Happy Halloween!

Okay, okay, so I know I promised to be better about updating the blog and it is now October 31st.  I have to admit, many times I go to update but then get so overwhelmed just thinking about documenting all that has happened since July.  So, I won't.  Instead, I will just pick up when I can and focus on now. 

Happy Halloween! 

And Happy Birthday to my Dad today!  We love you!

John had a great Halloween.  It's funny as he gets older, holidays seem to stretch.  We celebrated Halloween for about a week!  We had a Halloween party on Friday night with some friends, the Zoo Boo on Saturday night, and his daycare party yesterday.  Tonight he had fun trick or treating despite the drizzle outside.  He still gets intimidated/scared by costumes so he wanted to be carried between houses, but once he saw a porch light on, he scrambled down and ran up the driveway, yelling, "Trick or treat!!!!!!"

So, here are some pics from our week.  John was a shark this year, and Superman for his daycare party. 

I can't believe tomorrow is November!!! 

 

 Post trick or treating

 Zoo Boo!

 Sweet Josie!  Always so smiley!

 Candy break

 The shark and his mermaids

 Superman!

Parent Group 2012...we joined this group through our hospital when John was 4 months old.  We have met such good friends!  Can't believe this is our 3rd Halloween we are celebrating together! 

Brad and I had a weekend away a few weeks ago to go to his 10 year West Point reunion.  It was a much needed weekend away for us!  We had so much fun!

Summer, Summer, Summer Time!

How is it already July 26th??  I can't believe I have not written a single blog post in 3 months!  I have probably lost all of my readers, but wanted to check in and jot down some summer time happenings for my own records!

We have been having such a fun and BUSY summer!  We haven't really been home for a weekend yet.  We ended the school year with John getting his first experience with pink eye, but he quickly recovered and we headed to Traverse City with Brad's whole family for my father-in-law's retirement.  We had such a great trip.  It was relaxing, we went to the beach, went wine tasting, ate great food, drank wine, saw the sand dunes, and drank some more wine :)

When we got home, my second niece, Josephine Nora made her entrance.  Good girl, she waited until I got home!  She was born at 1:21 am on June 26th, and is so beautiful.  Jenny had a pretty rough post labor experience and was readmitted to the hospital for a few days (which I know seemed like forever), but they are all doing well now and Libby is a great big sister too.  John is very interested in his new little cousin, and she has quickly been added to our nightly "John and Libby" bedtime stories.  :)

We attempted to go to the lake for the 4th of July weekend, but the heat and power outage sent us home with John and Libby at 1 am.  Thankfully we were able to go back for the day on Sunday and John swam and rode the jet skis, and had a blast!

The next weekend John and I headed down to Columbus, IN for a girls weekend.  I was able to catch up with some of my best friends from Colorado and we had such a great weekend catching up like old times.  My friend Lisa who lives in Indiana has an enormous family farm that is so impressive.  Her two girls Morgan and Taylor are so good with John and now the bedtime stories include John, Libby, Josie, Morgan, and Taylor.  The latest one (made up by John) is that John rides a blue motorcycle with Morgan on the back, and Libby rides a pink motorcycle with Taylor on the back and Josie watches.  Oh, and sometimes Papa Don rides a motorcycle with Aunt Lisa on the back, or sometimes Papa Joe.  This part changes nightly :)

Anyways, our Indiana reunion was so much fun and makes me so reminiscent of our weekly girl nights we had and the closeness we shared.  These girls are as good as it gets, and I am so lucky to have them as friends!

Last weekend, we went back to Indiana to South Bend where Brad was inducted into his high school's "Athlete of the Decade" program.  Very impressive, huh?  They had a nice breakfast and then we headed to the county fair where John's dreams came true...he rode a horse!  Well, a pony, but same thing.  John LOVES horses, but is very nervous usually when it comes to the real thing.  The weekend before in Indiana, he didn't want to even go near the horses, but he really wanted to ride one at the fair.  He has not stopped talking about it, it is so cute.

So that is a quick summary of our summer.  We have been super busy during the weeks too, spending time with Josie, Jenny, and Libby, a new swing set, swimming, taking gymnastics, catching up with friends, and a soccer camp!  John just finished up a 4 day "camp" with some of his little buddies and he did great! 

