wow

29 days done in the month of August....it's gone by so fast. We have been busy enjoying the end of summer. The biggest accomplishments include FINALLY finding our minivan, and then selling Jim's aurora in 4 days. (pics to come of my new hot momma ride) I've been "nesting" as people like to call it, down to toothbrushing the shower grout clean. Needless to say blogging has been quite down on the list of things to do. I have as much washed and organized as I can, fixed things around the house that Jim and I have just looked at for 6 years--thanks to my dad (and mom) I'm pretty handy around the house, and squeezed in as much quality time I can with friends and family. Jim is pretty handy too--his installation of our new kitchen faucet broke records for time, and works perfectly!

So any day now....I'm waiting patiently....maybe this time labor will start on it's own, maybe this time I'll go earlier than my due date...maybe this time it will be a boy?! I'll keep you all posted! We are so excited!

Michigan's adventure

Dad and Jim on the "matterhorn"

This ride made me sick to even watch

Gooooooo Grandma!

Kady was definately not tall enough to ride this...but Jim snuck her on, and she loved every minute of it. She looks much taller here....most of the time we could barely see her head!

Lucas and Kady, before they figured out how to pull the lever and make the elephant go up (Kadence was not much of a fan after that!)

My one and only pic of the water park...it's because we all had too much fun! We spent most of the hot, humid day here...all the preggos were pretty thankful for that! The kids loved the park and all the slides. I even got my pregnant self to go down a straight slide with the girls, I'm sure it was a sight to see! It was such a fun time to spend the entire day hanging out with the Cochran family! Love you guys!

Sorry Kady! Not much room left in front of me!

This was Kady's first attempt at a ride....what do you think? The funniest part was that towards the end if we asked who wanted to go on something she would say "me too, me too!"

and then Lucy...who loved her first ride, and didn't want to go on anything else in the amusement part of the park because she didn't want any stranger taking off her seatbelt. She was super excited about the ferris wheel...which turned out to be more fun than I remember!

End of July

We always have so many special memories from the Koops cottage vacation! Here are some of the highlights (ps: it's hard to narrow things down when you spend a week together with 5 kids!)

Don't mess with my shoes

Rough life hanging out on the beach all day everyday....Kady did say "no beach-me home" a couple times...I don't think she's related to me at all

special times with Grandpa and Grandma

What do you mean we don't get dessert every night now that we are home?

Smores and pool time

We used the pool quite a bit for rinse off time after the beach, bathing (hey whatever gets them clean fast), and just plain fun. Miss Mya had no fear, and couldn't care less if she slipped and went under....close eyes on that little swimmer


Our girls at the beach...Lucy the fish, and Kadence the snacker...these two pictures about sum up their week!


The Gritter family enjoying the beach

We were total beach bums. Lake Michigan was at least 75 plus degrees everyday! It supplied us with everything we needed, big waves, glassy calmness to float on some rafts (and get my pregnant backside some sun), night swims, and water the kids loved to be in!

Lucy and Reagen LOVE hanging out. They played many games of doctor, doggy (until the poor stethescope leash broke), reading, and playing in the dollhouse

How cute can you get???

Chubby bunny with x-large marshmallows...I have video as well...always a good laugh

The Gritters

Best friends...who pretended they could sleep in the same bed :)

We had beautiful, perfect weather....baby Engbers stayed put, plenty of laughs, books, playtime, eating, and just relaxing! We can't wait for next year when we will have 2 more added to our family!

"roomies"

Lucy loves snuggling with her new room-mate Their rooms before

Daddy busy painting their bunkbeds white
A pretty girls room to share....now just to decorate!

Gone are the easy days of tucking two sweet girls in....we've moved Kadence out of her crib, and into a room with Lucy. It's been a tiring week for all of the Koops house. We are making adjustments, and hoping the laughter and secrets that they will share will soon outweigh the screaming and Lucy's constant coming out of the bedroom. So at naptime today I have the bright idea to restart a "sticker chart" which was highly successful in helping two girls listen when it was time to come in the house, or leave for the day. Stickers for girls who can go right to sleep and not come out of their rooms. Lucy is already set on getting a "married barbie" for her reward. Updates to come....since I can hear a lot of noise in the room above me right now!!