October Craziness!

We had an extremely busy and fun-filled October this year.  Not only did we do lots of fun things together as a family, but my photography business really took off in October with all the beautiful fall colors this year.  It was a lot of fun.  I learned a lot.  And I’m even more excited to see where this adventure leads during the next year.  But I’ve also been enjoying a little down-time the last few weeks, too.  I had to put a lot of extra stuff aside since I was so busy with the business, so it has been nice to get back into those extra things (like making some Christmas gifts and working on some small projects around the house). 

Even though we did so many fun things, I realize now that I didn’t take that many pictures.  Since having Bristol, it’s tough to take as many pictures as I used to at family outings and functions. 

We had several playdates with a few of Carson’s preschool friends, which were always a lot of fun.  The kids always have so much fun playing together and I have really been enjoying getting to know a couple of the other mom’s a little better.  I just love making new friends!  J  Kevin and I have been getting to know the parents of one of Carson’s friends on Tuesday nights, too.  They’re also in the Life with God class with us.  We’ve been out for coffee (or in my case apple cider ;-P) with them a couple of times, too.  After the holidays, we’re hoping to have a chance to get together as families and do some fun things, too. 

Our nephew, Jonah, turned three at the beginning of October and had a really fun superhero birthday party.  Aunt Julie made all the kids who attended some superhero capes.  Even Bristol got one!  They were all so cute! 

We had some family photos taken by my friend, Stephanie, of Bellabu Photography in mid-October.  The kids were so cooperative and we got some really cute photos.  It was a lot of fun, too!  It was nice to be on the other end of the camera.  :)  We received over 40 images, but here are just a few of them.

We also hosted some of my dad’s family (the Moores) for a dinner in mid-October.  It had been a long time (over a year!) since we’d all been together, so it was long overdue.  We had a great low-key meal of goulash, salad, fruit, cornbread, homemade bread, and dairy-free cake for dessert.  It was so nice to see my cousins again and get the great-grandkids (Macie, Tyson, Carson, and Bristol) together (though I totally forgot to get a picture of the four of them!!). 

We took a trip to a local farm with our neighbors one chilly afternoon.  We went through a corn maze and took a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  It was a lot of fun!

We made time to play in the leaves quite a few times during the month!  Carson loves jumping into the big leaf piles.  Bristol wasn't too sure what to think about it, but she did enjoy them a little, too.  :) 

Uncle Dan celebrated his 30^th birthday on October 14^th.  We had plans for all of the Hollebooms to meet at PF Chang in Lansing for dinner to celebrate, but unfortunately, the flu got the best of some.  So the east-side Hollebooms all went to dinner at Lucky’s in Fenton so that Danny could have his delicious steak dinner.  It had been awhile since we had been out to eat, and the meal was great!  We’ve never had a bad meal at Lucky’s, though. 

In all my spare time J, I also organized an Odykirk family dinner on a random Wednesday evening.  We had family travel over 3 hours to make it – it was so great to see everyone!!  We ended up with quite a large group, spread out amongt a few large tables, and had a good time catching up with all the cousins and great-aunts.  The restaurant of choice by the majority ended up being Olive Garden… which is definitely not a dairy-free friendly restaurant, but I figured I could find something there to eat.  After talking with the waiter and manager, I was assured that the grilled salmon and vegetables could be made dairy-free.  So I went with it.  And Bristol ended up paying the price for it.  :-/  She had a rough bout with gas and spitting up, plus some poo issues.  And it was all finally confirmed at the pediatrician a few days later that she is, indeed, allergic to dairy.  Up until that point, we did not have official confirmation, but we do now.  So no more placing myself into compromising situations food-wise for her sake. 

Bristol’s 4-month check-up went very well.  Dr. Akrawi was happy with her weight gain – though he would have liked to see a tad bit more, but said she is doing much better than she was.  So we do not have to return for any weight checks any time soon!  She is in the 25^th% for height, and head circumference, and between the 10^th-25^th% for weight.  She’s still a little peanut, but she’s growing very well and surpassing all of her developmental milestones.  I’ll update more on Bristol’s development in a separate post. 

