Gotta Love Shutterfly

I have always been a fan of Shutterfly. I've loved their photo books, especially. When Grace was about 3, I made her a super cute "Who Loves Grace?" book with pictures of her with a different relative on each page. She still loves it, and I just found out she takes it to school every day to look at when she's lonely on the school bus! How sweet is that? That inspired me to make similar books for Sam and Viv this Christmas.

This year Shutterfly is offering a great deal on Christmas cards for bloggers (50 free cards if you blog about it!). They have so many gorgeous cards to choose from (more here)! And it is super easy to try out how the card will look with your picture. I may have spent way too long one evening trying different cards with different pictures. Ooops, and I just sprent another good 30 minutes.

Here's a card I really like, but it just didn't work with our pictures.

I think this one is also beautiful. Maybe next year :)

The card I actually pick will be a surprise, though! Wouldn't want to send it out and have everyone think, "eh, already saw that."

Shutterfly also has fun calendars, and someday I am going to go ahead and spring for some fabulous photos on canvas.

If you'd like 50 free cards yourself, go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010. But hurry, your blog post has to be submitted by Dec. 15, and I've already procrastinated about as long as possible :)

More of what I Heart

We are having a fun and eventful Fall! One quick (enormous!) picture, I will try to do better at

keeping up. How sweet are these two? And how fantastic is this tree in the yard?



We just saw the musical "In the Heights" in New York, and I am completely hooked on the music. If you are planning a trip out there, you should see this.

Catch up on our Summer

Before summer is too far gone, a quick quick catch up. We kept busy swimming, going to parks, picking berries, and playing with friends. Our point and shoot broke so, most of the pictures I took were in the backyard.

More firsts!

Vivian is pretty darn happy about her first day of preschool!

All ready to go with her brand new school bag. She had a fun day, and she got to paint a balloon.

Grace at 12 months, with one tooth.

Grace at age 5, without one tooth.

It fell out tonight while she was brushing her teeth, and then was accidentally washed down the drain when she spit it out with her toothpaste. We're not sure how the tooth fairy is going to work that one out :)

We're so proud of both our girls!

Kindergarten update

Grace has 2 whole days of kindergarten under her belt, and so far she seems to be doing great! The first day the bus was running super late, so she didn't get home until almost 5:00, which was SUCH a long day for her, but she came bounding off the bus so excited about her day! They talked about fish, read about fish, went and saw the fish in the principle's office. I was nervous about the transition to all-day kindergarten, I had heard that kids come home really tired for the first couple of weeks. Maybe we're still in the honeymoon phase, but Grace has come home completely energized. She gets home and is excited to play with Viv and Sam, I think they miss each other all day. Sam talks about the bus stop all day long and Viv keeps asking when Grace is getting back. I miss her, too! But I am looking forward to her having a great school year.

The beginning of the rest of our lives

Grace is at kindergarten today. What a weird feeling. She was so excited, she was cheering and pumping her fists this morning. She raced to the bus stop on her scooter and pushed past the other kid at the stop to get on the bus first. The bus was so full and so noisy, and I couldn't see her through the window. It all happened so fast, and then she was off to kindergarten! I was so tempted to get in the car and follow the bus, make sure she got to her classroom, make sure everything was okay. It is scary sending her off into the world without me, even though I know she will do great. I think we have taught her what she needs to know, and she is a good kid who wants to do the right thing. Grace got the teacher we wanted, and I am sure it will be a really great year!

Got me thinking

I just finished the book Water for Elephants. It wasn't my favorite book in the world (and there are parts that need to be skipped), but it was fascinating and I have found myself thinking about it now that I've finished. It is told from the perspective of an old man, 90 or 93, he can't remember which. It's partly a vivid look at the challenges of aging, in addition to a tale of love and the circus. At the end, he is thinking back about the years when his family was young and his career as a veterinarian was getting started:

"Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane; the times i had five kids, a chimpanzee, and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other...from a minor predicament at the police station, they were good years, grand years.

But it all zipped by. One minute my wife and I were in it up to our eyeballs, and next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now, here I am. In my nineties and alone."

I am guilty of sometimes wishing this stage of my life away. Wishing I could sit in the shade and read instead of responding to cries of "My want a underdog!" Wishing we could ever find 2 matching shoes. Wishing I spent less time on other people's bodily functions. Wishing the floor wasn't covered with an entire meal's worth of food every time we get up from the table.

When my head is pounding and I am overwhelmed by the insane mess that covers our house most of the time, I am trying to remind myself that these are the salad days, the halcyon years, and that when they are over I just might wish I could do it all again.

Family pictures

We got back from our wonderful big vacation a couple of weeks ago, and I need to get pictures posted! Coming back from this vacation has been rough, I think I just barely finished unpacking :) And now the laptop has a virus that needs to be cleared up before I can do anything else. I'm hoping I won't lose any pictures. BUT for now, I'll share a link to family photos that we had taken while we were in Utah. They were taken by an old friend from our Iowa days who happens to be a very talented photographer! She is also super sweet, and was so patient with us. Thanks Veronica!

The pic above is totally my favorite, Sam's mad face cracks me up. And this is just SO much what life is like on a day to day basis :) Veronica has a few more posted on her blog at

http://veronicareeve.blogspot.com/2010/06/hawkeye-pride.html. Check out the rest of her stuff, she is amazing!

What we've been up to

being lions in a cage

went to a carnival

the beach at Lake Michigan

Tulip festival in Holland

playing with Blueberry, the betta fish (fish-sitting for a year)

unintentional haircut (courtesy of Vivian)

intentional haircut

More pics on Flickr :)

I Heart:

• Spring
• 70 degree weather
• our backyard
• Rob
• the kiddos

How cute are these 2?

