More Christmas Festivities

The boys waiting to go sledding

Barrett and his helmet

Barrett had to try the helmet on right away!

Spitzley X-mas and Hanging out with Smiths

Last Sunday was our Christmas with Ben's immediate family. It was a nice day, yet with two sick babies and a sick husband it was not as ideal as one would hope for. One of the big presents of the night was Barrett's new snowmobile helmet (for his kitty cat sled). He loved it immediately and had us put it right on him (check out the pics when you get a chance).

Today the sun was shining and Ben was feeling better so he invited Sue over (she was watching Louie and Elizabeth for the day) to take Barrett and Louie sledding. They boys had a great time outside. I must say, it was hilarious watching Barrett walk around in his large helmet! He waddled somewhat, but he just loved the helmet! There are some great pictures of this also, just click the bottom picture above. After sledding the boys came in and we all played around the house for a bit. It was a fun afternoon!

We finally got the chance to all get together this afternoon for some catch up. It was great visiting with the ladies!

I wasn't feeling so good (either were the girls) and we all feel asleep together on the couch. Love the cuddle time, though.

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas in Saginaw. I forgot my camera for that mornings festivities at my dads. I'll have to get some from Erica. It was a great day, though. A bit of a scary ride home, but we managed to get home safely and now we are home trying to get over this bug that keeps going around our home.

Weekend @ Grandma's

Last weekend was the annual christmas weekend @ Grandma Lewis' home. We didn't go up until Saturday this year, because Barrett had been feeling pretty ill. We had a great time with the family. We opened presents, played Zuma, played Euchre, and played Cranium (yes, a lot of playing...gotta love it!). The next day was interesting because it had snowed even more (I think we have a total of 10-15 inches now). The ride home was treacherous, but we managed to get home safely. Barrett is still ill, but hopefully he'll be better soon for more christmas festivities. On a side note, Lauren is now crawling, too! She just went for it last week and has been nonstop since. It's definitely crazy having two crawlers in the house now. :)

my cubs

Lauren

Raina

Barrett (when he was 5 months old)

Girls @ 8 Months!

Antlers on Lauren

Reindeer Raina

The girls are now 8 months old!!! Whoa! They are so busy these days that Ben and I can hardly keep things in order! Throw a toddler into the mix and we've got chaos! :)

Raina's stats:
::Has 4 teeth on top and 3 on bottom.
::Can crawl by pulling her body forward, but has started to crawl on her hands and knees recently too
::Wiggles and kicks ALL the time...changing table, when you pick her up...whenever!
::Sucks her two middle fingers (prefers the right hand)
::Loves to play with the computer
::Swats at food/bottles when she is definitely done eating
::Loves to feed herself and will sometimes just make a mess to run her fingers through the food
::Prefers sleeping on her belly (she wakes up with a red nose from rubbing her face in the matress too much
::Eats well throughout the day (three solid meals with bottles in between)
::Sleeps from about 8:30 pm to 6:30 am
::Takes two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon
::Takes a little while to get her to smile, but when she does she lights up the room!

Lauren's stats:
::Two teeth on bottom
::Loves to sit and bounce in the exersaucer
::Loves to eat and is a really good eater (opens her mouth really wide and makes hardly any mess)
::Is beginning to crawl, but still gets frustrated because it is difficult
::Can roll wherever she wants to go
::Love silky things
::Loves chewing on toys
::Is extremely flexible
::Loves to smile and coo
::Sleeps from about 8:30 pm to 6:30 am
::Take two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon
::Loves to play peek-a-boo
::Loves attention and will sometimes cry when she thinks you've left the room
::Super adorable and fun to tickle!

Layla is here!!

My cousin Trevor and his wife, Kate, welcomed their daughter on December 1st (also my sister-in-laws birthday). Congrats to the new family!! We can't wait to meet her!

cute pics

All three in the tub!

Raina in the big tub

Lauren, too. She loves to curl her tongue like this!

Pretty Raina

Beautiful Lauren

Daddy tickling Raina

Barrett's wrestle eyes

Lauren sitting like a big girl

Raina can sit up, too!

The girls are growing up so fast

The girls stats @ 7 months:

Raina
~~Sucks her two middle fingers. Mostly her right hand, but is pretty ambidextrous
~~Loves to eat solids and even feeds herself sometimes
~~Rolls over all the time and can pretty much get to wherever she wants
~~Sometimes pulls herself up on all fours and rocks back and forth
~~Can sit unsupported
~~Just started taking baths in the big tub
~~Loves to jump in the exersaucer
~~Has two bottom front teeth, but upper right one is starting to make an appearance (she's been pretty fussy lately)
~~Naps two long times per day
~~Sleeps through the night (preferably on her tummy)
~~Thinks her brother is the funniest person alive!

