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Mary had a Little Lamb (Harvest Festival at Church)

Our church had a harvest festival. The kids dressed up as Mary had a little lamb (Emily).

Pretty cute lamb!

Mary is cute in this bonnet from grandma Jane!

Picnic Dinner at the Park on 10-5-11

This month we've had such wonderful warm weather! On October 5th we enjoyed a Picnic dinner at Timbertown.

Mary loved it when daddy and Emily jumped on the black carpet.

Going down the slide was fun too.

Mary took her hair tie out.

Aw! Emily loves her daddy!

Jim got a new position at Consumers Energy in August. Now he does corporate strategy and reports to a new boss. It's been lots of hours and time away from the family. It was a promotion so that was nice, but we have really missed him. The girls loved it that he came home before they were in bed and we enjoyed an hour at the park.

Robot Emily = Fun

Mary loves to laugh at Robot Emily!

Emily and her dad made a Robot out of this box.

Isn't she so silly!

September 11, 2011 = 7 years

I can't believe that Jim and I celebrated 7 years in September! We went to our favorite restaurant The Common Grill and then walked around downtown Chelsea.

Mary goes on the potty!

Mary started going on the potty at right before she turned 15 months old! This picture she is 16 months old. It's so cute to see her sit on the potty; she is so little.

I'm amazed that she is going on the potty at this age. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that we use cloth diapers? Or is it because she sees her older sister go on the potty? Regardless I can't believe that she will tell me when she needs to go by lifting up her shirt. Sometimes she even wakes dry after her nap and once this week she woke up dry after sleeping all night! She is such a big girl. May is not afraid to go on big potty's when we are out and about. I just hold over the potty and she goes!

I am hoping that I can be done with the cloth diapers by Christmas? Wouldn't that be a great present!

First Day of Preschool September 12, 2011

Emily was very excited to start school this fall. She is in the 4 & 5 year old class at Lambs of Our Savior. Over half of the class are friends from last year.

Emily helped me pick out her outfit and her headband. Plus of course she had to wear her Jesus necklace from her friend and classmate Justin.

Emily loves her Dora backpack which she used last year too. It's a hand me down from Aunt Sarah.

Here is a picture of Emily and her good friend Blake at Preschool.

We get the paper!

After we went out to dinner for my Birthday we stopped by Meijer for a few things. The Detroit Free Press was there and I decided to sign up for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday papers for $20 for 3 months. It's a great deal and I figured I could use the paper for coupons, teaching Emily and of course reading it for the news too. Mary thought it was great when we got our first paper. Sorry about the pants, she is potty training so a lot of times her pants are half up or not even on. Opps!

Having Fun in September

The girls love to play with the hand me down cars we have. Often times Emily pushes Mary around the house, and sometimes Mary pushes Emily too. It's really nice when they play together and I can get a few things done around the house or cook dinner.

Mary in her hat!

Mary was so cute getting her hat on for our walk this morning. Mary absolutely loves to go for walks in the backpack on my back. Even when it's hot or buggy she never complains and gets so excited when I get it out. It's quite the workout these days with Mary on my back, Emily in the stroller and Lucy on the leash. But we have a great time and love the fresh air. We are looking forward to fall when it's cooler and NO bugs!

The Chelsea Fair

One of our favorite events of the year is the Chelsea Fair! For a small town we sure do have a lot of great family events. Unfortunately Jim had to work late so the girls and I had to go to the fair without him.

Emily and Mary both loved petting the goats.

Right when we walked into the bunny tent Emily said she wanted to hold a bunny. Luckily she said it right in front of my cousins Daryl & Colleen Keebler and so they got out one of their bunnies for Emily to hold.

Mary liked the soft bunny too!

The calf licked the stroller AND Mary's hand!

Emily had fun on the rides!

She was not scared at all and just made the 42" requirement with her shoes on (at the doctor she measures 40 1/2 inches).

I was so proud of her!

Mary kept waving at her when she came around on the ride!

Mary was a great sport in the stroller!

We saw a few friends and my cousin so I rode a few big rides with Emily while they watched Mary. We missed Jim but it all worked out and we had a great time!

Emily in her flashy pj's

Emily has been so excited to wear these new pj's she got from Grandma Jane for her Birthday. Finally a few weeks ago it was cool enough to wear them! After getting them on Emily had to get out some of her sunglasses she has that matches them!

