Friends Part 2

Watching the tractor
What is this?
Interesting idea for a picnic
On the swing set

Let's do some gardening.

Today was a special day because I was able to spend the whole day with my best friend from college. If she hadn't been there I may never have made it through college. The good news is that I made it through college. We had so much fun in college that we got an apartment after we graduated. She is the kind of friend that can make you laugh at just about anything--we did plenty of that today!

Before we were married we used to say that we were going to make our husbands build us houses next to each other so we could still hang out all the time. Well, our plan didn't work because we live thousands of miles apart. After David was born and she found out she was going to have a girl we decided that they could get married. Then I had Annabelle and she found out she was pregnant shortly after. We decided that if it was a boy then they would get married but if it was a girl they could be best friends. It looks like Sugar has a best friend.

Cathy came out today with her two girls and the kids played for hours together. David even alled Alanna "sweetie"--hahaha. They had so much fun together and we had so much fun watching them and laughing. We were sitting on the patio making up conversations between them and then cracking ourselves up. The goofy thing is that we used to do the same thing in college. We would "people watch" and make up our own conversations. Yup, we were weird, but we sure had fun.

This trip I have been enjoying spending time with my family but I am also so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to spend time with old friends. Proverbs 27:17 is so true about Cathy. "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend."

Update on the Trio

David
He has been saying some funny things since we have been here. Today he told Annabelle that she was "stressing him out". Apparently, her playing in the garden next to him was more than he could handle.
The other day he was telling me that he missed his friend Luke and then asked me if I was missing Patrice--Luke's mom. I thought that it was sweet how he is missing his friends.
Tonight I was laying in bed with him and this was the conversation:
D: "When I grow up I am not getting married."
Me: "Hmmmm, really"
D: "Wait, when I grow up I am going to marry you. What do you think Daddy will say about that?"
Me: laying there trying to not laugh
D: "Will we have food there?"
At this point I was laughing and had to get out of bed to go tell my mom what he had said. He always keeps me entertained.

Sugar
She has learned to climb out of the pack and play and consistently does this when it is time to go to sleep--yay.
She pooped on the potty today--whoohoo. She was super proud of herself and we all cheered for her and gave her a mini marshmallow. Let's hope we can keep this going.
It seems like she is starting to talk--a lot. Yesterday after I did her hair she got down and ran to my mom saying "pretty girl." I wonder where she heard that! I am hearing her say words that I have never heard her say before. Another funny one is that she calls Pa Beannie-Bebe. It is super cute and I can tell that Pa likes it.

Elijah
He laughed for the first time yesterday. It was so cute. He has been smiling but to hear the laugh just made me laugh.
He has been sleeping 8-10 hours the past few nights. This is amazingly awesome. Lets hope this continues when we get back to Cali.
He has his Grandma wrapped around his finger. Every night she says--you need me to hold the baby and then she rocks him to sleep. It is so sweet and I am so thankful to have this special time with my family.

Friends

Chrissy, Amber and myself (blurry --but the best picture I got)

Brett holding Elijah. I remember holding Brett when he was E's age--time goes way too fast.

All of our kiddies--it is rather difficult to take a picture when the majority are under 3 yrs. old!

"Miles may separate as life goes along but the bond between friends remains ever strong." This is a quote on a little plaque that my mom has at her house and during this trip it has been so real to me.

Yesterday two friends I have had since kindergarten, Amber and Chrissy, were able to come and spend the morning with us. I have so many memories with these two girls. We have been through brownies, birthdays and boy crushes together. We have laughed until we nearly peed our pants (remember the dance Amber?).

Now we are all grown up and have our own kids. Each of us live in different areas and live our own daily lives but yesterday I felt like we never skipped a beat and were able to be "old" friends once again. They were beautiful when we were younger, inside and out, and are even more beautiful today. I feel so thankful to have them as friends and to have been able to spend some time with them!!

Amber's oldest boy loved little Elijah. He was holding him and had the sweetest smile on his face. Then her middle boy Brandon was David's best friend--or so David believed. They both are allergic to nuts so they had a common bond--hahaha. The day after they had been over David woke up and asked if his new friend in the red shirt could come play. Then today when he was swinging on the swing set he told me that his friend in the red shirt pushes him higher than I do and then wanted him to come over. Apparently Brandon is now the "boy in the red shirt". All in all I think the kids enjoyed themselves too.

Rolling Over

Big day for Little "E" seeing that he rolled over for the first time. He was sleeping on his belly and when I went to get him out of his bed he had rolled over to his back. It was actually kind of funny because he was laying there wide-eyed like,what did I just do.

