KID OF THE WEEK # 4

Daniel Edward

October 7, 2003

Daniel is my baby boy. He is very sweet and very precocious. He was my biggest baby, weighing in at 9 pounds 7 ounces. I had gestational diabetes with him, if that tells you anything. He was born in Coldwater in the middle of the night. We made it to the hospital just in time for an epidural and a few pushes and there he was. He was a very good baby. He slept a lot, he played well, he was a very happy baby. Until we brought Sarah home. The first day I had all 5 kids home alone, by myself, was the first day Daniel decided not to take a nap or do anything else I wanted him to. So much for perfect children, they only exist in our minds!!!

Today Daniel is still a beautiful little boy. He is 5 and in Kindergarten at Britton Macon Elementary. He adores his teacher Mrs. Stahl and has already made lots of friends. That is Daniel's thing though. He is a people person. His first teacher, bless her heart, used the term "used car salesman" when describing Daniel once and I would totally have to agree with her assessment. Daniel is a people person. He loves to talk and he loves to be social. He also loves his girls. The girl in this picture is Liz and she lives in Texas, good thing cause I don't think her daddy will let her with in 100 feet of Daniel after the day this picture was taken. They were fast friends after about 5 minutes of knowing each other and inseparable. That is my Daniel.

Daniel was asked all the usual interview questions too. His favorite color is red. Mostly because green and blue are taken and I won't let him like black and the rest are "girl" colors. He likes lions because they run fast and roar loud. His favorite sport is baseball because there is a lot of hitting, throwing and running. He likes gym and recess at school because you can play games and run. Are you sensing a pattern? Daniel is all boy. He also thinks he is 8 just like the twins and thinks he can do all the same things they can. The thing is, he usually can. His feet are only about one size smaller than theirs and he can wear their clothes from the previous year. He is wearing some size 7 tops and they don't look too big. He is going to be a big tweenie and teenager I think.

Daniel also loves to help. He will almost always do "jobs" for me when I ask. His favorite is taking Tiger, our dog, outside. He is at his best when he is busy. In Hillsdale he had homework every night, not a lot, but something. Here he just has a book to read, so when that is done he likes to do other homework. At first he worked on a book from his Montessori school, but he finished that rather quickly. So I bought him one of those thick workbooks that covers all the subjects. He sits down at a lap table and works on that until the big boys are done with their homework. He is going to be well prepared for 1st grade!!

Daniel's biggest and best features are his dimples!! They melt my heart everytime I see them. He has a face that is hard to say no to. Maybe that is why all the girls just love him. I know I do!!

KID OF THE WEEK # 3

Jacob Allan

September 2, 2000

Jacob was born second on that day in September. He actually gave us the most trouble. He was breech and kept moving away from the doctors hand. We were "one more try" away from a C-section. Thankfully he was caught and born 15 minutes after his brother. He was 6 pounds 9 oz and very blue when he was born, but he came around quickly. He was born in St. Louis at the same hospital we had Grace. We had about 9 months there before Doug got his call to St. Paul's in Hillsdale. I remember pushing the double stroller with Grace in front at 14 months old, a twin in the back laying down and the other twin in a Snuggly strapped to my chest or back. It was a chore to go anywhere with the three of them!! We survived though and now Jacob is 8 1/2 and in third grade at Britton Macon Elementary school. He really likes his teacher Mr. Finger. They are doing very well with the transition to Britton.

Some interesting facts about Jacob: His nickname is Jake, but I still call him Jacob. His middle name comes from my dad whose name is Allan (and Nathan's comes from Doug's dad whose name is Michael). His favorite color is blue, which is the color I dressed him in as a baby. His favorite sport is baseball and his favorite subject in school is Science. His best friend is Everett from Hillsdale. He also wants to be a Pastor when he grows up. Again this is bound to change, but then again, maybe it won't. His favorite thing about Britton is that now he doesn't have to wear a uniform to school. This is my least favorite part ;-) He also wants you all to know he has a good family. I didn't put him up to that either.

Jacob's name means beguiler or jokester in Hebrew and he fits it very well. He loves to joke around and play tricks. He is the more outspoken funny guy of the twins, where Nate's one liners just kinda sneak up on you. They are a great pair and we love them dearly. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Jacob better. There are only two kids left. I wonder what Daniel will have to say...

KID OF THE WEEK # 2

Nathan Michael

September 2, 2000

Nathan is the first born of a set of twins. He is 15 minutes older than his identical twin Jacob, who will be featured next week. Nathan weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces at birth. He was about 4 weeks early. He was born in St. Louis, MO. He is now 8 1/2 and is in third grade at Britton-Macon Elementary.

