My 3 Sons

Yesterday we went to Spring Grove Park in Jamestown to get school pictures of the kids. I didn't get very many of Levi, cuz he was just not cooperating very well, as you can see in the picture of the three boys.

Back to School!!!

Now that we have gotten back into the school routine, I'm hoping to keep up more with my blog, for those of you who have been complaining!!!!

Here are some pictures of my boys on their first day of school.

Ethan is now in 3rd grade and has a male teacher this year and thinks that is so cool. He also has a student teacher this semester. He enjoys school and learning. His favorite subject is Math, I'm thinking he got that from Mark cuz I struggled with math, however I am learning it all over again!

Isaac is now in 1st grade and is adjusting a lot better than I thought he would to full day, every day. He loves his teacher and has a student teacher the first semester. He was excited cuz he got to make applesauce in class today!

Levi is in 3-school and loves every minute of it. He is ready for school when the other boys leave and begs me to go to school by 8:30 when he doesn't start till 9:30, so needless to say, it's a very long long hour!!! But I guess I'd rather have him like school than not want to go.

It's been a while

Well hello again everybody. It sure has been awhile and a busy summer. I can't believe school starts next week. We've had some exciting things go on in our family, there is never a dull moment at our house.

1.) Mark burned 3 of his fingers at work on July 26 and he was in and out of Blodget's burn clinic for about 3 weeks. We weren't sure if he was going to need skin grafting, however the Dr. said his fingers were looking good and healing well on their own.

2.) We camped at the Conference Grounds August 2-9. A great time was had by all. This I would have to say is the highlight of the kids' summer. We camped with 11 other families and I think there was a total of 25 kids give or take a few. This would have to be my favorite year so far cuz all my kids are pretty self sufficient, they all go to VBS and I have more time to just relax and enjoy talking and spending time with my friends!

3.) On Wednesday, August 6, Mark and I were on our way back to the Conference Grounds in Grand Haven having been at Blodget for Marks hand and we were stopped at the corner of Garfield and Fulton in GR and we were rear ended pretty good. We need to get it fixed yet, but it is estimated at over $3,500.00. Luckily, we do not have to pay a dime for any of these incidents. Thank goodness for workmans comp and car insurance.

4.) on August 13 Levi had his tonsils out and is doing ok, other than not taking any pain meds. I guess they taste aweful, but I don't know why he wouldn't want his vicodin, I know I sure wouldn't mind it some days!

5.) Also on August 13 we got a new refrigerator, above the stove microwave and dishwasher. We finally used the wonderful rebate check that came from Uncle Sam!

Well it's been a memorable summer so far and hope to continue to enjoy some warm weather in the next couple of weeks yet. Here are a few pictures of camping at the conference grounds.

Hello again, sorry for the delay in blogging. We've been experiencing some major computer issues, like getting a new computer and then a couple weeks later the hard drive no longer worked, so I lost everything on that and now we have that taken care of but then I (my dad) had to reinstall alot of things, so hopefully now we will be up and running like new again.

Hope you are all having a great summer. We are having fun so far and we've been busy, which helps!

Well, it looks like I've been tagged 2 or 3 times but I'm only going to give you 5 interesting facts, because there is not that much interesting stuff about me!

1. I'm a little addicted to computer games and I love to play webkinz! My kids bought me a webkinz for Christmas so now I can say I have my own too! Needless to say with my computer down for ahile I was in withdraw but it gave me the opportunity to do a little cleaning around my house. That leads to number 2

2. I hate cleaning. I love to have a clean house, but I'm not the best housekeeper in the world. So. . . if any of you are looking to clean for free, give me a call. I'd rather play with my kids, play on the computer, or read, anything other than cleaning.

3. I love to scrapbook! I would love to have more time for this, however that is pretty near impossible cuz I hate hauling out all of my stuff to work on it for an hour or so every couple days. I need a weekend away, how about you?

4. When I eat ice cream, I love to put in the microwave for about 10 seconds so its nice and soft and then I stir it up so its soupy and then I eat it. I think I do this because I have sensitive teeth and I hate biting into cold ice cream.

5. Because I live with a house full of boys and testosterone, I have had to learn to adapt to new things in life. Like. . . I love to go fishing with them as long as they put the worm on the hook for me and take the fish off! We also have the privilege of owning two chickens which we got from school. And I go canoeing with them cuz Mark made a canoe this past winter, which you will see in the pictures. Yes, I have come out of my comfort zone a little bit, but that's ok cuz I love all my boys and I want to do things with them and be a fun mom!


Some pictures will come later, cuz I'm running out of time right now! So long for now.

Savings Angel

OK, so some of you know that I'm a big Savings Angel freak now and might be a little sick of hearing about it, but it's just so exciting when you get so many items for a decent price. Last week I went to Meijers and paid $127.00 and saved $116.00, I had 35 coupons, and it's so fun to see the price get lower and lower. I got 95 items my grocery cart was overflowing and so are my shelves in the basement. Here are some pictures, that I took of some of my shelves, which may be hard to see, but it is so cool to go shopping in my own basement. If you're interested in checking out what Savings Angel is all about I have a link right from my blog.

