Lots to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving! We sure have a lot to be thankful for. We are all very healthy and pretty darn happy to. There isn't anything else we need, and for that, I am one thankful person. Sometimes it's good to sit and really think about it because we are so fortunate in many many ways.

We went to Aunt Pauline's for Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful day except for Cole falling down the stairs! He was fine though :)

The food was unbelievable once again. Thanks Aunt Pauline!

Silly picture before heading to Aunt Pauline's. What a perfect shot of them. Mackie and Jackson just loving each other not listening to me asking them to cooperate. Then there's Cole who is taking every opportunity to run away from me. What a little stinker he is! You just gotta love him!

There's my three little cuties!

On a seperate note, we officially move tomorrow!! We are so anxious and excited. Surprisingly enough, I'm not stressed at all. Maybe once I see all the boxes and furniture, I may change my mind.

A Sneak Peak!

Jackson at 3 years old.

Cole at 16 months

Mackie at 4 and a half.

We had a fall photo shoot with a new photographer. You just pay a flat rate and you get the CD. She's affordable and so great! She picked a great location in Rochester and our kids did great. The only hiccup was when our good ole mild mannered Cole took his shoe off and threw it in the river. I jumped in after it almost falling all the way in. Then he proceded to throw his sock in too! Oh Coley...always making it interesting. I think they turned out great though. The title is Sneak Peak because I am saving the family pictures for our Christmas Card!! Enjoy :)

Pinkalicious, The Spaceman, and one cute dog!

and two scary mummies! Tim and I go to our old next door neighbors Halloween party and they always make fun of us that we always dress up as happy people, runners, aerobic instructors...etc. Anyway it's because we usually put our costume together in 5 minutes. Although this costume took only about 10 minutes, we finally came up with something scary!

We volunteered to be a "warming station" which meant we gave out hot and cold cider, donuts and cookies. Yes, in the garage, we actually made room with the furniture and bikes for a table!

The two "biggies" heading to Gwen's, our next door neighbor in which they both just adore!

All ready to go and still in hour to wait!

Pinkalicious! For those that don't have little girls, it's a book in which the little girl ate too many pink cupcakes and turned pink. It's Mackie's favorite book.

The spaceman! He wanted his face painted since Mackie had hers painted. He said it was stardust.

The little Dog! It's quite fitting since he just loves and adores all dogs! He was a trooper, but stayed in the stroller. It was a really really cold night this year.

My Gramma!

Holding Jackson, she's held all 23 Great Grandkids!

The only true four generation of girls in the family! We never missed an opportunity to take our picture!

Celebrating my Gramma's 97th birthday last January!

My Gramma, yes Gramma with two M's passed away on Oct. 11th at 97 years old. She was someone I idolized, someone to live your life after, someone that had a heart of gold and someone who had a memory like no other. She was my Gramma and I loved her very much!

During my childhood, she lived in Florida for the winter and Up North during the summer, so our time spent with her was rather limited. After my Gramma and Grandpa moved into Independent living in Rochester is when I really became close with her. We'd visit often and Mackie would have her read book after book after book. I'd tell my Gramma that we were going to bring lunch, but she always insisted that she would MAKE us lunch, 97 years old! Wow! What a lady. She never missed a birthday, had a very strong faith, and never dyed her hair. She never even had a grey hair on her head.

She has 13 Grandkids, and 23 Great Grandkids. I was her favorite, at least that's what I always believed:) She was never really sick, could still walk until a week before she died, and had a better memory than I have at 31. She was blessed with a wonderful life, and served God. Her faith stood strong with her and she lived her life as we all should. Although she lived a picture perfect 97 years, we will all still really miss her. I sure do. We had a wonderful memorial service at Our Shepherd and a luncheon afterwards. I told Tim the only thing missing there was my Gramma! I know she's smiling down on us as she walks hand in hand with my Grandpa once again!

We love you Gramma Fox!

First day of School

Yes, I am well aware that it's October 1st, so I'm a few weeks behind as always, but Mackie is back at school as well as our big boy Jackson. Jack just goes two mornings a week and doesn't like the thought of going to school at all, but does great once he's there. We just have to get him to socialize a little more. Tim and I are convinced he's not talking to anyone yet. He does like to tell me what kids got in trouble though :) Mackie loves it as we fully expected. She's made even more friends and just loves loves loves school!

