Why Nick had a good birthday & why I'm a good wife

Nick had a good birthday b/c of me and my awesome family...We went in and got him an IPAD. The sad part was we didn't get it in time (had to pre-order from the store), but he should have in the next day or two.

My parents, Emily, Grandma Lois, and I pitched in to get him this.

It was too bad that my grandma had some health issues and they scheduled her to have a pace-maker put in yesterday, so she couldn't be there. She is SO nice and made him hello dolly cake, which is his favorite. She was up the night before her procedure making it for him--she must really like him and he really appreciated it!
This is the first picture I took when he realized what he was reading. I love the expression on his face! "Yes, new technology!"...what a nerd :) See Chopper in the background--I think he is excited about it too (or just yawning?)!!

This made his day...even though he doesn't have it yet!! He said he's happy just with the anticipation.

Some new ties...from Tom & Mary

Some new underwear from the kids. He didn't want this b/c he is "trying to see how long the current ones will last". I don't think so. Time for some new ones!

My mom got him a sign for the grill that says, "Danger Men Cooking". We had burgers, veggies, fruit, and biscuits for dinner...
Aunt Em with Hunter
Grandma and Hunter hanging out on the deck

I think I am a good wife b/c not only did I plan a night away last Friday for us to get away (dinner/hotel/casino), but I also helped coordinate the IPAD purchase. He also got underwear and a nice large framed picture of the family for our room. Last night before bed Nick said, "I had a glimmer of hope that you would get it for me b/c you never disappoint me".

That made me happy to hear :) I love you honey and I'm glad you had a good day...In addition, someone took him out to breakfast and I drove to meet him for lunch.

Happy Birthday Nick!!

Happy Birthday Nick! I hope you have a great day today. You are a wonderful husband and dad...I can't believe this is the 12th birthday that you've had that we've celebrated together!

It's so weird to think that when you were about to turn 20 we'd just met and I wanted to get you something, but we weren't officially "boyfriend/girlfriend" so I think I got you $40 gift card to the music store. I hope we spend another 70 (or more) birthdays together :)

We love you!!!

Hunter and I decorated the driveway last night after our walk. I'm so glad I took a picture b/c it poured last night and it was gone this morning!

Nick took this picture last night. We were making smoothies after bath and while we were getting them ready Hunter was kissing Jack and he was laughing hysterically, so Hunter kept doing it. It was so funny!

Father's Day Pics--Part 1 of 2

Well, our Father's Day was busy and didn't turn out quite like we'd planned. We were out the door at 8am to head to Brighton to go to breakfast with my family. We went to my parent's house to exchange gifts and for breakfast. We headed to church and home for lunch and nap. We left at 3pm to head to Lake Lansing to see Nick's dad. There was a bad accident on I-96 in Howell and they shut the freeway down. Needless to say after over 2 hours in the car, we called his dad and said we were not coming. We would have gotten there at 6pm only to turn around and leave an hour later to take the kids to bed. We ended up calling my parents and they were out at the lake just getting ready to head to Zukey's with Gigi and Jim. They waited for us so we went out there to go on the boat to dinner with them. We had a good time, but were not watching the time--by the time we got back it was almost 9pm. For some reason Nick and I both thought it was only 8pm...oh well...I was wondering why Jack was crabby and now I know! Gigi was happy to see the kids as always, but I felt like they were going to have a peaceful dinner and boat ride and we blew in like a tornado with our kids :)

Nick with his two boys on Father's Day

I just threw this picture in that I took yesterday b/c he's so cute sporting his mohawk.

Nick needs a picture with both boys for his client newsletter at work, so we took several yesterday
Nick got a digital photobook with pictures of him and the boys for Father's Day
I also had this picture framed. I thought maybe I'd use a different picture, but Nick really likes it, so I guess we'll keep this one and hang it in our room. They are trying to splash me in this picture and that's why Hunter is so happy! He also got some new white tee-shirts.

