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And the family keeps growing and growing and growing...

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Hot Air Balloons or Bust

Thursday I took Liza and Erin to the Battle Creek hot air balloon festival so they could have their first experience with the balloons. The weather was super windy that night, so we knew going into it that they were not launching the balloons, but we decided to go anyways to see them light the balloons up at night.

We made our rounds at the festival while we were waiting for the sun to go down. Liza and I decided to ride the pirate ship ride (that was the scariest ride we could handle). The carnie running the ride thought we were cute so he didn't make us use our tickets as an excuse to flirt with us and the little girls in the row in front of us were making fun of us the entire time because we were scared and they weren't... does that mean we are getting old?

After the ride, we had to determine which fair food was better, a funnel cake or an elephant ear. So we got one of each and took our seats to await the balloon show. After determining that the funnel cake was far better, listening to a local band and counting the mullets, the announcer let us all know that it was too windy to even light the balloons up. Something about lighting things on fire...whatever!!! Anyways after all that, we didn't even get to see the balloons. Sorry guys, guess we'll have to try again next year.

Liza and I waiting for the pirate ride

Erin holding our things

Here we are on the ride.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Wedding Pics

Here are some pics from the Fourth of July wedding. It was a small backyard wedding followed by a delicious BBQ. They cooked a turkey inside a pig... it sort of sounds gross put that way, but trust me it was yummy. After dinner we played some corn hole, boys vs girls. My friend Traci and I were on a team against Phil and Traci's husband Bill. It looked as if the girls might pull off a win in the second game, but the boys came from behind and beat us.

The fireworks were set up out in the middle of a corn field for safety, due to some previous issues they've had. Thankfully the wedding was at Traci's brother's house which is in the middle of corn fields that belong to her dad. So they were all set. Here we are checking out the stash before the show.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Happy Fourth of July

This Fourth of July, we took a quick day trip up to Ludington with Phil’s dad, to visit Phil’s Grandma Amsterburg. His Uncle Jan and Aunt Carol were there also so it ended up being a small family gathering. We had a beautiful day for a visit. We did not partake in all the usual festivities this year, we simply had lunch and visited and then headed back home.

Saturday we got up bright and early so the fam (not including me) could participate in the annual Schoolcraft 5 mile run. My sisters, their husbands and Phil all ran extremely fast in the event and we even won some door prizes. After the race was the parade…which I have to admit was a little disappointing this year. We made the mistake of setting up shop at the end of the parade, for those of you non parade goers, by the end of the parade, there is no candy left and most everyone in the parade has lost their enthusiasm. We spent the majority of our time planning our parade entry for next year… yes that’s right we are going to be a part of the parade next year to liven things up a little. The brainstorming included freeze pops, bubbles and some sort of choreographed Michael Jackson dance routine.
The runners (Gual, Annie, Phil, Nate & Jenni)
The sisters at the parade.
This was the creepiest parade float we saw!... Don't be fooled those are not small children... they are dolls.... I have no idea!
After the parade was a cook out at my parents’ house with most of the family, some swimming, a quick nap and then off to a wedding. It was a very busy day. The wedding was a lot of fun, there was a nice cookout and delicious cupcakes and then $3000 worth of fireworks to end the night. We unfortunately couldn’t stay to witness this show, but I’m told it was amazing. After the wedding we made it back to my parents (who were babysitting for us) and the family went to watch the Schoolcraft fireworks while Phil, Natalie and I crashed. Happy Fourth of July!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Update

This summer has been full of quality family time, barbeques with friends and a lot of swimming! It’s been fabulous. Here are some random pictures from the summer so far.

Our first attempt at swimming... it was more like dipping feet.
Nona (phil's mom) and Natalie

Baby Violet, my friend Cindy's baby who was born a few weeks after Natalie and is the same size as Natalie.

Annie, Natalie and Sophie (baby Violet's sister)
Grandma Maltby & Natalie
Grandma (my mom) and Natalie at a BBQ

Me making silly faces at the kids

Dad & Phil at a BBQ
Ana (my friend Amy's daughter) and Natalie

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Jaundice Update

Last week we took Natalie for her two month check up. She had to get her first series of vaccinations at this appointment, three shots in total. I made it through the first one ok, the second one was harder and enough for me and the third put me over the edge, but don't worry I held it together until the nurse left the room at least!
She is now officially over 10 pounds and right on schedule. She grew 2 inches and is now 23 inches long, that puts her in the 50th percentile for weight & 75th for height. She is going to be nice and tall, just like her daddy.
Her jaundice levels are still going down steadily so that is a good thing. We are now only having her checked every two weeks instead of every day or every week like we were... YEAH for all of us!!
Overall, she is a healthy & happy baby.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Basketballs and broken wrists

A few weeks ago, Phil, Jon and Randy played in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament in Comstock. This is the second year they played in this tournament that Randy’s brother organizes. Erin, Liza, Natalie and I showed our support for a few games and then decided that we better make an appearance at Greater Galesburg days (as neither Liza nor I had ever been there). The boys were exhausted (I think they started to realize they aren’t as young as they think) and the girls had a great time at our summer festival.

After we left the basketball tournament, my husband (being the competitive person that he is) dove for a basketball during one of their games and landed on his right wrist. After much convincing that evening, he finally made a trip to the emergency room. Here is my medical expert explanation of what happened. His thumb bone smashed into one of his wrist bones and broke a piece of his thumb bone off. So they put him in a partial cast and recommended we see an orthopedic hand surgeon the following week. He spent about a week and a half in the cast before we saw the other doctor.

The hand doctor took more x-rays and determined that none of the bones were broken, aside from the chip so as long as he was not having pain, then it was not necessary to put on a permanent cast. So they removed his cast and told him to take it easy (sorry guys, no soccer tournament this year). We were both very excited… Phil so he can still participate in the Shermanator (the sprint triathalon he has been training for in August) and me so he could start changing diapers again!
Erin and Natalie cheering on the boys

Dad with his broken wrist