Spelling Bee

Kianna won her LCS 2nd grade class Spelling Bee which qualified her for the District Spelling Bee at Plymouth Christian.  Despite lots of studying, sadly she was the first child out. I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry softly on my shoulder. At break, two little girls came over and told Kianna that she did well and was a good speller. They then stuck around for some small talk. We felt the love of Jesus flowing freely from those two little girls. They were truly the hands and feet of Jesus today. 

Galactic Knight

Enough said...

The Centre offered its first ever Galactic Knight, AKA Star Wars Night. A few of the characters were local celebrities. Trevor dressed up as Hans Solo, our friend Ryan was Darth Vader, and Kaylee was Queen Amidala. Kianna and Trace came ready to participate in the Jedi training sessions. They were trained by a group of Star Wars nerds in the proper usage of a light saber. Upon the completion of their training they were able to battle it out against Darth Vader. One of my favorite events was when the Jedi used their mind powers to raise a log. Trace thought that was pretty cool. I think Trevor had as much fun as the kids did. He is a kid at heart...

Trace's 6th Birthday

Trace doing the tow rope

Birthday Boy Getting Ready for Lessons

Romantic Skiing for Two

Trace skiing between my legs

Trace and Mommy on chair lift

Girl Power

Silly Boy

Whole 30 Super Hero Fruit Trays for School

Our baby boy is SIX, that is both sad and exciting. Sad, because he is getting so big and the time is going too fast. Exciting, because as the kids get older, Trevor and I are able to share some of our own hobbies and interests with the kids. This weekend was a perfect example of that. Trace decided that he wanted to go skiing again for his birthday, so skiing we went. We drove up to Cadillac, MI which is three and a half hours northwest of us. We went to a place called Caberfae Peaks. We found an AMAZING deal that included two days of skiing, two days of rentals, two days of lessons for the kids, and a hotel room for less than what we paid for one day at Mt Brighton. Not to mention, there were double the hills and the hills were steeper and longer. It was a win, win situation!

The first day, we skied for about two and half hours. The kids all practiced getting on and off the chair lifts, which was a first for Kaylee and Trace. The attendants were nice enough to slow the chair lifts down making it easier to get on and off. Once at the top, Trace was positioned to ski between my legs. He snow plowed down the hill while I guided us. He LOVED being able to go so fast! The only problem with that, was when we let him go down the bunny hill on his own he had forgotten how to stop and almost hit a tree. Yikes! The girls did a great job snow plowing down the hill all by themselves. The rest of the night was spent having dinner, swimming in the outdoor heated pool and hot tub, and opening a gift or two. Swimming in the outdoor pool was a really neat experience. At one point, it was actually snowing on us. We had fun trying to catch the snowflakes in our mouths.

The second day, the kids had a two and a half hour lesson in the morning, which allowed Trevor and I to explore the larger hills. We had a great time skiing and found some great hills. Caberfae Peak is in the middle of a national forest, so we were surrounded by pine trees. It was very pretty and has the "out west" feel to it. Following the girls lesson, we were told by their instructor that he would clear them for any blue hill they had. Following Trace's lesson, we were told that he can now do the tow rope without assist, but would benefit from a private lesson in the future to work on his control and turns. Trevor stuck with Trace and they practiced the bunny hill some more. I took the girls to explore some blue hills. I was amazed at their newfound ability. They are naturals! It is sad the kids are growing up so fast, yet exciting that we are able to share these adventures together as a family!

