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

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

LaKnoll

This weekend, my long lost friend Jess came into town to visit. We sent Phil packing to Angola to help work on Jon's house (it had some recent fire damage). So Friday night was just the girls hanging out in Richland. Saturday we got up and around and headed out to Battle Creek to pick up some Papa Murphy's pizza for lunch at LaKnoll (this is the name of Traci's parents farm that was our old stomping ground). We found Papa Murphy's too easy so we knew it would be much harder to find LaKnoll from there. After 10 phone calls, 3 U turns, lots of laughing & also some confusion and half a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups later we made it! What should have taken us 20 minutes took us over an hour, but what fun would it be if everything went smoothly all the time!

We spent the day hangning out at LaKnoll with Mare & Traci. Played cards, ate pizza (and the remaining peanut butter cups), went for a Gator Ride back to see the beaver dam, watched the boys paint a barn and played with the barn kittens.
Here's Mare & Traci on the Gator.

Jess, Natalie & I in the yard.
Mare & Natalie (notice the majorly drooled on shirt? maybe some more teeth?)
Natalie meeting the kittens.


It does sort of look like she's trying to strangle this one.


**No kittens were harmed in the making of this blog.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Notre Dame Weekend

Two weekends ago, we hauled ourselves and all of our stuff (which seems like it is exponentially increasing now that there are three of us) down to South Bend to our friend's Jon & Erin's house. We had a sleep over Friday night and then we "tailgated" (that is only in quotes because we never left their house, we enjoyed our tailgate in the comfort of their home with their indoor plumbing). We still had a fabulous time, with lots to eat and good company.

The boys watched the game on the big screen while the girls entertained ourselves on the new deck. It truly was a beautiful day for football.

Randy and Natalie (they have a special bond since she puked all over him the other day).

The ladies.

The boys (plus Kala & Natalie)... oh and Liza peeking from the background.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I spy baby's first teeth! Yup, it's plural!

Friday night we discovered two little white specs showing through Natalies gums on the bottom. After some careful investigation, we discovered two (count 'em TWO) teeth had decided to grace us with their presence. She is such a good baby that we didn't even no she was teething! She was drooling a lot (but that is par for the course with her) and chewing on everything, but no crankiness or extra sleep. Let's hope that is the pattern for the rest of her teeth.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Labor Day in Ludington

Labor Day weekend (after our first tailgate of the season), we decided to end our summer with a trip up to Ludington to see Grandma Amsterburg and Lake Michigan. Phil's dad made the trip up also and met us there.

We did some fishing (although no fish were actually caught), some sight seeing, a lot of eating and some visiting. The weekend was full of beautiful weather so we decided to stop at the beach along Lake Michigan on our way home. We had a beautiful, peaceful walk along the shore while Natalie napped in her sling. What a nice way to end the summer!
Grandpa, Phil and Natalie doing some fishing.

The happy family along Lake Michigan

Natalie enjoying her first trip to the beach.

Testing the waters...she actually liked it. Too bad it was WAY too cold to swim!
I just love this picture, look at those cute little toes.

We also tried out the swing at a nearby playground. This was about as excited as she got. Maybe next summer!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Baby's First Tailgate

Last weekend marked the start of everyone’s favorite… College Football season! As many of you know Phil and I purchase season tickets to the Michigan State football games each year. We have a tradition of tailgating before the games with our favorite Aunt Laurie & Uncle Jeff, along with a host of others that come and go sporadically. This year we obviously had a new addition to our tailgating crew, our little princess.
Saturday morning, we woke up to a red faced little baby. She developed some sort of rash overnight (which we still haven't been able to peg to anything specifically). It started off sort of splotchy and got worse throughout the day. She ended up with little blister like spots all over her face & her bald spot, but no where else. It was very weird, but the nurse was not concerned, and Natalie did not seem phased by her new look so we went about our day as normal.
She had a fabulous time at the tailgate and spent the game with her Aunt Jenni, while Phil and I went into the cheer the Spartans to victory. It was a beautiful day (albeit a little hot, but we’re not complaining) to kick off the season with and we were even graced with the presence of my cousin Ross (a former MSU student who now lives in Minneapolis). And to top all that excitement off, our Spartans were victorious which always makes the day better! GO GREEN!

Dad & baby

Chillin with dad's shades on.

Poor little baby, she looked so sad. But as you can probably tell, she didn't mind at all!
Aunt Laurie & Mom

Tracy (cousin Staci's friend), cousin Staci & cousin Ross.


This was her favorite part about meeting cousin Ross (yes, she's licking his arm hair).

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Rice Cereal Anyone?

Sunday night we attempted to start our little princess eating rice cereal. So we mixed some up with a little breast milk for good measure and off we went. She doesn't quite get the spoon yet, she keeps trying to suck on it like a nipple, but eventually we got quite a bit in her mouth (although it doesn't look like it from the pictures) and she even enjoyed it. Phil couldn't spoon it in fast enough for her. We got a good video of it, she screams between each bite because she can't stand to wait that long! Poor thing :)

Last night, we learned from our previous mistakes and used a bib. However, we might need to alter that plan as well, since the bib (along with the bowl, the shirt & the hand) all went into her mouth with the cereal. Maybe next time we will try a body bib (yes I've actually seen these at the craft shows).

So a few more weeks of cereal and then we'll be moving onto veggies!
She's very serious about her eating.

Oh and for those of you who were concerned, her spots seem to be clearing up (as you can probably tell from the pictures) and we still don't even know what they were from.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today is my wonderful Grandma's 85th birthday. I'm sure she is busy celebrating her birthday by beating all of her friends (and some people who are not her friends) in bridge (this is a game that Grandma loves and no one under the age of 60 understands how to play).

Grandma (even though I know you will not be reading this). Thank you for being a wonderful woman and the heart that beats through our family. We enjoy every moment we get to spend with you and look forward to each one to come.

Happy Birthday Gram!

Love, your favorite granddaughter.

(note to all my cousins: unless you can some how magically change your birthday to today, you have no chance to catch me! ha ha... unless maybe you became a doctor & had twins... oh and don't forget to cut your hair)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Finally a smile!

Well, Natalie has been smiling and giggling like crazy for the last month or so. However, everytime I get the camera out to capture this adorable moment, the smile fades and I get this perplexed stare (not the most adorable thing you've ever seen, but still cute).

Finally I got a picture of her smiling. I did have to crop out Mom Amsterburg though (sorry but you had a really funny face, you'll thank me later!).

So here you go... Ta Da!!!