September Blogging Extravaganza!!!!

September has been a very busy month!!  We have been gone most weekends and I haven’t had the chance to sit and blog – I know…excuses, excuses.  At any rate, we had a great time this month – Brooklyn got to see all of her grandparents during the month of September.  This is quite an accomplishment since they live in 3 states and 4 different cities. 

First was Labor Day weekend, my dad and his wife, Kathy (better known as Grandpa and Grandma), came to visit for the long weekend.  We spent a lot of time hanging out, but we especially enjoyed our time at the Michigan State Fair!  We went to the petting zoo, Brooklyn went on a pony ride with her Grandma, and we enjoyed the fair food, sights, and sounds!  Brooklyn even got to milk a cow!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Thanks for a great weekend, Grandpa and Grandma!!  Come back soon!!

A few days later, Brooklyn turned 18 months old.  Here is a picture of her with her bear.  What a big girl!!

The following weekend we went camping again.  Brooklyn spent most of her weekend hanging out with Nana.  Nana managed to avoid the camera this time, but we did manage to get a couple pictures of Brooke, when Nana brought her out to the camp. 

          I thought I would be fancy and make French toast, not only for the first time ever, but also over a campfire.  My first attempt didn’t turn out so well, as you can plainly see. :)  The second attempt was much more successful!

The next weekend, Mimi and Opa came to town, and just went home a couple days ago.  We spent the first part of the week by staying a couple of nights in Petoskey and going to Mackinac Island.  The weather wasn’t the best, but we still had a great time!

 

We made a trip to Bronner’s on Wednesday, and the next day we were off to Plymouth Orchards.  They have a great little petting zoo, and we took a tractor wagon ride around the orchards.  Honeycrisp apples are the best!

 

We had a lot of good food this week too!  Including a trip to Hippo’s hotdogs and our very first crab boil!  I’m afraid to get on the scale after this week!  Here is Brooklyn’s impression of a hippo and a picture of our crab boil spread.

 

Thanks Mimi and Opa for an awesome week!!  We hope to see you again soon!!

To round out the grandparent visits for the month, today we spent the afternoon with and had dinner with Pop.

Brooklyn is so fortunate, and so are we, to have such a supportive family that loves her and us.  Thank you all for taking such good care of us – we love you all very much!!

The rest of August….

I continue to be a blogging slacker.  I thought I would catch you up on the rest of August….

A few weeks ago, we had a fun little playdate with the Scolaro boys.  Brooklyn was more than happy to get dirty with them outside.  Aaron and Mitchell were very gracious hosts.  Thanks for a great afternoon boys!  Brooklyn enjoyed her first popsicle and playing with the sidewalk chalk!

  She’s definitely not afraid of a little dirt!  Poor little thing just wore herself right out… and couldn’t hold out for the bath before the nap!

That same weekend, Brooklyn got her first taste of camping.  Darren and I camped out at Fort Custer in Battle Creek for a couple of nights.  Brooklyn came out to visit us during the morning for a bike trailer ride with her daddy and then in the evening for a family dinner, but she slept comfortably at night at her Nana’s house.  It worked out perfectly!  She loved her camp time!

(Don’t worry – there was no fire!)Brooklyn tried to learn to drink out of a cup.  It pretty much just ended up with a really wet shirt. :)   The next weekend we had a special fishing day with my work.  Brooklyn enjoyed her first time fishing with her “country-girl” mom.  We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but it was still a very nice day. 

        A couple of random pictures…

What do you like to do with your pasta!!  We like to play with ours before we eat it!

And, I wanted to get a cute picture of her in her dress at lunch after church, but she kept finding other people more amusing than looking at the camera…:) 

And finally, this past weekend we went up north with our dear friends, the Walkenhorsts and the Harrisons.   We had intended on going to a little county fair, but it rained all day Saturday, so we were stuck inside for the day.  I was bummed we didn’t get to go to the fair, but the kids didn’t seem to mind.  Brooklyn made good use of the couch arm cover. :)

  Here are couple of my favorite pictures we took just before we left.  Wouldn’t you know that today’s weather would be perfect!

Thanks Dan, Katie, and Nate for inviting us to hang out with you this weekend.  We had a wonderful time and we can’t wait until next summer!! 

We’re having a boy!!!!

We went to the doctor this past Friday and found out that we are having a little boy!!  I still can’t wrap my mind around it!  I am due December 31st.  Everything on the ultrasound looked great.  He currently weighs about 10 ounces, which is the 50th percentile – right on track.  Here are the pictures we got at the appointment.  Sorry for the poor clarity – they are photos of the pictures. 

Here is a profile shot of the side of the head and upper body.

 

Here is frontal picture of the face and belly.  I know – he kind of looks like a little alien.  Brooklyn did too, but she came out alright. :)

This is a picture of the boy parts.  It’s definitely a boy!!

And finally, a cute little picture of the bottom of his foot.

So cool, and so unbelievable for me, all at the same time!  We are very blessed and so happy!

I can’t leave pictures of Brooklyn off the blog – it just doesn’t seem right.  Here are few pictures of her at the playground last week, and then a picture of her at the doctor’s office when we went for the ultrasound.

I think she is going to be a good big sister!!!

The Detroit Zoo with Pop

Darren’s dad came down from Midland today and we all headed to the zoo.  We had beautiful weather and it was so much fun to see Brooklyn respond to the animals.  We went to the zoo last year, but she was too young to know a butterfly from a bottle from a baboon.  This time she was mesmerized by all of them.  I was sad that she wore out before she had the chance to see the polar bears.

 

 

 

 

 

What a great day!!!  Thanks, Pop, for the polar bear!!