Life's Little Blessings

Back to Michigan for Halloween

2009-10-31T23:34:00.002-04:00

So the first couple months in Indiana was a little strange. We were back and forth from Indiana to Michigan in order to tie up some loose ends with the house and other things that were going on. The best part was that we were back in Michigan for Halloween. We could carry on our tradition with my buddy Collin. So far, since we were both born, we have gotten together at some point on Halloween to get pictures. But, because Evan wasn't feeling good that weekend, we had to cancel our date with Collin. We didn't want to pass any germs. Maybe next year.

This year, I was an angel. I had these cool wings and a halo and Mommy used the dress that I wore for Aunt Mindy's wedding and sewed on some fuzzy things on the bottom. It worked perfect.

Evan was tiger. He didn't do much walking while we were trick-or-treating. He stayed in the stroller most of the time. He was to little to eat candy anyway.

AAAHHHH, Miss Hannah. I miss her.

Before the night was over, we had to stop and see my friend Anthony. He was a pirate this year. We made a perfect 3. A pirate, a tiger and me, an angel.

More Visitors

2009-10-25T23:10:00.001-04:00

Later in October, the Sampsons came to visit us. Terre Haute has a lot of parks. One of the parks is a skateboarding park. Christian brought his skateboard and when we there on Saturday. It was a great day. A little chilly, but the sun was shining. Of course, Daddy and Uncle Tracey had to stop by Starbucks on the way and buy their coffee.

Christian can do lots of cool tricks on his board. There obstacles that he could side on and hills to go on. Here he went flying up the edge and landed on his feet, on the top.

While Christian was skateboarding, Mommy, Aunt Chelle, Anthony and my brother Evan went to the other side of the park to play on the swings and slides. I love to swing, I could have someone push me all day long. Mommy took Evan down one of the slides, and Evan didn't listen to the person who was standing at the top saying "Please keep your arms and legs on Mommy's lap at all times". Evan made the mistake of letting his foot slip off Mommy's lap and he sort of got it caught behind him. He was OK after a couple of days and our first visit to the doctor's office. What a Baby! I just think that he wanted the sympathy.

My cousin Ian even came down to visit. It was good, because I hadn't seen him in while. It had been like a whole 2 months since the wedding. It was a little cold the weekend that he brought his parents down, but we still got outside to play and took a nice long walk.

Pumpkin Carving 2009

2009-10-12T22:53:00.001-04:00

We took our pumpkins home and a few days later, we carved them. This was Evan's first real time cleaning a pumpkin by himself. Daddy cut a hole in the top of the pumpkins and then Evan and I took spoons and tried to clean out the guts of the pumpkins. It was a little hard for Evan to manage. He thought it was much easier to reach in with his hands and pull the stuffings out.

I enjoyed trying to get the stuff out with my spoon and watching Evan reach in the pumpkin. He could almost fit inside the one that he was cleaning.

Our First Visitors

2009-10-10T22:42:00.001-04:00

So we packed up and headed for Terre Haute. Daddy's company that he is working for provided us a very nice apartment. It was a great surprise see it. It is an upstairs apartment with 3 bedrooms. It wasn't long and we had our first visitors. Uncle Mike and Aunt Mindy came for a visit. They were married back in August, so now I can officially call him Uncle Mike. It was a great weekend.

We tried to find a Cider Mill to go to. But cider mills in Indiana are not like cider mills in Michigan. This one was the closest to Terre Haute. It was very small and they weren't making cider, but they did have a great little pumpkin patch. I got to crawl around in all the pumpkins. These pumpkins were just about as big as I was.

Maya liked the little pumpkins. They weren't big enough to carve, but they fit in her hands really well. We decided to buy a couple larger pumpkins and take them home to carve. All in all, there are a lot of things that we need to learn about Indiana. First is that their cider mills aren't what we are used to.

Moving Day. Ugh!!!

2009-09-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

After a great summer, Daddy found a job, which was great. But, it is in Terre Haute Indiana. WE ARE MOVING. This will be Maya's and my first experience with having to move. It wasn't so bad. I didn't have to help at all.

Daddy got a call from ThyssenKrupp Presta in the middle of August and had an interview the next day. A couple days later, Mommy and Daddy went to Terre Haute for a second interview. ThyssenKrupp called Daddy a couple days after that and offered him the job. He accepted and we started preparing for the move, which was happening in a couple of weeks. Labor Day weekend, we loaded what we needed for a week in the car and van and drove to the apartment the company got for us. Daddy started work on Sept 8th and then we went back to Michigan and loaded up a truck the next weekend and headed back to Terre Haute to our new home.

Looking back on Summer 2009

2009-09-01T19:34:00.001-04:00

This summer was the best. Daddy was home every day. His company was shutdown, which left him out of a job. It might not have been so good for him, but it was great for my brother and me. He was home every day during the summer so we had a lot of fun! We went to the Zoo in Toledo, Ohio, twice. We made it thru the first half the first day. We saw a bunch of animals and it was a little hot, so some animals weren't out in the open. You had to do a little searching because they were lying in the shade. Behind me is a rhinoceros. They have 2 big horns on their noses.

The second time that we went to the zoo, we started at the fish aquarium and explored the second half of the zoo. I like the aquarium. There were all kinds of fish and snakes and turtles in there. I liked getting really close to the glass on the fish tank. When this fish saw me, it swam right up to the glass and stared at me. I stuck my tongue out at it, but the fish didn't stick its tongue out back. It was really neat though.

This is just a statue of a gorilla. Don't worry, it isn't real. The real gorillas were sleeping and the big male in the exhibit just sat there with his back turned to us, so we couldn't get a picture of him. Besides going to the zoo, we also went on vacation at Higgins Lake, went to the beach for a couple of days on the west side of Michigan, and we also had our annual weekend in Lake City with my Aunt and all my cousins. It was a great summer. If you ask Daddy, he will say the same thing. He will say, "I was laid off at the perfect time (May). The weather was great and I was able to spend the whole summer with my family instead of going to work."

My First Wedding

2009-08-30T19:31:00.002-04:00

This summer, I was in my very first wedding. Aunt Mindy (Gena's sister) got married to Uncle Mike. He is a really nice guy and I like him a lot. I was the flower girl. I got to wear a pretty white dress with a big red bow on the back. The wedding was at a park along Lake Erie. It was a great day. The sun shone and it was a little warm. Thankfully there was a breeze or it really would have been hot.

The wedding and reception were both right at the park. Mommy and Aunt Heather also stood up at the wedding and Mommy sang. It was a really special day. I loved being in her wedding.

West Coast Michigan Beaches

2009-07-24T20:16:00.003-04:00

This summer, we did something a little different since Daddy wasn't working due to being laid off. We took a short overnight trip to the beach. We drove to Grand Haven, Michigan with our friends the Sampsons and spent 1 whole day at Grand Haven State Park just laying on the beach and playing in the sand. The first day was very sunny and warm. There was a breeze coming off the water that was a little cool, but as long as you were in the sun you didn't get cold. When it was getting time to eat supper, we drove to Holland, Michigan and stayed in a hotel for the night.

The next morning, we drove to Holland State Park and hung out at the beach there for most of the day. The weather wasn't quite as good the second day. It was cloudy, windy, and a little chilly, but a good day anyway. We had a picnic on the beach and played in the sand and water again. We headed back home in the later afternoon. We stopped by our usual restaurant with the Sampsons, Cracker Barrel, for supper on the way home. By the time that we made the 2 1/2 hour trip across the state, we were all very tired but glad that we got to hang out on the beach for a couple of days.

My 3rd Birthday

2009-07-20T14:24:00.001-04:00

On July 17th, I turned 3 years old. Mommy made a cake for me and put 3 candles on it that I had to blow out. We had a fun little party with our friends and some family over. It was really cool. It was also another milestone for me because......it is the last time that I get a paci. Mommy and Daddy tried to take it away when I was 2 years old, but I just wasn't ready. Now that I turned 3 and I am a big girl I don't need it anymore.

For my birthday, I got my friend Anthony and my buddy Christian and we went to the Candy Store in Wyandotte. It is a store that has nothing but candy in it. We all got 5 dollars to spend, which bought us a bunch of candy at the Candy Store. Most of the candy was wrapped individually so they only cost a few cents a piece.

After we bought our candy, we went to the park along the river. I like this park, they have a lot of fun things to play on. Anthony and I like to peek thru these windows. There are several slides and different ladders and tunnels to climb on and thru. The best part is that I was with my friends.

My birthday was great! We ate cake and ice cream, went to the Candy Store and then went to the park to play. It was such a special day.

July 4th, 2009

2009-07-05T13:40:00.001-04:00

This year for July 4th, we stayed at home and had a picnic with our friends the Bobbitt's. We went to a park in Riverview and had a picnic, then went fishing. This was my first experience going fishing. I had never gone before. It was really cool. Daddy put a worm on the hook for me and then casted the worm out into the water. Then we sat on the bank and waited for the bobber to go down, which means that a fish is taking the bait.

It wasn't very long and the bobber went down. Daddy gave the fishing pole a little jerk and then handed it to me. I had caught my first fish. It was huge. I reeled it all the way to the shore. This thing was a monster. I could barely hold it up. I wasn't going to touch it though. It was all wet and slimy. Daddy took the fish off the hook and let me pet it a little before we tossed it back into the water. It was the only fish that we caught.

In the same park, is a fire station. This is where firemen and fire trucks are stored. Uncle Jerry took me over the fire station and we got a tour of the fire trucks. The nice firemen opened up all the doors and let us climb inside the fire truck. Mommy took a picture of the Bobbitt's on the bumper of this truck. It was really fun.

2009-07-05T12:00:00.002-04:00

The big, red fire engines were really cool. They had lots of doors on them and they were all shiny. They were so clean and shiny that I could see my reflection in them.

The firemen let us crawl inside the cab of one of the fire trucks. We felt like real fire men. We spent lots of time at the fire house. They even gave us cool firemen hats to wear. But, after a while, we seen all that we could see and then we went and played at the park for a while. We swung and went down the slides and then the Bobbitt's came to our house and we grilled ribs and relaxed the rest of the evening.

It wouldn't be July 4th if we didn't see fireworks. On Sunday, Grandma came over and we went to a local place and watched the fireworks. They were really neat and we were able to get really close to where they were shooting them off.

Here Mommy, Evan and I were enjoying the fireworks while Daddy took a picture of us.

Our Summer Vacation

2009-07-02T21:18:00.001-04:00

This year for summer vacation, we went to Higgins Lake State Park. It was only my 2nd vacation since I am only 1 year old. Yes, Mommy and Daddy took me on my first vacation last year when I was only a few months old. We spent 4 wonderful days swimming and hiking and just hanging out.

This was our campsite, where we set up the tent. It was right on the edge of being in the sun, not to far from the bathroom, and not far from the lake. I thought that I did really good this year. The first morning, I woke up before it got light and wouldn't go back to bed. I was a little scared since it was so dark. Once it started getting a little light. Daddy took me for a walk, which I fell asleep on.

Every morning, we would get up and eat breakfast in our food tent. It was a canopy with screens on the sides to keep out the bugs. The weather was great every day. The sun was shinning and Maya was enjoying a bowl of cereal.

Here I am at the beach. The water was a little chilly since it was June, but it was still fun to play in. I liked sitting in the water and digging in the sand. Mommy and Daddy would take Maya and I out into the water in order to get cooled off. The water was really shallow for quite a ways out. It was over my head, but Maya would walk on her own feet and the water was up to her shoulders. We spent a lot of time at the beach. We walked down the shore and found a part of the beach where there wasn't anyone else so we had a large spot all to our selves.

2009-07-02T14:06:00.002-04:00

When we are on vacation, we like to go hiking. Maya loved to run in front of us and lead the way. She was always looking for snakes and frogs. They had a nice hiking trail that we went on. It ran along a lake for a while and then when it circled back toward the beginning, we went deeper into the woods.

Since I was only 1, I didn't get to walk along the trail. I got to ride in backpack. It was a nice ride. It was so nice, that I fell asleep. Maybe because the hike was right during my morning nap and that had something to do with it. I did get to see most of the hike. It wasn't until the end that I fell asleep.

At night, we sat around a camp fire and enjoyed the fire and made smores. I had to go to bed early, so I didn't get to eat many smores. Maya really liked them as you can see from her face. She liked to lick the marshmallow and chocolate off the graham cracker and then eat the graham cracker.

That's What These Legs are For

2009-06-15T11:43:00.000-04:00

A couple of days after my 1st birthday, I took my first steps. It was in our living room and the steps were very small, but I took them. Mommy got them on still pictures, so if you would flip thru them really fast, you could see my take my first steps. I decided to spare everyone that momentous occasion and post a video after I had been been practicing for a couple of weeks. This is my preferred mode of transportation now. I hardly ever crawl anywhere now. I am still a little unsteady at times, but luckily I have a nice padded rear end to land on. It won't be long and I will be running.

