Boyne Mountain

Off from Elle's Dr.'s apt. and on the road! Ben had a work conference up at Boyne Mountain and he thought it might be fun for all of us to go up there too. I hadn't been there in years and only then it was in the winter so I wasn't completely convinced about what it would have to offer the kiddos BUT boy, was I surprised! 

Above: A quick pit stop at kiddo's McD's and don't mind if I do have a Qdoba bowl instead. :) It sure is getting easier and quicker being able to stop and feed the whole family. No more diaper changes, high chairs, bibs, or even booster seats. 

Had to capture the moment below...Everyone able AND happy to carry in their own suitcase to the hotel! Score one for the parents! 

Ben was whisked away quickly to have dinner and drinks with his co-workers and we headed to the lobby to see what there was to do! Hayride in 3 min.! We ran out the doors to find a tractor pulling a trailer of hay and so up we went on our first adventure.

Doesn't Elle look so grown up in the picture below. I just love that little girl.

After the hayride, there was s'more fun (haha!) down at the bonfire pit!

And some time to unwind before bedtime in the lobby. We utilized every amenity they offered AND when you have 3 kiddos and flying solo in a hotel, that's how you roll. 

Daddy is back and we are all happy he is here before lights out. Our current hotel sleeping situation, we have been having a boys bed with all three and Ellie and I in our bed. I love having this stage! The little, precious snuggles from night till morning fill this mama right up. However, I don't sleep with Drew, who is known to steam roll over, put feet in face etc. all through the night. :)

Wakey, wakey! Bfast of champions before heading out for another day of adventure!

Drew excited for the day!

First up, lawn games...

Then celebrating Elle's legit 5th birthday downtown Petoskey! 

Andy, Ben's co-worker, joined us for dinner at the Mighty Fine Pizza place. We were starving and the gooey bread sticks, greasy pizza, and cookie dough balls for dessert hit the spot. 

Happy "for real life" birthday, sweetie Ellie. (For real life is an Ellie original expression) 

The picture perfect shot.

The real, wow that sun is bright, shot.

We took our deliciousness seaside.

And then back to Boyne for our chairlift extravaganza. 

Ellie was the most nervous to go on a chairlift which surprised us but she kept linking it to the zip line at Springhill. So I pretty much pulled her on with me when the lift made the turn. Once she was on though she LOVED it!! She was so proud of herself too like she had conquered a ride.

The boys behind us...

Me and my #1 gal pal.

And we made it to the top of the Mountain!  One of my favorite family memories from Summer 2017.

My view from the girls bed :)

Happy birthday Ellie!!! We LOVE you more than words can say!

Good Morning and Happy Birthday to our little ray of sunshine!! Ellie, you have brought so much joy and laughter to our family, beautiful girl, and we are so glad God entrusted us to be yours. 

Ellie at 5...Loves to stay up late and does not like early mornings. She is most outgoing at night time and takes time to wake up in the morning. (Hmmmm, I don't know where she gets it from??) Ellie is funny, like really funny. She does funny voices, funny faces and will make funny comments under her breath. You have to be in her circle of trust for all of those things to come out but if you are in her circle, she is a card! She is more shy to people outside of her circle and does not like to be the center of attention outside of our family. Ellie has a sensitive soul and even though she can give it (learned by having 2 brothers!) she can't as easily take it. When she is upset or annoyed, most of the time she is just reaching out for a hug or some attention. She notices everything around her. She is very perceptive and she may not comment on it at first. She will ponder something for awhile and then ask me about it privately when it's just the two of us. She has been her mama's sidekick these past 2 years at home and she doesn't share me easily with people outside of our family. If my focus is elsewhere or I am working or hanging out with friends, she will do anything to get my attention to make sure I am still putting her in the center of my world. She always smells clean. I am not kidding. I don't know what it is but her bedroom always smells like a fruity or floral scent, it's just her smell. She has the BEST laugh. Ben is really hoping she always keeps it. She has a whole body, in the gut laugh and it's completely contagious. Out of all her names Elle, Ellie, Ellie Bean, Ellie Belly, E, Elle Marie, Sweetie Ellie is her absolute favorite. In a group of kids, Elle will stay back unless she has her 1 friend of comfort...Then she can be in her zone. She loves to play with her friends and family but Ellie also loves to have her own play time as well. After being gone for the day or having people over she can't wait to go downstairs and play on her car mat with all of her Lego and Matchbox cars. Her obsession, all things car related. When people come over she always asks if she can look in their car, she pretends to go on trips in them, and loves opening and closing car doors. Elle is the only child who will leave dessert left on her plate when she is full....She has no problem leaving a half-eaten cookie or milkshake. The rest of us are completely perplexed by this quality! As I am typing this Elle is downstairs playing cars but just came up for a hug and to just sit on my lap. :) Elle is a little mama bear and loves to keep track of her brothers and make sure everyone is following the rules and all is in order. I sure have a great helper but almost daily I remind her that I am the Mom and she gets to be their best friend. :) She is tiny and is inches shorter than Luke was when he was her age and she got my small feet. She is super, duper fast!! Ellie has really grown in her eating habits (phew!) and her favorite fruits are anything berry (strawberry being her favorite) and carrots and spinach are her veggie of choice (even over mashed potatoes!!). She LOVES to color A LOT way more than either of our boys. She enjoys pairing her outfits together matching a top to a bottom. She LOVES to read!! She likes the Berenstein Bear series and her princess books the best. She is really good at memorizing song lyrics or stories and can recite many stories and songs by memorization.

