Paparazzi allowed in today!

Well we had another eventful day but before that Abby and I napped a bit with Little Mac until our first visitors showed up. My mom showed up at around 2:30 and we hung our with her. She surprised us with a special gift with a reading of an original poem while we opened the gift which consisted of clothes I wore during my Christening and another outfit that she had saved all these years. They are cute and we'll put Mac in them at some point in the near future because he's a big boy already.

Shortly after she left Melissa Diekema, member of the Papparazzi, showed up and we allowed her in to shoot pics of Maguire and family. She was a lot of fun and she captured a TON of pictures. We're anxious to see them so later tonight hopefully we can share a link to have people look at them. Thanks a lot Melissa - can't wait to see your work!

Abby's parents arrived again with Ashlyn for the photo opp so we got some photos with her too.

Melissa departed and then Jessie Brooks and his son Josiah arrived. Josiah was lookin' cool in his cornrows. Ash and Josiah are buddies from Keystone so that was fun. We went down to eat dinner with JB and the kids had a great time with each other terrorizing the cafeteria.

After we returned to the room, Brian & Kristi Neeley and their daughter Elizabeth stopped in with long time friend Nathan Potts and his son Elliott.

That was a lot of fun as the kids played with each other. Ashlyn began to melt down so Abby's parents grabbed their stuff and they were off. We hung out passing Mac around the room.

As they were leaving Michael Will arrived and had his turn at holding Mac.

Finally Jordan and Katie "soon to be in 28 days" Venard dropped in. We again passed Mac around until he got hungry.

It's been a great day and we're excited to see so much support and love from our friends and family. Thanks to all who stopped in - we've enjoyed introducing him to all of you. We feel blessed and are super grateful that you took time out of your busy lives to come and be with us. It means a lot to Abby and I. We love you all!

Enjoy the new pics with friends and we'll post a link soon so you can view today's "photo shoot".

Much love my peeps!

kw

One Happy Family

Ash meets Maguire for the first time!

She was so sweet and gentle.

She's gonna be a GREAT big sister!

She kissed him many times!

Finally a full family shot!

1.11.07 Maguire's Birthday Celebration

Poppa Spoelman hangs with his new buddy Mac.

John and Joann Aasman (Jessie and Katelyn)
We love you guys!

Darin and Emily Vandermolen stopped in for the party!

Calvin Webb joined the party when it was swingin'! Kyle's sister Heather and her husband Chris were there with their kids, Stone, Olivia, Eliani and Blaze. They all took their turns holding Maguire. It was super cute and fun! We'll have those pics hopefully tomorrow.

We got talking to Calvin and completely forgot to snap a photo. We're slipping a bit in our accurate documentation of the unfolding events.

Good times tonight celebrating MJ! More partying tomorrow!

PICS

Abby and Mac right after Mac was born

Kyle and Mac right after birth

Throwin Down!

Maguire is a big eater and sleeper so far! Yeeeehaaaaaa!!! He latched right on last night the very first time Abby tried and he just flat out threw down. So breast feeding has been a breeze for him so far which then makes him tired so he's sleepy all the time. Which rocks because he sleeps on your chest, or legs or pretty much wherever you lay him.......he's chillin!

I'm not kidding when I say you could put gel in his hair it is so thick. It's like a rug on his head! It's thick and dark - it's awesome! You could say - he's a Mac Daddy!

So far our visitors have been Tyler Emrick and his little honey daughter Ella. Tyler is one of my best friends and partner in a small business we have together. They hung out with us for a while and then Cheryl Sisco who works in St. Mary's ICU showed up. That was fun but we forgot to get a picture with her so we're going to try to do that tomorrow so we don't miss documenting all the visitors. Tyler is coming back with his wife later so we'll shoot his pic then.

John and Joann Aasman stopped down with their son Jessie and daughter Katelyn (Jordan was at school). That was great. John and Joann are our partners in crime over at the Keystone Eastside site and it was special as John made a point to pray for Maguire, his life, future, & faith. It was very meaningful! Thanks John and Joann ....we love you guys and Eastside has been a blast with your family. Looking forward to a powerful 2007 at Eastside with you.

