Sunday Funday

As you can tell we had quite the busy weekend!  And to end it all we had quite the fun Sunday as well.  It started by us volunteering in the back at church.  This was my first time being a room leader and it was a lot of fun!  So much in fact, I ended up doing it the next week too haha.  The kids we had in our room were really good and the whole thing went off without too much trouble.

Kiddos at snack time... I think their little legs dangling is precious

Isn't this table great?!  haha

Then, we jetted off to Gracie's cottage to enjoy the sun!  :)  Dude has now been swimming without any sort of flotation assistance for a few weeks and he was excited to get into the lake.  The water was really nice and the whole day was just beautiful.  It wasn't too hot, but hot enough to enjoy the water.  I had my first experience of raking a lake... which, was honestly, really relaxing.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  And my OCDness enjoyed making the lake less mushy and icky to step in.  It was kind of like a water zen garden... the raking and such.  I liked using the net to collect all the slugs and various rocks too.  Seriously... ahh.... life by a lake.  Not bad.  :)

Seriously couldn't have asked for better weather

Ever grilled a peach?  No?  Well, then you're wrong.  You should because they're delicious

She likes to play "where's Norah?" she'll cover her face and then start laughing

She was having a lot of fun throwing this ball

Dude brought back a water lily from their kayak trip

Gracie and Norah snugs

The garden I helped turn the last time I was there

JVG

Norah's 15 month check up

On our actual anniversary we got new tires (yay... not really) and then Norah had a Dr's appointment in the afternoon.  G took her to the appointment because I knew that she had to get shots... :(  She weighed in at 25 lbs and was 31 inches long.  She is still at the top of her age percentile and apparently is identical to what the crazies did.  Dr. Chamberlain was impressed with her and said that she was also really smart... :)  She is talking a lot more and is totally done with her high chair.  She is definitely trying to talk and said OK when you ask her things.  Love our sweet Roar-a-Saurus.  

JVG

Lynsey and Corey's MI reception

The girl who played the viola in my quintet all through middle/high school got married!  She and her husband live in Texas, along with all of his family so they had their ceremony down there and had a Michigan open house/reception here for friends and family who didn't make it to their wedding.  It was nice seeing her and her husband now, who is getting is PhD in experimental physics!  haha.  Anyhoo, it was nice to get the quintet as much as together as we possibly could... at our wedding everybody was there except Lynsey.  At Angela's wedding everybody was there except Beaker.  At Lynsey's reception everybody was there except Angela (although to be fair to Angie she was at her actual ceremony while the rest of us where not).  And my friend Katie is getting married next year (and she also asked me to be a bridesmaid... which is very sweet) so we will see if we can't get the whole gang back to gather for that one.  :)

Dude loves this chair... we're going to have to get one from Ikea now :)

While we were waiting to go to this we discovered that Lucy knows how to write her name in sidewalk chalk... I am interested to see exactly how much she knows and just isn't showing us.  Smart girl though.  It was a lot of fun seeing everybody and we wish Lynsey and Corey the very best!

This was a picture of Dude's 'car wash'.  They would drive their cars through it and pay money haha

JVG

Happy 6 Anniversary

Well, folks, we've made it another year.  :)  I can't believe that we've been married for 6 years already!  And, I would say that you were lying other than the fact that I have an almost FIVE year old child!  What?!  Craziness!




Well, this year some sweet friends of ours asked if they would watch our kiddos so we could go out.  It's been about half a year since we've been on a date, so we certainly jumped at that opportunity to go out together.  We ended up going out to dinner with some friends.. which is also a rare treat since they have small children too!  The stars must've aligned!  We went to a tapas restaurant downtown Kzoo called Fandango and it was DELICIOUS.  We got 8 different small plates and some dessert... and of course, their seasonal white peach sangria champagne.  yum yum!  We got two different plates of tuna... one seared that had this delicious ginger/soy slaw and then these tuna cubes that were ontop of pickled cucumber with ginger and other yummies... those were my two favorite plates.  We also got this steak with caramelized onion and gorgonzola cheese, lamb, calamari, polenta balls, their fandango fire shrimp, and empenadas.  It all went down very easily... and if we had more time and more money I think I would've been satisfied ordering one of everything off their menu. :)  We got cheesecake for dessert which was also very scrumptious.






