Baptism Dinner

I prayed for nice weather, otherwise the baptism weekend wouldn't have been as much fun (our house isn't big enough to hold the 12 people that we hosted.)  We had beautiful weather all weekend.  The evening was perfect and everyone had a great time. I just wish that the babies would have been able to stay awake for dinner.  By the time we ate, Will was having a meltdown (which he has never done before, but he hadn't had much of a nap) and Erin had finally fallen asleep in her bed. 

It was Clark's third birthday!

Post-baptism pictures and the beginning of the end.

Erin's gown was worn by my sister and some
other family members too.

Will is tired of being dressed like a girl.  Even though his grandpa Bill, dad and Uncle Matt all wore the same gown.

Our favorite neighbors came to the baptism at church and then over to the house for a while. We are so lucky to have the best neighbors ever!

Will was wearing his deck shoes just like Uncle Matts.

Matt's girlfriend, Kristin, was taking care of Erin while she ate dinner.

Baptism Weekend Part 1

On Saturday afternoon, we took everyone downtown to the Mexican Festival. We also looked at some of the Artprize art that is up around the city. (If you don't know about Artprize check out this link http://www.artprize.org/ and then consider making a day trip to Grand Rapids to check it out.  Of course, let us know if you are coming into town because we would love to see you!)

Insert your own caption. ;-)

The best aunts ever! Aunt Sarah came from Florida and Aunt Krysten from Chicago!

Taking a break from Zumba!

 http://www.artprize.org/artists/public-profile/3642
Here is the link to learn more about Todd and Brad Reed's Artprize entry.  Todd and Brad are friends of ours and they have created this amazing image! It's located on the side of The B.O.B.

Baptism Weekend

Aunt Sarah is Will's godmother and Aunt Krysten is Erin's godmother.
Uncle Matt is the godfather to both babies.

We are so blessed to have the best family ever. Our siblings and parents traveled by train, plane and automobile to be here for the babies second baptism. They were baptized on February 10, 2011 at their bedside. Our priest came to their rooms to perform the water blessing part of the ceremony. At that time, Fr. John, Mark, me and our special nurse Dea were at the ceremony. Fr. John told us that we could complete the baptism once the babies were out of the hospital. Mark coordinated the schedules of the godparents (our siblings) and Fr. John. We finished the baptism during 5:00 mass on Saturday, September 10, 2011. It was a very special mass for us. As I stood on the alter, I had a flood of memories back to that cold, snowy night in the NICU where we were unsure of our babies future. I couldn't help but get emotional because we had come so far. We were able to finish the ceremony like 'normal' families. We are finally a normal family. 

Mark's family

My family

Erin wasn't so sure about wearing her gown.  Will on the other hand, just grabbed the gown and chewed on it the entire time.

Such a big miracle in a such a little boy

I hope Will isn't second guessing our decision on his god parents.

The babies were blessed with chrism oil because they had already received the holy water.

Erin LOVES to snuggle with her daddy.

We brought the gifts up at mass.  

Back to School

After 7 1/2 months of being with my babies, I returned back to work on Tuesday. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be because the grandmas (Mark's mom and my mom) are doing childcare for us. (Yes, I know how lucky we are to have them.) I have been reminding myself that I've had such a gift of time with my babies. Most working moms only get 12 weeks off from work. I've had 7.5 months, which is incredible.  I also remind myself that Will and Erin don't know (yet) when I am gone.  As long as someone is feeding them, changing their diapers and paying attention to them, they are happy.  :-)     I have a great group of second graders so far this year (It has only been 2 1/2 days. Ask me again in 4 months. ;-) It's nice to be back with my friends and having a routine. I love being home with Will and Erin too.  Mark bought me 'first day of school flowers' which were a nice surprise.  Here is my first day of school picture. Erin had woken up right before I left. I didn't take her with me, even though I am sure she would have loved it.

Snuggle time with Erin after a long day at work.

I look like a tired mama in this picture.  That's because I am! ;-)

A Day Trip to Ludington

Last Saturday, we packed up the kids and headed to Ludington for the day. Mark's parents live there and his dad hadn't seen the babies in a while. It was a nice day for a drive and everyone had a great time. We took Will and Erin to another bar in addition to walking around downtown (I can't help but repeat the line from the movie Sweet Home Alabama, 'You have a baby, in a bar?!' As a matter of fact, we have two babies in a bar). ;-) The fun thing about Ludington is that it is a small town and Mark's family knows everyone. We spent a few hours visiting people and running into people that we hadn't seen in years. One of those people was my friend Ivy that I student taught with 11 years ago at Bennett Woods Elementary in Okemos, Michigan. She and her family were enjoying a final weekend get away before school started. She and her husband haven't changed a bit so it was easy to recognize them (and the fact that we are 'Christmas Card Friends' who send yearly pictures to one another). It was wonderful to catch up with her. We also had a chance to see our dog Clark. He's been living the good old retired life with Mark's parents since January. He seemed to remember us and didn't mind the babies. We had fun and were once again proud parents of our amazing babies!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

Will and Erin showed their MSU spirit by dressing up for the first football game.  The jacket Will is wearing is from a teddy bear I bought four years ago.  I always thought it would be fun to put it on my baby some day.  When I was getting my classroom set up this year, I found the bear and the jacket. Good thing, because football season is here!

Fight Broncos Fight! Fight with all your might! Western win the game!!!

It is football time, so with all that excitement I took the twins downtown to their first WMU tailgate!

Will took no time at all to find what he wanted!

Erin decided to get into the fun!

Oh no!  The GOLD Man group got the twins!!

BUSTER!!!

I have to say it was pretty funny to hear everyone say what a brave dad I was to bring down the twins by myself, but really I don't know any better!  I wanted to come down and show the twins what WMU is all about, so I fed them and left!  We were downtown GR for three hours and had a blast!  The AD for Western held Erin as well as the head of the Alumni Association.  They even made the Grand Rapids Press online addition.

 (Julie was at her school open house)

Here are their football outfits! 

(Thanks to Grandma Pam, Kristy Stiles and Marc Hobart for the outfits)