We will be finishing off the night with a potentially big night. My sister, Heather and her kids are coming, Abby's parents, my parents, Mischelle Sytsma (who's been watching Ashlyn for us - thanks AUNTIE MISCHELLE- Ash thinks you are the bomb!) and our sweetie girl Ashlyn. That's just what we know of. There is potential for a lot more as we've heard rumblings of more people coming. We love it and keep on coming - we are enjoying your company. All are welcome!

We'll have more later for those of you who wish to read up on the Mac Yack Network.
This is your 5:30pm Newsline up date - I'm reporting live from the hospital room, I'm Mac's Daddy .....and I'm out!

Stop In!

Hey if you are at all interested in stopping by please do. Thursday after 12noon or Friday alll day. St. Mary's Hospital and just ask for our room.

Much love!!!

Mac Attack!

12:51 Maguire James slammed into Grand Rapids with a bang. Literally - once his shoulders came out he shot out toward the doctor - it was wild!!! 9lbs 7 oz. 21 inches - so this guy was a bit bigger than his sister, but has just about as much hair as she did. He's a cute buddy boy and we're grateful to God that he is perfectly healthy!

Thanks for your prayers and we'll have more pics up on the blog tomorrow. It's 2:30am - I am heading in to film his first bath and clean up. Abby is doing great but ready to sleep. He's nursing like a champ and we're hoping he's a champion sleeper like his sister too. Time will tell!

We love you all and are stunned again by the incredible craftsmanship and wonder of God's gift to us. We just passed Christmas and the "Stranger Than Fiction" story of Christ's birth. Having Mac just reminds of how awesome it is that God chose to manifest his plan through a little helpless child like Maguire. We are truly loved by an amazingly, humble and yet MIGHTY God!

John 6:28-29

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Today we find ourselves believing quite easily!

This Is Not a Drill!

"Paging Kyle Warmington to St. Mary's Hospital, paging Kyle Warmington. Please come to the St. Mary's Hospital immediately your wife is having a baby!"
Funny thing is we've been down to St. Mary's Hospital how many times? HELLO!!!! I got off at the WRONG exit getting there, then got back on the highway only to find that the exit was behind me. ARGHH!!!! Anyway - we're here and the doctors tell us it will be today. Of course we heard that last time with Ashlyn and and wouldn't ya know it she was born just after midnight just to show us who's boss. We had to change every sticker we had printed for the little cigars and lipstick we made up as gifts for visitors.
We'll keep updating the blog and hope to have pics up by tonight.........if he does actually come today.......ha ha ha ha ha!!!!
Thanks for your prayers and support. Hopefully not too terrible of a night ahead. We had 30 hours with Ashlyn so ......we'll see. Stay TUNED!

Guess where I am :)

I learned today that I've got a high pinpoint leak--leaking amniotic fluid, so my doctor sent me to the hospital. I've been admitted and am hooked up to an IV in preparation for my epidural and possible Pitocin. We'll post updates and pics as soon as we can! WooHoo!!

Still waiting...

I'm about 38 1/2 weeks pregnant now and pretty tired of it all! I'll spare you the gory details but at my appointment today the doctor said that I haven't dilated any more than my appointment last week (2-3cm) but that everything else is ready to go. All I need are some good contractions to get labor started :) Pray for me to be in pain soon! LOL! I'm really hoping and praying that I don't go overdue like I did with Ashlyn. Really, any day would be great :)

Here's a picture to satisfy anyone looking for more Ashlyn :) This was between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My grandma had made turkey soup with the leftovers from TGiving. Ashlyn can't think of anything in the world she loves more than GG's turkey soup!
I'd love to post some Christmas pics, but they were all taken on my mom's or my mother-in-law's cameras, so I don't have them on my computer. I'll have to have them e-mail me a couple good ones.

EVACUATED!

Well, we just got back home after having to evacuate our house Friday afternoon due to carbon monoxide. Talk about crazy! Our smoke/CO detector went off Friday afternoon and I called the fire department and they were out to the house within 5-10 minutes. As soon as they walked in, their tester started beeping. After just a couple minutes the readings were raised enough that they asked if there was somewhere Ashlyn and I could go NOW. I grabbed our coats and headed across the street to our fabulous neighbors' house (thanks Brian, Kristi and Elizabeth!!). I thought it would be a quick deal, but the firemen called the gas company to locate the CO leak and they had to turn our gas off. Brian and Kristi fed us dinner and kept Ashlyn while we headed to the ER and my mom headed into town to get Ashlyn. With the levels as high as they were in the house (they evacuate houses at 15 parts per million, 50PPM is considered critical and we had readings of 80PPM upstairs in our house), and after talking to my doctor, the ER and Poison Control we decided to go to the ER to get my blood levels checked to see if Maguire was in any danger. Fortunately we were in and out of the ER in less than an hour and my blood level was 3.4, where anything less than 5 is normal. We stayed at Kyle's parents' house Friday night until Monday night and then at my parents' house last night. Finally our new furnace (just what we wanted to spend money on right during the holidays!) is installed and we're in the clear. Praise the Lord we're all ok and we have great families who live relatively close. It's good to be home!!

