So, we've recently found another perk to living in this lovely little vacation house we're in. It's less than half a mile from here to the entrance to Pioneer Park! On four days last week we simply walked down the road a little ways and soon found ourselves deep in the woods of the county park and campground, right on the edge of beautiful Lake Michigan.

It's always an interesting walk, whether we're lucky enough to see deer like we've done twice now or just the campers and all the get-up they take camping with them. I love to hear the crackling of campfires and to smell the smoke as it drifts through the air. I love to see the rays of sunshine as they filter through the trees.

Sometimes we walked around the campground and other times straight through the park and down the 28 steps to the beach.

It reminds me of when we used to camp when the older boys were younger. It almost makes me want to camp again. However, we no longer have our motor home and the semi comfort it provided. If we were to go camping now, it would be tents and sleeping bags on the ground. I don't think I would do well.

Maybe I just need to think of our little house as a cabin in the woods--which it is, almost. Plus, the kids just dug me a fire pit out in front. So maybe we're camping already and I should be happy with that?

And we can still just take a walk down to the beach...

Senior Excitement

Basically this blog post will be pictures of all the Senior Excitement we've had in the past month. Jordan graduated from North Muskegon High School on Friday, May 28, 2010. These pictures are from his Baccalaureate, graduation, and the open house we had for him on June 5th.

Baccalaureate
Jordan and Betsy

Senior band members

Graduation
Jordan and Betsy

Last performance

Jordan Thomas Viraldo!

North Muskegon Graduates

Open house displays
by Jordan

Some of our guests

Jordan and Jen

The Three Big Sisters

We had some fun with the three big sisters before and after the new babies came. They're going to be three big helpers for Mommy, that's for sure!

We made funny faces...

and played pig pile on Aunt Jessie...

and took some silly pictures.

Nicolette with a tortilla hat!

Isabelle and Aunt Jessie

And little Emmeline "sharing" Aunt Jessica's Sonic slush!

And later on, we went swimming at Grandpa and Uncle Jordan's hotel!

Our New Twins

I guess it's time to play proud grandma and blog about my brand new twin granddaughters!

We found out at Thanksgiving that Jake and Marie were expecting again and would be due in April. I remember thinking at the time that boy, she sure was popping out quickly this time. I believe it was January when we found out it was twins. Girl twins!

Alixandra Rose and Genevieve Marie were born on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Alixandra was 6lb 10oz and 18.5 inches...


and Genevieve was 7lb even and 18.75 inches.

So tiny, yet hard to believe
they both occupied the same tiny space inside poor Mommy Marie!

Genevieve and Alixandra

Jessica's Turn

I've noticed that Jordan has been the subject of my last few posts. And with his high school graduation coming up soon he'll be in the headlines again! But I've had some fun today looking at a few pictures of my beautiful daughter from the past couple of years, and look how much she has grown up!

She wouldn't be very happy to see these pictures published on my blog, I'm sure. "My hair looks horrible!" is her usual reasoning. Well, I think she's a beautiful young woman and I'm so very proud of her. I hope that some day soon she will see herself that way and be happy with who she is...





A beautiful daughter of God.

A New Eagle

So here is Jordan, our newest Eagle Scout. After years of work and many hours of service, he finally made it to his goal. There was a time when even he didn't think he would finish. But as he said later, he felt that if he didn't reach his goal of obtaining Eagle, all those years of work and all of those service hours would be to no avail--almost a waste.

And here are my three Eagle Scouts!

So this is the end of the line for our Boy Scouts, our fifth and last son. They may choose to continue in the program as adults, but as Boy Scout parents, this is it for us.
We're proud of you, boys.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check this out

from my Valentine of
31 years!
Maybe it's because I just recently found
last year's Valentine's Day card
that had never even been signed?
Or was it because
he "forgot" Valentine's Day completely
the year before that?

I had to take a couple pictures of it
just to show how big it was,
and Jasper was the perfect
yardstick!

Just Chatter

So for some reason I really like to go blog surfing. I don't know why, because it usually ends up depressing me, all the cute little blogs by the cute little moms full of pictures of their cute little husbands and kids and all the cute little crafts they can do. I've mentioned this before, but I miss my little ones! My kids are all getting so OLD and not so much fun in lots of ways...but awesome in other ways, I'll admit.

I just spent 4 days down in Lafayette with Jake and Marie and the 3 girls, trying to be of some help to Marie in her last few weeks of being pregnant with the twins. Getting the girls fed and dressed in the mornings, driving Isabelle to school, putting Nikki and Emmy down for naps, up and down the stairs, changing diapers, getting Isabelle off the bus, dinner time. And then bed time--that's another story! Add to that trying to keep up a house, doing laundry, and doing activities with the kids and no wonder she needs some help.

The babies are due some time towards the end of April and the doctor says she sees no reason why Marie shouldn't be able to go at least 38 or 39 weeks. No good reason? How about she just needs them out! I'll be "on call" for whenever they need me. The real trial will come in a couple of months when Jake has to go back to San Diego for the summer to work. What will Marie do at home with a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, and newborn twins???