Slip N Slide..

Summer's over... but as I went through some of my pictures I just couldn't pass by these without sharing them! Just some good old fashion summer fun! Nothing like a slip-n-slide with your best friends! 

15 Months...

McLleyton is 15 months already!

Here's what he's up to...

Talking ALL day long! He has so many words I can't keep track of them all! He really can communicate most of his thoughts now. He'll tell me when he's hungry, when he wants a nap, to read books, to play ball! He's definitely not saying any sentences yet, but he is starting to put two words together to ask a question. He'll often ask, "Where RoRo?" or "what's that?"

He's all about silverware! He does great with a spoon and is making quick progress with a fork. He really doesn't want to eat a meal with out them now. It's a good thing to learn, but definitely a messy one! He is all about eating yogurt on his own and really will not allow me to feed him anymore. 

Animals! Animals! Animals! McLleyton can't get enough! It's interesting to me how typical that is for this age! He loves reading animal books and talking about them! He has a slight obsession and LOVE for turtles! It seems like a strange choice to me, but he is hooked on them for the moment! He knows each book that has a picture of a turtle in it and he'll randomly mention turtles all day long :). He is also very interested in horses, which he calls "horsies" and dogs. He knows a lot of animal sounds and can now identify a lot of animals in his books! It's a fun phase! 

After animals the next best thing in McLleyton's life is "RoRo." He is in love with his sister... his sister Monreau :). Shaelyn is so sweet and helpful with him, but she doesn't have his heart the way that Monreau does. For some reason he has a great love for Monreau- who he calls "RoRo." He will immediately ask when he wakes up where she is and will often just want to hug her. It's so sweet to see :). The two of them will have a lot of quality time this year as Shaelyn is at school, I'm glad Monreau is still home! 

Climbing! Yes, he is still climbing! 

Running! No more need to walk, he is definitely a boy on the run now! Always :). 

Napping... he is flexible! He is still bouncing back and forth from 2 naps to 1, but he can do whatever I need him to depending on our days schedule! He will usually sleep for a good 2-3 hours a day! He goes down to bed around 7 and gets up between 7-9am! 

Cars... I love the little noises he makes while he plays cars or trucks on the floor. It makes me smile to have boy toys around :). 

Football... McLleyton is learning his sports. He will now say "Football" when he sees it on TV and he has a Peyton Manning Jersey so he learned the word "jersey." When he saw the game on yesterday he looked at the players and said "Jersey" and then looked down and asked for his! It was cute to see him make the connection. He has also been shooting the ball into his little basketball hoop- which I love :).

I am already wondering what we're going to do with all of McLleyton's energy when we don't have the ability to play outside everyday! I see many days of bundling up in snow pants in our future :). He is keeping me busy!

Rough Start...

Well, we have not had the start to fall that we had planned! A few days into school Shaelyn was home with a bad cold. A cold that started with a runny nose, moved into her chest and eventually sent us to the doctor with an ear infection. The poor girl was miserable for over a week and very sad about missing so many days of Kindergarten. She never missed a day of preschool for being sick and now she's already missed 3 this year! 

To make it worse she passed the cold onto Monreau and Matt. While they were sick I came down with a horrible stomach virus. It was the sickest I've ever been since having kids. I couldn't eat a thing for 4 days and really could barely keep in fluids. To struggle being sick and having two sick kids, a teething, busy 1 year old and a sick husband, made for one very long, hard week!! Matt couldn't get over his bug and just got on meds from pneumonia... so hopefully we are finally on the mend! 

A week like this makes you SO thankful for health! I have never been so incapable of caring for my kids as I was this week and it made me so thankful for the ability to! I was also very thankful this week for help! My mother-in-law was so sweet and helped with the kids for two days! I am very thankful we have such great families! 

Hopefully, this was the first and last major illness of the year :). 

1st day of Kindergarten...

Today, Shaelyn started Kindergarten! Amazing :). I remember rocking her just days after she was born and looking into her sweet face and telling myself that before I knew it she'd have a backpack on and would be waving goodbye as she ran into school. Today, it seemed pretty amazing to watch that image come true! There is no doubt that in this season of life the days can go by slowly, but the years pass so quickly! 

Last week Shaelyn got to go meet her teacher. They have each student come and spend 20 minutes 1 on 1 and see the classroom. It was great! Her teacher is Mrs. Grimm- ironically, my kindergarten teacher was also named Mrs Grimm :).