Another peek at Maguire

Today we got another peek at Maguire. Here he is sleeping peacefully.

And here he is, rubbing one eye and giving us the "stink eye" with the other, not so happy that we woke him up!

It was fun to be able to see our little buddy again--and it's always good to get reassurance that he is, in fact, a boy! There was NO denying his "manhood"! We won't subject you to those pictures again. Besides, Kyle gets a little intimidated when he looks at them ;)

The ultrasound tech estimates Maguire to be about 4lbs. 12oz. at this point, so he's getting big! That puts him measuring at about 33 weeks and I'm actually 32 weeks. But I know from Ashlyn that just because he's measuring a bit big doesn't mean anything about when he'll actually be born!

Unfortunately, we didn't get too many really good face shots. Since he's getting so big, his face is pressed right up against the placenta, so it was tough to get a good look. But the u/s tech did notice that Mac's already got hair "nubbies", so he's already following in his big sister's footsteps--he'll be born with a good amount of hair. Isn't it amazing what can be seen with this technology?!

Kyle, at one point, said, "He looks like Chad!" At the time I didn't see it, but nonw I can see the resemblance to Kyle's brother in the top picture, mostly in the mouth I think.

We're--ok, Kyle is--getting so close to finishing up Mac's room! My mom and I still have to finish making the bedding. Here's a picture of what the bed skirt looks like so far:

Loyal Fans!

We hosted a party at the new church building to watch the Michigan/Ohio State game on the big screens. It was a blast! The only thing that would've made it better would have been the "right" outcome ;)
After the game we went to Coldstone Creamery. Ashlyn was the hit of the place with her UofM cheerleading outfit on!

Belly Picture

For those of you who are interested in this kind of thing, here's a link to a picture of my big ol' pregnant belly at 30 weeks along. I know my dad and brother don't care to see my belly button, so that's why I'm just posting the link! :) http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/abbywarm/2006-11-930weekbelly002.jpg

Halloween--Goin' to the Hop!

For halloween we all dressed up 50's. I had made my poodle skirt in college when I worked at Spring Hill, so I made a matching one for Ashlyn. Then Kyle went for the greaser look. He tried to slick his hair back, but it wasn't long enough, so he slicked it forward. When we went trick-or-treating, Ashlyn really got the hang of sticking her pumpkin out to get candy. Often she would then reach out and grab as much more candy as she could! Luckily people thought she was pretty darn cute, so she got away with it ;)

Surprise Shower!

Last Sunday we had our first "practice" service at the new church site. It went really well! Afterward, a friend of ours got up to make an announcement. She called Kyle and me up to the front and said that they wanted to honor Maguire's pending birth and she welcomed everyone to our surprise baby shower. We were totally shocked! They had pizza, cake, and all kinds of gifts for us--it was amazing! So much more than the gifts, we appreciated the love we felt from our church family. What a huge blessing to have such great friends!

I just love fall! The colors are so rich and there are so many great opportunities for pictures.

After "Laptime" (storytime at the library for 3 years and younger), Ashlyn was having a great time playing in the leaves on the way back to the car. I thought this picture reminded me of a senior portrait! Oh...those'll be here before I know it...

On Monday, while running errands, we randomly found this great family-owned pumpkin patch. They had ENORMOUS pumpkins for only $10! We bought 3 huge ones and a ton of regular sized ones to put at the new church site for our Halloween "open house". Our van was so full of pumpkins, it looked like the tires would pop!

Ashlyn enjoyed picking out pumpkins and was actually quite opinionated about which ones she wanted!

