November | 2013 | crandellfamily515tothe616

WOW- where does the time go? I am a stay at home mom now, so I should have tons of time on my hands right? – HA! I honestly think back to when I used to work full time (or even a couple of years ago when I used to have a full time job AND part time job) and wonder how I did it. But I digress. Over the past month, we have been having so much fun with friends and family, that I have just completely forgotten to update the blog. So here is a month’s worth of action in about 50 pictures…

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch- Orchard Hills

We kept a tradition going and when on a hayrack ride. Whenever we say this around our MI neighbors though, we get laughed at, because apparently it is just called a Hay-ride. Whatever. You say Tomaeto I say Tomato

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Walk-A-Thon at Marshall Elementary School

This is the big annual fund raising event for Cooper’s school, where students raise money and then walk around the gym in the school for about 30mins. He walked with us for a bit but then wanted to walk hand and hand with his friends. To raise money, Cooper had asked family and friends for donations and thankfully, received $165 of generosity. We found out later that Coopers’ school had a competition going for the students who could raise the most $$. It turns out that he raised the 3rd most and was fortunate enough to win a scooter. Oh my- we are very happy he won, but he already thinks he wins everything so this does not help us when we are trying to teach him you can’t always win. Our Cooper can be quite the good luck charm. Play a game of Candyland with him and you will find this out the hard way. Wanda would tell us that he would usually win somewhere in the neighborhood of 9/10 games played at daycare. Regardless, the scooter is awesome and we have all tried it out!

Grandpa Crandell, Uncle Chris and Uncle Eric came to visit for a weekend of fun. We celebrated Chris’ 30th Birthday early. The kids loved showing them around town. We went to Lake Michigan (Tunnel Park) and fed the seagulls. Cooper was such a beach boy- he was loving it. Bella…. not so much. The kids loved watching the boys play football, soccer, driving remote control planes and boats. Uncle Chris brought Bella 2 fairy dolls and Cooper a remote control boat- they of course were very excited.

Halloween fun

Look at those muscles!!! Super pumpkin time

We were also excited during this month of no-blogging because Grandma and Grandpa Crandell came to visit for a weekend. They arrived Friday and the kids had a fun night chasing Grandpa around the house playing Zombie (basically tag). On Saturday, we spent the morning going to Grand Rapids Public Museum. We saw the dinosaur exhibit and rode on the merry-go-round. We left just in time to grab lunch and watch the Hawkeye football game, priorities! After the game, we went to Lake Michigan (Oval Park) so Grandma Crandell could experience our version of the ocean. It was beautiful but we literally got out, walked up to the water and then quickly returned to the warm car because it was a bit chilly and very windy. We had a lot of fun with them. So much fun in fact, that we managed to take zero pictures (how can that be, so sorry). The great thing is that I did get the Zombie game on video, so I am sure that will get watched over and over. Grandpa running around and Grandma laughing. Thanks for visiting!

Random pics to catch up from the past month of not blogging

Thanks for the stickers Aunt Krista!

Bella’s new thing- after she eats she stands up and says, “Check it out.” She is showing us how well she is growing.

Thanks for the monster hat Gramy and Gramps Gale- Cooper has enjoyed scaring his friends at school

We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. How did we celebrate 16 years of being together? Kids in bed, wine and Breaking Bad. Yes that is love 🙂 We showed the kids our wedding album and days later Bella asked, “can I see the Princess book?” I wasn’t sure what she meant until she showed me our wedding album- I LOVE HER