#2 of 4

The Cherry Creek Community Church worship band entertained us at their pig roast. See Luke on the far right, playing the electric guitar?



Grace brushed this pony before she rode him.



Grace's first pony ride! Thanks, Kathy, for letting Grace ride the pony! She had a great time!



Grace made fast friends with Abbie Belcher when we visited. I cannot believe Kelly and Abbie are getting so old!



I just can't post without a cute picture of Caleb!



And a cute picture of Grace!



We found a free beach in Lowell, not too far away. Grace loved playing with her shovel and bucket!

A Sampling of the First of Four Rolls of Film...

Hyo-Sun Kim, our Korean exchange student/sister for the year



Erin, Hyo-Sun, and Caleb at Hyo-Sun's going away party



Luke and Grace's first ride on the new lawn tractor, right before they cut down our jungle



Great-grandma Laga stopped by for a visit with her first great-grandson!



Luke and his kiddos on Father's Day



This picture is fun for two reasons. One: Grace didn't mind that we made her a "swimming pool" out of our wheelbarrow. Two: she's making the "monkey face." Who doesn't love the monkey face?



And who doesn't love this sweet face?

Terry Sturman is our favorite photographer!

Our new family picture, with all four of us!



The sweetest picture of our little 3-month-old Caleb.



Caleb loves his puppy, just like Grace loves her lambie. Thanks, Debbie (and Steelcase PDM)!



Peek-a-boo!

Jambo (Jambo!) means hello (Hello!)...

Week One of Backyard Bible Clubs is over! We had 35-40 kids every day (except Friday, when a bunch of them went away for the weekend or had swim meets.) It was a little chaotic the whole week, but we survived! We didn't see any salvation decisions this week, but we had some unchurched kids that were at least exposed to the Gospel. I hope we planted some seeds!

Our theme was a safari theme, called Kingdom of the Son. (It's a VBS curriculum by GospelLight.) It was all about the Lord's Prayer. I think it went pretty well, but I also feel like I was running around like crazy all week trying to make it happen, so I didn't get much of a chance to just sit back and listen to the Bible stories and lessons.

Anyway, we survived! I was (and still am a little bit) exhausted! It was a rough week for me and the kids - very tiring for all three of us. And housework went to the wayside last week, so we're trying to catch up now. Laundry and dishes - fun!

Hope everyone is doing well. Glad to hear that Mom and Dad Rumley, Zach, and Elyse are home safely from their trip to Georgia. Oh, and by the way, Emily's wedding is in LESS THAN 9 WEEKS! WHOA! Are you ready, Em?

-{lkr}

P.S. I'm in the process of getting pictures developed (FOUR ROLLS!), so more pictures to come...SOON!

Hog wild.

Yes, I did want to join the Manton Motorcycle gang after being able to drive that thing down the road at 65mph! It was awesome. Lacey will make sure that I don't join the gang, at least for the time being.

I never imagined being a biker, but 60mpg could convert anyone with a 25 minute drive to work. For the record, Lacey's Dad bought one first and has been riding them all his life, then Karl bought one.

Grace did get to ride and we will post some fun pictures of that once they are developed / scanned. She was scared at first, but got used to it.

Alonna has started a blog, and we updated our list of blog links over in the sidebar to include all the family blogs (I think). -->

Bed is calling...later,

--
Luke

A newer family picture:

Two steps forward, one step back...

Well, we had a great time in Manton! It was wonderful to spend time with my family and some friends. We got to spend quite a bit of time in the sun, too, so it's REALLY nice to have some color on our formerly pasty-white bodies.

When we got there on Sunday, my family had a little party for us, I think just because we haven't been there in a while, and people wanted to see Caleb. My grandma (from about an hour away) and great aunt and cousins came, as well as some friends. It was really nice to see everyone and not have to worry about trying to go to all their separate houses. They all came to us!

My dad, Karl, and Luke had fun riding Dad's and Karl's motorcycles. They got them recently. They're 2001 Suzuki Savage 650s, I think, and they match (except Dad's is blue and Karl's is black). Isn't that cute? I took lots of pictures, so I'll post some when I get them developed.

The only bad part about the weekend was Caleb's loss of sleep. Remember how he was sleeping through the night? Yeah, not anymore. DaRn! I'm tired again. Hopefully he'll get back in the groove soon. We'll see.

