A beautiful day in September

A warm sunny day in September we headed to go hiking at the park! The kids love to hike and we just don't do it enough. Isabel and Nolan love to play in the water, find bugs, and explore. Brad and I love being outside and Silas does not mind traveling on our backs! This is one of our favorite family outings. Thank you God for the beautiful outdoors!

My first Joe Joe

Silas was so excited to be eating a Joe Joe all by himself. Otherwise known as an Oreo, but at our house we buy the Oreo type cookie at Trader Joe's. They are much better tasting and of course better ingredients! If you live at our house, no hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup! He is growing up, 17 months old! Walking and running into EVERYTHING! I am surprised he has not had a concussion, many bumps and bruises! He is adorable, but ornery too. He has figured out that it is cute to blow kisses, so much that when we say, "No Silas!", he starts blowing us kisses. The other day, he started blowing me kisses when he was doing something he knew he shouldn't before I even said NO! He may not talk, but he is a smart little cookie! (:

Isabel being baptized

We are told by the world that we should be most proud of our kids when they get good grades, get into the gifted and talented program at school, graduate with honors, go to a good college, pick a good career, get married, and have children. BUT, I can not think of anything that makes Brad and I more proud than to know that our daughter has chosen to follow Christ and help to further His kingdom. Is there anything else in this life that matters? (: All to say, the children's Pastor at our church, along with Brad, baptized Isabel tonight and she was so excited! We are so excited to know that she wants to follow Christ! She knows that it doesn't mean life will be any easier or that bad things won't happen, but that through it all God will be with her and help her through all things. It amazes me that at 8 years old, she gets it! We are so thankful that God chose us to parent amazing, dramatic, talented girl! I pray we can continue to parent her the way that God wants us to and that we can guide her well.

My time with Isabel

Night around our house at night is crazy and we only have one kid who has homework. Also, the only extra curricular activity is piano lessons. I don't know how families do it...kids in several sports, helping each kid with homework, and spending quality family time together. How does it work for each family?

Anyway, tonight I got to spend time with Isabel doing homework. I usually dread it, but tonight it was nice. I really enjoyed her and the time I got to spend with her. It was so cute. She had to write a story about pirates and a treasure. She reminds me of myself. I remember writing stories just like her. I am a horrible speller and it seems as if she has learned from me. Wish I could teach her how to spell, but i can not spell some of her spelling words! I wanted to post her little story so we can remember it forever! I will remember tonight with her forever! I love you Isabel...Here is your Treasure Story:

Once upon a time there were three mighty fine pirates. They were Emily, Logan, and myself. We had a treasure, but we couldn't find a place to bury it. Therefore, we're going to the houseland. A housland is an island that is one big neighborhood. Next we have to get permission to bury our treasure there, but we had to go past Mean Island first. We were thankful we had cannons to protect us. As we passed Mean Island they shot us. I said, "Shoot back!" We shot once and hurried past the island. Other than that things were fine. Later.......Emily and Logan said, "We are here." Captain Isabel said, "OK, lower the anchor." Then, we heard a voice. It said, "Who are you?" We turned around and saw a girl. She told us her name was Ally. She wanted to help us. We asked her if she knew of a place that we could bury our treasure. She said yes. She also said we could bury our treasure in her backyard. We went to her house We dug and dug in her backyard. We burried the treasure there, then we set off. We got home safely. We had happy dreams! THE END! Isabel Wolfe age 8

These are the days.....I love spending time with our kids! Isabel age 8, Nolan age 5, Silas 17 months

Lennon is 7...yes, 7 years old!

The family all got together at the park to celebrate Lennon's birthday! I am pretty sure his favorite gift was his new Nintendo from his mom and dad! What a cool mom and dad!

Enjoying a smoothie.......

Silas loves drinking from a straw and sat patiently on the stool while I made Nolan a smoothie. Then it occurred to me, I bet Silas would love a smoothie too! What do you think?

1st day of school

Hard to believe how time flies! I always heard, the older you get, time goes faster! It is so true. I still feel like I am 20, but my kids say different! I may always look at myself as a 20 something year old! It is so hard for me to believe that Isabel is in 3rd grade and has grown up so much! I still feel like she should be that little 2 or 3 year old with tons of questions and she thought she could take on the world! Oh wait, she still has tons of questions and thinks she can take on the world! She is amazing! She may be dramatic and hate when things don't go her way, but she will be one strong woman someday! God has blessed her with many amazing talents. I still listen to her sing and I am amazed (she has been singing so beautifully since she was 18 months old...truly amazes me!). Now, she is in 3rd grade, getting ready to learn cursive and multiplication! I worried about her dislike for reading just 2 short years ago and now she reads books I would have never thought she would read! She loves mystery and figuring out the unknown!

