Halloween @ Home

Sometime before I took off for Mexico we did all the fun pumpkin carving, costume making, Halloween-ish fun. This was the best time I have ever had carving pumpkins! I just loved watching Gabriel scoop his pumpkin's guts back INTO his pumpkin, it was so funny.

Don't worry, I didn't forget to make sure the kids would have a great Halloween without me. Mia went to Lansing to spend the night with her cousins. They had nursery rhyme themed costumes so Mia decided to be Jill as in "Jack and Jill". Her costume turned out super cute and she had lots of fun (as always) with Ryan, Emma, Katy & Lucy.

Gabriel and Mike flew the coop on Halloween to relax at Grandma Kathy and Papa's house. Gabriel's costume was a shirt I found at Target that said "Mummy says I'm sweeter than all this candy."

My Halloween Trip

For Halloween it was my turn to take a trip. I went on my first cruise with Nickie and a few friends that live in Panama City Beach. We had so much fun!!!

I flew to New Orleans (also my first time in New Orleans) on the 30th where Nickie picked me up from the airport after her 5 hour drive. After having a great night in New Orleans (seeing all the people up and down Bourbon Street in there costumes) we boarded the Carnival Fantasy. We had two stops in Mexico on our trip, Progreso and Cozumel. After returning to New Orleans I had about 3 hours before I had to get to the airport so we spent that time walking around New Orleans and enjoying the nice sunny day.

I am glad I got the chance to take this very needed vacation but nothing beats coming home to your family.

Then It Was Time For School

I know Mia loves summer vacation but she is always so happy to go back to school (we will see how long this lasts). Here are a few pictures from the end of summer, beginning of fall and Mia's 5th grade school picture. She looks so grown up!

Mia's 5th grade school picture.

Going for a walk.

Waiting for "Sissy Mia" to get home from school.

Mia made this chicken noodle soup all on her own and WOW was it good.

More Summer Updates

As I said in the last post Mike was gone A LOT this summer. I just got the calender out and counted the days he was home. Starting from June 26th and going till October 20th Mike was home exactly 59 days! (Huh, that means he was gone 59 days, no wonder he get free first class upgrades now.) He went to Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco (2 times), Cologne Germany & Paris (2 times).

During his last trip to Paris we had quite the trying day at home. Gabriel was having a hard time breathing, took him to the doctor's (asthmatic bronchitis). Got home from the doctor to find that Dutchess had punctured her foot on something in the backyard (blood was all over the kitchen & dining room), took her to the vet to get stitches and they had to tie off two arteries. And Mia called from school, she was sick and needed to come home. But don't worry we had lots of fun days when Mike was gone too. Here are a few pictures to end our summer updates (well into fall).

Mia's outfit Mike brought back from Paris

Rust & Dust Days in Hanover (he sure loves tractors)

Playing in the sprinkler

I sure have busy kids! This is one of the very few pictures I got of them both this summer.

Summer Road Trips

Because Mike was so busy this summer with his work stuff we didn't go on any long vacations. We did however get to take a few quick trips for some fun family time!

*At the end of June Cousin Krista (Peter's cousin) got married in Madison, WI. Mike didn't get to go with us because he had to be in Denver and Gabriel spent the weekend with Grandma Kathy (I was not about to attempt to corral this busy body alone at a wedding). Even without our two guys we had a van full, Peter, Lisa, Mia, Myles, Carson, and me! We had lots of fun hanging out with everyone. I am so lucky that I still have such a wonderful relationship with this part of my family!

*The weekend after the wedding was the 4th of July and once again we headed west (slightly). We went to Great-grandma Douglass' (Peter's Grandma) 4th of July party (and Mike came with us)! It was raining but that didn't stop us from having tons of fun. The kids played in the yard with umbrellas and we had lots of fun with the African drums.

*When Nickie was home at the end of July to celebrate her birthday/move all her stuff down to Florida we took a trip to Cedar Point. It had been 9 years since I had gone! And I loved it just as much. :)

Nickie was home for a week (not long enough but I guess I will take what I can get) then I helped her drive her 26 foot Penske truck the 993 miles to Panama City Beach. That sure was an adventure! I am sure you heard all about it if you follow us on Twitter or watch our status updates on Facebook. It was an early morning!

