Happy Father's Day

Daddy with his little buddy on Father's Day
Daddy and Ben going on a wave runner ride
Ben playing at the beach
Our future football player
Emma, Kylah, and Ben on the swing

Greg enjoyed another great Father's Day at the lake :) We drove down Friday evening and stayed until Sunday night...it was an absolutely beautiful weekend to spend on the water. On Saturday we just hung around the house, it was pretty quiet because Doug, Joce, and the girls were camping and Danny was in G.Rapids with Nichole. We went for boat rides and Ben played in the sand. On Sunday we had some more company, Aunt Sue, Uncle Bob, Kelly and James, Paula, Carrie, Grandpa Fred(he was there all weekend too), Gpa and Gma D, and finally in the afternoon Doug and the girls made it out. It was a lot of fun watching Ben play with Kylah and Emma...they are quite the characters :) We had a nice BBQ...Greg's mom picked up steaks for everyone and the rest of us all brought a dish to pass. It is always hard to come home after such a nice time on the lake...thanks again mom and dad a.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kendal!

The Birthday Girl enjoying her cupcake :)
Ben's cool glasses
Maddy your missing something :)
Ben eating the fish off his Diego cupcake
Ben playing in Kendal's house

A couple weekends ago Kendal, our next door neighbor and one of Ben's friends, turned the BIG 2! She had a fun Diego Themed birthday and all of our neighborhood friends were there. Marnie had an excellent spread of food and did a great job on decorating all of the cupcakes for the kids :) Once the sugar high wore off the kids, we put them to bed and had a campfire...we were even lucky enough to watch a lightning show! I can not believe how fast these kids are growing up.

Big Helper

Ben helping Daddy plant some new bushes
Ben was too busy working to even pose for the pic
Ben helping Mommy make Kendal's Birthday Cookies

Ben has become quite the helper :) He loves being outside...anytime Greg is doing yard work Ben is right there to help out. This week we finally bought some bushes to start landscaping around our deck, Ben loved playing in the dirt and he imitates just about whatever Greg does...it is really cute. Ben also helped me make cookies for Kendal for her birthday...actually he just walked around with the mixer, licking it, saying "cookie"! So much for helping me :) However Ben does enjoy helping me "acum" or vacuum...if only we could get the toy vacuums to really work...

Memorial Weekend

Nick and Ben eating dinner together
Marc reading to Nick and Ben
The Allens Newest Addition-Aubree Lynne
Kylah, Ben, and Emma walking through the zoo
Ben's New Favorite Animal!

We had a wonderful Memorial weekend...Friday night we drove to Jackson to eat dinner with The Allens, they welcomed their beautiful, little girl to the world on May 8 and we were very excited to meet her. Ben and Nick seemed to really enjoy each others company and it was nice for all of the adults to visit. We don't see them nearly enough but when we do we always have a nice time :)

Saturday we spent the afternoon at The Toledo Zoo...we went with Doug, Joce, Kylah, and Emma. We ate a picnic lunch when we got there and the kids were wonderful. We were able to see a lot of the animals...I guess they were happy to be outside in the warm weather too! We stayed for a few hours and then all of the kids crashed on the way home :) Sat. night we enjoyed a BBQ with my parents and gma...we ate outside and had a fire in the fire pit, gma was happy to watch Ben and Daddy running around the backyard with Riley!

Sunday Greg got up and went out to the lake to help his parents put in their landscaping...they all work really hard and got a lot accomplished. The rest of us came out in the early afternoon and hung out. We had another picnic outside and just relaxed...I love long weekends!

More SC Pictures

These are just a few of my favorite pictures that were taken in SC with Greg's dads camera! I thought they turned out really cute...now the hard part is picking ones to put in frames :)

Isle of Palms, SC

Family Pic taken downtown Charleston, SC-love Ben's face!
Trying to fill the hole back in
Cute pic of Ben and Daddy
Poppa, Ben, and G'ma
At the marina after a great birthday dinner

Happy Birthday Mommy! (Key lime pie-yumyum)

Ben and his airplane!

