The "Beach"

Last month we went on vacation with my family to a lake in Alabama. Annelise calls it the beach. It was GREAT! John was was able to stay from Saturday through Tuesday, but the kids and I stayed the entire week. John's parents also joined us for the first weekend. We did have a great time. Since it was the middle of September, the lake wasn't crowded and it wasn't too hot outside. The water was still warm enough. It was just perfect! (So, you think I had a good time?) I have a lot of photos from the trip, so if you want to see more, I am including them in the photo album. The link is at the top of the column on the right.

The first day out. Ahhh, refreshing!

Mmm...snack time

John taking Annelise on a very slow twilight cruise

The porch

On the pontoon boat near sunset

Annelise drove us in circles (with Bryan, my sister, Amy's, boyfriend)

He was so comfortable in this life jacket that he fell asleep in it every time we took him on the boat.

My family: Michelle (aka Squeeky), my parents, and my older sister Amy (aka...)

My mother and me

take me back

Ideas Please!

John is turning 30 on October 25th and I want to do something special for him. I had a great plan, but it didn't work out. I have a backup plan, but am not as excited about it. Does anyone have any ideas?

Eating Dinner

I hate meal time. I get tired of making meals and cleaning up after them, but the worst part is trying to think of and then preparing something for Annelise to eat and trying to get her to eat it. Sometimes it is a game of "how many distractions will it take to get her to eat a bite". Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

At the other end of the spectrum is Caleb. He wants to eat everything. If I am spooning food to him too slowly, he lets me know. No matter what I have given Annelise to eat, he wants it. I have been letting him have it too. He loves her PB&J sandwiches.



The other night I was feeding Annelise a pizza that I made. Pizza is usually an easy thing to feed her. She had half of a slice and was finished. It was a little strange that she didn't eat more, but I was just thankful to not have a battle. Caleb decided he was interested in her leftovers. Remember, he is not even 6 months old yet.







If anyone has any ideas of what to feed him or let him chew on, let me know. He likes chicken bones and all foods. HELP!

A Pause for the Olympics

Things have been busy as usual, but with the Olympics on until midnight every night, sleep is hard to come by. I love the Olympics. It is so hard to turn it off early at night and go to bed, especially when gymnastics doesn't even start until 10:30pm. So, I have been neglecting the computer in order to rest a little during the day.

Annelise and Caleb are doing well. They each had a fever, but are feeling fine now. The biggest news is that we got Annelise's ears pierced. She only cried for about 10 seconds, then was fine. I think she likes them too. I still don't have a good picture of them, but you can see that they are there. They are sparkly flowers with blue centers.

There are other things to write about, but I can't think of them at the moment. Here are more pictures.

One in a chihuahua bed, one in a cat bed

Big boy weighs about 16 pounds now

The earrings

Oh, I forgot to mention that we have started potty training...nothing yet.

What a handsome little man.

They look a little surprised. Caleb loves to stand up.