We're Mobile!

Carson finally started crawling today! He's been working on it for over a month now and has been so close for weeks. He finally wanted his little piano bad enough this evening to crawl to it. Still going very slow and he doesn't get too far before he decides to lie down, but I'm sure it won't be long and he'll be cruising around everywhere making me lose my mind! :-P He also finally figured out how to drink from a straw today, too! Guess it was a big day for him - haha! I've been trying for a month now to get him to drink from a sippy cup, but he hasn't really liked it much. So I picked up some straw cups to try, but he's resisted them the last couple weeks, too. He just wanted to drink like a big boy, straight from the cup. But finally today he started drinking his apple juice from the straw for my Aunt Jeri. He was so proud of himself... and Kevin and I are, too! :-P

Spicer's Orchard & Fencing

This past Saturday we took a trip to Spicer's Orchard just south of Fenton. We met up with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom, Aunt Julie, and cousins Anna and Joel. It was a nice, hot day and the orchard was very busy, but we all managed to have a good time. Carson was a trooper, running on no afternoon nap, and was in good spirits until about 10 minutes before we decided to leave but then he fell asleep in the stroller so we had a bit more time to look around. Anna and Joel had fun playing on all the kids' stuff around the place. We picked up some apples to make applesauce sometime this week and just enjoyed a nice afternoon out together as a family.

Traveling for Kevin and I seems to be done for a while. These past few weeks have been chaotic, with Kevin gone to Indiana one week, me in Texas the next week, and Kevin in Tennessee and Virginia last week. Now we're back to "normal" and we're all glad to have the family back together again.

Sara's dad came over on Saturday morning and then again on Sunday afternoon this past weekend to help Kevin work on the fence. They were able to get fencing down the north side of the property, got the gates on the back chainlink fencing, and got the lines marked out on the south side. We seem to be in a bit of disagreement with the crabby old lady neighbor to our south on the property lines. The things she says always contradict themselves, making no sense on what she thinks is going on. The house to the north of us is a newer one (built in 2001 or 2002) and has the property lines staked out. We took the information from the township and on our taxes, which says we have 165 feet of frontage on Linden Road. So we measured out from the property stake on the north side 165 feet south. It ends up being a good two feet or so further than the crabby old lady to the south believes it should be. She just about lost it last night when she got home and saw where we'd measured it to be, threatening to take us to small claims court and all sorts of nonsense. So I'm calling today to get a land surveyor out there to see where the lines actually are, this is just getting so ridiculous. The crabby old lady isn't happy we're putting up a fence and has been causing us headaches ever since we started. So hopefully we'll get a surveyor out there this week so we can get all this drama settled.

Welcome to Lake Holleboom!

This is what our front yard looked like yesterday with all the downpouring of rain we had. I still can't believe we got so much rain so quickly. The ditches couldn't keep up and so all the low-lying yards just flooded. We're about two feet below our neighbors to the south (the crabby old lady), so we pretty much got all of their water. And we're about even with our neighbors to the north (the young couple with the 1-year old son), so their yard was flooding pretty badly, too. I was glad to see the water levels had gone down a lot overnight. That was a relief!

Just some pictures

A few posts back, I mentioned we got a fancy new outdoor swing from my parents as an early Christmas gift. I hadn't uploaded the pics at that point yet, so here it is... Carson loves it (which is why my parents actually wanted to get it for us as part of our Christmas).


And here is the bistro set and loveseat that Kevin and I bought (on major clearance at Home Depot, you wouldn't believe the deal we got!). And hopefully next year we'll get an outdoor table set... and build ourselves a deck or patio.


And because I'm in a picture mood, here are some recent ones of Carson these last two weeks...

This one you can see his two teeth on the bottom... this was just after they came through, though. You can see them really well right now, I'll have to take some more pics.

"Peas" don't make me eat these...

Tonight we gave Carson his first organic peas. He wasn't too crazy about them, as you can see from the pictures. I think he might end up liking them after a few tastes over the next couple of days, but we'll see. He didn't have as strong of an "eww factor" as he has when we give him green beans. Once he knows we have just plain green beans, he refuses to open his mouth, he just doesn't like them at all. So I mix them with sweet potatoes and he'll eat them. I'm hoping he'll eat peas by themselves. I think they actually taste pretty good - way better than the beans. So we'll see.

Carson got a little frustrated with me tonight and was throwing small fits. I kept tricking him, giving him a few bites of sweet potatoes, then slipping in a bite of peas, then a few bites of sweet potatoes, then bananas, and so on. He's not crazy about bananas yet, either. It takes him a little while before he begins to like some foods... like bananas, applesauce, green beans. He now loves applesauce and tolerates bananas, still hates the green beans. He still loves his carrots and pears - still probably his two favorites. And he really enjoys his sweet potatoes, blueberries and peaches. And I hope to add peas to that list in the next few days. I guess we'll see...

