More birthday pictures...

We let the kids pick where they want to eat dinner on their birthday and as you can see from the picture, Kaylyn picked Red Robin. She got a free sundae and this looked really good to Libby.

As soon as we were done eating we headed over to Best Buy to let Kaylyn buy her iPod with the birthday money she received on Sunday. She told everyone all she wanted is cash because she has had her eye on this new iPod for a little while now. The fun thing about it is it can hold movies. So last night we downloaded the movie "Meet the Robinson's" from iTunes. Little did we know that even with DSL it takes 7 hours to download a movie. So we found it downloaded when we got up this morning and I put it on her iPod for her. She is one happy girl! Anna and Libby will benefit from her movie purchase also because they can watch it on our computer now that it is in our iTunes. Bonus!
Here is my Anna checking out some of the fun toys at BestBuy. I wonder what will show up on her Christmas list now?

Of course Libby couldn't be left out of the fun. She could sing day and night. Some of you got to hear her sing this past Christmas at church so you know she puts her whole heart into it. She is willing to do a performance for anyone who is willing to listen. Her big gift last Christmas was a portable Karaoke machine. She loves it.

Have a great Tuesday!

Smiles!

Happy Birthday Kaylyn!

My Kaylyn is 12 today. She is very excited about it so if you see her make sure you wish her a Happy Birthday or go over to her blog to wish her one.

We celebrated Sunday with cake and ice cream.

This picture is of my grandparents. I included them because many of you have prayed for them over the last couple of years and I thought you might like to put a face with the prayer.
Thank you so much for your prayers.

I couldn't resist including the last picture, even though it is a little blurry because I had to take it quickly. I knew "Uncle Leo" wouldn't want it captured in permanent history. (chuckles) Libby and him were having too much fun to not get a picture of it. Leo is my sister Julie's husband and he is the excited daddy of the baby represented in the ticker I have at the side. My girls love playing with him. He really is just a big kid some days.

Have a great "Kaylyn's birthday" day!

Smiles!

The pool is closed, finally.

Mark and Zack put the cover on the pool Wednesday night so the pool is officially closed for the winter. You may be surprised that we hadn't closed it sooner but it has been so unseasonably warm this fall that it causes us to procrastinate a bit. You see we have a heater on the pool so that if we know we will be having a warm weekend we will turn on the heater on Friday so the kids can swim Saturday and Sunday.

The video is of Zack (on the right) and my nephew Derek (on the left) throwing my nephew Brandon into the deep end. The girls to the right are Anna, Kaylyn, and Libby and the girl behind them is my niece Kendra.

We get a whole lot of use out of our pools. The kids are in it pretty much every day that it isn't raining during the summer. I am really happy that we were able to put it in 4 years ago.

Smiles!

Is that a free candle I smell?

Heather of Heather's Brain is having a Candle Giveaway. Click here for what you need to do!

Mixed reactions

Well the girls' day yesterday was mixed. Anna had told all of her teachers on Monday about what she would be doing Tuesday. They were all okay with it. Kaylyn went to the principle in the morning and showed him the paper that explained what she was doing and he thought it was great and said he was fine with it.

A couple of Kaylyn's teacher told her "you have to answer this question". Well legally she didn't but they would have been able to mark her down legally also and I had forgot to explain this to Kaylyn. I had mentioned to Anna that she should be doing this to raise awareness but she didn't have to be leagalistic about it. If a teacher needed her to answer something it would be up to her but she shouldn't feel like she was doing anything wrong by going ahead answering it.

I had to work in the copy center at school in the morning and I was shocked to see how many kids were wearing tape but as with most things middle schoolers do I believe some were just doing it to get the attention the others were getting. "Do they really know why they are doing this?"

One of Kaylyn's young female teachers told her that "even though I don't agree with what you are supporting because I feel that women should have a choice, I agree that you may do this but right now you have to participate in class."

I found Anna being swarmed in the hallway by classmates wanting some of her red duct tape to participate. She continued to give it out.

When the girls got home they were no longer wearing it and they were talking so I asked what was up. Apparently late in the afternoon some kids were making a joke out of it all. Asking for tape and then writing something silly on it and putting it over ther mouth. It was becoming too big of a disruption so the girls decided to stop.

Kaylyn also mentioned that even though the principle said he supported what they were doing in the morning, later in the day he said because it is a public school she was not allowed to hand out "flyers" (the papers that explained why they weren't talking). I thought that was odd since they were only giving it to people who asked.

