Park Time::2 Days in a Row

We went to the park at the fairgrounds today.  One of our other favorite parks.  Right when we got there Brecken decided to take a pooper all over his shorts.  So he was the creeper at the park with no pants on.  Storyofmylife.  <

My sweet little man.  ..With no pants on..  Joy is my cell phone photographer and she just happened to catch our kisses:)

Loves the big kid swings!!!

Sleeping Moments

Night 1::

Quiet talking, asleep by 8.  J fell out at 11:30 and they both woke up, B woke up at 12:30 and they both woke up, B woke at 6 and I slept with him until 7:15, B (unknowingly to me) went in and woke J up at 9.  They know have a child lock on the inside AND outside ;)

Nap::

2 hours.  GREAT.

*Also discovered B is getting his 2 year molars.  He is a terrible teether.  Probably has a lot to do with the night time wakings.*

Night 2::

Quiet talking, asleep by 8.  B woke up at 1 and they both woke up.  B woke up at 1:30 and they both woke up.  B slept until 7:15.   J until 10

Night's 3-6 Vacation.  Pack n Plays.

Night 7::
Right to sleep at 8.  B woke at 5, B woke at 6 they both woke up.  B slept until 8. J until 9.

Night 8::
Asleep by 8, B woke once.  B woke at 6:30.  J slept until 9.

Nights 9-17::
Joelle did AWESOME, for this transition.  She has woken once or twice in the middle of the night.  It's Brecken that's mildly annoying.  He wakes up once probably 4/5 nights out of 7.  When he wakes up he is either screaming OR he thinks it's funny to go poke Joelle awake.  Then he wants me to lay with him.  Then he wakes up between 6 and 6:30.  And if I want him to rest or fall back asleep I have to lay with him.  After many nights of this, Eric put the kabosh on it.  He started going up there when B would wake and he would sit by his bed until he fell asleep.  Brecken was super thrilled when Eric went up there.  NOT.  

Nights 18-20 CAMPING::  
Oh man.  I didn't even know what to do for these.  I wanted so badly to do them in the beds.  But I was afraid it was going to go terribly.  So I brought pack n plays too.  We did them in the beds.  Each in their own and, much to our wonderful surprise, they did great.  Hallelujah!  We are pack n play free!  And crib free!

Nights 19-21 (which is present)::
No one has woken during the night!  Hopefully that phase is over..  B still wakes up between 6:30 and 7.  But I can handle that.  He rarely pokes Joelle awake.  Just goes and stands by the door and makes quiet noises.  Occasionally he will wake up crying and then it's a mad rush to try and get him before Joelle wakes up, but usually she stays sleeping.  So, sooooo thankful they go right to sleep.  They have been SOOOO much easier than Adelyn ever dreamed of being.  Having 2 of them in the same room brings some of it's own challenges but I'm thankful they are minor.  And not many.  Kinda sad they Brecken did that transition on their own.  I was so prepared to wait until they were 3.  Oh well.  Now to potty train.  Hardy har har.  Clearly, that is going to be our difficult transition.

Park Time!

We headed to Kollen Park today with a few friends.  It's one of our favorite parks in Holland.  The only thing I don't like is that it isn't fixed in..  I have to pick my battles I guess..

Joelle and Sawyer swinging in the "baby wings"

Riding the dinosaur..?

3 pretty cool dudes...and our 4th cool dude is in the background swinging ;)

Love Holland!

Muskegon State Park

We headed to Muskegon State Park Friday afternoon.  We were excited/nervous for our first camping trip.  Adelyn was beyond stoked.  Eric and I were nervous about sleeping arrangements.  Brecken and Joelle don't remember.  I can proudly report sleeping arrangements worked out great.  We are officially pack and play free.  For now.  Joelle slept at the far end, Adelyn on the table, Brecken on the bed next to us and us on the other end.  Brecken, per usual, had to have some kind of ailment.  We were on vacation after all.  His allergies flared up SUPER badly.  The entire first night he slept with us and coughed the.whole.night.  He tossed and turned and coughed.  And repeat.  We got him some Zyrtec, stat, the next day.  He cleared right up and slept great the next two nights.  Adelyn and Brecken woke pretty early, around 6:30, the first 2 days.  The last day we slept until 7:30.  Spread it on.  

