The Very First Bender/Seed Vacation....

We are back from the lake...and a day early! Let me recap: The car ride was a breeze! The last hour or so there seemed to drag on and was pretty whiny, but we only had to stop twice each way. As it turns out, I should have been worried about Hannah sleeping...or lack there of. She didn't do much of it all week - which means neither did we! We had to wait until she fell asleep on the couch to lay her in bed and then when she woke up 3-5 hours later, one of us had to sit on the couch with her the rest of the night. She (including me) was soooo exhausted by the time we left!

Although the weather and the water was pretty chilly all week, the lake and surrounding area was beautiful! I never knew Michigan was so pretty. It was the most unique combination of lakes, sand and national parks I have ever seen. The cabin (which The Seed's affectionately call the 'Little Red Dump') wasn't as nice as the scenery, but it served its purpose and had an amazing lake view!

I took a TON of pictures, so I will just go day by day and share some of my favorites (You can see all 665 here and here if you really want too)!

Monday morning we went to the sand dunes. It was just miles of sand mountains that went all the way to Lake Michigan! Aly and Hannah loved it! Aly climbed all the way to the top by herself! We played around at the top of the first dune for a while. Aly buried Dan and Dave in sand all the way to their heads and Hannah was content just to fill her pail. We enjoyed the view for a little while and then ran down the hill. After the dunes, we went back to the cabin for some lunch and the sat out by the lake for a while before making dinner. Even though the water was chilly, the entire lake is only about 12 inches deep (about chest deep at its highest and completely clear) so you got used to it quickly!! To my surprise, Aly absolutely loved it...it was Hannah who had the problem with it! I think it was because her feet keep sinking into the sand and she couldn't stay balanced. She played around in the sand on the shore and was happy.

Tuesday morning we went on a short, mile and a half hike. It should have been a nice quiet walk through nature, but it did not go over so well with the girls. Hannah was sleepy and Aly got tired about a 1/4 mile in, so Dan and I ended up carrying the girls the rest of the way. Apparently, we are not 'hiking' people...sorry Daddy!! After lunch we went to Dave's family's cottage down the road. They have a beautiful old house with a great lake front. Aly had sooo much fun in the sand and the water with her new friend, Morgan, I don't think she wanted to leave! Aly and Dan threw the frisbee (or as Aly calls it, the 'crispy') in the water and enjoyed the sun! Hannah, did not enjoy any part of this experience because she was so tired, so much so that I ended up bringing her back to the cabin to nap and watch Blue's Clues...at least I got to read my book :) That night, Dave and Jess went to their family's for a cook out and we went into Glen Arbor for a night as a family. We had a great time eating at 'Art's', window shopping in the stores and playing in the local park. It all fell apart when the Seed's came to meet us for ice cream. Hannah literally screamed for probably 30 minutes and had everyone in the entire town looking at us!! It was this experience and the lack of sleeping at night that led to our decision to leave a day earlier than planned. Wednesday was a little more relaxing. We hung out by the lake all morning and then went to Outer Creek in the afternoon. It is a creek that empties into Lake Michigan. The girls had an awesome time in the creek picking out stones and filling their pails. We also got to fly a kite and play in more sand. Lake Michigan truly felt like an ocean, minus the nasty salt water! We made a big dinner together at the cabin and headed out to Stocking Scenic Drive. We may beat the crap out of Michigan in college football, but the definitely beat us when in comes to the views!! S'mores by the fire and watching the stars made the night complete.

As luck would have it the power went out in the middle of the night and it was PITCH BLACK. I mean so dark you can not see ANYTHING!! We had to use our cell phones as flashlights. Of course Hannah would not sleep so Dan slept, sitting up, with her on the bed. I had to sleep with Aly and listen to her say she wanted to go home every hour or so. It was a good thing we were leaving in the morning...

Thursday we had a big breakfast and headed back to the Buckeye state! The ride was pretty easy since everyone was so tired. We were hoping to come home to a contract on our house...but, go figure, we didn't even have a single showing while we were gone! Oh well! Even thought we had a great time, there really is no place like home!

Glen Lake, Here We Come!!!

We are officially off on our first family vacation (that doesn't involve a Young Life camp)!! We are on our way to Michigan with the Seed's to stay in a cabin on Glen Lake!! We are so so so excited...not only to be going as a family and relaxing, but to be spending time with GREAT friends as well!!! It was pretty stressful trying to pack for all of us for an entire week, but the only thing I am really worried about is the 8 hour drive. Actually, I take that back - I am worried about the weather too. I am hoping unseasonably cold weather here doesn't translate into trading our beach cabana in for an igloo up north ;) Either way, it is going to be a blast and I will post lots of pictures when we get back!!