Another Birthday Party

2009-06-06T11:19:00.000-04:00

A few days later, on the weekend. Mommy and Daddy had another party for me. Not all of our family and friends were able to make it, but there was still alot of people there. The weather was great, it was sunny, but with a nice breeze so it wasn't to hot. Daddy put up the canopy that we use when we are camping and put the food under that.

We had all kinds of food. There was vegetable's, fruit, carmel corn and crackers and cheese. Then we had ice cream and cake also. The cake had a picture of me on it. By the time the part was over, most of the food was gone. It was a wonderful day.

The best part, was that I got to smash another cake in my face and make everyone laugh. Mommy and Daddy made my own cake with blue frosting this time. It didn't take me long, and I had it all over my hands and arms and face. Birthdays are GREAT!!!!

I turned 1 year old

2009-06-03T10:47:00.001-04:00

On June 2, 2009, I turned 1 year old. This was my very special birthday cake that Miss Cindy made me. They were over for supper on my birthday, because they were not able to come to my party a couple of days later. Miss Cindy and family watch my sister and me when Mommy and Daddy both have to work on the same day.

It was really good. It was a chocolate cake, covered in white frosting with different colored letters on it. It didn't take long for me to figure out that I was suppose to put my whole hand in it. I even grabbed a little bite before the candle was lite and they all sand happy birthday to me.

As you can see, I really enjoyed the cake. Before it was all over, I had it all over my face in all over my hair. I had to get a bath afterward because wipes weren't going to do. I got eat all that wanted from my cake. The best part was that the more I smeared frosting and cake all over my face, the more everyone laughed and cheered. Normally I get in trouble when I do that at the dinner table.

Playing Outside

2009-05-28T10:29:00.003-04:00

Last year, my sister got money for a sandbox for her birthday. The only problem was that when her birthday came, Mommy and Daddy couldn't find a sandbox, so this spring they bought one. IT IS GREAT!!! The sand feels cool between my toes, and a little crunchy in my teeth, which I have 4 of now. 2 on top and 2 on bottom. We spends lots of time playing in the sandbox. We build sand towers and then knock them down and build them again. We even bury my sisters feet in the sand so she can pull them back out..

The weather has been perfect for playing outside in shorts. It is a little cool in the mornings, but by afternoon, the sun is shinning and it is nice and warm out. We play outside most afternoon's and evenings. My sister even plays outside by herself. The windows are open and Mommy and Daddy are still checking on her all the time, but she stays right around the sandbox and she is always talking so it isn't hard for them to keep track of her.

There was a lot of cool little yellow flowers in our yard. I got to crawl around and smash them. I have even found these little brown things that are called pine cones. They are all over under our pine tree. They feel funny when I pick them up. Some times, they are soft, but other times, they are scratchy and they don't taste very good either.

I am almost 1 year old. I will turn 1 next Tuesday on June 2nd. It is hard to believe that I am almost 1. I am sort of starting to say some words. I say some words that sound like MaMa and DaDa. I sometimes also say Ba, which means ball. The last few days I have been standing without any help. I would pull myself up on the edge of the couch and then just let go and stand there. Then before I fell, I would grab the the couch again. But, last night......I was playing with some toys..... and I just stood up from sitting on the floor. Then I did it again, and then again. I was standing without the help. Then I got really brave and I bent over and grabbed some stars off the box next to me and then bent over again and set the stars back down. It was great. It won't be long and I will be walking.

Mobility

2009-04-09T22:22:00.003-04:00

I have finally have gained more independence. No longer do I need someone to pick me up and carry me to where I want to go. No longer do I need someone to sit me back up when I fall down. No longer are my sisters toys, that are just out of my reach, safe. Life has taken on new meaning. I am independent.

Last Monday was the first time that I crawled. The best part is that Mommy, Daddy, and Maya were there to witness it.

My Big Girl Bike

2009-04-06T14:11:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday, the weather was perfect for a bike ride. It wasn't any old bike ride, it was the first ride on my new Big Girl Bike. It was a Dora the Explorer bike. Grandma Lisa got it for me for Christmas and Mommy and Daddy got me the stylish bike helmet, knee pads and elbow pads. I had never ridden a big girl 2 wheel bike before. I wasn't to sure how this was going to go.

It took me a little while to get warmed up to the idea. When I first started out, I kept rotating the pedals backward, which of course applied the brakes. So at least I knew how to stop. Then after a few minutes, I figured out that I just had to pedal this bike, like I pedal my tricycle. After that, it was all over. I was riding up and down the sidewalk with ease. I was going so fast, that Mommy and Daddy had to run to keep up with me. I bet we made 8 trips to the end of the sidewalk and back.

I would race down the sidewalk to the end and then turn my bike around and race back home. I have even masted the cornering capability of my machine. Although, I did push the envelope a little to far once. Good thing Daddy was there to catch me. I figured out the hard way that you have to slow down when going around corners, especially if it is a sharp corner. One lesson I also learned was that training wheels don't help when you make a sharp enough turn. Good thing I had my helmet and pads on.

Funtastic

2009-03-28T10:47:00.005-04:00

Funtastic is the cool place not to far from where we live. It is a great place. It has slides, it has big padded steps, and all this other cool stuff to run and jump on. They have cargo nets, and an obstacle course and as you can see from the picture. It is a very colorful place.

We have been there 3 times for birthday parties and a few other times, just to go and have fun. One day, my friends Makenna (red slide) and Faith (yellow slide) invited me to meet them at Funtastic for a few hours of fun. These slides are really fast.

The best part of Funtastic is that everything is padded so it is almost impossible to get hurt. I like to jump off the steps onto some of the other padded blocks. I bounce off and then run to the top of the steps and jump off again.

It's Spring

2009-03-21T21:26:00.002-04:00

I found Cheerios

2009-03-06T18:55:00.006-05:00

This day I was all cleaned up for Church. I had on my Sunday cloths and my hair was all combed, so Mommy thought she would take a picture of me.
I am not really starting to talk, but I am making a Da, Da, Da, Da and a Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma sound. I also like to scream as loud as I can when my sister is around. Then she does it right back at me and we go around for a while. It makes Mommy and Daddy laugh.

Mommy gave me a hair cut the other day. This was my second hair cut. Mommy got me high and tight on this one. I like it. A few months after I was born, Daddy trimmed my hair to even it out. I was getting long and dark on top and short and light on the sides. So he buzzed the top for me. About a month ago, Mommy gave me my first hair cut. She didn't get it as short as she did this time.

I have 2 teeth now and I have found a new food to eat. It is Cheerios! They are really good. I especially like the multi grain Cheerios. I have been perfecting my pincer grasp for a couple of weeks now. Sometimes, I still get the Cheerios stuck on the back of my hand or on my cheek, or on my chin. They can be a little hard getting into my mouth. For some reason, when I get done eating them, there seems to be alot of those little Cheerios in my bib.

Not Much to Update

2009-02-25T22:50:00.003-05:00

There really hasn't been much to blog about lately. Mommy and Daddy are in the full swing of their winter college classes, Mommy is on her last class. That is so exciting. Since we couldn't think of anything to update on, Evan and I thought we would rewind a little bit and talk about what happened in between Christmas and New Years. This year was very busy. We had all our cousins, on Daddy's side of the family, down for the weekend. Now all my cousins on that side of the family are girls and they are all older than I am so I had lots of people to play with.

We played all day long, except for 2 days when Mommy took them shopping. I got to go 1 of those 2 days. The other day, I was too tired from playing and I had to take a nap. One of the days, while they were down, we lost power for the whole day. I think it was a Sunday. After we ate lunch we got the finger paint out, well hand paint in my case. We made beautiful pictures.

As it got dark, and a little chilly in the house, Elizabeth and I decided to get the coloring books and crayons out to do a little coloring. Daddy set up candles, so we could color by candle light.

We had to have a picture taken without the flash, just to get the true effect of not having power in the winter time. It was a little hard to color between the lines.....wait.....I can't color between the lines in the light. I am only 2 1/2.

2009-02-25T22:48:00.004-05:00

The worst thing about having 4 girl cousins, and a sister, and a Mommy, is that it left Daddy and I out numbered. Daddy is big and could take care of himself, but my cousins didn't have any pity for me. This is what happens when you have a house full of girls.....you are only six months old.....and I couldn't do anything about it but sit here and look cute. I know that this pictures is going to come back to haunt me when I get older.

After they were done dressing me up in my sisters bunny ears, they did play with me. We would get my toys out and push them around and I would chew on them and they would help me back up if I fell over. I guess it isn't so bad to have girl cousins. I will forgive them for the bunny ears thing.

Snow, Snow and more Snow

2009-01-19T10:50:00.005-05:00

This winter has been great. We have a bunch of snow on the ground. It seems like every week we have been getting a snow storm. I have heard that we have already surpassed last years totals and it is only January.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Mindy got me this cool Dora shovel for Christmas so I can help Daddy clean off the side walk. The snow has been really fluffy so it isn't very heavy. I can pick up big shovel fulls.

This was one of our earlier snow storms. I was helping Daddy clean and I got tired. So I decided to sit in the snow and take a little break. I got thirsty from all the hard work so I decided to eat a little of the snow.

My First Tooth

2009-01-17T14:18:00.003-05:00

What is the big deal!!! Why is Mommy and Daddy always sticking their fingers in my mouth and feelin around. Hey...Did you at least wash your hands first!!

It is not only a tooth....It is my very first tooth. It popped thru the skin just after New Years. I spent the few weeks before it came thru drooling all over the place. I would wear a bib most of the day so I wouldn't get my shirt all wet, but when it finally came thru, I didn't drool anymore.

Now I think the one next to it is about to come thru.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T13:09:00.001-05:00

Christmas this year, started off with my Mommies side of the family. We had everyone over to hour house for a big celebration. We ate a late lunch or early supper, depending how you looked at it, and then opened presents. First, we had to take a picture off all the kids. This was the first Christmas for both me and my cousin Ian (upper left). He didn't seem to like getting pictures very much. I think that he was just tired. He brought his Mommy and Daddy all the way from Grand Rapids. It is on the other side of the state. I had to make that trip a few times, and let me tell you, you get a really good nap in.

Christmas morning, Maya and I got to have Christmas with our Mommy and Daddy. It was so much fun. We also took a few pictures of my sister and me in front of the tree. I wasn't really sure what to do with the presents when I got them, so Mommy, Daddy and my sister helped me open them. I liked to hear the sound of the paper tearing so I would grab a hold of it and try to rip it. It was a great Christmas. We had lots of snow out side so it was what everyone calls a "White Christmas".

We left our house around 11:30 am for my Papa and Grandma's housing in the center of state. I got to sleep all the way up. Once we were there, we ate a meal and then had more presents to open. Again, we took more pictures. Here is all my cousins on my Daddy's side of the family. From the top row left there is: Jessica, Taylor, Makenna and Sarah. in the bottom row from the left is: Elizabeth, my sister Maya, and me. My Aunt Wellie was also taking pictures of us, so it was a little confusing on who we should look at. I just put a big smile on and looked at however was looking at me.

Decorating the Tree

2008-12-27T12:56:00.001-05:00

It was late when we finally got back home and set the tree up in the living room. This year, we put it in the corner of the room where Evan's swing use to sit. He wasn't using it much now that he can sit up so Mommy and Daddy put it away. We did however, get to snap a few pictures of me and my brother, before we had to go to bed.

A couple days later, we got all the Christmas ornaments and lights out and started decorating the tree. We had a great system this year. Daddy was taking the ornaments out and putting hooks on them. He would hand them to Mommy and me to put on the tree. I got to decorate the bottom half and Mommy got to decorate the top half. We put lights, and ornaments on it and then finished it off with fruit flavor candy canes. I got to eat one after it was all done.

Our Christmas Tree

2008-12-13T17:56:00.008-05:00

Last week, we made our way to our local Christmas tree store and bought our Christmas Tree. This was my first trip to the place. Mommy, Daddy and Maya have been getting trees there for the last 3 years. It was a cold day, so we all bundled up in our warm clothes, hopped into the van and drove the mile down the street to where the trees were being sold.

There were alot of Christmas Trees to choose from. We looked at a quite a few different ones before we decided on the perfect on for out house. It wasn't to tall, it wasn't to big around and it would fit perfect in the corner of our living room.

This is my sister Maya in front of our tree that we bought. She helped pick it out this year. It was hard to get any pictures of here because she was running between all the trees. She would stop and Daddy would try to take a picture and before he could click the button, she was off again.

