December 20, 2008 - Hager Christmas 2008

As is tradition, the Hager family celebrated Christmas together the Saturday before Christmas. It seems to work well this way, as no one has other commitments that day and come ready for our traditional feast of ham, Christmas Bread, and mom's infamous Pretzel Dessert - a hit for many.

After dinner, we opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed their gifts as well as each other's company.

Dec 6-7, 2008 Winter and Holiday Fun
I decided to take a break from re-living our summer time memories to post a few more current, festive and timely adventures of the season. I figure there will be plenty of blah, cold days this winter when remembering summer activities will be a welcome escape.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing in the snow, decorating the Van Wesep Christmas Tree and our attempts at getting some good Christmas Portraits. Put it this way - the picture below is the best "group" picture we were able to get. To put it bluntly - you won't be seeing a group picture on our Christmas Card this year.

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See Sam Sit! ....OR NOT!
August 15 and 20, 2008

Sam kept stealing Allison's saucer chair and making her quite angry. He apparently liked having "a seat of his own". So, I thought I would bring up Nicholas' old rocking chair. (This rocking chair used to be his cousin Micah's and maybe even a generation before that and was recovered by his Grandpa and Grandma Van Wesep and given to Nicholas as a gift when he was younger.) Initially, Sam thought this was great as he loves to "rock, rock". Well, apparently this old rocking chair is not equipped to handle Sam's rocking as you can see below.



A couple of days later, I went to get something out of the freezer and Sam refused to let me close the door. This is why.... he needed a place to sit to drink his juice. The desire to drink his juice in the freezer lasted for about a week, before he moved onto something else.

August 8-11, 2008
River Farm Campground

We thought it would be fun to camp near Pentwater. We could visit Uncle Bruce and Aunt Judy, take a day trip down to Silver Lake and another possible day trip up to Ludington. Because these were both locations we wanted to spend time at and camping sites are either hard to find or expensive in the actual areas themselves- we found this nice little campground just outside Pentwater.

What we didn't anticipate happening was the breakdown of our vehicle in route. Thankfully, mom and dad had arrived earlier in the afternoon and were completely set up. I was able to call them to come retrieve myself, the kids and the trailer from the side of the freeway. Paul stayed with the vehicle. Graciously, Aunt Judy (and a visiting Aunt Nancy) rode over the Hart to pick him up at the garage and bring him back to the campground.

The loss of our vehicle - also meant the loss of our ability to do the day trips we had planned. Our suburban was an 8 passenger, where the Durango is only a 7 passenger. We did manage to squeeze an adult between two car seats a couple of times to drive as far as Pentwater for some shopping and some mini-golf at Hill and Hollow.

We were pleasantly surprised and how busy we were able to stay at the campground. It was very small and the main part of the playground was the swings. I don't think my kids have spent that much time on a swingset their entire life. (thankfully there were 4 swings). They had several games available for campers to use free of charge so we played the washer game, etc. We hiked. Paul and Nicholas did some mountain biking at a nearby trail, and the catch and release fishing pond was a great opportunity for the kids to catch their first fish EVER.

We will most likely make a return visit to River Farm next year - and hopefully get our day trips in as well.

August 3, 2008
A Day At the Beach

We decided that with all of the camping we had been doing, we hadn't had the opportunity to do very many "day" trips during the summer. We were home for this particular weekend and the weather was supposed to be gorgeous. We decided to head to the beach after church. Given the fact, that the kids would be all dressed up I thought it would be fun to get some pictures of the kids on the beach.

Unfortunately, the sun was bright and hot. The kids were doing a lot of squinting in the sun, and they were unhappy with how hot the sand was, so the photo session didn't last long. I did manage to get some good, some interesting, and some crazy shots.

After changing our clothes, we had a picnic lunch and headed back to the beach for some swimming fun.

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July 25 - 27, 2008
Cran Hill Ranch Park II

Well, after much searching for our next family/extended family adventure we decided that CranHill was the place to be. Lots to do, and a great cottage for Aunt Barb's crew to be able to join the festivities. As usual, we had a great time together.

This time, we purchased an Buckaroo Package (at least that is what my memory recalls it being called). The package included a pony ride, 2 ice cream cones, free water activity rentals, and a tie-dyed t-shirt. The kids loved the experience and it was great to have the additional activites to make things different than when we were here over the 4th of July.

