September and Fabulous Weather!

Wow, am I IN LOVE with the weather we are having right now! Why can't northern Indiana have weather like this all the time? I would be in heaven!

Milo turned 4 on August 21 and we can't believe how quickly time has flown! Yesterday he was our 10 pound 4 ounce itty-bitty baby! Ha! He has a very active imagination and makes us laugh, along with wanting to pull our hair out at his stubbornness (which he totally gets from his dad!).

Lena is almost 11 months old and is trying to walk! She will randomly take 3 sturdy steps and then fall, but she's getting better about balance and will even let go of the couch to take one step and then fall. At least she's trying, we don't remember Milo being this determined.

Over Labor Day weekend we went grocery shopping (fun, I know), to the zoo, a cookout, peach and apple picking, and to a birthday party! What a busy time we had! We had a good time and that's all that matters!

These pictures are not in order and range anywhere from August 11 through today.

We went to a local splash pad and this is our bathing beauty! Boy, when she's done playing in the water (or hot tub), she lets you know! The average is about 20 minutes.

Lena's new face, which Jesse claims I make. whatever. He says I make it when I think he's said something that doesn't make sense. No, I give him the "duh" look when that happens. Geesh.

Milo in an apple tree! We're lucky we didn't get caught with him up in it, they have signs posted that say if they catch you, you get kicked out and charged double! We ended up with 4 lbs of very hard peaches and 20 lbs of gala apples! I've just finished my first batch of homemade apple butter and if there are enough apples left after a caramel apple pie, I'll be making more! I gave our neighbor and my brother's girlfriend a few pounds of apples each, so they are running out!

Lena debuting her "Pebbles" hair do! (leave me alone, mom, I'm eating!)

Milo rolling around the yard in one of Jesse's old tires.

Milo's first dental cleaning! He did GREAT! Next time we might even let him go back by himself!

I started making pumpkin hats! This is actually the second one I've made in a week! The first one was too small for Lena's head so it's going to be in a raffle for my Mother's & More group. I still have 4 more to make! AAAHHHH!!!!

I have this cool "lava" lamp that has no lava in it, it's the colored static instead. This is the first time I've pulled it out since Milo was a baby and he and Lena loved it!

My hillbilly boy. How red-necked does he look???

This was adorable! One night Milo was having ice cream and decided to lick the bowl. He puts down his bowl and says, "Mommy, do I have a mustache?" This is seriously what he looked like, I didn't do anything! I think he looks like a puppy!

I WILL be putting up my Halloween decorations sometime this week! YEAH!!! Milo has decided that he wants to be a firefighter, so Lena's going to be the dalmatian to go with him! Luckily Kohl's has tops and bottoms in that print, so I've already bought them, I may just add some ears onto the jacket hood.

Have a great week! Time for me to go bottle up the apple butter!!!!

August

Welcome to August! Luckily the temperatures are "dropping" and are very pleasant, so I'm happy. We played in our little pool today and it was just beautiful out! I can't wait until tomorrow when the high is 75, a perfect summer day for me!!

Over the weekend we went to the Hesston Train Museum in LaPorte, they had a special Family Day where the whole family got to ride three trains for $25. We went almost two years ago and spent $17 for Jesse, Milo, and me to ride one train! We had a great time and when we got off the first train Milo said, "That was awesome!" Definitely worth it!

This was the tiny train that we got to ride! It was Jesse and my favorite, we dream of owning one some day, Jesse said we'll own a bunch of land and this is how we'll go get the mail. We also rode a "medium" and "large" train. The medium was just tall enough for Jesse to sit up straight, his head hit the top. The large train was a regular sized train.

I took the kids to our zoo on Friday and this was the first time Lena really saw the animals. She LOVED it and Milo lectured me when the white tiger was walking around and I asked Lena if she saw "the big kitty". Milo told me that it's not a "kitty" it's a tiger. :) This picture is actually of Lena enjoying Milo roaring like a lion.

"Mmmmm, cows, get on the ship!" That's what Milo's saying. It's from Phineas and Ferb.

Milo roaring like a lion. I love that I caught the expression! For once when we walked by the lions they weren't chuffing.

I love how Lena carries things around! She was furniture walking the other day with this in her mouth. She does it with random things! I can also get her distracted for a few seconds and she'll stand, but then she grabs for something and sits down.

This is how Lena was when I went in to check on her the other night before going to sleep. It looks so uncomfortable, but it's also the first time she was hugging Snoppy while she slept. He's been in her crib for about two months.

A few weeks ago we went up to a lake where some friends had rented a cabin and this is the second fish that Milo caught! He was so proud of himself!

Milo's 4th birthday is on the 21st so we're starting to get prepared for his party, which is Race Car themed. I'm even attempting to make a tire piñata!!