Once we bought the tree, the nice people at the place tied it to the top of our van and we drove home and set it up in the Christmas tree stand. We didn't decorate it that night, because it was getting late, Maya and I didn't get a nap and we were getting pretty tired.

Guess what I am doing!!!

2008-12-03T21:40:00.005-05:00

GUESS WHAT I STARTED DOING????

I am starting to eat solid foods. Well, sort of solid foods. It is rice cereal. So it is still pretty liquidy. Mommy started feeding me this just before Thanksgiving. At first it was a little hard getting the food to go down. I kept pushing it out of my mouth with my tongue. Now I am opening my mouth as the spoon gets closer and eating like a champ.

I can polish off a few ounces of rice cereal and then almost a whole container of carrots.

I also did the most amazing thing today. I rolled over on my tummy for the first time. I have been really trying for the last couple of weeks, cut couldn't quite get all the way over. I wasn't strong enough to get my body over my arm that was underneath me. Today, I was laying in the hallway while Mommy was working and I did it. I rolled over to my tummy.

Apple Spider

2008-12-01T23:40:00.005-05:00

At the beginning of November, Daddy, Evan, and I made the trip up to the farm because Mommy had a Spanish paper to write. It is much easier for her to write her papers if we are not around, and it gave us a good opportunity to see PaPa and Grandma. Our main focus of the trip was to make apple spider (apple cider). PaPa made an apple press a couple of years ago and we have never seen it in use. I got to hold the container that the cider ran into when it was being squeezed out of the apples.

Every once in a while, I would accidentally put my hand under the stream of cider. Of course I had to lick it off.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-11T20:32:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, was Halloween. This was my first Halloween as I was only born in June. Halloween is this funny holiday that you dress up in goofy outfits and go door to door and say "Trick-or-Treat". Then the people at the house give you candy.

Since this was my first trick or treat, Mommy bought my this cool bear outfit. It was soft and fuzzy and everyone loved it. Unfortunately I didn't make it very far thru trick-or-treat because I fell asleep in the van when we were driving from house to house. It was still fun. We went to see our friends and family that are in the area.

I am on a perfect 4 hour schedule now. I wake up from my nap and eat, then I am awake for about 2 hours and then take a nap again for 2 hours. WHAT A LIFE!!! How can it get any better than this.

This year, I got to be a beautiful pink and purple butterfly. Since Mommy bought my brother Evan's outfit, Daddy got to pick out my outfit. He looked a few different stores until he found the perfect butterfly outift.

We made our usual trip to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Megan's to see Colin. This year he was a monkey. We took lots of pictures at their house and visited for a while before we were off to the rest of our stops. We are going to make it a tradition that every year we take pictures, so everyone will be able to see us as we grow up.

Not much has been happening. The weather is getting colder so I don't spend as much time outside, but I still bundle up and go out and swing and go for walks and drive my jeep around.

An Update from Evan

2008-10-27T22:55:00.006-04:00

Hi, this is Evan. I thought that I would give you a quick update on what has been happening around here. My big sister has been teaching me to read. Just kidding. She was spending tummy time with me in our bedroom. We were playing with toys on the floor.

Mommy and Daddy are starting to use this new toy, now that my legs are getting stronger. I still can't spend a long time in it, but it occupies me for a while. There a lot of cool things to play with on it. I spend a few minutes a day in it. Usually when Mommy or Daddy is making supper and can't play with me.

I was at the doctor's the other day for my 4 month checkup. Luckily there were no pokies this day. I have dropped off on my weight a little bit. I am only in the 50th percentile now. Last time I was around the 75th percentile. The doctor said that there was no need to worry. I am 26 1/4 inches long and I weigh 15 lbs. I can roll over to my side, although I haven't figured out how to roll over on my tummy yet. I also found something else new. I stick my tongue out a little past my lips and blow air out of my mouth and guess what, all this liquid stuff comes out. It is so much fun, I tend to end up with a very wet chin.

A Warm Fall Weekend

2008-10-27T22:35:00.006-04:00

A couple of week ago, we went to an apple orchard. It was really busy that day. Probably because the sun was shining and it was warm out. When we were there, we went thru a barn that had pigs, chickens, lamas, and an ostrich. We also got to see them make donutes and apple spider (cider). Of course we had to sample it. We bought three donuts and 1/2 gallon of spider and sat down on a picnic table and ate our donut and drank a few cup's of apple spider. It was a great day to spend with my Mommy, Daddy, and Evan. We also when for a hay ride around the apple orchard. That is were the apples are grown.... On trees... When we got done with the hay ride a nice lady offered to take our picture so we could all be in it.

We also washed the van that weekend. I got to help. I was the rinse girl. Daddy would wash the van and get it all soapy and then I would come along and rinse all the suds off. Now you can just image the kind of fun that we had that afternoon. I am only two years old and my Dad let me have the hose all by myself. The hose with water running thru it...........and sometimes, he would kneel down to wash the bottom of the van.........in a position that he could not get away very fast.....and I was standing behind him.....with the hose....that has water running thru it.......are you getting my drift here. Needless to say, we were both wet by the end.

But, I am not tall enough to rinse the top of the van so he did help me out with that part of it. We made a good team that day. Mommy enjoyed watching us so much that she snapped a few shots of us. I even tried to get her wet, but she could move a little faster than I could drag the big hose....with water running thru it.

The End of Summer

2008-10-08T22:59:00.006-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since our last update. It has been really busy. There has been a lot going on. But now everything has calmed down and Mommy and Daddy are in the full swing of their fall college schedule and work. That means that Evan and I get to go to Miss Cindy's house two days a week, while Mommy and Daddy are working.

I still get to go for walks with Mommy during the day and Daddy in the evenings, when it is warm outside. On this particular occasion, I took little Elmo for a walk with us. Usually I am riding my bike to the end of the side walk. We go down the street, past the scary house and the poky tree (pine tree), around the corner to the end of the side walk. There used to be flowers growing in an open lot there, but someone mowed them down.

When Aunt Mindy comes over, we terrorize the neighborhood in my Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane. We remove the safety screw that only allows us to use the slowest speed (don't tell Daddy) and then we race down the side walk and back home again. I am getting really good at driving it. I have only ran into the garage once and smashed the downspout. Daddy didn't get mad, he just laughed.

At night it is mostly the same ritual. Evan or I get a bath, depending on which night it is, and then for me it is a nice sippy full of Leche Chocolate (that one is for you Uncle Dave and Aunt Monika) or Chocolate Milk. Sometimes I also get a snack depending on when we ate supper.

I am getting stronger. I can stand up on my own legs if someone holds me so I don't fall over. I can grab at things if they are in my sight. I can follow people as they walk past me. I can turn my head to whichever way the voice is coming from. I can roll over on my side, but not all the way onto my belly yet.

As you can see, by hair is filling in nicely. Mommy and Daddy trimmed it a while ago just to even everything out. I smile alot, and I mean alot. Especially at my big sister. She is fun to watch. she does silly things to make me smile.

I did find this little friend that helps me go to sleep. It is my thumb, and the best part is...........I have two of them. So when I get tired of the right one, I just stick the left one in my mouth and work on that one for a while. Daddy is glad that I found my thumb. He said that way they won't have to try to take a paci away when I get older.

My doctors visit

2008-08-28T22:28:00.007-04:00

Ok, someone could have warned me about this. It isn't fare. I had to to have two shots today at the doctor. Oh sure, they butter you by taking your weight, which by the way is 13 lbs 12 oz, and your height, 26 in.

They check you all over, talking to you in that sweet, high pitch voice, which makes me smile and then....

WHAM!!!

it hit me in one leg. I let out a yell and...

WHAM!!!

it hit me in the other leg. I thought "what is going on, we were having so much fun". Did you not like the way I was smiling at you? I thought we made a connection?

I didn't know what going to happen next.

I got my Pokies

2008-08-28T22:22:00.004-04:00

Today, I had to go to the doctor for my 2 year check up and get some of my pokies. I don't like getting pokes (immunizations), they hurt. The doctor gave it to me in my leg. I only had to have one poky, my poor little brother had to have 2 pokes, one in each leg.

They also weighed me while we were there. I weigh 30 lbs and 8 oz. I am 38" tall which the doctor said was off the charts for my age.

A few more vacation pictures

2008-08-23T11:16:00.008-04:00

This was actually a bug. It hung out on our screen tent for most of a day. I was really cool because it looked like a branch. Daddy had to look twice at it because the first time he didn't think it was alive. Its head is over on the left.

Here is Evan in his car seat. We were packed in the van pretty good. If there was any available space, we put something in it.

This is my big sister and my Uncle Tracey (family friends). She was sitting on his lap eating popcorn one night.

Here are our tents. The campsite was a little unlevel, but we dealt with it. It wasn't to bad
although we did tend to slide a little bit in our sleeping bags.

Summer Vacation 2008 (Evan's Perspective)

2008-08-19T20:00:00.001-04:00

This was my first summer vacation, and my first time sleeping in the tent. It was really cool. We got to spend all day outside for a whole week. We had campfires, and roasted marshmallows, and made our food over an open fire. Although, I slept thru most of it and I am on a pretty strict diet. We also got to go for a hike in the woods at the campground. It was so neat. I stayed awake for most of that. Mommy front packed me for a while and Daddy backpacked my big sister Maya. We got to see trees, and leaves, and bugs, and toads, and ferns and all sorts of stuff.

Sleeping in a tent was a lot of fun. At night, it was really dark and a little chilly. Mommy and Daddy would bundle me so I wouldn't get cold, although my little nose got cold by morning.

The weather was beautiful all week long. We spent a couple of days at the beach next to the water. I had to stay in the shade, out of the wind and in my car seat. That way I didn't get sand in all my places that you don't want sand. Mommy and Daddy both took turns playing with me to keep me occupied.

This was the sunset across Saginaw Bay. We camped at the tip of the thumb at Port Crescent State Park. It was a nice little park with a big beach and we only had to walk for about 3 minutes to get to the water.

What a week. It is very exhausting getting carried around. Daddy snapped this picture of me one evening before supper. Mommy and Daddy have a canopy tent with screen sides that we put over the picnic table. It kept the bugs out while we ate, and made perfect place for me to take a nap.

Summer Vacation 2008 (Maya's Perspective)

2008-08-19T19:28:00.006-04:00

This summer we traveled to the tip of the thumb for vacation. We stayed at a state park there that was right on the water. Our campsite wasn't directly on the water like last year, but it was only a short walk to get there. One morning, Mommy, Daddy, Evan and I loaded ourselves in the van and traveled down the road from the campground to the day use area and did some hiking. I found a log that had ants living in it. It was neat. They were red and they were crawling in and out of these little holes that they had made in the log.

Daddy backpacked me at first and Mommy was front packing Evan, my little brother. Then about half way thru, they switched and I got to ride on Mommy's back. Along the trail, there were places that you could see the water from on top of a sand dune. Here the trail went down the dune and back up the other side. Daddy decided to snap a quick picture while we were out in the sun.

On this day, at the beach, it was a little breezy. The wind was blowing toward the shore, which I learned was called an "On Shore Breeze". It was a little chilly so I just played in the warm sand. We built sand castles and dug holes, and then I would knock down the sand castles and have Daddy build them all over again. The sand felt funny between my toes.

Mommy and Daddy took my bike that Grandma Lisa (Gena's family friend) got me for my birthday last year. We did many laps back and forth past the camp site. When cars or truck would come, we would take my bike off the road and wait for them to pass.

I TURNED TWO YEARS OLD

2008-08-07T19:45:00.002-04:00

On July 17th, I turned 2 years old. It was a Thursday this year. It was pretty low key since Mommy and Daddy were both in school. On Thursday morning, Mommy and I went to my buddy Collin's house where him and Aunt Megan had balloons for me.

Then we met Daddy for lunch. We went to the park and I got to go down the slide and swing. Swinging is my favorite thing to do. I can spend hours swinging. After lunch, Mommy and I went to see Grandma (Gena's Mom). We spent the rest of the afternoon there. That night, when Daddy got home from school Grandpa (Gena's Dad) was at our house.

He helped Daddy put up this swing in our back yard so I can swing any time that I want. I can go really high. It is a comfortable seat also. I think that Mommy and Daddy will wear themselves out pushing me before I get tired.

Then on Friday night, Mommy, Daddy, Evan celebrated my birthday with the cake in the first picture. It was a white cake with pink frosting.

On Saturday night. Aunt Megan and Collin, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Sheri, Jordan, Josh, and Uncle Tracey, Aunt Michelle, Christian, and Anthony came over for cake and ice cream. After I blew out my candles, Uncle Jerry got me to bite the edge of my cake. I think that he wanted me to smash my face in the cake, but I wouldn't do that.