Gabrielle and Allison really enjoyed having "the girls": Tori and Lexi there to play with. (the twins are only 2 days older than Gabrielle).

We went on a hike with all the kids, rented row boats and kayaks (which I didn't get any pictures of) and all of the kids rode a pony. Nicholas wasn't all that interested in the pony ride, so he did the first lap and generously let Sam take the other, as Sam LOVED THE HORSES.

It was also Christmas in July - so the Grandma's all got together and spoiled the kids with little presents each day.

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July 23, 2008 First Haircuts

Despite my affinity for Sam's super cute baby curls, he was starting to look a bit more "surfer dude" than needed. So it was decided that he needed his first haircut. All of the other kids have needed to have their bangs cut by his age, but Sam's hair seemed to be growing much more in the back than in the front. I had yet to take a scissors to his hair at all.

Allison has had her bangs trimmed many times, but the bulk of her hair has never been touched.

So...it was 2 first haircuts in one.

My neighbor cuts hair at a beauty salon here in Ravenna, so I gave her a call and she graciously agreed to come by one morning and give Sam, Allison and Gabrielle all a haircut right here at the house. It was so convenient to have them in their own surroundings and be able to keep them busy while they waited for their turn.

July 12, 2008 - Allison's Birthday Party
July 14, 2008 - Allison's Birthday

Allison had a great birthday. The theme was Little Einsteins and she was very excited about her party.

To explain part of the footage in the video below - we kept hearing this weird noise the night before. We thought that there was something wrong with our air conditioner - it actually sounded like there was a bird inside it (which we knew could not be true). Once people started to arrive for the party, the concensus was that it sounded like a frog. Lo, and behold - Uncle Cory and Aunt Catherine found a frog trapped between the sill and the air conditioner. They used something to coak the frog out and everybody had fun checking out the frog for a while.
(The weirdest thing is - the same thing happened a week later, except it was in the boys room on the 2nd floor! In the process of trying to coax the frog out that time, Paul watched the frog squeeze itself INTO the air conditioner itself. So at 9:00 at night, Paul was taking the air conditioner out of the window because he was afraid the frog would get into the house. ).

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OUCH!

I realize that this will make my posts "out of order" because I am so far behind in my posts. However, this was the easiest way to share my experience this morning. (I'll probably re-post later when I get back in chronological order).

So.... Sam is at this phase in life where he knows what he wants but can't communicate it. All those of us with kids have been there. He had one of those moments this morning and proceeded to go into one of those "terrible two" tantrums because of it. He headed from the kitchen into the living room on a mission of misery (as far as he was concerned). I was in the kitchen so I have no idea what happened next, but the next thing I know he was screaming on his stomach on the floor and all I can see is his hand covered in blood.

Sam seems to get nosebleeds fairly easy when bumping his nose, so I thought it was another nosebleed. So, I went over to pick him up and when I turned him around I realized it was definately NOT his nose. His forehead was covered in blood and his head and hands were dripping everywhere (especially all over his pants). So, I rushed him into the kitchen to start cleaning up and am afraid to look at what is underneath. I finally, get up the nerve and take a peek and notice it is not a very large cut at all. It was probably about the size of a pencil eraser but it was shaped like an upside down 'v'. The more I cleaned it up the more I realized that it might not lay very well to heal on it's own, and the longer I waited the deeper it looked. So now I need to make that dreaded decision - does this need stitches or am I just "throwing the panic button".

Not wanting to make a wrong decision, I called ahead and headed with Gabrielle, Allison and Sam to my office. (One of the perks of working in a dermatologists office right?). All the way there, I am praying that he doesn't need stitches, but at the same time hoping that they don't think I'm foolish for thinking that he might.

The minute I took the band-aid off for the nurse, she knew instantly that he needed stitches. So the false alarm aspect of the trip is now gone, but now I have to deal with the process of having my 20 month old get stitches.

He handled the numbing procedure quite well, the nurses were actually quite impressed. He fought the fact that he needed to lay down, but really only grunted during the injection process and I think they gave him 4 or 5 shots. The suturing process was a whole other story. They had to put a drape over his face which he didn't like at all. My friend Paulita, had to hold his head in place while I held his arms. I practically had to lay across him body to hold him still. He fought, and cried and screamed almost the whole time. Then, to top it off, the edges were jagged and wouldn't make a good scar - so they had to surgically modify the cut to make the edges more even and get a better looking result. They took a 'v' shaped cut and turned into a longer cut, shaped like a crescent moon.

