Happy Birthday Marissa!

My little baby turned 1 yesterday (on Easter)!  She is growing up so fast and we love her so much!  A few things about her at a year:

-We may be in trouble- she is a total flirt and she especially loves men.  She will smile and wave until she gets their attention and has them wrapped around her little finger in 2 seconds. 
-She is a great eater.  She will eat just about anything (of course including dirt and all that kind of stuff too...), her only stipulation is that you mix it up and give her some variety.  Some favorites are avocado, strawberries, blackberries, bananas, and anything we are having for dinner.
-Loves her brother and also enjoys tormenting him.  He loves lining up his cars and she can't resist crashing them, much to his dismay.
-She's getting a little bit closer to walking but I think it still may be a ways off.
-Still nursing but we're working on the weaning now that she can have cow's milk.
- Says mama, dada, and more (ha!), and signs more, eat, drink, milk, all done, book, please, and gerbil.  She tries so hard to say baby but it just comes out "da". 
-Is pretty much done with morning naps but takes a good afternoon one and sleeps great at night.
-Kind of has a mullet at the moment, and has 12 teeth now. 
-Figures out how to do things/get into stuff pretty quickly.
-Gives us the best hugs and cuddles but is not big on kisses. 
-Loves mooching anything off of Dad and if he tries to open his computer on the couch she will climb onto his lap and beg him to watch something. 

Happy birthday Marissa!!  We sure do love you!!!

Life Lately

Nothing too exciting going on here lately but I like to document the day-to-day stuff too, so here goes.  A couple weeks ago we had some really unseasonably warm weather and had a lot of fun outside.

I had fun pulling out some of the summer clothes

And we walked to this little playground a couple blocks away from our house several afternoons.  It has been fun to see the progress Shane has made since last summer!

Josh had grand plans for our yard and filled in most of the dead patches of grass with seed, and then the weather turned last week.  But next week is looking on the up and up so we're hoping it grows.

Speaking of Josh, he has finished 3 weeks of his surgery core and is still alive!  Just kidding (kind of).  He got the luck of getting the attending surgeon who is notorious for ripping into students and eating them alive, but feels like he is incurring his wrath a little bit less every day, which has to mean something good right?  He even gave him a compliment the other day (then said, "just don't let it get to your head!")  He is learning a ton though and getting some good experience.  His alarm goes off before 4 every day (including Saturday) to get to the hospital by 5 to round on patients and is on call at the hospital about one night a week but is usually home for dinner the rest of the nights at least.  The kids soak up all the time they get with him and sure love their daddy.

He got a charcoal grill with some Christmas money and we busted it out for the first time today and had burgers outside for dinner

Along with a little baseball:)

And I ran a half marathon last Saturday with my friend Jamie.  I've run a couple before and have always kind of had the goal of finishing under 2 hours but could never quite do it so I was super excited to finish this one in 1:58:23.  It was perfect running weather and I realized that after doing most of my runs pushing 55+ pounds of kids in the stroller, it felt pretty good to run without that!

Grandparents Galore!!

A few days after we got back from visiting my parents in California, we had Josh's mom come out to see us in Michigan!  The kids were in grandparent heaven!  Grandma Dettinger is so good with the kids and we had so much fun with her at the park, the museum, and of course hanging out and doing whatever the kids wanted her to.  We know we've made it hard on our parents by moving so far away but it's a good thing we have cute kids so we are ensured visits from them!  Thanks for coming out Shelley, we had a blast!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Alright, you know the deal by now.  It's St. Patrick's Day, so I can't help but write limericks, one for each of us.  This is Marissa's debut year!

Marissa will shortly be one,
She's getting to be so much fun,
Doesn't care about walking
Spends lots of time talking
And sure loves when dinner's begun!

Shaners is finally well
After an awfully long sick spell
Spends much of his days
Lining up cars in new ways
And still thinks his sister's real swell

Kelly's done many a run
To train for her 13.1
Loves her days with the kids
But when they close their eyelids
She relaxes and gets some stuff done

Josh just started his surgery core
So we don't see him much anymore
Surgeons sure can be rude
But he's got a good attitude
I'm so glad family med's what he'll go for!

More Fun in California

While we were in California and my parents were working we passed the time by seeing some of our favorite people.  We are so glad that Josh's grandparents live in California still so we can see them I go home, because the kids love them!

(P.S. Yes my son is in my underwear.  Apparently he got my "I get carsick when I try to read in the car" gene)

It worked out great that Josh's Aunt Jennifer was there for the weekend with her sons Jackson and Trent and that she stayed a few extra hours to see us. 

She was so good with the kids and they had fun playing hide and seek with her.

 Then when I realized that I was in the same state as my island friend Liz we set some plans rolling to meet up and I was so glad to see them!  Shane and Emmy spent the first chunk of their life together on the island.
This was the last time we saw them,

and now they're both 3!  They weren't best friends at first,

But Emmy wooed over Marissa,

and then she and Shane bonded

Here we are with our 2 kids each now, who knows where life will take us between now and the next time we see each other!

We also got to see my best bud Christie, who is always a hit with the kiddos.

And we made a little trip to my mom's school and Shane was in HEAVEN.  We walked in and he wanted to sit at a desk so we found an empty one for him and he read books and colored while the kids did their work.  Do you think he is going to love school or what?  Except he is convinced he will be riding a bus there ;)

Where Have We Been?

What, I haven't posted a blog in weeks??  Where have I been??  Well, judging by the shorts and shirts we're wearing in some of the pictures, not Michigan!  My mom and dad said they couldn't go any longer without seeing me their grandchildren and demanded that we fly out and see them, so I obliged:)  It was a relaxing, warm, beautiful 10 days in Southern California and we had so much fun with them!  We went on a lot of walks/runs, shopping, to the park, of course ate well, and loved just hanging out with my parents and brother.  Both kids really had no problems warming up to any of them, and I am pretty sure Marissa completely melted my dad's heart.  Thanks for a fun time Mom and Dad, can't wait to see you guys again!

(We were also able to see some more people while we there so stay tuned for more posts :) )