Saying Good-Bye to Summer

On Saturday we had to spend some family time outside enjoying the last day of summer. This little tent was my lastest Garage Sale treasure. When I saw it I knew I had to get it for my boys. What boys--and dads, too--couldn't help but have fun in this?!
"Yep, it's ok to throw balls OUTSIDE!"
Alex is still learning to throw the ball back, instead of handing it back. You can't really play catch when one of the players walks the ball back to you every time!
This child is too brave. I have to stand by him when he plays on the slide to help him remember to hold on--if I don't he will let go and stand up, and then who knows what?? (Thanks to Auntie Brenda for helping us acquire our "new" slide!! The boy loves it!)
I had to include this pic because it shows off his little battle scar on his nose. He fell outside the other day and got his first bloody nose. His little nose and forehead looked pretty battered for a few days, but it's almost gone now!

Time for a Haircut???

Crazy Madness!

Alex has been a real trooper the last few days! In the midst of the craziness of my September calendar he has been cutting his 2 upper molars and eye-teeth. Therefore the paci has come back into play as a major role in our lives! Oh, well, the doc isn't concerned about it yet, so I have no problem using it to help us (ALL of us) keep our sanity for now!! He really is a good kid and we a so thankful for him!!

The Petting Farm

We were able to go with our Playgroup to the Heritage Park Petting Farm this morning! I must admit that though we have been to Heritage Park more times than I can remember, we have never gone into the Petting Farm. It was really, really nice! The kids had a great time--especially since they actually got to touch the animals and run around to their hearts' content! It was nice to see Erica and Stelly Owen be able to come with us--especially so that Cate had a girl friend to play with as she is usually the only girl in our group. Alex really enjoyed himself as long as I didn't try to get him to go too close to the big animals. He didn't cry or anything, he would just start backing up as soon as he realized where we were headed if we got too close!! The farmer wouldn't let Alex really touch the baby chickens because when he did the first time my son tried to squeeze the poor chickie's head off--literally! We got a cute pic of Alex and I popping our heads through that animal photo prop, but I will have to wait and post it later--had to take it with someone else's camera since my batteries died just before we took the pic!

It's a Boy!

Here's our little man just chillin'! During the ultrasound this morning the little guy gave me his first really strong kick--guess he didn't like to be poked and prodded any more than I did!
If we hadn't been able to clearly see that we have another boy, this picture of him flexing his man-muscles would have been proof enough!
The grandparents are always saying that these ultrasound pics just look like blurry blobs, so I attempted to label the things I remember the technician pointing out. The baby was very active during the whole thing and we had such fun watching him on the screen. We are really feeling overwhelmed at God's goodness to our family. Now to pick a name.....

Toddler "Independence"

Wow, this fork thing is a way cool toy!
Maybe if I just slip this piece of waffle on there, nobody will see...
Multi-tasking. Eating and styling my hair with one smooth move!
Success at last!
I LOVE this fork thing! I am the newest and coolest member of civilized society! (for at least the next five minutes, or until I pick my nose again!)

Fishy Lips

The boy is really starting to develop his silly side!! More videos on that subject to come!!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fantastic time Labor Day weekend with our friends Curt, Jenny, & Daniel Leonard! We drove the 6.5 hours to Milwalkee, WI after Ryan got out of work that Friday night because we've heard from so many people that the best way to take a road trip with a toddler is to drive at night! (thankfully Alex did just as well on Monday during the day as he did Friday night, so that was a real blessing!!) We spent just a few days with our friends, but packed in a trip to the beachfront, pizza from their favorite place, an impromptu evening with some other friends, the Parejas, a trip to the Half-Off Bookstore for the guys, and some great late-night conversation with PLENTY of laughter!! Alex and Daniel enjoyed dragging all of Daniel's toys out of his room and talking in each other's language together! We also were able to go to Sunday services at the Leonard's church and meet their new church family--a very sweet group of people!! Pray for the Leonards as they launch their Fall Outreach, there is much to be done and they are praying their efforts will see many of their new contacts come to know Christ!

