Videos

We are so pround of Bennett. Today at the beach he was swimming completely unassisted, underwater for short distances! He's been practicing with Dad as you will see and it has definitely made a difference.

Translation of Annabelle's song:

taxi, taxi

riding in the backseat

roll the window up

roll the window down

put the money through the slot

see ya later thanks a lot

sure beats walking across town!

Free Entertainment Right Out Our Front Door

Beach Bum Babes

Today was a great day for the beach! The breeze and the water were perfect! And most importantly, we all had fun!

A Magic Weekend

Magic Week Festivities

Annabelle on her way to the arts and crafts fair in town. This is what I'd consider a pretty typical Annabelle "getup". The boots are very essential to her wardrobe.
This "princess dress" is also an essential item in Annabelle's wardrobe. This is on our way home from the book sale at the library. They wanted to play in the rain so we walked to the library in a drizzle and played in the puddles on the way home.

Bennett didn't waste any time getting down and dirty in the mud.

This afternoon we dog sat my aunt and uncle's adorable puppy, Lacey.

She was so much fun to have around. We walked her into town to enjoy some magic of her own while her family was at the big magic show at the high school.

She was loved by many...especially the Colon cheerleaders who were supposed to be selling chicken dinners. Can you find Lacey?

And because we needed to get out of the house, we ended our night with a trip to a new 50's diner in Sturgis. And Sharar's...yes, Annabelle is wearing the princess dress you brought her today. She put it on the second you left :)!

And something I could kick myself for...we walked to town yesterday afternoon to check things out. We were enjoying the busking competition (new magicians competing on the street for votes). We were watching a magician and she asked for a brave volunteer who was tough and strong. Bennett raised his hand and she picked him. He stood right by her as she put a cowboy handkerchief around his neck, let him pick a card from her deck, had him show everyone and then she shot a little gun. Boy did Bennett jump. The magician told Bennett that his card would have a hole and black on it from the gun and sure enough it did. It was really cute, and he did great, and I'm so mad I didn't have my camera!!

4 Years Already

The kids (and Carol) with some of the puppies.

Bennett and I on the day of my 20 week ultra sound with Annabelle

Here's what Bennett looked like on one of the first days after closing of our house.

Regal, Palmer and Bennett at the Adriensen's. Notice that Palmer does look smaller.

YIKES...our house

And here's another.

This summer marks 4 years since we've been in Colon. I can hardly believe it. In those 4 years we've...

2005-2006

Moved into Mark and Carols cottage on Dean Lake with Regal and our then tiny puppy Palmer. I was 5 to 6 months pregnant with Bennett.

I was a special education long term substitute for a teacher on maternity leave. I taught until just a few days before Bennett was born. It was fun being in the same school as Darrin. We were used to that since we were at the same school in NC.

Darrin taught a full day and coached JV football at Colon and Wrestling at Centreville.

We moved out of there in early October into the Adriensen's house which we were able to rent until May.

Bennett was Born in November at the very start of wrestling season.

Our house in NC sold in December.

In May we found out we were pregnant with Annabelle and we also purchased the house we live in now.

Unfortunately the house wasn't livable so we moved into the cottage again, this time with Bennett. We stayed there until the 4th of July weekend.

We worked hard on our house and had some much needed help from family and friends.

2006-2007

The fall came quickly. Darrin took on an interim head varsity football coaching position and also coached wrestling at Centreville again. This time it was as a coop with Colon.

I started my morning daycare job.

Annabelle was born in December during Christmas break. Darrin still had a week off so he didn't need to take any additional time off.

Regal had a litter of puppies in May..

Darrin did a seed corn job during the summer.

2007-2008

Fall came around again. I continued my morning daycare job. Darrin was working on his internship for his Master's in Ed Leadership so he didn't do any fall coaching. He continued coaching the Centreville/Colon Wrestling team during the winter sports season.

I began watching Carly 4 days a week in February when her mom's maternity leave was up.

Darrin whipped through his Master's program in 2 years and graduated in May.

Darrin started working in the corn fields in July.

Summer was a whirlwind as we anxiously waited to see if Darrin would get the Athletic Director position and if Jason would get the math position which would mean a big move for them and a very busy year for us.
2008-2009

Fall again came quickly. I again had Carly and my morning daycare position. Darrin taught 3 hours a day and did Athletic Director duties the other part of the day. We were always at evening sporting events. It was more bearable and even fun knowing I could sit through many of those games with Jenny and the girls....especially basketball and baseball because Jason coached both of those.

The highlight of the year was that Colon got it's very own wrestling program. It took a lot of hard work from parents, coaches, and wrestlers to make it happen. It was an incredibly successful season and a TON of fun!

Well, we made it through that year. The very last baseball game of the season in May was a wonderful day for me. We could take a little break. But every August I start getting excited for the start of the coming school year. Football season will be here before we know it and we will start our fifth year in Colon. Unbelievable!