Adrian College Frozen Faceoff

Back in December, Adrian College played in the first ever DIII outdoor hockey game. So of course the hockey fans in this family were not going to miss it. The game was the Saturday before the big Mich vs. Mich State game so it wasn't the sold out crowd they had for that game, but it didn't matter, it was great!

The season ticket holders had "special" tickets that allows us to go on the field to watch the game,not the best seats, but who are we kidding, fans were there for the experience not to watch the game. Megan couldn't wait to get on the field, the tiny white dot is Megan running on the huge Michigan letters in the end zone (how many 3 year olds can say they have done that!?!)

Megan enjoying her hot chocolate. Don't worry, we were all plenty warm! Megan's outfit went something like this: long sleeve shirt...hockey jersey...winter coat...another hockey jersey. Leggings...sweatpants...snowpants...boots, hat and 2 pair of gloves! She was about twice her wait and double her size and it took her forever to walk up all of the steps to go potty.

Megan and Daddy taking it all in.

Had to get a picture to show that there we fans in the stands.

Then after the game, we got to go out on the ice to talk with the players and take some pictures. Everything about this game was great, a once in a lifetime experience, so much fun. Plus I got to talk with my favorite player, Mike Towns :)

It was great to see all of the players acting like kids living out a childhood dream.

All of the players we so happy to be a part of this game and they along with their coach said that they forgot they were playing a game for a few moments while they were looking around taking in all of the excitement.

Last picture before we left of the players, fans and family out on the ice. It was a good day! Then we were off to a yummy brunch and Lisa and Jesper's house (thanks again) So for our family, it was a perfect Saturday in December, one that I'm sure we will always remember (it was history after all)

Our Gingerbread House Project

Jesper had a design and templates printed but we still needed some fine tuning. So as our engineer, he had to do a few test batches to get things right. It was fun brainstorming ideas and watching all of the kids giving their input.

I think it is funny a year ago, Megan would just look at Conary and scream, "NO!" when he tried to talk to her, but since then she adores him. It was great seeing them playing together and just being buddies.

Grandma-great was just in awe of the Gingerbread House plans. She couldn't believe how big this project was going to be. It was great having her here to see how Megan plays with her cousins.

Tough job, we had to force the kids (and my mom) to make candy canes smaller to support the roof. If you cut them they break so there was no choice but to lick them to get them to the right size.

Kids are made a rubber! This was the easiest way for Crystal to help cut out the pieces. It looked very painful to me.

Caila and Lisa turning sugar into glue. It was super hot, super sticky and worked great!

Conary has a lot of patience. He glued each ju-ju to the licorice to make lights. It looked great...until we picked it up. All of his work crumbled but we regrouped and still got the lights on the house.

Kelsey was decorating trees for the back of the truck and Tracie was putting the many, many pieces of the truck together.

Tah-dah! It's perfect and it won 1st place for the family category at the Gingerbread House contest. Plus it was so much fun for all of us, I can see it being a tradition!

Caila, Megan, Crystal, Kelsey and Conary posing with their masterpiece. I love these kids and I loved that they all had fun with this project. Good times!

Weekend projects

Before winter came Mark needed to stop a leak in on of our hose bibs (to prevent a major leak if it froze) Mark had to go in the crawl space and asked if Megan wanted to go. She was SO excited. She changed into work clothes, grabbed a flashlight and off they went. She was helped follow the pipes to find the shut-off and really didn't want to leave the crawl space.

When they we done and after I helped get her out, she quickly informed me that she needs to have a flash light that goes on her head like Daddy's and it has to be blue! I guess I need to get her one if I want her to keep helping with projects.

Finally, we are going to tile our back splash! We have had the tiles for months but didn't want to take up a summer weekend for an indoor project so now that we were hosting Thanksgiving, we had to get it done. Here is a boring before picture.

Megan was warned that she was going to have to entertain herself for most of the day so she started off watching Olivia upside down. But once we changed it to a non-kid show, she moved on to other odd activities to keep her busy.

I took a lot of time to lay out the pattern just to make sure we had enough of the small tiles.

At this point, we were already sore from leaning over the counter and under the cupboards. Not even halfway done and I thought it was never going to end.

Comedic relief! Megan came scooting into the kitchen on her lady bug, wearing her "bike helmet" and her tu-tu made from a foam floor puzzle piece. She is a little weird sometimes.

Worst position ever!!! Behind the stove, under the microwave, straddling a gas line...horrible! I'm sore even thinking about it.

But I guess it was worth all of the pain, so pretty! I even leave the under cabinet lights on when we leave just because it is so pretty. The glass tile just looks so good when the light shines on it.

