Screaming in "Tinysota"

We went to Minneapolis last weekend to visit our dear Grandma Bernice and our fabulous aunts and uncles.  Paige couldn't wait to tell her joke from the movie Rio, "What's another way to say Minnesota"  "Tinysota".  She made certain to tell each of them when we arrived.  Oh, four year olds:)

We most definitely crammed as much in as we could:

 Will had so much fun in his attempt to play hide and seek with Aunt Shelly

 Paige played restaurant with Grandma "Niece"

 We spent a morning at the Children's Museum

 

 Pretty sure Ben and I had just as much fun as the kids:)

We spent a day at the Mall of America.  The kids LOVED it.

Annie looks so sweet and innocent but let me tell you!
She insisted on screaming at an ear piercing level all weekend.  I think she took notice to all of the fun the older kids were having and felt left out.  Screaming was her incredibly special way of getting our attention.  And boy did it work.  So happy to say that this was just a weekend thing and we're back to our happy sweet self!

We absolutely treasured our time with our sweet grandma!

 And the kids played and played with their great aunts and uncles, who so generously hosted us, fed us and entertained us all weekend.

Love you, our dear Minnesota family!

Part of the Gig

I suppose being a princess-clad little boy is just part of the job as brother to an older sister.  I'm sure I'll use this picture to haunt him some day when he towers over his sisters!

The week in between....

Ben took the entire week off in between Christmas and New Years - it was glorious.  He enlisted the help of our brother-in-law to build some shelves in our closet, we got lots of family time in and had so much fun with our family visiting from Colorado.  Our time together is precious and we are so thankful for those memories made with us during this week.

 We played....

 Watched shows in our bed.....

Annie and Truett bonded

Paige, Maren and Will most definitely bonded!

The girls had their very 1st sleepover.  Which was great success!

 We also did a lot of relaxing

and loved spending time with our dear friends, the Painters.

The Ferwerda Hotel was in full swing with the DeKornes,

who we are SO happy moved back to Grand Rapids right before New Years ..... 

same bed, different friends....the kids just love the treat of hanging out in our room.

Finally, we got to ring in the new year with all of our buddies

Potty Training Prince.....

....Not to be confused with our potty training princess from a few years ago.

Our now 3 year old has taken the potty training world by storm.  And his older sister's fashion has rubbed off on his training style.

Obviously Ruff is right in on the action

We're not too worried, he's running around the house in his toy story underwear, chasing Paige in silver ballet slippers and yelling, "I"M A GUY!!!" - all while shooting with the magic wand:)

Day 2 and we're doing GREAT!  Perhaps putting it off until you turn 3 has some benefits:)