June 15-17, 2007 - Church Campout at Chinook Campground

We signed up for the church campout this year. They go to a campground that turned out to be only 20 minutes from our house. We had a great time. People didn't seem to mingle a lot, everyone just kind of did their own thing and most of the families went tubing on the Muskegon River on Saturday afternoon. Our children are little young for that, so we took the opportunity to let the kids explore the 2 different playgrounds that they have, as well as spend some time in the heated pool (we went twice). We had a great time, and are so grateful to have the opportunity to spend this kind of time with our kids while they are still young, it isn't very often that we can totally dedicate time to the kids without being drawn to laundry and other chores. We will never forget these days.

June 13, 2007 - A Day in the Pool!

The other day was so hot, I was starting to feel sorry for Sam not being able to get any relief from the heat. Then I remembered this tiny little inflatable pool that I purchased at the "dollar" store when Gabrielle was a baby. I dug it out and filled it with warm water. I then retrieved our bath seat (which he hasn't yet taken a bath in) to see if he could handle sitting up in it. He actually did very well, and enjoyed his own little pool for almost 10 minutes. Is this Allison, or a drowned rat?
Gabrielle borrows Nicholas' mask and snorkel.
Sam hanging out in the pool, while gnawing on a toy.

June 8-10, 2007 Inaugural Camping Trip with the New Trailer.

We originally planned to take the trailer out for just one night, to figure out how things worked and what we forgot to bring, etc. before our upcoming church campout. However, as the weekend approached we decided at the last minute to stay two nights, and at the very last minute mom and dad decided to join us. We had a great weekend of weather, cool, but beautiful. It was kind of nice to know we weren't even going to try to go swimming with the cool water temperatures of Lake Michigan. It put a relaxed spin on the weekend. First breakfast in the trailer
The kids show off their 'zoopals' plates
The kids and Grandma return from their nature hike with buckets full of pinecones.
Sam plays for a while in his swing, he seemed to enjoy the weekend as well.

He holds the honor of being the first one to sleep in the new trailer, as he needed a nap.

June 7, 2007 - Let's Talk...

I just couldn't resist posting this picture. I thought it was so cute seeing the two boys having a little confab on the floor.

Sam is 4 months old!

Can you believe that Sam is 4 months old + a week. He is such a happy baby. Continues to sleep through the night, as a matter of fact he often sleeps 11-12 hours. He is picks his head and chest up very well as you can see above, and he rolls around a lot. He is often found sleeping on his tummy now, as he rolls over in bed. He has also taken several opportunities this week to roll again from his tummy to his back. This morning he actually rolled from back to tummy, tummy to back, back to tummy. Then he looked up at me a giggled, as if to say "did you see that mom?" He loves to play with toys, it seems to me like he plays with more toys than any of our other kids did at this age, at least they seem to hold his interest longer.

Doctor's Appointments

Sam had his 4 month checkup today, as well as Nicholas 5 year appointment. All is good all around.

Nicholas had his first hearing and eye exam. He passed both...his eyes are 20/15 with both eyes and one of his eyes is 20/15 and the other 20/25. He weighs a whopping 35 pounds (30th percentile) He is 43 1/2 inches tall (50th percentile) He just keeps going up and doesn't gain any weight....looks like he is averaging about a pound an inch as he gained 3 1/2 pounds and grew 3 1/4 inches in the last year.

Sam has made significant strides in his growth. He is up to 13 pounds, 14 ounces (35th percentile) and measures 25 1/2 inches (75th percentile). So even though it took him 6 weeks to gain back his birthweight he's gaining an average of 5-8 ounces per week ever since. What a growing boy.

New Trailer

As most of you know we spent last year camping in a tent with 3 kids. Well, this year we decided that there was no way that the tent was going to hold 6 people, so we started looking for an older pop-up that would fit into our budget. Over the holiday weekend we found one at a local dealership and we got to pick it up last night. We are all super excited to get to use it for the first time. It is a 1998 Camplite. The box is 12 feet long and it has a slide out dinette. It also has a porta-potti area with a shower, which will come in very handy with young children. Potty training, or just to "hose them down" before heading for bed. The zipper on the awning bag needs to be replaced but other than that, there is only normal wear and tear. Looking forward to a summer of camping.

Memorial Day Weekend We didn't do a whole lot over the weekend, except work on some projects...but it did finally get warm enough to warrant blowing up the swimming pool. Nicholas got a new life jacket at a garage sale (seeing as how he outgrew his old one), so he wanted to try it out...well of course, that meant that everyone needed life jackets. They had a lot of fun.


Sam hung out in the Bumbo seat, on the picnic table under the umbrella with mama.

May 21, 2007 - End of the Year Class Picnic

Nicholas had his class picnic for preschool at a park near our church. I was asked 2 weeks prior to chair the committee. At first, I thought there was no way I could do that, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that organizing the picnic ahead of time would be much easier that needing to do a lot at the picnic while taking care of my own 4 children. So, a weeks worth of phone calls and organization got the job done. However, I didn't anticipate that when the picnic day arrived that none of the volunteers just stepped in to take over their responsibilities, they were all looking to me for what do do and when. YIKES. It all worked out in the long run and ended up being a great day. The kids love to play on the playground, so we let them do a lot of that and then we had a few organized games.










