Thanksgiving

Hey look at that we have now progressed to only being ridiculously far behind in blogging. Thanksgiving was fun. Jason worked...boo! But my parents came up and brought with them my brother, Matthew and his wife, Erikka and their daughter Arya. Paisley made fast friends with Arya. They played and played and played. And snuggled...Tab was also a big fan.It probably had to do with the fact that she let him do whatever she wanted, unlike his little sister.Benton got in on the action too.A lot of the holiday was spent like this.
And this... (So crazy to see my brother as a dad. He is awesome at it!)And a fair amount of shenanigans such as this.I think the kids favorite part was this. Though it may look like they were wrestling, they were in fact holding on for dear life as Matt would muster all of the strength he had a would jump with all four kids attached to his legs. It was quite amusing and I dare say tiring, for Matt that is. As a matter of fact I think he went a took a nap after this was over.Don't worry, they came back for more. This time in the form of acrobatics of sorts, you know the kind where he throws them and swings them around like a crazy person. Mom helped to calm things down a bit by working on TP's with the kids.Matt joined in helping but I think that is just because he wanted to eat some of the yummy maple frosting and candy.Grandma and Grandpa took all of the kids to the park to get out of the crowded house for a bit.Poor grandpa got stuck in the trap that is pushing Paisley on the swing for pretty much the entire time they were there. Somehow, I don't think he minded. You see he and Paisley are good friends. She loves to snuggle grandpa. And play with his beard.I dare say grandpa has an affinity for little granddaughters in general.And now to it. The turkey!
And the feast, minus the pies.

Community Day at the park

Have I mentioned that I love our neighborhood? It pretty much rocks. It is quiet and safe and the park right down the street hosts all sorts of activities and such all summer long. Recently they held community days there. There were stands from a lot of the local businesses and such. They also had a little car show. The boys could have cared less about any other car that they saw after they laid eyes on the baby.I mean really can you blame them. It is pretty rockin'.A little later they had a bike show. And daddy showed up home from work just in time.At least Paisley sat with me temporarily.She was quite mesmerized by the bike show. I have to admit it was pretty awesome.They were doing some pretty high jumping.But this little picture sequence describes the best part.I think they liked it.

Our First "House Project"

A little while back we set to work on our first house project. We decided that the front room needed to be painted in a bad bad way. It was beyond ugly in my opinion. See.So Jason and I set to work to transform this room with a little paint. Well, a little turned into a lot, which turned into, I hate painting and hope to never ever EVER do it again. Hello, do you see all of the freaking molding in that room. Crown molding, chair rail, windows, floor and, and, AND there was molding on the freaking corners too. Sigh...Finishing up... I was putting the face plate back on the light switch. Ignore the little bum who was supposed to be getting in the bathtub. (And we have since decided to paint the wood stained trim on the doors white too. I just don't have it in me right now. Anyone want to come do it for me. I'll make you yummy food or something.More of the room. And the stinker.And some stinkers dancing.
These brushes served us well, but if I never had to touch them again, I would be a happy woman.

Survival!

We are officially living in Pennsylvania and have survived the move. We are unpacked! We still have pictures to hang and some other random organization to be considered "done" but things are starting to relax or should I say I am.

We had the most amazing ward in Grand Rapids. We had so many people show up to help with the kids and loading the truck that there were actually too many people! I have never heard of having that problem before.
I am going to play the catch up game again just a bit and then we will be current. So check back soon!

Our New House

Per several requests, I am finally posting pictures of the house that we are in the process of buying! Go HERE to see the house!

The Shelf

I mentioned that while we were in Pennsylvania Jason made something. Well, this is the shelf that he made. It is designed kind of like a ladder, as he had seen somewhere before. So he did all of the cutting and such at my parent's house and then assembled it when we got home!
He is very proud of it as he very well should be. I love it. Though he will surely let you know that this shelf is HIS.
A different angle on it.

Our Trip: Part II Philadelphia

The whole reason we went East for vacation was Jason's Board Exam that was held in Philadelphia. So we left my parents house, sniff sniff, and headed to Philly. We only spent one night there but the kids loved it. The boys LOVE staying in hotels. I don't know if it is the TV or the new beds or what, but they love it. I guess it didn't hurt that there was a pool where we spent most of our evening.

Miss P's hung out with Daddy on the stairs most of the time.The boys tried to rough daddy up.
And Tab enjoyed showing us his new swimming skills. He was jumping backwards off of the ladder and then rolling over to swim. He is getting much better. Unfortunately he thinks he is much better than he is, so we are going to have to keep a super close eye on him this summer.

Over the River and Through the Woods...

...to grandmothers house we go.

First stop was my parent's house, grandma in the pink shirt's house (as the boys call her). And at her house the first stop is always the chicken coop. Every day after my mom got home from work the boys went running to get the eggs.There was tons of playing with cousins.Followed by exhaustion and sleeping with cousins.Cousins getting ready for bed.Then there is the endless fun on the rope swings.And playing with Annie and Rufus (Rufus in Benny's favorite).
At first Benton was terrified but after a few days he warmed right up and treated them as part of the family.I dare say that the dogs loved them too.Paisley did a lot of hangin out.And she loved being outside and in the grass....
until she didn't anymore.
Jason had fun working in my dad's wood shop. The finished product deserves a post in and of itself...to come later.I mentioned that there were cousins. My sister's family and my brother's family were both there at the same time as us, so it was quite the crowded house. As a result we were a little short on bedding. So we fixed up the suitcase with a bunch of blankets for padding and Benton enjoyed his new bed. Isn't it great to be little and be able to sleep anywhere?I just have to share these pictures of Paisley. She is always pulling her legs up like this, in the high chair, in stroller, in the grocery cart. Handy if you get hungry I suppose.My husband decided to be a turd as usual and took a picture of me feeding the babe.So I returned the favorAnd took some gomer pictures of him.Grandma and Grandpa took everyone to the zoo. Oh wait....he's not from the zoo.
The boys got to pet some goats.Pretty Miss P's had a good time too.I just love this pic of the boys. Shows the brotherly love.It was hotter than hot though. Luckily they had these misting things all over the zoo. It was the only way to survive.Poor Pais zonkedPais melted for grandpa.Speaking of grandpa, he made these awesome boats for the boys.They just love them.While we were there we took the boys for a hike in a place I loved visiting when I was growing up named Otter Creek.It was a blast. We had fun skipping rocks.
And on our way out of town we stopped and visited my grandparents.