2008-08-07T19:23:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, we went up north to Papa and Grandma's (Steve's parents) where Aunt Wellie came all the way from Grand Rapids and brought Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. Uncle Chris, Aunt Sarah and all my cousins, Jessica, Taylor, Makenna, and Elizabeth were there. Of course I got to swing some more on Papa and Grandma's swing. We also had cake and ice cream again.

I got some clothes and some really cool toys to play with in the bath tub. This is my favorite picture of the weekend. It is of my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. This also happened to be the first time that they met Evan, my little brother. He was just over 1 month old at this point. Since they live in Grand Rapids, I don't get to see them very often.

The fun wasn't over on Sunday. Monday morning, we met Uncle Will and Aunt Heather in a near by town and played all morning on the play scape at the park. The had a lot of fun things to play with, and of course, there were swings. Then on Monday night, when we sat down for supper, I fell asleep at the dinner table. I just couldn't hold my eyes open any more.

I guess looking back on the weekend, I was partying every night around my birthday. It wasn't such a low key birthday after all.

2 Months

2008-08-05T21:43:00.006-04:00

It has been a very busy month. Mommy and Daddy are finally done with their summer classes and now we have a jam packed August ahead of us. First of all. I turned two months old on August 2. I weight around 13 lbs. I will get my official measurements at my check up which will be Friday.

One tragic thing that happened was that my hair fell out. Just around the sides where it rubbs when I am moving my head. Daddy said not to get all upset about it because it will most likely happen when I get older anyway.

When Mommy or Daddy are not holding me, I like to lay on the floor and look out the window. Or swing in my swing at look at that handsome dude looking back at me in mirror. I also sit my bouncy seat, or lay on my lounge pillow. Yeah, I pretty much just lay around.

I am almost sleeping thru the night. Mommy feeds me around 12:00am and then just lets me sleep. Sometimes I will wake up at 4:30am because my little belly is empty and I need something to eat. Lately she has been waking me up at 6:00am to eat. So I am almost making it thru the night. It won't be long and Mommy will finally be getting a full nights rest. Which I am sure that she will enjoy.

I smile alot. Daddy can always get me to smile. Once in a while he will make funny noises or just tickle my belly a little and I get this big grin on my face. I am also starting to talk, or at least make some sort of sound. Daddy and Mommy call it "Cooing". I don't know what "Cooing" is, but Mommy and Daddy get a kick out of it.

Stay tuned. There will be alot of updates this month. My sister Maya turned 2 in July. We are going camping next week and we also went to a petting farm. There will be blogs on all of these. I just don't know for sure when it will happen.

I went POO-POO in the potty!!!

2008-07-14T10:51:00.002-04:00

Daddy and Mommy recently instituted a new rule for me. If I go pee-pee in the potty, then I get 1 M&M. If the flowers on my pull up are still there, which means that I am dry and didn't go in my pull up, then I get another M&M.

If I go poo-poo in the potty, then I get 5 M&M's.

Needless to say, last night I got 6 M&M's at one time.

YES!!!!

I went PEE-PEE, and then I went POO-POO in the potty. Then this morning, I went POO-POO in the potty again.

Mommy and Daddy are going to have to buy another bag of M&M's.

Firewurks Again!

2008-07-11T09:32:00.006-04:00

Last night was the annual Taylor City firewurks at the park in Taylor. This year Uncle Tracey, Aunt Michelle, Christian, Anthony, Daddy, Mommy, Evan, and I packed up snacks and blankets and wen to see them. There are always lots of people that go to these, so we got there a couple hours before they started in order to get a good seat.

Since we had some time before the firwurks started, we ate snacks and played in the grass until it got dark enough to start them. The firwurks are set off at one end of the park, so it looks like they are going off right over your head. They were really pretty. There were pink ones, and red ones, and blue ones. I sat on Daddy's lap when they first started.

Then I moved over to Aunt Chelle's lap so I could be closer to my buddy Anthony. He didn't like the loud BOOMS as much. He still like to see the firewurks. Aunt Chelle bought glow sticks, so Anthony and I put them around our wrists, ankles and necks. That is the red and yellow thing around my neck.

Here is one of the firewurks. It was really big with a million sparkles in it. It looked like the sparkles made it all the way to the ground. They started around 10:00pm and didn't get over with until about 10:30. The grand finally was great. There were so many firwurks that it light up the whole sky. Then when we got back home, I got to stay up until 12:30am before I went to bed.

The 4th of July Weekend

2008-07-05T23:37:00.007-04:00

This was a great weekend. Not only was Daddy home for 4 straight days, we got to build a shed together. He bought one a few weeks ago so we can store our yard stuff in. That way, there is more room in the garage. I was his little helper. I played outside all day long for two days while he put the shed up.

Sometimes when he wasn't looking, I would climb up on the stool that he was using. Most of the time, I would walk around and make sure that he was putting it together right. I also kept him cool with my squirt gun. I would come up behind him and squirt him in the back or in the legs with water. Sometimes it was when he least expected it. Then I would give him the squirt gun and he would squirt me with it or we would chase each other around the yard getting each other wet.

Later in the afternoon when it got hot, I put on my "daving soup" (bathing suit) and Daddy hooked the sprinkler up to the hose and we all ran thru it. Even Mommy and Evan came outside to run thru the sprinkler. The water was really cold, but it felt good. I ended up soaking wet.

The sun was really hot today. When I didn't have my hat on during the day, I carried this umbrella to keep the sun off me. That way I wouldn't get a sunburn.

Then when it got dark, we drove to Dearborn and watched the fireworks over Greenfield Village. We went to this same spot the night before with Grandma, Aunt Mindy and Uncle Mike (Mommy's family) and watched the fireworks. They were really cool. Every time that I saw one, I yelled "FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS!" I was so excited to see them. I have never seen fireworks before.

My first Month

2008-06-28T10:50:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, I got to take my first trip. We went up north for an open house. After the open house was done, we went to PaPa and Grandma's house (Steve's parents). That evening, we went to Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah's to see all the animals that they have. We got to see chickens, lambs, and two peacocks. This was the longest that I have been away from home.Luckily I slept all the way up there and slept all the way home.

I have just started to smile on my own. Everyone once in a while, I look at Mommy and Daddy and give them a little smile. You should hear them. They make a big deal about it and try to get me to smile again. Sometimes I give them another one, but most of the time I just look at them.

Here is me and my big sister. We were both dressed in our white onesies so Mommy thought it would be a good picture opportunity. I had a little trouble looking a the camera, Maya tried to help me out, but it is just hard when you are my age. She has been really good. So far she hasn't hit me very hard. Only a few accidental taps. She is really neat. She gives me hugs and kisses.

I am spending more time awake. Some times I will be awake from one feeding the the next. It is hard for Mommy to get things done, so she likes to front pack me. That way she can get some work done around the house.

My eyes are a dark blue color. I am not sure if they will change or not. My hair is usually a little Spikey since it doesn't want to lay down much, especially just after I take bath.

Oops!

2008-06-09T18:16:00.005-04:00

May I apologize for the mistake that I had made in the previous blog. The password to get the pictures is:

21295

Sorry for the inconvenience, but give me a break, I am only a week old.

Hello Everyone, I am finally here!

2008-06-08T15:25:00.008-04:00

Hello everyone, my name is Evan. Maya is my big sister. She told me that I have to start posting on this website so everyone can see me and track how I am growing. Friday was my first doctors visit. I have gained enough weight to get back to my birth weight. Everything checked out to be OK with the doctor.

I really don't do much at this point but eat and sleep. I am not very fussy, except when I am hungry or have a burp in my tummy.

This is my big sister Maya. Everyone has been following her for the last couple of years so she doesn't need any introduction. I did hear Mommy and Daddy say that she seemed to have grown up in the last week. I don't really know what that means.

I bought her this slide when I was born. She goes down the slide really fast.

Aunt Sheri (family friend) was at the hospital the afternoon that I was born. She is a photographer and took lots of pictures. Here is the website so you can view them.

http://www.collages.net/eventlogin.htm

Username: evan

Password: 21295

Use my name as the "Username", (evan). Then use 21295 as the password and all the pictures will show up. I may take a little bit to load since there are a gozillion of them. You can watch the webshow or just look at the individual pictures by clicking on the menu to the left. I recommend the webshow with the music. It is much better.

Well, I have to go back to sleep, so I will talk to everyone later.

It's a Boy!!!!!!!!

2008-06-03T17:32:00.008-04:00

Finally after 9 long months of waiting, I would like to introduce to all of you my little Brother, Evan Thomas Gable. He was born on June 2, 2008 and weighed 10 lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long. He was a big boy. No wonder why Mommy couldn't hold me on her lap. She always sat me on top of her belly and I would sort of ride there when she was carrying me. He is doing very well. He cries a little bit, but it doesn't bother me.

This blog is going to start changing, if you haven't already noticed. It now needs to be a gender neutral site, since Evan will be posting on it also. He will get some pictures posted this weekend, when everything calms down and gets back to normal. Here are a few more that have been taken.

This is our first family picture with Evan. I stayed at Mrs. Cindy's house on Sunday night and Monday night. Daddy came to pick me up on Monday evening so I could see Mommy and Evan. It was such a big surprise. I crawled up in bed with Mommy and gave her and Evan a big hug.

Here is Evan in the cradle that Papa made. This cradle has gotten a lot of use. Uncle Chris used it for his girls and then Mommy and Daddy used it for me and now Evan gets to sleep in it for a while.

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T17:39:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day and we got Mommy this nice purple flower. I got to help pick it out. After church Daddy and I stopped at the garden place and found the prettiest flowers there. Then we hurried home to get all set up before Mommy got back from dropping off Grandma (Gena's Mom). When she walked in front door, this is what she saw. Daddy and I were sitting on the kitchen floor waiting for her. The video below is what we rehearsed.... Mommy had us do it again so she could get it on video.

Daddy and I worked hard to get it just right, but when it came out, I mixed up Mommy and Happy.

Last night was also the first night that I got to sleep in my big girls bed. It was a little scary so Mommy and Daddy stayed in my room until I fell asleep. It is a big bed with a guard rail on the side so I don't fall out.

They are getting the crib ready for my baby brother, or sister. Which ever it is going to be.

Playing Outside

2008-05-05T18:39:00.009-04:00

Since you never know what the weather is going to be in Michigan, you have to be prepared to play in the snow, the sun, or the rain. A few days ago, it rained. It didn't rain all day long, but off and on during the day. It was warm outside, so Mommy and I put on our rain coats, took off our shoes and socks and went outside and played in the rain.

There was a water puddle in our driveway that we ran thru and jumped in. I was wet all the way up to my little knees, that may be why I have sort of a stuffy nose this week.

When the sun is shinning, I put on my hat and play on my slide and swing. I am big enough now that I get to go down the slide on my own. The swing is still a little hard for me to get into. It keeps sliding back when I go to sit down, so Mommy or Daddy helps me get into it.

Here are a couple of new things that I have learned how to do. I can count to 10 all by myself. I can sing the ABC song, although I miss a few letter in the middle, and I can say my name, my full name. MAYA KATHERINE GABLE.

I am so excited about being a big sister. It is not far off now. Mommy said that we are in the window, and it could happen at any time. I like to give her tummy hugs and kisses and feel the baby move inside.

Spring

2008-04-17T21:37:00.005-04:00

This year, we went to Grandpa and Grandma's (Steve's Parents) for Easter. The whole family was there so I got to see everyone. It was warm enough outside, so we had an Easter egg hunt. We had one last year also, but I wasn't walking yet so I really couldn't do very much. This year was much better. My Grandpa and Grandma live in the country and they have a huge yard, so my little legs had to take a lot of steps to find all my eggs.

This is the side yard on the north side of the house. Mommy and me traversed all the way out here to find Easter eggs. Jessica and Taylor hid them for us. Boy, did they do a good job.

Here I am at church in front of the fire place. Mommy dressed me in my Christmas outfit, because it will most likely be the last time that I will fit into it all and they didn't get a good picture of me at Christmas time. Of course, I had to pose for the camera.

This morning I went to the baby sitters because Mommy and Daddy both had to work. Now that the weather is getting warmer, baseball and softball has started. Today we were going to Gideon's baseball game so Daddy dressed me up in my baseball cap and sunglasses. Mrs. Cindy has also started coaching softball at Noah's school so I will get to go to those games also.

Cake

2008-03-28T20:11:00.006-04:00

Mommy came back from the store today with a cake mix, so after we ate supper I got to help make the cake.

It was a Rainbow Chip Cake. The best part of making a cake is that I get to lick the beaters when we are done.

