A Day at the Park

A few of the things I really have enjoyed about living in Grand Rapids is having so much to do so close to our house. I grew up in a small town that had very little to offer. We had to travel anywhere from 35 minutes to well over an hour to get to any parks or beaches. And with the weather warming up I am now venturing out and exploring my new territory. I only have to drive about 10 minutes to go to the zoo, there is a park with play equipment suited for little ones a block away, or my new favorite Meijer Gardens is about 10 to 15 minutes away. This park has a wonderful place for children to explore. They offer a sand pit, a water feature, a giant playhouse, and also plants to touch and feel and info about animals. Right now they have their annual butterfly exibit. Countries around the world send Meijer Gardens cacoons with butterflies waiting to emerge. Its a spectacular sight to see as you walk in to an indoor tropical rainforest birds and thousands of butterflies, all shapes and colors, fluttering around.  I have now been there twice with the girls and plan to go back soon.

Photo Shoot with Daddy

I have been wanting to get the girls into Hunter's office to take some pictures for quite some time now. I tried nagging a bit to no provail, never worth it by the way! I finally decided to let it go and one day Hunter says get the girls ready we're going to take some pictures! Well it was lunch time and almost nap time but I bit my tongue and just got the girls ready and we headed out the door. Anneli did really well for about 3 minutes. Then she couldn't sit still. She was having fun running around the office, I think it was a game to see if we would chase her. The baby actually did very well until she toppled over on her face onto a hard floor. But pictures were taken and they turned out absolutely beautiful. And here is what came from my listening and responding to my husband without argument or complaint.....

The only picture of Anneli and Iya sitting next to each other, after this picture Anneli had a hard time sitting in one place.

This picture of Anneli looks like a movie. Hunter is an amazing photographer and artist!

Sweet little Iya, who is 6 months and growing too fast!

Thank you to my loving husband!

Almost March and still snowing!

Yes, it will be March soon. I don't know where February has gone. Spring will be here soon...I hope. I'm currently looking out the window and see no signs of spring approaching. It's windy, cold, and snowing. I'm thankful that most of our daily routines are in our home, but longing for warmth and sunshine.

So Big!

The girls are growing fast and changing so much everyday. Anneli has moved up to sitting at the big table with a little help from the yellow pages, passing down her high chair to the baby, who is now 5 months old!

We have also found a church that fits us well. We have only attended for the last few weeks but are hoping to call it our new church home. They have two buildings one of which is only a couple miles down the street. They have a great need for help in the childrens ministry and I will be talking to them more about ways I can help out. I am excited to be serving in a community that really needs some help. Hunter also befriended a young man at church that is into video and does videos for the church! God is good!
Another little note is that I attempted to off Hunter yesterday( he really wanted me to post this). We were kicking a large ball around in Anneli's room...not the best idea! When I kicked the ball straight up to the ceiling knocking the light ficture down on Hunter's head. It made a huge crash and gave Hunter quite a lump on his head. He thinks there was blood gushing all over the place ...but really it was only a little knick. But all in all I think we learned our lesson about kicking balls in the house. Hunter was very relieved that it was him that the ficture fell on and not one of the girls...so at least we were all thankful in a scary circumstance. It is good to be thankful in all circumstances! ummm...reference...I'll just leave that one for you to look up on your own. Praise Him!

making goofy faces

Anneli very happy to be sitting next to daddy at the table.

SNOW

We were all very excited to wake up to a blanket of fluffy white snow outside. The only downside was that I hadn't prepared myself for this much snow so soon. I haven't even bought a pair of boots yet! Well, I found a temporary fix by slipping into Hunter's big clompers. I bundled the girls up...wow was that a lot of work! We had barely got outside when Anneli was fussing because the snow was up past her knees. She couldn't walk so I was dragging her along so I could find our car somewere underneath all the snow. I was looking for the baby carrier (which I'd left in the car the day before) so I could strap the baby on me...that would be one less body to drag through all the snow. No luck...my hands froze before I was even  able to take a smudge off the car. So we all came back inside stripped off all our layers, put baby down for a nap. So now it was just Anneli and I...which was much easier for me. So now we were off to find a snow shovel to dig our way out of the snow. I looked in the shed...no luck. I looked in the basement..no luck. Back outside to look in the shed once more, and there our  sidewalk was cleared of all the snow! Our very  kind neighbor who I'd met just minutes before, who also watched our whole escapade was kind enough to shovel our sidewalk for us...Thank you again!

Glamour Shots

I was helping Anneli get ready for the day and amazed at how big she is getting.

She's getting to be such a girl and growing out of her babiness too fast.We have a lot of fun though!

Anneli took this picture. Hunter has been handing her the camera and she really enjoys taking pictures.

A Day At The Zoo

Last weekend I was needing an outing so we looked around a bit to see what would be family friendly that we all would enjoy and Hunter had the briliant idea of going to the zoo. When we arrived there was a large pond with ducks and geese. A boy handed Anneli some bread, she was a little timid of the geese which were right at her eye level. When we got to the zoo gate I handed them my debit card and when he gave me the receipt I was very plesently shocked that it was only $7 for our whole family! The receipt said winter rates on it so whoohoo for winter rates!