Busy Summer

I blogged earlier about the boys but thought it might be nice to blog about our goings on. This summer has been a whirlwind. I can't believe it is almost August. I turn 33 in just a few days. Uuggh. The weekend after we returned from Ohio, one of my besties came with her family for a visit from Arkansas. As always we had a nice time. We had a weekend filled with a girls fancy night out, a cookout, and an outing to a new African restaurant. We also tried to go to the zoo, (not so successful) and we walked around Olbrich Gardens. The following weekend we had a nice 3 day weekend in Minnesota. Some friends invited us up to their family's cabin at Sugar Lake. We all had an awesome time including Bailey. She just sat around on Monday and only moved for bathroom breaks and eating. I am sure if she could have told us, she would have said that 3 days of swimming constantly was totally worth it. Nate had fun with his bestie Leah and we had fun with all our friends just sitting around and relaxing. One of the things we really enjoyed other than the obvious fellowshipping was the sauna. Scott and I took turns enjoying the sauna then cooling off in the lake. What a treat. This past weekend Larry and Louise (Scott's parents) came up for a visit. We had an enjoyable time. They chose last weekend to come up because there is an annual Amish Auction close to Brodhead Wisconsin where quilts can be purchased for an amazingly cheap price. It is actually a tragedy at times. This weekend we are looking forward to Louise coming back on Saturday for the day and bringing her sisters Betty and Norma. They do an annual sisters week at the Reeser's and go the extra mile to drive up here to spend some time with us in Madison. We always enjoy seeing them. I have to say, I really like being busy and being with people, but I think I am looking forward to a weekend where we have no commitments and can just enjoy the pool. Our neighbors gave us visitor passes to the pool just down the street to use this month. This is the pool that we are too cheap to go to. The city pool is 1/3 of the price. I have to say though, after one visit, we really enjoyed going there and Nate swam around in the big pool by himself with the help of some noodles. The city pool won't let you use anything like that. So that pretty much sums up our summer thus far. We also fit a camping weekend in June into our summer. I am not sure we will fit camping in again until our annual church campout in September. I hope the mosquitoes are less ferocious by then.

Mitchell T.V.

Here is a good video of Mitchell's sitting abilities. The pillows are
mainly there in case Mitchell falls.

5 months and counting

Yesterday Mitchell was officially 5 months old. Since my last entry, Mitchell is rolling over all the time. He can sit up with very little help. He will sit for awhile but falls over when he leans for something, he is saying da da and ga ga and many other things. When he is frustrated he talks about it in a frustrated way instead of crying. We have attempted to feed him cereal on a few occasions. He seems so interested in eating our food, so we thought we would give it a try. He is really interested in the cereal for about 4 or 5 bites, then he is done. He continues to be a momma's baby in the evenings so if we are ever going to hope to go on a date, it will have to be during the day for the time being. He is also starting to show more favoritism towards his father, if his mother isn't available that is, but dad is better than anyone else.

Mitchell loves going for walks, but the mosquitoes tend to get the best of him. He is not able to wear repellent yet so he gets to ride in the stroller with a mosquito net. It doesn't seem to be good enough. Every day there is a new bite or two on Mitchell's head. Aarrghh. Nate is doing great. He starts preschool in a month. He is very excited about it. He had fun with grandma and grandpa last weekend. He took them to the zoo. Nate spent yesterday with his friend Leah. We went swimming and to a new splash park. They both seemed to really enjoy the time in the water.

We are all sad today because some of our good friends, Matt, Marnie, Leah and Natalie are moving to Minneapolis. We hope to still see them from time to time, but it won't be the same. 5 hours is a lot farther than 10 minutes. Leah is Nate's besty. Leah is the one Nate is hugging in the photo.

My ode to Grandma Ruby

I wanted to share my Ode To My Grandma with all of you. I continue to feel an ache for her, but I know she is in a better place now. This isn't much and does not nearly touch on who she was in her entirety, but these are things I remember just taking a couple minutes thinking about her.

Traditions of Buckeye making every Christmas
Kisses I will always miss
The homemade noodles I would sneak while they were drying
The pie- what more do I need to say?
Love she had for everyone (particularly babies)
Hours of Rummicube and Skipbo with us kids and Scrabble with Grandpa
Hugs that she was always willing to give
Quilts
Self Sacrifice
Teacher of all she knew
Thoughtfulness towards all
Endless gardening and canning
Inability to say no to anyone
Camping with us grandchildren
Always willing to help everyone
Countless homemade dresses that she made for me
Hugs, Kisses, and love for everyone

This is a photo of Grandma, Scott and Mitchell taken this past May. I was so glad that grandma was able to meet Mitchell. She loved babies so. Mitchell really took a liking to her too. I wish I had a video of them interacting. Mitchell already saw in her what we all saw. Love, kindness, generosity.......

Aaahhh sleep

I thought I would share a few more photos of my boys sleeping. Nate's is a photo of him on the steps. While we were finishing our packing for Ohio, Nate was waiting on the steps, anxious to leave. We found him like this.... The other photo is what I found after I came home from a evening church meeting.

The Mitchell and Nate update

The past week and a half were packed with many things including, my grandmother's funeral, raspberry and cherry picking, a birthday party for my 6 year old neice, work from a different state, time with family, evenings on the porch, new kittens, campfires etc. Nate had a blast spending the past week and a half with his cousins. Scott and I are not sure exactly what all Nate did because he spent most of the time running around with his cousins. They spent a few nights in a pop up camper in the back yard. During this time, Mitchell learned how to roll over, reach for toys he wants, look toward you when you say his name, sleep on his own and move without crawling (that strange phenomenon where a baby can move from one place to another somewhat like and inchworm) Attached are a few photos to represent the week.