vacation...um, er, staycation.

Well we had planned to head up north with Grandma (Matt's mom) this year. Her friend had graciously offered her cottage to us for a whole week. Unfortunately the below dinosaur wreaked havoc on our trip.

Grandma was watching the kids for us and she and Lincoln decided to jump over the dinosaur. This fun game did not end well for Grandma as she broke her ankle in 3 places and had to have surgery the next day. She is still in a cast and is recovering, so we weren't able to make the trip this summer for obvious reasons.

Instead, we had a staycation and tried to do some fun things around here while we had the time off of work. We saw cousin Riley play ball for the first time. Go Riley!

And the kids ran the bases after the game.

We visited the Detroit Zoo on a gorgeous, sunny day.

We swam in Uncle John & Aunt Suzette's pool. In fact, this was Cassidy's first time swimming and she had a lovely time in her little floatie.

She even tried drinking some of daddy's beer. She's a grabby little thing!

We were also able to spend time with some friends, go to a movie (Harry Potter), and of course do non-vacation-like stuff such as researching and buying new car seats, getting Matt's car fixed, running errands, doing laundry/yardwork/house cleaning, and trying to help Grandma out as she recovers. It was a busy week. Maybe next year, we'll get to relax for 5 minutes. Here's hoping...

brother and sister.

Time for some pics of our growing kids.

Cassie is sitting up really well now. Check her out below playing in her crib with her aquariam. Next milestone: crawling. Watch out, I think this girl is going to be into everything. We shall see.

I love stroller rides!

Hi everyone...I'm 7 months old today (7/15/09).

And I can eat baby food now. My brother loves to shove food in my mouth! Mmmm...peas today.

Linc makes Cassie smile like no one else can. She just gets stars in her eyes when big brother is around. I shall treasure these pictures always and will look back at them when they are beating up on each other as teenagers!

My momma thinks I look precious in this pic.

And then she took a pic of me while I was sneezing!

And here I am with my cute sunflower dress on. Linc always tells me I look pretty when I have a dress on - what a nice brother.

Crohn's Walk

The kids participated in the Crohn's Walk along with our usual walking crew this year. Well, ok, the kids strolled and the rest of us walked, but I hope to keep up the tradition and do this walk as a family each year. This year, the walk was at a new venue: the Detroit Riverwalk. The scenery was great, though, in my opinion, the Riverwalk is not large enough for the number of walkers. Regardless, we were supported by many family members and friends and are grateful for their donations each year.

A couple of pics from the walk...

Linc and Papou bonding before the walk.

Linc, Grandma, and Yia Yia sitting by the fountain before the walk began.

summertime.

It's already August...where is the summer going? With no major events in the last month, I've been lax about my blog posts and thought it was time for an update.

Here are pix of the kids enjoying the swingset. If I only had a pic of Matt as he "enjoys" mowing around this monstrosity.

dads.

A cute poem for the father's out there...

"Walk a Little slower, Daddy." said a little child so small.
I'm following in your footsteps and I don't want to fall.
Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they're hard to see
So walk a little slower Daddy, for you are leading me.
Someday when I'm all grown up, you're what I want to be.
Then I will have a little child who'll want to follow me.
And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true
So, walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you.

This year, Linc got his daddy a Pittsburgh Penguins hat for Father's Day since they just won the cup (no pic of the hat yet since it's hot off the presses).

I know, how in the world did I, who grew up in a Detroit hockey house marry a Penguins fan? It's all good, though. The man is still a Detroit sports fan at heart. He's got Lions season tickets for crying out loud.

Here are daddy and daughter sharing some smiles. I keep trying to get a pic of Cassie touching Matt's "rough" (as Linc used to call it), but every time I get the camera out, she takes her hand away from his face. She's exploring her sense of touch quite a bit lately and has enjoyed feeling her dad's scruffy face. It's very cute.

from one generation to the next

Matt's long time friend, Devin, was in town from Louisville for Father's Day weekend. This time, he brought his wife and 18-month old son, Donavon. Here is a pic of two old friends (Matt & Devin) and two new friends (Lincoln & Donavon). If only they lived a little closer...

my baby is growin' up

Lincoln's 3rd birthday has come and gone. I know that 3 years isn't very long in the grand scheme of things, but for a toddler -- gosh, I guess he's a pre-schooler now--it's a lifetime. I'm absolutely amazed at how this little guy has changed in the last 3 years.

Brand new Lincoln...

Big Boy Lincoln...Here he is with his cousins on his bday. Dad was just a second late as Linc leaned over into the cake so he could reach to blow his candle out. What's a birthday without some yummy yellow frosting on the shirt?