pentoneyfamily

Amber turns 1

2011-02-13T10:41:00.008-05:00

We celebrated Amber's 1st birthday last weekend with some of our family. She had an absolute blast playing with her new things and eating her cake. Beth and I made her cake the day before the party and what a cake it was. It took 4 boxes of cake mix, and if you can believe this, 4 pounds of frosting. This thing was HUGE!! It had to be put on 4 layers of cardboard to support it. We didn't weight it, but I bet it was 8 lbs. or more. Here are some photos of Amber on her special day. Such a doll!

Some Winter Fun

2011-02-13T10:33:00.006-05:00

Before the "blizzard", we took the kids on a sleigh ride through the woods. Here is a picture of them in the sleigh. After the "blizzard", we took a picture of Amber standing next to the tall banks in our yard. Keep in mind that she is 30" tall!!!

Here is a picture of Caleb taking a hard earned snooze one afternoon and then another of him using his little sister as a stool.

Winter Fun

2010-12-13T12:58:00.008-05:00

Well, winter hasn't even officially arrived and we got our first "dumping" of snow this weekend. We ended up with 6" and the first 4" that came, made for some really great snowman making snow, so here we are doing just that.

That looks really nice boys! I'll just sit here in the yard and supervise while you two finish the snowman.

Kid's Christmas Photos

2010-12-05T12:28:00.004-05:00

We thought you all would enjoy the latest photos of Caleb and Amber. They look so cute all dressed up in their Christmas outfits. Hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Trick or Treat

2010-11-02T01:46:00.008-04:00

This Halloween was such a blast for all of us. It was Amber's very first halloween and she was dressed up as a "Baby Blossom" flower. She was just so adorable. She had everybody talking, looking and taking pictures of her.
Caleb really got into trick or treating this year. He was dressed as a Scare Crow. This costume was the coolest thing. He got so many compliments on how cute he looked in it.

To top off halloween night, we went trick or treating in Greenville. The city has three parks that it burns a big bon-fire and gives out free apple cider and donuts to anyone who stops by. They also have a costume contest. Amber and Caleb both entered into the 0-5 yr. age group and out of all the kids who entered, Caleb got 1st place and Amber got 2nd place. The got their pictures taken and they asked us for the correct spelling of their names.....we think they might put the photos in the local newspaper. They each got a ribbon and a candy bar. Take a look at their photos and you'll see how cute they were.

After a full night pounding the sidewalks for candy, they both crashed on the ride home. It was a BLAST!!!!

Fall into some fun

2010-11-02T01:39:00.005-04:00

Caleb just loves to help daddy out anyway that he can, no matter if it's mowing the lawn, blowing the leaves, hauling & stacking firewood, etc. Here he is having a little fall fun in a huge leaf pile. He looked like he was having so much fun, I had to join in with him.

Caleb is now 2 1/2 years old

2010-10-11T13:04:00.003-04:00

Caleb turned 2 1/2 at the end of last month. He's growing up to be such a little man. He's also doing very well. Pushes our buttons fairly often, but he's in his two's and he's a boy, what else can we say! He's gotten very good at driving the hi-lo over at grandpa's garden center. He can literally do everything with it except push the gas and brake. He will steer between cars, pick up, move and lower full skids of birdseed, etc. He just LOVES IT! One problem though, now he wants to drive the car.........ouch. He's been spending time with daddy out in the woods splitting and hauling wood this fall. He likes to try and pick up all the pieces and throw them out of the trailer.

Amber is 8 Months old

2010-10-11T12:58:00.002-04:00

Amber turned 8 months old this week. Take a look at that cute little smile. She learned how to crawl and clap her hands on the 8th of Oct. She's doing very well. She's now working on trying to stand up......or at least pull herself up. Won't be long before she's walking around things.

Amber is 7 Months Old

2010-09-17T23:53:00.002-04:00

Amber is now 7 Months old. She is doing very well. She's soooooooooooo close to crawling already. She can get to where she wants to go by combining rolling and army crawling. She'll get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, but hasn't figured out how to move her arms and legs together. Soon, very soon. She probably will be crawling by time she turns 8 months old.... watch for an update. Here is her 7 month photo.

Tahquamenon Falls Camping

2010-09-17T23:19:00.006-04:00

We spent 6 days camping in Michigans Upper Penninsula at Tahquamenon Falls. The gloomy weather made the week a little rough and we found that the kids are only good for about 2 or 3 nights max of camping this year. Hopefully, next summer they can stand to go for a little longer. We still had a good time. It was interesting to say the least. One day, we went for a drive and ended up driving 19 miles down this narrow, rough, water cover in may places, seasonal road, which took over an hour, to get to remote Crisp Point Lighthouse on the Lake Superior shoreline. It was beautiful. Later that night, a big low pressure system came down from Lake Superior and hit our campground with 60+ mph winds for about 4 hours in the middle of the night. Kinda scary. We could sure do without that ever again! Here are some photos of our trip. Hope you enjoy them.

Here are a couple of pictures of Amber with Lake Superior in the background.

Above: Photo of Amber and Caleb sitting next to the camper at the campground.

Below is a photo of Caleb sitting on a washed up log and root ball at Whitefish Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior. Below that photo is one of all 4 of us at the Upper Falls of Tahquamenon Falls.

I took this photo of a man fishing on the river one cool morning.

A "Watch for Moose" sign that was along the road right by our Campground. Didn't see any though.

Some extra cute photos

2010-08-26T10:42:00.006-04:00

Just a few snapshots of the kids having some fun.

Amber is 6 Months Old

2010-08-19T17:14:00.003-04:00

Amber has passed the 1/2 a year old mark this month. She's doing great. She's in the 75%ile on both her height and weight and the doc says she hasn't missed a meal..... :) She's really getting active on her rolling around and is trying her hardest to get up onto her hands and knees. Won't be long now............ oh boy. Here is her 6 month photo. She's got so many facial expressions, we tried to caputre some and keep the pool theme going since it's been SO DARN HOT!!! Enjoy.

The two of them

2010-07-28T10:57:00.002-04:00

How cute they are!

Camping in Traverse City

2010-07-28T10:46:00.007-04:00

Over the 4th of July, we (Rod, Beth & Caleb) went camping for 4 days just outside of Traverse City. The Navy Blue Angels were performing at the Cherry Festival airshow and we wanted to take Caleb up there to see the jets. We left Amber home with the grandparents since it was so hot outside and the loud noise from the jets isn't a place for a little baby. Here are some photos from our trip.

These are two of the exact planes that I flew when I was learning to fly while attending college in Traverse City 15 years ago.

Caleb learned real quick that he needed to cover up his ears when the jets flew over our heads really low and fast. He loved them.
Here is Caleb sitting on his bike seat that is mounted to daddy's bike. He loves the bike rides and once he's in the seat, good luck trying to get him out of it. He even fell asleep on the ride back to the truck after the first day at the airshow.

Amber 5 Months

2010-07-28T10:29:00.004-04:00

A little late on posting this photo, but here is Amber's 5 month photo. In another week and a half, she'll be 6 Months old already.

Family Camping Weekend

2010-06-13T09:26:00.007-04:00

This weekend we went to Duke Creek Campground in Cedar Springs with the kids. The weather we very nice with just a brief passing shower on Friday. The kids did very well and had a good time. Amber was able to spend most of her time with us under our awning since there weren't many mosquitos and Caleb played with his toys and went on a lot of walks. On day number two, he finally got up enough nerve to ride in the makeshift train that the campground pulls around with a golf cart. There are 9 of these barrels that they pull in a train. HE LOVED IT!! He went the first time with me right in front of him on the golf cart and then the second time, he went all on his own. Such a big boy.

Besides camping, everyone is doing well. Amber just turned 4 months old. She weighed in at 13 lbs. 10.5 oz and was 24 1/2" long. She's growing like a weed. She sleeps for about 10+ hrs a nite (has been since 2 months old) and loves to smile, laugh and talk (well, coo). Caleb is now just over 26 months and what can we say, is all boy and loves the outdoors. He's putting 2 to 3 words together all the time now and is smarter than a whip. Here are some photos of our camping trip.

Our new Travel Trailer

2010-05-18T20:50:00.017-04:00

Well, we went out on a limb and decided to buy a new travel trailer. We decided to do this because we wanted to bring our kids up liking the outdoors and to show them what Michigan has to offer. Caleb loves the outdoors and we figured that he would fit right in with the whole camping and trailer thing. We were right. From the moment we brought the thing home, he's been obsessed with the trailer, or as he calls it the "tra tree". He's so cute when he says it. So, we went on our very 1st family camping trip last week. We drove up to Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling, MI. We stayed 2 nights. The weather was cool, but for the most part, it was pretty dry. The kids did VERY well. We were a little concerned about how they'd sleep, but as it was, they did great. Caleb naturally went to bed a little later and got up a little earlier than normal, but that's ok. He had so much fun. Him and daddy went on a mile hike together and then the whole family went on another 1 1/4 mile hike later in the day through the "Old Growth Forest" of the park. Here are some pictures of our trailer and us camping.

Amber is 3 Months Old

2010-05-18T20:39:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since we've posted. Time is hard to come by with two little ones running around. Everyone is doing fine. Caleb is almost 26 months old and it just full of it. He's all boy and absolutely loves the outdoors. Amber is now 3 months old and she's FINALLY gotten over most of her fussiness. The first 2 months were very difficult (especially on Beth since she's home everyday) and we are so glad that it's gotten better. She's such a doll. She's growing so fast and loves to talk and smile. Seems very happy. So, with that said, here is her 3 month photo.

Caleb Turns 2

2010-04-09T11:13:00.002-04:00

Caleb turned two a couple of weeks ago and we are just now getting a picture loaded up. He's doing very well. Growing up to be an adorable little boy. He really got into his birthday this year. He enjoyed blowing out the candles on his cake/cup cake and he loved all of his gifts. Here is one of his gifts that he got from Grandma and Grandpa. It's a John Deere Turf Tractor with a trailer. It really scoots along pretty fast.....up to 4.5 mph. He LOVES IT!! Daddy has one exactly like it and he loves to follow daddy around the yard and act just like him. It's sooooooooo cute.

Amber turns 1 Month Old.

2010-03-08T23:20:00.004-05:00

Amber turned one month old on Sunday. It's been a crazy month. She's still just a little thing, weighing in at a whopping 7lbs. 7oz. Here are a couple of pictures of her that we took yesterday.

Birth Announcement

2010-02-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

2010-02-08T13:31:00.006-05:00

Amber Grace was born yesterday at 3:59pm. Beth and baby are doing fine. Amber looks like Beth but she definately got daddy's long eye lashes. I'll keep this short so you can get to the fun stuff, THE PICTURES!! She's a cutie for sure. Thanks to everyone who have called and stopped by the hospital. We really appreciate it. Here's our bundle of joy.

A couple photos of Caleb

2009-12-22T11:42:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T11:35:00.002-05:00

We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. Caleb seems pretty interested in his presents this year. We are looking forward to watching him open his gifts this Christmas. Beth is doing great. She's still on track for a mid/late Feb. delivery date. The baby seems to be growing just fine. Here's our Christmas photo for this year.

Trick or Treat

2009-11-03T14:08:00.004-05:00

Caleb was a cute little bumble bee this year for his second Halloween. He hasn't quite figured out that Halloween is a fun time for little kids, but we think that next year will be a whole different story.

Here, you'll see daddy putting on the headpiece to the costume to show Caleb that it's "ok" to wear it.

Say CHEESE!!!

2009-11-03T13:58:00.007-05:00

We've taught Caleb how to say "Cheese".......and here is the result with him and daddy saying "Cheese".

He also just loves to ride on Grandpa's John Deere tractor. He's 100% BOY!!!

Caleb, Mommy & Baby

2009-11-03T13:53:00.002-05:00

Caleb knows right where his little brother or sister is and he gives mom's belly a kiss and pats it when you ask him "Caleb, where's the baby". He's so cute.

Beth & baby #2

2009-11-03T13:43:00.002-05:00

We thought that we'd put a picture of Beth with baby #2 on the way. Beth's now 23 weeks pregnant and everything is going great. We had an ultrasound done a couple of weeks ago and the baby is doing just fine. We didn't want to find out the sex of the baby, so we'll be waiting until February to find out!!!

Just chillin out

2009-08-20T17:15:00.001-04:00

Does he look like a PENTONEY?????

Little Man

2009-08-20T17:05:00.006-04:00

Did I say that he loves to climb "on" things, well, "into" things as well. We are hoping that he'll want to take up piano lessons someday. He is always wanting to sit on the bench and play with the keys.

Caleb and Gracie Playing

2009-08-20T16:52:00.004-04:00

What a good doggie.....letting Caleb sit on her back and play. He is such a nut. He's into the climbing stage right now and if he can reach it, he'll try to climb it.

Here's the scoop.

2009-08-09T09:32:00.002-04:00

Well, as most of you have probably already seen, Caleb's shirt said, "I'm gonna be a big brother". Beth and I are expecting our second baby on Feb. 27th, 2010. Beth is 11 weeks along right now and just started into her 12th week. We went in on Friday morning to her doctors office to listen for the heartbeat and it was 160 bpm. Beth is doing great. She's had a fair amount of morning sickness this time around, but other than that all is well. Thanks for all the comments and emails from everybody. Enjoy our hot weather today and stay cool.

Caleb's new shirt!!!

2009-08-07T14:02:00.000-04:00

Some new photos

2009-06-19T10:39:00.008-04:00

Hello everyone. Here are some new photos of Caleb. He's just about 15 months old already and he's doing quite well. He's walking all over the place, trying to climb anything in his path that looks interesting enough to climb and learning new things all the time. (even funny looking faces as you might see here)

Just an update

2009-05-20T20:20:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. We thought we'd give everyone an update as to what's been happening lately. Caleb is finally walking!!!! He's so cute to watch. He'll go from one piece of furniture to another or to something else that he wants all on his own.......stopping often in the middle to adjust his balance and smile at us. :) He's gotten very good at using his walking toys and we should rename them as "running" toys. He chases Gracie all over the house and gets to laughing so hard while doing it that he gives himself the hicups. All we can do is just laugh.....it's so fun to watch him.

Other than that, our pool is opened up and ready to use. The water temperature was up to 78 degs. today. It's been climbing about 3 degs. each sunny day thanks to our 168 sq. foot of solar panels. We are planning on using the pool this weekend with Caleb and it should be fun since he LOVES the water.

We'll post some pictures or video of Caleb walking very soon. We hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend.

1 Year Old

2009-04-22T21:49:00.013-04:00

Well, it's been a while since we've posted any new pics of Caleb on here so we thought that we had better step to it and get it done. Caleb turned one at the end of March and we had a nice little Birthday party for him at our house. We kept it simple and enjoyed having our immediate family members there to celebrate Caleb's big day. Beth and I made Caleb a cake that was in the shape of a train.............we had some balloons filled up for him (which he LOVED smacking around, and laughing at) and of course many gifts for him to open. Here are a few pictures of our little boy.

Beth and Caleb flew down to Augusta, GA with me last month and Caleb had a blast pushing all the buttons in the cockpit. I love the last picture of him sitting in the co-pilots seat.....it's almost as if he were flying the plane, one hand on the yoke and one on the thrust levers. He couldn't get enough of all the controls. Made me SMILE!!

Some Precious Moments!!

2009-03-13T22:32:00.007-04:00

These pictures just melt out hearts out. Our little guy is gonna be 1 year old in a couple of weeks. The past year has just flown by and our little baby is gowing so big. I hope you like these pictures as much as we do. Caleb is almost ready to take his first steps. We are thinking that he might take his first step just before his first b-day, but we don't want to rush him. We like having him dependant upon us. Once he starts to walk, he's probably not going to want to be held as much.. :(

10 Months old

2009-02-06T11:25:00.005-05:00

Caleb turned 10 Months old last week. He's really taken up his crawling very well and is starting to pull himself up onto our laps and other low level items. It won't be long and he'll be taking those first steps. I just hope that I'm (Rod) home to see it. Since we laid off another pilot last week, things are SUPER busy and I'm gonna be gone a ton. Anyways, here is his 10 Month photo that we made.

Cracker Barrel is Great!

2009-02-06T11:18:00.002-05:00

Here he is at Cracker Barrel with Mommy & Grandma.

Growing fast.

2009-02-06T10:54:00.006-05:00

It has been a while since we've placed any photos on here, so we thought that we'd place a few odds & ends on here.

First official swimming lesson

2009-01-18T20:08:00.004-05:00

Caleb had his first of 8 swimming lessons this weekend. He's like a fish in the water. He loves it. Obviously, he can't do any of it on his own yet, but he just loves being in the water and has a blast. I think a lot of that is because we've had him in our pool from the time he was 2 months old.

Here he is waving his hand (which Grandpa Hopfinger tought him last week) at the little girls who where there for swimming lessons. It's so funny to watch him......as the little girls walk by, his head follows their every move and he stares at them. We are going to have our hands full!!!

How low can it go?

2009-01-15T09:42:00.002-05:00

This is a picture that I took this morning outside on our deck (-20 F). Our temperatures tend to get a little lower than those reported on the news due to our location. With us sitting back in the woods and being protected from some of the elements and also, that we sit in a little bit of a valley just makes the temps colder. We could hear the deck and roof truses popping last night. Sounded like a gun going off. You know it's cold when all that wood contracts that much.

Greetings from West Palm!

2009-01-10T21:06:00.003-05:00

Well, as many of you know we (Rod and I) are down in West Palm Beach, FL for the weekend. We are staying at a Hilton on Singer Island. We have heard about the snow back in Michigan and thought we would share some of the sunny 80 degree weather we have been enjoying. The weather has been beautiful and its actually kinda boring not having Caleb to be running after. We are enjoying the short stay together but we really miss the little bugger and can't wait to see him on Monday. Here is a picture of me on the balcony of our hotel, Rod on the beach, a fun night shot and some shells (which are everywhere along the beach).

Hummmm, what's this????

2009-01-07T02:11:00.006-05:00

Our little guy is so intertaining. He's all over the house doing his "army crawl", checking out new rooms, toys, electronics (which he loves to push buttons and mess up our programing.....uggg) and he loves to hold his own bottle.

Caleb's 1st Christmas

2009-01-07T01:51:00.007-05:00

Caleb had his first Christmas and we couldn't help but share some of the pictures that we took of him. He seemed to have a good time. The ribbons, paper and boxes seemed to amaze him more than the gifts inside them, but what a cutie. We love this little guy with all our hearts and we are so THANKFUL to have him!!!! We hope you enjoy the pics as well.

A snowy December!!!

2009-01-07T01:04:00.006-05:00

Well, December 2008 has come and gone, but mother nature showed us that Michigan in the winter can surprise even the best of us. This December was one for the record books as far as snowfall. West Michigan recorded this December as the third snowiest on the books. We got over 50" of snow just in December at our house in Greenville. I was just amazed and in shock at how much we got in such a short timespan. We ran out of room to push the snow with our 4-wheeler and had to get my dads John Deere tractor with a bucket on it to pile it up to over 6-8' high the entire 885 ft. of our driveway (both sides). 2008 passed with over 140" of snowfall in the west Michigan region making it (I believe they said) the snowiest year ever.

Next week, Jan. 15th-17th is going to be a very critical couple of days for us. The National Weather Service is predicting a very VERY cold batch of artic air to settle into the mid-west. They are saying that our temps could reach as cold as -20 deg. to possibly as cold as it got back in 1994 just outside of Belding (which is right by our house) of -37 deg. They have said that it got so cold that night that trees actually cracked open from the cold. All the news stations are giving a strong WARNING about the cold and that if you get stranded outside, it could be fatal!!

We are prepared for it. We have a great furnance, a wood furnace as well that we use for primary heat and a back-up whole house generator.

Here are a couple pictures that we took of our backyard in December with all the snow. You can see that just one snowstorm dumped over 15" and it was so deep that the snow was over the top of the snowblower. Amazing. The other picture shows over 24" of snow on our pool shed roof. PS, we have an inground pool under there SOMEWHERE!!!!!

Even the deer had a hard time finding food.

9 Months old

2009-01-03T01:07:00.006-05:00

Watch out, now that Caleb is 9 Months old, he's army crawling into every room of the house in search of his precious toys. It's so fun to watch him go.......and go.......and go.... If we place him on the floor with his toys, within a couple minutes, he's all around the room, down the hallway, into the spare bedroom (which we converted into a toy storage room/play room) and straight to the bookcase where some of his books and toys are stored. He loves to travel into the piano room to look at the big globe of the earth that we have on a stand. Here are some pictures that we've taken of him at 9 months old. He now weights exactly 20 lbs. and is already 28 3/4" tall. We can't believe how fast he's growing. He now has 5 teeth and has attempted to use them on US!!!!!! Ouch, little bugger!

VOTE

2009-01-01T15:21:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. Happy New Year! We'll be updating our blog soon, but in the meantime, we'd like to ask you all to vote for Caleb in the Grand Rapids Press "Baby of the Year" contest. You must register to vote and you can vote 10 times each day for the next 7 days, so the more votes the better. Please go back and vote again 10 times each day. Thanks. Below is the link .

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/babyoftheyear/

Our New Critter

2008-12-10T20:35:00.010-05:00

The things you see when you live out in the country!!! We have deer that sleep in our yard next to our sliding door at our walkout basment, we have owls that perch in the trees, we have turkey's that walk on our front porch and look into our windows and eat out of our bird feeders, we have the occasional coyote and red fox that runs accross the yard, and then there's your typical birds, rabbits and squirrels. Well today was a first for us. I was plowing, yet more snow, off our driveway and as I flew down the driveway with the quad (with the plow attached), I passed this swan on the edge of the driveway. I was going to fast to stop, so I just went to the road and turned around. When I came back up the driveway, the swan was standing in the middle of the driveway and didn't seem very happy to have me around. He flapped his wings and hissed at me as I got closer. He didn't want to leave. I finished the rest of the driveway and had to wait about 40 minutes for him to leave. I'm not sure where he went, but he must have flown away. It was a really wierd situation. We live in the woods and there isn't any water really close to us. Who knows! PS.....Notice how much snow we've gotten already this season. We have about 20" on the ground and winter doesn't officially start for another 11 days.

Caleb's Christmas Pictures

2008-11-27T18:59:00.009-05:00

Can you believe it's almost Christmas again? We are so happy to share these Christmas photos of Caleb with everyone. Our little guy is doing so well......he's got a couple teeth now, he's still not crawling yet, but he's really showing an interest in standing up, so he might be one who skips the initial crawling stage and goes straight to walking. He's such an even tempered little boy and we feel so blessed to have him. Fortunately, we've both been able to spend a ton of time with him since he was born. It's given both of us a great opportunity to bond with him early in his life. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Something new

2008-11-27T18:17:00.005-05:00

We took this video clip of Caleb a few days ago. He started laughing and giggling so hard as I (Rod) waived the wrapping paper in front of him. We've never seen him laugh so hard and long. It really cracked us up.

7 Months Old

2008-10-29T10:23:00.004-04:00

On the 27th, Caleb turned 7 months old. Every month just flies by faster and faster. We are really seeing some big changes in him from month to month now. He finally cut his first tooth in the past week, he said "Da Da" for the first time on the 23rd, in just the past week, he's decided that he's more comfortable sleeping on his belly (since we can't keep him on his back anymore....little worm!!!), he's figured out that he can slide on his back across the floor by pushing with his feet and he's very content sitting up all by himself on the floor with a bunch of toys in front of him. These are all things that he started doing this past month, or at least with any regularity. He weighed in at 18 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. @ 7 months old. Since he turned 7 months old a few days before halloween, we thought his costume would make for a cute 7 month picture.

Halloween Costume

2008-10-29T10:18:00.004-04:00

For Calebs first Halloween, we decided to dress him up as a Giraffe. He looks so darn cute in the thing. Here's his halloween picture.

Caleb's first hike and trip to Northern Michigan!

2008-10-14T14:27:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, we took a little vacation and went up to Northern Michigan. We did a little bit of hiking and viewed a lot of the fall colors, which were just amazing this year. Caleb enjoyed using his new hiking backpack. It allows him to sit up high, see everthing around him, pull momma's hair, spit up on her back......he,he.... and simply enjoy the hikes as we do. Here are some pictures from our trip.

We stayed two nights in a co-workers cabin that sits right on the Platte River in Honor, MI. It was so peaceful! He has a hottub outside on the deck overlooking the river and the cabin sits a long ways off the road, so there are no other homes even close by. Very private. We were able to watch two deer as they made their way up to the edge of the yard one morning, and in the evenings, we could watch the Salmon swimming upstream. After Caleb went to bed, we were able to turn off all the lights in the cabin, jump into the outdoor hottub and do some stargazing. It was nearly a full moon which was so nice. The moonlight reflected off the moving river water giving off a beautiful shimmer. We even heard a whole pack of coyotes in the very near distance. Kinda freaky, but we knew we were safe.

Below are some pictures that we took of the fall colors while we were up north. The Maple trees were absolutely beautiful and no matter which direction you looked, you'd see hundreds of acres of trees that looked just like these. It's like Mother Nature set the forest on fire with color!

We found this Catholic Church on M-32 west of US 131. It was built in 1885 and is still in use today. It's the cutest little church we've ever seen. The entire outside is made of Michigan Fieldstone. The name of it is Saint John Nepomucene Catholic Church and it's a registered Michigan Historical Site.

snoozing Tiger

2008-10-01T13:20:00.002-04:00

Watching the Tigers screw up their season is enough to make anyone tired.....

Some more 6 Month pics

2008-09-30T11:05:00.007-04:00

Here are some more pictures that we took of Caleb this past weekend. He was such a good boy when it came time to taking his picture.

Look at that big SMILE!!!

Half a year old!

2008-09-26T17:24:00.003-04:00

Well, can you believe it has been 6 months already since Caleb was born? It's been so much fun watching him go through so many changes throughout the summer. Now that fall is upon us, we are looking forward to the next 6 months.....his first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. It was a perfect fall day for taking his 6 month pictures. He's our little pumpkin!!!

Yummy in my Tummy

2008-09-12T21:50:00.004-04:00

Here is a picture of Caleb eating his cereal just before bedtime. He's caught on quite well to the whole process.

Harvest time!!!

2008-09-06T13:36:00.007-04:00

Caleb made his first visit to an apple orchard today here in Greenville. He had fun looking at all the brightly colored apples on the trees and he seemed to enjoy sitting in a crate full of them.

Hummm, are those more apples down there?

This is such a "sweet" way to relax on a Saturday afternoon.

Future Piano Player

2008-08-31T19:55:00.006-04:00

Caleb turned 5 months old on the 27th. We took him to the doctors office when I went in for my allergy shot on Friday and they let us weigh him......he weighed 15 lbs. 9 oz. and was 25" long (3/4" shorter than last month). They never measure him right, so this time, I helped them out to make sure he didn't move, so this length is fairly accurate! Oh well. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures that we took of him in his exer-saucer. He's still a little small for it, but the piano portion of it really intrigues him. He likes to hit the keys and watch the lights come on and listen to the music. We are enjoying our time with him so much. We couldn't ask for a better baby!

Today, we took him in the pool with us and he just loves the water. We placed him in his inflatable turtle and he was kicking his legs as if he wanted to swim and was smiling, laughing and giggling. He was so cute!

Leelanau County, Michigan photos

2008-08-20T20:01:00.007-04:00

Today, we hiked out to Empire Bluffs along the Lake Michigan shoreline. From high above Lake Michigan along the bluffs, you can see the beautiful shoreline of Lake Michigan and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (as seen in the first picture). The dunes rise 450' above Lake Michigan. If you've never been to the Dunes, we strongly suggest it. This was our first time and we'll be back for the fall colors this year.

This trail is the one we walked to reach Empire Bluffs. It was a very pretty walk through the forest.

The last picture is one that we took at a vineyard in Leelanau County.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Mich.

2008-08-19T23:34:00.005-04:00

Today, we had the opportunity to spend the day climbing the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. For those who are unfamiliar where this is at, it's in the very northwestern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, about 30 miles straight west of Traverse City, MI. We had a blast. The weather was 78 deg. and not a cloud in the sky. We are planning on spending part of another day at the lakeshore and then we'll drive north to Leland, MI. Watch for more pictures soon.

Pool time fun!

2008-08-02T09:59:00.004-04:00

This is Caleb's new Turtle Float, thanks to grandma Gail. He seemed to enjoy it and spent twenty minutes riding around in it.

Family Photo

2008-08-01T12:31:00.002-04:00

Here is a picture that we took in mid July.

Caleb at 4 Months old

2008-08-01T12:18:00.006-04:00

Caleb is 4 months old already. We took these pictures this week and our little boy is growing up so fast. He's able to hold himself up on his elbows while on his belly, roll over from back to belly and he's really laughing a ton now, those deep belly laughs. He makes us laugh so much.

He weighed in at 14 lbs (25%-tile) and measured 25 3/4 " (75%-tile) at his 4 month doctors visit. The doc said he's on track to be a tall skinny boy. Here are some pictures of the little guy.

Proud Great-Grandparents

2008-08-01T12:14:00.003-04:00

With 8 Great- Grand Children, how could they not be proud? To date, there are 6 boys and 2 girls. Looks like they have their hands full!

Bring on the babies

2008-08-01T12:05:00.003-04:00

Remember the picture we posted back in Febuary with Beth and her three cousins who were all pregnant at the same time???? Well, here is the end result....... 4 boys. In order of birth from left to right are; Kelly & Elliot (born Feb. 19th), Angie & Easton (born Mar. 3rd), Beth & Caleb (born Mar. 27th), and Dana & Carson (born May 3rd).

Pool fun

2008-07-13T23:34:00.004-04:00

Our friends Todd, Kylie & Devon (and Todd's niece's) came over last week to use the pool. Everyone had a great time. Kylie took this photo.

Our cutie....

2008-07-13T23:01:00.002-04:00

SO CUTE! No need to say anymore.

Such a good dog!

2008-07-13T22:47:00.003-04:00

Here's a picture of Gracie, our German Shorthair, watching as Beth changes Caleb's diaper. She is such a great dog and has taken such a liking to Caleb. From the day we brought him home from the hospital, she's given him kisses and acts as a protector to him. She always follows us into the Nursery when it's time to put Caleb to bed, change his diaper or wake him up, almost as if she's looking out for him. It's so cute!

Got Creamed!!!

2008-07-06T17:10:00.003-04:00

Well, as the old saying goes, "Paybacks are hell".....and that's exactly what I got yesterday. It started 2 summers ago when we were in Howard City at my uncles cottage on Indian Lake. My cousin Adam was strapped onto his kneeboard at the edge of the shoreline and my uncle was just about to take off with the speed boat when I snuck up behind Adam with two handfulls of shaving cream and slammed it onto each side of his head over his ears. He looked like he was wearing white earmuffs and he couldn't wash it off until he got done kneeboarding. Needless to say, he went all the way around the lake with the shaving cream on his head. Well, he's been planning his revenge for 2 years and while sitting on the couch at their cottage yesterday, he snuck up behind me and creamed me good. It was all over me. So, for now we are even!

Little update

2008-07-02T11:11:00.004-04:00

We had Caleb weighed yesterday when he went to the doctors office with me (Rod) when I got my allergy shot. He weighed 12 lbs. 6.5 oz, which puts him in the 25%-tile. He's 23.5" long, which is still in the 50%-tile. He's starting to teethe and that's making him a littl fussy, otherwise all is well. He slept his best last night.....he (and us as well) slept for just shy of 9 straight hours...................ahhhhh, so nice.

2008-06-26T20:44:00.003-04:00

Caleb turns 3 months old tomorrow (27th). We can't believe how fast the time has gone by and how quickly he's growing. He's a real cutie. We've been fortunate to have been able to spend a lot of time watching him grow this summer. Rod's work has been slow this month and July doesn't look much busier. He's enjoyed the time at home. Here's a picture of Caleb @ 3 months old.

The Family

2008-06-25T13:33:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures that Conceivex had taken of us by Deb Martis Photography in Grand Rapids on April 12, 2008 (Caleb was just 2 weeks old in these pictures). Caleb is doing great!!!! He's such a perfect little boy. He's hitting all his milestones on time, or slightly early and he's really smiling a lot and giggling. He makes us laugh so much with his facial expressions. We take him in the pool as much as we can and he's really getting used to the water. We can't wait to see how he reacts to the water next summer when he's older. Check back this weekend for Caleb's 3 month photo.

Caleb's first time in the pool

2008-06-07T18:50:00.006-04:00

Caleb went in the pool for the second time today. He loved it........... well, sorta. He absolutely loves his baths because the water is nice and warm, but the pool isn't quite as warm....so, he whines a little bit, but we think he actually enjoys the water once he adjusts to it. The pool temperature is already up to 82 deg. today (thanks to our new solar heaters). Here are a couple pictures of Caleb's first dip into the pool.

Caleb's 2 Month Check-up

2008-05-30T13:56:00.003-04:00

Today Caleb went in for his 2 month appt. He is officially 9 weeks and 1 day old today. He weighed in at 9lbs and 14 oz (15th percentile) and was measured to be 22 and 3/4" long (50th percentile). All seems well with him and the doctor says he is growing just fine! Poor little guy had to get his shots today...he wasn't too happy about that.

2 months old

2008-05-27T20:41:00.003-04:00

Caleb turned two months old today. He's doing really good, he's sleeping so, so.....about 3-4 hrs at a time and he's drinking 4 oz. of formula at vertually every feeding. He LOVES to be held and talked to and over all, he's just perfect. Here is one of his two month pictures.

Our House

2008-05-21T01:53:00.006-04:00

Here are some photos of our house that I took this past week. I went flying with a friend of mine in a Piper Malibu and we took some photos of our house from the air. Click on the photos for an enlarged view!

The picture to the left was taken on a different flight during the winter. As you can see, we are a long ways back in the woods and have a lot of privacy. We only have one neighbor that's somewhat close, otherwise, we are on our own. We have tons of deer, turkeys, coyotes, birds, squirrel's, owls and many more animals that visit our yard.

In the paper

2008-05-10T10:49:00.005-04:00

Our story, along with another Grand Rapids couple, was featured in today's Grand Rapids Press. It ran on the front page of the paper and continued onto page 2 (which is where our picture and story is). Here is the link for those of you who don't get the Grand Rapids Press. Thanks again for viewing our blog and Happy Mothers Day to everyone.

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/05/mom_eager_for_baby_says_athome.html

King of the Mountain

2008-05-09T17:19:00.007-04:00

Before we tell you about what we did today, we forgot to mention a couple of things from yesterday. Not only was yesterday Caleb's first flight, he turned 6 weeks old, it was his first time traveling out of Michigan and most of all, HE HAD HIS FIRST SMILE that was NOT gas induced. He's such a cutie!

Ok, today we drove Caleb up to Loveland Pass on the Continental Divide in Colorado. As you'll see from the photos, it was cold (36 deg.) and snowy. There is still a TON of snow on the mountains. On the ride into the mountains, we saw about a dozen Big Horned Sheep (some of which were literally on the edge of the pavement on the highway and we had to slow down as to not hit them). We saw a couple of Mule deer and on the way back to the hotel, there were two female Elk on the highway. Again, we had to slow down to pass them. We saw several people strapping on their skis and snowboards and whisking down the mountain. Here are some of the pictures that we took at the pass. The snow is pretty and all, but we're glad that the snow is finally gone at home.

Daddy's little Co-Pilot!!!

2008-05-08T15:51:00.009-04:00

Today was Caleb's first airplane ride!

Caleb did a great job being my Co-Pilot! The headsets were a little loose on him but the look on his face lets you know that he doesn't care and his attention span is somewhat short, hence the picture of him (below) snoozing on the job. So, who wants to go flying with Caleb at the wheel????

One of the biggest problems that Caleb has is holding onto the yoke and seeing over the dash to land the plane. Hold on folks and fasten your seatbelts tight, it might be a ROUGH landing!!! Weeeeeeeeee......

And after a hard days work, it's time for some well needed and well deserved protein. Nothing says protein like Chick-fil-a!!! And by the look on Caleb's face, he can't wait to be old enough to eat daddy's favorite food. Yum, Yum.

It's been 1 month ALREADY!!

2008-04-27T20:33:00.004-04:00

Can you believe it's been a month already since Caleb was born? We can't! The time just flies by and we are doing all we can to cherish every minute we have with him. He's growing right in front of our eyes. I (Rod) was in Mexico for 3 days last week and I was just shocked that I could notice that he'd grown while I was gone. Today, we took some pictures of him for his 1 month photo. This is one of them. We borrowed a blue planting pot and several flowers from my dads garden center for the photos. We got the idea while visiting the garden center a couple of days ago.

Our Owl Friend

2008-04-27T20:23:00.003-04:00

We watched this Barred Owl from our back window for about an hour today. The owl was sitting over our wood pile just off the edge of the yard. It seemed to be watching and waiting for a mouse or something to eat. We hear them a lot this time of year as it's their mating season. They are so beautiful.

He's growing!!

2008-04-21T22:34:00.004-04:00

We took Caleb in for his latest doctors visit, which happened to be a three week checkup and he weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz and was 20 1/4" long. There might be some discrepancy between his length at the hospital when he was born to now. Every doctors visit is a guessing game for some reason. We think the hospital measured him to be about 2" too short, because no matter how we've measured him, from the time we got him home, he's never been less than 19", so go figure! We have to go with what the hospital put on his birth certificate, 17". No biggie.

Anyhow, he's doing really good and he's sleeping about 8-10 hours at night with only a brief 1/2 hr. period in the middle of the night for a feeding and diaper change. All in all, not a screamer, or loud at all, just mild and easy going, SO FAR!!! Here's a picture of him from last night.....3 weeks & 3 days old. IT WAS HIS BEDTIME!!!! BIG YAWN.

Photo & Film Shoot

2008-04-15T21:51:00.004-04:00

We just thought we'd let everyone know that on Saturday, April 12th, we were invited to do a photo shoot with Caleb in Grand Rapids. The shoot was done for Conceivex, Inc. (http://www.conceptionkit.com/) They will be using the photos of us and Caleb for different marketing projects which include, national magazine publications, website info, and misc. other projects.

Also, yesterday, April 14th, Conceivex sent a videographer and a couple representative's to our house to film a commercial with Caleb. This commercial will be aired along with our previous commercial in the Phoenix, AZ. - Los Angeles, CA. - Omaha, NE. and Wichita, KS. The film shoot went very well and it took about 2 hours to complete. Caleb was very good, and he's a great subject for the camera. :) Look for some new photos this weekend.

Caleb @ 8 days old.

2008-04-08T18:08:00.009-04:00

Last Friday was a pretty remarkable day for us. Caleb surprised us very much that morning when we placed him on his stomach for some "tummy time". We were sitting there watching him move around on his tummy when out of the blue, he had one leg pushing his body upwards as well as the arm on the same side and then, bam, he rolled over onto his back. Beth and I looked at each other and said, huh, that couldn't have just happened and we placed him back onto his stomach. About 45 seconds later, he did it again. We couldn't believe what we just saw. He's was only 8 days old for crying out loud. Of course, we've tried many times since then with the video camera rolling and he won't do it. Go figure!!! These picures are of Caleb that same day (8 days old).

More of the little one.

2008-04-02T18:45:00.005-04:00

These pictures are of Caleb at just 4 days old. We think we know why his nose was slightly smooshed just after his birth. He decided to take a nap like this the other day. Funny little guy!

Caleb's Birth Announcement

2008-03-28T21:29:00.005-04:00

Thanks for welcoming our precious little baby into this world. We want to thank everyone who came to the hospital to visit us.....it meant a lot to us. Thank you! We should be arriving home sometime on Saturday afternoon and please feel free to call us at anytime.

IT'S a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-27T15:51:00.006-04:00

Beth delivered a healthy baby BOY this morning at 9:44am. We named him Caleb Brandon Pentoney. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 1.4 oz and was 17" long.

As you know, we were "supposed" to go in this morning at 11:30am to have her membranes disrupted, but Beth woke me up out of a dead sleep at 1:47am telling me that her water had broken. From there, it was all a blur. We arrived at the hospital at 3:14 am and was in the delivery room at 3:30am. Her progress moved pretty quickly and at approximately 9:00am, her doctor came back into the delivery room and had her begin pushing. 45 minutes later, our little baby boy was born.

Beth and the baby are doing FABULOUS! We are planning to return home on Saturday with the baby. I was able to give the baby his very first bottle, as seen in the picture, and believe it or not, I am also going to be the first one to change the "poopy diaper".........sorry to all of you who voted for Beth in that area!! I'm ready though, I think!

Well, thanks to all of you for checking out the pictures of our new addition to the family. We look forward to seeing everybody soon.

Today's Doctors visit.