Chocate Milk

2008-03-26T14:33:00.009-04:00

I have discovered the most delicious drink ever. It is a mixture of white milk and Hersheys Chocolate Syrup. It is called chocolate milk. Mommy got me hooked it a while ago, now that is all that I want to drink. I hardly ever have plain white milk any more. Only with my cereal. It is "Chocate Mik" from now on.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. It has been really busy around here for the last several weeks. Mommy has been driving to Grand Rapids every weekend because my Grandma (Gena's Mom) has been in the hospital. She is doing much better now. Daddy and I would go with her every couple of weeks, but it is hard for a little girl like me with so much energy to be in a hospital. Although I did get to spend time with my Aunt Wellie, my Great Grandpa and Great Grandms (Steve's Grandparents), and even my PaPa and Grandma (Steve's parents) came down to spend a day with me.

Lets see, what have I been doing in the last month. About every week, it seemed that we were getting a snow storm so I would say "outside play snow" and we would bundle up and play outside until my fingers got cold. I would supervise Daddy while he was blowing the driveway off with the snowblower.

Mommy, Daddy and I sing alot. We sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Bye Bye Baby". I have been practicing my A,B,C's. I have also been practicing counting (see video below).

My vocabulary keeps growing. I have been learning all my family and friends names, and can say most of them. The multi syllable names I still have trouble with. The big new word for the last week is "O'Tay". I answer most questions with "O'tay".

In 9 more weeks I am going to become a big sister. It has gone by very fast. Mommy and Daddy are looking for another bed for me. Daddy keeps saying that he doesn't know how they will keep me in it. He thinks that I will get up and play with my toys when I am supposed to be taking a nap. He's right.

Pee-Pee/Poo-Poo

2008-02-29T09:15:00.005-05:00

Yesterday everything made sense. I got an urge, I looked at Daddy and I said Pee-Pee, and he rush me to the bathroom, remove my diaper and set me on my little potty. It was the first time that I got to use it for its intended use. It was a surprise to him. He didn't think that anything had happened until I stood up.

Another accomplishment.

Luckily for you and me there are no pictures.

Here is another update:

I didn't want to leave Mommy out of the fun, so today I said it with her. Pee-Pee, and again, I was rushed into the bathroom and sat on my little potty and guess what. I went Pee-Pee again. Mommy was soooooo excited. Then I sat back down and then guess what happened. I went Poo-Poo.

Yet another accomplishment

Sorry, but again, no pictures.

Another snow fall

2008-02-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night and Friday morning, we were supposed to have a huge snow storm. Well, like most of the winter storms that have come thru, we didn't get as much snow as we were supposed to.

We only got a couple of inches. Then the snow stopped and it warmed up a little bit. It warmed up enough to make the snow pack. So you know what that means--I got to make a SNOWMAN!!!!!

I begged Mommy to take me outside. So once again, I got bundled up in my snow boots, snow pants, coat, mittens, and hat and Mommy and I ventured outside to make this. A snowman. We were quite inventive with it. The buttons are cranberries, the necklace is beads from Christmas that I play with. The mouth is a stick that we found, and the eyes are oranges.

By the way, my vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. I can say a lot of words now. I can say, toe, apple, pop, Mommy, Daddy, home, more, baby, up, down, bye-bye, Hannah, No-No, Papa, and today was the first day that I was able to say my name, Maya. I am sure that there are more words I can say, I just can't think of them right now.

Ian Blake

2008-02-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

Here is my first younger cousin. His name is Ian Blake Harrison and he was 9lb 6oz when he was born to my Uncle Will and Aunt Heather (Gena's brother-in-law and sister). His birthday is January 25, 2008.

I got to hold the Baby!

I can also tell that we are going to get into a lot of mischeif when we get older. Then we will look at our Mommy's and Daddy's with our little sad eyes and we won't get into trouble at all.

Winter Fun

2008-01-23T22:21:00.001-05:00

Today, Mommy took me out to play in the snow. We had just enough snow to cover the grass and Mommy thought that it would be fun. She bundled me up in my boots, snow pants, winter coat, gloves, and hat. I could barely move. We went into the back yard and played.

It was a little cold, so the snow didn't pack very good. It only stuck to my mittens. But I still had fun picking it up and throwing it back on the ground.

This is my first attempt at making a snow angel. You lay on the ground and then wave your arms and legs in the snow, and when you get up. It looks like an angle. Mine didn't quite look like an angel, but it was close. It must have been because there wasn't much snow.

Christmas 2007

2008-01-21T11:39:00.000-05:00

Now that some of the excitement of becoming a big sister has settled down and I have come to grips with the fact that I will have to share my toys and Mommy and Daddy, I can catch everyone up on what happened over Christmas. As you remember at the beginning of December, we bought our Christmas tree. We had to decorate it a couple of days later, once we had more time. The picture below is the finished product. I really liked having Mommy and Daddy turn the lights on at night. They light up most of the house on the inside.

Daddy was off from work the whole week in between Christmas and New Year's. We spent everyday that we were home playing and lounging around in our pajamas. Well, I guess that I was the only one in pajamas. Here Daddy is sitting on our end table with me, Christmas morning, in front of our big window watching it snow. Mommy thought it was a good picture so she snapped a couple.

This was my Christmas dress for this year. We stayed with the red theme from last year. I got to wear it a bunch this year with all the parties that we went to. All together Mommy, Daddy, and I went to four different Christmas parties. This outfit is very nice, because I can wear any of the pieces with other things. It is not just for Christmas.

2008-01-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Daddy got this playset for Christmas. It has three square structures that are connected by round tubes that you can crawl thru. It is so much fun. I can crawl from one end the other. It is also fun to watch Mommy and Daddy try to fold it up and put it in the storage bag.

I also got alphabet refrigerator magnets. It has a little controller, that when you put the letter in it, it says the letter and the sound that it makes. It also has a button that plays the ABC song. I spend a lot of time laying in front of the refrigerator playing with the magnets.

One of the parties that we went to, was my first formal. Eric and Heather Noon have a dinner for all the kids. We all get dressed up in our Christmas outfits and eat dinner off their real plates and real silverware. All the parents serve us. We had little hot dogs wrapped in a biscuit. Smile face potatoes, and sparkling apple cider. Then after dinner, all the kids played and watched movies while the adults ate their supper. Here I am at the big party with my buddy Makenna Noon. She is the daughter of Eric and Heather. She is 6 months older than I am.

IT'S A ...................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

I have the most exciting news that I have been able to blog about. This trumped the Christmas pictures that I was going to post, those will have to come later. My life has been changing for the past 18 weeks and will continue to change for the next 22 weeks. Then the biggest change will happen. I will offically become a

BIG SISTER

Yes, I will have a little baby brother or sister.

Mommy and Daddy had their Ultrasound this morning. Everything went well and he or she is healthy. The lady said that he or she weighs 8 oz. That is really small. It has a lot of growing to do before I get to meet it.

When the nurse got to the "spot", she told Mommy and Daddy not to look if they did not want to find out what it is going to be, a boy or a girl. But, guess what..............I peeked. I know what it is!! I am the only one in my family that does know. I am not going to tell either. No matter how much they tickle me, I am not going to break. I am going to keep it a surprise.

So everybody mark May 29, 2008 on your calendar as the day that I offically get to meet this little baby.

Here is a picture that they gave us to take home. It is a good profile picture. You can see its little forehead, nose, upper lip and chin on the left. The light spot at the top is a hand, and the body is to the right.

Our Christmas Tree

2007-12-12T23:16:00.000-05:00

Sunday evening, we made our second annual trip to the Christmas Tree store. It really isn't a store, it is an empty parking lot around the corner from my house where they sell Christmas Trees. They bring the trees down here from way up north. The tree in this picture, isn't the exact one they we purchased, but it is the same color and shape as the one we bought. Last year, we Mommy and Daddy decided to get a White Pine. It had soft needs that didn't hurt at all. This year, they were adventure some and poky one.

Mommy and Daddy said that when I get older and can walk around better, that we will make a tradition of going to a tree farm and cutting our own Christmas Tree. That will have to wait for a few years, because little legs get tired easily.

I liked playing in rows of trees. They were so tall, and they kept poking me when I got close to them. We picked our Christmas Tree and took it home. We put it up that night, but just ran out of time to decorate it. I think that we will do it tomorrow night.

Now about this date that I told you about. It is going to change history as we know it. Nothing will be the same. New concepts will be introduced. Some may be easy to accept and some may be hard to accept, but they will be introduced non the less. Things in the this blog may even change, but I haven't decided how yet. We will have to see how everything plays out.

Catching up on Fall

2007-12-12T23:08:00.001-05:00

This is the tree outside our kitchen window. It is a big maple tree with a bazillion leaves on it. It was one of the last trees on our street to loose its leaves. These pictures were taken just before Thanksgiving.

This year, I had to help pick up the leaves. We picked up 11 bags full just like this one. First we had to rake them into a pile, and then put them in these bags to be picked up.

I found this stick in the pile, so I thought that I would play with it while Daddy picked up the leaves.

It was a little chilly out that day. Can you see my little nose? It is all red. We did take several breaks to go back inside and get warmed up. It wasn't that cold, as long as you stayed in the sun.

Papa and Grandma

2007-11-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

OK, I am really late with this one, but everything was so close together that I thought I would just combine them. This is my Papa (Steve's Dad). He had a birthday earlier in November. Before Daddy called him on his birthday, we practiced saying " Hi" and "Papa". When he answered the phone, Daddy gave me a little coaching and I said "Hi, Papa". Papa and Grandma live way up north. It is two hours from my house, so I don't get to see them that often. Fortunately, I have seen them several times in the last few weeks. We met them in Howell, home of the Honey Sweet Melon, for supper a couple of days before his birthday.

Then Thanksgiving was a couple of weeks after that, and we traveled all the way to Middleton for the holiday. The day after Thanksgiving, Papa, Grandma, Aunt Wellie, Jessica, Makenna, and Taylor came down to Detroit to see a football game. They were only 15 minutes away, so they stopped in after the game for lunch, and I got to see them again. Then a few days after that, it was my Grandma's birthday. Unfortunately "Grandma" is sort of a hard word to get out of my little mouth, so I could only hug and kiss the phone when Daddy called her.

I can't wait until I am old enough to stay with them. Then I can go to the bakery with Papa and eat donuts and bake cookies with Grandma in her kitchen.

And wouldn't you know it. In a few more days, it is going to be there 40th wedding anniversary. That is why I waited until now to let you all know what was happening. My little fingers get tired doing all this typing so it would have been nearly impossible for me to split it up into that many entries.

Lets see, what else has been happening over the last month.

I am the master at Hide and Go Seek. I fit into the best hiding places. It doesn't matter if it is dark, with the lights off, or the lights are on. I stay really still and I don't say a word to give my position out. Mommy and Daddy look all over the house for me. Daddy says that they are going to be in trouble when they really need to find me.

I do have a couple more teeth. I think my total is up to 9 now.

I help around the house. I like to help load the cloths dryer, Mommy and Daddy put the wet cloths on the door and then I push them into the dryer. I help unload the clean dishes out of the dish washer. I only sample a few of the utensils to make sure that they are clean. I also help with picking up my toys and putting laundry away. This is all with help from Mommy and Daddy.

I have added a few more words to my vocabulary and a few more animal noises and gestures from "My Big Animals Book", and also a few more signs. I regularly sign "please" now, and I mess with Daddy all the time by calling him Mom.

Here is a date to keep in the back of your minds May 29, 2008.

Halloween Fun

2007-11-08T19:25:00.000-05:00

I know that I am a little late with this, but I have been busy. It is hard playing all day. You just run out of time to do the little things. Like keep all my readers informed of what has been going on.

This handsome fella is my buddy Collin. He is about 9 months younger than I am. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Megan dressed him up as a pumpkin for Halloween. We went to visit him and ate supper there. We took lots of pictures and played with his toys while people came to their house for candy.

I got to be this pretty flower for Halloween. I am not sure what kind of flower that I am, but I sure am cute. I didn't exactly go trick-or-treating. I can't eat the candy, and Daddy said that they don't need it either. I did go to a few friends' houses where I got Teddy Grahams and Animal Crackers. That was perfect for a little flower like me.

It was a wonderful day. Since it was so warm, we went out in Collin's front yard and took some pictures. We did a lot of laughing and giggling. He can only sit up. He can't walk yet, so we just sat in the yard and played with the leaves that had fallen from his tree.

After we took all our pictures and ate supper, we went and met up with some other friends and walked around for a while. Boy was I exhausted when we were done. It didn't take long before I fell asleep in the car on the way home. What an exhausting evening.

