Winter Fun Around the Yard

This is what the kids (including Jason - haha) do for fun around the yard after a good snowfall...you might have to look closely at the kids on the sled behind the snowmobile; it kind of looks like a big puff of snow - they love it! It's fun for me too...I might actually get to read a magazine or something......in peace. :)

Christmas Programs

Paige had a Christmas Choir program at school & Lacey had a Christmas program with her after school daycare - Little Lambs. They were both very nice. I suppose Kyle is getting too old for Christmas programs...:(

Lacey was SO excited to be there!

Mom & John (&Paige - interesting smile for her!?) ~

This is a picture of Paigey and her friends Brooke & Emma at Paige's school program. They are cute.

A Night in Kalamazoo

We all went to see Willy Wonka playing at the Civic in Kalamazoo last month. We walked through Bronson Park to see all the lights & decorations. It was a very nice night.

Happy Birthday Lacey!

I'm a little late on my posting, but here is a recap of Lacey's 5th Birthday - November 26th! Our youngest is 5 - where is the time going?! She's great and always has a smile on her face! The picture below she is listening to our friends sing her Happy Birthday - thank you Crissman family!

This is her outfit that she picked out and wore on her actual birthday, to go out for pizza.

Love it!

This is a picture from her birthday party. The party was at Jungle Joe's - you can see it's a facitlity with all blow-up slides & obstacle courses. She wanted to invite all her friends from school along with all her other friends & family. It was chaotic, but so much fun!

Let It Snow!

I have to say, if it's going to be cold, we'd rather have snow to go with the cold!

The kids have so much fun playing in the snow...especially on the first day!

Lacey and Aunt Missy built this yesterday - he got covered up so quickly with all the falling snow...you can't see his cute buttons & snow hat.

Halloween 2008!

What a wonderful day/night for the kids and trick-or-treating! They all had so much fun & recieved so much candy - what more could you ask for? This is the first year Kyle spent the evening walking around with friends - that was somewhat bittersweet. I am glad to see him socializing, but also miss him with us! We went through a neighborhood close to our house with some friends of ours...so much fun!

Paige was an '80's Diva' & Lacey was a Good Witch - isn't the blue eyeshadow awesome?

Kyle & his friends eating pizza as they were trick-or-treating! Can't get better than that! I keep telling him that he WILL grow! By the way, they went as 'Gothic Kids'...

You can see more of our Halloween pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hadleys5/Halloween2008#

Fall Fun

Now that the outdoor soccer season is over & Lacey's tennis/swimming are over, one would think we would have more time. I'm not really sure where it goes...we always seem to manage to fill our time with something - I suppose we wouldn't know what to do if we weren't busy!
I wanted to share a couple pics...



Of course I had to include a soccer pic of Paige - some may think we are obsessed with soccer as much as I talk about it...maybe we are??

This is funny, Lacey is learning how to put a diaper on her baby. She certainly was focused!

Kyle's Salmon

I had to post a picture of Kyle's Salmon - he got this all on his own & was incredibly proud (as he should have been). He is very determined. He gets it from me...haha.

Lindsay Tarpley

Almost two weeks ago Lindsay Tarpley was in town for the Portage Central Homecoming football game. For those of you who don't know her, she is a member of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team who played in both 2004 & 2008 - both receiving a gold medal.

She is a fantastic person who is such a phenominal mentor for young kids with big dreams. I took the girls to see her when she spoke at Portage Central - she was there to speak to all the young athletes. Anyhow, here are a couple pics from the excitement...it was so much fun!

The anticipation of her appearance is killing us...!

That's her!!!!! It's really her!! There she is!!! Oh my goodness!!

She was at Meijer the next day signing autographs. We love her.

Kyle went on Friday night with some soccer buddies to a dinner and was able to see her then.

