Family Visits!

Ryan and I love visitors and we can just never seem to get enough, but we were all excited to have Grandma Johnson and Jessica and Andrew&family for the weekend. We sure had a full apartment - Marissa was in heaven, but Devon was a little overwhelmed!

Grandma, Jessica and Andrew arrived late Saturday night after Marissa was in bed. We had to wake Marissa up around 10pm to move her out in the front room to sleep with all the kids. However, once she was up she was up! Sometime after midnight all the other kids were asleep but Anna and Marissa were still going strong.


On Sunday, after a big breakfast and before church, we took them to the Arboretum. Here's Grandma with the grandkids!


Anna and Marissa at the Arboretum.


On Monday, we went to Jenny's Market. Here's Grandma with Devon (and casper).


Marissa, Anna, and Ellie in a wagon at the cider mill.


Our family on the straw maze. The kids had a blast running in, around, and on the straw maze with Ryan and Andrew chasing them!


Anna and Marissa.


We didn't get to go on a wagon wide because we went on a Monday and apparently they were too tired from their "big" weekend, but here are all the kids on a wagon.


The kids just hanging around!

Marissa was so sad to see her cousins go, but luckily we could tell her that we'd see them this weekend! I'm sure Marissa will ask all the time if Anna can come to her house - it seems pretty empty now:) We all sure had a great time this weekend and hope we'll get more visitors soon!

Cider Mill and Dexter Apple Daze!

This is at Jenny's Market in Dexter. They have a cute set-up but the only problem is the bees!


We were driving through Dexter on the way to the cider mill and saw that "Dexter Apple Daze" was going on. People had booths set up, there was food, and they had music playing in the center pavilion.


Marissa loves to dance!





They also had a jumping structure and Marissa had a blast jumping!

Family Sport--Tennis....or Golf?

Ryan had quite a bit of time off this summer, which gave us quite a bit of time to play some golf. Unfortunately, neither of us are very good, but we have a good time together. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Earp, we all have some new clubs, which we have been putting to good use!



Look at that stance!



Here's Devon with Marissa's putter. He decided he was not going to be left out - and he probably has the most potential of us all.

More Summer Fun!

Devon wasn't big enough for most of the summer to ride in our bike trailer, but we finally tried it out and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. However, Devon has this habit of not always looking at the things his hands are grabbing. Throughout our bike rides we would often look back and find Devon's arm straight out to the side grabbing Marissa's hair. Marissa would be screaming and Devon would be calmly looking out his little window. It was almost like he was saying to Marissa, "I can bug you and I'm not even trying". Despite this Marissa usually adores Devon and is a great big sister!

Summer Fun!

This summer flew by and I am still in denial that fall is here. It was a gorgeously mild summer, which at any other time probably would have been wonderful. However, we had pool passes and there were just too many days this summer when we would go outside and it wasn't 'pool' weather. When it was hot enough to go Marissa was thrilled. She took a swimming class during which I found she could be bribed to do just about anything. She was not crazy about the idea of putting her head in the water, but after promises of 'big' treats she was brave enough to try. When she would do it I would cheer her and praise her and she would get so excited, almost giddy, to the point where she would dunk her head repeatedly and come up with a huge grin on her face. She did a great job in her class and loves to go swimming!



After Marissa started dunking her head, we went to the pool with little fountains in them and she loved running straight through them!


While Grandma Johnson was here we went to the pool. However, it was one of those mild summer days where it just wasn't hot enough to swim. Obviously, that did not bother Marissa.In fact, she loved it because she had the whole toddler pool and all the toys to herself!


Marissa loves things that are "just her size" and at the pool they had smaller lawn chairs for kids that she thought were pretty neat!

Visit with Grandma!

We loved having Grandma Johnson here for a visit. One of Marissa's favorite things to do with grandma was read books!

Happy Birthday, Marissa!

I can't deny it any longer - Marissa is growing up. There was quite a bit of anticipation on Marissa's part for her birthday to come. This year she understood quite a bit more about birthdays and was excited to turn three. When anyone asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would say "a horn" and then she'd say "and a car" - sure we'll just throw that in there. Ryan found a dollar spot at Walmart with a horn and some little toy cars and she was thrilled to get her horn and cars along with her other presents.

This year, Ryan insisted on a party for her with some friends. She had been into princesses lately so she had a princess party at the park complete with princess cake and a castle pinata. Here are some of our favorite pictures from her birthday!



Marissa with her princess cake! I told her I was sad she was going to turn three, that she is getting too big. She said, "But I will share my cake with you, Mommy. Will that make you happy?"


Marissa was so excited to have Grandma Johnson here for her birthday!


Marissa with her castle pinata - Ryan spent the day before perfecting her homemade pinata and had to convince Marissa that it was going to be cool to smash her pretty castle.


Marissa blowing out her candle - it was windy so Ryan and Mike were trying to keep the candle lit long enough for her to blow it out, which is why you can't actually see her big "3" candle.


Marissa winding up for the first big hit!


Unfortunately, our video camera ran out of tape before this point, but this is when Ryan had to help break the pinata. Marissa literally looked like a little rag doll is his arms as he was trying to swing hard enough to break open the pinata.


Here is Marissa with most of her presents - it was at this point we realized yet again how spoiled she must be! Notice the princess tent, with princess backpack, and princess water bottle.


Here is Marissa with her barbie castle dollhouse. Grandma Johnson thinks she is pretty funny as she tries to see if she can make her presents bigger every year (last year she gave Marissa a kitchen, which she loves along with her dollhouse)!