We went over to Aunt Sharon’s house for a family day and to watch the big MSU-UM college football game on October 20^th.  Unfortunately, MSU lost, but it was still a fun game and a fun day.  Carson, Mackenzey, and Brooklynn had so much fun playing together.  It had been quite a while since they’d seen one another, so they were all so excited!  Jorie finally found a house and it is only about 4 miles away from us, so hopefully we’ll be seeing lots more of Mackenzey and Brooklynn from now on! 

Our church hosted a Trunk-or-Treat a week before Halloween this year.  It ended up being an incredibly nice, mild day… absolutely perfect!  We took the kids dressed as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and enjoyed seeing lots of friends.  Everyone thought the kids looked adorable together and I’m sure there are so many random pictures of Bristol out there on facebook some where… so many random people stopped us and said they had to get a picture of her.  LOL! 

We spent the last weekend in October out in Grand Haven.  I had two photo sessions scheduled out there – a family shoot and a senior shoot – so we figured we’d make the most of it and spend the weekend out there.  We drove out on Friday night after work and we managed to do some fun stuff in between photo shoots.  We met up with our friend Rachel and her kids at the Imagination Station playground.  It’s a huge, awesome wooden playground.  Carson loved seeing Noelle (and Noah, Emery, and Avery, too!) and had so much fun!  Then Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, Rebecca, and Abram came to visit us at the hotel that evening!  The kids had a blast playing together and then we all had dinner together at the hotel restaurant.  It was so nice to see them all and we are so glad they came to see us!!  We also spent some time swimming in the hotel pool and just relaxing and having fun.  It was a great weekend!

We closed out the month with Halloween!  Carson had a party at preschool in the morning.  I took the day off of work and took Bristol in to the party with me.  We got to see the kids parade through in their costumes, sing some songs, and eat some yummy treats.  Carson decided he wanted to be Cat in the Hat (his costume from last year) for his preschool party.  I guess Mickey Mouse just wasn’t cool enough.  ;-P 

We did not end up going trick-or-treating on Halloween.  The weather was really crummy – cold and drizzly.  Plus, Kevin got home late from work.  So we decided not to go over to Aunt Julie’s house like we normally do for trick-or-treating.  Instead, we enjoyed a night at home together.  We did some Halloween crafts and watched the Peanuts Halloween cartoon and had a really nice time.  J

Bristol's Baptism

We had Bristol baptized back on September 30th at Faith Lutheran Church in Grand Blanc.  Much of our family joined us to witness her baptism.  After which, we hosted a luncheon at our house.  We asked her Aunt Julie and her Aunt Mary to be her Godmothers.  They are both such wonderful examples of strong, Christian women and we are fortunate to have them pray for Bristol regularly and help Kevin and I provide guidance to her in her Christian upbringing.

Bristol wore the baptism gown that I wore as a baby when I was baptized at Hope Lutheran Church in Linden.  It was a little big on her, but she still looked so beautiful in it.

Bristol did so well during the baptism.  Pastor Biermann held her facing outwards (she likes to see the world and know what is coming), so she was happy as could be and did not fuss at all.

After church, everyone came back to our house for lunch.  We did a soup and salad bar and Aunt Mary made a dairy-free cake.  Everything was delicious!

Thank you, everyone, for celebrating with us!

But Jesus called the children to him and said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.   (Luke 18:16)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:11)


And finally, here is the invitation I had printed for her baptism. 

September Shenanigans

 I’m a little behind on the blog… sorry about that.  I’ll be trying to catch up here soon so I’m not too far behind as we head into the holiday season.  Let’s start with September… 

September seems like so long ago now.  Let’s see if I can remember what we did. 

We started out the month with a fun Labor Day weekend.  We spent time with lots of family.  On Sunday, we went over to Nana and Papa’s house after church for a family party.  It was quite warm, but we enjoyed visiting with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. 

On Labor Day Monday, we met up with Kevin’s family at Crossroads Village.  It was HOT that day.  But we had a great time!  The kids all had a ton of fun together and it was nice to see Crossroads Village again.  We got some cute pictures of the cousins all together.  I think this may have been our first shots of all of them together now since Bristol has been born.  After checking out the Village, we had a nice picnic lunch and the kids all got to ride the carousel and other kiddie rides.  They all had a blast! 

Kevin and I started up a class at our church on Tuesday evenings called Life with God.  It is basically an adult confirmation class for those interested in joining the church.  It runs for 12 weeks, every Tuesday evening from 7:00-8:30.  Nana comes over to watch the kids each week so that we can go.  At first we thought it’d be tough to make all of the classes, but we’ve actually really been enjoying them a lot. 

