2013 Year in Review

Here's a 2013 year in review David Letterman style for the highlights of the Feyes Family.  Some events have already been previously mentioned, others happened during Amanda's dormant blogging period.  Enjoy!

10.  We had our annual summer trip to Alpena.  This year, not only were both sets of grandparents present, but also, Aunt Jennifer and Robert, Aunt Doris and Gary, and Great Grandma.


Not much was completed on the barn besides windows and a garage door, but fun times were had.

The highlight of the trip was a visit to Ocqueoc Falls.

9.  A racing family was made.

Along with some Smith family members Amanda, Andy, and Olivia ran in Kalamazoo's Mud Run.

Olivia and some of her cousins also were in the Sturgis Youth Triathlon.

Amanda and Olivia completed the Dream in Color 5K!

8.  The Cowboys and Indians (Native Americans for all my politically correct friends) made peace.

Mia was a cowgirl, Olivia Sacagewea, and our friend Lukas joined us as a cowboy for trick-or-treating on Halloween.

They quickly learned our new neighborhood was not the best to hunt for candy, and Andy drove them to our old neighborhood.

7.  Olivia performed with her class in the 2nd grader's Cocoa Cabaret concert and Congress school.  All the students did a terrific job serenading us with Christmas carols.

6.  The girls played spring soccer.

Both girls enjoyed their soccer season and want to play again next spring.  Olivia surprised us at being quite the athlete.


5.  Mia learned to ride a two wheeler!

Sadly, while creating our top 10 list and finding pictures, I realized we were bad parents and got no photos of this special event.  She learned in late July or early August, and has been terrorizing our cul de sac ever since.

4.  Mia battled Milk Anemia

After numerous sicknesses and a tired, cranky Mia, we learned she was anemic.  She HATED the iron she had to take, but after three months she was her perky, energetic self again, and was taken off the iron.  We're hoping it lasts.

3.  We had to say goodbye to some dear friends.  

Mia's best friend Abram, Olivia's good friend Emma, and one of my most dear friends, Tina and their family moved to South Carolina.  While they might be far away, they visit often and Face Time keeps us in contact.  It was hardest on Mia seeing that her circle of friends is limited at four years of age.

We were thrilled they were able to spend New Years' Eve with us again.

2.  Andy took a new job, or two.
So, no photo here.  I haven't been showing up at his job taking pictures of him in action, but he made the big decision to become the assistant for the Building Trades program at Sturgis High School.  It's been an adjustment, but I think what is best for our family.  It's less stressful and allows for more family time.  He also got to drive a tractor and dump cart for a friend of mine's farm during harvest season.  It meant for many late nights and his being gone for a few weekends at a time, but Andy LOVED it!  He hopes he gets to do so again next fall.

AND NOW, THE NUMBER 1 BIG EVENT IN OUR LIFE DURING 2013

A NEW HOUSE!

Isn't it so cute you could eat it up?  Okay, so this is the girls' gingerbread house we just built the other day.

Here is the first actual photo I have posted of our new house at 1321 Carlton Rd. in Sturgis.  It's our new home and it's been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (I mean that literally), but we are truly happy with our move.

Now we hope to be able to post that we sold our other house in the 2014 year in review, but only time will tell.

Happy New Year everyone!

And She's Eight!

It's hard to believe that it's been over eight years that our lives were blessed and forever changed with the arrival of our sweet Olivia Jane.  We celebrated on Saturday, October 19th, technically the day before.  Although not by much.  I can recall very clearly arriving at the hospital around 7:00 a.m. on the 19th eight years prior to be induced, but she didn't make her debut until after midnight. 

Mia making her pumpkin

The Nazarene Church in Sturgis for many years had hosted a fall family fun day that we have taken full advantage of many times.  They have pumpkins to decorate, crafts to make, a puppet show, great food, inflateables, hay rides, and horse back riding.  It's a terrific time and completely free for anyone.  It always seems to fall on the day we have Olivia's party, and this year was no exception.  The day was already stressful to me since, Mia and I participated in an Out of the Darkness walk in Coldwater that morning in memory of my dear friend Adam Lackey who took his life two years ago.  After the walk I promised Mia we could go to Great Lakes to get a drink to warm up since it was raining and freezing out.  I kept thinking of the food that needed to be made, the house that needed cleaned, and the list went on, but I also remembered I need to take time for my girls and make memories.  So we found one hour in the day to get some fun in at the Nazarene this year.  My coworker and good friend Liz's family had their horses their too.

