20 Year Reunion

The evening I had dreaded, yet was excited about for a year has finally come and gone. Feeling the pain from my beer tent celebration the night before kept me off the stage at the reunion. Although I did get the offer! The atmosphere was much more mellow and a bit up tight this evening. But, I got to see a ton of people I had not seen in years and reconnect with some of my close friends. I may not be normal, but I LIKED high school. I was shy (believe it or not) until 10th grade, and when I came out of my shell it was a whole new world for me. I try hard to keep in touch with my good friends from FHS and was called the "social glue" for our group by my friend Marlow! That made me feel good!

(pictured above: left - Carolyn (pretty much lived with her and her family 9th-12th grade!) right - Justine (friend since 2nd grade!) bottom - Marlow & Suzanne (so many nights out with these ladies and our big group of girls!)

Playing with the Band... Again

Steve's getting pretty sick of this scene with me! I HAD to get on stage and play the tambourine, maracas AND sing with the band at Cowley's the same night as the beer tent in Farmington. Kelly was like paparazzi taking a ton of photos of me. She was like a freaked out fan!! ha ha

Beer Tent - My Reunion Pre-Party

20 years... that's how long I have been out of high school. And yes, I just got carded the other day! hee hee. It was super fun seeing my old friends and my sis at the Farmington Founders Day Festival beer tent. It was about 100 degrees in the tent and we all drank too much beer to stay hydrated. Plenty of liquid confidence (as Pam calls it) to help me be outgoing! Good times!

(pictured - top: Kelly & Linda, Allyson. bottom: Debbie, and my sis Pam)

4th of July Family

After a little gathering at our house, we headed to Tunnel Park for fireworks on Lake Michigan. It was so beautiful and the millionaires were ALL competing with each other and setting off fireworks so we didn't know which way to watch! I used to hate the 4th of July, but now that we are starting our own traditions, I love it!

Riding in Style

My Favorite Nephew

O.K. fine... I only have one nephew!!! Anyone that knows me, knows I don't pick favorites! Jacob is 2 years younger than Abbey and they are such good buddies. They play so good together. And now Mark is starting to interact with him. He loves his guy time with Jacey!

Big & Lil'

Together with Ashley's 6th Grade Junior Girl Scout leader we created Big and Little Girl Scout Sisters. We got the big girls together 3 times with Abbey's 1st Grade Brownie troop (that I lead). This picture is at our end of the year party with the 2 groups of girls. Although Abbey and Ashley were not Girl Scout sisters they got to do the relay at our party together! I love the age difference in these two.

Double Digits

I now have 2 children in double digits :-( Lindsey turned 10 in July. She had her 2 best buds over to have makeovers and do all the girly stuff she loves to celebrate.

I Don't Remember Luke Looking Like THAT?

Star Wars night at the West Michigan WhiteCaps baseball game. It was bizarre! Not knowing any of the new movies and not having a following for the old ones... it was a strange night at the ballpark for our family. However, very amusing!! Darth Vader threw out the first pitch, we met many characters (that didn't quite look like I had remembered i.e. Luke Skywalker) and my favorite... the Storm Troopers did the Y.M.C.A. on the field! Hilarious!

And we got all the kids $5 light sabers. I had to remind them many times they were not called "LIFE SAVERS". Anyway... my boy was all over people with his! I knew I should have insisted on naming him LUKE!!

Buckeye Boy

Steve is a huge U of M fan... so it kills him that our Ohio State friend, Rick, taught our boy to say "Buckeye"! (the voice you here cheering is his wife, Lisa) And the worst thing is... Mark pretty much talks in a foreign language, and doesn't say many things very clear... except BUCKEYE! The more Steve says "go blue", the more he says "Buckeye". It's quite funny for me. Especially since Steve's a BULLDOG not a Wolverine!!!

15 Years

Celebrating our 15 year anniversary in Saugatuck, one of our many stops on our festive weekend. Steve wanted Hawaii... I couldn't leave the kids... maybe for the 20th :-)

Soccer Camp

Abbey;s first week of summer was crazy! In one week she went to soccer camp, tennis lessons and softball practice. We should be ashamed to have her that busy! But... she is the Energizer Bunny!!! She even scored a goal at the 5 v 5 tournament. Go little one!