Kiss your baby!!

I was downloading all of our videos this afternoon so our camera is cleared for vacation and forgot all about this one!! Hannah loves to kiss her baby...and make everyone one else kiss her too. She makes the cutest little sounds and is so sweet with her! She is going to make a GREAT mommy someday! I love having little girls!

**By the way, this was taken right after she had stitches so the bump on her forehead is NOT a new booboo...thank goodness!!

A "Wii" bit of fun...

My parents got a Wii Fit. We, well really I, decided we should try it out! It is pretty cool, but wasn't exactly a self-image booster. It tests your balance, posture and weighs you to help you come up with a plan for getting into shape...and then it give you your 'Wii Age' based on that info and your true age. Besides telling me I am overweight and need to loose between 10-15 pounds (which I already knew!!) my results were pretty good. My posture and balance weren't too bad and it said my Wii Age was 26!! A year younger than my real age...I definitely don't feel younger though. Dan's wasn't as flattering. The Wii told him he was also overweight, but the most surprising thing was his Wii Age...39!! Whoa! Who knows how accurate it really is (I am choosing to think mine is pretty spot on ;), but there is no doubt we need to work out a little lot more!

We were all laughing, so we made my Dad do it too...his Wii Age is 58! I guess he needs to work out too...and stop eating sugar!

So Sweet!

Last night, Alyssa was watching one last Dora before I put her to bed. I laid down on the couch next to her to read my book (Which is really good by the way! It is call "Having a Mary Spirit" by JoAnna Weaver - The follow up to her book "Having a Mary Heart, In a Martha World". You should check it out!!) while she finished.

She must have known it was a book 'about Jesus' because she looked at me and said, ''I need to get my Bible! I want to read that instead [of watching Dora]!" She jumped off the couch, ran into the playroom and came back with her Bible! She laid back down next to me, opened it and start 'reading' it to herself and explaining the pictures to me! It seriously made me want to cry and hug her as tight as I could. We read a few stories out of it before we went to bed and she slept with it next to her all night long!

It was very sweet, but also a BIG reminder that we need to be modeling the behavior and attitude we want Alyssa and Hannah to have!! The girls are literally watching and observing EVERYTHING we do! Which is great when we actually take time to spend with the Lord...but not always so great the rest of the time. We really want them to know and love the person of Christ and have a relationship with him that is real!! Gosh, I love those girls sooooo much and am sooooo thankful to have them!!

This is just getting ridiculous...

Hannah fell of the playground again last night!! Dan and my Dad took the girls on a bike ride and took a break at the park. Even with my dad standing right there she managed to fall off and break her fall with her face. Luckily, there were no major injuries this time - just a scrapped up cheek. It is a good this she wasn't the first born...You can't take your eye off of her for a millisecond!!

Let's Play a Game...

**Look really hard and tell me what is wrong with these pictures I took of the girls playing outside TODAY** Did you figure it out?? Let me help you...they are wearing jackets!!!! In JULY!!! Not just because they felt like it, but they really needed them! It is a freezing 63* with clouds and rain! This is the one thing I absolutely hate about OHIO...so much for Zoombezi Bay and the pool! I am worried it is going to be snowing at the lake and we are going to need sleds instead of swimsuits!!

First Family Movie Night

It was supposed to rain all day today so we decided it would be a good time to have our first family movie night tonight! Of course it only rained for about an hour, so we took a walk and then Dan took the girls to rent a movie. They got Disney's Bolt (which I took Alyssa to see in the theater). We ate dinner, made popcorn and watched the movie together. It was nice and relaxing. Aly watched the whole thing...Hannah watched bits and pieces of the movie, cuddled with us and played with her baby. They may have been a little young to sit through a whole movie, but it was fun anyway!

A Week (or so) In Review...

I was doing really well at blogging for a while, but I have been horrible at it the last week! Here are some of the things going on in our house:

**We had 4 showings for our house last week...you would think that would be a good thing, right?!?! Well, not when people don't know what city they want to live in or how to read a listing. Two of the showings weren't sure if this is the area they want to live in and the other two could have been avoided, if the Realtors would've read the listing to know our house didn't meet the buyer criteria, before wasting our time! I honestly did not know how emotional exhausting selling a house would be. I just hope it sells so we can get this new one (which they are still waiting for the permits on 3 months later!!) and won't need to move for a looooooong time.

