Lake Michigan

We had a great time at a little VRBO cabin near St Joseph, MI. My sister and her family joined us for 2 days and it was quite a let-down for the kids when they left. The weather was great (NOT the 100 degrees with 90% humidity we've grown accustomed to.) Perfect for the beach. The pictures are in reverse order, but we also hit a children's museum in St Joseph and a tour of our alma mater on the way home.

If you ask Ethan, "Are you going to Purdue?" He emphatically nods yes. Of course he also nods yes to all other questions but we're taking it as a commitment anyway


At our old table at the "sweet shop." Purdue hang-out where we fell in love and "pretended" to study while holding hands under the table. No wonder our grades stunk!

The table in the background has "CHRIS AND JEN FOREVER - '94" written among all the other graffiti. The old sweet shop saved this table to display prior to the remodel.

More kissing...


Thoroughly enjoying his mango sorbet



Meagan inside a body-length bubble


Finished product - both abstract and interpretive at the same time, don't you think?

Working on NiNi's face paint...a team effort



Ethan and Aunt Laura, who we now affectionately refer to as "back-up mom" The only other person Ethan calls "Ma!" besides Chris and I

Update (sigh...) where to begin

Hard to believe there are only 4 more weeks left in the summer. We are enjoying the outdoors a whole lot more now that we have a fenced in backyard. Just means we are asking, "Where's Ethan?" a little less frequently. Meagan just got back from 4 days of church camp near Cincinnati. She had a blast with friends and has been caught reading her Bible independently on more than one occasion since her return! NiNi is amazing in her gymnastics class. Her teacher is hard-core...my little princess is usually sweating profusely by the time I pick her up. Fine by me. At least we're getting our money's worth. Ethan continues to charm his teachers at daycare. His speech is coming along SLOWLY (but surely). His new favorite word: "NO" which he says with perfect whining intonation which is so characteristic of another of my children. He also says "mama", "more", "hi", "bye-bye" (which comes out nigh-nigh) and "owe" when he hurts himself. Speaking of hurting himself, we almost made a trip to the ER when he fell out of his high chair a couple of weeks ago. He fell so hard I heard the sickening smack of his head against the floor from across the room. He was really irritable for about 10 minutes then promptly threw up. My friendly google medical adviser told me these are symptoms of a concussion so I called the pediatrician on call. We ended up just watching him for the night and he thankfully he was just fine. Apparently kids can get mild concussions with no ill effects. Chris keeps saying that Ethan's not going to have any brain cells left by the time he hits college! My amazing hubby is determined to get his body back into shape. He's lost almost 10 pounds and is exercising again for the first time in over 5 years. Now that we are both pushing 40, the realization that "it's not getting any easier" has set in. Ever since we discovered Ethan's dairy allergy, I have been toying with the idea of becoming vegan. I hate that word because it has so many connotations...tree-hugger, hippie, you name it. Besides, I would make a very poor animal-rights activist, seeing how I dislike animals. No, I am looking purely at the health benefits of eating plant-based sources of protein (of which there are an over abundance). Anyway, I guess I'm what you'd call a "wanna-be" vegan since I still happily eat fish and eggs. I let the kids eat what they want, but the funny thing is, they generally like what I cook (and Meagan now says she's a vegetarian!) Chris is tolerant. He eats what he wants for breakfast and lunch and figures that one meatless, dairy-free meal per day is not going to kill him. He wont admit it, but he had seconds of the Lentil Shepherd's Pie I made for dinner the other night. I do admit, even as a person who likes healthy food, it has taken several weeks and more than one "throw-away" recipe (think tofu strawberry pie sounds gross? It is.) to find a menu of dinners (and breakfasts, snacks, etc) that fit my criteria but are tasty enough to eat over and over again. We'll see how it goes, but I have already noticed some health benefits: My heartburn woes??? Totally disappeared. End of summer plans: Vacation at Lake Michigan. Stay turned for pics!

Real...

A total stranger asked me the other day if NiNi and Ethan were REALLY brother and sister. "You know, REAL brother and sister?" Hmmm... what a silly question:)

4th of July

I'm slipping. Ethan's first Independence Day and I didn't even bring my camera. Got these off my brother-in-laws phone!

Meagan

Thought I would post these stunning picture of my eldest. So beautiful. She's decided to get her hair cut by several inches...and her top braces come off in about a month. I'm secretly afraid this will make her look even older than she already does.

The hat

Super cute, right? Too bad he only keeps it on long enough for pictures!