Milo's also getting his first dental cleaning on Thursday, he seems prepared, but we'll see! I love the woman that cleans my teeth, hopefully Milo will like her, too!

Have a great week!

Catching up!!!

Happy July to everyone! We've had fun fruit picking and hanging out! These pictures are NOT in order, so please bear with me during the descriptions.

Over Father's Day weekend we went camping with the Tibbs down in Brown County, Indiana, and since it's only about 30 minutes from IU, we had to go there and walk around.

I only have video of Lena laughing at Milo jumping on the poppers from the 4th of July, but you have to believe us, it's adorable! She loves Milo to death, she always looks for him the minute she wakes up and missed him bunches when he went with Daddy to work on the boat. She was so happy to have him home (although she loved playing with things in peace and quiet).

Lena also has 2 teeth now!!! She is doing great with teething, no fussing, and I wouldn't have even known the first one was there without sticking my finger in her mouth (thank goodness she hasn't bitten me yet!).

Now, onto the pictures!!!

Milo fishing while we were camping. Apparently he didn't catch any fish, a turtle kept eating the bait, and Daddy got a bobber stuck in a tree while trying to cast.

All of us (minus Jesse) going on a hay ride around Brown County! L-R: Me, Lena, Milo, Kamden, Kennedy, Erin, Kassidy, Jeremy, and Keegan.

We went to Michigan City a few weekends ago to go to the zoo and a car museum, and there was a putt putt course above the museum. Jesse was so awesome that he was able to golf while carrying Lena. Milo loved putt putting, too!

Me and Milo at the car museum.

Poor Jesse carried Milo AND Lena up one flight of stairs at the end of a hike down at Brown County. It was a cute photo-opt, though!

A playground in the Michigan City zoo. They raced down the slide, I can't remember who won. :)

Milo feeding the goats. Why are goats always hungry???

We went cherry picking last week and it WORE Milo out! He loved it, though, and told us on the way home that everyone needs to go cherry picking!

Frank Farms is where we went cherry picking and they have built this awesome croc/alligator thing for kids to climb on. Milo in the creature's mouth.

Lena wasn't being very cooperative for this month's picture, I say she's my Little Budda Lena!

Milo and Lena under a cherry tree! By the way, I made an AWESOME cherry pie!

First time that Lena was carried on the back and Jesse's first time cherry picking!

This is Lena's first hike and needless to say, she LOVED it! She was like this the whole time!

All of the kids while on the hike!

This is how Lena likes to play with Milo's darts. We don't let her do it anymore because she could chew off the hard part, if it she did it long enough.

We also went strawberry picking about a month ago. We made some yummy jam!!! I, however, may never actually pick again, I broke out in hives wherever my arms hit the plants, and itched for 5-6 days. So, unless I can wear long sleeves and gloves, I won't be picking anymore.

Lena playing on Milo's new booster seat while Jesse was putting it together. I love the expression!

Lena loves to sit in my little rocker! Sometimes she just stands in front of it and rocks it.

Jesse has his first boat race this weekend, good luck to him!!! Milo is going with, it'll be the first time he's been away from me. :( I'll try not to worry too much, he's in good hands!

Lena's 8 Months Old!

It seems like so much has happened in the last month! I kept meaning to update this and just haven't, sorry!

On May 18, Lena decided to really start crawling (a few feet at a time), maybe half an hour before we had to load her into the car for a 3 hour trip. She hasn't stopped moving since, and also tried to crawl up the stairs a week and a half later! Needless to say, the baby gates are up!

Lena had also been pulling herself to standing on us while we were on the floor for a few weeks and this last Wednesday she decided to pull herself up to standing on the couch and start furniture walking. Milo was slow to go with this, but by the end of the day she was doing laps around the music table!

Yesterday Lena was playing on said music table and saw a toy on the floor she wanted. She let go of the table and face-planted the floor. She was fine, but it was hilarious to see!

She also now pulls herself up in her crib...Why do I think she's going to be an early walker???

Milo has also had his first sleep over away from home in the last month! Two separate occasions and both nights have been with Jesse's parents. He has a great time!

Lena's 7 month picture-she kept laughing at me every time I would take a picture.

We went down to Indy and hung out with friends while Jesse went to a conference. We all went on a walk and this is the kids playing in the creek-which they LOVED! Lena slept through it, of course!

This is moments before the previous picture. Milo and the girls had been leaning over the creek and he fell in. I told him to take off his shoes and socks and go play in the creek, glad I did!

Sami and the girls showing Milo how to feed bread to the fish. Sadly, he had never done that before. The bluegills were crazy, they swam as close to the edge as they could! Grace (in red) was pretty sure that one got her finger! We miss our friends!

We also went to the Children's Museum (which now is brought up at least once a day in our house, courtesy of Milo) and I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures, I only picked out a few. This is Milo making his boat go down the stream table.