This is the "My Big Animal Book" that I was telling you about. It is my favorite book. It is full of animals. We have to look at it at least once a day. It is very educational. I have learned what a Macaw sounds like. It says "Caw, Caw." Whenever Mommy asks me what the Macaw says, I answer her with "Caw, Caw."

Uncle Chris

2007-10-31T22:18:00.000-04:00

Today is my Uncle Chris's (Daddy's brother) birthday. He is 2 years older than Daddy. He is married to Aunt Sarah. Between the two of them, they have 4 girls. They are all older than I am, but at this point, they are the only cousins that I have. Unfortunately, they live a long way away, so I don't get to see them very much. They live close to where my Grandpa and Grandma live, so when we go visit, we always stop by. Sometimes, we even spend the night at their house. It is so much fun. I am always up late when we stay there. And in the morning, Uncle Chris cooks breakfast for us all.

They live in a big house in the country with a huge yard. They have rabbits, that weigh as much as I do! They have chickens, and I even got to see a baby turkey the last time I was up there. They even have deer that come into their yard, but you have to get up early in the morning to see them. I usually miss them because I am sleeping.

Someday, when I am older, I will get to stay with them all by myself. I am really looking forward to that. We will get to do all the fun things that you can't do living in the city.

Uncle Chris also has three cats. I like to chase them around their house. That is the only time that I have seen a cat. Now whenever I look at "My big animal book" and see the picture of the cat, or even the kittens, I give them a big kiss.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Uncle Chris, see you soon.

Fall

2007-10-26T12:26:00.000-04:00

The weather has started to turn cold here in Michigan, and as many of you know, that means pumpkins, cider mills, apples, and warm clothes. Last weekend I had an opportunity to take my first trip to a cider mill. I really didn't know what a cider mill was. I heard Mommy and Daddy talking about one by Grandma and Grandpa's house, but I still didn't understand what really happens at a cider mill. Boy was I surprised.

This is a picture of my friend Kassie. She lives in the Chicago area and her and Yishe, a family friend of Mommy's, made the trip to Detroit for the weekend. This is the first time that I had met them. We played alot. Kassie taught me how to twirl, and we read books, and played with stuffed animals and ran around the house. On Saturday, we went a Cider Mill in Plymouth. The first thing that we did was go on a wagon ride. It was a very nice ride thru the apple orchard and then we stopped at an area where they had pumpkins laid out for people to buy. Mommy bought me a pumpkin earlier, so we didn't buy any, but Kassie did.

At the Cider Mill, there was a small petting farm, where they had lots of little animals to look at. They had goats and Alpaca's, pigs, ducks, and chickens. I had seen chickens before at Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah's, but the other animals I had only seen my my "Big Animals Book". It was really neat to see them in real life.

They also had these big cutout of different things that you could stick your head in. Kassie and I decided to put our heads in the flower and bee cut out. That is me in the bee cutout. Before we left, we went into the building and Mommy bought some apples and donuts, and Daddy got some caramel corn. They also bought a gallon of apple cider. Now I have had apple sauce before and I have had apple juice before, but this apple cider stuff is the best. I drank alot of it over the next couple of days. Not only is it a delicious beverage, but it also keeps me regular, which I sort of have a problem with when I eat a lot of cheese.

I was also at the doctor's recently. I weigh 24 lbs and I am about 30 something inches long. The doctor had a hard time measuring me because that crinkly paper they put on the bed kept scaring me. I am also starting to get more teeth. My molars are coming in. Those really hurt. Other than that, I am as healthy as a horse.

Back to School

2007-09-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

Last week it was back to school time. Not for me, but for both Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy went back to college for his fall classes. It was so nice to have him home after work for a whole month. His schedule is a little nicer this semester. He only has to go to school two nights a week instead of 4 nights, which was his normal schedule.

Mommy is also back to school. She is teaching in Livonia again. It is not the same school as last year, but still in the same school district. She is working two days a week, and then on the opposite nights that Daddy goes to school, Mommy is taking college classes. She has to take them so she can renew her teaching license. She is taking Spanish classes so she is always talking to me in Spanish, which also works well since our neighbor is from Peru and only speaks Spanish.

For me, it is back to Mr. Steve and Mrs. Cindy's. They watch me when Mommy and Daddy are working. I also get to play with Hannah, Gideon, and Noah while I am there. They are Mr. Steve and Mrs. Cindy's three children. They are all in school (high school or middle school), but we play when they get home. They are a lot of fun. They are always making me laugh. Their whole family are big sports fans so sometimes I get to go to games or practices and Mommy picks me up there.

Hey Mrs. Cindy............."Who's your Tiger".

Last year when Mr. Steve would get home from work, we would sit on the porch swing and rock back and forth until Mommy or Daddy came to pick me up. I am hoping that if the weather is nice that we can do that again.

I have also found a different form of communication. It is called sign language. My vocabulary is not that large yet, but I have the essentials down. I know the signs for "more", "hungry"(which Mommy and Daddy changed to make it a little easier for me, I just tap on my tummy), I used to do "all done," then I forgot, but now I am doing it again. And I can also do "yes", although it looks very much like I am waving "bye--bye". But hey, I get the point across.

My First Birthday Party

2007-08-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

The Saturday after my birthday, Mommy and Daddy had a birthday party for me. It was really fun. Most of my family was able to come all the way down to Southgate for this special occasion. We also had some friends over too. We had hamburgers, potato salad and coleslaw, vegetables, and chips. It was such a nice day outside that we were able to spend the whole time out on the lawn.

I got some very nice gifts for my birthday. I got clothes, beach balls, and a new pair of tennis shoes. I also got a slide and swing, and a lot of cool new toys. Here is one my new toys. It is a Jeep Hurricane powerwheels. It is fun to ride around in. My legs aren't quite long enough to reach the pedals so my buddy Jordan would push on the gas for me. Later on in the day, I was sitting in the passenger seat and I let someone else drive.

This was my first birthday cake. It was all my favorite colors. We got it from a store around the corner from our house. I guess that it was good, I didn't get any of this one.

Mommy made me my very own special cake. It was a cake that nobody else could have, only me. It was white with pink cherry frosting. At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. When ever I start smashing my food between my fingers or throwing it on the floor, I always get told "NO!!!" Now they want me to do this. Being a child is very confusing.

Fortunately my Aunt Wellie showed me what to do. She took some of the frosting and wiped it on my face. After that, I would grab hand fulls of the cake and squish it between my fingers. There was nothing left of the cake when I got done with it.

2007-08-12T13:56:00.000-04:00

Now the fun didn't stop after my birthday party in Southgate was over. A couple of weeks later, Grandma Lisa had a BBQ for me at her house. She wasn't able to make it down to my house, because she had several other commitments she had to attend. My Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah weren't able to come down either, so we left on Friday night and stayed until Saturday moring with them. I had lots of fun there with my cousins. They showed me their garden, and I got to pet a wild baby turkey, and a rooster chicken. In the morning, Uncle Chris made breakfast for everyone. They also have three cats that I chased around.

Grandma Lisa has a pool and since I love going in the water, I had to go swimming. Here Aunt Heather and I are squirting each other with water. Uncle Will and Aunt Heather weren't able to make it down for my birthday party either. They were either out of the state, or out of the country on prior engagements. It was nice to see them at the BBQ. Aunt Heather is also expecting. She is due in late January or early February. I can never keep it straight. This will be my first cousin that is younger than me.

Grandma Lisa got me a very pretty Pink and Purple tricycle. It is just my size, but after a long day of swimming and eating and playing, I crashed just as we were getting ready to go. Mommy and Daddy were loading up the van and Grandma Lisa was trying to put on my shoes, but I fell asleep as soon as she set me up on her knee.

Pure Michigan

2007-07-19T23:15:00.000-04:00

I was riding in the van one day with Mommy and Daddy and heard a commercial on the radio. It was a guy that was talking about all the wonderful things that a person can do and see in our great state of Michigan. At the end of the commercial, he concluded with the words "Pure Michigan". I was fortunate enough to experience "Pure Michigan" for a whole week recently.

We went camping at Straits State Park in St. Ignace Michigan. All you Michigan folk probably know where St. Ignace is. If you don't, it is located on the north side of the Mackinac or Mackinaw Bridge. The spelling depends on if you are from the Upper Peninsula (ac) or the Lower Peninsula (aw).

This is where I took up residence from Monday July 9 to Sunday July 15. This is our tent. It is quite a large tent. It is big enough for Mommy, Daddy, and me to sleep in and still have enough room for our clothes, food and toys.

Our campsite at the campground was as close the water as you could get. This was the view from outside our tent. Ok, we had to go on the other side of a small line of trees in order to see this majestic view. It was perfect. Uncle Tracey called it "breathtaking" when they arrived. This is the Mackinaw Bridge. It is 5 miles long and will be 50 years old this year.

After we set up our tent and got everything organized. Mommy and Daddy took me swimming. The water was COLD. Uncle Tracey said the average temperature of Lake Huron was in the 60's. Mommy defied the cold water and took me in anyway. I LOVED IT!!! At first I wasn't too sure about it. I hadn't had much experience with water, except for taking baths. I loved splashing around in it. When Mommy and Daddy noticed that my lips and cheeks were a slight shade of blue, they decided that it was time to get warmed up, so they dried me off and wrapped me in a warm towel.

2007-07-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

The first full day of our vacation, we went to the beach. There wasn't a very good beach at the campground, so we loaded everyone into the van and took off down the road for about 20 minutes and found a beach that ran for what seemed like miles along Lake Michigan. Here I am in my beach garb. The yellow thing under my jacket is my swimming suit. It was a little chilly for me so Mommy dressed me in my hoody jacket and my capris.

This is my buddy Anthony. He is 4 years old. We had fun playing in the sand and trying to catch bugs with his butterfly net. I think that he actually caught something in it. He was also a master at scaring the seagulls away at the campground. Whenever I was feeling sad, Anthony and Christian would make a funny face at me and make me smile.

Here is Uncle Tracey and Aunt Michelle, well at least the back of them. After we ate lunch and Daddy and Uncle Tracey did a little swimming in the cold waters of Lake Michigan, Uncle Tracey and Aunt Michelle "hunkered down" on their beach chairs and listened to a little music. As you can see in the back ground, it was cloudy, but it was warm. We also took the canopy that Grandma got Mommy and Daddy for Christmas one year. It was a wonderful thing to have. We even put the removable side up and stayed out of the wind and played in the sand for most of the day.

2007-07-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, we headed to Tahquamenon Falls. It was about a 1.5 hour nap for me. We left in the middle of the morning and arrived there just after lunch. We had to stop in Paradise and everyone dipped their toes into Lake Superior, except for me, because I was sleeping.

After we ate lunch, we hiked to the Upper Falls. It was quite a long distance to get back to the falls, so Mommy and Daddy front packed me for a while.

After we saw the Upper Falls and did a little hiking, we went to the Lower Falls. This time, I got to ride in style in the backpack. Do you know how easy it is to hike when you are riding around in a backpack? It was no trouble for me at all. I stayed right behind Mommy the whole time. I thought I did a good job of keeping up with her.

Part of the day on Thursday, we explored St. Ignace. It was sort of a relaxing day for us. Again the weather was sort of gloomy, but it didn't rain until we were on our way back to the campground. We explored some of the shops and then went to the park to eat lunch. Daddy took this picture of me and my Mommy with the light house in the background.

There was a playground at the park that we ate lunch at. Christan and Anthony were playing on slides and crawling up the bars. I spent my time walking around and taking in the sights, although every once in a while I would peek over at them to see how much fun they were having.

2007-07-19T15:09:00.000-04:00

Friday was our trip into Mackinac City. We spent most of the day wandering around the shops and eating Ice Cream. I had a raspberry sorbet. It was yummy. We darted in and out of the fudge shops, popcorn shops, and of course the had to hit the kite store. It was Mommy's favorite store. For lunch we went to the park to eat. It was right on the water and we had a wonderful view of the bridge and the water.

This is my other buddy Christian. He spent a lot of time riding his bike around the campground with the friends that he made. They were doing all the things that boys do. Most every morning, Christian would accompany Daddy and Uncle Tracey on a coffee run to the local gas station.

Saturday morning, we woke up and it was quite cold and rainy. We decided to have a hot breakfast, so we went out for breakfast and then headed north to Sault Saint Marie. It didn't make much sense to me to head north when it was so cold, but nobody asked my opinion so we went anyway. When we arrived at "The Soo", it felt warm. There was hardly a breeze and the rain had stopped to just a small drizzle, one of those drizzles where you really don't get wet. We arrived about 20 minutes before two boats were scheduled to go thru the locks. One boat was going upbound to Lake Superior, while the second boat was going down bound to the St. Mary's River. It was really fun to see the boats get raised and lowered. They are really really big when you are that close to them. But why to they have to blow their horns where they exit the lock? Do they think that we can't see them? It was really loud and it scared me.

