Words at 1 year...

For each of the girls I kept detailed journals and at each of their first birthday's I wrote a list of all their "words at 1 year." Shaelyn has a long list, Monreau not so much :). McLleyton has a good list, but his journal isn't very full or up to date. (the sad part of being 3rd born :)). So, I thought I better take a moment and write his list. Some how sitting down to do it here seems easier and quicker :). 

McLleyton's words @ 1 year...

Mom (yes, he calls me mom...with an occasional momma)

Dada

Shae Shae

Poppa (for my dad)

Grandpa 

Jacob

Ball

Dog & the Woof Woof sound when he sees one

Moo (for cow)

Duck

Turtle

No (usually no no)

Hot

Uh oh

Hi

Buh bye

Nuh night

Trees

Shoes (not very clear, but I know it :))

Balloon 

Book

Learning to dive...

Monreau's swimming is taking off! This weekend at the cottage she was diving ... really doing a great dive and swimming on her own. She is so comfortable in the water and is getting more confident each time! For just turning 3 last month she is pretty amazing! It's so much fun to watch her enjoy something so much! 

Father's day weekend...

We had a fun Father's day weekend! We spent the weekend at the Lake enjoying the beautiful weather and we ended it with a fun picnic at Reed's Lake with Matt's family! The kids had fun making father's day cards and we definitely have some amazing dads to celebrate! Both Matt and I are so blessed to have been raised and loved by two amazing fathers! It's an incredible gift to now watch Matt be a dad and see the ways he loves Shaelyn, Monreau and McLleyton. It's one of the things that I love the most about him! 

A few pictures of the weekend... 

Monreau and Matt after their fun date! 
Poppy... right where he should be :)...

McLleyton is walking every where and getting pretty fast... 
Uncle Darren and his fun airplane game...

McLleyton and his "poppa" as he calls him! 

Happy Father's Day Grandpa!
A fun pizza picnic...
Aunt Emy and her boyfriend Matt...
My favorite picture! This was on their own! They were just sitting next to each other and I snapped this one! They are growing up SO quickly! 
Checking out the ducks with daddy...
Fun captains! Playing a fun game of tag...

All hot and tired and ready for bed... with the most amazing dad :)

Celebrations...

Yesterday was a day to celebrate! My dad turned 60 and it has been 5 years since my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer! Two of my favorite people with two big reasons to celebrate :). We feel blessed and so grateful!! 

For my dad's 60th my siblings and I are doing 60 days of celebrating him! Starting on June 1st and lasting through July each of us six kids have 10 different days to celebrate my dad. Each day has a page that goes with it that in the end will make up a book. It's been fun to try and be creative and to think of little ways to express our love, gratitude and gratefulness for him! He is an amazing dad, poppy and friend! We are SO blessed!!! 

Yesterday, was one of our days and it was fun to celebrate his birthday with him! Matt and his business partner Nate picked him up in the afternoon and they went golfing and then my mom and I met my dad and Matt for dinner. I think in so many ways this was more of a treat for Matt and I than it was for them :). A kid free night out ... and a night with just us and my parents! A rare, special treat! It was a fun dinner of reminiscing about all the things I remembered about my dad and my childhood to talking and dreaming off all that will still come in the future! I am so thankful for such incredible parents. As Matt and I now navigate parenting our own three, I am continuously grateful for the example that they are and the way they love us! 

Happy Birthday Dad! 

Beauty and the Beast..