Olivia riding on Misty

Mia on Trixie or Pixie, we can't recall

Both girls going down the slide together.

Usually, the girls' birthdays consist of just family and the occassional close friends.  I decided to let Olivia invite a few friends this year.  I'm glad I did because almost all the family had prior plans, or if they could make it, it would only be briefly.  Her friends, however, they all made it.

Olivia and Paris sporting their newly accquired facial hair that comes with turning eight.  Paris' birthday is exactly one week before Olivia's.

We managed to sneak Jane over for the event so Mia could have someone to play with as well.  Even though they aren't eight yet, they were given mustaches for the evening too.

Mia sporting her Hitler 'stache

Nana and Papa had church the night of Olivia's party, but they can never stay away so they stopped over early.  Olivia is modeling her new jacket from them above.  Nana and Papa could have stayed longer, but decided to let Olivia enjoy a "friends party" for a change.

Daddy giving Olivia her birthday spankings, and one to grow on.

Andy getting Callahan all riled up too.  Andy's such a kid himself.

Olivia starting in on her gifts

Showing off her new bow she got from daddy


The kids being wild. Let me just say, I'm glad we stopped at two.  It was a fun evening, but eight year olds are exhausting!

The entire crew being silly.  We have Citori, Taner, Olivia, Paris, Callahan, and Hunter being stepped on.

I know Olivia loved her party and all her gifts. 

On the actual birthday we got up early and met my Uncle Jere for breakfast, along with Grandma and Grandpa McNeil.  They had a surprise for Olivia's birthday and were taking her to Disney Stars on Ice, the 100 years celebration.  She came home that evening only talking about how "amazing" everything was.  I went as a child and am thrilled she got to experience it and love it as well.

So eight years of joy, some tears, constant entertainment, a pinch of screaming, attitude, creativity, ear piercing volume, surprises around every corner, endless talking, and love that grows more each day, and that would sum up our life with Olivia.  We can't wait to see what the future unfolds for her in our lives.

The first snow fall of the year was pretty neat to see as well!

We Dream in Color

So, I continue to neglect my blog.  Rarely getting out a camera.  And then if I finally think about doing a blog entry so many things have come and gone and it seems odd to overlook big things like photos from our new house and do something trivial, such as a blog on a package that came in the mail.  But that is what is current, so I am going to try and keep us up to date.  We may back track later, but today's entry is hot off the press. 

 

Olivia and I signed up to run the Dream in Color 5K put on by the Doyle Community Center in Sturgis.  It's one of those races that you get blasted with color throughout the race.  It was meant to be a fun race, so it went untimed.  I thought this was perfect being Olivia's first 5K and as much as she'd like to think she's a runner, she's not.  The same goes for me.  Yes, I've done a few 5Ks and a triathlon, but I'm just not cut out to be a runner.  I haven't been to the gym in over six months, and done no running in that time either.  I was happy Olivia was with me.  It would give us some fun bonding time, plus she gave me an excuse to slow it down and maybe need to walk every now and then.

 

pre race picture

 

We started out strong, and then I noticed Olivia huffing and puffing quite a bit.  I started realizing how much shorter her little legs were than my stubby legs and continued to encourage her on.  It wasn't too long before we got blasted with our first color station.  That gave her a little boost and we continued on.  I kept on with my words of encouragement, and was truly proud at how she kept running and didn't even ask to walk or slow down.  Around the first mile mark, my shoe came untied.  It was slowing me down (or that could have been caused by me being out of shape, but we'll blame it on the shoe) so I decided to stop to tie it.  Olivia was pulling away from me at this time and looked back.  I waved her on and said keep going, to which she did.  I could see her up ahead of me for most of the rest of the race.  Sometimes she even was out of sight.  I am used to hitting a wall in running, then barreling through it until I get my second wind.  The walls kept coming today, but the second winds were short lived little gusts that dissipated about five seconds after their arrival. 

 

Olivia upon completion of her first 5K!

