Visiting Family in Michigan

This past week we took a quick trip (since it was Riley's winter break and Brad arranged it with work) to see family in Michigan. We hadn't been able to make the trip out there since summer of 2008 when Naomi was just a few months older than Elijah is now! So it was good to get the kids there to see their great grandparents and lots of cousins and other family.

The kids did great with the car ride. They even were all asleep at once at one point!

We stopped at the Van's for tea time and Elijah got to meet his great grandparents!

He warmed up right away, not surprisingly!

Riley and Naomi were sure to get there share of back scratched from Grandma Van while we were there!

We then headed to the Joslin's house which is where we stayed for two nights. The kids loved having Great grandma Joslin read them lots of stories.

And great-grandpa Joslin colored with them quite a bit too...

Elijah loved meeting these great-grandparents too!

Friday, we headed over to Aunt Christi's house and Julie and Marcy put on a delicious lunch for us. Marcy's girls are the same ages as my kids so they all clicked right away and were soon running all over the house looking for treasure, playing cards, and having a blast :).

Elijah and Daphne are only 4 days apart!

Thanks for a yummy lunch and a fun visit!

That evening, Julie came over to Grandma's house with her kids since they were in school at lunch time. The boys went in the basement and played cars, but Naomi and Gracie played princesses and colored upstairs and hit it off from the moment they met. I think they'd be good friends if we lived closer.

Scott and Melissa and their two teenage kids came over too and we laughed histarically at Elijah who was dancing up on the table and playing around with their cell phones for a good half an hour.

The kids with the Joslins!

The next morning we said goodbye to the Joslins and headed over to the Vans for the day.

Uncle Randy and his family stopped over to say hi.

And so did Michelle and her family!

The Holleboom family came over with their whole clan too!

At one point Riley and Naomi had snuck off upstairs to cool off (the house was very warm and the upstairs stays nice and cold) and I caught them jumping on the bed! Probably not the best idea for a bed that old! Playing with cousin Carson.

The kids with the Vans!

It was a quick trip but so great to reconnect with so many family members while we were there!

Lots of Love at 14 months

Hard to believe Elijah is over 14 months old now. He is running all over the place and going up and down stairs pretty freely. He loves to eat real food, especially oranges and apples. He has at least 12 teeth and had his first trip to the dentist this month. He is babbling all the time now, and especially loves to "talk" on the phone. He knows a handful of words to communicate with us and the rest of the time he screeches :). In fact, when he sees a phone he says, "hoh hoh" (hello) with his hand to his ear and gets very upset until he can hold it. He has started sitting and looking at books and "reading" them out loud. He is blowing kisses and giving the best hugs :). He loves trying on big people's shoes which is so cute. He loves any music and will dance or rock his head back and forth when he hears any music whether from the radio or tv or a toy. He also loves to do "patty-cake," especially "roooow" (roll) and "taaaah!" (toss). He definitely wants to be keeping up with everything his brother and sister are doing. He still loves playing with cars and anything techy like a computer or remote. He is very good about going to bed and often will tell us "ni-nite" and wave so we put him in his crib! He continues to be such a joy to us and brings much laughter and love to our family!

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy 100th Day!

Here are my three littlest valentines on Valentine's Day!

Riley had a fun party at school to celebrate! Here is a class picture from his party.

Naomi and I made heart cookies together...

Here are the beautiful roses Brad got for me....gorgeous. Naomi and daddy also made me breakfast in bed and homemade Valentines- it was soooo sweet! (especially since I had to spend half the day at the dentist - ugh! they knew just how to brighten my day)

Daddy got a flower for Naomi too!
At the end of the week, the kids and I went into Riley's class for their 100th day of school celebration! They had pizza and cake and the kids recited a poem and song and did a lot of counting for us along with a scavenger hunt for 100 hershey kisses!

We went out to dinner that night too to continue the celebrations! (and because we were probably beat and didn't want to cook...you know those nights!)