brink christmas

christmas day afternoon we headed over to jill and tim's house for our brink christmas.  though it was hard to pull ledger away from his stash of new toys, he came around when we told him that he would get to see mema, papa, and his cousins! 
this year we made it a bit easier on everyone and didn't have a big dinner together, instead everyone brought appetizers and desserts, which was really yummy and we still ended up full with plenty extra!
mema had even planned out a few fun gift games for the kids, which ledger didn't understand but was super thrilled when he won one or two!  papa still isn't feeling too well, but he was a champ and stuck with it through out the evening.  eventually we got to the gifts and it was a lot of fun to give out the different prizes we had picked out for all the nieces and nephew, as well as the rest of the family.  ledger was very pleased with his haul too.
it was a really nice time- its always great to spend some time with family, especially when there are gifts involved!
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christmas morn prizes!

it begins- the onslaught of christmas gifts!  our little boy was just about vibrating with excitement, he could hardly stand himself!  since we have the entire morning to do this, we made sure we took our time with opening the gifts.  ledge would pick one out, bring it to the center of the living room, and then dig in!  as each prize was opened he would spend some time playing with it and checking it all out.  when he was satisfied with that one, we repeat the whole process.  our lucky boy had enough under the tree that it took him a good three hours to get everything unwrapped!  his current obsession with robots and crafts led to a lot of his bounty, which he was more than thrilled with...
at one point diana and i even gave each other gifts, which took about 4 minutes, then back to ledger's loot!  once the whole tree was empty, he gathered all his prizes together and like a proud king, surveyed his new kingdom.
he was well pleased.
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christmas morn rolls

shockingly, ledger actually slept in!  what are the chances? the one morning where we fully expect him to up outrageously early, and the boy sleeps in!
when he finally rouses out of bed, he comes running in to let us know the good news: santa came last night!
he was so excited to open his prizes, but we reminded him he needs to wait, because we first need to make some delicious cinnamon rolls!  granted, this is actually diana's favorite part of christmas morning...
it was killing him the whole time he had to wait while they baked in the oven, but once we got them out, smelled them, and dug in- that made it all worth it!  we only make cinimmon rolls once a year, so its a rather special treat, well worth the wait.
but now that our bellies are full- lets open presents!
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santa's visit

tis' the night before christmas, and as is our tradition, we had ledger set out a special treat for santa.  we put out a couple cookies and a glass of water.  ledge fought for milk, but we figured that santa is getting milk at so many other houses, we thought he might appreciate having a glass of water instead.  you know, too much milk can really upset one's stomach...
it just so happened that santa left a special gift on the stand after finishing his cookies along with a note just for ledger!  check out his note here.

christmas at the lake

when ledger woke up this morning he was already beyond excited for the christmas fun to begin!  he gathered up the ornaments we made last night and was ready to go to grandma and grandpa's!  we gathered up our things and headed over.
there was a big crowd this year, with diana's dad, aunt and uncle, and even miranda joining us as well!  david, not wanting to miss everything like he has had to in years past because he's getting the feast ready in the kitchen, wisely ordered a feast for us to be catered.  we picked it up on the way over and got to dig in soon after everyone arrived.  it was delicious and we had a great time gathered around the table enjoying the food and the company.  ledger was even adventurous enough to try some of the dishes he had never had before.
once the feast was finished, we made our way to the living room and got to ledger's favorite part: the prizes!  it was great fun to give and receive gifts, showing our appreciation and love for each other.  clearly, everyone loved ledger the most because he had about a dozen prizes...
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auntie b's ornaments

we celebrated christmas with diana's family the weekend before the holiday this year.  since mom and david's house was full with guests, we opted to stay with james and barbara- which is what barbara and ledger would prefer anyway!
we spend the day playing and having fun with crafts, taking the dogs for a walk, and being generally silly.  we even talked barbara into taking ledger for an hour or two while we finished our christmas shopping for the family. 
one of barbara's clever ideas was to make christmas ornaments- from scratch!  she found a special recipe that lets you make what are basically christmas cookies, bake them, and then decorate them.  when they were all made we worked late into the night painting them and having fun together!  ledger stayed up till almost 10:30pm- which is super late for him.  he was getting understandably loopy by the end there...  but its a good thing we ran out of ornaments, because i'm sure he would have wanted to keep going straight on till morning!
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movie with the cousins

last year we went to go see a movie with the whole family.  this year we didn't quite get everyone, but we at least gathered up all the cousins and went and saw 'ferdinand'.  the movie wasn't very special, but getting to spend the afternoon with the kids was special!  we wandered around the mall for a bit, grabbed a bite to eat, and had a really fun time!
i'm pretty sure we've got a new family tradition on our hands...

