Project Life Tuesday

ok, this is two weeks worth, my pictures are not in the right order and I still have some to add, but whatever Here they are! :)

Sunday August 21- my boy loves to swing!

Monday August 22- and get himself into tight spaces!

Tuesday August 23- no picture (I may or may not have misplaced my camera again for a few days...)

Wednesday , August 24- no picture

Friday, August 25- We celebrated Graham's birthday on mine with Grandma Shirley and he had his cake!

Saturday, August 27- he started taking a few steps!!!

Then the previous week- backwards. :)

Saturday, August 20- Women of Faith! It was a fanstastic weekend and I felt so "full" Loved all of it, especially seeing one of my favorite bloggers, Angie Smith from Bring the Rain!

Friday August 18- Pic from Kelsey of the two of us waiting to go to Women of Faith!

Thursday Aug 17- no pic

Wednesday, August 16- Can you see this? he's standing all by himself!

Tuesday, August 16- Gracie's best bud's playing in the sand.

Monday, August 15- not sure what's happening here, but when it gets quiet, I come and check pretty quickly!

Sunday, August 14- waiting to pick up sister from her fun weekend with Grandma Shirley.

One

One year ago tonight I was in the hospital. I was waiting for this sweet little face to arrive.

One year ago I didn't know how long it would take him to get here.

I didn't know how crazy life would get with two little ones.

I didn't know how much fun he would be, or how curious, or hungry!

I didn't know how my heart would melt when I would see his sister taking care of him

or when he would lay his head on my shoulder or give me sloppy kisses.

But here it is one year later and I am so very thankful for now knowing all of that and so much more. Happy Birthday baby boy.

Happy Day!

(my birthday last year with Gracie -3 days before we met Graham!)
Today is my birthday. It's a little funny, I have always LOVED my birthday. I remember letting everyone know as soon as Aug. 1 rolled around that THIS was my birthday month and isn't is SO exciting?!

But there's been a little bit of change recently. While I still like having a special day, it's not quite the same. All I can think of is it's because I have little ones now and *gasp* it's not all about me! Now I get to make their birthdays amazing and fun and so important. That's a change, but a good one.

My top favorite birthday memories-

• my 6th birthday- getting 6 jars of homemade pickles and 6 bunches of carrots from my grandma and grandpa. Loved it.
• my 16th birthday- having a big party with all my friends and celebrating with a friend, Daniyel who's birthday is 3 days before mine
• my 21st birthday- going out to eat with my girls and ordering a drink (I can't even remember what, something big and slushy) and not really liking it or wanting it but then having it dumped in my lap before dinner (and no other drinking!!!!) even started!
• my 22nd birthday, feeling down and being at collage and then having Jess surprise me and drive down to spend the night with me, eat ice cream, then get up very early to go back to Lansing to work.
• my Haiti birthdays- being in the country and getting real milk and some brownies from the Baptist mission, sharing one with my sweet friend Jess in our little bedroom in our on campus apartment, my 26th on the 26th birthday with all my friends and our great bakery cakes from Marie Beliard. So very good.
• my 30th birthday- bringing Shane home to meet my family and friends, knowing he was the one!

I am blessed indeed. :)

Catching up #2

Camp! Hannah had a good week at camp. This is her bunk (she had already taken her things down)

She was in Purple Violet.

Her counselor. There were some great pictures of her and her new friends on flicker. I hope she goes back next year!

Yes, that's right. see his face? I cut Shane's hair!!! I watched a tutorial online (ha!) and thought, why not? Well, apparently there is more of a learning curve needed that a youtube video!

He ended up with a buzz cut. I guess I did an ok job doing that!

Catching up #1

I have lots of fun pictures to catch up on. Sometimes I want to save them for Project life before I show them and then... well I apparently never put any of them up! So here's catch up #1

sprinklers, splash pads, and softball.

Look at Grandma Shirley catch! She's got it going on!

going, going, gone!

Project Life Tuesday

Sunday, Aug. 7- Our last day of camping! Graham had lots of people to feed love on him while we were camping!

Monday, Aug 8- We went on the back porch after dinner and Graham learned how to climb steps!

Tuesday, Aug 9- Grace's first trip to the dentist! She did a fantastic job. I was so proud of her for sitting so well and being such a good listener.

No pic for Wed so here is what we did after the dentist, played with Jonah!

Thursday, Aug 11- I love this pic for two reasons- 1) we took out the tv in our living room and Grace really hasn't missed it that much. She plays so well but now watching tv is a treat! (and helps mommy get dinner ready!) and 2) Grace came to me that morning with her pajama top (pink) with a pink skirt (of course) that she'd pick to wear every day. I told her it was a pj top not a shirt. She said "trust me mom. trust me. it's a shirt". Well, ok then!