**Hannah has been sleeping HORRIBLE! She won't go to bed if it is light out, which means she isn't going to bed until around 9:30 or 10, and she is waking up between 5-6 AM every morning! Sometimes she is even waking up in the middle of the night and her naps have become more infrequent. When she wakes up it is hard to get her back to sleep because she throws her blanket and pacifier out of the crib. And of course she is getting her last 4 teeth...until the 2-year molars. I don't know what exactly her deal is, but she is going to get back on a schedule and whether she knows or not, the pacifier's days are numbered. I think we might accidentally forget all of them at the lake.

**Hannah also had to get her stitches out today. Yes, they were supposed to dissolve in 5-7 days...but, of course, didn't. Apparently they never really do...the doctor told me they usually don't unless they are in the mouth (or constantly wet). According to him I should have had them taken out on day 5 to reduce scaring, but Children's never told me that so I was really irritated and I feel like a bad mom. She is going to have an even bigger scar now because today was day 10 :( At least I will know for next time...unfortunately with this child, I am sure there will be a 'next time'! My brother told me we need to get her a giant hamster ball to keep her out of trouble...I am going to look into it ;)

**Dan had another job interview today! Yes, he accepted the job at International Academy, but this was for Southwestern City Schools. It would be a high school position, pay about $15,000 more and he wouldn't have to take any certification classes! It was just a preliminary interview so we hope he gets a call back (and before vacation).

**Aly has had a pretty routine week. She is still her silly old self. She has been very worried about Hannah and her booboo all week and keeps asking when it will get better. She amazes me at how loving and generous she is with her sister (most of the time). Last night she was playing with an empty toilet paper roll and Hannah wanted it. She asked Dan to cut it is half so they could share it! What?!?! That was precious! She has also really been playing with all of her stuffed animals lately. And when I say all, I mean all of them. She really like them a lot and would take them all everywhere with her if she could. Her two favorite right now include: a brown teddy bear she calls 'Teddy' (very original) and a Horton the Elephant, which she calls 'Horny' for short (very embarrassing). She is soooo fun right now! I love this age!!

**As for myself, I have been pretty stressed out and overwhelmed this week! There are a lot of things going on, not to mention the fact that summer is half over and I am starting a new job I am not ready for. Plus, Dan is starting a new job and Aly is starting pre-school. With Hannah not sleep very well, I don't have anytime to recharge and spend time with the Lord (which I should be doing now instead of blogging :) !!), my 'To Do:' list is growing faster than I can cross things off and I am quickly running out of summer :( AND, I need to loose weight...I am sooooo looking forward to a vacation in a few weeks!

I think that is it for now...I will do better at blogging next week :)

Hannah Takes a Tumble...AGAIN!!

This time she needed stitches...12 of them to be exact, right on her forehead!! We were at my parent's house and she was standing on the couch (like she always does) and leaned over the arm. Dan was sitting on the couch with her and I was right across from her, but she lost her balance and fell over hitting her head on the end table on the way down. She landed directly on her head, so I was more worried about her neck when I scooped her up...then I saw it. She had a HUGE gash on her forehead! Dan grabbed some wet paper towels to soak up the blood, but I knew it was so deep she was going to need stitches. It was scary and I panicked because I had no idea what to do! Dan and I rushed out to take her somewhere and my mom called Children's Close-To-Home. Luckily, they could take care of it for us and didn't have to take her to the hospital emergency room!!

When we left the house we forgot the diaper bag and literally had NOTHING for her so Brittney (our lifesaver) brought it to us and kept us company. First, they gave her Motrin and put a cold numbing gel on it and wrapped her head like a mummy...she HATED that. While we were waiting for that to numb the area, Brittney went to the gas station and bought her an Icee and a sucker to keep her busy. By the time they called us back to do the stitches she was feeling pretty good...but, she REALLY HATED being held down and getting them done.

In retrospect, we were in and out of there within an hour, but it felt like an eternity! Thank God Dan was home at the time, he was the calm one and was great with her! I almost passed out twice while we were there! In fact, I am feeling pretty woozy right now just thinking about it! I don't think there is anything worse than your child being in pain, screaming and there is nothing you can do...EXCEPT when you have to hold them down so they can stick a needle in their head!!!! Poor baby!! How many times have I said that?!?!? This girl is going to give us a run for our money!!

Parade and Fireworks!!

The weather for the parade turned out to be really nice after a week of 'not-so-July' temperatures. It took a while for them to both warm up to the idea of a parade though. Hannah was grumpy because she woke up at 4:45AM and Aly covered her ears for the entire first half so she didn't hear loud noises. They both finally started having fun once they were getting candy thrown at them. It was fun...and I thought their matching dresses were sooo cute!! The fireworks were fun too! We left to go down really late and didn't think we would find a spot, but found a great place to watch them from at creekside and were far enough away the girls enjoyed them. This is one of my favorite holidays!