Alyssa 3rd Birthday (part 1)

We had a little Breakfast Birthday Bash with some of our friends (kids and Mommies) for Alyssa's 3rd Birthday before we headed east for the holidays.

It was a fun time. The kids got to pick a fun cereal to eat and their favors were straw bowls and rice krispie treat, and the mommies got to enjoy coffee and cinnamon rolls!!

The kids also wore their pj's. I kinda did a snowflake theme and the kids made snowflake crafts too. It was a great morning celebrating a very special little girl!!!

Eleven Months

Cole turned 11 Months on Dec. 10th!!! He is getting so big and just a JOY all the time. He is always happy and smiling. Even when he falls or bangs his head, he rolls over looks at me and laughs like it was funny. Most of the time Jeff and I just look at each other and say.. the girls would have been screaming! Not my tough guy though!!!

He is now completely weaned and handled the transition great! Never did a bottle, just right to a sippy cup and he was fine!!

He has recently started this thing where when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap where he throws EVERYTHING out from his crib. Once in awhile he will do it at nap time before he falls asleep, and we have to go in and put it all back in b/c he is crying (basically the only time he cries!!)

Christmas Party

The Smithgroup Christmas Party was at the DIA this year.

First Snow

We had a dusting of snow on Monday morning. The girls were so excited to see it when they woke up! It took about 20 minutes to get them all bundled up, and they only played outside for probably 15 minutes... but they were all smiles!

Thanksgiving

I am bummed I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving we went out to Sturgis, MI and spent the day with our friends The Werschky's. It was a great day and the food was delish!

On Saturday we were visited by our friends The Waldo's. They were traveling home from visiting Laura's parents and came here Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. It was really great to see them. Again, I can not believe I do not have any pictures of that. Ugh!

On Sunday we worked on getting the house decorated for Christmas. The girls were so excited to get the tree up and decorated. We let them put the ornaments on, and agreed to leave it they way they decorated. Very hard for two Type A personalities! : ) Hayley however, is not pleased with our outside lights. We just have white lights on the house and she wants colored. Oh dear... don't think we will be able to do that! : )

Weekend Away

The weekend before Thanksgiving I went away for my annual scrapbooking weekend with Julie. We meet just outside of Pittsburgh for a weekend and we usually shop, eat and scrap the whole weekend!

This year though, Jeff and the kids came with me and dropped me off at the hotel. They then went to Jeff's brother's house for the weekend. The drive to PA was fine, however our drive back was probably the worst trip we have ever had with the kids. ugh! Next time... my weekend away, will be my weekend away! Till next year...

A Night Out

Jeff and I had the privilege of going to the Detroit Institute of the Arts 125th Anniversary Gala on Saturday courtesy of Smithgroup. It was a really fun night out with my main man! We got dressed up and had a lot of fun! It was nice because it was a huge party and we only knew one other couple there from Smithgroup, so there wasn't too much "shop talk", which was nice.

There was a "red carpet" up the outside stairs, the food was amazing, the drinks were free (there was even a sign that said, "No tips please, your host has been very gracious", and when they brought the car back from the valet there was a "goody" bag inside the car!

Pretty sweet date for the $5 we tipped the valet guy!

Ten Months

TEN Months! This is crazy! My baby is looking less and less like a baby and it is sad! He is growing and learning so many things it is crazy!

I took him to the Dr's at the end of October (for a very late 9 month appt) and he did so well at getting his shots. He gave one little wimper and that was it. He was 19 lbs 4 ozs and that put him right at the 50% for his weight. I don't remember his height of hand (hey it's late and I am so behind on blogging - just be happy with what you get!) but he was in the 90th% for his height.

He is eating a LOT of solid foods. O's, cheese, peas, chicken, eggs, green beans, bread, corn, and every fruit possible. He has not, not eaten anything I have given him. He signs "more" when he wants more and seriously doesn't know when to stop! He loves to eat!

He has started to cruise along the furniture, and also walk some with his walker. He will even let go of whatever he pulled himself up with and balance himself for a good while standing on his own. So not ready for this!!!

He is still nursing, but I think the weaning will begin soon. He just is too interested in everything else that it is making it very non-enjoyable for me.

He is still the happiest, easy baby EVER! Love my little man!

