Rainy Day

Dylan was singing last night while looking out the window. Here was his song:

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
Little Dylan wants to play
Rain, rain, go away

Then he paused... and began singing again:

Rain, rain, please stay here
Little Dylan wants to take a walk with his umbrella
Mom and Dad want to come too with their umbrellas
Rain, rain, please stay here

What a cutie pie! Oh, the smiles he brings! We can't help but love him to pieces!

Apples, Apples, Apples

September + Sunshine + Saturday = Apples Picking!
On Saturday, we headed out to DK Orchards to pick a few apples. Dylan was very excited to see the apple trees, ride the tractor, but most of all, to eat the apples with some caramel. It was fun to head out there and see Dylan experience all the things in his book "Apples, Apples, Apples". He pretended to be Pip, Hannah was Minna, and Jon and I were Ma & Pa ! :)





I think that he has eaten 7 apples already! Hopefully he'll leave a few for us to eat too!

Hurricane Ike & Our Backyard

What a joy to see this in our backyard today. While Jon was either cleaning out the drain in the neighbor's yard or vacuuming up the water in the basement, Dylan had fun playing in the "huge flood"!
Right now, Jon is vacuuming out the water in his car! He just said he filled up the shop vac twice...Oh joy! At least we don't live in Texas... for that I am grateful!

My Peanut is 9 Months Old!

It makes me sad to say... but our little baby Hannah is already 9 months old! That seems so old to me. Maybe it makes me sad because she is just that much closer to a year... and that means a lot of change! Walking, talking, no more nursing, less naps, "real" food... my baby is just getting too old! I could say "she's getting too big", but that would not be true. We've got a tiny one here. She is still fitting in most of her 3-6 months clothes! Dylan was out of those by like 4 months! Maybe that is why this 9 month mark is hard on me, she still seems so little to me.

This (above) is the best picture I could get since she was doing this (below) most of the time!

But, my oh my, do we ever love her! Dylan said today while he and she were laughing together, "She is the best baby sister ever!" Awww! Hannah is our shy little Mama's girl. She still only says "mama" and not yet "dada". (Sorry, Jon! Dylan said "dada" first, so I'm claiming this one!) She's quiet and sneaky too. She can scootch across the room and get into trouble in half a second! She LOVES to climb. If we're sitting on the floor in front of the couch, she'll have climbed up our shoulders and onto the couch before we know it. Maybe she'll be a rock-climber, since she loves the outdoors too. Got a crabby Hannah? Bring her outside and set her in the grass or sandbox and you've got a whole new girl! I could go on and on, but I'll "ponder them in my heart" like Mary! We love you Hannah Gracie! Happy 9 months!

"My toes are way more fun to look at, Mom!"

Here are some quick stats in you're interested:

Hannah--

Weight: 16 lbs. 4 oz (8th %ile)

Height: 26 3/4" (20th %ile)

Dylan (at 9 months)--

Weight: 20 lbs (45th %ile)

Height: 28 1/2" (55th %ile)

Today

A Blog Slacker's Update

I can't believe that it has been such a long time since I've posted. I'm more surprised that neither Amy nor Kerin have bugged me about it! I guess everyone is busy... I'm sure you would have much rather seen these photos right after they happened, but here they are anyway--

Dylan has entered the world of "big boys" finally. Although, I wonder about him sometimes!

We've spent lots of time outside playing, swimming, running through the sprinkler, riding bikes, and blowing bubbles!

Last weekend we got together with the Westra family to celebrate all the summer birthdays. Great-Grandma Westra loves to play with Hannah. I think Hannah likes it too!

Hannah, my mom, & I went blueberry picking last week. We picked 7 pounds of berries. Hannah liked picking the leaves. We've eaten a lot of them and made some bread & muffins too.

We walked to a "new" playground with Austin. Now Dylan is really ready to go to school at Grandville Christian! Too bad he has to wait another year.

On Friday, we headed out to the cottage overnight. Friday night, we had a great fire with s'mores and Saturday had fun playing around. We missed Chloe, Julia, & Lauren though... they were sick! Yuck!Building the fire... Jon working, Dad watching, & Mom playing with Hannah! :)

The fire was REALLY hot!

Making silly faces with Grandpa!

Dylan built a church and a factory with the firewood while Dad, Mark, and Jon worked around the cottage in the morning.

Digging for worms with Daddy...

So that Dylan can fish! He had fun catching 4 fish! Better than Uncle Mark or Dad!

My silly Hannah with her silly face. She had fun eating the sand!

Dylan waited not-so-patiently yesterday for Jon to finish hanging some blinds so he could jump on the bubbles. Running on these took up about a half an hour today!

Today we had a busy house! We usually babysit Austin, but we also added Addyson to the mix. It was fun day with 4 kids (3, 2, 10 months, and 9 months)! Hannah was a little jealous, but other than that, we had fun. And the wonderful part for all of you was that they were all asleep for 1 1/2 hours so I could do most of this post!

Hope you're enjoying September! I'll try to be better about posting at least once a week. That WAS my goal for August... oh well!