Saying goodbye to Monreau and McLleyton...

Grandpa and Grandma too :)

Looking so excited (and grown up!)...

Sophia and Shae are in the same class! They're excited :)

Dear Shaelyn,

Today you started Kindergarten! You have been looking forward to this day for weeks and this morning you were filled with excitement, knowing that today was the day! You packed your backpack, picked out a snack, made your water bottle and talked about all the fun things you anticipate school will hold. You're joy is contagious and I'm so excited for you! There is a little piece of me that questions how quickly the past 5 years went by and wonders how you've already hit this milestone, but, I know you are ready! You are kind, caring, beautiful-inside and out- thoughtful, sweet and smart! Shaelyn, I pray you'll always be confident in who you- who God made you to be. That you'll always work on the two most important things- loving Jesus and loving the people He has place around you.  I'm so proud of you and proud to be your mommy! I love you!

                       Mommy

Goodbye Summer...

I can't believe summer is over! Shaelyn starts Kindergarten tomorrow and as I expected the carefree days of no schedule passed by way too quickly! But, we definitely made the most of them and had an awesome summer! All three of the kids we're at such fun ages this summer. Each one learning new things and able to do so much more than last summer.

As evident by the green hair, the highlight of the summer was the pool. We rarely went more than 2 or 3 days without being at a pool. (I know I have a rough job!) Monreau is now swimming completely on her own and diving well. Shaelyn has perfected her dive and is starting to work on a few strokes. McLleyton went from very hesitant in the water to really enjoying it!

A few other highlights of this summer were...

Camping Trip with Grandpa & Grandma

McLleyton learning to walk (and now run!)

Monreau learning to ride a tag-a-long bike

Uncle John & Aunt Kelly's Wedding

4th of July Fireworks

The Pontoon Boat

Swimming in Lake MI

The Zoo trip with Aunt Emily

Captain Sundae's Ice Cream

Loftin's & Jonker's week @ the Cottage

The amazing sunny & HOT weather

My dates with the girls

Fun days with friends & cousins

And so much more :)

Here's a few pictures from our last weekend of summer!

Labor Day weekend started off cold and windy! It definitely felt like summer had ended... but then it warmed back up :)

My two favorite boys...

Matt's good friend from HS and Brian Gannon (Truly & Aiden) were in Holland for the weekend, it was fun catching up for an afternoon!

John & Darren battled the HUGE Lake MI waves ...

Aunt Kelly (quickly becoming the Aunt of the year :)) surprised the girls with real beauty queen crowns (that she had won in pageants!) ...

Monreau modeling hers...

One last fun swim...

Thanks Nanny for always keeping the pool so warm & clean for us!

Being silly with daddy! Monreau has NO fear!
Monreau and her circus tricks...

The perfected dive...


Time to jump into fall...
Goodbye summer!

Growing up...

We had a big event at our house yesterday, Shaelyn lost her 1st tooth! After just a few days of being very wiggly it fell out while she was eating a donut! She was very excited! Now each time she smiles the fact that she is growing up is confirmed! She mentioned that she probably looks more like a 6 year old now instead of a 5 year old! I guess she's officially ready to be a kindergartner! 

I don't think I've ever written about Shaelyn's teeth, but she has a lot of issues with them. The poor girl has already spent hours and hours sitting in a Dentists chair. She has a hereditary condition where her baby teeth are rapidly decaying. She has already had many fillings and 3 of her teeth have been completely capped (hence the silver teeth you may notice in some pics :)). She has been amazing about it and has handled all her appointments way better than I ever imagined she would. It makes me sad to have her go through all of that, but it always puts things in perspective for me and makes me grateful for our overall health! 

On a lighter note, yesterday after she lost her tooth we had several conversations about the tooth fairy. I never know what way to go on these topics. Part of it just seems so wrong to me, purposefully lying about something to her, but the childhood joy part of it is fun. So, basically when she would ask me a question I'd just turn it around and have her answer it. She in the ended decided that the tooth fairy "might" be real. She wrote a note to her asking her to please leave her tooth, since it was the first one she lost. She was pretty excited to fine $ and her tooth in the morning! She also wondered if someday when she loose her silver tooth if it will be worth more money- "since they are so beautiful." :)

Before...

After...