 Ellie, you are perfectly made in the image of God and we love you with all our hearts. Happy birthday, baby girl!    

Her birthday fell between summer trips so we decided to have a friend sleepover birthday party (On a Monday night, nonetheless.) with her two very besties, Zaydee and Lilah. These two have been like sisters to her and we all love them so much! Luke got outta the house and stayed the night at Zaydee's family's house with his best bud Ayrton and Drew stayed to be with the ladies. Drew is a big Zaydee fan. :)

Pizza for dinner and then us 4 girls took off to see Despicable Me 3!

The rock star life. Posing with her gal pals on the red carpet and then snuggled on comfy recliners, eating popcorn, watching a show, wrapped in their blankies, and cozied up next to their little animal friend. 

After the movie, friends...

presents...

and a homemade car cake that Daddy made special for his sweet, baby girl!

I mean, donuts for the wheels and everything!

These three had so much fun the whole night!

We read Madeline that Z had gotten for Elle that day! And then off to bed. I was laying with Elle rubbing her back and the girls were in a sleeping bag on each side of her. While I was rubbing her back E said, "Mom, can you leave? So, you know. We can talk and giggle and stuff." My heart melted..."Of course, sweet girl." SO off I went cracking the door behind me. We could hear their talks and giggles and it made me so happy. They tuckered themselves out a little past 11. Ben was up and out to work and I was waking up around 7, when I heard them talking and giggling. Laying in bed listening to them was my absolute favorite part. A girl's girls are so important. I LOVE my girls and I love watching my #1 girl falling in love with her own friendships.

Making homemade rainbow pancakes!!

AND then outside to play until the mamas came!! A 5th birthday girl. The time is flying by so fast...

A special birthday package from Auntie Nae!! Look at that smile! And Luke in the background looking all Gaston"ish", sticking out those pecs. What?!

The next am, off for E's 5 year old apt, with all her shots, finger prick and urine test. Poor kiddo. She did great and only spiked a low fever later that day. Which is great because off to Boyne Mountain we shall go!!

The Space Between

After our rendezvous we headed straight from Springhill Camp to IKEA down in Canton that Sunday. We rolled out of our van with sand still in our shoes and the smell of sunscreen into the big, giant world of merchandise. We were off to buy new bookshelves for my classroom! The kids were seriously such troopers. A weekend of adventure with no sleep, to a long drive, to a huge store....Troopers, I tell ya. Good thing we got our mini van because we were able to fill it to the brim on top of our vaca luggage with 5 new bookshelves! And off we were to finally arrive home. 

This week was a transitional week as I finished my last day as a Kensington employee and began really setting up my classroom as a third grade teacher. I was able to get my exact same job back that I taught in for 11 years! Same school and everything. I am one lucky chic. So we arrived home from our TC/Springhill/IKEA trip Sunday around 10ish and we had 8 days to regroup, work my last week,  Ben back to work, set up my classroom, have our besties with us for the weekend, attend a birthday party and throw Elle's 5th bday party! We have had so much fun...Why stop now??