Halloween

The girls and (Cole too) had a great time Trick or Treating for Halloween. We walked around our neighborhood for a bit and then we drove over to a friends house and I think the girls got just as much candy at that one house than they had trick or treating in our neighborhood! (Thanks Aunt Rita! : )

Cole went as a Duck, Alyssa went as a Lion and Hayley went as a Giraffe. I went as the zoo keeper and Daddy went as the Lion Tamer. It was a lot of fun seeing Alyssa "roar" for everyone, and then of course Hayley would "roar" too! Some people in our neighborhood were giving away full size candy bars, and a couple different houses gave away the single serve bag of chips. I hadn't really seen that before!

Here are a few pics...

A Fall Day

After Church on Sunday we went to a place call Mill Race Historical Village in Northville. It is this little village that is to resemble the era prior to the 1900's. It is a pretty famous hot spot for photography, as I think EVERYONE we saw was there taking pictures. We even saw a bride and groom getting there pictures taken. Hayley was smitten with her, it was really cute. Here are some pics from the day, however, there are a lot more on facebook.

Nine Months...

*GASP*

Is it getting old yet? How can he be 9 months already? I am so not ready for this, but yet at the same time, I have been planning his 1st Birthday in my head for two months! Ha!

Cole is doing great! He is eating like a champ! He is eating a lot of solids... puffs, O's, bread, cheese, banana's, strawberries, the occasional piece of dog food (I know, I know, I just can't get to it fast enough!), and this morning I gave him some pancake and he "tore it up", as Hayley quotes! I have a feeling my grocery budget it about to need an increase! He also had some (clear my throat noise inserted) ice cream last week... (see previous post for the culprits!)

He is pulling himself up to standing on about anything and everything. He has also climbed up onto the fireplace (which just happens to be where I have been putting the dog food "out of reach").

We are working on him with signing, but he hasn't shown any interest in signing back. When I ask if he wants "more" he just gets a big smile and starts to bounce in his seat. I take that as a "yes".

I need to get him an appointment for a 9 month well visit and then we will be able to see how he is growing.





The little punk will not leave my blocks alone! : )

Mom Mom and Pop Pop's Visit

While we were in Denver for our anniversary (see previous post) my parents came out and stayed with the kids. We are so thankful that they took the time to come out and do this. I wish I could have spent more time with them myself, but I know the kids enjoyed all the attention that they got.

Happy 6th Anniversary to US!

Jeff and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary on October 9th! We were blessed to be able to go away for a long weekend to celebrate! My parents flew out and stayed with the 3 kids while we enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend in Colorado!

Jeff had a conference out there, so he went out on Thursday and then I flew out on Friday. I got there about 5pm Denver time. We went into downtown and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe which is on the 16th Street Mall ( a very cool pedestrian only street with shops and restaurants right in the middle of downtown) After dinner we walked the street a bit and then we headed to "d bar desserts" (http://www.dbardesserts.com/) The owner Keegan Gerhard is the former host of the show "Food Network Challenge". He was there, however I didn't get a picture of him. Nobody else was making a big deal out of it, so I didn't want to be "that" person. Anyway, we had to wait about 40 minutes to be seated, but it was SO worth it. It was delish!! Check out our desserts...



Saturday, Jeff had to go to a few more sessions, so I was able to head out and do some shopping. About 5 minutes from our hotel, which was right out side of Denver was, "The Container Store". TCS carries every organizational tool, caddy, or whatnot that you could possibly ever need! I love just taking my time looking at every single thing! I was then also able to go in my first ever, "Super" Target. Another amazing store! Why don't we have one of those?

Saturday Evening we drove to Boulder and we went to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to Jeff by two separate people at his conference. Flagstaff House Restaurant sits on the mountainside and overlooks the city of Boulder. We sat right by the glass wall that overlooked the mountains and city. It was absolutely beautiful. The food... oh. my. word! It was excellent! I got the Filet and Jeff got Duck. They brought us appetizers "compliments of the chef", a palette cleansing grapefruit sorbet, and also a dessert sample plate "compliments of the chef" and then even a mini loaf of blueberry bread to enjoy the next day! This place was high class all the way!!!

Sunday was our sight-seeing day. I told Jeff I would go for a hike with him. He picked out a hike for us to do that was in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our 2 - 3 mile hike ended up being 6+. Jeff blames National Geographic for incorrect mileage labeling on their map... but... I'm not quite convinced he didn't know better! : ) The first part was great, beautiful sights, not too rough terrain and I was feeling pretty good. However the end was not great. I was ready to be done, I kept loosing my footing on the rocky and rooty terrain, and I was just done with a capital D. All in all, it was an awesome experience, and I would do it all again just to see the smile and excitement Jeff gets out of doing it. Some pics from the hike...