We also had ours and Shawn&Erin's shaved ice machines and the kids all got to have a sno cone. They were a big hit. It was a cold, cloudy day, but the kids had lots of fun.

May 19, 2007 - Church Campout
Last weekend, we visited Grandma and Grandpa at their church campout. Nicholas and Gabrielle went with them after graduation the day before and stayed over night. Then we came up to spend the day on Saturday. Lots of fun, for the first trip out of the summer.

Over the past several weeks, Sam has decided to roll over. This newfound freedom has also proved to be very frustrating for Sam, as once he gets on his stomach he doesn't really like it much. However, the more he does it, the more comfortable he is getting with playing on his stomach and loves be able to reach for his toy of choice. We have had to get our "back sleeper" contraption out to help Sam stay on his back through the night, otherwise he rolls onto his stomach and gets really restless. He is slowly learning however, and has taken a couple of naps on his tummy.

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May 18, 2007 Graduation
I cannot believe that Nicholas just finished his 2nd year of preschool and is ready for Kindergarten. It seems like just yesterday that we dropped him off for his first day and he was only 3 1/2 years old. He has matured so much over the past two years. There were several moments that I really realized that he had no idea what was really going on. Several of his fellow classmates were also there last year, so they have been in the same class for 2 years. However, none of them are in our same school district. So when he sang "it's time to say good-bye to our friends" at graduation, he did not understand it like I did. Thankfully, several of his classmates do attend our church so they will still be in Sunday School together. Nicholas has two best friends in preschool....Celine and Taryn. What a little flirt he is, I think. Celine follows him everywhere. She also has a little brother that is only 1 month younger than Sam so we may end up planning some playdates over the summer. Check out excerpts from his graduation.
(I edited the best that I could, but it was hard to know what to leave out).
Click to Play

It was time for Sam's 3 month pictures, so we did Nicholas' 5 year pictures at the same time. As long as we were all there, I decided to go ahead and try for an updated group picture as well. Sam changes so quickly at this age and the package I purchase comes with an extra 8x10 so I figured that we might as well get a group picture every time we go.

Birthday Celebrations

Nicholas enjoyed a family celebration on his birthday, and then Grandma and Grandpa Hager, Uncle Cory, Aunt Catherine, Cousin Joshua, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Erin, and Cousin Owen all came over for a party on the weekend. We had lots of fun....check it out.
Click to Play

Bumbo!

We are borrowing Owen's Bumbo seat from Shawn and Erin. The first time we put Sam in it he lasted about 5 minutes. He is now making it a little longer each time and is now quite often enjoying his perch on the kitchen counter while I make dinner or empty the dishwasher. He has even joined us atop the kitchen table during mealtime a few times. I think Sam is starting to enjoy this new view on life.

May 10, 2007 - Nicholas turns 5!

I can't believe that Nicholas is 5 already. The time flies so quickly. He is turning into such a little boy instead of a toddler. He is finishing his second year of preschool and preparing to begin Kindergarten all day/every day in the fall. He is so excited. We are thankful for our children each and every day and so excited to see what the future holds for the coming year and years to come.

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May 5, 2007 - Our nephew Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party!

We gave Joshua a new turtle sandbox, we caught some cute pictures of the kids playing inside. Also, the kids had a blast breaking in the new basketball hoop he got from Grandma and Grandpa.




Joshua was such a cutie in his birthday hat!

May 3, 2007

What's this thing?

Sam seems to be getting to the point where he is looking for more variety in life - other than sitting in the car seat, playing in the rocking chair, or laying on the floor. So, I brought the "exersaucer" up from the basement the other day. He doesn't have enough strength yet to really keep himself from flopping around in the saucer, but when I tucked a blanket around him he actually did quite well for a little while. Finally, a different point of view.

Thumb Sucker #2???

Could it be that Sam has found his thumb?

Almost since Sam was born he has sucked on his hands and fingers. He has never really liked a pacifier. He has been especially fond of having 2 or 3 fingers in his mouth. However, the past few days I have found him sucking on his actual thumb several times. I think it is kind of funny that Nicholas sucked his thumb, but neither of the girls did. If this becomes Sam's knew "habit" it will be both of our boys that sucked their thumb.

A Wonderful Weekend to be Outside!

Gabrielle helps mow the lawn.



Sam takes a nap in the stroller, nothing like some fresh air to tire you out.

A walk! Last year, we had to purchase a second trailer. However, when we actually made the purchase we never expected that this year they would both be filled to capacity.

April 25, 2007 - Three Months Old, Already!!!

Well, time sure flies when your having fun (or so busy with 4 kids that sometimes you can hardly think straight). Sam continues to be such an unbelievably happy and content baby. He rarely cries. Occasionally, he will not get fed quite fast enough and will get a little mad, but for the most part we need to wake him up to eat.



He loves to lay on the floor and play. Today, he fell asleep right on the play mat.
When he does start to fuss- it just means he's tired, so we put him to bed and he usually goes right to sleep. He continues to sleep through the night 98% of the time, we put him to bed between 8-9pm and then wake him up to eat when we go to bed and then more often than not he sleep until 7-8am----what more could we ask for. Although, we don't have his current weight, he is definitely making up for those first 6 weeks of weight troubles.



The other kids love it when he smiles at them, and I think they are definitely starting to feel like he is a little more like a part of the family.