 

I wanted to stop and walk numerous times, but kept reminding myself, my little girl is up ahead of me.  I can't walk now.  Then I remembered also that my fast walking pace is quicker than my lethargic jogging pace, but I kept the jog up the entire time.  I knew at this point Olivia was going to finish up ahead without me, and that thrilled me and filled me with pride.  At the same time, I wanted her to know her mommy didn't quit and start walking so my stubby legs kept up their slow jogging pace.

We did it!

 

As I rounded the corner and could see the finish line up ahead a few hundred yards, I saw this petite little girl with black pants and a shorter hair do crossing the finish line.  I'm so glad I was able to see her finish.  It motivated me at that time to pick up my pace.  For the last fifty yards or so, I had a good sprint (well, good for me) going.  It took me a moment or so to find Olivia with Andy and Mia through the clouds of colored chalk and mass of runners, volunteers, and spectators, but I did.  Olivia had a terrific time and overly surprised both Andy and me.  I guess I can't say she's not a runner any more.  I'm glad she proved us wrong.  Although the race was untimed, Andy said Olivia finished in about 34 minutes which we think is terrific!  That had to be a record for me as well. 

 

It was a blast of an event, that I'm sure we'll do again.  Both Olivia and I had many friends that ran in it as well that added to the fun.  Happy running and remember to dream in color!

 

McNeil Family Pictures

So let's rewind to the beginning of summer.  My sister and I decided to have family photos done as a birthday gift for my dad's 60th.  The session was done by my friend Lauren Cypher on Father's Day at Timberly Tree Farm.  We had a fun time.  Enjoy the pictures.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not many pictures, but lots of updates....

Well, this blog entry is well past due.  What can I say, but it was an extremely busy summer.  I know in the last post I said I'd add more photos from Alpena.  Maybe I will, but for now this is going to be more words than anything.  We closed on our new house located at 1321 Carlton towards the end of July.  It is a definite fixer upper, lovingly referred to as "the stinky house."  Thankfully, it does not smell all too stinky anymore, but the name remains.  With the new house came a lot of demolition.  We spent the first two weeks, gutting the basement, bathrooms, and kitchen.  After lots of sweat, pain, and time, we started putting her back together again.  Most of the walls have had many coats or primer and paint applied.  At this point in time, we have the kitchen cabinets installed, approximately 1/3 of the hardwood hickory floors laid, Olivia's room almost finished, including carpet, and the main bath tiled.  We still need to install toilets, paint some more rooms, and a lot is yet to be done on the master bedroom, but it's coming along.  We haven't had any luck at selling our house yet, but were fortunate to find a couple moving here from Germany in need of a place to rent until they find somewhere to buy.  So we now need to be out of the Electric Ct. house we've called home for over ten years, and into the stinky house within three weeks!  We can do it!


Mia and Myah all dressed up playing Just Dance.


A midst all the chaos of a renovation, we also managed to have a little fun.  The girls played with friends and cousins a lot this summer.  Our one trip to Alpena was it though.  We also managed a weekend away to Toledo where we went to the art musuem, stayed at Splash Bay Water Park Resort, played miniature golf (Mia was the only one with a hole in one!), went to the zoo, and had a visit with Andy's Grandma.  Both girls are now excited about moving.  One of Olivia's good friends, Tori, lives a block away, while Mia has loved the independence of living on a cul de sac road that she now can ride a 2 wheeler up and down.  She's also loved making new friends with some girls down the street.

Mia continues to love tractors and construction equipment.  Road construction has been taking place a block over, and Mia's highlight of her day is when daddy gets home from work, and he takes her to watch the tractors.  They also did a little road repair on the street that runs along side us, so Mia sat for a couple of hours and just watched in awe.  Andy's so proud because she can decipher between a backhoe, excavator, front end loader, etc.  I don't know all the correct terms, but if she were here, she could tell me.

Also, hard to believe, but I took no before and after photos of the house.  So many people can't believe it, since the house will be completely new when we're done with it, but I don't care to remember the old.  And from my memory, no one really wants to sit down and look at photo albums of a renovation when the come to visit either.  We'll just enjoy it when it's done.  So the camera stayed in the closet for the majority of the summer.  We also sold my sweet little Mini Cooper, to be able to afford two mortgages.  So the girls and I biked our tooshies off this summer (sadly, mine is actually still very prominent), but we got our exercise, non the less.  I could go on and on with more details, but we'll save that for another time.