From our Elves to Yours....

...We hope you all had a Wonderful Christmas!

Crafty Creations...

The girls were busy after school today making gifts for aunts, uncles, and grandparents...There is no such thing as too much glitter, glue, and frill in this house!

Sophie's Seven!!!

7 years ago Todd and I were watching FRIENDS on a Thursday night...Hannah (almost 4 at the time) was all snuggled in bed...I remember how much fun it was that day because the baby we were eagerly anticipating was extremely active and I found myself laughing at the constant gymnastic routine that was occurring inside of me! Next thing I knew I stood up and immediately my water broke...Needless to say I was pretty freaked out because my due date wasn't until early February...After 3 days of getting pumped full of steroids to develop the babies lungs and holding off active labor as long as possible, Sophie Jane was born...Healthy and Happy and a Wonderful early Christmas present!

This past Saturday Soph had her first ever Birthday party with friends. She had a great time bowling and hanging out with 11 other little girls...Tonight she got to choose where she wanted to eat dinner - she wanted the Oriental Chicken Salad at Applebees...so much for mac and cheese or chicken strips...she's moving up to the little lady menu!!!

Lists, Lists, and More Lists...

Before I left the house the other night Soph asked me for some Post-It notes. An hour later I came home to this....Precious...

Happy December...

...Let the festivities begin! As I sit here typing, Todd is sipping coffee on the couch, Hannah is lounging on a chair still trying to become fully conscious after a long nights sleep, and Sophie is literally bouncing off every wall in the house. After being home most of the week with pneumonia I think she's feeling better! I now need to switch gears and start making my list and checking it twice - between school, work, kid's birthday, and other - I have agreed to either host or organize 7 events....what is it with me and December....I have a hard time saying NO!!!! It always works out and it is always fun, so I'm going in to it this year much less stressed then years passed and anticipating many good times ahead in the next month!!

The Day After...

This picture pretty much sums up the way I'm feeling today. I could feel the cold coming on for that last several days (thanks Hon for spreading the love!!!!) We did have a fantastic Thanksgiving though. Mike and Carrie and the boys arrived Weds. afternoon just in time for the dads to turn around and take the kids to ChuckECheese so we could prepare for the big meal. It turned out wonderful.....The only downer is I didn't take one picture! I'm hoping my sister took some because we had a lot of fun. The spread was beautiful and equally tasty.....A carbo lovers dream....Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Noodles, Sweet Potatoe Casserole (to die for I might add!!!), Rolls, Green Bean Casserole, Corn, Cranberry Salad, Stuffing, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie, and Apple Pie. Thanks again for the Turkey tip Brenda, it worked great!!! I hope everyone else had a wonderful day....it's amazing how much we have to be thankful for!

Turkey 101....

With Thanksgiving just over a week away I think I better start planning! This year my sister and I offered to host the day at our house....which means preparing a bulk of the food, including the turkey!!!! (No pressure there.) I have been surfing the web for different turkey recipes and have discovered that there are quite possibly 101 different ways to get to the end result... brine, baste, soak, fry, smoke, bagged, unbagged, stuffed, unstuffed...etc...and that all comes after you actually decide what type of bird to buy...young, old, fresh, frozen, dead, or alive.... I also realized that in all my years of married life this is only the second time we've had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This comes then with the realization of how lackst we are in the serving bowl, platter, fine dinnerware area!!! Luckily I had been saving my Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens-n-Things coupons...they're coming in handy! We'll see how things turn out - and as always, in case of emergency, we can call on the local Meijer for their premade Thankgiving meal for under $30!!!!

Can I get a lock for a pickle jar???

A handful of change and a Canadian $5 are not going to get us very far. I need to stop robbing the jar! I've discovered that brewing my own pot of coffee for the day isn't so bad after all....the kids wouldn't be very happy if the money in the jar won't even get us down the street!

Art Deco...

...by Hannah and Sophie. Thought this would be a great way to remember all of the things hanging in our pseudo art gallery (our mud room). I've been thinking I should take some of these down to make room for the new creations. This blog is turning into our family's techno scrapbook. I am admittedly NOT the scrapbooking type. I love the idea of it...cool paper, stickers, embellishments, etc...I have tried and decided it is something that is just not for me. My fellow blogging friends have told me about turning your yearly blog entries and pictures into a hard cover book....Sounds like my kind of scrapbooking!

What a life...

...Need I say more??

Looking Back...

...here are some cute pics from the summer...a nice, warm reminder of better weather on this cold and blustery day!

Nothing is better then good friends and peanut butter and jelly! (Look close at Soph's face!)

What happened to the one jumper at a time rule!!!

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The future of Greenco...Lookin' good!
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Our Team is Dynamite, Our Team is Dynamite....

...Our Team is tick, tick, tick, tick, BOOM, Dynamite!!!!!! Todd and I had the pleasure of learning about 20 different cheers thanks to the girl's participation in Rocket Cheer this year. We may even be persuaded to perform one for you if the price is right!!!! All joking aside, it was so fun to sit on the side lines or in the bleachers and watch the girls root on the home team....Brought back some fond memories for Todd about his playing days at good ole' GRCHS!!!

Way to go Hudsonville Eagles!!! Awesome victory over Muskegon last night!!!

Happy Halloween....

....I think Hannah Montana and The Hippie Flower Child gathered enough candy to feed a small nation....(Keep in mind that these are OVERSIZED freezer bags)....I'm glad Halloween only comes around once a year!!!!

So anyways...

....Todd said my original blog title sounded like a bad lifetime movie......I hate it when he's right! Little does he know that he truly is right - I looked it up - there were a couple of movies titled "If These Walls Could Talk"...containing some questionable material!!!!...Back to the drawing board!

Who said grownups can't have fun too!!!

We went to our friend's Halloween Party Friday night. It was so fun catching up with everyone....Here I am hanging out with Ellie May and Monica Lewinsky....Good Times!!!!

Unfortunately I didn't even get a picture of Todd and I together but our outfits stumped a lot of people.....That's what we get when we try to be clever!!! (Sarah G....you're really not a you-know-what....You're quite the opposite if you know what I mean! :) )Todd was fishin' for compliments....I wore about 20 fish all with different compliments written on them. My favorite compliment that Todd was fishing for was ..."You're really good at watching football!!!!!".....He is so into the game that he suggested I name my blog "Friday Night Lights".....I told him that he could start his own blog and dedicate it fully to his love of the sport!!!!

Here goes nothing....

After much pondering and procrastinating I have decided to succumb to the pressures and start a blog....Let's see how I do!!!!