The month of August

The month of August.

Easton kept "fishing" in the bathtub. So I decided he needed a fishing pole. Went out all by myself, a wee lil lady and bought him gear.

Wait, did I say I bought HIM gear?

Ok, I lied, I bought ME gear. I kinda, sorta, LOVE to fish! My first catch! I know, it's small, but still, it's a fish!

Two happy clams, fishing away!

He loved it! And Ritzy did too, he kept barking away because he wants the red bobber. He thinks it's a ball. lol

Smiling dude! "I love fishing!"

Ryan's brother, his wife and their daughter, Shelby came to town. We haven't seen them in over 9 years! In sane, aye? It was so great to see them, we had a lot of fun!

We went to the zoo! (Ryan, Easton, Shelby and Danielle looking at the fish and penguins)

E riding the .... barrel?

Auntie Danielle took Easton on a camel ride! Easton LOVED IT! (Danielle did too!)

Daddy and Toe Bone feeding the geese.

Easton fell in love with Ryan's brother and his family, as you can see from the photo below. He did NOT want them to leave! Ryan and I didn't either, we miss them and wish they'd move back to Michigan!

Ryan's knee. Gross huh, he had surgery and had to miss out on the fun of the month of August, really? Poor guy!

Easton's Great Aunt Vonnie (and when I say "Great Aunt", I REALLY mean GREAT Aunt! She is such an AWESOME Great Aunt!) heard that Easton was into dinosaurs, so she gave him all of her dinosaur related teaching material and one of them was a book of dinosaur crafts! So we made dinosaur puppets! (the puppet is cooler than it looks and he is only 3 for pete's sakes!)

He loved making puppets!

"I WON!" I sign up for free stuff (contests, etc.) constantly. I see something and think, "What the heck, it only takes a minute!" Well, it paid off! Easton won a "Thomas the Train" birthday prize pack with a movie and train whistle! He was awfully excited when his prize arrived! His FIRST contest prize!

Also in August, my parents threw the 2nd Annual Darlene Wilson Memorial Party. My mom's sister passed away last summer and she asked my mom to make sure everyone had fun and honored her with happiness, not with sorrow. So my mom had everyone over for a big party after the funeral and we've continued the tradition in my Aunt's honor.

For the kids, my folks' rented a huge bounce house. Easton was SOOOOOOO excited!

My mom reading her tribute to Dar.

Easton and Caleb with their ring pops :-)

Brother and sisters hug remembering their sister. (Holding on to their Black Labels for the "Duke" Black Label toast in honor of our grandfather who passed long ago).

Some crazy family members on a tube ride!

Uncle Ron manning the grill!

Kisses for Carissa

Kisses for Kolby

Vodka for Faith!

Happy Puppy loves a party! Isn't he purdy!?

Easton enjoying the bounce castle the next day. We woke up and he had to race over in his jammies!

Ritzy loved the bouncy castle too!

My two little loves!

Bouncin' fool!

More July, More Catching Up....

Still playing catch up, hope to be current soon!

More photos from July....

Boppy's birthday, Easton patiently awaiting his piece of cake! Look at that smile! <3

Two of my favorite guys!

Partners in crime, can't you tell?

Easton and Daddy enjoying a morning coffee

So cute :-)

My two, little loves after a day of swimming <3 I'm a blessed mama.

Back in Action!

Okay, after some time off, I am back in action and ready to update again! Thanks to everyone who sent me warm thoughts, wishes and prayers. Ryan and I, as well as my whole family appreciated it.

So, some more pictures from July!....

These were all before our loss....I am slowly going to get current on my updates :-)

Ryan and I taking Easton to Grandville's fireworks :-)

He liked the fireworks so much, he was not about to look away for a picture. *sigh*

Sparklers! Happy 4th of July~

Uncle Kolby helping the dude out! <3

Easton loves his margaritas with a sugared rim!

Good-bye Sweet Babe

I debated whether to post this. But for myself, I have to. I am in denial and I keep wanting to sweep this under the rug and not think about it. But I am going to look it straight in the face and say Good-bye.


We lost our baby. I am supposed to be 11 weeks today. The baby died at 8 weeks. We say good-bye tomorrow.



We mourn the dream of who this baby could have been. We mourn the "plan" of having kids 4 years apart, we mourn our loss of control, we mourn our sense of security in pregnancy, we mourn the loss of joy, we mourn the loss of OUR child. We mourn the fact that this loss affects our son who was so looking forward to being a big brother and who has a baby in his tummy. We mourn the fact that he has to learn a very hard lesson at such a young age. We mourn the fact that our loved ones have also suffered a loss. We mourn the time that was "wasted" with a pregnancy that never truly came into fruition.



Maybe I shouldn't be posting this, maybe its too private to share? But I need this, I need this for me. I took some darling photos of my boys in their "Big Brother" t-shirts. I love this picture so much, I am so sad that I am not sharing it with you all to "break" our exciting news, but rather sharing it to "break" to you our very sad news.

Good-bye baby. May you find peace and joy in the arms of your Heavenly Father and we will excitedly meet you someday. We loved you, if only for a short time.

Tomorrow we will say good-bye and I will move on, because I have to. But it doesn't make the pain hurt any less.

My sweet, sweet, babies. My boys, my loves.

Sunday, Sunndaaaaaaaaaay

What did we do today?

We swam, we floated and we basked. We ate copious amounts of chips and salsa from On the Border....

and we drank pina coladas.

Yup, even this guy! ;-P

Eastons "house"

Boppy made Easton a "house" the other day while he was babysitting (Yes, my dad BABYSAT, I never thought I'd see the day, but I swear he would NEVER EVER turn down a chance to spend time with his best buddy!!!!)

(Oh and by the way, thanks to good 'ole Boppy, Easton tells everyone his middle name is, "Danger!") Thanks for that Boppy!

What we've been up to (it involves a lot of water, of course!)

Doing what he loves most - swimming! He's a fish!

Easton and Mimi.

Boppy striking a pose. What a ham!

My parents bought a new outdoor furniture set so as my dad was taking it all out of the boxes, he decided to make Easton a "house". I showed up to pick up my little Toe after they had watched him for me for a little bit and he had already taken up residence in the driveway! Hee hee!

He was quite proud of his humble abode!

Look at the windows! So much fresh air and light in the house! :-)

Playing "secret lair" with Daddy and Uncle Kolby

Daddy giving Easton a "turtle ride"

Easton's first sailboat ride, he loved it!

Easton playing games with Bentley. He ties the dogs' favorite toy to his lawn mower and runs around with it, they will inevitably chase him because they want their toy. He laughs and shrieks in pure ecstasy because he LOVES being chased!

Ryan's officemate, Amy, had the whole staff and families over to her house for a pool party this week. Easton got to try out using swimmies - he hated them and wanted his life jacket ;-P

Easton playing with his new best bud, Aiden!

"Touchdown!" He yells out as he makes a basket. Haha! Hard to correct him when he's so excited!