Summer Days

We have continued our busy streak since we've had our two trips to Michigan, but thankfully our business has all been at home. My cousin Emily flew home with Elle and I after our last Michigan adventure and stayed with us for 2 weeks. Of course since I had an extra pair of hands for two weeks, we made sure we kept busy!!

After my first trip alone with the girls to the pool this summer I decided we would just try again next year. It was HARD, not in any way relaxing and I was exhausted when we got home. Since I had Emily with me I decided we would get in our swimming for the summer while she was here! It really is a lot easier with a second set of hands. I also really loved little errands during the girls nap or being able to fix dinner in the kitchen alone.

During Emily's stay it was also LD's 29th birthday! We decorated with balloons and a little banner and made brownies. Clare was so excited to wake up daddy to show him her decorations. Emily also watched the girls while we went to a movie during naptime and dinner in the evening, so it really was a big birthday treat! He even said, "This is what we used to do before having kids" as we sat in the theater at 2pm on a Saturday!

While Emily was here we also continued doing our "Camp Tiny" that a friend sent us at http://www.camptiny.blogspot.com/ We have loved doing camp tiny at our slow little pace whenever we have a need for an extra activity, craft, snack or story. It's also worked very well during Elle's morning naps since we are home.

Last week my aunt and uncle came to get Emily and also brought my mom with them! It was a treat to have them all hear, but an even bigger treat for Clare who went to their hotel every morning for breakfast and swimming. She has finally mastered swimming around the pool in her little swimmies without any assistance...so maybe at some point we will try the pool again on our own.

Emily's big goal of her time here was to teach Elle how to crawl and I would call it a success. She does 3-4 little crawls and also pulls up on our storage cubes. My favorite is when she puts both feet on the floor and puts her little booty in the air. I have a feeling she'll be flying around here very soon!

I have no idea what the next half of the summer will hold and I'm kind of loving it.

Trip to Michigan....again ;)

Last week Elle and I flew to Michigan, just the two of us. It was a very sweet time because anyone who has multiple children will attest to the fact that you rarely get one on one time with your younger one...at least right now. It was fun, and easy, to just have one little peanut to worry about. The purpose of the trip: bridesmaid in my college roomie's wedding!!

Friday morning a great friend of mine picked Elle and I up at 7am and took us to the airport, so LD could take Clare to another great friend's house (yes we are blessed with friends!!). Clare spent the day with our friend Jodi and her twin 3 year olds swimming. Needless to say, she did not miss me at all! Elle and I were all ready to go when we were delayed an hour. Elle handled the delay and the flight with ease, not a peep. She even fell asleep as we landed for a quick cat nap.

We spent the weekend at my parents house and my mom and dad watched Elle while I participated in wedding festivities. It was very fun being back with my college girls and having some girl time. I also loved my parents having special time with just Elle to really see her personality and what a joy she is!

The wedding was very fun and Clare met a new boyfriend, Landon! He is 14 months and the two of them were just loving each other..it was very cute, though daddy may not approve of their open mouth kisses;)

We headed back early Sunday morning after giving a Father's Day hug to my dad. Emily, my cousin headed home with us for 2 weeks, which has already made life easier and fun! We have lots planned during her time here. Of course we were delayed another hour on the way home and were thankful to be back as a family by Sunday afternoon.

Trip to Michigan Part 2

The second half of our trip was spent with LD's family in Reading. Our families only live an hour from each other now, which makes it really nice! The highlight of our trip to Reading was LD's neice Kristyl was getting married. There were a lot of reasons why we were excited about this wedding but the two biggest were: 1. Kristyl and Jaap came to visit us in Charlotte last spring and we really had a great time getting to know him. Jaap is from the Netherlands and his family came in for the wedding, which made it exciting for him. 2. Clare was asked to be the flower girl!