Playing Outside

Ryan and I have started to realize that there are more things Alex understands than we had previously thought. If you tell him we are going outside he practically runs to the stairs, he gets so excited!
When we get outside Alex often spends a good deal of time squatting down on the porch or in the grass playing with every little thing on the ground. He seems to think it necessary to bring mommy anything that he does not like on his fingers or in his mouth (which is where most things go). As glad as I am that things like dead bugs and blades of grass don't actually get swallowed and digested, I am not all that fond of finding them in my open hand, either!

Back From the Sunny South

Although I love to travel and I love to be busy, I must say that I am SO incredibly glad that there are no more trips penciled in on the family calendar!! I am home and determined that life should return to some form of normal! Alex and I did, though, have a great time visiting family down in South Carolina. Thankfully it wasn't too terribly hot (if you didn't venture outside until after 6pm, that is) and we had several nice outings downtown. We did however have some interesting experiences on the airplane on the way home, namely: Alex tearing the skymall magazine into little-bitty pieces, having to run while pushing a stroller in order to catch our connecting flight, walking out onto the tarmack in the rain to get onto the smallest commercial airplane known to man, feeling warmth on my lap as I realize that my toddler just wet through his diaper and clothes mid-flight, and having to change Alex's diaper on the floor in the galley area at the front of the plane because the bathroom was so incredbly small....let me just tell you how glad I was to see Detroit again!! oh, well, what would be the fun of an uneventful life? I must thank my parents not only for a great trip, but for getting these pictures to me!! Of course I took my camera, but I have to admit that I took almost no pictures--thanks to my folks for saving the day!

Another Nursery Buddy

Congratulations to Jon and Rachael Davis on the birth of their super-cute little one Nathanael Christian!! He's just a little guy, but very expressive and oh-so-calm. During the 2 days we were home last week between our trips we had a chance to run up to the hospital and see the new mommy and baby. Don't you just love those wrinkly little newborn fingers and toes?? Alex seemed a little in awe of the baby at first, but then he kept giving him the biggest smiles ever -- a much better reaction than he had 2 days ago when he tried to grab a chunk out of little Gabrielle Pareja when I was holding her (more on our trip to WI later). Anyway, we are glad little Nathanael decided to finally make his grand entrance into the world and we know he will be a source of smiles and laughter to his mommy & daddy!

fun with hats, balls, and books

As a Dad, one of the great joys is to share your interests with your son. These are a few things in life that I really enjoy ... hats, basketball, and books.

Where's Alex? . . . There he is!

One of Alex's favorite games to play at the dinner table is "Peek."
And it certainly is one of ours as well.


Where's Alex???


Where's Alex???


There he is!!!




One of the funniest parts of the whole game is that he regularly misses his eyes when he covers his face and that he tends to press pretty hard on his face as well.

Read Me a Book, Daddy!

It was so fun the other day for Ryan when Alex brought a book to him and dropped it in his lap for him to read aloud! He had been so opposed to sitting and reading with us for so long, that this new development was quite fun for us.

Well, Alex and I are off on another adventure! Tomorrow we fly to South Carolina for a few days for one last trip down there before the boy gets too big and active for me to fly alone with--especially as my belly keeps growing and it gets harder for him to sit on my lap in those tiny airplane seats! Apparantly Ryan has taken some good shots of the boy that I have not seen and plans on posting while I am away, so I look forward to seeing them from the sunny (we hope) south!

The Silly Side

Some of the boy's silly antics as of late have really been cracking us up! Here are a few of our faves: 1. He loves to put things in his mouth and carry them around like a puppy! 2. He takes his sippy cup out of his mouth and looks at Ry and I waiting for us to make the "ahhh" sound! 3. He likes to bend over and look at you backward between his feet! 4. He picked his nose for the first time yesterday! Of course we rarely, if ever, have the camera handy when he does these things, so we may or may not get shots of these silly things, but they will be fun memories to tell him about!!

