Koenes Shower

Sunday afternoon family got together again to celebrate Squirt's upcoming arrival, Aunt June and Aunt Linda hosted my last baby shower. We started the shower with some silly games, my favorite was trying to melt a small plastic baby out of an ice cube and shouting "my water broke" when it was free. Next we played a game of baby memory and ate some yummy sweets.


When I was younger my Uncle Mike used to make homemade mint chocolate chip ice-cream for my birthday parties, so I jokingly requested to have it at my shower and he surprised me with some! The cake, cookies with strawberries on top and fruit kabobs were all delicious. Squirt got a lot of wonderful gifts that I'm sure he/she will love!


Thanks everyone for all the time, energy, money and creativity that went into each of my 5 baby showers! Everyone of them made me feel very special and more prepared to bring Squirt into our home.

my cousin's baby Mia enjoyed the shower too

baby shower memory game

the cake says: I'll Love you forever, I'll like you for always

homemade mint chocolate chip ice-cream

all the sweets

Lily, Annabella and Lillian helped with gifts

the hosts, the bump and I 

Meidema Wedding

While we were in Michigan we had the pleasure of witnessing Erica and Adam's wedding! Enjoy some of my favorite pictures from the fun night:

the vows

Erica, Courtney, Anna and Heather get their moves on

something must have been really funny

Jon and Joy having a good time

Matt's favorite picture of Andrew dancing with the My Buddy doll

Courtney and I with the groom

can you guess who drove home

the Colvin's and the Miedema's (Adam loved petting Matt's beard)

Hendriksen/Syrek Shower

On Saturday morning we had a lovely brunch hosted by my sisters and my step-mom. As the guests arrived at Remembrance Church they decorated paper onesies with stickers to show their guesses of what Squirt's name might be, they all made really cute onesies but no one was able to guess the names we have picked. Some of my favorite submissions were "Don Jr" and "Bella" (my dad's name and my niece Annabella thought Bella would be a good name, so cute). 


Brunch consisted of mini egg dishes, little sausages, yogurt with granola, lots of yummy fruit and a variety of homemade breads. After brunch we all played some games together. My favorite game was putting baby diapers on an eggplant, squash, pineapple and mini watermelon. Some of us did it with our eyes covered or one hand behind our backs, let's just say there was potential for lots of leakage...


It was a very fun shower with lots of great fellowship and of corse wonderful presents for the little one!


Check out all the photos taken at the shower:

making Squirt's onesies

The food

ready to diaper the fruit or veggie with one hand

my team won

Annabella, Lillian and Gianna helped with Squirt's gifts

the shower hosts and I pose for a picture

all the Grandma's can't wait to meet little Squirt

Sturrus/Friend shower

On Friday all the schools in the Grand Rapids area had a snow day because over night and all morning it was coming down in buckets. Matt, my mom and I stayed close to home and did some shopping at the mall and had to stop at our very missed Meijer store. When we returned Matt got ready and headed up north to do some Michigan skiing with his dad and some of his dad's buddies. Meanwhile Mom and I braved the storm and went to Grandma's home for Squirt's shower. 

As the guests arrived the condo filled up very quickly with about 20 friends and family members. We all ate some great food and played BABY-O while I opened all of Squirt's presents. Everyone wore a name tag with a little diaper pinned on it, we later discovered one had a "surprise" inside! It was just a piece of chocolate in their but it was so cute. A lot of the guests went in together to get gifts for little Squirt so we got some large ticket items like: the infant car seat, a pack 'n' play, a bouncer and lots of large gift cards! 

This baby is so spoiled and loved and he/she doesn't even know it yet. Here are some of my favorite pictures taken that night:

Yummy food

Glad that Squirt didn't kick the cupcake off my belly

BABY-O card and the "poopy" diaper

Gift opening time

Grandma knit Squirt a sweater with a cute pointed hoodie and booties

This stool will come in handy at the bathroom sink

Mom C, Aunt Marcella, Grandma and Amber all hosted the baby shower

I have to say, I'm thankful all these pictures didn't make it around the group. Thanks for mocking me Ber...

The hosts of the shower! Thanks for making a girl feel special.

33 Weeks

Lately, I can't get enough yummy cookies and other sweets! Over the last few months there has always been homemade cookies in the house and we are ALL fattening up, Matt has been eating the peanut butter chip cookies for snacks and sometimes even meals. One day last week when we were making cookies together, I accidentally spilled flour all over the kitchen. Here is a picture of Squirt covered in flour too:

Yesterday I had my last scheduled day at the YMCA before Squirt arrives. When Dana (my boss) and I talked months ago about when my last day would be, it seemed so far away and felt like I was leaving earlier then I would have liked. But now I'm so thankful to be away from the heat of the pool area! Over the last few years of lifeguarding I have made a lot of elderly friends from the various classes and they spoiled me rotten during my last few days. One morning the arthritis class sang "Happy Baby" (to the tune of Happy Birthday) to me, a few of the members got Squirt some really cute outfits and they all signed a nice card. I'm so glad to have freed up some time in my last few weeks of pregnancy to get all the things collecting on my to do list done. I will miss everyone during this break from the Y but look forward to the time away as well.


