girls day out

We went to FMG with some of our girl friends today. Elise, Stella, and Nicolynn all willingly agreed to pose for a picture.  Bah just kidding. They were all strapped in or else they'd be running in opposite directions. Except Stella.  She's pretty stationary at this point.  (Next year, Kari!)

Why yes.  I would love to put on a wool Ladybug cape when it's 95 out.  Not.

Best picture of these two yet.  Someday they will both be looking at the camera and smiling.  Okay. Probably not.

We were so hot and thirsty!  And a shout out to our corporate sponsor for the day (and every day): Gentex Corporation!  Bahaha - I'm cracking myself up today. 

She literally had to stop and smell the flowers.  Lots of them. 

There was a fake spider up high here - she calls all bugs and spiders "bees".

Actually this is a pretty accurate picture of our morning.  What a fun day! 

Swimming Lessons

For the past four weeks, Elise and I have had swimming lessons every day at 4:40.  We go Monday - Friday to a local hotel pool and Mr. Michael teaches her how to swim and float.  We probably have two weeks left because Little Miss Kicks-a-Lot can't get her feet under control. The goal in the end is that if she were to fall in the lake or a pool she would be able to roll onto her back and float, and swim to the nearest steps or side or ladder.  It's a process for sure.   If you want more information on these swimming lessons you can check out this link.

We took a couple videos today.  I'm going to recommend turning the volume down a little...because she pretty much cries the whole time.  She's a big faker though.  As soon as she gets picked up she's fine.  This is what a pretty typical lesson looks like.  We've been working on floating this week.  And if you can't stand the crying baby in the pool - at least watch the last 20 seconds or so.  Every single day as soon as she's done and on her towel she waves at Mr. Mike and says "buhbye".  It's the cutest.

P.S.  I promise this isn't baby torture.  It could save her life!

Streaker

She hopped in her pool after dinner. I didn't have a bathing suit handy - so after her diaper got so soaked it was falling off - we just stripped her down. 

 The child loves to be naked.  There are way more pictures than this but I thought I shouldn't put the bare-buns ones on the internet.  Although I think those might be the cutest...

P.S. Thank you AGAIN Breckers for this awesome pool!

Fathers Day 2012

We headed out to the Lake for Fathers Day.  I think I've spent more time out there than at my own house this past week.  That's because it's awesome and Elise loves it.  She wants to stay forever.  Last night when we said we were leaving she waved to us and said "buhbye" - she wanted us to leave and she wanted to stay.  Stinker.

Can I play with these buckles please??

Happy Father's Day Daddy.  You are the best and the cutest.

My cousins were out at the lake today too and made it their mission to catch turtles.  They caught like five!  And they got a huge one that I would not go near.  They invaded Elise's kiddie pool.  She wasn't thrilled.

'Papa' and Elise.

She will hardly talk all day to anyone new - but she talks and talks the whole way home.  Sorry for another video......

her first ice cream cone

There's a little ice cream shop a mile from our house that sells kiddie cones for a dollar.  So awesome.   Elise wasn't as excited about her ice cream cone as I thought she would be.  She gets way more excited for Klondike Bars.

Elise can jump now.  It's so funny. 

cheap thrills

Elise loves to play in the car. She begs to go in there. It works great for me because she is completely contained and I can spray paint stuff.

Her hair was a DISASTER.  This used to be piggy tails.

Poor thing's wiped out a couple times lately.  She is constantly covered in Hello Kitty BandAids.

Millennium Park

Saturday morning we took advantage of the beautiful (hot!) weather and headed to Millennium Park -- a huge park in Grand Rapids with tons of playgrounds, a huge beach, and a splash pad.  She wanted nothing to do with the splash pad but loved the playground and the beach.

pool party on the driveway

BIG thank you to the Breckers for giving Elise this awesome little blow-up pool!  I got half-way through blowing it up and decided to go to Wal-Mart for an electric pump.  Worth it!  She LOVES it.  We've got it parked on our driveway this weekend.  And probably all summer.

a day at the lake - in video clips.

I pretty much had the cutest picture of Elise ever.  And then the card in my camera flipped out and decided to eat it.  I'm really sad.  Like so so sad.  But it decided to only eat the pictures on my card and not the video.  And I happened to take a lot of those today...

Elise says a lot of words in here - which I think I translated correctly.  A tiny dead fish washed up on the beach.  She won't say fish, she does does the fishy face.  And she loves doing buckles.  Give that kid a lifejacket and she's set for a half hour.  As long as there's someone to un-buckle what she buckles.

We are busy.

We had such a fun and busy weekend.  Aubrey turned 21! And then she had her first drink.  BAHhaha.  

Happy Birthday Aubie!  We went to Boatwerks in Holland for dinner and happy hour.  And a couple hours after happy hour.

Elise did so well in the restaurant.

She had some entertainment.

Elise wasn't in the mood.  But aren't my sisters cute??

So this happened.   We're sorry to the people that sat here after us.

We had a little party at our house on Saturday too.  Actually it was a pretty huge party - THANK YOU to everyone who came.  It's a little weird for me, because it was a party to celebrate that we are cancer free, and I almost never think about cancer.  I'm just too busy!  Well, kind of.  I play with legos and color a lot.  But having cancer just seems so long ago and done with.  We're over it.  And we hope never to see it again!  So thanks to everyone who showed up.  It was so good to see ALL of you.  And and extra big thank you to everyone who brought wine.  KIDDING.  Sort of.   :-)

I was so busy all day I got almost no pictures.  My throat hurt from talking.  But this one is hilarious.   We told Elise to give Jude a hug.  Jude ran away and Elise chased him around the yard with her arms open for awhile.  SO funny.  Poor Jude.