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.

Fun Times in August!

We had a really fun August.  We did some fun things in June and July, but August was really our best month of the summer.  Things were going really well with Bristol by that point, the weather wasn't unbearably hot (especially for a newborn that cannot regulate temperature), and we were wanting to make the most of Sara's last couple of weeks home on maternity leave. 

We spent a weekend up north, as I posted about last week. 

We went for a couple of family hikes on the Dauner trails in Fenton. 

We went on regular family walks/bike rides (Carson and Kevin ride their bikes, while Sara and Bristol walk).

We had a playdate with the twin girls from Carson's preschool class, Natalie and Charlotte.  Sara went to high school with their mom, Katie, and they live pretty close to us.  We've played with them a few other times, too.  But we had a really great playdate with them.  The kids all got sad when it was time to leave. 

We spent an afternoon at Michigan State with Auntie Sara, Uncle Adam, and Aiden.  We had a nice time walking around campus, shooting a few pictures of the kids, and just chatting and having a good time. 

We spent a morning and afternoon at Impression 5 Science Center with Aunt Mary, Rebecca, and Abram.  We've been wanting to meet up with them in Lansing since Abram has been born, but it just finally worked out.  It was so fun!  The kids had a blast playing together and Mary and I had a great time chatting and hanging out.  Carson and I really hope to meet up with them again soon! 

We visited MDOT (Sara's workplace) to show off... errr introduce... Bristol to everyone.  :) 

We made a trip out to Saranac in West Michigan for Amber's and Russ' reception in Amber's/Auntie Sara's mom's backyard.  We went out a little early so Sara could shoot some family pictures of Auntie Sara, Uncle Adam and Aiden, and then Auntie Sara's sister Rachel's family.  Carson always has so much fun playing with Rachel's two youngest kids, Noelle and Noah.  Carson and Noelle were really breaking it down at the wedding reception... if I can get the video to upload later on, I'll add it b/c it is hilarious!!  So check back in a day or two to see if I've succeeded in getting it up here. 

Then Sara went back to work.  :(  Thankfully, she is able to go back to work part-time for awhile.  She is starting out at two days per week, but will be going up to three days per week next week.  It has been going ok so far.  It is actually the first time since having children that we all feel balanced, which is really nice. 

We took another trip to the library for story time and to check out some more books. 

We met some friends from preschool at one of the local parks to play. 

We did some summer crafts and finger painting. 

We had our friends, the Freeses, over for dinner and to hang out.  They have two little girls, Malerie (5) and Natalie (3).  It had been awhile since we'd hung out with Beth and Curt... like several years since we've actually hung out.  So it was really fun to get together again.  We're hoping to make it more of a regular thing. 

We had our friends, the Kozaks, over for dinner and to hang out on the last weekend in August.  We hadn't seen them since St. Patty's Day (well, Kevin and Paul have been mountain biking together a lot, but we hadn't all been together since then).  Carson was so excited to have Seth (5) and Carter (4) over to play again.  As soon as they walked in the door, they were off and running and playing together. 

We hung out with our neighbors a few times.  Carson and Jace love to play together.  And Kevin and I think Eric and Kerri are pretty fun to hang out with, too. 

We took a drive down to visit our friends Kati and Tony.  Tony started walking a couple of weeks ago, so it was fun to see him trying to keep up with Carson.  They had a lot of fun playing together.

And lastly, we went to Michigan State for the MSU season opener game against Boise State.  We didn't go to the game, but we just went to tailgate with some of our friends.  Kevin's late friend, Jeff Sambaer, who passed away just before New Years in 2011, and his dad were huge MSU fans.  They tailgated for and went to every home game and had an entire tailgate crew.  At Jeff's funeral, one of the crew members pulled Kevin aside and asked us to come out for the first tailgate since they were planning something special for Ron (Jeff's dad).  So we set up our tailgate next to theirs.  It was nice to see Ron and we got to see the nice placque their crew had made for the Jeff Sambaer memorial ladder golf tournament (a tradition their crew has, but they just came up with the placque idea).  It was a very touching thing for them to do.  We had a great time with our friends.  Ben taught Carson how to plank and Carson is now planking on everything... asking us to take pictures to upload to planktheworld... which I doubt we'll do.  :)  But it is funny to think about.  :)

We did some other small things, too.  And of course, had lots of fun just in our yard and at our house.  It was a very busy, but very fun month!  We're looking forward to lots more fun in September, too!