I am very proud of my girls for their stand and the awareness they brought to abortion!

Smiles!

We are in the Playoffs!!! And we have a soccer star!!!

First of all I have to mention that my dear daughter takes after her father when it comes to picture taking. This was the only picture that wasn't a complete blur.

It was parents night Friday at my son's football game. After an up and down season they got into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. So this coming Friday we will travel an hour and a half to watch them in their playoff game.

What a yucky batch of weather we sat through. It rained off and on throughout the whole game but the temp was in the high 50's so at least it wasn't to terribly cold. It did not put a damper on everyone's spirit though. It was a very exciting game and the boys all played great.

Since I brought up my dear daughter I thought I better add a little something about her. She had a great soccer game on Saturday. She plays on a traveling soccer team. Her team lost 3-5 but they have improved so much even the opposing team's coach came over to let them know. They played the number one team in the organization so to hold them to within 2 goals was awesome.

Then to add icing on the cake for our house... Anna scored 2 of the 3 goals!!! She lives for soccer and plays with everything she has. It is so fun to watch her play! She is the "orange girl" kicking the ball in the top picture and in the second picture she had taken a shot on the goal but this one was blocked. So I guess I need to add that I was the picture taker and I missed the first two goals she made because it is so hard to time the picture right.

Maybe our whole family needs to take a picture taking 101 class.

Smiles!

I think my husband just fainted...

After a congratulations from Kat for me being pregnant I thought I better set the record straight before my dear hubby faints. As much as I would LOVE to be the one expecting it is not me. I am the Auntie to the baby being born. My sister is expecting. She doesn't have any kids yet and I am so excited for her. She is 16 months older than me and has been married for 3 years this December.

Then to answer a question from Cherdecor ... Is Zaankali really your last name? It is so much more interesting than say, Smith, Jones, or Brown... I am sorry to disapoint, but it isn't and you may have a good chuckle when I tell you my last name is "Hill". The word Zaankali comes from taking the first two letters of each of my childrens names; ZAck, ANna, KAylyn, LIbby.

Smiles!

GOD IS GOOD!!!

I have to tell y'all I was dreading getting groceries this morning but I knew my family would be forming a lynch mob this afternoon for me if I didn't just do it. For "non-local" readers... our local supermarket had a "Grand Opening" into a new "bigger and better" building and boasting "a whole new shopping experience". Well that is pulling people out of the wood work. I drove past yesterday and I don't think there was one open parking space in the entire parking lot. It was reported on other blogs that there was a 40 minute wait just to check out. CRAZY!

So I did a "drive by" after dropping my sweet Libby off at school this morning and noticed that the parking lot was only about 2/3's full maybe a little more but it looked much better than yesterday so I went home and prepared my grocery list (yes I do wait till the last minute when it is stuff I don't enjoy) and headed out.

On the way to the store I was thinking "I am so not in the mood for facing a busy crowd" and then a little soft voice reminded me that God cares about even the littlest things in my life and he wants me to bring it ALL to him. So as I was driving I was praying to my Heavenly Father and asking that this "experience" goes well and that I allow His light to shine through me.

I don't think I have ever had a grocery shopping experience go as smoothly as it did this morning. Don't get me wrong there were still a lot of people checking out the new "pad". But for some reason they weren't in the isles I was in. It was like the parting of the Red Sea for me. As an extra bonus God blessed me with being able to see my Uncle. He works for the Holland store and was helping stock shelves in the dairy section. I usually only get to see him at birthdays and Holidays so that was really cool and unexpected.

Then to beat all I saved $15 on gas with a .50 off per gallon coupon and I was able to put 30 gallons of gas in my suburban. Praise God!

If you are going to check out the "new experience" today keep an eye out for my Uncle Jerry and give him a warm Allendale welcome.

One more diddy for those of you who are fearing the dreaded "40 minute wait to check out"... I was next in line when I went to check out. As in, the customer in front of me was being checked out as I was being directed to the lane. That is right, no wait. I think they must have really pumped up the number of workers on Staff after yesterday's craziness.

Smiles!

The "Precious Princess" is demanding her time...

More pictures of the pets.

I thought Allie (aka: Precious Princess) deserved her time in the spot light too. After all she is the "boss" of the dogs. Gunner has her by at least 70 lbs but she has him in seniority and she will keep him in his place.

This is her bed and the only time Gunner gets the luxury of laying on it is when Allie is outside keeping the yard free of birds. She seriously thinks this is her job.