When we got there, on Friday, we set up our site and headed out to dinner.  After dinner we came back with promises of a campfire and marshmallows.  The kids didn't get to bed until 10.  They were all super crabby, Eric was in a terrible mood and I was being super negative.  I was convinced it was going to go horribly and I wanted to go home.  We all agreed to wake up in a better mood and see how the next day went.  Thankfully, the rest of the weekend went great.  Brecken and Joelle are at such an easier age than they were last year.  They were a lot of fun and had a blast.  Adelyn, of course, was beyond thrilled to be camping.  She talked about it alllll winter.

Saturday we went to Pentwater for the day.  We had bought the kids bubbles at Meijer and they were so excited to use them.  We packed a lunch, ate and headed to a little park to blow some bubbles.

Daddy and Joelle blowing bubbles

 

Smores.  Yum.  Without chocolate;)  Because Joelle doesn't like it AND I'm not giving my kids chocolate at 9pm.

Sunday morning Eric took the kids to the store to grab a couple things.  I got to shower in peace and quiet and have a second cup of coffee with a book before they got back.  I returned the favor and took the kids to the beach to play with toys while he showered.  The water was 50 degrees but that didn't stop them from putting their toes in.  Brecken got more wet than just his toes.  But that's not a huge surprise;)

A boy and his toys..

2 pretty ladies

They were baking cookies.  Together.  Love them.

Daddy came down and blew up the beach balls.  He tossed them around.  And the wind blew them around.  And he chased them down.  What a good Daddy.

                      Jojo throwing.                                                                        Little B kicking.

Catch!

Making "sand angels."

Such a pretty lady.

My two handsome men.

Sunday night we ordered deep dish take out.  I brought bananas so we had banana boats in the fire.  Adelyn, Eric and I had chocolate, raisins, and marshmallows in ours.  Joelle had raisins and marshmallows and Brecken was feeling odd and only wanted marshmallows.  I asked him about 5 times and his answer was the same every time.

Make a crazy face.  Love the look on Jojo's face.

Monday morning we went for a hike and showed Daddy our secret passage way.  The first time, when I took them on Saturday morning, we were headed down the hill in the first picture.  Eric wasn't with us.  But he was with us in spirit.  As we headed down, Adelyn said, in her best Eeyore voice, "This is a baaaaaaaaaaad idea."  Obviously, she got over it.

 
A and B running down the hill to the beach.                          Daddy and Jojo moseying down the hill.

The view of the dune we climbed.

We were going to go to the parade Monday morning but didn't feel like rushing into town by 9:00 just for a dinky parade.  We'll try for a different one and the kids won't know any different.  We thought the weather was supposed to be beautiful Sunday and Monday but it was still chilly and cloudy.  Thankful we brought our little heater!  We all had so much fun and can't wait to do it again.

AND we are pretty excited, we can officially say, we are pack and play free, for now!!!

Our Little Garden

I wasn't planning on doing a garden this year since we are doing a full share of a CSA.  I couldn't resist.  This is our little garden spot and I feel like this is the first year Adelyn and I will have a real chance to get out there and take care of it.  It was only $30 for all our plants at the farmers market and we will have so much fun with them.  

Planted in the back are 5 tomato plants, summer squash and zucchini.  Much to my disappointment the girls really wanted watermelon.  The vines are going to take over the garden and that annoys me.  I kept my thoughts to myself and bought them.  I have to put down some black plastic and then we will plant those.. 

Adelyn is holding a worm she found in the garden.  She was on a hunt for "worms to put next to the veg-a-bles."

Adelyn with our herb boxes.  Dill, mint and parsley are in this one.

Basil and parsley in here!

 I dug all of the holes, Adelyn planted and filled them back in.  Yes, I realize I was foolish for letting her plant in all white.  Oh well, she didn't get that dirty.  She loves to help water and weed them already.  Let's hope it keeps up all summer long;)

Members Night::JBZ

JBZ had a members only night.  We really wanted to go but it was the night before we were supposed to go camping..  We managed to make it there for an hour.  This is the second time we got to see the new bear exhibit.  But the bears were, literally, up close and personal this time.  

I don't remember where Adelyn was but B and J were enthralled with the bears.  I had to tear them away.

Brecken saw some big kids doing this.  Their grandma was with them and she turned and said to me "I hope your kids aren't watching.."  I didn't think Brecken was but, clearly, he was.  The kids walked away and not 2 minutes later he climbed up and was practicing his stunts himself.  Sigh. 

