Oops

So much for that whole "I'm gonna keep this blog more updated" theory. I had you going there for a while didn't I?? HA! Okay, okay so I'm not the world's best blogger. I tend to get too busy throughout the day and remember too late that I never did post anything. Oh well. We are gearing up for our Thanksgiving trip which I am very much looking forward to. I cannot wait to see my family and the kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement!

I absolutely love this time of year. The cooler weather, the yummy food, the anticipation of Christmas, the shopping, the time with family. Love it. I don't understand why we need a specific day to be thankful, though. I mean, really?? Just one day? Shouldn't we be thankful every day? When I stop and count my blessings, I am so overwhelmed I don't even know where to begin. I try to make sure I thank God every single day for what He has given me. An amazing husband, two gorgeous kids, a roof over my head, good health, wonderful family, food in my belly, the list goes on and on. There is nothing wrong with having a specific day to reflect on all we have to be thankful for, not only as individuals but as a country. I mean, it gives me another reason to get together with extended family and eat a slice of my uncle's to-die-for chocolate cheesecake! But I want to make sure the Lord knows how thankful I am every day. Because without His blessings, I would have nothing.

Back By Popular Demand!

Maybe popular demand is a bit of an exaggeration. Okay, okay, it's a total exaggeration. But I have been asked by a couple people where we've been these past six months and I aim to please, so I will do my best to get back in the blogging world! :) I felt like I was repeating myself a lot between the blog and facebook and I just could not decide whether or not I wanted to keep the blog, so I just sort of put it on the back burner and forgot about it for a while (six months, but who's counting??).

I want to try and do more blogging about topics or things that are on my mind in addition to just posting pictures of our adorable children--which I know you all love seeing! For now I will try to summarize the past six months with a picture a month. This may be hard. Hmmm....we'll see how it goes. :)

MAY

My amazing husband and I celebrated eight years of marriage! It's hard to believe it has been eight years. He is my best friend and the time has simply flown by. Also in May we attended the Tulip Festival in Holland (a yearly tradition), went to the Indy zoo with my family, and enjoyed Memorial weekend in northern Michigan at my in-law's cabin.

JUNE

June included the third annual Athearn family camp out, where all of Jonathan's family camps in his parents' backyard. It also included a trip to Indiana, just the kids and me. They enjoyed a week at Meemaw and Papaw's eating at the Chocolate Moose, going to Greenville to get maid-rites, and helping Meemaw water her flowers and Papaw wash his new van.

JULY

July is birthday month in this family! Luke turned four on the 9th, I turned the big 3-0 (gasp!) on the 10th, and Addie turned 2 on the 29th. Busy month, I know! Between all the birthday parties, we managed to get to the beach a few times, enjoy the 4th of July at Big Long Lake in Indiana, and Jonathan and I participated in the first ever Grand Rapids Urban Adventure Race. (Think of The Amazing Race with biking and running--so incredibly fun!!!) Also in July, Jonathan and I were able to take a kid free mini-vacation to Southern Indiana. We checked out some caves and Spring Mill State Park in 100 degree weather--and had a blast doing it!! :)

AUGUST

In August the kids got new bunk beds and we took a week long vacation up north. Jonathan and I also got to take a two day mini-vacation away from our vacation to the upper peninsula. And yes, it was kid free! Don't hate--we just have awesome parents who are willing to take our kids for a few days! :) We saw so many beautiful things--including Pictures Rocks National Park. A-maz-ing! It's a definite must see!!

SEPTEMBER

September was full of fun things like Labor Day, the zoo, Celebration on the Grand, the county fair, and Art Prize. But the biggest thing was my sister's wedding!! It was a gorgeous day and she looked absolutely stunning. Luke and Addie were in the wedding and did a good job--better than we hoped! :)

OCTOBER

October was full of football games, pumpkin patches, apple orchards, parks, and candy! We had some gorgeous weather and were able to get out and enjoy it! The kids had a blast trick or treating this year--the first time they have ever gotten into it like this! Luke was a police officer and Addie was Snow White.

So there you have it! The last six months in a nutshell! Hopefully I will do better with the blogging and keep you more updated. That's all for now though! :)

Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter! On Saturday the kids got to go on an Easter egg hunt with all their cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Athearn's. Addie really got into it this year!
Jonathan "helping" Luke sort through the loot.
The kids looked sooooo adorable in their Easter outfits. My mom got Addison's dress and I got Luke's outfit last year on clearance after Easter. That's my favorite way to shop! Can't wait to get out and find their outfits for next year super cheap!! :)


I can't get over how big they are both getting!!
Family picture time!
Love this picture of Addie checking out her Easter candy...one shoe on, one shoe off!
Luke has quite the sense of humor!
I hope everyone had a blessed Easter Sunday celebrating our risen Lord!!

Spring Break with the Moores

Last week my parents and sister came up for an extended visit. We had a great time going to the zoo, shopping, eating out, and watching lots of basketball. (GO BUTLER!!!!!) The kids loved having Meemaw, Papaw and Aunt Emmy around. Meemaw even made breakfast every morning! Here are some pictures of our time with them.
This little house is at the zoo and it's always a big hit with the kiddos!
I simply adore this picture of my dad with his grandkids!
This guy was just enjoying a sno-cone on a chilly spring day.
Addison, Luke, and Papaw checking out the komodo dragon.