A few weeks ago Greg, Ben, and I flew down to Charleston, SC to spend a week with Greg's parents, who have a two week timeshare on Isle of Palms. They leave every year after tax season and spend two weeks unwinding in the warm sunshine. We came down during their second week...we all know better then to come down the first week :)

Ben was great on the airplane...he kept everyone around us amused! I was a little nervous at first but he did great! We left from Flint and had a couple hour layover in Atlanta, GA on the way but Ben was able to watch the planes take off so he was pretty happy. The funniest thing was when the planes were taxing on the ground Ben would call them Boats and as soon as they would take off they were Airplanes...to be in the mind of a child :)

The week was gorgeous...we spent a lot of time at the pool and beach. Ben was a little cautious of the ocean but by Wed. afternoon he was feeling much more comfortable. Ben did great in the kiddie pool and had a lot of fun playing with his bucket and little Shrek friends in the pool too.

I was even lucky enough to spend my birthday there. I had a great day...we started the morning off with IHOP for breakfast, then we spent the late morning shopping in Charleston, we ate at Wild Wing Cafe for lunch, we went back to the condo and hung out by the pool until it was time to go to dinner. We ate at a nice restaurant at a Marina...then to top it all off we had Key Lime pie for dessert! It was definitely a wonderful birthday!

Ben changed a lot while we were there...he has started saying a lot more and understanding so much...sometimes he shocks me with what he can remember. He can look at pictures in G'ma wallet and name everyone in the family...even though some of the pics are older and Kylah and Emma are just babies! It was so cute. His new big word is Crocodile...it is very cute when he says it...we also taught him "Hi Y'all"...we thought this was only fitting considering where we were. We also learned that Ben can pretty much sleep through anything...he fell asleep several times at the airport and out shopping...I guess when he is tired enough it doesn't matter.

We do have a lot more pics on Greg's dads camera...his camera is super nice so once we get those pictures from him we will post some more!

A Boy and his Dog

Ben plays on the deck in the morning while I am cleaning up after breakfast, one morning I heard him laughing and this is what I found (notice how he looks around at the end...he knows he gets in trouble for playing in the dog's water).

Ben Loves Being Outside!

How most mornings start...still in pj's going out
Posing at the lake
Cute pic of Kailer wearing Ben's hat from last year
Kailer preparing herself for her mom's driving!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here for about a week or more...but the forecast shows cooler weather is on its way (we do live in MI). Ben loves being outside and it is the first thing he wants to do in the morning. We have been trying to enjoy it as much as we possibly can...we throw the ball for Riley, water plants, go to the park in the sub, go on lots of walks, mow the lawn (Ben has a pretend lawnmower), and play on the slide in the backyard! I am not sure how Ben will handle the first cold or rainy day we get...only time will tell.

Lindsey and Kailer made a special visit to come and see Ben and I on Wednesday...Kailer is such a happy, smiley little girl. Ben was pretty good with her and even shared some of his toys with her. It was so nice to visit with Lindsey and we can't wait for them to move back to MI! Thanks for taking the time to see us while you were home guys:)

We are also getting excited for our vacation to SC next week. We keep asking Ben if he wants to ride in an airplane and he tells us "Yesss!" This will be our first experience flying with him, so wish us luck!

We Miss You Daddy!

Ben trying on his new summer hat...pretty cute

This week Daddy had to be gone for work and he misses Ben like crazy! This is for Daddy so he has a new picture of Ben to look at while he is gone. We can't wait to see him on Friday.

Hayden Nicole Schmidt

Ben holding his newest little buddy-Hayden

Congratulations Schmidts!! Ben is so excited about his new little neighbor...he loves seeing the "baby" and usually doesn't want to leave once he sets his eyes on her. Hayden is a beautiful little peanut and we were all so surprised that she has blonde hair. Everyone seems to be doing great and enjoying Mike at home this week and spending some quality time as a family.

