Lake Michigan

I love visiting Lake Michigan.  It is so beautiful.  We had the priveledge of going to the Lake this year with our friends with 4 children.  So, we had six children ages 6, 4, 3, 21 months, 21 months, and 9 months.  It was insanely busy but so much fun.

E loved the Lake this year.  She had so much fun letting the waves chase her in and out of the water.  She 'fed the waves' lots of sand.  She was fun to watch.

Despite the look of A's face in the bottom picture, he loved the beach too.  He enjoyed hanging out in the Moby Wrap for the majority of our time at the beach.  He was content just to sit and take it all in.  Once he got out, he thought that the waves were pretty neat but he didn't really appreciate the sand disappearing under his feet. 

It was fun but I am glad that we don't have to clean sand out of the car too many times in a year.  :)

I'm gonna miss this...

Some days are long.  Sometimes I don't want to clean up anything else.  Then I read McMamma's post yesterday.  It was a wonderful reminder to me. 

A is breaking in tooth number 6.  It came through today.  When he wouldn't go down for his nap an hour and a half past naptime, I kept telling myself as a cuddled him in the rocking chair, "I'm gonna miss this."

At 6:45 AM when I just wanted 10 more minutes of sleep, I went and claimed my little guy that's growing so fast and told myself, "I'm gonna miss this."  I do love our early morning times that it is just the two of us.

As I was cleaning up his high chair and surrounding floor for the third time today and then changing his clothes for the third time, I told myself, "I'm gonna miss this." 

E was screaming, "He's so mean!" at the top of her lungs because A bite and consequently broke her balloon.  I thought to myself, "Someday this house will be too quiet and I'll amazingly miss this."

My favorite part of our day today involved our evening stroll.  E rode her trike.  She had on a bike helmet...backwards.  Her sandals were on the wrong feet.  Her outfit was mismatched.  A was in the little stroller in his pjs.  I probably didn't look like the pinnacle of motherhood...nor did my children.  But as we strolled/biked through the neighborhood discussing random subjects...the size of leaves, the direction we were going, daddy radar on blown kisses, stone collections, trolls that lived under bridges...A laughed and babbled to E and myself.  E raced us singing "As fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me!"  She's getting so fast.  Early this summer, I spent the majority of our walks pushing her and now she speeds ahead.  They change so quickly.  I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, "I'm gonna miss this!"

I know that each stage is going to have its highlights and pitfalls.  But, "I'm going to miss this!"  It is crazy to think in another year E will be starting school and I'll have to share her with someone else.  Time goes so fast.  I'm really working hard to treasure the days and enjoy our fleeting time when the kids are just mine and our days revolve around each other.  I am going to miss this!

The haircut and shaving...

Do you recognize this guy?  E didn't.  He showed up to Sunday School to pick her up last Sunday and she didn't know it was him until he spoke.  She cried...and cried...and cried.  The first thing that she'd ask me for the next 3 mornings was, "How much hair does Daddy have today?"

For VBS this year, the theme was "Bible Boot Camp".  So, Jut made a promise to the kids that if the girls raised x amount of money, he'd get a buzz cut and if the boys raised x amount of money, he'd shave his facial hair to keep with the 'boot camp' theme.  The kids raised well over the projected goal...so Sunday morning between services, Jut made good on his promises.  Our worship leader buzzed Jut's head on stage and afterwards, Jut shaved his goatee. 

We forgot to prep E that it was going to happen.  He walked in to get her from class and she cried and wouldn't have anything to do with him.  As soon as we got home, she went upstairs to my closet (which has a little 'nest' for her) and refused to come down for lunch.  She eventually fell asleep...and slept for more than 3 hours.  After the nap, she'd at least talk to Jut but she wasn't a fan of the new look.

However, now that the facial hair is growing back...it is looking more like Jut.  This picture was taken 5 days after the cut and shaving.  Jut hadn't changed his hair style in years...he's always sported the same haircut since we started dating in 2000.  It was time for a change and everyone is kind of liking it now that we are getting accustom to it...but every once in a while, I have to still look twice to know who he is!  ;-)

The Fair...

With much excitement, E headed to the fair today.  We've been reading a book called Night at the Fair for the past week and she's been so excited to go to the fair and ride the carousel and Ferris wheel.  We've also been tempting her with an elephant ear treat (although, she really wasn't impressed with that aspect of the fair).  So, she was hyped up.

