Deanna's Playhouse and Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!

The kiddos still love to go and visit our favorite hang out: Deanna's Playhouse.  They have lots of toys to play with, art projects to make, playdough to squash and dress-ups to dress-up in.  Here are some pictures of Jaxen and Gracie playing dress-up and dancing for the camera.

Gracie

Gracie

Jasen as Buzz Lightyear

Jaxen

Jaxen and Gracie

Morgan is in Kindergarten this year.  Her schedule is Mon, Thurs and every other Wed, all day.  So, on the days there is no school we have a challenge keeping her busy.  To my delight, today was a no school Wednesday.  So we got ready, took the other kiddos to school, went to Deanna's then picked up the other kiddos and got Joshua of the bus.  I put the kids in front of the TV to begin dinner and what do I find? 

Morgan had colored all over my carpet.  She decided it didn't have enough color and tried to decorate it a little more.  My oh My.  What am I to do?  She is almost 6 afterall.  Do the messess get worse or does it get better?  Needless to say, she spent quite a bit of time in time-out thinking about why this was wrong, and then even more time cleaning it up.  I wish Kindergarten was all day, but we still love this cute little girl the Lord sent to our home.  I just need to find ways to keep her occupied, and I know I will laugh about it someday (atleast I hope I will).

Ohio in the Fall

The second weekend in October, we went to visit Andrew and Stefanie in Stow, Ohio.  We had a great time.  On Saturday, we went on a nature walk and to see a water fall.  Then on Sunday, Little Ryan (Andrew and Stefanie's son) recieved the Aaronic Priesthood in our church.  He was very excited that we were there just for him, and was smiles all day.  When it was time to go, all the kiddos were very upset, but we promised that we would go back soon.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.  I will post more when I get them downloaded off Ryan's computer.

The local waterfall

Rachel posing for the camera

Rock climbing on the nature trail

3rd 5k Race

Not the best picture, but on Sept. 25th, I ran my third 5k ever.  I didn't train as hard this year and miracle of miracle's I beat my times from last year.  It was a very cold day, but I'm happy to say I completed the race and the kiddos had fun eating donuts with their dad.  Yea Mommy!!!!!!

Pumpkin Parade

In October, Zeeland has a festival called the Pumpkin Festival.  The local preschools have a float in the parade and all the kiddos get to ride it.  Jaxen, Gracie, Rachel and Gracie got to ride the float in the parade.  They were all excited, because we had to skip the activities the day before 'cause they made a huge mess for Mommy to clean up, which was disappointing to them and their parents.  Here are pictures of the kids on the float.

The day before the kiddos decided to squirt a brand new tube of Dora toothpaste all over themselves, their doll house and dolls.  They ended up getting a cold shower and had to stay home from the fair.  It was sad, and one day I will probably laugh about it, but cleaning up toothpaste is just gross.  I could smell bubble gum for a few days and it made me want to gag.  Oh well, hopefully they learned their lesson, but it was fun to see them at the parade.

First Days of School

Here at our house, the beginning of the school year was kind of crazy.  All the kiddos started school on different days and even different weeks.  Morgan and Joshua started school the day after Labor day,  Rachel started a week later, and Jaxen and Gracie had to wait another week to go.  By the time it was their turn, they were very tired of waiting and so was mommy.  Here are pictures from the various days of school.

Jaxen on his first day of school.  Look at that smile.  His day has finally arrived.

Jaxen

Joshua on Jaxen and Gracie's first day.  I was so busy trying to get him ready for the bus on his first day, I forgot to get a picture in.  Oh well, he like having his picture taken with his brother and sister.

Joshua

Gracie on her first day.  She loves school, but wishes she could go on the bus with her best friend and big sister Morgan.

Gracie

Rachel needed to pose for the camera.

The triplets ready for mommy to take them to school.

Triplets and Rachel ready to go.

Triplets and Morgan on Rachel's first day of school.

Rachel and Morgan on Rachel's first day of school.

Morgan on her first day of school.

Morgan ready to head to the bus stop with her Dad.

Morgan with her friend Chloe at the bus stop.  They have become fast friends and are in the same Kindergarten class at school:  The Monkey Room.

Morgan and her friends at the bus stop.

Morgan waiting to get on the bus.

Bye Morgan, have a great day.  I know mommy will.  One down four to go.

The kiddos all love school.  They especially love to talk about their room mascots.  Morgan is in the Monkey room,  Jaxen and Gracie are in the Alligator room, Joshua is in the Duck room (Which is the same class he went to last year.  They work well with his special needs and he loves going), and Rachel is in the Bee room.  Both Morgan and Rachel have neighborhood friends in their class and loved it that they had ready made friends to make the adjustment to school easier.

Macinaw City and Macinac Island

The beginning of August we went up north to Macinaw City and then to Macinac Island with Uncle Jay's family and Grandma and Grandpa MacPherson.  We had never been before, but had heard how beautiful and fun it was.  The kiddos had a blast and we tired them all out, as well as, ourselves.  I think we will go back when Uncle Bryan and Aunt Becca come out to visit.

 The island does not allow vehicles, so the only way to get around are bikes and horses.  We took a wagon tour of the island first to get a feel of what it was like.  Part of the tour included a tour of the butterfly house.  The kids all tried to get the butterflies to land on their fingers.  Gracie was not happy that Jaxen "caught" a butterfly and she didn't.

Joshua showing off his butterfly.

Morgan and her butterfly.

Jay, Jaxen, Jordan and Gracie on the wagon tour.

Macinac Island has it's own version of a rock arch.  Here we are posing in front of it as a family.

You might recognize this hotel from the movie "Somewhere In Time" because this is where the majority of it was filmed.  It is the Grand Hotel and is a beautiful but expensive place to visit.  They had wonderful garden's to tour and a nice dining area to eat.  Here we are posing in front in the gardens.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa posing in front of the fountain with all the grandchildren who were present.

Later, we went on a bike ride around the island.  Ryan and I pulled two kiddos in Burley's and Jordan tandemed with Morgan or Jaxen or Gracie at any given time.  It wasn't too hard, but I was sure glad I have been running in the mornings and was in somewhat good shape.

Emily on her bike pulling to kiddos.  I haven't ridden a bike since high school, so it took me a few miles to get used to riding again and pulling someone behind me.

Ryan on his bike.

To get to the island you have to ride a ferry.  The kiddos loved coming and going.  Here we are getting back to the main land after a full, but tiring day.

On the way home we stopped and did some site seeing.  Here we are in Sault Saint Marie looking at the locks that allow boats to pass from one lake to another due to the differences in water levels.

Here we are at Manistee walking back from the lighthouse to the beach.

The kiddos found this slide entertaining at the beach in Manistee.  They all wanted to try it, but when they got to the top they were a little afraid to go down.