Carter Turns 4

Carter turned four on September 22nd. He requested ribs for his birthday dinner. He had them for the first time at a local bbq restaraunt and loved them! My brother Mike coached me through the cooking process, from the rub to the grill and into the oven. They turned out pretty good. Here's Carter with his special red plate!

He also requested yellow cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top!

He's outgrown his orange bike already and Leah's been riding it so we bought him a new bike for his birthday. It's a little big yet, but by spring he should be tall enough.

Grandma and Grandpa bought him a new bulldozer. Uncle Matt gave him the crane truck.

Here are Carter and Leah "sharing" the cake. I made the #4 and then cupcakes with the remaining batter.

This is the special red plate, for any special occasion! We got this as a baby gift for Carter and have now just started using it. I found it in the move. What a cool idea!We had a family birthday party on Saturday and here's Carter blowing out the candle on his monster truck cake.

Tinkertoys from Gma and Pop-pop!

A softball from Great-grandma

A truck puzzle from Uncle David.

Carter had a great birthday. It was a lot of fun celebrating. Hard to believe he's already 4. He's getting so big!!!!

30th Birthday Weekend

My college friends and I got together a few weeks ago to celebrate the year of our 30th birthdays. It took a few years of planning, but we pulled it all together....picked a weekend Michelle would be home from Germany, chose a venue (Tara's family cottage), worked out the logistics and decided on a menu. There were five of us....Kristy, Kelly, Michelle, Tara and myself.

Michelle and Jan flew to Cleveland Thursday. We had a chance to hang out here before heading to Fort Wayne, where we met up with Kristy and Kelly on Friday. They got a little taste of life with 3 children. I hope we didn't scare them!! Michelle and I drove to Kelly's house on Friday. We spent the night there with her family... husband Darren and her two little girls, Allison and Peyton. It was so fun seeing them. The girls are adorable and thanks again for the pizza!!! While Kel and her fam were rooting for their team (Kelly's a high school asst. principal and has to be at all the home games), Michelle and I headed over to Joel's parents' house to visit Kristy's family. We got to see her hubby Joel and two kids Reese and Ryan. They had tons of energy and were racing around the back yard, which was a lot of fun to watch!! Mrs. Worthington makes some very awesome apple crisp. I need to get the recipe b/c I just tried to make some the other day and it was a flop!

Saturday morning, the four of us rendevouzed after grabbing some coffee and drove to the cottage, where we met Tara. Let me start by saying the cottage was amazing, a cozy place up on a small quiet lake in Michigan, full of family history. You could just tell wonderful memories were made there. I am so grateful to Tara for hooking us up with her husband's grandparents' place. Did I mention quiet, something I haven't experienced much of these days. It was so nice to relax with friends, have a conversation without being interrupted or asked for a snack. We caught up, talked about life as Mommies and wives. I just couldn't get over how even though time has gone by and a lot about our lives have changed, these were still some of my favorite people on the planet, friends I used to live with, laugh with, party and dance with more than (I hate to admit) 10 years ago. It was so fun and fascinating to share time together and I look forward to our next adventure.

I do enjoy cooking and the food was fantastic. We all brought a variety of items, piecing tasty meals together and ended up with enough food for a small army. The beer was great too!

We kicked things off by taking a lap around the lake. Tara thought we could catch some turtles, but we weren't so lucky. Instead, Kelly, Michelle and I worked up a sweat in the paddle boat. I thought it would be an easy ride around the water getting in touch with nature, but it was tough work. Tara and Kristy cruised around in the canoe, no problem.

Here they are, leaving us in their wake, if that's even possible in a canoe!

View of the cottage from the lake

They doubled back for a photo.

So beautiful. I love that tree!

Enjoying some beverages in the sunshine. Michelle is pregnant, which is why she's drinking bottled water.

Yummy chicken dinner

We got a fire going and sat outside way past my bedtime!