This is how she lets me know she needs something: attention, dinner, needs to go outside and run.

This is my favorite game/trick to play with the dogs. Allie will actually stay like this even if you leave the room. Gunner doesn't have quite the staying power. His nose can't handle being that close to food and not eating it. Both of them will usually stay like that until you say "OK". Then they will flip the bone off their nose and eat it. For Allie the bone never hits the floor.

In case you are wondering "what kind of dogs are those anyway?" Gunner is a Black and Tan Coonhound and Allie is an English Setter.

Smiles!

They don't stay puppies forever.

I didn't know what to post today so I thought a before and after of our "giant" might be fun to see.

Kinda funny, all the "males" in our house tend to run on the "larger than most" size.



In the first picture Gunner is about 3 months old and in the next picture Gunner is now 2 years old and weighs 108 lbs. Unfortunately he still thinks he is a puppy and doesn't know the strength of his weight.

Ask Melissa how she is greeted when she comes to our home. Sorry Melissa. Fortunately he is a lover not a fighter.

Smiles!

What was I thinking?

For those of you who don't know my husband is somewhat of a celebrity. You see he played football for MSU and his Senior year they went to the '88 Rose Bowl and I should add they won! Well because of this we often get letters from MSU to come back for a Reunion Weekend and with it we are able to get 2 "free" complimentary tickets. I say "free" because I don't see them as free. You must attend either a Friday night dinner ($20 some dollars a plate) or the Saturday tailgate ($14 per person) and you must pay the $20 fee per family for the cost of the tent, mailing, etc. So it still cost us $48 to get our 2 "free" tickets (went with the tailgate option for 2). Extra tickets run about $45 a piece so now the question is do Mark and I go without kids, do we take 1 or 2 kids with us (can't afford the whole family) or do we just have Mark and Zack go and enjoy a little father/son time.

Frugal mom decided we had better pick the latter because Anna had a soccer game on Saturday and someone needed to get her to it. I also thought how cool for Zack to meet some of the guys that have gone on to play professional football that Mark played with at State.

Well come Saturday morning I was really beginning to regret my decision. You see I LOVE FOOTBALL! Believe it or not I really enjoy high school and college football. Of course by then plans had been made that couldn't be changed so all I could do is send a camera with my guys and tell them to take LOTS of pictures so I can "live it" through them.

It was a 7pm kick-off for MSU and around 7:30pm I get a call from my dear hubby. There is a lot of crowd noise in the background and he is explaining to me that they just called down all the players from the '88 Reunion on to the field during a time-out to recognise them!!! How cool is that! I could hear the excitement and said, "please tell me you are taking lots of pictures" and I got a quick yeah and I gotta go I can't hear you it's too loud. I turned to my oldest daughter and said I am so bummed! I couldn't even watch it on TV because it was on cable and we don't have cable. But the true State fan I am, I was listening to it on my MP3 player. Of course the announcer had to add in little details of the fact that the '88 Rose Bowl Team was there and blah blah blah. Just making me all the more bummed that I was missing out on the excitement.

My guys didn't get home until about midnight and then we had church this morning but I couldn't wait to get home and see the pictures and hear the stories..........

That is when I found out my idea of "lots of pictures" and Mark's idea of "lots of pictures" weren't even measured on the same scale! Ladies, he took 7 pictures! SEVEN! That's it! To make matters worse one of the pictures was a mistake and it was of peoples feet. Only one picture contained anybody famous and it was Tom Izzo. Do y'all know who Tom Izzo is? He is the MSU basketball coach. BASKETBALL!!! It was a football game why do I want a picture of the BASKETBALL coach?!?!?!?! Argh!!! Another picture was of cheerleaders. Nothing against cheerleaders, I was one of them, but why do I want pictures of a bunch of unknown cheerleaders? And only one picture contained Zack in it. Can anyone out there feel my pain? Yes this is my handsome son out on the field before the game and what my wonderful picture taking husband failed to capture is that right in front of Zack is the whole MSU football team getting ready for the big game.

Lesson learned. Don't send husband with a camera expecting to "live the experience" through him.

Oh I almost forgot... MSU 52 INDIANA 27. GO STATE!!!!

Mirrors and dry erase markers...

Did you know that you can use dry erase markers on any glass surface? Are you wondering now why I am sharing this with you? Well in our house we use this information in a couple different ways.

