beach day!

We finally made it to the beach! I know, I know, what took me so long?! We have been here 2 1/2 weeks and just finally made it there. Well we would have gone much, much sooner, but it's always too cold here! The weather is always in the 70's - freezing for beach water! Especially since Lake Michigan is only like 50 degrees! Well yesterday it finally got up to 90, so we were off! The beach is AWESOME! I may have mentioned once or twice that this beach is rated #1 in the country for kids by parent magazine, and here's why: there are lifeguards, there are parks and playsets, and the water is only about 2-3 feet deep for about 100 yards, so the kids think they are going out to the "deep" part and it makes them feel really cool! The boys had so much fun looking for seashells and splashing around! Araleigh loved the water, it is always hard to keep her out! The real challenge was keeping her from trying to drink the water off her little fingers!! Ewww! Next time I'll be sure that she is fully hydrated before we go!!!

If you look closely, Traeden is the little guy with his arms out. Jax wouldn't go out quite that far yet, it took us a while to convince him that it really wasn't deep. Of course, by the time he was brave enough to venture out, we had to leave because a thunder storm was approaching. They were so disappointed! They didn't even get to build a sandcastle! I promised them that we will be going back often, they will have plenty of chances to build lots of sandcastles!

look out world, here I come!!

Araleigh is crawling!! She finally figured it out after only about a month of actually trying. You know, it strikes me as funny that in general, non-baby-related terms, "crawling" means slow. "Traffic slowed to a crawl"...etc. Well anyone who has ever had a crawling baby knows that "crawling" and "slow" are antonyms... well anyway, she is off like a rocket every five seconds, the boys are commonly hearing the threat of "pick up your legos so your sister won't eat them!" It is funny how quickly she transitioned from the happiest little non-mobile princess to the queen of discovery and exploration! It's as if she has spent her entire life not looking outside her own little bubble and now that she has found out how to burst it, she has to see everything as quickly as possible!! She has even discovered how to turn off the tv- I think she does it just to make her brothers squeal when their cartoons disappear...causing trouble already!!! She is so fun...oh my, I could go on about her forever!!! It's so fun, whether it is your first, second, or third, it is always so exciting when they make these new milestones!! Well, moving on, we have had some requests for pictures of our house, so here ya go!!! This is the front yard (could it be more obvious??)...

this is our big back yard, notice the lovely swingset and the fabulous shade with the large stone patio...

this is the pretty living/dining room where we enjoy our meals three to four times daily...
this is our roomy tv room, complete with cute baby who tries and tries to get up that darn step, but, thank goodness, she hasn't figured it out yet!

so that's the house, no pics of the bedrooms because they are sorta messy and, let's face it, they are just bedrooms and how exciting are bedrooms, really? Exactly. There is also a partially finished room in the basement but I forgot to take a pisture of it today and now it's dark and I don't go down there after dark...just kidding, I'll go down there after dark, just not when my hubby's away, and he happens to be away right now. Sorry, too many horror movies as a kid (Julie and Wendy, you know what I'm talking about) there is just this creepy closet that is right out of a Friday the 13th movie, I swear! Well that about wraps up the tour for today, enjoy!

just another fun day...!!

While Dave is in Salt Lake for his cousin's wedding (congratulations, Heidi!), we are trying to cope out here by keeping busy! This morning we started early with the farmer's market, down in the downtown area that we are loving more and more each time we visit it. It was fun! We were able to get some fresh, home-made jam, blueberry bread, pickled roasted peppers, some produce, cookies for the kids (well they were really good - I have to reward that behavior!). We then window-shopped, and had to go check out our favorite window of an antique store that has a cool little replica of what St. Joseph used to look like - a little amusement park right on the beach. The boys could sit and look at it for hours! It has miniature bumper cars, a ferris wheel, swings, spinning teacups, and a carousel. Araleigh loves it, too, she squeals every time she sees it and beckons to me to lift her out of her stroller so she can see it better. So after I peeled them away, we headed back home to rest up before our next adventure, which was..(dun dun dun) the magician!! There is a magician in town this week, Joe Exotic, at the mall here. It was actually a really good show, the usual tricks and illusions, but they really don't get old when you don't know how they work!! The boys loved it! They even got to pet a baby tiger!!! The magician didn't use tigers as part of his show, but he brought a bunch with him as part of a "save the tigers" thing. We could have paid $25 to actually go sit in the cage and hang out with them, but I was a little low on cash so they got little stuffed tigers for souvenirs instead, which they were pretty excited about. They couldn't wait to get home and show them around the house, introduce them to the other stuffed animals, you know, make sure they get the full hospitality experience! So overall it was a great day, but I will be glad when Dave gets back tomorrow!!!

Check out this view...

So the other night some friends from work invited us and a few other families over to their apartment for some swimming, and it was right on the lake at sun-down!! How beautiful is that!? It was a lot of fun, we are really having a great time getting to know people here!! The boys had a good time showing off their skills from swimming lessons, and Araleigh LOVES the water, we have to take her out when she starts turning blue, which makes her really mad!! But it was a beautiful evening, luckily the rain held off until we were done!

Happy Birthday Traeden!!!

