I'm a star!

Nicole was part of her school talent show last Friday night. Since she absolutely refused to practice in front of us, Ken and I figured she would clam right up when she stepped out if front of the audience and then the only thing we would all hear would be Sofia, her good friend, singing. Much to our surprise Nicole sang loud and proud! Go Nicole!

Here are a few photos of them performing as well as holding their stars afterword!











Since there were two acts that wanted to perform to It's Hard to Believe from High School Musical, they combined Nicole and her friend, Sofia, who sang the lyrics with two other girls at school who made up a dance routine to the same song. I thought that was a really a wonderful way to allow more kids to participate! Check out the video below to see it all!

Emily...a glimpse into her personality

Just some cute random pictures of Emily! They give you a glimpse into her happy side. She kind of has a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde personality! She is either really happy or really unhappy and the time it takes to go from one to the other is pretty short like her temper! However, I wouldn't change her for the world! She can really make me laugh at times, sometimes even more when she is having a temper tantrum. Her reaction tends to be so strong either way to different things that it is just too funny! I enjoy having two girls with different personalities...it tends to make life interesting! :)





















These last couple of months have been a huge period of growth for Emily. She has learned her colors, which started with the Christmas tree lights. She knows and can identify all of the following:

be-u = blue
pink = pink
reh = red
yeh-oh = yellow
greem = green
oran = orange
purpah = purple
brun-ah = brown
wha-i-t = white
back = black

I just love it when she says be-u like be-u mon-key, which seems to be her favorite color. It is so cute! In the past couple of weeks she has begun to combine multiple words into sentences and thoughts. It is amazing listening to her express herself...just another reminder that my baby isn't a baby anymore!

Vacation 2008 - August trip to Muskegan, MI

I'm dreaming of some warmer weather...maybe with a beach and some water!










































































Random shots of our long weekend in Muskegan last August. We choose Muskegan so that we could go to Michigan's Adventure theme park. The park was nice, the rides are geared towards kids instead of adults like Cedar Point. Nikki's favorite part was the water park. She would have liked it even better if she would have been about an inch taller and therefore able to ride all of the water rides. She was too afraid to ride any of the roller coasters. Ken and I took turns riding some of them while the other one of us hung out with the kids. It wasn't too bad since the lines were short.

The first night we got into town we took the kids to the beach. There is a really nice spot where the lake meets a channel. It is relatively shallow and warm which was perfect for Emily. Nikki preferred the lake with the waves. Both girls had a ball playing in the water and sand. I found it nice and relaxing which was right up my alley.

One of the days it rained, but we made the best of it by doing some shopping and later after it cleared up, we went to a family fun center. We went mini golfing. Ken and Nikki drove go carts. We also tried out the batting cages; my hands hurt after hitting quite a few balls with an aluminum bat. They also had an indoor game center where we played air hockey and skeet ball.

One night, we even went into Grand Haven to see and hear the musical fountain.

The trip might have been short, but it was memorable for all!