Happy 4th of July!

Every year we head to Munising (in the Upper Penisula) to spend a few days with Mark's extended family.  We always have a great time and this year was no exception.  When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, the weather was a bit cool and I was worried that it wouldn't warm up.   Thankful I was wrong and we were able to spend the rest of our days outside at the beach. 














The kids LOVED swimming in Lake Superior and didn't seem to mind that it was cold!  Cousin Eric bought a huge raft and we all spent many hours floating the lake and enjoying a few cocktails.  Mark tied a rope to the raft that allowed us to float without floating away.  Will loved going on a kyack ride, but Erin cried and wanted to 'get off, get off!' So she just swam while Will went for a ride.

At one time we had 11 adults on the raft! Thank you cousin Eric and Julie for providing so much fun for everyone!

 

I over heard Erin say, 'we're going on an abenture (she can't pronounce her v sound)' and they kept swimming all around.  We went around the boat house and they kept repeating about going on an abenture.  Will kept saying 'swimming, swimming' and they were both having the times of their lives!

Walking on the beach and skipping stones was fun too!

4th of July Parade

Munising has a great 4th of July parade.  We always sit in our same spot (which is at the end of the parade route). The kids get tons of candy and this year was no different.  Will and Erin have gotten the concept of a parade.  They love Tootsie Rolls (Erin at 3 of them when I wasn't looking because she figured out how to open them herself).  Will was excited to see the fire trucks (or 'sire trucks' in Erin language), but cried when they sounded their horns.  We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again next year!



 This is our tradition 'pre-parade' picture. It's fun to see how the picture has changed over the years. I always feel bad for the person who we select from the crowd to take our picture because we hand them 7-10 cameras. 

The 'cousin's picture' that will have three more babies in it next year! Aunt Sarah's baby (due December 11th), cousin Christine (due September) and cousin Melissa (due in December).

 Family picture minus Uncle Matt and Kristin who stayed in New York this year.

Strawberry Picking

Erin had to wear this red hat. She also picked out her butterfly shirt.

Last week we went strawberry picking with my friend Wendy and her girls. Erin loved picking strawberries with Kyra. Will and I worked on filling a bucket. I was too busy picking the big berries and didn't notice that Will was picking mostly yellow berries. Whoops! We came home and had two bowls of delicious strawberries for lunch. Fresh Michigan strawberries are the best! 

Phone Dump.

Yes, I've been lazy about Blogging. I promise that I haven't forgotten about it. Updating the blog on a regular basis and publishing my blog book from last year are on my list of things to do this summer. But for now, here's a few pictures of what we've been doing. 

Erin's wearing her 'Twinkle, twinkle little star shirt' (her name for it, not mine). She can sing the song too. 

'Driving' home from the gym. 

As I've said before, Will is a silly boy. He came running out of the playroom with their glasses on. You can see that Erin wanted a turn too. 

Schools Out!

I

It's summer vacation and the kids and I are having fun together. Today we walked to "mama's school" and played on the playground. Will loves the slides and claiming on everything. Erin needs so coaxing when it comes to going down the slides. She likes to catch Will at the bottom. Once she builds we confidence she loves going down the slides. It's fun to take them to the park because they as able to play more independently. 

Erin Got Her Button Out!!

Today was a big day for our family (and friends) because Erin got her button out! She's hasn't used it since September. We kept in in through the winter just incase we needed it. She was scheduled to have it removed a few weeks ago, but caught a bad cold so we postponed it until today. When asked about her button, Erin would tell you "Connor, button, all-gone, big girl". What that means was that Dr Connors was taking her button out and because she was a big girl. And she was correct!
She did awesome with the surgery. We got there at 8:00 am and didn't go back until 10:00. There was a great playroom for us to enjoy while we waited. Erin was happy that Mickey was on the TV. I was able to go into the OR with Erin while they
put her to sleep. She did fine and was out in less than a minute. The whole surgery took about 45 minutes. Dr. Connors removed her button and sewed up her abdominal wall, stomach and skin so that she wouldn't have any leaking. All of the stitches are internal and the site looks really good.
The longest part was waiting for her to wake up. We had a visit from one of our favorite nurses Renee who was working today. She stayed with us until Erin was discharged and then we want up to the NICU to see our other 4 primary nurses. It was the first time that they were all working on the same day. I wish we works have gotten a picture with them, but we didn't. It was wonderful to see everyone e and they were all so proud of Erin.
We came home and Erin slept for a few hours. When she woke up she had to go outside to see the flowers daddy had planted. Then she wanted to play, go for a

Walk, help me fill the bird feeder and play some more. She finally went in for some pizza (even though they said to give her soft foods- she was begging and hungry so I gave in). She acted as if she hasn't had surgery at all today. She is truly amazing! We are so proud of Erin and how far she has come.
It was almost 2 years ago to the day that we put the G-tube in. It was a difficult decision and one we didn't make quickly. We/she struggled with bottle feedings, oxygen setting and oral aversion. Here we are two years(and 1 year of feeding therapy) later. You'd never know that she had so many struggles just to eat like a normal baby. And today she begged for pizza, pretzels, yogurt and water all a few hours after surgery. We are so thankful for all of your prayers, support and kind words. They mean so much to us!






Will spent the day with Grandma Melanie. They went to the flower shop and bought flowers. Will insisted that she needed some "lellow" ones. He had to say good- bye to everything as they left the store. They went to grandma's house to drop off the flowers. He had to watch a show in his rocking chair , ate the top piece of bread from a peanut butter sandwich and announced "night-nights" while running to his pack and play. He tried to turn on the music box and climb into bed only to realize he didn't have his blankie. So he ran back through the house (stopped for a drink of water) and was ready to go "home". Upon arriving home, he had to play outside (hide and go seek in the bushes) for an hour and then came in for lunch and night-nights. My mom said that he asked where "mama" "daddy"
"Air-ren" were when he first woke up. He had a very fun day and loved being the only child for a half a day!