyed it! After a bit I got up and got ready for church and got the kids ready (picked out clothes and did hair, things Matt can't do), Matt brought the kids to sunday school and picked up bagels for us. After church we rested a bit then walked over to Matt's mom's house to visit and bring her her gift (more on that later), then off to dinner with my family. When we got home we played on the floor with Elliot and watched AFV with the kids in between them putting clothes away and picking up. My mothers day gifts included some hanging baskets that Matt and the kids picked out (absolutely beautiful), some tennis shoes (that I picked out), a card with "coupons" from Matt for backrubs (I normally have to beg and I told him that I wanted unlimited backrubs for a year for mothers day, instead he limited it, but still I won't have to beg for a while) and eventually a kid free day (I love my kiddo's to death, but NEED time away too, I really just want a quiet day without responsibility, which if you are a regular blog reader you know), and the BEST gift of all is what he is doing right this minute... he is cleaning the house! It looks GREAT! Seriously, that is the BEST part of my day, I smile whenever I walk into the living room/kitchen area! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and three wonderful children! I hope that you all enjoyed your mothers day and have a great week!

Happy Weekend...

Happy mothers day to all the mothers! Any big plans? Nothing to huge here, we are doing lunch with Matt's mom on Sunday and Dinner with my family at night. But always a great day to celebrate such a great job that God has trusted me with! He knows that I can be a good mom, I just don't always know it!

Here are a few pics of typical Elliot faces... I am starting to feel as if things are changing, he just isn't an infant anymore. He eats mostly solid foods with only 3-4 bottles/day, he can get around pretty well (although he is yet to crawl), he plays so well (not by himself though), I don't get quite as stressed out by him and trying to keep him happy anymore! I'm saddened by how fast things are going... I know the year will be over before I know it!
Look what I made this morning? Don't they look yummy? Well guess what... they sure were, the kids and I LOVED them!

Tonight we went to a Whitecaps baseball game with Landon's school. We stopped for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings on the way...one of my absolute fav's! After about the second inning it started to rain, so Elliot, Bailey and I went and stood under the canopy for a little while, shortly later we were joined by a TON more people! It finally quit raining, but by that time the seats were all wet and it didn't look all that fun to sit, so we decided to leave. Landon was able to stay with a friend and one of Bailey's friends came home with us (both from the same family). On the way out of the game a ball came rolling right out of the gate, it was a foul ball, so I ran to grab it, but guess what a little kid (about 8-10) ran and almost knocked me over to get it. Now, not a huge deal, I didn't NEED the ball, I just thought it would be fun to give to Landon, it was the fact that the kid was so aggressive about it. Matt and I were talking on the way home about how when we were his age we would have NEVER acted like that if we had seen a mom going after the ball like that. The terrible part was that his dad was right there watching and laughing. Whatever, I don't need the ball. (I think another reason I was upset is because it seems whenever I try to get something free, I'm just so close, but never close enough, I tried to get Switchfoot tickets from a local radio station that has a studio in the mall, they had enough tickets for the first two people, I waited outside the door for about half an hour and Matt called me when the song was on that meant I had to go in, guess what, some lady walked in off the street and beat me in, making me the third person, mostly because I had a stroller and couldn't open the door that easily...I'm going ot have to start being more aggressive, watch out, don't get in my way!) Anyway, enough complaining...here is a pic of Matt and Elliot after leaving the game, I just thought it was cute to see how happy Elliot was sitting up there!


Have a great weekend!

Lot's of pics...