The party just never stops for us, I feel like I just did this! But Traeden had a really great birthday!! He had so many presents it looked like Christmas morning for the whole family!! As usual, the boys were up bright and early (we could tell by the "WHOAAA!!!!") He was able to open his presents first thing while Dave could be there, lucky man. The boys played with the new Lego's, spidermans, and transformers all morning, then we met up with Dave at a park for lunch. I must say, it is SO NICE to have him only 8 minutes away! The boys played baseball with dad for a while, then he had to get back so they went to the playground and tackled the monstrous twisty slide (the thing is HUGE!!). We got home and played some more, then off to Panera (the yummiest soup, salad and sandwich restaurant in the midwest) for dinner, where Trae got his favorite Broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl! He had a great day, thank you everyone who called him, his face lit up each time! And thanks from Traeden for all the awesome presents!!

Just so you know...

So right now we are in Michigan because Dave is doing an internship with Whirlpool for the summer. Well this means major, and I'm talking Major, discounts on Whirlpool brand appliances!! Right now we can get discounts for family AND FRIENDS, so if anybody is interested, let me know!!! Everything will be shipped to you, and they have some pretty awesome deals!!

Back to Chicago

Well only one week after our big move, we decided to venture the 2 1/2 hours back over to visit our friends in the Chicago area! It ended up being a perfect trip!! I was able to attend my friend Lisa's baby shower (yay! Another baby girl!). Later we invited ourselves to a BBQ at our other friends, the Lloyd's home, where we were able to visit more friends and neighbors, while we made s'mores and hot dogs. The kids had a big water fight with their friends, which helped us all cool off!! The boys had such a blast seeing all their friends whom they have missed so much!! They had a great time! It was so great to see everyone, we have really missed that group!

Michigan!!!

Well we have entered our 4th state of residence (just living up to our title), adding Michigan to our list! We are in St. Joseph, which is a really small town directly across the Lake from Chicago. It is a really nice area, we are so- far enjoying it! We got in Saturday afternoon and joined our friends the Loves (whom we met while living in Chicago and now they live here) at Culvers for some much - needed frozen custard after unloading the car. Sunday was an adventure, getting REALLY LOST on the way to church and ending up in Benton Harbor, which is GHET-TO!!! But eventually we found our way back. Everyone we have met so far has been very nice, the people are really great! There is a group of moms/kids from church that get together on tuesdays at the beach and fridays at the park! That has been one of the hugest things I have missed from living in Illinois, so I am so glad to be back in a ward where people actually get together and do fun things! Monday the boys started swimming lessons, yay, and we went grocery shopping. Not a whole heck of a lot to report about Monday... but Tuesday was pretty fun! We went exploring downtown St. Joseph, which is such a cute little place! It is full of cool shops and cafes, unique stores and fun kid things! It is right on the beach, which is beautiful! We went to a cute little pottery store and the boys got to paint their own ceramics, then we walked around and looked at all the cool old buildings and homes. There is also an "art show" going on, which entails of little decorated cars all around the city, so of course we had to find them all and decide which is our favorite! We even found a Michigan one (imagine that) so I talked the boys into sitting in it, but that didn't mean they had to enjoy it!! So we had a blast, who knows what today will bring!? We plan on just having fun all summer long and exploring everything, seeing all there is to see! Tomorrow will be the "Curious Kids" museum, and then, who knows, maybe some strawberry picking, mini golf, bike rides on the boardwalk... the possibilities are endless......until we run out of stuff to do! Then we can just hop over to the other side of the lake for a quick trip to Chicago!

JAX IS 5!!!

Happy birthday to Jaxon!!! What a fun day! It started quite early, but can you really blame the kid? He was excited! We can't expect him to sleep past 6am on his BIRTHDAY!!! He had presents to open!!! But only about 87 or so...anyway, Jax had a great day! We let him open presents first since Dave would be gone all day and making him wait would probably land me in a rubber room. He recieved Spiderman gear, a cool Superman costume, and maybe a Thomas train or two....
We met up with our friend "little Jackson" at the park for one last picnic before we both take off for the summer, and then we had his birthday dinner at his favorite choice, "Joe's Crab Shack" (hey the kid LOVES crab legs!) They sang happy birthday and let him paint his own crab rice-krispies-treat with chocolate and strawberry syrup. Mmmm, not at all over-priced.... But of course their favorite part was playing on the playset after dinner, doesn't Jax look thrilled to be on the slide!!! Five years old and still a ham.... he's so fun! Trae got to "monkey around" (ha ha ha I know - I'm hilarious) for a little whileand we tried to put Araleigh on the slide which she will hopefully forgive us for... she did like sitting at the bottom and watching her crazy brothers, though, so not all was lost!So we had a great time, thanks to all the grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles for all the fun presents and birthday cards!! Jax was really excited for all the happy birthday phone calls, too! He was full of energy and excitement all day, what a blast! He had to keep reminding everybody that he can't go back to being four, he was already five, all you silly people who think he's getting too big!!! Thanks again!

Two happy birthdays!!

Since the boys both have their birthdays this month and it is going to be crazy with the move to Michigan coming up, we decided to do an early birthday party for both of them at our pool. It was a great time! We totally took over and had the whole place to ourselves!! The kids each got a swim ring as a party favor that they were able to float around in, and it worked out perfectly! I even made these fancy-schmancy cupcakes with a "sun-bathers at the beach" theme, which amazingly worked out! The weather was so great up until it was time to sing happy birthday and have the cake and ice cream, so we had to pull that part inside the clubhouse, but it still turned out fine! I just can't believe my babies are turning 5 and 7!!! Am I really this old!!!!??????? Here's a cute picture of Araleigh in her itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, pink and white polka dot bikini!!! I love it!!

They even found creative ways to re-use their little umbrellas!!