Great little trip

We went up to Traverse City Michigan for a quick one night trip and it was great. It was the first time that we stayed the night somewhere as our own little family. It was a last minute decision and we were lucky to find a great hotel. The kids loved staying in the hotel and did great. The hotel had a really fun pool. Highlights of the trip: pizza, ice cream (twice), swimming, climbing the dunes, walking and playing on the beach, beautiful scenery, lunch in cute town Glen Arbor and eating samples of cherry everything (soda, candy, ice cream, trail mix, salsa and more). The best part was just being away from home with Glen and our sweet kids. I love them!!!

Matthew really wanted Taylor to sleep with him in his bed. He kept asking who is going to sleep with me. Our room had two double beds and since he sleeps in a little toddler bed I think he thought someone must sleep on the other half of his bed.

We really lucked out with the weather on memorial day. It was supposed to rain but it didn't rain until we were driving home. It was hot that morning when we climbed the dune climb but cooled off when we are the beach. It was perfect though; it was a little foggy so you can't see from our pictures how pretty it was.

Matthew practiced his picture taking skills on our way to the beach, this was his best shot. Most of them were of the trees outside and were a little blurry.

It was fun to climb up the sand dunes and just play around at the top where it was flat. Matthew just ran so fast up the thing and everywhere. He thought it was the greatest.

Running down the hill...it was a lot steeper than it looks

It was so fun to have my Mom here for a whole week!!! It was so great to have someone to talk to all day long and the kids loved it. Thanks so much for coming Mom! Here is a little of what we did.

Botanical Gardens Maumee Bay (we played in the man made part but it is right by Lake Erie) Taylor still thinks it is so funny to say Daddy Bay and Susy Bay and Matthew Bay. She usually says this daily and laughs at herself everytime.

One of the beautiful metro parks in Toledo
ZOO

Hanging out.....Matthew wanted their beds like this and he is excited for when Taylor is old enough to sleep with him on the floor.

Shopping....Matthew loved Eddie Bauer and wanted to say in there and watch the nature movie they had playing.

It was so nice to have my Mom here. She even made me wheat bread and sewed me knew pillows. She is the greatest!

COME AGAIN!!!!!!

I really love Old Navy sometimes and today was one of those days. We didn't get a lot but the things we did get were pretty cheap. Here is the rundown:

Glen jeans-7.99
Matthew shoes- 4.74
Pajamas for both kids-2.50 (I did buy two more pair for 4.00, still good)
I splurged on a shirt for myself by paying 5.99 (sometime you can get shirts for a couple of dollars)
Also they gave me another 5 dollar off coupon (5 dollars off any amount)!! One of those was mailed to me and I spent it on a swimsuit for Taylor (4 dollars) and they gave me another one and then they gave me one today!! That makes 15 dollars of free money to Old Navy. Thanks Old Navy for making my day. Glen laughs about how excited I get. I really don't love shopping but I do when things are really cheap and you just can't pass up the good deal.

Busy Friday

Tomorrow is a busy and exciting day for us. It doesn't start out too exciting though; I am getting an EGD or Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (I had to google this word to spell it) It is pretty much a camera going down my esophagus into my stomach. I am so excited! Glen also has his big exam for his family medicine rotation tomorrow. That means after tomorrow he will only have 6 weeks left of his third year......one year left of medical school. Then the most exciting thing happening is my Mom is flying in tomorrow night and staying for a week. Despite a horrible headache, today has been a great day. We went to the toy store and Matthew rode a bike around for quite awhile. Matthew and Taylor have been playing so good for the last hour and a half together while I made dinner and have been playing on the computer. This does not always happen but I am so happy when they play so well together. Below is a picture of one of their favorite activities, taking off all the cushions and jumping on them. They are so cute. Taylor brushing Dora's teeth. I sure wish Taylor liked brushing her own teeth. And below is another one of Taylor's favorite activities, the trampoline. This has been one of our best purchases.
Look at those cute legs

I can't stand when Taylor does this which is all of the time. She has got into chap stick and toothpaste and all sorts of things out of this drawer. I moved our little table away from the counter so she couldn't climb up and get on the counters and the she figured this out. Silly girl

To all you mini van drivers....you never knew how cool you really are

I need to get me a swagger wagon!!!

Confession

So I would say I am a pretty clean and organized person; I definitely like things to be clean and like being organized. Our house is usually pretty clean although with kids and a small apartment it doesn't take long for a room to look like a bomb went off. Well, being that I am not a perfect mom, having two kids, and sometimes not feeling well, I have a quick fix for cleaning up which I am embarrassed to share. Maybe this is a form of therapy, expose my faults for the world to see. Here it is: I throw stuff in grocery bags and hide them in a closet. There I said it, over the years I have accumulated quite a few bags and boxes or bowls or whatever. I thought about just throwing it all away, I mean how important could the stuff be if some of it has been in hiding for a LONG time. But I am curious so I will let you know what fun things I find. Thanks for letter me share and please don't judge:) haha We really need a desk; I think that would help.

We had a fun visit on Saturday with Glen's parents and his sister Kirstin. We went to the Toledo Botanical Gardens and they are so beautiful. The kids ran and ran and Taylor had to smell every single tulip. She would cup the tulip in her hands and just stuff her face right into it. The kids had fun feeding bread to the geese, ducks, and swans.

Okay I know Matthew clothes were not matching but my excuse is he picks out his own clothes and sometimes I don't fight that. Taylor's on the other hand was my own doing. At first I thought this works right? It is cool to mix colors and patterns in different ways....it is hip right?? After awhile I realized maybe it wasn't as cool and hip as I thought and Glen confirmed that later at home when I asked him about it. Oh well.......they are cute kids regardless.

Such sweet, fun, and good kids

It is a sad day today because I will not be driving Matthew to preschool this morning. This was their last day of preschool and they learned about Cowboys. Everytime Matthew needs a drink now he says "I need to wet my whistle." It has been so fun to hear from him all the things they learned about each Monday. Matthew looked forward to it and the kids and moms all got along so well. It was such a great experience and the girls did such fun and creative lessons. I decided to have a little graduation/party for the kids last Tuesday to finish it off. I made them graduation caps and gave them certificates. I called each one of them one at a time and had them come shake my hand and give them their certificate while all the kids clapped. We played games and had cupcakes too. The three boys are moving this summer and the sweet girl is gone for the summer and will be back in the fall. It is a sad time to see a lot of our good friends leaving. There are a ton of pictures mainly so the moms can pick their favorites.

Matthew

Caden

Sam

Andrew

Elisabeth

These kids really play well together. They pretended to be on an airplane for at least 20 minutes or more..........so fun!!