Sunday in Michigan

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and ALL of us headed to church. The service was really nice-the pastor integrated songs all throughout the message, so we were singing every few minutes. Eli loves music, so he was able to stay in the service with us.

After the service we went over and talked to Altena-aka 'Grandma Maxwell'. She used to baby sit me when I was a kid. I would go over there for a week when mom and dad went to youth camp, and she became 'grandma' to me-and all my brothers and sisters :) Eli went RIGHT to her! I was so surprised-he hadn't really 'gone' to anyone yet-not even my mom & dad. But he sat right on her lap for quite a while. It was pretty cute.

We went home and had lunch. Mom went up and got Grandpa Tuinstra from Autumwood, so he got to hold Eli for a little bit. Eli was a bit fussy, though, so he didn't stay long.

We had ham, carrots, & potatoes-Eli loved it. There really isn't a meat that he's tried that he hasn't loved :)

There's lots to do 'down on the farm'. Grandpa gives the grandkids 4-wheeler rides often. He has yet to take Eli...but I think that might be in the works pretty soon :)

Eli checkin' out his Aunt Kristi.

I think he likes her :)

Here are the babies that were here for the weekend.

Aren't they so cute?! There is Matthias, Eli, Maddie & Lauren.

Eli still lovin' the grass...
I think Matthias was about done with the photo shoot...

Aunt Linda with Matthias. It was so nice to see Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry. They are living in Colorado now, and we don't get to see them very often.

The guys got their guns out and were shooting skeet. My cousins are crazy hunters...they LOVE to go out hunting every chance they could get. We had talked about playing paintball, but we figured we would be at a distinct disadvantage when comparing their shooting skills to ours...

I was working on decorating some cookies-Adriana & Isaiah helped out.

Eli has really been enjoying the great outdoors. He loves sitting with daddy in the swing.

Grillin' some chicken for dinner. Rick was the 'master griller'. The chicken was amazing.

Getting a wagon ride from Grandma.

Don't take my picture!

Patty (my cousin's wife) and her baby Lauren.

Grandpa & Grandma came over for meals too. Grandma had some fun talking to Eli.

We tried to get a volleyball game going...but it never really got going very well. It was fun anyway, though :)

The game had some pretty cute spectators :)

The kids tried to get their own game going...

DIVE! Except it works better when you dive and hit the ball...

Aunt Randee

That evening Johnny led the family in some praise and worship. We sang a few songs and then had a testimony time. It was a very special time. It was very neat to hear what God is doing in the lives of our family, and a very good reminder of our heritage and what God has done. It is amazing to be a part of this family, and be surrounded by people that love the Lord so much.

That night we had a bonfire. This is Edgar with a sparkler-I set the shutter to a really long setting, and he drew a heart :)

We ended the night with fireworks :) Do you see the smiley face? It's upside down. Pretty fun. We sat around the campfire for a really long time and laughed SO hard at the stories from Mom's childhood. My Uncle Ron is hilarious, and has the funniest stories. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time.

After the bonfire most people headed into bed. I stayed up with mom for a while and decorated cookies. It was pretty late, but it was really nice to have mom 'all to myself' :) We chatted and had a good time. We got to bed at about 12:30-exhausted, but glad to have had such a fun day!

Our Trip to Michigan-Day One

Well...we did make it to Michigan :) The Internet has been slow (or not working at all) and we've stayed busy, so I haven't had much of a chance to update...but I'm gonna try and catch up :)

Our flight to Michigan was pretty good. We got to Tampa Airport in plenty of time to get some coffee-of course! The terminal we always fly out of has a Starbucks, which is very convenient for me...

We got Eli a pair of shoes for the trip-in case he wanted to 'walk' around. As soon as we put them on, his feet were planted to the ground...he wasn't quite sure WHAT to do with those 'things' on his feet!
We played in the play area for a while. Eli had a lot of fun experiencing lots of new things!
He had some little girls trying to play with him the whole time :) That's my little cutie!
The flight itself went pretty good. Our flight in Tampa was delayed for about an hour, so our layover in Atlanta wasn't as long. On the flight from Tampa to Atlanta Eli slept for about a half hour and then played pretty well. We landed in Atlanta and grabbed some lunch and got on our flight to Flint. This flight was a little longer...and Eli was much squirmier...We tried to play his video, but it wouldn't work. He wasn't terrible, but it felt a LOT longer than the first flight :)
We arrived, met up with Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob, got our luggage, and headed for home.