A few facts about our birthday boy:

• Trace is learning to read. He is on lesson 56 out of 100 in the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". He gets excited when he identifies his sight words. 
• Trace loves to play sports. He loves basketball, football, baseball, soccer, swimming, and skiing. He is super aggressive and hates to lose. He love to run wherever he goes. He just learned to pump fake in basketball and scored 8 points in his first game.
• His best friend is Abram Marlatt, but he has lots of friends. He is currently the Kindergarten heart throb from what we hear. 
• He loves super heroes, Star Wars, and legos. He has a great imagination. 
• He enjoys playing Minecraft with his sisters. 
• He loves to be silly and make people laugh. He is a bit of a class clown.
• He is a really good brother. Kianna and he are good buddies and then sometimes they aren't...
• His chores are taking out the recycling, making sure there is toilet paper in all the bathrooms, cleaning out the bathroom sink, cleaning his room, putting his clothes away, putting napkins on the table before meals, clearing the table, and vacuuming around the table after meals. 
• Trace reminds us to read the bible before bedtime. He asked Jesus in his heart again in December. The first time was at VBS a year ago.
• Favorite foods- macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and bananas, frozen mangoes, plantain chips, and bran flakes. Trace chose spaghetti squash with marinara for his birthday dinner. Dessert was frozen banana "ice cream" with almond butter and cocoa powder. It was quite yummy and Whole 30 compliant.
• Trace is a super nice boy and we are proud to call him ours! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Quiz Meet #2

We had our 2nd quiz meet today over Dig Sites 1-12 in Exodus. The meet was 2.5 hours north of us, which made for a long day. The girls both earned gold medals.  Kianna only missed two questions and Kaylee three questions. Kianna was pretty proud that she beat her sister for the first time. We have two little smarties! Our team did great too. Out of the 7 kids who went five earned gold medals and two received silver medals. Great job girls.

FYI: Today was a rough day on the road with our Whole 30 challenge. We packed our lunches and ate them at Wendy's while the rest of our group ate Frosty's. They put us to the test and we persevered...

Cook Bed and Breakfast Now Open

Mila, Kaylee, Hannah, Kianna and Trace

Depressed over Iowa's embarrassing performance.

Hawkeye Fans

We began the new year with the opening of the Cook Bed and Breakfast. Our first guests were The Yaus. They had been in Michigan for Christmas visiting Jodi's family and decided to stop by for a visit on their way back to Knoxville, TN. Their little girls loved our dress-up bin. Kaylee loved playing with their dog, Ruff. It was a nice visit and fun catching up with my dear friend.

The Yau's left the following day and just hours later, The Taylor's arrived. The Taylor's had been in Maryland visiting family for Christmas and stopped by to watch the Iowa Bowl game on their way back to Iowa. We invited The Johnson's over too and and made a party of it. Despite Iowa's embarrassing loss, it was a fun night. Kaylee had a lot of fun playing with their daughter, Leah. The girls even exchanged e-mails addresses. She is getting so grown up these days...

To make matters a little more intense for hosting company, our family began the Whole 30 Challenge on January 1st. The Whole 30 is a 30 day challenge to eat only whole foods. We are allowed to eat: meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and nuts. We are not allowed to eat: dairy, legumes (beans, peanuts, peas and corn), gluten or any grains (rice, cous cous, quinoa), and absolutely no sugar or preservatives. The idea behind this challenge is to change our bodies from being sugar burning bodies to fat burning bodies. It is also helpful in identifying any foods that may be causing digestive issues and to change our eating habits away from craving sugar. We decided to have the kids do it too to see if eliminating sugar helps regulate their energy levels and moodiness. Time will tell...

This food challenge is a BIG one. I have spent the past 3 weeks trying to find foods and recipes that will sustain us during the next 30 days. Trying to find foods without preservatives and added sugar is pretty eye opening. I have to make my own mayonnaise, salad dressings, ketchup, and barbecue sauce. Our guests were troopers as they joined us on the first two days of our challenge. Dinner for the Yau's consisted of pork tenderloin served with roasted carrots and potatoes. I also made apple pie lara bars for us to snack on while playing cards. Dinner for the Iowa Bowl Game Party consisted of baked chicken wings with half marinated in a homemade buffalo sauce and the other half in a homemade mango bbq sauce. I also made homemade ranch dressing to dip them in and a veggie tray with homemade dill dip. My first thoughts of this challenge, "Oh my word, this is a lot of work making everything from scratch! However, I CAN do anything for 30 days!"