These Days...

These days Evan...
- rolls, scoots, and is learning to climb, we had to put his crib on the lowest level already!
- likes playing with balls, the inflatable bat, anything he can chew on, anything Ryan is playing with
- does NOT like being left alone, having his diaper changed, being put in his crib if he isn't good and ready
- loves cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, avocado, peach, toast, crackers
- does NOT like egg, green beans, apple sauce


These days Ryan...
- is beginning to use his imagination for example, he makes his toys talk to each other and he is the "dada" to a stuffed animal elephant
- can recognize many letters, his favorites are U, T, and D
- is trying to figure out how he feels about Evan's increased mobility. He is NOT fond of Evan coming after his toys when he's playing.
- frequently can be heard asking, "what's that?" and "so, what are you thinkin' about, mama?"

Bear County

We are working on our St. Joseph Bear pride!! Yesterday, we kicked off the weekend by going into work with Burke. Ryan played the drums and piano, and generally ran around. Evan napped, ate, and climbed the steps.

In the next couple years, Burke will have a brand new orchestra room. They are also renovating current rehearsal spaces and the auditorium. Construction hasn't begun yet, but Burke has already attended one committee meeting with the architect. It will be exciting for him to have a modern, updated, new facility.

In the evening, we went to a district sponsored tailgate party for the football team's home opener. We had a lot of fun. The boys were especially interested in the marching band. We only got to stay for part of the first quarter due to impending bedtimes, but still had a really good time.

 St. Joe ended up winning the game by quite a margin. Go Bears!

Visiting with Friends

One plus to living back in Michigan is that we are closer to some of my college friends who also have children. Not only is it fun for me to visit with my friends, but Ryan has playmates now too. That was something that was lacking in New York.

Vicki & Tim and their two little ones came to visit us in our new town last week.

They have these dog statues all over town. This was a perfect one for kids to ride.

Yum!!

Ryan enjoys an evening on the town with buddies.

The next day we went to visit college friends, Holly & Becky, There were 8 kids between the three of us. Holly and Becky each have little girls around Ryan's age. It was fun to watch the toddler crew wander around together.

Holly gave us a tour of the house. We just kind of left Ryan to his own devices as we toured. When we returned to him, he and Kelsey were playing kitchen and sharing "coffee."  

Warms my heart to watch him play!

Silver Beach

Yesterday we had an adventure. We checked out a beach closer to our house, but it was just okay compared to Silver Beach in St. Joseph. So, we headed over to Silver Beach. What's great about that place is there is much to do besides go into the lake. For example, we took the boys on their first carousel ride. You should have seen their faces - big eyes, a little nervous, taking it all in. Following the carousel, Burke and Ryan hung out on the playground while Evan and I walked to the pier. Then we had pizza at THE pizza place in St. Joe, which is right near the beach and the Amtrak train tracks. Ryan loves the train aspect of that area. He says, "Nana went bye bye on choo choo train." (FYI - Nana and Lolo recently took the Amtrak to Chicago to catch their flights back to Arizona.)

Dipping Evan's feet in the lake at the first beach - It was nice, it's just that the sand was full of stones.

Carousel

At the pizza place

Feed me!!! I'm a hungry scrunchy-nose-baby-monster. 

Corn on the Cob

Enjoying fresh corn from a local farmers' market. After all, we are surrounded by cornfields now.

Random Cute Pictures

Burke's dad left on August 7. His mom left this morning, August 10. They were such a huge help. We absolutely could not have done this move without them. Many thanks to them for their patience during a stressful time.

Here are a couple cute pictures from their camera.

Ryan sitting on a tree stump on our street High Avenue in Nyack. We called a "tree chair." I am thankful for this picture because the tree chair was something that Ryan often pointed out and liked to play on as we walked up the hill to our house.

Nana liked plopping Evan in cute places to sit - like this toy shopping cart, for example. This is a seriously cute picture. This was taken in Nyack while packing the truck.

In our new house in Michigan - Ryan plays the ukulele.

Burke, Nana & Ryan went to downtown St. Joseph for dinner last night. (I stayed home with Evan who had a fever.) They have these thematic dog sculptures around town.

Hello Michigan

First we unpacked the babies...

They started playing and exploring immediately. 

Many thanks to Nana, Lolo, Carol, Blaine, Kristen, Josh, Steve & Christine who helped us with unpacking into our new house.

Bye New York

On Wednesday, August 4 we drove away from Nyack, NY. Who knows when we'll be back. It was bittersweet. I was emotional as I told Ryan how he had learned to pull to stand, walk, and talk in that apartment.

Our family in front of the wall of Alice In Wonderland-style closet/drawers/cabinets - This was in our bedroom in the Nyack apartment. The owner built it himself. It always seemed a little strange to me and Burke. Fitting to have one of our last Nyack pictures taken in front of it.

Getting in the car for the last time in NY. Time for a road trip!!

Ryan amusing himself in the car by playing with Nana's chapstick.

Burke and his dad drove this huge U-haul with the car transport hitched to the back. We stopped for lunch/gas. They had to park in the truck area.

Packing the Truck

Today we packed up the U-haul. Burke and his parents did most of the heavy labor. Many, many, many thanks to them.

You may be wondering how I have time/energy to do a blog entry about it. The answer is...I don't really, but for some reason, I'm doing it anyway.

Ryan and Evan with boxes. 

Our monstrous truck that Burke and his dad will drive from NY to Michigan.

Ryan LOVED everything about the truck - sitting in the cab, walking up and down the ramp, watching the packing, etc.

Where are you taking my stuff?

Tomorrow we drive away. Bye New York!