1. I write memory verses on my kids bathroom mirror that they are trying to learn for Team Kids.

2. I write reminders on both the kids bathroom mirror and my bathroom mirror for things that we might forget come morning and this way we will see it first thing.

3. My sweet husband will leave me kind notes when he has to leave before I am up in the morning and he doesn't want to disturb my sleep.

4. My children have left me notes on my bathroom mirror that include "XOXOXO's". What a nice surprise when I enter my bathroom!

Well I took that one step further and went out and purchased a glass picture frame. I removed the generic photo in it and replaced it with plain white paper and now we use that to leave each other messages on the kitchen counter. This works much better than leaving it on a piece of paper that gets mixed up with all the other "paper clutter" that is often on our counter after school.

I know quite a few people that I have mentioned this to have started doing it in their house so I thought it would be worth sharing for those of you I haven't mentioned it to.

Smiles!

Pumpkins...

What a wonderful older sister my daughter is! Libby was all excited about carving pumpkins on Sunday and then was in tears when Kaylyn accidentally broke the "safe" pumpkin cutting knife before Libby got a chance to use it.

Of course there was no explanation that would make her happy about why she couldn't just use a steak knife from the kitchen. After some hugs and calming her down I promised her I would get a new pumpkin knife Monday.


Well the new knife came in a little kit that also included stickers so that you could cut out fun shapes.

With no prompting from her mother, my sweet Anna met Libby at the door when she got off the bus and showed her what I had bought and asked her if she wanted to go carve her pumpkin with her.

These are the moments that I love!

Smiles!

Calling all Lurkers out there....

I seen this on Cheri and Mari's sight so I thought I would jump on board too. If you read my blog, thank you and please leave me a quick comment.

ARE YOU A LURKER? If so...you're so welcome here. Leave a comment and come back anytime...you're always welcome!

(I borrowed that last comment from Kat. Smiles!)

Out of the mouths of babes...

I can not get off my mind what took place in Young Children and Worship yesterday so I thought I would share it with you all. Please keep this in your prayers. I am not going to use names because some of you might know this child and that isn't the point of sharing this....

The story I was sharing with the kids yesterday was "The 10 Best Ways to Live". The story tells how Moses received the commandments from God and gave them to God's people. At the end of the story there are "wondering questions" that are meant to get the kids thinking about the story they just heard. During the story I reviewed every commandment (which are written very simply so the kids can understand them). I should add that each commandment is also written on a "stone tablet cut out shape" of it's own. The last wondering question was, "I wonder which of these commandments is the most important one to you?" Well most of the kids were saying "Do not steal" or "Love God" but when I got to this one little precious child the child leaned forward and picked up the tablet that said, "Do not break your marriage" and said this one is the most important, my parents did this. Then the child sat down quietly. My heart was breaking. This child is only 6 years old and this child's mother is on her 2nd marriage. There was a lot of pain in this precious little one's face. I didn't know what to do at that point but pray to myself. I had a room full of kids wacthing me and the last thing I wanted to do was to make this child more uncomfortable. I know who this little one's mother is but to me the mom seems very bitter still so I don't think she would be very receptive to me sharing this with her. Please PRAY hard for this precious little child of God who is obviously hurting.

Dear Father, I lift up this beautiful child of yours to you right now. I ask that you give this little one the peace that only you can give. I ask for healing of this child's hurting heart. I also lift up this very young mom. I pray that you give her the wisdom and insight to love her child unconditionally. I also ask that you use me in whatever way you need to show your love to this child and mother. Surround them with other Christians that will shower them with your unfailing love. I ask all these things in Jesus' name. -Amen

An Award from Mari!

Woo Hoo!

My friend Mari has given me the Totally Fabulous Award!

Thank you Mari!

I am passing this award to two of my fabulous daughters, Anna and Kaylyn!

You girls are Fabulous!!!

A little about me...

Okay, I was tagged by Melissa...

I should have posted this yesterday because that's when I was working on it so if "yesterday" doesn't seem to make sense remember that would have been Wednesday not Thursday. ;-)

1) What I was doing 10 years ago: I was waiting for our current house to be finished so that we could move in on Jan.1. I was putting in the last couple months of working outside of the house at Prince Corp. as a design engineer. I was a mother of 3, wishing to be a mother of 4. I was getting acquainted with Allendale, meeting Zack's soon to be 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Cook.

2) 5 years ago: I was, finally, a mother of 4. I was spending a lot of time at Zack's Rocket Football practices. I was praising God for Mark's mother being cancer free for 2 years. Libby was 3 so I was doing a lot of chasing of her.