Sunday morning came and the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was definitely one of the better days that we had there. So instead of wasting the sunshine driving the 5 hours back to Southeast Michigan, we decided to pack up our camping stuff and head to the beach for a final swim. The Lake Michigan water was still cold, but that didn't stop me from wanting to play in it. I loved splashing around in the waves.

So to recap our busy week of vacation, I got to see three of the 5 Great Lakes and dip my toes in 2 of them, the Mackinac/Mackinaw Bridge, the Soo Locks, and I got to play in the sand on the beach for the first time, all in 7 days. I also got to experience the camping lifestyle--drinking cool bottles in the morning, sleeping in a tent and enjoying a nice warm campfire at night.

One Year Old

2007-07-17T22:00:00.001-04:00

Today, I turned 1 year old. My birthday was officially at 10:09 pm. Wow, what a year it has been. I have taken tremendous steps in my development. When I was first born, I slept, I ate, and I, you know, all the time. I really couldn't move much. I would just lay in my Mommy and Daddy's arms just waiting for the day that I could smile at them. Then that day came a few weeks later and I had to set another goal, and then another goal, and then another goal.

Right around six months old, I was able to sit up on my own. It wasn't hard at all when I finally figured out how to do it. Next came crawling. Now this one took a little bit of work. I would get my self up on my hands and knees and sort of rock back and forth for a while. It was hard to get all my muscles working in the proper order to actually crawl. Then one day, I took off across the living room floor. Finally some independence. I was able to crawl to where I wanted to go and the toys that I wanted to play with.

My next big challenge was walking, but first I had to be able to stand up on my own. I sort of surprised Mommy and Daddy with this one. They weren't paying attention one day and I was standing in the middle of the living room. It was soon after that, that I took my first step. It was in the bedroom as you recall. I took about three steps and landed in Mommy's arm. What a safe place to be. Since then, I haven't stopped. I have logged many miles walking thru the house.

All this has taken me to today. July 17, 2007, and my first birthday. The day started out like all the other days. First it was getting up and eating some breakfast. Then Mommy took me shopping. We had to buy me a new pair of shoes, because we can't find my other shoes since the camping trip, which I will post about later this week. So we called Daddy to have lunch with him. Luckily he wasn't busy. After lunch. I entertained Daddy's co-workers for a while, and then it was off to another store. Once we got home I took a nap. Before long Daddy was home from work and it was off to Mr. Steve and Mrs. Cindy's house for Gideon's eighth grade graduation party. Mrs. Cindy babysits me while Mommy is working two days a week. It is my home away from home. Once we got back to the house, it was time to open presents. I got lots of toys. Mommy, Daddy, and I played with the toys the rest of the night, until I had to go to bed. But stay tuned because Saturday is the big party. My first birthday party. I will have lots of pictures. Mommy even said that I get my own cake to tear into at the party.

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

Hey Daddy! Happy Father's Day! Boy, I thought Mommy and I were never going to be able to do this without you knowing! We've got to hurry, though, 'cuz I want you to see this when we get home from church tonight!

Mommy isn't quite as good at this blogging this as you are, Dad, so bear with me. I just thought you might like it if I put a few new pics up for you to enjoy. When we told another daddy about our blog surprise for you, he said that I should let mommy be in some pictures with me. I guess I'll share my space, 'cuz I know that mommy loves you very much too.

Me and My Daddy

2007-06-17T16:59:00.000-04:00

Well, like I said, Dad--Mom isn't the greatest blogger. But, we did manage to get a few of our special moments on here. Remember that day that we were by the sliding glass window and the sun was so bright? You saved the day with those new sunglasses!

Boy, those glasses sure helped. And I think I look kind of like that funny movie guy you like to watch...

Here we are, enjoying our carrots together. Now that I've got 6--count 'em, 6!!!! teeth, I can actually eat these things instead of just gumming on them! No wonder you like them so much! I like the fat carrots, just like you Daddy.

I sure do like it when you give me a bath, Dad! Mom does it the same way all the time, and she doesn't let me stand up in the tub like you do! I have such a fun daddy.

Easter pics (a little late)

2007-06-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Hey, Daddy! Here I am again! Mommy thought you might like to see some pictures of me in my cute Easter dress. I picked this one because I LOVE smiling at you because you are the best!!!

For all of you who don't know, my dad is the most awesome daddy in the whole entire world!!! He does all kinds of cool stuff with me. Remember this phone, Dad? He used to let me play with it all the time. I loved those lights and beeping sounds!! One day he let me play with it for a really long time (of course, it was in my mouth the whole time) and when Mommy tried to call him, she couldn't hear him. I heard them talking later about microphone not working.

Hmm, that's funny. Our mouths are really wet all the time, but we can still talk okay. Why doesn't the phone work when IT'S wet?

Here's me and my Dad. Sometimes Mom gets a little camera-crazy with me, so it's nice when Daddy comes along and takes some of the heat with me. It can be a regular paparazzi-alley when Mom puts her mind to it! I don't envy all those famous people.

Here I am Walking.

2007-06-03T22:53:00.000-04:00

2007-06-03T22:43:00.000-04:00

Here is a short video of me walking around. For the last couple of days(since Friday June 1), this is all that I have been doing. I walk from the kitchen, around the island to the dining room, over to the piano and then back down the hallway to the bedroom and then to the living room. I can make the transition from carpet to hardwood like it wasn't there. It has become my favorite mode of transportation. Although, if I need to make a quick getaway, I still get on all fours and crawl.

A Night on the Town

2007-06-03T22:41:00.000-04:00

One Friday evening, Mommy and Daddy decided to go for ice cream. There is a Stroh's Ice Cream Shop in a town nearby that Daddy likes to go to. It was about 7:30pm when we finally left for the ice cream shop. It isn't to far away, so I thought that I would get a little shut eye before we got there. The truth is, I was really tired and fell asleep on the ride over. I slept while Mommy and Daddy ate ice cream and I didn't wake up until they were walking along the river. Then Mommy took quite a few pictures of me in my stroller. I will post them further down so everyone can see me.

When we were on our way back to the van, Mr. Bob and Mrs. Judy drove by. So Mommy and Daddy had coffee with them and we walked down to river again. This time, I stayed awake. This is a picture of me and Mr. Bob. They go to the same church that we go to. We sat on a bench and talked for a while and then strolled along the river and finally back the where we parked.

A few days later, it was back to Wayndotte to guess where......The Stroh's Ice Cream Shop. This time it was with Uncle Tracey and Aunt Michelle. Mommy and Daddy had ice cream again and Daddy even gave me a little. It was really cold. He had Mackinac Island Fudge in a waffle cone. I didn't get any of the waffle cone, but the ice cream sure was good. I think that we will be making many trips to the ice cream shop in the future.

In the park next to the river where we walked a couple of nights before. There is a little playground. While Christian and Anthony (Uncle Tracey and Aunt Michelle's boys) were playing, Mommy took me down the slide. It was really fun. It made my little tummy feel all funny. Like there were little butterfly's inside me.

By the way, Rooffuss came thru his surgery with flying colors. His seam is fixed, now I can't put his stuffing in my mouth.

Pictures of Me

2007-06-03T22:15:00.000-04:00

These are just some recent pictures that Mommy took while in my stoller.

Happy Birthday Aunt Wellie!!!!!!!!

2007-05-17T14:52:00.000-04:00

Today is my Aunt Wellie's birthday. She is.........Um........Um......Well, I am not sure how old she is. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count that high. She lives all the way on the other side of the state. It is a 2 1/2 hour nap for me to travel over there. Unfortunately I don't get to see her very often. But, when we do get together, we have a lot of fun. The first time that I met her, she came to my house to see me. I was only weeks old. Then, Mommy and Daddy drove to Lake City for a "Weekend at the Cottage" with all my cousins and her. I was only 6 weeks old at that point so I don't remember very much. I have visited her in Grand Rapids and she gave me a tour of her house, and the building where she works.

Aunt Wellie works for Urban Family Ministries http://www.urbanfamilyministries.com/. She helps inner city kids realize that their future is shaped by the decisions that they make at this point in their lives. She is a mentor to many kids. She is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. About the only time that she has to herself is when she comes to Detroit to see me (because she turns off her cell phone), or goes to the beach (which sometimes takes kids with her). She lives by a creed, which I am sure that many have heard:

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."

This is proven out by what she does with the kids. It is not uncommon for her to bring many of the kids to Grandpa and Gramdma's (Steve's Dad and Mom's) for certain holidays or just for a visit. The picture above is from Easter (which actually took place the week after).

On Sundays she has lots of them over for Breakfast, as you can see from the photo above. Some of them have to walk a long way to get there, but they still come because they like hanging out at her place. Then it is off to church with all of them.

Aunt Wellie also mantains her own blog, ( http://www.hoodmama.blogspot.com/), which she posts many pictures of what she does with the kids. She has everything on it from trips to the farm, to master gardening classes, to just having fun with a garden hose on a hot spring day.

I find it hard to write down the difference that she is making in these kids lives. I am sure that they don't realize what is happening. But someday down the road they will see how important you where/are to them and they will thank-you for it. They many never tell you directly and the thank-you may come in a different form, but the thank-you will definately be there.

So, I wish you a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and I look forward to the times that we can spend together over the coming years.

A Major Step Forward

2007-05-11T08:12:00.000-04:00

Last night I took a major step forward in my development as a little girl. NO, literally I took 3 steps forward. It was the coolest thing that I have done. Here is how it happened. Dad had just gotten home from work and was sitting on his bed. Mom was sitting on the floor next to the bed about 2 1/2 feet away. Out of arms reach for me. I crawled into the bedroom and pulled myself up on next to the bed where I was holding on. I looked at Dad, I looked at Mom, and then I let go of the bed. There I was standing all by myself (which is also another thing that I have been doing for about a week) in the open air. Then, I did it. I took my right foot and moved it forward. Next, I took my left foot and moved it forward. Finally, I took my right foot and moved it forward again and finally fell into Mommy's arms (Thursday May 10, 2007). What a great place to be. Mommy and Daddy went nuts. They were so surprised. I new I could do it, I have been practicing when they weren't looking.

Now, I have to be honest with everyone. Technically this was not my first steps, but it was my first steps without being coaxed. Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sheri were over for supper one night (Tuesday May 1 2007), and Uncle Jerry was dangling his bracelet in front of me. And everyone knows that you can't dangle anything shiny in front of a little kid without them going for it. So I went for it. I took one step, but that was all that I could do.

But last night was the first time that I did it on my own. I had in my mind a place to go and I went for it. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of it. I caught Mommy and Daddy by surprise.

Lets see, what else has been going on. It has been warm enough lately that I have only been sleeping in my diaper. Mommy and Daddy got new windows in the house, these even have screens, so they can open the windows without having bugs come in. Daddy says that I am eating like a horse. Rooffuss (see post below) is doing very well, although he has to go in for surgery. His seam is coming apart. I think that is about it. I will try to get some pictures of me standing up all by myself to post next time.

My buddy Olivia turned 1 year old recently so I would like to wish her a happy birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!!!!!

9 Months Old

2007-04-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

On April 17th, I became 9 months old. To this point in time, I can safely say that I have mastered crawling on my hands and knees. I can stand up by myself, if I have something to hold onto. I can also walk if I am holding onto a solid object that doesn't move. I am also starting to test my balance. I will hold on to an object, stand up, and then take my hands off the object for only a few seconds. Then I get scared and grab on again. I am not sure if you can count it as my first words, but I say Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma and Da-Da-Da-Da-Da all the time, maybe this last one is more of my first syllables.

This past Wednesday, I had another doctors appointment. This time I only had to get one shot. I weight 20 lbs and 6 oz and I am 29 1/2 inches tall. The doctor said that I am very healthy.

The food at this stage of life is definitely changing. Not only am I drinking formula and eating the normal baby fruits and vegetables, but Mommy and Daddy also lets me try some of thier food. I have been known to eat a dinner roll at one sitting. I am also eating Cheerios, applesauce, some sort of meat and vegetables that come in a baby jar, real bananas, mandarin oranges and once in a while Mommy will grind up whatever they had for supper and feed me it the next day.

This is my stuffed dog Rooffuss. I like to play with him. He is so soft. Grandma (Gena's Mom) got if for me when I was first born. At first, I didn't like him very much, but as I got older I have started to really enjoy him. As you can see I like to jump on him and bury my face into his soft fur.

I also like to wrestle with him. He is becoming less and less competition all the time. I guess that I am just getting stronger. TAKE THAT!!!!!!!! In the end, he sees things my way and I win.