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend this year for us was known as Jaime's Wedding Weekend. One of Sara's best friends, Jaime, married Jeff on Sunday, August 31st. Sara was her Matron of Honor. The weekend began on Saturday with manicures, pedicures, and lunch with all the bridesmaids and mothers. Saturday evening was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at Italia Gardens. Then Sunday was the big day. Everything was absolutely perfect! Jaime looked gorgeous, Jeff looked handsome, and everyone had a fun time. Carson got to spend some extra time with Grandma and Papa Moore on Saturday during the rehearsal and dinner and then with Grandma and Grandpa Holleboom on Sunday during the wedding and reception. Monday morning, the three of us headed over to Jaime's mom's house for a brunch and to watch Jaime and Jeff open their gifts. Today Jaime and Jeff are headed to San Francisco for their honeymoon. It was a very busy, very fun weekend and Sara was honored to be a part of it. There are tons of pictures in the Shutterfly albums if you'd like to check them out (link to the right).

After the brunch, we headed out to Flushing for an organic farm tour of Whetham Organic Farm, after which we stopped at Almar Orchards, an organic apple orchard. After that, we met Sara's parents up at Home Depot to check out a fancy swing for the backyard that Sara's parents found for a potential Christmas gift for us. We ended up getting the swing, plus a brown polyresin loveseat, so we finally have someplace to sit in the backyard. We put the swing up last night and tried it out - very comfy and its very cute! Carson is going to love having it. I'll update with some pics once I upload them from the camera.

Future MSU Basketball Star in the Making

The title says it all... :)

Carson's Baptism

On Sunday, August 24th, we had Carson baptized at Faith Lutheran Church in Grand Blanc. Thankfully, Carson made it through the service and baptism fairly well. He did fuss a little during the baptism, but he did much better than I'd expected... I'd worried he'd be screaming during the baptism. We had all of our close relatives and a few close friends join us for the occasion - we had forty people overall! We asked Uncle Danny and Auntie Jaime to be Carson's Godparents. Godparents today don't serve the same purpose as they did traditionally, now they are more of a christian mentor rather than more of a guardian as they used to be.

After church, we all came back to our house for a BBQ and to visit. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and it was great to see everyone. Carson was slightly out of sorts, with his eating and napping routine messed up, but he did pretty well overall. We were able to get some updated pictures of the four Holleboom grandchildren and the four of them were able to get some good playtime in together.

I'll be uploading lots of pics of the baptism in our Shutterfly albums soon (link to right), so check them out in a bit.

Carson, age 6 months

Its hard to believe that we've had the joy of having Carson in our lives for six months now. But then again, its hard to believe its only been six months since I don't remember life before his arrival. :) Each day seems to bring something new, it is just so fun to watch him develop right before our eyes. He is getting so big and strong, he'll be crawling and walking before we know it, I'm sure. Right now, we're good with just the independent sitting, for I'm afraid he's going to be quite the energetic little handful once he gets completely mobile. He does roll all over the floor to get where he wants to go, but that is tame compared to how it'll be once he's crawling, I'm sure. :)

Carson is loving his solid foods. He is so funny. He definitely has inherited his Mama's impatience. :) He gets very impatient if you're not feeding him quick enough and demands you to hurry it up. We're still taking it very slow with introducing the solids. So far he has had rice cereal which we switched over to oatmeal, which seems to help with the constipation. He's had organic prunes, sweet potatoes, pears, green beans, carrots, and now peaches. He doesn't care for green beans much, but I mix them with sweet potatoes and he'll eat them. He needs the green beans to keep his system moving. :) His favorites right now are probably carrots and pears. We'll probably try applesauce next, but I'm a little cautious about apples and bananas, too, since they cause constipation. So we'll definitely limit those two fruits.

Carson's language is growing everyday. He tries out all kinds of new sounds and it is so cool to listen to him. My favorite thing is probably listening to him in his crib when he wakes up cooing and babbling, or when he's playing and "talking" to his toys or to Jet. It is just so cute. Speaking of Jet, I think Carson and Jet are going to be best buds. Carson just adores Jet and Jet is quite fond of Carson, too. Carson will giggle and laugh and talk to Jet all the time. He thinks its hysterical when Jet just looks at him or yawns or sneezes. Jet tolerates Carson very well and I hope that continues to go over so well once Carson is mobile. Carson has surprised Jet a few times, tugging and yanking on his lip or on his hair, which has startled Jet, but he's not shown a hint of animosity towards Carson for it, which is very good. Jet loves to give Carson "kisses" - or rather probably just licking up his spit and food leftovers he may have on him. Carson loves it, too, even though Kevin and I try to keep Jet from licking him so much.