We have been having so much fun together being home this summer, but John has become pretty clingy and attached, which makes me think the fall will be hard on both of us when I go back to work.  I have some work to do in August, so hopefully a day here or there will help the transition.  He has been SO much fun, just talking up a storm and being such a goofball!  He loves to joke around and he thinks he is the funniest person alive.  He cracks himself up all of the time and I love his laughs. 

I will leave with some pictures of the summer, I have probably thousands, but here are a few. I hope my next post is sooner than this last one! Hope you are all enjoying your summers too!

Traverse City

At the Pier

Group shot at the Sleeping Bear Dunes...so pretty!

Chillin at the house with my little man!

Playing in the sand

 Sweet Josie

 Proud to be a big cousin

 Riding with Morgan on the Gator

My Colorado girls :)

 Finger/Body Painting while eating a blue sucker...

 First horse ride!

 Soccer camp with Coach Ryan, learning how to trap the ball.

 Ready to go!

John's new swingset given to us by our awesome neighbors

 One of many breakdowns this summer...usually over wanting a clif bar, sucker, or because he wants a different cup...oh, the things that make you upset when you're 2!

Best Friends :)

Potty Training

I apologize for my lack in updates. I promise once things settle down around here with work, I have a long upload in pictures and updates. For now, a funny picture from today. I ran to get something while John was going potty and came back to find this :) True 100% boy! Love him so much and love that the magazine is upside down :) Hope everyone is doing well and keep checking back...updates soon!

Guess who is turning TWO??

I can not believe that in one week John will be two! Holy cow! Time flies! Sorry for my lack of updates this past month, life has been crazy. My Uncle Mike passed away this part week from a very brief battle with kidney cancer. It has been very hard on our family. He was only 57 and was in perfect health otherwise. We headed to Columbus this weekend for his funeral and I know the months ahead will be hard for my aunt, cousins, and mom. It really makes you stop and think and appreciate the people and family around you.

John and Libby did so great this past weekend at the funeral and had so much fun at the hotel. Wish we were there for a different reason, but they entertained each other and love staying up late and playing.

John has been such a jabberbox lately. All he does is TALK! It is so funny, listening to the things he says and starting to put so many words together. His favorite expressions right now are "I need more" and "Stop it Mommy/Daddy" (usually when we are singing!). He loves Allie (Addie) right now and all things Sesame Street. He likes to use his potty and usually goes at least once a day, usually before bathtime. When we were getting ready at the hotel on Saturday morning, he came up to me when I was drying my hair and told me he had to go poo-poo. I put him on the potty and he went! Yayyyyy! I think we are going to try to begin potty training over my spring break, which will be interesting.

I am excited to celebrate John's birthday next weekend. We are going to have a small party here on Saturday (Sesame Street of course) and all John talked about tonight was having a Bert and Ernie cake (sorry bud, it is an Elmo cake). He has been practicing blowing out candles. The other morning he looked at us and we asked him what he wanted and he said "Birfay pesents." Hmmm, maybe we have been talking about his birthday too much :)

I took John today to get his 2 year pictures taken and of course he did great, causing me to spend way too much money. But hey, he is worth it :) Here are some of my favorites and some others from this month. Have a great week!

Fingerpainting!

Being silly with his friend Emily

Elmo! His best bud (besides Libby)

Grandma's Birthday

22 Months

January has come and gone and it is crazy to think that in less than 2 months John will be 2! Wow! He is all of a sudden such a "big" little boy...he has been taking an interest in going on the potty...usually about twice a day. He even went #2 tonight!!! We are not going full force with potty training until either my spring break or summer, but at least he is starting to catch on.

On MLK day, we were looking for something to do when John woke up from his nap so we decided to check out this place by our house called U.Bounce. I wasn't sure if John would be too young, but he loved it. It was basically just two large rooms with bounce houses and slides. Check out the big slide he went on....I love the look on his face!





Today we went to Sesame Street Live with my mom. It was so much fun! He absolutely loved it. The minute the characters came on he got this huge grin on his face, yelling out their names and waving. It was priceless. Libby and Jenny went to, but we didn't get to sit by them. John had a blast though, it was definitely his highlight of the year so far :)









My mom's birthday is on Monday, so we are going to celebrate tomorrow night with everyone. Happy Birthday Mom...we love you!!!!
Here are just a few more silly pictures of our big boy...Enjoy!