Manly little man

Dan got some good shots of our little man hard at work today.

Nine weeks

Here is the first of the pregnancy pics... 9 weeks at this point!

Deck project

Over the course of the last month Dan has been working on refinishing the deck. He cleaned it thoroughly, power washed it, treated it, and stained it... four times. He did two coats with our original stain choice only to find it really wasn't the color we were hoping for. We sadly returned to the store to pick out a new shade of stain, which we are much happier with. Here are a few photos of the process. First, a shot of the deck with the old aged stain.
Next, an "in progress" shot of the deck with all of the paint stripped off.
Finally, a shot of the finished product.
Thanks for all of your hard work, Dan!

A beautiful day for a trip to the beach!

The weather has been gorgeous lately and school is starting soon, so we decided today was the perfect day for a trip to the beach!Caleb wasn't content just to get his toes wet...

Tie dye extravaganza

A few friends and I got together tonight to tie dye some clothes. I brought a few old onesies for future use. I intended to dye one in "girl" colors and another in "boy" colors but they all wound up with a pink tint... do you think that's a sign?!

Fun weekend trip!

Yesterday we left after church and naptime to drive to our friend Julie's house on the east side of the state. We had a great time catching up. She was nice enough to let us take over her house for the night and the kids enjoyed exploring her house and yard. I'm not sure what the cause for Caleb's expression is but I think it is hilarious!
The next morning we drove to Trader Joe's for a few essentials.
Then we spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon (i.e. several hours) exploring IKEA. We were pleasantly surprised with free breakfast (again!) and had a great time looking at all of their fun furniture and accessories. Our mission was to get a big boy bed for Caleb to eventually transition to but we wound up with a good deal on a bunk bed instead.
Afterward the kids napped (thankfully!) while we made a trek to East Lansing to visit my brother and sister-in-law Kevin and Trisha and their newest addition, Mary, who was just born on Friday!
The cousins, as always, had lots of fun playing together.

New backyard to explore

Tonight we got together with some friends for game night. The kids LOVED having a new backyard to explore along with their friend Anna!

Salsa Showdown

Today we brought the kids to downtown Holland's Salsa Showdown. This was our first time attending the event and it was a lot of fun! For a very small fee you can sample as many of the competing salsas as you like. We tried all of the fruit salsas and mild salsas, since neither Dan nor I has a very high tolerance for spicy foods. They were delicious! The kids even sampled some of the mild fruit salsas and got to help color a giant salsa banner.

Trip to the zoo

We have to make the most of these final days of summer vacation, so today we brought the kids to the zoo. They always have fun there!I'm not sure why but Caleb was totally enamored with the goats in the petting zoo. This picture makes me smile (or laugh!) every time I look at it!

Little helper

Today I spent some time getting my classrooms ready at school. I brought a little helper with me who was very excited to come along, especially to play on the "big kid" playground. Isn't she a cutie?

Tennessee Vacation, Day Seven

It has been a great vacation. All five of us (including Abbey) have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Dan's parents and all of the fun things we have been able to do. Alas, today we made the journey back home. Road trips with a 2-year old and 4-year old can be interesting, but we carefully timed things so that we could stop for dinner at a McDonald's with a play area to allow them to run around for a while.
Afterward we put the kids in their jammies and made the final trek home.
It was a long day but we all made it home in one piece and without too many misadventures along the way.

Tennessee Vacation, Day Six

Today we spent most of the day in Columbia, Tennessee, which is one of the towns that Dan grew up in. Our first stop was to Dan's old house. The current owners even invited us in for a tour!
Next we stopped at a park to play.
After all of that playing it was time for lunch. We went to an old favorite restaurant of Dan's, Catfish Campus. While eating there we discovered (surprisingly) that Caleb LOVES hush puppies!
Finally we went to downtown Columbia and found a cute little diner where we ate some delicious dessert and had a little more playtime outside.