The strength that Carson has just amazes us, too. You can tell he wants to walk so badly. If you hold his fingers, he will take steps with you to get where he wants to go, its so cute. He loves his exersaucer because he can stand on his own, too. He just has the best time in that thing. Carson still loves anything musical and is very curious to check everything out, touching it and putting it in his mouth if he can get it there. I don't think it'll be too long before he learns to crawl, either. He'll get his knees fully underneath him now, but won't take his fist out of his mouth, so hasn't realized he should put his arms out and push up with his knees under him. Instead, he'll push off as hard as he can with his feet and flop across the floor. He also scoots himself backwards quite often now, too. And he's rough, totally all boy, and looks like he'll definitely be his father's son from what I've heard of Kevin's energy levels as a child. :)

6-Month Check-up

Carson went for his 6-month well-baby check-up this afternoon. He's meeting and surpassing all of his milestones and Dr. Akrawi said he is a very healthy boy. He weighed in at 16 pounds, 13 ounces, which put him in the 25th percentile for weight. He is 27 inches tall, which puts him in the 75th percentile for height. And his head was 17.5 inches in circumference, which I think they said was between the 50th and 75th percentiles. Carson got his third round of all the shots and he hated it again. We'll have to see how he deals with them this time. I hope he does even better than he did at four months. I'll post more later on what he's been up to and some pictures.

Meeting More Family

Sara's Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary Ann, and cousins Shannon and Shane came to visit this past weekend, so Carson got to meet even more family! They live in Collierville (near Memphis), Tennessee and it had been quite a while since any of us had seen them. 8 years since we've seen Aunt Mary Ann and Shannon, probably 4 years since we'd seen Shane, and 2 years since we'd seen Uncle Mike. So it was great to see them and spend some time with them. Shannon and Shane have grown up so much since we've seen them last. Shannon is just such a beautiful woman now - she graduated from the University of Tennessee last year and is working at International Paper in Memphis in the logistics field. Shane is still as sweet as can be and you can't help but love him to pieces. He just loved Carson so much, well I think they all did, but Shane was just so sweet with Carson. I wish Carson wouldn't have been so over-stimulated and would have enjoyed Shane a little more.

So we had a weekend filled with family get togethers at my parents house mostly. Its always good to see family and it was a lot of fun. We finally got a picture with Sara's Grandma and all of her grandchildren (minus Carson since he was napping). I don't even know when the last time we were all together was... probably at least 16 years. Once Carson woke from his nap, we got a quick picture of all the grandkids and great-grandkids (there are two, Macie and Carson). These will be great pictures to have and I'm glad we were able to all get-together to take them.


I wish we'd have had more time with them all, but Uncle Mike and Shannon had to get back to work this week. Hopefully we'll be seeing a little more of them now that Sara's Grandma Moore lives up in Michigan and hopefully we'll be able to make a family trip down to Tennessee in the next year or two. The last time we were there was in 2000 and we had such a great time and have wanted to go back ever since.

There are lots of pictures from the time with our family in our albums (link at the right), as well as the July photos. Enjoy!

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.

Van Heukelum Family Party and Other News

On Sunday, we traveled to Hudsonville, Michigan (over by Grand Rapids) for a Van Heukelum family party. The Van Heukelum family was almost there in its entirety, including family from Iowa, Bolivia, New York, and Canada. We were only missing two cousins from Deleware and three cousins from Canada. There have been four great-grandchildren (Carson, Rebecca, Maggie, Breanna) born into the family in the last few months, so it was fun to get them all together and take lots of pictures. Although I don't think we ever got a picture where they were all happy. Needless to say, there was never a dull or quiet time with all the kids around! :) It was a fun time though and great to see everyone. I wish we'd have had more time to visit, especially with those from out of state/country.

In other news, we found out last Thursday that Kevin no longer has a job. Gotta love the automotive industry, right? While it is stressing us both out a bit, it really could end up being a major blessing. Kevin has never really liked that job all that much and he's always all stressed out about it. So maybe he'll find something that he enjoys more. There are some jobs out there, believe it or not, but I'm sure the competition is very high, so please keep him in your thoughts/prayers that he'll find a good fit and find it soon! :)

I've posted a bunch of new pics at the link to the right - from June and from the Van Heukelum party, so feel free to check them out.