The kids are finally starting to adjust to the time change, me too. It has been a struggle getting them to go to bed at 9, considering that is 6 in California, and it is still broad daylight here. We have continued the same routine of Bible story, songs, blessings and prayer hoping they would make the adjustment sooner. Tonight I put David and Annabelle in separate rooms to see if it would help and what do you know--they went right to sleep.

It was sweet tonight because Sugar said to me, "Bible read." I am so thankful that they are learning the Word of God. It makes me so happy when I hear David sing his Bible songs, although I have heard Zaccheaus about 10 times today, and recap the stories. Tonight he was praying for who he claims are his best friends--Peter and Michael. This makes me laugh because they are so much older than him.

We were able to talk to Daddy on the webcam today which was great. David keeps telling me that he wants to go back to California to see his daddy. Then he will ask me if I miss daddy and when I tell him yes he responds by telling me that he misses his daddy too. While we were talking Annabelle had a major meltdown and was crying for her daddy. She couldn't understand why she could see him but she couldn't go to him. Glenn said, "If I could get her right now I would." We are really missing our daddy. Counting the days until we can hug him again.

California Bound

Today Glenn left to go back to California--a very sad day for me. I will not see him for exactly one month. Not sure how I am going to handle this without him. He is my sanity :-). The one I can talk to about all of the days events and he is actually interested in hearing everything about the kiddies. The whole day I just wanted to treasure every minute of being with him because I know that it will be a while. This morning I even found the pillow he has been sleeping with so I can smell him while he is gone--weird but I don't think I will be able to sleep without it.

We drove to Escanaba and enjoyed some Culvers then went to Ludington park so I could feed E and Glenn could play with the kids. When we got to the airport we hung out for a while and then it was time to say our good-byes. Glenn hugged and kissed each of us about 20 times--squished E's head one time--and then had to say our last good-bye--or so we thought.

When I was leaving the parking lot I noticed a fenced area where we could stand and see him get on the plane and yell one more "I love you". When Glenn walked out Annabelle saw him and tried to run back to the airport--it was too funny. We said, yelled, our final good-byes and we were off to Manistique with screaming kids in the backseat. Needless to say this may be an interesting month.

Shipwreck Tours

Today marked the last full day of Daddy being with us before he heads back to Cali. We are going to miss him and won't be seeing him for a month--that's a long time!!

Today we all packed up and headed to Munising to go on a boat tour of the shipwrecks in Lake Superior. When we got in the van I attempted to start it only to find out that I left the car on all night and the battery was dead. We charged the battery then headed to town so I could feed E before we made our jaunt to Munising.

Once we got there and got on our "ship" we were ready to go. It was a lot of fun. David thought the captain was neat and Annabelle just liked getting attention from everyone. She is such a ham--smiling and waving at everyone in sight. E did a great job as we ventured out on the waters of Lake Superior--the largest fresh water lake in the world. The captain had to cut the tour short due to harsh waters outside of the bay. We had a great day and enjoyed just spending time together as a family.

2 Months

Well Little "E" you are more like Big "E". Seems to me that the past 2 months have gone by way too quickly and you are well on your way to becoming a quarterback. I am going to recap what you have been doing this month.

• You had your first plane ride this month--and vacation. We flew to Grandma and Papa's house in Michigan. You were excellent on the flight and by the time we arrived in Michigan you were ready to crash for about the next 12 hours.
• You are a big boy!! Wearing mostly 0-3 months clothes and some 3-6 months. You can slow down any day now.
• You are wearing a size 1 diaper but will probably be moving to a size 2 very soon.
• You are sleeping between 6-8 hours at night now--whoohoo. Usually closer to 6 but you sometimes go a bit longer.
• You are a stomach sleeper. You will not go to sleep on your back.
• Spit-up. Every time we hold you we had better have a cloth handy. Grandma has even learned this lesson. Sometimes we need to change the sheet on your bed twice in a day.
• You are smiling and cooing like crazy!! Every time you get a kiss you smile--melts my heart.
• You watch me walk everywhere. Turning your little head to see what is going on.
• You still love a good cuddle--don't change that E!!
• You started out as the most difficult of the 3 kids but are quickly becoming the easiest. You let me know when you are sleepy and when I put you down you go right to sleep.
• You hate the car seat with a passion. As soon as I put you in there the poochy lip starts and before you know it we are all looking for earplugs.
• You have excellent neck control now. You hold up your head and look around. Once in a while you crash but it is more rare than normal now.
• You have now met all of your grandpaerents and great grandparents. They smile and ooh and ahh over you. Everyone wants to hold you all the time but you are always sleeping.
• David and Annabelle love you so much. They sit next t0 you and talk to you. David calls you "handsome little man".

Well E that pretty much sums up your second month of life. You are such a special blessing to our family and we love you so much!!