Did you see the boats?

This week is always busy and a little stressful for our family because of the boat show downtown GR. Action had a big part in the show this year even though participation with other dealers was down. We did take a trip to see all the boats and Tim. While the boat show consumed the majority of the week Elizabeth had "Teddy Bear Day" at school on Wednesday and Leah spent the night in a hotel sewing with her grandma just last night. I'm looking forward to a less intense week coming up!

Where are the love bugs?

Earlier this week our family created love bugs, a family tradition for the month of February. This year's project was a bit more complicated than in the past so Leah and Elizabeth needed some extra help. Each bug was created with love to remind us of the love we have for others. In addition to making the love bugs the girls in the family all had Valentine parties at school on Friday. Before the big event Elizabeth and Leah spent time getting their cards ready while I put together a little gift for each of my students. It was a very exciting time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How do you have fun with your family?

Our yearly tradition of celebrating family was slightly altered this year. Instead of going sledding down snow hills we went sliding down water slides. The one night stay at Great Wolf Lodge was the first for us all and I'm guessing it won't be our last. The water park was fantastic! Leah enjoyed the lazy river while Elizabeth couldn't get enough of the "green tube slide". Spending time in the water was the favorite, but we also made it to the arcade. Leah was very lucky and won a stuffed wolf and Elizabeth was perfectly content with 2 bouncy balls and 2 glow in the dark balls. The stay was a lot of family fun! While the trip to Great Wolf Lodge was the best other highlights of this week included wearing pajamas to church and attending Elizabeth's kindergarten round-up tonight.

Where are the wild things?

This week the wild things (aka cousins) gathered for our niece's 3rd birthday party. The kids enjoyed their time together playing and eating. A separate group of wild things from the first grade classrooms were also at Great Lakes Elementary this afternoon. Maxine (played by Leah) was their fearless leader. In her debut performance she acted out Maurice Sendak's story Where the Wild Things Are. After practicing for over a month with her class Leah was quite nervous, but did a good job. I'm hoping there will be plenty more opportunities for her to develop a love for acting!

Do you like to play games?

This week was quite busy for our family. Our weekend plans of going sledding were interrupted by the mid-winter meltdown so we stayed home and did some more organizing. Tim put together another bookshelf to hold our growing collection of books and Leah helped shelve them all with me in our under the stairs library. I also purchased a little end table that needed some assembly and Tim put that together too. Leah and Elizabeth had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese and our neighbor's 4th birthday party. We continued our church search and have been drawn to a church north of us for the past several weeks. Tim also enjoyed a another opportunity to shoot his bow in a competition up north. Leah lost her second tooth after it dangled at the bottom of her mouth for quite some time.

Who won the basketball games?

The highlight of this week was the basketball games we attended at Hope this past weekend. My brother-in-law is now the JV coach for Alma College and their team played Hope in Holland. I had never been to the field house before so it was fun to see the new court. My sister and her kids and my parents all met us for the game. The spectators were limited for the first game so the kids had the freedom to go up and down the steps and explore all the seats. To our surprise it was Dutch's birthday and he invited many of his mascot friends from local restaurants and sports teams. Before the varsity game they all came on court and played a friendly game of basketball. Then at halftime Dutch gave away birthday presents to the crowd and Leah was one of the lucky recipients. It was full of goodies: t-shirt, $5 concession credit, buttons, a sticker, a small basketball, and a yo-yo. Even though Hope won both games (silent cheer) it was fun to watch and be around family.

What did you do this week?

We started out the new year bowling on New Year's Day with Tim's family. The girls did great bumper bowling with their grandparents while the rest of the cousins and adults had fun in other lanes. Getting back into the school routine was very seamless since Leah and Elizabeth got up early almost every day of the holiday break. After school this week I stopped and picked up the DVD Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. We missed seeing the movie in the theater and it's based on a favorite book of mine that I use at school. Both girls enjoyed coming home after school to watch the movie while snuggling up with their American Girl dolls. As a family we also started reading some new books. Our favorite is a book called The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey, but we also picked up a recommended devotional book for dinner time that I look forward to reading throughout 2010.