3 Years!  That's a long time, but it feels like yesterday....but now it's back to the blog.  Kind of fun though to read some things that the kids said or did.  It's amazing how we forget, right?  :)

I hate to keep posting pictures on Facebook (I don't want people to get sick of seeing the Kellogg family!), so I'm posting here for family around the country and overseas to see our recent family pictures.  Thanks, by the way, to Adam who gave up part of his day to take pictures.  (Over 600!  Yep, that's what it takes to get a few good pictures when there are 8 people in the family!)  Another thanks to our friends at Post Family Farm for the use of your beautiful landscape.  You have a fantastic place!!

I love these pictures of the kids with their daddy!!  And, I couldn't help but add these next two.  Abbi's hair kept tickling the back of Scott's head, so she gave him a hard time and "flung" her hair up on his.  The wind took over and did the rest--I promise, we didn't arrange it--which is what makes the picture even better. :)

I love this man!!

Now, aren't you glad I didn't post all 600? :)

Summer

Can you believe that it is already the middle of August? Where did this summer go?? We thought the summer would be much slower than this past spring was (coming off the sports season with 3 softball/baseball teams and 4 soccer teams.) We found that this summer has been just as busy...but we have been PLAYING a lot!

We started out with chicken pox (all of the girls...Michael didn't get them.) Then in June, Allison & Michael went to camp for three days/two nights at Pine Ridge Bible Camp. We picked them up from camp and headed right out to Pioneer Park to go camping with our small group. We had a riot! The next week we went to a Chicago Cubs / Detroit Tigers game in Detroit with some friends from church. Have I ever mentioned that I'm a huge Tigers fan...Scott loves the Cubs? We had great seats and it was a great day...the Tigers won! :-) We stopped in Ann Arbor on the way home for a yummy burger from Krazy Jim's Blimpie Burgers. It was featured on the Food Network...it was great!

The next week the older girls headed off to Pine Ridge for a week and we headed to Sandy Pines at the end of the week (picked them up on Sat.) and spent a little over a week out there. We were able to visit with our friends Shanda & Seth and their family while we were there...and then the next weekend we were able to visit with our friends Kurt & Dawn and their family...it was GREAT to see all of them! (Actually, Shanda was our maid of honor, Kurt was our best man...not sure why that's important to mention....just realized that we hadn't seen them both in a LONG time and then we saw them in the same week. So glad we could see them!)

Anyway, we went home for a week and then went back to Sandy Pines for another week. We had a lot of fun...but I have to say, we were so busy, we didn't relax very much. (A great vacation includes at least one nap, don't you think?) We came home and went to the a family reunion at my parents. We've been able to enjoy a little down time here in August with friends at my parents beach and other friends out at Sandy Pines. We also had a great visit with my friend Lisa, who I haven't seen in a very long time!

We also now have two very sweet dogs, Lilly & Sadie. They are five year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, very well trained, and very nice dogs. The kids LOVE them! We now are the proud owners of 1 guinea pig named Squirt, 1 goldfish (named either Gill or Herman...we're not sure. We had two and one died and one lived...but we're not sure which was which) and two dogs. :-)

So, for those of you who already knew all of that...sorry. And for those of you who didn't...that's why I haven't updated since June!

Time to gear up for school again...but we will definitely sneak in some play time in the weeks to come!

A Tourist in East GR

Michael is at the races with Daddy (and uncles and cousins). Abbi, Jessi, Emily and cousin Elizabeth are at a birthday-swim party. So, something fun is in order for Allison, Jenna and cousin Anna, don't you think? How about the zoo? So you mention it...but then realize that you really don't have enough time to get over to the zoo and then back to East GR in time (and you left your Binder Park Zoo membership card at home which gets you in half off and your sister leaves her coupon back at the birthday party house...do you really want to pay $19.00 for about an hour of rushing through the zoo?) How can you top the zoo once you have already mentioned it?

You say..."would you like to go to Gaslight Village to get ice cream and then go to the playground to play?" Not just Gaslight Village....but "Gaslight Village!"(...ya know, really excited voice!) Just so you know, if you offer any type of ice cream they want and then take pictures like you are a tourist...they love it! This is how it ended up...


(so cute skipping!)




Parking . . . free

Ice cream for three . . . $5.65

Spontaneous hug with "thanks for taking me here"... PRICELESS!

(caught on tape! yes, I had her repeat it, 'cause I thought it was so sweet!)

Guys Camping Weekend

A couple of weeks ago, Michael & Scott went on a Father/Son camping trip. Michal was SO excited. They had a GREAT time! I'm so glad that they can have bonding times like that!

Memorial Day

Only took 12 pictures to get this one...some day I'll get a good one. :-)

We had a fun chicken-pox-free Memorial Day weekend! Scott's brother, Danny, came up for the day on Sunday and we had a fun day at Sandy Pines. The kids always love going to the water park out there. Monday we headed to the parade and then to my parents house where where we had our 2nd annual "sand castle building contest." The kids came up with a full list of ideas including a "breakfast" theme...Jenna's idea. Not sure how we would do that one. :-) We ended up going with "Noah's Ark" this year. It's funny how it looks one way in your mind and turns out very different when you actually do it. We were truly quite pathetic again this year. Ha! This weekend sure gave us a taste of summer!


Noah's Ark...we even added the "mocking"
people on a hill to the side...just in case
you were wondering. :-)


Nemo's Dockside Cafe... mom & dad's


Parade...including an army man fort for Caleb :-)
Tim, Erica, Elizabeth, David, Anna & Caleb's



Adam, Rebekah's, Alex, & Ian's

"Boogerdrum"

So, my motherly pride almost stopped me from posting this one, because who wants to admit that their child picks their nose? I thought it was too cute not to share. So, this is me swallowing my pride. ;-)

Saturday morning we're eating breakfast when Allison comes into the room with a q-tip coming out each ear. Scott tells her to be careful, because if she puts them too far - or if someone bumps them - it could puncture her eardrum. Jenna, who was listening, pipes up and says:

"I know what you mean dad. Sometimes when I'm picking my nose, I hit my "booger-drum" and it really hurts." Scott had to have her repeat it a couple of times to fully understand what she was saying. She was so serious about her "booger-drum" that we had to laugh. How far exactly is she reaching up there??? And who has ever heard of a "booger-drum"?????

She really looks too cute to pick her nose, doesn't she?

Go fly a kite!

We had a fun spring break last week! I'm not sure who was more excited for a break from school...me or the kids.

We spent one day at the park with all of their cousins where we attempted to fly kites. It didn't go so well due to lack of wind and lack of kite-assembling talent. (Sorry ladies ;-) Ha!) FYI - dollar store kites do not come with instructions. The kites were pretty much only on the ground unless someone was holding it up. We tried again yesterday at my parents home where there is always plenty of wind by the lake. It was a success and it was a lot of fun!





2nd Attempt: