JUMP!

Sunday morning we got up and went to Chamber United. That's the church Rick and Kristi started in Deckerville. It was a great service. Johnny led worship and Rick preached a really good sermon.

After church we went to a graduation party for a family friend. Eli fell asleep on the way there and would not wake up. We took him from the car, sat with him for a bit (still asleep) then laid him down on the ground where he slept for over an hour.

When we got home mom kept the kids, and the rest of us headed to the lake to jump off the breakwall. The water was pretty rough, but we jumped anyway :)

I actually jumped too. I wasn't really sure I was going to actually jump, but I did. I only went off twice...but that was two more times than I thought I was going to go :)

Johnny is fairly entertaining to watch jump.

It was pretty fun. The water was not too cold, and though the water was a little rough, it was kinda fun to be in. Isaiah came along too, and I think he must have jumped in about 30 times. I think he had a lot of fun :)
I'm sure this is something we'll do most summers that we come up here-soon Eli & Leah will be there jumping with us :)

The reason we're here

I love vacation in Michigan. It is so relaxing and peaceful. My parents have so many things to do that aid in the relaxation process :) The weekend we arrived a lot of my mother's family was here to celebrate my grandfather's birthday. We spent time in the pool.
Isaiah loved having all the kids around to play!

Leah was trying to play the recorder...

But the biggest reason we came was to help celebrate Grandpa's 90th. We had the party at the Youth Center, so mom and Randee brought Grandpa over in his wheel chair.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry were there, as well as Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Ron.

He got to meet his newest great-grandson. This is my cousin, Brandon's son-Mason. Not even 7 weeks old :)

As soon as Uncle Ron said 'Amen' Isaiah was in line.

Randee and Parker-he's such a cutie!!

Grandpa clapping after we sang Happy Birthday.

Getting snuggles from daddy.

The kids playing

Leah and her Great Grandpa.

The party was so nice. Grandpa had such a good day. I think he really enjoyed seeing everyone. There were just over 30 people there to celebrate with him. It was a very special day, and I am so glad we were able to be there. I think you should be able to click HERE for some more pictures of the day. Hopefully that link will work :)

We got home and relaxed the rest of the day. Edgar was happy to show off his trampoline skills :)

Meeting Audrey

I have about a million things I should be doing right now, but I couldn't resist posting a few pictures of little (very little!) Audrey. We got to go meet her yesterday at the hospital. I don't think I've every held a baby that little! She was a tiny 5 lb 7 oz when she was born-she decided she didn't want to wait the extra month to come out :) She's doing beautifully. And she was so kind to open her eyes a LOT while we were there. It probably had something to do with the food, but I'm going to say it was because of me... ;)
Olivia is super cute with her little sister

I think Audrey likes looking at her big sister too!

Lots of kisses!

Congratulations John & Christine! We are so excited for you guys! And THRILLED that both of our kids are going to grow up with your two!!

Growing, Playing & Crawling!

The past couple of weeks I have been meaning to update. We've been busy, but it hasn't been anything too terribly exciting...noting extremely picture worthy :) Well...truth is, I've been too lazy to get the camera out. My kids are ALWAYS picture worthy!

After our big 4th of July 'bash' we had a busy week of swimming and playing (sounds like a good week to me!) Eli took swim lessons for 2 weeks. He still cannot swim, but he sure can KICK! I never did take my camera to the swim lessons, but I took this picture with my phone of his class. He did good...well...he had good days and bad days. The good days he got in the water without screaming. The bad days...well...he screamed and cried a lot. I'm not sure why some days he was scared to go with his teacher and other days he was fine...Oh well. It's a start. He's still pretty young, and I had no expectations for him to be able to swim, but I wanted him to start the process...and the lessons were cheap, so I didn't mind. He WAS in a class for kids 3 years and older, so he was probably too young for the class, so considering THAT he did great.

We have met up with some friends a couple of times to play, and that has been nice. It's so hot here, that it's kinda hard to find stuff to do other than swimming, so when play dates come up, we jump on them! (Especially when they are at a kid's gymnastic place. Then Eli REALLY jumps :) Sorry...no pictures of that event...)

We also went to a 'Pirate' play date.
Leah apparently doesn't like eye patches...
...but enjoys hooks. (not sure why the picture is sideways...) Eli had fun, but still has trouble sharing. Someday he'll share, right? Please tell me he will...It's not fun to be put in 'time out' at a play date...

Leah also had her 9 month check-up on Friday. She is currently 29 inches (87%), 20 lb, 3 oz (69%) and her head is 17 inches (22%...little head...) She's growing beautifully. She's definitely getting longer, though, and her little chubby legs are starting to disappear :( I guess it had to happen sometime...

The BIG news in her development is her newly acquired skill.

This was her crawling attempt a couple of days ago:

...and then yesterday at Aunt Krista's house:

She's completely smitten by her Uncle Eliott, so I'm pretty sure she was showing off for him, cuz she hasn't crawled today, but was crawling quite a bit at their house.

