Louie turns two

We spent a very pleasant afternoon over at Amanda and Pat's to celebrate Louie's 2nd birthday. There was a lot of riding around on toys, playing on the swing set, and wrestling. The weather was so nice that we were able to be outside most of the time and soak up some of the late season warmth.

growin', growin', growin'

Lauren in her "new" toy

Raina loves her jump up

Barrett in his wrestling stance (look at that stare down)

Taking down daddy by his leg

The kids keep getting bigger and bigger. I wish I could capture all these precious moments in a bottle. I'm loving all the times I get to spend with my husband and kids. Barrett is becoming quite the little man and less baby every day. Lauren is super smiley these days (unless she's hungry) and Raina is a little kicker. Both girls are growing and doing great.


We went tailgating yesterday. I wore green and white although notice that it is not state gear. I couldn't make myself take it that far. :) Ben went to the game and I stayed back with some people and continued with the tailgating. It was fun. Thank you to Stu and Noelle and kids for watching our kids for the day!

Wedding in New York

We packed our bags and headed off to New York this past weekend. The kids stayed with Sheryl Thursday night and with Dad and Trina for the weekend. We left Thursday night and met Jeff and Renee at their place in West Bloomfield. Jeff driving, we headed off through Canada. We got through customs easily enough both ways and arrived in Watertown, New York around 2:30 am. Whew! The next day there was a scheduled boat tour through the 1000 Islands and Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay. Of course, I forgot my camera, sorry, but it was beautiful. The area is very nice with big homes to ooooh and aaaah at. The castle was built around 1900 by a man who wanted to honor the love of his life. He put the construction to a halt when she unexpectedly passed away. What is left is a very large castle with many unfinished room. Preservation people have finished a few of the main floor rooms to give us an idea of what it would look like. The castle had a magnificent stariway very similar to that in the Titanic complete with a colorful glass ceiling. Gorgeous. There is even a smaller castle that was built for the children with a bowling alley and everything. Very neat.
Later that day, Ben and I decided to treat ourselves to a date night with just the two of us. We asked the front desk for a nice local restaurant and off we went. While waiting for our table we went to the bar to get a drink. We ran into some of the Owen family (Jeff's aunts and uncles, etc.) They invited us to join them and we found it hard to resist. We had a nice evening chatting with some people we don't know very well, but were very easy to talk with. It was lovely. After dinner we went back to the hotel and ran into everyone (they all had rehearsal dinner) at the hotel bar. I was enjoying myself thoroughly by now. :) The next day was the wedding. It was at a small, yet beautiful church nearby. The ceremony was nice and afterward we went back to the hotel. While waiting for the shuttle to take us to the reception, we hung out with some of Ben's family. We watched football....I don't need to say any more....it was ugly. Then we took the provided shuttle to the hall which was in the large local military base at Fort Drum. We danced and danced and had a great time. Sunday we packed up and headed for home around 9:30 am. We got home, after picking up the kids, around 9:00 pm. What a long drive home, but the weekend was worth it. I guess Barrett was really sick, so we felt bad that we were away from him, but we did need the time for just the two of us. It was so nice and it made me realize even more how much I love my husband and my family. :)

happy 2nd birthday BARRETT

Today is Barrett's 2nd birthday! I just got my weekly information email where he was first refered to as a baby, then a toddler, and now....preschooler....what...2 is now considered a preschooler. Crazy. Anyway, this past Saturday we had his birthday party with a SpongeBob theme. He loves spongebob, so it seemed appropriate. It was a small get together this year, with a homemade cake and a pinata. It was a nice evening with family. Barrett loved all his new toys and even had to go to bed with one of his new tractors. He held it in his arms like you would a teddy bear. Too cute. He had constant candy on his face and he stayed up late. I guess you could say he had a GREAT time. :)

Barrett's stats @ 2 years:
**Blond hair, blue eyes
**Loves books, tractors, cars, music
**Says lots of words like "again", "please", "thank you", "momma", "dadda", "help me"
**Loves to play outside, especially in the sand box
**Loves to go for quad rides
**Loves to fish with daddy
**Roars like a lion and a dinosaur
**Uses utensils pretty well
**Loves his veggies, especially beans and broccoli
**Gives great hugs and kisses
**Loves his sisters
**Naps once a day
**Runs every where
**Says "sorry" most of the time
**Still sucks his thumb and loves his blankie
**Watches "Lion King" and the "Land Before Time" movie religiously
**The best son anyone could ask for!!

The next day we hung out with the Janiczeks and Owens. It had been awhile since all of us have gotten together, especially since the Janiczeks were living in Germany for the last 6 months. It was such a great day. After they left Ben said to me "I could do that every Sunday". I, of course, agreed. We just talked, played some cards, fished & golfed (well...the boys did), played Ladderball, grilled, and relaxed. Nothing better, really. :)

Labor Day Weekend and Work

SO, here are my belated pics from last weekend. I don't really feel like writing right now. I started back to work this past Tuesday and already I am sick! :( Gotta get ready for Barrett's b-day party tomorrow, too. SO much to do all the time!!! Also, for some reason I cannot get my html part to run, so just copy and paste the link to view. Ugh...sorry about all of this. I guess I just don't want to deal with it right now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/spitzlbm/LaborDayWeekend2008#