Thanks Aunt Shannon!!!

My sister sent us some of her girls' old clothes last week and I am having so much fun playing dress up!  Thanks so much Shannon and girls!  And check out those rolls on her thigh, I could eat them up!

Summer Begins!

Josh's Step 1 is done!!!  (Course we would be able to enjoy this time off a little more if we knew the results (we won't get his score until July 13th), but I'm sure it went fine.  A few extra prayers are always good though :))  We drove down to Grand Rapids on Tuesday night to stay in a hotel there so Josh wouldn't have to wake up and drive the 2 hours before his test the next day.  We ate dinner at Chili's, put the kids to bed (Shane in the other double and Marissa on the floor) and relaxed for a bit.  After a delicious breakfast, Josh headed to his test and my Aunt Pat came to pick up me and the kids.  What a lifesaver- Josh's test was from 9:30 to 5:30 and I don't think I could have done it without her!  We went to the children's museum there in Grand Rapids, it was huge and Shane had a blast!  He even got to decorate his own little tote bag.   

After stopping for lunch at Panera Bread, we drove to her house an hour away in Fremont and hung out there while we waited for Josh.  We went on a little walking trail and to a park and then to the store to pick up some food for dinner.  Pat is so good with these kids and Shane really loves her.

When Josh got back we celebrated with a dinner of spaghetti (they had his pasta at the store!), corn on the cob, a big summer salad, and watermelon.  Then we braved the line at the hot spot in town, Lakeside Swirl, for some ice cream and Shane got his own little cone for the first time.  Do you think he liked it? :)

Family time here we come!

We played on the playground for a little bit and Shane was just so happy to be with his daddy.

The next morning we went back to the playground,

and ventured down one of the many nature trails for a little walk.

Shaners almost took a tumble into the creek but aside from a few scratches and hurt pride he was fine.

Then we went back to the lake and enjoyed a little bit of people watching with the social gathering there.  They were really nice and let Shane look at their horses. 

He had the time of his life throwing sand into the lake and Josh and I enjoyed just being together. 

We left Thursday afternoon after lunch and are now back in Saginaw packing in the fun while we can!

The Latest and Greatest

Just thought I'd do a little update on each of us.
Marissa:

She is 7 weeks old now and we have loved having her in our house, especially Shane!  She is pretty happy and smiley, until she needs a nap.  She hates sleeping in her crib during the day, and pretty much insists on napping in the swing, carseat, or stroller instead.  I have given up fighting her on that (for now) and figure I can't complain because she has slept a 7-8 hour stretch every night for the last week.  And now I have jinxed it by saying it out loud ha ha.  And I guess it works out well because Shaners and I like to be out and about during the day, and apparently she does too.   

She rolled over a couple days ago from front to back but I'm pretty sure it was a fluke.  And her favorite time of day is bathtime.

Shane:

Oh Shane.  We love him but he sometimes frustrates the heck out of us too.  When he does not want to do something he is so stubborn.  We are still battling him to feed himself (at the ripe old age of almost 2 1/2 ha ha) but he is doing much better.  And yet he has known all his letters for awhile now because he wanted to learn them.  He gets frustrated easily and thinks he needs help with everything so we are trying to show him he can do a lot of stuff on his own.  Burger King was the first place he realized he could go down the slide on his own and that it's fun. 

And yesterday we went to the school next to our house for the first time and Shane headed right for the tallest slide there!  I wondered if he would actually go down it but sure enough, he went down, backwards on his belly, and had a blast!

He is still oatmeal's biggest fan, wants to read books all day, and in case you were worried- the happy dance is still alive and well!  We sure love this kid and he makes us laugh every day.