The pic above and below Luke asked me to take and text it to all of my friends. I thought I would just share on the blog instead. :) This kiddo has had no tubes in his ears for almost a year! He had them put in at 8 mos old and ever since then his little body did not know swimming without earplugs and a headband to keep the plugs secure. Well folks, almost 7 years later, no more ear infections and say goodbye to the era of earplugs/headband! He got the all clear to swim around completely free. :) 

After our last days at Kid Care and late nights at my school we were off that Friday for some fun with our Kensington family! The kiddos below are the group of kids that attend Kid Care with us and all of their mamas worked with me there. You should be able to count 11 kiddos...Brecks was just 8 days old in this pic!

11 kiddos and 4 mamas. Love them all so much and the kids LOVE being together!

One last check on my classroom...My bookworms love reading the books from my reading center. 

Pics below are a sign of progress, slow progress, but it's coming together! The 2 pics on the top are the way I got the room from my new teaching partner, Nicole. The 2 pics on the bottom are the start of my new room.

  

 

Brian and Molly came with their 3 boys for the weekend and we were all so busy none of us even took one pic!!! So, I had to put a little shout out to them. Muah!

Sunday, Ben and Drew stayed back with the Ulrich family and I took the 2 kiddos over to the Shores for Lilah's 5th birthday party!! Our sweet Lilah turned 5 and we love her too pieces!! 

Girlfriends are just the best. Even at 5!

The next day we celebrated OUR beautiful princess!! Pics of Elle's 5th birthday partayyyy on the next blog post!

Rock Your Family 2017, Springhill Camp

After our Traverse City adventures there was no slowing down for this crew. We left Drew with Gma and Gpa Cooley in TC for the weekend as the four of us headed straight to Springhill Camp in Evart, MI for the Rock Your Family retreat through Kensington!! We worked the sessions with the Birkett family and had so much fun!! With all 9 of us we slept, worked, ate, and played together 24/7 all weekend!

 Matt and Ally are great friends and Ally also worked with me during my time working at the church. Their daughter Lilah is Elle's BFF and attended both preschool and Kid Care with each other which means they were together every day M-F this past year. These two are inseparable and love each other to pieces however, they have also learned how to be a good friend through their old lady squabbles with each other. :) Devin and Luke have also gotten to be good buddies this past year as well.

After working our first session, the guys were off to the first event, starting BIG...The BIG zipline!! I could not believe that Luke just hopped off a 40 foot platform in the dark and away he went. Ben said he was really nervous as they were climbing up the steps but he loved it!

The next day, we woke up and after the 2nd session we were ready for the water activities! Here we are at the burger stand next to the lake. 

1st up: The Blob. The Blob is that yellow/blue striped well, blob thing in the water. You jump from that top platform and land on the Blob and then crawl to the outer tip of the Blob. The next person jumps on the Blob and this catapults you into the air and landing in the water. SO fun but I have to say it's a thrill and scary too! Ben, Ally, Devin, Luke and I had fun taking turns. The girls were out and Matt was holding Baby Weston. Ben launched me high into the air!

The water slide "The Gusher" was more my pace. It was a big hit for everyone...except sweet Elle. She could not get into the lake water...Not a fan of the muck and touching the bottom. Oh well, maybe next year!

Next up was the open swim full of a water trampoline, a castle in the water with different obstacles, splash pads, and these yellow foam floating islands (My favorite!) that you could run on top of the water on, jump off of etc. 

These two were ballers ALL day long!!! They played from sunrise until the early hours of the next day.

Rocking our family!

Birkett's and Morin's, love.

Then it was the Mom's turn to take the boys again on the zipline! I was completely fine until I stepped to the edge of the 40 foot platform and then some nerves set in. You have to take the plunge all by yourself and once I experienced it I was even prouder of Luke for conquering it twice!

Here we are set to jump!

We did it!

Luke is a great teammate! 

After the 3rd session, the retreat through a Princess/Superhero Ball! These two are dressed up and ready to dance!

(I wish we had more pics from the weekend!)

The next morning we worked our last session and then packed up and headed out to meet Mom and Dad to pick up Drew. We missed you, buddy!! The weekend was amazing and we are so blessed that we have loving and encouraging friends within our church family to do life with. We were beat, smelly, sore but SO much fun. We love Springhill!