Fun and Friends

Connor feeding the birds

This week was spent getting back into the routine of being in our new home and sleeping in our own beds for a week. I no longer here Allison say, "Where are we sleeping tonight?" Like she has for the last 2 1/2 months. Each morning this week Allison has had safety town. It has been nice to have her doing something fun for a few hours so that I can exercise with the two younger ones and do a few things around the house too. I spend most mornings jogging with Connor and Ella in the jogging stroller. On Monday I ran around Reeds lake, which was a bit much with the two kids in the stroller. They are good for 3 miles, but 4 1/2 was a little much and it was a lot pushing them up the hills. Ella fell asleep, but Connor kept wanting to talk to me and I could hardly hear him with the noise of traffic. After each run I would either go to the track to let Connor run around or to Wealthy playground to play. He had a ball doing both and it was nice to spend some one on one time with him (Ella typically took her morning nap in the stroller).

Monday Allison had her afternoon swim lesson with Lucy. She is really coming along with her strokes and seems to really enjoy the water too. We joined MVP on Monday, so we went to the pool for a short bit to check it out. The kids LOVE it and it gives us something fun to do as family. Craig and I enjoy working out there, they have a great kids area and nice indoor and outdoor pools.

We meet my aunt Tracy, three of her girls, her niece and my cousins Jenny and Amy at John Ball Zoo. We had lots of fun feeding the birds, petting the sting rays and enjoying the animals. That night we met Craig at the pool.

Allison feeding the birds

Friday we spent most of the day with friends. Our good friends Mia and Janelle came for the afternoon to have lunch, see the house and hang out. It is always good to spend time with them. Then we went to another friend's house for Thai food and hung out with friends. The kids had a great time.

We had a busy and fun week hanging out at the pool, meeting new friends, hanging out with old friends and enjoying our new life in EGR.

July

Allison

Ella

Connor

Ella showing off "SO BIG"

Craig's graduation from U of M

Craig, Connor and Tom Izzo

Ella at aunt Katie's house

It is has been a long time since my last post. Life has been crazy busy and now that we are moved into our new home, things have settled down a bit. I have decided to get back to the blog. My hope is that I can blog once a week and talk about what has happened over the week. Allison is now 5 1/2 and has been going to safety town all week in EGR. She is loving it and has met a lot of new friends. Thank goodness she is very social and making friends is very easy for her. I actually felt a bit sick to my stomach leaving her with a bunch of people we didn't know, but when I picked her up she said she loved it and wished she could stay all day. She told me she met a new friend named Kathryn and she LOVED safety town. I should have known that it would be an easy transition for her. Connor is two and boy is he two! He is in to EVERYTHING, is talking up a storm, now sleeps in a big boy bed, and is just plain BUSY. He is doing really well with the bed and is a ton of fun. Ella is now 10 months old and she is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up to everything. My little sack of potatoes is now mobile! She is such a little sweetie. This week we joined MVP and the kids have been enjoying the indoor and outdoor pools. They spent 45 minutes in the kids' spot while I worked out. Allison and Ella did really well, but it was a bit hard for Connor. He doesn't like me to leave him. Hopefully this will get easier. We have also spent a lot of time at the beach with my cousins, and time in Grand Haven with family. Craig and Connor got to meet Tom Izzo and Connor got a ball signed from him. Lots of fun! Craig and I just recently went to our 15 year reunion! Lots and lots of fun and great to see old friends.

Easter

Easter Morning

Allison (5) and Ella (6 months)

Ella going for Connor's eggs

Easter morning in their new pjs from the Easter Bunny

Ella with her Easter loot

Allison found the silver egg

Connor had fun collecting eggs too!

Easter was pretty low key for us this year. With everything that we have going on and only one more weekend that we will all be in Ann Arbor, we decided to forego the trip to Grand Haven. The kids were VERY excited about the Easter bunny coming to our house though. Sunday morning Allison woke up at least an hour earlier than her normal waking time and could hardly wait to get Connor up and find the eggs! They were super excited about their new movies, harmonicas, eggs and other fun stuff. Ella enjoyed all the excitement too!