My baby boy is now in Kindergarten. He cracks me up! I would say that he is pretty indifferent about Kindergarten. He likes it, but also is enjoying his mornings at home with Silas and me. I think he could take it or leave. Like Isabel, I think he would miss his friends if he did not go at all. His teacher is Miss Gray and she teaches morning K at an Elementary school across town and then she travels to our school for the afternoon. A funny story about his first few days, we kept asking him about his new friends and who he was playing with....so, he told us he had a new friend and so matter a fact, that his friend has Down Syndrome. I thought this was weird because on the meet the teacher day with the kids, I don't remember any of the children having down syndrome, but he was SURE he had DS. I asked him how he knew and he would squint his eyes and say because he looks like this. So, after several days of asking him about it and saying, "Are you SURE he has Down Syndrome?", he said, "Why don't you ask Miss Gray", so the next day I asked. Miss Gray had a good laugh and said, "No, we do not have any students with Down Syndrome." Long story short, Nolan's new friend has a "lazy eye" and not Down Syndrome! He was so sure, but the fun thing to me is that even know he knew there was something different about his new friend, he did not care and enjoys playing with him every day!

The taste of Fishers---or something like that!

Brad always has these great ideas to check things out....although this was a lot of fun because we spent time with the Timmy, Carmen, and Baby Kate...we also spent more money than we should have for a family who is trying to conserve!!
Gotta love the bounce houses, even if they are full of germs!!!!

Lakeside Michigan July 2009

Ever had one of those times in your life that a vacation was needed more than you even realized it before you got there? This was a time for us! We knew that we were excited to have the chance to get away after Brad's job had been eliminated from his company. The vacation could not have come at such a good time. I don't think it is where we were, but just being together and sharing time with his mom (aka: Grandy) meant more than it had in a long time! We were secure in the fact that we knew (and still know) that God had brought us to this place and if He brought us to this place, he was going to guide us through it and to the other side, so there was nothing to do but enjoy the time. No worries, no stresses, no calls from work that a database was down or someone needed help with something at work! The time was priceless. The pictures don't even come close to showing the time we enjoyed in Michigan, but there are memories and I am glad to post them!

Thanks Grandy and my beautiful family of 5 for the great memories and time spent together! I love you all!

More Lakeside Michigan

Little Miss Olivia enjoying the beach! Her smile says it all!


She was showing a treasure to her daddy after he had been out playing in the waves! Boys will be boys...I think Brad and Tommy spent more time in the waves than the kids!

Lakeside Michigan

Grandy treated us all to a great time away for a few days in Michigan. The kids had a great time and enjoyed the one day with their cousins. Playing on the beach and swimming in the lake and playing in the waves was a blast and we hope to make it a yearly tradition! (:
Logan was so cute seeing the beach for the first time and you have to love his swimsuit!
My creative husband made an alligator in the sand! It was so fun, but didn't last long. The kids wanted to jump on it and destroy it the second he finished...at least we got a picture!

Michigan vacation...Lakeside Michigan

While we were away, I realized Silas wanted to eat his mac n cheese by himself....he loves feeding himself, but he holds the spoon in one hand and eats with the other hand!
The Warren Dunes....Brad and Isabel climbed to the top while the rest of us swam. Then Brad, Isabel and Nolan climbed before we left. Can you find them in this picture?
Here are the three of them walking back in the middle of the picture.
This is what Silas did at the beach all week. He sad on the towel and went through the bag. He hated the way the sand felt, so he would not get off the towel.

The new school year!

I need to down load some pictures, but Isabel started 3rd grade and Nolan is in Kindergarten. WOW, how time flies! Silas is 16 months old and trying so hard to walk, but getting more bruises and headaches than anything!
Isabel's reaction to her first day was that it was awesome! She love her teacher, new friends, and her agenda book! This year they got a planner and each day they have to write their homework in it and the parents have to sign it! Who knew she would love the organization! She sure doesn't in her bedroom! A little structure is all she needs to be happy and mindful! (:
Nolan could not wait to play on the playground....all morning, "When do i get to go to school and play on the playground?" He did not say as much about school, but did let me know that the firetruck on the playground moves when you get on it! The details!!!! Apparently he likes the school bus because Isabel said that, "It is like Nolan thinks IT is a roller coaster...because he has so much fun just riding on the bus!"
It is so cute because the past two days they have gotten off the bus holding hands and today Nolan told me he felt safe because Isabel was at school with him!!! My dream come true, that they are close and watch out for each other! My heart is melting and my house is quiet in the afternoons! I have not had a hard time finding things to do....you know, I may just start blogging again! (:

Bear hunt #2

Brad, Isabel and Nolan went hunting for bear in the woods by our house! A very fun spring adventure.....splashing in the creek is a ton of fun!