Shock, shock, Milo in a race car! He was hilarious because as he's climbing into it he looks at Jesse and says, "Daddy, this car doesn't have a steering wheel!" He then had to "work" on it, he pretended to change the battery.

Pumping up a tire. Somehow it kept going flat...

Lena steering a train.

How to keep a Lena in a box...

I can't believe our baby is 8 months old! She rarely sits still anymore, she loves to explore and "chase" after the cat (she's not fast enough to get her, though).

Splashing in the whale pool out back. She was uncertain at first, which was hard for us to believe because she LOVES being in the bath and the hot tub, but she warmed up.

This is one of the first things she explored once she started crawling. Notice the shoes at the bottom? Well, all of the shoes have to be on the porch now, I caught Lena chewing on one of Jesse's sandals-GROSS!!!

We still don't know how this happened, but Milo was eating a cupcake and the next thing we knew, he looked like this! We say he nosedived into it. The cupcake also ended up (frosting down) on the carpet.

Strawberry picking opens this weekend so hopefully we can go soon! Time to make more jam!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Randomness

Happy May to everyone! This month is off to a great start for us, we've added a new vehicle to the family and Lena is extremely close to crawling.

With all of the rain we've had the last few weeks, once there's a nice day, Milo is asking to go outside, and I'm happy to oblige (most of the time). Lena loves to be outside, too, she sits on a blanket, pulls it up onto her lap, and rips grass out of the yard! She makes this little pile and only randomly decides to put some in her mouth.

Here are some new pictures:

A close up from her 6 month pictures. :)

We went to a new festival, Kite Komotion, in Shipshewana this last weekend. Milo LOVED it, he got to make his own kite and fly it while we were there. They had the biggest kites we've ever seen and there was even a group there that choreographed kites to music, it was amazing! They even did a candy drop where they flew up a big bag of candy on a kite line and then they dropped it. The kids loved running out to get it and luckily they broke up them up into age groups.

Milo helping to make his kite.

Lena in the IU onesie with her first pigtail! Milo doesn't like it and keeps telling me to take it out, but she didn't even care when I put it in and played while it was in. I did take it out for her nap, I'm not quite ready for her sleep with it in her hair...

Lena is SSSOOOO close to crawling! She's been up on her hands and knees for over 2 weeks now and last night she went from laying down, to being on her hands and knees, to sitting all in about 10 seconds. She also shuffles her knees and can swing her right arm forward, but not crawling yet. There was only a week between Milo getting himself into sitting and starting to crawl, so we'll see if this moves it along for Lena.

Milo makes me smile! We went to the zoo last week and that afternoon he told me he was going to lay down. This is between the couch and ottoman. I told him to go to his room to take a nap and he told me that his room was having "alone time" and that he needed to lay down here. We did not expect him to fall asleep!! So peaceful.

Hanging out at the park!

Our new ride!!! An 06 Toyota Sienna. We traded in Jesse's Intrepid.

While we were on a walk Milo climbed up on this rock and told me he needed his "airplane wings" for balance. His new thing when he jumps off something (especially at swimming and Fun-n-Fitness) is to say he's opening his parachute and then to jump. At swimming he pulls the belt on his bubble, his teacher loves it!

Beautiful weather!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time outside! Lena was sitting up, playing, at one moment, laying down grabbing grass the next. I'm pretty sure she tasted some, since I found a brown piece on her face!!!

Milo made me laugh so much while we were playing! First he was helping me weed the area where the hostas are. They are just starting to come up and he asks if he can touch them (since they're still curled up he thought they were sharp). I tell him yes, just to be gentle. Well, he touches them and then starts wiggling them. He tells me that they're just like a worm and starts singing "You put your head in, you put your head out, you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself about, that's all we could do!" I died with laughter, it's a line from "Diary of a Worm" which is a FABULOUS book! Smart kid!!

Next, while we were playing in the sandbox we made a big mound that he called a castle. The next thing I know, he's poking holes in it to make windows. He tells me that the windows are so that Princess Charlene can see out! I've never heard him talk about or watch a show with a "Princess Charlene", and he starts telling me that she's very little (she does live in the sand castle, after all!), has green hair, and has lived there for a very long time, three years! It was so hard to keep a straight face while he was describing all of this.

Then, while we're digging in the sandbox, I find a worm. He asks to hold it and while he does, he starts talking to it, very sweetly. He even asked the worm it's name. He never answered so I asked him what the worm said, and he said, "Worm". How creative...Then he puts the worm in the dirt but after about 10 seconds he tells me that the worm doesn't like the dirt, he wants to be back in the sandbox. I won't go into everything he did with the worm, but it'll be lucky if it's still alive! He was very gentle with it, but I'm not sure that worms like baths... :)

I wonder what today will bring, I'm sure a lot more smiles!