Merry Christmas!!

***PHOTOS COMING SOON***

Happy 1st Birthday Garrett!!

What a difference a year makes!

Garrett did great at his well-child check up!

He tipped the scales at 25lbs 12oz and stands 32-1.2 inches tall!! What a growing boy!

Garrett 12.23.08

Garrett 12.23.09

Photos and party recap coming soon!

Teething and Ear Infections = Cranky Baby!

Poor Garrett has had a weekend of it! His molars are cutting through and Saturday we had our first (certainly not the last) visit to one of the local Urgent Care offices and sure enough, Garrett has his FOURTH ear infection! I think its time to make that call to the ENT - stat!

His bib says it all....

Note to self...do not bring a sled into the house unless you plan on pulling Garrett ALL night! Anything less will end in tears - and a big "I told you so" from Matt =)

Go Madison, Go!

No, I do NOT want to stop!

Hide & Seek

Or just HIDE =)

Garrett's newest trick is to hide stuff all over the house! These magnetic farm animals have ended up in the pots and pans, plastic storage containers - he even placed on in Boris' crate (sweet boy)!

Turns out he is pretty particular about his hiding spots too! The other day I gave Garrett his sippy cup after breakfast - he runs around the house with it, barking orders at who ever will listen! After a while he started to get an attitude so I searched for the sippy cup....and searched some more! I thought I was losing my mind - why couldn't I find it, he just had it with him!

We have a non-functioning desk in the kitchen (aka storage) that has three drawers. Of course Garrett isn't supposed to be IN these drawers but he likes to open and shut them, most of the time not paying any attention to whats inside.

As I continue to search the house I decide I need to go down to Garrett's level...if I was on the loose where would I hide my cup from my Mom? And then it hit me!! I walked into the kitchen, opened the second drawer down and tada - the cup!! He had moved a few things around to make room - it fit right in!!

1st Snow Day

Madison had her first snow day today! She was SO excited to not only miss school today but she was told last night she could stay with her friend Annaka today! Turns out the "snow day dance" is way old school - the new thing is to wear your pajamas inside out AND backwards, put a spoon under your pillow and then flush an ice cube down the toilet before bed! She did everything but the ice cube (since we found that out later)!

Here Madison danced with my old high school dance team - she did a great job with the choreography to "Party in the USA" and will be happy to do a repeat performance any time! The old place hadn't really changed too much in the last 10 years! Same school staff and a few structural changes.

Why not =)

What does any sane person do on December 8th?

With the exception of Christmas shopping I would say whatever they do on any other normal day =) We are clearly not sane, this morning we started demo on the kitchen - with Garrett's 1st birthday party just two weeks out and family Christmas dinner just two days later!

So in the next couple of weeks our island will be relocated, a bar added, a wall opened up AND new kitchen flooring will be put in. I almost forgot - Matt will be painting the new dining room (former known as the "conference room") all the while working one of his busiest months of the year and I keep two kids and two dogs out of all the mess.

Oh, happy days!

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary =)

The Wedding Party

Our Little Family 12.01.07

Mr. & Mrs.

Sleep Baby Sleep

We are on our 3rd night of letting Garrett "put himself to sleep" and tonight he actually did it all on his own!

Gobble Gobble

Garrett's 11 month birthday!

Madison & Garrett's Baptism

What a wonderful day!! Madison & Garrett were Baptized tonight, Pastor Dan performed a beautiful ceremony and both kids did an amazing job! Aunt Val & Uncle Lonnie accepted our request to be God parents to the kids! We were blessed with so many family members witnessing the service and enjoying the evening at our church.

SO a BIG thank you to Aunt Val, Uncle Lonnie, Grandma-Grandma & Steve, Grandma Mo, Grammy & Papa Russell, Grandma & Grandpa Sleder and Uncle Dan & Aunt Jenn for coming to the baptism!

Madison and Garrett were presented with some beautiful hand-made items from the church! Madison was given a pillow that had her name and the date embroidered and Garrett was given an adorable baby blanket with the same info! We are truly blessed!!