Fore!!!!

The girls have had golf clubs for 2 years now and Steve and I have been teaching them at home and on the course. WE thought it was time to have a professional teach them. (Remember, Lindsey's target was Abbey;'s forehead last year!). They had a great experience with the lessons and really like the sport. They took Steve out for Father's Day. I'm next!

Thanks Captain Caveman

While we were watching Ashley & Lindsey's golf lessons a hairy messy guy gave Mark this golf ball. I named him "Captain Caveman" :-)

Last Day of School 2008

Now I have to say I have a 7th, 5th and 2nd grader! Waaaaaaa!

After school was out the girls all had 3 friends over. House full of girls!

Move over again Katie...

My goal is to have my photo taken at all the Grand Rapids T.V. stations. This is #3. The problem is, the anchors were there the day I went so they are in MY picture! Juliet Dragos and Lee VanAmeed. Don't they look fake?

Honors

Is this smart girl mine?! She made the honor roll every semester of 6th grade so she was honored at an assembly with the rest of the smartie pants! I am so proud.

6

Mackinac Island

I went with Lindsey and her 4 4th grade classes to Mackinac Island for their end of the year (from studying Michigan) field trip. Some highlights were the freezing cold day at Fort Michlimackinaw, the rocky (like a roller coaster) ride under the bridge the first night (what a riot!), and the bike accident the kid Andrew in our group got into. I had 2 quirky boys in my group and Lindsey and her friend, who were fabulous. A trip I will never ever forget!

CF Walk

I recruited Ashley to walk in my Cystic Fibrosis walk team for work. I was the team leader for our lakeshore offices. I had 15 people on my team and we raised $1,200. The walk was in Grand Haven and was 5 miles. It was 42 degrees, sunny and super super windy! Nothing like a little sand burn, but we had fun anyway!

1

No More Tears

My precious boy... he had tear duct surgery after 2 years of gunk, pink eye and multiple tears per eye. We had hoped he would outgrow it, no such luck. He ended up with tubes in his ducts, that will be removed later this summer. He was a trooper. And we were at DeVos Children's Hospital, no place is better than this! Poor guy could not wake up from his anesthesia so we could go home, so I had to snuggle him there. He did great, he lets his doctor just pull on those eyes and doesn't fuss.

Three

3 practices per week
3 week day games
3 games on Saturday (all at overlapping times, of course)
3 games to drag Mark to
3 girls to scream "get me goal" to
3 pairs of stinky socks
3 water bottles to keep full
3 shirts we can never find on game day!
3 soccer players
3 sisters

Back in Black

Our poor boy has had enough shiners to last a life time in his 2 short years. This one is his worst! He walked into Grandma's glass dining room table. Ouch!

Parade Time

My dear friend Dawn surprised me (as a transplant to Holland as well) by participating in the Tulip Time Parade with the kids. We couldn't resist being nerds that don't know how to do a Dutch Dance pose together!

Popcorn Song

Pam met the Bare Naked Ladies and got their new children's CD the day before this photo was taken. Marin (my cute little almost 12 niece) and Linds (both our family hams) had a riot dancing and singing to their Popcorn song. It was cute, the first 15 times!

My Girls

We spent a Sunday afternoon at Tulip Time events, just us girls.

Tulip Time 2008

The last year I will get Ashley in a costume (until she hopefully Dutch Dances in high school). Sad times for me... another sign they are growing up.

Headin' Like Beckem

Mark wants to be like his sisters!

The BEST Game Face Goes to...

Abbey!

Scrappin' Girls

Not that we are doing it much these days with all our busy kids... but when I do scrapbook these are my gals, Jen & Jodie! Lots of fun hours working on books, laughing our heads off, venting about life and showing each other our photos.

Bond Hall Reunion

My F.S.U. Bondmates.... Kim, Kim & Dawn!
It had been over 15 years since we had all been together.

