In the dark of the night!

Every night before I go to bed, I check on the girls. I tuck all their blankets back on, kiss their little heads and head off to my bedroom to go to bed. Last night, after I finished my bedtime routine, I heard the toilet running in the girls bathroom. I walked back down the hall....no one was there. I looked back into their rooms...no one had moved...AT ALL...not even an inch. They were EXACTLY as I had left them! So naturally...I completely freak out! Who flushed the toilet??? I know it wasn't Kev because 1. He isn't a quiet person and 2. He was also dead asleep. So I ran back to my bedroom and woke him up..."Kev, go check the house. Someone flushed the toilet and it wasn't the girls!!!" (Please tell me I'm not the only wife to make her husband go check out freaky noises in the middle of the night !). Now, Kev IS THE WORST person to wake up. He is completely incoherent and has no idea what is going on! He starts complaining that I'm waking him up! Somehow he manages to get up, stumbles down to the bathroom, and looks INSIDE the toilet and exclaims, "There's no one here"! No kidding! So I make HIM look behind the shower curtain (because there's no way I'm looking there) and then I proceed to make him look in every closet, room, crevasse of the house! I even made him look in the garage and in the cars (just in case)! Unfortunately, once he "came to" he just laughed at me the entire time he was checking for the mysterious toilet flusher! So in the end, I still have no idea who flushed the toilet. It's just another night of many where I make him check out the freaky noises!

Where do I put all the leaves?!?!?!

(BTW, I can't even tell you how impossible it is to take a decent picture of our 4 little ones...seriously!)

There is something so warm, cozy and nostalgic about the fall time. I love turning on the fire place for the first time and I love running to Starbucks (for hot chocolate of course) on those first really cold mornings! One of Michigan's fall traditions is to have apple cider and donuts. And it's a tradition I am loving! I also love going to the apple orchards and pumpkin patches. We went to the patch on Saturday and had so much fun! It was so funny to watch the girls pick out their pumpkins. The smallest ones were obviously for Laicee---and the largest ones were for Kev. While we were there, we went on a hay ride, the girls rode ponies, and they also went on a cow train that they LOVED!

They loved the hay ride...although we all ended up covered in hay (which I'm still finding in their hair). We were the only ones who thought throwing hay on a hay ride was funny!
(The little boy in the pics is my sister's little boy, Jackson)

Amberlee was THE MOST excited little girl to ride the ponies. This was by far her favorite thing!

In addition to our fall fun, Kev took the girls camping in the backyard! They loved it, of course, and learned that the moon is a natural nightlight. They were so amazed! Emma kept saying (over and over and over) "Emma (3rd person speech) camping outside with Daddy"...adding a cute little cheesy grin each time she'd say it!

Another great thing about the fall...the scenery! It is so amazing around here with all the different colors of the leaves. Our neighborhood is gorgeous at this time!

...But then it all falls! It takes us a couple hours every Saturday to rake up all of our leaves. It's probably quite funny to drive by our house and see Kev with his crutches trying to rake up leaves, me doing the majority of the work, and the girls "helping" and then jumping in the HUGE piles when we're finished. It's all part of fall...and I love it!

I have to give you an aerial shot...so many leaves and I don't know what to do with them!!!

Laicee -- 0 to 60 in 10 minutes!

This is mostly for the grandmas...Laicee is finally walking! Yeah! She has been cruising for about a month. She hasn't even been standing on her own...until tonight. All of the sudden, I found her standing...and then walking. It Happened just like that!! She was so proud of herself, as were we, but not nearly as much as her squealy sisters in the background!

New Neighbors

Our house is on the right, theirs is on the left

I realize that you probably could care less about who our neighbors might be...unless it's someone interesting...

Last May, Steph's parents were visiting and saw the house next door to us was for sale. They had been thinking about making our town their "home base" so they put in an offer and bought the house! Just last week, Steph's sister called and told us that she is now moving into the house next door! So now, Kristin, her husband, and her little man will be our new neighbors!

We know what you're thinking..."I don't know if I could live THAT close to family"! It will be interesting...and ground rules have been set, of course :), But we are overall excited. We have never lived close to any family so this will be a new experience for us.

So, we love polls! Our question is...could you do it? Could you live Raymond style by your family???

Who takes polaroids anymore?

Kev's surgery to repair his completely torn Achilles tendon was successful. We asked the Doctor to take pictures of the surgery and I almost gave him my digital camera when he said he had his own equipment. Little did I know, that by "equipment" he meant "a measly Polaroid camera"! So, for all of you who voted "Bring it on" to see surgery pics, here you go...

and to give you a better idea of the procedure here are pictures of the same surgery on a different guy. You can see the tendon torn and then repaired.

He's doing well, but he is still in lots of pain. He'll start physical therapy in a couple weeks and that will last for 8-12 weeks!!!

So, as a side note to all you awesome weekend warriors out there (this is what the doctor called Kev when he was drug in by his equally sweaty, middle-aged friends)...just stretch a little bit more than you usually would (although this really is a freak of an accident) and maybe play just a little bit lighter than you normally do...We, your wives, know how awesome and steller and amazing and austounding you are...and you play just as great-if not better than you did 10 years ago...really...but please just don't get injured and put your poor wives through this!

Laicee's 1st Birthday

Last year at this time, I was sitting in church with contractions that I was positive were fake. Can you believe they actually had the nerve to extend a primary calling to me while I was in labor? Little did I know that three hours later, Laicee would arrive! She has blessed our lives so much! She brings such a calming peace to our home. It was great to finally celebrate her first birthday today as Kev's surgery yesterday lasted waaay longer than expected (we'll follow up with that in the next post). Anyway, happy birthday to our itty-bitty-cutie! We love you Laicee!

Laicee Naomi enters the world on 9/16/07

7 lbs 20 in

She's already a daddy's girl!

All bundled up for her 1st MI winter

3 months old

8 months old

4th of July - Freedom Festival Parade

Man Down!!!

Last Saturday morning, Kev followed in the footsteps of many other stellar athletes, including Emmitt Smith (He keeps comparing himself to pro athletes to make him feel better!), and ruptured his Achilles tendon while going for his signature rebound in basketball. It looks like surgery will happen on Tuesday 9/16 (Laicee's 1st birthday... way to go Dad). Recovery will be looooooooong. It couldn't have happened at a better time. Just imagine Kev hopping along with his crutches during a Siberian - I mean Michigan - snow storm. Wish us the best!!!

By the way, thanks to all of our awesome friends for everything!!!

Check out the poll to the right. Disclaimer: Steph doesn't want gory pics on this cute blog, but we'll let the majority speak. Plus, Kev may just do it anyway (Steph groans).

School Days!

The girls were so excited to go back to school! Kass started 1st grade and both Amberlee and Emma are going to pre-school this year. I'm so excited for the time that Laicee and I get to spend together!!!

Out with the old and in with the new

All right...we got it. After endless complaints and harassment about our lowedown website being old school...we finally caved to peer pressure and here it is, our first blog. Out with the old and in with the new!