Fall is here!

Zalen and I walked around downtown South Lyon a couple of days ago to look at the scarecrows. There are a lot of them but I picked out a few of my favorites.

we made a trip

Last weekend Noah didn't have a soccer game and on Sunday we were having stake conference so I didn't need to be there and thus we had the weekend free to make a visit to Virginia...and Jana and Jason were kind enough to have us.  We went down Friday after Noah got off the bus and Saturday was an all day whirlwind.

 Fredericksburg is a cool place.  That weekend they were having a sidewalk chalk festival...it was way cool.  We didn't get to see the finished products on many of them because it went into Sunday.

 The kids thought the Angry Birds one was the best.

 Next was the pet expo-we all got in for free because Jana had special tickets.  They had some pretty cool animals there.

 It was so nice to get away and do something different and have people to talk to (more for me, I guess).

In all, a great time.

If you Mustache, Zalen is ONE!

                                       

                                          HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE MAN, Z-MAN!

Zalen woke up to bubble wrap in the hallway. He had a blast just crawling all over it. lol

I attempted to make a mustache cake for Zalen's birthday. 

He was fun to clean up. lol

My little birthday boy and I 

Mom took this picture. I just love how happy Walter is and how spaced out Zalen looks. lol

Zalen eating blue frosting for the first time

Can you guess what animal they are using their hands to make?

Last Couple of Days

 Dad and I took our overnight trip on Friday and Saturday and went to Beulah, MI.  Here are pictures of some of the things we saw.  The first one is an ice cream shop in Saginaw.

 This sign is in St. Louis, MI.  You can read why I took the picture.

 This Mom-ument is in front of the middle school in Clare, MI.

 This tiny chapel is outside of McBain, MI.

 Sunset over Crystal Lake taken from the window of our motel in Beulah, MI.

 The Bottle House in Kaleva, MI.  A man built the walls out of bottles.

 A grasshopper made by high school students in shop class in Kaleva.

Yesterday Marilyn, Betsy, Gerri and I went to Shipshewana, IN for the day.

First Steps

Well the big news around our place is that Walter has finally started taking steps. When he began crawling a couple months ago, he almost immediately started pulling himself up on furniture, so we thought he'd be walking lickity-split. Apparently, he wanted some ground time.

A few weeks ago, he figured out how to stand up from a sitting position, without anything to help him. You could tell he was excited, because he would just do it over and over. His balance wasn't great at first; he could barely stand for more than a moment, but then he'd just try again. Then, over Labor Day weekend, he took his first step. I was out of the room, but Heather said he took a step towards her and then stood for a few seconds before sitting back down.

Since then, he's been practicing all the time. He stands himself up and then takes a few steps. He's up to about four before getting too wobbly. Usually, he'll take just one or two, then stand still to regain his balance, and then do a couple more. He still crawls most of the time, since otherwise he wouldn't get anywhere, but more and more he'll stop, stand up, and try a few steps. I'm sure by the end of the month, we'll have a bonafide toddler in our house.

soccer

This morning was Noah's first soccer game-we were lucky because Eric was able to go before he left for the next 6 weeks (we will be in MI in 25 days to see him, expect an email if you live there soon because I want to plan something with everyone). Anyway, Noah has been going to practices for 2 weeks and was so excited for the game today.  They split both teams into two smaller teams of 5 and had two different games going at once. Noah was one of two boys on his team and he made good use of it.

 I found myself almost crying because I was so proud of him.

 They were so cute.

 Most of the time, you could see Noah doing a crazy kind of dance down the field.

 He had so much energy.

But he proved that he has a lot of potential to be a really good player (something Eric is reservedly excited about). I'm excited to watch him over the up coming weeks (soccer ends Nov 2) and see him improve.

 Jack and Lucy were a great support group.

 Doesn't she look excited to be there?

Mostly Jack just lounged and ate his apple.

I just love this kid.

SUCH A FUN LIFE

 We visited Kari and kids two weeks ago (has it already been that long???) and stayed five days while Eric was out of town.  It was so nice to not worry about my dishes, and stay up late watching So You Think You Can Dance.  This picture is of Noah, Addie and Macie running in a beautiful PA field.  Can you tell who is who?

 We did manage to get them all on the seat at once!  Too bad Noah's face is covered.  They had a great time playing together for the most part.

 Built-in teething toy!  He got his first bottom two teeth shortly after we left Kari's house.

 At Addie's school library, relaxing last Tuesday.  I had never been there before, it's really nice!

 My, my, Carson is getting so tall and big-looking lately.  All he does is talk about being a "big boy."  Once school starts (day after Labor Day) and things settle down into a routine, I think I may try my hand at potty training the adorable guy.

 Sawyer gets almost everywhere he wants by ROLLING!  So happy to be mobile!

 These pics of Macie were taken yesterday.  Crimped hair can make even a sick girl with a fever feel a little happy!

 Our thriving tomato plants.  The two on the left are beefsteak plans, and we've had probably 15 tomatoes from the two of them, and the two on the right are grape tomato plants and they've been producing like crazy!  It's hard to tell, but they're still dripping with the yummy fruit.  I think Jason has found his true love---gardening.  He loves being out there, pruning and keeping a careful eye on them, and he's likewise fond of our few flowers.  Next year we're definitely going to put in a garden.

 I, sadly, took veeery few pics from our trip to Utah for my brother-in-law's wedding.  We all had a good time, and very much enjoyed driving around our rented Ford Flex!

 And here we are being SAVED by Grandpa and Grandma when we RAN OUT OF GAS on the freeway on the way to the airport to catch our flight home!  Soooo funny...

I'm slowly getting back into running.  Jason and I ran a 5K on Saturday and we both finished!  My goal was to finish without walking or stopping, and I did it!  Jason, of course, beat me while pushing ALL FOUR KIDS in our double jogging stroller.  He's a stud.  We were both happy with our results, and will be doing another one in September. 

 Addie's hair is getting long again, and Hillary, she has been loving your hand me downs!  Recognize that dress??

 Made these throw pillows with my friend.  I love them, aren't they cute?  And they match our new...

ORANGE LIVING ROOM WALL!!

 

The End