2008-03-24T19:17:00.004-04:00

Well, things are in motion now. Today's visit showed Beth to be dilated at almost 3cm, 90% effaced and zero station. Thursday morning, we are supposed to meet her doctor at his office so that he can "disrupt" the membranes and he hopes that she'll be delivering the baby later that evening or by Friday morning at the latest. We'll see you all soon, we hope!! We are delivering at Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.

Last belly shot!

2008-03-22T20:10:00.005-04:00

Those of you who are checking back for an update, we won't have one until Monday the 24th. Beths doctor forgot that it was Good Friday yesterday so they cancelled her appointment.

This is a photo that we took yesterday since we had the whole day to ourselves.

Nature's Sweetness!!

2008-03-17T21:43:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again where Mother Nature blesses us with the sweet sap from her Maple trees. Beth and I have tapped 24 trees on our property this spring and have boiled down about 2/3 of a gallon of Pure Michigan Maple Syrup. Doesn't sound like much, but it's a fair amount when you consider what it takes to make Pure Maple Syrup. It takes 40-50 gallons of Maple "sap" to make just one gallon of Pure Maple "Syrup". Next year, we are hoping to purchase a modern day, wood fired, Maple Syrup evaporator to scale up the production process. If we get the unit we are looking at, we'll be able to boil down about 1.5 gallons per day versus only 1/4 gallon for the same amount of time that we've been doing. Not bad. This picture is one of the taps on our property.

Todays Doctors Visit.

2008-03-12T18:30:00.003-04:00

Well, this baby is going to arrive sooner than later according to our visit today. The visit went something like this: The baby's heartbeat was in the mid 150's and when Beth was checked by the doctor, he said the baby is getting close and that she was dilated to 2cm and was about 80% effaced and thin. So, he said that she should start feeling some "pain" with her contractions and to really pay attention to their timing and he wants to see her again on the 21st and depending on how that visit goes, possibly back in for another visit just 3 days later on the 24th. I (Rod) am scheduled for a 4 day trip next week to Southern California and he stated that I would be about 75% safe to take that trip.......so, keep your fingers crossed for me so that I don't miss anything. As of today, he is planning for a March delivery (most likely around the 30th or 31st, which is 2 weeks early). We are still hoping for an April baby, but we'll take it whenever it decides to come. He estimates the babys weight to be about 6 lbs as of today.

Doctors appointment update!!

2008-03-05T15:56:00.003-05:00

Today, Beth went into her doctor for her two week check-up. Things look good for her, but he advised her that the baby has dropped into position, but hasn't entered the birth canal yet, but it could happen anytime within the next 4 weeks. The heartbeat was holding strong in the 140's and he stated that he highly doubts that she'll make it to her official due date of April 13th. He feels that she'll be lucky to make it until the first week of April. We are holding out, hoping for an April baby, since both of our birthdays are in April. Time will tell!! Stay tuned and check back often for more updates.

Beth's Belly at 33 Weeks.

2008-03-05T11:14:00.004-05:00

33 Weeks already, (from when this photo was taken)!!! Can you believe that Beth only has a few weeks of pregnancy remaining? This photo was taken on Feb. 24, 2008 by myself (Rod). I've always wanted to do a unique photo like this showing the different views in one photo.....so, for a first time attempting it, I think it turned out pretty good.

A LOT OF SNOW!!!

2008-02-21T21:11:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of the large snow banks along the sidewalk at our house. We haven't seen snow like this in over a decade.......and winter isn't even close to being over yet. To date, we've received over 85" of snow this season. We should top over 100" before the winter is over.

A Beautiful, but very cold night...

2008-02-21T20:27:00.004-05:00

Last night, (Feb. 20th, 2008) we witnessed a total lunar eclipse, as seen in this photo to the right. The moon was a beautiful orangish/brown color and it was just a wonderful sight to see.

The skies were perfectly clear over our house which allowed the temperature outside to drop to one of the coldest we've seen this season. We took a picture of the temperature gauge on our back deck this morning at 6:00am to prove how cold it actually was outside. To our surprise, it recorded a bone chilling -26 deg. F.

Our little walrus!

2008-02-17T10:50:00.004-05:00

Last night, Gracie decided to help Rod when he went downstairs to put wood in the furnace. You see, we had just brought in more wood to get through the winter, and she had no problems finding all the small pieces. She grabbed ahold of this piece of wood and she has ALLIGATOR JAWS!!! No matter what we tried, we couldn't get her to drop the stick. So I decided to try and bribe her with her fave treat...milkbones. As you can see, our little walrus didn't care a bit about the treats...she pranced around the house with the stick and bones in her mouth. How can you resist a moment like this! We laughed so hard our tummies hurt for about an hour afterwords. Eventually she did drop the stick and fell asleep.

The picture below is of Gracie and Rod in their normal morning wake-up ritual. Gracie wakes US up and leans back into Rod until he pets her and gives her kisses. She sure is a lover dog!

The Nursery.

2008-02-13T09:38:00.005-05:00

We chose Patchwork Pooh for the theme of our Nursery. It's a very neutral pattern, with neutral colors that will be appropriate for either sex of the baby. We also repainted the room in this mocha color to complement the theme. The changing table/dresser to the left and the convertible crib (below) were Amish made by Schrocks Furniture out of Goshen, Indiana. They made many other large pieces of furniture for our house a couple of years earlier. Everything is made of "solid" 1/4 sawn White Oak with a Michaels Cherry finish. We love their work.

Our pool

2008-02-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, the memories of the summer of 2007. We put this pool in just in time to enjoy it all summer long.........and what a hot summer it was. I think we used it almost every single day. Our moms enjoyed using it as well. The deck that is in view was newly added at the same time that the pool was installed. We love the Brazilian Tigerwood decking. It's very rich looking and it's a wonderful complement to our backyard. We installed 4 inground/outdoor speakers (the same ones found at theme parks) around the pool. They are controlled by a stereo/amplifier inside the house and we installed outdoor volume controllers down by the pool for our convenience. The sound is absoluetly amazing and it was probably the best money we spent.