So...when all was said and done he had 6 stitches on his forehead and nice bandage as a battle scar. The minute he was able to sit up, he settled right down without even a whimper. He got 2 suckers as a reward, as well as a "Chicken Little" balloon (as the girls have been calling it), made by dear sweet Paulita by blowing up a surgical glove like a balloon and drawing a face on it.

I guess we can be grateful that we have been parents for 6 1/2 years and this is the first instance of stitches in any of the kids.

July 3 - 6, 2008 Fourth of July at CranHill Ranch

For years Mom and Dad's church has had their campout at CranHill Ranch every year, but we have never camped their as a family. What a blast we had!
Mom and Dad went out with us on Thursday night. So....we spent all day on the 4th of July at the campground. They kids got to decorate their bikes and ride in a parade behind a big fire truck that was spraying water everywhere. The staff had painted some of the horses to look like "My Little Ponies" which the girls loved.

Friday afternoon, after holiday activities in town, Cory, Catherine, Joshua, Shawn, Erin, and Owen all came out in their trailers. This is first extended period of time that the kids have been able to play together. Normally, it is just the few hours here and there when we get together for birthdays and holidays. The boys formed their own little "Boys Club". They would tell secrets on the playground, built their own pretend campfires and just plain ran and chased each other. They really melded together and had a great time "being boys".

The kids got to go on pony rides, pet rabbits, see the horses, go swimming, and many other things. The campground was full of things to do, including a hike into the back woods to get water from a fresh water spring.

Thanks CranHill for a great weekend of family fun.
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June 27 - 28, 2008
Stony Haven Campground

Again, in our quest to find new places to camp, we tried a new campground. We found it on-line and in the Campground Directory. The campground was small and basic. They had a few seasonals and some very nice cabins that you can rent. However, for us - it was just not our style. We sort of felt like we were camping in someone's backyard. The lake access was not within walking distance - we had to drive. The playground was fun, but there just wasn't a lot to occupy our time.

The weekend, however, was a complete success. Since the campground didn't have a lot to offer, we used it as "home base" and headed up to Silver Lake for a day. That was a GREAT time. We will definately return to that area in the future - but will probably try to find a different place to camp.

June 23, 2008 - Fun In the Sun

It was supposed to be a warm day, so I went out first thing in the morning and filled both of the pools with water. I figured it wouldn't take long for the water to warm up enough for the kids to have fun in the afternoon. I had set up the small pool for Sam because he still has a little trouble getting in and out of the big pool. What I didn't expect was that the baby pool was going to be the star of the show that day.

(In case you're wondering as you watch, Nicholas was grounded from swimming that day - can't remember why, but that is why he is not involved and can be seen fully clothed in a few of the shots)

June 12 - 15, 2008
Diamond Lake Campground

Well, we set out this year to try some new campgrounds. We wanted to experience more things and see what else was out there. Our first try at White River was a success, so the next new campground on our agenda was Diamond Lake Campground.

Diamond Lake was formerly owned by Steelcase and was run as a private campground for their employees for many years. Newaygo County recently took it over and it is open to the public. It looked like a nice little campground on a small lake where the kids could swim.

Well, needless to say we had a great time, but we probably won't return. The playground was very old and we weren't really comfortable letting the kids play on it. The roads were paved but quite hilly so it wasn't great for the kids to ride their bikes. If you camped in the back section I think you would get carries away by the mosquitos. We were in the middle section which was basically a small field with campsites on both outside edges and a bathhouse on the back edge. The one nice thing was that we were alone the first day and the kids basically had free reign of the entire field area, to play, ride bikes down the hill behind our trailer, catch butterflies etc.

The kids enjoyed the swimming and were able to build a few sandcastles in the sand. We took an afternoon to drive over to Newaygo State Park for some hiking along the river and to see the Croton Hardy Dam. We stopped at another Newaygo County Park called Sandy Beach to check it out, as some friends of ours recommended it. We had lunch there along the river, and then the kids played on the playground for a little while.

I must admit, that even though the accomodations of the campground weren't that grand, we had a great time together.

