Friday, December 28, 2007

To be Fair...



To be fair, I had to put a picture of the "other" important person in my life. I realized that I had talked about Jimmy and the girls and left out a very important person...my boyfriend. He is the sweetest little boy..all boy...but such a lover!!! It is funny how "proud" he is that he can call me his girlfriend and how proud I am to call him my son aka boyfriend!!!
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Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Few of My Favorite Things

Like the song goes, here are a few of my favorite things. I love my husband. He drives me crazy, but he is all mine. I thank God that he is the one I get to call "my man". He told me this morning that I am his excitement in life. Technically, he said me and the kids. I took that as a great compliment, hopefully, that is the was he meant it:)! Boy, is he mine.

This also another of my favorite things. I only have one sister in this world, lucky for me...she is also my coworker, neighbor, scrappin' girl ect. She (like my husband) can drive me crazy (ok, I see a pattern...yes, it is me!!!), but at the end of the day I also thank God for her. She is my "go to girl"!


Ok, this picture is extra special. It includes the most important girls in my life. These four girls love me unconditionally, as I do them. I am so blessed to have a mom that loves me...no matter what...and has always made that known. We have our moments of disagreements, but at the end of the day, SHE IS MY MOM!!!! I hope to be half the mom she is. My mom is a very strong woman, she has gone through a lot in life, but has always managed to keep love at the top of her priority list. These are my girls. Through thick and thin, I would do ANYTHING for them. They help define who I am...a daughter, sister, and mother. Minus wife, these three "definements" are the most important thing to me...so are these people!
This is the first family picture taken. We have been talking about getting a professional picture taken for years and I thought why not get one right here and now...in the basement! Thanks to Steve's cool lens, we could all fit in the picture! Of course, Isaac thought he would be "funny" and keep his eyes closed in every picture. You know what, it doesn't matter! I have a picture of my family to treasure forever! All of us, in one spot, celebrating together...now that is what I call Christmas!
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I love Girls

I love this picture of the girls in their matching dresses and CURLS. I take my job as a mom of girls very seriously:). I make sure they are dressed for Christmas (church) from head to toe. Ok, the curls maybe more for me than them, but I just love them. As long as they let me do their hair, I am going to. How can I resist?
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My Angels



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Getting ready for Christmas Eve


The kids were too cute! I found the girls dresses in October when I was shopping with Jodi in Holland. There they were 2 dresses in a 2 and 4 just waiting to come home with me. I thought I would have plenty of time to find Isaac something matching. Let me tell you, they don't make dark brown things for boys. I found some cords at the Gap and let him pick out a "Christmas" tie. I had given up! The battle was not over. They do not make brown shoes for little girls at Christmas time. EVERYTHING is black! They could not wear black shiny shoes with brown velvet dresses. Needless to say, I had to give up on that too. Ashley actually picked out the glitter shoes. She thought they were beautiful. They had brown bows and the glitter actually was the same colors as the polka-dots on the dresses.



I loved Alli's tights. She is so skinny, she could not even fill them out!


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Monday, December 24, 2007

Good Job, Jimmy


Good job, Jimmy! Not only did he take a picture of me with the kids, he actually got me and the kids. He is notorious for "background" pictures. We tend to be a VERY SMALL element in the picture, the wall (or other background item) tends to be the subject. Not bad Jimmy, not bad at all!!!
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Christmas pj's or getting ready for jail????

I am not sure if we are getting ready for Santa's arrival or getting ready to do 20 years. The pj's are actually green, red and white, but look more like jail bird outfits if you ask me. The kids, once again, thought it was the greatest thing ever to have ALL matching pj's. Brady was adiment on wanting to be in the picture, but once he got on the sofa (for the first time) he could care less about the picture. Typical!!! It is always a treat setting my selftimer on the camera and running to get in the picture and have everybody ready in 7 seconds. All in all, not bad!! Merry Christmas!
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Christmas at the TenBrink's


Christmas at the TenBrink's was great again this year. It was a lot of fun to have Uncle Jared and Aunt Kate there too. Thanks for the drive over!!! The kids (Jimmy and I too!) made out like bandits. Cheryl made the girls these really cool "southern belle" dresses. Alli has more appreciation for it than Ash, but they both like them. Uncle Jared and Aunt Kate got the kids a really cool puppet theater. They have been bugging us to put it together so I know what we will be doing this afternoon. Thanks again guys for a great Christmas!!!
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Friday, December 21, 2007

Christmas Party Pictures




What a wonderful party. Thank you Mrs. Simon...as always it was great! What is this? My dad can smile!!!! He must be proud to be "a poppy"!!!

Merry Christmas

Preschool Christmas Party

I have never been so proud of the kids. They did such a great job and sang so loud. Other parents even commented on how well the kids did. I love these "moments" of being a mom. I get so caught up in the day to day life, I sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) forget to take a moment and just love that moment. I think raising kids is a lot like your wedding day. You take months of planning (and LOTS OF MONEY) to plan this "perfect" day and then poof it is over. If you are lucky you may have some faint memories of the long planned out day. I spend so much time "planning" ( I use this word very lightly...as I am not a planner!) my day that at the end of the day I am not sure what happened. Did I even enjoy the day? Did I tell the kids that I love them? Did they do something so little that I took for granted, but really was a huge deal to them? I always have so many things going on. I need to figure out a way to take a breath and just enjoy them. I have been reading a blog of a lady that is very inspirational to me. She lost a daughter several years ago and makes it a point every day to love her kids and make the most of EVERYTHING because tomorrow might not be. I am trying hard to follow this advise. We will see how long it lasts!!!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Decorating Cookies with the Gilbert's




Here are some of the pictures from this past weekend. It was our 3rd year making cookies with the Gilbert's. It is always a lot of fun to get together. As you can see, the "boys"...aka Jimmy and Rusty had more fun making cookies than the kids did. In the words of Jimmy, "there is still dough left." The kids ate more frosting than went on the cookies, but the cookies still turned out great. I recommend making cookies with friends. I made some with just the kids on Friday and had a good time, but it was even better with friends. I think I have to relax and I enjoy the "moment" more when other people are involved...crazy Krissy can't come out:)!