 The kids had a blast and so did we.  Eric doesn't get to come to the zoo with us very often so it was kinda fun to go at night and see the cool new things:)

Last Small Group Meeting

We had our last small group meeting at Helder Park.  I will miss our Sunday night gatherings.   And Adelyn is going to miss us leaving her on Sunday's.  She cried when I told her we weren't going to Bible study anymore.  "I want Miss Alison and Nana to watch us!"  Ohhhh brother;)  At least she loves our sitter, right?!  

We grilled at Helder and then let the kids run around at the park.  

Jack thoroughly enjoyed straying from the group.  Brecken took it upon himself to drag Jack around.  These boys are a couple weeks apart and, clearly, Brecken thought he was the boss.  Maybe Jack can come over sometime when Brecken doesn't have HIS listening ears on.  Hmm

Joelle and Sawyer getting a ride on this..thing..from William.  Joelle is a leeeetle unsure;)

Poor Maddie..  Adelyn and Joelle just LOVE babies.  So anytime they see Maddie they are obsessed with touching her..and holding her!  They probably thought they were in heaven.

4 of the 8 kids present.

 Kevin and Erinn's sweet boys.  Elliot and Jack.

Some bonding time with Daddy.  Such a sweet picture.

 Brecken riding on the..thing.  I'm not sure what it's supposed to be.  And I don't think anyone else is either.

We had a great time with our small group.  When we got there, there were no areas with a grill available.  We had a slight moment of panic as we drove around but then a group cleared out.  Whew!  Looking forward to next year when Darrin and Susanne's new little man will join us!

Spring Mini Session

We had some pictures taken on the 4th.  I used D&E Image.  I found them through a friend of mine who has had quite a few pictures taken with her.  They always turn out sooo sweet and I miss having mini-sessions.  I couldn't have picked a worse day for me to be super busy.  I ran the Tulip Time 10K, we had someone come re-do part of our lawn in the morning, Eric and I re-seeded, fertilized and tidied up that area in the afternoon and pictures at night.  I had all the kids clothes laying out, went to Old Navy in the morning for Eric (and me!) but couldn't, for the life of me, find the bow I wanted Joelle to wear.  I spent precisely 5 minutes on my hair (and hated it) and also wanted to give Eric a hair cut.  That didn't happen.  Brecken and Joelle took a good nap but then screamed in their cribs for an hour while we were trying to finish the yard work.  Adelyn spent her "rest-time" yelling at us from her bedroom window.  To say I was rushed and exhausted is putting it mildly.  I had zero expectations for this photo shoot, but since I always go into every photo shoot with that expectation, I am always amazed.  Adelyn was being a bit ridiculous when we first arrived "because sand was getting in her shoe."  But she quickly got over it when we told her walking in the grass was acceptable.

First family shot.  Love it.  Apple trees in the background.  Which would have been in bloom if it hadn't been 15 degrees until 2 weeks ago.

Adelyn and her faces..

I'm pretty sure, in most of these, you can lip read Brecken saying "cheeeeeese."

So sweet.

 

Proof that Adelyn is a sweet, sweet girl.  I said "aweee" when I saw it.  Eric said "she's probably pushing Joelle."  Ha.

I LOVE this.

Handsome little dude and his mohawk.   He askes me, nearly every day, to do his hair.

I can.not.believe how thick, and long, Joelle's hair has gotten.  I've kept it quite short so her sides could catch up but, my goodness, it looks long.

We wanted another picture of all three of them.  But all three of them wanted their own chair.  So we went with it.  And no one wanted to smile.  So we went with that too.  And had them cross their arms.  Some succeeded, others did not.

 Ring around the rosy..  So fun.

Tried to get a cute one of them on top of the bricks.  Ha. Ha. Ha.  Crazy faces in the first one and B "hugging" everyone in the second.  ;)  Gotta have a few fun ones.

 

And then we get this cute one from little B.

 Awwwwweeeeeee

They are pretty cute.  If I do say so myself.

B is such a sweet little boy.  And Adelyn is such a tolerant big sister ;)

Nothing says "all done with a photo shoot!" like a sucker!!!

So glad I found Liz to do our pictures.  I don't know anyone who does mini-sessions anymore and I like to do a mini in the spring and a full in the fall.  She did a great job with the kids, took loads of pictures and gave them a sucker at the end ;)