Fall Fun

Last week I think we did about every fall activity in a matter of just a few days! It was crazy busy but we had a lot of fun. Just a few more things to check off our list yet. :) Wednesday afternoon we headed to Crane's for our annual apple picking and dinner with my MIL, SIL and nieces. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun.

The girls were home from Nebraska so we got to do a lot of fun stuff with them.

Kylie, Trey, Karinda and Carter.

Me and my happy boys. :) Grandma swinging the grandkids while we weighed our loads and paid.

Thursday night daddy took a break from work and met us downtown Zeeland for the peddle pull and free dinner. Carter thought it was fun to check out the fire truck.

Friday night we had our annual harvest party at the Bosch's house with the Top (Brian's mom's) side of the family. We first took a hayride and then had to head inside b/c the rain started. Saturday morning we headed to Elhart for Lindy VerBeek's fundraiser. We met Tim, Jen and Liam there and went for a horse and buggy ride.
Once we got home my mom came over and we quick made applesauce while the boys were napping. My mom slaving over the stove.

The finished product! After our applesauce was made we quick woke the boys up from their naps and headed downtown Zeeland for the Pumpkin Parade. It was kind of chilly and drizzly but Carter LOVED it so it was well worth it! And he came home with a bag full of candy! We ran into my cousin Dan and his family so Dimitry hung out with Carter.

Trey LOVED it too...he was full of stories with all the loud noises.

Sunday we celebrated Cliff's 60th birthday. Maybe some of you spotted the birthday wish from the grandkids in the Sentinel. We gave him '60' of several things ($60 gift card, 60 M&M's, 60 green tea bags, etc., etc.) to help him celebrate but I forgot my camera! Here is a pic from Friday night of the cupcakes I made when we celebrated with the Tops at the harvest party.

Values Voter Summit 2010

Last week Wed.-Sun. I was off to Washington DC with 10 other staffers from our Holland office. Our headquarters are in Washington DC and we held a summit at the Omni Shoreham hotel hosting over 2,000 attendees. To see what it was all about you can visit http://www.valuesvotersummit.org/. The ladies from our office were in charge of checking people in among other tasks. This was our mascot for the weekend. :) The name tag covers up the word Congress.

It's an exciting event where we had speakers such as Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Sean Hannity (below), etc. I personally am not a big political guru but it's fun to see how excited people get about this stuff. A few of us also got to get a tour of the White House. I had never been there so I thought it was pretty cool.

I think one of my highlights was getting to see and meet the Duggar family! I assume most of you are familiar with them or their show 19 Kids and Counting. They were so fun to watch and listen to their story. They truly are a genuine family. We presented them with a Pro-Life Entertainment award and they also sang and played their violins for us. They were so cute!
Tony presenting the award to Jim Bob and Michelle. I got to introduce myself to Jim Bob at the Gala dinner we had on Saturday night b/c I helped his crew find their table. It was kind of awkward actually saying "Jim Bob." :)

Here's the 8 ladies from our office that worked at the event.A picture of the wonderful dessert...served on a very cool rectangle plate!

Here's most of the FRC crew that worked at the event. We got together for some ice cream after the Gala dinner to enjoy each other's company and relax for a bit! It was a late night with an early flight. I actually slept with my head on the lap tray I was so tired!

Most of all I missed these little dudes! It was probably about one day too long to be away from home but we all survived. Carter took it a little harder than I expected. Of course Trey was good as gold and full of his normal smiles! Brian said I can't go away for long time! (Trey's shirt courtesy of my BFF Jen...she's always making something for my boys!) :)

Recent fun

A few weeks ago we went to the $1 ride night at the Hudsonville Fair so Brian could enjoy it with us since he always so busy when it is the auction night. Carter had a blast. Some rides were even to slow for him. Here he is grinning from ear to ear on the race car ride that whipped him around the corners. I was shocked it didn't scare him!
Trey having fun just riding around in the stroller.
Brian and Carter riding the ferris wheel looking at the off road race.

We ran into DeWitts and Huysers so Carter got to ride the elephants with Jacob.

