colorful, creative & yummy

1 box of cake mix
white frosting
food coloring
sprinkles
bowls & plastic knives

a colorful, creative & yummy way to stay busy

camp life

a few weeks ago we ALL went on a camping trip
vogels & lees & whites

the weather was awesome!
it was REAL summer weather,
something we haven't seen much of this summer

we spent most of our time chillin' at the beaches -
lake macatawa & lake michigan

the rest of the time we hung out around the campsite
where josie discovered the joys of dirt
and the kids roamed free on their scooters.
actually it was more like roaming free on the small section
i told them stay on :)

the kids love camp life
so do we

we can't wait to do it again :)

wordless wednesday

finally...

painting has begun
a color was chosen

ryan's favorite color

green
aka gaucho

little miss josie

josie,
you are 18 months old-
well, actually you are almost 19 months!

here's a little bit of who you are these days...

you finally love sippy cups

you can't get enough of whole milk
{with a splash of chocolate milk}

you're walking all over the place
you love big kid food -
if the other kids are eating it, you want to too!

you have a favorite baby doll

you LOVE tv remotes and cell phones

you try to buckle yourself in the carseat
{too funny}

you sleep all night and take 1 afternoon naps
{between 1-3 hours}

you yell at your sister & brother to get what you want

you weigh 22lbs and are 30.5 inches tall

you wear 12-18m and some 18-24m clothing
and are almost a size 3 in shoes - itty bitty feet!!

you absolutely LOVE soft serve ice cream -
gone are the days of getting some for the big kids
and driving away - now we have to buy you some
and park the car and feed you - but you LOVE it!

you can say:
mama
dada
no
yes
go
that

you know your:
head
eyes
ears
tummy
nose
mouth

we love you, josie!!
you're getting to be such a big girl :)

favorite

green might be ryan's favorite color,
but this might be my favorite baby swim suit :)

soaking up the summer

we're totally NOT ready for school to start in 3 weeks!!

cute

baby teeth are just so cute

the things kids do when they lose teeth are cute too...

looking in the mirror ALL the time

trying out words that end in "s"

telling random people about a missing tooth

getting up early to see what the tooth fairy left

it's all so cute

too bad it means my baby is growing up!!!

weighing painting our options

we are in the early stages of finally painting our dining room
and repainting our entryway/stairway

who know picking out 2 colors would be so hard?

well, thank goodness for the invention
of the small $3 can of test paint!!!

i give you our options...

the dining room
all possible options - feeling confused?
us, too!



option 4 isn't really as blue as it looks -
it's more of a greenish blue.
it was actually the paint swatch we've had on the wall
for 2, yes 2, years.
we always thought it looked more green -
a $20 gallon of paint later and we realized we didn't like it
(and the start of buying the $3 can)

another dining room angle
with just the top 3 contenders

yes, the green is a bit much -
but wouldn't it be fun to paint a room
with a color named "gaucho" ??

the front entry way
options 3 is the same as our back entryway
who doesn't love symmetry??



clearly we are never meant to build our own house
can you imagine us picking out paint for an entire house -
all at once???

and in case you're wondering as of today,
our choices are #6 (brown shutter) for the dining room
and #3 (oyster shell) for the entry way

but doesn't gaucho just sound fun?

the best morning ever

no one ever wants to get pulled over.
today i really, really didn't want to get pulled over...

because this was in the backseat
and yes he's totally naked.



why?

well within 5 minutes of being at the skate park,
he had fallen off his bike into a puddle.
thankfully, a friend was there some extra clothes in their car.

then i found him doing this...

what else happened at the skate park?

well...

olivia fell in a puddle and needed a new set of pants.

our friend harrison totally wiped out in a puddle and needed new clothes.

yup, it was the best morning ever at the skate park.

and yes, i'm still wondering why our kids were all so mysteriously
drawn to the only 2 puddles in the whole entire skate park.

wordless wednesday

seriously?

where you ever this little?
seems like so long ago.

seriously, when did you get so big??

God is good :)

because kids are funny

ryan's new favorite song is "i am free" by the newsboys
here is his rendition

don't recognize it?
well here's the original version with just a few more words

and olivia... well she's more of our family dancer
see for yourself
mary catherine gallagher watch out!

finally

18 months and a few days...
josie can finally walk :)

almost

the view from the top

well these pictures were taken back in june,
but they still show josie's favorite activity.

if we ever can't find josie,
all we need to do is look up the stairs.
she's usually sitting at the top giving us a big smile.
too bad her big smile doesn't stop us from freaking out!

so if you ever come over and find bins
or chairs blocking the stairs -well, you know why.
wouldn't it have been cool if staircase designers
back in the 1930s could have predicted what baby gates would be like now?

oh well, this too shall pass...and then we'll get back to enjoy our old house :)

here's a picture of our stairs
(yes, a bad picture, but all i could find in my "archives")
see no good place for a gate!

well i guess i'm pretty glad those staircase designers
couldn't have forseen all the safety codes
and baby gates we have today -
check our these cool stairs!

see, my kids have to learn to be tough on our stairs
so they can tackle these ones at grandma & grandpa's!!

boys

my conversation with ryan
ryan, what do you want to be when you grow up?
just a super hero, mom.

garrett's prayer at supper
dear lord, thank you for our food.
thank you for the x-games.
amen.

garrett's prayer at bedtime
dear lord, thank you for our day.
help me do cool tricks at the skate park tomorrow.
amen.