The shoes are here!

We're now the proud owners of a Hoover SteamVac (although I can't figure out why it's called that b/c no steam is involved?) It's a carpet shampooer, basically. Our carpet actually looks new again and it's pretty excellent :) With 2 cats and Jack I wish we would have invested in something like this a long time ago! (Another example of "you know you're old when...you get excited about household appliances.")


Jack's new shoes arrived today. (They're even more adorable in person and on his feet!) First of all, just seeing the UPS driver was exciting enough and Jack was babbling up a storm to the driver and waving (we were playing outside at the time). Then he was even more excited about what was IN the box. (I let him help open it.) When he saw his shoes he immediately whipped off the shoes he had on and held his foot up for me to put them on. He was so tickled and excited he ran all the way down to the end of the street and back to give them a little test run. I think he likes them :)

What he doesn't know is that there's another pair that should be arriving tomorrow too. He's going to be in for even more excitement :) These are tomorrow's shoes (but I bought them in a size up for later this fall/winter). Little boys really are so much fun to dress!

In other news, after much thought we've changed our February trip to the Bahamas slightly around. Instead of going on a Disney cruise, we are going to rent a condo in Orlando for 5 days and have time to relax, a day at the ocean, and a day at Disneyworld. We'll also spend a day at Universal Studios with my family after they return from the cruise. We're excited about it!

Well, Jack's sleeping and I have a million things I'd like to accomplish. Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Play time and new shoes :)

We decided to meet up with some friends today at one of the mall play areas. What fun! Jack had to "check in" with me every couple minutes...maybe he thought I was going to leave him! He also wasn't too sure about the slide. But loved going around to all the little babies and giving them little "thigh squishes" (he learned that one from me as I love to squish his little chunky thighs!) A few quick snapshots from the morning:





And yesterday's shopping trip for fall clothes inspired me to find shoes for Jack (his sandals are the only ones that fit him right now). Say hello to his new shoes (I just ordered them today on a super fabulous sale...even better!):
And lastly, reading with Grandma a few days ago. I love this one :)

Long time, no blog...

Oh my goodness it's been almost a month since I've blogged. Sorry.

I just booked a little 3 day trip for us in September. We're going to head up to Mackinac Island for a couple nights. I haven't been there in probably 5 or 6 years and I'm so excited about it! Rob had some vacation time to use up yet this year (or he just loses it) and we didn't want to do anything too expensive or far away since we're going to the Bahamas in February. I think this will be just right :) We can bike around the island in perfect sweatshirt weather (ah, I love fresh fall air with a lake breeze!) Definitely looking forward to exploring everything on the island with Jack :)

Last Friday night I had a GNO (Girls Night Out) with a great group of my girlfriends! We headed out to Reds on the River in Rockford. It was great fun mingling for several hours and laughing. (The food was delicious too!) It's not often I head out with my girlfriends for an evening and I so much appreciated it! Here's a group shot of the evening... (and I wore the great yellow heels Rob bought me a few weeks ago on his business trip that he picked out himself!)


We headed to the beach in Holland on Sunday evening just to putz around. Jack and I both got our pants and shoes drenched when we didn't quite run back quick enough from the water. (It was COLD!) Jack learned to say "Beets! Beets!" for beach :) It's darling. We had a great time! (Forgot the camera, of course.)

Tuesday night we headed to Saugatuck. We decided to take the sand dune ride, which we'd never done before (well, at least in Saugatuck.) Let me say, it was probably the best sand dune ride we've been on. It was beautiful and the driver was beyond entertaining! Jack had an absolute riot yelling and screaming "Whooooooa!" every time we rounding a corner quickly or headed down the steep hills. It was hilarious! (This time I remembered the camera just as we were pulling out of our neighborhood and Rob wouldn't let me turn around to go get it. Boo!)

Jack and I had a few errands to run today. We also stopped at the mall and ended up buying him almost all of his fall clothes because there were super awesome sales! He picked out some really cute things and I can't wait until he can wear them! Except I started looking in the 18-24 mo. sized clothes...and then I realized that those probably won't fit him in a couple months. Well, the next size up is a 2T. Did you catch that? A 2T. (One more time.) 2T. No more buying clothes in "months." Just further proof that he is growing up.

Speaking of growing up...my (and Jolyn's!) birthday is Saturday. And boy, I'm starting to feel older! 27. No longer "young twenties" or "mid twenties." I've moved into that "late twenties" group. And I'm only 3 years away from 30 now. At least I have 3 years to get used to that idea.

Enough of my rambling. Sorry for only one picture! I need to get better about remembering the camera when we're out... More pictures next time :)

I can never think of appropriate blog titles...

My grandma passed away yesterday :( She was my last grandparent that I had left. I am sad, but also know that she is in an even better place now :) She lived in Colorado and though I didn't get to see her often, I do have some great memories for which I am thankful. I am mostly bummed though that she was never able to meet Jack.