Garage Sale Extravaganza!!

Ok, so maybe our garage sale wasn't really an extravaganza, but we did have these crazy streamers hung up all over!! I kind of though at first that it made our house look like a flea-market, but they really did bring in tons of people!! And Kay and I sold tons of stuff, our garage is going to be so much more managable, maybe we can even walk through it now!

Alex spent his time during the garage sale playing with many of the items he could reach and pull off the tables! His favorite being this old green phone. He used up so much energy walking around and chasing Toby those two days--he's never slept so good! I found out how "friendly" he can be with people. My favorite example being how he used a lady's backside to catch his balance--she was a little surprised to be goosed by a one year old, but she laughed it off, thankfully!! Overall, our first garage sale experience was a great one...but I'm sure glad it all done!

Coffee, Anyone?

Frankenmuth Fun!

Wow, it's so crazy how you wait so long for vacation to get here, and then it is gone in the blink of an eye, and you are left with lots of laundry to do, some sleep to catch up on, and a child to readjust to his regular schedule--but more importantly lots of great pictures to help you remember the fabulous time you had with your family!!! We really did have a great vacation thanks to Ryan's parents. We took long walks, shopped, played games, swam, and ate schnitzel and fudge to our hearts content! Alex enjoyed lots of people watching and several new experiences like swimming in an adult pool and watching a man play the accordian. Of course we had to stop at Bronner's, also known to Ry and me as "Christmas Crazyland" and find some cool ornaments. It was great to not have to travel very far to have a fun little getaway for a few days. A big thanks to my in-laws for such a fun trip and being very flexible with a pregnant lady and a toddler in tow!! (i.e. many naps and stops to various restrooms!) And a big thanks to my great hubby for being so helpful during the course of the weekend--it really can be hard work to vacation with kids! And now...back to the pile of laundry!!

Video Problems

Ok, so we are having some technical difficulties with Dropshots, the program that I usually upload my videos to, and now with my back-up as well, YouTube. I have tried to redo that last video, so if you have a minute try it again, and hopefully it will be able to be viewed, but if it never loads for you please leave me a comment so that I can know to try something else. Man, who ever said technology was supposed to make everything easier, cuz they lied!!!

Anyway, Alex is almost exclusively walking now. He is getting really, really good at it, too! In fact we had to ban walking on the couch the other day, too dangerous for our fearless boy. Ryan's folks are here from SC, and we are spending a few days with them in Frankenmuth, so I probably won't blog again until sometime next week (sorry Grandpa and Grams, I know I've been delinquent lately and now there will be another delay in your steady stream of Alex photos!) So, have a great weekend, I know we will--shopping, swimming, relaxing, could it be much better? :-)

Walkin' Tall

Alex is finally really walking now! He hardly crawls at all any more, and even though he falls a lot (& I do mean A LOT!) he gets right back up and tries again! The news about Coonie Baby #2 is that we heard the heartbeat yesterday and it was fast and strong! We are 13 weeks along and the baby is about the size of a lime. So, both our little ones are going strong!

Trip to Iowa

Alex & I took a long weekend trip to Iowa this past weekend to help with my sister-in-law, Heather's baby shower. We had a great time with the fam that was there: my mom, grandma, sis, brother & sister-in-law. We got to see Nate & Heather's new house, visit their church, and enjoy spending time together (which we don't get that often since we all live so far apart). These guys live out in the middle of nowhere--literally, the nearest Shopping Mall is 1.5 hours away!! But they love it there in that beautiful country and they do have tons of animals!! Here's some of the animals we saw: cows, chickens, horses, donkeys, a fox, a badger, an opposum, and deer, deer, and more deer! It was a great trip, but I must admit that we are glad to be home!