Pretty Princesses...

Eleanor and Paige

(Paige is my cousin's daughter and the girls are just 3 weeks apart)

Paige, Eleanor, and Maren (my other cousin's daughter)

Josh was feeling a little left out

Happy Birthday Ellie Pea

It's been hard to believe that Eleanor is already 2 years old. I remember it like yesterday when my water broke 6 weeks early and just thinking she's too small, it's too early, but God has blessed us beyond our beliefs with this little 4lb peanut. Josh often calls her "Ellie Pea" because she is so small. As moms will often chat about their kids and sizes, percentiles, etc... I've always had to say, "Well Eleanor isn't actually on the chart yet" Congratulations girl! You are in the 5th percentile now.

Jack and Eleanor pre-present opening

Eleanor's favorite of all her gifts was probably the cheapest too. She loves necklaces and bracelets and wears them all the time.

All dressed up for a tea party with Daddy

She wasn't even willing to take them off for nap time :)

Vacation at Higgins

We've been home from our vacation at the lake for a week now and I think I finally have everything unpacked and put away. Sometimes it just takes much longer than it really should! We all had a lot of fun and really enjoyed a quiet time away from home. Some of our highlights included celebrating Eleanor's 2nd birthday, bringing Jack to visit a Native Indian novelty store (go figure the only thing he wanted to buy was a tractor and trailer), spending time with my cousin and her family from Colorado, and seeing Harry Potter at the local movie theatre. After all these years of summers spent growing up at the lake we had never been to this theatre. Much to our surprise, it turned out to be quite a treat! I felt like I was in the lodge at summer camp. The Pines, Houghton Lake MI

Here is a glimpse of our week in a few photos

Hello Blog!

Time passes fast when you're having fun. I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in a month and a half. Our family has had a great start to summer and as quickly as I say hello, we're out again for vacation this next week at the lake. Scroll on down to see a little of what we've been doing lately. I can't believe my first born, my son will be 4 and starting preschool this fall. His short haircut makes him look so old. And my little 4 lb peanut will be 2 on Monday!

Paw Paw and Yinzy

Josh's parents had stopped by and asked me to take a few photos of them they needed for something. I rarely get a chance to take a good picture of the kids with them but this was perfect. It wasn't really planned but Jack wanted to help take the pictures and then the next thing I know they had jumped in the picture too. We spend so much time at the Lake with my family during the summer that we are extra excited to spend a few days camping with the Goads in August...five days of pure Goads!

Swim Lessons

We had Jack in swim semi-private swim lessons this year with a few of his friends. Jack loves the water but can be a little shy when it comes to giving up his floaty ring. I, however was not prepared the first day at the pool for the dare-devil that my daughter is! It was the first time in a pool since last summer (and then she was just a baby still) and this girl was going crazy. There is a pretty large slide and Eleanor climbed up flew on down to Josh maybe 20 times in a row, no joke. She had swimmies on her arms but would bob down under the water a foot or so before coming up and saying "again" She went from there to jumping off the side by herself and then off the diving board. It was such a joy to watch, but I will definitely have to keep my eye on that one :)

Candid Cam

Here are just some sweet pictures of the kids at the lake. I love trying to capture the perfect moment or the goofiest face...

Lake Friends

We have grown quite fond of our good friends the Blackmore's this year and were excited to be able to share some time with them at the lake earlier in June. The kids have so much fun together and it even gave the adults a bit of a break to have all four weasels entertaining themselves. I think the hardest part was having the three older ones all sleep in the same room. As much as I wanted (and did) scold these little ones to stop talking and go to bed, there was something so sweet that brought back fond memories of my childhood to hear them whisper and giggle to their hearts content.