August 30. 2012

Nora was all smiles after a ride in the car today... totally unexpected!

August 29, 2012

Licking cookie dough off beaters never gets old!

August 28, 2012

 A spontaneous walk together in the neighborhood turned into an impromptu lunch with my dear friend Hannah and her girls. Thanks Hannah, for the simple joy of not having to prepare lunch today! :)

August 27, 2012

Perfect summer night. New Starbucks location. Delicious latte. Great friend. Real conversation. 

August 26, 2012

The last of 5 wedding showers for my sister. Why is it that we get such a cheesy simple joy from arriving to a place and discovering what we're wearing matches someone else? 

August 25, 2012

Mud Run 2012 for Reuben: complete. 

The best part was how excited Alena was to see "Daddy run in the mud!"

August 24, 2012

Annual pie night during Gun Lake camping week!

August 23, 2012

A much needed girls' night out with past and present Fervor ladies (our church small group). I'm beyond blessed to have these women in my life! That margarita tasted pretty good too.

August 22, 2012

Nora's bath time smiles!

August 21, 2012

Alena was excited to arrive at Gun Lake to explore Grammie's trailer and see her buddy, Kalin!

August 20, 2012

What a great evening at the Timmers' reuniting with Calvin friends (and all our kiddos)!

August 19, 2012

Spaghetti lunch! No shame in slurping those noodles. :)

August 18, 2012

A great morning at the park. :)

August 17, 2012

One last walk down to the beach this morning before leaving the cottage. It was chilly, but the waves and clouds were so cool!  This is the family minus Mom & Dad Sportel.

August 16, 2012

After a rainy morning, cloudy afternoon, and raining early evening, out last night at the cottage was perfect for a campfire and a great sunset.

August 15, 2012

So many great moments today! From the cousins all watching Veggie Tales together on the couch, to Alena learning sprint races on the beach with Aunt Ashley, to another great dinner, to a girls' spa night, it was a great day!

August 14, 2012

It's so hard to choose one great moment of the day while on vacation, so sometimes collages are needed. :) Alena had a great time playing with her cousins at the beach and by the campfire. Today was also our 8th anniversary, and we managed to finally get away to the beach after the kids were in bed and it was dark out to talk, read our vows (a tradition), pray, and just be together. It was wonderful.

August 13, 2012

Vacation! We arrived at a great beach house on Lake Michigan! The cousins and Grandpa could hardly wait to walk down to the beach!

August 12, 2012

My bathing beauty, showing off a timid smile. We've seen lots of smiles and today she also rolled over from belly to back!

August 11. 2012

Second date night out this weekend! Since we usually go on a trip for our anniversary, but really couldn't this year with a 7 week old an plans to go on vacation with Reuben's family, we had a date weekend. We had a another great date borrowing Reuben's parents' Miata and driving out to Holland for dinner and watching the sunset!

August 10 ,2012

What an fun date night out! We went to Brush Studio in East Grand Rapids and painted "Paris: Day or Night." Neither of us had painted in years and we had so much fun taking this class, painting, drinking wine, and enjoying always-delicious food from Ramona's Table. This was the start of our anniversary celebration weekend. :)

August 9, 2012

This post-bath fun with Daddy that involves spinning around and around in her towel is what Alena affectionately calls "the hammock." 

August 8, 2012

There were so many wonderful moments today, but this one takes the cake. Seeing my daughter dressed like this on a hot summer day when we were about to go outside for a walk gave me a good laugh and reminded me of the pure joy of being a kid. I love this silly girl!

August 7, 2012

At soon-to-be Uncle Travis's softball game, Alena was perfectly happy playing in the gravel and getting dirty. I think she misses camping. :)

August 6, 2012

Reuben and Nora, sleepy and resting on a lazy summer day.

August 5, 2012

The whole camping group (minus Adam & Megan, who could only come out for a day this year). This is a great tradition and I'm glad we could make it this year, even with a 5 week old!

August 4, 2012

Making hobo pies by the fire, one of the best parts of camping!

August 3, 2012

Beach buds Alena, Sophie, and Jadyn. These girls has so much fun together this weekend!

August 2, 2012

We've really missed camping this summer with having Nora at the end of June. But, we did make it to Hoffmaster for a long weekend to camp with friends! This is not a great picture, but here is a family self-portrait of a short hike we took the afternoon we arrived.

August 1, 2012

I think this picture speaks for itself... YUM!

July 31, 2012

Alena and I made a little trip to our local health food store, Harvest Health. As we were checking out, she sweetly asked if she could have this chocolate. Being it was our little "date" to the store, I thought "why not?" and I bought some for both of us. The best part was when I bought it, handed it to her, and she said, "Thank you Mommy, this will really help." The cashier loved it. Yes Alena, chocolate does help- ha! :)