We are still at my parents and although space is very limited we are doing fine. We've pretty much taken over my parents house, not sure how to avoid that since we have three little kids. We are definitely getting anxious to move, just waiting for that right house to pop up!!

By the way, Tim broke my camera lens by accident and went out and bought me a new lens. This is teh first time we've used it. It's awesome! Thanks Timo :)

Mackie's first soccer game!

Mackie had her first soccer game on Sunday and I get the honors of coaching her team. The team is really really good, so the first game was really fun! I'm just loving coaching her team. My good friend Dani is coaching with me, which makes it even better!

Tim even got he scoring a goal!

My girl and me :)

Daddy and Mackie

Jackson turned 3

All the kids standing in line for the toy story pinata. It was a ribbon one, so all they had to do was pull a ribbon. A little easier for the little kids. Jackson pulled the lucky ribbon!!

Jackson blowing out his candle off of his dirt dessert! It was in a brand new dump truck. He also received 3 new garbage trucks and loves every one of them!!

Eating yummy food!

Family picture before the party started! Can't believe he's three years old. He's such a big boy and the funniest little 3 year old we've ever met! We sure love our little buddy!

The big move!

We officially moved on August 18th!! We were sad to leave such great neighbors, but are still in the process of finding a new house. We are currently living with my parents for the three to four days they are around. People say we should find a house no problem, but we can be picky and are, so needless to say, we haven't found anything quite yet!

Camping at Interlochen!!

We went camping with Tim's parents and his sister Melanie and her family back in August to Interlochen for a long weekend. Cole was busy to say the least, but over than that the weekend was awesome. The campground was great and Tim's parents set up everything for us since we were in the middle of the move. I'll tell you it sure makes camping easy when the set-up is done for you! Can't wait to go again next year!


Mackie and her cousin Emilia eating some sandy Pirate's Booty on the beach at Lake Michigan.

Poor Jackson spent two hours on the beach sleeping.

At the campsite roasting hot dogs. The kids loved every minute of it.

We went to the music came and walked around. It's pretty amazing.

We've had a very busy month and a half...here's our update.

We Sold the House!

We moved in just over 5 years ago with the intention of this being a 7 year house. I got pregnant one month after moving in, thus beginning a 4 year marathon of babies and pregnancy. This is the house we brought three little munchkins home too, it's truly the house we became a family in (tear). We have essentially outgrown our house. We knew the time would come, the time we settle in our "forever house", but we do love this house! I can't deny the fact that I've definitely been questioning if this is the right decision for us! We have the best next door neighbors, neighbors that can't be replaced, and living so close to Tim's work is certainly a benefit there's no denying. We are really looking forward to being in a neighborhood with loads of kids, having a yard, and being a little bit Up North so Tim can do some hunting and fishing more at his discretion. We always said that we want to move before Mackie's in Kindergarten. Yes, we are taking a very very large hit on the house, but we hope to find a really good deal on our next house. It's definitely bitter sweet. Until then, we're moving in with my parents until we find the right house! We will be out of our house on our closing day, August 18th. Ahh, 17 months on the market, about 100 showings later, the house is sold!

The Treat Store!

Walking into the "treat store!" It's Doc's Sweets in Clawson, the kids favorite place!

They even get to push their own carts.

Cole included, he was like a mad-man with that thing. He didn't care who or what was in his way, but he loved it! You should click on this picture and check out Jackson's face, priceless!

All done, got our bag of treats! Total cost...$2.78 and they are happy as pie!

They were so happy, I even got a picture with three kids looking pretty cute. I just got home from running, so...I'm not looking so cute!

Fourth of July!

All the Grandkids with my Gramma and our familes!

Mackie and Lily, my cousin Sarah's little girl!

On Jen and Remo's new boat watching the fireworks!

Tim and Mack on Todd's Go Cart.

Yes, Mackie IS riding a two wheeler! She can even start all by herself.

The Golf Cart picture!

The kids were in a fishing contest and Mackie was in First place for a long time but got beat out by a kid who we don't believe was four, but that's ok!

Fish are in the bag ready to get weighed!