Playing together without fighting


My animals are "teaching" my children how to play together without fighting. To bad they don't make glass partitions for children. I guess they might, maybe I should look into it:)! Anyways, Brady and Chevy played through the glass for quite awhile batting back and forth. It was really sweet. I had the kids watch...hoping through osmosis that this "loving" relationship would wear off on them. Oh who am I kidding, they all love each other, BUT they will always fight. It is what siblings do...right Jodi:)?!?!?!?

That Snow White


A few of my favorite pictures with Snow White. She was so sweet to the kids. Isaac still talks about her. Of course he tells me he loves me more and I am his only girlfriend, well, "you and Erica". I guess I will take what I can get!!!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

First Day at Epcot




I realize that it has been a month since we left for Florida...better late than never. Right?!?! I am following my sister's thought of not having a post without a picture and I have no pictures at work, so this one will have to do. Besides, I like the sun in our face. Poor Alli can not even open up her eyes. Don't I wish we could have brought that back with us. I like the seasons in Michigan, but I like to see sun more. These gloomy days tend to make me the same way. How can I be gloomy with Christmas right around the corner. I have been keeping up with my fellow bloggers and realize that I have more than enough to be thankful for. If my biggest complaint is the sun is not shining, I have to say life is pretty good. Everyone out there having a tough time right now, please remember what doesn't break us only makes us stronger. I SO BELIEVE this!!!! I know it is easy to question God why these things happen, but trust me He does have a plan. I remember trying to have a baby. I only wanted one, just one. Everyone around me was having babies and I had always wanted to be a mom, but it just was not happening. I remember making deals with God, for the record, He doesn't make deals:)! It was a very trying time for me as a person (the person with the problem(s)) and for me and Jimmy. It was hard to deal with the disappointment every month. It is drilled in your head at such a young age, if you have sex, you will have a baby. Jimmy told me he was fine not having kids, but I was not, which led to problems between us. I had always pictured my life with them. Eight awful months of driving to Grand Rapids several times a week, 3 months of shots in my belly and butt, and $20,000 later, I was not only having my SO WANTED BABY...I was having 2!!! If you ask me today to pick my favorite, I would rather die. Those two kids complete me...so I thought! To find out 16 months later that I was pregnant all on my own...CRAZY! My broken girl body decided to actually work...who knew? That baby (along with the Alli and Isaac)...that COMPLETES my family and need. My point is that you have to believe that everything will work out as it should. I remember one of my friends calling me and asking me questions about IVF and memories that were so vivid were just gone! I guess it was just a means to an end. God knew I needed Alli and Isaac together and they would "pave the way" for Ashley. They told me I had a 1 in a million chance for Ashley. If some asked me if I would rather win the lotto or Ash, I would so take her again in a heart beat!!! I am not sure why I just "spilled" all of that. Maybe it is because it is the holiday season and I have to remind myself how wonderful the season is because of those three kids. Their faces on Christmas morning are priceless! The wonder and excitement are contagious and I love it. I know there are people out there who question my "mother skills" and think I should be different, but honestly, how can I be? All I can do with these three miracles is love them. I have EARNED that right! Before I was a mom, I was going to be a great CALM mom, who did all of these great things with her kids, and they were going to be great calm kids. You know what, 1 out of 2 ain't bad! They are GREAT, calm maybe not, but they are working on it, as am I. I think it is great that they are confident enough in themselves and know that they are loved no matter what. That to me is priceless. Raising kids is hard work, to know that they feel loved is HUGE!

Ok, so this entry really had nothing to do with Epcot and it kind of rambled on about nothing, but it is something to me. Those three kids and Jimmy are everything to me. So my Christmas gifts this Christmas are once again my three kids and husband. I will let you know when the excitement and "fabulousness" of this gift wears off. Trust me, I have my moments when I would like to return my models for the "upgraded" version, but at the end of the day, the "imperfections" are my favorite thing about them. Those imperfections are what helps me grow as a person, wife and mother. Merry Christmas to me and all of you in Blogger world!!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

This is too funny! Thanks Shelly...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1160090260

They saw a sucker in me



Ok, Disney World took A LOT of our money and is still taking our money and we are back in Michigan!! They now offer this photo pass thing. Basically, they give you this card and have people set up around all of the parks to take picture of your family...the whole family! As a tourist trap waiting to happen, a mom who NEVER gets in pictures, and a mom who LOVES family pictures, this was heaven sent. When the week was done we had over 115 pictures. They let you order a 5x7 pictures for 12.95 plus s/h and tax or they give you the option to buy the all the pictures on a cd that you can make as many prints as you want. What a deal!?!? Don't you think? Needless to say, I purchased the cd and the posted picture is my ABSOLUTE favorite picture. I just love it. How ironic, there is no mom or "family"...just the kids, but there is TINKERBELL. You have to love Disney magic. I will post some other pictures of the family with MOM in later posts.