Swing Set

Some friends blessed us with a great swing set. The kids have loved having it right here. Sara loves, loves, loves to swing. Jonas doesn't really like swinging, but loves the slide. We are so excited for the many fun times to come.

More NYC Pics

Elmo in Times Square, Toys R Us Ferris Wheel, and M & M World

NJ/NYC

In August, we went with the Smiths, my mom and Haylie to NJ. We stayed with Dirsa's family - they are great! We had a wonderful time enjoying their home and pool. We took the kids to the amusement park one day. Sara and Anna Grace loved it!! Sarah and Haylie were great with the girls - they rode the rides with the 2 little ones. Looks like we have some fearless ones on our hands :) We went into NYC for a day too. It was fun to see Times Square. We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, went to M&M World, rode the ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It was a great trip. On the way back, we stopped in Pennsylvania to pick Jon's brother Mike up from the hospital. He had been in a bus accident on his way to white water rafting. He had some pretty bad injuries, but is recovering well. We were glad we could help out by bringing him back to MI.

4 Years Old

Sara turned four on August 18. It was a very exciting day for her! She had been talking about turning four for days (well, really months) and it had finally arrived. She was blessed with lots of love and nice gifts. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends. We did a small family gathering at our house. She had a Hello Kitty cake (not pictured because someone dropped the camera on the street in NYC and it works sporadically now). It was very fun and she feels loved :) She is already talking about when she will turn 5. She is still very into the princesses. She really wanted princess dolls for her birthday, the ones that are the size of barbie. She has been asking me about them since January. Whenever we go to a store, she will point them out and ask me "to keep them in mind for her birthday." She has had a lot of fun playing with the princess dolls and dressing up. I can hardly believe she is already four. She has grown up so much in a lot of ways. I am thankful that she still loves "snuggle time", reading, cuddling, and just hanging out. I'm so thankful for our Sara.

Missing Shoe

So, all week I've been looking for one of Jonas' sandals. I had gotten them out to put on him and one just disappeared. I looked everywhere. Tonight, I was emptying the recycling into the recycle bin, and what should I find? That's right one small brown sandal. I just had to laugh. Never thought of looking there. I'm glad I decided to take the not lazy route and empty the bag instead of putting the whole thing in. There is a toddler in the house - be ware :)

The things they say...

This morning as soon as Jonas woke up, he started saying, "ssssss" and pointing at Sara's door. This is the first time he has tried to say her name. Pretty cute. At quiet time, Sara put a new CD in to listen to. I asked her to turn it down a bit, and she did. She came out and said, "I turned it down just a tad pole." Too cute :)

Jonas Walks

It happened today! Jonas walked four different times. He took four or five steps each time. The first time I don't think Jonas even knew what he did. Sara and I started clapping and cheering for him. He tried to duplicate it and ended up doing a bear crawl. Then, he figured it out later at the Smith's house where he walked two times. The only down side is that Jon is out of town and coming home tomorrow. He did see Jonas' first attempts at one step adventures.