Wild Hair Girl

This is Miriam after having little french braids in her hair overnight...  this hairdo really fits her personality quite well!

Super Soccer Star!

Peter is having so much fun playing soccer. His skills are really developing and he just seems to "get it" in terms of what to do and how to control the ball. Yesterday he got to play quite a bit because some of the kids weren't there, so the ones that were had more time to play. He had 13 fans there to cheer him on, and we think he enjoyed showing off his skills for all of us and he made several goals as well!

Waving to his fans...

Peter's cheering section

Esther, Ty and Miriam having fun on the sidelines

Little Gardeners

Casey and the kids planted the garden yesterday... we're hoping that the deer/rabbits/other wildlife we have around here don't eat everything this year! 

Miriam's Purple Room

Casey painted Miriam's room this weekend.  It was still the same old boring beige that the whole house was when we moved into it almost 6 years ago.  We've since painted Esther's and Peter's rooms, but we always left the nursery the same as we moved each kid into it.  We decided that before we get Miriam's big girl bed and move things around in there, it would be nice to paint it a fun girly color.  Since Esther's room is pink and Miriam seems drawn to anything purple, that was the choice.  We love the way it turned out!  Hopefully we'll get her into her big girl bed soon.... then we can move on to conquering potty training! 

Here are the before and after pictures...

Kuperus Rockers

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a wonderful, relaxing mother's day weekend.  Peter's soccer game was cancelled on Saturday morning, so we took a family outing to Marge's for donuts and visited Grandpa and Grandpa K and Uncle Nick for a bit.  Then I got to have lunch at the Olive Garden with my mom and sister--yum!  When I got home, I was greeted with these beautiful flowers from Casey and the kiddos:

In the afternoon we hung out with Aunt Karen and made apple smiles for a snack:

Sunday morning I was treated to breakfast in bed and given my other gift from the kids--chocolate!  They know me so well.  After church we went to my parents' house for lunch and spent most of the afternoon playing outside.  In the evening, Grandpa and Grandma K came over so we could give Grandma her mother's day cards as well.  Unfortunately, I wasn't very good about taking pictures this weekend.  My sister took most of these, but I forgot to take any when Casey's parents were over!

Esther also made me several precious gifts in school.  I received 3 beautiful handmade and painted clay pots, a cute little book, a flower pot, and a dish towel with hand print flowers.  It was all so sweet!

I am so blessed to be the mother of 3 amazing children and to have such a wonderful mom and mother-in-law to be my examples of great mothering! 

Peter's Question

Peter:  Mom, after I die and go up to heaven, I can't wait to see Jesus for real!

Me:  That will be so amazing, won't it?

Peter:  Yeah, and I'm going to ask him how he made his hands!

Can't say I would have thought of that one, but it's an interesting question to ponder!

Afternoon of Fun

This afternoon we spent some time with our friends Miss Gail and Anna.  They are friends from church who have also become our beloved babysitters over the last couple years.  Now that my parents are back from Florida, Gail and Anna aren't babysitting as often, so we decided we needed to have a play date to catch up!  We decided to check out Manhattan Park in East Grand Rapids, and had fun on the playground and exploring the trails in the woods a bit.  Since we were in the area, we figured we should complete the afternoon with a stop for ice cream at Jersey Junction.  It was a wonderful afternoon!

Crib Cuddles

Sometimes Esther and Miriam like to cuddle or read books together in Miriam's crib.  Here is Esther reading "Good Dog Carl" to Miriam... a favorite book in our house!

Soccer Stud

Today was the day that Peter has been awaiting for at least a year.  He was SO excited to play in his first real soccer game!  He is playing in a U-5 league for 4-year-olds with a simplified format.  They spend the first 20 minutes working on drills with their buddies (Casey is Peter's buddy) and doing warm-ups, etc...  Then they break them into random teams of 6 for the last part and have them play 3-on-3 for five minutes at a time.  It was so cute to watch him on the field!  He had some really good ball control and came pretty close to scoring a goal a couple times.  He also gets a little distracted and likes to smile at his fans.  Today he had a large group of die-hard fans (10 of us) who braved the bitterly cold wind to cheer him on.  Hopefully the rest of the season will be warmer!  We are very proud of our little buddy and look forward to watching him play and have fun this spring.