Happy 40th... bring on the mid-life crisis

My husband is starting his mid-life crisis with the need for a tattoo! I even designed one for him for his birthday gift. He wants a Chinese symbol for love and all kids names (my name is still being debated!) So for his party I got him a rub on barbed wire. Hilarious! But... he liked it... better a tattoo than a girlfriend I say!

Happy 40th Big Daddy!

Buble' Again!!

I got to see him again! Michael Buble' is so awesome in concert. He had a sore throat this night and he was still incredible. He apologized a ton to us and even thanked us for spending the money to see him in this terrible economy. What a guy. Just coming off of my lovely bladder surgery me, Lisa and Jen had to go potty right after the concert so we jumped the wall of a vacant suite and used their private bathroom!

"Honey, What's Jon Insana Doing in Our Kitchen?"

I asked Jim and Jen to be the husband and wife in my commercial for work with Griffins hockey player, Jon Insana. We filmed the kitchen and car commercials at our Kentwood office. We had a great time. The chemistry with the 3 of them was great. And I could boss Jim and Jen around so they were perfect. A very fun day at work.

We Love Hats

I told the kids on Spring Break that if they didn't let me take a picture of them with a 3 cornered hat I would buy them one and they would have to wear it everywhere we went. That was an easy choice! But, Lindsey wanted a solider hat, so I bought her one. She liked it until she was being polite and held a door open for a man and he said "thank you, young man". Then we started calling her solider boy (soulja boy) and she never wore the hat again!

(the other fun hats were THEIR ideas! Do I have them trained or what! Makes a mama proud!!)

Spring Break

Virginia

D.C.

We were brave parents and took our 4 kids on the subway to D.C. for a day on Spring Break. I got in trouble for using the gate without running my ticket through and a security lady kept yelling at "Mama" (me) and told me I was going to be arrested by the Pentagon Police if I broke into her "house". Ughh! We did a lot of walking and saw the whole Mall and the White House. Steve's favorite destination was Arlington Cemetery. It was the warmest day of our trip so I had to buy new shirts for the kids when we got there from a street vendor. Mark's said "Future President"! A lovely business man took this family photo for us right after we saw an old man fall into the WWII memorial! It was quite an experience for all of us. We ended our long day watching Abbey pole dance on the subway. She amused an uptight politician on a crowded ride!

Hello?

Hanging in England.
(at Busch Gardens - Spring Break '08)

Yes... I'm Tall Enough for the Rides!

Ha ha. Just like Wendy, Kelly & Carol used to make me pose at Cedar Point... me getting measured to see if I am tall enough to go on the roller coasters.

Abbey's 1st Rollercoaster

At Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. She loved it and was bummed she wasn't tall enough to ride them all! She was much braver then her older sisters (and her Mom).

Peace Out

President Veldhof?

Hanging out in the Oval Office.

Uncle Calvin!

Here is proof that President Calvin Coolidge is my Great Great Great Uncle. Aunt Grace Goodhue's dress was on display at President's Park in Williamsburg, VA. Fun way to show the kids.

Grandpa in the Box

Gotta love my Dad's goofiness with Mark. He's just a 67 year old kid! That's why we love him.

"This Cake is Really Good"

Since Uncle Jim couldn't be at Mark's birthday party Ashley felt the need to do Jim's cake schtick! Funny girl...

Birthday Boy Mark

My Babes

Tip A Griff/Wing

We were excited that the surprise guest to this event was Darren McCarty! (who was doing his return to hockey in GR) The roads were terrible, but when Steve heard he was coming we didn't go anywhere until we got our photo with him. McCarty is not like the clean cut Griffins, he is old school with that missing tooth! Linds and I were happy to get a photo with McGrath, McCarty and Helm. They were all in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pretty exciting. All the guys are very down to earth and so super sweet. Even Hartigan, he brought his baby girl and carried here around the whole night while he waited on tables. Too cute!

Tip A Griff

A night of snowy roads took the family out to O'Charleys for Tip A Griff, a night where the Griffins hockey team raises money for their charity. All the waiters are hockey players. Many of the guys we met went on to play with the Red Wings later in the year. Pictured above are Corazinni, Insana and Oulahen.