Now that we're back I've been overwhelmed with Backyard Bible Clubs stuff. They start next Monday, the 10th. I will be relieved when they're over.

Welp, happy weekend, everyone! Can't wait to see my Rumley sisters this weekend! (YAY for sisters and wedding invitations!)

-{lkr}

*The picture of the motorcycle is borrowed from the Internet. It's not actually one of their bikes.

Just plain ol' "T-Bone"

Oh, man.

Luke got a free trial subscription to download songs to our computer, so that's what we were doing last night. And I thought, let's try to find that T-Bone song we heard on the radio the other day. I like that song. Yes, it's Christian rap, and yes I'm whitey-white, but it has a nice beat and good lyrics, and frankly, we like to boogie. Even Grace likes to dance in this household.

SO, not knowing the name of the song, we searched for T-Bone. And one of us suggested that maybe T-Bone Burnett is his full name - let's look at his songs and try to find one that sounds like it might be the one we like. So, we picked a couple of songs and started to download them...Did I mention that we still have dial-up? Yeah, it took a while...But FINALLY the downloads were done, and I was so excited to find out if the songs were the right ones...

OH, MAN! It was the weirdest music ever. I wondered if T-Bone fell off the wagon or something. It was NOT rap. At all. Surely the person who made these songs was on drugs? Poor T-Bone. I lost all faith in him.

So, I signed off the Internet, because as we all know, you cannot use the phone and be online when you only have dial-up. (Oh, how I miss the wonder of having DSL.) Anyway, I phoned my local DJ, who answered, "WayFM?" Thankfully, he knew who T-Bone was, and he told me the name of the song I wanted to hear. So, I signed back on and downloaded it. And played it. And YES! It was THE song! Woo-hoo!

So, in a flash of inspiration, I said to Luke, "Google T-Bone Burnett." We found him. Yeah, he's not our beloved Christian rapper T-Bone. He's a scary, old white guy. PHEW! My faith was restored.

Boogie on, T-Bone.

-{lkr}

Manton, MI - here we come!

Things are going well. Caleb's still sleeping through the night like a champ. About 7-8 hours every night. Not bad! It sure makes for a happier mommy in the morning, let me tell ya!

We're excited to be able to go to the "northlands" (as Luke calls it) this weekend, to celebrate the Fourth with my family. It's been almost a whole 6 months since we've been there, so I'm really ready to be back. I miss my family! I'm excited to see my Mom, Dad, Alonna, Melissa, Karl, Kade, and Melissa's baby belly...See Jana and meet Trent...See Megan and Michael, their baby Sidnee, and their new house...See Megan and Tommy and meet their baby Teddy...See grandparents, aunts, and uncles...Swim in the pool, watch Grace ride in the Barbie Jeep with Kade, relax...Go to Melissa's ultrasound and "meet" my new niece for the first time...Go to the parade in Lake City, which celebrates "The Greatest Fourth in the North"...And oh, so much more! :-) I'm anticipating a great weekend! Manton, here we come!

Oh, but when the weekend is over, I will be in overdrive working on Backyard Bible Clubs, which start July 10. Yikes! I'm the new lady in charge, so I'm concentrating on pulling it off this year with not enough preparation for me. (The former lady in charge recently moved to NY. We miss her!)

So, that's what's going on. Hope everyone's doing well. The weekend's coming soon!!!

-{lkr}

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y...

...that's the Rumley battle cry!

Everybody ready? Last night Caleb SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! YAY!!! I woke up at 5:50am and my first thought was, "He hasn't woken up yet?!" So, hooray!

He's also started giggling a little bit. It's the happiest sound in the world.

-{lkr}

6:57 am

Wow, I am not really a fan of being up at 6:57 am, but here I am, showered and ready to go. The kids aren't even up yet! It's because Luke got up super early today (good job, honey!) to go on a business trip to Chicago for the day. (I'm sure he'll wave as he goes by, Portage Rumleys!) He gets to visit a conference called NeoCon, where Steelcase is unveiling three new office chairs. Pretty cool, huh? He'll have to write about it when he gets back.