On Saturday (10/7) we traveled down to Battle Creek for Kyle's Grandpa's (Judy's dad) funeral service. I'm sure that it was a beautiful service...at least what I saw of it. Ashlyn wasn't able to sit still for very long, so we spent most of the service with her in the nursery. Kyle sang several songs and played his guitar. While it was a sad occasion, it was great to be able to spend time with the entire Vande Vrede clan. We all stayed at a hotel Saturday night and spent the evening...until the wee hours...in the lobby watching the Tigers beat the Yankees (WOOHOO!) and UofM beat MSU (YEEHAW!!) and playing games. It was such a blast!

On Monday we went to Robinette's for lunch and so the kids could play and see the pumpkins and watch the apple cider being made. The kids--as well as the rest of us--had a lot of fun! Here they all are sitting on the wagon that was made into a slide. The bigger kids were great about helping the little ones slide down. (L-R: Eliani, Blaze, Luke, Olivia, AnnaMay, Ashlyn, Stone) Ashlyn came home a sticky green mess from the caramel apple sucker that her daddy got for her :)

Our BIG Girl!

Last week I decided to put Ashlyn's hair in pigtails since it's getting so long. I just couldn't believe how adorable she looked...and how OLD she looked! Our baby girl is starting to look less and less like a baby and more like a "Big Girl"! As you can also see, she's feeling much better than she was a week ago. Although, even though she looks like a "big girl", she's still so tiny. At her checkup on Friday we learned that she's only in the 10th percentile. Part of that is because of the weight she lost while she was sick, but she's almost always only been in the 25th and the highest ever was the 50th percentile. Oh well; nobody's worried--just as long as she's growing at a steady rate :)

Family Pics

Looking back, I realized how few family pictures I've posted! So, here are a few of the 3 of us...well, actually the FOUR of us since I'm pregnant in both of them :)

Poor Girl!

It's been a rough two weeks for Ashlyn! First she started out cutting her eye teeth. None of her other 12 teeth have given her much of a problem, but these are some real buggers! Then, right in the middle of all the teething, she came down with a virus that covered her whole body with these red spots. You can see how much she was enjoying them while she stayed at Grammy and Papa's and gave Kyle and me a much neeeded break and a full night of sleep. After a few days, the spots went away but we suspect that she then began a growth spurt. She started being awake for less than 4 hours a day for a couple of days and just wasn't herself. THEN, as if that all wasn't enough, she came down with another flu-type bug that lasted about 2 days. And, of course, when we talk to the doctor/nurse, they tell us that the only thing we can do is give Tylenol for her teething pain because there's nothing that can be done for a virus/flu! Finally, two weeks later, Ashlyn's getting back to herself, but she's still not quite sleeping through the night, much to the dismay of her parents. I know, I know...she's just getting us re-used to what it'll be like to have an infant. But I was hoping for a few more months of resting up before Maguire is born!

I forgot...

...to post earlier that Nate (my brother) got engaged! On August 9, he asked Brittany to marry him and we all just could not be more thrilled!! Right now it looks like they'll be having a June 2007 wedding. We're so excited! I am loving that Brit is going to be my new sister-in-law and Ashlyn's loving her "Auntie B". I don't think I could've done a better job picking a wife for my brother. Actually, I think I remember telling Nate about three years ago that Kyle and I REALLY liked Brittany, but no...they were "just friends" ;)

I haven't wasted any time in picking out the decor for Maguire's room! Kyle and I decided on this bedding, although my mom and I will be making it. It'll be just plain black, white and lime...sort of like our kitchen, I guess. No wonder we like this color combo! I'm thinking his bedroom will be painted white with a few small/narrow stripes in black and/or lime to match. Should be fun and stimulating for little Mac, or MJ as Kyle has already taken to calling him :)

A few of you have asked if there's a story or anything behind the name Maguire. Not really. I mean, I liked the name when I was in college and heard it on a TV show (did anybody watch the VERY short-lived "Party of Five" spinoff with Jennifer Love Hewitt called "Time of Your Life"?). And a few years ago, our good friends, Brad & Lisa, named their son Anderson (Anders) Maguire. I, again, really liked the name and told Lisa that we might have to steal it for our son someday. Well, now we get to! Before we knew Ashlyn was a girl, Maguire James was the boy name we had picked out. We still liked it this time around, so that's what we decided on. This time, though, I was so convinced that it was a boy that I couldn't really even stand to think about girl names, so we didn't have even one possibility! Ok, so I guess that's a little bit of a story behind Maguire's (or Mac or MJ) name :)

IT'S A...

