Audrey's First Carnival

On Friday we went to the 50s Festival in Novi. I wasn't sure if there would be many rides for Audrey but she loved them all, the bigger the better. We put her on the bumper boats and she wanted off because there wasn't enough action. Most of the rides made me sick just looking at them but the spinning didn't seem to bother her. Some of the rides went up pretty high and spun quickly, making me a little nervous. Notice in the last picture that Audrey is shooting a gun! Ben taught her how and she proceeded to shoot through the whole ride. She was the only kid shooting. When she shot the gun, her airplane would light up and make a terrible noise. I couldn't believe my little lady enjoyed her machine gun so much!

Whirlwind Trip to Boston

Here's a quick overview of our trip to Boston. You can see all about the wedding in the two posts below. We left MI on Wed. and headed for Albany, the first leg of the trip. Wed. was rough for me since we left Sawyer with my mom and dad. I was feeling pretty sad but it got easier as the days went by. We stayed Wed. night in Albany where Audrey enjoyed sleeping in a bed next to Ben and I and swimming in the hotel pool.

On Thur. we arrived in Salem, where all the wedding festivities took place. Ben, Audrey and Uncle Rob went off to see the Friend Ship and went to the pirate museum. I got to enjoy an afternoon of pampering with the bridesmaids. We got pedicures and went out for an awesome lunch courtesy of Aunt Emily!!! Thursday evening was the rehearsal. We all practiced our jobs and had a really good dinner in Salem. After the rehearsal we headed out for the city of Boston to stay at my brother's new condo. Ben did a crazy parallel parking job with our giant Pacifica on Mass. Ave! We tried to take a picture but it was too dark.

On Friday, the wedding day, Ben got to go out for some fun and golf with all the guys. While Ben was golfing, my brother, Audrey and I walked all over Boston. I was really excited to see where my brother has been living for the past few years. This was my first time there! Ryan took us all over and knows a ton about Boston so he made a great tour guide. After a crazy drive out of the city and back to Salem I got my hair done with the girls and Audrey napped with Aunt Barbie (thanks Aunt Barbie). Then it was wedding time! You can read about that below.

On Saturday morning we drove back in to Boston and went on the Duck Tour with my brother and Justin. It took as all around the city and out into the Charles River. Audrey slept through half of it but woke up in time for the river part. She asked if it was the Grand River, those from MI will find that amusing. After that we ate lunch and Ryan took Audrey to a fountain in the middle of the city where the kids can play. Uncle Ryan was a good sport and actually went in the fountain with Audrey. He was the only adult! We left Boston Sat. at 3:00 and tried to get a hotel in NY but there was a Miss Mormon Contest so all the hotels were booked, damn Mormons! We drove all the way back to MI, arriving at 4:00am. Audrey was a trooper!

It was a fun and exhausting trip and it will feel good to sleep in our own beds tonight!! We would have loved to have had more time in Boston but we couldn't wait to get back to see Sawyer. He was very happy to see us today!

The Big Day

On July 18th, the Big Day finally arrived. To Audrey it seemed to take forever. She was constantly asking when she was going to get to throw petals at the wedding. Just keep in mind, Em and Rod were engaged for about 18 months, approximately half of Audrey's life. She did a lot of waiting for this wedding!

Emily made a beautiful bride. Her dress, hair and everything looked perfect! Audrey thought Aunt Emily was a princess and wouldn't peal herself away from Emily for the whole reception. You can see Uncle Ryan trying to get Audrey to dance but she was too enthralled with Emily.

All 3 of the flower girls did a great job making it down the aisle. Audrey and her partner tried to go around the center area of flowers twice just to steal the show. They were very concerned with making sure they used up all of their flower petals. As you can see, Audrey thoroughly enjoyed her first limo ride. She thought that was awesome!

It was a great party and we all had a fun time and were sad when the festivities came to an end. It was a fun celebration to be a part of!

Rehearsal Dinner Night

These are all pictures taken on the day of Emily's rehearsal. The first picture is the sight the ceremony took place. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was an absolutely beautiful location to get married. To the right was a harbor area with tons of sail boats and the water was gorgeous.

The other pics are the 3 flower girls practicing for the big day. They loved all the cool stuff Aunt Emily gave them, especially the "fashion sunglasses" as Audrey was calling them. You can see some of Audrey's fancy dance moves, always classic!

Slap Happy Baby

Here is a very cute video of Sawyer laughing at his blocks falling down. Not sure why he finds this so funny but he laughed for a 1/2 hour about those blocks. This is one major difference I have found between boys and girls. Audrey would cry if her block tower got knocked down before it was perfectly assembled. Sawyer thinks it's hilarious.

There are also two pics of the kids at Music in the Park in Plymouth. It was a little stressful trying to control all of our kids amongst the hundreds of people but they seem to have fun. Some days I think I need to go back to work so kids will listen to me and follow a direction. Why 20 special ed kids would hang on my every word and my own 3 year old won't is beyond me. It may be time for toddler boot camp. None of those special ed students were as strong willed as Audrey, I'll tell you that much!

Teeth & 8 Months Old

People have been asking to see Sawyer's two bottom teeth. This is the best I could do. It is very hard to take pictures of those guys down there. They are completely in and have been for a couple weeks.

He's crawling pretty well now. His favorite move for the past month or so has been to crawl a couple paces and then sit and spin around, and repeat. He is pulling up on everything. He loves to get on his knees and dive at the furniture. This has resulted in a few crying moments. His distance judging is not good and this usually results in him doing a nose dive into the floor.

He's still eating baby food pretty well, especially orange veggies. His new favorite real food is watermelon. He's still not too fond of bananas but will tolerate them in his rice or oatmeal cereal.

He loves to swing on his playset and falls asleep daily while swinging. He is still a loud, little squawker. He makes lots of noises but his favorite is "blah". He also knows how to give five now and sometimes tries to clap. He laughs all the time, which is too cute!

The Big 30!

On Saturday it finally happened, I turned 30! Ben has been waiting all year for this so I could join him in the 30 club. He loves the next two weeks where we are the same age. Soon enough he will be 31 though!

We had a BBQ on our new patio to celebrate the big day. We had perfect weather this weekend for the 4th, low 80's and sunny everyday. The kids had a fun time playing in the pool and squirting each other with squirt guns. The little girls were once again party animals, staying up until 12:30 and sleeping until 9:30. Too bad Sawyer woke up so early, that made for a rough day on Sunday.

Happy 4th of July

We hope you all had a fun 4th of July. We just stayed home and hung around our neighborhood. As you can see, Sawyer loves his new swing. He instantly reverted back to his old ways and took a nice nap in the hard, plastic swing - looks comfy! The kids have been getting great use out of the swing set. They play on it everyday!

A woman at Ben's work gave him the bike trailer for free. It's a really nice one! Those things are expensive so we were grateful for that. Audrey loves going for rides in it. As soon as we get Sawyer a helmet he can go too. Although, with his giant head he would probably fit in Audrey's.

Our next door neighbor had a party last night. Sawyer slept and Audrey did sparklers for the first time, she called them sprinklers. They did some fireworks and we could see firework displays going off all around us. It was a fun time!