Lansing Soccer Tournament

I went to Lansing with Kyle this past weekend for a soccer tournament while Jason stayed home with the girls. It was a lot of fun watching his team win the championships. They have grown into fine young soccer players and it's great competition at their level. It's better than any college game...(ok, maybe that's just coming from a mom).

Here are a few pictures of the action:

After the whistle was blown and they were the official winners of the tournament!

The winning team...they rock!

Happy Birthday Kyle

Kyle turned 11 (where did the last 11 years go?) on September 12th. He went up north with his dad - Salmon fishing. He'd rather do that than have a birthday party...easy enough for me! He's such a cool kid! Here he is blowing out his candles...

Summer Fun - Recap

I wanted to share a few pics from earlier this summer, only because fall is knocking on our door!

We were in Grand Haven camping & decided to head to the beach ...

Paige and our cousins - Jake, Lexi & Jaiden

Oh Lacey

I had to share this of Lacey. She learned how to take video of herself with my camera - pretty comical. The is somewhat about Santa...there is some sort of jibberish that I'm not too sure about. You have to check out the eyeshadow and the frosting on her face...

Olympics 2008 Kid Style

A couple pics from Reece's summer Olympics 2008. The kids had a great time in South Haven!

And the Gold medal winner is....
You can view more of the Olympics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hadleys5/ReeceSOlympics2008?authkey=SjMQXbrSa_c#

First Week of School

We've made it through the first week of school, already including a spelling test, homework, Lacey learning how to ride her bike and of course soccer practices too! All in all the kids did pretty good, in spite of having to get up too early!


Paige is always ready to go. Isn't she cute? :)

Lacey in her new class, meeting her teacher & all the kids. She has 11 students in her Y5 class.

Kyle is so enthused for school - can't you tell?

The girls are looking for flowers to give to Lacey's teacher...isn't that sweet?

Here are some more pics of the start of school & also some of Paige's friends at her sleepover, a couple soccer pics & other fun shots:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hadleys5/FirstWeekOfSchool?authkey=BdDe4NKy5jk##

Colorado Fun 2008

We had a terrific summer adventure in Breckenridge, Colorado in early August. It was one of those great vacations where we didn't have something PLANNED every minute of the vacation - we would wake up everday and ask 'what shall we do today?'...Many thanks to my Aunt Sandy & Uncle Tom for sharing their home with us....

Here are a couple fun pics...the first, we were in Vail and rode the gondola to the top. You can see the rain in the distance - pretty cool.

At this spot right outside of Breckenridge (overlooking Lake Dillon), the chipmunks will eat out of your hand. I'm not sure of the actual name of this park/area. We went here two times, the kids enjoyed it so much.

Lacey wants a horse now - surprising?!?

Other than feeding chipmunks & horseback riding, we also went rafting, hiking & of course, shopping. We definately want to plan another trip in the near future! You can view more of our pics here http://picasaweb.google.com/hadleys5/FamilyColorado2008.

Hadley's House

First and foremost, thank you Danielle & Addie for sharing your blogging idea with me...it's about time I got around to sharing all the happenings in our house.

There is something to be said about all the joys that our three amazing (& busy) children bring to our lives.

Lacey bug will be turning 5 on Novemeber 26 & going to Young 5's this year. She is definately the stitch in the family. She gets along great with both Kyle & Paige. It's most fun to listen to what she has to say, whatever it is, most get a chuckle from her.

Paige is the 'mother hen' of Lacey & loves it. She turned 8 this year on the 4th of July - great birthday! She is a great & kind hearted soul - stubbornness all all! She plays on a Select Travel soccer team, which she is very excited about.

I must say that stubbornness is in our family, as Kyle is probably the most of all of them. He is definately an amazing kid who I am so very proud of (as I am of the girls too). It's fun to hang with him as it seems like (sometimes) he is much older than 11. He will be turning 11 on September 12 & he is going into the 6th grade. He LOVES playing soccer and is an avid coin collector. I can't say that he gets along great with his sisters (it just might look that way in the pictures) - but they all love each other !