Wells Orchard

Today Lily's preschool class went on a field trip to Wells Orchard. We were greeted by the owner who offered us an apple for a snack. Lily loved hers! Then we moved on for a tour of the orchards. We also saw pumpkins, peaches, and hay.

The preschoolers gathered around to hear all about how and when the apples are picked.

Lily in the apple orchard
The apples we saw on the trees looked delicious

When the tour was over apple cider and donuts were served.

Lily and I had a fun morning with her class. We had to buy some more apples to bring home and Lily couldn't wait to eat one when we got home.

Class picture

Preschool Orientation & First Day of School

Preschool started with an orientation day, which is just an hour and mom or dad gets to stay the whole time. This is Lily before her orientation day.
Lily liked having me with her for the orientation day but I think she was more excited to go by herself. We took some pictures at the house before we left...Dorothy the hamster had to be in the pictures too :)

Here are the 3 girls at school. Sadie & Mia liked seeing all the kids at school but didn't like seeing Lily go. Sadie & Lily have been best buddies all summer, playing all the time together, so it is an adjustment for Sadie.

Lily with her folder in front of her hook. She was so excited, she put on her name tag, got her folder, hugged her sisters and me, and ran into the classroom. I'm so glad she is excited about school and that she has some great friends from last year in her class.

After dropping Lily off, I took Sadie & Mia to get a donut. Sadie & I did this last year too, so it has become a tradition. Sadie picked one with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. She got it all over her face and even up her nose. Crazy kid :)

Whitecaps Game

For all of you who check this blog on a regular basis, I apologize for the last 2 months with nothing new to read. I hope to be better but I can't make any promises.

Matt was given 5 free tickets to a Whitecaps home game so last night we took our 3 girls (Sadie & Mia were free) and 2 of our neighbors' kids to the game. It was a cold evening but we all had a really good time. Once we got the kids to sit still, some of them actually watched the game. Lily was very interested but I think she was a little distracted by all the other things going on. Sadie was not very interested in the actual game but she loved being there. And Mia loved it all. She was clapping when everyone clapped, screaming when everyone screamed, and she looked like she was watching the game at some points. We didn't stay too late because it was a school night for our friends and our girls were getting tired too.

Here are some pictures from our night:

Sadie watching the game
Sadie playing with the toy motorcycle (this is what she did most of the time)

Owen & Lily

(she used to have a little crush on him but now they are just good friends)

Lily & the pig (Freddy?)

Lily & the chipmunk (Crash?)

Sadie getting tired, Trenton next to her is enjoying the game

Mia loved the lights & kept looking up at them

Mia smiling because she loved being at the game

completely worn out

We can't wait to go again next season!

Preschool: end of the year activities

There were a lot of things happening in the last weeks of preschool. A field trip, a concert, and graduation. We'll start with the field trip.
Post Family Farms: Spring 2010
Here is Lily ready to go in her rain boots. We had a wet couple of weeks and actually had to reschedule the field trip due to storms so everything was very wet.
Up first was a ride on the pumpkin train. All the kids had a great time and could probably have done that for most of the morning but we had to move on to other things.

Next our guide showed off the animals that live on the farm. The goats were fun to watch but the 2 animals Lily liked best were the chick and the bunny. Here she is petting the little chick.

And here she is petting the baby bunny.

We also saw some cows and pigs. Lily and her friend Ava didn't like the smells in the barn at all and we had to almost force them to stay with the class and listen to the guide. Luckily we weren't in there for long.

After the barn we went and had a little snack. Donuts and juice. Surprisingly, Lily didn't like the donuts at all, so I had to finish hers :)

Up next was the hayride. Lily loved sitting next to her best friend, Cuyler.

When the hayride was done we went into the greenhouse and all the kids were able to plant a flower. Lily and I can't remember the name of the flowers we planted but they were red and pretty. Here is a picture of Lily and the boys she played with a lot at school, Cuyler and Quinton.

We had a great time on the field trip. Lily loved seeing the flowers in the greenhouse and she can't wait to go back in the fall.....there was some confusion about pumpkins; she thought we were picking them.

Spring Concert

The elementary school and preschool put on a Spring Concert for the parents. The preschoolers participated in only a couple songs but did really well. It amazed me how little Lily looked when she was up there singing.

3's Preschool Graduation 2010

Lily chose to have Daddy come to her last day of preschool. She was so excited to have him go with her. The class sang some of their songs for the parents. Here they are all lined up ready to sing.

Lily loved doing the motions to the songs. She gets so proud of herself and loves the attention she gets.

After the songs the preschoolers were asked to come up one at a time and were given a certificate and a gift from their teacher. Lily just loved Mrs. VanDrunen and will miss her next year.

Lily had a wonderful year at preschool. She made some great friends and learned a lot. If she is in the right mood to talk about it you would get an earful =) We are excited that she is home for the summer and we know that when preschool starts in the fall, she will be very excited to go.