On a happy note, we're making progress with Caleb's sleeping habits. He's not sleeping through the night yet, but he did GREAT with his naps the past couple of days. He goes down with just a little fussing (not much crying), and if he wakes up during the nap, he'll get himself back to sleep on his own. YAY! Last night he was up a couple of times to eat, but the night before that I fed him at 10:30pm before bed, 3:30am, and then not until 9:00am. That might not mean a whole lot to some people, but trust me, it's great! I'm hoping it just keeps getting better.

We went to Tom Ritchie's visitation on Monday. It was sad, but the family is holding onto the hope of seeing him again one day. For those who aren't sure how we know them, Luke's ministry team RISEN worked with their church for VBS one summer and also a SuperBowl party later on. And I had the privilege of going to Romania with Tom and Terre in January 2001. We worked with this ministry organization.

Hope everyone has a great day!

-{lkr}

P.S. Grace is 19 months old today.

Our "lawn"

I bought this on Saturday...


...and I am super excited to give a test run. I am sure after a couple of weeks I will be ready to train Caleb how to use it, but for now, I am excited. This will allow me to plow down our 2ft tall weeds and call it a lawn until we rototill and re-plant real grass in the fall. Woo-hoo!

Some sad news: Hyo-sun (my parents' exchange student from South Korea) is probably sitting in construction traffic right now on her way to Chicago to fly back home.

Some sadder news: Tom Ritchie passed away this past weekend unexpectedly. He has been a great leader in ministries in Grand Rapids and around the world, and his wife Terre is the executive director of Children's Bible Hour. Keep her in your prayers.

--
Luke

Graduation, dedication, and all-around cuteness

Emily and Dan-o: the graduates and soon-to-be newlyweds. Good job!


The Rumley girls at graduation - (left to right) Erin, Betsey, Emily, Elyse, Lacey, and Grace!


Caleb and I with my college roomie, Chaeli. She's #1! : - )


Grace in her Rose Hulman Institute of Technology hoodie from The Pretty Aunt. Go Rose!


Pastor Jeff holds baby Caleb during his dedication. (He talked about the Caleb of the Bible being wholehearted. We pray that for our Caleb!)


The man cub dressed up for his dedication. The shirt is from Angie and Dave - SO cute! Thanks, guys!


Aunt Melissa had fun snuggling with her favorite nephew all weekend.


Grace and Kade look like little twins, don't they?

One more time...It's a girl!

YAY! We found out on Monday that Melissa and Karl are going to have a girl! It's not 100% sure (never is until the birth!), but the ultrasound was fairly clear. They were hoping for a girl. So, we're all excited! Now we just have to wait until the end of September to meet my first, precious niece!

Another benefit of this gender is clothing. Melissa and I will be trading Grace's clothes for Kade's clothes, so Caleb will have some cute (FREE) clothes to wear, and vice versa for little Girl Webster. Yay for free clothes! Oh, and don't worry MomR, I'll still need to garage sale for clothes for Grace. We'll plan on June 3.

Oh, and here's a picture of Tayler Ellen Brewster. What a cutie!


-{lkr}

Picture Time!

Sleepy Caleb, 5 weeks old...





Grace likes to play behind the couch...



Grace and her baby brother...








Grace and her two church buddies - Noah (left) and Luke (right)...

It's a girl!!!

Okay, so I know those of you who don't keep up with us on a regular basis are thinking "What? I thought they already had their baby?" and "Wasn't it a boy?" Well, you're right about that! Caleb is almost six weeks old already! But...

We're happy to welcome Tayler Ellen Brewster into our church family! Rusty and Kisha had their baby yesterday (Wednesday) at 4:06 pm. She was 8lb and 20 inches long. We'll go visit them in the hospital today, and maybe someday we'll be able to post pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I'm pining for a digital camera. We had Emily's over the weekend (because she accidentally left it here), and we took lots of pictures of the kids that we will post at a later date (once we retrieve them from said camera). Until then, we're going to have to just wait...

Hope everyone's doing great. Caleb's dedication and Mother's Day are both on Sunday. Exciting! Both the Rumleys and the Liabenows will be here (not all the Rumleys, but definitely all the Liabenows). We're looking forward to it!

-{lkr}

Congrats, grads!

Today was Emily and Dan's graduation from Cornerstone. GOOD JOB, EMILY AND DAN! Emily is a smarty-pants. She graduated Summa Cum Laude (with highest honors). Yay for her! So that means that we got to spend the day with the Rumley side of the family. Lots of fun and frenzy, that's for sure.

