Magnus makes our weekend

So as I mentioned in my last post, while camping at the Hungry Horse, we got so spend some time getting to know one of the horses on the property. He was a beautiful black and white horse named Magnus. Dawn, Ranee, and Stephanie brought us our and let the girls help brush, ride and feed him. The just ate it up!

Hungry Horse

Yep, this is my guy, in front of a camper... in the dirt no less! Any of you who know Brad would know that 2 years ago this would have been a pipe dream! This would not have been his idea of fun, but now just look at him, camping with a smile on his face! Love it!

He loves it too :) Really! no Joke! Not sure what changed it, but so thankful for it because we have had a great summer of camping goodness and lots of memories have been made!

A couple weekends ago, Brad and I took the girls camping at the Hungry Horse in Dorr, Mi. This was our first camping trip with "just us" and our first time at Hungry Horse! The draw to this location was that it is very close to Brads shop and he was able to work while we were there. On Thursday, Sabrina went to work with Brad for half a day, she was so excited and had fun riding bikes and playing with her buddy Avery.

The time there was alot of fun. Our site was right next to one of three playgrounds which made life easier for me while Brad was at work :) We also were close to the pool where we spent much of our time in the mornings. There was a hay ride, lots of smores and an awesome night up close and personal with a beautiful horse, thanks to some friends (more about this in a later post).



The girls are smore freaks, Sabrina would begin asking at breakfast time about when we could have the smores!

Just hangin around!

Climbin


At the end of the day, we'd bathe the girls (cuz let me tell you, they were filthy!) and have story time before bed. I just love seein my girlies snuggled up to my best guy! :) I'd like to say, after storytime and prayers the girls curl up in the bunks and drift off, but that is far from the truth....lets just say smores after dinner does not sleepy girls make! Lots of giggles and goofing off till the wee hours! It's all part of making memories, right?

snapshots of a night on the lake

A huge thanks to the geenens for being wonderful hosts!

Homestead

I really cant in words or pictures tell you how I felt about the time we spent at the Homestead near Glen Arbor. Our extended family has gone there at different times growing up and we have always made special memories, but our last trip there, 10 years ago was exceptional! We went there for some skiing, and I left that trip an engaged woman! Beyond Memorable to say the least!

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, and our family looks so different (add in two kiddos and two brothers), but the condo was the same! I kept having moments comparing those two trips and feel so blessed! It was great to have a long weekend full of activities and places to see but ultimately just enjoy eachothers company!

Three to the clerk, one in the bag!

HI I'm Anabelle and I know my mommy talks about me alot on this blog, but this time its MY turn to tell a story! TOday was a BIG BIG BIG day for me! I love my pipeys, and I mean ALOT, more than even apple sauce and milk!! Earlier this week my they turned up broken, my daddy and mommy didnt know how it happened, but it was really sad! I still held them at night time, but they didnt do much good. Then mommy started telling me about how I can SELL my pipeys for a toy! I thought alot about this and today I decided that since they were broken, and I had had a couple sleeps without them that I wanted to sell them. SO>>> after supper, we put them in a bag and got in the car... See, here they are!

Then we went to Target and went straight for the toy aisle! My sissy and i looked at lots of toys, it was a very hard decision! Then I found a little dolly that made me giggle! It plays peek-a-boo with me and talks to me and calls me "mommy"! I LOVE it! Yep, this is the one! Then I marched up the the checkout and paid the lady with my pipeys! I have never seen mommy do that, she doesnt have pipeys, she usually pays with a little rectangle or green paper...I guess I'm just lucky!
This is the dolly I picked, I know you cant see it very well, but I was so excited by all it can do, I didnt really want to hold it up for mommy who takes WAY to many pictures!


I'm a big girl with my new dolly and no pipeys!



i hope i will sleep tonight.......

Goggle Me!