On Labor Day we headed downtown Holland to watch the truck parade. Carter LOVED it (of course) despite the sprinkles of rain.
Our always happy little guy just chilling out.

Waiting for the trucks with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Cliff.

The nice shiny ZFS truck!
On Friday we had Alyssa and Kaylee Lucas over for the day. I have to admit it was almost easier to have 4 kids than 2! They played SO well together and we had a lot of fun. I even got them all to nap at the same time! We had to get them used to playing with boys since they have a little brother on the way. :) Can't wait to play with them again. Here they are enjoying a snack.
My mom came to help out for a bit b/c I had to take Trey in to the Dr. They are testing him for whooping cough b/c we just can't figure him out. We didn't get a call today so I assume it came back negative and we are just praying this new antibiotic gets rid of his cough! So hard to see him cough when he's so little!

Fun with the girls

While our SIL Kate and our nieces have been home from Nebraska for a few weeks we have been enjoying some time with them. We were at mom and dad Meeuwsen's pool the past two Sundays and had a lot of fun swimming with them. Here are some pics of those days.

Karinda had Trey just a giggling yesterday...it was hilarious.

Carter ADORES the girls. It's so sticken cute.

Posing by the pool.

Me and the boys went to the street performers with them this past week too....I couldn't believe how crazy busy it was. We also went to the Whitecaps for the ZFS party on Saturday night with them. We are definitely going to miss them this next month but thankfully they will be home for some fun things at the end of this month. We will be ready for them to be back for a visit!

Trey at 4 months

We had Trey's 4 month appt. on Monday. He weighed in at 14 lbs. 4 oz. and was 25 1/2 inches. He was 30th percentile for weight and 70th for height. We do have to keep a watch on one of his eyes as it sometimes turns in further than the other and doesn't follow as quickly as the other one all the time...the Dr. said sometimes it follows perfectly and is straight and other times it doesn't, so she said to give it a few months. I had the same thing as a baby so it wouldn't surprise me if one of our kiddos was cursed with my bad eye gene! He is a super happy baby....sleeps from about 8:30-7:30 each night and sleeps the day away too! He is a thumb sucker like his daddy was...my kiddos love their fingers but it makes for content babies!Here's a picture of Carter at almost four months...looks like he hung on to his hair a little longer! He weighed the exact same at 4 months but was .75 inches longer so Trey seems a little pudgier. Bring on the baby rolls! :)

Coast Guard Fest 2010

Last Friday I headed to Grand Haven to hang out with mom Meeuwsen for the day with the boys. We went to the art fair and walked downtown then hung out on the boat while the boys napped. When dad Meeuwsen got back from work we went downtown to go on the rides. Saturday morning we got up and headed there right away to go for breakfast. After breakfast we walked down by the water for a bit. Carter got this balloon animal made for him. Trey spent most of the weekend in the Baby Bjorn and was happy as a lark. He was even giggling watching the rides go around...it was so funny.

We were shocked when we seen this huge ship come in. During Coast Guard of all things it was crazy they would come in on such a busy day. Carter loved it!

We were going to go to Hanky Pank bay but Brian wanted to swim in clean water :) so we hung out on the south side of the pier for the afternoon. It was nice and relaxing and the boys napped great on the boat.

Brian and Carter ready to jump in. Trey just chilled out in his Bebe pod seat.
The rides were definitely the highlight of the weekend. I was surprised how many Carter could go on. After Brian's dad took Carter on a bunch of them on Friday I told Brian we had to go back on Saturday so he could see how much Carter loved them. Does this face say enough? I think we have a roller coaster lover on our hands!

We had a great view of the fireworks from the boat and decided to wake Carter up to see them. He had never seen fireworks and let me just say his face was priceless....so cute! We had a great weekend thanks to mom and dad! Unfortunately the weekend wasn't without incident of a trip to the emergency room and a couple expensive lost items in the lake. But the weather was great and we still had a blast!

3 month pics

Yesterday we went to have Trey's 3 month pics taken by Jenn of Captured Memories. Trey just kind of stared at the camera but I think she got some adorable shots! Here's a sneak peek she sent me.