Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell ROCK

Madison was in a holiday parade. Her dance class was invited to dance in the Kalamazoo parade. She practiced several times and was so excited. She loves her red jingle bell rock shirt. The parade was a mile route and lasted over an hour. She was exhausted when she was finished, but smiled and danced the whole way. I love seeing the kids involved in different activities. It makes me so proud to see them wanting to get out and try new things. We had the perfect weather. We were also able to meet up with friends and have a great morning together.

Here is her dance class coming down the street. She had no idea where we would be at and was so excited when she finally saw us.
The sparkly eye things were a huge hit.
I love this smile!!!!!!
These are two of her good friends.
And there she goes...

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

I am so thankful for my wonderful three children. Just yesterday, I was watching videos of my three little angels. It is hard to even imagine them as babies any more. I actually really missed those days and would do anything to go back to those crazy times for just one day:)

Brett was on call last night and had to go into work this morning. So, we are staying home today and going to a Thanksgiving brunch at Bravo. We will also be putting up our Christmas tree. The girls and I have already decorated the rest of the house. We even put lights outside this year. I will post some pics soon.

Tomorrow we plan to be at the Warner's house by noon. We are spending two nights in the Detroit area having a great time with family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Daddy's NEW Passion

Brett is officially a hunter/shooter. He has joined a gun club and goes skeet shooting as often as possible (every sunday morning). He has also gone pheasant hunting twice and duck hunting once. We have a pheasant at the taxidermist right now and will be putting it up in the den. Our kids were very concerned and sad when Brett pulled the DEAD pheasant out of the bag. They are getting more used to it.

Brett has bought two guns and I hear talk of a pistol now as well. The kids think shooting is awesome, so Brett decided to let them shoot the little BB gun. They loved it. I must say it was pretty fun to shoot at the little rabbit target.

We grilled fresh pheasant and it was delicious. We have also smoked some and will be eating it on Thanksgiving.

Brett's first BLOOD!!!!!


They loved checking out the bullet holes in the target.
Caitlin

Our NEW Pet

Caitlin has been asking for a pet for a very long time. Madison has a guinea pig in her room and Blake has a bearded dragon ---- SO Caitlin keeps telling me that she wants a bunny. Brett and I really don't want another pet. I do feel a little guilty about Caitlin not having a pet of her own.

The sweet little four year old has pet flies. She has a pet fly that she has trapped in her room. He tends to stay on her window. She freaks out if someone keeps her bedroom door open very long. We also HAD a pet fly in the truck for a while until he escaped. She also got very mad at me for trying to shoooo him out the window.

The other day, she came walking into the study with her pet fly on her finger. She was so excited about him. I could tell that the fly was not going to live much longer. I quickly took a few pictures and it flew away. She got distracted by something else and I found the fly dead on the floor a short time later. Luckily, she hasn't talked much about her pet fly since.

We might have to break down and get a pet. Any suggestions????? We are babysitting a hamster this week. We are keeping it in Caitlin's room. It seems pretty painless and easy!!!!!!!

Poor Caitlin

Caitlin has been plagued with sickness. She was sick last fall all the way to the spring. She tends to break out in hives whenever she has a fever. She is just the sweetest girl and it breaks my heart when she doesn't feel well. She had a great summer. I was so hopeful for this year. Right before school started, she got "THE COUGH". I immediately took her to the doctor because I didn't want to start school being sick. They told me that it was just a virus. It took several weeks for the cough to go away. Now we are on round two of this fever, headache, vomiting thing going around. Blake and Madison have also missed two days of school because of it.

Last week at a play date she also had a head on collision with a friend and got a black eye. She cried so hard and just wanted to go home.

This morning, she was crying in her bed when she woke up. I quickly ran in to see what the matter was. She told me that she had a BRAIN FREEZE!!!! Sweet girl. She has a headache, fever and vomited AGAIN this morning.

The day of her collision...One week later...

A Great Big Sister

Madison's 1st grade had a great halloween Festival. There were 5 classrooms involved. The students were able to wander between the classrooms and do all the activities. I had signed up to help and was given a station in one of the classrooms. I envisioned Caitlin staying with me. Madison had other plans. She took Caitlin around all the rooms with her. She was so proud of Caitlin. My friend saw both the girls in one room and she said that Madison made a big deal about how she was watching Caitlin for me - so sweet. Whenever I had a chance, I went searching for them. Madison always had her arm around Caitlin or was holding her hand. I hope they can stay BEST FRIENDS forever!!!!!!!

Peel Banana - Peel, Peel Banana

Madison has been looking forward to the Cheerleading Clinic this year ever since she did it last year. It is a great fundraiser for the high school cheerleaders. They devote Monday - Thursday evening to teach all the elementary school girls cheers. During the Friday night highschool football game, they get to show all that they learned. Madison loves it!!!!!! Her smile is priceless...

Each little girl gets a t-shirt, headband, and face tattoo.

It was a gorgeous night. We were also able to sit with several other neighbors whose daughters were cheering. We bought snacks and cheered everyone on!!!!!! I can't wait to see her do it again next year.

My little WILDCAT!!!!!

The tattoo was a big hit...
Serious and listening to the directions.
Now, all smiles and FUN!!!!!



Grandma came to see Madison cheer.

Trick or Treat

I just love our neighborhood for trick or treating. We have so many little kids that just love each other. Every year, some family hosts a pre-trick or treating party. We arrive one hour prior to trick or treating. The kids love playing and the adults like chatting and catching up. We then head out all together and let the kids run up to the houses together. It is so much fun. We then have another house that hosts a post trick or treating party. Thankfully the kids had the following day off of school. They had a blast!!!!!Bat Girl Madison
Super Girl Caitlin ----- Aunt Charlene made the great leg warmers. We love them!!!
Captain Rex Blake
Just a few of the kids...
Daddy on the haunted trail.
Mommy and Blake

Pajamas and PAINT!

I hate carving pumpkins!!!!! I know that it is the Halloween thing to do, but I really don't like it. I can't wait until the kids can do it all by themselves. Usually, everyone is so excited to start and then very quickly I end up cleaning it all out and Brett helps me carve the three pumpkins. This year Brett has been traveling/hunting the last 6 weekends, so I have been solo quite a bit. I convinced the kids that painting the pumpkins would be so much fun. It didn't even take much convincing because Blake and Caitlin didn't even want to touch the inside stuff!!!!!!

I also told them that they could go on a rock hunt and bring them back home to paint those as well. They loved this WHOLE day project. Actually, I left the paint station set up for several days. Who knew that painting rocks could be so much fun?

Pajamas and PAINT!!!!!
Madison still loves horses. We used permanent markers first and then painted.
Clone Trooper - all he thinks about is Star Wars and Pokemon now.
So serious. Yes, that is a tattoo and make-up on her face. She didn't want them washed off.
Cute Caitie BUG!!!!!! Did you notice the matching night gowns? They still love to match each other. It is so sweet...