On September 8^th, we made the trek up to Mount Pleasant for the MSU-Central Michigan football game.  Kevin got six free tickets from a friend of his, so Kevin, Carson and I decided we would go.  Nana watched Bristol.  We invited Aunt Julie and Anna to go with us and we gave the last ticket to Ron Sambaer (Kevin’s late friend Jeff’s father).  It was such a fun time!  Carson took a catnap in the first quarter because he didn’t rest in the car on the way there, but then he was ready to go.  He and Anna had a lot of fun together and got to see Sparty up close and even get a picture with him!  Our seats were amazing – 4^th row between the 40 and 50-yard lines right behind the MSU bench.  The weather was great, too.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day or time!  MSU won, too!  :)
(NOTE:  These are currently just my Instagram pics from my phone.  I'll be updating once I get the pics off the point-and-shoot camera).

The following Monday was Carson’s first day of 4-year old Preschool at Faith Lutheran in Grand Blanc.  He was so excited to start school again and see many of his friends from last year.  All four of us went to school on the first day.  Carson was a little sad to leave his sister – he wasn’t sure how she would manage without him.  He was relieved to hear that she managed ok when we picked him up after school.  J  Carson had a wonderful first day and has been doing awesome at school!  He is learning a lot and has begun to read quite well already! 

We made an attempt to get out and walk, hike, or bike whenever we could.  We figure we had better make the most of the nice weather we had for most of the month.  Kevin and Carson enjoyed biking on the off-road trails through the woods at Bicentennial Park, as well as biking on the paved path while Bristol and I walked along with the stroller or wearing Bristol in the Moby or Ergo. 

We ended the month with Bristol’s baptism, but I will do a separate post on that a bit later. 

Fall 2012 Bucket List

I figured I'd jump on the band-wagon again and do a fall bucket list.  It was kind of fun to see how we did with our summer bucket list, so I figured, why not.  :)  I know it's not technically fall yet, but Labor Day symbolizes the end of summer and beginning of fall, so I figure now is just as good a time as any.  Here's what we hope to do (in no particular order):

1.  Go to a MSU football game.

2.  Tailgate for MSU Homecoming.

3.  Go to an apple orchard.

4.  Drink apple cider.

5.  Go to a pumpkin patch.

6.  Go to Spooky Trails Farm in Gaines.

7.  Do fall leaf crafts.

8.  Carve jack-o-lanterns.

9.  Go on a family hike at least once every other week.

10.  Go through a corn maze.

11.  Spend a day (or weekend) in Grand Haven. 

12.  Take a drive to see the fall colors.

13.  Pick fall raspberries at a local, organic farm.

14.  Take pictures and jump in a big pile of fallen leaves.

15.  Have or go to a bonfire and make s'mores.

16.  Go on an autumn nature walk.

17.  Go trick-or-treating.

18.  Have a picnic.

19.  Start preschool!

20.  Have a playdate with preschool friends.

21.  Camp in a tent in the backyard... since we didn't get to do it this summer, we'll see if we're able to this fall.

22.  Meet up with family from the west side of the state in the Lansing area for playtime and hanging out. 

23.  Fly a kite.

24.  Visit a local park that we have never been to.

25.  Go play miniature golf.

26.  Visit a friend or family member we have not seen in awhile.

27.  Make or buy Halloween costumes. 

28.  Take a trip to the Grand Rapids area to visit Kevin's grandparents and other family in the area. 

29.  Go to our nephew's football game(s).

30.  Go to Disney World!!!  :)

Summer Bucket List - How Did We Do?

I posted our summer bucket list around Memorial Day.  Since today is the symbolic end of summer, I figured I'd do a follow-up post to let you know how we did.  We didn't get to everything, but we did accomplish the majority of activities, plus we did a whole lot more than is on this list, too.  I'll be back later this week with our fall bucket list, so stay tuned. 

1.  Meet up with friends at a local park.  Check!  We did this several times. 

2.  Meet up with friends at the Bicentennial Park Splash Pad.  Unfortunately, we never did do this, even with the extremely hot summer we had.  With a new baby that cannot regulate her temperature and a splash pad with no shade nearby, it just didn't pan out the way we had hoped it might. 

