Samuel Douglas Abbott

Samuel Douglas Abbott was born this afternoon! We are so excited for Ben to have his first boy cousin...Sam weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 1/2 inches. His actual due date was not until Sept. 1 but as you can tell every thing seems to be okay. Both Jocelyn and Sam are doing great and we can not wait to get to meet him in person! I will post more pictures soon (this is just one that was sent from a camera phone) Congrats to Doug and Jocelyn :)

Muskegon Camping Trip

Ben and Maddy's Beach Kiss
Ben and Daddy in their sand castle
The 5 older kids posing for a picture

Muskegon Camping Trip

Two weekends ago we drove to the west side of the state to enjoy a little summertime camping (we look forward to this trip every year now with our neighbors). With 8 adults and 7 kids we didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into but we ended up having a great time! The kids all really seemed to enjoying playing in the lake and helping Mike fish...they also got lots of good camping food (chips, hotdogs, smores, etc.) We slept through a thunderstorm Friday night and woke up to some rain, however by the time we came back from breakfast we were able to get dressed for the beach. It was pretty windy right on Lake Michigan, however as the day wore on it warmed up quite nicely. Sunday we decided we would stick around and enjoy all the sunshine we could and we somehow :) wound up at Duck Lake State Park...it was a little smaller and quieter and not facing the west, so the wind wasn't nearly as bad.

Ben is becoming quite the camper...he started in womb! He slept really well even during the storm! We finally upgraded to a larger tent to accommodate our family (last year we borrowed Doug and Joce's) and we really like it...Greg and I have even talked about trying to squeeze in another trip before the summer is over, we shall see :)

Happy 4th of July

Michael, Andrew, and Ben in their 4th shirts
Kylah, Emma, Ben, Cameron, and Michael on the fast boat
Kendal and Ben (doesn't Kendal look like a Charlie's Angel?)
Lindsey and Kailer (her 1st boat ride)
Ben playing trucks in the mud
Shannon (34 weeks), Kelly (30 weeks), & Jocelyn (32 weeks)

We had such a great time during the week of the fourth! We drove down to the lake the Wed. before the 4th and enjoyed a nice week at the lake. The Schmidts came for a visit on the 3rd and Kendal seemed to have a great time. She went on a wave runner ride with her Dad then went on a pontoon boat ride with the rest of us. Lindsey and Kailer came to visit the same day and Kailer got to go on her first boat ride...she wasn't to sure of it and decided she would rather be playing with some toys :)
On the actual day of the fourth Greg's cousin, Carmen, had a small outdoor wedding reception. The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed just hanging out and having fun. All of Greg's cousins and their significant others, who were around that weekend even got to enjoy a night out at a restaurant together (kid free!) We had a great time and got a lot of great pics during the week!

Guilds Visit Howell

Ben and Andrew enjoying dinner together
Andrew showing Ben how to golf
Ben and Kendal happy after a trip to DQ
All 3 kids are ready to go home after ice cream

Jeff, Jess, and Andrew all came up to visit us during their week-long vacation to MI. Michael stayed at G'ma and Gpa's house with his cousin Cameron. It was a quick visit but it was nice to hang out before all of the commotion during the weekend. Ben and Andrew played really well together and Andrew even taught Ben a thing or two about golf (he uses a tee!) After dinner we took a bike ride up to DQ and let the kids run around...we brought Kendal with us too! We were glad they took the time to visit us and hang out since we only get to see them every six months or so. It was a short visit but we knew we would get to hang out a lot more once we headed down to the lake too.

Happy 2nd Birthday Maddy!

Maddy enjoying her Birthday treat!
Ben hanging out in the bouncy house
The 3 troublemakers at the top of the slide

A few weeks ago we celebrated Maddy's 2nd Birthday! The Kreiders had the party at their house and everyone had a great time...the weather was a little nerve racking however it never rained and it ended up being a perfect evening to hang out outside. The food was great, Jaclynn's brothers did a great job cooking the kabobs and all of the salads were wonderful. Since there are so many kids in Jaclynn and Jason's family they ordered a bouncy house again and this year Ben, Maddy, and Kendal even got to enjoy it. The kids had a great time and so did all of the adults. Maddy is such a fun little girl, we love spending time with her and watching her become a little person. She is so funny when you are explaining something to her because she nods her head and mumbles things back like she is reasoning with you :) She is such a joy to have around and we can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays together.

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!