Autumn

Fall is officially here in the U.P. We've been having some windy, rainy, dreary days. Perfect for getting a few things done inside. I spent yesterday cleaning house so I would be able to have a craft day today, guilt-free. I always have these grand plans of getting 17 projects knocked off my pile but I somehow only managed to finish a couple. Between both kids and the fact that I was out of much needed white thread, I'm lucky I got anything done.

I have been wanting to put designs on the boys' shirts with freezer paper so I went to Michael's a while ago searching for it. I mean, all the craft bloggers use it so it must be at the craft store right? Whoops. The guy at Michael's had no idea what I was talking about. I finally emailed Dana and she was gracious enough to get back to me. Oh, duh, you buy it from the grocery store. I had some fun this evening and I'm not done yet!

These last few days have been so nice. I feel like things are finally slowing down a little after the go-go-go of summertime. I'm looking forward to more crafting days--maybe this will be the year I actually have handmade clothes for our little family. Jeff did say he wanted me to design some shirts for him. You have no idea how happy that makes me.

Generally this time of year is super motivational for me, even more so than New Year's. This year it has been a little slow to get started, but I feel the momentum picking up!

Good-bye Summer

The garage sale was a success. Not a shout it from the rooftops, raging success, but hey, if I can make money off of stuff that was destined for the thrift store anyways, I call it a success. I planned to use the money to redecorate the entry/laundry room and buy a few clothes for Adrian who is in dire need. I have money for both. Yay!
Now the fun part starts: prepping the entry for paint. That was sarcasm. I should have started a long time ago. I'm hoping to be able to paint within a week, but judging by all the paint I have to scrape off the windows, it might be longer than that. [insert very sad face.] The previous owners took great care of the house for the most part but their painting skills leave something to be desired. Anyways, I decided I won't even buy paint until the room is totally ready to paint, taped up and all. That way I won't have the huge disappointment of my "quick" stairs project...the brand new paintbrushes are still sitting on top of the fridge, unopened.

Today I'm just trying to catch up with all that was neglected in the 4 days of planning/running a sale.

Like posting pictures of our camping weekend, a week late.

Adrian was so excited to get a Tonka Truck from Grandma and Grandpa L for his birthday. This trip may have been a lot different without it. He played with it the entire weekend and was covered in dirt all day, every day. Despite the unexplained puke (singular) on the way there and the couple accidents we dealt with over the weekend, he was a great.

And Isaac was perfect. What a happy camper!

Our car was so full I didn't think we would be able to bring any kind of stroller, but luckily I remembered the umbrella stroller at the last minute and it just fit--in fact, on the way home it was tied to the bike rack. I wasn't sure how he would do in it and if he was even big enough but it worked perfectly.

Adrian loved pushing him around and running back and forth between the 2 campsites.
Check out those toes!

There were some really great hiking trails at the campground. The guys fished for a good part of the weekend and Adrian got to go too. The girls plus Isaac went on a hike one afternoon. It was gorgeous. Another day Jeff and I ran these same trails together, it was so fun that I decided we need more running dates, there are TONS of running/mountain bike trails in our area. Plus, I never would have ran 4 miles by myself!

After 2.5 miles of walking, we were met with this scene:

I'm sure people say this throughout the country, but we live in a really beautiful state.

Jeff also got a birthday present from his mom and dad. It took me a while to catch on, but all it took was this one piece for him to figure out what was in the box. As you can see, he is thrilled. We both are actually.

If you have talked to Jeff anytime in the last 6 months you know exactly what he's into obsessed with right now.

I think we're both still a bit blown away that they gave him a beehive! That's only 1 of the 5 boxes. It came in kit form and he assembled the entire thing as soon as we got home. I'm not even sure if the rest of the car was unloaded. And somehow we did manage to fit it in the car (disassembled in the box).

We also hit the beach a few times, of course. The weather was perfect and so was the water. We spent a good deal of time searching for Petoskey Stones.

Isaac found the sand. It's so fun to watch him discovering new things!

Note to self: Take pictures of more than my own little family.

The only cloud hanging over the trip was my in-laws oldest dog, Toby, getting sick. He's an old dog and after our hike he started coughing/gagging a lot. My poor mother-in-law felt like she had a newborn again with the sleepless nights that weekend. We weren't sure if he would make it through the those few days, but he did.

This was our first year going to the Petoskey State Park. We usually go to Traverse City but decided to switch it up this year. I think everyone agreed that it was a nice park and we'll go again next year. It should be a completely different experience with a newly walking toddler...we'll see how that goes. ;)

With that, summer is officially over, but I'm still holding out for a couple more hot days.