So it has been awhile

I can come up with a bunch of excuses for not updating this blog like I used to but truthfully it is just laziness. It is true that my life has been pretty busy over the past month but I could have made the time if I had wanted too. So, sorry to all of you who have kept checking the blog and I hope to do better in the future.

Here are some things we have been up to since Easter....

• Spring break for Lily....we didn't go anywhere but my mom came up one day and we went to see the butterflies at the Frederick Meijer Gardens



• Introducing our girls to their new cousins, Aubrey & Lydia.....they were born just after Lily's birthday but we had to wait a couple months to let the girls visit them



• Enjoying being outside when we can



• Mia turned 6 months old! She is 16 lbs. and 26 in. tall.....50th percentile for height and weight :)



• And attempting (and failing) potty training Sadie.......she just isn't ready quite yet :)

Last week we had a family fun night at Lily's school and we aquired some new members to our family, two goldfish who have been named Jasmine and Belle. This is our girls' first experience with pets so we will see how it goes, so far so good.

I just returned from a short trip to southern California to see my little sister graduate from college. I had a great time and hope to have some pictures to post soon.

Easter 2010

5 Months Old

Life has been pretty busy at our house lately and the blog has been neglected. But Mia turned 5 months old on Sunday so I thought I should try to post a little about her. We have had a lot of sickness over here in the past month, mainly just colds, but Mia did not like her first cold at all. She had a hard time eating and sleeping so she had took a lot of her naps in the swing. I love the way she is holding her blanket in this picture.
Other than fighting a cold, Mia has been busy trying to put anything and everything in her mouth. Teething is terrible for some babies but we had no idea Mia was getting teeth. She was her usual happy self, just drooling more. She has 2 teeth now, the bottom front, and she looks really cute. Mia loves her supersaucer and her bouncy, but she is starting to like being on the floor. She can roll from tummy to back but not much else.....she just likes to try to put her toes in her mouth. Mia also loves bathtime. She has started to really splash around and get mommy or daddy all wet.

Poor Mia is in her carseat a lot. She does really well and seems content playing with her toy bunny until we get home and then she cries until we get her out.

Mia is still a happy baby who is pretty laid back. She smiles easily and has a great laugh. Her sisters love making her laugh. I had to include this last picture because I just love this smile.

an afternoon at the zoo

With all the nice weather we were having, I was looking for ways to be outside with the girls. So a couple days ago we had lunch and headed off to the zoo. A lot of the animals were not out yet but we were able to see some of the bigger animals actually moving around. Ever since Lily saw "Lion King" she has loved lions, so seeing the two female lions close up was amazing to her. She called them the "Sarabi's" (that is the mom's name in the Lion King).

Lily and Sadie were excited about the mountian lions because they were moving around and were very close. They stood there and watched them until the lions decided to climb up the rocks and take a nap.

Despite the fact that she didn't see any of the animals, Mia had a wonderful time at the zoo. I think she loves being outside already.

We are excited to go back when there are more animals out....there are going to be some new exhibits this year, like baboons and a crocodile or alligator.

4 months old

Mia had her 4 month check up today and she is looking great! She is 14 lbs. and 24 in. tall, 50th percentile for both weight and height. The nurses kept calling her a little peanut and I guess she is compared to her sisters who were bigger at this age. Here are some little fun facts about Mia: she is now a formula baby, she loves loves loves her hands and must have them in her mouth all the time, she is ticklish and has the cutest giggle, her big sisters are her greatest form of entertainment, she loves standing up, kicking, and jumping...her little legs are always moving, and she loves to talk to you when she is getting her diaper changed. Mia has a sweet personality and smiles very easily. I think this picture captures that pretty well.

some pictures of Mia

Mia's last month in pictures....she has been feeling a little left out since that last couple of posts were all about her sisters...

hanging out in her bouncy is one of her favorite things
trying out the supersaucer....she looks so big!

tummy time

chewing on her hands (they are always in her mouth)

bundle of love

Valentine's day 2010

Lily's 4th Birthday Part 2

Last weekend (I'm a little late in posting this) was Lily's big birthday weekend, so this is a post full of pictures. On Friday we had the Staal family over for dinner and of course, presents and cake. Lily loves spending time with her cousins and as usual, she didn't really sit still the whole time they were here....so we have a couple pictures from this party.

Lily opening her gifts
and her 2nd Sleeping Beauty Valentine's Princess cake.

On Saturday we went out for Lily's birthday dinner....we always let the birthday person pick where they want to go and Lily picked McDonalds. And it had to be the one with the playland :)

Here is the birthday girl waiting for her dinner

Finally, Sunday, her actual birthday, we let her open some gifts from us. She loved everything and then we told her the last gift was a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop with mommy. Once we explained what that meant, she was very excited. Lily and I had a great time creating her new friend and because it was a birthday gift, we let her get an outfit for her new friend too. She can't wait to go back. Ok, here are more pictures from her day.

Lily with her gifts
(she posed for this & thought it looked great)
loving her new shirt from Mia

jumping for joy in her new rain boots

posing with her new friend, Ranna