Don't ya just LOVE the green grass?! I love just sitting in it! (and not worrying about bugs, or sand spurs...)
Eli really liked it too...he kept trying to eat it...I don't think he got any

That evening we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows (none for Eli...) Here's Grandpa helping Adriana.

The kids play HARD on the farm! Notice the dirty face :) She's super cute even with a little dirt on her cheeks :)

'Say cheese!' This is my cousin Brandon and his daughter Katelyn. She didn't want to stop eating her cracker to say cheese :)

YUMMM! Smores!

Me & Julean

I love bonfires in my parent's backyard!

We even had some sparklers! It was a LONG day of traveling, but very fun. Mom & Dad had a bunch of family over for the Tuinstra family reunion, so I got to see a bunch of my cousins, aunts & uncles...more of THAT coming soon!

Packin' up

Well...I think we're ready to go! We're heading up to my parent's house for a visit-I'm so excited! I LOVE Michigan in the fall...And I love my family too :)

We spent the day packing and getting the house picked up. I also made some sugar cookies to take...I still need to make a few more when I get there, and they still need to be decorated, but at least I got a start, right?!

Eli was a bit amused by how much I packed...I have no idea how a family of 3 can take so much stuff for one week...

This evening Eli entertained himself by looking at his books. He's getting harder and harder to read to...he wants to flip the pages so fast, there's no time to read the text :) So now, most pages go like this: 'Ooooo! Look a yellow du...(page turn) Look! a squa...(page turn) There's a...(close the book) the end... Next book!'

We're now sitting on the couch, completely packed (we think...) watching the baseball game. The Rays are playing the Tigers, so it's a rare night when the Tiger's are actually on TV...

We'll probably be heading to bed soon, though...5:30 is going to come way too quickly...

Chicken Pot Pie

So I have been asked to post my recipe for chicken pot pie. Not by millions of people...just Jennifer :) So I thought I'd humor her. If ya don't feel like looking at pictures of food, there's a couple super cute pictures of Eli at the end :)

Start off by peeling and dicing 2 cups of potatoes (one large) and 1 & 3/4 cups sliced carrots.

Put them in a large saucepan, cover them with water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes-until they are crisp-tender. Drain and set aside.

Chop 2/3 cup onion (LOVE my chopper, mom!) and cube 1 cup (yes...and ENTIRE CUP) of butter. (I NEVER claimed that this was low fat)

In a large (VERY large...ya gotta fit a lot of stuff in it) skillet, saute onion in butter until tender.

Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 & 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon dried thyme and 3/4 teaspoon pepper until blended.

It should look like this...

Gradually stir in 3 cups of chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups of milk. Bring this to a boil. Cook, and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Add 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of frozen peas (sorry mom...)...

4 cups cubed cooked chicken

and the potatoes and carrots. Remove from heat.

Line two 9-inch pie plates with bottom pie pastry (OR, buy the pre-made on in the freezer section at Publix...or the grocery store of your choice...I've made the crust before...once...never again...) Fill the pastry shells with chicken mixture. Roll out remaining pastry (or again, buy the pre-made ones...) cut fun little decorations in the top and place over filling...trim, seal, and make the edges look pretty.

At this point you will have TWO pies that are yummy....

...and just BEGGING to be eaten...

I recommend baking them at 425 for 35-40 minutes first, though...

Once the crust is lightly browned, take it out of the oven and let it stand for 15 minutes...if you can. Edgar had eaten one of the 'M's' off shortly after it was taken out...

The nice thing about this recipe is that it has one to freeze...so some day when you don't feel like making dinner, you can just pull it out of the freezer...you just need to shield the frozen pie crust edges with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 70-80 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown. Takes a while when it's frozen, but it's worth it to not have to do ALL this work all over again :)

OR, you can bribe your sister-in-law with it hoping she'll keep watching your son while you teach :) HA! I joked with Edgar that I was going to pay her in chicken pot pies :)

It's not a terribly hard recipe, but it seems to take some time...and makes a zillion dishes. Can't wait to move into a house with a dishwasher.