Busy as a Bee

My poor neglected blog. Summer has been busy! Not the crazy, hectic, trying to catch my breath kind of busy, but a keep-you-going, fun, making memories kind of busy. As a result, my screen time has drastically decreased. That can only be good in my opinion. We went camping this past weekend in "Buttoskey" (Petoskey) with Jeff's family. Perfect weather, perfect baby, and a pretty good kid. (Let's not talk about the copious amounts of bodily excretions from a certain little 3-year-old...I just love a good puke clean-up. Not.)

More about that trip when I have the time. I'm having a garage sale this weekend so I need to get back to setting that up!

3 Weeks Ago

I never did post pictures from downstate. For anyone interested. ;)

On one of the hot, hot evenings, Granny Molly was knitting away on a dishcloth or something and it soon turned into a group finger-knitting craze.Even her boyfriend Paul decided to try it out.

Actually, now that I think about it, he was the one that started it all.

My mother-in-law planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my father-in-law. The guys took him fishing that day to get him out of the house and that morning the girls went to a bridal shower for Jeff's aunt, Kathy.

There are about 15 paper plate fans missing from this picture. It was in the 90's and no. air. In fact, when we first arrived, the power was out so we didn't even have fans. The chocolate covered strawberries were good even if they were melting.

Luckily, it cooled down for the party that afternoon. And it was a total surprise! I love when that happens, it's so much more fun with the surprise is a success.

There was food stashed in Katie's closet and at one point, at my mom and dad's. Jeff's dad was on his way home from work and was planning to pull something out of the downstairs freezer to cook for dinner. No one was home so Jeff had to run over and pull the pork out of the freezer before he got home. Whew. It all worked out in the end. Maybe a little too well...their neighbor is an awesome baker/cook and offered to make cupcakes for the party. I'm avoiding wheat and I had 2. And I wanted another. They were amazing!

In other news, Adrian learned to swim with arm floaties. (Water wings? are we the only one that call them floaties?)

And Isaac couldn't figure out what was tickling his neck.

St. John's Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in the Keweenaw for our church's annual St. John's Services--judging by my stats over the weekend, that's where most of you were too. I think this was the shortest St. John's weekend ever for us. Jeff was scheduled to work this weekend but was able to get Saturday and Sunday off so we went up Friday night after work and came home after evening church on Sunday. I was supposed to drive home but Jeff said he probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyways so by the time we were halfway home I was asking him random questions to keep him awake. I think I nodded off during all of his answers. Good thing I didn't drive. We were home around midnight and he was up before 5 Monday morning.

 I was hoping to make it to the Bridgefest parade for Adrian's sake but we arrived just as we should have been finding a viewing spot so it didn't work out. I hadn't told him about it so he didn't know the difference. It was so awesome to have cousins for him to play with for a couple days. He's been really trying my patience at home lately so that was a nice break! Not that he and Kendall played perfectly all weekend or anything.

We lucked out and were able to stay at my grandma and grandpa's, they usually have a houseful for the weekend. My aunt and uncle live right down the road and Jeff has been itching to get over there to check out my uncle's bees. (He wants to raise bees next year.) I hear that he has an observation hive inside his house but I have yet to see it for myself. Jeff and Grandpa went to see the bees and I stayed back to visit with Grandma. I've realized lately that they won't be here forever so I really need to take advantage of our time with them.

I didn't take nearly enough pictures (as usual) but I did manage to snag these before we left their house on Sunday afternoon. (Grandpa was at the meeting and by the time he came back we were packed up and saying our "good-bye's.")

Poor Adrian had a few noseeum bites behind his right ear so it was all swollen. I think it finally looks normal again.

Isaac taught me a lesson during morning church. I'm so unprepared for a mess since we haven't had a blow-out away from home. Until Sunday that is. And while wearing the brand-new sweater handmade by my mom. Of course. (Don't worry, it all washed out and it's looking good as new.) Anyways, Katie saved the day. (Thanks again! I still have your clothes, I'll plan on mailing them to you as soon as I get the chance.) I swear, I spent more time in the cry room/nursery than in the pew, I should have just planned to sit there. I'm blaming it on the fact that I cheated on my usual diet (wheat-free, dairy-free) so he was a little fussier than usual. Either that or he was over-stimulated which may have been the case considering he slept most of the day on Monday.

Now we're back home, Adrian is still asking to go to Kendall's and Mumuu and Vaari's (my grandparent's) house. Jeff is back to work and I'm enjoying the gloomy days we've been having since it lets me get stuff done around here. According to the bank, we could be moving in 3-4 weeks and one of those weeks will be spent downstate. Since it's still too early to pack our things, I'm listing everything else on Craigslist. I just lost my sewing desk yesterday. So glad to have that heavy thing gone since I didn't like the style anyways but now I have nowhere to sew and I just got a small sewing project from a friend that needs to be done in the next few days. Ah, well at we won't have to move the desk.

An Early Summer?

We have been having some awesome beach weather lately. I have to admit, it's not so awesome when we have to do stuff inside but when we get a chance to skip across the street and enjoy a nice breeze off the lake, it's pretty awesome.

