Hope's 4 yr old pictures

I finally got Hope's 4 yr pictures done! I think they turned out great. Such a beautiful little girl! 

Story time with Grandpa

April 26, 2013: Kalamazoo Nature Center

A squirrel?

Last Friday, I sent Daryl this text: There is a squirrel running around our yard without any fur and it  is totally freaking me out!

Daryl's reply: What?! That is a text message I never thought I would get!

It's true.  And it is one nasty squirrel!  The kids chased him away last Friday before I could get a picture for proof.  I was hoping he was gone for good . . . but he came back today.  And he is just as bald as before.  I don't know why I'm posting this on my blog . . . except to share with all 3 of you that read this how absolutely disgusting this squirrel is!!

April 23, 2013: Happy Birthday Aunt Anna!

Celebrating (Aunt) Anna!

Aunt Anna is home from Australia!  We have been waiting for this day for . . . well, since the day she left 3 months ago!  We are so happy for the wonderful experiences that she had and so thankful that God called her to serve there . . . but we are also thankful that God brought her back home safely to us!

We saw her this morning (she got back last night) at The Point when we were there for open gym. We were downstairs playing in the gym when Aunt Anna came.  She was talking to Alyssa upstairs but my kids heard her voice and it took Samuel about 2 seconds to drop his basketball and go running full tilt up the stairs to her.  Hope and Aliyah followed but then they both got shy and waited for me to go up the rest of the way with them.  Aliyah took the longest to warm up . . . which was no more than 30 minutes max.  Samuel started about 10 different sentences when he first saw Anna - he was so excited he didn't know what to say to her first!  It was so precious to see his excitement and his love for his aunt.

Anna brought home footy jerseys for the three kids.  Samuel was pretty excited!   Aliyah didn't want to try her jersey on because it wasn't purple.  True story.

We love having Aunt Anna home!!

Aunt Anna brought home a story about a dancing kangaroo.  Hope loves books and loves dancing so she was pretty excited about this book!

Daryl was a little jealous of the kids' footy jerseys so he thought he'd try one on too!

I'm pretty sure that at this point Daryl was feeling a little lightheaded and dizzy from how tight this jersey was on him.  The reason I think this?  As soon as I took this picture he quickly peeled the jersey off.  Samuel was disappointed because he wanted to play football with his Daddy and both wear their jerseys.  Sorry buddy.  Breathing is more important!

Anna opening her birthday present from Grandpa and Grandma

Opening her present from us.

Aliyah was pretty excited about her PURPLE kangaroo shirt with the baby kangaroo in the pouch. She didn't take it off for 24 hours. Aliyah has informed me that she won't wear anything but purple so this shirt came at a great time! :)

Aunt Anna had lots of help blowing out her candles!  Happy 22nd Birthday, Anna!!

Basketball and Math

Why yes, that is snow on the roof of our garage on APRIL 20!!  Now that we got that out of the way . . . .

We got Samuel a "new" basketball hoop for outside.  One that is actually big enough to challenge him instead of his Little Tikes hoop that he has been using.  He had to try it out right away, even though it was freezing cold outside.

Basketball has taught Samuel a lot of math lessons - addition, subtraction, odd/even numbers, and the newest lesson . . . skip counting!  Tonight, at the dinner table, Samuel counted to 24 by 3s and to 30 by 2s without hardly hesitating.  I'm sure that comes from all of the basketball games we have played!!

The Kroc Center and The Carousel (at the mall)