May 30, 2008 - June 3, 2008 White River Campground

We had so much fun at our last trip to White River, that we went back a couple of weeks later with Grandma and Grandpa. The pool was open this time and we discovered a nature preserve just down the road. It was a great place. There were several different trails and they were open to both hiking and bicycling. The first time we went with Grandma and Grandpa and took a nice hike. Then after Grandma and Grandpa left on Monday we went back. The girls, Sam and myself went hiking and Paul and Nicholas headed off on their bikes. We had such a great time.

We also saw lots of animals. We saw many large turtles that came up out of the river to lay their eggs, and we found a baby turtle waking along the road one morning. We also saw a snake in the water, several frogs, some baby birds up in their nest in the tree, a raccoon running into the woods and got the oppourtunity to catch many moths and butterflies.

White River Campground will definately be on our list for spring camping again next year.

May 31, 2008 - A movie producer in our midst???

I just couldn't resist posting this. I am currently working on a slide show presentation of our recent camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa. Because of all the camping we have been doing and add that to the fact that both Paul and I work from home every night it takes me a while to get things together and actually post. Anyway, I downloaded the pictures off the memory card of our camera several weeks ago, but I hadn't really looked at the pictures we ended up with until last night.

Nicholas and Gabrielle have started to show some interest in using our camera. We have been letting them use our very first digital camera to fool around with. However, Nicholas has been allowed to use our good one a few times. So, while going through the pictures and videos last night to pick the ones I wanted to use for the slide show I ran across this video that Nicholas took. I had no idea he had done this. I laughed so hard, I had tears running down my face. Perhaps you will not find the video as humorous as I did - but I had to share it anyway.
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May 26, 2008 - Memorial Day
Trip to Hoffmaster State Park
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Believe it or not - we actually did NOT go camping over the Holiday weekend. We stayed home and had a successful garage sale. Enough money to pay for next weekend's camping.

Since we stayed home we decided to have a picnic supper on Monday night, to add a little fun to the weekend. We drove over to Hoffmaster State Park and took the kids into the Visitor Center there, went on a hike and then found a quiet spot for supper.

May 16-18, 2008 - A weekend at White River Campground
Montague, MI

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Hoffmaster State Park
April 26- 27, 2008

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December 20, 2007 - Playgroup Christmas Party with Our Friends!

Every year we get together at "Miss Shannon's" house for our playgroup Christmas Party. We formed this playgroup when Nicholas was 6 months old. We started with around 5 kids, and I think we grew to 12 at one time. Playgroup has grown through the years as our families grew. Right now, there are 3 families with a total of 11 kids between us ranging in age from 10 months to age 7. Most of the kids are in school now, and last December, one of our families the deJongs moved to Kalamazoo. Now that most of the kids are in school our weekly get togethers now consist of the 4 kids (3 of which are mine) plus a couple of boys that Miss Shannon has for daycare. Even though we don't get together every week, we have managed to stay in touch and meet somewhere every month or so. Our Christmas Party was no exception.

Group Picture
Nicholas - 5, Kylie - 7, Carson - 6, Aubrey 5
Allison - 2 1/2, Gabrielle -4, Nyla-almost 5, Tori - 4 1/2, Arie John- 2 1/2
Sam - 11 months (Annaliese -not pictured - 9 or 10 months)

Decorating cookies

Sam got a hold of some legos as we set up to do a cake walk for our gift exchange.
Our tradition is that each child buy a book for our exchange.

December 19, 2007 - A Preschool Christmas !

Gabrielle decided she wanted to wear her Santa Hat to her Preschool Christmas Party. She actually left it on through the entire party. A class song....Allison loved being included in all the festivities

When Santa dropped by for a visit. Sam walked right up to him and put his arms up for Santa to pick him up - didn't even blink an eye. It's really quite amazing in my mind. To this day, I can not recollect any time, ever that Sam has been afraid of anyone. He has never cried when dropped off at nursery, and is very quick to request that anyone pick him up.

Allison took a turn as well. Unfortunately, Gabrielle was too shy to take a perch on Santa's lap.

Miss Monica decided to let Sam play with her cell phone.
He loves phones, and knew just what to do with it.

Gabrielle works on one of her projects - a snow man.

Snack time! They used frosting to hold an ice-cream cone onto a graham cracker.
Then they frosted the entire cone and decorated it with M&Ms.
It was a really cute holiday snack.

Allison was mainly interested in the "yum-yum's"
(Allison's word for M&Ms)