Someone asked the other day how Viv and Sam do together. Answer: they do fabulously. They are little buddies. Vivian takes such good care of Sam, if he's crying, she brings him his blanket. The other day it was cold out, and she was very concerned that he needed his hat on. She shares treats with him, sings him songs, and pushes him on the swing. They sit on the back step together blowing bubbles. Sometimes they do fight over my lap, or over a favorite toy. But for the most part, they get along great. I love watching them together.

Vivian is amazingly and wonderfully potty training herself. By this I mean I let her run naked around the house, and she goes to her potty seat when she needs to go. She does a great job, and has only had like 2 accidents on the floor. For some reason she does especially well in public, and will tell me that she needs to go, and actually goes.

Sam is getting a pretty big vocabulary, and is finally saying mama. He will grab my finger and say "go" and pull me where he wants. He says apple, bubble, choochoo for train, ga for dog, does a sweet little "woof", and stands on the table singing "da da da da da da" in the sweetest little voice, while dancing around. He learned that from his sisters.

2009, 2010

It seems like just 3 months ago I was posting my new year's resolutions for 2009. And it seems like I start every blog post with "I can't believe how fast time flies." I should just change the name of my blog to "I Know it's a Cliche, but MAN, Time Flies."

So, 2009 was a good year! Everyone healthy, happy, Rob on research. Kind of a boring year, really, but in a good way. I didn't do so hot on my resolutions, no valances or pillows made yet. But now I am doubly committed to sewing them, and I got a sewing machine that works, so that should help :)

Highlights of 2009:

• Grace loves her new preschool, and so do I


• I have consistently made all our bread


• Viv has become quite the chatterbox!


• Rob called to the bishopric (or is that a lowlight?)


• Trip to Utah for Jane Anne's wedding and Lake Powell


• I discover the joy of the thrift store


• Ripping out the 30-yr old overgrown bushes in front of the house


• Finally got lights in the living room

Things to look forward to in 2010:

• Grace starting kindergarten, oh my!


• Vivian starting preschool, oh my!


• Sam going to nursery at church, yay!


• Viv getting potty trained


• 2 mornings a week with just Sam at home, how strange!


• New valances :)


• Hawaii!


• Moving Viv into Grace's room

Totally unrealistic resolutions for 2010:

• Become a morning person


• Organize every square inch of the house


• Get Vivian to eat vegetables


• Get myself to eat vegetables


• Get rid of pooch before Hawaii


• Have positive attitude about Rob's research year ending


• Be a better blogger

Happy (late) Barfday to Grace

I can't believe that Grace is FIVE! We are deep into Kindergarten roundups already, which is crazy. She is very excited to start elementary school. The celebration for her birthday lasted all weekend, starting with her birthday treats at preschool on Friday. She really wanted the theme for everything to be Purple. So she wore all purple on Friday and Saturday, and her cupcakes for preschool were purple with white dots and white with purple dots. She got a purple birthday crown and got to choose whether to eat with the lights on or off, and she chose off.

Saturday, Grace had her party, and she was so excited to celebrate with friends! The highlight was the pink and purple purse pinata. Grace is a purse fanatic, so we were so excited when we found this one! We let the kids decorate their own cupcakes, which was also fun. For weeks, Grace has been excited to go to Red Robin for her birthday and have them sing to her and bring ice cream. So we went, and while we were waiting to be seated, Viv yakked all over the lobby. So gross. Grace was pretty devastated that we had to leave.

Sunday Grace was very excited to have the Primary sing to her, which is a big step for her, as she is usually very nervous in front of people. She was so brave, and I was so proud!

Monday everyone was feeling good, so we went to Red Robin to try again. Grace was acting a little weird before we left, but said she really wanted to go. She was very brave for the singing again! But she didn't eat any macaroni and cheese, OR even any of the ice cream after they brought it. At that point, I knew we needed to get out of there fast before Red Robin banned us forever. Sure enough, shortly after we got home, she got sick. And then Rob, and then me. Let's just say that was about the longest night of our lives. Poor Grace.

So, anyway, we love Grace a ton, she is such a good kid. She has gotten so independent! She is fun, smart, silly, a great helper, she is really trying hard to make good choices. She is a very sweet and protective big sister. One of my favorite things right now is to listen as Grace helps Vivian say prayers. It's adorable. We are so blessed to have her in our family!

The Holidays

Happy New Year! We had a really wonderful holiday season. We didn't travel anywhere and Rob was able to stay home for most of 2 weeks, so we shopped and played and relaxed and just had a fabulous time together. I wish all of life could be like that :) This year was so fun because the girls are the perfect ages, so excited and innocent. They loved everything they got and weren't disappointed.

The season started as always with Rob's work party, where our kids dance the night away. Sam was totally hamming it up, as you can see he's smiling so big his face can't even contain it.

Here is Christmas Eve. We had a big dinner party with our traditional prime rib, and this year we invited a few other families. It was a lot of work, but lots of fun. I forgot to take pictures until things calmed down and we let the kids open their one present.

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. We opened stockings, ate monkey bread (which I managed to totally mess up somehow--my inability to cook could probably qualify as a talent), opened presents, played, napped, made a gingerbread house (actually, Grace and Vivian ate all the candy before it made it on the house) and made pizza for dinner. Each child got one big toy that was something they really wanted, plus a few other gifts. It was perfect. Here is Grace with the toy she was asking for for weeks:

For more complete pictures, here's a link to our holiday album. We wish you all a very happy 2010!

The Holidays 2009