Amber turns 1

We celebrated Amber's 1st birthday last weekend with some of our family. She had an absolute blast playing with her new things and eating her cake. Beth and I made her cake the day before the party and what a cake it was. It took 4 boxes of cake mix, and if you can believe this, 4 pounds of frosting. This thing was HUGE!! It had to be put on 4 layers of cardboard to support it. We didn't weight it, but I bet it was 8 lbs. or more. Here are some photos of Amber on her special day. Such a doll!

Some Winter Fun

Before the "blizzard", we took the kids on a sleigh ride through the woods. Here is a picture of them in the sleigh. After the "blizzard", we took a picture of Amber standing next to the tall banks in our yard. Keep in mind that she is 30" tall!!!

Here is a picture of Caleb taking a hard earned snooze one afternoon and then another of him using his little sister as a stool.

Winter Fun

Well, winter hasn't even officially arrived and we got our first "dumping" of snow this weekend. We ended up with 6" and the first 4" that came, made for some really great snowman making snow, so here we are doing just that.

That looks really nice boys! I'll just sit here in the yard and supervise while you two finish the snowman.

Kid's Christmas Photos

We thought you all would enjoy the latest photos of Caleb and Amber. They look so cute all dressed up in their Christmas outfits. Hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Trick or Treat

This Halloween was such a blast for all of us. It was Amber's very first halloween and she was dressed up as a "Baby Blossom" flower. She was just so adorable. She had everybody talking, looking and taking pictures of her.
Caleb really got into trick or treating this year. He was dressed as a Scare Crow. This costume was the coolest thing. He got so many compliments on how cute he looked in it.

To top off halloween night, we went trick or treating in Greenville. The city has three parks that it burns a big bon-fire and gives out free apple cider and donuts to anyone who stops by. They also have a costume contest. Amber and Caleb both entered into the 0-5 yr. age group and out of all the kids who entered, Caleb got 1st place and Amber got 2nd place. The got their pictures taken and they asked us for the correct spelling of their names.....we think they might put the photos in the local newspaper. They each got a ribbon and a candy bar. Take a look at their photos and you'll see how cute they were.

After a full night pounding the sidewalks for candy, they both crashed on the ride home. It was a BLAST!!!!

Fall into some fun

Caleb just loves to help daddy out anyway that he can, no matter if it's mowing the lawn, blowing the leaves, hauling & stacking firewood, etc. Here he is having a little fall fun in a huge leaf pile. He looked like he was having so much fun, I had to join in with him.

Caleb is now 2 1/2 years old

Caleb turned 2 1/2 at the end of last month. He's growing up to be such a little man. He's also doing very well. Pushes our buttons fairly often, but he's in his two's and he's a boy, what else can we say! He's gotten very good at driving the hi-lo over at grandpa's garden center. He can literally do everything with it except push the gas and brake. He will steer between cars, pick up, move and lower full skids of birdseed, etc. He just LOVES IT! One problem though, now he wants to drive the car.........ouch. He's been spending time with daddy out in the woods splitting and hauling wood this fall. He likes to try and pick up all the pieces and throw them out of the trailer.

Amber is 8 Months old

Amber turned 8 months old this week. Take a look at that cute little smile. She learned how to crawl and clap her hands on the 8th of Oct. She's doing very well. She's now working on trying to stand up......or at least pull herself up. Won't be long before she's walking around things.

Amber is 7 Months Old

Amber is now 7 Months old. She is doing very well. She's soooooooooooo close to crawling already. She can get to where she wants to go by combining rolling and army crawling. She'll get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, but hasn't figured out how to move her arms and legs together. Soon, very soon. She probably will be crawling by time she turns 8 months old.... watch for an update. Here is her 7 month photo.

Tahquamenon Falls Camping

We spent 6 days camping in Michigans Upper Penninsula at Tahquamenon Falls. The gloomy weather made the week a little rough and we found that the kids are only good for about 2 or 3 nights max of camping this year. Hopefully, next summer they can stand to go for a little longer. We still had a good time. It was interesting to say the least. One day, we went for a drive and ended up driving 19 miles down this narrow, rough, water cover in may places, seasonal road, which took over an hour, to get to remote Crisp Point Lighthouse on the Lake Superior shoreline. It was beautiful. Later that night, a big low pressure system came down from Lake Superior and hit our campground with 60+ mph winds for about 4 hours in the middle of the night. Kinda scary. We could sure do without that ever again! Here are some photos of our trip. Hope you enjoy them.

Here are a couple of pictures of Amber with Lake Superior in the background.

Above: Photo of Amber and Caleb sitting next to the camper at the campground.

Below is a photo of Caleb sitting on a washed up log and root ball at Whitefish Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior. Below that photo is one of all 4 of us at the Upper Falls of Tahquamenon Falls.

I took this photo of a man fishing on the river one cool morning.

A "Watch for Moose" sign that was along the road right by our Campground. Didn't see any though.

Some extra cute photos

Just a few snapshots of the kids having some fun.

Amber is 6 Months Old

Amber has passed the 1/2 a year old mark this month. She's doing great. She's in the 75%ile on both her height and weight and the doc says she hasn't missed a meal..... :) She's really getting active on her rolling around and is trying her hardest to get up onto her hands and knees. Won't be long now............ oh boy. Here is her 6 month photo. She's got so many facial expressions, we tried to caputre some and keep the pool theme going since it's been SO DARN HOT!!! Enjoy.

The two of them

How cute they are!

Camping in Traverse City

Over the 4th of July, we (Rod, Beth & Caleb) went camping for 4 days just outside of Traverse City. The Navy Blue Angels were performing at the Cherry Festival airshow and we wanted to take Caleb up there to see the jets. We left Amber home with the grandparents since it was so hot outside and the loud noise from the jets isn't a place for a little baby. Here are some photos from our trip.

These are two of the exact planes that I flew when I was learning to fly while attending college in Traverse City 15 years ago.

Caleb learned real quick that he needed to cover up his ears when the jets flew over our heads really low and fast. He loved them.
Here is Caleb sitting on his bike seat that is mounted to daddy's bike. He loves the bike rides and once he's in the seat, good luck trying to get him out of it. He even fell asleep on the ride back to the truck after the first day at the airshow.

Amber 5 Months

A little late on posting this photo, but here is Amber's 5 month photo. In another week and a half, she'll be 6 Months old already.