18 Month Check-up

Our little b-baller
Run Ben, Run!

We had Ben's 18 month check-up today...he was suppose to get one shot but it was a couple days too early (less than 6 months apart) so he lucked out and doesn't have to get it now until he turns 2! I still can not believe that in less than 6 months our baby will be 2. He is still growing like a weed and off the charts...he weighed 29.12 lbs and was 35 3/4 inches tall! The doc was happy with what a good eater he is and the amount of words he says. He said their language changes even more from now until 2 and then drastically between 2 and 3. We are very blessed to have such a healthy little boy and we love watching him grow each and every day.

Shrek Night

Daddy, Ben, and SHREK!
How did I get up here?
This is pretty high up dad...
Like my tattoo?

This past weekend we took Ben to Shrek night at Castaway Cafe with Jaclynn, Maddy, Mike, Kendal, and Mike's parents...Ben was pretty excited and was not afraid of Shrek at all! He even touched his face, he seemed a little disappointed about not seeing Donkey but he had enough to distract him. Like before he was a little timid when we first got there but it didn't take too long before he was having a blast! He liked the big kids side better then the little kids but mostly because there is more room to run and you are not so bombarded with other kids all the time. Mom and Dad like the big kids side better too...it is really strange to think that some day he will be running through that place and not want mom and dad to come with him. I guess we better enjoy it while we can :)

Happy Easter!

Coloring Eggs at G'ma and G'pa Abbott's
Easter Basket from G'ma and G'pa D.
Cute pic

This Easter was pretty low key...the Easter bunny came to our house early because he knew we were going to be gone on Easter morning (that was very nice of him!) Saturday afternoon we spent at Greg's parents house and had a wonderful Easter meal and the kids all colored eggs and looked for their easter baskets. Sunday we spent with my parents and Grandma and again had a wonderful meal...Ben had a great time and was very excited about everything in his easter baskets, thanks again grandma's and grandpa's.

Castaway Cafe

Crawling to investigate the slide
Watch out Ben, Kendal's right behind you!
Climbing up!
Whoa!
He always seems to find SHREK!

This weekend Daddy went golfing with some friends in TN so Mom and Ben had to find some interesting new things to do. On Friday afternoon, Marnie, Kendal, Ben and I all went to Castaway Cafe (Mike went golfing with Dad). We had a great time...Ben was a little unsure of it all at first, but it didn't take long and he was having a blast. We even stayed for dinner! The weather was nice enough that we could be a outside a little and that is always a lot of fun too. Daddy made it home on Monday afternoon and boy was Ben excited to see him! We had a nice weekend and enjoyed spending some time with my mom on Sat. night and Sunday too. And thanks for keeping us busy Marnie and Kendal!

Welcome Daylight Savings

Ben and Emma playing in Grandma's laundry room
And...they're off! Ben smiling while walking my parents dog around our house

Dad? Are you in there??

This weekend we had a lot going on but it was also a lot of fun. We drove down to Greg's parents after church on Saturday since we have not seen Doug, Joce, and the girls in awhile. Ben and Emma had a great time playing together. Ben loves following her around and laughing. After dinner we drove home and my parents came up to stay the night...we had a big volleyball tournament on Sunday (they watched Ben for us...thanks mom and dad). Even with the time change everyone managed to be up and ready to play, we won the tournament and the regular season too! My parents brought their two little dogs up with them and Ben calls them "puppies". He enjoyed having them there to walk around the house...he definitely can't do that with Riley! For dinner on Sunday we went to The Kreiders, we had a wonderful meal and we even got to eat in the formal dining room...the kids ate first and the adults actually sat down for a meal ALL TOGETHER while the kids played! WOW, that has never happened before. It was a nice ending to a great season of volleyball! Way to go team.