This summer it seems that the heat has necessitated that we spend every waking moment we can in the pool. As result, Sabrinas hair is green, Anabelle lives in swimmie diapers and our fingers and toes are almost perpetual prunes! Its a beautiful thing!

Another lovely outcome of the summer of fish living is that the girls rarely fight! They have so much fun in the pool together that there is rarely a piercing shreik (Sabrina) or a tantrum (Anabelle) to be spied in the pool area! One of the only things that could turn pool time sour in a hurry was goggles...those little yellow buggers stole both their hearts and when one would pull it out of the box of pool toys, the other would go nuts! SO after reffing round after round of knock out drag out fights, the lighbulb went on and to target I went! (Yes I know this teaches them a terrible lesson about sharing and learning to take turns, but FYI, for us the teaching oppertunities for this subject are endless these days!)

Enter the Dora and Kai Lan goggles, one for each and made for little noggins to boot! Lets just day, they were a hit! They ran around the house with them on, and checked them out in the mirrors. OH GLEE! However, it was naptime and alas, they had to wait till after for their first swim. (I had to pry them from Anabelles hands while she was kicking and screaming, she wanted to wear them to bed!) After naptime, we got our apples and went outside, geared up for goggle time!
I must say, they looked cutely silly in them and i couldnt resist snapping away!

Testing them out...(I just love wathing them discover the world together, they have such a bond that just melts my heart! Reminds me of MY sissies and all the fun moments we have shared!)


This summer we have seen such a change with the girls and their relationship with the water, Sabrina has totally embraced everything h2o and in the last months has gotten brave enough to jump in on her own (without swimmies in the shallow and with a floatie in the deep) and has even learned to swim unassisted accross the length of the pool and willingly goes under water to find things on the bottom! We're so proud of her courage to try new things in the water and her determination to master what she learned in swimming lessons!
Her "horsie"
Swimming on her back

Jumping in the "deep"

Proud as a peacock!

Anabelle also has embraced the pool in a new way, last year she was limited to floating in a tube or being held...now she can really splash about with much more independance using a variety of floaties! She loves to use her noodle to swim after things for her big sis.All this makes pool time more fun for mom and dad as we dont have to be constantly holding or assiting one or the other and we can enjoy floating the day away too!

Two!

In the space between this and the last post, much has happened! All great stuff that has kept us crazy busy (hence the lack of posts and glut of pictures just dying to be see the light of day!)

One of the big things that happened was that our sweet "Miss A" has turned 2! Its so nuts to me that she's two already as she still seems like my baby!
She was a little spooked by everyone singing to her :)

We had three celebrations for Anabelle,all which were so much fun! Anabelle really loves Minnie Mouse so her parties were all "minnie" themed :)

The Iverson party was on Fathers Day and she also shared her party with Great Nana Beemer. We first ate a delicious meal at Grammie and Grampies and then everyone came to our house for a Minnie Luau by the pool!
Papa Beemer, Grampee Iverson, and Daddy with the girls
Dressed up in her luau gear :)
Opening gifts :)

The Hoogland Party was at the cottage, what more could a girlie ask for that a fun week with her extended family! Her daddy bought her minnie stickers for her to use at her party which she passed out to everyone as a "ticket" to get into the party!


On her actual birthday, mommy tried hard to make her day fun! She had princess cupcakes for breakfast, then Nana and Jay joined us for some fun at crazybounce, McDOnalds for lunch and swimming in the pool till naptime! Once daddy got home, it was time for the dinner she had chosen which was pizza and pop tarts! (Seriously, we do eat healthy otherwise!! hehehe) After supper, we headed to the barn where she got to see her present! (which she will be sharing with sis).


All in all I think it was a great birthday for this little honey :) We head to the dr on Tues and will see where she shakes out on the charts! We love our little Anabelly and so treasure her cuddlebuggy nature and her fun personality. She is always suprising us and making us smile. Thank you God for sending Anabelle Rose to us 2 years ago! We are so blessed!