...BOY!!! Looks like we're going to have to teach this one a little modesty ;) Almost the first shot we could see was this one at the left. From then on Kyle and I just relaxed! We were so glad he cooperated and let us see, and we're THRILLED that it's Maguire James in there!!

It was so fun--my parents were there, Uncle Nate was able to be home for this ultrasound again, and Jim & Judy (Kyle's parents) were able to join us too! Ashlyn sure didn't know what all the fuss was about, looking at a screen that just had a bunch of black & white "nothing" on it. Plus, we weren't completely focused on her...what's up with that?! Ha ha!


We were so amazed at this 3D pic of Maguire's face and hand--usually at 18 weeks the pics look much more "alien" than this.
Kyle and I (the jury's still out on how Ashlyn feels!) feel so blessed to also now be having a son. We're so excited about all the new things that a little boy will bring to our family. Now we just pray that Maguire will be born healthy...and slightly smaller than his sister, who weighed in at 8lbs 12 oz!

Tomorrow's the big day! We'll be heading to Muskegon for the ultrasound after a day of hanging out with Grammy and Uncle Nate (who's in town for the week). And no, Calvin, there's no chance we'll change our minds and want to be "surprised" when the baby's born about whether it's a boy or a girl! :) I'll post the U/S pics on here as soon as I can, but in the meantime, here's a "generic" update on where the baby is at this stage of the game.

YOUR BABY THIS WEEK...Week 18
You’re gaining weight and your baby is too, weighing over 5 ounces (.14 kg), and measuring over 5 inches (13 cm) in length. What an adorable pair you are!

Your Baby: Baby's rapid growth period begins to slow down, but his or her facial features starting to form. Your baby can now yawn, frown, smile, and make other facial expressions. Taste buds have developed, and your baby can sense bitter from sweet, and swallowing reflexes are now present. He or she may even start getting the hiccups! Because baby's eyes are still developing, they're very sensitive. If a light is shined onto your belly, your baby might flinch and try to cover his or her face.

On Monday I had another prenatal appointment. Everything looked good--I've gained a grand total of 1.5 lbs. and the baby's heart rate was 144 bpm. I scheduled my ultrasound for Monday, August 21 in Muskegon. Kyle and I are so anxious to find out the sex of the baby! I've got less than two weeks to wait--woohoo!

Some fun beach pictures...

My dad decided to create a work of art on the beach. Whenever he and my mom go walking they find balloon strings, so he found a long/tall log and Ashlyn helped tie the strings onto the log. Then they buried one end in the sand so it would stick up. It was...interesting...and fun!

Meeting cousin Lisa!

At the end of July my aunt Marty flew from California with her newly (2 months) adopted Russian daughter, Lisa. Lisa is just a month and a half older than Ashlyn. It was so fun to meet Lisa and to see her and Ashlyn play together. They bonded almost immediately! It was so fun--we went to a garage sale and found a swim suit that matched the one I had packed for Ashlyn, so the girls had matching suits. Ashlyn stayed the weekend at my parents' house so that she and Lisa could maximize their time together. They would hold hands, hug, kiss, giggle and run around together. Ashlyn came home on Sunday night, then we got together with my mom, Marty and Lisa again on Tuesday to play at the mall. When Ashlyn and Lisa saw each other again, they got so excited and went right in for a hug. So cute! It'll be so fun to watch these two girls grow up together :)

Update on "Baby #2's" development

I get updates online as to what's going on with the baby at each stage of my pregnancy. Here's the update for this week:

Size Your baby weighs about 2.8 ounces (79 grams) and is about 4 1/2 inches from crown to rump -- roughly the size of a small gerbil.
Development At any time, you will begin to feel fetal movement as your baby's bones harden, and s/he starts a big growth spurt. Your baby has plenty of room: At this point, s/he could fit in the palm of your hand. This is a great time to be a fetus. At any given time, s/he might be playing with the umbilical cord (which s/he's now able to grasp), putting his/her thumb in his/her mouth, or kicking at the amniotic sac.