The zoo wore Addie out! She fell asleep on Meemaw's shoulder during lunch...but not before getting some of Papaw's dessert! (That's icing on her lips!)
Aunt Emmy gave Addison a mani-pedi--which she loved!
It wouldn't be a visit with Meemaw and Papaw without donuts!!
Emily did Addison's hair a lot and it always looked soooo cute!!
Snuggling up with Auntie Em.
*Kisses*
My little girly-girl getting some make-up tips from Emily.
Thanks for a great week!!! We loved having you all here!!!!

Oh The Places You'll....Fall Asleep??

18 Month Check-Up Stats

Weight: 24 lbs. 13 oz. (50th percentile)
Length: 32 3/4 in. (75th percentile)

She is a healthy girl and for that we are blessed and thankful!

18 Months!

Our sweet little Addison is 18 months old already!! Crazy how fast time goes by, isn't it?? She's going to the doctor next week for her check-up and I'm really curious to see how big she is now. I'll try to post those stats after we go. For now, though, she is a vibrant, active 1 1/2 year old. :) She loves to mimic her brother and she is learning so many things! She understands a lot now. She loves books, animals of any kind (but especially soft cuddly ones!), cheese, milk, and she is definitely a daddy's girl! She can identify her nose, ears, tongue, hair, belly, fingers, arms, legs, and toes. She knows lots of animal noises too, including horse, donkey, cat, dog, snake, fish, elephant, lion, monkey, cow, pig, duck, sheep, bird, you get the idea. Some of her vocabulary (which is growing every day!) includes: dada, momma (finally!!!! I was puppy there for a while), u-key (Luke), Addie, papaw, ball, me, pizza, hockey (daddy is so proud), uh-oh, hi, bye, up, please, thank you, love you, puppy, kitty, peyew (as in peyew, you stink), and poop (lovely, I know). We can't believe how much she is growing and changing every day. We love you so much Addison Marie!!!!

Indiana

The kids and I headed to Indiana for our annual "winter trip". We've sort of made it a habit now to go every year around this time for an extended weekend. It's nice to be able to stay longer, but we sure miss Jonathan while we're gone! The weekend was packed full of fun things, though, especially going shopping for my sister's wedding dress! Here are some pictures of our weekend.

I love that my daughter can enjoy my awesome toys from the 80s! Addison, meet Starlite, Rainbow Brite's trusty horse!
Addison got her very first haircut while in Indiana! Just a little trim of her bangs, but she looks so much older now!
Cheesing it up with Auntie Em.

The kids looked so cute for church on Sunday.
We played a lot of wii this weekend! Luke is really good at it! :)

2011 Thus Far...

We rang in 2011 with a bang I guess you could say. It was more of a barf, but it was explosive none-the-less (don't you love that mental image??). Jonathan and I were so excited to be able to have a night to ourselves to celebrate New Year's Eve while the kids spent the night at grandma's with their eight cousins (a NYE tradition). We were having a great time at our party hanging out with friends, eating, playing games...until about 11:55pm when Jonathan suddenly tells me "I have to get out of here or I'm gonna puke everywhere." He couldn't even tough it out for five minutes til the ball dropped! So he ran out of the room, I rang in the new year alone, then we sped home in the car (he had to drive since we took the Cavalier, which is a stick shift--I really gotta get on the ball with learning to drive that!) peeled into the driveway, Jonathan threw open his door and proceeded to puke his entire guts out. Literally, I don't think there was anything left in his stomach; it was all over our driveway. But obviously there was some stuff left because he was up all night puking. So not how I pictured this night going.

After a couple days, Jonathan was on the mend and thankfully the rest of us stayed healthy. We've had a great year so far other than that and I've been working really hard on staying more organized with the house and meals. I've gone two weeks now with a menu and I have to say, it's so nice knowing exactly what is for dinner instead of trying to throw something together around 4:50 before Jonathan gets home!

I haven't really taken any pictures yet this year, but I'll share with you a few of the kids playing and goofing around. Here's to a happy and healthy 2011!!

Our Christmas

Our Christmas celebration started the weekend before with a trip to Indiana for my cousin's wedding. The kids looked adorable all dressed up but, of course, getting them to smile for a family picture was out of the question...so I just had to settle for one with the hubby and me. :)
They were, however, all smiles when we got the bubbles out!
Hanging out with Auntie Em.
Daddy and his little princess enjoying a dance together.
On Christmas Eve morning, we let the kids open their presents from us. Again, I tried to get a nice picture of the kids with their stockings this time, and again, I failed.
Oh well, at least Addie cheered up.
Luke with his Super Why puzzle.
Addison loved her new tiger puppet.
That afternoon we headed to Jonathan's parents' for the Athearn Christmas. All ten grandkids were excited to see what was under the tree!
Luke got some cool Legos.
Addison's not too sure about all the craziness.
We got to Indiana around 11pm Christmas Eve and of course opened our Christmas jammies!
Christmas morning we read the Christmas story while Luke re-enacted it with Meemaw's nativity set.
Next came stockings!
And then all the presents!!



Unfortunately, I got really sick Christmas night which put a damper on things. I wasn't able to go to church or to my mom's family Christmas Sunday. But by Monday morning I was feeling better and was able to enjoy the last bit of our time with my family before we headed home that evening. It was a wonderful Christmas weekend topped off by my sister's engagement! We're all so happy for her and her fiance. Merry Christmas everyone!!