Clare has been practicing being a flower girl since Christmas and we have talked a lot about it...but she's 2 1/2 so my hopes weren't extremely high that she would carry out her duties ;) The day of the wedding LD's mom, Clare and I had spent the morning at the campground where the wedding took place helping to set up. Clare was so tired so after lunch I took her home for a much needed nap. Clare fell asleep in the car and took a 10 minute cat nap and then played in her bed for 2 hours deciding that was all she needed. Since no nap took place my hopes really were not high. But...when it came time, Clare pulled if off! She was incredibly cute and she knew it. She kind of forgot to throw flowers down the aisle, so when she got to the end, right in front of Jaap she just stood there and emptied her basket...pretty slowly, but it was cute.

Elle rode in a little wagon down the aisle with Tyce, Kristyl and Jaap's 5 month old. Both of the babies knew they were so stinkin cute and grinned ear to ear. The girls were up til 10:30 playing and dancing that night, and thankfully we were headed home the next day.

Before heading home I was able to attend my college roomie and dear friend Renee's bridal shower. It was great to see some of my college friends and Elle and I will be heading back to Michigan next weekend for her wedding! The drive home was LONG. We left at 3pm and got home at 2am. Both girls fell asleep about 10pm, but Clare woke up at midnight and talked the next 2 hours straight..about everything under the sun. I would just hear this little voice say "hey mom, come here I have a question..." and it would be about Santa or her birthday or Michigan, something totally random. Thankfully both girls slept til 10am the next day.

Two weddings and a bridal shower within a week is a lot! We are all still recovering from our big adventures!

Trip to Michigan...Part 1

My nephew Joseph

Who wants to read a blog post that starts with Part 1?? That is definetely not an encouraging title, but our week long trip to Michigan definetely deserves 2 parts considering the events we participated in!

Right before we left for Michigan we joined the mini van club. L.D. was not a huge fan in the beginning, but I won him over. I LOVE our mini van, and that could probably be a blog post all on its own. But, I was truly looking forward to this 11 hour drive knowing that everyone had their own personal space (even Bella had her own seat) and we had a DVD player built in. Life was good! The ride up was not nearly as blissful as I imagined and Elle was not happy with her rear facing seat after about the 5 hour mark. The biggest highlight of the trip up was that we only stopped 2 times and Clare had no potty accidents...pretty impressive!

We went to Blissfield to my parents home for the first half of our trip and it was the first summer trip we have ever made to Blissfield. They have a cute little pond and lots of space to run around. We LOVED being there! Clare played outside so hard and was dirty the entire trip. I loved seeing her play in the dirt, try to fish, eat outside and pretend she was a farmer in the barns. We set up Elle's exersaucer outside and that is where we spent the majority of our time.

One of the reasons we headed home when we did was for my high school friend Rachel's wedding. I have a very unique group of high school girlfriends that are still very close. We all drove in from different parts of the US (minus Michele who JUST had a baby) to celebrate Rachel's big day and it was so much fun being together. They definetely had a super memorable wedding day with the power outage during the ceremony and the tornado sirens going off. Thankfully Rachel handled it like a champ!! During the tornado warnings, my poor parents were watching the girls and had the girls stocked up with snacks hiding out in the mudroom.

On Memorial Day my parents had about 40 family friends, plus our immediate family over for dinner. It was a huge highlight of our trip to just spend time with people we love but don't get much time to see. I also got to meet my newest newphew, Joseph on Memorial Day! He is so so sweet! The day before we left my high school friend Hayley came over with her little boy Roman, which meant so much to me that she would drive an hour just so our babies could meet and we could spend some time together. LD even got to squeeze in a trip to see our neice Kara play softball...we seriously did it all!

It was one of the very best trips we have ever had! I wish we could spend a lot more time at "the farm" as my parents call it. It's such a peaceful place and so much fun to watch Clare just be a kid!!

Next is Part 2...which is also wedding #2!

Clare's big surprise

I've already posted about how much Clare loves Barney. It's quite an obsession. She talks to him when she's in her room by herself and when she's allowed to pick a video, its always, always Barney. So when we heard from a friend that Barney Live was coming to Charlotte, how could we resist taking her?!? ;)

We didn't tell Clare about it until the day of event. The biggest reason...I did not want her asking about it 1,000 times a day, and we also thought it would be fun to tell her together. So I woke Clare up from her nap a few weeks ago and told her she was going on a special date with just mommy and daddy. We had a sitter for Elle and we went up to LD's office to meet him. We went to Panera for dinner and told her we were going to see Barney. Her response? She said without much enthusiasm, "oh good, lets see VeggieTales too." She totally did not get it.