Happy Veterans Day!!

A big THANK YOU to all of those Veterans that have served and are currently serving!! Continue to fight the good fight, we are behind you and support you 110%! Thank you for my freedom!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!

Monday, November 6, 2000 @ 1:06am Madison was delivered by Dr. Peter Bump (he also delivered Garrett). She was 8lbs 6oz and 21-1/4 inches long! Madison shares her birthday with Great Grandpa Hays! Wishing you both a very Happy Birthday!

Happy Halloween!

This is what happens when we ALL try to take a picture together!

Happy (belated) Ten Month Birthday Garrett!

I was so excited about Garrett's walking that I forgot to post his monthly birthday message! So better late than never is the way to go...right?

Its official...Garrett is walking!!! Just one day shy of 10 months! He took 6-8 steps towards me JUST now!

Pahl's Pumpkin Patch 2009

Avalanche Bay

Oh what fun we had!!

JOGATHON

Madison is on the far right, the orange #6!

Fall Fun @ The Corn Maze

See the silo waaaaaaay back there!

Hiking along...we were bringing up the rear!

Matt was hesitant to give up the map....go figure!

Beautiful Madison!

Kids!

More pictures of my good looking kids=)

Madison & Garrett 10.02.09

Madison giving kisses...Garrett pulling hair!
Cheese...see all of my teeth!

Ohhh....too close Momma!

I kid! I kid! Ha, here are my 6 teeth (and two moving in)!

Garrett's 9 month Stats =)

Houston...we have lift off! Garrett has graduated to crawling "army" style into a full hands and knees and this boy is FAST! Almost in an instant he went from pulling himself up on toys and tables to walking along the tables and last night I even saw him transition from the table to the couch!! He is on the move and it is all we can do to keep up with him! Turns out he loves the vacuum now too - just this weekend he followed Matt (and the noise) all around the house!! We've barricaded off most of the living room - the rest of the house is another story =) Garrett strolled (literally - I pushed him in the stroller) with three teeth on the bottom and two just breaking in on the top! He thinks it is really funny to "mouth" my hand! He is picking up his food (he prefers raking over pinching - those with small children know what I'm talking about) and is ALL about the Gerber Puffs! I'll have a photo to follow soon but for the time being know that on September 25, 2009 Garrett tipped the scale at 23lbs 6 oz (above 90%) with a height of 31 inches (97%)! He is sporting some bigger 12 months clothing but mostly 18 months!

Garrett 9.24.09

Good Harbor

Wow - Sunday turned into a fun-filled family day! We traveled out to cross off another beautiful path from our "have to hike" list! The Good Harbor Bay Trail was a good all around hike (easy on me since I carried Mr. Man in the backpack) but wasn't as scenic as we would have liked. There are nine total paths listed on our map - we've been able to check three off! Madison was even brave enough to jump into the lake after our hike - we stuck Garrett's toes in the water and he didn't like it one little bit! We had a great time and look forward to getting out for another hike again soon!

MSU Babies =)

We were lucky enough to travel down and spend the weekend with Greg, Angie & William Schaefer. Greg and Matt were roommates (yes, Cedar Village) at Michigan State and have been the best of friends ever since. William and Garrett are just one month apart and their Dad's are already making plans for MSU!

Congratulations Tony & Denise Darin!! Their wedding was what sparked our trip down and Matt attended the wedding for all of us! Angie & I snuck away for a kid-free lunch and Babies R Us shopping (my first time ever - I could spend days in that store)!

A HUGE Thank You to the Schaefer Family for putting up with us, er, putting us up =)

William (9 mo) and Garrett (8 mo) 09/11/2009

William was a fan of Garrett right away, took a little longer to

like the strange lady with the camera!

Future Spartans!

"What?!? William said I could play with all of his toys...while he took a nap!"

Funny Finger Boys!

Yep, Angie with 40+ pounds of cuteness in her arms!! We are blessed with BIG, healthy boys!!