Grandparent Fest

Mark's parents came into town to see Grandma and let Mark and I sneak off for a few hours for our anniversary. Oma and Opa coming is quite a fun fest at our house!

Loved visiting Gram...

 Oma brought the girls early Christmas presents

 And she tried to get a picture of all 4 kids. This is mediocre at least :)

 Pretty standard fare around here

 Mark's Mom always tell the girls they can wake her up as soon as they get up in the morning. I think this is crazy. :) Also-it has made it tricky with other guests because they often also receive 6 am wake up calls. But look how happy it makes them. (except Kaiya who maybe was still a bit tired)

 Bob and Sam the horse stories from Opa

 He's got all 4 like a pro!

 While Oma was entertaining Mark took care of a pesky little weed in our yard.

 Love this picture of Grandma looking so happy at the chaos. :)

 Look at the sweet little baby I had!!

And a few shots of the getaway...

Sure am thankful for the cool husband I got to end up with! And his equally cool parents who handle all four of our kids like pros!!!!

a mixed bouquet...

Grand Rapids does this cool thing called ArtPrize every year...this year one of the entries was releasing thousands of those chinese lanterns over the city. We just happened to be walking out of dinner downtown right as they were released and it was so beautiful!!!!

 Ava drew this picture of Mark and I and explained that we were holding hands. :) Happy she knows we like each other! (And that I'm wearing sunglasses, obviously she thinks I'm cool, right??)

 The light up version.

Mark was Mr. Romney this year for Halloween. We got a few stares on our way down the road.

 The whole crew. (Minus one giraffe.)

 Princess Ava at her school party.

 One of his supporters.

Leaves and Pumpkins

He didn't get to play in the leaves...

 Mama came for a visit...

 
Pumpkin carving!

 Preschool Pumpkin Carving

Mark got to go on a football getaway with his buddies. 

Fun Fall back in the Mitten!!!!!

Out takes

The annual: "attempt to find a picture that you can send in a Christmas card shoot" (Thanks, Dave.)

The one we chose, thanks to some editing. (Thanks, Al.)

Real World-Chicago

Since we moved back we have been going to dinner once a month with some fun friends and eaten lots of good food. We decided to take this show on the road and go to Chicago for a quick weekend of eating and shopping.

 The party started as soon as we pulled away.

 Stopped for a burger on the way....

Laughed a whole lot...

 
Saw some special people!!!!

Took amazing group pictures---

 We always have a cheers shot...

 and breakfast the next morning-

 with our first ever breakfast toast. :)

Thanks Chicago for a beautiful weekend!!!!