When we got there of course there were Barney items for sale everywhere. All growing up my parents took me to see Sesame Street Live and I always got a souvenir to take home. So, much to LD's disapproval I got Clare a wonderful $15 wand with a star on it. Clare also asked for cotton candy and a $5 balloon, but we refrained.

So the show starts and Clare kinda freaks out because its dark and the lights are going and then she says, "oh look its Barney, I need to go say hi" and hops into the asile like she's just going to walk onto stage. Clare did not sing every song (which she knows all the words to), nor did she clap her hands or stand and dance in the asiles like every other 2 and 3 year old. She said as still as a statue for an hour and a half and I don't think she even blinked. Not the response we thought we would get, but she definetely enjoyed the show.

As soon as we left, Clare sighed happily and said "Lets do that again tomorrow!" It's so fun to spoil our kids from time to time and it was a good little surprise date :)

PS, the wand broke before the end of the show, go figure!

2011 Home Makeover

I am so incredibly blessed to be a part of Next Level Church. Two weekends ago we completed our FOURTH home makeover. You think a church does a home makeover and you assume 50 -100 volunteers get together and paint and give them some new furniture, but seriously....this ends up being more like the tv show than people realize! A team of 11 people start in January by selecting the family and plan for the next 4 months! The family selected is sent on a little vacation where all of their meals, activities and lodging are paid for from Thursday til Sunday. While they are gone 300 volunteers seriously tear apart their home and put it all back together! The home was re-roofed, torn down to the beams inside, new floors, new ceilings, new walls, kitchen, appliances, light fixtures, heating and air system, bathroom, carpet, paint, furniture....and even restocking her cupboards and fridge. It's an incredible thing to be a part of and I seriously feel like a kid at Christmas every year the weekend of the event!

Just watching so many volunteers come and give themselves away, working through the night with tents set up in the yard, coming and bringing meals to the volunteers...all so one woman can know that Christ loves her. The thing I love best is that there are no strings attached. The woman selected did not have to fill out an application, nor did she attend our church, nor does she ever have to. The best part....she has been coming every Sunday, not because she has to, but because she experienced selfless love!

My parents came in for the week/end to watch the girls and if they had not been here I would not have been able to be a part of it, so thanks mom and dad! Also, a huge thank you to my husband who allows me to serve and be a part of the things God has called me to, even when it takes away from time with my family. I am blessed beyond measure and so thankful I am able to live life with people who understand that God created us to give love away...selflessly...

Here is the video...it may make you cry :) www.vimeo.com/23441011

Easter 2011

Easter was always a big event at our house growing up...lots of family, food, celebrations, egg hunts, easter baskets...the works! When we moved to Charlotte we always had a ton of family here for Easter and the traditions carried on. The last few years it has not worked out for family to be with us, but our family has grown and we've loved to create and carry on the traditions we have always celebrated! The most exciting part is this is the first year we were able to explain to Clare the true meaning of Easter and what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross. Yes...it will be a few years before she gets it, but I love hearing her sing her little songs that she has learned at Bible Study about Jesus being alive.

We had so much fun Easter morning watching Clare search for the eggs she had decorated. Her and LD had numerous practice hunts during the week to prepare for the big search, so she had gotten pretty good. Then of course she found her Easter basket and ate a LOT of candy at 9am. The girls looked beautiful in their matching dresses all ready for church. I am a bit frugal in the clothing department so its not often the girls have matching outfits just because I won't spend the money on them. But these dresses they will be wearing in our neice Kristyl's wedding this summer...and I LOVE them!

In the evening we went to our dear friends Kimmy and Min's. We are so blessed to have them in our life and consider them part of our family. We celebrated Christmas with them this past year as well and we truly are thankful for their friendship. They recently welcomed a second little boy, Azariah into their home 13 weeks ago, so now Azariah and Elle will be able to grow up together!

Here are some pics of our Easter adventures!