Henry's 5th Birthday

What a fun birthday for Henry this year! His birthday was right after Toy Story 3 came out so that was a fitting theme for his "Friends and Cousins" party. He was SO excited for the big day and could hardly stand waiting until party time!Dad drew this picture of Woody and one of the games we played was "Pin the Hat on Woody." It's great to have an artist in the family!

This is what Woody looked like after the game. :)

Henry chose an ice cream cake from Coldstone this year. He LOVED it. :)

One of his favorite gifts...a Toy Story 3 Lego train from Grandma Rita and Grandpa Bill.

We celebrated his birthday again on Sunday at my parents house with the traditional birthday treat...whipped cream in a can. I think my dad's been spraying it in their mouths since they were like six months old!

Cranes Cherry Pie was his dessert choice there.

One more party at the cottage with the Mulders.
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake was the choice there.

Playmobile was the themed gift there! Henry loves Playmobile!

Grandpa Papa always makes a special dinner for the birthday boy/girl. Since Henry doesn't eat any meat, Papa stopped at McDonalds to get Hanks a 10 piece for his birthday...he LOVED it.

A Toy Story and Playmobile zoo on his cake. Happy 5th Birthday, Hanks!

Bluberry Picking at the Gold Barn

We had a beautiful day to go to the Gold Barn and pick blueberries this year. Johanna, newly walking, was loving carrying her bucket up and down the rows, making the occasional stop to eat a blueberry out her the hand of her brother or sister. Abigail and Henry did a great job picking and we ended up with about 30 pounds to freeze. We'd like more, but I'm not sure it will happen this year.

Grand Haven Triathlon

On July 11 Colin participated once again in the Grand Haven Olympic Triathlon. It consists of a 1500 meter swim, 24.8 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile run. Colin did awesome! He had a rough start that involved the wrong color swim cap and getting in the wrong group, but he made up time and finished strong. The kids and I had fun watching him bike and run. We met Lois, Bebe and Sylvie and waited at the finish by Imagination Station for him to finish. He finished with an adjusted time (because of the swim mess up) of 2 hours, 41 minutes...4 minutes ahead of his goal! It was a HOT day, but fun as always! I'm always so proud when I see Colin do so well on a race that he's worked so hard training for. Way to go, Col!

Snacking while waiting for Colin to finish the race. It sure was hot!

Henry and Sylvie going off to play.

Johanna is walking

Shortly before turning 16 months on July 17 Johanna began officially walking. This may be late for some children, but it still puts her well in the "normal" range of 9-18 months. It puts her as my middle walker as well. Henry was 17 months and Abigail 12 months when they began walking. Johanna loves her new life walking all around! She's into everything now and just seems so much older over the past week or so. My baby is growing up!

Happy 5th Birthday, Henry!

My wonderful only son is FIVE today! FIVE! I honestly cannot believe it. This birthday has been the hardest for me to grasp so far of all the birthdays of my kids. When I was shopping for his party supplies the other day I actually took the "3" candle and put it in my cart and kept walking. Then I realized what I did and that three is so far in the past now. Where have the years gone and how is he growing up so fast?



Henry is an amazing, spirited, caring, sweet, emotional, funny child. Ever day with him is an adventure. He loves to play, but likes to play with a variety of things and doesn't like to do one thing too much. Once he told my mom he was bored and she suggested doing a puzzle. He said to her, "But Rita, I already did that before." :) And yes, he still prefers to call my mom "Rita." He loves art and really is an awesome artist. He's definitely following in Daddy's footsteps. Colin likes to remind me that he is "very advanced" and that he's doing "second grade art." Proud daddy for sure. Hanks loves the outdoors and it the biggest water rat. He likes to snuggle, loves movies, loves animals and will do anything for his mommy (let's hope that is always the case). Johanna adores him and lights up when he interacts with her. He still doesn't eat well at all, choosing chicken nuggets (from McDonalds) as the only meat he will eat and doesn't eat any sauces, soups, cereal, milk, etc. He's getting better at trying new things though.

Having Henry in our family is just amazing. I love that he's growing up, but still a little boy. He's an amazing kid and we love him so much! I love to tell him "I love you so much that I could eat you up!" His quote to me one day after that was "You will taste blood." And that's our Hanks...Happy Birthday Hankers!

Johanna's Ear Tubes

It was Johanna's turn to have tubes put in after numerous ear infections. Dr. VanderMeer thought it was best that we have them put in and we decided it was time. We waited until June because logistically Colin and I both need to be off to get her to the hospital early and have the other kids taken care of. She did great at the hospital. She was loopy on the "I'm okay leaving mom and dad" medicine and cracked us up. She continuously would say "Dog Dog" and "woof woof" and then laugh at herself. The quick 15 minute surgery went flawlessly and she was returned to our arms crying. After some snuggles with Dad she was ready to go and has been fine since. Hopefully these will clear up the infections and stay in for awhile!

The Princess and Saltan of Turkey

My parents spent a couple of weeks in Turkey this summer for a trip before my mom had surgery. They went to a palace and came back with these outfits for the kids. They were SO excited about them and loved wearing them. Hanks might need a t-shirt on under his though...

Fourth of July 2010

We had a great time celebrating July 4th this year! We had the annual Edgewood Beach Bike Parade on the morning of the 4th. It was also the 100th year celebration of Edgewood! The kids had a blast in the parade, getting their faces painted and doing a scavenger hunt. Abigail's first year in the parade on a two-wheeler!

Johanna even got into the parade...she was definitely a bit behind though. :)

Hanks is all hooked up with red, white and blue gear!

My friend, Kelly, monogrammed Johanna's dress...isn't it adorable!

We also went to the fireworks at Kollen's Park on the night of the 3rd. We met up with Marci, Jeremy, Carson and Ellie and had a great time with friends!

Abigail and Tennis

Abigail wanted to take tennis this summer so we signed her up through the rec. league for a two week program. She took the lessons for about an hour a day and really, really liked them! She had never played tennis at all but a few days into it and you never would have known that. On the last day they had an awards ceremony. Each group awarded a player "The Most Improved." Abigail received that award in her group...and it was definitely true! She isn't very athletic and doesn't like that many sports so it was great to see her enjoy something! I'm sure that there will be more tennis in her future.

Here she's getting her "Most Improved Player" award from her coach. She was SO proud!