Carson's First Swim

We finally got Carson in a lake today. If you'd have told me months ago that it'd take us this long before he'd get in a lake, I'd have said you were crazy. It just has never worked out on the days we've been out at the lake. So today we decided to take it easy and went with Grandpa and Grandma Moore out to Leisure Lake in Durand. Carson LOVED the water! We put him in this inflatable crab thing and he was totally loving it. He was kicking his feet and moving himself around, even! Kinda crazy! He also loved lying out on a towel half naked afterwards! :)

This weekend went by way too quickly. It was my first two-day weekend in six weeks... I've had Fridays off for the last six weeks and its been wonderful! On Saturday, we spent the day with Julie, Jason, Anna, and Joel, keeping them company and playing with the kids so that they had some time to grieve. It was nice to spend some time together and Carson loved seeing his cousins. He just gets such a kick out of watching other kids - I think he is anxious to be able to run and play with them.

I actually made it to our local farmer's market this afternoon after we got home from church. I picked up some Michigan sweet cherries (from Traverse City) and some Michigan blueberries. I'm currently working on drying the quart of cherries and I've frozen almost all two quarts of blueberries. I was going to bake today with the blueberries, but we didn't have time once we decided to go to the lake. I also had hopes of making pesto, but ran out of time for that, too, so hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night. I kind of feel like an old lady with all this preserving on my mind lately, but I really enjoy it. I can't wait till we start getting more produce from our garden and I can put that up, too! We should get some green beans by the end of the week, I think - yeah!! And probably some zucchini, too! I also noticed some more cherry tomatoes starting to turn orange, so I'll be drying some cherry tomatoes this week by the looks of it, too. :)

Foodie blog

I created a foodie blog finally. I've been thinking about it for many months now, just never got around to doing it. A cousin of Kevin's created one last week, so that gave me the motivation I guess I needed. Only one post there so far, but I'll be posting regularly. Feel free to check it out, bookmark it, share your own recipes, and leave some comments if you decide to try any of the recipes.

Some words to live by

This was from Rachelle's journal. She kept a regular journal and would have the following in every journal and daily planner she had. Rachelle's sister, Jennifer, read this at her funeral, and it was also written in the thank you notes from the family. I don't know if Rachelle herself wrote this, or if she came across it at some point and thought it was great. Either way, they are great words and thoughts to live by and I wanted to share them all with you.

"Everything changes, but staying true to yourself is most important. Being good to others should always be a top priority or God WILL find a way to humble you. Learn from your mistakes, and also those of others... We don't have enough time to make the same ones twice. Cherish all of the small moments. Try not to spend too much time worrying about others - there is always going to be someone happier, healthier, and more successful than you, so be the best you can be, and in someone's eyes it will be perfect. Forgive - even when it hurts - forgive - because one day, too, you'll be in need of forgiveness. Life would be so much easier if we could simply say sorry to all of the people we've hurt and let down with them knowing how much we mean it, but instead it helps to be aware of our actions, and the feelings of others. New friendships are wonderful, and we can learn so much from every person we choose to let into our lives - but our long-lasting, childhood freindships are untouchable. Never give up on the ones you love, even when the work seems to be unbearalbe - every hardship brings you closer and will make you stronger - laughs create good memories, but tears seal the bonds. Always stay conscious, and remember that ever single action that we choose to make is going to affect someone in one way or another... so make it a good one. Trust is everything - so trust in yourself, trust in God's plan, and help others to know that they can trust you, too. The beauty of being strong is not knowing it until we've been tested beyond our limit, and in times we feel the weakest. Smile, even when it hurts too much and you might be surprised by how many others will smile back. Be a good listener - that's 90% of what freindships are made of because everyone needs and wants to be heard - and in the end, people don't necessarily remember what you say, but instead how you listened. Try with all of your strength to never pass judgement on others - the only one with the power to do that is God - and we never know what God has planned so keep an open and understanding mind and heart. Don't question the things that we can't understand - because you'll waste too much time not understanding it. And because everything changes, we have the power to change anything we choose at any given time - even at this very moment."

5 Months Old!

Today Carson is 5 months old!! He's getting so big and getting more and more independent each and every day. He can now sit unsupported for up to about 30 seconds before he'll topple over. If he'd get the point of putting his hands down on the floor to help keep him steady, he'd be able to sit for quite a while, I think. But he's too busy chewing on his fists to put his hands down on the floor. :) He can also stand holding onto the ottoman for 5-10 seconds without us holding on to him. He then gets too excited and dances his feet around and loses balance. He still gets fed up with tummy time, but he tolerates it and has a little bit of fun on his tummy now at least. He's scooting around and turning in circles, doing push-ups, and rolling from his tummy to his back. He's so close to going from his back to his tummy, but I don't think anything has enticed him enough to really try for it.

Carson's favorite thing to do right now is probably to go outside and swing. Anything outside, really - he LOVES to be outdoors. His favorite toy is probably his exersaucer. He's so fun to watch play in there. He's started to rock back and forth, slamming himself to the front and to the back, then he cracks up laughing. His little giggle is just so cute!!