We felt badly about not getting up to see Nick's dad for Father's Day, but plan to go up there this weekend to visit.

More pictures from the lake to come!

Happy Father's Day!!

Where do I start??? I guess since it's my blog, I will first start by wishing my own dad a Happy Father's Day! You are the best dad and so much fun. I know you enjoy embarrassing me, but now that I'm older I appreciate your humor more! Love you lots!

Dad with his three kids (well, two daughters, and son-in-law) at the Lion's Game on Thanksgiving Day a few years ago.

Happy Father's Day Nick! You are an awesome dad too :)

Hunter and Jack love you so much!

Being silly!

Hunter loves his daddy!!

Happy Birthday to Geoff (Nick's dad) and Dick (Nick's stepdad) too.

We hope you have a wonderful day!!

I'll put up pictures from our day later this week...

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Our weekend so far...

Friday, for Nick's birthday present from me, we went to Battle Creek to the new Firekeeper's Casino. We both like to gamble, so I thought it would be a fun evening to go there and gamble and stay the night at a hotel nearby. Friday night Nick won some money and gave it back (and then some) the next morning before we drove home. I lost money at the blackjack table, but got lucky playing the slot machine (I just sat down with a few dollars while I finished my drink) and got back to even! Then I won the next morning...all in all we pretty much broke even (I won and Nick lost). We had a good time just hanging out together :) We both appreciated even driving back and forth being able to talk without Hunter yelling in the backseat. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids. They both slept great for her, but I felt badly that they were without power after 9pm. Saturday we were without power until about 6pm. Saturday afternoon Nick went golfing with his dad and brother and when he got home we went up to the pool with the kids to cool off. Hunter was running and slipped and fell. He got a really bad cut on his toe and scraped up his ankle pretty badly. I had just yelled at him for running and basically he was running away from me after I'd scolded him and fell. Good lesson as to why you need to listen to your mommy! We came home and had ice cream to make it feel better. He is walking on his heel b/c he doesn't want his toe to touch the ground...I feel sorry for him.
Well, tomorrow is Father's Day and we have a busy day. Breakfast with my parents, church, and out to Lake Lansing in the afternoon to see Nick's dad!
Hope you are enjoying your weekend so far.

See ya later aligator!

Nick's birthday is on Tuesday, June 22nd. Tonight I am taking him somewhere for a surprise, although he already pretty much guessed what we are doing. I am mad b/c I was going to wait until he came home from work today and say "Ok, honey, pack your bag!", but then a friend of his was having a going away party tonight and tomorrow he wanted to go golfing with his dad, so I had to tell him I was up to something. I told him earlier in the week I would not tell him what we were doing, but he had to choose if he wanted to go to the going away party or do what I had planned. He chose what I had going on, before he really figured it out...I'm happy he has confidence that I am good at planning fun stuff! Anyway, I will post more details later when Nick knows for sure what is going on.

Nana and Grandpa are staying over tonight with the kids (we'll be home tomorrow at lunchtime). Hunter is excited about it and I am praying Jack will be a good boy. Last night he slept from 7pm-7am, so I hope my mom is as lucky. He is teething and I feel SO SORRY for him. We gave him Tylenol (well, target brand b/c of the recall) twice yesterday and that seemed to help. I can't see the tooth yet, but he's fussy and putting everything in his mouth and just gnawing at his hands. He is due so I'm certain we'll see something in the next day or so.

This is another picture from our photo session with Dayna...more to come soon.

I love my baby and Hunter, but am so excited to go have a peaceful dinner and I have something really fun planned for this evening for Nick and I.

Hunter will say, "See ya later, al-i-day-gor"...that's how he says it.

Have a good weekend :)

My child cracks me up

On Sunday we were walking out of church. Hunter was mad b/c they have donuts after church and he wanted one, but we were in a hurry and he couldn't have one. I was distracting him and saying "I have another treat in the car for you, can you guess what it might be?" He looked at me and said very seriously, "puke".