Congratulations Liz, Rodney & Big Brother Landon!!

My really good friend Liz had her baby this past Tuesday and I wanted to share her with all of you. Her name is Olivia Marie - Isn't she cute!!!

Update on the Mommy Duck

Hello everyone, yesterday we found some eggs that were thrown out of the nest that have hatched. It looks like there are only three, I'm not sure if they all hatch at different times or what. This is all very new too me. Mommy must be sitting on the new ducks cuz we don't see any yet.

Toothless Grin

Isaac lost his two bottom teeth and he looks so cute,
I just wanted to share it with you!

Look at what Isaac found today!!!

While I was busy cleaning and vacuming the van, Isaac ran to me and said there is a dead momma duck in the back yard. So I went to check this out not sure of what I was going to see, but as I looked a little more, it moved. It was sitting in a nest that she must have built, which looked soft and comfy. She was nesting under the kids' swingset play yard. So now we have to wait paitiently to see the baby ducks! How fun to have our own little science project in our own backyard.

Happy Birthday Levi

Our baby is now 3 years old, where did that time go?? Anyways we celebrated his birthday on Easter Sunday with both families. Levi loves the movie Cars, so Cars was the theme this year and almost everything he got was Cars related - books, a beach towel, and a sweatshirt which he is wearing in one of the pictures. All of the cousins on Mark's side had to get in on one of the pictures too!

Pictures of "Baby Noah" and his cousins

The boys were so excited to see "Baby Noah" again. That is what he is called at our house. I hope Ross and Jamie don't mind, but I think it's kind of cute. Levi loves to touch him and he wanted to take Noah home with him. Ethan and Isaac have big plans already planned for their cousin Noah when he gets bigger, like sleep overs, sledding and playing in the creek. I love that they love him and talk about him all the time!

New Nephew and Cousin!!!!

Jamie and Ross had their baby yesterday. Here are the stats

Noah Alan

6 lbs. 9 oz.

19 inches

March 21, 2008

6:36 pm

We went to visit them last night at 10:00 pm. Noah is so cute and so little. We didn't get a chance to hold him cuz it was late and we didn't stay too long. We are planning to go back tomorrow after church to visit, so hopefully we will have more pictures. I can't believe my baby brother is a daddy!!!! Congratulations Ross and Jamie - he is so cute!

God's Beauty

Yesterday, our family took a ride out to Lake Michigan to check out all the icebergs. It was just unbelievable to see God's beauty through the different formations. The kids had so much fun "walking on water" and throwing ice chunks into the lake.

Peek-a-Boo!

I guess you can all call me a geek but I can't stand not updating my blog on an every couple of day basis. Sometimes nothing exciting happens around our house for a while, so I have decided that when I feel its time to update, I will find pictures from before I started my blogging carrer to share with you.

Here are some pictures of Levi that were just too cute!

Ice Fishing some more. . .

Mark and the boys went ice fishing again with some friends but had no luck. I think all the fish were sleeping. The boys had fun anyway. Enjoy the pictures!

Like Father, Like Son!!!

Levi is now going to the bathroom on the big potty, no more diapers except at bed time. It's been a week and 2 days now and is doing quite well, but has an accident every once and a while. He needs to be reminded to go potty, but is starting to learn to go on his own. I found him the other day like this and had to share it! He learned this one from his daddy!

Happy Birthday Isaac

Our Isaac is now 6 years old. He turned six on Friday, February 8, but it seems like when a birthday falls on a weekend you celebrate it all weekend long which is kind of fun! On Friday we went to Pizza Ranch for supper and Isaac got his own personal size dessert pizza and all the employees came out to sing "Happy Birthday!" Then we went on over to Crazy Bounce for some fun there. Mom has never been there before and let me tell you that could be an excercise program in itself climbing up all those slides! After Crazy Bounce, we ended up at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Pats house because the whole Kleis side got together and there Isaac opened up his gift from us which was 2 webkinz, the Kangaroo who's name is Pouch and the Husky Dog who's name is Mya like the dog from 8 Below.

On Saturday, Isaac and his brothers and dad went ice fishing again, but were out for only 45 minutes cuz it was cold and slushy, but you wouldn't believe it they got 1 fish and guess who caught it, yup, it was ISAAC!!!! Mom decorated his b-day cake which is supposed to be a soccer ball (please don't laugh at my decorating abilities) on Saturday night, cuz Uncle Buddy and Aunt Jamie and Grandpa and Grandma De Ruiter are coming over tomorrow for Isaac's favorite meal - Tacos!

We hope you enjoy the pictures - Oh! I had to throw the picture of my Uncle Steve and Levi sitting in the chair on here, cuz its not very often where Levi gives him any attention and I happened to get that on the camera. Hope you enjoy it Uncle Steve!

Sorry the pictures are a little out of order - I'm still learning how to work all of this!