Oh...and one other thing you might want to make sure of...make sure your 9 (almost 10) month old is going to take a super long nap. Eli slept for 2 1/2 hours (YAY!) so I was able to make this and sneak a little nap :)

When he woke up he had crazy bed head...so enjoy the pictures of his crazy, sweaty hair...

Did somebody say Chicken Pot Pie?!

YAY! I can't wait to try it!

And try it he did :) He loved it. Big surprise...

Fun with Friends

Today Eli and I headed to the mall to meet up with some friends from church. We had fun playing in the play area for a bit, and then went shopping. Eli got a new shirt and some shoes. All the shoes I have, and not ONE pair fit him! I have a ton of size 2, and a ton of size 4, but no 3's...now I have a size 3 though :) He really doesn't need them, but I thought one pair of 'church shoes' was called for :)

Anyway...here's some pictures from our excursion.

Olivia is the mover of the group-the only one that has mastered crawling. It made it a little difficult to get a 'group shot', but it was fun trying :)

Olivia liked the mirror :)

Creed is sitting up SO well! He can even get into a sitting position on his own, Jenn said! Very impressive!

Pals!

Sharin' stories that only they understand...

Okay...sorry Christine...I know I should have jumped up and grabbed her as she tried to eat the giant ice cream cone, but she was so quick! I didn't even realize what she was doing until the picture was shot :) She's a girl after my own heart, though...eatin' ice cream every chance she can get!

Won't be long until she's doing that on her own!

We got home around 2 and Eli went down for a (too short...) nap. I clean the house a bit and then played with Eli after he got up.

One thing about going to the mall today was that I didn't get to run this morning. HOWEVER, when Edgar got home, I DID go. In fact, I went 2.5 miles and ran. every. step. YAHOO! It took me 31 minutes 10 seconds. That's about a 12 minute mile...which isn't great, but I'll take it :) I was pretty happy with myself. I figure that if I can go 2.5 miles, I can probably go 3, (I will say, I went without the stroller, so it was a bit easier) and once you can go 3 you can go 5...and once you can go 5 you can go 10...and once you can go 10 you can do a half marathon...and once you can do a half, you can do a whole...now there are many many months in this progression...but I feel like I'm finally on the right track. Oh...and I ran up the giant hill. Hooray for me! :) We'll see what I can do Friday with the stroller :)

Anyway, I should go. Still working on those August pictures for Kodak...I should finish them up tonight!

Playing with paper

Not a whole lot to post today. I just took a couple videos I thought I'd share :) Today has been a fairly normal Tuesday-I had class this morning, so Eli got to spend the morning with Aunt Jenny. We came home and had some lunch (Eggs, cheese & whole wheat bread-YUM!), played, and then Eli took a nap. When he got up we went to get the mail, and it was full of grocery store ads...so Eli decided he wanted to play...
He played with the paper for a good 20 minutes!

Here's a video of him enjoying it:



As he was playing I remembered Jennifer telling me that's how they got Ben to crawl-they put newspapers across the room, and he wanted them, and went for them. Here's my attempt...mean mommy...


In other news, Eli is eating like a pig! I love it :) Now I'm not the biggest eater of the family-HA! The other day he ate 3/4 of a piece of chicken (a whole chicken breast!) a serving of butternut squash that was the same size serving I ate, some applesauce (cuz he was still hungry) and some Cheerios (again, still hungry). Tonight he ate 1/2 a pork chop, rice, some peach, cantaloupe, and a couple of bites of zucchini...and this was just one hour after he had some applesauce and Cheerios for a snack! Crazy kid! I'm just waiting for him to wake up and not fit into any of his clothes any more...I feel like I'm overfeeding him sometimes, but as soon as I stop feeding him, he cries and cries, or is very cranky until he gets more food. Apparently he has my ability to pack the food in. Wait 'till he tastes ice cream...
That's about all. I have a full evening of going through my August pictures to put on Kodak-though I don't think I am going to get it all done...I took A LOT of pictures!