Re-Starting the Blog

Well...we have been Facebooking so much for the past year, that the blog has fallen by the wayside. We will give it one more try. Now that we are adding Jelly Bean in a few weeks, we will have another little one to share crazy stories about (not to mention Mom and Dad's adventures).

Choir Debut

Maren has joined the Cantus Choir (four and five-year olds) at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids. She has loved singing for as long as we can recall and we wanted to encourage her and also have her spend time with a music teacher.

Watch for her excitement at spotting Bunny, Grampa and Uncle Jay in the audience, and seeing Daddy at the end of the video.

The Cantus and Carol (third, fourth and fifth graders) Choirs sang "Forty Days and Nights" by Michael Bedford. Here are the lyrics:

Forty days and nights he stayed, forty days and nights he prayed,

All alone, yet unafraid, Jesus in the wilderness.

Jesus went to fast and pray, faced temptation ev'ry day.

From God's love he did not stray, may we follow in his way.

Forty days and nights he stayed, forty days and nights he prayed,

All alone, yet unafraid, Jesus in the wilderness.

Gearing Up for Soccer

Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation Spring Soccer practice starts March 23. Hopefully there will be no snow on the ground! I don't know who is more excited, John who played himself for many years, or Maren, since she got new pink and black gear.

Spring Break!

Spring Break for the GRCC Laboratory Pre-School, that is. Maren has a week at home and lots of time to play with her best friend Maddie as we share child care with her family this week. John had the girls today for lots of fun in the SUN and snow (and we are hoping the sun melts the snow, we are officially sick of winter).

Snow Fort, Part 2

Not sure what happened to the first video, will try to fix that, but the snow fort has had some structural changes which are visible here:

Happy Valentine's Day!

What to do in snowy Michigan but build a snow fort?

Today the master builder and her Daddy created a masterpiece (and ate lots of snow).

Happy Sunshine Day!

Cold, cold, cold, but sunny today. We are bracing for a storm that should hit tonight and the next few days.

Here is Maren, teaching John a song she learned at school.

Maren has been busy this afternoon teaching John a song and drawing him on her easel. She just had her four-year old check-up and the pediatrician said if she didn't know any better, she'd swear Maren was a five-year old, due to her size, coordination and verbal abilities.

Ready for Summer

Maren joins the rest of us in being sick of winter!

Little Mermaid Obsession

Maren's obsession this winter is the Disney movie "The Little Mermaid." She has been telling her pre-school teachers that the class should perform it as a class play. She, of course, will play Ariel and Maddie will play Flounder, Ariel's best friend. She even said to one of her teachers "We really need to get working on those costumes!"

Her she is (wearing her Ariel costume), trying to memorize every detail of the movie and also performing her own acapella version of some Ariel singing...and then being upset that I wasn't watching the movie with the correct level of interest. There may NOT be an album contract in her future, but that's okay. She's our little Ariel.

First Solo Sled Ride

From Saturday, January 16...Maren's first solo sled ride on a cheap little sled that we bought her. A typical Michigan January day...gray and cold but we filled it with fun!

Check out that form for luge! Winter Olympics 2022? We love how she acts as though she does it every day.