After the hike we went and grabbed some pizza, and then went back into the park to just drive around and see different areas. During our 30 minute drive we encountered, clouds, sun, rain, a rainbow, snow and about a 20 degree drop in temperature. Craziness! As we were leaving Estes Park (the city right out side the National Park) we encounter some Elk walking IN the street. They were huge! Walking around like they owned a place. We saw a road sign when we entered the city, that I now wish I had taken a picture of "Watch out for Animals on ALL roads in Estes Park". After our hike we went back to the hotel, showered and then went to dinner at Red Lobster.

Monday morning we got up and went to breakfast at Chic Fil A and then went and enjoyed the hot tub that was out on a deck at the hotel. My legs needed it!
After that, it was time to get packed up and get ready to head home. We grabbed lunch at TGI Fridays and then headed to the airport. Jeff got bumped up to First Class and he gave it to ME!!! Such an awesome hubby! It was my first time flying First Class!!! All those work trips he's had finally did pay off for me! : )

It was an amazing weekend, and it has been and amazing 6 years! I love you Babe!

The finished Patio

Well, a month after I (with much support from my friend Lisa - see blog post "and the walls came tumbling down") decided to rip down the wooden privacy fence around the patio, it is completed with it's new look!

Jeff worked very hard and put in some hours (even took days off work) to get it done. He did a fantastic job and it looks GREAT! I must give credit where credit is due... I power washed the patio AND I put the mulch in the bed. I know, I know... my part was very strenuous! Jeff is so meticulous, but it is one of the things I love about him! The wood bed is perfectly level all the way around. Starting with only one level of wood, going to 5 levels out in the far corner... all level! He also, has such an eye for detail. I couldn't quite picture in my head what he was describing, but he knew it would look good and it does. The one bed with the Feather Reed Grass and the mulch and Wood border, then the other bed has a stone border with tiny stones and the circular fire pit. The Patio, wood bed and stone bed are at all different levels and it all comes together wonderfully!

Next time you see him, be sure to tell him how awesome it looks! Check it out...

Hayley's New Gymnastics Class

Hayley started a new gymnastic's class last week. We switched from the YMCA to the Livonia Rec Center. The gym is a lot nicer and I think the program in itself is just run better there. Here are a few pics...

EIGHT Months

EIGHT MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whatever!

I seriously can not stand it! Especially since in the last couple of weeks he has done SO much! Cole has cut a bottom tooth, he has waved, clapped, and most importantly said his first word... MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! I finally had a child to say my name first!!! Yay! (Just a bit excited about it!)

He is growing and just learning so much! He is still such a happy baby and so content. He is now eating baby puffs and LOVES them. When I put them on his tray it is like mana... he grabs as many up as fast as he can! Really cute!

I have to start to wean him, but am not mentally ready to do so. Jeff and I are going to Denver in October for our anniversary and my parents are coming out to stay with the kids, so Cole needs to be on a bottle by then. Hopefully, the transition goes well!

All in all, he is doing great!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Gerwing came and visited over Labor Day weekend. The girls (and Cole too) enjoyed having them here and spending time with them. They played outside, went to the park, played games, read books, horsey rides... they slept good, (and so did the girls!) Ha Ha!

I'm How Old??

Ok, so I know I say it like every month how fast my kids are growing... but today is completely different! I am 35! What? WHAT? Where did 35 years go??

I had a great birthday (with the exception of feeling like I was going to vomit) On Saturday the 4th, Jeff and I went out to a nice dinner at a Mexican Restaurant I had been wanting to try and then afterwards we met up with some friends at Melting Pot to enjoy some dessert fondue. However, not long after we were at the Melting Pot, I started to not feel so hot. I actually told Jeff we had to leave. Thankfully, I did not get sick and I think it was just a combination of REALLY bad heartburn and something not just agreeing with me 100%. Other than THAT, it was awesome! On Monday my birthday we celebrated with the kids and had cupcakes and then Jeff cooked a delish meal on the grill - shrimp, asparagus, garlic bread... YUM-O!

35 can't be all that bad right? Bring it!! : )