I also got to see my long-lost college roomie, Chaeli. It's been a while since we've seen each other, so it was really nice to see her again! Her crazy family was there because her brother Andy graduated as well. CONGRATS, ANDY!

That's all for now. We're going to go watch some old episodes of Lost, because we're completely addicted to the show. Bye!

-{lkr}

The art of sleeping...

If you don't believe it's an art, try teaching an almost-four-week-old how to properly sleep. Yikes.

I've been exhausted this week, probably because Caleb's been more awake this week than ever. (More awake = less sleep for me.) So, I decided to start sleep-training him, like we did for Grace. It's a long process, but she was sleeping through the night at three months old, and since about that age has gone down for naps and bedtime without a fuss. It's been wonderful!

So yesterday I put him down (in his crib) for an afternoon nap, and he slept for more than two hours! YAY! That's the longest stretch of napping he's done yet. I'm hoping to continue that pattern.

So, right now, both of my children are in their own beds, sleeping away. I'm going to go take a stress-free shower! YAY!

-{lkr}

Wow!

I am blown away by our amazing church family. The people at FHBC are just WONDERFUL! The shower was great. I didn't count, but probably 20-30 people were there. We played a fun scavenger hunt game, had tons of food, listened to a nice devotional about motherhood, and opened scads of presents. We received lots of cute boy clothes for Caleb, LOTS of diapers and wipes, and some other fun things like children's books, puzzles, toys, and bibs.

And Kisha got us a Snugli carrier, which I've already used, on my first solo trip to WalMart. I put the baby in the carrier and Grace in the cart, and we were off! It was great!

Oh, and I can't forget the yummy candy that Wendy bought. She got a bag of Rolos and a huge bag of yummy mini candy bars for Luke, as well as a bag of Dove chocolate for me! We're going to be on a sugar high until that's all gone! :-)

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Friday we'll hang out with Emily and Dan. Then Saturday will be full with rummage sales (FHBC and Ada Christian), Spring Splash, and a Steelcase hockey game. Fun!

I ordered this crib set for Caleb today. It's by Carter's, whom I love. I'm excited to decorate his room a little bit!

-{lkr}

Baby showers bring weeds and grass?

Our wonderful church family will be celebrating Caleb's birth tonight with a baby shower for us! Isn't that nice? We're hoping to receive some boy clothes, so that he doesn't have to wear Grace's pink clothes. We'll see! :-)

Luke's birthday was great! He took the day off, and we had a nice, relaxing day. I got him a guitar stand (for either his acoustic at home or his bass at church) and a Monster cable for church. Then we went shopping, and he got a nice wheelbarrow and a shovel. Manly toys. He got to use them on Saturday at our church workday and at home, where he cleaned up the yard some more.

Speaking of the yard, if anyone wants to come help plant us a lawn, you're more than welcome! It needs to be done! The weeds and grass are starting to pop up in patches, and we'd rather have a nice, green, weedless lawn. (Or as close to that as you can get by planting your own.)

We have some obstacles to planting a lawn (besides money and equipment): (1) We have a groundhog. He digs holes. I guess we could still plant our lawn, but it will have holes in it. Silly groundhog. (2 - the bigger problem) Our phone line still isn't buried. Luke called on it, and they said they'd come bury it between April and July sometime. Nice timeframe, huh? But a guy was out here yesterday marking our electrical line, so maybe that's a good sign that SBC will be here soon. Otherwise, we may have to plant around the phone line, and fill in that strip of lawn later! How sad!

I'm pretty sure we didn't say this before, so CONGRATULATIONS to Emily and Dan! They were recently engaged, and are planning a September 16 wedding! YAY! Now I'll have my first brother-in-law-in-law (two "in-law"s because he'll be marrying my sister-in-law - make sense?). We're geeked for them, and are happy to welcome Dan into the Rumley clan. (Does he know what he's getting himself into? hehehehohoho)

Well, not a whole lot more going on in our lives. Spring Splash is this weekend. All the cool kids will be there.

Bye!

-{lkr}

A quarter of a century!

That's how old Luke is, as of today!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY, LUKE/DADDY!

WE LOVE YOU!


-{Lacey, Grace, and Caleb}