It was hard to get a good picture of the tile that doesn't make it look "flat" but at least you can see the pattern. So glad it is over and our kitchen remodel is officially done!

Playing Catch-Up

In the beginning of October Megan and her friend Chase spent a morning playing at Carpenter Farms before picking out their Halloween pumpkins.

We spent some time in the straw pit playing on the climbing rope,going to the slide and just climbing bales of straw. Megan loves it!

I think we found a few pumpkins! Not all of these were ours, but we did buy a few to carve and use as decorations around the house. But I will always buy my pumpkins at Carpenter Farms, because the kids can play, pet farm animals, go on hay rides, walk through corn mazes etc. for free! Love this farm!!!

Halloween dinner at Lenawee Country Club before Grandma and Papa Schutte leave for Florida. Megan was excited to finally wear the Big Bird costume and I was happy the Grandma and Papa got to see her in her costume.

Megan showing Grandma and Papa how to play a matching game on an iphone. So priceless watching Papa taking lessons from Megan.

It's "Little Big Bird" That is what Megan kept calling her costume, it was adorable.

Megan and some of her friends. Some came to our house for dinner and some just came for trick-or-treating and it was so much fun seeing all of the kids getting so excited running from house to house getting candy.

Megan couldn't keep up with all of the walking and had to be carried and had to skip a lot of house to keep up with the group. But don't worry, she got plenty of candy and we still have some left!

The girls from Merry Marketplace. Another fun weekend where the adults and some kids made some money, but more importantly, Megan got to play with her cousins.

How many kids can you fit in a phone booth? After Merry Marketplace we all went to dinner at The Beach Bar and while waiting for food the girls were entertaining themselves. Interesting note: I took this photo in the dark and I was very impressed that I was able to see all of their little faces on the first try.

Appleumpkin

It was a beautiful fall afternoon, Megan's cousins were in town and we all we excited to spend some time at the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh. Megan could have cared less about the shopping and just wanted to get to the camel we told her about. So $15.00 later the three girls were riding a camel. (for about 3 minutes, that camel brings in some big bucks!!!)

They all look so cute. How many people can say that they have been on a camel!?! Plus not to mention, does this look like downtown Tecumseh...no.

Next we were off to Kapnick's Orchard to shop, pet the animals and pick some apples. After walking down the rows of apple trees for a while, we finally found some apples at child friendly levels.

Where's Megan?

After our bag was filled, the girls grabbed an apple for the road and then I made them pose for a picture :) It was a great day and the weather was perfect. I'll say it again, I love the simple things in life!

These shoes are cute and annoying too.

Grandma Berthold bought Megan some new shoes that just happened to have squeakers in them. When Megan put them on, Baron went crazy. The squeaker sounds exactly the same as the squeaker in his toys. He couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from and as you will see Megan loved teasing him.

Megan LOVES running circles around our kitchen island. She is always going in a circle so of course she had to take her squeaky shoes for a lap around the island.

Birthday Celebration Week!

Yes I realize that it has been a long time since I have posted anything but we have been busy! Birthdays, 10 days in California and then trying to get back to normal. But all of our business means that we have fun pictures so enjoy!
The week of Megan's birthday her cousins were visiting so she spent lots of time at the lake. She said earlier in the summer that she wanted to learn how to fish and a few days before her birthday she caught her first fish!!! She was very excited. When I asked her how she did caught the fish she told me in great detail "I hold it, I wind it, and then I catch my first fish!" Add an adorable little shoulder shrug and that is what she told me :)

When I asked Megan what she wanted for her birthday she said "Fancy balloons." So Mark and I got her fancy balloons!

Funny story with this picture. To hard to explain, but it was funny.

Kelsey, Megan, Morgan and Caila getting ready to eat birthday cupcakes!

Megan liked her cupcake just a little.

What is a birthday without gifts? Here is Megan holding up her mama and baby moo-moo cows. She loves cows, so for awhile these guys went everywhere with us.

After spending the morning at the lake, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Berthold's house for dinner and more gifts. Megan was very excited to open up a bigger hockey jersey and matching hockey socks! Yep she is going to be pretty cute at the hockey arena this year! (side note: Every day since the college students have gone back she has asked, "Is it hockey season yet?")

Fancy balloons weren't enough for a birthday, so Mark and I also got her, her first Playdoh fun factory thing. This set makes movie theater food and she loved it!

And since Megan is slightly obsessed with Tim Horton's Tim-Bits (doughnut holes) I just had to make her "cake" out of Tim-Bits! She knew right away that they were Tim-Bits and went straight for the chocolate ones. She even tried to steal my chocolate Tim-Bit away from me after she pretended to cuddle with me! It was cute, but birthday or not, she was not getting my Tim-Bit.