The Big Day

Today is the "actual" big day...the big 3-0 birthday. I can't believe it's finally arrived. I feel like I have been dreading this day for a few years now. So it's here, and now I'm old. Not really, but it seems like I would never be thirty for real. We had a great time celebrating up at my parents lake place in Muskegon this past weekend (thank you to them!). The weather was...well...interesting. It was sunny, then it was really windy and chilly, then rainy, then calm, then windy...and so on. We still had no problem having a great time though. It was a blast playing Flippy Cup, Pennis (that's not a typo-o...just Ping Pong and Tennis combined), Bag-O, a little Karaoke, and a roaring fire to cap off the evening. Thanks to everyone that made the trip out to celebrate with us. It really meant a lot to me! We hope you had an awesome time, because we sure did!

Stephanie and I

My college roomies and good friends Carrie and Julie

Arika, Lisa and I

Stephanie, Linsey, Jim, and Joey taking in the view

Jules and Matt...a bit windy

Lins and Carrie

Drew, Kevin and Zack

Carrie and I

Bethany, Carrie and Lesley

Julie, Carrie and Tina

My sister Lissa and I

My brother Peter and I

Sitting Poolside

The pool is officially open. In years past, we've been waiting and waiting for the pool to open because May has been so warm. But this year, it seems it is still trying hard to really warm up. We've gotten to the pool once so far, and the kids still seemed to enjoy it even though the water was nearly ice cold! Grant and Molly always have fun with Ella and Kate VandenBerg!

Grant, Kate, Ella and Molly

Kate and Molly (Six months apart almost to the day)

Grant taking Molly for a ride

Ella saying hi to Molly girl

Not sure about the hat mom



Whoa...that's white

Having a blast...but I can't feel my toes! Brrrr.

Look What I Can Do!

We took the plunge...we took off the training wheels. I'm not sure what we were thinking, but we did it. Grant is riding a two-wheeler at the age of 4 1/2! He seems to have picked it up pretty quick...it may have helped that the bike we taught him on is super small. We kept the training wheels on his newer bike until he really gets the hang of it. Well, he loves it and wants to ride all the time now. Unfortunately, we don't have sidewalks on our street, so now I have to watch him every minute ride up and down the street..."Hey Mom...Look what I can do!!".

That's the Way We Roll

I just had to share with you how fast Molly rolls. As I have mentioned, she does the army crawl almost everywhere, but she also is known to decide that it is way faster, and way more fun, to roll SUPER fast everywhere. Check it out.

Molly Update

Well, Molly is definitely taking things at a different pace than her brother. It's hard for me to believe that when Grant was Molly's age...about 10 months, he was taking his first steps. Molly is no where near that milestone yet, which is totally fine with me, but different. She is still just army crawling and rolling everywhere. She has figured out how to get from crawling to a seated position, which is hard when you are just on your belly and not on your knees. She will not get up on her hands and knees no matter what. She finally also has enough strength to stand on her own. Yet, she does not care for it much. I will stand her up here and there, since she isn't pulling up yet, but she only lasts about five minutes before she wants to get back down. She is babbling quite a bit and almost seems to be having a conversation with you at times. She also may blow you a kiss or give you a hug, but mostly she'll just make the kissing noise at you...muuuuwah! She will wave and dance to music. She is still sleeping well and eating well, but doesn't really care much for her bottle or a sippy. She loves to laugh at her favorite book, "Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and sing in the car. She is such a blessing to this family and we just love to watch her grow and learn new things...at her own pace.

"Old" Friends

This past weekend we celebrated the 30th birthday of my good friend Jen. We've been friends since Hope College days, and I really can't believe that we are at this point in our life. It's hard to believe we graduated eight years ago. It seems like yesterday, and yet so much has changed. Now that we are mommies and daddies, it was great to let loose a bit at the race track. Thanks Jen and Chad for a fun night!

Jen, Carrie, Julie, and Lesley

Paul, Ben, and Matt

Carrie and Lesley

Jules and Jen

Paul, Ben, Matt and Chad

The Graduate

Last Friday, Grant graduated from preschool! It was a big day. It was very cute as each child walked up the steps, received their certificate and walked back down. I do have to admit that I may have had a tear in my eye. It is amazing how fast time goes by...



Grant receiving his "diploma"

So grown up

Grant's teachers, Mrs. Aldrich and Miss Stacie

Big congrats from Nona too

Brotherly Love

Over the past few weeks, Grant has really been a great big brother to Molly. He is started to "play" with her more and loves to make her laugh. Since we are moving to a bottle full time, he is even helping her learn to hold it. They are growing up so fast.

Tulip Time

Walking through Hope's campus




Gotta have the tulip pic

Kids enjoying the parade...think they look alike?

How sweet...that's my Grant, what a charmer

I couldn't resist...


We headed out to Tulip Time this year to brave the crowds. We had a chilly day walk through Holland, and even made a trip through Hope's campus for a stroll down memory lane. We had to show Grant and Molly where Mommy and Daddy first started out together. The kids enjoyed the parade and especially liked the visit to the Peanut Store, where he was thrilled to learn of what they really sell there...not just peanuts.

30:04

Well, it may not be a world record...or any kind of record, but I did it! I ran my first 5K today. For those of you who don't know me very well, I have always hated to run. I despised it. I refused to do it. This year though, as one of my yearly goals, I decided I was going to run in the Fifth Third Riverbank Run. Matt has been an avid runner over the past few years, and even ran the Chicago Marathon (but unfortunately is still recovering from knee surgery at this time). I never understood how he could do it, but I thought I'd try it out. I know it's only 3.1 miles...but for me, this was a huge feat. I was a sprinter, not a runner. So I did it and I finished in 30:04 minutes. That's 1971 place out of 4311 runners. Not fast, but I finished! Next goal...the 10K!

Little Peanut

This past Thursday was Molly's nine month check up. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She did great with her one shot and only cried for a minute. She weighed in at just a bit over 16 pounds (15th percentile) and measured 27 and 5/8 inches (50th percentile). To compare my children, Grant was 16 pounds at 5 months old. She is definitely my little peanut...which is surprising to me because she LOVES to eat! Her toothy smile these days gets me every time. She still is doing the army crawl and is getting pretty quick at it, but has no desire to stand or walk yet. Little laid back Molly. Precious.

Tea Party

This past Saturday, we had a lovely tea party wedding shower for my cousin to be...Alexis. My sister-in-law, Rachel, and I drove down to Chicago for the day with Molly, Sofia, and Stella to have an afternoon high tea with some relatives. It was a yucky day outside with rain and cold, but it was so fun to catch up with some cousins, aunts and grandparents, as well as celebrate the upcoming wedding of my cousin Nolan and his future wife Alexis.

The Ladies of the Sheldon side (Alexis in the middle)

Practice, Practice, Practice

Since starting T-ball, Grant has taken a new interest in baseball. Check out the little man knockin' it out of the park!

and the Bloopers...