Food Rescue Walk 2009

Food Rescue walk....this was a fun family thing we did in April. We raised just over $100 for Food Rescue and we walked a mile as a family....well, Nolan and Silas road a lot of it! Nolan thought he would use his scooter and then ended up being pulled! It was a warm windy day in April. Isabel and I got massages by Dr. Melissa...it was a great day! Food Rescue volunteers gathers left over food from local restaurants and take it to the local food pantries. We were happy to raise money for this great organization!

Catch Up!

So, no blogging for a long time, because I was unable to figure out how to post pictures since the upgrade to my iBook last September. My solution was to get an external hard drive to keep my pictures on, so I can take it anywhere and store it in our fireproof box! Well, my wonderful husband agreed and got me one for my birthday! Although, my birthday was in April, I am finally getting around to loading all my recent pictures to the hard drive and therefore starting to update our blog! I have every intention of catching up and blogging so that my little ones can forever have memories of our days....

Some things may be out of order, but bare with me i will be posting things from Sept 2008 through today...all the memories I don't want Isabel, Nolan, and Silas to forget! (:

Neighborhood Block Party

Summer Fun! We just returned from our Family Vacation and we headed to our neighborhood pool! So much fun for the summer! Hard to believe Isabel will be 8 soon and Nolan is 5!

Trick or Treating

Nothing better than dressing up! At our house, dressing up in something fun happens often, not just to go trick or treating. Isabel was a princess, Nolan a power ranger, and silas our little banana!

Fall Family Time

A trip to go hiking and enjoy the outdoors! We love fall!

An evening of peace....

I just had to write how thankful i am right in this moment. I wish I could capture it in a picture! It is after dinner, Nolan is quietly watching his transformer show online, Isabel is blessing us with her beautiful voice from her bedroom while she plays with her barbies, and Silas is playing with all his toys on the family room floor! How peaceful it is....I have to enjoy the moments like these. You don't know how long they will last, but before we know it these wonderful blessings will be grown up and our house will be peaceful and quiet without them. I truly enjoy watching each of them do their favorite things. Most evenings are full of hussle and bussle to do all the list of things we do each evening, but not tonight. We are all enjoying our favorite things. I am off to read a little bit before the commotion starts again!

Thinking of Grandma Mounce

Today I have been thinking of Brad's grandma Mounce( or grandma Mouse as Nolan often said).....who felt like my grandma since I met him......my grandmothers were both gone before I met Brad. This is a picture from her funeral and I am sad Silas will not remember her. She died in the fall.....and she is missed!

9 months old!

Although, this is a 8month picture....he has not changed in looks too much, but is so much more active each day! He weighs 15 pounds and 5 ounces and is 27 inches long! He is full of smiles and his daddy calls him Smilas! He got his first tooth finally the week of new years! And he also had the stomach flu for the first time....wish I knew that is what it was and I would not have exposed half the world to it! Who knows with a baby if it is spit up or throw up? I never had a throwing up baby! Nolan still has never had the stomach flu.....AND I don't throw up either! He crawls everywhere and mastered pulling himself up to his knees....his legs are still a little wabbly and he usually tumbles over if he makes it to his legs!! We have found lots of small things in his mouth in the last month....so he is exploring what it is like to put everything in his mouth! He has become a fun toy for his sister and brother to play with now that he is stable and can hold some of his own! He enjoys his crib....I think it is much more comfortable than the pack n play he slept in for 7 months. When I took him to the doctor for his 9mo check up, it hit me that he will be 1 before I know it! The last 9 mo have gone by SO fast....almost too fast. I am trying to stop and enjoy each day with each of our kids.....and teach them the importance of living the life God wants us to live! P.S. I am so thankful for our daddy photographer....without his passion we would not have half the pictures we have!

To my drama queen....

As I sit here and look through pictures in an attempt to "catch up" on blogging, I think of my precious baby girl. She is the light of my life (well, one of them!). She brings so much joy and well, drama to our family and to my day! At times it seems so overwhelming because it is SO different than me, but I am so thankful for her and her personality! I want her to read and look back at these wonderful times and remember us calling her "drama queen" as a wonderful thing that was and is one of the biggest compliments ever! The world says "drama queen" has a negative connotation to it.....but in this family it is such a positive!!
God has truly blessed us with this shinning face! He has big plans for her, I can feel it! Not the big and famous in the world's eyes, but something big for His Kingdom! Her questions and insights about God amaze me each and every day! She really gets it and sometimes more than me.....Of course, as a 7 year old would, she has the biggest insights and questions right as we are tucking her in at night and we are ready to have some mommy and daddy time!.....but she truly gets how deep and wide the love of God is..... She understands that God calms her heart and truly impacts each day of hers.....I am truly amazed! I love you Isabel Madison Wolfe! I am so thankful Jesus is in your heart and we can get through anything with Him there!

Well, my attempt to catch up on blogging was good...but now it won't let me upload pictures. I hope to return to upload more soon! I should just stay up to date and this would not happen, right? I may eventually get our whole disney trip blogged!

Fort Lasota(I think) Day at the Beach.