Looking Good for 30!!!

That's right. As most of you know, Mandy turned 30 on Dec. 3rd. I had this post ready to go on the actual night of her birthday, but had technical difficulties which postponed it until tonight. Sorry Sweetie! Computers have always gotten the best of me. It's nice to finally have someone to share my 30's with.

This is the birthday girl striking a pose in our first official snow for the year in Kalamazoo. She said she always wished for snow on her birthday when she was growing up. Another thing she has also mentioned always wanting to do which she mentioned again this weekend was being a dancer in an MTV video! If anyone has any connections out there, let us know. I can vouch for her dancing skills. I've seen her break dance on multiple occasions-- one of which won us a dance contest!


One thing you will never see me win is a cake decorating contest. Sad but true, this is the cake I baked for the big 3-0. Of course, Mandy tried to tell me that it looked good. Our family tradition is to eat birthday cake first thing in the morning so we all woke up to chocolate cake with caramel icing and Milk Duds and Kit Kats sprinkled on top. Makes for a tough day! Tasted pretty good but I learned that frosting doesn't spread real well on a hot cake.

This is our crew at Nana & Papa's for a birthday dinner and because we started off the day with cake, we only thought it would be fitting to end the day with cake. Not sure how long my body will be able to put up with these traditions! Colton, on the other hand, officially ate zero dinner for the night (not a single bite), but somehow mustered up the strengh to eat a whole piece of cake and two scoops of ice cream! Talk about inner strength.

Mandy has been wanting to go to Chicago so the day after her birthday we all loaded up for a weekend in the city. We got their Friday night and went to a Winter Wonderland where the kids had a blast with all sorts of indoor rides and slides. We checked into our hotel after that which was a great location right downtown but the room was only slightly larger than a walk-in closet. That's where the fun began! Cade woke up a few times that night complaining that his tummy hurt. Around 1:30 am we all discovered why it was hurting as he threw up all over the bed that he was sharing with Mandy, Colton, and me. This prompted us having to get a new room in the middle of the night and Cade, Colton, and I having to take a 2 am shower. Mandy had gone downstairs to get a luggage cart for us to move rooms. We got settled into our new (handicapped) room, which was actually more spacious. I took the luggage cart back downstairs and the lady working at the front desk was very friendly and knew exactly who I was. The first words out of her mouth were "You've got a beautiful wife!" The crazy night continued in the new room, but I will spare you the details.

Happy Birthday Beautiful!! Thanks for letting me share the last 10 years of your life! It's always interesting and usually fun! Looking forward to lots more!

A kiss and breakfast with Santa

Today my cup just about runneth over.

My children. Oh how they melt my heart to the core.


This morning, Colt woke up next to me (yes, we have the family bed goin' on most nights) and noticed that Cade had already gotten up with his daddy and they were downstairs. So, he said to me, "I get up now, Mommy." I said okay and he got off the bed and went towards the door- it was shut so I helped him open it then I went back to lay down. He walked out the door then turned back around and climbed up on the bed and said to me, "Wait, I not give you a kiss yet." "And hug." I was instantly mush. He then gave me a kiss and hug and then went downstairs.


Later in the day, we had breakfast with Santa. This was arranged by the library here in town. Cade was so excited and had written Santa a letter- which he wrote the entire letter but just had me tell him how to spell the words. He was so proud of it. However, at the breakfast, Santa wasn't really eating the breakfast just the parents and kids. Cade wanted to know why- he had come to have BREAKFAST with Santa. So he asked him and Santa gave him some lame reply to which Cade followed up with question after question and led to, "Where is your sleigh Santa?" Santa told Cade that his sleigh was on top of the roof, but that he could make it invisible but that when Cade left that he should call up to the reindeer and sometimes if you listened closely enough they would reply back. Well, after Cade left Santa alone and started to eat his breakfast, I noticed him start to panic. I was like, what's wrong? Cade saw Santa get up like he was leaving and he was. Cade jumped up and said, "Come on, Mommy, come on!" It finally dawned on me, Cade wanted to run outside to call up to the reindeer before Santa left. So we rushed outside, and Cade called up to the reindeer atleast 4 times, and all the while I kept saying I heard a jingle. Nevertheless he was disappointed because he could not see or hear the reindeer. All I have to say is that this kid is special. He has so much heart. And he wears it on his sleeve.

Laynie was not enjoying Santa too much to say the least.