I'm so anxious to find out the sex of this baby and to be able to start calling him/her by name. We've got our boy name picked out, but can't decide on a girl name. Suggestions are welcome! :)

Hunting in the Back Yard

For quite some time now we've had a groundhog living in our pumphouse, which also houses my gardening tools. I hated going in there and would always kick the door so that I'd scare away the groundhog before I went in. Well, last night Kyle had finally had enough and said, "I wish I had a gun!" I reminded him that our neighbor, Brian, has one. Without another word, Kyle stalked across the street and got Brian. Since it would be illegal to fire a gun, Brian got his bow and arrows. I so wish I had taken a picture--it was funny to watch Brian and Kyle sneak around to get the groundhog. Brian got him with his first shot--the arrow went straight through the little rascal! After watching Brian, Kyle thinks he may want to give bow-hunting a try this fall :)

Spoelman Family Pics

Our busy weekend was a lot of fun! We had a great time at the wedding--it was beautiful! I, of course, loved hanging out more with Brittany (my brother's girlfriend); she's always so fun. On Saturday the pictures were a little hectic, but the evening was fun overall :) Here's the link to the whole album: http://oletimerphotography.lifepics.com/common/album/viewalbum.cfm?albumid=LP~5D035E00480155&p=1&viewType=Old enter event code "Dessie". I wish I could post a few of my favorites, but I'm not able to copy and past them. How about you tell me which ones are YOUR favorites! :)

Wow, have we been busy lately! There are some exciting changes in process at KeyStone that we're a large part of. We've had so many "dinner meetings" with people over the last few weeks that we're hardly ever home for dinner anymore! Ashlyn's pretty good at restaurants, but after a few of these "dinner meetings" I'm exhausted! Oh well, it's really helpful in the long run.

Ashlyn is so much fun these days! Last night she and I had a little movie night. We made popcorn and sat on the couch watching a video. She sat still for about 45 minutes...as long as the popcorn was in front of her :) She liked to occasionally feed the popcorn to me. And sometimes, when she put some in my mouth, I'd hold it in my lips and then feed it to her that way. She thought that was the funniest thing! It was a fun little special bonding time for us while Kyle was at his mens group.

Wednesday night Uncle Nate and "Aunt" Brittany came home from San Diego and Ashlyn was at the airport to greet them. While we waited for their plane to come in, we sat (with Grammy and Papa) outside and watched the cars go by. We happened to be sitting right by a stop sign and every time a car stopped, Ashlyn waved to them. She was like the unofficial airport greeter! She's one social girl--she had to "meet" everyone else who was waiting to meet passengers. When Nate and Brittany got off the plane, Ashlyn ran right toward them. She was up way past her bedtime (their flight came in at 9:30pm and her bedtime is 8-8:30), but she was a trooper! Then she got to go home with Grammy, Papa and Uncle Nate to spend the night. She was able to play with Nate Thursday morning and have him give her a bath--her favorite!

This weekend is another full one for us, but a fun one. We've got the wedding of a lifelong friend of mine tonight, then tomorrow we'll visit with one of Kyle's good friends and her family before we've got our Spoelman Family Pictures and Grandma & Grandpa's 60th anniversary party. The pictures should be interesting. The last time we took them was 10 years ago when there were 17 of us. Now there are 25--we've added 3 husbands and 5 kids :) I'm excited to have some professional family pictures taken of the not only the big family, but also my family (mom, dad, Nate, Kyle, myself, Ashlyn) and my immediate family (Kyle, Ashlyn, me). Hopefully all the babies cooperate ;) We'll post some of the pics later...

Second Appointment

Today Kyle, Ashlyn and I went to the doctor for my second appointment. I wanted them to come to this one because we'd be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time today. The appointment went well and, even with listening to the heartbeat, it was pretty uneventful. I've lost 1.5 lbs since last month, my blood pressure was 120/70, and the baby's heartbeat was 168bpm. The nurse was able to find the HB right away, so there was no scare (like with Ashlyn, we couldn't find it at all at the appointment and I had to wait another whole month!). And it was pretty anticlimactic because Kyle was dealing with Ashlyn and I had to get his attention to make sure he heard it. Once Ashlyn's attention was on the noise she was hearing though, she did start to dance to the heartbeat :) Funny girl!
She's had quite the busy day so far today. She got up around 9:00 and went swimming with Daddy while I got ready. Then they met me at the Dr.'s office to hear the HB of her new little brother or sister. Then we went to take a look at one of the houses we (Renovation, LLC) are working on right now. After that we went to lunch at Kabookie's in East GR. It's a gorgeous day today, so we sat outside. She was much more interested in watching people walk/bike past us and crunching up her chips than eating. Usually she's a pretty regular "up for 2 (hours), down for 2" kinda girl, but we kept her up for 5 hours before she got home for a nap. What a trooper! I'm sure it helped that we were doing stuff and she got snacks along the way :)
Kyle and I have been working on the yard since we got home. It's SO overwhelming! I think that the wild grape vines and the raspberry bushes are going to be the death of me! I've taken about 4 large wheelbarrows-full of weeds, grape vines, raspberry bushes (ouch--they're so prickly!) to the back woods and I've barely put a dent in the island in the middle of the front/side yard! By the way, does anybody know anything about antique plows that people use as decoration in landscaping? We've got one that's pretty neat, but just not our style. I'm wondering what it would be worth. Any ideas?