Today Matt and I took our final trip to the mitten for baby showers and a friend's wedding. My doctor said I should be safe to fly up to my 35th week, so we just made the cut off. Packing for this trip was a pretty easy thing to do since I don't have a lot of clothes to pick from anymore. Our direct flight went really well considering the blizzard south Denver was getting that morning. Grandma and Grandpa Koenes picked us up at the airport and we headed to Rainbow Grill to fill my three month craving for a bowl of their Cream of Broccoli Soup. After lunch we headed up to Rockford where Matt promptly fell asleep after being awake for more then 24 hours. This trip will be a busy one but it's aways a good time seeing everyone again.

The bump at 33 weeks 

Matt got me this shirt with Squirt's due date from Etsy.com

YMCA lifeguard shower

Last night Squirt had an amazing shower at my boss, Dana's house. This baby is already spoiled and he isn't even born yet, once again I'm overwhelmed with the generosity of such great co-workers/friends! Everyone helped out for the shower with some great food and games.  We ate BBQ pork, coleslaw, veggies with hummus, cookies, brownies, chex mix, cake pops and a cute cookie monster cake. We played fun games like guess the type of baby food, the price is right with baby items, match the adult animal with it's baby animal name (ex. dog=puppy) and don't say "baby" or "cute" or loose a pin. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night:

The whole group at the shower

Cookie Monster cake  

Opening Squirt's gifts 

Gabbie's grandma in FL knit this!

Dana sewed Squirt a super cute blanket!

Dana's daughter, Abby, modeled Squirt's new hooded towel

Valentine's Day

Let's just start by saying that Valentine's Day is not one of Matt Colvin's strengths.  I'm not a romantic (something I inherited from my father), and lately it seems that my brain decides to go on leave on this exact day each year.  I'll regale you with the tale of the current and previous V-day.


Valentine's Day 2011: We spent the day skiing at Winter Park resort while Don and MB (Mel's Dad and step-mom) were visiting.  To start, I got us lost on the mountain because I forgot where certain runs would take us.  This ended up getting us stuck at a different base of the mountain and we had to search for a shuttle to get us to our car.  Once we got to the car the battery was dead.  Fortunately there were some workers in the lot and they gave us a jump.  Now that the car was running we got on our way to the YMCA camp up the road, but didn't get far cause a guy flagged me down while I was driving 55 mph.  Turns out I forgot to close the ski rack on top of the car.


Valentine's Day 2012: Since Mel was working, my plan was to head up to Breckenridge and ski for the day.  I got up and got going early enough.  The drive was nice and relaxing, but right before I hit the Eisenhower Tunnel (about 70 miles from home) I realized I had packed everything I needed except my ski boots.  If it had been any other piece of equipment I would have kept going and rented, but boots are too important.  Naturally I was mad at myself, so I turned around and went all the way back home while making plans to do some snowshoeing instead.  I got home and threw my snowshoes and hiking boots into the car and headed out again.  I got to the park and realized I had forgotten to pack a hat and gloves.  Thank goodness it was sunny and warmish (~40 degrees) so I didn't end up needing them.  I set off on the trail and was about a quarter mile in when I noticed a couple with their dogs and the dogs were barking at some elk that were out in the open.  I thought it would be a great chance to get some good pics of the wildlife, but then realized that while I remembered to grab the camera from the house I hadn't remembered to take it with me on the trail.  I went back to the car and eventually got some good pics and had a great hike.

Mel and I ended up going to a movie theater that serves dinner and drinks during the movie for the holiday.  It was the first time we'd ever been to a theater like that and we'll definitely be going again!


Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.


m@

The Zokoes Take Over CO

Our good friends Matt and Anna Zokoe made my entire off-week by coming out to CO this past week and skiing with me!  We skied, got pampered (in our ways), ate some good food, and tried A LOT of beer.

Thursday the Matts and Anna skied Keystone well into the evening hours.  We covered a lot of ground while Mel relaxed in the lodge reading her book.

Friday the guys and girl split up.  The Matts took Beaver Creek Ski Resort by storm and covered almost 20,000 vertical feet before the day was done.  Sadly we missed out on the freshly baked cookies they hand out at the end of the day.  The girls spend the day getting pampered by getting mani-pedi's and massages.  We had dinner at Beau Jo's and then hit up the Colorado Mills Outlet Mall.

Saturday we did a beer tour of Ft. Collins (about an hour North of Denver).  We started with a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, then made stops at Ft. Collins Brewery, New Belgium Brewery, and Odell's Brewery.  We all (sans Melissa) enjoyed a number of great beer samples.  It really paid off to have a DD!

Sunday we all went to Red Rocks for church and while Melissa was volunteering at the YMCA, the rest of us laid low and watched Breaking Dawn.

It's always a great time when the Zokoe's come to visit and fortunately we get to see them again soon when we go back to MI to celebrate another friends wedding.

m@