Haiti

On Thursday, my parents boarded an airplane headed for Haiti! They are on a 10-day missions trip with a group of 4 students and 4 adults from our church. This is the culmination of MUCH planning, much of which was done by Mom. I know they were excited, yet apprehensive, about what they were going to see and do. Say a little prayer for them this week and check out their blog (listed to the right) to see what they are up to!
We love you Mom & Dad (Grandpa & Grandma). Dylan has been praying for you and the "Haiti Team". It is so very cute! :)

Hannah's Day

Yesterday was full of fun for Hannah-

First she got to see Dr. Pott's new office! What a fun, inviting place. Dylan loved it too! She is doing great, but so different from Dylan at this age.

Hannah- 14lbs 11oz and 25 3/4"
Dylan- 16lbs 14oz and 27 1/2"

I can't wait to see this little one grow up! It is hard to believe that she'll get as big as her brother one day!

Then for supper, Grandma Westra got to feed Hannah some green beans after her rice. Yum-O! She enjoyed the first several bites, but then kinda shivered after the next few bites. It was funny to see her make that cute face. We'll see if she likes them any better tonight.

Saturday

Here are a few highlights from our Saturday at the cottage:

First, Dylan got to drive the SeaDoo with Uncle Mark! He loved it. When Mark first asked him, he said no. But when Mark said he would let him drive... Boy, was he ready! It was a fun time. Too bad the initial 10 hours weren't in yet. No tubing. Next time.

Then, right before we left, Grandma found a whole robin's egg, which was empty. She showed it to Dylan, who promptly grabbed it and took a bite! Seriously! I think he thought it was a chocolate Robin's Egg from Easter. Good thing he didn't swallow, but spit it out instead! What a hoot!

Our Backyard

I love our new yard! At Blandford, we had a huge backyard full of wildlife. We were able to enjoy so much of God's creation from our kitchen window. Then we moved to the condo. We had a beautiful view, but not much wildlife. I missed the birds the most.

Now we're here and there are SO MANY birds. Call me a dork, but I love it! Even though they start chirping at 5:00 am, I love hearing them. We have seen the typical Michigan birds... sparrows, wrens, goldfinches, robins, starlings... but Friday, we got a few special visitors. In the morning, I watched a huge hawk fly around the backyard and land in our neighbors garden. Then, in the afternoon, Dylan & I got to watch a mother Cedar Waxwing teach her 4 babies how to fly between ours and our neighbor's tree. It was so fun!

Cedar Waxwing

Here is Dylan (1 year old) watching a baby Cedar Waxwing while camping at Wabasis Lake.

We'll have to stock up on birdseed and thistle for this fall and winter. Dylan and I love watching the bird feeder and then finding the birds in our bird book. Hopefully Hannah will enjoy doing this with us too!

The Lord's Army

Here's Dylan's silly video of "The Lord's Army"... Enjoy!

Summer finally arrived!

Two Sundays ago, we finally headed up to the Meengs' cottage. We went on a spur of the moment decision and were glad we did! It was nice to be back by the water and enjoy a relaxing afternoon with Grandma & Grandpa. Dylan went swimming (even though the water was still pretty cold!), fishing, played in the sand, and took a paddle boat ride with me and Grandma. Hannah enjoyed being outside too! Even Jon got to go fishing with Dad and caught a couple rock bass. (Nothing to compare to Mark's catch this past weekend though... Those were some nice sized pike and large mouth bass! You still hold the record, I think!)

We're headed back up this weekend to try out Mom's new SeaDoo! I'm sure we'll have a great time... as long as it doesn't rain cats & dogs like last weekend!

Bob The Builder

Last week, we finally made it to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum's "Bob the Builder" exhibit. WHAT FUN! Although there were like a million kids there between end-of-the-year field trips and it being the last week for Bob, Dylan was in his glory. I don't think he stood still for more than 3 minutes. He could climb into all the machines, fix water pipes, use Bob's tools, plant Wendy's garden, build buildings, load and dump the wheel barrow, and just plain run around! His favorite machine is Benny, the mini backhoe. Benny says, "That's unreal, banana peel!" in the cutest Australian accent. Dylan was saying that all morning and it was adorable!

Here we are sitting in Benny-

Dylan found this bumblebee costume and wore it for half of the morning. What a goof!
At the end of the morning, Dylan finally settled down and played in the kitchen for about 15 minutes. I think he was either hungry, or just plain worn out!

Bob is headed to the Indianapolis Children's Museum next... maybe we'll have to visit the VanderWoude's then head down to Cincinnati this summer! :)

6 Months

Happy 1/2 Birthday to you, happy 1/2 birthday to you, happy 1/2 birthday to HANNAH! Happy 1/2 birthday to you!

Unbelievable is all I have to say! My little munchkin is growing up so quick. She has grown so much this past month and learned many new things. Our little Hannah Grace now loves to sit up and see what is going on around her. She talks all the time (her voice sounds a lot like a scream though...). She reaches for everything and lets you know when she can't quite reach it. She also puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. And finally today, I saw and felt her first little tooth popping through. She also started eating cereal. I wouldn't say that she loves it, but she'll gobble it right down because I think she's hungry enough.

Hmmm... what is this stuff?

I can't wait to see what these next 6 months will hold... scooting, crawling, standing, walking, "talking", and who knows what else! What a miracle!

Reading

Dylan loves letters and their sounds! He knows them all and likes to think he can read. Here is what he said today when he saw the word MEDIUM.

"Look Mom, it says Mom, Eat, Dylan, I love, Up, Mom!"

How funny! I guess we have to start working on blending the sounds together!

He also likes to rhyme. I'll have to have him sing "The Lord's Army" for the video. He first sings it the right way, and then his made-up silly way. He just makes up words that rhyme with the real word in the song. It is pretty funny. But... he doesn't really like the camera right now, so I'm not sure if I can get it. We'll see!

What a goof ball!