After Carson's normal dinner of rice cereal and organic prunes tonight, he got to have his first taste of organic sweet potatoes. He loved them! He got a little upset when I'd only give him a few bites - he wanted more! He'll be happy tomorrow when he's able to have a bit more - as long as he doesn't show any signs of being sensitive to them between now and then anyway. Speaking of eating, Carson was so wore out on Friday evening that he fell asleep just after eating his rice cereal and prunes, as I was cleaning up his dishes and before I could get him out of his highchair. I turned around and there he was, asleep in his chair. :)

We got quite a bit done again this weekend around the house and yard. I got all of the bulbs moved from the middle of the backyard last week and Kevin mowed down all of the overgrown weeds and rototilled it all up and planted grass seed. So hopefully we'll have a nice yard going here in the next few weeks. I also got a couple more flower beds weeded out today, only like five more to go! Although one of the remaining beds has poison ivy running throughout it, so I'm not quite sure what to do over there yet. Kevin also got the garage cleaned up and I got some organizing done inside that I'd been wanting to do for a while now.

The Bonnie Is No More

As you can see, the Bonneville is no more. My sister in the Bonnie and a guy in a full-size Silverado extended cab truck hit head on yesterday afternoon. It wasn't either of their faults, though. Lindsay was heading down Morrish Road, doing the speed limit, and a guy hauling a big trailer turned left onto Lennon Road right in front of her. I don't know if he thought there was a stop sign there or if he didn't see her with about six other cars behind her or what. Rather than slam into the side of the trailer, she swerved to the left and hit the truck that was coming up behind the trailer. Thankfully, no one was hurt. And the guy with the trailer didn't even stop... just kept on going. Lindsay's boyfriend, Jordan, was in his car behind her and then a cop was a car behind him and saw it all happen. So that is probably good, too, because there was no question of fault then.

So now the Bonnie is back in our possession once again, but this time on its death bed. :) Kevin has plans to tear as much off it as possible and put the parts and panels up for sale on Ebay or the Bonneville Forums. He and Danny have this grand plan of taking the engine out and putting it in Danny's Fiero, too, I guess. :-P All I know, is that it had better be out of the driveway before Carson's baptism on August 24th!!

Holiday Weekend

We spent our holiday weekend catching up on projects around the house and yard. I had let the weeds in our veggie garden get a little out of control these last couple of weeks, so I spent many hours out there removing all of the weeds. It looks like a garden again now! Everything is growing so well, at least I think it is since this is my first year having my own real garden (I've done container gardening from starter plants at my apartments in the past). The tomatoes are doing awesome - especially the cherry tomatoes and the romas, but the beefsteaks are doing pretty good, too. The celebrities are the smallest plants still, but they still seem to be growing pretty well. There are already tons of romas that are almost full-size, just still green. The peppers, beans, zucchini, squash, and cukes all seem to be doing pretty good, too. And the herbs are out of control right now! I think I'll make some homemade pesto next weekend with some of my basil and maybe some homemade tabouleh from my parsley, too. I'm so excited to be able to put up food for the first time! I'm excited to see how much the garden actually yields and if it'll be enough to sustain us through the winter. I'm also planning to do my normal farmer's market shopping, just buying more than I have in past years to preserve some of that, too. I'm going to go looking for some Michigan blueberries next weekend to try making some blueberry jam or syrup. Yum!

Today, Kevin and my Dad worked on the back chainlink fence. The top rails are now completely done and almost all of the chainlink is strung across the back. We still have a small 20-ft section or so to finish up. Then we'll need the gates and that row will be done. Then we'll just have the sides and the privacy panel gates and we'll have a fenced yard - yeah!

On Saturday, Carson rolled from his tummy to his back during his tummy time finally. I thought it might startle him, but it didn't, he seemed to enjoy it. He did it several different times when we'd roll him back to his tummy, he'd roll himself back onto his back. He's trying so hard to get his knees up under him, too. He'll be scooting around here pretty soon, I think. I added some prunes to Carson's rice cereal this weekend to see if that helps keep his poos more consistent. He really likes having the spoonful of prunes mixed in with the cereal, he seemed to want more after the cereal was all gone both times he had it with the prunes this weekend.

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday we celebrated Carson's first Independence Day. We went out to Sara's Aunt Jeri's house on the lake for a family party. It was rather cool for July 4th, but we still had a great day. We didn't take Carson for his first swim, though, because the water was still pretty chilly. Kevin got to do some more wakeboarding and kneeboarding and got to drive Sara's Uncle Mike's Ski Nautique again - that all put a big smile on his face for the day. :)

Carson had fun playing with the family and being the center of attention. We're finding that he gets a little frustrated already when he's not the center of it all - didn't know it could start this early. :) He's at a very fun age right now, so interactive and gaining so much more personality. He's into the imitation phase, where he'll imitate the sounds you make, which is fun. He's also more cuddly again. For awhile there, he wasn't wanting to snuggle much, but he's back into liking the cuddling again, which is great! And it seems like the clingy phase is over, too. Carson still isn't rolling over completely, but comes close without even trying. If he actually wanted to roll and tried, I bet he'd be able to do it, but he just isn't interested in rolling yet. He's sitting on his own a bit now, only for a few seconds, though, before he loses his balance. And when he's on his tummy, he's starting to pull his knees up under him. He's definitely a strong little guy!

There are lots of new pictures from the ski show and the 4th on our album page at the link to the right if you're interested.

Carson's First SLSC Ski Show

On Thursday, July 3rd, we met up with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom, and Uncle Jason, Aunt Julie, Anna and Joel when we took Carson to his first Ski Show out at Silver Lake. The Ski Club put on a great show. Not as much jumping as they normally have, but it was still a really good show. Carson enjoyed being outside, looking around, watching the people, playing with cousins, and even seemed to watch the show at times. We're hoping he picked up some pointers! :-P Hopefully we'll have him out there in a couple of years. They had a 3-year old in the pre-show this year - he did very well, too.