Why are we up at 4am? Oh cause we have to drive across the country with this truck full!

Girl Scout Camp

As I told you WAY back in June... Mia went to two camps this summer. She had such a great time meeting new friends and learning new skills.

Packing for camp!

In June she went to Art Explosion for three nights, we wanted to start off slow just to see how things would go. The first night she was a little nervous and said she didn't sleep at all that night. In the morning she fell asleep at breakfast, after rest time they couldn't wake her up, and she fell asleep DURING painting. She did however paint an awesome picture. After getting to know the girls and her counselors she had a great time and didn't have trouble sleeping at night. When I went to pick her up she was NOT ready to leave.

So Sleepy

Mia's painting

In August she went to Trial Blazers where she got to learn the importance of horses to the pioneers and basic Western Horsemanship skills. I would have to say I think this was her favorite part of the summer. Mia had a pony named Anne. They played musical stalls (like musical chairs) on the horses with roped off "stalls" to practice getting them in and out. The best part is she got to scoop the horse poop and now says "cleaning the dog poop out of the yard in not really that bad" BONUS!

One post in SIX months?

I keep waiting till I "feel like Blogging" and I am starting to realize that is not going to happen until I just do it. But really, one post in six months, there is just no excuse for it. So this is it, I am back. I am going to start updating you with a few things (and pictures) that happend over the summer.

It's Summer

It has been over a month since I posted anything and I have no excuse, sorry for my lack of bolggingness. A few updates from the last month...

• Mia is now a FIFTH GRADER!
• Gabriel is saying new words everyday. Some of them include: Dandi (the dog), fish, yes, no, bye-bye, eyes, and a number of other "words" that I can't make out yet. (And some I can't think of right now)
• Aunt Allison got Gabriel a pair of squeaky shoes and he loves them. She put a video on her facebook page (if you are her friend you can see it). Too cute.

Now that it is summer vacation Mia is going to be a very busy girl. Some of the things she has planned are:

Participating in the library's summer reading program. (they are doing it different this year) They have 3 activity sheets to complete. Mia is done with the first one already! She did things like read a book by an author you never read before, read a biography, and read a non fiction book.

• Spend the weekend in Lansing with her cousins.
• Go to "Art Explosion" Girl Scout camp for 3 nights.
• Take a trip to Madison, WI with me to go to cousin Krista's wedding. While Mike is in Denver and Gabriel is hanging out with Grandma Kathy.
• Go to Great Grandma Douglass' huge 4th of July party!
• See Aunt Cori & Uncle Paul when they come home HOUSE HUNTING!!
• Visit with Nickie when she comes home for her birthday.
• Spend a week at Girl Scout camp learning about horses (how to ride them and take care of them).

We are also going to try and fit a few family getaways in there sometime. Wow summer just started and I can tell it is going to be over before we know it.

So About This Derby...

It's a good thing Mia had such a great time building her car with Papa, because the poor car would not even pass the finish line! The funny thing about this is that Mia's best friend Haylee's car also would not pass the finish line. I think they "cared" for about 10 minutes then it was off to play on the playground and eat cake! They did both get medals and had lots of fun watching their cars race.  

The "Computer Fun" cake Papa Don bought (and Mia ate)

Haylee & Mia with their medals

Powder Puff Derby

Tomorrow Mia's Girl Scout troop is competing in a pinewood derby. She and Papa Ron (Peter's dad) spent two days last weekend working on her derby car and it turned out GREAT! It was fun watching her take her time painting, she is normally in such a hurry with everything she does. And at the derby for family partnership Mia's troop is selling cakes representing a Junior Girl Scout badge. Mia picked "Healthy Relationships".

I will be sure to let you know how everything goes tomorrow.

First Hair Cut

Gabriel's hair was getting a little WILD, so Mike took him to the "barbershop" in Meijer to get it cut. I sent him armed with chocolate milk and a toy computer. We didn't get any pictures during the trim but I did take a before and after shot. Now he looks less like a baby and more like a little boy! 