KS Staff Retreat

Last week, the KeyStone staff and their families all went up to Pentwater to stay in some cottages as a retreat. We had 27 people there at one point--what fun! And I'll say this about the staff: there is never a dull moment! We left after church on Sunday to go up and stayed until Wednesday morning. We brought tons of food--I felt like I was eating all weekend long! Gene found a 14-year-old girl, Mackenzie, to babysit Ashlyn and Kaitlyn so that those of us with babies could relax too. Over the course of the week, we could do things like salmon fish, go on sailboat rides, take a canoe/kayak trip, go into town, sit and relax with a book by the lake or by the fire, and enjoy each other's company. This staff/family is so much fun to hang out with and we sure had our share of adventures!
Kyle was one of five people (Nick, Erica, Kyle, Tina, Jane) getting up for a 5:30am salmon fishing charter on Monday morning. He was frustrated to say the least that they didn't get much action, but they did end up catching 2 big salmon and a lake trout. The two salmon they caught fed our entire group...with lots of leftovers!! Nobody beat the Aasman family (and Jane), though...they caught 12 fish!! They were generous and shared bags of salmon fillets with everyone :)

Just relaxing at the cottage! Sharon and I steered the boat into the sunset...literally! And if we veered off course at all, we got FIRED!
One of our many adventures...on the last night, with ALL of us on the sailboat, we ran up on a sandbar! It was dark out--about 10:30--and we got completely stuck! After trying a whole bunch of things, Adam, Dave and Mark jump in to try to swim the anchor out as far as they could so we could pull ourselves off the sandbar. It wasn't working out so well, but luckily there were a few guys out fishing (why so late, I don't know) who pulled the anchor out about 150 yards for us. Finally, at about 11:30pm, we got free of the sandbar!

Another one of our crazy--not-such-a-good-idea--adventures was the canoe/kayak trip. 13 of us went canoeing/kayaking on a river that nobody--that we knew of--had been down yet this year. We were the "guinea pigs" if you will. Well, not a good idea to go down that river! I was in a canoe with Tammi and Ashley. And Gene warned us that it wasn't a good idea for the three of us to go together since we're not exactly "lightweights"! (the first of 2 times he alluded to that fact) But we wanted to go together so we braved it. At first it seemed like it was going to be easy...until we got to the first fallen tree. There were about 20-30 fallen trees that we either had to lie completely flat to go under or we had to get out of the canoe entirely to drag it over the tree! All of that wouldn't have been quite so bad if it hadn't been for the huge number of spiders and horse flies that plagued us the entire trip! About halfway through we thought we weren't going to make it back, but then the river started to get wider and there weren't any more trees or flies. It was actually nice--if not a little cold--for a while...then the thunder and lightening started! With three "not exactly lightweights" in the canoe it didn't really go all that fast. Luckily--for everyone involved--Gabby (9 years old) got tired of paddling her kayak and decided to ride in the double kayak with her dad. So I got out of the canoe and into her kayak and paddled my butt off to get back before the storm hit. It had only started sprinking by the time I made it back to the cottage, but I was freezing, tired and sore. Even though it was a crazy adventure, I was kind of proud to have made it back :)

You'll notice that Ashlyn isn't in any of the pics...that's because she was sleeping most of the time! I was a little worried about how she'd do with 27 people in two cottages, but I shouldn't have worried...she went to bed at 8 every night, woke up at 8, and took her two 2-hour naps each day. Some of the kids were bummed that she slept so much because they wanted to play with her :)

Even with our adventures--and probably because of them--we had a great trip. A true retreat with no work and all play!