On a sort of related (but more cheerful!) note, I am so thankful to have Rob's grandparents in our lives! They let me call them my own and they are so kind and welcoming. In fact, just last week Jack and I went swimming at their pool (all to ourselves :) one afternoon and then picked some fresh lavender in the garden. Then grandma fed us popsicles and fruit on the lawn while we dried off in the sun. I instantly relived my own childhood memories of my grandparents and it was nice. Grandparents definitely play a special role in our lives :)

In MyAmalies news, I invented a new animal last week! Say hello to the bird (this ones name is Hank):


And then I made this whole gang. They are all sold already...bittersweet. It sure was fun to make them and I sort of didn't want to part with them!


I'm working on a few more animal concepts and I think Amanda has a few up her sleeve as well! Fun times for us :) Also, we are excited to announce that you can now find MyAmalies critters at Hopscotch Children's Store in Grand Rapids! Rumor has it there will be a MyAmalies animal exclusive to their store in the near future (in other words, not available online so you'll just have to visit!) We're very excited about this partnership!

Jack got to have a little buddy, Colton, come and play for a little bit today! Most of Jack's little friends are girls right now so it was a nice change of pace to have a little boy for him to play with. Colton is 3 months older and such a sweet little boy! They got along so well and Jack couldn't stop giving him hugs :) I think we'll do more play time with Colton again soon!

Well, I'm off to catch some TV with Rob and relax. Everyone have a good evening!

Maybe my longest blog yet...or at least with the most pictures.

Lots of recaps for you! Enjoy the pictures :)

What a fabulous time we had last weekend with Rob's sister Jen and her husband Derek. Jack LOVED spending time with them. Last Friday we went to the Whitecaps game and although we left early b/c it was raining and Jack needed to get to bed, we still enjoyed the time with family (and all the calories that ballpark food has to offer.)

Jen and I pretending we know what's happening in the game...


The "lemon chill" pucker :)


Dancing and singing on the stage during the rain delay

Saturday, Jen, Derek, Rob and I went kayaking down the Rogue River in Rockford. Such a great time! I haven't been kayaking in probably 10 years. The river was very very calm though and (at most spots) only a couple feet deep. I didn't want to get my camera wet for obvious reasons, so no pictures from that event :(

Later on Sunday we did fireworks at Grandma and Grandpas! Too much fun!


Some of them were LOUD!


Admiring the pretty displays :)


We even managed to spring a leak in one of the buckets. Oops.

We also finished our vegetable garden last week. (Well we need to put a gate up yet...) As I mentioned previously, we had a really late start to the whole thing so we had to go with pre-grown plants this year. I just hope they stay alive :) Jack was having a blast helping us plant everything and putting up the chicken wire.

And as usual, Jack can always be found where the water is...

Yesterday, the fourth of July, we headed out to Holland to bike/skate. (Rob skates while I bike with Jack.) We all had a great time and it's one of our favorite things to do as a family! Not sure how many miles we covered as the odometer thing wasn't working but it was several hours worth. After a stop to get ice cream at the general store (yum!) we headed home. We did a few sparklers and some leftover fireworks from last week but were all in bed well before the big fireworks started.

Before biking, we made a pit stop to play some miniature golf...Jack just liked to throw the ball.



(Sorry, no pics of biking and skating or the sparklers we did that night...I forgot!)

Today Jack and I woke up early and made blueberry pancakes (from scratch :) We went back out to Holland but to the beach this time! So much fun! Jack had a riot playing in (read: throwing) the sand. We did go for a few quick dips in Lake Michigan as well, but it was quite chilly.

A quick shower after breakfast as he was covered in blueberries. (Oh and a favorite current pastime is brushing his teeth. All. the. time.)

And more random pictures from the last week...

Parading around the living room in mommy's pink heels. Well, one of them at least.

After a really rough night (TEETHING! And it's 7 all at once now...not 6 as I had thought!) this is how I found Jack and Daddy in the morning.


Four generations of Strating men! It was really bright in the sun, hence the squinty eyes :) (Each one of them has their father's name as their middle name too, a family tradition.)


Jack loves playing with Great Aunt Nan every Sunday!


Being goofy or charming...or both.


Every morning at 10am we have a date with the underground sprinkling...

Fun times...

We love spending time with Uncle Derek and Aunt Jen!

A game of checkers with Uncle Derek...

Mom, I don't know how I feel about this...he's winning!

Take that!

Ducks!

Nan, save me! They're after us!

Surfing in the pool



...and then tonight we are going to a Whitecaps game and tomorrow is kayaking (sans Jack, of course :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Great day :)

It's a wonderful day because...

1). My sister-in-law and brother-in-law arrive any moment now from Colorado! We are so excited to see and spend time with them over the next several days.

