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).