These pictures are really from 8 years ago but they mean a lot to me. The pictures of Mark's mom were just after we found out she cancer for the first time (Thanksgiving '99). The following Monday she went in for a double mastectomy and then started chemo and radiation so this is the last pictures we have of her "before" cancer. Anna and Kaylyn were pretty excited to have their own drumstick.

Isn't he a great big brother! Libby would start to "coo" when she seen those pictures so Zack just loved holding them up for her.

3) 1 year ago: Pretty much the same as now, I was being a taxi driver for my four kids. I was excited for Zack to be the starting center for the Varsity football team while he was only in 10th grade. Seriously searching for a new doctor for Mark that could get his medicines working for him instead of against him.

4) Yesterday: Woke up at 6 and started getting kids up. Got all the kids off to school. Went to Bible study at church. Then Patty and I helped Brandon set up some chairs and tables for Youth group later. Then I worked at Rose's desk for a while inputting some church info into N-spire. Then I went home and did some more inputting church info into N-spire from home through a remote log in connection (I love that I can do that stuff at home). Then I picked up Anna from school and we went to Pack and Mail to get our Passport pictures taken. Then I treated Anna to a Slushy from Mobil. Then we picked up Libby and headed back to church to help set up more stuff for Youth group. Then we headed over to the High School to watch Kaylyn's volleyball game. Then we hurried back to church so that we could still get our dinner (Chicken pot pie, oh it was sooooo yummy). Then I told Melissa what a bad example she was setting by leaving all her peas and carrots on her plate. Then I watched my Libby eat the peas and carrots that Melissa left on her plate. Libby rocks! Then I helped at an awesome night of prayer time at Youth group (really cool). Then I rounded up my girls and headed back home. Tucked everyone in bed and went to my bedroom to read for a little while (The YadaYada Prayer Group, really good book). Then off to bed.

5) 5 snacks I enjoy: Ice Cream, Eggo Waffles, Trail Mix, Carmel Corn, any kind of sour candy.

6) 5 things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million: Give 10 million to church (just imagine what that could do to further the kingdom, wow!), Pay off the house and car, Go on a huge vacation with my husband and kids that was outside of the US. Go on a huge vacation with my husband without the kids. Find ways to bless my family and friends. Notice I did not say "buy Zack a reliable truck!" LOL!

7) 5 locations I would like to run away to: The Inn at Bay Harbor with Mark, Cabin in Tennessee that we vacationed at with the kids over Christmas 3 years ago, The Mall (if I have any money to spend), anywhere around Mackinaw, Hawaii.

8) 5 bad habits I have: yelling at my kids, correcting my poor husband, wearing flip flops to soon in the spring (that's for all you moms who tell your kids that it is too cold for flip flops and then Mrs. Hill walks into church wearing them), chewing gum loudly (drives poor hubby nuts so I usually just don't even put it in my mouth), lack of patience with my children .

9) 5 things I like doing: being on the computer (duh), sewing, reading, knitting, being around my kids when they are with their friends (they are so much better behaved then).

10) 5 TV shows I like: Extreme Home Makeover, Bones, Law and Order (maybe cause it seems to be lacking in my home), I can't think of any others because I really don't have much time to watch TV at night and we don't have cable so the TV is off during the day.

11) 5 things I hate doing: laundry, dishes, waking up Zack, waking up myself (lol), vacuuming (that's why I convinced Mark to rip up the carpet on the main floor and put down wood floors.)

12) 5 biggest joys of the moment: taking communion with my entire family, seeing my kids happy (not because they got something, just because), knowing that I am going to Heaven, knowing that my husband and children are going to Heaven.

"Lift your friends up in prayer..."

Brandon had us explain to our groups that they had to some how raise each person, on at a time, and then while that person was raised we needed to each pray for that person. It was really cool. My girls had me sit on a chair and then they all picked up the chair and each took turns praying for me. It was a really neat experience.

Female members of the Hill household....

Okay, since I harassed Brenda about no posts for so long, I better put something on here. Since I have nothing really interesting to put on I will post some pictures from our vacation near Mackinaw this summer.

"Stop asking me what's for dinner!!!"

"What do you mean there is no more chocolate?!?!"

"I have to have my own cell phone!"

"I can't act mad, even with these silly glasses on."

I hope y'all are laughing as much as I am looking at these pictures again.

You know laughter is good medicine so let it go!