Friday, Aug 12- Cousins! We haven't seen Rilee and Reese since Christmas and that's way too long. They have grown so much! Grace had another first. She went to Grandma Shirley's "just because". We met her halfway and she had the girls with her. Grace had a fantastic time. I love this pic!

Sat- Aug 13- We went to the cottage on Saturday for lunch to visit with Brad and Diane and Shane's Aunt and Uncle, Lisa and Randy. It was great to see them and catch up!

Still doing it!

Yes, I'm still taking pictures of Graham with his monkey. These were his 11 month pics. (I did miss month 10, oops).

At 11 months, Graham is

• pulling himself up everywhere!
• letting go and standing by himself for a few seconds
• sleeping the same, 12 hours at night and two naps during the day (he may be ending the morning nap soon though....)

• putting everything in his mouth! We went camping and I don't know how many stones I fished out of there...
• becoming so independent. DO NOT take food out of his hand when he wants it. DO NOT put him down when he wants to use you to get somewhere/something.
• Tried a new recipe this week and liked it. Black bean lentil enchiladas! :)

• is a happy boy, always smiling.
• gave me kisses today for the first time! I love love love it!
• is waving now too!

• is starting to mimic our sounds. Today he and his daddy spent a good 5 minutes clearing their throats. cute!

She/He

She loves all things pink and girly.

She cannot get enough dancing and twirling.

She tells us to "watch me" "watch me" over and over.

She loves going places and although is hesitant to try new things, once she does, she never looks back.

She went to Bible School last week and I hear bits of "Jesus" and "God" peppered into her play each day. My heart can hardly take it- crack.

She is a good eater but could live on cheese and cheerios.

She's not happy about trying new things, especially if they are mixed but she will.

She asks "why" a thousand times a day.

She likes to pretend still. Yesterday I told her I loved her. She replied. "I love you too Grandma". :)

He is into everything and everywhere.

He is letting go of furniture and standing by himself for a few seconds.

He loves to eat but is not a fan of veggies. When he's done his hands go right to his hair so he always has a greasy/messy/dirty spot on his head that often stands up by the end of the day.

He loves his daddy fiercely. (No one can make my kids smile like their daddy)

He may be cutting a few teeth because there have been some fussy days/nights/naps in the past few days.

He learned how to wave bye bye last week. We can't get enough of that. His crawling is lightning fast.

He likes to share.

He's been sleeping later but napping less. His hair is growing fast and I'll need to trim it soon. He loves his sister.

WE are blessed.

Project Life Tuesday

Friday, July 22- Love his smile. He's into throwing everything. Give him a toy? He'll chuck it for sure.

Saturday, July 23-I posted a video yesterday of Grace eating corn. MMMMmmmm with every bite. It was so good though. Sweet Corn Charlie is expensive but oh.so.very.good.

Sunday, July 24-can you see how much food he has shoved in there? He LOVES to eat!

Monday, July 25- We went to the zoo with some friends from camp and their kids. It was H.O.T. and very crowded but we had a great time!

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- no pictures - camera lost, er, in stroller that apparently I didn't use all week to exercise!

Saturday, July 30 (thanks for letting me borrow the old camera hubby!)- My sister and her family came to visit. We went downtown to the mermaid festival and watched the Good Samaritan Helicopter land to give tours!

Sunday, July 31-Grace and Hannah played in the sprinkler. Then Daddy taught Grace how to spray water. She loved it!

Monday, Aug. 1-How did she get so big? Gracie went to her first VBS! I loved seeing her go off with her class. Really how did she grow so fast?

Tuesday, Aug 2- here she is going to her class!

Wednesday, Aug 3-Hannah was with us all week for day camp and Grace could not get enough of her. Everything was HANNAH! HANNAH! HANNAH! We loved having her around to help with the kids too. We told her we weren't going to let her go home!

Thursday, Aug. 4- Hannah's counselor at Day Camp. She had a great time!

Friday, Aug. 5- We left on Thursday afternoon and drove up to Michigan to go camping! We were at Leisure Lake Campground which I lovingly call "the Pits" (it's an old gravel pit, but it really is a great place!) Our friend Linda was there with her son David, who has special needs. We love having David around and this time Grace and David spent a lot of time coloring together. I loved how sweet they both were to each other!

Saturday, Aug. 6- It rained quite a bit but there is a big pavilion across from where we camp and so we hung out there. The rain came in anyway and sister spent a lot of time stomping in the water and dancing around. My sister got some great pics of that!