Shop 'Til You Drop

I spent this past weekend over in Birch Run SHOPPING. I think we have been doing this trip for 8 or 9 years now, every fall, and it's usually a highlight of the year. In the past I've gotten some Christmas shopping done, but this year I mostly shopped for myself and the kids (I usually do my Christmas shopping WAY ahead so I'm starting to freak out a little that Christmas is 2 1/2 months away and I haven't even started). This photo is of my sister-in-law Michelle and her mom Pam and my sister-in-law Yesenia and my mom in Lansing (where my brother and sister-in-law live) before all the shopping fun began!

This year was significant because it was a baby-free year: one of the few years that we haven't had a baby in a stroller to push around. Matt wins lots of brownie points for being a stay-at-home dad all weekend long.

A perfect day: Ikea, H&M, and the Tiger's

Last Saturday, we dropped the kids off at Nana and Pa's and headed towards Detroit with our good friend Katie and Ernie. We stopped at Ikea on the way (you can see how thrilled Matt and Ernie were about that). Katie and I had a grand old time shopping for the first couple of hours without the guys (they were watching the State game at a sports bar) and then the guys reappeared and things went a little downhill from there :). I ended up with some great stuff, but once I got home I realized I should have bought more! (Anyone want to plan an Ikea trip with me??)

After Ikea, we made a quick stop at the H&M in Dearborn and we all freshened up our wardrobes (yes, the boys too) and then we FINALLY made it to the game. We had great seats (thanks, Ernie's work) and the Tiger's won. We rolled back into Hudsonville around 1:30am wayyy past our bedtimes and picked the kids up in the morning.

I Heart Holland

We spent the afternoon in downtown Holland yesterday because we had a couple of hours between the wedding and the reception to kill. I bought this yummy smelling candle at Home & Company. They are made right here in West Michigan in Zeeland and it smells soooo good (Cucumber Apple) plus it's made out of soy bean wax, so it burns cleaner and longer. I also fell in love with this giant metal rooster. I want it for my yard, but Kara wisely pointed out that it's just the sort of thing people would try to steal. Maybe I could cement it down??

lil' shopper

We visited the Grand Rapids Children's Museum yesterday along with my mom and my nephew Nicholas. The kids had a blast and one of their favorite parts was a little pretend grocery store they had set up. Ella is in that stage where she loves pushing things around, so she could hardly wait to get her hands on one of the little shopping carts. At one point, she grabbed hold of the bottom of the one Dylan was pushing, only he kept going, dragging Ella along as he went. She finally got one all to herself and we laughed as she pushed it around.