SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

One of my favorite songs from the movie White Christmas is "Snow". Well, don't get me wrong I love having a white Christmas. My kids love to play in the snow but I think we have enough snow right now for the rest of winter! On Tuesday night this week we got about 6 inches. On Friday we got another 8 inches. School was canceled and the kids played outside for quite a while. Mitch didn't even make it into work because the roads were so bad. We all enjoyed hanging out together. It was a great way to start Christmas break.

Even Mitchell loves to play!

The kids all made a hill to sled down!

Hope had to dig out the deer and the presents. They were buried under the snow.

Merry Christmas!

Pumpkin Carving & Trick or Treating

We had a great time this year trick or treating with the kids. The weather was absolutely beautiful especially for Michigan. When you live in Michigan you never know what kind of weather you are going to get especially at the end of October. This year it was 67 and gorgeous. The kids didn't even need to wear a coat over their costumes.

Hope drawing on her design

Digging out the pumpkin

The kids' pumpkin creations
They did a fabulous job!

Halloween at Greenfield Village

Hope getting ready!

Almost all the cousins.

Can you find the Batman pumpkin?

Austin got to push Meg all night. He LOVED it!

Collin & Hope with their cousin Connor

Connor has been trained well especially in front of the camera :-)

Snack time with Ava

Time to go home

School pictures

This year the kids school pictures turned out great!

Soccer Season

Austin played JV soccer this year and had a great time. Here are a few pictures from his season.

Having fun at Austin's game.

1st day of school

Here are some pictures from the first day of school. I have not been blogging in a long time so I thought I would give you a quick recap of the fall events.

Austin ~ Freshman
Collin ~ 5th grade
Hope ~ 3rd grade

Austin is "officially" taller than me!

Austin's 1st 5K

For the last 7 to 8 weeks Austin has been running/training to get ready for soccer this fall. Last week he decided to run in his first competitive run. He ran the Wood Duck Dash this morning. This was a 5K at Lake Erie Metro Park. The only bummer was the AVID runner in our family "Dad/Mitchell" had to work so Austin was on his own. He did a GREAT job considering this was his first time and he really did not know what to expect. We are so proud of him. Check out some pics from the race.

The t-shirt says "I ran my tail off at Lake Erie Metropark"
Cute saying!

New York, New York

Here are some pics from our trip to New York City. We had a fabulous time. We got to do almost everything we planned out to do. Some of the highlights were the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, Museum of Natural History (from Night at the Museuem of course), Empire State Building, and of course shopping on 5th Avenue.

The Statue of Liberty from the boat.

On top of the Empire State Building

Getting ready to go on a tour of Central Park

The fountain from Enchanted in Central Park

The famous Tiffany's from "Breakfast at Tiffanys"

Museum of Natural History

A new addition to the family

Our niece Christina had this precious bundle of joy on April 22nd. Her name is Megan Paige and she is just adorable.

Welcome little Megan

Hopie was a natural holding Megan

Collin didn't want to give her up

Austin thought she was sweet

"Great" Uncle Mitchell & Aunt Tina

Spring Has Sprung

M&M's YUM!!!

On our last day in Florida we stopped at the Florida Mall. We came across M&M's World. The kids loved it not to mention that the M&M's were delicious.

One fun day at Disney

Before I receive any hate mail, Austin chose not to attend the Magic Kingdom. He traded it for a day of golf with his friend from school. We brought along Hopie's friend RuthAnne and left Austin with her family. Works out great cuz she has a brother a couple years older than Austin.

This was our last ride of the day Thunder Mountain Railroad! Hope's favorite ride. As you can see in the sky a storm was brewing!!!

This picture was taken as we were leaving the park. I loved these topiaries when we walked in but it was way too crowded to snap a picture. Instead I made the kids stand in the rain so I could create a memory :-)

Fun Times at the pool and Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach Pier

Hopie & her friend from school, RuthAnne

Collin & his friend from school, Connor

The boys saw this license plate and we couldn't pass by without snapping a picture.

Collin's catching a wave

Basketball Season

Just in time for "March Madness" our family has come to the end of basketball season. Austin had a great time playing this year and a little added treat was being coached by his cousin Daniel. Collin had one game that they set up for the 4th graders and he had a blast. This year was Hope's first time playing basketball and she loved it. She was so sad to see her season end. She had a great first time experience. She played point guard at times but I think her favorite was just making baskets! Here's a few pics from their season.

Austin put 2 more points on the board with this shot.

Collin loves to play defense.

Hope had fun bringing up the ball.