No dear, I don't have any "puke" for you in the car. Just some crackers with peanut butter. I have no idea where that word came from.

That same day I was holding him and he randomly decided to pet my chest as if I were the dog and said, "mommy has big boobs." What am I supposed to say to that? As I bit my lip to keep from laughing, I said, "Thank you. You don't need to tell me that and please don't pet them." I wonder if Nick is saying these things to him behind my back??

On Saturday morning he woke up early and I was getting ready...He was standing up in his crib saying, "Hunter push Hunter's poopy out!" He must have said it 10 times as he pushed that poopy out!


I promise my child does talk about other things besides poop, puke, and boobs. In fact, he knows a lot of his states already and I'm so proud of him. He has a great state puzzle that is teaching him all of them in a really fun way.

Visit from "Richie"

Nick's high school friend, Rich, came over on Sunday afternoon to visit. He lives in Naples, FL, but is in town visiting some family. Hunter called him "richie" the whole time...they've met a few times before and Hunter was very excited to see him (so excited he wouldn't take a nap) and was crying in bed saying "Daddy's friend come over...". Anyway, we hung out on the deck, grilled burgers for dinner, and made smores. Hunter had a really good time hanging out with him.

The boys hanging out at the fire pit.
Nick had to have this fire pit. We don't use it nearly enough...I don't like that we all have to take baths after hanging out out there b/c of the smokey smell.

Hunter ate a few too many marshmellows.

I had to cut him off to prevent a tummy ache.

Nick's Family Reunion

On Saturday we went to a little family get together for Nick's family. Nick's aunt/uncle and most of his cousins (and their kids) have never met our kids! One of Nick's cousins, Matt, sees the kids quite frequently b/c he is married to one of my really good friends and we hang out
(I introduced them and they got married--I am SO thrilled). Besides Matt and Jacquelyn, we had not seen most of the people there since the passing of Nick's grandfather and I was prego with Hunter when that happened. We all got together at Jacquelyn & Matt's house in West Bloomfield. It was lots of fun and HOT. Hunter fell asleep on the way home which is so funny b/c he never falls asleep in the car anymore, so he must have been tired.

Rick, Lois, Dori, and Dick.

Rick & Lois are Nick's aunt/uncle (Dori is Nick's mom)

Cousins...Whitney, Madeline, Bethany, Nathan, Hunter and Jack

Jacquelyn & Hunter.

All morning Hunter was talking about going to "Jacquelyn & Matt's"

Nick's cousin, Mary, with Baby Jack. I LOVE this picture--they both look so cute :)

Jacquelyn, April and Nick
Mary with Hunter & Jack

Hunter was running and playing for several hours on Saturday afternoon. He didn't get a nap and was melting down around 4:30pm, so we had to leave. He fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car!

Lots of fun with Monica

Monica watches the kids three days per week. They do lots of fun things together. They've gone to Botanical Gardens, Extreme Bounce (jumping place), Hands on Museum, and done some finger painting on the deck. The weather has not been good enough for them to go to the pool, but I'm sure they'll be going there a lot when the weather permits. Thanks Monica for doing so much fun stuff with them! I love coming home and seeing pictures of the fun things they go and do. U of M Botanical Gardens is about three minutes from our house. They have some outdoor things for kids to do.



Hands on Museum in Ann Arbor.

We have a family pass and it's a great place to take the kids when it's raining!
They have lots of water tables and fun exhibits that are educational for kids.

Extreme Bounce in Ann Arbor...always a great place to go to let him burn off some energy.





Finger painting on the deck. I tried this with him a month or so ago, but he wasn't very interested. Monica must have the magic touch to make it more fun than I did--haha. I'll have to try it outside in underwear next time too and see if we have better luck!

What a cutie pie!
I heard about this idea to photograph your kid's artwork, so you don't end up having to save it all. Then you can make a digital scrapbook with all of it so you can see what they've done over the years. I started doing it a few months ago...here one of the finished products from finger painting!