swim night

with ledger in swim classes we noticed that that there was a special open swimming event at the pool.  we weren't about to miss that fun opportunity, so we went and checked it out.  it was really cool, they have a series of inflatables that go on the pool so the kids can play around on them, slide down them, and jump off them!  there were a bunch of kids there and ledger had a really fun time.  up until now he has only been swimming in the little pool, so it was quite a treat for him to be able to go into 'the big kids pool'.  we had a lot of fun and look forward to the next pool night!

the art hop

the old regent theater is once again showing a christmas favorite- that must mean its time for allegan's annual art hop!  our little town has this annual event where they have all the shops downtown stay open late, they fill all the other buildings with craft booths and art galleries for everyone to check out and enjoy the local artists.  we were able to enjoy the special night together last year, and i left work early so we could be a part of it again this year.
this year the theater was showing frosty the snowman, which ledger had never seen, so he was totally up for it!
after the show we got to enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown allegan and walk around town checking out the beautiful artwork made by local artists.  we picked up a couple christmas gifts along the way.
all in all, an amazing night with the family- what a wonderful christmas memory!
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deck the halls

one of ledger's favorite christmas traditions (diana and i love it too) is putting up the tree!  as is our tradition, we started by setting the scene- we baked some sugar cookies so that the whole place smelled like christmas.  after filling our bellies, we put on some christmas music and got to work!
each year ledger is able to help out more and more- he's getting to be a big boy!
the tree is put together and set up, and now the fun part begins: putting on the ornaments.  diana is always very particular about the ornament placement, wanting to make sure there are no empty spots on the tree.  well, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, because that's what ledger was obsessed with too- he made absolutely sure there were no gaps, even putting an ornament or two up, then taking a step back and examining his work, then deciding on the next placement.  a true artist at work, that's for sure!
once the whole thing was done, no more ornaments left to hang, then we lowered the room lights to get the full effect of our work- and it is glorious!  with the high ceiling and cool star on top of the tree that shines up, the whole thing looks just as amazing as we had hoped!  now we are ready for another fantastic christmas!
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garage band

nathan, ledger's friend from school who lives next door, stopped by and asked if he wanted to go play outside.  he was totally up for it, so he and i headed down.  we go to the garage so the boys can play on the scooters. 
the two of them had a blast!  they scooted around and played with some of the toys in the garage.  i have a cd player set up in there for when i'm working, so it was blasting out some music.  one of ledger's favorite songs came on so he and nathan rocked out along with the music and put on a concert just for me- nathan on the piano, and ledger on vocals, just rockin' out!

santa comes to town

with the christmas season approaching, we knew ledger would be all about it.  allegan, being the amazing town that it is, of course had a special event downtown where they had a ceremonial lighting of the christmas tree.  and would you know it, guess who was coming by for the special event?  why, santa himself was planning to be there!
we headed down for the late night parade (because, again, allegan is amazing and has late night parades!) where ledger even found some of his school friends to play with.
after the parade we headed down to the plaza by the river and gathered around for the lighting.  santa was kind enough to invite the kids over to sit on his lap and let him know what they want for christmas.
it was truly a magical evening, but really, at this point that's what we've come to expect from our little amazing town!
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hanging with tav

alanna and tavish don't come to town very often, so when they do we make sure those two cousins get to spend as much time together as possible!  the two of them are just a about a two years apart, but they are two peas in a pod.  tavish is about the only kid who can match ledger for energy- the two of them zip around the house in a blur the entire time!  as you can see by the photo, they certainly love each other!

loosing his first tooth

looks like the tooth fairy will be visiting us!  after fiddling with his loose tooth for the last couple days, one of them finally came out!  ledge was really excited about loosing his first tooth, though to us it feels like they just grew in!  i guess this means we are going to have to accept the fact that our little baby isn't a baby anymore and will have grown up teeth before we know it!

oh, deer

so, um... looks like i hit a deer.  i was on may way to work in the morning and i saw a deer running across the road.  i slowed down but figured it was ok because it had gone all the way across.  but then, as you do, it crossed back across straight into the side of my saturn.  dang.  well, fortunately it wasn't going too fast, so it kind of bounced right off.  i stopped and checked out the damage.  the deer trotted away without a scratch- more than i can say for the car!  we did get lucky in that it was only damage to the body of the car, nothing important was bent or broken.  i guess its no great loss, its not like the saturn was in perfect shape to begin with... its not really worth repairing, so i think we will start our search for a replacement car.