2.) The FedEx man brought my newly fixed camera back to me this morning!

3.) I made delicious strawberry pie today with the strawberries we picked on Monday...Yum!

4.) ...simply because every day is a beautiful day in some way or another :)

Let me just rave about Canon's customer service for a moment. When I called them several weeks ago about my camera instead of waiting on hold, they called ME back when they were available (which was only 15 min. later). Then the gentlemen I spoke with was incredibly kind and Canon paid for me to send my camera to them. The camera was fixed free of charge and now I have it to take lots of pictures with again! I'm happy :) So very soon I can start blogging again with photos! Because blogs with photos are much more interesting.

Jack and I spent yesterday running through the underground sprinkling in the yard we have 7 different zones which means a lot of sprinklers! As one zone would turn off and another on, we would just move to a new area. He would get all distraught when they went back in the ground and then laugh hysterically moments later when the next zone turned on! He had a riot! Then Aunt Nan came over and we went swimming later on which is always a blast. And there was also some play time with the sand and water table...which is just a water table for right now. So lots of water play yesterday!

In other Jack news...he's teething. Has been for a few weeks and the first molars are just peeking through on top. Then last week, I noticed the eye teeth (aka the "fang teeth") on top are also cutting through. And today...add two more to that list! He has two (first molar and eye tooth) coming through as well! SIX teeth at once?! Poor baby dude! After these 6, only 6 more baby teeth before he has a full mouth!

Rob and I plotted out a vegetable garden a few days ago...I know, terribly late in the season. But I'm hoping to pick up some pre-grown plants for this year at least. (Next year I would like to plant my own from seeds.) It's all roto-tilled (is that how you spell it?) now and the wood beams that frame it and fabric-type stuff (that you lay between the clay ground and the soil) are in as well. We just need a lot of soil and plants now...and hope that it works :)

And now a funny story for the day...

Rob called me this morning. He was laughing and said "Don't let Jack play with the PS3 remote." I was wondering why he would say this? In fact, Jack DID get a hold of it this morning pressing buttons (I told him "no" and took it away, not thinking it was that big of a deal as the tv and receiver were off and I assumed the PS3 was off as well.) Well...with the PS3 you have the capability of purchasing games online from your remote control. Apparently it was NOT turned off and at 8:34 this morning, Jack purchased (brace yourself!) $1700 worth of video games!!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Rob then told me he had already called Sony who was more than understanding and canceled the charges.
Whew!

Hope everyone has an excellent day!
(I'll put pictures in the next post!)

Announcing...

......................Drumroll please....................

THE WEBSITE IS FINISHED!!

www.MyAmalies.com

This is the website I mentioned a while back that I've been building. Amanda and I are so excited to launch this and we look forward to everyone's feedback!

Have a splendid day everyone! Jack and I are headed out strawberry picking this morning...

Lots of updates!

Hello, hello.

My friend Deb's wedding last weekend was beautiful. It was definitely an "eventful" weekend shall we call it, but like I said, the wedding and the bride were beautiful :) Here are a few pictures (from my friend Carrie's camera):

A group of my friends from high school. I haven't seen a couple of them in years and it was wonderful to reminisce!Makeup time! Although it looks like I'm beating her with the foundation brush...I promise I was being kind.

Carrie and me. Love this girl! (And I was very happy with our dresses too...which for the first of 7 times being a bridesmaid now I think I actually WILL wear it again!)

And with the beautiful bride, Deb :) Congratulations, again!

Now let's see if I can quickly recap the events that made the weekend "eventful" for an entertaining read...

We arrived in to town just in time to throw Jack in the tub (as a result from a VERY messy diaper that soiled the car seat even!) with about 15 min. to spare before heading to the church for the rehearsal. Little did we know, it didn't start for another 1/2 hr so we rushed for nothing! During the rehearsal the power went out and there were tornado warnings and horrible wind and hail outside. On the way to the rehearsal dinner, we had to pull over in fear of trees landing on our car! (Yes, it was THAT windy. Trees were down everywhere!) We made it the 2.5 miles to the rehearsal dinner and Rob began vomiting. Needless to say, we left early. We arrived back to our friends' house to be informed that their air conditioner ran out of freon and we'd be in for a long 95 degree night! (But wait, it gets better.) Jack decides to get up at 2am and stay up until 4am (thank you to the first molars, which are FINALLY cutting through as of yesterday!) He fell back asleep after some major rocking and I pulled the crib directly under the fan. (I have no idea how we didn't wake our friends up with all the furniture rearranging we were doing at 3am!) I then crashed on the floor next to the crib and Rob was sprawled out on the bed...sort of. We were both just exhausted! Morning finally rolled around and I headed out to the church to finish getting ready with the girls. About 1/2 hr. into it, Rob shows up with Jack yelling that we needed to go to the ER right away as he gashed his head on the corner of the fireplace and he's acting odd. We rush there (right next door, thank goodness...one good thing about a very small town I guess is that everything is close!) and are told that the chapstick-sized goose egg across his forehead simply looks a million times worse than it actually is. (No major damage, yay!) In the meantime, Rob is still not feeling well so I send him and Jack back to our friends' home to wait out the wedding that starts shortly. I rush back next door in time for photos and then the ceremony, which went perfectly and was beautiful. I decided it was wise at this point to (sadly!) skip out on the reception and just get my boys back home. So as the couples were being introduced and then seated at the head table for the reception, I just kept walking...right out the door! (I'm sure people were scratching their heads wondering what I was doing!) I did apologize ahead of time to the bride who was more than understanding given the circumstances. Anyway, we had a nice and smooth ride home, thank the Lord. And within an hour or so of arriving home, our basement flooded.