First we went and saw all the 'kids tent' paraphernalia.  She received several tattoos, coloring books, a picture of her as a ballarina (great advertising strategy), drove a fire truck, etc..and then we were off to the horses, bunnies, chickens, cows, pigs, goats and sheep.  All the while, she was anxiously waiting to go on the rides.  We told her that she could go on three rides, as she was three (I'm not sure what we'll do as she gets older...three is the magic number of everything for right now.)

For her first fair ride, she chose the dinosaur ride.  The dinosaurs went around in a circle and moved up and down.  A very tame first choice.  A nice little girl named Carly offered to let her ride with her (Carly was probably about 5).  So, Carly helped her in the dinosaur and got her comfortable.  And, away they went.  E's grin went from ear-to-ear and her eyes were as big as saucers.  It was fun to watch.

The second ride was the carousel.   A carousel was in our book.  It wasn't the first carousel ride of the summer (or the nicest) because she rode one at Binder Park Zoo, but it was important to ride this one because it was at the fair!  She chose to ride on an outside horse with pink on it.  She loved it.  I stood behind her and the whole while she was talking about 'chasing the black horse' and 'giddie-up' and winning!  Her imagination was pretty cute.  The little girl next to us (probably about 8 years old) just laughed and played along with E trying to get her horse to go faster.

For E's final choice, she decided on riding the Ferris wheel.  She loved it.  When we stopped at the top to let on more passengers, she exclaimed, "Oh no!  We are stuck at the top!" and then laughed uproariously.  Then she quoted our book, "We can see where we've been and where we have yet to go!"  She was adorable.  Every time we came to the top, she'd quote that passage from the book.  She was funny.  Pointing out all the things that we had looked at was a lot of fun for her.  She didn't even want to waste time waving at Jut and A on the ground because then she wouldn't have been able to look around.

It is amazing to watch the wonder and amazement on a child's face.  I don't think that will ever get old and I know that I'll miss it when its gone!  By the time the Ferris wheel ride was over, it was time to go home.  A was sound asleep in the stroller and E was tired too.  She didn't even complain about leaving.  But, she was thrilled with all of her rides. 

9-month old A

What a month of developments it has been!  I've got a cruising baby on my hands.  He pulled himself up for the first time on the 6th of July and it only took about 10 days to figure out how to zoom along the furniture.

He loves to pull himself up on whatever he can and go.  The bad part is that if he's pulling himself up using a person he bites that particular person for a little added "ump"...apparently he doesn't trust his two hands.  We are working on that lovely trait and hoping it will stop soon!

The fun that A can get into cruising is a treat...clean laundry isn't allowed to build up on the couch any longer because A will empty it to the ground if its out when he's about...books, toys, magazines...all have had to find 'higher' homes this month because things are fair-game if left on the couch.  Things left on the side of the tub always end up pushed into the tub somehow...mischief, mischief, mischief...I had forgotten how much mischief a curious, mobile baby could discover.

A can get himself into a sitting position, too.  It is kind of weird to walk into the room and find him sitting up when I left him crawling across the floor.

Teeth numbers 3 and 4 popped this month.  The 3rd erupted on the 8th and the 4th followed two weeks later.  Teething doesn't appear to bother A too much but I'm glad those pesky buggers finally made it through.

Sleeping through the night is now a regular occurrence.  YIPEE!!  However, he likes to get up at 6ish...a bit too early for my tastes...but hey, for a full night's rest, I'll take the 6 AM.

We had the privileged of attending camp at Rock Lake this month with Jut.  A loved it.   Tons of high school and college-aged people to adore him...he was in 7th heaven!  Our first day home he was so crabby and I think it was because he didn't have anymore adoring fans.  He loved swimming in the lake.  He even slept okay.  It was great.  The bad thing about camp was that it got him out of the routine of pooping on the potty and I've had a really hard time readjusting to his new schedule (or maybe it is because he's so mobile that he disappears before the event...)...so we aren't having many successes these days...but oh well...I didn't hardly change a poopy diaper for 2.5 months.  So, I really can't complain.

The boy loves eating.  He will eat whatever I put in front of him and will continue to eat until I stop feeding him.  He loves his food.  Due to his allergies, he mainly eats banana, avocado, sweet potato, white potato, blueberries, applesauce and cereal.  He doesn't like eating things that need to be fed to him...he'd much rather feed himself.  He's getting quite independent rather quickly.