school fun night

now that school is in full swing, they invited everyone to come for a special fun night filled with activities and games.  well, there's no way we were going to miss out on that business, that's for sure!
ledger is still excited about school, so he was thrilled to get to go back and see everyone in the evening.  he has started to make some friends in his class and was looking forward to introducing them to us.
we wandered around the school, stopping in different classrooms to participate in the fun crafts and games they had set up for us.  ledger's favorite was the professional face painter they had- as you can see he requested a fish!
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leaky rental roof

there is only one good thing about owning a rental property, but there are millions of bad things.  chief among them is having to do repairs.  well, i got the call i had been dreading for the last couple years: the roof was leaking. 
granted, it is about time, the roof had been replaced just a year or two before i got the place, so that means it had been almost 17 years since it was last shingled.  they say a roof should last between 15 and 20 years, so this was almost exactly between those two figures. 
i headed down to check it out, fearing the worst.  thankfully it wasn't quite as bad as i was expecting.  there was a wet spot on the ceiling that was dripping, but a little repair work inside and a gigantic tarp on the outside, and we were all set!  granted, this isn't really fixing the problem, but i'll let future me worry about that...

trick or treatin' ghosty!

it's ledger's favorite day of the year- he's been waiting 264 days for this: its halloween!  and now that school is out, it's time to go out trick-r-treatin!  he picked out his costume about 263 days ago, so he is certainly ready and eager to get out there and do his thing.  diana and i spend the afternoon (or at least the last 5 minutes of it) putting together our costumes and now we are ready to go out and get some candy! 
we wandered around town, up and down some of the busier streets, finding some great places get get some sugary goodness and fill ledger's basket with treats.  we stopped by the fire department and made crafts for a bit too.  by the end of the night our little ghosty was sugared up, worn out, and about as content as a boy can be!  when we got back to the house he poured out his loot and picked out one or two of his favorites to enjoy, but it was soon time for bed.  for once it was a welcome rest for an exhausted ghosty.  he had a blast- and can't wait for the next halloween!
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halloween parade

ledge decided he wanted to dress up as a ghosty for halloween this year, and since they had a special halloween day at school, that meant wearing his costume to school as well.  at the beginning of the year the teacher had a sign up sheet for parents to volunteer to come in and help out with one of the special days through out the year, so diana and i, knowing how much halloween means to ledger, volunteered to come in that day and bring treats.  well, that day is today, so we got some yummy treats and got to spend a little extra time with our little ghosty!  the kids were all dressed up and had a blast doing a costume parade through the different classrooms to show off their fun costumes.
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carvin' pumpkins

now that we've got the pumpkins, the next step is to carve them, right?  we dug right in as soon as we got home and made the best chock-o-lanterns that we could!  ledge wasn't so keen on the messy part of cleaning them out, but he was eager to draw out the faces he had in mind for them!  since he's only five, i took the knife cutting duties and made the faces to his exact specifications.  he was very pleased with the results and was excited to put lights inside them to see how they would look at night.  we lugged them into the bathroom (the darkest room in the house), and tried them with a light to see how they would look.  ledge was quite pleased with the results and both of them got the thumbs up.  now we are ready for halloween!

pickin' pumpkins

one of the guys at work grew up in the allegan area, so i like to ask him from time to time about local things.  as halloween is almost upon us, i asked him where the best place would be to get pumpkins from.  he told us about gene the pumpkin man!  apparently he's a local icon around these parts and if you want good pumpkins, then there's no one better than ol' gene.  not wanting to miss out on such a wonderful opportunity, we headed down there at our first opportunity!  it was a little bit rainy when we headed over, but figuring it was fall, that was about the weather one would expect.
as we pulled up to the pumpkin farm, the first thing ledger noticed was how everything was orange- and he was delighted! 
we picked out a couple nice pumpkins, including a few little gourds just for fun, and even got a chance to talk with gene himself.  the farm was fun to visit and the pumpkins were top-notch, so we will definitely make this a regular visit from here on out!
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diana is so hot!

every once in a while i just realize how lucky i am to have such a hot wife.  sure, she's so much more than that, of course, but she is super hot too!

future tigershark

ledger did pretty well over the summer with swimming at sandy pines, but we figured it might be a good idea to have him practice his swimming skills over the year to get him ready for next summer.  well, it just so happens that allegan has a swimming pool at the high school and offers swimming classes all year long to make sure kids are fully trained.  what luck!  well, now that leger is in swim class, he is all about the swim team life- he is pretty sure he's on the allegan swim team and has been calling himself a tigershark and thinks he's pretty much on the swim team himself.  granted, he may one day be on the swim team (he does have the sleek body for it), but i'm pretty sure level one of swim class for children does not qualify you.  at least not yet...