My Special Visitors

2007-04-16T21:45:00.000-04:00

Last week we had a special visitor stay at our house. It was Aunt Monika and Olivia. This was the first time that I met either one of them, but I hear Mommy and Daddy talk about them all the time. Uncle Dave and Aunt Monika (Mommy and Daddy's friends) are missionaries to Costa Rica. As luck would have it, they left the same day that I was born. This was Aunt Monika's first trip back. Uncle Dave, Aidan and Abby, their two other children, stayed behind. Hopefully they will be able to visit soon. I am very excited to meet them. I log onto their family blog to see everything that is happening down there.

This is Olivia, she is my Costa Rican buddy. She will be 1 year old this month. We had a lot of fun together while they were here. We played with my toys and crawled around on the floor. My favorite thing was when Mommy got done feeding me and Olivia pushed me around the kitchen in my high chair. It was good team work.

Even though I am younger, I was still able to show Olivia how I play at our front window. It is a really big window and it is close to the floor, so I can look out it. I like to pull myself up on it and bang on it. It is especially fun when walkers go by on the sidewalk.

Crawling

2007-03-20T22:22:00.000-04:00

2007-03-20T22:21:00.000-04:00

Here is another short video. Hopefully everyone can see this one also.
This video is of me crawling across my living room carpet. Sorry for
the audio in the background, Momma was making supper.

Mommy and Daddy also discovered another tooth. It is right next the one that
is already in. That makes 2 teeth. Daddy tried to get a picture of it,
but I wouldn't hold my head still long enough. We will wait until the
teeth come in better and then I will post another picture of them.

My First Tooth

2007-03-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

This is the major break thru from my last post. I have my first tooth. You can see it just to the left of center on the bottom. It popped through the last week of February. Mommy and Daddy took a picture of it March 1st, but you couldn't see it very well. So I had to wait until I could get a good picture of it before I posted more. Getting my first tooth was quite easy. I wasn't fussy at all. I do drool more but so far it doesn't bother me.

Another great thing happened just today. I officially crawled for the first time. In the last couple of weeks, I have only taken a few strides and then laid on my belly until someone picked me up. Today I crawled from the center of the living room to the swing and then over to the window and then to the dining room. WOW it was a long way. When Mommy got home, I had to show off my new found mobility for her. She was very surprised. It won't be long and I will be following her all over the house.

I Am Getting Stronger

2007-03-08T19:24:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I am finally getting strong enough to lift my whole body in the air. I have figured out that I can dig my little toes into the carpet and get my hands under me and lift my butt way up in the air.
Since I am getting stronger, I also have been able to get up on my hands and knees. I haven't quite got the hang of moving my arms and legs in the same direction in order to crawl. I sort of go from this position to my belly and then back to this position again. It takes a while to get to where I am going. But I have found that I can move better in reverse than I can in forward.

Check back soon for another major break thru.

Six Month Pictures

2007-03-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

Here is my Mommy, me, and my Daddy. This is one of our six month family pictures that Aunt Sheri (Mommy and Daddy's friend) took. We had a lot of fun taking the pictures. I was a little tired, because as you know you never can tell when a baby is going to take a nap. Unfortunately it was about the time the pictures were supposed to start. But Aunt Sheri was so much fun that she kept me awake. We did take a little break for a while, which gave me some time to rest. Taking pictures is a lot of work, especially when you are so little.

In this picture, I was in the dress that my Great Aunt Esther got me. Don't worry Aunt Esther, Mommy and Daddy are planning on getting one of the pictures made for you and Uncle Pat. That way I might be able to nudge my way onto your kitchen window sill.

I know that in most of the pictures that I have blogged, I am smiling. I thought that I would add this picture to show my more serious side. I am not always fun and games. I do get serious around nap times, feeding times, and wet diaper times.

But who can be serious when you are having so much fun. The white cloud looking thing on my
feet is actually a feather boa. This was the same one that I used in some pictures when I was 2 weeks old.

Hey Aunt Mindy, this is a good shot of my Popeye arms.

Every little girl needs to have a picture taken in a white wicker chair. Although my feet barely
reach over the edge of the seat, I wasn't going to fall off. I had a hold of the arm.

Below are some more of my pictures. In these pictures, I was just chill'n in the pot. These pictures are Mommy's favorite.

2007-03-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T15:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Mommy took this picture of me the other day. I was dressed up in an outfit that Mommy's friend Bree got me. It was my first Valentine's day outfit.

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Not much has really happened. I had a visit from my Aunt Mindy and Grandma Lisa over the weekend. This was the first time that Grandma Lisa has been to our house. They came early in the morning and stayed until late at night on Saturday. It was very nice to have visitors. Grandma Lisa fed me and played with me while I was awake.

Lets see what has happened in the last month. Well, first of all Mommy had a conference to go to in Grand Rapids. We all went over the night before and stayed with Uncle Will and Aunt Heather. Then the next morning after Mommy was dropped off at her conference, Daddy and I went to see Aunt Wellie. We met her at her work. She works with inner city kids in Grand Rapids. She helps them realize that there is more to life then what they normally see. I got to meet some of her co-workers. Then we got a tour of their new office building. It was really nice. I also got to see Miss Kali while I was there. She knows my Mommy and Daddy from when they lived by my Grandpa and Grandma in Middleton.

After the tour we went out to eat lunch and then back to Aunt Wellie's house to see her animals. She has a rabbit, hermit crabs, a bird, and she just got two turtles the night before I was there.

We then traveled to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's house in the afternoon. We couldn't go there in the morning because Great Grandma was at her Jolly Sixty's Group although she is in her Eighties. I am just too young to figure that one out. We stayed there until after Mommy was done with her conference and had supper with them, then on our way home, we stopped in Lansing to Aunt Mindy's soccer game and Grandma (Gena's mom) was there. So I got to see 80% of my family in one day.

I am almost at the point of crawling. This is about as far as I can get. I just can't seem to get that darn leg under my butt. It always seems to stay under my tummy. Once I leaned a little too far forward and landed on my nose. That wasn't fun. I don't know how all you big people walk on those things. I prefer to stay like this, that way Mommy and Daddy have to carry me everyplace that I go.

I have been able to perfect the backwards push and multiple rollover to get to where I want to go.

Other than that everything else have been about the same. I still don't like Peas. Green beans has become a staple in my diet along with rice and oatmeal cereal. I did get to try some squash last night. That was good. Bananas and carrots have also been added along with this thing called dessert. Wow is that good, although it comes at the end of the meal when I am almost full. Mommy and Daddy have been feeding me a banana apple desert.

Aunt Sheri (family friend) did take my six month pictures. Mommy and Daddy are picking some out to send to family and friends. I will post of few on my blog just like I did the pictures after I was born that she took. You may have noticed that my profile picture had changed. This was one of the pictures from Aunt Sheri. I figured that since I am almost seven months old that I should change my picture. I am a BIG girl now!

Six Months

2007-01-18T16:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my six month birthday. And yes, I had to go to the doctor, and yes, I had to get 4 shots, and yes Mom almost cried again. My weight is 17 lbs and I am 26 in long. I have dropped from the 90th percentile to the 70th percentile in both weight and length. The doctor was not concerned even though they would like to see me stay at the 90th percentile range since that is where I started. I have another appointment in 4 weeks to get weighed again. Can't be to careful, the doctor just wants to make sure that my weight is not dropping more.

Why are all the grown ups trying to loose weight, but when I do it, it is this major thing and I have to go back to the doctor just to make sure.

Here is what has been happening since Christmas. I can sit on the floor all by myself. I still can not go from a laying down position to a sitting position, but if Mommy or Daddy sit me on my butt, I can sit there without falling over. Although in the last couple of weeks I have been getting a little braver and reaching for toys out past my feet, then I get a little out of balance and fall over, I guess I am still a little top heavy. One good thing from falling over, is that I have found some new ways to move around. If I am on my stomach, I can push backwards with my arms and move backwards. Although this usaually takes me away from the toy sthat I am trying to get. I haven't been able to master the ability to crawl yet. I can get my upper body in the air by pushing with my arms and hands, and I can also get my butt up in the air with my legs and knees, but I haven't been able to get both halfs of my body in the air together.

I have also learned how to spin around on my belly button. One day Mommy with talking with Aunt Mindy on the phone I spun around 2 & 1/2 times all by my self. This doesn't get me very far. Seems like I just go around in circles, but it is alot better than laying on my back staring at the ceiling.

I am just starting to learn that if I roll over more than once, then I can move a long distance really fast. Well, really fast compared to my standards.

By the way, Rice Cereal, Oat meal Cereal, and carrots are good. Peas and Peaches, YUK!!!!

Starting off the New Year

2007-01-11T13:30:00.000-05:00

For New Years, Mommy and Daddy invited some of our extended family over to help celebrate, along with my Grandma (Gena's Mom) and Great Grandma (Gena's Grandma). We had lots of fun. We ate and talked and even sang Karaoke. Yes, my Dad sang also, although it was not taped and he probably would never admit it. It took a little bit to get him to do it, but he wasn't going to get off that easy since Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sheri sang a song by themselves. In the picture above is Jordan. He is the eldest son of Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sheri.

This is Josh, Jordan's brother and Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sheri's youngest. Jordan and Josh were the ones who got the Karaoke machine and thought it would be fun to bring it to the New Years party.

Here is Aunt Sheri. She is a photographer and took the family pictures in the post from the beginning of the blog. She also came to the hospital when I was born. Aunt Sheri even sang Karaoke. The song was something about "Blue Suede Shoes". She said that she likes the oldies.

Unfortunately Uncle Jerry and I just couldn't make it to midnight. After a long evening of playing cards, talking, singing and eating, we were both just to tired to stay awake....... Just kidding, Uncle Jerry woke back up. I didn't make it, I stayed sleeping.

Christmas Morning

2007-01-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning started out at our house before we headed to Middleton. Don't pay any attention to the day stamp on the picture, Daddy didn't have it set right. Boy parents and technology just don't mix. I guess I will have to show him how to work the camera.

This came in my stocking. I had to try it to see if it was eatable. This one was a little dry, not much flavor, tasted a little like cardboard.

Hey Great Grandpa! Look what I got! It is a toy in the shape of a light house. The top spins around and each different colored section comes off.

Christmas with Grandpa

2007-01-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

A few days after Christmas, my Grandpa (Gena's dad) and Linda came down to my house for supper, and guess what, they got me loungy cloths. Mom and Dad spend most of their weekend in what they call loungy cloths. They are just really comfortable cloths that you don't mind wearing all day long. Now I have some.

Sorry, Grandpa. When the pictures were downloaded to the computer, I noticed that I didn't have a good shot of Linda, you, and me. So I thought that I would throw this picture of us up. It is from when I was only a month old.

Here I was sitting on Linda's lap, I was vibrating my lips making this cool sound. Although I do get a little spit all over the place to.

Christmas at Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah's

2007-01-09T12:43:00.000-05:00

For Daddy's side of the family, we went to my Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah's house. They just moved the week after I was born. It is a really big house, out in the country. This time all my cousins were there. Taylor, who is in the silly hat, is holding me. Makenna is next to me in the red shirt. Elizabeth is in front of her in the pink sweater. And the goof ball dressed up like the reindeer is Jessica. They are always doing something silly. I can't wait until I get older so I can join them in the fun.

I got to see my Great Grandpa and Great Grandma there. My Aunt Wellie brings them to Middleton for family Holidays, which is nice because we can't always get to Grand Rapids to see them. But whenever I am over in that direction, we make it a point to stop by.

OK, Christmas is very exhausting when you are only 5 months old. And when my Uncle Chris got a hold of me, I just fell asleep in his arms. There were so many presents to open and playing with my cousins makes me tired. They just keep going and going and going. For some reason, they never seem to get tired.

Christmas at Grandma's

2007-01-08T15:01:00.000-05:00

Christmas at my Grandma's (Gena's Mom) was lots of fun. Our hole family was there inlcuding my Grandma Lisa. She grew up next to my Grandma in Middleton and often comes to the family holidays because she is what you would call extended family. I finally got to where my Christmas Dress that my Grandma (Gena's Mom) made for me. I would overhear my Mommy and Grandma talk about it on the phone, and could only imagine what it looked like. Boy was I surprised when I seen it. The dress came with a shawl, which also had a hat. She must have worked really hard on it. I lOVE IT. I only wish that I would not grow so fast so I could where it again next year.

This is my Grandma Lisa. I don't get to see her very often because she lives so far away. She was like a second Mom to my Mommy, so that makes her a second Grandma to me.

Hey, stop tickling me

Wow, I got lots of presents. I am so excited. I got teething rings, cloths, and lots of toys. I wish it could be Christmas all the time. Although I don't think that my bedroom would be big enough for everything. Mommy and Daddy would just have to build on.