Guess Who Can Ride Her Bike Without Training Wheels???

You guessed it, Kaylee!! After practicing several times this week, Kaylee has officially learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Last night, she made it 6x around the 1/2 mile path. Way to go Kaylee, we are very proud of you!!! Unfortunately, learning to ride a bike doesn't come without some bumps and bruises, of which she has both. Despite wearing her helmet, she ended up with a bruise and bump on her forehead, a skinned elbow and knee, and a bruise on her left leg. Oh and a scraped thumb. She is one determined biker with the battle wounds to prove it!

Daddy's little helper

On my birthday, Trevor and I took a trip to Ikea. We went there to buy a pot, however, we ended up with a few other items as well. The most exciting being our new bookcase, which I love! Trace had fun helping Daddy put it together. It was precious watching him help Daddy hammer with his measuring spoon...

Fashion Show

I took the girls school clothes shopping in Toledo the other day. They decided that they needed to give Daddy a "fashion show". I helped them change their clothes and taught them how to walk on the runway. It was pretty cute.

Awesome Day with Friends

Our family has been blessed in many ways since moving to Michigan and one of those tremendous blessings has been our friendship with The Millers. On Thursday, we spent a gorgeous, sunny day at one of their friends' lake house. The house sits on a private lake with a sandy beach and toys galore. The kids had a blast playing with their friends and taking turns riding on the jet ski with Daddy. We all loved riding on the jet ski, especially Trevor. We also were able to take turns going out on the boat tubing and skiing. The girls had fun tubing for the first time.

Nellie and I had fun skiing. I hadn't skied in about 5 years, so I was giddy to get to try it again. I tend to be a bit of a risk taker, so when skiing back and forth over the boat's wake was getting too easy for me I decided to try and jump the wake. Let me tell you what a BAD idea that was. I took a very memorable and painful fall, which as I am writing this several days later I am continuing to recover from. I will spare you the details... Besides my crash landing our time was nearly perfect. Nellie and I even skied tandem, which I thought was pretty fancy. I made sure not to attempt any more jumps and therefore prevent anymore painful landings. What a fun day with friends we had. Thanks God for the blessing of friendship!

Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob's Visit

We had a fun weekend with Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob. We love it when people come visit us. It makes "home" not feel so far away. They arrived late Friday afternoon. Kianna had fun opening her birthday presents from them, Aunt Sam, Uncle Mike, and Bryker. Then we had a nice meal out and came back home to swim in the pool. Trevor had cranked the heat way up in the hot tub and pool, so it was feeling good. We had a great time and even got to sneak a peak at some of Grandma Becki's old tricks. We enjoyed her hand stands and other water tricks!!!

Saturday, was my 33rd birthday. I woke up to a fresh bouquet of flowers and lots of cards, even some handmade ones from the girls. I had a great day and got lots of phone calls from friends and family which left me feeling extra special! Becki, the girls and I went shopping in the morning. We came home and ate a nice lunch that Trevor had prepared and then Becki and I went to the matinee of "Eat Pray Love". The movie was disappointing, but it was fun getting out nonetheless. Then Bob and Becki watched the kids for us, while Trevor and I went to Ann Arbor for the evening for a hot date. We explored parts of Ann Arbor we hadn't been to before, had some amazing thai food, and ended the evening at Ikea. We went for a pot and we somehow came away with a huge bookcase and TV stand as well. Fun times! Thanks for watching the kids for us Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob.

Kianna's 4th Birthday

It is hard to believe our little "Nana Bear" is four years old and will be going to pre-K three full days this fall. She is growing up fast. She weighed 36 lb and was 39.75" long today at her check-up. Kianna has a wonderful smile and loves to laugh. She is a very generous and giving little girl. For example, she gave Kaylee one of her birthday presents today! I don't know of too many kids that would do that. Kianna has a wide range of interests. She enjoys playing with Princess Barbie dolls, Polly Pockets, and dolls in general; but also enjoys playing with dinosaurs and likes Spiderman and Batman. Kianna likes reading books while cuddling with Mommy and loves finding things in "I Spy" books. She also enjoys riding her bike, going for walks, and playing outside. Kianna loves playing with her brother and sister, and wants to do pretty much whatever Kaylee is doing. Kianna likes to color, draw pictures, and do crafts. She also enjoys getting tickled by Daddy and running through the house screaming happily. She just learned how to write her name and can count to 14. She is getting so big!

This year Kianna couldn't decide exactly what theme she wanted for her birthday party. It changed day by day and sometimes even hour by hour from a dinosaur pool party, to a Barbie pool party, to an Ariel pool party, and finally to a princess pool party. The one constant was that she wanted to have a pool party and invite four of her little friends. The day of her party it began to rain hard. I began panicking as we really didn't have much of a backup plan in case the pool party didn't work out. However, God shut the rain off from 2:15-4:00 PM, which worked out perfectly for our 2-4:00 PM pool party. Thanks God for answering our prayers perfectly!

Kianna invited her friends: Haley, Callie, Davis and Carter to her party. They had a fun time eating cupcakes, opening presents, swimming, and getting their faces painted by Daddy. Kianna got a couple Barbie Princesses, some jewelry, a purse, and some sand and bead crafts from her friends. She got a "Kianna" Little Sister Barbie doll from Kaylee. We thought it was pretty cool that one of the Barbies had her same name, as it isn't a very common name. She thought that was pretty neat too. That evening after her friends had left, Kianna chose to go to McDonald's for her birthday meal. The kids all had fun playing in the play area. Happy Birthday Kianna, we love you!

Community Celebration Day

Our family had a great time participating in our first ever Community Celebration Day hosted by The Centre and Lenawee Christian School. Our day began with the girls running in their first race, which consisted of one lap around the 1/2 mile track. I wasn't sure their little legs would make it, but the girls were both really excited to run and both did a great job. Trevor had fun running the last 1/4 mile with Kianna. They finished strong and each received a metal. They both want to run it again next year, so I know they had fun. After that we were able to enjoy the games and inflatables setup nearby. Trace loves jumping around and so do the girls.

We went home for some nap/quiet time and when the kids woke up they were greeted by our friends, The Santels, who came to visit us for the weekend. We all went back to Community Celebration Day where we watched an improv team and illusionist perform. They both were very entertaining. The kids had fun passing the time by rolling down the large hill. The night concluded with fireworks. We had a great time with The Santels and their four kids ages 5-10. We had fun swimming, giving them a tour of The Centre and LCS, playing, and just visiting.