It's November...

I know, I've been a bad blogger! Life just seems to keep me busy with other things!

Here is a peak at our cute little kittens from Halloween night:



And one from this morning. A quick photoshoot before church. I have been waiting a long time for some sunshine to be able to shoot these. You can see their almost fresh new haircuts! I love their new do's!



Quick update on everyone. Regan is doing well, loving school and staying pretty healthy. She had a short sickness this week that kept her home one day from school. At conferences the teacher told me we have a little writer/storyteller on our hands. The teacher handed me a stack of about 20+ stories Regan had written and said by comparison, most parents would be getting about 4 or 5 for their child. She loves to write and draws some great pictures to go with them

Sage is doing well too and has been able to avoid getting sick. She still tries my patience and melts my heart on a daily, or even hourly basis. She has a ball at the activity center everyday while mommy exercises at the gym. It is her own 'preschool' of sorts.

Paul is doing pretty well too. Work is surviving, but has definitely felt the slump in the economy. He leaves next week for his annual hunting trip with his buddy Joe. They weren't sure until just a couple of days ago if they would be going.

I am doing well also! Busy, but well. I have been able to avoid all the sickness junk going around, thankfully. I am excited to have taken on a new position at Scrap Girls, as an instructor. I will be teaching my first class in November. I was able to go to Utah in October and spend real time with my 'virtual' friends from Scrap Girls. I went early this year, to be able to really enjoy the area and see some sights and spend some time with friends. I was very enjoyable.

Well! That's it for now! Hope your fall is blessed!

What's up with us??

Sunday, we made a trip to a local Cherry Orchard. We try to make it each year to pick some of the wonderful Michigan Sweet Cherries that grow here. They are so good and it makes for a fun family outing.

The cherries were $1.50/lb this year. We picked four buckets full or 30 pounds worth. What does a family of four do with 30 pounds of cherries?? Well, we eat a lot, but not that many!! LOL! We make them into sauce. We pit them and boil them down, add a little cornstarch and freeze them. Mid-winter, when it is bitter cold outside and there are no sweet cherries to be found, we enjoy a breakfast, or sometimes a dinner, treat of Belgium waffles with warm sweet cherry sauce. Yummmmy!

(And when you pick your own? Of course you have to eat a 'few' along the way! :) )

On Saturday, I finally followed through on Paul's Christmas gift...from 2007! There is a place about 30 minutes north of us that does Paraflights. Paul has been dying to go for quite some time. He absolutely loved it...even if it took a year and half!! LOL!







While we were there, we took the girls to Lewis', the local Farm Market and Petting Zoo. This place is always fun for the girls and they keep adding new things all the time. This time we paid for the girls to have wristbands so they could jump all they want on this huge 'pillow'. They also love the new tube slides that were put in this summer.







I'd say we had a pretty fun weekend. :)

Whose is bigger?

The smile that is?? Paul has been working with, pestering, bribing and cajoling Regan for some time now to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. She has been ready for some time, but the challenge has been convincing her of that. A couple of falls on the driveway took away the ambition to keep trying a few weeks ago.

This weekend, we were camping in Newaygo and another camper went by on her bike. Regan had met her and said 'that's my friend'. To which we responded 'Yeah, look at her go, on her bike with no training wheels. Isn't she six??'

Regan got that look of determination in her eyes and said she wanted to try hers again. Paul took the training wheels off, Regan put on a pair of blue jeans for extra fall protection and off she went!! Paul didn't even have to get her started. We had to do a quick lesson on how to brake, using the bike instead of your shoes and feet, and off she went!

She was so proud of herself and so were we. She really is a determined kid and once she decides to figure something out, she doesn't give up.

Old Meets New

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. I love the old vintage toys and this classic tricycle and the sepia tone on this photo gives the perfect feel of aged goodness to match the trike. Of course, the crocs are a dead give away that this is no antique!! LOL!



Hop on over to I heart faces and check out the other great entries! :)

Busted - I heart faces 'Birthday'

I had so much fun last week at the I heart Faces Silhouettes challenge, I thought I would give this weeks birthday challenge a try.

This weekend, we celebrated our friends Camden and AJ's 3rd and 6th birthdays on Sunday. It reminded me of this photo that I took last year of Camden snitching some frosting off his cake...not once, but twice!!

I am happy to report that he has matured a lot in the last year. This year, he used his fork to snitch, instead of his finger!! LOL!!


Be sure to head over to www.iheartfaces.com to see all the other fun birthday entries!!

(photo edited with Photo Basics action and Framed Ink style from ScrapGirls)

I heart faces - silhouettes

This is what makes enduring the long Michigan winters worth while...


Paul, Sage (on daddy's shoulders) and Regan enjoying a great West Michigan Sunset at Holland State Park.


I took this picture on Memorial Day, not knowing anything about the I heart faces challenge. My Launa told me about the silhouettes contest this week, so, I thought it would be fun to enter this picture!! Check out I heart faces for all the other great entries!


Thanks for looking!

Learning is fun!

I have been having a ball since last weekends photography workshop! We were introduced to Lightroom, an Adobe software for editing photos. My friend and teacher, Debbie, designs 'presets' for it and was giving one away this week called 'The Dude'. I applied it a picture I took of Regan this week and love the effect.

I wasn't planning on buying anymore software any time soon, but I am thinking after my 30 day trial is up, I might just be a little addicted to Lightroom!