The flames don't show up on camera, but the fire was toasty warm. Tara and I kept it going due to my experience as an Indian Princess :-) They like to make fun of me for that comment!

Kelly and Kristy

Michelle and I, not centered b/c I was holding the camera.

After a while, we moved inside for fire #2. We toasted some marshmallows and made smores.

Michelle opened a few baby gifts. Tara is an artist, something we didn't know. She made the card herself including the drawing on the front. She should start a little side business.

A view of inside the cottage.

Kristy, Michelle, Tara and Kelly

Granny's Rules. You can tell she's a straight-forward lady, with simple rules for keeping a cozy cottage.This is Matt's grandmother's book. I read as much as I could. Tara said it's possible to find a copy on e-bay, which I'd like to do. It was amazing to read her life story. She's an unbelievable writer and has plenty to write about. I really enjoyed this and wish I had had time to read each and every page.

Another view on the inside.

Michelle's Mommy Tummy

Here we are about to hit the road for home on Sunday. Thank goodness for camera timers!

Thanks for a great weekend girls. I had a blast and loved spending time with you. Can't wait to get together again. Next time we see each other, Michelle will have had her baby!!!! I can't wait to meet the new little Hoosier.

More Fun in the Mud

I guess there's a trend here.....my kids do enjoy getting dirty, even sweet little Leah. We had a heavy rain and the kids made the most of every puddle around the edge of the driveway. Two of their favorite ingredients, water and dirt....mix them together and fun fun fun!!! Maybe this is just my excuse to use our new washer and dryer. Believe it or not, their clothes did come clean.

Yes, Carter is pasting it into his hair.

Don't be confused. It looks like Carter's showing affection. Really, he's just hugging her in order to clean off his hands.

Wow! Those are two dirty kids.

Elliot on the fireplace

Jeremy thought it would be cute to get a picture of Elliot on the mantel

First Day of School

Carter and Leah started school on September 8th....still catching up on the posts! They had waffles and milk for breakfast. Carter now has school four mornings each week and Leah goes two mornings. This is Leah's first year and she loves it so far. On the first day, she headed in without looking back. I had to ask her for a hug and kiss, which I was sort of bummed about! Carter was a little more hesitant, but did fine as well. The second day, Leah was pretty upset when I dropped her off, of course realizing this time that I was not going to stay. As time's gone on, she's done better and better. She loves her teachers and her favorite activities are painting, singing and playing with playdough.

Carter enjoys the dinosaur puzzle, playing in the bike room and on the playground. His teacher Miss Jane is so sweet and does a great job with the 4's class. They are learning to write a different number and letter each week. He also loves snack time because they have crackers and juice (something we rarely have at home)!!

Leah would have liked to take some of her stuffed animals with her, but they stayed in the car.

Here they are out front, Carter sporting the loader shirt...so cool!

Some more fun at Grandma's

Just a few more pics.....Carter took control of the hose. Leah for some reason does not mind being blasted in the face! They love the water!!

Some fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Just wanted to post a few pictures from several weeks ago while still living at my parents' house. I captured some of the fun the kids had in their backyard. They love spending time back there and have managed to dig a huge hole behind their rock wall. They used the hose to fill it up and had a muddy fun time.

The GREAT Geauga County Fair

Every year growing up, we would head to the fair. After a while, it lost its excitement. Not until Jeremy and I had kids did we begin to appreciate the fair and how much fun it really can be. Watching them get excited about all the exhibits is so cool for us.

Carter and Leah loved climbed on every tractor they could, the bigger the better!

Carter sitting on the skid-steer

Leah leading the way up the tractor. She's our little climber.

They had to also stand on the rocks

Carter rock climbing!

They had so much fun petting the animals.

We even got to watch the cow being milked

I don't have any pictures of the food, but I must mention the hot dogs, ice cream and lemonade were fantastic. I wish we would have gotten a gyro and an elephant ear, but there's always next year!