Connor Turns 2

Connor Turns 2!

Elmo Party

Connor Turns 1!

Thomas the Train Party

Connor just 6 days old-check out that hair!

It is hard to believe that on Saturday Connor is going to turn 2! In the last month or so his vocabulary has taken off and he seems to be able to voice his opinion with ease. He LOVES Elmo and had a darling Elmo cake for his birthday party in Grand Haven. He talked about his Elmo cake for over a month. Nothing excited him quite as much as his new baseball bat and ball. We ended up leaving it in Grand Haven by accident, so we had to buy another one. We figured with three kids, one bat is just not enough anyway. He loves to put the ball on the tee by himself, lines up the bat and sure enough, he can really smack the ball. He also loves to shoot hoops in his basketball net and play with his trains and cars. He has become a wonderful big brother to Ella and is often found laying on top of her and hugging her. She loves it!

Yesterday he said to me,"Mama I wanna see GG now, O....KAYYYY!" Then a bit later he said, "I hit the ball outside, O.....KAYYYY!" There is something about the way he says okay that just cracks us all up. He goes for his 2 year appointment and I will post his stats then.

At the moment he is still addicted to his paci and blanket, is still in a diaper and sleeps in a crib. In a matter of weeks he will be giving up his crib to his little sister Ella. Once he is sleeping well in the big bed we will begin breaking him of the paci. Hopefully by summer we will attempt to potty train. At the moment he is wearing onesies as he began sticking his hands down his diaper after going potty. Totally disgusting!!!!! He loves to EAT and does so pretty much nonstop. Pizza is one of his favorites along with bananas and yogurt. Allison is his hero and he constantly asks for her when she is at school. He loves to read books and playing outside is one of his favorite things to do.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy. We are excited to see you grow over the next year. We love you.

Ella is 4 months old!

Ella is 4 months old

Watching The Incredibles with GG, Allison and Connor

Connor said,"Mama, Ella ball". Sure enough, he had given her his ball!

Yesterday Ella was officially 4 months old! The last month seemed to have just slipped by me. It came and went so fast that I never had time to document the month. With both Allison and Connor I had taken then to get their three month pics, but poor Ella, she has to settle for 4 month pictures. I decided I had better get my act together or those 4 month pictures would quickly become 6 month pictures. So, yesterday we got some great shots of Allison at 5 years, Ella at 4 months, and a great group shot of the three of them. I was very happy with all the pictures! Connor was the one I was most concerned about, but he sat right down and was great. He needed some persuasion to smile, but otherwise he was a champ. Allison went to the

dentist for the second time yesterday and they said her teeth looked great! I was happy to have

a great report and no cavities.

At the dentist

Getting her teeth cleaned

Here are some of the things Ella is doing:

-She watches her sister and brother constantly

-Smiling all the time, cooing, and screaming (not crying, just screaming)

-Holding on to small toys and bringing them to her mouth

-Pulling herself forward (no more sitting on the couch)

She is getting bigger every day. She is wearing 6 month and 6-12 month clothing.

Very long and very chubby!

Sleeping-takes great naps during the day and even puts herself to sleep at night in her cradle.

However, she seems to have some reflux issues at night and is getting up 3 times at night.

I am hoping that this resolves itself soon. I am a tired mama.

What A Difference A Year Makes!