His favorite color is Green. I like to think this is because he wore green as a baby, a lot! I dressed him in green and Jacob in blue to tell them apart. I still tend to buy these colors for them but now Nathan also likes to wear red. So if you see a twin in green or red you know you are most likely right if you guess it's Nathan.

Nicknames aren't widely used around here, but if you ask him Nathan's nickname is Nate. It will probably stick sooner or later, but I still almost always call him Nathan.


Nathan and his brothers are all boy. Here are a few example: Nathan's favorite movie is Star Wars ~ all of them, all 6 of them and the cartoon ones too!! His favorite books are "The Magic Tree House" series. He has read a lot of them and continues to enjoy them. His favorite food is Pizza and his favorite place to eat out is Bob Evans. He can eat a whole Belgian waffle or a plate full of pancakes plus eggs and bacon. He loves breakfast food. His favorite sport is baseball or playing Wii or playing baseball on the Wii. It all depends on the weather outside ;-) He is very good at all sports. He catches on quickly and is good at what he does. We are hoping to get him into a rec league or something this summer.

As to my other interview questions, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. After just a few seconds thought he said a Pastor. That was not the answer I was expecting but it made me proud. Of course it will probably change 100 times over the next 18 years, only time will tell.

I also asked who his best friend was and he immediately said Everett from Hillsdale. I kinda expected him to say Jacob, but I think that is a given. They have always been best friends and they are just now starting to let others into their inner circle of twinship. I am excited to see Nathan grow into a fine young man.

So now you have met Kid of the Week number two. Keep checking back for new pictures. I had to out source some again. And I had to be sure the ones I picked were actually Nathan ;-)

KID OF THE WEEK

GRACE KATHRYN

Grace was born on June 30, 1999 at 7pm. She is in 4th grade at Britton - Macon Elementary School. She was our first, so she is also our first Kid of the Week. I thought it might be fun to feature a different one of my kids each week. You can meet each kid individually and I gave each one a questionnaire to fill out so they could have some input to their feature.

Grace is adjusting just fine here in Britton. She struggled at first and missed a lot of her friends from Hillsdale, especially Anne, Lauren and Alana. She was playing the violin, but we haven't found her a teacher here yet so that is on hold. She has asked several times for piano lessons. All that requires is a piano ~ which is coming, I just have to go get it :-)

Grace's favorite color is HOT PINK! Hence the Hannah Montana motif in her room. Her favorite animals are dogs and horses. She likes to think she knows as much about dogs as the Dog Whisperer ~ maybe someday. She has never ridden on a horse, but really really wants to someday!! She has made some very good friends here in Britton especially Emma and Beka!!

When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up she said "A teacher like my mom!" I did not put her up to that one either ;-) Her favorite song is any song by Sugarland and they are her favorite singers too, next to Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift. Her favorite thing to do when she isn't helping me around the house, doing homework or singing is to read. She gets that from me ;-)

So now you know a little bit more about Grace, our KID OF THE WEEK! Enjoy the pics.

Cel-e-brate Good Times ~ Come On!

OK so maybe all the kids being in school isn't a normal thing to celebrate, but we did. After several weeks of the kids, and parents, being sick with one winter virus or another, they finally all made it to school on Friday. So to celebrate, Doug took me on a day long date. Now, before you say Awww too loudly here is a look at what we did.

First, we dropped ALL the kids off at school, even Sarah. Then, he took me to Bob Evans for breakfast. The plan was breakfast, then coffee at the Coffee Beanery, then we would play it by ear after that. While at breakfast we discussed many of the things parents talk about when they are alone, mainly the kids. We also drew up a floor plan on the back of a place mat for the basement and talked about what colors we wanted to paint the various rooms being built. When we finished breakfast, a little before 9am, we headed to Ann Arbor to go to Lowes to look at paint, with the promise of coffee at Starbucks once we got to Ann Arbor. We didn't have to pick Sarah up from preschool until 11am. We spent more time at Lowes and Meijer that we planned and so we had to hurry back to Britton to pick up Sarah. The plan was to pick up Sarah, get coffee at the Bear Claw in town and then head home. Well, we picked up Sarah and decided to go to Adrian to shop and have lunch, the opposite direction of the Bear Claw by the way.

We got to Adrian and ended up at the mall. There isn't much at the Adrian Mall. A JCPenny, a Sears, a few other stores, and a small food court. We had hot dogs for lunch and shared a soda. I did pick up a few new shirts and an Easter dress and sweater for Sarah. Then we went across the street to Hobby Lobby. I spent way too much there, but we got Valentines for the kids parties at school and a few other not really needed items. We finished up there just in time to head back to Britton to pick up the kids, in the opposite direction of the Starbucks ;-)

Finally, we picked up the kids and headed home. We had fish sticks and mac n cheese for dinner followed by popcorn and a movie, Madagascar 2. All in all a good day, but I never did get that coffee!!!