After that we walked downtown a bit and then headed to their blues fest.  It was all right... we were definitely the youngest people there by far.  It was just nice being together with another couple and hanging out.  :)








The next morning we had to get our tires changed in GR so we met up with Beaker for anniversary brunch at Wolfgangs.  It was delicious and so filling that I didn't end up eating until dinner that night after running with my sister.




It was an incredible celebration and I can honestly say I love being married.  There isn't a single thing about it that I would change.  I realized that in the 6 years we've been married we've moved 6 times, 4 different cities, and have had 3 children... a lot has happened but I wouldn't change it for the world.  I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but being married is by far the easiest and best decision ever.  :)  Love you.

JVG

Good-bye Daniel

Today we drove up to GR to say good bye to Jon and Megan and snug on Daniel a little bit.  They are planning to leave tonight and drive through so that Daniel will sleep in the car... which is the best way to do it with babies but the hardest on the parents.  So, even though it would've been nice to see them I told them to go take a nap and that we could watch Daniel so they would be well rested for the trip.  I have to say that I got my baby snugs in... and boy that sweetness has some cheeks that are perfect for it!  He really is such a mild mannered baby who is quite content with life.  He started army crawling quite a bit on his visit here and cut two teeth... and despite all that, he was still very very good.  Safe travels home everybody!  We love and miss you!










JVG

Brazilian Cheese Lady!

So I was finally able to make it to a demo for capo and it was for this Brazilian Cheese Lady (or so that's what everybody in the group calls her).  I have no idea how she even heard of us, but she invited us to do a demo outside of Hardings while she did samples of her cheese bread!  It was a lot of fun, and even though it was hotter than hot out I think the games went really well.  :)  There have been a lot of dynamic shifts within the group but I think that they are positive and I'm liking the overall attitude of the group a whole lot better.  I finally got some group whites that don't say Mandinga and I even won something!  And that is super exciting for me because I never win anything.  :)  Overall it was a great little demo and people actually showed up and had some great axe for the entire thing.








JVG

Good Saturday

Yesterday was a great day.  My sweet, loving, thoughtful husband got up with the kids so that I could sleep in and while he was watching them he went and got me some Pear Cider, and DONUTS!!!  YUM!  Then, while I was sleeping my sister had called to see if I wanted to go up to GR a little early and go running with her since it was my long run.  And, long runs are always nicer with somebody else, even if it was hotter than hot.  Luckily, it wasn't humid, so we made it OK!

Now, I know that going for a run with your sister sounds nice and all, but I don't think that you quite understand the logistics of doing it.  That meant that we were going up early, the kids weren't going to nap so there was potential for crabbiness later, Gaetan was then not only going to be watching my kids but then Holly's too (which isn't an easy thing).  So, while we ran the trails he took them on a bike/walk and the playground.  Holly and I talked and ran at a reasonable pace (less than 10 min/miles) and felt great!  I was getting a little hot towards the end, but all in all it was good.  

After that we went to Mom and Dads and got to snug on Daniel.  The past couple of weekends it has been pretty busy there because Holly and her crew (that's 5), Mom and Dad (2) Jon and Megan (3), My crew (5), Dale and Marcella (2) and then Grandma comes over too... but at the same time its pretty cool because its probably once a year that all the kids and grandkids are together at the same place.  We get to see Jon, Megan and Daniel before they leave tomorrow which will be bittersweet.  I like being able to see Daniel but I know that they can't be on vacation forever!  We left before our kids melted down and got to have a nice peaceful ride home.  There is nothing better than driving with the kids asleep in the back... makes you feel like you did that day right.  :)

JVG