Last month my mom took the girls, my sister to be Kelly and I to see the Broadway show of Beauty and the Beast at the DeVos place downtown. It was a fun occasion to get dressed up and a new experience for the girls. They were a little hesitant at first and scared as they watch the prince "become a beast", but as the music began they relaxed and were totally enamored with the show! I am a "little" on the strict side when in comes to watching movies, so my girls have never seen any of the Disney movies. From books they knew the general story of Beauty and the Beast, but hadn't seen or heard the whole story. Well, they followed it well ... and for the past month they have been reenacting it! Both of them memorized lines from the show and they play "Beauty and the Beast" just about every day! The best part, 99% of the time Monreau will be Belle and Shae takes turns playing the role of Beast and Gaston :). I love listening to them re-create the story and to hear the little details they took away from the musical. My favorite is listening to the lines that Monreau picked up, which include "beast, you must learn on to love."  "act like a gentleman" "Gaston only can talk about himself"  "belle is it yes, or OH, YES" (Gaston asking Belle to marry him).  We have some Belle dresses that they wear and Shae has created a beast costume that is quite scary :). Nothing like watching and listening to their imaginations at work! 

A few pictures form the show (although not good ones :)). 

Nike Hat...

McLleyton has a new love in life ... his Nike hat! He was out with Matt a couple of weeks ago and they stopped at the Golf store. Matt picked up this hat for him and McLleyton loves to wear it! He really keeps it on. I can run errands and he'll wear it the whole time. :) It cracks me up! It's a "youth" size, so it's definitely big, but pretty darn cute! 

3 & 1 Year Old Check ups...

I took Monreau and McLleyton in for their yearly check up last week. The are both growing, healthy and happy! We are so blessed! 

Here are their growing "stats" ...

Monreau @ 3 years:     

        30 lbs 

3 ft 3 inches tall (39inches)

Compare that to Shaelyn @ 3 years:

36 lbs

3 ft 7 inches tall (43inches)

Monreau is definitely my tiny one. But, I was surprised when the doctor said she was 95% for her height and 50% for weight. She seems on the short side to me, but I think it's only because I'm comparing her to Shaelyn. 

McLleyton @ 1 year:

24.5 lbs

32 inches tall 

He was off the chart for height and 75% for weight. 

Compared to: Shaelyn @ 1 year

19.10 lbs

31 inches 

Monreau @ 1 year

21.8lbs

30 inches

Here's a few random pictures from this past weekend! McLleyton continues to walk and improve at it each day! He had so much fun walking all around the garage from toy to toy... my only problem is that now he wants to spend all day playing out there! He seems so grown up lately! 

My "hopefully not too girly", girls :)...

Cottage...home...cottage...home

For months my girls have been asking "mommy, when do we get to go cottage, home, cottage, home, cottage, home?" Aka....SUMMER!!! We are SO blessed that my parents are both generous and gracious enough to let us spend a lot of our summer at their cottage in Holland. It's 45 minutes from home and really it's a kids paradise (and a mommy paradise too). It has a pool, swing set, bikes and COUSINS! There isn't much better in life! We love being there! We got amazing weather for our last 10 days of May (80+ and sunny) and I decided to take the kids out for two days ... a week later we came home :). I just couldn't come up with any good enough reasons to leave! It's an amazing gift! 

Here's a few pictures of our kickoff to cottage season! 

Poppy with his vintage, but fully restored Coca-Cola machine! Pretty fun! 

The girls enjoying lunch by the pool  (drinking soda from the coke machine ... thanks Poppy :))
Love these cousin moments!
Headed for the first boat ride of the year! 
McLleyton enjoyed his...

McLleyton learned how to say "Poppa" and he loved being with my dad! 
This picture sums up their relationship :). I love it! Shaelyn loves her cousin Lauren!
This one sums up these two too :). makes me laugh! 
Monreau learned how to swim in the seal and I think by the end of the summer she'll be swimming on her own. She is a fish!
McLleyton is my most hesitant water lover, but he's getting there! Playing with Uncle John

Monreau discovered the jumping rock...

Uncle John can definitely throw you the highest

My mom and I watching the swimmers... who were in at 9am :)
Off for a run... thanks to the family weight lost competition! Looking good! 3 more weeks until the "final weigh in!"
Nothing loves my dad like doing a project! 
What a difference a year makes...