Kelly:

I am adjusting to life with 2 kids, feeling like superwoman some days and a complete failure others.  I am getting back into running and remembering how much I missed that release.  Feeling good, but wishing I were back into island shape.  I've been really into reading lately and have somehow managed to read more lately than I have in awhile.  Since Marissa was born I've read Salem Falls by Jodi Piccoult, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Triumph by Carolyn Jessop, and The Memory Keeper's Daughter and have loved them all!  I've also been into finding and trying out new recipes. Josh would be happy eating the same 6 or 7 dinners all the time but I get restless and have been trying a couple new dinners a week.  So if you have any favorites I would love to try them!

Josh:

Josh plays pickup basketball every Tuesday night, takes Sundays off, and spends pretty much every other waking moment studying for his Step 1.  He was looking at his study schedule the other day and realized he's been going at this for the past 43 days now.  Needless to say, he is exhausted and ready to be done.  Thankfully, his test is on Wednesday and he will have a good chunk of time off after it!  Woohoo!   

Melting Me

Even though it has only been a couple years, I feel like there are things that come with a newborn that you forget about until you have one in the house again.  Like how little it actually takes to stimulate them- let me tell ya, we apparently have some pretty fascinating walls around here. Or how they will sleep their first 6+ hour stretch at night and you will genuinely (but mistakenly) think that performance will repeat itself the next night.  Or that sometimes you will wish they just made mustard-yellow onesies (you know what I'm talking about).  But, more importantly, you forget how good it feels the first few times they look up at you, hear your voice, and give you a smile accompanied by the most adorable coo that pretty much just melts you to the floor.  Love this girl. 

Fun in Fremont

It is kind of ironic (and lucky!) that of all the places in the states, we ended up just 2 hours away from my aunt and uncle's house almost exactly due east.  I made the trip out to Fremont with Shane and Marissa last week because my cousin Corrie and her kids were there from Florida, and I couldn't believe how close it really is!  Corrie and I have always been good friends but it is even more fun now that she has a little girl Clare who is 4 months older than Shane,    

and a little boy Isaac who is 5 months older than Marissa.

I didn't get any pictures of us because, well, probably because most of the time we were nursing babies.  But we had a lot of fun just chatting and hanging out, walking, eating yummy food, and going to the park.  It was funny to see how opposite our little ones are, Shane my contemplative, content, and often wussy little boy

and Clare the adventurous, busy, and brave little girl.  But I think they had fun together. 

And we even managed to do a little photoshoot with my little chunk.  Here are a few of my favorites:

And the reality behind those cute shots:  bodily fluids coming out of all ends!

Pat got christened many times and was a very good sport about it, on top of letting us spend the night, preparing a delicious hoisin chicken dinner, and just generally spoiling us.  We had such a good time and are so happy to be so close!

Spring Has Sprung!

Well, after a full week of beautiful weather and more in the forecast to come, I think I can officially say that Spring has finally reached Michigan. 

Within just a week everything has turned super green and trees and flowers are blossoming everywhere.  Saginaw is actually shaping up to be kind of lovely, who would have thought? (Cough, cough, Mom! ha ha) 

The best part of all this is that I can get out with the kids.  (I have kids, plural, that sounds so weird!)  After much debate and research, we betrayed the BOB and went with this Canadian brand, Chariot because it can actually fit in my car and can be turned into a bike trailer and a few other things.  I was nervous about the change because a good jogging stroller is pretty important to me but so far I have loved it!  Shane loves riding next to Marissa and she loves her little hammock thingy that goes in it- she stays asleep in it well after we come home which I am loving!

We have been able to go on a walk at least every day and it has been a good way for me to ease into this whole getting out with two small children thing.  This may sound strange but I actually really enjoyed walking everywhere in Dominica (minus getting all my groceries back home) so it has been really fun for me to walk again and find excuses of errands to run closeby to walk to.  Of course if Shane has any say we walk to this train park;)

Now if June could come quickly so that we can do these kind of things with Josh!

Cute.

So I realize these are all essentially the same, but I just couldn't decide between them.  And I figure you'll indulge me because only a handful of you even live close enough to actually see her in person ;)

And how could I leave out big brother?