jon's baby

well, look who is a daddy again.  jon and allison were in the hospital celebrating the birth of their second girl, so i gave aaron a call and the two of us headed over to congratulate them and see the new bundle of joy!  jo-jo was as cute as can be and jon was beaming about the whole thing.  as we were talking to jon he shared with us that his car had some issues down in the parking garage, so aaron was all about that!  its always helpful to have someone who knows how to fix a car- even at the birth of your second child!  aaron got the car running again, which was a welcome relief for jon, who had a little bit bigger issues on his mind...

sailor pride

my nephew jackson has always been athletic, and now that he's in on the south christian freshman football team!  well, this certainly warranted us to come and support our favorite sailor!  ledger and i braved the summer heat (and boy, was it hot that day!) and went to a game against the wayland team. 
jack did a fantastic job, even scoring a goal!  ledger wasn't so interested in the game, but he was all about that concession stand!
after the game, jackson was sweet enough to pour attention on ledger after the game.  it was a special day for jackson- is first goal! and yet he made sure ledger felt special.  now that's a great cousin!
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lets zoo this

this year we had a membership to the grand rapids museum.  one of the perks of being a member is that it includes a free visit to some of the surrounding museums in west michigan.  september there is a free pass for the sky zoo in kalamazoo.  ledger and i had gone there for a field strip last year, but ledger has been eager to go back, and diana was interested in checking it out as well. 
he had a great time checking out all the exhibits, but most of all ledger just wanted to go on the rides!  we joined him, of course, and had a great time there.  we will definitely be back!
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oil you could ever want

one of diana's new interests is essential oils.  yeah, i know, her and everyone else in the country!  well, one of her new friends is someone who sells oils, so diana ordered a starter kit from her and it arrived today!  its like christmas morn for diana, she is so thrilled to open it up and check out what she got.  apparently the starter kits sometimes have different scents, so she was really eager to see what she got.  there were a few she wanted that weren't in there, but she was very excited about the unexpected surprises in their as well. 
looks like our house is going to be smelling pretty good for the next few months!

first day of kindergarten

here it is- today is the day.  it's ledger's first day of kindergarten!  we've been preparing him all summer for the changes coming, and now today they have come!  he has been very nervous about the change- this is a different school than preschool, with all different kids, and a totally different schedule.  he has been playing it cool for the past couple weeks, but he definitely has some anxiety about starting. 
diana and i both got up extra early so we could savoir the morning with him, answer any questions, talk about the possibilities of the day.
we made him a big breakfast: waffles with peanut butter and bananas.  don't want the little guy getting hungry on his first day!  we talked through with him what he was going to be doing, how the drop off was going to go, how we were going to see him at the end of the day and pick him up; just kind of go over everything so he wasn't too worried. 
he picked out his clothes for the first day and when he got them on he was feeling pretty good, it helped melt away some of the worry he had for the day.  he got his minion backpack, some new duds on- this boy is ready for the first day of kindergarten!
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second hand print

with another school year upon us, it was time to pull out our hand print board.  last year before ledger started preschool i decided we needed to do something a little pinteresty: we got a wood board and are planning to have ledger make a hand print on it just before the first day of school every year until he graduates from 12th grade!  that means there will be 14 hand prints on it, charting his growth from preschool to senior in high school.  kinda sappy crafting, but we think it will be pretty cool.  with kindergarten less than a week away, we stopped by the craft store and got a new paint color.  this year he picked yellow, which i'm pretty sure was heavily influenced by his obsession with minions!  we made the hand print on the board and then proceeded to make a good ol' mess with the paint- which ledger loved!
this will be a really neat one to see when he's all done.  (here's the link to last year's post about when we started it)

sandy with friends

we invited miranda, levi, and lissa to come by for one last hurrah before the end of the summer.  they came by for a visit out to sandy pines.  my parents were kind enough to host them, making a delicious meal and everything!  sandy had a fun fireworks display, so we stayed out nice and late, which ledger really loved!
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kindergarten open house

as the summer winds to a close, the reality that our boy is going to be going to kindergarten is starting to set in.  his school had an open house so we went.  ledger was really excited to see his new classroom and meet his new teacher, diana and i were a excited as well and eager to see what his new school was going to be like.  we got to meet his teacher and she is wonderful- it will be a good fit for our lil' active kid!  ledge is really excited for the school year to start- i know that won't always be the case, so we are going to enjoy it while we can...