And that's pretty much what we've been up to! I've been trying some new cooking techniques, which are...interesting. They take a lot of time, but they are suppose to be good for you. Edgar is feeling only about 50%, so we are trying to change our diet a bit. If you would have told me 2 years ago that I'd be sprouting barley & almonds, and eating Eggplant sandwiches I would have laughed right out loud...but that's what I'm doing. I'm currently making basil crackers in our dehydrator that have no flour. Hopefully they taste good...they smell AMAZING!

And that's all for now!!

Independance Day

Did you celebrate the 4th of July?
We did :) We had some friends and family over to watch the parade.
The fun thing about the parade is that it went right in front of our house.
So we just took our chairs outside and watched the show...

...and waved our flags.

John, Christine & Olivia were there.

Eric, Leilani & Isaac came too (though Eric had to leave early to go to work...hence the outfit.)
Abuela & Abuelo were there as well. Leah got lots of snuggle time with Abuela :)

I don't think Eli really knew what to think of all these people coming down our street...he pretty much stood in one spot the whole time and didn't say a word. He DID smile when the horses came by...but that was it.

Here comes the parade!

The town's SWAT team car...it kept stalling. I think our town needs a new SWAT team car...

A bagpipe band

Olivia waving to the people in the parade.

Edgar wearing his newly acquired beads.

Eli still standing there...we just kept putting beads on him...

Our car was in the parade :) I wanted to go fix the banner...

Yup...still standing there.

A dog in a baseball uniform.

A band.

Very festive

This lady made me laugh...I wasn't trying to take her picture. She saw me with a camera and stopped to pose...so I HAD to take her picture :) The confederate flag? Kind of an odd addition to the parade...

We had so much fun watching the parade (after we had a pancake breakfast). This will definitely become an annual tradition!

9 Months Old!

My little girl is (already!) 9 months old. What an incredible 9 months it has been! Leah is such a delight! She is always so happy and is so easy to take care of. She 'goes with the flow' most of the time, so if we are running out the door early, or just hanging out at home, she doesn't mind a change in schedule.
What can she do at 9 months? Glad you asked. She LOVES to eat. She eats 1/4 cup of rice cereal and an entire jar of baby food at breakfast, another complete jar at lunch, and two jars of food at dinner. This in addition to nursing 4 times a day...and there are usually a few puffs eaten throughout the day :) She really likes picking puffs up and feeding herself...she's probably getting ready for some more finger foods, but I haven't wrapped my brain around how to do that. So for now I just buy (a LOT) of jars of baby food. I have not been very good about making her food...Gerber makes it way too easy to just buy pre-made food :) I've made a few things for her, though.
She is getting close to crawling, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. She rolls all over the place, though. She'll be in the family room one minute, and the kitchen the next. She's a quick little roller :) She gets to things so fast, which has resulted in many 'finger sweeps' of her mouth-she puts everything in her mouth. Just last night I took a chunk of crayon out of her mouth, and I've taken out a lot of paper in the past few weeks as well...I apparently need to sweep and vacuum more often.
She has three teeth so far. The normal 2 on the bottom, and one on the top...but it's not one of her two front teeth. She has gotten the tooth to the side of the 2 front teeth first. I think it's kinda weird, but oh well :) I'm sure she'll get her 2 front teeth at some point :) Her little smile is so cute with the little teeth, though I think I will miss the toothless grin she had for so long.
She is getting HEAVY! Carrying her in her car seat is getting ridiculous. She hasn't been weighed for a couple of months, but I know she's growing. (Her 9 month appointment is in a couple of weeks) She seems to be getting longer in addition to gaining weight, and while she still has the most adorable rolls, they are starting to go away :( I suppose I don't want her to ALWAYS have those rolls, but they sure are cute on a baby!
She's been enjoying 'zooming around' in her walker. She really likes it when her cousin, Katie, or big brother push her around, but when she's on her own she's getting better and better at getting around in that.
She loves to be the center of attention, and when she realizes she is alone, she'll often cry out until you come, and then get a big grin on her face. She's already learned how to get her way ;)
She really does say the word 'momma'. She says it when she wants me, but more often she calls her pacifier 'momma'. I'm not kidding. I've been replaced by a pacifier. Not sure what I think about that :)
We are so thankful that God chose to bring this little girl into our lives!!

6.17.11 Final day of vacation

Friday morning we got up and Edgar, Eli and I went for a bike ride (Abuela watched Leah) It was really nice to get to go for a bike ride myself :) We rode to a park and climbed up a tower and the view was GORGEOUS.

'Hey mom! It's time to go home!'

We got back and after a discussion we decided it would be best to pack up and all go home a day early. Dad was not feeling well, and neither was Krista, so rather than rushing to get out Saturday by noon, we figured we'd just head out Friday night. Mom had sprained her ankle :( so she watched the kids while we packed up. It was exhausting, but oh so good to be home. Vacation was wonderful, but there's nothing like your own bed :) We got home and unpacked everything before we went to bed (Ya know...cuz I'm married to Edgar and he wouldn't have it any other way). It was super nice to wake up Saturday morning with the house clean!