3.  Go on a family hike on the Dauner-Martin trails in Fenton.  Check!  We have gone on several hikes on the Dauner trails.  Sara wears Bristol in the Moby or Baby Bjorn (if its hot) while we hike. 

4.  Camp in a tent in the backyard... we'd actually really like to go camping at a campground, but I'm thinking that is pretty unlikely this summer, so we'll do some backyard camping instead.  This has not happened yet.  We're still hoping to have a chance, but we'll have to see how the night-time temperatures hold up. 

5.  Father-son camping trip... the backyard camping will be fun for all of us, but Kevin and Carson both really want to do a father-son camping trip for one night at a campground within an hour or two of our house, as well.  As much as they really wanted to do this, we never had a free weekend for it, unfortunately.  Maybe next summer.

6.  Play with bubbles in the backyard.  Check!  Bubbles were a regular past-time this summer.  We especially had fun with the new bubble blower that Carson received from Auntie Jaime, Uncle Jeff and Grant for a big brother gift. 

7.  Take a short walk to get ice cream together as a family at The Twist.  Check!  We took a few walks down the street to the Twist. 

8.  Make and eat homemade popsicles.  Check! 

9.  Meet up with family from the west side of the state in the Lansing area for playtime and hanging out.  Check!  We met Aunt Mary, Rebecca and Abram at Impression 5 in early August.

10.  Draw in the driveway with sidewalk chalk.  Check!  Sidewalk chalk was another favorite past-time this summer.

11.  Fly a kite.  We have not done this yet.  We kind of forgot about it, actually.  We need to dig out the kite and fly it soon, hopefully. 

12.  Take a day trip to Lake Michigan (maybe either to Grand Haven or South Haven... we seem to always migrate towards Holland, so we figure we should change it up... we've been to Grand Haven many times before, but not in the last couple of years and we've never been to South Haven.).  Check!  We didn't get to Grand Haven or South Haven, but we did get to Petoskey for an afternoon.  It was beautiful!

13.  Take a day trip to Lake Huron (either to East Tawas or Port Austin... we've never been to either).  We had this planned two different times this summer, both of which turned out to be rainy days... so we did not go.

14.  Walk through the forest at Hartwick Pines State Park. Check!  We were there for a wedding in early August.  We took a few hikes through the forest while we were there.  It was so pretty and peaceful.

15.  Visit the Grand Blanc Farmers' Market for one of their kids' days.  Check! 

16.  Go fruit picking at a local farm/orchard.  We did not do this, though we did lots of raspberry and blackberry picking in our owm backyard.

17.  Visit a local park that we have never been to.  Check!  We went to Rust Park in Grand Blanc for the first time at the end of May. 

18.  Set up a playdate with Carson's friends from preschool.  Check!  We have had playdates with three of Carson's preschool friends.  We have also had several playdates with non-preschool friends. 

19.  Catch fireflies and put them in a jar.  Check!  We have done this several times.

20.  Invite the neighbors over for a fire in the backyard, make s'mores, and have fun with sparklers.  While we've spent a lot of time hanging out with our neighbors this summer, we never did do a fire with s'mores and sparklers. 

21.  Visit a local beach - Holly State Park, Silver Lake Beach, Clover Beach.  We never did this, though we did spend a good deal of time at the lake at one of Sara's aunt's houses. 

22.  Attend a Silver Lake Ski Club ski show.  Check! 

23.  Do messy finger and feet painting in the backyard.  We have done finger painting, but Carson didn't want to do feet painting. 

24.  Swim as much as possible in our backyard pool.  Check!

25.  Attend Vacation Bible School at Faith Lutheran.  Check!

26.  Attend summer camp for a week in August at Faith Lutheran.  Carson decided he did not want to go since it was Sara's last full week home on maternity leave. 

27.  Visit the local library for story time and/or other activities for kids.  Check!  We did this several times.

28.  Go play miniature golf.  We have had this planned three times this summer and it hasn't worked out weather-wise any of the times we've had it planned. 

29.  Go to an outdoor community concert in one of the local parks.  We never made it to one, unfortunately.

30.  Visit a friend or family member we have not seen in awhile.  Check!  We visited a friend we had not seen in about 7 months, we visited a cousin we had not seen in over a year, and also had some friends over to our house that we had not seen in about 2 years.