Whew. Did you catch all of that?! Honestly, I'm laughing about it all :) I don't think any other weekend has topped that one.

And this weekend was the craft show! The morning started out a little disastrous...our tent broke and wasn't even duct-tape fixable...I mean metal-pieces-broke-there-was-no-way-this-thing-was-going-to-stand-up! After that we decided to set the table up at the very least and we broke that too! Finally, we dumped our stuff, headed to Amanda's sister's house to ransack it for whatever we could find to house our items. We ended up with some super great laundry racks (that worked PERFECTLY!) and another table. Then we hit up my house for Jack's umbrella from his sand and water table for some much needed shade. The combination of random items actually ended up working out pretty well! Amanda and I couldn't help but laugh about the morning's events. But! We ended up having a great (dare I say relaxing even?!) and successful day :) The best part was seeing the little excited children fall in love with a sock animal and then walk away snuggling it in their arms :)

In other news, I just booked our family vacation for next winter! We are going on a cruise to the Bahamas. All of my family is going as well (my parents, sisters and their families). It's sort of a celebration for my parent's 40th anniversary as well. It should be a grand time with all the kiddos :) And we've never been cruising before, so I'm very much looking forward to the new experience. It will be nice to have that break of sunshine and warm weather in the middle of winter for sure!

In Jack news...Oh my little boy just lights up my life! He will walk in to the room now simultaneously waving and saying "hi" ever so clear with the hugest (is that a word?) grin on his face. It is just precious! And tonight the three of us took a walk to a little goat farm right outside of our neighborhood (sans stroller because Jack wanted to actually walk himself). We stopped at I think every crack in the sidewalk to examine it and see what had fallen in there. And then every bird that flew overhead we looked up and screamed with excitement until he got so dizzy from looking up so much he fell over. Every moment with him is just too cool and I thank the Lord for bringing such an amazing little person into our lives :)

And last but not least, happy second birthday to my darling little nephew Sam tomorrow! I love you bunches, little man! I hope you enjoy your second year of life and wish you many blessings! Smooches for Sam! XOXO!

Happy June!

Well, last week Jack and I had a fabulous time at the zoo with my friend Amber and her little girl, Regan. (Remember the post with Jack and his friend digging through the fridge for cupcakes? That's Regan.) He LOVES the zoo...I think it's time to invest in a zoo pass because something tells me we'll be there a lot this year! Anyway, I convinced my friend Amber to ride a camel, Jack danced his little heart away on a mini stage, and we of course saw lots and lots of animals! (By the way, the new lion exhibit opens a week from Saturday! We'll be back in the near future for that!)

So, you're probably wondering where the pictures are? My camera broke! :( I could cry about this...I use it ALL THE TIME. It's currently being sent to Canon and hoping they can fix it for less than the cost of a new one at least! But boy oh boy, being camera-less is almost as bad as not having a cell phone or laptop. (Crazy how much technology plays a part of our lives, eh?) In the meantime, use your imagination and I'll try to be as descriptive as I can :)

We're headed out for a long weekend tomorrow as my best friend, Deb, is getting married! We've been friends since high school and I'm happy to be a part of this special day for her :) Looking forward to the celebration! But alas, I remind you...My camera broke! So I probably won't be sharing any photos with you from the weekend...bummer. And wow, I haven't been back to Caro in...a VERY LONG TIME. Several years at least? It's going to be fun :)

Well, sorry for such a short entry, but I have things to do! Going to finish picking up the house this morning (Jack STILL isn't up and it's 9am...woohoo for sleeping in!) so we can head to the neighborhood pool this afternoon. It's going to be a HOT one! (Also the first day we've turned the air conditioning on!)

All for now!

P.S.- Next weekend (June 14) my friend Amanda and I are going to be doing our first craft show! We've been working on making sock monkeys and other sock and glove critters since February for this. So we're both pretty excited! Come out and join us at the Annual Craft Show, part of the Cutlerville Days celebration. (Our tent will be in Cutler Park.)