A year ago I had no idea that I was pregnant with baby number three. Now our precious little Ella is here and our family is complete. Over the last year we celebrated some important milestones and made some great memories. In January I flew to Houston with Connor and Allison to spend a week with Kimberly and the kids while Chad was at a work conference. It was great to spend time with Kimberly and the kids. In February we spent a week in Florida at Disney with my parents. Watching Allison meet all the princesses, Mickey, Minnie and all the characters was awesome. It was a great vacation to share with my parents. In March we celebrated Connor's first birthday with a Thomas the Train theme and a fun Easter egg hunt. The summer was spent with friends and family enjoying the beach and all that Grand Haven has to offer in the summer. In September Allison started the Young 5's program at Gretchen's House. She made the transition to a new school with ease. Just a few weeks later we welcomed Elizabeth"Ella" Constant Alguire to the family. Watching Allison and Connor meet Ella for the first time was one of the happiest moments of my life. In October we celebrated Halloween and fall by going to many apple orchards and trick or treating with our friends. In November we traveled to Grand Haven for Thanksgiving and spent the weekend with family. December marked Allison's 5th birthday! Hard to believe she will be going to Kindergarten next year. Christmas was a lot of fun...hectic, but fun. We spent lots of time with friends and family, just the way we like it. This new year will be an exciting one for us. Craig finishes his fellowship in June and we will be moving somewhere! We are excited to find out where life will take us! We feel very blessed and hope that this coming year will be filled with health and happiness.

All the kids, pre-Ella

Disney

GG and Papa with Allison and Connor-Hollywood Studios

Connor Turns 1!

Allison at Indpendence Lake
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Coast Guard Festival

Papa with the kids at Spring Lake beach

Going to Chicago to American Girl Place

Ella arrives!

Allison starts school

Picking pumpkins

Allison Turns 5!

Christmas 2009 Connor, Ella and Allison

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a busy one for us this year. Craig had the 23rd-28th off of work, which was awesome. Allison had school on the 23rd, so we decided to send her and run a few errands. We made cookies in the afternoon and prepared for Santa's arrival. After talking to Clyde, or elf, we were notified that Santa could come early to our house since we would be traveling to Grand Haven. Lucky us! So, we made cookies and set out milk and carrots too. In return, Santa left some great gifts for the kids. Connor was happy with his M&Ms and his match box cars. He really didn't want anything else at the moment. It could have been a really cheap Christmas for us:) Allison loved her new Samantha doll (a total surprise since it is retired. I have had it for a year) and bed. Ella just hung out with us and enjoyed the chaos.

Allison with the cookies for Santa

Letter for Santa, cookies, and carrots for the reindeer

Ella with her new gifts

Allison with Samantha

Connor with his new ball toy

After getting the house somewhat cleaned up we packed up and headed to Grand Haven. We drove right to Aunt Amy and Uncle John's house to decorate cookies and hang out. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Alguire's house for the night. We tried to go to church, but were stuck inside after some terrible ice formed and we were unable to get down the driveway. Christmas morning we opened gifts with grandma and grandpa Alguire and then were off to GG and Papa's house to open gifts. From there we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Constant's house for lunch and presents. Then at 4:00 we went to the Alguire Christmas at John and Amy's. The kids were exhausted, but it was a lot of fun and great food too!

Allison and grandma on Christmas morning

GG and Ella

Allison and Mama

GG and Allison

Connor shooting hoops

Connor and Allison decorating cookies

Sat. we headed to my parents house and stayed there for the afternoon and overnight. Allison and I went to Alivn and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquil with her cousins and then to Clover Bar with GG and Papa for dinner. Yummy!

Sunday we had one more Christmas party and a birthday party. We celebrated with the Jonas's at Nunica Hall. Then we were back to Grandma and Grandpa Alguire's for Uncle Jim's 70th birthday party. More gifts for the kids, might I add!

Monday we stopped in Rockford on our way back home to see Courtney, Max, Ryan and their new house!

Courtney, Ella, Ryan and Staci

Finally, we arrived home around 5:00 on Monday night. We had more "stuff" then I can describe and it took me the rest of the night and the entire next day to put everything away. We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We are very thankful for all of the wonderful people in our lives. When we asked Allison what her favorite part of Christmas was, she said,"Decorating cookies with my cousins". That just warms my heart:)