Easter Days

We had a lot of Easter celebrations this year.

First we had Easter Dinner at Grandma Kathy's a week before Easter so that Mike's brother Patrick, his wife Jill, and their new baby girl Ava could be with us. Gabriel got his first beater of whipped cream to "clean up" and of course loved it.





Then on to the egg dying... We colored the eggs on Friday, Gabriel had decided that he wanted to go home with Grandma Kathy when she stopped by after school so he missed out. That's ok though, because Logan helped out instead. I got two different kits to use (and not one regular dip the egg in the dye kind) they where both MESSY! (but that's the fun right?)









On Easter Day we had Grandma Kathy & Papa Don and Grandma Teresa & Papa Jon over. We played Mario Kart on the Wii (My birthday gift from Mike :)) and Gabriel shared his chocolate bunny with anyone who could look past all the baby slime on it. Later that evening Uncle Rich invited us over for an egg hunt and dinner with LOTS of great food!

Mobile Blogging? Huh, Let's Try.

Well I can't seem to keep up with my blogging because it seems like I never get a chance to get on the computer. So I thought maybe "mobile blogging" would help me keep you up to date. We will see how it works. Now I just have figure out how to get picture from my phone to Blogger.

Our Easter post is late, but I do have some cute picture to post. And Gabriel's first hair cut, Wow I am behind!

Spring Break Road Trip. Part 1

For spring break Grandma Chloe, Lisa, Myles, Carson, Mia, Gabriel, and I decided to take a road trip to Cincinnati for some of their famous chili. 

We got on the road at 9am on Wednesday and headed south. That night we stayed in Dayton to check out the National Air Force Museum. Gabriel loved walking around he walked almost the whole time. That did slow us down a bit so I didn't get many pictures of Mia and Myles. Mia's favorite was the Fokker D. VII, she said it looked like a plane Barbie would have flown in the war. 

On Thursday the weather was gorgeous so we decided to go to the Cincinnati Zoo before we checked into our hotel. That evening we walked around downtown, ate at Skyline Chili, and had wonderful ice cream at Graeter's (the blueberry pie ice cream is soooo yummy).

Falling Down

Of course the very next post after one about a new walker would be about falling...

Saturday I went with Mike's cousin Cara to a women's expo and to a movie. After the movie I called the boys to see what they were doing and they just happened to be at Outback waiting for a table for dinner (perfect timing). Two minutes later I got a call, Gabriel was walking around on the sidewalk and fell. Mike said he got a "little" scratch and sent me a picture.


Mike said he didn't cry much and by the time he got it cleaned up and I got home this sad little boy was "Happy Gabe" again. It has turned into quite the nice scab. I am just dreading the next bump. I think he has fallen 5 times more already that Mia did by this age. I don't remember any major bumps or falls with her. 

And He's Off!

Gabriel is walking!! He is so proud of himself. I think it was last week he decided to try to brave a few steps without holding on to anything. Already he is going so far. Mike took him outside to walk around today and said he walked down the sidewalk for about two houses. 




A Few More Updates:

Gabriel got his first set of molars. He has been working on them for awhile and they are finally all here. That is 12 teeth total!

Curious George is "his movie" I know kids "should not watch TV until they are at least 2" but he LOVES it. So I let him!

Anytime he wants something he points to it and says "momma"??? He was doing this with Grandma Kathy this weekend and I was nowhere around. (Really Gabriel, I am not the only one who can meet your needs!!!)

Miss Mia had a Daddy Daughter Dance at school last month and had so much fun.

Like Father, Like Son

Gabriel is getting more and more like Mike everyday, in the technological sense that is. He knows how to work our iPhones, the computer, and is even getting good at playing tennis on the Wii! He can't quite swing the racket at the right time to hit the ball yet but I am sure that is not far off. What he can (and has done a lot) is call people. Grandma Kathy and Grandma Teresa get the most surprise calls. I walk in the living room after a few minutes and he is talking about who knows what. Last week he even thought it would be a good idea to call Mia's school. I finally put a passcode that you have to enter before the phone will unlock so hopefully that will cut back on my outgoing call log.