Friday's Funny ~ the 4 door-new-weirds!!

Last weekend we got to spend some time with my Mom's family as her sister's flew in from Phoenix.  These are the two sisters that ALWAYS keep things lively & we love them dearly...click here for a trip down memory lane with these two!  We not only celebrated a reunion but also celebrated my Mom & Uncle Butch's birthdays as 63 years ago, Grandma Doorneweerd gave birth to the twins, Linda & Lynn.

I'll let you see what similarities you can find in the below pictures!

 Aunt Lavonne

Aunt Lois

 Uncle Butch (given name Lynn)

 his twin sister & my Mom, Linda

the four!

Wulf Reunion 2012

Last weekend took us to Iowa for a Wulf Reunion.  My maternal grandmother was one of 10 ten Wulfs and we had about 150 people attend~3 originals are still living + 33 first cousins + the rest of us :)

Enjoy the slide show...

date night with Daddy

A few days ago, Arlan took Haven on a date night...ideally, Arlan would like to do these once a month but realistically, it turns out to be about once every other...the destination was DP Dough & the Children's Discovery Museum in Uptown Normal for some father/daughter one-on-one time.  I had signed Haven up for a toddler class about Backyard Friends so I knew her & her Dad would have a great time. They made a bug catcher, colored frog & flower stencils, made a frog puppet & read stories.

 

we're going to the zoo-zoo-zoo

A few weekends ago, we took Haven up to Brookfield Zoo near Chicago to enjoy the animals...she had a great time and was a super fun age to experience all the exhibits with...every creature elicited a "OH BOY!" from our princess.  To save you the pain of looking at all the animals we took photos of, I'll just add the ones with Haven or us in them...her favorite part?  "the dolphin show" and the "tiger"

do you like the plumber crack?!

checking to see how she measures up to a polar bear :)

 underwater viewing of dolphins

 

watching the dolphin show

and Haven's other favorite part of the weekend..."staying in a motel!"

Friday's Funny ~ quite the braid

"mom, my hair is getting sooo long"...uhm, yep-it sure is!

one year ago...

It's already been one year since we moved to the Twin Cities...it many ways it seems like a long year and in other ways, it seems like we were just loading up our trailer, van & Jeep.  When I think back to where we were a year ago, it does seem like we've grown & learned & been stretched...

Enjoy a few pictures from last year:

saying goodbye to our Robin Ave. home one last time...

call me nostalgic, but there's something about an empty place that you once you called home...this was our first home as A & K...this is where we hosted many of you...this is where we brought Haven home to...

trying to figure out where to put Haven....

 one of our MANY Lowes trips...again, where to put our kid was always tricky :)

Charlee & Haven breaking in our deck with toys!

Haven getting a first look at her new place...

 loving her new nursery!

We've hosted many friends & family members, painted most rooms, landscaped about every square inch of our yard you possibly can, planted a tree in honor of my Dad, added a swing set, seeded down our garden...I mean, really...you don't want to know our entire list.  Our house feels like a home & it is a great home to raise children in, to host our friends & college kids and to make many more memories throughout the years.

 and we recently just added a pergola to our back patio area courtesy of our friends Eric & Clayton

new wheels

Say goodbye to a faithful car nicknamed "the Hemi" by my dear father....

and say hello to every woman's dream machine...a van!!!

Many of you are thinking:

she's crazy!
that's weird!
vans are NOT cool!
or to quote my sis-in-law..."no one WANTs a van"...

well, yes...actually I do!  Due to the amount of traveling we do, and as we will be adding to our family within 12-14 months (we are adopting recall...no...I'm not pregnant with the gestation time of 1/2 an elephant), it seems like the time was right.  Haven LOVES it & although Arlan still drives around with it like he's driving his race-car, it will hopefully serve our family well.

Friday's Funny~my old Senator

 

'We ... do not believe that discussions about the administration of justice would be less successful were they held somewhere other than a spa and resort in Hawaii.'

U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., in a letter to 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, on a $1 million conference on "improving the administration of justice" that the court planned to hold in Hawaii in August.

published in the June 16, 2012 issue of World Magazine

Now...I'm not saying my current state's senators are any better than this!!!

someone needs this!

10 X 13 Sunsetter motorized awning...great condition-we prefer pergola over patio instead of awning...email ktlovesjc@hotmail.com for more information.