Sounds & Sights in Chelsea

We made it out to one Sounds & Sights event in Chelsea this summer. It is such a fun event for families - there are bands that line the streets, balloons, face-painting and just and all around good time.

I love living in a small time, because when we go to events like this we run into several people we know. My friend Marji (who I used to work with at the V) and her daughter Sierna joined us.

The girls were so excited when daddy showed up!

Waiting for S to get her balloon - this is not a double stroller, but Emily sometimes sits in the front to rest. It was bedtime.

Marji & Sierna

Emily getting her face painted like a princess - which she loved!

Matching faces!

Emily sitting on daddy's shoulders

Mary enjoying a snack

We had a lot of fun!

The German Park

The last Saturday in July we went to the German Park. We met up with a friend from high school Stefanie Horvath and her family; Emily enjoyed dancing with their daughter Charlotte who is 2.5. The food was yummy and we always love the polka band. My parents also saved us great seats, and enjoy the company of several family friends.

Here is a picture of Mary having fun with my parents neighbors and friends Debbie & Rick Schneider who dressed up for the event!

Summer is almost over

I can't believe I start teaching on Monday August 22nd. This summer has flown by! I've enjoyed so much quality time with my two girls Emily (4) and Mary (almost 15 months). Unfortunately my allergies were horrible this summer, but it didn't stop us from doing a lot of fun things. We may have missed out on a couple of things or scaled back; which may not be a bad thing. Keeping up with the blog got put on the back burner, but here are a list of things we did do the summer of 2011:

-Emily played in her first t-ball league

-Mary took her first steps (13 months old)

-went to a couple of parades

-swam at Friend's Lake in Chelsea

-enjoyed swimming at my parents pond

-Joshua & Caleb (my nephews) came to stay for a couple of days

-went to the 4-H Fair

-played at the Chelsea Treehouse

-went to the library (only one time)!

-went to the park - several

-I went to my first Mom Prom

-swam in our inflatable kiddy pool at our house

-made some new friends (new neighbors) with the Strong family - kids Saleh (6), Boaz (4) and Simeon (1)

-reunited with old friends - met Jill and her twins Luca & Dominic at the Detroit Zoo

-went to the Nathans Trail BBQ

-enjoyed walks with our neighbor Anne & her dog Lola, I take Emily in the stroller, Mary in the back pack (which she loves) and Lucy on the leash

-swam in two different neighbors pools for the first time

-swam at Travis Pointe with mom, sisters and cousins

-went to graduation parties

-planted, grew and harvested a huge garden and enjoyed making lots of real food recipes - some new veggies this year included = kohlrabi, parsnips, turnips, and spaghetti squash

-attended Kevin DeVoogd's baseball game at the Adrian College softball field

-Emily attended VBS at Lambs of Our Savior and Peace Lutheran Church

-enjoyed the 4th of July at Dave's lake house in Indy with the family - boating, hot tub, Indy zoo, park, Blast on the Bridge fireworks, and more!

-Tiger's game with my family

-I played sand 2's women's A volleyball in Ann Arbor on Thursday nights

-went to Sounds & Sights in Chelsea

-met up with old friends at The German Park in Ann Arbor (Stefanie Horvath & family)

-went to cousin Brian's house and got a farm tour, veggies from the garden, Emily got eggs from the hen house and more

-enjoyed the Marshall (mom's side) family reunion with penny dig

-Chelsea Summerfest at Timbertown park

-sand volleyball on Monday nights at Jane's house

We still have lots of fun stuff left too - camping with the church group this weekend, Chelsea & Saline fairs, the German park, and much more!

Jim recently got a new job at Consumer's Energy working on corporate strategy which was a promotion! It was great news and he is very excited about his new position. It's been tough because has been more hours and time away from the family.

I may try to add pictures from the last couple months if time permits. If you follow me on Facebook you've probably seen most of the pictures. I hope to update the blog with a few recent events.

I hope you enjoyed your summer!

Emily's Masterpieces! February 2, 2011

Emily just loves to paint! She paints with brushes, with her fingers, hands and even her feet and toes! Check out her work!

Ice Skating with Daddy

Jim took Emily ice skating for the first time on February 2nd. I stayed at home to work on school work which tends to be trend most Saturdays. Jim will often run errands and take Emily with him so I can get some papers graded and work on my lecture.

Emily said she was better at ice skating. The only time she fell down was when daddy fell down and then she fell too. They were holding hands. Honestly I think Jim was holding Emily up as well, but she didn't tell me that.