Lauren
~~Smiles almost instantly
~~Rolls everywhere
~~Sits unsupported
~~Naps two long times per day
~~Sleeps though the night
~~No teeth
~~Coos all the time
~~Just started taking baths in the big tub
~~Love to eat... solids, formula, you name it
~~Pretty easy going baby until she's hungry :)
~~Loves everyone and we think she's pretty special too!

Barrett has been doing great, too. He loves his sisters. I often find him sitting next to them on the floor showing them his toys or "reading" them a book. It's too cute. Every time I try to get it on camera he jumps up to see what I am doing. Hopefully one of these times I'll be able to quietly get the shot without him noticing. Anyway, he is talking and talking all the time now. He can say so many words now. It's fun. He still naps once a day and this weekend I got some time to cuddle with him when it was nap time. He kept putting his arm around me. It was so nice since that doesn't happen so much anymore. He is so much fun to be around!!

Birthday Party

Friday night we headed off to O.E. to watch Portland play in their second playoff game. My step-brother was pulled up for the playoffs, so it was exciting to have the whole family there to watch the game. It was my dad's birthday, too, so we had even more reason to all be together and celebrate. Unfortunately Portland did not win, though. Saturday my dad wanted to get the family together for the day (since Friday was all about football). We all hung out at his house for the day and evening. It was so nice to be with family. :)

Kaylynn update

I just got an email from my friend Andrea and she said that her daughter is doing great. They were able to bring her home yesterday!! Earlier than expected! I haven't spoken with her yet, but I am so excited that everything seems to be going so well. Just thought I would pass along the good news!

Kaylynn Ann Simons

Last Sunday I went to Flint to visit my friend's new baby girl, Kaylynn. She was born 5 weeks early and needed to be taken to a larger hospital for support. We all prayed for her and now she is doing so much better. She was having a difficult time breathing so she was put on CPAP (one lung partially collapsed), but by the time we got there she was already off of that (and the lung corrected itself). She still needed oxygen and she was under a blue light for jaundice, but she looked great. She's adorable with lots of dark hair. She's even got her momma's long basketball fingers! Andrea and Gregor are doing great. They hope to have her home by this weekend. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures, but I will as soon as I get the chance.

happy halloween

Louie, Elizabeth, Barrett, Lauren, and Raina

Trick-or-treating at Great Grandma's

My new hair cut

The side view

my peas are growing....

Halloween is right around the corner, so I thought I'd give their costumes a try. Do I need to even give it words...they are too cute. Anyway, the girls had their 6 month dr. appointment today and they are both doing well. Raina weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz. and Lauren weighed in at 18 lbs. 4 oz. Both of these are right in the averages. They did get a lot of immunizations today and they go back for round 2 of the flu vaccine in a month. Raina will also need to be checked again at that time for her head manipulation stuff. Overall the girls are growing well!

UM/MSU weekend

Lauren giving a big beautiful smile

Raina showing off her dimples and pearly whites

Barrett would not smile....this is the closest I got

Lauren was coughing and Raina kept wiggling...Barrett was Mr. Cool...too funny

This past weekend was busy, but fun like always. Friday night Barrett was invited to go trick-or-treating with Kim (and Sheryl and Jenny) to the head office of the company Kim works for. From the sounds of it, he had a great time. He came home with lots of candy, too! Then Saturday we dropped the kids off with Sheryl and headed down to Whitemore Lake (we stopped at a multiples garage sale on the way....way too much fun!) to watch the big game. Click here for pictures. Ben went to the game (with Jeff) and I stayed back to watch the game at my sister's. The game did not end the way we wanted it to but it was a fun afternoon all the same. Sunday we just hung out at home, did laundry and watched football. It was nice relaxing end to the weekend.

at home

Barrett wanted to be like his sisters, so he climbed in this all on his own

Raina showing off her two front teeth

Blurry, but oh so cute

camo, animals, and boos

Raina and Lauren in their camo pants

Hanzel and Gretel

Barrett loved the fish

My little ghost and pumpkin

Friday night Ben and I had a halloween party to go to. Patrick G. turned 30 so his wife decided to throw him a birthday/halloween party. It was fun. We dressed up as Hanzel and Gretel (old costumes that we revived...actually the Hanzel outfit came from his Uncle Bernie and are real liederhosen). There were many old faces at the party that I haven't seen since I or they were in high school. Crazy. We did call it a night early though because Ben and I both had busy days the next day. Ben was off to watch the Spartans and I was headed to the zoo.