Wassuuup?

Totally awkward picture, I know, but he kept looking up like that even when no one was there to talk to him.

Hey, look! I was there too! I have to keep handing the camera to Jeff so it's actually documented that I'm part of this family. It's working, I'm starting to appear in our pictures. ;)

Sundays are perfect for relaxing guilt-free for hours on the beach. This one is no Lake Superior but it sure is convenient! I went with the boys in the afternoon and then again when Jeff was home in the evening.

We went the next day too...is it summer already?

Big Brother needs a swimsuit. One more thing to add to my sewing list. It just keep growing.Until then, he doesn't mind splashing around in a pair of gym shorts.

It was so windy yesterday that the 80 degree temps actually felt quite comfortable down by the lake. I was able to wrap Isaac up in the beach blanket while he slumbered so he wouldn't get pelted with whatever flew our way.

It was so windy, I eventually had to use our water bottles to hold the blanket down so he didn't get completely covered up.

Little buddy slept the entire time.

We had some pretty dark clouds overhead and I was sure it was going to downpour so I packed us up as quickly as I could and sure enough, it started raining humongous drops. We ran halfway home (Adrian too since I hadn't brought the stroller) and by that point it had stopped. Ha. We must have looked like fools. Hopefully someone else had a good laugh anyways.

It did end up storming in the evening and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees. It was awesome. I'm loving the 60's today.

Cowboys Caviar and Seagulls

We've made the unofficial commitment to stay away from fast food in the last year or so. It's a pretty loose commitment and I guess, technically, we break it every time we eat at BG. Anyways, it forces us to put at least a tiny bit of thought into the meals we eat when we're on the road.

During our most recent trip downstate we tried the Cowboy Caviar (an exciting alternative to salsa!) from Costco and it was so good! Jeff picked up a container along with some Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips and we had our lunch for the ride home. It was a gorgeous day so we took advantage and stopped at the Mackinac Bridge to eat.

While they waited for Isaac to eat, Jeff taught Little A to chase after the seagulls.

With his trusty water bottle in hand of course.

Downstate Rundown

Wednesday: Surprised Dad. Or tried to. Amanda, Kaitlin, and Gretchen were expected and Jen showed up to my dad's surprise. We were hiding out at Lassila's (we didn't actually get in until 10) but I heard that Jen's kids met my dad at the end of the driveway when he came home from work. Fun! Later, as everyone was sitting around visiting he asked if Jeff and Heidi were here too. This obviously wasn't rehearsed because everyone fell completely silent which was a dead giveaway. Ha! Oh well, it was so much fun to get most of the family in town for the weekend.

Thursday: Woke up to go garage saleing with my mom and sisters but got a stomachache a half hour before they were supposed to pick me up. So weird since I never get stomachaches. I thought I was sick but I felt completely fine after a few hours and they happened to be at a nearby garage sale so I met up with them then. We stopped at Panera Bread for lunch and then went on our merry way. Spent the rest of the evening with my family since Jeff's mom was working.

Friday: Basically a repeat of Thursday but no stomachache (yay!) and meeting at Leo's for lunch.

I spy my former boss.

My mom made spaghetti for supper and I bought some spaghetti squash for everyone to try. I think everyone who tried it liked it. Woohoo! I love when that happens!

Not sure if I should say this or not but Adrian is sitting next to me insisting that the above picture is Grandma and Papa. In case you're confused too, this is actually his Uncle Mark and Auntie Jen.

Saturday: We spent the morning with Lassila's where Jeff made smoothies yet again. He dug out the long lost forgotten blender while we were there and now everyone's hooked on smoothies.

That evening, we had a 60th birthday party for my dad. Totally looks like I'm about to lose my hold on Isaac here, sorry buddy. I'll blame it on the awkwardly close camera. I meant to get a better picture later but it never happened.

We were able to meet Isaac's newest cousins.

Aria and Isaac. Not pictured, a sweet little boy cousin who was born a month after my little dude.

Sunday: Mother's Day! We were up late every night and by the time we got home on Saturday night I was ridiculously exhausted. The congregation is building a new church this year and our previous church sold so for now they are renting a local (unused) school and having services at two separate times on Sunday morning. We had planned to go to the 8:30 service but we didn't even wake up until 9 so we ended up going for 11:30. Afterwards, we headed to Kensington where we had a delicious grilled lunch prepared by my father-in-law. We also made it to the farm. I've been wanting to take Adrian but it never worked out during other trips.

We made a quick stop at my mom and dad's to say "good-bye" before finished off the evening on the back deck back at the Lassila's.

Adrian walked around with these goggles for the longest time. They go with a workbench and tools that he loves to play with.

It was a really great Mother's Day!

If you're still reading at this point, have a fantastic weekend!