Elliot - 4 Months Old

Elliot turned 4 months old on October 26th. I took him for his 4 month Dr's visit and he weighed in at 12 lbs 15 oz and has a length of 24 1/4". He's doing great and more interested in his surroundings than ever. Carter and Leah entertain him with toys and talking. Now that he's giving so much feedback, they're constantly trying to get a reaction out of him. It's cute to see how excited Elliot gets when they play with him.

We're still working on sleeping through the night. He's had a few really good nights, when he slept about 10 hours. However, he usually only makes it about six hours before waking up.

His newest activity is the exer-saucer. I just brought it out this week and he loves it! To him it's all new, but it's the same one we've had since Carter was born. It's great to pull out old stuff and get new use out of it. I just went through a bunch of Carter's baby clothes and I love that Elliot is now wearing some of his outfits, makes me think of when Carter was a baby. They look a lot alike too!

Daddy's Newest Helper

Jeremy has been working on remodeling our master bedroom. He was holding Elliot for a while and then decided to set him down on a comforter in order to have his hands free. Shortly thereafter, Jeremy turned around and Elliot had fallen asleep sucking his thumb (his latest trick).

Fall Apple Picking

The kids and I went apple-picking last week at a local fruit farm. We had such a nice time. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day and the smell of the apple trees was amazing. We grabbed a few empty bags from the farm store and walked out into the orchard. Here are some shots of the kids. They were very ambitious, saying they were going to carry their own bag. Of course, once the bag was full, they asked me to carry all 20 lbs back to the store. So far, we've made apple crisp and apple sauce. My apple crisp has room for improvement, but the sauce turned out really good.

The perfect pick!

We sampled along the way.

Carter and Leah are watching a wooly bear we found in the grass.

Leah learns to ride a bike!!!

Leah has learned to pedal a bicycle. She's pretty good too! Here she is circling around the driveway on Carter's orange bike. Way to go Leah!!!! Now we just have to get her to wear a helmet.

Jeremy's New Toy

Jeremy has been dreaming about a zero turn tractor since we decided to buy our new house. After hours of searching on ebay and craigs list, he finally purchased one from a store in Fort Wayne. He negotiated a good price through ebay and picked it up a few weeks ago. Here he is using it for the first tie, cruising around smiling ear to ear! I tried it out last weekend. It's tricky to get the hang of, but after a few rows, it go easier.

Three months with three!

Elliot turned 3 months old on September 26th. Here's his first video and a few updates. He's now rolling from his tummy to his back, both right and left. He smiles, laughs and makes lots of noises. We're working on getting him to sleep through the night, a mighty tough task considering I bring him into bed each night around 3am for a meal. It's become a bad habit, but we're working on being a big boy and sleeping in our own bed! Elliot's a very happy boy and seems content most of the time. He loves being read to and when Carter and Leah talk to him!

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