Saturday I met up with Sheryl and we headed to Grand Rapids to go to John Ball Zoo. There we met up with Sue, Diana, Amanda and her kids (we picked up Dewey on the way, too). John Ball Zoo was doing their annual halloween activity called Boo at the Zoo (or is it, the zoo goes boo?!?...not sure). Check out a few pics here. My kids just had their tee-shirts, but almost all the kids there were decked on in their adorable halloween costumes. Louie was a clown and Elizabeth was a ladybug...too cute. It was so much fun (and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful) to see all the animals and the cute costumes. There were even a few places where they were handing out candy and doing crafts and other fun things for the kids. It will be even more fun when the kids are a little bit older and they can fully appreciate all of the things the zoo had to offer. After the zoo, we went a grabbed a bite to eat. Dewey had to work, but Katie was just getting off of work, so we switched girls and headed over to the mall. Sue, Diana, and Amanda and kids headed for home, but we stayed and did some shopping. The kids were amazing all day and only fussed a few times. We didn't get home until 9 or so. It was almost 12 straight hours of out and about time. Whew! It was so much fun though.

Girls are 6 months old!

The girls turned six months old last Saturday. On the exact day, Raina cut her first teeth. Both of her two bottom teeth poked right through! Very exciting. Lauren's still waiting for hers, though. Here are their stats:

Raina~
::Loves to roll, but sometimes gets frustrated and gives up rolling back over (she can do it, but just gets mad)
::She suck her two middle fingers on either hand, whatever one suits her at the time (some people like to say it's the rock star look)
::She weighs 16 lbs.
::She loves to giggle and smile, but it takes her some warming up to you first
::Her hair is starting to come in more and more all the time
::She eats about 6 oz. every 3-4 hours and one small solid food meal a day
::She sleeps off and on throughout the day and then sleeps from about 9 pm until 6:30 am (we have to wake her up to go to work...She'll sleep until about 7:30am if not woken)
::She is my little wiggler and loves to jump and kick and move
::She makes every day so much better!!!

Lauren~
::She rolls and rolls and rolls. She absolutely loves to roll all around the room
::She gives the biggest smiles
::She weighs around 17 lbs.
::She eats 6-8oz about every 3 hours. She definitely lets you know when she is hungry...don't mess with this child when she is hungry!
::She sleeps off and on throughout the day and sleeps through the night like Raina
::She doesn't really suck any thumbs or fingers, but occasionally puts them in her mouth to chew on (I think its the whole teething thing)
::Loves the exersaucer and all the toys on it and even making it jump and jump
::She makes me so happy and every day is wonderful because of her

Both girls light up when their brother comes near. They smile and crack up just when he is in the room. Barrett gives them the best kisses and hugs ever! Barrett is too cute for words these days. He is talking more and more all the time. He's becoming such a big boy. He still sometimes gives me some cuddle time and I cherish those moments, because they don't happen much anymore. He loves to play with his tractors, cars, and dinosaurs. He's pretty fearless too and will ride on any moving toy possible. He loves being outside and running around. I am happy to say that he'll have another boy to play with soon too, as I just found out that my sister is expecting a baby boy! Yeah!

All in all, the family is doing well. The kids are healthy and thriving. Ben and I are as happy as ever. We've got each other and these beautiful babies. Life is good. :)

Gwen is 3!!!

Gwen waiting to blow out her candles

Barrett riding Bullett

Cruising around in the pink Jeep

Today we headed over to my sister's place to celebrate Gwen's 3rd birthday. It was a cowgirl theme with a rented pony named "Bullet". The day before she had received a Barbie Jeep...needless to say Barrett loved it! He has no fear of anything motorized and jumped right into the driver's seat. He drove Gwen around while she "talked" on the vehicle's phone. It was quite entertaining. All the kids loved the pony, too. After Gwen took her turn, Barrett was right on the pony wanted to keep riding as long as possible. He just kept saying "again". Like I already said, he is fearless. This could lead to trouble down the road, so we'll definitely need to talk with him about safety. :) Gwen seemed very happy all day. She is becoming quite the big girl these days. I just adore her and love spending time with her. Happy Birthday Gwen!