Impossible Task?

Not too bad, minus the camera case and fire truck.

I was doing something sill to make these crazy kids laugh.

At Clover Bar
I have been trying for months to get an updated photo of the crew, but it is not an easy task. In fact, I am beginning to wonder if it is an impossible task. Allison is almost always a sure bet, but Connor and Ella take turns being a real pain:) Anyway, here are few shots of them.

Craig has been working a lot of hours and by Saturday I am spent. So we decided to go to Spring Lake for the day and hang out with my parents. It was a fun day. I went for a nice long run a long the bike bath by myself and then we went to a cider mill and to Clover Bar pizza for dinner. We headed back to EGR around 7:30....just in time to say good night to Craig.

October Fun

Enjoying the MSU game at my friend Courtney's house

Allison made this dress!!!

Watching MSU beat U of M:)

The Elephants for Artprize

Riding the Carousal

Allison at her Kindergarten parade

Allison and Connor at The Breton Boogie

Dance time at school to raise money. Allison is jamming!
Well, October has turned out to be a busy month for us. Craig has been on call a lot, Allison has been busy with school, soccer and swimming, and the rest of us are just along for the ride! Connor, Ella and I have been enjoying going for long jogs around the lake, playing at the playground and just hanging out together. Here is a brief summary of what is going on with each of the kids.

Allison has been busy with school and playdates! She absolutely loves going to school and can hardly wait to get their. She is enjoying the friends she has made at school and has had several play dates with girls in her class. She also enjoyed a fun birthday party at her friend Emma's house where she had a tea party and then this week a birthday party for her friend, Ryan at a farm. Allison has enjoyed playing soccer on Saturday mornings, "Unless it is too cold or too hot". She is good when she wants to be, but needs some encouragement to be aggressive. She has practice on Monday nights and then games on Saturdays. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights are devoted to swimming. She loves being on the swim team and is becoming quite the swimming. It looks like torture to me, but she LOVES it! I am hoping she sticks with it because she pretty good at it:)

Connor is working on being a big boy. He has been working on being trained for over a month now and it is all about the same. We resorted to using pullups and he goes on the potty about 75% of the time. We are hoping it will get better. He has become quite the talker....meaning he talks NON STOP! He is pretty darn funny! When we arrived at the farm he said, "Wow, this is AMAZING!" He talks super cute.....Soy latte is soy watte, Allison is Alyeah, look is wook, you get it. He is constantly cracking us up.

Ella is off....she is walking all over. She talks a ton, repeating whatever her brother and sister say. Some of her words are mama, dada, con ta (connor), All sa (Allison), diapa (diaper), stinky, doggie, turtle, dinsor (dinosaur), banket (blanket), Elmo...the list goes on. She is showing a bit of a temper when she doesn't get what she wants and she guards everything from Connor! She is still such a sweetie.

So, the crew is doing well and we are gearing up for Halloween! More to come soon. Oh, I almost forgot...we enjoyed watching MSU beat U of M at my friend Courtney's house! So much fun!

Ella Turns One!

Ella was born at 3 am on September 21st and she was 7 lbs 11 ounces

Ella is one!

Allison and Connor help with presents

Celebrating with GG and Papa

Cousins Kathryn and Mary Violet feed Ella her birthday cake.

Ella wearing her new hat made by grandma Alguire

It is hard to believe that Ella is a year old. The last year really has gone by like a whirlwind. Between having Ella, Craig finishing up his final year, selling the condo and then moving to Grand Rapids, her first year was filled with excitement. I have to say that I was actually sad to see her turn one. She is such a little sweetie pie and I just hate to see her grow up. We celebrated her actual birthday with GG and Papa (my parents) with some pizza and cupcakes that Allison, Connor and I made. Then we had a party for her on the 26th with all of her cousins, her grandparents, great grandparents and a few close friends. There were a ton of kids, but it was a lot of fun. She is loving her new Bitty Baby, Elmo, and Peek-a-Boo book. The knitted outfit that grandma Alguire made is priceless.

Here are a few things she can do as a one year old.

1. She can climb up the stairs in record time, so we now have a gate up!

2. She takes 4-5 steps consistently and has taken as many as 10.

3. She talks up a storm. A few of her words: Mama, Dada, blanket, hi, NaNa (Connor), ganma (grandma), GG, Papa, puppy, Elmo, baby. She tries a ton of words and many times just says random things.

4. She loves to copy Connor and scream back and forth with him.

5. She loves to hug and kiss.

6. She loves her pink swankie blankie, she calls blanket.

7. She has three teeth and her top two are coming through as we speak.

8. She loves to play in her kitchen with the play food.

She is 21 lbs (70%ile), 29 1/4 inches (75%ile)

What a joy she has been. I feel so lucky to have such a sweet and fun little girl. We are so happy to have her in our family.

September Fun!

Connor at the East game

Connor and I enjoying the field at the Pioneer picnic

Going for a bike ride

Dress up at grandma's

New $2 stroller from a garage sale

We love East!

Sisters

My little climber

Charlotte and Owen's party

Having fun at the b-day party

Connor was so tuckered out

Breakfast at the Cherry Inn

Birthday party for another friend

We have been having lots of fun this September. We spent some time in Grand Haven and Allison had a playdate with her cousin, Grace. We also traveled to Ann Arbor to spend some time with our good friends, the Bruderly's whose twins, Charlotte and Owen celebrated their 5th birthday at Chelsea Treehouse. Later we went to another friends' house to watch some football and eat lots of good food. We took in our first East Grand Rapids football game and we all sported our new EAST sweatshirts. Connor loves his so much he has slept in it on several occasions. On Sunday we went to a new restaurant, the Cherry Inn and then to a birthday party for a girl in Allison's Class. Connor and Ella went too and we all had a great time bouncing! Needless to say, the kids were pretty tuckered out. It wasn't easy getting them out the door this morning for school.

First Day of Kindergarten for Allison

It was a windy first day of school

Hanging up her backpack

Getting in line for the flag raising ceremony

First day of school was a success!

It seems like we have been waiting for this day for months! Since Allison has a December 15th birthday she starts Kindergarten as a 5 year old, but turns 6 very soon! She was super excited about her first day of school with Mrs. McIntosh. She loves going to school everyday and is meeting lots of new friends. I am so happy that she is starting a new chapter in her life. She is certainly ready for all the challenges that school has in store for her. I am hoping for a happy successful school year with lots of learning and lots of fun for sweet girl.

Friends

Tess, Madeline, Allison and Connor

Ice Cream

Best Buddies
Last week our good friends from Ann Arbor came to visit. We had a great time with Meg, Madeline and Tess playing at the house, having lunch, going for ice cream, and then to the local playground to burn off some energy. Thanks so much for coming to visit us! We miss you guys.

The last taste of summer

Ella and Papa

Rosalee, Allison and Mary Violet

Connor getting ready to go Kayaking with GG

Grand Rapids Children's Museum

Kathryn, Anna, Grace and Allison at the zoo

Our finished kitchen

New appliances, counters, backsplash and these cabinets to match the older ones

Looking into the breakfast nook

The last few weeks have been super busy and lots of fun. We had the Springer girls with us at my parents' house to enjoy the kayaks and have fun in the water. The girls enjoyed going down the channel on the orange kayak and jumping off into the water. They figured out how to paddle around and get back on too. Craig and I took the kids to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. Later in the week we went to John Ball Zoo with the Ackerman girls. To wrap things up, the kitchen was finished and we unpacked the remaining boxes. The amount of packing paper that was used is crazy!!!! We are all so happy to have our kitchen finished and all of our stuff unpacked.