Elle's one year check up. She is all smiles at 20 lbs. and 13 oz! She is standing up on her own but sill no walking...yet!
Auntie Meg taking the kids to Mommy Mondays at the Rochester Village Mall where her Aveda salon is at.
Oh the beautiful cottage: Our Annual Family Trip August 2013.
We had such a busy summer especially for me personally. I was in Lansing for a week presenting to teachers in June and then left to attend Lucy Calkin's Teacher's College at Columbia University in NYC for a week. On top of that July left me emotionally exhausted after an intense interviewing process and so this trip to the cottage for me was the absolute perfect place to put my computer away, have no access to my cell phone, and enjoy my husband, children, and the outdoors! We had a great time!
Uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy came and stayed with us!
Great Uncle Tom and Luke are playing a game of baseball after enjoying an ice cream cone. Yup, they are using an invisible ball.
Ellie loves spending time with her Great Aunt Cathy!
Seriously, the PERFECT life! Reading some of our favorite books as the breeze comes off the shores of Lake Huron. Sigh.
Our first bonfire at the beach!
We filled ourselves up with yummy smores.
First bites for each kiddo :)
Ellie loving it.
And Mommy loving it.
Having a lazy morning in our jammies...
Taking a walk around the neighborhood and Luke wanting to checkout the golf course.
Picking raspberries from the garden for lunch...yummo!
Ellie enjoying the sea breeze at the Marina.
Grandpa and Grandma Cooley also came for a visit this year! Here we are eating at the Inn where Grandpa and Grandma Uitti had their reception 7 years ago!
And another trip to the ice cream shop!
LoVe!
Stopping to watch the nightly train go by!
Luke is an UNO fanatic. He plays multiple times a day and is always asking anybody and everybody if they will play with him. So, here we are.. Tiger's game, listening to the waves, and a family game of Uno.
The next day we all headed to the Sand Dunes! Luke loved running down the Dunes, he loved running in the lake at the bottom, he did not love walking up as much BUT he didn't complain and he did it all by himself!
First run in!
Pretty chilly but refreshing.
Yup, I am pretty sure you can spot Luke and I climbing up the Dunes. I am the red dot and Luke is holding my hand. Ben carried Ellie up, Grandma Cooley watched from above and Grandpa Cooley made it up...although we all held our breath. ;)
Ellie.
Peek-a-boo!
A sunset walk around the marina. We watched a boat having to be towed in by the coast guard. The scene gave me flashbacks of our own Cooley boat adventures!
Luke diving for rings!
Luke kayaking with a little help from a snorkeler. :)
We took a family trip out to the Lighthouse! There they have an old school house. Luke loved looking around at all of the different knick-knacks.
Ellie got into it too!
Dunce.
When I saw this log on the beach I just knew I had to take some pics of the kids. I loved so many of them it was hard to choose which ones to post. I was able to narrow it down well, to at least four. :)
The one below is my favorite!
SO sweet! Ellie sure is a Daddy's girl.
Another wonderful trip at the cottage! We are so thankful to Uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy for sharing their slice of heaven for us.
* Luke took the picture below. Not bad sport!
ChIcAgO! I was hired to do some work for the National Writing Project and so Ben and Luke came with me. Don't worry, Ellie was at home getting plenty of extra attention from Grandpa and Grandma Cooley!
Ben and Luke got to visit the Chicago Zoo!
While we were walking around downtown Luke said to me, " Mom, this building must have been eating his vegetables. He is really big!"
First time on a subway!
Playing in the pool!
We had lots of fun at the Shedd Aquarium!
Luke really got into it. :)
A special day in Detroit with Grandpa and Grandma Cooley!
We got tickets to go see the live play of "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie". The play was inside Hockeytown Café where the Second City used to be.
The set after the play was done and the Mouse had made a mess!
Afterwards, we went out to lunch at the Hard Rock Café. It was a beautiful day in the D!
Lukey's first pet! After the Shedd Aquarium we were inspired to get Luke his own Beta fish. At first his name was Fish, then Grandma, but after seeing baby Benny Ulrich, Luke settled on the name Benny and that is the name that stuck. :)
Love at first sight.
This was our final family fun night of Summer 2013. School starts tomorrow!
We made a picnic dinner and then biked just the 4 of us to our park downtown Rochester.
Beautiful blessings.
Aunt Nae is home for a visit! Off to the Detroit Zoo!
Could this girl be possibly any cuter?!
My map loving family. I am not one of them.
Luke was most excited for the polar bears! He got a polar bear last Christmas and ever since then has loved polar bears. His other favorite animal is a kangaroo. He loves the idea of a baby being all cuddled in her mama's pouch! Luke asked me, " Mom can you ask the zoo keeper if I can go in the kangaroo's pouch?"
This was pretty spectacular!
Crocky! YIKES!
Keeping cool with Auntie Nae!
Train ride...
At Uncle B's and Aunt Mol's because sweet Baby Benny is ONE!!!
We are so thankful to have Jacque back this year! She is with the kids M-F all day and we are BEYOND thrilled to have her back for the full year! She takes Luke to preschool at NC3 downtown Rochester 3 days a week for 1/2 days and Ellie goes to Ms. Meghan's every Thursday am to play with Zaydee and both kids go to a Library fun time every Monday. Our kids have so much fun each and every day!!! For example, I called yesterday to see how their morning was...They had been to the Cider Mill for Donuts and Apple Cider for breakfast, then they went to the Library for a Music Maker event where they had fun singing, dancing, and playing instruments, and they were just settling in after lunch for an afternoon nap. Love it for them.
Here is Luke on his first day of preschool! He doesn't look so sure now but he loves it! Every night he asks if he can go to school tomorrow. I have a video clip at the end of this post with a special gift that we left for Luke on his big day!
Here is Luke on his first day of preschool! He doesn't look so sure now but he loves it! Every night he asks if he can go to school tomorrow. I have a video clip at the end of this post with a special gift that we left for Luke on his big day!
Dad is so cool.
Photo shoot with Auntie Nae! We had a great dinner with the family. We all had fun playing outside in this fall season. We love you Auntie Nae!
Actually wanting to smile for the camera...Quick! Grab the camera!
My sweet Grandma Johnson was put on Hospice and so we took a family trip to go visit her in Traverse City. This trip was so hard for so many reasons. However, I am thankful that she is not in pain, that we have our memories with her, and that my children had the chance to experience her love.
The weekend was very emotional for all of us and so Mom and Dad surprised us with a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend! BEST hotel ever for kids!
Ellie was having so much fun until...
she looked over...
and saw...
this! Then it took her awhile but she came around.
Luke was an old pro on the waterslides!
He even went down a big one!
Lazy River!
All snuggled ready for be after a long day!
I had to take a pic..a milestone. My first time putting pig tails in my baby girl's hair. xo
Enjoy the clips below!
This one is Ellie walking for the first time! We caught her trying it out when she didn't think anyone was watching!
This is Luke's morning on his first day of preschool!
This clip is of Luke singing about Jesus in the backseat on our way back from Chicago! The whole video was 4 minutes long but I had to cut it to fit it on the blog. It is just about the sweetest thing he ever. He compares Jesus to Super Why and Bob the Builder. :)
